Unprofessional Fridays: 11/20/2015

Wednesday and Thursdays are actually both of my days off, so by that they are the best days.

Saturday>Tuesday>Friday>>>Sunday

Watching Revengeance just makes me sad about MGSV. Where the fuck is all the silliness? Where's the buff senator with a nano-machine heart as a final boss? That shit is metal gear and way more entertaining than anything in V. They should have Drew play it, I think he'd be way into it.

I really don't get why Dan is always so dismissive of the game, either. I enjoyed it way more as a game than any of the DMC games I've played. He always makes it sound like some mediocre attempt at a character action game when it's so much better than that. The only actual problem with Revengeance is that it's like six hours long at best.

Bye, old studio.

@davidh219: Dan dismisses a WHOLE bunch of shit in life for the most simplistic reasons, to the point even he will admit he was completely wrong with zero caveats after the fact (see this video)

If something doesn't already fit perfectly within a pre-defined small margin of expectation for him, or at least have ties to something he already thinks is cool then there's a high chance it will be written off before it's given a chance. Dan even talks about this process where he has to go out of his way to 'give new stuff a chance' (like F1) because he knows if he didn't try hard at it he'd just automatically dismiss it as lame, this is not normal human behaviour as most people's default state isn't to shit on new ideas and concepts.

Just look at how he can completely write off massive subjects like automotive appreciation, fashion and high art as 'dumb' and 'snooty guy stuff' with nearly zero understand of why they're popular. He simply doesn't 'get it'.

A perfect example of the way Dan's mind works was displayed when something he had written off as bad (anime) was equated to something he liked (Metal Gear). He had to metaphorically be beaten over the head with supporting evidence for nearly a year before he would admit he was wrong and that MGS is HELLA ANIME. That's how strong his internal dissonance is when someone tells him that he enjoys something he thought he hated.

@davidh219: In rising's case, it was dismissed before it had a chance because it didn't fit in with 2013' dan's own expectations of what 'Metal Gear' is. Because Kojima wasn't at the helm and it's technically not a 'Solid' game it gave him an excuse to not put any real tought into why he didn't like it.

This is also the reason he never played Portable ops and Peace Walker. They didn't meet his expectations of what a Metal Gear game was so he simply chose to ignore them, which is quite funny when you realise his GOTY for this year (MGSV) is basically Peace Walker with a much bigger budget and expanded scope.

His game of the year will be Mario Maker, his internal debate is effected every time a tutorial and micro transaction screen shows up in metal gear Scanlon.

@mithhunter55: That in itself is ridiculous as it's such a tiny tiny aspect of the game that can be completely ignored.

If Dan uses that as the reason why it's not his GOTY then i'll be disappointed. I want to hear him tackle the real issues of MGSV like it's repetitive level design, it's inherent unfinished state (missing final mission) and lacklustre story.

@zabant: All very good points. Still seems odd to me though. Everybody knew going in that it wasn't going to be the same kind of game as previous Metal Gears, instead being a character action game (which Dan already likes). And everyone knew it was made by Platinum (though still Kojima's idea and concepts), and it turned out super Metal Geary (which Dan likes).

I just would've thought that would be enough to get around his dismissive assholery but instead he's just like, "Ehhh, I don't know if it's canon or not, and it doesn't play exactly the same as Devil May Cry, so fuck it." It's like, dude, if you liked the story and it's goofiness wtf does it matter if it's officially canon or not? Nothing takes place after it in the timeline anyway. Just goddamn enjoy it. Grrrrr lol.

Joe Don Baker, star of the hit classic Mitchell.

If you're getting a new studio and a new Quicklook room - please find a way to sit closer to the TV. Also, for Quicklooks it would be really nice if you guys could sit next to each other all the time. From that one video we've seen, PC Quicklooks are kind of a mess, since one guy has to watch stuff on the TV and basically yell at the other guy sitting behind (?) him on the PC spot. Less than ideal and it makes for some weird moments in those QLs.

@davidh219: As I said though, unlike most people dan's default mental state is to be dismissive making dismissal of MGR the 'easy' option for him. You're 100% right about everything you said though.

Rules of nature? Rules of nature.

@danryckert

@amyggen: Literally all I've heard him say about it is that he doesn't like it because he doesn't know if it's officially canon or not and he "comes to Metal Gear for the story" and that he also doesn't like it because it doesn't play as well as DMC, which is a dumb complaint because it totally does, it's just different. I've seen threads where people ask which is better, and opinions are literally half and half, so idk wtf he's talking about there at all. By all means he's allowed to dislike a game. It's just that his complaints make no sense based on what I know about his tastes, nor are they firmly rooted in any sort of logic. Just seems totally arbitrary to me.

Where did you hear him talk about the story being meh before the end btw? I've never heard him talk about the story that specifically. I'm assuming it was a podcast. I hardly ever listen to the podcasts.

@davidh219: Either a Bombcast or a Game Informer video, it's hard to keep all of that straight :P

Anyways, I deleted my comment before you replied to it because I figured it was a silly thing to argue about. But I guess the mentions "stick" in the GB system.

