Kickstart classic RPG - Wasteland 2!

[orderoftheflame]

Just caught wind of this.

I like the idea, and while I never played the original Wasteland, I loved Fallout 1 and 2 for both the setting and the gameplay. So while Fallout 3 was a great game that I loved, I really wanted more of the original gameplay. So this seems perfect.

And it's not even a tenner to help them on their way on the smallest pledge level.

Some of the screenshots from the original are interesting to say the least though.

 

[Indy500]

Some of the screenshots from the original are interesting to say the least though.

You played three Fallouts and didn't expect to be able to brutally murder prostitutes in Wasteland?

 

[orderoftheflame]

You played three Fallouts and didn't expect to be able to brutally murder prostitutes in Wasteland?

Fair point!

 

[TonyM19]

Loved this comment from an interview with Brain Fargo

Question: Unfortunately, role-playing games have lost much of their original identity in recent years, thanks in part to the popularity of first-person action RPGs. How do you convince a newer or younger RPG fan who has grown accustomed to the action-focused titles to give Wasteland 2 a shot?

Brian: Well here is the beauty of fan funding... we don't have to convince some younger RPG player of anything. I am making this game for the wonderful fans who put their money behind us and not some nebulous group of new people. Let's make the game they all expect and let the chips fall where they may. There is just no way I'm going to consider anything that could let down the core.

 

[Kelt]

Loved this comment from an interview with Brain Fargo

Question: Unfortunately, role-playing games have lost much of their original identity in recent years, thanks in part to the popularity of first-person action RPGs. How do you convince a newer or younger RPG fan who has grown accustomed to the action-focused titles to give Wasteland 2 a shot?

Brian: Well here is the beauty of fan funding... we don't have to convince some younger RPG player of anything. I am making this game for the wonderful fans who put their money behind us and not some nebulous group of new people. Let's make the game they all expect and let the chips fall where they may. There is just no way I'm going to consider anything that could let down the core.

Wot, no "Awesome" button!?!

 

[Indy500]

Fargo says he'll bring Chris Avellone and Obsidian aboard to assist in development if the kickstarter reaches $2.1 million:

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/03/30/obisidian-to-co-develop-wasteland-2-on-one-condition/

They’ve [InXile] just been in touch to say that, if they can reach $2.1 million during the 17 days remaining on the funding schedule, they’ll be bringing in Obisidian Entertainment, including Planescape: Torment mastermind Chris Avellone, to help them make the game.

Says Chris Avellone, “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 successor to the Fallout franchise is a honor.”

Brian Fargo observes that “I have a history with the guys at Obsidian that dates back to the days of Interplay’s Black Isle studios. Together we created some of the greatest RPG’s of all time, from Fallout 1 & 2 to titles like Icewind Dale and Planescape: Torment. It is great that we now have a chance to reunite on a project like Wasteland 2.”

 

[Cutshaw]

I was just coming here to post this amazing news. As much as I dearly love Tim Schafer and Double Fine, if they can manage over 3 million for a point and click adventure, there is something wrong if Wasteland 2 doesn't get close.

 

[Indy500]

I was just coming here to post this amazing news. As much as I dearly love Tim Schafer and Double Fine, if they can manage over 3 million for a point and click adventure, there is something wrong if Wasteland 2 doesn't get close.

Heh, I'm also seeing some anti-Obsidian flaming and people threatening to withdraw their pledges.

Speaking of which, Brian Fargo had this to say about Wasteland 2, QA, publishers etc:

http://www.ripten.com/2012/03/27/br...mal-publisher-treatment-and-having-fun-again/

"You should try to dig in and get some stories out there. Look at the most recent one with those poor guys at Obsidian. They did Fallout: New Vegas, the ship date got moved up and, who does the QA on a project? The publisher is always in charge of QA.

When a project goes out buggy, it’s not the developer. The developer never says, “I refuse to fix the bug,” or, “I don’t know how.” They never do that. It’s the publisher that does the QA, so if a product goes out buggy, it’s not the developer’s fault.

So, (Fallout: New Vegas) goes out buggy and they didn’t do the QA, their ship date got moved up and they missed their metacritic rating by one point. Did they get a bonus? No. Do you think that’s fair? I tried to get some of my publisher friends, who I used to make a lot of money for, to donate. Do you think they donated? No. Their employees did."

 

[Cutshaw]

B-b-but New Vegas was a better game than Fallout 3 and certainly more of a "Fallout" game.

I thought the general aura of evil surrounding Publishers was visible to everyone and that everything Fargo said was just common sense/knowledge.

 

[Indy500]

B-b-but New Vegas was a better game than Fallout 3 and certainly more of a "Fallout" game.

Yeah, but it scored lower in both user and critic reviews, rightly or wrongly.

I thought the general aura of evil surrounding Publishers was visible to everyone and that everything Fargo said was just common sense/knowledge.

On this very forum you'll see that developers are blamed for publisher decisions and vice versa. It's telling that EA chose to re-brand one of their studios "Bioware" from Victory Games simply because of how many fanboys the Bioware name has.

 

[Cutshaw]

On this very forum you'll see that developers are blamed for publisher decisions and vice versa. It's telling that EA chose to re-brand one of their studios "Bioware" from Victory Games simply because of how many fanboys the Bioware name has.

