Game

[Borys]

.

[Eel O'Brian]

looks cute

+6 Grippy!

[John Dunbar]

So what, good game + bad game?

[CurseoftheGods]

So what, good game + bad game?

[chronovore]

I've got threep wood and a guy-brush, and I'm ready to lay the smack down.

[Stoney Mason]

[youtube=560,345][/youtube]
[youtube=560,345][/youtube]
[youtube=560,345][/youtube]

[magus]

i would be all over this if it was on a console i owned

[Joe Molotov]

i would be all over this if it was on a console i owned

Maybe you should consider owning a real console.

[Phoenix Dark]

i would be all over this if it was on a console i owned

Maybe you should consider owning a real console.

better yet, why not get an extra monitor and play Monkey Island and Diablo at the same time

PC master race

[magus]

i would be all over this if it was on a console i owned

Maybe you should consider owning a real console.

too pricey!
maybe in another year or two

[archie4208]

Think of all the money you would save pirating 360 games, though.

[magus]

maybe i'll bite the next ban wave

[Stoney Mason]

[youtube=560,345][/youtube]

[MoxManiac]

So what, good game + bad game?

comon man, don't call Monkey Island bad. 

[Stoney Mason]

[youtube=560,345][/youtube]

[demi]

i would be all over this if it was on a console i owned

Maybe you should consider owning a real console.

too pricey!
maybe in another year or two

Move to a real country. $150US is too pricey?

[Stoney Mason]

Comes out Wednesday.

[youtube=560,345][/youtube]

[archie4208]

Looks fun, but the lack of online play is a dealbreaker for the price.  I'll grab it when it hits $10 during an XBLA sale.

[Sho Nuff]

Looks fun, but the lack of online play is a dealbreaker for the price.  I'll grab it when it hits $10 during an XBLA sale.

WTF no online?

tsc tsc

[Stoney Mason]

http://www.1up.com/do/reviewPage?cId=3180367&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=laconica
http://ps3.ign.com/articles/110/1105775p1.html
http://kotaku.com/5586044/deathspank-review-best-game-involving-a-purple-thong
http://www.videogamer.com/xbox360/deathspank/review.html
http://g4tv.com/games/xbox-360/63798/DeathSpank/review/

[Stoney Mason]

Trial and Full game.

http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-US/games/media/66acd000-77fe-1000-9115-d80258410a6f/

[Stoney Mason]

Played it a bit this morning before I left. I like it. Definitely a loot style game. Thought it was fun. The humour is a bit hit or miss but it looks nice and its something I want to play more of. I'll buy it when I get in this evening.

[The Sceneman]

played the demo for a bit, presentation is good and gameplay is decent, but I really cant stand this style of humor. Would actually be worth it if it had online co-op, though. Its getting deleted as it is.

[demi]

Crappy game

[Stoney Mason]

http://www.giantbomb.com/quick-look-deathspank/17-2899/

[The Sceneman]

I think the worst thing about the game was they throw you straight into a huge dialogue tree with one of the most badly VA'ed NPCs of all time. And its just SO. UNFUNNY.

The guy who voices DeathSpank himself is giving it his all, but the character is just such a lame cliche.

[The Sceneman]

I just read the DeathSpank entry on Metacritic and actually feel physically sick now. I said WTF at all the 9/10's. All the top "game journalism sites" spew nonsense like "shines with wit", "laugh at the good writing". I'd love to see IGN and 1UP shut down

[Great Rumbler]

Sounds like you're just out of the loop, old man. 

[demi]

Yeah it's pretty shitty.

[The Sceneman]

Sounds like you're just out of the loop, old man. 

Have you played the game yet Rumbler?

[Stoney Mason]

I definitely don't think the voice humour is great but honestly I barely pay attention to that stuff in games like this. Even ones that are trying to make it their calling card. I just like the aesthetic look of the world and the items. And I generally like loot games period. Bought it. Put about 2 hours into it so far. I like it. For a console loot game I think its fine and enjoyable and better than what is currently out there. 

[Great Rumbler]

Sounds like you're just out of the loop, old man. 

Have you played the game yet Rumbler?

Nope.

[The Sceneman]

I definitely don't think the voice humour is great but honestly I barely pay attention to that stuff in games like this. Even ones that are trying to make it their calling card. I just like the aesthetic look of the world and the items. And I generally like loot games period. Bought it. Put about 2 hours into it so far. I like it. For a console loot game I think its fine and enjoyable and better than what is currently out there. 

I can generally get past an aesthetic and jokes that I dont like if the gameplay is there, but with this the VA and jokes are so in your face and impossible to ignore.

I guess the thing that gets me the most about this game is its so self-reverential. The whole time its just screaming "look at me Im so clever and zany"

[Bebpo]

I thought the VA was great for the main guy.  Like someone on gaf said, it's basically if Captain Quark starred in Diablo.

