Spoiler Warning S5E28: Rock Climbing

By Josh Posted Friday Jun 3, 2011

Filed under: Spoiler Warning 160 comments


Link (YouTube)

Well, we’ve finally made it into the Sierra Madre proper. For those of you who want more commentary that in some way relates to what is happening in the game, this is when all of the interesting stuff finally happens.

And for those of you who want more inane banter and trolling while we pay no attention to what is happening in the game, we’re now past the part where Mumbles quit, so now I’m the only one who knows what’s going to happen.

We’ll see how it evens out.

 


From The Archives:
 

160 thoughts on “Spoiler Warning S5E28: Rock Climbing

  1. Deadpool says:

    Hate to be the guy who points this out, but we’re getting the private problem again…

  2. Daemian Lucifer says:

    Damn youtube for not letting me play private videos!

    Anyway,while I wait,heres a link to todays something positive which reminded me of Mumbles for some unknown reason.

    1. MrWhales says:

      O.o oh my…. it does.

    2. Tizzy says:

      “but my ‘me-time’ fingers say ‘canon'”….
      What a way with words R*M has! I hope Mumbles is as disturbed as I am…

    3. Mumbles says:

      i can’t fap to this :[

      1. Viktor says:

        Why did that immediately make me think of Ghastly? NSFW:
        http://www.ghastlycomic.com/

        1. krellen says:

          Because you’re too young to be familiar with Sexy Losers?

          1. Soylent Dave says:

            Clay started drawing again the other month, incidentally.

      2. Daemian Lucifer says:

        Here,maybe this helps.

        1. AyeGill says:

          This is friggin’ hypnotic.

  3. somebodys_kid says:

    I so far have resisted the urge to purchase New Vegas until the price drops…Spoiler Warning is slowly eroding my resolve.
    Curse you all!

    1. Monojono says:

      …watching this long, repetitive slog of wandering around an incredibly boring environment one shot killing the same enemy over and over again makes you want to buy the game? Even the people who enjoyed it have mostly been saying that Josh is skipping all the interesting stuff.

      1. Keeshhound says:

        Which likely engenders a desire to see all the interesting things which have been alluded to.

    2. KremlinLaptop says:

      You know Josh, Mumbles, Shamus and Rustkarn don’t come with the game, right? Seriously, you’ll be disappointed when your play through lacks background trolling and chatter about MST3K.

      1. Fists says:

        Too true, I actually got bored of NV pretty quick compared to #3. More fun if you’ve got someone looking over your shoulder giving commentary

      2. Well if we got them to do a custom radio station…

  4. ProudCynic says:

    So when Josh leveled up, was I the only one hoping he’d pour all his points into speech and maybe tag it too so that… Um… Good things could happen in the ‘Put Down the Beast’ quest? The fact that I couldn’t get a good ending to that quest is probably my greatest regret about my current playthrough of this game. (That and not knowing radios could be shot.)

    Also: Ruts’ impression of the Ultimate Warrior was awesome, and now I can’t help but imagine Reginald Cuftbert as speaking in that voice and mumbling that nonsense to himself all the time. It fits, doesn’t it? It explains EVERYTHING.

    1. Deadpool says:

      I like dumping all his points on Explosives despite using explosives like ONCE IN THE GAME.

      1. bucaneer says:

        Do pocket explosives come under a different skill name?

        1. Raygereio says:

          That’s goes under pickpockting which falls under sneak.

          1. bucaneer says:

            That’s chance of success, but damage (important when there are several NPCs asking for it in range) is still Explosives. (isn’t it?)

            1. Raygereio says:

              For the person you did the Shady Sands Shuffle on, it means insta-death. There’s no damage calculation involved.

              As for the splash damage of the explosive, as far as I know that’s just a fixed effect, varied only by the different explosive types used. No skills involved.

              1. Abnaxis says:

                The size of the splash is fixed (although there are perks to increase it), but the damage is based on skill just like gun and melee damage are.

                This reminds me–y’know what’s fun? Reverse-pickpocketing an entire area full fo people with C-4 explosives then pressing the detonator and watching them all explode simultaneously. If you do it outside, they fly REALLY far. I noticed about eight C-4’s in my inventory the other day, and used it to obliterate everyone in KAI-CZAR’s tent (including the boss man himself–he can’t be pickpocketed, but when three C-4 charges are blowing up in his ear, he launches with everyone else). Now I just need to take the bloody mess perk and do it again…

                1. Someone says:

                  I remember blowing up Macnamara at the Brotherhood. The dude seemed awfully nonchalant about me planting three satchel charges under his chair.

                  Out of curiosity: how did you get C4 into Kaizar’s tent? Did you go in guns blazing or did you use Josh’s trick?

                  1. Slothdor says:

                    Ah, but remember! C4 is a holdout weapon! as we see later!

