Ranger HQ
I enjoyed that the rangers started out at the end of a funeral, its a nice touch and sets the tone for the rest of the adventure, that being said, the starting zone needs more fluff added to it.
I would recommend expanding the area with a few more npc's (some quick ideas):
A returning Ranger patrol for example, which you could talk and serve as an introduction to the wasteland and how the various locals feel about the rangers. Something like a gruff group of veterans with a jaded outlook.
Add a quest to the graphiti cleanup guy, something along the lines of an introduction to the crafting system, try to craft some solvent and/or a mop to help the guy with cleanup.
A trade caravan that would be the players first introduction to trading/stores and would be a constant in the wasteland, traveling from spot to spot as the player travels to those areas, sometimes offering quests, others just some info on the locals as well as rare items
Radio Tower
I think the missing ranger angle is a bit underdeveloped and could use some more work.
Add some neutral npc's in the area, a merchant or a traveling family that you can leverage in the interaction with the tower bandits.
The thugs at the tower itself, even tho there are multiple ways of dealing with them (personally i sent them packing to the Ranger HQ), could have a few more approaches added to them, including the above leverage, turn over the family to them or setup an ambush on the traveling merchant and help the bandits take him out for a share of the profits.
AG center
The area design is too dense with props, its confusing and it chugs on performance, interiors included. I would suggest a few more design passes on the maps to clean things up. Also the quests and npc interactions could use some more depth to them.
I enjoyed the detective angle that was suggested earlier in the thread, force the traitor to reveal himself by a traditional detective investigation instead of the current resolve. Same if you go to the Ag center after highpool, the doctor is asking for help and then he just attacks. Makes little sense.
Add some more drama to the zone by having a joinable infected npc approach the Rangers at the start, and then having that npc devolve into something monstrous during the map, in small steps until the player is forced to either kill or be attacked by the infected party member.
Overall the area as it stands is just boring task to accomplish
Highpool
Overall i enjoy it more than the AG center for the simple fact that its less cluttered and faster to complete. Also it has a semi interesting puzzle.
The approach to the settlement is too linear and lacks player influence. I would like to see something like gathering stranded locals to form a militia to charge the raider assault on the settlement, or using the raider's own artilery on them.
Also, the robot angle on the scorpion cave lacks impact, it needs a better reveal, the cave as it stands is useless.
The dowry girl is a good idea, especially how fixated she is on her white knight story, that angle could be twisted somewhat for added impact, having the player play on her fixation with saviors by killing the raiders and then forcing her to open the safe, further traumatizing her, you could encounter her later after she committed suicide for example after having lost everything she had, even her ideals/hopes.
Further develop the election, i recently finished reading the latest lock lamora book, Republic of thieves, and i enjoyed the idea of rigging an election in a scifi/fantasy setting, you could do something similar here. Have the player act as an agent for one of the two parties in an election scam, with all that entails.
Rail Road
First thing i thought about this zone after going through it... "it's a pain to navigate". The settlement itself makes like sense in terms of functionality, while AG stands out as a clear science facility and highpool makes sense as a fortified settlement, here there is just no overall planning to the settlement, no clear town boundaries and fortifications, there is nothing to keep the wildlife or raiders from coming in, all the rail cars are just thrown together. I would recommend you inxile to hire a freelance urban planner (geographer, urban historian, whatever), someone young and creative and just giving him/her the design docs for the locations and say "extrapolate to a post apocalyptic setting". All the zones suffer from this lack of "planning" but the railroad location is the biggest exponent of this problem.
Although the conflict between the factions is a good idea and the overall plot of it is fun, it needs a bit more guidance to the player in terms of what he can and cannot do to resolve it.
The bomb sub plot is also a nice twist, but doesnt have any meaningful conclusion or impact, we should see the Atchinson leader's kid being blown to pieces as a dramatic plot focus, to either enable the player to convince the rebel leader of the pointlessness of the conflict or to drive him insane enough to motivate an all out attack (with player prodding). This is something that is lacking in the game throughout, more violent outcomes, more depressing outcomes, more post apocalyptic helplessness in face of all the shit that is going on. There should be an overbearing feeling of the end of the world in the game, with the comedy as a counterpoint to soften things from time to time, it just lacks "gravitas".
The drunkards and Junkie "sub plots" are practically non existent. Would be fun to do more with the illegal drug lab, including some nice references to Breaking Bad, make it a whole subplot.
Also, why have that big train around if your not going to use it in any way meaningful, for example, by helping the Atchinsons bomb it in a terrorist act.
The railroad bandit camp and the rebel village are also very undeveloped in terms of content, nothing meaningful besides the main quest progression. So much more can be done with a bandit base or a society in collapse with little more than children, old people and women.
. And no, I wasn't confronted by anyone at any point afterwords, I still had the option to give them the item, even though they had already moved from the cage, giving it to them did nothing.
) and whacked it to death.
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