I think Wasteland benefits from first mover advantage a bit. While there were some other titles that played around with the post-apocalyptic setting, this game was easily the most robust simulator of a ravaged Earth following a nuclear war when it released in 1988.
As such, some of its rougher and more annoying combat issues were most likely overlooked as the price you had to pay to explore the world. The DNA from Bard's Tale is easy to spot here, but it does enough to spin both the interface and the combat into its own flavor of turn based RPG action.
If nothing else, it set the table for this subgenre to flourish by providing an example of how to bring survival elements into traditional RPG gameplay and tell stories of human endurance after the end of the world.
As such, some of its rougher and more annoying combat issues were most likely overlooked as the price you had to pay to explore the world. The DNA from Bard's Tale is easy to spot here, but it does enough to spin both the interface and the combat into its own flavor of turn based RPG action.
If nothing else, it set the table for this subgenre to flourish by providing an example of how to bring survival elements into traditional RPG gameplay and tell stories of human endurance after the end of the world.
One of the oldest games i've played to the end. This isn't a demerit or a critique on the negative side, but actually just come to show how impressive it still is to play it as an rpg fan. The game allows for quite a number of different approaches to the situations it displays, but more so early on than after the midgame. After 50% of the content is done, you'll start to get into the "dungeon crawl" phase of the game, this is where you'll see that the adventure gets more linear and even very specific combat items are required to survide the onslaught in vegas. Even with the shortcoming it impressed me and nowdays you can play the remaster which makes the UI leaner and more friendly, highly recommended!
definitely not as fun as fallout and i honestly don't enjoy playing it but it's novel enough that you should check it out if you wanna see some history
Wasteland is very old for a video game. I'm an adult, but by the time this game originally released my parents hadn't even met yet, that's how old it is.
Back in the day, video games were subject to greater memory limitations which prevented developers from including important information inside the game itself so if you decide to start without reading the manual first then you'll be completely lost because there are no tool tips for items or skills in-game, all of that is in the manual. You can find a copy in pdf format inside the "extras" folder within the game's folder. I think this should be indicated somewhere in the store page because it really is essential and it's fun to read too, half the reason you would want to play this game is the writing anyway.
The other half is because you want to experience a piece of video game history and/or genuinely enjoy old RPGs. In that sense Wasteland is a solid experience, full of fun quests, dangerous enemies and elements that would later make an appearance in the Fallout series. The music is also very good, but it's in a sort of play list rather than each area having its own music.
However, the controls require half the keyboard and you can easily screw yourself over because the game autosaves every time the player enters a different map. Furthermore, some skills are completely useless and the predetermined characters have less than ideal stats.
I totally recommend this game, I think it's pretty good, but I had to start over once because my first party was trash so I'm gonna finish this review with some tips in the hope that the same doesn't happen to you (nobody reads these reviews, but I'm gonna do it nonetheless).
0. Read the manual, or at least skim through it.
1. Make your own rangers, re-roll until you get 16+ IQ and 10+ in every other stat. Nationality and gender make no difference as far as I can tell.
2. IQ is extremely important because it's the only way to gain skill points, you probably want at least 2 rangers with high IQ (23) in order to teach them late game skills such as energy weapons.
3. The brawling and assault rifle skills are useful for any ranger.
4. The medic skill is very important, teach it to at least 2 rangers.
5. SMG and AT weapons can be good combat skills in some situations, especially early on.
6. Spread climb, swim, perception, picklock, demolitions and bomb disarm skills among your rangers. Only a single ranger needs to know the skill for the whole party to benefit, even climb and swim, somehow.
7. Every skill I haven't mentioned so far has little utility or can be easily replaced by something else. Old RPGs are like this sometimes. Combat shooting literally does nothing.
8. Ranged characters mainly need dexterity, IQ and luck, melee ones want strength, luck and agility instead.
9. Don't be afraid to consult the hint book, it's in the "extras" folder just like the manual.
10. Always check if the party is irradiated, diseased or someone is badly hurt before entering a new map so you don't push yourself into a corner.
