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Call and Response: WOFF Dispatch (Patreon)

Published:
2025-01-16 01:59:29
Imported:
2026-06
Tags:

Content

Hellllllllooooooooooooo! The purpose of this post is to call for your questions and prompts for WOFF! Dispatch. Please respond by Monday, January 20th by leaving a comment on this post.

We're looking for two kinds of things:

  • Suggestions for our long-form discussion prompt.

  • Q&A about the shows, behind the scenes details, and miscellaneous (including off-the-wall and off-topic questions). Ask us about games or other media, life in general... You name it.

One caveat we've given in the past: If the question is too personal or gross, we may dance around it and not give a direct answer.

Looking forward to hearing from you!

Comments

Eric

What's each of your favorite little known bands you recommend to people when they're looking for music recommendations? Also, do either of you have any guilty pleasure bands you're afraid to admit? Mine is Supertramp.

Futz

I am a proud 'non-release order' enjoyer of abject suffering, please, settle a debate for me. Best cahotic hypothetical listening order of abject suffering: "alphabetical by game title' or 'sort by release date of discussed game'. Love the shows! Keep on keeping on

Zach Stewart

Gary! I would love to hear about any TTRPG groups you are in. Also if you are playing modules or campaign settings. During RLH when you talked about selling video games to get Council of the Wyrms. I traded in several GBA games at Babbages to get that exact book. My group never wanted to play a Dragon campaign - but 20+ years on maybe that is a good thing. Thanks for all your content.

Gavin Taylor-Black

If you were required to own a large cat (lion, tiger, lynx etc) because of a twist of fate what would it be and why?

Tamika

Has a line from pop culture or media ever embedded itself into your psyche? Just to give an example, in 2017 I listened to an episode of “Monster in My Podcast” on the Sea Lion. Gary’s joke about the real world sea lion, or an underwater dog dork as he called it, made me laugh so hard I still remember it 7 years later and giggle. Any similar experiences for you? And thanks for providing such great entertainment all these years!

Matt Laninovich

whats your favorite game thats the third in the series

Matthew Woodyard

They say that too much of a good thing is bad. Is there something in games or in a specific game that was good but there was just too much of it so it turned bad?

Billiam

What are some of your favorite micro-genres? After reading “Between Two Fires,” I realized I loved medieval times as a horror setting. I’m reading a story in an anthology called “Howls From the Dark Ages” about a monk who is making a church bell designed to sever people’s spiritual connections to Jesus Christ. It’s rad as hell! What are some of your favorite tiny genres and what works would you recommend?

Andrew K

I grew up with console and PC games. It wasn’t until I was an adult and had access to a free-play version of “The Twilight Zone” pinball machine at a work office that I fell in love and discovered just how damn fun _some_ pinball games can be. Fast forward to today, listening to the WOFF “Dispatch: Strategy Guides” episode and you guys are chatting a bit about pinball machines 😆 sounds like at the time, you had dabbled but not done a deep dive into the space. Any further pinball exposure since then? Any desire to do anything pinball related since? It’s a different enough medium, “no” seems like a reasonable answer, but I could also imagine something like a single episode/segment talking about the highs and lows of that medium and how any of it might relate to video games. (Oh, and obligatory shout out to “Next Level Pinball” here in the “greater PDX area”! Truly a magical place.)

Fermented-Sorcerer

Howdy! I just got a hold of a working ps2 and now I can engage in the ps2 and ps1 library with adult money! There's so much I never got to play when I was a kid and there's so much I did play that sucks now. I'm saving up to get copies of the King's Field series but other than that I'm not sure what to go for. The question I keep asking myself and the question I wanna ask y'all is this: With so many old games getting refitted onto new systems and emulation getting better Is it worth it to have original copies of retro games on their original consoles? Is there anything special about it? Is it worth all the damn money? Thank you for your time!

Steven Riddle

Gary, what made you move to Portland? I have been thinking about looking elsewhere to live but the anxiety of living in a new place, looking for work etc seems like a lot. I’m just curious what the challenges are of making such a big move.

Ross Karnes

A evil land developer wants to knock down the civic center, and to save it you need to find some way to make some cash. Serendipitously you see a poster for an underground charcuterie board competition. The compition is tough, but you have to win. What would you put on your board? Would you be avant-garde or classic? Would you lean in to salty-sweet or fatty-acidic? Would you tell a story with your plate, or delight in the abstract?

