The Patreon Podcast - Episode 16 - Far Cry 5's Story Problem

Dan - You were clearly not alive in the 70's or you wouldn't think so well of the music of the 70's. The 70's music you hear now is the music that people could stand to hear twice. The music _actually_ on the radio day-to-day was generally pretty horrendous.

Felice Enellen

3 weeks ago I had my mock interviews and the women was very helpful. I want to explore a career in politics hoping I can at least do some change for the good. I told her about this (after my high grades blah blah 100% attendance) and she said it’s very interesting. I don’t usually like to say to others just because of the stigma and questions around it. She gave me advice saying over the holidays (well write before) I should try and get in with my nearest (labour) MP. It’s something that could be really good but I’m just always unsure if I should in the end. Could you give any advice on what I could do.

Valthexus

Talking about 70's comedy and wrong notes; do you like Morecambe and Wise???

What were your thoughts on Grow Up (Grow Home Sequel)? I remember you said in a Podcat that you enjoyed it but I wondered if you had anything else to say about it. I've just finished it and I think it missed the mark in a number of areas.

Mike Jones

What do you think of the band: The Smiths?

Aidan Solomon

Will you be at this years cox con?

Cameron White

DAN! What is that London song that you keep mentioning in these podcasts? I need it as I'm going to London next Sunday for EGX REZZED to see Matt. Also, will you ever be at EGX REZZED? Would be lovely to see you there.

Will ''The Button King'' Harding

A Surface Book or Surface Pro seem like a good choice for what you're looking for. Apple's laptops are more controlled meaning they don't allow you to do as much as you can on Windows and they really like to trap you in their ecosystem.

What's your take on AI killing us all eventually? Are you on the Elon Musk/Stephen Hawking side of things or more on the "people are overreacting" side?

Stefan Eisenreich

Dan do you have any laptop recommendations for creators (video editing, creative writing, and art)? I want a computer but dont have the space. My friends keep recommending that i get a macbook, but im not sure i should trust apple

Rhys connell

In your videos, what is the balance between real you and a persona, and how has this changed from 6 years ago to now

Edward Hagreen

With editing a Dadcubed video to 10 minutes have you thought about doing a 22minutes edit and going for an American sitcom vibe?

Daniel Marshall

Hey Dan, as you were talking about in the podcast, kind of, one of your videos got me into video game development. It would be cool if you were to play one of my latest games, as you started it in a way. Here's the Itch.io page: <a href="https://john-clarks-fun-house.itch.io/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://john-clarks-fun-house.itch.io/</a>

Here's a question, Daniel. Is it easier for you to mute people on twitter than it is to just block them outright? I am the kind of person who gets nosey/care too much about what others say/think.

ThisDamnScotsman

are ya going to egx rezzed this year?

Are you ever going to do the thing where you analyze a TV show episode by episode again? If so, I highly suggest doing either Archer or Rick and Morty

Birchwood

All this Harry Potter talk has reminded me of the gem that is your Harry Potter Kinect video with burny mcburnface. Personal favourite video. If you had a job in the wizarding world, what would it be?

Hey dan, are you planning on doing an E3 stream this year?

I've always wanted to write a musical. If you ever come up with an idea that you think would be musical material let me know and I'll write the music for you. But only if you can't get Tim Minchin first.

Chris Camm

Dan, I was wondering if there are any game genres you enjoy playing in vr but hate playing in not vr. For me it's military shooters. I've recently been playing onward on the rift with my uncle and cousin and I was surprised to thind that I enjoyed it. I than played it with random people and still enjoyed it.

Harry Turner

@Nathan Connolly (If you see this)- My brother just finished training at the Oxford Aviation Academy, is that where you're going or is it a different school?

