Wasteland 2 ... 2014? Really? ♥♥♥♥ me, I'm old. So, 12 years later I'm finally here. I love it. For what it is. And that is more "choose your own adventure" than an actually involving story. Yes, there is a main story, and yes, there are side quests, all the shebang, but from the first moment on it's more about YOU and not the people around you. YOU are the main character, YOU create your party (if you want), because anyone you meet out in the open basically has no character. They have names, they have their little quests when you meet them, but they're not companions, they're meat shields and pack mules. That is their entire function. They're there to complement YOU.
I wish you could unlearn skills, but I guess that's not how it works in real life, so just build around that. My dumb ass didn't realize that having safecracking and lockpicking on the same character could unlock a neat perk, but it's hardly necessary.
So, do NOT expect an engaging story line. The story exists to move you from POI to POI, it is neither particularly good nor detailed. Go there, do that. You CAN chat with all sorts of NPCs, but most dialogue in any region boils down to the same questions and answers, just with different text. You can ask about "Titan" 100 different times, even if you already know everything. This is probably for the people who don't pay attention, so if they ARE interested, any NPC will just tell them what the lore and ♥♥♥♥ is about, even if the character already knows everything about it from prior conversations with other NPCs.
The main allure here is the freedom of choice. How you want to build your character, when you want to ugprade what, where you break and enter, who you help, who you dismiss, who you kill. Because you can basically kill everyone in the game. Don't like your own group, the Rangers? Well, attack them on sight. No idea how THAT would impact the story, but just like in the very first Fallout, this is possible. Do you want to help 2 warring tribes end a feud? Or just ... ignore them? Or ... kill them all? It's your choice. Leave a nuke in the hands of mad monks or give it to some jackass militia? Or don't get involved at all? Kill them all? Pay the tribute, don't pay the tribute? The game doesn't really force you into any decision. It's about what you WANT to do ... and what you are CAPABLE of doing. Just because you CAN choose to kill everyone doesn't mean you can actually ACCOMPLISH that. For me, it's possible, because I'm an old ♥♥♥♥♥ who plays on easy. My characters so far are basically invincible. The only time I struggled was when I took on a militia group instead of talking it out with them, because they wanted my damn weapons. And wanted me to pay them... ♥♥♥♥ off.
Speaking of combat, though. You could either argue it's relatively realistic ... or very basic. There aren't any "skills" for characters to learn. A few perks here and there, but they're basically passives. You just point your gun at someone and shoot ... or lob a grenade. Or hack a turret/robot during combat, that's also possible, but your characters neither have skill trees nor do they unlock special armor or weapons. Everyone can use and wear everything, whether they're proficient with it or not. That, however, also means that combat gets relatively samey quickly. A bit of a shame, since the game overall is really enjoyable, and the combat itself as well ... it's just, there's so much of it you can quickly get burned out.
Overall, though, a solid 8/10 for me, even with all the inventory management.
