How to Play Fallout

[Tex Mechs Robot]

Sooooo...I'm going to out myself now. I've never played any of the Fallout games and have VERY little knowledge of the story (I scanned the Wikipedia page before posting here).

I am interested in playing the game from the story perspective and would like to keep things chronological without worrying about all of the spin-offs if I can help it. But I don't want to miss elements of the story by skipping spin-offs that I should have played.

So this is the question: which games should I play and what order should I play them in?

[Randazzo]

Well, if you wanted to follow the story, It'd be Fallout, Fallout 2, and Fallout 3. The stories are not directly related to each other though, so I'm not sure why they're any different than the spin-off games. They all share the same universe and characters. New Vegas is by far the best, in my opinion.

[Tex Mechs Robot]

Well, if you wanted to follow the story, It'd be Fallout, Fallout 2, and Fallout 3. The stories are not directly related to each other though, so I'm not sure why they're any different than the spin-off games. They all share the same universe and characters. New Vegas is by far the best, in my opinion.

It may be true that there isn't a flowing story. I just assumed there was. I figured there had to be some sort of chronological progression that persisted throughout the titles.

With that premise set aside then, should I just play them all in the order they were released? Are there any that I should skip for sure?

[Dodgey]

The story is a storey of the world. Each game is pretty much self contained however they are all in the same world. I don't think that there is a story from one game to another aside from 1 and 2 which i haven't played. To be honest i don't think it matters what order you play it in. I played New Vegas before 3 and it didn't really matter.

Edit:

Unless you want to play an isometric turn based game skip 1 and 2. Number 3 is the first open world game.

Edited November 4, 2015 by Dodgey

[Randox]

The story is a storey of the world. Each game is pretty much self contained however they are all in the same world. I don't think that there is a story from one game to another aside from 1 and 2 which i haven't played. To be honest i don't think it matters what order you play it in. I played New Vegas before 3 and it didn't really matter.

The events in 1 and 2 provide some explanation as to the origin of things you find in the later games. Basically, if you just jump into 3 and New Vegas, there will just be things that you sort of have to accept, or only have partial explanations compared to what you know from the previous games.

I'd liken it to the GTA universe. All GTA games take place in the same universe, and there is a chronological order, but story wise, you actually don't really miss out on anything in any given game by not having played games that cover the earlier chronology, because each game is a self contained story, as is the case for each fallout game.

[Tex Mechs Robot]

That's all very helpful and I appreciate the responses. I can get some of the bundles from Steam for little cost so that's probably what I'll do. I don't mind isometric turn based and I think it will be well worth it to learn the background and understand how the world works. Sounds like I'll just do the main releases for now and then worry about the spin-offs if I feel like it.

[Bill Phil]

Fallout 1, 2, and then 3 or NV in either order.

1 and 2 help establish the NCR, which is important to NV, so play those two first.

Three and NV are very much interchangeable. The stories aren't really related.

[Gojira1000]

If only because there are minor references to previous story events, 1-2-3-NV is probably the best bet. The games could be played in any order, however, without it being terribly confusing. As the protagonist in 4 starts off not having a clue what the world is like, you could start there just fine. As I think about it, only in 2 and NV does the protagonist know (in a general way) what the heck is going on.

[Tex Mechs Robot]

If only because there are minor references to previous story events, 1-2-3-NV is probably the best bet. The games could be played in any order, however, without it being terribly confusing. As the protagonist in 4 starts off not having a clue what the world is like, you could start there just fine. As I think about it, only in 2 and NV does the protagonist know (in a general way) what the heck is going on.

Interesting. I think I'll stick with that order if only because of the advancements in tech over time. Playing 4 first and then 1 would feel like such a step backwards in gameplay I'm sure. Sounds like 1, 2, 3, NV, 4 is the route I'm going to take. I'll mess with the other ones only if I'm still int he mood after finishing 4.