Gaming Podcasts 2014: This Reminds Me of a Podcast...

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Gaming Podcasts 2014: This Reminds Me of a Podcast...

Opposing Farce: Apr 1, 2010; Ever since our drop-off service, I never read a book.
There's always something else around, plus I owe the library nineteen bucks.

TetsuoTW posted:

So quick question - how spoilers is that latest Bonfireside Chat? Because due to either regions or PC Gaming ~~Master~~ Race, I can't play DS2 for another full month.

There aren't really any spoilers in there, at least not for anything you wouldn't have picked up from even a cursory look at preview materials. I'm in the same boat not owning a console and all, so I'm gonna have to find something to fill up that hour or two of empty podcast time every week.

# ¿ Mar 17, 2014 05:56

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# ¿ May 12, 2024 09:33

Opposing Farce: Apr 1, 2010; Ever since our drop-off service, I never read a book.
There's always something else around, plus I owe the library nineteen bucks.

Song For The Deaf posted:

We're so worried about #GamerGate that we forgot about #LucaGate. Something must be done about #LucaBlight, and Watch Out for Fireballs! isn't afraid to tackle that issue in our Suikoden II episode.

http://duckfeed.tv/woff/81

The brief mention of Nier at the end of this episode got me thinking that game'd probably make for a good WOFF. It's not a JRPG in the most traditional way, since it's got somewhat-mediocre Zelda-esque hack-and-slash combat instead of "mash A to random battle," but it's definitely a JRPG in terms of pacing and structure so it's not something I'd recommend while you're still burnt out. If you ever feel like extending your annual JRPG slot to lens flare territory, though, it'd be a real solid pick.

# ¿ Sep 6, 2014 20:35

Opposing Farce: Apr 1, 2010; Ever since our drop-off service, I never read a book.
There's always something else around, plus I owe the library nineteen bucks.

Hakkesshu posted:

Nier is actually a pretty short game if you avoid the sidequests, which you totally should since they're awful.

To be fair though you absolutely have not finished that game if you don't play through at least the first NG+.

# ¿ Sep 6, 2014 22:00

Opposing Farce: Apr 1, 2010; Ever since our drop-off service, I never read a book.
There's always something else around, plus I owe the library nineteen bucks.

Jimbot posted:

But I will say she did come out of nowhere with her videos, for better or for worse. Had people saw her name pop up more around the industry before hand would probably tempered people's reaction to everything.

Sarkeesian had been doing "Tropes vs. Women" videos about other mediums for a good while before she launched the Kickstarter to do a series focusing on games. Maybe most gamer nerds hadn't heard of her before, but it's not like she simply materialized out of the ether one day. Regardless, "people would have reacted to her better if she was part of the industry beforehand" doesn't make her detractors seem any more reasonable even if it's true (and for my money it probably isn't). You don't need to be part of the industry to criticize games, and you don't need to be involved in "gamer culture" or whatever either. Games are a mass medium, and though they have their own narrative language (in the same way films or television programs do), the stories they depict and representations they offer can and should be analyzed the same way any other medium would.

# ¿ Sep 10, 2014 02:26

Opposing Farce: Apr 1, 2010; Ever since our drop-off service, I never read a book.
There's always something else around, plus I owe the library nineteen bucks.

Jimbot posted:

She's not putting herself in the shoes of the gamers who played these games, she's taking an outsider's stance, which can be a good thing from time to time but she's also injecting politics into something that never had any politics to begin with.

