Long read!
Intro
Where to begin, well, for starters, my name is Justin V., I'm a fifteen year old kid from New Jersey who is just about to begin his Sophomore year in High school this September. This thread is about how I started out as someone who didn't really know what Fallout was all about, until I learned of Fallout 3 being published by Bethesda.
The Beginning
Well, it all started back in March of 2006. I had been very excited for Bethesda's new Action-Rpg title "The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion." Initially I had been excited about the direction Bethesda was taking the series, that was until my fanboyism began to ware off...
A fanboy wakes up
After twenty hours lost in the world of Tamerial, I had finally completed the Main Quest, Thieves Guild, and most of the Dark Brotherhood. It was at this moment I started to feel a little bit strange. After looking back at those long twenty hours, I noticed a few things that just didn't seem right. Why was it the bandits who used to wear leather armor were now clad in Glass and Deadric? I shrugged it off, forgetting it, and begin to start my second character.
I was now a Kajjit stealthy player. I wanted to role play this character. As I took on quests I had previously done, I began to realize the game had lost all it's touch. How could this be? A game where you can do anything you want getting repetitive? I wanted to complete some quests differently then before, but I noticed that every quest is linear. I had never been arrested before, and as I was approached by a guard who wanted me in jail, I had though "Well, I can probably give him some of my treasure, maybe he'll let me go." Then he confronted me, and told me I could either Resist Arrest, or goto Jail. I was confused. Why wasn't I able to do anything else? My speech craft was high, shouldn't I be able to convince him to let me go? I was so frustrated after realizing how linear this game was. The game that promised me I could do anything I wanted lied to me. Bethesda lied to me. The world felt stale, lifeless. Radiant AI was a piece of crap, I can't tell you how many times I heard "Hey have you seen any mudcrabs today?" "Nasty Creatures." Then I stopped playing all together for weeks.
Hearing of Fallout
Around a week after I stopped playing, I decided to go onto the Bethesda forums once more. I had stopped going shorty before release, as not to be spoiled by people who got the game early. (Not that they could spoil much of such a generic storyline.) I noticed, I wasn't the only one who was upset with the recent installment into the Series. Public outcry was rampant on the forums for months to follow. Bethesda had dumbed down there series to please the mainstream. It was their someone said "I hope Fallout 3 will be better then this piece of crap." Fallout 3? Well, I never heard of Fallout 1 & 2, what is this? I read that Fallout was a Post-Apoctolytic RPG that was owned by Interplay and was recently sold to Bethesda after Interplay went bankrupt. I was a Bethesda fanboy still though, so I decided to give them another chance.
The cry of a thousand voices
Many months later, I appeared back on the Bethesda forums to hear about this "Fallout" title, and how it was coming along. What I didn't expect to see (or more so wished I wouldn't see) was outcry that seemed even louder then the backlash of Oblivion. Fallout fans were furious with the way Fallout 3 was coming out to be. I read that Fallout 1 & 2 were turn-based, iso, rpgs. It was one of those "Nerdy RPGS". I thought "Bleh, why would I want to play a slow game like that, I like where Bethesda is going." Bethesda was turning it into a real time game with first person elements. Similar to The Elder Scrolls. I was one of the people that would tell Fallout fans to shut up and deal with it. I said Fallout 3 would be a much better game. I had just defended the Developer that turned its back on me. "Fool me once, shame on you, Fool me twice, shame on me."
I was about to be shamed...
Finding the pot of gold
Fast forward a few months. I was still very active on the Bethesda boards. Seeing all the bitching the Fallout fans were giving gave me a headache. I decided to go out for lunch and get some Pizza. After my meal, I stopped in the nearby Gamestop. I only had ten dollars, not enough to buy anything, so I decided to just browse a little bit. Then something caught my eye...
Walking by the bargain bin, I noticed the letters "Fallo-." hidden behind a used copy of Diablo. "Was this that game that everyone had been bitching about?" I picked up the crummy, half-torn box and read the title. "Fallout Collection." It had Fallout 1, 2, and Tactics. The price tag was ripped off. I approached the cashier, "How much for this?"
"Well, whats the pricetag?"
"Umm, it's ripped off..."
"Umm, well, how much you got?"
"Only ten, why? would you take it for that."
"Yeah, sure kid. Oh Fallout, hmmm thats a pretty old game you got there, it's good though, probably one of my favorite RPGS."
"Oh, so you heard of Fallout 3 then?" The cashier gave me a disgusted look. I bought the game, and decided to hightail it outta there.
The first taste is the worst
After installing the old game. I decided to boot up Fallout 1. I skipped all the intro and launched right into the game with one of the pre-defined characters. Max Stone, was the strong one, so I picked him, thinking I'd go around kicking ass with all my weapon skills. Well, lets just say after being killed by the rats in the first cave because I didn't know how to heal, or what the hell action points were, I wasn't really interested. The terrible graphics made it all the worse. I turned off the game, and went to sleep.
