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Author Topic: Wasteland 2  (Read 8822 times)

Stryc9Fuego

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Wasteland 2
« on: 16 Mar 2012, 12:39 »

InXile Entertainment have a Kickstart set up to get fan funding to make a sequel to Wasteland. Their goal was to get $900,000 in a little over a month. They reached that goal in day fucking TWO. It's getting made.

Their next milestone is $1.5 mil. If they get that, it'll be cross-platform for PC, Mac and Linux.

The Kickstarter donation drive:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/inxile/wasteland-2

The Wasteland 2 web page:
http://wasteland.inxile-entertainment.com/

I'm excited. It might show my age, but the 1st Wasteland was one of my favorite games as a kid.

IrrationalPie

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Re: Wasteland 2
« Reply #1 on: 16 Mar 2012, 14:50 »

At first, I thought you were talking about a sequel to Waste Land.

:(
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TheFuriousWombat

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Re: Wasteland 2
« Reply #2 on: 18 Mar 2012, 00:31 »

So they've raised $1.3 million in three days. I'm pretty blown away by that, to be honest. This new trend in fan funding is one of the best things to happen to the gaming industry in...well ever to be honest. We're still going to get inundated with repetitive, redundant remakes and an endless barrage of tired, lackluster, and wholly uninteresting "new" games that essentially are designed as cash cows first, entertainment second, and art third (if at all) but FINALLY developers with original, non-hypercommercialized ideas that mainstream publishers are too afraid to shell out money for have a way to make their work a reality. Really hoping this becomes the norm!
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JD

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Re: Wasteland 2
« Reply #3 on: 18 Mar 2012, 22:10 »

I don't think crowdfunding could work for say, Alpha Protocol 2 though. Games of that big and complex get expensive.
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TheFuriousWombat

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Re: Wasteland 2
« Reply #4 on: 18 Mar 2012, 22:43 »

True, blockbuster games probably aren't really doable with this model. But they don't need to be, publishers are often willing to back them (obviously not in the particular case you cited, but that's probably because Alpha Protocol wasn't very good). What kickstarter and the whole fan-funding thing provides is the opportunity for companies with ideas that don't have a chance in hell of being made the way they think best, as was clearly the case with Wasteland 2, to petition the fans for support. In turn, it democratizes the process of determining what gets made and what (sorry for the phrase but it's unavoidable) more serious gamers have the opportunity to play in really profound ways. At this rate, this ks project for W2 is on track to make over $2 million, and that's assuming the pace of donations slows down enormously. If it keeps up, we're looking at even more. Sure, that may not be enough to make the next ultra-slick Call of Duty or something, but what it means is that developers with cool ideas now have another avenue through which to make their projects a reality. To me, this can only be a good thing. Wresting absolute power from the grasp of a small handful of publishers will only serve the industry well. Those guys will still be around and still be doling out the big bucks for the mega-hit games but more and more (at least on the PC, which is easily the best platform in any case) gamers and developers alike will have more options and more freedom. Those who want it can buy the 92nd lazy Madden remake or even something really awesome like Skyrim - both very different games that arguably need more corporate-style backing to get made considering the costs involved - but given the success this new funding model has shown so far, gamers won't be limited to what some suit arbitrarily decides will be offered to them on store shelves.
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ackblom12

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Re: Wasteland 2
« Reply #5 on: 18 Mar 2012, 23:16 »

I'm pretty sure how well the model ends up working is going to be based entirely on how well Double Fine does with their work honestly. This is an experiment that could still easily fail if any of the first few attempts get fucked in some way.

Also, I still say Alpha Protocol was a fantastic game. Incredibly broken in a couple of ways, but fantastic.
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LTK

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Re: Wasteland 2
« Reply #6 on: 19 Mar 2012, 01:16 »

I was thinking the same thing. All the fans laying down money on this have their own expectations of the respective games, which may or may not be unrealistic. If the developers don't meet these expectations (regardless of having fulfilled their promises) then the same pledgers will be more reluctant to put down money for future projects.

Though I'm impressed enough by people willing to make an investment for a payoff that may be more than a year down the line that I can just as well see it being a huge success.
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Re: Wasteland 2
« Reply #7 on: 19 Mar 2012, 01:43 »

Alpha Protocol wasn't very good
Them's fighting words
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ackblom12

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Re: Wasteland 2
« Reply #8 on: 19 Mar 2012, 01:47 »

I'm kind of curious what kind of development period DF is looking at now. I know originally they were thinking late this year for the release, but with so much more money than they anticipated, I suspect there is going to be a lot more work than they originally intended.

