saddlebrown

@steveurkel: I agree. Like, I don’t need Jeff to like the game to validate my opinion or anything. I don’t care. It’s just like you said, listening to him, it’s like... So what do you want? Like what would make this game better for you?

Jeff and a few of the others feel the need for whatever reason to demonstrate just how much they don’t care about God of War as a franchise, they don’t remember what happened in the previous games, etc. They mention it over and over and over throughout the discussion, and every discussion about the game. It’s like, holy shit guys, I get it. You weren’t a fan. It’s annoying to hear somebody continually perform their distaste for a game as though they think it makes them better than it or something. I don’t get it. It just sucks that like you said, it colors the discussion into a negative spiral where nobody can mention something positive about the game without Jeff or somebody jumping in to shit on it as well.

Plus, man, when jason talks about how the combat is overwhelming and isn’t built properly for the camera, I really have to disagree. I was VERY skeptical of that as a long-time fan, but the combat is so good in this game and the new camera is surprisingly cool. You have so many tools in this game to manage enemies that I only feel overwhelmed or remotely not in control when I try to fight enemies far above my level, and even those guys can be taken down if you’re patient and considered.

Luckily GB East is still around. Once Vinny and Dan both left, I unsubscribed from the Bombcast. I’ll listen on occasion if I’m interested in the topic but honestly they’re too negative and serious for me these days while GB East is actually fun to listen to.

Yeah, the repeated storyline for me is the biggest bummer as a huge fan of the series. I dropped a lot of hours into that first game and really loved it but honestly I don't know that I can justify paying $60 to play a bunch of the same missions again before finally getting to the second season's storyline.

As for why they don't chew them, funny enough, that's actually addressed in the series. Titans don't need to eat humans for food. They don't need food at all, just sunlight. Titans literally will eventually throw up eaten humans later. It's one of the early revelations that make titans so scary. It makes this world seem like genuine hell for these people, like titans were put there specifically to torment and torture them.

Man, this QL bummed me out. I love the anime, the manga and the first game, and yet this does not look worth the money at all. It's cool that they'll get to the second season's stuff in this game, but forcing me to replay a bunch of missions from the first game again—same missions, same cutscenes, same everything—is honestly just bullshit. It feels like this game was rushed out to be there in time for the third season of the show and it really suffers as a result. Even the menus, text, etc. looks like a step down. I thought this must be an Unfinished video at first and then I find out the game is already out.

Also, I'm happy to see Jan in a video but it feels like this was the wrong pair for this game. Jason and Jeff again would've been a better pair. More enthusiastic, better at the game, better rapport. Not to say Jan and Ben did terrible or whatever, but every game has a "right" pair of GB editors and I just don't think they were the guys here.

@rorie yo small thing but "Etzio" is a typo in the article--it's "Ezio." Anyway, happy holidays duder!

@archer88: You can still go in just wanting to have fun with something and come away disappointed though. Like my roommate and I have basically been having this exact conversation for the last two days because he's less of a Star Wars fan and really loved the movie and I'm more of a fan and had serious problems with it.

I loved Episode VII even though it was safe because it was such a fun movie and I felt like JJ did a fantastic job pushing the franchise forward while still retaining enough of the things that make Star Wars Star Wars. Rogue One on the other hand I found to be just a really bad movie with characters I didn't care about, a weak plot, and an active disrespect for the rest of the franchise. Episode VIII was much better than RO and there's a lot of fun to be had, but it's still tonally inconsistent with the rest of the franchise (and even Episode VII), they make a lot of poor decisions in terms of characters and rushed plot, a lot of it just feels like either trying too hard to pander or trying too hard to buck expectations, etc.

It's totally fine to watch a movie like that and say "yeah those things still just don't bother me though" and that's where my roommate is. But for me, those things do bother me not because "oh man it's not conforming to my vision of Star Wars" but because it just makes for a weaker movie where you have to turn your brain off to enjoy parts of it and not question decisions that were made.

Like, I'm a guy who can watch the Fast and the Furious movies and have a blast even when they make no sense and would turn other people off, and The Happening is one of my favorite movies legitimately, so I understand the point of view of "hey just have fun." But where I think that argument goes too far is when you start criticizing people for saying "hey actually the problems with this movie make it hard to just have fun with it." It's like JJ's first Star Trek compared to his second. I'm not a Trekkie at all, but that first movie was incredible and so much fun; the second movie though even for me was just bad because it was weaker in every way and therefore it's harder to just have fun with it.