Back in the day, video games were subject to greater memory limitations which prevented developers from including important information inside the game itself so if you decide to start without reading the manual first then you'll be completely lost because there are no tool tips for items or skills in-game, all of that is in the manual. You can find a copy in pdf format inside the "extras" folder within the game's folder. I think this should be indicated somewhere in the store page because it really is essential and it's fun to read too, half the reason you would want to play this game is the writing anyway.
The other half is because you want to experience a piece of video game history and/or genuinely enjoy old RPGs. In that sense Wasteland is a solid experience, full of fun quests, dangerous enemies and elements that would later make an appearance in the Fallout series. The music is also very good, but it's in a sort of play list rather than each area having its own music.
However, the controls require half the keyboard and you can easily screw yourself over because the game autosaves every time the player enters a different map. Furthermore, some skills are completely useless and the predetermined characters have less than ideal stats.
I totally recommend this game, I think it's pretty good, but I had to start over once because my first party was trash so I'm gonna finish this review with some tips in the hope that the same doesn't happen to you (nobody reads these reviews, but I'm gonna do it nonetheless).
0. Read the manual, or at least skim through it.
1. Make your own rangers, re-roll until you get 16+ IQ and 10+ in every other stat. Nationality and gender make no difference as far as I can tell.
2. IQ is extremely important because it's the only way to gain skill points, you probably want at least 2 rangers with high IQ (23) in order to teach them late game skills such as energy weapons.
3. The brawling and assault rifle skills are useful for any ranger.
4. The medic skill is very important, teach it to at least 2 rangers.
5. SMG and AT weapons can be good combat skills in some situations, especially early on.
6. Spread climb, swim, perception, picklock, demolitions and bomb disarm skills among your rangers. Only a single ranger needs to know the skill for the whole party to benefit, even climb and swim, somehow.
7. Every skill I haven't mentioned so far has little utility or can be easily replaced by something else. Old RPGs are like this sometimes. Combat shooting literally does nothing.
8. Ranged characters mainly need dexterity, IQ and luck, melee ones want strength, luck and agility instead.
9. Don't be afraid to consult the hint book, it's in the "extras" folder just like the manual.
10. Always check if the party is irradiated, diseased or someone is badly hurt before entering a new map so you don't push yourself into a corner.
imagine playing this shit without a guide lmao
O famoso (ou nem tanto) antecessor de Fallout. Se você consegue suportar algumas das idiossincrasias de wRPGs oldschool, como a ausência de mapas/automaping, atributos inúteis e dificuldade na estratosfera, é uma ótima pedida. Se comparado com seu "filho" mais popular, Wasteland é ainda mais bizarro, com alguns dos momentos mais inusitados que já experimentei em um RPG. Três dicas para quem quiser se aventurar: LEIA O MANUAL, FAÇA ANOTAÇÕES e NÃO JOGUE SUAS CORDAS FORA.
More like a framework of a game than an actual game. Really lacking in some kind of engaging aesthetic, narrative or gameplay system
eu me diverti fazendo minha party mas eu tinha esquecido completamente que toda vez que você muda de lugar o jogo faz um auto save e eu não tinha percebido que a minha personagem principal tava criticamente ferida. ninguém conseguiu curar ela. eu ia até criar uma substituta mas eu lembrei que eu vou ter que ficar meia hora rodando dados até conseguir stats que não são completamente imprestáveis. até que divertido enquanto durou mas eu não sei se tenho a paciência. talvez eu reutilize a party no wasteland 2 pq eu literalmente fiz anotações ~em papel!!!!~ sobre os stats e inventário delas.
This game is the predecessor to Fallout but even I know that it has it's flaws
Pretty archaic in a lot of ways, as you might expect, but it's got some real charm and a lot of genuinely groundbreaking ideas for 1988. Definitely recommended if you're the type of person who can handle DOS RPG jank, and even if these old games aren't usually your type of thing I'd recommend at least giving it a shot (be sure to read the manual first) just to see. It can be played for free in browser on internet archive, so there's no reason not to.
Use. A. Guide.
Truer words have never been said.
Truer words have never been said.
I find wasteland the weakest of the "classic rpgs" that I've played, but it's still undeniably fun, and the artstyle has held up well through the years compared to some of its competitors.