                2. Eärlindor says:

                  Now I’m going to have to try that…

              2. James says:

                the way id assume they’d code it is it plays a GFX effect (the explosion) and does an insta-kill so they’d probably program the damage to be some stupidly high number like the Mysterious Strangers magnum. i assume, i know very, very little about coding but logically my idea makes some sense, ‘cus the damage has to be high (unless they took the time to make the code check the guys HP and do that damage +1 and ignore DT. but that seams like a very fast way to bug city) plus if it did have splash it might kill the PC if the PC is too close. i dunno. I’m kinda rambling. maby they program it so the explosion happens inside the character model but that seam and even quicker trip to bug out city. we could ask someone to look at the code but who is genuinely that interested?

                1. Daemian Lucifer says:

                  The splash can kill you.Just go back to the episode where Josh crippled himself this way(I think it was with benny).

    2. Josh says:

      Well there are skill magazines all over the place around the casino.

    3. Someone says:

      The impression was close enough, but it’s “HOAKOGAN!” and not “HOOUUK OOGUUN!”, more condensed and potent and less drawn out.

  5. Deadpool says:

    Santa Claus Conquers the Martians.

    1. Joel D says:

      Agreed.

  6. Johan says:

    I couldn’t finish most MST episodes that I watched because the movies were so boring. The commentary was nice, but there would be 5 minutes of just BORING movie and I couldn’t stand it. I guess I have a lower tolerance for that sort of thing.

    I have to admit though, I like the height considerations in that lobby you were in.

    1. Deadpool says:

      They’re best with friends. That way you’re either adding your own commentary while the show’s hosts aren’t, or you’re chain-laughing at the last comment.

    2. Someone says:

      Same here. Tried to watch the first episode, couldn’t stand it, never watched MST3k again.

      1. drlemaster says:

        IMHO, they didn’t get consistently good until about season 2. That being said, if you’re not the kinda of person who will enjoy watching a bad movie to make fun of it, or not the type of person who’s willing to sit through several flat jokes to hear one good one, you’re probably not going to like MST3K.

        1. krellen says:

          I, uh….

          I probably shouldn’t admit this but …

          I watch MST3k to see the horrible movies because I like horrible movies. The jokes are just a bonus.

    3. swimon says:

      This is the problem I’m having with it as well. I guess the enormous expectations from people quoting it ad nauseam didn’t help either :/

    4. Soylent Dave says:

      Some of them are much better than others.

      And of course, because it’s nerd culture, you won’t find two people who agree on which the best ones are (but it’s Time Chasers and Space Mutiny)

      The writers really didn’t get into the swing of things until later series’ – there’s a lot more dead air in the earlier episodes.

      But enjoying crap movies helps as well, obviously.

  7. Deadpool says:

    Btw, anyone driven crazy by the fact that Mumbles and Rutskarn had the same Riddler/Batman conversation something like THREE TIMES IN A ROW? “Riddler wins by MAKING you play, I refused to play to win.” “Average player can’t say no to shiny things.” “Riddler wins by MAKING you play, I won by reusing to play!” “Average player can’t say no to shiny things that lead to achievements!” “Ways I see it, the Riddler wins when you play, so I don’t play.” “Yeah but the ave–”

    ARGH! I felt I was being trolled…

    1. Josh says:

      I think they were pretending to be Oblivion NPCs in a comic book store.

      1. Deadpool says:

        Well, that’s an amazingly GOOD impression then.

        Doesn’t make me want to choke them any less…

        1. James says:

          “Patrolling the Mojave, all most-”
          *several loud gunshots ring out*
          “…………..SHUT UP ALLREADY!!”
          “Patrolling-”
          * allot of gunshots some followed my maniacal laughter”
          “heheheh, there all dead now, heheheh”

          -Fallout New Vegas, it makes you want to kill people

          1. Alexander The 1st says:

            Patro-*Is shot*

            EDIT: Perhaps this is the reason Shamus kept getting cut off before?

            1. Vipermagi says:

              “I am Josh.” “And I am sho–“?

    2. ProudCynic says:

      *Gasp* Mumbles and Rustskarn trolling us? When has that ever happened?! Heresy I say! Burn this man at the stake!

  8. Chuck says:

    Space Mutiny is also my my favorite, though Puma Man is a close second favorite.

    “Puma Man, he flies like a moron!”

    1. Eärlindor says:

      Werewolf is one of my favorites thus far.

      Zombie Nightmare is one of the worst.

      I’m going to have to check out The Atomic Brain…

      And Ruts = Riddler? I seriously never considered that before… that just might work. 0.o

      1. Shamus says:

        Werewolf? Never saw that one.

        Now Warewilf, THAT was an episode!

        1. Chris says:

          Werewolf was good just for Joe Estevez, between that and SoulTaker he is MST3K gold.

