Why is Brad indecisive about that USB stick with his saves on it?

I don't recall ever hearing about a final decision, but I feel like there have been at least a dozen separate instances on the Bombcast/in Quick Looks where Brad has mentioned some game he halfway played through but then that USB stick died, or where he mentions he's not played Mass Effect 3 because his save from Mass Effect 1 and 2 is on that USB stick. I get that several hundred dollars (with no guaranteed recovery of data) is a lot of money, but seriously, you play games for a living. Either decide that it's worth it to you for a chance to get your ME 1 & 2 saves, or for the love of god let it go and stop hemming and hawing about how you're still thinking about whether it's worth it or not. It feels like he has been occasionally mentioning that USB stick for nearly a year at this point.

I've had hard drives die on me, and it sucks, but you move on. He needs to get back on that horse and just play Mass Effect 3, since it will be a pretty relevant game when it comes time to discuss Game of the Year stuff.

Have you ever run into a scenario of lost/corrupted data? If so, have you EVER spent this long being indecisive about what to do with your messed up data storage device?

I think it's funny, kind of like them forgetting that they're still paying for a Gamefly subscription.

@BraveToaster said:

I think it's funny, kind of like them forgetting that they're still paying for a Gamefly subscription.

The Gamefly thing is hilarious because it's just so wasteful and neglected. The USB stick just strikes me as frustrating inaction, that he keeps mentioning here and there as if it's this super hard decision when really he's just been avoiding even thinking about it at all. For me, its annoyance factor is right up there with "Brad Quick Looks where he talks for like 4 minutes straight while moving his character back and forth within the same 20 square foot area". The inaction when it's a straightforward choice is just irritating.

I had a Mad Catz Gamecube memory card die on me, and yeah, moved on. Started those games fresh, it was fine. I agree, particularly in regards to Mass Effect 3, that he needs to clear that hurdle and move on. Start a kickstarter, get the Giant Bomb community to pay for it, done and done.

@BisonHero: I understand what you're saying. It is odd that he's indecisive when it comes to something do simple. Then again, I would be nervous about spending money only to have everything erased, but I would just give up and play Mass Effect without the saves. That would also be an opportunity for content; I'm sure someone wouldn't mind watching Brad play through the entire trilogy. I can picture the chat window going wild with the comments of back-seat gamers.

Brad is indecisive about everything. Throughout the year most discussions about any game are instantly halted by Brad bringing up how he's still playing it or how he has to go back to it. This happens to games that are pretty old and quite frankly it's a little annoying. I think for 4 weeks straight we heard "oh man Saints Row 3 is C-RAZY you gotta play it..ok we can't talk about it cause Brad hasn't played it yet" this went on forever and then they just never ended up fully discussing it.

I lost my my ME2 savefile as well due to a bad memory stick. I had played through ME1 three times and ME2 twice so it was a lot of memory and attachment to that character. I wasn't going to just refuse to play a big title like ME3 because of that though - even though I admit that the way a non-imported game in ME3 works is kind of shitty but I still got a fairly enjoyable experience. What is really tragic is that Bioware didn't have the foresight to predict this being an issue and didn't create a little checkbox style menu for editing ME1/ME2 events - maybe use Achievement for verification if they want to be stingy about it. I have the ME2 achievement for everybody surviving the suicide mission, so at least use that as a check so that if I don't import my savefile 70% of all major ME characters aren't dead in my ME3 campaign.

In the end you gotta know when to call it quits. C'mon Brad you gotta just suck it up a little.

I vote we sacrifice him to our gods.

Seriously though, the guy just doesn't feel like committing to spending the money, I don't see how any of us have a right to judge his indecisiveness.

@BisonHero said:

He needs to get back on that horse and just play Mass Effect 3, since it will be a pretty relevant game when it comes time to discuss Game of the Year stuff.

C'mon man...

Can't he just borrow someone's generic ME2 end save where the crew lives and they've picked Ashley (the person I remember Brad picked)?

@Doctorchimp said:

@BisonHero said:

He needs to get back on that horse and just play Mass Effect 3, since it will be a pretty relevant game when it comes time to discuss Game of the Year stuff.

C'mon man...

Seriously. I don't even see it getting much of a nod in story or character categories.

@Hunter5024 said:

@Doctorchimp said:

@BisonHero said:

He needs to get back on that horse and just play Mass Effect 3, since it will be a pretty relevant game when it comes time to discuss Game of the Year stuff.

C'mon man...

Seriously. I don't even see it getting much of a nod in story or character categories.

