Tomb Raider Review

This we got off the cuff We try to bring you

up with as many current events as we can find

on the fly Fantastic. Yep, I know. Are you a

master of spinning the web of intrigue at the

beginning of the show? Hey, I got it right this

week. I know you didn't have to have me do it

for you. Yep. Thank you for that last week. No

problem. I almost left that whole part at the

beginning. You should have. But I moved it all

to the end. It's there still. It's still in the

show, but I moved it all to the end. along with

some of our Mid stuff, which was hilarious. So

as always, I am your host for this episode, Mike

Powers. I'm joined by Art Danner. Oh, God. Burped

kielbasa blew it in my own face. Holy shit. That

was terrible. Please don't mind the fact that

Danner sounds like he's in a submarine. Why?

Your fish tank. Oh, that, yeah. And we have Sean

Diedrich. Why? Why? Thank you. Like, Shunzi.

I almost said Shunzi Brown. Shunzi Brown. Shunzi

Brown. So. OK, what we're talking about right

before I hit the record button to get the show

started, we brought up we were talking about

the the DRM stuff for SimCity. I've had a I had

a conversation with Jason about this on. Sunday

and I've had a couple other conversations online

with some people There's a there from what I've

been from my experience playing the game and

from Various news articles and things that I've

read about the issues around some cities launch

Which we kind of talked about last week, but

there's still they've they've now disabled certain

features to make things run faster They've added

a crap or a poop ton of new servers To help out

with congestion and stuff like that, but What

is There seems to be From from what I've just

like I said from what I've played and seen myself

and from what I've read there seems to be this

mix -up between the DRM versus the the social

aspects of the SimCity game There is no I since

the game lost last Tuesday. I have no had no

problem playing the game the game the When I

load up origin and I go to play sim City that

authenticates just fine and the game starts playing

That's that's the you know the DRM check works

fine I've never been booted out of the game.

I've been booted out of the game twice because

origin just did something stupid That never happens.

Well, but that can happen. I mean, you can get

booted out of Xbox Live. I mean, that happened

to us when we were playing Borderlands. I think

it happened to Sean Z and I were playing Borderlands

2. We just randomly got booted out. They pushed

out a patch and we got booted out. I mean, it's

but it happens. So the the the check, the DRM

check, I have passed every single time to start

the game. The issue of not being able to play

with your friends and the is coming from. EA

or Maxis or just piss poor planning on their

part or not Supplying enough Servers for everyone

that wanted to play they didn't meet the demand

because apparently they didn't think Sim City

was a popular title Sim what I'm sorry. I'm not

familiar with this game. Yeah, I know so it come

in When I had the conversation with Jason it

I kind of I kind of realized you know weeding

through comments and people being generally pissed

off I've put almost 70 probably 80 hours into

the game she's since last Tuesday It so I'm not

having any troubles playing the game now. Here's

live Yeah, well You put a you know what we can

you know what? Okay, I put 80 hours into I put

80 hours into the game and I finished Tomb Raider

in two days. So. Boom. We'll talk about that

later. Yeah, I was going to say like, yeah, you're

like the lord of the geeks. I went out. I went

out and got Tomb Raider like I said I would.

And I finished it so we can talk about at least

what Dan is played today. So some days it amazes

me how you are not 300 pounds pimple face. I

know. Right. I don't I don't need this. It's

my gift. He must have the metabolism of a jackrabbit.

Or he doesn't eat. I do eat, though. I eat. He

does. I have McDonald's like every day. Yeah,

it's bullshit. Man. Anyways, so I kind of realize

when weeding through all this SimCity garbage

and the hate and all this stuff online, it's

there. There was a. The servers aren't region

locked. Even though they're listed as in the

area specific, like there's North America East,

North America West, there's like Europe East,

Europe West, there's an oceanic region. Now there's

a South American region. Anyone in North America

is not confined to the North American servers.

When I signed on on Tuesday when I was at work

and everything, you know, the North American

server said that they were full or busy, I went

and found a server that said it was available.

And I just started playing on it. It's just so

I can start playing the game. I think this. I

think the people that are really pissed about

the game not working, it's coming from people

that want to play on a server with their friends.

And I get that. But to say that, I mean. I just

started playing, so I. It's it's tough and I

started playing with some friends. I jumped on

another server I think I've been on like five

different servers just so I can play my game

and It wasn't until this week that I actually

started playing with friends and the game still

isn't working as advertised But it's still very

playable if you're willing to just Go play the

game and not worried about you know getting in

there with your friends So it's weird the people

that are complaining about it being always online

are the ones that want to play it but they can't

play with their friends, so why are you complaining

that it's... I don't know. So, yeah, but the

DRM is working. I've seen a couple of articles

saying that the game can be run in an offline

mode. Maxis says that it can't. I think that

any... I think the system specs that they gave

for it, which is at least you have to have like

a dual core system to run the game, I think any

computer should be able to... Play this game

locally, but I I for one I like the social aspects

of it. I like being in a sit I like being in

there building my city and It's like I was talking

to Shauncey that city that I started on Saturday

Yeah, I was just raking in the money and then

I started gifting money to my friends that jump

in regions around me I was like I've got more

money than I know what to do with here have this

and then I went and made it all back and have

some more That was a lot of fun, but they have

disabled features. You can only play it at slow

or normal speed. You can't do the fastest ones,

so you're just kinda waiting for stuff to happen,

which is very boring. So wait, was that when

it released, was that mode active and they turned

it off? Yes, they turned it off because of the

way their system works is your city is stored

in the cloud. It's not stored locally, and when

you would hit the fast forward button, you...

It would write more information to the cloud

than... That was one of the things was bringing

the servers down. Is a lot of people running

it on fast? Yes, and the computer sending the

information to the server as fast as stuff was

happening, they didn't anticipate that. So they

turned it off and things have stabilized. They've

turned off the ability to filter games and they've

turned off the leaderboards and some other stuff,

which... Hope that stuff comes back But I was

never interested in that stuff to begin with

so if it doesn't I'm not concerned not gonna

really affect you too much But just not seeing

an aspect of the game go bye. Bye. Yeah release

in and it didn't really it didn't dawn on me

that That's a missing didn't bother me until

I got the idea Because I've had a lot of fun

with my city where the nuclear reactor went melted

down Yeah, I've had a lot of fun with that one

trying to Build it back And trying to save it

from a nuclear fallout, which is impossible I

think I think I think the funniest thing I've

seen is I went on a forum to see if there was

some way to speed up the process of eliminating

radiation in an area and Someone on the forum

said that the decay rate for you know The half

-life for plutonium or in real life is like two

and a half million or billion years or something

like that Then the next the next comment down

below that and said yeah cheetah speed is not

gonna do anything for that so So I've kind of

I've kind of moved on from that city But I got

the idea that maybe I would go and find an abandoned

city Some a city that someone else had run into

the ground and I would try and save it. We try

to fix it Yeah, and because I've had a lot of

fun trying to rejuvenate my own city and you

can go on you can go in all these different cities

and sometimes there's abandoned cities that are

like built and sometimes they're they're not

You can't find any. Well, they used to have an

ability to just find abandoned games and they

removed that too So but again that didn't affect

me until I was like, I want to find a new way

to play the game but then I just went back and

started messing around with my old city so but

Don't know like I said if I Don't think any of

the next after this I'm going to be amazed if

any of the next -gen consoles are always online

Are required because you think they're gonna

take a look at this and be like well people are

pissed about this always online thing Yeah, I

mean I totally get being upset. I I'm not I Get

it. I just think that there's Like like I said,

there's a it's weird from people that are mad

that it was always online and not being able

to play with their - because they couldn't be

able to play with their friends. Well, the game

has to be online to play with your friends, so

why are you complaining about? You know, and

I don't - it's kind of like, you know, for me,

like, switching a server is kind of like watching

a TV show or listening to the radio. If you get

offended, change the channel. You know, if you

want to play your game, go find a server that's

open. It's not like you go and load up Battlefield

and you find - You know it's like all that servers

full. I can't get I can't get in that one server

even though like two clicks down There's like

a three cry You know what I'm saying? It's like

and in and battlefield like you were just talking

before there's different regions. I can go play

and a Different region completely doesn't really

matter. Yeah, it's you know it's not like the

game is perfectly playable I think it's just

people whining to bitch about it, but you know

what I've won him glad that people bitched about

it because EA is giving me a free game And I

hope crisis three is is in that is in that list

so But no I Yeah, the John people yeah, I've

been having fun I do I think they should have

learned from You know from what happened with

Diablo 3 a year ago. Yes I mean this happened

with with wow when it released a decade ago Same

the same exact thing happened. It's kind of like

this this stuff Should not be happening anymore

So I don't know yeah, I don't I don't think it

if anyone was watching if you know if they were

obviously they were paying attention I don't

think if that's If they if they do do it it'll

be something different like you do It'll be tied

to like your it'll be tied to your gamer tag

or something which your gamer tag as long as

Xbox Live stays up a quick You know, like I said,

the DRM has not been an issue for me because

origin has always let me start the game. So.

We'll see what happens, I guess. So you're not

saying that there's that there is that the DRM

is working fine. You haven't had a problem with

it yet, right? And I that well, no, I'm saying

it is. I'm saying people are getting in the DRM

that would say that you can't start that. You

can't play the game. I'm saying that is working.

The servers for the game. Aren't working. That's

what's kicking people out. That's what's preventing

people from playing You can do your DRM check

to start the game But then once you get like

like imagine if you want to turn you could turn

on Call of Duty, but you couldn't find a game

It's that kind of thing gotcha so I was gonna

say something else, but I can't remember what

it was Shoot oh well So, Daner, let's talk about

Tomb Raider. Okay. How far are you? Did you play

yesterday? I just got 3 -day launcher. Okay.

So, what do you, what do you, any revised impressions?

Besides the fact that you took your sweet, sweet

time making me look silly last week when I mentioned

anything about it? No, I'm good. I asked you

about the campfires. I asked you a legitimate

question. And even when I was talking, even when

I was just playing it, I was talking to Seanzy.

I said I still don't get it. That's fine. Come

on. What? Have a conversation. I am having a

conversation. You shunned me away from conversation

last week for beating up on me. Yeah, you big

meanie. I don't know. All right. Fine. Sean Z.

How's that battlefield 3 DLC? I'm still enjoying

it. I'm still enjoying Tomb Raider. It's a lot

of fun. I I do see some of the After playing

it longer, you know, actually, you know being

able to kind of sort of talk to you about it.

I've been I'm I would You're gonna castrate me

for saying this. I'm almost liking it better

than the first Uncharted game I can get behind

that. No, it's better than the first Uncharted

game. I... I'm almost enjoying it more than I

enjoyed 3 also. It's close. It's not quite there.

It's nipping on the heels of 3. It's no way near

better than 2 though. This is the closest thing

you can get onto if you're playing on 360. This

would be the closest thing to Uncharted you can

get onto 360. Yeah, that's definitely the way

I felt about it. It's like I told John and I

told Chaunzy when I was playing, I said if anyone

ever, if any 360 owner ever wanted to know what

the deal was with Uncharted, it's Tomb Raider.

