Let's dance. 

But can it do this?

10 years since this iconic piece of literature was gifted to us.
https://www.fanfiction.net/s/2945837/1/Halflife_Fulllife_Consequences

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Having played through and thoroughly enjoyed the first Fallout game, I was obviously looking forward to playing through Fallout 2. Widely regarded as one of the best in the series, Fallout 2 had a lot to live up to. A difficult task, especially considering the troubles Black Isle Studios went through during development. So, does Fallout 2 live up to its predecessor?

Be warned, there are some spoilers.

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The game is set 80 years after Fallout 1. After saving the wasteland from an army of mutants and subsequently being exiled from Vault 13, the Vault Dweller, along with some other members of the Vault, headed north and founded a small village, which they named Arroyo. The Vault Dweller’s experience in the wasteland proved useful in teaching the others skills such as farming, combat, and engineering, and the group grew to eventually become a large tribe. Years after the Vault Dweller’s death, the Chosen One, a descendant of the Vault Dweller and the protagonist of Fallout 2, is born. In 2241, when the game starts, the Northern California area faces a horrific drought. Arroyo’s crops and animals begin to die, causing a great threat to the village. The Chosen One is sent on a journey across the wasteland to locate a G.E.C.K, a mysterious terraforming device issued to almost every Vault with the intention that its inhabitants would make the wasteland livable again.

The tribal aspect of Fallout 2 was a little jarring to me at first. While the idea of tribalism in Fallout does make sense, this is a tribe that formed entirely from members of a technologically advanced Vault, and yet now the tribals are wearing loincloths and embracing weird ideas of spirituality, as well as having no idea how to use technology. There’s also the tutorial area for the game, the “Temple of Trials”, which contains all sorts of traps. At first, it didn’t seem all that believable, but thankfully that changed for me when I began to consider how isolated Arroyo had been from the rest of the world and how much time had passed. It makes sense for each generation in this tribe to be more primitive than the last. I do still think they were made a bit too primitive, but as I progressed more into the game I became okay with it. I even felt a bit of sadness at a particular event that happens towards the end of the game regarding the tribe.

As mentioned before, the tutorial area for the game is the “Temple of Trials”. Regardless of whether it fits into the universe or not, I have to praise this area from a gameplay standpoint. The player is thrown into this temple with no form of guidance and has to make their way through it using the skills they chose when creating their character. There are many different ways to get through it: you can charge in head-first and kill every enemy if you’re playing as a more combat-oriented character; you can sneak through the temple, keeping combat to a minimum; and at the end you can either fight the boss, talk him out of it or steal the key to the exit from him. The area lets you experiment and get used to your character’s strengths and weaknesses before you venture out into the wasteland.

And that’s really what the game is all about. Fallout 2 allows for an even wider range of character types than its predecessor does, and there are always multiple ways of handling a situation, giving the game a lot of replay value. The combat system is greatly improved; it flows much more smoothly and you can now tweak your companions’ specific behaviours. There are many new weapons and armours to collect and a lot of interesting new enemy types. In general, the game is more difficult than Fallout 1 and more unforgiving, but in the rewarding sense rather than the frustrating one. There are still some issues, however. For example, when faced with a massive amount of enemies, it’s easy to find yourself in a crowded mess, which can be slightly annoying. Companions can still get in your way, but fortunately there is now the option to push them if that happens.

As before, your actions affect the fate of each settlement you come across. This time, however, the outcomes for different settlements can affect each other, leading to even more combinations of endings. Each of these settlements is unique and interesting, and there are even a few from the first Fallout. The map overall is significantly bigger than that of Fallout 1, with more places to visit and more secrets to find. Thankfully, the player can get a car, making those long journeys much quicker and easier.

The tone of the game is a lot lighter. There are many humourous and strange moments throughout the game, and hopeful ones too. Settlements are more civilised and there are even areas where humans and mutants are coexisting peacefully. That isn’t to say the game doesn’t have its fair share of harshness. You will meet some of the worst of humanity, most notably the Enclave. The game does an excellent job of portraying them as truly despicable while still making them believable villains. The conflict in some ways is a reversal that of Fallout 1. Whereas back then the protagonist was fighting to save humanity from an evil army of mutants, this time the player is fighting to save mutants and “mutated” humans alike from an evil army of genetically “pure” humans. This really shows how much the wasteland has evolved since the events of the first game.

The writing in the game is brilliant. The Chosen One encounters a diverse set of characters such as Marcus the mutant from Broken Hills or Goris the talking deathclaw. The script is smart and often hilarious and some of the conversation trees are very detailed. The main quest evolves naturally without forcing the player down a certain path and all of the side plots are nicely integrated alongside it. This time, there is no time limit (unless you count the 13-year one implemented for technical reasons), but the game still manages to convey a sense of urgency.

Being a game from 1998, the visuals are obviously going to look a bit dated. That said, the various environments all have their own unique look and feel to them. There are some new, particularly gory death animations. One animation at the end of the game is especially entertaining. All of these things, along with the writing and the music, support the game’s immersive atmosphere.

In my experience with the game, the only bug I encountered was one where my car disappeared from the game (I kind of cheated and placed it back in using a save game editor). However, I have heard that there are a few bugs, so it’s advised that players save often. You’ll probably find yourself saving often regardless out of fear that you’ll mess up your entire playthrough in the next area.

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Fallout 2 is a game that encompasses everything people love about the series. The gritty-yet-quirky post-apocalyptic world, the diverse, interesting characters, the sheer amount of freedom that you’re given and the impact that you can have on the story. Fallout 2 takes all of those things and amplifies them. The combat is definitely an acquired taste for many people, but for those like me who enjoy it, this game is essential. While I wasn’t keen on things at the beginning, the game quickly grew on me, and by the end it became my favourite Fallout game alongside New Vegas. This game does everything the first Fallout does and more.


