Wasteland Wasteland 2 Thread - Director's Cut

Jasede · Oct 8, 2014

Oh, I noticed a lot of those. Shame I didn't keep track of them during the game.

Bubbles · Oct 8, 2014

Ovplain said:

A guy saying "uh" a lot to signal that he's lying. I'm glad these people are doing the PST sequel.

Visperas · Oct 8, 2014

sea Brother None Is there a patch coming to fix Hollywood quests? Are you working on that? I'm thinking about taking a break and go play something else until it's fixed.

Ovplain · Oct 8, 2014

These two probably shouldn't be giving the same reply to the 'Church Ecstatic' question or what.

Volourn · Oct 8, 2014

"Why are rail thieves on the world map around the prison area and red skorpions up near rail nomads?"

They're raiders raiding.

Shadenuat · Oct 8, 2014

Visperas said:
Anyonne having problems with the quests in hollywood? I think I've found a broken quests and apparently there's many more to be found.

Go for Peace ending. It's still weird at times but it works better than other endings.

eric__s · Oct 8, 2014

The more I find out about the various factions and sub-factions in Titan Canyon, the less I trust any of them. Found out some big secrets but I still can't gauge the motivations of anyone. That's something you don't see a lot of in games, not being able to trust people. I don't mean lying, because video game characters lie fairly frequently, but just not having any idea whether or not you've got the whole scoop even after you've dug further into it. I just don't know what's going on! There seem to be layers of lies and disinformation on all sides, or maybe I'm just reading too much into it. Anyway, I like it, there should be more of this in games. I'd imagine it was a nightmare to script, but this is a really interesting scenario.

eric__s · Oct 8, 2014

eric_s said:
The more I find out about the various factions and sub-factions in Titan Canyon, the less I trust any of them. Found out some big secrets but I still can't gauge the motivations of anyone. That's something you don't see a lot of in games, not being able to trust people. I don't mean lying, because video game characters lie fairly frequently, but just not having any idea whether or not you've got the whole scoop even after you've dug further into it. I just don't know what's going on! There seem to be layers of lies and disinformation on all sides, or maybe I'm just reading too much into it. Anyway, I like it, there should be more of this in games. I'd imagine it was a nightmare to script, but this is a really interesting scenario.

Also passing hemorrhoid-related dialogue checks and giving an NPC 150 year old Preparation H.

Cyberarmy · Oct 8, 2014

I'll buy that Preparation H. without a thought! Hemorrhoids is no laughing matter...

:butthurt:

Black · Oct 8, 2014

Oh yeah, sea one more thing that pisses me off. When I dialogue and you have a skill option (kiss hard or smartass) and you chose a different topic to talk about, sometimes the skill option disappears and you can never talk about it again.
Fix pls. I'll brofist.

Vault Dweller · Oct 8, 2014

eric_s said:
The more I find out about the various factions and sub-factions in Titan Canyon, the less I trust any of them. Found out some big secrets but I still can't gauge the motivations of anyone. That's something you don't see a lot of in games, not being able to trust people. I don't mean lying, because video game characters lie fairly frequently, but just not having any idea whether or not you've got the whole scoop even after you've dug further into it. I just don't know what's going on! There seem to be layers of lies and disinformation on all sides, or maybe I'm just reading too much into it. Anyway, I like it, there should be more of this in games. I'd imagine it was a nightmare to script, but this is a really interesting scenario.

It's a superb area overall. It starts deceptively simple, like something out of IWD2 but you soon realize how deep and complex it is (while staying deceptively simple).

The nuke scenario was nicely done too - there are no good options there. I saw people complaining about it because they felt cheated - WHERE IS MY GOOD PALADIN OPTION?!! - which was most amusing.

Darth Roxor · Oct 8, 2014

Titan Canyon is definitely the coolest location in the game (2nd probably being Angel Oracle), but I wish learning the truth about the monks' nuke was harder to find than just 'talk to father Enola -> agree to quest -> end dialogue'.

Also, there should be an option to return to the Canyon proper after

you disarm the nuke at the other silo

I wanna kill them DBMs dammit, I didn't hack all the turrets at their HQ just for fun you know

Jaesun · Oct 8, 2014

One of the dudes in #Fallout came across this and wanted to share:

Visperas · Oct 8, 2014

Darth Roxor said:
Titan Canyon is definitely the coolest location in the game (2nd probably being Angel Oracle), but I wish learning the truth about the monks' nuke was harder to find than just 'talk to father Enola -> agree to quest -> end dialogue'.

Also, there should be an option to return to the Canyon proper after

you disarm the nuke at the other silo

I wanna kill them DBMs dammit, I didn't hack all the turrets at their HQ just for fun you know

Exactly my feelings when I came back from Silo7.

