PixlBit

Stage Select (picking a company to run)

This will be a brief rabbit hole but please follow me down, because I found the perfect company for this episode's Stage Select.

If I could run any game company I would kill many birds with one stone and head-up Monolith Productions. First I would reboot F.E.A.R. and Condemned. FEAR 2 was fantastic but was followed up with an abysmal Call of Duty clone called FEAR 3, and Condemned 2 was amazing but never saw a conclusion to that story.

Most important at Monolith Productions I would revive the defunct Snowblind Studios whom were merged with Monolith in 2012. Snowblind is the company behind all the console action-RPGs that made me fall in love with the RPG genre in the first place, namely Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance, Champions of Norrath, and Champions Return to Arms. The Dark Alliance and Champions games were all superb RPGs that were easily under 30 hours each unless you were a completionist. I think there's absolutely still a market of people like me who want digestible action-RPGs that aren't open world or endless, and take place in interesting universes like Forgotten Realms D&D and Everquest.

Chrono Crossing 2008

It's between Mirror's Edge and Fable 2. Mirror's Edge essentially created a new genre of first-person platforming that I never knew I wanted, and in my opinion is the game that's easiest to go back to. But I have to pick Fable 2 because I don't think I've ever been as satisfied with a sequel in my life. I hung on every word coming out of Lionhead Studios prior to release and I nerded out about Fable 2 the way superhero movie fans do in 2016 about every scrap of news they find. Even with that unfair amount of hype I still played the final game and was blown away. For two weeks Fable became my life. When I went to sleep I could still hear the amazing soundtrack and the dry comical banter of the NPCs in my dreams. Rest in peace Lionhead Studios and rest in peace Fable, it was all really unique, weird, and utterly fascinating while it lasted.

Actually, the Sword in the Stone was originally in the stone, Arthur had two swords and Excalibur was the one he found in the lake. Also in close quarters what I do is simple 

Stage Select

As much as I'd like to put Bioware here and put suggestions to incorporate the best of their old and new design, my pick would be WB Games for one reason: DC Interactive Universe. Let Arkham or Telltale Batman be the starting point, Green Lantern action game made by Platinum, open world Flash and Shazam games by the Shadow of Mordor and Just Cause guys respectively, Justice League and Teen Titans RPGs games made by Obsidian, Superman game with Majora's Mask repeating time mechanic until you save everyone, smaller indie games for smaller heroes. 

Chrono Crossing

Favorite of 2008 is Fallout 3. I got really sucked into the lore of the Capital Wasteland, found leveling up my character very satisfying, and the game had an amazing sense of discovery when you would find a new area, especially a vault.

Also, Patrick is nuts calling Uncharted 2 MP the best 3rd person shooter MP a year after Gears of War 2.

Stage Select:

I want Nintendo R&D1, and they would make Metroid 5...  a followup to Fusion and none of this crap of inserting games into the timeline.

Hell yeah, a new classic Metroid is what I want most from Nintendo these days. Unfortunately I think I read that Japan isn't as fond of them as we are. So they don't make much money for Nintendo. I saw a few minutes of that fan made Metroid 2 remake that got shut down by Nintendo and it made me want it even more. Metroid 2 was amazing in its time and would be such an awesome game to remake. 

AM2R is INCREDIBLE. You should totally give it a shot. It's scratching that 2D Metroid itch incredibly well. I'm about 3/4 of the way through it and I'm absolutely in love. I think I'll put together a review when I'm done because that game is good enough that it deserves a proper review and an official publish from Nintendo.

I would love to try it but I've never been very PC savvy. I always worry about downloading some virus or bloat ware. I just recently factory reset my laptop because it had some v9 garbage on it. 

Also, I would have them publish AM2R or whatever it's called on 3DS and Wii U.

You guys and all your Doom talk made me decide to, temporarily, put down Overwatch and beat it. Its been on my shelf for a few weeks when I caught it for $30 but Overwatch has its claws in me. I also wanted to finish Ori and the Blind Forest.  

I finished it last night before work actually and it's easily the best campaign I've played in awhile. Non stop and just flat out fun. I normally find 1 or 2 guns I like and stick with them but Doom was the exception. Everything except the pistol was used and I'd have even used that substantially if the upgrades had been Faster Rate of Fire, Better Accuracy, and increased Damage. 

