Call and Response: WOFF Dispatch September 2021
Added 2021-09-16 20:44:41 +0000 UTCHello! The purpose of this post is to call for your questions and prompts for WOFF! Dispatch. Please respond by Monday, September 20 by leaving a comment on this post.
We're looking for two kinds of things:
1. Suggestions for our long-form discussion prompt.
2. 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.
We look forward to making this new kind of WOFF! episode together with you.
Comments
Hi guys and congratulations on 10 years of Duckfeed. Over the last 7 years since I've been listening, y'all have been a treat to help get through awful times, be it exercising, sitting in traffic or a global pandemic. Thanks for bettering my critical acumen and just generally being good dudes. As a person who has listened and relistened to a lot of the back catalog, I'm curious what aspect has grown the most over the ten years? What about 5 years? What do you look forward to growing in the next 5 or 10 years?
Jimmy Wilkinson
2021-09-21 01:27:26 +0000 UTCCongratulations on 10 years! Thank you both for everything on the network; I'm a recent patron and hundreds of hours of WOFF and BSC have been a real balm throughout the pandemic. My question: your favorite Bowie albums? Or song/track, if you can choose?! (My favorites, depending on the day, are Scary Monsters, Station to Station, or Blackstar. Casting my vote for a Bowie podcast one day.)
Simon J
2021-09-20 16:24:28 +0000 UTCHey guys, happy 10th anniversary!! I googled “dark souls level design analysis” way back in 2014, found Bonfireside Chat, and have not been disappointed since. You’re good critics and you’re solid bros :) I vibed with Gary nodding silently at characters in FPS games during the Singularity episode, and it inspired this video games question: What silly expressive shit do you guys like doing when you have limited control over your characters responses, and no one watching to react to it?? I like doing gestures at bosses and NPCs in the souls games, and ducking/looking up at appropriate times in Super Mario World or Sonic. Mario looks up at the crusher in Iggy Koopa’s castle, before squishing down into his hat when it comes to get him; Tails ducks under the animals rushing out of Robotnik’s vat chock full o’ birds and squirrels, then stares up at the end of level stats in blank confusion. And for me, Gordon Freeman always wrecks Kleiner’s teleport experiment by stuffing random crap into it. What kinds of harmless playacting do you guys enjoy doing when games allow you to? Thanks again, and be well.
sleepysmiles
2021-09-20 02:57:10 +0000 UTCAfter playing through Singularity, I came away largely thinking to myself how little I found rewarding in the experience, how facile and weak the overall product was in comparison to its contemporary college, waiting for those sentiments I'd formed to be reflected in both of your takes on the game. In the episode though, I noticed in your back and forth and mutual evaluation that I really only enjoyed a bit less than you two did; I'd say I felt it was just below what I wanted and got the impression from the episode that the WOFF takeaway was it being a slightly better than expectation work. I'd trapped myself in the negative language associated with abject failures rather than straight down the middle average experiences. That got me thinking on how little critical articulation is dedicated to explorations of mediocrity or the emphatically mundane - most dialogue skews overly praiseworthy or diminishing, or combines an oil/vinegar mix of the two. How do you talk about things that are moderate failures or successes without tapping into the language of the more drastic considerations?
Béa(u)
2021-09-20 00:36:58 +0000 UTCAfter hearing Gary's recommendation, lately I've been watching/listening to as much content as I can from Noah Caldwell-Gervais. First, thank you for the rec - much like you two, Noah has some of the most well observed and thorough takes in the game (pun intended). This got me thinking though: would either of you guys ever consider doing a solo deep dive into a game or series as a podcast episode? Why or why not? Part of what makes WOFF so special to me is the rapport between the two of you, but nevertheless I would absolutely listen to a solo style format if either of you would choose to create one. Congrats on ten years, and as always thank you so much for all of the great and thoughtful content you all produce!
Rick Firestone
2021-09-19 21:38:20 +0000 UTCJust finished James Wan's Maglinant. I was expecting a typical Conjuring movie. But halfway through the movie it has a twist that takes it in a completely different and ridiculous direction. Without giving out any spoilers, I really enjoyed it. My question for you guys. What is your favorite movie with a twist at the end?
Ipoop4U
2021-09-19 20:40:47 +0000 UTCLove this question!
Andrew C
2021-09-18 16:55:29 +0000 UTCHey guys. I’ve been listening to some old WOFFs lately and I’ve just got to ask the question that’s on everybody’s mind. When are you planning to go back and add in some ITYSL references to old episodes? You guys missed a lot of really great opportunities over the first ten years of the show. You called Geralt a “beefcake” but then we didn’t get a carve of beef, no buff boys, not even a troll boy.
