WEBVTT

1
00:00:29.839 --> 00:00:33.759
Welcome everyone to the twenty twenty three
JSP Games Cast Game of the Year episode.

2
00:00:33.960 --> 00:00:36.799
I am your host, rob Aka
then, and for the next hour

3
00:00:36.840 --> 00:00:39.399
and a half or so, we're
going to explore whom in the same year

4
00:00:39.439 --> 00:00:43.200
this was for video games. While
not every game you'll hear today is from

5
00:00:43.240 --> 00:00:46.679
this year, I believe twenty twenty
three will go down as one of the

6
00:00:46.719 --> 00:00:50.479
most important years for games talked about
in the same way that we do like

7
00:00:50.560 --> 00:00:54.679
nineteen ninety eight, which saw OCCERI, End of Time, Noga Solid StarCraft,

8
00:00:54.719 --> 00:00:58.679
et cetera, or even two thousand
and seven, which saw like Fileshock

9
00:00:58.799 --> 00:01:03.159
mass Effect called it for Mario Galaxy. This year saw a lot of really

10
00:01:03.200 --> 00:01:07.480
big titles like Triple A titles,
as well as a lot of small indie

11
00:01:07.560 --> 00:01:14.239
titles, some experimental, some a
little more safe, but just executed incredibly

12
00:01:14.280 --> 00:01:19.480
well. It is just a wild
year that just had banger after banger after

13
00:01:19.519 --> 00:01:26.319
banger. That being said, this
year will also be remembered as a low

14
00:01:26.400 --> 00:01:30.120
point for the industry. I can't
in good faith through this episode without acknowledging

15
00:01:30.400 --> 00:01:34.840
you know, some of the massive
layoffs in studio closures that happened this year.

16
00:01:36.840 --> 00:01:41.640
Even some of the major publishers and
developers that saw big profits chose to

17
00:01:41.719 --> 00:01:45.959
lay off for shut down studios that
didn't quite meet their insane, you know,

18
00:01:46.120 --> 00:01:53.640
expectations. On top of like continuous
toxic work environments as well, It's

19
00:01:53.920 --> 00:01:59.319
created an industry where, you know, games are already really hard to make,

20
00:01:59.840 --> 00:02:07.039
right, we don't need to put
any additional stress in instability for the

21
00:02:07.120 --> 00:02:13.759
developers that creates these great things that
we enjoy. So I wanted to use

22
00:02:13.840 --> 00:02:19.199
a little bit of this intro time
to really say that my heart, and

23
00:02:19.280 --> 00:02:22.520
I believe everybody on this show feels
the very same way, right like all

24
00:02:22.520 --> 00:02:27.120
of our hearts goes out to everyone
that's affected by that stuff. I hope

25
00:02:27.120 --> 00:02:30.479
that everyone lands on their feet,
you know, and should they continue to

26
00:02:30.560 --> 00:02:35.319
work in this industry. And I
understand if you know, they don't or

27
00:02:35.319 --> 00:02:38.400
they want to go somewhere else,
But if developers continue to stay in the

28
00:02:38.400 --> 00:02:44.000
industry, I really hope to play
like what comes next out of each and

29
00:02:44.039 --> 00:02:47.919
every one of them. I thank
everyone for their hard work because they bring

30
00:02:49.000 --> 00:02:53.000
us such amazing experiences, and I
wouldn't be doing the show, and I

31
00:02:53.039 --> 00:02:58.400
wouldn't have all of these amazing games
to play without the people that make them

32
00:02:58.599 --> 00:03:07.439
right with that an impossible pivot,
I know, But let's let's get this

33
00:03:07.520 --> 00:03:12.840
show on the road. I think
everyone that listens to this show, I

34
00:03:12.840 --> 00:03:15.400
think all the developers that makes these
games. I think all of the contributors

35
00:03:15.439 --> 00:03:21.479
to this episode. It makes you
have no idea how how much I love

36
00:03:21.639 --> 00:03:28.840
doing this. So let's let's carry
on. Let's move, Let's officially start

37
00:03:28.879 --> 00:03:36.840
this Game of the Year's show and
enjoy. All Right, it's that time

38
00:03:37.159 --> 00:03:38.960
once again. What's going on?
Guys? My name is Ryan, also

39
00:03:39.120 --> 00:03:46.039
go by RCB, and yeah,
here we are Game of the Year twenty

40
00:03:46.159 --> 00:03:52.039
twenty three. Kind of crazy that
we've already gone through this year, how

41
00:03:52.080 --> 00:03:58.400
fast it kind of flew by.
Admittedly, so I really didn't have a

42
00:03:58.439 --> 00:04:04.840
lot of opportunities to play a lot
of different games per se, mainly because

43
00:04:05.879 --> 00:04:11.520
for those of been listening through the
podcast the entire time, or those that

44
00:04:11.599 --> 00:04:16.079
have followed me on social media and
everything, I have basically been on the

45
00:04:16.120 --> 00:04:23.079
grind as far as the art journey
has gone, and with you know,

46
00:04:23.199 --> 00:04:30.279
doing merchandising, releasing my first ever
T shirt, doing tables now, with

47
00:04:31.000 --> 00:04:35.600
conventions and things like that, it
hasn't really given me a lot of time

48
00:04:35.680 --> 00:04:43.720
to go into the gaming aspect,
so to speak. But I did still

49
00:04:43.759 --> 00:04:49.240
complete my fair share of video games, mainly games like Resident Able for Remake,

50
00:04:51.240 --> 00:04:56.839
acknowledge a few other games like that, and you know, game of

51
00:04:56.839 --> 00:05:00.759
the Year this year. It's a
little different for me, of course.

52
00:05:00.920 --> 00:05:03.040
You know, anytime I get to
talk about Thirteen Sentinels or bring up thirteen

53
00:05:03.079 --> 00:05:08.279
Sentinels, I will do so.
Thirteen Sentinels, you know, jokingly,

54
00:05:09.560 --> 00:05:13.040
is my game of the year for
the sixth straight year or however long it's

55
00:05:13.079 --> 00:05:17.279
been since the game released. So
played that game, thirteen Sentinels. I

56
00:05:17.279 --> 00:05:23.720
will always talk about that game.
So but no, realistically and honestly do

57
00:05:23.879 --> 00:05:27.560
have to talk about game of the
year and my game of the year this

58
00:05:27.639 --> 00:05:30.000
year. While it didn't come out
this year, it is a game that

59
00:05:30.079 --> 00:05:35.160
I did play this year, So
it is a game of the year for

60
00:05:35.279 --> 00:05:40.759
me. Is a Signalis. I'm
going to give the nod to Signal Us.

61
00:05:41.439 --> 00:05:46.000
For those that don't know, it's
a throwback to like the suspense tank

62
00:05:46.120 --> 00:05:55.279
style you know, survival suspense type
game, think the original Resident Evils and

63
00:05:55.800 --> 00:06:01.360
how those were the tank style games
or signalisis a throwback of that and really

64
00:06:01.480 --> 00:06:05.879
just felt really fun to play.
There was definitely a lot of nostalgia factor

65
00:06:06.560 --> 00:06:12.800
with the game. Like I said, I think it released sometime last year

66
00:06:12.800 --> 00:06:15.480
and I played a little bit of
it when it was free on game Pass,

67
00:06:15.279 --> 00:06:18.399
but I didn't have a chance to
finish it, And to be honest,

68
00:06:18.439 --> 00:06:24.839
I haven't finished it yet, but
I'm like near the tail end of

69
00:06:24.920 --> 00:06:29.040
the game, so I'll probably be
finishing it early, you know, in

70
00:06:29.160 --> 00:06:32.000
twenty twenty four. As far as
playing through the game, because it is

71
00:06:32.000 --> 00:06:34.759
a short play through, but like
I said, my time has been dedicated

72
00:06:34.759 --> 00:06:41.800
to other things, so I can
only put bits and pieces into you know,

73
00:06:41.879 --> 00:06:47.600
that game, but really enjoyable game. You're basically, you know,

74
00:06:47.879 --> 00:06:53.279
this character who seems like she's like
a lone survivor of her own, like

75
00:06:53.480 --> 00:07:00.000
robot kind almost just about and she's
looking for somebody and has to go through

76
00:07:00.000 --> 00:07:08.560
through all these different areas and trying
to picture and put together this like mystery

77
00:07:08.600 --> 00:07:13.959
almost in a sense, while looking
for a friend and also trying to figure

78
00:07:13.959 --> 00:07:18.639
out what exactly happened with where she
is and this to the you know,

79
00:07:18.759 --> 00:07:24.600
the turn of events that you know
transpired with it, but like The gameplay

80
00:07:24.800 --> 00:07:30.920
is very much a throwback to that
retro style of you know, suspence horror

81
00:07:30.959 --> 00:07:34.399
games. There's interesting, fun puzzles
that you have to do that you have

82
00:07:34.480 --> 00:07:39.399
to kind of solve and everything,
whether it's you know, your typical puzzles

83
00:07:39.399 --> 00:07:42.920
where you're like trying to find certain
keys or whatever, to where you're using

84
00:07:43.480 --> 00:07:48.639
radio frequencies to decipher and like crack
safes and things along those lines. Even

85
00:07:49.360 --> 00:07:54.839
some puzzles where you go in and
you see like a lot of apparition illusion

