Giant Bombcast - | 03-05-2013 |

30 minutes and it's just shower and bath talk.

I don't even care about videogames anymore, this is amazing.

yeah I was a bit disappointed when the actual games talk started. Although the bug/spider talk I could do without. Yeesh. That made my skin crawl.

haha when brad mentioned that bed bugs can hide inside wallpaper I was literally in bed staring at my wall where two wallpapers overlap and imagined a bug crawling out of there.
 
Sorta surprised nobody mentioned My Brother My Brother and Me when they were talking about Yahoo Answers. I thought some of them were listeners?
 
I hate to rehash the points that everyone has brought up, but the quality of the Bombcasts has gone way down since Patrick has joined. The weeks that he was out were refreshing. I always get the impression that Patrick is trying way too hard. He comes on way too strong with an opinion and immediately backs down when one of the other cast members (especially Jeff) disagrees with him. The issue with the interrupting is more annoying when Patrick does it because he is so loud and it dominates the conversation. If you have to raise your voice to interject, then it is probably not a good time to do it.

In the Tomb Raider discussion, there is a marked difference in how his opinion comes across and how Brad’s comes across.
 
I never take painkillers, I think it's the concern that if something is physically wrong with me, I want to be aware of it. If it's just going to numb you, you're not going to have a very good sense of your condition at any given time.

Most people do not take painkillers as preventative medicine. You assess that you are in pain and take the medication to alleviate the pain. If you couldn't feel any pain you would not take the painkillers.
 
as a pharmacist i'm always surprised people are afraid to use painkillers.

and please please dont combine alcohol with painkillers (or any other meds) like Brad suggested ;)

and as a final note, only use Yahoo answers for a fun distraction. The amount of armchair medical professionals on there is amazing. Consult proper professionals if you have questions.

/end of pharmacy PSA

because people getting hooked on painkillers is a huge problem in this country. I was given hydrocodon and was told to take a dosage every few hours and had enough to last about two weeks. I took just one of them and immediately knew to not fuck with that stuff and the idea of taking that many for my condition was absolutely crazy. Just look at the facts of how many deaths happen a year as a result of pharmaceutical drugs.
 
They gave me oxycodone when I had my impacted wisdom teeth surgically removed. It would have been crazy not to take it. The pain was unbearable.
 
as a pharmacist i'm always surprised people are afraid to use painkillers.

and please please dont combine alcohol with painkillers (or any other meds) like Brad suggested ;)

and as a final note, only use Yahoo answers for a fun distraction. The amount of armchair medical professionals on there is amazing. Consult proper professionals if you have questions.

/end of pharmacy PSA

Oxycodone makes me vomit, so I can't. Usually I just take the extra strength Ibuprofen.
 
They gave me oxycodone when I had my impacted wisdom teeth surgically removed. It would have been crazy not to take it. The pain was unbearable.

Yeah, same for me. I had been in pain for a week or two before that (had to wait for my dental insurance to kick in) and taking that medicine was the first time I felt relieved in weeks.
 
They rarely even prescribe stuff like oxy anymore. Hell it's hard as hell to even get codeine in large amounts anymore because of how many people use it recreationally. I get these large bottles from my dad who is a pharmacist and one of my friends is always bugging me to sell him a bottle. Prometh cough syrup is like $20 a fluid ounce now.
 
Most people do not take painkillers as preventative medicine. You assess that you are in pain and take the medication to alleviate the pain. If you couldn't feel any pain you would not take the painkillers.
That's not so different than what I said, it's more that if the pain increases, it's an indication of something you're doing that's making whatever injury you have worse, I'd want to know that. I don't know how effective they are though, maybe they don't dull the senses to the point where you couldn't feel fluctuations in pain levels. I've also just never really felt 'better', subdued maybe, but that's not really beneficial.
 
I found Brad's criticism to MGS franchise a bit immature. He said he had enough of it but can't elaborate a proper reason or which direction he wants to see this franchise going. Ryan made a good point. MGS is fucking over the top from the beginning and people shouldn't take it too seriously or be upset about it. Many people found this crazy stupid story-telling entertaining and so there will be more of it. If you don't like it go play something else (aka Kingdom Rush.)
 
I found Brad's criticism to MGS franchise a bit immature. He said he had enough of it but can't elaborate a proper reason or which direction he wants to see this franchise going. Ryan made a good point. MGS is fucking over the top from the beginning and people shouldn't take it too seriously or be upset about it. Many people found this crazy stupid story-telling entertaining and so there will be more of it. If you don't like it go play something else (aka Kingdom Rush.)

So basically it's immature not to like something you like?

I'm not mad here, but let's be honest.
 
I like the anime bullshit in MGS but I do think MGS4 wasnt the right kind of anime bullshit.

2 was just magical in its craziness. 4 was crazy but it was just dealing with MGS2's crazy bullshit and didnt really add anything new to the craziness.
 
I like the anime bullshit in MGS but I do think MGS4 wasnt the right kind of anime bullshit.

