Waypoint+ |OT| "Fuck Capitalism, Go Home"

[hankenta]

I think I wrote this earlier in this thread, but I feel like FFXIV being some kind of amazing story is one of the biggest on-going lies in gaming. It's either fans of the game hyping each other up over it and feeling they have to tell everyone about it, or it's players trying to fool more people into the game to increase the player base. It's able to hold up because the time commitment to confirm it is so huge for any outsider.

I fully accept that it is a good MMO with a good story and real hype moments, but not transcendent. (I also played a bit of ARR before the first expansion and thought it was really lame).

It will be interesting to hear Austin's thoughts on FFXII if he decides to go for it.

 

[ArjanN]

I think I wrote this earlier in this thread, but I feel like FFXIV being some kind of amazing story is one of the biggest on-going lies in gaming. It's either fans of the game hyping each other up over it and feeling they have to tell everyone about it, or it's players trying to fool more people into the game to increase the player base. It's able to hold up because the time commitment to confirm it is so huge for any outsider.

I fully accept that it is a good MMO with a good story and real hype moments, but not transcendent. (I also played a bit of ARR before the first expansion and thought it was really lame).

It will be interesting to hear Austin's thoughts on FFXII if he decides to go for it.

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I think it's less a lie or a grand conspiracy to rope in players , and more that it's a pretty good story and the bar for MMO stories is very low.

It's sort of similar to the Disco Elysium to Outer Worlds comparison in that yeah, the story and reactiveness in DE is a lot better, but that's because that's also all that game is, while OW has loot and shooting and 3D environments etc.

It's just people grading on a scale.

 

[SirDancelot]

Yeah I think the lack of editing out dead air and production mishaps has been kind of grating. It also artificially inflated the podcast duration, so when they say let's wrap it up and there's still 30 minutes left, I sort of check out.

minor gripe but i hate it when they bring the podcast to a screeching halt to explain some meme-y reference someone made off-handedly, like with the telling lies bit on the gotycast. No one who doesn't already know the reference was served by it, all it did was break the flow. There's too much cruft on their podcast in general imo.

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[Avengers23]

I've got some bad news for Austin's wallet:

http://www.nintendolife.com/reviews/nintendo-switch/sd_gundam_g_generation_cross_rays

 

[prolezone]

Yeah I think the lack of editing out dead air and production mishaps has been kind of grating. It also artificially inflated the podcast duration, so when they say let's wrap it up and there's still 30 minutes left, I sort of check out.

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that's wild to me. whenever they say "let's wrap it up" but there's a bunch of time left, I take it as a signal that things are about to pop off in a really funny way.

 

[deepFlaw]

I've got some bad news for Austin's wallet:

http://www.nintendolife.com/reviews/nintendo-switch/sd_gundam_g_generation_cross_rays

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...the way it's framing the release really confused me until I looked it up.

That honour belongs to SD Gundam G Generation Genesis, an older entry that saw a re-release on the Switch back in April 2018. Due to lack of region locking, Switch Gundam fans could import the game and play it at their heart's content, with one major caveat – there was no English language text support for the Switch version, a massive sin considering that, despite never officially releasing in the west, previous Sony versions of that game came out-of-the-box with complete English text localization.

Despite this mishap, western gamers continued to take full advantage the lack of region locking and dipped into Japanese exclusives that, more often than not, began to offer the much-desired English text support in their Asian versions. Even better news, the Switch began to receive ports of the Super Robot Wars entries, with full English support – which brings us bang up to date.

Hardly a single year goes by in Japan without a new Gundam game and 2019 was no exception; the exceedingly long-winded title SD Gundam G Generation Cross Rays arrived on all major platforms, with English text support out-of-the-box. At long last, we were able to fully comprehend an SD Gundam game on release day without any knowledge of written Japanese – an unthinkable event not so long ago. The make this an even more appealing proposition, the game itself is brilliant.

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Like that all makes it sound like it's a Japanese release that has English text included, right? Except... I've totally seen that game on Steam. As a regular English release? (I specifically remember seeing it because of how funny I found it that there's seemingly 0 shots of the actual tactics gameplay in the videos or screenshots.)

Turns out it's just that they only officially released it the US on PC on the same day as the JP release on other platforms, and I guess did totally still include the localization in the non-US console versions (as you'd hope they would) despite that? But it's just a regular old $60 game with a $25 season pass on Steam, in any case.

IIRC he's not a fan of the SD stuff anyway

 

[hankenta]

Yeah I think the lack of editing out dead air and production mishaps has been kind of grating. It also artificially inflated the podcast duration, so when they say let's wrap it up and there's still 30 minutes left, I sort of check out.

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My podcast app cuts out silent parts, so if there are any I'm not getting them.

 

[Jintor]

Is disco Elysium just a friends at the table simulator

 

[DarthSontin]

I never want to hear about Disc Elysium again. Like I get it, it's an RPG in the zeitgeist so it's the best RPG ever. But I've heard enough about it from everyone, thanks.

