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[bigwinnerx]

Is it a surprise to anyone that Dan's segment has been the best so far by leaps and bounds?

I dunno, my favorite has been Jason's so far.

 

[funkystudent]

I will say that Destiny does have a clear road to how they can fix that shit for Destiny 2. Just embrace the RPG-ness and add a RPG's wroth of story content and variety to it. I am just not sure Bungie has the chops to do that. Destiny 1 is a Call of Duty worth of content when it needed to be a Mass Effects worth.

Watch Dogs on the other hand... Its biggest problem is it is a Ubisoft game and I dont know how Ubisoft gets around that. Watch Dogs 2 is only going to get MORE Ubisoft when they introduce the new cocky modern day Ezio protagonist

 

[nckillthegrimace]

Transistor started wearing on me by the end.

I guess I just didn't like the connective tissue between the fights and it was frustrating because Bastion got that part really right.

Conversely, I got real sick of Bastion's narration shit. It never felt like more than a hook they put in so that people would pay attention to a game from a new studio. On the surface, the talking sword in Transistor serves a similar purpose, but it actually helps build the narrative by introducing elements of the world and showing the relationship between Red, the sword guy, and the Camerata.

I also played through Transistor three times in a row in the span of two days and I still maintain that it is the only great PS4 game, so I'm probably biased.

 

[Deleted member 17706]

Just finished the podcast and man, I can't believe Patrick actually praised Mordor for its 'feature' that tells you when plants and crap are nearby. The game is still chock-full of boring-ass side collect-a-thons, but because it holds your hand even more it's OK in this game?

 

[Kyou]

I dunno, my favorite has been Jason's so far.

"Then... Dan turned it on... Dan... IT WAS DAN wait of course it was Dan"

 

[antitrop]

People's expectations about Watch_Dogs were already shaky by the end of the actual reveal trailer when he pulled out a gun and started shooting. Ever since the start it felt like there was a discussion about whether Ubisoft, of all companies, deserved the benefit of the doubt regarding a new IP at the beginning of a new generation, and whether the hacking stuff would be an innovative twist or just a meaningless gimmick where you'd get randomly generated profiles and do the same stop light/black out/bridges type tricks over and over. If you honestly were still excited for WD as some next gen vanguard even like a year (at the very least 6 months) before the game came out, then that seems more like on you than on the game, because all of the warning signs were there, and "the game looked pretty graphics wise in a scripted demo at E3 2012" doesn't cut it.

Destiny was a bill of goods that was so shocking that even people who weren't actually interested in Destiny had to stop and rubberneck at it after release, like, "Shit, what the fuck happened there!?" Even the people rocking the more realistic "it's just Borderlands with Halo shooting" expectations weren't prepared for the loot shit, or the bonkers writing, or Guard Dinklebot While He Does a Thing Mission #127.

If you're going to argue that Watch Dogs was a worse game, then sure. But in terms of the gulf in mindset immediately before and after the final release (ie, the things that most people would consider factors in "disappointment") I think Destiny was far in the lead there.

I just want to know why Watch_Dogs reviewed as well as it did. 80 Metascore, I dunno.

 

[Haunted]

Yeah. I was calling it Assassin's Creed with a cell-phone before the new consoles even came out.

Watch dogs was Assassin's Creed with a cell, Mordor was Assassin's Creed with orcs. The one from the makers of assassins creed turned out badly, the other one turned out great.

Just going by what we knew of the games going in, I can believe predicting one of them correctly, but not both (even with the different developer pedigree).


Compared to expectations and associated marketing campaign hype, it's obviously the biggest disappointment of the year. I still think this is a concession for the final day by the not-Brad faction.

 

[Delt31]

haven't heard the full podcast but as a weekly bombast listener and GB supporter I was VERY shocked to see most disappointing was NOT Destiny. WTF. Going to need to listen. Overall disappointed with the awards thus far (best music not shovel knight)? and overall videos seem lackluster to PYs. Danny couldn't have put on a better shirt than that for his role and other sloppy things (Vinnie part fairly dumb, etc). Guys are still great and casts are still there but not sure how this will wrap up. Patrick had the funniest part thus far (Plan C joke).

