Men, Women, and Mushrooms... it has been a little while since we've had an episode. Welcome back! Life has delayed the podcast post-E3 but now Joe and Stephen are back with another three-hour show... a 3:03:33 show to be exact.
Joe (Ninsage) and Stephen (DrFinkelstein) start the show by telling some stories from July and asking 'What Do You Fink?' regarding some 'hot' topics in Nintendo-gaming lately.
Then the guys talk about what they've been gaming lately. Stephen has a slew of titles to discuss... Mario & Luigi: Dream Team, Limbo, The Wolf Among Us, The Walking Dead: Season 2: Episode 4, and The Last Of Us! Spoiler warning during the games. Below is a list of when the game discussions start to assist skipping if desired. Meanwhile, Joe spends just as much time discussing the Retron5, an all-in-one style retro-gaming console.
The break music is from Dr. Luigi and Zero's theme music completes the show.
Please comment on the topics, the podcast, the guests, hosts, etc. on Negative World! You can also reach us through Facebook or Twitter. We would really appreciate the feedback. It's the best way for us to know what makes our listeners happy and we'd love to respond to some things on the next episode.
Now Playing Spoil-Avoid Times 01:00:23 thru 01:13:00 - M&L: Dream Team 01:13:00 thru 01:18:44 - Limbo 01:18:44 thru 01:27:50 - The Wolf Among Us 01:27:50 thru 01:39:49 - TWD: S2E4 01:39:49 thru 01:54:12 - The Last Of Us
Excellent podcast gentlemen! All the guests recently have been terrific, but this episode was just as good with only the two of you. And yes, I'm finally caught up on these (except for the latest Euphonic). I know I was a jerk and didn't comment on those, but I got to them so late I felt I had little to add. As for some of the things discussed here, I can say for certain I hated the club nintendo rewards this year. What a waste. I plan on never being honest on those dang surveys again. Gibberish is what they'll get from me from now on. And I struck out on three local Best Buys too. Just like Joe, I was bummed to not take advantage, but pleased it seemed to work so well. I hardly need two more games to not play. All the games discussed were interesting, but I've been playing even less than normal recently, so have little to add there. Maybe I'll start Dream Team soon. Also, the Retron5 seems interesting, but I'm not sure it's for me. I have a room dedicated to retro gaming with several old CRT TVs, so I I have little need to play old games on my newest TV. Seems like it fits the bill for many people, though, and that's cool. Oh, I also love the length of the podcasts. Sure it's long, but that's just a result of you guys naturally conversing. Nothing wrong with that at all. It's all good stuff to me.
p.s. Stephen, my head's also been in a pretty weird place concerning death since losing my mother-in-law. She was a very integral part of our lives. We've certainly been doing the best we can, but it's still been tough. I hope you're doing as well as you can, too. Death stinks. Hard.
I know I might get crucified, but I enjoyed ZombiU more.
Sure, TLoU looked pretty and all that, but by the end of the game, it was the same kind of battle over and over again. I was just tired of it. The story was fine, but the gameplay irked me by then. It grew tiresome.
ZombiU on the otherhand, was a white knuckle affair the whole way through. I'm not sure your assessment about your character always being referred to as a 'he' is correct. I think the guy in charge always referred to you as something else, inclusive of sex. I wish they were doing a sequel. I would be interested to know how he got control of all those people and put them in that situation. The end of the game kind of set it up for that. I loved the game, and felt it was how a zombie game should be done.
Thank you! I wouldn't recommend you put gibberish, because that's only going to make Nintendo feel they get even less out of using Club Nintendo. Just make sure to mention you distaste for how they handle Club Nintendo at the end of each of your answers when you answer honestly!
As for you and Joe on the Best Buy thing,... I know someone from Instagram who had the same problem... so she went to Wal-Mart, did the price-match thing, and nabbed a bunch up there. Brilliant move! I wish I had known to tell Joe that at the time of recording. But alas....
As for death, I'm doing okay now Brandon. It's sparked other concerns in life because Death makes you think of things but otherwise I'm okay. How are you holding up?
Thanks for listening! No need for crucifiction here. Looking back on it (because I've since beaten The Last Of Us) I can see how battles are similar since a zombie battle is like other zombie battles and same for the bandits but, I still found myself enjoying each battle because they split it up with areas without enemies or alternated between zombies and bandits appropriately. As for ZombiU... I want to read your spoiler text quite bad but I guess I shall hold off.... I do plan to finish that game... This year... ...(I think).
