Obsidian Gears Up For Wasteland 2

[sb666]

Is this gonna be the generic obsidian work where they take something was epic and just release it with a few modifications and pass it off as original? If so count me out. I could barely get through New Vegas because it was just Fallout 3 with mods for console.

Well what Obisidian did with Fallout New Vegas was take Fallout back to what made the originals great seeing as they made them.

 

[Kungfu_Teddybear]

Wasteland 2? Can't say I've even heard of the first one. Anyone care on enlighten me on what it was like?

My understanding is that it was a top down RPG, sort of in the style of the original 4 or 5 final Fantasy Games. Tone wise it's very similar to the original two Fallout games, sans the 1950s World of Tomorrow parallel history aesthetic.

Extrapolating from what he's talking about doing sounds a bit like combat in the style of Fallout Tactics or the original X-Com, where you control a full squad in combat from a bird's eye/isometric perspective. With (presumably) a fully fleshed RPG progression outside of combat.

From what he's said he's aiming for a skill based combat system, I'm assuming what he means is that combat will be controlled by dice rolls which will be influenced by a character's skills.

Honestly, if you want to take a look at what this could be headed towards, and have never played it, I'd still recommend the original Fallout games (1 & 2). They haven't always aged gracefully, but they are still pretty solid RPG experiences in their own right, and they were aimed at being spiritual successors to Wasteland.

So it's kind of like a hash up between the original Final Fantasy games and the original Fallout games with roll-the-dice style combat? Sounds good I'm certainly going to have to keep an aye on this to see how it goes. I have never played the original Fallout games but I've always meant to get round to them, I guess this gives me an excuse to finally go and get them off GOG.

If you're digging around on GoG, the three recommendations I'd bring up off hand are the original two Fallout RPGs (1 and 2) (Tactics only if you really want a Post-Apocalyptic X-Com clone), and Arcanum (this was another Isometric RPG from Tim Cain (another of the brains behind Fallout), and a very solid Victorian era High-Fantisy mixed with Steampunk RPG in it's own right). None of them have a lot of graphical oomph, but all three are fantastic RPGs.

Sounds good, I'll check those out. Bad graphics don't concern me, I can still quite happily sit down and play Baldur's Gate 2 and Planescape Torment, as long as the games are good that's fine. Thanks for the recommendations.

 

[80Maxwell08]

Wasteland 2? Can't say I've even heard of the first one. Anyone care on enlighten me on what it was like?

My understanding is that it was a top down RPG, sort of in the style of the original 4 or 5 final Fantasy Games. Tone wise it's very similar to the original two Fallout games, sans the 1950s World of Tomorrow parallel history aesthetic.

Extrapolating from what he's talking about doing sounds a bit like combat in the style of Fallout Tactics or the original X-Com, where you control a full squad in combat from a bird's eye/isometric perspective. With (presumably) a fully fleshed RPG progression outside of combat.

From what he's said he's aiming for a skill based combat system, I'm assuming what he means is that combat will be controlled by dice rolls which will be influenced by a character's skills.

Honestly, if you want to take a look at what this could be headed towards, and have never played it, I'd still recommend the original Fallout games (1 & 2). They haven't always aged gracefully, but they are still pretty solid RPG experiences in their own right, and they were aimed at being spiritual successors to Wasteland.

So it's kind of like a hash up between the original Final Fantasy games and the original Fallout games with roll-the-dice style combat? Sounds good I'm certainly going to have to keep an aye on this to see how it goes. I have never played the original Fallout games but I've always meant to get round to them, I guess this gives me an excuse to finally go and get them off GOG.

If you're digging around on GoG, the three recommendations I'd bring up off hand are the original two Fallout RPGs (1 and 2) (Tactics only if you really want a Post-Apocalyptic X-Com clone), and Arcanum (this was another Isometric RPG from Tim Cain (another of the brains behind Fallout), and a very solid Victorian era High-Fantisy mixed with Steampunk RPG in it's own right). None of them have a lot of graphical oomph, but all three are fantastic RPGs.

