Author Topic: The Price of Fallout  (Read 8947 times)

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Offline headdie

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Re: The Price of Fallout
I just happen to think that the lack of any kind of tutorial or help of any kind whatsoever aside from the manual that is easily lost/misplaced/not present if you buy it second hand is a bad design characteristic and shouldn't be considered anything but.

On the Contrare, I think it could be considered as an asset. The lack of a in-depth manual or tutorial helps preset the mood of the Fallout character: You have barely an idea what's going on, and you have absolutely no experience with the "outside" before.

Thus, while your playing the game for the first time, you see the Fallout universe in the perspective as your rather noob character, giving an element of immersion of its own.

Similarly, when you die less than fifty meters outside your Vault because the Random Event maker decided you need to fight a pack of mole rats before you get anything more substantial than a 10 mm pistol, you die.  Which immediately kills all immersion as you either recreate a character because you've been playing for ~15 minutes or you navigate the save menu because you've died that way already.

you shouldn't be getting mole rats until you enter the abandoned vault, which is full of them, you need to divert into the village you see en route and look for some additional kit.
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Offline z64555

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Re: The Price of Fallout
Quote
Similarly, when you die less than fifty meters outside your Vault because the Random Event maker decided you need to fight a pack of mole rats before you get anything more substantial than a 10 mm pistol, you die.  Which immediately kills all immersion as you either recreate a character because you've been playing for ~15 minutes or you navigate the save menu because you've died that way already.

you shouldn't be getting mole rats until you enter the abandoned vault, which is full of them, you need to divert into the village you see en route and look for some additional kit.

Random Encounters sometimes think otherwise. :(
« Last Edit: May 01, 2012, 03:41:25 am by z64555 »
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Offline TrashMan

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Re: The Price of Fallout
Having to learn a game through trial and error because it tells you nothing and gives you no opportunity to learn anything certainly qualifies though.  In Fallout, the only way to learn what works and what doesn't is to die repeatedly or look it up somewhere else.  That's not good game design.

Fortunately, I think the quality of the content gets past that, but I won't sugarcoat it and say that the beginning of the game is user friendly.

I wouldn't call it user-unfriendly either. I never had trouble with the game start. It's not easy, but it's hardly unintuitive. There's descriptions of stats, skills and perks, and it doesn't take a genious to prioritize.

Given that games of today spoon-feed you everything, I see how not having everything told to you at hte very start may seem harsh.
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Offline headdie

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Re: The Price of Fallout
Having to learn a game through trial and error because it tells you nothing and gives you no opportunity to learn anything certainly qualifies though.  In Fallout, the only way to learn what works and what doesn't is to die repeatedly or look it up somewhere else.  That's not good game design.

Fortunately, I think the quality of the content gets past that, but I won't sugarcoat it and say that the beginning of the game is user friendly.

I wouldn't call it user-unfriendly either. I never had trouble with the game start. It's not easy, but it's hardly unintuitive. There's descriptions of stats, skills and perks, and it doesn't take a genious to prioritize.

Given that games of today spoon-feed you everything, I see how not having everything told to you at hte very start may seem harsh.

Elite should be fun then ;)
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Offline Klaustrophobia

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Re: The Price of Fallout
the GOG installer gives you the manual.  it's fkin 147 pages long though.  i don't want to read ALL that before i start playing.  i got to the part where it walked you through getting out of the first cave, and then went off talking about character stats, i think it was.  the manual is alright, and the in-game stats screens do pretty well at describing things, but i still feel like i've got very little grasp on the actual gameplay mechanics.  so the gun says it does 5-12 (or something like that) damage.  why did i hit something and do 3 damage?  why did i get a "critical hit" and do ONE damage?  i've got incredibly high "unarmed" skill, does that mean i'm better off with my fists than with a knife or brass knuckles?  what the eff is armor class and what is it doing for me?  i couldn't tell the difference between 7 and 25.  and what the hell are all these items supposed to do?  how does resting work vs. first aid vs. doctor?  so i accidentally started a fight, how do i get out of it without having to kill the entire raider camp?  and why does my wingman go running headlong into a group of 4 of them and die in 2 turns, even though i thought i told him to stay close?  how do i outfit him anyway?  CAN i outfit him?  etc.

that stuff aside, the interface and controls i find to be a bit clumsy.  not a surprise for a game this old though.
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Offline headdie

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Re: The Price of Fallout
I am sorry if this is insulting but, how many RPG's have you player, eg Bauldors gate, Ice Wind Dale, and that sort of character sheet roll of the dice games?
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Offline Mika

