What happened in Wasteland 1?

[ijusten]

I've tried to find out what the "big story" was in Wasteland 1, but I can't seem to find it online. All the wikiarticles just talk about the production, how the game worked etc. But even after trying to find out about this stuff for a month, all I know is that at one point you had to kill rabid dog owned by a boy named Bobby.

Please tell me that wasn't the final boss of the game? </joke>

EDIT: And apparently I wrote this on the wrong forum. Sorry mods! Hope you can move this. No hard feelings?

[Mandemon]

You went, found base inhabited by robots and then killed mechanical scorpion. Game ended, you were hero and you proved the justice of the Rangers.

There was something about assaulting Guardian Citadel and visiting Vegas and some blood cult but those were detours.

[Drool]

Um... what? That's wrong on just about every level. Ignore him.

I'd put a spoiler warning, but you asked, so, an abbreviated version:

The early parts of the game all funnel you towards Vegas. While in Vegas, you first encounter hordes of robotic death machines. You are eventually directed to the sewers beneath Vegas to find the only man who seems to know what the hell is going on. Once you do meet him, he unlocks two locations on the map; Sleeper One and Base Cochise. Sleeper One helps prep you for the final confrontation and also contains a wealth of lore and back story.

Regardless, the ultimate goal is Base Cochise, where you find the AI that's controlling and manufacturing the robots in an effort to "cleanse" the world of human life. Using special keys from the Guardian's Citadel, you can eventually trigger the base's self destruct sequence, destroying the base and ending the robotic threat.

The Scorpitron was a very tough robot in Vegas. A mini-boss, if you will, it was just very evocative, quite tough, and had a unique image associated with it.

[Mandemon]

I was only referring what everyone else seems to remember. It is not accurate description, whole "You proved justice of the Rangers" and general tone.

Let's be honest, what gets talked most? Bobby's Dog, murdering children of Highpool, Scorpitron and Base Cochise, with occasional throw at blood cult and Vegas.

[Emmy Lou]

I, for one, found Mandemon's post to be quite elucidating.

I want to killed bad scorpion and prove good justice too!!

[Drool]

If you want more detail, here's a copy of the hint book, which should put stuff in context.

[ijusten]

Um... what? That's wrong on just about every level. Ignore him.

For a moment there I really wondered if this was the game to which I'm eagerly waiting a sequel!

I'd put a spoiler warning, but you asked, so, an abbreviated version:

Thanks! I don't think I'll ever play Wasteland 1. The plot sounded really cool, but.. well, you know.

[homeslice82]

Well, I haven't beaten the entire game, but here's a rundown of some of the cool stuff I've seen while playing. Wasteland's story is basically a series of largely self-contained miniplots, but an arc appears later.

1. Highpool and the Bobby quest, as you've seen.

2. The Nomad Camp, which contains the Hobo Oracle, who gives you prophecies in exchange for booze. It's also got a tribe of crazies called Topekans (you kill them all, including a baby wielding a revolver). You get a quest here to go to a town called Quartz.

3. The Agricultural Center, where you're asked by a group of farmers (and their 100-plus-year-old leader) to get rid of Harry, the Bunny Master. Harry hangs out in a patch of giant, mutated carrots with his armored rabbit minions. Other mutated vegetables (like "Green Sequoia Broccoli") can be found there as well.

4. Quartz, a town taken over by a gang from out of the wasteland. They've set up shop in the Mayor's office and imprisoned him and his wife. Long story short, you wreck shop at the town hall and free the Mayor. Afterwards, you head to the hideout of the gang leader, Ugly John. There's an excellently done hostage scene involving a bomb and the Mayor's wife, which can end in the death or escape of Ugly John and the death or freedom of the Mayor's wife. It's very intense. In John's hideout, you find a guy named Ace who recruits you to help him with a problem in Las Vegas. You drive from Quartz to the next town: Needles.

