Did Jeff ever continue Balan Wonderworld?

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exrian

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I saw the first episode and it was pretty entertaining. As someone who has very little interest in that game, I'm definitely into watching Jeff play it. Haven't seen any videos but I'm also not constantly looking either. I recall him mentioning it on the GB podcast or Hotspot one day. Talking about how he was wondering if he should show the whole thing or edit it some.

Has he continued or just gave up?

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Humanity

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I think this time around he chose the right course of action and decided to not play a game he wasn't enjoying to the end. Instead he seems to be organizing his garage (on stream and in real time!) which I agree is a much better use of his time.

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krelmoon

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He instead started streaming himself cleaning his garage. I’m not sure if one or the other would’ve been more entertaining. I at least am 100% here for the garage talk streams and wouldn’t trade them for anything. With the release schedule being what it is there will be plenty of time to torture Jeff with Balen once the garage is done.

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geirr

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He's making his own Balan Wonderworld in his garage.

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AV_Gamer

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#5  Edited By AV_Gamer

I believe he is trying to unlock more levels before streaming it again. He was stuck on the first three levels, because he didn't have enough Balan trophies to move on. Now if he is still doing that, or he gave up because the game got even worse for him, I guess he will reveal in due time. He claimed he'd finish it in the spirit of Garfield, but maybe even his love of Garfield wasn't enough.

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Gundato

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@zoofame: Its a balancing act but, in general, I prefer "quality" content. I come to GB because I like the insights and discussion. If you love a game there often isn't a lot to say that isn't just wanky. If you see ways a game can be improved and can put that in the greater context then it is interesting

In that respect, stuff like SMB2:TLL and SMBS were really good features because they were entertaining to watch AND were a wonderful snapshot into how game dev could have gone at a very pivotal time.

I personally think the Balan videos were insufferable because the game is bad and we all know why it is bad. It is more or less a PS2 game released in 2021. And while I think there was room for some very interesting discussion (what OTHER game can you think of that was more or less a Far Cry 2 era open world game released in the late 2010s that became super popular?), that wasn't a topic this site was really going to go hard on based on previous coverage.

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bigsocrates

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@zoofame: This is a personality driven website. There are other websites/Youtube channels that do a better job analyzing great games or explaining mechanics or the rest of that stuff. I'm not saying that the Bombers are never insightful or don't understand games or anything, but that's not their great strength. It's the personalities.

That's why they can be entertaining doing almost anything. Whether it's Alex just driving around in a Truck simulator or playing drums or Jeff cleaning his frickin' garage this site is about the personalities. Not the quality of the games. Additionally the site was always based around exploring the full gamut of games, good and bad, trash and treasure. It's hard to really show why a game shines if you don't show why others are bad.

Trash game streams have a very different vibe than good game streams. Whether it's Ben reading a bunch of horrible Fanfic on a Garfield stream or just Jeff grumpin' off, they're often looser and funnier than when people are really into the game. They're more hangout streams than game analysis, and that's what makes them fun. They are definitely not "anti-content" because the people are the content. The people have always been the content.

Does that mean that they should do nothing but trash games? Of course not. But it's something different that brings out a different side of the cast. It's not for everyone of course, but I think there have been more classic hilarious Giant Bomb moments playing crappy games than good ones. They're often weird in ways that bring out hilarious moments, like when Jonathan Frakes showed off his massive tongue in that poker game or any examples of Alex's existential despair when playing garbo. Them playing good games often amounts them to saying "yes this is very good" often for reasons that are kind of obvious because it's hard to show a lot of personality when you're playing something really good.

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AV_Gamer

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@zoofame: Streaming quality stuff is easy and redundant to me. Sure streaming a game most people think is high quality and will eventually play is fine, but the entertainment comes from streaming bad games and mocking just how messed up it is. Like watching a movie you know is bad just to laugh at it. No one in their right mind will tell you that Troll 2 is a good movie, but it makes for lots of entertainment because of how horrible the acting and special effects are. One of my all time favorite quick looks is the horrible Tony Hawk Pro Skater 5. Because Jeff spends an hour and thirty minutes trying to find anything about the game that is redeemable and getting more depressed with Dan along for the ride with his wise cracks. Good entertainment. Speaking of Dan, the Mario Party specials were fun to watch, despite them being many hours long, because of how bad most of the games are and the crew except Dan suffering through it.