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Super Best Friends Thread 9: "Don't Get Cocky, Jesus!"

3

360pages

Member
You guys really need to play the new Rayman games. Origins is the harder one of the two compared to Legends. But Legends have most of Origins levels within it plus it's own set of levels.

(Think Gen 2 of pokemon, once you're done with Jhoto you move on to Kanto.)
 
G

Gentle Rodriguez

Member
Guys, the Skill Augment app in SMT IV, is it worth it? It could potentially be very worthwhile but it's a lot of points to invest into something that's random chance.
 
P

Phantasmal Repose

Member
Gentle Rodriguez said:
Guys, the Skill Augment app in SMT IV, is it worth it? It could potentially be very worthwhile but it's a lot of points to invest into something that's random chance.
Click to expand...

Nah, don't do it. Spend your app points improving your scouting and increasing your and your demon's skill slots. Oh and get the MP recovery apps when they become available.
 
X

Xiraiya

Member
Fitts said:
I know this isn't the best place to ask, but I don't want to offend nor feel as though I'm thread shitting in the corresponding OT. Can someone please explain the appeal of Giant Bomb to me? My latest attempt at getting into them is their new GOTY stuff and I just don't find any of it entertaining/funny.

My biggest problem with GB is that there is never any sense of enthusiasm and nobody actually seems to really enjoy gaming. Instead, I get the impression that they're there solely because it's the journalistic field in which they cover and they're going through the motions to collect a paycheck. During the podcasts that I've heard, the most entertaining bits are when they're discussing non-gaming related topics that come up in a tangent. They actually seem to be interested in what they're discussing in these bits, but since I'm tuning in as a gamer that's not really what I'm looking for. In addition, the videos I've seen are entertaining only when the game itself is. Their commentary does nothing to add entertainment value in my opinion. And whether it be the podcast, a video, or a written opinion piece there always seems to be a predominant sense of cynicism. If stuff like overtly obnoxious YouTube let's players (ex: PewDiePie, DSP) makes me cringe instantly, Giant Bomb has kind of become the slow burn equivalent for me. It's off-putting all the same.

I'm asking here because I know there has to be some overlap in the Best Friends and GB fanbases. Pat (possibly others) have mentioned GB affectionately several times in the podcast and Gaf in general seems to appreciate their output. I enjoy the Best Friends' output more often than not because of their genuine sense of enthusiasm toward gaming. Even when they're shitting on something, it doesn't come off as the "this sucks, that sucks, everything sucks" mentality that I get from GB. Instead, they seem to revel in it -- as if for as deeply as they fault something they're still deriving a sense of enjoyment from it. It's just engaging and fun to listen to their insight/commentary whether I agree, disagree, or have any investment in the subject matter at all.

So, is there some specific piece of content that could change my opinion of Giant Bomb? Or is their collective personality simply just not for me?
Click to expand...

Some members of GB are better than others in regards to games, but I wholeheartedly agree, in the older podcasts around 2008/2009 they're fairly cynical but not too bad, but they get worse as time goes on, I think the thing that was "The Straw the broke the Camel's back" for me was Brad and Dan playing Shadows of Mordor or whatever and going on about how good the game was and how much they like it, but then being like

"Oh whats goin' on here?"
"Uhhh I dunno, I don't pay attention to the story, I don't care about it usually"
"me neither"
"This stealth is REALLY lenient, you're right there in the open"
"Yeah it's good that it is like that"

And I was just like, are you fucking kidding me, how goddamn pathetic have you all become in regards to games, it's been seeming like for awhile that most of Giant Bomb have an attention span that is about on par with my 7 year old sister who is happy to press buttons and make stuff happen, hell the fact she enjoyed trying to figure out a game mechanic put her above those guys at this point.

Jeff is noticeably better about games in some ways, but he reminds me of a 65+ something grandfather, who kind of likes the idea of games and can appreciate how they look, but can't actually deal with them and their mechanics unless they're straightforward things, like a typical FPS shooter or racing game, but Jeff will occasionally get into really weird and unexpected games for a short time at least, which is a hell of a lot more than what I can say for the others.

