Brad Takes On The Darkness

Like watching a schizophrenic ADHD sufferer play a game with Patrick and Dave starring as voices in his head.

Still, I watched it all and enjoyed returning to the original Darkness after having just completing the sequel myself.

They see Brad playin', they hatin'.

pretty good show

this game didn't age that well.... and yet the game was rather good back in the day. Also looking at Syndicate, I think it was a good move for a different developer to handle Darkness 2

@pancakehumper:It wouldn't be so bad if he didn't immediately laugh at his own jokes. But hey he writes news like the bestest beanbag chair around. Yeah, that's what I'm gonna go with. He's really good at not just regurgitating something that popped up on neogaf or kotaku. Beanbag chairs are also very good at not regurgitating stuff. Well, except when the get sat on really hard. Hey, GB, don't sit on Patrick really hard, mmkay?

@radioactivez0r said:

@EchoEcho: It's not entitlement when it's content produced for paying subscribers, and that content is kind of crappy.

This was a random, spur-of-the-moment idea for a live stream -- not some pre-planned event where they promised something very specific, then failed to deliver on that promise. The only "promise" was that Brad would be playing The Darkness, and that promise was fulfilled. When someone complains about bonus content -- extra, unplanned, unscheduled content that nobody was forced to watch -- because it wasn't performed precisely to their expectations, that's entitlement, paying subscriber or not. (Also, whether or not the content is "crappy" is subjective.)

I think it's important to remind people whenever the "I'm a paying subscriber!" argument arises in regards to "entitlement" that subscribers aren't shareholders. Our money does not in any way give us the right to tell Giant Bomb what to do with their website, nor to dictate how they can or cannot behave in their videos. The money we pay with our subscriptions is to support Giant Bomb in their endeavors; it's a donation, and we can stop donating at any time if we stop enjoying what they do. The premium content is simply an incentive to keep giving them our money.

The guys at Giant Bomb have been pretty up front about their purpose with this site: to be personality-driven; to be who they are and do what they want, regardless of what anyone says. They are more than happy to take suggestions about fresh content from the community, but as a personality-driven website, they aren't going to listen to whiny, nitpicking complaints about how so-and-so wasn't talking enough about the game, or a certain person wasn't playing said game skillfully enough. Changing their personalities to suit the vocal minority who find some of their behavior annoying would be counter to the point of this website.

This game's look and aesthetic > Darkness II

@Jace said:

@Thor_Molecules said:

Dave, Patrick. I love you guys both, but if you are sitting in on a show that's about Brad playing The Darkness, then make sure that's the fucking point of the conversation.

It was mindblowing to hear you two rattle on and on about horror movies and some klingon joke while Brad, the main event of the feature, is left to mutter silently to himself while he struggles to play the actual game without any help, and without any opportunity to get a single word in because you two are too busy high-fiving eachother and joking it up.

I'd love to hear all those anecdotes and silly conversations on the Bombcasts or on the Whiskey Media Radio Show, but I felt it almost ruined the entire feature here. That said, I still managed to enjoy the video, just try and keep your focus next time.

I agree with this. I was actually taken aback by how long they kept going with it. They ruined a good 45 minutes of the show completely.

@mrfluke said:

@radioactivez0r said:

@EchoEcho: It's not entitlement when it's content produced for paying subscribers, and that content is kind of crappy.

@Ferros said:

What I found most frustrating and the reason I stopped watching it live yesterday was the wilful ignorance and complete lack of interest all the parties involved had in the game. Dave and Patrick clearly weren't interested in anything related to the game and Brad ignored all the instructions the game gave him then complained about not knowing what to do, because it seemed he didn't want to be playing and just wanted it over with. I enjoy the majority of content Whiskey produces, but I'd rather watch people do something they want to be doing rather than not.

@EchoEcho said:

The money we pay with our subscriptions is to support Giant Bomb in their endeavors; it's a donation, and we can stop donating at any time if we stop enjoying what they do.

It is actually not a donation at all, it's a subscription fee to see the subscriber content. This is what subscribers are paying for, Giant Bomb / Whiskey Media is not a charity.

Normally I tend to be apologetic for Brad's playing and Patrick's commentary. But damn.

It's like Brad developed severe ADHD and short term memory loss before playing.

