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Constellation, Episode 90 | Moriarty x Jaffe: On Video Games, Anxiety, and Negativity (Patreon)

Published:
2024-09-23 16:00:12
Edited:
2025-02-19 20:20:04
Imported:
2026-06
Tags:

Content

It's time for a 'very special' one-on-one episode of Constellation, Last Stand Media's conversational podcast. It's me, Colin. Joining me today is storied game designer David Jaffe for an intimate (no, not like that) three-ish hour chat about a variety of topics. We dwell a great deal on video games, of course, touching on Steam, Concord, Freedom Wars, Bloodborne, Dragon Age, and much more. We even get into more philosophical ideas like visionary game design, bad opening sequences, and more. As we're often wont to do, however, we also get much more personal and serious, opining about our respective childhoods and upbringing, relentless online negativity that's slowly chasing us offline, and how we deal with depression (and the anxiety that stems from it) in our lives. Please enjoy an unfocused -- but deep -- episode of Constellation.

Files

Comments

Black Detective in Dexter

I agree, Horizon is massively overrated and Aloy is a terrible character, especially in Forbidden West. She's incredibly unlikable. Also, once you solve the mystery in Zero Dawn of how the world ended up with robot dinosaurs roaming around, there's nothing left to keep you intrigued, because all the characters suck. I can only remember one character other than Aloy and that's Varl. And I only remember him because of his lame kill monger haircut and the fact he kept following Aloy around like a lost puppy and she was just trying to ditch him the whole time. It was cringe.

Max Stahl

Meta as fuck. 😏

Joe McPartlin

I was on r/gamingleaks or whatever it's called over the weekend and it's mind-blowing how many people have an opinion about Colin that know nothing about him or his history in the industry. "Look at this random podcaster clout chasing for clicks" like....what? At least the older crowd that admitted to not liking Colin's politics were defending his credibility as a veteran in Playstation coverage.

Walker Simmons

I refuse to believe that s grown man can't beat Astro bot when a lot of kids were beating crash bandicoot which is a much harder game. I think It comes down to attention span and willing to engage with the game rather than a design issue that needs ai adjustment. Or just too much weed slowing down your reaction time which I completely understand

FlynnTaggartGuy

The discourse around Dragon Age is really irritating to me, I just simply want to know how many people up and arms have played even one game in the series. Look at the cast of Inquisition, a game that surely did not earn GOTY status even fans of it would admit that, but mega diverse! Both racially and in sexuality. If it came out now we would be hearing all the same “DEI DEI DEI!” mania. Like Jaffe said there has to be a large swath of people that are too young to have the context. As we see even with social and political issues, bad actors incentivized to stir outrage have muddied genuine discussion to such a degree that using social media at all feels like wading through sewage regardless of political persuasion. In the first three games, we couldn’t even edit our character’s bodies at all. There are some (hilariously) abhorrent looking custom characters out there spawned from the previews, but jesus christ so many look amazing! Plenty of room for criticism don’t get me wrong most of the Qunari do look wacky, and of course I wish it was more overtly dark fantasy like Origins, but the vapid anti-woke outcry is quickly becoming both obvious and obnoxious puppetry en-masse.

TheWubbz

The Bloodborne speculation is fun, but for me, I’m nearly certain that it will be a PS6 launch title particularly because Miyazaki himself earlier this year mentioned hardware being part of the appeal of a remake. Demon souls took 2 generations. Bloodborne will be the same and guarantee the console sells

Zack

As the guy that works on cars every Monday through Friday, the content is much appreciated

Paul Bukoski

For Colin: Getting off the medication and feeling the anxiety is exactly what your mind needs to heal. Acceptance and patience will carry you beyond…be good to yourself and let the ups and down flow. It’s worth it I’ve been there. The healing will feel foreign just like the emotions…it’s like learning to walk again. It’s supposed to be uncomfortable

Simon Freeman

Ive said it before and I’ll say it again. You guys really do get me through the days in the warehouse. Whenever I’m stressed out I can wind down with one of the shows on lsm. All I got is love for everyone here.

king_ryan_james

Hi Colin, thank you for having these types of difficult conversations. I used to be on 100mg of Zoloft and I quit it cold turkey (which I would not recommend to anyone). I experienced brain zaps where I’d feel electrical zaps when I moved my head or eyes. After I got over the side effects of withdrawal from the drug, I was able to feel things again. While I was on the drug, I called it like being a zombie. Things bad and good could happen and I just wouldn’t care. I was totally apathetic to everything. Now I can experience joy and sadness, but I still have a real problem with ambition and expressing my emotions through words and feelings.

