Call and Response: WOFF! Dispatch October 2023
Added 2023-10-12 05:50:39 +0000 UTCHello! We need your questions! For the dispatch!
Please respond by Monday, October 16th by leaving a comment on this post.
We're looking for two kinds of things:
-Suggestions for our long-form discussion prompt.
-Q&A about the shows, behind the scenes details, and miscellaneous (including off-the-wall and off-topic questions). Ask us about games or other media, life in general... You name it.
One caveat we've given in the past: If the question is too personal or gross, we may dance around it and not give a direct answer.Looking forward to hearing from you!
Comments
I'm on my NG+ run now andnits absolutely my favorite Soulslike and I like it more than most Souls games lol. It's so so so smooth and the devs really understood the assignment imo.
John Gamble
2023-10-30 17:47:37 +0000 UTCI loved sekiro, and I know that wasn’t exactly what Gary and Cole look for in fromSoft games. Lies of P is a git gud game for sure and it may even be more difficult than Sekiro, but it’s absolutely my GOTY. I’ve played through NG++ and I was absolutely floored by the story, atmosphere and the boss battles are among the best in the genre. Full stop it’s the best soulslike out there and among my favorite fromSoft titles. Definitely check it out - it’s on game pass and you may fall in love, or you may shrug it off because it’s combat demands that you learn all of the boss animations
Steve White
2023-10-30 17:44:36 +0000 UTCAh, I knew the swap was coming but I wasn't sure what the timing looked like. 👍
Luke Summerhayes, visionary host of the excellent Game Game Show podcast
2023-10-17 23:27:12 +0000 UTCHey Luke, since this is a programming question and you might have missed the news, figured I'd shoot an answer to you here. BSC is being back into cryostorage after we wrap coverage on Elden Ring and is being replaced with a new show, Real Lich Hours, covering Baldur's Gate 3 for the foreseeable future. So, unfortunately, no bonus content along those lines. --Gwen
Duckfeed.tv
2023-10-17 23:03:54 +0000 UTCI just wrote my own take on this further down but having beaten it....I'm fairly certain Gary and Cole will absolutely hate it's combat. I hated it and I play Soulsborne religiously. To me, it seemed the devs had a fundamental misunderstanding of what makes souls games so fair and encouraging to finish. It really stepped too often into "lol screw the player cuz souls" territory too often while not offering a narrative or world worthy of that. Further more, it didn't use those cheap shots as a way to reinforce their game world being dangerous or to caution the players like the well placed first mimic in DS3 does for example. They just really overused the ol'bridge drops from underneath you (happens literally every time) trick and guy hiding behind boxes in a corner trick too much. Too the point it's boring because you expect it.
Funk Phunkerton
2023-10-17 03:13:02 +0000 UTCSorry in advance for the long comment. I know you're both busy! I know you guys love DS1 and there's been some really unfair criticisms of the newly released Lord's of the Fallen 2023. I see some requests for Lies of P and indeed it has garnered quite a lot of vocal fans online yet...from being a long time listener and knowing what you both appreciate in games (as well as playing both myself), I think you guys will absolutely hate Lies of P. Aesthetics will probably be a toss up, but the combat you will absolutely hate (especially Gary). Imagine sekiro but even more sweaty and with severely less forgiving deflection windows. Story and everything is else is....okay. I don't mean to rag on it and I think you both should play it at some point, but what this new Lord's of the Fallen game has captured is nothing short of a miracle. I say this as a Fromsoft challenge runner and someone who plays their whole catalog on repeat. This is the first game to successfully mix innovated Soulsborne combat (similar to DS3+Bloodborne mainly) with an absurd amount of animations to represent their take on the BB L1 transformation attack combos with the truly interconnected world that rivals DS1 (no, I'm dead serious). It will have you getting that nice dopamine rush repeatedly thinking you're miles away from home only to end back up at your hub in pure shock. Lore and aesthetics are top notch and imo has much better written (or at least translated) and true to form item descriptions than LoP. In addition, the Umbral mechanic is a fresh take on the whole thing (not like Alan Wake lmao) and makes exploration rewarding while also delving into legitimate survival horror territory. It accurately captures that OG darksouls feel that you are a nothing piece of crap corpse and you need to kill God while the world itself despises you and wants nothing more than to kill you. I won't take up any more of your time and I apologize for the long rant but I really believe this game has been misrepresent by certain outlets and Steam reviews for all the wrong reasons despite being critically very well received from most others. I genuinely know you guys will appreciate it and have a great time. Would love for you to do both eventually on BSC or any other outlet but I can't stress this enough to not sleep on this amazing game. Hell, I'd even commission you guys to do it maybe haha. Side note: main gripes resulting in review bombing have primarily been due to players A) buying because they thought it was a co-op game despite its multi-player being Fromsoft's model. B) Not updating drivers and not running on recommended settings. I've had zero problems/bugs/crashes since launch. So don't let the gripes fool you!
