The Master

[VasikkA]

Fallout 2, on the other hand, is something else entirely. I would never just continue on if an npc follower died in that game. In Fallout 2, Black Isle did an excellent job of making some of the npcs useful, something they completely neglected to do in Fallout.

More useful, in what way? First of all, Fallout 2 has 12 recruitable NPCs(not counting Dogmeat) and Fallout only had 4. The only thing that NPCs are useful for is carrying(probably the most important) and fire support, which you can manage without. In Fallout 2, using NPCs for carrying stuff becomes almost useless after you get the car. That makes having NPCs in Fallout more important, in my opinion. Also, if you lose an NPC it's harder to replace him/her/it, because there's not many you can recruit. In Fallout 2 on the other hand, you can recruit someone from almost every town. I only found Vic 'useful', because of his repair skill, though you could only use it in a couple of occasions.

One thing I respect more in NPCs is personality than 'usefulness'. Fallout 2 managed this pretty well, although there were controversialities like Marcus(a friendly SM) and Goris(a talking deathclaw, bleh). I'm sure everybody remembers Myron as a whiny little bitch, or Sulik as a strong and stupid type of person, but there were also a bunch of fill-up characters with no real purpose or even a special personality. Take Davin or Miria for example. Or K9 and Cyberdog. I don't find Lenny and Skynet particularly special either, other than their appearance.

[Kashluk]

I must say, I disagree with you. I never liked the NPCs in Fo1. I found THEM to be mindless carrying mules with no particular skills. Instead in Fo2, where they actually had personalities (especially Lenny and Skynet ;-D), were useful in battle (Lenny can blow Enclavers in half with Deagle when scoring critical...) and their special expertise was needed many times when I couldn't reach such skill yet myself (Vic's repair, Lenny's doctor, Myron's science).

[VasikkA]

Well, Dogmeat was a special character. The first time I played I became attached to it and desperately tried to keep it alive through the force fields in the Military Base. The doggies in Fallout 2 weren't as cool as Dogmeat(not counting Cafe of Broken Dreams encounter!). I miss Dogmeat. I have to say, Tycho is one of my favorite characters and he was kickass with a shotgun. I miss Tycho. Katja was ok with pistols(good chance of critical). And Ian, well... It was amusing for a while when he shot my character with a SMG on burst mode. :wink:

[Som Guy]

Never liked NPCs in the first place. Mainly because I didn't learn about the push command and I was forced to open fire on them when they got in my way.

[Radoteur]

Push command?
Damn.

[Slave_Master]

First time I played the game I turned Dogmeat into a puddle of smelly wet goo as soon as I got an assault rifle in the Hub.

[Tank]

You evil bastard, you!

[Aegeri]

I blew dogmeat away in the Cathedral because he kept giving me away (the bastard).

On topic, you can convince the master in several ways I think.

Have disk+high speech skill. In this case you need to ask him to talk to a female 'mutant' about if they are sterile.

If you have the disk and a good science skill you get the option to give him the disk. He reads it and then promptly commits suicide. You do need the disk.

High Cha+High science with no disk is the same as above, but you don't need to give him the disk. I think you need positive karma to do this as well.

That is what I know.

My characters tend to fit the second one. You need a science of (normally) 80% or better, but save first as you can fail the check. The speech skill allows you to get away with having no disk as well I think. In the end they are just slightly different ways of solving the same problem.