Unprofessional Fridays: 01/06/2017

MAN 40 more minutes of Hitman?

I'm stuffed thanks.

Sure, I am not going to say its a fantastic game, it has issues but they are mostly of the easily pushed through variety since the game is kinda super easy.... which makes its issues not really that big of a deal to me. It also backloads most of its insanity and interesting story developments, however you can get there pretty quick if you don't get caught up in the inane side questing.

Speaking of the side quest stuff, I think this is the reason people sour on the game. I did them all, they are not worth it. The game is easy, you only need to do the side quests that get you the weapons for one of the endings. Unfortunately most people (like me) going into a rpg will want to do everything and this game is not one where that is a great idea.

I am still interested in watching the Hitman stuff for sure. It is always fun to see how other people go about doing things.

I'm bored of (some of the) Hitman content! I know it's the sites game of the year and all but the hits all go the same way. I love that the game through the escalation missions makes it mix it up. But these solo person plays a hitman level content bits are dull as hell. If they want to go back to Brad vs Dan speed run challenge things they were fun. The pressure to do something quickly isn't fake then. If I see Helmut Kruger again I'll fall asleep.

Nier looks great. That was a cool segment to see. There needs to be a drawback to holding down the robot fire button all the time... that would be not fun to do for an entire game!

I just love Jeff's grin while playing the NiER Demo. Had the same feeling myself. Also, fuck Hitman. I have probably watched more of that game than I will ever be able to play.

Rorie, you're an amazing duder, but not everything is "Like Dark Souls."

@ripelivejam: the darkenjng of tristram iis too dark. i like bright diablo3 ... one of reasons path of exile is off putting is how dark it is. i have vision problwms and strain my eyes to see whata happening.

I'm quite relieved I caught the earwig that was crawling towards my headphones just now.

Would've been trapped with nowhere else to go. Either would've pinched...or gone in and pinched...

Happy nightmares and headphone phobia everyone!

@stuntaneous:

As someone who has put 1400hrs into poe. I can confirm. Path of Exile is a fantastic game.

Nier looks fucking great! Might have to check out that demo. Will say though, platinum is fucking terrible at explaining how to play their games.

Also there is no such thing as too much Hitman.

Oh man... I'm feeling that Saltybet itch again. And the Diablo 3 itch.

UUUUUUUUUUGGGGHHH.

Have people already forgotten "Daily DOTA"? I'll take Weekly Hitman over that any day, every day, for eternity.

Can't stop thinking about Nier

Nier Automata & Saltybet

2017 off to a good start.

The soundtrack from Nier is really fucking good. And what a good game it is, too. Very underrated, though I fully understand why. It starts slow and the confusing story isn't really helping early on either. But when it finally starts going, it sure as hell goes places.

I don't know anything about Nier 1 but holy shit is that demo rad, I was kind of blown away by it.

(Also, it's simultaneously funny and disheartening to see that the game's highlighted shots/videos in the xmb Trending section are exaaactly what you'd think they'd be.)

I for one would like them to stop doing Hitman stuff for a while. It was a bit much last year. Don't get me wrong, I like Hitman, I like the segments, I like Brad and Dan and whoever else was involved. But there was simply too much and I rather would've seen them do some more Quick Looks or other random video games. There was certainly no dearth of those coming out last year.

All I'm saying is: I WANT MY DIGIMON STORY: CYBER SLEUTH ENDURANCE RUN!

So about the music in the first Nier;

Look. Automata is my most anticipated game of 2017 by a huge margin. I love Nier.

But don't feel the need to play it. It's good but yes totally flawed. Play it if you want.

The music though. Say what you will of the game but I'd recommend giving the soundtrack a listen. It's absolutely amazing. One of the best of last gen. Easily.

I'd recommend the soundtrack over the game with no reservations.

Sorry Brad, I love Hitman but there are other games to play my man.

Hitman starts at 47 minutes. I feel like this was somehow planned.

Please god never stop Hitman

Man, that Nier thing looked okay, but then it got super anime. Anime is for jerks. Also, Brad is the most timid hitman player I have ever seen (my sample set is 4 people, myself being one), but maybe its a playing on a stream kind of thing. Hopefully when he's playing for real he can relax and realize that if you aren't actively under fire the AI is super oblivious.

@rorie there is a cajun seafood place in Oakland. Check out Rockin' Crawfish by the lake. It's pretty great

I'm worried the west coast team won't have anywhere near as much video content as they used to, and it would disappointment me to no end if Hitman makes up most of what little content there would be.

It's a fun game and I enjoy playing it, I do not enjoy watching someone else play though.

Put me in the camp for people who want more Hitman content. Love watching GB and Brad go through the game and how different is their run to mine.

cant get past the drab looking UI in path of exile. fact the whole game looks dull and uninspired. diablo 3 is stylized just enough to be appealing without being overblown. also dat blizzard polish.

