The new Game Club begins! Join us and Area 5’s Matt Chandronait as we discuss the first two chapters of Rockstar’s Bully. We give our general thoughts on the game, as well as pick out the highlights of our unique experiences thus far. And for next week’s show, please play through chapter 3! Enjoy!
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To purchase Bully from Amazon please go here.
I started off not skipping any classes and have now basically finished school. This will make a lot of the missions easier I think. I like the fact there’s not a gun to be found but somehow I still feel like a bad-ass.
Getting class over with is the way to do it IMO.
Also I have to mention, the best mission I find is the one where you are fending off the greasers on the bike. It reminded me of the one mission in GTA SA where you have to fend off the russians on the back of big smokes bike. It even cuts to small cinematics like that mission when you hit a ramp.
Everything in bully seems like a toned down version of a GTA game, and because of that the character is more human.
Sadly I am already up to Chapter 3 but want to play more. Think i’ll do all the jobs and side missions I can find. I like how cool it looks when the Winter comes. The Christmas night think is cool as well. One tip (for the people not up to Winter yet) you can pick as many flowers as you want in front of the girls dorm room. When Winter comes they’re all dead though. Also, I keep forgetting I have the skate board so have found myself running everywhere (until I got a BMX that was). Some of the rides at the carnival are very cool. Kind of wish GTA4 had that park open, that would have been cool.
I’m up to about 21% playing on Vista, and I haven’t had any of the problems Arthur claimed of… Anyone else have those problems?
Another tip. I always save my game (in the principals office upstairs in the school’s main building) before the english and shop classes. The English classes usually take me a couple times before I get a passing grade and the shop class seems to be hit-or-miss when you have to make the circular motions with the analog stick. Saving your game right before class comes in handy if you screw up in and don’t want to wait another couple days before the next attempt.
Obviously the sooner in the game you finish all the classes, the easier the rest of the progress will go, and you can ditch class and spend that time doing missions, jobs and exploration instead.
Finally, for people lagging behind, try to smash all the pumpkins during the halloween portion of the game. You can spend as much time as you want as in-game time basically stops, and you get a neat reward for doing so.
I believe the pumpkins you didn’t smash get moved to the basement after Halloween. I found them during the final mission of Chapter 2.
Wish I was playing along with this one. Never finished this and would be down for getting back to it, just need to get my RRODed 360 back first. But I’ve done the first part and am enjoying the discussion so far. Hopefully I’ll be able to get my 360 back and follow along the coming weeks.
i am having severe problems.
i bought PC version from the classifieds (mistake?).
running vista 64, and after umpteen attempts with settings and driver modifications,
i can’t even get past the first meeting with the principal…
it sits and says “loading” forever.
and about every half an hour or so, it will flash a white screen,
then go back to “loading” screen.
i am giving up, unless someone has a magic bullet.
Compatibility mode seems to be working for a lot of people but I also found that memory can be an issue. The only way I could get it to work was by going into MSCONFIG and setting max memory (it’s in the advanced settings under the boot tab) to 2000. Hope that helps - it’s a great game and be a shame if you missed out because of tech issues.
Thanks for that bit of advice… I had the endless loading problem along with missing textures/geometry, and reducing the max memory from my normal 6gb to 2gb using MSCONFIG worked great.
It seems to work on older GFX cards. I played up to chapter 2 with an nVidia 7600GT 256mb (as my 8800 died) on Vista 64 and it ran perfectly, no crashes or graphic glitches. I think i was using 801.?? drivers. I recently purchased an nVidia 260GTX 896mb and im getting crazy graphics glitches, tried turning off shadows and other recommended tricks but can’t fix the problem. I’m using the latest 802.08 drivers. It can run Crysis on very high, so thats something!
I found this, made me laugh.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_8202N5yzQ
If your playing on the 360 and are having a hard time in biology because the cursor moves to slow, move both thumbsticks on the 360 controller. If you use them both, the cursor moves around faster. It’s a little odd at first, but you’ll get used to it. It helps when your placing the pins, using the magnifying glass, and placing objects on the glass tray.
I am on vista 64. Make sure you are running the game in compatibility mode and as administrator. I had one crash so far at the very beginning, but I am up to chapter 3 now and not a single issue since then.
@ray & henry
thanks for the advice.
i have been running in compatability mode, but not as admin or with msconfig tweaks.
i’ll give ‘em a shot.
cheers!
I’m currently near the end of Chapter 3, it’s my second time playing the game having completed it on PS2 a couple of years back. I’m really enjoying the game, there’s a tonne of things I’d forgotten about the game which I really enjoy. The music is great, the characters are fun and interesting. I think it just has a really great atmosphere, it’s nice to play a GTA-esque game that doesn’t take itself too seriously.
