(This is part of my journey going checking out Fallout 2. You can follow the entire series on the Retro Gaming page.)
This is just a fun screenshot to post with absolutely no context. Sweaty hours.
Anyway, one of the things that I appreciate about Fallout 2 is that the game rewards you in XP for doing a wide variety of activities, including fighting, pickpocketing, lockpicking, questing, training, and even just discovering little neat secrets. And since I need all the XP I can get, I am encouraged to really explore and experiment with my environment.
That’s also why I’m glad I am specializing in lockpicking. Not only am I getting all sorts of extra loot (including — I kid you not — a “fuzzy painting” of Elvis) but am supplementing my XP flow as well.
Another funny touch: the dog that I fed a while back keeps following me around, as well as a little kid who says all sorts of bizarre things. I feel like a ringmaster.
Next door to the Golden Gecko is a meat shop where brothers are selling heavily spiced rotten jerky. Apparently, they’re also cow thieves too, as I note that the brahmin’s brands have been re-branded, although pointing that out gets me into a fight that I quickly lose. At least I have the satisfaction of seeing Sulik hit like a truck with his sledgehammer.
Reloading, I barter the Elvis painting for cash, a crowbar, and a skill-training magazine. That’s a good deal for something I just stole from a storeroom.
There’s a “bathhouse” down the street, which contains very few baths, if you get my drift. Actually, hey, we’re in the post-apocalyptic period here. Why the not-so-clever facade? It’s not as though there are county inspectors coming around or anything.
So hooking up with a prostitute was one of those features that supposedly made Fallout 2 all edgy and titillating to the teenage set. Of course, there isn’t any purpose to it past that other than taking away some of your money, so unless you want to brag to your friends how you made out with a “tired-looking” woman who is a half-inch tall, then this is merely a place to get some more info on Vic the Trader (he lives next door but has been gone a while).
Vic might be gone, but he’s left all sorts of goodies behind for the taking! Compared to everything else I’ve seen in the game so far, this is a treasure trove: money, ammo, a stimpack, a rifle, and even a radio. Now I feel better about equipping my rifle. I just hope Vic won’t show up and want all of his stuff back.
Next to the town is a canyon, where I decide to go explorin’. Naturally, there’s a giant sentry robot standing there. I figure I’m toast, but I might as well try. Turns out that between my newfound pistol and Sulik’s sledgehammer, we’re a force to be reckoned with.
So let’s talk a bit about Fallout 2’s combat. Like Fallout 1, this game uses a turn-based combat system where characters move around on a hex-like grid. Every turn you get a set amount of “action points” (I currently have eight) that can be used to attack, reload, go into inventory, and move. With eight points, I can usually attack twice, and with the pistol I don’t have to move much.
It’s actually more interesting when it plays out due to the myriad of events that can happen. You can drop your weapon, see someone’s rifle blow up in their face, knock people down (Sulik does this a lot with his sledgehammer), get blown back, and even knock yourself down due to incompetence. Plus the sounds are really spot-on and lend a lot of weight to the fight.
What the what is this. A crashed Enclave “verti-bird” with a couple of long-dead guards. Good thing they are dead, too, because the Enclave definitely outpaces me in firepower. They have nothing on them other than a yellow reactor keycard. EERIE.
Bio Break 