Infinitron · Oct 8, 2014

Review roundup: http://wastelandrpg.tumblr.com/post/99498019286/wasteland-2-review-roundup-6

Wasteland 2 Review Roundup #6
A week’s worth of reviews in this round-up, putting us well over 160 in total.

GameFront, 88.

Wasteland 2 on the whole is filled with countless other moments like this, both big and small. Many of them also stray from the simplistic black and white moralities to which a lot of other modern games subscribe. A kind act can be just as disastrous as outright cruelty, and things are often much more complicated at the second glance than they seem at the first.

None of this is to suggest that the game is all darkness and cynicism. The writing is very much tinged with a dark and subtle humor that keeps the tone from ever dipping too far into despair. Even so, the experience overall is about deciding between and embracing lesser evils.

Gaming Trend, 85.

The combat system is another bit of success in the game, though with a particular caveat. The good news here is that the tactical turn-based system is implemented to great effect, with Action Points being the central resource all of the fighting really revolves around. Said points determine what actions you can take, how far you can move, and so on – nothing that’s really going to surprise anyone familiar with tactical turn based fighting (think X-com), but it’s well-implemented and intuitive. The combat can at times be punishing – not exactly something new to this genre, and the turn based tactical RPGs in particular seem to have more history with death being permanent than other genres do. The takeaway point here is that combat in Wasteland 2 can be demanding, even fatal – so plan accordingly and be ready to pay careful attention to the actual “tactics” part of this turn-based tactical RPG.

Outside of combat, dialogue – and yet more gameplay – abounds. There are skillchecks to pass, new areas to discover, and most enticingly of all, decisions to make. Not every decision is simply a matter of selecting one or another menu option either. Going back to talking about Wasteland 2’s world for a moment, I will be frank: I am not a person who is normally moved by the story and dialogue in the games I play. I have, perhaps, an unhealthy amount of cynicism about plot, and tend to play even RPGs more for the fun of exploration, loot and experiencing novel game mechanics. But Wasteland 2 more than once managed to place me in situations where I felt this “immersion” thing that so many other players love to talk about. Decisions were demanded of me that made me second-guess my earlier inclinations. Risky situations with actual meaningful choices demanded a response from me – and, against all odds, I actually felt invested in the experience, in the world itself. This takes skill and care to pull off, and the fact that I was wrapped up in the world of Wasteland 2 provokes high praise from me.

MMGN Australia, 8.5.

Thus, I begin with a warning to the I-want-it-now gamers of 2014: if you can’t patiently deal with audio dialogue playing or reading large chunks of story, stay away. To be frank, this RPG is one for lovers of the genre and for those who appreciate the importance of narrative in video games.

Is this a weakness? Absolutely not. It’s great to see games that understand what they’re all about and play to their strengths accordingly. Wasteland 2 is one such game, without doubt.

Entertainment Buddha, 85.

Combat in Wasteland 2 is turn-based, with plenty of weapons and customization options available helping to keep the combat fresh. There is always something to modify or clothing to swap out which can happen during your turn, as can passing items between inventories – which is a godsend when one of your characters has a spare weapon or grenade – just make sure that they are not too far away. As you would expect, different character classes have certain advantages in combat. Stance and cover play a big part during combat, influencing the outcome of your turn’s success. One of the best things about combat is that it can be initiated by the player first rather than wandering into an enemy’s line of sight, leading to some great tactical play. So you could, if you wanted to, set up your party crouching behind cover, some hiding waiting to ambush, some ready to fire immediately. Then you can take a shot with your sniper to gain a nice early hit and also the advantage of surprise, and it never fails to bring a wry smile to your face and satisfy the ‘gamer superiority complex’ we all suffer from.

Toronto Sun (QMI Agency).

An early example saw my crack squad of inept, uneducated fools staring down a tunnel filled with poison gas, with the only alternate path tantalizingly locked down to more competent adventurers. This left me with no choice but to send one of my hapless crew into the toxic mist to activate a manual override.

Fortunately, such desperate experiments can be mitigated by unrestricted saving and loading, and I leaned on the quick save feature during those opening missions. The game was so indifferent to my suffering in those initial few hours that on more than one occasion I was convinced that I had painted myself into a corner, and would have to just start over. As harrowing as that initial hazing was, I still enjoyed the terrifying responsibility of being in charge of my destiny, rather than being rewarded with success for just showing up.

Niche Gamer, 9.8.

You can especially see that Fallout magic in the small touches inXile made to Wasteland. Things like the random radio broadcasts that slowly give away tidbits of info about each faction or spooky sounds that get picked up when you start to walk into a barren area of the map. There’s a real feeling here that the people who were making this game were having genuine fun while doing so, and it shows.

Religious zealots singing as you walk by their church, advertisements from merchants trying to entice you as you get closer to their settlements…the ever present squawking from your ranger-issued radio is one of the coolest aspects of the game, and the one that does the best at making it feel like the world around you is alive.

