FALLOUT 2 FAQ By Shot2Hell (ouisel@worldramp.net) CONTENTS Disclaimer Revision History Before you Start Character Creation Walkthrough Thanks DISCLAIMER This was written by me, Shot2Hell. All the stuff in here was done by me, through incredible amounts of time, effort, and throwing things at my computer. If you rip it off, I'll be very unhappy. I don't mind if you take this FAQ, as long as you keep it untouched. That means don't put your name where mine is, and don't try to sell it or anything, 'cause this is meant to be free to go through. The latest version can be found at GameFAQs (www.gamefaqs.com). Also, this is a fairly adult game with some adult themes and language. This walkthrough will follow suit. Parents, don't yell at me if your kids find wordy-dirties in the FAQ, because the game itself uses much stronger swearing than I do, and it's got some stuff that even the parental controls can't get out. If I had kids, I personally wouldn't let them play unless I trusted them with PG-13/R subject matter. REVISION HISTORY v.1 First version. BEFORE YOU START Make sure you get the v1.02D patch from the official Fallout 2 Site, located somewhere on Interplay.com. The link should be fairly obvious. Without the patch, the car will give you more headaches then the ones in real life. If you play for a while, then patch the game, then all your saves will be invalidated. Since I don't want you to have an ulcer or anything, I'd advise to patch first. CHARACTER CREATION First of all, make sure you make a character that fits your play style. If you're gonna go around crushing people with tables, don't give yourself a 4 in Strength. Also, for those of you who want to go through the game slappin' down everything in sight with no challenge, you can use a hex editor to start with 10s in every attribute, or you can be even more blatant and get the character editor. It's somewhere on GeoCities, and I know that the official Fallout 2 Site has a link to it somewhere. Next, traits: Gifted is generally good all around, because the 5 skill points you end up not getting are easily offset by the extra 7 attribute points you end up with. Pump some of those into Intelligence, and you've nullified the downside to this trait. I don't usually have another, but I'd pick Chem Resistant or Bloody Mess. Bloody Mess is just plain fun, but Chem Resistant means you won't get addicted as easily to chems. I use this because you CAN get addicted to RadAway. I wouldn't use the other traits, because most of their downsides are way too hard on you. Skilled hurts when you can't get a perk as quickly, and fast shot is terrible later in the game, unless you plan on running around using burst fire on all your enemies. Small frame is a wonderful trait, but not until you get NPCs and a car to be your mules. For attributes, make it balanced. The general opinion is that diplosnipers are the best characters in the game. High agility and intelligence, however, are important for any character. If you want to speak well, take charisma, for thieves, luck, for brawlers, strength, and for snipers, perception. If you want to combine types, split the bonus, i.e. 6 in strength AND perception, as opposed to 7 in one and 5 in the other if you want both a sharpshooter and a brawler. For tag skills, once again, follow it to your character. Brawlers pick up Melee and Unarmed, sharpshooters pick up Small Guns, Thieves take Steal, Sneak, and Lockpick, Diplomats take Speech. A note: money is pretty hard to come by out here, so if you expect to be doing a lot of buying, either get combat-intensive and loot corpses in the desert, learn to gamble well, or steal. Gambling works best, but wastes precious skill points to become extremely effective. Also, never pick energy weapons. By the time you get a few, you'll be able to get the "tag" perk, which lets you pick a 4th tag skill, and I usually choose energy weapons. WALKTHROUGH ARROYO Temple of Trials-not too hard to get through. The stuff around here consists mainly of scorpions and ants, none of which are too hard. Just remember to take them on one at a time. If you see a raised plate, they're trapped. Use your traps skill on them for 25 xp per trap, or trigger 'em, hope they miss, and pick up the shafts to sell for a few caps. When you get to the stuck door, look to the vase near it. It'll have explosives, which you use on the door. At the end, you'll see Cameron. Whether you fight him or talk him out of it, you'll get the Vault 13 Suit from the first game and a few XP for beating the Temple, but none for beating Cameron. Oh well. Arroyo Village-A few things you can get done here before you face the outside world. The well needs to be repaired for a few XP. The village Medicine Man needs somebody to weed his garden of the spore plants (which can occasionally be tough), also for some XP and a few Healing Powders. The Village Elder will give you $152 and directions to Klamath, which isn't that much, but it's better than nothing. In