By the way, to someone's complaint that people are asking they do hours of research before playing...when I picked up this game again last week for the first time in the past almost 5 years in the hopes of finishing it, the first thing I did was pull up the controls in the options. It's not hours of research, it's a minute or two in an options menu.

Back to the playing, if the entire premise of the story is that you're basically a kind of superhero with these darkness powers and pets, use them...use them a lot. The name of the game isn't "Jackie Estacado and Some Guns" it's The Darkness. Without using the darkness powers you would have been building up the whole game, yes, the end of The Darkness would be tough.

Patrick is certainly no host. If the constant lame jokes weren't bad enough, the incessant bullshit conversations while basically ignoring Brad playing the game (the point of this feature) was annoying as hell. I mean shooting the shit with Dave is fine, but spending a good 45 min workshopping some Klingon movie plot that wasn't all that funny in the first place while Brad is banging his head against the wall because he doesn't remember the mechanics explained 5 minutes ago? Come on.

@RoyaleWifCheese said:

This game's look and aesthetic > Darkness II

Agreed

EchoEcho said:

@radioactivez0r said:

@EchoEcho: It's not entitlement when it's content produced for paying subscribers, and that content is kind of crappy.

This was a random, spur-of-the-moment idea for a live stream -- not some pre-planned event where they promised something very specific, then failed to deliver on that promise. The only "promise" was that Brad would be playing The Darkness, and that promise was fulfilled. When someone complains about bonus content -- extra, unplanned, unscheduled content that nobody was forced to watch -- because it wasn't performed precisely to their expectations, that's entitlement, paying subscriber or not. (Also, whether or not the content is "crappy" is subjective.)

I think it's important to remind people whenever the "I'm a paying subscriber!" argument arises in regards to "entitlement" that subscribers aren't shareholders. Our money does not in any way give us the right to tell Giant Bomb what to do with their website, nor to dictate how they can or cannot behave in their videos. The money we pay with our subscriptions is to support Giant Bomb in their endeavors; it's a donation, and we can stop donating at any time if we stop enjoying what they do. The premium content is simply an incentive to keep giving them our money.

The guys at Giant Bomb have been pretty up front about their purpose with this site: to be personality-driven; to be who they are and do what they want, regardless of what anyone says. They are more than happy to take suggestions about fresh content from the community, but as a personality-driven website, they aren't going to listen to whiny, nitpicking complaints about how so-and-so wasn't talking enough about the game, or a certain person wasn't playing said game skillfully enough. Changing their personalities to suit the vocal minority who find some of their behavior annoying would be counter to the point of this website.

And this, though long, is one of the most intelligent comments I have read.

So much nerd rage in here I can just SMELL the sweat seeping off of the neckbeards.

@Thor_Molecules said:

Dave, Patrick. I love you guys both, but if you are sitting in on a show that's about Brad playing The Darkness, then make sure that's the fucking point of the conversation.

It was mindblowing to hear you two rattle on and on about horror movies and some klingon joke while Brad, the main event of the feature, is left to mutter silently to himself while he struggles to play the actual game without any help, and without any opportunity to get a single word in because you two are too busy high-fiving eachother and joking it up.

I'd love to hear all those anecdotes and silly conversations on the Bombcasts or on the Whiskey Media Radio Show, but I felt it almost ruined the entire feature here. That said, I still managed to enjoy the video, just try and keep your focus next time.

I agree with this. I was actually taken aback by how long they kept going with it. They ruined a good 45 minutes of the show completely.

@Thor_Molecules: I disagree and think that a good number of the best lines from Giant Bomb's video content come from tangents, but then again I see Giant Bomb similarly to Top Gear in that the ostensible topic (cars/video games) is largely just a vehicle for personality based entertainment. Frankly, the game itself wasn't super interesting, and I thought the Vincent Price interjections and Klingon horror movie spitballing were really enjoyable.

Its a bummer but videos like this makes me want to stop paying for my membership. And i feel my money DOES give me a say, so drop the "they can do whatever they want"-mentality. All that over-talking, not paying ANY attention to the story and the constant "how do i do [thing]?!" is really annoying. It makes me mad when people i love dont realize they're doing somerhing really wrong.

@damnable_fiend said:

@smitty86 said:

So someone help me out as I must have missed this whole thing: what is all the complaining about? The usual "I demand you do things the way I want them" or something more....solid?

"why didn't they spend hours on the internet looking up things about this game/replaying the early part of the game to figure out how to play it how to play it like experts? GOD, I HATE YOU BRAD," is basically what I got out of it.

