Fallout 2, created by Black Isle Studios, is the sequal to Fallout 1 and is a time lapsed continuation from the events of the first game that takes the premise of its prequel and makes it feel bigger and better than what came before.
The character creation is mostly the same as the first game with a few extra options thrown in and has its theme with the prebuilt characters having their origins from a community of "tribals". A community born from the efforts of the player character from the first game and before being given your quest, one must first prove themselves worthy of undertaking it.
The Temple of Trails is a step up in regards to what was expected in the first game. The player will be fighting not only rats but radscorpions as well. The player is also expected to get through a trap field and a locked door or two. This then culminates in a final challenge against a fellow tribesman to prove you are worthy to deal with dangers of the outside world and be able to undertake the quest to save the village.
It is explained that your village is dying and only by finding the G.E.C.K, or
Garden of Eden Creation Kit, can it be saved. This "artifact" of a time long
past is a piece of pre-war Vault Tec technology said to be able to revitilise
a dying ecosystem. One must find it and bring it back before it is too late
for the tribe.
You are given nothing more than a vault 13 water canteen and a clue to go to
Klamath and find a trader named Vic, who sold the tribe said canteen, who
might know the location of venerable vault that holds the key to the tribe's
salvation.
Little does player know that this simple quest to find this important item will lead them all across a West Coast - which takes place in an area that is north from the original map but does try to intersect some of the old topography with the new, on a journey, that if one takes the time to explore, full of craziness in pursuit of information that when does find what they are looking for begins the quest to stop an even greater power from exerting their will one the survivors of the apocalypse.
Off the bat there is a change to the quest design of the main quest in the sequel as it is made so that is it isn't as easy to get to the final stretches of the story, one can still get some endgame gear easily enough if one in knowledgeable about where to go, but overall the story is designed with more an emphasise on trying to enjoy the journey and having a main story that ties up and expands on the Fallout lore itself.
It is not strictly necessary to follow the breadcrumbs provided to you, and one can usually circumvent and find the bare minimum of information if one don't feel like being drawn into the sub-plots of the various areas you visit instead opting for a beeline along golden path along the shortest route necessary, however the experience and rewards one can earn especially in the early game do go a long way to make one's experience lot smoother - besides the potential of being drawn into some interesting scenarios.
Which one is encouraged to do as the quests one does in each area do feel more fleshed out compared to what was expected of the player in the first game. The tasks one finds themselves running into help to flesh out the areas one visits and gives the game a bit of life and one is sure to be invested into at least a few good mysteries along the way that are not even related to your main one, but still leaves enough questions that one might wish to find the answers to.
In addition to the expanded quest structure it also expands upon the number of important locational hubs one can visit and it even dangles a few late game areas here and there along your journey to give one some motivation to level up and have something to test your character against.
Attempting some of this content as it comes along can quickly lead to an
unprepared "Chosen One" finding death once they discover that the threat is
more than one can handle but thankfully these areas are usually hidden or one
gets enough of a warning to not be totally taken by surprise.
Although the random encounters one can run into on the overworld can take one for a loop if they are not careful, especially when travelling in an area that one should not be, although sometimes one just gets unlucky and runs into a death squad without much recourse.
In these types of situations, it continues to place the onus on the player to
try and maintain a running back-up of saves in case one does bite off more
than they can chew. It can be an annoying and, at times, frustrating to lose
progress from not regularly saving and is something to keep in mind when one
plays these older types of games.
Otherwise, it does improve upon the random encounters with greater variety
and set pieces of the narrative sprinkled through the playthrough with
it feeling better realised here than in the first game.
Ultimately though, its biggest strength, at least for me, is in the writing and commitment to the setting. The game sets a generally darker tone, but at the same time also doubles down and ups the comedy as well.
The game even goes to the lengths of having the player deal with an almost completely new experience if one decides to go through with a low intelligence playthrough with it being an unique challenge which does bring with it new perspective to the world.
