Wasteland 3 - Final Countdown

An update for Wasteland 3 reveals more improvements such as the implementation of crouch and a better user interface.

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Looks like we made it! Here we are in the final stretch before Wasteland 3's release on August 28. It's been a long haul since our introduction of Wasteland 3's Fig campaign back in 2016, all the way up through this year.

2020 has not been without its challenges, not the least of which for us was the introduction of working from home and a subsequent delay from our previous release date. It was a daunting prospect filled with unknowns, but the team rallied, and we quickly adapted to these new complexities. The extension on release also offered us more time to consider the feedback from the Beta and to implement much needed polish, general refinements, and focus on additional elements. We shared some of those in our last update, and we have a few more for you.

Let's get down to it.

Tactical Combat Option: Crouch

You asked for it. We did it. Feedback from the Beta overwhelmingly called out that the absence of crouch made players feel less in control of the tactical options they expected in isometric turn-based combat. In addition to the tactical abilities that characters had control over in the Beta, they will now be able to improve their hit chance, evasion, and detection time when crouching.

Wasteland 3 already had a deep combat system that we think players will be learning to master for quite some time, but we were happy to act on Beta feedback and get this feature in before launch. Crouch is always accessible from the action bar.

UI & You and I

In our previously mentioned update we teased some of the newly-minted options in the UI, including the ability to toggle custom armor visuals, as well as the addition of the much coveted 'sell junk' option. Along with those, we're happy to announce that the merchant interface has also been overhauled and improved. Each individual character will now be able to be selected while you're browsing a store's wares, to make for easier comparison and identification of necessary gear.

We've also implemented a minimap to help you locate nearby points of interest and vendors. This won't take the place of the existing map, but will give you an always-available means of identifying where you're at in the world. For those who prefer less clutter in their lives and on their screen, there's an option to disable the minimap if you so desire.

Posthumous Permadeath

A few of the more hardcore among you have asked us for permadeath in Wasteland 3. We actually went back and forth quite a bit on this as an option, mainly because we knew the amount of development work it would need. When you can welcome story critical NPCs into your party, and approach the game content in essentially any order, and those critical story NPCs can permanently die from anywhere in the story… it's a lot to account for. So, we are working on permadeath, but because of the additional effort, this is going to be a post-launch feature we'll patch in for the hardcore among you for your second or third playthroughs.

The Final Countdown

As you've no doubt seen, the Wasteland 3 Collector's Edition was finally released into the wild. In particular, we were very fortunate to see CohhCarnage spend some time digging into this delectably radioactive treat (not actually radioactive).

We've really enjoyed seeing everyone's reactions on social media when they realize how much we upgraded the Collector's Edition (thank you Microsoft!) from what our original backer page had promised. It was a labor of love, and serves as a huge thanks to you, our backers, as we would not be where we are without you.

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More information.

Quit teasing us already…Sigh can't wait to play this.

do doo dooo… do do do doo dooooo… du-du doo doooo

Every time.



Possibly the title I've most been looking forward to this year. I still need to replay #2.


edit: 5000 POSTS, JDR I'M COMING FOR YOU

I'm glad this will be on Gamepass

Originally Posted by yemeth
I'm glad this will be on Gamepass

On a not-so-unrelated note, I'm glad Crusader Kings III will be on XBOX PC Game Pass as well

Looks good, but after WL2 disappointment, I'll wait on a sale for bugfix/polish and try for now one the alternatives releasing also on the 27/28 this month (ie, Dungeons of Nahuelbeuk and Immortal Realms: Vampire Wars).

I'll check this one out, since it ought to be the most technologically advanced. But seeing that inXile was NOT able to do a really enjoyable game in its first two iterations, then logic dictates, why the hell would they be able to do it right the Third Time?
Charm?

Just received my CE and I must say… it is great!

So much better than CE for WL2 which was a total disappointment.

I will not be playing it on launch date, as I am currently deep into Morrowind playthrough, but will start it as soon as I finish it.

Damnit. This looks great but it won't run on my pc. Very jealous!

Originally Posted by Nereida
Looks good, but after WL2 disappointment, I'll wait on a sale for bugfix/polish and try for now one the alternatives releasing also on the 27/28 this month (ie, Dungeons of Nahuelbeuk and Immortal Realms: Vampire Wars).