2 was just magical in its craziness. 4 was crazy but it was just dealing with MGS2's crazy bullshit and didnt really add anything new to the craziness.
Add anything new to the craziness?
 
Yeah, same for me. I had been in pain for a week or two before that (had to wait for my dental insurance to kick in) and taking that medicine was the first time I felt relieved in weeks.

I also got prescribed that when I had my wisdom teeth out in November, but I started taking it regularly right after the surgery and never had any significant pain. And then after four or five days I just stopped taking it.

But my wisdom teeth were fully developed and not impacted at all. Just seeing the cartoon drawing of what impacted wisdom teeth look like in the brochure they gave me at the oral surgeon made me nauseous.
 
The first half hour or so made me feel so uncomfortable.

You're SICK Brad!



As for the MGS discussion... as a huge fan of the series as a whole, I gotta say I've always preferred the more "grounded in reality" entries in the series, 1 and 3. Two of my favorite games of all time. They work well as stand alone games, awesome bosses, characters, gameplay, and yes, even the stories are pretty simple and clear.

2 and 4 on the other hand... while the what the fuckery of them is fun (i need scissors 61 got me good), and I understand Jeff's feelings, I personally would never put them ahead of 1 and 3.
 
I found Brad's criticism to MGS franchise a bit immature. He said he had enough of it but can't elaborate a proper reason or which direction he wants to see this franchise going. Ryan made a good point. MGS is fucking over the top from the beginning and people shouldn't take it too seriously or be upset about it. Many people found this crazy stupid story-telling entertaining and so there will be more of it. If you don't like it go play something else (aka Kingdom Rush.)
It's really not accurate to say Metal Gear was always over the top. It was never realistic, there are mechs, and cyborg ninjas, and stealth suits, etc. But even Psycho Mantis is given something of a 'real world' explanation. There are elements of MGS2 which appear purely magical. It's true that if you really looked into what Vamp was, you'd have known his name isn't about being a vampire, and when it's revealed what he really is in MGS4, you can see that as affirmation that nothing in MGS2 was magical, not even the magic arm, but how it was read at the time was certainly magical. MGS3 has outright ghosts.

There is a shift between MGS1 and 2.

That's not to defend Brad, his tastes and motivations are embarrassingly contradictory at almost every instance. Bitching about further franchise iterations at the PS4 event, and jizzing over that InFamous 3 trailer, for example.
 
The first half hour or so made me feel so uncomfortable.

You're SICK Brad!

Yeah, I was squirming in my seat for a lot of that. I think the only worse Bombcast for me was the one where Patrick was describing in detail how his wife cut her hand open.
 
I also want to add since Brad is/was here (not really looking for a response but he just reminded me). I just started Resident Evil 6 over the weekend and am now on chapter 2 of Ada's story. 25 some odd hours in and man, I honestly can't find anything overly offensive about this game.

Some things could have been simpler like simply allowing "A" to roll and take cover, but I think the game is far from garbage. I believe there was a reviewer out there who gave it a 3/10. Isn't a score like that usually reserved for unplayable games possibly with major bugs (maybe Steel Battalion Kinect deserves that score?)? That was so irresponsible.

But at the same time I will admit that the game wasn't without it's mild frustrations with some QTE segments that come out of nowhere and that dark snow level in Jakes story. I am also playing post patch and I have no idea how big of a difference it made.

I guess I'm not as passionate about the RE franchise to really yearn for more of that specific RE4 experience but I thought RE6 looks, sounds and plays fine. Not perfect, but far from garbage.
 
I work IT for a pharmacy chain and honestly I'm shocked at the amount of hydrocodone I see prescribed. The amount of prescriptions in general still shocks me. I'm 27 years old and have never taken any sort of prescription medicine outside of azythromycin once for strepp throat. But seeing teenages with 20+ prescriptions over a two year span just seems crazy to me.
 
Here's the thing about over-the-top/absurd stories in videogames......If I'm not 100% sure the developer is fully aware of and having fun with how ridiculous the story and characters in their videogame are, then I'm going to put the game down. Because at that point I start saying to myself, "Wow, these guys really are that dumb."

It's what I said about MGS4. Hideo Kojima really thinks that game is the coolest fucking thing ever, and that we're supposed to take the terrible writing, story, and characters seriously. He thinks we're supposed to feel bad for those 4 freak women that had all the ass close ups. He thinks we give a shit about Meryl and Johnny and wanted to see them get married. He thinks nano machines as the answer to everything was a good decision.
 
Can we get Giant Bomb to do their next crossover live show with CBSi owned website urbanbaby.com ?


There is nothing, nothing, nothing "grounded in reality" about anything in Metal Gear. Nothing.
 
Nano-machines were always the answer to everything. People who talk about that (much like the people talking about violence in the new Tomb Raider), should revisit the original. Every solider is dripping with nano-machines, you are too, your nano-machines even deliver a DNA targeted virus. The whole plot is about nano-machines.
 
