Episode #7: Death and Taxes?

AVoCADo GamesCast

https://avocadogamescast.files.wordpress.com/2016/09/podcast20720edit2013.mp3

Featuring:
Merve
Lord Stoneheart
PT
TheKappa

Editor:
TheKappa

Timestamps:
0:15 – Introductions
1:05 – What We’ve Been Playing
37:00 – Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
50:25 – Microtransactions and Small DLC
1:07:30 – Story DLC and Season Passes
1:23:00 – Standalone DLC, Spinoff Games, and Quasi-Sequels
1:29:05 – Terrible Spinoffs
1:31:25 – Slightly Better Spinoffs and Spinoffs of Spinoffs
1:38:40 – Challenge DLC and Super Bosses
1:43:50 – Fan-Created Mods
1:47:15 – Games that Feel Like Expansion Packs
1:51:45 – Memorable Video Game Deaths
2:19:20 – Cutscene Deaths versus In-Game Deaths
2:34:45 – Killing Characters
2:38:25 – Death in Video Games versus Other Media
2:48:20 – Silly Deaths
2:53:40 – Purchasing Games and Sales Tax

Download link: https://archive.org/details/avocadogamescast_ep7

Linkdump after the jump. This episode is spoiler-heavy, so spoiler warnings for each section of the recording are included in the linkdump.

Introductions (0:15)

• Music video for “Heart of Glass” by Blondie.

What We’ve Been Playing (1:05)

• Wii U e-shop page for Jotun: Valhalla Edition.
• Steam store page for The White March expansion for Pillars of Eternity.
• Wikipedia page for Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War.
• Steam store page for Regency Solitaire.
• We couldn’t find any official acknowledgment that the AI in Marvel Puzzle Quest was rubber-banded, but we did find a lot of forum threads complaining about it. Here’s one from the official D3 Go! forums.
• Steam store page for Faerie Solitaire.
• Steam store page for Cibele.
• Nina Freeman’s Twitter page.
• Steam store page for Final Fantasy XI.
• Steam store page for Her Story.
• Steam store page for Emily is Away. It’s free!
• E3 2013 trailer for Shin Megami Tensei IV. (Source: YouTube)
• voidcast’s guide for getting the neutral ending in SMT IV. (Source: GameFAQs)
• Launch trailer for Bravely Second: End Layer. (Source: Nintendo UK on YouTube)
• Nintendo’s official site for the 3DS’s StreetPass system.

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided (37:00)

• SPOILERS FOR DEUS EX: MANKIND DIVIDED
• Steam store page for Deus Ex: Mankind Divided.
• The Jimquisition on how Square Enix handled the Deus Ex franchise.

Microtransactions and Small DLC (50:25)

• SPOILERS FOR DEUS EX: MANKIND DIVIDED
• Trailer for Deus Ex: Mankind Divided’s Breach Mode. (Source: Xbox on YouTube)
• Downloadable content guide for Shin Megami Tensei IV. (Source: IGN)
• Guide for shortcut packs for Battlefield 3. (Source: IGN)
• Sebastian Haley of VentureBeat explores what $100 gets you in Mass Effect 3’s multiplayer mode.
• Overwatch loot box prices. (Source: IGN)
• Some criticism of Overwatch’s loot system. (Source: The Jimquisition)

Story DLC and Season Passes (1:07:30)

• SPOILERS FOR PILLARS OF ETERNITY, DISHONORED, MASS EFFECT 2, AND MASS EFFECT 3
• Difficulty settings in Pillars of Eternity. (Source: Pillars of Eternity Wiki on Gamepedia)
• Soulbound items in Pillars of Eternity. (Source: Pillars of Eternity Wiki on Gamepedia)
• DLC for Fallout 4. (Source: Wikipedia)
• Wikipedia article for Baldur’s Gate: Tales of the Sword Coast.
• DLC for Dragon Age II. (Source: Wikipedia)
• Information about free post-launch DLC for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. (Source: Gematsu)
• Trailer for Mass Effect 2’s Overlord DLC. (Source: Machinima on YouTube)
• Trailers for Dishonored DLC: The Knife of Dunwall and The Brigmore Witches. (Source: Machinima on YouTube)
• Voice cast information for Dishonored 2. (Source: PC Gamer)
• Trailers for Mass Effect 3 DLC: Citadel and Leviathan (Source: Mass Effect on YouTube)

Standalone DLC, Spinoff Games, and Quasi-Sequels (1:23:00)

• Steam store page for Wolfenstein: The Old Blood.
• Steam store page for Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon.
• Steam store pages for Half-Life: Blue Shift and Half-Life: Opposing Force.
• Trailers for Halo 3: ODST and Halo: Reach. (Sources: Machinima and IGN on YouTube)
• Trailer for Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse. (Source: AtlusUSA on YouTube)

Terrible Spinoffs (1:29:05)

• A list of Resident Evil games. Clarification: Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles and Umbrella Corps are different games. (Source: Wikipedia)
• Mortal Kombat action-adventure spin-offs. (Source: Wikipedia)

Slightly Better Spinoffs and Spinoffs of Spinoffs (1:31:25)

• The Assassin’s Creed Chronicles series. (Source: Wikipedia)
• According to Wikipedia, there are over 130 Mega Man games. Yikes.
• A let’s play of Mega Man X: Command Mission, the JRPG Mega Man spin-off. (Source: Turner4590 on YouTube)
• A playthrough of Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood. (Source: HellfirePlaythroughs on YouTube)
• Clarification: Game Dev Tycoon and Game Dev Story are two different games. (Source: Wikipedia)

