Call and Response: WOFF Dispatch December 2019
Added 2019-12-13 21:47:49 +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 Sunday, December 15.
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
What are the best and worst Christmas periods you can remember?
Sealdog
2019-12-16 11:04:28 +0000 UTCI can't recall if either of these have been asked, so your discretion and all that if so. Do either of you have a dish or recipe you keep in your back pocket for when your hosting someone over, or even just when you want to treat yourself with reliable home cooking? Secondly, I've recently been playing a number of games that, while excellent, wouldn't fit the style of a show like WOFF or most similar podcasts due to their structures (though the Frostpunk episode showed you guys are quite adept at working around limitations). For now though are there any games that either of you have been interested in doing for a show before realizing it wouldn't be a good fit?
Ryan
2019-12-16 04:28:57 +0000 UTCThis question is a little weird and takes a bit of frontloading, but I thought it might pique your interest: I’ve been reading linguist Gretchen McCulloch’s book “Because Internet: the New Rules of Language” in which she describes sarcasm and irony as a kind of “linguistic trust fall.” Per her recent article in the WSJ (link below): “When I write or speak with a double meaning, I’m hoping that you’ll be there to catch me by understanding my tone. The risks are high—misdirected irony can gravely injure the conversation—but the rewards are high, too: the sublime joy of feeling purely understood, the comfort of knowing someone’s on your side.” Gaming and other internet groups definitely spawn tight-knit communities that traffic heavily in irony and sarcasm, but why do you think other tight-knit groups that form around sports, religious organizations, etc., don’t speak in equally sarcastic/ironic tones? Everyone wants to feel like they belong someplace, right? So why do gaming communities seem to rely on these linguistic trust exercises more than others? And do you think this is connected to the ugly gatekeeping habits that seem to crop up around games? Thanks for making it to the end of my question. You guys rock. Keep up the great work. Links: https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-to-use-irony-on-the-internet-11565409660
Mark Mahler
2019-12-16 02:13:39 +0000 UTCWhat do you think about the "get better at a skill by doing it" approach to skill levels vs earning generic XP from all actions? The former always seems so realistic and appealing, but I can't think of examples where it works without resulting in very immersion breaking behavior -- attacking your own party members in FFII, jumping everywhere in Morrowind, etc. Growing up, I played a subscription-based MUD (it's actually still running!) that used a learn-by-doing model. In a game that sold itself as an immersive RP environment, everyone constantly ran around humming songs, braiding grass, etc. to train the associated skills rather than, you know, playing the game. I think this experience with the mechanic left a permanent bad taste in my mouth. :)
Casey Woolfolk
2019-12-15 02:49:35 +0000 UTCFor most of my life I haven't been super wealthy, so my access to technology has been inconsistent. At the same time I've been lucky to have super generous friends who hand me down their stuff every so often. After being stuck with early 00's for many years, I've recently hand-me-down upgraded with a 2011 gaming laptop, so I can now play many games I've only been able to read about or listen to people talk about. It makes for an interesting perspective on some games, as the initial hype has faded away, or there have been critical rethinks. The biggest I can think of for me was not being able to play Bioshock: Infinite when it came out at a frame rate that didn't make me scream, and going from excited to cautious to disappointed. When I finally did play it I was able to trust my instincts that I wasn't having fun, and I could describe the mechanics and story choices that I didn't like. I'm not sure if I wouldn't have banged my head against it longer at the time, because Bioshock. Have you ever played a game out of its moment like that, and did it affect your experience? (I guess on some level "retro gaming" is that, but also I think there's a bigger part of retro gaming that is the contemporary experience of it.) Thanks for the show!
beesher
2019-12-14 23:09:22 +0000 UTC(Greg here). I was curious as to how you guys dealt with the issue of getting older as you work on the podcasts, especially since society is so aimed at the young people of the world and filled with constant reminders about how your not as young as you used to be. I know you guys are younger then me so you may not have encountered this as much as myself, but I'm 43 and no matter how hard I try not to think about it it seems I'm reminded every day about that fact. How long it's been since a game came out, playing an older game and having nostalgia, listening to a newer game on WOFF that I just don't have the time to play and never will, my hand/eye coordination not being as good....the list goes on. I'd be curious to know if you guys have experienced this and how you cope with it.
