XCOM 2, Rise of The Tomb Raider (PC), The Witness, How Pre-Release Coverage & Opinion Effects Our Games, Your Emails and More!
(We are aware direct downloads are a bit weird for some folks. Working on it! Try a different browser for now.)
This week Sean Sands, Shawn, Allen and Amanda talk about how pre-release coverage and opinions effect their game experience.
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.
Links:
Music credits:
Add And - Broke for Free - http://brokeforfree.com/ - 45:41
Juparo - Broke for Free - http://brokeforfree.com/ - 1:05:47
Comments
Could easily have been my comment that Certis referenced in the show re: Julian's comments on The Witness... feeling a bit crummy. Will have another look when I'm not drunk on a train, and probably apologise.
Main topic is definitely salient for me at the moment with a lot of the games I am/have been playing and want to play. Need to have a sit and think about what I put out there and take in re: games.
But first, I'm going home to finish Firewatch and feel depressed about doing so drunk.
@timeyles | Steam | Battle.net troubleshot#1672 | Uplay troubleshot-GWJ
00:01:54 XCOM 2
00:29:14 Rise of the Tomb Raider
00:38:17 The Witness
00:45:41 Pre-Release Expectations
01:05:47 Your Emails
Sands, i think you've got some control issues:) Because i know i do, and i felt the same way with the first game. But the mods that are already on offer allow you to make changes to play the game the way you want to play. I've latched onto the delayed timer mod (the timer doesn't advance until you break concealment, unless it's a story mode mission), the mod that adds turns to the timer, and extra supplies. They've let me relax to learn the systems, and not feel like i'm hitting my head against a wall. I've only lost one soldier, and haven't had to restart any missions, and it feels like i can really learn and get better, and work within the game. Later, i'm sure i'll up the difficulty to match my skills better, but the developers have really made it possible for the fans to play the way they want to.
...what kind of insane person whips out a nine year-old thread at the drop of a hat?
I wish you guys would stop encouraging him.
EvilHomer3k wrote:You are an evil, evil person.
Baron Of Hell wrote:YOU VILLAIN!
Let's be serious. I knew the answer to that question before I sent that e-mail. I'm so glad I sent it anyway.
Well, I've got this cabbage...
Can we direct some Patreon funds to have the 'warts and all' story of Elysium's destroyed controller performed by Graham Rowat?
The most surprising part of this week's conference call, so far anyway, is the fact that I am now genuinely interested in playing the new Tomb Raider game.
I have never played a Tomb Raider game in my life, unless you count the isometric dual-stick shooters, but Elysium's effusive praise of the game has me intrigued.
Jonman Wrote:
Yes, you can cancel Darksiders, but only by using your Sony Golds. Which, while pretty good, aren't a patch on Zelda.
I'm A Steam Curator!
I like the timers in XCOM2. Not that I don't feel the pressure. I definitely do. I think the timers serve two purposes. The first is that they create a cost for Overwatch-heavy play. You can still do that, but you're going to pay for it, whereas that wasn't the case before. The second is that they support the narrative that XCOM is a Special Ops force focused on small squad strikes. They can't sustain a bang-out fight with the real alien army so they just don't. They hit facilities without warning and bug out before anyone gets there. If you're left behind, you auto-lose.
This also helps explain why the alien forces on the ground are so sparse - they're security troops only, not an entire alien regiment. Reinforcements actually do arrive quite quickly - probably from a local reinforcement site, but the REAL army comes when the timer runs out.
The way this all works is that I don't have to sustain so much disbelief about how XCOM works the way it does. In the first game, you have to keep wondering why an elite military operation keeps sending just a handful of guys to secure supposedly important locations.
"...mahal ko ang longganisa!" - Demosthenes
Re: The email about playing as "The World" in asymmetric multiplayer games - the first game that immediately comes to mind is Mario Maker. The entire point of the game is to be the antagonist, crafting the world that other players will have to successfully navigate to win.
Invasions in Dark Souls also have a kind of "Play against the Player" mindset, but it does put you on more equal footing. If invaders could set traps that they could spring against players, that would add an interesting wrinkle to that scenario.
I also think about games like Kill the Plumber, older games like Gyromite, and tower defense games like Defense Grid, which are single-player but flip the notion of playing against the environment and instead playing AS the environment.