 

[Fjordson]

People's expectations about Watch_Dogs were already shaky by the end of the actual reveal trailer when he pulled out a gun and started shooting. Ever since the start it felt like there was a discussion about whether Ubisoft, of all companies, deserved the benefit of the doubt regarding a new IP at the beginning of a new generation, and whether the hacking stuff would be an innovative twist or just a meaningless gimmick where you'd get randomly generated profiles and do the same stop light/black out/bridges type tricks over and over. If you honestly were still excited for WD as some next gen vanguard even like a year (at the very least 6 months) before the game came out, then that seems more like on you than on the game, because all of the warning signs were there, and "the game looked pretty graphics wise in a scripted demo at E3 2012" doesn't cut it.

Destiny was a bill of goods that was so shocking that even people who weren't actually interested in Destiny had to stop and rubberneck at it after release, like, "Shit, what the fuck happened there!?" Even the people rocking the more realistic "it's just Borderlands with Halo shooting" expectations weren't prepared for the loot shit, or the bonkers writing, or the Donkey Kong Country 1 "we took an enemy and made it big, now it's a boss" bosses, or Guard Dinklebot While He Does a Thing Mission #127.

If you're going to argue that Watch Dogs was a worse game, then sure. But in terms of the gulf in mindset immediately before and after the final release (ie, the things that most people would consider factors in "disappointment") I think Destiny was far in the lead there.

Totally agree. Haven't finished the podcast yet, but I'm surprised they didn't pick Destiny.

 

[ShockingAlberto]

I just want to know why Watch_Dogs reviewed as well as it did. 80 Metascore, I dunno.

It was the vanguard of the reviewer "rebellion." It was still a AAA game and a lot of people gave it the benefit of the doubt as a game with shiny pavement when it rains.

 

[Anjin M]

A football manager endurance run is what we need. They need to make it to year 2115.

I know this is 12 hours late, but this is the best thing I've ever seen about Football Manager. An ER wouldn't come close.

 

[LeBart]

It was the vanguard of the reviewer "rebellion." It was still a AAA game and a lot of people gave it the benefit of the doubt as a game with shiny pavement when it rains.

Maybe they wrote the reviews on those free Nexus 7s Ubisoft gave them... Follow the money!

 

[antitrop]

I'm kind of surprised that Jeff enjoyed Advanced Warfare more than Titanfall (if we're discounting the fact AW has a SP campaign at all). I guess it depends which style of gameplay you like better, because even Advanced Warfare feels comparatively slower and much more "careful" than Titanfall.

While "Call of Duty with Mechs" was a phrase thrown around a lot, they do still play very differently. Titanfall is much faster paced, where you're always on the lookout for another area to wallrun to. Call of Duty is still about finding a spot where you can comfortably cover your danger areas, before scampering off and finding another one when it gets a bit too hot.

I guess CoD can be fun for longer stretches, because I find Titanfall to be fairly exhausting to play for longer stretches. I like both of them a lot, I like Advanced Warfare multiplayer a lot more than I thought I was going to (I abhorred Ghosts), but Titanfall just offers so much more for me.

 

[Teddified]

I'll never really understand the AC connection to Mordor other then the climbing kinda looks the same.

Maybe because I played all 3 batman games like 1-2 months before I played Mordor. But everything about Mordor is pretty much batman, besides more enemies, the climbing is a little quicker/tweaked and the Nemesis system.

 

[antitrop]

I'll never really understand the AC connection to Mordor other then the climbing kinda looks the same.

Maybe because I played all 3 batman games like 1-2 months before I played Mordor. But everything about Mordor is pretty much batman, besides more enemies, the climbing is a little quicker/tweaked and the Nemesis system.

It's the routine, filler side-quests. So much minimap icon fetch-quest hunting it made my head spin.

 

[Lingxor]

I dunno, my favorite has been Jason's so far.

I think Jason's would have been way better if he mocked the other guys a little harder... gumpry Jeff and sleepy Brad was too easy.

 

[ShockingAlberto]

I'll never really understand the AC connection to Mordor other then the climbing kinda looks the same.

Maybe because I played all 3 batman games like 1-2 months before I played Mordor. But everything about Mordor is pretty much batman, besides more enemies, the climbing is a little quicker/tweaked and the Nemesis system.