the lower-left corner of the village, you can get another $100 from your Aunt's tent, in a vase. A few guys around the village can improve your Melee Combat and Unarmed skills, but only if they're really low. Somebody else up near the farms has lost his dog, and you have to go to the hunting grounds to find it. Hunting Grounds-Not a problem, here, just make sure not to step through the green sludge. The dog is located in the upper-left area. Also, if you look around on the ground, there are 2-3 Broc Flowers, and 2-3 Xander Roots, which the Medicine Man can make into Healing Powders. Get the dog, Smoke, and head back to the village. Arroyo Village-Just give the guy his dog back for a few more XP. By now, you should've leveled up. Leave the village, going south, to get to the Bridge. Bridge-Talk to the bridge guard. If your PER is high enough, you will notice that his spear is better than yours. Talk to him about it, and he'll tell you to get a piece of flint and he'll work your spear over for you. Go back to Arroyo. Arroyo Village-Talk to your aunt. If you have a good speech skill, you can convince her to hand the flint over for free. If you're a good thief, steal from her. Otherwise, you'll have to give her a few healing powders (3 or 4, I think). Go back to the bridge guard. Bridge-The guard will sharpen your spear. If you are any good with Melee Combat, then this'll be extremely useful, as a sharpened spear does more damage than a sledgehammer. Now, with all the stuff at Arroyo done, head to Klamath. KLAMATH Downtown-The kids here are annoying, but not as bad as in the den. Don't bother talking to the village greeter, it's a waste of money. If you think you can kill a dozen radscorpions without resting, talk to the guy who looks like one of the Arroyo villagers. He needs help guarding his cattle. Kill all the radscorpions, and get some XP, as well as a slight Karma increase. Whiskey Bob needs somebody to refuel his distiller, and that means you'll have to get through the trapper grounds. Trapping Grounds-Unless you think that you're 100% Badass, run like hell through here. The shed is in the lower left, but the Golden Geckos in the area will tear you apart. Get inside the shed, grab some of the wood on the floor, and use it on the distiller to get it working. Also, there are 2 or 3 bottles of beer on the ground, you should get 'em, you'll need them later. Now, unless you want to test your skills against some pretty tough creatures, just run back to Klamath. Downtown-Talk to Whiskey Bob for a couple more bucks ($100-150). You can go to the other locales, but there's nothing really special. One guy wants the location of Whiskey Bob's shed, but I didn't care to divulge such info. I'm sure there's some XP in it, though. Go to Vic's house and loot it for a Pipe Gun and some ammo, and, more importantly, Vic's Radio. You'll need this soon. If you think you're good, head to the left into the canyon. Canyon-There's a screwed up robot here. You can kill it for XP, but it can probably outrun you. There's also a crashed Vertibird (Helicopter), with a few corpses around it. Search them for. a yellow keycard. Ooh. Hold me down. Head back downtown, then go to Trapper Town. Trapper Town-talk to one of the guys in the building to get the Trapper Town key. Alternatively, you can get it from the dog downtown by feeding it some jerky, or you can just lockpick the door. Head through the mall, killing rats as you move. Don't forget to stop by the abandoned gun shop and pick up the work boots. When you get to the ladder, go down. Klamath Sewers-Go around killing rats. Not much to get here, but there's a ladder down. Go down that way. You'll end up in the lair of the Rat God. Kinda tough, with around 60 HP, but I've killed it with only 8 damage once. I think I got it with an "Instant Death" critical (which is a lifesaver sometimes). When you finish it off, search the area for equipment. There should be 2 ladders up-the one you came in by, and another one. Keep following this path. When you get to the locked door, you can pick it, or if you jam the lock, use the dynamite on the shelf next to it. You'll come up near a wrecked Highwayman. Search it to get a fuel injection system, which will help later. Also, make sure to get the beer in the area. Now, head back through the sewers and trapper town to downtown Klamath. Downtown-In the room with Whiskey Bob lies the main quest of Klamath. The people like you right now, but if you finish this quest, you'll be idolized. Talk to Mrs. Buckner and she'll tell you about Smiley's disappearance, and the location of the Gecko caves. If you have the money and inclination, you can pay off Sulik's debt and take him along. Trust me, the Gecko caves are one tough place at this point in the game alone. When you're ready, leave Klamath and head for the Gecko caves. Gecko Caves-Try to take on the Geckos one at a time. You only need the boots in your inventory to avoid taking damage from the sludge. Also, make