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Re: The Price of Fallout
Quote
Of course, and I nearly wore out the manuals for games like Descent from reading them so much.  I'm sure the original Fallout had a lovely thick physical manual as well.  Whether or not the Steam copy happens to have manual access doesn't really affect my point either way, as I'd assert that the overall concept of needing to peruse a manual before playing a game is an outdated one...not just because the manual might get separated from the game, but mostly because it's an immediate immersion-killer, an up-front barrier to entry that could be handled much more elegantly by in-game means.  It reminds me of those times when you're trying to play a new board game and have to spend a good 10 or 15 minutes poring through the instruction sheet to figure out how the hell to play it...sometimes, by the end, the game barely seems worth playing anymore.

I, on the contrary, like the manual intro a lot more than in-game intro, this depends completely on person - I find the book intro more fascinating because it's my imagination doing all the work. I do have the Fallout manual (the game mechanics and basically an intro section is described quite well in it), and loved reading through it, it even included a nuclear explosion effect tables up to 40 kms away! I don't remember the beginning of the game being that hard, though I think I did die a couple of first times in the random events. So nothing too bad compared to some ridiculously hard games of that era. But I do believe that the Fallout's random encounter generator might be working too often with modern computers.

Strike Eagle III had a printed booklet of 200 pages of instructions, Falcon Gold package has several books describing all war theaters, basic flying tactics, descriptions of all airplanes etc. Those were quite a fascinating read. And I won't even start talking about Falcon 4:AF's 700+ pages long manual.

Quote
the GOG installer gives you the manual.  it's fkin 147 pages long though.  i don't want to read ALL that before i start playing.  i got to the part where it walked you through getting out of the first cave, and then went off talking about character stats, i think it was.  the manual is alright, and the in-game stats screens do pretty well at describing things, but i still feel like i've got very little grasp on the actual gameplay mechanics.  so the gun says it does 5-12 (or something like that) damage.  why did i hit something and do 3 damage?  why did i get a "critical hit" and do ONE damage?  i've got incredibly high "unarmed" skill, does that mean i'm better off with my fists than with a knife or brass knuckles?  what the eff is armor class and what is it doing for me?  i couldn't tell the difference between 7 and 25.  and what the hell are all these items supposed to do?  how does resting work vs. first aid vs. doctor?  so i accidentally started a fight, how do i get out of it without having to kill the entire raider camp?  and why does my wingman go running headlong into a group of 4 of them and die in 2 turns, even though i thought i told him to stay close?  how do i outfit him anyway?  CAN i outfit him?  etc.

that stuff aside, the interface and controls i find to be a bit clumsy.  not a surprise for a game this old though.

* If I recall right, 5-12 is the possible damage that weapon could inflict. If somebody wears an armor, that absorbs the impact partially, I don't exactly remember the mechanics for that, but higher armor class = better and allows the possibility of receiving no damage.
* Dexterity stat had something to do with enemy possibly missing the shot too.
* Skills describe how good you are at doing something; high unarmed means you have a better chance of hitting somebody, but the damage is determined otherwise (strength stat and the equipment IIRC).
* Fallout allows even zero damage criticals, usually resulting that enemy misses his turn and possibly affecting his stats too (wait till you see a critical with a rifle...).
* Criticals tend to affect the stats until a doctor is seen.
* You get out of the fight by walking over the edge area of the map. But I don't see why I should be telling you since the manual tells all this.

What is not said in the manual is that the stats are more important than perks and that game offers no possibilities of improving your stats - unless you do Mentats or other temporary bonus stuff.
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Offline Klaustrophobia

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Re: The Price of Fallout
I am sorry if this is insulting but, how many RPG's have you player, eg Bauldors gate, Ice Wind Dale, and that sort of character sheet roll of the dice games?

none.  this is new territory to me.  and i understand that and expected to have a learning curve to go through.  but i'd say that requiring the player to already be familiar with such things is poor design.  like others mentioned before, i haven't found a way to learn these things other than searching the internet for it.  i don't like that game mechanics that i should understand in order to be able to play the game well are pretty well hidden.  maybe it does explain in the rest of the manual i haven't read yet.  that would be cool.
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Offline headdie

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Re: The Price of Fallout
fair enough, short version

AC = Armour Class = ability to resist damage

damage 5-15 = damage before modifiers like armour
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Offline BloodEagle

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Re: The Price of Fallout
what the eff is armor class and what is it doing for me?

