If you meant a beer, I drink when I do those, it's but
it all has a reverse No, it has a reverse effects. For sure,
I gain weight when I like Forrisbeak, are we live? Hey everyone,
and welcome to GameSpot After Dark, Episode two hundred and thirty seven.
I'm your host, John Lukesaike joined on the couch the professional as always,
Jacob Deckers a couch couch about I'm manifested into a couch because I just don't
want this destiny here anymore, also joining me across from the table for the
last time ever. Okay, relax and damn Michael Hyam, Hey, what
a do baby? Sure? Hardware editor for I g m oh my god,
don't say you gotta say it like that? How should I say it?
I'm a tech Reviews editor. Sorry, tech reviews tech Reviews editor.
Uh, that is me starting next week. So this is the last time
that you know, a lot of people are probably gonna be like, fucking
finally get rid of this motherfucker, you know what I'm saying. So that
weeded them out by now. Yeah, they don't listen, it's gone.
They left, They left their two star review and they last ideally haha.
Jokes on, y'all. This is probably it'll be a while till I come
back because I'll have business take care of. So enjoy this while you motherfuckers
can. So, yeah, I'm moving on to Ichan is crazy, but
that's for another time. You know, I'm saying because right now, I'm
still free. I'm still a free man. I'm still still single in the
professional world, so enjoying me. Well, that's really weird to say.
All Right, I'm gonna relax, you'll have a show. Okay. Well,
uh, fucking video games, man, Am I right? Dude?
Fucking video games? Let me tell you about Canojo Simulator. What what you
said? I never mind? It's a game o br Okay, Okay,
I've played that. I don't know anything about that. I just saw it
on a website just speaking of the anti simulators Stellar But I've been playing a
lot of that. Yeah. Uh, should we just get going looking,
I've been been doing a lot of both. Okay, got to see the
game. It's I think it's very good. There are some issues I have
with it, but generally to me, it very much feels like a competent,
flashy souls like style game with some securo elements, and then some character
action stuff. The way it's structured is kind of like there are some open
world sections, but there's also some more like corridor focused, sort of Soul
style levels. But I would say generally I really like it. I think
the combat is really good. I think the combat in fact is probably the
only thing that really keeps this game together for me, and the boss fights
that kind of ties into combat. But the bosses themselves are interesting. But
yeah, it is a fun tactile video game where like they slow every action
down, Like every time you do something impressive or cool, the game knows
it and it slows it down and you get like this cool slow mo animation,
or like if you block an attack at the right time, sparks fly
and it just it just feels very tactile and eve and like it just it
it knows how to like hit all the right notes when it comes to I
remember what we talked about the demo. We described it as like that mid
two thousands era like video game, ass sure video game where like it looks
nice and action. Maybe the story is kind of whatever, you know,
the story is very what to me, the common sentiment Imron reviewed it for
us out of ten out of ten, it seems to I think he shared
a lot of the similar sentiments you had, or like combat School, except
he didn't see the souls like resemblance. Interesting. I even like commented on
it, and I was like, because because he talked about Near, which
obviously is a huge inspiration. Oh yeah, and has said that much to
its like, I love Near, I'm going to make my own ship just
like it, all right, and then called out Bandettit, which I think
the developer also referenced, and Deliver also referenced Secular at one point. But
yeah, Inron was like, I don't really see the relation to to Souls
games, and I think even when I talk to some other people playing on
the staff there like I don't see it either. But to be fair,
that's weird because that's how I immediately felt. That's how I felt, too,
is just like this feels like a Soul's game where I'm going from camp
to camp, I have a s this flask essentially like the camera angle,
the lock on system, just the flow of it felt very souls like.
Obviously, the combat is considerably more stylized, and it kind of depends like
what you're into I think, like with the combat. The thing that kept
coming to mind is that Sakarai did this video because he's got that game development
YouTube channel where he did this video where he talked about how like you want
to highlight important gameplay moments any way you can, and like he referenced in
Super Smash Bros. How like when you get like a critical hit on someone,
the camera zooms in and like there's this explosion that happens and there's this
crunchy sound effect like this and split second pause before and I feel like they
saw that and they were like, oh, we're doing that with everything.
So like every deflect, every dodge, it's just not every dodge, but
like when you hit them properly, it just feels so good. But that
said, yeah, the story is pretty whatever, and it's you can't skip
cut scenes until you've actually seen them really respect. It makes you sit through.
You can skip through dialogue kind of like like once they get through most
of the dialogue, you can skip. So it's interesting you're not really seeing
it. But like, yeah, I would have loved to have skipped every
single cut scene in that. I mean, like I will say, like
there was a point like I would say, like the first couple of hours,
I was like, I'll give it a shot, and then it just
got to a point where it's like I just want to hit thing. I
just want to like I want to fight bosses, I want to fight enemies,
I want to explore this world. The story is kind of whatever.
But but I think, honestly, like my biggest problem is that it just
it takes from so many inspirations and it doesn't really feel like it's doing much
with any of those. Like I mean, the Near inspiration is obviously a
huge one. That's what so many people have called to. I think like
the world reminds me a lot of Near. And I'm someone who didn't even
care a lot for Near. Like I played the first run I tried it,
didn't even really play the game. I know, I talked about it.
I talked about it on the podcast editorial, Like in twenty twenty,
I was like, I'm going back to play Near because everyone says it's the
best game. And I made it through two and a half runs or one
and a half runs, and I was like, it's not for me to
jump all that to say, like, even as someone who didn't enjoy Near.
I loved the vibe of that game, and like the setting and the
style and seeing it here. Even though like gameplay wise, I much prefer
Stellar Blade, it still feels like not cheap. It just feels kind of
derivative. Yeah, derivatives. It's very like it feels like a shallow interpretation
of just like look at it at a surface level, like oh, let's
let's just do that, without really understanding what makes all of that stuff special,
because like service level with Near, it's like okay, post apocalypse sexy
robots, and then that I feel like that's as far as it is implemented
in like music, sure, you know, but like it it does not
hit those depths. And even though like I wasn't super wild about Near while
I was playing it, I was really fascinated by like the story it was
telling and and the way it was trying to like twist expectations and kind of
change things in it like half ass, not half assed, but it like
kind of tries to do that, but it's very clear that like that's not
really the point. Yeah, so yeah, I mean overall, like I
played through it, honestly, one of my biggest complaints was that when during
the during the pre release period. There's no New Game Plus. And I
did actually want to go back and play early Bosses with a build that I'd
been working on, but they added it like yesterday, so new Game Plus
is there. But yeah, I had a good time. I think I'd
be really curious to see what they do next. I think because because I
think there's something here. I just think I think the developer just needs to
like take a step back from mostly the near influence and like figure out,
like what's original about this world and how can how can how can a world
be created around that? Because because there are there are a lot of cool
things to it. But yeah, I would say, like, I think
it's pretty good. Eight out of ten. Seven out of ten is kind
of like as I was playing it, where I was kind of landing.
