Wasteland 2 Director's Cut Digital Deluxe Edition

Around 2010, I was pretty disgusted by what "modern" RPGs had to offer. Every one of them looked the same, desperately trying to mimics the TES: Oblivion/Fallout 3 style. Then, Kickstarter happened and brought us this little gem. Is it the best RPG ever made? Hell no. There's no "preparation phase" during encounters, it lacked the "precise shoot" option, weapons and skills were unbalanced and the second half of the game felt rushed. Still, it's one of my favourite titles, despite all of its flaws. It showed there's still an audience for the more classic, isometric RPGs with more limited scope, but higher priority put on climate, worldbuilding and story. Without the success of the Wasteland 2, we wouldn't have the Pillars of Eternity, Divinity: Original Sin and other, more indie titles. You probably won't have as much fun with it as I did - graphic is even more dated than in 2013, there's way bigger selection of the "classic-like" titles set in fallout-like settings and, unfortunately, early versions of the unity engine were very slow and unstable, even on powerful PCs. But still, it's a pretty fun game if you only give it a chance.

I bought this a while ago as part of a bundle with Bard's Tale 4 and Torment: Tides of Numenera, but I laid it aside because of some issues with the game as first released. Started playing it 3 weeks ago and I have to say that I'm impressed. It's not Baldur's Gate 2 scale, but there's a great deal of exploration and adventure packed into this thing. Combat has enough tactical choice to be interesting and the perks and weapon choices give some great variations. I went through the game with a sub-optimal party selected from the built-in pregen characters: Slick (leader/blade/pistol/kissass), Cherry Bomb (shotgunner/demolitions/blunt), Bear (AR/medic/surgeon/hardass), Fade (SMG/locks/comp-sci/energy weapons). Along the way I added Vulture's Cry (sniper/brawler), Pizepi Joren (energy weapons/AR/medic/surgeon/smartass) and Takayuki (blade/heavy weapons). By the time I hit endgame (normal difficulty) they were all close to level 50 and worked well as a team. If I had designed the team from the beginning myself they might have made the early game easier, but I liked the challenge of zero-to-hero. The only quibbles I have with the design are minor and didn't distract me from the massive amount of enjoyment the game provided. The toaster loot idea is neat, but it's not so easy to figure out what to do with the stuff until you luck into the dialog with the stuff in your inventory, not critical to the plot or the rest of the game, but you really feel like that was a missed opportunity for something better. I'm eagerly looking forward to Wasteland 3 in the spring!

I'm a backer and I played the original back in 86. Been a post apocalypse rpg guy ever since. Twilight 2000, Gamma world you name it. This game is without a doubt very heavy on the reading. Know that going in. Don't like reading in your games? Go away. That being said the story line is deep and prolonged and for the most part very enjoyable. They really needed to bring in a better writer for there comedic nuances. Much of it came off like that uncle we all have that thinks he's funny but only makes you sit there in uncomfortable silence. My sadness for this game comes from the combat system. I think they had a vision for what they wanted it to be. Unfortunately they couldn't bring it to realization and decided that even knowing that they wouldn't rethink it. A squad based game that wont allow for simultaneous commands is inexcusable. The fact that the game will not allow you to initiate combat is incomprehensible. All you can do is blindly shoot at a moving target that is almost impossible to hit outside turn based combat and then hope that the enemy notices and then graces you with the start of turn based combat. It's absurd. These things can be easily fixed. Having had an extended beta period tells me that these issues are well known to the designers. There for they are just holding there breath and stamping there feet in denial. Probably there just prattling on about a vision for the game. This tells me that the likelihood these issues will be addressed at about 0%. Lets hope the mod community will pick up the slack. Then my 2 will bump to a 4.

Quite boring, actually...Boring and needing an interface polish. Dragging one item in another character inventory is one of the most difficult things in the game. It keeps falling into the original inventory. The three stars are there for the brand, if it was coming from another dev team and had another name I would have it erased from my hd. All in all: - fallout 1&2 are WAY better, in every single aspect - even fallout tactics is better!!! - I really hope there will be a patch soon to fix all the interface problems - nice music and general setting...

Wasteland 2 doesn't immediately grab you, but stick with it and you'll have an incredible experience. Yes, the camera controls can be annoying at times, and multiple skill use to open every single crate is grindy, but they're small issues in the greater scheme of the game. After the first 5 hours of so, the game starts to open up and you begin to see its strengths. Mood and setting that really creep up on you until you realise you're neck deep in the Wasteland universe and loving it; interesting and diverse NPCs and companions with active participation in the story; complex, twisting story line with detective overtones that will keep you wondering what's around the next radiated sand hill; combat that is functional at worst, downright enjoyable at higher levels; several mechanics and plot devices that are quite innovative and unique, which is excellent; loads of plot puzzles that can't be solved straight away, but percolate at the back of your mind as you travel the wasteland enforcing ranger justice. Some may not realise that Wasteland 2 actually plays very similarly to Wasteland 1, notwithstanding the updated graphics. I really appreciate that they haven't just tried to make Fallout 3. Some of the game's quirks can be more appreciated and enjoyed if understood in this context. Wasteland 2 is a classic. inXile continue to put out patches addressing remaining issues people have. I have no doubt it will be listed among the must-play RPGs in the future. So take your time. Enjoy the universe. Keep a journal next to your computer to make notes and keep plot points. Play the game how these older style RPGs are supposed to be played. You won't regret the time invested.