Yeah, I don't think Assassin's Creed is a good comparison for Mordor. It's just straight up Arkham with a different license.

Which is fine, because no one liked Origins (I liked the boss fights) and there's no Arkham game this year, but it's clearly just LOTR slotted into Arkham. Maybe for people it was just both games involve stabbing?

 

[Deleted member 17706]

I'll never really understand the AC connection to Mordor other then the climbing kinda looks the same.

Maybe because I played all 3 batman games like 1-2 months before I played Mordor. But everything about Mordor is pretty much batman, besides more enemies, the climbing is a little quicker/tweaked and the Nemesis system.

It's very much in the spirit of the original Assassin's Creed in that you're given a target to kill and given free reign of how to go about doing it.

I'm kind of surprised that Jeff enjoyed Advanced Warfare more than Titanfall (if we're discounting the fact AW has a SP campaign at all). I guess it depends which style of gameplay you like better, because even Advanced Warfare feels comparatively slower and much more "careful" than Titanfall.

While "Call of Duty with Mechs" was a phrase thrown around a lot, they do still play very differently. Titanfall is much faster paced, where you're always on the lookout for another area to wallrun to. Call of Duty is still about finding a spot where you can comfortably cover your danger areas, before scampering off and finding another one when it gets a bit too hot.

I guess CoD can be fun for longer stretches, because I find Titanfall to be fairly exhausting to play for longer stretches. I like both of them a lot, I like Advanced Warfare multiplayer a lot more than I thought I was going to (I abhorred Ghosts), but Titanfall just offers so much more for me.

Jeff ended up playing and enjoying Advanced Warfare for longer than Titanfall. He has spoken multiple times about how he doesn't like how the unlocks work in Titanfall, saying that they don't provide much motivation to go on. I also don't think many people actually *enjoy* the mech part of Titanfall. A big part of the fun (especially for Jeff, I think), is the mobility options that come with being a normal soldier. Those all go away when you hop in a Titan.

 

[bigwinnerx]

I'm kind of surprised that Jeff enjoyed Advanced Warfare more than Titanfall (if we're discounting the fact AW has a SP campaign at all). I guess it depends which style of gameplay you like better, because even Advanced Warfare feels comparatively slower and much more "careful" than Titanfall.

While "Call of Duty with Mechs" was a phrase thrown around a lot, they do still play very differently. Titanfall is much faster paced, where you're always on the lookout for another area to wallrun to. Call of Duty is still about finding a spot where you can comfortably cover your danger areas, before scampering off and finding another one when it gets a bit too hot.

I guess CoD can be fun for longer stretches, because I find Titanfall to be fairly exhausting to play for longer stretches. I like both of them a lot, I like Advanced Warfare multiplayer a lot more than I thought I was going to (I abhorred Ghosts), but Titanfall just offers so much more for me.

He's brought up he didn't love some of the titanfall patches that nerfed the AR as well.

 

[TGMIII]

I just want to know why Watch_Dogs reviewed as well as it did. 80 Metascore, I dunno.

I feel like it's definitively got something to do with people marking games higher than they actually feel like they should due to production values. I understand the line of thinking but it results in homogenized scoring.

 

[BigBoss]

I'll never really understand the AC connection to Mordor other then the climbing kinda looks the same.

Maybe because I played all 3 batman games like 1-2 months before I played Mordor. But everything about Mordor is pretty much batman, besides more enemies, the climbing is a little quicker/tweaked and the Nemesis system.

That makes perfect sense considering Mordor was originally supposed to be a Batman game.

 

[antitrop]

He's brought up he didn't love some of the titanfall patches that nerfed the AR as well.

I suppose that's fair, I played the game a lot for about a month at launch and moved on to whatever the next game that came out was, like I always do. I was very pleased with the time I spent with it.

Jeff ended up playing and enjoying Advanced Warfare for longer than Titanfall. He has spoken multiple times about how he doesn't like how the unlocks work in Titanfall, saying that they don't provide much motivation to go on. I also don't think many people actually *enjoy* the mech part of Titanfall. A big part of the fun (especially for Jeff, I think), is the mobility options that come with being a normal soldier. Those all go away when you hop in a Titan.

