Or is it just me and my character?

I've gotten to the Den and it seems like I'm constantly either way short on cash, short on ammo (for the one pistol I have lol), or that I'm too weak of a character for the fights I'm getting into. I sort of had this problem with 1, but after a few characters, I learned what was up and did pretty well. I'm currently on my like 5th character with no real sign of improvement (other than not turning Klamath my own tribe hostile).

I need some advice. :sadvaultboy:

Yeah, it's a pretty steep curve. Quicksave is your best friend, I hope you're well-acquianted with him by now.

It can be frighteningly difficult at the start of the game, but once you're about halfway through, it can easily be a bit of a cakewalk. Just remember that if something's too hard, it's probably because you're not ready to take it on, yet.

Edit - I've found it's kind of like how people like Ninja Gaiden for it's shameless difficulty? The early parts of the Fallout 1 and 2 are sort of supposed to humble you and really make you think about what you're doing. It's a decidedly different game design philosophy than Fallout 3. (Not saying that either/or is better or worse... It's kind of the same as how some people really liked Ninja Gaiden but I couldn't ever get past the first level and eventually gave it up in frustration... )

Steep learning curves are the best and worst thing of a game.

@ OP: You may need to level up more or something.

What do you suggest for leveling? Should I just run around out in the wastes looking for random encounters? I've only had two so far the first one was with some hunters and a female one gave me an STD, the other was with like 10 golden geckos that I had to run away from. lol

Yeah, it is, but the quick and easy solution is to go right to San Fran after leaving arroyo, talk to the BoS guy and agree to get the Vertibird Schematics from Navarro, and go there (save as soon as you get there for the speech check) and then get a free suit of Advanced Power Armor (which is dramatically better than the T51-b in the original game, at that,) some plasma weapons, etc. from the armory. Talk to the sergeant for some laughs, too.

If you find you can't get the schematic through speech, you should leave and come back for it later (you get 20,000 exp for delivering it to the BoS in SF, as well as access to the bunker which has great loot in the form of the pulse rifle, the most powerful single shot weapon in the game, and can give the Shi a peek at it for a few thousand more exp,) because there's no way you can survive a battle with the Enclave at such a low level.

Try to do as much quest ya can do already. This is assuming if ya did not do all the quest in Klamath. When ya get to the Den, Do the quest from Rebecca Dyer in her bar in the entrance of the Den. If ya plan on running around the waste and kill things for experience/gold, I recommend save and try to find one encounter around the Den that involves a bunch of baddies fighting a caravan. Help out the caravan when they are wasting the baddies. When it is done, just get the loot from the dead body of the baddie, and make such ya put ya weapon away when the battle is over, those caravan guards are trigger friendly if ya show them ya weapon not in battle.


In a way, I find this way cheating and would quickly way to lose the favor of the game if one does it so.

I usually made it through well enough without having to farm random encounters. At that early stage, too much combat is just going to make you run through ammo and stimpaks, and you'll be wanting to horde those as much as possible when you're just starting out. What I always did was just make sure you're doing as many quests as you can find - there's a whole ton of stuff to do in Klamath and the Den before heading out into the rest of the game. Make sure you're talking to everyone and squeezing every last bit of XP out of those two towns as you can before moving on.

Even then, quicksave will be your best friend. If a combat is looking too hard, then running really is often your best bet. It's not set up in such a way that you're expected to be surviving every fight you encounter. I think that might be one thing that gives a lot of people trouble. In games these days, it's usually assumed that the game is throwing enemies at you because it thinks you can handle it. Not so in the old Fallout games. You will find yourself in situations you can't handle - especially with the random encounters.

The "encounter" where I got the STD was one of those help the trappers ones. I wanted her pelts but I didn't want to pay. Boy, did I pay...

I'm trying to horde healing powders (it svcks, but it helps kinda) and stimpacks, but I get into situations where not using them isn't an option if I wanna survive. I'm currently the gang war thing with the cathedral full of chems. The fight at the church made me use all my healing resources, and the fight with Tyler killed me dead (I had some healing stuff left, used it all, and got one shotted by a guy with what I believe was a magnum).

I think my problem might be that in Fallout 1, I was a character using Finesse, and, not wanting to do the same thing, I picked Fast Shot. So now I can't aim at their eyes and balls and stuff.

Possibly. Aiming definitely helps.