86
00:07:54.879 --> 00:07:59.519
type things and you have to match
your frequency with those to find which enemy

87
00:07:59.600 --> 00:08:03.759
is actually what to be able to
solve the puzzle based off of radio frequency,

88
00:08:03.920 --> 00:08:07.959
and so like, there's a lot
of unique creativity when it comes to

89
00:08:09.399 --> 00:08:16.439
how Signalis kind of tackles everything while
still you know, trying to play through

90
00:08:16.480 --> 00:08:20.879
this game with that you know,
retro feel in a sense when it comes

91
00:08:20.959 --> 00:08:26.199
to those type of nostalgia games.
You know, there's also the whole aspect

92
00:08:26.279 --> 00:08:30.959
of inventory management. You have to
manage your items incredibly well. You only

93
00:08:31.000 --> 00:08:33.360
get six slots as far as your
inventory goes, and that's it. So

94
00:08:33.399 --> 00:08:37.679
it's a lot of like turning back
and forth in you know managing your items,

95
00:08:37.679 --> 00:08:41.879
also managing AMMO. You know what
areas do you need to go ahead

96
00:08:41.879 --> 00:08:46.000
and clear through the enemies? Which
areas can you just be like nope,

97
00:08:46.039 --> 00:08:50.480
leave those enemies alone, because you
know you're going to need your AMMO in

98
00:08:50.559 --> 00:08:54.919
certain spots, so you're going to
have to really really make sure that you're

99
00:08:54.960 --> 00:08:58.559
managing everything the best you can.
Otherwise, as you go further into game,

100
00:09:01.360 --> 00:09:03.919
if you don't manage your items and
your AMMO really well, you're going

101
00:09:05.000 --> 00:09:07.919
to kind of regret things, which
is kind of what I liked about the

102
00:09:07.960 --> 00:09:11.480
game in my play through that Velta
so far. Like I said, I

103
00:09:11.480 --> 00:09:16.360
haven't quite finished it yet, but
I'm on the verge of finishing it probably,

104
00:09:16.360 --> 00:09:20.320
like I said, be finished with
it by beginning of next year as

105
00:09:20.320 --> 00:09:24.039
far as that goes. So that
is my personal game of the year.

106
00:09:24.200 --> 00:09:31.720
It's Signalius really recommend playing it.
You can find it pretty cheap on Steam,

107
00:09:31.799 --> 00:09:35.559
and I'm sure you can probably find
it pretty cheap on other sites as

108
00:09:35.559 --> 00:09:39.080
well, like Humble Bundle or whatever, but like nine times out of ten

109
00:09:39.120 --> 00:09:41.519
there's actually like a sale that goes
on for it, So definitely checking out

110
00:09:41.559 --> 00:09:46.879
really really fun before I do wrap
it. Up, though there is one

111
00:09:46.960 --> 00:09:52.559
other game I do want to give
a shout out to, and this is

112
00:09:52.600 --> 00:09:54.679
gonna be something that's gonna be like
I guess something personally coming from me,

113
00:09:54.799 --> 00:09:58.480
But there's a game that I want
to give as a comeback game of the

114
00:09:58.559 --> 00:10:05.200
year as far as a game that
kind of went through a lot of struggles,

115
00:10:05.399 --> 00:10:09.320
no fault of its own, is
just what happened with its release and

116
00:10:09.399 --> 00:10:15.159
what is basically transpired with the world
and what it is now, and that's

117
00:10:15.200 --> 00:10:20.960
Grand Blue Fantasy Versus Rising. What
they have done with this game in a

118
00:10:22.039 --> 00:10:24.879
sense kind of like re releasing the
game and it's, you know, basically

119
00:10:24.919 --> 00:10:28.879
a brand new game if you think
about it, considering all the different mechanics

120
00:10:28.919 --> 00:10:33.519
that they added to it and everything. But what they've done in the lessons

121
00:10:33.559 --> 00:10:41.320
I guess they learned from Vanilla Grand
Blue Fantasy Versus and you know what Rising

122
00:10:41.679 --> 00:10:45.320
has been so far. I have
to give a game a lot of credit

123
00:10:45.360 --> 00:10:48.639
for being the you know, comeback
game of the year that I'll give it

124
00:10:48.679 --> 00:10:52.960
for, especially like a lot of
the quality of life things they did where

125
00:10:52.039 --> 00:10:56.240
you know, they put rollback in
that code in it. There's cross play

126
00:10:56.279 --> 00:10:58.840
with this game, which wait,
to me, was honestly kind of like

127
00:10:58.840 --> 00:11:01.240
a surprise to see that they put
cross play in it, but definitely something

128
00:11:01.279 --> 00:11:05.840
that's you know, becoming more and
more something that you know, finding game

129
00:11:05.879 --> 00:11:09.480
developers have been trying to implement,
not just with the rollback and that code,

130
00:11:09.519 --> 00:11:11.639
but also having cross play involved with
the two. So seeing that's been

131
00:11:11.720 --> 00:11:16.519
really really dope. But it seems
like, man, it seems like Side

132
00:11:16.600 --> 00:11:22.840
Games is definitely trying to go all
in with this fighting game that they've done,

133
00:11:22.039 --> 00:11:26.759
and you know, with all these
new changes that they've done, having

134
00:11:26.240 --> 00:11:31.759
brought in new characters as well.
Siegfried and Nola, Grim Near and Near

135
00:11:33.080 --> 00:11:37.679
are the four new characters that was
introduced with us as well. Lucillis is

136
00:11:37.679 --> 00:11:41.639
going to be coming out too.
But the big announcement guest character to be

137
00:11:43.720 --> 00:11:46.279
going to be in this game,
which by the way, to be looks

138
00:11:46.320 --> 00:11:52.559
absolutely amazing in this game, especially
in that Art system Works style of games,

139
00:11:52.639 --> 00:11:56.320
because to me, like even though
there's been other games it's been released,

140
00:11:56.320 --> 00:12:00.799
like d NF Duel and even like
Strive for example, as far as

141
00:12:00.840 --> 00:12:05.200
like visuals and aesthetic, I think
Grand Blue Fantasy Versus Rising might actually still

142
00:12:05.240 --> 00:12:11.519
be to this day like the best
looking Arc system Works game, So like

143
00:12:11.559 --> 00:12:16.080
they just kind of put together this
unique package with this and really has just

144
00:12:16.120 --> 00:12:20.759
been able to rebound. And it's
been really fun to see like that community

145
00:12:20.799 --> 00:12:24.240
and just see how that game is
starting to thrive now in a big spot,

146
00:12:24.320 --> 00:12:30.120
and like there's only going to be
bigger and better things with Grand Blue

147
00:12:30.120 --> 00:12:33.159
Fantasy Versus Rising. It's going to
be really really fun to see what ends

148
00:12:33.200 --> 00:12:39.759
up developing with it and how how
far this game can go. So that's

149
00:12:39.759 --> 00:12:41.840
why I wanted to give it Also
like a little bit of a shout out

150
00:12:41.879 --> 00:12:46.840
to Grand Blue Fantasy Versus Rising.
Admittedly that game still frustrates the hell out

151
00:12:46.840 --> 00:12:50.000
of me at times because you know, we're trying to get used to a

152
00:12:50.039 --> 00:12:54.840
brand new game in a sense,
but you know, I feel like there's

153
00:12:54.879 --> 00:13:00.799
a pretty fun reward out of that
game per se. So those are really

154
00:13:00.840 --> 00:13:05.039
the two games I really wanted to
highlight see not Less and Grand Blue Fantasy

155
00:13:05.120 --> 00:13:09.120
Versus Rising as far as games that
kind of had to impact on me.

156
00:13:09.200 --> 00:13:13.679
And twenty two three. Oh and
also Nick got us a victory. I

157
00:13:13.759 --> 00:13:18.879
never ever would have thought that would
be a mobile game that I would just

158
00:13:20.120 --> 00:13:22.799
attach to as much as I have, because I've literally played that game every

159
00:13:22.840 --> 00:13:28.480
day to complete dailies and do a
bunch of more stuff anything but Nika got

160
00:13:28.519 --> 00:13:33.120
us a victory is a really really
fun game to be able to kind of

161
00:13:33.159 --> 00:13:37.679
just play as far as some of
those boot up for a little bit,

162
00:13:37.720 --> 00:13:43.039
complete dailies, knock all that out, and even going through like some of

163
00:13:43.039 --> 00:13:46.159
the tower stuff, and like doing
a lot of different events. If I

164
00:13:46.200 --> 00:13:50.879
had just a team composition of being
able to put together different squads and see

165
00:13:50.879 --> 00:13:54.440
how they benefit each other, anything
is really unique and fun too. So

166
00:13:54.720 --> 00:13:58.440
definitely been putting in a lot of
time to that game as well. But

167
00:13:58.480 --> 00:14:03.279
that's a pretty much it for me. As far as some games that I

168
00:14:03.320 --> 00:14:07.799
wanted to highlight from this year,
Obviously, twenty twenty four is shaping up

169
00:14:07.799 --> 00:14:11.600
to be a big one, especially
early in the year with Final Fantasy seven

170
00:14:11.720 --> 00:14:18.679
rebirth that's going to be in February, to fighting games with Undernight two and

