Conference Call

GWJ Conference Call Episode 422

Legend of Grimrock II, Windlands (Oculus Rift), Leap Motion, Lord of The Fallen, Sunset Overdrive, Franchises That Span Genres, Your Emails and More!

This week Julian, Cory and Allen talk about franchises that can span game genres.

To contact us, email [email protected]! Send us your thoughts on the show, pressing issues you want to talk about or whatever else is on your mind. You can even send a 30 second audio question or comment (MP3 format please) if you're so inclined.

Chairman_Mao's Timestamps
00.02.01 Legend of Grimrock II
00.10.47 Windland
00.13.31 Leap Motion
00.15.56 Lords of the Fallen
00.21.18 Sunset Overdrive
00.27.12 Olli Olli
00.29.23 This week's topic: Blizzard Overwatch!
00.48.49 Your emails!

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Show credits

Music credits: 

Intro/Outtro Music - Ian Dorsch, Willowtree Audioworks

Comments

Yay! Cory's back.

So sad about Lords of The Fallen. I was willing that game to be good.

Totally unrelated to the show, (apart from playing old games that tarnish your previously wonderful gaming memories), I have just bought a second hand PS/1 !
I am planning on buying a retro console + a couple of games a month and building a collection.
Started my collection off with FF VII, Metal Gear Solid and Grand Tourismo.
Next month I'll buy either a Gamecube, or a N64.
FUN !

The reason you don't have Twitch channels with commentators of NFL games is because the NFL would land on them like a ton of bricks, just FYI.

Higgledy wrote:

Yay! Cory's back.

Yes! I've missed Cory's thoughts and input, plus he always makes me giggle. Do we know why he left PC Gamer?

I had the same feelings about Arkham Origins, but being a fan of the overall Batman franchise made me slog through it to the end.

Huge props for mentioning Rocket Jockey Pyroman! One of my fav games nobody ever played. I still listen to the soundtrack and have a copy of it in my car!

I would go to great lengths to get this game remade, so ripe for updating and online multiplayer could be amazing.

To elaborate on the game and its greatness, as its totally underappreciated.

Think of demolition derby with an awesome Dick Dale inspired surf-rockabilly soundtrack, now change out the cars and replace them with combustion rockets with a saddle strapped on, and mount harpoon/grappling hooks on either side with which you grapple to objects in the arena to turn your rocket or other rockets themselves. Not only that, but you can grapple other riders ripping them off their rocket, leaving them to run the gauntlet back to their rocket trying to avoid other pilots who will try and grapple them and string them up between poles in the arena, knocking them out of the game.
The feeling of grappling another pilot and having them tumbling along behind you tethered to your rocket awaiting their doom was awesome.
So good, the video doesnt do justice:

I looked up Alien Legacy on Mobygames and it looks like that's begging for a re-release or remake, considering the whole "Humans must find a new home" kick sci-fi's been on this year with Interstellar and Civ: Beyond Earth.

Sunset Overdrive! Friend me and we can play. I have Twitter notifications on my phone, ping me if you want to play. Xbox tag, twitter, forum name all the same.

Really glad that Legend of Grimrock 2 is getting a lot of love. Opening up the game beyond the strictly dungeon tileset from the first game (not to mention the day/night cycle) gives it a lot more interesting pacing. I genuinely feel tense going into a dungeon after being topside for a while. And thank goodness they made the secret clickbricks a bit more obvious so that I don't have to strain my eyes in the dark to find them. I still find the combat a little bit clunky, but overall it's been one of the more refreshing games played this year. Challenging and totally unlike anything else out there at the moment -- definite GoTY contender from me as well.

EDIT: Does anyone else thing that LoG3 as a co-op experience is something that should happen?

What is it about Shadow of Mordor that's so hard to say? Rabbit called it "Shadow over Mordor," "Shadows of Mordor" and "Shadows over Mordor" in the space of twelve seconds.

I'm not just picking on Rabbit. Other podcasts talking about it can't seem to say "Shadow of Mordor" either.

Is it just hard to pronounce? I don't tend to have verbal conversations about it, so I haven't noticed the title being particularly awkward to say.

doubtingthomas396 wrote:

What is it about Shadow of Mordor that's so hard to say? Rabbit called it "Shadow over Mordor," "Shadows of Mordor" and "Shadows over Mordor" in the space of twelve seconds.

I'm not just picking on Rabbit. Other podcasts talking about it can't seem to say "Shadow of Mordor" either.

Is it just hard to pronounce? I don't tend to have verbal conversations about it, so I haven't noticed the title being particularly awkward to say.

I don't have any problems saying Shades Under Moldova.

I feel the same way about Destiny as the emailer--I hate the game but I love it.

I love the combat, I think the simple act of shooting an enemy is as violently satisfying as any game I have ever played. However, what story is there is incomprehensible, and what little that can be comprehended is the basest of fantasy drivel. (I am a guardian of the light trying to defeat the darkness, really).