Sounds good, I'll check those out. Bad graphics don't concern me, I can still quite happily sit down and play Baldur's Gate 2 and Planescape Torment, as long as the games are good that's fine. Thanks for the recommendations.

Well if you listen to his recommendations then Arcanum is half off right now so I'm going to go buy it myself. Just a heads up that it's only $3 right now.

 

[Kungfu_Teddybear]

Wasteland 2? Can't say I've even heard of the first one. Anyone care on enlighten me on what it was like?

My understanding is that it was a top down RPG, sort of in the style of the original 4 or 5 final Fantasy Games. Tone wise it's very similar to the original two Fallout games, sans the 1950s World of Tomorrow parallel history aesthetic.

Extrapolating from what he's talking about doing sounds a bit like combat in the style of Fallout Tactics or the original X-Com, where you control a full squad in combat from a bird's eye/isometric perspective. With (presumably) a fully fleshed RPG progression outside of combat.

From what he's said he's aiming for a skill based combat system, I'm assuming what he means is that combat will be controlled by dice rolls which will be influenced by a character's skills.

Honestly, if you want to take a look at what this could be headed towards, and have never played it, I'd still recommend the original Fallout games (1 & 2). They haven't always aged gracefully, but they are still pretty solid RPG experiences in their own right, and they were aimed at being spiritual successors to Wasteland.

So it's kind of like a hash up between the original Final Fantasy games and the original Fallout games with roll-the-dice style combat? Sounds good I'm certainly going to have to keep an aye on this to see how it goes. I have never played the original Fallout games but I've always meant to get round to them, I guess this gives me an excuse to finally go and get them off GOG.

If you're digging around on GoG, the three recommendations I'd bring up off hand are the original two Fallout RPGs (1 and 2) (Tactics only if you really want a Post-Apocalyptic X-Com clone), and Arcanum (this was another Isometric RPG from Tim Cain (another of the brains behind Fallout), and a very solid Victorian era High-Fantisy mixed with Steampunk RPG in it's own right). None of them have a lot of graphical oomph, but all three are fantastic RPGs.

Sounds good, I'll check those out. Bad graphics don't concern me, I can still quite happily sit down and play Baldur's Gate 2 and Planescape Torment, as long as the games are good that's fine. Thanks for the recommendations.

Well if you listen to his recommendations then Arcanum is half off right now so I'm going to go buy it myself. Just a heads up that it's only $3 right now.

Yup just been having a look. Just bought it.

 

[UnderGlass]

Damn. Foolishly squandered all my crazy excitement on the Warhammer 40K MMO becoming a single-player game. What a crazy awesome week this is turning out to be.

Now, I'm no Obsidian apologist. As a small studio with limited internal resources or clout, they definitely have a tendency to overreach; In addition to being regularly shafted by their publishers. Along with Troika Games (Arcanum; Temple of Elemental Evil; Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines), they're from the auteur school of game design and have trouble stripping back and adapting when the resources can't match their vision. That said, few games are worth revisiting and improving upon years later. Yet that is exactly the case with almost all of Obsidian's early work which is meticulously modded, tweaked and restored by loving fans. People moved by the strength of those wonderful narratives and colorful, believable characters and driven to help bring that vision to life.

This honestly sounds like the best of Obsidian contributing to a project run by people passionate about the game they're making.

I can't wait.

 

[UnderGlass]

Wasteland 2? Can't say I've even heard of the first one. Anyone care on enlighten me on what it was like?

My understanding is that it was a top down RPG, sort of in the style of the original 4 or 5 final Fantasy Games. Tone wise it's very similar to the original two Fallout games, sans the 1950s World of Tomorrow parallel history aesthetic.

Extrapolating from what he's talking about doing sounds a bit like combat in the style of Fallout Tactics or the original X-Com, where you control a full squad in combat from a bird's eye/isometric perspective. With (presumably) a fully fleshed RPG progression outside of combat.

From what he's said he's aiming for a skill based combat system, I'm assuming what he means is that combat will be controlled by dice rolls which will be influenced by a character's skills.

