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Idle Thumbs 167: And That's Why Skeletons Fart That Way

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Idle Thumbs 167:

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And That's Why Skeletons Fart That Way

After a weekend of unparalleled successes and unmitigated failures, we talk through the difference between conceiving of something, and making it actually happen. There's also a long look at what it means when the knowledge and advances of modern technology are applied to game design philosophies from twenty years ago. But you're probably here for the farting skeleton.

Games Discussed: Shovel Knight, Abyss Odyssey, Wings of St. Nazaire, Street Fighter IV

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Oh sweet I'm really interested in Abyss Odyssey so this is perfect timing for me. This will either push me over the edge or reel me back.

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What the fuck do people even say instead of "He was like, I was like" in place of "he said, I said"? Repeating 'said' over and over in quick succession sounds horrible to me!

 

But now I sound like a complete moron whenever I describe people talking. I hate it. Goddamn California.

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I'm not finished the podcast yet, but I have a question for Danielle! Did you ever play Muramasa for the Wii or the remake for the Vita? It's a game from the Dragon's Crown team that mixes combat akin to Smash Bros. or a brawler with some light platforming and RPG elements.

 

 

 

It's really good and George Kamitani's art is way more restrained than it was in Dragon's Crown. It's a lot closer to the look Dragon's Crown had back when it was meant to be a Dreamcast game.

 

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Thanks for the quick recap of dashcon! I saw it pop up on tech website headlines...but im not on the up and up of tumblr news nor did it strike me as interesting (especially that ball pit picture)

 

quick notes -

It was at the Renaissance Hotel in Schaumburg...which is one of the larger convention centers in the chicago suburbs, like 150k SQ FT - also a pretty slick hotel attached to it.

 

The city is pronounced "sh AW m b er g" (or SHômberg)

 

and fun fact, i designed and installed the lighting conversion from cold cathode to LED on the outdoor "embrace", a massive concrete ring about ~20' above grade that lights pathways, benches, ponds etc.  i'd have go to go back to the project notes, but it was a couple thousand feet of LED

 

renaissance-schaumburg-hotel-and-convent

 

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Holy shit, what happened to him? How did he become worse as an artist?

 

I think you mean objectively better

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I love that the Thumbs can have basically the same conversation about Alan Wake that I would have about this guy:

 

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Luffy won Ultra Street Fighter IV using Rose.

 

The Abyss Odyssey discussion kinda reminds me of the Murdered: Soul Suspect discussion from before, except I fall on the 'worthwhile' side rather than the 'didn't stick the landing' side. Kinda how M:SS seemed like a game for ghost story fans, Abyss Odyssey feels like it's made for fighting game fans. ACE Team have always wore their love of fighting games on their sleeve, and this game actually fits in the 2D fighter mold. The combat feels really solid to me, and there's a lot of fighting game mechanical references in there***. For example, you can spend your skill points to give moves extra damage or more mana regeneration, but you can also give moves invincibility frames, projectile invincibility or super armor. You can also use those points to allow a character to cancel actions into special attacks or rolls more times in a row. The ability to cancel is tied to a cooldown so you actually have to manage them by managing cancels per combo and time between combo attempts. It ends up feeling like a fighting game enthusiast playground and the ancillary parts like the platforming are mostly to pace the frequency of the fights. In the end I think it's successful; in a run the amount of combat and their pacing feels fun. To me, it's a big improvement over the Zeno Clash games, that were mechanically fun, but threw so many fights at you over and over again that it could easily feel like a slog by the end. It really feels like if any of that mechanical nonsense I mentioned sounds interesting or cool, and you liked ACE Team's style, you'll really love this game.

 

Also, on top of everything else in that game, there's apparently a Noby Noby Boy style meta aspect where the cumulative total of boss defeats will cause the game to change at set intervals and unlock new content, which sounds potentially pretty cool.

 

***There's also a Marth-esque counter, a golem who has a spinning backhand that I swear looks exactly like Zangief's green hand/Banishing Flat. a zombie that does a throw that starts up like Hugo's Meat Squasher and probably a dozen other moves that are reminiscent of a popular move. Fighting Games!

