Hello, Vault!
Welcome to my blog post.
"War. War never changes." Well, guess what? Turns it does. War changes in Fallout. Ron Perlman proved himself wrong ever since he joined Bethesda's project.
Now, to business. I decided to write a few short (I hope :) blogs comparing one of the most badass features of Fallout - combat - in both Interplay and Gamebryo games. Feel free to leave your opinion in the comments below.
We will go over the main games of the series (that is, 1, 2, 3 and New Vegas) and not touch spin-offs for obvious reasons.
Overview[]
I'm sure that 98% of the people that have played Fallout saw the difference between the games, not only the visuals but the combat presented. While the first two games had turn-based combat, the latest two were real-time. The names speak for themselves, but, as any game, there's usually something more specific about it. If you want the articles on this wiki, then you can go on Fallout combat and Fallout 3 combat. Here's a rather short version:
Turn-based. When combat is initiated, you won't see everyone shooting at each other, spitting lead and chewing gum (if they haven't run out of it yet). No, everyone has turns at what they do. Once one person has finished his turn, it goes for the next, until one side (the player and companions, if he has any, or the enemies) wins. Of course, you will ask yourself - what the hell? How did that little midget on the screen manage to finish his turn in the first place? Well, like to every question, there's an answer - action points. You're all familiar with them. Everyone has a limited amount of crucial AP, and each action requires a particular number. Of course, you may end your turn when you want to, but the AI won't because they're too greedy.
Real-time. There's nothing really specific about Gamebryo's RT combat. The player can shoot a badass raider while the raider is running behind cover and no one will just stand there looking down the barrel of That Gun.
Now this is where it gets tricky. It is a well-known fact that turn-based combat requires much more precision and a strategic approach than real-time combat. The player has to wisely choose the actions he will do as he has a limited amount of AP, so sometimes the player won't reload because it could mean that he won't have enough points to get into cover and will most likely die (this isn't the only example, in case you wonder). Combat becomes challenging, with AI that take time to think before they move - of course, they are lacking, but look at the recommended system settings for Fallout 1 - and propose a threat to the player. In real time, however, it's possible to reload and run into cover in the same time, and looking through your Pip-Boy without it requiring AP just makes things even easier - the player can fight with a group of raiders, then, once his health is low, scroll through the aid screen and use stimpaks with no limit. Combat isn't challenging anymore, even too easy.
Conclusion[]
In short, the combat in the originals was much more complex, difficult and exciting than the one we saw in the latest games. More so, both Fallout 3 and New Vegas are not the kind of RT you would expect in a first-person shooter - it is much slower and isn't breath taking. Don't forget, leave your opinion below so we can all discuss this lovely feature of the series.
In the next blog, we will discuss the AI, camera view (isometric and FPS/TPS) and SPECIAL interference into combat.