Nightsolo's Fallout 2 Hints and Tips

Tips

• Saving:
  • Save often.
  • Save in rotating slots. This makes it easier to undo something you screwed up.
  • Save more often than you think you should have to, including before every conversation.
  • Did I mention you should save often?
  • I should probably mention something about saving.
• Items and Loot:
  • If you want to Barter with someone, do it through dialog rather than the button. There's a bug that makes everything more expensive if you use the button.
  • Loot everything that's lootable.
  • Save your Stimpacks for later in the game. Rest and use First Aid and Doctor as much as possible.
  • Merchants restock every 1 or 2 days. So if you revisit, not only will they have new stuff and more cash, but the stuff you sold them previously might be gone. Sell wisely.
• Party Members:
  • Your Party Members do have a weight limit. Be careful what you give them.
  • Keep your Party Members well supplied with Stimpacks. The more they have, the more often they'll use them, and the longer they'll live.
• Gameplay:
  • There is no time limit, so take your time to do all the side quests in between. Hakunin's interruptoins are worrisome, but you may safely ignore them.
  • Don't worry about making the wrong choices or missing out on a quest or two here and there. You can always play the game again later and make different choices.
  • If your Barter Skill is high enough, sell a Stimpack to a shopkeeper for $100, then buy it back for $80. Repeat until you're rich.
  • Use drugs to get Perks you wouldn't normally qualify for. When you level and you get the "Choose Perk screen," don't. Instead exit back to the main screen, use some drugs to raise the Stat you need, then go back to the character screen and choose your Perk.
  • If your Gambling Skill is high, spend a lot of time in casinos. It's the easiest way to get money. Also with high Gambling, be selective on what you loot: only take Stimpacks, money and what you need. The same goes for a high Barter Skill.
  • There is a bug that corrupts your save games when you have too many items in your inventory (includes the car trunk and your Party Members). The solution is to not hoard any unnecessary items. It's also rumored to occur if you have too many entries in your PipBoy. If you really want to read those holodisks, consider saving, downloading, reading, then reloading. The Restoration Protect v2.3.3 and later apparently fixes this.
• Combat:
  • When you have a choice in ammunition, choose JHP. AP is just weak. FMJ is middle-of-the-road.
  • Plasma is better than Laser. The Alien Blaster uses a different technology and is better than anything.
  • Be careful with who you hit in combat. Shooting the wrong character could lead to the good guys fighting you, and you killing someone essential to a quest. This goes along with not giving your Party Members burst-capable weapons.
  • Aimed shots do more criticals. The eyes are the best spot to hit, though hitting a male in the groin will knock him down.
  • Don't waste precious ammo on small critters like Rats. Use a melee or unarmed weapon.
  • Specialize in and carry two types of weapons, and use them when the situation warrants. For example, lasers are great against leather, but not against metal.
  • If you access your inventory in combat, reload your weapon while you're there. It'll save Action Points for killing stuff.
  • Reload your weapon after every fight. It's very embarrassing to start a fight with an empty weapon.

The Magic 8 Ball

Even though these are listed here, you still have to get the clue from the Magic 8 Ball to actually find some of this stuff.

• "Pay attention to what Curtis says after you return Mr. Nixon to him in Vault City." Curtis gives you a clue on where to find a Wrench.
• "You need a high STR and a high END to have a chance of beating Francis in the arm-wrestling contest" in Broken Hills.
• "There is an Easter Egg somewhere in New Reno." It's supposedly in the basement of New Reno Arms, though I've never found it.
• "Somebody buried some cash beneath the cross labeled 'Trash' in Golgotha." You can loot the cross labeled "Trash" in Golgotha.
• "Look in the first floor men's bathroom toilet in the Mordino casino in New Reno." You'll find some Grenades.
• "With the feuding couple in Broken Hills, the wife really did throw the Cat's Paw in the trash."
• "If you sell Bessie to the butchers in Modoc, you can set her free again." She'll be in the Brahmin pen.
• "Go back and talk to Father Tully in New Reno after you have finished the game." He'll give you the Hintbook.
• "The code to activate the first terminal in the Vault in Vault City is 3PCF186."

Taking the Virtibird to The Enclave

1. How much sense does that make?
2. You'd end up skipping San Francisco, which is a fun place.
3. Both the original developers and the makers of the Restoration Project don't want you to.
4. I'm sure there are other reasons why not.

