Game you're playing. How far you are.

[Blargh]

. . .

It's broken in many ways and feels incomplete in others. I encountered plentiful bugs and glitches of varying effect and severity. Environments and quests are, with few exceptions, extremely linear. Random encounters recycle the same few maps, usually the only difference will be a palette swap of arid/temperate. The combat, which is the bulk of the gameplay, feels clumsy, awkward, and lacking in options, whereas the conversations remind me of Morrowind. Opponent AI is simplistic and unengaging. Poor enemy variety - carbon copy human raiders, mutant rabbits, pigs, giant flies, endless honey badgers, oversized cockroaches, wolves/dogs, a handful of different robots (most of which vanish once you travel to LA). Side quests (and the areas they involve) are perfunctory and shallow. Skill balance and relevance is erratic. The narrative has numerous holes, and characterisation is insipid.

I cannot recommend playing it at this point in time. Perhaps it will eventually be patched to be less disappointing and tedious.

HAVE I EXCEEDED YOUR CHARACTER QUOTA ?

Heartbreaking

I have spares.

[S4ur0n27]

Well, this is disappointing It's that bad? But you did fit my character quota, even if by a thin margin

[Manoil]

Heartbreaking

I have spares.

I believe you.

So, question for the curious and uninformed: is it all linear level direction, or is it the same kind of overworld map, choose-a-location-to-visit type of thing? If there's enough freedom, I expect the format could accommodate some great user DLC or Fallout total conversions. Any time I hear a game comes out with a level editor, I get just as excited for the community content as I do for the release itself. Add in the inevitable patching and something great is waiting over the horizon. This is one of the few times I've been really grateful to be late to the party.

Granted, the user content for Shadowrun Returns has been mostly shit, but hey-- an involved community is one that cares.

[Blargh]

In theory, you can visit the (most of the) various sites in an order of your choice, radiation walls permitting. However, if you do so before being directed to by NPC/quest, there is a high chance of one of the following : you encounter less content, as it requires activation before you can interact with and respond to it. Or, alternatively, you break future quests, conversations, scripts and set pieces. Often invisibly, potentially in ways that will only become apparent after hours of play beyond that point. Likely a combination of the two. Personally, I was graced with only one crash to desktop during my ordeal, everything else was the game shitting itself in creative and disturbing ways.

To anyone diving in now, I can only say : <strike>you poor fool</strike> save very frequently. The cycling quicksaves won't be sufficient. Save at the beginning of every new map, before every map transition, before directing your squad to walk anywhere, before approaching any quest relevant NPC, every two point eight minutes. Between the bugs, the skill usage timers and the high chance of critical skill failures, your playtime will be artificially padded by frequent reloading, one way or another.

[jimmypneumatic]

It's old school, without the whole caring about major plot twists and storyline characters.

Stealth would have helped by a large margin. Less overall content in the form of popping bad guys would have helped this as well.

'Conversations' where you listen to someone tell you their life story then nod or shake your head (shaking your head doesn't get you very far anywhere I've seen) then carry out orders killed any sympathy I had for the NPC's or the PC's. I don't care that all your pigs were slaughtered by a ridiculously enormous minefield that I didn't see and was set up there for the specific purpose of killing your pigs, the game plays itself. If my medic or any of the custom characters I created don't die I'm good with it. The custom portraits are the only thing that make me feel like I am invested in the game.

WL2 is turn based sure, but if you want an advantage in combat you really need some serious luck/twitch skills to set up your group just right. Enemy NPC's have a bad habit of walking very fast in random directions until combat starts, especially those darn rabbits at Ag Center. Better hope you get lucky with a 'nade and take out half of them or risk getting eviscerated and reloading.

This form of control prior to combat could have been honed much much more with a few simple buttons and features at the initiation of combat. Excuse my overzealous pet peeves with the interface, and I do believe inXile had the best of intentions to add all this, but good intentions do not make good games.

Setting up the team is a nightmare for me, because I can see how much better it would have been with some minor changes that were probably chosen to be left out early in development. This could all, of course be due to my biased opinion from playing the beta too much, I haven't been enjoying going through the same shallow "good guy ranger puts up with being spat on, but proves himself in the end to douchenozzle people that don't deserve help" conundrums in Arizona. I hope that changes in L.A., but due to spoilers from an unmentioned source I think I'll wait on that. Maybe they can fix some stuff by then, like the vined civilian with no face in the east field. That creeped me the fuck out.

