Support the channel: / warlockracy Thanks to Kommissar Azura for a copy of Wasteland (I can't buy games anymore lmao): / kommissarazura / kommissarazura
Ah yes, the bi-weekly event where I have to decide whether to save myself from spoilers for a game I own but haven't played yet or to cast caution to the wind and enjoy quality content
This is basically every RUclipsr I watch. Occasionally I beat a game before they cover it, but between real world obligations and constantly switching games out of sheer boredom ("when's Sword of the Samurai, Warlockracy?"), I'm at least glad I can experience what they don't cover.
The Ronald Reagan cult is actually named the "Gippers" due to obscure America lore. There's a famous University called Notre Dame in Indiana. In 1940 Ronald Reagan starred as a famous Notre Dame college football player named George Gipp, in a biopic movie called Knute Rockne, All American. In the movie (and in IRL) George Gipp died of pneumonia. Afterward his college football coach, Knute Rockne, gave a speech encouraging his team to "Win just one for the Gipper" - to win in honor of the dead player. Because this was a famous movie role for Ronald Reagan, he used "Win one for the Gipper" as a campaign slogan for his presidential campaign. Raegan was also called "the Gipper" as a nickname, due to the movie.
And here I thought it was just to avoid calling them "goppers" and possibly have real life problems. And the "i" is just besides the "o"... that was my reasoning anyway
In Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, Sam has to prevent a missile strike on the USS Ronald Reagan. He jokes to his handler, "So, this means I have to win one for the Gipper?", but since they're a lot younger than he is, they don't get the joke.
Wasteland 3's use of music, mostly traditional spiritual folk tunes, hit me like a truck. It's part of Wasteland 3's greatest strength, its use of americana; I've called it an aggressively American game, and that's true at every level, from the surface of people like the Patriarch down to the core of the game's themes. I can't help but feel like for a non-American it just doesn't hit quite the same.
Interesting, it's precisely the music that makes me have to give this game a pass, as I can't stand that genre. Which I admit is kinda dumb, because I really respect the style choice and using it so brazenly in story important battles. It's different, clever and fresh. Not an American btw.
"Hey Santa! What can change the nature of a man?" I swear somehow every single one of your videos somehow manages to top itself in terms of memorable quotes
@@Dong_Harvey Grenada is a special case. Woolie from the Super Best Friends/Castle Super Beast is Grenadan and over the years let slip pieces of Grenada lore that truly confound
@@Dong_Harvey You'd be surprised how many of my friends know obscure lore about random countries too. (Seriously I have this one friend and that's all he talks about. World history. All the time.)
The special music tracks in this game are fantastic. For an American each of the tracks gives a unique feel and usually has a significant historical analogy or cultural one. "Battle Hymn of the Republic" (anti-slavery civil war song) plays as you free a slaver. "Power of the Union" while you fight for or against workers rights. All sound distorted and twisted away from the intended purpose or promise like actual American history.
Keeping with how they feel different with context, I had "Battle Hymn of the Republic" playing while in my mind I was investigating the Patriarch's black site and executing a slaver the way Buchanan should've done a long time ago.
siding with Bryan Fargo was one of the coolest experiences I had. The first time I played this game, I sided with the marshalls. I couldn't figure out where to go with my investigation, and the game was pointing me to abject violence, sooo... I killed everyone in the club. Faran Brygo acting like your run-of-the-mill Thug. The whole experience felt straight out of an action movie. When I returned to Sheriff Daisy, she commended me for my actions, and it was clear that that was the right decision to make. My second time around, I made no pretense on being diplomatic. I went straight up to the Fargo's office. I was going to get the jump on him and kill him before I have to go through all the other shenanigans. Shockingly it turns out, you can just talk to the man and he's very diplomatic. He tells you the actual real situation, and that all of this is a horrible misunderstanding of circumstance. He even admits to not being a completely clean individual. He states that there's no wrongdoing is going on in his casino that he's aware of, and if there is any then he'll have everyone involved punished appropriately. Then he admits. There probably is corruption going on, because one of his goons snatched up the deputy who was snooping around. Which at that point he admits that he panicked and didn't know what to do. Revealing the real culprit who help Infiltrate The Town, and then siding with Brian Fargo to discover the Marshals are actually corrupt was the most shocking and mind-blowing experience I've had through this second playthrough. Absolutely fell in love with the complexities that the game actually has
Fun fact: this game has a Super Duper Good Ending in which you can depose The Patriarch without habing to slaughter half your people and bring Peace, Friendship and Bubblegum to Colorado. Problem is, it requires you to spend pretty much all of early game playing nice with the Marshalls and the Hundred Families, which involves doing a bunch of no-so-fun shit, like arresting Brygo and screwing over the refugies, and also doing a bunch of other stuff that may or may not be obvious or even necessary. Apparently only 1% of W3 players got this ending.
is a point to overthrowing the patriarch its stated the rangers will take over Colorado when he dies in the good ending i got all the ending and base good ending seems best with letting the gippers put regan in the kid body
I think I was close to getting the Super Duper Good Ending. Except I screwed over the 100 Families on something early (They don't like you helping the refugees). So I decided I'd help the Patriarch. For 1 I already helped him by getting the Marshalls power armor so in for a penny, in for a pound. And 2. Angela is awful on her selling to kill the Patriarch, it's almost like "Step one, Kill Patriarch, Step two ???, Step three Profit". So did the best I could to help out as many as possible, while doing what the Patriarch wanted. And I was completely happy with the ending I got. He helps out the rangers like he said he would allowing them to regain their strength. And even added in a bit about how down the line the Rangers would decide Colorado's fate when he stepped down. Which was always the "Plan C" for if he helped us to me, that if he did get too rowdy, using our strength to deal with him after. The game is great in that you can still get a satisfying ending even if you don't do it perfectly.
@@NEEDbacon I sided with the Patriarch too and fought angela deth's weak narrative and Killed Iron Clad Cordite cuz he is a psycho warlord that is more horrible than the Patriarch
You can also get the super super good ending if the marshals like you and you're a good kiss ass you can persuade the leader of the marshals to help you depose the patriarch when the firefights start happening in the ending
Warlockracy Rangers - disobey Colorado police force - work with gangsters - form a workers union - destroy infinite nuclear power source - depose and exile evil dictator - refuses to elaborate
This and Underrail are probably my favorite modern rpg's...they're so good and creatively bizarre, that they feel like they came from another dimension..sorta like that broken but great MechaJammer game...
