The STEAM Sales and Releases Thread

[Excidium II]

You should be worried that you need it to be explained.

 

[Jasede]

Better than PoE at least.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

You should be worried that you need it to be explained.

I don't delve into every thread and sub-forum on the Codex (in fact I shun the company-based sub-forums over in RPG Discussion) and I'm most certainly not an InXile fanboy.

I honestly don't have an idea what the Codex thinks of the game in general, so I want to know. Sure, there will always be haters that gotta hate, but would it kill them to let the butthurt flow through in a manner that constructs a set of reasonable points?

 

[Anthedon]

You should be worried that you need it to be explained.

but would it kill them to let the butthurt flow through in a manner that constructs a set of reasonable points?

Yes, this is the Codex after all.

 

[DwarvenFood]

I think it boiled down to too repetitive from halfway onward, and no meaningful C&C. For me, I haven't played enough to form an opinion (still botanical center) but I do like the combat.

 

[felipepepe]

Only played the original version, not the Director's Cut, and gave up before leaving Arizona... but:

• Combat was incredibly boring "pew-pew behind cover" - you couldn't even perform aimed shots back then.
  
  
• Balance was horrible and limited playstyle - some stats & skills were shit, other were almost mandatory.
  
  
• FUCK whoever decided weapon jamming was a brilliant idea. Even watching my party miss 50 times in a row in IE games was a less frustrating early-game.
  
  
• Areas were atrocious mazes of wiggly corridors, or just straight lines full of enemies - both full of extremely contrived blockades. Exploration felt almost non-existent.
  
  
• C&C mostly felt forced and meaningless - more about going "SEE, WE REACTED TO THAT!" than offering actually interesting choices.
  
  
• Looting felt terrible - skills like lockpicking take a long time to use, and they packed rooms with 500 locked containers with one random crap each.
  
  
• Writing was amateur, the first hour had THREE Skyrim meme jokes right next to another, plus crap like "Leve lupe mine".
  
  
• Companions personality was limited to "sometimes they randomly fire, lol".
  
  
• The setting felt tiresome and wasted. W1 was fresh at the time, and anyone who played Gamma World knows how crazy they could've gone... but no, they just copy-paste W1 almost 30 years later. Enjoy fighting raiders, mutant animals and giant insects bro.
  
  
• And overall, the game is really ugly. It's all muddy brow & yellow, blurry, lacks a cohesive art direction and looks worst than any other decent kickstarter game. FFS, sometimes it looks worse than Russian shovelware from a decade ago, like Planet Alcatraz and The Fall - Last Days of Gaia.

It's a really underwhelming game, that fells spread too thin and poorly managed. At least with PoE or even Broken Age you can say they deliver what their creator's had in mind, but W2 is so mediocre I doubt even InXile is proud of the game per se (beyond the obvious "hey, we did a game!")

 

[Volrath]

Better than PoE at least.

Fuck no. And that says it all really.

 

[Jasede]

Okay, no trolling, why not?

Let me make my case.

PoE: classes play the same, stats have no relevance, huge loading times without SSD, overwritten, story picks up too slowly, boring NPCs
WL2: reasonably different weapons with different skills and uses, very large gameworld for the time, tactical, passable TB combat

I mean, I hate them both, but if you made me play one I'll pick the one where I have vaguely different experiences when I pick a completely different party.

 

[Excidium II]

I'd much rather play PoE. Looks and plays better.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

I have no interest in playing PoE, at least I wanted to play Wasteland 2.

felipepepe Thanks for your words, though they suffer from you playing the original version upon release. Frankly many of the points you bring up seem outright alien to me, as I played the (patched) Director's Cut.

My points

# I agree on the balance of the game in general, that is STILL in dire need of work. Some weapons are OP, other weapons are worthless. Trying to make a balanced party will actually work against you, I quickly realized that min-maxing my squad was the way to go. (Two of them had IN 1)

# Skills are better balanced in the Director's Cut, with most items having more than one possible skill to use on them. However, to offset this the California section of the game starts by asking for Level 8 skillchecks, and doesn't stop until it hits Level 12 skillchecks. Yes, W2 skills cannot go above Level 10, even with stat-boosting items. (Have fun having an 11% chance of doing anything in the endgame.) Perception is still the King of Skills.

# One cool thing that W2 allows for is to create a "Leader"-type character. I did that, and had no trouble whatsoever with rogue NPCs in my party. He offered a fresh breath of air for the game (as he was more about being well-positioned than being a fighter) and was the only character to reach the level cap.

# So while NPCs can be brought under control, there's a second class of NPCs known as Followers. These are suicidal fucktards that screw up your plans more often than not - and many of them you need them alive for quest reasons.

