10 Most Bizarre Video Game Mechanics (That Actually Worked)

2. Roleplaying With Low Intelligence - Fallout Series

This entry really puts the spotlight on how much better roleplaying was in the early Fallout games. And by roleplaying, I don’t mean RPG mechanics, I mean embodying a very specific type of person. In this case, a very dumb person.

In the first two Fallout games in particular, if you roll a character with very low intelligence you straight up can’t communicate with the NPCs. You can only speak in disjointed barks and nonsense and in an impressive feat of providing the players with different game paths, each NPC is programmed with extensive voiced remarks commenting on the fact that they can’t or don’t want to interact with you. Some try to explain things to you, hoping it’ll get through, some turn aggressive when all you can reply with is a grunt and subsequently initiate combat, and there’s an enormous amount of comedy peppered throughout.

I mean, why wouldn’t there be, you’re trying to engage with a complex post-apocalyptic world that you’re incapable of understanding.

The game becomes nigh-on unplayable as you have a hard time accepting any quests or discussing what’s going on or what people need, but it’s a fantastic exercise in true roleplaying. And it is playable, especially since with Intelligence as your dump stat, you’re probably one-shotting most of what the Wasteland has to throw at you. So try it out, as long as you can handle being treated with pretty much constant derision.