Fargo going with 18 months development for Wasteland 2 is a pretty promising thing and at least shows he's not being totally unrealistic about how long this is going to take. I wouldn't be entirely surprised if it ends up being a full 2 years though.
« Last Edit: 19 Mar 2012, 02:24 by ackblom12 »
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JD

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Re: Wasteland 2
« Reply #9 on: 19 Mar 2012, 02:16 »

I can't really get behind wasteland as a game because I haven't beaten the first one of the fallout games it inspired but I love the concept and world around it. Write me up for supporting it in spirit.
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Stryc9Fuego

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Re: Wasteland 2
« Reply #10 on: 27 Mar 2012, 16:10 »

For those (too many) who haven't played the original Wasteland, here's an interesting Let's Play. Since there's no sound, he inserted some in himself (I want to say mostly bogarted from Fallout), and does it in the style like he's narrating the story of his group of Desert Rangers.

The first video there isn't the game itself, but the story leading up to the events in the game. The second vid is him introducing his characters. If you're just interested in the game itself, I'd say skip to the third vid, Highpool... where they beat a child to death with a book.

 :psyduck:

Wasteland had some fucked up moments in it.

Gregorio

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Re: Wasteland 2
« Reply #11 on: 27 Mar 2012, 21:14 »

I played Fallout 1 and 2, but never Wasteland. It looked very interesting and had some pretty dark humor from what I saw. I need to give it a shot one of these days.

as for fan funding, I like it. Gamers have gotten a lot more... vocal about the way things have been going. Certain factors such as people wanting to opt out of the big blockbuster scene, and as certain genres are beginning to disappear, it's nice to see that fans have the ability to get games they want that they normally wouldn't get if left up to publishers.
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ackblom12

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Re: Wasteland 2
« Reply #12 on: 27 Mar 2012, 21:24 »

Vocal is definitely the nicest way of putting it.
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ackblom12

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Re: Wasteland 2
« Reply #13 on: 30 Mar 2012, 11:50 »

Holy shit this is the best news.

Quote
Project Update #7

We have announced a major piece of good news today that inXile has reached an agreement with Obsidian for potential design assistance for Wasteland 2. What that means is that Obsidian’s Chief Creative Officer, Chris Avellone, is going to work with our team on the design and writing of the game!  It is important to note that we say "potential" as they will come aboard assuming we hit $2.1 million in funding. The good news is that we have already seen a spike in just the few hours since this was announced in a press release this morning.

For those of you who don't know who Obsidian or Chris Avellone are, they are the bulk of the brains who worked on Fallout 1&2, Icewind Dale and Planescape Torment when I was back at Interplay. More of the band is back together to make sure we bring you a fantastic RPG. Chris is going to help push the density and literary content of the game.

The original Wasteland was an important game to Chris as he recently stated, "Wasteland is one of my favorite RPGs of all time, and when Brian asked if I wanted to work on the sequel, I jumped at the chance. While I've worked on Fallout 2 and Fallout: New Vegas, getting the chance to work on the spiritual predecessor to the Fallout franchise is a honor."

While the programming work will remain with us here at inXile, we are looking to use a host of tools that Obsidian has created which will help us get assets into the game faster. The faster we can implement and iterate on content, the deeper the game and the more varied choices the gamers can make.

 That’s more good news for all of you that put your faith in us.

Brian Fargo

They are currently at $1.6 million and still have 17 days to go. It seems incredibly likely this is going to happen.
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snalin

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Re: Wasteland 2
« Reply #14 on: 30 Mar 2012, 14:39 »

Yup, that just made me jump my planned donation up one step.
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ackblom12

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Re: Wasteland 2
« Reply #15 on: 01 Apr 2012, 22:24 »

Here's an interview with Chris Avellone about the Wasteland 2 collaboration.

http://tinyurl.com/83jxr4d
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ackblom12

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Re: Wasteland 2
« Reply #16 on: 07 Apr 2012, 11:13 »

Alright, looks like Wasteland 2 officially hit $2.1 million, so Obsidian is on board. They have 9 days left on the kickstarter, so go give them your money so they can expand the game world dang it!

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/inxile/wasteland-2
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ackblom12

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Re: Wasteland 2
« Reply #17 on: 18 Apr 2012, 15:22 »

So the game hit $3.1 million, so modding tools will be released with the game on top of everything else. I finally registered for the forums aaaaaaaand I think I'm going to just.. not go there. Ever. I'll wait to hear of real updates from people. It's like the RPG Codex just kind of took it over entirely. *shudder*

One of the first threads I open is requesting homosexuality to not be ignored and treated terribly, of course that quickly turns into implications that homosexuality is similar to pedophilia necrophilia and rape and is shoved down people's throats when it is included. That was one of the worst I found, but that combined with lots of casual hate it's just kind of a cesspool.

