Does anyone know if there's a way to get the original Wasteland for a reasonable price, or if it's worth it anyway? I'd like to play the precursor to Fallout, but it's kind of rare, isn't it?

The usual, check Ebay regularly. Although, given its rarity, I doubt you'l find it cheap.

Or, you could just hold out for a GOG release.

ahh, I didn't even see you posted. Thanks, I figured that would be the only way right now, and probably the way I'll go until it finds its way here.

But I'll have to do some sleuthing to estimate the likelihood of it coming here.
I really like the cover art, if I could get a big poster of it.... oh my gog I'd be happy.

In response to the "worth it" question, I'd say yes, and not just in an anthropological sense. The original Wasteland was the whole reason I got Fallout in the first place. It had a pretty interesting "split up the party" mechanic you needed to use to solve some puzzles too. That and reloading weapons rather than shooting all the time added a nice subtle strategic element. For the time, it was quite impressive, IMHO.

I'd definitely go for a GoG release of it, myself.

As an aside, I happen to have the cover art (original Apple II box) but not the floppies, which I loaned to a friend in high school and never saw again. I know it's runnable in DOSBox, but as to a legitimate source for an old floppy copy... like lotr-sam0711, I tend to doubt "cheap" is in your future unless it ends up here by some miracle. They don't exactly have any EA titles around here yet.... so odds don't seem too great right now.

That's very cool. How different/similar is Wasteland to Fallout?

Do you know why EA isn't here yet? I'd really like to see the Command and Conquer: The First Decade here, or at least have them separately. But I get that EA probably doesn't want to sell their stuff for less than $10, especially without DRM. Maybe they'll reconsider when GOG gets more publishers and becomes more popular.

And if you care to vote, Wasteland is on the wishlist with almost 500 votes. I really hate how disorganized the list is. I wish it could be viewed by votes, title, date, etc. The way it is now encourages games to be overlooked, you know?

Thematically, pretty similar in many ways, though technically Wasteland is definitely a product of the 80s. Brian Fargo was a lead on Wasteland before founding Interplay... so you can kinda see the path that lead to Fallout. It's visually more like a blend of old Ultima and Bard's Tale (though it's got some gameplay elements that were pretty great by those standards)... but you're running a party in the Southwestern US, post-holocaust, and there's some strange remnants of the US military that was and such, so there's pieces of the puzzle that feel like Fallout. The "spirit" is there, even if the "gameplay" is a bit different.

It's not tactical in the isometric combat sense... but there's multiple ways to approach a situation, the gameworld was persistent and your actions had impact. It really was a groundbreaker at the time in a number of the same ways that Fallout STILL seemed a groundbreaker because both did things other didn't even attempt.

As for the visuals... it definitely hasn't held up as well as the Fallouts have...

http://www.mobygames.com/game/dos/wasteland/screenshots/gameShotId,18130/

... but hey, it's GoG... you probably wouldn't be here if you only cared about visuals. Not sure what the deal is with EA. That said, I know the pack you're talking about as I grabbed it on disc a while back. It's a pretty hefty package as a download... I can kinda understand why that one is on disc. Was one of the first games I voted on when I first joined. :)

Good to know. I didn't realize it was that old or looked like that, but I can look past graphics if it's fun. Unless it gives me a headache to play.

And I can find CNC for a good price, I'm just mostly worried about compatibility, and it would be great to get soundtracks for all the games. I'd buy it again here if they had some good extras like that. I know I'll probably do that for a few others I already bought on Steam when I didn't realize how much I want those extras.

Hahah it must be really great if you sold your Nintendo to get it! I voted for both now :)

Another Problem with wasteland is the need to have the manual. Not for some copy protection, but because the longer "in-game texts" were printed into the manual and just referenced to in the game.

Back then, Disk storage was really expensive ...

Edit: stoopid me....

If it ever comes here, I think the GOG crew would be smart enough to realize the value in a manual. I hadn't thought of that though, good to know.

What's the edit for?

I was asking why the Wasteland rights were at EA. I was confused, because I also have the "Interplay 10th anniversary" Box with Wasteland and therefore thought it was originally an Interplay game (like Stonekeep, which is on GoG).

One quick look in wikipedia gave me the answer ... ;)

Oh, I understand now.

It's my favorite game of all time, 8 bit graphics and all.

What about it makes it your favorite?