Yeah, I'd read Mron's review. He summed that up in a much better
way than I just tried to. Yeah. Emron is Uh. Em Ron's
a good friend. He's also really fucking good writer. Uh. It is
really dope to see him on GameSpot for the first time. Yeah, so
it's really dope to see so shouts out to you dog. His review is
really well, well written off like, oh ship, yeah I miss I
miss reading because he went to Other Adventures after post fan bite in Post Game
Informer. But yeah, I was like, oh shit, this motherfuckers,
he's this fools spitting fire. So definitely check out the review. You cut
it too, right, Max cut it Max? Yeah. Yes, So
the gameplay is fun, pretty good old Man Max Maximum bluementhal Joint. I
want to stay tuned for that or check it out. One thing Iron did
point out that I do want to touch on a little bit was the pacing
is really weird. Like the game is forty hours long, which I think
it took me like thirty thirty five hours, and I try to do most
of the side stuff and like that itself is fine, Like I don't mind
thirty five hour game felt pretty good, but like a lot of the levels
do feel kind of strange, where it's like, Okay, you got to
a new area and this area is going to take a very long time,
and a lot of that is you're just going to be like rerouting power or
you're going to be like going to a button and pressing it and then you
sure somewhere else, So that's a bit weird. And then I think the
other very weird thing is there is like a point of no return in the
game where it's like classic NPC's like make sure you've done everything you want to
do before you leave. Uh, And I figured I was close to the
end, but it was like another six or seven hours and I was like
yeah, Like I was like, I want to go back. Like like
the way it's said too is it sounds like, oh, you'll come back
here, you just it won't be for a while. So I was like,
okay, well just wrap up this stuff. Later was not able to
do that because it's just like it just it's just roller coasters, like the
last six hours, which I mean it's a good six hours. It's just
like it's like what's happening? Yeah? Man, that's cool to see though,
Like yeah, like you said, this is the this developer's first like
full on Triple A style game. Yeah, and I think what's an impressive
first game. Yeah. Yeah. They they've done some mobile stuff before the
Korean studio, but like for this being there, Like so a couple of
things that you said are very interesting because like it does feel like they looked
at five six different inspirations and just said yeah, fuck it, let's just
try and do all this And I think that's okay, like to draw from
yours, even if it's like a shallow interpretation of it, you know,
try it, see what happens. And I think they've as you said,
they've they've hit really nailed it, nailed it on certain aspects and then didn't
on others. So then for them to if they give it a second try
with if with it's a celebraty too, or if it's a different ip,
whatever the case might be, I hope that they look at what they did
right and it's like, let's double down on that and like maybe we don't
need to do all this other stuff, because yeah, there's there's so much.
There is a lot too, like about celebrating that I think is incredible
too. And so I mean even like the combat I think is a good
example of like the difference between being derivative and like taking your inspirations and doing
something new with them, because a lot of what the combat is other games
have done, you know, like like like we're saying it's very similar to
Soul's game Securo, you know, all these different inspirations, but I feel
like what they ended up with feels pretty not unique, but but it feels
like it draws just the right things from all these games to make something that
feels like its own. But then you zoom out and you see the world
and you hear the music and you start exploring the world and you start seeing
what the themes are and it's just like, Okay, this is very similar
to Near So so I think they have the potential and I'm excited for what
they do next. And to be honest, I'll probably play more of it
now that new Game Plus is there, because because like I said, like
I think the combat is so much fun. So yeah, it's yeah,
cool game. Yeah, so I'm I. I haven't finished it, obviously,
I played the demo, I got the full game, put a few
hours into it, and yeah, I'm in. I'm enjoying it. It.
It reminds me like not in my experience, reminds me of Lies of
p where it's kind of like you jump into this thing, you know what
it's trying to do. I could see right through this, but it's good.
And the same thing with is like, oh I see what you're doing,
but oh it's shit. It's it's good. And if I had to
choose between Lines of P and Stellar Blade, I think the fuck I'll probably
lean towards Stellar Blade in that regard. It's really funny to get these two.
Like a lot of people say it's not souls like, but let's be
real, there's it's it draws like a foundation only has a lot of similar
stuff there, and I feel like I'm I'm exercising the same muscles as I
play this and then I play lies P and she's like that. Plus like
the the the the aggress, the way those games are made for you to
be aggressive and is definitely like the second row influence, which I think lies
P leans more on, like pairing and Lines of fucking feels that shit is
so sick, dude, And it's the same thing in Celibrat. But I
don't know, I just I do like the uh just like, yeah,
a lot of the lot of us the flair that they put add on combat
just like does a lot to just make it stand out, make it feel
right. Don't get me wrong. Lives of P's combat is great and I
love what they do with like the arm system. There's there's so many more
RPG elements within Lies of P. I think there's a little bit more depth
there. But when it comes to like satisfying, like my brain when I'm
like, yo, that's satisfycing, like crnchiness of just like the momentum that
you even though combos are pretty short and it's not like super huge thing in
the game, but like the momentum you start to build with those combos,
then you chain it with a beta attack, and then you chain it with
like I forget, there's another type of skill that you unlock that like you
can create some cool chains. And speaking of that, like Max is putting
up two high level gameplay clips. Every one might already be up or it's
coming up later today, and then another one's coming up to going up tomorrow,
but like, if you want to see not necessarily what that game can
do, because they're both early boss fights, you don't have unlocked, you
haven't unlocked everything, but if you want to see, like how sick that
game can look. Max has got you covered Max Bloom with ball this moll
the fuck is unstoppable. Yeah, that's cool. I definitely want to see
that. It's every time I play a game and then like, oh I've
watched Max play, I'm like oh fuck, I guess I was playing the
same thing with the rebirth A. Yeah. When I was here, I
was revealing rebirth. I'm like, yo, I think I got the comeback
right, And I look at his shit. It was like I looked on
his fee and I was like, oh, this will melt Melton the ps
playing Checkers over here. Yeah. Yeah, definitely, absolutely cool. Yeah,
stell blade Man and runs review on GameSpot dot com. Yeah, and
runs review and then Max's videos. Make sure to check those out. Also
already up there all the well almost all the outfits in the game. You
got a video up for that. Yea, all you sick motherfucker I watch
that. It don't give fuck. I mean to be fair, as like
controversial as a lot of those costumes are, I do think they're pretty fun
to collect and see what they are. Some of them are like, Okay,
you really went for it. Here, see what you're trying. And
then tips video is going up on tomorrow probably so you know, if you're
picking it up and you want some early game tips, you kind of want
to see what you're getting into. We have a lot of coverage for this
game going up. Cool, that's what's up exclusive. Yeah, Another game
came out this week. You can go check out the review for on GameSpot
dot com is Tales of Canzera. Zal Oh Right Jordan review that one gave
an eight out of ten uh and I uh played that as well the video
review and I agree eight out of ten. Pretty good games. Speaking of
somebody a great yeah game like that's a debut. It is, it is.
It's a debut for my polled up because Yeah, Surgeon Studios, Abu
Bakhar Salem, I hope I'm saying your name right is the director. He
voiced Biack and Assassin's Creed Origins and he's in the new season game. It's
in the new season A Game of Thrones. It was like, damn,
damn, damn. I was like, dude, just like my age.
I was like, what the fuck? No, I didn't want to hear
that. No, it made it made me feel like really I met him.
I met him at Game Awards and he's just like a very like impot
like he has a very like big presence, like physical presence. He's just
like a really nice Yeah. I went to him, I tapped him up.
I was like, yo, congrats on the announcement. I'm really looking
forward to this, And I was like, oh, this is like a
grown ass man, and I was just like, I am man. I
am older than him by three months. No, I'm older about you,
like three years. God damn it. Anyway, Uh, pretty damn good
turns out. Now he's a good actor. He's a pretty good game developer
too, because this game is great. It's a metroid vania that is inspired
by I believe it's uh like a uh bought to African culture, if I'm
getting that right. Apologies, I'm a white person trying to I got your
notes. You got your notes, So I'm trying. I'm trying to do
my best. But it is essentially a story about well it's it's like there's
like two elements to it. So the the opening frame is is about a
character name like Zubaru who is lives in like a futuristic city and their father
just passed and finds a book that their father wrote for them, uh,
and they're reading the book and then that book is the game where it like
it kind of cuts back to like, uh this p called Kenzerah where he
plays a character named Zao who also just lost their father. Uh, and
they make a deal with the god of Death to be like if I go
find these three spirits for you, will you bring my father back to life?
Yeah, And then like that is like the catalyst for this journey where
you know you kind of like get to explore Kenzera and and kind of like
essentially like the whole game is just kind of like going through the process of
like grief and Selim like said was heavily inspired by, you know, the
passing of their father, and it's it's like genuinely like really fucking good.
Like that part of the game is is I think fantastic. I heard the
voice acting and like writing is all like superb. It's superb. It's interesting
because you compare this to Prince of Persia because they're both metro Venas. Prince
Persia came out this year, and Prince of Persia I think is the better
playing game as far as like a metro Vania. I think that game like
you know, like like it's platforming, it's combat, it's like super tight.
