-Neither is Fallout 2, it's game-world encompasses the northern half of the state of California, much larger than the Capital Wasteland. It is in fact so big that you could buy and upgrade a car in order to traverse it quicker. Of course most of this area is empty desert, mountains, forests and other landscapes to give it a realistic monotonous wasteland feel. But this was broken up by random encounters with geckos, radscorpions, robots, caravans, etc. It also is less linearity in quest structure than Fallout 3.SajuukKhar said:-Snip-
The mining town of Redding is addicted to jet. You feel pity for these people and seek to end the distribution of jet. Your search for the source takes you to the largest center of crime in the California wasteland: New Reno. This is source of all the jet. According to what you've learned jet is manufactured and distributed by the Mordino drug cartel, who are based in one of the towering casinos in this city. Now you can handle this is any way you choose: You can march into the casino guns blazing, hoping to find the location of the lab where jet is made when you're done. You can sneak in and steal what you need. You can even masquerade as a gun for hire and work for the Mordinos, heck you can even abandon your quest and stay permanently employed by these drug lords if you want. Eventually you'll discover that jet is manufactured in a heavily guarded warehouse outside of town. As you approach you are stopped by a guard. He asks you "What the hell are you doing here?" This can play out in many ways. If you are actually employed by the Mordinos and are delivering a package to the head scientist, Myron, then you can show him your papers and be on your way. If you don't have said papers than you can kill him and fight your way to Myron. You can sneak in. You can even use your silver tongue to convince him that you are supposed to be here. Once inside you travel to the basement lab where guards in shining metal armor wielding machine guns guard a heavy metal door. This is Myron's room. Again you are asked what you're doing here and again you have all those ways of getting past these guys. Once inside a teenager walks up to you. This is the Mordino family's "drug wizard" Myron. He's a little over 16 but he's a chemical genius. If you shot your way in he'll be terrified and attempt to make a deal with you, if you let him go he'll give you all the jet he has. Now you can just shoot him right here if you wanted. Or, if you're a savvy businessman you can convince him to work for you. Or, if you're the good guy type, you can demand (at gunpoint) that he make a jet addiction cure. This puts you on a fetch quest. Now say you didn't shoot everyone, if you were actually delivering the package you can do that and be on your way.
-I'm bothered that an army seems to have been created from no where and I know there are others who feel the same way.
-No I wouldn't go out of my way to follow an NPC to a bathroom. But would it hurt the immersion any if they actually did go to the bathrooms every so often? I dunno and personally I don't care, the bathroom thing had nothing to do with my original point.
-I never said that the enclave scientists and officers wore power armor. I said that all the soldiers, did even though the Enclave wouldn't be able to realistically supply all that armor.
-I argue that Fallout 2 had a much larger scope than Fallout 3.
It's game-world is bigger, there are more locations that actually have reasons to exist and by extension also give reasons why stuff like jet and stimpaks can be found in such large quantities.
Redding is a mining town that produces gold for the NCR to mint coins. New Reno manufactures chems & booze as well as providing gambling & hookers. Broken hills is a mutie town that mines uranium for use in nuclear power plants like the one at the town of Gecko. Vault City has the best medical tech in the wastes which allows them to create stimpacks and other drugs. Gecko can provide large quantities of energy that can be sold to other settlements, provided that you help them fix their power plant. San Francisco is a fishing town and home of the best weapon merchants in the wastes, they also have access to aquatic transportation.
Fallout 2 also has a much larger variety of characters.
Drug Lords, Tribal Warriors, a bartender who is a retired adventurer, a raider doctor with a heart of gold, a Drill Sargent who seems straight out of Full Metal Jacket, a Super Mutant Magician, a chronically depressed robot, a self aware computer, a man who has been subjected to DNA splicing experiments and is now part cat, a serial killer, a pre-war Chinese spy, a slimy lawman who tricks you into becoming the target of an assassination, a old fashioned boxer complete with curly mustache, a guy who is basically Mike Tyson, a fat sleazy merchant, a dumb but well meaning brahmin keeper, twins who will go to any length to protect their business, a super mutant sheriff who just wants everyone to get along, and a ghoul who is addicted to Magic the Gathering.
-I'm not saying that they couldn't have mini-fridges on brahmin, in fact that is a very good idea. But I am saying that the physical in game model does not have a refrigerator or power supply for said refrigerator on it's body. So they wouldn't be able to transport dairy products.
-I'm not perturbed by the lack of animal mating in Fallout 3, I never said that. I'm bothered that towns that are said to rely on these animals don't seem to interact with them in any way.
-Role playing has 2 meanings. One means that a game contains complex number systems that keep track of stats like health, strength, endurance, etc. The other meaning usually applies to pen and paper RPGs and older games like Deux Ex and Fallout 1 & 2 and it is that the game lets you create a role and play it. Be the white knight, or the sneaky crook, or charismatic pacifist, and become immersed in that world. I was talking about the second meaning.