171
00:14:18.840 --> 00:14:24.600
Tech and eight dropping in January.
Just a lot of unique stuff it's going

172
00:14:24.639 --> 00:14:28.159
to be happening early on in twenty
twenty four that I'm going to be excited

173
00:14:28.159 --> 00:14:33.080
about. But that's pretty much it
for me. Appreciate you guys listening as

174
00:14:33.120 --> 00:14:37.440
always listening to JSB games Cast and
everything, and yeah, looking forward to

175
00:14:37.480 --> 00:14:41.480
see what twenty twenty four is going
to have in store as far as video

176
00:14:41.519 --> 00:14:45.639
games go. What a world it
is. Jamay mail r Ev one of

177
00:14:45.679 --> 00:14:50.480
the coolest nerds you'll ever meet.
In This is my twenty twenty three Game

178
00:14:50.519 --> 00:14:54.279
of the Year for the JSB Game
Cast. So I'm super excited to be

179
00:14:54.360 --> 00:14:58.799
invited back to chat about my favorite
game of the year. And if you've

180
00:14:58.799 --> 00:15:01.960
heard my previous segments, you know
I just tend to break rules. But

181
00:15:03.039 --> 00:15:05.159
this year, this year, I'm
gonna follow the rules, you know,

182
00:15:05.159 --> 00:15:09.679
because I am a self proclaimed professional
rambler, and with that, I want

183
00:15:09.720 --> 00:15:13.159
to make sure to do right.
I'm gonna do right this year. So

184
00:15:13.279 --> 00:15:16.840
let's get into it. My game
of the Year, and I guess it's

185
00:15:16.879 --> 00:15:20.039
gonna come with a hot take.
I'm not necessarily good at those, but

186
00:15:20.799 --> 00:15:26.039
you know, like personally, I
think my takes are like lukewarm, tepid

187
00:15:26.919 --> 00:15:33.440
room temp. So with that,
let's just dive into it. So my

188
00:15:33.559 --> 00:15:41.200
game of the year, drum roll
please, Room Assassin's Creed Unity. That

189
00:15:41.399 --> 00:15:46.279
is my game of the year.
And my hot take, which I personally

190
00:15:46.320 --> 00:15:50.879
think is more like room temperature.
But again, I don't know. We'll

191
00:15:50.919 --> 00:15:58.159
see, but I think that AC
Unity is the last true and good Assassin's

192
00:15:58.159 --> 00:16:02.399
Creed game. Are you with me? Argue with your mama, Like,

193
00:16:02.759 --> 00:16:04.840
listen, I love this game,
and I'm going to do my best to

194
00:16:04.919 --> 00:16:10.159
summarize why I love this game.
I'm also speaking from the perspective of an

195
00:16:10.200 --> 00:16:14.720
AC vet, so let me give
you some context. All right. So

196
00:16:14.799 --> 00:16:18.559
I've been playing Assassins Creed since one, really since day negative eighty nine,

197
00:16:18.960 --> 00:16:25.000
because I love the Prince of Persier
trilogy. On PS two, AC one

198
00:16:25.240 --> 00:16:27.080
was a spiritual successor, and at
that point, I said, you know

199
00:16:27.120 --> 00:16:30.960
what, it's destiny for me to
play this game, and I love Assassin's

200
00:16:32.000 --> 00:16:33.600
Creed. If you know something about
me, you know that I love the

201
00:16:33.679 --> 00:16:37.960
AC series. But now it's up
to a certain point. So after Go

202
00:16:38.120 --> 00:16:41.919
Susushima last year, I think that
was my game of the year, I

203
00:16:41.960 --> 00:16:45.879
knew I still needed to scratch that
Assassin's itch, so I said, let

204
00:16:45.879 --> 00:16:48.240
me start working through my backlog.
I also love things dealing with Egypt,

205
00:16:48.240 --> 00:16:51.720
so I'm like, let me dive
into origins. I'll be the first one

206
00:16:51.759 --> 00:16:55.519
to tell you I hated origins,
Like within the first five minutes, I

207
00:16:55.559 --> 00:16:57.759
said, what is this game?
This doesn't make sense? Why am I

208
00:16:57.799 --> 00:17:02.960
attacking with both Box and triyaning?
What is this? You know what?

209
00:17:03.039 --> 00:17:07.079
I deleted it right off my hard
drive, no remorse, no hesitation,

210
00:17:07.279 --> 00:17:12.240
no regrets. So yeah, that
got deleted. Went back to ac Liberation

211
00:17:12.319 --> 00:17:15.160
because that was the last one I
left off on. I have issues with

212
00:17:15.200 --> 00:17:22.000
the voice voice casting, excuse me
for Avaline. Then I went into what

213
00:17:22.160 --> 00:17:25.759
was it? Black Flag? So
I'm not a huge pirate fan despite being

214
00:17:25.799 --> 00:17:27.720
a one piece fan, and with
that, I wanted to dive more into

215
00:17:27.759 --> 00:17:33.960
assassins versus templars, whereas Edward was
more like an assassin by proximity. I

216
00:17:33.000 --> 00:17:37.400
didn't really want to dive into that. Then I played Freedom Cry and oh

217
00:17:37.440 --> 00:17:42.440
my God like Autawalle story, Gee
whiz man. I love, love,

218
00:17:42.519 --> 00:17:48.680
love Freedom Cry, but emotionally it's
way too heavy for me. Well I

219
00:17:48.720 --> 00:17:52.480
won't say way too it's emotionally heavy
for me. But I did love the

220
00:17:52.480 --> 00:17:56.839
game. I played Rogue. I
absolutely loved Rogue, but I didn't agree

221
00:17:56.880 --> 00:18:00.400
with Shay's motivations. But again,
we could talk about that later. So

222
00:18:00.480 --> 00:18:04.799
I was left with unity in Syndicate
played Syndicate, hated it within the first

223
00:18:04.839 --> 00:18:08.519
ten minutes. Beautiful, game,
beautiful. But then I'm like, what

224
00:18:08.839 --> 00:18:15.200
is this kung ful, ragged doll
fighting style that you know they have going

225
00:18:15.279 --> 00:18:18.279
on here? So I deleted that
off my hard drive. So Unity was

226
00:18:18.319 --> 00:18:21.839
my saving grace. That was last
one. So I said, let me

227
00:18:21.839 --> 00:18:25.319
try it out and let's dive into
the game itself. So I'll try and

228
00:18:25.400 --> 00:18:30.440
keep this short one. It takes
place during the French Revolution. Hands down.

229
00:18:30.160 --> 00:18:37.640
Now we know you Besoft are masters
sages. They constantly create master classes

230
00:18:37.920 --> 00:18:45.279
of reimagining historical time periods and events. This is nothing short of magnificent and

231
00:18:45.359 --> 00:18:51.920
on inspiring. I mean, the
world is massive, hundreds to upon thousands

232
00:18:52.200 --> 00:18:56.160
of NPCs, all functioning and existing. I ain't gonna say they all function

233
00:18:56.279 --> 00:19:02.519
well, but they're all like on
screen. Once you have a revolution going

234
00:19:02.559 --> 00:19:06.240
down, like it's right there in
downtown, then you run through it.

235
00:19:06.440 --> 00:19:10.359
You out here, dodging you know, the infantry. But then you see

236
00:19:10.400 --> 00:19:14.519
your enemies, the templar, so
you can like you get them real quick,

237
00:19:14.640 --> 00:19:17.519
keep running up the buildings. Then
at that point, if they try

238
00:19:17.559 --> 00:19:19.640
and chasing you up the building,
you can now, and I think this

239
00:19:19.680 --> 00:19:26.359
is new to ac Unity. You
can go inside of the lived environments.

240
00:19:26.680 --> 00:19:30.720
So in the colonial era, like
starting in three they had the pre render

241
00:19:30.799 --> 00:19:33.400
animations. You could hop in buildings, but normally you would hop out of

242
00:19:33.440 --> 00:19:40.160
them. Nah. Ac Unity has
fully rendered the government buildings, the museums,

243
00:19:40.240 --> 00:19:44.559
the markets. I mean, you're
going in everything. It is such

244
00:19:44.599 --> 00:19:49.480
an amazing game. With the pickpocketing, the lock picking, oh my gosh,

245
00:19:49.519 --> 00:19:52.400
I can go on and on about
that. Then all of the different

246
00:19:52.480 --> 00:19:57.279
missions and the side objectives like man, just the optional stuff is amazing.

247
00:19:57.640 --> 00:20:02.759
I will say that with ac Unity, they wanted to really lean into the

248
00:20:02.799 --> 00:20:06.680
co op aspect, so that way
you could play with friends, and I

249
00:20:06.720 --> 00:20:10.240
didn't know you could do them solo
until really late in the game. So

250
00:20:10.359 --> 00:20:12.119
at that point, if you choose
to go back and play it, know

251
00:20:12.240 --> 00:20:17.759
that you can do those co op
missions. You can do them by yourself,

252
00:20:17.799 --> 00:20:21.279
but granted you'll still keep that same
difficulty. So if it's like five

253
00:20:21.319 --> 00:20:26.519
star difficulty, yes, by yourself
it is five star difficulty. But I

254
00:20:26.599 --> 00:20:30.680
love that. I love a good
challenge, so I love that aspect of

255
00:20:30.720 --> 00:20:34.880
the game. And in terms of
the main character Arno, I feel like

256
00:20:34.960 --> 00:20:41.599
they try to recreate the magic of
et CEO but didn't quite hit the mark.

