Completed Let's Beta-Test Wasteland 2

[MicoSelva]

Let's Beta-Test Wasteland 2



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Updates:
#00: Incline Has Finally Arrived (well, almost) [this post, check below]
#01: Talkin' 'n Walkin'
#02: Undergunned and Unprepared
#03: Death Machines, part I
#04: Death Machines, part II
#05: Getting On With It, part I
#06: Getting On With It, part II
#07: Wonders of Nature
#08: A Whole Lotta Words
#09: There Really Was No Better Team Available
#10: Mushroom Samba
#11: Feed The World
#12: And There Was Much Rejoicing
#13: Summary & Bonus
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After years and years of waiting, we're finally getting a proper follow-up to our beloved Fallouts (not that New Vegas is a bad game), not to mention it being an actual sequel to Wasteland, which I haven't really played.

Spoiler

In before

Or at least we hope we're getting that. Wasteland 2 is still in a pretty rough state, but it is actually playable, so without further ado, let's play it and see for ourselves.

Update 00: Incline Has Finally Arrived (well, almost)

Unfortunately the DLC link does not work at the moment, so we won't be getting any red boots for now. Hopefully they fix it soon!

Spoiler

Actually, it's a joke.

We set the graphics to 'Fantastic' quality.

Spoiler

Which seems to be another joke...

Also, I will be playing on medium difficulty, whatever it is actually called.

We can create a party of up to four characters, or choose some premade ones, or any mix of these two options. And no, I will not be soloing this, why would You ask?

Let's take a look at character creation screen. It is divided into four parts. First, we can choose our initial attributes.
With starting value of three and only seven spare points, there are some painful choices to make here, especially that all attributes seem to be valuable. Except maybe Charisma, which is only needed by the party leader, from what I've seen so far.

It's even more harsh with skills. We get twelve points, but unlocking a skill costs two points (the cost of upgrading it to level 2 is also two points), so You can only get six level one skills at most.

All the flavour stuff goes in here. No idea if these have any gameplay relevance.

The appearance options are rather limited in this beta, but sufficient. It would be nice to get more options in the final game, but it doesn't really matter that much, due to how this game looks in action.

For this playthrough Commander Codex will be accompanied by four no-lifes loyal readers of my Baldur's Gate 2 LP, which You should check out if You haven't already [/shameless advertisement]. We shall see how Codex' crew will fare in the wasteland. Hopefully they won't die in the first random encounter.

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TPKs: 3

Spoiler

1: lv. 1 - first ever random encounter against some rail thieves (#02)
2. lv. 1 - Robots! - mostly shot down by Killers (#03)
3. lv. 1 - Robots! - another unsuccessful attempt to fight robots (#04)

 

[Infinitron]

 

[Crooked Bee]

Loving Azira's character portrait.

 

[Azira]

I'm so tranny!

 

[MicoSelva]

Loving Azira's character portrait.

Yes, I just had to use that one when I saw it.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

This oughta be good.

 

[hostergaard]

Hmm, look interesting. Get those updates up and running soon so I can I have my curiosity sated!

 

[MicoSelva]

Update #1: Walkie-Talkie

Spoiler

Obviously most people playing this will post their impressions and 'bug reports' on random internet forums they attend, instead of the designated site. Good luck sorting that out, inXile.

Wait, is this really 1680x1050? I must have messed something with graphics settings...

Spoiler

Nope.

A word of warning: Vargas will kick Your ass if You fuck with him, so just don't.

Trust me, I've tried.

Like we had any choice.

Yeah I've heard of shotgun weddings and even shotgun divorces, but this was the first time I've seen - and experienced - a pearl-handed revolver funeral... Uh, retirement.

Good thinking on sending him alone...

Wasteland: The Next Generation. Actually, that would not be a bad title.

Mission!

Yes, Erebus. It's good that you're paying attention.

The full-sentence counterparts to keywords are neither funny nor informative in any way. Sometimes they're just the keyword itself with a question mark at the end. Pretty pointless, really. IMO, implementing them was a waste of time and effort and I don't envy the writer(s) who had to do it.

