Map node system or giant sandbox map?

[Badunius]

Heres a map idea I wouldn't mind seeing.I kind of hope for a Apocalypstic world where the world looks different....California cracked off into the ocean sort of thing.If you could wander around mapping the world for yourself, you could literally discover the world for yourself...So when yer talking with yer friends..
HEY man you been playing Wasteland?
YEAH,AWESOME right?
Where have you been....?I been heading east..Oh man ,mutants everywhere.Arizona is a radiation hotbed.Beware the ( ?)
HOLY SHIT.You aint been west.California is gone,its a bunch of islands..
That is,if you go with a world view map.I mean they are Rangers..they should be exploring or something right?

all this info will be on the internet next day or two after release.
fog of war - yes, but meaningful
nodes - no, fast travel sucks
open world - maybe, if vehicles will be available, riding jeep across the wastelands, getting away from or chasing raiders is fun (yeah, not oldschool style, but still fun)
random points of interest - yes, and maybe even quest attached to them

[Gabriel77Dan]

nodes - no, fast travel sucks

Who said anything about fast-travel? (I take it you do mean the instant travel device that's been used by games lately, especially the latest 4 Bethesda games?)

[Badunius]

nodes - no, fast travel sucks

Who said anything about fast-travel? (I take it you do mean the instant travel device that's been used by games lately, especially the latest 4 Bethesda games?)

first thing that comes to mind when you say map nodes is NWN2
Click destination — Pew! You've arrived!

[Rzarkrusz Rowa]

The way it was done in Wasteland was very fast and practical (except for the random encounter spam).

[Lirpakkaa]

As long as there's some kind of overworld map you travel and explore on, I'm cool with it. Be the exact implementation more like WL, FO, Arcanum, Ultima (insert game number), or whatever.

Not a fan of any node system for a WL game.

[Jack Dandy]

Since the box version has a cloth map, I'm definitely hoping I can use it to accurately explore a sandbox world.

[Gabriel77Dan]

nodes - no, fast travel sucks

Who said anything about fast-travel? (I take it you do mean the instant travel device that's been used by games lately, especially the latest 4 Bethesda games?)

first thing that comes to mind when you say map nodes is NWN2
Click destination — Pew! You've arrived!

Nah, I meant more along the lines of Fallout 1/2 and to a lesser extent Arcanum.
You click on the world map where you want to travel and you see your +, your x, your O or whatever the marker is indicating your group, slowly traveling across the landscape.
You can at any point stop and enter a random mini-map used for random encounters, but depending on your Perception/Awarness/Outdoorsman stat/skill you either get more random encounters or less, with a high Outdoorsman you can choose whether or not you want to engage the enemy or if you wish to just keep going.
And if your group is smaller, you have a vehicle or if your... Atheletic skill? Is high enough then you travel faster across said world map.
When traveling time move faster (like really fast) so one centimeter on the world map might take the party a full day to reach, but since time moves faster it will only take like 10 seconds.

So it is "fast" in a way, but it's not "instant travel".
I'd hate instant travel for WL2.

[Wild_Bill_711]

As much as I dislike the idea of 'Square Grid' maps... am wondering how anything better will work... considering the keyboard only offers 4 'direction arrows' and the mouse may not be the best/preferred way to move a party of Rangers around.

[Badunius]

considering the keyboard only offers 4 'direction arrows'

8 arrows, when using numpad

[Gabriel77Dan]

As much as I dislike the idea of 'Square Grid' maps... am wondering how anything better will work... considering the keyboard only offers 4 'direction arrows' and the mouse may not be the best/preferred way to move a party of Rangers around.

World map or location map?

[Wild_Bill_711]

Was referring to all maps - world/desert, settlements/locations, and everything within the settlements.

Would the 4 additional arrows on the keypad function differently from the usual arrows ? ... Would that also 'eliminate' the use of the 'numbers' on the keypad ?

[paultakeda]

For Wasteland 2, I think I'd like the world map to be closer to the magnification in Wasteland than in Fallout 1/2 in that the tiles are clearly delineated, like how Civilization represents its world maps. In fact, unit movement in Civilization, where you can use the arrow keys or hover over a destination to see the path, is an effective navigation system. If necessary, you could also have a destination list and the party would move visibly on the map as each tile rolls for encounters.

[Gabriel77Dan]

Was referring to all maps - world/desert, settlements/locations, and everything within the settlements.

Would the 4 additional arrows on the keypad function differently from the usual arrows ? ... Would that also 'eliminate' the use of the 'numbers' on the keypad ?

Well, if following Arcanum's or Fallout's world map travel then you just click with the mouse and travel directly towards the set mark.
You don't use the arrow keys for it. :/

As to the actual combat, if the combat has a square based grid system then I suppose the numpad could be used as an alternative but I'd prefer it if we still used the mouse.
I loved Fallout 1/2/T's approach to it, left click with the mouse is the action and right click is the selection, select between move, attack and investigate.
It was fast, smooth and easy to learn.
Though then again, this isn't Fallout.

Both could be used though, for movement. But if I got one or the other I'd take mouse over numpad or arrow keys any day. Apart from, yknow, platforming games.
And of the movement systems a square grid based is my least favorite.

[axeldeath]

What about something like M&B or Pirates, node based but 10x better IMO. It makes the world seem so much larger and makes encounters both avoidable and fun.

[KrystianGalaj]

considering the keyboard only offers 4 'direction arrows'

8 arrows, when using numpad

I haven't seen numpad since I stopped using desktop computers years ago. It's still considered generally available in gaming?

[Badunius]

considering the keyboard only offers 4 'direction arrows'

8 arrows, when using numpad

I haven't seen numpad since I stopped using desktop computers years ago. It's still considered generally available in gaming?

well, my good old acer 7730g have numpad )

[Gabriel77Dan]

considering the keyboard only offers 4 'direction arrows'

8 arrows, when using numpad

I haven't seen numpad since I stopped using desktop computers years ago. It's still considered generally available in gaming?

Well, if you have a PC then yeah I think so.
And if not just buy cheap keyboard.

[paultakeda]

Numpad got supplanted by the mouse. No one uses the numpad much for gaming anymore as it means taking your hand away from the mouse.

Still, I think it should still be available just as much as the separate arrow keys are also available. That's just key mapping.

[Badunius]

No one uses the numpad much for gaming anymore as it means taking your hand away from the mouse.

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