@@sergkondratev8607 I forgot about that one, thank you, Age of Decadence is gonna by next game. Have you tried their new one Colony Ship? It seems to be getting great reviews.
@@robcoguy6909 yes, its cool as previous, but i strongly advise wait till the end of early access, cause when i hit the end of EA content i was hugely dismoraled by fact that i must wait. I'm not sure will it have that much endings as decadence, but i realy love the setting, the only thing i'm not huge fan is very limited choice of colors in game design, but thats just my preference
Just a note about steeltown being too easy. It's only like that if you go there in the early game. I went there in the end game and my party got absolutely annihilated when trying to go up the tower. They also lowered the difficulty in a patch too I think
@@tartrazine5 they should present the idea to the Kremlin. They would probably finance the mod as "next-gen military training" and save money instead of actually training their soldiers.
Comparing the Wasteland series to Todd Fallouts is actually really apt. It's probably why I had a hell of a time getting engaged with Wasteland 2, what with my preference for the latter type of Fallout. Great video, love the Crusader references too!
I still refuse to accept the idea that Todd makes good Fallout titles. Like, I don't think I'm ready to accept that line of thinking. It's anathema to my existence.
@@DaussPlays I think that mostly stems from Fallout 4. That wasn't a very good Fallout in general, full of plot-holes, weird story elements and simplified game-play. Fallout 3 and New Vegas were actually good, though. The former re-imagined the franchise and the latter brought that re-imagining closer to the original games in terms of story and world writing.
@@superplayerex2431 I wouldn't really call Fallout 3 that good. BoS, supermutants and Shady Sands/NCR evolved greatly from F1 to F2, while FNV presented the Legion and Vegas factions. F3 on the other hand is weirdly uncreative and repurposes the same old crap we've seen already: the protagonist leaves the Vault, 99% of supermutants are agressive orcs, BoS is a major plot faction again, Enclave is the threat, we have to find GECK. It doesn't help that the balancing is atrocious (Bethesda tradition). The game presents you OP stuff like Fat Man, darts that instantly cripples deathclaws and stealth suit, then the game doesn't know what to do with this OP shit, so the devs throw in bullet sponge enemies like Supermutant Overlords, Ghould Reavers and Albino Scorpions in Broken Steel
The co-op was fun, I played through the game with a friend, the two main pcs were pebble and Boulder, pebble was the shortest possible tiny character with a heavy machinegun, and Boulder was the biggest possible character with a pistol.
I just want to say that I have been here watching this channel since you had like 5k subs, and it is incredible the level of writing, editing, and humor combining into top tier quality that this channel has always had. You deserve more subs man. your Uploads always give me a rush of joy/excitement.
What a fortunate time to have recently finished Wasteland 3! Interesting framing of it as a well-crafted Toddout, I think I agree. Steeltown was the only place that felt more like a classic Fallout location to me in the way the conflict is set up and progressed. Also surprise Warlockracy name lore!
Bought this game because it was set in Colorado lol, living here and then playing a game set in the state is funny since I know all the locations personally.
I love that the Faran Brygo - Bryan Fargo switch goes back so long, and even makes a return here lmao Damn, the guy has seen a lot. Ironically more well known for being in the intro of Fallout 1/2 now.
Number of rebels at the end depends on amount of Rangers loyalty, 100 families rep and cops rep. If you have all 3 maxed - there is no rebellion, cops and 1% are on your side and Patriarch lays down his weapons.
I find your insight into CRPGs unique, at least as unique as your ability to weave a review, lets play, history lesson and offhand jabs at philosophy into one seamless entertainment experience. that was a mouthful, but I could not convey it in other words
You really haven't experienced the apocalypse until you beat a bunch of inbred raiders to death while the "Battle Hymn of the Republic" screams from your Tonka truck with a railgun on it.
It's funny. In my one and only playthrough, I did everything exactly opposite from Warlock here. I helped the Patriarch, brought his children back (in chains), killed everyone who was against me (yes, even Angela Deth), went back to Arizona and we were A-ok because the Patriarch keeps his word.
Yeah the Endings are really inconsistent with what you see in the game and even just basic logic. Be the Patriarch's mindless errand boy and you get a good ending for the Rangers with no mention on how short term the good times will be. Try to improve things without following a guide and everything falls apart immediately post game. The Ending choices are also really forced upon you despite many other much more sensible options that should be available.
@@Palora01 I didn't feel like mindless errand boy. The rangers came to Colorado because they decided to do so, then they were ambushed by hostiles and for me that turned this thing into a personal crusade for revenge. The rangers weren't there for the people of Colorado but for the people of Arizona and if the Patriarch someday dies and chaos breaks out again, the Rangers will come back to deal with it. It's the post-apocalyptic wasteland, not utopia building simulator.
@@yaldabaoth2 I meant if you do the mindless errand boy for the Patriarch you get one of the better endings (you get what is promised to you and Colorado is flourishing under the Patriarch... until his inevitable death or senility ruins everything which the game doesn't address). If you investigate and put your Ranger morals over what the Patriarch wants you'll make things much worse both for the Rangers and Colorado. I have no problem with that really but I have problems when that is the result of the game forcing me to choose between two bad choices when there was an obvious better third choice that the devs didn't implement.
For being a Todd Fallout, I actually feel it does storytelling and moral dillemas far better than those, with there even being in-game and end-game narration benefits to choosing more shady/evil/ruthless options that often feel more necessary evils than "Detonate the nuke in the nuketown for the lulz and an apartment." I also find it fascinating to see the differing routes and approaches everyone who covers this (underrated) game takes.
To me it does a bad job at creating a world I actually care about. Its too wacky, like some looney tune cartoon show...no morale dilemma in the Wastelandgames makes me care, as I cannot take anything even slightly serious. Todds Fallouts are way above and beyond...a hard truth the sad Todd-Haters cannot fathom...
As a American I think I should provide some context here Wasteland 3 is one of those games with a lot of in-jokes And references to older minor pop-culture icons/phenomena It hits different for me, its like reminiscing with an old friend The music is just like campfire songs and a lot of them are tv show themes That one 43:17 is the laverne&Shirley theme I recognized it immediately It’s a really great game to me but I don’t think you’ll get the same enjoyment if you’re not a American Also our malls don’t have churches in them but I have seen some that have bought a old dead mall and fixed it up into a mega church but the folks that go to them mega churches Are not real Christians they’re heads are empty as they crowd in every Sunday and throw money at scammers like Joel Olsten so they can feel better about being bad people
@@HGeorge1993 No actually. As a Christian some of the preachers in these places are just good enough to get a following going. Similar to youtubers or something I guess. Now some can be like OP said tho. There are tons of those types aswell. But yea it just depends and honestly with all the different denominations it'd be hard to tell you what's what.
