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Interesting analysis from Ars that confirms that the top levels list is basically static at this point, and what's there is heavily tilted away from "real" Mario levels and toward autoplay levels and Amiibo gimmicks. I hope Nintendo does some work on this.

The podcast probably should've cut off directly after this line.

It's pretty hilarious that there are hidden diamonds in Mother Base in the first place.

I feel like a great many of those reviewers would have no idea who Miller or Paz was or what Big Boss was up to since Snake Eater, since they (like myself) skipped Peace Walker. If I wasn't able to ask my buddy who kept up on all the Metal Gear lore nonsense what was going on, I would be totally lost (and would've never bothered with any of the cassette tapes). The plot not concluding properly might not really register because it's been nonsense the whole time. But the open world is super fun, and probably worth all the critical acclaim despite the extraordinarily uneven and weirdly delivered plot! (Edit: I do agree that those sort of review events are kind of inherently shitty but there's a lot more to this game's whole situation than a review event)

I'm fairly pleased with my latest level, The Chase (C8CE-0000-006A-C6DF).

It only basically only works for wireless instruments: http://forums.harmonixmusic.com/discussion/258920/the-rock-band-4-instrument-compatibility-chart I guess wired guitars are not supported because of complicated Xbox hardware stuff?

Amazon preorders for the legacy adapter are up, and you can get it for $10 with the coupon code RB4ADAPTER: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01541ACLQ

I am sort of in the same situation. Had a 360, now mostly play on PC, but if buying a new console I would lean toward PS4 because of the PS+/cross-buy game library I've inadvertently built up. Right now, getting Rock Band 4 would cost me like $400, so I'm just planning to wait for a price drop or two on the XB1, or maybe a black friday sale. (though I might go ahead and pick up the old instrument adapter dongle in case they stop producing them)

I feel like I should make it clear that they still really like the game and it's generally a good podcast. Danielle was even on an episode!

Yeah, that's definitely part of it. That also relates to their complaints about the lack of drops/weapons/etc, since there's then a lack of item text to mine for lore tidbits, which is a problem when a big part of your show is speculating about lore. (The lack of boss souls also makes the bosses far less lore-rich even if they aren't a huge part of the overall story)

It's only $5 more than the Dark Souls 1 DLC, right? And wasn't DS2's season pass more?

I tried to get as 80s as possible on the color scheme of my dumb emblem:

Is this the previously-mentioned-in-thread crazy secret room? Do I need to build the medical platform to find it? I'm very early on and just unlocked some side ops that are target practice on various platforms, and wandering around samey Mother Base environments looking for targets to shoot is not a very fun kind of mission.

Ground Zeroes has MGS V's basic movement and shooting mechanics, but almost none of the dense systemic stuff that earns a comparison to Far Cry 2, since you're confined to a single military base to perform a 90 minute long mission. In a world where Konami wasn't bleeding cash making the proper game, it would've been the demo.

Mission log: Strangled a Russian soldier and stole his cassingle of “She Blinded Me With Science" before vanishing into the night.

Would anything be missed by me just skipping to the last five turns or so and not watching an entire 50 turn Mario Party?

When watching Giant Bomb's recent Armello video, I was initially excited because I thought someone had made a digital riff on Mage Knight, but there is definitely only a surface-level resemblance to that amazing game, and this cast seems to confirm my fears about it looking rather arbitrary in that classic Ameritrash board game way. I will still likely give it a shot sometime in the future, but my enthusiasm is dulled pretty considerably. Good episode, though!

I still haven't gotten a chance to play my copy of Funemployed, but Snake Oil and Metagame are the two games that led me to this same conclusion. This style of game is much more fun if you're encouraged to be creative and forced to own your plays.

He bailed on Zynga a bit ago, but is disappointingly still working in free-to-play. Apparently, he rescued the Big Huge Games name from the garbage fire that was 38 Studios, and actually put out a game earlier this year: http://bighugegames.com It looks like a Clash of Clans clone

I had an actual Xbox 360 RROD freeze occur during Fez's fake intro freeze mentioned on the 'cast.

I don't really understand what I'm leveling for after 30, since I've filled out the talent spots. I guess I could just stack high-end talents in instead? I feel like I like most of my talents, though.

I'm guessing the lack of GB Color/Advance games is just not wanting to code up an emulator for them.

Enjoyed this article about the game's crazy dynamic economy: http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2015/08/how-the-witcher-3s-economy-was-saved-by-polynomial-least-squares/ I suppose that system mostly worked out. I always felt like I never quite had enough money to do everything, but after just a few hours of play I was never so broke I couldn't do anything. (Though, the crafting/shopping interface is another story.)

I agree with all this. I wish there was a mode without any bear modifiers that was just a game I could try to get a high score at. That's another casualty of the metagame - you can't compare scores with friends or try to beat your previous best. Scores feel completely meaningless. (In the defense of the bears, they are pretty goddamned adorable. They should just be fun cosmetic items you gather through play, like Crossy Road characters.)

I've just gotten past the Forest of the Fallen Giants, and I feel like nowhere I can go feels like the right place on the difficulty ramp. One of the big guys in Heide's Tower of Flame eats six or seven soul arrows before going down, which means I run out of spells pretty quickly, and using a melee weapon is pretty impractical if I can't finish off the enemy quickly. I've poked around a bit in The Lost Bastille, but it seems a little more difficult than this. Same with the Shaded Woods, but harder. I'm trying what may be a weird sorcerer build - left hand wand, right hand mail breaker - which could explain things. (Hiding behind a shield after Bloodborne feels boring.) I'm also sticking to almost no armor since I want the fastest possible rolls. Should I reconsider that policy? Spoilertown: Aside: I can't believe both Bloodborne and this game ditch the pitch-perfect healing/resource system from Dark Souls 1 in favor of systems that make death have long-term consequences. When dying takes another chunk off your health bar, you aren't encouraged to experiment, and it makes death feel less like a lesson and more like punishment.