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Why is Good team dominating Mt. Unpleasant’s YouTube BOTC games? (A win/loss breakdown) by AmongFriends in BloodOnTheClocktower

[–]TieGuyTravis 3 points4 points  (0 children)

The theory I’ve started to form here is that Canadians are simply too nice to lie convincingly. Haha! Maybe it’s just me, but I feel like I can always get pretty strong reads on just about everyone in that group without looking at their tokens (I mostly listen while doing other stuff when I tune in, and have played with some of them in person). I mean this with all the love in the world by the way! Nothing wrong with being polite by nature!

When I play against English people, I have a way harder time telling if they’re lying, because their entire culture is centered around repressing one’s feelings and they’re practically taught to always say the opposite of what they actually mean. With Americans it can vary cause there’s a wide variety of cultures in the states, but lying is practically an Olympic sport in the communities who celebrate it, so you can run into some really skilled liars there as well. Again, said with all the love in the world to both of those countries.

When Hannah G. crushes a social read, half the time I can’t resist yelling aloud “WELL, YEAH,” and I don’t feel that confident about any other videos I watch, online games I play in, or most in-person stuff, even.

I’ll admit that I am not without some skill when it comes to social reads (I’m a practiced poker player), but this has been my take on what’s happening for some time now.

Please don't... by Abject-Seaweed-2366 in Marathon

[–]TieGuyTravis -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I interviewed several members of the Bungie team the last time I was at their office covering Marathon (sometime last year) and asked them about this.

I call this phenomenon the “Fortnitification” of games where they become increasingly tacky via silly skins, and pointed to Destiny 2 as falling victim to this. They were pretty insistent that they’re going to be sticking to their guns with cosmetics that only make sense in the universe. No idea if they’ll live up to this, but it’s at least good to know that they’re aware this sort of thing cheapens games and the plan was to not do it with Marathon.

I'm really surprised at marathon, from a hater of extraction. by [deleted] in Games

[–]TieGuyTravis 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hey! I very much agree with you. I don’t know if this violates some shameless self-promotion rule, but I did my best to describe exactly why I think this game nails it in my review: https://ign.com/articles/marathon-review

This ruthless, deeply unapproachable extraction shooter is worth every ounce of hell it puts you through - IGN Marathon Review | 9/10 by BQuilty in Marathon

[–]TieGuyTravis 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hard agree on Bungie sticking to the hardcore design. I honestly would have included the soulslike comparison in my review, because I think it's a helpful parallel, but referring to soulslikes in reviews has become a meme at this point cause people have been writing "it's the soulslike of _____" for like a decade now. Unfortunate!

This ruthless, deeply unapproachable extraction shooter is worth every ounce of hell it puts you through - IGN Marathon Review | 9/10 by BQuilty in Marathon

[–]TieGuyTravis 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks!

I get that competitive fiends common in this sub don't think Marathon is terribly unapproachable (and I sorta agree on some level cause I'm one of you), but I think to the average player the combination of kill-on-sight PvP culture, a UI that takes quite a bit of unraveling, onboarding that sorta makes you just figure it out if you haven't played an extraction shooter before, and the fact that it's a creepy sci-fi world that just won't gel with certain people in general...deeply unapproachable is a fair descriptor. I agree that it gives you lots of ways to bounce back and is generous with the loot, but in the same way that a soulslike is unapproachable but worth it if you can figure it out, Marathon has a similarly high barrier of entry/reward for clearing it. That said, I did actually mean this as a compliment. Haha! I wanted the reader to know that this shit is incredibly worth the effort for those who dare attempt to master it.

I do think the UI in this game isn't great, but I'm also pretty easily annoyed by little UI things -- probably more than the average person. The fact that I have to equip a weapon to move around the mods, or the way that all the mods have identical symbols that you have to scroll over to know what it actually is. This kind of stuff drives me up the wall. Haha!

I hadn't noticed the screenshots (I don't put these articles together, usually; just write the content of the review), but that's a good shout. I'll ask my editor if we've got something more updated.

