+ remaster graphics, music, etc make this look and feel more like Wasteland 2 & 3
+
- all the old-school cruft is still there (useless skills, etc)
- even with new overlay, still get carpal tunnel from all the key pressing from old-school mechanics
- obtuse puzzles and solutions leave you constantly looking at FAQ's
- no "new game plus"
Wish I could give this a "meh".
I played the carp out of Wasteland when it came out after a friend introduced me to it. Played it on an IBM XT, 4mhz, CGA Cyan/Pink/White/Black graphics, no hard drive (just 5.25" floppy disk swapping). About as barebones as you can get. I absolutely loved the game, though.
But, that's b/c:
a) I was younger, and everything was new to me
b) this was pushing the boundaries of video games back then (a post-apoc RPG was rare)
c) I bought the cheat guide that explained all the obtuse stuff
This game came out during a time when game developers made extra cash selling cheat guides. So, they were incentivized to make puzzles and such extra obtuse. Wasteland went a bit overboard with it.
For starters it uses a Stat + Skill system which just over-complicates stuff, even more-so b/c they sub-divide states.. eg: they have Agility AND Dexterity. Most games would just have one or the other, and it'd count for both uses. In Wasteland Agility is for dodging and melee combat. Dexterity is for shooting. But, you also have skills, like Brawling (melee), Pistol / SMG / Assault Rifle, etc. So, the game is doing math behind the scenes to decide if you're hitting or not.
Raising skills is a chore, b/c you only get 2 stat points per level, and levels are hard to come by. You use your stat points to buy stats. If you buy Intelligence, it not only raises your INT but converts to skill points (1:1) as well. So, you can potentially get +2 INT per level which gives you +2 skill points. Skills cost 1,2 oe 3 points to get level 1 in. From there the cost DOUBLES. So, modus operandi is to just buy level 1 in a skill and let it naturally level with use. EG: you shoot your SMG, your SMG skill will go up eventually.
But, the game has tons of useless or one-shot skills. Combat Shooting is a dead skill not used, but still left in the remaster for you to waste points on. It doesn't do anything, and that bug has been known since the orig game came out. You have other skills like Alarm Disarm, Confidence, etc that are just one-off skills there's no point in taking them. But, you won't know until you've played the game. Acrobatics seems like it would help you dodge and avoid getting hit.. but it doesn't.
So, this is one of those games where you have to have already played the game to know what skills are good or useless in order to redo the characters and make a better team. The orig characters CAN get you through the game, but you can remake your own characters, and in much better fashion, if you know the in's and out's of the game. But, if it's your first playthrough you'll find you've made ineffetual characters b/c it's hard to tell what's useful or not. (Interestingly enough, they made the same mistake with Wasteland 2. I played it, and it once again had useless skills you wouldn't know about until you play the game. So, I guess Wasteland 2 wanted to keep the tradition of "you can only make good characters once you've played the game" alive).
Also, like I said, the game has super obtuse puzzles. You can "USE" party members Items, Skills and Attributes to try to actively do stuff. For instance, a locked door, Use > Character > Skill > Picklock.. to try to open it. Makes sense. But, other times there's super-vague or no clue at all that you can do something or what Attr or Skill or Item you should use. Sometimes you can pick a door open. Other times you need to TNT / Rocket launcher it. I don't want to get too far into this and create spoilers, but there are many spots in the game you'll be scratching your head trying to find what specific skill or item or attr you should use. And it's more confusing b/c it may not automatically work. You try using your Strength to move something and it says you failed. But, that just means you failed the percent chance that time. If you keep spamming it you might pull it off. But, you have NO CLUE most of the time that that's the case.
So, you're stuck cracking open an FAQ all the time to figure out what specific skill or attr or item you need to use on various obtuse things.
I can see this frustrating modern gamers. Back in the 80's, RPG's were known for their "nintendo hard" abusive game mechanics, but, like I said, it seems mainly b/c they were trying to drive cheat guide sales to bolster their game sales.
Aside from all of that.. the Remaster does a GREAT job of providing cut-scenes in certain places that help further the plot and tie things together.. much better than reading paragraphs from a book back in the day.
My biggest beef with the remaster is there's no way to do a NG+. In the old-school version you could reset the game world while keeping the current party. So, you could run your characters through over and over. I had 1 character that got so bad-*** she could solo the game with fist fighting. I loved resetting the game and running her through, making her better. Can't do that here. Can't NG+ or reset the game with your party. Sad.
Overall, if you played tihs before and kind of know what you're getting into I guess I recommend it. The Remaster was a fun playthrough of a game I've already experienced. But, the rose colored glasses cracked pretty hard while playing. All the button pressing to drill down in command menus to select stuff got old fast. Having to make macros for routine stuff (like having a certain character perform a lock pick) got old. All the obtuse things requiring me to google solutions. All the nostalgia quickly wore thin.
If you've never played this game, you'll either love it or hate it, and I would guess most folks used to modern game would skew towards the "hate" side of it. It just gets too tedious and aggravating. And that was by-design back in the day to coax you into popping $10 on a clue book. Like I said, wish I could give this a "meh". Having played this and the gold box SSI games again, I've realized that nostalgia is best left in the past. Things that seemed awesome in my youth have not aged well when scrutinized by my adult eyes that have seen better things since.
