Call and Response: WOFF! Dispatch November 2022
Added 2022-11-12 18:27:58 +0000 UTCHello! The purpose of this post is to call for your questions and prompts for WOFF! Dispatch. Please respond by Monday, November 14 by leaving a comment on this post.
We're looking for two kinds of things:
1. Suggestions for our long-form discussion prompt.
2. Q&A about the shows, behind the scenes details, and miscellaneous (including off-the-wall and off-topic questions). Ask us about games or other media, life in general... You name it.
One caveat we've given in the past: If the question is too personal or gross, we may dance around it and not give a direct answer.
We look forward to making this new kind of WOFF! episode together with you.
Comments
Hi guys. I came back to gaming just a couple of years ago. Big gamer in my teens, played a lot of 16-bit titles on the SNES and Megadrive (Genesis) before my interests switched to other things around the mid-late 90s. I missed the transition to Playstation, from essentially 2D to 3D. Then in 2019 I bought a PS4 and fell back in love with video games, and since then have fully immersed myself in titles including Elden Ring, Bloodborne, Witcher 3, Death Stranding, and many others. But there was something that struck me about the overall vibe of these modern games that took me a while to get my finger on. I'd really like to get to the bottom of it, to understand why these games make me feel a certain way compared to when I re-play those old 16-bit games. I feel there's an overwhelming and sometimes oppressive sense of loneliness, of isolation, in the modern games, and I can't for the life of me work out why that is. Is it something to do with the 3D landscape changing my perspective? Is it because I'm often a lone hero traversing a foreboding world where most sentient beings are trying to kill me? Is it because games like Chrono Trigger, Sonic 2, Earthbound and Donkey Kong Country involved companions who would join my team? Well, no, not really because in God of War you have companions, in Witcher 3 the world is populated by as many friendly and neutral characters as it is enemies. And plenty of games in the 90s had dark or foreboding themes and characters. Perhaps it's because the intended audience for games has shifted in the last three decades, and therefore this feeling of isolation is built-in in order to code as adult and edgy? Or am I making this all up in my head?
Charlie Frame
2022-11-15 11:02:50 +0000 UTCI know you guys don’t take late responses to games, but this happened to me on the 17th of October and it’s entirely because of the Evil Within 2 WOFF. On the 17th two of my best friends in the world held their wedding ceremony. It was a great time, though not without stress for the bride and groom. I have known these two for over a decade now, and we all share a pretty crass sense of humor, so they’ve heard me say some pretty foul shit. You know, WOFF level stuff, nothing hateful or vile. So, as the reception was winding down and the band was playing the groom sits down at my table to chat and unwind after everything. I gave him some fond well-wishes and congrats before hitting him with both barrels with some truly magic words that came from Kole talking about the Evil Within 2 WOFF on Twitter, “So, I’ve got a powerful pair of words to share with you that I saw on Twitter and now am cursed to share with you.” “Oh god,” he says chuckling. I looked him dead in the eye and, as enunciated as powerful as I could, said, “Blasted. Cumscape.” All he did was say “Goddammit, Jon” and suppress a gut laugh. At this point the bride walked over and asks what I said, knowing full well it was probably just some of my bullshit. The groom tried to wave it off as just that. Not being one to let a golden opportunity slide I said, “Oh, I just burdened him with some horrible knowledge. Now that you’re married you should share burdens, though, right. Come on, buddy, share that (pause for half a beat) load…” He just shook his head and laughed trying to keep from being too loud. The bride looked right at me and said, “This some of your bullshit?” I nodded and she laughed and conversation moved on. Later she learned of the ultra combo of words that is “Blasted Cumscape” and had a real good laugh at that. So, thank you both for giving me that absolute gem of a wedding gift.
Jonathan Scratch
2022-11-15 04:47:16 +0000 UTCQuick question for Kole, and a small one for both of you: Kole, have you ever visited the Billy Ireland museum in Columbus? I'm making a trip there next summer and would love to hear how a local views it. Also, do either of you have any favourite non big two published comics? Thanks!
Béa(u)
2022-11-14 14:37:32 +0000 UTCHello boys from not-so-sunny London. A quick and simple media question from me: aside from games-for-work and what you covered for Unfilmable, what spooky media did you consume for Halloween? A shout-out to Kole for his Halloween Reading episode - what a great idea and surely a lucrative career in audiobook-reading beckons!
James Lewis
2022-11-14 11:08:24 +0000 UTCI was listening to all the old Resident Evil WOFFs for spooky month, and I noticed from RE2make onward, you started referring to pursuit sequences with a big headliner monster as Mr. Xes, rather than Nemesises. Do you think this is a case of recency bias, the relative memory real estate occupied by the RE2 and 3 remakes, or some other factor? Any other memorable times your critical vocabulary got updated by the release of a given title?
