Ehh, necro'ing this.
I completed Fallout 1 again today and it gave me some perspective. I'm not a kind of guy that likes rating games through rose-tinted glasses of nostalgia.
To me, Fallout 2 is a 10/10 game.
And Fallout 1 is a 8/10 game.
Explanation:
Fallout 1 is a game that feels woefully small and kinda... "poorly interactive". The towns are really boring. There's maybe 1-2 "big" quests per town, with a bunch of smaller (unmarked) ones for a bit of XP. My problem is that those quests poorly reference each other. In Fallout2, you can (usually) interact with many NPCs in town regarding a quest. In Fallout1, except a very specific NPC or two, people are generally oblivious to your doings. And they often don't even acknowledge critical quests being completed or give wrong info. It feels like FO1 sidequests are generic RPG crap put there to make you gain XP, whereas in FO2, there's a lot of brilliantly written stuff that makes you immersed in the gameplay a lot.
The towns mostly have boring designs, just a couple copypasted assets, even the Glow actually feels boring - it's just the same thing times 6. I always was a fan of the Glow, but seeing it again after many years, I was rather disappointed. That, and the glow virtually provides no challenge at all. Now, Sierra Army Depot? Bigger, tougher, with more sinister atmosphere, more interesting levels, and plenty of lucre at the end.
There is very little combat in Fallout1 and it's rather easy. Half of the game you're facing either stupid melee creatures like Scorpions, or weak dudes with a shotgun or two. Fallout2 brings those grand battles with the New Reno families, Hubologists or Metzger, it just feels entirely different. It feels like there's always something to do. Also, the progression is completely off. In a game where you fight everyone, in FO1, you fight rats, bandits, raiders and mercs, at best a few at a time, then you get to fight three near-sighted deathclaws of Boneyard (I think they don't initiate combat till you're like 8-10 hexes away, so you may as well ignore them), then a single 310 HP deathclaw mother, and finally ... BAM, 10 Super Mutants with minguns and rocket launchers per room in the Military Base. Seems a rather steep jump, eh? FO2 gives you a very pleasant progression. You feel in control and can take bigger fights that prepare you for even bigger fights. In FO1, there's very little combat challenge outside Mariposa/Cathedral. In FO2, there's always the next group to fight. Not to mention that you get so little XP in FO1 that it's hard to progress past level 15 without grinding the respawning deathclaws of Boneyard. Which, on the other hand, makes the game braindead to a point of being boring, because 5-6 shots with Turbo Plasma Rifle or Alien Blaster per turn with 100% Critical Rate is too much. You may argue it's too much to shoot a Gauss Pistol 6 times per turn as well, and I'd agree, but at least the enemies have 200 HP on average and way better weapons/stats.
Fallout1 has a rather boring encounter system that provides no challenge at all for the most part. Bar the rare unity patrol, you'll at best meet a small group of raiders or some molerats. Boo hoo. Travelling through the wastes in Fallout 2 - esp. in Iron Man type of challenge - is genuinely scary early on, and there's plenty of challenge even late in the game, seeing that coastal encounters can spawn 9 Enclave Patrolmen at the same time.
Fallout1 is even more meaningless regarding money than FO2. As soon as in Hub, there are merchants with ever-regenerating bottle cap stacks, they restock every conversation. At the same time, there's little to buy and not much to save for. Most things are pretty much available without any hassle. Now, yes, FO2 has the APA ready for taking with a stupid detour (courtesy of no-lvl-cap on Navarro quest imposed... I wonder why), but in general, you'll have to put some work to find the good stuff. As opposed to Hub outright giving you the best Small Gun and Melee weapon for taking. Huh.
Fallout 1 is also not written very well, and I don't mean the plot here - I mean the dialogues. They are short and dry. Fallout2 has a lot bigger dialogues with a lot more text put into it. The whole "Richard Wright poisoning" quest probably has more lines than all non-mainplot quests of Fallout1, lol.
NPCs are a slight joke in Fallout1 - they don't progress, there's little control over them, and they have pitiful amounts of HP, meaning that they pretty much die straight away in Mariposa and Cathedral. They have a lot less floats and are just pretty bland additions, that may not be there to be honest, because they don't bring much to the table. Also, even on sfall patches, they are slow to move, stupid, and keep picking the worst possible target choices available.
What Fallout 1 does better is consistency. The towns are simply consistently conceived, boring as they are, they work as one gameworld. Fallout 2 introduces too many out-of-place zones (like New Reno or San Fran) that feel more like an easter egg. But at the same time, they are full with cool quests, and genuinely interesting, with cool rewards, like Boxing in New Reno that gives you the extremely useful DT bonus for instance, I find it awesome. If only they toned down on the pop culture references... there's too many and it's tiresome.
All in all, Fallout 2 is a _MUCH_ better _GAME_. A ton more to do, and with killap's RP, you get a wonderful game. I beat FO2 multiple times and never felt bored, in fact - I was sad I'm already near the end of the game when going to the Enclave. On the other hand, at Mariposa in FO1, I felt tired already, my guy was one-shotting everything and there was just soo many mutants. So many mutants. Make it stop, argh.
Fallout 1 provides a darker and consistent atmosphere, and a somewhat better plot, but that's it.
Don't get me wrong, it's still a fantastic game, but I really can't see why would I want to replay it when I have FO2 to replay every year or two. FO2 is just that much better. Once you know the plot by heart, it's the gameplay that speaks, and the gameplay in the sequel is just... better. period.
I know NMA is not very active nowadays as reddit took over the role of once active message boards, but it's fine to visit every now and then. Decided I may as well write something.
