going to start playing fallout 2 (as soon as my boss leaves :hubbahubba: )

Anything I should know going in ? Already played through Fallout 3 so I have a decent idea about the general concept of fallout, was just wondering if there was anything specific about 2 I should know.

You'll certainly find it technically outdated and it'll take you some time to get used to the interface. I remember very well a friend who had some serious troubles to use it. The main hint is: use the right-click on anything to see what you can do with it. Actually, the left click is almost only used to go somewhere. The icons which will appear in the contextual menu should be quite self-explanatory. Gameplay wise, you'll discover the turn-based combat system and you will probably go in the options right away to max the speed you'll see your enemies playing their turn. You'll also probably want to turn on the "always run" option.

Another great difference you'll see is that the gaming system is far more balanced than the Fallout 3's one. You'll be able to have at most 2 skill at 150% + (but if it is a ranged weapon one, you'll also end up with a permanent 95% hit anywhere at any distance) and you'll have an hard time to get more than 5-6 skills in the 100% range. That because skill can go up to 300% but you'll have to spend more skill points to get past 100%. It'll goes from 2 points per 1% boost to 6 points which make going higher than 150 pretty expensive and useless. The tag skills are different: you won't get any boost but each time you'll spend skill points on these skills, you'll have a 2% increase instead of 1 so it goes up twice faster.
It will also be far more harder to boost your SPECIAL attributes and the perks will be given far less often, ie only every 3 or 4 level. Another major change is that on character creation, you'll be able to chose up to 2 traits which are roughly some initial and very powerful perks which will always have a downside. For example, the Night Person trait enhance your intelligence and perception at night but it's equally decreased during day. The sole exception is Bloody Mess which does only add some gore effects when enemies die but does not increase your damage at all.
In the end, you'll have a far more specialised character and following your attributes and skill choices, some very different experiences.

Make sure you specialise. Really focus on what you want to be good at. Dont try to be a jack of all trades, you'll just end up rubbish.

I would recommend starting with an Agility of 10 and a very high Intelligence for your first character.

High intelligence, charisma and luck will improve the roleplaying experience. However, if you go too high your combat will be difficult (not impossible though). SPECIAL skills in Fallout 2 are not changed as easily as in Fallout 3. You have the option to increase the stats a bit but not very much. Other than that... sit back and enjoy the ride.

I really don't like playing with a starting intelligence and charisma lower than 8.

I can only approve what Calgone has said for the first run. The game begins with virtually nothing in the inventory and you'll face hard times before having decent weapons and armour. To soften this a bit, it is recommended to have 10 AG (for 10 AP during fights) and to boost hand-to-hand or melee weapons skill a bit. As a matter of fact, it is also useless to have more than 6 FO since the Power Armours will add 3 to 4 FO (without penalties).

Remember this is as close as to a Pen and Paper CRPG you can get - You have to play your stats.

Download the Fallout 2 restoration project -

http://www.nma-fallout.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=464608

It fixes many dozen bugs, and completes quests that were unfinished at launch.

This is a must have.

I mean -----Sulik finds his sister and everything. You can even visit his home tribe!

patches are really important before you play dont skip them

Max intelligence and agility, spend points in speech and small arms. Forget luck and charisma.

Couldn't diagree more. You know many special encounters are depending on luck. Also other things in the game are affected.

DO NOT LOWER YOUR LUCK BELOW 4...you have been warned...