Giant Bombcast 09-10-2013

@grondoth said:

I actually really strongly agree with this sentiment. There can be a sense of wonder in so much, not just in MMOs, but you have to feel receptive and open to it. It really is a state of mind. It's very easy to let nostalgia blind a person, or let impatience get the best of you, and you have to be aware of that or else you'll never be happy with much at all.

I get where Brad is coming from when he started talking about wanting that sense of wonder and exploration, but that's just so subjective and is the sort of thing that can have a very specific place in time. You can't let things spoil you; you have to find a way to keep yourself grounded.

I just realized that THEY are "ex-GS" (XGS) guys.

Man, Giantbomb seemed to feel that way too when they gave it GOTY. But now that game sucks, I guess? Geez, man, I've beat it like 3 times and still love it.

Why cant people just enjoy games and people who dont enjoy those games just shut their mouths? Nothing of substance can be gained from it... Jesus fucking christ

I think you should try GUILD WARS 2 if you want an MMORPG that breaks with the trinity, has greatvisuals that urges to explore, Buy to Play, continuos free new content and a great gameplay :)

From your old partners in crime (don't know if it's a good or bad thing to post it): 90/100

"A paradise for explorers and thrill-seekers alike, and the best online role-playing game in years." (Sep 11, 2012) GameSpot

@naru_joe93: Because it's the internet and opinions are things that people have, informed or no.

@Drew: Don't filterfeed MMO discussion, it inevitably circles around WoW and the latest claimant to the throne. Go to www.mmo.com and be surprised at just how much variety and difference can exist.

Also, imo, the trinity as Jeff explained exists still for a reason, and that reason is responsibility. Having a more action-directed MMO puts much more heat on DPS to do other things than slavishly tend to a rotation and not stand in fire.

I had no idea Jeff was listing Dota 2 in bombcast descriptions to piss off hatemailers, looking at the recent podcast descriptions with that knowledge is hilarious.

Probably good that Jeff mentioned what e-mails he didn't like if he's getting so many of them. I also worry though that this means the death of classic bombcast moments that would come from Ryan picking out the best of the crop of "X vs X" e-mails on occasion. You can't force that stuff, though, I guess, and it must be tiresome seeing those e-mails week in week out.

I never really understood where people thought GTA IV was a super serious game. More realistic, sure, but serious? I guess it's just how I play those games but I found the satire and many of the characters just as goofy as any of the other games. For me personally GTA IV has been the best game to come out so far this generation, at least until GTA V comes out :D

Drew at ten paces....

I hope white gloves were involved

Also, someone's watched Peep Show....

Or Vinny is secretly SuperHans

Why are you typing like that. You a cop? You have to tell us if you are.

Your an informed opinion

Your an informed opinion

I'll agree with this. I've beaten GTA IV multiple times and still think it's one of the best games this gen.

The worst questions are from people who already know the answer to the question they're asking, but ask it anyway just so they can get a response from a celebrity. It's like leading the witness in court where the answer is too obvious. I see it on Twitter and Reddit AMAs all the time.

@naru_joe93: so your saying agree with me or shut up? That is so stupid.

Sooooo.... what is the deal with DOTA?

I'm so glad you guys included a lengthy Dota 2 discussion in this weeks cast, thanks!

You guys definitely live in a specific kind of bubble. Hype for GTA V seems off the charts.

Really? Then I must live in a bubble too, because I've barely heard anything beyond passing, "hey GTA soon" blurbs.

Gold stamp? You mean the gold/silver ribbon on under your user picture? If you do mean that, you have to be a yearly subscriber not a monthly subscriber.

I love chain restaurant burgers. Chili's, TGI Fridays, Longhorns, etc. I will gobble that shit up! I only put cheese and bacon (sometimes) on my burgers.

Disappointed to hear Jeff didn't like Killzone Mercenaries. I'm playing it and loving it!

Oh, I sent in some "What If?" questions from this deck of question cards that I have. I thought it would be funny to hear them answer them, apparently not.

lol ... he is right though, GW2 does break with the trinity and is more actiony than most MMO's

Man..it was rough listening to this bombcast. It seems like Brad is just getting to the point in gaming where he just wants everything up front and has ADD. GTA 4...FF 14 gripes....

Not what I'm saying. You can have your negative opinion, but why do you need to let the world know it? Your just bringing the people who like that stuff down/possibly hurting the people who made it. If you don't have anything nice to say, why say it at all?

Too bad they replaced it with an even more boring, incredibly bland system with about as much depth as a puddle. Instead of having some sort of free-form, flowing combat where you can effortlessly switch between roles to accommodate the situation, which is what they were trying to do, they just removed any need to play anything except DPS. There are tanky DPS and less-tanky DPS, and you can slot a few skills that marginally help keep others alive, but for the most part there's really just one role.

And this is coming from someone who's invested over 250 hours between 4 different characters - I'm by no means just trying to shit on the game, just disappointed in knowing that it could have been so much more if ANet hadn't gotten stuck on their completely misguided quest to re-invent the wheel.

I don't see how that differs from 'agree with me or shut up'... just putting it out there.

I hope Brad stops playing FFXIV soon. The more I hear him talk about it the less I want to believe what he says about anything.

I mean, if I looked at the game "Brothers" as much as Brad looked at FF XIV:ARR and played about as much that was played in the quick look I would come to the conclusion that it was just another ho-hum dual stick puzzler that looked pretty, write it off and be done with it. The most disappointing thing would be feeling justified in my premature and ill-informed conclusion.

I kinda got that vibe as well. His complaints for both games were "I hear it gets good, but I don't want to put in the time to get there. Also, walking is too slow for me now". Perhaps it's just the fact that as professional game journalists they play so many games that, unless you're reviewing it, it's too easy to just switch over to something else.