257
00:20:41.880 --> 00:20:48.640
The narrative wasn't bad, but it
wasn't my absolute favorite, So overall,

258
00:20:48.720 --> 00:20:52.119
I think it's just like a phenomenal
game. Oh oh oh, and

259
00:20:52.160 --> 00:20:56.240
I can't forget. I can't forget. So the last potential hot take again,

260
00:20:56.599 --> 00:21:03.240
I think mind's a room temperature,
but Assassin's Creed Unity has the best

261
00:21:03.720 --> 00:21:10.079
parker in the entirety of the series. None of the new games come close

262
00:21:11.160 --> 00:21:14.759
the older games. They walked so
ac Unity could run. Well, let

263
00:21:14.759 --> 00:21:18.759
me phrase that, they walked so
ac Unity could leap and bound and you

264
00:21:18.839 --> 00:21:23.359
know, flip and tumble and do
all said gymnastics. Like I mean,

265
00:21:23.440 --> 00:21:29.319
ac Unity is just it's amazing.
The parkour is stellar. Another potential hot

266
00:21:29.319 --> 00:21:37.279
take ac Unity. Arguably it's more
beautiful than every other Assassin's Creed that came

267
00:21:37.359 --> 00:21:41.119
after it. Again, Argue with
your mama, I'm saying that with my

268
00:21:41.160 --> 00:21:45.759
whole chest and my chest hairs.
Argue with your mama, and if your

269
00:21:45.799 --> 00:21:48.799
daddy there, argue with him too, because I mean, like, you

270
00:21:48.920 --> 00:21:52.559
gotta go play the game. It's
so good. It's so good. I

271
00:21:52.640 --> 00:21:57.720
really, really enjoyed it. So
that is my game of the Year for

272
00:21:59.119 --> 00:22:02.880
twenty twenty three, amongst all the
other amazing games I played this year.

273
00:22:03.279 --> 00:22:07.039
Ac Unity. Man, that's the
Krem de la Crem. That truly is

274
00:22:07.079 --> 00:22:11.640
the Krim de la Krem and the
Krim Brulet. It's all of them,

275
00:22:11.960 --> 00:22:15.680
and lay me on as the entree. So yeah, man, y'all,

276
00:22:15.799 --> 00:22:19.680
y'all quit playing, Go play ac
Unity. Give it a run. You

277
00:22:19.720 --> 00:22:22.559
will see what I'm talking about.
You will see what I'm talking about.

278
00:22:22.880 --> 00:22:29.680
But wishing you all happy holidays,
a wonderful, wonderful new year. Follow

279
00:22:29.759 --> 00:22:33.880
them three hs they healthy, hydrated
and hygienic in these streets, and a

280
00:22:34.079 --> 00:22:41.160
full amazing year in twenty twenty four
of bountiful blessings, amazing things come in

281
00:22:41.200 --> 00:22:45.880
your way, and plenty more games
to play. So I will catch all

282
00:22:45.960 --> 00:22:52.440
on the next one. Love always
and love it always peace. My name

283
00:22:52.519 --> 00:22:55.680
is Tin Foyle, and I'm here
to talk about my personal game of the

284
00:22:55.759 --> 00:23:00.359
year, Commonhood. Commonhood is a
game that starts with cutscene. You are

285
00:23:00.400 --> 00:23:07.039
greeted with two police officers standing emotionless
in front of a dilapidated house. An

286
00:23:07.119 --> 00:23:11.519
old white pickup truck full of whatever
fits in the back, slowly driving away.

287
00:23:11.480 --> 00:23:15.839
This truck belongs to the player character
Nicki, who's just been evicted from

288
00:23:15.839 --> 00:23:21.680
her family home. Now homeless,
she wanders into an old, abandoned factory

289
00:23:21.720 --> 00:23:25.799
complex that her dad used to work
at and quickly finds out that several people

290
00:23:25.839 --> 00:23:32.359
are already living there squatters. These
squatters live as many legally homeless do in

291
00:23:32.400 --> 00:23:37.599
a societal comments. Your in Nikki's
crafting abilities come into play during this game

292
00:23:37.920 --> 00:23:44.279
as she begins her new homeless life
as a squatter. When I played this

293
00:23:44.400 --> 00:23:48.240
game in late twenty twenty two and
early twenty twenty three, the game had

294
00:23:48.240 --> 00:23:52.240
a pretty bar tutorial. It showed
you the controls, it showed you how

295
00:23:52.279 --> 00:23:56.960
to craft and grow food, and
it established one thing that Nicki is new

296
00:23:56.000 --> 00:24:02.920
to this comments and because she's new, nobody tryes ser Guided by the tutorial,

297
00:24:03.200 --> 00:24:06.359
you and Nikki converse with a squatter
and realize that she can solve a

298
00:24:06.440 --> 00:24:11.279
problem of theirs by making herself useful. She can use her deceased father's tables

299
00:24:11.319 --> 00:24:15.720
sawt stashed in the trunk of her
father's white truck to gain the trust of

300
00:24:15.759 --> 00:24:18.880
one member of this content. You
build a chair from scrap wood lying around

301
00:24:18.880 --> 00:24:23.839
the factory grounds. You find out
that another member goes to farmers' markets and

302
00:24:23.920 --> 00:24:29.000
sells oddenends for cash for survival,
so you build another chair for them to

303
00:24:29.039 --> 00:24:32.400
sell out the market. You do
this because you need a share of the

304
00:24:32.440 --> 00:24:36.000
money so that they can buy welding
tools, which you can use to repair

305
00:24:36.000 --> 00:24:41.400
a workbench to solve another squatter's problem. By solving squatters problems, you earn

306
00:24:41.440 --> 00:24:45.160
their trust, and if you earn
their trust, they can be scheduled to

307
00:24:45.279 --> 00:24:49.680
use your workbenches, table saws,
crafting and research stations through a time management

308
00:24:49.680 --> 00:24:56.640
menu so that your commons can make
more and more complicated stuff. At this

309
00:24:56.759 --> 00:24:59.960
point, the game no longer guides
you. You and the people you convince

310
00:25:00.079 --> 00:25:03.799
are now a problem solving machine.
As you go through the factory, clearing

311
00:25:03.920 --> 00:25:10.359
blockages and debris in search of more
gameplay, you meet other squatters. Most

312
00:25:10.359 --> 00:25:15.000
are recruitable, but some of them
are actually very angry that you've removed the

313
00:25:15.039 --> 00:25:19.279
debris that they put there. They
put the debris there because they want to

314
00:25:19.359 --> 00:25:23.079
look like nobody lived there. They
didn't want to attract the wrong kind of

315
00:25:23.119 --> 00:25:27.880
attention the police. They fear that
the police might come and remove you all,

316
00:25:27.920 --> 00:25:32.599
clearing the factory of all the squatters. They don't want you here.

317
00:25:32.960 --> 00:25:36.519
They want you to go away,
to leave them alone, and preferably for

318
00:25:36.640 --> 00:25:42.240
your entire idea of this Commons to
stop endangering the last semblance of temporary stability

319
00:25:42.440 --> 00:25:48.519
in their homeless lives. There are
various ways like this. The game continues

320
00:25:48.559 --> 00:25:52.279
to ask why you're doing what you're
doing. One squatter called Anita that you

321
00:25:52.319 --> 00:25:56.559
meet tells you and Nikki, in
an attempt to sympathize with her, a

322
00:25:56.640 --> 00:26:03.039
drifter turned squatter, to simply fuck
off. When Nicky says that she understands

323
00:26:03.079 --> 00:26:07.599
how hard it's been, Anita replies, no, you don't. Try keeping

324
00:26:07.680 --> 00:26:11.880
up with three jobs. Try moving
from city to city to find opportunities.

325
00:26:11.440 --> 00:26:17.039
Nobody can keep up with that shit. Another squad is open to talking to

326
00:26:17.079 --> 00:26:22.000
Niki and mentions how he was involved
in activism protests organizing that kind of stuff,

327
00:26:22.640 --> 00:26:27.279
and Nicki makes an offhand comment that
the Commons could use someone like him.

