It has definitely aged. Military base is a lot easier if you just talk your way in. I don't remember, if there are other noncombat options.

I haven't played in a long time, but you can get Power Armor in Fallout (and Fallout2). It's ridiculously powerful. 25 AC, 40 DR, 12 DT vs Normal. 50 DR, 20 DT(!) vs Explosive. If I'm doing the math right, if you were hit by a missile that did 40 damage, you'd take no damage. A 100 damage missile would do 30 damage. Eh I think that's right. Someone can correct me.
Do you have that?

I find it completely funny that some of the things I did in game still allowed it to be impossible to beat game in melee. I had metal armor and was lvl 10 with 9 endurance just to make a tank. As far as I'm concerned, even though I already have fallout 1, 2 and tactics from the bundle I got from bestbuy. Im not going to ever play another fallout game in this lifetime.

I really tried to get into this game, but I think that its just not for me. Besides fantasy/rpgs is much better in roleplaying terms anyway.

The three damage modifiers of armor is Armor Class, Damage Threshold and Damage Resistance. AC is a measure of how hard it is to hit you in the armor, either by dodging or reflecting damage. DT is a set amount of damage that armor absorbs and DR is a percentage. If someone if firing a rocket launcher at a power armor clad target then the AC gets deducted from the shooters Big Guns skill. So someone with a skill of 75% now has a skill of 50% for this exercise. If there is a hit then a random number is generated between 35 and 100 for the raw damage caused by the missile, this is where DT and DR come in. Power Armor has a DT of 20, so the raw damage number is reduced by 20, the DR of 50 means that this reduced damage number is multiplied by 50%. So a raw damage of 40 gets reduced to 20 by the DT and then to 10 by the DR. A missile doing 100 points of raw damage would cause 40 points of actual damage.

@Deathkight1728
In case it is not obvious by the fact that I can recite Fallout stats and calculations off the top of my head, I have a different view of the game than you do. Fallouts 1 and 2 are some of my favorite games of all time. One of the strong points, in my opinion, is the wide variety of character archetypes that can be created. If you were unhappy with your Melee character then I suggest either leveling up more, as 10 is not quite an end game character level, or trying a different type of character. Every stat and every skill has a viable use in the game, but they may not all fit your play style. For example you have limited your self to Melee only, this is very doable in the game but not what I would recommend for a first time player. However this is not so much a limitation of the game as it is self imposed. If you want to continue your current character I would suggest pumping up Sneak and Speech as these are have proven very useful in my Melee only playthroughs. If you want to start a new character then I would suggest a Small Guns and Speech character for a new player. Although if you really don't like the game then that is fine too, there are many popular and/or acclaimed games that I can't play because I find them severely painful and uninteresting.

I just think that solo character rpgs are not my thing. Im much better with party based games where I can designate where everyone goes. With solo games I always figure, how the heck am I supposed to get past all that crap BY MYSELF. This is the 2nd game like this that has caused me problems. Eschalon book 2. Just like fallout-very little story, all about the grind. I got to a higher lvl but supposedly made some wrong choices and because its just 1 character, I failed.

I think Im staying away from that genre altogether-the solo character rpgs. Its just not for me.

Seriously? I've only ever played through fallout 1 once and by the time I got to the Military Base it was a walk in the park. I slaughtered everyone.

Granted I had hardened power armor and a turbo plasma rifle, but that's what an end game character should have. I think I was like level 16 or 17.

as long as you're smart and don't let yourself get overwhelmed it's easy to take down super mutants 2 or 3 at a time. just slowly lure them out or bottle neck them.

it sounds like you just rushed through the game and expected to be able to beat it as soon as the option was available.

You played it solo?
I'll bet that was pretty hard early on. I had Ian, Tycho and Dogmeat and they were all very helpful. Especially the guys, they could carry a lot of loot.
But before I got to the Military base I was so powerful that I let them all go and let Dogmeat die in the force fields, idiot dog kept wandering back and forth through the fields and deserved what he got.
When I got in the Military base every mutant except whatsisname in charge was a one or two shot kill. It was so much fun I didn't want it to stop!
Definitely not overrated for me. One of the best games of all time. I'm sorry you didn't enjoy it. But it really sounds like you rushed through it.

I'm going to try to avoid a long rant, but who knows? :P Also, I'm not trying to offend.

If you're a fan of Fallout 3, (and don't get me wrong, so am I), they are different games. Fallout 3 plays more like a sandbox shooter, with some decent RPG elements tossed in. But ammo and stimpaks are so plentiful and cheap, they're basically free.

Especially considering the way that Fallout 3 deliberately throws at you only exactly what you can handle, (the scaling they use), you're pretty much supposed to beat it with relative ease. The first games put you through the ringer. Fallout 1 & 2 weren't accidentally made too hard. These are just different styles.

I liked FO3 and beat it, all the same. :P

Level 10 is very low for an endgame area and metal armor is very bad armor. I wiped out everything with a melee character in combat armor (which is much better than metal armor but still much worse than power armor) which can be bought and also found.

So if lvl 10 is low, then what is the lvl you should shoot for in fallout 1 endgame? I liked the roleplaying I just like I said found that my guy was too weak to take on more than 2 enemies at once.