          1. Eärlindor says:

            I love how the antagonist’s voice slowly becomes more and more Hispanic as the film goes on. It’s like, “Bwuahaha, wtf?” If only that were the least of the “wtfs” but that’s MST3K for ya.

    2. Gravebound says:

      1. Time Chasers
      2. Space Mutiny
      3. Merlin’s Shop of Mystical Wonders
      4. Overdrawn at the Memory Bank
      5. The Horror of Party Beach
      6. Mole People
      7. Werewolf
      8. Prince of Space
      9. Invasion of the Neptune Men
      10. Puma Man

    3. ps238principal says:

      Space Mutiny’s most famous and awesome parts are where Mike and the Bots give new names to the ‘hero’ of the film.

      And it’s really hard to decide which is my favorite. I did like “This Island Earth” for the MST3K movie, but I hated that they had to cut so much of it out; I’d love an extended cut on DvD.

      I also enjoy “Viking Women vs. the Sea Serpent,” but mostly for the short that came before the movie about a university’s home economics department, featuring the infamous cheerleading scene.

      I so miss the Turkey Day marathons. :(

  9. X2-Eliah says:

    Um. I don’t normally say this, but does ANYTHING at all happen in this DLC, like AT ALL? So far I’m just seeing combat against ONE SINGLE ENEMY type in a messed-up environment that is in ONE SINGLE COLOUR.. there’s nothing of interest going on!

    What the hell, Obsidian?

    Seriously, is this dlc the horse armor 2.0 or something?

    1. Raygereio says:

      Seriously, is this dlc the horse armor 2.0 or something?

      Hey now! That’s just uncalled for. Besides the real Horse Armour 2.0 in this age are item DLC’s. *Glares at BioWare*

      This DLC’s main weakpoint is the fact that they tried to go with survival horror; which as shown just falls flat, even without the bad puns and lamentation of not having played it as commentary.
      Coincidently said design concept falling on it’s arse is also pretty much the only thing shown off so far with things like dialogue and soaking in atmosphere completely being skipped in favor of streamlining this LP.

      1. Aldowyn says:

        Did anyone actually get any of those? Except maybe the one that gives Jack a shirt?

        1. Raygereio says:

          No, people really bought them. In droves actually.

          Also, I recal having an argument with someone on this site that claimed the item DLCs actually added to the gameplay. Because you know: shooting at the same blue sons guy, in the same level, with the Mattock instead of with the Revenant is a completely new experience.

          It’s an position that’s utterly unfathomable to me, but apparently people do see them as worthwhile. It’s their money to waste, I guess. And it’s not like BioWare is wasting resources making these. It’s the easiest money they ever made.

          1. Irridium says:

            No wonder they didn’t release a toolset for DA2. Why let the community make armors and stuff for free when Bioware could do it and get money?

    2. Kelly says:

      It’s not the game’s fault Josh skipped all the interesting conversations.

    3. BenD says:

      This DLC actually has a pretty nifty story, but Josh is bypassing a great deal of it by not reading terminals (or speed-‘reading’ them in a click), bypassing dialogue, and so on. Also, most of the real story is in the casino (which he just entered); the Villa mostly contains backstory and setting. And characters. Anyway, the enemy variety is not where Dead Money shines, yes.

    4. Alphadrop says:

      The DLC is a nice slow burn story with a lot of interaction with the characters and some great writing. Ergo it’s kinda crap watching someone else play it who’s sole social skill is slipping a frag mine in someones trousers.

    5. Vipermagi says:

      Hey, there’s three enemies (who all looks pretty much exactly the same) :P Spear + Throwing spear, Trap fist, and the slightly larger dude wielding Spear + Gas bomb.

  10. Sekundaari says:

    Well I guess we know what we will be watching for the entire next week:

    Josh’s evening out.

    1. Sekundaari says:

      I feel like Rutskarn with his fission chips now.

  11. Ouchies81 says:

    HEY!
    Now imma let you finish.

    But “The Puma Man” is the best MST3K ever!

  12. Deadpool says:

    Oh yeah! On the subject of the Ghost People… They seem to be mindless zombies kind of people. Hence no tech, no culture, no home, no ecology, etc…

    Also, easy source of Chips: Go the bartender upstairs, sell your crap for pre-war money, go to cashier downstairs and exchange money for chips.

    1. SyrusRayne says:

      I think there are references to Ghost People culture around. They worship the holograms, I think? That’s why that one quest had you activate a couple to protect Dean.

      And they’re at the very least not complete zombies, since they can make spears, use traps, and so forth.

  13. krellen says:

    Oh god, that little squeak she made when Shamus suggested being cannibalism buddies with Mumbles was great. Does that make up for the White Glove society going all grumpy on you, Mumbles?

    1. Slip says:

      Seconded. Best part of the entire episode.

      1. Daemian Lucifer says:

        Thirded.Her squee was so cute.

