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[Foliorum Viridum]

Just like I'm sure all those times Ryan says on Twitter, "Boy I sure wish I had [DLC code for this game]!", and magically gets it. That's just his funny way of saying that he's buying it.

Ryan is still part of the gaming press though. Getting free shit to talk about is okay then (as long as you trust the people who got them to be honest, as I do the GB staff. Obviously if it's some hack at IGN or whatever then you have to question their evaluation of free products).

Jeff, Ryan, Vinny, Brad, Dave and Drew could never pay for anything again and I'd still trust them 110% to be honest.

 

[slaughterking]

Poor Patrick.

 

[Foliorum Viridum]

Ha. That was unintentional.

 

[Neuromancer]

Haha those quotes sure make Whitta look silly.

 

[inky]

Reminds me of when he was so angry at Fox/Newscorp for the phone hacking scandal he called for a full scale boycott & listed the wikipedia page for Fox owned properties.

Spoiler

Then a few weeks later he starts a new podcast. For IGN. A fox owned property.

Yeah, that's why it's silly to say stuff like this. He might be doing just a podcast with friends, but he's obviously not practicing what he preaches.

 

[DaBuddaDa]

I'm irked by the "entitled" meme that's been thrown around the past year, not just towards gamers, but towards pretty much everyone everywhere. It's just lazily being used as a term to dismiss and generalize opinions and it's becoming obnoxiously pervasive among people who are unwilling to argue or listen to an opposing point of view. It's like the new "pretentious."

 

[Myomoto]

I'm irked by the "entitled" meme that's been thrown around the past year, not just towards gamers, but towards pretty much everyone everywhere. It's just lazily being used as a term to dismiss and generalize opinions and it's becoming obnoxiously pervasive among people who are unwilling to argue or listen to an opposing point of view. It's like the new "pretentious."

Jeez, don't get me started on the whole 'first world problem' bullshit.

 

[Dany]

Glad to see them talk about mass effect 3 on TNT and how the venom against that game and bioware is completely undeserved and just blown out of porportion.

 

[StuBurns]

There is plenty of embarrassing entitlement on display in the gaming community. Maybe people highlight it too often, but it's pretty obnixious all the same.

 

[Duffyside]

I'm irked by the "entitled" meme that's been thrown around the past year, not just towards gamers, but towards pretty much everyone everywhere. It's just lazily being used as a term to dismiss and generalize opinions and it's becoming obnoxiously pervasive among people who are unwilling to argue or listen to an opposing point of view. It's like the new "pretentious."

I'm irked by the term being used so much too, but because it's so often an apt description. Only wish it was used more in arenas that really mattered.

 

[DaBuddaDa]

In other news, site's still borked for a lot of people:

www.giantbomb.com/forums/bug-reporting/33/slow-site/536978/#17

You're right, this is what happens when Dave goes away.

 

[sixghost]

Glad to see them talk about mass effect 3 on TNT and how the venom against that game and bioware is completely undeserved and just blown out of porportion.

glad someone finally stood up for the little guy

 

[Hot Coldman]

glad someone finally stood up for the little guy

:lol

I haven't watched it yet. I hope they show at least a little understanding as to why people would feel let down by that series. Or, and I guess this is the point, how EA's marketing is terribad and Bioware as public speakers are even worse.

 

[DaBuddaDa]

I'm not sure if they even mentioned the fact that there are a lot of people who hated the direction Bioware took for ME2 and thought it was worse than ME1. ME2 won their GOTY and was an industry darling so I'm not sure if they're even aware of that fact and just assume everyone under the sun loved ME2.

 

[Massa]

:lol

I haven't watched it yet. I hope they show at least a little understanding as to why people would feel let down by that series. Or, and I guess this is the point, how EA's marketing is terribad and Bioware as public speakers are even worse.

EA's marketing is great. Does your mom not like Mass Effect 3?

