Wasteland The Wasteland 2 Beta Release Thread [GAME RELEASED, GO TO NEW THREAD]

[MasterSmithFandango]

This is an odd PR campaign.

 

[Kem0sabe]

another quote https://twitter.com/BrianFargo/status/448989484042821632/photo/1

Compared to how Obsidian has been promoting and communicating about PoE, inxile looks more and more like a bunch of guys who decided to make a game in their garage and have little clue on how to go about promoting it.

 

[Infinitron]

This is an odd PR campaign.

another quote https://twitter.com/BrianFargo/status/448989484042821632/photo/1

Compared to how Obsidian has been promoting and communicating about PoE, inxile looks more and more like a bunch of guys who decided to make a game in their garage and have little clue on how to go about promoting it.

lolwut

Promote it to whom? How many days was a $60 Early Access turn-based RPG in Steam's top ten bestselling games again?

Have we forgotten how much Obsidian were mocked on these very forums for being PR amateurs compared to the brilliant Fargo? Mocked by DarkUnderlord himself, no less?

http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/inde...live-on-in-eternity.76239/page-2#post-2276542
http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/inde...on-project-eternity.76484/page-3#post-2288318

I mean, come on, "slick salesman who tricked us all" or "PR amateur". Pick one.

(Of course, the real WTF is that you're treating a throwaway tweet as "PR" in the first place.)

 

[Kem0sabe]

This is an odd PR campaign.

another quote https://twitter.com/BrianFargo/status/448989484042821632/photo/1

Compared to how Obsidian has been promoting and communicating about PoE, inxile looks more and more like a bunch of guys who decided to make a game in their garage and have little clue on how to go about promoting it.

lolwut

Promote it to whom? How many days was a $60 Early Access turn-based RPG in Steam's top ten bestselling games again?

Have we forgotten how much Obsidian were mocked on these very forums for being PR amateurs compared to the brilliant Fargo? Mocked by DarkUnderlord himself, no less?

http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/inde...live-on-in-eternity.76239/page-2#post-2276542
http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/inde...on-project-eternity.76484/page-3#post-2288318

Of course, the real WTF is that you're treating a random tweet as "PR" in the first place.

Compared to the concise and well presented information Obsidian has managed to put out time and again post-KS, i think WL2's efforts look amateurish at best, also there are no random tweets, every little piece of information a company releases these days should be treated as part of an integrated communication plan (that's how we work over here), game developers often take this "i dont care its just me talking about the game to the interweb" approach which is often harmful to the message they are trying to pass.

 

[Infinitron]

Compared to the concise and well presented information Obsidian has managed to put out time and again post-KS, i think WL2's efforts look amateurish at best, also there are no random tweets, every little piece of information a company releases these days should be treated as part of an integrated communication plan (that's how we work over here), game developers often take this "i dont care its just me talking about the game to the interweb" approach which is often harmful to the message they are trying to pass.

As I said, "slick salesman who tricked us all" or "PR amateur". Pick one, you can't have them both.

Also, I don't see what's so amateurish about posting a sample of art from your game on your Twitter feed. I mean, what exactly offends you about this:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BjshjpCCIAA-O4l.jpg:large

It's an introduction to one of the game's factions, via a succint quote from its rather dapper-looking leader. In contrast, Obsidian posts stuff like this in its updates:

 

[buzz]

Man, I bet Bioware and Bethesda have great PR. Why don't you fucking play their games instead?


I don't agree with most of Infinitron's apologism and rationalisations but I do share his view you people do seem to whine for the sake of whining at points. In a perfect world, the devs would only bother us when the game is about to be released soon.

 

[Kem0sabe]

Your both right i guess, i think i just prefer Obsidan's style of communication better and i'm in a nitpicking mood towards inxile, WL2 is rubbing me all the wrong ways these days...

Spoiler

Thanks to Daedalus!

 

[tuluse]

Obsidian is better at communicating with fans.

Fargo is a million times better at selling things.

 

[Infinitron]

Obsidian is better at communicating with fans.

Except, you know, when they piss them off non-stop by creating some new Sawyerist outrage every other week. That's stopped now but I'm sure you remember.

Bottom line, Obsidian and inXile have somewhat different approaches but an AAA PR guy would find both their approaches equally shocking. I don't know whether their PR is "good" or "bad, and I don't think it really matters. They're creating products that the games media is really interested in now, and that can absolve them of a lot of mistakes and inadequacies.

 

[tuluse]

Except, you know, when they piss them off non-stop by creating some new Sawyerist outrage every other week. That's stopped now but I'm sure you remember.

Bottom line, Obsidian and inXile have somewhat different approaches but an AAA PR guy would find both their approaches equally shocking. I don't know whether their PR is "good" or "bad, and I don't think it really matters. They're lucky enough to be creating products that the market really wants now, and that can forgive them a lot of mistakes.

