Giant Bombcast 492: Plug Into TV

Path of Exile was the game that finally got me into ARPGs. The skill tree was what caught my attention, but the design decisions they made with flasks, skill gems, and their currency system were what really won me over.

I've actually been playing more Diablo III of late, but only because I put so much time into PoE. I've been meaning to go back recently if I find the time, though. They've added quite a bit since I last played.

SEGA is making that SNES classic look like a better deal.

Peter Brown is a good dude!

What's the "great moment in the annals of Giant Bomb history"? I couldn't make out what Rorie said there.

@ripelivejam: it's seems hardcore and daunting, but it's actually fairly accessible. i think it suffers from the Games as a Service pitfall where it's perpetually evolved to include all these crazy systems that don't really explain themselves properly unless you know the core mechanics first.

i would just approach it like diablo 2 though- where maybe you fuck up a toon, or play it the "wrong" way so that it's not compatible with the current highest difficulty level meta, but who gives a shit if it's fun. spec what you want and just enjoy the slightly lower level stuff, then re-spec if you want later on. it really is a great game that deserves a fair try if you dig arpgs. just my 2c though...

@redhotchilimist: I might be wrong but I think they were referring to that time on UPF when Rorie beat the last two bosses in Bloodborne in one go?

Yeah, Peter Brown. Too bad Drew and Jeff weren't there to nerd out over the Framemeister for a half hour. (completely serious)

Just a personal preference, but I'm quickly losing interest in most GBWest content from an overabundance of Rorie content. Once in a while is alright, but I'm just fatigued at this point. I get that he's a good dude and a lot of people like him, but his personality is just not for me. Again, personal preference for content only - Rorie's a big part of the background of the site, which is invaluable in its own right.

Those Genesis things have been garbage for awhile. I almost bought one once and looked up reviews. They didn't mention it with this version, but previous versions of this garbage system have had terrible wireless connectivity according to reviews. My friend gave me one, because I modded his Wii for him and I plugged it in once and boy is that thing trash. I also read reviews that said you can't save games even when using carts. I haven't confirmed that though. They are going to get so many suckers launching that thing before the Mini SNES. It's a shame because if a proper mini Genesis was made, it would actually be cool.

How many games are spoiled by Peter "I can't contain myself" brown this time?

Peter Brown is an attractive man.

Peter is the best semi-regular guest on here. He and Jeff going back and forth about random old shit is something I'd gladly listen to for 2-3 hours a month.

Oh good. The return of Peter "It's not really a spoiler but here's a description of the ending" Brown.

@comradesolar: MINOR Pyre spoilers around 15:00

Downtown Peter Brown!

Except he didn't do that.

I disagree pretty strongly here. I already got past the point in question, but I had no idea before getting there that (spoilers for 4-5 hours into the game if you're taking the time to read everything but also winning every match) You would only lose one member at a time and you'd have to pick based on experience. The shock of it gave me a LOT to chew on.

I have been banging the drum for a Peter/Jeff old game feature what seems like years at this point. One day it will happen, we just have to believe.

I'm actually surprised that no one else than Dan has gotten deeper into Sundered. I think it's a great game, and it only gets better and better the farther in I make it. More abilities make it more interesting, and if you choose to corrupt the abilities they become even more interesting to use.

I think it's a solid 4/5.

@rorie Regarding Hollow Knight's mapping - if you go all the way back up to the surface there will be a shop that has opened. In that shop you can buy a compass and a quill.

The compass needs to be equipped when sitting on a bench (it takes an equipment slot) and will show your position on the map.

The quill does not need to be equipped. When you sit at a bench it will automatically fill in any unmapped areas that you been in. You still need to have bought the map for an overall area for this to happen though, it won't fill in from scratch.

I'm enjoying Hollow Knight and I'm ok with the quill mechanic, but I don't like the compass concept. It takes up an equipment slot and equipment is a big part of that game. I understand that they wanted to make it something to add to the challenge, but eh, in a 2D game that isn't really laid out in a physically logical and memorable way, I feel like you should just be able to know your map position by default.

Hell yeah, Iowa love

Hell yeah, Iowa!

