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[Toparaman]

okay after time has passed and i've read this topic since then i admit to overreacting regarding dan's shenanigans at the start of the ec episode since the rest of it was fairly straightforward and not at all trollish

the decision to just override lang as himself still leaves a bad taste in my mouth, and he was still being highly annoying at the beginning which wasn't at all amusing. the fact that he was gonna do it to brad's character before vinny had to stop him showed how knowingly dickish he can be. combined with how annoying and detrimental he was in his previous episode, it was easy to get frustrated at him when he decided to double down on the heel act at the beginning of this episode.

it's not a big thing. it's just a bunch of tiny annoyances that build up. i guess we can all just laugh at it since this is really just a website with funny people playing video games. no need to get in a huff about it. he's not gonna change how he is so might as well embrace it.

dan's not gonna drop an n-bomb out of anger and make a non-apology. he's not gonna swindle impressionable kids out of money. he's not gonna ask about men's rights or why he can't make jokes about women anymore. he's a good guy.

it just so happens that he finds it hilarious pushing people's buttons in mostly ultimately harmless ways. and he does it often.

personally, it's not the kind of humor i'm for nowadays, but i can stomach that once every week or so! if vinny, alex, jason, and jeff can put up with directly dealing with it, it's probably not that bad. the other parts of exquisite corps are still very good to warrant watching everything.

tldr dan gets away with it again because haha i got riled up and i'm still gonna watch what a mark or something

Jesus, dude.

 

[Mr. F]

Just to bookend earlier discussion, boogie still very much on brand as a piece of shit.

 

[Hasney]

okay after time has passed and i've read this topic since then i admit to overreacting regarding dan's shenanigans at the start of the ec episode since the rest of it was fairly straightforward and not at all trollish

the decision to just override lang as himself still leaves a bad taste in my mouth, and he was still being highly annoying at the beginning which wasn't at all amusing. the fact that he was gonna do it to brad's character before vinny had to stop him showed how knowingly dickish he can be. combined with how annoying and detrimental he was in his previous episode, it was easy to get frustrated at him when he decided to double down on the heel act at the beginning of this episode.

it's not a big thing. it's just a bunch of tiny annoyances that build up. i guess we can all just laugh at it since this is really just a website with funny people playing video games. no need to get in a huff about it. he's not gonna change how he is so might as well embrace it.

dan's not gonna drop an n-bomb out of anger and make a non-apology. he's not gonna swindle impressionable kids out of money. he's not gonna ask about men's rights or why he can't make jokes about women anymore. he's a good guy.

it just so happens that he finds it hilarious pushing people's buttons in mostly ultimately harmless ways. and he does it often.

personally, it's not the kind of humor i'm for nowadays, but i can stomach that once every week or so! if vinny, alex, jason, and jeff can put up with directly dealing with it, it's probably not that bad. the other parts of exquisite corps are still very good to warrant watching everything.

tldr dan gets away with it again because haha i got riled up and i'm still gonna watch what a mark or something

 

[robotrock]

2? I think it has been 2 years since the TTK live raid.

ah that makes more sense. with TGS coming up i thought it was the raid

 

[swimbuff]

ah that makes more sense. with TGS coming up i thought it was the raid

Destiny ruining Giant Bomb again.

 

[oti]

Hmm, let me change my original proposition then. While Drew might get scrutiny for the frequency of his gaming habits, his knowledge on them is never really questionned. Abby, who has shown to be a very frequent gamer and has gaming as one of her main hobbies, has her credibility questionned because she was born too late for sonic?

I mean even disregarding the Drew comparison, which may be flawed, but we had a whole section of brad asking how to play sonic, but we don't qusstion his credibility?

I mean in general, just don't do that. it's kinda shitty honestly.

It's still funny to me how that was based on Sonic of all games. A series that hasn't been relevant for so many years.

"What do you mean you haven't played a Sonic game?!"

Like, what?

 

[valeo]

I'm pretty tolerant of Dan's personality on these vids, and mostly enjoy it, but I have to agree the latest X-Com vid was slightly annoying. He did well, though.

 

[oti]

Played three of four Destiny 2 strikes so far and they're really good. Im 1 Level away from unlocking Nightfall.


And boy oh boy am I looking forward to the Sonic Mania discussion come GOTY. It will be glorious.