[chronovore]

Bought it. Loving it.

It feels like a LucasArts title from the Monkey Island days in terms of its humor. The world is pretty, the music is great, and it's reasonably challenging. Or maybe I haven't figured out how to block yet. But I'm liking it.

[Stoney Mason]

Bought it. Loving it.

It feels like a LucasArts title from the Monkey Island days in terms of its humor. The world is pretty, the music is great, and it's reasonably challenging. Or maybe I haven't figured out how to block yet. But I'm liking it.

The blocking is a bit weird because sometimes its hard to see their attack animations. I use the block more as an escape mechanism.

As far as the humour for me its sort of like I said earlier. I don't especially find the VA to be funny. I just find the art style and the game world to be charming.

[Stoney Mason]

That nanny demon is a bitch.

[chronovore]

I'm not there yet. I was having trouble with the fireball lobbing demons, but then I finally figured out, "oh, this is when you block..."  

[chronovore]

OK, I did the Demon Nanny. Had to run away once, but got her on the second pass. I imagine you were trying to do it without Health Potions mapped to a convenient spot?

Most of the time I use food to replenish health, but I keep HT potions mapped to Up on the d-pad for when life turns to poop. Food is great, but blocking or attacking will prematurely stop its effect. HT potions are instantaneous. I may have also benefited from combo attacks, though I can't remember if the multiplier was onscreen or not, because I was busy one-two buttonmashing and watching my health gauge plummet.

I'm really enjoying the game and its sense of humor. I don't think it's self-reverential. I'd say if there's any criticism to be leveled at it, it would be that the writing hasn't significantly evolved since the Monkey Island days. It's a bunch of self-aware, dorky, inside jokes about cliched fantasy and videogame conventions. I've laughed out loud a number of times.

But I also laughed at the video of that monkey mouth-raping the frog; maybe I'm just not as sophisticated as you blokes.

[demi]

Answer these questions please:

- Are there stats
- Is there loot
- Is the loot remotely unique
- Are the quests good
- Is it difficult
- Are there party members

[demi]

My interest has been poked. I will get the demo.

One more

- Are there skill trees of some sort

[chronovore]

I haven't figured out how to use the runes yet. Do I have to buy a unique weapon to pair them with?

[Stoney Mason]

OK, I did the Demon Nanny. Had to run away once, but got her on the second pass. I imagine you were trying to do it without Health Potions mapped to a convenient spot?

Correct. Up until that point I hadn't really had to use health potions. Just food. So I wasn't prepared for it and I didn't really have any on me.

Getting pretty close to the end now. I'll finish it up by the end of the week.

[Stoney Mason]

I don't why I torture myself visiting Tom Chick's website but god damn is he an idiot. And this isn't about him not liking Deathspank which is a perfectly fine opinion to have. It's that this idiot couldn't figure out how to get back his stuff at a story related point in the game and then tried to go ahead and play with no gear. Fucking idiot.

Strike three was when the game took away all my stuff. Deathspank, which is not just the name of the game, but also the name of the game's main character (pictured, right), gets beat up by orcs - I mean, orques - on the way to the second land. They take his stuff and laugh at him. The quest vendor NPC laughs at him and suggests he got a wedgie. I even laughed at him. Because, yeah, that's kind of funny that the hero got beat up like a nerdy junior high student. It's kind of funny that a bunch of orcs - orques, even! - took his stuff.

Okay, so that happened. Let me have my stuff back now. No, seriously, that was a good one. Now give me back my gear. C'mon. I'm serious. Okay, let me do a little questing to get another starting sword that does about one fifth of the damage I've been doing. Okay, there. I did it. Now can I have my stuff back? No? Really? Okay, I'll do a few more quests. Yeah, ha ha, it's really funny that I keep dying to creatures I would have handily dispatched before the orcs - orques - took my gear. That is a good one. What a joke, Deathspank! And you really pushed it to its limits. So, good going. You got me!

Okay, so now can I have my stuff back? No, really. Okay, game, this isn't funny any more. I mean it. Really, just give me back my gear. I earned that stuff. It dropped and I picked it up and now it's mine. Those are the rules. Seriously? You're still not going to let me have it? You're going to make me use this puny wooden starting sword? You're going to make me keep dying? That's really what you're going to do?

Okay, fine. I'm going home. Jerk.

Now I admit that I'm sulking because Deathspank essentially punk'd me, but I signed up for a game and not an elaborate joke. But next time Deathspank needs a ride and I go to pick it up, I'm totally going to do that thing where I pull the car forward every time Deathspank reaches out to open the door.

http://fidgit.com/archives/2010/07/three_strikes_and_deathspank_i.php#more

[Stoney Mason]

Uhhhh, took me all but 3 minutes to get my shit back...

I think that was the case with anybody who had a brain.