Funk Phunkerton
2023-10-17 03:06:46 +0000 UTCI'm interested in this too. I recall hearing some naysaying on the network, but I think the game at least looks serviceable, and reviews are mostly pretty good too! Are you guys sure you're not pooping on P too much?
Samurai Snail
2023-10-17 02:08:32 +0000 UTCI know suggestions are poison, but I almost broke protocol to recommend something… and then Gary goes and sees Glorious. It was a real surprise of a movie, and both JK Simmons and True Blood guy were great. Since that was tailored made to Unfilmable, I wanted to see if you’d ever heard of something else directly to your tastes. The movie “Dave Makes a Maze”? It’s a “House of Leaves”-alike, with some Michelle Gondry visuals, and has James Urbaniak as actor? While not perfect, it’s a fun watch, and may as well have “for my dearest Kole” on the script. Curious if this is a known product or as much of a surprise to you all as its existence was to me.
Eric Jedraszczak
2023-10-16 19:56:30 +0000 UTCDo you tend to have a nostalgic perspective on Duckfeed's earlier periods, even when the circumstances were objectively less favorable? What were your favorite pieces of that time?
Cinnamon Toast Cunt
2023-10-16 15:47:33 +0000 UTCThoughts on Brandon Sanderson? My best friend loves his work! As for me? I’m struggling to finish the first Mistborn novel.
Drew on arrival
2023-10-15 23:52:25 +0000 UTCI have become quite taken with The Dan Game, as popularized by Quakstak. I just finished Chained Echoes, and besides fixing literally every problem I have with JRPGs (by kinda... not being a JRPG), I was also thrilled to find that it holds the distinction of having exactly zero entries on Rule 34. My question is this: what series/game/etc do you like the most that you think has the least Rule 34 entries?
Michelle
2023-10-15 19:13:06 +0000 UTCHave either of you checked out Lies of P? It's the closest to the like "from soft experience" that any Souls-like game has in my opinion. Would be interested in you folks covering it at some point!
John Gamble
2023-10-15 18:20:40 +0000 UTCRE4 free space! What are your thoughts on the Separate Ways DLC?
Naveen Sivakumar
2023-10-15 13:09:48 +0000 UTCSince its Halloween, who's your favourite vampire?
Tom Healey
2023-10-15 11:21:11 +0000 UTC(I don't mind if you just call me John or something, not looking for promo) Hey gang gang, as someone who is trying to get into doing youtube reviews, I was wondering if you could share any insight into the notetaking process you have? On one hand I feel like I should be able to just remember most things, but the level of thoroughness you guys bring is something to be admired. Often times I'll end up taking notes for maybe the first hour or two of the game, but fall behind and just stop taking them all together. I imagine the answer is probably just "more discipline", but just wondering if there were any tips or advice for people who look up to you guys as passionate and articulate gamesmen. Thanks for the shows, I talk about you guys a lot to my non-gamer girlfriend and she often has no idea what I'm talking about, but she loves BG3 so I'm gonna try to get her into Real Lich Hours
Stoned Skeleton
2023-10-15 00:49:32 +0000 UTCMandalore, Noah and WOFF are the only people I listen to these days
Stoned Skeleton
2023-10-15 00:47:30 +0000 UTC2 qs! for Kole, how are you liking Armored Core 6? It's my first AC game and i'm really into it! for Gary, you ever watch Mandalore reviews on youtube? https://www.youtube.com/@MandaloreGaming
Randall
2023-10-14 18:53:22 +0000 UTCHey fellas, I’ve been a long time listener and fan of the network in general and this is my first time writing a question in. All I gotta ask is, when should we expect the announcement for the guided by voices era by era show? I know you’ll be busy with Real Lich Hours coming up but I’m sure you’ll find the time after all that. Obviously kidding. Love the shows guys.