Wasteland is all the studio has made, and they're owned by Microsoft; in addition to the ending of 3 opening up story options in Arizona or elsewhere, I think it's safe to say we'll be getting one more at the very least!
Warlockracy, you're the best game salesman on this site. These videos never fail to make me want to play the game you're covering. Thanks for another great one!
Imo Wasteland 3 has the zany ideas of a Todd Fallout but its writing and world-building are a tier above the games in that category. Had new vegas vibes with how intertwined the factions were, really loved playing this game with a friend as one of my first CRPGs :) Sick vid
You put out a video on wasteland then tell me you're doing another Morrowind video???? The day just started and I feel like this week is just going to be wonderful. Thank you man and wish you and the family the best, stay safe out there bro!!
My favorite game in the last couple years. It's just a brilliant game with amazing story. It's the type of game where it ain't for everyone but if you get it, you'll love it.
Fun fact about the songs that play on the radio when you travel in the Kodiak. Almost all the songs you hear are theme songs from tv shows like Green Acres, Gilligian’s Island, Welcome Back Kotter, and a few more.
I mean this quite seriously, but In all of my over a decade experience on this website, and countless hours, your channel has to be the first channel I’m genuinely very excited to see a new upload pop-up.
When I saw you uploaded a video I was so excited and then I realized it was about a game that was readily playable to me I don't normally play the kind of games you play on the channel but I always wanted to give one a shot and I have not regretted a second of my time spent with wasteland 3 so far thank you Warlock
Honestly, it's a very interesting feeling to think that Todd(the god)'s Fallout is the more similar game to the wasteland series. My experience with wasteland 3 was good, I enjoyed playing it. Though I never got to the dlc's, maybe one day... anyway, I want to say that I enjoy the wasteland games alot, heck maybe one day you'll do the other two games, you always have a unique way of doing things. Point is good video I'll always keep a eye out.
6:37 I think that the merge is recent, as I remember playing it a few years back and having pistols and shotguns apart. PS: An Explosives guy is a must in Wasteland 2 and 3 to defuse traps and AoE large number of enemies.
This game restored my faith in one of my favourite genres, and definitely in the franchise itself after I didn't really give W2 a fair assessment because of my own ridiculous expectations.
Honestly if Republic of Dave was rendered in Fallout 2 with the classic Fallout engine it would probably be considered an irreverent but subversive classic (like F2 itself)
@@terminator572 Fallout 2 just kind of falls apart for me in the writing & tone at points. I still love it, but recent play throughs have tended to make me appreciate Fallout 1 more.
F*ck yeah My men u don't know how happy to see that u update a video today, i use to SEE ur videos when i'm really depress, and today i had just one of My roghest days on My life, 4 real thank u si much
Funny enough I live in CO Springs, right next to the Broadmoor. And I can say that compared to real world CO Springs, the deluge of fire apparently calmed violence in Colorado down. They did get those Broadmoor snobs on point though.
Pretty nifty. I used to go to school in Colorado Springs. Looks like a pretty faithful representation of the town I saw whenever I left the college campus.
Ranger ending is the best ending but there are better alternatives than this video ending since we all know that oligarchy ALWAYS leads to tyranny of the few.
Jesus christ, what the hell? I played Wasteland 2. Hell, I backed it on Kickstarter. I thought it was... okay. I had an okay time. But it was just okay, so when I heard they made a third game I gave it a pass. This looks, within the first thirty seconds, incredible. WAY different than 2 in style. Dang. Well, off to watch the rest of the video now. 16 minutes in, the change in tone and just, overall direction is incredible. It's different from Wasteland 2 for sure, but in a good way it looks like. Genuinely shocked, these close-ups look and sound awesome, the tone seems to be taking itself a bit less seriously, just... wow! I'm gonna have to put this on my wishlist! I don't think I've ever seen such marked improvement in a game series from one entry to another. final edit: Completely unrelated but have you ever played Underrail? It seems like it's be right up your alley.
I find it funny and facinating that This game, which was usually so on the nose and straight forward about about its moral choices, had an ending in which the final choice really was one worth debating.
I do love Wasteland 3, but i think you got some things wrong.And some things you forgot to mention. 1.Always give 2 weapon skills because ammo can be a bitch, even with steeltown crafting, also - rangers function best as specialist, so don't give your party matching weapons and skills. 2.Utility skills are best 1/2 per person, but some are arguably useless, namely - toaster repair, in wasteland 2 it let you hack robots, now it just a loot source and sometimes dialogue option 3.There's still good moral dilemmas, it's just that they're set on a more ridiculous scale (big trouble in little Vegas is still the more complex than anything F4 managed to give us) 4.Always take Scotchmo ALWAYS take scotchmo 5.There is a lot of secrets that make the lore more fun, Brygos gangsters actually have a tape with speech lessons on them. 6.The Radio is kinda bad with how often it get cuts off, but it's still good when you can hear it 7.Never use lethal weapons on the ghost gang in the scrapyard, Blue will not even talk to you if you do. 8.Gippers, not Grippers 9.The robot Commune Intelligence tower has a LOT of karma checks 10.The AI art is for once excusable because you can say that its shit 11.All the robots are charming, especially the dyslexic ones 12.The Tumors in the DLC are reskinned snow that you can burn with holy fire
This game is one of the weirdest mixed bags for me. The world lacked a feeling of believability and made a lot of the choices feel unnecessary. I did, however, find some ideas amazing, like a cult of stoners who survived the apocalypse because they were deep in the woods having a rave became weather worshipping psychos that turn people into flesh kites to offer flesh to the sky gods literally. I could make an entire ttrpg campaign around that idea, and yet somehow this amazing idea was just for generic bandits in one area you could barely even interact with. Really, a lot of Wasteland 3 is like that, an amazing idea that needed 10 hours to mature condensed into half an hour to at the most 3 hours.
