Wasteland 2: Apostles of Quarex welcomed! BETA IS OUT!

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Wasteland 2: Apostles of Quarex welcomed! BETA IS OUT!

Rocketeer Korolev: Dec 22, 2008; Jealous? No? Go frak yourself, Smoothskin...

quote:

https://twitter.com/BrianFargo/status/408278005383839744

Brian Fargo ‏@BrianFargo

Still on track for the #wasteland2 beta next week!

Good news, everybody who backed Wasteland 2! We get part of Wasteland 2 before the end of the year!

# ? Dec 4, 2013 18:20

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# ? May 15, 2024 12:54

Rupert Buttermilk: Apr 15, 2007; 🚣RowboatMan: ❄️Freezing time🕰️ is an old P.I. 🥧trick...

I am SUPER pumped about the beta, but I have an important question for Brother None: I know the game's built in Unity, but will it run on OS X 10.6.8? I ask because Starbound, on Mac, requires Mavericks (10.9) and nothing older.

# ? Dec 6, 2013 14:58

FairGame: Jul 24, 2001; Der Kommander

Can I ask questions about the original Wasteland in here?

Because while it reminds me tremendously of the old Wizardry games for the Apple II, I didn't grow up playing it. So I don't have the requisite encylopedic knowledge of what the mostly unlabeled stats and skills contribute to.

I'm down with rolling characters endlessly, but I don't even know what I want.

What primary stats drive which skills? Which skills are worth taking?

Really all I've done so far is accept some quest in the agriculture center whereupon I get horribly murdered by local furry rodents.

Is there a start-up guide you can point me in the direction of without spoiling things?

# ? Dec 8, 2013 00:09

Tippis: Mar 21, 2008; It's yet another day in the wasteland.

FairGame posted:

Can I ask questions about the original Wasteland in here?

Because while it reminds me tremendously of the old Wizardry games for the Apple II, I didn't grow up playing it. So I don't have the requisite encylopedic knowledge of what the mostly unlabeled stats and skills contribute to.

I'm down with rolling characters endlessly, but I don't even know what I want.

What primary stats drive which skills? Which skills are worth taking?

Really all I've done so far is accept some quest in the agriculture center whereupon I get horribly murdered by local furry rodents.

Is there a start-up guide you can point me in the direction of without spoiling things?

There's this guide, which does spoil things if you read beyond the character creation section, but which is pretty much covers everything you'd ever need to know in the case you get stuck at any point in the future.

# ? Dec 8, 2013 00:50

ClothHat: Mar 2, 2005; ASK ME ABOUT MY LOVE OF THE LUMPEN-GOBLITARIAT
protip: trust no links I post

Rocketeer Korolev posted:

Good news, everybody who backed Wasteland 2! We get part of Wasteland 2 before the end of the year!

I thought the beta access was only for specific tiers? Do we still get it if we did the minimum kickstarter donation, $15 I think?

# ? Dec 8, 2013 02:32

Brother None: Feb 25, 2013; On the line for InXile

Rupert Buttermilk posted:

I am SUPER pumped about the beta, but I have an important question for Brother None: I know the game's built in Unity, but will it run on OS X 10.6.8? I ask because Starbound, on Mac, requires Mavericks (10.9) and nothing older.

Really can't say right now (it's not super-likely we'll launch the beta simultaneously on all three platforms tbh). I know Unity's requirement goes up from 10.5. I'm a bit surprised Starbound would be 10.9 considering what it is.

ClothHat posted:

I thought the beta access was only for specific tiers?

It is. Or as an add-on.

# ? Dec 8, 2013 02:38

Rush Limbo: Sep 5, 2005; its with a full house

I'm one of those weird dudes who threw money at you guys then completely forgot about the dev process so this is probably the first time I've ever actively taken an interest in how Wasteland 2 is coming along (I'd make a bad investor) so I'm really excited for the beta. Aside from a few screenshots I've seen in this thread I know next to nothing about how the game is coming along so I'm probably going to have my mind blown. It looks pretty cool from the screenshots at least!

# ? Dec 8, 2013 03:37

NiknudStunod: May 2, 2009

Ddraig posted:

I'm one of those weird dudes who threw money at you guys then completely forgot about the dev process so this is probably the first time I've ever actively taken an interest in how Wasteland 2 is coming along (I'd make a bad investor) so I'm really excited for the beta. Aside from a few screenshots I've seen in this thread I know next to nothing about how the game is coming along so I'm probably going to have my mind blown. It looks pretty cool from the screenshots at least!

Those are the best kind of investors. Here take my money just let me know when it is ready.

# ? Dec 8, 2013 14:54

Rocketeer Korolev: Dec 22, 2008; Jealous? No? Go frak yourself, Smoothskin...

quote:

We have calculated that this beta version of #Wasteland2 would have required over 13,000 3.5" floppy disks. Yikes!

https://twitter.com/BrianFargo/status/410867374468759552

Dust off your floppy drives, it's almost here!