But at the same time, I was thinking about it

again today, I don't know if I can actually...

Like, I want to. I want to sit there and compare

Tomb Raider to Uncharted. But I feel like...

I feel... They're both that action -adventure,

Indiana Jones -esque type game, right? But I

almost feel like Tomb Raider should be... And

you might come at me with this, come at me here.

I almost feel like it should be compared more

to games like Arkham Asylum. In in that it's

you know you're you're not you're not globe trotting

the world It's back and forth through through

various areas the same time. You're upgrading

your gadgets as you play It's you don't you don't

really do that kind of stuff in uncharted It's

like it's a uncharted is a is a globe trotting

adventure the gun you start the game with is

the gun You finish the game with Drake never

loons learns new skills But you know what I'm

saying? Like, there's no Laura definitely upgrades

as you play the game. She gets better at fighting.

Yeah. And I heard from another from from another

podcast that the I guess Square Enix hired some

X Rocksteady employees to work on this game.

They will not not just for Tomb Raider, but also

for sleeping dogs like they they hired them as

a as a as a team to Infuse their like other other

games with better combat, okay Yeah, and I'm

okay with that. I'm just saying like only thing

that bothers me about to murder so far No hand

-to -hand combat You haven't gotten there yet

If you could do hand -to -hand I haven't noticed

it I I was murdering fools with the axe like

I was playing Connor and Assassin's Creed like

I have it that stuff unlocked But he she is she's

it's never had like I can counter people, but

she's never used the axe for anything Oh, just

hit why just instead of doing anything else just

run up to people and hit why she starts swinging

like a mad lady Really? Yeah No, and and that

for me the game the game completely changed once

I was able to do that because I felt like Gunplay

to me is a long -range kind of thing Yeah, so

there are a couple points a lot of sections in

here where you need to get it Just feels like

you need to get up close and get your hands dirty

Well, not only that up until I found out that

you can melee and I don't think you can You have

to unlock I know you okay, okay, so Right before

I unlocked that I was in this area or like a

couple guys you're walking down a hallway and

a couple guys dropped from the ceiling Yeah,

and I would like back away and like run back

around the corner and like pull my gun up and

wait for them because I'm not I mean They just

dropped in front of me. I wasn't like prepared

for it So I'm like ah so I just kind of like

turn around and run away And then I you know

pull out my gun and run away And I'm ready for

them, but after and I was kind of like man. I

wish I wish when they drop from the ceiling,

I shouldn't be doing this. Yeah. I was like,

I wish when they drop from the ceiling, it would

just be more natural for me to like kick a fool

than it would be for me to like pull my gun.

And as soon as I got the melee, the game completely

changed. It wasn't it was I spent a lot more

time doing the hand to hand stuff than I was

doing the gunplay. And it is all one button.

It is it is just why. And then I like. Like the

counter system almost nice. I almost like it.

I Don't know. I almost like it more than Arkham

Asylum only because it's like a two -step counter

system But I'm not I don't know I Feel I think

they're about the same in my in my opinion I

Feel like it makes more sense for her counter

to be like, oh I'm rolling out of the way and

then I'm gonna take advantage of you Whereas

Batman is you know, I'm gonna block your you

know, so she's smaller. She uses her speed or

agility her Yeah, she'll like roll out her years

of yoga. Yeah, yeah so I May maybe it's because

I don't know you you talked up the opening of

the game You know and saying I would be Also,

I said it was it really got into it I thought

there was gonna be more going on at the beginning

and it just like hits the ground running Well,

yeah, but I mean you said that I wouldn't be

able to get through the beginning of the game

Well, just because you're a massive pussy. Well,

I I can handle graphics setting I can handle

all that so there was nothing there was I was

never there was no tension in this game ever

I Disagree, I didn't Didn't feel any of it because

it's Lara Croft. I it's the same. I he was yeah,

he was telling me about it's like it's kind of

like in the Arkham song I'm just like no matter

how scary those sections get put any other character.

They're sure it's freaky, but like I'm a legend.

I mean she can't I got this Death scenes, I think

that takes a little bit out of it. It makes it

seem way more I don't know but the death scenes

I mean that That stuff doesn't even faze me when

it's like in Dead Space like that You know the

demos for Dead Space or like the Resident Evil

like when you when you go into like those deaths

It's just like oh, that's what as I get to watch

this happen I think the same thing happens in

Gears of War as well like a guy comes up and

like a curb stomp you and like a little Cussing

or something. I mean I and not only that I think

from a purely graphical gory like setting perspective

God of War and Dante's Inferno like Trump this

game. I'm not I'm not saying like I'm saying

from like a From like a graphical like Gori's

perspective not from like a looks perspective.

I'm just saying like they're They've done the

I mean in Dante's Inferno, you're literally killing

aborted babies that have blades for hands And

I could I if I can if I can kill those little

shits. I have no problem walking through like

blood and gore and And also there's a really

cool Rambo moment later in the game that was

I was I was like, that's badass. But then I had

to take it in the context of the game and I laughed

And I just feel like I Feel like narratively

they didn't they didn't deliver on the whole

you have to feel protective over Because as soon

as I got the hand -to -hand and as soon as I

got my combat rifle you weren't No, nothing nothing

in that game. I wasn't freaked out by anything

I was and I wasn't even like, oh man, how am

I gonna do this? No, it was no I have a climbing

axe which by the way, I want to go to the store

and buy a climbing axe because Those things have

to be the most versatile tool outside of a sawzall.

Yeah, no crap What does she use it for a ton

of crap throughout the game? Yes So and the crap

is putting it nicely A metric shit ton of crap

So you just got the you got the grenade you just

picked up the grenade launcher Did you stop right

there? Did you like move just a little bit further?

I moved a little bit further, and they got killed

and then I stopped okay There's a spot right

there. I it's like you you go to it afterwards,

and I that's one of the Where the certain things

started to stand out for me in the game, which

was And I don't like this with any game. I'm

not just talking about Tomb Raider here I find

this stuff to be very distracting in any any

game that does this when you change up the gameplay

rules for dramatic tension Or for like a story

element that annoys me It's not it there's an

encounter it's not it's not it's not Basically

in any point in that game you can shoot out lights

Okay, you can shoot out torches you can shoot

out lights and the area becomes darker and it

becomes it becomes a little bit easier for you

to stealth around enemies although I They still

see me no matter what I do So is there a way

to really be stealthy You have to be like oh,

it's almost like I felt like if I have line of

sight of them They have line of sight of me Like

even if it's even if it's just like I've moved

the camera So I could see them it I owe some

the game just like yeah both ways I that's how

I feel I'm not sure if that's actually what's

happening or when I adjust the camera Mike my

person's not actually behind enough cover, but

I felt like any time I got myself behind cover

and I unless their backs were to me okay like

but if their backs were to me it was perfectly

fine, but you know if I Was behind of you know

if I was behind cover and I could see like a

couple guys having a conversation And I pan the

camera up just so I could get like a better view

with the camera. They were always like oh, what's

that? What's going on? I was like do I have a

camera crew behind me what? What did I what what

you are cops camera guy just right behind you

yeah? Anyways they up until this point in the

game You can shoot out and you can do this after

the point in the game, too You can shoot out

lamps, and you can shoot out lights Except for

this one part. They don't let you shoot out this

giant spotlight that's shining on you, and I

died in that part because Is that like right

after you get the grenade launcher? Yes. I shot

out the light. It wouldn't let me. I shot it

out. Maybe your game just glitched or something.

I was sitting there with the bow. I shot it out

before I got killed. No, I was standing out in

the middle of the doorway You walk out and there's

like two cover points to the left and the right

and you're kind of walking down this hole Not

like an outdoorsy area. There's the chain gun

Yeah, yeah, no I stood right in the middle right

out in the open. I pointed my combat rifle at

the damn thing I got the red reticle, and I emptied

a whole clip into the damn thing nothing happened

Meanwhile the guy with the machine gun isn't

hitting me so I was like okay I'll switch to

the bow and so I tried hitting with the bow the

thing turned red I let loose with the bow it

didn't do anything even when I got right up next

to the damn thing it would not go away Tried

hitting it with a grenade law it would not I

could not take that light out it hates your face

so and I and I tried it after I died that time

I was like what the hell so I got it I every

time I got a little bit closer I would try it

and I could not take that light out and I was

like this is so stupid that you changed it at

this one point and that's kind of I Hate I hate

when games do that and there was another part

like later on was totally getting into the whole

open world explore explore the regions and stuff

like that and They You'll see this. I don't know

how much you explore an area when you go into

it before you start doing like the mission stuff

But I was a decent job exploring Yeah, I was

wandering around and I was like I want to go

check that out and clearly I can go over there

and there's like this little puzzle and there's

like like thing that i can pull around so i was

like yanking it around with me and i'm trying

to do this thing and i'm like wow i just wasted

an hour trying to figure out how to get up on

this platform and there's a ladder right there

but i can't get up there there's like a piece

of sheet metal there i was like okay well whatever

so i went over and i advanced the story and i

shit you not i ran back as far as in the story

wanted me to go where i was trying to go so i

ran over there as fast as i could To where the

ladder was I saw that the I saw the piece of

sheet metal just fall Like one of the characters

didn't go over there and knock it down for me

Nothing, I got over there and just the piece

of sheet metal magically fell on its own saying

now you can go up here Like That's what I was

talking about with like the gamey game stuff

like you're not like if someone had gone over

and like knocked it down Or like a little earthquake

or just some kind of environmental effect no

the thing just kind of plopped down There wasn't

even a splash in the water. It's not even like

it was you were like meant to see it. It just

kind of falls and There's no it the thing just

disappears into the floor as That's obnoxious

the game doesn't do that a lot the other thing

I kind of that was that kind of stands out to

me is a 90 -pound girl ripping down concrete

rebar walls. I was trying to... Yeah. You haven't

gotten to that. You justify the fact that you're

not scared by the fact that she's Lara Croft,

but you can't justify the fact that she's...

Because they're trying to ground this somewhat

in reality. I get it, it's fine, but... If they

had Like if they had changed it so that you had

to anchor the points and then she does this thing

You'll understand when you get there what she's

actually doing Because you get a new gadget that

lets you do this But it's completely it's it's

completely ridiculous. Not only that the gadget

is completely ridiculous because it's straight

out of Batman's catalog it makes sense for Batman

to have this but Something like this doesn't

even like exist in the real world The guys from

Rocksteady brought it with them. Yeah. He brought

this with us. But it didn't. It's still fun.

It's just when I see it, I kind of chuckle. I'm

like, it's like, wow, that doesn't belong here

at all. Yeah, it just it pops out. And I didn't.

And now, you know, Dan and I can have a conversation

here about this part, the all the relics and

the journals and stuff. When I pick them up,

I skip them. I didn't I didn't read them. I didn't

wait for the game to read them to me. I Found

the wall of text in front of me very boring to

look at I I listened to one early on and it's

when you find out that the one of your colleagues

is gonna steal your research and publish it as

his own and I was kind of like well if I know

this because I found the journal that means Lara

read this so why is Lara helping him out still?