  14. Jakale says:

    I like how when the subtitles for our commentators aren’t all immediately apparent from the first episode of the week they wind up foreshadowing future off-topic discussions or Josh choices.

    I’m not sure how to feel for being very familiar with almost all the references to shows and movies in this episode.

  15. Slothful says:

    There were about ten minutes, during which the only people talking were Mumbles and Rutskarn. She just can’t stop taking his bait.

    Oh, by the way Mumbles, I think Rutskarn neglected to explain it to you, but the Riddler is a villain whose entire theme is how you must solve his riddles, not hear his puns.

    1. X2-Eliah says:

      Give her a break, this whole Riddler thing is completely new to her, being a total Batmen novice & all.

      1. poiumty says:

        Did you know Batmen once, like, teamed up with Supermen? They were like the Righteousness Brigade or something.

        1. But Batmen are totally Ubermensch in their own right!

    2. Mumbles says:

      Derp. A lot of his riddles are puns.

  16. kanodin says:

    I’d go with Space Mutiny or Prince of Space.

    Also a spoiler warning of Honest Hearts should be very interesting and probably filled with vitriol.

  17. Chris says:

    I’m with Ruts on Space Mutiny, but he’s wrong about Overdrawn, I love that one.

    My favorites though would have to be High School Big Shot and Invasion USA.

  18. Daemian Lucifer says:

    Shunning people who didnt watch mst3k is nice,but shunning those who didnt play baldurs gate is even better.So lets do that.

    As for fighting in movies,it works only when its quick,visceral,and shows real damage(breaking bones,blood,etc).”Wrestling” is just boring.Its long,slow,and the only indication that they did something is the sweat.Whats there to like?Unless you enjoy watching two half-naked guys hugging each other.Which does explain why Mumbles likes it.

    1. Josh says:

      How are we supposed to shun Shamus by posting comments on his blog? It’s like we already lost before we started.

      1. Daemian Lucifer says:

        We will tell him that we didnt laugh at dmotr at all.And if we wrote otherwise back then,we were just lying.And all the praise we gave him for his other works was also untrue.

    2. poiumty says:

      Yes let’s totally do that!

      especially since I didn’t watch mst3k…

    3. rrgg says:

      Most fights on film tend to be so ridiculously over the top and flashy that they might as well be dancing aggressively. And no, film special effects do not show real damage better than people actually hurting each other.

      1. Daemian Lucifer says:

        Depends on the film actually.

        And true,special effects dont show real damage better than actual damage in a fight,but they do show it better than “wrestling”.(Im using the quotes because Im from europe and here we know what wrestling actually is)

      2. Klay F. says:

        Its easy to see that you’ve never seen a Jackie Chan film. As with him, its so laughably untrue I’d say you were trolling.

  19. Daemian Lucifer says:

    Damn,my edit button still doesnt work.

    Anywho,Rutskarn,you are only looking for excuses because you suck in arkham asylum and couldnt get 100%,u n00b!

  20. X2-Eliah says:

    RE Arham Asylum – Eh, that game was pretty neat. Tho for me the point of ragequitting was the poison Ivy battle.. Still haven’t really made it past there. Seen a pretty decent let’s play of the game, too, so I kinda know what’s right after that, so there’s really no incentive to try and beat it. But seriously; the riddles – they’re nothing, just some backtracking and that’s it; that goddamn battle, that is the real breaking part of the game.

    Also, I don’t get that whole rock climbing thing. But shh, don’t tell anyone! *whisper* Let that be a secret*

  21. Tzeneth says:

    Arghh, the gambler in me is screaming out at you! Also, if you want to do crazy moves like doubling down on horrible doubling down hands, at least have the decency to have a ridiculous luck stat so you’ll get the cards you need. Heck, with 9 or 10 luck, it’s usually better to play the slots and hit either the top or second highest jackpot to go over the normal winnings limit. Did that to pay for all of my implants :)

  22. Dovius says:

    Ha! Totally called the ‘Rock Climbing’-Thing in the last episode’s comments!
    Also, fun fact Rutskarn, there’s an actual quest in Loch Modan to collect 10 Bear asses.
    Someone at Blizz likes TVTropes
    And hey, another Spoony fan!

    1. Daemian Lucifer says:

      Why do bears have donkeys?If it were ogres,Id know,but bears?

  23. Irridium says:

    “To the 2 people who watch professional wrestling”.

    Hooray! Something for me!

    1. poiumty says:

      “and the 2 people who watch the spoony one”

      Woo!

    2. Hitch says:

      At first I thought Mumbles was embarrassed for referencing a Vin Diesel movie, then I was confused, yet intrigued, when she mentioned professional wrestling. I didn’t know any wrestler named Triple X, but it sounded potentially interesting.

      (Spoken as one of the “two people” who only admit to watching wrestling for the “Divas.”)

      1. Irridium says:

        Eh, I don’t really like the Diva matches. I just not that fun to watch for some reason :/

        1. Hitch says:

          Matches? We don’t need no steenkin’ matches.

