tberton

I really liked Bastion's weapon system too, although I never felt as in control of whether or not my loadout was good as I did in Transistor. That's probably because of the real-time nature of Bastion, since it was less clear whether my loadout was bad or I was bad. That said, I loooovvvved the Flame Bellows. I think the two loadouts I used the most were Scrap Musket/War Machete and Flame Bellows/Breaker's Bow.

Oh man, Load() was my favourite. I liked using Get(Bounce()) to bring a bunch of enemies close, set up with Load() and then trigger the packet with Ping(). So much fun. Hmm... if you're interested, you could show me what functions you've got and I could tell you how to get some more work out of them. There are definitely ways to just add more damage to things, or increase your own resistance. Crash(), for instance, gives you damage resistance when applied as a passive effect. The reason for using things like Spark() to split attacks is that often enemies clump together, so you want to hit a bunch at once (especially if applying a secondary effect to them like Crash() or Purge()). Also, sometimes you just want to kill enemies quickly because their weak, so doing less damage isn't a big deal. That said, if you're just outright done with the game, that's fine. This is true, and especially good when you add on Purge() because then each explosion also sends out parasites that attack enemies for you. It's amazing.

I subscribed to Giant Bomb for a month just to watch their videos on this game. It was hugely entertaining. I should probably throw a few bucks the developers' way too. Paul was amazing.

I totally understand those complaints. For me, though, I just loved trying out new functions, combining them in creative ways and trying to figure out how to best employ them in combat. I loved the pace of the combat, switching being being hugely powerful and powerless. The only complaints I had were that the controls were a bit fiddly, the UI could have been better and I wish the game had been somewhat less linear. Other than that, I think it's just about perfect. I think my ideal JRPG would have Transistor's upgrades and combat, Chrono Trigger's multi-character combos and Skies of Arcadia's ship battles and setting.

Agreed. I love the combat and the progression system, so I'm saddened when it doesn't hit for other people. Can I ask, Tanukitsune, why you don't feel like you're getting stronger? You should be gaining access to new functions and more memory at a pretty good pace, which increases your damage output and survivability a ton. As for the length, where are you? Transistor is not a particularly long game, so you might be closer to the end than you think.

I don't read a ton of sci-fi, but the only one that comes to mind that deals with changing speech patterns as opposed to changing words is Zachry's section in Cloud Atlas.

I know Canada is. These two articles (the second is a response to the first) suggest that the UK is experiencing a similar trend.

I really loved this episode. I think it's interesting how Adam's interview style is much less biographical than Soren's, or Steve's on Tone Control. Gives a different feel. I'd only been familiar with Nina from retweets before this, so it was really interesting to hear her talk about her games and her approach to design. I took the advice and played How Do You Do It? in the middle of listening - it was really cool! I love the idea of vignette games like this and it gives me confidence that a couple ideas I've got could eventually become actual games.

I'm really surprised by how bothered people were by the IM thing, myself. It felt totally normal to me. I don't think the reveal that you're a character in the world is that out of left field - the readme files at the beginning imply as much. On that note, did anybody else get super freaked out the first few times the reflection appeared? I think the first time it appeared for me was right after hearing the song and the face, the music, the creepiness of the song and the fact that it was late at night made me jump out of my seat.

They read my question on this week's Beastcast!

I played Paper Mario on the Wii Virtual Console and it was great.

Not sure if it's exactly what you're looking for, but these

Wicked + Divine is really that good. Phonogram is great too, but I agree with ewokskick: get The Singles Club if you're only going to get one. Apparently there's a bunch of backmatter in the single issues that wasn't collected in the trade, too, so it might be worth grabbing them like that.

I think the "people should be allowed to joke" line of argument is a bit of a strawman, at least in the context of the original article. The author goes out of her way to recognize the potential cathartic value of the joke. She's questioning its usefulness as a commentary, not as a joke.

1/4 of the way to Doctor Octopus.

To be fair, at least that was period appropriate.

I think you're misunderstanding the premise of the article: that many feminists online ironically say things like "kill all men" in something of a double-parody, where, since "men's rights activists" claim that feminists do in fact want to kill all men, feminists say it as a joke to prove the absurdity of the statement. When you see somebody saying "kill all men" online, at least part of the message is "it is ridiculous to think that feminism is about killing men, especially when there are so many legitimate complaints." But the absurdity is less funny when you consider that in specific historical contexts, there were aspects of feminism that did seek to harm certain populations of men. It's a bit of a complicated argument, since it relies on a few layers of irony, but I think Shane does a really good job in this piece teasing out all the aspects of it.

The multiplayer was really fun.

The discussion about knowing who to trust and having the game obscure that is remarkably similar to a game design idea I've had since listening to your episode on espionage. Get out of my head!

I love those Hot Scoops! All the Breckon stuff was great: Jenelle's email was better than I ever could have hoped and I think Precious will stick as his nickname. I'm really glad that somebody mentioned the F. Nick Breckoncast, because that's also my favourite Nick moment. I appreciated the Rare talk too. My friends and I played a ton of Goldeneye, Perfect Dark and Conker's Bad Fur Day was we were around 11. I never liked the Goldeneye or Perfect Dark that much, but Conker multiplayer was a ton of fun. That's still the game that comes to mind when I think of "attack and defend" game modes. For anybody who's interested in more Rare history, going back to their Ultimate Play the Game days, check out this episode of Retronauts. Disappointed that with all the Breckon and burning talk there was no mention of Breckon & Bindburn, Attorneys at Law. That might be a bit too deep of a cut though.

The Meme-ification of Misandry - this is a really good article that lines up with some discussions from earlier in this thread about things like "male tears." Well worth reading.

My goodness, the new Wicked + Divine.

I'm less bothered by that simply because Lexus links to several other videos that show how the thing works and the tracks are obvious there.

Yeah, I have no idea what this is supposed to mean as a commercial product and as an ad campaign it's kind of silly. I just think quantum levitation is cool to look at.

I'm pretty sure the magnetic field around the track and the board is quite small and tight, so there wouldn't be any danger there. I'm not positive though. I do wonder, though, how they refill the liquid nitrogen.