Fallout 2 is a good game but very much inferior to the first Fallout in almost every way save for size and some of the quest design.
This is probably an alt or a troll or whatever, but I feel like rambling about Fallout 2 anyway. Thanks, jackass!
For one, yes, the opening of the game sucks. The Temple of Trials was apparently thrown together at the last minute because Interplay wanted the game to have a tutorial level, and while Arroyo and Klamath aren't bad in theory, in practice they're just too slow-paced. Hunting geckos to find an old drunk's moonshine? Whoop-dee-fucking-doo. As others have said, though, once you hit the Den and especially Vault City, the game picks up significantly.
Fallout 2 also has a much weaker story than the first Fallout, mostly due to the lack of a clear villain for most of the game and its focus on solving local troubles, without having them tie into a larger plot thread or goal. Again, it does pick up steam as you go, but it also gets pretty derpy near the end, so it's definitely not worth getting too excited about plot. Fallout 2 is all about the choices you make in solving quests and building your character, as well as exploring a huge world, not so much about coherency.
Despite the silliness and occasional lore destruction, some quests get really complicated and interweave with one another, influencing each others' outcomes and whatnot, which is something you almost never see in other RPGs, much less modern ones (New Vegas is the only one I've seen do that to a significant degree in years). More than anything that's what I appreciate about Fallout 2, but I rarely get that far because the early game is so boring and frustrating.
Another change I don't like is the focus on combat. The first Fallout had a lot of it, but importantly, much could be avoided either by simply running past enemies or by talking/puzzling/whatevering your way through things instead. A little foresight could go a long way, and playing a diplomat was actually a very viable strategy. Fallout 2, meanwhile, pretty much forces you to heavily specialize in at least one weapons skill, and large stretches of the game pretty much revolve entirely around combat. It's not that there aren't non-combat options, speech checks, etc., it's just that usually you're forced into fighting despite all of that stuff. I can't help but think that's a result of either rushed development, or simple padding.
