Episode 23 - Perspective

Prepare yourself for a debate!  Ben and Eric have their own perspectives on what makes a great game, but first Ben tries to throw Eric off his rhythm by explaining perspective drawing.  They have similar views on what makes great movies, but when it comes to enjoying games… well that’s a different story.  Does Ben’s ploy work?  You’ll have to listen to find out!   00:00:20 - In the beige corner… Ben & in the green corner… Eric… always special  00:01:25 - Ghost Obi-Wan Kenobi’s truth… from a certain point of view 00:04:00 - Reflections on the Star Wars franchise / universe and Eric talks Tolkien  00:08:40 - Old movies, practical effects, computer graphics and filming techniques 00:11:10 - Ben’s counterpoint; fantasy universes vs “real” universes  00:15:45 - Ben’s perspective in art and drafting “tutorial” 00:19:10 - Examples of video games that represent various visual perspectives 00:22:50 - “… not the muscle group” 00:25:50 - Ben’s favorite class in High School  00:28:20 - Eric explains his struggles with drawing  00:31:00 - The Lord of the Rings trilogy and the use of forced perspective 00:34:40 - Eric apologizes for you thinking Episode 2 is a good movie 00:38:45 - The Star Wars “de-specialized” editions and Lucas snubs the National Archives 00:42:30 - Ben thinks that editors are the unsung heroes of Hollywood 00:47:10 - Starting the video game debate… 00:49:01 - Eric talks about why he enjoys Diablo 3, Skyrim and Fallout 00:52:25 - Ben generally likes story more than game mechanics 00:55:05 - “Don’t force story on me” and “selling that replay value”  00:59:40 - Ben loves Warframe because it is “free to play”-ish and highly customizable  01:03:10 - Ben thinks that City of Heroes “died” too soon and Eric likes the “Battle Pass”  01:06:50 - Season passes past and present  01:11:10 - The game remaster discussion 01:14:13 - “Do you play ‘Soccer Cars’?” 01:16:10 - Improvising Pac-Man’s backstory and talking about “point and click” adventures 01:19:20 - Myst is dumb, and Eric and Ben agree on the Portal games 01:23:20 - Trophy hunting, bookends, and Eric’s perspective has changed   01:26:05 - Wrapping up the show with a summary of their perspectives on games