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

[felipepepe]

felipepepe notices people are getting optimistic again, does his bi-monthly well-poisoning routine

Still better than a daily apologist routine...

 

[Onholyservicebound]

Is it really though? I assume the apologists at least like the game or are looking forward to the release and thus have a reason to stick around.

felipepepe notices people are getting optimistic again, does his bi-monthly well-poisoning routine

Sounds like a Todd Howard hype campaign but in reverse, if Wasteland 2 is content scarce I don't know what I would call these posts.

All critique on this page can be summed up as:
I have the meta knowledge of how this game was made, let me tell you how it feels exactly like I know it is, as if I'm an uninformed outsider. Lastly, if the game sang the blues, you wouldn't listen.

 

[felipepepe]

I just get angry when I see people going "Oh, poor Brian Fargo only got a couple million of dollars, 30 years of experience in game-making and people like MCA on-board. We cannot possibly expect something great, even with him hyping it to insane levels every week".

 

[Zombra]

Don't stop being a downer felipepepe ... speaking as a W2 fan, I find your posts lucid, honest, and informative even when I disagree with them (which is pretty much always). :D

 

[felipepepe]

Is not about being a downer. I want W2 to succeed, I want InXile to make many more RPGs and to see sea and BN as high-profile RPG veterans. But I don't think that cutting them slack on everything and being satisfied with mediocrity is the way.

I expect more from them, that's the point.

 

[Magic User]

Will racial and religious background have any effect on interations in the finished game? Sorry if it's something they've answered already, couldn't find the answer by googling.

 

[DosBuster]

Do we forget what black isle's first game was as a new studio? Descent to Undermountain, this is a new team as well. There aren't experienced RPG developers on this team, this game is their first major run at an rpg.

 

[Junmarko]

Anyone know if they are planning to flesh out the weapon system before release? One thing that is annoying me is the severe lack of weapon based abilities. Combat gets stale quite fast.

 

[Darkzone]

Yes and the second was Fallout published in the same month. I like the many ideas of Wasteland 2 like the Radio, i think this is a thing that has much potential. The new transmissions from Rangers and Varges are a good thing, despite some problems that may accrue. Ohh and i missing in the transmissions the Mexican Radio, but perhaps this will be still made possible.
But what should be made is also missions to help out some rangers groups, after receiving their distress calls. Does anyone know of different ammunition types will be in the final version?
I also think that Wasteland 2 lacks some own character something that would excel Wasteland 2 above others, but i don't know exactly what.
Perhaps it lacks of the details that the world promises? What reason have different brands of cigarettes? Why can't i smoke them and look like Clint Eastwood? The choice of the religion, does it have a meaning in arizona? Why can't i buy nice hats and coats in the ranger center? Why do i have to radio Varges in for a promotion, while i'm in the ranger center?

 

[Hobz]

Those plain teal boxes are so atrocious... I noticed them before but my hope they'll get rid of it before release is starting to dwindle if they are still in at this point. Was it made by a coder as a placeholder until an artist can create proper buttons ? Clearly straight up rectangles copy pasted from an excel spreadsheet can't be the best inXile's artist(s) could come up with.

 

[J_C]

I just get angry when I see people going "Oh, poor Brian Fargo only got a couple million of dollars, 30 years of experience in game-making and people like MCA on-board. We cannot possibly expect something great, even with him hyping it to insane levels every week".

I think you get it all wrong. I always said that I'm a little concerned about Inxile's abiltiy to produce an amazing game. Yes, they have Brian Fargo there, but he is more of a producer than a designer. There is MCA but he only did a few areas. But lets just look what Inxile did previously. Mediocre game after mediocre game. I think Wasteland 2 is better than what we can expect from this team. Many people there are just not talented enough when it comes to RPGs. I hope they get enough experiece with W2 so Torment will be better.

Do we forget what black isle's first game was as a new studio? Descent to Undermountain, this is a new team as well. There aren't experienced RPG developers on this team, this game is their first major run at an rpg.

Exactly.

 

[DosBuster]

The team that worked on those mediocre games no longer work at inXile, although the problems with those games usually were due to lack of iteration and polish time. Something that wasteland 2 has gotten a lot of. Also Brian Fargo did design a few areas.

 

[grotsnik]

Eh. Like Tigranes, I'm expecting to have fun with W2, and I'm looking forward to it - but it definitely feels like some load-bearing sections and design decisions won't be salvaged by the time of release (from what I've played through once or twice so far, the central Rail Nomads quest and the Ag Center level design are just genuinely bad mistakes).

