Wasteland 2 NPCs will react dynamically to gender, party makeup

The gender you choose to play in Wasteland 2 will have an affect on the way you are treated in the game, according to inXile Entertainment president Matt Findley.

Speaking with RPS, Findley said the many NPCs players will come into contact with in the game will have dynamic responses to both your character and party makeup.

These reactions can either help or hinder you in some capacity, such as one example given of a traveling salesman who happens to have his cart stuck in the mud.

“Here’s a merchant that turns into a store if you help him get his cart out of the mud,” said Findley. “Otherwise he’s just a guy that hates you. The conversation that he has with you is really dependent on so many different factors – the makeup of the party. He has different lines if you come up with an all-women party or if there’s a really high charisma male. There are little flags that he’ll react to.

“That particular character loves all-women parties, but some characters might not give any information to an all-women party, because they might have a problem with women. The idea is to make each NPC unique in their world view. A guy might be more likely to give women information or more likely to give men information. This guy specifically, I think he says something inappropriate, and then raises his prices.

“We want to be true to the individual characters, and not try to apply some sort of global morality to all the characters in the world. We want to allow the characters to be unique and to have their own world view and to be consistent.

“And then some of the reactivity is just cosmetic. It’s just changing the intro line or the exit line. If you come in with an all-women party, the only thing that might change is, when the conversation is over, he’s like, ‘Have a good day, ladies!’ As opposed to just, ‘Have a good day!’ Some of that reactivity just makes it a bit more personal, a bit more unique.”

Findley said Wasteland 2’s world will be very diverse, as it will be populated with various factions and other inhabitants with personalities spanning the entire spectrum.

Waterland 2 goes into beta in October after which a release date will be announced.