VG247 Wasteland 2 Interview

[WorstUsernameEver]

While we wait for the juicy details that will no doubt surface after Fargo and Avellone's AMA and the upcoming Kickstarter updates, it's worth noting that VG247 is offering a Wasteland 2 interview with inXile's CEO. Snippets ahead:<blockquote>You’ve mentioned that you want this to be a resurrection of old-school Black Isle RPGs in general. So how do you cater to Wasteland fans and Fallout fans while also touching on games like Planescape: Torment, Baldur’s Gate, etc? There’s so much expectation in terms of what people want this game to be. How do you deal with all of that?

There are common threads that work their way across all those games that we are keeping a keen eye on. Having true cause and effect is a big one. A deep and interesting world is also key and there need to be surprises coming at you throughout. And yes Wasteland is party based game and that is one of the big differences from Fallout. Also there is a strong literary vibe to those games that is especially highlighted with Torment that we will continue on. We are reading every comment on our forums and setting up polls to make sure we have the broad strokes covered. Once we finalize those things we will go off and do what we do best.

(...)

You’re making Wasteland 2 with old-school RPG fans in mind, so what do you, personally, miss the most about those games? Do you think they went away out of necessity, or because misinformed investors willed it so?

I think I have articulated above many of the elements that I miss as a player. There is just a certain charm that comes from a game where the developers get to tinker and riff with new ideas during the process. The games just felt so connected in their humanity. Slick and polish only goes so far… it is always the human moments we remember. There is just no way the publishers can maintain their infrastructures selling just 500K or even a million copies of a game so they moved into categories or formats that could. If we sell a million copies of Wasteland 2 we will be bringing you RPGs for another decade!</blockquote>

 

[God is Dog backwards 2.0]

Cool. The Little Bobby thing has me a little anxious, though - correct me if I'm wrong, but killing the kid was one of the things that maybe made people go 'woah' in the original Wasteland. The fact that you had this choice, the fact you might end up killing him...

... to say in Wasteland 2 that in fact, he was only *left for dead* and is in fact still alive neuters that landmark and standout-moment in Wasteland 1, which I think is a bit of a shame.

Also, if they are bring back the kid, I hope they allow him to be killed - if you're gonna do something specifically with kids in a game like Wasteland, I believe that option has to be there (alternatively, don't highlight them through quests and story-arcs etc).

Also: 'It is important to keep in mind that it is broad strokes that we incorporate and that would range from weighing the importance of features like audio vs. game depth, Linux vs. iPad or turn- based vs. real-time combat. '

I thought it was already set in stone that the game was turn-based. I hope this decision isn't being reconsidered (eg. 'oh let's do turn based AND real time like FOT as there are some fans who prefer real time') - it's pretty clearly one of the things that made the game old school and was a big draw of the initial pitch. I hope Fargo clarifies this.

 

[Viliny]

I don't really understand why people dislike turn based combat so much. I fucking love it.

JA 1&2, F1&2, silent storm 2 come off the top of my head.
Freaking LOVE to take my time and carefully give out orders and see it all unravel in a satisfying way.

If you want real time you can just go pick up any random game at a store and be done with it :/