So I finally bought this game and got it working, and all I have to say about the game is WHY????

why is this game so damn hard?!? i walk out of arroyo and get creamed by a pack of fricken mole rats!!! WTF

I have had to restart this game SO. MANY. TIMES. in the past 3 days, it has sapped every ounce of fun out of it. I got all the way to the den one time, but couldn't get that damn radio guy away from metzger b/c I didn't have the money. And at every turn theres some quest that requires something that is JUST out of reach with your characters abilties. This game is so unforgiving its dumb. no matter what, your character sucks at combat.

why is it that when you walk into a building, the walls dont become transparent so you can see where the hell you are going in the room?? \is there a mod where when you walk into a room the walls become transparent, or to increase the "vision field" around your character?
yes i know, "thats the way the game is" but good grief, i feel like I could play this game for hours and still not get anywhere past the den because I suck.

If you are a noob to this game, much like me, just know that you can enjoy it, but after restarting the game 7(!) times, it gets really old. patience is KEY here. you just need alot of it!

to summarize my post:
1) This game is hard... REALlY HARD
2) I need some tips and some major help with this game if anyone would care to help :)

The game IS hard at lower levels, the enemies dont scale. Those mole rats and such are a walk in the park after you've got a few more levels under your belt.

Firstly, did you do the quests in arroyo? Those should net you a level or two.
The next stop should be Klamath. You should have gotten directions there if you talked to people in arroyo and did their quests.

From Klamath you can possibly get a companion and more relatively easy quests, maybe your first firearms. Den should be a lot more doable after that.

Here's a good walkthrough @ gamebanshee, but I'd be careful with it, you don't want to spoil too many surprises.

Yes, Fallout 1 and 2 (you appear to be playing Fallout 2) are very hard. They also have a fairly annoying interface, and as you mentioned the wall transparency thing is very aggravating.

But, with some effort, both of these games are really rewarding. They're not for everyone, but if you want to stick with it here are a few tips:

1) Read the manual. This REALLY helps. It has an in-depth description of character creation, combat, and how all the various systems in the game work. This will provide a lot of insight into how you want to play the game.

2) Be really careful during character creation. Your stats, traits and tagged skills will be very important in determining how your character will play, and how hard things will be. It's possible to play characters that don't fight much, either by talking their way through situations or by sneaking around. But most characters will have to do some fighting, and it's highly recommended to tag Small Guns as a combat skill. That's probably the most useful combat skill in the game. You can use others, but in those cases you'll want to specifically design your character around it (for example a melee or unarmed fighter needs to be designed with that in mind... most other characters will use small guns). Also remember that, for the most part, your stats will not change during the game. In other RPGs you can upgrade your stats when you level up, but in the original Fallout games you can only upgrade your skills. So pick those stats carefully.

3) Pick your perks carefully. You get a perk at every three level-ups, and you should pick ones that will help benefit the way you play. One early perk that is very useful is called Awareness (I think). It allows you to see how much health an enemy has in combat if you look at them. Very useful.

3) Play the game the way you designed your character. If you made a tough gunfighter, don't try sneaking around. If you made a sneaky guy, don't run headlong into fights. If you character isn't very smart, he or she won't be able to talk their way through things as well as a smart character.

4) The beginning of Fallout 2 is hard because you don't have a gun. You'll need to use melee primarily, but try to get a gun as soon as possible. When you first get a gun, you will probably still want to use melee on easier enemies to conserve ammo. Later, you will get plenty of ammo and can stop using melee altogether.

5) Guns are heavy, ammo is not. When you kill people who have guns on them, it's often a better idea to unload the ammo from their guns and just take that, rather than taking all the guns with you.

6) If you're having lots of trouble, try making a different kind of character. If you think you don't have enough money, make a sneaky guy that breaks into places and steals stuff. Maybe that will make things a little easier. A lot of the fun of the Fallout games is trying different characters who play through the game very differently.