This is the fundamental flaw in your argument: politics aren't something you can just turn off. You can't say "oh, I wasn't being political" and then all of a sudden nothing means anything. When you live in a society, when you're a human being living with and raised by other human beings, everything you think and do, everything you create, is inevitably and inexorably shaped by the culture you live in. We all, on some level, in everything we do, reflect on the conditions that shaped us; and at the same time, our words and actions and belief help contribute to and change (or maintain) the culture we live in. Just because something doesn't explicitly invoke specific political factions or real-world issues doesn't mean it has no political message. Even the most simplistic narratives possible, like "Mario fights Bowser because Mario is good and Bowser is bad," communicate values and morals. If Mario is "the good guy," then that tells us the things Mario is and/or does are "good," and the opposite is true for Bowser. And this operates on more than just a literal level, too; the moral takeaway of Mario might be "saving princesses is good and kidnapping princesses is bad" (which is a message even though isn't not an interesting or meaningful one), but it might also be something a little more abstract, like "some people are good guys and some people are bad guys," which is a profoundly significant concept that you see at work all the time in real life (and never towards anything good). And you know what all that poo poo is? It's politics. Everything, all of it, it's loving politics.

Narrative is a hugely powerful thing, even in its crudest, most simplistic forms. As soon as a game starts telling a story--the instant you give it a character working towards a goal--it becomes imbued with certain assumptions, certain values, certain messages, and those can all--should all, must all--be questioned and examined, even if it means casting a negative like on something you like (and don't get me wrong, I do like Mario). You can put your head in the sand and try not to think about it, but that doesn't make it go away.

Jimbot posted:

Where she may see the "euthanasia of a woman" a gamer may see a heroic sacrifice because they know the context of that action in the story. You could make a point for why a story was written that way but then you enter an extremely slippery slope of limiting plot points in story and they all end up as these safe, forgettable stories that doesn't do any one thing a particular way.

No, I'm pretty sure she understands the context. My understanding is that she has, in fact, played the games she's discussing, and even if she hasn't it's not like most games have some kind of grand nuanced narrative you can't glean from a brief cutscene compilation or one sentence summary.

And no part of the argument is "you can't use these plot points ever and all stories need to be the same." The point is to that the exact same plot points keep getting used over and over (hence tropes) and they're pretty lovely, so writers should think before they go back to the 'kidnapped princess/missing wife/dead prostitute' well for the umpteenth time. Developers trying to include nuanced representations and not relying on the same tired archetypes over and over again doesn't make safe and forgettable stories, it does the exact opposite.

Opposing Farce fucked around with this message at 03:59 on Sep 10, 2014

# ¿ Sep 10, 2014 03:47

Opposing Farce: Apr 1, 2010; Ever since our drop-off service, I never read a book.
There's always something else around, plus I owe the library nineteen bucks.

SoulChicken posted:

Yeah that language was overstating my feelings. I'm probably just a bit grumpy today, not worth a post in retrospect. I don't believe they have actual friends at Squarespace and Naturebox though.

Naturebox tricked Idle Thumbs into thinking they were friends by giving away snacks. Don't hold it against them, nobody can ignore the sweet siren song of health foods.

Opposing Farce fucked around with this message at 16:04 on Sep 11, 2014

# ¿ Sep 11, 2014 16:01

Opposing Farce: Apr 1, 2010; Ever since our drop-off service, I never read a book.
There's always something else around, plus I owe the library nineteen bucks.

Oh, actually, I've been thinking about this for a while, but this is a good opportunity to bring it up: I suspect the real motivation behind Amazon's affiliate program is not to inform people about Amazon, but to encourage people to remain within Amazon's ecosystem. We all know about Amazon, and most of us use Amazon on a regular basis, but Amazon would very much like to continue being The Place You Go To Buy Stuff Online. For the most part they ensure their position by simply being a reliable and convenient service that generally offers good prices, but they also go out of their way to make sure their presence is felt and it's always easy for you to hop over and visit them whenever you want to buy stuff, and the affiliate program is one tool they have for that. I'm not terribly likely to go find some other web megastore that's probably sketchier and less robust and may not even offer better deals, but I'm even less likely to do so when all my favorite sites have a link right to Amazon and say I can support them by clicking it.

Ultimately the affiliate link is a win/win and I'm not arguing against it; I just know you've expressed uncertainty as to what Amazon's stake is and I wanted to offer a possible explanation of what they're getting out of the deal.

