Conference Call

GWJ Conference Call Episode 295

Dragon's Dogma, Payday: The Heist, Diablo III, Our 100% Accurate E3 Predictions, Your Emails and more!

This week we make 100% accurate E3 predictions!

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.

Sponsor

Tech Thing Daily
Game Thing Daily
Good Old Games
Tweaked Audio (Use discount code GWJ)

Dragon's Dogma
http://www.gamerswithjobs.com/node/111982]Diablo III
Payday: The Heist

  • Subscribe with iTunes
  • Subscribe with RSS
  • Subscribe with Yahoo!
Download the official apps
  • Download the GWJ Conference Call app for Android
  • Download the GWJ Conference Call app for Android

Show credits

Music credits: 

Intro/Outtro Music - Ian Dorsch, Willowtree Audioworks

Menu Music - Payday: The Heist - http://www.overkillsoftware.com/payday/ - 25:33

Mini-Boss Theme - Dragon's Dogma - http://www.dragonsdogma.com/ - 54:52

Comments

I know there are a lot of Shadow of Colossus comparisons being made, particularly as the game's demo involves climbing the Chimera and thus that comes to everyone's mind first, but I think Dragon's Dogma differentiates the classes enough that there is much more to it than that. As I stated in the thread, when I face a Cyclops I spend most of my time loosing arrows in its face. If it happens to have armor and a mask on, then I climb it and whack at its swingin' arm until my pawn cohorts knock the mask off. Then I hop on down and aim for the face again.

I also think there are plenty of monsters where climbing is not ideal. A cyclops never thinks to do more than reach behind itself, trying to grab whoever is climbing his back up, but the ogre in Everfall quickly figured out the best strategy was to leap into the air and drop onto its back, crushing me. There is also the option at hacking at a Cyclops' legs to make it topple, putting his face in range for most melee attacks.

Which leads into the frequent complaint many have about travel time. They're not wrong, but unlike games like Oblivion and such, combat in this game is actually fun. So even if I've already traveled to Shadowfort twice now, the third time is still fun. Especially since that Chimera was a crippling foe the first time, but by the third time I'm passing through I just crack my knuckles, stretch my back and say "Okay, time for that cyclops with the Hobgoblins up ahead".

Because if you don't travel and fight in this game, you will die. A lot. Leveling up matters.

I think what is most terrible about your E3 predictions is that most of them weren't far off.

In regards to paying a monthly subscription for single-player content, wouldn't that just be DLC?

Zacny convinced me to pick up Payday: The Heist and man, am I glad he enabled me on this one. Julian's comparison to Left 4 Dead is apt, especially since there's some kind of crossover in the works.

It's obviously a lot more fun with friends than with pubbies, and voice communication is crucial, which definitely adds to the tension of each scenario. Julian's right about the scenarios having the same objectives, but I think there is a little bit of randomization each time you play -- for example, in the first scenario, the bank manager may be in different locations in different playthroughs. But the majority of objectives are static. Which is important, because you will probably fail and have to restart.

What I love most about this game is that failing a mission is not a deterrent to further play. I actually feel inspired to try again, to get the the objectives faster, to try facing off the cops in different locations, etc. It's very much like L4D in that way.

By the way, Certis. Lost Planet 3?

Prequel.

Welcome to this week's rundown, misappropriatedly funded by Glorious Clams Cannery Ltd. The only thing "fishier" than our product is our stock price!

00.02.53 Payday: The Heist
00.08.05 Dragon's Dogma
00.20.48 Diablo III
00.24.07 Valve I love you but...
00.26.53 E3 predictions
00.56.13 Your emails

"Our trilogy is over but the generation isn't done yet. What do we do?!"

Glad to know I wasn't the only one who was thinking that

EDIT:

I think what is most terrible about your E3 predictions is that most of them weren't far off.

Yeah that's kinda scary. Except for the Xperia Play being buried.

