Twenty Sided

By Shamus Posted Tuesday Jun 9, 2015

Filed under: Spoiler Warning 36 comments

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Supposedly you can beat Witcher 3 in 25 hours if you only play the main quest and skip every cutscene. My play-through took around 80 hours and barely scratched the surface of the side content. I suppose the best-case for a proper play-through would be in the neighborhood of 50 hoursNaturally a first-time player spends some time getting lost, not taking the best shortcuts, hunting for things, taking on needless extra tasks, etc.. Since Spoiler Warning covers about an hour of gameplay a week, this means it would take us an entire year just to do a “quick” play-through of the game that barely skims the surface.

So enjoy this hangout, as it’s probably the closest we’ll get to a Witcher 3 season. I’m sorry I missed it. I’d love to have discussed the game, assuming I could get a word in between people prostituting themselves for the Wendy’s sandwich menu.

We’ve said before that we’d like to do hangouts monthly. I think making a policy of doing them at the top of the month is a good idea. Also, I think we should give Witcher 3 another shot next month, assuming Josh is up for it.

I just finished my play-through of the game. I think the main plot is overlong, and the layers of ancillary quests are a little too deep, but I was really happy with the ending.

Also! Brace yourselves: Tomorrow we begin the next Season of Spoiler Warning. If you’re just coming off the Hitman Absolution episodes, this will probably cause some whiplash.

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.

 Hangout: Killing FloorPrevious Post

Next PostArkham Asylum EP1: Satan Clown Rodeo 

36 comments

Experienced Points: Witcher 3 – Size Matters

By Shamus Posted Tuesday Jun 9, 2015

Filed under: Column 74 comments

 Experienced Points: The HairWorks Debacle ExplainedPrevious Post

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My column this week is about how our usual metrics for the size of a game (hours and square area) are inadequate for describing the size and complexity of Witcher 3.

I wrote that column on Sunday. At the time, I’d just completed a massive siege at a castle, which was kind of like the suicide mission from Mass Effect 2. All the main characters were there, the bad guys were there, and everyone had gone all-in. The list of resources available to me was shaped by decisions I’d made over the last sixty hours of gameplay. The battle was a long, complex, multi-stage thing that kind of had a Helm’s Deep vibe. It was the perfect ending to a long and complex drama.

And then the game kept going. And going. And going. Days later, it’s still going.

Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Experienced Points: Witcher 3 – Size Matters”

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: The HairWorks Debacle ExplainedPrevious Post

Next PostExperienced Points: In Defense of Reboots 

74 comments

Hangout: Killing Floor

By Shamus Posted Monday Jun 8, 2015

Filed under: Spoiler Warning 30 comments

 Top 10 Spoiler WarningPrevious Post

Next PostHangout: Geralt of Rivia and the Wendy's Spicy Chicken Sandwich 

Here is the footage from the hangout we did three days ago. I guess we can consider this the finale to zombie month. We were hoping to cover Dead Rising 2, but that didn’t work out. Later this week we begin our coverage of Arkham Asylum. Are you excited? I’m excited.

Link (YouTube)

Later in the week I’ll post the second half of this hangout, where Josh plays Witcher 3.

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.

 Top 10 Spoiler WarningPrevious Post

Next PostHangout: Geralt of Rivia and the Wendy's Spicy Chicken Sandwich 

30 comments

Diecast #107: Fallout, Splatoon, Life is Strange

By Shamus Posted Monday Jun 8, 2015

Filed under: Diecast 142 comments

 Diecast #106: Witcher 3, Kickstarter, Guy FieriPrevious Post

Next PostDiecast #108: Jurassic World, Town of Salem, Steam Summer Sale 

The good news: I have glorious new audio equipment. It’s super nice. I have a great microphone and even a boom arm. The bad news: I really needed to test it out before we recorded this. I just adjusted things so they sounded fine in my headphones, without testing to see what was actually being picked up by the equipment. The result is I was too close to the mic and it sounds like I’m talking into a pillow. Then sometimes I lean in too close to the mic and it sounds even worse.

So:

Shamus + improved equipment + stunning ineptitude - due diligence = massive downgrade in audio quality.

I should have tested. Kicking myself now. Enjoy the creepy feeling of being trapped in the trunk of a car with my voice.

I promise it’ll be better next week, or I’ll make Josh eat a bug.

Download MP3 File
Download Ogg Vorbis File

Hosts: Shamus, Campster, Josh, Mumbles, and Rutskarn.