And I was kind of like, well, I'm done. So from

that point on, I picked the stuff up if I found

it, and some of the locations that I found the

journals in made me laugh out loud, because they're

in the most random locations. But no, I skipped

most of it. So it's kind of like how the hell

did a journal page get there? Yeah, exactly No,

and it's it's you find like entire it's not like

you're finding pages you're finding like entire

books and they put them in the most you'll be

like running down a hallway and Like fleeing

for your life, and you'll grab a journal and

it'll be from like one of your colleagues And

it's like how did you get here to drop your journal?

How did how did your stuff get scattered all

over the freaking island like? Face -jumping

yeah So but I know I like the game and I know

that I like the game because I actually went

back today I played it on Monday and I played

it again today and I have a hundred percent completion

on the game I have found every every artifact

every relic every GPS cache I found the ones

that I didn't get while I was just you know plowing

through the story and I found all the collectibles

I Just feel like some of that stuff It doesn't

I think it doesn't hmm Hmm like clicking that

stuff. It's not bad to collect that stuff I understand

why you put it in the game It adds like to play

time and it totally people get to explore the

world more whatever I feel like if you're gonna

like I don't know I just I Feel like there's

other ways to do that kind of stuff And I wasn't

looking I wasn't looking for Tomb Raider to be

like the end -all be -all of video games I was

just looking for Tomb Raider to be better. You

know hold up to the Uncharted series and now

it does But I just feel like giving me a wall

of text to explain characters like what happened

to the To the videotapes she was watching How

many of those have you seen Danner to yeah, that's

I I think I've only I saw three in the entire

game Like those were cool. I liked watching those

But I would rather have had more of those like

with her around the campfire like doing that

kind of stuff then then you know walls of texts

like with the journals i almost would have like

rather have her found editing tapes all over

the island than the than the journals but it's

fun in the the we're trying to figure out exactly

where you are have you been to the queen's tomb

yes Okay Quite a bit before that. Okay. I rescued

her three friends that were trapped in the prison

In the exploding phosphorus Okay, all right so

Wow and now the the Chateau is on fire Yeah,

that reminded me of Uncharted 3 so much yeah

what do you think of the weapon upgrading in

the game it's fine i just feel like you the only

thing that i feel like kind of it's i'm trying

to change my words okay yeah wiener i understand

what he's going through because it's like you

like the game and you're trying to figure out

how to like say something Without trashing some

I'm trying to say like I'm not trying to trash

it at all not not you know saying I like the

game and I'm Trashing it like Mike is Okay You're

being you have constructive criticism. That's

fine I'm trying to get backhanded compliments.

It's very good. You're doing a very excellent

job with that That's why I've been playing on

my iPhone so the the one thing I think is With

all the collectibles and all the finding salvage

and stuff like that, that's almost what makes

you have to find collectibles is in order to

get experience points so you can unlock new skills.

That's kind of the big thing that I found about

the collectibles is because you can't really

unlock all the skills without collecting everything

in the game. Yeah, you can. Well, I'm sure you

can, but I'm sure you do it quicker if you're

collecting stuff. I had everything unlocked by

the time I finished the game, and I still had

collectibles left. I had a lot of collectibles

left. Well, you get experience from doing everything,

and if you unlock the skills in the right order,

which increases all your salvage and your XP

for doing certain things, you get it really fast.

That's the the one thing is that it's certain

areas like salvage is really easy to find and

sell and other areas It's super hard to find

it's also easy when you get salvage off of all

the giant deer that you kill in the first area

See it. I haven't really been hunting animals

at all. Well. I don't really call hunting them

with an ak -47 And you're right the animals are

kind of funky Yeah, the animal like there was

a that's an element of the game that I think

is just I don't I think it was done poorly It's

getting it. I was done with it after Red Dead

Redemption. I'm just I don't understand the allure

of it Did you like how she changed? Are you to

the part where she changes a world war two combat

rifle to an ak -47? Yes, I passed that I like

that where you just get well you just get You

collect gun parts throughout the game and then

eventually once you get all the gun parts you

ditch the old one and you get the new one. See

I thought I honestly I thought that that what

I thought was gonna be really neat to have her

Like just modify the guns that she finds and

not have them change into something completely

different because I I get The part of the game

I get is her being the Explorer the traversal

the all that stuff and I get that you could take

some hand -to -hand You know self -defense classes

I get that The the gun play case 74 building

yeah, AK 47 building I like I The gunplay was

very satisfying. I enjoyed the guns in this game.

I enjoyed like the just the way that they sounded

oh God the sound design of this game is great.

It's good it Do you ever it's really it's really

good with the 7 .1 headsets on well Do you hear

when you're playing? Do you ever stop moving

and still hear your footsteps? No, not that I

can recall. That happens to me a lot. It'll sound

like somebody's walking behind me. I'll be walking

down a path and I'll hear my footsteps and I'll

be like, I'll stop and then I'll hear like more

shuffling around behind me. So I'll turn around

and there's like nothing like it happens no matter

where I am. I don't know if it's like a sound

glitch or if that's like intentional. But if

there's anything that adds to like the tension

in the game, it's probably that. And it might

just be that. But it was especially bad in those

caverns that you were talking about with all

the gas. Yeah. Because there's that one guy running

around down there saying that she can't see me.

She doesn't know where I am. It got really bad

down there because I would walk and it would

sound like I was hearing two sets of footsteps

so I'd stop and turn around with my bow drawn.

But there'd be nothing there. I only ended up

killing two people in that cavern. I didn't kill

anybody. I killed two of them because one of

them came up behind me. I saw one guy sprint

across the hallway and I never saw him again.

There's something insanely satisfying about bashing

in somebody's head with a rock in that game.

Yeah, once you... I love how you said it in that

game. It becomes a lot better once you upgrade

the hand -to -hand combat. Yeah. Because she

starts just... She takes her climbing axe and

spears them through the throat. Nice. Actually,

it's either through the throat or it's up through

the jaw into their brain. I will say the... Probably

the most satisfying portion of the game. Well,

I would - all the tubes have been pretty cool,

but they're short. Yes. That's my biggest complaint

about that. I'm really hoping in the sequel they

expand. Like, that's kind of a - we put those

in - The tomb raidering parts? Yeah, the tomb

raidering parts. They, uh... When - I don't know

if you did this. When you are in Shantytown.

Okay. And you go into the tube that's in Shantytown.

There's two. The one where there's a trap and

you get in the foothold and get dangled upside

down and Then just a barrage of guys come after

you. I know Okay, I know I've gotten stuck in

that trap that you're talking about I don't know

because I went back and did I did one tomb on

the first playthrough and I did the second tomb

when I was going back through collecting stuff

I Think I tripped that trap on my playthrough

without going in the tomb so okay because I What

happens is is you you you? Go the the gong goes

off that there's two nearby and then you I saw

the entrance and I walk in there It was like

it's kind of weird. I haven't seen you guys in

a while step in there trap Sling trap goes off

grabs me by the foot dangles me upside down and

I'm like here of rush of guys coming. I was like

crap I take my pistol and I start to go up towards

to shoot the release of the trap and i go you

know what? Fuck that. I'm just gonna hang here

and shoot that in the hair. Just sitting there

upside down pistol in the air all these guys

with the AKs coming after me and just popping

them one in the head one after another and they

just keep coming and coming and coming and coming.

I'm just like okay it's getting to the point

where I need to just shoot this trap out but

I'd kill like seven or eight guys before I even

bothered. to shoot the trap, just hanging upside

down, taking these guys out. Then I dropped down

and then took out my AK -47 and then ducked and

covered and then got the rest of them. Something

satisfying about dangling upside down and just

capping people in the head with a pistol. I did

the same thing. I sprung the trap in that...

There's the tomb where you have to pull... the

wood off the floor. Is that the one you're talking

about? Yeah, that's the one. OK. I think I like

I said, that's the one I missed on my first playthrough.

But I did spring the trap. But when I got when

I hung upside down, I immediately just started

shooting and I killed like four people and it

was over. I didn't get a mad rush for guys until

I tried to go into the next area, like of the

shanty town. And there's like you're trying to

open the door and they come rushing at you. I'm

wondering if you, like, triggered two things

at once. Somehow. Because did you hit another

barrage of guys when you tried to cross over

into, like, where all the, um... What are those

things called? The carts that are on the wires,

the... Gondola? Yeah, the gondolas. Did you fight

a bunch of guys before you crossed over into

the gondola section? Let's hit a different...

No, no this is the shanty town you come down

into the shanty town from the helicopter and

you cross that you cross the way and you come

up against a gate that is sealed and you go up

and you try to open the gate and then I Yes,

and attack you there. Yeah, did you was that

did you also go through that as well as the trap

one two? Yeah, I actually did the Actually did

everything at the gate first, maybe that was

a And then I went back Yeah, that that might

be that could be why it had I don't know but

I that part right there at the gate I stood in

the in right in front of the gate with the ak

-47 out and just mowed everybody down I Did I

had the bow and arrow and did the flaming arrows

with all those explosive barrels around there?

I I shot those I I did shoot those with the ak

-47, but I was like heaven I just like you know

what this is so stupid You guys are just gonna

keep running right down in this path that leads

straight up to me Or you're gonna come from the

right so this was like shooting down the middle

shooting to the right shooting down in the middle

shooting to the right and That's kind of I was

like wow this just turned into uncharted now

the enemy levels are lower than they are in uncharted

I will give you that there are fewer of them,

but I still think there's too many because I

still think there's too many in a charted as

well I will say going back through the game like

in the just finding everything there are I've

I've been to every section completed the game.

I killed maybe ten guys The enemies do not repopulate

the world. That's fine, which no I enjoyed that

In fact, the only guys that I killed on the second

playthrough or a second playthrough my collecting

trip were basically guys that I didn't find the

first time through Huh, they were just kind of

still there and now that I've killed them and

I go back in they're not there anymore And it's

I Don't know there's another part or later that

really annoyed me with the wolves which you've

probably gotten to because you went through the

gas No, shoot, I'm trying to remember did you

get to the I don't know I can't I played I played

it too fast so that you can't remember yeah I

remember you could play game too fast I didn't

think that was possible I I remember like I remember

the story and I but I just don't I remember like

events I just don't remember like the exact order

that they happened in like I remember I know

that you're almost to what I what I call the

end of act two Yeah, I think it's cute that you

keep giving acts to I don't know why but well

because there are there's you've gotten the first

act ends with the with the first rescue attempt

and The second the second act still understand

how you can define access something that isn't

clearly established boundaries of the game I

Don't their story beats. That's their acts. That's

how he does it. Yeah, they're rise and falling

action. What are you talking about? Yeah Do you

not you don't you don't see it I? See it in terms

of a player and in terms of a movie it just doesn't

really seem to me that games very often follow

acts very well, so Well this game. No this game

did there's definitely This game did there's

definitely three acts in this game There's act

one which you've already been through and you're

almost to the end of act two which you should

there should be like a Rising action going on

right now. You're in the Chateau and it's on

fire That culminates in something yeah, and then

it starts at the actions building yeah Running

towards yeah, yeah, and then the and then it

it's it falls and then you start act three and

Then from there all the way it's straight to

the end of the game So there's there's there

were three there are three big events that happen

in the game So it's I mean they were almost the

same amount of time apart Okay, it was just one

of those things you kept on referring to the

acts of the game But I was like I'm seeing something

in the menu system or I know others are like

titles to the mission No, there are I I want

I I was saying acts because when I when I played

it there was that there were definitely three

Three chapters or three acts of the game but

like uncharted had chapters Yes, clearly defined

chapters because the titles would pop up right,

but I'm just saying like In the in the game,

there's clearly three different sections to the

game, and it's almost because there's and actually

I'm I'm wondering if I went back through and

played it because I'm thinking about doing it

on easy to get some of the leftover achievements.

