Fallout - Let's Play! (Part 1)

This is the start of a series of walkthrough hubs I've decided to do for Interplay's post-apocalyptic roleplaying game, Fallout. I sincerely feel that this game doesn't get the exposure it deserves. With that said, I'll be posting pictures and writing about the experiences my character faces as he tries to survive in a blasted wasteland.

First thing is first, so give me a moment while I install and start up the game...

Still there? Good! :D

The first thing that will greet you when you start the game is the introduction cinematic. Feel free to watch it, but I'm going to skip it. :P

Afterwards, we reach the main menu, which looks like this:

Notice the patch number. Version 1.2 is a European-only release that fixed some bugs present in the game. It was never released as a standalone patch, for reasons I do not know. A group of people decided to package the updated files in an archive for distribution to non-European players. That answers the question of how I have this version without being in Europe or owning a European version of the game. :P

Anyways, I'm going to click on New Game. Have a look at the screen that greets us now.

Here you have a small list of pregenerated characters you can pick from if you just want to jump into playing the game or don't feel like customizing one yourself. Of course, being the RPG fanboy I am, you know where I'm going (as if the cursor in the screenshot isn't enough indication already... :P).

So...*click*.

Welcome to the character customization screen! I'm going to explain what it's all about, and then post another pic when I'm done customizing my character, as posting pics of the process itself would take up a LOT of space and a fair amount of time as well.

So, first of all, I'm going to change my name, because being None is a bit silly:

Random NPC (Non-Player Character): What's your name, son?

Me: None.

Random NPC: Haha. Funny. Seriously, son, what's your name?

See what I mean? :o

(Of course, in practice, this will just fly over the NPC's collective heads if I do leave it to the default, but no thanks!)

Next, I'm going to set my age. I've found that your age has no relevance on what happens in the game proper, so I'm just going to set it to my actual age (22). I'll leave gender as-is. NPCs might react differently depending on your gender, so if you're ever curious, feel free to play a female (and vice-versa if you're a lady who usually plays female characters).

Next, let's take a look at my stats. Fallout has a total of seven stats, each one determining certain aspects of your character and modifying different skills (you can read each skill individually to see what stat or stats modifies what). To be fair, I'm going to be metagaming a lot (that is, making decisions based on what I already know of the game from previous playthroughs), so when I make a choice that may seem odd, keep that in mind. :P

For those of you who have decided to actually fire up your copy of the game and play along literally, then I'm going to list some tips for stats:

(You can get a copy of this game via direct download at GOG.com. It's usually priced at $5.99, unless you catch a promo, in which case it can be as cheap as $3.00).

• I'd recommend leaving ST at the default value, or even dropping it to 4 if you're hurting for points in other stats. If you've never played this game before, I'll eventually (whenever it comes up during the walkthrough) reveal why I'm doing this. For the rest of you, don't spoiler it for the newbies just yet. I'm dropping it to 4.
  
• PE increases your accuracy with ranged weaponry, which is a good 80 to 85 percent of everything you're going to be using, so I usually put this at 6 or 7. I'll take 6 in this stat for this playthrough. It also makes you act sooner in combat, but that's not such a critical thing usually.
  
• EN determines your Hit Points (along with ST; ST having a lesser effect on HP than EN though), as well as your resistances against Poison and Radiation. You may feel like you need more Hit Points, so feel free to put this at 6 or 7. However, I'm going to set this to a fair 4.
• CH. Charisma influences how likable you are, increasing the amount of companions that can join your party. I've beaten the game just fine without any companions, so I'm just going to leave this at the default level.
  
• IN. Oh, Intelligence. How I love you so. Among other things, this modifies conversation options and skill points obtained on level-up. I'm putting this all the way at 8.
• AG. This modifies the amount of Action Points you get to use during each combat turn. Increasing it to 6 will net you an extra Action Point and Armor Class, and it takes two more points (for a total of 8) to get the ninth Action Point. So, I'll just leave it at 6.
• LK. Ah, fickle Lady Luck herself. This skill modifies Critical Chance directly, and just about everything else indirectly (in a "behind-the-scenes" fashion). Having bad luck (below 4) will cause you to suffer from more critical failures, and meeting more negative random encounters in the wasteland. Having good luck (above 6) can affect your enemies with bad luck at times, and increases the chance of positive random encounters as you travel the world map. I'll set this stat to 7. Hopefully, Lady Luck will give me some love during the game. :)

So, that settles my stats. Next, I'm going to take a look at the optional traits. You are allowed to pick up to 2, and each one has an advantage and a disadvantage associated with it. Since I tend to pick the Skilled/Gifted combo in nearly every playthrough, I'm going to not go that route (if you're a beginning player, it's one of the best trait allocations in the game, earning you a whopping 7 bonus stat points, with the net drawbacks that you'll get a few less skill points per level and you'll only get perks every 4th level, instead of every 3rd level). Since my resistances to Poison and Radiation are already below average (thanks to 4 EN), I took Fast Metabolism. This trait increases your healing rate by 2, but zeroes out your Poison and Radiation resistances. While having 0 Poison Resistance is going to hurt in the early game, it won't be that bad (and there's ways to improve Radiation resistance, so it's all good in the end).

With that out of the way, I can now choose my tag skills. Tag skills get a 20% boost at character creation and the effects of skill points invested in them on character level-up are doubled. There are a whopping FIVE distinct combat skills in this game, and I'm going to choose Small Guns (if I wanted to go Unarmed or Melee, I would have gotten more ST). I don't recommend tagging more than one weapon skill if it's your first playthrough, and even if it's not (you can only use one weapon at a time you know!). Small Guns will get you through most of the game just fine. So, that leaves two. I'm going to Tag Lockpick and Speech. Both of these will come in handy for dealing with varied in-game situations.

So, I'm finally done with character customization! Say hello to my little friend! ;P

Well, with my character created, I can finally start this playthrough! The beginning of Winter's adventures will be published in the next hub.

(Cliffhangers aren't THAT bad!! Cheer up!! :P)

Until the next time, take care and have fun! ;)

-Winterfate