Gaming Podcasts: A Thread about Listening to Others

[Julius]

 

[Nicktendo]

So happy for EZA. They’ve come so far since gametrailers. Already looking forward to watching E3 in their company.

[Julius]

Great bit 

Jones gave the narration of his life! 

Edited February 17, 2019 by Julius

[nekunando]

On 17/02/2019 at 9:12 AM, Julius said:

Great bit 

Jones gave the narration of his life! 

I was reluctant to watch this as I feel like 'bits' are becoming an annoyance for me, not least 'Pro Strats Only'

This video, however, is actually not bad!

[Hero-of-Time]

2 minutes ago, nekunando said:

I was reluctant to watch this as I feel like 'bits' are becoming an annoyance for me, not least 'Pro Strats Only'

This video, however, is actually not bad!

I knocked it off after 3 of the entries. It's everything i've come to hate about EZA.

I read the other day that Pro Strats Only has actually turned people off their show enough to stop pledging on Patreon. I stopped listening to the podcast at the start of the year and with people dropping their pledges I assume that Pro Strats is still going on?

[S.C.G]

10 minutes ago, nekunando said:

I was reluctant to watch this as I feel like 'bits' are becoming an annoyance for me, not least 'Pro Strats Only'

This video, however, is actually not bad!

Top Tens are a bit of fun, quite literally so I don't mind them at all, that Top Ten "Top Ten" Numbers video was brilliant as it's basically parody.

4 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

I knocked it off after 3 of the entries. It's everything i've come to hate about EZA.

I read the other day that Pro Strats Only has actually turned people off their show enough to stop pledging on Patreon. I stopped listening to the podcast at the start of the year and with people dropping their pledges I assume that Pro Strats is still going on?

If you're dropping the EZA Podcast now, I'd suggest at least tuning in for next week as I can confirm that Pro Strats Only is officially dead and is being replaced.

The last podcast was great as well, there was actually a game that no one had really heard of but aside from that it was just a good show.

Personally, I think things have improved since they got the new studio, I've even tuned into Fiasconauts (watching it now) seeing as I have early access to it.

Also, I must say that Frame Trap just gets better and better with each week so I'm all in for that as well, oh plus Huber Syndrome of course and Easy Update.

Aside from EZA though, I'm cutting down on my YouTube content, some of it just isn't worth the time any more.

As and when I find good videos though, I'll be sure to post them on the forum.

[Hero-of-Time]

Just now, S.C.G said:

If you're dropping the EZA Podcast now, I'd suggest at least tuning in for next week as I can confirm that Pro Strats Only is officially dead and is being replaced.

Also, I must say that Frame Trap just gets better and better with each week so I'm all in for that as well, oh plus Huber Syndrome of course and Easy Update.

 

It's not just the Pro Strats thing, it's other things that have started to bother me with the crew.

• Ian, while very good at what he does ( tech stuff ), offers very little insight or thoughts on games that aren't Souls related.
• Damiani is good with everything Nintendo related but becomes dead if it's something he's not interested in.
• I used to like Jones but I lost a lot of respect for him after the whole Red Dead Fiasco.
• Kyle seems more interested in goofing about rather than having a decent discussion.
• I'm finding Huber very annoying these days. The guy just constantly tries to hype everything up. He reminds me of Parker from Friends.

I think there's only Blood and Ben that I really enjoy listening to, mostly because they have a wide range of tastes in games and they both know their stuff. Frame Trap is a fantastic podcast and I love that Ben isn't afraid to put on a show for over 3 hours. At times I do feel he gets held back by the others when discussing certain topics that the rest of the EZA crew may deem as negative. Probably because they want to keep things light and friendly but I don't think it's that simple. Sometimes it's good to have a rant and be negative when the situation calls for it. 

I think my biggest takeaway from my time listening/watching the guys over the past couple of years is that I think some of the things they say and they way some of them act just comes off as false now. Some of them just don't seem genuine to me anymore.

[nekunando]

9 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

It's not just the Pro Strats thing, it's other things that have started to bother me with the crew.

• Ian, while very good at what he does ( tech stuff ), offers very little insight or thoughts on games that aren't Souls related.
• Damiani is good with everything Nintendo related but becomes dead if it's something he's not interested in.
• I used to like Jones but I lost a lot of respect for him after the whole Red Dead Fiasco.
• Kyle seems more interested in goofing about rather than having a decent discussion.
• I'm finding Huber very annoying these days. The guy just constantly tries to hype everything up. He reminds me of Parker from Friends.

