Fallout

Plot

The setting of Fallout

Taking place in the year 2161, the story of Fallout begins 84 years after a short but disastrous world war devastates the Earth and human society. Atomic war was occasioned by "Resource Wars" for petroleum and uranium. The game puts the player in the shoes of the Vault Dweller, an inhabitant of one of a series of government fallout shelters referred to as Vaults. This particular Vault, #13, is located in Southern California, and was intended to remain shut for 200 years. The player is tasked with finding replacement equipment for broken machinery within the vault and is sent out into the harsh wasteland to locate replacements. Throughout the course of the game, the player must help his home Vault get back on its feet and deal with an invasion from a mutant army which threatens to destroy all human life in the area.

Gameplay

Character Customization

Fallout is a turn-based role playing game, featuring a customizable character with basic attributes that can be improved over time using a system designed specifically for the game called SPECIAL (Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility and Luck). The player can also learn from 18 individual skills (which are partly derived from the SPECIAL configuration of the character), governing aspects of social interaction, healing, weapon use, and so on. Additionally, the game also tracks the moral/ethical qualities of the player through karma, and the game will react to the player differently depending on how the player has acted throughout the course of the game. For example, if the player has killed two or more children, a group of tough bounty hunters will be set loose to find and kill the player.

S.P.E.C.I.A.L.

• Strength governs the player's carry weight, hit points, and melee damage.
• Perception adjusts distance in encounters as well as dialogue options.
• Endurance affects healing rates, modifies hit points, and helps with different resistances.
• Charisma helps with some prices on goods as well as various NPC reactions to the player.
• Intelligence greatly affects NPC attitude toward the player as well as skill points per level.
• Agility is important as it regulates the amount of action and armor points available to the player.
• Luck affects critical chance and aids in gambling.

(Each skill can also be raised in game with the exception of Charisma and Luck.)

Skills

Combat Skills

Active Skills

Passive Skills

Traits

These are abilities chosen when you initially create your character. Up to two can be chosen and whichever Traits you select will be the only ones you have throughout the game. Every Trait, except Bloody Mess, has a drawback of some sort.

• Bloody Mess triggers violent death animations, but also changes the ending.
• Bruiser grants 2 to strength at the cost of -2 action points.
• Chem Reliant allows for faster recovery time from chem addictions, but doubles the chance of addiction.
• Chem Resistant halves the chance for addiction, but causes chems to last half as long.
• Fast Metabolism adds 2 to healing rate, but both resistances start at 0%.
• Fast Shot reduces the action point cost of throwing and firearms by 1, but also disables the targeting of specific body parts.
• Finesse boosts critical chance by 20%, but lowers overall damage by 30%.
• Gifted grants a 1 to all SPECIAL stats, but subtracts -10% to all skills and 5 less skill points per level up.
• Good Natured adds 15% to first aid, doctor, speech, and barter, but subtracts 10% from small guns, big guns, energy weapons, throwing, melee weapons, and unarmed.
• Heavy Handed adds 4 to melee damage, but detracts from critical hit chance by 30%.
• Jinxed causes more critical failures on the enemies behalf, but also for yourself.
• Kamikaze adds 5 to Sequence (quickness of reaction time), but the player has no natural armor class.
• Night Person adds 1 to Perception and Intelligence from between 6:01 PM and 6:00 AM, but subtracts -1 from both stats at 6:01 AM to 6:01 PM.
• One Hander adds a 20% chance to hit with one-handed weapons, but a -40% chance to hit with two-handed weapons.
• Skilled grants a 10% bonus to all skills, but causes the player to gain a perk every four levels instead of three.
• Small Frame grants 1 to agility, but lowers the amount of weight that the player can carry.

Perks

Perks are similar to Traits except that they do not have any drawbacks. You get to choose one every three levels- -unless you have the Skilled Trait-- and some can be chosen multiple times. There are a total of 53 perks available to the player in the game. Here's a list, displayed in alphabetical order.

Combat

The battle system in Fallout is turn-based, but certain factors determine the amount and type of actions that a player is able to perform per turn. When combat mode is entered, a player's actions per turn are limited by their AP

(Action Points). The number of AP a player gets per turn depends on their Agility attribute. Certain weapons use more AP than others, but the player can also choose to take a targeted shot with their weapons, using one more AP but potentially causing more damage or inflicting conditions onto the enemy. Other actions that consume AP are walking, accessing the inventory, and interacting with items in the game world (such as doors).