I don't think it's that big of a deal. Dave was hilarious, and the game seemed awesome in spite of Brad dying a bunch.

Or 20 seconds bringing up the controls in the menus.

Nobody wants them to play the game according to a FAQ but disregarding basic game mechanics/not bothering to look them up is just frustrating to watch. Would have taken a minute or two to look up the fundamentals and the video would have been immensely more enjoyable as a result.

In this comment section you will find people whining, people whining about whining, people trying to give constructive criticism, and people completely loving it...and not nearly enough Vincent Price references. So...every comment section ever known to the internet.

I liked this for the most part. Sadly, I never watched/liked Star Trek so all the Klingon stuff wasn't interesting, although I enjoy a good horror parody (Tucker and Dale vs. Evil was great). Felt bad for Brad who was obviously having trouble jumping back into a game after 4 and a half years along with dealing with audio issues where he couldn't tell where shots were coming from. Combine that with him being in front of a camera and that would suck for anyone. Although the injured mugger's demand for money was great.

In all, I never played The Darkness so it was neat to see parts from later in the game. Not every video is going to be a gutbuster, but no one has ever laughed at a joke no one told. This was worth a shot (and some enjoyed it entirely, so good for them) and I'm glad they did it. It helped me pass some time which is all I can ask for.

And finally...The world needs more Vinny Price. That's the true Thriller.

@Jace said:

@Thor_Molecules said:

Dave, Patrick. I love you guys both, but if you are sitting in on a show that's about Brad playing The Darkness, then make sure that's the fucking point of the conversation.

It was mindblowing to hear you two rattle on and on about horror movies and some klingon joke while Brad, the main event of the feature, is left to mutter silently to himself while he struggles to play the actual game without any help, and without any opportunity to get a single word in because you two are too busy high-fiving eachother and joking it up.

I'd love to hear all those anecdotes and silly conversations on the Bombcasts or on the Whiskey Media Radio Show, but I felt it almost ruined the entire feature here. That said, I still managed to enjoy the video, just try and keep your focus next time.

I agree with this. I was actually taken aback by how long they kept going with it. They ruined a good 45 minutes of the show completely.

This 1000000%. I really enjoy all of the stuff that they do for subscribers and I don't mind the tangents, it's just that I usually go to bombcasts/happy hour to hear completely off the wall stuff. I was hoping for some witty comments about the game and small tangents while they helped brad through with a bit of help from the chat but near the end it turned into one big brainstorm about a mildly amusing movie idea.

Its a bummer but videos like this makes me want to stop paying for my membership. And i feel my money DOES give me a say, so drop the "they can do whatever they want"-mentality. All that over-talking, not paying ANY attention to the story and the constant "how do i do [thing]?!" is really annoying. It makes me mad when people i love dont realize they're doing somerhing really wrong.

@EchoEcho said:

The money we pay with our subscriptions is to support Giant Bomb in their endeavors; it's a donation, and we can stop donating at any time if we stop enjoying what they do.

It is actually not a donation at all, it's a subscription fee to see the subscriber content. This is what subscribers are paying for, Giant Bomb / Whiskey Media is not a charity.

Not my favorite video either. No apologies, but in a live setting you're gonna wiff sometimes. Here's hoping the dozen hours I spend with Crusader Kings 2 this weekend turns into an informative and entertaining 45 minute video on Tuesday. That's the rub and I have no complaints. Thanks for supporting this site and letting us try out different ideas.

For everyone else that enjoyed The Klingon. I'll try and whip up some original concept art this weekend to keep that dream alive. I'll figure out some way to post it on a super secret ultra-premium-member channel later this week... like twitter.

I wish Patrick would get out of Ryan's chair.

So it's late, I have a day off of work tomorrow, and I'm in my pj's ready to watch this video before hitting the hay. Unfortunately I made the decision to read the comments section first, and found myself falling down the rabbit hole of the turbulent verbal ping-pong of irrational whining, equally irrational white-knighting, reasonable criticisms, and tacit pleas for everyone to just get along. I now dread hitting that play button and either wasting the next two hours of my life watching Brad play badly to the tune of inane chatter between two individuals who couldn't give less than a fuck about being there, or enjoying the next two hours watching Brad play badly to the tune of amusing banter between two individuals who couldn't give less than a fuck about being there. Okay, time to man up, steel myself, and find out what all the hubbub is about.

you know for jumping in ice cold after 4 years, not too bad. I think Brad is just a dude who shines better int eh confines of his own home. No pressure, just him and the game.