Honestly if I had beaten this before this week's Stage select I could have maybe had to fit in the Assault Rifle Micro Rockets to my weapons list. Once they can fire indefinitely, they are beautiful...

To comment on Suicide Squad Julian, have you heard the story behind Jokers grill yet? Supposedly the story is that Batman broke all his teeth on a beat down after Joker killed Robin. Joker got his grill and put the horrid, "Damaged," tattoo on his forehead as a reminder to Batman for what he did. There's also a theory about a Harley miscarriage  because there's some baby clothes in the scene  where Joker is lying on the floor with all those weapons. 

EDIT: Also forgot to comment on this week's show. It was great. I know you are trying to shorten the Stage Select portion but it doesn't seem easy, lol. I actually like it the way it is but I can understand you don't want to have a 5 hour podcast (though that'd give me something to listen to for a day of work).  

I want to play Ori & the Blind Forest, that looks like my kind of platformer. I was hoping it would go on sale during the steam summer sale but no luck. One of these days I'll grab it

I can certainly understand trying to wait for a deal but it's definitely worth its full price. Excellent game. I bought it after finishing Inside. I liked Inside but feel it is highly over rated. I don't regret buying it but I feel I should have waited for a sale. That's when I saw Ori for sale and decided i'd finally play it. I honestly didn't know much about it except a friend saying it's comparable to Metroid. So I grabbed it and loved it. Definitely better than Inside imo. I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

Hmm. I still don't think that the Joker would get the tattoos he did. I mean, if they want to go that route I would expect him to have some more twisted things. But then again, he does tend to stick to a playing card and clown gimmick in his choices of thugs and lairs. I dunno. I just know I don't like that version of the character. But you make me think that I'd like the next Batman movie to be based on A Death in the Family, with a pre-grill Joker killing Robin.

Yeah I definitely understand the dislike of this Joker. I think Jared Leto could have pulled off a good role but the character they gave him to portray was too radical from the norm. Hoping they can fix that if he goes against Batman in the next Batman movie. Hopefully they can explain the tattoo as something Harley did for him during a crazy stunt or something. Anything but he put it there cause he really wanted it.

Not trying to be a jerk here, but honestly, if those side stories about the Joker aren't made clear in the movie, they don't count. I'm not against fan theory or having fun playing with some background stuff, but the movie needs to stand on it's own without relying on fans digging that deeply into it to figure out the how's and why's. 

A year or so ago I would have chosen Square Enix for this Stage Select and said remake Final Fantasy 7. Then they announced it. Not that it's my favorite or anything but nothing else from them could rile up the fans and gaming industry more than that announcement. I also would have thrown Chrono Crisis back into the fold but that's for my own selfish pleasure more than anything. Besides Square Enix seems to be getting on track with their business so I can't really pick them. So...

Stage Select: Nintendo

I have to go Nintendo here. They were so much to me growing up and I hate how far they've fallen. I don't even own a Wii U because, despite a few titles I know I'd enjoy, I don't see the point since Zelda is going to NX. 

- Keep the NX idea of a portable that connects to TV effortlessly. This means all attention goes to 1 device. Nintendo won't win a power/graphics war against Sony or Microsoft but they don't need to.

- Focus on games that are almost sure fire home runs. Such as HD remakes for A Link to the Past or Super Metroid. I know Nintendo prides itself on new things but let's get your console established so people will buy it and maybe some 3rd parties might want to join in this time. 

- If the mini NES takes off continue with SNES, and Gameboy/GBA. Not sure how feasible a portable retro Gameboy that played GBA also would be but that'd be awesome. 

- Lastly, enter the new age already. Make online play a key focus instead of something tacked on. It doesn't have to be Xbox Live but it needs to be on par with Sony. Imagine being able to play on the go with friends in Overwatch or something. 

Or I'd just take charge and sell off properties, lol. From Software gets Zelda, Burnout team gets F-Zero, Maybe id gets Metroid Prime... I dont know but I definitely don't want these properties going away for good if Nintendo ever calls it quits. 

Chrono Crossing 2008: Prince of Persia

There were plenty of amesome games in 2008 so this was hard but the one I look back most fondly on is this one. I played and enjoyed the first PoP remake on the original Xbox but it didn't grab me like the moment I saw this one. The graphics are still amazing to me (still praying for a Zelda in the same style). The chemistry between the main characters was special. Combat was fun and fairly challenging. Even the story was great. I really wanted to see a sequel but it never came.