References

• Brahman = highest Indian Caste in reality, Brahmin = 2 headed cow in game. Is this a developer's joke, or just coincidence?
• After you get Dogmeat in a Special Encounter, if you attack the dog, an NPC named Mel will show up and attack you. This would be Mel Gibson, who played the titular character in the Mad Max movies, and who had a dog.
• Jenny in the Klamath Bathouse refers to The Den as "...a hive of scum and villainy...", which is what Obi-Wan Kenobi says to Luke Skywalker in reference to Mos Eisley in the movie "Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope."
• The Mr. Handy Robot in Klamath Canyon says "Nicto barado Nicto" which is what Gort says in the movie "The Day the Earth Stood Still." He also says "I can't let you do that, Dave", and "Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer do," which are what HAL says in the movie "2001: A Space Odyssey". "Danger Bill Williamson" is a reference to both the TV serieses and movie "Lost in Space". "Number five is alive" is from the movie "Short Circuit".
• The name Slim Picket (of Trapper Town in Klamath)is a play on the name of the actor Slim Pickens, who is notable for his role in the doomsday movie "Doctor Strangelove."
• In The Den, when your character asks Ananias to see the mummy, you say "Show me the mummy." This is a reference to the movie "Joey McGuire," when Tom Cruise's character says "Show me the money" to Cuba Gooding Jr.'s character.
• In the Den, a headstone reads "Casey Donahue Died 8/6/98 Killed by Mutated Ill-Tempered Sea Bass" references a dead guard from the movie "Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery.".
• In the Den, the amount of rat in Mom's cooking is a reference to the amount of spam in the infamous "Monty Python's Flying Circus" skit.
• The leader of the Slags at the Ghost Farm is named Vegeir. A variant of "Vyger" from "Star Trek: The Motion Picture," which is the antagonist in that movie.
• Councilman McClure's name in Vault City could come from Troy McClure, the character on the TV show "The Simpsons," who's a washed-up actor that does all those informational films.
• The ghouls in The Harp Bar in Gecko make some movie references. The most common being from the James Bond films.
• Dr. Troy in the Vault City Vault: Level 1, will mumble that he could have taken Dr. Drew's job on the radio show "Loveline."
• In the northeast corner of Level 1 of the Vault City vault is a very expensive machine that not only goes "PING" (from "A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"), but also references the movies "War Games" and "2001: A Space Odyssey," and the TV show "Lost in Space."
• The only guy on Vault: Level 3 in Vault City sings "Maybe," the song song used in Fallout 1's opening cinematic and end credits.
• Steve in Broken Hills says "Would you like to hear more?" which is reminiscent of the newscaster in the movie "Starship Troopers" who says "Would you like to know more?"
• Many of your possible choices of porn star names in New Reno are based on either real-life people or real-life fiction. For example, "Alota Fagina" is the name of a character in an "Austin Powers" movie. Same thing when you choose a boxing name: "Iron Maiden" is a real-life heavy-metal band.
• Stewart Little, the fight organizer in the Jungle Gym in New Reno, is the name of an adventurous mouse in real-life fiction.
• In the Raiders' Barracks, the three dog tags you need to combine for the code to the safe are Tuco's, Blondie's, and Angel-Eyes's. Those are the names of the three titular characters in the movie, "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly."
• On Level 2 of the Sierra Army Depot, the computer south of the elevator mentions Skynet, which is the enemy computer system in the "Terminator" movies and TV show.
• A computer on Level 2 of the Sierra Army Depot has an email from Klinger, referencing the TV show "M.A.S.H.."
• There's a holodisk written by Dr. H. Lector in the Sierra Army Depot. Dr. Hannibal Lecter is the evil guy played by Anthony Hopkins in the movie "Silence of the Lambs."
• When you return Roger Westin's disk to First Citizen Lynette in Vault City, you get a dialogue option referencing the Kevin Costner movie "The Postman."
• On Level 1 of the Military Base is a dead soldier who's Holodisk references one Captain Pickard, of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" fame.
• In the entrance of the Military Base is a report by one Colonel Sanders, the KFC Chicken mascot.
• Frank Horrigan is the name of Clint Eastwood's character in the movie "In the Line of Fire." Both were secret service members.
• The Cheezy Poofs item is from the TV show "South Park."
• The Tragic Cards item and game is the real-life trading card game "Magic: The Gatehring."
• The talking plant in Doctor Wong's quest is from the musical "Little Shop of Horrors."
• Sajag the bartender in Klamath will mention "rodents of unusual size," which is also mentioned in the movie (or maybe just the novel) "The Princess Bride."
• In the town of Gecko you can find a ghoul named Gordon of Gecko. Gordon Gecko is a character played by Michael Douglas in the movie "Wall Street." The ghou's speech is nearly word for word the same as the speech in the movie.
• The character Manson in the jail in Broken Hills may be a reference to the serial killer Charles Manson.
• Broken Hills: Doc Holiday was a compatriot of Wyatt Earp, the old-west lawman.
• Micky in Broken Hills, after he gets stuck will start spouting some red floating text, one of which mentions morlocks, which are from the novel "The Time Machine" by H.G. Wells.
• In the Sierra Army Depot, you can find an Experiment Holodisk. The entries are a reference to the movie "Silence of the Lambs."

last modified 28 February 2026