8-4 Play: 11/29/2013 -- "A Link Between 3D Worlds"

Aw yeah, some weekend podcast entertainment!

edit: And it's 2:40 hrs long? Even better!

Also Corgi photo. So my day starts off great.

Sweet!!!

An ancient evil awakens

so dumb he can't find the power button. come on dude read the quick start guide.

My tocks are ready.

Dog is too damn cute.

At around 1:17:00, JJ seemed frustrated by industry pundits' unwillingness to stick it to MS for probably selling fewer units. That is a pretty frivolous thing to get worked up over, but I get where it comes from: the belief that people are "holding their tongues" for MS in a way that they would not do for, say, Sony.

But the part where he mocks people who are merely happy that both consoles sold well, and suggests that anyone without a console preference is a liar... that part of the podcast genuinely disturbed me. It's one of the craziest things I've ever heard someone say on a podcast.

Good podcast otherwise, though. Just needed to get that off my chest.

I disagree with uhhhh, JJ or John about Zelda. Sorry, one day I will figure you two out, but whereas I can assign Mark's voice the role of "the host" and Hiroko's voice the role of "the obvious girl", JJ and John both just have normal voices that I know are different, but I can't remember which person is which.

Anyway, I don't think Phantom Hourglass had rewarding side stuff at all, despite what one of you said on the podcast. I mean, sure, for some reason that game doesn't have pieces of heart, so instead rewards for side stuff/minigames are either full heart containers (rarely), or more likely those weird energy orbs. The game had 20 energy orbs across three colours (red, green, blue) for a total of 60, but they only did something if you had either 10 or 20 of one colour. It was super stupid, because having 19 red orbs was the same powerup as 10 red orbs. Also the game was wicked easy already, so the powerups kinda just broke it in half.

Also the overworld in general is really poor in both Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks. Fuck being able to draw your route, who cares when there aren't any islands to happen upon except for the mandatory "here is the village, here is the dungeon" islands. The overworlds are as barren as fucking Hyrule Field in Ocarina of Time. The overworld combat of "tap on fucking everything to shoot bombs at it" gets old in about 30 minutes.

Spirit Tracks is better in most respects than Phantom Hourglass. In ST the train is goofy and the warp points are fucking useless, but other than that, the dungeons are slightly more interesting, and the dungeon you keep returning to is WAY more interesting. The fact that the ongoing dungeon was mostly stealth in Phantom Hourglass was dumb, compared to the cool co-op puzzles with the Zelda-in-a-suit-of-armour in Spirit Tracks. The story is kinda meh in both games, but Phantom Hourglass just rips off the ending of Link's Awakening out of nowhere, so it loses in my books.

Phantom Hourglass was more innovative in coming up with the control scheme, but I don't get why everyone thinks Spirit Tracks is worse, unless they really can't get over the train. Spirit Tracks, at worst, is equally as bad as PH, but manages to improve certain elements.

It's pretty ridiculous how much he sounds like one of the typical PS4 trolls. He was even worse when they were talking about how resolution didn't matter if the stuff about FPS being poor was true. I think it's crazy for someone who works in the industry to have that opinion of not caring if both sell well.

Edit: Holy shit is this complaining by JJ the rest of the podcast? It's absolutely fucking absurd.

People are seriously complaining that the Kinect for XBO requires them to remember specific commands?

It's called reading the directions, people. Everyone should try it sometime.

or they could just make there interface not suck to the point where you cant find things without voice commands

Last podcast the PC Master Race guest was saying how resolution didn't matter and then later said that he would not play Last of Us unless it is rereleased on the PS4 @ 1080p.

i dunno, i took it more as the general, over eager need to appear completely objective and impartial can be boring and a little insincere. I rarely ever agree with JJ but i can appreciate an unfiltered opinion as long as there's a counterbalance and enough self awareness (in that case its just funny).

@masterpaperlink: I was laughing too. JJ is always out there banging the Sony drum. I wasn't surprised at the shit he was talking. I can also sympathize with the dude being a little pissed off. He's living in Japan and this is probably the first time he isn't getting his Sony hardware months before the rest of the world.

@masterpaperlink: I might be able to take it that way too, if it wasn't entirely possible that those people are, like Mark, being totally sincere in not giving a damn who "wins" a console launch. It may be hard to see from within the locus of the console war, but I'd wager most people actually live far outside of it. Assigning some ulterior motive to those people comes off as sour grapes in the best case; in the worst, it's warped almost to the point of solipsism.