I am so glad that your Jagged Alliance 2 video "baited" me to your channel. I have enjoyed every video of yours that I've seen so far and plan to watch every single one in time. As has been said in many other comments I too enjoy your mixture of generally great commentary (this includes your voice, it's fantastic to fall asleep to. I think you know this is a compliment) giving not only insight to the game you cover, but so many other references to games, political topics (without being political yourself) and of course the cultural context, especially in the Russian / Ukrainian titles. All of this is very much appreciated. Thank you very much for doing what you do and I hope you continue this channel for a long time to come. Cheers from Germany ❤
Honestly if I didn't know about a purely good ending beforehand, going the route of "ensure the biggest gang is in the Rangers' pocket" is a pretty surefire way to guarantee control of Colorado - even if its done in such a bleak, gray way.
I'm extremely surprised (or perhaps I missed it) that you didn't mention the facial animations, which are very hard to pull off. Perhaps not the best i've seen, but certaintly noticable. The eyes look a little twitchy but they look at places an ordinary human would, and the expressions are very emotive and realistic aswell. A stellar review as always. When I first came across your channel I started wondering why everyone doesn't do game reviews like this. It seems the only proper way to me now P.S. Being demonitized for showing a meme of an anthropromorphic frog must be at once amusing, fascinating, and frustrating
I'm old enough to remember the original Wasteland. I hope they remake that one, to sync more with Wastelands 2 & 3 (in terms of the turn based grid combat mechanics).
Any chance you'd take a poke at Mechanized Assault eXploration (Or M.A.X. as it's commonly known) in the future? It's another Interplay title from '96, a turn based strategy game. I always loved the game and the universe around it, and feel like it doesn't get enough love when we're talking about that era of gaming.
I love this game so much I actually 100% it in November last year and I have to agree about the music ballads, I've never seen any game give us something like that it's quite rewarding to see after 40hrs of gameplay. I particularly like the "November Reigns" ending and ballad
My only complaint with your channel is needing more content. I've watched videos going back two years multiple times. Love your commentary, review insights, and the links to other events/history. It all combines to form very unique content that I zone out to.
Playing this with a friend atm. We kinda fucked ourselves over with our builds early and one quest bugged out but apart from that it has been a blast so far.
The hints to your old nestor videos are bittersweet. Those were some great essays! Although, I can understand why the Bayou of Pigs content was... sub-optimal for youtube.
Vilerat wasn't just a guy who posted a forum post that became way too big; he was, and is, an EVE legend. And like all legends, he can never be replaced, only slowly lost to time...
i was thinking as i watched this "weird, that also happened to that EVE online guy too, crazy that something so specific happened twice" should've guessed it was in fact, the same guy
I think one of things that keeps wasteland niche is that the wasteland games are absolutely full of military jokes that you really wouldn't fully understand if you don't have some inside knowledge of U.S. military culture
vote NOW 🤯 ---> twitter.com/warlockracy/status/1620482951808163844?s=20&t=HRKn5xEpVTGWt1q7mppiWw
Give me bizarre Deus Ex mods or give me death
can't vote since I'm not on tweeter but I vote for your neighborhood in Deus Ex :)
Cool
Fallout 2 *after* Deus Ex.
why did you make vote on twitter even know you make content on RUclips and could make vote here
Ah yes, the bi-weekly event where I have to decide whether to save myself from spoilers for a game I own but haven't played yet or to cast caution to the wind and enjoy quality content
The game has multiple endings, and narrative branches that you'll be able to find all new shit the whole time muh dood.
I played it about 6 months ago. I highly recommend!
I said fuck it.
Maybe I replay wasteland 2 again.
This is basically every RUclipsr I watch. Occasionally I beat a game before they cover it, but between real world obligations and constantly switching games out of sheer boredom ("when's Sword of the Samurai, Warlockracy?"), I'm at least glad I can experience what they don't cover.
we all know it’s games we’d never play so it’s fine
The Ronald Reagan cult is actually named the "Gippers" due to obscure America lore.
There's a famous University called Notre Dame in Indiana. In 1940 Ronald Reagan starred as a famous Notre Dame college football player named George Gipp, in a biopic movie called Knute Rockne, All American. In the movie (and in IRL) George Gipp died of pneumonia. Afterward his college football coach, Knute Rockne, gave a speech encouraging his team to "Win just one for the Gipper" - to win in honor of the dead player.
Because this was a famous movie role for Ronald Reagan, he used "Win one for the Gipper" as a campaign slogan for his presidential campaign. Raegan was also called "the Gipper" as a nickname, due to the movie.
I wouldn't call Texas a cult... m8.... That's just... they have too many guns for you to do that...
And here I thought it was just to avoid calling them "goppers" and possibly have real life problems. And the "i" is just besides the "o"... that was my reasoning anyway
I’ve been screaming, “this one’s for the Gipper” in mmos for years, nice to know what it actually means
In Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, Sam has to prevent a missile strike on the USS Ronald Reagan. He jokes to his handler, "So, this means I have to win one for the Gipper?", but since they're a lot younger than he is, they don't get the joke.
@@Technobabylon Chaos Theory is so phreaking good
Wasteland 3's use of music, mostly traditional spiritual folk tunes, hit me like a truck. It's part of Wasteland 3's greatest strength, its use of americana; I've called it an aggressively American game, and that's true at every level, from the surface of people like the Patriarch down to the core of the game's themes. I can't help but feel like for a non-American it just doesn't hit quite the same.
Interesting, it's precisely the music that makes me have to give this game a pass, as I can't stand that genre. Which I admit is kinda dumb, because I really respect the style choice and using it so brazenly in story important battles. It's different, clever and fresh. Not an American btw.
yeh like top gun or a lynching
@@tomorbataar5922 The music is always really appropriate especially for boss music. It's a cute, over the top post apocalyptic satire of Americana.
As non US person this game motif seemed to me that it's a story about today's battle for US soul veiled under post apocalyptic setting
@@tomorbataar5922 haha L
"Hey Santa! What can change the nature of a man?"
I swear somehow every single one of your videos somehow manages to top itself in terms of memorable quotes
🐷*blubblubblubblubblubblubblubblub*
“Do you think it’s ok to force women to sex?”
The big goofy smile that appeared on my face at the “Warlockracy” origin reveal :)
That was pretty intense considering how much he knows about this even that most Americans have never heard about
@@Dong_Harvey Grenada is a special case. Woolie from the Super Best Friends/Castle Super Beast is Grenadan and over the years let slip pieces of Grenada lore that truly confound
@@Dong_Harvey
You'd be surprised how many of my friends know obscure lore about random countries too. (Seriously I have this one friend and that's all he talks about. World history. All the time.)
