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Wasteland 2 Kickstarter project by inXile entertainment [Ended, $3 Million Funded]

M

MightyHedgehog

Member
NichM said:
Oh damn. Okay, the only thing stopping me now is my possibly inaccurate impression of the original--I thought it was one of those SUPER hardcore games where if you made one mistake you died, which seemed like a big turnoff to me if the new game was going to be more of the same. Is it more forgiving than that? Is this a game you play instead of inch forward one mistake at a time?
Click to expand...
Wasteland 1 was hard, but it was rarely unfair (outside of some bad UNC loops, like sleep status loops). The health system in the game let you stave off permadeath quite well. You really have to tempt fate early on to die and, later, you'll have leveled and gotten better gear to handle the tougher shit. It's old-school, but sort of half-way between FF1 and a tactical turn-based game where you can choose the style of battle speed and complexity at will with the ability to separate party members onto their own tile for tactical micromanagement. Very detailed world with loads of reasons to explore and examine the world and collect and use items ala classic adventure games, too. It's not just about being powerful in WL as the skill system gives you more options than, say, any Deus Ex title in encounters with NPCs, hostile or not (yet).
 
D

duckroll

Member
NichM said:
Oh damn. Okay, the only thing stopping me now is my possibly inaccurate impression of the original--I thought it was one of those SUPER hardcore games where if you made one mistake you died, which seemed like a big turnoff to me if the new game was going to be more of the same. Is it more forgiving than that? Is this a game you play instead of inch forward one mistake at a time?
Click to expand...

Maybe I can help explain this using SMT comparisons. You know how sometimes in SMT games you feel that there's a wall and you're just barely making it in the game and just inching forward battle by battle and just hoping for victory based on luck sometimes? And then you realize that it's the wrong way to play and you probably messed up your demon builds and party formations, and you spend time reworking it somewhat, and then suddenly the game becomes much more accessible and fun, and you can focus on the story and the actual combat interactions without worrying that one decision will cost you the entire fight?

Wasteland is comparable to that. How you build your initial party and what skills you pick and how you approach the start of the game is important to being able to make progress without it feeling like a bitch. A lot of CRPGs in the 80s were like this, and the problem is often made worse in party games because there are so many more decisions and options at character creation that you basically have more potential "wrong" choices that can be made.

If you have a decent party setup, it's really not that bad. As for Wasteland 2, I'm pretty confident in terms of "barrier to entry" it should be closer to Fallout and Fallout 2 in design sense rather than Wasteland 1, even if the systems will be designed to retain what Wasteland is. As game designers evolve based on experience, they also (hopefully) become more self-aware of how to design systems which retain the satisfaction of choice and depth, while also moving failure options which don't make the game more fun (where players make a bad choice not because of the lack of skill but because the game does not provide enough reasonable information).

Hopefully Wasteland 2 will be like that.
 
I

Imp the Dimp

Member
All right, it's settled, I'm in. Currently playing Fallout New Vegas and this game puts every Bethesda game of the last 9 years to shame. Just a brilliant news, really.
 
S

Strummerjones

Member
wQZo5.jpg


"Here's the plan: we put Black Isle back together, do some gigs, earn some bread, bang! We'll have 5,000 bucks in no time."
 
C

Corto

Member
I now demand a video of a talk/interview with Fargo and Avellone about the game and RPG in general. 3 hours and 49 minutes of talk. Do it.
 
I

Ironmask

Member
Chris Avellone is the god of story-writing, the Obsidian team is the best team possible to let the wasteland world be not only bigger, but also complete and real.

Now i'm not only interested (15$ backers) but hyped as fuck! (115$ collector's edition FTW!)
 
M

mclem

Member
Spectacular Dr Dawg said:
Holy shit!
But that means Obsidian won't be doing their own kickstarter rpg anytime soon :(
Click to expand...

To be honest, I think that's a good thing. They'd have been in a bit of an impasse as to when to actually put theirs up, since two high-profile big-name CRPG projects in quick succession may end up hindering the second.

This whole setup allows Obsidian to stay solvent until a reasonable time to launch their own CRPG kickstarter (To commence after WL2 is done and dusted, naturally). I see it as a win-win.
 
P

Pachterballs

Banned
Brian Fargo said:
We have announced a major piece of good news today that inXile has reached an agreement with Obsidian for potential design assistance for Wasteland 2. What that means is that Obsidian’s Chief Creative Officer, Chris Avellone, is going to work with our team on the design and writing of the game! It is important to note that we say "potential" as they will come aboard assuming we hit $2.1 million in funding. The good news is that we have already seen a spike in just the few hours since this was announced in a press release this morning.

For those of you who don't know who Obsidian or Chris Avellone are, they are the bulk of the brains who worked on Fallout 1&2, Icewind Dale and Planescape Torment when I was back at Interplay. More of the band is back together to make sure we bring you a fantastic RPG. Chris is going to help push the density and literary content of the game.

The original Wasteland was an important game to Chris as he recently stated, "Wasteland is one of my favorite RPGs of all time, and when Brian asked if I wanted to work on the sequel, I jumped at the chance. While I've worked on Fallout 2 and Fallout: New Vegas, getting the chance to work on the spiritual predecessor to the Fallout franchise is a honor."

While the programming work will remain with us here at inXile, we are looking to use a host of tools that Obsidian has created which will help us get assets into the game faster. The faster we can implement and iterate on content, the deeper the game and the more varied choices the gamers can make.