Random aside here, I don’t know about anyone else but this game has turned me into a massive achievement whore. I normally don’t care too much about achievements, I unlock what I can but I don’t go out of my way to get 1000 points. For some reason though with Bully the achievements have completely sucked me in, I’ve found myself playing for hours at a time without ever doing a single class or mission. I kicked the soccer ball a couple of hundred times in one sitting, I spent an hour doing the carnival games over and over, did all the paperboy missions straight off. I really don’t know what it is, the last game that had a similar effect on me was Crackdown.
Early on I skipped over Gameclub, but now I’m glad I started listening. Another great podcast. I think I may even order up a copy of Bully to try to play along.
Star Wars Galaxies was an amaizng mmorpg back in the day when it had such potential due to the design of the game. However SOE ruined it with the CU and NGE in 2005 where they changed the game totally and pissing off all the player base so everyone left and now the games dead.
Don’t fucking play Galaxies and don’t give SOE your money.
They ruined…
- Planetside
- Everquest
- Star wars Galaxies
All amazing mmorpgs with great ideas but SOE ruined them with dumb patches and never rolled back or admitted they were wrong.
Also WoW fucking sucks :\ Has done ever since they killed World PvP and I always find it funny how you can’t fight over contested territory. Like get rid of battlegrounds and put in like keeps in contested territory to bring back world PVP.
Also WoW is too fucking easy where everyone and their mum has purples now….. like mmorpg Easy mode or what theres no penalty for death. In EVE Online when I die I lose everything on me and I’m scared of death. Thats how all mmorpgs should be to make things exciting.
So every game should be the way you like it because you know best. I see clearly now! (the rain has gone, couldn’t help myself).
I think you should shut your face. I kidd, I’m just horribly hungover which is not a good thing to be when your at work.
P.S: Rebel FM makes me fell warm and fuzzy inside. ^_^ (could just be the alcohol coming back up though)
I forgot who said that Bully looks bad on the PS2, but I just have to say I disagree. I haven’t played the scholarship edition, but even so I think that the PS2 version of this game still looks good. Then again this is one of my favorite games so I could be a bit biased.
Did anyone else notice that if you have the kiss bonus when you box, that it carries on into the boxing ring?
And it seems to be one of the best looking Wii games. As sad as that sounds.
If you look closely, you can see an earlier version of the random pedestrian AI found in GTA IV. Students will start fights, strike up conversations with each other, make-out, and even puke their guts out without any help from Jimmy.
The game also keeps track of which girls you make-out with. I found this out the hard way - after I helped Beatrice get her diary back, we were kissing in the hallway and another girl I had previously kissed got jealous and kicked me in the balls. Now I always make sure the coast is clear before getting a health boost.
Yeah, except it seems more interesting in Bully. I think it’s due to the smaller cast of characters. All the kids are unique. They also never die. So when I see Cristie beat the shit out of Beatrice for kissing me, it’s not random pedestrian attacks. I also think that students have routines and locations to be found in the various chapters.. except maybe Gary and Petey, I can’t ever see them roaming around, but everyone else I have seen.
I really would rather have another Bully than another GTA game. I like the smaller scale and more focused nature of Bully. The side-quests still seem to matter some, and Jimmy isn’t a mass murderer. His personality also fits with player actions, and the story and game give potential reasons for why you would, say want to beat up a nerd, or a jock.
I would go out on a limb and say that Bully is pretty much the anti-GTA:SA. None of the giant open world, full of the gang territories or a 60 hour long story that is extremely difficult to complete.
I also found myself being more absorbed in the world of Bully than most games. As I had some guy talk shit at me, he wasn’t even attacking me or hindering me… I kicked the shit out of him and then did a bully-finisher for it. To teach him a lesson he will probably never learn, but it felt right at the time.
I have also stripped down to my underwear, hopped on the Skateboard and rode around inside the school. Which is just humorous to do.
Bully also is great for making sure that melee never becomes totally obsolete, but you can still try and kick ass using the weapons instead. I really wish GTA IV had done the same, after all the talk and learning it’s melee combat system, only to have it replaced with pistols after maybe 2 or 3 hours of playing. In Bully, the slingshot and firecrackers don’t replace the fisticuffs, they supplement the fine art of kneeing people in the balls.
I found that in this game using anything else besides your fists, is usually not a good idea. The stink bombs, itching powder, eggs, and marbles all do the same thing. While the fire crackers usually end up hurting you as well as your enemy. In the end fists is usually the way to go.
I also stripped down to my underwear as soon as possible. In fact, I haven’t worn pants the entire game.
Eh, didn’t really appreciate the ‘fat’ talk, especially when Gallegos isn’t exactly fit. : \
C’mon i acknowledge im a fatty all the time. im the reason we had to ban eating snacks on the show!
I thought it was the funniest part of the show. And I have nothing against fat people.
I know, it just made we want to run some laps.
I find it hilarious how the only people who can do a fetch quest right is Rockstar.
Bethesda and other companies predominately focus on RPG’s take note, Rockstar knows what you need to do to make your games better.
Rockstar should make an RPG, I feel they are the company that can bring something never seen to that genre, which the genre desperately needs.