It also like it's map it has all the things you want from like
a Metroid Venia where you're like going back and forth, you're collecting all these
abilities this is a lot more of a uh simpler Metroid Vinia. You know,
like it's it's actually very straightforward and it's pathing. You know, there's
not much like backtracking. You're really doing like you'll be going on a fairly
straight path and then it'll be like, oh, if you just like pivot
here for like a second, you'll find a little collectible or you'll find a
little challenge. But I don't think that's a bad thing because I actually think
it keeps the game moving at like a very brisk pace in a way that
you want, because it feels like it isn't dragging out. It's only ten
hours, so because of that, you're constantly getting more story. And that's
where it is leagues better than Prince of Persia. I thought Prince of Persia's
story was like okay, but like didn't really deliver anything like it goes in
depth on its characters in the way I wanted. And I was just like,
yeah, it's just like okay, where this it's like the whole it's
like the opposite. Yeah, It's like this is like, you know,
you're playing a zoo, but in then you have Kalunga, the god of
death, with you the whole time, So they're constantly like talking and bantering,
they're meeting people, and so you're really getting to like know Zoo as
a character and like understand who he is and like the grief he's going through
and like watching him kind of like process it throughout the game, and like
that's that's the good shit, that's the powerful stuff. And like it absolutely
nails that and and I would really like recommend it for just that alone,
like you know, but on top of that, it is a very fun
and like you know, well made game. Like I do think the platforming
is is like you know again, it's like serviceable, it's well made.
It's nothing like mind blowing, but it's like yeah, this is like it
works. You know, it works, and you're giving me all the staples
you know that I want, you know, my double jumps, my uh
oh, hey, I got a power that lets me grapple here now,
or I can I can like freeze water and then I can use that to
like jump on platform. So like it has all those satisfying elements, as
I think the combat is pretty inventive as well. It is, uh,
the whole thing is you have like these two different shaman masks one of the
moon in the sun and the moon mask has ranged based attacks, where the
sun mask has more melee focused, and so you'll be like in combat swapping
between the two masks as you're fighting based on like what enemies you have,
and then they introduce things like shielded enemies where it's like, Okay, this
guy have to break the shield using the moon mask and then maybe I'll switch
to the melee masks to do like a big finisher. It can it gets
pretty like tough in the later half. I would say, like they really
throw a lot at you. Sometimes it gets like a little too messy,
where like the enemies like they don't really like stun that easily, so I
would get in times where like I would almost get like stun locked by them,
or I'm just getting like absolutely walloped by these guys. So like it
can. It can fuck you up if you're not on your toes. But
other than that, like that was just kind of like, ah, this
is like kind of frustrating in spots, and it didn't feels like tight is
I wanted to again in the way like Prince of Persia did. But it's
by no means like a bad combete system. I think it's a pretty good
one still. It's a good foundation for sure. Yeah. And I think
if like they were to build off of this with like a sequel or like
take those ideas and like expand them further, I think they could like you
know, really like take it and go somewhere with it. So yeah,
man, I mean, like you know, it's it's it's great. And
it's also like the art style is great. The music is fantastic, Like
some of the battle themes are just like really really awesome. Isn't it also
like for or like fifteen bucks or something or like twenty bucks. Oh maybe
I'm not sure the exact because let me look up. I feel like I
was like listening to discussion about it because like this sounds bad, but like
one of the reasons why, like I still have been putting off Prince of
Persias because I didn't get a code and it's like fifty bucks, so I've
been waiting for a sale twenty bucks twenty bucks, but literally hearing that it's
twenty bucks is like for a ten hour experience. So it's like like this
quality that's an easy sell to me. Yeah, that's wild. Yeah,
man, I mean, what a what a fantastic debut from like a studio
and stuff like that. Awesome that in Cellar Blade, it's like, oh,
studios are like trying something different or like yeah they're and that's that's the
thing. Very different games obviously, but these are like two games that are
using a like a like a like a well made foundation and trying their own
thing. And I think what the result is that they they really they really
like as I said with Celebraty, they really figured out they have something that
works really really well. So whatever they make afterwards, like you know,
it might be fantastic. So yeah, that's really cool. Yeah, and
I've been following this game since it was announced at the Game Awards, right.
Yeah. The director, I think he has a little podcast series with
Ben Starr. Really yeah, yeah, they're they're so adorable together and uh
yeah, they're both like talking about because they've been through similar things in their
lives and them like coming through and like the games industry type shit. It's
really it's just so adorable. It's so cute. But they have a really
good discussion about the about this game and how it was made and a bunch
of its themes too, and like I know, he's been doing a lot
of interviews too at a lot of places to like obviously promote the game,
but also like tell people like, hey, this is what this this is
the focus of the game. So it's really it's really good to see that
that element is what makes it stand out, Like it is like that's the
thing that he kind of that he put him like he put himself into this
game in a way that is like hard to do because it's you're opening yourself
up to so many people and like especially gamers, you know that kind of
people you want to open yourself up to. And there's there's a separate there's
a separate discussion about this, but it's like, yeah, to put yourself
out there in such a vulnerable state in a video game is like such a
hard thing to do because like what if the game isn't Like I'm not not
that any I'm sure Like in the back of your mind anytime, anytime a
creative person puts something out into the world, always in the back of your
mind is like what if people don't like it? What if they don't see
it? In the back that is that is everywhere. So yeah, yeah,
like putting putting so much of your personal life into a into this thing
and then hoping that people like it is I can't imagine what that must feel
like. Absolutely. I mean so much of video games like feel at times
like they're just like products, you know, where this like this doesn't feel
like it's a product. This feels like it is. This is like art.
This is like them putting their soul and like they want to say something
and like that, you're right, like that that's terrifying to do. Like,
it's terrifying to do. I feel that way when I start to get
like even just a little bit personal and like a video I make for games,
Yeah, it's just like oh fuck, I'm getting too oh I got
a oh no no, no, no, like yeah, like oh they
might not like it or whatever, but it's like so doing that to this
scale for like a full ass game, like saying, well, I'm gonna
commit two three years of my life to doing this, like that's that's a
lot. Yeah, So like nothing but love and respect absolutely and it like
I mean, even if it wasn't as good as it was, I would
will be like that is an amazing feat. But like it's also a really
good game, so like wow, like absolutely incredible. What did you play
it on? I played on PlayStation five? Okay, because it's coming to
switch to, right, I asked switch to let's go. Yes, I'm
just curious if that runs well it is it is out on switch. I
don't I'm not sure how it runs on this switch. But play the demo
on solid so highly recommend that one. I as recommend recommend checking out Jordan's
review as well. Kurt's preview read that speaking about getting personal and opening yourself
up to other people. Man, what what what's this transition? No?
No, no with Kurt's previews Okay, because Kurs Kirk talked about the like
and we're going to talk about Sandland, like none of us have played Sandland.
I don't think have you played Sandlin I reviewed it. This is this
is the is a gamer focused episode. We just got games in games man,
it's it's gaming season. Well I just forgot because I just don't think
about ee Jan all that much, you know, Damn. I mean I
don't care until Wednesday next week. So Michael tell me about Sandland. Sandland.
Yeah, this was one of the last things that a Kiratyama worked on
the he consulted. It's so okay, let me back it up. Sandland
was a was a pretty short manga that he wrote in like two thousand and
wrote and illustrated in two thousand and it was just like something he did out
of passion and just yeah, it's a couple of I was like, I
think it's like what fourteen chapters or something on shownin Jump and ran for a
couple months and he's like, okay, cool, I like I did a
thing man said I love tanks. Yeah, the whole thing about tanks.
Yeah. Yeah. He was just like fascinated by like drawing vehicles. And
I think the stories and I think Wakeling mentions this in the review and in
Yaws review, is like Toriama just like wanted to draw vehicles because you watch
Dragon Ball. He's like have some like wild shit, and this is what
Sandland is kind of just like an extension of him. Is like, ah,
what if I just made something like But when Toyo my past people were
like sharing a lot of his art and I was like, oh right,
Like he like just the most insanely detailed like planes and tanks and cars and
like Batman and this dude's imagination is crazy, love some automobiles, automobiles and
playing trains and automobiles. Yeah, hey, listen, listen me too.
