Part 1: A large order of plot, with a side of mechanics

A large order of plot, with a side of mechanics

So before we head into the game, let me tell you a bit about the backstory. As a refreshing surprise, this game actually explains the great collapse quite detailed in the manual.

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Basically, humanity progressed fine until the world's overpopulation and resource problems became critical. In 2062, NASA revealed it's plans to terraform Mars with six big ass machines, named Terraformer 01 to 06. They planned to pump massive quantities of carbon dioxide into Mars's atmosphere, which should trigger global warming and produce a habitable atmosphere. But eleven days before the project should be launched, fanatic terrorists sized control of the launch base.
They decided to pump carbon dioxide into earth's atmosphere instead.
It was never discovered what reasons they had, nor did they make any demands. Before being killed, they managed to pump out enough to ruin earth for several hundreds of years. With a global temperature increase of 10.5 Celsius, everyone was kind of fucked, and civilization collapsed in a jiffy. Large storms devastated the lands, and lots of natural disasters followed soon. The game places us, 21 years after this event in the Age of Storms.
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Here is the intro video. You should watch it, because it is actually pretty neat. The dialogue is in German, but I will tell you the gist of it below.
Also, if that is not enough, I've included a transcript in the video description.
Hi, I am a video.

The gist: So, the little girl comments on the storms outside, and her mother tells her that she does not need to worry in here. The girl replies that she doesn't and mom comments on her bravery. This leads the girl to ask what bravery is, and mom explains it via the example of their brave leader.
The girl, ever curious, then asks to be told about their leader.
We learn that he was a normal guy, living in a run-down settlement. One day he went out, only to find it burned and looted upon his return. In the ruins, he found his dead mother, but not his father or sister. So he sets out to find them and get revenge on whoever did it. He did hear about the "Government of the New Order", which is recruiting people to fight the gangs, and bring back peace to the land. Sounds like a good place to start, he figures.

With this, we get started and the game pop's us into this screen. Seems like cell phones still kinda work.

This actually is our portrait/gender selection.

While most of the pictures are useable, some are..well..

Pleasedontkillmeinmysleep!

So, instead of fucking around with this we just pick the best one.

It's Steven Seagal. Deal with it.
What do you mean you don't believe me?

Here is a loading screen. It does look cool, but the loading time is pretty horrible.


When we enter the game world, we find ourselves in front of the headquarters of the "Government of the New Order". I'll be calling em GNO from here.

Doesn't look like much to me.

Before we strut on, let's take a look at Steven Seagal our aspiring hero.

Huh, kind of looks like the picture. Have you ever noticed, how 3D games always have Neanderthal jaws?
Now you will every time. You're welcome.

Let's walk up to the gate already!

And hit an in-game cutscene. Pretty much every scripted event will go like this. There is also something pretty bad about the way they handle cutscenes. But that is for later.

:"Execution? As a matter of fact, i want to be a mercenary with this new government. I heard this is the right place"



:"Ok, thanks."

Not the kindest place, but what can you expect in a world like this? Also I like the design right here.


With a healthy pace, we jog into town. Although this screen gives the impression of skipping.

I'll do my best to show the locations, but the camera and environment will constantly oppose me.

When we run up, the guillotine in the distance will do it's deed. It is hard to make out, even in game, so let's close in.

Well, wasteland justice is swift and brutal. But it worries me, that they make a small party out of it. We don't even know what the guy did.

Another step closer, and we can see all the details.

Ahw, man. What a bummer. Spitting on corpses is so much fun, as I've been told.

Now that the tone has been set, we should go and look for that President fella.

He's right around the corner.

We just saw a guy get beheaded, and the President has armed guards. We probably should be polite, and not get lippy with him.
Conversations will always work via this multiple choice interface. Everything is fully voiced, and different choices have different effects.

Also our guy is a bit thick here. We saw the body!

Oh...well. Then you keep on doing the good work! This game is not really prissy about the grimness of the wasteland.

:"Excuse my ignorance, but are you the new President?"


Manners will get you ahead people! Also I kind of imagine the President talking with a Jersey accent. Go ahead, try it.
:"I heard about your new government and fully support your plans. It is about time we had someone to restore law and order around here. I would consider it an honor to work as a mercenary for you."


Well that was kind of sucky, but we got what we wanted. Off we go, to follow the opening railroad!

On our way we pass through the residential area. I only show this now because I like those gliders. It is a shame we can not drive em.
You can also see the minimap now, and that we are moving counter clockwise through the area. Our goal is that white triangle in the back.

And, as said earlier, your guy has a line and VA for every drat thing you can look at. Yes, even rocks.

Well, we reach our goal eventually. And I wrestle with the camera for a good angle.

No dice!

This guy will give us an Id pass. Or in other words, let us create a damn character already.


:"I-I-I-I guess so. G-Give me your b-badge. A-And then you have to f-fill out an application."
You'll never take my badge, Scatman!


Here you can choose to fill the sheet yourself, or do it with a Q&A thingy. Doing it yourself is doing it right.

Let's take a look at our guy.