And now for some disjointed comments:
In response to comments on the show, I honestly didn’t need a FAQ for most of the game for two reasons:
1. I had already completed it on the PS2, albiet not 100%;
2. Thanks to the additional classes (of which there are four, not just Biology and Music as Phil repeatedly said,) I was able to max out Geography to the point where every single collectible was explicitly shown to me on the map. Which made it super easy to unlock the rubber band ball which is hilariously overpowered.
Reading back a sentence I just typed made the game sound like an RPG, in that you can grind classes to unlock cool shit to make the game easier, as some people have already done. Although I still say getting the moped ASAP is better than the bikes are for lazy people, since you only have to hold the button down.
There is one thing worth doing just so it isn’t tedious later on if you’re going for 100%. That is, trouble and deliberately get caught so that you have to do all the detention punishments, which are essentially mowing lawns without pay. You do get prison clothing though.
I think CoC has turned a few gameclub members into total masochists. They know there’s a perfectly simple, easy accisible, bug free version out there.
But noooo.
Before the next round of voting, it’d probably be handy to have a list at hand of famous games that are also bug infested pits of frustration.
Lets make sure Arthur and Matt can continue their state of joy.
Helpful stuff:
- Use a controller.
- Use the ingame map if you can’t find your way.
- There are 4 clothing stores in the game. One on campus, one only selling preppy clothes, two more that have a wide selection of outfits.
- If you didn’t smash all the tombstones & pumpkins during halloween for the bonus items, you can still do that by smashing them in the storage below the school.
- During sneaking missions in the girl dorm, hide in the closet until the teacher goes downstairs and the coast is completely clear.
- Smashing Garden Gnomes is also in the original version on the game. It just isn’t a mission, but a collectible thing like the Goblins & Grottos cards and the rubber bands.
- Knee to the groin move is even more effective then leg-sweep.
- The sidegame in the boxing club (only at a certain time, beat 5 opponents, don’t stop at 4) is useful. It’ll boost your punching power.
Helping the podcast, the story missions by name (to avoid/minimise spoilers) for chapters 1 to 3 in order are:
1. Welcome to Bullworth
2. This Is Your School
3. Get To Class
4. The Setup
5. The Slingshot
6. A Little Help
7. Save Algie
8. Defend Bucky
9. That Bitch
10. The Candidate
11. Halloween
12. Help Gary
13. Russell In The Hole
1. Last Minute Shopping
2. Hattrick vs Galloway
3. Prep Challenge
4. The Eggs
5. Movie Tickets
6. Carnival Date
7. Race The Vale
8. Beach Rumble
9. Tad’s House
10. Boxing Challenge
11. Dishonorable Fight
1. Jealous Johnny
2. Christmas Is Here
3. Bait
4. Tagging
5. Wrong Part Of Town
6. Lola’s Race
7. Tenements
8. Rumble
9. Fighting Johnny Vincent
Impressions:
Too bad you guys have to rush through, you’re missing so much, a lot of it leading to frustrations or misunderstandings that are a detriment to your experience.
(Like Arthur never even thinking of pulling up the map to see how he can easily go to the carnival and just coming across as a needing some cheese to go with his whine because of it.)
Isn’t the newspaper delivery mission for money just awesome?
Yet another thing that is just the right sort of simple-ness that makes it entertaining without being too complex or too throwaway.
The cartraces at the carnival were fun. Finishing them and unlucking streetraces with the carts was even better.
(absolute best is when you can unlock the cart in chapter 5 for personal use)
Now we’re also starting to get into a diffirent sort of territory as Jimmy gets to deal more with the adults in the side missions. And there are some surprises here. The english teacher turns out to be surprising sympathetic, the coach will take a very unsettling turn, the math teacher was a complete surprise. The lunch lady just becomes more & more grotesque all the way into going just a bit too far perhaps.
GTA games always had incredible world designers. Even in San Andreas there were this little special spots in even the remotest locations. But Rockstar North’s mission designers absolutely suck and never make as good a use of the world they’re given to work in. The other Rockstar studios have done better by a wide margin. There are tons of neat spots in Bully and there’s always something special to find there. From a weapon pickup, a collectible, a unique item or even a side mission.
There’s always something, emphasised even more by having the left/right on the d-pad to see which story and side missions are available at this time.
If anyone’s on the podcast has played Persona 3 it might be intruiging to put it next to this game and look. The way the authority vs. freedom works in each game and compare the protagonists. Like Jimmy doing what he thinks is right, or the main character in P3 just telling people what they want to hear.
Ah, the nerds. What is the first thing a person does when he finds himself at the bottom of the social ladder? He finds another one even lower to kick on. It’s cool that the game recognises that any clique is a bunch of viscious bastards, including losers, neds, stoneheads & outsiders.
Like GFW. “A roleplaying GTA server open to whomever wants to play? Goddamn nerds deserve anything we do to them for being lower on the nerd chart then us.”