Next up, Fallout Tactics!

10 years too late
https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/community/blog-posts/halo-waypoint-file-browser

Did anyone watch it?

Easily one of the best episodes this season.

I have a feeling Chuck will die next episode or be left brain-dead.

Judging by the promo, Mike may try to snipe Hector, I guess. Could be what puts him in a wheelchair.



also if you take the first letter of each episode title this season and rearrange them you get:

Fifi
Rebecca
Inflatable
Nailed
Gloves Off
Switch
Bali Ha'i
Amarillo
Cobbler
Klick
= FRING'S BACK

the cousins are back baby and mike is pissed

jimmy will take a massive step towards becoming saul next episode

gus is bound to appear at some point

why are you not watching plebfilter: the show?

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/better-call-saul-renewed-third-875903

Pretty obvious, but still good news. Season 2 is really fucking good so far.

I was watching Knack cutscenes and thought that Knack's voice sounded oddly familiar.
So I took a look at IMDB and I found out this piece of information:


That sounds familiar...


It gets better...


So basically...

KNACK = SPARTAN LOCKE

Halo and Knack are set in the same universe, baby. It's fucking confirmed.

And yes, this needed its own thread.

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For the past couple of weeks, I have been playing the first Fallout game, developed and published by Interplay in 1997. I’d bought the game around a year ago, and had started several playthroughs, but never managed to get very far. This time, though, I finally got around to doing a full playthrough of the game. Now that I've finally played it, does Fallout hold up to its status as one of the best roleplaying games of all time?

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As most people know by now, the Fallout series is set in a timeline that diverged from our own, where technology continued to progress while culture very much stagnated within the 1950s, giving the game its signature retro-futuristic aesthetic. The 21st Century marks a period of great worldwide conflict brought about by the shortage of non-renewable energy resources such as petroleum and uranium, eventually culminating in a massive global nuclear war in 2077. This left most of the world a desolate ruin, in which society is now made up of small survivor groups from the fall of human civilization. Shortly before the war, a select number of people were placed in underground Vaults, including the player character, who lives in Vault 13, Southern California.

As is customary in Fallout games, the player must choose their character’s stats. This includes setting their SPECIAL values, tag skills and selecting up to two traits. There are a wide range of options to choose from, opening up to a massive variety of different playstyles and roleplay opportunities. Having created a character, the player is immediately thrust into the action with the mission of finding a “water chip” for their Vault. There are no tutorials or hints; the player is made to simply figure things out for themselves. It’s important to select a good set of stats to really do well in this game, as even the earlier sections can prove difficult to new players. The combat system does take some getting used to, being completely different to what is found in ARPGs today, however once I had gotten used to it I found myself really enjoying it. The game uses a turn-based system. The player is given a set of action points to use each turn, the number varying depending on the player’s stats. They are also given a variety of attack modes to choose from, leading to some interesting combat scenarios. The VATS system is, as expected, present, and can be extremely useful. All of these systems come together to create a rather tactical and sometimes intense experience which really enhances the feeling of survival and desperation within the game. For some people, the combat may be clunky and slow, but for me it’s incredibly fun and rewarding.

The game is presented from an isometric perspective, and the environments are highly detailed (for its time). The world itself is huge, taking place in Southern California, and there a good number of settlements to visit, from small farm towns like Shady Sands, to massive trading centres like The Hub, to creepy, Underworld-like cities like Necropolis. All of these places are full of interesting, likeable characters, the most major of whom are represented by creepy-looking “talking heads” during dialogue. They all have their own stories and quests for you to take on and you’re given freedom to complete these in almost any way you wish. Each of the locations has its own unique atmosphere, supported by the well-placed soundtrack.

To travel between these destinations, the player selects them on a map and waits as their character journeys across the wasteland. Usually, the player will encounter some kind of random event in the middle of their journey. These range from raider ambushes, to crossing paths with friendly caravans, to even finding the TARDIS casually standing in the sand. While they can get repetitive at times (some areas are reused for the generic parts of the wasteland), they do well to spice up what could have been a mundane travelling mechanic, and there are even some unmarked areas containing secrets that are easy to miss.

It’s important to note that the game has two time limits: one for the first of the game’s main quests and one for the second. Within these time limits, the settlements are also affected in some way by the ending. Travelling in this game takes time, so it’s wise to plan your journeys if you want to get the best endings. The time mechanic in this game is highly effective as it really contributes to the sense of urgency and makes you fear for the fates of the characters you’ve met on your journey. The world as a whole really feels like something you can make an impact on, for better or for worse. The story allows you to play as a pacifist or a complete psychopath, and makes no attempt to restrict you, even in the last few seconds of the game.

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Are there negatives? Of course there are. I already mentioned the repetitiveness of the interruptions during travelling, and the game does contain a few irritating bugs. Companion AI is often dodgy; they block doorways almost all the time, which is especially annoying when your group consists of every possible companion in the game. However, I find that these problems are only very minor, and aren’t really that much of a detriment to this game’s excellent story, engaging combat, and expansive, diverse game world. If you like post-apocalyptic stories, turn-based combat, interactive worlds, or all three of these things, then I’d highly recommend this game to you. To answer the question from the beginning of this review: Yes. It is one of the best roleplaying games of all time.

I'm back and it's time I got my revenge.

You.

Me.

Chess.

I'd like one of you kind folks to kill me.

Thanks.

Hopefully this means there's a trailer soon.

Pretty excited for this. The first season was near-perfect so hopefully the second is just as good.

The new season starts 15th February, same day as The Walking Dead.

Cool shit tbh fam.

The Andersons are fucked.