Episode #41 - RF Generation Playcast (Journey)

[singlebanana]

Coming soon!

[singlebanana]

Episode #41 is out. Share your thoughts here!

[Crabmaster2000]

Richard "right in the feels" Franklin! Heard you talk about your feels about 5 times this episode, lol.

Was neat to see you guys adopt a new format for the crossover, but I kinda missed the opening chatter about what you guys are playing and your recent pick ups. I'd have been interested in hearing what the guest podcasters picked up and played as well if you do future collaborations.

It seemed like too much of a big old love fest with 5 people involved. You'd think there would be a little bit of descenting opinions with that many voices, but there really wasn't. I understand it's a nearly universally praised game, but it just doesn't make for too interesting a listen after the first hour when you can predict what the next speaker is gonna say after the first opinion is presented. With the regular 2-3 That has never been a problem for me, but hearing 5 people repeat the same kinda thing was a bit overkill.

The one part I really cannot relate to is the gushing over the soundtrack. It was incredibly forgettable for me. I don't recall a single moment it stood out during play. Took a listen afterwards without playing and felt the same. There are many game OSTs that I feel add to the game, but are my things I'd listen to outside of the game. But I don't feel this was in either realm for me.

Otherwise even though this game didn't speak to me like it did with all of you I can't really fault your opinions on it.

[singlebanana]

You sir have no soul.

[Crabmaster2000]

You sir have no soul.

Never claimed to have one

[Crabmaster2000]

I liked the hiking analogy also. Mainly because I dislike hiking as much as I dislike playing Journey, lol

[singlebanana]

I'll address a few of your comments, since I have the time now. first, the reason that the format is different is because we just thought it would be cleaner to let the Cartridge Club take over hosting duties. Sometimes too many hands in the pot can offset a project, so we wanted to keep it nice and comfy. With that said, we've already discussed doing something like this again year and our show hosting the call. Thanks for the kind words about enjoying our format. It's nice to hear that people like not only our game discussions, but also the conversations where we BS and talk about pickups/what we are playing.

Secondly, the "lovefest" as you call it was not intentional. You can't go around polling people to find someone with dissenting opinion for your show; it's unnatural and inorganic. With having 5 people on, you would think that there would be someone with opposing thoughts on the game, but for better or worse (I guess...) there wasn't. I thought P1 had a very interesting perspective about not liking the game years ago and then playing it again and loving it. We genuinely had no idea what his or anyone else's take would be on the game. However, 5 out of 5 isn't bad. Sorry you're the one standing out in the rain.

Lastly, you don't feel there's anything special about the soundtrack? Not sure how long ago you played it, but maybe worth going back and giving it another listen apart from the game. This was the first video game soundtrack ever nominated for Grammy, which not that I think that the academy has the best taste, but it says a lot for a video game score to even be considered. It's beautiful and it really captures everything that's going on in the game nicely with great swells and declines at all the right moments. Out of all your complaints, this is probably the one that makes me scratch my head in the most. I understand how someone could dislike this game and how it may not grab them like it did so many more of us, but to say this music isn't good is absurd. Maybe you're focused on disliking the game so much that you might not have paid attention to the music. I know that happens to me when I either enjoy a game a lot or don't enjoy it at all. Just a thought and it may be something you want to revisit again.

[Crabmaster2000]

I've never listened to the cartridge club prior to this, but I assumed you adopted their format since they seemed fairly comfortable with the layout. I didn't mean my comment as a slight against this podcast, just a comment about how I do enjoy the Playcast format and would enjoy hearing pickups/current plays even from guests in the future in case you guys might be hesitant to add those sections to a possibly unknown guest.

I also realize the "lovefest" wasn't intentional. It would hurt the flow of conversation to have an indepth discussion about everyone's thoughts on the game prior to the podcast so I get that it's gonna happen from time to time. My complaint was more to do with maybe 5 people was too much for this format. It just became repetition after a while.

I wrote it kinda of funny but when I said "Took a listen without playing" what that meant was I did check it out again on YouTube afterwards. You and Shawn gushed about the tunes which is usually something I can relate to, but I honestly couldn't remember any moment playing in which they stood out so I checked out the OST while at work after my play through. Had the same feeling I did when playing it.

Like you pointed out in the play through thread this whole experience may have been tainted for me by simply coming into this game with the wrong mindset. I've had 5 years or so to hear about this game and have my expectations shaped by those conversations and articles. I think perhaps if I'd played it closer to launch it would have had a very different impact on me. I've noticed that with other games too. Last of Us was much the same way. Lots of buzz and many conversations before I played it probably tainted that game for me. On the other hand I played some important games such as Heavy Rain, Bloodborne and Persona 5 much earlier and enjoyed them immensely maybe because I was far less influenced by others.