Constellation, Episode 90 | Moriarty x Jaffe: On Video Games, Anxiety, and Negativity

Game help can also be viewed on your phone through the app. Way more convenient.

Nicholas Cole

Yeah I understood his point, I just disagree with the fundamental conceit of it. The whole point of art, or an experience is that everyone will take something different from it, because we the person experiencing it are different. Trying to have a machine homogenise it is silly imo

Mark ?️

I think what Jaffe’s trying to say is that AI could make a dynamic modulation system for “what exists” to attune it to the player’s individuated skill. In other words, it’s not necessarily about difficulty—it’s about the experience itself that the creator might want to impart to the player. To be fair, though, that can be very hard to quantify—it depends on genre, moment-to-moment gameplay, and other more abstract concepts like story and tone and vibe. I think Jaffe was speaking fairly generally (which is okay, it's interesting for the sake of argument) and it's not clear how this could actually be implemented in reality. I don't know that I necessarily agree with your second point, though. It's not clear to me how such an algorithmic system would be any different from an easy mode implemented into a game. Sure, it might not be "the way the game was meant to be played," but that doesn't totally illegitimize the player's experience. There's a lot more going on in games than just difficulty, and I think you can still appreciate those other myriad elements (presentation, level design, art, music, UI, enemy placement, controls, the feedback loop of motivation and rewards, etc etc amen) even if it's not overly challenging for you.

Supes

With Jaffe on AI, I think his argument misses the point that someone's 'vision' might just be what exists, and not some abstract difficulty set they have in their mind. Further to this, even if it was, the player knowing this will not feel the desired 'vision' or intention if they know some AI algorithm dumbed down the experience for them because they were incapable of completing it

Mark ?️

Everything is political because the left made everything political. Every episode of this show goes into politics, do you pay attention? Clown

Brandon V

Or, just make it a setting to turn on and off

Gooch Gobbler

Everything is political to Brandon V. He's the type of guy to refuse to use Google Maps just to get lost or raw dog a flight unironically

Gooch Gobbler

Goddamm, I love Jaffe! The man's got the wisdom and the heart. Great episode!

Benjamin Pope

Love this episode. Keep Jaffe contributions coming, please. I realize taht sounds wrong.

Guybrush Threepwood

The dragon age stuff is beyond repulsive to me. I get it, don’t like it, don’t use it, blah blah blah. But I’m sorry it’s just too much.

Kyle

The better question is why do you want us to care?

Context Should Matter

If you were a warrior and cared about the your face scars you received in a battle, then yes. You pay a mage some gold and get rid of them. From what I know about playing ttrpgs, polymorphing your body is a little less invasive then cutting your chest open and removing breast tissue. “Well why do we have any scars in games if you can just get rid of any of them!?” Usually a warrior is keeping his/her scars because the scar can indicate a battle or victory won. Chest scars aren’t a battle won. They are indication of a battle with the mind lost.

Context Should Matter

What a great episode of SS+

Glen Yelenovic

Always good to hear Jaffe

Glen Yelenovic

That's literally the definition of inclusion. If you exclude anything you're not being inclusive. If you don't agree you're a bigot and a racist.

Yalingo

Oh, so it’s all or nothing now or else it’s not inclusive anymore? When did that become a logical argument lol?

Del Tor’ah

When you put mastectomy scars into the character creator but not a wheelchair, c section scars, open heart surgery scars, alopecia, cleft lip, down syndrome, cerebral palsy, furry costumes, seeing eye dogs or hearing aids, you're not really being inclusive.

Yalingo

I mean you could make up any number of answers. Maybe they don’t want to or maybe they can’t. Either way who cares? Don’t select that option if it bothers you so much. The existence of people that are different from you isn’t inherently political, you bring politics into it by reacting immaturely to something so inconsequential.

Del Tor’ah

I genuinely don’t understand the discussion around Dragon Age. So there’s an *option* in character creator for breast removal scars…okay, and? Who cares? The counter-argument being that you can’t make massive tits is so childish and unintelligent, when most character creators give you preset options and have limits on sizes anyway. At some point you guys need to get over the fact that not everything is made specifically for the consumption of cis-het white men, just play the game or don’t, these are not real issues.