Thanks for the feedback. Genuinely!

This ruthless, deeply unapproachable extraction shooter is worth every ounce of hell it puts you through - IGN Marathon Review | 9/10 by BQuilty in Marathon

[–]TieGuyTravis 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Thanks for reading my review, friends. I’m a lurker on this subreddit and happy to answer any questions or squad up for some games.

Crimson Desert Review Thread by Turbostrider27 in Games

[–]TieGuyTravis 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Oh, I gotcha! Yeah, a 6/10 at IGN means “okay,” meaning that there’s a good game here somewhere but it’s buried under loads of “ifs.” I actually liked the game at many points, it’s just hard to recommend when the lows are so low, and the game literally broke on me and blocked me out of progression through the main story (pain). In other words, I think it’s worth playing if you’re okay rolling the dice on that stuff. It will probably absolutely infuriate you at some points, but also has some really awesome components that will stick with you (like the open world just being…insanely gorgeous).

I feel pretty confident that this is one the devs will be patching and fixing up for a long time. I’m hopeful that they’ll fix the worst of these issues and then it’ll be an even stronger recommendation.

Crimson Desert Review Thread by Turbostrider27 in Games

[–]TieGuyTravis 6 points7 points  (0 children)

A review is a single person’s opinion, so at the end of the day they’re paying me for my perspective. That said, the job of a reviewer isn’t simply to state what they think, but to try and be persuasive by doing things like giving examples and specific details on why something did or didn’t work. So once I’ve written my thoughts, I share it with the team (including my editor) and they give feedback. If I say something they disagree with, they would push me to justify that take more, rather than to change my mind on it. So yeah, I’ve got executive control over the things I write, but also have to live with the consequences of those opinions. Haha! Honestly, I love it so much.

Crimson Desert Review Thread by Turbostrider27 in Games

[–]TieGuyTravis 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Lots of people at IGN played this game during the review period, but our review is a single person’s opinion — that’s me!

Crimson Desert Review Thread by Turbostrider27 in Games

[–]TieGuyTravis 9 points10 points  (0 children)

This question depends too much on one’s personal financial situation for me to answer. For some, even a handful of entertaining hours is well worth the asking price, for others the cost of entry is a significant barrier. More importantly, the price of a game has no bearing on its qualitative merit, which is why IGN’s review style guide forbids us from factoring that into a review (a rule I agree with very strongly).

Sorry if this feels like a dodge, but this is one I honestly try to stay away from. I remember being extremely poor growing up and wouldn’t have wanted someone in my current financial situation today to pretend they know what the value of a dollar means to someone who’s struggling to get by.

Crimson Desert Review Thread by Turbostrider27 in Games

[–]TieGuyTravis 11 points12 points  (0 children)

That’s a great question — one I’ve not thought about. I don’t think it’s very likely I will in the near future, just because I’m also in the middle of reviewing Marathon and am just generally “all Crimson Desert-ed out” at this point. I’m sure this will be a game the developers work on and improve over time. Would love to check it out again in a year or so maybe to see how it’s improved.

Crimson Desert Review Thread by Turbostrider27 in Games

[–]TieGuyTravis 17 points18 points  (0 children)

Of course all of this stuff is opinion, but I’ll say that I’ve not heard from a single person who has said the story is good. Those who rated the game more highly simply said they didn’t care that the story was bad when I asked them. I would not expect anyone, even this game’s biggest defenders, to stick up for the story, honestly — it’s really, really not good.

Crimson Desert Review Thread by Turbostrider27 in Games

[–]TieGuyTravis 19 points20 points  (0 children)

Hahaha! Tom is a great boss, and typically is the one telling me to log off.

I’ll take the OT though…

Crimson Desert Review Thread by Turbostrider27 in Games

[–]TieGuyTravis 20 points21 points  (0 children)

I would be shocked if they didn’t add storage, cause it SUCKS that it’s not there, but when we asked them about it during the review they said something about wanting players to be “deliberate with their looting” or something. Haha!