@y2ken: this weekend they're releasing 6 new acts (which removes the need to redo acts among other things). How often they release new content is definitely one of the biggest reasons why I prefer it over D3. Shame it's kind of a slow burn though, the first hours of the game was never fun to redo for me.

I can see both sides. I can totally see why Dan's into it. At the same time, I think I'm closer to Jason in opinion. Sundered is a game that I want to like more than I do. It's an OK game that could have been a great one. I love the art style and think there's good stuff going on with the skill tree.

That said, I have major problems with enemy placement, share Jason's complaint with the attack carrying you forward and have problems with how the camera works, particularly in the boss fights. It pulls out so far I can't see where my character is on screen.

Like I said, I wish it was better than it was. It feels like if they'd spent another month or so sorting out some issues, it could have been a better game.

I have both of these but the place that I'm in has no maps available for it that I can find and it's also not auto-filling. Seems a little weird!

Very happy to hear my all-time favourite SNES game, Metal Warriors, pop up briefly in conversation!

I found this episode refreshing with a guest bringing some technical know-how.

MonkeyKing has no comment the mini-Genesis boondoggle.

@puddlesworth: Thanks, needed to get my Rorie screen update asap. How big is it today I wonder?

I loved diablo 3.. now I love Path of Exile!

Boom! Right into games.

@little_shadow:

NOPE. you can only like one while flaming and trolling anyone who likes the other.

@rorie Yeah you have to buy the map to have something to draw on. Which area are you in out of curiosity? There's one area I recall having a super hard time finding the map man and turned out he was lower right portion of that zone and I just kept missing going that way.

Edit: also in case you had not noticed (I know some people didn't) look for paper on the ground to hint the direction to go to find map man, whistling also helps.

I just want to chime in on eBay. It's very stupid to put your stuff in the "as is" category and to sell it as untested. The amount of money you lose doing that FAR outweighs the tiny amount of fraud there is on eBay. My company sells at least a million dollars a year on eBay. We ship dozens of packages each day to eBay customers. We have had ONE customer who tried to rip us off by returning a different item than what we sent them. Just one. That loss ended up being $50.

By selling things as is and for parts, and saying you didn't test them, you're EASILY losing 25% on every sale. It makes absolutely no sense to do that. So what, you get a few returns where the item works fine and you lose some shipping. Big deal. You're getting screwed, by YOURSELF, on every sale because you're saying you didn't test it and it's as is. In my business we deal have a lot of crossover with the video game customer (aka young men from 15 to 30 make up most of our customers). We don't sell video games, but we sell things that are equally as complicated, if not more, and yes we get returns and then we sell the thing again. If we sold everything as is, untested, we would not be in business.

So if you feel like eBay is a bad deal, you have nobody to blame but yourself. I also buy tons of video games on eBay personally, and I never have issues, outside of needing to return an item from time to time. I go into it with the attitude of someone who knows they might have to return a few things.

Also, saying something is as is and untested does NOT protect you on eBay from returns. They can still say it wasn't as described and return it. All they have to do is say, description said the label was in tact, or pictures showed label intact and it wasn't, and they can return it. The people who abuse return policy stuff like that, they'll do it on as is stuff too.

I say all this as someone with over 20,000 feedback from buying/selling.

@kanerobot: Oh, hell yes. Hopefully GB can drag Peter away fron the Gamestop studio when theu Quicklook the SNES mini!

Enemy placement is randomized like the stages. The game isn't typical in the way other Metroidvania games are where you can memorize the enemy placement and locations. I am enjoying it, and the game gets better (but also worse in a way) with further upgrades you find around the environment, but I'm not liking it as much as Jotun. After a while, it gets kind of easy and the thinking of how you need to react isn't in place as much as it was in Jotun. Jotun is slower, and yet requires more attention to evade attacks that come your way.

Sundered starts off as a hack 'n slash that requires you to pay attention but becomes a little more mindless the more powerful you get. It's mainly the bosses and mini-bosses that don't have smaller enemies around that require your attention. Plus, when you get the upgrade to find all the secrets, the easiness is extended further as you're being doused with experience points to spend. The stages aren't as varied as Jotun either which is unfortunate. Yeah though, I think specifically as a Metroidvania kind of game, it's really good.

