So how are Wasteland and Fallout 1/2 similar?

[Chromie]

What the title says. I'd really like to see what are some of the similarties/differences between the two franchises. I've only played Fallout 1/2 and plan to play Wasteland through the browser if I have to.

[ad1066]

Post-nuclear war, lots of guns, lots of people/critters that want to kill you, turn-based combat, experience points and leveling up, energy weapons (eventually), American southwest.

-- Ben

[Gremlin]

Though the thread title only mentions similarities, the OP also asks about differences. Let's see if I can distill some of both:

- Both are post-apocalyptic settings after a nuclear war; but each has a different take on it. The nuclear war in Fallout took place in a mid-21st century that had reverted to 1950's styles, with rayguns and shiny future-tech. The nuclear war in Wasteland took place in 1998, so Wasteland has an 80's take on future tech, and is generally more realistically grounded, though with some gonzo elements and a cyberpunk sheen. I think it'd be a mistake to describe it as merely grittier, but it was a more sober and realistic take on nuclear war.

- Interestingly, while Fallout was a post-Soviet Union game, Wasteland was released at at time when the Cold War still had the theoretical possibility of turning nuclear. We could speculate on how that might have influenced the development.

- The robots in Fallout are more like 50's Tom-Swift-style mechanical men. The robots in Wasteland are more 80's Robocop/Terminator-ish, though they come in various forms.

- Fallout 1 is set in California, Wasteland is set in Nevada and Arizona, mostly in the desert.

- Fallout was brown, while Wasteland is more colorful. Partially due to technical limitations, but it does give it a different feel. There are green places, and places the war has barely touched.

- There are more groups who preserved technology and who have set up their own enclaves (the Rangers aren't the sole representatives of civilization). There are more crazy religious cults too.

- In Wasteland there aren't really any vaults in the Fallout sense, but more people survived the war.

- This is more my opinion, but violent confrontation feels a like a more plausible outcome to some of the situations in Wasteland. You're a group of hardened rangers, not a clueless vault dweller. I've seen a player fight his way through the Savage Village and not realize there was another way that could have gone.

For gameplay similarities/differences, I'd list:
- You play with a group of characters, not as a single character.

- Fallout has stats, skills, traits, and perks. Wasteland has stats and skills, but the way they are used is slightly different: any stat, skill, or item can be used in an interaction. So you can use Picklock on that door, or Strength, or the stick of dynamite you've been carrying around. The system wasn't perfect (I always thought I should have been able to use LAW rockets on the doors), and some interactions were missed, but it gave a fairly robust series of possible interactions in every circumstance.

- Combat in Wasteland used the then-standard Wizardry-style combat menus. (You may be familiar with the parallel development in JRPG's like Final Fantasy. But with less graphics and more text.) NPCs could use automatic weapons without hitting you every time, though they would still tend to waste clips on rodents. Combat descriptors like "fine red mist" are often quoted.

- You level up characters by radioing in to Ranger headquarters and getting your promotion.

- In both games, you have a lot of options to try to resolve a given situation, and you can often choose between very different outcomes.

I could go on, but that's a good starting point.

[Gremlin]

Oh, and I remembered another critical distinction:

In Fallout, you have hitpoints, and when you run out of hitpoints you die and have to reload your last save. (Hope you saved recently!) Wasteland had a slightly more complex system.

First, health was governed by an attribute called MAXCON (Maximum Constitution). Hitpoints are listed as CON (Constitution). When you run out of CON, you don't die...yet. Depending on how much damage you took, your character becomes Unconscious. They're out of the fight, but will slowly recover and may be able to get back up during the fight. But if the damage was too much, the condition changes to Serious. When in Serious condition, the character's health will keep dropping with time, rather than recovering. Medical assistance can still save them, but without it they'll eventually drop to Mortal and then die.

Wasteland also had an auto-save system, which you'll probably see debated on these boards. I'll refrain from editorializing and just try to describe it: At least in the DOS version, the game only has one save. You can save at any point, but obviously, only to that save. The game also autosaves whenever you switch to a different map. There are good and bad points about the system, with some people liking the enforced permanent consequences and others frustrated by the weaknesses in the system.

[Hell Razor]

Fallout gave you more options to pick sides or handle things differently on a larger scale.

On a micro-scale, Wasteland did often give you more ways to solve a problem. Pick the lock, climb over the wall, bash the door with your strength, use an axe or sledgehammer, or use one of many explosives to open a door. And, in many cases, also perhaps a key, unlock code, or password you could learn instead. Frequently you had this many different options in Wasteland to get past a minor obstacle, whereas Fallout scaled back the options.

However, Fallout included more story options on a larger scale. In Wasteland, you can only assault the Citadel. In Fallout, you can join them (The Brotherhood, same thing). Wasteland attempted the same thing, such as with the Savage Village or choosing sides between Brygo and Freddy, but Fallout expanded on it.

Otherwise, the differeces Fallout v. Wasteland are:

isometric v. top-down
perks v. more complex ATR/skill interaction
solo v. party
Vault Dweller v. Desert Rangers
CA v. NV
80s v. mix of 80s/50s

[Fargham]

One key difference between Fallout and Wasteland was the random encounter system in WL. Many times you did not 'see' enemies on the overland / dungeon map until a fight broke out. This means they really surprised the crap out of you. In Fallout, many times you could see monsters moving back and forth before they saw you, and you could try to plan ahead.

Wasteland, the only chance to plan ahead on scenarios like that was to run away and come back later, where they would persist even though they were randomly created.

Sure there were static encounters in Wasteland, that you ran into every time you played the game, but especially in Vegas, Vegas Sewers and the Desert Wasteland, they'd drop down right on top of you. Base Cochise and Project Darwin had downright deadly random encounters, and every fight could be your last. You really wanted to limit your time in dangerous places because of this. Fallout really only had random encounters in the 'world' map, and generally these you could easily deal with.

Fallout, you could clear a whole level and then dink around looking in all the cabinets and chests. Wasteland, much more get in, and gtfo.

[johndoe]

I was sure there were some random encounters in closed Fallout areas as well. In several cases they scared they *beep* out of me, it wasn't so static!

[RangerBen]

Missed this thread when it was active, but in years past I tried to collect the similarities. These are a few specific similarities among the family of Wasteland/Fallout games that I managed to find.

[Drool]

Point of fact, the crashed alien ship with the velvet Elvis and ray gun is a Luck-based encounter. Explorer perk isn't necessary.

Also, if you want to update the "Where to get Fallout" section, GOG.com has 1, 2, and (I believe) Tactics.