Man, watching Brad play through that escalation was so rough, especially since I've spent the past week or so playing Hitman obsessively (I've already got full mastery on Paris and I'm almost there on Sapienza and Bangkok). Like as someone who gets silent assassin regularly and is constantly reloading saves just to do things flawlessly (I legit spent an hour and a half a couple of nights ago trying to knock out and dump the private detective on Sapienza without getting seen by anyone and it was the most euphoric thing ever when I finally pulled it off), I really didn't get why he was snapping people's necks after he had knocked them out. Once you knock them out, you just dump their bodies in a box or something and then they're never found or woken up again.

I dunno, maybe he plays way better when he's at home or in a more relaxed environment (much like how I figure Dan's Hitsmas run got screwed up by his anxiety), but man did I find myself yelling at the TV a lot more then I did before I could actually play the game. I 100% realise that pure chaos is a viable way to play and I keep meaning to play a version of Vinny's Hitsmas run that someone made for PS4, but it's just not how I play it or what I find satisfying about Hitman.

I think I'm done on Hitman too. I ended up skipping past the segment and will probably keep doing that for Hitman related content in the future. There has to be some other dumb games to play that aren't worth the effort of a Quick Look.

at first i thought i was crazy, but then i realized saltybet was actually in the background. shout outs to saltybet

Poor Brad and his Vanquish save... same thing happened to me as soon as I hit the last chapter. I was on hard so it bummed me out.

HOWEVER! I put on some podcasts and beat those first 4 chapters again in a single sitting. And loved it a second time as I figured out what I was doing, Vanquish kicks ass and I routinely think it's my favorite Platinum game.

I'm with you. I know a lot of people like watching Hitman but one of the big reasons I pay to watch UPF is for the exposure to weird (sometimes stupid), strange games these guys find, whether they're old, new or sometimes just lost on Steams marketplace.

Having Hitman bleed at least an hour per episode is seriously cutting into a potential heap of interesting games we'll never see.

It's a bummer. Also, I'm well aware I'm in the minority here, unfortunately.

Hitman content is over at 1:25:25 if anyone else wants to skip it.

@the_last_starfighter: the amount of Hitman on the site is actually disuading me from playing the game, in all honesty. :( I'm with you...I'm cool with them doing stuff around Hitman if there's "a reason" like a cool concept like during end of year content but not "hey just playing MORE Hitman." Make it just a separate video if you're wanting personal Hitman time at work :|

Major bummer that you can't use the printing press on anyone but the General.

Especially for Escalations, where you have to repeat things, it can be preferable to just get things done as quickly as possible. Brad may also consider how exciting it is for people to watch bodies getting dragged. And doesn't know the map well enough to know whether he can leave alive people lying around.

Hitman allows you to play your own way to an extent. How rigidly you abide by whatever rules you make for yourself is up to you. I tend to start out going the Silent Assassin route. Planning and figuring out what to do when and how in order to get around an obstacle, is compelling. But if things fuck up at some point I generally just try to keep going. Knowing the game well enough to think on your feet and successfully react to shit going awry is also quite satisfying.

All that is why I dislike SA being a requirement to unlock certain suits from Elusive Targets, as it encourages me to follow walkthroughs. But otherwise I'll never get that damned Winter Suit.

@the_last_starfighter: you're not, quite a majority here have voiced their dislike of excessive brad, i mean, hitnan content. ;)

Hitman for some, miniature Jeff Gerstmann's for others.

I will add my name to the list of users who are really tired of Hitman content. We must be approaching 30 hours of HITMAN video now... I think the game has got what it deserves, its time to move on.

I enjoyed the Hitman QLs and I think the elusive targets segments are fun, but haven't enjoyed the escalated contracts segments on UPFs, personally.

YAY! Nier is BACK! :D

Diablo soulstone shoving sure is fun.

Still not tired of Hitman, though I'd agree with those saying the escalation contracts aren't necessarily the best to stream. (That said, I still enjoyed the segment on this UPF.) With Dan in New York now, I'm hopeful we'll get more of those cross-coast elusive target competitions in the coming months.

And videos that incorporate Mexico rules, of course.

Love the energy of this one. Perfect for an evening.

Loved the little 'Out of Sight' reference. First thing I thought of when the baton was mentioned.

@midnightvice: I honestly hope the Hitman content is limited to that.

This UPF was so salty.

I get that Hitman content may be wearing thin for some, but I'd take that over any more Jackbox any day of the week.

Every time Jeff says the word "Sideshow" I fall down a youtube hole.

MGS Rising is sooo fucking good.

And I have mastery in every Hitman map done nearly all elusive targets, but haven't even tried any featured contract or escalation mission.

@sammo21: you are missing a great game. It's a shame that somehow a casual stream of the game is turning you off. I understand that the game isn't for everyone if you prefer FPS or maybe multiplayer games. If you aren't even trying it because it's on the site and you would otherwise enjoy it, I would still give the game a chance.

@dovah: I love Hitman, playing it and watching it...I just think the site is getting too full on Hitman content. Now that Metal Gear Scanlon is done (though I thought "Season 5" was dull) and they are officially through with Mario Party content I feel the East Coast crew will be pulling in the most diverse content (not to mention the most content). I just want to get back to covering weird and cool games on features like UPF and not just "Hey Brad, how about another hour of Hitman escalations!?."