Hello, everybody, Welcome to Game Spot After Dark, Episode two hundred and
thirty five. I am your host, John Exact. Join this week by
Jacob Decker. Hello. My shirt looks very orange. It looks extremely I
was also looking at this orange until I saw this. I was like,
oh my gosh, she's got HDR. You're gonna have to You're gonna have
to watch the video version on Twitch. I guess to see how fucking break
that? Do that dynamic range? You know. We're also joined by Michael
p. This stands for pinot O. Hi. Hey, what to do?
Baby? Hah? Your shirt too? You got you got the my
try gun shirt. You know what I'm saying, Oh g try gun.
Yeah, thanks for having me. You know, it's it's an honor.
It's a privileged to be on this, this beautiful podcast. Ye don't get
used to it though. Yeah. No, I got to take these opportunities
when I get them, you know. Well, that's it. That's the
episode. Okay, thanks for joining us everyone. We'll see all next week.
Bye. Hey, It's it's not a big week for games, but
it is a big week for video game culture. You're gonna say games,
you know, video games, video games, follow out TV show. Yeah,
that that premiered. Uh. It is out to the world on Amazon
Prime. I have seen half of it, Jake, you saw seen three
every episodes. Michael, have you watched it? Saw? I saw the
first episode, okayatched it last night? Ye? Great. Cool. So
we're all give our thoughts. Will keep it relatively spoiler free. Bomb explodes,
bomb explodes, shit man? What yeah? Multiple lots of them?
Yeah, fuck fallout boys. I thought the first episode was very good,
particularly that first scene, or that may not that first scene, but that
first setup it takes place before the bombs. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
I thought that was very good. I rewatched this has cut the review today.
I rewatched that particular scene and I was like, this is very well
done. I don't know if I can say the same for all of it,
or at least based on what I've seen. There's a lot of like
awkward choices with the cinematography and some weird set design choices. I'm having fun,
but I don't love it. That's how I feel about it. I
should clarify that we did review it over on GameSpot dot com by one Philip
Hornshaw. He gave it a seven out of ten. On his His kind
of summary was fun, characters kind of meanders in the story for a little
bit. It's very like side like side Quest almost ish, and it's in
like its style, but does kind of pick up at the end. And
I mean I obviously got to the end, so I can't comment on that,
but I I think it's just kind of fine, you know. I
also really liked that first episode. I thought, like, because the first
episode primarily takes place in the vault, and so it's like your classic Fallout
set up, and it's like they they do the thing that you you kind
of want and expect where it's like, wow, they really they nail the
look and the vibe and the like kind of the the tone. Then I
really fucking hated that second episode. I did not like it at all.
And then I thought the third episode was slightly better, and then I thought
the fourth episode was better or so it's like it's picking up steam. But
like, man, that is that second episode, for whatever reason, just
like did not work for me at all. And I think part of it
is that, like I really hate Maximus as a character the Brotherhood of Steel
initiative guy. He's like one of the three characters the other being Lucy the
vaultdweller, and uh is he just called the ghouls? Who is the best
part of the show. By the way, that man is amazing. But
I really did not like Maximus's character at all, and so like every time
he was on screen, I was like, I don't like this guy.
He sucks. And that's also why I like the fourth episode the best,
because he wasn't in it, Like I didn't realize it, but like we
finished it and me and Georgia were like, it was a pretty good episode.
We're like, yeah, they're like, wait a minute, Maximus never
showed up. That's why. That's also the episode with Matt Barry though,
So that's that's a pretty good one. Michael, what do you think,
because I mean, Jacob kind of talked about the cells just based off that
one. I don't want to say that Fallout is an easy thing to adapt.
Thing is easy to create or adapt, but I feel like the blueprint
is pretty strong already. I would agree for us who've played pretty much like
every Fallout game, there are things that we expect, and this, at
least in the first episode, it delivers that classic Fallout opening. So to
me, I'm watching it, I'm kind of like, okay, cool,
like this is well if someone does not have context for Fallout watches, I
feel like it's a similar vibe when I watched The Last of Us, where
yeah, I know what they're trying to do. I played these games many
many times, so nothing surprises me. Well done, for sure, But
I don't want to say I'm not the target audience for it, because like
it's exciting to see, like a good adaptation of something that you're very familiar
with. But I'm just I'm more curious to hear what people who have no
context for what Fallout. Yeah, because I watch it, I'm like,
yeah, this, this is hitting every note that I expect from the first
quest that you do in Fallout, the blog where you're in the vault.
Yeah, yeah, the bombs drop, shit changes you're in the vault.
Then you have that coming out of the vault moment. It's a mysterious intrigue.
Not everything is as it seems in the vaults, you know, like
having hundreds of hours in New Vegas, which is the most like thought provoking
is probably more a pretentious way to frame it, but now you can say
the most complex, the most complex take on the on a post apocalypse and
specifically Fallout. That's like the thing that I hold in a high regard and
like that's not what the show is going to do. That's not what the
aim of the show is. But that is what Fallout is to me.
Yeah, like to be reductive, it's more in line with like Bethesda's idea
of versus Obsidian, which, like I'm not trying to be like a pathesta
hater about it. It's just it's just more New Vegas show. Come on.
I mean, I also fucking want New Vegas to show. Are you
kidding me? But like there is a very different approach to between those two,
you know, as as it would be, so I I mean,
I respect it. I think yeah, like I said, I think I
think it's well done. Based off that first episode, I'm going to continue
watching it just because like everyone's talking about it, and it's like I want
to be aware of about I haven't seen what it is, but I heard
some New Vegas fans where I guess there's like a weird continuity air with New
Vegas that people are made about it, and I'm like, I don't know
what it is, so I'm not gonna. I'm like, okay, well
it's different timelines. Whispers Yeah, whoa fucking whispers are out here with mister
House conspiring. Uh yeah, I mean Georgia has uh never played Fallout.
