New Vegas imo. 3 is boring to me but it has its moments.
this post was submitted on 28 Jun 2023
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I have been thinking of doing some kind of write up on the different approaches, but I think 3&4 have what I’d call “themepark” writing. Every settlement is its own very unique little post apocalyptic themepark. The aesthetic and creative conceits are often maxed out. 1776 LARPers, Lovecraftian horrors, giant robots, a bus full of kids making their own society. All kinds of interesting locations and interactions.
However taken as a whole, these locations don’t form a coherent setting. Lots of the more boring questions go unanswered in favor of making things exciting and novel.
New Vegas takes an approach where different settlements all have their creative elements and there are wacky ideas (an Elvis worshipping gang) but the wackiness is never to the point of pushing incredulity, and all the locations support a coherent whole even if many of them are less overtly exciting on their own.
I very much prefer NV but I don’t think either approach is somehow objectively wrong for a game.
TLDR either start with Fallout 1; or Fallout 3 or NV. If you start with 3 or NV you can play the opposite game second, or Tale Of Two Wastelands to combine them. Don’t start with Fallout 4 since it relies most on knowledge of the series and because it is hard to play 3 or NV after experiencing 4’s engine upgrades.
Your biggest hurdle with Fallout 1 & 2 would be less that they are dated, and more that they are in an entirely different genre. If you are coming from Borderlands, then a top down, turn based combat, dialog heavy game might not be what you want. These are excellent games and I highly recommend them, starting with Fallout 1, but some people just can’t adapt to the gameplay.
Fallout Tactics is a spin-off that can very much be skipped unless you’re a completionist or love real time tactics games. It’s non-canon, despite a few oblique references in later games.
Fallout 3 and Fallout New Vegas. The great debate. The Todd vision vs the Obsidian vision. Opinions are of course subjective, except for mine, which is objective and New Vegas is objectively better.
I joke. I do like New Vegas better but I appreciate the writing style. It has a tone closer to the classic games, a coherent set of factions, and a blank slate player character. Fallout 3 has more locations that are novel and have bizarre stories attached to them, but as a whole the world feels disjointed- like different people were responsible for writing different areas and only occasionally talked with each other. It’s a very kitchen sink approach to adding every possible idea in.
Fallout 4 is more of 3, with an even more pre-conceived character and fewer options to make a unique personality. Stripped down dialog choices and a voiced main character. However it is the prettiest game, has the best first person shooting of the series, and an absolute buttload of mods.
1 and 2 aren't necessarily dated, they're just a completely different kind of game. They're isometric 2d RPGs instead of open world 3D exploration games. If that's the kind of game you enjoy, Fallout 1 and 2 are some of the best in the genre
It's a bit of a hassle, but modding up Fallout 3 would be my recommendation. It has some of the greatest storylines of gaming, all time. The DLCs are incredibly good. Make sure to use VATS often as that is where the fun is at.
This is a tough one. My first game in the franchise was Fallout 4. I loved it when it came out. I then moved on to Fallout New Vegas and the other games in the franchise.
Since you are into Borderlands, Fallout 4 would be the most like it gunplay-wise. The story is "fine" but it is not a true RPG in my eyes. Don't let that push you away from it, though. It is still very enjoyable!
It depends what you want out of the games.
Original Fallout (1&2 are both fantastic) are some of the greatest CRPGs ever made. Back when Western RPG meant trying to make computer games simulate Tabletop Roleplaying games (D&D). There are a TON of quest routes and decisions. You could make a slick evil character that manipulates their way through the entire game. That kind of thing. Hell. You don’t even have to finish the main quest in FO1 to beat the game. The turn based combat still holds up really well if you like that kind of thing. Action point systems are fun.
New Fallout (Bethesda and Obsidian). New Vegas. It has some of the OG Fallout creators on it (working for Obsidian). Play this if you’re more interested in sandboxy exploration while also having a bit deeper quest pathing than the Bethesdas games. But it does feel clunky from a shooter perspective. It’s the same game as 3 with much better writing and quests.
3 and 4 are more the Bethesda open world. Walk 10 feet, explore something interesting, walk 10 feet and explore something interesting. The actual ROLE playing aspect of playing a role is very shallow. 4 is probably a better choice if you’re not interested in role playing. The gun play and everything feels significantly better than New Vegas and 3. 3 was clunky even when it came out in most aspects. If you just want a solid sandbox game and don’t care about writing or story I’d say just play 4.
Oh and chronologically it doesn’t matter. They’re all basically their own contained story.
Pretty sure that Fallout 2 is more a direct follow up to 1 than the other games (isn't there a sidequest that directly explains how Fallout 1 starts?) But other than that, there's only a couple references in 4 about 3 and New Vegas to the originals.
I started with 3 a long time ago, and that's what got me into the series , played 3, NV and now I'm playing 4 with a bunch of mods
I did something similar - loved 3, the NV, then 4, then NV with mods, and I'm looking forward to modding 4 later (and modding 3 later too).
BUT if i were to do it again, i might start with 2, or even a quick run through 1 and 2, just to catch the original vibe. Then definitely to 3.
Honestly if you like CRPGs there’s no reason to skip over 1. It’s not incredibly long, and the tone, and characters are unique and all still hold up. It’s also a much more stable game than 2 in my experience, even with the fixit mod.
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