Jar Time w/ Jeff: Answers From the Jar Czar - 01/18/2013

"Congratulations fans of DMC"

Yes indeed. Congrats, you made me interested in DmC :p.

Excellent. Very interesting set of topics. I think you're spot on with your thoughts on the problems that arise when trying to really follow through with choice in games that aren't limited to Infinity Engine or text adventure type production values. The massive decrease in dialogue volume was pretty shocking to me when TES went from Morrowind to Oblivion. Of course it was immediately evident that moving from a conersation window with all the charm of a hyperlink-driven miniature wiki to voiced responses can do that to your game.

As much as I liked MW's "conversations" (once I accepted the abstract nature) that was one of those rather bold changes I was quickly on board with. Bethesda actually does a decent job of disguising the largely static nature of the world in my opinion. Albeit only by making paperthin NPCs whose lifes revolve almost entirely around their relationship to the main character. But considering the scope and many challenges they choose to tackle I think it's a solid start.

Alrighty! Jefftime with jar, loving it

Join the Pro-Beard movement!

Support Jeff and his excellent facial hair!

We ARE the weirdos mister! =)

uvb76!

I cannot watch this. The beeping siren is driving me crazy. I'm sorry Jeff, but please never do this again, or I'll have to stop watching Jar Time.

@AuthenticM: yeah, I don't want to be a dick because I love the site and think the subscription is worth it, but I hope you guys put up a new video without the numbers station. I mean, we're paying for this dude.

I don't like the mic. It seems to make the whole thing less personal. And plus the audio sync seems to be off.

I'm glad Jeff got a scanner for his museum quality collection.

The english language has more than 26 symbols for its alphabet.

I just wish Jar Time was available in audio podcast form. There really isn't a lot of stuff in these that requires the visuals.

@Daneian said:

The english language has more than 26 symbols for its alphabet.

I guess that Jeff was refering to just the letters when he says "characters" (or letters and numbers for 36 "characters"), but you're mixing two different concepts nevertheless. Letters are linguistic symbols and the current Contemporary English alphabet has 26 letters (assuming you're counting both the uppercase and lowercase version of each letter as just one, which is what you should do). Now, there are more than 26 linguistic symbols that are not letters that English uses: commas, colons, semi-colons, exclamation and interrogation marks, dashes, etc. But these are not part of the alphabet, they are just grammatical markers.

Now, if you're saying that English has had more than 26 letters, then yeah, you're correct. The ampersand (&), the Ash and the Ethel were part of the English alphabet at different stages of its historical evolution.

I'm really tired of games writers complaining about having to include scores but don't want to try any other system because it's too hard. It's really not that hard at all. High Def Digest has "highly recommended", "worth checking out", "skip" and some other rating and I have no problem determining what the writer means, and this is with me having no idea what the individual reviewers like or dislike. With a site like Giant Bomb where most of the people who visit have an idea of what each person's taste is, there won't be this mass confusion that Jeff seems to think would exist if numbered scores weren't used.

@fisk0 said:

I just wish Jar Time was available in audio podcast form. There really isn't a lot of stuff in these that requires the visuals.

I don't know what phone you use but with the iphone, you can play the video without having to watch it.

@jmood88 said:

@fisk0 said:

I just wish Jar Time was available in audio podcast form. There really isn't a lot of stuff in these that requires the visuals.

I don't know what phone you use but with the iphone, you can play the video without having to watch it.

Yeah, but it drains the battery really fast if you do that, and then it can't be used as a phone. I guess the iPod Nano I have can load video files, and only play the audio part, I guess I should try that. But I'd really like a podcast feed for this.

@JoeyRavn said:

@Daneian said:

The english language has more than 26 symbols for its alphabet.

I guess that Jeff was refering to just the letters when he says "characters" (or letters and numbers for 36 "characters"), but you're mixing two different concepts nevertheless. Letters are linguistic symbols and the current Contemporary English alphabet has 26 letters (assuming you're counting both the uppercase and lowercase version of each letter as just one, which is what you should do). Now, there are more than 26 linguistic symbols that are not letters that English uses: commas, colons, semi-colons, exclamation and interrogation marks, dashes, etc. But these are not part of the alphabet, they are just grammatical markers.

