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Giant Bomb #25 | A Fun Time with Friends

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famous podcaster uses cheap emotional manipulations as a substitute for good design and writing

KeithMalcolm-90302.jpg
 
Spoil firewatch for me

The setup is really what's important. Cryptic notes, mysterious nighttime encounters, a secret government research camp. Most importantly, a burgeoning relationship between you and another Watch Tower attentend.

Then it turns out a kid fell down a cliff and died some years back, and his dad is still out in the wilderness trying to prevent people from finding out (??) and he messes with the player character because ??????? and then there's a forest fire that's probably a metaphor for something but it sucks and then you leave and nothing before matters.


If the first part doesn't seem to relate to the spoilered part at all, don't be alarmed. That's just the game.
 
Ya'll thinking Doom ain't going to be easy GOTY are so cute.

A month ago I'd have been with you, but a good majority of the team have fallen hard for Hitman, particularly since the Extra Life stuff. One of the strongest arguments in Doom's favour was Jeff and Brad's enthusiasm for it; Brad's now well down the Hitman hole, and Jeff sounds like he's enjoying the hell out of it too. Couple that with Dan and Vinny's enthusiasm for it... we've got a fight on our hands, and make no mistake.
 

Catvoca

Banned
Spoil firewatch for me

For real? (major spoilers)

Henry goes to the woods to Firewatch for the summer to escape the fact that his wife has Alzheimer's and is getting worse and worse. He forges a relationship over the radio with Delilah, his boss. After some misadventures and funny dialogue they find out that someone is stalking them and listening to their radio conversations. Turns out that it's someone who used to work were Henry works and who's son, who was there illegally and Delilah protected, died in a cave in. Henry and Delilah both have to go back home and deal with their problems without ever meeting.

People don't like the ending because it feels like it's building up to some big reveal that doesn't happen, or is squandered. I think it works, mostly. It's a story about escapism that deals with two characters running away from their problems and inventing an exciting narrative that they're a part of, but in the end they (or at least Delilah) realise that this is a fantasy and they have to return home. It admittedly has some big resolution problems with the antagonist but I think the Henry-Delilah stuff, which is the heart of the story, is handled perfectly. It really clicks on a second play through.
 

Johndoey

Banned
Fuck Firewatch. Guess what son the journey didn't make up for the lackluster pay off. I understand the game was about escapism but it doesn't really work well how it's presented. So the emotional payoff ended up being nonexistent. I know some people probably think the ending is "bold" for eschewing a "conventional dramatic climax" but nah the shit is just fucking lazy. The conclusion of the characters occur suddenly in a way that doesn't fit with the rest of the game.

Also the game was barely playable with the goddamn micro stutters on Ps4 at launch. I should've bought that shit on steam so I could've caught a refund.
 
Actually, should Giant Bomb have a "best fan creation" category this year? Between all of the fan remakes and stuff like this it seems like there's enough to put together a list of nominees. Not to mention the plethora of modders working on games like Skyrim, Fallout, etc etc.

Third party DLC creators for games like TF2 and DotA 2 are, of course, not included. (Sorry Brad!)


Edit: Actually, this is also the year that consoles have embraced modding, right? So it's more relevant than ever before.
 

TraBuch

Banned
For real? (major spoilers)

Henry goes to the woods to Firewatch for the summer to escape the fact that his wife has Alzheimer's and is getting worse and worse. He forges a relationship over the radio with Delilah, his boss. After some misadventures and funny dialogue they find out that someone is stalking them and listening to their radio conversations. Turns out that it's someone who used to work were Henry works and who's son, who was there illegally and Delilah protected, died in a cave in. Henry and Delilah both have to go back home and deal with their problems without ever meeting.

People don't like the ending because it feels like it's building up to some big reveal that doesn't happen, or is squandered. I think it works, mostly. It's a story about escapism that deals with two characters running away from their problems and inventing an exciting narrative that they're a part of, but in the end they (or at least Delilah) realise that this is a fantasy and they have to return home. It admittedly has some big resolution problems with the antagonist but I think the Henry-Delilah stuff, which is the heart of the story, is handled perfectly. It really clicks on a second play through.
I'll just copy and paste what I wrote in the spoiler thread way back when.

