Ok duders. Let's collectively decide via the method of a ranked list of fallout games, from most enjoyed through to least enjoyed...

If you haven't played a game, don't include it in your ranking.

So here's all the Fallout games in chronological order.

• Fallout (1997)
• Fallout 2 (1998)
• Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel (2001)
• Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel (2004)
• Fallout 3 (2008)
• Fallout: New Vegas (2010)
• Fallout Shelter (2015)
• Fallout 4 (2015)

Here's *my* ranked list (in order of best to worst). First place gets 8 points (as there's eight games total), then one less point for each subsequent place.

1. Fallout: New Vegas (2010) - 8 points
2. Fallout 2 (1998) - 7 points
3. Fallout 4 (2015) - 6 points
4. Fallout 3 (2008) - 5 points
5. Fallout (1997) - 4 points
6. Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel (2001) - 3 points
7. Fallout Shelter (2015) - 2 points

and I haven't played 'Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel (2004)' so I'll leave it off my list.

---------------

Results (last updated 01/Feb/2016)

Most people haven't played every single fallout game. The following table shows the %age of people in this thread who played each game. Taking into account those that played each title only,it also shows the proportion that ranked each title as first or second, or third place in their ranking.

Sure, why not?

1. Fallout
2. Fallout 2
3. Fallout New Vegas
4. Fallout 3
5. Fallout 4

Each subsequent game has been less of a revelatory experience for me, with the exception of New Vegas. That game was what I expected from Fallout 3, which I did not enjoy nearly as much as I wanted myself to enjoy it. Man, did I want to love Fallout 3. Just didn't happen.

Plus the original Fallout came with my favorite Windows 95 screensaver. It still would have been my number 1 without it, but that's just icing on the cake.

1. Fallout: New Vegas (2010)
2. Fallout (1997)
3. Fallout 3 (2008)
4. Fallout 2 (1998)
5. Fallout 4 (2015)
6. Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel (2001)

Didn't play Brotherhood of Steel, so I'll leave it off.

In terms of most enjoyed?

1.Fallout 3

2.Fallout 4

3.Fallout New Vegas

4.Fallout 2

Note: Except Brotherhood of Steel I think none are the game So I am raking the from best to least best

1. Fallout New Vegas

2. Fallout

3. Fallout 2

4. Fallout 4

5. Fallout 3

6. Fallout Tactics

7. Fallout Brotherhood of Steel

1. Fallout 2 (probably my most favorite game of all time, definitely in the top 3 at least)
2. Fallout: Tactics (despite not being a full on rpg was a kick ass tactics game)
3. Fallout 1
4. Fallout: NV
5. Fallout 3
6. Fallout 4

Obviously haven't played the trash that was F:BoS

Just going with the numbered games +NV

So

1-New Vegas

2-Fallout 2

3-FallOut 4

4-FallOut 3

5-FallOut

I like taking my time and exploring the whole map, seeing every last bit of plot and character along the way, I don't typically do another play through of most games, so want to see everything I can on the first pass. So..

While I recognize the blasphemy/sacrilege of putting the original all the way at the bottom, the time limit (both of them) always made me shy away from that game in favor of its successor, since I only started playing the series after 2 had already been released. 1 was just the 'uh, the sequel is better' in my head.

2 > 1 > NV > 3 > 4

Haven't played Fallout 4 but what I've seen so far is not encouraging.

1-New Vegas

2-Fallout 2

3-Fallout

4-Fallout 3

I really hope that Fallout 5 comes from Obsidian.

It's:

1. Fallout 2 - because it's bigger and better than the original despite a slow start and having a dirty tribal heritage forced on you
2. Fallout 1 - because it's the OG classic

and then they stopped making them.

I haven't played NV, 4, Brotherhood of Steel, or Fallout Shelter. I hope to play NV and 4 sometime in the future.

1. Fallout 1 (Fallout in its purest form. Fallout 1 was one of those games that I really got into; I would count this among some of my favourite games).
2. Fallout 2 (similar to the first, but this time overflowing with referential humour).
3. Fallout 3 (a perfect example of a quantity over quality game. The game is a mess, but still somehow pretty enjoyable).
4. Fallout Tactics (an indecisive intersection of turn-based tactics and RPG; I really wish it wasn't trying to do two things at once, because this game felt like a real muddle).

