Finished Wasteland 2 and am somewhat disappointed

There is nothing wrong with Wasteland 2. It's ticking all the classic RPG boxes, has a fun combat system and generally good quest design.

What struck me after I finished it is how by-the-numbers it is. It is a box-ticking exercise. I don't see much inspiration in this product. Over dozens of hours I have seen or done little I have never seen before. I was also surprised that the story provided nothing that was interesting.

What I don't understand is that the game is clearly targeted at RPG fans who played many of the classics, don't mind or even don't want a cinematic experience and have a bit of patience to interact with a UI which is a bit clumsy for today's standards. These people have played the Fallouts and other gems. I personally have encountered many dozens of post-apocalyptic societies and groups, have been in a lot of ruins and solved a lot of different quests. I don't understand why there was no attempt to stimulate the target audience in any interesting way, why "more of the same" was considered passable.

In all Fallouts I could feel how much the developers loved their product. I am pretty sure that the Wasteland 2 devs had their heart in it, but this is not something I felt while clicking from one standard dialogue to the next and encountering yet another location I have seem a couple of times before in other games.

I don't know. Perhaps I am just getting tired of the genre. On the other hand I do look forward to whatever Bethesda is doing next with Fallout. For all the flaws and terrible balancing, Fallout 3 provided a lot of new experiences and New Vegas was a great follow-up thanks to Obsidian getting obsessed with post-apocalyptic politics.

My final point is more an observation than a piece of criticism: many RPGs, includsing Wasteland 2, provide a very American perspective of interacting with the world: I need some kind of resource and therefore engage a different society. The society has larger issues and several groups struggling for control. I listen to all the sides and pick one to take control of the society providing I get the resources that I need. I know that this type of quest carries with it a lot of potential for interesting stories, but it is striking how often I encounter it co0nsidering how many alternatives there are.

I was let down by the fact that they didnt really do much with the combat. It feels... shallow.

W2 didn't do it for me either, but I can't place my finger on where it failed. I just got bored. It seemed to be mostly a combat game, but the loot was uninteresting. There wasn't enough non-combat stuff to do might be the best I can get. I dropped it and then went and played FNV and Fallout 3.

FNV has better companions and dialogue but it fails in level design and it is barren compared to the Capital Wasteland. I played FNV several hours and then hopped over to Fallout 3. I got a couple of mods that will give me some companions but I haven't met either gal yet. I think they're in Rivet City.

I've been following Crow's caravan as he makes his rounds and helping keep his goods protected. When he stops outside of a place for a day, I go in and do a few quests until he starts moving off again. This has been a fun way to play the game, though the walking gets old It is fun being the scout in front of his caravan. If I see enemies on the pipboy, I'll take a potshot at them and then the caravan guard will come up and we'll take care of business. She found a flamer somewhere and now she's a danger to Crow

The combat in Wasteland Two was lackluster for sure. I had fun playing it, I certainly enjoyed it, but in many ways the combat was really lacking. With all the random encounters in the game, this should NOT have been the weak spot. Perks would have helped, heck, any additional variety whatsoever would have helped.

I think combat had a lot of very neat features which, as a combination, make it quite complex for an RPG. Crouching, taking cover, destructable cover, headshots, damage cone adjustment for shotguns, skill use during combat (including reprogramming robots! etc.

Unfortunately the encounters and AI don't do the system judgment. I have seen plenty of enemies, including snipers, rush out of their cover heading straight towards me. Further, maps generally did not support the cover system very well, but that may have been me playing it wrong.

I agree that many encounters were too similar.

Overall I liked the combat, and some encounters were *very* good.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who got bored by this game. Very dissapointed as I love my post-apocalyptic kick. I stopped playing after 1 hour but I assume Ill be back into the game in a while.

crpgnut said:

I've been following Crow's caravan as he makes his rounds and helping keep his goods protected. When he stops outside of a place for a day, I go in and do a few quests until he starts moving off again. This has been a fun way to play the game, though the walking gets old It is fun being the scout in front of his caravan. If I see enemies on the pipboy, I'll take a potshot at them and then the caravan guard will come up and we'll take care of business. She found a flamer somewhere and now she's a danger to Crow

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Oddly enough, I was playing FO3 last night and ran into a Behemoth. Normally, no problem, but playing with FWE + Mart's + my own patch, these things are an absolute bullet sponge... and ammo is scarce and expensive. Out of nowhere, a couple of Lucky Harith's caravan guards come help me. Was pretty awesome

Unfortunately, I have no comparison for Wasteland II as I have yet to receive my copy in the mail...

I'm enjoying it but I agree with your assessment. It does seem lacking. The dialog is repetitive and uninspired. I seem to be asking the same questions to multiple people and getting the same answer. The story is adequate but not gripping.

It is primarily a combat game and I personally think the combat is fine. In fact I was wondering if there are other games that have a similar turn based combat, perhaps a WW2 game or something (not including Xcom and Silent Storm). Do you guys know of any?

human_male said:

I'm enjoying it but I agree with your assessment. It does seem lacking. The dialog is repetitive and uninspired. I seem to be asking the same questions to multiple people and getting the same answer. The story is adequate but not gripping.

It is primarily a combat game and I personally think the combat is fine. In fact I was wondering if there are other games that have a similar turn based combat, perhaps a WW2 game or something (not including Xcom and Silent Storm). Do you guys know of any?

Click to expand...

Our game isn't out yet but you can check out the demo. It's called Graywalkers Purgatory. It's also a post-apocalyptic game but with a supernatural twist. Our Kickstarter just got funded with 60 hours more to go. You can get the demo here: http://graywalkers.com/Demo.html and check out the ks page here: http://goo.gl/PBU8b2

Let us know your feedback for the demo also if possible. Thanks!

Grandor Dragon said:

There is nothing wrong with Wasteland 2. It's ticking all the classic RPG boxes,

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The product might be the result of ticking boxes...

I gave it a good 20 hrs before telling myself theres no fun from opening boxes n watching timers fill up. Combat is uninspired, char building is bland, story forgrttable. 20 wasted gbs.

While W2 isn't bad, I'm very glad that I didn't back this on kickstarter. This game just isn't worthy of the money received. This could have been made by any indie dev and be just as good and maybe better. I was expecting much more passion in this game, instead of a paint by numbers experience.

Maybe they tried their best and they're just not that good anymore. Game development has moved lightyears from when Fargo last developed a Wasteland game.

I'm satisfied with the game considering the relatively small budget it was made with. Good game, but nothing spectacular.

Btw, hi all

Hello!

I finished the game on "seasond" Difficulty last night, started immediately with a new Group on "Ranger" Difficulty, but stopped playing at the first decision. I guess I wait a long while before I continue playing.

The Game is good but not great. I got my moneys worth, and that's more then I usually get

Flying Dutchman said:

I'm satisfied with the game considering the relatively small budget it was made with. Good game, but nothing spectacular.

Btw, hi all

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Sweet, I am a huge Dutch soccer fan. They better start playing better in the Euro qualifying. That Iceland game was ugly. Though it is hard to root against Iceland in anything unless you lived in a small coastal village in the 900's.