The Giant Beastcast: Episode 167

I'm worried Vinny is going to rely on that spectating feature in GTA: Online only to find out how janky it can be first-hand. In terms of getting multiple perspectives, if he still really wants to go that way then he generally only needs two as the heists only ever really split you into two groups at any given time.

There's also the part where I think those heists are extraordinarily badly designed but that's just me (the thought of the prison finale still haunts me). Best to let them realise that on their own though.

Oh that Witchcraft talk was great!

I think it was a deep seeded bit that Vinny kept rolling with for goofs cause there is no way they didn't understand what Alex was getting at. I mean witches and wizards and whatever, typically in fantasy and fiction, are individuals that through a lot of training and studying of ancient lore were able to tap into the use of magical abilities whether it be through incantation, spells or ritual. They were doods and ladies that learned to control a magical force which is why human magic users were always weaker than actual non human, elves etc, that were born with the innate ability to tap into magic.

And boy now I feel like a giant nerd.

I wish you all the best with your GTA adventures. I wanted to love GTA Online but the loading, the menus, the money...all of it sucked ass. I can't even imagine trying to produce a studio quality version of that; obviously you could just stream it out but I've always felt like GB tries to go at least a step beyond the typical Twitch/Youtube Live sort of production standards and I look forward to seeing what your solutions are!

Is Ryu a human?

Does anybody have a link to the 10th anniversary page they mentioned? Can’t find it :(

Edit: found! :D https://www.giantbomb.com/10-years

It's fairly frustrating for me to hear Abby and Dan say that they don't care for the outside/side narrative for the Assassin's Creed games. It's why the earlier games that involved Desmond/Ezio were so damn interesting to play through. It gave you a reason to care about why you were playing a protagonist in whatever era they threw the player into. The AC games as they are now are just hollow open world <insert era> tourist experiences with no flavor to it...they serve as games for video game writers to submit their C and D level plots for quests. Black Flag was the last good AC game that really tried to put you in the shoes of someone that was infiltrating a game development company to extract information in a virtual world. Sometimes having that extra context is exponentially greater to the player's experience in the game. Ubisoft needs to stop putzing around with the series and commit to an overall plot outside the animus. The only reason I don't think they do that is because to do so would put a timeline or a overall culmination point to where the animus idea/concept will end which would prevent Ubisoft from writing themselves into a corner and not being able to make anymore AC games.

@professorx86: Assassin's Creed games really aren't the profound and interesting stories that some inflate them to be. It's a manufactured franchise full of Sci-fi tropes, with decent gameplay to keep them interesting.

Does Assassins Creed still bother with the 'synchronization' idea ? Big digital walls that keep you from entering area's that you're not supposed to be at yet? Because if that's still in those games, i can see why they have such a hard time letting go of the current day stuff.

it is peak-internet-comment-section to predict that they're going to have to issue an apology to witches next episode

Of course witches, wizards, etc are human. What the fuck

Honestly I can't remember what Origins says when you die, but I don't remember it being desychronization.

Overall I'm always really bewildered by this stance against the sci-fi elements in Assassins Creed, which in my opinion were the element that made that series extremely unique. I know Dan is Dan and it's a waste of time even typing this, but his aggressive dislike for the story in the games is super weird considering it is a lot more straight forward than Metal Gear.. but I mean who am I kidding, lets not even go there. That said, I think the sci-fi elements were always really cool. The idea that dying is actually desynchronizing with the memory always felt really clever. That moment where Juno speaks to Desmond through Ezio was also a really awesome "wow" revelation. I for one am a little bummed out that the sci-fi narrative has gotten so sidelines through the years. Then again I think Bayek was a largely forgettable and uninteresting AC protagonist. He is, yet another dope that stubbornly that pursues a singular goal without seeing the bigger picture.

Odyssey looks very disappointing in how similar it is to Origins, not to mention the bizarre choice of making it take place before the origin story they just told, making it an origin of the origin story or a pointless offshoot.

Wow, so few comments. I feel like part of an exclusive club.

Vinny Caravella: A Dolphin Who Pays Taxes.

ITT: people only thinking about offending the witches.

WHAT ABOUT THE DOLPHINS!?!

No one who calls Metal Gear Solid "the greatest story ever told" should call any other game series' story "dumb as shit."

When they talked about what videos they would recommend, I always think about the Top Gear for SNES video Alex did years ago. I love it because its a game that I played a lot as a kid, but people don't talk about that much.

https://www.giantbomb.com/videos/encyclopedia-bombastica-top-gear/2300-7677/

The whole "Aren't witches humans" conversation had me dying...