5. Unfortunately, you break down in Needles and need an engine. You get involved in a murder mystery where people turn up dead, drained of their blood. Incidental encounters include but are not limited to the Hobo Dog stand, which makes food out of hobos; a three-legged prostitute, from whom you can contract "wasteland herpes"; and the "pit ghoul", a freakish and incredibly powerful monster buried deep in a radioactive underground waste dump. Anyway, you find out from the bishop at the local Servants of the Mushroom Cloud church that something called a "Bloodstaff" has gone missing, and the trail eventually leads you to the Temple of Blood--a bizarre cult center whose walls are filled with blood. You end up tracking down and killing their evil leader in a fortress surrounded by a moat of blood. As a reward for killing the dude and getting back the Bloodstaff, the bishop gives you a bunch of swag--including a new engine.

6. With the engine in the car, you travel to Vegas. I'm not totally done with this town, but suffice it to say that there's a gang war going on similar to the one between Killian and Gizmo in Fallout 1. There are also robots taking over, which is why Ace brought you there to begin with. The main church of the Mushroom Cloud is there too. More stuff happens after this (which posters above me outlined), and there are a bunch of other towns I have yet to explore.

In general, lots of stuff happens in WL1. I fully recommend playing it--it holds up very well.

[ijusten]

a three-legged prostitute, from whom you can contract "wasteland herpes"

How did this singular "you" work with the band of four rangers?

I think most of us who started CRPGs with Fallout 1 have never played story-oriented CRPG where you control a group. Sure, there was Icewind Dale 1&2, but the speaking part there was mostly about asking where the monsters are hiding. You set the characters as "Good", "Evil" or "Neutral", but it really didn't affect the group dynamics or the story in any way.

I can't really get how you can bond with a group of rangers with no personalities coded in the game. Why would one ranger go to the prostitute and the others wouldn't? When the NPCs talk to the rangers, to which of the four do they talk to?

I can understand the group-dynamic in games like Fallout Tactics, but those were pure fighting. Wasteland 2 is supposed to have a proper plot with talking (or so I understood)!

[Drool]

She asked if you were interested in a good time, and you selected the character that went with her.

You provided the personalities yourself, using your imagination. There was plenty of room for interpretation on your own without the game telling you what your characters thought, felt, and wanted to do.

When talking to someone, the entire group did. Interactive dialogue was limited to essentially a text box with a word parser.

Proper plot can happen with party-based games. There's a rich history of it. Bard's Tale 1-3, Might and Magic 1-6, Pool of Radiance, Curse of the Azure Bonds, Secret of the Silver Blades, Pools of Darkness, Champions of Krynn, Deathknights of Krynn, Dark Queen of Krynn, Buck Rogers: Countdown to Doomsday, Buck Rogers: Matrix Cubed, Eye of the Beholder 1-3, Gateway to the Savage Frontier, Treasures of the Savage Frontier, probably several more I'm forgetting right now, but those were the ones I played personally.

[homeslice82]

a three-legged prostitute, from whom you can contract "wasteland herpes"

How did this singular "you" work with the band of four rangers?

I think most of us who started CRPGs with Fallout 1 have never played story-oriented CRPG where you control a group. Sure, there was Icewind Dale 1&2, but the speaking part there was mostly about asking where the monsters are hiding. You set the characters as "Good", "Evil" or "Neutral", but it really didn't affect the group dynamics or the story in any way.

I can't really get how you can bond with a group of rangers with no personalities coded in the game. Why would one ranger go to the prostitute and the others wouldn't? When the NPCs talk to the rangers, to which of the four do they talk to?

I can understand the group-dynamic in games like Fallout Tactics, but those were pure fighting. Wasteland 2 is supposed to have a proper plot with talking (or so I understood)!