  24. Jibar says:

    Thank you guys for once again rubbing in the fact Hulu doesn’t let you watch from Britain.

    1. Halfling says:

      Its only because they don’t want to let Jibars in their comment section.

  25. Alexander The 1st says:

    @9:49

    The whole idea of leveling up at a “player punch” moment just reeks of wrong to me in video games.

    I remember in Mass Effect 1, when I was first playing it, I had gotten to Virmire, and chose to kill off Kaiden. So the level plays out, get to the end cutscene, sad music is playing while my Shepard tries to look sad, then “DING! Level Up!” Sound Effect plays right at the end of the last note.

    +1 MetaGaming

    Made worse because I metagamed Kaiden’s death because I was a Engineer, and I needed Ashley as a Soldier. So I already got +10 Metagaming points for that.

  26. anaphysik says:

    I keep hearing ‘Hulk Hogan’ as ‘Hull Krogan’ in this episode.

    EDIT:
    (@ Alexander: wow, simultaneous ME references; that’s weird. Speaking of which, I really wish they’d add a dialogue option when talking about characters that died that goes something like “Meh, I didn’t like ’em anyway.” I was really annoyed when talking to Liara after the Suicide Mission that my only responses to her ‘oh, you lost people’ comment (referring to the inglorious death I arranged for Miranda only) were ~’It hurts to think about’ and ‘They were heroes.’ Really, Bioware? No ‘Forget that bitch, all the awesome characters lived’ option?)

    1. Shamus says:

      There should totally be a Krogan named Hull in the next Mass Effect game.

      1. Alexander The 1st says:

        Party member?

        Named Hull because you find him in the hull…of the Normandy SR2.

        1. Dude says:

          No, no. Since Bioware has gone apeshit, Hull will be found in the hull of a Reaper!

          1. Klay F. says:

            “Shepard.”

            “Hull.”

            “Shepard.”

            “Hull.”

            “Shepard.”

            1. anaphysik says:

              What madness has my hearing wrought?

              Anyway, clearly Hull will BE the hull of a Reaper.
              “Not just any Reaper. A *Krogan*-Reaper.”
              “Shepard.”

  27. Kojiro says:

    Since it comes up a lot (but not much in this episode, unless it did after the point where my connection slowed down and I decided to post this comment while waiting), Guns is actually pretty viable when you get to somewhat higher levels. I’d never say it’s bad, but when you have enough Repair to manufacture your own bullets (get Hand Loading while you’re at it) and take apart the useless ones, and later when you have the almighty Jury Rigging, almost all of the expenses go away. Weapon Handling is great too, especially if you went with middling Strength to go for high Intelligence or Agility or whatever.

    Which leads me to my second point: As much as Rutskarn loves the hunting shotgun, it was my tertiary weapon in my run of New Vegas (which was a gunslinger on Hardcore Mode), and my secondary was one of the higher-powered revolvers. First, though? The anti-materiel rifle, which is weaponized perfection. Ammo is a bit expensive, but by the time you get Jury Rigging (which is about when you can finally get the rifle as well, if you spent your points well) all money costs go away; likewise, repairing this thing is not a problem, as there are a ton of guns you can rip apart for it. Making the special rounds you get for it from Hand Loading (just take apart the normal bullets, they’re inferior in every way) powers it up even further, too; the end result of my playthrough was that, out of all the times I fought the final boss (my game kept crashing during the credits and I wanted to see my dang perfect ending I worked for), there was only one time that I didn’t blow his head off. Usually took between eight and sixteen or so shots, as well; despite having Boone, ED-E, and some guy with a minigun following me, I basically won that fight every time on my own. He never attacked them anyway.

    Also, when you shoot normal people with it, they go flying. I once started trying to see what my max distance would be; I think I sent someone almost thirty feet once.

    Edit: Can’t get spoiler tags to work (as in, I don’t know the tags, not that they’re broken), so I changed two names.

    1. poiumty says:

      That’s my first-game build too. Hand Loader is such a phenomenal perk. I think the special .308 bullets have a 1.65 damage modifier, which is a 65% damage increase. That’s, what, 13 times more than Bloody Mess? Yeah…

      Also I think I 1shot the deathclaw patriarch with a sneak attack crit.

      1. Even says:

        Actually they got nerfed in the latest patch down to 1.3 and now they give extra condition damage too. Which is a shame when they already nerfed what used to be one of the deadliest of weapons, the Gobi Campaign Sniper Rifle, making it doubly useless. I suppose it gives the bigger caliber guns some more edge, but it makes my weeny 5 STR Courier cry at night. Weapon Handling helps you only so much and I don’t want to wear power armor just to meet the minimum strength for one single weapon. Bah.

        Thank god for Energy Weapons though.. That holorifle is a one bad mofo, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it gets the nerfhammer as well in the next patch.