She's familiar with Fallout, so it's not like she's coming in completely blind,
but she she she only just knows it on a very surface level, so
she was able, like she found the first episode pretty compelling, where she's
like, Okay, like I'm able to follow along. Like I think they
do a great job of like presenting that world without necessarily giving like the exposition
dump for it in a way that I think a lot of shows that are
adapting a thing kind of fall into that trap. It doesn't do that.
So like for her, she was like, I'm able to follow along.
I'm intrigued. I like the setting. She was like compelled by it.
And then the issues that we had with the second episode were less like the
world building and more just like ah, like some of the characterization isn't hitten
or like the like these scenes just aren't working. A lot of the jokes
fell really flat for us, like like more like TV show issues, less
than like adaption. Yeah, understanding the source material issues. That's cool.
I think the the the visual presentation of a Fallout universe is pretty striking when
I think about it, Like, like I said, we're so used to
seeing Fallout that doesn't really like register that well. But like the when I
was watching the first episode, I was like, Oh wow, the they
really capture the retro futuristic vie they do there pre apocalyptic world that is in
Fallout. I'm like, oh wow, this is for one now watching it
as a TV show, I'm like, oh, this is like damn.
I hadn't really put that much thought into the way the Fallout world is visualized.
Yeah, and the sort of the era of that tech or the tech
of that era, and how that's represented with and despite robots, TVs and
how people address it's like fifties with all all high tech retrofuturist stuff. So
I'm like, oh wow, I guess I didn't really. I it's gotten
so used to seeing Fallout for sure. And I would say despite being a
thirty year old property, I do think Fallout is still feels extremely unique of
a setting and a like like that mashup of that like fifties Americana with like
post apocalyptic futurism, like not just in video games, which is like in
general, Like I don't think you see that that style that finction. Yeah,
so like I do think it makes sense, Like it's the kind of
thing where you can show it to like a wider audience and it still feels
like fresh and interesting. Yeah yeah, yeah, Anyway, I think there's
so at this point, there's somebody posts apocalyptic TV shows, movies, book
games, and and the fact that Fallout still kind of stands out amongst all
those after thirty years, like you're saying, I think is impressive, and
I think like it's kind of cool seeing how much they stuck to that original
iconography, which you know how like I don't know, like a lot of
adaptions they're like, yeah, we're gonna take this, but we're gonna have
our interpretation. You know, we're gonna like change the the costume that the
superheroes wear slightly in order to fit the movie better or whatever. But this
is just like, oh no, that is Vault boy. He looks exactly
the same as he does in the games. That Vault looks identical to the
Vault pit boys wearing a pit boy you know, like all that stuff looks
just like fun to see. It is fun to see. I will say,
like personally, I've hit a point where like that that that is cool.
It can only take me so far with the show in a way that
I think, like, which is why, like after the first episode,
I was kind of like, all right, well, what else do you
got? Like how are you gonna compel me through this whole thing? Because
like it's it's I think like companies and studios have like pretty for the most
part, figured out like how to properly adapt a thing to like make it
like look and feel that way. So it's more about like storytelling, you
know, like your unique flavor cinematography. I think the cinematography in the show
is like kind of pretty whatever at times, like there's like some weird choices,
like I dode I thought that slow mo scene in the beginning in the
first episode was like kind of weird and like went on too long. These
are video producers here, you know, yeah, yeah, and this is
like where my like video brain, like I'm thinking about this maybe on the
level that other people aren't, but like that's where I start to be like
I kind of wish, y'all I had a little more. Uh, I
don't know, like creative stamp on this in a way where where it like
it looks good, but it also is like lit and shot the way every
TV show is. Yeah, there's like it does feel like netflixified, you
know, it's like there's a homogeneity to a lot of how TV prestige,
TV is it is nowadays. I guess. So it's like not even Fallout's
fault because I kind of feel that way about just like a lot of TV
in general. Yeah, but it is a thing where I'm just like,
like I kind of wish I'll put a little more effort into it, like
like high budget tripple a third person action games. Right, Like I didn't
finish watching The Last of Us. I did think the Last of Us was
maybe like the more like impressive looking show that's also HBO though, like it's
that HBO HBO money money they got like that rep But I would say to
the credit a Fallout over Last of Us. One of the reasons I didn't
really stick with Last of Us as a show is with a few exceptions aside,
it's it's adapting the game. I have played that game the store like
it's the story you know and it's like, ah, I know how this
all plays out. So I didn't like it, didn't I didn't really necessarily
feel compelled to keep watching where the follow up show like it is its own
original story. It's just in that universe. And I do think that,
like, is that's the That's the way I'd prefer because surprised, Yeah,
to be surprised to add new elements to to bringing new characters and concepts,
like I I find that way more interesting. So like even if this first
season you know, isn't isn't like wowing me, Like it's a solid foundation
and if, like I think they I don't know if they said they're going
to do a second season or that they want to or but like if they
keep going with it and like they can build on it and go like bigger
and better, like hey man, good for them. Yeah, you know,
I hope they do that. That's up. Oh, I will say
I got annoyed by all the needle drops, the old timy music. There's
a lot of music they lay it on pretty thick. It's cool to hear
a lot of those familiar songs that we hear on every radio station first time,
maybe by the ink spots played. You're like, it's like, oh,
that's the song from Fall one three but they but then, but dude,
and you'll only watched the first episode. They play that specific song.
It's like every fucking episode and I'm like, I get it. They play
a song from every every sequence change, you know, where it's like just
new song, new song. Pretty fair. Yeah, they laid on pretty
thick in a way that I'm just like, Okay, I get it,
all right, wait, which is weird because there are times where they have
the more like uh an actual score that is I don't think it's by the
people who did Fall like three and four, but it's very reminisent. It's
very reminiscent of that soundtrack in like a good way. And like when that
picks up, I was like, oh, more of that, please,
Like I would rather there be more of a balance than just being like,
hey, they're walking in the desert. Play one of them old timey songs
is oh man, so I'm waiting to hear I need three dog man.