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After all these years, I don't expect you guys to ever stop worrying that what you're talking about is secretly boring the readers in some way, but: Just Do It™

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Oh sweet I'm really interested in Abyss Odyssey so this is perfect timing for me. This will either push me over the edge or reel me back.

 

Yeah, I almost bought it tonight, but want to finish up The Bureau first.  Can't wait to see what the Thumbs think of it.  I like everything Ace Team has made, even if it isn't really good. 

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Luffy won Ultra Street Fighter IV using Rose.

Was Danielle's second name Rose? Clearly the best character then! I was surprised how much I got into watching a game/genre I never actually play, and when Luffy's French Rose started to kick ass I was happy I could cheer for the home continent at least... Then I also found and watched this Street Fighter documentary which was well made and featured a lot of Seth Killian who always seems like a cool/interesting guy.

 

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I lost it with the dream story "Because they think they can get away with it." because I imagined a world where skeletons were fighting for equal rights in a long complex struggle. But Chris and many other people were having their flesh privilege challenged. And part of the offensive anti skeleton rhetoric was that they were always farting while the honest hardworking flesh people had to take responsibility for it.

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That Dashcon discussion was entirely fascinating, I had no idea that was going on last weekend. 

 

Was Danielle's second name Rose? Clearly the best character then! I was surprised how much I got into watching a game/genre I never actually play, and when Luffy's French Rose started to kick ass I was happy I could cheer for the home continent at least... Then I also found and watched this Street Fighter documentary which was well made and featured a lot of Seth Killian who always seems like a cool/interesting guy.

 

Ooh, that documentary looks quite interesting. Thanks.

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:) Buying video games as a child

 

We had a shop that was about 30 minute drive way that would part exchange games back around 1990. I dont know how exactly we found out about new games, i don't remember ever owning any mega drive magazines :? we must have done, or perhaps we'd just flick through them in WH Smiths. Anyway, i'd always phone up before to make sure they'd have the game in stock. Thinking back now, that poor shop clerk must've had to answer calls from 8 year olds all day asking if they had Pete Sampras Tennis in stock (fucking quality game FYI) Then i would keep my fingers tightly crossed on both hands for the loooooooong 30min drive down to the shop hoping no one bought my game in the time it took to get there. This had happened on at least one occasion and it was just about the most crushing thing i had felt in my young life. Then we learned that we could ask them to put it by for us, so simple, so many heart ache could've been avoided. You always remember your first broken heart, Micro Machines 1991
 

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I remember trying to save up $70 to get Pokémon Stadium 2 out of the Sears catalogue. I think I only managed to raise $45 or so and my mom ended up covering the rest.

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Abyss Odyssey also surprised me yesterday! In my surprise, I bought it, and am looking forward to playing it.

 

I grew up in the Irish countryside, so getting hold of games was incredibly difficult for me as a child. My grandfather lived in the UK, and would occasionally send me cassettes with copied Atari 800XL games that he got from someone he worked with (I'm not proud of this! I also didn't really have any other choice). Discovering these games, with no information other than the name written in pen on a cassette inlay, was an important part of my formative years. Rare trips to Northern Ireland enabled me to splash £2.99 on games in Woolworths. Later, in the 90s when gaming culture had moved on to SNES, Megadrive and PlayStation, and there were at least ways of getting these games in Ireland, I was still rocking an Atari ST; Yearly trips to England were the only time when I could buy new games, often from a market stall, smelling of fish and cigarettes.

 

In more direct response to Chris' Full Throttle story, I remember buying Sensible Software's WizKid from an Electronics Boutique in Coventry at the ages of 13 or 14. As I was paying the guy at the counter said to me, "Are YOU a wiz kid?". Somewhat perplexed, I faked laughter and walked out of the shop with my purchase.

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Thinking about some of this episode has thrown my adolescent video game image of myself into doubt.  I had a regular Nintendo but only a few games (Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt) and I believe the NES Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game may have actually delayed my interest in games.  I never had an SNES and was only vaguely aware of its existence until getting back into Nintendo Power and the N64.  

 

What a weird time the 90's were, much like the Thumbs always say, if my 8 year old self were to interact with something like Steam I would probably have melted into an Alex Mack goo.

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