The Player 1 Podcast Topic

I wanted to poke fun at Mike for continuing to push LBP3 on everyone but him saying not even his kids wanted to play it just made me sad.
 
Here's a good No Man's Sky gameplay summary by ichtyander.

ichtyander said:
Here's a bit of info I sorted up in hopes of making some things a bit clearer. It's all gathered from actual info from interviews, trailers etc.

What is No Man's Sky?
- In a nutshell, the goal is to earn money, get the best gear and survive the trip to the center of the galaxy. Yes, you can explore planets or stay in one forever, but if you're asking for a goal, a purpose, that's it.

Why would I want to get to the center of the galaxy?
- It's the main goal of the game, the only objective. Apparently, there will be "a compelling reason to head towards the center of the galaxy, as well as an ending that will provide you with a sense of closure. But there will be a reason to continue playing after that ending". Remember that Minecraft, Don't Starve, DayZ or even Dark Souls don't have a clear goal, they throw you into the world without telling you what to do next. 90% of Dark Souls is melee combat and walking, sounds pretty boring if you think about it that way, doesn't it.

What are the main incentives? Why would I want to play this game?
- As was mentioned, leveling yourself by ways of earning money and gear while trying to survive in a harsh environment is the main incentive, like in a vast number of games, or at least it's the main gameplay mechanic pushing you forward. The other incentive is of course pure exploration, which is enough for a lot of people but technically it might not be. You engage in a number of activities, both on the surface and in space, earn money, improve and buy gear and reach the center of the galaxy. Of course, getting money will be challenging, it will often put you in dangerous situations and you will probably die a lot.

So what do I do, what activities are there?
All of these activities earn you money, some more than others:

Non-violent:
- Exploration (discovering and naming of creatures, plants, locations, crashed ships, structures, artifacts, portals to dangerous planets)
- Resource Gathering (gather and sell minerals from a fictitious periodic table of elements using a multi-tool for scanning, a mining laser for gathering)
- Trading (buy resources cheap from one space station, sell them to another for profit)

Violent:
- Destroy Guardian Robots (gathering and killing too much alerts robots that hunt you down, you have weapons and grenades at your disposal)
- Escort and Defend (escort ships on their journey, defend them from enemy attacks)
- Destroy Ships (destroy trader ships, lone or groups of traveler NPCs, choose sides in huge fleet battles or evade them altogether, kill the local police)

There is also one "core thing" you can do for every solar system, and this "thing" is of great significance, fundamentally changes that solar system and players can choose whether or not they want to do that.

*Note: They've mentioned that killing creatures doesn't actually earn you money (discovering and scanning them does), but you can do it nevertheless.

How does exploration actually work?
- You have a galactic map with all of the stars revealed. Clicking on a star shows its basic solar system data, with more info if someone's already been there and shared it. You hyperjump to the selected solar system and then target one of the planets. As you enter the orbit, your ship's computer scans the surface and shows you essentially question marks, points of interest detected on the surface. These points of interest can be any of the aforementioned activities that earn you money while on the surface as well as trading posts, portals etc. Basically, you get rewarded for revealing what the question marks are and then do the stuff related to said activity, whether it is scanning of new species, mining resources, a dangerous trap, jump to new worlds, kill some robots etc. You can freely explore the entire planet if you want, and you'll probably find some nice things out there as well, but a few of the key locations will be marked with these "question marks".

Just imagine Far Cry 4, but instead of the towers revealing icons and those icons depicting exactly what the missions are, you reveal icons just by arriving at the planet and discover what the icons are by actually going there.