I'm not sure if they even mentioned the fact that there are a lot of people who hated the direction Bioware took for ME2 and thought it was worse than ME1. ME2 won their GOTY and was an industry darling so I'm not sure if they're even aware of that fact.

Not a lot, just a loud minority.

 

[sixghost]

:lol

I haven't watched it yet. I hope they show at least a little understanding as to why people would feel let down by that series.

They really don't.

Gary is in full-on ME superfan mode. He even praises how they handle your choices in previous game. FFS gary.

 

[Hot Coldman]

I'm not sure if they even mentioned the fact that there are a lot of people who hated the direction Bioware took for ME2 and thought it was worse than ME1. ME2 won their GOTY and was an industry darling so I'm not sure if they're even aware of that fact.

I think it's probably because that's still a minority, and- more importantly- I think a lot of those who did find ME1 superior still recognise ME2 as a good game.

I should probably get that game one day. I guess I'll wait until ME3 is long out and see if I can get some GOTY editions or something. At the moment, though, the promotional stuff is making me feel like I'd be picking up a real turd. It's the only time marketing has really affected my opinion on a game, but it's fucking working for ME3.

You know what partially sold me on ME2? Giant Bomb. Their excitement over it on the podcast after it came out was brilliant.

EA's marketing is great. Does your mom not like Mass Effect 3?

My mom loves Mass Effect 3! She's one biotic bitch.

 

[Gary Whitta]

Thanks for the reminder to remove him from my twitter feed. He doesn't half say somethings that boil my piss.

WORKING AS INTENDED.

 

[StuBurns]

I'm not sure if they even mentioned the fact that there are a lot of people who hated the direction Bioware took for ME2 and thought it was worse than ME1. ME2 won their GOTY and was an industry darling so I'm not sure if they're even aware of that fact and just assume everyone under the sun loved ME2.

That's true, but it's also kind of irrelevant. Mass Effect 1 and 2 felt like very different games, ME3 is ME2-2, the people who hated the direction the series has gone is never going to be pleased with this game, a free additional character or not.

 

[ThusZarathustra]

Hey, Brad's the guy who was saying a while back about how Mass Effect should be basically a bunch of fake Vangelis and aliens arguing and MAYBE you shoot somebody.

I think this whole thing about 4chan attacking that writer or whatever has only clouded the real, tangible issues with the direction Bioware has gone with their development, and given Bioware a bunch of cross-over sympathy in areas they do not deserve.

 

[chickdigger802]

Funny enough, SWTOR made my playthrough of me2 again a lot more enjoyable. Decent graphics at a decent framerate? Craziness.

I might be in a minority, but ME2 would have probably been a better package overall if they completely cut all the rpg fluff. Don't pretend there are those elements. The skill tree was largely pointless. Gameplay early game and end game were pretty much exactly the same.

But yeah I'm sure the stupid final boss fight was the spark for most of the backlash against BW.

 

[inky]

:lol

I haven't watched it yet. I hope they show at least a little understanding as to why people would feel let down by that series. Or, and I guess this is the point, how EA's marketing is terribad and Bioware as public speakers are even worse.

I don't think they do or really care. Once Brad brought up how dumb the James Vega character was and Ryan just dismissed it as people bitching over a character who resembles that guy who used to bully them on high school or something. It was just Brad being kind of serious about the series and Ryan being cynical because he doesn't care, so I guess it's not just a discussion they are interested in having.

 

[Mihos]

In other news, site's still borked for a lot of people:

www.giantbomb.com/forums/bug-reporting/33/slow-site/536978/#17

You're right, this is what happens when Dave goes away.

Site has been up and down for me all day as well.

 

[DaBuddaDa]

That's true, but it's also kind of irrelevant. Mass Effect 1 and 2 felt like very different games, ME3 is ME2-2, the people who hated the direction the series has gone is never going to be pleased with this game, a free additional character or not.

That's not entirely true: Bioware has given a lot of lip service to increased RPG elements and customization and whatnot, signaling that it may be in many ways more like ME1 than 2. We'll see if that ever comes to fruition and I don't blame people for being highly skeptical.

