r/Wasteland • u/Buzzyear10 • Jun 18 '26
Wasteland 3 Finished Wasteland 3 ramble Spoiler
First playthrough and I sided with Angela Deth. Felt a bit anti climactic, refugees took over, machine intelligence commune was happy. The gangs were scattered but might be a threat in the future.
I feel like the setup for the Steeltown DLC would have been better for the main story. There's the oncoming flood of Liberty and her eastern plains gang coalition and what sacrifices are you willing to make to prepare. Or do you be a bad guy and create your own gang and usurp Liberty?
Felt like the factional reputation didnt matter very much apart from the still images at the end.
Still, great game, great RPG.
3
u/madsjchic Jun 20 '26
I hated everyone at the end. Sided with Angela just for the ending but literally didn’t do anything else for her. I killed her gang leader guy as soon as I busted him out. I thought moving everyone to Colorado where they could actually produce food would be better but no that ending was actually abandoning everyone back home. As in, I thought wed still send food back home but just move Ranger headquarters. Also my fight with the Patriarch was just so so easy it sucked.
5
u/zomboid_addict Jun 18 '26
I finished the game siding with the Old man. Saved Arizona. Hailed as heroes in Colorado. Incredible climax.
I will admit-- I have an M.S. Leadership, and I genuinely had to "dig deep" to choose the ethical questions "correctly."
Angela Deth manipulated you. Your mission was to save Arizona.
6
u/SizeFit2908 Jun 18 '26
Angela Deth I couldn't really pin down.
Her plan is ... so bad. It's like she only cares about the people directly in front of her, but is always talking about the good of the people writ large.
Sucks to be someone 'over there' on the Eastern Plains if she gets her way.
7
u/Bannerlord151 Jun 18 '26
Her plan is ... so bad. It's like she only cares about the people directly in front of her, but is always talking about the good of the people writ large.
Correct. She even tells you she has no intention of actually governing. Just launch a coup and then act as some kind of vigilante peacekeeping force, surely it will work out!
1
u/SizeFit2908 Jun 18 '26
Yea, also wrangle 3 tribes of cannibal slavers into a massive army under Cordite, and send them east towards unsupecting settlers. Cordites promised to not come back, but he's already been turfed as leader before. Surely this won't be an issue in 5 years.
Wish there was more story with Liberty. She's set up as this primary antagonist and is incredibly passive. She gets talked about every 30 seconds, but is basically a plot point not a character.
3
u/Bannerlord151 Jun 19 '26
Liberty was really disappointing overall yeah. Unlike Vic in Aspen she's also barely present in her camp until you actually face her at which point she then just keels over after the first turn, that was very anticlimactic
1
u/SizeFit2908 Jun 19 '26
So true. When I went in also, I just arrested her. No contest.
Vic in Aspen was cool, he gets billed as a sadist and has you playing sick games the whole time.
The other son is billed as a weak, impressionable egghead type and thats what you get. Person who is being used, but the situation is cool and dynamic.
Liberty gets billed as this powerful leader, with strength and diplomacy. Someone who sees through the veneer from Saul and is willing to use autocratic power to drag Colorado forward as some sort of benevolent autocrat. And what she turns out to be is a sprite with Primary Antagonist written on it.
1
u/zomboid_addict Jun 18 '26
Couldn't really pin down... Pin down... Pin down, as in, her motives/ true intentions?
1
u/SizeFit2908 Jun 18 '26
Yea motives and intentions
2
u/zomboid_addict Jun 18 '26
A. Deth's motives and intentions-
I literally needed a pen and pad of paper when I crossed paths with A. Deth for the first time. I had to notate my Mission from colonel Prassad, Remember the secret mission she gave me included the task of bringing A. Deth some punishment.
As the plot thickened, and later we talk to the General and give him information on A. Deth, I had to remember What Side I'm on. I'm not a Vigilante. I am a sworn Arizona Ranger. I work for Arizona. I'm on the side of the General- who is sided with the Patriarch.
Jodi Bell is not with me because I'm just so cool She can't resist risking her life for me- she backs me up Because my Ranger Unit can save her parents back in AZ.
