I think it's fair to say that the name Brian Fargo has some negative perceptions attached to it.  He's been blamed for the fall of Interplay after all.  I don't know how true that is.  I'm still pretty pumped though.  I've wondered if anyone was at all interested in doing a roll-your-own, party-based RPG anymore, outside of indies.

I browsed the comments on the RPS post about this and it seems many dislike the keyword system.  I can see their points, but it's simply not a big deal for me.  Anyway I can't see how it's worse than a convoluted dialog tree.  Wasteland was not so much about role-playing through guess-the-proper-response as it was through creating a party customized to your style with completely open-ended possibilities.  Then you could tackle the hostile world in whatever way you saw fit.

In short, Wasteland was not Fallout.  It was a different type of RPG albeit in a very similar setting.

In contrast, a game such as Torment very much was about role-playing in a strange universe through dialog.  Keywords would have been a huge detriment.

Oh and I was a little disappointed by all the swearing.  I'm no prude, but those things are most effective when used sparingly.  But then again you could argue that the woman in the Ag Center was severely distraught.

Gregg I can see how poor use of this keyword system could lead to the ambiguity that you mention.  There's also the fact that it could be plain old boring.  Remember the old Ultimas?  Job.  Name.  Ennui.

To get it right, I think they'll have to make it interesting enough to justify its inclusion without giving it too much weight such that its obvious limitations don't detract from the role-playing experience.  Not an easy task.

As for the profanity, my main concern is that it will be used in the "Hey look, we're super edgy!  Our characters cuss!" sense.  That doesn't really fly with anyone over 12.  I like to think that the developers understand their audience well enough to know that.  I hope they don't prove me wrong.

One other thing: is it possible for some people with religious convictions to not be portrayed as psychopathic, signs of the apocalypse nut jobs?  Something a bit more nuanced than a one-dimensional caricature would be much more interesting.

The developers have given a more detailed account of the keyword system, since they got so much feedback about it.  What they've said has pretty much quelled any misgivings I may have had (which admittedly weren't much to begin with).  It's very closely tied to the skill system, e.g. you can "gain" a keyword by successfully using your perception skill on something.

Also, the responses you'll get depend on many factors.  Here's a direct quote from the most recent backer update:

"...the party composition, previous gameplay choices, previously used keywords, previous player responses to NPC questions, character skills, character attributes, item inventory, equipped weapons and armor, prior party actions, and CNPCs in the party. In other words, there isn't a one-to-one correlation between keywords and the NPC’s response."

Sounds good to me!