Though the worst part of Destiny is the lack of content and the forced need to reply content. Between the daily missions, the strike playlists, and the need to get raid gear to fully level, there isn't a piece of content in that game that I have played less than a half-dozen times, and most much more than that. And I still have to grind to get my gear up to par/get raid gear/get exotic weapons/etc.. Worst, I only have one character I am trying to get through the content (a 29 Warlock). I couldn't imagine the toll on me if I was trying to play the game with two or three characters.

I love Destiny, I just wish there were either more of it or that it the game didn't actively try to guilt me into playing missions--many of which that aren't well designed--dozens of times.

I hope Sunset Overdrive will be released on PC just like Dead Rising 3.

arimajinn wrote:

I hope Sunset Overdrive will be released on PC just like Dead Rising 3.

+1

doubtingthomas396 wrote:
arimajinn wrote:

I hope Sunset Overdrive will be released on PC just like Dead Rising 3.

+1

+2

Regarding Abandonware that I would love seeing remade or receiving a sequel -

Starflight

Starflight was my first video game and it was amazing. The sad state of Starflight 3 becoming vaporware is so sad. Star Control never held me in the same way that Starflight did. I could see so many things in this world become gameplay mechanics. I'd love to sell Elowan leaves to Thrynn or find a way to inspire the Dweenle.

troubleshot wrote:

Huge props for mentioning Rocket Jockey Pyroman! One of my fav games nobody ever played. I still listen to the soundtrack and have a copy of it in my car!

I would go to great lengths to get this game remade, so ripe for updating and online multiplayer could be amazing.

Came here just to see if anybody was gushing about Rocket Jockey. I would love to see a modern take on it.

Getting thrown off your rocket was the worst. Trying to limp around the arena to find your rocket back, only to get grappled out of nowhere at the last second and flung into a wall to start all over again---came very close to throwing my keyboard out the window many times.

LudensCogitet wrote:
doubtingthomas396 wrote:

What is it about Shadow of Mordor that's so hard to say? Rabbit called it "Shadow over Mordor," "Shadows of Mordor" and "Shadows over Mordor" in the space of twelve seconds.

I'm not just picking on Rabbit. Other podcasts talking about it can't seem to say "Shadow of Mordor" either.

Is it just hard to pronounce? I don't tend to have verbal conversations about it, so I haven't noticed the title being particularly awkward to say.

I don't have any problems saying Shades Under Moldova.

I vote for Ranger Danger, because that's what all the warlords said by the end of the game, when they saw me coming.

Dead Mines is the WoW instance you where looking for. VanCleef smash. http://www.wowwiki.com/Deadmines

Did anyone else relate when they were talking about finishing a game without one of the main mechanics? It immediately brought me back to how stupid i felt after i beat the original Skate game.

I want to stress, I completed every challenge in this game. It was easily my favorite title at the time. This of course was the one where you couldn’t step of your board yet(that came in skate 2).

Long story short, i didn’t know that you could place a marker and fast travel to it. This of course was for when you missed a trick or needed a better start. I COMPLETELY OVERLOOKED THIS FEATURE. I didn’t notice it til the release of skate 2 when my friend said “Dude, they’ve had this in the series the whole time” Coping with the realization of that still stings to this day. I spent hours rolling in circles and hopping up curbs to line up my tricks.

Interesting discussion about franchises. I felt compelled to add some, perhaps inconvenient, facts to Cory's curious idea that it was only Far Cry 4 that cemented that franchise in Ubisoft's line up. Far Cry 3 moved at least 9 million units and scored 88/90/91 for PC/PS3/360 respectively, making it pretty big deal going into the latest sequel. Blood Dragon also did well critically and commercially.

In any case, glad to have him back on the podcast.

p.s. Apparently Far Cry 2 did 2.9 million in sales.

OrpheusX wrote:

Interesting discussion about franchises. I felt compelled to add some, perhaps inconvenient, facts to Cory's curious idea that it was only Far Cry 4 that cemented that franchise in Ubisoft's line up. Far Cry 3 moved at least 9 million units and scored 88/90/91 for PC/PS3/360 respectively, making it pretty big deal going into the latest sequel. Blood Dragon also did well critically and commercially.

In any case, glad to have him back on the podcast.

p.s. Apparently Far Cry 2 did 2.9 million in sales.

FC3 was definitely pushed as a major AAA release, but only sold about 3M in its first 6 months, per Wikipedia. It ended up having a pretty thick tail for a AAA title.

I really liked FC2 and hoped for more of the narrative stuff and non-standard difficulties that were introduced there. Unfortunately, I feel like the series has stepped back from that strong statement while being part of the Ubi homogenization, such that now it's just the Ubi game (open world, lots of task icons on your map, collectables everywhere) with the contemporary rural setting.

But that's really just reiterating that I think FC2 was one of the best games of the past decade.