The OFFICIAL Unofficial Achewood Message Board
Trivial Pursuits => Sports & Leisure => Topic started by: St_Zartan on January 06, 2004, 09:13:26 pm
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Wasteland
"St_Zartan rips a clip into one Slithering Lizard for 128 points of damage, ripping it into a scarlet side of meat"
Daaaaaamn... Just a couple of months ago I had my C64 emulator out trying to finally beat Wasteland. (I never did when I was young.) I finally gave up when the emulator ate my save. It was very upsetting.
I do remember that when I was young, I had one guy who could do more damage with a knife than any of my other characters could do with a full clip of an AK.
I moved this over here, because my love for Wasteland is an all-encompassing and extremely unrelated to Achewood. It was the first computer game I ever bought - I bought it before my family actually owned a computer, having played it but once at a friend's house (and unknowingly completely wrecking his older brother's save by getting his impressive party of Desert Rangers, um, drownded) and figuring that, hell, we'd end up with a computer sooner or later. The PC version is the best, in my opinion, and you can download it from, uh... lotsa places. And you should.
I spent many years of my childhood completely obsessed with this game and, yes, posting about it at length (HYUK YUK GUESS HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF EH) on BBSs. I still trot it out every year or so and give it a sound and tender thrashing. It is a wonderful thing that the two Fallout games, Wasteland's unofficial sequels, inherited its best quality: the game never, ever feels stale, from start to finish.
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I bought Fallout shortly after it came out, but was playing it during a very busy year at school, so never finished it either. I think I still have that one in a box somewhere. I will have to find that once I download the PC version of Wasteland and finally finish it.
Now I have a project for this weekend.
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Darnit now I'm going to have to play through again with the names of all you guys as my teammates.
Did y'all have a strategy to your skillpoint distribution? I always had a physician, a thief (equipped with pickpocket, lockpick, safecrack, luck, perception, etc), a sharpshooter and a brawler, plus whatever NPCs I happened to use at the time. Of course, I made sure everyone had some level of medical skill in case my Doctor went UNC or even CRT, and everyone had climb. Did anyone else have particular combinations that worked well?
Also, favorite weapons, in ascending order: Chainsaw (of course), crowbar, broken toaster, Visa card.
Aaaaah, memories.
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Dangit, you people need to start talking about games I have. Baldur's Gate? Arcanum? Wizardry 8? Civ3? Bueller?
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How about Chaos. Rebelstar. Come on now, Dizzy?
I only discovered the Fallout line about a year ago when a friend of mine was playing at again, having a machine that had no hope of playing anything I could offer him. Never seen or played it, though had it described.
And way back I had a couple of friends with C64's but I had a Speccy, and on PC didn't play many games til around the days of UFO: Enemy Unkown (X:COM) and Doom.
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As far as I'm concerned, everyone needs perception. Spotting Important Shit was entirely too random a process to be left to one character. Having said that, I did have my "thief", which was pretty much the guy who couldn't shoot so well but had the lockpick and safecrack skills. Wasteland had a lot of totally rad and almost completely useless dummy skills: e.g. sleight of hand sounds awesome, like you are going to be some sort of Ricky Jay trickster, but then you find out it's only used like twice in the game and even then only if you fuck up.
Medics: if the game rolled a character for me with an IQ less than 15, I turned the fucker out on his ear, because 15 was the bare minimum for the Medic skill. The world of Wasteland is wonderful because it is the way the Real World ought to be - even the least bit of medical knowledge and infinite persistence could bring anyone out of a coma brought on by a mechanical crocodile blasting off three quarters of one's biomass. Having Physician (or whatever) was Well and Good, but you're better off spending the points elsewhere and making a Medic macro: U 1 S 5 x
Once my characters got considerably powerful, I start putting points into Brawling and / or Melee Weapons. As noted above, a sufficiently powerful character can explode a Hobo Like A Blood Sausage with a pick-axe or her bare hands (yeah, all my bruisers are female and generally named Hester - your point?) where it would take Johnny Assault Rifle two or three turns. And do not get me started on the luscious Proton Axe.
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Mmmmmmm....proton axe...
Cort, you can dowload the game for free at a dozen different sites. Or, if you're so inclined (and don't mind using IE), you can play right in your browser at [url]http://www.virtualapple.com/wastelanddisk.html[url]. Theoretically, at least. I got Oregon Trail to work, but Wasteland seems kinda screwy.
Zartan, did you ever use Metallurgy? In the caves? That was cool, albeit semi-useless. And who saw "toaster repair" coming in handy!?! I mean, really!
