Report #65
I finally managed to beat all the “classic” fallout games. And by beating Fallout Tactics, which has been in my unfinished pile for years, I reached my 2022 goal of 50 unfinished games. Well, at least until I start a new game, which I need to do in order to get down to 100 never played games :D
I hope you are all doing well, I’ve seen some great backlog slaying all over the place since my last post. Keep up the inspiring work :)
Reviews
Fallout 2
Fallout 2 is a isometric RPG placed in the Fallout universe. You start as a tribal setting out to the wastelands to get help for their starving village. On the way you get entangled in much bigger events, as always seems to happen to characters in video games…
I know the first Fallout game has a strong fanbase, I however did not enjoy the game. Fallout 2 in the other hand is a big stepup in all regards in my opinion. The world feels very alive, the story had several interesting quest lines and (biggest plus) the UI and controls are way better than in the first game. Add to that the great feeling of playing an absolute classic of video game history and you have a nice gaming experience.
What I didn't like: Although Fallout 2 has improved considerably over Fallout 1, it's still an ancient game. Without nostalgia (never played it before) I was frustrated at times by the gameplay and tedious controls. I miss QOL improvements of more modern games. In addition I found the difficulty to vary a lot. Sometimes you can easily overpower your enemies, sometimes you have to save/reload a lot in order to avoid defeat. Not ideal in my eyes, but maybe something which can be attributed to the time?
A debatable point: The game gives you very few hints and guidance. More than Fallout 1 (again), but I still relied on a guide on several occasions, both on deciding the overall strategy and for hints in some smaller quests I could not solve on my own. I depends on a person whether that's good or bad though.
In conclusion: I can recommend the game, but you should be aware of what you get yourself into. I can easily picture a lot of people disliking the game, which I myself did at times as well.
Company of Heroes
Company of Heroes is a RTS game set in World War 2. You follow a unit of US soldiers' campaign from D-Day to beating back Nazi Germany from France.
I've already played the "Legacy" version of the game and talked about it in report #46 back in 2020. See there for a proper review.
The "normal" version is the same as the legacy version, they just switched to a different mp system, hence the change. I wasn't as impressed by the game as the first time (well…I already knew everything…) but still enjoyed my time with it. This time I had an easier time beating the game, maybe I do get better at playing video games after all? :D
Fallout Tactics
Fallout Tactics is a squad-based, turn-based strategy game akin to XCOM set in the Fallout universe, happening after Fallout 2. You play through a set of missions, starting as an initiate of the Brotherhood of Steel facing different new enemies spawning from the depths of the wasteland. As far as I understand it's not canon anymore? But I'm no Fallout buff, so someone else surely knows better.
The game basically takes Fallout 2 and throws away everything but fighting. Overall the game was enjoyable but too long for my taste. Without any RPG or management aspects, the missions get a bit repetitive and dull after a couple of them. There is just not enough variety for a game that took me about 60 hours to beat (I started my run on 36 hours which stem from previous attempts to beat the game). Very similar to Fallout 2 the game further improves the UI and adds a few QoL additions. Also very similar to Fallout 2 I had some issues with the harshly varying difficulty. At several points of the game new classes of enemies are introduced, which can easily one-shot your characters at the beginning, but are slaughtered with ease after you upgrade you weapons a bit (hint: energy weapons are good!).
While there is not much story telling, the small bits are at times humorous, at times grim: You have no control over the way the game plays out, but it soon gets pretty clear that you are fighting for a quite fascist supremacist organization…surely no coincidence.
Would I recommend the game? Again, as with Fallout 2, I can only recommend the game if you know what you're getting into. Despite rating both games 3/5 I think Fallout 2 is the better game though and Fallout Tactics can be ignored unless you want to play everything Fallout related.
Currently playing
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DiRT Showdown
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Total War: SHOGUN 2
Little progress was made on Shogun 2. Finally! It’s hard to find grind partners for Dirt Showdown though…oh well, maybe next report.
That’s it for now…back to work for me and some backlog slaying in the evening :)
Happy backlog-clearing to everyone,
Vito
2022 goals: 105/100 never played games – 50/50 unfinished games
I still think Fallout Tactics was on the receiving end of one of the bigger injustices as people railed on it because it wasn’t the Fallout 3 they wanted. It’s a perfectly fine game on its own.
That makes sense. It is a completely different kind of game than Fallout 1&2. And yeah, people are quick in throwing a game under the bus (me too at times). As I said, I’m glad I played the game though!
FO2 is probably my favorite of the old style games, but as you say they have not aged particularly well regardless. Especially with a bug making the final encounter far more difficult than it needed to be… Still, I think the payoff is worth it with how it connects to future installments. Maybe a remaster can eventually be released with some QoL improvements so that those normally not interested could give it more of a chance. Or maybe even a remake, though I think that idea gets thrown around too much as of late.
Tactics, I can certainly drag a bit, but (at least for me) unlocking some of the later team members made it a little more refreshing and giving you that powerful pay off. such as the Deathclaws >:)
Glad you were able to get some enjoyment out of these games. Will you be moving onto FO3 and up? or have you done those already?
Also man, down to 100 never played games… I wish I was anywhere near that :’)
Oh, I did not encounter any bug in the final encounter of FO2, I must have been lucky. I had to reload 2-3 times though because I got unlucky hits from the final boss. Yeah, I guess wishing for a remaster is always a double-edged sword. I can see FO2 profit immensely from some QoL improvements, but there are quite a few examples of botched remasters…you never know what you will end up with ;(
I’ve started FO3 and NV ages ago but never got far in them. I plan to play them again, definitely! Not right now though and as I’ve written, NV is a bit scary with the long completion time ;) Did you play everything Fallout related?
I’m not at 100 never played games yet! But yeah, my backlog is small compared to yours or most other members of BLAEO. It’s still bugging me though and since most remaining games are on the longer end it will take forever to complete even my relatively small backlog…
It’s not to say so much the final encounter itself was bugged, more that a bug from earlier became much more of a problem then. Basically my companion ghosted me but was still considered “around” so my melee build that greatly benefitted from stealth fell apart in that final encounter as the enemy was being alerted by my “ghost” companion.
I have just about played everything Fallout. I actually just completed Fallout 4, so I’m only missing Fallout Brotherhood of Steel (not Tactics BoS) which was a console exclusive, and Fallout 76.
I’ve definitely got more than a few longer ones waiting in the background and I fear I will fall to the same fate. I wish you luck on the remainder and perhaps even forever will end.