The Bill's Now Playing Video Game Thread (Now with Bames)

[Wang Mandu]

That's not even a legitimate complaint. A David Cage game has never been about your gameplay skills and mastery of controls. Please stop posting Beyond review complaints . Most reviewers are nothing more than PR mouthpieces or using that gig as a springboard into the industry itself. For the record, I will not be buying Beyond.

[Wang Mandu]

In a game like this, if I fail I want the character to die like Heavy Rain. There's no way any studio is going to hire Hollywood / top tier voice acting talent and let that happen. It's a waste of money. Like this game and QD's other games, I don't want to fail because trudging through the same scenes over and over is excruciating.

[spacehamster]

Hey Geoff? Maybe Quantic Dream just makes shitty games.

It's possible.

[Spooky Apparition]

I don't think the interaction/failing aspect is nearly as a big of a problem as the fact that the story isn't interesting and the writing is below average. if people were blown away by the story, they'd be a lot more forgiving of the other stuff.

I had a feeling the story wasn't going to hold up when I saw trailers that seemed all over the place and previews from E3 and whatnot were like, "I have no idea what I just played or why it mattered to the story." Cage needs to learn how to tell a normal story well before he tries this deconstructed narrative BS that only a small percentage of real writers can pull off.

[Wang Mandu]

If any game has multiple ways to tackle a scenario and actually affects the rest of the game even somewhat, I'll probably play it again. I played through The Witcher games at least 3-4 times a piece, I've sunk a ton of hours into Dark Souls and will play through it again before DSII releases.

I don't think he's a monster, he needs to tighten up his writing. I think he's a goof and says some dumb stuff from time to time but he's got heart and I'll take one of his games over uninspired yearly sequels or dull me too games.

[Spooky Apparition]

and yes, I'm saying Cage isn't a real writer. he'd struggle to get high grades in an undergrad writing class. and I have the authority to say that because I'm grading a giant stack right now and most of them probably have better dialogue than some of what I've heard coming out of the other room.

[Wang Mandu]

He definitely needs a few co-writers and ones that are native English speaking accomplished writers because I can't imagine how hard it is to write something like Beyond's 2,000 page script in a second language.

[Wang Mandu]

Speaking at a panel promoting Beyond: Two Souls in Sydney this evening, Cage said he hadn’t been strongly influenced by consumer feedback on Heavy Rain, Quantic Dream’s last release.

“The thing is, if Heavy Rain had been a complete disaster, then probably I would have changed my mind. But actually you try not to be too influenced by the feedback because otherwise you become a marketing person,” he said.

“It’s like, I get my list of things that people wanted or didn’t want and I’m just going to tick the boxes and try to make them happy.

“This is not how I work and I don’t think any creative person can work that way – you just do what you believe in, or you go where your instinct leads you. And hope it won’t turn out completely wrong.”

That said, Cage said he was “inspired” by his meetings with players who would relate their experience with Heavy Rain.

“Still today, three years after the game’s release, there are still people telling me about what happened to them in Heavy Rain, in a very personal way – as if was something that happened to them in their real life, which is brilliant, I think. This is great; I can feel this; I find this very inspiring,” he said.

“But at the same time, yeah, some people liked this, and some people liked that – okay, fair enough, now let me try something else. Let me try another direction, and see if I can do better this time.”

I don't see a problem with any of this. I don't think he's an egomaniac, misguided and starry eyed perhaps, and word is he's quite a nice guy to work for.

[The Bill]

I guess I just feel like if the writing in your game is almost universally disparaged, even by people like me who enjoy the games, not hiring a writer to get you through this stuff-- insisting on the auteur shit still-- seems like hubris. It's not that he has this controversial style that some people don't get, it's that the writing is flat-out bad. And I guess I could be mistaking the starry-eyed stuff you describe with ego, but FUCK when he talks about the EMOTIONS in his games and how great they are I see a man up his own ass. He needs to step away from AUTEUR and let a collaborative effort happen if he wants his games to move forward.

He also needs more fucking tits.

[spacehamster]

Played Outlast for a bit today. I'll give it some more time, but so far, it's basically, discover totally not predictable plot about human experiments gone wrong at the creepy lunatic asylum by reading found documents, and have lots of jump scares. It has its moments - there's been one jump scare setup so far that was really good, and hiding in lockers peeking through narrow slits trying to figure out if the big scary mutant that you can barely see is gone yet is appropriately creepy, but I expect that'll get old pretty soon.

[canon.docre]

Played Outlast for a bit today. I'll give it some more time, but so far, it's basically, discover totally not predictable plot about human experiments gone wrong at the creepy lunatic asylum by reading found documents, and have lots of jump scares. It has its moments - there's been one jump scare setup so far that was really good, and hiding in lockers peeking through narrow slits trying to figure out if the big scary mutant that you can barely see is gone yet is appropriately creepy, but I expect that'll get old pretty soon.

are you playing this lights off, headphones on, slightly buzzed/stoned? for maximum effect

[spacehamster]

are you playing this lights off, headphones on, slightly buzzed/stoned? for maximum effect

I was just thinking yesterday, actually, that if I played this with headphones I'd probably give myself a heart attack. The player character's panting is seriously unnerving.