But I'm wondering if the character model changes

in each of the acts because there's three Lara

Croft models for the game. There's the one that

you start with, there's and I'm wondering if

they change in the different acts. We just didn't

notice it. As you're playing as her? No, I noticed

it gradually getting worse. I just didn't know.

I don't know when the exact character models

changed. And I and the only reason I didn't when

I brought up the whole act thing to you, Dan,

is because I was trying to I was trying to get

you to tell me where you were without me trying

to accidentally spoiling anything. And and I

so I couldn't I didn't want to. I didn't want

to be like, oh, I didn't want to explain what

my act markers were to you because I didn't want

to I didn't want to spoil anything. I just wanted

to. Just using terminology. Well, how would you?

Yes. I mean, how would you say where you are

in the game every time I get a weapon upgrade?

For some reason, this used to be a non spoilerish

way of me figuring out where I am in the game.

Like I got the flaming arrows. How do you feel

about burning everything in the game? I'm okay

with that. You're okay burning nets to get wood

to empty wood crates and they don't catch on

fire? I'm assuming that they've been coated in

some kind of flame retardant. They just didn't

have enough of the nets. They're not smash retardant,

but they're flame retardant. Or all the nets

are made out of WD -40 or... Something else that's

equally flammable. I see dipped ropes They're

fast -burning so the wood does for your pleasure

There's also something else kind of funny about

the game that we can talk about once you finished

it There's there's more that I have there's just

funnier things that I have to say once once you

finish the game because to say them would Be

kind of spoilery and I don't want to do that

to you. I don't think if there's anything funny

about the game I Yeah, I don't think there's

anything... I don't know, I'm enjoying it, and

it's... I am too. It doesn't seem like it, but

I am too. I'm enjoying it. I guess I was expecting

more along the lines of what Crystal Dynamics

was pushing from their PR, and they didn't do

that. That's why I don't listen to people talk

their shit before I play a game that I enjoy.

I learned my lessons from Peter Molyneux. I don't

listen to people talk about how awesome they

are. Well, there's two ways I can go, right?

They can either not deliver on it and the game

can be a piece of shit. Unless it's Kevin Levine,

I don't really care what they have to say. Or

they can not deliver on it and it can be awesome

like Tomb Raider is. Like, there's two ways that

whole thing can go. Luckily, in Tomb Raider's

case, the game is not what they said it was going

to be, and it's still good. But I just went into

it, you know, they had their little PR spiel

about it, and I went in thinking it was going

to be one thing, and every time it missed on

those notes, I don't hold it against the game,

I guess I hold it against the company. You know,

I think most of the stuff, most of the issues

I have, even with like the gamey game stuff,

I have with the way Crystal Dynamic made the

game, not with the game itself, if that makes

any sense. I just, I don't know, I just find

the game to be, I find Tomb Raider to be very

satisfying. I guess it's... just feels like it

was a good it was a good change for the IP yes

and it just it's i don't know i i mean i i do

hope that in the next game assuming there will

be a next game um that uh they focus a little

more on the tombs and they focus a little more

on slightly more difficult puzzles and and that

kind of stuff like I I I see where they they

went with it I know they're trying to make it

far more action -oriented which trust me was

something I've always felt was kind of severely

lacking in a lot of the uh Tomb Raider games

but they were always too much puzzle not enough

action yeah like like that's my always been my

issues with like two greater one two and three

was it was like hey look you're fighting wolves

bears every once in a while and there's very

little human interaction and then lots of puzzles

lots and lots and lots and lots of puzzles very

little action and it's it's one of those things

that i mean they they improved on it throughout

the games about the action element um but i think

the story just started getting really convoluted

and they kind of lost what i think the character

was about that's why it The reboot felt incredibly

necessary for that series. I will say this game

has not like, this game is a reboot in the strictest

sense. It has no ties at all to any of the other

games. Well, I mean, you're not as far as I am.

They use character names and stuff like that,

but it doesn't fit into the story. There's a

lot, a lot, a lot of simpler. Throwbacks to the

old, but it's in no way part of that fodder.

I'm saying so not a part of that father, but

I just I want to go as far as what Mike said

is the fact that there's a lot of Characters

and a lot though that you haven't finished the

game Finish the game. All right, let's be bitchy.

You did it to me last week saying some guy that

hasn't played the game I've now finished it.

So you I'm saying it has no ties to the other

games I didn't say it had ties to the other games

with the exception of the fact you say it has

no ties and there's similar characters. That's

my thing. It doesn't, it's not completely separate

from the other games because... Even if, you

know, a guy named John Smith isn't the same person,

there's still a character named John Smith. I'm

not saying that it's continuity with the other

games. I'm not saying that at all, which seems

like that's what you're trying to hammer home.

I know it's not the other games. I'm just saying

that there's... The same characters, which means

they didn't completely brush everything under

the the rug I guess it depends on how you look

at it cuz I Yeah, that can't They I can't say

it cuz then the game I'm not saying them to say

it. I just don't understand I guess I'll have

to finish the game and then come back next week

and be like think I still don't understand what

the hell you're saying because Okay, it's probably

it's probably gonna be like it's like the campfire

thing I mean you brought up characters that don't

make it through the game That's all I'm gonna

say Every character that you brought up saying

that they were in other Tomb Raider games. They

don't make which tells me that everybody's gonna

die Anyone that she's saved Any any single person

that she's saved like just like her and herself

Has died dies So but if like if there's a group

of them that she saves it's fine But she make

if she makes it's her mission to save one person

She fails. There's only two people in the entire

There's only two people Out of everybody there

that actually there's only one person that would

have to live I mean it doesn't really matter

if they live or die. I'm just saying that There's

characters from other Tomb Raider games in that

game. That's all I'm saying But okay, I guess

at the time when you said it I guess you were

saying it and they in the thing that it was like

a read like it was a Reboot prequel kind of thing

like no they were like I'm just saying like they

were like you were like it It was a reboot prequel

like before all the other games, but it could

still eventually squeeze those games in. Oh,

okay Well, I'm saying that's how I took it. I'm

so sorry Because last week when I tried to have

a conversation with you about it you I was having

trying to have a conversation with you about

it and you shut down So we weren't able to have

a really good conversation about it. Well, that's

so I was asking you questions and you were like

Because I really hadn't spent more than two hours

with the game yet, so I've had fully process

everything so That's fine. We could just you

know physically verbally beat up on each other

and air all of our grievances to everybody Well,

not really grievances. Just you know issues with

I don't know Okay now bro hug it out That's all

right. I Don't think his massive ego will allow

for that, but that's okay three way hug then

I Don't think my massive ego will allow for that

either Far away hug I Got I have infinite numbers.

So bring it I Shaun's I think you need to run

it especially because you like the yeah games

I'm gonna as soon as I get done with and I'm

letting Joe borrowed to not that we're ever gonna

see him again I I'm see who again. I'm sorry.

I don't know exactly. I've already forgotten

about him. I'm who I'm secretly hoping for one

of two things to happen with this Tomb Raider

game. For one, I snagged it on the 360 that way

if Ali wanted to play it, she could play it.

But I'm hoping that at some point it hits the,

what is it, the instant game collection on PlayStation

Network. I'm hoping for that, or I'm hoping that

they will release it on the PlayStation 4. which

I can totally see happening. I was fairly certain

I'd heard that there is a PS4 version. It wouldn't

be surprising. I've heard, I mean there's a lot

of things, like even Last of Us is being rumored

as a PlayStation 4 release as well. Which I'm

not okay with. I'm not okay with it because I

want to play it and I feel like if I bought it

in May and I finished it, it would just be too

close. Yeah, that's kind of my issue is like

I don't like the it's one of those hey, we're

gonna release this this month, but in Three months

we're gonna release a way better looking version

of it exactly like you're going like that's that's

that's my dilemma with Assassin's Creed 4 But

you can't I mean really with Assassin's Creed

you're gonna wait you'd have to wait a month

Yeah, and I if you're not that's also assuming

that you're going to buy a ps4 launch Probably

pretty close. Yeah. I mean, that's that's my

plan. It's not mine at all. So so I I just of

course I say that now. Yeah. I'm like, I'm going

to wait for the year. Start saving money now.

Just throw five bucks away each week. Yeah. Well,

I that's not going to happen. OK, then start

robbing liquor stores. Be a man. So nice transition

there. Assassin's Creed 4. Yeah, the information

every I haven't seen anything That I don't like

about it yet. I I haven't either I like the I'm

very excited. I like the proposed No loading

Yeah, the things just flow in from one to the

next I mean Obviously, I think they I've heard

that the game takes place over like a decade

or two So there's going to be the time jumps.

They've said that once you're in the game, you're

in it, you can travel. I can go from the furthest

points without loading screen. Yeah, you can

go in and out of buildings without loading screens.

You can go to the dock, get on your boat, start

sailing to another port, get off your boat without

it. doing its thing that sounds Interesting to

me and from what I've heard it's not that's not

a next -gen specific feature The only thing that

they've said about the next -gen Versions are

that they're going to have interesting social

features Yeah, but that's about and they're going

to look prettier And I don't know if that's referring

to like the ps4 social interaction stuff But

that's going to be an every game feature. I'm

thinking they're going to take pages out of like

from Zombie U and have like in -game like if

you go and do a challenge maybe in the challenge

there'll be like a ledger that has like the high

scores for that challenge among your friends.

That'd be cool. Cause like that's what zombie

you does some of that stuff, which they've taken

from dark souls and demon souls and other games

like that. But I that's the only it's only really

the two things that I've heard about the game.

I heard a bunch of I've heard this there's going

to be a lot more obviously since about pirates,

the naval stuff is going to be a lot more heavy.

I've heard it's about 60, 40, 60 or 40 percent

of the game is naval. I've. I've heard that.

I've heard the bringing back an economy in the

game that matters. Mm hmm. And that you don't

start. You don't start with four pistols. You

have to earn four pistols. Yeah. Well, I've also

heard you have to actually manage the crew of

your ship. It's not just, hey, I have the ship.

There's a crew on it. You actually have to manage

them. Some of the stuff I feel about that. Well,

I don't. I don't think it's probably like running

your assassin's missions. It might be that's

my you might be what your ship is your ship might

be your assassin that and pretty much or it might

be something simple like hey if you're not the

ship taking over ships and Take getting money

your ship's gonna get mad at you. Well that the

ship is your assassin's den like when you go

into a city That's your home. Yeah, that's all

what this ship is always your home base I have

I I have heard that the in you know you do obviously

go and plunder other ships The way they were

describing it was pretty interesting. That you

pull up beside them and you can jump off and

swim around to the other side and come up behind

everybody and assassinate the captain. They said

they're bringing back the free roam assassinations

rather than the target just being right in front

of you for the most part. Which is one of the

things I noticed about Assassin's Creed three.

