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[Chance Hale]

Yeah, that's true, but steam has such a volume nowadays stuff is bound to pass you by.

Never too late!

Shame so many people have forgotten Westerado which is one of the best arcade esqe games I've ever played. Such a fun hook, tons of branching, great gunplay, and so on.

Everyone check it out while it's on sale

 

[Prototype Viktor]

So said Utec talked them out of having fallout 4 the winner

 

[Moaradin]

Yup, I'll be very, very disappointed if SOMA doesn't get any nods for best moment.

Fuck man, when the credits hit in SOMA I just sat in stunned silence. It's the darkest shit in any game I've ever played.

I thought that moment was neat but it wasn't very surprising to me. The entire game was banging that whole concept over your head. It was a cool idea but I thought that was the direction it was going in like halfway through that game.

 

[EmCeeGramr]

Someone put it well earlier, but Fallout is much harder to change game-to-game than Elder Scrolls is. There's only so much you can do to irradiated America and it doesn't seem Bethesda was even willing to do that much, so they bolted on weird stuff like base building and an unnecessary dialogue system and a robot that can call you Fuckface.

Fallout 3 was huge for a lot of people because, even if they had played the other Fallouts, this was a different take on the same world. Fallout 4 was the same take on the same world, years later and without the leap in graphics people hoped for.

It's weird, because it doesn't have to be that way. FO2 and New Vegas, I think, both managed to show new twists on the ideas set forth in Fallout 1, and both moved the universe forward. FO3 clung so tightly to what the first two games did, and then the big new lore idea for 4 was... actually something they put in 3.

 

[Antiwhippy]

Haha, so good that Vinny remembers heats flamesman. Had the same reaction I did too.

I'm with alex on napstablook though. Gawd napstablook.

 

[ShockingAlberto]

There's this quote from the show runner for Heroes, which had an entertaining first season, fell off a cliff at the season finale, and then had garbage following seasons. Actual garbage.

The show runner was asked why people don't like the newer seasons and he expressed bafflement at the idea. He explicitly made sure season 2 was exactly the same as season 1, and people liked that, so why didn't they like the new one?

I wonder if Todd Howard thinks the same thing, though perhaps in a less oblivious way. Maybe he just thought it's best not to try fixing what worked and to just add things on top.

Granted, the game sold and reviewed extraordinarily well, so maybe he made the right call.

 

[Joeku]

I thought that moment was neat but it wasn't very surprising to me. The entire game was banging that whole concept over your head. It was a cool idea but I thought that was the direction it was going in like halfway through that game.

SOMA never really surprised me to a crazy degree at any point, but it played well with and built on the sci-fi ideas in such a way that I never got too many steps ahead of it. Respectful science fiction, it is. Respectful and earnest. It's so good.

 

[Antiwhippy]

I don't want to play soma mostly because I already have enough existential dread in my life.

 

[Joeku]

I don't want to play soma mostly because I already have enough existential dread in my life.

That's a good point: it's not that scary. Really not a horror game. More tense early on and a decent thriller of sorts. "Existential dread" is a good way to summarize it, though,

SOMA is great.

Spoiler

Fuck SOMA.

 

[ShockingAlberto]

I don't want to play soma mostly because I already have enough existential dread in my life.

And yet you listen to a podcast with Alex on it.

 

[hamchan]

This Fallout 4 convo is heated, goddamn.

 

[Keyser Soze]

I wanted to find Jeff's song...

Santaz In Da Hood

 

[Antiwhippy]

And yet you listen to a podcast with Alex on it.

Alex helps me come to terms with it. Like, you can face the meaninglessness of existence and still soldier on.

 

[Joeku]

Alex helps me come to terms with it. Like, you can face the meaninglessness of existence and still soldier on.

...That's the best summary of where SOMA leaves you I've yet heard. You should play SOMA.

 

[Brakke]

Holy shit Drew's video segment today was so good.

 

[Antiwhippy]

...That's the best summary of where SOMA leaves you I've yet heard. You should play SOMA.

I dunno man, isn't soma a lot more about

Spoiler

the bleakness of oblivion?

Also final fantasy 7 Remake fills me with more existential dread than Alex ever did.

 

[Deleted member 17706]

Man, the Fallout tussle was an amazing listen. I side with Jeff on this, but for a good while I was totally receptive to each person's viewpoints. However, At some point during the conversation, and taking into consideration the things that were said about Xenoblade in the midst of the heated debate, Austin lost me and I was like

What did he say that bothered you so? Nothing was factually incorrect, at least.