The special music tracks in this game are fantastic. For an American each of the tracks gives a unique feel and usually has a significant historical analogy or cultural one. "Battle Hymn of the Republic" (anti-slavery civil war song) plays as you free a slaver. "Power of the Union" while you fight for or against workers rights. All sound distorted and twisted away from the intended purpose or promise like actual American history.
Yep, beat me to it. The music choices for the ballads are top notch.
Keeping with how they feel different with context, I had "Battle Hymn of the Republic" playing while in my mind I was investigating the Patriarch's black site and executing a slaver the way Buchanan should've done a long time ago.
@@Churono Tell 'em John Brown sent ya.
@@DukeOnkled Greatest Hero in American history. He died as he lived; righteously.
@@coolguyjki His Soul Goes Marching On
Yes sir, glory to the neo-neo-Reaganite state
GOD BLESS THE ALLEGIANCE FLAG
@@Jizzfrosti I see you survived Los Angles
Reaganacal dude!
@@Jizzfrosti I need some more herbal remedies
siding with Bryan Fargo was one of the coolest experiences I had.
The first time I played this game, I sided with the marshalls. I couldn't figure out where to go with my investigation, and the game was pointing me to abject violence, sooo... I killed everyone in the club.
Faran Brygo acting like your run-of-the-mill Thug. The whole experience felt straight out of an action movie.
When I returned to Sheriff Daisy, she commended me for my actions, and it was clear that that was the right decision to make.
My second time around, I made no pretense on being diplomatic. I went straight up to the Fargo's office. I was going to get the jump on him and kill him before I have to go through all the other shenanigans.
Shockingly it turns out, you can just talk to the man and he's very diplomatic. He tells you the actual real situation, and that all of this is a horrible misunderstanding of circumstance. He even admits to not being a completely clean individual.
He states that there's no wrongdoing is going on in his casino that he's aware of, and if there is any then he'll have everyone involved punished appropriately. Then he admits. There probably is corruption going on, because one of his goons snatched up the deputy who was snooping around.
Which at that point he admits that he panicked and didn't know what to do.
Revealing the real culprit who help Infiltrate The Town, and then siding with Brian Fargo to discover the Marshals are actually corrupt was the most shocking and mind-blowing experience I've had through this second playthrough.
Absolutely fell in love with the complexities that the game actually has
Fun fact: this game has a Super Duper Good Ending in which you can depose The Patriarch without habing to slaughter half your people and bring Peace, Friendship and Bubblegum to Colorado. Problem is, it requires you to spend pretty much all of early game playing nice with the Marshalls and the Hundred Families, which involves doing a bunch of no-so-fun shit, like arresting Brygo and screwing over the refugies, and also doing a bunch of other stuff that may or may not be obvious or even necessary. Apparently only 1% of W3 players got this ending.
is a point to overthrowing the patriarch its stated the rangers will take over Colorado when he dies in the good ending i got all the ending and base good ending seems best with letting the gippers put regan in the kid body
I think I was close to getting the Super Duper Good Ending. Except I screwed over the 100 Families on something early (They don't like you helping the refugees). So I decided I'd help the Patriarch. For 1 I already helped him by getting the Marshalls power armor so in for a penny, in for a pound. And 2. Angela is awful on her selling to kill the Patriarch, it's almost like "Step one, Kill Patriarch, Step two ???, Step three Profit". So did the best I could to help out as many as possible, while doing what the Patriarch wanted.
And I was completely happy with the ending I got. He helps out the rangers like he said he would allowing them to regain their strength. And even added in a bit about how down the line the Rangers would decide Colorado's fate when he stepped down. Which was always the "Plan C" for if he helped us to me, that if he did get too rowdy, using our strength to deal with him after. The game is great in that you can still get a satisfying ending even if you don't do it perfectly.
@@NEEDbacon I sided with the Patriarch too and fought angela deth's weak narrative and Killed Iron Clad Cordite cuz he is a psycho warlord that is more horrible than the Patriarch
You can also get the super super good ending if the marshals like you and you're a good kiss ass you can persuade the leader of the marshals to help you depose the patriarch when the firefights start happening in the ending
It was really easy to get this ending. You just have to act rationally.
Warlockracy Rangers
- disobey Colorado police force
- work with gangsters
- form a workers union
- destroy infinite nuclear power source
- depose and exile evil dictator
- refuses to elaborate
don't forget:
- Kills everyone then leaves.
I applaud you. Your video-style, "narrative driven reviews", has remained consistent since the first video.
“Did you know that Reagan existed IRL? Sounds made up, but it’s true” I’ve got a new favorite line from this channel.
I've owned these games out of respect, but Warlock actually made me play them. Started with Arcanum, man, I've truely been missing out.
L nigga
Planescape torment after Arcanum. You will love it
This and Underrail are probably my favorite modern rpg's...they're so good and creatively bizarre, that they feel like they came from another dimension..sorta like that broken but great MechaJammer game...
My list is Underrail and Age of decadence
@@sergkondratev8607 I forgot about that one, thank you, Age of Decadence is gonna by next game. Have you tried their new one Colony Ship? It seems to be getting great reviews.
@@robcoguy6909 yes, its cool as previous, but i strongly advise wait till the end of early access, cause when i hit the end of EA content i was hugely dismoraled by fact that i must wait. I'm not sure will it have that much endings as decadence, but i realy love the setting, the only thing i'm not huge fan is very limited choice of colors in game design, but thats just my preference
I've been playing Tyranny on and off
How is MechaJammer? I've been eyeing it for a while but the deluge of terrible reviews has me hesitant
Just a note about steeltown being too easy. It's only like that if you go there in the early game. I went there in the end game and my party got absolutely annihilated when trying to go up the tower. They also lowered the difficulty in a patch too I think
That Crusader: No remorse dude is pure nostalgia. I played"
it when I was 4 together with Magic Carpet. Never understood what was happening.
It'll be amazing if Russian fans produce a Magic Carpet mod where Z forces fry NATO-supplied vehicles in Ukraine with lightning bolts.
@@tartrazine5 they should present the idea to the Kremlin. They would probably finance the mod as "next-gen military training" and save money instead of actually training their soldiers.