What do I do with all this cash I earned?
- Well, the main goal is to survive the trip to the center of the galaxy, so you want to make sure you can actually pull this off. There are three main things you can upgrade:
- Suit - (shields, carrying capacity, jetpack, degree of survival in toxic, corrosive, radioactive, acid and other environments)
- Weapons - (improve scanning range and type, resource gathering, laser beam, plasma grenade, energy shot, for space there are different weapons with different specialties like lasers for shields, plasma for hull damage, torpedoes for heavy damage but with slow projectiles)
- Ship - (buy new ones actually, but they can have different stats defined into three classes: Fighter, Trader and Explorer, different engines, stealth tech, different types of weapons for different occasions)

Doesn't sound all that difficult. What are the obstacles, where's the difficulty?
- If your ship is destroyed, you respawn after death without your ship and cargo but you still have your hard earned money and suit upgrades. If you get killed while on foot, naturally you loose what resources you had on you and respawn near your ship, still having your money and suit upgrades.
- Planets have different atmospheres, radiation, toxic and corrosive environments, liquid hazards like acids and alcohols so you need to upgrade both your suit and ship to survive in these harsh environments.
- Some planets have robot guardians that attack you if you exploit (as you should) the planet's natural resources, kill off wildlife etc. In other words, the robots punish you for doing everything you can to survive and improve your gear.
- Participating in conflict between factions will win favors with one over the other, meaning one faction will give you wingmen for support or trader discounts while the other will actively attack you if you're in bad relations with them.
- Attacking outposts and space stations enrages the local police. You don't get rewarded for attacking space stations but you do for killing cops (or any ships for that matter).
- Fuel is used for interstellar (hyperspace) travel and is very expensive. An easier way of getting fuel is by mining for resources, or you could do any of the other activities to earn cash and spend it on fuel. Fuel also takes up cargo space so you need to balance that if you want to do trade runs.
- Hazardous planets (or maybe all of them?) deplete your suit's oxygen levels so you need to be mindful of this when embarking on longer journeys through the inhospitable terrain.
- Portals to other planets can be extremely dangerous (you can only use them on foot) but can also give larger rewards, since you're basically warping to a high level area while you're still at a very lower level. Also, each portal requires a different weapon or combination of weapons to activate.

So will all of this actually be fun or worth it?
- Well that depends, it might get boring quickly or the variety of combinations might keep things fresh at least for a few dozen hours. People play Destiny, Far Cry 4, Dark Souls or Don't Starve, games which have extremely repetitive and annoying elements for a lot of people but are still loved by a great many people. My point is, No Man's Sky clearly has gameplay, and while exploration is directly encouraged and essential, it's not the only thing you can do in the game. It's not a walking simulator by any stretch. You earn money, have a goal you can pursue, upgrade your gear, engage in combat, have a lot of dangerous situations etc. That being said, it might turn out to be a boring game, it depends on balance, how interesting the activities are and a number of factors, one of which is the player himself. It's not a game for everyone, but those are rare anyway.

I hope this clears some things to some people, especially with posts saying there is no gameplay and such. Also, I recommend reading the NMS wiki archive on reddit that has all of this info and more.
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Maulik said:
Any chance the driving aficionados on the pod will be looking at driveclub through rain and snow soaked glasses?
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It'd be nice if they did a racing game episode; they could get Pete Dodd, the only podcast personality I know who likes Drive Club.
 
Shoy said:
I agree. I was about to contribute this morning; however, per episode I decided not to at this time. If it was per month I would chip in definitely.
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We're definitely just testing the waters here, so there's a chance things could change in the future.

The nice thing about the per-episode setup is that, as was the case this week, if we fail to deliver what we promise it's easy to make sure the Patrons aren't charged for that content. However, if we're monthly and we have one or two issues as well as deliver two good episodes, it makes things a bit more tricky.

If you're worried about backing at a certain amount per month, the easiest thing would be divide your intended monthly donation by four and set a cap. That way, on the months we go over four episodes, you still only pay what you intended.

Either way, we'll get it figured out. Thanks for considering backing the show :)
 
Looking at Neuromancer's list makes me think No Man's Sky should stick to being a walking simulator in space. I have zero faith those mechanics will have any depth. Just give me a sweet feels game and call it a day.

Also, Patreon needs a Rich Grisham tier. $75 a month guarantees at least one Grisham appearance

Edit: David Jaffe made War of the Monsters AND Downhill Domination!?! I take back all the mean things I ever said. Best game designer ever ::swoons::
 
Metal Gear Online was awesome for the PS3 and it plays very differently compared to the normal mode. Dodging enemies by hiding in a cardboard crate is much more rewarding when you know that you're fooling real people.
 
