Wasteland 3

[Frindis]

Just started and in the first town. So far the game has been fun, minus the one time it crashed as I was just about to finish up rerolling my characters again. I got Bookwork [+5exp] and Waste Roamer [100% resistance (no dot), -15% XP) on them all. I'm hoping the 4 bars in intelligence at the start will mitigate some of the XP punishment and that resistance will be a big factor later on. If, not, well, I'm screwed, haha🙂

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

I was a few hours in when I found out that intelligence has been nerfed from the first game. You dont get extra skill points every level based off it anymore. You only get one as a one off every other point you invest. Charisma gives you an XP bonus IIRC this time around. 🙂

Ive got a high INT Sniper (as the game suggests) for the critical bonus seems to be working O.K game is pretty tough on Ranger difficulty, I think harder than 2. I'm getting my backside handed to me quite often if I dont come up with something sneaky. Deployable turrets are strong !

Its a bit rough around the edges, getting some slow downs and occasional hangs that seem to recover. No crashes yet, but I'm saving quite often anyway because of the nature of the game.

Read a good tip to create a couple of characters in the base that deal each with Weapon and armor mods, I feel like theres too many skills this time to be able to cover everything on 6 chars. How has everyone else dealt with it? I hate missing those convo options.

 

[OsaX Nymloth]

Yeah Intelligence has been nerfed - still I got two characters with high INT just because I put too many skills on them and they were overwhelmed for a bit. Currently around level 17-18 with my squad that's this:
- me, sniper with Sniper Rifles, Nerd Stuff, Weird Science and Kiss Ass + Toaster Repair and Weapon Mod
- medic with shotgun and SMG, Lockpicking, Animal Whisperer, First Aid, Automatic Weapons and Small Arms
- big guns specialist using heavy weapons, rockets and flamethrowers, Explosives, Mechanics, Big Guns
- melee fighter which I am kinda switching into Weird Science for the solitary reason of finding very cool armor that requires it (only 3 points). Melee Combat, Sneaky ****, Armor Mod, Survivalist

Add to that Kwon who is assault rifle guy and Lucia who deals as my Hard Ass and Barter specialist and I have everything covered skill-wise. It was tough early on (Normal difficulty only for now, I remember the difficulty spikes of W2, yikes) especially when going south to Bizarre. Suddenly dealing with enemies with 200+ HP was problematic. Around level 10-12 it changed tho and most stuff I encounter can be dealt with rather easily. Even mighty Scorpitron that I encountered near Denver.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1300944396762976257

View: https://twitter.com/osaxnymloth/status/1300944396762976257


I am still weirded out by lack of dedicated skill to energy weapons.

As for bugs, yeah there's a lot of them and game can be rough around the edges. Just yesterday found an NPC whom I killed during quest - he was chilling at the bar and didn't mind a thing. I even went to inform his boss about killing him. Other quest didn't finish when I killed someone, had to reload and pick other option to make it off my journal. And just now found this:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1301218846913835010

View: https://twitter.com/osaxnymloth/status/1301218846913835010

 

[Frindis]

I got one ranger with Big Guns (4), Lockpicking (2) Explosives (1). Second with Weapon Modding (3) Armor Modding (2) Automatic (3). Third with Sniper Rifle (4) First Aid (3) Last character Melee Combat (3) Sneaky **** (3) First Aid (1). All LVL 2 Troopers.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

@OsaX Nymloth Woah you've thrown a lot of skills on there. I was looking at it like I need to have the skills high enough to keep up with the level of challenges/checks the games is throwing at me. For example I've been getting level 7 lock picking doors etc underneath the Bizarre and my main char is at level 6. I found all the keys anyway but it bothered me 😀

I looked at it like theres 16 skills (outside of weapon specializations) and 6 chars. thats 2.66 per char, too many to keep up with at the rate you get skill points. There's no ability to increase skill points outside of the extra one for the Nerd(?) perk whatever it is that reduces hp in exchange for an extra point per level.

So if I take out the weapon and armor mods and put them on a base character and dont bother with Toaster repair its about as close as I think I can get, and I'm still feeling behind the curve at times! Perhaps I need to wander the world map a bit more to level, I have been doing most side quests anyway.

Having trouble with ammo recently too, Party is Kwon and Main Char assault rifle, Wesson with revolver, Sniper, Heavy weapons guy and blunt melee gal. Just picked up a HMG that uses .50 ammo and barely any of it drops. It does so much more damage then the older 7.62 model though, but Ive just started spending all my monies on ammo. May have to rethink, or now I just finished off the clowns under the Bizzare maybe it will begin to drop a bit more. I'll have to start carrying second weapons at this rate. Seems like that was the intention with the energy weapons being as they are now.

