Escapist Podcast: 031: Creativity & What We've Been Playing

StriderShinryu

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Hmmm.. sorry all, but I find Susan to be the strongest voice in the podcasts as well. She certainly isn't mean or emasculating, though, she's just with very definite opinion and stance, and everyone else obviously has a high level of respect for her. You can just tell that there's a general feeling of "when Susan speaks, we listen" even if that is because to not do so would mean being subject to an endless parade of cute animal pictures as punishment.

bravetoaster said:
This may be cheating, as I've not read the book (nor will I ever--I could barely stand reading part of the preview on Amazon), but the film DRIVE is... infinitely better than the book.
As soon as I heard the question get raised, this is exactly the answer I came up with too.. and I have read the book. The movie is way better than the book in almost every way imaginable and, honestly, if I had read the book before seeing the movie, I probably wouldn't have bothered going to see the movie.

I'd also say that Bladerunner is better then the book it's based on (as is Minority Report. another of Dick's stories). While "Do Adroids Dream of Electric Sheep?" (Bladerunner's source material) is actually very good too, the movie tackles pretty much the same material but in a different way and, with all of the perfectly crafted visual spectcle and perfect casting, it only enhances would was originally there. Both great in their own ways but if I had to choose, I'd take the movie.

I also found The Running Man to be much better than the original book.. but I've also got a soft spot for early Arnold movies.
 

Kristian Fischer

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For me, at least, that's more of a soft spot for campy 80's action movies.

As for Arnold, the fewer lines he has, the better he is: the first Terminator, Conan the Barbarian, Predator, The Running Man...

Although Red Heat had its moments...
 

mireko

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Sep 23, 2010
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Confessions is another movie that is supposedly a lot better than the book. I'm inclined to believe that, even though I haven't actually read it (hey, it's a really good movie). The premise could be handled in so many bad ways that it's so much more impressive that they pulled it off.

And mushrooms are good.
 

HellsingerAngel

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First of all, I am very disappointed in Susan with the League of Legends "ELO Hell" conversation if only because I specifically asked her a question using that as my example.

HellsingerAngel said:
Take the League of Legends example again. You're stuck with four random people on your team for 20 minutes (at least) per game. Sure, you can invite friends (which, consequently, matches you with more experienced players due to the "advantage" of being pre-made) to your party and play with them but you don't necessarily have enough friends to always have a full group, so you need to clock some time in by yourself. Now, say one person of those four decides to not try, or inebriate himself, or gives up half way through or leaves because something else comes up. As it was explained, this game is based around a full team of players so a winnable 4v5 scenario is often a distant dream. You have no choice before those 20 minutes before you can stop playing the game and reset. In fact, you're punished for leaving early. So, unless you enjoy being banned, you're forced to grit your teeth and take the loss. The kicker here is that as you accumulate more losses, your chance of being teamed up with worse players becomes higher (as your total skill ranking drops) which can spiral into the theory of what is affectionately called "ELO Hell".

So many sads, Susan... =(

Secondly I think you're correct in saying that the viewer commenting on how "tough" you are more so meant that you're a very strong woman compared to most. You definitely know how you feel about most things and talk just as loud as the guys, which is something not often seen out of women in society still to this day. All I can say is you're doing an awesome job and to keep doing what you're doing in the exact same way you do it!

Thirdly(?) is a request to either Justin or whomever decides to play the Jedi Knight in the Republic run for the next Re-Pod-Cat(?) I want to know how you feel about the Jedi lovers quest? My first character was a Knight and while I feel like a lot of the decisions are very black-and-white (if you look at them from a Jedi Code perspective) many of them question if what the Jedi believe in is correct, including this particularly early quest. I hope you go over it in the pod cast because I'd really like to know your views and I believe it to be early enough -- as well as being a side quest rather than a big build up like the Agent's was-- to be able to talk about it in more detail. Not sure if it'll move you as much but I certainly felt conflicted given the choices and second guessed myself for a good five minutes before my "must min/max" mindset decided for me and even then I still somewhat regretted my decision afterwards.

As always, amazing listen and you made another hour and a half of crafting just a little less boring!
 

