-Abzu (Journey composer), Below, Celeste (also there are great piano covers), Cocoon, Chicory ( also Lena Raine from Celeste with piano covers, FAR (both changing tides and lone sails), FEZ (a lot of Disasterpiece is great. There are FEZ remix albums too), Flower, Journey, Jusant, Minecraft (including cave dlc with Lena Raine again, Griffins recommended this), no man’s sky, Ori games, Sable, Risk of Rain 2
Also, not in video game arena so much I think but Explosions in the Sky have some good stuff to work to.
I have a book recommendation. It's called the Tainted Cup. It's a Sherlock Holmes style murder mystery set in a Brandon Sanderson style fantasy world. I can't recommend it enough.
I would love for y’all to do an episode on Mark of the Ninja. It’s a bit old at this point, but it always comes up for me in discussions of stealth games and the like
What ever happened to the comments on the old Polygon articles? I know the platform changed but I always thought the old data would be migrated eventually...
For anyone looking for ambient music during the workday—there is SO MUCH incredible lofi video game music out there. My favorite artists: Lofi Lia (5 volumes of Lofi piano tunes hitting the major franchises—Zelda, Pokémon, Final Fantasy, Ghibli, Animal Crossing, Pokémon ); Mikel has 3 volumes of “Zelda and Chill” which is hours of awesome Lofi Zelda music, and just released a LOTR album; Coffee Date, Jokabi, and Game Chops all have awesome hours in an identical vein.
This stuff is my go to whenever you’ve got to knock out some focus time, and you can put together hours of awesome music between these artists.
I was kind of surprised AC Syndicate never came up in the conversation this week. It had 2 playable characters, one focused on combat the other on stealth, and you had a grappling hook. I haven't gotten a chance to play shadows yet but I'm curious if these mechanics have evolved or feel different than they did in Syndicate which (in my mind) was the last game before the rpg overhaul the series got with Origins.
Hi Arthur, here’s an essay you didnt quite ask for. Hope it’s helpful.
Syndicate was actually the last AC game I seriously played before Shadows, I picked it up last year. I liked it but I have to admit it felt a bit stale after playing (and loving!) most of the previous entries. I can see why they wanted to switch things up, even though I’ve bounced off every other AC game they’ve made since. And I tried them all when I had PlayStation premium plus or whatever it’s called.
Compared to syndicate, the difference in character playstyle is much more pronounced in shadows - I find sneaking with Yasuke to be excruciatingly slow, and trying to win even medium sized fights as Naoe is a huge challenge. The difference in eras/environments of Japan vs London is huge, too. Shadows reminds me more of Black Flag in some ways bc of the occasional towns and cities dotting a mostly natural landscape.
Overall idk if shadows feels closer to what is familiar to me or if I just think they did the modern style better this time, but it’s my favorite AC of the new crop by far. It’s not a masterpiece and has the usual pacing and bloat issues we know Ubisoft to commonly fall prey to but it’s beautiful and fun to play, and I personally expect to get a lot of hours of enjoyment out of it. I’m finding that if I can silence the part of my brain that wants to beat the story, unlock all the skills, collect all the things all the time, etc, then I can have a great time just setting my mind to one or two goals and playing for an hour or two.
I wish the Besties would do an episode on Xenoblade Chronicles X, purely because of how good the game looks on outdated Switch hardware. MonolithSoft might be the best Nintendo Developer there is.
I want to try and play Nintendo 3ds games (specifically Pokémon Sun and Moon) but am not sure where to start my search for an emulator. I currently only have a Mac (no PC) and everytime I try to look up recommendations for what to do, either the emulators recommended no longer work or everything just looks super scammy. Any advice from folks?
Can y’all talk about the 25th anniversary of Final Fantasy lX? Square just dropped their celebration website featuring some new merch, including an LP of the theme. I know Griffin had mentioned a remaster on his predictions for 2025, do you think that’s still in the works or would it have been announced?
Ps. I caught up on a year plus of the show in the last two months. Thanks for keeping me company on the graveyard shift. - Drew
Speaking of soundtracks, Justin Bell did an excellent job on the Pillars of Eternity soundtracks. I highly recommend going to the Deadfire, listen to the fourth track, and then think about what a wild world we live in that this epic, orchestral theme is titled, “Characters creation.”
I may be a little late to the party, but in terms of listening to Video Game OST for work, I made that exact list on Backloggd last week! It's got everything for chill work (A Short Hike) to "oh shit, i need to do a full day of work in 30 min" (Minit). Also as Will already mentioned, anything by Disasterpiece is amazing.
Don’t know if I’d call it ambient, but damn, I always go back to the Return of the Obra Dinn soundtrack. Makes me feel like I’m solving a strange and fantastical nautical mystery while doing my boring daily reports.
Adding my go to options for work music:
-Abzu (Journey composer), Below, Celeste (also there are great piano covers), Cocoon, Chicory ( also Lena Raine from Celeste with piano covers, FAR (both changing tides and lone sails), FEZ (a lot of Disasterpiece is great. There are FEZ remix albums too), Flower, Journey, Jusant, Minecraft (including cave dlc with Lena Raine again, Griffins recommended this), no man’s sky, Ori games, Sable, Risk of Rain 2
Also, not in video game arena so much I think but Explosions in the Sky have some good stuff to work to.
I have a book recommendation. It's called the Tainted Cup. It's a Sherlock Holmes style murder mystery set in a Brandon Sanderson style fantasy world. I can't recommend it enough.