Someone mentioned that I should have started the 1st play through out with ranged combat and guns. The problem with that unlike melee is that you don't get as many shots with a gun as you do with melee. I researched it a little. I had seen a desert eagle pistol with mediocre damage, but if you can't kill these rocket launcher enemies within 1-2 rounds of them firing, you are toast I'm afraid.

With melee, all I need is to lure them in to 1 round to aim attack on eyes up close and that enemy is toast and as good as dead.

Ill try ranged combat build out, but I might need to look for a better armor this next time through.

I can find the armor that is better, but if anyone knows a good lvl to shoot for for endgame, that would be awesome.

The level cap in the game is 21, so at 10 you are not quite halfway there. At level 18 you get access to the perks Slayer and Sniper. With Slayer all melee attacks are critical hits, there is no luck roll it's just automatically a critical. The Sniper perk is similar but it does roll for a critical hit, basically your Luck is multiplied by 10 for purposes of determining the critical chance. At a luck of 5 you have a 5% critical chance, with the Sniper perk this becomes a 50% critical chance with all guns. The upper limit is 95% critical chance with a Luck of 10. So if you want to play a combat-centric character the Level 18 should be a goal. Of course many quests, including the endgame quests, have non combat solutions as well.

The problem with Melee characters is that you have to get in close to attack, during which time you may as well paint a target on your armor. The trick is to use your action point to your advantage. One of the character types I like is the Sneaky Sniper. If you can get a sniper rifle it has a range of 50 vs 40 for a rocket launcher. One of the techniques is to make sure you have enough AP for one shot +2 steps. Hide behind some sort of cover and start combat, step out, shoot then step back behind your cover. With a Sniper Rifle you can have 4-5 rounds before anyone gets close enough to hurt you. With a high Sneak skill I have been able to shoot for several rounds before being discovered. then I end combat and move somewhere else, one time my targets kept closing in on my old position and then just stood there getting shot. Then there is the Turbo Plasma Rifle, with the right Traits and Perks you can get 6 shots off in a single round. If your main concern is Action Points then you would be better served by pumping up Agility than limiting yourself to only fast attacks.

Level 18 isn't really needed, you can defeat everything at level 15 or even at level 12 depending on how combat-oriented your build is. But it's possible to beat the game without killing anything.

When I played through I had 10 Agility, 10 Intelligence, 6 strength, and everything else 5 (I think).

I tagged small guns, energy weapons, and speech. I basically put everything in speech and small guns (a few other points in lockpick and other stuff here and there - in addition to reading every book I could find) until I found the plasma rifle, then put everything in energy weapons.

by the time I hit the military base I was level 15 or 16 and had 150+ in both small guns and energy weapons. before making the switch to power armor and plasma rifle I wore combat armor and used the combat shotgun.

my tactic was usually scout out the area, find where the guys are, shoot one on the edge and then retreat to safer area, usually a few would follow and I would pick them apart as they approached. the rest would follow but they'd usually have to go through a doorway or something, so they'd bottleneck and slow down.

also, get perks that either give you action points or make actions cost less points. being able to take a few steps and take 2 aimed shots per rounds makes life way easy.

never done a melee character though, that's something I plan on trying. i haven't done it, but I would recommend maxing out agility and strength and sacrificing intelligence.

For Unarmed or Melee only characters I use these guidelines.

Traits:

Gifted - Because more SPECIAL is good
Small Frame - You won't be hauling around lots of heavy ammo or weapons so the +1 Agility come pretty cheap
Good Natured - You lose out in a bunch of weapon skills you aren't going to use any way and gain in skills that you will need


Attributes:

Strength - No more that 6 in Fallout because the Brotherhood can raise it by 1 and Power Armor can raise it by 3. In Fallout 2 there is Advanced Power Armor which gives +4 to strength so you can set it to 5 in FO2.
Perception - A high perception allows you to be more accurate at long ranges, which is irrelevant to this character. I usually set it to 4 or 5 for dialog and quest purposes
Endurance - If you insist on bringing a knife to a gun fight then you want a lot of HP. The HP gain is rounded down so Endurance gives the most benefit if set to an even number. I go with either 8 or 10
Charisma - Unless you want allies shooting you by mistake because you are standing right next to their target you can drop this all the way down.
Intelligence - You will never be in a situation when you wish you didn't have so many skill points, set this at 10
Agility - You will never be in a situation when you wish you didn't have so many action points, set this at 10 also
Luck - This is good for getting critical hits, until you get the Slayer perk and then it doesn't matter. You can go higher or lower for quest or roleplay purposes but I just leave it at 5

Skills:

Unarmed or Melee - Pick one or the other and stick with it. In Fallout 1 I like Melee due to the wider range of weaponry, but in Fallout 2 there are special perks for Unarmed that make it a better choice in that game.
Sneak - Ninjas practiced stealth for a reason
Speech - Talking yourself past a group of gun wielding maniacs is less painful than duking it out with them
Doctor - Unarmed characters tend to take A LOT of damage, being able to heal yourself not only save you caps and stimpaks but it gives you XP as well. First Aid can be raised by books so it's not woth the tag
Lockpick - Some of the more violent encounters can be bypassed by going through a locked door.