It's premature, but once the game's been out for a while and weighed and judged, I'm really hoping that the Codex or somewhere else can get a seriously thorough and candid level-by-level post-mortem with the Inxile guys. No self-flagellation, but it seems like it'd be particularly useful, very much in the spirit of a company attempting multiple Kickstarters, and also hopefully confidence-building for Torment, for them to open up a bit afterwards and talk us through it in detail, successes and messes alike. They are a relatively unknown quantity, so it'd be good to know the rationale behind some of their choices and how they plan to improve upon what they've already done.

 

[Grotesque]

?Who will review Wasteland 2 for the codex and who will ask Fargo the hard questions a month after the game comes out?

 

[DosBuster]

I think I found our answer from glassdoor:

Spoiler

Pros – Very positive atmosphere, great location, producers are encouraged to get feedback on design choices from everyone. Willing to promote from within, which is rare for the industry. This is not a good place if you're looking long-term, but as a 1-2 year position, it's worth it.

Cons – Disorganized in how they execute their projects. Very large communication gap between upper management and the engineers/artists, which sometimes translated into offhanded comments turning into week-long or even month-long blind alleys distracting important team members from the primary project. There was also a philosophical clash between the Leads' expectations of team members and HRs' expectations of team members which could result in a pat on the back from a Lead turning into a negative review from management.

Advice to Senior Management – The main thing that I hope has been learned is that having focused, clear project goals is vital to keeping everyone on the same page during development. Especially once you get toward feature-lock and engineers are pushing hard for their pet feature to get included, having a solid design bible at hand can save the project from grinding to a halt.

Yeah, pre-production fuck up, obviously not enough concrete gameplay design. This seems like something they're working to fix in Torment.

 

[Zorba the Hutt]

?Who will review Wasteland 2 for the codex and who will ask Fargo the hard questions a month after the game comes out?

I like the Codex 'duo' reviews. Hiver and Daedalos?

 

[Infinitron]

I'm considering doing the review myself. No promises, though.

grotsnik After speaking to one of the game's diligent translators, I can tell you that Brother None and Monty Markland aren't bullshitting when they say we haven't seen Wasteland 2's best material yet.

BTW, here is the link to that Glassdoor: http://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Employee-Review-InXile-Entertainment-RVW3151907.htm

It's from October 2013. The other reviews are from the pre-KS dark age.

 

[Darkzone]

I like the Codex 'duo' reviews. Hiver and Daedalos?

I'm considering doing the review myself. No promises, though.

I think that is not a good idea, you lack the necessary distance and therefore it will be very biased.

 

[Grotesque]

?Who will review Wasteland 2 for the codex and who will ask Fargo the hard questions a month after the game comes out?

I like the Codex 'duo' reviews. Hiver and Daedalos?

Hiver does not walk the Codex anymore after his spirit was brutally dissipated by a permanent ban.



I opt for Vault Dweller to make the the review for Wasteland 2

 

[Infinitron]

?Who will review Wasteland 2 for the codex and who will ask Fargo the hard questions a month after the game comes out?

I like the Codex 'duo' reviews. Hiver and Daedalos?

Hiver does not walk the Codex anymore after his spirit was brutally dissipated by a permanent ban.



I opt for Vault Dweller to make the the review for Wasteland 2

I think he's too busy for that now.

Also, historically, Vault Dweller has reviewed post-apocalyptic RPGs for NMA, rather than Codex.

 

[Volrath]

I'm considering doing the review myself. No promises, though.

 

[MasterSmithFandango]

I'm considering doing the review myself. No promises, though.

grotsnik After speaking to one of the game's diligent translators, I can tell you that Brother None and Monty Markland aren't bullshitting when they say we haven't seen Wasteland 2's best material yet.

BTW, here is the link to that Glassdoor: http://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Employee-Review-InXile-Entertainment-RVW3151907.htm

It's from October 2013. The other reviews are from the pre-KS dark age.

Pictured: Infinitron review

 

[Infinitron]

Reactivity in action: http://instagram.com/p/rgjOdZgcl2/

 

[grotsnik]

grotsnik After speaking to one of the game's diligent translators, I can tell you that Brother None and Monty Markland aren't bullshitting when they say we haven't seen Wasteland 2's best material yet.

Good to hear. Like I say, I'm looking forward to the game. It just feels like there are enough odd sections and choices weighing the content down pretty hard, at least in that first half that we've seen, to make it particularly worthwhile for a proper constructive pick-through of why this and why that. Much more so than say, D:OS, just because Inxile are freshly coming back to all of this RPG business and they already have another very highly-anticipated game on the burner.

Spoiler

All right, fine. I just want to know who came up with an incoherent quest chain climaxing with that godawful "give my right arm" joke and why nobody stopped him.

 

[DosBuster]

I wouldn't mind writing the review, I mean I have to join the corrupt games press sometime