Del Tor’ah

What, you’ve never heard the ol’ saying “sex doesn’t sell”? 😉

Xstar25

I assume the same applies to any sort of scar then, right? A warrior gets sliced across the face and gets a scar but it should magically be gone because the settings, right? I mean, I don't think that's too much to ask but want to be sure I am understanding your point.

David Jaffe

It’s interesting to read up on the RE series’ adaptive difficulty. Apparently speed runners of RE3 Remake will shoot the ground a bunch to trick the game into thinking you have dog shit accuracy, which reduces Nemesis’s total health.

Xstar25

In a universe where you can polymorph in your fantasy setting why the fuck would you need chest scars when you could just change your physical appearance? Injecting your modern politics in a medieval fantasy game is dumb. And yes, it is politics.

Context Should Matter

Really good episode, related to Collin a lot on this one.

Vito Chiaramonte

Hey , I’m that dude that drives 10 hours a day and having a podcast everyday really helps . Just thought I’d say ❤️ thanks guys

Cami Black

It’s the dogging on it at every possible opportunity that gets me, they’re different I understand not being into it but just gets old hearing how its a waste of time when we’ve been out here waiting for this.

Noah Friscopp

I’ve avoided most coverage because I like Dragon Age and am going to play it either way. But isn’t there a bulge slider? Are we sure you can’t make attractive women? I assume if that’s an option there will be multiple options 😂🤷‍♂️

Draven E.

Just want to give some love to Jaffe! You sir are a hilarious man and I thoroughly enjoy your podcasts with Colin. I Will be signing up to your Patreon. FYI I’m a 35 yr old Australian construction manager and although I don’t agree with your political views, I think your cool as hell and I have massive respect for what you’ve done for the gaming industry. You’re the type of guy I’d love to have a beer and a laugh with. Much love to Colin also who’s hilarious aswell. Keep up the good work fellas!

Cyberslut69

Another solid ep. Really enjoyed the mental health section. Felt like a genuine conversation between friends. ❤️

NeO JD

Colin being so against Dragon Age is weird to me when he likes Mass Effect.

NeO JD

I thought it was more like TLOU2 and GoT - two studios under the same umbrella.

Tyler

Grow up bro lol

Tyler

I think you misunderstood his point though. He says “you have this disorder” and compares it to the legless running a marathon. Some just can’t. I think he Jaffe’ed it a bit, but I think his point wasn’t you can’t get off the drugs - of course you can - but getting off them doesn’t mean you won’t have depression.

Tyler

Games already exist that get harder or easier for players based on how they’re doing. I believe RE4 famously did this 20 years ago.

Tyler

No I don’t think I will

Brandon V

Not agreeing with the take on AI helping in a game is fine but turning it into a political point is utterly exhausting. Give it a rest.

Brian W

I always confuse War and Peace and Crime and Punishment lol.

Alan Wake 2 - Alan WOKE

Saying sex appeal doesn’t really matter is CRAZY Colin. The First Descendant is a 6/10 gameplay wise.

Ryan

brody_low

I'll always be in two minds about Jaffe's AI difficulty take. On one hand it would cheapen platinums a bit. If a hard platinum pops for someone, you know someone has achieved something. AI difficulty scaling would cheapen it a bit. On the other hand it would probably keep people engaged longer and broaden the appeal of games. Easing up some bits of Dark Souls on the fly for people probably would have brought Fromsoft the success they deserved sooner. It's not like the AI wouldn't scale the difficulty up for those wanting a greater challenge. On the gripping hand: My complaint is more of a community issue. *edit: also props to Colin talking about his struggling and Jaffe's doting fatherly advice. It gets hard for all of us. Don't isolate yourself, seek help from your peers and keep plugging away. It's the only way forward. The medication issue hits home for me. It preys at the back of my mind too. I've been on it since I was sixteen and the attempts to get off it have always ended in disaster. I'm never sure if the me on medication is the real me or a version that people just prefer.

