Watching this in the background while i was doing something else and it was totally ok. The very tail-end where we get some games talk between some people who don't interact a lot was fun. Over all, it was fine. Not great, but fine.
If I had gone in person? I think I would be dissuaded from ever attending another one of these panels ever again. I'm sure that might place me in the minority, but man this would have been a bummer of a panel to attend live for me. "We eat dinner, take no questions and talk games in the last 10 minutes" would have gotten a "I'll pass thanks" if they had announced the content ahead of time for sure.
Sight unseen, Rorie on UPF always makes me watch them quicker. He always brings games that rarely get showcased by the other people on staff (now that Austin and Patrick are gone anyhow) and interacts well with the rest of the staff.
I enjoy every last thing he's done for this site on video and always am glad to see him included in content. While I get that people have different tastes, complaining about it like most people do doesn't get anyone anywhere.
Like hey, I don't particularly find Ben and Abby's sense of humor to be my taste. You know how I handle that? I don't watch or comment on the content they are a part of if it seems like I won't like it. And whatyahknow, I am allowed to dislike aspects of stuff some of the staff does, but don't see the need to call it out every time they appear or demand they stop or change just for me.
Not sharing loot in any co-op game is a massive mark against a game like this for me. Like, if the point is to work together the last thing I want to do is get into bickering about who gets what, and as someone who sometimes likes to take my time, and can get intimidated if I don't know a new map/game play elements, the element of 'rushing ahead is rewarded by more loot" nature it produces is just..
Its bad game design 101 and I had really thought we'd gotten past it.
My issue with ME3 was purely on the ending. The last 30 or so minutes of that game, after Shepard walks away from the injured Anderson into the light, essentially everything with the star-child/ending choices) ..my issue was that it felt like someone else wrote the section.
It was like I was watching the ending to a story I had not been telling/earning/playing through/choosing on my own up until that point. The game feels like it throws the message it was trying to send out the window in those final minutes, and the main character remains mute about the entire thing while it does so. In detail..
If you take the full Paragon route. You are able too prove beyond any doubt that Synthetics and Organics can live together in harmony. Not only that but that by doing so they enrich and boost each other in ways that, separately, they are unable too. The best possible ending for the Geth Quarian conflict, the fact that Joker falls in love with an AI. The fact that EDI proves to be trustworthy. The fact that both she and legion prove that synthetics do not inevitably turn on/destroy organic life etc etc etc.
But, when you get to the star child, what do they say? "Organics and Synthetics are diametrically opposed. Your options are to destory all synthetics, to enslave them all, or to force-meld organic/synthetics so their is no distinction between the two. All options which fly in the face of the story being told ala above.
At no point does Shepard go "uh no, your completely wrong, it was only through the individuality of both organics and synthetics that I got this far, and through out fight against you I have absolute proof that the very reason you reapers exist is false. Or..etc. Instead you have to blindly go "I guess all the plot points and message of the 'full good' path they wrote are out the window! The Reapers were right all along I guess. Utter and complete horse-crap and a slap in the face of anyone who cared about the story being told etc etc.
Maybe my issues with it get covered in the Citadel DLC, I never touched it or watched it. I was so anger about the mess of an ending I couldn't bring myself to go back too it given how it made everything I had worked to proof/earn utterly pointless
The only solace I had was that in the update they made most game where the expanded the ending some what, They add the IMO only actual possible Canon ending to the game, where Shepard tells the star-child he is full of shit by shooting him in the face. That's the only ending that feels like it at all fits the story the game tells up until that point to me.
I'm gonna echo the "I am glad other people enjoy this". I like the Ben+Jan brand of humor well enough..in doses about half the length of a typical ben's lens. In the kind of levels that other people (Brad, Jeff, Jason) will typically shut down and move past after its worn its welcome out (for me).
A full length feature of this is like an SNL skit turned into a full show. I'll laugh at the initial 5 minute bit, i'll roll my eyes and change the channel for the weekly hour long comedy. Or..maybe its the lack of a 'straight man' , I dunno.
Still, it seems to really tickle the fancy of plenty of people as stated, so good for it. Also A+ effort on that intro.
@bladeofcreation: That was what I was getting at mostly. The conversation turned in a direction that felt too me like, I dunno. If they had had a long joking discussion about how 'faith isn't real, prayer doesn't work duh" mixed with "Are people who believe in god and pray human?" I know I'd have felt insulted.
I don't mean to speak for a religion/group I am not a part of. I just know I've a few friends over the years who are Wiccan who have spoken about off-handed comments and assumptions made about them/their beliefs that the pod-casts' conversation reminded me of.
Holy hell could this one turn into a massive "We are sorry, we respect all religions and did not mean to imply anyone's beliefs are not to be respected and valued" corrections at the top of next weeks show.
Not sure if there is a big Wicca community among the GB fan-base but I know a few myself who would find the entire discussion around witchcraft/wizardry to be extraordinarily offensive. I doubt they meant it to be, but I highly suspect at least a few corrections in next weeks show will be sent trying to address the issue.
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