I don’t know exactly how it happened… but it happened. We brought up Destiny as a one-off joke in the intro, and we somehow spent almost a significant chunk of the podcast talking about it. The best part is that none of us own the game, so we have no reason to really give out our opinion on it. Garrett and I played the beta, but that’s it (though I hear not much has changed between then and the main release).

And that really hampered the rest of the cast, because it left us much less time to really talk about what we wanted to talk about. Although we continuous fail to do so, we really are trying to shorten up these podcasts. It’s just that one conversation leads to another, which leads to another. By the time we realize it, we’ve spent 20 minutes discussing cupcakes and no one has any idea why that is.
It’s both the shows greatest strength and weakness.

Having said that, here’s the show.

The MP3 of this episode can be found here.

0:00:00 Introduction
Sam, I just want you to know that THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!

0:03:34 Viewer Question
“Have you guys ever played the original Unreal or Unreal 2? If so, what did you think of them?”
My youth betrays me when these types of questions come up. Not only are these games before my time more often than not, but even if they were from my time, I haven’t been using my PC for gaming for very long. I’ve only had a computer capable of playing smaller games fairly well for a few years now, so I missed out/am missing out on many good PC games. In many ways, I’m still playing catch-up. Part of me hopes that when I graduate college, I’ll be able to upgrade to a really good gaming PC and get much deeper into it. Until then, I have other things I need to use my money for.

0:08:50 Chris has a question about manga.
While I myself don’t read a lot of manga, I have many friends who do. Sam is very right, MangaFox is the place to go for manga. Though I am less familiar with it, Sam also recommended All Mangas Reader to check out.
As a child, I used to read many of the popular Shonen Jump manga, but not many of the less known ones. Growing up, money became more tight, and when it came time to start cancelling subscriptions, Shonen Jump was one of the first to go. When my friends introduced me to MangaFox much later, I was already too far behind and didn’t want to spend all that time playing catch up.
I only really gave up on manga because I used to be really into Naruto, but a particular moment in the series pretty much destroyed any interest I had in it. After Pain killed so many characters, and then almost immediately brought them back to life, I stopped caring. It showed me that death is completely meaningless. Once that happens, it becomes much harder to invest yourself in the events that go on, since you know they is a good chance they will be made meaningless.
Is it unfair to judge all mange/anime because on one? Yes. Will that stop me from doing precisely that? No.
Having said that, that isn’t just a problem you see in manga/anime. ANY series that goes on for too long with suffer from that. That’s probably why my favorite animes (Code Geass and Death Note, for the record) only had two seasons and ended before they had a chance to turn into crap. Sam has recommended a lot of anime to me, and I probably should watch a few of them sometime.

0:21:26 I joke about Destiny… and come to regret it.
I’m sorry listeners. I truly am.
I still can’t fathom why they wouldn’t put the database containing all the game’s story in the actual game, even as just a text file. It boggles the mind. The database exists in RPGs for precisely that reason. Some people don’t care about story, but the ones that do can look up any extra details they might be curious about.
This game was clearly over-hyped, even worse than Watch_Dogs was. It’s not what I would call a bad game, but it is totally outclassed by many of its contemporaries. Honestly, if Destiny interests you, you are simply better off playing Borderlands 2.
In the premier episode of this podcast, I made a joke that Destiny was about “fighting the darkness with my keyblade,” but it is worse than that. Shit all you want about Kingdom Hearts, but it has characters than make an impact, with their own personalities and motivations. Furthermore, light and darkness are very strongly defined concepts. Destiny lacks both of these.
I just cannot see the appeal of it. It doesn’t even seem all that ambitious to me. In fact, the game looks very safe.

0:41:05 Chris talks a bit more about Serious Sam (and we stop talking about Destiny)
Hearing Chris talk about Serious Sam 3 on the 360 really, really sucks. That should NEVER happen on a console. There really isn’t an excuse for that. If the devs didn’t have time to port it to the console properly, they shouldn’t release it on that console.
Even on the PC, some of the things Chris is talking about are simply inexcusable. I get the distinct impression that the developers were probably pressed in terms of either time or money, possibly both. Most developers don’t release games in a state like that unless they have to, because they take pride in their work. What a shame.

0:48:45 Chris talks about Fist of the North Star and Dynesty Warriors-esque games.
Not much for me too add here, unfortunately. It’s Dynesty Warriors, you either know about it or you don’t.

0:51:30 The conversation transitions into Gundam, then Zoids.
It has been so long since I watched the Gundam anime that most of the finer details elude me. All I remember is some anime dude putting on a rubber suit, stepping into a cockpit, and then air boxing the shit out of other robots.
For some reason, I have significantly stronger memories of Zoids. Though many names elude me, the characters, faces, and overall storylines are still in my mind. This is probably because I kept up with the series with greater frequency as a child.

I should apologize for my belligerence during this segment. There were two main reasons for that. One of them is something you might have noticed from the recording. I was sick, and my voiced might have given that away.
The other reason is that I has to be up super early for work, so I didn’t want the recording to go on for too long.

1:00:55 I am getting sick of Project X Zone.
It was a very interesting game at first. However, the game doesn’t really add a lot in terms of variety as it goes on.
Oh sure, the initial objective might vary from mission to mission. However, once that is complete, the game will ALWAYS make you kill everything afterward. At the start, the game is content with making you simply kill a boss to end a mission. However, that stops really early on.
As a result, one single chapter (in other words, one battle) can take over an hour to win, sometimes more than 2 hours. And the game has 48 chapters. The game does have a quicksave, but since I only play for 20 minutes at a time (the length of my commute to either work or school), I don’t feel like I’m making progress.
It’s boring, it’s slow, and it’s annoying.

1:05:33 I play more Digital Devil Saga
On the other hand, this game has been getting more and more interesting as I play. It’s like most SMT games in that it is much more important to get the right skills than to level up. With the right setup, a low level party can easily topple a high level boss by striking weaknesses to get extra turns and using their own skills to absorb enemy attacks.
As for the story, it’s good, but even in this space here, I would not be able to explain it. I know it’s weird to ask you to trust me on that, but I’m asking you to trust me on that.

1:12:05 I tell the cast that I’ve been sick.
Y’know. I just assumed everyone used Petroleum Jelly to heal dry skin on their nose when they got sick. I was surprised that Sam was surprised.
Tissues, Petroleum Jelly, and Cold Medicine… I try to make sure I have all three readily available when I am sick.

1:18:35 Garrett played Half-Life 2 and League of Legends: Ascension .
I wish I knew a bit more about League, because I’m always at a loss with regards to what to put down here whenever Garrett talks about that game. I’m not a huge MOBA guy, so I don’t get into them. I’m the kind of gamer who needs a sense that I advancing towards some goal, typically the advancement of a story, in order to keep playing. In multiplayer games, I don’t typically get that, so I don’t play them too often except to hang out with friends.

1:28:18 Garrett purchased FaceRig and Among the Sleep.
FaceRig is technically more of a software than a game, but it still sounds really cool. Basically, it’s a program that maps your facial movements onto a 3D character, though a low-res webcam. It’s still in testing, but the developers are apparently comfortable enough to put it out to the general public.
This brings us to the general topic of Steam Early Access. Like Greenlight before it, Early Access has a lot of problems associated with it. I still don’t know if I support or renounce the concept, as there are very strong cases for its inclusion and its removal from Steam.

1:31:55 I ask the cast if they prefer the close-garden or open approach to Steam.
I ask this mostly out of curiosity. Again, I haven’t fully formed my opinion on the matter. I think there is some nuance to the issue.
In either case, some quality-control should be taking place. I think that much is clear.

1:37:40 Garrett talks about his Game Design class.
It is interesting how many parallels there are between the classes Garrett goes through and what I go through. I am going for a general Bachelor’s of Science in Computer Science, with a concentration in Game Design. Garrett is going through a specialized Game Design class.
In terms of programming, you can teach a lot by just asking students to program video games. All sorts of skills are necessary for even the simplest games. As you advance to higher level courses, this becomes less true, but it is still interesting to take note of.
Having said that, the pitches Garrett talks about from his class all seem really bad, just on a fundamental level.

1:47:20 Sam has been playing Diablo 3.
And he is super-bored by it. Then again, his character sounds super OP. Not much more to say about it.

1:53:00 Sam finished the new Strider game.
Not much to say about that.

1:55:45 Sam got to play the Dark Souls 2 DLC
And it’s somehow difficult even by Dark Souls standards, which I thought was impossible.

1:58:50 Sam watches non-David Cage movies.
And they sound interesting enough for me to want to check out at some point.
Though at this point, I actually had to drop out of the podcast because I really needed to wake up early the next day.

2:12:25 Sam finished Muramasa: Rebirth.
And I am a bit sad I missed out on that. I mean, it would be me gushing about the game, but I would have loved to talk about it.

