The Giant Beastcast: Episode 111

Ahh yeah, just in time for the Wee Beasti

Yeah!

some relatively low placing

It's Friday... Live* from New York, it's The Giant Beastcast

* Not actually live

Nice. I am happy now :)

oh my! New Dan still struggles to understand other peoples opinions

So, from what I can tell from this podcast is that Vinny is the only one that likes games.

Oh boy, the Assassin's Creed bit was a real Old Dan moment right there.

[edit] Welcome Jeremiah! Best new hire so far.

"I don't like games that are up their own ass"

Dan Ryckert, Metal Gear Solid fan extraordinaire

I am with Vinny. When you just say "X is bad", sure, you might rely on context to interpret that as opinion but it sounds like you're saying it is a quality/value held by the object, not a subjective value you are applying to the object. It sounds incredibly abrasive and self important.

I also realise I am in the minority on this. People wonder why others get pissed off when everyone goes around shouting "X is garbage, Y is better". That use of language really rubs me the wrong way.

HIRE. MARGARET.

I'm with Jeff/Abby. Love the gameplay of Horizon to death, definitely my non-MLB The Show Game of the Year, but the story was shaky in both presentation and form. Horizon certainly wouldn't have sunk its hooks so deep in me if it weren't a blast to play, though.

SPOILERS.

I have enjoyed most of the Assassins Creed games save 3 it was too slow for me and I guess being American the setting just wasn't very interesting to me. Different strokes for different folks though, Dan declaring something he doesn't like as bad and stupid is not a unique occurrence.

who summoned old dan?

Just got to Dan's dumpster dive popcorn and soda scam.....Jesus Christ...

It's a good thing Alex took the week off, because I can imagine what his reaction would've been.

I love these guys and they always make me laugh. Vinny was completely accurate when he told Dan he was saying those Assassin Creed thoughts as fact instead of opinion. Everyone is entitled to their opinion and expressing it, but make definitive statements of the quality of an item is not the same as expressing your opinion on that item. Oh well. Hopefully Dan will figure it out someday and hopefully Vinny doesn't back off on pushing back on those kind of things. Keep up the great work folks!

Dan, you're a FUCKING MONSTER diving into dumpsters for popcorn. I don't know how you manage to outdo yourself every week as it pertains to being weird, gross, or absurd, but I just want to thank you because holy smokes you're simultaneously the worst and the best.

Dan's adamant opinion about Assassin's Creed having the worst story in video games seems a little too extreme to me. Yeah, they're not the best but they are certainly far from the worst.

I do, however, understand his frustrations with the controls. As someone who recently played Black Flag and Rogue, I was reminded just how finicky and rife with jank those games are not only in the controls but the general gameplay itself. That's not to say I didn't enjoy playing those games; I totally did -- to the point of completion and a bit beyond. The frustrations came when I tried to conquer another boat only to get stuck in some weird animation and fall through the animus-fake-earth thing to my death. Or when I was running to catch someone for a mission and accidentally ended up trying to finagle my way out of a tree for 30 seconds because I was holding the run button and the controls thought I was totally trying to climb that tree when I totally wasn't.

Luckily, the game doesn't punish you too bad for any of that kind of stuff otherwise I may have quit playing those games all together.

Forgot to mention that these voice modulators made me bust a rib trying to stifle my laughter at work. My co-workers think I'm crazy. Thanks Beastcast!

I wonder what new guy Jeremiah sounds like doing an impression of Internet Dan?

@alistercat: Prefacing every sentence with "It's my opinion that", "I think", "IMHO" or "I feel" gets so old though. I get that feeling, and there have certainly been times where I forgot and got annoyed that someone argued opinion as fact, but it's better to meet people halfway on that stuff than be angry when they don't express themselves with enough qualifiers. Vinny doesn't wanna talk shit about anyone, and that's part of what makes him so likeable, but talking shit about one of the world's biggest video game franchises isn't a very mean thing to do.

