Call and Response: WOFF Dispatch November 2020
Added 2020-11-13 17:09:43 +0000 UTCHello! The purpose of this post is to call for your questions and prompts for WOFF! Dispatch. Please leave your response as a comment on this post by the end of the day on Monday, November 16.
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
I'm currently playing through Resident Evil 4 for the first time, and I find myself having a lot of anxiety and stress worrying about what's coming next. As the game has gone on, I've found myself starting to lean on guides, pre-emptively browsing sections so I have some idea of what to expect and how to deal with it. Without these, I don't know if I'd have the courage to keep going. On the whole, I'm really enjoying the game, but I just can't get over that anxiety hump. I feel like I'm cheating myself out of the true experience by leaning on guides like this. What are your thoughts on spoiling yourself in games as a de-stressing method, and whether or not you're cheating yourself by using them?
Doctor When
2020-11-16 00:37:18 +0000 UTCI've gone back and listened to some early WOFF episodes this year while self-quarantining. I enjoyed the deep dive and found they hold up pretty well. It was interesting to reflect on your perspective shift from a retro-focus to a more general games analysis and critique. I personally think that rebranding is when WOFF really came into its own. That said, are there any games covered in the past which you think could support a second look? The show has developed a reflexive critical lexicon over the years. Your recent(-ish) episode on Dreamfall caused me to wonder if you would see the first entry in the series, the Longest Journey, differently today. You also hit a lot of big boys early on in the show's lifespan, most notably Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines. I'm curious what you'd have to say about it with the benefit of your current experience playing games for the show. Bloodlines remains a classic now as it was then, but I wonder if your discussion of it would be spicier today. On a somewhat related note, your Pathologic episode was a revelation. It inspired me to pick up Pathologic 2 on the PS4, which has been a transformative experience for me, despite some game-breaking bugs. If you were given the chance for a redo, and seeing as how Pathologic 2 is in many ways a remake, would you still have covered the original or would you instead have chosen the recent soft reboot, which ameliorates some of the friction from the first game?
Allen Mozek
2020-11-15 15:20:29 +0000 UTCWe're sitting in a moment of transition from one console gen to another. In your special WOFF on game music, years ago, you talked about the ways in which the limitations of 8-bit games helped creators create especially rich music, which orchestral scores miss sometimes. More broadly: what do you think a good approach is to "next gen" moments? As limitations become less and less restrictive, where do you see games retaining creativity? What has been lost?
Phil K
2020-11-15 15:14:04 +0000 UTCI managed to land a copy of the Demons Souls remake. I never actually played the original past 1-2, so it's been really wild going back to a time before three-phase bosses. It is very weird going into a Souls game without total knowledge, though. For games in general, and Souls-likes in particular, do you think of the platonic play-through experience as your first run, when everything is terrifying and new, or an experienced run, when you've fully internalized a game's systems and layout?
KL
2020-11-15 04:36:33 +0000 UTCIf you were to make your dream game, who would you want to do the soundtrack for it? Personally, mine would be Irish math rock trio Adebisi Shank. Their music makes me want to make video games.
Andrew Hunley
2020-11-15 02:54:14 +0000 UTCDidn't get my response to Soma in time but one thing I wanted to ask was what other games, movies, books, and tv shows give off the same vibe of despair and dread that Soma has? Thanks for all you do. Peace!
Jacob Cochran
2020-11-14 16:34:01 +0000 UTCDo you have any games you had little information about and bought on a gut-read? Were they good or bad purchased?
Jonathan Yih
2020-11-14 15:44:21 +0000 UTCWhat are your opinions of the PS2 era “mascot” platformers? I’m talking specifically about series such as Ratchet and Clank, Jak and Daxter, and Sly Cooper. These games were a huge part of my childhood, and in my opinion, they are still great upon revisiting them now. As far as I know, Ratchet and Clank is the only IP from this era that keeps getting rebooted. (There’s another R&C game coming to PS5) Aside from Nintendo titles, are there any game series that become better when they are rebooted? Love all the shows, and wanted to thank you for getting me into Venture Bros.
Arik Sheets
2020-11-14 13:48:19 +0000 UTCTo add to the food questions: In order to avoid thinking about the election i jumped back into Dishonored 2 and found myself happily stuffing my face between battles (I was going High Chaos. Seemed appropriate) and thinking about how the food thing in immersive sims is still weird but is there a better option? In sci-fi settings, sure, stim-packs or something. But in fantasy or something like Dishonored or Bioshock, is there a better option for minor health recovery than food? Or has food been baked in (sorry) to our lexicon since Castlevania?