At first when I started reading that article I thought he was complaining about the over-used cliche of having your weapons taken from you in the first place. Which might be a worthy complaint.

Then I thought he was complaining about how you had to do a couple of quests before you got back your stuff.

And then I realized he was complaining because he's a dumbass and thought the game had permanently taken away his gear and decided to stop playing because of that.

And he's a "professional" reviewer.

[chronovore]

Regarding taking all Deathspank's gear, I thought it was a lame cliche, but it is all of a taco-fetch-quest away. I'll admit that I tried to start up other quests, and also was mislead by dialog where I thought Deathspank was supposed to distract the Orque dumpster guards instead of mashing their heads in. That cost me maybe 5 minutes.

I haven't figured out how to use the runes yet. Do I have to buy a unique weapon to pair them with?

nope, you just need weapon types. Its straight-forward.

Weird. It said "flame type cleaver" or something, and then equipping the rune at the same time, except it's on the "other" inventory screen where papers and flyers and books show up. I'll give it another shot.

[demi]

As an update, I didnt bother getting the demo. I remembered this was from Ron Gilbert so it sucks dick

[Stoney Mason]

Finished it up. Took about 9 hours which is darn good length for an XBLA title.

I liked it. A little mini-diablo. There are alot of things they could do to improve it but most of them involve turning it into a  more hardcore diablo clone. Ending was crap though. Achievements were pretty easy. I got all of them except the level 20 one. I finished up at level 19 but I didn't feel like grinding it out just for that one.

[chronovore]

As long as XBL doesn't disappear, I'll be able to play this on my nephew's loaner box. Very happy to hear it is quick and do-able. I'd love to finish a game soon, since I've got a half dozen unfinished epics  in the queue.

[Stoney Mason]

Apparently they were working on two games.

http://kotaku.com/5617364/we-get-a-surprise-deathspank-sequel-next-month

[chronovore]

Thanks, Stoney. I'd entirely forgotten about this thread, thanks to its fuck-all useless title. Can someone please change it to include the actual brand/title, "Deathspank"...?

I'm level 19, found my way east of the Demon Gate, which is a silly quest item to require remembering right after unlocking the Demon Door, and probably going to wrap this up soon. I think. I've got three orphans to go, and am enjoying the side quests, esp. since outhouse-teleporting means most times I don't have to do a lot of physical backtracking unless I also want to farm monsters for health drops.

Will probably purchase the sequel. The engine is pretty good, the art style is completely darling, and the gameplay is honestly more fun than I had with Diablo 1 and 2. The items are not as snazzy, and getting a full set of whatever armor doesn't have the difficulty or payoffs but, whatevs, I can fire chickens at my enemies.

[Bebpo]

Apparently they were working on two games.

http://kotaku.com/5617364/we-get-a-surprise-deathspank-sequel-next-month

hmmm, wasn't Deathspank originally an episodic game, then a single PSN/XBLA game?

I'm guessing they just took whatever they had done already on future episodes and turned it into a "2nd" game to recoup more.

[chronovore]

I committed an act of foolishness by not only reading that Kotaku article, but also all the comments. About 25% of the people get it: 15 bucks for a fun game that last about 10, 20 hours? That's fine.

The rest of them are claiming to be BETRAYED by marketing or Hothead or "them" because clearly this was in production at the same time as the first game, uses a similar play style, and is in the same engine. Yes, yes, Hothead is reaching directly into your pockets and stealing your milk money. Clearly every item they included in this "sequel" should have been doled out into the original, if only they'd waited another three weeks to launch the whole thing. Good god, people are stupid and so full of entitlement.

[chronovore]

Apparently they were working on two games.

http://kotaku.com/5617364/we-get-a-surprise-deathspank-sequel-next-month

hmmm, wasn't Deathspank originally an episodic game, then a single PSN/XBLA game?

I'm guessing they just took whatever they had done already on future episodes and turned it into a "2nd" game to recoup more.

It might be. It very well may be someone did a brief ROI on episodes 2 and 3, and decided to tie them together. Then again, the 50% longer mantra sounds like pretty standard marketing on how to sell a sequel: "What can we tell the potential purchasers they can expect, other than 'more of the same'? How about 'MORE more of the same'?! Hey, yeah!" Or maybe they took what they had overall and split it into these two games. What constitutes a discrete game anymore, anyway?

The monetization of games has become very muddled, and will become even more so in the next few years. Gamefly is a model which outdoes Gamespot in distributing as few copies of a game to as many players as possible. Players who rent games are unable to sell the game, they only have one valid question to assess their investment: Is the portion of my monthly rental fee tied up in this game worth it?

In the end, players do not own games from the download marketplace. They're buying a license to run the software on their console. They don't own it, they can't modify it, they can't sell or loan it to someone else. It's completely down to a question of whether or not the player feels they got their money's worth out of the gameplay experience.

[Stoney Mason]

[youtube=560,345][/youtube]