KL
2022-11-14 10:59:05 +0000 UTCHow do you feel your taste in games has changed as you’ve gotten older? Are there any type of games or certain aspects of games that you’ve grown tired of? For instance, as I’ve gotten older I feel I have less and less interest in big AAA cinematic games with emphasis on cutscenes and story and more interest in games I can just sort of play with a podcast on.
The BabaDuck
2022-11-14 02:24:16 +0000 UTCHello guys, I used to be obsessed with the universe of A Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones. I watched each season of the show multiple times, read the available books multiple times and consumed all of the supplementary material. The love I had for the series faded with the wretched last season of the show and the realization I will never be able to read the complete book series. However The House of the Dragon has completely pulled me back into the universe. I've even been watching lore discussion videos for the series which I haven't done since I was in high school. So, do you guys have any media franchise you fell out of love with only to be pulled right back in because of an amazing new entry in the series?
Ethan Ward
2022-11-13 22:48:46 +0000 UTCModern scary games are so dark. Does this bother you guys? When you get that adjust screen test do you crank the brightness up a few notches above where the game wants you to or do you give the devs the benefit of the doubt?
greyrain
2022-11-13 21:13:18 +0000 UTCHi, this is the first time I've posted in one of these threads. You may have talked about this before, but do you have opinions on whether or not to invert the Y-axis on your controller? I do, and I have no idea why. I'm 48, and it seems somewhat age-related. My eldest daughter (23) also uses inverted Y, but claims it was because I made her when first showing her how to play. My 20yo son does not, which is a source of frustration when we're swapping off on games. My youngest is 8 and I tried to start her off on inverted, but my son kept changing it back for her when they played minecraft together. The Fall Guys came along, which launched without inverted Y options, so the battle was lost. What do you guys use and why?
Ben Harvey
2022-11-13 19:36:37 +0000 UTCCast voice actors for Pocket, Jessica, Dottie and Greta.
Tom Healey
2022-11-13 18:39:36 +0000 UTCHey guys. Played Deathloop a little while ago when it came out on Gamepass, and I got to experience a different version then the ones you guys played when it first released on PS5 . One of the quality of life features I appreciated the most were all the new accessibility options they added. An option I was reticent to use, but fully embraced it towards the end, was the ability to increase the amount of reprises Colt has. At first I thought this would take away all the challenge and would ultimately ruin the experience, but after understanding what this game was going for and the power fantasy it tries to offer, it made sense to crank that shit up to infinite. Also, I realised that infinite Reprises is not that different from the infamous Bioshock Vita-Chambers and In those games I was still encouraged to play well, even though I was virtually invincible. It's also the closest the game comes to letting you cause a "Colt Storm". I guess my question is, what games you personally enjoy or would enjoy more by having accessibility features like this that sot of "break" the game, but ultimately make the experience more enjoyable to you. Lots of love to you guys and keep up the great work.
Francisco
2022-11-13 16:11:21 +0000 UTCSome people loved to put their Sims in a pool and removed the ladder. I preferred to rack up Gamecube-crashing combos in Tony Hawk using all of the cheats and launch myself off of motorcycles at terminal velocity in GTA. What were your favorite ways to goof off in video games?
Jared Mogen
2022-11-13 15:55:50 +0000 UTCThis morning after searching for Into the Breach on the Google Play store I was shocked to see Netflix listed as the publisher! Apparently Netflix is adding mobile games to the things you get with their subscription service. What is your take on this?
Lucky McChancey
2022-11-13 15:47:31 +0000 UTCYou have to pick a bad game for each other to play for a WOFF. What would each of you choose that would be the absolute worst option for the other? Not only what would be a bad game to play but a bad game to talk about for an extended period.
Matt DiTomaso
2022-11-13 14:56:20 +0000 UTCIn a recent replay of Disco Elysium, I was surprised that on initially inspecting the hanging body, Kim tells me to go to the store to get some Ammonium. This got me thinking about the McGuffin in narrative gaming. Nine times out of ten, when I get to a new area only to find an NPC to tell me to go find a thing - or worse: Multiple things - in order to progress, I roll my eyes and tune out. Most of the time, the thing you are collecting has no bearing on the quest or side quest, it's just a tally mark to flag progress. But sometimes it works. For me, the Disco Elysium example didn't bug me, because it was a mechanism to teach the player about white checks, and it makes sense within the larger narrative. I'm struggling to come up with other good gaming McGuffins. Do you guys have any thoughts on McGuffins as narrative crutches? What are some other good examples of item fetching that has worked for you? Why do you think they work?
