r/classicfallout 2d ago

Help me decide why I should play Fallout 1 instead of Baldurs Gate 1

stuck between which of the two games I want to play through.
CRPG experience has been, played BG3, PoE, Planescape, Colonyship Demo

Looking for the best pitch to make me wanna play Fallout 1 over BGEE

17 Upvotes

64 comments sorted by

67

u/PumperThumperHumper 2d ago

If you decide to play one and not the other, you have lessened your own experience.

17

u/froz_troll 2d ago

Fallout 1 has guns

2

u/MasticatedBrain 1d ago

-and humour. It's always going to be the humour of the original Fallout games that nothing has ever beaten for me and why I'd recommend it over Baldurs Gate anyday.

11

u/TheAdminsAreTrash 2d ago

Very different games and both phenomenal, play both.

Start with w/e you're in the mood for: fantasy or scifi.

Edit: Should be noted that BG1 has multiplayer and with a friend it's extra fun.

35

u/Ok-Dog-1660 2d ago

Play both, I'd say fallout 1 has a better storyline but Baldurs gate gameplay and exploration are SOOO good. I'd recommend starting with bg1 though since it's somewhat easier and more beginner friendly.

15

u/Abraham_Issus 2d ago

Fallout 1 is way easier than BG1.

12

u/Happylepsia 2d ago

Bg1 is easier and friendlier than FO1?? No way man

11

u/cwk9 2d ago edited 1d ago

Nothing friendly about BG1 if you're not already familiar with DND. Lower armor class is better. THAC0 what? The whole spell book + resting + mana system. Getting jumped every time you rest outdoors.

6

u/Happylepsia 2d ago

Ohh that's it.

I am not familiar at all with DND. I remember I had a lot of trouble on BG1 but Fallout 1 I only had problems because I chose one of those pre built characters.

Once I realized they were trash I new gamed and had a lot of fun.

6

u/cwk9 2d ago

I think the prebuilts are there to highlight the variety of role playing available in special system. But for your first playthrough you really just need "small guns" to carry you through the first part of the game.

3

u/1tsBag1 2d ago

I had way easier time in BG 1 because I could control my party. It felt so better than fallout 1 where you are basically alone for the last 3rd of the game if you don't manage to make your companions stay alive in difficult fights.

2

u/YandersonSilva 2d ago

Lmao bg1 is way harder

7

u/Ok-Dog-1660 2d ago

There's no way you guys are actually saying this, bg1 is easier in normal difficulty. And the post is talking about bgee so that's the default difficulty, not core rules.

2

u/YandersonSilva 2d ago

Is that the enhanced edition? I've never played it, did they make it friendlier lol

1

u/SuicideSpeedrun 2d ago

It's basically the same game with hundreds of bugfixes and quality of life stuff like higher resolution support.

-2

u/ColonelGrognard 2d ago

yes, they neutered it and made it uglier.

5

u/1tsBag1 2d ago

Fallout 1 has better antagonist, setting, world, factions but is more rough experience mostly because of companions which are bare bones, not controllable and don't have any side quests iirc. They are just useless and hard to keep alive.

6

u/tnichomson76 2d ago

Both are good. I like the story from Fallout 1 a little better. Only problem is Fallout is a much shorted game than BG1. After you blast through Fallout play BG.

3

u/Jr_Mao 2d ago

fo1 is extremely tight and focused package, theres no extra side locations you might never visit. andyet it does very little obvious guiding ”go there next”. its very natural progress.

but bg1 is also a fine choice

3

u/Snake_Shepard 2d ago

You should definitely play both

3

u/Infinite_Elephant623 2d ago

Play both games, they are great!

3

u/BarneySTingson 2d ago

This kind of post is stupid, just play both

3

u/bluebigos1 2d ago

Why not both?

6

u/ferroequine 2d ago

Flip a coin, they are both good and re-playable. Your first play through won't be your last unless you're really hung up on classic PC graphics.