Just a suggestion for the next game to play through: Hitman blood money ( The latest one and the best of the series ). That game could generate some great discussions on the different ways you guys overcome the various obstacles in the levels, as there is a lot of freedom to complete the missions…
Seconded. Although it is a little early to be suggesting games for next time. Going to pick up my copy during lunch so I should be caught up for next week. I’m glad you guys are still doing game club. Keep up the good work.
I would submit S.T.A.L.K.E.R. or S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Clear Skies. Or I’d say a lesser used MMO.
They already played S.T.A.L.K.E.R. on Backlog ages ago. If you want to play it with them i’m sure you could find those old 1up podcasts on the internet somewhere
A Hitman Game would be a good choice. The multiple ways to do missions would lead to a good discussion.
Here are some more options. They are available on Steam and on 2 or 3 other consoles. And are “B” titles that seemed to get lost in the shuffle.
Clive Barker’s: Jericho
Dark Sector
Driver: Parallel Lines
FarCry
Gun
Kane & Lynch: Deadmen
Lost Planet
Prey
Saint’s Row 2
Second Sight
I’m a huge Clive Barker fan, but would you really subject the RebelFM audience to Jericho?
I am really enjoying Bully.
I am a little late to the gameclub this time. Since Bully for the Wii was next to impossible to find in my area. Thanks to Mitch Dyer for the Canadian Amazon links.
And while it has its problems, I think it was the version to get.
I skipped it in the past because I didn’t think that the story would really motivate me forward. And while the story is fun, I don’t think that there is enough of it.
I like Gary as a villain, but his betrayal seemed a little too early in the story to hold any real emotional impact.
Also, I find it odd that I feel worse about bullying another student in Bully, then I do about shooting a pedestrian point-blank in the face with a shotgun in GTA4.
Personally I love starting fights with random people. And if I see someone next to a trash can or locker, they are going there no question.
Have you noticed that the insult button is context sensitive? When I walked up to a guy who was shoving a girl and pressed the button Jimmy said “leave her alone!” Then when I drove him off and asked the girl out, she refused, so I insulted her and Jimmy said something along the lines of “I never liked you anyway!” Then I smacked her.
Great episode! but as a Mormon myself i cried a bit at 20 min in
haha, love the show.
If you want to know how messed up public schools are in the UK (public schools are what Americans call private schools). Ask John Davison the rules to soggy biscuit since he sounds about the right demographic.
aka “creamy cookie” (sic)
I was just wondering what do the new classes add to the game. I understand that Geography makes it so that you can find hidden items, but what does maths, music, and biology do?
More clothes.
I went to boarding school for 2 1/2 years (I was kicked out halfway through my 3rd year: Just like Jimmy!) so it’s interesting to see how this game portrays that setting. There really is a whole lot of dumb attempts at establishing male dominance and a hell of a lot of hazing, but it’s not as bad as it’s made out to be in this game. I found it funny that you can take the fire extinguisher from the dorm and spray people with it, as that happened almost every night during my stay at boarding school. As for cliques, in my experience they would be the jocks, the stoners, the nerds, the ghetto wannabes and the Koreans. Everyone’s a preppy whether they admit it or not. Speaking of stoners, it’s hard to make in accurate portrayal of boarding school that doesn’t feature drugs. Or sex for that matter.
As for the game itself, did anyone else swim out to the island in the lake? On the south side there’s a beach where you’ll find a guy dressed like a pirate, and if you beat him up you unlock a pirate hat and eye patch. I thought it was pretty cool to have that hidden there. I’ve been searching the world, but so far I haven’t found any other secrets like that.
I played a little Bully on PS2 before going off to college and I took my launch 360 (which I still have) and I left the PS2 for my little brother. So I was extremely excited when Scholarship Edition came out. I 100% completed the game in all of about 3 days. The atmosphere is what really drew me in, and like Phil, I would say it’s my favorite Rockstar game.
One thing that’s quirky about Bully is the wandering NPCs.
On one hand, it’s nifty to see recognizable characters wandering around.
On the other hand, I quickly found myself having suspension of disbelief issues, as characters would magically follow me around the world. For example, I’ll see Christy on the top floor of the school. If I then run out the front door, she’ll be magically standing on the steps in front of the school. Or if I run to the area near the boy’s dormitory, she’ll come wandering out of the girl’s dormitory.
Yeah, I’ve been noticing this as well. Particularly with Christy. Maybe she was caught in an intrinsic field subtractor during her toddler years and has since learned to teleport.
Or maybe it’s just tricky to get the school to look like it’s inhabited by more than 60 people. It’s cheating a little, but as other people have mentioned, it’s nice that the students are so recognizable.
arthur
For the mission when the prefect interrupts you in the bathroom you just have to divert him. I just clocked him in the jewels and ran him out into the hall, getting him lost. I then ran back into the bathroom, free of any hassle and the mission was easy from there.