Chris Camm

I think something with the J- names is connected to the Christianity because my dad's side of the family is uber-christian and named all 5 of my uncles and dad a J- name

Hey Dan! You mentioned in your Wreckfest recommends video that they should drive around F1 tracks in reverse (great idea by the way) and it reminded me of this: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wd8EwwE84aE" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wd8EwwE84aE</a> which was an april fools from last year which was uploaded to Silverstone's own Youtube channel saying they were going to do just that

hey Dan since you were talking about editing making a completely different show here's an example from a Kitchen nightmares, featuring the squeaky gate sound <a href="https://streamable.com/ivdba." rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://streamable.com/ivdba.</a> really shows the difference between a show edited for the UK and US

Craig Wright

Hey Dan, you've probably forgotten, but last week you mentioned that you'd love to get your hands on the raw footage of The Avengers; how great it would be for different people to spin it into different films. I love editing, and insist on editing any kind of video that any of my friends need for their own projects. So... could you release some of your raw footage? I can understand why you might not want to, but I feel like I'm a much better editor than content creator, so I need some pre-created content. As always, love the podcast, your videos, and you :)

FlamingYeti

OY HAVE YOU PLAYED SKYRIMVR YET?

The person reading this is sexy and epic

I was watching your recent Wreckfest video and during the destruction derby you try to wreck another car but it dodges out the way and... I just had to ask... is "Oh you absolute chimney" an expression you commonly use? (Also crunchy nut is tastiest cereal)

Zion Aitken

(Just a casual question) you have said that you have to uninstall lots of the games you play to make room for new ones. So are there any games you always have installed and reinstall on a new computer no matter what? Thanks!

Dan, although I have never been through a really rough patch in my life like some people who thank you (I'm only 14, and I am middle-class), I owe so much to you. The community I have been raised in is... Homophobic. My family is homophobic, and they're Mormons too! (That's like double homophobia) My school is unkind to anyone who is brave enough to be open about themselves. By all odds, I should have turned out like the rest of them, but because of watching you over the years, I've always had an example of what a truly good person should be like. (A nerd who plays video games and owns all Lego ever) You are the reason I consider myself to be a good person, despite my surroundings, and choose not to follow the path laid out in front of me. Thank you. (And thank you for pointing out that Mormons are f***ing wierd sometimes, because they absolutely are)

Isaac Rodriguez

A few podcasts ago you mentioned that kindness is the easiest thing to do because all it requires is empathy. Well, I'm a person who lacks a lot of empathy (e.g. YouTube's handling of Logan Paul was more outrageous to me than Logan Paul's existence) and I regularly practice kindness as part of my policy to try to not be a jerk. So there is literally no excuse!!! :D

I'm curious as to how you get around to actually finishing things. It seems like you have lots of projects on the go at once, book, videos, games, tv shows etc. so how do you manage to finish anything? I have lots of things on the go as well but with full time work and studying for a degree I'm finding it difficult to properly progress with any of my personal projects.

Tim Thompson

Great listen, story circles is a concept I've never realised is so prevalent but unknown if not pointed out.

Powerjugs

Dan, in your Lego village, you had the theatre saying "Happy Easter." Are these stickers you are putting on it, or sliding letters, or what?

Anna Leigh Wilson

my notebooks are just full of dicks, maybe i should try porn

The start of Brooklyn 99 season 5 is still on all4 for a while I'm pretty sure

Tom Chaney

Hey Dan. Also looking to lose weight, I’m a little over 143kg (chunky monkey) and need to lose weight or be diabetic, so I’m aiming to lose 16kg by Christmas. I’ve take your advice of opting for quorn instead of meat in most occasions, (easier with a veggie fiancée) but I was wondering if you have any great food ideas or recipes that work well with quorn?

Matthew

Thank you for talking so at length about your writing style, and tips on becoming a better writer. I had some questions/reccomendations about movies and shows you may enjoy. I was wondering if you enjoyed movies like Interstellar and The Martian, and if you had any thoughts on either (due to your interest in space). As well as this, you mentioned liking Psyche, you may also enjoy the one series of the show Limitless, one of my favorites.

Logan Rees

Hey Dan, great bit on storytelling, was quite insightful. I just wanted to ask if you've ever watched the nickelodeon show Avatar: The Last Airbender. You may not have seen it since it's kinda after your time but it is so much better than any show marketed to kids has any right to be. Not sure how you would go about watching it though because nickelodeon is a fuck.