Man. I wish, I wish I could kick it with Curatriyama, but
uh, such won't be the case. But Sandland is. Yeah, manga
came out two thousand. There's a movie adaptation, and then there's a manga
adaptation that came out recently as well to coincide with the game. So I
reviewed the game and it's okay. I gave it a six out of ten,
and I think because I really like san Land a lot. It's it's
it's it's like a fun, little short manga and it's not super in depth,
but it does have it makes a lot of interesting points and have a
lot of interesting characters and plot points in a post apocalypse where people are struggling
for resources and like demons exist in a world alongside humans in this like waste
land basically, and you kind of go through a few dynamics about like humans
trusting demons, but demons actually want to do good and so like there's this
tension between them and there's like corrupt governments, and then you unveil like unveil
a secret, but like, oh, the government's been doing this the whole
time, and we're gonna take them down. So it's a pretty straightforward story,
and it like it's it's it has its heart in the right place,
is what I say. And that's cool. That's good, and that's all
it really has to be. It doesn't have to be anything more than that.
Sure, and then Toyama can just do his thing. Like you see
the character art, you see the see the vehicles, you see his imagination
at work here. So when you translate that into a game, though,
if I say this about the game is that its presentation is so bare bones
to where it's like characters standing there just like talking to each other and you
have to like flip through each line of dialogue and it's kind of like it
feels very rudimentary. It feels like, ah, okay, this is okay.
It feels like you play if you play DBC Cocrot, it's like similar
values but even a little less than that. In a way, I'm like,
fuck man, Like I like sandaland a lot. I just wish y'all
went the extra mile to present it in a way that can live up to
how good the manga and the anime actually are. So that was disappointing because
there are pre rendered cut scenes that are really really well put together for very
specific moments, but there's so few and far between that I'm mostly just like
flipping through like the stagnant dialogue and it's like all right, and like when
you beat a boss kind of like there's just like a lot of scene cut
scene transitions from like the gameplay moments up to the cut scene, Like,
this doesn't really make sense how we got to this point. There's there's I
feel like there's something missing here. There's like when it comes to the storytelling,
it feels like there's so much that is missing from it. So that
was like really disappointing to see because if you watch the anime, it's,
you know, an anime is a very different experience, but it's just it
keeps chrugging along and it is like a very briskly paced and you just move
on to the next thing. But the game itself kind of drags out a
lot of that stuff because it is a game, and then you have to
have these gameplay moments, and like the quest design gets like pretty repetitive,
and the world is The world is empty, but I kind of like that
it is empty because I don't want to I don't want to random shit.
I don't want to be doing a bunch of random shit that just kind of
like starts to pile up. So it's an open world game. But I
do appreciate that they're like, yeah, let's just not make it bloated though,
so okay, and I think that that might have hurt that could have
hurt the game. So it's a like story wise, it's a I'm just
like, this isn't the best representation of sand Land, even though it does
have its moments. I think that there is a better way to experience the
world of sand Land, and that's through the anime. Gameplay wise, though,
it does do some things, so I think because it's based all around
vehicles, so it's all vehicular combat, vehicular exploration. There's on foot stuff.
There's like brawler action stuff that isn't great, but thankfully they don't make
you do that very often. I say, my roof is about like seventy
percent vehicles, thirty percent on foot stuff. Okay, but the vehicle system
they have is it's it's pretty straightforward, but it feels really good. Like
when you pop out into a tank and you're blowing shit up and then you
switch over to the motorbike. It's like instant, It's like, Okay,
the tank just transforms into a motorbike and I'm fucking going and I'm like drifting
along these cliffs in the forest land and shit, and it's like kind of
like beautiful. It's this really lush place that juxtaposed with sand land itself,
and it's like, oh, this feels really cool. And then like,
oh shit, enemies are ahead. I'm gonna flip back into the tank,
blow shit up, almost switch to my like my walking mech that also has
like moodu verability and also shit. So they have a lot of working pieces
with the vehicles because you can have five out of time and you can swap
between any of them at any time as well, so there's a lot of
flexibility. There's a lot of interesting mechanics behind the vehicle system, and the
way you navigate that world is I mean, it's not like super complex,
but it feels good too, Like when I there's water, also, I'm
gonna switch it over to my hoverboat, and my hoverboat controls like all The
vehicles control really well in a way that makes sense for what they are.
Even the tank itself, it doesn't feel like, you know, you hop
into a tank and like a shoot or whatever, and it feels like pain
in the ass to maneuver. It's like, now I need to turn the
treads this way. The tank and Sandland works on like a three sixty rotational
thing, so no matter which direction you're going, you're going full speed in
that direction. So I feel like, yeah, I'm in a tank that
like can blow shit up, but I'm also like dodging cannons this way and
that way, and I don't feel like I'm at a disadvantage because I mean
the way I'm positioned, so it all the vehicles just feel really good to
use, so points for that. The thing is like the combat encounters themselves.
The enemies that you face are just kind of like fodder, and that's
for most of the game. They're just like kind of dumb ai targets that
just like sit there and like shoot at you. And I'm like, most
of the time, I like circle around them, just like shoot my cannon
at them. All right, well, I guess I killed them by circling
around them. So they have this really smart vehicle system. I just wish
they did more with it in terms of giving you boss fights, giving you
combat encounters that actually made the most of it. There are few bosses throughout
the game that, like maybe two or three that actually do that. But
the rest of the game is very, very easy in a way that is
easy, I would say simplistic to a fault. There's a lot of potential
here, but I feel like that they kind of phoned it in when it
comes to how they designed the combat encounters most of them. Some of the
level design, like you go through like four times, you'd go through the
same dungeon basically four times through the game. It's like kind of drags on
and like a man, like there's a whole open world out there with so
many more fascinating things and themes, and there's so much more potential out in
the open world. They make you go through these like abandoned ships like so
many times. I'm kind of like, this is not this is not what
I think Sandlin should be doing right now. So it's a little disappointing in
that regard, But I mean there's fun to be had in this game.
I just don't think that with all the games other games that are out now,
I think it's probably the one of the least interesting ones. When you
have something like Stellar Blade, you have something like Tails of Tnzera's disappointing.
Yeah, it's disappointing because I, like I said, I love like Sanlin
is underrated. I think and like, oh fuck, they're doing a game.
But at the same time you play the demo, the demo is like
a very bad representation of the game. Actually, really yeah, because I
play the demo, like what the fuck is this? What am I even
doing? There's just nothing to do. They throw you into like a small
portion of the open world and there's literally nothing. There's no quests, there's
nothing. Yeah, it's like, why would you show this to people?
This is like it'll make someone like not want to buy the game because like
there's so much more to it than that. But yeah, it's uh.
I had I had fun at times with it, but it's Yeah, if
you're if you're into if you want to like see Toriyama's work in action,
if you just want to play through Sandland, there's fun to be had.
But I would I can't recommend it right now. I guess like if you
see it on like thirty bucks whatever, like cool, but otherwise I don't
know. I think I'm gonna stick with the anime. Probably anime is very
good. Yeah, I think it's really good. I haven't watched the whole
thing. I got through the up to the original run of the manga for
the for the anime, but so I haven't checked out the forest Land stuff
because the forest Land is a second half of the game and the second half
of the anime, and that's all new stuff that's not in the manga,
so it's basically like a part two of sand Land. I haven't gotten to
that point yet with the anime. But yeah, I mean, if it's
anything like the the first half of it, like, it'll be fantastic cool.
Yeah, I recommend sand Land the anime. Can't recommend the game,
So you know what I'm saying. Yeah, I know what you're saying.
