The gang talks Elden Ring, Conan Chop Chop, Amazon Luna, Epic’s Bandcamp acquisition, and so much more!
Download (1 hr 28 minutes) - iTunes - Google Play - Stitcher - RSS - YouTube
Check out the CAGcast on YouTube for clips and complete episodes.
Show Linkage/Notes:
Intro - Adventure Club - Gold ft. Yuna (Clark Kent Remix)
Outro - I Like Your Nurses Uniform Guy
Please submit your show questions via CAGbag or Twitter.
#3
Omni-Gellin
Posted 04 March 2022 - 04:11 AM
Bandcamp's streaming product and tech is a little better than y'all gave them credit for. They offer a streaming app that let's you stream from your purchased library, which works well.
It will never happen, but I can dream about what integration could be like. I would love to be able to have my purchases inform say, a car radio in Fortnite. This was my favorite Forza feature back when it worked with whatver the hell Microsoft's Music Streaming product was.
After the Amazon \ Comixology debacle last month, little to no hope for intergrations going well.
- gorgo likes this
#7
Ohwur? Mybur.
Posted 06 March 2022 - 03:30 PM
Good show!
I think you guys are 100% right that reviews skew positive because outlets assign it to their "souls guy."
I wrote a Demon Souls review back when it released on the PS3. Atlus sent the game out weeks in advance, because they knew it was a different kind of game, and they wanted to give reviewers plenty of time to figure it out. 2 weeks before release, I had lunch with my editor. He told me that he spoke with editors from other small outlets, and they were considering not running Demon Souls reviews, since they couldn't make any headway. The idea was that a review that said "this game was too hard for me to get very far in" wouldn't be useful, and only invite shitty "get gud" comments. He gave me our review copy to see if I could get anywhere.
I was able to complete the game, and I gave it a very positive review - it seemed like everybody that posted a review did. Those games feel really good, once you "solve" the combat and start making progress, but I think what most reviewers (myself included) forgot was that those first several hours feel *awful*. The back half of the game may be a 97, but there are plenty of people that can't invest the 8-10 hours to get started, and a review that states that is valuable.
The tip I will give you is to stop looking things up in the internet. There is a vocal group that thinks those games are all about min/maxing and the "community", but it can be a lot more rewarding to just discover on your own. Push in a direction until it gets too tough, then head somewhere else. Come back when you're stronger. Don't worry about the "best build," just play a build you enjoy. That magician class you talked about sounds very boring.
(Sorry for the formatting/spelling/grammar. I'm writing this on my phone)
I think you guys are 100% right that reviews skew positive because outlets assign it to their "souls guy."
I wrote a Demon Souls review back when it released on the PS3. Atlus sent the game out weeks in advance, because they knew it was a different kind of game, and they wanted to give reviewers plenty of time to figure it out. 2 weeks before release, I had lunch with my editor. He told me that he spoke with editors from other small outlets, and they were considering not running Demon Souls reviews, since they couldn't make any headway. The idea was that a review that said "this game was too hard for me to get very far in" wouldn't be useful, and only invite shitty "get gud" comments. He gave me our review copy to see if I could get anywhere.
I was able to complete the game, and I gave it a very positive review - it seemed like everybody that posted a review did. Those games feel really good, once you "solve" the combat and start making progress, but I think what most reviewers (myself included) forgot was that those first several hours feel *awful*. The back half of the game may be a 97, but there are plenty of people that can't invest the 8-10 hours to get started, and a review that states that is valuable.
The tip I will give you is to stop looking things up in the internet. There is a vocal group that thinks those games are all about min/maxing and the "community", but it can be a lot more rewarding to just discover on your own. Push in a direction until it gets too tough, then head somewhere else. Come back when you're stronger. Don't worry about the "best build," just play a build you enjoy. That magician class you talked about sounds very boring.
(Sorry for the formatting/spelling/grammar. I'm writing this on my phone)
#9
CAG Veteran
Posted 07 March 2022 - 07:57 PM
lol...I 100% knew the gripes about the Elden Ring review scores was going to happen. Everyone happily refers to Metacritic all the time to support whatever point they are trying to make, but when it's a From Soft game getting a high score of course it's some kind of grand review system dysfunction. Hilarious. You guys are just so disconnected from what the appeal of these games are and that's ok...you don't have to find a reason to say the scores are invalid. It's like you're taking it personally or something.
Also, Elden Ring is better than Skyrim every day of the week.
#10
Posted 08 March 2022 - 07:27 PM
As an unrelated to this show note, I recently turned Guys Grocery Games on, while channel surfing with my wife.
We’ve now watched all available episodes on DirecTV, have it set to record new episodes, and began watching the Tournament of Champions last night. Thanks Wombat.
We’ve now watched all available episodes on DirecTV, have it set to record new episodes, and began watching the Tournament of Champions last night. Thanks Wombat.
#11
Posted 08 March 2022 - 08:24 PM
You guys are being a little reductive knocking Elden Ring for having mechanics and quest lines that are often hard to parse without a guide. Zelda Breath of the Wild and Skyrim both have wiki’s and YouTube guides galore. Exploration and discovery is the point. Min-maxing and 100%’ing these FromSoftware games is definitely a thing, but by no means necessary for the average gamer to have an enjoyable experience. Not that there isn’t valid criticism for Elden Ring. It’s certainly the most inviting of the series but by no means universally accessible for everyone. And there is ample room for improvement when it comes to persistent co-op with friends for example. But to look at the whole package, with the quality and massive scale of what has been put together here, you have to be pretty jaded to say it’s not deserving of the immense praise it’s earning.
That said I remember you guys not really even giving Demon’s Souls the time of day over a decade ago, so I’m pretty happy 2/3rds of the CAGcast crew is finally dipping their toes in and seem to be having fun. It’s totally okay that you are wrong about it not being better than Skyrim. 
