PixlBit

As I am listening, I cannot believe that I forgot The witcher 2.  It's one of my favorite games, but it took me a while to finally play it.  I ought it day 1 on the 360 and booted it up.  I didn't even get through the tutorial section.   A couple years later I did not knLow what I wanted to play and booted it up again and everything clicked.

Great show guys. I missed the deadline for the last one but like Julian I am pretty good about knowing what I want. I had like 8+ game subscriptions so I was always on top of what's coming out. There's definitely some surprises but it's hard to think of any except Majoras Mask that fit the Stage Select theme of coming back to something and liking it.

Why did you never get to Resident Evil 5 Julian? I thought it was really good. Not 4 good but a good game to play. Especially if you got someone to coop with. I didn't play coop my first time and still really enjoyed it.

I was impressed with your first time take down of Blood Starved Beast. He kicked my ass for about 2 hours. It's entirely possible I made it harder on myself. I hoard all those items that could make it easier or stick to my typical combat strategy which doesn't work for everything (though I make it work). Souls games are just like that though. Many claimed Rom gave them a damn hard time but I beat him 2nd try and didn't break a sweat.

Borderlands 2 is exactly as you guys described. It's solid but one of those experiences I completely blanked on and won't be going back to again. I played both solo so that's probably the main reason I don't have any real sentiment for the series. Recently I've met some friends at work who actually game so we've been playing a lot together. This has opened up many great times I may have passed on like Monster Hunter World. So the another one may be a totally different experience.

Julian, I'd love to hear some Marvel talk when Avengers is released. I like to hear MCU rank talk. Hoping you throw that into Consumption Junction later. I also wasn't aware you dabbled into Independent comics. Heard your question about Paper Girls in Comics Conspiracy and wondered what other Indy comics you are in to. I only buy Indy at the moment. My favorites being Birthright, Wayward, and Low. I've been stacking up Monstress (the art is incredible!) but haven't started the series yet.


Stage Select: Game Sequels

3. Downhill Domination (PS2): A damn fun bike racing game that was a cross of SSX and Road Rash. I would love a new iteration of this. It's funny that this and Kinetica, another racing game I highly considered for this Stage Select, were both made by Sony's Santa Monica Studio. They need to get back into the quirky racing game scene again. What else is there to do after the PS4 God of War releases?

2. Phantasy Star Online 3: C.A.R.D. Revolution (GC):
I know this is technically part of a series but PSO3 was a Card game which was COMPLETELY different from any Phantasy Star game. I'd love a sequel to it since it's so hard to find a game that scratches that itch for me. Culdcept Saga, maybe? Unfortunately, I heard some where that it's highly overrated...

1. Binary Domain (XB360): This game was great and I feel it could have been excellent if it had a little more push. Story was very interesting and the gameplay was solid to good. They tried some interesting concepts that could have been fleshed out much better in a sequel. A real hidden gem of last generation in my opinion.


Pak-Watch: Metal Gear Solid 2
I feel this game is one of those that I missed the boat on. I played it shortly after it released at a friends but it didn't grab me. Played again years later but didn't enjoy it. I hadn't played MGS1 either though. It wasn't until MGS4 that I grew an appreciation for the series.  

The fact that RE 5 was co-op turned me off. I am one of those people that searches in nooks and crannies and reads files, and I can't do that when someone else is there. And it being a pseudo-horror game (because let's face it, RE hasn't been a horror series since the first game) means that having someone voice chatting with me would suck any tension right out.

Comics wise, I am currently not reading any super hero books, but that is about to change with some of the new Marvel creative teams. I'm still LOVING the new Archie books, but sadly Jughead and Josie and the Pussycats ended, so it's just the main Archie book right now. I'm also way into Rat Queens, but it is a very sporadic book. I also read Sex Criminals, Saga, and Sunstone in trade format. Sunstone is my favorite of those books, but if you don't like the idea of lesbian BDSM related content you may want to give it a pass. 

