Wasteland

[Carlos' Bitch1]

Yes, I've read the manual - twice, but I ain't got no VISA card...

Perhaps one of the rail nomads might have one...

 

[octavius]

Yes, I've read the manual - twice, but I ain't got no VISA card...

Perhaps one of the rail nomads might have one...

Good, that was my next stop anyway.
I visitied the camp earlier, but had no snake squeezins for the hobo, and the random encounters were significantly harder than in Highpool, AGT and Quartz, so I decided to make a tactical retreat. But now we all have better weapons, bullet proof vests and even a kevlar vest.

 

[Awor Szurkrarz]

I have decreased the amount of random encounters in my copy of Wasteland.

 

[octavius]

I have decreased the amount of random encounters in my copy of Wasteland.

How did you do that?

BTW, why is it harder to hit with an M19 Rifle when you have skill 1 in Rifle than with pistol or revolver when having skill 1 in Clip Pistol skill? Realistically it should be the other way around.

 

[Awor Szurkrarz]

I have decreased the amount of random encounters in my copy of Wasteland.

How did you do that?

I edited map files using this:

http://www.ailis.de/~k/projects/wlandsuite/index.html

 

[octavius]

Is there any point in choosing Rifle skill in this game at all?
I'm using the pregenrated characters, and Snake Vargas is the only one starting with Rifle skill. I bought an M19 to him and he hits like one out of 20 times. He's never improved his skill either. Not even ACE with skill 2 in Rifles hits much. But they have no problems hitting with handguns.
Hell Razor started with skill 1 in SMG, so I gave him the Uzi we found in Quartz. He mowes down the enemies like they were invalids and quickly gained skill level 2.

So far the Uzi is overwhelmingly the most useful weapon (not counting grenades), with brawling weapons (knives, crowbars and such) being the second best, since we get two attacks per round and each attack does as much damage as a handgun or (if they hit) a rifle.

Also, it seems rather silly that combat initiative for my own party is determined by their number in the roster, with number one going first, then number two and so on, instead of being based on speed, agility, skill and/or type of weapon.

Oh well, maybe I'm expecting too much of a game that is heralded as one of the all time greatest CRPGs?

 

[Admiral jimbob]

Rifles are useless, just use SMGs/brawling until you get assault rifles.

 

[Awor Szurkrarz]

Is there any point in choosing Rifle skill in this game at all?
I'm using the pregenrated characters, and Snake Vargas is the only one starting with Rifle skill. I bought an M19 to him and he hits like one out of 20 times. He's never improved his skill either. Not even ACE with skill 2 in Rifles hits much. But they have no problems hitting with handguns.

That's weird. I remember switching to rifles and being satisfied with their effectiveness.

 

[octavius]

How excactly does a geirger counter work?
Do I need to equip it for it to work?

 

[MisterStone]

I can't remember if you need to equip it or not, but I believe that the game will actually make a geiger counter sound effect when you get near radiation, and the meter thingy on the right side of the screen will show what the level of radiation is. Also IIRC at night you can see rad symbols on the world map where the radiation is really strong!

 

[Renegen]

If there any way to play Wasteland with the full text? I believe that some storytelling is skipped completely because it exists in the game's manual. I really want to give the game a try.

 

[Overboard]

Go download the manual then!

 

[Daemongar]

Oh well, maybe I'm expecting too much of a game that came out 25 years ago and was designed for four 170k disks which is heralded as one of the all time greatest CRPGs?

Changed it, but you got to understand that while they could have implemented fancy fighting features, most RPGs were based off of Dungeons & Dragons initiative which was pretty simple and servicable. Wasteland is more like the Bard's Tale in that respect. However, according to the Wasteland manual, all missle fire is simultainious, so all shooting is considered to be at the same time, which was advanced for the time.

 

[JaySn]

If there any way to play Wasteland with the full text? I believe that some storytelling is skipped completely because it exists in the game's manual. I really want to give the game a try.

Go to google, type abandoia wasteland. Seek the Extras section. Once found, click on Manual.

Glorious is the PDF you've found, Seeker.

 

[octavius]

I've run into a litte problem with the Geiger Counter - the meter on the right hand side of the screen is still working, but the radioactivity symbols no longer appear. Is this a feature or a bug?

I've just explored most of Needles and all that is left is the club where I need a password and the chess board game inside the Temple of Blood. Is there any in-game hints as to what is the sacred path?
And should I know the password the club by now? I've found that its easy to miss things in this game...

Oh well, maybe I'm expecting too much of a game that came out 25 years ago and was designed for four 170k disks which is heralded as one of the all time greatest CRPGs?

Changed it, but you got to understand that while they could have implemented fancy fighting features, most RPGs were based off of Dungeons & Dragons initiative which was pretty simple and servicable. Wasteland is more like the Bard's Tale in that respect. However, according to the Wasteland manual, all missle fire is simultainious, so all shooting is considered to be at the same time, which was advanced for the time.

I like the idea of simultaneous fire, but the actual game mechanic is a bit too simplistic IMO, since all enemies always get a shot, and your own guys won't fire if if the other party members have killed their target in the same round. But you've got a point in that it may be unfair to critisize such an old game too much.
As I see it the only CRPG that was better at the time on its release in 1988 was Dungeon Master, while Wasteland is at least on par with Ultima IV and Might&Magic 1, and definitely better than the Bard's Tale games.