Dude, you should be honest. I mean, tell Nintendo what we gamers really want. Every survey I fill out, I bash Nintendo's VC, meaning when I buy a VC game for the Wii U or 3DS, I should be able to play that game on both my console and handheld for a onetime low price purchase, the same way when you buy a Sony digital download on the PS3/PS4, the game is also automatically available on the Vita.
Nintendo needs to hear this, over and over, from different users. I always add that I would be willing to buy many more games if those policies was implemented on Nintendo's platforms. I also complain that old NES/SNES games are too expensive, the prices need to be more like $3/$5 for NES/SNES, again, I would probably quadruple the amount of games I purchase at those prices and I know many others who feel the same as myself. I honestly believe the more people, who address these issues, that Nintendo will eventually come around.
I unserstand you just wanting to write gibberish, but that will not help our cause. I agree that the games offered for platinum/gold, but esp. platinum, are almost like a slap in the face. I told them I thought Game and Wario is a crappy game and they know no one is buying it, so thats why they offered it up. Just like the majority of games they offer on club Nintendo from month to month, either those games are downright garbage or if the title is good or AAA, like Starfox64, they only stick a title like that in there because they know the majority of people already own that game, so they'll either blow their coins on something craptastic, like friggin Baseball or not spend any coins and eventually the coins will expire.
We need to inform Nintendo that we are not stupid and we realize they are being cheap in the games they choose. We should be offered top quality games from this generation of games for either the 3DS or Wii U, plus quality games from the NES/SNES/N64, ect eras and all the titles should be B+ up to AAA titles. Doing so will gain the respect of gamers across the globe, word will get out that Nintendo offers up quality games to those dedicated consumers that buy enough games to earn all those points and gold/platinum status by end of June.
I'm 100% honest in the surveys and I add all that info on each and every survey I complete. I word my statements as not to come off as a complete dickhole, but at the same time, I get my point across that myself and 1000's of other gamers feel the way I do and by adopting some of the practices Sony offers it's dedicated comsumers, can only help to gain the respect from those hardcore Nintendo fans, and the respect from completely new consumers, who are the ones that have remained loyal to Nintendo throughout the years or will stay loyal to Nintendo because they will feel like they are truly being rewarded for the games they purchase, but if things do not change soon, Nintendo will slowly keep losing those dedicated fans nor will they earn the respect from a whole new generation of young consumers.
I will agree you are correct in the 'white knuckle feeling' that Zombi U gives, compared to the combat of The Last of Us, even on hard mode, The Last of Us, was not as challenging. Though, with all that said, the overall presentation, the story, the way The Last of Us made made me feel, was a couple notches above Zombi U. Nothing in Zombi U really made me care about the characters like The Last of Us and pretty much The Last of Us was a AAA title with alot of love and attn to every detail. Zombi U, while I liked the game very much, it could have and should have been sooo much more. Just think about how the development team for Zombi U changed the direction of the original title, giving them about only half of the development time that TLoU received, if all that time had gone into Zombi U, the game could have been so much better. In a way it makes me mad, how Ubisoft whines about the low sales for it's Nintendo exclusives, but at the same time, one can easily see, that the time and effort for these Nintendo exclusives are no where close to being on par compared to a powerhouse AAA game like TLoU.
I think Zombi U is a really good game, but it could have been sooo much better if the game stuck to one main protagonist and the overall story fleshed out a little more, which in turn would have made the gamer feel more inclined 'to care' for that character. I fully agree that Zombi U had more intense moments overall, and infact was the more difficult, true horror survival game. I just didn't really care or feel much for any of the characters cause they had no background, no story around them. Given what the game turned out to be, I feel Ubisoft should have just stuck with one main protagonist, but if bitten, just made you start all over again at the safehouse with that chacracter and when you reached the point in the gam where your character last died, you still could have picked up the backpack, or at the very least, collected the items at that point in the same way you can retreive the goodies you lose in Shovel Knight.
