Giant Bombcast 03/18/2014

i guess i have the right to listen to the bombcast without these ads at the start if i wanted to, but they're really funny, so i like to listen to them.

Dave was super awesome here. Surprisingly informative and hilarious. Interesting.

I kinda like the skits they do for commercials.

@demoskinos said:

It's a part of the MGS HD Collection. He has no excuse not to familiarize himself with this gem of a game.

Woah Woah Woah on the Dark Souls 2 Adaptability stat. If you don't level that thing to 25 you are going to have issues if you plan to dodge anything. People complaining about drinking Estus too slow or their rolling animation happening too slow that is the reason.

Trust me. I've been playing in the Company of Champions were the enemies are more aggressive and have fewer opening.

For what one dude's opinion is worth, I played through Peace Walker on PS3 and it's a really cool game. I played sneaking missions solo and hosted multiplayer for bosses, so much more hardcore players could drag my ass through the tough parts. The regular ending is wistful and satisfying, and the secret ending is crazy and epic.

In the end I realized, "I spent 30 hours building up Outer Heaven and I'm very OK with that."

Always glad to hear Dave Lang talk industry, and...

@michigan_jack: This is amazing. This is art.

I auditioned for Persona 5, I was hoping to get the Inquisitive Student part. Instead, I got Small Business Man. Oh well.

i tweeted building the list to try to get Yakuza games brought over.

Nah, you take the biggest polish sausage around, wrap in a deep dish pizza. It's tradition here in Chicago!

Everyone should. HIs impression that it was "monster hunter like" just goes to show how little he knows about the game at the same time he is dusting it off as being irrelevant.

The more bodies involved in a podcast the more fun there is to be had. Especially with Dave Lang.

The Crew's comments about Dark Souls 2 prelaunch vs postlaunch is flawed in several ways.

They first say that perhaps From Software just aimed too high early on, and had to settle for less once the limitations of the PS3/360 set in. This ignores that Sony had a promotional trailer released for the PS3 version of the game less than TWO MONTHS away from the game's launch. That trailer was entirely composed of footage featuring the vastly superior lighting and far more detailed textures that are NOT in the game.

This was intentionally misleading for both Sony and From.

Brad then asks why would a developer spend the money to create all of these assets just for deception,and then flush them all away. This ignores that the game is releasing on PC very soon. It is VERY likely that the superior footage that has been shown for the last year was from the PC version.

From Software just didn't clarify that ALL of the footage they had shown from the inital game reveal all the way until the moment the final game released was the PC version, which IS pretty shady. Nothing as revolting as them using that PC footage in a PS3-version trailer and claiming it as how the PS3 version would look within two months, though.

Jeff then says that this sort of thing isn't uncommon, citing Watch Dogs as a recent example. This is a poor comparison, though. The brilliant footage during the initial reveal of Watch Dogs was straight forward: Ubisoft confirmed immediately that this footage was entirely running on a PC.

The first graphical let down in Watch Dogs came when the PS4 version was first shown on Jimmy Fallon, and it looked remarkably worse than that of the PC. This disappointment was due to it being made clear that the PS4 was not all that powerful, not that Ubisoft had done a bait and switch.

The second let down for Watch Dogs came when Ubisoft released that new trailer a couple of weeks ago. The graphics were not even remotely up to the standard of the 2012 PC version. Since Ubisoft didn't come out and say upfront that this new trailer was using PS4-only footage, some people SPECULATED that this was the PC version, and that the PC version had seen a major reduction in the last two years.

Ubisoft clarified days later that the trailer was PS4-only, and that the PC version still looks just as good as it did in 2012. If anything, Ubisoft should be commended for not running the ad featuring the far superior PC version while also showing logos for the PS4 and Xbox One.

This is miles and miles apart from what From Software did with Dark Souls 2.

This was a great cast, and an awesome 'cast. The Lang Zone truly is a wonderful place.

Eh, the comparison to Monster Hunter isn't off-track. It's separated into bite-sized missions with a co-op emphasis, not unlike Monster Hunter. It has social elements, grinding for materials (in this case AI Core parts) and, oh right, you also fight actual monsters in those hidden side missions. That sounds a bit like Monster Hunter to me...

