Board 8 > The Show EP5 - An All-Timer In RE2/Bloodborne, Plus Second Chance Bracket w/ KP!

(+) Yeah! (+)

I have nothing new or original to say about the high quality of this episode of The Show, so I'll just move on to my thoughts from the last ~hour:

• My perspective on the incoming Division 2 finals is totally different. First off, those rallies can only go so far to excuse Mass Effect 2's result against Horizon, considering they only reduced its percent by 2 points from the 57 it was otherwise trending towards. Also again, its win here wasn't necessarily a sitewide upset depending on your perspective; yes, fewer than half of all brackets called it correctly, but that's far from a guarantee that any other game in its eightpack had more sitewide respect.
• It doesn't help Horizon's case that 55% on Borderlands 2 (which ME2 extrapolation suggests has fallen from 2015) is not exactly a convincing result, at least in retrospect. It certainly doesn't seem to suggest it would comfortably beat the likes of Doom and FE: Awakening, which is necessary for ME2 to look better than RE2. All the way back in the first round, I contended that whatever escaped from Division 2's bottom half would beat ME2, and if anything, I'm only feeling more confident about that claim now.
• I have to agree with KP that GTAV's loss to P4G was yet another GTA choke, mainly because it was a lower percent than RDR even though GTAV was clearly stronger in 2015 and had plenty of reason to benefit from GotD respect voting on top of that - all of which KP already pointed out, of course. Then again, it's GTA, so I'm kicking myself for not sticking with my first impressions in Division 4, which applied the Yoblazer test to P4G. That being said, I'm not sure about Yo's claim that the Persona fanbase wouldn't let P4G lose in a close match against GTAV, considering the equally devoted Hollow Knight fanbase was sure content to let their darling lose in a close match against FFXV of all things.
• I'm astonished that none of you gave Breath of the Wild your star award this time; I'd sooner see it meriting such a title unanimously after such an earthshaking result against FFXV. I do agree with Yo's choice of Skyrim as turd of the week covered, though the past few days' results have since left it with a path towards redemption this round - should it choose to take it, of course.

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i think it should be noted that ME2 started doing WORSE immediately after the Bloodborne rally was taken down

i'm not sure that rally was helping Horizon at all. that might just be ME2's real strength

we'll see later but i believe RE2 will beat ME2 easily. it'll be close but ME2 will never be in a position to challenge. something like 52-48.

I think NG said he wanted to give his star to botw but since he already did that last week he wanted to do something different.

At this point we may as well give a star emeritus or something to Link and leave it at that.

But I agree BotW keeps surpassing expectations no matter how much we rise them. Been a while since I saw any entrant be that dominating. I suppose Link last contest would have behaved like this if he was in the bracket from the first round.

That's the end of the round- sure hope our #1 fan has had a chance to listen so he knows just how to approach this weeklong break!

As for everyone else... it's Sweet Sixteen Gaming Time, baby! Let's hear thoughts on your playthroughs.


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I just started playing MGSV, otherwise I would join in on the Sweet Sixteen gaming fun! It made the round of 32, at least!

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I'm in the middle of a Persona 4 Golden replay, but I'm not playing it for the first time, so it doesn't really count for the purposes of this challenge!

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I was planning on giving The Witcher another try, but a friend just bought me Monster Hunter World, so I guess I'll be playing a R3 loser instead.

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I'm not participating in this challenge because I started playing FF7 for the first time right before it! But I have a copy of Witcher 3 that's been sitting in my house for like two years so maybe I'll hit that up afterwards, even though I'm pretty sure I won't like it.

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Leonhart4 posted...

I'm in the middle of a Persona 4 Golden replay, but I'm not playing it for the first time, so it doesn't really count for the purposes of this challenge!

Oh. Well in that case, I don't know why I bothered to write all those words about the final 16 challenge when I don't even have any valid options myself.

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You've played all sixteen?

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azuarc posted...

You've played all sixteen?

No, I only own 3 of the 16, all of which I've at least played for some length of time.

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Update from TPLink on most likely winners:

3 remaining permutations* for The Show!

*out of the most likely results


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Well, it's nice to have three nice permutations to root for as an invited guest of The Show, plus hylianknight is the one my bracket follows, so I could be looking at prize money if it goes hylianknight's way.