 

[LiK]

GB site is dead. my lunch hour is ruined.

 

[sixghost]

Funny enough, SWTOR made my playthrough of me2 again a lot more enjoyable. Decent graphics at a decent framerate? Craziness.

I might be in a minority, but ME2 would have probably been a better package overall if they completely cut all the rpg fluff. Don't pretend there are those elements. The skill tree was largely pointless. Gameplay early game and end game were pretty much exactly the same.

But yeah I'm sure the stupid final boss fight was the spark for most of the backlash against BW.

A common theme of the ME games is that they seem to be caught between genres. Jeff/Gary/Patrick mentioned this on the TNT, but why the hell are you even allowed to create a custom Shepard face? It's literally impossible to make a custom Shepard that looks even remotely as good as the default. So why even have it in there?

If they want to make a 3rd person shooter with dialogue mechanics, why not just drop the RPG stuff all together and just focus on making the shooting comparable to something like Gears.

They're in a weird middle ground where the shooting and combat isn't good enough to stand on it's own, but they're still shedding most of the RPG elements from ME1. It doesn't even seem like Bioware knows what they want their games to be.

 

[Myomoto]

GB site is dead. my lunch hour is ruined.

Works fine for me, duder.

 

[cuevas. PhD.]

Odd, I can access the mobile and full sites just fine on my phone over 3G.

 

[Neuromancer]

I'm not sure if they even mentioned the fact that there are a lot of people who hated the direction Bioware took for ME2 and thought it was worse than ME1. ME2 won their GOTY and was an industry darling so I'm not sure if they're even aware of that fact and just assume everyone under the sun loved ME2.

Stop acting so entitled, Bioware don't owe you shit

 

[Hot Coldman]

I don't think they do or really care. Once Brad brought up how dumb the James Vega character was and Ryan just dismissed it as people bitching over a character who resembles that guy who used to bully them on high school or something. It was just Brad being kind of serious about the series and Ryan being cynical because he doesn't care, so I guess it's not just a discussion they are interested in having.

I think that's just Ryan being Ryan. The Vega thing never bothered me- you're allowed one bald space marine in a game about interstellar war- and Ryan knows he'll inevitably get grief off of crazy people if he isn't seen admonishing EA for every dumb marketing decision (GB are probably good at blocking that stuff out by now, unless it's hilarious), so he might as well blank it.

That bully comment is silly but I doubt he actually means that. And if so, who gives a fuck, I barely pay attention to most of his comments anyway. :lol Brad's always been the guy whose tastes reflect most people's so I appreciate that he's there in times like this, but still, he probably knows better than thinking someone like Ryan is going to get a single fuck about discussing this.

Would be nice to see someone who isn't just a forum poster talk seriously about EA's garbage promotions though.

That's not entirely true: Bioware has given a lot of lip service to increased RPG elements and customization and whatnot, signaling that it may be in many ways more like ME1 than 2. We'll see if that ever comes to fruition and I don't blame people for being highly skeptical.

Having paid zero attention to the game itself since E3, I don't have a clue whether that's true or not, but EA's message (from what I've picked up) appears to be that anything resembling depth is pretty much absent in this game (yeah yeah, we all know better, but still).

 

[inky]

They're in a weird middle ground where the shooting and combat isn't good enough to stand on it's own, but they're still shedding most of the RPG elements from ME1. It doesn't even seem like Bioware knows what they want their games to be.

The thing is, they want them to be everything. They want them to be hardcore action games, and take cues from Gears or Halo and CoD and they've said as much. They want them to be adventures so they feel as big and developed as something like GTA or AssCreed. They want to appeal to the creepers who want to romance every character they put in, because that is their thing. They want them to still feel like Strategy RPG's, because htye built their history on those games, so you can have your squad and sell you equipment and appearance packs and have binary dialogue trees, etc. They'll push their games every direction they possibly can, and with that you have a game that has aspects to please everyone but also things to displease them as well.

