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Waypoint Thread: Vice City Stories

spiritfox

Member
One problem I have with systems-based storymaking/roleplaying is that most systems end up being how to murder the other party in the most elaborate way possible. Taking Stellaris for example, there are so many different minor alien species you can find, but most of the time the only interaction with them is through the end of a laser cannon. Danielle's quip that they should negotiate with the space pirates actually makes a lot of sense.
 

Hasney

Member
One problem I have with systems-based storymaking/roleplaying is that most systems end up being how to murder the other party in the most elaborate way possible. Taking Stellaris for example, there are so many different minor alien species you can find, but most of the time the only interaction with them is through the end of a laser cannon. Danielle's quip that they should negotiate with the space pirates actually makes a lot of sense.

Yeah, I went back into Stellaris over the weekend, put in 15 hours and was having a good time, then I had 3 different species call a war on me and I just gave up. It was too much having to deal with that rather than the systems I did want to interact with.
 

The Technomancer

card-carrying scientician
Yeah, I went back into Stellaris over the weekend, put in 15 hours and was having a good time, then I had 3 different species call a war on me and I just gave up. It was too much having to deal with that rather than the systems I did want to interact with.

I have the opposite problem: its very easy for me to generate game states in which no-one wants to declare war on me, but the problem is that the non-war systems still aren't quite as engaging. In Stellaris in particular the game still really struggles to provide consequences that don't boil down to "economic downturn", weather that's because pissed off allies express that through no longer trading with you, or if its because your people are "unhappy" which also decreases their productivity. Like, I'm making 58 minerals and 72 energy a month right now, if I piss off an entire faction of my people they get sulky and stop working and...I only make 51 minerals and 65 energy a month instead, which has exactly zero impact on my plans
A lot of 4X aren't great at this but its one of the things I would love to see Stellaris fix
 

Trojan

Member
Danika




is good

Yea Danika is awesome. She's funny, eloquent, and her perspective is a good offset to Patrick and Rob. I honestly think she has better podcast chemistry with the group than Danielle...not trying to hate on Danielle but I think Danika is a better voice on her own whereas Danielle seems to usually just go along with others' opinions.

Also love Rob on the podcast. His 4X and competitive gaming background fits well in the podcast - it's better when Austin and Rob can play off each other with those game experiences like in Stellaris. He also tells great stories about seemingly mundane things. He's like your fun uncle who can make a walk to the grocery store seem interesting.
 
Yea Danika is awesome. She's funny, eloquent, and her perspective is a good offset to Patrick and Rob. I honestly think she has better podcast chemistry with the group than Danielle...not trying to hate on Danielle but I think Danika is a better voice on her own whereas Danielle seems to usually just go along with others' opinions.

Listen to any Idle Weekend ep. Seems like she's trying to not step on anyone's toes on Waypoint. Those episodes being <1hr probably doesn't help.
 
It is a little sad listening to how P5's shitty politics is making Austin feel less interested in getting into the game.

Like I don't blame him. P5 is a fucking hypocrite of a game. But it just bums me out given how excited Austin sounded while talking about the game on the Beastcast
 

spiritfox

Member
It is a little sad listening to how P5's shitty politics is making Austin feel less interested in getting into the game.

Like I don't blame him. P5 is a fucking hypocrite of a game. But it just bums me out given how excited Austin sounded while talking about the game on the Beastcast

I think what makes it worse was that Persona 2 treated homosexuality with tact, but from 3 onwards it degraded into jokes at their expense.
 

Jintor

Member
I appreciated the life talk as someone feeling deeply ambivalent about their current job direction

The persona talk was good though I think there's a lot to unpack about persona
 

Velikost

Member
Man, I really like when these guys talk about games, but the first 10 minutes of every podcast where they catch up on other stuff is usually super cringe. Really wish they'd just jump right into news or game impressions.
 

Antiwhippy

the holder of the trombone
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Nier questions!
 

Antiwhippy

the holder of the trombone
Man best of luck to her. Sounds rough.

Also throughout the game's story discussion i kept winding why they didn't bring up nier even though they just did a spoilercast for it.
 
Just saw Danika's campaign and contributed a lil. I became a fan of what she brought to Waypoint in a short time - I always perked up when she was on the podcast. Good vibes to her and hers~

I'm still anticipating Patrick's Alien one-off podcast he mentioned a while back. When the crew has talked about dealing with games individuals love/identify with getting dunked on, I'd think of myself being a big fan of Prometheus. So I look forward to hearing Patrick and Austin share their thoughts on that prequel as they've casually defended it in the past. May would seem to be the time for it with Covenant coming out.
 
These new short videos feel kinda superfluous tbh, i'm not the one who knows what kind of audience they have but it's strange that a website with tons of medium sized text pieces does videos about strong subjects that are so short you only really get a suggestion of what the topic is. Hard to know who they're for. At least the other kind of small videos they have are a bit longer and make an effort to let the speaker's own experience of the game be a big thing about their text. These new ones just feel like... like there's better ways for me to learn about these topics than watching them. I guess, though, by the time i come to that realization, the video is already over so...
 
Yeah I'm not gonna watch 30 second ads for a 1-minute video essay. They feel like they should be interstitials airing on the VICE cable channel or something; aimed at people who are casually interested in games but don't know what Waypoint is yet.
 
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