William Neil Scott
2020-11-14 13:12:25 +0000 UTCSo, guys, I think I might have a problem…maybe? Final Fantasy 16 is now going to be a thing, and that should mean very little to me at this point considering that Square has proven for over a decade now that they are a terrible company with horrid creative management…but I can’t help but feel hopeful, and that has me conflicted. Recently, more info came out about 16, and despite telling myself over and over that Square sucks harder than a black hole, little parts of my brain can’t help but latch onto some things. They actually seem to have built a world for this game? The characters aren’t dressed like clowns or named after fucking celestial phenomena?! I don’t know if I’d call what I feel hype or hope, but I can’t help but wonder; am I being simply optimistic or am I just desperately clinging to any piece of driftwood from this thoroughly wrecked ship?
Jonathan Scratch
2020-11-14 06:39:39 +0000 UTCOn the Bloodborne cut content episode, you mentioned a "disguise" mechanic that was cut from the final game. That made me think how much fun a Hitman level set in Yharnam would be: dressing up as Micolash, garrotting a target with an umbilical cord, etc. Are there any games you two would want Agent 47 to infiltrate?
Andrew
2020-11-14 00:21:40 +0000 UTCEver since I first beat A Link to the Past about 27 years ago, I've wished I could take a post-game trip around Hyrule to see what it's like without a catastrophe looming in the background. Are there any game worlds that you two would like to wander around in after you save them?
Joey JoJoJoestar
2020-11-14 00:14:11 +0000 UTCI just listened to the old Morrowind episodes and I agree they need to cover more of the Elder Scrolls series, loved those episodes. I also understand the commitment being asked, so I understand if it's a ways down the road.
Joshua Kane
2020-11-13 21:57:19 +0000 UTCWhat is a game that was super hyped up that failed to meet expectations for you? You didn't have to hate it but it just didn't live up to infinite praise. I really liked Mario Odyssey and really really liked Hades, but I found both fell short of the hagiography, for me personally.
Andrew T
2020-11-13 21:56:14 +0000 UTCI've been playing Subnautica recently, and installed a few mods for it. However, in my mind there's a line between mods that can enhance the fun of a game without ruining the intended experience (more quick item slots), and mods that ruin the intended way to play (increasing the inventory limit as much as I want). Given all the great ways that games can be tweaked now (mods, emulation, assist modes, etc.), how much do you care about playing games unaltered vs. playing games that have been modified for ease of use and plain fun? Does the designer's intent, or wanting to mirror the experiences of people who played the vanilla release, factor in when you're choosing how to play a game? I'm wondering especially about older games and ones you cover for the show.
Alex Honeydew
2020-11-13 20:39:33 +0000 UTCIs there a chance you guys can do a Skyrim review? Or maybe the elder scrolls dagger fall and/or oblivion review?
Joseph maneol
2020-11-13 20:21:18 +0000 UTCWhat's your favorite video game to movie conversions and what's your take on why it's so hard to convert a game story to the big screen? Should it even be tried?
Greg Polander
2020-11-13 19:26:13 +0000 UTCWhich discontinued food from your childhood do you miss or at least have nostalgia for. I fondly remember Dunkaroos, even though I was almost never allowed to have any.
Markus Blomer
2020-11-13 18:38:24 +0000 UTCWhich pre war Fallout food do you think would be the worst to eat? For me it's the "yum yum deviled eggs". 300 year old eggs and mayo baked in the Mojave sun, no thanks!
T
2020-11-13 18:26:21 +0000 UTCHi, I just wanted to share a little thing from my Disco Elysium playthrough, as I just finished that this week. I didn't want to do the union's dirty work, so I never got the body down. I still solved the case, recruited Kim, made friends with the phasmid, quit drinking, and everyone generally lived happily ever after. But as my unit drove me away from Martinaise back to Jamrock, Lely was still swinging from that tree, another week after he'd been strung up there.
SindrElf
2020-11-13 17:38:01 +0000 UTCI was just listening to your FF4 episodes, and you point out several sections in that game that feel a bit jarring and like they're from another game entirely. What are some other examples of parts of games that feel like they're from a different game—ones that don't work, and ones that actually do?
Andrew C
2020-11-13 17:36:16 +0000 UTCWhat are the chances you might do a MechWarrior / BattleTech game in the future, maybe as part of a "mecha month"?
Ryan Burrell
2020-11-13 17:21:17 +0000 UTCI noticed your refusal to commit to an authentic Dr. Evil impression in your No One Lives Forever epsiode. Could you do right by your patrons, and emulate the ev-man himself, after an episode that essentially amounted to edging for us die-hard Austin Powers fans?
joshua Sizemore
2020-11-13 17:15:31 +0000 UTC