AngelOfCake

So who wrote Anna Kerrenenna (sp?)...Tolstoy as well? I know the guy who wrote WAP (tee hee!) also wrote another famous novel...I think?!?

David Jaffe

This great chat is an example of when someone that cares about you and your answer asks a simple question: “how are you?”

Lucas Gremista

“ThErE iS mErIt In A lOt oF tHe CuLtUrE wAr CoNvErSaTiOn…” Just shut up man. You fence sitters do absolutely nothing for anybody regarding any topic, cultural or political. You guys would breathe in your own ass if you could but there’s a 4x4 post 2 feet deep in it already.

CUMSoftware

I am a massive advocate of gatekeeping, though that is not what I am doing here.

Brandon V

It seems like you’re only looking at it from the point of view of games getting easier and reducing your sense of accomplishment, but if you’re good it’ll go the other way and make games more challenging, too. I think the sweet spot that’d keep the highest number of people engaged is traditional fixed easy/medium/hard modes + adaptive.

Jimmy G

War and Peace by DOSTOEVSKY?? Come on guys. That’s Tolstoy.

Stray_Bullets

This was a fantastic episode. Jaffe was on point the entire time

iain mcmanus

I don't know what 'that's cope' means. BUT regarding this: 'Sometimes things are just out of your reach, and they come within reach through perseverance, then your skill level rises. '... THIS is why I think you are not understanding my point. I am advocating for EVERYONE having- assuming that's what the game creator(s) want- the SAME experience and IF the game creator(s) want everyone to have this experience ' Sometimes things are just out of your reach, and they come within reach through perseverance, then your skill level rises. ' then the dynamic scaling will allow for that. Because otherwise what you end up with is NOT what you think you are advocating for. What you end up with is this: In a game where the director WANTS everyone to struggle for 10-20 tries before 'getting it' and having that moment of satisfaction and triumph, a locked difficulty means that the % of people who experience that desired feeling is low. And it's because your skill and my skill are not the same; your experience and my experience are not the same. So what may be a rage quit shelf moment for gamer A may be exactly what you describe for gamer B. But you assume gamer B is just a person who has grit and stick to it mentality. But for gamer B, there are also shelf moments for HIM against gamer C. I'm not advocating people don't have struggle. I'm advocating people have struggle if that is what the game designer wanted. You seem to be advocating gatekeeping.

David Jaffe

Thats cope. It’s a perfectly accurate read on your take. Scaling difficulty so that the game is the same level of challenge for everyone keeps everyone at the same level of skill perpetually. You will never be outside of your comfort zone, as the AI knows your base skill level and your hard, yet attainable level. Sometimes things are just out of your reach, and they come within reach through perseverance, then your skill level rises. What you want is everyone feeling good about themselves all the time despite it being a fake, inauthentic feeling of good, which overtime only hurts the person when they are faced with reality. It really is just your politics summed up.

Brandon V

Update: I really liked this episode out of Jaffe. I disagreed with a lot of what he said but none of it felt smug or all knowing. I like that he always speaks his mind even if it’s against popular (or my) opinion

Bartevious

I know you addressed this in the conversation with games like cuphead. And I know you said you aren’t in favor of this in every game. That doesn’t change the fact that I disagree with it at its base premise - even if in a vacuum I actually do think it could have a level of usability.

Bartevious

I totally understand your argument but in my opinion it does hinder progression in a game. It takes away the incentive to improve. It doesn’t matter if you get better at the mechanics of the game throughout the game - if you do poorly enough the game will lead you to a solution. It takes out the incentive to improve at a game. Super meat boy, Elden ring, celest, etc etc were so appealing to me because I knew if I could beat those games I could get a guage at 1. How good am I at video games compared to the average gamer (irrelevant in reality but interesting and gives a feeling of skill, mastery, and progression) and 2. How will I fare against these notoriously challenging games? I know I will have to beat the same game everyone else plays which feels inherently more rewarding. I am in favor of accessibility settings in any game though - just not skill level. I think we should absolutely look for solutions for handicapped gamers.

