Fallout Polygons Charlie Hall got stuck in Fallout.

[TomatoJuice]

Yeah I know that Polygon is pretty much a more self congratulatory Industry Kotaku. But one thing really stung me in this new Pillars article.

http://www.polygon.com/2015/3/25/8284763/how-pillars-of-eternity-rewrites-the-rules-for-role-playing

The first time I hit a dead end in a role-playing game came while playing the original Fallout. I forget where exactly, but it was after dozens of hours of play that my party ended up in the bowels of a dilapidated building somewhere in the wasteland trying to bust through a locked door.

It was at that moment, in that dirty digital basement, that I realized no one in my party had the right mix of stats or skills to move on. There was literally nothing I could do to get the damned door open, and my story just stopped. My only option was to grind that party for four or five whole levels, dumping all of my earned experience fighting radscorpions and bandits into lock picking.

Rather than bury all that time (and bottle caps) into potentially over-leveling my characters for that one door, I just started over.

But that character, that party that I left behind? There was nothing wrong with them. They were interesting. They were valuable. The game simply led them — led me — astray.

Yeah you can make a shitty fallout character. But there are not many RPG I played as often as Fallout 1. I cant remember any part when this could be true.

Yes there are many optional part's where you can't progress without certain skills. But the Main Questline is pretty much idiot proof.

 

[STOMP MY BALLS $5]

when i feel sorry for myself as a result of the ... gr0dy arm incident ... i remind myself that these fag0ts had a "grody brain incident" ....... at birth!!! heh!!

 

[PlanHex]

Sounds like it could be the thieves guild? Only thing that really springs to mind for me with a locked door in a basement of a building. In which case the complaint is actually "hurr durr i couldn't be a thief because i had no thief skills this game sucks". As if constantly referring to his "party skills" in Fallout 1 wasn't bad enough.

Besides, that's not what the PoE no-trap-builds-thing is actually about. It'd be more like "I wanted to make an explosive expert with big guns and throwing in FO1, but it sucked balls".

edit: No money for polygon option: https://archive.today/FS8ay

 

[Clockwork Knight]

The description is as vague as humanly possible, trying to guess what he means is pointless. The guy probably assumed he absolutely HAD to get through some locked door and ragequitted.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Since when is Fallout a party game?

 

[Clockwork Knight]

Since when is Fallout a party game?

Yeah, everytime I bring the disc to a friendly get together my friends are all uh no, let's play Smash Bros you fucking idiot and I'm like

 

[Drakron]

Since when is Fallout a party game?

You could have followers, like Dogmeat but that was suicidal due to friendly fire and their AI.
FO2 tried to make a system for followers but no different in results, you did need then for some quests I believe in FO2.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Since when is Fallout a party game?

Yeah, everytime I bring the disc to a friendly get together my friends are all uh no, let's play Smash Bros you fucking idiot and I'm like

Can't have had friends very long if you kept doing that.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Since when is Fallout a party game?

You could have followers, like Dogmeat but that was suicidal due to friendly fire and their AI.
FO2 tried to make a system for followers but no different in results, you did need then for some quests I believe in FO2.

Yeah, kinda my point. You have little control over them, if any.

 

[TomatoJuice]

The guy probably assumed he absolutely HAD to get through some locked door and ragequitted.

Probably.

Something like this still pisses me off.
Even an antisocial no skills besides hitting people with a big hammer Idiot character can finish Fallout 1 & 2. Yes you will miss most of the content but it's possible. If that was some guy and some blog i would not even write a comment. But while i hate polygon they are sadly a very big site.

 

[Dr Skeleton]

Getting stuck on some optional door aside.

I realized no one in my party had the right mix of stats or skills

my only option was to grind that party for four or five whole levels

over-leveling my characters for that one door

Companions in F1 gain skills? Do they even use skills? I know they do in F2, but in the original? Either I remember that wrong or whoever wrote that confused F1 with another game.

 

[almondblight]

Reminds me of this:

Recently the original developers of Fallout, yes the original and hard as nails Fallout that started it all

 

[Lemming42]

Well if he restarted the game every time he found a locked door, I can see how he might have found it to be difficult

 

[Clockwork Knight]

Fallout WAS hard as nails.

Spoiler

Even an antisocial no skills besides hitting people with a big hammer Idiot character can finish Fallout 1 & 2. Yes you will miss most of the content but it's possible. If that was some guy and some blog i would not even write a comment. But while i hate polygon they are sadly a very big site.

People don't like being locked out of content no matter how hard the game's logic has to bend backwards to entertain them (I still remember that post about a player being butthurt over getting a QUEST FAILED: HELPING THE POWDER GANGERS prompt when he shot their leader in the back of the head. How come the game didn't give him a warning he couldn't do quests for a dead character? How inconsiderate). Restricts roleplaying freedom.

 

[Dr Skeleton]

Reminds me of this:

Recently the original developers of Fallout, yes the original and hard as nails Fallout that started it all

Well, compared to F3/NV it's pretty much unbeatable. I mean, there are no quest markers, how are you supposed to find the water chip?

 

[GrainWetski]

Extremely obvious plot twist: he didn't actually play the game.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Yeah, sounds like BS from him to get a free shot in on a classic he doesn't agree with.

My first playthrough of Fallout was with a 'Good Natured' character. I stumbled and fumbled along, but even then I still managed to complete the game.

 

[DragoFireheart]

I remember having a slight rage moment at the end of Fallout 2.

There was an area on the Oil Tanker that I thought for some reason I needed to go to to complete the game. Turns out this was some dummied out area that no longer served any purpose.

 

[Somberlain]

Fuck these retards, I was a 10-12-year-old with no internet access and very limited understanding of English, and I could still beat Fallout 1, Fallout 2, BG2, Icewind Dale and many other games.

 

[DraQ]

And how do you get stuck on some basement door in FO anyway?
Can't you just blow it up or smash it in?

 

[Ninjerk]

And how do you get stuck on some basement door in FO anyway?
Can't you just blow it up or smash it in?

FO didn't have plastique sprinkled all over the wasteland for door breaching. Also worth noting that the doors you absolutely have to get through require no lockpicking whatsoever.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

Extremely obvious plot twist: he didn't actually play the game.

What does he get from making this up, though? There are genuine issues with the game to point out that wouldn't make him look like a bumbling clown.

I remember having a slight rage moment at the end of Fallout 2.


There was an area on the Oil Tanker that I thought for some reason I needed to go to to complete the game. Turns out this was some dummied out area that no longer served any purpose.

B-but there are all those monsters to fight...

 

[valcik]

There's so many ways how to open locked door that I can hardly believe someone got stuck because of this. Any door could be blast-open by explosives, skill doesn't matter at all.

 

[The Brazilian Slaughter]

I bet 10 brofists its the Miltary Base door. It frustrated me too (because I didn't know you could unlock it with the holodisc), so I had to go back to Hub, do the Thieves' Guild quest to get the Electronic Lockpick and THEN do the Military Base again... which resulted in me leaving it all happy and going back to civilization... then Vault 13 got invaded... FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

 

[Paul_cz]

I finished Fallout for the first time when I was 11 years old.
Fuck polygon