Wasteland 2 - Review Roundup #1

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Well here are a batch of new reviews for the just released Wasteland 2. The good news is most of them are positive, but find a few problems with the game.

PC Gamer - 83/100

It took Brian Fargo 26 years to get to revisit the world of the Desert Rangers. It took a $3 million Kickstarter campaign to fund inXile’s initial development. And it took a welcome resurgence in complex computer role-playing games to make it all possible. Wasteland 2 lives up to its legacy. It’s a game that has come full circle—from inspiration for Interplay’s Fallout, to spiritual successor for that franchise’s roots. This wasteland is deep and dark and dangerous, and a great place to get lost in.
Eurogamer - 8/10

Wasteland 2 is a great sequel. It's very clearly made with love to be true to the original game while still learning from the games that followed. In going for something so unapologetically old-school it does sacrifice the ability to do anything new with the format, as Divinity: Original Sin managed to do in many ways; that game's flexibility does arguably make it the better of this year's two old-school, turn-based computer RPGs.
Rock, Paper, Shotgun - No Score

Wasteland 2 is formidable. The word ‘sprawling’ comes to mind but it’s not quite right. There’s a bit of sprawl, if such a thing as sprawl can happen in bits, but the game’s density is a more distinctive feature than its actual size. InXile’s Kickstarted RPG is a large game and rewards repeated playthroughs with previously unseen content, but it’s the sheer quantity of stuff that has astonished and occasionally overwhelmed me.
Digital Spy - 4/5

Wasteland 2 might be daunting to newcomers, then, but its a sequel that successfully captures the strategic depth and black humor of the original. Brian Fargo and his team at InXile have delivered a quintessential role-playing experience with infinite possibilities.
Pixeldynamo - 8.9/10

Those expecting Fallout 4 will be disappointed, although they only really have their own delusional misconceptions to blame. Wasteland 2 is a truly excellent top-down, turn-based tactical RPG, just like it promised to be.
Strategy Informer -7.5/10

There's a level of roughness here that I couldn't help but be a little disappointed by after such a long development time. For every smartly written sequence with vibrant locations and characters, there's an aimless fetch quest or an overlong combat section. Oddly enough, despite the content added in Wasteland 2's extra year of production, I think the game could have benefited from being cut down, edited to emphasise the best bits and get rid of some of the clutter. I like Wasteland 2, I really do, but I can't help but think it's not quite the masterpiece we were promised
Alos as a bonus InXile Entertainment is holding a new AMA today.

We are the leads on Wasteland 2 (currently the #1 PC game), the godfather of the post-apocalyptic fallout series. Brian Fargo, Matt Findley and Chris Keenan here to discuss all things crowdfunding, game-making, and escaping the grasp of publishers.
More information.
 
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After having played the release-version for about 3 hours now, I can safely say I´m gonna love this game. It has all the same magic that the original fallout-games had, just with better graphics and rotatable/zoomable camera.
 
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After having played the release-version for about 3 hours now, I can safely say I´m gonna love this game. It has all the same magic that the original fallout-games had, just with better graphics and rotatable/zoomable camera.

I know, right? I've been staring slack-jawed at this game since it went full release, I didn't think they could make them like this anymore.
 
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7 hours into the game -> major fun! I can't stop playing...
 
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Thanks for updates, guys. This is great to hear. Personally, I'm going to hold off for a few months before playing, so that the devs can fix any wrinkles.
 
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I'm traveling this week but will be home early tomorrow and my wife has already made sure it was installed and ready for when I get home, 'cause she's good like that. After about 4 hours with the pre-release, I am SOOOO psyched to play the release version. A true return to the Wasteland at last!
 
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Thanks for updates, guys. This is great to hear. Personally, I'm going to hold off for a few months before playing, so that the devs can fix any wrinkles.

It's been in early access for months, which is like having a long public beta. there aren't going to be all that many wrinkles to be fixed. No piece of complex software is ever entirely bug or issue free.
 
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It's been in early access for months, which is like having a long public beta. there aren't going to be all that many wrinkles to be fixed. No piece of complex software is ever entirely bug or issue free.

Considering the reports of v-sync related screen-tearing and GPU overheating (which should have been pretty obvious issues), I'd say that there are still some wrinkles to be ironed out. Furthermore, the beta did not encompass a good portion of the later game areas, so I expect lots of bugs to be found there.

I'm well aware of the nature of software development (I do this for a living), but I have a huge backlog, so I can certainly afford to be patient. Furthermore, it will also give them a chance to patch in additional features (perks, traits, etc.), if they are so inclined. That being said, I am very much looking forward to playing the game. :)
 
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Nice to see such nice reviews. I'm playing it and loving it too, although like many others I would have liked a perk system, if well done it makes leveling so much more fun and your party members feel more unique. I have serious doubts it will even be in this game though, that sounds like WAY to much work (not just adding perks, but making it reasonably balanced and fun). I just hope they make shitloads of money from this, and then even more from Torment, then we'll get Wasteland 3 and Torment 2…God how I love this year. First D:OS and now this both getting great reviews, and PoE will hopefully deliver yet another great RPG experience.

To all the people who said nothing good will come out of Kickstarter? Your loss, all my greatest gaming experiences of the last year has been Kickstarted projects. And hopefully they'll just keep coming, I know I'll keep pledging.
 
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Here's what Fargo said on perks in this AMA

With every game I have ever worked on there have been things that I wanted it. It's always painful to ship any game knowing that it could always be better. I really wanted perks and traits but now with games staying live after ship we will plan to revisit adding a number of things. One of the areas that I designed for the game was dropped due to production and of course I had great affinity for it. It was an area in which Ronald Reagan had become a deity.. kind of like real life actually.

... and Chris Keenan on development cost and sales...