[S4ur0n27]

So you guys' reviews are based on the beta? I heard a big patch came out last week.... might have fixed some stuff. I guess I should wait for a few patches then?

[jimmypneumatic]

Mine is. Blargh forced himself all the way through, kudos sir. The beta is after all half the game, and the important half with character development. At this point all it has going for it is perty graphics, in my humblest of opinion. Don't say I didn't warn you Susan.

[Blargh]

I managed to resist the <strike>siren song</strike> quagmire of bugs (ahahaha) of beta access. This may aid in explaining the profundity of my disappointment.

Oh, this save/character editor will, in all likelihood, be useful - if only on account of the tendency for quest items to simply not appear in your inventory without warning. Had this hilarious incident at the LA Ranger 'base' where Woodson mentioned how he would be locking the entry gate after I left (for reasons of security ahahaha), and, purportedly, handed me a key. No key was given. Reloaded, tried again. No key. You even have to manually unlock the gate whenever you return, too. Which you will, frequently, because cat litter and zeolite are frigging heavy.

Given the early emphasis placed on time sensitivity and not being able to win every scenario regarding the aforementioned highly contrived Ag Centre/Highpool sequence - it's rather odd that once you arrive in LA, and thanks to Woodson, are bombarded with requests for assistance - none of them appear to be impacted by the passing of time, or your order of approach. For instance, you receive a panicked plea for help from a caller who is, at the time, under fire and in fear for their life. So, you meander across the map, maybe visit a MYSTERIOUS SHRINE or two, and arrive to find nothing but corpses. Reload, take a more direct route, and find nothing but corpses. You can receive the call while you're right next to the site, and you still have no opportunity to help anyone or effect any meaningful difference. The world of Wasteland 2 exists in a vacuum, except for when it does not. Immersion cannot survive such a world.

Also, the character development system is anemic. Earn a level, gain some skill points and an increase to your maximum hit points. At levels ten and twenty, earn an extra attribute point. There are no perks, no feats.

Your only options of attack for a gun are whatever the gun has by default, so best case scenario - single shot/burst, which really only applies to assault rifles (or a high end shotgun, and a couple of SMGs). You also have headshot, which is double damage, an accuracy penalty and no possibility for a critical hit. Melee ? You run up to the enemy and strike them. That's it. No called shots, no attacks of opportunity, no specialised techniques.

The weapon modficiation system is boring. A maximum of four slots, barrel, underbarrel, scope and magazine for guns. Usually less than four. Weights and grip for melee. Woooo.

I am glad that I decided not to back Tides of Numenera.

[SenisterDenister]

Everything in California felt rushed and incomplete, I broke several quests in Hollywood and Griffith, but on the whole I still enjoyed the game. I haven't binged a single player game like this in years.

I shouldn't have left Scotchmo in LA, I dropped him for Brother Thomas once I found one of those plasma hammers. GOODBYE SCOTCHMO, HAVE FUN IN THE CITY OF ANGELS WITH WOODSON.

At least Ralphy got a happy ending. Takayuki (designated Turok in my playthrough) was a fun, if simple, character to send into a melee of fuck to watch him wade through enemies that barely reached his shoulders. Minigun in one hand, power axe in the other, and pseudo chiten armor too? Let's do this.

The game gets a solid 8/10 once they get done with the bugfixing.

A mod SDK will increase longevity for this game by years and years.

Also, energy weapons are a goddamn mess. If you really aren't familiar with the way they work, look for the lowest armor threshold with the highest amount of damage. Higher tier energy weapons are actually counter-productive since half the enemies you fight are below their ridiculously high thresholds of 6 and 7 armor at the minimum. The gamma-ray blaster, or whatever it was, that I got from Mercaptain was the best energy gun I got in the game and I got that way back in the AZ after I gave her the uranium I found in a toaster somewhere close to Damonta (or somewhere around there, keep an eye out for it).