Pretty much this. WoW is going to be the game to beat in terms of "Shit this world is HUGE" feeling, but the writing and voice acting even is what FFXIV has going for it. I'm going into FFXIV after GW2, and just the writing is a massive improvement in the transition. The dialogue boxes help too, since the game uses in game emotes for all their animations, so you can see people react to what they're talking about. Creative writing, same ish combat, small world is what I'll give it.

@infamousbig: I still love it and I still remember the feels when I started playing that game. Fuck it was so hype!

I'm very much looking forward to GTA V. Just a few days now..

In the cast's defense, they all say they really liked GTAIV when it came out and got goty (except for Brad who didn't beat it), but yeah it has aged poorly. I didn't even like it too much back then, all the side stuff was crap, there was no incentive to do taxi missions/vigilante/mini-games. The plot was ok, some of the characters rocked like Brucie but most were ho-hum.

Also, GTAV hype is pretty up there in my circles. I am not going to get it cause I am waiting for next gen or a PC version, but I talk about it and all the trailers are awesome and most of the more casual gamers I know are stoked for it.

And I played about the same amount of FFXIV as Brad has, got to level 8 or 9 in the beta, it is pretty rough, I thought he was being kind to it. The game has got to get better cause otherwise it is a steaming pile. I felt almost no drive to continue on except soley to level my character which just isn't rnough anymore. There was like no plot, the combat wasn't fun, the forest starting area was incredibly bland, my archer had like 3 buttons to work with after 9 levels...

People have already told Brad but leveling 1-10 really isn't very much time maybe an hour or two and yeah its a bit of a tutorial but when you hit 15 you start traveling to cities and start dungeons. The first 15 levels can be a bit of a bore if you run through all the dialogue but the translation team did a very good job this time around and most of the dialogue is clever and charming. Also loot comes from quests and dungeons not from mob drops, it does take a little investing and if isn't grabbing you right away then its probably not for you. I came from XI where everything was a grind and I've never played WoW but I have played Terra and SWTOR those games haven't hooked me like XIV has. I won't urge you to try further because you just don't seem like your up for a MMO but the environments are unique which is why there seperated like FFXII. It doesn't bother me because XI was the same way but I can see why it might bother others but each environment is very expansive and has a unique look to it as well.

I don't feel the same way as any of you. I was thoroughly disappointed with GTAIV. There was nothing in that game that worked right and everything was so boring. I didn't like how everything started and ended with a lengthy cutscene. I'm not opposed to cutscenes, but the stuff you did in between them was mind numbing. The fail states in that game were also irritating, jumping you back to having to drive all the way out there again. Everytime something like that happened I just shut my console off. I don't want to repeat a menial task over and over because none of the game systems worked properly.

That's what I thought anyway. I know I'm one of the few who didn't like it. Supposedly an outstanding game; I'm not saying any of you were wrong, just giving the opposite perspective I had/have.

I feel like a lot of people here are listening to a podcast and reading a website where people give their opinions, and then getting frustrated when those opinions don't match their own. That's weird, IMO. I really don't expect them to have the same opinions as me, and with the number of games they're expected to play, I don't expect "expert" commentary on each one.

I'm $125 into Star Citizen, and until one of them gets invested, I don't expect them to comment with any high level of precision about it. I played SR3 and finished just a couple weeks ago, and I thought, "Meh. So dumb, unfocused, and janky. Dumb story, dumber characters." I dunno why the GB crews are so up on it, but it doesn't really bother me. Drew's Quick Looks are easily the most appealing to me lately, and the poor bastard doesn't do much but crash things and get shot in the face a lot. I think it's safe to say that in general, the more excited they get about a lot of games, the less I'll like it, but none of this really gets to me.

The GB podcast is about weird banter and the side stuff. There are podcasts I can listen to if I want just the "facts" about video games (as in, news without much in the way of opinion). I'm here to listen to Brad's phobias, Vinny being a normal dude, Drew being the fit guy I used to be, Jeff being snarky and weird, and somehow, some video games get talked about too. I always compare it to having a group of pretty smart buddies who just rap about weird stuff, not really an informative game podcast.

That's just my $0.02, but it just seems like a lot of people are getting really upset because these guys don't really enjoy GTA IV or FFXIV:ARR too much. Don't worry about it - I enjoy the stuff I enjoy even though I know the GB crew often has the opposite tastes of me.

The Xbox One will just be released in a handful of countries this year. People who don't live in the big countries like UK, Germany and France are boned. They might as well never bring it out here because I'm getting the PS4 that will be released here this year.

Same here. The Netherlands got boned aswell. Wich seems weird, since we were one of the few xbox heavy countries in Europe. But i switched to Sony about 3 years ago and it seems alot more people will do that this year.

POUTINE ISN'T LIKE CHUNKY MAYONNAISE.

I'm from the Netherlands too. Insanely disappointed by the news that I didn't get it on day one. I have both consoles pre-ordered, but I figured Xbox One would be my main platform as the 360 was. But I guess that's not even an option anymore, since I'll have to wait 3-6 months before I'll get mine. Weird strategy choice. Perhaps they figured people would buy an Xbox anyway over here? Similar as people in Japan would buy a PS4 anyway so they might as well release later?

No matter what they thought, I guess I have no choice but to go with PS4 as my main platform.

@zevvion: I guess they might, but i dont know that people will. At least judging from the people around me who are all talking about switching over. but realistically i will probably end up with both at some point too. Just a bit further down the line though, if only to play Fable. I love those games!

Matt Rorie put in 20 grand on Star Citizen?

Matt Rorie put in 20 grand on Star Citizen?