Here we have the first half of the sheet, pretty clear. However, two things should be explained. Life experience and physical features are your traits. For the first one, you can pick from a pretty clear set of lifestyles which affect your starting skills. I choose craftsmanship only because it does not ruin the skills I actually want to use, while still having a good balance overall. We will never do technic stuff with Seagull.
Physical features are totally useless. They do not give you extra attribute points for a flaw, as Fallout does, but only shuffle around the points you already have. I can do that myself, thank you for nothing!


This is the other half of the sheet, with my points spent. Oh boy, I have to explain a lot now.
Attributes are pretty basic, but each one will provide certain bonuses which we will see in a moment. They work with breakpoints counted in triple steps.
A value of 9-12 is even and does not provide a bonus or a penalty. Going above or below will have that effect then. Once you pump an attribute up to 18, every following point will be a breakpoint, and when you reach 25 you are maxed. You will gain 1 point per level, so it is actually a good idea to plan your levels a bit. I feel that here is some DnD in that system.

Skills are also rather intuitive, except for the difference between light and heavy guns. You see, while you might think a pistol is light, and a rocket launcher is heavy, that is only half the truth. Heavy weapons is a bit of a misnomer, as an M16 will count as heavy in this game. The distinction is not immediately apparent, so you have to be a wee bit careful when picking your guns and skills.
Spoiler: Heavy is the best.

Each skill will give you bonuses to certain actions depending on the amount of points you have. The break points are a bit iffy so don't worry about them.
45-54 is even and you will get bonuses/mali as you go above or below.
Skills also have three special breakpoints which allow you to pick a talent, once you reach em. Every skill has five talents, but you only have three slots for each skill. So it is a good idea to consult the manual about those, to prevent you from taking shitty ones. But the good ones are really neat.

Phew, with that out of the way we sign our sheet and get some Xp for it. Sweet.

We also have some real health now, instead of baby constitution.

Now, let's take a closer look at our new Id pass and all those numbers. Trust me, it is important.

Here is the first page. You can see what bonuses/penalties each attribute has. This actually helps, when you want to figure out what to raise.

Next up the skills and their numbers.

Same deal as before, just let the numbers guide you. Also, some skill dependent actions can only be performed once you have enough points. We'll see those later.

Here is our talents tab. It is empty for now, but it still should give you an idea.

Soon my precious, soon.

And lastly, the reputation tab.

Reputation is slightly odd. It will slowly rise with your kills, and will provide a small umbrella bonus to your guy. At legendary status you will get a flat 5% bonus to pretty much everything. But getting there is pretty hard. If you don't want to grind, that is.

The last two blocks deal with weapon familiarization, which is also a bit tricky. That first one measures how familiar you are with a certain weapon, like a Colt 1911. However, the second one measures how familiar you are with the Colt 1911 you are holding right now. This is important. You want to stick with your guns for the most part of the game, to get the best bonuses. You can name guns so you do not loose track, of who owns which gun. The thread can suggest names later.


So, now I should talk a bit about Seagull and his skills. He is pretty much the jack of all trades-diplomat-hybrid, that you need to play, to see everything in each Fallout game ever. But in this game, I had another reason for setting him up like this. See, your guy is the only one who can do quest conversations. You can recruit talky soldiers, but they will be utterly useless! You can only use them for a discount at traders, but you are forced to take dumb conversation path's while they sit around in the background. Granted, you could use them for the speech talents, but it still would not be a good idea. This is a serious flaw in the game, but we can't help it. Also take note that he is not nearly as min/maxed as he could be. It is very easy to create a strong char right off the bat, and trivialize a big part of the early game. But I didn't want to do that.
And just for the record, I like to think that I choose the best possible name.


So with that stuff behind us, let's step into the world proper.

And right into another cutscene.

:"Sure. here it is."

:"Ok. I guess you do not know exactly what we are doing here. So, if you have any questions, fire away!"

Well I thought we would be firing at bandits! But okay, let's end this update with more plot. Why the hell not!?

:" Tell me about what your government stands for."




That all sounds pretty reasonable to me. Good guy status: approved.

:"Exactly how does it work with controlling the region? I mean, like there are the same conditions here, as everywhere else in the country. In this area alone there are half a dozen gangs looting and killing."


Hayes is really raking in the good guy points here.
But we still should keep in mind, that he seems to be no stranger to brutality. I guess you have to be a hardliner to equally oppose those gangs.

:"How do you get new recruits? Are there so many willing to risk their lives for a few guns and something to eat?"


Touche eagle one, touche.

:"How come you call yourself President? I mean, like I can only see a few half-starved people and some run-down shacks."
Seagull: Tough nut investigator.


A fucking salesman?!

:"You were a salesman once? I thought you were a politician or at least a former soldier."


Well, i guess he is right. Never judge a book by it's cover.
But seriously, as a salesman he probably acquired a slick tongue. Maybe he is just getting his Jim Jones thing on around here. The radio announcer referred to him as "Holiness".

:"I got all the information I need. Who do I go to when I want to work for your bunch as a hired soldier? Or do you run the show alone here?"


Don't you worry about Seagull!

:"Oh and one last thing: never forget who you are working for and what you represent. As mercenary of the GNO. They will come to you for support, you are a person they respect. Do not forget that."
I won't Hayes, I swear! Officer Seagull will clean up this country.


Nuff said.

Next time: We meet our crew, and may actually get shit done. Wohoo!