It's really not accurate to say Metal Gear was always over the top. It was never realistic, there are mechs, and cyborg ninjas, and stealth suits, etc. But even Psycho Mantis is given something of a 'real world' explanation. There are elements of MGS2 which appear purely magical. It's true that if you really looked into what Vamp was, you'd have known his name isn't about being a vampire, and when it's revealed what he really is in MGS4, you can see that as affirmation that nothing in MGS2 was magical, not even the magic arm, but how it was read at the time was certainly magical. MGS3 has outright ghosts.

There is a shift between MGS1 and 2.

That's not to defend Brad, his tastes and motivations are embarrassingly contradictory at almost every instance. Bitching about further franchise iterations at the PS4 event, and jizzing over that InFamous 3 trailer, for example.

Would it help if I said I don't think Infamous is a series that's fulfilled its potential yet?
 
I believe there was a reviewer out there who gave it a 3/10. Isn't a score like that usually reserved for unplayable games possibly with major bugs (maybe Steel Battalion Kinect deserves that score?)? That was so irresponsible.

Notwithstanding anything else you're talking about, this idea needs to die an immediate death. There is no video game reviews arbitration board defining what a low score means. If you as a reviewer have the best time with a game you've ever had in your life but find the subject matter to be disgustingly abhorrent, you're well within your right to give it as low a score as you want. There is no "A for effort" in the critical evaluation of art or media.
 
Notwithstanding anything else you're talking about, this idea needs to die an immediate death. There is no video game reviews arbitration board defining what a low score means. If you as a reviewer have the best time with a game you've ever had in your life but find the subject matter to be disgustingly abhorrent, you're well within your right to give it as low a score as you want. There is no "A for effort" in the critical evaluation of art or media.
PREACH ON BROTHA MAN!

Which in more simple terms means: "AAA" games don't get to rely on a score bump due to their production values. The range of scores on games in a healthy critical review arena should vary greatly, reflecting the tastes, experiences, and personality of the reviewer. The situation we have now is the "institutionalization" of the 7-10 review scale. And this must end.
 
Notwithstanding anything else you're talking about, this idea needs to die an immediate death. There is no video game reviews arbitration board defining what a low score means. If you as a reviewer have the best time with a game you've ever had in your life but find the subject matter to be disgustingly abhorrent, you're well within your right to give it as low a score as you want. There is no "A for effort" in the critical evaluation of art or media.

Brad Sherwood: Death Wisher
 
Notwithstanding anything else you're talking about, this idea needs to die an immediate death. There is no video game reviews arbitration board defining what a low score means. If you as a reviewer have the best time with a game you've ever had in your life but find the subject matter to be disgustingly abhorrent, you're well within your right to give it as low a score as you want. There is no "A for effort" in the critical evaluation of art or media.
I'm not sure I agree that, that's how it should work but you know better than I do of how it usually works so I won't argue with you on that.
 
PREACH ON BROTHA MAN!

Which in more simple terms means: "AAA" games don't get to rely on a score bump due to their production values. The range of scores on games in a healthy critical review arena should vary greatly, reflecting the tastes, experiences, and personality of the reviewer. The situation we have now is the "institutionalization" of the 7-10 review scale. And this must end.

Not after last year, at least.
 
Would it help if I said I don't think Infamous is a series that's fulfilled its potential yet?
It's a difficult thing to suggest, because when you're just commentating on a live stream, even though you're in the office, at work, it's not realistically to expect some sort of objective analysis as a member of the press, but I think people still do.

I think it's fine for a layman to say that, but not for a journalist. For example, even though GG haven't made a great FPS, and they've had four major tries at it, it's strange for a journalist to write off their fifth attempt. I think it's fine for a normal GAFfer to do it. But in terms of budget and man hours, KZ4 is probably comparable to something like HL2, and while we all know it won't achieve even a fraction of that quality, I think the press should stay neutral until the game is done.

I really love the personality focus of GiantBomb (and the whole 1up thing from a few years ago), it's something Jeff seemed to push for at Gamespot, and push way further with on GB, but I think it causes a dichotomy, where in you could just say whatever you think, but it'll be scrutinized to the extent something you write as journalist would. While you and the guys might see it as this whole other thing, I don't think it is.
 
Notwithstanding anything else you're talking about, this idea needs to die an immediate death. There is no video game reviews arbitration board defining what a low score means. If you as a reviewer have the best time with a game you've ever had in your life but find the subject matter to be disgustingly abhorrent, you're well within your right to give it as low a score as you want. There is no "A for effort" in the critical evaluation of art or media.
But Braaaaaad... If I can't tell my homies on the web that a game is a cruelty free high score then what do I have?
 
Someone really typed out that someone's taste in video games is "embarrassingly contradictory?" what planet are we on.
Taste was a poor choice of words, it was more in reference to the contraction of saying a sequel wouldn't excite him, then a sequel did. But he seemed to understand what I meant, regardless of how poorly I phrased it.
 
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