The Giant Beastcast: Episode 186

Beastie time.

Correction: this is 185.

Considering 185 last week was a repeat

@bathala: if you didn't see it, they replaced the incorrect file with the real new episode a bit later.

@bathala: They fixed that eventually.

ok that means I haven't listened to last week

all this dad jokes LIGMA and PEn15

Gosh, Alex yelling, "LIGMA BAAAALLLLLLSSS" is really something. I'm half tempted to set that as a ringtone but I could never go into polite society again.

I guess Jason doesn't like Earth Defense Force. :(

Why does the premium Beastcast always take so long to update on Pocket Casts?

@platzkart: No idea, My assumption is that Pocketcasts only updates RSS feeds every 30 mins or so?

@grim_wreeper: I don't think so. Most other podcasts (and the free beastcast) go up really quickly. It's a weird one.

So weird that no one likes smash! If only a long voice of praise could break out somehow!

I really like Ashen and after a quick controls remap have been just soaking it in and it's been great as far as characters and clever use of light/dark with a look sorta like Absolver and multiplayer like Journey. I honestly wasn't a big fan of how dry dark souls was as far as tone and range and have always felt something closer to zelda, given a combat/survival focus and difficulty ramp like the souls series, could be pretty good- enter Ashen.

I have many hours in and going by the game map, something like 10-12 hours in, discovered territory compared to what's still greyed out, I'm happily surprised by how deceptively vast this simple looking game is; there's a lot to see, and having enjoyed the bosses/areas so far I'm psyched to see where this game's environment/effects characters and atmosphere goes, along with the lantern mechanics and the progression of story through the town you build and characters personal stories/quests for each that yeild some pretty awesome upgrade stuffs, Sad Alex didn't dig it, the combat feels competent enough if a little simple to me. I don't really think of it as a dark souls rip off with the number of clever ways they keep the game compelling visually and character quests being your access to upgrading and crafting and modifiers etc. It's a lot of fun in it's own right where souls really isn't for me, with it's own unique mechanics/quality of life and traversal systems souls doesn't have. Will likely play this a second time on the harder sissna mode I can tell already.

Haha Vinny and the PEN15 club

Still not convinced the Paz thing in Smash is real.

Everyone who's ever mentioned or referenced it is always using the exact same probably-photoshopped image.

We have to break Dan's corporate brand loyalty

Ooof, this might be the first lukewarm reception I’ve seen with regards to Joker making it into Smash. That’s fine, by the by - I don’t expect everyone to completely lose their minds over it. What I also find exciting about this, however, is that it practically throws the realm of possibility for the rest of the DLC characters way open. Before the official announcement, someone like Joker would’ve been perceived as having a slim chance. Now, if someone made a DLC wishlist that consisted of, say, Steve?, someone from the Neptunia series, the protector from Etrian Odyssey, and Gunvolt, I’d say, “Yeah, that could happen.” I’m very eager to see who the rest of the new fighters will be.

Lol Dan is pure apologist for our corporate overlord.

@azuregale: I agree. While I would have preferred say, Chie or Yukiko myself, it's really freaking awesome to see Joker in Smash, and it really does open up the possibility for all sorts of craziness. I can't remember who it was on this site that said it, but Smash is basically becoming MUGEN and I am all for it.

Obviously it doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things, but Dan's corporate stanning is increasingly grating, particularly in our current historical moment. Read the room, Dan.

The thing with Dan that I'm just not getting is that he's a very intelligent person (despite some of his more golden moments of being uninformed), yet he just seems to stuff his head in the sand when it comes to corporate brands. It's either disheartening that he doesn't take the very little time required to see the problems with corporate apologist nonsense, or, in the off chance that it's a bit...that's maybe worse at this point.

was the Paz thing really that funny?

@sethmode: The thing I have had try to make peace with over the years is that either Dan doesn't give a shit or willingly separates his love for brands from any negative stuff the company themselves have done (misguided it may be) or he really does not know. I known too many people in my life that have this same issue where they may hate and decry a shitty thing a company has done, but that doesn't stop them from supporting a particular brand the company owns.

Also, based off the last Danswers he was on he mentioned that he doesn't like commenting on stuff that he doesn't know a lot about or add his comment to a conversation already talked about by people with more knowledge of the issue; I think he may have even brought up labor and politics. While I understand that impulse, when he goes on his pro-brand, corporate thing without acknowledging or bringing up the bad shit corporations have done, it is extremely jarring.

If somebody is looking at your socks, and judging you for them, you are in a bad place with bad people.

Before the site redesign I used to come to this page at this time each Friday and download the mp3 to my android phone but now it's saying its premium only, should I be looking elsewhere or is it now, for lack of a better term, a timed exclusive... Thanks!

