Badfinger

What'd you do when you found out what riled up the gryphon? How'd you handle the pellar? Did you let the woman in the infirmary die in her sleep or did you try to save her at the cost of excruciating agony? How'd you handle the Dwarf's burnt forge? Those are all choices Geralt makes that define who he is. I don't understand the "nothing happens" comments people are making. Shit happens constantly in this game. They take quests and turn them on their heads. They play with expectations of outcomes. They use basic mechanics for interesting things. From the point you're describing, so much stuff has already happened. You're either being willfully obtuse about it for the sake of argument or you're genuinely not seeing it. Either way, I'm sorry!

The tracking shot where Poe does a semicircle around Finn's point of reference just X-Winging the hell out of all the Empire ships and ground troops was absolutely incredible. That was maybe my favorite shot of the movie.

There's also the issue* (*not actually an issue with the site, but a comment on the reality of life) that their exposure to R6:S (btw them calling it Siege and AC: Syndicate just Syndicate is KILLING ME) is their exposure to the game is Jeff playing some, Austin playing in the closed and open betas and some after release, and Vinny and Alex watching a little over an hour of it during the quick look. So they spun their relative ignorance about the game itself and turned it into a focal point for a frankly welcome discussion about more broad industry issues of pricing models and game structures. I'd prefer they abstain from coming to judgement about something that they can't, and I feel like for the most part (especially GBEast) they are good about doing that while keeping discussion somewhat relevant.

All day I've been thinking about how important that aspect of The Witcher is to me. I am not Geralt. Geralt and this world exist outside of Witcher 3, and outside of 1 & 2 as well. It's kind of like being Batman, and kind of like being Nick Valentine. He knows emperors and kings and regents and sorceresses, but he also goes through towns and offers to kill monsters and heal people for money because that's his profession. He gets summoned by the Emperor because of who he is and what he does, and not because he's The Chosen One that The King Needs. In other words, you play as Geralt because he's interesting to be rather than because his anonymity allows for interesting things to happen. You view the world through Geralt's actions, but Ciri is the main character. You learn things that Geralt doesn't know about himself. He thinks he's an emotionless pillar of True Neutralness and (shh) he's totally not. And the world sucks. It's a shitty place to be in and the consequences ripple out into the world. Sometimes your actions cause people to die. Sometimes your actions have no consequence and people die because there wasn't anything you could have done anyway, idiot. People hate Geralt. It's not because they're aligned against the faction you chose, it's because people are prejudiced against mutants. Then you act in their best interests anyway (or you don't!), because that's who Geralt is.

I think you actually don't like Witcher 3, because mechanically that's pretty much what the game is. I think that's ok! Your description of the chain of quests highlights to me that you're seeing what I saw as the to the comparative trees I focused on. I don't actually think the quest is supposed to be "ha ha this quest is just like those other quests isn't this a fun poke oh crap we actually just made the quest". You don't care, and Geralt doesn't care (I think he says so), but the pellar cares. The Pellar cares a lot and he's a weird fucking dude who's sort of messed up that's interesting to interact with, and you have to deal with him on his terms. The Baron is a complex character that's interesting to talk to and interact with. I appreciate that the world happens around you. I also mostly enjoyed the challenge of the combat. It's not the best part of the game, but oils and potions and multiple opponents providing a different sense of combat than a single one was good for me. I'm pretty sure I was also like 20+ hours into the game when I got to the pellar, because I got past the White Orchard and said "I MUST SEE EVERYTHING". I may have even been to Skellige before doing that. After nearly 100 hours, I remember the pellar questline but I didn't remember the part where you hit the button to do Witcher Sense and follow a highlighted trail to an object. The politics, places, and people are why Witcher 3 is GOTY. Holy shit the ending to the Bloody Baron quest line. Jeeeeeeeeeez

So I'm mostly the opposite way with regards to spoilers. I primarily feel that way because they've morphed from "Please don't ruin the plot twist to this psychological thriller" to "I don't want to know if Daniel Craig is in the next Bond film." It's the difference between politely asking not to discuss the back third of The Sixth Sense to refusing to discuss the casting for it. Knowing things in advance does change things, but it doesn't necessarily make them worse. I respect the media blackout! I am not unfeeling to that idea. At the same time, you have chosen to listen to a gaming podcast where by design they are taking an approach that encourages deeper discussions. That is the opposite of a media blackout. You are opting in! With that said, I know I personally can stand to do a better job of finding ways to discuss things broadly and highlight interesting things about them without parroting a recitation of the events that unfolded in it.

