The introduction in this game is awful.

[bibbis]

These are my thought a few hours into the game.

The introduction level is absolutely horrible. It's just AWFUL...
I have chosen to focus on small guns, energy weapons and lockpicking. Yet I am starting the game with a spear. A spear that I am NOT skilled with and can't hit for ♥♥♥♥ with.
About 30% hit chance, and that gives me about a 1-in-7, or maybe even 1-in-8 hit.
This is absolutely frustrating... Having to kite the crap out of every single enemy is ridiculous gameplay for an introduction level.

I am NOT going to start a character that has focus on melee weapons, just to make the early game enjoyable, when I don't want to use melee weapons...

Compared to FO1's introduction level, where I got a gun right away, and got to have some fun with the combat right away, even if all the enemy were dumb rats.

I will endure this, I can see myself having fun as soon as I can find myself a pistol.
I like the story so far. It's interesting what they did with the plot. But I find it stupid to find a "magical item" for a bunch of not-so-evolved tribes people who aren't really in any kind of danger, as opposed to going on a quest to find electronic parts to save a highly technological group of people from dying a slow death.

There are many slight changes in the gameplay and in handling menues and stuff that feels really good for a sequal, I just need to get a proper weapon...
(So far I've only found a merchant who is selling one really expensively, and managed to steal a 1-bullet rifle which SUCKS)


MY POINT is just that the game starts of really, really bad in my opinion, and that I need some change SOON now.

I'd like to hear some thoughts. (Just don't tell me what to do because I already have a "plan" about getting a 10mm gun and I'm gonna start off with getting my hands on that)

[Shadowbluff]

From what I remember of the original Fallout, it shouldn't be too long before you acquire some better weapons. Particularly guns. If you chose small guns as a proficiency, you shouldn't have any problems. Just give it some time, man. Fallout 1 and 2 were 2 of the greatest games ever created IMO.

[bibbis]

Originally posted by bassist12261976:

From what I remember of the original Fallout, it shouldn't be too long before you acquire some better weapons. Particularly guns. If you chose small guns as a proficiency, you shouldn't have any problems. Just give it some time, man. Fallout 1 and 2 were 2 of the greatest games ever created IMO.

Yeah I wasn't sure what it would be like to play fallout 1 now for the first time, but it's definitely still a solid game, after all these years. It's fun to see how many references they managed to get into fallout 3. I didn't think I could love F3 any more than I already did.

[Infinity II]

Yes the beginning is very hard and unforgiving. However if you want to make it easier try to steal as much as you can from NPCs. Just save before every try and maybe level it a bit to raise your chances.

Do you use restoration mod? Adds some more locations especially at the beginning which helps a bit to overcome the start and fits in very well. However I think you have to start a new game to use it.

In case of weapons there is an Pistole in the cave below Klamath on a dead body suurounded by rats. Later in Den you can aquire a Shotgun. This should be enough for a start. Oh and get Sulik as fast as possible. He really is good in close combat and with pistols.

Good luck

[BreakinBenny]

We all know that the tutorial part is unforgiving for those who are careless, you deserve a break indeed. It would indeed've been nice to be able to start with a handgun, even though the Elder's one broke down when she did that weirdo trial... I suggest you start with any of the quests in Arroyo, like fixing the well for Feargus even if your Repair skill is poor (it doesn't matter how good or bad it is, just hit the 8 key and click on the well for free XP!) or finding Smoke the dog. Head off to Klamath and do your things there, cherry tap any scorpion or ant and step back with your remaining Action Points so they can't get to attack you because they waste AP closing in...or help the Duntons with the brahma so you can rescue Torr and get yo fren Sulik for free unless you can handle getting cash for him.
http://www.killap.net/

[bibbis]

I've tried my luck with both the restoration mod and the killap mod, but they either break the game for me, or raises the resolution in a bad way so that it's "too much" because of how TINY everything gets.

I've come a bit further now since my first post, and I got my hands on that gun I was set on, and I also found a man who taught me more about melee combat which increased my skill and made melee actually USEFUL for me. So I'm rockin a 10mm pistol and a combat knife for now.
I also found the spirit dude.
So the game has definitely turned around for me now and I can enjoy it a lot more.

Thanks for the tips.

[BreakinBenny]

Why do you say that about the resolution and what do you mean they break the game for you? Is it the ddraw.ini, the High-Resolution mod, or what?.. If it's the things getting tiny, they get scaled down when not using Scale 2X mode and allow you to see more of the area.

[talgaby]

Yeah, the gameplay will be terrible until you get to the Den and get some decent gear, plus reach good levels. Unless you know about the pickpocket trick to boost yourself to level 3-4 in Klamath.
The starting temple is actually incredibly easy, once you realise you have to avoid the critters. Still, I still recall that for the first time I found the start of the game incredibly hard as well. Now, since I know all the tricks, it's just a passing minor annoyance before level 8 where you have enough skill, perks and gear/money to play properly.