1. Fallout
2. Fallout: New Vegas
3. Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel
4. Fallout 2
5. Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel
6. Fallout 4
7. Fallout 3
8. Fallout Shelter

So, a few things: The first Fallout is a great game. It's an insular, tight experience with a charming world and a terrific ratio between having that own milieu, sprinkling references, and giving you a clear, engaging storyline to play through. The game systems are as solid as they'd ever get in this series (maybe Tactics not included). New Vegas ups the ante with a story that embodies the atmosphere and ideological core of the world built in the first Fallout while also giving you so many ways of doing things that you can't help but be enthralled by the amount of choice around every corner. The gameplay is what it is, but at least the shooting kind of works as is unlike in say 3. Fallout Tactics is the often ignored game because of it's singular focus on combat, but I appreciate it A) as a narrow, well-written, though admittably scarce, story experience B) a bevvy of well designed combat scenarios that push the gameplay system of the first three games to it's utmost limit. It isn't what the first two games are, but I'd almost put it up there with games like Jagged Alliance 2 in terms of being an enjoyable tactical combat RPG of the early-00s. Then we get Fallout 2. Everyone loves Fallout 2. I don't, because I find the way the world is made into this constant pop culture reference extremely grating. What is gained in increasing scope from the first game is absolutely lost in the quality of the writing. It was a rushed game at the time, and even though the unofficial patches have done wonders to repair my originally awful experience playing it (due to the insane amounts of bugs), they haven't been able to make it into something that feels charming or original. It feels like a game that aspires to be on the level of the pop culture things it references as well as the first game, not quite succeeding in either.

Then we have the last four, none of which I care about too much. Brotherhood of Steel is a really boring SP-game, but as a co-op Dark Alliance -clone it's among the better of the time, and there were very few of them. With more weapon/skill variety it could have been great. Fallout 4 and 3 kind of fall in the same pit for me, but at least 4 has the best milieu Bethesda has ever managed to craft, with the very prominent themes of transhumanism (is that the word?) and a grand emphasis on rebuilding things. Fallout 3 has the most stupid plot conclusion of the series coupled with a broken-ass gameplay system that doesn't work at all as a shooter, ergo it forces you to use the VATS, but fun fact, that system is broken too. By making you go away from the battle to recharge your APs (because you have control during the times you aren't in VATS, meaning you hide behind something so you don't die immediately) you are basically forced to play this game like it was a dumb hybrid of Fallout and Gears of War, where every other second you hide behind a wall and pant for a bit so you don't die. It's an annoying, busted half-step between the original system from Fallout to Fallout Tactics and the modern shooter genre. Thankfully they fixed the shooting to actually kind of work in the later games, but man, Fallout 3 is just a real poor experience to play, despite the very few good things scattered in the wasteland. Fallout Shelter, well, it's an idle tapping game. It's a good one of those. It is a genre I have basically no respect for. I did play like an hour of it. That's too much.

1. Fallout 2
2. Fallout 3
3. Fallout 1
4. Fallout New Vegas
5. Fallout 4
6. Fallout Shelter

Okay, here we go.

1. Fallout 2
2. Fallout
3. Fallout: New Vegas
4. Fallout: Tactics
5. Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel
6. Fallout 4
7. Fallout 3

Never played Fallout Shelter, but it's not really a Fallout game anyway.

Overall I just think that the old isometric games are just a better fit for these kinds of game.

Fallout New Vegas - It took all the elements I enjoyed from the first two and packaged them in a 3d environment. I really enjoyed the factions and felt that each one (outside of Caesar's Legion) had a right to be on the top.

Fallout 2 - It was goofy and full of jokes that were of the time. (Hey, a box of Cheesy Poofs!). However, it still had the world of Fallout, the roleplaying of Fallout, and didn't have the timer! It starts slow, but once you get going, it really opens up.

Fallout 1 - It's the OG. I was a teen when this came out, and the setting was so strange and so incredible to me at the time. I just really hated the timer.

Fallout Tactics - If Fallout Tactics isn't considered an RPG, then I guess Fallout 4's not an RPG either. You ran around from location to location picking up better weapon and armor. When you had a conversation with an NPC, it was always very linear. But you got an APC. You could load that APC up with guys wielding mini guns and snipers ordered to shoot people's legs.

Fallout 3 - It was interesting to see Washington decimated. While the original ending was the worst possible thing ever "Hey, guy immune to radiation, press that button in that radioactive room for me?" "No. It is your destiny to do it." "But, I'll die?" "No." There were some cool or interesting places/groups. Tenpenny Tower. Little Lamplight. The slavers with the explosive collars. The vampires. Reily's Rangers.