Bartevious

This is a staggeringly dense read of my take on this issue. I will continue with my day assuming you are trolling and in that case: good job, pal! That's a good one! Otherwise, I weep for the future...

David Jaffe

I would NOT take out the feeling of progression. That's the whole point: what it takes for ME to get that feeling and what it takes for YOU to get that feeling are different. But the game creator (in many cases) wants us to have the same sense of accomplishment. But with non dynamic tuning, that's impossible because a boss may take me 30 tries and take you 6 tries. In that case, I reach a quit point and you have a moment of 'nice challenge but fuck it, I did it!'...if you were making a game, wouldn't you want to use all the tools you could to make sure all Players got to experience the game as you intended?

David Jaffe

Overcoming hardship and obstacles is how you build confidence in yourself, it’s how you grow as a person. It feels good to face a difficult task and beat it. Jaffes take on AI skill scaling is a perfect look into his mind, the mind of a deranged democrat who wants all the reward without any of the work. Yeah, make everything around you easier so that you never need to grow, you can stay in a perpetual state of childhood. Never acquiring the skills that come with challenge. Sad shit actually, and really explains his views on pretty much everything political

Brandon V

I really enjoyed this from all aspects. Deep video game perspective and personal introspective.

The Rose Experience

SBMM in non ranked multiplayer games is essentially jaffes AI argument. It takes out feeling of progression. Being a dumb little kid and not being able to beat super monkey ball didn’t prevent from it being one of my favorite games.

Bartevious

JFC why does Jaffe troll Horizon so much, it's wearing pretty thin. He literally did his 'is it Alloy/Aloy' bit twice within two minutes at one point. Grown men don't shit on things other people like just to feel good about themselves.

Tom Hannay

The problem with the trans community is the people they prop up to be their spokespeople. I don’t think all trans people are evil, or out to harm kids, but until they find better representation they will never get anywhere. Trans people who do not fit in with the LGBTQ cult ( yes, it is a cult) are ostracized and othered. In its current state it is a hive mind. So no, not all trans people are bad, I’m sure many hate their representatives, but until enough of them stand up and denounce the evil people representing them, I cannot take them seriously

Brandon V

You don’t try to make your custom characters in games a representation of you. That’s good and totally acceptable. Enjoy the games and life the way you want to. Other people do like being able to make a custom character a representation of how they see and feel of themselves, regardless of their gender and sexual identity. Countless straight people do too. The rest of society is just trying to enjoy games and live their life the way they want to, just like you. I’m sure you don’t like generalizations thrown at your ethnic, sexual, etc identify. Freedom of choice in an adult fantasy video game doesn’t have a correlation with your hang ups on trans people. And in fact, the overwhelming majority of trans community have no correlation with your hang ups on trans people either. Just like the majority of people within your cultural identity aren’t responsible for problems constantly attributed to them. You’ve got to understand that if there weren’t pockets of communities that were actively highlighting and creating outrage about this stuff, it would be seen as nothing more than freedoms and options within an entertainment product. Options. Sliders. Preferential settings. You are being emotionally exploited to be upset or fearful about these tiny things. Do you know how many sensible trans people exist that would literally agree with you on fostering appropriate environments for children and to carefully review how and when to inform them of sexuality and gender so that it’s an organic part of the coming of age? You cannot vilify these people like this. You’re not a villain to me. You don’t have to be to anyone. And they don’t have to be villains to you. I just see people who have been taken for a ride by games of telephone and manipulated information. All anyone can ask is that you try to find avenues to empathize. There are trans people who would absolutely want to talk to you if you came forward and said, “hey, I have a lot of questions that I need honest and personal answers on so that I can grow and build my emotions and thoughts from an unbiased position.” If you are humble and respectful, people would return that in kind. If we stepped out of our chambers and respectfully engaged with other people, we’d all grow. We’d all improve and be more compassionate. Make friends and relationships outside of what you’re familiar with. If anything, you’ll appreciate the fact that you did reach out to try to grasp more understanding and met someone you wouldn’t have otherwise.