That’s more good news for all of you that put your faith in us.

Brian Fargo
Click to expand...

from the latest KS update.
 
R

robin2

Member
Could from this collaboration, provided it goes well, eventually born an AAA(A) Wasteland 3 made by an inXile+Obsidian "fusion"?
Sci-fi gaming speculation I know...
 
A

AndyMoogle

Member
robin2 said:
Could from this collaboration, provided it goes well, eventually born an AAA(A) Wasteland 3 made by an inXile+Obsidian "fusion"?
Sci-fi gaming speculation I know...
Click to expand...

No.

We might get a Wasteland 3 that doesn't have to be kickstarted, but it's not going to be AAA. It will probably be what Fallout 2 was to Fallout 1.
 
M

MightyHedgehog

Member
AndyMoogle said:
No.

We might get a Wasteland 3 that doesn't have to be kickstarted, but it's not going to be AAA. It will probably be what Fallout 2 was to Fallout 1.
Click to expand...

Right. Staying within their means. The side benefit to all of this is that, if these first bigger KS-funded games turn out anywhere from good to great, the interest from the publisher side would likely be to enter that genre space and general modesty of budget all using their own money. KS would effectively have kickstarted a bunch of genre revivals or new genres mashed-up from new eyes on old things in their recent excavation of these old-school game types and approaches to familiar themes. KS could still co-exist by supporting more fringe and non-maintream games. Ideally, anyway...
 
Z

zkylon

zkylewd
Oh now I don't think there's any will left in me to prevent myself from upping 65 to 115.

I hope this doesn't null MCA's own Kickstarter, though.
 
M

MightyHedgehog

Member
I see that Avellone's already sporting the star on his Twitter photo...one those new-fangled Desert Rangers badges. WL2 with Avellone/Obsidian is a done deal.
 
P

Pachterballs

Banned
Since about 8 hours ago (when this news broke); they've added $1 million so far? The avellon effect.

This will easily hit 2.1. Oh wow; 2013 is going to kick ass!
 
E

Eusis

Member
EuropeOG said:
I noticed the overall average pledge is ~$50 which is really good, much better than expected.
Click to expand...
Though not too surprising given what's offered, a classic style PC package. seriously considering it myself, I'll wait just a bit longer though to see if it makes serious progress towards 2 million (though I expect it).
 
F

Fjordson

Member
Can't believe how big this has become. I love it.

And Chris Avellone working on this is almost too good to be true. Doubled my pledge after I read the news.
 
H

HP_Wuvcraft

Banned
mclem said:
To be honest, I think that's a good thing. They'd have been in a bit of an impasse as to when to actually put theirs up, since two high-profile big-name CRPG projects in quick succession may end up hindering the second.

This whole setup allows Obsidian to stay solvent until a reasonable time to launch their own CRPG kickstarter (To commence after WL2 is done and dusted, naturally). I see it as a win-win.
Click to expand...

This gives the KS Trend time to mature, and for us to see if it really is going anywhere. By the time Avellone starts up his campaign, we'll have evidence to support whether this made anyone any money or not. Because that is what is ultimately going to decide if Kickstarter Games are sustainable: if it's profitable.
 
A

Alpha-Bromega

Member
is this not literally a gamers dream come true? like everything we ever complained about is all coming together into a perfect composition of heaven?
 
P

Pachterballs

Banned
This KS was postively crawling and now that A+O are onboard; it seems to be getting its second wind. :) 16 days to go too! That's half way on the KS trail for this.
 
C

cleveridea

Member
er how many people are getting the $100 edition? Seems like a great deal to me, and I get to be in the credits.

Isn't this gonna be a huge list of credits? I was on the fence before, but having obsidian involved after the "no bonus" fiasco of new vegas (in my top 5 best games of all time IMO) and firings makes it a lock

- edit

DAYUM SON, 3714 Backers so far! Thats a huge list of names under credits LOL
 
Z

Zeliard

Member
Alpha-Bromega said:
is this not literally a gamers dream come true? like everything we ever complained about is all coming together into a perfect composition of heaven?
Click to expand...

Next up: Avellone somehow grabbing the rights to Planescape back from the death-clutches of WotC and creating a successor in that setting. The later editions screwed with Planescape's cosmology and alignment/factions such that it doesn't even really exist anymore the way it once was, so it would truly be a dream, heh.

Guess there's always the chance for some spiritual successor of sorts, but man, that setting is so juicy.
 
D

duckroll

Member
Zeliard said:
Next up: Avellone somehow grabbing the rights to Planescape back from the death-clutches of WotC and creating a successor in that setting. The later editions screwed with Planescape's cosmology and alignment/factions such that it doesn't even really exist anymore the way it once was, so it would truly be a dream, heh.

Guess there's always the chance for some spiritual successor of sorts, but man, that setting is so juicy.
Click to expand...

I really don't care that much about specifically getting a Planescape sequel. I'll take Black Hound though. Doesn't even have to be a FR game anymore!
 
P

Phoenix Fang

Banned
How does this Kickstarter program work? I know a couple of studios who want to put their projects up. I looked on their website but didn't really see all the information they need. is ti only for professional studios or indie ones also? What do the contributors get out of it? If the studio I'm dealing with started one would they be able to create a topic about it on here or would that be considered advertising? Also if you reach your goal, can you end it and go from there or do you have to wait until the specified time is done?
 
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