Jake

Idle Thumbs 188: A Refined Baby

Recommended Posts

Idle Thumbs 188:

621__header.jpg

A Refined Baby

With the end of the year coming up fast, Jake and Danielle are joined by Patrick Klepek of Giant Bomb, to pull back the curtain on the deliberations and distractions involved in picking the Games of the Year, and to share some surprising travel tips the modern gamer may find useful.

Things Discussed: Captain Toad Treasure Tracker, VA-11 HALL-A, Bayonetta 2, Pokémon Omega Ruby and Pokémon Alpha Sapphire, Alien: Isolation, Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze, Digital Spacey, Jurassic Park, Jurassic World

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I'm so out of the loop when it comes to mainstream games that I thought this was a really good year. Hearthstone, Smash Bros and Mario Kart are so good and I never really cared about the kind of stuff that shows up on PS4/Xbox One so this year was no worse in that regard for me than other years. Honestly there are so many bugs and glitches and DLC stuff with those games that I've just decided (not really decided, can't think of the word) to play those games a year or more down the line once most of the bugs have been ironed out and I can see which DLC I want and stuff (also it's way cheaper anyway sooo). So I hear everyone saying 2014 is a kinda meh year for games and I'm like huh whaaat and remember that I'm living under a rock with my 3DS and my laptop playing games from 2 years ago.

 

Edit: also I realise there's no way I could have finished listening to the podcast before I posted this but yes I am still currently listening to it partway.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Given that this was missing three fifths of the "regular" cast, it was pretty great! Jake, Danielle and Patrick should start their own podcast: Ninten-is as Nintendoes.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

It bugs me that you all agreed that Nintendo iterates very slowly and deliberately but also wrote off Pokémon sequels as being more of the same. They're admittedly pretty samey, but they do make a lot of changes and additions that affect the metagame.

 

Also, I appreciate the irony of bringing up the Alien vs Aliens horror movie vs action movie argument, then later trying to compare Alien Isolation with Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare.

 

EDIT: Also Shantae was totally the best platformer of the year and nobody from Idle Thumbs OR Giant Bomb played it and that BUMS ME OUT.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

It bugs me that you all agreed that Nintendo iterates very slowly and deliberately but also wrote off Pokémon sequels as being more of the same. They're admittedly pretty samey, but they do make a lot of changes and additions that affect the metagame.

 

Also, I appreciate the irony of bringing up the Alien vs Aliens horror movie vs action movie argument, then later trying to compare Alien Isolation with Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare.

 

EDIT: Also Shantae was totally the best platformer of the year and nobody from Idle Thumbs OR Giant Bomb played it and that BUMS ME OUT.

 

Pokemon seems to be in this weird situation where it's obviously crazy popular yet there are a lot of people who are not fans of it who feel like they should know a thing or two about it, and need talk about it (and get stuff wrong/inaccurate since they kinda have an outsider's perspective on it). And then there's also the whole metagame thing that only a small subset of the player-base even comprehends. So it's a game with lots of layers!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

EDIT: Also Shantae was totally the best platformer of the year and nobody from Idle Thumbs OR Giant Bomb played it and that BUMS ME OUT.

 

This is not true! This game is not nearly as good as Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze! I am bummed out that I don't like it as much as I was hoping I would. Each room in each generic island is full of generic enemies with generic patterns. The "secrets" are pretty ho-hum. The humor is forced. Every time I play a WayForward game, I want it to be good, and it always lets me down. They appreciate the platformer genre, but don't do anything with their games. (Also: All of the lady characters in Shantae are depicted wearing hardly any clothing, always? Is this supposed to be an ironic thing? I don't get it, and it just seems like I'm missing something, because it's pretty bad)

 

Meanwhile, Tropical Freeze was gorgeous, difficult but not unforgiving, and featured a high level of variety and polish. It seemed like the platforming had been thought of in the way that Nintendo (and the Rayman team, as of recent) thinks about platforming: there is a flow to good platforming segments. Characters jump and move in a way that rewards getting into the groove. Shantae, by comparison, is metroidvania lite, and it suffers.   

