This game is 75% references.

[Anissa]

So difficult to get myself immersed in this game when most of the actual game is pop culture references and references to a bunch of other games. I've read that Wasteland 2 was even worse about it lol.

[EolSunder]

i don't mind it, its still pretty ok. I really love the old classic music redux's that they throw on the radio, half of them i just laugh at . Then i enter the dancing room in the Bizarre and oh my that is the best room in the game. Barney? Pee Wee and others. just speech to make you giggle.

[gurugeorge]

It's rather the other way round I think. There was always humour and pop references in the series, but for some reason it's more obnoxiously in your face in WL3 than in the other games, which took themselves more seriously in the meat of the gameplay and in the storylines, leaving a lot of the humour to a sort of meta level. WL3 is so overtly jokey that it's impossible to get immersed in the feeling of "being a Ranger," which was always possible in WL2 DC, at least (never played the original, just going by what I've read about it).

It's the difference between, say, the Mannerites and the Gippers. Both are jokey references to certain foibles in human nature, but the one is more general the other very specifically cultural and historical. Another aspect is that one can imagine some of the crazy cults in WL2 actually existing, whereas it's almost impossible to think that a group like the Payasos or the Gippers could actually exist. They're actually constructed as jokes, whereas groups like the Mannerites are constructed as a blackly humorous take on devastated human beings trying to find their way in a devastated world.

Or again, one of the "inspirational" monuments in WL2 had a plaque which said something like "I wish they'd used the Unreal engine." Now that's really very funny in context, but it's "meta" and it somehow it doesn't interfere with the atmosphere created by the "serious" graphics, music and storyline that take up the bulk of the game, which make you feel like you're a team of Rangers struggling in a harsh world.

[JonDonWayne]

Oh noes a game thats a pop culture reference itself (and the main idea is stolen from different 70/80s movies (Boy & his Dog / Six String Samurai and so on...) actually has eastereggs and pop culture references oh noes!

[The.Spaz.]

Originally posted by Knight Sable:

So difficult to get myself immersed in this game when most of the actual game is pop culture references and references to a bunch of other games. I've read that Wasteland 2 was even worse about it lol.

Oh man, you got no idea! If the combat system wasn't decent enough I would have likely never looked at this series twice much less WL3. I am not kidding, almost EVERY other item was a 4th wall breaking joke or an Easter egg and much worse when the rest of the game is just bland and it feels lot of the creative effort was just put into the damned jokes! Which is why its a bit of a surprise to hear someone say that about WL3. I barely noticed any when I first played it. Infact, I thought it was a hell of an improvement overall. I am actually excited to revisit it again after I patch things up with Original Sin 2, never got to actually finish it.

You know, this supports my notion that if you jump into an ongoing series from its latest iteration, you will likely have to deal with certain grievances that others have already dealt with the previous. Sort of hard to appreciate the improvements and overall progress of the game systems if there is no context. If there is a WL4 I wouldn't be too surprised if you are suddenly in my position finding someone else's issues like a deja-vu.

[Woldy]

Originally posted by Knight Sable:

So difficult to get myself immersed in this game when most of the actual game is pop culture references and references to a bunch of other games. I've read that Wasteland 2 was even worse about it lol.

Then you are gonna hate anything Guardians of the galaxy related. Or spiderman.

[The.Spaz.]

Originally posted by Woldy:

Originally posted by Knight Sable:

So difficult to get myself immersed in this game when most of the actual game is pop culture references and references to a bunch of other games. I've read that Wasteland 2 was even worse about it lol.

Then you are gonna hate anything Guardians of the galaxy related. Or spiderman.

Not necessarily true. I liked both franchises well enough if the story is well told. WL2 just didn't have the writing beyond the jokes.

[Woldy]

Originally posted by The.Spaz.:

Originally posted by Woldy:

Then you are gonna hate anything Guardians of the galaxy related. Or spiderman.

Not necessarily true. I liked both franchises well enough if the story is well told. WL2 just didn't have the writing beyond the jokes.

Sounds biased.

[The.Spaz.]

Originally posted by Woldy:

Originally posted by The.Spaz.:

Not necessarily true. I liked both franchises well enough if the story is well told. WL2 just didn't have the writing beyond the jokes.

Sounds biased.

what isn't? You are not?

[Woldy]

Originally posted by The.Spaz.:

Originally posted by Woldy:

Sounds biased.

what isn't? You are not?

I try not to be, and for the most part isn't.

[The.Spaz.]

Originally posted by Woldy:

Originally posted by The.Spaz.:

what isn't? You are not?

I try not to be, and for the most part isn't.

Yeah... you mean you try to pretend.

[ElPrezCBF]

For me, it's the opposite. The references are intentionally overdone to tickle my sense of political correctness in reality, which is why I love it.