I started playing Wasteland 2 back when it was released, then stopped playing it for a reason I just can't remember why now and then returned to it when the Director's Cut got released. I enjoyed my gameplay and I never understood why so many people here didn't. Of course it has some weak parts (specially near the final) but even so I wouldn't say I didn't like it.

As for the other games you've mentioned, I've already pre-purchased Immortal Realms and I'm expecting it to be relased to give it a try. It seems promising

Wasteland 2 Director's Cut was good, but underwhelming. It wasn't the masterpiece everyone was expecting / hoping for. I think the exact same comments also apply to Torment: Tides of Numenera. I haven't played Bard's Tale IV yet, so dunno about that one. But there's good reasons to be wary of inXile hype.

I had a great time with Wasteland 2, although I only played the Directors Cut so I was lucky enough to miss out on the earlier bugs. It had a few problems here and there but overall I thought it was solid. What they've shown of part 3 so far looks good I think. Seems reasonable that some people are hyped to me. Can understand why you might not be of course, especially if you haven't enjoyed their other games (I haven't played either Torment or BT4 yet).

Originally Posted by Stingray
Wasteland 2 Director's Cut was good, but underwhelming. It wasn't the masterpiece everyone was expecting / hoping for. I think the exact same comments also apply to Torment: Tides of Numenera. I haven't played Bard's Tale IV yet, so dunno about that one. But there's good reasons to be wary of inXile hype.

So you were hoping for a masterpiece? A tight-budgeted game?

Originally Posted by Pongo
I had a great time with Wasteland 2, although I only played the Directors Cut so I was lucky enough to miss out on the earlier bugs. It had a few problems here and there but overall I thought it was solid. What they've shown of part 3 so far looks good I think. Seems reasonable that some people are hyped to me. Can understand why you might not be of course, especially if you haven't enjoyed their other games (I haven't played either Torment or BT4 yet).

I enjoyed the two I played, just saying they weren't the masterpieces of classic RPGdom that everyone hoped they were gonna be. Other companies like Obsidian, Larian, and Owlcat did a much better job.

Originally Posted by henriquejr
So you were hoping for a masterpiece? A tight-budgeted game?

Wasteland 2 budget was roughly $6M according to Fargo. That isn't all that tight, for what it is.

Originally Posted by Stingray
Wasteland 2 budget was roughly $6M according to Fargo. That isn't all that tight, for what it is.

For a studio based in California? It's a miracle the game saw the light of day.

The only problem I had with Wasteland 2 was the memory leaks, and the companions disappearing that happened in the Director's Cut version. For all that I enjoyed the game.

Wastelands 3 looks to be vastly improved given it was delayed so long.

Edit: Wait I also hated how they removed or changed a few quests in the DC edition.

I enjoyed WL2 overall but never finished it. I didn't have ridiculously high expectations and found it to be a good game for the budget.

I also liked a lot of BT4, particularly the combat system that some hate (I think the combat system is excellent - makes you make more meaningful decisions instead of the usual JRPG auto attack for half your party every round). What I hated about BT4 was way, way, WAY too many puzzles and repetition of puzzles. The skill/talent/level-up system is also mediocre to bad and feels underwhelming or worse. Drop the puzzles to about 1/4 and revamp the skill system and BT4 would be a way better game.

I gave the game another go recently but stopped because the level up talent system is so bleh.

Originally Posted by Stingray
Wasteland 2 budget was roughly $6M according to Fargo. That isn't all that tight, for what it is.

6m isn't that much to cover several years worth of development. A good contract dev here in AZ easily gets 100-120k/yr and I'd hope they use better than "decent" for game dev, and in Cali everything costs quite a bit more. It's not like it's 3 or 4 devs sitting around doing everything. I'm sure Fargo has a solid salary, there's designers, writers, coders, artists, QA, marketing, etc - even as a small team there are a lot of roles that need filled by somebody. Not to mention you need somewhere to work (rent & utilities), computers, software (specialized software is considerably more expensive than games), and more. 6m for 2-3 years of dev is not much money.

My one hope for WL3 is that the companion skills system is more flexible/respec'able. Planning out adequate skill coverage in WL2 was a real pain in that you did not know what would be available further into the game on subsequent companions (unless you resorted to a wiki).

Originally Posted by henriquejr
On a not-so-unrelated note, I'm glad Crusader Kings III will be on XBOX PC Game Pass as well

Yes I saw this last night I was like, wow!