There wasn't a whole lot of wiggle room for when

you were going to assassinate somebody versus

like Assassin's Creed two, which was the last

one I played. So I'm not sure when they kind

of deviated from that. But it was. You could

kind of you could either go in the front door.

They'd be like, here's your guy. He's in this

area. Yeah. Go nuts. Yes. I guess, like if you're

out on your boat and for you pull up like a spyglass.

You can spot ships in the horizon and if you

look at it and hold it in your right in your

sights long enough It'll give you information

about it. Like this ship has this kind of resources

Basically decide which ships you want to plunder

which ones you don't yeah, it's I think that's

one of the things that the Far Cry 3 team is

bringing to it apparently they brought them on

to redo the user interface and some other Make

some other tweaks which that that alone Outside

of the the the character and the setting you

know because I enjoyed Far Cry 3 Until I got

to that second island, and then I was done but

you know it uh So I'm interested to see what

what game and the other thing that kind of interests

me about Assassin's Creed 4 is that it's right

up against watchdogs That just seems Bizarre

yeah it Guess if you're gonna cannibalize your

own product you might as well cannibalize I mean

if you're gonna cannibalize a product that might

as well be your own your own yeah Are you are

you looking any more forward to this or not Daner?

I know you weren't big on the ship thing were

you? Yeah, I'm not if it wasn't numbered would

you be as It almost seems like it needs to be

its own game Especially since they really seem

to be changing up the story dynamics of it. The

fact that it seems more in line with liberation

than anything else. Because of the fact that

there really isn't going to be a user interface.

It's basically being... It sounds like it's being

set up the exact same... Way is liberation was

where you don't have a certain There isn't a

person plugged into the animus. It's a home council

System type of a thing kind of like the multiplayer

on them Assassin's 3 yeah So it's I don't know

I'm Will most likely yes, I will probably buy

this game when it comes out, but I'm very very

Reluctant about the whole thing I'm not I don't

know. I'm just that is I do enjoy the ship portions

of assassins three a lot But I don't know I'm

interested to see how it translates for an entire

game I I enjoyed the ship parts in three but

the like When we're back when we're talking about

three I didn't really do a lot in the game that

they didn't make me do So I like I did the naval

missions that were forced Yeah, and I had fun

doing them, but they weren't like oh I want to

go back and do more of just that was I too much

fun killing bunnies Because you're a sick bastard

I am No, I the other thing that makes me kind

of happy about it being you know it was Hessens

Creed coming to the all the next -gen stuff as

well was Lot of the launch titles that I'm for

the ps4 that I'm interested in are like meaty,

you know 20 or like, you know 10 12 40 hour games

which means, you know, they have their they have

their launch lineup and then You know, it probably

won't happen But you know, you can go three months

without getting another game because you have

like four 40 hour games sitting in front of you

Theoretically theoretically, I mean the way you

play games. I don't know. Well, I can't Don't

think I could make infamous go any faster than

it was going I mean I pulled through like infamous

and it still took me quite a while I just think

that I just have to laugh that like a 12 -hour

game for me is like I'll take me like a month

and a half to get through Where you've put 80

hours into Sim City? blows my mind I Wish I had

a kind of time. I'm jealous of you in that kind

of time. Don't be Oh, I am. You have a family

that loves you. That doesn't replace video games.

He's like, switch. He takes his backseats. That's

a joke. I love my family and I have a good time

with them, but there's some days where I just

wish I was like, man, I just want to lock myself

in the room for like, I just want three solid

hours to sit down and play games some days. And

it's just, it doesn't happen, but that's okay.

I mean. When the kids get older and get more

into it that they won't want anything to do with

you. Don't worry That's yeah, I'll just like

I'll get hold on to that. Hope. Yeah, I'll get

back to I'm saving fallout new vegas for when

they get to leave the house So one of these days

like that, okay? You're gonna have like fallout

six. Yeah I'll have a good grouping of fallout

games to get through by the time they move by

that time that that's gonna be like a Current

thing that's what's gonna be like outside. It's

gonna be full out by the time you get to the

game. That's fine So Shanzi Yes, tell us about

the battlefield 3 DLC if you want Sure It was

called end game and it really a couple new maps

and two new game modes Did you both play a battlefield?

1943 whatever the arcade one that was on the

Xbox 43. Yes. Yeah, they have air superiority

mode in that Now if you remember that it's all

it was all about flying the fighters. Oh, yeah,

I remember that That's one of the modes that

releasing this when you spawn and you instantly

spawn into a jet and you can't eject you're in

that jet till you die and There's two blimps

Point a and point B that are making slow circles

or on the other side. And to capture them, you

just have to stay close to them for long enough,

like a domination flag. It'll change to yours.

And then in order for the enemy to capture, they

have to go near it. But it's 12 on 12, so there's

24 jets in the air at once. That's. That's cool.

It's nuts that have. Did you ever play Tom Clancy's

Hawks? Yes, I like that game. I actually have

that game. And with everybody's different options

and stuff like. There's three different aspects

of your vehicles that you can change. Like right

now I have heat seekers. I have basically like

a chaff. All right. It's called an ECM launcher.

It stops them from being able to lock onto me

and I have stealth, which means when they do,

they can, when they spot me, I become unspotted

faster. It's harder for them to keep me in their

sights. But if there's so many different ways

you can do it like some guy can have one where

it's really easy to spot him But his jet repairs

faster Because and I think it's if you get underneath

30 % health your jet will slowly die unless you

have that skill But anything over that if you'd

get away, it'll heal itself. Okay? So but I don't

know. I'd never last that long in that mode.

It's it's nuts Were you playing this today or

were you playing else? No, no, no, I was playing

a sad screen multiplayer. I was talking to you.

I was playing that yesterday But um, it's it's

pretty intense cuz it's like it's literally as

soon as you spawn in the world You're earning

a jet going towards the center of the map You're

just going and so if if everyone spawned and

no one moved would everyone just collide into

each other in the exact center of the map Yeah,

that'd be funny. It would just be like, um two

walls of jets running into each other. I paid

money to see that. If you pay enough money, you

can buy your own server and do it all you want.

The other mode they added was capture the flag.

That just seems so odd for a game, not for a

multiplayer game, not to have that. I guess it's

not a very battlefieldy type mode to have really.

Usually battlefields more about Capturing point

rush rush and assault or rush and conquest which

is like conquest is like domination and rush

is you defend a point I Attack that point if

you can defend if you can kill enough of us You

win or we keep pushing you back and back and

back to different points, right? I think I played

that mode with you. Yeah, that's that's rush.

Yeah, okay But to catch the flag and they're

not really big maps the ones that it has there's

like one of them is pretty massive buildings

are pretty small. And you have a, and there's

dirt bikes, dirt bikes can smoke to the other

side of the map pretty quick, but you have no

protection at all. So you have to, you have to

almost use your speed and go places where they

can't hit you like driving in between buildings

or through buildings. But, um, they're very balanced

maps that are not really eight. They're not really,

um, symmetrical. But they make up for it with

different things like this. Okay, this this place

is Up higher and it's got more buildings. Okay,

but this place has more roads going to it So

it makes it pretty balanced without having the

exact same base on both sides Like I like a halo

map would be like, but you know how they're like,

it's just copy pasted. Yeah They had a couple

new vehicles or the dirt bikes they released

these like small Fast anti air units It before

in the game the anti air units were like tanks

with like flat guns stuck on them Now they have

like Humvees with Sam launchers on the back of

them nice, and they're they're they're quick

and like that that mode is all about speed So

you have your tanks and stuff still that are

usually mostly for defense we have these quick

vehicles that can move down and shoot the enemy

helicopters out of the sky that they use for

support and And you can get flags on vehicles

so if I'm in a dirt bike I don't regret if I

jump on I'll smoke and you can see the flag trailing

off the back of my motorcycle as I'm going It's

like imagine like this like an old like like

guy in a heart yeah exactly with a huge ridiculously

big flag just going off the back like And as

soon as you touch the flag everyone can see you

nice Everyone doesn't and they in it follows

you in real time. They can literally see your

your icon moving across the screen So as soon

as you grab it you have to haul ass because if

they have a helicopter in the air That can hit

you from anywhere. Just move just go don't even

stop. Don't even take off the throttle but it's

um Some of the maps are more strategic and more

Slower paced those two map those two modes are

not at all They both have low time limits like

some battlefield games going for like 40 minutes

to an hour I think those the time limits are

set for like 10 minutes also. They're more Call

of Duty esque I Think well you I mean if you

have your own server you can still change everything

the default ones It's it's more bite -sized gaming

that compared to the other ones. I think okay

I think it's they get people don't necessarily

have an hour to sink into one gaming session

like banner Yes Exactly But um anybody anybody

who likes battlefield is gonna love on my I mean

I was part of the premium for it, so I got all

of them all the DLC for one price or whatever

so So I mean if you're if you have it you might

as well play it right, but I think it's definitely

it's definitely worth it doesn't seem to be proving

true with But whatever oh What we we've played

everything borderlands is put out. I have it

Well, that's whose fault is that? You guys don't

play. What do you get? I will not. I will never

say no to gaming with friends. Never. You're

like around when I want to sit down to play a

game. What do you want to play games? I don't

know. Send me a text. I'll make time for you.

He can't even make time to play games with me.

So how's he going to make time to play games

with you? Mommy listen babies babies. There's

enough of me to go around. Okay Yes, I make you

feel creepy. Yes. It does good I'll be willing

to play games as soon as you know, I get through

Tomb Raider But not but but as soon as March

26 happens you lose me again. So what's what's

March 26? If you don't know I'm not a Bioshock

player the first one creeped me out so First

one creep me out man. I'm gonna start putting

you in the bike category. He's our we're in the

same category We're totally in the same category.

Oh It is not even close dude. I'm good sadly.

I'm probably worse than him It's one of those

games like if I was sitting chilling with people

or talking with them I could play but sitting

by myself I can't cuz it's like I don't play

Bioshock 2 Because you play as a big daddy so

it kind of gives you that Batman slash Tomb Raider

feeling where you're not really as Addled by

what's going on because you're playing is one

of the most badass things in the game Mm -hmm,

but don't get me wrong still like it. It's still

fucking creepy But does that as creepy as the

first game, but does that does that only help?

I'm just asking does that only help really if

you've played the first one and you were scared

of the big daddies in the first one I was never

really scared of the big daddies. I was scared

of the first one I came across, but once you

figure out how to handle them, it's not that

bad. In Bioshock, the big daddies never scared

me. It was just the overall atmosphere was just

creepy as hell. It was kind of like Silent Hills

atmosphere. It was just creepy. I didn't want

it. It was like in Fallout 3 when you come across

that school, the elementary school, and you go

down in the basement and there's all those...