I'd completely forgotten about Magic Carpet that game made no sense to me as a kid but it was fun lol
@@gingersonnyboy I remember the intro with the giant devil throwing a fireball.
Comparing the Wasteland series to Todd Fallouts is actually really apt. It's probably why I had a hell of a time getting engaged with Wasteland 2, what with my preference for the latter type of Fallout. Great video, love the Crusader references too!
I still refuse to accept the idea that Todd makes good Fallout titles.
Like, I don't think I'm ready to accept that line of thinking. It's anathema to my existence.
@@DaussPlays Sounds extremely pretentious and childish. Like most Fallout fans (me included).
@@DaussPlays I think that mostly stems from Fallout 4. That wasn't a very good Fallout in general, full of plot-holes, weird story elements and simplified game-play. Fallout 3 and New Vegas were actually good, though. The former re-imagined the franchise and the latter brought that re-imagining closer to the original games in terms of story and world writing.
@@superplayerex2431 New Vegas wasn't a Todd joint, though, and I'd actually argue Fallout 3 is worse in a lot of ways than Fallout 4.
@@superplayerex2431 I wouldn't really call Fallout 3 that good. BoS, supermutants and Shady Sands/NCR evolved greatly from F1 to F2, while FNV presented the Legion and Vegas factions. F3 on the other hand is weirdly uncreative and repurposes the same old crap we've seen already: the protagonist leaves the Vault, 99% of supermutants are agressive orcs, BoS is a major plot faction again, Enclave is the threat, we have to find GECK.
It doesn't help that the balancing is atrocious (Bethesda tradition). The game presents you OP stuff like Fat Man, darts that instantly cripples deathclaws and stealth suit, then the game doesn't know what to do with this OP shit, so the devs throw in bullet sponge enemies like Supermutant Overlords, Ghould Reavers and Albino Scorpions in Broken Steel
I picked up Wasteland 3's complete package in a Steam sale and had a blast. The music was also an amazing stand out.
The co-op was fun, I played through the game with a friend, the two main pcs were pebble and Boulder, pebble was the shortest possible tiny character with a heavy machinegun, and Boulder was the biggest possible character with a pistol.
Extra funny to anyone who's played this and knows you can have someone the size of a toddler unironically.
@@NEEDbacontoddler with a 50 what will dey do
I just want to say that I have been here watching this channel since you had like 5k subs, and it is incredible the level of writing, editing, and humor combining into top tier quality that this channel has always had. You deserve more subs man. your Uploads always give me a rush of joy/excitement.
What a fortunate time to have recently finished Wasteland 3! Interesting framing of it as a well-crafted Toddout, I think I agree. Steeltown was the only place that felt more like a classic Fallout location to me in the way the conflict is set up and progressed.
Also surprise Warlockracy name lore!
Bought this game because it was set in Colorado lol, living here and then playing a game set in the state is funny since I know all the locations personally.
I love that the Faran Brygo - Bryan Fargo switch goes back so long, and even makes a return here lmao
Damn, the guy has seen a lot. Ironically more well known for being in the intro of Fallout 1/2 now.
Number of rebels at the end depends on amount of Rangers loyalty, 100 families rep and cops rep. If you have all 3 maxed - there is no rebellion, cops and 1% are on your side and Patriarch lays down his weapons.
I find your insight into CRPGs unique, at least as unique as your ability to weave a review, lets play, history lesson and offhand jabs at philosophy into one seamless entertainment experience.
that was a mouthful,
but I could not convey it in other words
"More power to me and screw you." is the purest form of ideology
Literally every powerful person ever:
More power to me and screw you is the foundation of human society. The next step is then pretending it's not like that.
@@planescaped*while you are in power
@@planescapedunfortunately it's bigger than human society, it's the nature of self propagating systems.
You really haven't experienced the apocalypse until you beat a bunch of inbred raiders to death while the "Battle Hymn of the Republic" screams from your Tonka truck with a railgun on it.
It's funny. In my one and only playthrough, I did everything exactly opposite from Warlock here. I helped the Patriarch, brought his children back (in chains), killed everyone who was against me (yes, even Angela Deth), went back to Arizona and we were A-ok because the Patriarch keeps his word.
Yeah the Endings are really inconsistent with what you see in the game and even just basic logic.
Be the Patriarch's mindless errand boy and you get a good ending for the Rangers with no mention on how short term the good times will be. Try to improve things without following a guide and everything falls apart immediately post game.
The Ending choices are also really forced upon you despite many other much more sensible options that should be available.
@@Palora01 I didn't feel like mindless errand boy. The rangers came to Colorado because they decided to do so, then they were ambushed by hostiles and for me that turned this thing into a personal crusade for revenge. The rangers weren't there for the people of Colorado but for the people of Arizona and if the Patriarch someday dies and chaos breaks out again, the Rangers will come back to deal with it. It's the post-apocalyptic wasteland, not utopia building simulator.
@@yaldabaoth2 I meant if you do the mindless errand boy for the Patriarch you get one of the better endings (you get what is promised to you and Colorado is flourishing under the Patriarch... until his inevitable death or senility ruins everything which the game doesn't address). If you investigate and put your Ranger morals over what the Patriarch wants you'll make things much worse both for the Rangers and Colorado.
I have no problem with that really but I have problems when that is the result of the game forcing me to choose between two bad choices when there was an obvious better third choice that the devs didn't implement.
For being a Todd Fallout, I actually feel it does storytelling and moral dillemas far better than those, with there even being in-game and end-game narration benefits to choosing more shady/evil/ruthless options that often feel more necessary evils than "Detonate the nuke in the nuketown for the lulz and an apartment."
I also find it fascinating to see the differing routes and approaches everyone who covers this (underrated) game takes.
To me it does a bad job at creating a world I actually care about. Its too wacky, like some looney tune cartoon show...no morale dilemma in the Wastelandgames makes me care, as I cannot take anything even slightly serious. Todds Fallouts are way above and beyond...a hard truth the sad Todd-Haters cannot fathom...
As a American I think I should provide some context here
Wasteland 3 is one of those games with a lot of in-jokes
And references to older minor pop-culture icons/phenomena
It hits different for me, its like reminiscing with an old friend
The music is just like campfire songs and a lot of them are tv show themes
That one 43:17 is the laverne&Shirley theme I recognized it immediately
It’s a really great game to me but I don’t think you’ll get the same enjoyment if you’re not a American
Also our malls don’t have churches in them but I have seen some that have bought a old dead mall and fixed it up into a mega church but the folks that go to them mega churches
Are not real Christians they’re heads are empty as they crowd in every Sunday and throw money at scammers like Joel Olsten so they can feel better about being bad people
I wonder about the mega churches: Are these preachers particularly evangelical/ Zionist?
