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Wasteland 2 Beta Out!

Discussion in 'NMA News and Information' started by WorstUsernameEver, Dec 12, 2013.

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  1. WorstUsernameEver

    WorstUsernameEver But best title ever!

    1,564
    May 28, 2010
    The good news comes our way via a Brian Fargo-authored Wasteland 2 Kickstarter update: the backers beta is ready to go and currently rolling. As to what exactly you should expect, here's a snippet:<blockquote>Scope

    Because this beta doesn’t include all the Arizona maps, this portion of the game will feel a bit more linear than the full experience will, particularly with the first maps being narrower locations rather than proper hubs. The final game will have a more open feel where you can poke around and check the defenses of higher level areas and perhaps snatch an item or two. So fear not, as there will be more strange areas to discover in the final, and we will be dropping more in throughout this beta phase. In addition, we’ll be adding more quests to each map as well.

    A number of skills are not implemented in the backer beta, namely, Silent Move, Salvaging, Animal Whisperer, the backer informational skill and, quite ironically, Combat Shooting (ironic if you are familiar with Wasteland 1). You’ll run into a few situations where you could use those skills and we’ll work to balance and roll them out later, but the vast majority of skills are in so you'll be able to try most possible solutions. The character system is complete but not necessarily fully balanced, many XP rewards and upgrade values will still be tweaked.

    The beta is launching only for Windows PC initially. We’ll look into launching Mac and Linux versions soon, but they will need more testing before we feel secure in doing so.

    UI

    As you may remember, we spent quite a bit of time iterating (based on your feedback) the main gameplay HUD, and that process made it better. We have not had that same luxury yet with the inventory UI and character creation, so we expect a lot of comments and you can expect many changes. There’s inconsistency with fonts and colors etc. and the bottom line is that we are not happy with it yet. So please give us your feedback on it, we’ll be looking to polish it up as we did the main game HUD.

    The game is also still pretty rife with typographical errors. Report them as you see them!

    Audio

    I must say I am very happy with the musical score that Mark Morgan has put together, he’s doing a great job nailing the mood we envisioned. We are still weak in the ambient sound area and we know how important sound is for setting the mood and connecting you to the world. In addition, we need more sounds for messaging player successes or failures and the sound levels are not dialed in yet which creates an inconsistency in volume.

    We are also not finalized on all of the voices so again don’t assume that voices are set in stone. I thought it better for you to get a sense of the radio with some temp voices if need be.

    Consequences

    We all know that the heart and soul of a good RPG is having the player’s actions have consequence, and this is a major focus for us. We have a team of programmers that handle all the scripting for the maps, and most of their efforts at this point involve making pass after pass, adding in more depth to what we already have. This is a combination of adding more places to use skills, more ways to work around situations, and a greater degree of meaningful effect based on what the player has chosen to do. We also need add a greater connectivity between the maps, so your decisions have ripple effects in other areas of the Wasteland.

    This will be the greatest area of focus as we analyze your play and listen to your ideas. So PLEASE share your clever ideas so we can turn up the charm and depth.

    Along these lines, it probably isn’t a good idea to use the shovel on Ace’s grave.</blockquote>
     
    WorstUsernameEver, Dec 12, 2013
    #1
  2. Sub-Human

    Sub-Human -

    1,297
    May 31, 2011
    Gotta get home and play this as soon as possible!
     
    Sub-Human, Dec 12, 2013
    #2
  3. majek

    majek First time out of the vault

    17
    May 11, 2012
    Ugh 10gB , this will take a while to download.
     
    majek, Dec 12, 2013
    #3
  4. Kilus

    Kilus Not Australian Orderite

    19,147
    May 3, 2003
    Actually the download is only 4.1GB
     
    Kilus, Dec 12, 2013
    #4
  5. NovaRain

    NovaRain Casual Modder Modder

    1,690
    Mar 10, 2007
    Damn, 4GB? Gotta free some space from my gaming harddrive for WL2 tonight...
     
    NovaRain, Dec 12, 2013
    #5
  6. Adz

    Adz Professional Lurker

    134
    Jul 18, 2004
    4GB? Only marginally larger than the original wasteland then.
     
    Adz, Dec 12, 2013
    #6
  7. Kilus

    Kilus Not Australian Orderite

    19,147
    May 3, 2003
    4.1GB is for the download, it'll take up 9.6GB once it is fully installed.