It's not a strong GOTY contender but it beats out a lot of other games that came out this year, at least for me. I don't even know what came out this year that blew my socks off.

@Humanity: While the Bomb Crew was a little bit more forgiving to ME3 than fans and other reviewers were, they definitely didn't seem very enthusiastic about it.

@Humanity said:

It's not a strong GOTY contender but it beats out a lot of other games that came out this year, at least for me. I don't even know what came out this year that blew my socks off.

Have you played Journey? Spec Ops The Line? Dust An Elysian Tail? Mark of the Ninja?

While it isnt that big of a deal I do wish Brad had just given in and used a save editor or something to play ME3, I would have liked to hear what he thought of it.

@AssInAss said:

@Humanity said:

It's not a strong GOTY contender but it beats out a lot of other games that came out this year, at least for me. I don't even know what came out this year that blew my socks off.

Have you played Journey? Spec Ops The Line? Dust An Elysian Tail? Mark of the Ninja?

I've played Mark of the Ninja and it is excellent. I have zero interest in Spec Ops and Dust turns me off on both the aesthetic level (not the furry debate, I just don't like the art style) as well as the gameplay side of things. Journey I'd play but to be honest I don't feel like taking my PS3 out of the closet just to play an hour long indie game.

At the same time I find it hard to compare a game like ME3 to an arcade title like Mark of the Ninja no matter how good it is. Despite all the fan vitriol, ME3 is a solid game that provides you with a good 10-15 hours of gameplay. It's a shame that it's marred by the continued shift towards an action style shooter rather than the conversation and story driven RPG that it originally began as, but at the end of the day it is an all around better package than at least 70% of games released during the year.

Now don't get me wrong, I don't think that ME3 is a Game of the Year by a long shot, but on the backdrop of such 2012 full retail releases as Neverdead, Syndicate or Kingdoms of Amalur which range from bad to "alright" I think it's a pretty solid game.

Some other big name releases that I enjoyed this year were Binary Domain, Max Payne 3 and SSX although none of those scream GOTY at me and SSX I'd actually consider quite a disappointment. I think Diablo 3 has a strong chance of winning the GOTY title among the crew as they all played and enjoyed it in varying degrees.

Game of the year for me is Walking Dead so far. Closely followed by Crusader Kings 2, Trials Evolution and Sleeping Dogs.

ME3... mair like Meh3.

I think Mass Effect 3 will probably make my top 10 for this year. Despite the ending (although i was one of those that wasnt too bothered by it) I still found the rest of the game really enjoyable, Ive just started my second playthrough of it, this time the PC version.

@AssInAss said:

@Humanity said:

It's not a strong GOTY contender but it beats out a lot of other games that came out this year, at least for me. I don't even know what came out this year that blew my socks off.

Have you played Journey? Spec Ops The Line? Dust An Elysian Tail? Mark of the Ninja?

Lol none of those will even be considered for GOTY. We'll likely we looking at Assassin's Creed 3 and Black Ops 2.

I think the Walking Dead stands a good chance this year. Patrick will lionize that game, and Vinny and Ryan both enjoy it.

But I think you might have to watch out, because I think the 4th and 5th episodes are going to backfire on them like Mass Effect 3 did. When people get to the end of the series and realize that their myriad choices ultimately play out in a binary state (or worse, their previous choices nullify their ability to select certain options), people will flip out.

People got mad when the only thing that really changes in Mass Effect 3 is dialogue or sometimes the person talking to you; the only thing that changes in the Walking Dead is whether Kenny calls you a friend or an asshole.

And Walking Dead is 2nd on my GOTY list, behind Persona 4 Arena. Mass Effect 3 is 4th, behind Super Monday Night Combat.

Its not worth it in brads case as he needs to spend a couple of hundred dollars to get it scanned for errors and to check if it can be fixed , he will play mass effect before the end of the year it was the same for gta 4

@Mcfart said:

@AssInAss said:

@Humanity said:

It's not a strong GOTY contender but it beats out a lot of other games that came out this year, at least for me. I don't even know what came out this year that blew my socks off.

Have you played Journey? Spec Ops The Line? Dust An Elysian Tail? Mark of the Ninja?

Lol none of those will even be considered for GOTY. We'll likely we looking at Assassin's Creed 3 and Black Ops 2.

Don't forget Halo 4 is also coming out before the end of the year. Also, don't forget that Borderlands 2 is coming out reaal soon and they are all massive Borderlands fans.