The Accident Channel
2023-10-14 18:14:01 +0000 UTC(Pronounced “Nikolai). Hi guys, looking very much forward to both Baldurs Gate 3 and Real Lich Hours! I really like CRPG’s, but have a really hard time getting through passages with torture/body horror/characters in extreme pain. Thus I really struggled with i.e. the torture cellars of Fort Joy and the Queen Justinia cellars in Divinity Original Sin 2 and Heart of the Bloom/the eternal gate content of Tides of Numenera - and almost having to quit the games despite loving the rest. Have you encountered such content in Baldurs Gate 3? And are such segments more generally a thing within western fantasy/D&D inspired games?
Nikolaj Thorborg
2023-10-14 06:31:04 +0000 UTCHey guys, thanks for another thoughtful month of shows! I'm wondering about "time tax," a concept I think you guys have used sometimes to describe when a game punishes a player failure by wasting their time. Fall off a cliff? No you don't get to restart where you left off, you have to climb all the way up! Do you love crafting? Well how much do you love it if you have to hit the X button really fast as part of a "mini-game" to get your weapon super shiny? Like many of your insights, I've begun to look for time taxes in my games, usually rolling an eye or two when they come my way. But I'm recently thinking about ways in which "time tax" can help gameplay. I'm shoulder-deep into Tears of the Kingdom. It's great. But it shares the problem that BOTW had in which Link can just hop into a menu and eat 75 apples whenever the going gets tough. Because there is so little scarcity, I can rest assured that I'll have the right meals for the right climates whenever I need them. But what if the game handled inventory with some scarcity? Like being able to hold only certain quantities of ingredients and meals at once? It would likely mean "wasting" time by going back and forth to large item stashes to pick the correct gear and food for a given section. And maybe I'd need to spend more time in menus managing my inventory. But I believe that time spent would allow for a feeling of scarcity that would force the player to engage more deeply with the (admittedly great) systems that Zelda employs. I'm curious what you gentlemen think of time taxes, can they ever be used well to bolster gameplay or to more deeply engage the player?
Phil K
2023-10-13 16:14:26 +0000 UTCOther questions: What games do you enjoy that would make a horrible episode? IE Too short (tons of NES games), no real story (Total War games), Just the antithesis of a game one of you would enjoy playing.
Micah Spiese
2023-10-13 16:01:51 +0000 UTCLong form discussion: Inclusion in Games, history of people freaking out about it, notable examples of games doing it right, that sort of stuff.
Micah Spiese
2023-10-13 15:58:53 +0000 UTCWhat is your policy on save scumming? I've been playing Bladurs Gate 3 and I find myself reloading alot of saves. I won't do it to redo a conversation check or do a fight over for a more optimal result. But there have been alot of situations where I want to see what happens if I do X, such as charm this goblin to give me a book. And it turns out that it makes 20 dudes aggressive to me. Or, oh this giant spider one shot Shadowheart? Okay, maybe I'll try sneaking past it. Or if a choice I made didn't play out like it was written in the dialogue (Yeah I'll lead Minthara to the gates of the grove and then ambush her, oh wait why is everyone acting like this is a horrible idea and we're all doomed? Whoops). Basically situations where "I didn't realize that would happen", but in a bad unfun way. So what guidelines do you set for yourself for reloading past saves and doing choices or events over in games? PS cannot wait for Real Lich Hours.
Matt DiTomaso
2023-10-13 14:21:06 +0000 UTCKole, we need more content about your outdoor adventures. Free idea: "Tales from the Crick: a Crick so good we had to make a show about it." I'd also accept a Monster in my Podcast season ("Today we're talking about the Common Mudpuppy"). If this is too big an ask, can you at least give the listeners a tight 90 seconds on your latest Crick Run?
Rob
2023-10-13 03:57:32 +0000 UTCI don't really have a question to ask, but it's been a while since I've had my name read on the network. Please list the name of a few video games so that I can nod my head in affirmation at the ones I recognize.
Matt Bixler! Hello!