@@HGeorge1993
No actually. As a Christian some of the preachers in these places are just good enough to get a following going. Similar to youtubers or something I guess. Now some can be like OP said tho. There are tons of those types aswell. But yea it just depends and honestly with all the different denominations it'd be hard to tell you what's what.
@@lastmanstanding7155 cool thanks for giving me a little more insight 🙂
@@HGeorge1993
No probs chief
69 likes. Based
I clothed all my guys in gorilla costumes and started a guerilla warfare.
this made me laugh way harder then it should have!
I did not expect this video out of your catalogue to have fundamental warlockracy lore
Always love it when Warlockracy does a video on a game I've played a ton of.
God... now I gotta play this again.
I really hope they make more wasteland titles, or something similar.
Wasteland is all the studio has made, and they're owned by Microsoft; in addition to the ending of 3 opening up story options in Arizona or elsewhere, I think it's safe to say we'll be getting one more at the very least!
Warlockracy, you're the best game salesman on this site. These videos never fail to make me want to play the game you're covering.
Thanks for another great one!
gog really ought to be paying this man
A Something Awful segment out of nowhere, that's why we love you.
I love Warlock’s arbitrarily silly decisions, it’s such a wonderful way to encourage people to play games.
Really weird seeing a 90s ad for a PC building shop only to check the website and find they're still operating!
Imo Wasteland 3 has the zany ideas of a Todd Fallout but its writing and world-building are a tier above the games in that category. Had new vegas vibes with how intertwined the factions were, really loved playing this game with a friend as one of my first CRPGs :) Sick vid
You put out a video on wasteland then tell me you're doing another Morrowind video???? The day just started and I feel like this week is just going to be wonderful.
Thank you man and wish you and the family the best, stay safe out there bro!!
I’m already wanting to play the wasteland series, thanks again Warlock
I adore this game, so much better than 2. The Music is amazing, and the absurdity of it all and what the world looked like before the war.
My favorite game in the last couple years. It's just a brilliant game with amazing story. It's the type of game where it ain't for everyone but if you get it, you'll love it.
the reveal of your name coming from a nyt article on an insane leader of a bunk nation is one of the nuttiest info drops I've heard.
Fun fact about the songs that play on the radio when you travel in the Kodiak. Almost all the songs you hear are theme songs from tv shows like Green Acres, Gilligian’s Island, Welcome Back Kotter, and a few more.
30:10 Wasn't expecting that lore drop.
I mean this quite seriously, but In all of my over a decade experience on this website, and countless hours, your channel has to be the first channel I’m genuinely very excited to see a new upload pop-up.
Really? The only? You should check out Accursed Farms and Grimbeard then. :P
When I saw you uploaded a video I was so excited and then I realized it was about a game that was readily playable to me I don't normally play the kind of games you play on the channel but I always wanted to give one a shot and I have not regretted a second of my time spent with wasteland 3 so far thank you Warlock
we got warlockracy lore, was not expecting that.
The soundtrack in this game has no business being this awesome, my personal favourite, from any game.
As always, a huge thankies for your work! perfect upload time to watch over post work dinner.
the best part was installing an AI originally meant for the president's car into the kodiak
Honestly, it's a very interesting feeling to think that Todd(the god)'s Fallout is the more similar game to the wasteland series.
My experience with wasteland 3 was good, I enjoyed playing it. Though I never got to the dlc's, maybe one day...
anyway, I want to say that I enjoy the wasteland games alot, heck maybe one day you'll do the other two games, you always have a unique way of doing things.
Point is good video I'll always keep a eye out.
Ever since the Orange Box tweet, the Steeltown theme is my favorite piece from Wasteland 3 OST. Thank you Nicky, I never played that DLC.
6:37 I think that the merge is recent, as I remember playing it a few years back and having pistols and shotguns apart. PS: An Explosives guy is a must in Wasteland 2 and 3 to defuse traps and AoE large number of enemies.
"Turncoat rangers"
Bro, you betrayed them, by siding with Deth you basically betrayed the Arizona Rangers.
This game rocks, glad to see you covering it. One of the best reviewers on the platform these days, keep up the great work man. Also 6:52 lmao.
"Frankly, it looks like something I made!" - Warlockracy, 2023
*What a great video style!* An essay about *Pillars of Eternity* would be awesome as well!
yoooo, username source reveal being sociopolitics in the insanity of the Cold War is
pretty on-point.
This game restored my faith in one of my favourite genres, and definitely in the franchise itself after I didn't really give W2 a fair assessment because of my own ridiculous expectations.
Just because you're playing in a horrible post apocalyptic nightmare doesn't mean you can't have fun.
Honestly if Republic of Dave was rendered in Fallout 2 with the classic Fallout engine it would probably be considered an irreverent but subversive classic (like F2 itself)
I've grown kind of tired of Fallout 2 as of recent. Which sucks, because it used to be my favorite one.
@@terminator572 Fallout 2 just kind of falls apart for me in the writing & tone at points. I still love it, but recent play throughs have tended to make me appreciate Fallout 1 more.
F*ck yeah My men u don't know how happy to see that u update a video today, i use to SEE ur videos when i'm really depress, and today i had just one of My roghest days on My life, 4 real thank u si much
I totally recommend playing this game with a friend via co-op, game is incredibly fun and amazing, must have if on sale
Funny enough I live in CO Springs, right next to the Broadmoor. And I can say that compared to real world CO Springs, the deluge of fire apparently calmed violence in Colorado down. They did get those Broadmoor snobs on point though.
This game is so much fun
Pretty nifty. I used to go to school in Colorado Springs. Looks like a pretty faithful representation of the town I saw whenever I left the college campus.
Ranger ending is the best ending but there are better alternatives than this video ending since we all know that oligarchy ALWAYS leads to tyranny of the few.
Jesus christ, what the hell? I played Wasteland 2. Hell, I backed it on Kickstarter. I thought it was... okay. I had an okay time. But it was just okay, so when I heard they made a third game I gave it a pass. This looks, within the first thirty seconds, incredible. WAY different than 2 in style. Dang. Well, off to watch the rest of the video now.