An accident that led to a miracle, a Fallout fan is born
Fallout had been collecting dust for the next few days. Then something happened, that I don't know if I'd ever consider a godsend or bad luck. I was in the back of my dads car while we were driving home from the mall. A truck ran a red light and smashed right into the side of our car. My father amazingly got out of the car with just a fractured rib and a few scrapes and bruises. I wasn't so lucky. My entire left leg was crushed. My bone was broken in thirty six different places. I wouldn't be able to walk for almost a year.
After two weeks of boredom in my room, I was desperately looking for something to do. I noticed the Fallout CD in the corner. I knew the game "sucked", but I decided to try and play again with a clean mind. Ignoring the graphics, and after patching and looking at a few websites (NMA), I decided to jump back in. Lets just say I barley slept for the next three days. I was hooked. I was so amazed at the world crafted by Interplay. I wanted more and more. The game was so amazingly deep. I remember meeting dogmeat, and I didn't know how to get him. I watched mad max just the other day, so I wasn't seriously thinking it would work, but I equipped a leather jacket and Dogmeat ran right towards me. The charm of it blew me away. Taking down Gizmo was just as fun. And I couldn't think of anything more tense then the Hostage at the Crash House. I remember when I first encountered the glow. It was so mysterious. I entered, wondering what happened. Meeting Zax and finding all the holodisks reveled FEV and the Supermutants. I knew about everything, but for some reason I craved more. When I found out Supermutants were sterile, I thought "Oh, then why is the Master creating an army if it'll die out eventually?" I told this to the Master during our confrontation, and he lost all hope. I couldn't believe it, I just convinced the final boss not to fight me. It was amazing. I was blow away by the entire game. Fallout 2 was just as good. (I've yet to play tactics, maybe I will some day.)
Changing Sides
After two weeks, I came back to the forums. I had realized how wrong I'd been. I saw how Bethesda had butchered an entire series. What they were doing was terrible. I never thought I'd find myself siding with the Fallout fans, whom I thought were crazy just weeks before. I now consider myself a Fallout fan, and have been visiting this site regularly. I'm amazed at how after ten years, people still talk about Fallout.
Conclusion and Thankyous
I know a lot of you probably won't read this whole thing, but I wanted to thank those who did, and I wanted to thank everyone here. If it wasn't for you guys, I wouldn't have ever played such an amazing game. A revolutionary game. I would still be one of the sheep you see on the Bethesda Forums. Thanks again for everything. I've just began walking again on my own if you wanted to know, and the truck driver that hit us is facing five years in Jail.
Intro
Where to begin, well, for starters, my name is Justin V., I'm a fifteen year old kid from New Jersey who is just about to begin his Sophomore year in High school this September. This thread is about how I started out as someone who didn't really know what Fallout was all about, until I learned of Fallout 3 being published by Bethesda.
The Beginning
Well, it all started back in March of 2006. I had been very excited for Bethesda's new Action-Rpg title "The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion." Initially I had been excited about the direction Bethesda was taking the series, that was until my fanboyism began to ware off...
A fanboy wakes up
After twenty hours lost in the world of Tamerial, I had finally completed the Main Quest, Thieves Guild, and most of the Dark Brotherhood. It was at this moment I started to feel a little bit strange. After looking back at those long twenty hours, I noticed a few things that just didn't seem right. Why was it the bandits who used to wear leather armor were now clad in Glass and Deadric? I shrugged it off, forgetting it, and begin to start my second character.
I was now a Kajjit stealthy player. I wanted to role play this character. As I took on quests I had previously done, I began to realize the game had lost all it's touch. How could this be? A game where you can do anything you want getting repetitive? I wanted to complete some quests differently then before, but I noticed that every quest is linear. I had never been arrested before, and as I was approached by a guard who wanted me in jail, I had though "Well, I can probably give him some of my treasure, maybe he'll let me go." Then he confronted me, and told me I could either Resist Arrest, or goto Jail. I was confused. Why wasn't I able to do anything else? My speech craft was high, shouldn't I be able to convince him to let me go? I was so frustrated after realizing how linear this game was. The game that promised me I could do anything I wanted lied to me. Bethesda lied to me. The world felt stale, lifeless. Radiant AI was a piece of crap, I can't tell you how many times I heard "Hey have you seen any mudcrabs today?" "Nasty Creatures." Then I stopped playing all together for weeks.
Hearing of Fallout
Around a week after I stopped playing, I decided to go onto the Bethesda forums once more. I had stopped going shorty before release, as not to be spoiled by people who got the game early. (Not that they could spoil much of such a generic storyline.) I noticed, I wasn't the only one who was upset with the recent installment into the Series. Public outcry was rampant on the forums for months to follow. Bethesda had dumbed down there series to please the mainstream. It was their someone said "I hope Fallout 3 will be better then this piece of crap." Fallout 3? Well, I never heard of Fallout 1 & 2, what is this? I read that Fallout was a Post-Apoctolytic RPG that was owned by Interplay and was recently sold to Bethesda after Interplay went bankrupt. I was a Bethesda fanboy still though, so I decided to give them another chance.