@Humanity said:

…I enjoyed … Binary Domain…

There's another game that Brad has shown a lot of interest in but will never actually play. Vinny and Patrick are the only staff members who are any good about that sort of thing, but a lot of that has to do with the fact that they don't write reviews.

About the only thing Mass Effect 3 should win is Disappointment of the Year.

@Hunter5024 said:

@Doctorchimp said:

@BisonHero said:

He needs to get back on that horse and just play Mass Effect 3, since it will be a pretty relevant game when it comes time to discuss Game of the Year stuff.

C'mon man...

Seriously. I don't even see it getting much of a nod in story or character categories.

How about the "Biggest Fuck You To The Fans" category?

I don't understand why he is so indecisive, of course you are not going to pay hundreds of dollars for save games that might or might not be recoverable. Just move on.

@TeflonBilly said:

@Hunter5024 said:

@Doctorchimp said:

@BisonHero said:

He needs to get back on that horse and just play Mass Effect 3, since it will be a pretty relevant game when it comes time to discuss Game of the Year stuff.

C'mon man...

Seriously. I don't even see it getting much of a nod in story or character categories.

How about the "Biggest Fuck You To The Fans" category?

I was waiting for you to get banned over this then I realized this wasn't Penny Arcade.

@BisonHero said:

I've had hard drives die on me, and it sucks, but you move on. He needs to get back on that horse and just play Mass Effect 3, since it will be a pretty relevant game when it comes time to discuss Game of the Year stuff.

That's a good one.

Mass Effect 3 won't be winning anything this year, aside from perhaps, "Most Disappointing."

Why do you and other people wish to snoop on other people's lives? This community's rampant snooping on the crew's life is rather annoying. Let Brad do what he wishes, he'll play ME3 eventually. Don't act like such a mom guys. Let nature take its course.

@TeflonBilly: It could also win worst fans in the world for harassing female Bioware employees and being fucking assholes on most occasions.

I don't even remember the last time he mentioned it. Did he do it recently and I missed it? Because right now it feels like this thread is super late.

And I probably wouldn't pay for it. How many of those games are ever going to be played again?

I guess I'm the only one that sympathizes with Brad. It's a mortal blow to the teeth when everything you've done just disappears, especially in a trilogy where the decisions you make carries over to the next game. If he just moved on and played Mass Effect 3, it wouldn't nearly be as much fun or meaningful to him, because all the little throwaway lines and choices weren't his, and he'd know it.

Personally speaking, it really sucks when data is lost. It completely kills the mood to play that game ever again, especially if it's 10 or more hours. When I lost my Mass Effect save (just before Mass Effect 2 came out), I was done with the series for a long time. I only now just started playing it again back in June, and I just put Mass Effect 2 in my 360 at the beginning of August. I won't even touch 3 (heck, it's still shrink wrapped) until I'm done with 2.

So I don't think it's about indecisiveness, it's just about the lack of will to play through all those games again, and I know his pain.

Also, I think Jeff would mention James Vega for Best Character, but Brad looked at that guy and saw muscles so he cannot allow him being included.

Vinny might mention Javik. Because Javik is a supremacist who is casually racist. And... yeah.

@Phatmac said:

@TeflonBilly: It could also win worst fans in the world for harassing female Bioware employees and being fucking assholes on most occasions.

When you treat your fans or customers like shit, act immaturely when faced with legitimate criticism people are gonna shit on you. Thats what happened to Bioware.

He might as well go PC and import a user save with similar decisions.

@chilibean_3 said:

I don't even remember the last time he mentioned it. Did he do it recently and I missed it? Because right now it feels like this thread is super late.

And I probably wouldn't pay for it. How many of those games are ever going to be played again?

This is what I was thinking. He hasn't mentioned this since sometime late last year. Or if he has mentioned it later, he didn't care enough to talk about it at all.

@The_Nubster said:

@chilibean_3 said:

I don't even remember the last time he mentioned it. Did he do it recently and I missed it? Because right now it feels like this thread is super late.

And I probably wouldn't pay for it. How many of those games are ever going to be played again?

This is what I was thinking. He hasn't mentioned this since sometime late last year. Or if he has mentioned it later, he didn't care enough to talk about it at all.

It was brought up on several occasions in Bombcasts around ME3's release, but since then, I can't remember much chatter about it at all, either.

Why get on that horse that is just is going to throw his ass again and again? Oh wait, Brad might even do that but he can't make up his mind about it...I think it is is becoming one of those site in-jokes. Brad is Brad...least the Brad we think we know and rail on about if whatever event(TNT) is late.....

