Loot River

GWJ Conference Call 813

Citizen Sleeper (PC), Planet Coaster (PC), Ghost of Tsushima (PS5), Rogue Legacy 2 (PC), Loot River (PC), Trek to Yomi (PC), When it's good to be the bad guy, and more!

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Rich, Amanda, and Glendon are joined by Jason Silvera aka ThatGuy42 to talk about why it's good to be bad sometimes.

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Comments

00:01:59 Citizen Sleeper
00:14:20 Planet Coaster
00:21:00 Ghost of Tsushima
00:23:04 Star Trek Online
00:23:33 Rogue Legacy 2
00:32:48 Loot River
00:33:38 Trek to Yomi
00:38:50 Playing the Villain
00:56:30 GWJ Housekeeping
01:02:08 Thread of the Week

Great to hear you on the podcast ThatGuy42. You’ve inspired me to keep going with Far Cry 6.

After Ghost of Tsushima, which has sublime, beautifully animated combat, I was put off by the look of the combat in Trek to Yomi (I also heard various people describing it as weak) but hearing that it has a look and story reminiscent of Kurosawa movies has renewed my interest in the game. I have been on a Kurosawa movie binge recently and am blown away by how sophisticated those films are.

I enjoy playing as morally grey characters as their stories, in the hands of a skilled writer, can create a powerful moral tension between the character you’ve become attached to and their dubious or immoral actions.

It’s possible to tell moral stories with immoral or villainous characters. I enjoy straight forward hero tales, one person overcoming impossible odds through sheer will and strength of character, but it’s equally interesting to play as someone who has lost their way in life or who feel they’ve found a shortcut to power and riches at other peoples expense only to later to meet a terrible and inevitable fate or, when brought face to face with the awful consequences of their actions, change slowly to be a better person.

At the start of the latest God of War Kratos is still the brooding, vengeful God of War from the earlier games and treats, his son, Atreus badly (it’s hard to witness at times) but gradually, over the course of the game, he realises the damage he is doing and that he needs to change. He doesn’t magically become a pure hearted hero but he tries and succeeds in becoming a better person and much better father.

In Red Dead Redemption 2 (I’ll refrain from talking about the over all story other than to say it to is also very moral story despite early actions Arthur takes) there is an incident that illustrates how powerful it can be for the player to witness a character’s inner journey:

Spoiler:

Arthur returns to camp one day to find Sadie Adler having a very loud argument with the cook. She’s been put to work in the kitchen despite insisting that she’s a capable rider and marksman. Arthur takes her into town, to stop the pair arguing as much as anything, and is very dismissive of her complaints. Once in town Arthur subs her the money for some new clothes and Sadie kits her self out in more suitable clothes for riding, etc complete with cowboy hat. As they ride home the pair fight off some bandits who try to hold them up and, as they arrive back to camp Arthur says, ‘I would ride with you again Ms Adler.’ From that point on she becomes a respected riding partner and friend.

A small ginger and brown cat has just arrived and curled up in the crook of my left arm. He is fastidiously cleaning himself as I type this.

Beckett wrote:

00:01:59 Citizen Sleeper
00:14:20 Planet Coaster
00:21:00 Ghost of Tsushima
00:23:04 Star Trek Online
00:23:33 Rogue Legacy 2
00:32:48 Loot River
00:33:38 Trek to Yomi
00:38:50 Playing the Villain
00:56:30 GWJ Housekeeping
01:02:08 Thread of the Week

Beckett putting in WORK this week

Interesting discussion. I never play games where I am the bad guy. I just have no desire to experience that as entertainment. I can let go things like shooters murdering scores of baddies because they're terrorists or mercenaries or monsters. Games like Payday are borderline - maybe the cops are all bad? THAT SCENE in Spec Ops: The Line made me physically nauseous and I had to leave the game for a while. I don't watch shows like Breaking Bad or movies like The Joker for the same reasons. I don't even understand how parents let their kids dress up like Darth Vader. Am I just narrow-minded? Maybe so...

I'm surprised TIE Fighter didn't come up in the topic.

I am 100% embarrassed that I did not discuss TIE Fighter. I'm pretty sure my college computer was used 95% for TIE fighter and 5% for coursework my freshman year of college.

ThatGuy42 wrote:

I am 100% embarrassed that I did not discuss TIE Fighter. I'm pretty sure my college computer was used 95% for TIE fighter and 5% for coursework my freshman year of college.

I had it in my notes but missed it in the moment. I regret that error. Also, apologies for mispronouncing your last name, Jason!

I expected you to mention that Jason was describing himself playing the villain by making his sadistic rollercoasters in Planet Coasters.

And if you jump into Rogue Legacy 2, and I hope you do, the forum thread is pretty active.

Bottle Rockets shirts! Extra funny when I get one for my baby who falls asleep to me playing Rocket League sometimes. I would love to see racing jackets like formula 1 some day. Or bowling league shirts!