And so, the savior of Vault 13 walked painfully away. Cast out by his deeply xenophobic community, he strode out into the wasteland an unsung hero. The desert is untamed and limitless, but the empowered few always seem to survive. This historical figure of power whom history only vaguely remembers was exiled, but not erased. Eventually, he founded a small tribal community with the wealth and knowledge gained from his trek across the badlands. His bloodline spawned strong and hearty, and his legacy has not been forgotten. In the village of Arroyo, the Vault Dweller is a legend.

There are quite a few parallels between Fallout and Fallout 2. Much of the storyline revolves around events that took place in the first game. The player can visit some of the same places that were important in the first game and see how they've changed in the intervening 80 years. There may even be a few very old friends from the past lurking around. Matt Norton, one of the game's designers, said, "We don't want to reveal too much, but this story will reveal why some of the events that took place in the first game happened as they did. Of course, there will be plenty of new plots to unravel as well."

You begin Fallout 2 some eighty years after the epic quest undertaken by your descendant in Fallout. Your initial environment is the cave of trials, a sort of gameplay tutorial to determine whether you are worthy of this adventure, both as a player and a character. This will introduce you to the world of Fallout 2 and educate you about a lot of the skills and combat functionality of the game. It's a classy training architecture, which should warm up old veterans and slap the new blood into some semblance of savvy. A few short battles and a couple of helpful items will see you through to the outside world and the adventure and perils that await.

General Stuff to Bear in Mind -----------------------------Save your game often. The skill checks are much harder than inFallout 1. Particularly before stealing, do save your game. Evenwith 10 dex, 300 stealing and sneaking skill, with the Pickpocketperk, and sneaking from the back (although it shouldn't matter withthat perk), I did often botch stealing small stuff, like stimpacks. Save before _exiting_ a combat or before finishing a quest, if you'reclose to level up (above level 4-5 or so), and have npc's in yourparty. NPC's have a chance to level up, too, when you do. Mostly, atlevel ups where you get a perk, I think, though occasionally it didhappen to me at other levels, too. So save, and then exit combat. Ifyou levelled up, and no npc did, reload and try again a few times.You don't want to carry around a bunch of wimps, when you could have almost decent fighters with you. Remember though, that npc's can onlylevel up only so far, and only so often. If they've all had 5level-ups or so, they can't get any further, so don't bother.Steal lots. Some stuff, like the Bozar (or whatever... can't tell "a"from "o" on their funky font)