Brandon V

I’ll leave trans people alone when they leave society alone, jaffe. Good talk kthnxbye

Dante B

Great conversation. This is the speed of Jaffe I love. Not sterile, but not turned up to 11 either.

Adam Barnes

I don’t agree with Jaffe on much, but when I do I agree 100%. His take on Horizon is spot on

Adam Barnes

Colin you should try the carnivore diet. I’ve never felt better in my life than when I’m doing it

Chris Croteau

Have you ever considered discussing the possibility of having OCD with your mental health care provider, Colin? I have it and a lot of what you're describing is what experienced pre-diagnosis. Depression and anxiety are the top comorbidities for OCD. I hope I'm not off base here, just hate to hear what you're going through. OCD is very treatable even without meds, but they can play a part.

Meatball

I really enjoy these 1x1's, Colin. I know you said it's due to being stretched a bit thin, but they are some of my favorite content you create besides your interviews with interesting people around the industry. Thanks for all the hard work. ✌️

Rufián

Jaffe loves his pharmaceuticals. The left is the party of big pharma. Will pop anything that absolves them of personal responsibility. Drug addicts, degenerates.

Morgan

Yessss inject the Jaffe into my bloodstream!!

Bust In Furman

Regarding Jaffe's AI-driven adaptive difficulty idea; I think the main problem with this is not that it's AI-driven in particular, but simply that people don't want a game to invisibly tune itself according to their performance because that undermines the accomplishment of beating a part of a game. How would you know if you beat a boss because you performed better than the prior 10 times you failed at it, or because the game decided it was too difficult for you and adjusted how the boss fought you in ways that are hard discern? The only game I've played that had a kind of adaptive difficulty was Max Payne 3, where if you died a certain number of times at a given encounter, subsequent deaths would grant you an extra healing item over your previous attempt. I hated this feature, but at least the tuning was transparent. I could simply choose to not use the extra healing items it gave me. If a game tuned itself in other ways and I couldn't disable this feature, it would honestly stop me from playing the game entirely.

Tristan Kimball

I definitely don’t want any form of skill based matchmaking or automated difficulty adjustments in single player games. It’s bad enough in multiplayer games. People complain about it constantly. I actually can’t even play cod or Fortnite with my friend because he’s too fucking good and they only match us with people on his level.

Tom G

I think my issue with the dynamic difficulty conversation is that I’m looking for different experiences from each game. There are some games I grind out and try to defeat on the hardest difficulty and camp out on a boss for a week. Some games I just want to be able to experience the story and not be bogged down by an annoying skill-check boss because I’ll just drop the game. It depends where I’m at personally. Taking the difficulty out of the hands of the player would prevent that option.

Mitchell Sims

Colin said he knows other people have had a worse upbringings than them. My partner had fuel poured on her by her dad as a kid as he stood there with a match. Harrowing shit. I don’t think hard stuff like that can diminish anyone’s trauma. It was really captivating listening to jaffe and Colin talk about that. I think everyone has to work through their own shit. Life’s hard and it was nice to hear jaffe give Colin the space to just talk it out.

nicholas

Sounds like you guys both could use a bit of positivity. You guys are doing great love Jaffe as always. The genuine intellectual curiosity of both you guys is always fun to listen to.

Diddy’s Dong Quest

I love Jaffe but I don’t understand many of his takes. He says “Astro Bot failed to convey that these were challenge levels”. They’re not on the map! You have to go out of your way to unlock them by chasing the asteroids. That should telegraph that “hey, since these aren’t levels aren’t mandatory, they require a higher level of play”

Tom Hannay

JFC why does Jaffe troll Horizon so much, it's wearing pretty thin. He literally did his 'is it Alloy/Aloy' bit twice within two minutes at one point. Grown men don't shit on things other people like just to feel good about themselves.

Bartevious

SBMM in non ranked multiplayer games is essentially jaffes AI argument. It takes out feeling of progression. Being a dumb little kid and not being able to beat super monkey ball didn’t prevent from it being one of my favorite games.

The Rose Experience

I really enjoyed this from all aspects. Deep video game perspective and personal introspective.