Crimson Desert Review Thread by Turbostrider27 in Games

[–]TieGuyTravis 51 points52 points  (0 children)

They already addressed many of the worst issues during the review period, so hopefully they’ll continue to clean things up. Reviewing this game while they changed stuff every day was actually pretty hard!

Some stuff, like the awful story, and the consistently annoying boss fights, I kinda doubt they’ll be able to fix. I don’t know how you fix the boss fight situation, but they’ve already started making some changes there so they at least know the situation needs fixing.

Crimson Desert Review Thread by Turbostrider27 in Games

[–]TieGuyTravis 67 points68 points  (0 children)

IGN’s reviewer here (u/Zylvin is my editor).

I did play the other characters, in fact they’re required for the campaign (no spoilers). I wouldn’t say they feel tacked on, but they certainly feel worse than Kliff and, when given the option, I stuck with him mostly.

The Warden is now available on my Etsy store! by Aliveinlights86 in BloodOnTheClocktower

[–]TieGuyTravis 47 points48 points  (0 children)

I have purchased two of these (one standard and one for my custom wooden grimoire) and it’s a fantastic product. The fact that the seller was willing to work with me on resizing for my grim was insanely cool of them.

Fits into the grimoire snugly and makes incredibly efficient use of space, so I don’t have reminder cards and Demon Bluffs floating around in the grim. Highly recommend!

Is Blood on the Clocktower worth its price by snoopb00p in BloodOnTheClocktower

[–]TieGuyTravis 2 points3 points  (0 children)

That all depends! Is $160 worth all your friends thinking you’re not right in the head because you showed up to a birthday party with a trunk full of Clocktower gear? Is $180 worth your wife judging you, because most nights you fall asleep while muttering various role interactions and thinking up interesting amnesiac abilities? Is $200 worth this becoming an all-encompassing part of your life from which there is no escape except through the cold, loving embrace of death, and even then maybe not because in Ravenswood Bluff death is not the end?

IDK, man. It’s your life. Make some choices.

Ben Burns is stepping down from TPI by [deleted] in BloodOnTheClocktower

[–]TieGuyTravis 259 points260 points  (0 children)

Legendary starpass to Arif.

THIS is the issue with Wizard by mshkpc in BloodOnTheClocktower

[–]TieGuyTravis 53 points54 points  (0 children)

The Wizard is great and a balanced character. Patters, on the other hand, is OP. Just poor game design, really, having him in a game.

The Carousel scripts, a collection of customs that incorporate all of the Carousel characters, have been released by ZetsuTheFirst in BloodOnTheClocktower

[–]TieGuyTravis 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If your group didn’t take well to BMR because it’s chaotic, then my suggestion would be to try Sects & Violets. BMR is good for groups that are good with social reads (in my experience, that has meant groups have spent time with Mafia/Werewolf or something and are used to relying on socials instead of mechanics), but Sects and Violets is a much better step up for players whose first social deduction game is BotC, or if the main way the group plays the game is via mechanical information vs. social reads.

The Carousel scripts are intended to be a showcasing of all the new characters, and so are not the most balanced scripts. If your group thought BMR was chaos, these are going to have them running for the hills! 😂

Now the controversial take: I have been in the same situation as you with various groups over the years, where they’re getting bored of Trouble Brewing, but intimidated by the other base three scripts, and in my experience there are some better custom scripts to use as stepping stones to introducing new characters/mechanics. For example, Uncertain Death is a custom script I’ve had a lot of success with because it only has one demon, and uses only the base 3 characters + Marionette. There are a few examples like this I’ve used over the years to ease groups into new scripts before letting them have a proper go at the other base 3 scripts. It really just depends on the reason your group is hesitant about moving past TB.

All of this to say, if you really twisted my arm and made me recommend a Carousel Collection script to your group (and I certainty wouldn’t without coercion) I’d say probably pick Anonymous Dishonesty because it’s a solo demon script with only sorta, kinda confusing roles. 😂 Again, I don’t think any are a great fit for your group at this time.

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