I usually play everything on one higher than normal difficulty, not because I'm very good but because I often feel I can fluke my way through on normal and I dont get any feeling of achievement out of that. I also know that I usually only play things through once.

 

[OsaX Nymloth]

Remember that you can use one "utility" thing that usually gives you +1 to something and you can sometimes find or even buy a skill book. So far tho I only saw one being on offer at shop, but I got like 5-6 from quests or just exploring. And some armor pieces can give extra stats as well.

I heard lot of people make two rangers just for armor and weapon modding and leave them at base.
I don't overuse this, but turrets are OP - just throw them out and watch as they trash everything. And they seems to get priority from enemies so they tank a lot too.

Toaster repair right now I have at 6 (+1 from item) and can't say I found anything extraordinary other than items worth 1k $. Which is nice, money is tight as I can spent over 1k on ammo and meds at times, not to mention upgrades of some sort. I know there's an exploit for basically infinite money, but I don't want to even try using it.

@Kaamos_Llama make sure not more than 2 people use the same ammo on your squad. Right now I am doubling down on 7,62mm and energy cells as these are the main ammo types my squad uses and it costs me an arm and leg. Also, assault rifles seems rather weak to be honest, only Kwon uses them on my team and he is more of a general leader than damage dealer.
Second weapon is super useful in lots of cases, so I would advice doing that. 😉

Skill wise, here's screen of my main character. I was afraid I messed up too much, but... it works. For now.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

Yea assault rifles seem underpowered this time at least where I am. I started the game with one assault rifle guy and then picked up Kwon. They were such good all rounders in 2 but not so this time.

I've tried to spread out my ammo types, I remembered from the other game. Its just that .50 ammo costs 7 a pop in the Bizarre at least and the HMG uses a ton of it. I was fine paying for 2x 5.56, especially since I seem to to find a fair amount as well. The cost of the .50 as well as that is hurting. I only just got that HMG though so maybe it will get better.

I've got energy weapons as second weapons on a couple and of course an RPG, I guess I could use a weapon with a different ammo type as a secondary on some too.

Turrets are the only way I made it through the last fight under the Bizarre. I'll hope that I have the same experience as you @OsaX Nymloth and it goes a bit smoother later. For the most part I've been getting through O.K with a couple of injuries. Good use of the power up shots is key, the HMG can so some serious damage.

Wesson (I forget her first name) only has 1 point in strength. This means, that she does not gain any HP on level up, unless you give her an extra point. If you don't things start to get a little challenging around the Bizarre as she has to be relatively close to fire her small arms. This is a problem because she can basically only take one hit before dying, in every fight, over and over, and over.

 

[Frindis]

@Kaamos_Llama The RPG's splash damage seems a tad overpowered, but I like it.@OsaX Nymloth Mactavish is so far the coolest character I have met and why I had do set him free. How could I arrest a person who learns Scottish from watching Braveheart on a VHS tape ⚔

 

[OsaX Nymloth]

Got second son "done" and currently wandering around the map in search for some secrets. Kinda close to level 10 Survivalist, but lacking points as it's bloody expensive. I feel like there's less random locations like shrines in W2 and thus less opportunity to find something unique or powerful early on.
Random encounters so far have been fights with 10+ enemies, where I doubt I get even considering how much ammo I need to use to clear them out. Only fight with Scorpitron seems to be worth it as it yielded great loot and tons of it.

My team is still the same, I just gave Lucia Wesson 7 points in snipers so she can be more elastic as to positioning - which is good, there were a lot of times when I could either let her chill in the back and do nothing or charge very close to enemies and risk getting rekt. I also invested in 3 extra points of Strength for her so she can wear at least some armor. And she is quite good now I think especially with first attack being free (including sniper rifle, 6 AP for free!).

Kwon is still using rifles in my team, swapping between "normal" assault like Kalash 97 and energy based variant when I encounter some robots. All in all he is really lackluster, other than giving dialogue and flavor here and there, but I am not changing him now.

@Frindis - I jailed him, roleplaying as very much "lawful neutral" squad, but damn, his lines were hilarious. Did you also find the cassette with him "training"? And yes, RPG's shots are great when you really need to get rid of enemies, fast. Just got a hard mission done where 1 rocket (Stinger I believe) destroyed 5-6 enemies, leaving only stationary turrets far away. It turned hard battle into breeze. Not to mention the nuke option...

@Kaamos_Llama yeah I had issues there as well, after than the difficulty levels out across the zones (so far) and even encountering enemies with 2k HP isn't a big deal (my sniper can one shot them with a bit of luck). I believe it is so because from this point you got enough levels, perks and gear that the amount of possible options for you increases to the point when enemies must be really tough or lucky to actually be an issue.

Also protip: use decoys. It's insane how well they keep AI busy and for how long. I feel like turrets and decoys need a serious nerf and I don't even use them that much, 3-4 times so far.

