You guys feel like Patrick has improved considerably as a host?

Yeah, he's gotten better. I still don't watch alot of his solo stuff. Not because of him, just solo quicklooks are kinda boring thats all. He should skype in alex or someone from the office for them.

I didn't think he was bad to begin with, but he has definitely improved as an on-screen personality. It is easy to see that he puts a lot of work into improving everything.

I think all around he's gotten better. It's the facial hair.

Yes, and I think he now makes the best content for the site. I've grown tired of the content the rest of the crew does recently, but I always watch the stuff Patrick does.

Yes.

I actually like him a lot better when he's doing his own thing where he's in control of his own train of thoughts. I never felt like his interaction with the rest of crew was natural like the rest of the guys and never really cared about him until he left. He always felt out of place to me.

Now that he's on his own i find myself a lot more interested in what he does and has to say. Plus that also had the side effect of giving a lot more screen time to Alex and that's a great thing.

@clonedzero: Yeah, I really wish that would happen more often. Remember that Rogue Legacy stream with Pat and Brad? That was legit. A little bit of delay is a price I would gladly pay to have QLs that aren't just one guy talking to himself for 25 minutes.

About the same. Which isn't saying much

@theht said:

I still don't think of it as permanent. More like a temporary joke/experiment that he's going to shave it some day.

I think he'a about the same.

Nope. I really just don't like his stuff for a number of reasons, but I'm not trying to be negative or accidentally hurtful so I won't elaborate. I am, however, happy for you duders that get something from it. For the most part, more content is always good.

I agree with the above sentiment.

Patrick "Grew the beard" ...literally. Seriously though, I've always enjoyed Patrick's presence and him doing more of his own stuff is making for some great content.

Patrick is fantastic.

I'm in the weird position of knowing of him from the recent stuff, but I've yet to reach the point where he joins Giant Bomb in the backlog. I think he's great, though, so maybe I'll find the early stuff fine.

I always thought he was good. At least since I've been here.

I continue not to share Patrick's interests in anything, so while I do agree with you that his personality has improved, I doubt he'll ever be a source of content for me.

He's pretty considerate when he talks to the viewers during the Q&A portion in Spookin' which I appreciate. He's no Jeff Gerstmann or VInny...but NO ONE CAN ELSE CAN DUPLICATE WHAT THOSE GUYS ARE DOING. :)

I dunno. I just don't watch videos where there's only one person, which usually turn out to be Patrick's videos. Just feels weird having one guy there, all alone.

As a live host presenting to an audience i feel like Patrick does a great job and when it's him, by himself presenting to a camera he does an "ok" job of it which could only get better with experience.

he's not as irritating and declarative anymore so yea.

but i only really watch worth playing and spookin cause i disagree with his opinions like 90% of the time anytime i caught some of bombin the am.

but more power to you folks who like that content

I think the dude has considerably improved, it's just that I'm not interested in any of the content he's making. The stuff with Alex is cool, but it just feels like a watered down version of the bombcast. And solo quick looks? I'm not interested in solo quick looks even with the Gerstmann. Basically, so much of what I get out of Giantbomb comes from a group of people talking and laughing about video games. The more, the merrier. The stuff Patrick is doing is fresh and interesting... but just lonely.

(Hey Patrick, I know it's not your fault and it's more of a product of your circumstances, but that still doesn't mean I'm necessarily into it. I'd love to see you kicking it with the rest of the crew back in San Francisco!)

Most of the best content of the last few months has been from Patrick

For sure. The only way that anyone can improve in this kind of thing is to just keep doing it. Patrick wasn't new to being in front of a camera when he joined Giant Bomb but there's a huge difference between what he did at G4 and what he does here. When you have to learn a whole new way of doing things there's going to be some obvious growing pains.

@sunbrozak: The video interview Ryan and Patrick gave to Nolan North when Nolan came to the Giant Bomb office is kind of hard to watch as they are both uncomfortable (as it was an off the cuff interview- like they do) and with Patrick it showed the most as he made some comments that were out of place. His early quick looks also really came off as demo presentations of the game he's showing. To be fair, though, he improved while he was in the office still but moving away from the office seems to have made his on screen presence less of an attempt to be like "everybody else at Giantbomb" and be more of himself which is much better for him.

As for the OP: I've always liked Patrick, but I do see a difference between now and when he first started doing videos with Giantbomb. He was trying hard to be funnier than he is, before, and possibly trying to "fit in" with the rest of the staff.

