I find it funny how much Jeff hates Kaiden since most of the comments Jeff makes about everyone else being a jerk is what Kaiden says when you bring him around with you.
Alex, Brad, Vinny,* I'm excited for you three to hopefully find happier less-stressful jobs. I'll miss you lots, but I'm thankful for the many years you've been here. Rest well, you deserve it.
I look forward to seeing what Jeff G, Jeff B, Jason, Jan and (J)Rorie cook-up in the future. Long live Jiant Bomb... ahem, Giant Bomb!
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* Please read in the cadence of how Kingdom Hearts characters' say "Sora, Donald, Goofy".
That Pokemon TCG story at the start was so depressing. I've been collecting Pokemon cards since they came out (with a few breaks here and there when I'd collect another card-game). At least once a year I go through my carefully organised binders to see the evolution of the art.
I've stopped collecting in the last few years though due to how the Pokemon company has been adding a greater array of rarities which make collecting extremely difficult now. There's often at least 3 versions of every full-art card that comes out now, and it's too expensive to individually buy them all. The extremely low pull-rates on the highest rarities also mean pulling boosters often means forgoing the ability to see entire unique art-styles.
Usually, during the lulls of enjoyment I have for the Pokemon TCG, I can instead collect something else (e.g. Fire Emblem Cipher TCG, Final Fantasy TCG, Yu-Gi-Oh) but the sudden spike in scalpers and those hoping to land the next rare card have made collecting any card-game expensive (even when everyone who usually collects those TCGs knows their actual value should be much lower).
So for the first time since before I was even in school, I'm not collecting any cards whatsoever. I feel like I've lost a hobby I loved while others are slowly getting in debt on items they don't even want.
While I'm enjoying this series, It is frustrating how many times they ask questions that were explained in the previous cutscene that they talked over. I think it's fine to goof around and finish conversations you've already started, but can you try not to start complete new tangents mid-way through what's obviously an important cut-scene?
Surprisingly, despite Vinny being the one that doesn't know which scenes are important, it's often Jan who distracts during them. 26:45 is a glaring example of what I mean, you both pause and start listening to the scene (so you should realise it's going to answer some of your questions), then Jan starts talking about paranormal TV shows.
I honestly don't want this to seem too negative because I am enjoying this and I'm glad you're both dipping into this series, but I am sometimes finding it hard to follow either the game cutscenes or your conversations.
I'm enjoying this series, though I would prefer them to either skip through to kep moments through videos or stay with one game for a while - seeing the beginnings of a bunch of them with no pay-off is quite jarring.
I love Roxas and it was lovely to see this intro again. I cannot believe they stopped just before the climax of Roxas' story: hopefully they at least get to see the end of Roxas' summer vacation.
Side-Note: Jan's memories of the Kingdom Hearts series is surprisingly awful. The majority of his answers to Vinny's questions (or contextual explanations) aren't even that close to what's going on. I know he's trying his best though.
@janman KH1 came out the year before before Drakengard 1, and the first Nier came out 5 years after KH2. It's actually the opposite way around to what you think - Yoko Taro is actively parodying JRPG's of the era so it's the Nier franchise that copies from Kingdom Hearts (and lots of other gaming/anime franchises) in order to comment on them.
Why would Jeff need two separate browser programs open? What could possibly require that and not two different Firefox windows?
He must need two seperate logins with the same service at the same time. A single set of cookies is shared with all tabs and windows of any browser at a given time. No matter how many seperate windows you use, the moment you send a request to a server that you've already set a login-link with using cookies, it will instantly recognise that login. You can get around this with private/incognito windows but than you cause a huge hassle of having to manage functionality problems. It's significantly easier to just have two browsers.
I don't get it. Is this a new Nier game or is it an old one same everything just brought to new systems with a paint job. I have neir automata...how do these games relate. Can i finish neir without playing this game and understand the intricacies of the story. Hope someone can help.
Here's a recap of the Lineage of these games:
2003 PS2 game, Drakengard, features a semi-joke alternative ending where the final boss teleports themself and the protagonist (riding their blood-pact dragon) to 21st Century Tokyo. Eventually both die. This inadventantly brings magic to our world and causes the start of Nier.
2010 game, Nier, begins with a prologue in the aftermath of Drakengard's joke ending which has brought an apocalypse to Earth. The main plot then skipping over a thousand years. Nier also features multiple endings one of which is held as canon for Nier Automata. Emil, Devola and Poppola are introduced in Nier. There were two versions of Nier in Japan: Nier Replicant (Japan-only featuring a teenage boy trying to heal their sister) and Nier Gestalt (the version localised into English for international audiences featuring an adult man trying to heal their daughter). Despite featuring different protagonist relationships, both games are almost identical.
2017 game, Nier Automata, is set over 10,000 years after Nier Replicant/Gestalt (in the year 11945). Emil, Devola and Poppola return in Nier Automata although knowing them beforehand is not required to understand the story.
2021 game Nier Replicant ver.1.22474487139... is a rerelease of the 2010 game Nier Replicant with updated graphics, more voice acting and significantly changed combat. Since only the Dad-protagonist version was originally released, this is the first time most international audiences will play the teenage-boy (often thought to be the intended protagonist). FYI, 1.22474487139... is the first few digits of the square root of 1.5.
All of these games have self-contained main-plots but are connected on a wider lore-level. You can play them in any order and will likely enjoy seeing the connections for yourself. You may find whichever you play second to be less impactful though due to Nier Replicant and Nier Automata both sharing similar plot/mechanics tricks.
If anyone wants to a trip back, here's the link to the Quick Look Ryan and Brad did of the original Nier (Gestalt version - so Papa Nier) almost 11 years ago
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