I don't have Robot or Steroids again yet. :[ I'm curious how people play this. I play it a lot like I play Diablo- as a fun way to be mindless. I have a feeling people are much more focused than me here.

Thinking it through, most of my nit picks are "star wars universe" bullshit. The movie was fun as, you know, a movie.

they also did a 70 minute video of themselves playing the game where that comes up. I get what you're saying, but this is essentially supplemental content to their main piece of content.

That's ok, neither was I.

Danielle I didn't know you were such a big Kurt Cobain fan!

Saw it last night! Didn't expect I would be able to get tickets for weeks and somehow I saw it opening weekend. I think I liked it? Oh also

Yesssss. I am both happy and sad that I never had the depth Gorm has in his education. A History Degree: a useful out in any discussion concerning the past.

I'm glad a space like this exists. I'm glad it will continue to exist. I'm glad that things stay largely civil even in clearly opinionated and even sometimes heated disagreement. I certainly feel some responsibility for causing this discussion to blow up beyond its intention, and I know that I am not the most delicate conversationalist all the time. I continue to feel, as wonderful as this community is, that sometimes our safe spaces here don't have the patience for education, and sometimes effort gets pushed back as not being "enough". It's not unjustified! Someone constantly vigilant in other facets of their life shouldn't have to deal with it constantly here too. Similarly, I sometimes feel like the only logical conclusion of the social justice thread is to naturally end with condemning anything that could be an injustice because missing something feels like you're not being diligent enough. I have some thoughts about what my "culture" is that I haven't talked about, because I haven't coalesced all my thoughts into something coherent (like that ever stops me). I'm at a weird intersection between being an American white male, the safest of all possible spaces at all times with a culture that is so overwhelming it sometimes feels like it doesn't have a heritage, and my cultural heritage of being an Ashkenazi Jew, one of the smallest cultural/religious groups in the world. It's something I don't think about all the time, but I consider it deeply when I do.

Oh hell no I'm not suggesting EU4 for Nick! That would not produce stories nearly as interesting. I'm just suggesting it for me, and I agree precisely with your assessment as to why. I have been thinking about you and CK2 and streaming. You made that offer a while back, we seem fairly gaming-compatible, and since I've done some streaming and video stuff, I think that would be super fun to try either live or recorded if you're up for it sometime. 3 goals- 1) Derive some enjoyment out of CK2 from actually PLAYING it for once, 2) Learn stuff about how it all works/maybe teach some people some stuff, 3) Wacky Crusader Kings shit.

I am genuinely curious. In addition to Korn, is there also a Khorne, pronounced the same way? Crusader Kings exists in that EVE space for me. I've played it for a few hours, but even sort of using walkthroughs as a rough guide, I immediately get trapped in analysis paralysis. I love hearing stories, I'll watch it, I've bought DLC... I can't sit down and play it. Each component is eminently understandable, but looking at all of it feels completely overwhelming. Somehow, EU does not feel that way at all. I haven't played a lot of it, but I was able to jump in and, right or mostly wrong, make decisions with confidence.

Yes you'll need a lot of food. Yes, it will feel expensive at first, sloping down over time. There's a potion you can make that will alleviate that somewhat. Combat is unforgiving in the early stages, especially at higher difficulties. Don't fret too much about spending money on gear. There are witcher sets that are worth focusing on, but buying non-witcher gear isn't worth your money. You'll get by, and then you'll find an upgrade and suddenly do way more than just get by. An interesting thing happened in this game where I had what felt like a basically unlimited amount of money in the later stages of the game, and decided to go in on upgrading everything. I actually ran out of money. The economy for basic necessities seems "broken" but the economy in the game overall is much more balanced than I gave it credit for initially.

The thing I'll say about it is the reviews seem to be overwhelmingly positive. That is a very promising development!

If you're interested in characters and, specifically, world building, then DA:O is absolutely the game I recommend you play first if you play any Dragon Age games. Completely coincidental to this conversation, I was browsing RPS and read this the other day about Dragon Age, and RPS's 50 best PC RPGs. If that article resonates, then for sure give it a shot. http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2014/11/17/dragon-age-origins-retro/ http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2015/07/10/best-rpg/ Dragon Age, BG2, and Witcher 3 are all unsurprisingly extremely high on the list (though I vehemently disagree with their #1 pick, to the point I was shocked it appeared on the list at all). PoE is fairly high, which is exciting because I've just started in on it. I don't disagree with you on Skyrim at all. It's a dragon and ice theme park for doing fun stuff. Bethesda are at their best making a game a mile wide and a foot deep, and they nailed it super hard with Skyrim. Using it as your tentpole counterexample from Witcher is something of a strawman though, because I don't think anyone is touting Skyrim as the realistic, nitty-gritty fantasy world to hang your hat on and hold up. All my rambling is to say two things I guess. 1) I think there absolutely are excellent realistic and grounded NA-made RPGs out there, and 2) using Witcher 3 is going to leave most contenders wanting, because Witcher 3 is one of the best video games ever made, and it specifically hangs its hat on being grounded and real.