2:13:30 The guys wrap up the cast without me.
At least the guys are aware of how ungodly long this particular session seemed to run too. I wonder how much more bearable it would have been if I wasn’t literally sick and tired. They aren’t wrong about us being able to talk forever. These types of discussions, even outside the cast, are fairly normal for us. That’s just how we roll, I suppose.
As for shout-outs, I wrote an article on RPG Combat I forgot that I wanted to talk about during the cast. I’ll make sure to bring it up next week.

As I said in last week’s post, my free time has been spent playing old PlayStation 2 ATLUS RPGs. Having beaten Devil Summoner, I have been making progress through Digital Devil Saga. However, this is not an Impressions piece on that game as it will take some time to finish, now that college classes are taking up my time again. Worry not, my friends, because playing through this game has given me an interesting idea for a subject of an article. One idea has been clawing at the back of my mind for some time now. This idea is as follows: “Are RPGs even allowed to have ‘good’ combat?”
This might at first seem like a weird question, but hear me out. Though this is not always the case, most gamers, on some level, associate RPGs with longer playtimes than would typically expected of other games. These lengths usually exceed 30 hours, and it is not uncommon for them to go up to 50 hours or greater. In order to facilitate player engagement for the entire length of one of these games, combat has to fill a very particular niche. Should the fighting be too busy, then players will become fatigued from having to repeatedly consume mental stamina to stay on top. This will result in them either taking long breaks between sessions, or being incapable of playing for more than an hour or so at a time before they need to call it quits.
Kingdoms of Amalur served as a decent example of that. At a minimum, a typical playthrough will take about 50 hours to clear. In order to keep the player’s attention throughout this length, the development team went out of their way to try to make the best combat they could. In order to have good fighting in the game, they made players have to watch all of their enemies in order to know when to dodge attacks and counter with their own. It requires observation of the enemy, their patterns, and the properties of their attacks. Further, a sense of timing and, to a lesser extent, rhythm is needed to capitalize on openings and avoid making them yourself. There is quite a lot going on, even in beginning fights. While the game does have a leveling mechanic, so fighting against enemies of lower/higher level will make it easier/harder, the game does a fairly good job of keeping the player at just the right level to get a decent challenge going throughout the experience.
Unfortunately, this style of combat has drawbacks that can only be seen when placed in an RPG and extended for long lengths of time. First, the player’s attack properties are always in flux. Different weapon types possess different attack animations, so equipping a new weapon can completely throw off the sense of timing and result in unnecessary grief in a fight. Even when the same type of weapon is equipped, each one has their own properties. This results in dealing different damage and having different ranges. It might not sound like much, but that can have a dramatic impact on overall strategy. While some of this is necessary in order to keep scenarios new and interesting, the nature of the game makes this so regular that players rarely have time to get used to old tactics before new ones are needed. Other issues crop up as well. For example, the mental strain required to keep all of these factors in mind is draining. It results in a feeling of general exhaustion when playing the game. Such feeling are exacerbated when the typical RPG trappings of inventory management and character development are included. The constant need to fiddle with equipment and build setups, while partaking in very active engagements, can reduce even the strongest willpower to nothing.
On the other hand, RPGs cannot make the combat too boring. This opposite problem is what many people who shy away from RPGs typically associate with them. If the game does not make its combat engaging enough, players will still not play it for very long, for surprisingly similar reasons. A boring, monotonous slog can often be exactly as draining as overengagement. As a result, a game that does not bring a proper level of engagement to the forefront will tire out users and get them to stop playing.
Final Fantasy XII had this problem in spades. The combat system, seemingly inspired by MMOs, took place in real-time, with attacks taking a period of time to perform depending on the user’s speed stat. The game also had a system called Gambits. Basically, the game allowed players to control the player AI’s algorithm, as determined by a series of if-then statements. As a result of this system, most of the game was automated. Tasks like healing, buffing/debuffing, and exploiting enemy weaknesses could simply by handed off to the AI. Theoretically, this could be free the player up to focus more on task at hand, dealing with fighting on the macro level as opposed to the micro level. In execution, most fights could be completed without a single input of the part of the player. All the player really had to do was make sure the party was moving throughout the dungeon, completing the puzzles and getting to the next cutscene. As a result, it gets boring quickly, and finishing the game can be considered a bit of a chore.
In order to keep players interested throughout the length of the game, the combat needs to be just challenging enough so that it draws and holds the player’s attention without taxing them too heavily. Heading too far in either direction will just tire the player out, either through exhaustion or boredom. While the player needs to be “going through the motions” to a degree, some variety must come from somewhere in order to keep interest, while still maintaining a structure to the combat. This is ultimately where the crux of my argument comes from. Can this balance really be seen as “good” combat? Is it “fun” in the traditional sense? Or is it merely good enough to hold a typical player’s attention throughout the course of the game, without honestly being that entertaining in its own right?

I do not honestly have that answer. As much as I mulled over this point and even after playing countless games in the genre, I cannot reach a satisfactory conclusion. Thus, I would like to hear your input on the matter. Should any of you have an opinion on this subject that you wish to share, please feel free to contact me, either in the comments below or on social media. I look forward to hearing from all of you.

The Texture Pop returns for another week of craziness. Everyone showed up for the recording session, so the cast was back to its usual shenanigans, albeit a more muted variety of it.

You see, most of us were completely exhausted when we started recording, and that only got worse as the show went on. Sam was getting a lot of hours at work, Garrett had some issues he was dealing with, and I was doing off-site training for work (at a location an hour away from my house) and had only just gotten home a few hours prior to recording.
And Chris, Chris can stuff it with his energy.

The MP3 version of this podcast can be found here:
0:00:00 Introduction
Just an FYI, I get weird when I’m tired, which can explain some of the behavior at the start of the cast.

0:02:20 Viewer Questions
“Do you guys have any favorite gaming-related media?”

I mention the Mass Effect novels in this segment. Though I stand behind the first three novel, I reject any notion that final novel is good.
The document referring to all the plot holes in it is here. (It’s only 16 pages.)
And here’s a link to (screw) Kai Leng: Cereal Killer.

Garrett reminds me of .hack, which makes me bring up just how much I love .hack. Through the games are fairly mediocre, the lore and story is fantastic. Its premise is fairly unique among video game plots, and it had a very distinct feel to it. I could’ve sworn that he brought up the subject, but listening to this recording makes it clear than I did.

“Do you guys have any franchises that you would like to be turned into a game, and what would you want that game to be like?”
All the properties that I really love have one of three problems associated with them, in regards to this question.

  • The franchise started as a game, or already has games for it.
  • The franchise does not feel like it would work as a game, in an interactive space.
  • I would never trust a developer to accurately capture the spirit of the franchise in a video game for.
It’s an interesting thought question though, and I’d be interested in any responses from you guys to this question.
0:36:25 Sam bought Grid: Auto Sport
Because Dirt 3 uses Games For Windows Live.
…No one likes GWFL. At least that service is on the way out.

And we talk about that and other racing games, so I start to clock out. I distinctly recall it being really difficult to keep my eyes open during this segment. (I was really tired.)

0:41:25 Sam picked up the new Strider game.
I don’t have much of a frame of reference for the Strider franchise, so I honestly cannot elaborate much upon what Sam and Chris were talking about.
What they do start talking about, that might be of interest, is the necessity to upgrade PC hardware to keep up with current games. This is honestly probably one of the biggest reasons I stick to consoles. My funds, especially as a college student, are extremely limited, so I try to spend them wisely.

0:47:11 Sam is still not playing the Dark Souls DLC and touched Murdered: Soul Suspect
I think the behavior Sam exhibits while trying to get to the DLC is completely understandable. I remember, after about the 30-35 hour mark in Dragon Age: Origins, where I was just getting so sick of the game and just wanted to be done with it and move on to something else. It’s not the exact same, but it’s comparable.
As for Murdered: Soul Suspect, I have an impressions piece on it if you are interested.
We also briefly discuss Early Access in this segment.

0:53:30 Garrett played a bit of Watch_Dogs
I do find it really interesting that myself, Chris “Campster” Franklin of Errant Signal, and Patrick Klepek of Giant Bomb all found Aiden Pearce to be irredeemable. None of us had any knowledge of the other’s thoughts, but we all agree.
Aside from that, Watch_Dogs is okay, but super overhyped. It’s not honestly fairly bad overall, though it has some qualities which can be refined into a truly great game.

0:59:45 Garrett got free movies from his library.
Include Citizen Kane, which is the Citizen Kane of movies.

1:01:05 Garrett played Borderlands 2 and League of Legends
I don’t like Borderlands 2 much because it’s one of those games where you need other people to have a good time. Playing by yourself is just incredibly boring.
As for League of Legends, those MOBA communities sound really, really shitty. It’s really sad to see. People take their entertainment WAY too seriously.