He's on the other side of the country there, Who's Well, it's it's
it's it's it's near the n c R. Because it's a next thing they
drop Big Iron though. That's that's the one. Yeah, you got you
gotta get some of that. Uh see. That's where I'm like, they
could do New Vegas stuff, Like they're right there. But if at the
end there's like mister House shows up and says, you know what, I
need you to work on the Vegas New Vegas strip? Yes, man,
yeah, yes, oh dog, New Vegas has got some fucking characters.
Man, dude. That's the biggest thing about this show is playing it.
I'm just or watching it. I'm just like, yo, I just want
to play. I just want to Vegas makes me want to go back to
even like even like four, which I didn't love. I would say,
like seeing those updates coming as well, yeah, like you know I kind
of want to play that with my ultra wide monitor. Yeah yeah, yeah,
they're adding ultra wide support and an update years later, right. No.
I saw that on the bus this morning, and I was like,
oh, do I gotta pull up maybe some time to start digging into the
mod see what see what people came up with for that game. I was
going to say, you've got to give fall Out for a second chance,
but you know what that video was second chance a third most peop would be
like a third chance we'll have the second time I click on a video that's
just like giving Fall four an eighth chance, and you'd be like, what
the fuck are you doing this whole time? What happened with the first seven?
Yeah? Uh man, let's just let's just go play Fall in New
Vegas. Hell yeah that game is That game is good. Yeah, hell
yeah, I've I've actually been replaying Fall one for like a video I'm working
on. Yeah, I see it on the on the Steam on your Steam
Library computers around these parts. Yeah, I've been. I've been playing that
dude. That game is pretty good still. Yeah, it's it's it's aged
obviously in some ways, which is kind of what I talk about in my
video. Like the UI is like it's kind of clunky and and like weird
stuff like oh, hey, I want to switch my guns out for my
companions, but there's no way to do that, so you have to like
steal from your companions and then just like drop a weapon in there and like
hope they'll use it, and like we're weird stuff like that. They're like,
eh, this stuff is an age great, but the actual just like
world building and like vibe and the characters. You're like, man, this
this stuff, like thirty years later, still pretty damn good. So yeah,
I'm really enjoying replaying Fall one again. And maybe I'll maybe I'll play
in New Vegas. I'm trying to convince Georgia to play New Vegas but she
wants to, but she's uh, she's got like a massive backlog. We're
trying. We're almost done with Persona three. We we we're on December twentieth.
Oh oh wow there yeah, we're almost there. We're like we're really
barreling towards that ending. There. She's trying to date Mitsuru right now,
you know what, that's the that's the correct choice, the correct choice.
Yeah, you know, you car Car is cool too. Oh yeah,
you Car is like best friend. But yeah, Mitsu is canonically thirty years
old, so is aka Eko, and shit, like they're all like adults.
Yeah, grovelly voices and all these fucking I'm a CEO of a company
and I've had many jobs, and I'm a boxing champion and I've a fucking
rich ass owner of this electric company and we were we did like one of
the episode links with Akahiko where you like fight all those that gang, yeah,
beat their ass, and then you go back to like Akiko's room and
you're like talking about this and yeah, like the metal on them and stuff.
Oh my god, it was so cute. And then just out of
nowhere, Georgia just shouted, what are they gonna have gay sex Atlas?
Stop being cowards? Let them touch each other. You know what I'm saying.
Oh man, that was a really that was a really beautiful moment.
I cried. Yeah, it was good. And then George is over here
being like gay sex. Yeah, I respect that. Yeah, I love
all that new stuff they add. Yeah, it's really great. It's really
well done. Anyway, we talk about every fucking week. Last week Kyle's
like, oh I started Persona through, Like, yo, sorry, we
did talk about it last week. Fucking Well, don't worry. I'll change
the subject because I'm almost done with Final seven, which we also talked about.
I think by next week I'll be done with that. Man, what's
your hour account? Then sixty seven? Okay, I'm in chapter eleven.
I just finished all the side stuff in Nibelheim, and I'm heading up the
mountain. So I hear this is where the eels fall off, so not
quite Okay. Well, actually Lucy told you no, no, no,
no, no, you're right. She told me that, like she was
really enjoying it until she got to chapter eleven. So I'm really curious to
see the wheels come back on then they kind of fall, you'll know exactly.
I'm excited to see where it goes. There's just some shit you're gonna
see, be like, what the why the fuck is this in this game?
So many moments like that, but especially Yeah, I'm still enjoying it.
Though. I will say there was a moment when I first got to
Nibelheim and like I saw like all the side quest things pop up, and
I was like, oh god, I have to do this again. But
that area was much smaller and much more condensed. It was easy for me
to, like super easy to once again and like with the choke bo that
that flies around and stuff. So they basically said, fuck it, you
don't have to do any of those other bullshit, yeah, the Cosmo Canyon
and whatever. So yeah, I mean, like, I'm still enjoying it.
I just it's it's taken me so long. And to be honest,
I was thinking about it. I think if I had to play this game
in like a week or two weeks review, I think I would have blown
my brains out. But the fact that I've been able to like slowly play
it over the course of six weeks now has been perfect. I think,
like, that's that's how I want to experience this the right way, and
I think it's part of the reason why I'm still invested and interested. And
I feel like I'm not getting as frustrated as other people did with I mean
not everyone, like I know you really liked it, but I know Tam
and his review who also really liked it, but was saying that, like
in the middle part, there's like too many mini games. But that didn't
bug me, and I think it was because I was just taking it slower.
I wasn't really like I need to see what happens next in the story.