Well, during certain scenes, you have to split off a member of your party. This includes letting Angela Deth enter the ladies' room in Quartz, and, IIRC, the prostitute scene. Otherwise, the party takes up a single square on the map at all times. I'm not sure who talks--it's never really made clear. Also, the characters themselves are blank slates, but you get a lot of freedom to act. It's kind of like Fallout. Your actions have real (and sometimes extreme) consequences. For example, if you slip in the stream in Highpool, a bunch of kids come out to laugh at you. You have to option of killing them all. If you do, a bounty hunter comes after you. If you kill him, Highpool is deserted, the stream dries up and you can supposedly hear the echoing laughter of children in town.

In a more basic example, you can blow up the Hobo Dog stand with a howitzer. This means no more Hobo Dogs for you.

Edit: And, as Drool said above, your imagination defines your party. It's basically unavoidable when your default party members are named stuff like "Thrasher" and "Snake Vargas".

[ijusten]

She asked if you were interested in a good time, and you selected the character that went with her.

You provided the personalities yourself, using your imagination. There was plenty of room for interpretation on your own without the game telling you what your characters thought, felt, and wanted to do.

When talking to someone, the entire group did. Interactive dialogue was limited to essentially a text box with a word parser.

Word parser? Like the one that was in Fallout 1 and was completely useless?

Proper plot can happen with party-based games. There's a rich history of it. Bard's Tale 1-3, Might and Magic 1-6, Pool of Radiance, Curse of the Azure Bonds, Secret of the Silver Blades, Pools of Darkness, Champions of Krynn, Deathknights of Krynn, Dark Queen of Krynn, Buck Rogers: Countdown to Doomsday, Buck Rogers: Matrix Cubed, Eye of the Beholder 1-3, Gateway to the Savage Frontier, Treasures of the Savage Frontier, probably several more I'm forgetting right now, but those were the ones I played personally.

I think these were all part of the SSI's "Golden Box"-games, were they not? I've seen screenshots of them.

I know it's really boorish of me, particularly as I whine to people younger than me that Fallout 1 is a great game and they say that they just can't, not with the graphics that the game has. And I can't see nothing wrong with the graphics!

But that's the situation here, I'm afraid. They're probably great games, but the graphics (and the UI, probably) have not aged gracefully.

Well, during certain scenes, you have to split off a member of your party. This includes letting Angela Deth enter the ladies' room in Quartz, and, IIRC, the prostitute scene. Otherwise, the party takes up a single square on the map at all times. I'm not sure who talks--it's never really made clear. Also, the characters themselves are blank slates, but you get a lot of freedom to act. It's kind of like Fallout. Your actions have real (and sometimes extreme) consequences. For example, if you slip in the stream in Highpool, a bunch of kids come out to laugh at you. You have to option of killing them all. If you do, a bounty hunter comes after you. If you kill him, Highpool is deserted, the stream dries up and you can supposedly hear the echoing laughter of children in town.

In a more basic example, you can blow up the Hobo Dog stand with a howitzer. This means no more Hobo Dogs for you.

Edit: And, as Drool said above, your imagination defines your party. It's basically unavoidable when your default party members are named stuff like "Thrasher" and "Snake Vargas".

I think I can see this. Wonder how it will feel in practice, after getting so accustomed to the fact that you are looking through the eyes of one person with five NPCs try to influence your acts with their chatter. I wonder if I will miss that.

BTW, thanks for answering my questions! I really appreciate it I know it's hard to explain this stuff to somebody who never played the games, but you're really great for trying.

[Mandemon]

She asked if you were interested in a good time, and you selected the character that went with her.

You provided the personalities yourself, using your imagination. There was plenty of room for interpretation on your own without the game telling you what your characters thought, felt, and wanted to do.

When talking to someone, the entire group did. Interactive dialogue was limited to essentially a text box with a word parser.

Word parser? Like the one that was in Fallout 1 and was completely useless?

Yup, except it was only dialogue you had. Fallout relied more on "choose your words" than "type word, get dialogue". 90% you would get generic "I don't know" response.

