If you were interested in Actraiser Renaissance before Jeff talked about it, you should check out the Digital Foundry video.
They felt the same way after chapter one, but had their opinions changed after playing the rest. I can’t tell how much Jeff played beyond the first chapter, but apparently the consensus is that it doesn’t leave a good first impression.
@jasperkazai: I just got to that part, and I was left thinking, “Here is a group of adult men that don’t know how to eat pancakes.” I have not been this bewildered since Dan left.
Someone already beat me in correcting Jeff that baseball is not exclusive to one platform.
While MLB is publishing the game on Xbox, meaning they pay the publishing license fees instead of Sony, I have not read anything about them producing the game in any capacity to cut Sony out any profits without being in breach of their contract. So while the perception might be bad that PS5 owners don‘t get it for free, Sony would still profit off any Game Pass downloads, likely as if they were purchases at MSRP.
If MLB were not happy with their deal, that would just mean an end to any good baseball video games. They may have shot themselves in the foot if there is no required number of games in their licensing deal with Sony.
Like Brad said, he didn't pick the hardest difficulty; the hardest difficulty is the Default setting. The description text also states "This is the way Ghost and Goblins is MEANT to be played".
Except he did pick the hardest difficulty. The game doesn’t just drop you in on the highest difficulty by default. He was given the choice before beginning the first stage. It doesn’t matter if it was highlighted by default, he’s free to scroll down to a lower difficulty setting. The difference between other games stating that a difficulty level was how it was meant to be played, is that this highlighted it by default.
I watched a couple of Vtubers, Pekora and Korone, play this before Brad’s QL. They were more entertaining and had me more interested in the game than I was before. The look of the game is divisive, and I would say I was on the negative side until watching them and the Digital Foundry video. However, I’ll wait for a PS4/5 version.
@superharman: This is how Return of the Obra Dinn managed to be above Spider-Man already. Looking at the individual top tens, it’s clear the majority of the staff preferred Spider-Man over Obra Dinn. The first round of voting skewed the early results:
Abby: Return of the Obra Dinn
Dan: Dead Cells
Ben: Tetris Effect
Jason: Monster Hunter World
Brad: Red Dead Redemption 2 (Into the Breach)
Jeff: Call of Duty: Black Ops 4
Vinny: God of War
Alex: Into the Breach
Jan: Hitman 2
Vinny had to go God of War after Dan, who had it #1 on his personal list, skipped it in favor of his #3 game. If Dan had said God of War, that initial list could have been the same, with Vinny going Spider-Man, and Dead Cells being tacked on afterwards.
That first round was pure strategy of how to get their games of choice in the top 10. If Abby had said Red Dead instead of Obra Dinn, I don’t think the latter makes this list. She knows Red Dead will be on this list from either Brad or Alex, so she made the smart pick.
@nixnutz: The format this year makes it so you can skip the first three days. Those podcasts are just going through the highlights (and low points) throughout the year. The last two podcasts have the 10 awards. Still a lot to listen to, but much better than previous years.
I'm surprised there hasn't been more negative reaction to Dan 'hijacking' Biggest Disappointment.
That said I'd have to agree with him, I was really disappointed by RDR2 after seeing everyone squeeing all over it and then renting it to find out the controls were THAT BAD. I can only assume those that loved it had a case of Gaming Stockholm Syndrome after playing it long enough, or something...
Hearing Dan turn on RDR2 during several Beastcasts and the deliberations they had, I totally see why it made the list.
The one I didn't expect to make this list was Fallout 76. It was exactly what I expected coming from its announcement. The pedigree didn't sway me before it launched, so it didn't sway me during their deliberation.
I thought Sea of Thieves might be something not for me, but I could see why people would be disappointed in it. I was disappointed in hearing that A Way Out wasn't good, so I avoided it. It could also have been a game I liked if I had played it, since not everyone likes the same game, as the RDR2 discussion showed. We're merely relying on Alex's opinion on it (and I should say that his tastes tend to line up with mine the most on this site).
RDR2 being on the most disappointing list makes sense when over half the staff found it disappointing, even if the rest thought highly of it.
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