Jonathan

Podcats :-D :-D :-D Also, started the pod talking about character development and ended the pod demonstrating character development. Nice (whether deliberate or not).

Patrick Jackson

Hey Dan, I wanted to share my favorite way anyone has died. From Wikipedia: Garry Hoy, a lawyer in Toronto, Ontario, fell to his death from the 24th floor of the Toronto-Dominion Centre while demonstrating to a group of visitors that the building's windows were "unbreakable". Hoy threw himself against the glass, which indeed did not break; rather, the window popped out of its frame. Also I wanted to ask if you have seen the Papers Please short film?

Franklin Goodman

Just so you know I love listening to you talk about writing. I'm massively into filmmaking but my problem is that writing is my weakest point and considering that's where the process starts, it's very frustrating, especially because I have so many ideas I want to get across. Do you have any tips for breaking down the writing process? Do you plan out the plot in detail, or just have a vague framework and see where the writing takes you? Is there an order you follow? Tell me things thank you xx

Stan Gaskell

Are you gonna watch Wrestlemania this year or cba?

J Singh

The Orville like Rick and Morty was broadcast on Fox in the UK! You really don't pay attention to television do you?

Mainline421

Film Riot did an editing challenge like what you suggested a little bit ago: <a href="https://youtu.be/aILMN4MsYNU" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/aILMN4MsYNU</a>

Have you tried watching Atlanta, Donald Glover's show on FX? I'd be interested in your impression of how they do with story telling. I know a lot of shows from the US don't come out at the same time (or at all) in the UK but if you can, please give it a shot.

Eli Brand

Hi Dan! I've got a game reccommendation; Superflight. A game about wingsuiting around a world, hoping you're not going to create a jam sandwichh with two rocks. I think it was created by students for their final piece, and is pretty cheap! Would love to see you play it!

Dan how do you do the little title on the palace cinema for toys videos? Its been bugging me for weeks.

Will Assenheimer

Hi Dan, We are running a Robot Wars style event in Leeds 25th April. Would you be interested in being special guest judge, should I email Matt about it?

Titusz Ban

I would love to hear another patreon series breakdown like you did for Doctor Who/Sherlock, something like Community I feel would get a good range of people enjoying it.

Hey Dan, should you ever wanna discuss this: how did you decide you didn't want kids? Because from how you mentioned you volunteered with kids a long time ago, I assumed you do not hate kids per se? I'm just interested in hearing about the decision because I don't know anyone who does not want kids.

PurpleManners

I'd love to see the different edits of dad cubed videos

Jacob Bartynski

Odd that you mention Jasper Carrot when talking about the US Office because his daughter Lucy Davis plays Dawn in the IK Office. I wonder if that fact was hidden somewhere subconsciously and caused the slip up

pretzelmister

Will you use Dave Allen for your comedian at some point?

Douglas Hodgson

How long can you see yourself making youtube content for, assuming youtube continues its downwards spiral, at what point are going to jump ship and go off and do some editing or writing?

Douglas Hodgson

Mccoy's or Walkers' crisps?

Douglas Hodgson

Thanks for responding to my previous comment, really made my day and helped me out!

Hi Dan! Firstly, I finally got round to playing and finishing Bioshock Infinite and was interested in your thoughts on it. Looking back at some of your old tweets and the video you seemed to really enjoy it so i was wondering how close it was to being in your 100 greatest and what kept it from making the list. Secondly, while looking back at your old tweets i also noticed this group of tweets by you. <a href="https://twitter.com/DanNerdCubed/status/316978561661689856" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://twitter.com/DanNerdCubed/status/316978561661689856</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/DanNerdCubed/status/316978836438925312" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://twitter.com/DanNerdCubed/status/316978836438925312</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/DanNerdCubed/status/316978989015109632" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://twitter.com/DanNerdCubed/status/316978989015109632</a> I think I've heard you express different views to this, even briefly mentioning something like it it in this weeks podcast, and I'm interested in how and what your view has changed to. P.S. I've been loving the streams and videos, especially your dad's vlogs. And sorry if I've misinterpreted your tweets

