The Some Like It HOT TAKES thread

ClockworkHouse wrote:
Atomicvideohead wrote:

Hot take: Nioh has waaay too mucccch loot.

Loot, like Mass Effect, is almost always bad.

TOO HOT. THIS TAKE IS TOO HOT.

Hot Take: I love all of the Mass Effect games equally.

Dumb Take: I bought an ME: Andromeda Loot Crate, it doesn't even get here till June...it cost as much as the game. WHAT A WORLD WE LIVE IN.

IMAGE(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/zGemMN_YKKde8KYHjFnsv7-45vpov4hW_e8u_Lb1tf1ELx4YxcUQdDHqbCODKlquGsr4l8qVDTq9bZgGk56TPPSjx8Meuf5-7Dyyw7xNyCwpYwWE2vi-9TJdBxKmCXtxjc2IPmgNPvxRhNflCVgUNliXWoP43SlCt1Zhzlh6UPkwdEWhaSF1Y7kjAdU_ZQMwyF67MNrUJwJoJUVvrAXB1viOqpdgW1YPLonw9T5KuBtKv0vWs2IRZ6z0SDQdHTWMgVVt9jL-_MXNDIqzaOVnZwiy54_hPhS4d64a2_up1AOdv754JzugANSS0h3D4HWwlHvwnXQ2qT3fn7fub068liGyZgh4pMgJlfL_FKnuZGd6ai-Jfu8oGpJsnCn4FIOnmlvDiYbLa6T2FmwGuKUwOAeK6Ojm4XNGi2cLdRRyHPBrVEcqzfRqvizoZQHZO9B-c1gc1Iit4-dnG5jyanQ_HGrdUaQjXt95qRxVvIGSkeiuF6aI_IeWn7cpUiMJwwJXdzh765hBw8eSHsRaHjhzREVM6_y7ZY0Dq9PM1xlEheNNAeGD-4EcxuMMwvEBRmcplvqYViXfWsOowSrOZAaSoSBd_SMNT1p8OrdzowsoDfK7XpX7WxNY=w400-h313-no)

MilkmanDanimal wrote:

A few solid story moments and a great ending aside, Mass Effect isn't really all that good of a game.

After trying to replay the first game 3 or 4 times, that's exactly where I'm at.

Damn ppl are already piling on ME so some sizzle has been subtracted from my....

HOT TAKE: Mass Effect Andromeda will be a beautiful, Frostbyte-infused flop.

The 50 gamers who played the multiplayer mode will agree that yes, we needed a prettier version of this and will happily grind for chests for the next 3 years.

The base game will garner polite critical ratings in the low to mid 80s. But fans will feel the truth: paper thin characters, cringey dialogue moments, a lame villain and protagonist and unsatisfactory additions/retconning of lore... this game gon have it all!

Maclintok wrote:

The base game will garner polite critical ratings in the low to mid 80s. But fans will feel the truth: paper thin characters, cringey dialogue moments, a lame villain and protagonist and unsatisfactory additions/retconning of lore... this game gon have it all!

Dragon Age: Inquisition with guns?

Or Mass Effect with Nugs

Tanglebones wrote:

Or Mass Effect with Nugs

Whilst frowned upon in many cultures, three squeaks is the superior preparation technique for eating Nugs.

Maclintok wrote:

Damn ppl are already piling on ME so some sizzle has been subtracted from my....

HOT TAKE: Mass Effect Andromeda will be a beautiful, Frostbyte-infused flop.

The 50 gamers who played the multiplayer mode will agree that yes, we needed a prettier version of this and will happily grind for chests for the next 3 years.

The base game will garner polite critical ratings in the low to mid 80s. But fans will feel the truth: paper thin characters, cringey dialogue moments, a lame villain and protagonist and unsatisfactory additions/retconning of lore... this game gon have it all!

Add in law of averages on high profile releases too... It is crazy that Horizon, Zelda, and Nier are all apparently worthy GOTY contenders. Something's gotta underwhelm.

My HOT TAKE though is going to be that Andromeda surprises and is a tremendously fun game... BUT not enough like other Mass Effect games for some. ME purists and fans will hate it with the passion of a 1000 exploding systems, but people who never clicked with ME or are brand new to the series will eat it up, creating one of the most fractured franchise fan bases in history. The reviews will reflect this, with lots of 1's and lots of 10's but not a lot of 2's through 9's. When Andromeda 2 come sour, Bioware will buckle under the pressure of having to serve so many fan bases and everything will crumble. The center does not hold. We'll look at the horrible situation of Jim Sterling getting his website hacked for giving Zelda a 7 as par for the course in ME fandom. It will become the bad neighborhood of the gaming community. People will stay away. Parents will appear on day time TV. People who "get out" will write tell-all books. The clumsy but earnest romances in the game will happen to some people IRL.

In other words, sh*t will get real.

TheHarpoMarxist wrote:

It will become the bad neighborhood of the gaming community.

But we already have Dark Souls fans.

*Legion* wrote:

HOT TAKE: Lots of people talk about how they play games "for the story", but game narratives are worse than the average B-movie and only slightly better than the average pornographic film.

Hot take: Want to improve your game's story? Then you probably need to reduce the player's freedom.

Agathos wrote:
*Legion* wrote:

HOT TAKE: Lots of people talk about how they play games "for the story", but game narratives are worse than the average B-movie and only slightly better than the average pornographic film.

Hot take: Want to improve your game's story? Then you probably need to reduce the player's freedom.