I found the jarring contrast of controlling a Titan or running around as a Pilot several times throughout just one match to be refreshingly exhiliaring. I get it, though.

 

[antitrop]

sorry =(

 

[Spirit of Jazz]

It's the routine, filler side-quests. So much minimap icon fetch-quest hunting it made my head spin.

It's essentially a really shitty Batman game which eliminates everything that makes the stealth sections of that game fun in favour of UBI collectables with a mildly interesting nemesis system.

 

[Mushroomer25]

I just want to know why Watch_Dogs reviewed as well as it did. 80 Metascore, I dunno.

Most sites that aim for "consumer advocacy" would have a hard time finding massive faults with Watch_Dogs. It's not a terrible game - everything is perfectly functional. The shooting works. The driving works. The world is loaded with stuff to do. For your average consumer who just buys the yearly CoD, Madden, maybe AC - Watch_Dogs will deliver in spades. It's only when you start looking at the game from a point of deeper criticism that it becomes despicable.
The game is nothing like what was shown at E3. It's miles away visually, and has boiled most of the content down to a flavorless paste. The similarities to Assassin's Creed are obvious, and borderline insulting.

 

[EmCeeGramr]

in the time honored video game industry tradition of terrible food analogies

watch dogs is like a chain fast food burger that gets hyped up as limited time only and it looks good on the bullshit billboard promo picture and you were really hungry when you first saw the billboard, but by the time you got to the drive through you've realized long ago that it would just be the same as all of those other bland burgers but with a different sauce or bun. you rationalize it as not that bad before diarrhea sets in.

destiny is like going to a legendary local burger joint as they debut a much anticipated revamped menu, ordering an amazing looking burger, and then it comes out way smaller than the picture, most of the toppings listed on the menu are missing, it's not cooked to the temperature you asked, and you're pretty sure that you saw the cook crying in the kitchen. i mean, the flavor is pretty good, and it didn't give you explosive liquid shits like the other one was, but

 

[Kimaka]

Iron Bull? He's not even the best character in DA:I. I found Cassandra, Solas, and Dorian more interesting.

 

[antitrop]

in the time honored video game industry tradition of terrible food analogies

watch dogs is like a chain fast food burger that gets hyped up as limited time only and it looks good on the bullshit billboard promo picture and you were really hungry when you first saw the billboard, but by the time you got to the drive through you've realized long ago that it would just be the same as all of those other bland burgers but with a different sauce or bun. you rationalize it as not that bad before diarrhea sets in.

The delay was perfect, because it pushed the game out evenly in between the two different releases of Grand Theft Auto V.

If it released unpolished at launch, and just 2 months after GTA V, it would have been ripped to shreds. If it released after GTA V NG was announced at E3, I also think the enthusiasm for the game would have been more tempered. Timing is everything.

I suppose the diarrhea setting in would be watching the GTA V trailer at E3 in June.

Your analogies are good, though.

 

[Alucrid]

why does everyone always go for the burger analogy

it's like no one eats anything else

 

[EmCeeGramr]

why does everyone always go for the burger analogy

it's like no one eats anything else

we are in a thread for w w w dot giant bomb dot com

 

[ShockingAlberto]

why does everyone always go for the burger analogy

it's like no one eats anything else

It's a versatile analogy. A good burger can be made by master chefs but it can also be mass produced and made by machines.

 

[nckillthegrimace]

The delay was perfect, because it pushed the game out perfectly in between the two different releases of Grand Theft Auto V.

Like a turd trapped between two large cheeks, Watch_Dogs was a huge mess.

 

[Teddified]

It's the routine, filler side-quests. So much minimap icon fetch-quest hunting it made my head spin.

Eh, I can kinda understand that but that's how both the last Batman games were too. I'd say it's more a symptom of Open World design these days compared to just being like Assassin's Creed. But I guess Assassin Creed might just be a good shorthand for that.

That makes perfect sense considering Mordor was originally supposed to be a Batman game.

Yeah I think Brad might have mentioned it on a podcast.

 

[FStop7]

Probably because Halo2 got heavily reworked, while the others are just up-ports.