# Judging by your words, the Director's Cut clearly adds personality to the NPCs. Rose was a guilt-tripping granny with a dark past who kept praising scientific stuff while condemning immoral acts. Takiyuki is boastful "neckbeard samurai" that can actually kick ass, while Ralphy was the unhardened naive boy a lá Spark from Ultima 7. The old braggart from the Rail Nomads was also a hoot. Mostly NPCs just comment on things, but it still adds some depth to them.

# Some game mechanics are solely there to troll players (can't access the inventory of incapacitated squad members). There are other troll moments (like that Animal Husbandry Quirk) so be prepared. There's a reason W2 offers 5 different kinds of saves.

# Weapon jamming can be offset by weapon mods. In fact, while weapon mods are a really neat way to boost weapons, they only become useable if you have a character train up Weaponsmithing. There are no vendors or characters outside of your squad that offer to modify your weapons for you.

# The Perks are set up like a skill tree instead of Perks. There are no cross-skill Perks.

# The Arizona map spends all this time forcing you through and around terrain, finding water and keeping an eye out for radiation, which I found to be cool. Then you get to California and the landscape is flat, the "need water"-mechanic is removed and you're being herded about by lethal radiation levels, so your entire time in California is spent upgrading your radiation suits to reach a location that's within spitting distance of your base. California was very uncool. Don't get me started on the differences in gear between Arizona and California.

# Silly names and Skyrim memes are bad? Honey Badgers don't even live in America, yet they're the most common animal enemy you fight. And the game loves to tell you how they don't care.

# The fucking camera nearly drove me insane. When I say "I want to have the camera like THIS!", the game is supposed to obey. What does the game do? Changes it to EXTREME CLOSEUP on every map change.

# There are a few cases of C&C that I felt were well done, but they're few and far between. While some of them don't do much, many of them will have an impact on the endgame fight.

# That said, in order for several quest resolution options to become available, you need to not only seize upon the smallest opportunities in dialogue, but also keep an eye out for the most trivial-looking things happening around you...not to mention fixing those damn toasters.

# The conversation system sucks balls. Something better is needed than this. The implementation of the dialogue-specific skills was especially horrendous...and beyond them there are NO skillchecks in dialogue whatsoever.

# The radio on the world map is probably the single most awesome thing about W2. Just listening in to freaky transmissions and wondering "WTF is this?" was something I enjoyed immensely. Arizona and California are equally good in this regard. ("The Hammer and the Book...") Even Culture Club makes an appearance.

Looking back, my experience with W2 was mostly frustration with trying to get the hang of the system, seeing what the game wanted from me, and then learning what the game REALLY wanted from me. Once you reach the point that you have a good "plan" for your party (because you WILL need one) and got the combat sussed out, then your enjoyment of the game is sure to improve.

The closest "match" to this game is surely Fallout Tactics: A bug-ridden mess of a game that's trying to be like the classic Fallouts but falling short. But once you get the hang of things and learn to live with the bad, you'll find that the good parts are actually quite good.

In short, this game takes commitment to get good.

 

[Excidium II]

DC was more or less the same shit. Some cosmetic differences.

 

[Makabb]

I'd much rather play PoE. Looks and plays better.

I have a solution, i went to re-play fallout 2 and baldur's gate 2. It's 90's all over again for me baby.

 

[LESS T_T]

As usual, PayPal confirmed the Summer Sale date:

 

[Country_Gravy]

I can't wait to not buy anything.

 

[Infinitron]

PoE 60% off, expansion parts 25%: http://store.steampowered.com/app/291650/

 

[LESS T_T]

http://store.steampowered.com/app/490990/

 

[Siveon]

 

[pippin]

 

[Zed]

PoE 60% off, expansion parts 25%: http://store.steampowered.com/app/291650/

Surprised they still haven't created a "GOTY"-like pack with base game + expansions.

 

[mastroego]

Lol, not even 90% off.

 

[Black]

PoE 60% off, expansion parts 25%: http://store.steampowered.com/app/291650/

Surprised they still haven't created a "GOTY"-like pack with base game + expansions.

Because not even Obsidian can call it goty. Even ironically.

 

[Azalin]

PoE 60% off, expansion parts 25%: http://store.steampowered.com/app/291650/

I see Feargus is going for the Early Bird achievement,is he afraid PoE will be lost among the hunderds of deals?

 

[Excidium II]

25% discount for 1-year old dlc is a bit of a joke.

 

[pippin]

Yeah, it's a bit of a paradox.

Geddit? tee hee

 

[Zzz]

For comparison, the PoE expansion is currnetly 50% off at GOG...