This is the first full price-at release game I will have bought in a long while. The original Wasteland is in my top three games of all time. And the second on was pretty good too. I hear this one is supposed to be even better. That they supposedly really worked hard on perfecting the to the X-com style combat, while leaving a good deep Role playing world with real player investment.
I’m curious about it, and hoping that it gives Wasteland the Fallout 3/4/NV treatment (as in 3D and more approachable). I tried 1 & 2 and couldn’t get into it, despite having kickstarted 2 out of a love of RPGs. The interface was just a bit too clunky for me when there were other excellent options out there like Divinity or Pillars. But definitely looking forward to 3.
BTW, if I were you I’d just pay $1 to play it via the Xbox Game Pass for PC: Join Xbox Game Pass: Discover Your Next Favorite Game | Xbox
It includes Wasteland 3 and a bunch of other games. Starting September 15th, you’ll be able to play it on your phone too, in case you want to take your progress to go on short sessions on the go. (As if anyone goes out anymore)
It’s not going 3D, it’s staying with the isometric format from WL2.
Oh oops, my bad. Think I saw a dialogue screenshot and assumed wrongly.
Still looks cool, would love to try tomorrow night since it’s free anyway.
I funded this way back years ago so I’m getting a “free” pre-order version; already have my Steam key but it won’t activate yet. Early reviews have been really promising so I’m looking forward to it.
I backed it on Fig, so I’ve got a copy as well, with the Steam key redeemed. I played the Beta, it was good. The game could be one of the best to come out this year. The combat had some minor issues, but they did address some of that after closing down Beta from what I understand.
My main complaint with the Beta would be that they still haven’t figured out a good way to balance the stats. Some stats are just far superior to others. Granted, I don’t think I’ve ever played a CRPG where the stats were balanced.
Got a few hours in last night, loving it so far.
I noticed it had coop. How would that work in this game?
Tried it and liked it last night. It’s like a mix of Fallout, Divinity, and Xcom. The new cover/combat system is pretty intuitive. Movement is still a bit clunky. I love the extensive customization, but the postapocalyptic wasteland tropes seem kinda played out by this point…
I couldn’t get it working last night (just kept timing out), but in theory your party can have 4 of your own characters + 2 premade companions, and you and your co-op partner can split them up however you like.
I didn’t even know they were working on a 3rd installment. I finished the first one on my c64 back in 1990 or so, but never really got into Wasteland 2 a few years back.
I always thought the Fallout games were the unofficial sequels to Wasteland anyway…
It is interesting when a game has to say “We weren’t trying to make a political statement with our game, we made a fucked up world before the world actually became fucked in much the same way.”
Lol, good point. The video game apocalypses seem so bland compared to the ones we have IRL these days.
I can definitely see a future play though or two. Already a bunch of options where I think I may end up with consequences and regretbefore all is done. 
It’s a shame toaster repair is a relatively useless skill, apparently. The best thing to do is to create a throwaway character who only exists to switch in/out when a broken toaster is found. Just give it toaster repair full up as a skill and leave it. It is a bit inconvenient to go back to HQ and swap the character in/out, but it’s not worth wasting skill points in, since for the most part toasters are all in fixed locations, and the skill serves no other purpose outside of the toasters.
(Occasionally while driving around you can come across random events that involve finding a toaster, but those just have nice loot. Nothing unique like the preset toasters.)
Ah crap, I gotta get wasteland 2 first, still!
I don’t mean to be a hipster douche but Toaster repair has always been a mostly (apparently) useless skill. It was always mostly a joke, that might have a secret benefit here and there, I haven’t made it very far in this one, and I don’t know the full extent in WL3, but even at the lowest possible level, it is still a reminder to have fun playing the game, and not getting hung up on min/maxing.
What I said: Hey, I should start playing Wasteland 3.
What I meant: Hey, I should spend 90 minutes on Google looking for custom character portraits.
I went ahead and got it, and I’ve played a few hours- I’m in Colorado Springs. So far, it seems to have all of the post-apocalyptic setting down, but with none of the weirdness or surreal humor of the first game, or even the Fallout games.
Maybe I’m not far enough in, but so far, it just seems dark and grim without any redeeming features so far.
Just wait.
There are killer clowns. They have their comedic moments, especially when they try to kill you. And stripper/prostitutes based on Barney Fife, Pee-Wee Herman, and Gilbert Gottfried. And another house of ill-repute where you can sleep with various personalities based on the royal hearts in the deck of cards. Or you can go for the Joker card instead. Um…yeah, I won’t spoil that one.
The lore books are also a fun read. There’s a foul mouth parrot who you can buy (or get for free with the appropriate skill), but he dies pretty quickly in combat. There are bomb-laden pigs wearing lipstick. The eagle in the Patriarch museum provides a bit of amusing commentary. The owner of Sans Luxe (i.e. without luxury) apartments has some amusing radio chatter when she tries to recruit the Rangers for help. Also, her quest has some interesting moments. The “last words” of your enemies can be amusing sometimes. Some of the descriptions of clickable objects are amusing. The museum in the “Bizarre” has a few amusing touches. Some of the radio transmissions are humorous. There is a bunker where the events that transpired are darkly humorous.
But sure, there’s also a large amount of grimdark. It’s far darker than any of the previous Wasteland/Fallouts done by the Interplay/Obsidian/inXile guys. And certainly darker than Bethesda’s Fallouts.
The humor is there, but this is a really horrible world the Rangers have entered. The Arizona wasteland has nothing on Colorado and its Eastern neighbors. I don’t want to give too much away, but the world of post-apocalyptic Colorado really is shitty. And this game drives that point home.
The disclaimer they give where they remind everyone that this is a game and they concepts they came up with really weren’t meant to be in any way parallel to the current goings-on in the world pretty much sum this up perfectly.
In other words, the world of Wasteland 3 is the 2020 of computer RPGs.
Oh, and I forgot the frozen ferret gun.
Yes, you can shoot people with frozen ferrets and it has a chance of freezing them.
Seriously, someone in your group should have the Weird Science skill just for the amusing weapons and such that come into play with it.