Tourma's Longform Ramblings

So I, like I lot of people it seems going by Steam's metrics, have getting into Fallout thanks to the TV show. The funny thing is, I haven't even watched the show. I just vibed so hard with the hoopla, I had to try one, and the experience is far better than my first time.

The Past-Past

I think my dislike for the western role playing game happened around the tail end of the 6th generation. During the 5th, I owned a Nintendo 64, with it's dearth of RPGs. I think there were three? And the one good one, (Paper Mario,) I didn't recognize was one until later. In my opinion, Quest 64 and...Aydin Chronicles? I don't feel like looking it up, sucked eggs. Seeing all the amazing stuff my friends and family were playing on the Playstation 1 influenced what I got for the next generation.

On my PS2, I bought a lot of JRPGs. Over this generation, I realized a couple of things. While I beat few games, I beat very few RPGs. Also, what gets me is when the world opens up. This happens far later in JRPGs than western RPGs. So for the seventh generation, I wasn't preoccupied with the RPG and went for the Xbox 360.

The Past

It started with rage. Well, not “rage”, but the all-capitals of “RAGE” the id Software game. I bought it on a whim one day at Best Buy for like, $10-15. I had heard from a friend that it was disappointing, but I thought that was in the “I pre-ordered it for $60” disappointing. It might be decent for 10 to 15.

And I was right! The game was truncated and ending more abrupt and unsatisfying than Halo 2's, but it had it's upsides. It looked amazing at the time. I really enjoyed it. Actually, writing about it here made me look up Rage 2, but I don't have it free through PS+, so maybe another time.

So after I finished with Rage, I wanted more western, dieselpunk shooting. The only two games I could think of in this genre were Borderlands and Fallout New Vegas. I had rented Borderlands and fallen off quickly as I was getting my ass kicked, (turns out I was playing Mortdecai and didn't really pay attention to weaknesses, later I played again with Brick and enjoyed it.) So that left me with NV.

It was surprisingly hard to find at the time. Or rather, find for a decent price. I think I ended up at Kmart, where NV was like, $35 still, and Fallout 3 was $20. So I picked 3 up instead.

Mistake.

The setting was not what I wanted. Especially the beginning being in the Vault. Even outside though, the grey-green was meh, I didn't like the gunplay, and it was before I learned one has to have discretion with picking up everything and selling it. Then I ended up in some supermarket and got my ass kicked.

Never played it since.

I think this was the last straw for western RPGs in general. While I did play and beat Mass Effect 3, that the gunplay was like a shiny Gears of War immensely helped. Getting it new for $10 also helped. I enjoyed Dragon Age II and beat it as well...Oh wait, Fallout 3 burnt me out, but DA:O was what had me swear off western RPGs (and dwarves) for years. Anyway, by and large, those were the exceptions to the rule.

I tried Skyrim with a pirated copy on my Mac, and I don't know if I disliked the game, or playing on a computer. Tolerating PC play isn't my strong suit either, though having a bona fide gaming PC has helped.

The Near-Past

Games like Mass Effect Andromeda and ME Legendary Edition, as well as Star Trek Online, Star Wars the Old Republic, and WoW helped break me out of my anti-western RPG shell.

The Present

This game seemingly gets going FAR faster than Fallout 3 did. And is what I wanted back then, and I had an urge for westerns in general now, so it's what I wanted now. The writing's decent. The atmosphere is great. The gunplay isn't the best, but more serviceable than I remember. I took advice on how to get started with NV from https://slime.global/@junebug on following the route given until you get to New Vegas itself and I think that really helped. Both plotwise and not getting reamed by significantly more powerful enemies.

I've seemingly aligned myself with the NCR, though my Socialist-ass still views them skeptically. I just met my first Brotherhood of Steel mofo. I get heavy nazi vibes from their attire, so I'm skeptical of them too. Getting attacked by Caesar's Legion for my hat lessened my opinion of them.

This is also my first real trial of using mods. The game looks better, if still like a 15 year old game. I made sure my companions couldn't die. Faster walking speed. I can't remember what else. It went pretty flawlessly though. I was shocked. Kinda spoiled me on dragging my 360 to play 3.

I did also try Fallout 76 and Fallout Shelter while I was at it. 76 is...alright. Not my thing, though it is pretty. Shelter is still going strong. I have 47 dwellers at the moment. Its fun, and I'm cheap, so they haven't got a dime from me.

The Future

I was already feelingly attention wane by the time I started writing this article, and that was like, a week ago. I haven't turned the game on in nearly that amount of time. But that's how I roll. Games are very rare to get more than a couple of weeks of attention out of me. Destiny and Halo have been the rare exceptions. Speaking of, I'm playing Destiny 2 semi-seriously for the first time since the end of the Season of the Witch. Trying to get the battle pass done before The Final Shape.

Will I come back to New Vegas? I think so, yes. I think I'll pass on 76. But I might get a Fallout 5 if/when that comes out. Guess I could try Outer Worlds too.

But still, Western RPGs are in a much better place with me now. And that's good.

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