I am never responding to any of your comments on games, ever again.  No offense intended.

 
Re: The Price of Fallout
1) so the gun says it does 5-12 (or something like that) damage.  why did i hit something and do 3 damage?
2) why did i get a "critical hit" and do ONE damage?
3) i've got incredibly high "unarmed" skill, does that mean i'm better off with my fists than with a knife or brass knuckles?
4) what the eff is armor class and what is it doing for me?  i couldn't tell the difference between 7 and 25.
5) and what the hell are all these items supposed to do?
6) how does resting work vs. first aid vs. doctor?
7) so i accidentally started a fight, how do i get out of it without having to kill the entire raider camp?
8) and why does my wingman go running headlong into a group of 4 of them and die in 2 turns, even though i thought i told him to stay close?
9) how do i outfit him anyway?  CAN i outfit him?
10) etc.

Note:  As I answer these questions, I'm going to be indicating whether or not the information can be found in the manual and/or in-game.  I'm not trying to be condescending, but as the quality of the in- and out-of-game documentation as in question, it seems worth noting.

1 & 2)  Your gun's base damage, per shot, is 5 - 12.  This does not reflect effects that adjust damage to the target, like the target's armor.  Armor, in Fallout, has a threshold, and a percentage reduction.  For example, against normal damage, a piece of armor might be rated 4/15%.  In that example, a hit from your 5 - 12 damage pistol is knocked down to 1 - 8 damage by the threshold, and reduced another 15% to a minimum of one from there.  A zero damage hit would result from the threshold being higher than the damage roll from that hit.  The percentage reduction can only reduce the hit's damage to one.  As to your one-damage critical, your gun's damage roll came out such that, after the threshold and percentage reductions, only one point of damage got through.  (This is explained both in the manual and to a lesser extent on the character screen.)

3)  In Fallout, your weapon skill affects your likelihood to hit and, in the case of guns and thrown weapons, the effective range.  If you focus on your unarmed skill, you will be able to frequently hit with punching weapons, such as your fists, brass knuckles, and spiked knuckles.  (This is explained both in the manual and on the character screen.)

4)  Armor class is an indication of your ability to avoid being hit altogether.  The number is an abstraction, not a direct percentage chance of avoiding a hit, but higher is definately better.   (This is explained both in the manual and on the character screen.)

5)  In your inventory, hold the right mouse down, and move the mouse up/down, until the binoculars are highlighted.  Upon releasing the mouse button, the item description will open in the info panel.  (This is explained in the manual.)

6)  First Aid is a skill check that, when successful heals a small amount of damage.  It takes time, regardless of success.  Doctor is a skill check that functions similarly, except that it heals more damage and can repair wounded limbs.  First Aid and Doctor can be used three times each between periods of rest.  Rest heals hit point damage at a rate based on your Endurance stat.  Depending on how skilled in First Aid and/or Doctor you are, resting will generally take more in-game time than healing via those skills.  If you're not highly skilled with First Aid/Doctor, though, then the time eaten up by failed checks can make resting the faster means of healing.  (This is explained in the manual and in-game.)

7)  You can escape a fight by fleeing the map.  If it's a big map, and you can manage to get outside of all enemies' awareness, before leaving the map, you can try the end combat button, below the end turn button, but be aware that most enemies will keep searching for you, once combat is ended.  Generally speaking, the fight will resume, if you are found or return to the area.  Random encounters don't plop a location down on the map, though, so if you flee a random encounter, you don't need to worry about getting jumped by the same group of enemies over and over again in that specific spot.  (The end combat button is discussed in the manual.  Fleeing the area you're supposed to be able to deduce on your own.)

8)  Indicating to party members that you want them to stay close only affects their following distance out of combat.  The combat AI for NPCs is pretty simplistic.  The combat AI for allies is the same as the one for enemies, but your enemies have a bit of a numbers advantage, so the headlong rush is typically more effective and sensible for them than your allies.  (Allies are not addressed in the game's documentation.)

9)  In Fallout 1, you can barter with your AI allies to provide them with better equipment.  When combat starts, they'll select the best weapon and armor in their possession that they're capable of using.   (Allies are not addressed in the game's documentation.  As a side-note, Fallout 2 is a little more fully-featured, with regards to allies.  In the sequel, bartering to swap out equipment is no longer necessary, and there's more robust behavior controls.)