The game cost us around 5 million to create, all said and done. We raised just over 3 million between Kickstarter and paypal during our drive, then had some residual and early access sales. Brian put a chunk of his own cash into it as he wanted to get it right.
We don't need HUGE sales to be a success. One of the benefits of being a small to mid size dev team is we don't need to sell 5 million units to break even.



... more on budget and sales from Matt Findley...


We did spend a lot more than we raised on Kickstarter, so sales have some importance to us. Also, the better Wasteland 2 does the easier it is for us to keep making games like this well into the future. It also keeps me from ever having to go to another publisher pitch meeting again, which would be nice...



... Fargo on FO comparisons and new concepts...

Indeed there is a difficult pressure on bringing back classics in any way. Even with Wasteland we can't help but to get compared to Fallout (or people's memories of the game) each step of the way. I just try to stay focused on the sensibilities that I believe important and let the chips fall where they may. But to answer your question, yes there are new ideas that I want to explore also. Another great part about the way we are set up is that we have no pressure to hurry and work on a Wasteland 3. We'll take our time and do something when the ideas and feelings are right.

... interestingly Chris Keenan is not totally ruling out a console port (PS4)...

We have been so focused on getting the PC, Mac and Linux versions ready for launch that we haven't put any thoughts into a port yet. Of course, we are using Unity which is quite flexibile. Once things settle down a touch, we will figure out what's next for us.


And lots more. It's a very interesting read for sure. They are also planning on supporting the game in a similar fashion as D:OS with lots of patches, fixes, tweaks and content coming up. Sounds promising.
 
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I'm happy to hear that perks might make it in at some point. That's just more incentive for me to wait a bit to play it, especially if they go the route that Divinity Original Sin took. Feel free to make it better for me!

It is tempting to hit the play switch every time I see it on the steam load up......
 
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Here's what Fargo said on perks in this AMA
It's the same link I posted in the news-bit. I just didn't post quotes from the AMA. As for me I only played the game for a few hours, and I like what I see.
 
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It's the same link I posted in the news-bit. I just didn't post quotes from the AMA.

Well, it's extremely long due to all the user comments so I figured it might be helpful to copy some snips on topics that were debated in this thread since apparently not everyone felt inclined to sift through it all :) .
 
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I'm happy to hear that perks might make it in at some point. That's just more incentive for me to wait a bit to play it, especially if they go the route that Divinity Original Sin took. Feel free to make it better for me!

It is tempting to hit the play switch every time I see it on the steam load up……

I know the feeling. If it's anywhere near as good as Original Sin, then you won't be able to stop playing once you start. I remember thinking that I would give that game a brief test. Well…that "test" turned into a 12 hour binge.
 
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With every game I have ever worked on there have been things that I wanted it. It's always painful to ship any game knowing that it could always be better. I really wanted perks and traits but now with games staying live after ship we will plan to revisit adding a number of things. One of the areas that I designed for the game was dropped due to production and of course I had great affinity for it. It was an area in which Ronald Reagan had become a deity.. kind of like real life actually.


And lots more. It's a very interesting read for sure. They are also planning on supporting the game in a similar fashion as D:OS with lots of patches, fixes, tweaks and content coming up. Sounds promising.

Sounds really great !! Makes me happy :)
 
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I'm hearing a lot about the combat being somewhat average and kinda boring, and many of the locations feel like a grind to get through.

I'm not sure what to make of that, and I'm trying to figure out what the best parts of the game are.

My time with the beta told me much the same, and I don't feel inspired to start delving into it. I kinda need some motivation.

If we look past that it's "delightfully" old-school and all that, WHAT part of the gameplay is great?

I'd love to hear some Watch members comment on that.
 
Tried it, it's boring. The combat is extremely boring and the quests appear to be repetitive (and boring), at least untill the point I had enough patience to spare with Wasteland 2. After a couple of hours I moved on. I would say, just don't get past the "deligthfully" old-schoolness, because it's all there is to it. I would rather play Shadowrun and I hate the silly cyberpunk meets fantasy setting...
 
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Tried it, it's boring. The combat is extremely boring and the quests appear to be repetitive (and boring), at least untill the point I had enough patience to spare with Wasteland 2. After a couple of hours I moved on. I would say, just don't get past the "deligthfully" old-schoolness, because it's all there is to it. I would rather play Shadowrun and I hate the silly cyberpunk meets fantasy setting…

That was my experience as well, but - like you - I didn't give it much attention. Some games take a while to open up, and that's why I'd love to hear from the fans.
 
Tried it, it's boring. The combat is extremely boring and the quests appear to be repetitive (and boring), at least untill the point I had enough patience to spare with Wasteland 2. After a couple of hours I moved on. I would say, just don't get past the "deligthfully" old-schoolness, because it's all there is to it. I would rather play Shadowrun and I hate the silly cyberpunk meets fantasy setting…

Boring... Shooting shit, blowing shit up, yeah, it's real boring. NOT ;)

I've waited 25 years for a sequel, it's been worth the wait. This games about investment, both time and patience. Not prepared to put anything into it, expect to get nothing out of it. A couple of hours... please, and you call yourself an RPG aficionado, jog on mate.
 
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Boring… Shooting shit, blowing shit up, yeah, it's real boring. NOT ;)

I've waited 25 years for a sequel, it's been worth the wait. This games about investment, both time and patience. Not prepared to put anything into it, expect to get nothing out of it. A couple of hours… please, and you call yourself an RPG aficionado, jog on mate.

Shoothing shit and blowing things up are not what I would have expected to be mentioned from a Watch member as the fun parts of WL2.

So the game gets fun if you keep playing?

So all these early impressions around here by people who played 2-3 hours and love it are, essentially, hallucinating?
 
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