With turn-based RPGs being in fashion again now thanks to Baldur’s Gate 3 I would really like to throw in a recommendation for Wasteland 3. First of all it’s a riot (as the image demonstrates). Second of all it’s well-built and satisfying RPG-wise; usually in this kind of game you get fighters and wizards, and it’s refreshing to deal with a serious RPG system where all the roles are completely different and modernized, like hacker, sniper or brawler. Usually it’s either your characters are modernized or you have a proper RPG system, but not both. Finally, the game is notable for flipping every RPG cozy moral cliche on its head. The usual RPG rewards you by producing outcomes more optimistic and idealistic than what you’d get in reality; Wasteland inverts this, and produces equal and opposite cynical, pessimistic outcomes. Nearly every time you try to negotiate as an alternative to violence, this just results in the other guys shooting first. No good deed goes unpunished and you’ll say “come on, in reality that could have gone better” often. Even most other bleak RPGs respect your choice in some sense: “here, you got what you asked for, the good and the bad”. Wasteland instead says “here, you got what you effectively asked for, you idiot”. The moment the penny drops and you understand that you are operating in a crapsack world and start behaving accordingly, you are in for a very unique roleplaying experience.
You know? I’ve never had the good fortune to be familiar with the series and it’s on my wishlist now for later. It IS more modern than my usual tastes, but heaven forbid I play something new and find out I like it. Seems like there’s spoilers in the third for the second one, though…
That said, my favorite part of this photo is they actually tried to do the math. If time = distance ÷ speed, the earth has a circumference of 24,901 miles, and the fastest snail’s top speed is 0.03mph, they would encircle the earth in 830,033 hours. So I suspect this snail cheated and hitched a ride at some point, likely near the end when it got tired, but did most of it on foot
Seems like there’s spoilers in the third for the second one, though…
I’d call them call backs rather than spoilers (in spite of playing 3 before 2) but yeah, there are some. Luckily my ADHD will help me forget most if not all of them by the time I finish 3 and start 2 😄
they actually tried to do the math.
Nicely spotted! I had just assumed that they arrived at 800,000 only because it’s 10,000 times 80, but you may well be right too!
The third is its own story with occasional call backs for the previous games. Nothing major, mostly you will miss a few name drops here and there who played a role in the previous titles.
It will not affect your experience and the third entry is by far the most accessible game with tons of QoL features, proper gamepad support and you can easily enjoy it on a console as well.
I played the second on both PC and PS and the PC version was far superior.
With turn-based RPGs being in fashion again now thanks to Baldur’s Gate 3 I would really like to throw in a recommendation for Wasteland 3. First of all it’s a riot (as the image demonstrates). Second of all it’s well-built and satisfying RPG-wise; usually in this kind of game you get fighters and wizards, and it’s refreshing to deal with a serious RPG system where all the roles are completely different and modernized, like hacker, sniper or brawler. Usually it’s either your characters are modernized or you have a proper RPG system, but not both. Finally, the game is notable for flipping every RPG cozy moral cliche on its head. The usual RPG rewards you by producing outcomes more optimistic and idealistic than what you’d get in reality; Wasteland inverts this, and produces equal and opposite cynical, pessimistic outcomes. Nearly every time you try to negotiate as an alternative to violence, this just results in the other guys shooting first. No good deed goes unpunished and you’ll say “come on, in reality that could have gone better” often. Even most other bleak RPGs respect your choice in some sense: “here, you got what you asked for, the good and the bad”. Wasteland instead says “here, you got what you effectively asked for, you idiot”. The moment the penny drops and you understand that you are operating in a crapsack world and start behaving accordingly, you are in for a very unique roleplaying experience.
You know? I’ve never had the good fortune to be familiar with the series and it’s on my wishlist now for later. It IS more modern than my usual tastes, but heaven forbid I play something new and find out I like it. Seems like there’s spoilers in the third for the second one, though…
That said, my favorite part of this photo is they actually tried to do the math. If time = distance ÷ speed, the earth has a circumference of 24,901 miles, and the fastest snail’s top speed is 0.03mph, they would encircle the earth in 830,033 hours. So I suspect this snail cheated and hitched a ride at some point, likely near the end when it got tired, but did most of it on foot
I’d call them call backs rather than spoilers (in spite of playing 3 before 2) but yeah, there are some. Luckily my ADHD will help me forget most if not all of them by the time I finish 3 and start 2 😄
Nicely spotted! I had just assumed that they arrived at 800,000 only because it’s 10,000 times 80, but you may well be right too!
The third is its own story with occasional call backs for the previous games. Nothing major, mostly you will miss a few name drops here and there who played a role in the previous titles.
It will not affect your experience and the third entry is by far the most accessible game with tons of QoL features, proper gamepad support and you can easily enjoy it on a console as well.
I played the second on both PC and PS and the PC version was far superior.
It does get a little TOO realistic in Steeltown, though 😬