Let's settle this once and for all! Who's the Top Dog?

[TNO]

How people can seriously rate fallout 2 as better than fallout 1 disgusts me.

Nothing against F2, it's a good game, but it's like the original but they shoved in loads of easter eggs and random shit in.

I haven't played Arcanum (given this thread, I will) so I won't vote. I'd probably give the nod to PS:T over fallout though.

I don't see why FO combat is much better than PS:T or whatever. Tag small guns, pump it to 150% ASAP, sniper rifle, aimed shots to the eyes. Rinse and repeat to beat game on hard. Turbo plas if you like.

 

[Volourn]

FO2 > FO1

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

Fallout. Arcanum and PST have shitty combat, Fallout's is better. Combat is too important to these sort of RPGs because they make it so important, so bad combat is bad Fallout wins.

 

[Xor]

FO2 > FO1

lol

 

[SCO]

How people can seriously rate fallout 2 as better than fallout 1 disgusts me.

Nothing against F2, it's a good game, but it's like the original but they shoved in loads of easter eggs and random shit in.

I haven't played Arcanum (given this thread, I will) so I won't vote. I'd probably give the nod to PS:T over fallout though.

I don't see why FO combat is much better than PS:T or whatever. Tag small guns, pump it to 150% ASAP, sniper rifle, aimed shots to the eyes. Rinse and repeat to beat game on hard. Turbo plas if you like.

Quantity over quality. Actually (-) some small things (+) some alternative things fallout 2 could have been peerless.
(if you ignore the primitive combat).

BTW i really liked the article about the Bloodlines problems Vault Dweller. That is a expansion module i'd like to see instead of the possession fagottory currently inundating bloodlines modding.

 

[Zomg]

There is no arguing with people that prefer FO2 to FO1, it's like trying to talk cuisine with aliens that eat rocks there is no shared point of reference.

 

[bhlaab]

Hmmmmmm let me think about this for two nanoseconfallout

 

[bhlaab]

actually i havent played arcanum yet, i like to save such 'essentials' until long vacation periods.

 

[Gragt]

You dare to challenge Democracy, sir? Damn you.

Forum polls aren't democracy, just lowest common denominator.

*threatening glare*

 

[Grunker]

Good thread. Next to no bashing. Rare sight on ma Kodex.

So, personal opinion?

Fallout has a lot of great things the other two don't. Where it loses steam in my eyes, is the incredibly slow pacing coupled with the fact that a lot of the things there are to do, simply aren't that interesting. And while most every part of Fallout's writing, story and setting shined, the main-plot simply wasn't good. "Supervillan tries to take on the world with supermutant created in V.A.T.S" doesn't quite excite me as being original and smart. It was a downer, compared to the sophistication of the rest of the game.

Arcanum... Well. I have to admit something. I played this one and completed it, albeit very long and go. And back then, I don't remember it as being anything special. I can certainly see why it makes the list, and I also recall stuff that I would say could make a terrific game. But what you actually did in the game, what you spent your time on when you weren't immersed in great C&C, a fine piece of writing or the like, was boring. Combat, running around on three acres of samey-looking country-side, bored me outta my skull. I may revise this opinion if I choose to replay it in my adulthood, which seems likely based on this thread.

PS:T's combat was better than Arcanum's and worse than Fallouts. But it had me entertained every step of the way. With the exception of the overload of combat in the Fortress of Regrets and maybe 1 or 2 other places, I wasn't bored for one second. On top of that, its plot - not setting, but plot - was far better than the other two of "mastermind seeks to overthrow the world with supermutants" and "dude wants to kills everybody in the world." Plus, it was a personal story. Most RPGs, and indeed both Arcanum and Fallout, are about the world, and how its going to end/be changed at the hands of a supervillain. That's odd, when you think about the RPG as a tool for fleshing out a character and playing as that guy. The game being about that guy, without sending him off as "a chosen one" (thereby having a pisspoor excuse of saying "its both personal and about the world), would seem natural. And PS:T did that.

So its PS:T for me, but still. FSM said it best:

I gotta say though, this is like picking your favorite kid.

 

[Dnny]

Arcanum is the best of the three, no contest. It just allow for so much variety in its gameplay and meaningful C&C that you still discover ton of shit on your second and third playthrough. The steampunk setting is my favorite and the plot is nicely done with really good twists both in the middle and the end of the game.
The only thing to criticize in Arcanum is the crappy combat, but at the very least, unlike other games with crappy combat it doesn't drag you to hours long fights.
There are so many ways to do any single quest. You can be persuasive, you can hack your way through, you can steal or you can even call the dead back to torture them and tell you their secrets.

Fallout 1 is great but short on content. Really a pity that FO2 was designed by dumbfucks or it could have been a close second to Arcanum.

PST feels too much like an adventure game. There are RPG elements but overall once you played the game with a mage you won't feel like going through a second playthrough.

So, Arcanum. \o/

 

[Excidium]

Fallout is the top dog.

And Fallout 2 is fine. Bashing it because of all the dumb easter egg abuse is like bashing Arcanum for the terrible combat. Every game has it's flaws.

