Quick Look: South Park - The Fractured But Whole

Let's see how long I can watch this at work.

Been waiting to see your take on this all Day! Wooto

Personally I think I will skip this I can't get into any of the review content or jokes I've seen seems very forced...

Hi @ybbaaabby :) Can you folks correct the typo in the description. I assume will is with? Thanks :)

You'd think that after 10 years of talking over videogames, the "top men" over at Giant Bomb would have "turn on subtitles before recording" tattooed on their foreheads by now.

Let's get divisive!

@thisoldeconsole: And Mario + Rabbids. Snowdrop seems really versatile.

"top will all of your beloved" Typo alert!

I stopped watching the series a few seasons ago, before I used to watch every episode asap and also watch old episodes frequently, it was my "netflix series". Everything I've seen from this game made me think it wasn't going to be good. Although Stick of Truth was really good.

But this looked really good, like I remembered why I love/loved the show. So I'm probably going to buy this game after all.

I hear this is not good. Giant Bomb will make it good.

"That's a shoot, brother." -Dan Ryckert

Ok, I'll go first!

...

Fuck this game!

Ehh I don't know, this was more positive than I was expecting given all the negative attention it seems to be getting but I just don't find this stuff as entertaining as I used to. Most of the humor just comes off as tired and empty to me now. I liked SoT but the gameplay and story weren't enough to carry me through to the end. I have no doubt that there are some funny moments here and there and the battle system looks potentially fun but I'm not needing for things to play right now and this isn't speaking to me enough so I think I'll pass on this one.

Would be nice if they focused a bit more on the game. Timmy clearly summoned those kids twice, before he got knocked down. Was also hard to hear any dialogue , which is a pretty big part of the game. Subtitles would've been nice.

Overall seems like a fun game, but the big wow factor of the first game has been diminished for me. So much of this game is how 1:1 it is to the art of the show, and doing that twice makes it less remarkable. Especially when the RPG aspect of the stick of truth felt very simple. This has more going on, but it's probably still going to be real easy if you have any RPG experience.

I don't really care about the game... but I'm kinda confused listening to Alex and Dan talk about the show. The last few seasons are the first to have connective tissue between episodes but they are more lazy then before? More politically focused episodes, for years, have ended with satisfying pay offs like the Cash 4 Gold song, Jerking it in San Diego, and Randy yelling at a self aware Whole Foods. Not trying to be a dick. I just have the opposite opinion on the newer-ish stuff. Acouple episodes have sucked this current season but I feel like they are in a better place with the show now then they were a few years ago.

This looks great. The reviews have also been really good so I'm looking forward to getting this maybe once I'm done with Shadow of War.

What are you talking about? The Al Gore fight in the first game was like, the only genuinely challenging boss fight in the entire game. It was great.

@fatalbanana: What negative attentions? the majority of the reviews are all pretty positive.

I've seen that bug with double Yennifer in Witcher 3.

Ubisoft added uplay to the steam version. It was dead to me from then on.

Didn't last long, they were making Trump jokes by episode 2 of this new season.

@bersi: I've only seen Gamespot, IGN, and polygons reviews and Waypoint talked about it on yesterdays podcast. Some of them were pretty positive but I mostly got a middling to straight negative feelings with the latter two publications. Feelings seem mixed as far as I've seen.

Dan's character should've been named Major 'Merica.

For the most part it seems to be reviewing very well, Waypoint has been one of the lone islands that are severely down on it.

@undeadpool: Can't always be punching down right?

@planetfunksquad: OOoooooh!

How long can you move in the frozen time fart?

I really liked the first one and I'll probably enjoy this one. Due to the layers of DRM, though, and Uplay not working under WINE on Linux, it'll probably be a while until I really get a chance to play it. I'll have to way for Uplay to work and even then I'll probably wait for a sizable discount.

Overall, the game looks great. I imagine I'll spend quite a few hours giggling at this like an idiot.