Non-Combat Skills

Although the combat system is usually a large portion of Fallout's game play, what is often said to set the game apart is the fact that players can explore the entire game rarely (if ever) fighting anything, should they choose to do so. Skills such as Speech (which allows the character to have more dialogue options and a greater influence on NPC's) and Science (which allows the character to interact with computers throughout the game world) allow players a greater freedom in how they interact with their environment.

Weapons

RANGED weapons can roughly be divided in 4 main groups:

• Small Guns

1. Pistols
2. SMGs
3. Rifles
4. Shotguns

• Big Guns

• Energy Weapons

1. Pistols
2. Rifles

• Throwing Weaponry

Small Guns

Pistols

Submachine Guns

Rifles

Shotguns

Big Guns

Energy Weapons

Pistols

Rifles

Throwing Weaponry

Melee Weaponry is in turn traditionally divided in 3 main groups:

• Common Melee Weapons

• Powered Melee Weapons

• Unarmed

Common Melee Weaponry

Powered Melee Weaponry

Unarmed

Finally, there are also a couple of explosives available to the player.

Explosives

Armor

NPC Followers

In Fallout, the Player was able to recruit a couple of NPCs, who helped in his journey. Special requirements were needed to make them join. Charisma also played great role in number of available companions.

Many criticized Fallout's team system, because of the teammates' poor AI and clunky system of inventory management. Despite that, gamers and critics alike praised the fact that NPCs in Fallout were characters worth remembering.

Here's the list of all available NPCs:

• Ian -- Found in Shady Sands. Skilled with knives, pistols and sub-machine guns (well, in theory, as giving him SMG often resulted in couple of bullets in player's back). Joined, if the player paid him.
• Tandi -- daughter of an elder in Shady Sands, kidnapped by Raiders. She followed the protagonist until he returned her to her father. Not very skilled in combat.
• Dogmeat -- Dog found in Junktown. Joined if the player's character fed him or showed up in Mad Max style leather jacket. Considered by many as one of the best NPCs in video games history, not only for his surprisingly good combat skills, but also for his lovable loyalty to the player. According to Fallout canon, Dogmeat died in Mariposa Military Base, but he can be befriended again during one of the Random Encounters in Fallout 2 and returns again as a recruitable character in Fallout 3.
• Tycho -- Shotgun specialist from Junktown. Joined the team to get rid of scums in his city and followed the character after the quest was finished.
• Katja -- member of the Followers of the Apocalypse, found in "Blades" Section of Boneyard (ruined Los Angeles). Character had to have pretty high speech skill and Charisma to make use of her talents. Her weapon of choice was spear and a pistol (and she was better at shooting than Ian)

Communities

Fallout's towns and communities are quite memorable, each displaying unique types of social organization and economic development as a response to life after a nuclear apocalypse. Some communities are more like factions that are major players in the storyline and game universe. The way each community is structured in turn affects the attitude of the town's inhabitants towards outsiders and what kind of quests the player can take on.

Vault 13

The Vault in which the protagonist has been raised and is compelled to leave could be considered a utopia. Compared to the rigours of the Wasteland, the vault is well-ordered, able to provide for the needs of its inhabitants, free of radiation and typically lacking in social problems. If anything, the vault dwellers have a tendency towards hostility towards the outside world, wishing to have nothing to do with it for fear of contamination. As the Vault Dweller spends more time outside the vault, the less he is able to continue to fit in to this closed society. Technology has a vital role for sustaining those who live inside the vault. Computers transmit and preserve information, and take care of essentials like water supply and food production. Every inhabitant has a role that contributes to the good of the whole under the benevolent guidance of the Overseer who provides direction. The jumpsuit, the iconic uniform of Vault 13, indicates that it is (at least in principle) a classless society.