Greg Polander
2019-12-14 17:53:44 +0000 UTCAny hopes for the announced upcoming Bioshock game? I've just finished Infinite and had a lot of ill-will towards it by the end. The artists and environment designers deserved a much better game and writing. It seems Ken Levine won't be involved with this new one. Maybe that'll help? Or has the infinite universe can of worms fucked it for good?
Lewis Shaw
2019-12-14 16:20:40 +0000 UTCHas there been a game where you felt or would have felt embarrassment to be seen playing it?
Matthew Woodyard
2019-12-14 15:31:52 +0000 UTCHi guys! I played Outer Worlds last month and I haven’t been able to get it out my head for all the wrong reasons… After playing New Vegas earlier this year for the first time, and it immediately becoming one of my favourite games, Outer Worlds was a confirmed day one purchase for me. I watched every interview with the developers before release and worked myself into a frenzy over the promise of their focus on player choice and roleplaying unhindered by nasty old Bethesda. I ended up completing the game within a week, but rather than being driven, as in New Vegas, by the joy of feeling that my playstyle and roleplaying choices were being rewarded with amazing writing, I was more or less being pushed forward only by the feeling that there simply must be more to it than this… All the correct ingredients were there - the writing, the level of choice, the systems (apart from the completely fucking ridiculous and immersion breaking stealth mechanic)… are all on paper completely fine, but for me, there was the feeling that the studio was too aware of the ingredients that they are known for being good at and had focused on streamlining them to what they percieved to be their perfect form. The result for me was a game that felt like a collection of dislocated bulletpoints from the promises they wanted the game to live up to: Good writing with meaningful choices, sure (sort of)…better and more refined first person combat…deep loot and crafting, yeah ok….. But the reality of the roleplay experience for me ended up being making very unsubtle moral decisions based on my oppinions about Capitalism, interspersed with shooting faceless antagonists who have literally no meaning or value within the games plot, and collecting the most bland loot I have ever encountered- only to end up using exactly 0% of it because it adds zero value to the combat system. Sure New Vegas has plenty of problems, but there is something about the messiness of that game that created an air of mystery that made me want to endlessly plunder the possibilities of its various ramshackle systems. Anyway, the point of discussion I wanted to put forward was the instances where a game studio with a great reputation for making a certain type of game becomes too self aware of that reputation and perhaps plays it too safe/ tries to perfect a formula by smoothing down and streamlining something that should have remained a beautifully mysterious rough diamond!
alexander rathbone
2019-12-14 14:17:05 +0000 UTCThe story of Tyranny ends "early" but leaves you hungry for more. Do you have examples of other games that does the same? And do you think other games could learn from this?
Toke Bruun Jensen
2019-12-14 13:22:37 +0000 UTCJust a fun one, but what objectively bad games do you still like or enjoy (from nostalgia, interesting failures, etc). I personally enjoy a few PS2 era Scooby Doo 3d platformers because they were some of the first games I got for my PS2 (when there was a rule I could only get E rated games).
Markus Blomer
2019-12-14 13:19:08 +0000 UTCFor a question or prompt, I'm interested in your thoughts on enemy design, the relationship a great enemy concept might have to a level, narrative or avatar abilities. Can a lack of memorable enemies harm a game, and are there games that you remember primarily for a top notch bestiary? And lastly any all-time favourite non-boss monsters and enemies from games?
Jon Cheetham
2019-12-14 12:26:56 +0000 UTCYou're finally captured for your heinous crimes against humanity and are deported from America. Other than Canada because it's a cop-out answer, what country would you choose to spend the rest of your life living, working, and eventually dying?
Holland Hume
2019-12-14 06:12:47 +0000 UTCWhat game, unreleased or you just haven't gotten to yet, are you most looking forward to playing in 2020.
David
2019-12-14 04:45:55 +0000 UTChow often do you tend to feel "hype" for upcoming games? it's something i've noticed i feel less and less lately, and it's hard to get a good bead on if that's just because I'm older or if there's some trend in games that i'm just not on board with. how much does having game as the center-point of your careers feed into it, or would you even be able to tell if it did?