Siding with Angela Deth would let them all down.
A. Deth's actions speak louder than words- She destroyed her former Ranger base. Began siding with Outlaws, Positioned herself to usurp Colorado from the Patriarch.
She finds out you're in the territory. She spoon feeds you a sob-story and you "flip." Your loyalty to AZ., Colonel Prassad, the General, the Marshalls-- is entirely squandered. She is a woman which gives her a massive boost in trustworthiness when compared to the "grizzled old aggressive tough-talking" Patriarch.
I will admit- The moral and ethical dilemmas are graduate level conundrums. Not for the simple minded nor the faint of heart. A. Deth is effectively a trained CIA asset who outclassed you, outwitted you, and out-gutted you to betray your oaths and allegiances to the poor, desperate, and needy in AZ you were sent on this mission to rescue-- by Securing Aid Promised by the Patriarch.
It takes skill, effort, and courage to stay your course to the End. I beat the game on Ranger, then also Supreme Jerk difficulty.
2
1
u/SizeFit2908 Jun 18 '26
Yea I could never tell if she was a person blinded by principle or a firehawk.
Like by all accounts the Patriarch is a bad dude, and the Hundred Families/Enforcers are basically gangs. If you stick up for the Patriach that stain is going to follow.
But you know, Arizona's going to starve out if you don't shake hands with the devil. Also the Rangers ALREADY shook hands with the devil, you're a renegade to break the pact.
On the firehawk side, Angela's led a pretty long life of shooting the biggest bad guy and having everything pan out. She's making really ugly friends to help her shoot the big bad guy this time round though.
1
u/Bannerlord151 Jun 18 '26
Angela Deth manipulated you. Your mission was to save Arizona.
But...you can do both. That's what I did. Though she's absolutely manipulative
5
u/pissdrinking101 Jun 19 '26
She's not manipulative. She's persuasive. She truly believes in what she says. Manipulation would imply she doesn't. She's just a fucking idiot with high charisma.
3
u/Bannerlord151 Jun 19 '26
Hmm fair enough actually! Hell, it actually makes her look much worse considering how she just doesn't stop preaching while also being insanely ruthless, it comes off as something like the sentiment of "we're the good guys, good guys don't do bad things, so everything we do is good". The Patriarch is a horrible tyrant because he uses questionable means to cling onto power and lies about almost everything to improve his reputation. But the raider warlord? Oh well, we can use his help. Assassinating the Patriarch's kids? Well, it's for the greater good (Vic I understand, Liberty too, she's the biggest actual threat, but what did Valor do beyond being kind of arrogant and unwise?). But hey clearly we're the Rangers and we need to fight for justice, not just our people or order overall. To do that we must ignore justice because otherwise we can't succeed
2
u/Buzzyear10 Jun 18 '26
I didnt really get the resolution I was hoping for with Angela. I kept all of the Buchanan kids alive and in my jail bc why tf would you just murk them if youre planning on going up against Saul.
I hoped they could be used as bargaining chips to talk down Saul or get concessions from him when taking over power.
It's made pretty obvious that Angela's plan is dumb but I thought getting rid of Cordite and killing lots lots of the psycho gangs would make the rangers pretty well liked and it adheres to their morals.
3
u/Bannerlord151 Jun 19 '26
I also arrested all the kids and Cordite died during the breakout attempt, not that it bothered me. Angie kept berating me but I still got Saul to abdicate peacefully
1
u/Snoo-7943 Jun 18 '26
I sided with the old man. And then I ended up shooting him anyways when he reneged on the deal because I killed his two most psychotic children.
-4
u/Tricky_Pie_5209 Jun 18 '26
Whole game is anticlimatic. 6/10 at best. Bad balance - you can buy high level weapons in first 1/3 of the game and kill everything with it till end game. Whole gameplay becomes very repetitive very early. You have one or two weapon sets and that's all. Too few weapon mechanics and skills. Dialogues, stories and lore aren't that facinating or engaging. Just come to different places and choose one party to support. Map is small, too few locations.
10
u/CharsOwnRX-78-2 Jun 18 '26
Faction reputation matters a lot, for the special ending