I so badly want an Eternal Darkness sequel and the failure of that Kickstarter depresses me. 

I don't necessarily want a direct sequel to Ghost Trick, but would love a game with those mechanics set in that universe.

I would love a new Shovel Knight Treasure Trove as well. I guess you can count the Kickstarter-promised spinoff games as "sequels," but I still want more Shovel Knight ... Not including Plague Knight mechanics (Spectre Knight is the most fun for me). 

As for MGS2, I probably have more vivid memories of that game than MGS or Twin Snakes. A big part of that was being old enough to see all the hype for it. I still love that opening theme and really wish the rights to it weren't in question. It would be the track to use for a trailer were MGS ever made into a movie.

As for the actual game, I played through it on normal and really wasn't that stealthy. There was a lot of barreling into rooms and shooting everything then hiding in a locker patiently after enough enemies and time went by. 

I was never a superfan of Snake, so Raiden didn't bother me. I played for the conspiratorial story moreso than the characters. Having said that, I do remember the bosses, including Fat Samurai Rollerblade Man, Underwater Vampire, and Rooftop Fourarms. Great game. 

What is the deal with the MGS theme? This is news to me.

Something something Gregson Williams versus the Russians. I'm honestly not well-versed in the dispute, but it appears to have been a thing. Having not played MGS past 2, I can't necessarily confirm tough.

I'd love to get a sequel to Astro Boy: Omega Factor from the GBA, which was a fantasic action game from Treasure (really, anything from Treasure would be great these days). Another great one-and-done GBA game was Drill Drozer from Game Freak. Such a fun, unigue game from the folks that normally just pump out Pokémon. I wish they got to do original games more often. I would also love a proper sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Four Sword Adventures. Not a lot of people were able get enough people and Game Boys and link cables together to play that game properly but I've been through that game twice and it is such an awesome multiplayer experience. TriForce Heroes was fun but it played very differently (much more puzzle oriented). Gimme the action focus of Four Swords.

As for MGS2...never played it. The Twin Snakes is my only experience with the series, even though between collections and PS+ I actually have the entire main series now, and I intend to play it. Just need the time...

stage select:

I'm going to say Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Cons[iracy. This was a pretty cool game that had a lot of fun ideas. I think it could have done some cool stuff maybe if given a few sequels. I had a good time using my mind force to suspend guys in the air and shoot them, and then literally blow enemy's minds to refill powers. It was good fun with ragdoll physics. I can't remember if the story was any good or not, (Probably not) and I do remember the protangaist looking the same as every other protaganist of that time, but I swear there was something here. I doubt we will ever know though... Oh well.

Pak Watch

If anyone ever questions Raiden, you ask that person, "Do you think Solid Snake, a pack a day smoker, could do no handed cartwheels and still manage to keep his junk covered?... DO YOU!?" Sure he may have been a little whiny, but hey... I didn't see his penis... Even though I tried to... ANYWAYS, Metal Gear Solid 2 was awesome. It has one of my favorite parts in all of gaming where... Raiden is naked and the codec WILL NOT STOP RINGING! I mean we've all been there right? ...Now if you'll excuse me I need to google some risque Chun-Li fan art to try and forget naked Raiden. Wish me luck.

Episode comment!

Sorry to upset you Julian with my take on Saints Row. Angelo nailed exactly what happened. I basically was expecting a thing and when it wasn't that thing it really threw me for a loop. Then when I went back and knew what I was getting, it was a lot better. I didn't really preview games at that time, and it was so unexpected that it just threw me off to the point of being angry about it... I'm weird like that. Love that game now though. Anyways, good episode as always. Keep up the good work. I'm happy we've finally gotten to a game on pak watch I know a lot about. Can't wait to hear all about Kojima shenangians. Keep up the good work fellers!

Stage Select:

This was a tougher category than I thought it would be. A lot of my favorite games did get sequels. Until last year, my top pick for this category would have been Ni no Kuni, as an example. A lot of the games I would pick would be games that I felt never got a "proper" sequel.