Game Industry News, 4.5/5.

This being Wasteland, there is also a heavy emphasis on dialog, which adds to the heavy role-playing within the game. There is an overall main quest involving mysterious radio signals and a group of people who want to merge humans and robots, but also a myriad of side quests in the game that can become quite involving. How you decide to complete those quests, or fail to complete them, will contribute greatly to the developing story and also the ending of the game. And as the game makes painfully obvious in the first set of missions, you won’t be able to save everyone. It’s a huge wasteland and you are just one little squad, so do whatever good you can and try not to feel too bad as you listen to the death screams over the radio of the people you couldn’t help. It’s a rough world out there.

In addition to the standard dialog choices, there are also certain responses that you can choose if you have either the Smart Ass, Kiss Ass or Hard Ass skills high enough in level. If not, you will still see that the choices where there, but you won’t be able to select them. And anyway, doing so is not always the best option. As far as I could tell, every quest could be solved without using those knowledge-based skills, but you can earn bonuses or cut down on some serous leg work if you do, or sometimes craft a better outcome. Like the original game, you can also enter in your own responses in the form of keywords to manipulate certain quests. In those cases, not figuring out what that key word might be can lead to some disastrous results. The game does a fairly bad job of explaining this to players though, so if a quest or side-quest seems like it’s on rails (little hint there) and you can’t steer it toward a better result, then you are likely not entering a keyword at the right time. Both the keywords and the Ass skills can help, but the keyword entering is far more important, but also rarer.

GameCloud, 8.5
We The Nerdy, 8
God Is A Geek, 8
Mind Of The Geek, 4.3/5
Super Bunnyhop
Tech-Gaming, 88%
411Mania, 7.7
XTGN, 81%
Zed Games
The Northern Light, 4/5
Cliqist
Action Trip, 6.7
Redcoat Reviews
Skullbanger, 4/5
CHUD.com, 4/5
Frugal Gaming, 7
multiplayer.it, 8 (Italian)
Gamers.it, 4/5 (Italian)
SpazioGames.it, 8 (Italian)
Techtudo, 9.3 (Portuguese)
PC Master Race, 90% (Spanish)
Computer Oiger (German)
Game Love, 8 (French)
JeuxActu, 17/20 (French)
Polygamia (Polish)
onet.game, 7 (Polish)
antyweb (Polish)
Multigracz, 4.5/5 (Polish)
Games @ Mail.ru, 9 (Russian)
GameStalker (Dutch)
Eurogamer.nl, 7 (Dutch)
Gamer.nl, 9 (Dutch)
Eurogamer.cz, 8 (Czech)
cdr.cz, 8 (Czech)
Gamekapocs, 8.5 (Hungarian)
Gamer365, 8 (Hungarian)
Gamer.no, 8 (Norwegian)
GameReactor Danmark, 8 (Danish)
Aftonblad, 3/5 (Swedish)
Game2.0, 8 (Greek)
GameReactor Suomi, 8 (Greek)
Sector, 9.5 (Slovak)

Volourn · Oct 8, 2014

"Wow... Father Enola, who was a neatish character, just told my rangers "You suck!" in a terribly written dying breath conversation. The writing on this game feels like was done by 10 different guys; a lot of times it's okay, other times it's Fallout-grade, and then, way too often, it's fucking cringe-worthy.

"You suck!" indeed. It wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't totally out of character for that character."

I agree, actually. It got a chuckle out of me but it definitely seemed out of character. I'm sure they could have gotten a different character that it was more fitting for to get their laugh out of it.

"Also, there should be an option to return to the Canyon proper after"

Yeah, fukkin' missed out on a damn toaster.

"It's a superb area overall."

Agreed. I actually love the bigger areas. people get butthurt over Rails but it, too, has some awesomesauce role-playing and C&C.

Black · Oct 9, 2014

This time I sided with the MAD Monks because I decided that they clearly can't be any worse than DMB assholes.

Volourn · Oct 9, 2014

Uh. They let farmers be murdered in cold blood. They allow raiders to steal money as long as they have money. They worship a bomb that doesn't even work. FFS ARE YOU INSANE?!?

Shadenuat · Oct 9, 2014

In terms of gameplay there is no bad option there. Whichever side you pick you get extra NPCs to help you later bioware-style, and if you disarm bomb you don't get any I guess which is quite awesome since fighting with 10+ green NPCs in the end makes game drag for too long.
Well I guess with monks you get a wee bit more quests.

In terms of story all parties are too insane to make any level headed choice, but I did found one exit from situation:

side with DMB, maybe kill raiders in canyon, kill monks, disarm bomb

That won't create "Chaos" ending, there will be normal people in canyon and nobody gets the nuke.