@the_nubster: If you didn't like the tone of Ep. VII, you'll hate Ep. VIII then because they really ratchet it up further. I saw it with my roommate and he liked the movie and I had serious problems with it largely due to the tone being inconsistent both with Star Wars as a whole and even with Ep. VII. They do some really fucking stupid things with some of the characters, they make so many unbelievably poor plot decisions, they rarely earn anything that happens, the characters are all too good at everything always, and yeah, the whole thing just feels like a mashup of Star Wars and Guardians. I still generally had fun (I did not have any fun with Rogue One) but I came away from it conflicted and the more I think about it, the less I like it, though some scenes and performances (Adam Driver really stepped it up, for instance) were very good. I really liked Episode VII though, and I think that's just the difference between JJ Abrams, who has his own style but is a huge fan and is very respectful and skilled, and Rian Johnson, who as far as I'm concerned is only skilled at taking great concepts and making bad movies out of them (see: Looper).

@humanity: Yeah. That's always Jeff's opinion on this stuff. Same with Game of Thrones. Like, I get the feeling of not being interested in something that everybody in society seems super into, but like you said, it's the self-satisfaction that's always the turn off. There's a difference between the guy who sits quietly during the Game of Thrones discussion and then somebody finally asks his opinion and he says "oh I haven't seen it, not super interested honestly, but no worries, keep talking," and the guy who interrupts the Game of Thrones conversation a couple times to make sure everyone knows how disinterested he is in Game of Thrones. As you said, it doesn't make you cool; it's just lame. I don't care if Jeff is into Star Wars or Game of Thrones or Breaking Bad or whatever else and I don't need him to like stuff, but yeah, it's just lame to hear somebody take so much pleasure in not being into popular stuff.

Also though, yes, mad respect and love for Jeff. I've been reading, listening to and watching videos of that dude on a daily or weekly basis now for literally over a decade at this point. It's insane.

Misinformation has always been a part of GB QLs because the editors understandably can't keep up with every game, but I have a real soft spot for the original Rock of Ages, so this one really got to me.

Like I was only 10 minutes in and @alex had already said a bunch of stuff demonstrably false, like how Dan asks if the balls can hit each other in the first level they play and Alex confidently says no then a few minutes later literally sees the other ball roll past on the part of the level designed for that.

Or how Alex typically just throws all his traps right at the end because that's all that matters apparently—rather than strategically placing them at the obvious choke points throughout the course to lower the health of his opponent's boulder, slow them down, and make their final push much less meaningful even if they do manage to achieve max speed. One or two smart traps at the end is usually more than enough.

Or how Alex clearly doesn't understand that the way to make more money to build more traps and upgrade your ball is to smash the opponent's traps and buildings early on—like the houses Alex smashed and said he's doing it just because he can, not because he gets literal money out of it. You should only really be making a mad dash for the end at the end when you just need that last hit.

Or how Dan wonders if the water is slowing Alex down and Alex says no it's not even though it clearly is and there were entire levels in the first game designed around water slowing you down.

Rock of Ages took over the house I was living in at the time, and one of my old housemates—now married with a kid and very little interest in games anymore—specifically requests we bring out Rock of Ages whenever he gets a chance to hang out because it's just that good. So naturally I'm a little defensive of it and I wish Alex could just own up to his blind spots rather than blustering incorrectly through them and telling people the multiplayer isn't great.

@subscryber: Good to see a different opinion out there. The Uncharted series has always enjoyed reviewer hype thanks to the production values. It's hard to see past them, but yeah, pacing issues, trite gameplay, etc. shouldn't be overlooked just because the game's presentation is so good. Still blows my mind how much praise 3 got at the time. Such a train wreck.

I was really hoping this one might actually be the best thing for the series—ditch the same-y storyline, cut the filler, make a truly short and exciting adventure on par with the movies it emulates and sell the whole thing at a lower price—but reading this review and your comment makes me think it's yet another missed opportunity by Naughty Dog and not something I'd enjoy.

Like, I assumed this game would be maybe 4 or 5 hours long max, but reading Brad's review where he says he clocked "well under 10 hours" really soured me on the idea of getting this. I'd love to jump in for an easy one or even two-sitting Uncharted romp, but 9-10 hours? No thanks.

Yep, honestly that's the most compelling argument to me. Uncharted but shorter. No need for filler, for stretching, for padding it out just to satisfy an hour count.

@bisonhero: I really hope it's not. I don't keep up with gaming news as often anymore and often need to skip the three-hour podcasts so these serve a legitimate purpose for me.

@jeff? @rorie?