Seamus8

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Formica Archonis said:
Ah, literal emasculation. Maybe you guys stole something from the gods and now Susan's job is to rip an organ out only for it to regenerate so she can do it again? :) (Be the eagle, Susan. Be the eagle.)
This made me want to watch the new Ridley Scott film even more than I already do... Come out already dagnabit.
 

KasraF

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Nov 7, 2011
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Susan Arendt said:
KasraF said:
No offence susan, but you do emasculate everybody else. That's actually a good thing though, and it makes listening to your podcasts much more fun. Personally,I think the greatest gaming podcast ever would feature you and Yahtzee (On opossite side) talking about a game.
Perhaps you and I have different definitions of that word, but I certainly wouldn't consider it a good thing. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad you find us entertaining, but I don't like people saying I'm being mean.
As I'm from Iran, I meant the "Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary" Definition which is 'make less powerful' and does NOT have a Disapproving tag. (It would, if it meant 'Mean')
 

GonzoGamer

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Another movie that's better than the book: The Basketball Diaries.
The movie thankfully abridges the second half of the book which is just him shooting heroin, throwing up, and nodding off.
But everyone should read it; it will make you never want to even try heroin.

The Game of Thrones series for now seems just as good as the book((s).

I too highly recommend Child of Eden, especially if you have a legitimate prescription for medical marijuana. ;)

Susan isn't emasculating, she's just a New Yorker.
 

KEM10

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Oct 22, 2008
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I just need to give an angry post about Clockwork Orange. The movie left out the entire last chapter. I will go with Fight Club only because I enjoyed the disjointed and confused aspect only because the narrator doesn't know what is happening as well but I understand how others would hate it, but you cannot remove the last chapter from a book completely change ending and claim the movie is better. [/rant]
 

ben-

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Awesome about Metallica, Used to listen to them a lot then they did the whole napster thing, their attitude lost a fan and i haven't listened to them since then.
 

shiajun

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I don't think I'd get "I am alive" either way (male or female), although I find the premise incredibly interesting (like the BBC series Survivors). As a PC gamer, I refuse to buy any game published by Ubisoft until people over there get their heads out of their collective ass and realize their DRM schemes and general attitude towards legit customers is completely backwards. They're not helping their sales and they're not defeating piracy, so it's a lose-lose strategy.

And Susan, you're not "tough". The word is assertive, though I believe it may be missing from a lot of people's vocabulary, and that's why they don't use it. You say what you mean (and energetically, I might add), not what people want to hear. I find that incredibly refreshing in people, and it inspires great debates and exchange of ideas. Your candour reminds me a lot of my boss. She's a highly succesful researcher and even got an award by L'Oreal/UNESCO two years ago as one of leading women in science in the world. In my eyes, that means don't stop or change, Susan, 'cause you're on the right track.
 

Farther than stars

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Yay, shout out for V for Vendetta (favourite movie by the way). I guess it's because it has all that great action and imagery for people who like films from a visual perspective, but it also has a really detailed story with some pretty deep themes for people who like that aspect of a film. And neither of the two seem to get in each other's way.
As for adding details throughout a story becoming important later, I believe that's what's known as Chekhov's gun, just for all you out there who are interested in literary devices.
And finally, I'd just like to say to Susan Arendt that being tough doesn't have to mean that you're, well... mean. After all, whenever I say that someone's tough, I mean it as a compliment; in the sense that they're strong, but in a passive way, like having a thick skin to weather stuff. Ah well, everyone gives things their own connotations I suppose.

P.S. Speaking of tough women and women in post-apocalyptic situations, I'd just like to mention Sydney from Fallout 3, who is probably the best character in that game and after Alyx from Half-Life my second favourite female character in any video game and that's because she actually treats her sexuality in a very mature way. And (just like Alyx) she's a very independent sort of person, capable of staying alive in that kind of situation (tough) without making her mean.
 