Although I’m enjoying my time with Bully I really feel it would have been better if you saw more of an effect for helping a specific group. For instance, I helped Johnny Vincent get evidence of Lola cheating. I also led the preps into the garage where they could be beaten up. Then the very next mission the preps recruit me to tag the greaser’s side of town. Where is the loyalty in this? I see the +5 Prep respect, -5 Greaser but how does this manifest itself in the game? I see no effect or perhaps the effect is so subtle in the daily goings on I just don’t notice. I know a lot of the complaint in GTAIV was that Niko becomes this psychopath later in the game, breaking any empathy the player had, but I’m starting to feel this with Jimmy: doing any errand for any group just because.
That aside:
Lola’s Race was my favorite mission/cutscene so far. When Lola ‘dumps’ Algae and Gord(?) Algae says to himself, “Just big boned…” and their disbelief is comical. Riding on the back of the bike fending off the greasers was a good time and I thought the way the camera gave you dramatic shots of certain ramps through the city added a lot.
I also had a great play session after taking gym class. After class I was in the locker room and two jocks came up and started harassing me. I had just learned some new moves and thought I’d try them out. Three punches and then a groin kick to one, then punched the second one and stuffed him in the laundry hamper at the end of the lockers. Although it had no bearing on the game, it was the most fulfilled I had felt playing it.
One thing I really wish more games would do is a system similar to the memorabilia that’s accumulates in Jimmys room as you progress in the game. Completing a class, scoring with a girl, winning a race, finding all the collectibles and doing missions all result in some kind of graphical representation to show that you’ve done something. It’s a small detail but it makes the world feel so much more alive. It’s similar to achievements but I like more in-game carrots to draw me along as I play.
The single best moment for me in the game (so far) was the mission where Jimmy is tearing up the Santa panaroma in front of the Christmas Tree. One of the elves says:
“I never wanted to do this! I wanted to be a dentist!”
It’s touches like these that, for me, raises the game from ordinary sandbox to somethin special.
and is it just me, or is that flying squirrel game fricken hard to get the top score on?
Winter is nice, everyone has a fire going and when there’s a “thump” in the fireplace they just think it was a log shifting. In other news I no longer have anything in the shade of Aquaberry.
I was playing darts with Petey when a greaser came crawling in for his boss “Johnny”. I guess I did start earning a reputation as a schmuck that does things for other people. I’m getting too reliable, aside from picking fights and getting expelled I mean.
I’m not sure if I’ll be able to eat in the cafeteria for a while. I made the mistake of helping Edna get ready for a ‘date’ with Dr. Slawter. Mostly this involved stealing stuff to help her pretty up. I didn’t help, as a powdered clown I think she’s scarier. That wasn’t the end of my suffering, though. I then had to sit in a tree and shoot hecklers for a few hours while she waited for the meds to kick in before she could drag Slawter off.
Woke up to the PA blaring that I had a package waiting for me in the office. It turned out to be a ‘gift’ from the bitch and the fossil. And I thought it was bad when they sent me a photo from their cruise. So, I’m now the owner of a tacky reindeer sweater with a giant pom-pom for a nose. I want to burn it, but I know she’s going to want to see it when she gets back.
Skipped out and spent the morning in town. While there I ran into a pitiful drunk dressed up as Santa. I got him to pay me to lob snowballs at some of the local greasers, so it wasn’t a complete loss. Later on he paid me more to trash the Mall Santa’s setup in town. This bum may be a creep, but he knows how to work.
Miss Peters is an evil bitch. She should have just grabbed me with one of those hook-things they use to drag you off stage in cartoons. I had better end up with the promised extra credit for dressing like a tin soldier and winging it as well as I did through the recital with no practice. Sometimes I think I wish the hippies had dropped entirely out, all the way, off a bridge.
More fun was had with drunk-ass Santa. I wandered in on him upon his throne, and then spent the day getting stuff to spruce his place up. It paid well, as I then spent the rest of the day taking pictures of brats while he worked on his wad. I have to hand it to him, he’s committed: when we were done he headed off to the ‘reindeer’ track.
So I finally made my way to Johnny. For a guy that ‘needs’ my help, he sure is a tough bastard to find. It seems that his woman is a bit on the frisky side. So he sent me out to get the evidence, which was easier than I thought it would be. Once I was done I handed over the pics and let him storm off to stew.
And now we see see Lola’s true colours. I’m going to call her a Black Widow, except its Johnny that’s doing the killing. I wonder if Dr. Slawter could tell me if there’s another animal that does this. I also wonder if this is what the bitch was like when she was in High school because I’m seeing some similarities.
I found Mr. Galloway hammered in his classroom again. Looks like Mr. Hattrick is continuing to harass him over his drinking, and possibly turning Ms. Phillips against him. It’ll be much more fun if it blows up rather than peters out, so I suggested a little payback. Followed Hattrick home and preceded to break most of the windows on his house. Even when he called the cops I worked around them before splitting.