We do get into a conversation regarding LoL’s story. While I don’t know anything about it, what I’ve heard makes it sound really bad.

1:15:35 I finish Devil Summoner 2.
And I wrote an impressions piece on it.
I really do not understand why designers make dungeons and levels as long as they do. I cannot stand long dungeon crawls. TEN HOURS for one dungeon is OVERKILL. I get angry after an hour.
Aside from that though, the game is a very good Shin Megami Tensei game. I’d easily recommend it to anyone who likes JRPGs and is interested in getting into SMT.

1:21:25 I am playing Digital Devil Saga.
Even among SMT games, this game is incredibly unique, mostly because you never gain any new demons. Instead, you develop your character’s demonic powers as they progress through the game.
It’s a very bizarre game, and I look forward to finishing it.

As for silent protagonists, I tend to like them in games. They serve a very important role, especially in SMT games, because they typically serve as player-avatars more than characters in their own right. Of course, ultimately it depends on the game for if its a good idea.

1:28:30 Chris bought the Serious Sam Collection
Serious Sam is a franchise I really need to take the time to playthough at some point. Everything I hear about it indicates that it would be right up my alley. Unfortunately, it’s another one of those franchises that I don’t know enough about it to make any additional commentaries.
I was also completely unaware that Serious Sam had an RPG. Calling in “The Random Encounter” is quite clever, so props to the developers for that.

1:43:30 Chris talks about Mortal Kombat X and DLC
And yet another series I don’t know much about. This has been a fairly light annotations because I don’t know a lot about many of these topics.
However, I do love how Chris remarks about how game developers have trained us to just wait until all the DLC is out, and then get it in a single go with the “Ultimate Edition”. I sometimes wonder how that behavior affects the sales of games with DLC.

1:48:30 Chris and Sam talk about DOA5 and Virtua Fighter
And I was honestly beginning to fall asleep during the recording. Took all of my willpower to stay awake.

1:55:00 We start talking movies until the end of the episode.
And Micheal Bay is still bad.

2:02:20 Conclusion
I was so tired that I FORCED this to end.

As many of the people who know me are aware, I am what one might consider to be an “ATLUS-faithful”. ATLUS is one of my favorite developers because of how they shamelessly stick to the things that make old-school JRPGs charming, while reinventing the other aspects as they see fit. I make no secret of the fact that Persona 4 is in close competition as one of my all-time favorite games (following behind Dark Cloud 2 and Wild Arms 3). Having said that, there are still many Shin Megami Tensei games that I have never played before. As a result, I have been trying to “catch up” on the games that I missed. This process is started by the game I will be talking about in this post: Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner 2: Raidou Kuzunoha Vs. King Abaddon (RK2). This is the direct sequel to Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha Vs. The Soulless Army, a game I played a long time ago, back when it was released on the PS2. The game, and its predecessor, are unique for not only how they continue on the traditions of the SMT franchise, but also in how they defy other such traditions.
One of the biggest differences between RK2 and other SMT games is the difference in the overall tone. Shin Megami Tensei games tend to have very dark outlooks of the world and the themes they use. Devil Summoner is different in this regard. Instead of conforming to the bleakness of the franchise, the overall tone falls more into the realm of camp. It feels more at home being compared to an anime from the 70s than it does an SMT story. The premise of the game alone, being that a shadowy group of hillbilly ninjas is threatening the Capital of Japan by using specialized insects to steal people’s luck and the player acts as a demon summoner/detective who is on the case, is a prime example of this. The game is fully aware of how absurd it is, and reveals in that absurdity.
The setting bolsters this uniqueness, taking place in 1930s-Japan. Very few games actually use this era in Japanese history as their backdrop, which makes Devil Summoner 2 even more interesting. Most SMT games take place in either the modern world or in a post-apocalyptic near-future, and most JRPGs take place in a classic fantasy. With this period, RK2 provides an interesting glimpse into Japanese history, when looking at how people interact with each other and the world around them. Not to say that it is completely historically accurate, as I sincerely doubt 1930s-Japan was plagued by demons and evil insects that steal luck. However, the fact that it takes advantage of an underused setting gives the Raidou Kuzunoha sub-franchise a look and feel all its own.
Another difference between RK2 and most other SMT games is the combat. Where most Shin Megami Tensei games are turn-based in their combat, Devil Summoner 2, like its predecessor, takes place in real time. Bringing two demons in battle, the protagonist comes equipped with a sword and gun. He can command his demons to use their skills, which consume his magical energies. If their attacks exploit a weakness, the enemy will be stunned. Further attacks on a foe in a stunned state will result in them releasing magical energy. In other words, if the player keeps exploiting weaknesses, they can use skills almost infinitely. The player can also guard attacks to reduce damage and hide demons from attacks to keep them alive. It is fairly intuitive system that never gets particularly difficult. As a consequence, there is no challenge to it. Once the player is aware of a enemies weakness, it is simply a matter of using the correct moves and then mashing the attack button. While it works, it is only interesting enough to keep players progressing through the story, which is the clear highlight.
Having said all of that, the game is still a Shin Megami Tensei game at its core. As is typical of games bearing that distinction, enlisting and summon mythical creatures from various religions and mythologies (SMT throws them all under the blanket term “demons”) to aid the protagonist. During a random encounter, players can choose to halt the battle in order to talk to the demons that they are fighting against. If the conversation goes well, they can begin negotiations with their enemy. When the player acquiesces to the demands set forth by the other party, they will join up with the protagonist and become part of the player party. New demons can also be acquired by fusing other demons in their employ. Should they register their creatures before they either fuse or dismiss them from service, then they can even pay to have them added back into the roster, with the stats they possessed at the time of registration.
These demons also serve as they way players progress through the game. Of course, their primary purpose is to help form the player’s fighting party. Every demon has their own strengths and weaknesses. It is up to the player to switch in/out the ones which are best suited to the current situation. For example, a demon who excels at fire magic will generally be strong against demons with wings, but not against those with ice magic. However, this is not their only purpose mid-battle. Should the player choose to begin conversation and negotiation, their demons can help assist in the conversation. Each one has their own conversational skill, and those skills have different effects on different demons. Lastly, they are also used during exploration, as their abilities can either destroy certain obstacles in the field or get to locations the protagonist is unable to go to themselves. When playing the game, the player needs to consider all three avenues of usefulness when constructing their party. In some cases, it might be a good idea to keep a very low-level demon because they possess abilities, either in negotiations or in the field, which make them useful. The system is very interesting and requires a lot of thought from the player.
Although the monsters are clearly the star of the show most of the time, the protagonist is no less important. In classic SMT fashion, the player character is a bit of a blank slate, with a set backstory to help facilitate immersion in the story. The character in question is a high school student (although that fact rarely ever comes up) who has been training his whole life to live as a Devil Summoner. Though the player gives him a true name, he has attained the rank and title of Great Summoner Raidou Kuzunoha the XIVth, tasked with protecting the Capital from demonic and supernatural threats. As a cover, he works part-time at a detective agency, to give him a plausible reason to conduct his investigations into these threats.
What makes him a particularly intriging protagonist, and fairly in line with what players expect from a Shin Megami Tensei game, is that while his actions in the game plot do not change, the player is ultimately who decides what his motivations are. Throughout the game, players make dialog choices for the lead character. As these decisions are made, the game adjusts the protagonists alignment on a scale of Law and Chaos. No matter what, he is a good person trying to help the people. The real choice is between why he does it. Does he do what he does simply because he has accepted the responsibility of being Raidou Kuzunoha and all that title entails? Or is he simply using the mantel as a means to protect the people because that is what his true desire are, ready to abandon the role if it no longer suited that purpose? Or does the answer lie somewhere in the middle? The game does not judge either side of Law or Chaos particularly harshly, and shows the positives and negatives of both types of virtuousness. The characters who represent Law and Chaos in the narrative are readily aware of the advantages of the other side and the flaws they possess. It never feels heavy handed and is actually quite maturely handled.

Overall, while Devil Summoner 2 has flaws, it is a unique and interesting enough game that it feels like a breath of fresh air. I enjoyed it for most of my playthrough, only getting annoyed at the length of the final dungeon. For the price you get it on the PlayStation Network now, I would say it is easily worth the investment. Though it is different from standard SMT games in many ways, it used the more familiar elements to make franchise fans feel just as at home as they would be in other games. Newcomers to the franchise are best served by playing either this, its predecessor, or Persona 3/4 because they are by far more friendly to new players than other games in the franchise are. After that, they might want to consider jumping off into the more difficult ATLUS games.

No guest this week, so it’s back to our usual insanity with The Texture Pop. Unfortunately, Garrett could not make it to the recording for personal reasons. Fortunately, the rest of us are completely insane.

Also, the reason we get no viewer questions is because last week’s cast was so late in coming out. Hopefully, that will change next week.

The MP3 version of this episode can be found here.

