I have been reading this forum for quite a while now in a bid to suppress my anticipation for next week's release, and started to think about how I felt whilst playing Fallout 2.

I never played the first of the Fallout series, but played all of the Jagged Alliance games, which I felt were very similar in terms of turnbased combat with an isometric perspective, shedloads of loot to pick up and fool around with and a storyline, which was interesting but did not need to be understood or followed, that came second to the unbelieveably addictive gameplay.

I have been racking my brain for a game which has kept me interested for as long but can't think of anything, and I have played a ton of games in my 25 years, right back when Chucky Egg was on the Einstein computer.

Sure you can spend hours and hours playing RPG's or RTS games and I do, but none seem to come close to the fascination that I have always held with having a character silouette with inventory slots and a big backpack for junk which I may or may not have a use for, plenty of time to think tactically as it is turnbased, the gritty pixelated textures which were surprisingly detailed and satisfying and the anxious feeling of not knowing what the next segment of the map will have in store.

I think the fact that Fallout 2 was turn-based had a massive effect on my liking of the game and its replayability. The single reason I bought Civilisation: Revolution (PS3) was because it was turnbased. I think too many games rush you through everything and when you think back about what you have done, half of it is a blur and you might have missed a dozen or more things the developers spent a lot of time on, expecting the user to have the encounter and share the experience. Don't get me wrong, I love the adrenaline rush some games can give you, or the gurning facial expressions you find yourself making as a result of a particularly tricky scenario, but, for me, they don't seem to compare to having time to plan things out, ponder the probability of your actions and sometimes just being able to sit back and marvel at the game.

I am almost positive I will be using VATS 99% of the time for the sole reason I can pause time and contemplate my next move. I'm pretty sure I could never go back and play Fallout 2 or Jagged Alliance again now, which I'm sure many of you diehard Fallout fans can do and are doing to curb your lust for FO3. I think that is mainly because the boundaries for gaming have been broken and the bar raised so many times since those games were released that I need the latest technology to satisfy my gaming urges. I remember Lotus Espirit Turbo Challenge on the Atari and thought it was the best racing game ever, but it is nothing other than a vague memory now and I don't feel it was a particularly great game anymore.

However... I do believe Fallout 2 was one of the best games of its era, whenever the hell that was (I was young, I can't remember!), as I simply would not have played it if it wasn't, and even now with all the new next gen games pushing the limits of the hardware available it still remains one of the best games I will ever play. I also believe Fallout 3 will have that little something which all these other games have been lacking all these years since Fallout 2 and the Jagged Alliance games, for me at least, which will make it another one of the best games I'm ever likely to play.

I better get back to work now. End rant.

I really enjoyed some of those turn based experiences at the end of the 90's. One of the most intoxicating to me was C-COM: UFO Defense. That was such a choice game experience, and it was FRANTIC to me even though it was turn based. Often copied, but never equalled IMO.

I completely forgot about the XCOM series. However now you have reminded me, I still probably would not have given them a mention.

Something about those games I didn't like. I'm not sure if it was the cramped environments, especially inside buildings or ships, or whether it was the fact you had to think on different levels. I don't mean outside the box thinking, but literally on 3 or 4 different terrain levels. I found them a bit frustrating which took away from my overall experience.

Thanks for the flashback though.. damned UFO's! *shakes fist*

This is why you use High Explosives and Blaster Bombs! After I got tired of having my men sniped while trying to clear a building I knew had a few aliens in it, I just took to the habit of having my Heavy Weapons dude just level the damn things, hehe.

As for JA2, if you liked that game, you REALLY should go back and play it again with the new fan creates 1.13 patch. There's a whole new number of weapons, attatchements, armor, calibers, animations, and abilities. Plus it's totally revamped the inventory system. You now get a choice of loadbearing vests, pants with pockets, combat packs, and backpacks. It's glorious.

Oh I wish you hadn't told me that. I'm without a PC nowadays and I rarely get a lookin on the laptop because of the wife always on facebook lol

Have to make do with my PS3, although it isn't an entirely unsatisfying consolation

One day when I'm old and grey, around 2060, I'll grab Fallout 2 and Jagged Alliance 2 from some wireless holographic FTP dump, download it to my hard drive written into my bodies DNA, request the lights deluminate and the stasis door keep out visitors, and sit back and allow the retro game to consume my ear drums and optic nerves for a few hours.

jagged alliance 2 is well worth playing again you forget the poor graphics after 5 minutes

jup ja2 is genius

i play one of this games once a year for some thime

still have installed ja2 wildfire better resolution bigger maps

then ja2 gold with the 1.13 mod adds nice milita wars and TONS TONS TONS of cool weapons there is no other game with such an amount of different weapon types
and some other installed versions with mods
this game has an insane replay value

i with there was an fallout with ja2 style and this milita wars and overtaking sectors

fallout 2 is still installed and tactics but the mods are a bit too buggy

but no one has done an ja2 fallout mod or an fallout ja2 mod whatever
the best games ever !

a and xcom yup very cool too but after ufo enemy unknown and xcom terror from the deep xcom-apocalypse was ok but all what comes after that was only crap

The only thing I don't like about 1.13 is that Deidrianna's forces carry so many different weapons and such it's ridiculous and breaks the "feel" of the game a bit. It's weird to find a redshirt carrying a .50 Beowulf AR-15. I'd rather all the yellow and redshirts just carry a smattering of AK varients and such, and reserve the really crazy stuff to be carried by the elites. This would mean that if you want the benefit of NATO weapons and the more crazy calibers (like 5.7's) you'd need to stay supplied through Bobby Ray's.