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Zartan, did you ever use Metallurgy? In the caves? That was cool, albeit semi-useless. And who saw "toaster repair" coming in handy!?! I mean, really!
Metallurgy was one of those awesome throwaway skills; you only really used it in the cave, mining silver. This is good at the beginning of the game because (a) you get experience for using skills successfully and (b) you can build up a nice little pocket full of change. THESE GUNS AREN'T GOING TO BUY THEMSELVES
Toaster repair. You use it to repair broken toasters. Useful things are lodged inside them. Now, fuck*ng alarm disarm, I could never get that shit to work.
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Oh dude. You need, like, skill level four for it to be useful, but if you go back after you've got a lot of XP and stuff, and use disk-swapping to get into the Needles jail or Faran Brygo's place or whatever, you can totally kick ass and sneak by those alarms like nothing else.
I could never make it work when I really needed it, tho.
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I found it!
Get old C64 Games here: http://www.c64.com/
Emulators also available. I recommend VICE; it seems to have the best compatibility with the greatest variety of ROMS.
I also found this page (http://theflangynews.editthispage.com/stories/storyReader$944). Unfortunately, it's a hoax.
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Oh dude. You need, like, skill level four for it to be useful, but if you go back after you've got a lot of XP and stuff, and use disk-swapping to get into the Needles jail or Faran Brygo's place or whatever, you can totally kick ass and sneak by those alarms like nothing else.
My preferred method of entry into the Needles jail was crashing through the goddamned skylights, guns blazing, thank you very much.
If you're playing Doctor Apeshit-style and opt to blow away the relatively decent Faran Brygo and his pals, you can fully explore his building - did you ever find the beta version of Wasteland 2? Also, I don't know about this "disk-swapping"; the PC version installed directly to the hard drive.
They did announce a Wasteland 2, way back when. It was to be subtitled "Mean Time", and the really big deal was that you could port your Rangers over from the original. Needless to say, I was very attached to my Rangers and kept that stupid fuck*ng team backed up until the very day that they announced, whoops, sorry folks, no Wasteland 2 like ever.
I also found this page (http://theflangynews.editthispage.com/stories/storyReader$944). Unfortunately, it's a hoax.
This would have been the most awesome goddamned thing ever.
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I don't know about this "disk-swapping"; the PC version installed directly to the hard drive.
Oh damn
I played on the C64, yo. If you copied all the disks, you could switch to unusued disks mid-game and re-play the same levels over and over again after you'd gotten insane mad skillaz. You can do this with most emulators, as well. Once I replayed Darwin Village enough times to let each of my 4 characters kill the Night Terror. It was insane.
Talk about needing a macro for that shizznit.
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Once I replayed Darwin Village enough times to let each of my 4 characters kill the Night Terror. It was insane.
Talk about needing a macro for that shizznit.
I'll just bet - that fuck*ng thing took like hours to kill even with an absurdly powerful character. Finster's Head was probably the single thing, thinking back, that (for me) made Wasteland super fuck*ng great as opposed to just super great. I am a stone cold sucker for that Reed Richards psychonaut stuff.
My sowwy widdle macros never got any more complicated than trying to revive comatose characters or break down doors. At one point, I had intended to put the Night Terror onto a t-shirt, with the words Darwin = Proteus underneath in that Ladybird children's primer font.
TWO CHILDHOODS WELL-SPENT RIGHT HERE
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Zartan recommended the PC version, so that is the one I grabbed. I'm playing it right now, but the move clicks coming out of my PC speaker are about driving me nuts. Do you know if there's any way to turn the sound in the game off, short of physically snipping the speaker wires?
If that's what I need to do, I'll do it. My PC is on a rack about one foot to my right directly at ear level. The constant loud beeping is removing some of the enjoyment from the game.
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Doesn't the Windows sound mixer have a slider/mute button for the PC speaker? I can't check on my work computer since user accounts are grotestquely crippled.
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Finster's Head was probably the single thing, thinking back, that (for me) made Wasteland super fuck*ng great as opposed to just super great. I am a stone cold sucker for that Reed Richards psychonaut stuff.
Preach it.
My sowwy widdle macros never got any more complicated than trying to revive comatose characters or break down doors.
Oh, dude. See, our copy was totally pirated, so we didn't have the paragraph book or the manual or anything (although we beat the game anyway, somehow). We didn't even know about macros the first time thru. Once we found out, tho, we made one for every important skill. Lockpick, perception, doctor -- you name it. And it certainly helps with the night terror.
N/A/Y/<ENTER> N/A/Y/<ENTER> N/A/Y/<ENTER> ETC ETC
At one point, I had intended to put the Night Terror onto a t-shirt, with the words Darwin = Proteus underneath in that Ladybird children's primer font.