0:00:00 Introductions
I feel the need to explain what the hell happened to the beginning of this episode. We spent 20 minutes before the start of this podcast doing something that WASN’T recording the podcast because Samuel decided to try to find a game to play during the cast. As he’ll reveal later, it was an entirely pointless exercise because his chosen game crashed.
I also say Garrett hasn’t arrived “yet” because he explained why he couldn’t attend shortly after the podcast began. He’ll be back, so don’t worry too much.

0:01:32 We Talk About the New Nintendo 3DS (And Its Stupidity)
At the time of recording, the New Nintendo 3DS story was only a day old, so it was fresh in out minds. There are unfortunately just too many reasons why this is a bad idea for me to support it.

  • The 3DS is still relatively new in the portable console space.
  • Since games will be exclusive to it, it is dividing the install base of the 3DS needlessly, in the same way map packs divide the player base of the First Person Shooter.
  • The new stick does not look very comfortable, and some of the new extra buttons are questionably placed.
  • The name is incredibly confusing, as it is a new console and not a updated 3DS (which revives the problem the Wii and Wii U had).
This just isn’t something that should work. And I’m not going to lie, this makes me REALLY sore I bought a 3DS only a few weeks ago.
0:19:30 Chris plays Counter-Spy
Chris description of the game catches my interest in a big way. The premise of the trying to stop two large nations from nuking each other sounds really interesting. Combined with the tone and aesthetic, and Counter-Spy sounds like a game that would be theoretically up my alley.

Further, the fact that detection is a gradient rather than a binary is a great idea. As someone who plays a ton of stealth games, that’s something that many such titles lack. The only downside is that the game does not sound like something that one could do well at while ghosting.
Modular level design is also another clever way to keep repeat playthroughs fresh. Overall, it sounds cool and I might try it out when I’ve eaten through my backlog a bit.

0:39:23 Chris relapses into his Marvel Heroes addiction.
True story, Chris has tried to talk me into playing Marvel Heroes with him every once in a while (not too hard, mind you). I sometimes feel weird declining because I do get the feeling that I might enjoy that game. Having said that, Marvel Puzzle Quest really destroyed my desire to play Marvel-based F2P games.
I know that’s totally unfair to Marvel Heroes, but that’s how I feel. I remember liking Marvel Puzzle Quest a lot when I first played it. Hell, there’s a reason I have several hundreds of hours clocked on it both on Steam and my phone. However, they kept adding and changing element after element and the direction they went was not one I was okay with supporting. My fear is that if I join Marvel Heroes, that game will face the same fate. I just cannot do that to myself again.
Maybe one day, I’ll write about my experience with that game and why I quit, but not today.
One the subject of Marvel Heroes, based on what Chris said, it is a lot less P2W than Marvel Puzzle Quest was, and the microtransactions sound a lot more fair to consumers. My inner researcher would be interested in comparing the profits of Marvel Heroes with Marvel Puzzle Quest, to see which model is more financially successful. My gut says that despite Marvel Heroes seemingly treating players more fairly, Marvel Puzzle Quest is the biggest cash-cow.

0:47:30 I played Project X Zone
And have nothing more to say about it.

0:48:10: I finished the Walking Dead: Season 2.
Overall, this season wasn’t all that great. It’s kind of like the Transistor to Season 1’s Bastion. It’s good on its own merits, but if you compare the two, it is simply inferior.
Having said that, the finale was easily the best part of the game. One thing I would like Telltale to try to do to actually let choices you make have an effect on the plot. The “choices feel impactful, but aren’t” doesn’t work anymore because players are starting to catch on. Further, having no real “gameplay” kinda hurts the pacing because without those sections, there is no downtime to let players digest what they’ve seen in the game. The last few sections go a long way with that, but it still could use some refinement.

0:51:55 I played more Devil Summoner 2.
And I have to admit that I am getting a little sick of how long JRPGs take. I’ve talked about game length several times before, but RPGs are the worst at this crap. It’s like they have no concept of making a dungeon a decent length.
I think most of it comes down to their D&D inspired roots. In a D&D game, having a long dungeon crawl is acceptable because it’s easy and you have the chemistry of all the players to work off of. Essentially, the game is a framework to create your own enjoyment with your friends.
In a single player RPG, that is no longer the case. The game is a framework for the story being made in collaboration between the designer and the player. As a result, you cannot feed off the energy born from friends in the same room. In this scenario, a dungeon slog is much less acceptable, and I wish that more designers could understand that.

0:52:55 I played an indie game called Hand of Fate.
Like I said in the cast, I find this game to be very fascinating. I just wish in ran well on my computer. The concept is cool and I think that, with some refinement, it could become a very interesting game. If and when it eventually comes to the Vita, it would be a perfect game for that device.
I also mentioned this comic from Grey Carter and Cory Rydell on The Escapist.
Also, to be fair, this is a $600 laptop that is over 3 years old. I have no business playing games on it. Somehow, it’s worked like a champion for so long. If it can just last one more year, I’d be happy.
Unfortunately for my laptop, a new mattress and a PS4 come first.

1:00:00 I went back to college (and so did Chris)
I am just going to repeat what I said in the cast. If you can avoid it, NEVER go to the campus store to buy textbooks. You are pissing money away by doing that.
And fuck loose-leaf textbooks too. That’s a scam if I ever saw one.

1:05:39 Sam worked a lot.
And Chris takes the time to tell us exactly what he thinks of several former employers of his. XD

1:10:45 Since Sam works at a pizza place, we start talking about pizza (and health?).
We’ve said before that we were inspired by the GiantBomb-cast to do this show. There is no truer way to demonstrate that inspiration that with the conversation that occurred at this time stamp.
Also, you have never tasted pizza before until you’ve dabbed the grease out of it. It’s just so much better that way, both in health and in taste.
Cutting soda is also a really good way to improve your health. Even if you just switch it with fruit juice, it’s much better.
Diets are such a hard thing to correct. Part of it is that the worst food for you is cheap, so for a struggling family it can be the only option. Further, someone who grows up on that food (like myself) doesn’t really acquire a taste for the higher quality foods, which means we stick to the unhealthy shit.
Also, I misspoke here. When I said “the world is not designed for us to be skinny”, what I mean to say was “stereotypically healthy.” *sigh* Don’t you love body-image issues?

1:22:00 We talk about Sony Smash Br.. I mean Playstation All-Stars: Battle Royale.
It has bad net-coding, which makes us talk about Internets and connections.
And Chris talked about troubleshooting, which made us talk about Google.
Which made us talk about Bing
Which made us talk about paid-sponsors in movies/TV?
Which made us talk about Ad Block
Which made us talk about YouTube
Which made us talk about Amazon buying Twitch
And this is how a typical conversation goes for us. I’M SORRY!

1:37:00 Conclusion
This was a podcast.

Last week, I detailed many of my thoughts on the distressingly awful Dead Space 3. I had discussed my complaints regarding the combat, the co-op, and the story of the game. What I neglected to talk about was the microtransactions and their negative influence on the game. My thoughts on this particular subject are so intense that I feel that their inclusion in last week’s post would detract from my complaints in it, making that piece far too long of a read. It is actually surprising just how deeply the mere inclusion of microtransactions fundamentally altered the game’s core design.
This is because the actual microtransactions by themselves seem initially to be incredibly innocuous. Using either real world money or Ration Seals acquired through scavenging, players can purchase resources from the game to help give them an edge over the space zombies. The problem arises in that there was not much to purchase with them. Buying health and/or ammo would be far too blatant and obviously impact the game design. So something needed to be created in order to give users something to purchase. For this reason, the weapon crafting was added to the game.
Weapon crafting is exactly what it sounds like. Throughout the game, players collect weapon frames, cores, muzzles, attachments, and upgrade circuitry as they progress. When they reach a bench, they can use these collected parts to create custom weaponry or modify existing weaponry. If the player should wish to acquire more of a specific part, but do not have the time or desire to search the game world for it, they can use collected resources such as Tungsten, Superconductors, Scrap Metal, and the like to craft those parts. Now, should they lack even these basic resources, Ration Seals or real world money can be spent acquiring them. Again, this is fairly innocuous addition in and of itself. In fact, there is even some entertainment value in creating awesome weaponry to use against space zombies.
Unfortunately, it also came with some unintended side effects. The first such effect is that horror element has been eliminated from the game. Even in the early half of the game, it is entirely possible for players to create weaponry with maxed out damage ratings. The shotgun I had created that early lasted me for the entire game, up to the final boss. Nothing was scary, because nothing stood a chance against me. My partner and I died fairly infrequently outside of set-pieces, and neither one of us felt even a tinge of fear. Considering how scary the earlier games were reported to be, that is more than a little disappointing.
The other side effect is that the developers can no longer be sure of exactly what type of weapon(s) the player has in their inventory. For what I have been told, earlier Dead Space games gave players specific weaponry over the course of the game, slowly building up their arsenal. The designers can use this information to carefully control which ammo is dropped where and how often in order get the player to naturally switch up tactics based on what their current ammo count is for each weapon. In the third game of the franchise, this can no longer work. Since Visceral Games are not sure of what weapons players are using, they cannot drop ammunition for specific weapons to encourage use of them. As a result, ammo had to be universal, working for every weapon. That way, no matter what equipment is being used at a given point in the game, the risk that the player is put into an unwinnable state is significantly lessened.
And that decision, which was a side effect of our first big change, has another side effect associated with it. Since every weapon consumes the same resource when firing it, there is no way to incentivize much needed variety. Every person I know that has played Dead Space 3 made one really powerful weapon in the beginning of the game and generally stuck with it. Although there were other options like new weapons, kinesis, and stasis available to them, they all just chose to keep firing with their weapon of choice. Every fight feels the same because the same weapons are being used over and over again against enemies who use the same tactics. No variety can be added in the natural way it used to be because the tools to do so no longer exist. Furthermore, since all ammo works for all weapons, it is no longer a scarce resource. In fact, I never once ran out of it throughout my entire playthrough and my partner ran out exactly once.
To recap, it started with a simple request: Add microtransactions to the next Dead Space game. From that one event, a ripple effect occurred. The side effects from this one simple addition multiplied, affected the overall game. As a result, the combat and overall pace of the game was severely impacted. Without the necessary tools to control variety and space, the developers lost their ability to fine tune the gaming experience in the way they could in the first two Dead Space games, judging from what I have been told by franchise fans. Taking away the excellent pacing results in poorly executed combat and the inability to really provoke any form of horror.

