I'm a long-time subscriber. I don't comment much on here. However, specifically because of all the negativity on display about this week's episode:
As an almost-40 year old white Southern California native, the discussions on the Beastcast about cultural appropriation are fascinating and important to me. They are one of the ways my perspective on the world gets recalibrated. They help me build empathy. They make me aware of the ways my words and actions might seem completely innocuous to me but can be offensive or problematic to someone else. Small adjustments in my attitude cost nothing but can bring about very valuable results to everyone around me.
These discussions are Good. Please continue to have them. People that don't like them can stop listening, as is their right.
Also Overwatch is awesome and I would totally sub to an Overwatch-only podcast. Mei is bae.
Also, this is supposed to be a games criticism website. If they can't even take the time to finish one of the most important open world games ever made because they can't get over their own bullshit, they've lost a ton of credibility. I'd even say they shouldn't be taken seriously (not that they've ever claimed they should be), but then you get Austin Walker's really great pieces on all sorts of things, so the two are really at odds with each other. Sometimes East has almost nothing in common with West.
TW3 is a flagship open world game, unarguably one of the most important releases of the year. It is literally their job to cover games like this. If they're using personal reasons to not do their job, they're not doing their job very well and shouldn't be taken seriously as a games criticism website.
This site is not an all-encompassing "games criticism website."
Giant Bomb is about these people and their personalities and interests. It usually involves video games, but it can also include whatever they want to do.
This site is -- and always has been -- about whatever these guys feel like doing. It's about them playing games and giving their opinions. It's about whatever floats their personal boats (Ranking of Fighters). It's about their ineptitude at sports games but the fun they have goofing around with them (Don Bradman Cricket, where they don't even know how the sport is played!). It's about wrestling (PAXAMANIA & Power Bombcast). It's about Formula1 (Alt+F1). It's about board games (GB Unplugged). It's about personal challenges (Breaking Brad). It's about totally stupid shit that nobody in their right mind should do (Mario Party Party).
If you're coming here for serious game criticism and a comprehensive look at all the "important releases of the year," then you're visiting for the wrong reasons. How many reviews per year do they even write?
If you don't like what they're doing now, that's totally fine. If them not liking or paying enough attention to The Witcher 3 is the breaking point for you, that is your prerogative and is completely valid.
But please don't misunderstand what the site is about in the first place. It's not about games criticism.
@pokysharpy: I have seen this a few times and while it makes total sense for you, it doesn't make sense for them as a reason to not play something. It's literally their job.
It's their job to create content for this website, not to play every game that comes out. Most of the stuff they play is on their personal time. And these are all 30-something dudes in various stages of social/family life, so they have varying degrees of personal time for games. Listen to Vinny on any Beastcast and he makes no secret that he barely has time to play any games. Meanwhile Dan can spend tons of time playing MGS V and devising evil Mario Maker levels.
If "it's literally their job" to play all these games, then you are putting them on the clock 24/7. That's ridiculous and would break the site.
Work/Life balance is a real thing, even when your job is working for Giant Bomb.
I'm a 36-year-old father of 2 kids. Between work, taking care of kids, helping with homework, normal household chores, having a social life - just being an attentive father and husband in general - I get maybe 60-90 mins of game time on weeknights, and an unpredictable amount on weekends. Sometimes none, sometimes hours.
If a game doesn't grab me then it has no chance fighting for those few precious hours. I have tried playing every Witcher game several times over, and just like the guys said, there's something about them that just doesn't stick. I've probably put 40-50 hours into the series total over multiple attempts at 1 & 2, and a first crack at 3. It's just... nope. I don't find the quests, combat, alchemy, ANYTHING engaging enough to keep me going.
Meanwhile, the Souls series has devoured my brain so completely that I've put 200 hours into DS1, 200 hours into DS2, and run through Bloodborne like a bullet train. I'm hooked on those and it's easy to invest short bursts of time without feeling like "man, I really should be playing something else." That feeling is exactly what I get when playing the Witcher series, GTA series, Shadows of Mordor, and many other "OMG AMAZING" games that just don't click with me.
If I was still in college and could spend hours on end skipping homework and class, I'd power right through Witcher 3 and probably love it. LOVE IT. In those days I played Baldur's Gate 2 through twice, back to back. But right now, The Witcher series does not fit into my life. I might not be getting "far enough" to get to the amazing stuff. That's fair, but it's also fair for me to back out and play something else.
These guys have a ton of games to play, and I'm sure they're in a similar mental situation. Forcing them to play something that doesn't hold their interest is a losing battle.
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