It was the year 2005, and the Autobots-er, what were we talking about?
Ah, yes: How did I discover Fallout?
It was 1997. I had recently quit my <s>wonderful</s> job at K-Mart. I was in Media Play, looking through their video game section, having just put in an application.
There was this (I can't quite recall if it was a standee or just a poster) ad for a "Post Nuclear Role Playing Game" called Fallout. First off, you have to know that I was one of
those people. The kind that think Final Fantasy is the
only way to make an RPG. Yes, yes. It tis my secret shame.
Anyway, to continue, I picked up the box and looked on the back. My first reaction: "You can't have guns in an RPG!" I put the box back down, and went on to purchase some crappy JRPG.
So, the dark years came to pass. 1997 rolled into 1998 and so forth, and so on, until the year 2002. I had just bought a new computer from the Wal-Mart I was working at and wanted some games for it.
Lo and behold there was the dual-jewel case of Fallout and Fallout 2. I picked it up, and read the back, remembering how I had dismissed it all those years before. I figured, what the hell, it is only 10 bucks (though I still thought you couldn't have guns in an RPG).
I took it home, installed both games, and started playing... Fallout 2. Now, you're saying to yourself "What the f**k is wrong with this f**ker!? You have both games, and you
start with the second one!?" Yeah, I know.
Anyway, to make a long story short (
TOO LATE!), I traversed the wastes in search of the Holy GECK. I couldn't figure out where to go (remember, I had only played the hand-holding JRPGs up to this point). So, in frustration, I turned to the original.
Thus, I saw the light. I quested for the waterchip and took a boat load of bullets in the back from Ian (though I didn't know Ian could join you as an NPC until
much later in the game. I never bothered talking to him when I first got to Shady Sands). I learned that Shady Sands became NCR, and realized that that was where I should have gone in Fallout 2.
I beat Fallout and Fallout 2 over my two days off. I replayed each about 4 or 5 times. I was hooked.
About a year (give or take a few months) later I learned about Fallout: Tactics, and started searching the internet for information about it. I found two sites that I decided to join: NMA and DAC.
Over the years that I have spent lurking here, I learned about other great game series, like Ultima, Wizardry, the Bards Tale, as well as individual games, like Wasteland. I became a lover of all things cRPG. I still play Final Fantasy games and JRPGs, but I look at them as some mediocre to decent adventure games.
Fallout <s>taught</s> reminded me of why I loved PNP RPGs as a kid, and showed me what a
good RPG
should be.
Please forgive me for making this long winded post. I just felt the need to speak of my <s>fanatic</s> infatuation with Fallout.
*Edited for my general raping of the english language.*