It is carried on the back of its writing as it is the primary medium from
which one interacts with the world and it does a great job at giving the sense
of control and consequence, or at least some of the best illusion of such in
this genre, as actions that the character does has an effect in the world
itself and is surprising how it feels like it becomes the "player's" actions,
once one starts to really get into the flow of the story. It should at least
invoke some form of emotion when confronted in these moments be it a smile or
a shock and everything in between.
I feel this gets further strengthen in its use of measuring and granulating the stages of interaction with the player through the systems of local reputation and karma.
Local reputation is represented as the town's opinion of your character and has an effect on how NPCs perceive them and in turn effects how they will react if they can.
For example, being a nobody fresh off out of the village will have people look down upon you and not be hestitant to call you a "tribal" and generally be dismissive and uncooperative, however if one makes a name for themselves then one starts to see that characters will have an appropriate opinion about said character and the general town dialogue will reflect that as well. It is something that is small and can be easily overlooked, but does wonders to give off the sense of progression with someone being a nobody, building a reputation.
The other system is your Karma, which represents whether you are "good" or "bad", it is not as overly visibly impactful as the reputation system, however it does play a role in giving a player a general idea in regards to visualising their character's moral compass.
It does get called into question on occasion in regards to quests and also will have an effect on whether party members will still journey with the player and can be considered almost like general reputation for your character.
Although the choice is given to provide the player a fairly open experience,
it does still have a bias towards being more "good"/ "neutral" than "evil" if
one wishes to interact and discover most of what the game has on offer.
However there are far more shades of grey here, with it providing more
gameplay options for "evil" characters and having more decisions that can
benefit a morally flexible individual.
A consequence of having this layered system of choice however does come with
some issues where one can risk missing out on certain quest stages firing off,
not getting a complete picture of a quest or being locked out of
sub-objectives if one does not follow steps in the right order. This can be
frustrating having certain smaller side quests not being able to be completed
if a player does not follow the right sequence of events and subsequently be
locked out of options that should be possible to complete. It will generally
not break the game, but can leave one with unfinishable quests in one's
logbook.
Onto other areas where it has made improvements is a more prominent role of
perks. Which also sees it being integrated and more clearly displayed for the
player, with your character's actions being rewarded with receiving unique
perks when one does something specfic or is given as a reward for quest
completion.
These unique perks mostly expand some element of game and even though most feel more like "flavour" perks that do not dramatically alter the experience, there are still some that will open up new interactions and events that bring with it its own set of challenges.
It is also nice to be able to look back at your character and be able to chart
one's journey by the accumalated milestones one has achieved through their
playthrough.
The available perks and traits have also had an expansion compared to first
game, with sexuality becoming one of the bigger aspects that one can make use
of or leverage. It feels like an expansion of the system with it offering more
variety and options for one to specialise in.
Probably personal bias, but the humaniod NPC behaviour does feel like they
invested a few more points into their intelligence attribute as they appear to
be more "aware" of danger and for the most part make better decisions.
One still needs to be wary of automatic fire, but thankfully your companions are more flexible in their weapon usage proficiency and are usually "good enough" with "single shot" weaponry.
Companions have seen improvements with a larger cast of characters one can meet and recruit with one's options expanding beyond just human companions and Dogmeat. This includes things such as each companion having some individual character, with a few even being voiced and animated. The hiring process for said companions does feel like it was looked at and it feels better intergrated with the world as a whole with one having to work a bit harder to convince them to join you.
Other areas of improvement is how one can more easily assign weapons and armour to your companions, unfortunately it still does not update their clothing dynamically.
These all work in service to make them feel more like characters that are following you on a journey, with them providing their own input to the areas you explore and sharing their opinions, providing their own personal narratives into the mix and they feel less like pack mules that one dumps loot to keep your inventory available.
An area where I feel it is a bit worse in, is when it comes to being idle
infront of doorways which can lead to frustration when one is boxed into a
small room and they cannot move. It doesn't happen all the time, but it is
something that should be aware of, especially if one decides to invest in a
more party orientated playthrough as one can have up to five companions
following you around which can lead to an unfortunate situation of being stuck
if one is not careful.
