Fallout Fixt or Et Tu?

[Gizmo]

Heya, can anyone tell me which of these two you'd recommend me? I'm torn between the two. On one hand, I've heard Fixt's buggy and outdated but lets you get the good ending for The Hub and The Followers while letting you do Decker's quests without getting the bad ending for the former. On the other hand, Et Tu's more stable [so I hear], but you can't do Decker's quests without getting the bad ending for The Hub and the spy quest isn't included in Et Tu, whereas Fixt does include it. So, I guess I want Restored content with QoL improvements and stability in my game. Choices, choices. Thoughts?

[Gizmo]

Originally posted by Ralvadin:

Originally posted by Gizmo:

First, how was your Fixt and Et Tu experiences so far? Second, you might wanna ask that question you have on either Reddit or No Mutants Allowed [careful with that latter suggestion though]. Lexx usually [at least from my personal experiences] hangs around those two forums and even moderates NMA. I think he might also be on Discord, too. But I strongly don't recommend that option at all due to bad experiences I had with the site. Hope that helps mate.

I've been having issues signing up on NMA forum since yesterday (I haven't got their confirmation e-mail), so I can post questions I have for Lexx here. Maybe somebody already knows the answers. But first, a comparison between Fixt and Et Tu.

Fixt is definitely closer to the vanilla game but that doesn't necessarily mean better. I've finished Fixt about 5 times and have got a pretty good grip on the game, so much so that I know how to exploit it and truly min-max. Et Tu does a good job on balancing skills, so that more skills become viable. You can no longer cover all bases with your build, or at least it's harder. You need a higher Lockpick skill. Some chests are locked that were previously just easily lootable. I think you also need Charisma for some dialog checks, not just Speech. So, game gets a bit more challenging but I think I like that. I'm always up for balance. Barter prices are higher, too, so you gotta loot more and really save money. But not everything is more expensive. Some items that were previously ridiculously expensive now have a lower cost. So I like it. Gambling cannot be exploited anymore - I'm even thinking it might not be worth picking now. The author should explain the casino game of dice (Craps). I tried it for some time but profits weren't that high and I got bored. Its rules are complicated to those of us that don't gamble in real life. Maybe I should have upped my Luck. Maybe there aren't only Gambling checks but also Luck checks? Many questions - or more exploration to be done by us players. Also, Fixt has more bugs. Et Tu fixes many dialog lines that disappeared if you didn't click them in your first talk. Most notably the talk with Cabot. If you made the wrong choices, you were barred from BoS forever. I've yet to explore Mariposa to see what problems I might get from 3 paladins. Are they gonna block me? We'll see. So overall, I prefer Et Tu. But if you wanna min-max, go with Fixt. I could even write what to do in Fixt to min-max yourself but I'm sure you know it after playing it through a few times.

Here are my questions for Lexx, or anyone who can answer them:

Killian's store does not replenish. Yet the mod says it should: "FALLOUT 2 styled merchant inventory restocking."
I can't see carrying weight when trading and exchanging between companions, even though the mod seems to be installed when I check ddraw.ini:
[ExtraPatches]
....
;PatchFile10=mods\ShowLootWeight
What is FO1 barter formula? I have it installed if I check ddraw.ini, yet item prices are higher/different than in Fixt.
;PatchFile6=mods\fo1_barter_formula
I talked to Razor kinda late and was unable to get holodisk from her. Thus when we were ready for a fight against the Regulators, I didn't have the disk to convince Jon Zimmerman prior to battle. It seems to be a bug.
Was any revamping done for Aid and Doctor and Outdoorsman? These three are very much useless skills.
I couldn't walk the whole map's distance with 1 click - path finding range was too small. I managed to solved this one by manipulating f2_res.ini.
What can the GECK suitcase be used for?
what does high Charisma now impact? Could I convince the Brotherhood to let me into their storage room? It seems when talking to NPCs that it's not just Speech that matters but Charisma, too. Could anyone elaborate on that?

That's it for now. But we can talk further. I only played Fallout for the first time in May of this year. So it's not a game of my youth, yet it's such a gem of a game!

Sound like they both deviate from OG Fallout somehow. Et Tu has a mechanic involving ropes in world encounters involving falling rocks [which I believe isn't in RPU for Fallout 2]. About the dialogue disappearing, will it break the game if you save after said dialogue option vanishes and don't have an eiarlier save from before Cabbot's dialogue? Cuz that's what I'm thinking. Granted, I'm smart enough NOT to put meself in that scenario, so it's irrelevant to me at least. Oh, great comparison too.