And yet GTA5 was shat upon...

 

[antitrop]

Eh, I can kinda understand that but that's how both the last Batman games were too. I'd say it's more a symptom of Open World design these days compared to just being like Assassin's Creed. But I guess Assassin Creed might just be a good shorthand for that.

I'll admit I've only played Arkham Asylum. Open-world isn't really my thing, unless it's Rockstar.

 

[LeBart]

I mean... Bungie does have a history of making shit burgers from time to time, and it's not like what they showed of the game looked totally groundbreaking either.

I agree it was more disappointing than Watch_Dogs but did people expect it to reinvent the genre or something?

 

[Deleted member 17706]

Probably because Halo2 got heavily reworked, while the others are just up-ports.

That doesn't seem fair at all. It's the exact same game with just vastly improved visuals. Doesn't it even feature the option to play in the original visuals?

The Last of Us: Remastered is also the exact same game with improved visuals. It may be to a lesser degree, but it's very much the same type of thing.

 

[Tripon]

in the time honored video game industry tradition of terrible food analogies

watch dogs is like a chain fast food burger that gets hyped up as limited time only and it looks good on the bullshit billboard promo picture and you were really hungry when you first saw the billboard, but by the time you got to the drive through you've realized long ago that it would just be the same as all of those other bland burgers but with a different sauce or bun. you rationalize it as not that bad before diarrhea sets in.

destiny is like going to a legendary local burger joint as they debut a much anticipated revamped menu, ordering an amazing looking burger, and then it comes out way smaller than the picture, most of the toppings listed on the menu are missing, it's not cooked to the temperature you asked, and you're pretty sure that you saw the cook crying in the kitchen. i mean, the flavor is pretty good, and it didn't give you explosive liquid shits like the other one was, but

Are you saying Watch Dogs was the McRib?

 

[antitrop]

Are you saying Watch Dogs was the McRib?

McDonald's should just have McRibs all the time, what the fuck.

 

[Vena]

And yet GTA5 was shat upon...

I mean, I think he was talking about the console exclusive section... so GTAV doesn't really come into play in that discussion.

 

[Xeteh]

People's expectations about Watch_Dogs were already shaky by the end of the actual reveal trailer when he pulled out a gun and started shooting. Ever since the start it felt like there was a discussion about whether Ubisoft, of all companies, deserved the benefit of the doubt regarding a new IP at the beginning of a new generation, and whether the hacking stuff would be an innovative twist or just a meaningless gimmick where you'd get randomly generated profiles and do the same stop light/black out/bridges type tricks over and over. If you honestly were still excited for WD as some next gen vanguard even like a year (at the very least 6 months) before the game came out, then that seems more like on you than on the game, because all of the warning signs were there, and "the game looked pretty graphics wise in a scripted demo at E3 2012" doesn't cut it.

Destiny was a bill of goods that was so shocking that even people who weren't actually interested in Destiny had to stop and rubberneck at it after release, like, "Shit, what the fuck happened there!?" Even the people rocking the more realistic "it's just Borderlands with Halo shooting" expectations weren't prepared for the loot shit, or the bonkers writing, or the Donkey Kong Country 1 "we took an enemy and made it big, now it's a boss" bosses, or Guard Dinklebot While He Does a Thing Mission #127.

If you're going to argue that Watch Dogs was a worse game, then sure. But in terms of the gulf in mindset immediately before and after the final release (ie, the things that most people would consider factors in "disappointment") I think Destiny was far in the lead there.

I'm definitely one of the idiots that was expecting the world out of Watch_Dogs. I knew the massive delay meant bad things but I naively thought that how can they fuck up a GTA game with all these cool hacking elements? It just seemed so sure fire that it was going to be an awesome game. Then the release was coming around, I heard the rumblings that it wasn't very good but I was still ready to enjoy it.

I played it and... it was okay. It was no where near as good as I expected, I feel like that huge over-promotion from Ubisoft ended up hurting a game that might have been regarded as a pretty solid release otherwise. It just never met the expectations that they brought on themselves. Watch_Dogs makes me think of Dragon Age 2. Dragon Age 2 had all the hype of DA:O behind it... if that game gets released with a name with zero relation to Dragon Age then it gets seen as a pretty okay game with some faults. And while Watch_Dogs wasn't a sequel to a respected game... it hype that preceded it already raised it up so high that it might have never delivered much less worrying about how empty the game felt once it was released.