Also, thanks Sheawn for reading my question!

Nothing to see here.

Sorta, kinda tempted by Dragon's Dogma.

You can change the behavior of your pawns, including telling them to shut up. Just interact with the chair at any of the inns although this only works for your own pawns. For the rest of your party you can just recruit pawns from friends. Alternatively the pawn rating system includes canned comments for "omg your pawn talks way too much", then gift them a forged health potion when can't stand their chatter.

4 million for Carnival Games? That's a million more than Amalur needed to sell for 38 Studios to stay alive! They totally should have started off with Schilling-branded, pitching-based Wii shovelware.

Curt Schilling's Kidz Pitchin'

I heard rabbit say that he believes the Xbox 3 is 2 years away and the PS4 is 3 years away. I could not disagree with this more. Last year Paul Thurrott, a tech reporter specializing in Microsoft with contacts in the company, said that everything he was hearing from them foretold that Xbox 3 would be 2012. Of course, we know now that it is not releasing this year, but considering that dev kits have been "in the wild" for quite a while, I don't see any chance that MS would push their next console to 2014. And even if they did, Sony would not make repeat the mistake of releasing their new console a year after MS, which would be 2015 as rabbit suggeted.

That said, if the WiiU has a slow start in terms of sales, I could maybe see MS be willing to ride the 360 until 2014, but I don't expect the WiiU's numbers to be bad enough for that to happen. Therefore I fully expect both the Xbox 3 and PS4 to be released next year.

MeatMan wrote:

Therefore I fully expect both the Xbox 3 and PS4 to be released next year.

The problem I see is that everyone's been predicting a 'sure thing' of next gen coming "next year" for a few years now, based on all sorts of 'solid' reasoning. I'll believe it when I see it.

Scratched wrote:
MeatMan wrote:

Therefore I fully expect both the Xbox 3 and PS4 to be released next year.

The problem I see is that everyone's been predicting a 'sure thing' of next gen coming "next year" for a few years now

I guess you're more jacked in to the buzz than me, but last year was the first year that I'd heard anything reliable about a new console ... from any of the big three.

ccesarano wrote:

By the way, Certis. Lost Planet 3?

Prequel.

Also, God of War: Ascension?

Prequel as well. Enjoy your Kratos backstory.

Slacker1913 wrote:
ccesarano wrote:

By the way, Certis. Lost Planet 3?

Prequel.

Also, God of War: Ascension?

Prequel as well. Enjoy your Kratos backstory. :P

I'm trying to make a tally.

Prequels of 2012:

God of War: Ascension
Gears of War: Judgment
Lost Planet 3
Tomb Raider

Wasn't there at least one more mentioned in the Conference Call?

The next step is para-quels--storylines that take place in alternate realities at the same moment in the time continuum of their paradecessors.

Like the Walking Dead game from Telltale?

Nice promo this week. My ear buds are in the mail

Kyekye wrote:

Nice promo this week. My ear buds are in the mail

Awesome! I think a bunch of people picked them up. I really do enjoy them quite a bit. They blow the Ear Candy buds I had out of the water.

padriec wrote:

Like the Walking Dead game from Telltale?

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 doesn't quite do this, but does a storyline running in parallel with KH1 and KH2.

I think the problem here is that honestly, all the money is in software, not hardware. I honestly think that if the CAN they WILL push new hardware out as far as they can, only releasing it when their gut tells them there going to start losing market share to someone else. Imagine a world where there was actual collusion (which I'm certainly not saying there is). It would benefit BOTH sony AND Microsoft to push of the next generation of hardware for another few years. The year they launch a new console, their actual profitability int he games divisions will go into the toilet.

Still, it was May when I made the statement -- I could *easily* see a world where we get a 2 year hype cycle on the new consoles from Sony and MSFT, just like we have with the Wii U: formally announced at E3 2011, shipping end of 2012. With that hype cycle, MSFT formally announces 2013, ships 2014.