Phil K
2022-11-13 14:18:07 +0000 UTCQuestion for Kole. In the past it has been mentioned you own at least a guitar, as a guitar player myself I was wondering what brand/model you own. Thanks!
Oldmanvarney
2022-11-13 13:46:32 +0000 UTCOn your recent deus ex episode you spoke about oppression in games. I wonder if you could speak more to this? Do you have any examples of where you feel as though the concept of oppression has been portrayed well by a game? Or where it has missed the mark? On the same note, gaming culture has a significant proportion of toxic behaviour (eg sexism, racism in forums and lobby chats). Do you have any specific thoughts on what gamers can do to foster a more welcoming environment? Have you ever encountered any examples of gaming communities that have actively (or unintentionally) done this? Bit of a long and heavy series of questions there, so to balance: Kole, my girlfriend absolutely adores your laugh! Thank you both for being a constant source of joy in these strange times.
Morgan Smith
2022-11-13 09:51:36 +0000 UTCSo I’ve recently been playing Final Fantasy Tactics A2, and paired with the news of the thoroughly unique Megaman Battle Network games getting a switch rerelease, I’ve been thinking about dead ended franchise branches. Do you have any favorite franchise offshoots you’d love to see get more attention?
Nat Isnice
2022-11-13 03:42:23 +0000 UTCWho is your area’s goofiest personal injury lawyer?
Ben Sapatka
2022-11-13 01:55:48 +0000 UTCIn your Until Dawn review you reference the actor Hayden Panettiere and her involvement in Ukrainian protests particularly during the Ultra right Euromaidan Coup that occurred in 2014 under Right Sector and Svoboda, her then-brother-in-law is currently mayor of Kyiv who got the position for being a popular boxer lmao. You offered her “applause”, was that sarcasm?
SomeCallMeStalin
2022-11-13 01:21:01 +0000 UTCHere is a prompt: Take any relatively small and/or simple indie game you enjoy and balloon it up to a AAA title that is without question going to dominate the holiday sales season above CoD or first-party exclusives. What kinds of things does it gain, and what kinds of things does it lose? Now take any AAA blockbuster title (of its era, but more contrast is better obviously) and boil it down to as small an indie game as possible. Same question, what does it lose in this process and what could it possibly gain by boiling it down to its most basic iteration?
Coty Davis
2022-11-13 01:01:00 +0000 UTCI've been working a lot lately, which causes me to fantasize about playing video games when I do get free time. When it actually happens, though, I feel a sense of ennui and don't actually feel like playing anything. What do you guys do/play to get over that feeling?
Nicholas Trubilla
2022-11-13 00:46:07 +0000 UTCViva contact! Can you answer for me these questions three??? 1) Gary mentioned X-Men 2: Clone Wars in a (possibly old) episode I listened to recently. I was reminded how I always felt the soundtrack for that game got no love whatsoever on OC Remix. Are there any games whose soundtracks you think deserve more recognition? 2) This also prompted me to see if you ever covered X-Men 2: Clone Wars, and I wasn't able to find any such episode on the public feed. Can you confirm that you haven't covered this game? 3) Much love for the Days of Future Cast! Is the story that serves as the backdrop for X-Men 2: Clone Wars worth reading in the comics? PS: According to a high precision scale I love you both equally. Also equally to Jeremy Grier. The. End.
Lucky McChancey
2022-11-12 23:44:49 +0000 UTCKirby inhales you. What powers does he gain while he holds you within his magic bladder?
Doug Lief
2022-11-12 22:33:26 +0000 UTCI have been working in dog care my whole life and love dogs more than human children, I know y’all are cat people but what kind of dogs do y’all like? If any! Also best pop culture dog?
Jordan and Maya M.
2022-11-12 21:10:12 +0000 UTCI'd love love love for you to do a cast about Death Stranding aka '2020 Vision - The Game'
Charlie Frame
2022-11-12 20:15:28 +0000 UTCGary said once that Dragon's Dogma is the worst game that he likes, which is a very funny way to categorize things to me. Gary, is it still the worst game you like? Kole, what is the worst game that you like?
Chapel Collins
2022-11-12 19:14:29 +0000 UTCWith the just released Atari 50th Anniversary Collection, we finally saw the first 'official' release of Jaguar games in a emulator for modern systems, including the awesome Tempest 2000. What system or games would you MOST love to see re-released on a modern system?
Greg Polander
2022-11-12 19:09:22 +0000 UTC