Stray_Bullets

Great convo, you two always deliver

Your Boi Nicky V

I love Jaffe but I don’t understand many of his takes. He says “Astro Bot failed to convey that these were challenge levels”. They’re not on the map! You have to go out of your way to unlock them by chasing the asteroids. That should telegraph that “hey, since these aren’t levels aren’t mandatory, they require a higher level of play”

Diddy’s Dong Quest

Muscle meat carnivores do great because of the lack of plants and vitamins. They're toxic alcohols. Vitamin A is a chemical peel. Vitamin D is rat poison.

Rufián

Sounds like you guys both could use a bit of positivity. You guys are doing great love Jaffe as always. The genuine intellectual curiosity of both you guys is always fun to listen to.

nicholas

Colin said he knows other people have had a worse upbringings than them. My partner had fuel poured on her by her dad as a kid as he stood there with a match. Harrowing shit. I don’t think hard stuff like that can diminish anyone’s trauma. It was really captivating listening to jaffe and Colin talk about that. I think everyone has to work through their own shit. Life’s hard and it was nice to hear jaffe give Colin the space to just talk it out.

Mitchell Sims

I think my issue with the dynamic difficulty conversation is that I’m looking for different experiences from each game. There are some games I grind out and try to defeat on the hardest difficulty and camp out on a boss for a week. Some games I just want to be able to experience the story and not be bogged down by an annoying skill-check boss because I’ll just drop the game. It depends where I’m at personally. Taking the difficulty out of the hands of the player would prevent that option.

Tom Gentry

I definitely don’t want any form of skill based matchmaking or automated difficulty adjustments in single player games. It’s bad enough in multiplayer games. People complain about it constantly. I actually can’t even play cod or Fortnite with my friend because he’s too fucking good and they only match us with people on his level.

Tristan Kimball

Regarding Jaffe's AI-driven adaptive difficulty idea; I think the main problem with this is not that it's AI-driven in particular, but simply that people don't want a game to invisibly tune itself according to their performance because that undermines the accomplishment of beating a part of a game. How would you know if you beat a boss because you performed better than the prior 10 times you failed at it, or because the game decided it was too difficult for you and adjusted how the boss fought you in ways that are hard discern? The only game I've played that had a kind of adaptive difficulty was Max Payne 3, where if you died a certain number of times at a given encounter, subsequent deaths would grant you an extra healing item over your previous attempt. I hated this feature, but at least the tuning was transparent. I could simply choose to not use the extra healing items it gave me. If a game tuned itself in other ways and I couldn't disable this feature, it would honestly stop me from playing the game entirely.

George

Gaslighting

Brandon V

There he is. I was waiting 🤣

Adam Barnes

To use Colin’s favorite word according to Dustin, some one is being sensitive.

AllTooEasy_

Yessss inject the Jaffe into my bloodstream!!

Morgan

An honest, moral individual comes to this inevitable conclusion: They are to be shunned from society.

Rufián

Jaffe loves his pharmaceuticals. The left is the party of big pharma. Will pop anything that absolves them of personal responsibility. Drug addicts, degenerates.

Rufián

I really enjoy these 1x1's, Colin. I know you said it's due to being stretched a bit thin, but they are some of my favorite content you create besides your interviews with interesting people around the industry. Thanks for all the hard work. ✌️

Meatball

Have you ever considered discussing the possibility of having OCD with your mental health care provider, Colin? I have it and a lot of what you're describing is what experienced pre-diagnosis. Depression and anxiety are the top comorbidities for OCD. I hope I'm not off base here, just hate to hear what you're going through. OCD is very treatable even without meds, but they can play a part.

Chris Croteau

When Colin says that it’s just bullshit cope because he doesn’t want to say what needs to be said

Brandon V

I am, but that’s besides the point

Brandon V

No that’s not at all what’s happening, nice try, though, gaslighter

Brandon V

lol okay Brandon. You’re just better than everyone. Congratulations. Go change the world, Godspeed.