Dave their tech/site guy (I can't remember if he's still at GB) was really good though, he loves a good game that takes time to figure out and so on, he enjoyed a lot of really cool RPGs and obscure stuff with a lot of mechanics and enjoyed understanding them.
 
C

croten

Member
360pages said:
You guys really need to play the new Rayman games. Origins is the harder one of the two compared to Legends. But Legends have most of Origins levels within it plus it's own set of levels.

(Think Gen 2 of pokemon, once you're done with Jhoto you move on to Kanto.)
Click to expand...

I know, I know. I'll probably get legends on the Wii U
 
I

Imperfected

Member
360pages said:
Actually I often wonder what people think of the Dragon Balls as a Plot device. You really can't call them Deus Ex, since they have been set up from the very start of the series.

Sure you could argue that they remove tension from scenes when they can just casually wish people back and the one penalty that was in place in Dragon Ball(You can only be wished back once) Was removed later in Z.

I don't think this is a bad thing persay. since the tone of Dragon Ball/ Dragon Ball Z wouldn't fit with permanent character deaths.

I do think it's best to be up front about that kind of thing, rather than have a random event for the reason why no one died.
Click to expand...

It varies for me. The point where Toriyama begins to play with the idea of the Dragon Balls, in terms of their limitations, their "destruction", and the need to pursue a new source, actually is interesting; imagine an actual dramatic deus ex machina where the god comes in on the crane and gets shot down like a pigeon. The points where it seems like he wants to play off the idea of this rather brazen plot device and do different and interesting things with it have a lot of promise.

That, unfortunately, he never really hems to. Honestly, he only gets worse as the story goes, and the Dragon Balls aren't even the only (or worst) example of such plot devices that happen in the series. (The Room of Time and Spirit, the Senzu Beans, the Fusion Earrings, the Kais in general...) He never really reaches the Kojima level of "this is bad writing, and I know it's bad writing, and I know you know it's bad writing, so let's have some fun with it" as a result; it seems more like those brief moments of lucid self-awareness are flukes.

D-Minus. The less involved the Dragon Balls are the better the series actually becomes, in my opinion. (See also: The Cell Saga.)
 
J

jack_package_200

Banned
Just bought Aria of Sorrow and Fire Emblem on the eshop.

Got $8 left

mike0dude said:
remember that time Mean Gene was eating sushi with yokozuna?
Click to expand...

Hnnng that avatar

Also this is the greatest thing ever

tumblr_nh6cj25ugx1rn5ureo4_1280.jpg
Click to expand...
 
3

360pages

Member
Imperfected said:
It varies for me. The point where Toriyama begins to play with the idea of the Dragon Balls, in terms of their limitations, their "destruction", and the need to pursue a new source, actually is interesting; imagine an actual dramatic deus ex machina where the god comes in on the crane and gets shot down like a pigeon. The points where it seems like he wants to play off the idea of this rather brazen plot device and do different and interesting things with it have a lot of promise.

That, unfortunately, he never really hems to. Honestly, he only gets worse as the story goes, and the Dragon Balls aren't even the only (or worst) example of such plot devices that happen in the series. (The Room of Time and Spirit, the Senzu Beans, the Fusion Earrings, the Kais in general...) He never really reaches the Kojima level of "this is bad writing, and I know it's bad writing, and I know you know it's bad writing, so let's have some fun with it" as a result; it seems more like those brief moments of lucid self-awareness are flukes.

D-Minus. The less involved the Dragon Balls are the better the series actually becomes, in my opinion. (See also: The Cell Saga.)
Click to expand...

I see that since the Dragon Balls were only used once in the Cell Saga, it also was the most tense Saga. (Though I would put the Frieza Saga over it)

The Time chamber was dumb as hell and created a hole in the Sayian Saga because of it. That and the abuse of Characters not name Goku and Vegeta as the series went on became annoying.

I just brought it up, since most series really tried to bullshit something with an explanation where it doesn't really make much sense (See Sasuke surviving a nuclear explosion at point-blank range) Where Dragon Ball tended to uncaring most of the time with the existence of Dragon Balls.
 
D

demidar

Member
Fitts said:
So Giant Bomb is primarily a journalistic outlet in which they attempt to inject some measure of irreverence? Maybe that's why it falls so flat with me. I simply don't care for gaming journalism/reviews/et al. Gaf is my only daily gaming read and my only outlet for games news.