I would totally buy that t-shirt.
TWO CHILDHOODS WELL-SPENT RIGHT HERE
The best part was, I spent my Wasteland days playing it with my brother, ten years my senior, whom I totally idolized. There were few things we could do together and both enjoy -- I was too young to do the things he was interested in, and he was too old to care about ripping the heads off my Barbie dolls -- but computer games, Euchre, and hockey gave us enough common ground that now we're both unnaturally attached to those things. We spent the most time playing Wasteland, and it turned me into what I am today -- the rare and elusive GamerGirl (http://mywebpage.netscape.com/jldunston/gamer_grrl_square.jpg) -- although I have to say that he plays very little these days, seeing as how he never really moved beyond the C64 in terms of technology.
I wonder what ever happened to that old machine. <sips bourbon, takes hit from Newport Light.> I can't believe I used to play on that old thing. Ah, well. <Turn the page>
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and it turned me into what I am today -- the rare and elusive GamerGirl (http://mywebpage.netscape.com/jldunston/gamer_grrl_square.jpg)
Proud to say that I am raising one. Younger daughter and I interact best over joysticks.
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I have always been a bit confused as to the precise implications of "gamer girl." Does it merely refer to video games, which I have never quite gotten into hardcore unless you count Angband variants? Or is there a clause that allows sufficient D&D concentrations to be acceptable? Sigh. How will I ever know how to classify and label myself?
In any event, this Wasteland thing sounds keen. I should play it.
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See, our copy was totally pirated, so we didn't have the paragraph book...
You really should seek out a copy of this and give it a read through. For one thing, I cannot possibly imagine playing without it; it contained things like PASSWORDS TO BASES and such. For another, the red herring paragraphs end up sketchily forming an alternate Wasteland story that is really quite (unsurprisingly) rad, in a "found document" sort of way.
I have always been a bit confused as to the precise implications of "gamer girl."
I just take it to mean a girl that is capable of enjoying gaming, where "gaming" unfortunately usually equals "games that are stereotypically the province of males". I'd say paper-and-pencil role-playing games totally count. I am quite proud of my gamer girl conversion rate; I have turned three successive disinterested girlfriends into video game addicts, wielding but a single weapon: Monster Rancher 2.
<sips bourbon, takes hit from Newport Light.>
And that, friends, is being alive with pleasure.
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I have always been a bit confused as to the precise implications of "gamer girl."
I just take it to mean a girl that is capable of enjoying gaming, where "gaming" unfortunately usually equals "games that are stereotypically the province of males". I'd say paper-and-pencil role-playing games totally count. I am quite proud of my gamer girl conversion rate; I have turned three successive disinterested girlfriends into video game addicts, wielding but a single weapon: Monster Rancher 2.
I'll agree. Lots of 20-something guys blow all their money on PS2 games but they aren't really gamers in the same sense that a commuter is not a car-guy. True gamers inhabit a level of geekdom that would gladly embrace RPG's.
I'm not familiar with Monster Rancher 2 but I doubt it can compare the undebatable crossover awesomeness that is Super Mario Kart which buried the needle in the Replayabilitron.
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I have always been a bit confused as to the precise implications of "gamer girl"...How will I ever know how to classify and label myself?
Yes, V, I agree with the others' definitions. You're definitely one of us.
In any event, this Wasteland thing sounds keen. I should play it.
Welcome to the fold, child.
You really should seek out a copy of this and give it a read through.
Oh, I have, since then. In fact, you can get a copy here (http://www.math.ttu.edu/~kesinger/wasteland/wstpara.html). Even if you're not interested in playing the game, it might give you an idea of what it's all about.
I am quite proud of my gamer girl conversion rate; I have turned three successive disinterested girlfriends into video game addicts, wielding but a single weapon: Monster Rancher 2.
Pedro will claim the credit for converting me, but he forgets that I was a more hardcore gamer at eight than most people are at eighteen. I just didn't have an up-to-date computer for many, many years. (We went from a C64, purchased ca. 1985, to a Power Mac, purchased ca. 1995. And we all know how macs are for games...) But to hear PEDRO tell it, he's solely responsible for my geekiness. He tells everyone, "I got my girlfriend interested in video games, and then I married her."
I let him have his delusions. It's the foundation of a happy marriage.
I'll agree. Lots of 20-something guys blow all their money on PS2 games but they aren't really gamers in the same sense that a commuter is not a car-guy. True gamers inhabit a level of geekdom that would gladly embrace RPG's.
