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.