I don't really get Jason's point about movement; other than the slowdown at times, the game feels as good as the best platformers or games that require precision. The ability to move through the environments gets easier and faster with the upgrades you find too. I agree that you get pretty small with the camera work, but that's not so much the issue. The bigger issue is when there are so many guys on the screen where you can't see yourself. That's when it delves into extreme hack 'n slash.

The more powerful I get, the enemies don't require dodging as much. That said, the game allows more move-sets, so it's not always just square, square, square. I haven't gotten bored of the combat and maneuverability. There are clear moments when enemies are about to bundle up and gang on you. Once you hear the gong, that's a sign they're coming for you. It's a good way to get more experience points. There are also sections (that was made even clearer in the latest patch) that have perks at the end of them that will relentlessly sound the gong until you reach the perk so it's about booking it to somewhere in that location, and not about fighting.

I don't think the game is perfect, but the issues many people have with it aren't really issues I think. I'm on the third area, to the right of the upgrade location; neither of the main bosses killed me (though the second one nearly did), and I almost have the entire upgrade wall filled. It shouldn't take much time now due to the secrets being unveiled.

" how do you put a dollar figure on something? "

Pretty easily to be honest

@drakesfortune: Spot on. I sell on eBay part-time and listing "as-is/for parts" stuff on occasion has only led to problems, actually.

Everyone's best bet is:

1) Write a full description. State every function is tested.

2) Pictures of every nook and cranny.

I also don't answer messages from buyers who want my opinion on some part of the item. This goes for everything - "does the disc have any scratches?" "does <function> work well?" etc. I did this very briefly when I started selling and ended up dealing with people who would then want partial refunds because I said <feature> "worked great", but they thought it only worked well/OK.

I feel like everyone who doesn't use eBay often has this impression that it's filled to the brim with scammers. The reality is that after hundreds of transactions I've had very few customer issues, so shouldering a loss every few months isn't completely out of the question given the number of successful sales.

I keep downloading these non-premium versions of the video podcast because that's the one that shows up on the frontpage.

I remember pulling all-nighters playing Metal Warriors multiplayer with my friends in high school. That game is great.

Peter "I don't care if I spoil a brand new game on the Bombcast without warning" Brown is back.

Sundered is way better than the Bombcast made it seem. Watch the QL for a better discussion on it.

They've been around for the better part of a decade. I remember buying the Flashback 2 in 2005, specifically because it was effectively a hardware-accurate Atari 2600 (i.e. no emulation - you could wire up a cartridge port and run actual 2600 carts if you were so inclined). That one was pretty good.

Everything AtGames has crapped out since then has been junk.

Alright everyone say it with me: Downtown GameSpot's Peter Brown.

I can only assume Mathew is talking about this aggressively cringey Miracle Whip commercial.

Totally with you on this one. His Framemeister talk with Jeff previously was so damn good. Great to have him back.

For an introduction into Armored Core I'd actually recommend the latest, AC Verdict Day. It's new and simple enough that you control it like any other third person shooter (as opposed to, say, 4 where you shoot with the bumpers and must always hold down the hover trigger to move at a decent rate or old PS2 games that don't allow aiming with the right analog stick), uses an intuitive damage model (three damage types and three armor stats), doesn't have things like stabilizers or flying and instead of a separate set of weapons your back slots simply act as storage for a second handheld weapon. The structure of the game lets you freely repeat and if necessary grind missions.

4 and for Answer are considered better games overall but they're much faster, more complicated and less intuitive so I'd suggest them only once you can effectively handle the combat system in 5/VD.

@kingpk: I remember seeing one of those plug in Sega devices at least 10 years ago. It had about 20 games in it.

Couldn't tell you if it was licensed or put out by Sega, but it had Sega branding and was being sold in a GAME store in Ireland (the UK version of Gamestop).

Mini-consoles with pre-baked games are nothing new, but everyone is pretending that because Nintendo are doing it now, that anyone else doing it is copying them - instead of you know, just doing what they've been doing for over a decade now.