Chris Saunders

Gary, Im potentially heading down to Vegas and the surrounding area. I’m hoping to check out the grocery store you’ve talked about in the past. Is there anything else in the area you really recommend? Do you have any nearby national parks you’d recommend over others? If you’ve been, is Zion as cool as new Vegas made it look or would should I skip it (getting reservations appears to be impossible!)

Chris Saunders

Kole, you are a bit of an enigma, but I know you love cats. What silly names do you have for your cats? Our youngest, Genny (short for Genesse) is also known as “Bean bean, rasputine, lover of the Russian queen”. So you have anything equally silly for your fluffy friends?

Joseph

You're doing long-form shows on both Baldur's Gate 3 and Soulsborne games. How do you compare the pros and cons of their narrative styles? You've talked about From's 70/30 known/unknown split, while BG3 and The Forgotten Realms have more lore than you can shake a stick at. I think the two styles lend themselves to very different types of community involvement. Personally, I feel more at home in The Forgotten Realms. There are lots of detailed stories, and I can homebrew any additional details I want and have them weigh as much as canon. For Soulsbornes, I often wonder: If I knew 100% of what was canonically going on, how good a story would it actually be? And it doesn't feel like I'm as encouraged to author my own tales in Miyazaki's worlds, but rather to observe and make connections.

Ben Green

Hey guys! Happy new year. Have either of you seen Nosferatu? I enjoyed it and it's great to see Robert Eggers keeping up his batting average. From the way you've spoken about your love of cosmic horror, I wondered if you saw any parallels? We've got raving occultist madmen, dream infiltration and power beyond our understanding. I also really loved that Nosferatu isn't a sexy vampire, but had an attractive force regardless. For someone who doesn't know too much about Lovecraft other than the standard tropes, this seems to tick a lot of the boxes. Is there much crossover with gothic and lovecraftian horror?

Ben Green

As part of the listener feedback questionnaire you asked for short game recommendations. Having head how much you enjoyed Superluminal and optical illusions, I'd like to recommend Viewfinder. It's a real snack of a game, and I'm surprised it didn't get more praise than it did. Feel free to throw this recommendation in the bin, but I think you'd both enjoy it. Love the network, keep up the good work.

Jason!

What gear does Gary use with his band? Specific keyboard/synth/effects

Abe

Hey guys! Just wondering if Gary’s Elden Ring troll has popped back up to harass him since the Cyberpunk episode included discussion of some nonfunctional quests ;)

Cat Kelly

What's the best way to eat eggs? And if you don't like eggs, what's the best way to not eat eggs?

Chris Rossdale

Hey guys! Listening to you was a big part of inspiring me to get into the Souls games, but was also part of inspiring me to get cats. Both of these have obviously improved my life, but cats do not mix well with games without a proper pause function. They sense my tension, and have a tendency to climb or jump on me just when things are heating up. I've chalked up a lot of cat-related deaths on Soulsborne games. How do your little ones fit in with your gaming?

aidan.j

Do either of you have any thoughts on the concept of “Death of the Author”? Can art ever truly be separated from its artist, and belong solely to the audience after release? Is there an ethical way to purchase, consume, or otherwise engage with art created by a monstrous individual? Signed, someone who purchased an expensive set of “The Sandman” a month ago and feels really raw about it now.

James Bryfogle

Hey guys! I’ve been catching up on RLH now that I’ve gotten around to starting Baldur’s Gate 3 and I loved your discussion on legacy dungeons you had during your Act 2 coverage. I was curious to hear your thoughts on the intersection of more level based Immersive Sim games and legacy dungeons. While there are more standout traditional legacy dungeon levels (i.e. Clockwork Mansion in Dishonored 2 or Sapienza in Hitman), the structure of these games seems to lead to more of an “oops all legacy dungeons” format, is there a differentiation in those style of games that you can point to where you say this is a legacy dungeon while this isn’t? Thanks for all the great content over the years!

Naveen Sivakumar

We’re going through a deep freeze in my neck of the woods, which is a great excuse for me to go goblin mode and get deep into some games. What are some games that you like to pair with inclement weather outside?