For me, it's not so much as being disappointed that the twists led nowhere, it's that they introduced twists in the first place. In the end, all the conspiracy angle did was take away from the best part of the game, which was seeing the relationship between H and D develop. I wanted to see both characters grow, mature, realize you can't just keep running away or fall in love or whatever. I wanted that to be the entire game. Just going around the forest exploring and stopping kids from being stupid and having conversations with D. Instead, it just goes completely off the rails. The moment you find that notebook and walkie, the game completely changes for the worse to me. Hell, they could've ended the game the exact same way, just have the fire started because of a storm or something, but it would've had a lot more meaning because there would've been two to three more hours of character development.

Obviously, that's just what I was looking for. I'm sure there would be just as many people, if not more, disappointed in my ideal Firewatch.
 

oti

Banned
Firewatch = bad
Zelda Majora's Mask = meh (actually thinking about selling the game after playing it for 5h a few months ago, can't get into it at all)
Overwatch = GOTY
 

Antiwhippy

the holder of the trombone
Mourn those left behind:

  • The Witness
  • SuperHOT
  • Inside
  • Doom
  • XCOM 2
  • Total Warhammer
  • Persona 5
  • American Truck Simulator
  • Firewatch
  • Dark Souls 3
All of which are at risk of not even appearing in the top 10.


I feel that Darkest Dungeon will get a rep in Alex, Stardew Valley in Dan (and whoever else actually plays it before deliberations) and the others are all known quantities.

Why would persona 5 be mentioned this year?
 

Johndoey

Banned
On the other hand Virginia is a heavily flawed experience that manages to tell a more compelling mystery with an interesting relationship while dealing with the massive handicap it places on itself.
 

pizzacat

Banned
For real? (major spoilers)

Henry goes to the woods to Firewatch for the summer to escape the fact that his wife has Alzheimer's and is getting worse and worse. He forges a relationship over the radio with Delilah, his boss. After some misadventures and funny dialogue they find out that someone is stalking them and listening to their radio conversations. Turns out that it's someone who used to work were Henry works and who's son, who was there illegally and Delilah protected, died in a cave in. Henry and Delilah both have to go back home and deal with their problems without ever meeting.

People don't like the ending because it feels like it's building up to some big reveal that doesn't happen, or is squandered. I think it works, mostly. It's a story about escapism that deals with two characters running away from their problems and inventing an exciting narrative that they're a part of, but in the end they (or at least Delilah) realise that this is a fantasy and they have to return home. It admittedly has some big resolution problems with the antagonist but I think the Henry-Delilah stuff, which is the heart of the story, is handled perfectly. It really clicks on a second play through.
Seems nice to watch.



But can you chainsaw someone for ammo tho?
 

pizzacat

Banned
I messed up big time in the chess target but then I got everything back in control because I knew how the statuses worked

#nottheworstateverything #likesomepeople
 
Titanfall 2 doesn't have the best single player campaign or the best multiplayer mode but I guess it's the only game that does both well and that counts for something.
 
2016's best Non-Human character:
  • That robot Navi from Titanfall (that's a thing, right???)
  • Zenyatta from Overwatch
  • Winston from Overwatch
  • Handibot from Rec Room
  • The Voices of Nerat from Tyranny
  • Some others I'm probably overlooking.
Stiff competition.
lets just give the GOTY to Dota 2. it deserves it
You joke, but I'm fully prepared for Brad to bring it up. Again.
Why would persona 5 be mentioned this year?

Oh, it won't. Hence the inclusion!

(I'll be kind of shocked it it shows up in 2017's, though. Longform games and GB don't mix that well.)
 
While I enjoy the GOTY debate, the biggest question I have related to GiantBomb is still the lack of consistency with Premium content. GB has always been about playing what they want to play, but maybe they owe their paying members more than that.

Would it be better if they "forced" themselves to play games they wouldn't normally play just to create more Premium content? The immediate thing that comes to mind when I think of this question is Breaking Brad. I feel that Brad pushed himself much farther than he would have if he just played Volgar, CoD Mile High Club, BB Chalice Dungeons, etc on his own time, all for the sake of creating content for the site. And I appreciate him greatly for that, because that's some of my favorite content on the site.

And the ironic thing is that this year there are plenty of overlap with games that 2 or more of the crew like, to create some kind of content from it. Maybe weekly GoW 4 horde mode, or a run through Deus Ex MD, or Titanfall 2 happy hour multiplayer with both offices. But for some reason they don't take advantage of this kind of low hanging fruit, even though it's easier than ever to be up and streaming within minutes.

I guess I'm just getting frustrated that a website with the resources that they have can't put out regular content for it's paying constituents.
 
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