Yeah, I think when people talk about how hard the Temple of Trials is in Fallout 2 it's kinda... over exaggerated. I'll admit it kicked my ass the first time I went through it because I had no idea where to go, but once you know what you're doing you can literally skip most of the battles if you tagged the Fast Shot perk and have a high agility rating, since you can out maneuver every creature that engages combat with you. Now I can complete it with only needing to fight 2-3 ants at best, and even with low melee skill that isn't really hard. The dood at the end of the Trial is annoying as hell to beat, but not if you know some workarounds ;-)

Already I got Enclave Power Armor and I got the Gauss Rifle, strongest small gun in the game, and I have a stash full of things to trade for stuff.

Hard at the beginning (and I mean almost rage quit inducing) but easy later on.

if u havent played the series yet, start with the first one

I liked the story a bit more then in the second game, even though overall I like the second Fallout more

Well as you say the dude at the end of the trials can be defeated in a number of different ways - just use your character's strengths to defeat (or bypass) him.

As for the fights themselves, I tend to fight them all even if my skills are crap, just to level up that little bit faster in the early game. The thing is, critical hits are disabled for the first game day (or so), and the enemies in the temple all have very low movement points compared to similar critters in the rest of the game. So if you have some patience (and yes it is annoying), just hit them and then back away a few paces. They'll then use their movement points to reach you, but will be unable to hit you. Then repeat.

Also, if your melee is so bad you're getting hardly any hits in, you can switch to unarmed - it's usually 10% better at hitting, although you have to get one space closer and the damage is a bit less (but none of these should really matter).

The early level up is useful since there are a few quests in the village where you need to kill things, plus the early encounters can be hard (although you can always run from those).

Personally I still hate that level - it's just a lame, contrived tutorial really. I think that's why most people hate it.

If you get a mod, like the RP, you can actually skip it. I don't do this personally, since it IS kind of part of the plot, albeit a lame part, but the option's there.

It's not that really, though it gives a completely wrong picture of what kind of game you're playing.

More like, you're best off fighting with a spear for the first several hours of the game... and then you don't need the skill at all anymore. And the geckos around the second town are a total pain to deal with using only a spear.


My take, definitely start with 1.
2 is a bit different and I like it more, but if you play only one, play the first one.

I agree, if I played Fallout 2 before playing the original I would have felt completely lost in what's going on in the story and what I'm supposed to be doing. Fallout 2 is great because it lacks direction, giving the player ultimate control in where they go and what quests they choose to do in whichever order (or even not do) since the only objective is to retrieve the GECK and you have no idea where the hell it is until you start exploring and questing. Since Fallout 1 gives the player more direction (even if by subliminal hints sometimes) you atleast have a sense of what you should be doing and where you should be exploring, given the short time frame parameters you have to retrieve the water chip in the very beginning which keeps the player focused from wandering too far off the beaten path. But after a certain point the game lets you go wherever you please. Since Fallout 1 doesn't have as many locations or (totally random) areas like Fallout 2 does however, you sort of feel like after a playthrough you know exactly where to go in which order, since the game flow is more "tight" whereas in Fallout 2 it is more "open" and can thus be tackled in various ways in comparison. So basically playing Fallout 1 first gave me the necessary know how to traverse the more open world of Fallout 2, but I also appreciate how Fallout 2 doesn't really hold your hand as much as it did in Fallout 1.

So yeah, play the original first, if you're going to bother playing any of the two. If you enjoyed the first then chances are you will highly enjoy the sequel.

I would recommend the Original first, even though I played Fallout 2 then Fallout 1. When I completed 2 and moved onto one, it just didn't feel the same. Slightly worse combat and a heck of a lot less weapons. I would buy fallout 1, and if you like it get the second one as well.

Fallout 2 is the best in my opinion, specially with the Restoration Patch.

It's bigger, it's gameplay has been improved, NPCs have a bigger interaction scheme, more weapons, nice storyline and a few other things.

Despite all that, FO1 is still a great game and a classic, i just think that FO2 took everything that was good about it and improved. But still, if you wish to buy one of them, you should play the first one since it's events are mentioned many times during the second one.