Adam Barnes

This comment is what you hear Colin talk about in reference to people like Grummz and discourse like this. There is merit in a lot of the culture war conversation, and more often than not it is carried by the absolute worst messengers.

Dante B

I never make characters look like me, character design is at an all time low so when given the choice to create a character I get very into it and make a cool looking character, often a female one, due to almost all female characters nowadays being disgusting. Cyberpunk my character was female. Hogwarts, female. Mass Effect? Female. Elden Ring is the only recent game I can think of where I made them male, and he didn’t really look like me.

Brandon V

The irony of your statement is that you’re making it about you, which in turn is quite literally the reason why trans people feel the need to still push for acceptance in society. No one bats an eye when heterosexuality has been represented all over media since media’s very inception, yet a scar in a video game representing a trans surgery is where we draw the line? Just feels silly to make a big fuss about. Everyone deserves to be represented.

Adam Martinez

Jesus lad lol. I’ll agree with you that the trans stuff being shoved down kids throats is over the line, I don’t think it’s wrong to include trans people in video games. How many times have you created a character and made them look like you? Feels good right? Let them have that too

Adam Barnes

Colin you should try the carnivore diet. I’ve never felt better in my life than when I’m doing it

Adam Barnes

On a lighter note…a banana to you could just simply be a banana…a banana to me could be a hypersensitive week long spiral into paralyzing thoughts of why I can’t leave the house. As Jaffe stated leaning towards compassion is all that you can do as an outsider. The medication is not a cure BUT it’s there to help.

Paul Bukoski

I’m not saying it’s insurmountable problem, but the idea of trying to even give or listen to opinions on games in the future where people’s experiences are varying not on designed elements, but on AI variables seems like a nightmare.

Jared R

The fact it’s crazy is what makes it news to begin with.

Jared R

They’re games I love, but they’re also both games that didn’t click for me until I forced myself well past the points I wanted to hop out

Jared R

I don’t agree with Jaffe on much, but when I do I agree 100%. His take on Horizon is spot on

Adam Barnes

They have a right to participate in the society they exist within they have no right to push their shit into every institution on earth and make everything about them.

Brandon V

That’s like saying for straight people to leave society alone. Trans people have every right to be engaged in society, no different than you or I.

Adam Martinez

Those brain zaps (I thought it was more like a rubber band breaking) are not fun. The side effects and withdrawals of the anti anxiety / depression are worse than the problem you were trying to fix was to begin with.

Michael Thew

Great conversation. This is the speed of Jaffe I love. Not sterile, but not turned up to 11 either.

Dante B

I’ll leave trans people alone when they leave society alone, jaffe. Good talk kthnxbye

Brandon V

It’s all about practice and not giving up when faced with a failure. Uncomfortable is exactly the correct term for it, but just like asking a woman out for a date and being rejected. You can either quit and be unhappy but comfortable or you can pull yourself up by the bootstraps and try again. I’m sorry Jaffe but those are excuses and you medicate, which I have done in the past and this year i am pulling myself out of self medicating my pain away as we speak, to run and hide from the problems. You might as well be curled up on your floor because being based out on your drug of choice is essentially the same thing. Take it one day at a time and set achievable goals and even if you fail, don’t give up because tomorrow is a new day and you can be proud that you continue to try to be the person you want to be.

Michael Thew

Hi Colin, thank you for having these types of difficult conversations. I used to be on 100mg of Zoloft and I quit it cold turkey (which I would not recommend to anyone). I experienced brain zaps where I’d feel electrical zaps when I moved my head or eyes. After I got over the side effects of withdrawal from the drug, I was able to feel things again. While I was on the drug, I called it like being a zombie. Things bad and good could happen and I just wouldn’t care. I was totally apathetic to everything. Now I can experience joy and sadness, but I still have a real problem with ambition and expressing my emotions through words and feelings.

king_ryan_james

Ive said it before and I’ll say it again. You guys really do get me through the days in the warehouse. Whenever I’m stressed out I can wind down with one of the shows on lsm. All I got is love for everyone here.