sure to raid the room next to your start point for some more boots, in case the first pair dissolves. The caves are fairly straightforward, so long as you don't get killed by a Gecko blitz. Get to Smiley at the end, and take him back out of the caves. If you can, you can try to fix the generator-it'll help later, when you have an electronic lockpick. With Smiley in tow, head back to Klamath. Downtown-Talk to Mrs. Buckner and you'll get thanked for saving Smiley. If you haven't paid for Sulik, she'll cancel the debt and you get him for free. Talk to the daughter in the room and she'll officially release him. Then you can talk to him and get him to join up. Talk to Smiley before you leave for an important perk-Gecko Skinning. With this, you can get gecko hides off of slain Geckos, with fetch a nice price right now. However, they weigh quite a bit, so remember that when you're deciding whether it's more important to carry a Gecko hide or a fresh-stolen shotgun. If you feel like making a few quick skins, head down to the trapping grounds and kill some geckos. When you're done, talk to Smiley until he tells you where the Den is, then leave for the Den. THE DEN West Side-Welcome to the game's first half-challenging town. First, remember that the kids in the area will steal from you when you get near them. My solution is to steal the item right back-they can't do anything if they catch you, anyway. Another thing you can do to alleviate the problem is to shoot the kids, but then you'll lose a lot of Karma and get tagged as a childkiller. If you can't get the item back (like, you left the area and came back), Flick'll sell 'em back off to you at inflated prices. Still, you can kill him for a bit of karma, XP, and some REALLY nice items including a .357 Magnum and a Shotgun. Becky's bar is right next to the sign at the entrance, and you can tap her for a little info and 2 quests, both of which involve mindless searching, and I only have a mediocre amount of luck with. The first is to get some money from Fred. I spotted him with all he asked for, and ended up with a lot of karma, and got paid back for all but $50 of the money. The next is to collect a book from somebody on the east side of town. East Side-Talk to him if you want, but he won't have it. Just look for it on the ground (it's called the Lavender Flower, and if you read it, it's one of those smut novels with a zillion plot twists.). Head back to Becky's and hook her up with it for a few XP. West Side-Talk to Lara to find more jobs. First, she wants you to scout the chapel for her. Head back to the East Side. East Side-Not too hard if you can talk. BS the guard for 500 XP by saying Metzger sent you. Use the "search" (hand) option on a crate for 500 more XP. Head back west. West Side-Talk to Lara to get some cash. She'll ask you to ask Metzger if he minds if she goes after Tyler's gang. Head to the East Side. East Side-Head to the slaver's guild. You can join 'em, but I play honest, decent characters, so I didn't. Talk to Metzger and get permission, then head back to Lara on the west side. West Side-Lara wants you to do a bit more work for her-find a weakness in Tyler's gang. Quickly! To the Batmobile! East Side-Talk to Tyler outside of the church. Be casual, and he'll tell you that the gang's getting drunk that night. What a coincidence. at any rate, return to Lara. West Side-Lara won't pay you (she's got to make sure it's not a trick), so be prepared to help her fight the gang if you want the money. East Side-Lara's gang will run in and start the fight. In my game, though, resistance was stiff, and Lara started losing guys inside the church, so I had to step in and lay the smack down on Tyler's boys. She'll pay you double for your services, and you finish another string of quests. Head to the West Side. West Side-Head to the great Ananias's place, and look in the back room. If it's around midnight, you'll see a ghost. Talk to her, listen to her story, and head to the East Side. East Side-Talk to Mom about the haunted house, and listen what she has to say. While your there, you can pick up a quest to feed Smitty something, get 200XP for hearing Stacy's story (it costs you a few bucks to get her a drink), and talk to Karl in the back. Ask him his story first, and make sure not to give him money. That'll help you later. Now, with all that done, head back west. West Side-Talk to Joey (he's right next to the East/West Grid). If you have a good speech skill, say Anna's gonna bust him up and he'll give up the locket. Give it to Anna, and she'll die. Make sure to get her bones, and a shovel from the nearby bookcase. Also, go as far to the left as you can to find Smitty's. Ask him about the regulator you got in Klamath and he'll tell you how to get the infamous Fallout 2 Car. Make sure to give him dinner, too, and he'll get you a stimpack. You can get a set of pliers from his locker, if you haven't gotten some already. With the bones and shovel, head back east. East