Ha!

Elysium's comments (and snarky comments) on the Witcher are priceless, I really laughed out loud

That part of the game sure is hella slow

Elysium, i'm right there with you in Vizima... just imagine yourself 5-10 hours from now (in game playing time) and you've been to the swamp and back several times.... but are still stuck in Vizima.

IMO the biggest problem with Vizima is that back and forth-ness.... there's too much having to sit around and wait or running around talking to people who don't tell you anything even though you think you saw something. The actual quests (for an RPG) are pretty cool compared to most other western RPGs (e.g. Kotor or Neverwinter Nights) where the results and the choices are pretty black and white and there's always an immediate payoff (or not) rather than it coming further down the line in some unexpected way....

[edit] What did Rabbit learn today?: "Don't trust Tom Chick"

Also, for a writer, Rabbit sure pronounces stuff strangely.. i mean, RICHitello? Is that how it's meant to be pronounced?

Great podcast as always, interesting discussion on the next gen.

But no traditional gamer DS games released in the last year? What about Chronotrigger, GTA:CW, Final Fantasy:Crystal Chronicles, Valkyrie Profile, Disgaea or Fire Emblem?

I dunno. I think RE5 plays perfectly well single player, especially if you are careful about tactics, having learned what to do from playing too much RE4. Generally it pays to shoot then run away then shoot some more, then run away some more.

I do agree that a couple of the big bads in the early levels are mean if you don't have decent weapons, which you don't. That's the only major pacing problem I had with the game besides the expected stream of boring Boss fights.

I didn't think those song were that hard! It's cool you turned it into a contest though. Hope you guys have fun with it.

I get complaints about vizima, I mean, it's the majority of the game. I found the variety of missions between the swamp, sewers, trade quarter, and dirty poor folks hole was enough to keep me interested. The game sure is pretty for an Aurora engine title.

Rabbit are you on cocaine? The Path isn't even pretty? I feel like you're playing an entirely different game than I am.

*edit* I'm also just writing things down as I hear the conversation here. You don't just have to "stand still" to interact. You can hit the action button, on my X360 controller it was X.

For the whole "systems vs. environment" thing, I think a much better way to talk about it is with the Taxonomy of Gamers.

#2 on the 'Name that VG Tune'... sure brings back good memories. Awesome game.

Just because Rabbit doesn't like it and you have doubts about it doesn't mean it doesn't have value. Pyroman and I both really enjoyed The Path.
It's also not fair to paint all "arthouse" games with the same brush. I personally thought "The Graveyard" was total garbage, while The Path actually offered something that was compelling and made me think. Don't dismiss them all so casually. And if you do want to dismiss them all so casually, that's fine - but you can feel free to ignore them rather than getting "sick" of games no-one is forcing you to play.

In response to an offhand comment by one of the Shawn/Sean's:

To be fair to the DS, while a ton of Bratz games have come out in the past year, there is still a lot of good stuff coming out on the platform. Right now a bazillion rpgs are coming out for it, but so did Henry Hatsworth and last year we had Professor Layton. Retro Game Challenge anyone? Hell, even a GTA just came out.

Anyway, my point is that other than the supreme amounts of shovelware coming out, there's still a bit of life left in the system. Hell, Atlus releases alone can satisfy most people's gaming hunger.

I'm in the middle of the topic of the week and I'm just thinking, how far is the Environment vs System discussion from the old Graphics vs Gameplay arguement?

Indeed. I was just thinking the end of my post was unnecessarily harsh. I do think it's important to criticize these types of games and discuss their value - not necessarily as "art", but as a different experience. I guess I just don't understand how one can be "sick" of a certain type of game - I'm certainly no fan of JRPGs, but I wouldn't call myself sick of them - I just avoid them.
I also think it's important to be tolerant of a style of game - the so-called "arthouse" game - that is still very much in it's infancy and trying to do something different. They're definitely not all going to be great, even good - but I think supporting these games is important for the growth of a new type of maturity in the industry.
On the Tale of Tales site they mention two exhibits, one in Amsterdam and one in Buenos Aires, that center around "Artistic Gaming" and feature The Path, among others. I'd love to see this type of thing become even more common, with even better games.

Art house David Lynch stuff? What, does Red Riding Hood run into Data talking in German?

I also see where you are coming from. The Path and other 'arthouse' games get very negative reactions from a lot of the more vocal core gamers. I know you frequent RPS, so we've all seen it there. Most gamers have very dismissive attitudes towards something that doesn't fit their definitions of what constitutes a game.