Simon Freeman

I feel and appreciate your prospective as well Jaffe, it’s extremely unique to the person and another layer that can add even more complexity to the puzzle because it’s so hard to be your own advocate when you’re riddled with anxiety. Im just speaking to embracing the unknown and building that acceptance and patience. If it’s possible that the solution is in an unknown space (him getting off medication), it’s going to feel uncomfortable and I feel that’s the start. True change is uncomfortable right?

Paul Bukoski

Fair enough I just don't think AI difficulty scaling should be implemented because certain people don't want to engage with the optional content tuned difficulty modes have been perfectly fine for years. Maybe an upcoming game that implements it really well could change people's minds though 🤷

Walker Simmons

I agree and disagree 100%. If you've been there you know that everyone's mental health is very different. For some people, the pills are not good for the long haul. For others it is the only way to get a long haul because life without them- because of the specific make up of your brain- becomes unbearable. The only answer- IMO- to a person's mental health issues is to be compassionate of the fact that- for now- we don't have the science to just 'fix it' and thus it's a lot of stumbling in the dark looking for the answer that fits you and it is not one size fits all.

David Jaffe

It's not that I can NOT beat it. I have the capacity to beat it. But I don't have the desire to put up with that sort of challenge.

David Jaffe

For Colin: Getting off the medication and feeling the anxiety is exactly what your mind needs to heal. Acceptance and patience will carry you beyond…be good to yourself and let the ups and down flow. It’s worth it I’ve been there. The healing will feel foreign just like the emotions…it’s like learning to walk again. It’s supposed to be uncomfortable

Paul Bukoski

As the guy that works on cars every Monday through Friday, the content is much appreciated

Zack

Really interested in how the story develops. Rolled my eyes so hard at “$400M price tag DEBUNKED” and it’s basically two guys on Twitter saying “nuh uh, that sounds crazy”. Wow, such a debunking.

Alan Wake 2 - Alan WOKE

The Bloodborne speculation is fun, but for me, I’m nearly certain that it will be a PS6 launch title particularly because Miyazaki himself earlier this year mentioned hardware being part of the appeal of a remake. Demon souls took 2 generations. Bloodborne will be the same and guarantee the console sells

Steve

It should start like Jaffe pitched, but the person that was dreaming was a killzone character and it turns back into a FPS killzone game after he calls himself a sally for dreaming up some fairy tale

Michael Thew

Its a shame that ps3 port was so dogshit! Kinda annoying how Colin greatly diminishes everything that he isn’t currently into as slop, but I certainly can’t blame him for the bad first impression on the series since that is the version he played and not the GOAT quality RPG that Origins actually is on PC. Right, can we just wait and see?

Noah Friscopp

Couldn’t agree more mate, it’s getting a little tiring to have Colin talking so negatve about The Veilguard when he clearly knows nothing about the series so he wouldn’t know. Same can be said to many who are clearly not into Dragon Age but will spam hate on a game that’s not even out yet.

Breno Bezerra Bluhm

Seems to make a lot of sense!

Noah Friscopp

The discourse around Dragon Age is really irritating to me, I just simply want to know how many people up and arms have played even one game in the series. Look at the cast of Inquisition, a game that surely did not earn GOTY status even fans of it would admit that, but mega diverse! Both racially and in sexuality. If it came out now we would be hearing all the same “DEI DEI DEI!” mania. Like Jaffe said there has to be a large swath of people that are too young to have the context. As we see even with social and political issues, bad actors incentivized to stir outrage have muddied genuine discussion to such a degree that using social media at all feels like wading through sewage regardless of political persuasion. In the first three games, we couldn’t even edit our character’s bodies at all. There are some (hilariously) abhorrent looking custom characters out there spawned from the previews, but jesus christ so many look amazing! Plenty of room for criticism don’t get me wrong most of the Qunari do look wacky, and of course I wish it was more overtly dark fantasy like Origins, but the vapid anti-woke outcry is quickly becoming both obvious and obnoxious puppetry en-masse.