As I stood under the bridge I came to the realisation that I was there instead of one of the preppies. Bastards are slipperier than whatever the hell it was we dissected in Biology last week. Spent some quality time framing the preppies by tagging the greaser’s territory.
Yeah, Lola’s good. Kind of like Garry really, only not so psychotic or evil. I ended up having to race Johnny around the town. I’m sure it won’t last, but she’s a nice piece of work. She’s got manipulative Trophy Wife written all over her, and at this point that’s the bitch to a tee.
Of course, me winning the bike race meant that the bad blood between Lola and Johnny is now a flaming bridge. So, as she seemed so hard done by I ‘offered’ to sneak into the rat-hole they call a clubhouse to fetch her stuff for her. Ended up fighting all the greasers there, including the asshole with a sledge hammer. Why the hell do they need one of those? Once I was done I handed her stuff back and she told me that the preppies and greasers were about to rumble. I’ve seen that movie once when I was home sick, it doesn’t end well.
So I tracked down the greasers and beat as many of them up before the cops showed up. When Johnny fled I was in hot pursuit. We ended up in the scrap yard where the rest of the greasers pelted me with eggs while Johnny rode rings around me. Took care of him when he rode too close to that big magnet crane, It was kind of funny to see the look on his face when his bike decided to fly up from under him. After beating him six ways from Sunday he said I could have Lola. He was somewhat surprised when I said I didn’t want his bitch. He can have that headache in tight leather, I’ll just contribute.
—===—===—===—
I have to agree that a number of these mini-games were made with a Wii-mote or mouse in mind. My patience with Biology, Music (and to a lesser extent Chemistry) is starting to reach the breaking point when I can’t register button presses even remotely close to when I pressed them. This, of course, left me rather surprised with my result on the Christmas Medley mini-game.
It was nice to have a chapter where Gary wasn’t the veiled protagonist popping out at the last moment to spring the surprise that it was he who had manipulated the situation to this point.
great journal entry, Jimmy!
Just picked up my copy of Scholarship Edition for PC today and having no problems so far; i’ve made it probably about halfway through Chapter 2 and i feel disappointed for missing the game the first time around.
The game looks suprisingly good in 1680×1050 with 8xAA and shadows+vertical sync. I’ve only had one issue with slowdown during the betrayal mission - the game slipped to where it was still playable but it was very noticeably slower.
I haven’t had any of the issues occur at all other than that. No random crashes, no weird control issues… the one issue i had was whilst running from prefects i decided to jump from the 2nd floor of the school to the first - but i got caught/stuck in midair. i was able to jump back over and escape, but it was a weird hangup.
The game is very fun so far, and i don’t feel that it’s really repetitive in any way like i’ve felt with GTA in the past. Even though 3 times out of 5 the missions involve going to a certain point and beating someone up, there seems to be enough variety where i can enjoy it. [arguably, i'm 2.5 chapters in, but i'm not disliking the game at all]
Classes on the PC are extremely easy, IMO, but there is one problem; Music class. Double-hits NEVER work. You need to hit both left and right alt at the same time, but it never really registers. Hasn’t been detrimental so far [i've beaten Music 3] but it could be an issue later.
I’ve gone through and obtained the beach house after beating the prep challenge, and honestly, I still end up using the dorm room. My chemistry set is still there, everything’s all nice and convenient - and i feel that when i stay in the beach house it’s not bully. I’m away from that boarding school environment that is pulled off so extraordinarily well. The cliques, although extremely stereotypical, are pulled off correctly/adequately.
Navigation is very easy for me, i don’t see how you guys had any issue with it.
I’m looking forward to finishing up through chapter 3 over the next day or 2, and then listening to what you guys have to say about it before i continue any further.
My favorite moment thus far actually came in English class. I received s h i and t and of course it was the first word I entered. The teacher just laughed and said he could not allow that.
Great show! I don’t actually play the games for Game Club, but I love listening to the podcast while I play WoW.
The most comical moment for me so far would have to go to the time I found a shipwreck in the middle of nowhere, climbed to the highest accessible point of the ship, and passed out from exhaustion. I awoke to find that I had been robbed in my sleep, and the thief had taken my shoes - a nice pair of black skate shoes which I had just bought the day before.
This drew a resounding ‘what the f***!?’ from me, as I pondered what anyone would be doing swimming out to the middle of a river - in the dark, late at night, and miles away from civilisation - just so they can steal some kid’s shoes. Yet - testament to how f***ed up Rockstar make their games - this did nothing to break my suspension of disbelief. I just thought ‘man, what are the odds that some mother f**ker would climb all the way up here to steal my shoes? And worst of all, they just leave me here hanging precipitously over the edge of this wooden piece of junk a good twenty metres above the river’s surface, so I would surely drown if I fell - especially since I was passed out. What a f***ing prick.’
I also discovered that you can sneak into the carnival without paying if you jump over the gate on a bike - only problem was I landed on someone and got arrested for assault.