Hi Dan, I've been listening to your podcasts since November and have been enjoying them immensely so today's the day I finally work up the courage to ask you two questions. 1. Hopefully you read this before Wrestlemania but but will you do a recap with Steve and Larson since it looks like they're not going to Wrestlemania? 2. Have you ever watched an episode of Being the Elite on YouTube? If not it follows Kenny Omega, Cody (Rhodes), the Young Bucks and others in a wrestling faction called Bullet Club and I think it would be something you'd enjoy.

Just a weird bit of critique about the whole hero’s journey/story circles thing from the one-hour mark perspective. I've being exploring it myself in my own work (In a kinda terrible first year art school kind of way) and have stumbled across a couple of pitfalls with it. The Hero with a thousand faces", the book the idea originated from, was not written as a writing aid. It was written as a tool to understand myths from disparate cultures. It was not until George Lucas picked up a copy and decided to base Star Wars off it that it was ever used as a tool for writing new works. From that point many Hollywood folks picked up on the idea and folks like Dan Harmon started drawing circles. The problem with this isn't apocalyptic but it does somewhat undermine how it’s used in a modern fashion as a writing aid. This is because the Heroes Journey is the vaguest, most generic story possible. The point of the stages like "The refusal of the call" and the "Road of Trials" or "Meeting of the Goddess" is not to provide story beats, it’s to provide points of comparison between disparate cultures. For example, both Hercules in Greek myth and Maui from Polynesian myth go through a road of trials. The fact that Hercules’ road involves monster slaying tells us something about the Greeks, the fact that in the original myth Maui’s road of trials involves dredging up islands from the deep tells us something about Polynesia. Mainly that in Polynesian myth their demigods bringing more land into being is much more impressive to them than slaying monsters, were as an ancient Greek society views monster slaying as more impressive and character building. As an anthropological tool it excels because it allows totally different cultures that never met to be easily compared to learn more about both, and this is possible because the Heroes Journey is so generic that any story can be applied to it. The problem with basing all your own writing and storytelling of the most generic story ever written is exactly what it sounds like. You are no longer writing your own story, you are putting window dressing on the exact same story that has being told a thousand times. One more mask for the Hero with a Thousand faces. Take Neil Gaimans (a legendary author who I adore, read American Gods the first chance you get) response to the idea, he never read it out of fear that once read it would be all he could ever write. Yet, critiques and literary analysis people constantly seek out and find it in his work. Not because he wrote to the journey, but because he trusted his own taste and unconscious to produce a story he enjoyed. He didn’t have to write a story to the perfect human formula because he is a human who happens to already know it instinctively. TO CUT A LONG STORY SHORT. The big lesson to take away from the Heroes Journey is not a writing structure, but simply that good characters grow and evolve. Once all the fluff is removed the journey is just; Person &gt; Changes &gt; Is different. For a better understanding of this force go back a step further, abandon Joseph Campbell and his Heroes journey and look instead to Carl Jung’s psychology. It’s what the journey was based off to begin with. Find human archetypes to creating starting points for your characters and to work out what they are missing in their life. Then find ways to make them confront those flaws and grow to succeed or fail into tragedy. P.S. Being loving the streams lately, you and Rebecca are a big influence in my own work. Trying always to avoid bullshit art-speak and keep some reckless joy in a studio full of very serious painters.