Well, so that's a little that's a little disappointing, and then that's also
a stiff year for fucking RPGs, you know. So yeah, so,
but that's bummer, just especially because the vehicular stuff seemed like the like it
is so unique to me, and I was like, oh, man,
that's good. Yeah, and like you know, maybe maybe it's yeah,
maybe there's a sale and I'm itching for it. I'll go to try.
But yeah, I was just say, like, what if it's another case
where they oh, they figured something out and then like this other stuff doesn't
work, they can do a second ones. There's not gonna be a second
Sandland though, No, Like Sandland is it is what it is, and
that's yeah, it can't be anything more than that. Unfortunately, maybe someone
get inspired and want to make a game kind of Land of sand sand right,
the World of Tanks Great World of Tanks by Banded NAMC would be kind
of that would be kind of sick, dude, Like I might be into
that, yeah, because that that stuff is good man. There's there's really
good characters too in uh in Sandland. Uh. Again, like they said,
that's not the best representation game, but if you watch the anime like
Bells above as a protagonist, he's he's like a child demon who thinks he's
like a badass kid or whatever. It does like bad ship and he's like
a dork. He like he asked his he asks his dad like, oh
can I play video games for more than an hour and his dad, his
dad is Lucifer's like this big ass, fucking demon dude, sits on a
throne. He's like you play for an hour and a half. And it's
like, oh, this is so cute. That's a very character. Yeah,
oh yeah, yeah, this is like yeah, there's a lot of
Toriama isms throughout sand Land, which is like really cool to see and beals.
Well, yeah, he's he always like ah, I'm a I'm a
bad ass and like he's he has some has his moments, but he's also
like very he has like a heart of gold, and it's really funny to
see him kind of people are like push his buttons and then they're like no,
I'm I'm I'm angy and I'm gonna I'm gonna beat you up and then
he's a big softy and like oh it's it's cute. I think the sheriff
that accompanies him has like a he's a really good focal point for like the
conflicts in Sandland. Okay, so he's cool, he's good and who's the
mechanic. So here's the thing controversill take. I don't know if I trust
white girls with dreads, but okay, except for and from sand Land.
This is the only one. It's the only one I trust. She's really
cool. I really, she's a voice by kiro Bucklan, who has the
voice of two B. Also. Okay, many many, many, many
many characters throughout anime and video games. And that's like a Star Wars droid,
right yeah, yeah, the little thing that rolls around. Shit,
it looks like it looks like a Sandland vehicle. Now. Yeah, so
there's like there's really cool characters in sand Land. Like again, I don't
have to say a million times, but some of that stuff doesn't exactly come
through in the game. But otherwise, just like it's cool, check out,
check it out, neat. I want to play it eventually. I
don't think i'll play it right away, yeah, given the reviews, but
pretty sure. I played the demo or I played the not the demo a
preview I think Summer Game Fest last year, and I enjoyed what I played,
but like, it was such a short amount of time and it was
very like they they put me in like a big action set piece. Then
immediately I got to go play with all the vehicles, and I'm like,
oh man, this seems pretty f Yeah, they show the best stuff of
course, right, and then you realize everything else in between is kind of
yeah. Well actually one thing though that in Wakeling's review that did kind of
interest me though, was like the settlement building stuff. Yeah, like it
sounded like the missions themselves to build it were kind of dull, but like
actually seeing that settlement come together and like have all these vendors in one like
I love that kind of stuff. Yeah, and like that seemed kind of
interesting. It's kind of curious, like there's not there's not much too You
just do this, you do the side quest, and then it slowly gets
bigger whatever because then yeah, every time you do like a side quest in
sandlandy like hey you have nowhere to go, you can go back to you,
which is like the main Village's no, like you don't really get to
customize it. It's more just it's just like the more questions you do,
the bigger it gets, as opposed to lie and then I don't want this
instead of that, Yeah, it's like oh, now perks there, they're
just like now everything is centralized in this hub city rather than having to go
here there and whatever. So don't we play like Nino Cooney too. I
didn't I didn't get too deep in Nino Cooney too, because I know,
I know it has that stuff. It's like yeah, yeah, Dark Cloud
two very good version of that. It's like, yeah, that's what I
thought of when I saw it. I and I love that Nino Cooney because
it was like just it was pretty simplistic but just deep enough to like really
interest me. Yeah. Yeah, that's how I feel about the vehicle system
in Sandland, where it's like it's it doesn't need to be complex and it's
not complex. I'm like, Okay, this is simple enough to where I
feel like there's there's I could custom my stuff, upgrade my tanks and vehicles
whatever, and that's all it has to be. It doesn't have to be
anything more than that, because I just want to blow sh it up.
So I think they figured it out there, but like there's not really any
settlement building. So you see the town grow, but in terms of like
depth of things to actually do, actually do, it's not really not really
there. So cool Sandlan awesome. Yeah, go share on Michael's review over
on IGN. Yes, Yeah, that sounds right. Anything else's been drinking
out Michael sixteen Dale s The Rising Tide. Oh okay, yeah, yeah,
so I'm writing something on that for hit video game website game Spot.
I still got time. You're cool again? Dumb question? What's it about?
Like I felt like the ending of Yeah, Fantasy is pretty so they've
done They've done this twice with the first DLC and now this one where it's
like I forgot the first Dale even came out. Wow wow, I assume
this was the first one. Wow wow. This is the second one.
The first one is very short. It's both of them are kind of like,
okay, you're at like the point of note, You're right before the
point of no return, Like, oh shit, I just got a letter
from somebody that I should check something out. That's I'm going to go effect,
And like mass effect, it's equally wild because the situation is so like
we need to deal with this right fucking now. But hold on a minute.
It's like I got a letter from somebody to say and the Leviathan is
fucking wild out here. Hold on, we booked, we booked a suite
for you on the Citadel. I'll think you guys need some R and R.
Okay, but like a Citadel style DLC for the final Fantasy sixteen cast
would be kind of I would love that. I would just like you and
like Jill, you just like what if we go like get some on the
beach again? Yeah? Yeah, sorry, the game has been out for
almost a year at this point. If you haven't seen Clive's naked ass booty,
uh, fucking rod your life. Raw dogging it on the beach,
bro, not even a beach, it's like, what's that like the coastline.
Yeah, it's a little alcove. It's just a little it's not it's
not sandy. It's like rocky and like bear ass. Well I would think
they put like a like a towel on the on the ground, but like
bare ass on the coastal shore, like y'all are wild. And I don't
know what year this game takes place, but it's nineteen seven. That's not
true at all. Man, I was fucking raw dogging it on the on
the coastline is crazy. But anyway, that's not what the Rising Tide is
about. Speaking of the coastline, yeah, yeah, this is a water
based DLC class Rising Tide. Yeah a ao a, that's not what this
is about. But so if you played sixteen, there are references to Leviathan
and Levethon has been is an icon in the world of sixteen and has always
been a summon throughout all of mythological creature that has always been in the Final
Fantasy, Lore or whatever as a sum in as Whatever's boss. So they
made reference to Levithan in the base game, but never did anything with it.
So everyone immediately was like, oh, they're opening their souls up for
DLC, and then they revealed the Rising Tide. Dl seem like, yes,
it is exactly what we thought it was gonna be. So but it's
cool to see them expand on this thing that they left open, because I
mean they've said that like we weren't sure if we were going to do this.
I'm like, I'm pretty sure that y'all left it opens, like,
yes, this game is going to do well enough to it's Final Fantasy for
fuck's sake. And then it's okay, now we can do a DLC.