Brandon V

Overcoming hardship and obstacles is how you build confidence in yourself, it’s how you grow as a person. It feels good to face a difficult task and beat it. Jaffes take on AI skill scaling is a perfect look into his mind, the mind of a deranged democrat who wants all the reward without any of the work. Yeah, make everything around you easier so that you never need to grow, you can stay in a perpetual state of childhood. Never acquiring the skills that come with challenge. Sad shit actually, and really explains his views on pretty much everything political

iain mcmanus

This was a fantastic episode. Jaffe was on point the entire time

Stray_Bullets

War and Peace by DOSTOEVSKY?? Come on guys. That’s Tolstoy.

Lucas Gremista

This great chat is an example of when someone that cares about you and your answer asks a simple question: “how are you?”

AngelOfCake

I'll always be in two minds about Jaffe's AI difficulty take. On one hand it would cheapen platinums a bit. If a hard platinum pops for someone, you know someone has achieved something. AI difficulty scaling would cheapen it a bit. On the other hand it would probably keep people engaged longer and broaden the appeal of games. Easing up some bits of Dark Souls on the fly for people probably would have brought Fromsoft the success they deserved sooner. It's not like the AI wouldn't scale the difficulty up for those wanting a greater challenge. On the gripping hand: My complaint is more of a community issue. *edit: also props to Colin talking about his struggling and Jaffe's doting fatherly advice. It gets hard for all of us. Don't isolate yourself, seek help from your peers and keep plugging away. It's the only way forward. The medication issue hits home for me. It preys at the back of my mind too. I've been on it since I was sixteen and the attempts to get off it have always ended in disaster. I'm never sure if the me on medication is the real me or a version that people just prefer.

Ryan

Saying sex appeal doesn’t really matter is CRAZY Colin. The First Descendant is a 6/10 gameplay wise.

Dead

Games already exist that get harder or easier for players based on how they’re doing. I believe RE4 famously did this 20 years ago.

NeO JD

Another solid ep. Really enjoyed the mental health section. Felt like a genuine conversation between friends. ❤️

Smegaladon

Just want to give some love to Jaffe! You sir are a hilarious man and I thoroughly enjoy your podcasts with Colin. I Will be signing up to your Patreon. FYI I’m a 35 yr old Australian construction manager and although I don’t agree with your political views, I think your cool as hell and I have massive respect for what you’ve done for the gaming industry. You’re the type of guy I’d love to have a beer and a laugh with. Much love to Colin also who’s hilarious aswell. Keep up the good work fellas!

Draven E.

I’ve avoided most coverage because I like Dragon Age and am going to play it either way. But isn’t there a bulge slider? Are we sure you can’t make attractive women? I assume if that’s an option there will be multiple options 😂🤷‍♂️

My wafflehouse hashbrowns

Hey , I’m that dude that drives 10 hours a day and having a podcast everyday really helps . Just thought I’d say ❤️ thanks guys

Vito Chiaramonte

Really good episode, related to Collin a lot on this one.

Context Should Matter

In a universe where you can polymorph in your fantasy setting why the fuck would you need chest scars when you could just change your physical appearance? Injecting your modern politics in a medieval fantasy game is dumb. And yes, it is politics.

Del Tor’ah

I genuinely don’t understand the discussion around Dragon Age. So there’s an *option* in character creator for breast removal scars…okay, and? Who cares? The counter-argument being that you can’t make massive tits is so childish and unintelligent, when most character creators give you preset options and have limits on sizes anyway. At some point you guys need to get over the fact that not everything is made specifically for the consumption of cis-het white men, just play the game or don’t, these are not real issues.

Kyle

The dragon age stuff is beyond repulsive to me. I get it, don’t like it, don’t use it, blah blah blah. But I’m sorry it’s just too much.

Guybrush Threepwood

Love this episode. Keep Jaffe contributions coming, please. I realize taht sounds wrong.

Benjamin Pope

Goddamm, I love Jaffe! The man's got the wisdom and the heart. Great episode!

Mark ?️

With Jaffe on AI, I think his argument misses the point that someone's 'vision' might just be what exists, and not some abstract difficulty set they have in their mind. Further to this, even if it was, the player knowing this will not feel the desired 'vision' or intention if they know some AI algorithm dumbed down the experience for them because they were incapable of completing it

Nicholas Cole

Game help can also be viewed on your phone through the app. Way more convenient.