Fallout 4 - The first time I played through the first three hours, I thought it was pretty bad ass. You felt overpowered in that power armor, and jumping off that roof and landing with that thud was really satisfying. Then, I recreated my character cause he looked odd and hated the first few hours. This was Mass Effect: Fallout, but at least in Mass Effect, I'd get glowing scars and a sense that at least small changes were being made to the story because of my actions. The factions in Fallout 4 feel disjointed - there's no play between them and my character. It feels like the camera should pull away and I should go from Minuteman Mark to Paladin Sally. Instead, every character I make will be General Paladin Minuteman Mary, Guardian of the Railroad and Leader of the Institute PHD, MCSE, CCIE, Esquire. If Fallout 3 was an ocean with the depth of a wading pool, Fallout 4 is a water reserve in California.

I want to let Fallout 4 gestate a little bit before determining where it would fall on the list. I think it'd rank 5th. Tactics is hard to rate against the rest of the series as it's kind of a different game. Fallout 2 is legit one of my favorite games ever made. I've played through that game a whole bunch of times, and may start up another playthrough sometime this year. I rank Fallout and Fallout 3 pretty close to one another, but I gave Fallout the nod for being the original.

1. Fallout 2
2. Fallout New Vegas
3. Fallout
4. Fallout 3
5. Fallout Tactics
6. Fallout Shelter

Of the Fallouts I have played:

1. Fallout 2.

2. Fallout 1

3. Fallout 3

4. Fallout Brotherhood of Steel.

I have Tactics but never played it.

1. Fallout (The Master is too good of a villain. It's a nice tight experience, although game play wise I prefer 2)
2. Fallout New Vegas (Narratively ambitious. A few good refinements on the formula of 3. A solid progression of the universe. Good Chars)
3. Fallout 2 (Great gameplay wise, and more varied in scope than 1, but marred by some poor storytelling decisions, and a slightly woolly last third in terms of story and item progression)
4. Fallout 3 (Reasonable attempt at bringing fallout into three dimensions. Some slight whiffs on actually being a fallout game but I enjoyed it at the time)
5. Fallout Tactics (Almost decent tactical RPG with terrible story and world building)
6. Fallout 4 (Bad)
7. Fallout Shelter (Not Brotherhood of Steel)
8. Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel (???)

Fallout 4 (2015) - 8 points

Fallout: New Vegas (2010) - 7 points

Fallout 3 (2008) - 6 points

I'm enjoying Fallout 4 quite a bit, but haven't finished it yet. I may have enjoyed New Vegas even more than Fallout 4, but could never finish that game because of TONS of technical issues that caused my 360 to crash constantly. I played it months after release, too. There's no excuse.

Fallout 3 was knee deep in the "everything must be brown or gray" era of gaming, plus it was the earliest FPS fallout game, so it suffered a lot for those issues.

Never played the PC games before that, unfortunately.

ok so our ranking of fallouts so far looks like this in terms of point ranking

1. Fallout 2 (117)
2. Fallout 1 (106)
3. Fallout New Vegas (103)
4. Fallout 3 (85)
5. Fallout 4 (63)
6. Fallout Tactics (41)
7. Fallout: BoS (16)
8. Fallout Shelter (8)

and like this in terms of proportion of people who have played each title

1. Fallout 1 (89%)
2. Fallout 3 (89%)
3. Fallout 2 (84%)
4. Fallout New Vegas (79%)
5. Fallout 4 (77%)
6. Fallout Tactics (47%)
7. Fallout: BoS (26%)
8. Fallout Shelter (21%)

edit (01 Feb) - go to post # 35 for updated figures

That second list is interesting. I really expected the newer games to be by far the most played. Then again there's probably a selection bias involved.

@extintor: Looks about right!

Ive only played 1,2 and the one that came out on PS2. The PS2 one was alright.

@thomasnash: Yes for sure. I'd imagine that there are plenty of people who have only played F3, F4, and maybe FNV (i.e. not enough to feel qualified to make a list ranking all the fallout games in comparison to one another). So surely the results would be a little skewed towards those that played the earlier titles, remember them fondly, and are comparing the recent ones to them with a different context.

Fallout 2

Fallout

Fallout New Vegas

Fallout 3

Fallout 4

Of the ones I've played it goes:

1. Fallout New Vegas

2. Fallout

3. Fallout 2

4. Fallout 3

• Fallout 2 (1998)
• Fallout (1997)
• Fallout: New Vegas (2010)
• Fallout 3 (2008)
• Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel (2001)
• Fallout 4 (2015)
• Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel (2004)
• Fallout Shelter (2015)

Just in case context is needed. I have played them around the release date. Tactics would be above Fallout 3 if the story was a bit better because the gameplay is really solid. I was like "efff Fallout 4" the moment one of first quests was a fight with Deathclaw while wearing Power Armor and Minigun.