Yeah, yeah, exactly that. I didn't, you know,

so I was. But I I'm wondering if the you know,

if you have no basis for what a big daddy is,

I mean, doesn't the second game just become now

you're just a regular. I mean, obviously, you

are a big daddy in the game, but if you don't

know. What a big guy. Yeah, yeah. Why big daddies

are like a force force. You know what I'm saying?

I'm just you know what I'm saying? Like. It's

like if you were playing Arkham Asylum and you

didn't know how badass Batman was you'd be like,

oh this dude He's kind of good. He's kind of

good like no, he's motherfucking Batman. He is

a goddamn invincible If someone lived in a closet

for their entire life and I gave them the controller

for Arkham Asylum, I mean Having no idea who

the character is. I mean, it's kind of it's kind

of the same thing Yeah, no kidding why why does

he have point here that makes no sense You know

what though? I want to take a break and we can

come back on the other side of a grand con ad

and We can talk some more about games. Okay,

damn Coming to Grand Rapids, Michigan on September

21st And 22nd is Grand Con Gaming and Comics

Convention presented by Celebration Cinemas.

Join us in playing or chatting it up with fellow

enthusiasts in a community that understands your

passions. Get lost in the adventure of your favorite

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and comic books. Check out unpublished games

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all this and more at Grand Con. For more information,

please visit www .grand -con .com. We can keep

talking now though. I talked to Ben though. And

he finished our themes on. Yeah? Yeah. And then

we changed the name on him? No. I told him it

just needs to be video game themed, he didn't

even think about the name. Alls I know is it's

almost like a dubstep remix of the Mario Brothers

theme. But he's really proud of it. I haven't

heard it yet, but he's really excited. When do

we get it? I don't know. We've been busy at work

the past week, two weeks, whatever. Should I

wait? but he's I think he will probably see it

within the next couple days I was gonna say if

I can I can wait and do the show on Friday or

I can put the show up on Saturday well let me

let me talk to him I'm not positive he's in tomorrow

but let me talk to him tomorrow and as soon as

I know something I'll shoot you a text okay cuz

I I can wait to put I can wait to edit this and

put it out it's not a okay it's not it's not

a problem I mean if it gets to if it if it I'll

edit it on Friday Okay, I was just excited about

the fact that you know I asked him to do a theme

song For a city actually did it so I'm happy

too That's awesome. It is yay. We're a real show

whoo ish And I apologize for being so defensive

about Tomb Raider I and last week. I don't know

what My issue is, but I just, I honestly, I just

asked about the camp, protecting a franchise

that you love. Totally acceptable. I just know

it was me. I was trying to get you to share your

conversation you had with Andy. Like, yeah, because

you because you said that you and Andy talked

about why the campfires was was a cool thing.

And I was just like, well, why? You know, like

he just didn't get it. And I was just trying

to I was just trying to have a conversation.

I. I think it made for an interesting menu hub

was my thing and like I said it was something

Andy brought up the fact that it was a really

cool element that they brought it in Dark Souls

but with how they use it in Dark Souls was the

fact that you had to light the campfires in a

linear path and you couldn't fast travel between

them but they were like the only save points

in the game and he just thought it was interesting

how they kind of Utilize the same linear path

oh Maybe but there was no fast travel system

in Dark Souls and All the enemies constantly

respawned at Dark Souls and all I've heard is

how fucking insanely difficult that game. That's

all I have to I was talking to Mike about it

before and um I don't know if he's right or not,

but he said something about like if you die you

start the game over It Dark Souls. Yeah, I think

you have to go find your body So it's zombie

you get your gear back So yeah zombie it's it's

zombie you then well, it's That's a Diablo thing

too. So well, I'm just saying like the one of

the most recent games that you know you Yeah,

but it's it's yeah like that you get you get

one you get one character and then you you Go

as far as you can and then that one dies you

I now you don't start all the way over Do you

you start from the last? Your last camp, I guess

you would start from the last campfire last campfire.

Yeah, okay And then yeah, you just have to go

find your put your stuff back if you want it

It's like it's like old school hard. Yeah, i've

I i've heard uh one guy that put 200 hours into

the game He uh He didn't enjoy the game until

he found the wiki community around the game and

you know people were helping each other out and

stuff like that and he's gotten really into the

whole the the community of the game um that popped

up around it how incredibly excited i am that

i now have a phone without a cracked screen because

it's awesome how is that by the way is it like

having a new phone it is considering the fact

that i shattered my screen two weeks into owning

it it's like having a new phone does everything

look different it does like i don't even recognize

substance tapped out at all anymore The fact

that I don't have to flip my screen over to the

other side just to figure out how much money

I have is awesome Because it's like crack right

there like shit and on top of that I bought slight

Cooper for today So and then on top of that I

bought who frame Roger Rabbit 25th anniversary

Oh on the blu -ray because 1699 at Best Buy this

weekend Let's avoid talking about Who Framed

Roger Rabbit. No. And let's talk about Sly Cooper

3. Four. Three. Three, because I haven't played

for it yet. Oh. And I'm trying to play through

three. I'm really, really trying to play through

three. Which act in three are you on? No, I'm

kidding. I did their chapters. Yeah, it's whole.

So, OK, one of my things I did not like about

three, as much as I did like it, I felt that

The menu The menu yeah the menu is like it was

so much better than the other two games like

this It literally felt like an end of what we

need to finish this and go work on infamous It

felt like we're making this game And now we have

to come up with a way for people to like get

in the game and like access the game It's like

okay. Well outsiders giving them a clickable

spreadsheet. What can we do? Oh, we'll just add

a scroll wheel like and I understand the training

area also I Get it But I don't, like it's so

fucking unnecessary. Why do you go there? I didn't,

I would, they force you to go there the first

time. Oh, the first time, yeah, but. I have no

desire to go back whatsoever. I checked the achievements

to make sure there wasn't anything for going

through it because I was like, if I gotta go

in there and fucking get a trophy, I'm gonna

be pissed. Oh, I, okay, the way that you were

talking about it made me think that you were.

Going back there because you thought you for

some reason you thought you had to because I

was like I went I I went I did I did all the

training room stuff because I was enjoying playing

the game and I was like well I just might as

well get that crap out of the way So I just went

and the training room thing was the fact that

like they didn't have anything like that in the

second game And I just don't understand why they

think that all of a sudden in the third game

They're gonna get new players, and it warrants

having a training Well, not only that why did

you what happened to your tutorial system? Yeah,

like it the last game really feels like a word.

We're done with the PlayStation 2 But we need

to make one more Sly Cooper game, but I'm not

and I and I'm not saying that because like that

I don't I just feel like the I Enjoyed the game

I even got past some like the first level was

horrid. Just like a set this like slide 2 was

Like the first level the first world in slide

2 I thought was awful and I thought the same

thing about See, I like the first world in Sly

2. You said you didn't. In Sly 2? Yeah, you said

that it - I mean - The geometry level? Yeah.

That is the first level, right? Yeah. I thought

it was really, really short, but I didn't mind

it at all. I thought it was an interesting design.

I liked it. Oh, okay. See, I didn't like the

first two worlds in either one of the games,

so that was something they shared in common.

I was gonna say I didn't like the first two.

I haven't liked most of the worlds so far in

three. I will say I don't like the way the trophies

are allocated in the game. Because you have to

have 100 % completion on every level. And to

get 100 % on every level you have to go back

through and do select minigames. Where they take

out... Obviously when you're playing the game

you can see what the minigames are going to be.

So just think about those but being under time

and pressure. Some of them are easy... Uh, there's

one that I can't do because they didn't have

a mission like that in the game. And so I don't

really, I'm not very good at doing it. So that's

probably if I ever go back to try and get the

platinum, that's what's going to prevent me from

getting the platinum. So. But I like it. It just

feels very, it feels rushed out of the three.

It feels rushed, but I still like it better than

the first one. Because I feel like. The stuff

that they got rid of, which is the stuff that

you liked, I appreciated them getting rid of

that stuff. So, like the Clue bottles and stuff.

And the time stuff for the, like you find the

different, what is it, the loot? Yeah. Yeah,

you don't have to rush it back to your safe house

anymore. I'm glad that, I was glad that you just

find it. But all that stuff comes back and forth,

so you'll really enjoy that. You know what else

we haven't talked about yet partially because

I've been waiting for it to come up on the portable

handhelds is I got a Vita Really like it when

I pick it up But I hope that's not a short that's

not a fault of the Vita that's Sim City No, I

Like I said, I think I think we said on the last

show I actually got that grip for it that made

it a lot better The one game that I am playing

on it right now is stardust Delta Which looks

gorgeous because the screen on the Vita is gorgeous

I can't wait until actual TVs look like that

Which they do now they just cost more than my

house Yeah, I picked up I picked up a PlayStation

plus I I thought you know, cuz I they announced

it They announced the cross play the the off

TV play with the Vita for the PlayStation 4 and

I really liked that with the Wii U and of course

I sold my Wii U to get the Vita because of that

I that justified the 250 price tag. Otherwise,

I was gonna wait for it to be 200 I am waiting

for that day in the not too distant future where

they cut the price 50 bucks And I can kick myself,

but I I thought I was kind of smart instead of

getting the Vita and a game I got a Vita and

PlayStation Plus Because it comes with the instant

game collection and so I was able to get like

uncharted and gravity rush and wipe out for 50

bucks instead of paying What would that have

been like? $120 Yeah for all three games plus

I got plants versus zombies which who doesn't

like plants versus zombies. Oh, it's so good

The problem I'm having with Plants vs. Zombies

is not that it's not good because I love it,

but the problem is I've played it on my computer.

I have played it on my phone and my iPad. So

you're just getting bored with it kind of? Yes,

like I probably... Like Angry Birds when it first

came out. Everybody's like, holy shit this game's

awesome. I was like, okay, there's like the 17th

fucking Angry Birds. I get it. I'm throwing birds

at pigs. It's not that. It's not that. If it

was Plants vs. Zombies 2... Like I'm sure I'd

be like really into it. I'm just saying I've

played the they didn't the game has not changed

at all Like I think like same levels. Yeah, I've

played the exact same game This is now my fourth

or fifth time through so now but now I'm getting

trophies But you know, it was it was part of

the instant game collection so why why not grab

it? So I've got something to play I tried uncharted

I I may have to force myself to play that. Just

for the sake of it being an Uncharted game? And

that's a really bad thing to say about an Uncharted

game. In fact, I think that's the worst thing

you can say about Uncharted game is that you'd

have to force yourself to play it. I decided

to play on Hard because I've played all the other

Uncharted games on Hard. And I'm just not used

to the Vita yet so the aiming and stuff like

that is kind of kind of wonky the touch controls

in the game Don't really I don't they obviously

have button commands for some of it, so I don't

use it I don't use them like you're supposed

to but every once in a while they make you touch

the screen To do certain things the one cool

thing with the touchscreen. I will say is when

you have to do like charcoal rubbings You just

rub your finger across the screen like you're

rubbing a piece of charcoal on paper. That's

kind of neat. They added a lot of unnecessary

junk into the game. So a normal Uncharted game

has the gunplay with the exploration with finding

little trinkets, like we talked about earlier

in Tomb Raider, you find relics and stuff like

that. They have that stuff, but then they added

in this camera, like we want you to take pictures

of these things in the environment and it's very

complicated. It's, they'll be like, find these

four pictures, take these four pictures and they

show you what they are. And so when you find

it, like let's say one of the pictures they want

you to take early on is a picture of a rope bridge.