Opposing Farce fucked around with this message at 18:40 on Sep 11, 2014

# ¿ Sep 11, 2014 18:38

Opposing Farce: Apr 1, 2010; Ever since our drop-off service, I never read a book.
There's always something else around, plus I owe the library nineteen bucks.

Isn't being a mean, abrasive dick something goons usually approve of?

# ¿ Sep 26, 2014 03:30

Opposing Farce: Apr 1, 2010; Ever since our drop-off service, I never read a book.
There's always something else around, plus I owe the library nineteen bucks.

Dan Ryckert is an astonishing human being whose very existence has forced me to completely reconsider what a human being even is.

# ¿ Sep 26, 2014 08:16

Opposing Farce: Apr 1, 2010; Ever since our drop-off service, I never read a book.
There's always something else around, plus I owe the library nineteen bucks.

icantfindaname posted:

They said they don't like anime

Pure White Lover Bizarre Jelly is art, you heathen.

# ¿ Dec 25, 2014 02:55

Opposing Farce: Apr 1, 2010; Ever since our drop-off service, I never read a book.
There's always something else around, plus I owe the library nineteen bucks.

Song For The Deaf posted:

Then we're rounding out January by dusting off our Dragulas in Jet Set Radio.

Oh man I'm excited for that one. Jet Set Radio just might be my absolute favorite thing ever.

# ¿ Dec 25, 2014 18:08

Opposing Farce: Apr 1, 2010; Ever since our drop-off service, I never read a book.
There's always something else around, plus I owe the library nineteen bucks.

Pasco posted:

EDIT: Oh my god, the NA version actually had Dragula on the soundtrack? That seems, incredibly inappropriate. And you guys didn't even get Funky Plucker, which seems like a missed opportunity.

Dragula is one of the songs that plays in the game's second act, which is set in America and has a different kind of musical style/vibe to it. It actually works pretty well how those sections have a very different soundtrack.

The REAL Goobusters posted:

Jet Set Radio has the best soundtrack ever created for a video game.

I also count JSRF when I say this.

JSRF has a great soundtrack, but when it comes to the remixed JSR tracks I pretty much universally like the original versions more. Future has a different sort of sound (it's a little bit "colder" to use a bizarre temperature metaphor) and I respect that, but there's something about JSR's bouncy, faintly nostalgic sound that I love more than anything else.

Anything with Hideki Naganuma on it is going to have great music. I like Sonic Rush a lot more than most people and I can't pretend that isn't by and large because of the soundtrack.

Opposing Farce fucked around with this message at 00:48 on Dec 26, 2014

# ¿ Dec 26, 2014 00:43

Opposing Farce: Apr 1, 2010; Ever since our drop-off service, I never read a book.
There's always something else around, plus I owe the library nineteen bucks.

bobservo posted:

After your Tomba episode, I'm really wondering what WOFF's take will be on this one. I got the HD version upon release, and burned myself out after remembering SO MUCH of the game is about perfecting these ultra-specific jumps.

I actually came to kind of appreciate the way Jet Set Radio plays. It's not as fluid as you expect/want it to be, and the characters are really weighty in a way that's hard to get a grip on, but once you learn how the boost mechanic works, how to control your momentum, and how to navigate the maps it becomes a lot more manageable and rewarding to get around.

# ¿ Dec 26, 2014 03:43

Opposing Farce: Apr 1, 2010; Ever since our drop-off service, I never read a book.
There's always something else around, plus I owe the library nineteen bucks.

al-azad posted:

For JSR make sure you point out the song Rock It On which features a Public Enemy sample "rock that poo poo homie" and also samples Timothy Leary's "turn on, tune in, drop out" phrase. I don't know if the composer understood the samples or just chose what sounded good but it's a song that completely stands out from the bubblegummy super brothers and power of loves.

You should hear what he grabbed for the last boss of Sonic Rush.