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I'd rather hear more about Disco Elysium than the same "I grinded 20 hours to get a slightly better gun in Destiny" that has been on podcasts for the last 5 years.

 

[Zocano]

I fully accept that it is a good MMO with a good story and real hype moments, but not transcendent. (I also played a bit of ARR before the first expansion and thought it was really lame).

It will be interesting to hear Austin's thoughts on FFXII if he decides to go for it.

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Eeeh, lies imply intentional deceit to me and I don't think that's the case for most people. It's just like Arjann and others pointed out, the bar is generally *so low* for MMOs that one that is even half way decent comes off as exceedingly exceptional so people flipped out. It also doesn't help that Final Fantasy has been in a bad funk for a while so one that is both, uh, heavily nostalgia pandering, while also being itself not that bad, makes all the Final Fantasy people go wild. It's just a perfect storm of fandom empowerment.

 

[Hasney]

I'd agree that XIV had an alright story that was overly praised. Until Shadowbringers, that is. That is the best Final Fantasy has ever been, let alone MMOs.

There's a reason the scenario writer got a standing ovation. I really hope she gets to work on a single player FF soon too if they're wanting to.

 

[Deleted member 35048]

I'd agree that XIV had an alright story that was overly praised. Until Shadowbringers, that is. That is the best Final Fantasy has ever been, let alone MMOs.

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Really?

14 is the first FF I've reached end credits in (well 8 times since they play credits for every expac and every x.55 patch), and while Shadowbringers was pretty fun, it wasn't better than a good Marvel Movie.

 

[Hasney]

Really?

14 is the first FF I've reached end credits in (well 8 times since they play credits for every expac and every x.55 patch), and while Shadowbringers was pretty fun, it wasn't better than a good Marvel Movie.

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Yeah, I was keeping my comparison firmly in games (mostly because I have a movie backlog, such as every Marvel film apart from Iron Man 1 and 2, but my games and books backlogs keep taking priorities!) and specifically Final Fantasy, which I do think has some good stories but Shadowbringers has enough twists and just interesting dialogue to beat out the single player ones. It's not perfect and it still has some flaws, but as a specifically Final Fantasy story, it is excellent.

 

[AncientReptileBrain]

austin with the low key idle thumbs call back got me good

 

[Salarians]

the fourty minute cutscene before heavensward is better than any marvel movie tbqh

 

[hankenta]

Over the past 10 months or so I've relistened to the entire run of Idle Thumbs. I'm really surprised I didn't check out Waypoint earlier considering how many times the site and Austin was mentioned on the cast. Especially with Danielle joining WP and the mention of the first podcast episode. I didn't pick up on WP until summer 2018.

austin with the low key idle thumbs call back got me good

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Ever wish you could rewind time?

 

[DarthSontin]

I disagree with Austin about the Goose Game references at AGDQ. It's people having harmless fun during a charity stream, so what's the big deal?

 

[bomma man]

I disagree with Austin about the Goose Game references at AGDQ. It's people having harmless fun during a charity stream, so what's the big deal?

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It's the equivalent of posting a .gif response on twitter - deathly unfunny and lame. "Orb" sucked too.

 

[Charlotte Lucas]

just let me honk. its tired but everything funny in the modern era gets played out after an hour

 

[spiritfox]

Sometimes I just want stupid memes

Honk

 

[Nappuccino]

I've been watching on and off, and honk is much more palatable than ORB

 

[Darkflight]

Sometimes I just want stupid memes

Honk

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If this was some serious event or me trying to enjoy a quiet train ride I'd be annoyed as I detest noise, people talking outside my window etc etc, but I love the atmosphere you get from a crowd at GDQ and unironically love ORB.

 

[Hella]

The Old Republic's 1-60 content (which is where I am now, having replayed from the start over the last few weeks) is a whole lot less fulfilling than anything in FFXIV. It's the same tedium, but with more voice acting and a lot of illusory choices. And its main draw--the roleplaying--requires a very specific approach to your class and if you aren't slotting into that you'll have a miserable time. But if you, like me, just want some Star Wars, it will suffice, I guess.

The 1-60 experience only takes like 50 hours if you know what you're doing though, I guess. If you skip virtually all non-required content, outside of planetary stories.

The only reason I returned to it and not FFXIV was 'cause I didn't want to play, er... a multiplayer game.

Edit: Ok, if Austin is playing Imperial Agent, the 1-50 experience is more like 40 hours and will probably be a good time regardless. Maybe 50-555 (Makeb) too, but I never went that far as a Republic class.

 

[Zocano]

The Old Republic's 1-60 content (which is where I am now, having replayed from the start over the last few weeks) is a whole lot less fulfilling than anything in FFXIV. It's the same tedium, but with more voice acting and a lot of illusory choices. And its main draw--the roleplaying--requires a very specific approach to your class and if you aren't slotting into that you'll have a miserable time. But if you, like me, just want some Star Wars, it will suffice, I guess.