"You've got to go on without me. I'm stuck for the next 2 turns."
Anytime a games puts a time limit on something, I'm out. I have enough pressure from real life stuff, I don't want that from games I want to unwind in.
Hearing the podcast, that was the way I wished the game had framed things—maybe to the point of showing the main force arrive or something.
I know none of the Conference Call attendees were on The Week Ahead duty when it came out, but Kill The Plumber is exactly about playing as the enemies in Mario. For the indie-hippie gamers, I might also mention Jason Rohrer's Castle Doctrine, when it comes to the sort of asymmetric level-design multiplayer.
Words... are a big deal.
Jill Lapore wrote:Editing is one of the great inventions of civilization.
PSN: UpToIsomorphism
oilypenguin: That is a terrible joke and I'd ask you to be ashamed of yourself but you've been around here long enough that I know you'll be proud of it.
detroit20: UptoIsomorphism has it right.
I had such an attack of nostalgia when I heard that question that I had to create an account to reply. Does anyone else remember The Hunt for Red October on the Game Boy? The single-player game is a basic side-scroller, but with the Game Link, the second player would be the Soviet navy, selecting enemies to control one at a time.
The single-player game was hard enough against the computer, so I don't think the Red October player stood much of a chance of finishing the game.
Of course you needed two cartridges to play and it wasn't something that everybody owned like Super Mario Land, so I could only play that mode a few times. Because of that, it only felt more exotic and revolutionary.
Loved that small little hesitation from Certis when telling the story about the timer mission: he's talking about his trooper named Karla and he says "I'd never put my...characters in that kind of situation." I'd never put my wife in that situation. Karla showed up in my current playthrough, and she's a badass Specialist, hacking MECs left and right.
Edit: Also, yes, such a bummer that there's no controller support. I've gotten used to the mouse and keyboard, but I miss my controller.
These things happen to other people.
Confessions of a Rice Farmer
Chalk me up as someone who loves the timers. It forces me to not rely on the boring sure win overwatch advance tactic, and makes the game so much more thematically on point than its predecessor.
(Color me unsurprised that Sean "I revel in besting small children" Sands doesn't like it though. )
Do you read Sutter Cane?
My goodness, but it's lucky I'm not on the conference call, or the answer to that email could have been its own show.
Jonman Wrote:
Yes, you can cancel Darksiders, but only by using your Sony Golds. Which, while pretty good, aren't a patch on Zelda.
I'm A Steam Curator!
Here's your free lesson today, Mrs. Margaret's Kindergarten class -- you don't want to lose, don't play the game. *drops mic*
The thing about smart people is they seem like crazy people to dumb people -- Thing I saw on the Internet
Oh man, Vanguard. I'm really proud of my young self at that time. I wanted that to be good so badly, but even I could admit it was horrid.
I feel like the best way to describe The Witness is that it's a metroidvania, except instead of finding a new item that lets you progress, you learn the mechanics of how a puzzle works and can then use that knowledge to help you get further into the island.
There's SO much going on in that game and I really don't feel like two hours is enough time to really discover exactly what the game has to offer. There's a definite "Moment" in that game
that really makes you realize that there's so much going on and that the game is more than just line puzzles on panels.
I do understand that the game requires a certain headspace, but in true GWJ fashion, it is literally the perfect game for me to play to sip some hot cocoa or a cup of coffee after work and relax and not have to worry about anything other than solving some puzzles, looking at some beautiful artwork, and finding some secrets.
The weird thing is that Ever Vigilant kind of allows you a little bit of that Overwatch tactic, so it's not like it isn't there. Kill Zone is a similar feeling power. You can advance very aggressively and still enjoy Overwatch. The big difference is that the top alien units won't be killed by one or two Overwatch shots anymore, so even if you crawled forward, it'd probably feel the same anyway.
"...mahal ko ang longganisa!" - Demosthenes
Only tangentially related, but this article reminded me of the talk about Steam refunds
Firewatch Developer Offers Classy Response To Steam Refund Request
Destiny: spawn.die.repeat | Elite: Paleogamer/Anne Trovert | Secret World: tanstaafl
Yeah, that was handled with a lot more grace than I'd likely be able to muster—or even want to.
Words... are a big deal.
Jill Lapore wrote:Editing is one of the great inventions of civilization.