But it's a very good deal. See, it's better than the first one
is kind of like a teaser is on like two three hours. This one's
like more like five six hours, so it's a lot more meaty it has
a distinct storyline. So the setup is like, Okay, before you do
the last thing in the base game, you get a letter from somebody who
says, hey, there's another icon that we need help like figuring out or
like taming or whatever. So you go off into like a very a distinct
part of the world that just wasn't explored. So you have a new region,
you have a new city, new hub area. Oh, okay,
characters, new kind of society, civilization that's been like kind of cut off
from the rest of sixteen oh the rest of Vallaestia in that world. So
you start to like learn about a new civilization of these people who have kind
of like sought refuge away from everything else, but they have their own problem,
and their own problem is like, well, Leviathan is kind of like
our eye, because like every nation has their icon, like their bearer who
like protects them whatever. So they've had Leviathan in like their region whatever,
but it's kind of like been stuck in time. It's been like frozen in
time. So they've kind of been able to like section themselves off off and
like isolate live isolated. But then there's like this whole bunch of other fantasy
bullshit that you get wrapped into and clouds like, well, I guess I
got to do this now. And then like the first hour, you get
the power up Leviathan and is so fucking sick to use dog. They're like,
hey, what if we gave Clive a shotgun and an s MG.
But it's all, yeah, yeah, it's so sick. It's like,
what if we just turned this into a third person shooter kind of because when
you get Levithan, they introduce you to all the different abilities and some of
the things. One of the abilities has like you can shoot it like a
fucking shotgun and it's like the spread it's it's all water. It's like you're
just shooting water. Super Yeah. Clive is just fucking squirting all over the
place, dude, It's crazy. Yeah, you know, his his tide
has risen and now he's just scuorting all over the place. It's crazy.
That's that's a wild thing to say. I have an important question here.
So my boy Dion, do he play a big role in this. Ah,
that was like homophobic to say that. I said that it's homophobic to
non include Dion in this. It is like the most underutilized king. He's
so cool. Man, he's so good. He's so hot and just like
elegant but also badass, and he's a dragoon, Like, oh I need
that Dion DLC man, come on now, but no he's not in.
I'm sorry, that's my boy. Yeah I do. I Man, there's
a lot of good fucking coming back to sixteen. I like, I think
I see a lot of its flaws, or like I recognize a lot of
its flaws as time has gone on. But man, there's like so much
that I still fucking love about sixteen going back. You're talking about the world
and the characters. I'm like, man, yeah, I loved all that
about that. Yeah. Yeah, it's like, ah fuck, I miss
I'm a little sad that that's all that sixteen kind of is going to because
this was this DLC is kind of like their sign off, like this is
the last thing we're doing for sixteen here it is. So I'm glad that
they did something to expand on it, but I just wish they could do
a little bit more with it, because there's there's a lot of potential in
that world, of which I absolutely loved. But yeah, the I think
I mean, if you like sixteen, this is a must play. It's
really good. It's it's a lot of fun. I think the Levithan abilities
are just really fun to use. Like I'm switching between all of them because
that's how you have to play the game. But I'm always like waiting.
I'm gonna say, okay, my cool downs from my Levi, then ship
is ready to go. Actually, you could just use because the way Levithan
works as an icon power is like I said, it's like a shooter because
you're circle getting into the weeds. But like the circle ability is always kind
of like if you're if you use differ it it's your dash. If it's
greater, then it's the thing that. Yeah, it's like mobility type.
Yeah, it's always it's yeah, it's always something like to make you move
or like control the battlefield in some sort of way. The circle ability for
Levithan is like, okay, this is you go into shooter mode and you
like there's like an active reload to it because you have a meter's like oh
I have one hundred percent water, and then as you use your shotgun,
your machine gun, whatever the fuck ability you want to use, it goes
down. And then you like press circle and then there's like a there's like
a active reload thing that is like yes, and if you time it right,
it's like, okay, you have you have a short period, we
have infinite ammo. Oh, I'm just I'm just walking around the battlefields blasting
motherfuckers with water. It's it is. It's kind of wild that they said,
fuck everything else, just use this and we're just gonna turn this into
a shooter. It's like this really wild idea. But that's the thing I
love about sixteen, Like once you get all the icon powers, you realize
like how weird they are and how complex they can get. The problem is
like the game never really asks you to engage with it. Yeah, that
level of depth that they have created, it's almost similar to Sandlands, like,
hey, we have this really good combat system, but we're not gonna
like challenge you to learn it very often. I like doing it because I
just want to, Like I just wanted to play the game, and I
did a lot of the challenge based stuff. But again, there's like,
man, y'all are like cooking. Man, y'all got some crazy ideas that
work really really well, And I'm like, man, I want to play
through. I wish well you can, because you'd like new Game plus and
shit. But I'll go through the game again, playing Leviathan throughout the rest
of the game because it's so fun to use. It's also novel because like
I've used all these icons for how long now, like one hundred percent of
the game whatever, So like having this new icons, like, oh shit,
they made a DLC around a new power and it is like very very
distinct from it functions so differently from everything else, And I love that about
Like you get Odin so late in the game, but some of the shit
that you can do with Odin as an icon is so fucking sick. And
it's the same thing with Leviathan. It's like you're gonna give you this power
last minute at the end of the game because you can't access the Rising Tide
storyline until like very close to Oh okay, so man, such a cool
idea. Fuck, it's like walking around as Clive with a fucking super soaker
blast in while the fuck is like Dog's tell me that's not sick any any
good Ben Star Clive lines. He says when you get Leviathan, he says,
I can feel the icon inside me, and I'm like, yeah,
let's know, I posted a clip. So there's all this other another thing
too. It's really stupid. But he unlocked the forgery at the at the
town village and then one of the NPC's like turns and like what do you
want? And then Clive says, your wife asked me to do this,
this and that. But there's there's like there's a a slight pause where it's
just like hey, yo, like Clive, you nasty boy. Jill's I
was like, that's really funny. Jill's right there, bro, Relax.
But yeah, it's it's a DLC where you can distinctly tells like Okay,
they're gonna like branch off and do like a separate thing before the end of
the game whatever. But it's a it's twenty bucks. It's a little a
little steep, I guess, but do you get a little extra Jill Like
it's Jill. I mean, she's there, she has lines and stuff,
but it's like she's it's like the rest of the game she's like there too.
Well, she has her moments in the Bass game of course, which
a right, But like with Dion, I also was like I need more
underutilized. Yeah, still still underutilized, but like she's like there along for
the ride. She is part of the conversation and all that. Okat something.
Yeah, Targle's there too, And there's a new character named Shula,
so she's kind of like the the the person who runs this new town and
you're kind of like your contact to do bullshit within this new region whatever.
She's really good too, so yeah, there's extra story content. It feels
really well made, Like, man, I kind of wish this was part
of the base game in a way because it's it fits right into the quality
of everything else cool, So it doesn't feel like, oh, let's just
add more content for the sake of it. It's like, nah, this
was actually really well put together and really well thought out, and it is.
It's beautiful. Like obviously this game, Like one of the big deals
about sixteen is like how technically impressive it is, and to like go to
a new region that is equally as impressive as anything else, like the Icon
battle in this DLC is fucking insane. Oh shit, Yeah, oh my
god, it is so good. Fuck. I might have returned to it
and play it on sometime rebirth. Yeah, Yeah, I think it's a
it's a nice like I just want a little bit more sixteen and you get
that from this, So I think I think it's absolutely worth it if you
just want more sixteen as a layup baby. So yeah, nice Rising Tide
DLC very very good. Great, Yeah, Jake, is there anything else
you've been checking out? Or is that about? I mean, I'm still
playing Final Fantasy Rebirth. Sure, I think I'm getting close to the end.
Michael, you a week before this week's hours eight hours hours? No,
I'm eighty eight hours in. You're gonna be past one hundred, bro.
