733 - Open Worlds feat. Josh Sawyer (5/19/23)
Added 2023-05-19 15:34:25 +0000 UTC
We’re joined by video game designer Josh Sawyer (Pentiment, Fallout: New Vegas) to talk the wide world of gaming. We discuss Josh’s new game, Pentiment, a murder mystery set in 16th century Germany, then get into labor in the games industry, developments and limitations in video game art and style, trends in game play as a matter of business, and how to make quality builds in real life.
A whaling game set in the Dishonored universe would be pretty sick
Sardonic
2023-05-27 23:14:35 +0000 UTC
I was playing 1985 bards tale on my steam deck while listening to this... I remember
Albert Gordon
2023-05-27 14:23:45 +0000 UTC
IWD rules
Sybil-Shanks, the Prison Cat
2023-05-25 22:18:57 +0000 UTC
Love New Vegas so much, thank you Josh Sawyer!!!!!
Jim from Fond Du Lac
2023-05-25 05:52:18 +0000 UTC
nintendo is the mark twain of video games. not elaborating.
2023-05-24 09:23:22 +0000 UTC
Dishonored mentioned W
Disco Elysium snubbed L
catsjvk
2023-05-24 04:50:36 +0000 UTC
Listen i gotta walk my dog after work and I'm counting on you guys to come through for me with an ep by then. Please report back to the podcast factory asap
J
2023-05-23 17:38:06 +0000 UTC
My gaping maw needs that sweet slop poured down my gullet
Sparky
2023-05-23 16:58:50 +0000 UTC
SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEE
I Let the Dogs Out. Me, Me, Me, Me.
2023-05-23 16:41:43 +0000 UTC
WHERES MY SLOP??
chimpsuh
2023-05-23 16:31:27 +0000 UTC
*checks day and time*
Jonathan G
2023-05-23 16:30:35 +0000 UTC
Meanwhile Nintendo is and has always been the coolest
Chris T
2023-05-23 11:26:10 +0000 UTC
Not cool enough for them
Thomas Carroll
2023-05-23 07:41:49 +0000 UTC
felix i’ll stop dming u if u give me the soup boy’s number
Reece Coren
2023-05-22 17:35:16 +0000 UTC
just so little nintendo love from the group here
Jonathan G
2023-05-22 15:50:11 +0000 UTC
Kinda savage that they made Matt sit through this
laserwilliams
2023-05-22 15:32:40 +0000 UTC
Pl
Alec
2023-05-22 14:32:28 +0000 UTC
3. Wizard 101 2. Club Penguin 1. Webkinz beat that.
Nolan
2023-05-22 14:31:09 +0000 UTC
Felix's game pitch at the end just went on and on
Josh Mattyasovszky
2023-05-22 12:52:33 +0000 UTC
Good episode, but not one Alpha Protocol question? Sad.
Christopher Anastasia
2023-05-22 03:24:29 +0000 UTC
Realized while listening to this that we must be entering a period of time where more and more game designers are too young to be familiar with guys like John Carmack or John Romero, or the old 3D Realms stuff. And that's fine, but it just makes me feel old lol
AKorgar
2023-05-22 02:42:53 +0000 UTC
gamers
2023-05-21 23:28:47 +0000 UTC
Please no. Certainly not as a Patreon Episode.
Dan
2023-05-21 20:45:58 +0000 UTC
Bring back tabletop game theory
Will
2023-05-21 20:22:42 +0000 UTC
Sick ep, more game content please
Harry
2023-05-21 16:46:18 +0000 UTC
Another game Matt should play is Return of the Obra Dinn. It's a murder mystery game about identifying sailors by race.
Scott Miller
2023-05-21 13:18:05 +0000 UTC
Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is the best game I’ve played since Elden Ring. 10/10
Chris T
2023-05-21 12:59:19 +0000 UTC
NERD
mad turtle
2023-05-21 12:03:19 +0000 UTC
And I don't care who knows
foxy
2023-05-21 08:18:05 +0000 UTC
Top 10 episode holy shit
2023-05-21 05:33:13 +0000 UTC
I like sports
Pelican Grief
2023-05-21 04:32:35 +0000 UTC
I think it was on his Twitter or something https://twitter.com/jesawyer/status/1658567623943286784?s=46&t=NSc7Pct0DwGcGFDKmKgikw
Andrew Cross
2023-05-21 01:20:57 +0000 UTC
Card collecting game from Final Fantasy 8 also comes to mind. If you got the good cards you could use them in battle
Sean Marshall
2023-05-20 23:41:09 +0000 UTC
Subnautica is a lot like this when it comes to just vibing. And of course gwent from The Witcher series became its own thing.
Sean Marshall
2023-05-20 23:31:15 +0000 UTC
Yeah man.... how do you think they support the bigger dev team?