Now, if you're saying that English has had more than 26 letters, then yeah, you're correct. The ampersand (&), the Ash and the Ethel were part of the English alphabet at different stages of its historical evolution.

I was counting lower case and uppercase because 'G' is not the same symbol as 'g' even though they represent they same sound (two sounds, really). I know I am told I should count them as one but have a hard time agreeing with it. Don't understand why we have two alphabets (upper and lower case) for a few reasons that seem insignificant. We use upper case letters for thee purposes: to indicate a proper noun, the first letter in a sentence and to show that someone is yelling in written dialogue. There have to be easier ways of addressing that.

But I am open to hearing more reasons to have it this way. I've asked and haven't figured it out.

Jeff is right about Devil May Cry. I didn't like what I played of 4. I have zero interest in checking out the rest of the series. I didn't care when this one was announced. Seeing the 5 stars on Brad's review or the other praise did nothing for me, because of my lack of interest in this type of game. However, the comment section riots taking place have turned it into this thing where I feel like maybe I should play it just to add it to my gaming lexicon so that I can better understand this thing that happened.

Don't listen to these whiny bitches and keep that signal going. Forever vigilant.

Yes! Finally some good quality audio in these videos, thanks Jeff. Keep using the mic!

@fisk0: You can use the phone, it acts just like it does when you're playing music or a podcast and make a call. The only difference is that it won't start playing automatically once the call is over.

@jmood88 said:

@fisk0: You can use the phone, it acts just like it does when you're playing music or a podcast and make a call. The only difference is that it won't start playing automatically once the call is over.

I meant in the "I can't use the phone if the battery is dead" sense.

More UVB-76, it will weed out the weaklings.

Jeff and Mike Fratello must hang out a lot, since there both Czars.

love these videos, love the facial hair.

Jarizard I choose you !!!!!!

Okay, I normally love the Jar videos but the signal is driving me crazy. 5 minutes in and I think I can't watch this anymore.

BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZT

To the first question from Ben Jo T (sp?)

Dark Souls is the specific game you want if you're against "being able to do everything" in one playthrough. You can do quite a bit of the content and get most of the items if you go for a super FAQ based completionist playthrough, but NOT everything. Some items can only be attained through murdering NPCs or specific outcomes of miniboss fights, which end their storylines. Some Boss souls make multiple items. Some acts are unforgivable to the Covenants. Average, blind playthroughs, which I recommend, mean that you will have hardships, make some bad choices, and have a game experience that is very much of your own making.

New Game + is the bone thrown to completionists. The same stuff happens in Persona 4 to some extent; no matter how great you are, the year is not long enough to do everything. You have to figure out what matters most to you. I think this sort of design is the right way to tell a story that closely depends on complex gameplay, rather than being cinematic, guided, separate from player agency.

I have a certain amount of sympathy for the DmC haters, because I know at some point Dark Souls may get a more accessible sequel that lacks the magic of the first two games. Probably not the next one, but eventually. But no gameplay formula is meant to last forever without being altered - even if it does keep selling, it gets stale (see Zelda). Just like DmC fans have Bayonetta, someone else could pick up FromSoft's player hating design concepts and make something in the original design's spirit when the pioneer series sells out.

Vita games? Vocaloids?

I guess if there's any place to chip in to the thoughts on cross-device Android development, it's here. My experience is limited, but I did successfully publish an app (for work) on Google Play last year so I've been through the ringer

When you compile for Android, you end up with a single 'APK' file. That file will run on every device that meets the requirements dictated by the application (Google Play listed over 1000 individual devices for me - real useful, guys). For these Ouya/GameStick developers, I'd assume they just need to make a single Android package with all of the possible controller input hooks (probably not an issue) and from there the only issues would be generic ones like resolution bugs

That being said, we had two testing devices - a Samsung Galaxy S2 (my old phone) running 4.0 and a Samsung Galaxy Nexus running 4.1, both were unmodified with official firmware. It was an HTML5-based app, and there was a display bug on the 4.1 phone that we needed to work around (read: a dozen hours) before it was even usable on that firmware. There's still no official acknowledgement or comprehensive solution to that bug

So the takeaway is that even though all of the Android cousins probably won't require device-specific builds, the operating system itself is still capable of finding new ways to be a total piece of shit

EDIT: I've since abandoned Android for this - it was $60, the battery lasts a week and I was even able to use the same microSD card. We also published the app on iOS, and at no point did we have the same kinds of issues. Say what you will about Apple, but at least their mobile shit isn't as broken as Google's

Get out of my life, get into my jar.