Honestly, if you want to take a look at what this could be headed towards, and have never played it, I'd still recommend the original Fallout games (1 & 2). They haven't always aged gracefully, but they are still pretty solid RPG experiences in their own right, and they were aimed at being spiritual successors to Wasteland.

So it's kind of like a hash up between the original Final Fantasy games and the original Fallout games with roll-the-dice style combat? Sounds good I'm certainly going to have to keep an aye on this to see how it goes. I have never played the original Fallout games but I've always meant to get round to them, I guess this gives me an excuse to finally go and get them off GOG.

If you're digging around on GoG, the three recommendations I'd bring up off hand are the original two Fallout RPGs (1 and 2) (Tactics only if you really want a Post-Apocalyptic X-Com clone), and Arcanum (this was another Isometric RPG from Tim Cain (another of the brains behind Fallout), and a very solid Victorian era High-Fantisy mixed with Steampunk RPG in it's own right). None of them have a lot of graphical oomph, but all three are fantastic RPGs.

Sounds good, I'll check those out. Bad graphics don't concern me, I can still quite happily sit down and play Baldur's Gate 2 and Planescape Torment, as long as the games are good that's fine. Thanks for the recommendations.

Well if you listen to his recommendations then Arcanum is half off right now so I'm going to go buy it myself. Just a heads up that it's only $3 right now.

Yup just been having a look. Just bought it.

Congratulations, you won't regret it. And don't listen to those decrying the graphics. I fiddled around with the widescreen mod and finally uninstalled it. While the game engine handles it like a champ the UI looks like arse and a big part of the charm of the game are the details like the interface. Also, unlike the pixelated BG sprites, Arcanum's sprites hold up very well on modern screens at the standard resolution. The backdrops, apart from being a little brown, are also just as pretty as its predecessors.

However, you should definitely go [a href=http://www.terra-arcanum.com/downloads/]here[/a] to pick up the fan patch and some cut content. Troika's games are even buggier than Obsidian's and believe me, this mod fixes a ton of stuff that needed fixing.

Captcha: run amok. Hmm, don't mind if I do.

 

[dyre]

This looks amazing. While I'm sortof love/hate on Obsidian, $15 is a small price to pay for the hope of a modern game worthy of its Black Isle roots.

Hopefully they'll spend a little bit of that 2 million on a QA department.

feel free to read up fargos last interview. QA is handled by the publisher.

Damn! Got here too late to preemptively mention this! Link for easiness.

There. Can you people lay off Obsidian's back now? It made me a bit irked to see the whole "bugs" criticism mentioned over and over throughout MM. Keep in mind, this would/will be Obsidian working without publishers on it's back, free to keep the content they want in the game and to take care of the QA part themselves, without the pressure to meet strict deadlines (and running out of financing, if one donates enough). /throwsmoney

Sorry, no, don't buy it. There hasn't been a single Obsidian game that wasn't a buggy mess. Coincidence? Doubt it.

Alpha Protocol and Dungeon Siege 3 weren't buggy. Though the former just had some design flaws that irked a lot of people (but I didn't run into a single bug, and most everything that I hear people refer to as bugs were just questionable AI behaviors).

I remember if you picked one of the classes, one of the abilities that you started with wouldn't work. It'd only work if you started out without it and unlocked it later on. Though, I suppose Alpha Protocol did have more design flaws than bugs (not that that's a good thing >_>)

Also, I heard Dungeon Siege 3 was just a bad game, period :/

 

[DustyDrB]

I remember if you picked one of the classes, one of the abilities that you started with wouldn't work. It'd only work if you started out without it and unlocked it later on. Though, I suppose Alpha Protocol did have more design flaws than bugs (not that that's a good thing >_>)

Also, I heard Dungeon Siege 3 was just a bad game, period :/

Which ability? I never ran across any problems like that. I'm certainly not saying the game is flawless, but buggy isn't the word. I do love it despite the dumbass AI and dreadful minigames.

Dungeon Siege 3 is just kind of boring. But I play it from time to time anyway. Usually when I want a mindless game to go through while I watch something on Netflix. That needs to be a genre...Playing While on Netflix= PWN!

