Easy Allies Podcast #87 - November 22nd, 2017

VC2 has its own depressing bits as well

VGJunky

To unlock all the heroes in Battlefront you'd not only have to play at least 20-25 hours, but you would have to only spend credits on heroes and not actually getting any cards to upgrade you characters. If it had no micro-transactions and they cut the cost of all crates and characters by another 75% the game would feel a lot more rewarding to play.

The last guardian was an amazing game

Joey and Cait

The Last Guardian is a great game in my opinion. But in the end we should just take it for what it is. Regardless if people enjoyed it or not, I was just happy to see it finally come out.

Tegan Combatti

I don't really understand why it's hard to understand the appeal of The Last Guardian. It Doesn't have the bullshit that other games have (DLC, Microtransactions. season pass, pre order bonuses, digital deluxe editions and so on) The Last Guardian is one game to me that doesn't feel like a product that's there to sell just copies. TLG feels like an actual vision of a creator. Like Ueda's previous games. It is extremely rare to get something like TLG especially with the budget it has. It is also hypocritical of Huber being excited by bunch of games like God of War and TLOU2 when both of those games have companions throughout the game, but unlike those games TLG was actually built around the very concept of a companion, therefore it's automatically superior and far more interesting video game than action game with plot device. Like the amount of work went into creating Trico from the sounds, animations and how Trico moves through tight spaces in the game is truly impressive. Also how believable Trico is as a video game NPC is so far beyond any other game that it will take years before any other game comes close to it. Not many games can claim that they are best at what they do. Game is also very novel as a puzzle/adventure game, but people are too fixated certain things about the game. Does TLG have best controls? No. Does the game have best camera? No. So does many othe greatr games like RE2, MGS, Tomb Raider. While certain thing aren't ideal about the game they shouldn't be things that take away from the great things the game does. Framerate of the game is very unfortunate. You can appreciate game without liking it which makes Ian's and Huber's opinions about the game shallow to me.

The Last Guardian review and it winning GOTY for EZA might be the single biggest disconnect I've ever had with EZA about anything. I'm with Huber in not being over it, lol

Brogan Trull

Last Guardian disappeared because it's simply not that good. It has some qualities- cannot say it's bad- but it's not that good either. Plus the gameplay it's atrocious. If it came out in the same time this year it would even be more irrelevant. And I can say I loved the connection with Trico. Also, Zelda came out in March and will probably win gotys everywhere, so being released early in the year might be a fair point but it alone doesn't justifies it.

Rui Fidalgo

I honestly agree that needs to be the first line of defense. Self regulation has to always be that. I will say this however, government is supposed to help enforce anti consumer laws. I think, just like the industry creating the ESRB to avoid a government enforced system in 90s, the most appropriate response is the ESRB making this a part of the rating system in some way. Have a blurb under the rating just like the one about online interactions. So all games have to disclose in game purchases in general so parents can be aware of that potential risk.

The same discussion about whether lootboxes are a type of gambling or not is ongoing in the Netherlands. I think an important reason why they are looking into it is so the government can collect taxes.

Henk Groenendijk

Valkyria Chronicles 2 maybe about kids, but the story is anything but light hearted or shallow (kids being force to kill for their country, against their own country man no less, and tons of dark secrets beneath), give it another chance Ben, you are better than this. But 3 is indeed even darker, a penal legion forced into suicide missions daily, it is a story from the other extreme of world for sure, check it out if you got a chance.

BHL

Imagine going in to the PS store, pay 10 dollars, get a random box that may contain a theme, 2 dollars back and a game you already have. That I think would really put things into perspective, but since loot boxes are a seemingly small thing in a whole package (BF 2), it gets overlooked by the general mass.

Sonny Laguna

like a mid season cup, to get an extra reward, like european soccer

Agree 100% with Brad. Parents need to do their job and stop trying to get the government and other people to do it for them.

Minamik

It works better in TCGs, because you can also buy themed decks with most the cards you want or find stores that sell you singles of the exact things you want. Kinda like in Hearthstone when you destroy cards for dust and then can use the dust to get the exact cards you want. Similarly in Overwatch you get gold for duplicates that you can spend towards the exact item you want. Yes, usually the prices are less than fair, but it's better than lacking the option. True randomness with no for sure way to work towards earning the thing you want is a pretty awful hook though yes. Pretty annoying in Fire Emblem Heroes pulling 5 star units you don't want, especially during limited time availability of ones you do want.

MBUN

I think we should keep some kind of bets for the rest of the year. Degenerate free-for-all Don bets or something.

Samuel Cardwell

This is an incredibly good joke.

Samuel Cardwell

I actually think james Hetfield himself is fighting an uphill battle for Goatee.

irene035

dat sign off though

Chris Georgaras

Ben was also no a good boy. He said 'big shite' at 17:43 ;)

Alex

Does anyone else think that randomness when purchasing something is absolute BS? Just, the entire idea of it? And we’ve convinced ourselves/these companies convinced us that the thrill of getting something good is worth all the wasted money? Imagine spending money on something, that is designed with different tiers of items/cards, some good and some useless and with a value system that makes certain cards scarce (the good ones) and the bad ones abundant to the point where In the end you might not even get something you need? You can spend 150$ on Pokémon booster packs and you won’t even be able to make a competitive deck. Like uh, fudge that. Down with randomness! Great episode! L&R

CORRECTION: Brad was NOT a good boy! At 1:19:49 Brad uttered Sheisse at the mention of Super Mario Galaxy. Bad boy Brad at it again!

