man, fallout's 20 years anniversary
i still remember the first time i saw it at my uncle's house, i didn't have a good pc so i used to love going there and playing on my cousin's pc cos he always had the latest pc games like commandos, jazzjackrabbit, icewind dale, doom, some spaceship game i've been forever meaning to remember its name and one day it was fallout 2
fallout 2 just blew my mind, the graphics in particular looked amazing at the time and i was really shocked at simple stuff like changing your gear and seeing your character look different, or how the pipboy was like an actual physical thing from the world instead of just a menu, with its really old looking screen. and it was also so violent, i wasn't really used to violent games so watching someone like just blow up in half was really shocking and unpleasant but in a way that when you're like 10 years old you can't do anything but be mesmerized by it
took me about a year to get a pc that could run something that isn't where in the world is carmen sandiego. my hard drive was only 2gb so diablo and fallout couldn't both fit, and i really don't like diablo, so that was out pretty quick and i was left with a computer who's only purpose was running fallout 2. i played that game every day religiously for years, i tried every possible outcome for every quest, i would edit my stats and look for every new piece of dialogue i could find, i kept replaying the game over and over and writing down different options and coming up with different early game routes, etc. i spent a lot of time writing a guide before i realized ppl had already done all that work heh
but yeah i always find it fascinating the way they managed to build such a believable and grounded world filled with humor and satire but also a world that's really bleak and dark and that explores pretty serious themes pretty well even if idk letting you sell slaves is kind of fucked? and the rpg systems are so finely crafted, special is a really good system that allows for tons of experimentation and the quests are designed so that you can complete them in so many ways, i don't think any game since has ever come close to matching it
i haven't played fallout 1 or 2 in a while (maybe like 3 years?) but it's still my favorite game and i really love it
it's aged pretty well (fallout 1 less so than 2 but some of it can be helped with mods) all things considered, and it's free, give it a shot!