Matt Bixler! Hello!
2019-12-14 00:39:28 +0000 UTCGary and Kole, how did you guys meet?
Eli Leslie
2019-12-14 00:13:28 +0000 UTCTopic Suggestion: Games in your Game. Shovel Knight King of Cards is out and it’s got me thinking about games with separate games built in. King of Cards has you playing tons of Joustus, and is integral to the story. Witcher 3’s Gwen’s was popular enough to spawn its own video game and a physical printing. And I think I personally played more Blitz ball than Final Fantasy 10 when I was a kid. What do you think of side games like these, how much complexity do you want in them?
Kevin Fitzgerald
2019-12-13 23:35:52 +0000 UTCEaster Eggs and cheat codes. It would be great to hear your views on these, are they worth it for pride and showmanship. Are they elitist and therefore cutting out a portion or gamers who just can’t obtain these for genuine reasons (Celeste has a good take on these with their in game messaging). Getting extra content and inside jokes/forth walk breaking moments. And then of course back in the day or cheat codes and level selects - are these negated now by the internet and wikis?
Dan Sayer
2019-12-13 23:13:42 +0000 UTCIt was fun to hear you guys discuss Conspiracy, its an awful game, one of the first I bought of my own choice with my own money around 1999 in a small transient PC hardware shop up in the Highlands of Scotland. It was only £6 and came in one of those massive PC boxes from the 90's so naturally I was excited to try it, moreso when my dad pointed out that the man on the front of the box - Donald Sutherland - was a well known actor. Its a difficult game, punishing, I was drawn to its intricacies, its sense of unfamiliarity. Its perhaps the first instance I had of a game actively hating me. I remember a specific moment early in the game where knocking on the wrong door resulted in your character being murdered, another instance where being in the wrong place at the right time led to an instant game over and the news your protagonist had lost his job. KGB/Conspiracy is a bad game and I wouldn't have thought about it for the rest of my life without it appearing on the podcast. Thanks for dredging up those despairing memories. Dasvidaniya Comrade!
Ronald MacDonald
2019-12-13 22:51:13 +0000 UTCProbably not a discussion topic, but a general question I’m curious to hear both of your thoughts on. At what point in playing a subpar game do you decide to cut your losses and walk away? I’m not thinking of an Abject Suffering type game so much as one that you start out feeling genuinely excited about, but during your playthrough reveals serious problems or seems to not respect your time. I bring this up because I recently finished Vampyr despite countless instances where I should have walked away. The combat was abysmal to the point I actively avoided it, the game crashed regularly, and some serious bugs got in the way of experiencing the story towards the end. But I kept hanging on to see it through, and I’m not sure it was worth it. So at what point do you decide to walk away from a disappointing game, and what can a disappointing game do to make you see it through to the end? Thanks!
Patric Fallon
2019-12-13 22:17:22 +0000 UTCFor the Jade Empire episode, you chose different paths to follow, but you both did the same path in Tyranny. How do you determine whether or not to take different paths? Do you just each play your own way, and it's a happy accident if they're different?
Zoombini
2019-12-13 22:12:33 +0000 UTCHave you guys thought about doing a WOFF on a game that you already covered? Not like RE2 because the Remake is very different but the same game. Can be because you both are different people now and maybe would see the game in other lens or because you think that the WOFF got old and you have more tools are critics today than you had in the early episodes?
Rodrigo Campos Varandas
2019-12-13 22:10:18 +0000 UTCYou mentioned on a recent episode that the trend towards more cinematic music in games has been generally a net negative, as opposed to say the short but catchy loops of the 8 and 16-bit eras. Are there more modern cinematic game scores that you do like?
Doug Lief
2019-12-13 21:57:55 +0000 UTCI really enjoyed the discussion of game economies in the Jade Empire episode, and think a greater discussion on how game economies can creep into other aspects of the game could make for a good topic, and games that handle that burden particularly well or poorly.
Tamika
2019-12-13 21:56:13 +0000 UTC
