I would still recommend playing the fallout games in order, because not only is Fallout 1 great, but there are some events in F2 that refers back to F1.

Anyway, out of those 3 lovely games, I would probably say that Arcanum is the weakest. Why? Because it at times feel a bit unfinished. Troika had a tendency of being very very ambitious with their games, and never quite had the time or resources to actually do what they wanted to do. What you are left with are games that have a lot of good ideas, lots of novel concepts and a few bugs too many (that fans later stepped in and helped removing. The fan dedication should be a good indication of how good these games actually are).

Fallout is probably the game that is hardest to get into for a modern gamer. It is great, but the interface have been known to cause issues to some. I would put this game as number 2 on the priority list. The setting is great, and you feel like you actually matter, you are not a passive observer as the player, your choices are more than just token choices.

Planescape is, well, hard to describe. Writing: Top notch. Story: Amazing. Characters: Still among the best ever seen in a video game. Gameplay: Quite alright. The setting is unique and offers a lot of interesting things for you to do, choices matters and it just have a lot of depth. This game ranks up there with many of the worlds great literary works in terms of story quality. This is the game to get.

I enjoyed fallout 1 but 2 is an improvement.

My opinions of the 3

Arcanum is an excellent choice but can be a bit hard.

Planescape is designed around its story and if you dont like reading a fscktonne of stuff avoid it because you will be missing out on part of its awesomeness.

And then we have fallout. can be pretty easy, excellent gameplay, good setting so many things to try...

Yup even on the general forum you will find biased people,

IMO. Go with fallout or fallout 2 (second is more refined) then arcanum and then prepare for the epicness of planescape. (but if you dont like the look of tha baldurs gate games you likely wont get on well with planescape)

also look at baldurs gate

Get the first part. For one, if you end up liking F2 more, you won't get into first part after playing it - it works great the other way around. And I find the first part better anyway, it's more ... consistent.

At any rate, I rate Planescape as the best of the three, however the game is more of an interactive book - Fantastic, well-written book, with amazing characters and a lot of choices and consequences. But you will be reading a lot. If you don't mind that, get Planescape. If you do, get Fallout.

I very much agree with AFnord. Sorted by accessibility, it's definitely Torment - Fallout - Fallout 2 - Arcanum. And do not skip the first Fallout; there are some people (myself included) who think it's actually the better game of the two.

(I'm the OP, I was logged into the wrong account before)

Oh yeah, I forgot about BG. It's a little bit lower on my list simply because I already have several D&D games, I'll get it at some point too though. I know Planescape is D&D as well, but it seems much more unusual. I'm a big reader and writer so I'm not bothered by massive amounts of text (anyone play Digital: A Love Story? That was a good "game"). I'm leaning a bit towards Planescape just because of it's uniqueness, but I may end up getting both because I love Fallout's setting (I've played 3 and NV) and it seems pretty awesome.

Also, this is kind of a petty question, but how're the soundtracks for the games? I'm just curious because they all come with 'em? Also, is the book that Planescape comes with any good?

Well then, just get Planescape and be done with it. Main theme. Dunno abouzt the book thou, didn't read it - what I do know is that part of Planescape's philosophy has changed the way I look at the world around me. That's how powerful its storytelling can be if you get into it.

edit: changed link to a better quality version.

Man. This is like asking if you should get cake, ice cream, or cookies. You basically can't go wrong no matter what you pick. I think you should get all three, personally. But, if that's not an option, here are the reasons why you might *not* pick any one of those games:

Playing Fallout 2 without playing Fallout 1 first will really detract from the story and lore of the experience. It'll still be a great game, but it's not like Call of Modern Warfare Killstorm 5: Now Shoot People In A Desert, where it doesn't much matter if you've played the previous games in the series; almost all the games from BioWare/Black Isle, especially from the late 90s/early 00s, were heavily plot and story driven and tended to continue a plot, rather than start from scratch.

Planescape: Torment is a very strange RPG and didn't sell terribly well in large part due to the fact that the setting is totally foreign to most fans of fantasy RPGs, and there's so much reading (I've head there's over half a million words of text in the game, and I tend to believe that number) that a lot of people disliked the comparative lack of action.

Arcanum isn't terribly forgiving and the plot is meandering and subject to abrupt jumps and odd tangents. It's also (still) the buggiest of the three games you've listed. despite patching. The characters aren't as fleshed out as the other two games (you won't remember Virgil five years later, but you'll probably never forget Morte from Planescape or that-ghoul-I-won't-name-so-I-don't-spoil-the-surprise from Fallout2).

But despite those things I've just mentioned, you're looking at three of the best roleplaying games from the golden age of PC roleplaying. Don't worry about choosing the "wrong' game. Yo haven't included any wrong options in your list ^_^

You absolutely, positively can't go wrong with Fallout, so I suggest you start with that.

There's nothing really wrong with starting with Fallout 2. You won't understand all the references, but that's ok - the game's still awesome.

I think you'd do well with installing the fan-made Restoration Project outright.

That's a pretty awesome theme indeed. Yeah, I think I'll get Planescape then move on to Fallout and see where I go from there. Thanks for the help, guys. :)

That souns like a very good idea. Crap, now I want to replay it again, well thanks a lot for mentioning it! But really, I place story as one of the most important factors in games I play, closely followed by atmosphere. Planescape's got both, and then some. Enjoy exploring one of the most unique fantasy worlds you will ever visit in a videogame, and don't worry about the beginning - game really starts after you get out of the beginning area. Oh and distribute your points between intelligence and wisdom, followed by charisma. While the game does have a lot of options for fighter characters as well, intelligence gives more interesting options and wisdom allows you to explore story of one of your future followers.

Then buy both, I don't think you'll regret.

Planescape and Fallout have great atmospheric soundtracks by the same composer, if I'm not mistaken (Mark Morgan), with PS actually featuring themes and recognizable melodies, Fallout leaning a bit more on the Ambient side. Both soundtracks are definitely worth getting.

Arcanum has a very good soundtrack, too, but quite different, since it's classical music heavily based on string instruments (violins, contrabass etc., see also this for fun).

I didn't read the book that comes with Planescape but it's just a novelization of the game's dialogue. Might be of interest for people who already played through the game and want to refresh their memory by enjoying it as a novel, but I'd suggest to play the game first (or instead).

I disagree. For me BG is the one of the worst Bioware titles. Bland, boring, uninteresting and but-ugly. PS:T however is what I consider the best RPG of all time. It certainly has the best story and narrative of all RPGs I've played. The world is unique and interesting and the characters are great. Even the graphics, while technically not very different from BG, work a lot better for me in that game.

@OP:

Start with Fallout 1 since it's the predecessor to Fallout 1 and a fun game in its own right. Then move on to Fallout 2 for even more post-apoc goodness.

I find that the Fallouts are the easiest ones to get into since the SPECIAL system and setting up your skills for a customized build are all explained in game to the point where you almost don't need the manual.