Nothing in a game exists in a vacuum. Every single aspect, no matter how small, affects every other aspect. Despite what many would like you to believe, this is no less true with regards to microtransactions. For a game to become great, every system has to keep into each other in perfect harmony. This is what few publishers realize. It is impossible to just add “one small thing” without affecting the balance that was already there. Careful consideration is necessary. If there is anything I would have you, the reader, take away from my experiences in Dead Space 3, that would be it.

You guys are probably wondering why it took so long to post this episode. That is a perfectly valid question. The reason for that is that since Sam was late to the recording session, Chris had to take up the slack and perform hosting duties.

However, since Sam is the editor as well, Chris had to send him all of the audio files and has too busy to do it promptly. Once Sam got it, his work kept him too occupied to do much with it as well. That also explains why the title isn’t that great this week either.

Further, since Chris’s connection is worse than Sam’s, there may be a drop in this episode’s audio quality. I apologize on both my behalf and the behalf of the others for this.

Also, we have a guest today. My good friend Nick joined us for this cast. We’ll likely consider bringing other guests in from our friends list because why not.

Having said that:

And the MP3 version can be found here. (When it goes up…)

0:00:00 Introduction
This rather unprofessional nature of this introduction can again be chalked up to the rather scatter-shot nature of the recording. We were kinda just winging it, which explains a lot of the awkward pauses and what-not.

0:03:00 We talk about seismic emergencies across the world.
And I’m honestly not entirely sure why.

0:04:45 We talk about the upcoming Fantastic Four movie (and Marvel comic books… and Hollywood)
Honestly, the thing about making Johnny Storm/Human Torch a black man that bothers me is that if they do that, than they might as well make Susan Storm/Invisible Woman (his sister) black as well. Feels like a wasted opportunity to me.
Like I said, I am okay with movie makers re-imagining old characters and putting them in new situations. However, this just feels a bit too textbook Hollywood to me. Far too safe for its own good, despite how different it is.

This does bring up a question though, why DOES Sony want the rights to Spidey so badly? It’s not like he’s bringing in a whole lot of money for them anymore. It would probably be best for anyone if they just stopped making Spidey movies.

The “laughing scene” I was talking about during this segment, in comparison to Spider-man 3’s jazz scene, was the scene from Final Fantasy X. You know the one. My horrible voice combined with Chris’s internet made that hard to hear.
Here is the picture of The Thing’s look that Nick was talking about.

0:20:45 Chris’s internet craps out and briefly ruins the Skype call.
Which is why Chris doesn’t host often…

0:22:30 Nick talks about his week.
And we didn’t really go into detail about much.
One thing we did go into briefly was Phil Fish. I hope that, for his sake, that he stays out of the industry. No matter what he says, he’s going to get shit. That may be deserved on occasion, but not all the time.
We also talked briefly about X-Com and it’s expansion.

0:29:30 Nick plays Elder Scrolls Online.
This goes into a broader discussion about MMOs in general.
Also, we go into an Elder Scrolls discussions briefly. For reference, the quest I’m referring to is this week. Like I said in the cast, I like Oblivion a bit more because it’s quest design is a lot more interesting than Skyrim’s.

0:40:05 Garrett talks about his week.
The train did come through, Chris. Choo choo!

0:40:30 Garrett plays Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer
And good god I hate this topic. I know it’s been years since the controversy was a big thing, but Mass Effect 3 still gets under my skin. It was that perfect, critical mass, where everything went wrong in all sorts of ways at the same time.
The multiplayer was just a symptom of that in my opinion. While still good, it felt super tacked on. I had the impression that, like the weapon crafting in Dead Space 3, it exists only for the microtransactions. The article I mentioned (here) talks about the sliminess of them a bit more. Even worse is that it’s not for a F2P game, but for a game you’re expected to put $60 down for.

0:46:00 Garret and I talk about bows and archery.
I don’t consider myself much of an outdoors-man, but it is fun to shoot arrows at a target. It’s much more of a mental activity than a physical one, at least for me. I often think back to my physics classes when shooting.
We also went into a discussion about all the various recent games that used bows in some capacity.

0:50:30 Sam joins us.
And Chris’s internet REALLY impacts the cast here.

0:53:00 Garrett talks about Clive Barker’s Jericho
And likes it more than most people.

0:58:00 I played Project X Zone.
It’s an interesting game, to be sure. If I’m being honest, the whole crossover thing doesn’t hold my interest as much as I thought it would. It gets a little monotonous the farther you go, because every chapter is more of the same. I’ll keep playing because I need something to do on my commutes, but otherwise I don’t know how much I’d play it.

1:03:10 Chris, Sam, and I play Dragon’s Crown.
Chris and I have even played a few matches.
This game’s art direction is equal parts amazing and off-putting to me. On one hand, the environments are cool and some of the characters look really nice. On the other hand, many characters just look so disproportional that it’s almost comical.
I still think it’s silly that you have to unlock going online. I should like to ask the developers why they decided to do that. The answer is bound to be interesting. Other strange decisions also crop up, especially with regards to online play and pacing, which make it an interesting game to talk about.
Still, I cannot deny that the game is super fun. It’s a great brawler/RPG hybrid. The animation is fluid and the gameplay is solid. Playing with friends is awesome, and the risk/reward system encourages you to keep playing as much as possible. It’s a game that works in many ways, despite its polarizing art style.

1:24:50 I play Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner 2: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abaddon.
What many people may not know is that the Megami Tensei series actually pre-dates Poke’mon in the monster capture. Only instead of capturing cute animal creatures, you capture gods and demons from various world religions (which is more awesome in my opinion).
Out of all the SMT games, the Raidou Kuzuhona sub-franchise is one of the better games to introduce someone into the franchise as a whole. Having said that, it is still an SMT game and has some of their usability issues.
I do like how the game encourages you to have a party that is balanced between combat, investigation, and negotiation ability. Lacking in any one aspect will cripple another aspect in some way, so keeping them in balance is the key.

1:34:50 I switch from Twitter’s site to Tweetdeck.
As much as I like Twitter, I’m getting tired of all the shit they are trying to do with it. I don’t care about what other people are favoriting. I don’t need them to censor my feed like Facebook does. All I need is for them to do what they’ve been doing. It’s like YouTube in that every update is making it worse and worse.

1:40:10 Chris plays Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls
It’s actually really interesting to note how much they’ve changed Diablo 3 since launch day. When that game launched, it was an absolute mess. I mean the DRM is still on it, but at least they got rid of the auction house.
It seems like every time microtransactions enter the equation, the developers make their game worse to help justify spending money. Not to say that developers are actively doing this, just that it subconsciously breeds that mentality.

1:48:15 Chris gets a really bad acid burn at work.
Fortunately, he’ll be fine. I just hope that it heals quickly and it doesn’t scar.

1:52:10 Sam picked up his Vita and played Muramasa: Rebirth
And we spend a lot of time just gushing about that game (and Vanillaware in general) without saying much of substance in this conversation.
We did mention how important it can be to consider usability and other features like subtitles and rebindable controls. It’s amazing how not doing small things like that make things work so much better.