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Nick wins when Smash wins

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_SecretSquirrel posted...

Well, it's nice to have three nice permutations to root for as an invited guest of The Show, plus hylianknight is the one my bracket follows, so I could be looking at prize money if it goes hylianknight's way.

Lets hope!

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So, I feel like this episode's guide to the 2nd chance bracket was insufficient, since we didn't know it would be an oracle challenge.

Maybe there should be an additional Show episode to cover that?

ZeldaTPLink posted...

So, I feel like this episode's guide to the 2nd chance bracket was insufficient, since we didn't know it would be an oracle challenge.

Maybe there should be an additional Show episode to cover that?

I'm sure there will be an episode during the break!
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ZeldaTPLink posted...

So, I feel like this episode's guide to the 2nd chance bracket was insufficient, since we didn't know it would be an oracle challenge.

Maybe there should be an additional Show episode to cover that?

Wait, what? Really? Interesting...I was going to say, for such an abbreviated bracket, I can't imagine it would be too hard to pick normally.

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ZeldaTPLink posted...

So, I feel like this episode's guide to the 2nd chance bracket was insufficient, since we didn't know it would be an oracle challenge.

Maybe there should be an additional Show episode to cover that?

Emergency episode of The Show required!

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Yes, I do believe a Show episode would be really useful here to help me narrow down my percentages.

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I am the Oracle expert we all need.

Nick gives advice. Just do the opposite!

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@Ngamer64 set up the emergency The Show oracle episode!

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What the heck, now I LOVE the Second Chance!

Okay, we'll do a mid-break episode to cover these Oracle picks.


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I'm all for the off-week podcast to breakdown the Oracle.

None of the Sweet 16 games are games I can try. They're either on Switch, or I've already played them.

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Mass Effect 2 playthrough begins. Few things of note: Im playing the Steam version because its the one I have access to. Ive never played a Mass Effect game before, but through osmosis I am aware of various elements of the series. However I dont know any specific plot details about this game other than it ends with a suicide mission that probably does not live up to its name because Mass Effect 3 exists. I dont have an EA Online account and the service is probably defunct anyway, so I wont be using any DLC. Ive chosen a male character and normal difficulty.

The game opens with a cutscene throwing out a lot of terms that ME1 players should probably be familiar with, but are a little overwhelming to someone new. However thanks to osmosis and the blackscreen crawl right after it, I get the gist of whats going on. The reapers, I am aware, are the real bad guys of the series, but Shepard is going after the geth on a wild-goose chase. Hes been put up to this by the council, among which theres some kind of political turmoil going on that I dont fully understand. (Apparently an all-human council is a bad thing, which, speak for yourselves, aliens.) The Illusive Man is some kind of mafia don-esque figure that needs Shepard alive to further his own mysterious agenda. Miranda seems to be his right hand.

Now it moves to the Normandy, Shepards ship, searching for geth. It focuses on three characters: Pressly, Joker, and a nameless ensign. No points for guessing which one immediately dies when the Normandy is fired upon by an unknown (non-geth, as Joker claims) ship. As the Normandy is evacuated, some character by the name of Ashley tells Shepard that Joker is still in the cockpit. This conversation involves one of the seriess more infamous fumbles: so-called moral choices that boil down to be polite or yell. Im sure there are more meaningful choices later on, so Ill mention whenever I make a choice that actually feels important. Otherwise, just assume Im being polite, because why not be polite?

I get to the cockpit and easily convince Joker to abandon ship. However, Shepard is blown out into space. Cue title. Cut to Shepards internal organs being reconstructed, with a voiceover from Miranda saying the Lazarus Project is good to go. Turns out the Lazarus Project is character customization. I always prefer to just pick defaults for character customization, but for completeness sake I take a look at my options. Infiltrator sounds appealing, but Im still playing it safe and picking Soldier. (Theres always playthrough #2.) Oddly, Spacer is first on the list even though Earthborn is the default. Im guessing Sole Survivor equates to neutral, War Hero to polite, and Ruthless to yell. Ill choose Sole Survivor just to keep my options open.