PS:T has great story, characters, setting but is one of those games that is only good on the first playthrough.

Arcanum is amazing but I think Fallout was more important to the genre as a whole.

 

[Emotional Vampire]

Fallout.

Torment, as everyone well know and agree, is a flawed gem.

Arcanum, as everyone well know and agree, is a flawed gem.

Fallout might be a smaller gem, but it's not flawed in pretty much any way.

 

[Dnny]

Arcanum is amazing but I think Fallout was more important to the genre as a whole.

I don't think any of those three was important to the genre or the market wouldn't be flooded with so much shit.

Crap like Baldur's Gate (the first one) and Oblivion had more "importance" to the genre than FO, Arcanum and PST combined. BG1 made sure you could be popular with a crappy dungeon hack as long as you add two lines of fake personality to boring party npcs. Oblivion has shown that shiny graphics can sell a game all by themselves. Both inspired ton more RPG than FO ever did, a real shame.

We may love Fallout and Arcanum but they have nil importance in the real world. The real world didn't even know such games could exist, they didn't care.

 

[Zak]

Arcanum; didn't have to think twice.

 

[Haba]

Planescape, no question about it. Fallout comes very close, but ultimately loses due to the very reason it is a great game - post-apocalyptic world is a bland place, and the characters that populate it are not very likable. Planescape is filled with marvelous and unique sights.

Arcanum tries so very hard, yet it doesn’t manage to catch my fancy. Something just doesn’t click. Maybe I’ll give her one last chance during the holidays.

 

[Excidium]

Arcanum is amazing but I think Fallout was more important to the genre as a whole.

I don't think any of those three was important to the genre or the market wouldn't be flooded with so much shit.

Crap like Baldur's Gate (the first one) and Oblivion had more "importance" to the genre than FO, Arcanum and PST combined. BG1 made sure you could be popular with a crappy dungeon hack as long as you add two lines of fake personality to boring party npcs. Oblivion has shown that shiny graphics can sell a game all by themselves. Both inspired ton more RPG than FO ever did, a real shame.

We may love Fallout and Arcanum but they have nil importance in the real world. The real world didn't even know such games could exist, they didn't care.

I have to agree with you.

 

[VentilatorOfDoom]

This poll is lacking options.
imo Arcanum is the weakest of Troika games, and nowhere near the top 3. PST is very good but also not top 3 material. The only game that belongs in this poll is Fallout.

 

[bhlaab]

Can someone say why Arcanum is the best? From my limited exposure to it, and from what I've read about it, it sounds like Fallout But Broken.

 

[Emotional Vampire]

It appeals to the monocle attitude of most Codexers.

 

[Jaime Lannister]

Can someone say why Arcanum is the best? From my limited exposure to it, and from what I've read about it, it sounds like Fallout But Broken.

Much better quest design than Fallout. And longer, Fallout was quite short.

 

[ricolikesrice]

of course.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

PST

 

[Darth Roxor]

Arcanum goes away without a second thought. It's the most overrated game here on the Codex - it's good for the first... 1/3 or 1/4, and then painfully mediocre and dull as fuck with some flashes of good stuff in Caladon. Random encounters are complete and utter shit (hey look, robber orcs/molochean hands/animals + flavour dialogue again!); horribly broken combat; broken character system; quite a few (mandatory) dungeon crawls, that are a complete pain thanks to the horribly broken combat (BMC, Vendigroth, Thanatos (AAAAAAAARGH THANATOS), pretty much the whole Void); general complete lack of inspiration after you cross the mountains. But Tarant was very well done, the magic/tech division was interesting (albeit broken), so was the crafting, quest design, and the fact that many seemingly unimportant stuff connected to the main plot.

Fallout is dark, gritty and mature and has the best combat of all the three, again pretty interesting quests + connection of these to the main plot and some splendid locations (Cathedral, Glow) but I still prefer the sequel.

Torment, while being great in the writing, plot and quest compartment, suffers from lots of trash combat (especially fighting countless hordes of Curst Guards in the prison and shadows in The Fortress), but I never had too many problems with the combat itself, since at least the encounters are taken care of fast, so they don't pose any annoyance, but unfortunately, it's pretty much a game for one playthrough. Torment also has the most stuff to do of all the three, I think.

I won't vote, because I'm rather torn between Fallout and PS:T, because while I can't really point any major flaw of Fallout, some of the stuff that PS:T does is leagues above FO, so picking FO wouldn't do it justice.

Plus, everyone with a brain knows that the best rpg ever is Betrayal at Krondor

 

[Dnny]

I would have given the title of most overrated game on the codex to PST, but that's just me. Hell, the title of most overrated writer should go to Christ Avellone, codexians can't seem to keep their penis in their pants whenever there's talk of PST, NWN2 and KOTOR2 the smell of cumshots reaches whole new levels.
Hint : if you found Arcanum combat to be a pain, it must be because you played in turn based mode. The game gets smoother in real time and while the combat is boring it doesn't last long when you know what you are doing. Those few dungeon crawls aren't as tiring as all the fighting you do in PST when you reach carceri.