This map is hardly readable. I could mark two X's on a sheet of crumpled paper myself, and it would be just as useful.

Radio!

Why does he have to keep doing that?

Just bear with it.

I have my doubts.

So, he's actually sending us out there armed with a shotgun, a pistol and two knives. I thought it was just a bad joke.

You have the least to complain about, you got the shotgun... Yeah, why exactly did she get the shotgun, commander?

Because... uh.... I'd rather not...

Because I actually have some skill to use it, idiot.

Yeah, that's right. That's why.

Hm.

Meet our rangers. Commander Codex, an American Atheist smoking Coffin Nails, is the well-rounded leader character. I'm curious if such a build is viable.
I won't show each sub-screen, so here's a breakdown of his skills:

assault rifles 1
bladed weapons 1
alarm disarming 1
lockpicking 1
leadership 1
smart ass 1

He got a knife as a starting weapon. Don't select assault rifles at the start, bros, You won't get a freebie.
Apparently, you get a wepon in which You are the most skilled in, but if You have equal skill in two kinds o wepons, You will get only one of them. In this case, the game has chosen bladed weapons instead of assault rifles. Thanks a lot.

StoryFAQ, a Chinese Hinduist, is our smart guy. He smokes the Styx brand. His skills are as follows:

handguns 1
sniper rifles 1
computer tech 1
synth tech 1
field medic 1
surgeon 1

He starts out with a revolver.

Erebus, a walking meat tank, may not be the smartest tool in the shed, but that's not why we hired him. His 34 HP should hopefully keep him alive while charging at gun-wielding enemies, because he is our melee fighter. Oh, he's also a Muslim Mexican, smoking Coffin Nails just like his idol, Commander Codex.

Skills:

bladed weapons 1
blunt weapons 1
brawling 1
brute force 1
demolitions 1
evasion 1

He starts with a knife, but that's ok in this case.

Azira is our fast-bunny, team-pet, hit-'n-run girl, serving as the team scout and... well, she serves other purposes as well, but don't ask Commander Codex about this, because You won't get an answer.
Christian and Russian. Smokes Nico-Pops.

Skill list:

shotguns 1
submachine guns 1
safecracking 1
evasion 1
outdoorsman 1
perception 1

A double-barrelled shotgun. Not bad.

Hey, there's something buried here, I think.

Let's check. Erebus, get on this.

Sure thing, boss.

Nothing. Next time, you're digging, Azira.

Map exit is here, but we're not using it just yet.

BTW, I wouldn't mind if the game was a little bit less blury.

I see a pretty lady.

No problem. It was hard not to cry at the funeral. Especially when Vargas told us we're not getting any equipment for the mission.

Ooh, ooh! Me! I know! Dead! He's dead!

'Boring and scientific'. Seems like something right up your alley, SF.

Bite me, ballerina.

I'm sorry, but calling Erebus 'cute as a little kitten' does not compute at all.

Gilbert is a funny name.

Is he the one who made this incredible map we got from Vargas? Yeah, huge talent there.

I smell a quest.

Yeah, one could think Rangers shot his dog, or something.

And we did not secure it in any way before leaving? Another brilliant decision by Vargas, I presume?

And by killing Red Scorpion Militia.

Heh, heh! A joke!

Jesus Christ, Erebus!

Vargas did not want you involved? Gee, let me think.

I won't tell him, if you won't...

Angela looks pretty badass.

This is the best melee weapon we have, but Angela won't part with it and she has no blunt weapon skill either, so it will not get much use.

He looks like you, SF.

Yes, he's my identical clone twin brother, except with no brains. That's why he is stuck here and I'm going with you.

So, he got the safe and easy job, while you're going out into the wasteland to die? Who's the one with the brains?

Right after leaving the map, we receive a radio transmission.

Isn't this a little too late for basic wasteland survival 101?

Curiously, we did not get the identity of the dispatcher and I couldn't figure out a keyword that would reveal it, if there is one.

Yeah. No worries.

The overmap exploration is as easy as point and right-click. Reminds me a bit of Expeditions Conquistador, but simpler, with water replacing food as a travelling resource and no division into turns, no camping, etc.