I'm just like, I'm gonna enjoy the the the Golden Saucer for what
it is. I'm going to check out all the mini games. I'm gonna
play all the fucking Queen's Blood. I can't sure, uh, but yeah,
I'm I'm still enjoying it. I'm excited to finish it. Though,
because I've told myself I'm not going to play more Dragons Dogma until I finished
Final Fantasy seven. So I'm almost done and it's back to then it's back
to TD two. Yeah, Dragon's Dogma cool. Yeah, I hope you
finish it. You're almost there. Whenever you think you're almost done with Rebirth,
you're not. Yeah, you think you're done with it, but you're
actually not. Then chapters right, yeah, yeah, thirteen and then yeah
this fourteenth, fourteenth, the finale, because I figure I at least have
ten more hours to go. Yeah, ten maybe I rememberteen? Yeah,
I say, closer at the pace you're going probably fifteen, Okay, yeah,
I'm going maybe twenty. I remember feeling so confident she was at the
end, and then like I came, like a weekend happened and I was
like, oh, what do you think of the ending? And she's like,
I'm still not done. I was like what, And she's like,
I put it in another six fucking hours and I'm still not done. And
I was like, oh, yeah, see, yeah, I've got I've
got no responsibilities. I don't need to be I don't need to cut any
videos to it. I don't need to be on a spoiler cast doesn't matter.
Now, finish it whenever. I want to finish it at your own
pace. Man, that's cool. Oh, I'm excited to hear your thoughts.
I'm always I always like it when and someone finishes Rebirth, especially when
they have the same exact complaints as me and like twenty other people. I'm
like, yes, validated, Yes, so you add another one. Yeah,
Which doesn't get me wrong. It's one of my favorite games I've played
in recent memory. But it's just one of those things where its flaws are
so glaringly obvious. But do you think do you think they can fix it
for the third one? Like, do you think that that stuff can come
together or do you think they kind of? I think it can. Okay,
I think it can, but they have to be very very meticulous in
how they do it. Have they proven they can though? Yeah? That's
because after Remake it's kind of like, oh, wow, they're they're doing
something, and then with Rebirth, like y'all are doing too much and I
don't know if you know exactly what you're doing with all of this shit.
Did you finish it? John? Then? I actually haven't, yeh,
because I basically like moved on to other stuff and then I've been playing at
that second play through with my brother. I'm actually about to lap my first
Oh yeah. But also we're like fifteen hours like less like ahead versus another
one because we're just skipping a lot of stuff. It's cool. But I
mean, dude, like, even even for as fat as that game is,
like, it still has like some incredible moment we did the we did
this stuff with like Barrett and Dine and oh my, that's that's really good.
My brother was like, fuck, like wow, I mean so far,
I like this game a lot more than I liked Remake. Like I
like that. I think it's just has a lot to do with the world
itself feels much more expanded, bigger, interesting. I think the way it's
paced works a lot better in my opinion, even though it is longer.
I just feel like that sort of loop of like going to an open area
exploring it, kind of pushing the story along slowly works better than like,
like, I don't feel like this game is padded at least in the story
as Remake was, because like Remake, I felt like you go on all
these random tangents every now and then yeah, that that I found kind of
annoying. So yeah, I mean like there's obviously more fluff, I guess
in this game with all the side content, but like that hasn't bugged me
too much. The fluff of Rebirth feels like it fits the context a little
bit better than it did in Remake. Yeah, I think, yeah,
yeah, that was a much better way to say what I was trying to
say. Yeah, Like Remake, you just be doing ship. It's like
I'm just doing this ship, But like Rebirth, there's a lot of work
to like, Hey, this is why you're doing this thing. Here's the
end result of the thing that you did. And then it's like, oh
that adds a little bit more context to the rest of the world. So
it's like, all right, I'm doing bullshit, but the bullshit comes back
around, yeah, more often than it doesn't. The fucking music is so
good across everything. It's like, oh my god, the battle music like
just it's just beautiful ship and I do miss bom bomb. You know that's
not a couple of times it does, but it doesn't play as much.
Yeah, do that is that the Shin theme? No, it's the wallmarket.
Oh yeah, I know, I just talking about I think they played
in when you see Jewels or I don't know. Yeah, Jewels just shows
back up and you do you do sit ups and pull ups again. Yeah,
like I hated that many games. Still sucks. It's all good,
that's cool. Wait how much did you too? Have you played? Then?
I played like ten hours or so that's why, just because I didn't
have access to my PlayStation for a bit, So that's why I played.
And then, oh man, how do you feel about it? So far?
I love it? I think it's great. Yeah, uh, it's
definitely. There's a lot of little issues with it. I would say,
like just doesn't doesn't run great, Like there's some weird intricacies to it.
Yeah, but I think that sense of discovery kind of trumps all of that,
you know, where it's just like there are a few games where I
actually want to travel from point A to point B, and that is one
of those games that I want to do that and I and for me,
that's like if a game makes me want to travel from point A to point
B, I'm like, yeah, this is a good It's a thing that
so few games nail. So this fucking chairs dragon crazy trying so hard not
to move, but it is just like you gotta sit you ass still.
Man. I feel like the theme of this year with games is almost like
uh like uh flawed masterpieces or maybe masterpieces too strong, but just like compared
to like last year, where I feel like there all these games that were
just like, wow, this game is just like super super polished banger.
This a lot of the games are messier, Infinite Wealth, you know,
Rebirth, even Dragon's Dogma, you know, instead of It stuff, but
they're also like all doing things that are still like super unique and compelling in
their own way. So it's like with the exception of of of Reload that
Reload, that one's a banger, Yes, Fronts of Back, but which
is why it's it's probably a game of the year right now, say that
ship back around in six seven months, we'll have that conversation. Yeah exactly.
But yeah, but yeah, it's just like interesting, how like games
are a little bit messier this year, And I don't mind that actually,
I like I think it makes it for a more interesting experience conversation. Yeah,
this is Yeah, there's just more I think there's like more standout moments
in the games. This year, but that has come at the expense of
a well rounded Yeah, like Infinewel is a very good example of that,
where absolutely there's some like incredible highs and some real unforgettable moments, but again
there's just like some low, very low lows. Yeah, but that's fine.