Dafydd Gape

I think Zelda should win. But it really does not matter what they pick. Mario was fun but not the same kind of fun I had in Zelda, which was just a pure breath of fresh air. Maybe that DLC will push it back to the forefront!

This GOTY talk just made me realize how frustrating this year is going to be...allies tend to always pick an odd game of the year. My outside looking in pick would be Divinity Original Sin 2 but that won't happen(not enough allies played it). Realistically it should be Zelda but nostalgia may press Mario to the top. It is the safe pick and I loved it but I don't think it deserves it this year. What a great year for gaming to be able to think that way. My personal picks (of games I have played) would be DOS2, Zelda, Nier, Mario, CupHead, Horizon, Sonic Mania, Mario Rabbids. I don't envy these guys....be a lot of debate this year.

ComboBreaker

CORRECTION: Regulation requires that institutions that provide games of chance provide things such as help lines for gambling addiction. It is not done voluntarily, they are compelled by law. Look up Responsible Gambling Regulation for tons of fun reading material. EDIT: Or just read the first few pages of this: <a href="https://www.americangaming.org/sites/default/files/research_files/Responsible%20Gambling%20Regulations-WEB.pdf" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.americangaming.org/sites/default/files/research_files/Responsible%20Gambling%20Regulations-WEB.pdf</a>

Sam Sorensen

Best L&amp;R game name ever.

Cash

Another thing I think about is if every game did this not just EA games, even nintendo, you start off with mii characters in smash brothers, go threw the single player and have enough points to unlock wii fit trainer since this game was all about her workout to become super fit and fighting all the nintendo characters. But to unlock Kirby is like 40hours of gameplay. But you can also unlock all characters for money, and there are booster packs that you add to your character before a fight. I just think it ruins any and every game. While tolerable it just plain sucks.

I feel like if you put micro transactions in your AAA game, you have just made that game into a joke. It is now just a soulless game and could never become one of the greats. When I think back on rouge squadron that game is one of my favorite Star Wars games and I will always have good memory's of it. Even if I bought BF2 it would be just like watching the new Thor movie, it was a fun ride but I don't care much for it as a movie, did not give me that feeling of wow this is something I am going to think about fondly. One and done, is it really a bad thing, not really, it just is what it is. I think people are mostly upset because it's star wars, and it's going to sell no matter what so they figured why not get greedy, can't go wrong.

The first Battlefront didn't need a Season Pass to be a fun MP game for months to come, the game was rushed and they tried to mask it while being greedy. Besides, they sold enough copies to be more than profitable.

Baircade

CORRECTION : I mentioned this last time, but Jones mentioned that the cost of heroes was decreased by 75%. This isn't entirely true. The cost of heroes decreased by 75% but so did the rate at which you gained credits. So, the amount of time it took to unlock heroes didn't change at all. When EA came out and said "We are sorry, so we decreased the cost of heroes by 75%!" They were blatantly lying to us. Don't give them a pass here.

I think the way everyone accepts how "whales" subsidize lootboxes and the like is a tacit admission of guilt that the industry has completely failed to self-regulate this predatory behavior. On the contrary, empires are being built upon it. Considering the nature of gambling addiction and how electronic games seem uniquely suited to exploit it, I think political intervention to cure the industry of its cancer is not only necessary, but overdue.

I'm glad Brad was a voice of reason about BF2. I'm having a blast with it, I hated the first BF and it's been a huge step up from that game. Haven't once felt underpowered or encouraged to buy lootboxes. My characters are leveling through just playing the game and unlocking cards via milestones, most of my heroes or higher cost characters are all level 0 and still rocking the scoreboards at the end of a match. And I've unlocked every character just playing a few hours a day. I just want to point out that people are over-reacting to this whole thing, yes EA screwed up in a big way but it doesn't detract from the game as much as people assume, turning down the hero prices was a HUGE gesture. There comes a point where people need personal responsibility, if we're going to make the argument that people with addictive personalities should be "Protected" from lootboxes or "Predatory" things of that nature....then should they realistically be playing video games AT ALL!? Video games are looked upon to be as addictive in nature as drugs and alcohol, so I mean...let's be real here. Should kids be protected from this? Yes, but think about where the money they're using is coming from. Are they earning it? Should they not learn the value of a dollar? Or should their parents do THEIR job and keep track of what their kids are doing? I mean EA could easily make their games with lootboxes rated M for mature to prevent kids from buying these games themselves but we all know how that REALLY goes with M rated games, it won't really change anything unless parents step in and stop blaming everything but themselves. I'd like EA/DICE to go back to a traditional progression system but I haven't found as much fault with BF2 as every one else has, I want lootboxes out of most games especially the ones we pay top dollar for, but at the same time I don't want to buy 1-2 season passes to keep playing multiplayer games to come back either.

ZyloWolfBane

I think some games get derided at the time because they were not what people were wanting. Then as the series goes on they get what they wanted and maybe more. So then the game becomes an interesting diversion from the norm rather than a perceived missed opportunity.

A little additional info on Oro from the Street Fighter: Third Strike series. He is actually one of the most powerful characters in the Street Fighter universe. He actually chooses to magically bind one of his arms because otherwise, he'd completely obliterate his opponents. He only seals his other arm because its the only way to make fights with his opponents interesting.