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Listen UP podcast (8/07/09)

R

Ryu

Member
http://podcast.the1upnetwork.com/flat/1UPYours/LUP080709.mp3

We pull the old double switch with Gamasutra features director Christian Nutt and our own Alice Liang joining David and Garnett. In the opening segment Little King's Story gets Whatcha' Been Playin? started before a look back at Lost Odyssey and Mass Effect gives a little preview of the upcoming RPG discussion and DiRT 2 shifts gears entirely to wrap it all up. After the break Christian helps revisit the topic of revitalizing Japanese RPGs and then the talk turns to Fat Princess's launch struggles, Starcraft 2's delay, and a potential PlayStation customer loyalty program.

(59.7 MB) - Length: 2:10:19
 
-Little King's Story gets Whatcha' Been Playin? started
-a look back at Lost Odyssey
-a little preview of the upcoming RPG discussion
-revisit the topic of revitalizing Japanese RPGs

This is clearly not Listen Up.
 
ViperVisor said:
Madden 10 talk next week?
Click to expand...

Realized halfway through recording that we weren't going to get to it, and I meant to give Garnett crap about at its exclusion at the end of the show.
 
Alice has a sweet voice. The like like like like like like like like like gets crazy at times though :lol
 
I guess I'm just surprised about Anthony's (you're still responsible for him!) and Alice's verdicts and final paragraphs. I really do love their work. Still, scan the shooters at 1-Up. http://www.1up.com/do/reviews?ct=REVIEW&g=Shooter&view=list Virtually anything that brings a little something new to the genre gets a B-or-higher score. I'm admittedly not a shooter fan, but I get roped in by my friends at times. There's SO much that's rote and routine about that list of games, but the success of their identifying gimmicks apparently warrant recommendations.

This will have the year's best boss fights. It will be among the funniest. It'll balance commercial and artsy storytelling better than anything else. It has detail and charm even through its sidequests' own asides. The only reasonable comparison to the game is the Pikmin series, which is so different as to label Little King's Story truly unique. Even if you're not fanatical about it or a Love-De-Lic fanboy, I'm not sure why it can't be described or scored as a "flawed must-play" (which Garnett's approaching).

Alice thinks that a significant proportion of veteran gamers (never mind the casuals) won't find the game worth playing because it's hard and she, as a reviewer, was forced to exacerbate tiny flaws. "Difficulty" is subjective, of course, so her responsibility is to explain that it really induces despair (a la last generation's Ninja Gaiden 1) or that it's unfair (like 2). It's self-apparently not Mega Man 9 hard (although that was a virtue in Ryan's review), and the only example of unfairness was slowdown during Sauvage. Control issues and "grinding"(!) were probably magnified with her runthrough. If she'd explored other formations or the community/RPG aspects, those are diminished to their proper importance. I think Garnett could have challenged her more on those instead of pointing to the game's merits, since that's where her criticism and scoring diverged from others (and the facts, I'd say).

I appreciate that she devoted the vast majority of her written review to criticisms, but she didn't adequately name the many, many top-tier aspects during the podcast. I think that the pace with which she was forced to finish it caused her to miss out on the innumerable details. My impression was, "Super-hard cutesy Pikmin clone with charm and control issues." I really appreciate the conversation and Alice's fairness, but that's awfully reductive. *shrugs* Still in the Game Of The Year conversation and mine in a walk.
 
I'm not sure if it's just because I actually care about the games discussed, but that was my favorite episode in a long time. Thanks for throwing some of us a bone, and thanks for getting to Little King's Story before everyone's travels.
 
_leech_ said:
Still no Wipeout HD talk?
Click to expand...

Well the only way for them to talk about it if it had any type controversy around it, just like how Fat Princess is even being mentioned in this show, because it has launch problems, not because anyone has played it.

Typical ListenUp episode, But will it sell?
 
Rapping Granny said:
Well the only way for them to talk about it if it had any type controversy around it, just like how Fat Princess is even being mentioned in this show, because it has launch problems, not because anyone has played it.

Typical ListenUp episode, But will it sell?
Click to expand...
There isn't any controversy around Wipeout right now? Really? Think about it for a second.
 