# ? Dec 11, 2013 21:36

Darkhold: Feb 19, 2011; No Heart❤️
No Soul👻
No Service🙅

It'll really bum me out when all of you are playing the Beta but drat I just can't justify putting any extra in. Was kinda hoping my Xmas bonus would come through before the beta was released and see if I could sneak it in the budget. I blew all my entertainment budget this month on the Thanksgiving Steam Sale.

Roll on Divinity Original Sin Beta.

# ? Dec 11, 2013 21:41

univbee: Jun 3, 2004

Rocketeer Korolev posted:

https://twitter.com/BrianFargo/status/410867374468759552

Dust off your floppy drives, it's almost here!

What density of disk? This is important.

So the Beta is either 4.7, 9.4 or 18.8 gigs.

# ? Dec 11, 2013 21:42

CrookedB: Jun 27, 2011; Stupid newbee

Some impressions from an RPG Codex user who took part in the closed beta test of the game:

quote:

Full disclosure: I started playing Wasteland 2 about two weeks ago, and there have been about six or seven patches since then; the game has seen really big improvements even in the span of those two weeks. Up to now I've provided inXile with 4 documents' worth of feedback totaling about 60 pages and 12,000 words, and was probably responsible for delaying the beta by another week or two, as well as for the premature hair loss of several employees (sorry).

To me, the game feels like Fallout 1 & 2 (more Fallout 1 scale but with the "feel" of Fallout 2), but also with Wasteland's trademark style of humour. Wasteland 2 does not quite feel like a 100% direct Wasteland sequel due the different art style, combat, perspective, etc., but neither is it a clone of Fallout.

The story so far is nothing special, however, dialogue with characters is often very lengthy and well-written (typos exempt). There is definitely plenty of stuff to laugh at and lots of funny references, but I think they fit in way better with Wasteland than with Fallout. However, the game also does not go overboard; it's far more tonally consistent than some games even when it mixes in some more bizarre stuff.

Jesus gently caress Mark Morgan is a god. The soundtrack right now is really loving good.

The combat is very good. Right now it's easily on par with the new XCOM (and plays very similarly, with a near-equivalent cover system and square grid movement), but perhaps a bit more mechanically sophisticated due to ammo types and that sort of thing. It's not Jagged Alliance or 7.62, but it's some of the best turn-based party-based combat I have played in the context of a traditional CRPG. It's also surprisingly challenging (and it got bumped up significantly over the last couple weeks once I started giving feedback).

Similarly, encounter design and enemy behavior in combat is solid. There is good variety in enemy weaponry and types, and different enemies have different abilities that can change how you will fight them. Right now I think that enemies could do more with stuff like area effects (grenades, toxic gas, whatever) but I don't think grenades are implemented yet, so that might be why.

Note: combat is not optional. You cannot stealth through the entire game or talk through every fight. I think at times some parts feel a bit too combat-heavy and monotonous; however, despite there being a bit much combat at times for my tastes, it's still well broken up with dialogue and situation-specific challenges in the environment.

The character system is great: simple and easy to understand, but with plenty of options. Everything fits into 10-point scales, but depending on the skill and the tier, there are different costs (i.e. it costs more to unlock a skill than to put points in once it's level 1). You don't get too many points for each level-up so you do have to think about how you spend them, and I do not think it will be possible to max out everything across your entire party (though realistically you can probably eventually get about 75-80% of the way).

Although skill balance right now is a bit limited (they simply need more opportunities to use certain skills), the majority of them feel useful and rewarding. Unlike, say, Fallout: New Vegas, there are in fact skills targeted towards both the early and late game, so not everything is useful right from the start, and there are some which logically have more uses than others, which I actually kinda like. Like other old-school RPGs, there are a lot of options to use skills in the environment organically without being told to, and most skill use is actually done outside of dialogue for a change.

Right now two of my biggest complaints are quest design and lack of C&C. There are actually a lot of quests, but usually there's only one or two major quests with much in the way of multiple solutions per-location. There's also a lack of reactivity beyond one big choice you make early on, which admittedly does have very significant consequences. That's not to say it's bad (and there are a few quests that are very good this way), just not quite up to, say, Fallout 2 standards yet. Just bear in mind it's a work-in-progress and that a lot of the time, new quest options and consequences to different resolutions are often one of the last things added during development. I've talked a lot with Thomas about this, and this is a priority for inXile to work on right now.

The other big complaint I have is the UI. I think most of the HUD itself is great, however, the character screen, inventory and other menus need a lot of work (aesthetically; functionality is quite good). I think inXile already have plans to overhaul the UI so you don't need to waste breath complaining about it, but maybe some aspiring Codex artists could do a mock-up or two to help out?