@efesell: Waypoint not liking the game makes a whole lot of sense when you really think about it.

Two headed Mom

Two headed Mom.

I'm looking at a quick look with a two headed Mom.

@efesell: that makes sense. Waypoint takes a more political bent than most outlets, which is fine for Waypoint, and I think relevant to the collective of examining what this game is doing.

I think as a standalone thing, ignoring the current political climate, this game is fine. And if that's how you want to enjoy your games, then that is fine.

I think both Giant Bomb and Waypoint have valid views here.

Part of Patrick's complaints that I heard in the Waypoint Radio podcast was just that they were kinda going through the motions again of making a big South Park RPG, and that it felt less new and exciting to actually be playing a competently made South Park video game. He drew the comparison that South Park only did one theatrical movie that was a big extravaganza involving a lengthy, epic plotline and dozens of side characters and references, The Simpsons only did one theatrical movie that was a big extravaganza involving a lengthy, epic plotline and dozens of side characters and references.

But here we are with the second South Park video game, doing another go 'round with the same structure of lengthy, epic plotline and dozens of side characters and references.

He did also seem to say he just didn't think the writing was very funny and he specifically didn't like the poop minigame that you have to repeatedly do, but a large part of his dissatisfaction seemed to be overall fatigue that it was the same type of game and storyline again but with a different combat system.

I get that fatigue, to an extent; it's refreshing when something really nails a new idea or reinvents itself, but it can be disappointing when the sequel is just kinda the same game again. I really like Fire Emblem: Awakening, for example, but Fire Emblem Fates I couldn't play more than like 10 hours of because it's the same damn game only with more tedious Streetpass bullshit to do and a much derpier medieval Europe vs. feudal Japan storyline and a bunch of characters I hated.

"yowey art"

-Dan Ryckert

@bisonhero: I don't get saying you're fatigued of something when its the second one in the series. The writing is something I figured he would complain about as I noticed a bunch of people in the gaming press start to really hate South Park when PC Principal showed up in the series.

Similar to the double mom bug, mass effect andromeda also had duplicates of NPCs

@sammo21: Really? I mean, in some cases sure: the sequel can improve on something in great measures and can be in some ways a new thing. I don't get fatigued then. But this isn't some new IP where we just got the second one. This is a game based on a franchise that has been long running, and is basically the same as the first one, right down to some of the gags. I think that goes a long way in terms of fatigue, and it can't just be wiped away by saying "Well it's only the second one, I can't be tired of it yet".

I'm saying all of this while having played this new one most of the day. I have a more positive opinion of it than Patrick, but the first thing I said to my girlfriend (who is looking forward to it) is "Boy, it's definitely a lot more of the Stick of Truth. Jokes and all."

Sold. I the combat looks better

@bisonhero: You provide a very well thought out point that explains the exact reasons Patrick presented his opinions on the game the way he did. But I think @efesell is making a joke about Waypoint's vocal left-wing opinions regarding a lot of their content (there's that word again).

I understand being tired of the humor in South Park, but it also seems like some people in the games press are against the idea of making fun of certain things because of what they believe politically.

South Park makes fun of everything, and that just doesn't jive with them.

"Yaoi" and "PC Bang"

Can someone teach Dan how to pronounce non-English words?

Not just the games press, I'm noticing it a lot in general lately from everybody, here and Reddit.

HAH!!!

Well played!

@rk92: the show has been on for 20 years. When’s the last time anyone really talked about The Simpson’s? Maybe 15 years ago, it’s just not relevant. South Park has been a great show for about 10 years and a decent to good show for the other 10. To get almost 20 years of enjoyment from a TV show has really never happened and shows the talent of the creators.

People starting to not like South Park around the time of PC Principal is kind of sad. It hits too close to home for a lot of people like Patrick who can laugh at the expense of other but not themselves.

These games look real cool, but man south park is not my thing anymore. It's been at least a decade since i liked that show in any way.