I wake up, but am immediately sedated back to sleep. Then I wake up again, but now the facility Im in is under attack. Miranda over the PA tells me to get a pistol. Before that, I open the menu to make sure I dont miss anything important. The Squad submenu informs me that I am a level 1 Soldier with the powers of Adrenaline Rush (bullet time), Disruptor Ammo (kills shields and robots), and Combat Mastery (stat buffs). The Codex submenu buffets me with a massive amount of lore that I am not going to read all at once right now. Ill try to remember to dip into its subjects as it becomes relevant. For now Ill just note that Turians look cool and Elcor look cute.

I get a pistol and am immediately introduced to taking cover. Funnily, I think this game may be the first third-person cover-based shooter Ive ever played. (I have played a Call of Duty or two, but never a shooter that has me press a button to snap into and out of cover.) I know this style of gameplay has been derided over the years, but Ill keep an open mind. I engage a hacked mech that says excuse me as it fires at me. I like that. I get a grenade launcher, and Miranda cuts out on me. I hack a safe, which involves a memory matching minigame, for some credits, and listen to some audio logs about the Lazarus Project by Miranda and a disgruntled employee named Wilson. It turns out the HUD highlights interactable objects from any distance away as long as theyre directly in my line of sight. This is convenient, except for one thing: I try to find a public computer that I can access in the room, only to realize its on the other side of a wall! Going to it, I see some no-name crew member get shot up by a large gunner mech. The computer has another log from Wilson with some unkind words about Miranda.

I go through the door and meet Jacob Taylor, who has two names so you know hes important. I put politeness aside to grill him for exposition. He tells me that Ive been presumed dead for 2 years, but refuses to answer if any of my crew survived in favor of demonstrating his telekinetic powers. As the codex tells me, telekinesis is one of three branches of biotics along with freeze powers and shred powers. Also, apparently becoming a biotic means being exposed to a carcinogenic element as a fetus. I command Jacob to Pull the enemies. This involves me pointing at an enemy and selecting the Pull command form a menu, which as of now seems less efficient than just shooting them. Once thats done, I get back to exposition. Turns out Pressly died. (Was he important in Mass Effect 1?) Everyone else important survived, but after 2 years theyve moved on to other things. Jacob thinks the mechs were hacked by someone with security access. Miranda is the top ranked officer on the station, and Jacob is her number 2, but he hasnt seen much action. No mention of the Illusive Man. The Lazarus Project was specifically meant to bring Shepard back from the dead. Why? Because hes the main character, of course.

We get a call from Wilson, the chief medical tech, and set out for the service tunnels. We find Wilson injured, and use Medi-Gel to revive him by pointing at him. Jacob suspects him of hacking the mechs, but I say it doesnt matter while were getting shot at. Wilson overloads (explodes) the crates to clear a path. Jacob tells me the Lazarus Project was funded by Cerberus. Who? The so-called Alliance doesnt like them because of their radical pro-human stance. Doesnt sound so bad to me. The Illusive Man gets namedropped hed better answer my questions. All of them! Looking in the codex, turns out Cerberus is basically a terrorist group that wants to kill the aliens before they kill us. Okay, theyre bad, I get it. I hack a datapad, which involves a spot the difference minigame, for some more credits. We fight some more mechs. Turns out the biotic powers are basically a one-hit kill that dont require aiming for hitboxes, and overload even has a small AoE. Okay, theyre useful, I get it.
[char limit]

Wilson opens a door and immediately gets shot by Miranda, who accuses him of being the traitor. Taking him alive was too risky she says. Sure. Everyone else on this station is expendable, because Im the main character. On the shuttle, I get asked some more questions about my background. Kaidan Alenko died in Mass Effect 1. Sucks to be him. Human colonies have been mysteriously disappearing, and the Illusive Man suspects reaper agents. He thinks Im a symbol for standing up for humanity and killing a reaper (a big deal.) He sends me off to a vanished colony to look for clues. I level up and put points into Combat Mastery, which seems generally useful. Im not sure what to make of the Paragon and Renegade meters. Do I really have to go full-on one or the other to get the bonuses? Probably.

Im giving Jacob a chance, he seems like a decent sort. He served in the Alliance, but defected to Cerberus when he got sick of all the red tape. Fair enough, but is he onboard with all the terrorism? I suddenly get a mission complete screen, with a summary from the Illusive Mans perspective. Hes destroyed the facility and is searching for other traitors, but still counts the return of Shepard as a success.