 

[Frindis]

@OsaX Nymloth I did, pretty hilarious🙂

I have been trying to remember the location on the safes/containers/doors and similar where my lockpick/mechanical level was not high enough, so I can go through them later on in the game. Is this something you guys also do? I just hate knowing I left some locked treasure behind in a zone.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

@Frindis yea I hate it, that's why I want to find out the balance so that I can keep up with at least most of the skills. I dont mind if theres one or two special 'boxes' that you need to remember and come back to later, but if theres something in every level it to much for me.

If you value your original 2 characters, make sure you dont swap them out of your team at Greatski. There's a bug that wipes their skills out if you do. Its only the original two characters that do it, and its irreversible. Guess which two I just swapped out.

 

[OsaX Nymloth]

I try to remember all the closed containers that I couldn't open - that's why, for example, I visited Little Vegas like 2 extra times just because I knew there was that one safe I didn't get before. Or even worse, the terminal I couldn't hack.
You can imagine how happy I was when I went through Ranger HQ, Colorado Downtown into Little Vegas, went up to that computer and hacked it only to see that all it does is switch doors I already had open.

Speaking of things we may be missing, does anybody found a way to reestablish power to the city? I know there's some thing in the "garden" and a microwave that require power and it's bugging me still. Especially since I made some decisions that ekhm may mean I locked myself out of stuff. I am not sure tho.

 

[Frindis]

Thank you for the tip @Kaamos_Llama. I'm sticking to my guys like a firm glove and thankfully Marshal Kwon is there to alert me if I ever try to do something too chaotic. He is slightly irritating when I try to do an attack on someone I know will attack me, but he won't allow it. There are ways to go around this, but I try to walk the straight line.

@OsaX Nymloth I just entered Garden of Gods and at Lucia Wesson's home there are like 5 different containers I cannot open yet. Drives me nuts! I'm still pondering about the microwave, but would not surprise me if you need some Nerd Stuff getting that one fixed. I should probably get that perk as there is soo much for it in HQ. If I am not mistaken, it was like that in Wasteland 2 also. Hmm, I actually think I blew up the whole HQ in Wasteland 2...

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

There's definitely a lot going on with the choices you make, plenty of moral grey areas. Kwon seems like a good guy, but the Patriarch is darker then he seems and Kwon's with him so.. On the other hand how to get help for Arizona otherwise? Its way more complex then I thought initially, I like it.

Decided to start again on normal difficulty. Lost a few hours due to using quick save too liberally and failing to make an actual save for too long. Figured the lack of ammo will get frustrating on Ranger and when I'm not sure of how things work exactly to allocate everything optimally.

 

[Sandwitch]

Ok - I'm just gonna ask this - don't shoot me, but is anyone thinking about waiting for the inevitable "big patch" before playing?

I didn't do this for Divinity Original Sin 2, and I regretted it, as I don't usually replay long CRPG's over. Wasteland 2 had a director's edition, and I wonder if they'll do that as well?

Also, for those who are not waiting--how is the gaming experience in the mid and late game?

 

[OsaX Nymloth]

Outside of few oddities like dev tools "lying around" and one quest I had reload to solve (game didn't recognize one of my choices apparently, but that was before the current patch which could have solve this), the biggest grip with the game I had was the loading times. Long loading times.

I guess I would also comment how some parts of map are kinda empty and second half of the game feels a bit empty in comparison, but that's not something a big patch will resolve - not without some expansions/DLC.

Wasteland 3 will probably get some sort of Director's Cut version, but when? 1-2 years from now? Hard to tell. I had fun and I don't regret jumping on the game day 1 (well, I was actually a backer on fig, so technically on day 0). Never had any crashes or nasty bugs, some silly stuff here and there. Since release we had like 1-2 patches, more inbound and game is surely in better state now. If you want to scratch that "Fallout 3" itch, then go right in.

 

[Isti]

Is this for free?

 

[Sandwitch]

Outside of few oddities like dev tools "lying around" and one quest I had reload to solve (game didn't recognize one of my choices apparently, but that was before the current patch which could have solve this), the biggest grip with the game I had was the loading times. Long loading times.

I guess I would also comment how some parts of map are kinda empty and second half of the game feels a bit empty in comparison, but that's not something a big patch will resolve - not without some expansions/DLC.

Wasteland 3 will probably get some sort of Director's Cut version, but when? 1-2 years from now? Hard to tell. I had fun and I don't regret jumping on the game day 1 (well, I was actually a backer on fig, so technically on day 0). Never had any crashes or nasty bugs, some silly stuff here and there. Since release we had like 1-2 patches, more inbound and game is surely in better state now. If you want to scratch that "Fallout 3" itch, then go right in.