It's fine, you know what I'm saying. Yeah, Shi, it's
just different. Mm hmm, it's cool. It's cool. I've been playing
a little game came out called Children of the Sun. Oh yes, yeah,
Uh, that game is fucking awesome. Didn't you tell me about it?
I did tell you about it last week. It's so, it's it's
a it's a game made by one guy whose name I don't recall off the
top of my head, Devolver Digital Joint app believe it's PC only does run
on ground Steam Deck though. Uh. It's basically sniper elite puzzle game where
you play as this woman who doesn't have a name. She's just the woman
who is escaped a cult and is now like I'm gonna murder all these motherfuckers.
So each level is uh, you'll be like in an area like a
like a like a forest, or like run down like motel just like all
these like really like gnarly cedy areas. The game has got this disgusting like
dark purple, like overly saturated like color palette, real gnarly vibes. Huge
fan of it. But you'll like get into these areas and basically you you'll
be on like the outskirts of this arena where all of the the cultists are,
and you can circle around like uh, and then you can like ping
them, you know, to like find them and line them up and so.
But then when you fire, you can only fire one bullet, and
you kill all of them with one bullet. So the trick is when you
kill someone, you then get to news your Telekinese's mind powers to redirect that
bullet to another person. So it becomes this puzzle game where you're like,
I need to fire the bullet at just the right time to line it up
where these people are so I can like go from this person to this person
to this person to this person. And it's so freaking satisfying to pull off.
Yeah, Oh it feels so good. Do they have a slow moo
anatomy cam not anatomy, but but it is that slow moo just like pixelated
like blood just everywhere. Oh it's so good man, there's nothing better than
shooting the balls off a Nazi and snipers. Uh. And then yeah,
and then you're like they add all these like interesting little like twists and wrinkles
to it. You'll kind of like unlock different abilities where one lets do kind
of like you can kind of curve the bullet a little bit mid flight if
you want to meet types like for example, there is a an armored enemy
where in order to hit them, you need to shoot far enough away,
and then you hold down the bullet and you make it go faster and you
like speed it up, and if you speed it up enough, the bullet
can then penetrate their armor. So then it becomes this thing where you're like,
okay, I need to maybe I want to hit that guy first because
I'm far enough away. Or you'll eventually get this ability that lets you like
if you can like build up like a meter where you can then like activate
and move the bullet again without having to hit someone. So you'll like fire
the bullet like into the air, let it go far enough away, and
then like hit the button redirect it so then you like have enough distance to
kill the armored guy You can also explode like gas canisters and like cars nearby,
and that will also let you either just move around or you can use
it to like kill people. You can shoot pigeons in the air as a
way to like give yourself like distance, which is like it's fucked up,
but it's cool because it's just a really awesome little puzzle game. It's super
short. I can I beat in like three hours. It does have replayability
because there's like leaderboards and all that stuff. But uh, hey, you
know, uh everyone who is like I want uh short games that look worse,
uh you know yeah, uh like and I don't even care, Like
that's this fucking game right here, Like it is. It's incredible. I'm
I'm a huge fan of it. I also I just love the vibe of
it, like it's just so gnarly. And in between each level has these
like really short but like impactful cut scenes that are like these uh kind of
hand drawn on almost like graphic novel style panels that kind of like show uh
like what's happening with the cult or a little bit of like the woman's backstory.
Uh. And it's just got this like like heavy industrial noise soundtrack and
like real like guitars where you can just like hear the strum twang, you
know. And and it's just got a fucking vibe. You know, it's
got a vibe to it. Yeah. Like I took one look at the
game. I like, Oh, this game's got a vibe. It's got
a vibe. Big fan of it. I highly recommend. Yeah, it's
like fifteen bucks, which you know, I like, I think it's absolutely
worth it. My opinion that what hell, Yeah, I'm gonna check that
out. Then, yeah, I think you shall check it out. Jake,
you saw for preview? Oh god, what did I say? Oh?
I saw Prince of Persia. You saw Prince of the Dead. Yeah,
slogue Prince of Persia, which is a funny, really funny name.
Yeah, it is a roguelike. Surprising surprisingly, it is developed by I
think, oh god, what's their team called Evil Empire. I think it's
Evil Empire. Evil Empire who technically didn't develop the original Dead Cells, but
I think Emotion Motion and after the first big update drop, I think they
kind of took over development and have been surprised years including. I think they
also developed like the Castlevania DLC that came out as well. I really likes
all the updates. Yeah, I mean, I mean all the DLC from
what I've heard, is great. I mean, I love the original Dead
Cells game, and I probably would have kept playing if I didn't have other
shit that I had to I had to jump on. So anyway, they've
been working with Ubisoft for a while to make a Prince of Persia roguelike game,
and I only got to play like thirty minutes of it, which admittedly
is not nearly enough. But it feels like Dead Cells, except it's got
a very different art style that I think jordan Is preview mentioned it's it's inspired
by like French comics and like Persian miniatures or something like that, in order
to kind of give it this sort of I don't want to say water color
because that sounds simplified, but it's got like a very like not washed out,
but like a very confident pastel color palette. Think that's a French word.
Yeah, look, look sure, I'm very intrigued by so visually it
looks great. It feels pretty good, I think in Jordan's preview, because
he also played it, one thing he mentioned that kind of bothered him was
in Dead Cells. You kind of had that role that lets you basically I
frame through enemies and this instead has like a dodge button where like the Prince
will like kind of like if they attack, you like leap off of them
and do a backflip and you do have I frames, but you don't really
like have much mobility to it. Yeah. However, all that said,
I mean it feels like a very solid platformer with the roguelike structure built around
it. I'm very excited to play more. I got to like, I
think we can only see the first boss and it very much feels like Dead
Cells, like all the how the upgrades work when you get to bosses,
Like the bosses feel tough, but they feel like you can beat them,
you know, if you just had a slightly different build, or if you
were able to upgrade something a little more. And it definitely is going to
have that like one more run mentality. And like I said, I think
I only had time for two runs in my time and I could have kept
playing more, but it seems good. I think it comes to early access
soon. I don't remember if they gave a release date. I think it's
like a couple months or so. It was an early access game, and
they're going to continue like developing, and I think when I was at the
preview, they had mentioned that they haven't finished like the story of the game
yet. There's still like new sections that will be added, but there is.
