Better character creation, I liked D:OS's character creation, but not compared to the enjoyment of making my Ranger squad in Wasteland 2. Progression felt better in D:OS, but was negated by the cheap respec fairly early in the game. Cheapens the experience to where not just respeccing to beat so and so fight is a matter of LARPing as opposed to something supported by game mechanics.
Better/more/bigger c&c, Wasteland 2 offers multiple choices to dealing with quests and encounters, a lot of which permanently alter the Wasteland or affect things down the road. Whatever c&c there is in D:OS doesn't really feel important, more like the result of whatever fucking around you did over a supported choice or playstyle.
Better writing(Better story, Better characters), preference, but I don't remember much about the characters and story in D:OS, and what I do is mostly goofy shit.
Reactivity, the game is very reactive, from the minor acknowledgements of almost every character to bigger more dynamic things like quest outcomes dependant on things outside of the obvious choices. My experience with that kind of thing in D:OS was usually met with silence.(Free someone with teleport only to have them act as if they are still captured type of thing.)
Finally, Larian clearly had no faith in it's fuck around style, which is all it had going for it really, and patched the fuck out of my game mid playthrough, nerfing my character like in some shitty MMO and removing cool features before I was even done. Of course I could and should just respec, but I like making characters in RPGs, not choosing my skin and current fight loadout a la Bioshock.
Overall D:OS is a fun game, nice early game combat, but from it's itemization to it's storyline, it always feels like more of a toy.(Magic simulator with ARPEEGEE elements tacked on.) Wasteland 2 is the better RPG for me, I don't have the issue with my attention span when it comes to opening lockboxes(Muh immediate gratification.), partly because I don't bother to savescum the game and don't always invest in every skill point.(Pure combat party has been doable in my experience.) Anyhow Larian acknowledges it's flaws, and I believe the game has been improved over the subsequent patches, so it feels good to have supported it. Definitely not a game I'd lament getting "RPG" of the year, but not my personal pick either.
I'm so excited, I don't know which game to play next without Codex recommendation/consensus.