Besides, I'm with Dan on this. Finished AC 2, and that was pretty much enough for me. What makes it more annoying to me than other franchises is that there's been 10 games in a decade. I wouldn't take 10 Super Mario Galaxys in a decade.

@redhotchilimist: I don't think that prefacing with "in my opinion" is our only option though. Language is varied. I will always respect someone more for saying "I don't like it" over "It's bad". Especially since you can make subjective and objective statements in the same sentence. Jeff stated the same opinion as you on his tumblr a few years ago and I find it to be very narrow thinking. Asking people to be more specific or eloquent in their opinions shouldn't be too much to ask but again I will add that I realise I am going against the norm, most people are fine stating their opinion as fact and expecting context to do the work.

Oh, Zelda 2. What a weird game. I got up to the final palace and then my save got corrupted. Haven't gone back since.

Holy crap Jeremiah is my new favourite guest.

Margaret sounds like a drunk Zorine Te haha

Man, went on a real Dan roller coaster this episode.

What a journey.

Holy shit, how did they get Winston Churchill for this?

Beat me to it.

Dan is a special snowflake.

"Simply, the number one podcast in in the world."

The old double up on the line break gets me every time, pet peeve :(

Jeremiah!

@redhotchilimist: We've probably had 40 Mario games in the same time period. Both are good examples of how there's a complete stagnation of new ideas in AAA gaming.

More Margaret and Jeremiah please! Between them and Dan's dumpster popcorn story, I haven't laughed so much in ages.

I think the community had the exact same thought at that moment

I think Mario is a hundred times better because they use a variety of different genres and generally keep it to one iteration of a subseries per console. It's the making a similar game yearly part that's exhausting. The closest Mario got to that was the New Super Mario Bros series. They only had one game for DS, Wii, 3DS and Wii U, but because they were so similar that also felt like way too much.

What I'm saying is Assassin's Creed should have more kart racers and JRPGs.

Edit: oh GOD I love Jeremiah

Dan buddy we need to talk. You shouldn't be trash diving bud.

I'm with Dan on trash-diving for refills. Fight the war, fuck the norm!

What's the Assassin's Creed version of the Blue Shell?

DAN Just keep the bag and cup when you leave the theater and reuse it. When they offered free refills here that's what you do. No need for digging in the trash when you got your own.

Edit: Jeremiah needs to make a return to the show.

Jeremiah was an astonishing guest.

Hey Vinny, Karen Allen is indeed cool. Totally not in Temple of Doom though. ;)

I'm also kinda with Dan re: Assassin's Creed. Never much cared for that stuff.

Jeremiah was a delight and a surprise. What a sophisticate.

Damn, I didn't know GB was still hiring. And two more home runs to join Abby and Ben too!

Internet Dan was just Dan the whole time.

Journalist says "This game is terrible. It's a bad game. Gameplay sucks, story is stupid," is intended to be understood as "I don't like this."

Random internet comment "This game sucks. It's bad. Gameplay sucks, story is stupid," the reaction is generally "lol ok Internet troll."

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Margaret and Jeremiah killed it.

Abby joining in on the dunking of Jeff and her zingers in general continue to be a delight. Also, fucking Jeremiah!

the Jeremiah bit has to be planned, its too fucking funny. I'm dying and my co workers now think I'm insane. Thanks, 5 stars.

I was glad to hear Vinny at least attempt to temper Dan blanket stating things are bad.

Like I understand what Dan is saying too it is certainly implied that its just his opinion but when you say things that way you still kind of sound like a shit.

Ironically the grey Nintendo switch went into stock on Amazon a few hours after this podcast was posted.

Dan is correct, AC games have never been good. The only interesting thing about them was the real life story and the repercussions of it but as of AC3 they tossed that into the fire so now it is just historical murder simulator except with controls that are un-fun and characters that suck.

@cagliostro88: You did