[Literal AIDs]

I started off like you (small guns, lockpick, speech) and found the temple tedious but easy, as long as you back off right after hitting them. The ants/scorpions use up all ap trying to reach you. The start of Fallout was more forgiving in regard to starting off with a gun, but Fallout 2 does get easier afterwards.

[bibbis]

Originally posted by BreakinBenny:

Why do you say that about the resolution and what do you mean they break the game for you? Is it the ddraw.ini, the High-Resolution mod, or what?.. If it's the things getting tiny, they get scaled down when not using Scale 2X mode and allow you to see more of the area.

I have tried the Hi-Res mod, the Killap mod one of the big "unofficial" patches. They all either break the game for me (makes it crash on launch, or gives me issues where the game minimizes) or "fix" the resolution so much that it makes the game, the hud, and everything else tiny. X2 scaling on/off doesn't change anything, and I know that they are all configured in different places depending on which mod/patch I currently have installed.

But now I'm playing vanilla Fallout 2 without any mods and I'm perfectly fine with it.
The game runs well and I have no issues what-so-ever with the "ugly" resolution.
There may be bugs, but I'm playing the game for the first time so I don't think I'll spot that many big ones and don't think I'll get too annoyed with it.

[bibbis]

Originally posted by BreakinBenny:

We all know that the tutorial part is unforgiving for those who are careless, you deserve a break indeed. It would indeed've been nice to be able to start with a handgun, even though the Elder's one broke down when she did that weirdo trial... I suggest you start with any of the quests in Arroyo, like fixing the well for Feargus even if your Repair skill is poor (it doesn't matter how good or bad it is, just hit the 8 key and click on the well for free XP!) or finding Smoke the dog. Head off to Klamath and do your things there, cherry tap any scorpion or ant and step back with your remaining Action Points so they can't get to attack you because they waste AP closing in...or help the Duntons with the brahma so you can rescue Torr and get yo fren Sulik for free unless you can handle getting cash for him.
http://www.killap.net/

Are the Duntons the two twins? Isn't it bad to help them? :c
Where is that dog?

[BreakinBenny]

The Duntons are the two twins who might remind you of Killian Darkwater (it looks nothing like his talking head) or Irwin in the Hub, and yes helping them *is* an evil action because poor moo-moo. Kill them "bugmen" if you want, not that your playthrough is that important to me except when you need some help.

The dog is in Arroyo's hunting grounds, which I suppose you didn't know about after helping Hakunin with his garden.


As for the high-resolution stuff crashing for you, that doesn't happen to me probably because I use DirectX 9 mode. There are also resolution options in the ddraw.ini if you prefer.

[Infinity II]

And don't forget to disable steam update function for this game. Steam tends to overwrite mods or changes critical files the mods use to function properly....

[BreakinBenny]

The Steam update function is almost why some classic games are better off being released on GOG.com, you can mod it however ya want without concern.

[Dufflebags]

Originally posted by bibbis:

I've tried my luck with both the restoration mod and the killap mod, but they either break the game for me, or raises the resolution in a bad way so that it's "too much" because of how TINY everything gets.

I've come a bit further now since my first post, and I got my hands on that gun I was set on, and I also found a man who taught me more about melee combat which increased my skill and made melee actually USEFUL for me. So I'm rockin a 10mm pistol and a combat knife for now.
I also found the spirit dude.
So the game has definitely turned around for me now and I can enjoy it a lot more.

Thanks for the tips.

If you look around there's actually two people who can significantly boost your unarmed and melee skills. There's a guy in your starting village standing by the statue of a head dead centre, and a guy in the bar in klamath. Personally I only ever take one weapon as a starting focus, and it's always small guns. I build intelligence/agility character so I get tons of skill points per level. You can easily get your energy weapons up for the time comes when you need them, which is late game, without wasting focus on them.

Personally, I would ignore melee altogether. But after you learn from the two aforementioned sources don't be afraid to put some points into unarmed, it will come in handy later game. if you want to be a boxing champ in Reno, or a kung-fu master in San Fransisco it's pretty well crucial to your success.

But yeah, the temple is an AWFUL introduction to the game. Always felt that way. Klamath isn't anything to exciting either. Game really starts at the Den in my opinion. From there it really takes off.

[talgaby]

There is an exploit in San Francisco where you can get 101% Unarmed in a few days by training, plus you can use the army depots bags and the Reno boxing championship to boost it even more.
Of course for early game this means you need to get to Frisco in one piece… somehow.
Bottom line is: don't tag Unarmed, ever. :)