The Giant Beastcast: Episode 227

Oh this thumbnail looks promising!
Abby Russel aka. Vinny Caravella ending it with style.

Dan Auer's mic seems a bit quiet in this episode.

Additional games they played and talked about this week:

Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege
Gears 5
Judgment
Mario Kart Tour
Jenny LeClue: Detectivu

Abby also mentioned an adventure game, at 1:01:39 in the premium version, and I unfortunately couldn't hear what the name was. I tried looking at a list of games released in 2019 while listening to that part several times, but I just can't put it together. Might be a thing with English not being my first language.

Got it figured out thanks to @wemibelle.

Wow they didnt let Dan Auer speak at all

Dan Auer is the bet.

Cast: Alex, Dan, Dan..shida musha musha

- Dan Hibiki of street fighter

My Two Dans

Would hate to have Mike on my jury he’d just immediately think I’m guilty by virtue of being on trial because to him an accusation equals guilt.

Alex's travel stories:

Mike is such a natural fit for GB content, I know he’s gamespot, it’s just he has such good chemistry with the East staff.

@toxicantidote: Abby's adventure-y game is called Jenny LeClue - Detectivu.

Food poisoning and Peru go hand in hand!

I felt like everyone was speaking at 1.5x regular speed in this episode.

for as much as Abby dislikes dan yelling, boy is there a lot of Abby YELLING in this one. woah. Also Abby's british impression could be something out of borderlands. Otherwise, gj crew, feel better vinco.

*Is Abby just predisposed to dislike anything Dan likes? Seems like it. I would respect her stance a little on Metal Gear if she knew anything about it, but she doesn't, and time after time after time she just shuts him down on his reverence (that is widely shared) for the series and since it isn't a funny bit, it's getting really tiring.

I'm with Mike here, Borderlands 3 is freaking great to play. 20'ish hours in with my brother and wife and we're all loving it. Should be done in time for Breakpoint next Friday which will last me until CoD:MW which will last me untill DOOM Eternal. Hell of a year.

Is Alex's mic slightly junky or am I crazy?

Abby hosting is a rare and delicious treat, though at least once I would like Dan to host. Mainly because he doesn't want to do it.

I agree that it gets better the farther you get, but damn if it doesn't try real hard to drive you away for the first 10-12 hours or so. There are some really . . . curious . . . design decisions in that game.

Cadence of Hyrule > Link's Awakening

@kavajava: you're not crazy, it's really bad

This honestly reminds me of a few friends I have. For some reason they're predisposed to correct or try to negate nearly everything that we say: adding details or shifting the viewpoint of the statement regardless of if it needs it or not. This was displayed in a recent, previous Beastcast when they were talking about Death Stranding and Abby predicted how Dan was about to tell her how some aspect she was detailing would actually be fine or not outlandish as Dan was getting ready to note.

Nothing outlandishly egregious. You just sometimes get set into mindsets and don't really notice unless outside sources start noting it. Nothing a little communication and presence of mind can't fix.

Heck Yeah Alex is Back!!!!!!

Glad to have Alex back!

To Alex's point about the pacing in Judgment - I found it to be pretty awful. There are no shortage of side cases in that game, which makes it very disappointing when the main story derails and leads you through what feels like a side case, complete with choppy, non-voiced cutscenes. It's really hard to get into a flow with the game because it seems afraid to let you push ahead; there are even interrogation scenes that have breaks in them where you can walk outside and go eat a hamburger or whatever. It's a shame because the writing and the cinematography, when they're in full-swing, are some of the best the series has seen so far.

Edit: also it's sad that Beast in the East left Abby with a bad impression of the combat, because Yakuza 0 is a fucking blast to play when you're fighting on all cylinders and really using your abilities.

@the_nubster: Judgment frequently puts you in position to move the story along a little, where you have to quickly interrogate someone before someone else is killed, for instance, but then you can just leave the room to go do a few side quests that just opened up, so the story feels very broken up. You go out of Kamurocho several times, and never seem to get much info before heading back again, and there seem to be too many chapters. I'm in the final chapter, and just want to get it done, I've played every Yakuza game as they came out, but Judgment hasn't caught me. Having to lock on to dodge is irritating after playing so many games that just have a dodge button, and locking on seems to take you back to the original Yakuza, where you just attacked in a straight line.

Hurray Alex is back!

That was an unfortunate Batman news discussion, with no Batman expert they were fumbling in the dark.

@garnsr: I am literally right at the end of the game, and it made such a big deal out of solving the mystery, but then it plopped me in a room with all of my buddies who all need me to do a favour for them before we go into the final confrontation. It's just so bizarre and it killed all of my momentum. Haven't touched the game in months. I really wish they had doubled-down on the detective aspects of the game and made it less about combat, and tightened up the pacing. It feels very early-Yakuza with the flow of the story..