So you come up to where the rope bridge is and

you go into your menu which is kind of bloated.

You go into the menu and you look at what the

picture is and there's the rope bridge and then

they want you to take that exact same picture.

And they so you go and you can like move the

you can either move the camera around with the

sticks or you can move the camera around with

uh with by moving the video around in physical

space and then you line up your shot you zoom

in or whatever and you you know hit the right

bumper and you take your picture but they want

the exact same picture with a 100 match or they

won't let you like take the picture And what's

dumb is they give you like a percentage so you

could like line up your shot You could take a

picture and you can get like 98 percent And it'll

be like nope can't take the picture We don't

accept the picture like why? Like why not just

let me take the picture Let me get give me like

a random score at the end of the game of how

well my pictures were you know like give me a

grade at the end like don't Let me take a picture.

That's all your 50 % of what you wanted me to

take like don't don't make me waste time in the

game taking these pictures and then I got I mean

I was like you know what I'll probably enjoy

the game if I just go through it and then if

I really enjoy it like I did with Tomb Raider

I'll put it on easy and I'll come back through

and collect all that stuff I mean that's what

I did with the other Uncharted things but then

the every time you go in the menu you see those

pictures and it's kind of like well maybe I should

look for them and I had whatever it it just felt

like it was it was way more stuff than that game

needed Yes, bless you. Bless you, sir. But it's

way more stuff than that game needed. I don't

understand why it couldn't have just been Uncharted

on the Vita. It's like... I don't even know what

to call it. I don't think I've ever played another

game like it. It's just, it's not good. It looks

great, it plays great, and the dialogue I thought

was great. You know, because it's a Naughty Dog,

not a Naughty Dog game, but it's... It was written

by, uh, the same team that did the Uncharted

series. So it's, it's all there. It's just, something's

missing. And I just feel like it's because it

was a launch title. It got shoot, it got all

that crap shoe hoarding into it. Like you got

to use the touch screen. You got to use the back

touch. You got to do this. Like one of the ways

you can climb a rope in Uncharted is you take

your fingers and you do like a hand over hand

motion on the back screen. And it's supposed

to be immersive. And I'm like, I don't climb

a rope with my fingers. Climb it with my hands.

Yeah, you do, because you're manly. I don't know.

So I kind of I stopped. I played about four hours

of it and I stopped. But like I said, I'll probably

have to make myself go play it. I haven't started

gravity rush because I don't feel like I haven't

been in a position to give it a fair shake. So

it's been pretty much just Stardust. And I tried

PlayStation All -Stars with Danner. Which, by

the way, big thumbs up for Pross Game Chat on

the Vita. Yeah. Big thumbs down for the PlayStation

3. Like, I'm not sure if this was in the bloopers

of the last section or the last podcast or not,

but if, I'll just say it again, if the PlayStation

4... If their menu system and their system functionality

is even half as good as the Vita's, it's still

better than the PlayStation 3's. Just being able

to cross game chat is a big freaking deal. All

-Stars is a lot better on the Vita than it is

on the PlayStation 3. Outside of problems I have

with the UI, but I won't talk about those because

Daner thinks I'm crazy So yeah, that's about

it. Have you tried the done any of the Mass Effect

stuff, Shaunzy? The newest Mass Effect? Yep,

I beat it. Wait, the one that's two downloads

you beat it already? Yep. Did really Mr. 80 hours

in Sim City you're doubting I beat that no I

I it's I don't know maybe I guess because it

was too Too down. I wasn't expecting Because

I didn't hear I you never told me you were playing

it Because it was I beat it in like two days.

I looked literally I had the head the day it

came out ahead that day off So I took a huge

chunk out of that day Nice. Is it good? That's

how I do. Well, there's part. No, there's. It's

definitely more part of the story than any other

DLC is like it's it fits more with them, whereas

it's not like. But saying that it's four gigs

is really. There's a lot of stuff in there that's

not like action a gameplay like they added a

casino they added a apartment they added Stuff

just transactions. No well no no no stuff for

your use your in -game money that you have You

don't have to actually do anything like Danner.

Did you ever play the um? The DLC for the first

one Yeah for um I forget what there was yes Yes.

Pinnacle station. Yeah, this reminds me of Pinnacle

Station. It gives you an apartment and there's

also a part where you can go and there's a combat

simulator. OK. But you in this combat simulator,

you can unlock any squad mate that you've used

in any game. So I was playing with Grunt and

Jack, even though those aren't squad mates in

three. They just give them the same skills they

had in two and let you play with them. That's

cool. You can't bring them into the story at

all. But it's really cool. And depending on where

you play in the game, because there is actually

a story that blends in that shows how shitty

stuff is going and a conspiracy on the Citadel.

Shocking, oh my God. Another conspiracy on the

Citadel? There's always conspiracies on the Citadel.

It's the light of the galaxy and all the bad

people live there. It's but every character if

you have if they have them if you have them alive

and they're nice to you Like if I had fucked

over I was playing on my bad playthrough So I

had completely fucked over Rex and all Krogan

so Rex wasn't in it But if I didn't Rex would

have been in that DLC Anybody who's still a good

standings with you is in that DLC and it's kind

of a nice little love letter the way it ends

Because probably the second half of it, there's

no actual action. The first half, first chunk

of it is all of the actual you going through

and defeating this enemy. I'm not going to say

who or what that's behind this conspiracy on

the Citadel that you find out is specifically

targeting Shepherd as an individual. And it's

not the Reapers and it's not Cerberus. Is it

no, I'm just kidding. Who is it? It's it's Gandhi

But a little anyway Someone's ball rolling across

the street. So that gets done, but I'm thinking

that's what separated the two deals the two chunks

of Downloads that was a pretty good chunk part.

It was that was very I'm a very intensive like

there's one part. It was really cool as they,

um, they can joke. It's like, Oh, what, who's

coming with you? And he's cause in the mass effect

games, you can only take two squad members with

you. So it's you and two people. So it's a team

of three. And so like there's a part where it's

like, well, who are you going to take with it?

He's like, no, we need everybody. So you pick

your core group, but the other people are split

off into two separate groups. And like ones will

be on a catwalk to left of you. One will be on

the cow to the right of you. And they're actually

shooting at the same guys you're shooting at.

So I can hide behind cover and those guys will

eventually shoot the guys I'm aiming at. I can't

control them like I can my squad members that

I'm using. But like, say I didn't pick Garrus,

Garrus could be away over there with a sniper

rifle shooting people still. Even though he's

not part of my squad, literally your whole team

is with you, which is the first time it's ever

happened in Mass Effect. Yeah, it was it was

really cool the way the way they did it. And

I first when I saw I'm like, oh, that's cool.

They're just having it's just background how

they're just running next to you and then I went

to shoot a guy who hi I had already taken chunks

of his health away and Gareth shot a concussive

shot one of his powers from over on a catwalk

and blew him away Like rain from as like I'm

like, I almost want to be like thanks girls or

fuck you with my kill But um Definitely worth

it. The end is very sweet. But the way the mass

effect works is all the DLC happens before the

end of the game. Because the game concludes the

whatever the story is done at the end of Mass

Effect 3. So the DLC has take place before that.

But the very ending of it seems like it should

be the final send off of the game. Like if I

played if I had just picked up Mass Effect 3

today with all the DLC I would want to stop playing

at the end of this DLC not play the end of the

game Hmm It's let me let me ask it kind of reminisces

all the good times you've had with your with

these characters now Since we're talking about

Mass Effect Which is you know developed made

by Bioware I'm just curious I haven't really

looked into this myself because I have nothing

against the Dragon Age games. I've got nothing

against Mass Effect. In fact, Mass Effect is

up there with, you know, Zelda's and, you know,

early Resident Evil's and Silent Hills and stuff

like that. Like, I understand the popularity.

I understand what they've done and what they

will do for the genre. But there's this... I

keep hearing this... Cry that EA has ruined Bioware

Do you guys get this like do you know this is

about because I I mean I Haven't heard you guys

say anything bad. I don't see so much a mad mass

effect But I did I did see I very much saw in

a lot of Dragon Age Dragon Age 2 I saw and crazy

compared to Dragon Age 1 Yeah, I still haven't

even opened the plastic on Dragon Age 2 yet.

It's a good game, but it's a huge change from

the first one. Until I finished Dragon Age 1

and honestly, it's been so long since I played

Dragon Age, I needed to start over. Yeah. So

is it just because it's like a departure and

they blame EA for that? It's not making necessarily

making the game worse. Like the difference between

Mass Effect 1 and Mass Effect 2 is they took

an RPG heavy game and that had shooter elements

to it and made a shooter game with RPG elements

to it. They made it easier for people that were

used to third person shooters to play, bring

more people in and they they changed it, but

they didn't change it so much that it. You know

ruin the game in my in my opinion anyways Because

that's one of that's one of the things going

around about dead space is that EA said less

horror more shooter. I'm just I I'm just curious

if you guys if you guys knew about why they I

mean, I think a lot of people are Under the impression

that EA has their hands into the stuff way more

than they do they do I think I think it's I think

it's there I think it's the fans easy escape

go for what things go wrong because God forbid

that their studio try something different outside

of the formula to try something new I'm they

may be suggestions for me a but ultimately I

mean the studios can be like I Yeah, like um,

oh yeah, and like they Could see it kind of in

Dragon Age because they took a game that was

That was again RPG heavy and they tried to turn

it into a hack -and -slash or closer to a hack

-and -slash than it was So like more Baldur's

Gate Kinda like Dark Alliance more and less I

have I haven't played them So yeah, this is a

conversation for the two of you to have about

the differences between say Ellie's got Dragon

Age I gave her that yeah, she's she's in the

process of starting over, because I think she

started playing and then stopped and then forgot

what was going on. So she's just the same issues.

Yeah, that's one of that's one of those games

that you if you have to almost play through it

without any interruptions from other games. Once

you take too much too long from it, you just

have to fucking start over. That's it. That's

why you forgot what choices you made, which way

you were doing. But I can get where people are

saying that where it's like, oh, they're ruining

games, but it's it's not that they're ruining

the games that. It's like the fanboys, they're

going to bitch, right? No matter what, I don't

care what it is. It's like them saying it is

one of those things. I think a lot of people

say that they're responsible because of the day

one DLC for both Mass Effect 2 and for Dragon

Age. Yeah. Think people were bitching about that

a lot, but I don't I'm gonna be one of the few

proponents It is actually going to say that I

think day one DLC is a good idea because it's

a way to stick it to use games Yeah, what is

it isn't a lot of the is it it's free if you

buy it new Usually yeah for the Bioware games.

It has been yeah Hey, if you bought the game

and you get those what they call it the Cerberus

Cerberus account or whatever Cerberus activation.

They gave you a free squad member Wait a minute.