Thanks! I think that sells it for me -- good point around year 1 or year 2. Part of my worry is missing any major QoL updates that, as I recall, came in later patches for WL2, but if the gaming experience you had was pretty good, then less worried! Def want to scratch FO3 itch, so to speak. And ATOM just wasn't doing it.

 

[OsaX Nymloth]

Thanks! I think that sells it for me -- good point around year 1 or year 2. Part of my worry is missing any major QoL updates that, as I recall, came in later patches for WL2, but if the gaming experience you had was pretty good, then less worried! Def want to scratch FO3 itch, so to speak. And ATOM just wasn't doing it.

They will surely improve the game, mostly in regards to optimization (those damn loading times) and release some extra content, but you can't be sure what kind of QoL changes they may release after some time. At this point the only thing I miss is some sort of log. Combat log or even dialogue log (if you suddenly somehow miss a part of a dialogue, you have no way to go back to previous part) could be useful - I guess they didn't include it for "console reasons".

 

[Zloth]

Is this for free?

Definitely not: https://store.steampowered.com/app/719040/Wasteland_3/

 

[MysterD]

Games out on Friday 28.8, reviews up on PCG and looking pretty good. Anyone else looking forward to it?

Its on Gamepass, so I'm currently preinstalling it hopefully I can get a good session in with it this weekend. Spent a lot of time with Wasteland 2 and wouldnt have minded spending the 60.

I played it on PC Game Pass and it's one of my favorites from this year.

 

[Sandwitch]

I'm probably waiting for the Patch 1.3--I know it may be foolish to wait, but the amount of bugs still being reported for Patch 1.2 is giving me pause. I can't wait to play this! (And Cyberpunk!) (And so many other janky released, overly ambitious games!)

 

[Zloth]

Well well well... it's late enough that I'm actually playing the game now!

I'm guessing many many bugs are fixed. I'm also not having any issues with the Marshal complaining about what I do. Load times are just fine.

I just finished getting the HQ all set up with various people (and LOTS of refugees). I'm about to go through everyone's gear to see what I can sell and what needs replacing. It's about time to start figuring out how weapon/armor mods work, too.


Doink is the crazy clown. I was planning on doing auto-weapons, toaster repair, and leadership with him. Having to leave multiple safes behind meant changing him over to do more locksmith work. Leadership is nice but he's a fast mover, so often finds himself too far away from most of the party to get bonuses.


Poker the sniper. (I didn't know about the Peek & Poke characters! Oh well.) Great for starting fights but she only has enough AP to shoot or to move right now. I don't have any need for her animal whisper to get any higher and sniper is up to the point where it's getting terribly expensive, so she's ready to expand into other skills. She's got a melee backup weapon for when something gets too close to shoot with a sniper rifle. Might switch her over to weird science.

(Clicking images will give you the full screen, but it's mostly the skills that you want to see anyway.)

Marshal is doing pretty good. He's also doubling as the resident sneak.


Chiefette (she's a Raider Hater - it makes sense in American Football, trust me) is having a harder time. The shotgun simply isn't doing that much damage, plus she often has to hit Poker's pets. She's extremely deadly with an RPG but the ammo for that thing is really expensive. Is shotgun going to get any better?


Ratty Tat might be my best character. He's great with that heavy machine gun and he can toss a turret out, too, if I remember to do it.


I'm getting tempted to swap Lucia out for that drunk guy. Pistol is OK but she mostly seems useful when her special shot bar fills up (so she can shoot off enemy armor). I've been keeping her behind the front a bit so she can ambush whatever rushes the party.

 

[Zloth]

I take back what I said about the bugs.

I ran into a tough fight where about half my party got killed. I went back to the doc, got healed up, and went on to the next fight. Did pretty good and then I noticed that my pets were just... gone. No trace. They weren't back at the last fight. They weren't at the doctor's room. Just flat out gone!? Had to reload before the first hard fight and do it all over again.

Then I had a fight to defend the Gippers. That was going very well and the battle was almost done, until a stray bullet hit a Gipper. Gipper Hated -15. Gipper Hated -15. Gipper Hated -15. Multiple missions failed. *face palm*

I can't count the number of times I've tried aiming out of combat, changed my mind, then tried to select another party member. BAM!! Dead party member. No "are you sure you want to shoot a friendly" prompt at all.

The game sure is fun, though, and funny! It just still has some kinda sad issues.

 

[Zloth]

Then I had a fight to defend the Gippers. That was going very well and the battle was almost done, until a stray bullet hit a Gipper. Gipper Hated -15. Gipper Hated -15. Gipper Hated -15. Multiple missions failed. *face palm*

It took me FIVE TIMES to get through that battle! I easily outclassed the enemy, but the Gippers kept hating me, even with nobody close... except (I finally figured out) for a Reagan statue! If you so much as chip the paint on one of those, they immediately cancel any missions and will fight you to the death!