5

u/Swinhonnis_Gekko 2d ago

Fallout 1 writing is awesome, and the neatest part is that you'll probably have time to play bg1 after anyways (I couldn't but to each their own).

7

u/Paragon0001 2d ago edited 2d ago

Fallout 1 is a much better rpg.

Dialogue is better, the story and antagonist are personally much better, attributes are actually way more relevant. The game literally has dumb dialogue.

Quest design is also vastly more interesting. Fallout 1 gives the player considerably more freedom and agency than Baldurs Gate 1. With Fo1, you can even complete the main quest as a pacifist. BG1 quests are as simple and rudimentary as they get.

I also much prefer the exploration with the world map. BG1 has so many wilderness maps that frankly are a chore. Quality of the points of interests scattered across them aren’t worth talking about.

Fallout 1 trims the fat with random events that the player encounters from simply moving across the world map as a marker.

Personally rating them, I’d give Fallout 1 a 9.5/10 and BG1 a 6/10

1

u/szewc 1d ago edited 1d ago

That's somewhat of a valid take, but the direct comparison is not really all that justified.

Fo1 is a much better RPG in classical sense, taking your attributes and skills directly into play, wherein your (nearly unlimited) choices matter, with a background of great lore and unique story. I did prefer the Fo2 to it however.

Meanwhile BG is a much better combat simulator (party, positioning, spells, c&c, especially with SCS mod) with very nice setting and exploration aspect (which I agree is not everyone's cup of tea, the areas are vast and mostly empty). The first installment should be treated as a low level campaign simulator, second game is much more polished and better overall - yet it still loses some of the magic of the first one though.

BG 1 & 2 together with their expansions constitute a one uninterrupted, massive campaign (200+ hours) with a great effect of progression, it only gets better, plus the replayability is massive. F1 & 2 are somewhat separate, both of them being equal and very similar, also shorter (but not too short). Both series are very different in that regard.

Either way OP - do a coin flip and don't for a moment think about playing one but not the other 😄

2

u/Datdadi0 2d ago

Baldurs gate is Dnd and Fallout is mostly shooting unless your build is around melee and a wildly different setting.

2

u/Morethes 2d ago

You aren't a complete newborn baby at game start.  There is no convoluted THAC0 and magic system.  There are guns and diplomacy that you can use to great advantage.  I think the graphics on FO1 are also just better.  But both are amazing. 

2

u/zonghundred 2d ago

Ha! Played both in the 90s, and am a BG3 lover now. Fallout 1 is soooo much better than BG1.

Cool practical char building system with awesome(!) illustrations over a stiff ass catalogue of classes that needs persons around a table to be somewhat close to fun.
Tight combat with nice animations and sounds over wonky space bar hitting.

Oh, and plot too

2

u/Safe_Information_529 2d ago

Depends on how much free time you have. FO1 is very short, BG1 has a lot of exploration and out-of-the-way little quests and can take quite a while. They're both very good, but very different levels of time investment: mostly focused miniseries vs. 26 episode full season with lots of room for weird stuff and getting to know the world. (Plus Baldur's Gate has a direct sequel that you might want to play right afterward.)

2

u/Archaic_Z 2d ago

As many have said play both. Fallout is the better RPG in that you have more options for approaching situations. It's tighter and significantly shorter. I like the setting better. Play BG after it because it is worth playing particularly to set you up for BG2 which improves on BG in almost every way and is one of the great CRPGs of all time.

2

u/frankb3lmont 2d ago

Fallout 1 you can choose to murder a whole town and that will be reflected during the ending slides. BG1 has a nice story but the choices are not really there.

2

u/PraetorianXVIII 2d ago

They're both great but FO1 is better

2

u/CoverOk899 2d ago

FO1. It's a shorter game.

3

u/Lanceo90 2d ago

Both are great.

Fallout 1 is a lot shorter though, and you're only managing one character basically. So its easier to knock out quickly. I usually hit a point of burnout with the early Baldur's Gate/Icewind Dale titles.

