My deepest sympathies to Plante on getting let go from Polygon. I'm sure I'm not alone by saying whatever shameless self-promo he wants to do of other projects he's on, bring it on! Ya know, besides the Patreon for Besties that everyone is already on, right? Right???
I also want to extend my sympathies to Frush. I was also recently on the other side of layoffs and it is extremely difficult to keep going after watching your friends and colleagues let go. As much as you might want to quit in solidarity, you look at your kid and remember that groceries aren't gonna be getting any cheaper.
One of my small comforts right now is Expedition 33 because it's beautiful and sad and full of grief and hope and loss and finding reasons to keep going. I'm loving the hell out of this game and I'm so happy to have it in my life right now.
I am beyond thrilled to hear that Justin has gone so far down the tech hole that he's come back out on the chemistry side. I used to do electrochemistry and battery research and can confirm, that shit's full of fun facts to dazzle at social gatherings
Only Justin Hoops McElroy can bash a game for a long intro, making fart sound effects and calling it boring, to then go on to recommend a 10 HOUR TECH LECTURE and call it "gripping."
y’all. Creepy Redneck Dinosaur Mansion 3. you’ve gotta play it.
ridiculously goofy match 3 combat. meta humor, tons of routes, great visual gags, and an interesting level of battle strategy within the match 3 format. if it was on mobile instead of just Steam, I would have probably beaten it twice at this point, but it plays like a dream on deck. certainly doesn’t merit a whole episode but I still think y’all would get a kick out of it.
I would so love more audio or video about Justin's Linux projects. Even if just over views of his process. I've never been into Linux or coding, but I find his exploits fascinating.
1) im so sad that neither of my two fake gamer systems (switch and a mac) have clair obscura because it sounds amazing! Love fun aesthetics+not terrible writing+loomong spectre of death (but i finally am playing Dave the Diver so can’t complain!)
2) My heart goes out to all the current and former Polygon workers. The team maintains such a unique voice and I always check the site daily to see what fun new articles will show me something new about the entertainment/gaming industry I haven’t considered before (don’t tell my boss lol). Please let us know if there is some way to support former staff in any future/side ventures; im excited for Plante’s substack!
3) I’m surprised Andor season 2 hasn’t come up in honorable mentions yet! Andor is the best thing Star Wars has done…..maybe ever? Finale comes out next week so maybe I’ll have to rescind this comment, but so far would highly recommend as a portrayal of the non-jedi resistance to a living under a fascist state that also actually cares about its characters
Y’all didn’t mention the best part of Clair Obscur: it’s only 30 hours long! Or least that’s the average time to beat, so for someone like me who keeps stopping to look at the surroundings it will probably be longer.
It’s so nice to have a well made jrpg style game that I can actually play and beat as an adult with a full time job.
Friends, please go read up on Valnet Inc.'s business behavior, perhaps starting with their Wikipedia page, before deciding whether or not to boycott the new Polygon. I am so sorry for all the folks who were recently laid off, but I will begin to mourn the old Polygon, starting now.
I was genuinely devastated to learn of Polygon being bought and the layoffs. As someone who is just starting out in games journalism Polygon was always the publication I looked at as inspiration and maybe even as an aspirational future job. Wishing you the the best in your new independent journalist career (which is more and more looking like what I'm going to end up doing) and wishing everyone else who was affected by the sale the best of luck as well. May the ever tumultuous journalism job market treat them with kindness.
Just wanted to add, I bought Clair Obscur on a whim and have been loving it. I knew virtually nothing going in but it is kick ass. I love that each character has their own battle mechanic and the art style is so cool. Also the writing is great and ranges from serious and dramatic to very silly.
I've had so little time for games in the last month or so, but I'm still plugging away at Blue Prince. I'm on day 30 and *think* I'm making progress? 😅
But Clair Obscura is definitely next. My eldest has been playing it and it looks spectacular.
As an ROG Ally owner, there is something vindicating about Justin, after saying “why would anyone buy this when they could just buy a steam deck?” when Plante brought it up on an episode a while back, owning and loving his own ally. It definitely has its quirks, but definitely an awesome device.
Additionally, really sorry to hear about the layoffs at Polygon. I, along with many other listeners I’m sure, will be following your other podcast!
Really hope Griffin pushes Clair Obscur into the end game and finds some of those real Sekiro-ass optional bosses. He likes it now; I have a feeling he's gonna end up LOVING it. Would love for you guys to revisit this one again during the slow days of summer because it seems like everyone was still in Act 1 and oh me oh my oh mon dieu does it get bananas. My GOTY so far and I don't know what's gonna top it.
I'm loving The Hundred Line: The Last Defense Academy. Can't wait for you guys to discuss it.
I also wanted to say that for me personally, the tactics combat got more gripping the further I got into the game. As you progress, they add way more enemies in asymmetrical configurations per battle and give you more characters with very unique attack shapes to work with. In conjunction with the mechanic where you earn action points for beating the larger enemies, the combat becomes an optimization problem where you are trying to chain together attacks to clear as much of the field as you can.
My deepest sympathies to Plante on getting let go from Polygon. I'm sure I'm not alone by saying whatever shameless self-promo he wants to do of other projects he's on, bring it on! Ya know, besides the Patreon for Besties that everyone is already on, right? Right???