Thanks for breaking it down.
Click to expand...

Giant Bomb is 100% not serious and unorthodox. They are personality driven, meaning if they don't care about something (or if it's not being aggressively bad enough), but they've also been in the game for a very long time (relatively speaking) so they won't try and feign interest. They wear their interests on their sleeves and they are always biased, the point being so that a person can apply their own weighting to each members' thoughts and opinions on games. They are the furthest thing from traditional games "journalism" and you absolutely do not come to them for news or strong opinion pieces (though they do exist). You got the irreverence part though.

You'd have better luck actually posting in the GB thread, they're not gonna bite your head off you know.
 
3

360pages

Member
It goes back to play a meh game is far worse than playing a really bad game. At least a really bad game you can get some enjoyment out of it.

Every single EP of Bug Island is hilarious
 
C

CthulhuSushi

Banned
Squishy3 said:
It reminds me more of Deadly Premonition. Except the enemies in Bug Island are actually explained. Everything else is extremely similar though.
Click to expand...

360pages said:
Eh...between the dialog and the weird monsters (Canine men is legit fucked up) everything feels more external than the internal horror that Silent Hill is known for.
Click to expand...

I agree with you in the story aspect that it does kind of remind me of DP too. It does kind of remind me of the older RE games but not the new ones. I loved the canine men, they're my favorite enemy in the game.
 
F

Foxhound286

Member
Does anone want a steam key for Dark Souls 2? I was at Gamestop and saw that they had the collector's edition for 64 dollars. I picked up what I thought said ps3 on it and bought it. After I got home and opened it up, I realized that apparently i'm illiterate and I had bought the pc version. Since it's coming out on ps4 in 4 months, I might as well give this one away.
 
X

Xiraiya

Member
Foxhound286 said:
Does anone want a steam key for Dark Souls 2? I was at Gamestop and saw that they had the collector's edition for 64 dollars. I picked up what I thought said ps3 on it and bought it. After I got home and opened it up, I realized that apparently i'm illiterate and I had bought the pc version. Since it's coming out on ps4 in 4 months, I might as well give this one away.
Click to expand...

Beloved is looking to get into Dark Souls, so she would probably like that.
 
C

croten

Member
Foxhound286 said:
Does anone want a steam key for Dark Souls 2? I was at Gamestop and saw that they had the collector's edition for 64 dollars. I picked up what I thought said ps3 on it and bought it. After I got home and opened it up, I realized that apparently i'm illiterate and I had bought the pc version. Since it's coming out on ps4 in 4 months, I might as well give this one away.
Click to expand...

Not to try and rob someone of their free game but couldn't you try and return it?
 
B

Beloved

Member
Foxhound286 said:
Does anone want a steam key for Dark Souls 2? I was at Gamestop and saw that they had the collector's edition for 64 dollars. I picked up what I thought said ps3 on it and bought it. After I got home and opened it up, I realized that apparently i'm illiterate and I had bought the pc version. Since it's coming out on ps4 in 4 months, I might as well give this one away.
Click to expand...

I'd love to have it if you really want to give it away
but you'd be better off getting your money back :x
 
S

Squishy3

Member
croten said:
Not to try and rob someone of their free game but couldn't you try and return it?
Click to expand...
You can't return opened products to Gamestop (regardless of system) and they also have no way of telling if you redeemed the key or not, and there's no returns for PC games period. They won't even exchange it for another.
 
X

Xiraiya

Member
Squishy3 said:
You can't return opened products to Gamestop (regardless of system) and they also have no way of telling you redeemed the key or not, and there's no returns for PC games period. They won't even exchange it for another.
Click to expand...
That's pretty unfortunate, though I guess I can understand why.
 
D

DeadPhoenix

Member
Squishy3 said:
You can't return opened products to Gamestop (regardless of system) and they also have no way of telling if you redeemed the key or not, and there's no returns for PC games period. They won't even exchange it for another.
Click to expand...

Ouch... I'd love to be able to actually play a souls game, but looks like I got beat twice anyways.
 
S

Squishy3

Member
croten said:
That's awful.
Click to expand...