    <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>We have calculated that this beta version of <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23Wasteland2&amp;src=hash">#Wasteland2</a> would have required over 13,000 3.5&quot; floppy disks. Yikes!</p>&mdash; Brian Fargo (@BrianFargo) <a href="https://twitter.com/BrianFargo/statuses/410867374468759552">December 11, 2013</a></blockquote>
    <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
     
    Kilus, Dec 12, 2013
    #7
  8. woo1108

    woo1108 Vault Senior Citizen

    1,477
    Sep 27, 2012
    Need some optimization and letters are too small at 800x600.
    except those two, every thing is good.
     
    woo1108, Dec 12, 2013
    #8
  9. Sduibek

    Sduibek Creator of Fallout Fixt Moderator Modder

    3,903
    Oct 27, 2010
    Oh, you.


    What's the word so far, are people liking it? I can't install it for a bit so I must enjoy it vicariously.
     
    Sduibek, Dec 12, 2013
    #9
  10. aenemic

    aenemic Sonny, I Watched the Vault Bein' Built!

    2,360
    Jun 4, 2008
    I've kept my eye on forums and stuff throughout the day and it's been surprisingly little feedback. I guess people are too busy enjoying the game :)

    From what little I've read/heard so far, people seem to enjoy the hell out of it. There's been a few streams on Twitch, but I don't want to see too much. Personally, I hate a lot of the inventory/UI sounds. But that's about the only complaint I have.
     
    aenemic, Dec 12, 2013
    #10
  11. Sduibek

    Sduibek Creator of Fallout Fixt Moderator Modder

    3,903
    Oct 27, 2010
    Well to be fair the "ca-chunk!" sound from Fo1/Fo2 inventory never was very soothing.
     
    Sduibek, Dec 12, 2013
    #11
  12. Makenshi

    Makenshi Ahoy, ye salty dogs!

    1,138
    Jul 28, 2006
    those with access could do the charity of uploading some vids to youtube...
     
    Makenshi, Dec 12, 2013
    #12
  13. Kilus

    Kilus Not Australian Orderite

    19,147
    May 3, 2003
    Kilus, Dec 12, 2013
    #13
  14. egalor

    egalor Look, Ma! Two Heads!

    346
    Jun 20, 2007
    Hey! But what's so terribly wrong with the FPS in this beta? The graphics are around 2010, that's ok I can live with that, but with FPS around 10-15 I definitely can't! My GTX 780m can't simply chew up this game. Anyone having the same issue?
     
    egalor, Dec 12, 2013
    #14
  15. Bewitched

    Bewitched aka Vault_13

    459
    Jun 13, 2006
    Yep. playing in the windowed mode to solve this issue.
     
    Bewitched, Dec 12, 2013
    #15
  16. Lexx

    Lexx Background Radiant
     Moderator Modder

    9,891
    Apr 24, 2005
    We need a wasteland board again on NMA, by the way.
     
    Lexx, Dec 13, 2013
    #16
  17. WorstUsernameEver

    WorstUsernameEver But best title ever!

    1,564
    May 28, 2010
    The game hasn't been optimized yet, simple as that. I mean, it *is* a beta, after all :P
     
    WorstUsernameEver, Dec 13, 2013
    #17
  18. Sub-Human

    Sub-Human -

    1,297
    May 31, 2011
    Having played through some of the beta, I can safely say it's a lot of fun. The story is growing on you, there are chances to flesh out your characters and make a couple choices here and there. Many human encounters are 'pay a toll to pass', so you're not forced to fight your way through every time.

    It does look like a very early beta game indeed (if you've tried the Van Buren tech demo, you'll know how that feels). However the UI is certainly worth the negative remarks it received. The buttons are counter-intuitive, the pictures do not represent their function too well. On top of that, it's all scattered around the screen.
    Skills unfortunately are still bound to individual party members. My party leader has not invested points into Perception, so I have to switch between characters to scan the environment and look for clues.
    The World Travel is something entirely different. I don't want to give away spoilers - it's worth the look yourself. Too bad it takes ages to travel from one place to another.

    Creating the characters and the party was a bit of a problem. The system is not well explained so I blindly chose attributes and skills in the hopes that they will come in handy. Are skills governed by attributes? Can you use attributes on the environment? The use of completely arbitrary numbers did not help, either. How does an Awareness of 5 differ from an Awareness of 7? Many questions sprang to my mind during character customization, so I ended up using three premade party members.

    I'm hoping InXile works hard on creating a better 'game' experience rather than just a good story or a fun adventure.
     
    Sub-Human, Dec 13, 2013
    #18
  19. Feigenbaum

    Feigenbaum Solitary Traveler

    43
    Aug 16, 2011
    Wow the game looks solid but the way the camera zooms in and out when you pan over big scenery areas gives me motion sickness.
     
    Feigenbaum, Dec 13, 2013
    #19
  20. Nark

    Nark Sonny, I Watched the Vault Bein' Built!

    2,107
    Dec 6, 2008
    Yeah that seems to have disappeared into nowhere.
     
    Nark, Dec 13, 2013
    #20
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