With which member of the staff do you share game tastes?

So I was thinking about which members of the staff I usually find most interesting with regard to their experiences with gaming, and have come to the realization that Vinny and I are essentially clones of each other when it comes to our game tastes. I'm really not a big multiplayer guy, preferring an immersive world to get absorbed into. I love knowing a games fiction, and usually cannot go into a game with out playing the games first part or predecessor. If not Vinny, then I'd say the next staff member I share the closest tastes with would be Brad. While I'm not a huge strategy gamer, and maybe not the biggest Diablo (or Blizzard entirely for that matter) fan, I still see the value in those games. I mean I bought the Starcraft 2 collectors edition just because Brad was freaking out with excitement and he made me want to try it. He also always seems to be the one playing the awesome PS3 exclusive, like MGS4, and Uncharted 2/3.

As for Jeff and Ryan... I honestly don't know what they are into... Like it varies so hard, that I can't attribute any specific preference to them. I love listening to Drew talk about games, but I don't think our tastes match up all that much, and Patrick I see as the indy dude, so it really depends on what games he's talking about, as indy games are so different and varied.

Vinny/Dave combo.

There was this thread, but Patrick wasn't part of it.

I'm inclined to say Vinny, but I'll say none of them because that's probably more accurate.

Vinny because he is not a game reviewer.

Definitely Brad, from final fantasy to doom to mine craft, all the way to the precious indie darlings. Except for starcraft, I only played the C&C; and Red Alert games, and I don't do multiplayer.

Brad would be the closest, though more and more do our tastes appear to diverge.

i'd say somewhere between vinny and brad?

I'm definitely a Ryan.

Well, I like Japanese games, so my only real choice is G.

@President_Barackbar said:

I'm definitely a Ryan.

So what does that mean? What kind of games is Ryan into? I honestly can't pinpoint it.

Either Vinny or Drew.

I chose Drew.

Eh, other since it's more of a mix of 'em. I like a lot of games and 'n all that, but I still can't say 100% of the time I agree with any of them. I think the staff is great and all, but tailoring my tastes to just one of them seems impossible.

I would say Brad, but even that's a little iffy.

Which one sticks with shooters, RPG's (more W than J but I'm warming up to the latter), and action games the most? And really doesn't care which era it comes from as long as it's good?

@LiquidPrince said:

@President_Barackbar said:

I'm definitely a Ryan.

So what does that mean? What kind of games is Ryan into? I honestly can't pinpoint it.

Ryan's a jack-of-all-trades. He plays a lot of games across a lot of genres, though there's nothing specific that he especially leans towards like Jeff and his FPS', Vinny and his RPG's ect. Except... maybe Assassin's Creed.

@believer258 said:

I would say Brad, but even that's a little iffy.

Which one sticks with shooters, RPG's (more W than J but I'm warming up to the latter), and action games the most? And really doesn't care which era it comes from as long as it's good?

Probably Vinny or Brad I'd say.

A Vinny/Brad, and to some extent Dave combo, which seems to be a popular choice around here. (Hey where is the Dave option in the poll?).

I appreciate Jeff's judgement and breadth of game types he likes. But bad/imperfect games just don't make upset me like they seem to do to him.

I have to admit I really can't tell at all what Ryan likes so I don't know how much I have in common with him.

Seriously what does Ryan like? not that he seems to hate a whole lot (besides Yoshi), but I really can't figure out what makes him like a game.

I'll be that guy and put myself down as a unique flower. While my tastes share a few similarities with Jeff and Drew, I seem to end up playing bunches of racing games and not enough RPGs/fighters/flighters/shooters, so I often come off as having weird and confined gaming tastes by comparison to them.

Typecast as racing game weirdo, as it were.

Vinny/Brad/Patrick

Where the fuck is Dave?

I feel I'm growing closer and closer to Patrick and his love of auteur-games. Call me pretentious, but I've played so many FPS's and RPG's that I've lost count, and now I'm more interested in some genuine creativity and authorial intent even if it means lower production values.

Jeff. It's fucking scary sometimes. I remember talking to my friend about some game then hearing Jeff utter almost the exact same thing I said a few hours later on the Bombcast. The only big difference I that there is that I can tell is that I absolutely love JRPGs, some of which often are of questionable quality. Cross Edge, Trinity Universe, Resonance of Fate, etc

I mostly gravitate towards puzzle/adventure games and SP FPSs. I don't think that matches up to any of them?

All of them to some degree.