I think rage during pre-production is a lot more useful than rage during beta.

 

[Infinitron]

https://twitter.com/BrianFargo/status/449292905727807488
http://wastelandrpg.tumblr.com/post/80910455050/the-la-area-of-wasteland-2-will-have-a-markedly

The LA area of #wasteland2 will have a markedly different look than that of Arizona. A sneak peek. pic.twitter.com/drRKoASLwv

Dat green.

 

[felipepepe]

FINALLY!

 

[FeelTheRads]

Are those mudcrabs Beetles that are... beetles?

 

[Infinitron]

Are those mudcrabs Beetles that are... beetles?

That's the joke. Remember the hermit crabs?

 

[FeelTheRads]

Ah, they're crabs, not beetles. OK, that's better.

 

[Durwyn]

Now this looks cool, much appreciated difference from yellow/brown/greyish color scheme. The only gripe I have is that the map looks very corridor-like, no building entrances or uncluttered space which leaves room for exploration possibilities. plus trees at the end of the road look like impenetrable walls. Bare in mind I haven't played beta alpha.

 

[Infinitron]

Uncompressed full-sized version here: http://i4.minus.com/iwHabzw6KlyQ6.jpg

 

[garren]

Wow nice. I thought that was from another game first.

 

[MasterSmithFandango]

Now this looks cool, much appreciated difference from yellow/brown/greyish color scheme. The only gripe I have is that the map looks very corridor-like, no building entrances or uncluttered space which leaves room for exploration possibilities. plus trees at the end of the road look like impenetrable walls. Bare in mind I haven't played beta alpha.

That seems consistent with the rest of the game.

 

[MasterSmithFandango]

Also, Infinitron has descended into full-blown apologist faggotry. I demand a fanboy tag.

 

[felipepepe]

The only gripe I have is that the map looks very corridor-like, no building entrances or uncluttered space which leaves room for exploration possibilities. plus trees looks like impenetrable walls.

I already gave up on those.... because of reasons that change every week, Wasteland 2 will be made of linear corridors, walls everywhere and only a few buildings to enter, that are competently isolated from the exterior. But at least they are going away from the brown & orange wasteland.

Damn, how I wish for a modern version of maps like Fallout Tactics' Quincy:

Enter area, get briefing about what your mission are, then proceed to execute it in any fashion or order you desire. Find side-quests along the way that are actually related to the main mission and offers you new approaches. Enter any building and use it to your tactical advantage. And there are secrets here and there that can either help you out or provide a optional tough challenge... not to mention that you can party with a ghoul, a deathclaw and supermuntant and jump on a tank, cruising the wastes... oh yeah, and multi-player.

But of course my standards are just too high. We're talking about a rushed game, made in 16 months, with little budget, and they even had to create a new engine... and all that with year 2000 technology. I mean, F:T required a 300 MHz Processor; 64 MB RAM and a 4 MB Graphics card! Just how can any developer make something like this now? And W2 only had 24 months of development so far, I'm being too harsh.

 

[Kem0sabe]

All those trees... i like it but i bet it will run like shit and burn my graphics card, computer and house to the ground. Goddamn unity!

 

[Jedi Master Radek]

I think this corridor design thing comes from incompetence rather than outright bad intentions. It was said too many times they don't care if player misses some of the content to think it was just a speech. I think nobody at inXile understands relations between level design and overall sense of freedom and reactivity. Which at least strange.... Also I do not understand why they can't change it at least a little during beta. I only used Morrowind editor and I understand that it is especially well made tool, but even if their editor is only half as good, it would only take 4 hours to smartly modify a map.

Hopefully, after all the feedback inXile will learn and apply newly acquired knowledge to future projects.

 

[hiver]

First thing i thought was "oh, corridors pretending they are not - again."

Ah well... good foundation for modding at least.

 

[felipepepe]

Also I do not understand why they can't change it at least a little during beta. I only used Morrowind editor and I understand that it is especially well made tool, but even if their editor is only half as good, it would only take 4 hours to smartly modify a map.

If you want my guess, they can't change it because they don't have "clearance" for that. All the designers like MCA went home months ago, and now only the "peons" remain, and no matter how good or well intentioned they are, they simply can't go round changing stuff that was decided in pre-production by people above them without a tortuous process passing by Fargo himself. I bet that's also why there's no lead designer discussing changes, design choices and feedback, and above all, why the game feels so soulless.

I've been there before, in a massive advertisement project where the lead director gave orders, and then went to New York for another project... We were left helpless, with the client angry and requesting changes, but without authorization to make any changes not approved by the director, that was mostly absent or checking stuff via cellphone...