 

[DaBuddaDa]

Would be nice to see someone who isn't just a forum poster talk seriously about EA's garbage promotions though.

Jeff has on many occasions chided EA for showing off nothing but turret sequences in ME3 at press events.

 

[LiK]

Works fine for me, duder.

hooray, it's back. i got 30 min left

 

[Hot Coldman]

Jeff has on many occasions chided EA for showing turret sequences of ME3 at press events.

Yeah, you're right. OK, more people then, I guess, ha.

 

[LCfiner]

A common theme of the ME games is that they seem to be caught between genres. Jeff/Gary/Patrick mentioned this on the TNT, but why the hell are you even allowed to create a custom Shepard face? It's literally impossible to make a custom Shepard that looks even remotely as good as the default. So why even have it in there?

they said this? holy shit. The parts of ME and ME2 that I like best are the connection to the character that I made. The RPG elements and character development. The male model Shepard face has no meaning to me and I'm glad that they made a game that allows me to feel that way

if Bioware dumped that, ME would be useless to me - even if the shooting mechanics were improved.

 

[slaughterking]

Jeff has on many occasions chided EA for showing off nothing but turret sequences in ME3 at press events.

Yeah, during the GotY podcasts they were pretty critical of the direction Bioware has taken with their games and how EA is treating the "Bioware" brand.

 

[DaBuddaDa]

they said this? holy shit.

No I don't think they did, I think you're reading that post wrong.

 

[Hot Coldman]

Yeah, during the GotY podcasts they were pretty critical of the direction Bioware has taken with their games and how EA is treating the "Bioware" brand.

OK, I don't remember this at all. I'll take your word for it- no fucking way I'm slogging through the GOTY casts again. :lol

Nice to hear though.

 

[ThusZarathustra]

Yeah, during the GotY podcasts they were pretty critical of the direction Bioware has taken with their games and how EA is treating the "Bioware" brand.

In five years everyone at EA will just be working at "Bioware". Bioworld. Believe.

I think it was during the chiggity check yourself before you wreck yourself (whatever) segment, and it was mostly aimed towards the ridiculousness of calling Command & Conquer Generals 2 a "Bioware" game.

"From the creators of Baldurs Gate 2, comes... Command and & Conquer Generals 2!"

Wait...

 

[DaBuddaDa]

OK, I don't remember this at all. I'll take your word for it- no fucking way I'm slogging through the GOTY casts again. :lol

I think it was during the chiggity check yourself before you wreck yourself (whatever) segment, and it was mostly aimed towards the ridiculousness of calling Command & Conquer Generals 2 a "Bioware" game.

 

[Neuromancer]

Do you guys remember that one Bombcast where they advertised Dragon Age 2 preorders and getting a bunch of exclusive DLC? That was so weird

 

[inky]

Do you guys remember that one Bombcast where they advertised Dragon Age 2 preorders and getting a bunch of exclusive DLC? That was so weird

I do, it was super weird. Then they bitched on twitter when they didn't receive a review copy, hahaha.

DA:O got a 5 from them, and Jeff said they probably didn't receive a copy for 2 because of their 5 star scale, meaning EA probably anticipated a 3 or 4 at the most.

You wouldn't feel the same if you had used the default male/female model from the beginning of the series? My point was, the face creator in those games is horrible, and isn't capable of producing anything of the same quality of the default shepards.

Even female Shepard isn't up to par with some of the models. Non-critical NPCs also look very drab, like that scientist lady in Arrival who looks just like Chakwas and a million other people. It's more of an engine thing.

 

[shamanick]

I think it was during the chiggity check yourself before you wreck yourself (whatever) segment, and it was mostly aimed towards the ridiculousness of calling Command & Conquer Generals 2 a "Bioware" game.

I believe it was "chickity check yourself before you wriggity wreck yourself"

And they do need to chickity check themselves with this bullshit Day 1 DLC. Sorry Mr. Whitta, not all of us have industry friends that prevent us from being so entitled.

