I'm sure 99% of the people trying the game for the first time (and thus read reviews) come from the videos about Arch Dornan, so they've played Fallout starting from 3. First comes first, play Fallout and then come back to play Fallout 2 and experience the best that the franchise has to offer. Some people may disagree with this statement, but like a homophobic bully struggling with his same sex attraction, your initial denials will eventually mellow out the more hours you put in and eventually you will accept that you were in the wrong and it's fine to grow up.

Fallout 2 is the best game in the franchise because it's the one that puts the most focus on roleplaying and goes all in on it. Pretty much all builds are viable and have a load of content. Smoothtalkers will find plenty of times to solve things peacefully, all weapon classes have gotten stronger weapons across the board which lets them clear the hardest content in the game, and there are plenty of checks for those that want to invest into the exploratory skills.

So the systems are top notch, but are the mechanics? The game plays the same as Fallout with upgrades, so yes the gameplay is good and has aged gracefully into the modern day. If you have played any modern CRPG you will easily pick up Fallout 2 and have no issues, and if you have played Fallout then you will cry tears of joy when you realise you can push companions.

In my Fallout review I mentioned that aside from writing, the sequel improved on everything and that still stands. The writing is a downgrade but it's not bad by any stretch of the imagination. Fallout was a sharply written game with lots of interesting ideas, and Fallout 2 is a slightly less sharply game with a few aged pop culture references (massively overstated part of the game, however) and a few too many jokes thrown in. The game still manages to tackle a lot of interesting concepts in the writing with stories like the triangular relationship between Redding, New Reno and the NCR. If there is one part of the writing that's a step up it would be the companions, because they're actually interesting characters and not boring and flat non-characters that just exist to shoot after you.

If you care even slightly about roleplaying games you should play Fallout 2. If you can't stand the gameplay you should still play Fallout 2 because it includes New Reno. New Reno is a shining jewel of roleplaying games and quite possibly the best area ever designed for an RPG, and one of the best areas designed areas in gaming bar none. New Reno is so good that Fallout New Vegas' entire gameplay philosophy with the competing factions finds its roots in this one area. The area allows for so many builds to shine in different ways and it includes so many stories and choices to make that it still hasn't been topped. Also, the music for New Reno is a classic and finds its way into pretty much every sci-fi tabletop campaign I run.

Also the temple of trials sucks and is incredibly annoying because of how badly made it is, but it's not hard at all and I have no idea how it filters like 90% of people that try this game. Oh yeah the random encounter pool is whack too, I hope you enjoy facing like 15 dudes. It's buggy as hell without fan patches, so get the restoration project and you'll be fine.

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Genuinely still an amazing game. Even as someone who started off with Fallout 4 and loved it to death, I still can't recommend Fallout 1 and 2 enough (and even Tactics to a similar degree). Get this game as soon as you can, get a basic guide on how to control it, and you'll have days worth of fun.