        1. krellen says:

          Nerfing something you paid a perk for is kind of stupid.

          Actually, I’m sick of “nerfs” altogether. I’m sick of “challenge”. I’m sick of “balance”. I’m sick and tired of there being some mystical necessity for video games to be “challenging”, as if that was their reason for existence. I’m sick of being punished because I want to simply progress through a game, rather than “defeat” it. I’m sick of “easy” being hard, I’m sick of hardcore being normal, and I’m sick of achievements robbing me of my ability to skip shit I don’t like.

          And I’m bitter that I just lost twelve hours of playing a game to a crash because some jerk decided that using the cheats they built into the game themselves means I no longer get an autosave. Seriously, what the hell?

          1. X2-Eliah says:

            Balancing and level of challenge can, in the right amounts, contribute to the enjoyment of the game. Steamrolling everything is not terribly fun for a lot of folks.

            It’s just that game devs have forgotten the fun part, and are thinking that c. and b. are goals themselves, not tools to raise fun.

            That, and, naturally, if the game is poorly balanced from the get-go, then why bother with nerfs in a patch? Little fiddling won’t fix it anyway.

            1. krellen says:

              Why am I constantly forced to sacrifice my hobbies and preferences for “a lot of people”? Why can’t I enjoy my games without having to care about what the masses enjoy? I was here first, dammit.

              Back in the day, I could idkfa and run around murdering demons in Doom with impunity, and I got the same exact game and experience as one who played the game correctly, except I didn’t die. I was allowed to choose for myself what level of “difficulty” I wanted, what level of punishment and challenge I was after. “Easy” meant “anyone can get through this”. “Nintendo Hard” was not as “hard” as people think it was – Prince of Persia was utterly brutal, but Nintendo didn’t even make it. Super Mario Brothers was pretty forgiving; the levels were short, and had a checkpoint or two along the way.

              Video games became my escape the same way tabletop gaming did – because I wanted to feel super, powerful, tough, and all in all not myself. It was never so I could show off my “awesome skills”, and I really don’t understand how it’s become that.

              1. Daemian Lucifer says:

                “Why am I constantly forced to sacrifice my hobbies and preferences for “a lot of people”? Why can't I enjoy my games without having to care about what the masses enjoy? I was here first, dammit.”

                Why should dozens of people sacrifice their hobbies just so you could enjoy it more?Also,checkpoints?Whats that?Back in the day if you died anywhere,you had to restart from the very beginning.Prince hard?Psah!You could take numerous hits in that game before you died,it was easy.Thats what nintendo hard really is:One hit and you die;you die and you start from the beginning of the level;you die too many times and you start from scratch.Additional difficulties,saves,etc were added later.Games didnt become something where you were showing “awesome skills”,thats how they started.

                1. krellen says:

                  Yeah, Pong required so much skill. Moving a paddle up and down on a screen was so hard.

                  1. Daemian Lucifer says:

                    It was a new thing,so yes,it did require much skill by definition.

                    1. krellen says:

                      Incidentally, I haven’t conceded the point. I just find your argument so ludicrous as to merit no response.

                    2. Daemian Lucifer says:

                      Please explain why.Swimming is easy for those who know how to swim,yet if you throw a non-swimmer into water,theyll probably drown.Writing is also fairly simple,yet it takes lots of time for illiterate to learn it.Heck,when movies first appeared,many were scared of them.

                      Ive noticed that you are always taking things you know for granted without taking into consideration how other people might perceive them.Just because you are a gamer,you think this completely new thing was easy to learn for people who never saw such a thing before.

                    3. krellen says:

                      I don’t understand a single thing you’re saying, Daemian. Just because I have to learn a skill does not mean using that skill means I am showing off my skill.

                      And I absolutely do not take what I know for granted. How is arguing for simpler games with simpler challenges at all taking my “gamer skills” for granted? I’m arguing for a return to Super Mario Brothers, whose simple four-direction pad and two buttons were a much lower barrier to entry than our modern control schemes.

                    4. Daemian Lucifer says:

                      Yes,true,the controls were simpler back then.But thats not what started this.You were talking about simpler gameplay,not simpler controls.Actually,not simpler gameplay,but easier gameplay.Mario has simpler gameplay than,say mass effect,but mass effect is much easier to beat than mario.

                    5. krellen says:

                      Only if you take your gamer skills for granted. I can guarantee you that my father, whom has never touched a video game in his life, would fare much better with Mario than with Mass Effect.

                    6. Daemian Lucifer says:

                      Not really.My brother in law started gaming when he was 45,and he finished san andreas,while he never got past level 3 in mario forever.New games are harder to start from scratch,but are easier to finish than old games.

              2. Deadpool says:

                o_O

                Compare Super Mario Bros (which WAS fairly forgiving) to, say, ANYTHING ELSE OUT HERE TODAY (hell, even Fallout: New Vegas POST “balancing”). It’s, relatively speaking, hard as hell.