 

[octavius]

Is there any point in holding on to the Howitzer shells? Or can they be used other places than in Needles?


And what the hell is up with this?

`The pit boss sends a stream of brown saliva from between his front teeth
to the tip of your boots. He slowly sucks on the tobacco pocketed between his
cheek and gum as he continues to eye you. Working a nger into his mouth,
he scoots the chew around and nally breaks the silence. \See Crumb, the
manager," he says with a long drawl.

\Hi. They call me Crumb," he says with a nod of his head. After he
exchanges handshakes with everybody, he tells you \See Faran Brygo. He's my
boss. Be sure to use the password KESTREL." As you leave, he yells, \Tell him
I sent you!"

Should I be surprised if there is a flattering description of Faran Brygo, written by Bryan Fargo, when I find him? :D

 

[MisterStone]

Hey bro, the rad symbols only appear at night, because that's when you can see the glow apparently. Back in the 1980s this was pretty obvious to anxious kids afraid of nuclear war, perhaps not so much now.

 

[octavius]

Hey bro, the rad symbols only appear at night, because that's when you can see the glow apparently. Back in the 1980s this was pretty obvious to anxious kids afraid of nuclear war, perhaps not so much now.

Heh, never though that time was a factor, since there is never any other signs of a day/night cycle.
But thanks for the info.

 

[Daemongar]

Is there any point in holding on to the Howitzer shells? Or can they be used other places than in Needles?

Use them to blow up the accordian player playing "Lady of Spain". Other than that using the howitzer may raise your explosives skill, if you have it.

 

[MisterStone]

I seem to recall the shells can be used as conventional explosives to blow open doors, etc. but that could be a faulty memory. I think using it to beef up your explosive skill is probably a better use, since there's plenty of other stuff out there that can blow doors for you.

 

[Admiral jimbob]

Don't think you can use them as a conventional explosive, they're only good for training explosives with the howitzer and hilariously blowing up the hot dog stand.

 

[Winter Ale]

Is pugilism really useless?

One serious problem Wasteland has is that a lot of skills are useless- in particular combat skills. IIRC there are skills such as knife throwing, pugilism, etc. that are almost useless. I think the only melee skill anyone needs in that game is brawling, which lets you use all manner of objects (except knives I believe) as weapons, including some high tech melee weapons.


Probably, but as a comment for our new Wasteland player --
It's possible to recycle a party that gets all the way through the game back to the start. Care to munchkin it the next time?

I remember it being oddly satisfying to have my guys run up to the Scorpitron and just slaughter it... using Puglisim.

Make your guys godlike, and the skill's perfectly good

 

[Teepo]

Sure the combat is somewhat simple but the game still sounds more complicated and professional than anything I can imagine today.

I have\had dosbox but I forgot the commands and I'm not sure Wastelands will work even with dosbox.


It sounds like someone really liked D&D and wanted to make an original game for the computer. Just like the motivations of Bethesda. They just want to make an original game.

Two more things:

1. Why does pugilism suck? It's kickboxing, it should be awesome.

2. Wasteland versus Fallout 3?

 

[Gregz]

Sure the combat is somewhat simple but the game still sounds more complicated and professional than anything I can imagine today.

I've never really understood this criticism. I vastly preferred combat of the Bard's Tale/Wasteland design to that of PoR or others of the period. I enjoy a good micromanaged tactical RPG like JA2, ToEE or KoC on occassion, but when you want to power through enemies for loot and xp it makes for fast and exciting combat. Also, during a difficult encounter you can slow the text scrolling down and make careful individual decisions. One party member applies medic skill, another equips a flamethrower, another reloads etc. It can make combat pretty gritty when half of your party is unconscious and bleeding by the end. I also love the descriptive deaths "explodes like a blood sausage" etc., they leave a lot of room for player imagination...something that's become a lost art. Anyway, I'm probably biased because I grew up playing these. But I remember preferring Wasteland's combat system over Ultima, PoR, Dungeon Master etc. at the time (even though I still loved those games).

I have\had dosbox but I forgot the commands and I'm not sure Wastelands will work even with dosbox.

Use Dfend (dosbox front end) and you don't need to remember commands, very handy.

http://dfendreloaded.sourceforge.net/

Why does pugilism suck? It's kickboxing, it should be awesome.

Mostly because there is no 'monk' class or equivalent. At the start of the game fighting with your hands is about as effective as other melee weapons. Towards the end of the game however, when you are wielding chainsaws or proton axes they are vastly more damaging, and the pugilism skill only applies to fighting with bare hands.

Wasteland versus Fallout 3?

Really no contest here, Wasteland is superior in every measure except polygon count. To be fair however, they are very different games. Wasteland is much closer to Fallout I/II, in that it's very RPG heavy. Fallout 3 is an adventure shooter with some RPG elements, i.e. Oblivion in a post apocalyptic setting.

 

[BLOBERT]

BROS I FORGET SOMETIMES HOW MUCH I LOVED WASTELAND WHEN I GREW UP WHEN FALLOUT CAME OUT I WASNT FOLLOWING PC GAMING AND I BOUGHT IT JUST FROM THE REFERNCES TO WASTELAND ON THE BOX LOLOLOLOL I WAS YOUNG AND NAIVE