I've never used patereon, but i'd consider setting one up for both player one and back in my play.

Can you have it charge your paypal account or does it go through your credit card?
 
eznark said:
I thought Mike's reactions to Zelda and Uncharted were interesting. Both games were pretty much identical to me "yep, that's a next gen one of those, looks neat."

What about Uncharted was so amazing?
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Hehe, yeah seems like i wasnt the only one noticing it. Uncharted PS4 looks amazing, but at the end it does look like expected from a dev like Naughty Dog on a console as powerful as the PS4, considering what they did on PS3. Same is true for Zelda WiiU.

Maybe im missing something.

But another nice episode, missed Phil though.
 
I don't think U4 looks bad but it's a shame that Naughty Dog couldn't move on like they do every gen. If their output this gen is just Uncharted and Last of Us repeats it'll be a bummer.
 
SuperPac said:
I'm not sure about the other guys, but - I really didn't have anything to say about that announcement.
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Seems strange to not even bring it up though. It's a historic franchise that's never been exclusive. Even if you're not a fan it was noteworthy at the very least.
 
Moofers said:
Seems strange to not even bring it up though. It's a historic franchise that's never been exclusive. Even if you're not a fan it was noteworthy at the very least.
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It was exclusive to the SNES back in the day.

There's not really a story there, in my opinion. Sony is supporting development, so of course it's exclusive.
 
stewy said:
It was exclusive to the SNES back in the day.

There's not really a story there, in my opinion. Sony is supporting development, so of course it's exclusive.
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There was a genesis version. And I guess you guys just don't care, that's fine. Just thought it seemed odd. I'll let it go
 
Moofers said:
There was a genesis version. And I guess you guys just don't care, that's fine. Just thought it seemed odd. I'll let it go
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Eventually there was, but it was exclusive for a time. The "Special Championship Edition" version came to Genesis just as Turbo came out, I think.

Same shit will happen here, I'm sure.
 
Vince McMahon said:
Eventually there was, but it was exclusive for a time. The "Special Championship Edition" version came to Genesis just as Turbo came out, I think.

Same shit will happen here, I'm sure.
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Actually it's been said it will never see release on another system. Sony has money in it.
 
stewy said:
It was over a year before the Genesis game was released.
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Back then a year was like 6 months now. ;)

I'm worried I'm coming off as argumentative here and I don't mean to, just saying its never been exclusive until now. I thought it was a big deal and as a fan of fighting games, I was surprised nobody even brought it up. Like I said, I get it, you guys don't care, so that's fine. I'm bowing out.
 
Moofers said:
Back then a year was like 6 months now. ;)

I'm worried I'm coming off as argumentative here and I don't mean to, just saying its never been exclusive until now. I thought it was a big deal and as a fan of fighting games, I was surprised nobody even brought it up. Like I said, I get it, you guys don't care, so that's fine. I'm bowing out.
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Well, I mean, that's only really a big deal say, a year from now - which sounds stupid and pissy but I'm totally not trying to be. There's enough doublespeak and ways around it that you can see SFV on anything. Hell, it's coming out on PC. That says a lot.
 
You're gonna have a lot of fun with Rocksmith, CJ, it's a fantastic game.

I'm sure you've heard this, but in any case: you must take your guitar to a shop to get it properly set up. Otherwise you'll have problems with Rocksmith not recognizing your input correctly, which is especially frustrating for a beginner. And most likely the string height action will be too high when you get the guitar, this makes it much harder to play than it should be (and it's hard enough when you're getting started).
 
Massa said:
You're gonna have a lot of fun with Rocksmith, CJ, it's a fantastic game.

I'm sure you've heard this, but in any case: you must take your guitar to a shop to get it properly set up. Otherwise you'll have problems with Rocksmith not recognizing your input correctly, which is especially frustrating for a beginner. And most likely the string height action will be too high when you get the guitar, this makes it much harder to play than it should be (and it's hard enough when you're getting started).
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I did hear that from Dan Amrich. I will heed that advice for sure. Looking forward to finally getting my head around a new music game. Been way too long. :D
 
Episode 423: Pretentious Minute

This week! Some follow-up on the PlayStation Experience, censorship, PSN sales, Valiant Hearts, Driveclub, Entwined, Pure Pool, Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker, Ultimate NES Remix (kinda), Far Cry 4, Tetris DX, broken games, Oculus Rift, recommended books, playing games with/without sound, and games of the last 10 years that have revolutionized gaming. Thank you for listening, and have a great week. Support the show via our Patreon!