Is it buying it or is it pre -ordering it? Nope,

just if you bought it by okay buy if I buy it

It's it's still in the saran wrap it comes with

that was a thing with Dragon Age when you bought

Dragon Age Get the stone prisoner. You get the

stone prisoner DLC pack and mission. So you got

a character and you got. The added like six hours

to the game or something, I forget what it was,

but added hours to the game. Did you? I don't

think it did. I really don't because that that

stone prison thing was literally 20 minutes.

Wait, did did Dragon Age have? OK, what? Was

it Dragon Age or was it Mass Effect 2 that had

the DRM check? Or something like if it wasn't

connected to EA servers it wouldn't play or something?

But you could play it! You just couldn't have

any access to - It was Dragon Age. Because the

servers were down one morning when it went to

play and I couldn't play. Oh, see I never had

that problem. I had that problem with Dragon

Age. I think they may have fixed it in an update,

but - Couldn't connect one morning and like if

my game wasn't even there Like I couldn't even

access my game And that was on 360 hmm Yeah,

I think like Dan said I think I think Not knowing

not having looked into it a whole lot, but just

hearing about it I think it in my head it just

like Dan or said it kind of comes across like

EA is just the easiest target Yeah Well, it was

like when everybody ripped into I don't know

Dana I think we went on this before but what

your feelings were with the end of Mass Effect

3 Yeah, even I haven't played the second version

of the ending yet Yeah, um, they everybody bitch

was like I was like you're yelling at the people

who created the game because they ended their

game wrong Yeah If it ends with fucking the main

character wearing a mask of a panda bear, guess

what? That's their fucking game like I mean that

would be a really weird ending. That's why I

still haven't replayed the ending of Mass Effect

3 is because I'm just like, I accepted their

ending. I was fine with it. I didn't see what

the big deal was. Yeah. I would have liked, like

most people, I would have liked more of an ending

because the endings of the other two games seemed

a little more encompassing. Yeah, but. I basically

the only difference is what with their directors

cut or whatever it was the ending cut. Yeah,

it just it. It goes through basically all your

major decisions from the game and tells you what

happened, what came of that. Yeah, like, oh,

you didn't save the Krogan from the genophage.

So this happened, they withered, they ended up

they had to resort to war and famine or whatever.

And it's didn't add a lot and it added a fourth

option. Yeah, which I accident which apparently

is ridiculously easy to accidentally do because

I accidentally did on my playthrough with my

bad guy And there's no safe point at that point

so I have to go back like two missions That go

to redo it Nice. No, I was I was kind of as soon

as that like a selected option like all this

option and see for I sucked it and then it just

starts going down this path and I can't go back

I'm like motherfucker Anyways enough of a mass

effect Daner, do you got anything you want to

throw out? This podcast has been kind of Daner

-lite. No, honestly, I've been selfish and been

dinking around with my new phone. I apologize.

It's my own fault. And the fact that I'm like

super suddenly congested so I feel awkward whenever

I talk when I'm super stuffed up. You sound awfully

nasally. I know, because Mike will then go, man,

what was wrong? It's like every time when I used

to record at Joe's house, you shoot a recorder

over there, man. You get really, really congested

when you're over there. So as I'm thinking in

my mind the entire time I'm talking, it's like,

Mike's gonna say something to me tomorrow about

how I'm congested. I thought I was gonna be all

self -conscious. Nah, I gotta be honest with

you, I don't even listen to the records anymore.

I listen to the beginning stuff to make sure

that the volumes are okay across the two tracks.

You do the editing and then you're done with

it. Well, yeah, I go, okay, are they kinda, wow,

what is going on? I hear something, a fan. Dan

has shut his fan off. No. Are the bubbles trying

to escape? No. Are you sinking? Is your submarine

sinking? Sounds like it's already sank. It's

a submarine. My phone just finished sinking.

Maybe your fan and the computer went off. Anyways.

Anyways. I. Crap. Oh, no. Yeah, no. You know

what? Let's just wrap this up. I think one more

thing I did. I noticed I saw IGN since, you know,

this news one. I don't know if you saw it. I

don't know if you saw it on there about the lawsuit

against Nintendo. No, for the 3D technology,

they use them 3DS. I haven't seen that. Apparently

some dude that worked at Sony developed it. And

they just the jury awarded this individual from

Sony like 30 million dollars from Nintendo. Well,

Sony could use that money. That's good. No, not

Sony, that guy. Oh. Okay, you know what one last

interesting question to close close it close

it out on Go for it now I'm what if the Assassin's

hypothetical now what if Assassin's Creed 4 was

released as a free to play game And they took

They took the the Simpsons tapped out play scheme,

but they applied it to your boat. OK, so let's

say you go out and you get in a fight, a battle

with your boat and it takes damage and you go

back into port and you can't real time to wait.

Well, yeah, you can't. You can't. The repairs

for the ship will take 30 minutes before you

can actually go back out. Or you pay space points,

space points or real dollars to go back out instantly.

But the game is free. You have it. You have the

entire game. It's just like. Or any game like

think about any game that you could apply that

to. Like they could think of a Call of Duty game

free to play, but you only have so many it's

so much time you can play Okay, that's mine.

No, that is it. No, that's a good example because

the uncharted 3 multiplayer just went free to

play I believe you can play for free and you

gain experience and all that stuff up to level

15 I'm not sure and then at that point you can

you can keep playing But your guy won't you'll

keep earning experience and but your character

won't level up And then I think you can pay different

amounts for different perks and stuff like that

or you can pay $20 and unlock the rest of the

game What is wait is uncharted 3 a free game?

I'm p .s. No no just the multiplayer so multiplayer

so and so you can play 15 and you keep earning

experience even when you reach 15 and if you

wanted to you could pay $20 I think and the game

unlock you unlock the rest of the multiplayer

game and the cool thing is you kept earning experience

and stuff so let's say you when you unlock the

game let's say you earn enough experience to

jump to level 30 all of a sudden 30 yes I have

a question then I don't I don't have my PlayStation

right now, obviously. I don't play Uncharted

3. So if I go out and buy Uncharted 3 in the

stores right now, I have to pay $20 more for

the multiplayer? No, no, no, no, no, no. There's

a code included with all copies of Uncharted

2. Oh, so this is... Okay, so this is... This

is a test. They put just the multiplayer up on

PlayStation Network to test a free -to -play

model. Around a shooter. It's kind of like what

you were saying with Call of Duty imagine if

Call of Duty was free to play and for like the

first 15 levels and You could keep playing but

you would never get any perks or any more guns

or anything Pass the pass level 15, but so so

like the beta yeah for for modern warfare when

it came out right so okay, so you can play the

So yeah, it's the same thing so imagine if you

could take that beta and you can unlock the full

game for paying $20 or you could Pay a little

here, pay a little there. I'm not. There were

other things in the Uncharted thing that you

could like pay five dollars for a perk pack or

something like that. But would you guys be opposed

to a free to play game? I mean, is there would

you play a full blown? Like Assassin's Creed

game that was done up all Simpsons tapped out

style or. Not really, no. You want you want a

$60 one -shot you wouldn't want Well, there here's

the problem is how much are those things a $60

one -shot anymore? Yeah, there there's gonna

be something extra added on but I mean, okay

say the game is free and say To unlock certain

stuff is only a dollar if I play that game for

ten years Slightly, okay. I think if I went back

right now and played the first Call of Duty if

I had to keep paying to unlock stuff No, you

wouldn't it wouldn't be that I should have looked

up the what the Well, no, I mean with the mic

with the microtransaction thing you're talking

about how it's like I could pay a specific amount

to make my ship kill faster Or whatever stuff

like that not just unlocking in the game Yeah,

I mean, but you have the entire rest the the

running around these destinations the exploring

all that stuff But if you go out and do like

the plundering and stuff with your ship you The

ship either has to repair in real time. So you're

sitting in a port having to go do side quests

or whatever for an hour or two, or you pay a

little bit of your in -game credits, you know,

space points or whatever, and you should be prepared.

Like, excuse me, I guess. I guess some of the

of the idea that if a game is free, I guess it's

from an iOS standpoint. I mean, usually if I

download a free game, I'm not opposed to if I

play it enough, I'm not opposed to getting the

dollar to So I actually unlocked the full game.

No, well, there's that. Or you pay a dollar and

you get like a dollar or five dollars and you

get a whole bunch of like in the case of Simpsons,

you get donuts like, you know, I. I don't know,

I. It was just interesting. So you guys are you

don't want. I mean, you wouldn't. I would rather

buy a game and own that game, not get a get.

Yeah, I would. I would rather pay 60 bucks up

front knowing. That everything on that desk is

mine for 60 bucks. I guess there may be a future

DLC down the line that I had to pay more for,

but I can choose later if I want them or not.

But everything on that desk is mine for 60, not

here's a desk paid for what you want. I don't

want that. I guess even if I would even if I

would end up paying less. Yeah, for it. It seems

like it would seem too much like I was renting

the game Well, I guess I guess the only example

I can really use is the is the shooter thing

I mean if I played if I paid let's just apply

What little I know about the uncharted 3 free

-to -play thing. Let's just apply that to Call

of Duty, okay? Like I would not have a problem

buying like getting the free -to -play version

of the multiplayer for any of the Call of Duty

games Whether it was Infinity Ward or Treyarch

If it was just $20 to unlock the game if I have

if I had a blast playing it to level 15 It was

just $20 to unlock the rest of the multiplayer.

I've only spent 20 I didn't spend 60 and I get

to play the game for the rest of the time Like

I'm not out $60 a year. I'm only out 20 For the

entire multiplayer. I mean, I guess if it gives

me a way to try The you know, I guess I guess

I see it because There are games that I buy only

for the multiplayer part of it. Or imagine if

you got Borderlands for free, but you always

had to pay for the DLC. Like... I guess... Or

the episodic stuff. Episodic games are like that

too. You can buy it in an episode or you can

buy it all at once. I guess I don't understand

the difference in the... I don't know. All right,

well, I thought that'd be a little more interesting,

but. Sorry, no, it's fine. All right, well, that's

it for this week's Off the Cuff. We talked a

fair amount about some games. I've been your

host, as always, Michael Powers. You can find

me on Twitter on Xbox Live and the PlayStation

Network at BoothNinja81. Danner. You can find

me on Twitter at Art Danner. You can find me

on Xbox Live at Weapon 12. You can find me on

PlayStation Network at X -51 the Machine Man.

I've really got to streamline all those. He's

lying. He won't be able to find them on any of

those. He'll be with the kids. Check out the

gentleman who supplies all of our music at Benny

Doom on Twitter. And soon to be our own theme.

I've been Sean Z, not Sean Z Brown, not Sean

Diedrich. Sean Z, Mike. Jesus. You can find me

on Xbox Live at Weapon87. You can also find me

on Twitter at at Sean Z Brown. I guess I didn't

really think about that. Nope. Nope. I still

blame you. It's your fault. Um, but yeah. All

right. It was me. What was that, Joe? Speak up.

We can't hear you. That was good. No. OK. All

right. Cool. All right. Until next week when

we get Portal Gaming part three. Yes, Tanner.

Sure. OK. PSP versus the DS next week. First,

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