Whew, long intro. More to come soon!

Playing ME2 without ME1 choices should be interesting because the default choices the game saddles you with are generally the worst ones!

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Man just reading you describe ME2 makes me crave that ME trilogy rerelease. But I just started The Witcher 3 for the first time and so far its great.

Leonhart4 posted...

Playing ME2 without ME1 choices should be interesting because the default choices the game saddles you with are generally the worst ones!

I bought the DLC that lets you pick your ME1 choices, I really dig it even though it doesn't cover everything

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ZenOfThunder posted...

I bought the DLC that lets you pick your ME1 choices, I really dig it even though it doesn't cover everything

Yeah, that came with the PS3 version by default since the original wasn't available on PS3 at the time. It covers the major choices that you would care the most about, particularly having Wrex alive.

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Great posts Gall, would love to see some more New Game Impressions from others! (yo can save his for the live episode though.)


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Are we doing live reviews? I can come on and shill for Persona 4 Golden and Persona 5!

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Ngamer64 posted...

Okay, we'll do a mid-break episode to cover these Oracle picks.

Gall posted...

Mass Effect 2 playthrough begins.

https://media.giphy.com/media/3o7TKra9XDoRiC6dQ4/giphy.gif

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A little more for today:

Miranda and Jacob have been placed under my command. Ill be looking to rein in Mirandas whole shooting suspects without due process thing. We touch down on the desolate colony and I get a new assortment of weapons. Theres no corpses or signs of a struggle, but there are security mechs, including doglike ones that run at me. The camera seems a little too zoomed in for my liking, but Ill adjust. We encounter a group of quarians, including one named Tali, who Shepard remembers but I dont. Theyre looking for one of their own, Veetor, whos apparently gone delirious and programmed the mechs to attack. They agree to flank the mechs while we head straight through the front, sounds perfect. The codex tells me that the quarians are the ones who created the geth. Considering how unpopular the geth are nowadays, the quarians are probably having to deal with some hostility themselves. Especially because the galaxy didnt like them anyway because of the quarians coming to take our jobs! Some people never change.

Tali radios in to say that Prazza is trying to get to Veetor before we do. Presumably he thinks were going to take him away to a secret Cerberus torture facility, which we may well have done if Shepard werent in command. Looks like Veetor can take care of himself though, as he kills the quarian squad with a heavy mech. A miniboss ensues, which dies pretty quickly to overload and gunfire. This cover system and movement in general all feels a bit stiff to me still. Its not bad, but not the kind of gameplay I prefer. I research heavy weapons from the downed mech, but apparently I need a head scientist to make it.

Veetor is inside, and I perform a paragon action turning off all his computers. I sure wouldnt like it if someone turned off all my computers, but it makes him snap out of his paranoid trance and talk to us. The collectors were here, apparently at the behest of the reapers. For a bunch of giant monsters, the reapers have pretty good HR. Miranda wants Veetor to come with us, and Jacob, I note, agrees. Taking Veetors data seems like a much more practical idea than attempting to interrogate him in a secret torture facility, so I let Tali have him. Miranda takes it surprisingly well. Immediately after, the Illusive Man tells me that the quarians gave us the results from their own debriefing of Veetor, so there was literally no benefit to choosing renegade here. At least make it a little less obvious, game.

The Illusive Man exposits some more about the collectors, including their unknown homeworld and their interest in species with genetic mutations. Shepard expresses a desire to build a team, and the Illusive Man agrees to give him a list of names. I suspect this will be a major thrust of the game. Right now hes tasked me with finding Mordin Solus, a name I know but Shepard doesnt. He also gives me back Joker and the Normandy, which means Im basically back where I was at the beginning of the game sans Ashley and Pressly. I have to wonder what the point of this is from a narrative perspective (of course Im sure Im missing a lot of context by not playing Mass Effect 1.) Why was it necessary to cut Shepards ties from the Alliance? Will this game be focused on humanizing Cerberus and showing that theyre not as bad as their reputation makes them out to be? Or maybe Shepards status as a member of a terrorist group will lead to further dramatic tension, forcing alliances (lowercase a) to rapidly shift and re-form.