@High_Nunez: It's three dudes sitting around shooting the shit while one guy tries to beat an old-ass game for achievements. Some of it's funny, but if you care about the game.. don't. It's not about the game.

I enjoyed the content. The banter was humorous, and seeing Brad struggle (in no disrespect) is amusing to me.

@EnduranceFun: Even from that position, which is a valid stance, my point about subscribers not being shareholders holds true. We pay them money to see the content, and we can make suggestions, leave complaints, etc., but ultimately we haven't purchased any right to tell them what to do with the expectation that they'll do it. Problem is, people keep behaving as though we have.

I'm not suggesting that people should blindly praise everything that the Giant Bomb crew puts up, and I'm not discouraging constructive criticism. I'm taking issue with the mentality that because we pay money we can make demands and the GB crew is obligated to make changes based on said demands. Whether or not they choose to enact changes suggested by the community is their prerogative, just like cancelling our subscriptions if we're no longer satisfied with the content is ours.

My suggestion is that people learn to enjoy things for what they are, not what they want them to be. This was never advertised as "Video Game Story Hour, The Darkness Edition, featuring only Skillful Gameplay and Relevant Commentary." It's "Three guys sit in front of a TV while one of them plays a video game and the other two talk about whatever comes to mind, and by the way, you're invited to watch."

I said it before and I'll say it again: if people really want to see The Darkness being played skillfully with nobody blabbing over the story parts, then YouTube is right around the corner. This was not our last and only opportunity to see the ending of The Darkness, if only those damn, dirty Giant Bomb guys hadn't ruined it. Personally, I'm here to see the Giant Bomb dudes do their thing, whatever that happens to be at any given moment. Sometimes it's a hit, sometimes it's a miss, sometimes it's in between.

Anyone getting that upset over this video is perhaps missing the point altogether, and in doing so making mountains out of mole hills. I don't think it's their best video in recent memory, but I wasn't offended by it, either (I actually thought the Klingon stuff was amusing). To read some of the comments in this thread, you'd think Giant Bomb murdered their favorite dog with this video.

I really admire Dave for his comment. He's man enough to fess up to this video, perhaps subjectively, not being great and willing to admit that not every piece of content is gonna be a banger. Obviously it's hard to tell from the outside looking in, but that feels genuine as fuck to me and guys like Dave are the reason I'll continue to support GB, despite the feelings I have towards certain aspects and directions the site takes.

I spent ages trying to shoot The Darkness to death in the game and would never had beaten the game without looking up, "Oh, you have to put the guns away and 'embrace it'" on the internet. That whole segment of hell had made it seem like you were trying to either excise it from your body or trying to blast it in to submission. When you finally get there you take it out of your body only to give it a hug and take it right back. Made no sense.

I spent the rest of the game using that snake from a distance though, you could kill a dude and eat his heart and essentially stay alive forever so I beat the whole boat and mansion areas without any issues because I was moving fast enough through the different enemies to stay alive.

@snide: For what its worth I thought the Klingon pitch was brilliant. I laughed out loud when you started talking about having a full on intermission in the middle of it.

I really admire Dave for his comment. He's man enough to fess up to this video, perhaps subjectively, not being great and willing to admit that not every piece of content is gonna be a banger. Obviously it's hard to tell from the outside looking in, but that feels genuine as fuck to me and guys like Dave are the reason I'll continue to support GB, despite the feelings I have towards certain aspects and directions the site takes.

@snide said:

Not my favorite video either. No apologies, but in a live setting you're gonna wiff sometimes. Here's hoping the dozen hours I spend with Crusader Kings 2 this weekend turns into an informative and entertaining 45 minute video on Tuesday. That's the rub and I have no complaints. Thanks for supporting this site and letting us try out different ideas.

For everyone else that enjoyed The Klingon. I'll try and whip up some original concept art this weekend to keep that dream alive. I'll figure out some way to post it on a super secret ultra-premium-member channel later this week... like twitter.

If this The Klingon idea doesn't end in an FMV starring you guys eventually I'm gonna be really sad.

@OllyOxenFree said:

So much nerd rage in here I can just SMELL the sweat seeping off of the neckbeards.

