Was there supposed to be a 3 month gap between part 1 and 2 of our overlong musical extravaganza? No, absolutely not. Is it worth the wait? Same answer.
Anyway, here we are trying not to sound too pretentious about our favorite music of last decade. It doesn’t go well in that particular regard but stick around until the post-credits if you want to hear some bad Wisconsin accents.
Generally I’ve avoided discussing extremely popular things when the iron is hot. I do this gaming YouTube channel in my spare time “for fun.” Trying to keep up with people who do it “professionally” while still maintaining a level of quality that I’m okay with would be utterly exhausting. But I decided to try my hand at chiming in on the discussion surrounding The Last of Us Part II. We’ll see how this goes.
This was maybe the hardest script I’ve ever written for this channel. The game is long, sprawling, and very ambitious. It’s kind of difficult to talk about because there’s so much there and it isn’t laid out in the most straightforward way. I think I managed to make my points in the end but I’m sure I could have done a better job somehow.
This video ended up being a lot longer than I expected or intended and there’s still a whole bunch of stuff I didn’t touch on at all. I barely talk about the gameplay and, really, the gameplay is not why I played the game so it’s not what I ultimately wanted to talk about. The interesting things to me with this game are story structure, pacing, and when it chooses to reveal information to the player.
Going from Animal Crossing to this was a pretty big change of pace. It’s a super bleak game so while putting the video together was a good challenge, it wasn’t nearly as fun. Next up is something I think will be more fun – at least for me.
If you’re subscribed to our podcast because you want to hear us talk about Gilmore Girls, you’re in luck! We’re doing that again.
If you’re subscribed to our podcast and you’re sick of hearing us talk about Gilmore Girls, you’re in luck! This is the last time we’re going to do that (unless there’s more new episodes in the future)!
If you’re not subscribed, you could do that with the links above! We’d appreciate it.
Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life
Created by: Amy Sherman-Palladino Starring: Lauren Graham, Alexis Bledel, Melissa McCarthy, Keiko Agena, Yanic Truesdale, Scott Patterson, Kelly Bishop, Edward Herrmann Composer: Sam Phillips Executive Producers: Amy Sherman-Palladino, Daniel Palladino, Gavin Polone Original network: Netflix Original release: 2016
Is it possible? Two Debug Mode videos in such a short span? Nay, three videos! What new devilry is this? Only the wild year that is 2020 could bring about such unprecedented events!
Animal Crossing: New Horizons one of the biggest game releases of the year and in this video I explain why I quit playing. I do like the game though – especially in the midst of all the insanity this year. It’s extremely well made and very inviting – it’s just got fairly major design issues that push me away.
This is the first video of the kind of new format I’d like to continue exploring – not a comprehensive review, nor a list, but a vehicle for me to talk about just a subset of things about a particular game that I find interesting. Maybe it’s a particular mechanic, the evolution of the series, or an analysis of the story. I have more videos in the works and I’m hoping there will be two more out before the end of the summer which would be a big deal considering the historical upload pace of this channel. Then I’ve got to get back to the Arkham retrospective because there’s probably going to be a new one of those out in the near future.
This is the first single-game review I’ve done in five years (the Arkham Asylum video from last fall was more of a retrospective). I’ve shied away from doing traditional game reviews for a variety of reasons – mostly because I find that uninteresting. My current philosophy with the Debug Mode channel is to do videos on whatever sparks my interest – thus we have this Chimera Squad review/discussion thing.
I really wasn’t sure if I’d like this game. A lot of the changes sounded like love-it-or-hate-it kind of things. I haven’t looked into what the community’s reaction has been. While I’m not a hardcore XCOM player, I do like the series a lot and have been following it ever since Enemy Unknown back in 2012.
We discuss Knives Out, Agatha Christie, detective stories, and murder mystery films.
Knives Out
Directed by: Rian Johnson Produced by: Ram Bergman, Rian Johnson Screenplay by: Rian Johnson Edited by: Bob Ducsay Cinematography: Steve Yedlin Music by: Nathan Johnson Starring: Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, Ana de Armas, Jamie Lee Curtis, Michael Shannon, Don Johnson, Toni Collette, Lakeith Stanfield, Katherine Langford, Jaeden Martell, Christopher Plummer Distributed by: Lionsgate
Just Mercy is currently free to watch on a variety of platforms. As we discuss the film, we do our best to grapple with the difficult issue of systematic racial injustice in America. Viewing dramatized versions of real events is not the same as digging into the truth of what really happens in our world, but dramas like this can be a helpful and humanizing starting point.
Just Mercy
Directed by: Destin Daniel Cretton Produced by: Gil Netter, Asher Goldstein, Michael B. Jordan Screenplay by: Destin Daniel Cretton, Andrew Lanham Based on: Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson Edited by: Nat Sanders Cinematography: Brett Pawlak Music by: Joel P. West Starring: Michael B. Jordan, Jamie Foxx, Brie Larson, Rob Morgan, Tim Blake Nelson, Rafe Spall Distributed by: Warner Bros. Pictures
Like most of my videos, it took me longer to put this together than I intended. Needless to say, this year hasn’t been what anybody’s wanted so even though there are a billion things more important than video games – especially right now – it’s still worth taking a break and celebrating the medium before we get too much further into the new decade with all that it will bring.
I’m probably going to move away from these sorts of list videos. They’re fun to put together and they allow me to bounce around between all sorts of different games and genres, but they’re also incredibly time consuming. I’ve never done this channel for the views. I’d have stopped a long time ago if that were the case. Even so, I’d like to try my hand at subjects that have a better chance of sparking a conversation – focusing on individual mechanics, games, tends.
I’ve got several irons in the fire right now. My goal is to have more videos out this year than I’ve ever done before. That’s not a high bar, but considering my usual pace for these videos and the number of other things I’m also trying to do… well, I’m trying to push myself in a realistic way.
We watched Gilmore Girls – the rest of it. Join us as we recap our journey through seasons 2 – 7. If you missed it, here’s our discussion of season 1.
Gilmore Girls (Seasons 2 – 7)
Created by: Amy Sherman-Palladino Starring: Lauren Graham, Alexis Bledel, Melissa McCarthy, Keiko Agena, Yanic Truesdale, Scott Patterson, Kelly Bishop, Edward Herrmann Composer: Sam Phillips Executive Producers: Amy Sherman-Palladino, Daniel Palladino, Gavin Polone, David S. Rosenthal Original network: The WB (seasons 2 – 6); The CW (Season 7) Original release: 2001-2007
Does this sci-fi classic hold up in 2020? We discuss. Plus – hear Maggie’s reaction to seeing Alien for the first time.
Alien
Directed by: Ridley Scott Produced by: Gordon Carroll, David Giler, Walter Hill Screenplay by: Dan O’Bannon Edited by: Terry Rawlings Cinematography: Derek Vanlint Music by: Jerry Goldsmith Starring: Tom Skerritt, Sigourney Weaver, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton, John Hurt, Ian Holm, Yaphet Kotto Distributed by: 20th Century Fox
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