Bombin' the A.M. With Alexa Ray Corriea: 06/23/2014

im with you buddy, like the ridiculous amount of hate this game has gotten is insane, like im actually pleasantly surprised by the game because of the way people talked about it made it seem like a gigantic pile of shit.

maybe its cause expectations were super high with this one?, as it was one of the first next gen game we heard about.

@gablekevin said:

That's half the fun of the series that its so insane and twisted I can't help but love it. At the end of the day the combat system is always fun. Though I really don't get the he can't draw a line bit. While Nomura isn't my favorite artist to imply that he isn't good is a bit ridiculous he's a very talented artist and while he may not be someone's ideal designer for final fantasy fundamentally his art is very sound.

This video pretty much sums up why Watch Dogs bummed people out.

@tournamentofhate: Thank you for sharing that that was an interesting video with some really good points. I feel like Watch Dogs was never really going for the sense of discovery though that he is comparing it against those other open world games. The character is a hacker who is familiar with Chicago so it would make sense that he has all the relevant info at his fingertips versus having to discover the very city he has lived in most if not all his life. Games like Skyrim, Fallout 3 and Red Dead make a point in their stories to have their characters explore, versus Watch Dogs want the player to feel like they always have the most information available, and can manipulate it to their liking, similiar to a computer hacker. I don't disagree with his sentiment that the game just dumps you int a map with an overload of icons, and while I can totally understand how that doesn't feel dynamic or fluid, I guess I also like going around and completing things to clear it up. I will give you that that was the most thought out argument I've heard against Watch Dogs, so thank you!

#nailedit

I feel like the critique towards Watch Dogs is waaay too hard. There is no more disconnect between the story and how the main character acts in the open world than in any other open world game ... thats a genre problem not a specific problem that Watch Dogs has.

In fact there actually is a basic mechanic in there that punishes you for being a jackass in the open world.

Also saying that nobody would be able to like Aiden seems like a very broad statement, I did like him. He won't win my "Best new Character of 2014"-award but he is not that bad.

I kinda think it's weird to say that the game takes itself too seriously while ignoring all the goofy stuff you can do in the game (the mentioned AR games, the Spider-Tank struff etc.)

Watch Dogs is not a masterpiece for sure, but it's (imho) an enjoyable game that is very well put together.

I love Mystery Men, too! I like superhero comedies. Also, Janeane Garofalo.

I found the way Patrick recoiled and had a look that could be mistaken for physical pain when talking about fan fiction kind of humorous. The thing that made me laugh out loud was the way it was juxtapositioned against the picture on his wall. The Spookin' with Scoops art with him amongst the creatures that scare him so could easily be labeled as fan fiction. A generous portion of irony.

FF7 was the only good new numbered Final Fantasy on the PS1. After realizing what they had done causing some unholy copulation between Saved by the Bell, a soap opera, and some anime resulting in FF8, they had to make it right. In what was supposed to be a software apology, they turned an all powerful Black Mage into a mix of Harry Potter and Urkel. This was just one of the laundry list of reasons that 9 was not the software apology it should have been. At least it was not 8, though.

@ninjalegend: FF7 was the only good new numbered Final Fantasy on the PS1

From the comments, it looks like they talk about Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts and Sonic.

Goddammit.

It's funny Patrick says he likes Final Fanatsy VIII after talking about how much Tetsuya Nomura ruined Square-Enix. Don't get me wrong, FF VIII was technological feat at the time and had a wonderful art style. The Junction system, drawing magic and constant menu reading made the game a chore.

What I appreciate most about Final Fantasy IX is how Zidane is not a brooding jerk like Cloud or Squall. Zidane kept a positive outlook when things did not go well and he was always encouraging other party members.

Wow Patrick, I'm shocked I've played Mario Kart before you considering you helped convince me to buy a Wii U. You've got an excellent time ahead of you man, I could not be happier with my new console!

Totally agree that Final Fantasy IX is the best PS1 Final Fantasy game!

In fact I think FFIX is the best Final Fantasy game.

#TeamVivi

I love Watch Dogs, but goddamn they are so right about the main character and the story. It adds nothing to the gameplay.

People actually like Mystery Men????

I was looking forward to it, but it was the first blockbuster in my teen-hood to dash my perception that all summer blockbusters were awesome. (unless Batman and Robin came out first....)

Seriously.....it was boring and not funny AT ALL. The We Hate Movies podcast recently had a great episode on Mystery Men. There are rumors that Tim Burton directed it, but left production and washed his hands of the whole affair.

Wow, sonic fan fiction is prolific.