 

[brianmcdoogle]

I mean I've also grown to really not like the way leigh alexander was treated especially in light of latter drunk shenanigans (greg miller, the fucking trainwreck of the last few E3s). Iwould like to think that the staff nowadays wouldn't have treated her the same way they did back then, though the way the community reacted was WAAAAAAY worse.

It was bad then and even worse today. And, yeah, community posted screencaps in hopes of getting a nip slip and then there was the supposed leaked iM screencaps calling her a psychopath or whatever. But, you know, "< >"

 

[Jintor]

and yet her confusion was immediately followed by jeff bakalar and vinny saying their small children like playing it

she and you are overthinking it.

I played and was happy with heaps of bullshit games as a kid. It's not a great measure of quality

 

[oti]

I gave my god daughter and cousin Sonic Mania to play. They didn't like it. But she immediately copied Sonic's finger wiggle, which was cute and hence made buying Sonic Mania worth it.

Other than that it's bad.

 

[Joeku]

Some people really have a tough time comprehending someone finding Sonic confusing.

It's a strange franchise. I don't care if you beat it in 20 minutes as a 5 year-old. If you so happen to walk into it with the wrong mindset (think, I don't know, Jeff and Quantum Break or whatever that game was), and fumble the negotiation between the game's emphasis on speed, Sonic's weird platforming feel, and this bizarre, replayability-oriented take on exploration, you can feel uniquely disconnected from the entire experience. People usually aren't at their most effective when they feel confounded by the basic act of navigating through a game.

Abby asking for a Sonic coach was ridiculously appropriate. It shows she was giving the game the benefit of the doubt, and senses she just needs to tweak her approach.


/QUOTE]
and yet her confusion was immediately followed by jeff bakalar and vinny saying their small children like playing it

she and you are overthinking it.

I had a friend as a kid who was the Genesis guy, and until I played the later collections on 360 and PC and whatnot I hadn't touched a Sonic game outside of the brief moments I had with it at his house (always preferred Headdy <3) so kids having temps et carte blanche doesn't apply to me, so hear me when I say: While I sort of get how to play Sonic, I still do not get how to actually play Sonic. It's fast, except when it isn't, and you just roll with the level design, except when you don't. Gotta go fast (also make sure you get the rings and bonus stages tucked into corners). It's been a fucking mess of a design since day one, and the only reason people get it is because they had enough time to internalize the levels, because they were either a child who could devote enough time to it or a child at heart who devoted enough time to it.

Children are smart. They will get anything if you give them enough time. Give them credit.

I gave my god daughter and cousin Sonic Mania to play. They didn't like it. But she immediately copied Sonic's finger wiggle, which was cute and hence made buying Sonic Mania worth it.

Other than that it's bad.

Yeah that move is better than any actual Sonic game.

 

[oti]

I had a friend as a kid who was the Genesis guy, and until I played the later collections on 360 and PC and whatnot I hadn't touched a Sonic game outside of the brief moments I had with it at his house (always preferred Headdy <3) so kids having temps et carte blanche doesn't apply to me, so hear me when I say: While I sort of get how to play Sonic, I still do not get how to actually play Sonic. It's fast, except when it isn't, and you just roll with the level design, except when you don't. Gotta go fast (also make sure you get the rings and bonus stages tucked into corners). It's been a fucking mess of a design since day one, and the only reason people get it is because they had enough time to internalize the levels, because they were either a child who could devote enough time to it or a child at heart who devoted enough time to it.

Children are smart. They will get anything if you give them enough time. Give them credit.



Yeah that move is better than any actual Sonic game.

He knew Sonic from some TV show I guess and loves Sonic Racing Transformed (you know, the one good Sonic game in existence) but wasn't into Mania at all. I wonder if he'll ever ask to play it again. Right now he's really into Arms and on my Switch he wants to play "Dinosaurs" (the Japanese Monster Hunter Demo) and Overcooked.

 

[Joeku]

He knew Sonic from some TV show I guess and loves Sonic Racing Transformed (you know, the one good Sonic game in existence) but wasn't into Mania at all. I wonder if he'll ever ask to play it again. Right now he's really into Arms and on my Switch he wants to play "Dinosaurs" (the Japanese Monster Hunter Demo) and Overcooked.

If he's into Monster Hunter and Overcooked, his taste for good game mechanics has long since passed Sonic.

 

[oti]

If he's into Monster Hunter and Overcooked, his taste for good game mechanics has long since passed Sonic.

He likes Mario. There's no room for F-tier franchises in his life.