Sweaty neckbeards? Oh shucks...The mental imagery is ridiculous and I blame you for any permanent damage to my psyche.

I think the only thing about Brad "playing bad" is just that he's distracted with conversation than the game. Remember how bad everyone else played games while talking? However its still a little annoying, maybe next time have the person playing use a headset?

Well, how to put this... this video sucked, not one of the crew's finer moments. For me, probably one of the worst content I have watched on this site. But I guess I'm kind of biased since I have really fond memories of this game and they managed to make it look like a huge, stinking turd. Sure, it has a few years on the neck, guess it's natural that it looks a bit dull compared to current titles. But still, I think this was really poorly executed. Knowing how hard it is to jump back into the middle of this game from a long break, It's easy to feel for Brad. Not so much for Dave or Patrick though, they didn't seem interested in the first place. And that whole Klingon conversation was horrible. That is usually what I love about this site, but watching Brad struggling with the game and them don't paying any attention to it was painful.

@snide: Thanks for the candidness. While I understand some people's feelings on the matter, I don't think the video was terrible. Not the best video on the site, but not one of the turds of the interwebs.

I think it was mostly frustrating for some folks because it seemed like Brad was ignoring clues on the screen and rushing, which caused many of his own deaths, plus I can see where some of the comments felt like Patrick and you were not really there as part of the concept, just providing unrelated dialogue while Brad's continuing out.

Now, that being said, most of the best content on this site is from unrelated dialogue, so people need to calm down about it a bit, or learn how to vocalize their discontent without the aggression.

Regardless, thanks for putting it up, The Klingon sounds neat, and I hope Brad does finish the game, or maybe even puts it up on the site.

Also. Please please please show people how awesome Undying is.

god dammit bradley

Seriously though, all you people bitching, please fuck off to GameSpot or IGN. Or, actually, keep paying your subscription to things and fueling this site and providing videos like this, which I very much enjoy. Thanks, fella.

thanks for playing this brad so I didnt have to. Looking forward to watching the darkness 2 quicklook now.....

I enjoy by far the majority of the content on this site.

This video was hit and miss. Nice idea but it failed on execution. The criticism in this thread is valid. Brad didn't seem to want to be there. Patrick and Dave wasn't really there either...

I hope you shoot the ending of the game in another feature. Im sure it would result in a better vid with the input from this one.

@Smokey_Earhole said:

@CptBedlam said:

I still like the look and feel of this game more than the Darkness 2's.

You are also insane.

Darkness 2 is a good game but you will just have to deal with the fact that the first Darkness is the better game.

I'm definitely of the stance that I have negative thoughts but I don't enjoy expressing them outwardly because in the end this is a fucking videogame website, and my care for the entertainment I expect within only goes so far.

I will say one thing, I wish Brad and Ryan cared more about what they were playing. With Ryan you get the feeling he's just lazy, with Brad it feels like he doesn't actually want to play games in public, but does because it's his job. They both make for a rough experience when they are at the controls.

Again, I feel weird even saying that, because I'm being dicks to two dudes I generally like.

Didn't care for this game back then, but this was still fun. Enjoyed the Klingon stuff as well. Don't really get what all the fuss is about. People take this stuff too seriously.

BTW, always up for some Wizardry talk. Only a matter of time until we get Dave to do that Wizardry 8 ER. ;)

@CptBedlam said:

@Smokey_Earhole said:

@CptBedlam said:

I still like the look and feel of this game more than the Darkness 2's.

You are also insane.

Darkness 2 is a good game but you will just have to deal with the fact that the first Darkness is the better game.

Yeah, cause washed out textures, floaty controls and retarded level design makes the first one the superior game. I totally see it now.

After reading 13 pages of hate-filled comments and watching a not-so-great subscriber video, I'm just going to close this tab and move on with my life.

Just to let you guys know.

@Smokey_Earhole said:

@CptBedlam said:

@Smokey_Earhole said:

@CptBedlam said:

I still like the look and feel of this game more than the Darkness 2's.

You are also insane.

Darkness 2 is a good game but you will just have to deal with the fact that the first Darkness is the better game.

Yeah, cause washed out textures, floaty controls and retarded level design makes the first one the superior game. I totally see it now.

You are dead wrong about everything but the controls.

Was that a Dead Milkmen reference at 1:25, or just a chance stringing together of "Violence rules, guns are cool?"

"our David"

Brad is the worst.