I started playing the PS2 version via PS3 backwards compatibility on Wednesday. This is the first time I’ve played it since buying it at its original release. There’s a lot about it that makes it a more enjoyable experience than a typical GTA game. The smaller location, the more detailed and unique NPC characters, combat that’s almost never frustrating, brief missions… Bullworth is just a nicer place to hang out than, say, Vice City.
And while the narrative isn’t leaps and bounds above something like San Andreas or GTA4, it’s at least more relatable to be a kid stuck at a shitty school than a thug trying to become a crime lord by slaughtering thousands of people.
I’m only near the end of Chapter 3 and I’ve already rekindled my hopes of a sequel. I wouldn’t need the same characters or the same exact location, I just like the idea of fitting the GTA-style open world around a small town and school with a small but well-designed cast of NPCs. If anything, Bully proves you don’t need the random acts of mass murder and other “adult” content to create a good “open world” game. Just creating an open world that’s fun and interesting is enough.
The one thing I remember being disappointed by the first time I played, though, was the level of social interaction you had. Press releases and general pre-release hype for the game touted smart AI that would react to your behavior in interesting and subtle ways. Now, girls will occasionally get jealous and start fighting each other (or you) if you make out with them in close vicinity to each other. And insulting someone can provoke a fight. But the biggest effect you ever have on anyone comes in the form of “+10 Nerd” or “-5 Prep” after completing a mission. If Bully were ever to get a current gen sequel, the number one change or improvement I’d want is more impressive AI and other ways you can interact directly with NPCs (and for them to react realistically). So many open world games brag about their “living, breathing” worlds, but I think we’re still quite a ways off from having an open world game with anything resembling living, breathing people. Until then, I suspect Rockstar will continue recording hours upon hours of throwaway dialogue that the NPCs can play to each other on a loop as you run past them on the street.
Also, poop.
I was interested to hear you guys talking about Petey and how you thought there might a twist with his character at the end of him being an evil mastermind. When I first played the game (on 360) I, too, thought there was going to be a twist at the end with Petey.
But my mind went in a different direction, with every cut-scene in which Petey was there, it would always seem to end with an extra 2-3 seconds of dramatic pause on Petey’s face at the end of cut-scenes. Perhaps this was the game just loading the next sections, but there also seemed to be a somber musical tone as well.
So I thought the twist was going to be Gary’s antics would push Petey to far and Petey was going to commit suicide. Perhaps this would have been too much “Mature Subject Matter” for a ‘Teen’ rated game, but I thought with Rockstar’s reputation, the could had pulled it off. I had a feeling of relief at the end of the game when this didn’t happen. Maybe I related a bit too much to his character with the fact that he doesn’t really fit into any of the game’s cliques.
I’m sorry, but I don’t mind you guys being casual on your shows, rather I prefer it, but often you go to being very unfocused. I forget what the show is about.
Also, one point that other shows do real well is to not have music with lyrics in their pauses, since it doesn’t work as well as just that then, a pause. Aside from that, the music sucks.
Straighten up. ^^
Someone on the show mentioned that Bully feels pretty limited in regards to the city’s size. I liked that you earned more places to check out as you progressed, particularly in the last chapter. The start of Bully is pretty slow, but it picks up considerably once you open the school’s gates. Being able to hit the shops and the carnival, as well as access new missions, kind of put a new light on the game for me.
I don’t like GTA games at all. While they’re morally vacant, which I’m kind of uncomfortable with, I find that the busted-ass combat/shooting and slippery driving ruins any modicum of fun that could be had. Its wide-open cities are always impressive, but I think when you have a smaller setting like Bullworth Academy you start to notice the detail in the design. You need to play the missions to really notice it, but it makes it a better game in my opinion.
Maybe Bully is better because it’s not about being the baddest mother fucker in the world — it’s about getting rid of him. There’s also an array of characters that step aside from the stereotype, though those characters are certainly present. The parody of cliques is especially funny to me because their assigned uniforms are different, indicating that the school classifies you by your allegiance. Stuff like that is awesome to me because it embraces assumption but also goes beyond it. GTA never went beyond badass thugs for me.
Going back to the skateboard, I thought it was interesting how Bully treats the skateboard physics with more realism than the average Tony Hawk/Tony Hawk-ish game. It’s frustrating at time to have to walk over dirt and grass but it’s a frustration I can at least appreciate.
The thing I hate about the skateboard is ricocheting off of curbs.
Congrats to Chuff on the new job! That’s really awesome!
Oh goodness gracious I just helped the Lunch Lady rape a teacher.
I kind of don’t want to keep playing now. This game is rated T?
Holy shit, I just finished Chapter 3. The music during most of the last mission of the chapter (the police chase and the fight with Johnny in particular) couldn’t have been better. I think it’s the same cheesy greaser theme song that plays when you fight them any other time, except it’s so much more bombastic and crazy. I had a small sliver of health left when I was fighting Johnny — the great music made the tense situation all the more fun.