Eli Leslie
2021-09-18 07:45:12 +0000 UTCI'm currently rounding out the Level 5 bosses in Darkest Dungeon and realized that requiring you to fight the same bosses multiple times as you hone your strategies against them is sort of similar to a hated portion of Bravely Default, a worse game. Obviously there are significant differences- more repeated bosses, you're not fighting them all in a row, the combat is infinitely better- but it got me thinking, what are some mechanics that you hated in one game but loved in another, and what made it work in one?
Andrew T
2021-09-17 23:13:41 +0000 UTCYou have almost certainly talked about this in the past, but what are some of your earliest gaming memories? For whatever it is worth, mine is being probably four or five years old circa 1985 and watching my older brother playing Empire Strikes Back on Atari 2600 in my parents' room.
Andrew (andyk250) Koch
2021-09-17 21:15:55 +0000 UTCI would love to hear this.
Nick Paul
2021-09-17 20:54:11 +0000 UTCHow does this sound? A city builder game *but* it's designed for making fantasy /sci-fi ass cities. I'm talking fantastical landscapes to like floating islands or just a cool collective of cyberpunk archologies. Are there games you'd like to see that don't break any moulds but just do something existing in a new flavor?
Jonathan Scratch
2021-09-17 20:50:30 +0000 UTCJust wanted to say congratulations(and thanks!) on ten years of the network and WOFF! Can’t believe y’all have been in my ears for a full decade, I’ve made lifelong friends due to the network and I will cherish the Koletrick for all my days. Here’s to ten more! Love you guys!
Bryan Wade
2021-09-17 18:01:34 +0000 UTC(please please please feel free to cut some of this! I'm a editor by trade, but also love telling stories and am terrible at editing my own stuff) I just listened to the Retronauts pod on formative gaming experiences. As expected, the main answer was Mario. It’s absolutely true that Mario and Mario 3 were formative for millions, but I had hoped for something a little more interesting. I can remember the second that I realized video games would be a life-long thing for me: Like everyone, I played and loved the NES Marios, but my gaming started before that with my dad and his shoebox full of hundreds of old floppy disc games (the five inch ones), I think it was C64, but I was so young I can’t remember for sure and my dad memory is worse than mine (his life of jovial alcoholism is catching up). But as a snot-nosed hipster kid I remember thinking that the games I knew from C64, NES, PC and Genesis were vapid; I was looking for a disgusting, bitter IPA as opposed to a well-polished, mass-produced Corona, insufferable little shit that I was. Years later after I’d sort of written off games as a diversion I walked by my little sister playing Shining Force II and in that second I was enchanted. I remember stopping dead in my tracks and sitting down to watch her play. The bright sprite-work and battle transitions drew me in, but when I saw the mechanics underlying it all -- the tactics RPG aspect and the characters and story -- I was hooked. I can honestly say I would not be the same person I am today if I’d not walked by my sister playing that game when I did in 1993. Anyway, topic suggestion: What are your formative gaming experiences? What made you realize that this “diversion” was actually something you dearly loved? To take it further, when did you realize that games were art? When did you realize you wanted to do this as a career? Any other milestones along the way? Can you distill the reason you love video games to 15 words or less? (I problematically write overlong responses here and I do see the irony of me asking that last question)
Douglas
2021-09-17 16:15:35 +0000 UTCSeeing as this is a 10-year anniversary episode, I thought some childhood reminiscing might be in order: Do you have any funny stories about when you were a kid that send shivers down your spine today? For example, when I was very young, we went to the Toronto Zoo on a school trip and I wandered away from the group pretty much as soon as we got there. They didn’t find me until hours later (it was getting dark). I have no memory of what I did in that time, though I’m sure it was awesome, but when I think of what could have happened, the colour drains from my face and adrenaline surges. The teacher was crying when she found me and hugged me rather tightly, I still remember the pained relief on her scrunched-up face, though I forget her name.
Douglas
2021-09-17 16:02:34 +0000 UTCTwo Options, Pick 1: 1. If you had a say, what would you like to see as an expansion to Darkest Dungeon? or, 2. What are your hopes for the sequel?
Darrin Michelson
2021-09-17 15:43:28 +0000 UTCWhat's the setup that you guys run with in terms of PC, mics, software etc. Episodes always sound super tight and slick. Additionally, if you had to get the other a Christmas present, what would it be and why?
Ak1raTron
2021-09-17 14:37:30 +0000 UTCFavorite-era of Rush?
JC
2021-09-17 13:05:56 +0000 UTCNow that you're more than a decade in and have talked about hundreds of games (congratulations, by the way!), I'm curious as to what you think makes for the best type of WOFF. Is there a certain genre or specific characteristics that lend themselves particularly well to interesting discussion? Or, more specifically, what game, fictional or otherwise, would make for the platonic ideal episode of WOFF? As an example, is it an unmitigated success that refines longstanding design traditions to perfection, is it an interesting failure that tries something genuinely new but can't quite tie it all together, or is it something else entirely?