You may not be ready for The Den though. Provided you're following the story path the way it was meant to be followed The Den is your first taste of the every man for himself mentality of the game. If you haven't already done so, go back to Klamath and do as many quests as possible. There's a lot there. There's also plenty of loot lying around for the taking, if you know where to look. This can help with your resource problems as you'll have more to trade away.

Before leaving Klamath, I always had some leather armor and Sulik with me.

Leather armor isn't much but it's a far cry better than nothing at all and it's suitable for most of the enemies you'll run across in the very early stages of the game.

This.

By the time you reach the den, you should at least have a 10mm with a fair deal of ammo, leather armor, and Sulik. If you do the Den quests properly...ie the noncombat ones first, you will complete that hub and be well prepared in weapons, armor and caps for your move East.

I usually end up killing that one vendor (forget name) as soon as I think I can. In fact, I often kill both of them. It's difficult at this point in the game not to resort to stealing.

I got the leather jacket and Sulik. In fact, I got the leather jacket from Sulik.

I think there also may have been a glitch because I got training from that dude to skin pelts, but it won't give me the perk and I can't skin the geckos.

It's better that both of you are armed and armored.

When I replay old games I generally do so for the story or the nostalgia, so I turn the difficulty down. Fallout 1 and 2 allow you to turn combat and overall difficulty down in the menu, which I do for replays. If you're a Fallout 3 fan playing the old ones for the backstory and such, you might want to do the same.

Just a thought.

And no one flame me for playing on easy and such, I never do it with new games. I actually tend to play FPS games on hard, as most are too easy now-a-days.

A leather jacket is not the same as leather armor.

Leather armor, in your inventory, is brown and only shows a chestplate, easily definable by the pectoral chest mold. You can usually trade for one from the chic that has Sulik working for her, and some times you can even get it from the bartender in the other bar. Occasionally he'll have it, and he's cheaper to barter with.

As for the gecko skinning...

You went north to the caves to find the dude, right? Once escorting him to the exit of the caves he will meet you back at the same bar where you find Sulik and teach you.

I can't remember names at the moment. Sorry?

Also, don't forget to clean out Trapper Town too.

And once you have the Gecko Skinning perk, go to the green map exchange on the southern Klamath border and find the hunting grounds or whatever and you can kill and skin all those geckos. The pelts become a bit heavy in bulk but you have Sulik to mule them around for you until you're ready to sell them.

I know the difference between a leather jacket and leather armor. Jussayin that I have some armor.

I guess I totally messed up with the skinning. I thought that the guy in trapper town is the one that teaches you.

Thanks for all the advice. Will heed.

IMO aiming is not worth it until you have decent skill with the weapon (65% +). It just seems that you are more likely to hit using a standard shot than an aimed during the early game.

I played FO1 first, FO2 second, and I must admit that the second one is much harder. The amount of overworld encounters is considerably higher, and it's harder to come into money initially - you're much more reliant on the stuff you find laying around in towns at first than you are in Fallout 1. Just keep at it.

Go to the Den and find the old man who deals drugs - he's in a building to your right just inside the entrance. I can usually kill him pretty easily and there are no repercussions. He has a lot of stuff - including better weapons and leather armor. That always sets me up initially and gives me a bit of an edge.

There's two guys that deal drugs. The Italian guy and the guy behind a desk with a jet [censored] in his bedroom.

I usually kill Karl First building on the left. And his druggy friends and old lady, then sell them to the rude dude lol don't member his name for a magnum or hunting rifle if you don't have one and leather armor. easy kills.

What I always did at the Cathedral in the fight with Tyler was hang back at first and let Lara and her gang do all of the dirty work. I'd only head in to do the clean up, or maybe even the odds once everyone was already engaged. (And of course a quicksave before the battle so I can make sure Lara survives long enough to pay me the rest of the caps she owed me.) That way you get the benefits of looting all the bodies and getting paid for helping, without actually sticking your neck out.

Killing Flick is a nice way to get some guns and loot, generally I'll keep a 10mm pistol and use the rest to get armour if I don't have any. Some of FO2's fights are pretty tricky, I always hate the fight in V15, even with Vic and Sulik I get trouble with it. Now I just snipe Darion and run away, heh.

Funny. I always just ran in and mindlessly killed everyone, even when roleplaying intelligent characters. I really really hated those Children of the Cathedral hippies after the lukewarm reception Jain gave me back in The Hub.

He's talking about the Den Church in FO2, not the Cathedral in FO1.

Yeah sorry, poor choice of words. Church, Cathedral, whatever...