LOL, Misty! It's @Eric Luna.

But I look forward to this. I'm going to listen to it first thing in the morning because I've got other things going on. :D

To be honest, I don't remember asking my question. I think it was an offhand reference to the Las Plagas parasite from Resident Evil 4, 5, and Damnation.

We've got quite a few of yours stockpiled! Trying to get to the oldest ones first... but feel free to keep 'em coming. ;)

• Betas I remember that I've played are Gears of War 3, Transformers Universe, and Destiny (but I only made a character and jumped a little before I had to leave...)
• By the way, I've been finding Destiny pretty damn lackluster personally: non-existent storytelling, bland as hell writing, monotonous campaign with no variation, lack of quality multiplayer integration, unbalanced PvP, etc.
  
• I find Early Access pretty sketchy honestly, since way too often on Steam, it's basically boiled down to "Pay money to do the testing that we don't want to!"
• OH MAN I REMEMBER PLAYSTATION UNDERGROUND. Those were so good for promoting games that I'd never have heard of otherwise.
• I would never pay for a beta. Forget that. It's ridiculous enough paying the amount of money we already do for "full games" that have campaigns that last like, 4 hours. Why would I pay for something that is acknowledged to be incomplete and, for most cases now, temporary? Not even for Kingdom Hearts III.
  
• If the parasite was like Iron Spider's legs and I could control it...I think I'd be ok with it >.>
• Still waiting on a proper Lilo & Stitch world, and I'd also want The Princess and the Frog, Frozen, Tangled, and...in my dreams....Gargoyles.
• OK REAL QUICK ON FROZEN: I'm just tired of hearing people talk about it, because it's almost always one or the other: "OVERRATED AND TRASH" or "PERFECT," and it's been really hard to find people lately who actually discuss what was done well or not done well in the film without taking into account other people's reception.
  
• My name is actually based on Ryu Hayabusa from NInja Gaiden, so good catch EVERYONE BUT MISTY :>
• Sorry Misty, I do not count the Omnitool. I specifically used the word "companion" to imply sentience. See me after class.
• For reference, my answer for a companion is: Bahamut from Final Fantasy X. HE'S A GOD DAMN DRAGON WHO FLIES AND CROSSES HIS ARMS.
  
• Someone please make a compilation of Misty's "blegh" sounds.

I actually don't see this too often to be quite honest. It more boils down that this is what the developer has finished for right now and is selling to you with a promise that more is coming. When a game is put up on Early Access is very much something that resembles an alpha or proof of concept. It's hardly feature or content complete, so it's not simply just getting people to pay to play test a game. I can't speak for every early access game obviously, but the ones that I have participated in wasn't really just selling a buggy game and hoping that people will catch bugs that they found in it(Though of course the games do have quite a few bugs in them at times!). It was selling a very early version of that game because A) Indie developers are professional poor. Selling early access to a game (which has a whole bunch of warnings about how it is an incomplete game and could change by the time of an official release) gives them money to basically just survive as well as finance their game. B) It is a good tool to use to try and build up hype for your game. It gives the chance of people talking about it beforehand and allow that to build in time for an official release.

There are certain games, I feel, benefit more from an Early Access model though. I mentioned this in the podcast but Minecraft is kinda the prime example of an Early Access success story (And I believe that it's success is what sparked many other developers trying the same model) and I think games that are in that survival/sandbox genre work really well for early access because you have these features or content that gets added into the game over time. Rust, DayZ, A Long Dark, The Forest, etc. all are, I think, are good examples of it done right. But I do think other genre's benefit from it. Action Henk, Crawl, Cannon Brawl, Gang Beast, Crypt of the Necrodancer all seem to be doing well under the model (I've been following the latter two for quite a long time now and seeing them evolve has been really cool to see). There are the occasional release that feel like Early Access really isn't benefiting the game much, like Black the Fall. In those cases it really feels like just a demo with it giving you access to the first level or two and that's it. (Because that is probably all that is finished at this point) Of course that is my opinion on it, but I feel like that would be a type of game where it would be better to just put out when done because the Early Access isn't really giving much to look forward too besides just new levels. There are of course risks involved with putting in money for an incomplete game, which if people aren't comfortable with that I totally understand. My general advice to wondering if they should buy an early access title or not is whether they would be fine parting with $10-$20 as it is NOW and be happy with what you got, knowing that you could potentially get more. For example I was completely fine throwing money down forBut I think it's a legitimate business model for the most part and I'm glad that Steam has made a section of their store dedicated to this and that MS and Sony are supporting it as well (Or well, I know at least Sony is as they've allowed games like Warframe, Blacklight, to be made available on their store despite being 'betas' and you have them talking about Loadout and DayZ hitting the PS4 as well but who knows if they will be the 'complete' game by then).

(Also yes, I included a Steam link to all the games I listed because I personally think that people should at least check them out :v)

EDIT: Huh, through look for links I discovered Cannon Brawl actually left Early Access and saw an official release about 2 weeks ago. Dunno how I missed that lol.

I will now become a regular questioner, like @Graxe so everyone will know @Eric Luna

Listening to this now.

Misty, I would have been more than happy to be a guest if you didn't have anyone. c:

I appretiate your concern. You are a kind soul. :)

Best idea. 10/10 , we need to petition this.

Atlantis: the Lost Empire would be a great world. I support it all the way!

I know! It's a crime.

I only really played a little bit of the beta but I'm not too surprised to see this sadly. It's a gorgeous game but it doesn't seem to be anything special beyond that. I'm actually kind of sad to say it because I had high hopes it would attract a lot of people into this gen of consoles but it doesn't seem to be the case!

I have a soft spot in my heart for Kingdom Hearts heh

I can't believe I forgot Princess & the Frog!

I feel like it's probably waaaay late but I'd love to do an episode about Frozen. I don't hate it, but I also don't love it so I feel like I could be good in that discussion heh.

"good catch everyone but misty" should be the new catchphrase for every podcast

sorry mr. hayabusa sir please don't give me detention

I have been making a lot of groans moans and bleghs all through the podcast lately lmao

Looks like I'm eating these virtual cookies alone tonight...

But anyway, curiously enough, the roster of games that my friend got in the class included Final Fantasy XIII, to which she mentioned that she and some of the class didn't react, well, positively to, lol. The class also will be exploring Elder Scrolls: Morrowind, Diablo II, Fable I&II, Knight's of the Old Republic, Skies of Arcadia, the very first Final Fantasy, and then some Japanese-only titles. I guess judging from this general list, I think it's pretty fair in terms of the balance between East and West.

Also, I quite enjoyed the Project Destati's Light (well, at least from the few songs and samples that I had heard). I seldom am a fan of fan covers and whatnot, but I'm impressed. Makes me wanna pick up my flute again and play, haha.

We'll have to have you on again to get the pronunciation down!

I'm surprised a bit at Fable on the list. I suppose it does have a lot from Arthurian legend and is interesting to talk about in that context. It's a good game I suppose. Not familiar with the sequel. SHOUTOUT FOR KOTOR AYYYYYYYY y'all thought i was just being a fangirl

I'm pretty sure it's Ah-neex-eh, though it's just a guess.

I think for me, the companion I would want is Tinkerbell. I mean, she gives you the ability to fly and she can heal you. I think that in the real world, it would "cure" you from any illness, so that would be super for me.