Proper plot can happen with party-based games. There's a rich history of it. Bard's Tale 1-3, Might and Magic 1-6, Pool of Radiance, Curse of the Azure Bonds, Secret of the Silver Blades, Pools of Darkness, Champions of Krynn, Deathknights of Krynn, Dark Queen of Krynn, Buck Rogers: Countdown to Doomsday, Buck Rogers: Matrix Cubed, Eye of the Beholder 1-3, Gateway to the Savage Frontier, Treasures of the Savage Frontier, probably several more I'm forgetting right now, but those were the ones I played personally.

I think these were all part of the SSI's "Golden Box"-games, were they not? I've seen screenshots of them.


I know it's really boorish of me, particularly as I whine to people younger than me that Fallout 1 is a great game and they say that they just can't, not with the graphics that the game has. And I can't see nothing wrong with the graphics!

You and me both. Fallout has OK graphics. Not necessarily the most ground breaking or artistic, but they serve their purpose.

But that's the situation here, I'm afraid. They're probably great games, but the graphics (and the UI, probably) have not aged gracefully.

Well, during certain scenes, you have to split off a member of your party. This includes letting Angela Deth enter the ladies' room in Quartz, and, IIRC, the prostitute scene. Otherwise, the party takes up a single square on the map at all times. I'm not sure who talks--it's never really made clear. Also, the characters themselves are blank slates, but you get a lot of freedom to act. It's kind of like Fallout. Your actions have real (and sometimes extreme) consequences. For example, if you slip in the stream in Highpool, a bunch of kids come out to laugh at you. You have to option of killing them all. If you do, a bounty hunter comes after you. If you kill him, Highpool is deserted, the stream dries up and you can supposedly hear the echoing laughter of children in town.

In a more basic example, you can blow up the Hobo Dog stand with a howitzer. This means no more Hobo Dogs for you.

Edit: And, as Drool said above, your imagination defines your party. It's basically unavoidable when your default party members are named stuff like "Thrasher" and "Snake Vargas".

I think I can see this. Wonder how it will feel in practice, after getting so accustomed to the fact that you are looking through the eyes of one person with five NPCs try to influence your acts with their chatter. I wonder if I will miss that.

Oh you get used to it. Try to think instead of looking trough eyes of one, you look trough eyes of 4. Besides, I think(hope) that our Rangers get more personality in WL2 than jsut being character sheets to be sacrificed for entertainment.

[ijusten]

Besides, I think(hope) that our Rangers get more personality in WL2 than jsut being character sheets to be sacrificed for entertainment.

Yeah, I hope you can choose some personalities for the rangers in the creation. Similar manner as in Fallouts where there were those three pre-created characters if you didn't want to use your own. And they could then have observations on the situation at hand, just like in the Fallout/BG-games. Or perhaps create the characters from ground up and allow to list them personalities!

But I'm sure the old-timers would hate that.

In the end, Fargo knows that there are a lot of people coming in from Fallout, so I suppose he remembers us when thinking on the subject. After all, he resolved the "can we have homes"-situation in a brilliant manner.

[Mandemon]

Nah, I don't think we'll have that level of detail. I was thinking something closer to Dwarf Fortress, where they are randomly assigned.

It would be funny if Random Number God gave one Ranger "technical Pacifist" personalty (opposes mindless killing, thus each time team kills someone outside self-defense his "morale" drops) and then have another one with "Bloodthirsty" personalty (Enjoys killing and despises diplomatic situations, receiving "morale" drop when party takes diplomatic road).

Enough morale drop and party member deserts the party, going rogue.

Might be interesting side-quest, hunt down former party members that have gone rogue.

[Drool]

Those weren't all SSI. However, SSI's graphics have aged reasonably well, I'd say. They aren't state of the art, but they really weren't that bad. Incidentally, that LP gives a nice idea of how we cranky old bastards used our imagination.