Ryu said:
http://podcast.the1upnetwork.com/flat/1UPYours/LUP080709.mp3

We pull the old double switch with Gamasutra features director Christian Nutt and our own Alice Liang joining David and Garnett. In the opening segment Little King's Story gets Whatcha' Been Playin? started before a look back at Lost Odyssey and Mass Effect gives a little preview of the upcoming RPG discussion and DiRT 2 shifts gears entirely to wrap it all up. After the break Christian helps revisit the topic of revitalizing Japanese RPGs and then the talk turns to Fat Princess's launch struggles, Starcraft 2's delay, and a potential PlayStation customer loyalty program.

(59.7 MB) - Length: 2:10:19
Click to expand...

Thanks for posting I'll check it out :)
 
Really enjoyed it this week.

Sad to hear about the Fat Princess issues people have been having, the always online element of this generation of consoles seems to have told developers they can put anything they want out and fix it in post. It's shameful.

The JRPG discussion was much better this time, Nutt brought a lot to it. Though one thing I thought was odd was his comment that XII has been erased in some ways from SEs memory. Considering we haven't seen what Ito's team are doing, I don't think it'd surprise anyone if FFXV is announced and is essentially FFXII-2.

Oh, and Garnett claming Mass Effect was polished :lol
 
Didn't enjoy this weeks episode at all...WAY too much JRPG and Mass effect talk for my liking. And like so many people before me have said, WHY no Wipeout Fury talk? I mean it's like the best DLC ever and nothing, not a word. Weird.
 
I enjoyed the show this week. I can't believe Garnett actually defended Mass Effect's performance on the 360. The framerate was a mess and the texture pop-in was awful (second only to The Last Remnant). I have no idea how the game runs when it is installed, but it such a different experience when I played through it on the PC.
 
I'm sure we've had the "Japanese RPGs don't start until Final Fantasy XIII does" discussion numerous times already on Listen Up.
 
Rlan said:
I'm sure we've had the "Japanese RPGs don't start until Final Fantasy XIII does" discussion numerous times already on Listen Up.
Click to expand...
Indeed, it's nonsense too. It's out this holiday at the very earliest, it takes probably four years minimum to make a JRPG of that standard, and a budget beyond anyone else would dare spend. The gameplay is basically FFX-2 evolved, so it's not like they need to wait for the game to clone it or anything.

I really don't know why anyone would think FFXIII is going to change anything. People haven't forgot JRPGs are good and FFXIII is going to remind them. It's just the only one the masses will care about this generation.
 
tetrisgrammaton said:
i dont see how someone who can be so negative about a game give it a b-,

interesting episode, nonetheless
Click to expand...

Because the game is actually very good and she is not confident with her own opinion.

Seriously though, as she said, the game is very good so every little problems in the game stand out. Some people are more 'emotional' with their review and grade it based on the overall experience and satisfaction, but some people do a checklist review and rate things more technically and precisely. As good as the game is, there are some faults in the game that cannot be ignored, and Alice happens to be the latter type of reviewer.
 
Little King's Story cemented my opinion to never play that game. Just sounds like an incredible tedious chore. Why slag through hours of frustration to get at a few gold scraps inside? Previously I was considering it if it gets cheap, but now I know to ignore it. Just like Persona and Harvest Moon, my tolerance for bullshit isn't high enough to get at the promised "good stuff".

Good episode - liked the change of pace, and there's really not much else to talk about this time of year.
 
SonOfABeep said:
Little King's Story cemented my opinion to never play that game. Just sounds like an incredible tedious chore. Why slag through hours of frustration to get at a few gold scraps inside?
Click to expand...

I'd go so far as to call "grinding" inaccurate. I'd never associate it with the game, and the only mention of "grind" or "grinding" in the official topic is for people who want to get ___ early. This is not a (fun) grind like Patapon at all, so if you aren't playing it for review, you will never have to grind or do the same style of missions over and over if you don't want to do so. "Few gold scraps" is also humorously inapt. Again, the main guy (and others) made the best game of all-time. He knows what he's doing.
 
This is probably the best episode since before E3 and I think it's mainly down to Alice and Christian. Would be very happy to have them on the show again soon, and in the case of Alice she could easily become a regular.
 
Foliorum Viridum said:
This is probably the best episode since before E3 and I think it's mainly down to Alice and Christian. Would be very happy to have them on the show again soon, and in the case of Alice she could easily become a regular.
Click to expand...

Lack of John=WIN. I know everyone loves him because of the good ol' days but he just doesn't fit in a "hardcore" gaming podcast anymore. Stunts most of the conversations when he ends up ranting about how he just wants to have fun and simple games are the best etc etc etc.
 
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