Fallout - Where should a newb start?

[Hammersmith]

Fallout 1 and 3 are both core pillars of what "Fallout" is up until this point, and what 4 is going to be:

 

Vault Dweller thrown into strange world after long time apart from it.

 

2 and New Vegas are very much a "Life after the Vault" set of stories and good in their own right.

 

However that giant gear-work door, the jumpsuits, being the Vault Dweller, are all very iconic parts of the series.  I say start at 1 or 3, with 3 probably being the most easily digestible for the modern gamer who didn't come up in an era of isometric RPGs.

 

There's a TON of head nods in all the games towards the other games. In the end, if we had an idea world, I'd say it'd be best to just play them all through in order. Since we don't have that kind of time, having a wiki handy while playing 3 will help you catch a lot of the series nods at itself.

[DrPoxo]

I personally enjoyed 1&2 more then 3&NV. I liked the more classical turn based rpg then the shift to action rpg. Someone did bring up Tactics. which that and there was a Brotherhood of Steel game(might have been same game), just straight avoid those.

 

I am, one to always pick the weird wastelands and max luck stuff.

[Winters Knight]

If playing on a computer, I have had some acquaintances mention a particular mod called Tale of Two Wastelands that combines Fallout3 with the engine of NV and allows you to play both, provided you own the games of course.

[Aduu Avagnar]

If playing on a computer, I have had some acquaintances mention a particular mod called Tale of Two Wastelands that combines Fallout3 with the engine of NV and allows you to play both, provided you own the games of course.

If you can get it to work... Have it installed etc, but the new game button, and clicking yes, just shuts the pop out and takes you back to the menu.

 

nothing on the forum helps despite people having the same issue too

 

but that is neither here nor there.

[Branson Thorne]

Since time will more than likely be a factor before Fallout 4 comes along, I'd say pick up Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas, and bypass the older ones.

[Viola]

Since you asked, here's my opinion;

 

Fallout 3 is without a doubt the easiest of the series.

 

Especially with the amount of exploits available in it to get 10 in all of your SPECIAL stats.

 

However, since Fallout 4 is going to take place in Boston, the closest we've been is the Pitt in one of Fallout 3's DLCs.

 

With that said, I suggest New Vegas first and here is the reason; Once you get it patched (this is assuming you're playing the PC version), you can download a few mods (read; unofficial patches) that fix alot of the issues that still plague it.

 

Most of these are minor, so there's that.