Wasteland 3 - Review @ RPG Codex

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The RPG Codex reviewed Wasteland 3:

RPG Codex Review: Wasteland 3

Wasteland 3 is inXile's latest addition to the turn- and party-based post-apocalyptic series. The setting has moved from the deserts of Arizona and the overgrown cities of California to the snowy mountains of Colorado. The Rangers have agreed to work for the man who brought some measure of stability to the area in exchange for supplies to be delivered back home. Released in late 2020, it was deemed good enough to become RPG Codex's Game of the Year. Since then, inXile has improved it further, releasing nearly a dozen patches in total that added new features and quality of life improvements in addition to bug fixes and balance changes. The version I played, 1.6.9.420 (this is the kind of lowbrow humor you can expect to see frequently in the game), appears to be the final one.

Under the Hood

The first difference you'll notice from Wasteland 2 is that it takes a page from Divinity: Original Sin and requires you to make or take just two rangers at the start. There's a greater focus on accessibility and the ability to immediately jump in and start playing: there are five groups of pre-made rangers, and they all come with unique background bonuses and utility items that no custom-made ranger can acquire to compensate for their non-powergamed attribute and skill allocation. In addition to this, they also have a few unique voiced banters with each other, though you'll hear them all in the early areas. Once you're past the tutorial, you can make or take two more rangers from a different and larger pool and/or fill up your roster with companions for a total of six; however, you must always have at least two rangers in the party and can have no more than four. Some purists may balk, but I was grateful I could start playing immediately and learn how I wanted to build my future characters through experiencing the game's content as opposed to making decisions for four different characters at the start with no context other than my previous experience with RPGs.

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Conclusion

If "reactivity and choice" was the mantra for Wasteland 2, then Wasteland 3 adds "transparency and accessibility" as another design pillar. inXile pulled off a heavily-reactive turn-based, party-based RPG that looks and sounds slick and is largely frustration-free when it comes to starting and playing. They re-examined their systems and modified them without throwing out the baby with the bathwater, in contrast to other studios who have tried to do the same in the past. Sure, it's not the second coming of Jagged Alliance 2, and no, it's not a party-based Fallout, but it's my favorite Wasteland game. Its status as the 2020 RPG Codex Game of the Year is well-deserved.

More information.

 

[Arkadia7]

Wasteland 3 is in my steam library, but I have not yet got around to playing this puppy, besides playing it briefly to make sure it ran on my outdated computer (it does) but am planning on doing so, probably this Summer.

 

[Carnifex]

Likely about the same time I'll get around to playing this. At least I've heard and read many good reports, so I've a pretty sure inclination that I'll enjoy it!

 

[Zloth]

It was fun all right. The pets seemed kinda buggy, but they worked out for the most part.

I wish that running into a random encounter didn't stop the radio on the world map (whether it's playing a song or a dialogue bit) since that encourages just sitting still and waiting it out whenever a radio segment starts.

Been there, did that, and recorded a video of it so I could listen to the cover of "Land of Confusion" when I want. (It's not part of the music pack.)

You might want to leave off the DLC, though. The campaign has enough trouble with out-levelling content, it doesn't need even more thrown in. Maybe make a save at level 13 or so to set aside in case you want to do the mid-game DLC after you finish.

 

[SSIGuy]

I thoroughly enjoyed this one and envy those that haven't played it yet. I think they did the turn-based combat really well and personally, I enjoyed it more than 2.

 

[Couchpotato]

Contrarian time again as I think Wasteland 2 was better then Wasteland 3. Mostly because part two had more content, but part three did vastly improve the combat.

The music fit the game pretty good as well.

WASTELAND 3 - DELUXE FULL SOUNDTRACK

 

[bjon045]

Zloth, the DLC had the opposite effect for me. I was punished for leveling too much and the mobs in the DLC were OP as hell. I do agree the final bit at Colorado springs was a joke though.

I left both Steeltown and Holy Denonation until the very end (I think I was around level 27 at the time). I do really like your idea of having a seperate save for it but the other option would be to leave it right until the very very end (before final chat with Liberty) if you want a good challenge.

I had very strong builds and I had to resort to cheese tactics on many of the fights i.e. preloading on consumables etc just to have a fighting chance. Basically one ranger would die every single time an enemy moved. The only viable defensive tactic was maxing dodge and then maxing damage output while resurrecting as many people as you could.

 

[JDR13]

Yeah, I've seen a lot of people complain about the level-scaling and that it turns enemies into bullet sponges especially in the DLCs. I'm guessing that's one of the reasons the Steam reviews are so much worse for Steeltown and Detonation compared to the base game.

 

[Dave Allen]

I remember the early-eighties weekend visits with my son, Michael, where I prophesied that someday he and I would be playing a party-based RPG together from distant locations.
Now Michael is 48. And we really enjoy our 2 hours every Sunday afternoon together in the wasteland.

 

[Stingray]

Contrarian time again as I think Wasteland 2 was better then Wasteland 3. Mostly because part two had more content, but part three did vastly improve the combat.

The music fit the game pretty good as well.

WASTELAND 3 - DELUXE FULL SOUNDTRACK

Pretty much the same as my opinion…

Wasteland 2: seemed more enjoyable overall for some reason, hard to pin down exactly why - I think it felt like a bigger game with a more interesting story and a more appropriate setting?
Wasteland 3: much, much better combat
Wasteland 3 soundtrack: one of the best ever in any game

The soundtrack (your link) didn't even include some of the best songs that are in the game, examples:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldZUoX_IXss (this is the one @Zloth; mentioned)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7KWG2AsmE4 lol
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fa9OOormA40