This isn't to say there isn't a lot of good discussion on there, but basically I hate the gaming community.
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snalin

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Re: Wasteland 2
« Reply #18 on: 18 Apr 2012, 16:32 »

Does anyone know of any good introductions to the original? I tried playing it, but as it's older than me by three years, the interface is very friendly.
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ackblom12

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Re: Wasteland 2
« Reply #19 on: 18 Apr 2012, 19:31 »

Wasteland is a ridiculously difficult game to go back and play, I'm not gonna lie. It's from 1988 and it feels like it.

Also, apparently they've been offered use of the Unigine for fucking free. They haven't said if they'll accept it and I'm not sure if it fits all their needs, but that could go a long ways toward improving things, even just form a budget perspective.
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TheFuriousWombat

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Re: Wasteland 2
« Reply #20 on: 18 Apr 2012, 19:49 »

I played the original on DOSBox a couple months ago. It's definitely not easy - not only is it a challenging game, there's a pretty major game mechanics learning curve to deal with. With a really solid instructions manual it would be doable though and I'm guessing a PDF is floating around somewhere. There's literally zero hand holding as you go - and certainly no tutorial of any kind - so you have to play with a pen and paper to keep track of quests, dialog prompts (since dialog is text based and requires you to input the right words in order to get quests and stuff but the game doesn't help you figure out what those might be beyond environmental clues that you need to pick up on on your own), and probably even to draw a map of sorts. Getting over the learning curve probably isn't really worth it at this point - the game really does feel dated and is fun but definitely lacks the punch it had when it first came out. It's still innovative in the complete freedom you have - few games match it - but major sandbox style RPGs are so ubiquitous these days that Wasteland doesn't feel nearly as novel as it must have 24 years ago. Get the DOSBox version and do some wandering to get a very general feel for the game in any case, though. It's a good way to kill a few hours.
« Last Edit: 18 Apr 2012, 22:26 by TheFuriousWombat »
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ackblom12

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Re: Wasteland 2
« Reply #21 on: 18 Apr 2012, 21:57 »

If nothing else, it's always fun to find and be killed by the Bunny Herder and his hoard of man eating rabbits.
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Gregorio

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Re: Wasteland 2
« Reply #22 on: 18 Apr 2012, 23:53 »

I hope it takes over a year to make so they can come out on April Fools' and announce it as a First-Person Shooter.
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ackblom12

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Re: Wasteland 2
« Reply #23 on: 19 Apr 2012, 00:01 »

They have 18 months currently planned for development. I'm expecting 3 - 6 months longer just for unavoidable release bumps along the way though.
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snalin

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Re: Wasteland 2
« Reply #24 on: 19 Apr 2012, 01:49 »

With a really solid instructions manual it would be doable though and I'm guessing a PDF is floating around somewhere.

I've downloaded it from abandonia, and that download had a .txt version of the manual.

I found a pretty cool let's play too! The guy behind it fleshes the story out a bit on his own. The first episode is just an intro, but it goes into gameplay from there.
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Stryc9Fuego

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Re: Wasteland 2
« Reply #25 on: 19 Apr 2012, 15:21 »

I love how your group in the original Wasteland can be decked out to the nines with machine guns, laser cannons and anti tank missiles, but some of the hardest enemies in the game are monks.
Not Shaolin... more along the lines of Gregorian.

ackblom12

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Re: Wasteland 2
« Reply #26 on: 09 Feb 2013, 19:02 »

Necroing for a gameplay video!

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ackblom12

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Re: Wasteland 2
« Reply #27 on: 30 May 2013, 16:28 »

They're showing off the inventory system.

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ackblom12

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Re: Wasteland 2
« Reply #28 on: 01 Aug 2013, 16:07 »

Oh my goodness this article.

A Day With Wasteland 2

I am so damn excited.
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ackblom12

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Re: Wasteland 2
« Reply #29 on: 15 Aug 2013, 09:29 »

This is a pretty great interview on why Fargo is so happy to have found a market that doesn't require working with a publisher. He brings up things like Obsidian getting fucked on their bonus for New Vegas due to the MetaCritic rating and details of how little control a developer can actually have on a project. It doesn't go into some of the positives of a good publisher, such as having someone to answer to and pull your overly ambitious idea back, but it's a good look into how Developers tend to get a lot of shit that should be on the heads of Publishers.