[SaD-82]

Being late to the party, but I prefer Fixt over Et Tu (Maybe because French is the language of the devil? Who knows?).
The main reason being: I prefer the more vanilla feeling of Fixt. For me it's more like: That's how this game wants to be played and that's what the devs had in mind.
I have no problems with mods in any game that alter things in a pretty significant way, but Fallout 1, being a nostalgia gem of my youth, demands a more conservative approach. Restoring cut content and giving some QoL features that made it into F2? That's F1 of my dreams.

[The Chosen Chad]

Originally posted by SaD-82:

The main reason being: I prefer the more vanilla feeling of Fixt. For me it's more like: That's how this game wants to be played and that's what the devs had in mind.

Meh, FIXT wasnt even in line with what the devs wanted at the time. Its more than fixes, there is actually a lot of content and stuff to play around and more even in the works at the time.
Iirc, the creator of FIXT was planning on a mega campaign branch where you could join the Master, even dipping your followers and doing some work for him.

The "patch" vanilla experience still remains the unofficial patch by TeamX, still has a lot of bugs.

[Ralvadin]

Originally posted by Gizmo:

Et Tu has a mechanic involving ropes in world encounters involving falling rocks [which I believe isn't in RPU for Fallout 2]. About the dialogue disappearing, will it break the game if you save after said dialogue option vanishes and don't have an eiarlier save from before Cabbot's dialogue?

Now that I've played more of Et Tu, I also spotted some more differences, like the one with rope. There are also many more encounters in the overworld in Et Tu. I am no longer sure this is true: "Et Tu does a good job on balancing skills, so that more skills become viable." It's true you need more lockpicking skill but when Katja levels up, she can unlock all for you. Other skills are about as useful as before. I still find that First Aid, Doctor, and Outdoorsman are completely useless to invest in, and Steal probably isn't far behind. The same goes for Repair because you have books. Traps ... you take the hit or you walk around. So, a handful of skills are pretty useless to invest in. And sadly, the majority of perks. That would need revamping.

There's an optional trait that Et Tu modifies: Skilled. You no longer get +5 extra skills per level, as per description.

With Et Tu, I was finally able to do Thieves' Circle mission without having to kill Hightower. And caravan jobs aren't bugged like some in FixT when you travel towards L.A.

Looking at the big picture, Et Tu and Fixt aren't that far apart. The overall game progression is the same.

I gotta say that on two playthroughs I rushed to Glow but it seems that the game gets boring afterwards because you're all set equipment wise, you don't need to buy anything anymore, except maybe operations. But it's a strategy worth trying.

Concerning your question with Cabot, I don't know what you mean by "break the game". Once you miss the opportunity, you cannot get into BoS bunker for the rest of that playthrough. Cabot has nothing useful to say. Though such a mechanic does have a charm to it, namely, if you miss it, it's gone, like in real life. Thus, in my first playthrough, I was unable to get into BoS because I had INT2 and I wasted my first talk with Cabot on ugh, agh, hoo, grrrt.

As a side note, my last playthrough ended because I ran out of time to return the Water Chip. I thought I'd be able to continue the game or even visit a dead vault. Oh well. Another playthrough or two, and then I should go explore F2 and onward, F3, FNV, F4. I hear they're all good games.

I wanna try a no-reload run. That might be tense with all that enemy crits. I wonder if anyone's running that. And I wanna try the high-charisma high-luck game, see what Et Tu does there.

EDIT: Et Tu is punishing when you kill a child in the Hub's Cathedral. The whole BoS despised me so I was unable to get Power Armor. However, one can steal the motivator from Rhombus with Sneak 40-50. Not at all possible in Fixt. But Kyle also hated me so I couldn't make him prepare that Power Armor.

Still unable to sign up at NMA forum.

[Gizmo]

Originally posted by Ralvadin:

Originally posted by Gizmo:

Et Tu has a mechanic involving ropes in world encounters involving falling rocks [which I believe isn't in RPU for Fallout 2]. About the dialogue disappearing, will it break the game if you save after said dialogue option vanishes and don't have an eiarlier save from before Cabbot's dialogue?

Now that I've played more of Et Tu, I also spotted some more differences, like the one with rope. There are also many more encounters in the overworld in Et Tu. I am no longer sure this is true: "Et Tu does a good job on balancing skills, so that more skills become viable." It's true you need more lockpicking skill but when Katja levels up, she can unlock all for you. Other skills are about as useful as before. I still find that First Aid, Doctor, and Outdoorsman are completely useless to invest in, and Steal probably isn't far behind. The same goes for Repair because you have books. Traps ... you take the hit or you walk around. So, a handful of skills are pretty useless to invest in. And sadly, the majority of perks. That would need revamping.

There's an optional trait that Et Tu modifies: Skilled. You no longer get +5 extra skills per level, as per description.