The Tainted Cup is fantastic! Good character work, solid mystery, and absolutely fascinating setting. The second book comes out next week!
I am so SO excited. I just finished The Tainted Cup last week.
I would love for y’all to do an episode on Mark of the Ninja. It’s a bit old at this point, but it always comes up for me in discussions of stealth games and the like
You might enjoy this piece and video on its developer! https://www.polygon.com/features/2013/5/29/4362838/the-birth-and-re-birth-of-klei
What ever happened to the comments on the old Polygon articles? I know the platform changed but I always thought the old data would be migrated eventually...
For anyone looking for ambient music during the workday—there is SO MUCH incredible lofi video game music out there. My favorite artists: Lofi Lia (5 volumes of Lofi piano tunes hitting the major franchises—Zelda, Pokémon, Final Fantasy, Ghibli, Animal Crossing, Pokémon ); Mikel has 3 volumes of “Zelda and Chill” which is hours of awesome Lofi Zelda music, and just released a LOTR album; Coffee Date, Jokabi, and Game Chops all have awesome hours in an identical vein.
This stuff is my go to whenever you’ve got to knock out some focus time, and you can put together hours of awesome music between these artists.
Helynt is my favorite GameChops collaborator and just released a Stardew album!
Came here to say this! Zelda and Chill has gotten me through thousands of emails. I’ll check out your other suggestions. Thanks!
Justin mentioned the composer, Olivier Deriviere (Remember Me). He is also doing the music South of Midnight which has really stood out to me in the coverage for that game (just over a week away!). There was also GDC talk on the music specifically: https://schedule.gdconf.com/session/south-of-midnight-musicality-beyond-music/907552
I gotta say, I enjoyed this episode. It was nice to hear Justin get into it and reminded me of Quality Control a podcast I miss very much.
I was kind of surprised AC Syndicate never came up in the conversation this week. It had 2 playable characters, one focused on combat the other on stealth, and you had a grappling hook. I haven't gotten a chance to play shadows yet but I'm curious if these mechanics have evolved or feel different than they did in Syndicate which (in my mind) was the last game before the rpg overhaul the series got with Origins.
Hi Arthur, here’s an essay you didnt quite ask for. Hope it’s helpful.
Syndicate was actually the last AC game I seriously played before Shadows, I picked it up last year. I liked it but I have to admit it felt a bit stale after playing (and loving!) most of the previous entries. I can see why they wanted to switch things up, even though I’ve bounced off every other AC game they’ve made since. And I tried them all when I had PlayStation premium plus or whatever it’s called.
Compared to syndicate, the difference in character playstyle is much more pronounced in shadows - I find sneaking with Yasuke to be excruciatingly slow, and trying to win even medium sized fights as Naoe is a huge challenge. The difference in eras/environments of Japan vs London is huge, too. Shadows reminds me more of Black Flag in some ways bc of the occasional towns and cities dotting a mostly natural landscape.
Overall idk if shadows feels closer to what is familiar to me or if I just think they did the modern style better this time, but it’s my favorite AC of the new crop by far. It’s not a masterpiece and has the usual pacing and bloat issues we know Ubisoft to commonly fall prey to but it’s beautiful and fun to play, and I personally expect to get a lot of hours of enjoyment out of it. I’m finding that if I can silence the part of my brain that wants to beat the story, unlock all the skills, collect all the things all the time, etc, then I can have a great time just setting my mind to one or two goals and playing for an hour or two.
During the alt.ctrl.GDC discussion, Chris mentions a favorite of mine: Robin Baumgarten's Line Wobbler https://www.wobblylabs.com/line-wobbler
Yes! Thank you for sharing this!
I wish the Besties would do an episode on Xenoblade Chronicles X, purely because of how good the game looks on outdated Switch hardware. MonolithSoft might be the best Nintendo Developer there is.
Your alt is showing, Plante
😂😂😂
I want to try and play Nintendo 3ds games (specifically Pokémon Sun and Moon) but am not sure where to start my search for an emulator. I currently only have a Mac (no PC) and everytime I try to look up recommendations for what to do, either the emulators recommended no longer work or everything just looks super scammy. Any advice from folks?
Excited for tomorrow, I feel like it’s been a while since a Bestie hardware episode
Talos Principle 1 soundtrack!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-Fpn5tA6z8
Can y’all talk about the 25th anniversary of Final Fantasy lX? Square just dropped their celebration website featuring some new merch, including an LP of the theme. I know Griffin had mentioned a remaster on his predictions for 2025, do you think that’s still in the works or would it have been announced?
Ps. I caught up on a year plus of the show in the last two months. Thanks for keeping me company on the graveyard shift. - Drew
Speaking of soundtracks, Justin Bell did an excellent job on the Pillars of Eternity soundtracks. I highly recommend going to the Deadfire, listen to the fourth track, and then think about what a wild world we live in that this epic, orchestral theme is titled, “Characters creation.”
I may be a little late to the party, but in terms of listening to Video Game OST for work, I made that exact list on Backloggd last week! It's got everything for chill work (A Short Hike) to "oh shit, i need to do a full day of work in 30 min" (Minit). Also as Will already mentioned, anything by Disasterpiece is amazing.
https://backloggd.com/u/antelope/list/games-where-ive-spent-more-time-listening-to-the-soundtrack-than-playing-the-game/
Don’t know if I’d call it ambient, but damn, I always go back to the Return of the Obra Dinn soundtrack. Makes me feel like I’m solving a strange and fantastical nautical mystery while doing my boring daily reports.