 

[Data West]

did yall get real flustered and confused when you found the warp zone in mario

too complicated

 

[oti]

did yall get real flustered and confused when you found the warp zone in mario

too complicated

A comparison just as bad as Sonic game design.

 

[LiK]

I gave my god daughter and cousin Sonic Mania to play. They didn't like it. But she immediately copied Sonic's finger wiggle, which was cute and hence made buying Sonic Mania worth it.

Other than that it's bad.

Let them try out Bloodborne next

 

[Joeku]

did yall get real flustered and confused when you found the warp zone in mario

too complicated

Let me provide these as an example. Let's say I "get" the general mechanics of the games. What do I do in these two moments?

Do I go fast? Rev up and just blast forward? Maybe there's spikes or an enemy or a wall. What is the right choice at this moment? I have rings so I can take a hit but other than that...how should I know?

Okay, I'm fire Mario so I shoot fireballs at enemies I come across. And then I keep moving right.

Oh wait, there's nothing here that I have to run blindly into. As long as I don't straight up stop for a minute straight, I'll beat the timer without worry. Whoops, it's almost like this game isn't a real fucker to the people playing it.

 

[Data West]

i have to choose what level i want to go to in mario world

what the fuck how am i supposed to know that

Let me provide these as an example. Let's say I "get" the general mechanics of the games. What do I do in these two moments?

Do I go fast? Rev up and just blast forward? Maybe there's spikes or an enemy or a wall. What is the right choice at this moment? I have rings so I can take a hit but other than that...how should I know?

Okay, I'm fire Mario so I shoot fireballs at enemies I come across. And then I keep moving right.

Oh wait, there's nothing here that I have to run blindly into. As long as I don't straight up stop for a minute straight, I'll beat the timer without worry. Whoops, it's almost like this game isn't a real fucker to the people playing it.

you know except for turtle shells or hammer bros

 

[BreezyLimbo]

Let them try out Bloodborne next

abby actually liked bloodborne

which makes it all the funnier that she found sonic manias gameplay obtuse

 

[Rickenslacker]

Let me provide these as an example. Let's say I "get" the general mechanics of the games. What do I do in these two moments?

Do I go fast? Rev up and just blast forward? Maybe there's spikes or an enemy or a wall. What is the right choice at this moment? I have rings so I can take a hit but other than that...how should I know?

Go right. No, really.

 

[Joeku]

i have to choose what level i want to go to in mario world

what the fuck how am i supposed to know that

...Do you literally mean going left or right at the beginning?

Go right. No, really.

That's sort of the problem. With its movement and level design, you don't just go right in Sonic. You go right and then deal with immediate consequences, which may very well be bullshit if you don't know what's coming.

 

[Data West]

Go right. No, really.

But what if there's bad guys!

 

[SuperStiltzkin]

I never felt like I played any Sonic games right. Even as an adult. When you go fast, you go too fast to react to spikes and roadblocks, so it kills your momentum and makes me feel like I'm doing it wrong. If I go methodically, I feel like I'm playing it wrong because the whole point of Sonic is to go fast.

 

[pizzacat]

okay after time has passed and i've read this topic since then i admit to overreacting regarding dan's shenanigans at the start of the ec episode since the rest of it was fairly straightforward and not at all trollish

the decision to just override lang as himself still leaves a bad taste in my mouth, and he was still being highly annoying at the beginning which wasn't at all amusing. the fact that he was gonna do it to brad's character before vinny had to stop him showed how knowingly dickish he can be. combined with how annoying and detrimental he was in his previous episode, it was easy to get frustrated at him when he decided to double down on the heel act at the beginning of this episode.

it's not a big thing. it's just a bunch of tiny annoyances that build up. i guess we can all just laugh at it since this is really just a website with funny people playing video games. no need to get in a huff about it. he's not gonna change how he is so might as well embrace it.

dan's not gonna drop an n-bomb out of anger and make a non-apology. he's not gonna swindle impressionable kids out of money. he's not gonna ask about men's rights or why he can't make jokes about women anymore. he's a good guy.

it just so happens that he finds it hilarious pushing people's buttons in mostly ultimately harmless ways. and he does it often.

personally, it's not the kind of humor i'm for nowadays, but i can stomach that once every week or so! if vinny, alex, jason, and jeff can put up with directly dealing with it, it's probably not that bad. the other parts of exquisite corps are still very good to warrant watching everything.

tldr dan gets away with it again because haha i got riled up and i'm still gonna watch what a mark or something

 

[Meguro]

People defending Sonic with bad comparisons to Mario never gets old.
No wait that shit is older than I am.

