There are plenty of choices for fans to explore

Sep 26, 2014 14:45 GMT  ·  By

Wasteland 2 is a game that’s designed to appeal to those who loved classic post-apocalyptic role-playing titles, like those in the Fallout series, but the game differs when it comes to one core aspect: the entire experience is focused on a four-character team rather than on a single protagonist.

When the gamer starts a new campaign, he is able to simply pick from templates created by the developers at InXile Entertainment, all of them nicely balanced and with some cool backstories, or they can choose to put together their own party based on their play style and role-playing choices.

For my main character, the Ranger that aims to rid the world of any threats to human life while upholding morality and order, I chose to drop almost all physical attributes in order to improve my charisma and my intelligence.

This will hopefully allow my party to avoid at least some battles because I can solve problems with words rather than with bullets or blades, while also making it easier to get equipment and help when we need them.

I have also chosen to use rifles and bladed weapons while also offering a leadership bonus to all those around me.

Brains versus brawn

I then put together a second character, with limited charisma and only medium intelligence, who has the advantage of being very imposing from a physical point of view and perceptive, which should make him a powerful force in combat.

The character creation process seems a little daunting at first, but even gamers who have not engaged with too many role-playing titles before will see that they only need to hover over the various categories and skills in order to get an idea about how they are used and then choose accordingly.

There’s a lot of variety included and there are at least three potential characters other than the one I have actually created that I am interested in playing, especially one with very limited intelligence and with a perfect physical presence.

For the final two positions in my first party I have chosen two of the templates that InXile Entertainment has put together: Hex and Pills, which are focused on computer tech and futuristic weapons and on healing.

This is the brave Desert Ranger party which I plan to take through the story of Wasteland 2 and I really hope there’s no major skill that’s required for long-term survival that I failed to develop.