Conference Call

GWJ Conference Call Episode 427

FarCry 4, Dead State, Ultra-Wide Monitor Review, Irrational Feelings About Games, Dragon Age: Inquisition Spoiler Section (See Show Notes!), Your Emails and More!

This week Sean, Julian and Cory talk about irrational feelings about games! We also have a Dragon Age: Inquisition Spoiler Section with Lara, Karla and Shawn you'll find as a separate download!

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
00.02.48 Far Cry 4
00.07.52 Just Cause 2
00.10.24 Dead State
00.15.52 Rabbit's new tech
00.24.22 This week's topic: Irrationality in games!
00.40.06 Thread of the week: Looking for roadtrip game recommendations
00.47.49 This week's email!

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Show credits

Music credits: 

Juparo - Broke for Free - http://brokeforfree.com/ - 23:51

Summer Spliffs - Broke for Free - http://brokeforfree.com/ - 39:34

Intro/Outtro Music - Ian Dorsch, Willowtree Audioworks

Comments

Great episode - Dead State has been on the edge of my radar for some time. How similar is the combat to XCOM / WL2? Does it have an elaborate and interesting stat/skill system? I'd be interested in hearing more about the mechanics there.

As far as irrational love or hate goes, if a game is both party based and features a crunchy chargen at the start of the game, I'm almost guaranteed to go along for the rest of the ride, even if said ride isn't all that great. Hence my top question, I suppose :).

EDIT - Would it be possible to get thread of the week linked into show notes? I'm sure I'll be able to find it via search, but I think it might be nice to have it in the notes. I can't wait to play DA:I so I can dig into that massive spoiler section!

Interesting talk about analyzing games you love. I come at it quite differently myself, for me the more I analyze something the deeper I can enjoy it. Here's the catch, I enjoy fewer things that way. To me though the tradeoff is worth it. I enjoy fewer things, but enjoy them far more deeply. Same thing with music for me.

Julian's talk about going on blackout for games he enjoyed, or wants to play just isn't my experience. To give a recent example: Shadow of Mordor. That is a game I enjoyed greatly, but it is also a game that has one giant flaw for me, a flaw that could have ruined the game. The tone and themes run directly counter to much of the world Tolkien wrote. The thing is I knew that before I got the game. By 'spoiling' myself I was able to process those flaws before playing the game. I knew the tone would not fit how I understand Middle Earth. Since I had already digested that, I was able to bypass the feelings that would have come up in game. So I as able to enjoy the game on its own merits.

I can respect that many others come differently, but for me I've found that over analyzing and spoiling has only enhanced how much I enjoy games.

Now as for a game that I love despite flaws, the poster children for me are Brutal Legend and Mirrors Edge. Mirrors Edge when you ignore ALL combat has a special flow to movement that I just adored. Brutal Legend? That just hits so many of my buttons, it is like a pure shot of joy directly into my arm. It is the love letter to music that I wish I could have made.

"He's never going to kick something into spikes"... How quickly we all forgot about Bulletstorm

Yelling? During golf? Madness, I tell you.

I wanted Sean to talk about EU4 and KSP.

I could start my own weekly EU4/KSP podcast and not run out of stuff to say about those games.

Tragically, tboon, I think the interest level in that particular niche has a population of two.

Elysium wrote:

I could start my own weekly EU4/KSP podcast and not run out of stuff to say about those games.

Tragically, tboon, I think the interest level in that particular niche has a population of two.

You and me forever baby.

In the most platonic of senses of course.

I've been listening to the GWJ podcast for many years now, and as often as Julian mentions BioShock in any discussion, I'm beginning to think he's on the payroll of Irrational (RIP).

TheHarpoMarxist wrote:

Would it be possible to get thread of the week linked into show notes?

I think it's supposed to be linked every time the podcast talks about a "thread of the week", but it rarely, if ever, happens. Here you go.

Maybe next week's thread of the week could be the community GOTY vote and maybe the podcasters could all join in this year. It's fun, and it's so Calvinball you can vote for practically anything.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

Maybe next week's thread of the week could be the community GOTY vote and maybe the podcasters could all join in this year.

+1

And don't forget to link it in the show notes if you do choose it. IMAGE(http://www.skype-emoticons.com/images/emoticon-00110-tongueout.png)

It was good to hear Cory on the podcast this week. I like the man's moxie. Always mixing it up.

Not sure if I missed it, but does anyone have a recommendation for an ultra-wide screen to check out? They sound intriguing, and it's fast approaching the time to start shopping for my Xmas self-gift.