With Et Tu, I was finally able to do Thieves' Circle mission without having to kill Hightower. And caravan jobs aren't bugged like some in FixT when you travel towards L.A.

Looking at the big picture, Et Tu and Fixt aren't that far apart. The overall game progression is the same.

I gotta say that on two playthroughs I rushed to Glow but it seems that the game gets boring afterwards because you're all set equipment wise, you don't need to buy anything anymore, except maybe operations. But it's a strategy worth trying.

Concerning your question with Cabot, I don't know what you mean by "break the game". Once you miss the opportunity, you cannot get into BoS bunker for the rest of that playthrough. Cabot has nothing useful to say. Though such a mechanic does have a charm to it, namely, if you miss it, it's gone, like in real life. Thus, in my first playthrough, I was unable to get into BoS because I had INT2 and I wasted my first talk with Cabot on ugh, agh, hoo, grrrt.

As a side note, my last playthrough ended because I ran out of time to return the Water Chip. I thought I'd be able to continue the game or even visit a dead vault. Oh well. Another playthrough or two, and then I should go explore F2 and onward, F3, FNV, F4. I hear they're all good games.

I wanna try a no-reload run. That might be tense with all that enemy crits. I wonder if anyone's running that. And I wanna try the high-charisma high-luck game, see what Et Tu does there.

EDIT: Et Tu is punishing when you kill a child in the Hub's Cathedral. The whole BoS despised me so I was unable to get Power Armor. However, one can steal the motivator from Rhombus with Sneak 40-50. Not at all possible in Fixt. But Kyle also hated me so I couldn't make him prepare that Power Armor.

Still unable to sign up at NMA forum.

Good points. Sorry you're having NMA sign in troubles, maybe ask a moderator [Lexx happens to be one himself if that helps], other than that, I don't know. Ya mean the dialogue thing with dialogue thing with Cabbot isn't a bug? Weird. It does make the game feel more immersive though, you ♥♥♥♥♥♥ up your one shot, you live with it, as they say. Only real issues with Et Tu I have are minor music bugs in the Vault 13 cave and Vault 15 shack, as well as the inability to fully complete Decker's quest without getting the bad ending for the area he appears in [to avoid spoilers for anyone who hasn't played the game or looked it up online], both minor nitpicks, by the way, and others've pointed out rational arguments as to why it works well that way [Decker's a bad man destabilizing the area after all]. Just my thoughts. So, at the end of the day, what'd you choose over the other and for what reasons, Fixt or Et Tu? And don't worry, I'm not asking Greymane or Battleborne, this isn't Skyrim. Hahahahahahaha.

[Gizmo]

I'm back. Well, on an unrelated note. when's Et Tu's next release comin out? I hope by the end of this year. Depending on how it turns out, I might go the Fallout Et Tu route after all. Maybe. Oh, and GamerPoets did a modding tutorial on Fallout 1 using Et Tu as a base. But almost all of his content was marked as inaccurate according to the team behind modding guides like Viva New Vegas. His Fallout 1 and Elder Scrolls II Daggerfall videos among those marked. Any idea why that is? Was he right in those two videos by chance? Or am I reading misinformation online? Questions, questions.

[Ralvadin]

Hello. Sorry it took a long time to reply. I wanted to finish Et Tu again before posting my thoughts. My first Fixt playthrough was 100 hours, now this last one was only 15 :) I think I've had enough of FO1 and will be moving to FO2 eventually. Great game, looking forward to its cannon successors to be as good.

I'd pick Et Tu over Fixt. It has way less problems. It's true I don't like a couple of non-vanilla additions in Et Tu but many can just be ignored, like new armor and new guns. A nagging thing is if you take one rope to the Glow but get a random encounter along the LONG way down there, where you use that rope to escape danger. Well guess what: you consumed that rope, and now you need to go back for another. Solution: carry two ropes when going to the Glow. Also, carry a crowbar just in case you're not strong enough to open some doors. Though the loot might worth ignoring. I also randomly encountered a Guardian of Forever. Which led to a Temple of Trials. It felt like I was in FO2 already. Anyway, such encounters should just be ignored.

I support the bad ending for Decker. Because people want their cake and eat it, too :) You either help the criminal, or you turn him in. You don't help him do the damage, and then expect for a happy ending :) For me, I always got the bad ending in Et Tu because I liked my XP too much :) I never got a good Necropolis ending, either. That one is just hard. I'm not sure how it's even possible. Time limit?

Skyrim was fun back in 2011 and 2012 :)

I'm giving up trying to sign up to NMA forums. I wanted to ask about Et Tu but now I'm done so whatever :) Maybe you can spam their forums.