[Blargh]

Monolith's latest - Shadow of Mordor is basically Sleeping Batman's Creed Raider. It's quite awesome, despite borrowing pretty much everything. Well, aside from the nemesis system - wherein you too can be stalked by a periodically resurrected uruk who gradually accumulates horrific scars (physical and psychological) while communicating entirely in rhyme/unhinged cackling. Nicely optimised, too. While the protagonist (ploddingly banal Aragorn knock-off, named Talion because RETALIATION GET IT DO YOU GET IT) and plot appears to be bland and forgettable, I cannot help but consider it a favour to the player, as it doesn't obstruct one's quest for Peak Ork³ Death. Worth mentioning, the writing for the orks is replete with variety and amusement. I recall reading somewhen in the last couple of years (before promptly dismissing the game because LotR) that at any point during development in which they had to choose between slavish adherence to the minutiae of lore and unapologetic entertainment, they chose the latter - THANK FUCK.

Combat is far better than Assassin's Creed, though less refined than the Arkham games. While there's not much in the way of enemy variety, it's a lot of fun making ork heads explode, or teleport decapitating entire squads, sending their few surviving compatriots into a frenzied scramble to escape you. More games should do that, so tired of mooks who invariably fight to the death, regardless of circumstances. A pity there don't seem to be any severed limbs and bisections. Quality voice acting, too. Unfortunately, it appears that missions/challenges cannot be repeated, and while you can muck about post game, there is no NG+++++.

It seems to be a worthy successor to Dark Messiah for the crown of Ork Murder simulator. I am glad I changed my mind and gave it a chance. Yes.

³The Cockney plague has arrived in Middle Earth.

[Blargh]

The recently implemented selfie mode is frigging wonderful :







YES.

[Megatron]

is it like messiah mixed with batman?

i played that batman city game number 2 and decided
to smoke a fat 'joint' beforehand but then I started playing
it and you start off in prison and I felt really oppressed and dumb
but it all worked out alright in the end

[Blargh]

Yeah it's basically Messiah with orks. Except you can't fly/glide/whatever. So, no, not really.

Also,

HOLY FUCK

Oh, and GoG just nabbed Disney/Lucasarts.

[Arjuna]

I hear Blarghs criticisms of Wasteland 2 but willing to give it a lot of credit for merely existing and not being offensive.

I backed Torment rather recklessly too.

[Dogmeatlives]

I'm not really playing it anymore because it's a massive time sink and I'll be dead soon, but I was latest playing Wasteland 2. I absolutely loved it. It brought back that kind of wonder I felt with Fallout, which feels just awesome. Also I'm an absolute sucker for the combat. I did some fanart for Inktober. My DAC facebook friends have already seen this stuff, but it's my shitty wasteland 2 team.







Also I want that new LOTR game so FUCKING bad!!

[SenisterDenister]

That art is pretty great.

[S4ur0n27]

Makes me want to play Wasteland 2. Cactus Apaché. Epic.

[Blargh]

Seems that woman missed her calling as a freelance trepanist. Cool art, BTW FYI.

want

RESIST.

Viewing those illustrations is a far more enjoyable experience than playing Wasteland 2. FACT.

Blatant tangent : THIS looks like it could be fun (and pleasantly hectic), if a bit derivative ?

[S4ur0n27]

Been playing Heroes & Generals. Free to play. Kinda simple and old school, which I like.

[jimmypneumatic]

Redoing Fallout2, fancy steam version in 1080 HD.

I've realized during my travels how much the games consistency was preserved through the use of a 4 year old graphics engine. Imagine that, an entire sequel developed in the period of 2 maybe 3 years. And it was entertaining. Good even.

Take Destiny for example, Bungie traveled the opposite route, with enhanced graphical capability over improvements in depth of writing/cultured believability of the gameworld. It's Halo 4 but the 3D skeletal animations still look clunky. I digress, they have new cloth physics, and credible advertisements in the preview video.

Here's my point; I can buy a collectors X-wing and Tie Fighter DRM free for twenty units of currency, good luck getting that sleek 800x600 res that every personal comuter in 1996 had to run in DOS box though. On that note, where did my flight sim industry go? What? We don't have wars with manned fighter jets anymore? Oops.