Videochat September 2016

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Here's the September chat with fans. This one was conducted under some levels of sleep deprivation, but I managed to make it through. There's nothing too critical discussed, mostly my plans for the next videos after Deus Ex and a bunch of fan questions this time. Next Game Dungeon coming in a few days, I hope!

 

COMMENTS

Ross you really should've been more clear that you switched from September 4th to September 3rd for the Videochat. Not even danielsangeo knew you switched and I don't know how many people missed out on the Videochat. Since I still thought it was happening on September 4th so I completely missed it.

You look horribly exhausted, you have bags under your eyes, and yet you still find time to dutifully answer our obtuse questions, AND somehow manage to come up with deep, insightful answers to them, AND at the same time you complain that you are "not very quick-witted". You are amazing. There is a reason why you have a cult-like following.

Next Game Dungeon coming in a few days, I hope!

That's all I really needed to hear. Just missed the stream the other night so I listened to it whilst playing some other games to keep me in touch.

Good to hear you also like the old CollegeHumor. Have you watched any Jake and Amir episodes, out of interest?

Time index

 

Announcements

01:48 – next Planetside session will be on Sept 17th, 2pm EST, on Emerald

02:00 – next videochat will be on Oct 1st, 4pm EST; videochats will be Saturdays from now on

03:53 – planned Game Dungeon fork (collaboration with viewers)

07:00 – for the nth time: Freeman's Mind will be resumed

 

Pre-submitted questions

07:44 – Ross does less narrative content (like CP and FM), will more come? (yes)

09:00 – should a small gaming channel join a multichannel network? (no)

13:10 – would Ross augment himself a-la Deus Ex Human Revolution? (no)

13:50 – gamepads vs mouse+keyboard (gamepads still suck at FPS)

18:37 – was anything that Freeman said sane?

19:27 – if and when we achieve meaningful space travel we might discover that the humanoid model of anatomy might not be the norm, how do you think we will manage if it turns out most intelligent species are more like trees or giant amoebas? (that's the whole premise of MiB)

20:23 – if you don't mind saying, what state are you originally from? I ask because I want to know how accurately it was depicted in Arcade America. (Born in Louisiana, grown in Virginia. Arcade America is a cartoon).

21:40 – which is the worse thing in hack and slash games? Kiting away from powerful enemies or healer units resurrecting enemies? (latter)

22:50 – do you think piracy is justifiable when a game is only available as a censored version? (go to previous chats)

23:04 – where do you go/what do you do when you need inspiration? (exercise)

23:45 – which game do you think is most deserving of a good movie adaptation? (Warhammer 40K)

25:25 – fighting Romero zombie vs Half-Life zombie (former)

26:30 – experience with Unreal Engine 4?

27:25 – would Ross join an organization fighting against world governments? (Ross in not a martyr)

29:34 – “Quarantine” future vs “Deus Ex” future (latter)

31:03 – player's gender in non-first-person games (player's character is what is important, not gender)

34:40 – writing in Blizzard's WoW cinematics (not impressive)

36:21 – dialog at the start of Deus Ex and the world government

37:53 – world peace and dying ecosystem vs prosperous world on the brink of WWIII (former)

41:24 – you said that you are going to postpone the sound design of The Movie until later. As far as I know, this goes against the commonly used approach, where the dialogs are recorded first and the character animation is done later, to match the already recorded voice acting. Why did you decide to do it this way? (there are many layers of animation, the animation *system* is what should be set up first)

42:49 – several times I noticed that the Game Dungeon title art is subtly referencing the game peculiarities from your point of view, Well of Souls being my favourite example. How is the drawing process organized? Do you describe your vision of the picture to the artist, or does he come up with his own? (depends on the episode, for Well of Souls episode Ross indeed gave hints)

44:08 – you said that you would be glad if someone did a time index of your videochats. I did a time index for the August videochat, but it wasn't added to Youtube. Should I continue doing this? (Yes, indexes should be sent to [email protected])

44:57 – suppose that you can save and load your life, just like you do in video games. What experiments would you do now that you don't have to deal with consequences? (experiment on the food impact on body + use this to get more leisure time)

46:25 – what got you to cover The Ex series for The Game Dungeon Ross even if it is a mainstream series? (no one mentioned that this game was that serious and prophetic)

49:04 – thoughts about Undertale? (underwhelming)

50:20 – how do you feel about pirating games where the original devs don't get any money, but the copyright holders do, eg. the original doom, today? (copyright laws are a mess and there is no “right” POV)

54:29 – have you ever watched any 90's-2000's cartoons? (Æon Flux was great)

56:42 – If you were transported into a different world, what storyboard genre would you like it be (sci fi, zombies, futuristic, etc), and what would your role be (guy who dies first, the hero, a lackey, etc)? (futuristic; aggressive engineer/shady trader)

57:46 – collab work on CP with someone experienced in Source Filmmaker (no)

58:22 – thoughts on Adam Jensen (he is a character like JC Denton)

59:17 – favorite Diablo class? (warrior in I, necromancer in II, sorcerer in III)

01:01:01 – when nobody is around, do you ever turn your speakers up really loud and hum weird noises into your microphone like Principal Skeleton from the Grickle videos? (no)

01:01:13 – what was the best or most memorable Christmas present you received growing up? (go to VNN podcast with Tyler; “Blacktron” Lego set)

01:02:29 – in you last videochat you mentioned surprisingly driving games and another as your favourite game worlds to experience in VR. Why not an RPG? like the oblivion, skyrim et al series. witcher or any other big rpg series, surely the very definition of RPG (role playing game) is that you get to play/experience a role in another world? So not RPGs? (because movement is crucial in VR and exploring a world is the #1 thing)