2023-10-13 01:07:30 +0000 UTCHey gang, Monster here! Myself and (the soon to be) Mrs.Nuggets are getting married in two weeks! This will be both of our second tries at marriage. My question is for Gary: As a previously model divorcee and newly minted husband, do you have any tips you'd like to share to make this second marriage last? Thanks in advance gents, and keep up the great work🤙
MonsteR_NuggetS
2023-10-12 23:38:27 +0000 UTCSignalis spoilers are in this post! When I first played Signalis and within 5 minuets I got a direct King in Yellow reference, a sizzle reel of dope-ass, fucked up imagery, a quote from The Festival, all to the tune of goddamned Raindrops by Chopin I remember saying out loud "oh, this is exactly my bullshit!". I love a great deal about this game: lovectaftian horror, unreliable reality, a uniquely weird sci-fi asthetic/setting, but what I keep coming back to is how, despite it being a bit to imagery wanky, it's q pretty haunting metaphor for trauma and how, if denied or unconfronted, will force you to relive what hurt you. I also love that the story almost definetly happened, but Eldritch alien fuckery has made things get real metaphorical in here, and THAT is what I dig most. Is Elster being pushed down an elevator shaft onto a pile of her own corpses a metaphore for reliving the grief of Ariane's death? Yes. Is it a big ol' hint that some Resolution-esque shit's going down? Also yes! I could give many and more examples but y'all don't need a graduate thesis. I'm super happy you guys are covering this surprise gem (too me), and I hope you enjoy it. Keep being cool and remember the promise
Jonathan Scratch
2023-10-12 21:57:52 +0000 UTCI’ve been relistening to most of the Resident Evil WOFFs (as well as catching up on Abject Sufferings) and have been wondering. After the antagonist mutates and turns into a giant tentacle monster and successfully kills the protagonist, then what? Can they just turn back into their human form or are they just stuck as this horrible monster that’s too big to be involved with Wesker, The Connections, or even Chris Redfield’s evil plot to claim every man as his own?
Steven Riddle
2023-10-12 21:20:00 +0000 UTCMy fiancé for the longest time was an avid pro player of Ark: Survival evolved, and she was wondering what you think about the devs of Ark DELETING the entire original game and rereleasing the base game and previous expansions over the next year as “remastered” content so that they could have enough time to finish Ark2 after missing their deadline by two+ years. I don’t know anything about this, but she seems fired up 🦖😵💫
Jordan and Maya M.
2023-10-12 20:27:39 +0000 UTCI hate the new Patreon. By the time I figured out how to get to comments I forgot what I was going to ask. So just go ahead and ask each other a question and say it’s from me.
Aaron A. Aaronson
2023-10-12 17:55:42 +0000 UTCIn his Forza Horizon review, Noah Caldwell Jervais mentioned how playing the game's mixed on road and off road courses unexpectedly tapped into deep memories he had playing with toy cars as a child in his backyard. Are there any games you've played that connected you to early childhood experiences? For me, routing my rail network for the first time in Factorio unexpectedly triggered similar emotions to endless hours spent playing with wooden train sets, and Rocket League activates the same part of my brain that enjoyed flipping my RC car off of furniture.
Wil Wright
2023-10-12 16:46:25 +0000 UTCLong form discussion prompt: What makes us so attracted to games or media that makes us feel "bad"? By "Bad" I mean the anxiety and fear of a horror game, the sadness of a depressing movie, etc. Perhaps easier to discuss: What makes you seek these kinds of experiences out?
Matthew Woodyard
2023-10-12 15:57:34 +0000 UTCDo you think Real Lich Hours will be a good listen as a sort of audio Let's Play for someone who has not and does not plan to play Baldur's Gate 3 and has essentially no D and D knowledge beyond the most basic? Sorry if that's a stupid question but it sounded from the description that it might be, so just wondering!
Andrew T
2023-10-12 15:28:23 +0000 UTCI thought this was better for here than as an Amnesia question: I know your job is evaluating how wireframe and presentation interact, but do you have a distinct, “waaait a minute” moment where a revelation about the game killed the experience? For me, when playing Amnesia: Dark Descent, I suddenly realized that the game is designed to be winnable. Because your only resource is hiding, there must be a convenient closet everywhere. With that thought, the spell was broken instantly, and horror melted away to tedium.
John Mickey
2023-10-12 14:58:07 +0000 UTChi friends, I'm Apricot (she/her), the rare and elusive duckfeed fan that arrived via the AV Club-to-Will's streams-to-Guppy pipeline, who now listens to most of the shows :) this is a Gary question, and no worries if it's too personal. I'm in my early thirties and I don't have a degree -- I went to university right after high school, but it went increasingly poorly for four years due mental health things etc. so if I was to go back now I'd basically have to start from scratch, which I sometimes contemplate doing. my question is, when and why did you decide to go back to college, what did you study, and was it a good experience? thanks for many hours of interesting and/or funny podcasting 💟
AJ
2023-10-12 14:39:56 +0000 UTCKole, how do you feel about having a name that's somewhat uncommon (at least with the way it's spelled) and Gary how do you feel about having such a common name? And are there any characters with your name in fiction that you really like? Sadly, Greg isn't that common a name anymore and the few Greg's I've seen in video games tend to be assholes. :)
Greg Polander
2023-10-12 14:13:19 +0000 UTCHey to both you wonderful lads from Scotland. Keep up the good work! My question. Gary as long term proponent of the dark gift how do you both feel about going full mindflayer ala BG 3
Lyall Hughes
2023-10-12 13:28:48 +0000 UTCI recently re-listened to your Hitman 2 episode, and you mentioned how hard it would be to move on from Hitman to Disco Elysium, a game which both of you mentioned as being a likely all-time favourite, and which was covered shortly after other equally praised Duckfeed favourites Dragonfall, XCOM, and Legend of Grimrock 2. 2020 was clearly a stellar year for games on the show, but do you think that it was the most packed? Which year in the run of WOFF do you think contained the most all-timers?
