Free Games: Fallout, Fallout 2, and Fallout Tactics | Hacker News Reader

Free Games: Fallout, Fallout 2, and Fallout Tactics

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178 pointswwilson66 comments

Work fine under linux (using wine):

Fallout: http://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.php?sClass=application...

Fallout 2: http://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.php?sClass=application...

Fallout Tactics: http://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.php?sClass=application...

I've bought these games several times before (at discount) for the various OSes and computers I've had. I haven't played many modern RPGs (including Fallout 3+) but have any RPGs since Fallout surpassed it in allowing the player to truly embody an actual path? Not only could you play through making good/evil moral choices, but you could actually win the first game, IIRC, without even firing a single shot (by talking your enemies to death), or you could play as a total moron whose complete dialogue tree consisted of "UGHR?" as the NPCs treated you like the adult-child you were. I think you could even succeed as some of the specialty skillsets, such as being a pure scientist or lockpicking thief.

Anyway, a fun game in terms of mechanics go, but still (in my mind) unsurpassed in writing

> but still (in my mind) unsurpassed in writing

I take it you haven't played _Planescape: Torment_ ?

I actually tried playing this. When I left the room in which I woke up, some sort of giant angel thing basically insta-killed me. Considering that this was after 5 minutes of gameplay, I gave up. :/

Well, death and rebirth is a major theme of the game (what with your main character being immortal). They need to show the player that death isn't something to be feared like in most RPGs of the time.

I can see how that would be off-putting though.

It was a little disappointing that the game only had one puzzle which required that you die in order to solve it.

On the other hand, you got to have your guts probed without anesthesia. How fun is that?

Well, try it again. It has by far the best writing of any CRPG. I love the Fallouts, but Torment is High Literature. It's the Shakespeare and the Firefly of computer gaming.

Allt he great, special unique games, from Star Control 2 to Bioshock to Braid, Torment beats them. It's a game that makes you think far beyond the stuff that's in the game.

The problem with Torment is that it's a great piece of interactive fiction trapped within the RTS-turned-RPG engine they inherited from Baldur's Gate. Torment's strength is the writing, which you have to read through the engine's small and clumsy dialogue system, which becomes painful pretty quickly.

Planescape was nice, but I actually liked Fallout/Fallout2 storytelling a bit more.

Wasteland 2 is going to come out soon. By the same guy who made Fallout.

The beta is out, and there is a set of three videos in this RPS article: http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/12/12/lets-chatter-over...

Looks good so far.

Might be interested in this project... http://eternity.obsidian.net (Pillars of Eternity)

EDIT: More info...

This game was kickstarted and is being developed by some of the same people that worked on Planescape: Torment. They recently did Fallout: New Vegas, and are currently also working on South Park: Stick of Truth. Here's a link to the gameplay promo for Pillars of Eternity: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKoDTzea79Y

Disclosure: My buddy works for this game studio

Backed that on Kickstarter. Seems that the project is going well. Can't wait for the release.

Closer to Fallout & Fallout 2 is Wasteland 2, which has just gone into beta.

The teaser and the idea of a gigantic dungeon hearken back to Baldur's Gate/Icewind Dale much more than PST. Still look like something I'd want to play.

The "true" PST successor is Torment: Tides of Numenara [1]. Though it's not set in the same universe (Wotc being too busy not doing anything with the Planescape setting to license it), it will be more focused on existential questions than dragon-slaying. As a bonus, it won't feature adapted 2nd edition D&D rules.

1: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/inxile/torment-tides-of-...

>have any RPGs since Fallout surpassed it in allowing the player to truly embody an actual path?

Yes, Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura.

Ehh. Arcanum tried, but its ambitions were pretty high and it didn't really fulfill them. Neat game, but not nearly up to the level of either Fallout title, IMO.

Arcanum is fucking brilliant. The writing and world construction is wonderful.

The only problem is that (unpatched) pursuing Tech can put you at a disadvantage. Otherwise, it's an amazing game.