Show notes: Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Diecast #107: Fallout, Splatoon, Life is Strange”

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 #106: Witcher 3, Kickstarter, Guy FieriPrevious Post

Next PostDiecast #108: Jurassic World, Town of Salem, Steam Summer Sale 

142 comments

Witcher 3: Get Dandelion

By Shamus Posted Sunday Jun 7, 2015

Filed under: Game Reviews 119 comments

 Witcher 3: First ImpressionsPrevious Post

Next PostReview: Chime Sharp 

Witcher 3 is really good. At this point, it’s my Game of the Year. Actually, it’s my “Game of the Last Several Years”. I’ve spent the last week having these little moments where I put the controller down and say, “Wow. This game is really amazing.” The reasons why I like it so much can wait for another post. What I want to talk about is the bit last week when I rage-quit, then came back a few days later, rage-quit again, and then loudly and publicly quit the game via Twitter.

The full tale looks like this:

Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Witcher 3: Get Dandelion”

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.

 Witcher 3: First ImpressionsPrevious Post

Next PostReview: Chime Sharp 

119 comments

Hangout June 5

By Josh Posted Thursday Jun 4, 2015

Filed under: Notices 73 comments

 Also By The AuthorPrevious Post

Next PostHangout: Bethesda Press Conference 

So there I was, Tuesday morning, chatting with Shamus. And he was bemoaning the fact that without any Spoiler Warning recorded, the content on the blog this week would be sparse and he would have to spend more time this week being Rich Successful Internet Personality-Man and less time being Awesome Cool Legit Indie Game Developer-Man. So I said to him, “Well, hey, why don’t we do a hangout? It’ll be easy, free content to fill out a few days on the blog and, hell, they probably wouldn’t even notice if you didn’t show up.” He liked this idea, so I went about planning it.

And then Shamus started writing about Fallout 3 again, and oh dear god what are you even–

Uh, right, so there’s going to be a hangout tomorrow, at 4 PM Pacific. Same twitch channel as always. We’ll probably be playing Killing Floor 2, or something.

When the stream is live, you’ll find it here: www.twitch.tv/spoilerwarningshow.

Josh Viel is the primary editor and producer of the Spoiler Warning video series. You can support the show by backing the Patreon.

 Also By The AuthorPrevious Post

Next PostHangout: Bethesda Press Conference 

73 comments

What is Piracy?

By Shamus Posted Thursday Jun 4, 2015

Filed under: Video Games 224 comments

 Grand Theft Simulated TrafficPrevious Post

Next PostFallout 4: My Mods 

My daughter Esther has been really keen on watching me play the Witcher 3, which I’m really enjoying. After a while I can tell she’d really rather be playing herself. Finally she asks if she can play it on her computer. My first thought is that her computer probably isn’t up to it, but I’m not sure. So I tell her she needs to buy a copy of the gameShe might also need some upgrades. I need to check. This game is a monster..

Later Esther comes to me slightly perplexed and asks me point-blank, “Dad, how come I have to get my own copy of the game? Can’t I just install yours?”

I pause the game and let out a slow breath. She’s 15, and I can’t believe this has never come up before. Everyone in the family has Steam accounts and their own game collections, and nobody has ever taken a stab at this question before now. I guess the $60 price tag is giving her a reason to ponder this. “Well, if it was a book and we both wanted to read it at the same time, then we’d need two copies.”

She is nodding before I’m done saying the words. As soon as I stop talking she blurts out, “Yeah, but that’s a physical book. This is like a Kindle book, and you can have those on several devices at once.”

“Okay. So you think it’s reasonable that you and I could play the game on two different computers at the same time?”

“Well… yeah,” she says with a little uncertainty.

I try to lighten the tone. I don’t want her to think I’m accusing her of wanting anything wrong. I’m just trying to suss out how she thinks things should work. I present it as a thought experiment. “So what if everyone in the family downloaded the game and we all played it on our machines at the same time? Is that ok?”

“Yes?” she says even more uncertainly. It’s clear she hadn’t imagined this possibility.

“What if we shared it with your uncles?” She has a lot of uncles, but in this context she knows I’m talking about my brothers Pat and Dan.

“No, that wouldn’t be right.”

“Why?”

Continue reading ⟩⟩ “What is Piracy?”

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.

 Grand Theft Simulated TrafficPrevious Post

Next PostFallout 4: My Mods 

224 comments

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