I have Fallout 1 & 2 through GOG.com but never really got into them. Looking at how the Elder Scrolls Series changed over each game, how has Fallout changed through its iterations?

I missed out on all the discussions after each release, so I am a Noob

What are your thoughts?

What do you like for changes?

What do miss from the old games?

This is a nice thread. No need for bashing or [censored]ting over one or the other game (like in "vs" threads) but instead a simple, levelheaded comparison.

Fallout was kinda meh.
Fallout 2 was bleh.
Fallout 3 svcked.
Fallout New Vegas was for babies.

I only like 'Fallout: Tetris' and 'Brotherhood of Steel: Fallout'.

Its changed a lot from the transition to a Open World RPG. I didn't really like the first two, but that does not mean that they are bad. Gaming is such a relative thing subject to taste that I have trouble labelling most games as "bad" or "good", If someone likes the game, then thats their tastes and I will do nothing to try and convince them that they are wrong in any manner.

Fallout 3 is probably my favourite game of all time, rivaling even Morrowind. Ive not been playing it very much recently since ive simply done everything there is to do in that game. Ive been having a bundle of fun with it's brother from another mother, Fallout New Vegas. Roleplaying in Fallout and TES is the most fun ive had in any games, and its been spread over many years. Love for Tamriel, Nirn, and the entire post-nuclear world.

Fallout has been quite literally hung, drawn and quartered and then crudely stiched back together using mostly parts other games. A mistreated series indeed; lauded for what it was and given so much of the as-if kind of respect that never, after 1998, has there been a proper sequel. For a history in a nutshell... First there was a proper sequel to Fallout, a game that did miss the mark on certain aspects but retained the core, then the series went to being a tactical combat game, then a copypaste of a completely unrelated fantasy action game, then a copypaste of another completely unrelated fantasy action adventure. So here we are today. A cult series forcefully mutated into something completely different from what gave it that status.

What do I miss from the old games? Everything. The mood, the tone, the structure, the gameplay and mechanical intrigue, the art style, the music, the wealth of roleplaying opportunities that the game actually provides and supports, the interplay of those aspects that created the experience still like no other. Almost none of that is left anymore -- the latest game did an admirable job at bringing back that narrative flare but didn't manage to (nor want or could) bring back the gameplay ideals. The series now strives for a different experience for a fanbase of a different mindset, than it used to. What is really left for the series, in relation to what I miss, is to keep fingers crossed that at least some the old magic is brought back in some manner that fits with the emperors new clothes.