FFVIII is indeed the best FF of the PS1 era (FF6 is the best overall)

Majora's Mask is the best Zelda

Double Dash is the best Mario Kart (although if they add DLC for arena mode to 8 then DD might have a run for it's money)

FFXIII trilogy is god fucking awful and was up it's own ass within the first ten minutes of the first game

KH 1 and 2 were such great games, but the series was ruined due to the major spread of all it's games on various handhelds and them not focusing on what made the first two so fucking great and that's the DIsney worlds. The story went off the deep end by the end of 2, but since then it's just been going deeper and deeper into the ass territory

And Sonic was always a decent series at best, nothing was ever mind blowing about it except for the blast processor, which you quickly got over after falling into a pit filled with water....any sonic level with water in it can fuck the right off. Colors was pretty ok, but Generations was only half ok, the other half not so much

Here's the thing: Mystery Men was not touted as any sort of blockbuster movie here in Australia, and so for me it's just this dodgy little flick (well, I guess it had a healthy enough budget) that somehow had a bunch of actual actors all acting like twats. So with no expectations, it's always been this doofy little fun time to me.

And yeah, as I mentioned earlier I listened to that ep of We Hate Movies. I get how people don't like it, and I found them tearing into it pretty entertaining, but I just think Mystery Men is solid dumbarse goofy fun.

@edeo said:

Ha yeah, all I can remember about that movie is that I actually turned it off about half-way through I was that bored. That and Hank Azaria being really annoying in it. I'm only speaking from about a year ago as well.

Alexa was a great guest.

If she's in the NY area, perhaps Vinny and Alex could have her guesting on some of their video stuff in the future?

Some love for Double Dash! Love it!

Number of times the word "Like" was said: A lot.

Patrick really has a rough opinion on things. Dunno why he's so vocal on stuff that really doesn't have any impact on him.

I think the final fantasy discussion is literally killing me inside.

Same here. I mean I watched those stage demos and thought they were cool but I knew there was no way the actual game would ever live up to them.

I ran over eight civilians on the way to tenderly place a rose on my niece's grave. Yes, that's dumb as hell, but isn't it also kind of awesome?

Awesome show. Alexa is fantastic, and Patrick and Alex are great as always. Good stuff, all!

If you don't want the story to have any weight, sure!

I haven't played Final Fantasy 7 or 9 but if 8 is the best of them then I don't want to. That had terrible mechanics and annoying characters...

FF9 is Alexa's favorite? She's good people (though she was a great guest outside of that detail).

With Scoop's complaints about Nomura games being entirely up their own butt (he's not wrong), I would have thought he'd love FF9. The story is probably the most coherent and charming of the entire franchise.

Well, this brightened my Tuesday. Can I request that Alexa be a guest soon again in the near future?

@buzz_clik: Haha, you are one dangerous individual.

Double Dash was awesome. :)

Yes Double Dash. Great show. Really like Alexa. Miss Speed Run

@ninjalegend: To be fair, there's a shit-ton of awful fanfiction out there.

Take it from a dude with a pony as his avatar, and fimfiction.net as his 2nd most visted webpage.

But for every 300 shitty self-inserts, slashfics, character assassinations, wish fulfillment, peice of shit flaming monuments to bad writing, there's one story that blows you away, and encourages you to do something as wonderful for the love of the medium, instead of financial gain.

And fanfiction.net should be put to the torch based purely on user interface alone. What is this, 1999?

Alexa's pretty rad. Knowing how much that LotR bit on the E3 podcast was killing Jeff made it even better.

KH is what killed Square

Any of the FF in PS1 era is an acceptable choice. 9 is the more "classic" FF than the other 2, 8 is the most outlandish. 7 is in the middle and the PS1 debut making it the golden child.

Cool Chic, bubbly personality and likes Mario Kart enough to play 12 hours!!! #Hardcore.

@patrickklepek: Did you like Final Fantasy IX? I'm pretty sure it's the only game in the main FF series since VII that Nomura didn't touch at all other than the MMORPGs and some minor involvement in XII.

Edit: Okay, I got to the end of the video, question answered. Though apparently you also liked VIII. Ouch.

@patrickklepek: On the one hand, you are 100% right if we were to look at the game from any kind of sensible critical perspective.

On the other hand, Aiden Pearce is so incredibly douchey that its profound. Over the course of the game he has ruined the lives of hundreds of innocent people, stealing their life savings, causing deaths and life-long injuries, and caused millions of dollars in property damage; but all he can ever think about is "ME ME ME" and how he's such a fucking victim because his niece died. How was this man able to get his head so far up his own ass? Its awe-inspiring.

But seriously, try to invade a few other players' games, thats where I actually had fun with it.

Great show guys. You should consider having Alexa back, she was great.

Yup FF9 is the best ps1 era FF game.

Yup. FF9 is the best PS FF, Double Dash is the best Mario Kart and fuck Nomura. Totally with Alexa on these, the most pressing matters of our time. Except for the part where she played FFXIII. I couldn't stomach more than about an hour of that game, even when skipping all the terrible cutscenes.

Played Double Dash so much with my girlfriend at the time, we were 100% E-Sports killer at that game; would have been amazing if it had online. Nintendo should release a Double Dash DLC pack for Mario Kart 8. They won't, but they should.