Wasteland 2 - Matt Chat Video Review

Matt Barton posted a video review of Wasteland 2 for his next Matt Chat episode.

This week's Matt Chat is a review of Wasteland 2, a modern, Kickstarter-funded sequel to the 1988 Interplay classic.

Disclosure - Brian Fargo has long been a supporter of Matt Chat as an executive producer. He does not, however, have any direct control or influence over the show.

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More information.

"Disclosure - Brian Fargo has long been a supporter of Matt Chat as an executive producer. He does not, however, have any direct control or influence over the show."

…so indirect, 'strongly encouraging'-type of control and influence. Got it.

I put some time into Wasteland 2 this weekend. I am really enjoying the experience about 30 hours in.

ChaosTheory said:

"Disclosure - Brian Fargo has long been a supporter of Matt Chat as an executive producer. He does not, however, have any direct control or influence over the show."

…so indirect, 'strongly encouraging'-type of control and influence. Got it.

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Matt rarely goes into specifics of i.e. game mechanics - IOW, he doesn't put a spin on things. Add the low numbers of viewers he gets on his reviews (probably mostly hardcore RPG fans), and there's no reason to doubt his integrity.

The first half is more robust than the second. Even with the latest patch a lot of quests in the second half are borken.

Still, quite fun and worth the money I put up for it. It would be great if they could do more stuff using the engine.

BillSeurer said:

The first half is more robust than the second. Even with the latest patch a lot of quests in the second half are borken.

Still, quite fun and worth the money I put up for it. It would be great if they could do more stuff using the engine.

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I suppose that makes good sense considering the extra time in beta that the first half got. It's definitely got it's hooks in me right now. I am back working today and my mind is definitely being distracted by thoughts of the game. That doesn't happen to me with a lot of games, especially as I have gotten older.

I don't get a lot of the negative feedback I've read about combat. It might not have the same level of depth as some tactical combat games, but I definitely get a thrill by winning a previously failed battle after reloading and giving more thought to positioning.

I read the first half is worse but second is more buggy. I just got into the second one (after 50 hours) and stopped playing because of Alien Isolation. But since there seem to be still bugs I am hesitant to start playing again. Might wait a bit more and play through Ethan Carter and maybe Lords of the Fallen in the meantime.

Paul said:

I read the first half is worse but second is more buggy. I just got into the second one (after 50 hours) and stopped playing because of Alien Isolation. But since there seem to be still bugs I am hesitant to start playing again. Might wait a bit more and play through Ethan Carter and maybe Lords of the Fallen in the meantime.

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Yeah, no need to rush, I'll wait until they finish patching it up. It's still depressing that you have to wait 6 months or even sometimes close to a year before getting a version that is properly balanced.

Humanity has risen! said:

...a version that is properly balanced.

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Something I learned is that melee/brawling is basically useless except for battering down doors. Even at the end with the best weapons my melee guy sucked compared to my gun guys. If I replay I will just ignore that.

Will you get enough ammo if all guys go for guns?

BillSeurer said:

Something I learned is that melee/brawling is basically useless except for battering down doors. Even at the end with the best weapons my melee guy sucked compared to my gun guys. If I replay I will just ignore that.

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I'm still at the beginning but yeah, it seems you should stick to guns unless they rush you first. IMO melee weapons should at least have higher to hit chance - how hard can it be to hit someone with your fist when they're right in front of you?

BillSeurer said:

Something I learned is that melee/brawling is basically useless except for battering down doors. Even at the end with the best weapons my melee guy sucked compared to my gun guys. If I replay I will just ignore that.

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Honestly my guy with the knife doesn't seem that unbalanced. I would think it's worth it if only for variety's sake. And at least it saves on precious ammo.

BillSeurer said:

Something I learned is that melee/brawling is basically useless except for battering down doors. Even at the end with the best weapons my melee guy sucked compared to my gun guys. If I replay I will just ignore that.

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Wrong. Brawling is second only to Assault Rifles in damage output. And assault rifles really need a nerf, while blade and blunt needs a minor boost to be a viable alternative to brawling.

How are you liking the game tomasp3n?

Actually - I used melee weapons a lot early on - when I was concerned about conserving ammo (or money to pay for ammo). As the game went on, I found myself using the melee weapons (or brawling) less unless it was trivial fights, but even then I was glad I had 4-5 points in a melee skill per character.

Energy weapons as the game progressed (especially with more armored/robotic enemies) - that became my 'overpowered' skill. I had my doctor/medic character with a really nice energy weapon who just was blowing things away (doing 450ish a turn against heavily armored enemies).

Hastar said:

How are you liking the game tomasp3n?

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I love it. Bear in mind though that this is by far my favourite genre, as in turn based squad based RPG's. It's actually starting to push D:OS to the runner up position for GOTY in my book, but I haven't finished WL2 yet so it's not a certainty.

I think the writing is exellent, and especially the humour is much more to my taste than in D:OS, although I had nothing against it in D:OS either.

The combat could certainly be more fleshed out, I hope that's what they focus on for an eventual sequel. Charcter building could also use some love, perks and feats would be nice to make your characters feel more like individuals.

But all in all, after 80 hours spent (a couple of restarts, I'm not THAT slow), a very positive experience in my book.

Ammo is not scarce in this product as long as it is played as it is.
Usually ended with a surplus of ammo while taking most of the shots (including pot shots) since the predictive system is such a drain.
One sniper rifle, two ARs, one SMG/Pistol/ one energy weapon/one shotgun/one close combat expert (that ended as a liability)
More ammo that they could use.

ChienAboyeur said:

Ammo is not scarce in this product as long as it is played as it is.
Usually ended with a surplus of ammo while taking most of the shots (including pot shots) since the predictive system is such a drain.
One sniper rifle, two ARs, one SMG/Pistol/ one energy weapon/one shotgun/one close combat expert (that ended as a liability)
More ammo that they could use.

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Agreed, I've had no problem with ammo nor scrap. But I only play Seasoned difficulty.

I liked the game in the 20 or so hours I spent with it, but my passion for gaming kind of went cold and I haven't touched it since.

That said, it had some real nice things going for it. There was plenty of well-written dialog and every character you interacted with seemed to have their own personality and funny dialog style.

The combat is fun and smart as well, with a pretty great AP system in place. It's fun killing things and some of the encounters are really special. For fans of turn-based, squad-based combat, it really delivers.

The loot was fun, too. Finding Teddy Ruxpin dolls (lol), 7" vinyl records, etc., was pretty cool. I enjoyed the crafting aspects as well.

What really worked in Wasteland 2 was the sense of immersion and lack of real gamey-ness, if that makes sense. Obviously, you're playing a game, but it did a lot of things to pull you deeper into the experience. It really felt like you were exploring a wild, vast wasteland, and that every shot/swing of a bat, every piece of ammo, every dollar to your name counted for something and was important. That's what I really enjoyed about it.

Oh, and the skill implementation was a blast, too.

Overall, very good game, one that I will certainly revisit when my passion for gaming starts to burn again.

Glad you guys are having fun with it!

tomasp3n said:

Agreed, I've had no problem with ammo nor scrap. But I only play Seasoned difficulty.

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I thought as much. On Ranger and up, running up to people isn't really the best idea, wether you get 6 attacks per round via brawling or no.