Part 1 of Let's Play Fallout. Here were leave the vault for the first time ever, and head out into the hot harsh wasteland.

Well, if there is one thing in the Fallout 3 that I appreciated, it was not being greeted with an explosion of music. Have to turn this sucker down if you're using headphones. Which I am. So ow.

At least I have no choice but to notice Interplay made this game! Busted eardrums aside, I kinda miss this intro in Fallout 3 and New Vegas. Sad, nostalgic times brah.

Nothing says "you are about to play in a gritty world of constant death" than old-timey animation. This is Vault Boy, and you'll be seeing him a lot through this game. This introduction is what I remember most about this game, and its easy to see why. Its so original and unexpected when you first play it, I just couldn't help but like it immediately.

"C'mon in, young 'un! Inside is people who don't want you dead! ... probably. Maybe. You know what, keep that gun on ya just in case."

Sorry if this gives you the nostalgic emotions, but the look on their faces make me want to take my chances outside.

News! I'm sure it will be completely happy and optimistic!

Canada is now under American control. First order of business: Canadian Bacon is now American Bacon. Its the same as before, but with more laying around and doing nothing.

That's ok, though! I'm sure Galaxy News will still give us something that will reaffirm our faith in mankind!

Ehhhhhh... well, this is awkward...

"I did not shoot this man in the head! I didn't! I did NAAAAHT... oh hai, TV camera!"

Is this a... COMMON occurrence in the pre-Mad Max Homage days? I think I'm wrong. This could very well be the joyful news I was expecting! Just look at that wave!

The world looks... less whole than it used to. Did something BAD happen? I want to know! Someone must tell me! Luckily, we have a highly paid Hollywood celebrity to narrate this unfortunate turn of events to me!

"War. War never changes." Ron Perlman did this speech long before Solid Snake made it cool... and Perlman soundly disagrees with him too.

Uncle Sam wants you to get the XPs! Free level ups for ALL!

2077, but with 1950s technology. I'm sure Robbie the Robot will be in here somewhere too. Anywho, Hellboy is telling me of how a third Great War came about thanks to fighting over scarce resources. I'm sure the battle will be long and bloody, just like the first 2 World Wars...

...

So here we are, decades after that little mishap. So I've lived underground for my whole life! And this is a Vault! SPOILERS: I'm not staying.

It's the title screen! Fallout paved the way for other games to have them. You all know I am correct in assuming this.

This is pre-made character Albert. Don't get attached to him, because I'm not using him. I'll be going with my own character.

The virgin character creation screen, before I get my creative goo all over it. What I like about Fallout is they came up with their own system, SPECIAL. From a range of 1 to 10, I get to select how good my character is in a particular area (Strength, Charisma, etc.)

I can also go through character traits in the bottom left, and pick three tagged skills on the right. Tagged skills are what my character is proficient in, so they get an early boost and levels up twice as fast when I put points into them.

This is Brigg. He is 20 years old, is both skilled and gifted, and knows how to Melee Weapons, Speech, and Barter. Sad to say, he won't be Sciencing much.

AHHHHH!

Oh... sorry. It's just the Overgeezer... I mean, Overseer.

Our water chips broken. Nobody knows how to Science it good enough. So I get to leave and kill things and make it better!

In all seriousness, I like how mundane Fallout (and Fallout 2, really) starts out and grows into a great story. The biggest failing in Bethesda's Fallout 3 was that it was unfortunately reversed. It started out great, but lost steam near its end. Not to mention 3's horrible ending, until they fixed it with DLC.

This is my time limit, folks. 150 days to add water to the Vault or its instant game over! There is a pun in there but its too lame to point it out. Like I just did.

It's time to trek to Vault 15. So basically, since a Vault needs a water chip, we get to try to find one in another Vault and hope they don't mind being put into our position! Flawless plans are flawless!

The Vault entrance! POV shots were pretty neat in 1997.

Our first glimpse at the outside world. We can hear the scurry of rats in the distance.

Our playable world is revealed! Wouldn't you know it, the gaming gods have smiled upon us this day with a dead fellow named Ed. Imma gonna loot his corpse for stuff. It's the RPG way.

Ed's got a knife and some armor piercing ammo. Meanwhile I got some stimpaks (healing items), flares, a knife and ammo of my own, and a gun to use them with! Fortunately I am OCD in taking everything that isn't nailed down, so I'm taking Ed's stuff anyway.