That right there is probably why I'm hot-taking the "play for the story" camp, because for me, games are more about player choice and the capacity for players to devise creative solutions to problems, and the "story" camp seems to be about valuing cutscenes and tightly scripted sequences. To me, at that point, you might as well watch a movie.

I mean, don't get me wrong, I appreciate some narrative with my crunchy RPG, but trying to make the narrative the central focus and the purpose of playing, not so much.

This all circles back around to why BioShock Infinite was not a good game and why opinions to the contrary are so incomprehensible to me.

HOT TAKE: The HOT TAKE thread is the old haterade threads in disguise.

*Legion* wrote:

HOT TAKE: The HOT TAKE thread is the old haterade threads in disguise.

Your mom is a hot take.

Agathos wrote:
*Legion* wrote:

HOT TAKE: Lots of people talk about how they play games "for the story", but game narratives are worse than the average B-movie and only slightly better than the average pornographic film.

Hot take: Want to improve your game's story? Then you probably need to reduce the player's freedom.

YES, been saying this for years. Player choice is the main reason why games will never be able to equal other forms of media for storytelling in most respects. (There are a few areas where they excel, like when the point of a story is about freedom of choice.. but even there it's usually a one note thing like "would you kindly")

*Legion* wrote:

This all circles back around to why BioShock Infinite was not a good game and why opinions to the contrary are so incomprehensible to me.

Oh preach it! What the heck was that nonsense... sigh. Shooting crows at people was cool. HOT TAKE: game devs need to refine crow-shooting mechanics.

MilkmanDanimal wrote:
*Legion* wrote:

HOT TAKE: The HOT TAKE thread is the old haterade threads in disguise.

Your mom is a hot take.

I would be insulted if I could figure out exactly what it means.

*Legion* wrote:

I would be insulted if I could figure out exactly what it means.

This is now in contention for possible epitaphs.

HOT TAKE: Apparently Breath of the Wild is NOT the perfect game!

*Legion* wrote:
Agathos wrote:
*Legion* wrote:

HOT TAKE: Lots of people talk about how they play games "for the story", but game narratives are worse than the average B-movie and only slightly better than the average pornographic film.

Hot take: Want to improve your game's story? Then you probably need to reduce the player's freedom.

That right there is probably why I'm hot-taking the "play for the story" camp, because for me, games are more about player choice and the capacity for players to devise creative solutions to problems, and the "story" camp seems to be about valuing cutscenes and tightly scripted sequences. To me, at that point, you might as well watch a movie.

I mean, don't get me wrong, I appreciate some narrative with my crunchy RPG, but trying to make the narrative the central focus and the purpose of playing, not so much.

My hot take was inspired by my experience with Horizon Zero Dawn. I hear Julian commenting on the podcast last week, and again this week, that he is delaying the main story line to farm side quests.
But I'm at a point where I had to say, "nuts to your side quests," and am currently powering through to the ending.

I have to wonder, how did we reach this point where we ask games to tell stories, but demand they give up all control over pacing? Pacing is critically important to storytelling. I thought we as a culture had figured that much out.

Still, I like the story. It's a nice frosting on the "hunting robot monsters" cake.

TheHarpoMarxist wrote:
*Legion* wrote:

I would be insulted if I could figure out exactly what it means.

This is now in contention for possible epitaphs.

Or siglines.

Agathos wrote:

I have to wonder, how did we reach this point where we ask games to tell stories, but demand they give up all control over pacing? Pacing is critically important to storytelling.

If I wanted a long, drawn out story, I would ask my son what happened to the full bag of potato chips that was in the pantry.

Hot take: Iron Fist isn't that bad, its just okay and exposes how formulaic the netflix stuff can be. It only looks bad in context or the better Jessica Jones stuff, the greatness of Luke cage, and Daredevil's full comic book moments.

But seriously, put these guys in costumes already. It'll solve the obvious stunt person problem like BLAM!

Atomicvideohead wrote:

But seriously, put these guys in costumes already. It'll solve the obvious stunt person problem like BLAM!

One of the things I thought the Marvel movies did well was to destigmatize super heroes in costumes. There's been this absurd, industry-wide dread of costumed heroes for decades. I was a little surprised to see the Netflix shows fall back into the same wink-wink-nudge-nudge condescension toward comic book costumes that we've seen since David Hayter's jokes about yellow spandex in X-Men.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

I was a little surprised to see the Netflix shows fall back into the same wink-wink-nudge-nudge condescension toward comic book costumes that we've seen since David Hayter's jokes about yellow spandex in X-Men.

Relevant:
IMAGE(https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/b6/4e/a5/b64ea5c99f37cf590134ccc702634d21.jpg)

Yep, that's the one.

I thought that was James Marsden. Wasn't David Hayter Solid Snake? I think I'm missing something.

Grenn wrote:

I thought that was James Marsden. Wasn't David Hayter Solid Snake? I think I'm missing something.

Hayter wrote the screenplay.

ClockworkHouse wrote:
Grenn wrote:

I thought that was James Marsden. Wasn't David Hayter Solid Snake? I think I'm missing something.

Hayter wrote the screenplay. :)

Clock, per usual, bringing the Hayter-ade.

I'm not sure the various movie's attitude towards costumes are really all that different. Cap's really the only one with an actual costume, and even then he initially felt it was stupid and had to realize its value as a symbol for others to rally around. The very first version was silly looking and ill-fitting and Steve did not like it until he turned it into body armor.

“I finally got everything I wanted, and I’m wearing tights.”