Is there any difference in these two versions or the two different versions of Fallout 2?

no.

What's the new EULA look like?

I just noticed this today. I'm sure there's some reason why it was done that way, but It would be nice if they could somehow be consolidated or if owners of the "classic" versions could get switched over. They are not displayed as "owned" whenever I browse the store, and that could be a bit irritating during sales/bundles.

the classic versions include fanpatches (high-res and i think bugfixes)

The Classic versions are the same as the new versions. IE they are the Bethesda releases of the game. The reason why they are separated is the Interplay Fallout games came with a number of extras that aren't included in the current Bethesda releases. The current Bethesda release only includes the manuals (according to the store cards). The Classic versions have the Fallout Bible, wallpapers, soundtracks, artworks, etc. in addition to the manuals. Those were part of the original package from Interplay.

The Bethesda versions include a launcher and a hi-res patch. In the Start menu folder is also a link to play the Classic version, which doesn't have the patch applied. As far as I can tell no other patches were included (though Fallout 2 does include SFall 3.2a).

One thing I noticed with the original Fallout is if you click on the Fallout Classic start menu link, it shows the game version as 1.1 whereas if you launch the Fallout link, it shows version 1.2. Fallout 2 and Fallout Tactics are the same versions (1.02 and 1.27 respectively) regardless of the link.

Flynn

Ah, I see now. Thanks for the explanation.

No problem. I can also say the GOG versions work better than the Steam versions on Windows 10. I picked up the recent Fallout Anthology, which includes a Steam code for everything. Fallout Tactics won't start correctly, while my GOG copy works just fine "out of the box." I haven't bothered going through the configurations or anything. I'm planning to just remove the Steam versions from my laptop and keep with the GOG versions, heh.

Flynn

Still curious about the EULA.

Not to get too into the nuts and bolts of the site (tech terms), but I'm assuming GoG would have separate SQL database entries for each game, and they'd probably have another table for legacy entries (just a guess).

Probably a Customers table
Game Table

ID 1 might own Fallout Classic but not Fallout (not listed under).

Granted I'm not looking any of this up. It's from memory (hard to say because you're not the admin with access to the backend).

Heck they might not even be using SQL (or something similar).

Thanks for this explanation! Saw the sale and noticed that it wasn't registering I already had them, but wasn't sure of whether there was any substantial difference between the two. Looks like I made a good call catching them as they were being removed given the lacking bonuses to be had in the present version.

Soooooo....if I own the "classic" versions, is their any reason to buy the "new" versions? Do the classic versions still run? The new versions keep showing up in sales, which is kind of annoying/confusing!

No, not unless you feel like throwing money at GoG/Bethesda. I'm sure they'll be happy to take it off of your hands :)

Awesome, thanks! I mean honestly, throwing money at GOG and Bethesda is not exactly the worst thing in the world, since I value them both, but anyway :)

You might find this interesting, prior to the changing of hands of the Fallout license, GOG gave away the Fallout titles for free. :D

Sadly, now you only have the option of paying for these lame Bethesda copies.