Anyway, that's about it for now. It's worth noting that all my complaints right now are mostly WIP-related or things the devs already know about, which bodes well in my opinion. Overall I think it's very promising; Wasteland 2 is definitely fun and engaging, which is the most important part.

quote:

Generally speaking, maps are pretty open; they all have multiple paths/routes that intersect with each other (both indoor and outdoor). Some of those paths are gated by skill use or sub-objectives. There is one huge town map that is very open; the other two major locations are a bit more linear and "dungeon crawly", but, well, it makes sense in context of those locations. Overall it's a very good balance and I have no complaints.

# ? Dec 11, 2013 21:56

Rinkles: Oct 24, 2010; What I'm getting at is...
Do you feel the same way?

Gals and guys, beta's live

Requirements are kinda steep, but of course they're not final

Rinkles fucked around with this message at 02:08 on Dec 12, 2013

# ? Dec 12, 2013 02:05

Rupert Buttermilk: Apr 15, 2007; 🚣RowboatMan: ❄️Freezing time🕰️ is an old P.I. 🥧trick...

I'm not seeing it in my Ranger Central store, did the $50 pledge not include it?

# ? Dec 12, 2013 02:17

StarkRavingMad: Sep 27, 2001; Yams Fan

Rupert Buttermilk posted:

I'm not seeing it in my Ranger Central store, did the $50 pledge not include it?

It's under the "donations" tab on the Ranger Center. I don't remember if $50 got it or not, but I think so. Mine's downloading now.

# ? Dec 12, 2013 02:22

Swabbleflange: Apr 18, 2008

The email says $55 and above.

# ? Dec 12, 2013 02:23

Rocketeer Korolev: Dec 22, 2008; Jealous? No? Go frak yourself, Smoothskin...

Downloading the beta now. It's 4.1 gigabytes and from what I've read, players are allowed to share screens and videos of the beta.

# ? Dec 12, 2013 02:25

StarkRavingMad: Sep 27, 2001; Yams Fan

Swabbleflange posted:

The email says $55 and above.

Oops, I misread that. Sorry to the $50 donator :smith:

# ? Dec 12, 2013 02:31

null_user01013: Nov 13, 2000; Drink up comrades

Rupert Buttermilk posted:

I'm not seeing it in my Ranger Central store, did the $50 pledge not include it?

I don't see it either, with my $100 or the goon $2500

Ahh, I see it. I also separated my two donations into two groups, pretty fancy setup they got over there.

null_user01013 fucked around with this message at 02:43 on Dec 12, 2013

# ? Dec 12, 2013 02:38

Miruvor: Jan 19, 2007; Pillbug

I've got mine, bottom of the donations page without any issues.

# ? Dec 12, 2013 02:40

GoldenNugget: Mar 27, 2008

So if I donated for the fifty dollar box version I get no beta?

That's a bummer. I didn't choose the 55 dollar version because I wouldn't get a box and there were actually fewer goodies with the 55 dollar tier.

GoldenNugget fucked around with this message at 02:56 on Dec 12, 2013

# ? Dec 12, 2013 02:42

Rinkles: Oct 24, 2010; What I'm getting at is...
Do you feel the same way?

Live the vicarious stream dream fellow non-Betas!

http://www.twitch.tv/theadrain

(not me, in case that wasn't clear)

# ? Dec 12, 2013 02:50

FRINGE: May 23, 2003; title stolen for lf posting

8 gigs of RAM :cry:

This poor 'old' computer.

# ? Dec 12, 2013 03:21

Rupert Buttermilk: Apr 15, 2007; 🚣RowboatMan: ❄️Freezing time🕰️ is an old P.I. 🥧trick...

GoldenNugget posted:

So if I donated for the fifty dollar box version I get no beta?

That's a bummer. I didn't choose the 55 dollar version because I wouldn't get a box and there were actually fewer goodies with the 55 dollar tier.

Well, you and I will enjoy WL2 together, eventually, and have a boxed copy to ogle as well.

# ? Dec 12, 2013 03:22

Brother None: Feb 25, 2013; On the line for InXile

FRINGE posted:

8 gigs of RAM

This poor 'old' computer.

Yeah, sorry about that, optimization is always one of the last things you do. These requirements (which are recommended, not minimum) will be cut down significantly for final release. Right now the game is not well-optimized at all.

# ? Dec 12, 2013 03:26

Fintilgin: Sep 29, 2004; Fintilgin sweeps!

Hey?! What was that sound?

Oh! It was the sound of the Starbound beta being kicked to the curb for Wasteland 2. :smug:

# ? Dec 12, 2013 03:32

marshmallow creep: Dec 10, 2008; I've been sitting here for 5 mins trying to think of a joke to make but I just realised the animators of Mass Effect already did it for me

Been looking forward to this. Been playing a lot of Fallout lately. While it installs I must wrestle with whether or not I watch that stream or wait for my own experience.