# ¿ Dec 26, 2014 04:31

Opposing Farce: Apr 1, 2010; Ever since our drop-off service, I never read a book.
There's always something else around, plus I owe the library nineteen bucks.

(But not that different.)

# ¿ Dec 30, 2014 01:01

Opposing Farce: Apr 1, 2010; Ever since our drop-off service, I never read a book.
There's always something else around, plus I owe the library nineteen bucks.

Hakkesshu posted:

The idea of typing with your thumbs makes me really anxious

You must really hate cell phones.

# ¿ Dec 31, 2014 17:43

Opposing Farce: Apr 1, 2010; Ever since our drop-off service, I never read a book.
There's always something else around, plus I owe the library nineteen bucks.

Wind Waker starts a little slow, there are a couple of points throughout the story that drag pretty harshly, and while it's a bit of a cliche to complain about the sailing it really is a polarizing mix of "cool exploration" and "a whole lot of empty, open ocean." That said, it's one of my favorite Zelda games and I love the aesthetic (it looks so loving good), I love the feeling of infinite possibilities tinged with just a little bit of loneliness and fear you get from sailing around the ocean and never knowing just what's going to pop up next over the horizon, and I still think some of the story beats are actually really cool.

# ¿ Feb 1, 2015 08:08

Opposing Farce: Apr 1, 2010; Ever since our drop-off service, I never read a book.
There's always something else around, plus I owe the library nineteen bucks.

After the Three Stooges conversation in Abject Suffering, I have to point to the short "You Nazty Spy". We screened it in one of my film classes last semester alongside some wartime Looney Tunes and it... has a similar historical appeal, if you're into lame cornball humor interspersed with then-timely gags that seem uncharacteristically audacious 70 years later.

Opposing Farce fucked around with this message at 10:05 on Feb 3, 2015

# ¿ Feb 3, 2015 10:03

Opposing Farce: Apr 1, 2010; Ever since our drop-off service, I never read a book.
There's always something else around, plus I owe the library nineteen bucks.

Song For The Deaf posted:

The new WOFF! about Jet Set Radio is out. We dig it.

I enjoyed this episode and think your overall take is fair (although I tend to be more forgiving of the gameplay frustrations), but I do have to disagree with the "we don't really need another Jet Set Radio" sentiment. I mean, I understand where you're coming from, and I agree that Jet Set Radio is pretty much a complete expression of those mechanics that doesn't really need iteration, but I'd argue there's still a lot of room to express the same basic ideas/aesthetic through different stories or mechanic sets. Granted, most of the reason I desperately want a new JSR is because I desperately want a new JSR soundtrack, but even so I legitimately think the world needs more colorful cel-shaded games where the central mechanic is mobility and the primary theme is self-expression in the face of conformity/corporatism/general squareness.

# ¿ Feb 5, 2015 22:09

Opposing Farce: Apr 1, 2010; Ever since our drop-off service, I never read a book.
There's always something else around, plus I owe the library nineteen bucks.

Beard Yawn posted:

Liam.

Honestly, I could see Matt, Pat, or Liam being somebody's "the one dude on this podcast I really can't stand" depending on their disposition. Not Woolie though, Woolie's cool.

# ¿ Mar 4, 2015 15:53

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# ¿ May 12, 2024 09:33

Opposing Farce: Apr 1, 2010; Ever since our drop-off service, I never read a book.
There's always something else around, plus I owe the library nineteen bucks.

Captain Invictus posted:

I love that my only experience with criminal girls is people going all about it. Don't even know what it's about or looks like.

All I've heard about it is the SBFC conversations talking around it but I think it's just one of those JRPGs with some softcore anime porn thrown in so gross nerds will buy it.

Opposing Farce fucked around with this message at 00:52 on Mar 5, 2015

# ¿ Mar 5, 2015 00:46

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Gaming Podcasts 2014: This Reminds Me of a Podcast...