Audio: http://traffic.libsyn.com/playerone/12_15_14-Episode423.mp3
Blog: http://www.playeronepodcast.com/423
iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/player-one-podcast-video-games/id202883543?mt=2
Youtube: http://youtu.be/-HePglaRL5A


Whimsical Phil said:
I THINK I may have solved my internet problem. WE'LL FIND OUT!!!
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Unsubscribed.
 
Mike, here's my advice with Driveclub. Like you, I like driving games where I'm racing in a reasonable car like a Subaru WRX (which I wish was in this game - maybe when the Japan tracks hit). So as soon as the tour mode gets into the crazy super cars and hyper cars, if you stop having fun, go back and just do single events with whatever class of car you want. Pick a car, pick a track, pick your time of day/cloud cover/precipitation, and just go have fun. The great thing about Driveclub is there's a lot of game there completely aside of tour mode. There are multiple levels of accomplishment to strive for: beating the in-race turn challenges, getting first (in races) or beating your previous times or the times of others (time trial), playing other people's challenges or setting them for other players, and going for 'accolades' like a certain number of races within each car class or each game type or even each country. All that stuff will give you experience towards your rank or your clubs rank which will unlock new cars and liveries and stuff if you care about progression in that sense.

Honestly I only play Tour when I get bored of single events, which is probably where I've spent 80% of my time in this game.
 
CJ you know I enjoy you but

Can we have Greg Sewart present news, or select the news articles? Just try it for a week and we'll see how it goes.
 
Vince McMahon said:
CJ you know I enjoy you but

Can we have Greg Sewart present news, or select the news articles? Just try it for a week and we'll see how it goes.
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It began as a joke, but CJ channels Leno every time he reads a news story. It makes me cringe.

-"Did you hear about/see this?"
-*News story*
-CJ does his dumb half laugh
-CJ smirks and looks/sounds incredulous
 
I agree 100% with Mike on the $100 price point being key for Occulus to really take off as a mass market device. It doesn't really seem to me as a device you share, based solely on the fact that it's something you wear, unlike a game console or handheld. I think a family with three kids might buy one for each kid for Christmas at $100. They can sell gamers on it at $200, but for it too be $2 billion huge, they need the masses.

Also CJ, you're a great newsman.
 
Greg is spot on about Driveclub, I agree with every single point he made. I got it on Monday and I already can't stand to play it anymore.
 
Episode 424: It's A Double-Plug Time Cat Christmas

This week! A super-charged, XL-sized episode, just in time for the holidays with special guests Kevin Larrabee and Rich Grisham. Minecraft: Story Mode, Halo MCC gets free ODST, Amiib-Woes, DmC Remastered, Bayonetta 2, Kirby Triple Deluxe, Far Cry 4, Forza Horizon 2, Driveclub, Rocksmith 2014 and more. Happy Holidays!

Audio: http://traffic.libsyn.com/playerone/12_23_14-Episode424.mp3
Blog: http://www.playeronepodcast.com/424
iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/player-one-podcast-video-games/id202883543?mt=2
Youtube: http://youtu.be/_JfBVVIZZ_g
Support the show via our Patreon!
 
People took breaks in Bayonetta 2? I completed the whole game on Saturday in one sitting. I thought it was a pretty relaxing game. Hehehe
 
eznark said:
There are still Halo MCC apologists out there? Amazing.
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I have to guess that is directed at me. On the show I used the words "super pissed" about how I felt about how broken the game still is.

My point was that ODST was a great way to make up the good will of the Halo fans. I would have paid $30 for a remaster for that game (like Halo 1 Anniversary). And I don't think we should preemptively crap on a remastered version of ODST that we know nothing about while they have no obligation to provide it.

And when Halo 2 works, playing that co-op with a friend has been an absolute blast.
 
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