Yes, but what are the criteria, then? It must not be platform-dependent (PC games), since RPGers are included. It can't be the amount of time spent, since some eight-year-olds sit on their butts and play video games all summer. It can't be the amount of money spent, unless you index it to the percentage of one's income one spends on electronic media. What is that intangible quality that separates the men from the boys, as it were?
My guess? Intensity. Hardcore gamers shout, scream, cry, laugh, and do the joystick dance* when playing, often to the point of ridicule by non-gamers. Hardcore gamers back-up their savegames on CD. Hardcore gamers will call in sick to work to beat that last level. Hardcore gamers write long missives on message boards proclaiming their superiority over casual gamers.
Hardcore gamers, my friends, buy expansion packs.
*RPGers substitute twelve-sided die voodoo.
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I just didn't have an up-to-date computer for many, many years. (We went from a C64, purchased ca. 1985, to a Power Mac, purchased ca. 1995.
Essentially the same story here: I went directly from a late eighties (?) IBM PS/2 (special internal architecture means that you will never have a sound card ever) with a luxurious thirty megabytes of hard drive space to a Pentium 100 in late 1995. Now I can play X-Com with sound! And try out this "Doom" I keep hearing about! A-A-AND A "CD-ROM" DRIVE
This probably accounts for a lot in the development of my gaming aesthetic - you had to be hardcore about it, if you wanted any real satisfaction and / or closure. I could usually only really have like one or two games installed at a time. And installing games was all time-consuming and shit. And you couldn't backup save games. Since I was only really "into" one game at any given time, I spent a lot of time thinking about (read: obsessing on) it. MYSTERY: WHO SPRAY PAINTED "SLEEPER BASE" ON THE DOOR OF THE NEIGHBOR'S OLD CHICKEN COOP
Didn't mean I wasn't a choosy little fucker, though - I am pretty sure that the local Babbage's changed their return policy entirely on my account. Pfft. Like it was my fault that there were so many terrible Turbografx games. These days, I am absolutely spoiled for choice, what with MAME pretty much being exactly what computers were meant for and all.
OH AND ONE LAST THING
(http://mywebpage.netscape.com/zartan00001/wasteland.jpg)
Yeah, that's right - scanned fresh this morning
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Oooooh! So...beautiful...
Ours was a cracked copy on four two-sided 4" disks -- back when floppies were, well, floppy. With handwritten labels.
I am envious of those who obtained their copies legitimately. My dad didn't believe in computer games, so we were never allowed to buy them. Wasteland was contraband on several levels!
I think we made it through Wasteland because my brother had a friend at college with a photocopy of the paragraph book. He got the really important codes, but we missed out on much of the awesomeness of the game that way.
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My guess? Intensity. Hardcore gamers shout, scream, cry, laugh, and do the joystick dance* when playing, often to the point of ridicule by non-gamers. Hardcore gamers back-up their savegames on CD. Hardcore gamers will call in sick to work to beat that last level. Hardcore gamers write long missives on message boards proclaiming their superiority over casual gamers.
Hardcore gamers, my friends, buy expansion packs.
*RPGers substitute twelve-sided die voodoo.
Hardcore gamers beta-test expansion packs. They know the cheat codes 2-days before they get the game. They participate in game-specific fora and have titles like "Deity." They're chatting about rumors for C&C 3 while C&C 2 is still in alpha testing. They mock those who would consider the "low-end" systems at Alienware. They remap the keyboard. They RTFM. And I think this (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?s=f4f7d274e70ab92a4f7bd90c7080f561&threadid=74476&perpage=20&display=&pagenumber=4)page speaks for itself.
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You had 4" disks?
I thought floppies only came in 5.25" and 3.5". And of course those bizarre 8" floppies that go back to like, 1981.
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Oh, yeah. You're right. I never was good with numbers...
Sorry. Senior moment.
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NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
I lost Roast Beef, my best Anti-Tank guy to one of those Scorpfuckers.
Well, at least he's with Molly now...
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I think this (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?s=f4f7d274e70ab92a4f7bd90c7080f561&threadid=74476&perpage=20&display=&pagenumber=4)page speaks for itself.
That link affected me much the same as when I accidentally stumbled into a fetish porn site. I feel dirty and I need a shower.
~Paul
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I think this (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?s=f4f7d274e70ab92a4f7bd90c7080f561&threadid=74476&perpage=20&display=&pagenumber=4)page speaks for itself.
That link affected me much the same as when I accidentally stumbled into a fetish porn site. I feel dirty and I need a shower.
~Paul
I want to know how corruption works but that shit is insane. Just tell me where to put my Forbidden Palace, dammit!