Two things:

1) When I was in Japan in October I went to one of those VR arcades and they had a game similar to the "plank game" being described. You physically walked on a plank and in VR you were high up on a creaky rickity plank trying to save a kitten on the other side. The embarrassing part was that I laughed at all the teenage Japanese girls having a hard time doing it, but when I went up, I ended up putting up my hand and giving up. Even though I played VR games that involved height before, including in that very same arcade, for some reason the vertigo really got to me on that specific one.

2) This may be the only time I can ever recall agreeing with Dan on something, but Red Vines are totally the superior licorice-style candy.

I guess Dan is gonna be advertising air force gator in SFV

RE: Ashen - it is an Xbox One console exclusive.

In the upper right of the page, there should be two stars, near the video/audio toggle. That should toggle you from premium to free. And I believe you should be able to download it still... I think. I just tried it in an incognito browser and it seemed to work. Hope that helps.

Perfect, that's worked! Thanks

The Street Fighter V ad stuff is a bother and a half. I've been playing this game since launch, and lemme see.... 60 bucks for the initial release, 30 for each new season, that's 150$. 180, come new years, if season 4 looks good. Additionally, you've got tons of optional purchases in the form of real money only costumes, usually 4$ a pop. Of course, you can elect to pay for in-game currency items with real money too, should you choose.

And then they have the audacity of giving me the option to dress up my stages, load screens and characters covered in ads? For a measly amount of their in-game currency?

Come the fuck on, Capcom. If you can't turn a profit from what you've already got in there it's you who has a problem. I think some of these ads are in certain cases appropriate(tournament style stages, wrestling characters) or funny(Akuma's gi), but there's nothing fun about the loading screen stuff and the sheer balls to add this stuff to a game I already spent a lot of money on just pisses me off. It makes it seem like Capcom is just a super poor company, who have to nickle and dime its customers in a way something like Smash would never do.

My reaction was about the same as Dan's. But then I did laugh at one of Dhalsim's little children of the village skulls that got a Capcom ad plastered on it.

Hearing people talking positively about ads, corrupted franchises and pretty much most things that keeps the nightmarish wheels of capitalism spinning, pretty much always fuels my depression. And it often makes me think of Ernest Hemingway famous quote too: "Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know"

Pen15 ?

There's a POLITE society!?... Wow... Who knew?!

1300135

Imagine that. Dan, a man who eats the butt of every brand he's ever met, is okay with that stupid ad thing.

I'm so happy people are coming around on VR.

Remember, for the PSVR owners out there, WipEout Omega Collection is full on VR now, and it is amazing. HD and 2048 are the best of the three in there, fury less so.

Sol2 is a magical track in VR.

@threeoct: you and I both know Dan would never eat ass

The Astro Bot "demo" is on the free "Playroom VR" not PSVR Worlds. It is just like Astro Bot but it features a pretty awesome 2 player mode that Astro bot doesn't have. I used playroom vr to introduce my parents to VR back in 2016.

@toxicantidote said:

lol are you really saying you're depressed because you're too intelligent?

I can't believe nobody on staff likes smash

@teigen:mixture of Dunning Kruger, Lake Wobegon and maybe other biases? I dunno, I still need to learn more about cognitive biases.

@zoedothedishes: It's kinda fucked up, but since it's so out of character that Nintendo would do this, made it funny. It's even funnier when Dan said that there's actually two Bob-ombs. Is that real Mario or Venom Mario?

@redhotchilimist: I completely missed that Capcom putting ads in SFV thingy. Putting ads on skulls feels like Capcom not thinking things out properly, which is inherently very Capcpom. SFV from the get go feels more like business decision with fighting game wrapped around it. And it sucks. The good thing is DBFZ managed to come in and steal the crown.

Dan just really can't bring himself to criticize Metal Gear's shittiness...

That's not exactly what that quote is about. In a way, I've always viewed it as a counter to the saying "Ignorance is bliss."

What's Baklalalackin'?

The lovely people in my building have a habit of jamming an entire roll of toilet paper or even an entire roll of paper towel into the toilet for no reason other than to stick it to the company. :P I cannot even tell you how many times the bathrooms on several floors (8 floor building) were closed due to this behavior. Morons...

Jeez You don’t have to like persona 5 but to shit on gamespot people for liking a game series charcter making a cameo seems cold. There’s a lot of people excited for this charcter and the potential it brings to the roster.

Dan can be deliberately contrarian and I think sometimes he expresses unpopular opinions to play devil's advocate, encourage debate, or even just for effect. Perhaps he was exaggerating to an extent on the Street Fighter V ads. Either way though, I appreciate Dan because he forms his own opinions and isn't afraid to diverge from the prevailing opinion of the group on any given issue. But he is generally respectful in engaging with differing opinions, honest where he lacks knowledge, and open to new information. Honestly, the world needs more Dans.

Did I miss it or did they completely forget to mention Ultimate Alliance 3? I went back and listen to the Game Awards segment and nothing. Seemed like the biggest announcement of the show.

And Dan's defence of shitty ads and his blind love of giant corporations just another reason for me to not like Dan.