[Lucius]

6. With the engine in the car, you travel to Vegas. I'm not totally done with this town, but suffice it to say that there's a gang war going on similar to the one between Killian and Gizmo in Fallout 1. There are also robots taking over, which is why Ace brought you there to begin with. The main church of the Mushroom Cloud is there too. More stuff happens after this (which posters above me outlined), and there are a bunch of other towns I have yet to explore.

Ohhhh, you are getting to the meat and potatoes of the game! You have several very epic, memorable locations just around the corner.

[kipper]

You provided the personalities yourself, using your imagination. There was plenty of room for interpretation on your own without the game telling you what your characters thought, felt, and wanted to do.

Huzzah! I just wanted to state my absolute agreement with this point !!

[Son of Max]

Well, I haven't beaten the entire game, but here's a rundown of some of the cool stuff I've seen while playing. Wasteland's story is basically a series of largely self-contained miniplots, but an arc appears later.

1. Highpool and the Bobby quest, as you've seen.

2. The Nomad Camp, which contains the Hobo Oracle, who gives you prophecies in exchange for booze. It's also got a tribe of crazies called Topekans (you kill them all, including a baby wielding a revolver). You get a quest here to go to a town called Quartz.

3. The Agricultural Center, where you're asked by a group of farmers (and their 100-plus-year-old leader) to get rid of Harry, the Bunny Master. Harry hangs out in a patch of giant, mutated carrots with his armored rabbit minions. Other mutated vegetables (like "Green Sequoia Broccoli") can be found there as well.

4. Quartz, a town taken over by a gang from out of the wasteland. They've set up shop in the Mayor's office and imprisoned him and his wife. Long story short, you wreck shop at the town hall and free the Mayor. Afterwards, you head to the hideout of the gang leader, Ugly John. There's an excellently done hostage scene involving a bomb and the Mayor's wife, which can end in the death or escape of Ugly John and the death or freedom of the Mayor's wife. It's very intense. In John's hideout, you find a guy named Ace who recruits you to help him with a problem in Las Vegas. You drive from Quartz to the next town: Needles.

5. Unfortunately, you break down in Needles and need an engine. You get involved in a murder mystery where people turn up dead, drained of their blood. Incidental encounters include but are not limited to the Hobo Dog stand, which makes food out of hobos; a three-legged prostitute, from whom you can contract "wasteland herpes"; and the "pit ghoul", a freakish and incredibly powerful monster buried deep in a radioactive underground waste dump. Anyway, you find out from the bishop at the local Servants of the Mushroom Cloud church that something called a "Bloodstaff" has gone missing, and the trail eventually leads you to the Temple of Blood--a bizarre cult center whose walls are filled with blood. You end up tracking down and killing their evil leader in a fortress surrounded by a moat of blood. As a reward for killing the dude and getting back the Bloodstaff, the bishop gives you a bunch of swag--including a new engine.

6. With the engine in the car, you travel to Vegas. I'm not totally done with this town, but suffice it to say that there's a gang war going on similar to the one between Killian and Gizmo in Fallout 1. There are also robots taking over, which is why Ace brought you there to begin with. The main church of the Mushroom Cloud is there too. More stuff happens after this (which posters above me outlined), and there are a bunch of other towns I have yet to explore.

In general, lots of stuff happens in WL1. I fully recommend playing it--it holds up very well.

If you're enjoying the game already, at this point, get ready to have your mind blown...it just keeps getting better from here.

[Stargazer]

One game that does party members well is Jagged Alliance 2. In the game you play a merc who's contacted by the deposed ruler of a country, Arulco. Your job is to liberate the country from its dictator, and to accomplish this you had to hire mercenaries (mercs) to capture and hold various sectors.
The mercs had their own personalities and individual voice actors (as far as I can tell). Not all could get along with each other; some hated another's guts and if left in the same squad together, might quit altogether. Another would occasionally get out of control and would not respond to player's commands ("Go away, I busy" - Fidel) and would often blast away at the enemy at full auto when in such a state.
So it is possible to make squad members with interesting personalities that add fun and surprise to the game.