7) If you're having a hard time, go somewhere else! In the original Fallouts, nothing is scaled to your level. Some locations have really tough enemies, others have really easy enemies. If you keep getting killed, try going somewhere else. Also, don't be afraid to explore places just because they SOUND like they'll be tough. I was surprised when I played that some places I'd been avoiding until I was more powerful were actually not hard at all, and would have given me some very helpful equipment if I'd done them earlier.

OK, that's pretty long. I hope it helps. Anyone else have additional advice?

If you create a powerful character the game will be easier.
Definitely take the overpowered "gifted" trait for extra 7 stat points and start with 10 agility so you get as many action points as possible.
Keep in mind that you don't have to fight. You can run away. You don't have to do all quests and you don't have to them immediately. You can gain lots of levels and rewards just by traveling around the world and doing the non-violent quests.

Good god guys thank you

i shall challenge this game once more!!!

This is the thing I love about these games, you can do things in so many ways!
For example, I've never taken this trait I consider a huge handicap!

but you get 5 fewer skill points per level and your secondary skills are lowered by 10%
This is a totally unacceptable tradeoff for me, I always want all them shiny skill points!

You know, I don't want to get deep into this, but a simple math will point out that the "Gifted" trait is the best you can get.

(I can get deeper into the explanation, but didn't want to spoil much =))

Actually I can't remember any single time I played FO2 without it. Or might be that I actually never did.

Please go ahead, my math says:
at level 20 you've lost 100 skill points if you pick gifted trait.
Attribute points simply can't cover that.

My math says: 7 extra stat points spent for int = 14 extra skill points at each level up
At 20 level ups you gain 280 - 100 extra skill points that's still 180 free skill points.
Your skills will actually be higher and the difference will increase as you continue leveling up.

Since you don't need many skill points you can put some of the extra attribute points gained from this perk into other attributes to get a more powerful character. Not all checks in the game are skill checks, there are many stat checks.

Oh my, you're absolutely correct! Never came to think it through in a logical manner. :)
Guess the developers didn't either..

Need to try that when I'll get around to try FO Tactics again.

... no, actually this will work for me in tactics, but in FO1 and FO2 I value skill points too much, I almost always have int full or nearly full anyway, so the trait is still a bad choice for me.

I do not remember that being much of a problem. Remember to drop the explosive once you've set the timer! Otherwise it will go off in your backpack, which is very bad. Then get very far away. Ideally so far that you can't even see the explosive anymore. Should work fine. But, it's been a long time since I played so maybe I'm misremembering how the explosive worked. Anyone else?

EDIT: Just checked a walkthrough. Apparently you should be able to get at least 10 seconds even if your attempt to arm the explosive fails. Then just drop it near the door and get as far away as possible before it goes off. If you save your game before setting it, you can reload and try again if it kills you.

why didn't Ithink of this?? lol

*spoiler*





I don't condone this, but you could make a Navarro run right after the Temple of Trials. It's very possible without cheating and by saving the game, a lot. This does make the game infinitely easier, but it also sort of ruins the awesomeness of getting some kick ass armor later on after battling through many a quest and town.

There are walk-throughs on Google...

I'd suggest you to save your game often, so you don't have to start over if you die or run into a bug.

As this is your first time through the game, you should take your time in every town, talk to people and do ALL quest that seem solveable on your current level. Save before taking a quest if unsure. At the start of the game you can get some easy XP and skill boosts just by talking to people, listening to their stories and accepting their help if they offer.

If your having trouble with the character creation, you can read some of the posts here to help you with that, don't try using the pre-built characters, create your own.

For me, the sniper diplomat character always works. Aim for high intelligence and tag speech, so you can save your ammo and HP by talking your way out of things, and you can get as many quests as possible. High perception, agility and tagging small guns is also important, so if you words don't work, you can easily shoot people in the eye after some levelling up for maximum criticals.

But the best advice is to enjoy your game, don't want to run through and finish it in a day. If something doesn't work, try a different approach. If you can't get some quest done, don't do it then, most of them are optional.