10)  You'll have to be more specific.  :P

[edit]

On the subject of in-game tutorials, Fallout 1 and Fallout 2 provide an object lesson in no tutorial being better than a bad tutorial.  The Temple of Trials is the tutorial stage of Fallout 2, and it's a giant pain in the ass.  In a game that allowed for a surprising number of diplomatic solutions, the Temple of Trials was almost solely focused on combat that could not be bypassed.  In a game that strongly favored the use of firearms, the Temple of Trials only made unarmed and melee class weapons available.  A character well-built for the Temple of Trials would have trouble with much of the rest of the game due to the poor selection of unarmed and melee weapons, until the mid-late/late-late game, and a character well-built for the rest of the game will have a very tough time in the Temple of Trials, due to the lack of weapons more advanced than knives and spears or any means of bypassing most of the combat encounters.

Fallout, like most RPGs of its era, came with an exhaustive manual and expected you to read it or keep it around to reference, should you have questions like the ones above.  That being said, it's not impossible or even all that difficult to learn the basics of the game without that documentation.  I originally picked up Fallout and its sequel as a dual-jewel bundle that Interplay released, many moons ago, without any supporting documentation included.  There's ample in-game information by which to learn the game, even though it isn't presented as a tutorial.  You just have to make a point to read it, as it's presented.  If there's something on the character generation screen that leaves you wondering, click on it, and read the info-box.  If something about combat leaves you wondering, look at your own character's stats, and you can probably figure out what's going on upon closer inspection.

Now, Fallout's difficulty curve may come across as harsh, but that's a separate issue.  It's true that the random encounter system pulls no punches, particularly in the early game, and particularly if you've a low outdoorsman skill.  You're not meant to win every fight that the random encounter system can throw at you, early on.  Most of those possible encounters, though, involve enemies that must close to melee range before attacking, and unless you've deliberately nerfed your character, you can either run fast enough to get away without them getting an attack in (or you can run fast enough to kite them all over the map, whilst taking pot shots, until everything is dead, and you're two levels ahead of what the next few areas expect you to be.)

In short, Fallout won't coddle you, but it will certainly make sure you have the information you need to be successful.

[/edit]
« Last Edit: May 01, 2012, 11:08:39 am by BlueFlames »

 

Offline z64555

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Re: The Price of Fallout
What is not said in the manual is that the stats are more important than perks and that game offers no possibilities of improving your stats - unless you do Mentats or other temporary bonus stuff.

This is not completely true, the Brotherhood of Steel bunker has a cute docter that can raise any of your stat's by 1 pt in exchange for caps and time (At most 5 weeks, I think). She especially likes the Endurance implants. ;7

6)  ... If you're not highly skilled with First Aid/Doctor, though, then the time eaten up by failed checks can make resting the faster means of healing.  (This is explained in the manual and in-game.)

A failed First Aid/Docter action will take up double the time than a successful action. In Fallout 1, First Aid generally isn't neccassary since you have access to a bunch of stimpaks once you start getting some jobs in the Hub.

Quote
7)  You can escape a fight by fleeing the map.  If it's a big map, and you can manage to get outside of all enemies' awareness, before leaving the map, you can try the end combat button, below the end turn button, but be aware that most enemies will keep searching for you, once combat is ended.  Generally speaking, the fight will resume, if you are found or return to the area.  Random encounters don't plop a location down on the map, though, so if you flee a random encounter, you don't need to worry about getting jumped by the same group of enemies over and over again in that specific spot.  (The end combat button is discussed in the manual.  Fleeing the area you're supposed to be able to deduce on your own.)

Some special RE's do plop a location on the map, especially in Fallout 2. These types of RE's are very hard to find though, since they can occur anywhere and don't maintain that spot from game to game. You have a higher chance of finding these special RE's by having a high Perception, and a high Outdoors skill. There's 2 or 3 perks that also increase your chances, which is a good thing, because some of these special RE's have equally special loot, like a Stealthboy or a solar laser pistol (Fallout 2).

Quote
On the subject of in-game tutorials, Fallout 1 and Fallout 2 provide an object lesson in no tutorial being better than a bad tutorial.  The Temple of Trials is the tutorial stage of Fallout 2, and it's a giant pain in the ass.  In a game that allowed for a surprising number of diplomatic solutions, the Temple of Trials was almost solely focused on combat that could not be bypassed.