J. A.
2023-05-20 22:19:54 +0000 UTC
Microtransactions are another big thing associated with AAA games
Matt Boi
2023-05-20 22:03:25 +0000 UTC
Hasn’t Pentiment been out for like a year? Also psyched for Outer Worlds 2, didn’t know that was in the works
Nick Muscatiello
2023-05-20 21:58:21 +0000 UTC
Can anyone link Josh's list of favorite games? I couldn't find it online.
Michael
2023-05-20 20:48:40 +0000 UTC
HBO All Stars is a tight idea. I wanna see Cyril OReily face off against Bodie
skrrt vonnegut
2023-05-20 18:46:05 +0000 UTC
BOTW and TOTK should have gotten way more love. Elden ring and TOTK truly redefine open world video games.
Ian Michael
2023-05-20 18:30:01 +0000 UTC
who is Sean, i wanna play eu4
EVERY MORNING I WAKE UP AND OPEN PALM SLAM A VHS INTO THE SLOT. ITS CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK AND RIGHT THEN AND THERE I START DOING
2023-05-20 16:22:37 +0000 UTC
Valient hearts: the great war was another amazing historical indy game. I 100 percent did not cry. Not once!
Dick Van Sexel
2023-05-20 16:22:23 +0000 UTC
I was at a dark place in my life and about to rob a bank but the Icewind Dale 1 soundtrack changed my perspective and stopped me from throwing my life away.
Brian Lancaster
2023-05-20 15:49:18 +0000 UTC
I got into some video games to help with my ms-related right hand weakness. Did they talk about rdr2? Loved that game. I'm playing totk right now. It's almost too big.
Burt Chintas
2023-05-20 15:28:18 +0000 UTC
I want this but also his twitch plays are really good. But yeah if he did an entire mini series on games it would rock. Could be like movie mindset, maybe he brings on Hegelbon or Scott Benson guests maybe a Disco Elysium guy...God it sucks so bad I run out of left gamers after three (technically Zoe Quinn is a fourth but I doubt them appearing after how much Felix has mined laughs at Depression Quest)
Claire Casey
2023-05-20 15:21:08 +0000 UTC
Chris if you somehow see this, next ep please play some Smiths as an outro in honor of Andy Rourke, any of their songs with sick bass which is most of them, he's so under appreciated and might be the best Smith even beyond Marr
Claire Casey
2023-05-20 15:16:34 +0000 UTC
Gaming mindset
Drew McGill
2023-05-20 14:12:17 +0000 UTC
I’d watch Matt play that Moby Dick sequel game for real lol
Drew McGill
2023-05-20 14:11:46 +0000 UTC
When I read Josh Sawyer I was thinking Josh Halway and was super confused before listening.
Will Wade
2023-05-20 14:05:59 +0000 UTC
Great ep. Felix vidya games miniseries plox
Gabriel Bowater
2023-05-20 10:14:28 +0000 UTC
I absolutely loved pentiment. Can't wait for Matt to just play EU4 and become a map game nerd.
Sean Brocklehurst
2023-05-20 09:53:23 +0000 UTC
Matt just start in 1444 wtf. Nobody starts partway in. Hit up Sean and play with us
Nasai
2023-05-20 08:02:57 +0000 UTC
Also: no mention of Disco Elysium?
For me, one of the best games of the past decade and it has nothing to do with the chapo involvement.
Wilko
2023-05-20 07:21:44 +0000 UTC
What I find frustrating about the obsession with graphics is that while environments look more and more realistic (characters less so, esp. faces still look off) the way the player character interacts with this world still FEELS artificial. And I'm not just talking about the fact that mostly your interactions consist of shooting and punching, but also things like physics, that are in many ways still as unconvincing as they were ten years ago.
I have yet to see a game where characters climb stairs in a convincing way or touch a wall in a way that seems realistic.
This is where I wish game studios would attempt a leap forward.
Wilko
2023-05-20 07:04:41 +0000 UTC
I didn’t know he worked on Icewind Dale. I adored that game as a kid.
Devin Willie
2023-05-20 06:36:03 +0000 UTC
Holy shit yea
Jack Sherman
2023-05-20 05:41:17 +0000 UTC
Whaling simulator is a fucking awesome idea
Steven Hedley
2023-05-20 05:36:54 +0000 UTC
Josh's criticism of Hitman is a little unfair, the game definitely punishes you for going guns blazing, it'll give you severe XP penalties and especially on higher difficulties the guards will brain you. Felix is definitely correct that they just released them wrong, H3 went out of its way to make sure all the maps were included in purchase or free, and they finally released an all-in-one version of the trilogy a few months ago
2023-05-20 05:20:14 +0000 UTC
No love for TF2
Yarblockos
2023-05-20 04:33:04 +0000 UTC
42:25 Dishonored mention! I want to go back to that world.