I would say that Rising doesn't play as well as DMC because the systems aren't nearly as deep, but that's personal preference.

Anyways, not gonna shit up the comment section anymore with arguments about what Dan likes or doesn't like about Rising.

Oh, and RIP to the set and their office. This UPF was a good send-off.

Turning the lights off at the end..

*Sniff* Gonna miss ya, studio that's not really a studio

@amyggen: Who's arguing? You seem to be the only one that got worked up about it, lol. Considering what Dan does for a living, I think his opinion on a video game makes for perfectly valid discussion, and he's entirely self-aware of his own dismissive attitude. It's not some dark, secret insecurity he doesn't want anyone to talk about. I get that you want to defend him because Dan gets treated badly in the comments a lot, but nobody's shitting on the guy or unfairly attacking his character here.

He's a fantastic and amazing human being. Probably my favorite duder next to Jeff. He also happens to be super dismissive about things while other times being a great critic, which makes his opinion about Rising frustrating to me because I have no idea which side of him that's coming from since he's hardly said two sentences about why he doesn't like it. It's even more frustrating than normal since he basically decided that because he doesn't care for it or consider it canon, that Drew wouldn't play it for Metal Gear Scanlon, even though he absolutely should because he would love it way more than the MGS game he's already being forced to play. Even if you think DMC is better, Rising is still very very close in quality and polish (it's not like there's a surplus of great character action games after all), which combined with the very Metal Gear story makes it a must-play for MGS fans and for Metal Gear Scanlon; not something you dismiss arbitrarily like Dan has done.

rising could not be less canon. fun game though

@gizmo88 said:

You're premium, you could just whitelist Giant Bomb and you won't get ads anyway. That's what I did.

Yeah, it's a known issue with the CBSi player that the engineers are working on fixing. Whitelisting GB works fine.

I would guess the other 2 being Bayonetta(original or the sequel) and Vanquish.

Man Platinum are so good at what they do.

Friday is the WORST day of the week. You spend the whole day clockwatching and wishing the weekend was here that the entire workday feels longer than normal.

Brad doesn't know what the Mothership Core is? That thing was added in Heart of the Swarm...

What do you mean micro transaction screen show up in metal gear Scanlon? It doesn't randomly show up there are micro transactions right? I have yet to play MGS5 but this would make me wait even longer to buy it.

Wtf I'm with Dan, I thought what Yoda meant was that the Sith come in pairs, if you spot one in the wild, there'll be a corresponding one out there, either a master or an apprentice. I didn't take it as there being a maximum of two in the galaxy.

@rorie What's confusing about traveling in a single line? You mask your numbers that way, there could be one, there could be two... If you travel in separate lines, three lines could cover, say, six people, putting all in one line just masks it more. Now I'm confused about your confusion!

Whoa, how the hell did DICE release the new Battlefront as it is?

If you upscaled the XBox version, it'd look decently playable. Did DICE even play the old ones?

But then you know that at the end of the workday it's SWEET FREEDOM. Monday is easily the worst day for me. Maybe Tuesday.

Dan not realising that Sidious's spin attack is right out of the prequels

I really want to see Metal Gear Scanlon: Rising!

People getting bent up about dan's "narrow mindedness" when jeff can be just as or more stubborn about what he doesn't like and for seemingly petty reasons. Guy just knows what he likes and doesn't, no problem with that. It's not like he's some bizzare alien that doesn't act like the rest of humanity. Maybe @danryckert or pm/tweet him if you really want him to articulate his dislikes (or prove him wrong, w/e :) ).

Good bye old studio, you'll be missed.

People dropping in and out of live shows had its charm.

Jeff couldn't be there because he doesn't want to say his good byes. ;_;

I disagree that MGR's story is like a Metal Gear story. To me, it might as well be as far removed as MGSV is to some people. MGS was never this over-the-top in terms of being some actiony-one-liner drivel.

It's Bayonetta, and you downloaded the Raiden skin DLC.

Wow. The feeling when you for once agree with Dan is strange...

(Regarding Star Wars)

I love how Brad didn't know the DOTA 2 music during the Brad Man fight

I actually really liked the way Jason shut off the lights

Meh the wait is worse.

For me it's Wedneday. Too far away from Monday to fully hate it, too far away from the weekend to really enjoy it. It's a nothing day. Fuck Wednesday.

Obviously the best day.

I'm a comic reader so I love wednesday

All the RTS talk in this UPF and this week's podcast and it seems that all the guys have forgotten about Halo Wars 2.

@chalkcharmer: Rorie is just super snarky. I personally think it's way too much most of the time but most people really do like Rorie's appearances so I'm not gonna complain about it.

Screw the new battlefront. After watching this, now all I want to play is the old one.

I'm going to have to reinstall Rebellion again, I really liked that game.

I haven't played DOTA 2 in a few years but if its anything like CS:GO. The main music can be replaced by dubstep or some nonsense. I am using Hotline Miami as my counter strike music, hehee.