Farther than stars

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shiajun said:
I don't think I'd get "I am alive" either way (male or female), although I find the premise incredibly interesting (like the BBC series Survivors). As a PC gamer, I refuse to buy any game published by Ubisoft until people over there get their heads out of their collective ass and realize their DRM schemes and general attitude towards legit customers is completely backwards. They're not helping their sales and they're not defeating piracy, so it's a lose-lose strategy.
I am alive didn't come out for the PC though. There was that whole controversy about that.
 

purifico

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It's funny that you mentioned Dark Souls when talking about game feaures that feel like cheating. I was thinking about the same thing for the past two weeks. Most of my friends are playing Dark Souls now (I myself have finished the game a couple of weeks ago). And I keep berating them for playing it in co-op mode.
Dark Souls is supposed to be hard. And it usually is. However if you play it in co-op then the game and its bosses become laughably easy! And it kills the game, kills the whole idea behind it. 'Prepare to die' my ass. The only way you die in DS when playing in co-op is if you're a complete retard that does not know how to press buttons on a controller. So yeah, even though co-op is a feature that was made available by the developer I never used it. I finished my Dark Souls 3 times (on New Game++) and never ever have I summoned another person to help me. Shame on those of you who did :p

Edit: on a totally unrelated note - Susan is awesome. I love straightfoward people who do not beat about the bush.

The best class to play in TOR is a Bounty Hunter. So. Fricking. Badass. I mean, if a man can tell a sith lord to shove it AND survive the ensuing massacre, he is worth something. It's also a nice combination of cool skills, awesome companions (Blizz - best companion ever, hands down), excelent and fitting voice acting (male BH, even though female is not too shabby too) and a very smooth and personal story-line. Bounty hunter's story line is not universe-flipping epic or anything, but it just feels right. Besides, in my book, being dubbed

SPOILER ALERT!


Republic's Most Wanted

/end spoiler alert

is even more cool than earning the title of Darth or Sith Lord.
 

Susan Arendt

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KasraF said:
Susan Arendt said:
KasraF said:
No offence susan, but you do emasculate everybody else. That's actually a good thing though, and it makes listening to your podcasts much more fun. Personally,I think the greatest gaming podcast ever would feature you and Yahtzee (On opossite side) talking about a game.
Perhaps you and I have different definitions of that word, but I certainly wouldn't consider it a good thing. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad you find us entertaining, but I don't like people saying I'm being mean.
As I'm from Iran, I meant the "Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary" Definition which is 'make less powerful' and does NOT have a Disapproving tag. (It would, if it meant 'Mean')
Ahhh...that would explain the confusion here. As Formica pointed out, here it means something quite negative.

GonzoGamer said:
Susan isn't emasculating, she's just a New Yorker.
Philly, actually. :)

And thank you so very much to everyone chiming in that I'm not mean, just assertive/tough/stand up for my beliefs/etc. I really do appreciate it. <3
 

bdcjacko

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Jun 9, 2010
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This is what I use to do with ramen noodles. I would make a rue using flour and butter, mix the flavor packet in with that. I would drain some of the water from the noodles, not all of it, but some, and then mix in the rue. Let that thinken for just a minute, and it was amazing. Sometimes I got fancy and threw in some Foreman grilled chicken.
 

Thespian

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KasraF said:
Personally,I think the greatest gaming podcast ever would feature you and Yahtzee (On opossite side) talking about a game.
MAKE THIS HAPPEN
 

Sandytimeman

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Jan 14, 2011
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fuck you guys...you made me spend money on a new board game. Risk Legacy looks amazing, glad to hear about it from you guys.

Also mac and cheese is easy especially the baked kind with the crusty. I'd give you the recipe but my mom would kill me :3

(ie Chunked Velveta, Milk, Microwave to soften, add into cooked noodles and mix then sprinkle with real cheese on top before putting it into oven to finish...mmm tasty)
 

Revolutionary

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May 30, 2009
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ben- said:
Awesome about Metallica, Used to listen to them a lot then they did the whole napster thing, their attitude lost a fan and i haven't listened to them since then.
Yeah because the legal actions of the drummer effects the quality of their music. Your loss man, I saw them on their last tour and it was one of the best live shows I've seen (And I've seen quite a few).

On an unrelated note I love V for Vendetta, would have been awesome at the imax.


Also Also: I've read the second and third millennium books (But not the first idk why) and Larson really doesn't get any better at avoiding largely irrelevant background density. I mean U love the books but yeah. Tolkien is the worst though, seriously that guy can write without actually adding to the story.

Also Also Also: Wow I love Battlefront 2 as well. That was my second favourite game on my Ps2.