Why exactly are so many people saying Fallout 2 is the best in the series ? I can't see it tbh, third place maybe
Well, when you compare it to Fallout 1 it is pretty much better in every way, with the exception of a more silly tone and writing(both of which were mandated by Interplay in order to make the game more appealing to the casual and mainstream audience. Some things never change!).
Fallout 2 improves on many features of Fallout 1 while keeping the base gameplay itself the same, it also adds a ton more content and overall makes for a better RPG, a much meatier one too. There is another aspect to it, however: It is a journey. All Fallout games are, but Fallout 2 does it the best: You start out in a crappy dungeon, you live in a crappy village, and then you wonder into a shitty backwards town, but compared to what you had before, tutorial town feels like a much needed breath of civilization. You get your first clue as to where to go next, you find out that your crappy village is indeed crappy and that your kind(tribals) aren't really looked upon with respect, you do your first quests, get your first gun and get your first companion. The game expands from there, and at a certain point, you have many, many towns to visit without the game pointing a stupid quest arrow telling you where to go. You eventually make it there on your own, by exploring and doing your own investigative work. On the way there you meet many more NPCs, do many more quests, get involved with the local politics, recruit more companions and of course, get better gear. It is a very addictive loop and it feels less like a grind and more like an actual proper adventure. I would go as far to say that Fallout 2 is the franchise's own Odyssey, no other game comes close to this scale. The game kinda peters out in the final act, Enclave aren't really that engaging as far as villains go, especially when compared to Unity, and the final dungeon is a bit lacking in options compared to the Cathedral(you can't even talk the final boss to death), but it's overall servicable. Plus, you can't really go wrong with hijacking a giant tanker and then blowing up an Enclave base with them non the wiser(or going in guns blazing if you're suicidal). Frank Horrigan, despite needing violence to take out, is also a pretty badass villain, I guess not every boss needs to be The Master and the game does go out on a high note, but it goes to show you just how strong Fallout 2 is when even it's weakest parts are merely mediocre.
Honestly, you just need to play it yourself. The original is very buggy and has lots of cut content, but we've come a long way, Restoration Patch is pretty much mandatory and makes the game even better. I haven't even talked about things you can do on the side that no other game lets you do, like getting married(then either getting divorced, enslaving your significant other or whoring them out for money and equipment), you can become an enforcer for a crime family of your choosing in New Reno, you can cure the Jet addiction(the New California variant is much stronger and pretty much 100% addictive compared to the diluted homebrewed variants in Vegas and East Coast), you can become a porn star, you can repair your own car and use it to travel faster on the map(with unique encounters in some places when you bring it there), you can become a scientologist and ruin an entire town for a few measly dollars, you can become a slaver and actually go on slaving runs against clueless tribals(you get a big head tattoo when you join, so every single NPC in the game knows who you are and some won't even talk to you anymore for the rest of the game), you can actually help out the NCR rangers before they become relevant in New Vegas, you can finish the job that Vault Dweller started and kill off the last remaining Khan, you can join a cult made by an intelligent talking mole rat that wants to rule the world(and it actually influences a few quests in quite a big way, this isn't a stupid one time joke), you can construct your very own robobrain called "Skynet"(and if you lack science, you can strap one of your own less wanted companions, including your spouse, on an operating table to extract their brain if you lack the required science skill. You can also give it a monkey brain and make it completely useless, or give it a cybernetic brain inversely and get the best sniper in the game, the game becomes a cakewalk once you give it a gauss rifle), and of course there is nothing stopping you from being an evil bastard that kills kids and screws over everyone, the game won't stop you even if it will make your life miserable. This is the kind of game you owe yourself to try out one of these days, the claims of it being one of the best CRPGs of all time are not overblown, and people treat it as one of, if not the best, Fallout game of all time for a reason. It's few shortfalls, like the abundance of pop culture references and bugs(many of which are fixed in the RP), can be easily overlooked when the rest of the experience is so good. Just be aware: The game is MERCILESS to the newcomers, there will be instances where you will just get killed by the game for shits and giggles and you have to take it or get gud at it. That's just how games were back then, nothing exclusive to Fallout 2, and you become a real badass by the end anyways. If you know the game well enough, you can even speedrun to the best power armor in the game and have a nice, easy playthru from there.
