The hosts of the podcast series Through the Aftermath, which is dedicated to the post-apocalyptic genre in all its forms, had the privilege of speaking with Brian Fargo and Nathan Long for the 50th episode of their show. The result was one of the best Wasteland 2 interviews we've had yet. You can read a general overview over at the official Wasteland 2 blog and my own takeaways from the interview in this post. If you'd like to listen to it yourself, note that the actual interview starts about five minutes into the podcast and is just under an hour long.

Notable takeaways from the interview:

• As in the original Wasteland, NPC companions in Wasteland 2 will have some autonomous behavior. One example mentioned is an NPC who always hides in battle, but who is useful in other ways.
• While knowledge of the original Wasteland won't be necessary to play Wasteland 2, it appears that the game will have many, many references to it. That includes hidden dialogue nodes that might open up entire new areas for players of the original game who know what to ask, and cameos by characters from the original game's paragraph book.
• Every single character in the game will have unique combat barks, and every single weapon in the game will elicit a unique bark from characters hit by said weapon.
• Story details:
  • The game will take place 15 years after the original Wasteland.
  • The members of Wasteland's default party will be characters in Wasteland 2. You'll get to meet some of them, others you'll just hear stories about.
  • The story will begin when the Wasteland Rangers begin receiving mysterious broadcasts. These broadcasts will somehow be connected to the events of the original Wasteland.
  • At some point in the game, the party will travel to California, and specifically, the city of Los Angeles. There they will meet various cults, including the Mannerites, a group of extremely polite cannibals.
• The game has enough optional content that a speedrun might miss as much as 60% of the game's content.
• The game will feature non-standard endgames as a result of certain decisions. For instance, the party might not be sent to L.A. if they don't behave in a sufficiently Ranger-like manner, ending the story prematurely.
• At the beginning of the game, the Rangers will receive distress calls from two towns and the player will have to choose which one to assist. The state of both towns will change radically as a consequence of this choice.
• The game will have unusual character customization features, including a multitude of strange costumes and even the option to have three Rangers who are triplets.
• Each NPC companion will have a personal sidequest.

Besides the stuff that's directly game-related, my favorite part of the interview is at the end, when Brian and Nathan talk about the games that they've played, both classic and modern, how they've been influenced by them, and how they compare with Wasteland 2. It's pretty interesting stuff - listen to the last five minutes or so if you'd like to hear it for yourself.