The cry of a thousand voices
Many months later, I appeared back on the Bethesda forums to hear about this "Fallout" title, and how it was coming along. What I didn't expect to see (or more so wished I wouldn't see) was outcry that seemed even louder then the backlash of Oblivion. Fallout fans were furious with the way Fallout 3 was coming out to be. I read that Fallout 1 & 2 were turn-based, iso, rpgs. It was one of those "Nerdy RPGS". I thought "Bleh, why would I want to play a slow game like that, I like where Bethesda is going." Bethesda was turning it into a real time game with first person elements. Similar to The Elder Scrolls. I was one of the people that would tell Fallout fans to shut up and deal with it. I said Fallout 3 would be a much better game. I had just defended the Developer that turned its back on me. "Fool me once, shame on you, Fool me twice, shame on me."
I was about to be shamed...
Finding the pot of gold
Fast forward a few months. I was still very active on the Bethesda boards. Seeing all the bitching the Fallout fans were giving gave me a headache. I decided to go out for lunch and get some Pizza. After my meal, I stopped in the nearby Gamestop. I only had ten dollars, not enough to buy anything, so I decided to just browse a little bit. Then something caught my eye...
Walking by the bargain bin, I noticed the letters "Fallo-." hidden behind a used copy of Diablo. "Was this that game that everyone had been bitching about?" I picked up the crummy, half-torn box and read the title. "Fallout Collection." It had Fallout 1, 2, and Tactics. The price tag was ripped off. I approached the cashier, "How much for this?"
"Well, whats the pricetag?"
"Umm, it's ripped off..."
"Umm, well, how much you got?"
"Only ten, why? would you take it for that."
"Yeah, sure kid. Oh Fallout, hmmm thats a pretty old game you got there, it's good though, probably one of my favorite RPGS."
"Oh, so you heard of Fallout 3 then?" The cashier gave me a disgusted look. I bought the game, and decided to hightail it outta there.
The first taste is the worst
After installing the old game. I decided to boot up Fallout 1. I skipped all the intro and launched right into the game with one of the pre-defined characters. Max Stone, was the strong one, so I picked him, thinking I'd go around kicking ass with all my weapon skills. Well, lets just say after being killed by the rats in the first cave because I didn't know how to heal, or what the hell action points were, I wasn't really interested. The terrible graphics made it all the worse. I turned off the game, and went to sleep.
An accident that led to a miracle, a Fallout fan is born
Fallout had been collecting dust for the next few days. Then something happened, that I don't know if I'd ever consider a godsend or bad luck. I was in the back of my dads car while we were driving home from the mall. A truck ran a red light and smashed right into the side of our car. My father amazingly got out of the car with just a fractured rib and a few scrapes and bruises. I wasn't so lucky. My entire left leg was crushed. My bone was broken in thirty six different places. I wouldn't be able to walk for almost a year.
After two weeks of boredom in my room, I was desperately looking for something to do. I noticed the Fallout CD in the corner. I knew the game "sucked", but I decided to try and play again with a clean mind. Ignoring the graphics, and after patching and looking at a few websites (NMA), I decided to jump back in. Lets just say I barley slept for the next three days. I was hooked. I was so amazed at the world crafted by Interplay. I wanted more and more. The game was so amazingly deep. I remember meeting dogmeat, and I didn't know how to get him. I watched mad max just the other day, so I wasn't seriously thinking it would work, but I equipped a leather jacket and Dogmeat ran right towards me. The charm of it blew me away. Taking down Gizmo was just as fun. And I couldn't think of anything more tense then the Hostage at the Crash House. I remember when I first encountered the glow. It was so mysterious. I entered, wondering what happened. Meeting Zax and finding all the holodisks reveled FEV and the Supermutants. I knew about everything, but for some reason I craved more. When I found out Supermutants were sterile, I thought "Oh, then why is the Master creating an army if it'll die out eventually?" I told this to the Master during our confrontation, and he lost all hope. I couldn't believe it, I just convinced the final boss not to fight me. It was amazing. I was blow away by the entire game. Fallout 2 was just as good. (I've yet to play tactics, maybe I will some day.)
Changing Sides
After two weeks, I came back to the forums. I had realized how wrong I'd been. I saw how Bethesda had butchered an entire series. What they were doing was terrible. I never thought I'd find myself siding with the Fallout fans, whom I thought were crazy just weeks before. I now consider myself a Fallout fan, and have been visiting this site regularly. I'm amazed at how after ten years, people still talk about Fallout.
Conclusion and Thankyous
I know a lot of you probably won't read this whole thing, but I wanted to thank those who did, and I wanted to thank everyone here. If it wasn't for you guys, I wouldn't have ever played such an amazing game. A revolutionary game. I would still be one of the sheep you see on the Bethesda Forums. Thanks again for everything. I've just began walking again on my own if you wanted to know, and the truck driver that hit us is facing five years in Jail.
I guess your humor is just to "complex" for me. And I just played Fallout 2 today as well! 
Whats the chances of two people playing the same game on the same day. Bleah!
- discovered it about half-way through the game)