1:59:10 Sam talks about how the Vita is doing well.
Compared to how bad some of those old, launch window Vita games were (like Uncharted and AC: Liberation), a lot of the ports and newer Vita games are doing so much better. I can safely recommend the Vita now, because what it does, it does very well.

2:08:35 Sam talks about computer gaming accessories.
And I make fun of him. Can you tell which one of us more serious about PC Gaming?
We also talk stupid titles for PC Gaming Keyboards/Mice. I think “corporate cool” is the best way to think about these kinds of titles. It’s clearly trying to look “cool” for younger audiences, but it gives off the impression of trying too hard.

2:17:45 Viewer Question
“Do you think Doom would be a better game if it stayed true to Tom Hall’s vision, or do you think it’s simplicity was one of the reasons it was so successful to begin with?”
Honestly, I think Hall’s vision wouldn’t have work. It was too ahead of it’s time. In this era, it might work. Back then, it wouldn’t have. I submit System Shock 1’s failure as evidence supporting my opinion on this matter. System Shock 1 had something more akin to Hall’s vision, and it failed. In retrospect, people enjoy it. At the time, it wasn’t highly rated. As much as I don’t like to admit it, the evidence supports that line of thinking.
Nowadays, that flat out would not work. Games need a story to tie them together today. As a result, the old school mechanical thinking no longer applies. Games have changed a lot in recent years, and their presentations have to change along side them.
The Super Bunny Hop episode Sam refers to is here.

And the podcast cuts off. Again, this is because of the “seat of pants” way we recorded this episode. I apologize for it and promise we’ll make up for the low quality next week!

There are great games that I can play over and over again. They do something so right that it is just a joy to keep coming back. Others are merely okay. Products like them are satisfactory throughout the whole of the game, but they do nothing to stand out from the crowd and inspire further playthroughs or thought on the game. Lastly, some cannot even get that right. Games exist such that they are an absolute chore to get through them. When one of these are found, playing them feels less like entertainment and more like work. What follows is a recollection of my experience with one such game: That would be Dead Space 3, which I had obtained free of charge on PlayStation Plus through their Instant Game Collection. I do not exaggerate when I say that almost every element in this game has a massive problem associated with it. Though I do not mean to say that it is the worst game to ever be invented, I would say that it is a significant step back in terms of modern game design.
The first element I would like to throw under scrutiny was the combat. Anyone who is familiar with third-person shooters will know how Dead Space 3 operates. Enemies spawn in through the various vents and openings, and up to two players shoot them down with whatever weapon(s) they have equipped. Purely in terms of mechanics, the game is functional. All the mechanics are there and they all work well. The problem lies in that the game makes very few, failed attempts to interject any form of variety into this combat. New enemy types do show up from time to time, but they all use similar tactics. No matter which form of space zombie or evil cultist is being fought, the enemy will just attempt to swarm the players with sheer numbers. Even though the cultists wield ranged weapons, their AI does not seem to take that into account all too often when moving them into positions on the battlefield. While enemies do have differences in terms of damage taken/inflicted and movement speed, all of them will charge player characters with reckless abandon. As a result, every fight begins to blur into every other fight.
One way the developers attempt to remedy this is by placing boss battles at specific points in the campaign. Unfortunately, with the exception of the final boss fight at the end of the game, all of these fights are against the exact same monster. This creature, which I can only describe as an “enormous mutant space lobster with exploding tentacles” (EMSLET), ambushes players regularly throughout the course of the game. EMSLET can be defeated by shooting it in its glowing yellow exploding weaknesses until it dies. At the same time, it will both repeatedly charge at the players and come with endlessly spawning space zombies. Like the rest of the combat in this game, EMSLET encounters begin to blur together after about the third one. Considering there were plenty of opportunities to make new, interesting boss fights to keep the game feeling fresh, this is a very quick and lazy way to add content to the game. Feeling cheap, EMSLET gives off the impression that the developers were pressed for time.
Another method Visceral Games used to inject much needed variety in the game is by peppering both cinematic set-pieces and puzzles throughout the adventure. One of the most used set-pieces is the rappel climbs/descent on a vertical plane. Though not particularly offensive, these segments do not feel like they add much to the game. Usually, it is just another form of combat with some added platforming segments built in. In my experience, other set-pieces throughout the game had an uncanny tendency to result in a lot of unfair deaths due to some fault in the way they triggered or operated. Though I freely admit they tend to be quite visually impressive, the number of glitches and poor design choices involved with their execution ultimately made them more tedious than they should have been.
As for the puzzles, they do not really add much to the game either. In fact, they generally cannot even be truly considered “puzzles”. Most of them do not take more than minor brainpower and about a minute’s worth of time to solve. Though they try to break up the long slog of fighting endless enemies, none of them last long enough to really serve this purpose. Mostly, these segments serve as nothing more than brief diversions, lacking in both challenge or substance.
Another aspect that feels strange is the co-op. Unlike previous Dead Space games, players have the option of bringing a friend along for the ride. In fact, the only reason I even played Dead Space 3 was because one of my own friends had asked me to join him for the journey. On some levels, the game handles co-op well. Each character gets their own instanced drops, separate from the other character. The benefit to this is that players do not have to compete for resources, encouraging them to cooperate rather than compete with each other. Further, when a unique item is picked up by one player, a copy is immediately placed in the other player’s inventory. This way, neither player can miss out on the items picked up. Also, the co-op character, Carver, does feel integrated into the story in a way that makes him feel relevant. He does affect the progression and without him, the story would be quite different, but we will get to that later.
On the other hand, there are weird ways where co-op does not work quite right. For example, there are times where when one player loses all of their health, they are downed for a period. If not resuscitated by their partner in time, they will die. This is fine, but there are also other times where that period will not trigger, and the player will instantly die. What separates instances where that time frame will and will not activate was never made clear throughout the course of the game. It always felt random. In turn, the mechanic itself felt cheap and inconsistent. And while Carver is a character in its own right, there are times when the game seems to forget this. In many scenes, Issac Clarke seems to be ambushed and thrown into the next area of the game by himself during a cutscene in a way that isolates him from anyone else. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, Carver pops into existence right outside of view. Since my friend was playing as Carver, this gave him an odd sort of whiplash when the camera switched back to behind Carver after each of these scenes. Ultimately, because of these grips, the co-op feels both imperfect and incomplete.
One of my least favorite parts of Dead Space 3 was the plot. Before I talk about it, I want to admit that this is my very first Dead Space game. All of my knowledge of the lore of the franchise comes from second-hand sources, and not much of it stuck in my memory. For the most part, I came in with not knowing anything about the finer details of the story. Having said that, I do not feel that that was the reason that I was confused about what was going on with the story. Nor do I feel that the fact that I was playing in co-op was a huge contributor to my lack of understanding. The plot is a nigh incomprehensible mess, and at no point did I feel like I had a true grasp of what I was doing and why. Considering how cookie-cutter the whole affair felt, this is quite an achievement.
To me, the game did not do a good job of establishing the cast of characters and why they, in particular, are doing their part to stop the space zombie invasion. Further, the interactions between characters often do not make sense and serve only to add arbitrary drama and conflict. One particular scene springs to mind when I say that. One scene has the obviously traitorous asshole of the group betray Issac, turning him over to the obviously evil religious cult at gunpoint. When Issac Clarke kills him, he goes to his former girlfriend (who happens to be the traitor’s current girlfriend). She asks where he is, to which Issac responds “I shot him”, without even attempting to explain why. Scenes like this occur at multiple points in the game, where characters behave illogically to push the plot forward. The villains are as cartoonish as the come. Despite Simon Templeman’s incredible voice acting talent, the cult leader’s entire character is just the personification of silliness. Nothing he does makes any sense, and he soldier’s on with his beliefs despite all evidence contradicting their validity. I remember joking that if the ending was “rocks fall, everyone dies”, I would be happy with that because every character in the game takes a turn at being stupid. Nothing in this plot felt like it worked, and I struggle to comprehend how people liked it enough to approve it for release.

As a whole, Dead Space 3 feels disjointed and incoherent. For every good thing that the game does, two more big mistakes were made at the same time. Despite being a horror franchise, at no point could anything ever be remotely considered scary. The only thing scary about it is that it represents how EA’s decision making can completely ruin what might otherwise have the potential to be a good game. The particularly observant among you might have realized that at no point in this rather long piece did I even mention the weapon crafting, microtransactions, and how they affected the game. That is because I have decided to spend my next article talking about exactly that. I look forward to sharing my thoughts on that with you.

I said we were going to try to reduce the length of the podcast this week.


I did not say we were going to succeed.

The MP3 version of the podcast can be found here.

0:00:00 Introductions
And Garrett really hates Windows 8. He is correct in that hatred.