328
00:26:27.920 --> 00:26:33.279
He replies, do you listen to
yourself use someone like you? It

329
00:26:33.359 --> 00:26:38.160
sounds like you're collecting people like their
assets. What happens when people are not

330
00:26:38.799 --> 00:26:45.039
useful? He tells Nikki to think
hard about the comments that she's helping to

331
00:26:45.039 --> 00:26:51.119
build, or the utility of a
person seems to be related to their value,

332
00:26:51.599 --> 00:26:55.279
and that kind of comments, that
kind of society is the one that

333
00:26:55.319 --> 00:26:59.920
you and I live in right now. Your utility and my utility are exchanged

334
00:27:00.119 --> 00:27:03.839
the hours of nine am to five
pm for money paychecks. We use this

335
00:27:03.920 --> 00:27:07.160
money to pay for a housing,
to pay for utilities, to pay for

336
00:27:07.240 --> 00:27:12.720
food. And when you're no longer
useful, as the squatter says, your

337
00:27:12.720 --> 00:27:17.720
employer rejects you. You don't earn
money, so you can't pay rent,

338
00:27:18.000 --> 00:27:22.759
you can't pay the bills. If
no employer that you can find can use

339
00:27:22.799 --> 00:27:26.799
someone like you, you might become
homeless, just like Niki, just like

340
00:27:26.880 --> 00:27:33.799
every squadter in this game. At
this point, I had to temporarily put

341
00:27:33.799 --> 00:27:37.680
the game down and talk to people. Never before have I played a game

342
00:27:37.720 --> 00:27:41.839
that asked me so effectively, whether
it's core gameplay loop is morally good,

343
00:27:42.720 --> 00:27:48.200
whether productivism is a thing that should
exist, Whether you and Nikki reinvented industry

344
00:27:48.400 --> 00:27:53.079
as your brain enjoyed the endorphins of
successfully creating things, solving problems, and

345
00:27:53.279 --> 00:28:00.440
accumulating game progress, Whether there's any
alternative to creating a society or common that

346
00:28:00.799 --> 00:28:06.000
doesn't result in evicting all the squatters
in your time management menu where today they're

347
00:28:06.079 --> 00:28:11.279
useful, Well, what happens if
they stopped being useful? Tyranny, a

348
00:28:11.680 --> 00:28:18.079
tactical RPG, starts out by telling
you that evil won right, you're just

349
00:28:18.160 --> 00:28:22.359
working for evil. The moral choices
are dialogue options, and those are only

350
00:28:22.799 --> 00:28:27.839
complicit options, less bad options,
or very bad in evil options. I

351
00:28:27.880 --> 00:28:33.160
was prepared to make those, but
Commonhood instead told me that the moral choices

352
00:28:33.200 --> 00:28:37.440
here are the entire game. But
if you ask what the right choice is,

353
00:28:37.880 --> 00:28:41.960
nobody can tell you. Turns out
the only possible answer to this stuff

354
00:28:42.000 --> 00:28:45.279
is to wing it to ask a
whole bunch of other people, just like

355
00:28:45.359 --> 00:28:52.160
real life. I'm recording this from
Oakland, California, where early this year

356
00:28:52.559 --> 00:28:56.680
police cleared out what we called the
Wood Street Homeless Encampment, and like all

357
00:28:56.799 --> 00:29:02.359
encampments, it was illegally occupied.
Along to the California Department of Transportation.

358
00:29:03.480 --> 00:29:07.079
It's a mile long field of debris, RVs that are falling apart, and

359
00:29:07.319 --> 00:29:11.880
mikeshift housing, and a corner of
the place is designated by its residents.

360
00:29:11.880 --> 00:29:15.559
As a lanefill, but I encourage
you to read the feature article from a

361
00:29:15.559 --> 00:29:21.240
local press outlet called KQEED about it. It has a map of where the

362
00:29:21.240 --> 00:29:26.400
little clusters of people shared housing,
where an area for shared resources was a

363
00:29:26.480 --> 00:29:30.519
kitchen, a shipping container for storage, a small clinic. Before the eviction,

364
00:29:30.839 --> 00:29:38.880
the residents called these two places cobb
On Wood and the Commons. Commonhood

365
00:29:38.920 --> 00:29:44.400
is about building a community that is
not allowed to exist. It's not a

366
00:29:44.440 --> 00:29:48.279
game that I can easily recommend.
It's kind of buggy. It's not the

367
00:29:48.319 --> 00:29:52.559
best thing in the world when it
comes to gameplay, loops and all that.

368
00:29:52.480 --> 00:29:56.480
But if you play it and engage
with it like I did, it'll

369
00:29:56.480 --> 00:30:00.279
help you think about the hires and
crisis, the concept of property, and

370
00:30:00.480 --> 00:30:06.720
maybe even to dream of alternative systems
that don't result in eviction or dejectively moving

371
00:30:06.799 --> 00:30:11.519
back into our parents' homes. When
we stop being useful, when people can

372
00:30:11.559 --> 00:30:18.279
stop using a person like us.
I'd like to thank and credit one of

373
00:30:18.319 --> 00:30:22.279
the people that I talked to about
Commonhood Castle. They have an essay on

374
00:30:22.319 --> 00:30:25.880
Substack about the game that they wrote
after we both played it, and their

375
00:30:25.920 --> 00:30:30.359
writing is vastly more eloquent than what
I'm, how I speak, and what

376
00:30:30.400 --> 00:30:33.400
I've written so far, and it
contains critical discussion that would be hard to

377
00:30:33.440 --> 00:30:40.400
include in a Game of the Year
podcast, So please check their article.

378
00:30:40.440 --> 00:30:45.720
Now we interrupt this podcast to bring
you a special message from jsbhador correspondents sky

379
00:30:45.119 --> 00:30:49.640
Sky. Please tell us your message. Hey, I really like boulders Gate

380
00:30:49.799 --> 00:30:57.119
three. Thank you, and back
to the show. Good morning, JSB

381
00:30:57.880 --> 00:31:07.039
Goons, friends, family, all
listeners of the podcast. If you're not

382
00:31:07.079 --> 00:31:12.599
familiar with who I am, my
name is Asher and I sometimes stream on

383
00:31:12.680 --> 00:31:22.799
Twitch and I've been an occasional guest
on the GSP anime cast usually. I

384
00:31:22.839 --> 00:31:26.039
mean, I've been doing this for
the past two years now. Ever since

385
00:31:26.079 --> 00:31:30.960
I've gotten to know the Goons and
our friendship has only grown in the past

386
00:31:32.039 --> 00:31:37.880
year, I think how should I
word this. I'm normally known as the

387
00:31:37.920 --> 00:31:45.759
guy who does something a little bit
more experimental with these recordings, With these

388
00:31:45.839 --> 00:31:48.000
end of the year game recordings,
I usually try to do something weird,

389
00:31:48.160 --> 00:31:52.400
play with like the timing, maybe
play with like a character who talks to

390
00:31:52.440 --> 00:32:00.359
himself. But admittedly I've had a
lot of difficulty coming up with something like

391
00:32:00.480 --> 00:32:06.519
that this year, because well it's
been a pretty bad year for me personally,

392
00:32:06.640 --> 00:32:14.319
but and creatively, I feel a
little stinted. But also the games

393
00:32:14.319 --> 00:32:21.160
that I love this year are a
little bit difficult to I guess create something

394
00:32:21.240 --> 00:32:27.279
like that, I think without really
really mapping it out, and this holiday

395
00:32:27.319 --> 00:32:34.359
season I just haven't had to.
So I've accepted the fact that I'm gonna

396
00:32:34.400 --> 00:32:37.720
do something just a little bit wrong. I'm just going to talk from the

397
00:32:37.759 --> 00:32:43.079
top of my head. You know, sometimes simplicity is key. Sometimes simplicity

398
00:32:43.160 --> 00:32:49.839
is the best, and I think
in this situation that is the best method

399
00:32:49.920 --> 00:32:52.359
for my life right now. So
really, I'm just gonna you're just gonna

400
00:32:52.359 --> 00:32:58.079
hear me few a bunch of nonsense
about the games that I loved this year

401
00:32:58.640 --> 00:33:04.160
and admitted I haven't been able to
get to every game that I wanted to

402
00:33:04.279 --> 00:33:07.160
this year. You know, I
feel like I haven't played enough of Super

403
00:33:07.200 --> 00:33:15.960
Mario Wonder to understandably put it on
this list. I haven't gotten to play

404
00:33:15.160 --> 00:33:21.119
Residual for I haven't gotten to play
Spider Man two. God, I know

405
00:33:21.279 --> 00:33:23.359
the game isn't even that long,
but I still haven't gotten to play Slay

406
00:33:23.359 --> 00:33:29.200
the Princess, and I really want
to play that game. I just haven't

407
00:33:29.240 --> 00:33:32.920
found the time. A lot of
the games that I have been able to

408
00:33:32.960 --> 00:33:37.880
find time for are games that I
could play just before bed, kind of

409
00:33:38.400 --> 00:33:46.240
not set a hard schedule for,
but have been able to just find time

410
00:33:46.440 --> 00:33:52.799
to wind down and enjoy, like
a little escape before I escaped to my

411
00:33:52.839 --> 00:34:00.359
own dream world. So yeah,
I've already used up three minutes just talking

412
00:34:00.400 --> 00:34:07.519
about the situation and saying a couple
of things here or there. But that's

413
00:34:07.720 --> 00:34:13.000
let's get to what I actually like
loved playing this year and what I loved

414
00:34:13.000 --> 00:34:17.280
playing this year. I'll actually go
like down the list, I've at least

415
00:34:17.280 --> 00:34:21.000
made a top ten. I've at
least made a top ten, so even

416
00:34:21.039 --> 00:34:28.000
if I just mentioned them, I've
given them a little spot on the cast,

417
00:34:28.320 --> 00:34:30.639
or at least for games that came
out this year. And then at

418
00:34:30.639 --> 00:34:34.000
the end, I'll talk about a
little bit about my favorite game of the

419
00:34:34.079 --> 00:34:44.760
year that I played that didn't come
out this year. Okay, so Rob

420
00:34:45.440 --> 00:34:50.000
tagged me for my recording being too
long, so I guess I'm not going

421
00:34:50.079 --> 00:34:54.599
to do a top ten and instead
just do a top five, but I

422
00:34:54.679 --> 00:35:01.280
will say what my top ten are, so don't you worry. Yeah,

423
00:35:01.320 --> 00:35:07.519
so number ten is Liza p nine
is Against the Storm, eight is Grand

424
00:35:07.519 --> 00:35:15.519
Blue Fantasy versus Rising, seven is
Venba, and six is Octopath Traveler too.