They wanted to make sure that it felt like even if you're buying an
early access it felt like a complete, polished game. And what I played
like it, it felt like it didn't feel like an early access game.
Obviously only played thirty minutes. Though maybe I get to the next area and
it was just busted, But damn, I don't think that. I don't
think that's going to be the case. But no, I had a lot
of fun. I'm excited to play more. I'm curious to see if it
will kind of feel like that Dead Cells sequel that I think a lot of
previews, including game Spot we've kind of like hyped it up to be because
it's just so hard to say, but sure, definitely worth keeping an eye
out on. And also it's it's crazy we're getting two Prince of Persia games
in a year. Yeah, if they're not getting any for a very decade,
right right, more than a decade. Yeah, it's cools. Someone
on Twitter said this, I forget who, but how they thought it was
like really interesting that like this this almost seems like a smart way to like
test the waters with like an old ip that like maybe like like instead of
being like, dude, let's bring it back, let's pour like millions of
dollars big triple A, Like what if we just like hand it to like
a you know, smaller studio that we like no does like awesome shit and
they can like try something else with it, like it's different and we can
kind of gauge with how people feel about it. Like it's like I would
like to eventually see like a bigger Prince of Persia maybe make her comeback,
and also whatever the heck is going on with that sands of time remain,
Yeah, but like it's cool to just like see that that like franchise kind
of like still around and there's like smaller ways that we haven't seen before,
but it still feel very Prince of Persia. Yeah, it's like, yeah,
I think this this this action platform or side scroller format, whether it
be Rogue or Metroidvana, that fits what Prince of Persia kind of always was.
Totally. These are really good fits, really good ideas exact to play
with the IP so yeah, and I mean to be honest, like,
I think i'd rather see you be soft invest in these smaller, more interesting
style of games than like, like, I don't know, I feel like
they've definitely gotten away from it, but for a while there, all you
be soft games are just like open world like very similar structure, and I
don't think i'd want a Prince of Persia game that is just like that.
Yeah, so I almost appreciate kind of the route they're taking, whether or
not it like connects with an audience as well as like Dead Cells did I
don't know, Okay, I just had a crazy idea. Remember that game
Mark of the Ninja, Mark of the Ninja, Hell yeah, get that
team to make a Sam Fisher splinter. So, my, can you imagine
that is such a good idea you should get millions of dollars that. That's
fucking cool. Like Mark of the Ninja, although it was a two D
game, was such a smart play on stealth. Yeah, fuck man,
that would be ship. That would be crazy, pretty good, goodass idea,
man, Hey, you know, just yeah, hit me up,
I'll direct it direct. Just come up with the ideas and y'all figure the
ship your ideas. Guy, Yeah, sick, Michael, what about you?
Anything you've been checking out? Yes? Two things cool? Uh.
One is an not old but it's a game that came out I think six
seven years ago. Let me tell you about Everybody's Golf. I don't know
why I've been playing Everybody's Golf, which came out like twenty seventeen. Hot
shots Golf. Is that the one was carrying in one of the Kiri is
in one of them. I don't think it was Everybody's Golf, the one
that the most recently. Okay, there's a kru like character skin for one
of those games. Okay, I don't know if that was like a Japan
only type thing. But I've been playing a lot of fucking golf and I
was like, damn, I used to like I don't know. I was
just scrolling through PS plus. So I've been watching Lucy's cats Cat sitting for
her, and I was like on our PS five and I was like,
what on PS plus can I do? I want to play? I don't
want to play anything too heavy. I don't want to play anything that takes
too much effort. I just want to chill with the cats, just do
something fun. Yeah, And I was like, you know what, I
miss hotshots golf. I'm going to download everybody's golf and I put like twenty
hours in that game in a week. I just zone out and I'm just
golfing. Motherfuck Like, Oh, I love golf. I was on my
high school golf team, so I, wow, it's not really good at
everybody. Well, yes, I am good at everybody's golf. I'm not
that great at real going rifles and golf clubs. Yeah, dude, I
do it all. I you know, my life has been crazy, damn
and buses. Those are some some white people. I wasn't gonna say it.
I mean, you're not wrong, but you didn't have to say it.
To be fair. Drill Team has a lot of roots in Pacific Islander
culture. Golf not so much. You got me there. I love golf.
Let me tell you about Koreans and golf, because holy shit, Korea
is very very good at golf. Everybody's golf is fucking sick. Man.
I made my creative character. She is so beautiful. Oh my god,
I am. I am so deeply in love with the character. I created
it. Every white hair. Yes, it's like picture. I have a
bunch of screenshots on my PS and I feel like I already visualized. It's
like, what if to be was Filipino. Uh, that's basically every character
I create. If it's not she a, I create to be a film
panal version of two b Oh god, she's beautiful and she's so good at
golf. Holy fuck, dude, really important. Yeah yeah, oh my
god, that's like a green flag to me. Everybody. Everybody's golf is
really fucking good. Uh. It turns out Hot Shots golf was. It
was always good, and that game has that series has not changed very much,
Like you just put new courses, same mechanics. You don't need to
it's golf. It's golf. You hit, you the meter moves, you
time it and you you hit the ball, and it's like that's it.