I also want to extend my sympathies to Frush. I was also recently on the other side of layoffs and it is extremely difficult to keep going after watching your friends and colleagues let go. As much as you might want to quit in solidarity, you look at your kid and remember that groceries aren't gonna be getting any cheaper.
One of my small comforts right now is Expedition 33 because it's beautiful and sad and full of grief and hope and loss and finding reasons to keep going. I'm loving the hell out of this game and I'm so happy to have it in my life right now.
I am beyond thrilled to hear that Justin has gone so far down the tech hole that he's come back out on the chemistry side. I used to do electrochemistry and battery research and can confirm, that shit's full of fun facts to dazzle at social gatherings
Only Justin Hoops McElroy can bash a game for a long intro, making fart sound effects and calling it boring, to then go on to recommend a 10 HOUR TECH LECTURE and call it "gripping."
I love that guy
y’all. Creepy Redneck Dinosaur Mansion 3. you’ve gotta play it.
ridiculously goofy match 3 combat. meta humor, tons of routes, great visual gags, and an interesting level of battle strategy within the match 3 format. if it was on mobile instead of just Steam, I would have probably beaten it twice at this point, but it plays like a dream on deck. certainly doesn’t merit a whole episode but I still think y’all would get a kick out of it.
great example of the humor: there is no Creepy Redneck Dinosaur Mansion 1 or 2.
I can’t wait for the inevitable besties 2025 GOTY matchup where Blue Prince and Clair Obscur face off in the first round for some reason 😂
I would so love more audio or video about Justin's Linux projects. Even if just over views of his process. I've never been into Linux or coding, but I find his exploits fascinating.
1) im so sad that neither of my two fake gamer systems (switch and a mac) have clair obscura because it sounds amazing! Love fun aesthetics+not terrible writing+loomong spectre of death (but i finally am playing Dave the Diver so can’t complain!)
2) My heart goes out to all the current and former Polygon workers. The team maintains such a unique voice and I always check the site daily to see what fun new articles will show me something new about the entertainment/gaming industry I haven’t considered before (don’t tell my boss lol). Please let us know if there is some way to support former staff in any future/side ventures; im excited for Plante’s substack!
3) I’m surprised Andor season 2 hasn’t come up in honorable mentions yet! Andor is the best thing Star Wars has done…..maybe ever? Finale comes out next week so maybe I’ll have to rescind this comment, but so far would highly recommend as a portrayal of the non-jedi resistance to a living under a fascist state that also actually cares about its characters
Y’all didn’t mention the best part of Clair Obscur: it’s only 30 hours long! Or least that’s the average time to beat, so for someone like me who keeps stopping to look at the surroundings it will probably be longer.
It’s so nice to have a well made jrpg style game that I can actually play and beat as an adult with a full time job.
Best of luck to Plante!
Friends, please go read up on Valnet Inc.'s business behavior, perhaps starting with their Wikipedia page, before deciding whether or not to boycott the new Polygon. I am so sorry for all the folks who were recently laid off, but I will begin to mourn the old Polygon, starting now.
I was genuinely devastated to learn of Polygon being bought and the layoffs. As someone who is just starting out in games journalism Polygon was always the publication I looked at as inspiration and maybe even as an aspirational future job. Wishing you the the best in your new independent journalist career (which is more and more looking like what I'm going to end up doing) and wishing everyone else who was affected by the sale the best of luck as well. May the ever tumultuous journalism job market treat them with kindness.
Just wanted to add, I bought Clair Obscur on a whim and have been loving it. I knew virtually nothing going in but it is kick ass. I love that each character has their own battle mechanic and the art style is so cool. Also the writing is great and ranges from serious and dramatic to very silly.
I've had so little time for games in the last month or so, but I'm still plugging away at Blue Prince. I'm on day 30 and *think* I'm making progress? 😅
But Clair Obscura is definitely next. My eldest has been playing it and it looks spectacular.
Shocking lack of discussion about how much Gustave seems to be modeled on Robert Pattinson.
As an ROG Ally owner, there is something vindicating about Justin, after saying “why would anyone buy this when they could just buy a steam deck?” when Plante brought it up on an episode a while back, owning and loving his own ally. It definitely has its quirks, but definitely an awesome device.
Additionally, really sorry to hear about the layoffs at Polygon. I, along with many other listeners I’m sure, will be following your other podcast!
Really hope Griffin pushes Clair Obscur into the end game and finds some of those real Sekiro-ass optional bosses. He likes it now; I have a feeling he's gonna end up LOVING it. Would love for you guys to revisit this one again during the slow days of summer because it seems like everyone was still in Act 1 and oh me oh my oh mon dieu does it get bananas. My GOTY so far and I don't know what's gonna top it.
I'm loving The Hundred Line: The Last Defense Academy. Can't wait for you guys to discuss it.
I also wanted to say that for me personally, the tactics combat got more gripping the further I got into the game. As you progress, they add way more enemies in asymmetrical configurations per battle and give you more characters with very unique attack shapes to work with. In conjunction with the mechanic where you earn action points for beating the larger enemies, the combat becomes an optimization problem where you are trying to chain together attacks to clear as much of the field as you can.