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Jake

Idle Thumbs 144: Gimme Some More

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Idle Thumbs 144:

 

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Gimme Some More

Nick returns from Disneyland, armed with the latest tips and tricks for the hottest rides, but what help are the hidden moves when the whole game is rigged against you? We're joined by The Kingdom of Loathing's Zack Johnson for a discussion of game-like experiences in real life, SimCity's appealing journey to Tomorrowland, and a harder look at A Link Between Worlds.

 

Things Discussed: Disneyland, Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters, Sleep No More, SimCity: Cities of Tomorrow, The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, Spelunky, The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, The Banner Saga, Gemstone 3, World of WarCraft

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"Sleep no more" is a famous line from Macbeth, so it makes sense that the "Sleep No More" show would be based on that.

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I totally agree with Zack's assessment of Link Between Worlds.  What I enjoyed about the game wasn't that it breaks the traditional Zelda structure (although that was cool), but rather that because the items aren't located in the dungeons, the entire dungeon became a puzzle playground centered around a specific item.  A normal Zelda dungeon would only be about half this, with the first part directing you toward the item so that you could play around with it.  The only thing I wish they had done was have some dungeons that required a mix of items for the puzzles instead of just one.

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The Buzz Lightyear discussion was the most I've laughed in a long, long time.

 

Also, I am so happy to hear from someone else who dislikes Yoshi's Island, and for the same reasons I do. Majora's Mask sounds fascinating to me thematically but I've just never enjoyed actually playing it, while I just don't really like anything about Yoshi's Island.

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Nick Breckon episodes are great.  More Nick Breckon, please.  

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If anyone wants to hear more about Disney's Haunted Mansion, Rolly Crup, X Atencio, etc. there's actually a really interesting two-part podcast from Stuff You Missed in History Class about it.

 

Episode 1

 

Episode 2

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damn, something about those brightly colored spacships just makes the dank, poorly-lit worried looking little human faces in there seem so bleak... is this a property of the game or just of nick?

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If anyone wants to hear more about Disney's Haunted Mansion, Rolly Crup, X Atencio, etc. there's actually a really interesting two-part podcast from Stuff You Missed in History Class about it.

 

Episode 1

 

Episode 2

 

Fun fact, the late Paul Frees (aka your host, your ghost host) was also the voice of Boris on the Rocky and Bullwinkle show.

 

Also, Thurl Ravenscroft, the bass singer in the group of singing busts in the graveyard, was also Tony the Tiger. Also proud owner of the award for best name.

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Thurl Ravenscroft also sang the amazing song You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch.

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So, I guess this was the official announcement of Chris joining Campo Santo? I mean, I haven't heard it anywhere else, and it was weird because Chris said it in a very offhanded way, like this was known. :P

 

This made me wonder (and people watching the last Daily Challenge): What is Chris' involvement with Spacebase DF-9 right now? Is he working freelance on it or is he off the project? Also, who killed Laura Palmer? 

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Hahaha... That Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters discussion was fantastic! Congrats Nick! :tup: :tup: :tup:

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Congrats on the Camposanto news, Chris! Lord 'Campo' Chris 'Extremo Boost Santo' Remo. It's too long...

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I am dangerously backlogged on IT episodes, so I didn't know if that was common knowledge or not yet via the cast.

 

But congrats Chris! One step closer to making 'Back Into Samuel L. Jackson's Arm' a reality.

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You guys should really worry less about going off on non-Video game-related tangents. They're usually some of my favourite moments of the podcasts, and I doubt I'm alone in this.

Also, I'm glad you guys mentioned Link's Awakening. That game is really, really good.

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damn, something about those brightly colored spaceships just makes the dank, poorly-lit worried looking little human faces in there seem so bleak... is this a property of the game or just of nick?

 

That description makes me want to see a Kerbal Nick Breckon added to Kerbal Space Program.

 

I loved this episode so much.  Nick Breckon is my spirit animal.

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In regards to filing the teeth of inequity in MMOs because the some many people feel robbed:

I'm participating in the Rust alpha. I don't have much MMO experience, but this is what I imagined MMOs were like when I first heard of them. In a somewhat persistent world, players are building houses and forming gangs. I was resistent to the idea of buying Rust because of the horror stories I was hearing, but I was also intrigued. Here is my point: the inequity in Rust's alpha is a big part of why I'm enjoying it and it's also probably not going to be around in the finished product. It's crazy. There is a certain brutality attached to the games current systems, but there are also exploits being employed by server administrators especially (or atleast rumors of it) that are creating a mythological experience for me.

Last night I was on a server with about 70 people and was hunted inhumanely by someone with a shotgun in my naked noobness. About 10 minutes later, his name pops up in global chat saying "The admins are on and they are blasting me!" Followed by panicked reports of how the administrators were using exploits for god-like powers to take down whom I perceived to be a tyrant. It was such an interesting experience for me. I have no idea whether or not he was exaggerating, but there I was hitting a rock against a tree to craft a stone-hatchet in poverty, and the voice of someone who had over powered me unjustly was damning the gods of the server in a global voice as he received (what was to me) mythological justice. This is not an experience I expect to have in the finished game. And it shouldn't be in the finished game. Without curation and creative enforcement, exploits would take over the experience. Part of the reason I'm enjoying it now is that I know it won't always be this way.

I hope more systems like the cargo-drop and raiding other people's houses will be added in and balanced to maintain this sense of no-person's-land the game currently has, but I wager that it's eventually going to turn into a game where everyone feels like they are getting their fair-share consistently.

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Re: Sleep no more, it's not the expense that's so bad, but it's hard to get tickets. because they sell out quite a while in advance, or at least that was the case in the beginning when it was new.

 

Also, I have a friend of a friend who knows a bunch of the Sleep No More actors. According to him: "I see at least one couple having sex every night." So, it depends on if that's what you're into.

 

Does anybody have a link to the Disney Haunted Mansion guy's memoir? I couldn't catch the name.

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I mean, sure, it costs him $6 each time he records an episode 'cause he has to go into the city, but we, the viewers, pay it back with our adulation.

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