 

[Rickenslacker]

I dunno where this whole idea comes from that Sonic is basically a runner where you're never supposed to stop. It's more like... a platformer where you play as a pinball and levels are elaborate pinball tables. If there's nothing in your way, you spindash, see where it takes you, sometimes there are little bits of navigation and that's okay. It's really not that confusing or complicated and even if you do run into a snag that is also okay, it's why he has rings and why he's so generous to hits.

That's sort of the problem. With its movement and level design, you don't just go right in Sonic. You go right and then deal with immediate consequences, which may very well be bullshit if you don't know what's coming.

The cases where you can just slam into an instant death in the Genesis Sonic games and Mania are just rare to the point that I can only think of maybe Mystic Cave Zone or whatever in Sonic 2 where you just end up in a pit and oops. They're very flow-heavy and forgiving games. Sometimes you might get tagged by something, but you have rings, you pick up rings and keep going.

 

[oti]

Let them try out Bloodborne next

Right now he's obsessed with Pokémon on his 2DS and she loves Animal Crossing and the Peppa Pig games on my phone. Both love Mario so I'm really looking forward to seeing their reaction once Mario Odyssey comes out.

i have to choose what level i want to go to in mario world

what the fuck how am i supposed to know that

Ya know. If you Sonic people had actually good arguments other than "But kids understand it so you're stupid" and "But there was like this one good Sonic game ages ago that was good for some reason" this would be a conversation. Sonic is bad game design. I think it's OK to admit that even if you like Sonic games.

 

[Rickenslacker]

Ya know. If you Sonic people had actually good arguments other than "But kids understand it so you're stupid" and "But there was like this one good Sonic game ages ago that was good for some reason" this would be a conversation. Sonic is bad game design. I think it's OK to admit that even if you like Sonic games.

I mean it's also bad game design to have your new gimmick be a thing that lets you effectively skip most stages in the game but people still have a fondness for Super Mario World. Some even say insane things like that ugly thing being the best platformer ever.

 

[Joeku]

I dunno where this whole idea comes from that Sonic is basically a runner where you're never supposed to stop. It's more like... a platformer where you play as a pinball and levels are elaborate pinball tables. If there's nothing in your way, you spindash, see where it takes you, sometimes there are little bits of navigation and that's okay. It's really not that confusing or complicated and even if you do run into a snag that is also okay, it's why he has rings and why he's so generous to hits.

There's a reason that Mario Maker works as an idea and a Sonic Maker would not. For a game where you're supposed to go fast, and BLAST PROCESSING moves you beyond the very screen you play on, you can't just roll with it and play your best in Sonic. It just doesn't work that way.

If it was super tiny and pixel-accurate on a 1080p screen it may be a weird thing like that Castlevania XBLA game and that could be interesting and different, but Sonic has yet to be that.

The cases where you can just slam into an instant death in the Genesis Sonic games and Mania are just rare to the point that I can only think of maybe Mystic Cave Zone or whatever in Sonic 2 where you just end up in a pit and oops. They're very flow-heavy and forgiving games. Sometimes you might get tagged by something, but you have rings, you pick up rings and keep going.

But you were stopped. You're only picking up rings because you lost them running into an enemy you wouldn't have run into if you could see them coming.

 

[SuperStiltzkin]

I dunno where this whole idea comes from that Sonic is basically a runner where you're never supposed to stop. It's more like... a platformer where you play as a pinball and levels are elaborate pinball tables. If there's nothing in your way, you spindash, see where it takes you, sometimes there are little bits of navigation and that's okay. It's really not that confusing or complicated and even if you do run into a snag that is also okay, it's why he has rings and why he's so generous to hits.

The idea comes from its name and the gimmick that separates it from other platformers. I don't find it confusing, but I do oftentimes feel like I'm playing it wrong based on its very own brand identity.

 

[hamchan]

This Sonic v Mario fight ended like 20 years ago. Sonic's corpse must have been reduced to dust by Mario's ground and pound by now.

 

[Rickenslacker]

There's a reason that Mario Maker works as an idea and a Sonic Maker would not. For a game where you're supposed to go fast, and BLAST PROCESSING moves you beyond the very screen you play on, you can't just roll with it and play your best in Sonic. It just doesn't work that way.

If it was super tiny and pixel-accurate on a 1080p screen it may be a weird thing like that Castlevania XBLA game and that could be interesting and different, but Sonic has yet to be that.