Like if at the pace that you've been going, because we've been talking
about business everything that's part of its I'm doing this to myself, yeah,
which is which is cool? Like I wish I had one hundred hours of
plays game. What I land at eighty two? Eighty two hour? Yeay,
eighty two hours. But anyway, the part you told me, because
we talked about this before we started, you told me where you're at,
kid Gi my motherfucking boy Kidji. No, he's not my boy. Second
time he showed up. Second time I've wanted to strangle him. Oh my
god. If you know who Kidji is? What a fuck? Oh,
there's something about him. You ever meet somebody who's like a douchebag? But
there's there's nothing you can can't really put your you can't put your finger on
it, but you just know for a thing. Yes, this morning,
I was just taking a shower and I was like, fuck Kidji, man,
but why do I hate him? And I was trying to figure out
why I hate him and I couldn't figure it out. I got out of
the shower pissed. Because I makes you hate them more because it frustrates you,
Like I don't know why I hate your ask, but I do pictures
like face showing up on the screen, like what's up? Cloud? You
want to come and I want to talk to you. You couldn't beat this
challenge, but maybe you should try again next time. You could do better,
Like fuck you and you're stupid ass Beanie and Jordan's or whatever who designed
Kiji. I just want to talk to y'all, like, like what if
you took Dobby and swagged him out, like you took took Dobby to like
fucking you went on stock X and like Okay, we're gonna we're gonna swag
out, Dobby and this is gonna be a kid GI like, get the
fuck out of here, dude. But yeah, the point you told me
that you were at, I'm like, oh, but I got away.
I mean, I know what, there's fourteen chapters and technically I'm in chapter
twelve. I think, yeah, yeah, maybe I'm exaggerating a little bit,
because that is actually pretty far along. It's so I've done all of
the side stuff leading up to that point, like well, actually, no,
I guess not all of it because I don't want to say what happens,
but like the other area opens up, it's really big that I haven't
explored all because I'm intimidated. But oh, okay, and I don't know
if there's a whole lot there is there are you talking about? We talk
about offline? But okay, it depends. It depends. Yeah, it
depends, because I know in chapter twelve that they open up, they're like,
hey, guess what, there's there's more shit. Yeah. So if
you've done all of that stuff that was presented to you at that point,
then I think, okay, you're on the track to beat this game,
and like maybe this wekend. Yeah, yeah, I think you could do
it this weekend. And I will say we've we've talked at length about around
the ending of this game, but I will say that once you reach the
point of an old Return, there are some genuine, like highest moments of
this game tucked into that. Like there's a lot of bullshit. I've talked
that length about how much bullshit there is in this sequence, but along with
that are some of its best moments as well. So there's I'm just excited.
I mean, I'm I'm enjoying it still, Like I'm really excited for
all the character moments and stuff the story. Like I get lost from time
to time, like usually I just forget what I'm doing because yeah, for
so long, but yeah, I really want to finish it, and I
hope you soon because you got to move on with your life. So yeah,
lots of final fantasies, you know what I'm saying. Cool, Well,
I think that's an episode? Is that an episode? That's an episode?
I don't know if I have anything else to the shore, but yeah,
I think that's No, I don't really have anything. I played Fallout
three for a little bit and I was like that, what's up? Found
your dad? I found my dad. Have you seen my dad? Middle
aged man? And then you play fall Out four? You look for your
son, who's now your dad? Spoilers dog ten year old game. That
was the most obvious Yeah, twist in the it's like okay, yeah,
I think I know what they're doing. Yeah, come on fall Also like
if that's a fall Through four stories not good? Yeah that is the still
disappointed by a Fallout. I took time off to play fall Out four when
it first came out. Me Ker worked on a small video that was like,
hey, if you're interested in playing Fallout because of the TV show what
what would what? What's like the what game should you play? And kind
of breaking down like the thing that each game does well. And I had
to like really sit there and think about for for a while because like,
for for me personally, four is like a game I really struggle to like
articulate like why I don't like it and so it makes but I know a
lot of people do like it. I was really like, what, okay,
like what and I think it is. I do think that game is
like a good systems game. Yeah, but at least and and I think
people who just want it for the systems are like going to get the most
out of it. But the reason I don't like that game is because I
don't think it ends up having anything interesting to say, whether it's story or
its systems. The result, like i'd like I play that game, I
like I feel nothing from it almost like samely enough. Yeah, And like
even though like fall three was the first Fallout that like in the in the
Bethesda style RPGs, Yeah, of course you could see like right through its
flaws. But for for all of that, like Fallout three is still a
very like grim Dark type thing that did explore a lot of the stuff that
you expect from Fallout. I also think three genuinely still nails the feeling of
exploration of wandering like a desolate wasteland in a way that four does not,
because four's map is so like condensed and urban. It's trying so hard to
like emulate the Boston area. Yeah, and and it ends up just kind
of like weirdly enough like it, I feel like it it ends up like
being less memorable, where like there's something about three where it's like most of
that map is just like fucking nothing and that sounds boring. But there's like
a vibe that it captures. There's a mystery behind them, Yeah, emptiness
that where you're just like walking in a direction like everything's dead. You got
the music playing in the background, you got like Galaxy and his radio going
three dog pops up. Hey it's three Dogs, and you're like, yeah,
like it's just a vibe to exploring three that I think, like no
other Fallout has like quite captured. Yeah. Then, like, and that's
the thing about three that I think is still compelling even though replaying it a
little bit the other day, Uh, like it's not that opening. Good
Lord, the Almos stuff in all one on one. I remember how like
amazing that felt at the time. Yeah, I remember it was the video
game. I was a child and I got a birthday and this, oh
this is crazy. Was cooking tunnel snakes rule Yeah, and now you're just
like, oh man, this dog is like real flat and like this is
also like really dragging on and and and like I wish you could skip this.
Although a real mod, right, there's a there is a mod.
Oh yeah, that's like the most popular mod for every fall It's like skip
the in yeah, geez, except for New Vegas. You know why,
because it's intro. Yeah, like choose some pictures and mess with the doc
like to fuck off. I'm good at skipping, like all right, yeah
man, yeah, fuck dude, I forgot about that ship. Like the
opening to New Vegas. You don't even have that stepping out of the vault
like that's God we talk about New Vegas like every fucking week at this point
too. But it's the antithesis to like typical Fallout in so many ways that
that's what makes it so interesting. Like you don't have that walking out of
the vault moment because you're there's some fucking nobody who gets shot in the head
and the grave and it's like, fuck, Matthew Perry just don't want to
go kill Math Perry. Yeah, well rip Matthew Perry and I r L.
But yeah, that's uh, that's that Shit's fucking yeah New Vegas,
man. But yeah, for I don't know, I think four is four
is like is a good Babies First Fallout? Yeah, because it does play
so much closer to a typical first person game. Yeah that like you have
to you have to fight with the systems of three in New Vegas to the
way that I think is going to turn people off who might know a little
bit about like my you know, familiar with video games, watch the show
and said, oh, I want to get into that. I have nothing.
I have no experience with it, and so like you can give them
four and be like you can pretty much streamlined in a way that is good
for mass appeal, absolutely, which I will give it credit for that.
Yeah, I'll give it some credit for that. And I do know people
who like that was their first Fallout game, really liked it at the time
and have now like now finally kind of gone back and been like, oh,
I should check out some of the other ones, like New Vegas or
you know, even like one and two, and then we're just like,
yeah, these are a lot better. You know, this and this and
that and and kind of like but yeah, you know, like for sure,
Fur is maybe like the best playing of the Fallout games. You could
actually play it like a shooter, which is yeah, it's kind of specific.
But I like how they handle the power armor too, and for how
the power arm is like super cool in the Fusion Fusion Core and you customize
it and like that was cool. Yeah, you know, that's actually like
a genuinely like good change because I also think it gives a power armor,
like a like a weight to it, and like a mechanical weight. Like
it's like you have to get in it and like put it all three.
You just like go to a menu and just click it on it and you're
in it, and you're just like, yeah, it's just like a piece
of armor power, you know, getting the fucking power armor. Shiny Ray
will have to do it and she won't like that. Yeah, I've been
I've been wanting to return to four. Oh but the well, so they
put out the next gen update today. Yeah, and we were and me
and Jake were like, oh, we should check it out because they have
an ultra wat we they added and we're like, yo, let's check it
out. Apparently it's bus the whole word. No, all is going to
be like you should watch the video called giving Fallout four second ship. No,
no, no. Apparently the ultra wide is busted on PC where it
only supports some ultra wide resolutions and all of those like two and then and
then like people were like, yeah, so the game's ultra wide, but
the UI is just stretched. Oh yeah, and there's no FOV sliders and
there's no fov slider, uh, because because you have to go in the
I and I five, so it's instead of like properly like ultra wide,
it just crops it in so it's like even more cropped and you're like yeah,
and everyone's like this sucks. So like the there's this article on Piece
of Gamer and that was just like so, uh, to fix it,
you have to go download this mod, which is how everyone did it before
this update came out in the first place. It just kind of be like,
hey, before it still works. Yeah, It's like, damn,
it's twenty twenty four and we're going to I and I files. That's crazy.