Did Cory leave PC gamer magazine to join NPR? The last couple of times he's been on he sounds like he's taken voice coaching from Ira Glass.

MeatMan wrote:
ClockworkHouse wrote:

Maybe next week's thread of the week could be the community GOTY vote and maybe the podcasters could all join in this year.

+1

And don't forget to link it in the show notes if you do choose it. IMAGE(http://www.skype-emoticons.com/images/emoticon-00110-tongueout.png)

+2 for this. That would be a great way to tie things together. Also, I'm really curious what the Podcast crew has to say about their picks for the year.

Elysium wrote:

I could start my own weekly EU4/KSP podcast and not run out of stuff to say about those games.

Tragically, tboon, I think the interest level in that particular niche has a population of two.

Three! As another member of the triple digit club for both games I'd watch.

nape311 wrote:

It was good to hear Cory on the podcast this week. I like the man's moxie. Always mixing it up.

Aww, thanks!

doubtingthomas396 wrote:

Did Cory leave PC gamer magazine to join NPR? The last couple of times he's been on he sounds like he's taken voice coaching from Ira Glass.

I think this is a compliment. But no, I'm not at NPR. I applied to mispronounce sponsor names, but I guess that job's taken.

doubtingthomas396 wrote:

Did Cory leave PC gamer magazine to join NPR? The last couple of times he's been on he sounds like he's taken voice coaching from Ira Glass.

If he's able to speak more relaxed now, while engaged, then I'm going to go ahead and judge that Cory's in a good place right now.

CraigM wrote:

Interesting talk about analyzing games you love. I come at it quite differently myself, for me the more I analyze something the deeper I can enjoy it. Here's the catch, I enjoy fewer things that way. To me though the tradeoff is worth it. I enjoy fewer things, but enjoy them far more deeply. Same thing with music for me.

Julian's talk about going on blackout for games he enjoyed, or wants to play just isn't my experience. To give a recent example: Shadow of Mordor. That is a game I enjoyed greatly, but it is also a game that has one giant flaw for me, a flaw that could have ruined the game. The tone and themes run directly counter to much of the world Tolkien wrote. The thing is I knew that before I got the game. By 'spoiling' myself I was able to process those flaws before playing the game. I knew the tone would not fit how I understand Middle Earth. Since I had already digested that, I was able to bypass the feelings that would have come up in game. So I as able to enjoy the game on its own merits.

I can respect that many others come differently, but for me I've found that over analyzing and spoiling has only enhanced how much I enjoy games.

Now as for a game that I love despite flaws, the poster children for me are Brutal Legend and Mirrors Edge. Mirrors Edge when you ignore ALL combat has a special flow to movement that I just adored. Brutal Legend? That just hits so many of my buttons, it is like a pure shot of joy directly into my arm. It is the love letter to music that I wish I could have made.

I have feelings about this!

One feeling is that I really like the way that being informed about a game beforehand helps you to change your expectations. Expectations are a really big deal in terms of how we feel about the creative works we experience!

Another feeling is that you don't need to call it "over analyzing" unless you think you analyzed too much. If you got something good out of it, I'm willing to back you up in just calling it "thinking."

flax wrote:

Not sure if I missed it, but does anyone have a recommendation for an ultra-wide screen to check out? They sound intriguing, and it's fast approaching the time to start shopping for my Xmas self-gift. :)

There are a couple ways to go about this.. they are a somewhat odd ratio so you will have to fiddle with some games and many times have to rely on a widescreen mod to fix the game so everything looks right...but having that ultra wide screen is somewhat more immersive.

There are two resolutions you will find with the ultrawide monitors one is 3440x1440 which is a decent amount of pixels to push so you will need a hefty GPU to drive that one reasonably well at high details (think Nvidia GTX 980 or AMD 290x) or the 2560 x 1080 resolution which you should be fine with any $250+ GPU (AMD 290 or Nvidia GTX 970)

LG and Dell seem to be the two vendors pushing this format.. havent seen panels from others (maybe Samsung also). AFAIK both LG and Dell use the exact same panel so its really about looks and style.

TheGameguru wrote:
flax wrote:

Not sure if I missed it, but does anyone have a recommendation for an ultra-wide screen to check out? They sound intriguing, and it's fast approaching the time to start shopping for my Xmas self-gift. :)

There are a couple ways to go about this.. they are a somewhat odd ratio so you will have to fiddle with some games and many times have to rely on a widescreen mod to fix the game so everything looks right...but having that ultra wide screen is somewhat more immersive.

