What RPG are you playing right now?

[Ack]

Wild Arms 3 is actually what got me back into playing JRPGs again after having set them aside for a long time. It's worth checking out.

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On a totally different note, with the second Might and Magic out of the way, I'm now playing Wasteland. I have no idea what I'm doing, but I did make it a point to do away with the initial party and instead bring my own force:

ACK - American

He's two-fisted and rough and ready for whatever the Nevada wastes have in store. Get too close, and he'll punch out your lights...if he can do damage, that is. Seriously, bunnies must have armor plates for skin. At least he likes to gamble and always bets on himself.

POPO - Russian

This tough as nails commie bastard is perfectly suited to shoving an SMG in someone's face while screaming orders or building and disarming explosive devices. He can take whatever you dish out...expect for polite conversation. He ain't got time for that.

MARURUN - Indian

He immigrated thinking America would be a brilliant career move. Turns out it was, because he's naturally gifted with assault rifles. The trouble is getting him one, but once we do, he's gonna paint the world red...and white and blue, baby!

OPA - Chinese

Making his debut, Opa is here to kick some ass and break down your passwords with a mix of gunplay and cryptology. His social skills might not be the best, but this guy will crack the code and end the war...or let it burn for the fun of it.

And with this troop of intrepid adventurers, I did what anybody would do: I went to a garden to help some pansy farmers clear out a rodent infestation. What I didn't know was that they planned to lock me in. Now I'm trying to figure out the game's system while also trying to figure out how to escape from the never ending hordes of bunnies, rats, and psycho prairie dogs that keep knocking my guys unconscious but never quite go for the kill. Maybe I'll be able to promote someone once I figure out what the hell it is I'm doing.

Maybe.

[MrPopo]

You'll appreciate the lack of bloodthirstiness as you go through the game. The combat is a bit janky, because you have this weird mix of random and fixed encounters, and the fixed encounters show up on the map itself. You actually can engage in combat with enemies not in the same tile as you. So when you get into combat it tells you where enemies are; if they're 60 meters away, for example, that means they're a few tiles away and your melee guys can't do anything to them. If I recall correctly you can have your melee guys close distance, but it costs them a turn.

[Ack]

You'll appreciate the lack of bloodthirstiness as you go through the game.

I don't understand.

[MrPopo]

You'll appreciate the lack of bloodthirstiness as you go through the game.

I don't understand.

You don't want to be rerolling characters over and over. I didn't mean a lack of bloodthirstiness by YOUR guys.

[Ack]

Ahh...

Hey Popo, since I know you've played through Wasteland, I have a few questions for you.

First, is there any way to see how close I am to getting a promotion?

Second, I know I can hit Escape to make a minute go by, but is there a quick way to rest up?

Third, is there any in-game explanation of skills? I found one for stats but didn't notice anything for skills.

Fourth...weapon stats?

[MrPopo]

It's been long enough that I don't remember any of those mechanical details, unfortunately. I think for skills it's mostly a "what seems to make sense". I think I looked up an out-of-game table for promotions and weapon stats. Doing a lookup, it seems the only way to rest is to pass time, so you can macro hitting escape a fuckton.

[Ack]

All right, I'll dig around for wikis and the like. I had already done so for the paragraph book, so it shouldn't be too bad.

[MrPopo]

Did the paragraph book not come with your copy? If it's digital it should be one of the extras.

[Ack]

Did the paragraph book not come with your copy? If it's digital it should be one of the extras.

I'm sure it is, but I prefer to keep stuff like that on my phone so I don't have to swap in and out of the game program on the laptop.

That said, looking up information just now, I discovered that apparently Combat Shooting is worthless in the original Wasteland. Great, I hate wasting skill points.

[opa]

Sounds like you've assembled a crew of ne'er-do-wells, ack. Perfect for wasteland!