I love that shit, man, I mean, don't people find it
out? Like pretty sure Starfield also didn't have an fov slider. You have
to go into the I I. I think it does. I remember I
think it was Naked Jake's video where he was like, dude, I still
have to fucking gow Yeah, but does it keep doing that? I kind
of like that. It makes me. It makes everyone feel like a modern
Yeah. Yeah, you know. I don't make mods, but I kind
of do because I just go to the iron I files and I'm like,
oh, change that value to uh sixty and it's a gateway drug, right,
Like, hey, if you want to go this ten steps ahead.
Yeah. Yeah, kids of these days don't know about how much you have
to mod games on Windows XP to get them, Like we're getting the original
days X to work on Windows XP was a fucking nice Yeah, dude,
Yeah, there was. I think by like I want to say, like
seven or maybe even ten, like Windows has gotten to a point where it's
backwards compatibility is like pretty good now with older games. But yeah, I
want to say, like XP and like the Vista era, you couldn't get
like you'd be like, oh, that game is two years old, fuck
you. And once once a dual core CPUs started being like a common thing,
a lot of older games didn't know how to process that process that and
then like they had problems with game like running at like double speed or like
too fast or too slow whatever, and it was like you have to do
jump through so many hoops disabled when you go into the bios, disable one
of the cores if you're gonna play this game like Dog we were, We
was in the trenches in PC gaming back into two thousands. Bro, you'll
motherfuckers don't know about that ship you back in my day. This is kind
of unrelated, but do you remember for Dark Souls three where weapons would degrade
twice as fast on PC because it was at sixty frames a second. It
was too it was too like every swing it like registered it like hitting things
twice as much. That's yeah, I think so funny, incredible. Yeah.
Oh man, y'all don't know about that. That's funny. Anyway,
go check how that fall for next gen update. I guess I want to
go check that out. I think Tom is putting together comparisonthing, like a
little comparison. I mean, I think it seems like it's it's just better
on just getting mod stick to go to the old Yeah, yeah, like
the like console you know, you're getting like the higher frame rates and stuff
like that. It's like that stuff seems cool like. But PC gamers,
I think, are a little more like we'll do it ourselves. Didn't do
it anything for me. It just broke all my ship. So I think
it's they're a little more salty about it. And honestly, I think,
uh, you look at the PC moding community, especially for beth As the
games, whether it be Elder Schools or Fallout and like, y'all kind of
already figure this out, so we don't need to give you anything. If
anything, It's like made it worse for them because they Fallout London was supposed
to going I think today or tomorrow or anything like that. But I but
but they were like, oh, we're gonna hold it to see if it
breaks and turns out it like it does, broke it quite a bit.
I think the mod creator, one of the creators like tweeted like this,
this screwed us over a lot. The like the standalone mod community because I
know, I remember you did something on one of the New Vegas mods.
It was for I did one on follow Out Miami and Cascadia, Yes,
I remember that. Yeah, but yeah, the standalone mod community for fall
and not just like we're making tweaks and improvements to the Yeah, there's there's
some wild ship and almost like but that would be like, yo, we're
not even gonna touch the PC version. You'll have y'all figure this out,
because like you said, like, it's kind of sucks that like, hey,
we're gonna give these updates and try to refine the games, like oh,
well, you fucking broke everything. We already figured out for you.
So I didn't even fix the Ultra Wife, I know, and didn't even
do a good job in that area. So that's disappointing to hear it,
because yeah, there's some really cool ship. Yeah, yeah, a little
bit of a shame. But hey, you know those models, they'll get
it all fixed up. They'll figure it out. They always do. Please.
Do you know something about war never changes? Bodies and fallen mods,
mods never change. But that's never changes. Uh, that's and you know
what this podcast never changes. And that's an episode of it's going to going
to well I guess it is. Yeah. Yeah, So I mean,
you know, Michael, now that you're going to be a part of the
enemy, I should like really like I'm just joking, I genuinely. We'll
go after that. On Wednesday, we're gonna meet on site. It's it's
on site, okay. Is it like that scene in uh what's it?
The Ron Burgundy? Yeah, we're meet up all the newscasters. Is gonna
like just brawl on the beach. He's going to show up in one corner.
We're gonna show it's murdered alley for real, for real? Yeah,
yeah, the Ghost of fan bite will show. Hell, yeah, well
I'm Ron's in the city, so him and I can. You could be
like, wait, what if we call it I need some port you know
what I'm saying. But no, no, no, we we We genuinely
love all of our peers at I g M and and soon to be peer.
That's that's business. No. So yeah, going to be starting at
IGN next week, as I said, and that means that I Am probably
not going to be on this podcast as frequently. I mean there will be
moments in which I can drop on, but there's no reason you can't come
on or anything like that on your end. Rules. Yeah, there's no
rules on our n I don't buy your end. Yeah. Yeah. So
I mean like the other thing too, is like I need, I need,
I have. I have a full job that I need to figure out
integrate yourself with with your coworkers. So yeah, it's it's, uh,
it is really weird because I mean, if we know all the people I
GN, We've have seen them at like parties and industry events, and like
I'm good friends with many many of them. Yeah, and I've been freelancing
with them for for a while now, so I know how this show works.
But again to be like, oh, this is now, this is
now where I this is where I work, It's it's a it is a
bit weird because I'm just like, oh, I've been game Spot for like
even more than six years, because I'm still I still show up to the
office that you're like, I don't work with you up, but I'm here
desk here. I still don't ship in a desk here. So it is
really weird to be like, oh, man, ship the things are things
are different. I will say, though, uh that I have a project
that I can't talk about yet, but I still actually, I do still
have things that I'm gonna be doing for game Spot in the coming month,
which is really funny. But that's yeah, that's a different story. But
it is funny that I'm so integrated in game Spot that it's like you still
can't fucking get rid of me. But yeah, so, I mean,
I'll be chilling with y'all. I'll hop on the podcast when I can,
but it's not going to be as as frequent as it used to be.
So yes, yeah, yeah, drag Kurt, drag Kurt. You know
what I'm saying. Uh So, yeah, it's three three white people whoop,
damn sliding backwards. Damn man, y'all kind of have y'all kind of
easy diversity higher right here. You know what I'm saying, But y'all fumbled
the bag. So that's not that's not y'all. I can't I can't even
I can't disagree with that. Yeah, so yeah, uh, Game Spot
after Dark is still my It feels like my home, and I'll be back
at some point, you know what I'm saying. Absolutely goodbye everybody. I
feel like I should just stop right there. Damn. Well that's been the
episode of Game Spot after Dark. Do you want you want to close it
out? Oh? Sure? Yeah, like and subscribe. You've been okay
what I said to you, I'm never coming back here, damn. Oh
no, man ship, I love y'all. Thank you for listening. You're
gonna you're gonna hear from me again. Of course, g said, is
this what is where it's at? Man? This has been going on for
a long time. No one's been able to stop us. So you know
the fucking vibes. You get your favorite favorite favorite white folks out here.
James Decker, Jean Luke, Ssike, Kurt Indovina, Uh, y'all have
Tam right there. He should bring him on. No one's gonna notice.
Just put put me on with a British accent. It's the same ship,
so uh yeah, uh, it's yeah, it's It's been great to be
a part of this podcast, even when I was working at fan Bite and
when I was being as like, let's just fucking show up. So yeah,
I'll miss that aspect, but I'll be back. Motherfucker's it's your motherfucking
boy coming to you live from the Bay Area. Oh alright, peace,
bye to you. I'll probably come on next week. Next week.