I think there's only Blood and Ben that I really enjoy listening to, mostly because they have a wide range of tastes in games and they both know their stuff. Frame Trap is a fantastic podcast and I love that Ben isn't afraid to put on a show for over 3 hours. At times I do feel he gets held back by the others when discussing certain topics that the rest of the EZA crew may deem as negative. Probably because they want to keep things light and friendly but I don't think it's that simple. Sometimes it's good to have a rant and be negative when the situation calls for it. 

I think my biggest takeaway from my time listening/watching the guys over the past couple of years is that I think some of the things they say and they way some of them act just comes off as false now. Some of them just don't seem genuine to me anymore.

You echo many of my own thoughts

When 'The Final Bosman' was a thing, I generally enjoyed Kyle's videos but he seems to irritate me more with each passing week and the bits just aren't funny!

As I've said before, Ben is the one I like best and Frame Trap is vastly superior to the EZA Podcast which now focuses largely on topics that I find myself skipping, though it still has a few good moments.

[Julius]

100% agree on the love for Ben: his reviews are great, Frame Trap I agree is probably the strongest (at least the most consistent) show that they produce, and his love for games comes across in his honesty -- he'll be one of the first to point out nonsense and argue against it when it comes to big topics. Case in point: the most recent Hottake on the additions to Dragon Quest XI S: Definitive Edition. 

@Hero-of-Time mentioned Frame Trap being home to much more productive discussions, and I think that how flexible they are about a show's length allows them this freedom to very organically jump from topic to topic, which just doesn't happen on the EZA Podcast -- I still personally enjoy it, but there are definitely parts where I'm rolling my eyes, or am annoyed at how they cut out some of the more interesting parts of the show (i.e. discussions in Love & Respect) to adhere to an approximate show length. Why is the main podcast, with the name of their group, the one with the most restrictions? When I started listening to EZA a bit over two years ago, the main podcast would frequently creep over two hours, and was inarguably much stronger than it is now.

Actually, talking about this has made me think that maybe Ben should spearhead the main podcast, and Kyle should helm Frame Trap (or a similar show) -- the lax nature of the latter would be a much better place for bits, because there's a time and place for goofing around, and what better time than just basically sitting around and talking with your friends? 

They all being their own respective strengths and weaknesses to the table at the end of the day, but I just don't think that their respective strengths are implement in an optimal way. I occasionally listen to Friend Code to see how Damiani is doing, and I think that he's becoming a much better figurehead for discussion, as well as Tabletop Escapades (which, ironically, Ben also hosts) which is probably my second favourite podcast behind Frame Trap. Oh, and shout out to Brad, because he does some great work and is frequently part of some interesting discussions. 

[Hero-of-Time]

I recently listened to the latest episode of Frame Trap and I think this is the episode where the all main games that they discuss (Crackdown 3, Metro, Apex Legends, Far Cry ) have next to no appeal to me. Pretty poor episode for me.  

Having had a clearout of podcasts at the start of the year I do tend to have a gap to fill in now and then if my regular shows run short. This week that happened and I decided to dig into a Genesis/Mega Drive anniversary episode of Retronauts. Jeremy admitted at the start that their knowledge of the system isn't that great purely because they don't really care for the system or words to that effect. I didn't really enjoy it. It's a shame as they usually do good work ( recently listened to the Wind Waker episode and loved it ) but I guess if the passion for the subject isn't there then the conversation won't be as good. It begs the question, why do a show about it at all if you aren't really a fan of the topic at hand?

[Julius]

30 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

I recently listened to the latest episode of Frame Trap and I think this is the episode where the all main games that they discuss (Crackdown 3, Metro, Apex Legends, Far Cry ) have next to no appeal to me. Pretty poor episode for me.  

Funny that you mention that, because I felt the exact same way and skipped to them being caught in a Frame Trap. Then I realised that they were going to talk about Tetris 99 (watched quite a bit of Kyle's stream the other day, so I've had my fill of that) and Etrian Odyssey Nexus (I've noticed that Ben sometimes becomes a bit vague when talking about games that the other panelists have little to no interest in and rushes through talking about it), so I skipped talk about those games too. 

