Fallout Free from GameTap
 

So, GameTap, which I know little to nothing about other than it has games, lets you download Fallout 1 for free. Awesome. Haven't started playing it yet, but I figured we could talk about Fallout, and this would also be a good way to let everyone know that if you haven't played Fallout, get on it!

I just recently played through the first one, and am about three quarters through the second.

It was certainly enjoyable. The combat gets to be a little tedious and repetitive after a while, as did just getting around in the first one (If you could make your character run to a hex rather than just walk, unlike EVERYTHING ELSE he'd try to do, I couldn't figure it out).

While I've seen a lot of complaints that for some reason it's a bad thing RPGs don't do this much anymore, but I felt it was probably far too easy to make 'trap' builds. While I was quite excited to get started, considering I'd always been told that it was a game in which any skill could be a path to victory... that wasn't quite the case, and something like a diplomat type character can only be done if you really know your way through the game already. For a first play through, not taking small guns for a tag skill borders on a death sentence.

Haha who told you that? Both of them are notorious for having skills that are absolutely worthless.

Well for what it's worth, there's definitely more then one skillset that can be used as a "path to victory." I've played the game with speedy, intelligent characters who can only use small arms, and I've played the game with unintelligent brutes who shoot rockets. For me, actually, the character customization in the beginning of the game is one of my favorite parts.

But yeah, some skills are fairly useless. For example, there's this one skill that boosts "each of your primary stats" by one or something but which absolutely stunts the skill growth of your character so much you'll lose far more then you've gained. (Particularly since primary-stat boosting potions can be found everywhere later in the game.)

Woah.


Woaaaaah.

Are you talking about traits?


You did not just call "Gifted" useless. It's the most broken trait in the game and practically acts like a "Win Game" button. You get a massive influx of stat points (More than double, which are points you actually DON'T get more of until the very, very end game and even then it's a set bonus of plus one for a few of the stats plus strength which is increased by like five with power armor), with the trade off of losing a few skill points which you are constantly, for the entire game, absolutely drowning in.


In ten years you are the only person I have ever heard even suggest "Gifted" is not the best trait in the game let alone useless my god.


My God Snake.

To address what Dee said further:

Imagine you're a brilliant young man with many ideas. However you're broke and you have so many ideas you literally can't focus on using those ideas! Then all of a sudden a rich man comes by and says "Oh ho ho, young man! These are some ideas you have! Give me a few and I'll give you these sacks full of money!"

That is what gifted is.

<For those who have no idea what gifted does, it adds one point to each stat for slightly reduced skill point gain. You can then decrease your stats by 1 and have seven extra stat points to allocate however you want.>

Hell... Why didn't I do that? Damn.

I never liked the side effects of the traits. I like the perks more...

So is Fallout totally free forever from GameTap? Or is it some kind of crappy "PAY WHEN YOU INSTALL OR A MONTH LATER" download?

gametap incase some don't know, is a service that offers a variety of games that were once on the market. It has baldurs gate, fallout, overlord, the list goes on. I'm thinking of getting it when I get a better computer.