True enough. Interesting nugget of information about Bioware Victory, I had no idea about that.. cunning, cunning indeed. I would certainly have been one of the Bioware fanboys, right up to Dragon Age 2.

Speaking of Bioware and their relationship with EA, that would be a good example of what you are talking about. The blame can't be completely laid at the feet of EA(though I'm sure they are receiving their power directly from Satan), Bioware made their bed and vehemently defended everything they have done since EA became part of the equation.

All that aside, I'm just a bit surprised people would think getting Obsidian/Chris Avellone involved with something that is clearly a "baby" project is a bad thing.

 

[Indy500]

Speaking of Bioware and their relationship with EA, that would be a good example of what you are talking about. The blame can't be completely laid at the feet of EA(though I'm sure they are receiving their power directly from Satan), Bioware made their bed and vehemently defended everything they have done since EA became part of the equation.

Indeed. I did pick up ME and ME2 for cheap because they had enough of interest, and the streamlined design\repetitive gameplay is certainly far less prone to bugs or technical hitches overall. Though ironically I've encountered more gamebreaking issues in Mass Effect 2 than Fallout New Vegas.

Don't get me wrong, Obsidian's leadership and staff have made some of their own mistakes (the mess that was Alpha Protocol's development history comes to mind), but they're pretty much the only developer out there still bothering to implement things like choice & consequence, interesting characters and non-combat focused quest solutions.

All that aside, I'm just a bit surprised people would think getting Obsidian/Chris Avellone involved with something that is clearly a "baby" project is a bad thing.

My guess is they don't like the dialogue-heavy approach he has and\or pull out the standard "OE make buggy games" line like flogging a dead horse. Usually the latter.

Surely these old school fans don't just want a clone of Fallout 1? Which, by the way, had its fair share of technical problems and almost non-existent sales figures. New Vegas was a logical evolution given 200 years of in-universe time. Fallout 2 was bashed in its time for some of the same reasons as NV: more developed settlements, emerging government and infrastructure, cultural references\humour etc.

 

[Paul_cz]

Chris Avellone working on wasteland 2 design is a reason to celebrate, the guy is brilliant.

 

[Indy500]

Now we just Lenoard Boyarsky to jump ship and we've got the Fallout triumvirate

 

[Cutshaw]

To the top!

I upped my pledge to $115, I'm trying to excuse going higher but I've not managed it yet. Surely the 2.1m will be hit.

Just in case anyone is wanting to be a backer but are a a bit short on pennies, they don't charge you till the time is up, so you have 13 days.

 

[LokiS]

To be honest, I can personally understand peoples frustration when it comes to Obsidian simply from experiences.

Kotor 2: Buggy, mass of content cut from game
Neverwinter 2: Buggy, **** poor performance issues at launch
Alpha Protocol: Decent story & Dialog etc, **** poor ai and game play mechanics
Fallout Vegas: Buggy as hell at launch, granted patched up now.
Dungeon Siege 3: Complete butchery of the franchise

I borderline hate Obsidian, they never finish their work and often leave it a buggy mess, I wouldn't want them to touch this project even if some of them had a hand in the games past.

 

[Cutshaw]

It might be selective logic, but I really did think New Vegas was head and shoulders above Fallout 3 and taking the spotty Obsidian track record out of the equation(ha!) and just looking at Avellone as a writer, it sounds rosy. It's not going to be turned into an Obsidian project with all the things that would involve, publishers forcing games out early(kotor 2), for example.

Polarizing seems to be an understatement.

 

[Indy500]

To be honest, I can personally understand peoples frustration when it comes to Obsidian simply from experiences.

Kotor 2: Buggy, mass of content cut from game
Neverwinter 2: Buggy, **** poor performance issues at launch
Alpha Protocol: Decent story & Dialog etc, **** poor ai and game play mechanics
Fallout Vegas: Buggy as hell at launch, granted patched up now.
Dungeon Siege 3: Complete butchery of the franchise

I borderline hate Obsidian, they never finish their work and often leave it a buggy mess, I wouldn't want them to touch this project even if some of them had a hand in the games past.

This has already been discussed before you posted.

Also, there aren't any publishers involved in Wasteland 2. Fargo's running it as he sees fit. No rolling up of deadlines, no gameplay concessions, and QA will be done in-house and not given to the likes of Bethesda.

 

[LokiS]

This has already been discussed before you posted.

Also, there aren't any publishers involved in Wasteland 2. Fargo's running it as he sees fit. No rolling up of deadlines, no gameplay concessions, and QA will be done in-house and not given to the likes of Bethesda.

Heard it all before , excuses. I guess it's a matter of proof in the pudding, but even if Wasteland 2 comes to be a great game it wont be enough to clean up the tarnish of the past releases they have done. Obsidian just aren't consistent with the quality of the games they release.

 

[Indy500]

Heard it all before , excuses. I guess it's a matter of proof in the pudding, but even if Wasteland 2 comes to be a great game it wont be enough to clean up the tarnish of the past releases they have done.

Very well then.

Obsidian just aren't consistent with the quality of the games they release.

I guess I must be the only one who experiences more bugs in Bioware games