I was more annoyed by his comment that summoning help in Dark Souls was somehow paramount to cheating, but then again he's some sort of wizard savant who steamrolled through the last few areas of Dark Souls 1 in a couple of hours, so he clearly doesn't need help in the first place.

Great bombcast! Just one question, what happened to Jeff harassing Patrick about Yoshi's Island games, old and new? :(

For sure. I think the first rule everyone needs to learn about the souls games is there is no such thing as "cheesing it" what works works. And unless you're way to concerned with being an internet tough guy there is no wrong way to approach any given situation. Also, little does Patrick know that some bosses actually become tougher when summoning people to help fight them.

Except the Peace Walker team was very much influenced by Monster Hunter.

It's simply not indie or weird enough, man. If it was a browser game it might get a fair shot on "Worth" Playing.

I have to admit that part made me groan as well. As much as Patrick likes to champion keeping an open mind about gaming, he's incredibly dismissive about anything relating to Metal Gear in such a heavy handed and ignorant way it makes me wonder if he has an evil twin or something. It's jarring to see a guy that promotes experimentation and novel game design be so incredibly down on a beloved franchise simply because he doesn't care for it. I guess I shouldn't care that someone doesn't like a thing that I like, but man it does kinda sting - especially since Peacewalker was one of a few really worthwhile titles to own on the PSP.

Poor small business intern.

Summoning is not cheating just how messages are not cheating. I watched Patrick streams. He regularly took advice from the chat. If he didn't have the chat, he'd be stuck in several places for hours. Nothing wrong with that in a game like Dark Souls.

In Dark Souls II, there is this one boss that is pretty unbeatable unless you do something in the environment. I've been putting my summon sign down and when I get summoned, I used gestures to direct people at that area and use the torch in a certain way. It's a ton of fun and very interesting to try and point out what they should do using just gestures, but it works almost every time although it sometimes takes some a while to understand what I'm trying to tell them.

That sort of stuff is stuff that Patrick would just ask the chat the solution for.

I do get what he is saying though, I am also too proud and stubborn to summon in other players. But I really enjoy helping other people out myself. I'd say play the game how you want. If Patrick doesn't want to use summons because it defeats the purpose of the game for him, then I completely understand as I feel the same way. But it's not 'cheating' if some people choose to do so.

I disagree a bit with your 'wizard savant' comment though. The amount of times Patrick died in certain places is not to be overlooked. Yeah, he handled some fights really well, others very poorly. Just like the average Dark Souls player.

But that's got no factual basis. You can't make your argument on that right now, you've got no proof. I'm not saying you're wrong, but it's just as likely that you're not right.

@zevvion: I was much like you but I urge you to reconsider and summon people. Demons Souls I simply refused to engage in that stuff, but it was a lot more complicated in some ways. In Dark Souls my pride wouldn't let me get "help" because clearly, I had to be a man, I had to be able to tell random strangers on the internet that yes, I did in fact beat the whole game solo!

In Dark Souls 2 I decided to get over all that and just summoned for the sentinel fight because the combat system in Dark Souls is still not designed for fighting multiple opponents, so fuck them for continuing to put in multiple enemy boss fights.

I gotta tell you, it felt great. Having guys by your side bowing and cheering after we won. It really solidified this feeling that you're actually playing this game with millions of people across the world. As you mentioned, helping others feels equally awesome. Aiding players with boss battles that I really hated is really soothing - like fuck that stupid boss, now there's three of us and one of you, who's the boss now Dark Souls??! Also helping others with bosses is almost broken in how beneficial it is to the player. Not only do you get the satisfaction of helping some dood/doodette clear a boss they might have been stuck on for a while - but you get a ton of souls, your equipment repairs and your flask refills AND you go back to your world in the exact same spot letting you put down a sign and do it all over again.

Vinny and Brad were worried about enemies not respawning. Who cares! You can easily farm bosses for DAYS and it's not only quicker but more fun than killing mobs.