Andrew LeBlanc

I find myself playing/enjoying more short or simple games. I love complex games like Paradox studios games, and was playing Civilization 1, and had civ 1 strategy books even, before civ 2 even came out. But now I lean more towards shorter and simpler games, for example vampire survivors or balatro or into the breach. Or if I play a longer or more complex game, I feel no shame stopping and never touching it again after only experiencing like 30% of what the game has to offer. Do you find the same or hear others have a similar story? Why is it? Is it because there are more good games, more games in total (both in terms of the total catalog of games over the years and games coming out month to month)? There has also been some dialog lately about long games and how people can't even realistically play all the subset of games that are good and long (like Diablo IV, bgiii, and other great but long games) Is it the responsibility of adult life? Is it our minds are not as tuned or as sharp as they used to be (I'm 40). I also think part of it for me is that I used to play games, partly, as escapism. When I was younger I didn't have as much control over my life and what life I had was not that great, and certainly nowhere near as good as it is today. I love games and will never stop playing, but I also love so many other aspects of my life I do wonder if the escapism nature of my game playing is no longer there. Would love to hear if this is your experience or a common experience you have heard. Thanks for all your great content

Christian S

What are some other games that you think could support the highly detailed, area-by-area coverage of Real Lich Hours or Bonfireside Chat?

Jordan and Maya M.

If you had unlimited time, creative energy, and guaranteed success with a creative endeavor, what would be your dream project to work on or bring into the world?

Alistair Cunningham-Gray

When I was 14, I was walking down the street when someone threw a sausage supper at me from a passing car. This event will never be explained. Why did they do this? Did something about me invite such a bizarre act? Was this a serial food flinger, or just someone who let the intrusive thoughts win and then had no lunch? Has anything completely unexpected happened to you that you’ll never be able to get more information on that still sits with you? Love the shows and all the effort you guys put in for us. FYI sausage supper = deep fried battered sausages and fries the size of a big toe. Disgusting and a disgrace to my country. Ali in Scotland.

JQ

Hey, Gary and Kole! To piggyback off of a comment Gary made on I believe October's Dispatch about not minding looking up puzzle solutions after a time I'm curious what your threshold actually is. It would make sense if it depends on the game but I just finished The Rise of the Golden Idol and while I enjoyed it a lot I did encounter more moments of frustration than I would have liked. I would consider myself a middle of the pack when it comes to thinking outside of the box at times and while I really liked solving the mini puzzles within the level when it came to the end of the chapter meta puzzle more often than not I found myself brute forcing words into the Mad Lib solution box until I either got the "hey you're close!" notification or just gave up completely and looked up the answer. It didn't help that most solutions are probably the 4th or 5th most logical one when presented with all of the clues and it makes me wonder if the devs really expected incredibly abstract thinking for all of their big puzzles. Bottom line is I think my threshold is about 10 minutes of attempts before I'm ready to move on to the next part of a game, probably a similar reason for me not liking trying bosses in Souls-like games for hours just to learn patterns (gimme that Mimic Tear, baby!). On a side note you could have a gun to my cat's head and I still couldn't tell you what the symbols on the Golden Idol do (sorry, Shea). Love the show and keep up the good work!

Videogames dot Afghanistan

Lightning round: Gary do you still watch porno now that you are a married man? I learned about dog fart via yr erotic musings, and wonder if now I'll miss out on future hentai hi jinx. Kole, can you pull through on this one for me? Topic question: Hi fellas, how much information should be hidden from players? You had a recent episode where you mentioned you didn't like the friend's checklist stuff , sorry forget the game, but made me think of the suicide mission stuff in Mass Effect 2, where you did things but there was no stat or variable to track to see what was going to happen, or the infamous XP system in the original Kid Icarus (gamefaqs has an explanation and it's wild) So black box secret variables or let people know whats happening so they dont waste time?

nobody important

Possible long topic suggestion: the evolution of boss fights. FromSoft seems to have set a standard that many want to follow, multi-phase encounters with pattern memorization and cinematics. Is this progress? Are there other ways to develop interesting boss fights? Do games always need bosses? (Or if you like, do single player action and adventure games need them?)

