Q&A: December 23rd, 2020

Juhana Asks
You asked us to kill you. What would be your preferred method?

Bauman Asks
I think you mentioned that you did beta testing for a Lethal League game in the JSR video.  You come off as rather well versed in game design too, so I was wondering, what does your "game industry history" look like?

I accidentally gave that impression to some in the video. I worked at EA as a QA tester, and played Lethal League with coworkers during lunch. Though, I was not officially on EA's payroll, as they hire 3rd party contractors (in my case, VMC) to fill the rest of their quality assurance slots.

That amounts to the total of my game industry experience. My in-person journalism experience amounts to one EA event in San Francisco for Battlefield Hardline. Both were extremely valuable in terms of experience, but I am very much aware my peek at this sausage factory is fiercely limited, so I'm always one to listen to developers with far more.

Brandon Asks
Ever thought of making a video on Black Lagoon? Having just finished the series, and seeing the low amount of videos there are out there for it, I thought "Why not Ray?"

Perhaps after I finally break the hurtle of talking about other mediums, though I've mentioned before that my love for Black Lagoon isn't something I expect to be universal. I grew up on gangster films, waded through harsh online language, and was always pulled by grisly characters with inner turmoil.

So Black Lagoon meets all of my preferences, and takes them further than most of anything I've seen. Two characters idealizing who they think the other is makes for a formula I could watch endlessly, especially in a world so corrupt because of its own self perpetuating injustice.

My problem with a Black Lagoon video wouldn't be where to start, but where to stop.

OzarkTempses Asks
What's your take on movie adaptations of video games?

Total example of companies giving them the rope to hang themselves. HItman? An opportunity to make a nail-biting, borderline horror movie of someone being pursued by this unstoppable assassin? 

Nah, action movie.

Need for Speed? A franchise built entirely with obscene premises, gorgeous vistas, and levity in gameplay?

Nah, generic chase film.

I've defended and even recommended the Tomb Raider films however and believe they got a needlessly bad rap. They nail the character better than any of the games in personality, tone, and emotional depth. 

Yeah I said it.

The constant problem though is they keep picking games that are already based on films, which is okay for a game, because games can generate new experiences even with a cliche story, but putting that same story back into a film, is useless.

It's why I'm not looking forward to The Last of Us movie. I've already seen Children of Men, and would rather just rewatch that.

Josepheous Asks
I hope I'm not forgetting a part of a previous video, but have you ever touched the Just Cause series?  If so, what did you think?

What a coincidence. I'm actually binging Just Cause 3 and might potentially have a video planned in the future because of it. One of those cases where I started a game to get footage, and ended up really loving the gameplay of.

NephyrisX Asks
Have you tried the Valkyria Chronicles series, the first and fourth entry in particular? The series seem to address your AI concerns but combining typical strategy elements with third person shooter mechanics for each soldier under your command and it seems like an interesting alternative to you.

I played the demo for the original at launch in 2008 when I was a brooding teenager, so that wasn't really a fair shot. I've been meaning to give it a try recently as I have the game on PC, and have made exceptions to strategy games since then. A friend of mine also started a Valkyria Chronicles quotes page on Twitter, and its hilarious.

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