• Fallout Tactics - 8 points
• Fallout: New Vegas - 7 points
• Fallout - 6 points
• Fallout 2 - 5 points
• Fallout 4 - 4 points
• Fallout 3 - 3 points

Haven't played the other two, nor do I intend to.

@danteveli: Yah I never understood Austins point of view on power armor in Fallout 4. If anything I think they completely cheapened the entire experience.

1. Fallout: New Vegas

2. Fallout 2

3. Fallout 3

4. Fallout

5. Fallout 4

6. Fallout Tactics

For context my first Fallout game was 3, so maybe that`s why I remember it more fondly than most. I may also be unfair to Tactics since I only played it for a few hours. It seemed like a decent turn based strategy game, but the story never hooked.

I also enjoyed Fallout 4 more than it seems most people here did. I think the core movement and gunplay was fun (a huge improvement on 3 and NV) and the setup for the world and the factions was good, but the lack of good quests and the stuff they did to the dialogue system really disappointed me.

1. Fallout 1 8p

2. Fallout New Vegas 7p

3. Fallout 4 6p

4. Fallout 2 5p

5. Fallout Tactics 4p

6. Fallout 3 3p

7. Fallout Shelter? 2p

Games I want to disappear, and yet I've completed them and I hate myself for it:

• Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel (2004)

As a person who never really enjoyed a modern fallout game and has never played the first 2 cRPGs, and is enjoying the shit out of FO4, my list is inverted to most.

1. Fallout 4 (PC, with lots of mods)

2. Fallout New Vegas (PC, no mods)

3. Fallout 3 (PS3)

so i though 3 was bad on ps3, maybe better on pc, but there is too much to play and i can't be bothered. I would like to try the cRPGs though, some day.

1) Fallout 2

2) Fallout New Vegas

3) Fallout 3

4) Fallout 1

5) Fallout Tictacs

6) Fallout 4

7) Fallout Shelter

Never played BoS

1. Fallout: New Vegas (8pts)
2. Fallout 4 (7pts)
3. Fallout 3 (6pts)

I haven't played any of the others except Shelter but I don't even want to give it points so I won't list it. 3 was a pretty great experience at the time and if I was ranking them by enjoyment at initial experience I'd swap it and 4 but I just remember how difficult it was to go back to 3 after playing NV so I can't even imagine what it would be like now. Also I love all 3 of those games but in 7 years they have yet to end a game in a way that is more than just mildly satisfactory. Part of me thinks it's inherent to those games but then I was fine with the Skyrim ending.

ok - with the responses of 29 duders (as far down as fisk0) considered, here's the basic ranking of fallouts (8 pts for most enjoyed, 7pts for second most enjoyed etc.)

but of course, most people haven't played every single fallout game. The following table shows the %age of people in this thread who played each game. Taking into account those that played each title only,it also shows the proportion that ranked each title as first or second, or third place in their ranking.

So my take away from this (so far at least... and I will update if there are more submissions...) is that Fallout New Vegas is not only the highest ranked title, it is also the joint second most played title; and among those who have played it, it is the joint most commonly ranked as favorite.

I think it would be fair to say that FNV is the most appreciated fallout of the modern era, and that F2 is the most appreciated of the original era?

Of the people that have played either title, ≥ two thirds consider each to be them to either be their favorite title or runner up title in the franchise.

I haven't played 4, but I read the chronological order without realizing it wasn't an ordered list at first´, and thought "yeah, I agree with that". I'd put New Vegas above Fallout 3, but apart from that I think the series has been a steady decline. Not a steep decline by any means, and Fallout 1, 2 and to some extent Tactics were such amazing games that even after two decades of decline, Fallout at it's worst is a fair bit better than most other games, but none of them have been a real improvement over the previous one, just adding more stuff, most of which is broken while not fixing previous issues and sometimes removing things I enjoyed about the previous ones.

Brotherhood of Steel was a bit of an oddity, at the time of release it didn't really feel like a Fallout game, but then Fallout 3 came out feeling even less like it, and now I have no issues thinking of them all as part of the franchise. I still enjoyed my time with both games.

So, yeah, for an easy to read list:

1. Fallout
2. Fallout 2
3. Fallout Tactics
4. Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel
5. Fallout New Vegas
6. Fallout 3

As I haven't played Fallout 4 yet, I can't really rank it, but what I've seen of it looks like I'd put it above Fallout Shelter but below Fallout 3.

Oh, and like @vierastaloI played Brotherhood of Steel in co-op. I could see that game being way worse in singleplayer, I didn't enjoy playing the original Dark Alliance alone at all, but it was an amazing co-op game.

