Pop

It shows up on the bottom-left of the screen and makes an annoying ringing sound. When you use it, text rolls on the bottom of the screen telling you where more survivors / psychos are.

Walkie-talkie. You know, that annoying thing that you have to press right on the d-pad to use, and prevents you from attacking. That's probably the biggest flaw the game has, in retrospect. You have to take the calls. It's a serious pain in the ass.

He calls in on the walkie-talkie he gives you at the beginning of the game. I was under the impression you couldn't get throught the game without it

Once Otis phones the mission in (I don't know exactly when that is ) otherwise, I don't think so. You should try to get in there, though. If you've got shotguns to give your survivor friends, they stand a much, much better chance of surviving to the security room. In fact, if you've got 1 person you've got to carry and 1 person you can give a shotgun to, you've got yourself a nicely moving little train. Pretty cinematic, too.

Watch out, if you go there at a certain time there are 3 survivors there who shoot you. Apparently there's some way to get them on your side, but I never figured it out when they pin you with their fire, you're pretty much beyond help.

*coughthemastercough* A lot of people hate me for it, but I thought the sociopathic President Richardson (that was his name, right?) was also adequately awesome. Moving further into geekdom on the TV, I think Lt. Kavanaugh on The Shield is a very compelling villain.

EA made the Burnout series, which were dumb, awesome fun. Especially 3. That's still fun, and it has no story at all, which means they did something right for me :D As for Troika... yeah, I grew to really like Bloodlines, Arcanum was alright (really the epitome of RP in a computer game, though. Most every character played differently) and I couldn't get past 15 minutes of ToEE. Anybody know what the big 3 devs from Troika are doing?

Hmm, I must have been about 9 or 10 when Fallout came out. See, unlike some of yous, I had stolen the demo CD from a PC Gamer magazine (ah, the delinquency of youth), had installed it because I didn't know what it was, and was hooked on the combat. Being 10, I thought it was wild and awesome that you could shoot somebody in the balls. So I begged my parents for it, and I got it for Christmas. Started at 8 AM, played till about 10 that night. I almost beat it, but got whacked by the Lieu. Nowadays it takes me a little under 4 hours to beat the game to my satisfaction Fallout 2 was definitely different. I screwed up the first couple of times I played through, until I realized that I could get away with killing the merchants in the Den. It was harder, less focused. Still, I loved the whole MKULTRA-esque Vault conspiracy, but was put off a bit by the introduction of "tribals". New Reno was hot **** in a champagne glass, as was Marcus, because obviously being a kid I wanted a mutant "on my team" since the first game . I could definitely see how people were less impressed with F2. For a long time, I thought 2 was better than 1, but in my advanced age (10 years on these games!) I realize how at fault I was. Fallout 1 was absolute magic in action.

Somebody stop the madness!

Hey, they made a BG cellphone game that was apparently pretty good :\

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Like I said, that would be my guess. How else would you go about it? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I dunno, you could do it like BG, where alignment is an immovable object (except with Viconia and Sarevok?) or if they were crazy, they could get rid of alignment altogether, Fallout-style . The way MCA's made it sound in the interviews I've read, there isn't so much of a "net-alignment shift" dynamic in NWN2 like there was in KOTOR2 (it would be much harder to explain, as it is) but influence mainly involves getting backstory out of NPCs, so it would appear that the alignment system seems more gestalt this time around. That's what I read initially, at least. Maybe they'll surprise us.

All indications are that the alignment management for NwN2 is modelled (and improved) on the KotOR2 one. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> But that raises some issues. Would you only be able to multi-class into being a paladin or monk? If you start off at true neutral, you wouldn't be able to yet utilize all class abilities when taking an alignment-restricted core class You'd have to do a LOT of good, lawful deeds before you could utilize the paladin? What then, eh? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I would guess that you select your starting alignment and from there on it can change. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> So it's NWN, basically? "

I don't know why they can't just make everybody trip out on acid. A wide-scale MKULTRA would be pretty sweet.

All indications are that the alignment management for NwN2 is modelled (and improved) on the KotOR2 one. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> But that raises some issues. Would you only be able to multi-class into being a paladin or monk? If you start off at true neutral, you wouldn't be able to yet utilize all class abilities when taking an alignment-restricted core class You'd have to do a LOT of good, lawful deeds before you could utilize the paladin? What then, eh?

Quick question: Is the alignment system a sliding system like in KOTOR / PST or chosen, as in BG2? With MCA it could be either. I'd hope it was the latter (better chance they'll allow for eeevil deeds.)

You get 500 PP for every 500 zombies you kill, but you'll get several thousand PP for saving people at the beginning of the game, and towards the end of the game (it depends on your level) you'll get 20,000+ for a successful save. So you'll probably level up quicker if you focus on rescuing survivors.

WTF? I want the neat looking CE edition. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I second that. Evil is better.

And I blew Vic away every time he did it. " <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Marcus. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Ian :D I generally haven't had that problem with Marcus (he has, however, killed Cassidy many times) I keep wondering how Fallout would have been better or worse (probably worse) had they made it party-free like it was originally intended. Anyway, back on topic, I'm hoping NWN2 is Fallout good.

It is, but sentiment doesn't account for all of it. While it lacks the polish and tech of later games, no RPG after it has been able to balance non-linear gameplay and narrative strength as well. Most games excel at either one (TES) or the other (KOTOR). There's plenty of reason for a discerning gamer to declare the best RPG ever made. Doesn't mean it will never be topped, it just hasn't yet It has its faults (the party system was particularly clunky, as has been pointed out, due to relatively late implementation in development) but it's still very, very good.

When did anyone here start talking about Fallout clones? I don't want to see Fallout clones, I want to see other cRPGs executed as well as Fallout was. Talk about progress all you want, I haven't seen much, and none of it detracts from the quality of the game.

Yeah, you can get the demos at any Fallout community site with an FTP (DaC or NMA, nominally)

I've yet to play any RPG that captured my attention and imagination as well as Fallout did. Every time I play an RPG, I compare it (intentionally or no) to Fallout, and they never quite measure up. I just hope the guys who are making the next one remember it as well as I do

Nutrition? The japanese are constantly reffered to as a "short" people, but due to variation in diet, younger generations are outgrowing their parents. Maybe that's it...?

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