0:01:30 Viewer Questions
“Do you think Romero actually has it in his to make a game good? For that matter, what would you guys like to see in a John Romera shooter?”
The Warren Specter quote is one of my personal favorite quotes, because it does highlight a very real disconnect between the fact that game development houses are composed of many people and the fact that people love to associate only a few faces with games, ignoring the rest of the talent involved. John Romero, while definitely a gaming celebrity, is only a part of what this new project will be. It is very much a team effort, but people tend to forget that.
I am not someone who describes to auteur theory. I think even the best leader needs at least one person who is capable of checking their ego and calling them out. Not having that person basically explains every crappy plot every written by David Cage. Leaders are important for keeping the overall vision in focus, but they also need to both people to edit them and the ability to be malleable in that vision.

“Do you guys prefer comic book art that is more stylize or more realistic?”
I think Garrett hit the nail on the head here, it depends entirely upon the tone of the work in question. The art-style needs to match the tone, or else you get an uncomfortable dissonance between the two of them.
Also, I know $3 for a single comic is really cheap, but for someone who binges on media, that doesn’t sound like a good value proposition, especially since games tend to last longer and can go on sale for super cheap. After all, I spend $8.40 on Batman: Arkham Origins.

“Does Chris ever get tired of being the only old man in the group?”
Yes, he does. And that’s why I keep calling him that. XD
What can I say, it amuses me. He’s only 32, but it’s awesome to see him react to that.

0:26:20 We talk about Robin Williams’s passing.
In all seriousness, this is still shocking to me even so long after the fact. I respect Robin Williams and hope that his family recovers soon in wake of recent events.
One of the things I’ve found most fascinating is that Robin Williams’s characters have almost always succeeded by embracing their inner child. Given what is known about the man, I cannot believe that is a coincidence. His success can be directly traced to being a sweet and innocent man in an industry known for crushing the souls of the careless. I do not have a point to make with that. It is just an observation to make note of.
For the record, Jamanji is awesome and anyone who disagrees can stuff it!

0:39:30 Chris and Sam have played Resident Evil 6
One thing that you need to be aware of regarding Sam is that he is a gaming masochist. He will intentionally purchase a game he knows to be bad and play it for some sick, twisted form of amusement. I routinely cite this as a reason to question his judgement.
Chris has this as well, but to a much less significant extent and he would never admit to it. Also, he won’t buy a bad game unless someone else will play it with him. That is the only way I can explain him playing both Resident Evil 6 and Aliens: Colonial Marines. You hear him complain about doing 4 campaigns in RE6, but you’ll never hear him say he won’t do it!
On the other hand, it gives us a reason to discuss the many, many ways game designers can piss us off.

0:46:39 Chris (and I) played more Dead Space 3 (with different people)
Chris and I have spoken one-on-one regarding this game, and we cannot agree on this game. He is willing to forgive Dead Space 3’s problems. I refuse to give this game any mercy!
I do not wish to go into much detail hear, because I have a few articles coming out on the subject in time. Yes, “articles”, as in plural. In a Press Start to Discuss FIRST, I have to breakdown my dislike of a game into TWO ARTICLES in order to keep them from being too long. I have been maintaining this little section of cyberspace for three years now, and this has never happened before.
What I will say, since I did not mention it in my article, is that it’s BULLSHIT that Carver three sentences’s worth of character are hidden behind co-op. He already does not have anything more than a typical macho-man soldier character arc, and even that is hidden away from the average player.
The story itself is also a completely convoluted, vapid mess. Nothing with any sort of meaning ever happens and every single person in this cast is stupid. I WISH every single one of them died.
I hate this game. I’m glad I got it free on PlayStation Plus, because I would have NEVER paid money for it.
I hate this game so much that I do not want to play the first two JUST TO SPITE THIS GAME. When Chris says he likes it, I just do not understand.

1:20:15 I finished Batman: Arkham Origins.
I feel so bad for the developers of this game. Released in a vacuum, this would be seen as both an excellent game and an amazing Batman game. In light of Arkham Asylum/City, it is inferior to both. Still, even inferior Arkham is great Arkham, and they should be proud of their accomplishment. I look forward to further games from this studio.
Having said that, those are two very tough acts to follow, and the developers hands are tied. They couldn’t top the twist of Arkham City. Like I said last time, Shamus Young wrote a detailed, multi-part post explaining how their hands were tied.
The gameplay is still on the level of previous Arkham games, which is ultimately all it needed to do.
The new voice actors for Batman and the Joker should also feel proud of their performances. They did great jobs and captured their respective characters well.

1:33:00 I played a bit of Dragon’s Crown
Having played a lot of it, I still haven’t fully gotten over how ridiculously exaggerated all of the characters in the game are. It’s actually very distracting. Fair, but distracting and not really necessary to the game.
But the actual game is pretty fun on it’s own. It’s a really great callback both to classic RPGs (in its storytelling style) and old-school beat’em ups (in its gameplay). I look forward to getting to the point where I can play online.

1:36:55 I purchased a 3DS XL.
I also purchased three games with it: Project X Zone, Shin Megami Tensei IV, and Bravely Default.
I’ve been playing a lot of Project X Zone. I still don’t have many strong opinions on it aside from that it’s cool to see all these characters put together in one project.

1:38:30 I started coding something.
There’s no way to build skill at designing games than to actually start doing it. Since I’m better at coding myself than using a program to do it, this will be my best bet. Again, I have not made much progress, but I need to start somewhere.

1:40:10 Garrett is getting ready to start Game Development in college
And it’s exciting!

1:40:40 Garrett dyed his hair (and we all see each other’s faces in motion for the first time)
And, to be clear, this is the very first time we have ever seen each other “in person”. We usually just stick to our respective avatars. After this cast, we all went on webcam and kept talking a bit, sharing our gaming swag with each other. It’s a strange feeling, to be sure. We might even consider doing it again.
I’m just glad that we don’t do video podcasts. Nobody needs to see my face that much. My voice is already grating enough.

1:47:20 Garrett played Thomas Was Alone and Metro: Last Light
And we don’t talk much about either one. Which is a shame, because they are both great games to talk about.

1:49:00 Garrett found Grim Grimoire.
And I urge him to keep playing, because that is an amazing game.
Then, we take a detour to discuss Okage: Shadow King. This is both one of the most hilarious, and most difficult RPGs I have ever played. Any hardcore RPG fans who have not played Okage are missing out. I take this time to fanboy over it because I rarely ever get the chance to.
Sam would love it, because it’s just weird enough to appeal to his inner anime-fan.

1:56:25 Sam played Counter Strike… again
Not much to say there.

1:56:55 Sam played Diablo 3.
It’s a great podcast game, no pun…. oh who am I kidding. OF COURSE that pun was intended.
In all seriousness, it’s a nice game to do mindlessly while something else is happening. I played the demo on PS3 and thought that was enough for me, but I do see the appeal.

2:00:40 Sam played Mount Your Friends.
That game has been getting around. To be fair, it looks incredibly fun.

2:01:20 Garrett talks about Five Nights at Freddy’s.
This is another one of those game’s that have been floating around. Then again, out of all the “PewDieBait” games out there, this is probably the best one after Amnesia.
The conversation here devolved into a conversation about horror games as a whole, and how stagnant they became before this game’s release.

2:10:20 Conclusion
This podcast was way too long.

Before we start, I would like to begin by noting a very interesting trend. One of the more fascinating things I have noticed is that while the annotations for the podcast get tons of views, the podcasts themselves do not. There are several possible reasons for this.

1.) The 2-hour+ length of the podcast is off-putting.
2.) The lack of an MP3 format is a hindrance to our audience.
3.) My particular viewership would rather read the annotations than listen to the podcast.

We’ll be experimenting with way to address some of these potential issues over the next few episodes. Today, this starts by giving out an MP3 version of the podcast on top of the YouTube version. Out of the people I’ve talked with, this has been a major issue for several people. It’s totally understandable, as most people probably just download these onto their iPods and listen to them in the car.

Though we did not do so in this episode, we will also try to reduce the length of these podcasts as well. Ideally, we’d like these to be less than 1 hour and 30 minutes. The actual content of the cast won’t change, but we’re trying to find ways to let us have our usual discussions in a more reasonable time.

Having said all of that, the podcast is available below:

And the MP3 version can be downloaded from this site. The link should also be on the YouTube page.

0:01:30 Viewer Questions!
“Did you ever play a game that was bad, but still seemed to have a good game deep down trying to get out?”
This is an interesting question, because it’s there are a lot of games that are bad because of a few key decisions.
Alpha Protocol is a special game for me, and people who know me already know that. The actual playing of Alpha Protocol is mediocre on Easy and terrible on either Medium or Hard. At the same time, the fact that character decisions have measurable impacts on the story. Everything you do in Alpha Protocol has some effect on something.
Thief (2014) is also another interesting game. All the mechanics are there. However, the game is let down by both the level design and the nonsense story. It’s a shame that Square-Enix probably learned the wrong lessons from it. Since nobody is talking about it anymore, there’s no one to correct them on it either.

