Feargus Urquhart is now known as the co-founder of Obsidian Entertainment, but before that he helped found Black Isle Studios, a division of Interplay that created some PC RPG classics like the original Fallout series, Icewind Dale, and Planescape: Torment.
Fallout is turning 25 years old today, and Gameover celebrates the classic series with this retrospective that reflects on how the series started, where it has been, and where it might be heading.
Fallout 1 is close to my heart, not only because I experienced it close to its release, but for the weird, still serious tone it had. I was immersed in the world and the first post-apocalyptic games I really liked. Still, can't and won't recommend it to anyone today. Too clunky and technically outdated. F1 should get a Wasteland 2/3 like remake.
I loved the themes and writing in Fallout: New Vegas, the execution of them though was underwhelming to me, mostly because of the limitation they had to work with both time and hardware related. This game also screams for a proper remake.
Fallout 4 was disappointing to me at first, especially how the factions are handled, too many generic MMO like missions and the whole third act which should have been changed/expanded. But still it's my most played Fallout after they added Survival Mode to it, the gameplay and the world is becoming much more intense. Garbage collecting and weapon upgrades make a difference, especially in the first 30 levels. Settlements also become a real save heaven, so after bigger missions/explorations I like to wind down with improving my nearby settlement.
So as of today, Fallout 1/New Vegas and Fallout 4 are my favorites in the franchise.
I played 1 and 2 back-to-back a couple of years ago for the first time. Fallout 1 was good but it was so weirdly content-barren. You had this huge map with almost nothing to see. 2 delivered a ton more content, characters, world-building, and more, despite being made within a year after 1, I think? But you are right, Fallout 1 has a distinctly different tone compared to the rest of the franchise. The combat... didn't age well in both of these games, but I think they are still worth trying.
I actually enjoy the combat system more in the earlier games. Just a nice revamp wouldve been fine. I do enjoy new fallouts and its still one of my fav series but fps eh
Fallout 2 ramped up a lot more content and improved with the QoL features, with a lot more people involved this time. The core team of Fallout 1 leaving early in production (they formed their own company Troika) might show the lack of direction of the game.
It had interesting ideas and themes in some areas (Den, Broken Hills, Vault City, NCR, Sierra Army Depot), but their work were seemingly tainted by some mouthbreathing edgelords in their team. There was rarely an area which hadn't some (for me) stupid things in it. There seems to be a designer which had an overabundance on what ran last night on his tv (Frank Horrigan, Xenomorphs, Scientology Celebs, Clinton Sex-Scandal, Ghost Stories...), the single idea guy who added intelligent animals to all areas and another guy who just added (partly) edgy jokes/joke characters everywhere.
The regression of humans to tribals within 80 years after the bombs fell didn't make sense to me. The existence of G.E.C.K. and what it does was too far out for me. I hate the idea that vaults were all experiments (as if people wouldn't become weird or conflicts heating up there by default) which became a staple of the series from now on. But on the other hand I loved quests and interactions which span between areas, that you can revisit areas from F1, how they handled Super Mutants (expect for magician Super Mutant Melchior) and Goris was at least cool asf.
So I don't hate F2, but the more I had think about it, the more it drops in my personal ranking. Every dumb idea people knock Bethesda for has roots in Fallout 2, except maybe for Mole Miners and Scorchbeasts.
Black Isle Studios has confirmed that Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance 2 is coming to PC and Switch this year.
There was more than one Fallout 3 project in development at Black Isle Studios after the launch of Fallout 2.
"Oh no they turned the next mainline title into a first person experience. It's not a true title in the series"
I wonder why this line of thinking sounds familiar
I think it's because you're poorly referencing RE 7 complaints which, coincidentally, aren't mostly aimed at the first person, but more the absence of practically anything to do with the series.
The generic hillbilly setting and hilarious list of IPs they ripped off to make that thing, is another major gripe many people have.
Generic hillbilly? You are just like the bunch of other people who dont even know what Hill Billies are. These folk had a fucking southern accent that is pretty much exclusive to that region. Cajun. Learn how to accent bro before you sound ignorant on purpose.
Couldn't be farther from the truth... you know how I know? Because I have played it...
I'm actually talking about Metroid Prime, but I guess RE7 also works in this regard
Dude. You cannot even go there with FO3. You probably wouldn't have even liked 1 and 2. I loved those games back in the day. FO2 was epic as F. Also, I still own both.
FO wasn't even as well known as it is now that(Bethesda and Zenimax hold the rights) made the jump into the 1st/3rd person bybrid perspectives.
You either didn't play the original fallout titles or you didn't play fallout 3/4 because you have no idea of what you're talking about.
Would be nice to see Bethesda contract members/former members of the studio to do a Fallout side project in the same vein as the original Fallout games. There is Wasteland 2, but it'd be fun to see a slightly higher production and using the actual Fallout universe that we know and love. Imagine if something like that was included in the season pass?
To do it right it would probably have to be pc exclusive, they probably won't bother.
No it wouldn't, they'd just have to redesign the controls/menu between the input devices. The real time with pause games don't tend to work on console without major overhuals (think Dragon Age Orgins) because controllers can't give commands fast enough to allow you to control a whole party without the game getting super tedious, but turn based games don't have that issue
The new Planescape game (Tides of Numenera) is going to be on PS4 and Xbox One too, classic isometric rpg right there, not sure how it works on the consoles, but the fact it is means it's done "right" regardless.
Fallout would have not survived without Fallout 3. For years I saw info on Van Buren and the project Fallout Online but they never materialized. I love Fallout New Vegas and Fallout 2 but its clear that Bethesda saved the day.
Reveals? Its been revealed for years, and you can even download the Van Buren version which was the Original Fallout 3
Many of my favorite games from the time when Black Isle was active had their hands on them. Fallout, Icewind Dale series, and Planescape were theirs entirely but they also were in on the development of the Baldur's Gate series which is still my favorite RPG experience of all time.