My taste in games isn't really unique and I don't share a taste in games with any one person on the staff.  
I am willing to play any kind of game as long as it is well made or it has some interesting ideas.  
Alpha Protocol for example, which has A LOT of rough edges, but enough interesting qualities to make it worth playing.

@Doctorchimp said:

Where the fuck is Dave?

What he said.

A Mixture of Patrick and Brad .

Everyone but Jeff.

Technically I would have to say Brad and Vinny but a little more Brad than Vinny so I vote Brad. Yeah.

@LiquidPrince said:

@President_Barackbar said:

I'm definitely a Ryan.

So what does that mean? What kind of games is Ryan into? I honestly can't pinpoint it.

Ryan's a jack-of-all-trades. He plays a lot of games across a lot of genres, though there's nothing specific that he especially leans towards like Jeff and his FPS', Vinny and his RPG's ect. Except... maybe Assassin's Creed.

Vinny likes RPGs, and typically good RPGs, so Vinny.

None of them are close to identical honestly. I share some likes/dislikes with all of them.

Always bet on Vinny.

I'm stuck between Vinny and Brad but I ended up clicking Brad. Vinny seems to have the spirit of trying new things out and exploring while Brad is more down to earth with his thoughts on what he likes. Brad for games than, and Vinny for personality!

Either Jeff or Ryan

Jeff, Ryan, and Brad seem to be mostly into only the biggest, mass-market, instant gratification, "AAA" games from western studios. Anything that's even slightly niche or Japanese is "for crazy people" according to them. So definitely none of those three.

Patrick and I seem to share a lot of the same tastes, but his endless adoration for Indie Hipster Bullshit™ and his need to call the gameplay in stealth and horror games shitty every chance he gets disqualifies him.

I only associate Drew with flight sims and racing games for some reason. So not him.

Dave is into some really cool games, but for the most part, they're games that I can only appreciate from a distance. Sorry Dave.

Vinny is really into RPGs and adventure games, he likes to immerse himself into the fiction of the games he plays, and he seems genuinely open-minded about games he's not familiar with.

I vote Vinny. No one else really comes close.

I always end up subconsciously agreeing with everything Brad says because he's so cute.

CALL ME BRAD!

@LiquidPrince said:

As for Jeff and Ryan... I honestly don't know what they are into... Like it varies so hard, that I can't attribute any specific preference to them. I love listening to Drew talk about games, but I don't think our tastes match up all that much, and Patrick I see as the indy dude, so it really depends on what games he's talking about, as indy games are so different and varied.

I tend to say that jeff likes games that are games. He tends to think stories are dumb and anime is for jerks. Thusly, he likes games like Mortal Kombat, Blitz, FPS, and Pinball. He tends not to like survival horror, rpgs, or in general anything that takes itself too seriously.

Ryan tends to like stuff that is "insane" or extremely creative in unconventional ways. He likes weird stuff from Japan like wakeup club and weird stuff from teh states like Saint's Row. He likes to futz around in games more than he likes to actually complete them. he's almost always made some stupid character in a generator, gave them a stupid name, and sent them on some inane adventure if he can help it.

The only time I've strongly disagreed with Vinny was when he said Eternal Darkness was great and one of his favorite games. I still can't wrap my head around that one.

My long breakdown of what I think the GB crew members' tastes in video games are:

Vinny really seems like the obvious choice for this poll, since he tends to have the most rational, everyman opinions of games on the Bombcast, and he will really sink some time into a game, instead of hastily playing a game for review and burning out on it and never playing it again (which I think Brad more or less did with Skyrim, for example). He does tend to favour RPGs more than the others, but he generally tries to play all of the major releases.

Jeff has the most incongruous game tastes I've ever seen. He has a general preferences for FPS games and fighting games, but he adores everything from Mortal Kombat to Trackmania 2 to Skylanders to Borderlands to NFL Blitz '99. And then he randomly has a bunch of weird grudges against various video game series that I've never heard him adequately explain (e.g., the only reason he gave for not liking Metroid Prime was that it was in first person, and surely there is more to it than that). He's an interesting renaissance man in terms of the sheer variety of different games he is into, but If you feel you share the oddly specific game tastes that Jeff has, you're a fucking madman.