This was SO GOOD! you people complaining about the one dudes opinion should relax. One, I don't think he was being crazy so much as making an honest observation. I mean, MS "congratulated" ps4 on their launch. That is just silly to someone that remembers the Sega vs Nintendo days. Aside from that, they are in JAPAN! The Japanese gaming industry is their livelihood, and has taken a serious hit over the last several years. There are people out their that don't just play FPS and still want classic fighting games, rpgs etc. It is important for Japanese companies to be successful in order to help these genres stay alive.

I loved the entirety of this podcast and it made me happy to be catching up with videogames after not being actively following them as of late. Also, as a fighting game/arcade enthusiast I cant say how much it meant to me to have the whole coverage of the location tests. Hearing about Daigo and Chris G on a podcast like that was simply awesome.

Fantastic work, I could not have enjoyed it more!

It was super interesting hearing Mark and John (or maybe JJ, but I'm pretty sure it was John) stand up for Twilight Princess, because being around these parts of the internet I was under the impression that everyone retrospectively hated that game. The Zelda talk in general was pretty interesting, far more interesting than any time they mention Dragon Quest and I sort of zone out.

But seriously, JJ sounds like 1UP Yours-era Shane Bettenhausen at times with his weird internet beefs about the Xbox One.

I am confused...how can someone not see where the power button is? The power is on top and clearly separated from the eject at the bottom. I am in a poorly lit room at my work right now, the PS4 is about 3 feet away, and I can see the power logo on the button.

Zelda:LBW is absolutely fantastic and makes me excited for the next one on WiiU. That being said, I don't understand the Wind Waker hate.

I am a Sony guy even though I end up owning everything (though I seriously doubt I am getting an Xbox One this generation) and even I can tell JJ is acting like, as @arbitrarywater said, the equivalent of Shane on the 1Up Yours podcast all those years ago. I dislike 80% of what the system is and stands for but the Xbox One apparently took JJ mom's to a nice seafood dinner and never called her again.

Lastly, resolution matters when you play on a 51" television. If I didn't care about resolution I would still be playing on 32" televisions or 15.5" monitors. I PC game heavily but the PC master race bullshit even ticks me off a little bit. I have had more frustration with PC gaming over the years than I ever had with consoles. Another reason why Brad's little tantrum about Destiny not coming to PC made me scratch my head.

I think you guys were taking my attempt to fan the flames a little too serious. Where's the fun of everyone singing koombaya around the fire during a console launch? It's like a boxing match where they just stand around and clinch the whole time. Obviously there are plenty of people out there are console neutral (I personally just get everything, in the end it's about the games after all.) but as a veteran gamer who's been through countless console launches, it just doesn't seem right. It's like Christmas without Santa Claus.

The power and eject buttons are labeled super clearly. One is on top, the other is on bottom. It took me slightly longer to figure out the power button on the Xbone.

The SF talk was really interesting for someone who knows very little about the series.

Their comparison of unpaid internships and careers is not really apt. Anyone with the skill set mentioned in the PA job listing should not need to work for less then they are worth.

Loved the Street Fighter talk. I enjoy fighting games on the casual side of things, but don't entirely understand all the in-depth particulars of what makes the characters work (and how professional fighting game players prepare for matches), so I thought it was really insightful and entertaining as always.

And that's Resolutiongate in a nutshell (even though he's just some guy). PREEDICTABOH!

Good Zelda and Mario talk.

Let's be honest JJ has been on this trip for a couple of months now. These guys are naturalised in Japan, so it should be no surprise that they feel their own personal tastes aligned to Sony without actually using both consoles to a significant degree. Reluctantly I must join the zeitgeist that Super Luigi 3D World owns my next-gen lounge room above the $1500 worth of Sony/MS gear.

Mark interrupting the fighting game guest and making him elaborate on fighting Daigo to a greater degree than he was comfortable was another example of him being a bit too hands-on as the host, but hey its his baby. I really missed CheapyD this week. Someone needs to tell Japan about the superior bushido of PC.

For all my gripes, these guys are great, I look forward to 8-4 every fortnight. I might try the CAGcast to get my Cheapy fix. I found his perspective really interesting, someone who never holds his tongue just in case potential translation/promo clients could be listening.

Although I enjoy this podcast, sometimes a few of the guys on this rub me the wrong way.

Mark, WiiU needs Mario Kart and Smash more than it needs a Zelda when it comes to boosting install base. And they're both dropping next year! :D

I haven't played SF4 in over a year, but "geese" howard's enthusiasm and sound effects kind of got the old hype juices flowing again.

@personz: ya that is cute as hell

@encephalon said:

And this solidified my opinion that JJ is a huge troll, and guaranteed that I won't take anything he has to say seriously. Fanboy to the fucking core.