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Fallout 2: A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game
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Fallout 2: A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game
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==Gameplay== ===Character attributes=== ====Attributes==== Fallout 2, like its predecessor, uses a character creation system called SPECIAL. SPECIAL is an acronym and initialism of '''S'''trength, '''P'''erception, '''E'''ndurance, '''C'''harisma, '''I'''ntelligence, '''A'''gility, and '''L'''uck. These are the seven basic attributes of every character in the game. They are used to determine the skills and perks of the given character. ====Skills==== There are 18 different skills in the game. They are ranked from 0% to 300%. The starting values for those skills at Level 1 are determined by the player's 7 basic attributes, but most of those skills would fall between 0% and 50%. Every time the player gains a level, he will be awarded skill points to be used to improve his skills, equal to 5 points + twice his Intelligence. The player may choose to "Tag" 3 of the 18 skills. A tagged skill will improve at twice the normal rate. * 6 combat skills: Small Guns, Big Guns, Energy Weapons, Unarmed, Melee Weapons, Throwing. * 8 active skills: First Aid, Doctor, Sneak, Lockpick, Steal, Traps, Science, Repair. * 4 passive skills: Speech, Barter, Gambling, Outdoorsman. Books found throughout the gameworld can also improve some of those skills permanently, although books are scarce early in the game. However, after a skill reaches a certain level, books no longer have any impact. Some NPCs can also improve Skills via training. How high a Skill can be developed is affected by the character's Attributes - a character with a low Intelligence will not be able to boost their Science rating as high as a character with high Intelligence, for example. Some skills can also be improved while having certain items equipped. (E.g. equipping a lock pick would improve lock picking skills.) Stimulants can also temporarily boost player's skills; however, they often have adverse effects such as addiction and withdrawal. As Skills grow higher in rating, they begin to cost more Skill Points to increase. ====Traits and Perks==== At character creation, the player may choose 2 optional traits for his character. Traits are special character background. Most traits have profound effects on gameplay. A trait normally contains one beneficial effect and one detrimental effect. They are listed under perks in the character sheet. Once a Trait is chosen, it is impossible to change, except by using the "Mutate" Perk that lets them change 1 Trait, 1 time. Perks in the game are special elements of the level up system. Every 3 levels (or every 4 if the player chose the "Skilled" Trait), the player is granted a perk of his choosing. Perks grant special effects, most of which are not obtainable via normal level up in the game, such as letting the player have more actions per round. Unlike traits, most perks are purely beneficial - they are usually offset only by the infrequency of acquiring them. ===Changes from Fallout 1=== Fallout 2 featured a much wider array of items, weapons and armor from Fallout 1. Most of the items from Fallout 1 returned, but had alternate and upgraded forms: the minigun, for example, is now joined by the Avenger and Vindicator miniguns. Item prices were also increased at stores, making scavenging for items more important. In addition to old, upgraded weapons, several new weapons were introduced for all branches of combat, thus making no one combat skill the best, and allowing the player to be powerful with any firearm. The range of enemies was also increased to a wider diversity. The end result is a much more complex combat environment. Skills start off at a lower rate than the first game, and the various skills are also more important. Previously, skills like Unarmed, Doctor and Traps were used sparingly, but now, a wider range of skills are useful. The maximum level of a Skill was increased from 200 to 300. The Unarmed skill in particular was made much more sophisticated by adding different types of Punches and Kicks depending on the player's Attributes and skill level. Several new Perks were added while most others were retained, allowing a greater degree of customization. Karma is accompanied by Reputation, and while Karma affects the player on a whole, Reputation affect how the player is received in a single town. While Karma is achieved by doing good things and killing monsters, Reputation grows based on how the player helps the city, usually by completing subquests. By nature, Reputation and Karma tend to grow parallel to each other. As in Fallout 1, good/evil characters react differently to players with different Karma. Also, the player can acquire certain titles (Gigolo, Made Man, Slaver) based on their actions that also affect the game and how others react to them. Recruitable NPCs were very simplistic in the first game, and the only extent of control the player has over them is controlling what weapons they use and telling them to stay at a certain distance. In Fallout 2, team NPC control became much more sophisticated, with them being able to level up, equip armor and be issued orders before combat ranging from when to run away to when to heal themselves. The NPCs also possessed distinct personalities and characteristics, similar to previous games. The recruiting process has also been made more complex, with NPCs refusing to join the player if he has negative Karma or before a certain quest has been completed. Finally, there is a limit to the number of NPCs a player can recruit, as well as a larger amount to recruit (over a dozen). In the original Fallout, subquests in the towns and cities were usually solved within that city, with only a few subquests requiring the player to travel. The cities, fairly isolated except for caravans, were concerned with their own problems. In Fallout 2, however, the cities have a great deal of contact with each other, and with the sole exception of Klamath, actions in one city will affect the state of another, and subquests will often require the player to go back and forth from location to location to kill enemies and deliver messages and items. To assist this, the makers of ''Fallout 2'' added a vehicle, The Chrysalis Motors Highwayman (sometimes erroneously called the Roadmaster, which is a real car). The Highwayman, based on the 57 Chevy with sci-fi upgrades, reduces map travel time significantly. It can be upgraded several times in various missions, and it runs on the same nuclear cells as certain weapons in the game; this element is faithful to 1950s concepts of future vehicles, such as the Ford Nucleon. The game's overall theme matter was more R-rated, with drugs and prostitution becoming major elements of the setting and the drug "Jet" central to one of the major subplots. Profanities are also encountered more often. During the course of the game, players can join the Mafia, become a porn star, get married and subsequently divorced, and nearly every town in the game features some sort of prostitute that can be slept with. Slavery also becomes an important subplot, with players able to side with the Slavers or join their opponents who try to stamp slavery out, and also allowing NPCs to be bought and sold. Also, a [[speedrun]] is much more difficult than in Fallout 1. In Fallout 1, players could go straight to the Military Base, destroy it, then travel to the Cathedral and do the same. In Fallout 2, the final base cannot be accessed until a computer part from Vault 13 is found, and Vault 13 in turn cannot be found until one of two quests have been completed, thus requiring a great deal of fighting that makes doing these tasks difficult for a starting character. Also, while they can recruit allies for the battle, there is no way to avoid the final boss battle in Fallout 2, again, encouraging combat and making a speedrun difficult. In spite of these factors, the game was completed in 17:51 on a video posted on the [[Speed Demos Archive]] website.
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