Challenge DLC and Super Bosses (1:38:40)

• SPOILERS FOR STAR OCEAN: THE SECOND STORY
• Megami Tensei Wiki article about Ancient of Days. (Source: Wikia)
• Gabriel is the final boss of Star Ocean: The Second Story. His more powerful form is called Unlimited Gabriel. (Source: Star Ocean Wiki on Wikia)
• Fan-Created Mods (1:43:50)
• Website for fan game Red Alert: A Path Beyond.
• The Skyrim mod TheKappa was referring to is called The Dark Brotherhood Resurrection. (Source: Nexus Mods)

Games that Feel Like Expansion Packs (1:47:15)

• Trailer for Saints Row IV. (Source: GameNewsOfficial on YouTube)
• Let’s plays of BioShock 2 and its DLC, Minerva’s Den. (Source: ChristopherOdd on YouTube)

Memorable Video Game Deaths (1:51:45)

• SPOILERS FOR THE DARKNESS, FINAL FANTASY VI, FINAL FANTASY VII, FIRE EMBLEM: GENEALOGY OF THE HOLY WAR, RED DEAD REDEMPTION, L.A. NOIRE, THE LAST OF US, BIOSHOCK, AND FAR CRY 4
• The Jackie and Jenny on the couch scene from The Darkness.
• Saving Shadow in Final Fantasy VI. (Source: McTricky on YouTube)
• Saving Cid in Final Fantasy VI. (Source: lethihongchi on YouTube)
• General Leo’s death in Final Fantasy VI. (Source: The Gaming Mole on YouTube)
• Aerith’s Death in Final Fantasy VII. (Source: ウントアカ on YouTube)
• The end of Chapter 5 of Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War. (Source: Archayanami on YouTube)
• Wikipedia article on Om Shanti Om. The plot is even more ridiculous than Merve described.
• A comparison of a scene from the Swedish comedy Kopps and Akshay Kumar’s scene from Om Shanti Om. (Source: Raafic Yusuf on YouTube)
• An explanation of the Tommy Westphall Universe Hypothesis, which I’m sure all you St. Elsewhere fans love. (Source: PBS Idea Channel on Youtube)
• John Marston’s death scene in Red Dead Redemption. (Source: Ninja Bacon on YouTube)
• Jack Kelso’s first mission in L.A. Noire. (Source: GTA Series Videos on YouTube)
• Sarah’s death scene in The Last of Us. (Source: FusionZGamer on YouTube)
• Mufasa’s death scene in The Lion King. (Source: The Lion King on YouTube)
• Andrew Ryan’s death scene in BioShock. (Source: Shane Phillips on YouTube)
• Far Cry 4’s secret ending. (Source: imperfectplayers on YouTube)

Cutscene Deaths versus In-Game Deaths (2:19:20)

• SPOILERS FOR MASS EFFECT 2, TELLTALE’S GAME OF THRONES, TELLTALE’S THE WALKING DEAD, MASS EFFECT 3, DRAGON AGE: INQUISITION, DRAGON AGE: ORIGINS, AND MASS EFFECT 2
• Death of Kelly Chambers in Mass Effect 2. (Source: Knight on YouTube)
• Plot of episode 1 of Telltale’s Game of Thrones. (Source: Wikipedia)
• No matter whether you save Doug or Carley in Episode 1 of The Walking Dead, Lilly kills them at the end of Episode 3. (Source: The Walking Dead Wiki on Wikia)
• Sera leaving the Inquisition in Dragon Age: Inquisition. (Source: Teh Nazzy on YouTube)
• Zevran’s betrayal in Dragon Age: Origins. (Source: Endolem on YouTube)
• Dragon Age Wiki article on Morrigan’s Ritual. No demon babies on my watch! (Source: Wikia)
• Mass Effect 2 suicide mission guide. (Source: BioWare forums)
• Correction: Mordin wasn’t with the Salarian military, but the Special Tasks Group, which is more like the Citadel’s CIA. (Source: Mass Effect Wiki on Wikia)
• Lydia dying in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. (Source: Johnny Ma’boy on YouTube)

Killing Characters (2:34:45)

• SPOILERS FOR SPEC OPS: THE LINE
• Choosing which of the hanging men to kill in Spec Ops: The Line. (Source: Flounder Box on YouTube)
• Firing on the crowd in Spec Ops: The Line. (Source: Video Games Source on YouTube)

Death in Video Games versus Other Media (2:38:25)

• SPOILERS FOR STAR OCEAN: TILL THE END OF TIME, HALO: REACH, AND GEARS OF WAR 3
• Robert’sdeath in Star Ocean: Till the End of Time. (Source: BuffMaister on YouTube)
• “Bitter Dance” from the Star Ocean: Till the End of Time soundtrack. To quote YouTube user shadowagent, “Hey,sorry your dad just died,how about some mood killing phat beats while you go get your revenge?” (Source: HellProclaimer on YouTube)
• Dom’s death in Gears of War 3. (Source: WARF3RE on YouTube)

Silly Deaths (2:48:20)

• SPOILERS FOR COMMAND & CONQUER: RENEGADE
• The Devil Axe from the Fire Emblem series. (Source: Fire Emblem Wiki)
• The Mobius escort mission Command & Conquer: Renegade. (Source: Xelger)

Purchasing Games and Sales Tax (2:53:40)

• U.S. states without sales tax. South Dakota actually does have a sales tax. (Source: The Motley Fool)