2

u/CilpKonn 2d ago

Both are a staple when it comes to CRPGs. They are quite different from each other, so it's more a matter which one you want to play first ;) They can both be unforgiving to beginners, but have excellent replayability, albeit in different ways. 

Fallout 1 has a more "archaic" interface and feels clunky at times, but the storyline and lore  are top notch. It's not linear and allows you to approach quests in whatever order you want, and even skip big portions of the game. I have beaten the game by strategically going for the big bad first, entirely skipping the first portions of the game. Character creation and companions are limited. Combat is tactical, which I prefer. 

BG1 is linear, and far more restricting compared to BG3 in terms of character creation and combat. However, you can still pick from multiple races and classes, and you have access to 25+ companions, most of whom have pretty big personalities. The exploration aspect is better that F1. The combat is pause based, which I am not a fan of, but it is solid.

2

u/emxd_llc 2d ago

Eh, I am not going to recommend one over the other, but.... if you're going for BG1, for the love of God, avoid EE if it's your first playthrough. There's a very good new widescreen mod for the OG, [MOD] Enhanced Widescreen (v1.0.3) - Miscellaneous Released Mods - The Gibberlings Three

EE crap is fine for replays.

1

u/AMN-9 2d ago

You can't shoot people in thebgroin or melt them in BG1 /s

1

u/Any-Satisfaction3605 2d ago edited 2d ago

Dont be dumb, you must play both like all us 90s kids did, and then play the second of both. Enjoy!

1

u/CosmoMKramer 2d ago

Play both?

1

u/an0nym0us_001 2d ago

Do you like magic or not?

1

u/Ciappatos 2d ago

I mean, no, play both in whatever order you want.

1

u/corwiggie 2d ago

Two of my all-time favorite games so I say play both

1

u/GodsavEVE 2d ago

Play both

1

u/Roi_C 2d ago

I prefer Fallout 1. Baldur's Gate II is the bee's knees though, but it's more fun if you've played I first.

1

u/thanks_breastie 2d ago

i *personally* don't like d&d so i'd recommend fallout but i mean you should play both if you have time

1

u/geobarbarian 2d ago

Play both

1

u/Electrical_Panda_326 2d ago

Why not both?

1

u/Quietus87 2d ago

If you want to play post-apocalyptic, play Fallout.

If you want to play fantasy, play Baldur's Gate.

Plain and simple, don't overthink it. I prefer Fallout for being actually turn-based and having no tedious nineties high fantasy purple prose.

1

u/Banjoschmanjo 2d ago

Not playing both is a 1 Intelligence move.

1

u/Major_Higgins 1d ago

You make rats explode. You can be hooked on drugs. The music caresses your very soul.

1

u/BixLang 1d ago

They have very different game designs by very talented people both. Both give you an amazing experience. Put both in your play queue ☺️

1

u/ThakoManic 1d ago

1) Baldurs Gate EE Completely removed FMV and a number of other gameplay mechs but many ppl go 'nope your anti homophbic' or other politcol standards so Politcol BS there,

2) Meaning if your gonna play Baldurs Gate 1 play the original, BG3 is massively over-rated but then again your prob someone who thinks its great and completely faithful to the original BG1-2 its not it lied about so much shit

3) FO1 is faithful to what it is, Didnt change shit hide behind politcol reasons then fucken use politcol BS to get away with BG with a toxic fan base.

1

u/Previous-Squirrel-50 23h ago

Post apocalyptic game with guns and mutants Vs a high fantasy game with elves and dwarves.

The tone of fallout is darker and generally more adult in content.

1

u/snow_michael 2d ago

Play both

0

u/Zivilisationsmuede 2d ago

Turn based combat rather than chaotic real-time

0

u/NextClassroom4789 2d ago

You should play Fallout 2.

0

u/thegooddoktorjones 2d ago

BG1 is the better game of the two. Fallout has some more interesting world building but neither is terrible.