I'll lose some e-cred now but I gotta say I liked Fallout 3 the most.
I tried F2 and it wasn't my cup of tea. The gameplay feels like a chore and I find it really hard to care about diffuse pixels that I can only see from an isometric perspective.

Fallout 2 because it expanded the world and beyond the temple was just pure greatness

Fallout. In my opinion has the best atmosphere of them all, and the best plot.

Heh, this isn't NMA.

I love Fallout 2, and gameplay/content-wise, it's definitely the best.... but I'll never forget the first time I played Fallout 1, after experiencing Fallout 3 and wanting to try the classics out.

The exiting of the Vault for the first time, the going into the various settlements and realizing how radically different each one was... it was amazing. Black Isle Studios KNEW what they were doing when they made that game, and it ended up being glorious.

Fallout 1's story is great and well Fallout 2 seems to be everywhere.

Having played all but Fallout 2 a fair bit:

Gameplaywise - Fallout Tactics, by far, one of the best Strategy games I've played.

Story/Setting - Fallout 1, its like comparing half life 1 with half life 2, they nailed it the first time.

And for the whole 'Its just you, on your own, in the wasteland' feel - New Vegas tied with Fallout 1

i loved fallout 1 & 2, but 3 takes the cake because if you chose a specific way to play, you didn't feel like you were stuck. in the first two, i felt like if you made a wrong decision on your character, you were screwed lol

P.S. Never played Fallout New Vegas

Tactics is my favorite.

1. Fallout 2. My all-time favorite game, I have finished it probably 20+ times. A true classic. Everything just clicks.
2. Fallout Tactics. I rank this one second, it's actually a really good, overlooked game! Although there's not so much freedom when it comes to roleplaying. If you want to finish the game, diplomats aren't much help since you really need all those heavy gunners and energy weapon specialists. However, the combat is the most satisfying of them all, and the different mission objectives are pretty interesting throughout. Plus, bug-squashing is SOOO satisfying!
3. Fallout New Vegas. The game F3 should've been. In my heart I still hope they would've kept the old look and not go into 1st person at all, but despite that, it's still a really good game. Worthy of the Fallout name, for sure. Interesting quests and the Mojave looks really good.
4. Fallout 3. While it's debatable whether this is worthy of the Fallout name or just an "Oblivion with guns", it's still a good game and offers many hours of A+ gameplay. When it comes to the Fallout series though, there are much better options available in my opinion.
5. Fallout 1. Granted, it started it all so maybe it should be higher on my list, but the fact is, Fallout 1 has aged the most poorly of all Fallouts. Especially when compared to Fallout 2, which has so much more of everything. F1 is pretty linear, there's not many places of interests, the interface is a little clumsy, especially with companion trading, and the quests are a little shallow. The game is still worth playing, that's for sure, but first-timers shouldn't begin with this.


---Dishonorable mention----
Fallout BOS. I don't consider this one part of the Fallout saga at all. It's best be forgotten entirely.

I like the original fallout. I never got to play Fallout 2 though..

NV was good until I got to Vegas haha. Dont like the shiny stuff...

Didn't like 3 at all really.

Can't decide. I guess it's a tie between Fallout 2 and New Vegas. Both games are fantastic. Second place would go to the original Fallout. As far as Fallout 3 is concerned i don't even consider it a Fallout game. I hate this abomination.

Brotherhood of Steel.

...

That was a joke but it still hurt to type it.

I love Fallout. I bought the first here on GOG, and I won it in two weeks.
Soon, F2 will be mine!. And later FT, and blah, blah, blah.
But, DProject, if what you say is true, I can wait for playing F2...

Fallout 1 story was better but I would say Fallout 2 since it was almost overall improvement.