Came here to post this.

Depends on what gameplay you want. The old ones are isometric. The new ones are open world 3D FPS RPGs. I would say Fallout 3 and Fallout NV are both great in their own ways. Fallout 3 has the better open world with a better content to space ratio. Fallout NV has better writing and characters but the open world setup can be touch and go with large deadzones and invisible walls for no reason. I would probably recommend starting with 3 though. But be sure to do it on PC if you can and immediately download the Ironsights mod. The lack of that feature in 3 is really annoying.

Depends on what kind of games you like. The ones before Fallout 3 are really old-style. Think along the lines of Baldur's Gate for them, for comparison against more modern titles. If that's your cup of tea, go for it! And I suppose 2 would be a safe bet. And if that's not your cup of tea, it's either 3 or NV I guess. My educated guess is that 3 is more balanced overall (as a game; I'm not judging its game mechanics here) but NV offers more meaningful choices.

The thing about Fallout 3 and New Vegas that separates them from other FPP games is that they really are RPGs. You're playing a character in a story with tons of side-quests but the way you play really is up to you and what skills you take. You can go heavy for Speechcraft, for instance, or Sneaking, or Hacking. You can play Melee or specialize in different types of guns. You can ruthless and evil or as a self-less hero.

The last time I played New Vegas, I completely wiped out the first town, including all the quest givers, and sided with a group of convicts.

Also, though I suggest being the games vanilla the first time, mods can add so much to both games. Check http://www.nexusmods.com/fallout3/? out. Some talented people have put in some incredible work, including fixing a lot of problems.

If you want to get a taste of how Fallout 4 will play, start with 3 and try out New Vegas.

If you like the concepts and lore from those games, then go back and play Fallout 1 & 2. They play very differently but are still fun in an old-school RPG way.

Fallout 3, for sure. My personal favorite.

1, 2, Tactics, and BoS are all pretty tough to get into because they're fairly dated.

Start with 3, play the hell out of it. Then, important, TAKE A BREAK. Not enough people went into NV without a break from 3, so they got Fallout-outed and blamed NV for it. After a month or two, play NV. NV is the perfect combination of old school Fallout with 3's mechanics. You won't quite understand What I'm about to say unless you know a very good amount of the series (as in, you've read the Fallout Bible): Fallout 3 is Oblivion with Guns, NV is Fallout 3 but Fallout. Nothing wrong with 3, fantastic game, but it's significantly less Fallout than NV is. 4 will likely align closer to 3 though.

I just hope to god they let Obsidian write the game. 3's plot was dreadful and had a bunch of flaws in regards to the rest of the series.

Last thing, play all of the DLC from both The DLC made Fallout 3 what it was, and it improved NV steadily (and also includes one of my favorite DLCs if all time).

Depends on what are your expectations and what type of gamer you are.

As someone who played Fallout 1 when it released back in 97, I can tell you that I was dissapointed when after first person perspective of intro it turned out it was isometric game. But then, not half hour later, atmosphere, story, characters and even turned-based combat made me love this game, and ever since it's one of the best gaming experiences I've ever had.

Fallout 2 was more of the same greatness, with some nessecary improvements over F1. A lot of people prefer it to F1, but since it was not entirely new, I'm still more fond of first one.

Both F1 and F2 are hub based games - you have a map, you can travel wherever you like (on foot, or faster when you get the car), and there are random encounters (there's even stat that helps you with them), but almost all the gameplay is at hubs of interest. Also, depending on stats, you can have several people with you, though you're not controling them directly.

Tactics is decent, but you can really skip it altogether - play it only if you like games like Jagged Alliance, since it's squad-based tactics game.

And then Interplay disolved and Project Van Buren, what supposed to be Fallout 3 dissapeared and Black Isle was no more (most of folks are now in Obsidian).

Bethesda's Fallout 3...well, if you were fan of F1/2, calling it Fallout was really stretching it, but you could still recognise its origins. Unfortunatelly, it lost so much from the originals, story was weaker, characters paled in comparisson, humour was mostly lost and overall atmosphere was off (partly due to pretty generic Hollywoodish soundtrack by Inon Zur, which was pure garbage compared to Mark Morgan's ominous soundscapes). But F3 brought free-roam - and that was the hook a lot of mainstream audience was caught on. Don't get me wrong, I had a blast with it, and though it's not Fallout I want, it's pretty good game.

In the end it's up to you to decide whether you can look past outdated graphics of F1/2 and prefer more tactical combat vs first person perspective of 3 and NV. My suggestion is start with first, it's an excellent game, play it at least for few hours and if you really can't find it interesting skip to F3.

Spelling was always my worst subject. Thanks!

Fallout 3 for 4.99€ on Steam.