The Temple of Trials was actually a very good thing to do, even though that Fallout 2 generally favors Firearms, in the beginning of the game, ammo is very hard to get unless you've got sticky fingers in the Den. ;) During that time, you have to distribute your skill points very carefully - you can't dump them into your Tag skills right away like in Fallout 1.
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Re: The Price of Fallout
Ah, I remember Fallout. I got 1, 2, and Tactics all on a collection disc, and of course with no manual. I was able to figure it out pretty well, though I had a strong foundation in RPGs and other no-tutorial DOS games.

Nowadays though, I love a good tutorial, and find modern games lacking them to be hard to get into. Probably why I never gave Galactic Civilizations 2 a good chance.

Anyway, a hint for you, Klaustrophobia: Deathclaws. Run away as fast as possible. No exceptions until you get a sniper rifle, good assault rifle, or an decent heavy weapon and the skill to use whatever you're carrying. Aim for the legs, hobble 'em and wear 'em out, unless you're reasonably sure you can blast 'em through the eye at 50 yards.

 

Offline z64555

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Re: The Price of Fallout
Speaking of tips, "Use" a flare to light it. Then you can use it in dark areas to increase your probability of hitting targets lit up by the flare.

Throwing the flare consumes only 1 AP, but be sure to light it before combat otherwise you have to access inventory, light it, and stick it into your hand... much more AP's and time.
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Re: The Price of Fallout
Some special RE's do plop a location on the map, especially in Fallout 2. These types of RE's are very hard to find though, since they can occur anywhere and don't maintain that spot from game to game. You have a higher chance of finding these special RE's by having a high Perception, and a high Outdoors skill.

In Fallout 1, no random encounters create new map locations.  The engine didn't support adding new areas to the map on-the-fly, until that feature was added during Fallout 2's development.  Even the special random encounters are gone, once you've left them, in Fallout 1.  Moreover, those special random encounters pop up as a matter of your luck stat, not your perception.  Perception has no effect on the likelihood of any kind of random encounter, and outdoorsman can allow you to bypass random encounters, not adjust your chance of getting special encounters.

Quote
Quote
On the subject of in-game tutorials, Fallout 1 and Fallout 2 provide an object lesson in no tutorial being better than a bad tutorial.  The Temple of Trials is the tutorial stage of Fallout 2, and it's a giant pain in the ass.  In a game that allowed for a surprising number of diplomatic solutions, the Temple of Trials was almost solely focused on combat that could not be bypassed.

The Temple of Trials was actually a very good thing to do, even though that Fallout 2 generally favors Firearms, in the beginning of the game, ammo is very hard to get unless you've got sticky fingers in the Den. ;) During that time, you have to distribute your skill points very carefully - you can't dump them into your Tag skills right away like in Fallout 1.

Ammo is scarce-ish, early in Fallout 2.  Klamath is your first stop, outside of Arroyo, and there's some decent, lightweight quests you can do to earn some scratch, with which you can buy enough ammo to keep you going for a little while.  If you pick and choose your fights wisely, you're not going to have much trouble, once you're out of the Temple of Trials, where you can't pick and choose your fights.  Moreover, you can't skip the Temple of Trials.  If you want to play Fallout 2, and you don't have a post-Temple save that you want to work from, then you've got to slog through it.  The rest of the game is certainly rewarding enough to make it worth the effort, but it can be a needlessly frustrating way to start.

To your point about not over-specializing, RPG systems, in general (and neither Fallout title is an exception), reward specialization.  You either do a few things really well, or you do a bunch of stuff so poorly that you can't handle any encounters meant for your level.  At the start of Fallout 2, you either specialize for the tutorial and have a difficult time in the mid-game; you specialize for the mid- and late-game and have a hard time with the temple, or you generalize early on, and the late game winds up being unnecessarily difficult, because you've got some of your finite skill points tied up in skills you can't make use of, since you couldn't continue developing them.  (Or you try generalizing throughout and don't make it to the late game at all.)

Mandatory tutorials also do quite a job on reducing replay value.  There's a whole lot more to do in Fallout 2 than in its predecessor, but I play Fallout 1 more often than Fallout 2.  Even if the Temple of Trials was an amazing teaching tool, instead of a frustrating, extended combat encounter, I could still get into a replay of Fallout 1 more easily, knowing that all I'd have to do to get started again is build a character and get going, without faffing around being taught about a game I already know inside and out.  I also know that I've got more freedom to experiment with character builds in Fallout 1, since those characters don't have to survive a combat-intensive tutorial, prior to getting to the meat of the game.  Yes, you make a tutorial for newbies, not veterans, but eventually newbies will become veterans, and they won't want to have to replay the tutorial again to get to the meat of the game either.