 

[dyre]

I remember if you picked one of the classes, one of the abilities that you started with wouldn't work. It'd only work if you started out without it and unlocked it later on. Though, I suppose Alpha Protocol did have more design flaws than bugs (not that that's a good thing >_>)

Also, I heard Dungeon Siege 3 was just a bad game, period :/

Which ability? I never ran across any problems like that. I'm certainly not saying the game is flawless, but buggy isn't the word. I do love it despite the dumbass AI and dreadful minigames.

Dungeon Siege 3 is just kind of boring. But I play it from time to time anyway. Usually when I want a mindless game to go through while I watch something on Netflix. That needs to be a genre...Playing While on Netflix= PWN!

I couldn't remember off the top of my head when I wrote that post (it's been awhile since I've played that game), but I looked it up and the skill that wouldn't work if unlocked at the character creation screen was awareness (basic).

http://alphaprotocol.wikia.com/wiki/Alpha_Protocol_bugs (just search "awareness")

It's really too bad that game was so flawed. Could've been a fantastic game

 

[Realitycrash]

Fuuuck yes, you shall have my money. I'v wanted a "classic"-Fallout game rebooted for a long time, and this is the closest I will get.

 

[Continuity]

Sorry, no, don't buy it. There hasn't been a single Obsidian game that wasn't a buggy mess. Coincidence? Doubt it.

Obsidian often takes on sequel projects from other developers, and they do so on tight deadlines and for relatively little money. Its a f****** miracle they manage to make games as awesome as FO:NV bugs not withstanding (yeah there are a fuck tonne of bugs in FO:NV but its still the best damn RPG in years).

I for one am very excited for wasteland 2 and especially now that Obsidian will probably be involved. Which is why I've raised my pledge from $40 to $115. Money where my mouth is.

 

[Kahunaburger]

Guys, Obsidian isn't doing the programming on this one, just helping with the writing. Literally no reason not to throw monies at this project.

 

[Kae]

Damn! I couldn't resist this, first online purchase I've made that's more than 5$, and that was only once, well 50$ for a boxed copy and a digital copy sounded too good for me, anyway now let's just hope they get more than 2.1 million, if not, well then I'm pretty sure we're still getting a kick ass game, whenever it's finished of course.

 

[sb666]

Is this gonna be the generic obsidian work where they take something was epic and just release it with a few modifications and pass it off as original? If so count me out. I could barely get through New Vegas because it was just Fallout 3 with mods for console.

Well what Obisidian did with Fallout New Vegas was take Fallout back to what made the originals great seeing as they made them.

But that doesn't show creativity. Anyone, and I mean that in the exact description of anyone, with enough skill to properly use a Map/game editor could do exactly what Obsidian did. They took a game engine, and a broken one at that, didn't fix any of the big bugs, then went onto a website, my guess is moddb, and looked at the most popular mods. Then implemented those mods into a game and made an okay story then released it off the success of it's predecessor. If another company did this with another game people would notice and probably complain about it. Because the name Fallout and Obsidian are attached they are exempt apparently.

Is this gonna be the generic obsidian work where they take something was epic and just release it with a few modifications and pass it off as original? If so count me out. I could barely get through New Vegas because it was just Fallout 3 with mods for console.

Oh no! they took a successful formula, improved upon it, and then filled the game world with interesting characters, locations, and quests. How dare they make a sequal to a popular game and make it their own while keeping what brought in old and new fans of Fallout in Fallout 3.

Also wasn't the first wasteland one of the biggest inspirations for Fallout?

Read my above comment for most of your post. I never played the original fallout games. Also I've never played wasteland. My post was just to point out that the most recent game, and at least 1 other off the top of my head, are just riding off the tailcoats of a predecessor.

Bethesda made them use their shit engine that was the only way they could have made a Fallout game plus they didnt have enough time to start the game with a completely new one.

 

[DRTJR]

Is this gonna be the generic obsidian work where they take something was epic and just release it with a few modifications and pass it off as original? If so count me out. I could barely get through New Vegas because it was just Fallout 3 with mods for console.

Well what Obisidian did with Fallout New Vegas was take Fallout back to what made the originals great seeing as they made them.