Shady Sands

This struggling agricultural community is generally the first the player encounters on his or her travels. The community has not reached a particularly high state of technological advancement; although they farm, which provides their subsistence, they have not even heard of crop rotation. Besides farmers, the town is inhabited by a town leader, guards, and a doctor. Due to the low degree of social stratification the community appears relatively unified and harmonious. However, because of their peaceful ways and technological inadequacy, Shady Sands is quite vulnerable to outside threats. This leaves them slightly on edge when it comes to interacting with outsiders, although they are not entirely unwelcoming if one's intentions are peaceful. The player can if desired help the town deal with its two main problems: the Khan raiders and radscorpions.

The Raiders

Not much is known about the Khans, a clan of Raiders, as they are extremely hostile to outsiders unless they prove themselves to be as psychopathic and violent as they are themselves. Borrowing from films such as Mad Max, this group represents a regression into tribalism and lawlessness. They are led by a patriarchal leader who commands based on strength and fear. Except for a few female Raiders, women are enslaved as prostitutes, showing the contempt they have for those they capture. Instead of producing anything for themselves, the Raiders pillage from others to satisfy their wants. The interaction that the Vault Dweller can have with the Raiders is unsurprisingly limited, short of challenging the leader or wiping them out entirely.

Junktown

Although still a relatively small town, Junktown is considerably more advanced than Shady Sands. Social differentiation is more obvious: a bar, casino, doctor, sporting bouts, trading, a hotel and so on indicate the beginnings of a capitalistic economy, particularly leisure industries. However, agriculture remains important. With increased size and prosperity also comes social problems. Killian, as mayor of the town, is struggling against the organized crime boss Gizmo as well as the gang violence of the Skullz. Junktown has something of a Wild West feel to it, showing some signs of technological advancement but still with an element of lawlessness. The player can decide to tip the balance towards lawfulness or crime, however.

The Hub

The Hub, as suggested, is the center of trade in the region. The city is mostly under the rule of law, and its prominent bodies are various merchant guilds. These are mostly trading companies that send guarded caravans to transport goods throughout the wasteland, but also providers of services such as the Water Merchants. The Hub has a sophisticated trade in books, pharmaceuticals, weapons, loans, and other such essentials. Although The Hub still has a strong agricultural base, it has much more severe social differentiation. Besides the prosperous merchants there are also drug addicts, slum-dwellers and other such signs of class division. There is also a much more well-organized crime boss, Decker, who attempts to maintain some control over the Hub's affairs. The Hub is extremely well-policed, indicating that the rule of law is still quite strong, in order to defend the interests of the various capitalistic organizations.

Boneyard

Similarly to the Hub, the Boneyard displays a considerable degree of technological advancement. it has knowledge of chemistry and smithing, and is able to grow crops hydroponically. However, it is is a police state. Surrounded by a cage, farmers are forced to work are forced to work for the benefit of the armed soldiers ruling them and the mayor, a figurehead for the oppressive social order. The Razors just outside of the city proper are a gang, but one based on mutual support rather than criminality. They wish to see the soldiers overthrown and the Boneyard freed of their tyranny. Unsurprisingly, the rulers do not view outsiders in a friendly fashion, wishing to keep things as they are and monitoring closely for signs of dissent.

Followers of the Apocalypse

Akin to a monastic order, the Followers wish to preserve the knowledge that has been mostly lost since the war. Their goal is primarily to spread enlightened ideas throughout the region and prevent the recurrence of such conflict. They are closely monitoring the Brotherhood, as they do not take their religion at face value. Although they have a matriarchal leadership structure, there seems to be no rigid social divisions to speak of; like Vault 13, the Children could be considered a utopian community based on the mutual pursuit of knowledge.

Brotherhood of Steel

The Brotherhood's insignia

As indicated by their ranks (knight, scribe, and paladin) the Brotherhood combine a medieval social structure with a religious fervor for technology. A militaristic order, besides preserving technology they also devote significant resources to training, weapons R&D, medical research for physical enhancement, and so on. Although they are by far the most technologically advanced community in the wasteland, they jealously preserve their knowledge and do not willingly share it with others. They are also simply not interested in having dealings with outsiders except for merchants. They send the Vault Dweller on what is presumed a suicide mission if he wishes to join their order. The medievalism of the Brotherhood is reflected in its rigid command structure. The leader of the Paladin, Rhombus, and the Elders command lower ranking members under military discipline. They also have a head librarian, Vree, dedicated to the preservation of knowledge and research. The Brotherhood is a strictly regimented military organization, and this is reflected in how their base is laid out. Although they are not self-sufficient, the Brotherhood trades some of their technology in return for the necessities of life.