Okay so I thought initially after killing John Seed in Far Cry 5 that this would be a more interesting story, slowly developing that the insane cult is actualy insane leftists. Then when Joseph started talking about his daughter I thought "oh so you're going backwards from Jason Brody in 3 with going from crazy cult person to humanise them, and make their characters grounded" And then he killed his daughter and the other guy opened a music box and sent me into a dream world where i had to pointlessly shoot at ghosts within a specific time, and woke up around a bunch of dead bodies and then just continued with the game. I agree that it is so unbelievably bad at taking the chances it is giving itself, but I disagree that it is SO unbelievably far off base. I think it's trying to do something interesting with the politics but it's failing because they chose macrotransactions over having a real main character.

m0sifer

Okay so I had to pause the episode halfway through because I'm up to you talking about accessibility in gaming and holy crap, does that lead me into one of my biggest gripes about gaming. I am left handed. Always have been, always will be. I basically cannot use a mouse right handed unless I want to spend far too long trying to click on one thing, and as much as I know you hate Razer, my left handed Razer Deathadder literally changed the way I use a computer and play games. However. Basically every video game effectively forces right handed controls. WSAD requires me to do awkward body contortion, so instead I use PL;' and this is fine for the most part but it also means, for more complicated games, I need to basically rebind every single button before I can play a new game and it massively limits how many new games I can pick up. A close friend of mine would love for me to pick up the Witcher series, because she's from Belarus, I believe, so a lot of the mythology and lore of the series is based in that area. So I bought them all and started looking at the keybinds and there are so many and I don't know what most of them even are and I just can't pick up the game. It's just so daunting for me. I wish games would come with some kind of "mirror keybinds" setting, that just flips everything so I don't need to go through this surprisingly big task. But unfortunately, I think I'm in a minority of even left handed gamers, since most I've talked to have just learnt how to use a mouse right handed, so I don't think it's a priority for literally any gaming company. Controller games are great though. So much easier for me to deal with.

Christopher Kennard

You mentioned Edgar Wright a couple times in this podcast. I am also a massive fan, Scott Pilgrim being my favourite film of his. My question is whether or not you enjoyed Baby Driver? I have my own opinions on it and would love to here yours, as an Edgar Wright fan.

Hi Dan, since you're very excited to see Avengers: Infinity War (just like me), I was wondering what would make this movie great for you? Also, I would love to hear about what you like and dislike about the Marvel Cinematic Universe overall.

Filip 'PhilTheDead' Kwasniewski

Hi dan loving the podcasts and I will just share this with you. I’ve tried to be structured if you’ve read it. (: [also I was going to put more but forgot what I was going to talk about up at the start] In school they showed us this video about how one good Leads to another and it’s like painting a wall or something i will link it if I can (<a href="https://youtu.be/PT-HBl2TVtI)" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/PT-HBl2TVtI)</a> When you said about the content editing thing were everyone gets the same recourses/footage that could be a convention like game jam were there’s a vote to see the best editing. Talking about you giving up micro transactions fight your correct and not only was it causing you stress but It was causing me annoyance as well. Really any AAA games I buy second hand and sell instantly as soon as I’ve finished it so I can play as many games. I’ve been in limbo lately because I hate playing on Xbox with my friends because there annoying and play the same games *cough (rainbow six,COD, FORTNITE!!!) -this is the issue I have with it. So I just have spent my day (as I’m off) doing nothing or playing something I’m not arsed playing like sims 4 recently which isn’t bad it’s ok but oh god so terrible. Yeah mixed on that. But I want to be productive. I perform in school (as part of drama) but I would like to try writing like you mention but I don’t know what to do. So my question is- What can I do to feel more productive because I kind of feel like I’m wasting time? Also any weight loss tips like for exercise because I could do with getting fitter as i am fat and should do exercise but don’t. But want to which kind of works with using my time good. This was a long comment. Didn’t expect to write all that. Have a nice week Dan!

Valthexus

See, with my playthrough of Far Cry 5, I'm just roleplaying as a Bliss addict. I'm doing everything I possibly can to join the cult, I want to be on the side of the Bliss makers, but people just keep 'saving' me. It's hugely irritating.

Interesting point about your observations on the bliss bullets in Far Cry 5, I found these weird and annoying like you did until I was playing co-op and knowing what was coming we decided to try and survive without getting hit and it was some of the most fun we had in that session as we knew a single hit would wipe us out. Not excusing the storytelling etc but an interesting challenge we made from it!