Shelby Jordan

Hey y’all! I was talking to my fiance recently about open world games and how I feel like there’s a line we’re starting to cross between a good amount of content and egregious bloat. He disagreed completely and while thinking about it again, I got curious about what your thoughts were on that. I enjoy getting my moneys worth out of a game, but I feel like thousands of collectibles that were obviously not intended to be hunted down and placed without real consideration errs closer to the end of bloat than it does meaningful content. What are your thoughts?

trent allen

You guys have often talked about the all too common "power" or "ruling the world" being incredibly boring motivations for villains. So what are some of your favorite villain motivations in games or other mediums? I'm quite partial to HunterXHunter's Mereum who starts at "ruling the world is my birthright" and ends at "I just wanna play a board game with this lady I like", but maybe that's cheating as the entire character seems to be a critique on paper thin villains (he literally looks like Frieza and Cell had a baby).

Béa(u)

There was a lot of slack talk this week about critical stances and the make up of taste and high vs low brow canon yadda yadda, and I think it all came down to a concensus swim in your own soup and don't spit in other people's pots, but I was wondering, as pretty serious critics, and I would even say accomplished amateur historian/scholars, yourselves, do you place a lot of value in having a working contextual framework in your own work or that of other games people you respect? Knowing how much you respond to Tom Francis' work as a learned designer with a broad understanding of games design, or gush for the vast encyclopedic knowledge of a Kurt Kalata type in the critical sphere, I thought it would be interesting to hear how you bake that into your own maths on how you respond to critics/designers? Thanks!

Fringleton

Hey y'all, I have a question. While listening to RLH I've several times gotten the urge to try and get through bg3 and each time I've failed (most recently I only got up to the Thorm fight). I don't know why, I have tons of fun playing the game up until some point where I put it down for the day and just lose all desire to boot it back up and get finish it. My question is this: do either of you have a game like this, where you can't seem to finish it despite enjoying it a lot while playing?

Zapped to the Past

Gary, I may have missed this, but listening to some old episodes, I wondered if you ever watched Lars and the Real Girl? My name's Adrian, by the way, not ZttP.

Dylan Kilby

Hi guys - you've had cool conversations and episodes about your favorite 7/10 games. Do you have any favorite 5/10 games? What potentially "bad" or totally middling games on a zoomed-out level do you still think do cool things or pushed in the industry in a good way? Are any of them worth playing for that cool thing? Thanks for the great start to the year!

Matt DiTomaso

I know we all like to dunk on Elon Musk around here. Have either of you paid attention to him showing his whole ass pretending to be "one of the top path of exile players in the world"?

Limowreck

Did either of you see the Shadow of the Erdtree bingo run or the hitless boss rush played with a saxaphone at the recent GDQ? Do you like these kinds of spices of difference in engaging with a game? (I enjoyed both of these but also realize the potential lack of spare time either of you might have even if interested. In case you're not familiar with the Bingo it's to speed runners racing to complete different types of objectives on the same 5x5 grid to achieve a "bingo" but like connect 4 rules where they can block each other. If no bingo then first one to 13 squares wins.)

Jacob Meeks

Hey Gary and Kole, I recently went through a pretty significant break-up that quite honestly caught me very off guard, and in the aftermath I have started listening to Abject Suffering from the beginning again as a comfort. Thank you guys for all the laughs and positive memories. My question is, what advice would you both offer to someone who is struggling to come to terms with a significant break-up? I know everyone processes everything differently, but you both have offered a lot of great advice on things before and hearing your input on this would really help me out. Thanks for being you!

Holland Hume

Except for a seven month break in between the main game and SotE, in March you guys will have been covering Elden Ring for THREE YEARS! Are you starting to feel burnout or is it still compelling? I ask partly because my friends and I are currently starting our third coop campaign in a row. Before we used to try all sorts of games but now all we play is Elden Ring (happily, I should add). What does life after Elden Ring look like? Is there a point where you feel that you’ll put it away for good, or do you think it’s a title you’ll always return to in your life regardless of doing it for a show or not?

Eric M

Are there any pieces of media that have undergone a cultural evolution and are now considered “problematic” (or adjacent) that you still can’t help but enjoy?

duckfeedtv
>>161607506

That's my b, friend. I go by Patreon username when I'm filling out the Google Sheet for the dispatch episodes. If you sign your posts, I'll credit to the name at the bottom. --Gwen