DeadPhoenix said:
Ouch... I'd love to be able to actually play a souls game, but looks like I got beat twice anyways.
Click to expand...
Eh, it's standard practice in the US. New games you can exchange them out for the identical one in case it's damaged, but you can't get your money back because Gamestop is out of a "new" copy of a game and have to sell it as used, which essentially means they're selling a brand new game for wholesale value. PC doesn't get refunds of any sort since they all use CD keys and can never be verified as to if they've been used or not.

I may seem like a Gamestop apologist, but let me fucking tell you. THERE IS ALMOST NO MONEY MADE ON NEW VIDEOGAMES. I used to work in a small game store and the wholesale price for games was not that much lower than retail price. (And we didn't have some small pansy wholesaler either) Gamestop probably gets a better deal since they're ordering in bulk and have a relationship with publishers but after shipping costs (imagine how much it costs to get those games to all the different stores) they make jack shit on new video games. There's a reason they push the preorder and trade-in programs so hard. (And consequently this is also partially why retailer exclusive DLC exists)
 
C

croten

Member
Squishy3 said:
Eh, it's standard practice in the US. New games you can exchange them out for the identical one in case it's damaged, but you can't get your money back because Gamestop is out of a "new" copy of a game and have to sell it as used, which essentially means they're selling a brand new game for wholesale value. PC doesn't get refunds of any sort since they all use CD keys and can never be verified as to if they've been used or not.

I may seem like a Gamestop apologist, but let me fucking tell you. THERE IS ALMOST NO MONEY MADE ON NEW VIDEOGAMES. I used to work in a small game store and the wholesale price for games was not that much lower than retail price. (And we didn't have some small pansy wholesaler either) Gamestop probably gets a better deal since they're ordering in bulk and have a relationship with publishers but after shipping costs (imagine how much it costs to get those games to all the different stores) they make jack shit on new video games. There's a reason they push the preorder and trade-in programs so hard.
Click to expand...

Which is why I hate retail. I don't want gamestop to get my money, I want the devs to.
 
D

DoktorEvil

Banned
Squishy3 said:
Eh, it's standard practice in the US. New games you can exchange them out for the identical one in case it's damaged, but you can't get your money back because Gamestop is out of a "new" copy of a game and have to sell it as used, which essentially means they're selling a brand new game for wholesale value. PC doesn't get refunds of any sort since they all use CD keys and can never be verified as to if they've been used or not.

I may seem like a Gamestop apologist, but let me fucking tell you. THERE IS ALMOST NO MONEY MADE ON NEW VIDEOGAMES. I used to work in a small game store and the wholesale price for games was not that much lower than retail price. (And we didn't have some small pansy wholesaler either) Gamestop probably gets a better deal since they're ordering in bulk and have a relationship with publishers but after shipping costs (imagine how much it costs to get those games to all the different stores) they make jack shit on new video games. There's a reason they push the preorder and trade-in programs so hard. (And consequently this is also partially why retailer exclusive DLC exists)
Click to expand...

GameStop gets a bigger rap then they wholly deserve.

I hate that they killed mom and pop shops, but having the knowledge I currently do about big retail vs small retail, not every mom and pop is doing your wallet any favors. GameStop has consistently been my place when I can see a game and box, and choose not to purchase at the register if I see any scratches or indentations on the disc. VGNY (mom and pop in NYC) operates on an "as is" final sale policy and their prices are egregiously high. The only reason people support them is because they have a ton of cool stuff that acts like a small museum of video games, so they're like a tourist spot more than anything.

Imagine if the whole DRM/Always On Xbone controversy was never a controversy and the used games market was killed.
GameStop would cease to exist and Amazon/BST would no longer be a thing. That would push more people out of video games.

croten said:
Which is why I hate retail. I don't want gamestop to get my money, I want the devs to.
Click to expand...

The devs are already paid my friend. You're giving money to the publishers. And retail.
 
N

NCR Redslayer

NeoGAF's Vegeta
Since I'm not old enough to gamble yet, I decided to hit the arcades. Played some MvC2 because that was the only working fighting game cabinet. I also tried the crane game and I won mario, luigi, and yoshi.
 
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