Jared spends a lot of time talking about creator's intent and trying to build an aura around what the game is or is supposed to be, rather than talking about his own actual experiences. For somebody that puts so much energy into his descriptions, I think a lot of the particular aspects he praises are easy-to-access or, just generally, low hanging fruit. Yeah, the game obvious has a lot of unique NPCs, environments, scenarios, props, but this aspect of games feels built almost exclusively on manpower alone. I know there are a lot of different things to experience, I know it's going to be extremely detailed, but in light of our ongoing conversation about crunch in the workplace, I kinda wish Jared would ground his love for the game in vocabulary that isn't so steeped in admiration for a romanticized concept of the developer. Do I think Jared loves the game? Definitely, but I feel like his usual energy is being disrupted out of some personal stake of his to tell people that it's amazing.
I don't have a lot of interest in getting into a debate about the quality of Red Dead Redemption 2, but Jared's impressions struck me as either inauthentic or imprecise. I think a good moment that showcased this was when he basically interrupted Andy's comment about the game being best enjoyed in many-hour-chunks, rather than short bursts, and Jared clarified that it's a game to be played in "chapters, not missions." Which, to me, was just a euphemism of Andy's comment.
Speaking of Andy, I thought he and Kevin were lovely to listen to in the latest Gamescast. Both recalled their experiences through helpful comparison (comparing the shooting, controls, or button mapping to other contemporary games) and other resonant examples. Something I've realized I love about their time on the mic is that they rarely, if ever, shy away from saying exactly what they want, without trying to dress it up.