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

It bugs me that you all agreed that Nintendo iterates very slowly and deliberately but also wrote off Pokémon sequels as being more of the same. They're admittedly pretty samey, but they do make a lot of changes and additions that affect the metagame.

 

Also, I appreciate the irony of bringing up the Alien vs Aliens horror movie vs action movie argument, then later trying to compare Alien Isolation with Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare.

 

EDIT: Also Shantae was totally the best platformer of the year and nobody from Idle Thumbs OR Giant Bomb played it and that BUMS ME OUT.

 

Given my current obsession with Pokemon, I regret not defending it a bit better. I'm sorry, Tegan! 

 

Also, Shantae - this is a game I need to play ASAP for GOTY consideration, thank you!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Actually, here's

. This is lazy platforming design. The same enemies are presented again and again, in the same way. The platforming is repetitive, and it is as tedious when played as it seems in the video. This feels like a third-party SNES game you'd rent in the 90s. In this part of the game, you're kind of shuttling back and forth between different parts of the level clicking on NPCs, reading some silly dialogue, and then going somewhere else to do the same thing. It's perhaps unfair to be so critical of a game in its early stages (there is a "runner" segment later in the game, as well as a stealth area, so it does mix things up a bit), but I just don't consider this to be the best platformer of the year, by a long shot.  

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Only ten minutes in so far, but immensely enjoying despite the lack of the winsome messrs. Remo, Vanaman, and Breckon. Patrick Klepek is a great human being. Along with E.C. Segar, Bill Murray, and Roger Ebert, he's one of the only reasons I'm proud to be an Illinoisan.

 

Hoping for more Danielle imitating Captain Toad's "okay!" due to the early mention of the game. Much like her Rhode Island accent, it is, as Bueller would say, so choice.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

It feels so weird without Remo: he's a fixture of the Thumbs cast.

 

Other than that:  :tup:


EDIT:

 

I 101% agree with Patrick and Danielle on going back to where you were from. 

I've lived in California for five years now and I always go back to Cincinnati to see my friends and family, I pick-up on big and little changes around the city; I've seen roads and small places destroyed or expanded on. I remember when I was driving to an area where I would spend time to myself during my early twenties. The road I would take to get there was expanded into a five lane and it caught me completely off-guard and I got lost. A route that's burnt into my memory was now in disarray. I had to readjust and find my way back.

 

I think it's funny to experience these changes right away instead of experiencing gradually. 

 

 

0
 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Jurassic World is not a stealth reboot!

 

Alien and Aliens are both excellent movies!

 

gif is pronounced gif!

 

 

Danielle, I think you touched on it elsewhere on here previously, but how did Skyfall bring back sexism/misogyny that wasn't there in the previous two? I watched it recently but haven't seen the other two in years and remember them being pretty similar in that way...

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

What's that saying about never being able to go home again? 

 

"You can't go back home to your family, back home to your childhood ... back home to a young man's dreams of glory and of fame ... back home to places in the country, back home to the old forms and systems of things which once seemed everlasting but which are changing all the time – back home to the escapes of Time and Memory."

 

I don't think I would be able to return to where I grew up because it would give me the idea that my life was going backwards, which terrifies me. Standing still is deceptively ok, but definitely not going backwards. Either you stay in the same place your whole life or you just keep moving, like a shark. Or a jellyfish.

 

Of course, circumstances change, but I definitely hold this to be true for the most part.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Here's that recut Jurassic World trailer with the flea circus speech Jake was talking about at the top of the podcast, for anyone who wanted to watch it immediately:

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Not finished with the cast yet, but loving it so far. Just had to comment on this: Young Klepek (rap name?) wrote a story about a shark being lonely. But hasn't he mentioned that his wife is obsessed with sharks? To the point that it's in her Twitter handle? Sounds like true destiny.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Great cast! 