16 minutes in, the change in tone and just, overall direction is incredible. It's different from Wasteland 2 for sure, but in a good way it looks like. Genuinely shocked, these close-ups look and sound awesome, the tone seems to be taking itself a bit less seriously, just... wow! I'm gonna have to put this on my wishlist! I don't think I've ever seen such marked improvement in a game series from one entry to another.
final edit: Completely unrelated but have you ever played Underrail? It seems like it's be right up your alley.
I find it funny and facinating that This game, which was usually so on the nose and straight forward about about its moral choices, had an ending in which the final choice really was one worth debating.
Oh yes, Crusader: No Remorse and Crusader: No Regret. Good times.
this game has the best use of preexisting music in any game ive ever played. I actually cried when "power in the union" came on
I do love Wasteland 3, but i think you got some things wrong.And some things you forgot to mention.
1.Always give 2 weapon skills because ammo can be a bitch, even with steeltown crafting, also - rangers function best as specialist, so don't give your party matching weapons and skills.
2.Utility skills are best 1/2 per person, but some are arguably useless, namely - toaster repair, in wasteland 2 it let you hack robots, now it just a loot source and sometimes dialogue option
3.There's still good moral dilemmas, it's just that they're set on a more ridiculous scale (big trouble in little Vegas is still the more complex than anything F4 managed to give us)
4.Always take Scotchmo ALWAYS take scotchmo
5.There is a lot of secrets that make the lore more fun, Brygos gangsters actually have a tape with speech lessons on them.
6.The Radio is kinda bad with how often it get cuts off, but it's still good when you can hear it
7.Never use lethal weapons on the ghost gang in the scrapyard, Blue will not even talk to you if you do.
8.Gippers, not Grippers
9.The robot Commune Intelligence tower has a LOT of karma checks
10.The AI art is for once excusable because you can say that its shit
11.All the robots are charming, especially the dyslexic ones
12.The Tumors in the DLC are reskinned snow that you can burn with holy fire
This game is one of the weirdest mixed bags for me. The world lacked a feeling of believability and made a lot of the choices feel unnecessary. I did, however, find some ideas amazing, like a cult of stoners who survived the apocalypse because they were deep in the woods having a rave became weather worshipping psychos that turn people into flesh kites to offer flesh to the sky gods literally. I could make an entire ttrpg campaign around that idea, and yet somehow this amazing idea was just for generic bandits in one area you could barely even interact with. Really, a lot of Wasteland 3 is like that, an amazing idea that needed 10 hours to mature condensed into half an hour to at the most 3 hours.
I am so glad that your Jagged Alliance 2 video "baited" me to your channel. I have enjoyed every video of yours that I've seen so far and plan to watch every single one in time. As has been said in many other comments I too enjoy your mixture of generally great commentary (this includes your voice, it's fantastic to fall asleep to. I think you know this is a compliment) giving not only insight to the game you cover, but so many other references to games, political topics (without being political yourself) and of course the cultural context, especially in the Russian / Ukrainian titles.
All of this is very much appreciated. Thank you very much for doing what you do and I hope you continue this channel for a long time to come.
Cheers from Germany ❤
Drinking game:
Take a shot for every random and obscure pop culture/history reference you come across.
Can you do an Underrail video? The stygian software game?
Oh no... he's starting to believe *his lies*!
Bryan Fargo's therapist: Faran Brygo isn't real, he can't hurt you.
Wasteland 3 Devs:
Honestly if I didn't know about a purely good ending beforehand, going the route of "ensure the biggest gang is in the Rangers' pocket" is a pretty surefire way to guarantee control of Colorado - even if its done in such a bleak, gray way.
I'm extremely surprised (or perhaps I missed it) that you didn't mention the facial animations, which are very hard to pull off. Perhaps not the best i've seen, but certaintly noticable. The eyes look a little twitchy but they look at places an ordinary human would, and the expressions are very emotive and realistic aswell.
A stellar review as always. When I first came across your channel I started wondering why everyone doesn't do game reviews like this. It seems the only proper way to me now
P.S. Being demonitized for showing a meme of an anthropromorphic frog must be at once amusing, fascinating, and frustrating
I'm old enough to remember the original Wasteland. I hope they remake that one, to sync more with Wastelands 2 & 3 (in terms of the turn based grid combat mechanics).
Wasteland 2's moral dilemma is you will feel shit about any of your choices
"... this led to the New York Times coining the term Warlockracy"
THUS THE NAME
Any chance you'd take a poke at Mechanized Assault eXploration (Or M.A.X. as it's commonly known) in the future? It's another Interplay title from '96, a turn based strategy game. I always loved the game and the universe around it, and feel like it doesn't get enough love when we're talking about that era of gaming.
Didn't expect a glimpse of internet history involving the SA forums, but there ya go!
Wasteland 3 is one of the best top down rpgs in the world, most games should be like this one
30:12 Ohh... so thats where the name comes from. Intriguing.
I love this game so much I actually 100% it in November last year and I have to agree about the music ballads, I've never seen any game give us something like that it's quite rewarding to see after 40hrs of gameplay. I particularly like the "November Reigns" ending and ballad
Ronald Reagan's gang was called the "Gippers" not "Grippers".. because Ronald Reagan was known as "The Gipper" back in the 80's...
My only complaint with your channel is needing more content. I've watched videos going back two years multiple times. Love your commentary, review insights, and the links to other events/history. It all combines to form very unique content that I zone out to.
I like how he just causally dropped the background lore of his name mid video lol
Playing this with a friend atm. We kinda fucked ourselves over with our builds early and one quest bugged out but apart from that it has been a blast so far.
I think it would've been better if the Vault City citizens and ghouls from Gecko just kissed.
Wait, how did you miss the Ranger Allegiance stat?
It pops up almost all the time when talking to the rangers and hired people in the base.
The hints to your old nestor videos are bittersweet. Those were some great essays! Although, I can understand why the Bayou of Pigs content was... sub-optimal for youtube.
Vilerat wasn't just a guy who posted a forum post that became way too big; he was, and is, an EVE legend.
And like all legends, he can never be replaced, only slowly lost to time...
i was thinking as i watched this "weird, that also happened to that EVE online guy too, crazy that something so specific happened twice" should've guessed it was in fact, the same guy
I think one of things that keeps wasteland niche is that the wasteland games are absolutely full of military jokes that you really wouldn't fully understand if you don't have some inside knowledge of U.S. military culture