While you roam the wasteland, caches and other points of interest appear (randomly?).

Nice find, Azira.

The oasis allows us to replenish out water, obviously. It's good that we found it, because simply retutning to Rangers' Citadel does not give You any water (it should, IMO).

These must be the radiation clouds Angela mentioned.

There's something buried in here.

I'll carry it for now. For evaluation, you know.

We have wandered quite a bit off our target.

Vargas never said our mission was urgent, so I'm assuming it's not.

Funny we find these here and now.

Oases (is that the correct plural form?) have limited water supply too, putting a limit on free roaming (although it is pretty high). I have no idea if they regenerate in time.

Here's what we've found so far:

Am I supposed to entrust my life to this?

You can go without one for all I care.

The pump-action shotgun we've found has identical stats to the double barrelled one Azira started with, except it holds more bullets at a time.

BTW, weapon stats are, from left to right, damage, basic accuracy, critical hit chance, ammo capacity and range.

Note that weapon stats change dynamically (based on skills of the character carrying it, I guess?), which, if intentional, is an interesting design decision. Here's how the pump-action shotgun looks in Commander Codex' inventory.

Spoiler

It could also be a bug.

We have neither the skill to use this wepon, nor the ammo for it, but it does looks cool.

Are you sure this is a good idea, commander?

I will answer you in a moment.
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Next time: Will Codex' party prevail against Red Scorpion Militia? Stay tuned!

 

[Cassidy]

I don't want to end reading spoilers because I'll only play the first version with a complete single player campaign and I'd rather do it blind, so I'll only read this much, much later.

 

[Infinitron]

Note that weapon stats change dynamically (based on skills of the character carrying it, I guess?), which, if intentional, is an interesting design decision.

Ugh, that's shitty. Brother None MLMarkland

 

[Crooked Bee]

Wasteland 1 references!

The full-sentence counterparts to keywords are neither funny nor informative in any way. Sometimes they're just the keyowrd itself with a question mark at the end. IMO, implementing them was a waste of time and effort and I don't envy the writer(s) who had to do it.

Yeah, I agree. Just keywords would be better. Unfortunately a lot of people complained about them, so yeah.

 

[Infinitron]

MicoSelva You used the same image twice there, for the weapon stats bug. Kinda defeats the point.

 

[MicoSelva]

MicoSelva You used the same image twice there, for the weapon stats bug. Kinda defeats the point.

Sorry, a typo. Fixed now.

 

[Baron Dupek]

for every lines of good sarcastic dialogues. Never get old.
Will watch, must wait for official release...

 

[Azira]

 

[felipepepe]

You got trolled pretty bad by the starting weapons... you usually start with a weapon that you have the hightest skill in, so if you had only spent points in Assault Rifles/Snipers, you would get one of those, but since you spent the same ammount on pistols/knives, the game decided to give you those instead.

 

[Azira]

That's amusing.

 

[MicoSelva]

You got trolled pretty bad by the starting weapons... you usually start with a weapon that you have the hightest skill in, so if you had only spent points in Assault Rifles/Snipers, you would get one of those, but since you spent the same ammount on pistols/knives, the game decided to give you those instead.

Good to know. I'll edit that in later.

 

[Zero Credibility]

Note that weapon stats change dynamically (based on skills of the character carrying it, I guess?), which, if intentional, is an interesting design decision.

Ugh, that's shitty. Brother None MLMarkland

That is really shitty. It makes comparing different equipment a pain in the ass.

 

[Storyfag]

StoryFAQ, a Chinese Hinduist, is our smart guy. He smokes the Styx brand. His skills are as follows...)
field medic 1
surgeon 1

And I even look like a demented surgeon

 

[MicoSelva]

Bros, check out this bug I've found when trying to revive an ally.

 

[Azira]

Wheeeeeee!

 

[tindrli]

where the hell is update!!!!

we want more now!!!!!

 

[tindrli]

Bros, check out this bug I've found when trying to revive an ally.

i hope that you made a precombat save

 

[Infinitron]

Bros, check out this bug I've found when trying to revive an ally.