I don't even have a good sense of Ryan's tastes in games. He plays the games he has to for review, and like Vinny he plays a lot of the other major releases, but I can't think of any real preferences? I've seen him bone up enough straightforward things in games to get the sense that he's not good with particularly complex games (he went nuts for Civ V, and that's the only somewhat complex game I've seen him really love), or games that throw new mechanics at you constantly. And as a result, I get the sense that of all the GB crew members, he is the least interested in competitive multiplayer. And he fashions himself something of a film buff, so I guess he does have a soft spot for games like Max Payne? I don't know. He really liked Saints Row The Third, so perhaps he favours games that are just super fun, and your character is super awesome to fuck around with.

Brad seems to have a certain competitive streak in him, in terms of Starcraft 2 and generally being a pretty good player of classic multiplayer FPS along the lines of Quake and UT, but is otherwise also an obvious choice for this poll, in terms of him being something of an everyman gamer like Vinny who can play just about anything and have intelligent things to say about it. Seems to have something of an affinity for indie games/art games, though not to the same extent that Patrick does. This might be just me, but I think you may also have common ground with Brad if you can convince yourself that you're really enjoying games that are kinda just mediocre (reviews for L.A. Noire, Metroid: Other M, RAGE).

Drew seems to love anything of a sim or...tactical military nature? He was also pretty into Halo and Diablo II, so I get the sense that he is that guy who will find a popular game that is out and has the dedication to become quite knowledgeable and proficient at it. Despite not being on the editorial side of things, I actually trust his opinions on stuff more than anybody else at Giant Bomb, because he does such a good job of making sure he is fairly informed on something, or else he'll admit he doesn't know.

Patrick seems like he has specific preferences, but I don't think I have a good sense of them yet. He's obviously into indie games/art games, even the ones that either aren't finished, are 5 minutes long, or aren't even technically games as much as they're "interactive experiences". He professes a love of the horror genre, both in film and video game, but he seems to have such general, nonspecific knowledge of horror games that I still question whether he's played that many of them (though he has played Siren Blood Curse, of course). Not much into PC gaming at present, given his repeated mention on the Bombcast that he doesn't have a gaming PC.

If you read all of that, thanks! I have no idea why I have so much to say on the topic.

I really don't know enough about their tastes to judge, but I'd probably not be any of them. I play a lot of racing games and sports games, and those seem to be the two genres that go completely unrepresented on the GB editorial crew. I have a massive soft spot for horror, driven by an obnoxious love for Silent Hill 2 so if I had to pick anyone then Patrick I suppose.

Definitely a mix of Jeff/Vinny. I like to get deep up in the fiction like Vinny but do love me some dumb stuff like Jeff.

@SaturdayNightSpecials said:

The only time I've strongly disagreed with Vinny was when he said Eternal Darkness was great and one of his favorite games. I still can't wrap my head around that one.

In general, I've seen a lot of misplaced nostalgia laid at the feet of that game. I played it like 3 years ago and wasn't particularly impressed with the gameplay (competent) or the story (Basically just Lovecraft), but I guess back in 2001 things must have been different. For me, it occupies the same sphere as something like Resident Evil Code Veronica or Pikmin. I can kinda see where you're coming from in thinking fondly about it. I just disagree entirely.

@Soapy86 said:

Jeff, Ryan, and Brad seem to be mostly into only the biggest, mass-market, instant gratification, "AAA" games from western studios. Anything that's even slightly niche or Japanese is "for crazy people" according to them. So definitely none of those three.

Patrick and I seem to share nothing very little in common and his endless adoration for Indie Hipster Bullshit™ and his need to call the gameplay in stealth and horror games shitty every chance he gets disqualifies him.

I agree with these statements. Just switch out your preference from "Vinny" to "Dave" and we have a match. While I'm not one for ultra-niche stuff like Crusader Kings or *insert flight sim here*, Dave Snider and I intersect pretty hard on quite a few of our favorite CRPGs, namely Wizardry 8, Icewind Dale, and Temple of Elemental Evil. Even though he likes Icewind Dale II better. To which I reply: what. I feel like Vinny is a lot like Dave in his tastes but without the edge of insanity, which is obviously why they pair together so well, but more importantly because I fully acknowledge that one has to be a certain kind of obsessive to be into the games I am into.

Vinny/Drew with a touch of Brad/Dave.

@BisonHero: You're very welcome.

Ryan/Vinny combination. Maybe a little Patrick too because of my interest in auteur games.

Whenever there is a Vinny/Dave quicklook it's going to consistently be for a game I am interested in. I voted Vinny.

I am closer to Jeff but I play more fighting games seriously.

@xobballox said:

None of them are close to identical honestly. I share some likes/dislikes with all of them.

This, pretty much.