@Brodehouse said:

I think the Walking Dead stands a good chance this year. Patrick will lionize that game, and Vinny and Ryan both enjoy it. But I think you might have to watch out, because I think the 4th and 5th episodes are going to backfire on them like Mass Effect 3 did. When people get to the end of the series and realize that their myriad choices ultimately play out in a binary state (or worse, their previous choices nullify their ability to select certain options), people will flip out. People got mad when the only thing that really changes in Mass Effect 3 is dialogue or sometimes the person talking to you; the only thing that changes in the Walking Dead is whether Kenny calls you a friend or an asshole. And Walking Dead is 2nd on my GOTY list, behind Persona 4 Arena. Mass Effect 3 is 4th, behind Super Monday Night Combat.

I don't know about The Walking Dead succumbing to the same ending issues as Mass Effect. There are set events that have to happen in each episode, so it's too early to say whether it's going to be another series that converges into a single ending. I don't think there's that much flexibility in the overall narrative in the same way that we thought there would be with Mass Effect, TWD does an amazing job of making you think you're changing the story when I think it's more likely that we're just changing who dies/when they die and our relationships with them. The end of 3 certainly suggests that there's a very definite path that the story is going to take.

@algertman: PA did that?

On subject though, if he has gotten by this long without them, he probably doesn't care. On the other side, they should expense it, and do a "Brad's Recovered Saves" that they mentioned way back on the podcast. That could be a way to do some content, and get his saves back, with some productivity. But they probably won't, why should they.

@adam1808 said:

@Brodehouse said:

I think the Walking Dead stands a good chance this year. Patrick will lionize that game, and Vinny and Ryan both enjoy it. But I think you might have to watch out, because I think the 4th and 5th episodes are going to backfire on them like Mass Effect 3 did. When people get to the end of the series and realize that their myriad choices ultimately play out in a binary state (or worse, their previous choices nullify their ability to select certain options), people will flip out. People got mad when the only thing that really changes in Mass Effect 3 is dialogue or sometimes the person talking to you; the only thing that changes in the Walking Dead is whether Kenny calls you a friend or an asshole. And Walking Dead is 2nd on my GOTY list, behind Persona 4 Arena. Mass Effect 3 is 4th, behind Super Monday Night Combat.

I don't know about The Walking Dead succumbing to the same ending issues as Mass Effect. There are set events that have to happen in each episode, so it's too early to say whether it's going to be another series that converges into a single ending. I don't think there's that much flexibility in the overall narrative in the same way that we thought there would be with Mass Effect, TWD does an amazing job of making you think you're changing the story when I think it's more likely that we're just changing who dies/when they die and our relationships with them. The end of 3 certainly suggests that there's a very definite path that the story is going to take.

Plus, TWD didn't set out saying "we're going to make a trilogy that spans hundreds of hours and 200 dollars worth of software, and do what no company has ever done before!" only to get to the end and go "WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE COLOUR".

I'm just going to call this right now, ME3 will NOT be a serious contender for any game of the year awards.

It is seriously disappointing that 5 minutes can destroy any chances of a game being considered for any award.

So this turning into a thread discussion what they predict the giantbomb GOTY? We already have a thread for that. I think brad should probably play Mass Effect 3 for the discussion that will happen then but it is hardly mandatory. I would be interested to hear his opinions on it.

Brad won't have time to play Mass Effect 3 before the game of the year discussion.

@BisonHero said:

I've had hard drives die on me, and it sucks, but you move on. He needs to get back on that horse and just play Mass Effect 3, since it will be a pretty relevant game when it comes time to discuss Game of the Year stuff.

That's a good one.

Mass Effect 3 won't be winning anything this year, aside from perhaps, "Most Disappointing."

@Dany said:

It is seriously disappointing that 5 minutes can destroy any chances of a game being considered for any award.

It isn't just that the ending is so bad. It's that EA went so far in the resulting aftermath. If they had just said "yeah, that is fucking horrible, our bad" and took one to the chin, it undoubtedly would not have gone over as badly as it did, especially considering the entire debacle culminated in them stealing from fucking charity.

It's like how the Silent Hill HD Collection was so terrible that everybody attacked the lead director who had the gall to keep saying "oh we're all TRUE fans of the series" when he butchered the voice acting, reduced the most important cutscene in SH2 to a third of its size to fit in a fucking TV overlay, let the game release with the game running at 50% speed in most areas, and refused to patch the game because his pride was hurt.

I don't even remember the last time he mentioned it. Did he do it recently and I missed it? Because right now it feels like this thread is super late.

And I probably wouldn't pay for it. How many of those games are ever going to be played again?