Uh, it's really goofy. It's a really fun game. It's it's the
perfect It's like my perfect cozy game. It's like there's an island vacation where
everybody golfs. I'm like, fuck, yeah, yeah. You go to
these Hawaiian islands to golf there, and then you go to this really intricate
like city scape and virtual, so you don't feel bad about like the fucking
waste of space, all the money that the city invests into their golf courses
that could go to like solving houselessness. And you know what I'm saying,
these are just like real issues you don't got to worry about. Man,
it's about time we got politics. Oh my god. So yeah, everybody's
golf is the one game that I will be like, you know what,
I don't care about politics here because I'm golfing. Then I realized that the
daily city golf course can be used for much more important things which I live
by. And you know what, I think, I want to golf there.
I'm going to be I haven't. I haven't golfed there. I haven't
either. I was supposed to go one time with Nick and Will and I
think they just like maybe made it through three holes and just drank the entire
time. Wow, that also sounds pretty good. That's what you were gonna
do. I would have gone because whenever someone's like, oh, we're going
golf, and I'm like, sounds because some man of them have dress codes
too. You have to wear the star polo and yeah, I'm just like,
I don't want to do that kind of stuff, but I'm drinking.
Yeah, that sounds pretty I can do yes, much better at that than
golfing. Oh yeah, so the second one, uh second game I'm playing
this? I played the Stellar Blade demo. Oh I played too. Yeah?
Oh hell yeah, well that's cool. Okay, what'd you talk about
it? What did you think about it? I enjoyed it. I'm surprised
by how much I enjoyed it. And I was also surprised that it is
a soul's like. Well, will surprise me is that it is a soul's
like, but like way more deflecting pairying. Yeah, very securo like.
Yeah, but like a little more I don't want to say purposeful, but
like you know, sec it's like ding ding ding ding, You're like I'm
doing with this. It's very much like hit that one move, which which
I found pretty satisfy. Yeah, there's a satisfying momentum to this game,
like you want to first. I mean I get it because I felt the
same way too when I first saw the reveal of this game, like,
oh, they're trying to do like a Bayonetta or a new Automata. Yeah,
and it's like, esthetically it's it feels like it's going for that.
Then you actually play, I'm like, oh, this is a Soul's like.
But there's a lot of momentum built into its mechanics and systems that I
think helps it stand out from just being another like co Vain or Neo or
what any of the other souls likes out there, like Lords of the Phone.
There's just like a very specific like combo mentality to it. The way
counters work. I think the enemy design leaves a little bit to be desired
in terms of like readability and like that, but it's not bad. The
bosses look cool though. Yeah, you fight on the rooftop and you like
cut it in half, and I'm like, all right, there's this.
There's there's really cool ship in this game, especially gameplay wise. I think
there's a lot of potential there. And I only played the demo. Game
comes out this month, but from the demo, I'm like, oh,
I think I'm more interested in this game than I initially was. So it's
funny I had a and it'd be very like, you know, I think
my I had initially a really bad reaction to it because of it being a
souls like because I think my expectations were just like, Oh, it's gonna
play like Bayonetta or whatever, and then I was like, what the fuck
is I can't where, I can't jump? Where's my combos? Especially because
I think and like, uh, I do think there's a weird disconnect between
what's happening in cut scenes and what's happening in gameplay. Like the cut scenes
are like, oh, she's doing Beyanetta Devil May Cry type shit, and
then the gameplay you're not really behaving like that. So I there is this
weird feels like slower, like the gameplay is still fast, but I know
what you're saying, where like the cut scenes all this crazy flips, yeah,
and then like in game you're kind of like walking around and and I
do sort of have this like right, and I kind of have this like
for me, there's sort of a thing about like I feel like if if
you show the character doing something cool in the cut scene, I should also
be able to do that in the game. And that's something that like Bayonetta
and Definite May Cry nails so well. So like seeing her do stuff in
cut scenes, I'm like, whoa. And then like the gameplay being different,
Like that really threw me off at first. That makes sense, I
will say, I don't know if you battled like the like once you finish
the demo, you unlock like a boss you can do that is supposedly much
later in the game where more abilities, and that felt a little more like
I was like flipping over that and like like writing my blade down its mouth
or whatever is like cutting it open and stuff. And like that teleport ability
where you like, if you hit it at the right time, you teleport
behind them. Yeah, like square, then the triangle you like, it
feels like it builds. And then also like I don't know how much you
dove into this skill tree, but there's like a lot of like combo stuff
yeah, like like like triangle, triangle, square, whatever it might be.
Which I was like, oh, this is not more in depth than
Souls because you know, like the depth in the Soul's games is instead of
like weapon all the different weapons you use and stuff, all this feels like,
Oh, there's like a combo system there. It feels like the merge
of both the character action and a Soul's Like sure, and I'm not ready
yet to be like, oh, Yeah, it's nailing it so far,
but I see a lot of the potential where I'm like, Okay, you're
getting ideas from these other games and then adapting them into a more methodical Souls
like structure. I think this can work, and I think I have been
impressed with how it's worked so far. If they can keep that up throughout
the rest of the game, it's cool that they're just not just trying to
kind of be like, Oh, we're just gonna be Banat or we're just
gonna be dark Souls, like they're trying to do something some different. Although
the h I think I know what you're gonna say for the rest of the
game. Yeah, it's kind of it was weird. There's like multiple things
where I'm like, I'm getting like weird near automodivized like we have we have
near at home, we have Near. Didn't the composer do like not all
of the music, but some of the music for this Oh? Did they
I don't know, I mean that makes sense, but yeah, like the
vibes are very near in some spots. I kind of like look at him,
like, I know what you're trying to do. The way voice acting
just always takes me off guard where it's like these like anime characters and then
just these like very serious British accents and like voice acting was bad. I
not like him, Like I think they understand where their priorities are and it
ain't in this particular part. That's fair. But then it's like maybe see
maybe don't Maybe maybe I have less of that if that's not what you care
about. But yeah, like the that stuff wasn't great. And then like,
yeah, Jake, what you said. The faces like there's just like
a weird like no expression on the faces sometimes androids it's deep. I don't
know. It was like all that stuff. I was like, this was
weird, and sure, yeah, you're kind of right. I'm definitely with
you on that. Yeah, I don't expect this game to be Near like
even though it is kind of clearly drawing a lot of inspiration of inspiration.