Side-Head to the graveyard and look at the tombstones. On the ones that reads "Anna Winslow", use the shovel on the grave, put the bones in (Steal Skill), and cover 'em back up to finish the Anna quest. You can dig up the other graves, but you'll get the graverobber Karma pick and lose some Karma. Now for the official quest. Go to the slaver's guild station and talk to the guard at the door. If you're half-decent at repairing things or speaking, you can get in a word with Vic. Give him the radio, and he'll fix the slaver's radio. Metzger, though, will demand $1000 to let him go. There are a few ways to do this: Raise the money, if you're a female character you can whore yourself out to Metzger and he'll drop the price to $500, if you think you're a bad @$$, blow the whole slaver's hideout to hell (not recommended unless you're really good), or join the guild (but it'll hurt you for the rest of the game). Your pick. Once you've got Vic, pump him for info and you'll get the location of Vault City (which is WAY out there across the map). Head out of town. MODOC Main Street-On your way to Vault City, you'll stumble across an unknown spot. It'll be a small farming community. DON'T DO THE FOLLOWING UNLESS YOU'VE ALREADY GOTTEN KARL TO TELL YOU HIS STORY IN THE DEN!!! Talk to Jo to get a quest to investigate the Ghost Farm. Before you leave, visit the Tanner and get Balthas to send you on a quest to find his kid. Talk to him again to get Laddie the wonder-mutt. Get a rope, and go to the well. Well-Not very tough. Search around for a few change bags on the ground (love the reference), and you can also get Johnny's BB gun. It's kind of useless, but keep the ammo. If you can get the Red Ryder BB Gun (a true classic!), then this'll give you enough ammo to destroy anything (the Red Ryder does 45 damage). Head back out. Main Street-If you want to be an ass, talk to Balthas and tell him Johnny died. He won't talk to you for a while, and will consider the search over. The quest isn't over, though (notice how Laddie stays with you). Head for the Ghost Farm. Ghost Farm-Look at the impaled bodies. Notice how they're fakes. Head up to the farmhouse (if you see any guards on the way, go with them quietly), and stand on the middle carpet. You'll take some damage on the way down, and the guards will take you in. Go peacefully. Talk to the leader of the Slags and agree to take his message to the people of Modoc. Before you leave, go to the upper-left and you'll see a crowd of kids. Laddie will run up to one of the kids on the left. Talk to him, and you'll find that he's Little Johnny. Tell him his dad is Balthas, and he'll ask you to take him home. Don't do it yet, just leave through the door and ladder behind Vegeir. Leave the farm. Main Street-Talking to Jo reveals that he doesn't trust the slags. Shoot down his points one by one (tell him the bodies are fake, and that Karl is getting shitfaced in the Den), and he'll agree to talk with the Slags. Go back to the Ghost Farm. Ghost Farm-Talk to Vegeir and ask about getting Johnny home. He'll get you an escort back. Main Street-Balthas will be overjoyed to see his kid again. He'll give you a combat leather jacket (excellent armor until you get the Leather Armor Mk2), and Modoc will give you discounts wherever you look. Talk to the crazy old farmer with a shotgun, and on your way out, he'll ask you to protect his cattle. It isn't very tough, but you've gotta kill some FAST puppies, so be prepared. When you get back, he'll give you some cash ($1000, I think), and that'll be done. If you've got a decent Doctor skill, you can fix Bessie's broken leg, and she'll tag along for a while. You can get her butchered at the slaughterhouse, but I don't believe in helping a brahmin up just to decapitate the damn thing. You can also seduce the farmer's kids, but if he catches you with 'em and you don't have a REAL good excuse, it's shotgun wedding time. Seduce the daughter with the female for some hilarious wedding dialogue. You can also talk to another guy in town, who'll ask you to find Cornelius's gold watch. Save that for later, and help him tend his garden (shoot out all the resident rats). Then, get some explosives- you can buy some from Sheriff Jo. Go to the outhouse behind Rose's Bed and Breakfast, and go down the chute. Use the explosives near the rockpile-give it as much time as you can, and HAUL SOME ASS out of the place. Chances are you'll take 20-70 points of damage, so you might wanna rest after that. Go back down into the sewer area, shoot down the Mole Rat, and get the watch (it looks like a book). Give it to the guy, and you'll get some nice Karma for it. You can also talk to Rose to get "the biggest damn omelet you've ever seen". MORE COMING SOON THANKS -Thanks to Interplay for making such a fun game, even if it's a royal pain unpatched. -Thanks to Wet Planet Beverages for distributing Jolt Cola, which allowed me to destroy the Slaver's guild at Level 4 in only 6 hours worth of tries.