All those incoherent thoughts aside... I still expected Destiny to take it. So many people expected so much out of that game. It had so much potential, it had a studio with a history of some all time great games (and I'm not even much of a Halo fan)... they just dropped the ball. I agree with Jeff, maybe one day Destiny is what we all thought it would be at launch but... man is it one soulless game right now. The gameplay is solid for sure, it looks super pretty... but that is it. Everything else just feels missing.

 

[EmCeeGramr]

i'd say that assassin's creed is more like the mcrib, where it's an annual thing based purely on economics that human society is supposed to pretend is good and rare when it comes out

 

[funkystudent]

IMO Watch Dogs was just a run of the mill overhyped AAA game that left you bummed out. It could have been Halo 2, Resistance 2, Doom 3, Far Cry 2, Dragon Age 2 etc...

With Destiny I can not think of another game that promised so much and offered so little. That game is literally in a league of its own when it comes to the levels it disappointed me.


Maybe its because Watch Dogs had a bunch of red flags in the months leading up to release where as with Destiny you saw the beta and though "that was cool but boy I hope that wasnt all you do on earth and I hope they removed the big story missions to avoid spoilers" and then you got the actual game and that beta was actually just the 1th third lifted out and the rest of the game added nothing but different coloured skyboxes for your robot to scan shit in.

Maybe Gran Turismo 5 was close to it?

 

[hammertomb]

The mcrib was hyped up too much for me.
It sucked.

 

[Mister Negative]

i'd say that assassin's creed is more like the mcrib, where it's an annual thing based purely on economics that human society is supposed to pretend is good and rare when it comes out

How are you so good at this?

Anyway, I feel like Mordor is what Assassin's Creed SHOULD be. There's not enough...Assassinating in AC.

 

[Alucrid]

we are in a thread for w w w dot giant bomb dot com

then again dan has a sous vide machine

 

[antitrop]

How are you so good at this?

Anyway, I feel like Mordor is what Assassin's Creed SHOULD be. There's not enough...Assassinating in AC.

The only compliment I feel fit to leave with the first Assassin's Creed game is that at least it was the most true to its concept.

 

[Bacon]

The mcrib was hyped up too much for me.
It sucked.

It's horrible.

 

[Messofanego]

I'm kind of surprised that Jeff enjoyed Advanced Warfare more than Titanfall (if we're discounting the fact AW has a SP campaign at all). I guess it depends which style of gameplay you like better, because even Advanced Warfare feels comparatively slower and much more "careful" than Titanfall.

While "Call of Duty with Mechs" was a phrase thrown around a lot, they do still play very differently. Titanfall is much faster paced, where you're always on the lookout for another area to wallrun to. Call of Duty is still about finding a spot where you can comfortably cover your danger areas, before scampering off and finding another one when it gets a bit too hot.

I guess CoD can be fun for longer stretches, because I find Titanfall to be fairly exhausting to play for longer stretches. I like both of them a lot, I like Advanced Warfare multiplayer a lot more than I thought I was going to (I abhorred Ghosts), but Titanfall just offers so much more for me.

I played Advanced Warfare for the first time at my friends' place and finally understood why the MP was getting loads of love. But I definitely feel like Titanfall is the one MP game I want to get because the game modes in AW are pretty generic and the movement in Titanfall is much more freeing.

Halo 5 will be what I'm looking forward to play in terms of having similar movement and more interesting weapons/map design.

 

[m_shortpants]

haven't heard the full podcast but as a weekly bombast listener and GB supporter I was VERY shocked to see most disappointing was NOT Destiny. WTF. Going to need to listen. Overall disappointed with the awards thus far (best music not shovel knight)? and overall videos seem lackluster to PYs. Danny couldn't have put on a better shirt than that for his role and other sloppy things (Vinnie part fairly dumb, etc). Guys are still great and casts are still there but not sure how this will wrap up. Patrick had the funniest part thus far (Plan C joke).

Welcome to Brad