@flstyle:

Yep. Granted it was just teaser images, but not as effective covering them.

Court of Owls (created in 2011 for when Batman relaunched in The New 52) were adapted at least once before for one of the animated movies. Other images hinted at the League of Assassins and possibly Etrigan.

But Thought Bubble is in Harrogate. And in November, Abby.

You're not wrong, I thought the same thing.

Damn, a couple of people complaining that Abby vocally dislikes Metal Gear as if to shit on him with no comparison made to Dan's vocal dislike of RDR2 whenever Abby or anyone else praises it. And shoot, a couple of people complaining that Abby yells too much while directly comparing it to how Dan also yells too much, except it only seems to be an issue now that Abby is yelling. damn that's so wild. so weird, wow

@anarmyofbees: That segment had me cracking up so hard I thought I was going to have to pull over.

Welcome back Alex! Also good job hosting Abby.

@kcin: I just think it's funny how Abby loves RDR2 but considers the movement in Control to be unresponsive. I think she just needs to keep playing The Sims and meme games like Untitled Goose Game, seems to be the only stuff she can properly form a opinion on.

Forreal. I'm not the biggest Dan-Fan, but hey, he's fine, the kids love him. Though seeing people complain about Abby A) yelling or B) being actively antagonistic toward the interests of others, HMMM...

Abby's the best addition to the crew since Austin. Total badass. Never change!

I'd love to see Abby play Zelda 2 for a Playdate or something, her surprise at how different it is was amusing.

Very satisfying episode!

Between that revelation and Dan mentioning he's never played Mario RPG, I would gleefully watch either...or both.

Americans fascination with Love London is quite jarring to me, but I guess it’s all about tourism money and all.

@dashibuya: this must be the stupid comment of the day. Congrats I guess!

I think the reason for that was because Dan didn't like it that much during their playthrough. But I think he also clarified that it probably was because of how they scheduled their recordings so that he never really got used to it enough until the next episode.

It's annoying when most people yell, though both Dan and Abby tend to go higher up in tone with their voices when they increase the volume, which is something that makes me physically uncomfortable.

@kcin: The only rebuttal I'd make to this is that Dan actually played Red Dead 2 so him shitting on it is fine, meanwhile Abby has never played a Metal Gear game and actively shits on them. That's my only problem.

Yeah, I get why it happened, it's just a bummer that it left people with a bad impression. It's also an issue I have with a lot of full playthroughs on this site; an hour and a half once per week is not enough time to get used to a game's mechanics.

golf-clap on acknowledging everybody's lack of knowledge with what's going on with VR. There isn't a huge amount so maybe try and shore that up?

Asgard's Wrath is releasing on Oct 10 and sounds like it will be a longer 10+ hour game.

VR shooters exist for a while now including Onward, Pavlov, Echo VR and yes, Firewall Zero Hour on PSVR using the aim controller.

Dan asked if one took place in space. That could be Space Junkies or maybe Echo Combat (sort of)

also Lone Echo is a game that is still what I consider a glimpse of what a fully made for vr adventure could be. someone on the crew should give it a go.

@alex glad to hear you had such a great time in Peru! I moved down here from the US a couple years ago in the northern arid region to open up a BnB and my gf and I have been loving the culture and people here! Wish you both could have made it to the Tumbes region. We have a place on Airbnb in Zorritos, maybe next time, you’ll always be welcomed!

@kcin: Well, reading what they said it's explicitly because Abby points out Dan yelling and how it bothers her and she does the same. With being dismissive of things Dan likes (like Metal Gear) it's because she's seen basically nothing of them, Dan at least has played RDR2 to completion.

I've been the one being dismissive of things people like, and have had it happen to me. Imo, it sucks for everyone. When it happens in the media I'm listening to or watching it's a bummer as it seems to just make people not really talk about the things they like. I'm not a fan of any of them doing it to anybody either, like with Vinny and The Division.

Granted, if anyone of them actual took issue with it I'd assume/expect they'd deal with it privately so it's all whatever anyway. As long as criticism/complaints aren't being shitty then it should be fine, and none of the comments in this thread have been shitty if you actually read what they're saying.

Aggressively Pleasant Podcast Host Abby Russell

Love the episode. Alex's travel stories are always rad. Abby as host was delightful.

Also, maybe I'm wrong, but I don't sense any hostility from Abby towards Metal Gear (other than that it's not her thing). If she sounds dismissive it's mostly because Dan has a habit of bringing it up as the greatest piece of media ever made (his words), even when it's not really relevant to the discussion.

Division 2 is a pretty good example of another game that nobody really hated but Vinny still catches shit for bringing it up. It's clearly just a goof and not to be taken seriously.