A well-designed and optional tutorial is a great feature to include with a game, but the Temple of Trials was neither well-designed nor optional.

 

Offline Fury

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Re: The Price of Fallout
I'd say that the most important stat in Fallout 1 and 2 are the action points, which are gained through agility as well as action boy, bonus move and bonus rate of fire perks. I usually made a starting character that had 8 agility points, the rest were put into intelligence, which allowed you to gain more skill points when leveling up. During the game you have several opportunities to increase all of your stats, so starting with 5 in other stats than agility and intelligence isn't as bad as it sounds. Going above 8 when creating new character is kinda wasteful. Agility also gives bonus to small guns, which really helps you out early and mid game. For perks I always picked Educated and Swift learner as my starting perks, since it helps leveling up skills as quickly as possible. You should consider picking up the action boy perk many times when you're given chance to pick up new perks in level up.

So, with many AP's available to you, you usually have the opportunity to either shoot more or hit melee and retreat as far as you can. The opponent wastes his own AP's in closing to you, I had plenty of fights early on where the opponent didn't have enough AP's to hit my character after closing in, which allowed me to kill it rather effortlessly by hitting and retreating. Do also note that you can have more AP's than ten even if interface only shows up to ten.
« Last Edit: May 02, 2012, 04:05:45 am by Fury »

 

Offline TrashMan

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Re: The Price of Fallout
none.  this is new territory to me.  and i understand that and expected to have a learning curve to go through.  but i'd say that requiring the player to already be familiar with such things is poor design. 

Actually, most things are designed like this.

Plenty of games don't look complicated, because they follow the same design principle, so you are familiar with it. You don't even think about it. you played several FPS's, you don't need a manual or tutorial, you'll get the hand in minutes.
RPGs are in general far more complex games, but once you played several RPG's, you don't even look at manuals anymore.
I never once looked at a manual while playing Fallout...but I played other RPGs before that, so I had no problems.
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Re: The Price of Fallout
*good advice*

So, with many AP's available to you, you usually have the opportunity to either shoot more or hit melee and retreat as far as you can. The opponent wastes his own AP's in closing to you, I had plenty of fights early on where the opponent didn't have enough AP's to hit my character after closing in, which allowed me to kill it rather effortlessly by hitting and retreating. Do also note that you can have more AP's than ten even if interface only shows up to ten.

I believe you can have up to 15 AP.
Fun fact: picking fast shot + Having 10 in agility + bonus rate of fire + action boy/girl + sniffing 2 vials of jet result in you being able to fire several small guns and energy weapons 6 times a round.
Other fun fact: having 10 in agility + action boy/girl + 2*jet + bonus hand to hand attacks + slayer + mega power fist produces the same kind of result, but with melee attacks (although people tend to fly to the other side of the screen every hit or two).
Final fun fact: Gifted is probably the most overpowered trait you can pick, especially in Fallout 2 where it basically allows you to have 10 in every attribute but luck by late-mid/early-late game.

EDIT - Bonus fun fact: although guns like the gauss rifle or the pulse rifle or other Fallout 2 late game weapons pack hell of a punch, they will never be quite as powerful as close range burst fire from a P90 or a bozar.
Personal records are 690 against a deathclaw for the former and over 1050 against an enclave soldier for the latter.
« Last Edit: May 02, 2012, 06:48:59 am by X3N0-Life-Form »

 

Offline Fury

  • The Curmudgeon
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Re: The Price of Fallout
Gifted comes with penalty to skills however, but I suppose it is worth it.

 
Re: The Price of Fallout
Personal records are 690 against a deathclaw for the former and over 1050 against an enclave soldier for the latter.

Brunhilda, my most recent big gun character in Fallout 2 cracked 2,400 damage against a Deathclaw, using the Bozar at range.  The crit-boosting perks (Better Crits, plus a couple levels of More Crits) make burst weapons go really crazy, especially against unarmored targets like Deathclaws and Supermutants.  Of course, the Bozar does pretty crazy damage, without a quarter of the shots being critical hits, and that combination of perks will make single-shot weapons into gibblet factories, but when you mash the two together, it's something special.

Gifted comes with penalty to skills however, but I suppose it is worth it.

The skill penalty from Gifted is pretty easy to overcome.  Shuffle some of those extra stat points into Intelligence.  Job done.  Gifted is one of those traits that's so good that I typically don't take it anymore, because it just feels like cheating.