Right, because Mario levels are generally really simple and easy to conceptualize and craft. I mean a lot of them are just flat spaces. Sonic's geometry is significantly more complicated, but a lot more guided. You're not often outpacing the screen in those games and when you do it's awesome because there's a lot of leeway given.

But you were stopped. You're only picking up rings because you lost them running into an enemy you wouldn't have run into if you could see them coming.

Don't overblow the penalty here.

The idea comes from its name and the gimmick that separates it from other platformers. I don't find it confusing, but I do oftentimes feel like I'm playing it wrong based on its very own brand identity.

But you do go fast, you go fast a lot, you're doing a lot of bursts of movement. It's just not the only thing you ever do.

 

[BreezyLimbo]

What dan did today in Xcorps

is amazing

 

[oti]

This Sonic v Mario fight ended like 20 years ago. Sonic's corpse must have been reduced to dust by Mario's ground and pound by now.

I remember the "What Mario can learn from Sonic Mania" threads. That must've been fun 5 minutes for Sonic fans.

Jokes aside, I'm legitimately happy Sonic fans like Mania. Even if I find this game to be pretty bad.

 

[ArjanN]

I never felt like I played any Sonic games right. Even as an adult. When you go fast, you go too fast to react to spikes and roadblocks, so it kills your momentum and makes me feel like I'm doing it wrong. If I go methodically, I feel like I'm playing it wrong because the whole point of Sonic is to go fast.

It makes more sense if you think of it like a racing game. The first time you play a track in a racing game you're going to miss turns, but the more you play it the less that happens. Hitting something is also rarely even a death in Sonic with the safety net of the rings.

 

[patapuf]

What dan did today in Xcorps

is amazing

RNGesus was with him.

Though tbf. i didn't think he could manage to trigger 3 pods at once and walk away with only 1 casualty.

 

[xuchu]

What were the spice levels in the last PUBG? Worth a watch or was it just a loot and die ep?

 

[LurkerPrime]

What were the spice levels in the last PUBG? Worth a watch or was it just a loot and die ep?

Worth watching. They have some really good matches in the latter half of the ep.

 

[Death Metalist]

He should talk to Jeremiah. That guy seems to have it all put together.

He made an appearance in one of the Jackbox games on Friday.

 

[oti]

Nintendo listens to the Beastcast confirmed.

 

[NumberThree]

Out of curiousity, what other gaming podcasts do people listen to outside the GB family? I decided to give the Polygon Show a shot a few weeks ago as I'd been following more of their video content as of late and I gotta say, the all-female lineup is pretty rad. After listening to GB and GB-adjacent shows for a while its been interesting hearing how different outlets approach talking about games, and their enthusiasm is pretty infectious.

I like Crate & Crowbar, though that's mainly about PC games. They usually go pretty deep on games, so it's not unusual to have them discuss a particular game for 30 minutes (or sometimes what feels like closer to an hour). I usually enjoy their discussion even if it's a game I'm not personally interested in, but it's definitely on the "heavier" side so I'm not always in the mood for it. Like, compared to the Beastcast which I sometimes start listening the moment it's released when I otherwise never listen to podcasts at work, I sometimes don't listen to the Crate & Crowbar for a couple of weeks and then catch up later.

And then after those long discussions they get drunk just in time for reader questions and things go way off the rails.

Nintendo listens to the Beastcast confirmed.

That's great! Too bad for everyone who already paid too much for the NES Classic.

 

[Hasney]

Nintendo listens to the Beastcast confirmed.

FUCK EM

 

[Backfoggen]

Nintendo listens to the Beastcast confirmed.

They must have managed to lock Reggie up somewhere.

 

[Red UFO]

Man could you imagine getting legit mad over Dan in the latest XCOM video?

Neither can I, doesn't seem feasible to be that lame.

 

[Hot Coldman]

when Reggie wakes up, everyone is going to die

 

[oti]

when Reggie wakes up, everyone is going to die

You did WHAT?

 

[Dangansona]

You know what is awesome? How Gamestop in Germany is unable to accept my store credit or gift cards, and also is unaware of the Amazon Cash thing they do. Guy didn't bother to try scanning the card or do any research on the Amazon thing either despite me telling him it's a store policy.

What the fuck is the point in being a Gamestop if you are so cut off from the company?

 

[Death Metalist]

Okami in 4K confirmed. This is going to look mind-meltingly good.