Never finished it. Looked really cool, but it was buggy, and I lost interest after I reached that big city.

Also, didn't it have that overdone "chosen one" plot?

But maybe I should give it another chance.

>Looked really cool, but it was buggy

It was quite buggy on release day, but there were official patches and afterwards unofficial ones. With the newest unofficial patch I cannot say I encountered a single bug.

>I lost interest after I reached that big city.

Too bad, at that point the game truly begins and opens up.

>Also, didn't it have that overdone "chosen one" plot?

It starts that way, which I think is a little satire of typical JRPG plots. I do not want to post too many spoilers but I will say that you are not actually the "chosen one".

Also the "main quest" is only one of many plot lines, Arcanum is a pretty open, sandboxy world full of interesting plot lines and characters.

Baldur's Gate 2. It's so good that a studio re-made it to work on modern computers- it just came out last month:

http://www.baldursgateii.com/

(I have no relation other than a happy customer)

Baldur's Gate 2 is still my all-time favorite. It is more than just a game. One of humanities greatest works of art.

One of my favourite games of all time. I hadn't seen that they were working on an Android tablet version, so I will wait patiently for that!

For those who don't know, Fallout 2 is probably one of the best RPG for the computer ever. With the proper mods and fixes it's really playable and enjoyable on a recent computer (I really recommend the hi-res patch http://falloutmods.wikia.com/wiki/Fallout2_High_Resolution_P... for starters).

Fallout 3 New Vegas came close to Fallout 2 in terms of ambiance and game play, but not close enough (mainly because of the combat system).

I really envy those who will discover this game.

Both Fallouts are very good, but don't reach the heights of Planescape Torment in terms of writing or character development.

I didn't play Fallout 3, but Fallout New Vegas' combat was abysmal. I actually liked the idea of wandering around in the wastelands, as opposed to traveling via the map (that's what Bethesda has been doing all along: exploration games with bad combat and NPCs-as-banks of informations), but I wouldn't want to sacrifice combat to it. They also tried to incorporate some survival elements, but it's not enforced enough to play much of a role in practice.

There was an interesting discussion on RPS about Pillars of Eternity, a Baldur's Gate spiritual successor, about how leaving isometric 3D behind was a step backward in terms of graphics, and I tend to agree. I'm glad to see it coming back.

I'm currently playing Fallout: New Vegas, and the real-time FPS combat is remarkably playable (though I normally hate FPS games). The VATS is terrible, and not a good replacement for the combat systems of 1 and 2.

After Planescape: Torment, Fallout 1 and 2 were probably among the best CRPGs ever. That was really the golden age of CRPGs. Only The Witcher really added some real value (unfortunately The Witcher 2 has the most horrible combat I've ever experienced in a CRPG).

If you love the classic isometric games, also check out Shadowrun Returns. It's not quite up there with Torment and the Fallouts, but it's well worth playing.

Baldur's Gate 2 was very good too, and was (AFAIK) the first CRPG to develop party NPCs to such an extent. And fortunately, you could dump most of the awful, strangleable NPCs from Baldur's Gate 1.

Amen. Recent Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition (on iPad) was enjoyable trip down the memory lane.

Looking at "Pillars of Eternity" it looks like a bit of a step back. While I like the artistic style, the whole thing just looks very dated. They're definitely going for the nostalgic demographic here. I think what bothers me the most is the relative lack of interactivity with the environment. There is some lighting things that looks kinda neat, and some water level stuff... but it seems limited. It just looks like a polished Diablo/Baldur's Gate clone.

That being said, I think if the game has a great story then that may be good enough. Though honestly - there really should be a tool like RPG maker so that amateurs can implement their stories in a game using a simple drop and drop UI with maybe some very simple scripting

I agree - I regard Fallout 2 as one of the best RPGs ever (Ultima 7 was a landmark in terms of sandbox/simulation RPGs, but lacked the strong gameplay mechanics of Fallout 1 and 2). I never played Baldur's Gate 2 (for whatever reason, I am slightly turned off by DnD's mechanics). I also never played Planescape Torment, but I'm sure it is good as well.