 

[sixghost]

they said this? holy shit. The parts of ME and ME2 that I like best are the connection to the character that I made. The RPG elements and character development. The male model Shepard face has no meaning to me and I'm glad that they made a game that allows me to feel that way

if Bioware dumped that, ME would be useless to me - even if the shooting mechanics were improved.

You wouldn't feel the same if you had used the default male/female model from the beginning of the series? My point was, the face creator in those games is horrible, and isn't capable of producing anything of the same quality of the default shepards.

It's just another holdover from a genre that Bioware is moving away from.

 

[Eljay]

No I don't think they did, I think you're reading that post wrong.

All they said was that they used the default male Shepard because he was the best looking model and it fit the voice actor. They didn't say anything about customization being a detriment, they just didn't find the need to use it.

 

[Hot Coldman]

My Shepard was some bald squinty looking guy and he was AWESOME. Too bad I don't have access to my brother's 360 anymore. He is lost foreverrrrrrrrrrrr

 

[Felix Lighter]

I would really like to hear them have a serious conversation about the situation, but if their collective opinion is, if you voice your dissatisfaction with how their handling some things, your nothing but an entitled crybaby, then I could do without it. A lot of times, they just assume we can't see things from the publishers point of view so our opinions are uninformed and invalid.

 

[slaughterking]

I would really like to hear them have a serious conversation about the situation, but if their collective opinion is, if you voice your dissatisfaction with how their handling some things, your nothing but an entitled crybaby, then I could do without it. A lot of times, they just assume we can't see things from the publishers point of view so our opinions are uninformed and invalid.

I found that they are almost always pretty dismissive of any widespread resentment in the gaming community. And to be fair, you will read a lot of garbage on the internet when people are not happy with something, but the GB guys almost always seem to shrug it off as nerd rage and don't try or simply can't see where people are coming from.

 

[ThusZarathustra]

I would really like to hear them have a serious conversation about the situation, but if their collective opinion is, if you voice your dissatisfaction with how their handling some things, your nothing but an entitled crybaby, then I could do without it. A lot of times, they just assume we can't see things from the publishers point of view so our opinions are uninformed and invalid.

I genuinely don't think they're capable of such a discussion. Especially with Ryan running the shows the way he does. Their attitudes, with the exception of maybe Brad, have always been put up with what you get or shut up about it.

And in a really weird sort of mercenary sense, I can kinda respect that. At least they're honest and don't pussyfoot around their position. And with the nature of most nerd rage in general, it really is a pretty healthy response.

 

[BlazeHedgehog]

Ryan is still part of the gaming press though. Getting free shit to talk about is okay then (as long as you trust the people who got them to be honest, as I do the GB staff. Obviously if it's some hack at IGN or whatever then you have to question their evaluation of free products).

Probably, but I can't help but shake the feeling that being part of the gaming press has skewed their opinion on stuff like DLC pricing. This may be a bit out of left field, but...

Like, they should be the last people jumping to defend pricing structures and such, because they are, to a certain degree, removed from that. Certainly, that doesn't bar them from commentating on when something's a "good bargain", but trying to dictate to people what classifies as "too expensive" and how people need to shut up about DLC pricing and project $10 and "you should vote with your wallet" and whatever else has seemed increasingly disingenuous from the point of view they're at.

These guys have existed in a world where, for the last 10 or 15+ years, they have had easy access to just about every new release, all of which were either provided for free or considered a "work expense". And, as Ryan has demonstrated at least a couple times, even if they aren't provided these things for free, all it takes is a couple seconds of crowd sourcing on Twitter and a fan of the site will offer up their limited-edition pre-order code.

Now, I know they do their best to keep perspective - I'm really glad GiantBomb did that video where they went through all of the Gears of War 3 weapon skins and basically came to the conclusion of "This seems worthless, don't buy in to it." But I don't think that absolves them from the fact that where they are, the "small" purchases seem all the more insignificant compared to say, somebody who's gaming on a budget (like me, for instance).