Witcher 3, Xenoblade, and Inquisition skirt the edges of some of the freedom that Fallout has, but do not match it.

None of them even come close, but I suppose The Witcher 3 comes the closest.

 

[Joeku]

I dunno man, isn't soma a lot more about

Spoiler

the bleakness of oblivion?

Also final fantasy 7 Remake fills me with more existential dread than Alex ever did.

Spoiler

Aren't existence and oblivion one and the same, eventually?

Welcome to my world.

 

[Antiwhippy]

Goddamnit I don't need this conversation now.

 

[Joeku]

I'm sorry anti.

Be happy; the world will probably continue to exist after you're gone.

...And after all of us posting in this topic are gone. It will be dusty history one day.

We are immortalized.

archive.org

 

[Lazulic]

mine as well shitpost while im alive

 

[loki 16]

Grinding iron banner and listening to the GB end of the year podcast is pretty great.

 

[Joeku]

mine as well shitpost while im alive

Shitposting is directly antithetical to entropy.

God bless us, everyone.

 

[yami4ct]

There is a subtle perfection to this year's GOTY videos. The lack of their normal production values turn them into absolute gold.

 

[Joeku]

Am I weird for thinking Shadow of Mordor would make a good concept metal album about entropy?

It's grim as eff.

 

[ShockingAlberto]

Am I weird for thinking Shadow of Mordor would make a good concept metal album about entropy?

It's grim as eff.

Well

if any game can most accurately portray being about nothing...

 

[pizzacat]

Can wait for Dan Ryckerts little big planet mornings

 

[yami4ct]

Well

if any game can most accurately portray being about nothing...

Well, you're not wrong.

Spoiler

I don't mean that in the shitty way. You're literally not wrong.

 

[Joeku]

Well

if any game can most accurately portray being about nothing...

We are a cycle of death and rebirth, steadily uglying and murdering each other.

Bernie Sanders 2016.

Feel the Bern-udun.

 

[Liquid Shake]

I wanted to find Jeff's song...

Santaz In Da Hood

It reminds me of a Persona 4 Christmas Outtake song.

Spoiler

I love it.

 

[BanGy.nz]

We are a cycle of death and rebirth, steadily uglying and murdering each other.

Bernie Sanders 2016.

Feel the Bern-udun.

Did todays podcast break you?

 

[Joeku]

Did todays podcast brake you?

No, I am perpetually gassing.

 

[BTA]

I'd wait to see if it's nominated. While many on GAF are extremely high on SOMA, very few of the GB crew played it to completion.

It's on Brad's GOTY list and the way he talked about it makes me think he'll at least push for it when moment and story come around, since his complaints seem to be mainly tied to the (attempt at the) horror aspect of it.

 

[Maiden Voyage]

Never too late!

Shame so many people have forgotten Westerado which is one of the best arcade esqe games I've ever played. Such a fun hook, tons of branching, great gunplay, and so on.

Everyone check it out while it's on sale

I forgot this game came out this year. Eek, I wonder what others I'm forgetting.

Spoiler

I will buy it after it dips below $5. I already bought around 20 games from the Holiday Sale.

 

[Joeku]

It's on Brad's GOTY list and the way he talked about it makes me think he'll at least push for it when moment and story come around, since his complaints seem to be mainly tied to the (attempt at the) horror aspect of it.

I wouldn't say it's a failed attempt at horror. All of these post-Amnesia games are adventure games + "oh fuck I gotta hide in the closet goddamn fuck". SOMA is just less of that second thing. It's weird to say, but I love how procedural the mechanisms of the world are. Press these buttons, pull these switches, then you can look at this PC screen.

So good.

 

[wenis]

That was quite the podcast today. Got a whole lot of Tomb Raidin' done.

 

[BTA]

Never too late!

Shame so many people have forgotten Westerado which is one of the best arcade esqe games I've ever played. Such a fun hook, tons of branching, great gunplay, and so on.

Everyone check it out while it's on sale

Wait, that came out this year? I played it this summer and thought it was pretty neat but kinda janky (it sucked that there was no way to resolve certain factions getting angry at you, once I accidentally pissed some off). When I was starting to compile a personal GOTY list earlier today I totally assumed it was from last year, whoops.

EDIT:

I wouldn't say it's a failed attempt at horror. All of these post-Amnesia games are adventure games + "oh fuck I gotta hide in the closet goddamn fuck". SOMA is just less of that second thing. It's weird to say, but I love how procedural the mechanisms of the world are. Press these buttons, pull these switches, then you can look at this PC screen.