 

I'm curious about VA-11 HALL-A now; what the heck is going on in there? Seeing it mentioned on blogs and stuff, I think people were giving it credit for purposefully (and hopefully thoughtfully) exploring the issues it brings up, but the proof is in the pudding. Definitely want to check it out.

 

Also, to be slightly pedantic, people generally classify different dog varieties as breeds rather than species, although the taxonomy of dogs and related creatures is pretty muddled and probably could stand to be revised!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

How many episode titles contains 'baby' at this point?

This is only the third! 

Episode 39 - Video Game Baby

Episode 93 - Babywall and the Horse Armor

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

 

Danielle, I think you touched on it elsewhere on here previously, but how did Skyfall bring back sexism/misogyny that wasn't there in the previous two? I watched it recently but haven't seen the other two in years and remember them being pretty similar in that way...

She wrote a piece at Polygon about Skyfall, here: http://www.polygon.com/2014/12/4/7333727/james-bond-spectre-sexism-skyfall

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

This is only the third! 

Episode 39 - Video Game Baby

Episode 93 - Babywall and the Horse Armor

 

I think you mean "Babywall the Horse Armor". Although Babywall and the Horse Armor sounds like a pretty hilarious Nickelodeon cartoon.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I can sort of see how this year might feel slightly lackluster compared to 2013, but on its own merits it's still so full of crazy goodness that I haven't been able to keep up at all. And none of the games that have been reputedly disappointing or technically broken are things I had any real hopes for. But then, I'm a PC gamer. If you're looking to one (or even both) of the new consoles as your sole gaming source, I could see it being a pretty lackluster year, yeah. (Though, you'd still have Shadow of Mordor, Alien: Isolation, Dragon Age: Inquisition, and undoubtedly other stuff from earlier in the year that I am now forgetting.) That's kind of par for the course for early adopters, though. I can't think of a console I've owned that would have had much to offer me in the first year and probably even first two years of their existence.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I think you mean "Babywall the Horse Armor". Although Babywall and the Horse Armor sounds like a pretty hilarious Nickelodeon cartoon.

 

Right up there with Shadow and the Colossus: Back in Action

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

She wrote a piece at Polygon about Skyfall, here: http://www.polygon.com/2014/12/4/7333727/james-bond-spectre-sexism-skyfall

 

I strongly disagree with part of that article.

 

Later, that same woman is ... killed in order to give the male hero further motivation to go after his enemy.

 

That's not true—she dies and Bond doesn't give her a second thought.

 

Later, the bad guys destroy his Aston Martin and that's when we really see James Bond ready for vengeance.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

How can you forget the classic Ep 102: Standing on the Shoulders of Babies????

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I think the only thing really lacking this year is the sort of game that can develop a consensus for game of the year. There were all sorts of great releases but they by and large have been servicing niche genres rather than the AAA FPS and open world stuff that had come to dominate the industry (and seems a bit stale this year outside of possibly Shadows of Mordor). Alien: Isolation seems like the most interesting horror game in years (at least in the AAA space), Elite: Dangerous is the most interesting space sim in years, Dragon Age: Inquisition, Divinity: Original Sin, and Shadowrun: Dragonfall seem like great RPGs, the first act of Broken Age and third act of Kentucky Route Zero were stand out adventure game experiences, there's been a whole host of great mobile games (80 days, Desert Golfing, Monument Valley, Revolution 60), Reaper of Souls seems to have reinvigorated Diablo, the Wii U seems to have really hit its stride, and it was a great year for local multiplayer (Sportsfriends, Towerfall: Ascension, and Nidhogg were awesome). As with most years, there were more awesome gaming experiences than I've had time to play which is all I can really ask for.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

How can you forget the classic Ep 102: Standing on the Shoulders of Babies????

I used a very unsophisticated CTRL-F search.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now