NEWER POSTS

Spider-Man Part 16: Grand Central Terminal

By Shamus Posted Thursday May 23, 2019

Filed under: Retrospectives 56 comments
Spider-Man Part 15: It's Time to Get NegativePrevious Post
Next PostSpider-Man Part 17: Sidequests

After Spider-Man punches his way out of Martin Li’s stupid dream world, we return to the high-speed chase where Spider-Man is trying to stop the truck, Martin Li is trying to stop Spider-Man, and Sable agents are shooting missiles at everyone.

Spider-Man performs some heroic quicktime events, but he manages to lose the battle anyway. (In a cutscene, obviously. And yes, you must still successfully complete the quicktime events, even though your success will be immediately negated in a cutscene. Failure is prohibited until it’s mandatory.) The truck turns over and he’s knocked out. When he wakes up, Li has escaped with Devil’s Breath. I have no idea how he escaped the scene on foot with an army of Sable agents in pursuit. I guess those guys just suck.

And speaking of things that suck…

Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Spider-Man Part 16: Grand Central Terminal”

 

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.

Spider-Man Part 15: It's Time to Get NegativePrevious Post
Next PostSpider-Man Part 17: Sidequests

56 comments

 

Experienced Points: Shut Up and Let me Shoot Stuff

By Shamus Posted Wednesday May 22, 2019

Filed under: Column 109 comments
Experienced Points: No Man’s Sky Was Never a ConPrevious Post
Next PostCrunch is Proof that Video Game Executives Don’t Understand Video Games

In the past I’ve lamented the terrible state of writing in some games, claiming that for the same money, the developer could have made the game drastically better. In my column this week, we have an even more extreme case where you could vastly improve the quality of Rage 2 by spending less money. Just cut half these cutscenes and you’d have a better game.

In the column, I mentioned that there is ~3.5 minutes of gameplay in the first 23 minutes of the game. That’s actually me being a little generous and counting the tutorial where it locks you in a simple cube room and makes you dash 3 times as “gameplay”.

There’s a lot more to criticize. So let’s do that:

Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Experienced Points: Shut Up and Let me Shoot Stuff”

 

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.

Experienced Points: No Man’s Sky Was Never a ConPrevious Post
Next PostCrunch is Proof that Video Game Executives Don’t Understand Video Games

109 comments

 

Diecast #257: Rage 2, Outer Wilds, Satisfactory

By Shamus Posted Monday May 20, 2019

Filed under: Diecast 78 comments
Diecast #256: Framerate, Satisfactory, Metro ExodusPrevious Post
Next PostDiecast #258: Netflix, YouTube, Phantom Menace

Perhaps it would have been good to stop at a nice round number like 256, but we decided to keep making these for some reason. As always, the show email is in the header image.



Hosts: Paul, Shamus. Episode edited by Issac.

Show notes: Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Diecast #257: Rage 2, Outer Wilds, Satisfactory”

 

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.

Diecast #256: Framerate, Satisfactory, Metro ExodusPrevious Post
Next PostDiecast #258: Netflix, YouTube, Phantom Menace

78 comments

 

Game of Thrones Season Eight: “The Iron Throne”

By Bob Case Posted Monday May 20, 2019

Filed under: Game of Thrones 211 comments
Game of Thrones Season Eight: "The Bells"Previous Post
Next PostGame of Thrones: Epilogue

This series analyzes the show, but sometimes references the books as well. If you read it, expect spoilers for both.

Here it is – the series finale.

Picking up where we left off, King’s Landing is a pile of smoking rubble, Dany has gone full wrong-side-of-the-coin Targaryen, and all the characters are walking around very slowly and looking troubled. Peter Dinklage’s brows were probably sore for days after filming his first scene.

It uh... it was like this when we got here.
It uh... it was like this when we got here.

The action moves deliberately through the city’s ruins, checking in on several characters along the way, and there’s a growing sense of horror at what’s happened. Dany gives a speech to her victorious troops, in either Dothraki or Valyrian.I couldn’t tell, how is it that both the Unsullied and the Dothraki seem to be able to understand her? Checking the credits afterwards, I expected to see that this episode was directed by Miguel Sapochnik, but it turns out to have been Benioff and Weiss themselves. I was a bit surprised, but shouldn’t have been – the direction here shows off some of their strengths, like a knack for painterly framing and creating an operatic sense of scale.

Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Game of Thrones Season Eight: “The Iron Throne””

 

Bob Case MrBtongue is the Pele of complaining about videogames and will soon be the Garrincha of complaining about TV shows. You can find his Youtube channel at youtube.com/user/MrBtongue.

Game of Thrones Season Eight: "The Bells"Previous Post
Next PostGame of Thrones: Epilogue

211 comments

 
 

#23 Barbaric Salesmanship

By Shamus Posted Friday May 17, 2019

Filed under: DM of the Rings 31 comments
#22 Respect the UnexpectedPrevious Post
Next Post#24 The Munchkin Savant


Continue reading ⟩⟩ “#23 Barbaric Salesmanship”

 

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.

#22 Respect the UnexpectedPrevious Post
Next Post#24 The Munchkin Savant

31 comments

 

Spider-Man Part 15: It’s Time to Get Negative

By Shamus Posted Thursday May 16, 2019

Filed under: Retrospectives 56 comments
Spider-Man Part 14: Standish Ruins EverythingPrevious Post
Next PostSpider-Man Part 16: Grand Central Terminal

After Peter and MJ have their fight, we pause for a breather and check up on how our various secondary plots are developing.

Octavius

These guys are so smart and they're such good friends. I can't wait to see what kinds of cool stuff they invent. I'll bet it'll have a huge impact on the city.
These guys are so smart and they're such good friends. I can't wait to see what kinds of cool stuff they invent. I'll bet it'll have a huge impact on the city.

We stop by Octavius Industries to see how the Otto plot is coming along. I realize I said this already, but I absolutely love this character. This entire story thread features solid writing, great dialog, and top-notch performances from the cast.  My only gripe is that it gets sidelined by the other, weaker plots.

We discover that Dr. Octavius has built some robot-arms that can be controlled directly through mental input. They’re super strong, they telescope out, and they’re scary as hell. Also, Peter reads an article that says these kinds of neural interfaces are dangerous and experimental. They could even cause… personality changes!

Ah well. I’m sure it’ll be fine. Doc Octavius seems pretty happy and I can’t imagine how any of this could go horribly wrong.

Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Spider-Man Part 15: It’s Time to Get Negative”

 

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.

Spider-Man Part 14: Standish Ruins EverythingPrevious Post
Next PostSpider-Man Part 16: Grand Central Terminal

56 comments

 
OLDER POSTS
From The Archives:

Chainmail Bikini

A horrible, railroading, stupid, contrived, and painfully ill-conceived roleplaying campaign. All in good fun.

 

Joker's Last Laugh

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The Gameplay is the Story

Some advice to game developers on how to stop ruining good stories with bad cutscenes.

 

Rage 2

The game was a dud, and I'm convinced a big part of that is due to the way the game leaned into its story. Its terrible, cringe-inducing story.

 

Philosophy of Moderation

The comments on most sites are a sewer of hate, because we're moderating with the wrong goals in mind.

 

Could Have Been Great

Here are four games that could have been much better with just a little more work.

 

I Was Wrong About Borderlands 3

I really thought one thing, but then something else. There's a bunch more to it, but you'll have to read the article.

 

Bethesda NEVER Understood Fallout

Let's count up the ways in which Bethesda has misunderstood and misused the Fallout property.

 

Playstation 3

What was the problem with the Playstation 3 hardware and why did Sony build it that way?