I equip one of the knives in my inventory. I mean, Brigg has trained himself in the art of Melee Weapon, so on the knife goes.

In a shocking turn of events, the cave with rat noises emanating from it has rats in it. I have 77% chance of stabbing this one in the face. Y/N?

The rat is dead. I got the XPs. No you can't have any.

It was at this point that I realized that a hundred square miles of open land would suck to traverse if I had to walk it. So I'm going to change that.

Best options screen ever, yes? I considered being a weenie and setting it to Easy, but where's the fun in that? That's not gonna come bite me in the butt later, nope. Running: Always ACTIVATE!

It's time to do a little tutorial. In these games you can go to different modes for combat. The picture of the knife is a button you press to activate the option to attack with it. That little target symbol on the bottom right of it means I can instead aim for a specific body part!

... like so. I have a 76% chance of hitting the body. I'm sure everyone's favorite spot of slicing and dicing is the Groin. 61%... I don't take those odds. Rats can keep its nads.

Dead rats. There is nothing in this part of the map but rats!

I wonder what is awaiting for me in the other direction?

MORE RATS! Also, the game has informed me of that there are rat droppings here. Thank you so much for informing me of this, Fallout.

As I lay knee deep in rat carcasses, I notice my HP is at 14. The numbers are in yellow, so I bring up this handy dandy Skills menu. I can First Aid and Doctor myself up. What I love about these games is that you get XP for performing most of the skills at your disposal.

Using First Aid a few times has gotten me to 22. I got 25 XP each time. Too bad I can't grind that.
With the Doctor skill, I get back up to full HP. Now I can go in the other direction! Because dead ends are always a pleasure to discover.

Now, before I go on, I'd like you to take a pop quiz. What do you think will be waiting for me on the other side of the cave?

A) Rats
Rats
C) Rats
D) Rats
E) All of the Above
F) Duelpro

(monotone) ohmygodrats

I have come to the outside world. I have only heard stories about its wonders, dangers, mystery, and beauty. And so I come to this place of sky and light, and loudly proclaim: "Eh, is aight."

Lets take a look at my map. I just traversed this whole cave. There was a whole lotta rats (and rat poop) but that is about it. Well, Ed was there, but nobody talks about Ed.

This is a horned kangaroo. I am going to call him Ed Jr. We can marvel at this marsupial native of southwestern United States.

Before I leave the cave and kill things at other places, lets have a mission debriefing. I got 725 XP, and no perks because Brigg is a level 1 loser.

I has no karma.

20 rats in that cave. Most of them didn't provoke Brigg, but I've decided he is a psychopath. It's the best type of -path.

The game told me I can see the stars and the sky! LIES! This looks more like a late-90s era RPG world map to me.

I can see the buttons on this side that says "Vault 15." The Overseer wants me to ransack Vault 15 for their water chip so that's what I'm gonna do.

As it turns out, there are other people besides me. These guys are friendly, loaded with items, and armed to the teeth. So I take the most sensible action a guy like me has to make.

I pickpocket the (beep) outta them!

Mr. Mercenary has a rifle, bullets, and bottle caps (aka money-but-not-really). Please take note that I have yet to say "Hello" to these guys yet.

CAUGHT! Y'know what? Screw it, these bozos are going down! They may have rifles, but I have a handgun and the spirit of Ed at my back! I CAN DO TH-

Awwww.



NOT REPRESENTED IN THIS SCREENSHOT: The soothing narration of Ron Perlman telling me how much I suck at Fallout.

... fine, I'll play nice. I reload and introduce myself to this 'wandering man of Asian descent."

The man's name is Duc, and he's here to (party).

(Thank you TV version of Kill Bill.)

Disappointingly, I neither have the funds for goods nor the foresight to ask how the letter K became extinct in the wasteland. (I know it's a real name. BACK OFF.)

While I can't buy anything from Duc, I can hitch a ride with his group for free.

After much mulling over, I decided that 2 seconds on the world map is too much work for my lazy bum, so I took his offer. I'm riding the Duc.

Civilization at last! Well, except for the Vault with a thousand people in it that I lived in all my life and the sizeable group I came across a few hours later. But who counts that?

Anyway, this man is giving me the business. How dare he. Next time I shall show this guys who's boss. Next time!

:rockon