425
00:35:15.960 --> 00:35:20.599
So anyway, that gives me enough
time to talk about my top five

426
00:35:21.119 --> 00:35:24.400
and then my favorite game of that
I played this year that didn't come out

427
00:35:24.400 --> 00:35:31.360
this year, So number five Dredge. Dredge is pretty incredible. There is

428
00:35:31.920 --> 00:35:42.639
no game quite like Dredge. It
is a fishing slash scavenging ocean tail with

429
00:35:42.920 --> 00:35:46.400
a hint of lovecrafty and lore to
it, and you kind of just get

430
00:35:46.760 --> 00:35:52.199
sucked into wanting to know what's wrong. It is creepy, it's weird,

431
00:35:52.679 --> 00:35:59.679
and you are constantly drawn into this
mystery and how it affects the different like

432
00:35:59.719 --> 00:36:07.000
tow folk that live among these islands. And uh, it's quite convenient because

433
00:36:07.119 --> 00:36:12.920
my number four is Dave the Diver, and Dave the Diver has a collab

434
00:36:13.599 --> 00:36:16.800
now with Dredge, so they have
some of the critters that are found in

435
00:36:16.880 --> 00:36:22.559
Dredge in their game. If you
haven't played David Dave the Diver, you're

436
00:36:22.599 --> 00:36:28.199
really missing out. Dave the Divers
an incredible game. It it tries to

437
00:36:28.239 --> 00:36:34.719
do so many things and here's the
crazy part. I feel like when a

438
00:36:34.840 --> 00:36:38.440
game, when you pre preface a
game by saying it tries to do so

439
00:36:38.480 --> 00:36:45.239
many things, you usually end up
in the direction of like, so it

440
00:36:45.320 --> 00:36:50.159
fails or it fails to Yeah,
it doesn't doesn't live up to any aspect

441
00:36:50.199 --> 00:36:55.079
of the game. It's a lot
of its categories like fall to the wayside

442
00:36:55.119 --> 00:36:59.280
because it tried to focus on too
many things. It tried to spend so

443
00:36:59.320 --> 00:37:04.280
many plays, that tries to juggle
so many balls. Dave the Diver somehow

444
00:37:04.360 --> 00:37:10.159
miraculously has so many things going for
it. Restaurant simulator, fish catching game.

445
00:37:14.199 --> 00:37:22.880
Uh like a like a questing type
of thing, like cooking sam cooking

446
00:37:22.920 --> 00:37:30.159
Mama type stuff, and all of
it like comes together and ends up working

447
00:37:30.199 --> 00:37:34.119
seamlessly. If you haven't played Dave
the Diver, you're you're really missing out.

448
00:37:34.280 --> 00:37:42.840
Special game. At number three,
I have High Fi Rush. I

449
00:37:42.840 --> 00:37:45.920
am curious as to who's going to
talk about High Fright Rush. I know,

450
00:37:45.079 --> 00:37:50.719
without a doubt we got some goons
and JSB that absolutely love this game,

451
00:37:50.760 --> 00:37:54.760
and understandably so. Is an incredible
feat of a game. Shadow Drop

452
00:37:54.880 --> 00:38:01.800
game, but one that like blends
it mechanics with its action oriented gameplay in

453
00:38:01.800 --> 00:38:09.320
an incredible way and has a certain
spirit about it that really makes me just

454
00:38:09.440 --> 00:38:16.599
really root for the game and the
characters and really want them to succeed and

455
00:38:16.719 --> 00:38:23.920
push past like what society assumes they
should be. It's a very it's a

456
00:38:23.960 --> 00:38:29.079
very like punk rock game, even
though punk rock isn't like the primary genre

457
00:38:29.159 --> 00:38:35.920
of the game. It's it's a
very cool like journey for this coming of

458
00:38:36.000 --> 00:38:43.559
age level protag and I advise anybody
to check it out. It's free on

459
00:38:43.639 --> 00:38:49.079
game paths, so why not give
it a shot? Of course? Of

460
00:38:49.760 --> 00:38:57.440
Number two is Baldersgate. This this
is a funny game to talk about,

461
00:38:57.519 --> 00:39:02.000
right because like it's probably on most
people's like number one list, and because

462
00:39:02.039 --> 00:39:07.119
I assume someone's going to talk about
it. I'm in that place where it's

463
00:39:07.159 --> 00:39:09.880
like I don't want to talk about
too much because someone, no doubt is

464
00:39:09.880 --> 00:39:15.239
going to devote their entire segment to
it. But then like what if everyone

465
00:39:15.239 --> 00:39:17.599
else is thinking that too, and
nobody ends up talking about BALLTERSK three.

466
00:39:19.239 --> 00:39:24.159
Here's the thing Like BALDERSK three,
I'll say my piece. It's an incredible

467
00:39:24.199 --> 00:39:30.599
game. It's the best long form
game to have come out this year in

468
00:39:30.639 --> 00:39:37.000
my opinion. It is a fun
game to play with people. It's how

469
00:39:37.039 --> 00:39:42.239
you do I've seen a game do
early access as good as this since Hades.

470
00:39:42.840 --> 00:39:45.320
It's exactly how you do it,
and you make a game for the

471
00:39:45.400 --> 00:39:52.079
better. Everything is immaculate from top
to bottom, cast, voice acting,

472
00:39:52.599 --> 00:39:58.079
the story, the way the game
is played, the kind of problem solving

473
00:39:58.119 --> 00:40:02.880
you can have in the game.
It's just amazing. And then especially for

474
00:40:02.920 --> 00:40:07.760
the people who like loved the older
balders Gate boulders Gate one Shadows of a

475
00:40:07.880 --> 00:40:13.440
Balderskate two Shadows of Bomb, Like, there's some deep cuts that really are

476
00:40:13.559 --> 00:40:19.199
emotionally resonant in the story. It's
just an incredible, incredible thing. And

477
00:40:21.239 --> 00:40:23.320
as a person who also plays magic, the gathering kind of incredible what it

478
00:40:23.360 --> 00:40:29.000
did on that end too, because
there is a balders Gate set at Dutch

479
00:40:29.039 --> 00:40:32.039
as a dragon set as balders Gate
characters in it, and people just go

480
00:40:32.159 --> 00:40:37.519
crazy for it and it only enhanced
it further. So, Yeah, if

481
00:40:37.559 --> 00:40:42.639
I had to pick like a big
game to play this year, it's like,

482
00:40:42.840 --> 00:40:47.400
no contest Balder's Gate three, And
then my number one game that came

483
00:40:47.440 --> 00:40:53.440
out this year is Cocoon No surprise
indie game. I always lean more to

484
00:40:53.480 --> 00:41:00.920
the indie game. I think what
makes Cocoon cocun fit in that category of

485
00:41:00.960 --> 00:41:07.320
games that I love? That to
me, the way I judge games is

486
00:41:09.679 --> 00:41:17.119
to me, the best games are
at their peak form are video games.

487
00:41:19.679 --> 00:41:23.920
I do not think you could make
Cocoon a book, make Cocoon a movie,

488
00:41:25.159 --> 00:41:36.320
make Cocoon of fucking orchestral piece without
it losing something and not gaining anything.

489
00:41:37.159 --> 00:41:42.280
Cocoon is at its best a game, and it is one of the

490
00:41:42.320 --> 00:41:46.639
best games I played this year.
The wave of emotions that I feel playing

491
00:41:46.679 --> 00:41:52.079
that game, the kind of like
confusion that eventually turns into oohs and oz

492
00:41:52.159 --> 00:41:57.599
and how proud I am for like
solving a puzzle and the mystery that is

493
00:41:57.679 --> 00:42:04.840
unraveled is incredib the ball. It
is such a special little game. It

494
00:42:04.880 --> 00:42:09.239
only takes five hours to play once
again also on game Pass. Give it

495
00:42:09.280 --> 00:42:15.599
a shot if you can. You
really won't regret it. Come on five

496
00:42:15.599 --> 00:42:22.119
hours, perfect perfect, perfect game
length. And then finally, my favorite

497
00:42:22.119 --> 00:42:29.840
game that I played this year is
a game that I was put on by

498
00:42:30.039 --> 00:42:34.199
rob By, my friend Carrie,
and just a couple of other people that

499
00:42:34.280 --> 00:42:38.559
have said it's good, but oftentimes
this game, I think is not played

500
00:42:38.559 --> 00:42:43.960
by so many people because of its
sheer length, and that is Zeno Blade

501
00:42:44.000 --> 00:42:51.119
Chronicles three, Xeno Blade Chronicles three. It's and this is gonna be a

502
00:42:51.119 --> 00:42:58.400
weird comparison. It's kind of like
if you have seen the movie this year,

503
00:42:58.559 --> 00:43:01.320
Killers of the Flower Moon, which
I don't fault you if you haven't,

504
00:43:01.840 --> 00:43:10.280
it is like a three hour and
thirty minute movie. And some would