So the first time around, I basically just listened to them talk about DQXI S and answer some emails. I've since gone back and listened to the rest of the show, but yeah, definitely a (very subjectively) weaker lineup of games that they talked about this time around  I'm expecting a very spicy Hottake about Anthem next time around 

[Hero-of-Time]

3 hours ago, Julius said:

Funny that you mention that, because I felt the exact same way and skipped to them being caught in a Frame Trap. Then I realised that they were going to talk about Tetris 99 (watched quite a bit of Kyle's stream the other day, so I've had my fill of that) and Etrian Odyssey Nexus (I've noticed that Ben sometimes becomes a bit vague when talking about games that the other panelists have little to no interest in and rushes through talking about it), so I skipped talk about those games too. 

So the first time around, I basically just listened to them talk about DQXI S and answer some emails. I've since gone back and listened to the rest of the show, but yeah, definitely a (very subjectively) weaker lineup of games that they talked about this time around  I'm expecting a very spicy Hottake about Anthem next time around 

Yeah, I noticed this as well. He plays a wide range of games and doesn't just stick to his comfort zone, unlike most of the other Allies, but this comes with the problem that the other guys haven't a clue when he starts talking about about what he's playing.

The DQ section was weird. They spent ages kicking off about the new additions and then after all of that both Ben and Huber said straight away that they would be buying it. 

[Hero-of-Time]

Today I listened to another random episode of the Retronauts podcast. This time I went with the PS2 18th anniversary special. 

Man, that console was really something else. 150 million sold, insane amount of amazing games and it helped push the casual market with things like Eye Toy and Singstar well before Nintendo shipped the Wii.

The lineup of games that it brought to the table is probably one of the strongest there has ever been. GTAIII, Vice City, San Andreas, Ratchet trilogy, Sly Cooper trilogy, Jak trilogy, Devil May Cry trilogy, Onimusha trilogy, Maximo 1 and 2, Monster Hunter, Resident Evil Outbreak 1 and 2, Silent Hill 2 and 3, Zone of the Enders 1 and 2, Final Fantasy X and XII, Persona 3 and 4, Metal Gear Solid 2 and 3, Gran Turismo 3 and 4, God of War 1 and 2, Mark of Kri, Ghost Hunter, Primal, Dark Cloud, Rogue Galaxy, Tales of the Abyss, Guitar Hero, God Hand, Okami, Socom, Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2, Gungrave, Transformers, Disgaea, Smackdown series, Dragon Quest VIII...it just goes on and on.

Listening to these random episodes has highlighted just how out of his comfort zone Jeremy Parish is when not talking about anything related to Nintendo. I always thought of him as someone with a great amount of knowledge across all the platforms but this doesn't seem to be the case at all. He's more Daminai from EZA and less Jeff Gertsmann from Giant Bomb. Jeff may be a miserable got at times but certainly knows his stuff when it comes to games, no matter the platform.

[nekunando]

I have to say.. I quite like the new opening segment on the EZA Podcast with trying to pick ideas for the worst video game possible. It has the potential to be pretty funny and certainly much better than the last couple of things Kyle has introduced!

[Hero-of-Time]

I see IGN have announced they are stopping YouTube videos of their podcasts. If they aren't getting the views they need to justify the cost of production then I can see why they are doing it. It doesn't really effect me as only listen and never watch weekly podcasts. I either just listen to them in the car while going to and from work or while at the gym.

[Ronnie]

3 hours ago, Hero-of-Time said:

I see IGN have announced they are stopping YouTube videos of their podcasts. If they aren't getting the views they need to justify the cost of production then I can see why they are doing it. It doesn't really effect me as only listen and never watch weekly podcasts. I either just listen to them in the car while going to and from work or while at the gym.

I thought it was just Beyond that was stopping the video format! That's really annoying, I watched NVC and Game Scoop religiously every week, I've never once listened to the audio version. Gutted.

On another note, Kinda Funny is a million times better now that they've ditched that annoying man child Jared and got Fran in instead.

[Hero-of-Time]

9 minutes ago, Ronnie said:

I thought it was just Beyond that was stopping the video format! That's really annoying, I watched NVC and Game Scoop religiously every week, I've never once listened to the audio version. Gutted.

I think Game Scoop is still getting a video version but the rest are getting binned.

[Ronnie]

2 hours ago, Hero-of-Time said:

I think Game Scoop is still getting a video version but the rest are getting binned.

Just watched the beginning of the latest episode and Daemon says Scoop video is getting binned too, what a shame. The way he explained it made sense I guess but it's still disappointing. He did say special one off episodes like #600, special occasions or Game Scope will most likely still be filmed though, so that's something at least.

[Hero-of-Time]

On this weeks Frame Trap Ian's ignorance with the Pokemon franchise is hilarious. Also, that swollen sword comment.  