01:04:25 – your video chat or rant videos are pretty good quality in terms of resolution and composition (whatever that means), what is you video equipment set up? (Canon VIXIA hfr 500)

01:05:48 – does your girlfriend help in any of the video production? (not yet)

01:06:43 – do you get much time to actually play games nowadays (apart from the planetside sessions)? (not in this August; however, Ross does have a long list of noteworthy games and he might publish it)

01:09:17 – did you watch the Summer Olympics? (winter Olympics are cooler)

01:09:46 – what do you think of companies who make tiny changes to a game to ensure that people playing on certain consoles or operating systems can't play them? (Ross is going to do a separate Ross Rants on Microsoft)

01:11:30 – do you still have faith in your top 25 list of most anticipated games or not so much anymore? Into the Stars, Firewatch, Slain, We Happy Few, The Vanishing of Ethan Carter and Uncanny Valley have all turned out to be duds critically. (Ross does not care much about critics and should check these games himself)

01:13:40 – I haven't heard anything recently from Dead Game News. Does that mean games have stopped dying at least for now or do you unfortunately have so bad news on the way? (Ross is too busy and suggests you to take care about Dead Game News by yourself)

01:15:11 – regarding The Movie... I know you've said that music and such is something you'll handle later in the pipeline. You've also said that you have one or two composers in mind, but is there any chance of another potential one to contribute? (yes, but the choosing music is still awhile away from now)

01:16:22 – (cont.) would you give some hints of what you're looking for style-wise, way ahead of an eventual deadline? (Ross will publish a list of example tracks; basically, expressive medieval music is needed, like the very beginning of Dungeon Siege II trailer)

01:19:41 – what can change the nature of a man? (the value system; nurture > nature)

01:21:50 – I noticed that Accursed Farms is no longer listed on Channel Awesome. Was it an error on there part or have you departed from that group? Has something happened recently between you and Channel Awesome? (Ross was neglectful with posting stuff)

01:22:48 – what do you think of Youtube's new 'Advertiser Friendly' monetization policy? (Ross wasn't aware of it. Youtube GUI sucks, though)

01:26:02 – of the various game engines over the years ( Unreal 1,2,3,... Source, Gamebryo, Quake, etc...) which engine do you have a preference or are a fan of? Things like content, usability, the games that were made on it, or maybe just the overall look and feel of it. (Nowadays all engines look great, usability is what matters)

01:28:46 – since you didn't really care for the endings for the original Deus Ex how would you have done the endings for the game? (the problem was how little effort went into the endings)

01:30:44 – early on the Deus Ex originally had plans to do a whole separate storyline if the players choose to stay with UNATCO instead of going rouge. It got cut for time and various other reasons of course. Do you think that kind of story route would've of worked? What do you think would've happened in that story thread? Do you think ultimately the developers made the right call by cutting it and instead focusing on polishing the going rouge story thread? (yes it would've worked, yes they made the right call)

01:32:16 – for Deus Ex and Deus Ex: Invisible War, which endings did you choose as your personal endings? (Helios and JC Denton)

01:33:27 – how did you feel about having a character you played in the first game end up as a major NPC in the second game? I can't say I was too happy with the developers essentially wresting control of the character from the player and dictating their own vision of the character. (merging with Helios should have had consequences)

 

Live chat questions

01:35:55 – “Ross Wiki” for recurring questions

01:36:40 – meaningful names in RPGs

01:38:23 – thoughts on Hotline Miami games

01:39:33 – thoughts on Deus Ex Human Revolution Director's Cut

01:40:50 – thoughts on the current state of Team Fortress

01:41:32 – thoughts on No Man's Sky

01:45:24 – number of Ross's subscribers on Youtube

01:46:52 – alternative to Planetside 2 for play sessions

01:48:14 – sharing some bits about The Movie

01:49:11 – Neal Stephenson's novels

01:49:44 – covering Mankind Divided

01:50:16 – best “desert” location

01:51:48 – would Ross genetically modify himself

01:52:47 – game for next Freeman's Mind

01:53:17 – remastering original Deus Ex

01:54:01 – age-restricted videos on Ross's channel

01:55:32 – covering foreign games

01:57:24 – microtransactions and DLCs in Mankind Divided

01:58:29 – how is The Movie progressing

01:59:06 – Valve's ignorance towards community

Anyone seen that "Lord Inquisitor" prologue video?

Here's a clip of some unused dialogue where JC stays with UNATCO.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cEg5Xo7VFU

 

Some people in the comments there have made some interesting observations.

 

 

- you may have been able to find Paul and bring him with you to the chopper in Battery Park (if you clip past Gunther and the bots, you'll find Jock's chopper, and he acknowledges you with special dialogue indicating that you need to go back and get Paul).

- if you continued to work for UNATCO, I believe that they would have asked you to assassinate Tracer Tong (as there is a modeled, inaccessible apartment overlooking Tong's compound, above where the Wan Chai Police Station is).

- You likely would have continued to work for UNATCO in some capacity (maybe as a double agent?), as you can access unused dialogue in the superfreighter where the Chinese troops are friendly towards you).

- I believe there was a consequence if you refused to activate the UNATCO transmitter and stayed loyal - Silhouette would have been wiped out. If you use cheats to skip past the catacombs and talk to the two women who normally talk about Chad in the Paris club, their dialogue about him is notably skipped.

Is there going to be a thread for questions for the next video chat? or should we just ask them here?