Béa(u)
2023-10-12 13:06:09 +0000 UTCYou guys obviously do a lot of lore research and read the various in-game ephemera when covering something for WOFF or BSC. But how much do you do that when playing a game on your personal time? Are you always reading the notes/journals/item descriptions in games or is that only something you do when in “coverage mode”?
Naveen Sivakumar
2023-10-12 12:36:49 +0000 UTCGentlemen. Looking forward to all things Baldur’s Gate 3, and I miss the hell out of Monster In My Podcast. Snap reaction: what’s your favorite standard “low level” D&D creature?
Jack Corrigan
2023-10-12 11:58:22 +0000 UTCHow much do you guys roleplay in games considering the balance between "this is what my character would do" against "I just want more content"? In many cases when talking about souls games by From, you mentioned how you say yes to everything there just to see more content. When the roleplay is more importante to you than just seeing more of something you like? Still talking about soulslikes, I don't know If this was answered before, but did you guys already played Lies of P? Did you like the game or are interested in playing? Thanks!
Vitor Pontes
2023-10-12 10:41:12 +0000 UTCHey guys, I'm really looking forward to your upcoming Baldur's Gate 3 podcast, but I'm real impatient! To tide me over, tell me what would make for a better president: a lich or an ancient chromatic dragon? Bonus question: what creature would be the third party option? Thanks!
Ethan Ryan
2023-10-12 10:23:32 +0000 UTCHey there fellas! So, I am a real piggy for all things Dune. I can’t quite put my finger on it - there are the stories and lore of the books themselves, but there’s also all the stuff that has spawned from them. The cheesy music and performances on the audiobook, the artwork and smell of the old paperbacks I’ve collected, the amazing board game - it all gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling, like a kind of happy nostalgia. Which books or fictional worlds do the same for you guys? p.s. I noticed only recently that you’ve done an Abject Suffering on Dune. I was all ready for a trademark *podcaster voice* DuckBros Beatdoooown of the thing I love, but no - you guys simply goofed on Dune in a way that Dune deserves to be goofed on. Much love from a drizzly and increasingly spooooooky London.
James Lewis
2023-10-12 08:57:01 +0000 UTCive recently been thinking about how mechanics are the real prose of video games, and more than story or aesthetic, they are the actual conduit of transmitting emotion and substance to the player. so my question is, can you think of a mechanic that changed the way you think about things in your real life? for example, the way the stamina bar works in dark souls kind changed the way i think about managing my actual time and energy in my work and hobbies. and learning the resource management in flesh and blood has actually really helped me manage my own finances! no foolin! have yall had any experiences with mechanics like this?
Bryn Nieboer
2023-10-12 06:36:31 +0000 UTCI really enjoyed a lot of the extra-curricular episodes of Bonfireside Chat. You guys turned me onto Lovecraft and Junji Ito. Do you have any plans for similar episodes with the Elden Ring season? I know you're not big anime or kaiju guys but Hideki Anno and Hayao Miyazakis work was all over the game.
Luke Summerhayes, visionary host of the excellent Game Game Show podcast
2023-10-12 06:28:54 +0000 UTCFellas, I recently started working with a guy named Garrie. I didn't even know such a name was possible. as a Gary and a Gary-adjacent, how do you feel about this?
Robert M Fenner
2023-10-12 06:25:45 +0000 UTCHey guys, I greatly enjoy your works and want to thank you for the service you provide. Now to my question: how does one change their political believes? I consider myself rather conservative, but I recognise many of the issues the left denounces. my "problem", if you want to call it that, is that my head doesn't allow me to just choose what I think about any given subject. an alternative question might be "how to get rid of unconscious biases?". have a great day.
Sebastian Krüger
2023-10-12 06:18:32 +0000 UTC
