Tech based cults

[Gennadios]

In my opinion, the things that Fallout did better than Wasteland was de-emphasize tech cults.

The Guardians of the Old Order were a massive farce that just never struck me as comprehending the technology they were hoarding. It was well and good that they'd venerate billboards and stop signs, but people capable of maintaining power armor should have had a slightly more balanced head on their shoulders. The order felt much "righter" when retooled into the Brotherhood of Steel.

There was also that random nuclear power plant cult in Vegas which had much the same iffy feeling. On the one hand they understood the big names and possibly some theory, on the other they clearly knew so little as to deify nuclear energy, how the hell did they keep the thing from melting down?

This the fallout IP handled a bit better as well, we had the Follower of the Apocalypse that didn't have their heads up their collective asses and were a stronger presence because of it, and then those kooky guys in Megaton in F03 worshipping a live warhead for the comedy value.

PS. I absolutely loved the Old World Blues DLC, it completely hammed up science and brought things to a Wasteland level of batsh*t without relying on post apocalypse cults.

PPS. Yes, Fallout had the Master and his cult, but it was still more plausible. You have oozing green vats, people go in, muties go out. You didn't need to understand it, the Master did, just sit back and worship.

Anyway, just my two cents. Discussion?

[Signal]

In my opinion, the things that Fallout did better than Wasteland was de-emphasize tech cults.

The Guardians of the Old Order were a massive farce that just never struck me as comprehending the technology they were hoarding. It was well and good that they'd venerate billboards and stop signs, but people capable of maintaining power armor should have had a slightly more balanced head on their shoulders. The order felt much "righter" when retooled into the Brotherhood of Steel.

Anyway, just my two cents. Discussion?

Frankly, I always felt both the Guardians and the Brotherhood were just two different ways of shoe-horning the Warhammer 40k Space Marines into the game. I'd really, really, really prefer they don't do anything like that at all in Wasteland 2.

Science fiction technology is fine.
Backwards cultists with a medieval mentality are fine.
Both concepts cobbled together sucks.

[Tanglebones]

Frankly, I always felt both the Guardians and the Brotherhood were just two different ways of shoe-horning the Warhammer 40k Space Marines into the game. I'd really, really, really prefer they don't do anything like that at all in Wasteland 2.

Science fiction technology is fine.
Backwards cultists with a medieval mentality are fine.
Both concepts cobbled together sucks.

The Guardians and the Brotherhood were always my favorite factions in their respective games.

[OldGreenRanger]

The Guardians of the Old Order were a massive farce that just never struck me as comprehending the technology they were hoarding. It was well and good that they'd venerate billboards and stop signs...

There was also that random nuclear power plant cult in Vegas which had much the same iffy feeling. On the one hand they understood the big names and possibly some theory, on the other they clearly knew so little as to deify nuclear energy, how the hell did they keep the thing from melting down?

...PPS. Yes, Fallout had the Master and his cult, but it was still more plausible.

It sounds like you preferred the "realism" (plausibility) of Fallout over the quirky humor of Wasteland.

Personally, I loved the quirky humor of the original! I loved the fact that these guardians with insanely powerful technology also venerated billboards. A large part of it of it was the humor.

But part of its brilliance is the little ego game it plays with the player: you're smarter than these powerful characters. It gives you an anticipation of conquest. And even at the beginning, when you figure out the underlying references that the characters have misunderstood, you feel like you've solved a puzzle.

The humor also provided some dramatic contrast from the heavier themes (like killing the dog). Shakespeare used humor in his tragedies for the same reason. You become numb if it's incessantly gritty. A few moments of (clever) comic relief give the rest of the story that much more impact.

Personally, I hope Wasteland 2 keeps the humor of the original. Reading this humor & pulp thread and this dark & silly thread really brought back the memories.

I don't know if tech cults specifically would have the same punch as they did 25 years ago (religion was much more part of the public discourse, as was nuclear war); if not, I hope the team puts something equally entertaining into the sequel!

Anyway, that's my two cents.

[krellen]

(religion was much more part of the public discourse, as was nuclear war)

It might be different elsewhere, but in the US, these topics are still quite relevant.

[ravenshrike]

A cult of Saint John Moses Browning. Originating from Utah they're found spreading into the area that Wasteland plays out in. Nobody fucks with them because their caravans and settlements have Ma Deuces.

[Signal]

A cult of Saint John Moses Browning. Originating from Utah they're found spreading into the area that Wasteland plays out in. Nobody fucks with them because their caravans and settlements have Ma Deuces.

THAT...
...is an AWESOME idea!

[Bloodshard]

There have been many books and games the have tech cults like Megaton (FL3), and Cyclops (the Postman). So there could be one, it would be hard to find one that has not been used to death though.

[Gennadios]

There have been many books and games the have tech cults like Megaton (FL3)

The thing about Megaton is that it's a ramshackle town made out of salvage and the locals didn't even know how to diffuse the warhead. It's not like the locals were wandering about in T-51b power armor.

One of the above posters noted that I preferred the realism of the Fallout series, partly true, but Wasteland worked because the graphics were so simple that the devs had to cram as much personality into character art and walls of text as they could. I'm not saying it didn't work at the time, but bringing this full force in a modern iso tactics game will have the feeling of a Warhammer 40k game with more humor, not sure how to feel about that.