There are times when Renegade works more in your favor than Paragon. The game does a decent job of balancing that out.

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So can I still do renegade actions if I keep making paragon/neutral choices, or will I get locked out?

UltimaterializerX posted...

If you end up doing an emergency Show, I suggest Lefty as the guest. He's probably the best Oracle predictor in recent memory and would be a valuable resource for a Show related to the Second Chance bracket.

pfffffffffffffffffffffffffffft

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Gall posted...

So can I still do renegade actions if I keep making paragon/neutral choices, or will I get locked out?

Well, you can do the trigger prompts that appear on screen anytime regardless of your alignment. Some of the choices (namely, the ones highlighted blue or red) might not be available to you if you don't have enough Paragon or Renegade "points" though.

Generally speaking, you're better off committing to one or the other when it comes to your choices rather than trying to split between the two. ME3 does a better job with the Paragon/Renegade system because you pretty much can just choose whatever you want without getting locked out of stuff (except for a couple things).

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Oh okay, so dialogue choices get locked out but actions don't.

I can't get my hands on any of the sixteen remaining games in the next few days, but I thought I could at least honor the spirit of this challenge by playing something from the bracket, so I have started playing Celeste.

This is an insanely difficult game, so for the first time in a very long time, I decided to do what I used to do when I was baffled by a game: looked for help on this site! Unfortunately, GameFAQs is useless here! There is not a single FAQ or walkthrough for this game. Too bad! I was really hoping for that classic GameFAQs experience, complete with ASCII art and a disclaimer stating that the FAQ writer holds the copyright for the FAQ but not for the game or any of its characters. But more importantly, I was hoping to get help since I suck at this game!

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YouTube guides for Celeste will save your bacon and it takes barely any time to find what you need. Trust me.

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Thanks. I will take a look if I need to. I've actually managed to get quite a bit further since posting that, though I'm sure I eventually really will need help. Either way, I still miss that old-time FAQ experience!

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hylianknight3 posted...

Thanks. I will take a look if I need to. I've actually managed to get quite a bit further since posting that, though I'm sure I eventually really will need help. Either way, I still miss that old-time FAQ experience!

That's the thing about Celeste, though. It's always very difficult, but it's just easy enough for you to be able to beat every screen if you die a few dozen times or so. And the game is very forgiving of mistakes since it takes you to the same screen if you die. Also everything about the story and the way the mechanics are taught seems to follow a logical progression so you feel stimulated to keep trying. The learning curve of this game is fantastic.

There's a saying Celeste is "the hardest game that wants you to beat it".

I would agree that respawning on the same screen, as well as the sheer speed at which you respawn, makes the difficulty MUCH more agreeable!

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More Mass Effect 2, in which I get somewhat sidetracked:

Stepping aboard the new Normandy, Im greeted by EDI, an artificial intelligence. I note theres quite a bit of distrust of AIs in this universe, which is foolish. AIs are wonderful creations; its the aliens we shouldnt trust. Yeoman Kelly Chambers informs me Ive received an email from an admiral. I ask her about what she does on the ship, and at first she just claims to be a glorified secretary. Asking her again has her tell about her psychological duties as well, which could be helpful for the band of misfits were going to form. Shes onboard with Cerberuss goals for humanity, but she doesnt see that as conflicting with her love of other alien races. I dont press the issue.

The email, from Admiral Anderson, gives me the credit for helping out the council and invites me to share my side of the story, whatever the story is that theyve been telling for 2 years. A tempting offer, but looking in my journal I have 3 other dossiers in addition to Mordin: the krogan Dr. Okeer, believed to be in contact with the collectors, Archangel, a mercenary commander, and Jack, a powerful biotic currently on a turian prison ship. I have an idea of how I want to approach these missions, but first things first: Mordin.

The galaxy map lets me drag around a tiny Normandy to fly it through space. I head straight for Omega, an archetypal wretched hive for outlaws. In addition to Mordin, it seems Ill get a lead on Archangel here as well. On entering Omega, Im greeted by a friendly salarian named Fargut, who is immediately waved off by a curt (checks codex) batarian named Moklan. He advises me to present myself to Aria at Afterlife. Though Im not quite sure what this entails, I agree. The journal helpfully informs me that Aria is the asari ruler of Omega, and EDI chimes in to say that Afterlife may get me to Archangel. Ill head straight there.