Edit: I also moved the thread to the Fallout franchise forum, since this isn't specifically about Fallout 4.

@fisk0: Thanks fisk0. The fallout forum is probably the best place for it I agree.

I've added your results to my table (see above).

For me:

1) Fallout 2

2) Fallout

3) Fallout 3

4) Fallout NV

5) Fallout Shelter

6) Fallout Tactics

7) Fallout 4

Fallout 4 really, really didn't do it for me. I kind of hated it. Had I not waited a bunch of years to play New Vegas, I bet it would have been much higher on the list. Fallout Shelter was cute!

1. Fallout 1

2. Fallout 2

3. Fallout Tactics

4. Fallout 3

5. Fallout 4

6. Fallout New Vegas

1)Fallout 2

2)Fallout 1

3)Fallout 3

4)Fallout 4

5)Fallout: New Vegas

6)Fallout: Tactics Brotherhood of steel.

7)Fallout Shelter.

1. Fallout: New Vegas

2. Fallout 3

3. Fallout 4

4. Fallout Shelter

If I'm being completely honest, the closest tie in my list is between Fallout Shelter and Fallout 4...

I played Shelter a fair amount when it came out despite it being pretty shallow and insubstantial at the time, but Fallout 4 just really failed to keep my attention in any meaningful way. I've had it since launch and I still haven't gone back to finish it, and I don't feel particularly compelled to go back and do so. For me, it just lost all of the charm and interesting quests and mission design that was so prevalent in Fallout 3 and especially in New Vegas.

New Vegas may not have made as big an impact as Fallout 3 did, but I thought that the writing, quest design, and environment design were vastly improved, despite the Strip being kind of disappointing. Major knock against Fallout 3 is the sheer number of times that I would find myself lost in a vault, subway system, building, etc. with no idea where the fuck the pathfinding wanted me to go.

The ones I played;

1. Fallout 3

2. Fallout 4

3. Fallout New Vegas

My view is probably skewed by the fact Fallout 3, the first one I played, took me 2 tries to get into, and then I fell in love with it.

Man, I didn't notice this thread when it first popped up but sure as shit am jumping on now!

1. Fallout. I actually hated it when I first played it, but went back eventually and it clicked and I love everything about it.
2. Fallout New Vegas. Storyline/character/choice wise, a true Fallout Sequel, let Obsidian make another spin off Beth!
3. Fallout 3. There was only a handful of characters I liked, and painfully few storylines I thought were written well. But the world was so fun to explore. Plus mods don't hurt.
4. Fallout 4. Nick is cool, and there is a lot of stuff to do. So that's nice. I guess. I just really want Obsidian to use the engine damnit. DAMN YOU BETH.
5. Fallout 2. I came late to the party on this one, there is a LOT to do in, like, a LOOOOT, you could get lost in that damn game. But it didn't click like the first one did, also LOL REFERENCES.
6. Fallout Shelter. I like base builder time wasters like this, it may have been higher up on the list if the PC version came out first and I wasn't over it by then.
7. Tactics. I got an hour in and stopped, I didn't even hate it, I just... stopped. Might go back to it one day, but I just didn't care.

Never played BOS.

I didnt complete the first two but from what i've played I enoyed the first one more despite the sequel doing away with the time sensitive story. (wasnt really into all that tribal stuff)

1. Fallout 3
2. Fallout 4
3. Fallout: New Vegas
4. Fallout
5. Fallout 2

New Vegas to me felt like a mod that was more in line with the tone of the first two games, which is to say more dour like wasteland. Also it was buggy as hell (yes more so than 3&4) and I never really understood why people thought the writing was so great. (more doesnt equal better) I still enjoyed it but it lacked the spark that Bethesda games have.

1. Fallout: New Vegas
2. Fallout 2
3. Fallout
4. Fallout 4
5. Fallout Tactics
6. Fallout 3

New Vegas is better than Fallout 3 by default due to not having shit writing that insults the player's intelligence. As for the 4th game, I enjoyed it for what it is: an open world FPS with light RPG elements.

• Fallout 2
• Fallout 3
• Fallout 4
• Fallout: New Vegas
• Fallout
• Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel
• Fallout Shelter

1. Fallout
2. Fallout 3
3. Fallout 4
4. Fallout: New Vegas
5. Fallout 2
6. Fallout Tactics
7. Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel
8. Fallout Shelter

I know a lot of people will disagree with the position of Fallout 2 and New Vegas, but Fallout 2 just never really clicked with me in any meaningful way and playing New Vegas right at launch, it was incredibly buggy and felt largely incomplete to me.

New Vegas > 3 > 2 > 4 > Tactics > 1