@Carousel said:

"What are we, as people? Just like, ugghhh..." - Jeff Gerstmann, philosophical savant

I...I get it now.

Even though I am in school because I want a career in games, I have also thought to myself that it might be good for the industry to experience another crash.

Jeff. You just reminded me of Happypuppy.com.

Wikipedia says it launched in '95 and been offline since '06. I still remember that white puppy with black ears and (I think) brown eyes on the logo. And that offwhite background like an old elementary school or retirement home. Or is that Arcade@Home? God, it's been so long since I was on that site too.

OK, Arcade@Home is blue and light yellow. Also I'm on Arcade@Home what the fuuuuuuuuuuck.

The first guy should have got a Vita at Black Friday. Mine only cost $150 after selling the bonus codes.

Launch detected!

I keep trying to watch (my third try) and I can't get more then 17min. before I have to shut it down b/c of that buzz..buzz....buzz.

Please Jeff,never do that again.

@spotpilgrim said:

I guess if there's any place to chip in to the thoughts on cross-device Android development, it's here. My experience is limited, but I did successfully publish an app (for work) on Google Play last year so I've been through the ringer

When you compile for Android, you end up with a single 'APK' file. That file will run on every device that meets the requirements dictated by the application (Google Play listed over 1000 individual devices for me - real useful, guys). For these Ouya/GameStick developers, I'd assume they just need to make a single Android package with all of the possible controller input hooks (probably not an issue) and from there the only issues would be generic ones like resolution bugs

That being said, we had two testing devices - a Samsung Galaxy S2 (my old phone) running 4.0 and a Google Nexus S (also Samsung) running 4.1, both were unmodified with official firmware. It was an HTML5-based app, and there was a display bug on the 4.1 phone that we needed to work around (read: a dozen hours) before it was even usable on that firmware. There's still no official acknowledgement or comprehensive solution to that bug

So the takeaway is that even though all of the Android cousins probably won't require device-specific builds, the operating system itself is still capable of finding new ways to be a total piece of shit

EDIT: I've since abandoned Android for this - it was $60, the battery lasts a week and I was even able to use the same MicroSD card. We also published the app on iOS, and at no point did we have the same kinds of issues. Say what you will about Apple, but at least their mobile shit isn't as broken as Google's

Good to know, not everyone here is a blathering idiot that just trolls and flames. Good read bro. Good luck to ya.

More of that noise please.

Can you make this a podcast, thanks.

that buzz from the podcast ruined this content. why not just stop the buzz after 2min when it stopped being funny?

Sick fucking shirt!

We..the Giant Bomb readers demand to know what is in that jar!

Its obivously a magical jar which gives Jeff his superpowers.

I like jar time, but man, Jeff has a way of highlighting the most depressing stuff when he's solo.

I would blame it on the fact that we have evil mirror universe Jeff, and the Jeff from our universe was kidnapped over the holiday break. But it could get pretty depressing before then, too.

WTF IS THAT NOISE!?!!?! BUZZZZZZZ BUZZZZZ BUZZZZZZ I can't take it! Stop it! STOP IT!!!!!! BUZZZZZZZZ

@Lifendz said:

WTF IS THAT NOISE!?!!?! BUZZZZZZZ BUZZZZZ BUZZZZZZ I can't take it! Stop it! STOP IT!!!!!! BUZZZZZZZZ

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UVB-76

'Tis your buzzing problem. Was a topic of conversation on the Bombcast during Vinny's early HAM days (maybe a year ago now? A bit less than that?)

The numbers station is fine - it's not too loud, it's ambient. I don't mind it, seeing as I'm paying attention to what Jeff's saying an not "OMG WHAT IS THAT NOISE MAKE IT STOP!" If the station was louder than Jeff's voice, I'd get the gripe.

Omg, the noise and buzzing... Can't stand it. Where is Vinny when you need him?

@Piot said:

Omg, the noise and buzzing... Can't stand it. Where is Vinny when you need him?

But what if...

What if we hear russians!