Miranda has some unkind words to say about Omega, but I can hardly argue with them. An elcor is the bouncer for the club, and its just as cute in the flesh as Id hoped. I, of course, can go right in. Once Im in I immediately get in the face of a touchy batarian named Kylan. Attempting to defuse the situation, I pick the paragon dialogue option, which causes me to pull my gun on him. Thankfully, he and his squad respond by backing off.

In the bar area proper, I use my keen information-gatherer instincts to head for the bartender with the intent of asking him a few casual questions. I order some blue drink to get on his good side, drink it, and am presented with an identical prompt to either order more or leave. Not wanting to go on a binge just yet, I survey the bar for more options. A merc recruiter standing in the vicinity of a door claims to be busy, even though hes literally just standing there. The doors locked anyway.

Aria clearly has a flair for the dramatic herself, which works for me. She also happens to be a fan of Mordin, and tells me he can be found helping plague victims in the quarantine zone. Expectedly, shes not a fan of Archangel, and as it turns out the local mercenary groups Blue Suns, Eclipse, and Blood Pack - are trying to bump him off. He sounds like the priority, so I head to get myself recruited.

Turns out the merc groups are closing in on Archangels hideout, and they need me for cannon fodder. All three bosses have put aside their differences to take him down. Before I leave, I perform another paragon action, taking a prospective recruits pistol and breaking it. The recruiter is surprisingly unfazed.

Once I get to Archangels hideout, I get confirmation that yes, this is indeed a suicide mission. Not the suicide mission, a suicide mission. The mercenaries have an infiltration team that is planning to sneak up behind him, so it looks like Ill have to do something about them as well. Before storming the barricades, I look around for the brains of the operation, and pick up a datapad with a message from one of the bosses telling the others a plan to move in on Aria. This isnt a particularly surprising revelation.

One of the 2 lesser bosses, Jaroth, is talking strategy. He(?) seems pretty laidback about the plan to kill Archangel, which is all well and good when youre not on the frontline. He expresses that his primary motivation for running Eclipse on Omega is to avoid constraint from laws and regulations not so different from Cerberus, Jacob in particular. I hack a nearby mech to sabotage it, then head to the room where the Blood Pack is holed up. Their boss, Garm, fought Archangel to a standstill in single combat, but doesnt have much advice for me.

Cathka tells me that the infiltration team plans to either kill Archangel head-on, or blow him with explosives that they havent prepared yet. Neither sound like great options. I have the chance to sabotage Cathkas attempts to repair the gunship, but for some reason this is considered a renegade option, so I let it pass. Crossing the bridge is fairly uneventful, and once Im through it gets revealed that Archangel is Garrus, a major player from Mass Effect 1 if Im not mistaken. His plan is to hunker down and hold them off via the bridge. That seems like a fairly bad idea given the gunship, explosives, and digging team that they have going, but I have no option to tell him about any of that or otherwise raise objections. So hunker down we go.

After a few waves, Jaroth sends out the heavy mech, which takes care of itself. Jaroth follows suit shortly after. With little time to regroup, an explosion goes off downstairs. Garrus seems like he can take care of himself, so I head down to fend them off. Hopefully they wait to send the gunship until I get back. I successfully seal off the basement, but Garm and his men break in by Garrus. Garm wades in toward Garrus, allowing me to shoot him repeatedly in the back. Right on cue, the gunship shows up. I kill Jentha, which isnt a name I recognize. Tarak guns down Garrus, and I shoot the gunship intil it dies. Garrus still has signs of life, but we dont know whether hell be able to fight. Regardless, he makes Shepard feel better. All that and I didnt even look for Mordin yet!

Wow what an incredible start to the game, can't believe Nick didn't enjoy it!


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ME2 so good

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There were a few main things I didn't like about ME2, coming off ME1.
1) Ammunition.
2) Less character progression. Yeah, it was kinda silly in ME1, but at least I felt more like I was doing something.
3) The game is just one giant recruitment drive. There's, like, a total of 3 missions that aren't related to recruiting someone into your team.
4) Final boss was a bit wtf

Beyond that, yes, it's a great game.

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