There are two resolutions you will find with the ultrawide monitors one is 3440x1440 which is a decent amount of pixels to push so you will need a hefty GPU to drive that one reasonably well at high details (think Nvidia GTX 980 or AMD 290x) or the 2560 x 1080 resolution which you should be fine with any $250+ GPU (AMD 290 or Nvidia GTX 970)

LG and Dell seem to be the two vendors pushing this format.. havent seen panels from others (maybe Samsung also). AFAIK both LG and Dell use the exact same panel so its really about looks and style.

Great, thanks for the advice. Time to shop around and see what kind of monitor I can a) afford and b) run with my current rig.

That guy who emailed about Dragon Age, DJW, all that fluff he talks about,
I think that is the game.

I nabbed an ultra-widescreen monitor myself a while back - it's an awesome gaming experience, indeed.

I'm running at 2560x1440, on a 29" AOC Q2963PM. Have had no regrets.

MeatMan wrote:

I've been listening to the GWJ podcast for many years now, and as often as Julian mentions BioShock in any discussion, I'm beginning to think he's on the payroll of Irrational (RIP).

He's mentioned on the show that he did some ... —I think it was marketing copy?— for Binfinite.

TheHarpoMarxist wrote:

Would it be possible to get thread of the week linked into show notes?

I think it's supposed to be linked every time the podcast talks about a "thread of the week", but it rarely, if ever, happens. Here you go.

Feel free to PM me if something like this is missing from a post. It's easy enough for me to do.

Elysium wrote:

Alternatively, you can just bring McChuck and he entertains you the whole way.

Awwwww. Thanks!

Sorry you spend so much time on your road trip playlists just for me to take over the radio (not sorry).

Actually, a great moment of 2014 was driving back from pyroman's wedding recently. It was early morning the day after. We were still waking up and too tired to chat so I put on the new First Aid Kit album. It was perfect for a quiet drive through Kentucky's hills during a gorgeous autumn.

So here I am, a couple days behind, and I come to check the thread because surely someone's called Sean out on "Opus Moderandi" (33:13) by now. No? Slackers.

As an aside, I think it'd make a great studio name for some reason. The domain's even available. (Edit: It is the name of a jazz album, though, so not completely original.)

McChuck wrote:

Actually, a great moment of 2014 was driving back from pyroman's wedding recently. It was early morning the day after. We were still waking up and too tired to chat so I put on the new First Aid Kit album. It was perfect for a quiet drive through Kentucky's hills during a gorgeous autumn.

Great song. Perfect for how I'm thinking, feels weird to hear a song like that for someone younger. Also thought they were Southern, actually Swedish.
I dig orchestral folk. (I added 'orchestral' cause I saw it on the wikipedia page, but in my head, this genre is 'epic folk music').

Sorry you spend so much time on your road trip playlists just for me to take over the radio (not sorry).

No no, on our trips I leave that entirely to you.

We were still waking up and too tired to chat so I put on the new First Aid Kit album

That really was an epic choice. I remember it.

That was before we realized I'd left my laptop. Again.

CraigM:

Actually, SoM is directly consistent with LoTR lore. Up to a point, the Noldorin were successful in their war against Sauron, against whom they used might against might. C was just such a Second Age character who would do such a thing and be moderately successful at it. One of the things in LoTR is that Boromir wasn't a villain. He wasn't unreasonable. Gondor had resisted Mordor might for might for a very long time - centuries. He had a good basis for saying the things he said. It is not for nothing that Saruman despised Gandalf for a fool.

The One Ring wouldn't have the temptations it does if none of these things were true. Fact is, Sauron had excellent reasons to fear Aragorn taking up the One Ring. Aragorn could have conceivably beaten Sauron and become the Dark Lord himself.

That's kind of what happens in SoM. You don't make the Orcs more pleasant. Mordor doesn't become a better place. You just become the shadow ruler of the place instead of whoever was there, and you rule it through fear and murder - probably pretty much like the previous ruler did. Talion is not a harbinger of good things.

Elysium wrote:

That was before we realized I'd left my laptop. Again.

Part of me believes that you've been committing crimes at all these places, and you leave your laptop behind as a calling card.

Not to tell you how to crime, but you really should leave something less personally identifiable.

Grumpicus wrote:

So here I am, a couple days behind, and I come to check the thread because surely someone's called Sean out on "Opus Moderandi" (33:13) by now. No? Slackers. ;-)

It may be a spoonerism, but it's also good Latin!

It means "need for moderation."

MeatMan wrote:

I've been listening to the GWJ podcast for many years now, and as often as Julian mentions BioShock in any discussion, I'm beginning to think he's on the payroll of Irrational (RIP).

I was editor for the art books and did some contract work for bits and pieces. But you can't blame me for any RIP.