[The Bill]

SRIV finished. Some minor gripes aside in a year if really excellent games this was one of the most fun ones.

Alright, enough with the fun loving homicidal gangsters for awhile. Let's go horror.

[copstache]

[Spooky Apparition]

you mean the wolf among us? I'm definitely interested, but want to read more of what other people think before buying the whole season in advance... I like the concept, but I'm not familiar with the comic and the trailers haven't totally convinced me.

I'm waiting for word on walking dead season 2, dammit. I thought they said it would be out this year, but that's looking doubtful.

[canon.docre]

anyone playing Dragon's Prophet? Its not too shab.

[guardianoftheblind]

so i've been playing the BF4 beta a lot more lately and it's actually pretty damn fun BUT you can really see how far behind these consoles are now. you can play a lot of the map with little to no action and the visuals are super super dated. (i know it's a beta and i know the retail game will launch with an HD pack like 3 did, but still.)

it also doesn't help that the map sucks ass and half of each team just posts up on a roof and snipes all match long.

i am definitely getting this on next gen for the better visuals, bigger maps, and more players, but the current gen version can fuck off

[copstache]

I'm waiting for word on walking dead season 2, dammit. I thought they said it would be out this year, but that's looking doubtful.

the leads on season 1 broke off and started their own company like 2-3 weeks ago. not sure who's working on season 2.

[Spooky Apparition]

wait, idle thumbs is back? i used to listen to it all the time until the last episode in 2010 or '11. is it the same guys and everything? apparently i'm completely out of the loop...

[FVBTVS]

>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeAjkbNq4xI<

[Cryptoplasty]

I listen to a lot of video game podcasts, but I had to stop listening to idle thumbs because those guys are so far up their own asses all the time. The way they talk about video games makes me not want to play them anymore. They're humor makes me cringe. They also throw around the word 'ludonarrative' a little bit too much.

[guardianoftheblind]

the dudes from retronauts were like that a lot too. way too fucking pretentious for dudes who play video games for a living

[Cryptoplasty]

Retronauts is back. Bob Mackey is still a giant fuckbag. I like the other guys enough to keep listening and it's probably better now than it was before.

[copstache]

I'm waiting for word on walking dead season 2, dammit. I thought they said it would be out this year, but that's looking doubtful.

the leads on season 1 broke off and started their own company like 2-3 weeks ago. not sure who's working on season 2.

I just read about this after you posted-- So that dude from Idle Thumbs broke off with the Mark of the Ninja guy? Should be interesting.

Does anyone listen to Idle Thumbs? I think that and Giant Bombcast are the only game podcasts I can stand anymore-- they actually seem to know something about the subject. Idle Thumbs is cool because those guys actually, you know, make games.

i've been into idle thumbs since their very first episode; i love those guys. i played a ton of minecraft with jake back in the day.

the show's been a little weird over the last year or so since none of them really pay many games anymore but they still have really interesting insight that you don't really hear anywhere else.

but yes, it's jake and sean from telltale/thumbs, the dude from mark of the ninja, and olly moss (artist) in the new studio. i'm super excited to see what they make, i like all of those guys.

regarding retronauts, the new episodes are the best it's been in a long time. i don't dislike bob mackey but at the same time i don't think he adds much. i wish they could just have dr. sparkle (chrontendo) on the show every week. if i had my wish, it'd be jeremy, ray, shane bettenhausen, and chris kohler as the ideal lineup.

those two, and the giant bombcast are basically all i listen to anymore. as bummed as i am about ryan davis passing, i think those guys have done a great job of picking up and carrying on. i like having drew on the mic more.

[Cryptoplasty]

Giant Bombcast is by far my favorite, even after Ryan died. They make non-game talk very interesting. For anyone that doesn't know, Patrick Klepick and Alex Navarro have their own podcast they do on Mondays and Fridays. It's very different from the Bombcast in that it's gaming specific, and they don't go off the rails. I think I trust Patrick more that anyone in the game industry.

Some other ones I listen to consistantly:

-RadioRadar (games radar podcast). Probably my favorite after the bombcast, and highly recommended. Though the host Hollander Cooper can be slightly annoying at times.

-Weekend Confirmed. Garnett Lee will always be a crying faggot, but this is atill a great podcast. Especially when Canatta and Lee start flying off the rails.

-CAGcast. Most of you probably won't like this one, but I can relate to these guys a lot.

-Vidjagame Apocolypse. Any podcast with Chris Antista is great.

-8-4. Like Idle Thumbs, these guys are wayyyyy up their own asses, but I still like it.

-Player One Podcast.


I've been through all the IGN podcasts, Destructoid, Joystiq, Game Informer, but none of them hold my interest anymore.