505
00:43:10.320 --> 00:43:20.760
argue against this that I think it
uses to maximum efficiency. I think the

506
00:43:21.039 --> 00:43:28.000
emotional theft of the finale of Killers
of the Flower Moon is due to its

507
00:43:28.599 --> 00:43:34.280
is partly due to its run time
and everything that felt so necessary to include

508
00:43:34.360 --> 00:43:40.079
in that. And so when I
get through Xeno Blake Chronicles three and I've

509
00:43:40.119 --> 00:43:46.199
spent so much time with these characters, so much time in this world,

510
00:43:47.079 --> 00:43:52.079
I get teary eye just thinking about
it. It is an incredible, incredible

511
00:43:52.199 --> 00:44:00.440
journey with characters that I will remember
for the rest of time. That I

512
00:44:00.480 --> 00:44:06.719
can have memories, you know.
It harkens back to the feeling that I

513
00:44:06.880 --> 00:44:09.920
had when I was a kid at
like the age at thirteen, playing stuff

514
00:44:10.039 --> 00:44:19.920
like Skys of Arcadia or Tales of
Simfonia. These long form RPGs where I

515
00:44:19.920 --> 00:44:22.320
didn't want it to end, and
I love the characters and I love the

516
00:44:22.400 --> 00:44:25.760
story. And as I was getting
near the end of Zeno Blade three,

517
00:44:25.920 --> 00:44:29.480
I was so scared for it to
be over, and I'm nearing like one

518
00:44:29.559 --> 00:44:37.400
hundred hours and then just for it
to end the way that it does and

519
00:44:37.840 --> 00:44:43.000
what it says about, like moving
on and those who you care about.

520
00:44:45.440 --> 00:44:52.639
I just it's gonna be with me
for a very long time. And I

521
00:44:52.679 --> 00:44:57.199
get it. Not everyone has like
one hundred hours to dedicate to a game,

522
00:45:00.199 --> 00:45:07.840
but it absolutely is worth it.
It's truly truly something special. So

523
00:45:08.159 --> 00:45:13.000
all right, I'm under the time. I'm under the time, I promise.

524
00:45:14.039 --> 00:45:19.079
Yeah, you guys, take care, Happy New Year. Be sure

525
00:45:19.119 --> 00:45:23.519
to watch me on twitch Penoy Gregio. I also host the JSB Anime Cast

526
00:45:23.679 --> 00:45:28.800
and we're gonna be back next year
and that's gonna be tight. So yeah,

527
00:45:28.920 --> 00:45:35.039
take care, love you guys,
and yeah bye bye. You know

528
00:45:35.119 --> 00:45:39.159
the voice, you know the cadence. He's back to give his unfettered and

529
00:45:39.320 --> 00:45:45.960
perfect opinion on this year's Game of
the Year titles. My segment's going to

530
00:45:45.000 --> 00:45:49.000
be a little bit different, I'm
sure than everybody else's. Everyone segments are

531
00:45:49.039 --> 00:45:54.159
always a little bit different, so
I think I'll do my approach similar to

532
00:45:54.199 --> 00:45:58.480
those I've done the past, but
this year I'm going to approach it by

533
00:45:58.599 --> 00:46:04.639
giving out some awards on my own. Whether or not there it's gonna like

534
00:46:04.679 --> 00:46:07.719
that as much. We'll see.
You don't have to agree with my opinions,

535
00:46:07.719 --> 00:46:12.639
although they are one hundred correct all
the time, but you do have

536
00:46:12.679 --> 00:46:15.559
to listen if you want to,
of course. So let's go ahead and

537
00:46:15.559 --> 00:46:19.440
get this out of the way.
There's a few games this year that I

538
00:46:19.480 --> 00:46:22.639
did not get to play that I
feel like could have been strong contenders for

539
00:46:22.719 --> 00:46:28.840
some awards that I personally made up
categories for, also potentially awards like Game

540
00:46:28.880 --> 00:46:31.880
of the Year, though I'm pretty
stuck online. So games that I didn't

541
00:46:31.880 --> 00:46:37.159
get to play this year Resident Evil
for remake. Those have been paying attention

542
00:46:37.239 --> 00:46:39.760
to the stream and stuff know that
I've been playing Resident Evil to remake.

543
00:46:39.880 --> 00:46:43.719
It's the first time that I'm really
getting into Resident Evil because I do not

544
00:46:43.840 --> 00:46:46.079
like scary games. We've gone through
this a million times. Everyone knows I

545
00:46:46.119 --> 00:46:51.280
don't like them. Final Fantasy sixteen. I don't like Final Fantasy. People

546
00:46:51.280 --> 00:46:52.440
say it's really good, it's the
best Final Fantasy in a long time.

547
00:46:52.519 --> 00:46:57.480
Maybe ever. Yeah, don't care
if Final Fantasy sucks Sue Mario Wonder.

548
00:46:57.920 --> 00:46:59.960
People said it's really good. It
came out of the scene really hot.

549
00:47:00.119 --> 00:47:01.559
I have it sitting on the desk
right next to me. I just have

550
00:47:01.639 --> 00:47:06.119
not played it. Alan Wake two
is the only one that I could probably

551
00:47:06.159 --> 00:47:09.760
consider to be a game of the
year, but next to it because I've

552
00:47:09.760 --> 00:47:13.440
played alan Wake one and I've read
a lot of stuff about alan Wick two

553
00:47:13.440 --> 00:47:15.920
and what the studio has done.
I mean, I love Control. People

554
00:47:15.960 --> 00:47:20.320
say it's better than Control in a
lot of ways. So had Potential and

555
00:47:20.440 --> 00:47:22.360
Super Mario RPG. Again. I
also have a copy of that sitting on

556
00:47:22.360 --> 00:47:27.639
my desk. I just have not
played it yet. So I want to

557
00:47:27.679 --> 00:47:30.800
just get it out of the way. I want to attack the elephant in

558
00:47:30.840 --> 00:47:34.039
the room here and just talk about
the game of the year. I don't

559
00:47:34.079 --> 00:47:37.280
think that there's any question what game
of the year should be. Everyone's going

560
00:47:37.320 --> 00:47:40.920
to have their opinions. Some people
may not like the format, but let's

561
00:47:42.000 --> 00:47:44.320
just say it. Balterer Skate three
is the game of the year. I

562
00:47:44.360 --> 00:47:49.000
know that wasn't a very popular opinion. If you listen to the Vocal Minority

563
00:47:49.000 --> 00:47:52.079
Online. But undoubtedly it is the
best game that came out this year.

564
00:47:52.159 --> 00:47:57.119
It shook the industry. It pissed
off Triple A developers for them releasing a

565
00:47:57.159 --> 00:48:00.639
game that was so whole and complete. It is a fantastic game. The

566
00:48:00.679 --> 00:48:05.280
only criticism that I could give it
for those who may not enjoy it is

567
00:48:05.320 --> 00:48:07.840
that it's not really as fun to
play by yourself as it is to play

568
00:48:07.880 --> 00:48:12.360
with others. But if you've played
other games made by Larry and you'd know

569
00:48:12.400 --> 00:48:15.320
that those are kind of the same
way. They're party based games. And

570
00:48:15.360 --> 00:48:20.760
while the party experience is really great
because the party characters are wonderful the whole

571
00:48:21.679 --> 00:48:23.559
all the characters, all the voice
acting, it's all very wonderful. I

572
00:48:23.559 --> 00:48:29.159
think the game really benefits from being
in the party atmosphere. That's when I

573
00:48:29.199 --> 00:48:31.800
had the most fun with it.
Personally, my solo play did not last

574
00:48:31.800 --> 00:48:36.280
as long. I just didn't have
enough fun. But I think as a

575
00:48:36.280 --> 00:48:38.000
party game, I wasn't going to
play this game. I'm glad I did

576
00:48:38.000 --> 00:48:40.480
play the game. My friend convinced
me to play the game because it was

577
00:48:40.480 --> 00:48:45.000
in the Dungeons and Dragons aspects,
and I love Dungeons and Dragons, and

578
00:48:45.039 --> 00:48:46.440
I'm glad I give it a shot. You guys know I don't like turn

579
00:48:46.480 --> 00:48:50.000
based games. If you go back
to the early days of the podcast,

580
00:48:50.079 --> 00:48:53.119
you'd know that I don't like turn
based games. Since the episode where I

581
00:48:53.119 --> 00:48:57.280
talked about firem Blom three Houses and
how that was the first turn based game

582
00:48:57.320 --> 00:49:00.440
that I ever played that I enjoyed. I have not played a turn based

583
00:49:00.440 --> 00:49:07.840
game since maybe one very small amount, but that gives you a sort of

584
00:49:07.840 --> 00:49:10.360
point of reference on my feeling on
turn based games. But I loved Balder's

585
00:49:10.559 --> 00:49:14.559
Three. I think it was a
wonderful treat and I'm very happy that it

586
00:49:14.599 --> 00:49:16.440
came out. I'm very happy that
Larry did what they did, and I'm

587
00:49:16.559 --> 00:49:22.519
very happy that it took the industry
by storm and became like the highest industry

588
00:49:22.599 --> 00:49:24.719
rated game ever. I mean,
you know, elder Ring did that last

589
00:49:24.800 --> 00:49:30.559
year. What we thought in this
game did even more than that, So

