Fallout 1 vs Fallout 2

[Our Savior]

Which one should I get? I only have enough for one and steam sales are nearly over!!!

[Kratos]

I recommand Fallout 1. And if you like, you can buy Fallout 2 in another sales.

[taxicabmessiah]

They're both on the same level of quality to me but Fallout 1's atmosphere just grips me more than 2's. Also, 2 makes nods and references to 1, so you may want to start with 1 to fully understand bits of the game.

Originally posted by Kratos:

I recommand Fallout 1. And if you like, you can buy Fallout 2 in another sales.

This.

[Shadow-Dúnadan]

Garyy

[G33Z3R]

fallout 2, more content

[Fatbackwards]

I played through Fallout 1 and 2 recently on the count of not having Fallout 4 to play, yet still wanting to sate the hype I was having.

Fallout 1 plays like the first Star Wars: A New Hope. It builds the world, shows an enemy, and gives a final clash between good versus evil. It's a very good game, and in general stands up to a lot of newer games (if you have mods, like the expanded dialogue mod).

Fallout 2 plays like The Empire Strikes back. Since the game assumes you've played through Fallout 1, it ramps up the stakes and immersion. Yes, on face value there's a 'good vs evil' motif again; but it's much more political now, where you need to pay attention to the power plays each town is going through.

And yes, Fallout 2 can be played without touching Fallout 1, since it takes place 80 years later... and basically, your character has basically no knowledge of the outside world past myths and stories passed down from generation to generation. You're supplied the basic information from the start that your ancestor is someone who was very noble and stopped a great evil that arose from the south (distilled premise of Fallout 1). Past that, you can go about dealing with the world how you see fit. If you played Fallout 1, obviously you'll probably be leaning to help certain factions out more than others, simply because 'YOU' remember them... but again, since you're not playing the same character in the same time frame, you can bypass that information and go with your own gut.

I, personally, played through Fallout 2 several times before I played Fallout 1 and loved every minute of it. Fallout 1 felt like a much simpler game when I went through it, and while that's not a minus... it did dent the immersion a bit. For example, Junktown didn't feel like anything substancial with the problems they had. It was a simple squabble between a morally bankrupt theif and the law that was going on in town. Basically felt like the only reason I'd ever visit there was to get the location of the Hub and move on, and even if I would help the town in anyway, it wouldn't matter in the big picture. (Then again, so was Klamath... but they did incorporate the Vertibird crash as foreshadowing) However, with Fallout 2 having interconnected towns, you could follow the threads to different towns and try to sever them to help the other town (IE Redding's mining issues/Gecko's power plant problem; Don't even get me started on New Reno.).

In general, pick up Fallout 2 and just read up on what happened in Fallout 1. The story isn't that complex and playing Fallout 2 will allow you to understand what happens in Fallout New Vegas. And anyways, people in the game will tell you enough about the Fallout 1 in flashbacks or backstory that you can piece it together as you go.

Also, get Killap's Fallout 2's Restored Content Mod. It adds back SO MUCH to the game.