So good.

I didn't necessarily mean failed attempt; from the way I've heard people talk about it, it sounds more like an unnecessary attempt. I much prefer the kind of existential/atmospheric horror it sounds like it actually succeeds at rather than avoiding monsters, so I'm happy that took precedence even if it apparently still didn't to the degree it should have.

 

[mrklaw]

Austin legitimately got me searching Gundam model youtube reviews since last night. Learning so much about Real Grade and LED add-ons here. If his video lacked a detail, it's the lazy susan.

I'm not into gundam models but I was in Yellow Submarine in Chiba on holiday today and the 1/60 scale perfect grade models with LED kits are gorgeous. Plus the bonus of not needing painting which is always where my kit building falls down.

 

[Doctor Decimate]

As far as Most Disappointing goes,

Spoiler

I honestly see the arguments on both sides for Fallout 4 because it's really just that difference in expectations. Some of the guys expected Bethesda to iron that shit out, and some of the guys expected things to pretty much remain the same.

 

[Joeku]

I didn't necessarily mean failed attempt; from the way I've heard people talk about it, it sounds more like an unnecessary attempt. I much prefer the kind of existential/atmospheric horror it sounds like it actually succeeds at rather than avoiding monsters, so I'm happy that took precedence even if it apparently still didn't to the degree it should have.

If there was no avoiding monsters whatsoever, it would as a whole be far less impactful. It kept me mostly on edge and assuming "oh all of this is dark and could go bad at the next plot turn" the whole time.

Spoiler

If it had no monster avoidance, which was overwhelmingly focused in the front third and leading an air of "sneak around every corner cuz LOOK OUT", it would be far weaker as a game.

It was absolutely served well by presenting you the bad way this world and those within it could turn.

As far as Most Disappointing goes,

Spoiler

I honestly see the arguments on both sides for Fallout 4 because it's really just that difference in expectations. Some of the guys expected Bethesda to iron that shit out, and some of the guys expected things to pretty much remain the same.

Skyrim was my "fool me once" moment. I absolutely expected Fallout 4 to be what it was.

 

[BanGy.nz]

I just downloaded Love Live and the servers are down, I think the gaming/anime gods are trying to tell me I shouldn't play this game.

 

[ShockingAlberto]

Finally watching the video, I am absolutely losing it to Vinny's

 

[Antiwhippy]

I just downloaded Love Live and the servers are down, I think the gaming/anime gods are trying to tell me I shouldn't play this game.

Yup.

Leave this evil and never look back.

 

[Tubobutts]

I'm pretty sure the anime gods are what people used to call demons.

 

[LurkerPrime]

Love Live is basically the mobile version of Destiny, isn't it.

Some of these guest top tens are pretty weird. Though I (think) there's a lot more than last year, so this is par for the course.

I'm pretty sure the anime gods are what people used to call demons.

They called them...

oni... moe

 

[Antiwhippy]

I'm pretty sure the anime gods are what people used to call demons.

Yokai, please.

Pay respect to the culture.

 

[danm999]

Skyrim was my "fool me once" moment. I absolutely expected Fallout 4 to be what it was.

There was nothing in the Fallout 4 pre-release material that should have given anyone any other sort of illusion.

Hell, there were half a dozen GAF threads basically saying "here we go again..." with regards to that games engine, visuals, open world jankiness, writing based solely on the E3 footage.

 

[Haunted]

The plot twist about Soma is that it doesn't have a plot twist. It just gradually unveils all the necessary information to the player. It's actually a tough concept to wrap one's head around because we've been conditioned so much that any story-driven piece of media in the genre has to have a surprising twist.

 

[Twin Tails]

Some of these guest top tens are pretty weird. Though I (think) there's a lot more than last year, so this is par for the course.

Can't wait for Swery's.
https://www.instagram.com/p/_6BydoAUyI/

 

[Joeku]

The plot twist about Soma is that it doesn't have a plot twist. It just gradually unveils all the necessary information to the player. It's actually a tough concept to wrap one's head around because we've been conditioned so much that any story-driven piece of media in the genre has to have a surprising twist.

I agree. There isn't a "big left turn" moment, and that's part of what makes it good sci-fi to me. It starts in one place and leads to a meaningful A-Z conclusion. No crazy subversion, no "oh, you didn't think this crazy thing was going on the whole time!" Just good building and exploring of beats and themes, respectively.