Off the top I'll say that Wasteland 2 isn't a bad game, its actually quite good in a lot of ways. The ways in which it isn't though are what really end up hurting the game for me.
My main gripe is that this has the Bethesda style of choice impact where NPCs are hardly bothered by your choices and the world around you only meaningfully changes with a small handful of your choices. And when it does change, the thought put into those changes isn't all that impressive or meaningful.
The world mostly reacts to your changes by just changing NPC dialog and then there is a slideshow at the end. Thats it. So each time you leave a location you feel like your main contribution is just clearing it of enemies.
The other side gripe I have about it is that the story and characters aren't of particular interest. It has a couple good storytelling moments in it (that I won't spoil here for anyone interested) but otherwise I just can't say it pulled me in. I was initially interested after hearing the 3rd game got good reviews and this series is somewhat similar to fallout but I can still see why Fallout maintains its charm all these years later and Wasteland does not. You see glimpses of greatness with certain voices or ideas or plotlines but you are ultimately just edged by these stories and the payoff isn't really there.
This isn't just a space to complain though, I had a lot of fun with the combat and gore and other aspects of the game. They also feel light in a lot of ways but still are satisfying. I enjoyed my time here, looking forward to playing Wasteland 3.
So did anyone else play this or are interested in it? I'm curious if anyone shares these thoughts. Its a game I definitely feel like classic RPG fans will enjoy more than I did.
I feel like Wasteland 3 improved on your complaints specifically, and in general it was a lot more tightened up. WL2 while good just sort of seemed to go on and on and on, especially when you go to LA and essentially have to start over. The game world was just too big, and much of it pointless.
WL3 presents the central conflict right from the start, which is a faction based dispute. Dealing with it involves radiating from the central location and then going back to it. It builds more faction investment by creating ongoing interactions with them, and quest choices will affect standing with factions which have tangible effects in the game world (certain vendors will or won't trade with you, certain factions will staff your HQ, different factions get equipment based on quest choices, and certain endings and location outcomes vary). I think this helped make it feel like less of a drag than WL2's mystery which was sort of vague and didn't really involve much back and forth with the player until the end.
WL3's combat is a lot snappier. In WL2 assault rifles were overpowered so much that combat was just sort of a lot of midrange shooting. WL3 arguably overcorrected by making assault rifles possibly the worst weapon type, pushing to have run'n'gun SMG or shotgun party members, 1 or 2 snipers per party, and specialists like leaders, hackers, and medics playing important varied roles.
WL3 uses talking heads for important characters, and they convey a lot more personality. With recruitable special NPCs there is actual voiced party banter, and special NPCs have their own loyalities which can make them leave a party under extreme circumstances. Non recruitable major NPCs also have more memorable personalities, and given that many of them represent factions you have to decide which ones to make friends and which enemies, which can be tough to call if you are playing blind.
Good to hear. I’ve heard really great things about 3 so I’m excited to try it. Your points did bring up what I thought a lot about this game though. It feels like they had a lot of time for world building, dialog, and level design but just never put all that work to good use. Likely that was due to time and budget but what you get is a product spread too thin. Still fun but not enough meat on the bone to stay constantly engaged.
And yeah talking to people was fun with the voice actors doing a great job but I look forward to actually seeing their faces instead of a poorly rendered character portrait.
It's definitely worth playing, I can't overemphasize how refined 3 is compared to 2. Also a while after 3's launch I mentioned in the wasteland subreddit I was having a very particular bug (a certain interaction between a specific kind of build and certain combat situations) and a dev reached out by PM asking for screenshots. The bug was fixed in the next patch. That really meant a lot to me.
Wasteland 3 is one of the few games that I beat and then immediately ran it back. So, in my opinion, it's a good game.