But that doesn't show creativity. Anyone, and I mean that in the exact description of anyone, with enough skill to properly use a Map/game editor could do exactly what Obsidian did. They took a game engine, and a broken one at that, didn't fix any of the big bugs, then went onto a website, my guess is moddb, and looked at the most popular mods. Then implemented those mods into a game and made an okay story then released it off the success of it's predecessor. If another company did this with another game people would notice and probably complain about it. Because the name Fallout and Obsidian are attached they are exempt apparently.

Is this gonna be the generic obsidian work where they take something was epic and just release it with a few modifications and pass it off as original? If so count me out. I could barely get through New Vegas because it was just Fallout 3 with mods for console.

Oh no! they took a successful formula, improved upon it, and then filled the game world with interesting characters, locations, and quests. How dare they make a sequal to a popular game and make it their own while keeping what brought in old and new fans of Fallout in Fallout 3.

Also wasn't the first wasteland one of the biggest inspirations for Fallout?

Read my above comment for most of your post. I never played the original fallout games. Also I've never played wasteland. My post was just to point out that the most recent game, and at least 1 other off the top of my head, are just riding off the tailcoats of a predecessor.

Lionhead did that with Fable 3, aping Fable 2's engine to make a game with some new mechanics and locations while not messing with the over arching formula, people didn't complain about that, the complained that it wasn't like Fable enough. Call of duty and Madden are also frequently reusing engines for their games, that is never a complaint the lack of story or progress is. Fallout NV took what work and made it beautiful, And Fallout has always been a buggy series, In Fallout 1 the cannon ending for the Followers of the Apocalypse is bugged and unattainable since the only available ending is them getting whipped by the Masters army, and they aren't even mentioned in Fallout 2, so until Fallout NV they were thought to be dead. Also Proper Brotherhood of Steel FTW!

 

[DeathQuaker]

Is this gonna be the generic obsidian work where they take something was epic and just release it with a few modifications and pass it off as original? If so count me out. I could barely get through New Vegas because it was just Fallout 3 with mods for console.

Well what Obisidian did with Fallout New Vegas was take Fallout back to what made the originals great seeing as they made them.

But that doesn't show creativity. Anyone, and I mean that in the exact description of anyone, with enough skill to properly use a Map/game editor could do exactly what Obsidian did. They took a game engine, and a broken one at that, didn't fix any of the big bugs, then went onto a website, my guess is moddb, and looked at the most popular mods. Then implemented those mods into a game and made an okay story then released it off the success of it's predecessor. If another company did this with another game people would notice and probably complain about it. Because the name Fallout and Obsidian are attached they are exempt apparently.

Is this gonna be the generic obsidian work where they take something was epic and just release it with a few modifications and pass it off as original? If so count me out. I could barely get through New Vegas because it was just Fallout 3 with mods for console.

Oh no! they took a successful formula, improved upon it, and then filled the game world with interesting characters, locations, and quests. How dare they make a sequal to a popular game and make it their own while keeping what brought in old and new fans of Fallout in Fallout 3.

Also wasn't the first wasteland one of the biggest inspirations for Fallout?

Read my above comment for most of your post. I never played the original fallout games. Also I've never played wasteland. My post was just to point out that the most recent game, and at least 1 other off the top of my head, are just riding off the tailcoats of a predecessor.

Except you seem to be ignoring the point, which is that Obsidian/Black Isle are in fact the "predecessors." They designed Wasteland. They designed Fallout 1-2. If there's anyone being unoriginal, it was Bethesda, building Fallout 3 off of Black Isle's work* ((mind, I think Bethesda did a fine job with Fallout 3)). Obsidian developing New Vegas were a number of the original creators building off their own mythos. The whole thing about Wasteland 2 bringing Obsidian on board is that by bringing Tim Cain and Brian Fargo back together with the writers at Obsidian is you basically are bringing back together the team that designed Wasteland and Fallout. If there's "unoriginality" here it's that they're making a sequel to something many of them already worked on together. If you choose to see it that way, so be it, but I think you're missing the point of this by miles and miles.