I love Kyle's Pokemon banter and it seems he shares the same frustrations with Sword and Shield that many of us on here have.

The point that was made about how Game Freak don't have to innovate because of how well the games sell is one that a few other podcasts have brought up. For those wanting something more from the mainline Pokemon games Game Freak seem quite happy to give you the middle finger and continue to churn out the usual stuff. Kyle criticizing Game Freak's ambition is justified, I think.

[Ronnie]

13 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

On this weeks Frame Trap Ian's ignorance with the Pokemon franchise is hilarious. Also, that swollen sword comment.  

I love Kyle's Pokemon banter and it seems he shares the same frustrations with Sword and Shield that many of us on here have.

The point that was made about how Game Freak don't have to innovate because of how well the games sell is one that a few other podcasts have brought up. For those wanting something more from the mainline Pokemon games Game Freak seem quite happy to give you the middle finger and continue to churn out the usual stuff. Kyle criticizing Game Freak's ambition is justified, I think.

I'm no expert on Game Freak, but isn't it more a case of they're just not good enough to give you a BOTW style Pokemon game, rather than "giving you the middle finger"? Not good enough and not enough developers (isn't it just 50+ devs working on the core games?). Then again they make enough money to grow their team or to ask someone like MonolithSoft for help.

[Hero-of-Time]

1 minute ago, Ronnie said:

I'm no expert on Game Freak, but isn't it more a case of they're just not good enough to give you a BOTW style Pokemon game, rather than "giving you the middle finger"? Not good enough and not enough developers (isn't it just 50+ devs working on the core games?). Then again they make enough money to grow their team or to ask someone like MonolithSoft for help.

It's probably a bit of both. I mean, at times, the 3DS games run like garbage. 

The point you made about the money they've made off the franchise and how small they are is a good one. Surely they could expand their team? Again, why would they bother when they know the game will sell regardless.

I don't think having another team help out is that simple. Nintendo don't own Game Freak and I think they are mostly free to do what they want, hence stuff like that Tembo the Elephant game releasing on every console other than Nintendo's. It still baffles me that hasnt hit the Switch yet.

Im not even wanting a huge BOTW type game, I'm just wanting them to mix the formula up and freshen the series up. A big reason why I loved Lets Go is because it done exactly that. The core gameplay was still there but certain changes made it feel fun and fresh. It also was pretty streamlined and didn't get bogged down with a garbage story featuring or irratating characters....looking at you Sun & Moon!

[Hero-of-Time]

This morning I finally got around to listening to last weeks NVC. Man, that was a rough listen. I really dislike when Miranda is on the show, especially when Pokemon is involved in the discussion. She's constantly spouting stuff like "Awww he's so cute!", "Look how cute it is!", "Awwwww I love it!".  Then there's the added annoyance of her talking like this.

[Hero-of-Time]

Just listening to this weeks NVC and Casey has been announced as the permanent host. Not happy with that choice at all. I'll give it a couple of weeks to see how it works out but this could be yet another Nintendo focused podcast I drop.  

[Ashley]

Not listened but saw this on The AV Club and they are generally pretty reliable:

Quote

Video games often incite heated debate, but sometimes humor and civilized shouting can simmer the boil down into fun conversation. This is the epitome of Michael Swaim and Adam Ganser’s 1Upsmanship, a podcast that provides a glimpse into a significant video game, debates its strengths and flaws, and ultimately decides to either keep it or delete it from history. This recent episode takes on the N64 first-person shooter GoldenEye 007. Joining Ganser and Swaim in their fact-dropping debate is comedian Greg Burke, who, interestingly enough, doesn’t play video games, but distinctly remembers playing GoldenEye 007 throughout his childhood, going so far as to create cardboard cutouts to block his friends from looking at each other’s split-screen during multiplayer. While this entry plays like less of a debate than is typically heard on 1Upsmanship—the two-and-a-half-gamers unanimously agree on several things, but mostly that body parts reacting to gunshots is one of the greatest video game things ever—undeniable chemistry is what makes this 90-minute episode feel like a breeze. If the rule set “Temple, slappers only, no radar, no Oddjob” sparks anything for you, this conversation will be nostalgic bliss. [Kevin Cortez]

 

[S.C.G]

Pretty decent Top Ten video here.

Also, one for @Ashley as Rick is in there at around the 05:15 mark, not wanting to spoil the contents of the top ten but of course Kirby's in there!

Speaking of Kirby... time to get back to a certain 3DS game I've been meaning to finish.

Edited March 15, 2019 by S.C.G