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This is exactly how I felt about the "core game" of The Old Republic. I went through as Bounty Hunter 1-50 something like 2 years ago. Then did Inquisitor and half way through Jedi Knight this summer. It's... not great but if I just want some really basic ass star wars, it is at least enjoyable on that very surface level. I feel like it's clear that the class story telling is grating against the MMO format and is restrained and undone by it. It wants to be more "classic" RPG but it can't and has to follow the same basic flow of each faction route while being unable to actually do any massive sweeping changes that they can actually follow through with. Congratulations, you're on the actual Dark Council! Nothing comes of it. You're still just another player in an MMO. It just doesn't work.

To be fair, I didn't care much for KOTOR1 in general but, like TOR, it's at least enjoyable on a surface level because it's just like some generic ass star wars.

The 1-60 experience only takes like 50 hours if you know what you're doing though, I guess. If you skip virtually all non-required content, outside of planetary stories.

The only reason I returned to it and not FFXIV was 'cause I didn't want to play, er... a multiplayer game.

Edit: Ok, if Austin is playing Imperial Agent, the 1-50 experience is more like 40 hours and will probably be a good time regardless. Maybe 50-555 (Makeb) too, but I never went that far as a Republic class.

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Ya it doesn't take very long at all to get through a class story *especially* if you can keep yourself from getting distracted by the planet story lines as well. They are exceptionally short if you manage to focus and bee line without getting caught up in the side MMO fluff that the game desparately wants you to partake in. I bet it would take only 20 hours if you really really bee-line the class missions, especially if you have the XP boosts active (which you get every major milestone quest) to keep you leveling at a steady pace.

It isn't the mad horrible timesink that is FF14.

I'll be doing Imperial Agent most likely after I finish up the Jedi Knight storyline.

 

[Avengers23]

I'm glad that they've stopped running SNES Metroid because I was getting tired of "save the animals/kill the animals."

The honk didn't really bother me this year.

And hey, a new Waypoints about Star Wars. I don't think that they dig deep into the madness of old Star Wars Extended Universe, but it should be fun.

 

[Deleted member 2752]

This Twitter discourse is my personal honk

 

[kyle mechlachlan]

I played TOR a few years back during a vacation. I got it and started Imperial Agent and played it all the way through to the story conclusion. Early on I stumbled onto a French gentleman and we didn't understand each other but for some reason we just started playing together - purely through text and we basically played together the whole way through. I will always look back fondly on that experience.

 

[GlassEmpires]

If Disney can do a Marvel What If? series, they can go a step further and make a Star Wars Infinities inspired series

 

[Lentic]

Austin: Did anyone see The Irishman yet?
*long silence*
Patrick: ...what are we doin'?

lol

 

[Avengers23]

Austin: Did anyone see The Irishman yet?
*long silence*
Patrick: ...what are we doin'?

lol

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Ain't nobody got time for The Irishman.

 

[Tygre]

Honk

 

[Mafro]

Great Star Wars pod today.

 

[Avengers23]

Great Star Wars pod today.

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Hoonk

Bigger Honk

 

[patriciodcj]

Gita Jackson is joining Motherboard. I hope she'll be able to guest on the pod sometimes... I liked her on the Match 3 Podcast that she did with Patrick long time ago.

 

[Kalor]

 

[Sabas]

Nice get for Motherboard!

 

[Master_Funk]

Gita is great. I do hope she is a regular on waypoint radio rather than an occasional guest since I don't read motherboard.

 

[Patrick Klepek]

Just popping in! Gita will be around games quite a bit, and appearing regularly on Waypoint Radio, but the balance of all that will have to be worked out once she's actually in the building and we figure out everyone's new workflows.

 

[Salarians]

cooooool

match 2 baby

 

[Catvoca]

Gita is so awesome, can't wait to hear her on the podcast.

 

[deepFlaw]

This is excellent news; I miss Match 3 and I think she's gonna be a great fit for the podcast.

 

[Garcia el Gringo]

Gita is one of my favorite people to follow on Twitter, so I'm excited that she'll be on the one podcast I follow regularly now!

 

[goblin]

This is the best news and I can't wait to hear Gita on the podcast!

 

[TheMrPliskin]

That's really exciting! Gita is great and I'm looking forward to hearing her on the podcast.

 

[Phoney McRingRing]

Finally, some good fucking food.

 

[Haubergeon]

Definitely enjoy Gita a lot, looking forward to hearing more of her.

 

[xoxogossipgita]

Sup

 

[Voras]

Great news! I've enjoyed Gita's work at Kotaku and I'm looking forward to her being on the podcast.

 

[Hella]

Looking forward to the discourse.

 

[Avengers23]

Yay for Gita joining the group!