Children of the Cathedral

Like the Followers, the Vault, and the Brotherhood, the Children value order highly. However, they also happen to be religious fanatics that seek to impose unity not just on their own community but also on everyone else. They have a typical religious leadership structure. This community is the most actively hostile towards the others in the region, demonstrating a medieval level of tolerance (or lack thereof) for differences of opinion.

Special Encounters

In the barren wasteland the player can discover special encounters, depending on the Luck skill. These range from rare items to amusing (but useless) sequences.

Bob's Used Car Mart

Bob's Used Car Mart

Bob has, unfortunately, had a little too much radiation for his own good. He will try and sell the player a "used car" that has gone through his patented "100 point service"; these cars are all junk and useless. But if the player explores Bob's hut they will discover two BB guns and ammo.

Crashed Alien Spaceship

Crashed Alien Spaceship

Half buried in the sand, two alien skeletons lie beside the ship. On these bodies can be found the "Alien Blaster" arguably the best weapon in the game; although it is not the strongest, it is lightweight and so is its ammo.

The Giant "Three Pronged" Footprint

The Three Pronged Footprint

A single large three pronged footprint imprinted in the sand. In the center is a squished mass of body-parts; on this unrecognizable body can be found "the stealthboy."

The Wild Brahmin

Wild talking Brahmin

A random herd of Brahmin (two-headed cows), as the player gets closer they speak phrases like: "Moo" and "Moo, I say." Amusing, but utterly useless.

The Over-Turned Nuka-Cola Truck

The Nuke-a-Cola truck

Depending on the Luck skill, the player can find in a crate, up to 10,765 caps (the currency of Fallout). With a low luck skill players may only find 1 cap.

The Police Box

The Tardis

In a reference to the "Tardis" from "Doctor Who," as the player gets closer it disappears leaving a motion detector in it's place.

Voice Talents

The Game features the iconic voice talent of Ron Perlman as the narrator. One of Perlman's lines from the prologue became a catchphrase for the series: "War. War never changes." Many other well known actors appear in the game, such as: Clancy Brown as Rhombus, CCH Pounder as Vree, Tony Shalhoub as Aradesh, Richard Dean Anderson as Killian, Keith David as Decker and Tony Jay as The Lieutenant.

Critical Reception

Although Fallout came out more than a decade ago and is thus hard to find many reviews for, a Gamerankings average of 91.92% and Metacritic of 89 suggests a high degree of critical acclaim (both from a sample of 12 reviews). According to Desslock's review on Gamespot, Fallout "oozes style", is destined to become a classic, and is easily one of the best role-playing game of the past few years (8.7/10). This opinion is echoed by other gaming sites that consider Fallout a standout for RPGs in the '90s (PC Gamer 90/100, Electric Playground 90/100).

Though the game received near-universal praise, one common point of criticism was leveled at the main quest, which could end the game prematurely if not completed within a certain number of days. Many reviewers found the time limit on the main quest, as well as the possibility of failing the game outright, to be unnecessarily restrictive. Due to the number of complaints, a later patch removed this time limit, allowing the player more freedom to approach the game at their own pace.

Availability

The original retail version of Fallout can be purchased from most major online retailers; brick-and-mortar retailers also have a Fallout Trilogy Pack that contains Fallout, Fallout 2, and Fallout Tactics.

Fallout is also now available on the Gametap for free.

CD Projekt's service GOG (Good Old Games), which launched in September 2008, features Fallout, as well as its sequel, as one of its launch titles.

Fallout, its sequels and spin-offs, are all available on Valve's Steam service. Fallout, Fallout 2, and Fallout Tactics come in a package for $19.99, while each can be purchased individually for $9.99.

Soundtrack

The original score for Fallout was written and composed by Mark Morgan.

System Requirements

• CPU Type: Pentium
• CPU Speed: 90 MHz
• Hard Disk Space: 80 MB
• OS Version: 5.0
• RAM Required: 16 MB
• Graphics Type: SVGA
• Graphics Resolution: Multiple Resolutions