Dodo, I'm curious what other RPGs you're comparing Witcher against when you mention D&D. I'd almost go so far as to say the split is between the (former) Eastern Bloc and everyone else, rather than Europe vs North America. A counterexample of a European game that absolutely fails to ground itself, for instance, is Fable. The only other games I've played that capture that dirt and grime are Metro and STALKER. I'm also curious what your criteria is for "real"! I think Dragon Age: Origins, and some of the isometric Bioware/Interplay/Black Isle games fit the sort of mold you're looking towards, but I might be off base. I finally started playing Pillars of Eternity, and it gives me the same vibe. Witcher 3 just happens to absolutely nail all the pieces of execution.

Oh gosh no. I wasn't pointing to WoW to say "Now THIS is a great value!", but rather to contrast the difference between offering an opportunity to skip leveling after 10 years and 5 expansions which raised the level cap, and offering it after a year. At this point, leveling from 1-40 is still a pretty valuable part of the game. I understand someone not wanting to level an Nth character to the cap for WoW at the start of a new expansion, new server, new xyz, because the amount of characters you can have is for all intents and purposes unlimited. It could be your 7th Paladin. Destiny has 3 character slots full stop, and a limited scope of content.

I feel like that's kinda where the rubber meets the road. This is priced like a WoW character leveler. The WoW boost is $60 and this is $25, but what I actually mean is it's priced as if it's for the hardcore player. The WoW boost is to get your 6th character to new content, or if you're starting on a server and not transferring. It has an entire quest chain that takes you through starter content and teaches you the basics of your class's skill progression along with all the bags, gear, and flying skills someone fresh out of the last expansion might have, just in case you haven't been playing 8 years. I used the TTK boost, because that was when I started playing. It dropped me into the game with level-appropriate gear. No tutorial, the new subclass wasn't even unlocked (as you said). That was super rough. And $25 vs $60 doesn't seem comparable, but we're talking about a game that's been out 15 months vs a game that's been out since 2004. Even straight breadcrumb and map following to level as fast as humanly possible, there's so much content to go through for WoW that isn't there for Destiny. Somewhere in the $5-10 range feels like it might be ok, but it's really expensive for what they're giving you and they haven't earned that. Lastly, please do not take this the wrong way! But I wager that if you loved Destiny like some friends I know love Destiny, you would have found that time to level 3 characters that was probably sucked away by other games and y'know, interesting life events. Like, those guys are the ones 1) most likely to drop $25 on Destiny without thinking about it and 2) have no need. That isn't to say "oh you don't ACTUALLY like Destiny" or that you're not hardcore or whatever. It is a video game and you should play it as long as you'd like and in the manner you see fit. Merely that the people I know who love destiny love it so hard that time gets taken away from other stuff and finds its way into Destiny. I get this is for the "I wanna see it" crowd, but it's a really poor value proposition in my eyes. Of course, I'm not a business analyst. I spent all these words worked about it and they'll probably make a goddamn mint.

Doesn't Destiny only have 3 character slots? Forget the absurd price, what person who isn't already "in" on Destiny doesn't have 3 level 40 characters? Who are they trying to sell this to?

I really like doing that. Not to say I don't understand completely where you're coming from, but the research, decisions, and anticipation is a huge part of pc building to me, and has become a part of my gaming experience as well. I (unfortunately, for my career) bounced off of coding, but I always loved tinkering with parts and hardware. At one point I had designs on eventually becoming a network engineer. Whoops, hitched my star to the wrong wagon!

Yeah, I don't really like that line of thought either. For me part of the reason building a PC is such a part of PC gaming is that it's directly in the same wheelhouse that gaming itself is in. We spend a lot of time and energy trying to get the best value out of gaming (or pushing back against that notion), whether that's hours per dollar or other kinds of value, and building a PC yourself is about trying to squeeze the most value out of your dollar.