Re digital vs disc - one advantage of digital is that my son and I can play the same game at the same time with one digital copy across 2 consoles. Cant do that with a disc.

Having a bunch of likeable people have fun with playing a game and/or poking fun at it is my absolute favourite form of games journalism. It gives me a good impression of how I'd feel about the game, coupled with being exposed to some perspectives and tastes that differ from mine. You're doing good duders, it feels a lot more like you're just inviting all of us to enjoy video games with you, rather than soapboxing.

@dayoneadvantage: First of all I'm not sure how much From is to blame for the (false) marketing, the game is published by Namco Bandai after all, I doubt From has anything to do with the marketing. You should blame the right people.

The debug version of the game apparantly ran like shit, so that's my guess to the reason why they downscaled the game (it STILL doesn't run good on either console).

I agree with you that Namco should've been more up front about this stuff. I won't go as far as saying they did it to mislead people, we really don't know, but yeah, bad PR move all around. Also, the B-roll they released prior to release (which is what the Dark Souls II video on this site is) is clearly showing the release build.

But yeah, pretty shitty situation all around. I do think people need to get some perspective though, the downgrade thread on NeoGAF is so incredibly hyperbolic, and people talking about boycotting the game etc...

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I love Dave Lang's reaction to Metal Gear =D

I'm the same way, MGS2 just disappointed me so much that I haven't been able to go back to the series since then.

I am really disappointed that no one in the offices seems to be into hearthstone.

@sub_o said:

I hate to seem like I'm piling on here, but I agree with a lot of what's been said here. I stopped listening to the Bombcast for several months (before all of the summer business) because I was increasingly sick of Patrick's dismissiveness and hyperbole, especially when it was paired with straight-up factual errors. I have no problem with disagreement, but something about Patrick's tendency to speak with an authoritative/dismissive tone about matters of opinion (and/or stuff he doesn't know a whole lot about) really gets under my skin. A little humility goes a long way for me.

@razorsfury: Yeah, that was a huge problem for me, too, when I had shitty internet. Like 12GB a month bandwidth, slow speeds, general satellite bullshit all with a $90 price tag. Steam was my worst enemy. Especially those automatic updates, and not being able to play a game until it is patched - which, don't get me wrong, make sense, but suck when you live in the middle of nowhere with no other option for service. I remember purchasing Skyrim and not being able to use the Internet for like three weeks afterward. Then, came the patches. Lol.

Can't decide whois voice I like more, Pat's or Kiefers terrible big boss.

Really enjoyed the chat in the first part. Good to hear them openly questioning the validity of reviews and such, it's just a shame that it's taken them so long to reach this point. To me it's been clear for some years now that reviews in their current format are outdated in today's gaming market/media and not serving the purpose they are supposedly intended for.

@grantheaslip said:

Agreed, I've felt this way many times. And it's one of the reasons why I've never quite taken to his contribution to the podcast and other features on the site.

@arbitrarywater: Patrick may or may not be a wizard savant, but I think you might be underestimating the effect of an entire chat room full of helpful hints.

@zevvion: @homelessbirdThe "Wizard Savant" comment was meant to be a bit tongue-in-cheek. I'm aware that his wizardly powers came from the fact that the chat told him how to do everything, but he still held himself together pretty well.

Only 100 minutes into this, but had to comment: Lang is KILLING IT.

Interesting discussion, and very funny.

Just wanted to drop by to say that I loved this Bombcast. Wish Dave Lang could be on every week. His anecdotes around the PS3 launch were really fascinating. I could listen to a whole podcast of just that.

God DAMN, Dave Lang always delivers.

I love that the email section is now mostly people being mean to other people.

Played through Peacewalker solo, had no problems with the bosses.

Also there very much is an audio version of the recap to Peacewalker in Ground Zeroes! In fact there is TWO of them! The game gives you 3 way to recap Peacewalker! LOL.

Anyone who did not play it, really missed out on Peacewalker. It was fantastic!

What a fucking great Bombcast. I wish Lang was on all the time.