Brian Fargo on inXiles Darkest Publisher Driven Days
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snalin

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Re: Wasteland 2
« Reply #30 on: 13 Dec 2013, 14:46 »

WHO IS DOWNLOADING WASTELAND 2 BETA RIGHT NOW, BITCHES? OH RIGHT THAT'S ME!
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Stryc9Fuego

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Re: Wasteland 2
« Reply #31 on: 13 Dec 2013, 15:17 »

OH DAMN IF I WERE ANY MORE JELLY YOU COULD SPREAD ME ON TOAST

blacksinow

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Re: Wasteland 2
« Reply #32 on: 13 Dec 2013, 16:59 »

So the game hit $3.1 million, so modding tools will be released with the game on top of everything else. I finally registered for the forums aaaaaaaand I think I'm going to just.. not go there. Ever. I'll wait to hear of real updates from people. It's like the RPG Codex just kind of took it over entirely. *shudder*

One of the first threads I open is requesting homosexuality to not be ignored and treated terribly, of course that quickly turns into implications that homosexuality is similar to pedophilia necrophilia and rape and is shoved down people's throats when it is included. That was one of the worst I found, but that combined with lots of casual hate it's just kind of a cesspool.

This isn't to say there isn't a lot of good discussion on there, but basically I hate the gaming community.

If homosexuality and bisexuality was treated as equality as heterosexuality then it would be fine with me. The problem is that people still have irrational fears about gay people. With that aside, I'll take a look, but I've been playing other games at the moment.
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TheFuriousWombat

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Re: Wasteland 2
« Reply #33 on: 15 Dec 2013, 16:50 »

WHO IS DOWNLOADING WASTELAND 2 BETA RIGHT NOW, BITCHES? OH RIGHT THAT'S ME!

TELL US YOUR THOUGHTS, DAMMIT!
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snalin

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Re: Wasteland 2
« Reply #34 on: 15 Dec 2013, 18:19 »

Oh, right.

So it's definitely in beta. There's some bugs in the interface, the mouse lags as crazy no matter what you set the graphics to, and some early enemies are literally impossible to kill. There's placeholder art here and there. You get the picture.

The game definitely feel right, though. The voice-acting is great where it's used, the enemies are cool and often funny, and the environments looks fantastic. The atmosphere is right, and that's probably what they've been shooting for.

Your team of four definitely needs to be specialized to all hells - a jack of all trades seems to be useless with where they're going. Each party member should use a different kind of weapon - having two on assault rifles quickly had me running out of that kind of ammo. The misc skills, of which there are tons, are all useful - after playing an hour, I had scenarios where I could use hard-ass, smart-ass and kiss-ass (the three different conversation skills), lockpicking, perception, electronics, synthetics, safe-cracking, toaster repair, field medic, brute force, and so on. Nobody can specialize in more than three or four of those and still be good at shooting stuff in the head. I think this is really great - your party really means something to you, and there's nobody that's redundant.

The NPCs that can tag along is basically party members that you at times lose control of in combat, and react to the situations you get into. Spoiler warning for the first hour - you start the game with two main jobs - track down the killer of a guy named Ace, and finish the job he was doing when he was killed. You're clearly instructed to prioritize finishing the job. Right after that, you meet Ace's girlfriend, Angela Deth (one of the standard choices for player characters in Wasteland), who wants to help out. She's a pretty decent fighter, and has some nice skills to go with it. She provides her own commentary on everything that's going on - especially when you find clues about Ace. I've got a feeling that you'll have to make a choice down the line between doing what your boss (Vargas, another PC from Wasteland) wants, and finish the job, or go with Angela's wish to get the killer. So if the rest of the companion characters are as useful and interesting, they'll add a lot to the game.

Combat is a bit lacking, but much of that is interface. There's cover, but no real indication of what positions you've got cover from, or where you need to go to outflank someone. Cover also seems a tad overpowered. More balancing with regards to armor and damage and such is also needed - cockroaches has 10 armor, which translates to a direct 10 reduction of all damage. When your guns does between 3 and 10 damage per shot, that means that they are literally invincible. There's also a bunch of symbols that pop up when you mouse over someone to shoot that is not intuitive nor explained anywhere.


TL;DR: It's looking great so far, but there's a lot of polish left - especially with regards to optimization and combat.
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TheFuriousWombat

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Re: Wasteland 2
« Reply #35 on: 18 Dec 2013, 16:06 »

Cool, that all sounds really promising! I've watched a couple Let Plays and they've all looked like a lot of fun. I know it's a long way out, but I'm excited (and really wish I had pre-paid for the thing on Kickstarter since it was so much cheaper).
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