In my last playthrough I built a thief character. Half way through the game, being frustrated how I still get caught with 161% Steal, I found a mod that changes Steal and Sneak mechanics. I highly recommend it. Easy to install, but takes some time to read through the ini since I turned off 95% of what the mod does, as I only wanted those two skills fixed. The mod is here:
https://github.com/dekrus/Fallout2MechanicsMiniRework
Works with Et Tu, as well. If you get caught stealing, the whole town turns on you, and that's just a deal-breaker for me. I couldn't stand reloading. The same goes for Sneaking. You just can't rely on it in vanilla mechanics.

Et Tu is a bit harder than Fixt but one can always turn down the difficulty. I wonder what playing on easy is like. From the first start, I set both settings to hard. But if by harder one means that it's more difficult to get a good NPC reaction, that's true.

That's it on my part. Maybe I'll see you in FO2 someday? Should you have any more questions, feel free to ask.

Hey, if you can get merchants to restock their caps in Et Tu, let me know what settings you used. Killian and Tine never restocked. Others did. Don't know about the Cathedral merchant, though.

[Gizmo]

Very insightful. Don't worry, I understand how life works. You're good mate. Sorry to hear about your NMA troubles. I would ask, but I might run in the same issue as you, plus, I like TTW, and I don't know how the community at NMA'll react to that opinion, since Fallout 3 [a game they dislike] is a hard requirement for TTW. So unfortunately, I don't think I can be of help there, sorry. Might pick Et Tu after all. As for The Hub bad ending if you work with Decker, I guess I could roleplay [more like resort to headcanon] that The Hub mentioned in New Vegas isn't the same Hub that appears in Fallout 1. Which makes sense, since New Vegas's set 120 years after the original, so that's a huge gap for The Hub to get invaded by the Mutants, only for the NCR to rebuild it at some point in-between, possibly before Fallout 2 even, though The Hub [at least to my knowledge] doesn't get referenced in that game. There's even a fangame called Fallout 1.5 Ressurection that uses The Hub's bad ending as it's personal canon. Then again, same goes for the Boneyard, since The Followers appear in New Vegas. Though it's thankfully easy to follow canon in Et Tu regarding The Followers, as long as both Nicole and Laura are both alive, though you might wanna talk to them both and wait for the latter to leave The Cathedral befor dealing with The Master. Granted, I assume you knew all that anyway.

[The Chosen Chad]

The Hub is alive and well in Fallout 2. You even have a sect from there called the HUBologist lol. Further more they are mentionned in the NCR History Holodisks too.

It doesnt really matter anyway canon or headcanon, its just choice and consequences, Decker purpousfully destabilize the Hub for his criminal organisation, even if you destroy the Master's army in time, they flee up North and East. Why would the Hub have the mean to prosper after both a Mutant attack AND the Undergound influence?

[Gizmo]

I get you. I'm just saying the NCR maybe rebuilt The Hub between the events of Fallout 1 and either 2 [80 year timeskip] or New Vegas [120 year timeskip] according to headcanons where The Hub dispersed to the mutant army. Though, the never recovered part would be more like, "The Hub dispersed to the might of the Mutant army, and would not recover for a very long time. But, eventually, with help from the New California Republic, The Hub would rebuild itself and prosper as one of NCR's many territories." or something like like. The endings for both the Khans and the Brotherhood have similar issues that don't take later games into account, likely due to retcons. Anywho, just giving MY logic of how The Hub's bad ending could make sense in MY headcanon, not actual canon. That's what I love about CRPGs. You make your own stories, even if thet conflict with the one the developers wanna tell. Whaddya think?

[Ralvadin]

Did you black out spoilers for FO3 up there? In that case, thanks. Long ways to get to FO3 yet :)

[Gizmo]

Originally posted by Ralvadin:

Did you black out spoilers for FO3 up there? In that case, thanks. Long ways to get to FO3 yet :)

No, I haven't mentioned any of the Fallouts besides 1 2 and New Vegas so far other than Fallout 3 being a hard requirement for TTW, which's a mod that let's ya play both Fallout 3 and New Vegas in the later's engine, though you probably already knew that. I'm actively trying not to give any spoilers away for anyone out of respect. And I thank you for acknowledging that. Makes me feel good that I could help and give my thoughts without giving anything away. Appreciate it mate.

[Gizmo]

@Ralvadin How do ya send friend requests here on steam? I feel like we'd have good convos with one another on this platform. Plus, we can talk more games that way as well. If you're interested, of course. Not trying to force anything here.

[The Chosen Chad]

Click on his profile and click on add friend on the right ;)

[Gizmo]

Originally posted by The Chosen Chad:

Click on his profile and click on add friend on the right ;)

Done. Thank you.