Noah Friscopp

I refuse to believe that s grown man can't beat Astro bot when a lot of kids were beating crash bandicoot which is a much harder game. I think It comes down to attention span and willing to engage with the game rather than a design issue that needs ai adjustment. Or just too much weed slowing down your reaction time which I completely understand

Walker Simmons

I was on r/gamingleaks or whatever it's called over the weekend and it's mind-blowing how many people have an opinion about Colin that know nothing about him or his history in the industry. "Look at this random podcaster clout chasing for clicks" like....what? At least the older crowd that admitted to not liking Colin's politics were defending his credibility as a veteran in Playstation coverage.

Joe McPartlin

Meta as fuck. 😏

Max Stahl

I agree, Horizon is massively overrated and Aloy is a terrible character, especially in Forbidden West. She's incredibly unlikable. Also, once you solve the mystery in Zero Dawn of how the world ended up with robot dinosaurs roaming around, there's nothing left to keep you intrigued, because all the characters suck. I can only remember one character other than Aloy and that's Varl. And I only remember him because of his lame kill monger haircut and the fact he kept following Aloy around like a lost puppy and she was just trying to ditch him the whole time. It was cringe.

Mike Held

Bloodborne actually isn’t a Castlevania like world. That’s just what it looks like on the surface. But once you really scratch under that surface it actually turns into some real eldritch Lovecraftian shit

Bogey

Love hearing jaffe. Not sure why Gavin and games isnt on Apple Podcasts I miss it

Bob Spiers

So the implication from Jaffe is nothing is happening with Bloodborne because Elden Ring won GOTY over HFW and Herman Hulst got butthurt over it? If there is even .01% truth to that I’m getting a torch and pitchfork

Out_Of_Focus_Bigfoot

Another one on one with Keith Olbermann. Very nice

Brandon V

Jaffe is such a fascinating and special guest. Love that he continues to appear on LSM shows!

Queef Wellington

Not sure if it’s already been attempted but I’d love a sacred symbols + x Gabe Newell.

Tim Sierzega

UFO 50 has me excited to one day have a nice all-in-one Lilymo collection someday. I just know Colin and co. would put a lot of love and care into launcher, special features, etc. And an excuse to earn the trophies again wouldn’t hurt either. Maybe once the RPG releases?

Jared R

Caroline in the City LOL

Hugh Jalode

Strapping in

Moistescarjoe

Sometime you need to bait us with a moriarty x jaffe with dagan.

Caleb Peacock

Vengeance for Brad. “how we deal we deal?!!”

Alan Wake 2 - Alan WOKE

The Jaffe will continue until morale improves.

Alan Wake 2 - Alan WOKE

These Jaffe episodes never disappoint. It’s like hearing from a lovable, yet slightly unhinged relative over the holidays.

Fella

More Jaffe. I love it.

Rancid Raisins

Any political rants out of Jaffe this ep? I listen at work and sometimes cannot touch the phone for 30 minutes to an hour, don’t wanna be stuck in that hell

Bartevious

no

Ethan Barcelos

Typo and a spelling mistake in the podcast summary.

Josef Barker

Does the internet even have enough bandwidth to support such a crossover?

Jordan campos

Check Colin’s Twitter, he’s coming back next week :)

Adam Martinez

Love when Jaffe is on. Instant watch

Adam Martinez

I remember the excitement I felt the first time Colin did a long-form interview with David Jaffe. That excitement has never faded, and to this very second, whenever I see these two posting content together, I genuinely get a tingle in my bones. Please keep this train going!

Jordan campos

That would be amazing.

Adam Martinez

Really missing Dagan. Hope he's doing ok

StewDog

Hey, Jaffe. Did Chris ever invite you onto the Snark Tank? I’ve been giddy since he said he was gonna get ahold of you.

Alan Wake 2 - Alan WOKE

Good, more Jaffe!

Jordan

> Joining me today is storied game designer David Jaffe for an intimate (no, not like that) The love you share is a beautiful and special spectacle. Never be ashamed.

AngelOfCake

Can we please ease up on Jaffe he is on way too much?

Casey Cieslikowski

Jaffe rules!

Alan Wake 2 - Alan WOKE