“Have you guys played Brutal Doom yet?”
This brings up the topic of old school shooters and their recent reemergence in things like Wolfenstein: The New Order. Everything I have heard about the new Wolfenstein has me intrigued. I’m honestly not sure why I haven’t played it yet.
I will say that it’s amazing how just adding modern FPS controls to an old game can really breath new life into it. I might not have played Brutal Doom yet, but there is always a chance I will in the future.

0:19:43 Sam and Chris played Firefall (and hate it)
Hearing all of there stories about how terrible the game is to play with friends, I’m almost in shock. These are all really, really basic things an MMO HAS to get right in order to do well.
There is no reason to have quest-important objectives not instanced to each individual player.
There is no reason to make it difficult for friends in the SAME PARTY to be on the same instance.
There is no reason for each player in the same party to have to instantiate the same quest individually.
There is no reason for a game on Steam to not work when selected through Steam.
There is no reason to only allow for one quest to be activated at the same time.
And this game doesn’t even have the shield of Early Access to defend it. It is just a bad game. I mean, I’ve never played it, but I don’t want to after hearing these guys talk about. This kind of crap is inexcusable.
Were it an Early Access game, and if they provided some indicator explaining that this was necessary, there MIGHT be a valid excuse here. But this is literally as bad as it could get beyond that game just not working properly.

The discussion here also led to us talking about other MMO flops of recent history like The Elder Scrolls Online and The Old Republic. It’s actually sad how far that particular genre seems to have fallen. Even WoW isn’t doing as good as it used to.

0:38:32 Chris beat Shovel Knight
And didn’t say much about it.

0:39:45 Chris and I played each other in Injustice: Gods Among Us
As of the time of writing, my Impressions article on Injustice just went up yesterday, which is the day AFTER we recorded the podcast.
For those of you unaware, Chris has a tendency to lose to me in games we play together. This was basically his chance at revenge for my beating him in X-Com and Persona 4 Arena.
It seems to me that both Deathstroke and Batgirl are really top tier characters. Deathstroke’s guns come out really fast and Batgirl has a really good attack throw that rarely ever misses.
Speaking of Batgirl, we talk about Batgirls for a bit.

0:43:06 Chris played Dead Space 3, and so did I.
And I hijack his turn to rant about all the things that suck about this game.
The more I played the game, the more boring it gets. It’s even worse because playing co-op with a friend is terrible and feels completely tacked on.
On top of that, I am never scared because my weapon is completely overpowered and has been since I could start customizing my weapons. The enemies jump out and I just blow them away with my shotgun whose damage is maxed out. Going up against cannon fodder isn’t scary. In fact, when I get into an encounter in DS3, I don’t get scared, I get annoyed.
The set-pieces are also insufferable, because they feel stupid and are the result of many cheap deaths. Every single set-piece in this game, without fail, has something wrong with it.
As for the story, I have absolutely no idea what is going on or what exactly are the relationships between the cast of characters are.
It’s not a bad game, but it’s not a good game. It’s exactly in the middle: Completely mediocre.

0:56:00 Chris and Sam watched the Rocket Raccoon movie.
And I still need to see it. Don’t worry. I will in time. It took me quite a long time to watch the Avengers as well.

0:57:15 I use the fact that the N7 Armor is in Dead Space 3 to relentlessly mock Issac Clarke and make Mass Effect references.
Which is how this episode got its title.

0:58:37 I played the story mode of Injustice: Gods Among Us
The way NetherRealms has begun to present the story of its fighting games is something I want to diffuse to other fighting games. Too many fighters use walls of texts to explain their stories. It works, especially for a comic book-based plot.
Another fun fact, Chris is a very old school comic book reader. Where Sam and I are okay with a more grey-on-grey morality, Chris would much rather it be black-and-white, like they used to be. Personally, I dislike when complex moral conundrums are made too simple, but there is merit to the old school “truth and justice” approach to comic book writing as well.
Overall, Injustice is a really well done story, and was pretty faithful to the source material.

We use this as a springboard to discuss DC Comics in a more general sense several times as well.
Chris also does a great job of filling me in with details from the tie-in comics published by DC.

As for Injustice’s combat. I talked about it briefly in my impressions piece, but it feels a lot more rigid than I’d like it to be. I’d rather more fluidity personally, but that’s just me.

1:13:02 I played Batman: Arkham Origins.
Arkham Origins occupies an interesting position. I do not envy the developers in making Arkham Origins. Living up to Rocksteady’s Arkham games is HARD.
Shamus Young did a fascinating five-part analysis on Arkham Origins that discussed this very issue. Considering the expectations that were on this new developer, and the fact that they were going into this without much experience in creating Batman: Arkham games, it’s actually really impressive how well they did. They really should be proud of the product they released. This is more the fault of the publisher than the developer in this case.
This game is good. In fact, it’s awesome. It’s just that it feels like an off-brand Arkham game. At the same time, seeing Batman in his early days is really interesting. He’s still an expert in his chosen fields, but he lacks the experience and refinement of his older counterpart. It gives this one a bit more of an edge.
I do feel like the new Arkham Knight game would feel a lot stronger in the absence of Arkham Origins coming out last year.

1:20:16 I bought the Transistor Soundtrack.
And I spend a few minutes gushing over it.

1:21:17 I don’t play Marvel Puzzle Quest anymore.
I had some fun times with that game, but with recent updates making it harder to keep up without spending several hours per day playing it, and the recent drama that was dominating my “alliance”, it was no longer worth it. Free-to-play games really attract the oddest sorts of people.
And no, I am no longer in the market for any F2P games. I’ll just stick to Solitaire and Threes.

1:24:05 We talk about Twitch’s new content ID system, and Google in a more general sense.
If our explanation isn’t sufficient, here’s Twitch’s official blog update on the matter. After the failure of their new system, they released an update the next day.
I find it funny because when it was announced that YouTube/Google bought Twitch, something like this would happen. It’s honestly extremely shameful.
I also do not like how Google basically dominates the internet space. Most internet-related things are controlled by Google to a certain degree. It’s probably okay for now, but history says that monopolies aren’t good for consumers, if not now then somewhere down the line. After all, I’m sure you remember the whole issue with Google+ on YouTube.

I also take this time to personally apologize for my thoughts and behavior when Anita Sarkeesian first locked down her YouTube comments. I admit, I don’t know WHAT I was thinking back then. Nowadays, I’m of the attitude that if a channel owner locks down their YouTube comments, you should say “Thank You”.
So please like, comment, and subscribe to our YouTube channel! XD

Speaking of Twitch, I should also give a shout-out to the Diecast. In the latest episode, Shamus Young and Chris “Campster/Errant Signal” Franklin made the point that any one of those videos in the Twitch archives isn’t valuable. However, they BECOME valuable in aggregate. As an example, any one of my articles on this blog isn’t that valuable by itself. Together, the form a very rich repository of video game editorials.

This became weirdly political, but I think it’s a conversation that should be going on. Just be sure any discourse of such a nature is civil.

1:41:41 Sam plays Trials: Fusion (and hates it)
Sam brings up an interesting point in that it took 2-3 hours to beat, and its cost was $20. Now, I have repeatedly said that length in games should not be the “end all be all”, but that might be a bit ridiculous, especially since a lot of that game is grinding the same tracks over and over. For that kind of game, the price likely is a bit too high.
I also am somewhat amused by Sam hating the difficult tracks, because he’s a huge Dark Souls fan.

1:45:20 I ask Sam a question about replaying old games.
Honestly, I sympathize with people who feel like they NEED to tackle that backlog, if only to justify buying the games. However, gaming is supposed to be fun. Props to my friends Alan DeHaan (@Aulayan) for reminding me that games are supposed to be fun. Playing a game because you feel you have to is work. Don’t turn your entertainment into work because you feel like you have to. This message isn’t just for Sam, it’s for everyone who is reading this right now and/or listening to the podcast.

1:49:25 Sam played the Nosgoth beta.
I wonder how people will react to the game when it comes out. It looks cool, and it’s an interesting way to resurrect the Legacy of Kain franchise.

1:51:30 Sam rapid-fire lists of all the games that he played.

1:51:55 Chris and Sam played DOTA 2 together.
And this takes us back to our tutorial discussion from before. DOTA 2 seems to take advantage of the player made guides in its game. That is very smart on Valve’s part and helps guide players without holding their hand. MOBAs in particular have a tough time of it because they have a lot of working parts, but every game has this problem to a degree. It’s interesting to see how they try to solve it.

1:57:40 We close the podcast.
And you can see my Injustice article here.
I’ll also promote the Vlog Brothers, PBS Idea Channel, and PBS Game/Show here, since we mentioned them.
The Wimbly Womblies joke is a reference to HankGames (without Hank) where John Green plays FIFA.
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