Here’s the song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t49wMk97Tkk
Completely aces.
I have the 360 version of the game and all I can say is that I think the game is just lazy. I don’t know if it was the port job or if the original was this bad. Frame rate problems, audio problems (the music stuttering cutting in and out and like 2 songs in the entire game gets grating very fast) as well as animation issues, I can’t take 5 steps without seeing someone vibrating across the floor. All in all it just seems like a rushed product, maybe I just don’t remember how bad older gta games were like but I remember 3 being great. The epitome of lazyness in this game is…look at your skateboard tracks in the snow….what is it? A friggin tire track (shakes head).
I thought the skateboard tracks in the snow were legitimate. The center impression could come from the trucks. I’m already through winter so I can’t compare your snowtracks to those of a tire, but I would be curious if someone did check them out. The technical laziness you describe is definitely not the impression I have gotten thus far. There are framerate drops every now and again and I did notice a music hiccup once, but for the time and hardware I think it is perfectly respectable. Inmy 13 or so hours of play so far technical glitches like this have not hampered my experience. I am also playing on the 360.
I rented the 360 version of this game a few months back. I’ve played video games nearly my whole life and it has to be one of my favorites and the first game I’ve ever one hundred percented. I had fun listening to the game club and reminiscing. Thanks for the podcast and enjoy!
Loving the game.
To those who enjoy the music to this game it is worth mentioning that the Title Theme to Bully is heavily inspiried by Italian band, Goblin, and their score to Dario Argento’s Suspiria.
As a huge fan of the soundtrack I just want to see it get its due.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMDCtP6Virw
There is a link to the theme that inspired the main theme to Bully.
Great game, fun podcast.
Having worked on the original PS2 version, it’s awesome to hear everyone is still enjoying it 3 years later.
My favorite things about Bully was the music (which really fit the mood, factions, etc) and the unique students (you would never see 2 of the same students on screen at the same time). The fact that we gave a bunch of them custom models for Halloween was pretty sweet too.
My favorite character was Constantine, he’s the guy that stole Eunice’s chocolates, amongst other things.
I really enjoy your podcast, thanks.
WOW, I thought I was the only one to read a Separate Peace in High School. It is such a horrible book. We had so much fun making fun of it.
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Just listened to game club episode one for bully. A few quick comments: loving the atmosphere of the game, music is indeed awesome yet sort of creepy and foreboding. Playing it on PC, 4 gb of ram, dual core processor, 512 nvidia card and the game is buggy as all hell. Also, unless you have a 360 pad with the usb cable, you cannot use another controller. I tried using the Logitec rumblepad 2 and it does not even recognize it. Also, the game defaults to 800X600 which is odd. Also, controlls on pc are busted as all hell.
More to the point is that I am currently in my first year as an 8th grade English teacher in a public school in Brooklyn, NY. I missed this game the first time around and regret that since I cannot compare my reaction before i was a teacher to now.
As sociopathic as some of the kids in the game seem to be, I do not think any of them come off as bad as the developers wanted them to. Compared to my students Gary is a model citizen. This year we had a student who took a crap in front of a dean’s doorway, a girl who had to leave the school because she had another abortion and is being let into a counceling program. We had a male and female student who took pictures of their sexual escapades in the stairwell and texted them to half the school and a student in my class who was removed in cuffs.
I think if i had played this before being a teacher i think i would have been much more effected by the actions of the students. As it is right now, i would LOVE to be teaching at Bullworth.
With that being said I think the game completely nails the whole mid teen vibe. Love the characters so far, the writing is fairly sharpand I can’t wait to dive back in again for chapter 3.
Oh, and as an english teacher I got a kick out of the english teacher with the drinking problem “Teaching English is just so difficult” made me lol.
Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.®-Garrison Keillor
Where are we supposed to have played to for the second installment of this game club podcast?
Totally enjoying playing Bully. It’s one of those titles I’ve always looked at curiously when passing it at Blockbuster.
I might even get try for a 1000 gamer-score.
It’s a shame the game is slightly glitchy. Doing the Discrete Deliveries mission, I arrived at the pickup point on my BMX, only to have the Nerd that gives Jimmy the package push him off his bike and ride off. Okay, whatever. Kind of a jerk move on the game’s part. Chase nerd, mash Y. Er. Miss. Equip slingshot, fire! Spud gun? Firework? Nothing would dislodge that fucker. Eventually he noticed that my arsenal was being dispatched into his butt, and rode off at mach 1. So I’m in the unfortunate position of having to steal a bike, and then I get busted for harming adults and RGGGGGH. Mission failed.
Also, the plot suffers from Lost and Damned syndrome:
1. Establish interesting conflict between protagonist (Jimmy) and antagonist (Gary).
2. Antagonist disappears.
3. ?????
4. Profit!
And why doesn’t the headmaster play any further role?
Well I’ve hit a road block….the game crashes whenever I finish the xmas music mini game mission…fantastic