Is it *possible* or even a decent change that both sony and msft flood the box starting around March 2013 (to let holiday sales finish out), and go from zero to launch window in 9 months? Sure. But I think they'll want more runway than that.

MeatMan wrote:

And even if they did, Sony would not make repeat the mistake of releasing their new console a year after MS, which would be 2015 as rabbit suggeted.

Sony won't have to. 2015 is when the PS3 will finally achieve its full potential.

Gravey wrote:

Sony won't have to. 2015 is when the PS3 will finally achieve its full potential.

Time to "Year of PS3" link: 5 minutes.

Nicely done.

EDIT: Hey look! Joust was at E3!

Why aren't we talking about how Rabbit is a bad parent?

Because I want to be a bad parent too. The only place I could play it is surrounded by kids.

Diablo 3 - you sick temptress.

rabbit wrote:

Is it *possible* or even a decent change that both sony and msft flood the box starting around March 2013 (to let holiday sales finish out), and go from zero to launch window in 9 months? Sure. But I think they'll want more runway than that.

No. They need a year of previews of CoD, BF4, ACWhatever, and Halo/Gears/Resistance/That other Sony shooter is. They need a year to showcase the brand new IP for the new platform, and actually convince people that it's going to be worth it to get the new system at launch.

That's the only way that they're going to get sales. This generation has been almost entirely about content over horsepower. The next generation is going to be the same.

cube wrote:

This generation has been almost entirely about content over horsepower. The next generation is going to be the same.

Well that's certainly not how it started... Bling bling 360, "HD Generation", and PS3 supercomputer hyperbole and all that.

shoptroll wrote:

hyperbole and all that.

Isn't that the important bit? It's pretty much hype 99% of the time. The great thing is that you can train yourself to look beyond that and ask if what they're trying to sell really matters to you.

Doesn't it make sense to say that this generation was about tech at the beginning and content after the tech wasn't new anymore? Because this generation is so long, the content part is stretched out.

Huzzah, Autumn Dynasty got a mention! /dev

Also I know it was just said in jest, but the whole being perceived as just a mobile game thing is something we're really struggling with. People already have the idea that by default a mobile game is a lesser, inferior experience.

PS game is already released =P

By the way, you guys really think the next generation is that far off? I was thinking about waiting for the next gen to get back into consoles - but it seems it might be a good idea to pick up a PS3 now, especially for the exclusives. Do we know if backwards compatibility will be there?

rabbit wrote:

I think the problem here is that honestly, all the money is in software, not hardware. I honestly think that if the CAN they WILL push new hardware out as far as they can, only releasing it when their gut tells them there going to start losing market share to someone else. Imagine a world where there was actual collusion (which I'm certainly not saying there is). It would benefit BOTH sony AND Microsoft to push of the next generation of hardware for another few years. The year they launch a new console, their actual profitability int he games divisions will go into the toilet.

With the exception of the Wii, doesn't console hardware exist to sell software? At some point, they'll have to admit that the AAA devs are out of ideas, and the easiest way to sell new AAA titles is to allow for a new-gen refresh.

FinalExcalibur wrote:

Huzzah, Autumn Dynasty got a mention! /dev

Also I know it was just said in jest, but the whole being perceived as just a mobile game thing is something we're really struggling with. People already have the idea that by default a mobile game is a lesser, inferior experience.

PS game is already released =P

By the way, you guys really think the next generation is that far off? I was thinking about waiting for the next gen to get back into consoles - but it seems it might be a good idea to pick up a PS3 now, especially for the exclusives. Do we know if backwards compatibility will be there?

My barely-informed guess: Little to no backwards compatibility. I think MS and Sony see a bigger opportunity in the market to sell older games back to us, instead of letting us run the copies we have. And who can blame them? Retro sells really well.

Also, your game looks completely amazing. It's on my list of games to finally pick up and make time for. Looking forward to it.