He really doesn't need to, and I think he's found his on screen presence now, as he seems more relaxed and a lot less like he's trying to give a demo of the game he's showing- a lot less like he's trying to impress somebody.

When he's just being himself he's much more interesting to watch and I've always enjoyed hearing what he has to say about things because he's very open minded and articulate (which shows in his articles- used to show more in his articles than his videos) so it's good to see him find that balance in video form.

I liked Patrick to begin with, but yeah, I think he's gotten better.

Scooptastic.

The thing is, when he gets a little older he can shave it to look like he's 20 again. He'll be forever young... that is until he hits Malcolm Gladwell levels of creepy.

I'd agree with this. I used to not like him at all, but he literally "grew the beard" and ever since then I've found him much more tolerable. I don't really like many of the things he's into, but he's certainly much better than he used to be.

I've always liked patrick, but ever since his evil twin replaced him he's gotten even better.

yes, much better.

horror stuff and podcast with Alex - good stuff

horror

@party said:

It's actually upsetting that I feel the same way. I think Patrick has put a great deal of effort and care into improving as a member of the staff and as an on-screen personality. He's tempered some of his more soap-boxy edges, and tries to listen to criticism where reasonable. That's been fantastic. It's just a shame that all the content he does now is produced in this weird corner of the site that I can't get into. Solo quick looks don't do it for me, that's not what drew me to this site to begin with, and I keep desperately wanting Spookin With Scoops to become more like the Fear Gauntlet (with more classic games instead of chasing the hottest-latest) and less of him shuffling multiple games in a single stream, because it makes it too difficult to get invested.

Patrick has dramatically improved since he first joined the site, it's just a shame that he started to shine and then immediately left for Chicago where his talent just kind of feels like it's going to waste. I feel bad for just not being able to get into his content when, if it was just slightly different, I'd watch it every time.

Wait. Are you telling me that doing something over and over again makes you better at it?

Get out.

GTFO

Well in fairness, Ryan was like a force of nature so that kind of presence

This is like TNG when Riker got the beard and the show got better. :)

Yeah, I think he has improved remarkably (although I enjoyed his presence from the beginning). I think it's just a matter of experience, and working with the best of the best, which he's had several years of now. That said, his level of skill and engaging personality when he started at GB was already light-years beyond many people I see professionally hosting videogame-related videos. We have it so good here.

I was surprised how good the Interview Dumptruck turned out. The Neverending Nightmares and Games For Everyone interviews really stand out.

Nope. Then i don't watch anything with him in it. Big improvement to the site with him moving now you can ignore him if you don't like him.

A bit jarring at first but I've never minded Patrick much on the Bombcast or other features and I really enjoy both him and Alex on Scoops and the Wolf - probably more than anything either of them have ever done.

I still don't like his writing though.

I have nothing against Patrick, other than his constant promotion of alcohol, but I just never feel compelled to consume any of the content he produces. I'd be interested in seeing the numbers on that stuff, whether it traffics as much as the content the main crew produces.

He's become a lot better since when he first joined (when I found him barely tolerable). It's a pity that it's coincided with him moving back to Chicago, because now all the stuff he does is so isolated from the rest of the crew.

absolutely, like all skills it takes practice and he is much better now, although i never had that many issues with him before

I've liked his stuff since I watched him on Feedback. I was excited when he joined Giant Bomb and have still kept enjoying his stuff since.

I never had an issue with Scoops, but he has definitely gotten better with time. He's the Iman Shumpert of GiantBomb...but less overhyped.

I couldn't stand him when he first started, and that lasted up until fairly recently (within the last 3-6 months or so). He's gotten much better. I don't know what it is (the move back to Chicago I'm guessing) but he's come a long way.

Kinda like what others have said, the whole "growing the beard" thing really works.

Patrick's back hurts from carrying this website.

*Trolls some more*

Also I'd like to comment that I think Patrick works a lot better by himself (or with Alex, apparently). From the moment he joined the site, my favorite things he did were his articles. Not that I hated his presence with the rest of the bombcrew or anything, I just prefer to see him do his own little streams, or big scoops.

I kind a agree here. I always felt that he didn't really work well with the whole crew, but him going on his own doing his own thing had done wonders.

@j12088: Thanks for allowing me not to be the asshole =)

If he'd stop singing during his videos they'd be much better.

I love most of what Patrick does now, and he has certainly grown during his time with GB. Spookin', and Scoops and the Wolf both hold up really well. I was never "part of the mob", but I sometimes felt he was a little out of place. Glad he proved me wrong.

Patrick is the same, people just grew up.