I love the aesthetic of the classic Fallouts. Sure, the gameplay is rough and the graphics are rougher, but the art-style is awesome. The landscapes, dialogue, weapon descriptions, sound design. It's a full course of awesomeness. You just have to be able to tolerate the game itself. Even if this game feels a little thin in the plot side of things, it makes up for it in personality. It's awesome, but a shame not many people even talk about it. And the cutscenes. Mmm-mmm. What a visual feast this is.
The tutorial explains the game's basic concept, which seems to be "go slow or die fast". I guess the "Tactics" in the title wasn't just for show (I actually commented that on a YouTube video about the game. It sums it up so well). I think I had the most fun in this game than any of the other classic isometric Fallouts. Not to imply there isn't any of that "Just figure it out, stupid" that these games are known for, but it's a lot less than it usually was. It reminds me a lot of the one Socom game I played like 15 years ago. I wasn't good at it, but I enjoyed it. My strategy back then was to run in, shoot, die, question what went wrong. I've since learned to move slowly, methodically, manage to live this time.
The loss of hexes for movement doesn't feel great. It's hard to understand where I can or can't move. Do you know how many times there's been a passage between obstacles that I couldn't see, but my characters could? Too many to bother remembering. Like seriously, just click in places to see if your guys can go there. Annoying, but it works.
It's really irritating when I tell a character to walk somewhere that takes 4 action points, but they magically take 5 instead. Seriously annoying when I carefully plan how to use each point that turn. Like when I tell them to shoot something and instead, they think I want them to walk over there.
The fog of war mechanic makes moving around very stressful. I never know what's going to be around any corner or when enemies are going to suddenly pop-up out of nowhere. It's weird, not necessarily bad. It's a cool idea, but sometimes it's irritating AF when I can't figure out how many enemies are in a room or where they're patrolling. Especially after seeing them multiple times and not being sure if I'm about to be spotted.
I'm getting really sick of trying to hit a target, but my character insists they can't see the target and there is no indication if they have line of sight from any position unless you're currently standing in the right place. With the addition of crouching and going prone, that becomes a far bigger issue than ever. Even moments when a character has line of sight in their current turn, but magically lose it in the next when no one moved.
Not to mention moving to a new position where the hit accuracy is pretty good, ending my turn, no one moves, but my hit accuracy has magically dropped to 0%. And then there's when enemies are behind opened doors, your squad will somehow not understand there's an enemy right there and instead will try to close the door. The enemy is clearly in their view and they are attacking them, but their brain can only process "DOOR". Moving away and baiting the enemies to move away works.
I like that new enemy types keep cropping up as you explore the game. It helps things not get too repetitive. That doesn't always work, but it helps. I think they're tied to the different regions of the travel map as you progress, which is fun.
Looking up some of the perks that are available, a lot of them are either described incorrectly or straight-up don't actually work. That figures. Just how old game developers used to do things, I guess. I'd recommending looking these things up to make a list of the ones that won't work to avoid them.
It really gets on my nerves that you can't preview items when you're buying from traders. I won't know if a weapon is any good or suitable for my recruits unless I save, buy it, then check the stats. What a pain. Checking the stats of anything in this game is more inconvenient that it should be.
Be careful of vehicles. When I first used one (yes, there are vehicles you can drive), I had no idea how to actually get out. It was like Red Dead Redemption 2 all over again when leaving the shopping menu is more confusing than it ever should have been, but really simple when you figure it out. Just hold ctrl and hover your mouse around the exit door when you click. Vehicles weren't in the tutorial, you know, which I thought was weird when I kept getting stuck inside the first car. Also, to get more than one person inside, do the holding ctrl trick again, but inside the vehicle. You're welcome.
I have had it up to here with the traveling from different locations section of the game. Maybe it's a glitch or just how the game works. I often get a new combat encounter after two hours or a few minutes in-game. Which can cause a sequence that should take a few minutes will instead take about fifteen minutes. A new encounter every few seconds? More than ten combat encounters per travel? Seriously?! The Survival skill makes it a little less annoying, but it's still super annoying. Unless the game temporarily fixes itself and the combat encounters aren't being spammed and it feels like it's as intended. What the heck? I swear, was this world this densely populated before the apocalypse? It's like the place is thriving as a result. There's animals and people under every stone!
I knew the game felt like it was dragging on, but I wasn't sure why. It's because 99% of the game is spent in combat locations (and 24% of that is in the travel menu because encounters are ridiculously frequent). It's not like the previous Fallouts when you had time in towns to talk to people and investigate. The only downtime you get is when you return to the current bunker you're assigned to for resupply and to get a new combat mission. It drags on. By the thirtieth hour of gameplay, I was hoping that was the end of the game when another of those honestly cool slideshows played. It wasn't. I was annoyed. This game gets repetitive.
It really gets my goat when you complete a mission to then find out there were secret requirements that you haven't completed. Like, you were expected to keep specific NPCs inside certain areas without freeing them, otherwise your boss gets angry at you. You need to avoid breaking certain things, otherwise your boss gets angry at you. You need to protect certain people, otherwise... You get the idea. Not listed in your objectives and you don't get to know what you did wrong until you officially finish the mission. Assuming you at least get told what you did wrong through a cryptic chewing-out. So, you go to the internet to figure out what went wrong. This game is very rough around the edges. Can I get some power armour, soon? I'm a member of the Brotherhood of Steel and I STILL haven't received any power armour. They give that stuff away pretty quickly to the non-members in the other games. Guys? What a rip-off.
It's one of those old games that look really pretty, has great things going for it, but you need to force yourself through the gameplay for it. It's not the worst thing ever, but it can get really boring. The gameplay is fine at first, but really drags the chain. I think it's worth it, even for just a while. Assuming you can get it running, that is. Good luck, Warrior. Dismissed.