1. Rogue Galaxy

This would probably be my favorite one-off game I can think of, and it's from the same company that made Ni no Kuni, no less. It's a shame this game never took off. As a space-faring RPG, I honestly enjoyed this game a lot more than Mass Effect.

2. Okami

This is one of those games that I felt never got a "proper" sequel. The DS follow-up didn't do justice to the scope and grandeur of the PS2 game, which sits in my top 20 list of all time favorite games and is my favorite Zelda-style game that isn't a Zelda game. Given that Okami didn't sell well, we were probably lucky to even get a DS sequel, but this situation illustrated a lot of the frustration I felt with the late 2000s in gaming. A lot of sequels to great console games ended up on DS and PSP instead of consoles due to economic issues, and were hamstrung by the constraints of those platforms, not only in graphics, but in terms of gameplay structure. Hopefully the Switch will mean the end of stripped down console-to-handheld sequels.

3. Eternal Sonata

This was a charming little RPG for the 360 and PS3 (I owned the PS3 version) that was based very loosely on the life of Frederic Chopin. It would have been interesting to explore this theme in other games.

Pak Watch:

I skipped MGS2 on its first go-round on the PS2. My sights were set on games like Final Fantasy X and Devil May Cry. I did play it some as part of the MGS HD Collection on PS3, but since I wasn't that invested in the series and had already read a few spoilers, the plot twists just weren't as shocking to me as they would have been if I had been a fan back in 2001. I never finished it.

Yeah I hear you on Okami. I was tempted to put it in my list also since I also feel the DS counterpart shouldn't really count but I decided to go with 3 games that didn't actually have a sequel. Also tried to avoid if it has a prequel (which is why Chrono Cross isn't on here). PSO3 from my list is only there since the gameplay might as well have made it a spin off. 

Stage Select

A game that I always enjoyed that never got a sequel was The Legend of Dragoon. It was Sony’s attempt to make a big scale RPG like Final Fantasy VII. Although not as polished as FF7, it was still very good. The battle system was different in that you timed button presses for your attacks. Combat was even more fun once you gained the ability to transform into the dragoon form, it was it was awesome pulling off your super moves. The story of Dart was interesting the entire way through from his quest to kill the black monster, meeting who would become your party members, unexpected deaths and twists along the way. I always heard rumors that Sony was making a sequel that was cancelled.

Pak-Watch: Metal Gear Solid 2

First, the E3 2000 trailer that was 9 minutes of Snake in beautiful graphics taking out Russian soldiers, shootouts taking out glass and other surroundings and that awesome music. This led to me may or may not buying Zone of the Enders primarily for the MGS2 demo. I did enjoyed Zone of the Enders but probably played the demo of MGS2 for easily 50+ hours. My brother and I were ultra hyped for this game, probably the most hyped I’ve ever been for a video game in my life (only Final Fantasy X comes remotely close). The end of the demo where Revolver Ocelot grabs his arm and “becomes” Liquid Snake practically had me screaming.

This was the first video game I ever preordered and when the game came out my brother and I each got our own copies of the game and played simultaneously, checking in with each other throughout breaks. After the tanker level, the twist of playing as Raiden for the remainder of the game was a bummer at first, but I eventually got over it. The bosses were fun and different from the original, the setting and story was intriguing and the end had you questioning everything about what you just saw. Although the original MGS is my favorite in the series (and my favorite game of all time), I liked the gameplay more in MGS2 and the story more in MGS. MGS2 is just about as close to perfect as it gets in my opinion, still a blast to play. I own just about every version of this game ever released: MGS2 for PS2, MGS2: Substance for Xbox, MGS: Substance for PS2, The Document of MGS2, Metal Gear Solid HD Collection for PS3 and Metal Gear Solid HD Collection for Vita.

Thank you for your tips on Mass Effect. If I remember correctly it was the vehicle sections of the game that frustrated me to no end too. I do like that game I just couldn’t pass a section of it and gave up.