Fallout 1/2 are some of the primary inspirations in the game I am currently making.

Just goes to show you, if you wait long enough, that game you never had a chance to play but have been eying for a decade will be given out for free... so now it can sit on your hard drive where you still won't have time to play it!!

Now I just need wait for the OddWorld games to start coming out for free... any decade now...

It's 3 dollars right now on gog during the sale, so it might as well be free.

http://www.gog.com/game/oddworld_abes_oddysee

Not in an age where people think twice about buying a 99c phone app.

Because 99% of $.99 phone apps are garbage and you know you'll download it, use it once, and never launch it again.

Exactly. How many 99 cent apps are going to be discussed as being classics here on HN in 10 years from now?

That's the difference between a 99 cent app and a classic game that is on sale for 3 dollars. Unless something happens with the trend of mobile apps being mostly disposable "flavors of the month" no one is going to remember any sort of mobile game classics in 10 years. It also does not help that developers can pull and app and it vanishes (unless you're lucky and rooted your Android device or jailbroke your iPhone and pulled a copy of it) as well as the lack of backwards compatibility on mobile

Personally, I like to watch people play it more. For example: http://tasvideos.org/2375M.html

There's a maximum casualties run as well.

Indeed, but there are odd economics at work here. How much do you pay for something that you might not use in the next 2 years, or ever? Do you assume it will drop in price? If it isn't already installed, will I ever actually bother when there are so many other distractions competing for my time?

We live in a world crowded with entertainment opportunity and it is only getting more crowded with time.

(by the way, GOG should pay you a commission for talking me into it)

> "(by the way, GOG should pay you a commission for talking me into it)"

Haha, I wish, though GOG provides a service I'm thankful exists so I'm happy giving them a little boost every now and then when appropriate. They've always been good when I've had an issue with a game. I once changed my mind on a game I wanted and decided on getting something else (had not played or downloaded it yet). After dropping them an email, they were happy to switch it out for something else without an issue. Doing the same on Steam would have been like "pulling teeth" with their no refunds policy. I know they also have a new policy that if you can't get something to work and they can't either, they also refund you the money. I'm curious to if that applies to games run under WINE as well (I'm guessing it likely would with as flexible as they are).

I used to have lots of classic games from the mid to late 90s and early 00s. I lost most unfortunately when my parents interpreted me leaving them at home when I moved out as no longer wanting them period. Since the advent of GOG, I've rebuilt most of my collection by waiting for them to go on sale.

As far as prices for older games on there, they tend to stay pretty static for sale/non-sale prices I've noticed. Doubt it will go cheaper anytime soon. Even if it did, to me, a couple of bucks doesn't carry the "buyer's remorse" that spending 50 dollars on a game from Steam carries when it happens to go on sale the day after you get it.

>We're very sorry, but gifting free games has been disabled, temporarily. If you want your friends to get some free goodies from us right now, feel free to share a link to our site with them.

I seem to be getting 404s and 403s at random from the registration form's target URL -- perhaps they've gotten more interest in this offer than they expected.

And now I've just gotten an email purporting to describe my order, which I made through a freshly created account by virtue of never having used GOG.com before.

The email lists seven games, only four of which I've previously heard of, and none of which is a Fallout game.

What is going on over there?

Same for me - just went back to the fallout offer page (http://www.gog.com/promo/fallout_series_giveaway_winter_prom...) and redid the "checkout now" and it then added them to my just-opened account (I was logged in at the time).

You get a few free games upon account creation at GoG. This is unrelated to this Fallout special deal.

I ran into this issue as well, as it turns out it's 'cause I already had Fallout from a previous giveaway. If you click the little 'x' beside the games you already have from the list shown when checking out, you can uncheck the box that says you're gifting the pack and proceed to check out as normal.

GOG is great, but their lack of Linux support is the only thing which makes them falling behind competition.

