Picked up Wasteland for $1

[gromit]

Bored out of my mind at a second-hand shop, I turned to the "entertainment" section to laugh at cassettes that were rejects when they were brand new. The blue-on-white grid of an ancient Sega box caught my eye beneath the tape rack; as I took the box to inspect it, dust poured off and a greater treasure was found in the cardboard tomb. Floppies, manual, quick ref, paragraphs... everything! The nice old lady up front mentioned it had been there for at least twelve years and "oh now nice it (was)" that I planned on "giving it a good home."

Now, when I was first exposed to this game, it was on the same CGW(?) disk that had the Fallout demo. I didn't really like cRPGs until I played through Fallout. You can do the math and presume how receptive I was to it then. I could have dug the demo disk out of the basement at any time since, and I always "sort of meant to" play it, but I've finally been given a good opportunity and reason to.

I've played up to the bar in Quartz, next stop I guess is the local gang's HQ for a little ranger-style justice and moderate looting. My big dumb pack pule, Doug, is currently the highest ranking officer being a Specialist, as he's the only one with more than a point in brawl and luckily has the str / dex to be more dependable and versitile without a weapon. I'm not sure I'm deep into it enough yet to form a good opinion, other than to say the combat and its presentation are very nice, given the low screen space. So, a few Qs anyway...

Inspired by the "self-overwriting" nature of saving, coupled with the (so far) reasonable chances to prevent death, I thought I'd play this one by the books, using first-rolls only, continuing after party member death, etc... is this feasible, or am I dreaming? Any other "newbie tips" you can give me, bearing in mind that this is really the first cRPG oldie I plan on playing through start to finish? How'd you fare your first few times out?

Have most here played it? Was it when it was brand-spanking new? Or were you, like me, born a bit too late and never got around to it until later? Could have played it, but didn't until your tastes changed? Still haven't?

 

[BigWeather]

It was one of the first RPGs I finished, Ultima 3 being the first iirc. I bought and finished it shortly after it came out and loved it. Had (I guess, have -- I still have the original album-like box, docs, and disc) it for the C64. Good times. =)

As for your gameplay questions, though -- I really can't remember. That's like 20 years ago. =/ Sorry.

 

[Edward_R_Murrow]

Alright....let me try to remember.

IQ is really important. Crank that stuff up because you need the skill points. Rerolling for decent IQ isn't a bad idea. You can get seriously screwed towards the end if you don't have the IQ.

The medic skill is very important, have at least two characters with skill in it. Doctor skill is good too.

Somebody needs the explosives/demolition skill for a few occasions.

Guardian Citadel is a nasty place.

 

[sheek]

How do you heal/rest?

I'm in some kind of farm, locked in, fighting bunnies and rats. I've killed about 30 rats + many bunnies, prairie dogs, possums and a couple of lizards. Thrasher is now unconscious (bowled over by an enraged bunny) and the rest of my team have HPs in the teens. I can't get out of this location and more animals keep popping up.

I got this quest when I went west (and a little north) from my starting position, in a town. I didn't read what they guy I talked to said but I was instantly teleported to this place.

 

[MercySeat]

You can heal by seeing a doctor, where he heals by $5 a con, medic skill for serious injuries or just traveling around the map for unconscious/slightly wounded.

 

[MacBone]

What a find, wallace. That's quite a nice second-hand shop that you have there.

 

[gromit]

Holding escape will cause time to pass quickly.

Yeah, I currently have only one character with Medic, and it's making life pretty rough; it's certainly not impossible but I'll definitely have another when I restart. I should probably do that soon, as I just dealt with Ugly John and his hostages and picked up my first carbine and uzi. If I go any further I'm sure I won't want to restart, and I'll just be spoiling everything for my "not doomed" party.

 

[MisterStone]

Heres probably the best advice I can give:

The most important stats are probably IQ, Speed, Dex, luck. Its probably good to have at least one person with decent strength, because there are places where you can bash through doors, windows, etc., but its not too important. IQ is very important because it gives you skill points and allows you to get new skills- some of the important skills needed to win the game require high IQ. Most game faqs made for wasteland suggest that your chars start with at least a 15 (preferably higher) IQ. Also, I'm pretty sure you need a decent IQ to acquire the energy weapons skill, which is pretty much necessary to progress through the game after a certain point.

The only good combat skill at the beginning of the game is brawling... knives seem to suck, and there is no point in learning pugilism when you can just beat stuff with ubiquitous random weapons like crowbars, shovels, pickaxes, etc. Also, later on there are high tech weapons that use the brawling skill. Brawling gives you an extra melee attack every 2 levels, so it is a very handy skill.

Pistols and even rifles kind of suck- probably not worth putting skill points into them when you can just learn to beat stuff up with a crowbar, which is more effective. Beyond brawling, I think you will need to learn assault rifle and energy weapons. Probably a couple of people should learn AT weapons also, since you will need that in order to let your party survive long enough to get energy weapons once you hit a certain part of the game. There is even a (fairly weak) ranged AT weapon called a "spear" that uses brawling skill- I think that the character throws it like a javelin or something, and it explodes on contact. Sub machine guns are OK for easier areas... but you will quickly get assault rifles soon after you bump into these, and the assault rfiles are better. Most of the worthwhile NPCs know SMG, which is good because it lets you diversify your ammo needs so you don't depend too much on the rifle clips; but its probably not too useful to your own party members (unless you find yourself getting stuck and can't get ahold of assault rifles).

Probably two people with a good medical skill is necessary.

Anyways, its been a long time since I played, and I only recently picked it up again. Its still kind of fun, but the limited storage space meant that they weren't able to implement much continuity between missions, etc. and so the game gets old after a little while. Still, its pretty interesting how it implemented skills in a complex way that most modern day games don't even try to deal with.

 

[mirrorshades]

I'm in some kind of farm, locked in, fighting bunnies and rats. I've killed about 30 rats + many bunnies, prairie dogs, possums and a couple of lizards. Thrasher is now unconscious (bowled over by an enraged bunny) and the rest of my team have HPs in the teens. I can't get out of this location and more animals keep popping up.

I got this quest when I went west (and a little north) from my starting position, in a town. I didn't read what they guy I talked to said but I was instantly teleported to this place.

This is the agricultural center, I believe. You're looking for someone called Harry the Bunny Master... a big giant who has been using his creatures to terrorize the farmers and plunder the crops. You need to wander around the farm until you find him, but he is in a set location (i.e. not a random encounter) -- so the more you wander, the more likely you will find him.

You can wait/rest by pressing Esc, but you may still get random encounters. I think you can actually get out if you need to, not sure if you can come back later on. (Been a few years since I've played it through.)

I don't recall this being an especially vital quest to complete, though, so if you need to bug out you won't have missed much.

 

[flabbyjack]

Is there a patch or mod that adds the text to Wasteland? It needs this.

 

[Monolith]

I'm one of those who were born too late. And it's a goddamn pity I can't play the game properly because it crashes randomly and often in DosBOX. Soundsettings are supposed to cause this, but I never found out what to do about it. Any ideas?

 

[MisterStone]

I'm one of those who were born too late. And it's a goddamn pity I can't play the game properly because it crashes randomly and often in DosBOX. Soundsettings are supposed to cause this, but I never found out what to do about it. Any ideas?

Get an Apple II or C64 emulator and an image of that version of the game. Seems fair to me, if you own a copy of the PC version but can't run it properly.