There was just something about always taking the role of a new character each time you perished that didn't feel quite right. Though to be fair, there is the mode that Ubisoft added in that let you play through the game as just one character. That mode is really hard, balls hard, but unfortunately, after playing through the game the traditional way, I really didn't feel like going through all that again. If I was back in my upper teenage years to early twenties, I would have probably completed the game through both modes. Now, at my age, I'm just happy being able to complete a game once. I don't have that drive/desire to keep going back through the same game over and over. Its like I need something new and to be really honest, I just feel like I'm wasting my time when I try to sit through and beat/complete the same game multiple times thru different modes.
So, where I'd rate Zombi U a solid B, I'd have to give The Last of Us an A+ rating. One last thing, I understand your feeling with TLoU, meaning you felt like you was going through the same process over and over, esp. in the city sections, they all seemed 'alike', but when you think about most games like this, I'll use RE4 as an example, its sortof the same thing over and over, sure the scenery changes from the village, to the graveyard, then the castle areas,, ect, but overalll its all 'rinse and reapeat', while moving the story along. I only use RE4 as an example cause its one of my favorite games of all time. While it does become repetitious, the gameplay and control is so well done, you really don't care, or at least I didn't, that you was doing the same thing over and over. Hell, most games, from platformers to rpgs all can fit into this 'rinse and repeat' category, in the end, the excellent control, gameplay and graphics is what really keeps a gamer hooked from beginning to end.
One last though, it sucks that Zombi U didn't have higher sales, I would have really liked to see a sequel, cause I think Ubisoft could have really turned it into an A+ game, but alas Ubisoft never likes give Nintendo platforms a second chance and ususlly it is their fault that the original game didn't succeed....err..cough...Red Steele....cough....or in this case while Zonmbi U was a decent game, it definitely wasn't a AAA title that people would talk about nonstop, esp. being on a brand new platform. I do applaud Ubisoft though for being one of the few developers for using the gamepad in a unique fashion, even still to this day, not even Nintendo's first party games utilizes the gamepad so uniquely well done. Even though I'm pissed at Ubisoft, I must give credit where its due!
Regarding the Limbo segment....I played thru this game a few years ago on my son's 360. From what I can remember, and while the game is open to interpretation, as I remember the game and I could be wrong since a few years have passed....SPOLILERS....DO NOT CONTINUE IF U HAVE NOT PLAYED & PLAN ON DOING SO, THOUGH AGAIN THE GAME IS OPEN TO MANY INTERPRETATIONS.....
As I remember, it seems most people interpreted the game as the young protagonist was in an accident which killed him and he is looking for a way out or someone, many interpret as his sister or girlfriend,bcause he doesn't realize yet that he is dead. He endures the trials handed before him and at the end of the game he is propelled through the netherworld(windowshield), again many interpret he died in a car accident, thus explaining how he seemingly is propelled through a glassy barrier that shatters at the end. He gets up and as he moves to the right he comes upon an image of a female character placing flowers at his grave, thus everything come full circle.
The game is open to many interpretations and this is basically what I thought of when the game ended. I immediatlely googled the game and my interpretation of the game seemed to fit the majority of those who played the game. By no means do I feel that my interpretation is the one and only correct meaning of the game, though while I really enjoyed playing thru the game and couldn't wait to find out what happened at the end, I was left with a very lonely, sad feeling when the game ended. And while its only a game, I wished that I had never played it, even though I didn't pay for it, I find the world to be a lonely sad place most of the time. I play videogames to escape that feeling. I thought the game was well developed, control/gameplay was well done. While I don't mind games that have moments that may be sad or dark, I don't want that to be the main theme of the games I play.
I can only recommend the game due to how well it convey's its theme, presentation is superb, soundtrack, while minimal is perfect, Overall game I would rate B+ or even an A. Though, at the same time if you tend to suffer from depression or don't want to experience any form of media that trends down a dark path, filled with sorrow, I would say avoid this game. Or, maybe you might interpret the game in a completely different way. While possible, I guess, the darkness, void of any colors, dreary presentation, tends to define this game in depressive tones.
See, I liked that when you died, you were dead. End of story. Start over as someone new, kill your old self to get your things back. But where did those people come from? Were they kidnapped? Drugged by the guy? Those are questions that made me want more of the game, and helped drive the story thanks to my imagination. By the end of the game, I thought of the bunker guy as the main character, and we were just pawns playing out his game to save humanity. Brilliant.