Drew Edgar
2021-09-17 12:01:42 +0000 UTCAre there any especially niche or weird video game sounds effects that have remained stuck in your head for years and years? To this day I still think of the sound of grinding and sparkling metal that occurs when you shoot armored body parts in Einhander for the PS1, despite that I've not seriously played that game in about two decades.
Juliet St. Moon
2021-09-17 11:47:41 +0000 UTCIf you were a Darkest Dungeon hero what would you be and what would your skill set be?
David Dunne
2021-09-17 08:04:20 +0000 UTCYou guys are the proud proprietors of a new bar: The Duck Pond. What drinks would you stock it with? I'm taking this idea from another podcast, but on that the guests choose two drinks on draught / two bottles / two spirits / and one wildcard drink. Non-alcoholic drinks welcome of course!
James Lewis
2021-09-17 07:59:51 +0000 UTCI recently watched the first season of Invincible on Amazon prime, have either of you guys seen the show or read the comic series?
Joseph maneol
2021-09-17 02:58:36 +0000 UTCHow do you guys feel about bringing food onto airplanes? I’m not talking about pringles, I’m talkin big macs and subway sandwiches. Is it rude to force everyone around you to smell what you’re bringing in?
Nicholas
2021-09-17 00:24:32 +0000 UTCWhat are some games you think were far too advanced in scope or ideas for the time they came out, that you would want to see remade with unlimited assets and budget.
Jordan and Maya M.
2021-09-16 23:02:56 +0000 UTCAny games you feel like you tried out way too late and couldn't get into because of that? For an example from my personal experience: despite generally liking Team Ninja, I didn't get around to trying Ninja Gaiden (the Xbox reboot) until the recent HD release, and unfortunately got annoyed with the game by the second level enough to stop playing it completely.
Samuel Bair
2021-09-16 22:58:28 +0000 UTCLengthy one and maybe better suited to Bonfireside Chat but here goes: I’ve heard people getting upset at the term Souslikes and make the comparison to “Doom Clones” as a similarly outdated term. If Bonfireside Chat had started in 1994 and had been about Doom instead of Dark Souls, then 8 years into that show’s run you’d be covering games like Duke 3D, Half-Life, and Halo. All games by different developers which evolved the genre forward and which were (at the time) more popular than Doom was. Instead 8 years later the best games covered on BFSC have been From games, either made before Dark Souls or as sequels to it, or they have been 2D games with very different gameplay and similar themes like Hollow Knight. Everything else has been kind of crap. I think that’s why the term Soulslike persists. So 8 years later, how do you guys feel about the term Soulslike? And what would you name your podcast about Doom and Doom Clones?
Kevin Fitzgerald
2021-09-16 22:16:28 +0000 UTCFave video game character of all time?
Charlotte Lopas
2021-09-16 21:50:06 +0000 UTCI’m a teacher, and I’m kicking off the school year with a podcast-centric English unit. I’m obviously a fan of the medium, but my students and I would love some advice/words of wisdom from some veterans of the medium! Also, I miss hearing your cats in the background. Any chance we’ll hear from them again, or have they been banished by the superior audio tech?
Nick Paul
2021-09-16 21:07:40 +0000 UTCDo you guys have games you'd recommend to your friends as genre entry points? I enjoy playing genres in a sort of release order, but I don't think I'd recommend Ultima Underworld as someone's first Immersive Sim.
Popofoshosho
2021-09-16 21:06:33 +0000 UTCNow that you've completed the big 4 SNSE JRPG's for the show (FF2&3, Super Mario RPG, Chrono Trigger), would you say these are worth playing if you've never played them before?
Popofoshosho
2021-09-16 21:04:24 +0000 UTCCertain movies lend themselves incredibly well to a rewatch—Hot Fuzz, for example, is a joy to return to, to catch the references and set ups that weren't obvious the first time around. Which games are the most interesting to replay?
Andrew C
2021-09-16 20:57:28 +0000 UTCWhen I was 14, an aunt who I was close to gave me some advice which has always stuck with me -- "Try to make sure you have friends who work in the following three fields....Law, Police, and Politics. They will help you so much with life!" I have two of the three covered (still working on getting that politician in my back pocket!) and she has indeed been correct that it's been very helpful. Were either of you given advice when you were young that was designed to be 'life important' or 'life changing'? If so, what was it, did you follow it, and how has it worked out?
Greg Polander
2021-09-16 20:56:04 +0000 UTCFavorite Spider-Man villain?
SindrElf
2021-09-16 20:53:59 +0000 UTCWhat's your experience with arcade rhythm games? Any favorites or ones that you wish you got to experience more?
James Bryfogle
2021-09-16 20:53:50 +0000 UTC