After killing John Seed he actually has a sort of thing that makes you think. Still sucks tho

m0sifer

Two hours?!? Lovely stuff. I'll just make some fish fingers and custard...

Patrick Jackson

I kinda wanna hear a wrestling section of the podcast

Brad

Dan I was wondering about how the music in games affect your personal experience and what your favourite soundtracks in games have been. Also completely unrelated have you seen the series of unfortunate events on Netflix the second series has come out it's pretty great family show I'm having mixed opinions on you should give it a go!

Hello Daniel. You talked a bit about VR, which I am starting to save up for. I currently use a £200 laptop, so I'm gonna need to essentially start from scratch in terms of hardware. Do you have any advice for buying a PC, setting up a VR space, etc? PS: Stage 9 ( the enterprise d recreation project thing) has been updated a lot since you did your video, I think you'd enjoy going back to it :)

Barnable

Do you think full body virtual reality, similar to the matrix, is achievable and if so do you think it will be achievable in our lifespan?

The best thing about having a debit card and a bit of income is the ability to pay for things that are free, you being one of them.

Henry

Just got to the part where you were talking about restricting donations from people, I think that is a very good idea, I have a family member who got very lonely at a point in their life, and to fill that gap they gave abhorrent amounts of money to streamers, ect. Just my thoughts....

Hey Dan, I am wondering if you have heard about the Haptic Glove for VR. If not then SmarterEveryday made two pretty good videos about it but basicaly it is a VR glove where you can actually feel things in the game, even temperature.

Skylos

Dan, you spent quite a chunk of this episode talking through several examples of character development in TV, and managed to completely miss one of the best shows for that kind of thing: you need to talk about M.A.S.H, especially (in my opinion) Corporal Walter Radar O'Reilly.

Well Read Nomad

By the way. This is probably how every Far Cry game since 3 has felt, but I haven't played a Far Cry game since 3, so it's not gotten old for me personally.

Emil Aagaard Bovbjerg

On the Far Cry 5 story. I think the story is shit, and I wanted more of it. But I get so much enjoyment from the gameplay that I still like the game. As I told my dad, who is not in any way into games: I feel like Rambo in the first movie. I am a highly trained dude, but I still have to watch out. And walking the world is never dull. There's always something to avoid or interfere in. So I enjoy the game, but I really dislike the story.

Emil Aagaard Bovbjerg

If the internet got their hands on the Avengers all that would be made is shitposts.

Jellex

No. No amount of money is too much for lego..

Scott

I still don't know where to put my Lego Ninjago City in my room. It's in the family sitting room. Also I'm thinking about buying another 300$ worth of Lego. Is that a bad idea?

Jellex

Hufflepuff is kind and loving.

Toby cooper

I agree with how April Fool's has turned into "hey that's a cool thing! Oh, right." I'm going back to my hometime in a few weeks and the local used bookstore that I spent most of my childhood in announced that they were going to have a cafe and start serving food. My disappointment was greater than my nanosecond of excitement.

AAAGamesAreBad

I love Brooklyn nine nine but it's started to slack, what do you think about it? Is it good or is it just background noise??

Scott

you said you were offered to do a colab with Tom Scott but couldn't, do you know if you ever will?

Johnflipper5

Holy shit I forgot these now come out on sunday.

NINE NINE! Thanks for the heads up!

Nerd³

Pizza was good!

jonathan steward

I think the "Funniest" death would be Tommy Cooper's, Also Brooklyn Nine- Nine is on All 4 with 6 days left for episode 1 of season 5, All 4 is free with Ads but does have all of Channel 4's back catalogue for its original stuff at least from The World of Lee Evans, Spaced, Queer as Folk, Black Books, Father Ted, Cucumber etc.

Shawn Lindsay

Pizza just turned up :D

jonathan steward

Just had to pause this to go look up the Far Cry endings out of curiosity. Not planning on playing this, so spoilers don't matter for me.

*orders pizza*

jonathan steward

2 HOURS :D

jonathan steward