Please tell me the sombrero is in the beta.

# ? Dec 12, 2013 03:36

Fintilgin: Sep 29, 2004; Fintilgin sweeps!

Looking at the quick reference card, apparently you can pick your character's appearance, portrait, gender, nationality, religion and smoking preference?!

# ? Dec 12, 2013 03:38

Dibujante: Jul 27, 2004

Fintilgin posted:

Looking at the quick reference card, apparently you can pick your character's appearance, portrait, gender, nationality, religion and smoking preference?!

Smoking preference will be the combat shooting rank 2 of our generation.

# ? Dec 12, 2013 03:39

null_user01013: Nov 13, 2000; Drink up comrades

Fintilgin posted:

Looking at the quick reference card, apparently you can pick your character's appearance, portrait, gender, nationality, religion and smoking preference?!

WASTED LAND HERE I COME!

# ? Dec 12, 2013 03:41

Fintilgin: Sep 29, 2004; Fintilgin sweeps!

AxeManiac posted:

WASTED LAND HERE I COME!

Personally, I'm going to roll a party of Iranian Buddhist Desert Rangers on an anti-smoking crusade.

FAKE EDIT: I assume gender is a slider?

# ? Dec 12, 2013 03:42

Mozi: Apr 4, 2004; Forms change so fast
Time is moving past
Memory is smoke
Gonna get wider when I die; Nap Ghost

My smoking preference is to hold it cupped in your hand, hidden, so as to be incredibly conspicuous.

# ? Dec 12, 2013 03:44

epmode: Feb 11, 2008

Brother None posted:

Yeah, sorry about that, optimization is always one of the last things you do. These requirements (which are recommended, not minimum) will be cut down significantly for final release. Right now the game is not well-optimized at all.

Yeah, I was wondering why my framerate never went over 30 even at the lowest settings. I'm running at a high resolution but still.

BTW, I really enjoyed my limited time with the beta. It's also pretty great to have Mark Morgan back. I love the music.

# ? Dec 12, 2013 03:45

Young Freud: Nov 26, 2006

Fintilgin posted:

I assume gender is a slider?

Probably not but it should. There's an awful lot of radiation around in the post-war period so who knows if hermaphroditism has popped up as a common mutation.

# ? Dec 12, 2013 03:45

Mushball: May 23, 2012

From what I have seen, our rangers are gender binary, so that might ruin somebody's dreams.

I have a pretty good idea what my starting rangers are going to be so it's time to make ranger Kenshiro and Artyom a reality.

# ? Dec 12, 2013 03:48

FRINGE: May 23, 2003; title stolen for lf posting

Mozi posted:

My smoking preference is to hold it cupped in your hand, hidden, so as to be incredibly conspicuous.

And then use it as a missile weapon on the first round.

# ? Dec 12, 2013 04:00

Rocketeer Korolev: Dec 22, 2008; Jealous? No? Go frak yourself, Smoothskin...

epmode posted:

Yeah, I was wondering why my framerate never went over 30 even at the lowest settings. I'm running at a high resolution but still.

BTW, I really enjoyed my limited time with the beta. It's also pretty great to have Mark Morgan back. I love the music.

Running at 1080p resolution here with playable frame rates. I've played a half hour so far and it's great.

Mark Morgan's new music for this game is superb. I wonder if there's going to be any tracks that are like "Raiders" from Fallout 1/2?

# ? Dec 12, 2013 04:21

spider wisdom: Nov 4, 2011; og data bandit

GoldenNugget posted:

So if I donated for the fifty dollar box version I get no beta?

That's a bummer. I didn't choose the 55 dollar version because I wouldn't get a box and there were actually fewer goodies with the 55 dollar tier.

Yeah, I was psyched for trying the beta, but I hadn't checked in a while and I forgot there's no beta access in the boxed tier. :negative:

I really wanted to bask in new Mark Morgan earsex, but I can wait.

*prays for commentaryless streams*

# ? Dec 12, 2013 04:45

Young Freud: Nov 26, 2006

FRINGE posted:

And then use it as a missile weapon on the first round.

Totally

# ? Dec 12, 2013 04:46

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# ? May 15, 2024 12:54

Fintilgin: Sep 29, 2004; Fintilgin sweeps!

First impressions: a little clunky UI wise, but really good. A little overwhelming initially. There are a ton of skills and very few points to go around.

For god's sake though, don't lower your agility. I boosted 3 of my characters agility to 4s and a 6, and lowered one to a 2. She basically never even gets to act in combat.

Did the first area and just entered the ag center.

I don't understand why they painted all these lovely item pictures but on your paper doll and combat UI and such all you see is little neon green icons?

# ? Dec 12, 2013 06:16

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