Lorfean: Fallout 3 was the first Fallout game released by Bethesda and really shook up the series as it went from 2D isometric turn-based gameplay to 3D first person real time gameplay with the option to pause combat. I'm personally not a big fan of F3 -- Bethesda's writing skills are not even in the same universe as Black Isle's, and as a result the game felt like a big boring sandbox... In my opinion it can be skipped -- it's by far the least of the "core" (F1, F2, F3, F:NV) releases in the series.

Lorfean: If you enjoy RPG's then get Fallout and Fallout 2 -- they are considered classics for a reason and that reason is that they're simply among the finest games in their genre. A great setting, great stories, a great rules system and great tactical turn-based combat make for a truly unique experience.

The other games in the series warrant a warning though -- not because they're not good, but because they might not be what you expect after playing F1 and F2... Fallout Tactics is, as the title states, a tactics game -- it can be compared to Jagged Alliance 2 and should be considered a spin-off instead of a true Fallout sequel. It's still a very good game, but light on story and with a greater focus on combat. The rules system remains largely intact however, so it shouldn't be too difficult to get into after playing the first two games.

Fallout 3 was the first Fallout game released by Bethesda and really shook up the series as it went from 2D isometric turn-based gameplay to 3D first person real time gameplay with the option to pause combat. I'm personally not a big fan of F3 -- Bethesda's writing skills are not even in the same universe as Black Isle's, and as a result the game felt like a big boring sandbox... In my opinion it can be skipped -- it's by far the least of the "core" (F1, F2, F3, F:NV) releases in the series.

Fallout: New Vegas is, in my opinion, the true modern sequel to F1 and F2. I think this is common knowledge, but I'll repeat it here nonetheless: F:NV was not developed by Bethesda, as F3 was, but by Obsidian Entertainment, which consists of many people from Interplay's now-defunct Black Isle division, who developed F1 and F2 and were working on a different Fallout 3 before that project was cancelled and the license sold to Bethesda. In other words -- these guys (Obsidian) know Fallout. Intimately. And what they crafted in Fallout: New Vegas is a masterpiece. If you ever get around to playing it, make sure you get all the DLC's, play with Hardcore Mode enabled, and use Josh Sawyer's JSawyer Mod -- he was the project director on F:NV and created that mod for his personal use, with the intention fix some remaining bugs and balance issues, and (most importantly) tweak the difficulty in Hardcore Mode -- creating what is by far the best Fallout experience since Fallout 2. Highly recommended.

Pulzarokkit: Don't have fallout installed atm, but i think you can set the difficulty in the options, lowering difficulty would raise your skills so you would have easier time dealing in combat (and ouside of it).