But yeah, the things that make Near what it is are just are things
that that writing team and Yoko Taro as a direct creative director for that series
only they can pull off. Only they have the mentality to pull out out.
So I don't expect Stellar Blade to do that. But when you're clear,
when it's pretty clear you're trying to do that, Like, I'll see
what you got. But okay, like you're kind of setting yourself up for
that comparison, you know. Yeah, and again, like the post apocalypse
sort of setting is reminiscent as well, like going to the city and like,
oh, this looks just like the city ruins. I did pick it
up and he is involved shite. That is like the clearest science, like
we need to be near. I will say that some of the music.
I don't know how much K is involved with the music I've heard so far,
but there's a there's like a like a electronica pop vibe to love background
music which kind of feels a little doesn't necessarily fit the vibe I think,
but it's good music. I agree. That's why it's a weird thing,
like I think with this, but I don't know if this is the right
place for it. I think That's kind of where I'm at with this game
right now. Is I'm just like, okay, like not everything quite fit.
Yeah, yeah, kind of individual things that I like, but it's
not quite gelling with me at least just based on the demo. Yeah,
that's still like, yes, this is just a demo. Like I haven't
played the whole game, but it's like there are individual things that kind of
intrigue me, but I'm not really sure where I land on it. That
makes sense, Yeah, yeah, but I think it's just I think it's
a fascinating thing though, whether it's good, great, not great, whatever,
I want to play through just to see what the hell like the rest
of this game, how it all comes together. It's a PS five exclusive,
right Korean studio, I believe, so shift up yeah something like,
yeah, So it's a it's a very interesting prospect that I will be paying
attention to once it comes out later this month. It's also I remember at
the beginning of this year a lot of people were complaining because Sony didn't have
any exclusives planned until like twenty twenty five or something. But they've had a
lot of like third party exclusive games this year that have been very good.
I mean, I don't know, I haven't played enough Stellar Blade, but
like I was thinking about it because like Hell Divers, which as well,
but like that is only Constant can play it on PlayStation Final Fantasy like this
now, like that's three compared to the Xbox are still yeah, cook still
cooking. The running laps around them a little bit. They're in the kitchens.
I mean, you do have help Bla coming up, you have Stalker
coming up. So Xbox does have things general. Yeah, so there's still
there, but like already, like Somebody comes out the end of this month,
that's already we're not even halfway through the year. And that's three like
pretty high profile games. Two of them have been great and the third one
has potential. So sure, yeah it's cool though, I'm interested, Yeah,
play on when it comes around. Yeah, yeah, I think I'm
gonna. I think I'll wait a little bit, maybe wait for the wait
for the Jake Decker and Michael I Am a way for the opinions on everyone
else, maybe before I fully jump into it. But I'm at least intrigued
by it. It also runs well. I noticed, Yeah, it was
doing like four K sixty pretty flawless, it seemed. I think it was
four K at least, But like I was like, well, this game
is really holding up. Yeah, it's it's consistent, even as below it's
just a demo. It's not like the most like visually intense game, but
I think for that style of game, performance is so important, so important.
Yeah, and they at least they definitely got that. Like I haven't
had any play through the demo and no complaints in terms of like performance or
just the way the game looks outside of like the stiff stiff animations of the
cut scenes. But that's like that's a separate thing. Yeah. Gameplay wise
though, solid, very it feels very throwback, ye like back to the
We're just like the cut scenes and whatever. But you're like, I don't
just get that and get back to the gameplay. Yeah, there's some like
there's some weird platforming stuff in this game too. There was that in the
demo, that awkward thing where if you like jump off the building and like
hit a ladder, but it was like at an angle, so it's very
easy to miss. Yeah, and I like did it a couple of times,
and I'm like, am I supposed to do this? Like it doesn't
seem like I'm supposed to do this? And then I caught it and I
was like, I guess, okay, Yeah, this is just when you
mentioned the throwback stuff like that where I was like swimming underwater, like what's
going on? Ye? Yeah, Yeah, they're just like doing shit in
this game, and I like, I don't mind it. It's like,
in my way, it kind of tickles my brains, like I kind of
missed the janky aspects of respiration in action games, I guess, So I
don't mind that so much. I don't think it like the tracks, Well,
like it might later on down the line, but thirtieth time looking sure,
Yeah, yeah, this game has a lot of yellow paint, so
fu oh yeah, And I think that's great because otherwise I wouldn't be able
to tell where to fuck to go in this game. I think a game
like this, you just you just want to keep moving. Yeah, I
just gotta keep Yeah, that's the most. It's so much more momentum.
I don't want to be like fucking poking around an environment for hours on end
just to find out where to go. Like there's priorities in this style of
game exactly. It seems like they kind of understand that. Yeah. Cool,
Well I think we're uh, we're about time here for the pod.
Yeah, so, uh, what's going on? What's going on? Jake?
Do you have anything you wanna you wanna tease, you wanna plug?
Nope? No, damn cool? You uh you cut you cut the video
review for for the Fallow TV show right. Oh yeah, that's up by
now you haven't seen it, go chalk about out. Jordan's Prince of Persia
Rogue Prince of Persia preview is up as well, so if that sounded interesting
to you, check it out. Cool. My uh followed video will hopefully
be up this weekend if I can get it done in time. Nice,
very good so far. Thank you. If you've ever wanted to no,
I'll leave it as a surprise, I think. Yeah, I got I
got some I got some things lined up for game Spot as well. Nice.
Got some RPG, some real on brand type ship line up for next
week, so maybe this weekend. It depends on again. I need just
need to get it done. So some cool ship lineup. Awesome everyone for
tuning in. See I next Pas