                Games today are much, much, MUCH easier on average than they used to be.

                Also, can’t you just get a trainer for New Vegas and god mode your way through it THAT way, anyways?

                1. krellen says:

                  Yes. It wasn’t New Vegas I lost progress in.

                  1. Daemian Lucifer says:

                    You now understand Shamus’ rage over new vegas,and why so many people are angry at obsidian over the bugs.

                    1. krellen says:

                      No, I don’t. As I’ve said many, many times, Obsidian is no more buggy than any other company, and in fact this experience, which is far worse than anything that has ever happened to me in an Obsidian game, just further proves my point.

                      The game is Saints Row 2, for anyone that cares, and this wasn’t the first time it crashed, though it was the first time it crashed losing so much progress because of a bone-headed design decision vis-a-vis autosaves.

                      (I played the game again last night, and again lost all my progress to another crash. I’ll probably play it again anyway, because bugs happen.)

                    2. Daemian Lucifer says:

                      Well I never used cheats and I didnt have that problem,so their design is nothing worse than any other company.

                      For the record,thats not my opinion,I agree that its a stupid choice,but Im showing to you a parallel about personal experience.

    2. decius says:

      My first runthru I used two weapon types: Energy weapons and melee. If it was too close to snipe in the face with the laser rifle, I hit it with auto-body parts. Later I upgraded to aircraft parts (Looks similar, but costs 10 times as much!).

      On my next playthru, I wanted to hunt deathclaws. The only effective way I’ve found to hunt them is with the heavy sniper rifles, especially with max repair and hand load for the AMR. “Oh, this MACHINE GUN round doesn’t pack enough punch. Lemme take it apart and add some more powder.”

      Triply awesome when I assemble a belt of hand-loaded .50 cal ammo and use it in the machinegun… I just imagine the time spent hand loading the rounds I’m using to track onto a gecko.

      1. Daemian Lucifer says:

        I sneak-plasmad deathclaws in my playthrough.Unless there was only one,in which case it was safe to come close and start the hammer time.

        Why use guns when energy is easier to maintain?You only have one ammo component,not a zillion.And melee weapons are even easier,because they have no ammo.Plus you have special moves for them.

  28. Tse says:

    Why Black Jack? The slots are much more profitable and you can’t decrease your chances by playing them badly.

    1. CalDazar says:

      Your chances are piss poor.

      Blackjack is like a dayjob in the casino, a solid income for your other habits.

    2. SyrusRayne says:

      Blackjack is bloody simple if you have a high luck. I didn’t even /know how to play/ and I managed to get myself banned from the Sierra Madre in short order.

      1. Yeah, at one point I got bored, and because I had a luck of 10 I was able to get kicked out of all 3 Strip Casinos three times in one night. (I kept having to reload because the achievement wouldn’t award, which I later found out was due to my obscure load order). I was practically cheating at Blackjack and every other time I played Slots I got at least a cherry. Roulette was still stupid though – I never once won anything decent in it. Still, high luck makes Blackjack easy money.

        1. Dodds says:

          I played Roulette wrong, but it worked. The winnings on a single number are 35:1. So, Pick a number and roll it 35 times, or until you win. Essentially, you’re betting on the number showing up eventually rather than “This time, it’s definetley Number 4!”. Sure, if you lost it was a lot of money to lose, but Money’s beyond broken in New Vegas anyway so…

  29. Aldowyn says:

    Hey, Josh? Was that “evens out” thing at the end of the post on purpose?

    And apparently Aces can’t count as low here…

    1. krellen says:

      They can. The game follows all the standard rules for Blackjack.

      1. Aldowyn says:

        I swear I keep seeing him busting with an ace, but it would be below 21 if it counted as 1… Hmm.

        1. kanodin says:

          It’s because he kept doubling down which doesn’t allow to ask for another card. So he didn’t bust he just had terrible hands since the ace suddenly went to a one.

          1. decius says:

            Right- double down gives you one card, and you’re done.

            The right hands to double down are 10 or 11, with a dealer 4, 5, or 6 showing. With the luck “you win” ability, you can expand that to dealer showing anything: That gives you two chances to autowin: once on the draw, and once on the dealer’s action.

            I’m pretty sure that I saw him double down and bust; that’s just stupid. Only double down if you’re not gonna bust, and the dealer is.

  30. Aldowyn says:

    Summary for this week:

    Tuesday: “Spoiler Warning S5E25: Of the Taco”

    Wednesday: “Spoiler Warning S5E26: Fantastic Plot-Doors”

    Thursday: “Spoiler Warning S5E27: Fish ‘n Chips”

    Friday: “Spoiler Warning S5E28: Rock Climbing”

    2 out of the 4 are references to Rutskarn being, well, Rutskarn, one is a reference to, well, a reference, and the last one is essentially a summary of the entire plot in one sentence. Now, I think that’s a pretty good summary of the week, hmm?

