Q&A: April 28th, 2021

NephyrisX Asks
Given your past experience and reference to Ironsight when talking about the CoD series, what aspects can the Call of Duty franchise learn from Ironsight?

I've always advocated for just making Steady Aim the default hip-fire accuracy, perhaps even enhancing it. Adding one extra insignificant step to gunfights shouldn't be what determines the outcome, especially at close range. I'm not somebody who thinks ADS should be axed entirely, but way games force the mechanic has been stupid from day one.

Making it so you need to ADS with an ACOG when somebody's five feet away, or else you're lucky to land a single bullet, would be like a racing game forcing the handbrake to slowdown.

Ironically, the thing that Call of Duty could take from Ironsight, is what Ironsight took from Treyarch's games, and those are distinct mechanics on the map. Art-style can go a long way, but the real way to make a level distinct is to allow player acts that aren't possible anywhere else.

One of the key reasons I think so many maps are thought of as dry or inspired is because they're so oppressively static in the name of "balance."

I miss shooting stalactites on Waterworks in Halo 2, or opening the gates on Zanzibar, and I miss maps having things like that in Treyarch's games.

Justin Wolonik Asks
In the past couple weeks I have witnessed 3 different people with popular game-related Youtube channels have mental breakdowns caused by a seemingly endless series of aggravating and expensive PC issues. Give it to me straight: PC gaming is pretty epic and all, but is it *really* worth it?

I love PC gaming, but I've always been irritated by people who pretend that it's just as easy as console gaming, because it's so obviously not. Since tearing my hair out last month, I've sorted out nearly all of my technical issues and things have been remarkably smooth. Lots of that was also do to my ability to diagnose the issues and solve them.

There's a satisfaction in that, especially as to my own health, there's a real lack of diagnosis, answers, and no reward for your effort. Perhaps that's why I throw myself into these technical issues.

But I'm not going to pretend that everybody enjoys that, nor wants to go through that on a regular basis just to get their games to look prettier or run at higher frames. At the end of the day, millions of people don't notice all the little things that PC gamers will pen 30 page essays over.

However, one thing I'll say that's in the defense of PC gaming, is that content creators are people who are going far beyond what is necessary for your average consumer. Most people don't need a 2k PC that runs 1500+ games without a hitch a max settings. Your average PC gamer is somebody using a $600-800 build with normal components to shoot people on Counter Strike or rush on Dota 2, and does a great job doing so.

It can run all of the basics without fault, and if you're in the mood to go through a little bit of pain for an experience that's precisely tailored to your taste, the option's always there.

"Smart" Doge Asks
Do you like or a strategy Games or you just simply don’t talk about them

There's a couple I've gotten into over the years. Dawn of War II and Command & Conquer 3 most of all. However, they're definitely not my forte, nor would I feel confident enough to judge one as a critic. It's why I haven't done Halo Wars.

But, I'm not somebody who's inherently against the genre, so it's not impossible for me to cover something like that in the future.

Kezabfz Asks
Hi, what about country specific games which failed internationally but became really successful und famous in their home market? In Germany I. e. Gothic, Die Siedler or X, is this only in non-English speaking countries or are there other reasons, like cultural differences? Did you play or discover something like that?

Funny enough, Eurojank has become a global term entertaining people internationally these days. I don't know what caused games to fail back at launch but succeed in their native markets, so I unfortunately can't give an interesting answer.

Though a beautiful thing now about the internet age is that a game can capture somebody's imagination anywhere where previously, they would be isolated to specific parts of the globe.

Avian TheAssassin Asks
Is there any interest in an InFamous or Dragon Age Years Later? The former I think is an interesting development to dig into and Dragon Age is repeatedly brought up in your BioWare videos.

There is. I've got the InFamous series sitting on my shelf, and I haven't played any since the original back when it first came out. I completed the game, but never revisited it, so it really would be a fresh review.

Dragon Age is one that's tough because I despise its combat system, but maybe I'll find someway to fairly incorporate that into the video. It is a great series, and one I've enjoyed despite how much it goes against my preferences in certain areas.

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