I suspect that if the only thing hurting them is not supporting ~1% of the desktop market, then that must mean they're actually not hurting at all.

What with their revenue being 2nd only to Steam - who is way more focused on higher-ticket AAA titles than old games at a discount - I suppose that's fair. They really aren't hurting very much.

First of all 1% number is pretty useless even though it's tossed around alot. Global web counters are pointless not only for measuring OS adoption on the desktop (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_adoption#Measuring_deskt...), they are even less relevant for estimating potential GOG users (who are gamers). If you check out Humble Bundle sales numbers (http://cheesetalks.twolofbees.com/humble/), that's not 1% at all - it's close to 6-12%. GOG probably can collect statistics of their own site visitors who use Linux - that would be most relevant for them, but I don't have those numbers. And even then, since they have no native Linux games yet, those numbers would give then only the lowest potential margin.

Not supporting Linux hurts them because of their use base. Those who don't accept any DRM go to GOG first, since they are strictly DRM free. And many of those are Linux users.

GOG aren't focused on old games specifically anymore (even though they keep working on digging up more of them). They are focused on Good DRM free games, be it AAA, indie or what not. The problem is that most big budget games are funded by legacy backward thinking publishers who are afflicted with DRM sickness. That's why Steam has way more of such games. But crowdfunding and independent studios are really growing lately, and more and more big budget DRM free games emerge.

It can be annoying when they sell games without proper (your preferred platform) support, but many games can still be played using WINE. For example: GoG doesn't sell the Mac versions of the Baldur's Gate or Icewind Dale series, but those games run with very, very few issues in a WINE wrapper. And for Mac OS X at least, there are some great sites where one can download premade wrappers, e.g. PaulTheTall[0] and PortingTeam[1].

---

[0]: http://paulthetall.com

[1]: http://portingteam.com

these games ever come out on mobile? feels like a perfect game to be redone on tablets / phones

don't know anything about fallout coming to mobile (though you'd think it'd just be a matter of time), but baldur's gate is already out on ipad and baldur's gate ii is coming soon.

GOG's site has been very slow all day but if you're persistent you can also gift these games to other people for $0.

Seems like they've disabled gifting of free games for now.

I was able to get these last night (~10PM EST) without issue. The download maxed my FiOS connection, too.

it seemed to work after logging in a few times.

great deal - Fallout 1 (and 2) were amazingly well written and really sucked you into their marvelous world.

I never got the same feeling with the rest of the series - something about the first person view broke the fantasy for me and I was always 'playing a game' rather than exploring a wasteland.

Anybody interested in these games should snatch them up - Interplay is losing distribution rights to them at the end of December. Who knows how long it will be before they return.

Once "purchased" you will still be able to download them from your games library, even after they are removed from GOG's catalog.

Seems like they may have slightly fallen over under demand. I'm seeing 403s when I try to log in.

Are they saying I should download the copies of all the games asap?

No, you can just add the games for free to your GoG account in de coming hours. From then on you can download the games anytime you want.

Thanks.

Yeah, better not download them while their servers are getting hammered like this. But it's nice to know you can always get them later.

For the curious, here's the postmortem of Fallout Tactics:

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3088/postmortem_micro_...

It was a solid tactics game, but there were some rough edges in bringing in the Fallout stuff.

I loved the multiplayer team tactics of this game, possibly my favorite multiplayer game experience ever. It was limited to a few good maps, and, as far as I remember, only a few different weapon types, but worked very well. I never even bothered to play the larger single player game because multiplayer was so good (although I did play Fallout 1 and 2 to death).

Wow, I never actually played the multiplayer at all...the singleplayer, though, was quite good.

Poor game. :(

I didn't manage to finish it, but I had a lot of fun with it.

One mistake they made was to add vehicles, which was just awkward. Maybe one day we'll get a similar, turn-based post-apocalyptic tactics game, with light vehicles?

I never played it, because it was all about combat and lacked the story of FO1 and 2. But now I might give it a try anyway.

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