    That was fun, I should do this every week!

  31. Ateius says:

    I love how the cast keeps making unintentional comments that perfectly describe Reginald Cuftbert’s world. For example, the other week Josh was talking about technical mumbo-jumbo and dropped something along the lines of “It’s really difficult to concentrate with the voices shouting in my head.” Then today Shamus gives us “All I see is a gray blur of murder and terrible screams.”

    Oh, Reginald Cuftbert. Never leave us.

  32. Alex says:

    Hey Rutskarn:

    “Mom… my nuts?” – Raul Julia

  33. Rayen says:

    i gotta know how much longer did josh play blackjack?

  34. Mincecraft says:

    This is slowly becoming the Ruts and Mumbles flirt-a-thon.

    1. Deadpool says:

      Been saying that since BIOSHOCK…

      1. Mincecraft says:

        Now that you mention it…

        Must be really awkward for Josh and Shamus…

    2. Rutskarn says:

      Every time someone makes this comment, I cry deeply and shove two more awful Del Taco rat-meat specials down my gullet.

      1. X2-Eliah says:

        Keep at it Bro. It’ll make you more attractive to Mumbles. I heard she’s into crying and rat tacos big-time.

        1. Deadpool says:

          Aren’t ALL girls?

      2. Daemian Lucifer says:

        Admit it:Youre just goading her so she will finally break,come to your door and touch you in your little special place.

  35. Vect says:

    And next week we kill all our party members.

    Oh and this is going to probably mess up Old World Blues a bit since Christine plays a part in that.

  36. Jarenth says:

    Oh god, it happened.

    Josh started this DLC with a mostly cleared inventory; I think you only have one piece of armor to start with? This episode, he hit the weight cap. 220 pounds of useless junk, all picked up over the course of one DLC run.

    The episode wherein Josh quits this DLC and gets his old stuff back is just going to be twenty solid minutes of Josh agonizing over what to keep and what to drop. The Incinerator will be kept, of course.

    1. Chuck says:

      I think he left it at the penthouse, actually.

      He might keep all the throwing spears and spend half the episode chucking them at a bark scorpion, though.

      1. Actually Nelson’s really close to the Dead Money bunker, they could probably just kill Legion with them instead.

    2. Littlefinger says:

      To be fair, so did I. It’s amazing how paranoid you get re:health when you don’t find tonnes of stimpacks and don’t have your usual npc suppliers at the ready. Of course, once I realised how bloody heavy gas grenades are, my inventory improved a little. Otoh, the new suits of armor, automatic rifle, holorifle and so on that I wanted for my collection all added to the inventory.

    3. Dodds says:

      Heh. When you finish the DLC you get a rather heavy reward (30 or so Gold Bars, with a weight of 35 each.) . I ended up leaving Dead Money and then, whilst overencumbered, walked all the way to Novac. This is the only time I’ve ever found the Drop Boxes you find around the Mojave useful, as crawling to the strip from Novac would’ve been a hell of a journey to take.

    4. Even says:

      I’d say he took that perk just to have an excuse NOT to abandon the Incinerator. As far as repairing that thing or getting ammo for it, I’m not holding my breath. Still, he has been investing in Explosives the last few level-ups, so who knows.

      On a side, it is actually pretty easy to get over your weight limit if you have any hoarding tendencies at all. All the unique and DLC-only weapons and armor, the optional “repair copies”, a gold bar or two plus whatever aid and misc items you might feel like carrying. I ended up leaving the DLC with something around 400 weight units (used a fire hose box near the fountain for storage), dumping all of it into a box, getting my companions back and then hauling it all back to base.

      1. Even says:

        Post-Edit: Except I forgot that the weapon falls under Energy Weapons. I hereby abandon all hope.

  37. mixmastermind says:

    No love for pod people?

  38. AyeGill says:

    Does Josh actually know what double down means? I mean, i don’t, but that seems to be the source of your losses.

  39. Nargon says:

    Stupid blackjack is so easy in this game, thank whatever-greater-power there are no casinos nearby, coz i’m not sure if I have at least 7 luck I actually smell something fishy…

Thanks for joining the discussion. Be nice, don't post angry, and enjoy yourself. This is supposed to be fun. Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked*

You can enclose spoilers in <strike> tags like so:
<strike>Darth Vader is Luke's father!</strike>

You can make things italics like this:
Can you imagine having Darth Vader as your <i>father</i>?

You can make things bold like this:
I'm <b>very</b> glad Darth Vader isn't my father.

You can make links like this:
I'm reading about <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darth_Vader">Darth Vader</a> on Wikipedia!

You can quote someone like this:
Darth Vader said <blockquote>Luke, I am your father.</blockquote>

Leave a Reply to Vect Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published.