Torgosaves
2023-05-20 04:13:58 +0000 UTC
fuck yeah
Andrew Cross
2023-05-20 03:35:16 +0000 UTC
Felix mostly plays FromSoft games and competitive shooters right. Listening to him describing the state of AAA games with josh sawyer on the call had me clasping my head with both hands
2023-05-20 03:13:10 +0000 UTC
Eight days without a politics episode. Bummer.
Poppy Chulo
2023-05-20 02:53:55 +0000 UTC
Making him the non playable end boss is the only option.
2023-05-20 02:52:15 +0000 UTC
So good it made me buy the game lmao
Ethan
2023-05-20 02:41:28 +0000 UTC
Even AoE 2 ?
Dan
2023-05-20 02:37:20 +0000 UTC
Because fragments of your soul are contained in seven different Xbox 360 discs?
Stefan Catinella
2023-05-20 02:35:43 +0000 UTC
Is edge runners worth checking out?
2023-05-20 02:15:31 +0000 UTC
This dude’s top 10 sucks. BOTW topping the list isn’t recency bias, it’s just better than the other games on the list and has only been beat out by TOTK.
Seth Jarrell
2023-05-20 02:01:31 +0000 UTC
cyberpunk is exhibit a in the no nothing corporate bosses pushing the devs to release buggy, unpolished work. thank god for edgerunners sparking interest back into the one of the GOAT titles.
DM
2023-05-20 01:59:38 +0000 UTC
video games ruined my life for over a decade, this is some weird shit to listen to. interesting guest regardless.
realm lich
2023-05-20 01:45:47 +0000 UTC
I’m dumb, was Felix dunking on cyberpunk there?
2023-05-20 01:34:59 +0000 UTC
So, we had a Matt miniseries, we are currently in a Will miniseries, Felix video game miniseries when!!!??
Dustin
2023-05-19 23:30:57 +0000 UTC
I love the idea of an HBO game, but how would you keep Kenny Powers from being too OP?
T.A. Martin
2023-05-19 23:21:02 +0000 UTC
Should have roped Matt into talking about Overwatch and how Bobby Kotick is running activision/blizz into the ground, folks he is the irl bad guy from ready player one
DM
2023-05-19 23:12:53 +0000 UTC
Microsoft products make me sad
grant brown
2023-05-19 23:09:04 +0000 UTC
Holy shit what a crossover!
Major Powers
2023-05-19 20:13:53 +0000 UTC
Thank you for interviewing a guy at obsidian! Please send him thanks for making so many games that I've enjoyed! Very cool
David Steiner
2023-05-19 20:12:13 +0000 UTC
Night in the Woods mentioned! Based
Mae
2023-05-19 20:10:34 +0000 UTC
Freedom Fighters?
TangiePower
2023-05-19 20:09:19 +0000 UTC
Yeah that shit was boring, also can I say I genuinely was put to sleep by cyberpunk 2077 and I refuse to play any more of it.
calvin kilby
2023-05-19 20:07:48 +0000 UTC
Nerrrrrrrrrrrrrdddddddddsssssss
ZZA
2023-05-19 19:58:35 +0000 UTC
Splinter Cell fuckin’ rules.
Brian Rooney
2023-05-19 19:36:48 +0000 UTC
GoW Ragnarok feels like a walking and opening doors simulator with some small combats sections for variety
Robert Karnick
2023-05-19 19:27:12 +0000 UTC
shout-out to Io for making that game about doing guerrilla war in NYC against the Soviets, that game was wild and I think the alt history scenario involved the soviets nuking berlin with an H-bomb in 1945 even though people had barely figured out fission, never mind fusion, bombs back then
and the protagonist and his brother were both plumbers living in NYC
Doug Cartel
2023-05-19 19:20:39 +0000 UTC
Let’s fucking go
Jimmy Murphy
2023-05-19 19:19:10 +0000 UTC
I will not tolerate gaming discussions
Meadow Green
2023-05-19 19:10:25 +0000 UTC
hell yes let's gooooo
Alison Buki
2023-05-19 18:50:15 +0000 UTC
NOOOO FUCKIN WAY I HAD A fonv CRAVING THIS MORNING
nick
2023-05-19 18:40:07 +0000 UTC
My second podcast (Retronauts is the other) to cover FO: NV this week. Might have to finally play the copy I bought from a used game store in Portland in 2017.
J.P. McD.
2023-05-19 18:36:05 +0000 UTC
Feeling bad for Matt. Wondering if he just logged off
the lord commander
2023-05-19 18:28:16 +0000 UTC