Going into the topic of pack mules, companions are restricted in how much they can carry according to their Strength attribute, with them not having the behaviour of traders and frees up the interface jank of moving items between companions without having to "steal" or barter to achieve the same result.
To compensate for the player not being able to lug around as much loot as
before, one can eventually find and fix a car which both increases your travel
speed on the world map as well as a place one can deposit loot in the boot of
the vehicle. Although it too is limited by a capacity it is usually more than
enough for one to be able to loot an area and get it to a place one can safely
store it. The only requirement being that the player needs to keep a supply of
fuel on hand to keep it going. One can even find additional parts and bring it
back to a mechanic to install which allows one to improve one's vehicle over
the course of the game.
In relation to loot, the game's progression does feel better in the sense that it does make one feel gradually stronger as they travel further on in the story and onto the later parts of the game with the weapon selection and supply improving as one one starts to fight stronger foes. As mentioned before, there are shortcuts to power, but barring that the player can avoid gunfights for most of the early game as they level up and focus on fighting melee-orientated mutated creatures and solving quests without much conflict - at least in regards to communicating with other intelligent beings.
This does change however once the player begins to start working for some of
the more influencial individuals in the game world and this can easily lead to
more intense combat situations as one gets involved with the politics the
tensions that follows it.
Eventually, as one progresses through the story, one is more clearly guided
towards the final stages of the game. The tail-end, specifically the last
area, are great as a means to get into the lore as it provides perspective to
what is really going on with one interacting, discovering and piecing together
not only the grand plan one must stop but also providing more history and
context to the world before the bombs dropped.
It brings with it a few completion bonuses if one talks to the right individual and the player is then left to their own devices to explore and interact with world at large.
It becomes more of a toybox at this point as the player can run into some new
dialogue here and there but it really feels like it is here for the player to
explore and interact with any location, secret or encounter they haven't got
around to and complete it.
The music and sound is still very "Fallout", but it is improved over what was presented in the first game. The music especially has sharper and softer tones which still fit in with the setting and helps complement one's gameplay experience.
The graphics are mostly the same with an increase in diversity of creatures, locations and characters although leaves much to be desired by modern standards but with a bit of resolution trickery holds up well enough with, barring some visuals that are not too clear, but clearly communicates its desired intent with its design.
In summary, Fallout 2 is an experience. It may not be for everybody, it might not catch your attention with one having to read and imagine character features for the pixels on screen however if one moves past that and has the potential to capture and immerse one in its world with characters that shine as a mirror on human nature with a post-apocalypse twist as it explores mature themes and vices while still having the ability to temper it with moments of comedy.
Besides that, it builds upon its foundations of the first game and creates a world that does the feel of a "world moving forward" well with its callbacks to old locations and characters, but does it in a way that does not distract the player from the main narrative. It ties these elements in a way that makes it feel like a natural progression from where the first game left off, but turns the dial up on what it was before which does help one be not as critical to the discrenpencies one finds as it has a way of drawing one into its world and leaving one wanting more.
Again it is not a perfect game, but is put together with the sum of its parts
on the back of the writing helping it form into great game that is just more
of everything that is Fallout.
If one wants to have a better Fallout 2 experience one can look at at the Fallout 2 Restoration Project, here.
The Restoration Project includes a number of quality of life features and fixes to the game to bring it more in line with modern options. One can choose to either keep it as vanilla as possible with these fixes and improvements or choose to also install the reimplemented cut content that was worked on and introduced back into the game.
The extra content might not be to everyone's taste as it does add more challenge and some of the writing quality is below the standard - which is high, set by the game, however if one wants to spice up another playthrough in a vanilla setting with a more "complete" experience then it is something worth looking into if one wants more Fallout 2.
One can also pick and choose from the the github link specific mods that are
included in the mod but would prefer experiencing the game without the
restoration project package.
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Fallout 2 Restoration Project
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