590
00:49:30.119 --> 00:49:36.360
I think it's an obvious win.
Let's get into some of my unique categories

591
00:49:36.400 --> 00:49:38.239
here. I might ruffle some feathers
with these, but you know, these

592
00:49:38.280 --> 00:49:42.000
are my opinions, and like I
said, my opinions are one hundred percent

593
00:49:42.119 --> 00:49:46.000
facts, So let's start on the
positive note. Hi Fi Rush has came

594
00:49:46.039 --> 00:49:49.559
out early in the year. I
didn't play it until late in the year,

595
00:49:50.199 --> 00:49:52.679
and if I wouldn't have played it
until late in the year, or

596
00:49:52.719 --> 00:49:54.840
if I wouldn't have played at all, it would have never been on my

597
00:49:54.960 --> 00:50:00.159
radar. But those who know I'm
a big fan of jets at Radio like

598
00:50:00.199 --> 00:50:06.639
the art style. I like that
sort of cartoony like, very boisterous art

599
00:50:06.679 --> 00:50:12.719
style, and the idea is unique. It wins my a unique Fresh Taste

600
00:50:12.719 --> 00:50:15.400
in the Industry award. It brings
a sort of different aspect to it with

601
00:50:15.480 --> 00:50:20.760
the rhythmic combat, similar to a
game like Cadence of High Rule, which

602
00:50:20.800 --> 00:50:23.559
we talked about a really long time
ago on the podcast. It brings a

603
00:50:23.599 --> 00:50:29.599
fresh element fighting to the beat,
a cool storyline, interesting dialogue, a

604
00:50:29.639 --> 00:50:34.840
beautiful art style. I think overall, it's just a really fresh a breath

605
00:50:34.880 --> 00:50:38.599
of fresh air in the industry,
in a very mundane industry. We're going

606
00:50:38.679 --> 00:50:46.239
to go to a game that I
have some pretty strong feelings about, which

607
00:50:46.440 --> 00:50:52.199
is winning my biggest piece of Shit
award for the year, which is Starfield.

608
00:50:52.519 --> 00:50:58.320
Everyone hyped up Starfield is this late
great creation from the Bethesda formula,

609
00:50:58.880 --> 00:51:00.840
and look where it got. It
was a piece of dog shit. It's

610
00:51:00.880 --> 00:51:07.280
not fun, it was boring.
It's undoubtedly the Bethesda experience. So while

611
00:51:07.320 --> 00:51:09.719
it is called my biggest piece of
shit of the year, ord, I

612
00:51:09.760 --> 00:51:15.360
think more than likely it should be
the biggest example that the Bethesda strategy is

613
00:51:15.440 --> 00:51:19.400
dead ORed. I think that their
strategy has been the same for a really

614
00:51:19.440 --> 00:51:22.559
long time since Skyrim. I think
the strategy is boring. I think their

615
00:51:22.599 --> 00:51:29.679
whole idea of making these World League
games with very lackluster stories, it's overplayed,

616
00:51:29.679 --> 00:51:32.440
it's done. They should change their
strategy. Todd Howard is a sinking

617
00:51:32.440 --> 00:51:37.480
ship. Maybe if he hadn't spent
the last ten years trying to remake Skyrim

618
00:51:37.519 --> 00:51:42.159
for everything from the next gen consoles
to Samsung refrigerators, he would have made

619
00:51:42.159 --> 00:51:47.159
a better game. Let's talk about
my favorite game that I played this year

620
00:51:47.360 --> 00:51:53.199
entirely aside from Bowlersgate, Cyberpunk Cyberpunk
Phantom Liberty came out this year. It's

621
00:51:53.239 --> 00:51:59.719
a beautiful piece of art. I
think the what am I looking for here?

622
00:52:00.119 --> 00:52:02.239
I think the update that came out
fixed the game. People are still

623
00:52:02.280 --> 00:52:05.519
haters on it. I didn't play
it when I originally came out, so

624
00:52:05.519 --> 00:52:07.880
I didn't have that awful taste in
my mouth. I think most people are

625
00:52:07.920 --> 00:52:09.440
still stuck on that. If you
haven't played it yet, though, you

626
00:52:09.440 --> 00:52:13.800
should play it. It is beautiful. I mean, the story is wonderful,

627
00:52:14.159 --> 00:52:17.000
the writing is tremendous, the gameplay
is fantastic. Now they have really

628
00:52:17.039 --> 00:52:21.559
done a great number to fix this
game and the DLC. While it's not

629
00:52:21.599 --> 00:52:24.280
really the longest, I do think
that it added a wonderful element to the

630
00:52:24.280 --> 00:52:29.239
story, the new characters. I
think the voice acting is tremendous. I

631
00:52:29.239 --> 00:52:30.920
mean it is really good. I
mean, the soundtrack is good. The

632
00:52:30.960 --> 00:52:35.599
game is just phenomenal. I fully
believe in my heart that if this game

633
00:52:35.639 --> 00:52:37.920
came out this year in the condition
that it was in now, this could

634
00:52:37.960 --> 00:52:44.199
have potentially edged close to Balder's game
for Game of the Year. I mean,

635
00:52:44.239 --> 00:52:45.159
I don't think that it would have
won, but I think it would

636
00:52:45.159 --> 00:52:49.519
have easily been a second place.
I mean, the game is phenomenal.

637
00:52:50.000 --> 00:52:52.400
So if you haven't played it,
stop being a hater and just play it.

638
00:52:52.400 --> 00:52:54.679
It's a blast, I mean,
coming from me, it is very

639
00:52:54.679 --> 00:52:59.360
critical of video games. I mean, the game is awesome. I loved

640
00:52:59.360 --> 00:53:02.119
playing this game is my favorite game
that I played this year outside of Baldersgate

641
00:53:02.199 --> 00:53:09.079
by far and above. Let's go
to an interesting topic here, sports games.

642
00:53:09.280 --> 00:53:12.880
E A FC twenty four. We're
just gonna call it the biggest greed

643
00:53:12.960 --> 00:53:15.280
move of the year. You know, EA decided that their FIFA contract ran

644
00:53:15.320 --> 00:53:19.039
out, so they were going to
completely re brand and not give any more

645
00:53:19.039 --> 00:53:22.480
money to FIFA, so they just
created the EA Football Club twenty four game.

646
00:53:23.320 --> 00:53:29.039
Thanks a lot, gaming industry greed
strikes again. The next game that

647
00:53:29.119 --> 00:53:31.679
we can touch on here Tiers of
the Kingdom. I think this is an

648
00:53:31.920 --> 00:53:39.079
interesting one because, against popular opinion, I am ill impressed by it.

649
00:53:39.159 --> 00:53:45.400
I think it's fun, it's interesting, and of the of the category that

650
00:53:45.440 --> 00:53:49.559
I'm giving it, which is best
not remake remake, it is the best

651
00:53:49.599 --> 00:53:53.639
one. I think they've done enough
to make it interesting and fun. But

652
00:53:53.800 --> 00:53:59.880
I think they spent a really long
time making adjustments that I just don't really

653
00:54:00.079 --> 00:54:04.760
feel like we're that worth it.
So that's why it wins the best not

654
00:54:04.840 --> 00:54:09.480
remake remake award. Let's talk about
the most forgotten game of the year.

655
00:54:10.280 --> 00:54:15.599
Hogwarts Legacy came out early in the
year. It was a pretty mediocre RPG

656
00:54:15.679 --> 00:54:20.280
at best. It expanded the Harry
Potter universe. Regardless of what everyone has

657
00:54:20.320 --> 00:54:22.440
to say about JK. Rowling,
the game was fun. It was fun

658
00:54:22.480 --> 00:54:28.639
to play. The spells were unique
and useful. It kind of expanded on

659
00:54:28.679 --> 00:54:31.599
the sort of Harry Potter universe while
not using a lot of the same characters.

660
00:54:31.679 --> 00:54:37.000
It introduced some characters that were sort
of in the storyline. I think

661
00:54:37.079 --> 00:54:39.880
in a year full of disappointing ass
games, everyone just forgot about this game

662
00:54:39.880 --> 00:54:45.559
because they hyped up these disappointing ass
games just to be disappointed later. Though

663
00:54:45.599 --> 00:54:49.079
everyone forgot about the game, I
still think it deserves some recognition because it

664
00:54:49.199 --> 00:54:52.360
was fun to play, unlike some
of these other boring, ass disappointed games

665
00:54:52.360 --> 00:54:55.280
that came out this year. So
most forgotten game of the year that deserves

666
00:54:55.280 --> 00:55:00.480
some recognition obviously Hogwarts Legacy. Now
let's address the real elephant in the room,

667
00:55:00.760 --> 00:55:05.239
the top of the Oh my gosh, it got robbed radar by people

668
00:55:05.280 --> 00:55:09.840
who really don't enjoy video games,
just play barely anything. Spider Man two.

669
00:55:10.119 --> 00:55:15.199
Spider Man two was a lackluster piece
of garbage game that barely upgraded on

670
00:55:15.239 --> 00:55:20.920
what it was worth. If you
want to consider this year as anything considered

671
00:55:21.000 --> 00:55:24.159
a lesson learned that people should be
more strict in the way they're critiquing video

672
00:55:24.199 --> 00:55:30.199
games, because developers can spend five
years recreating the same game with an even

673
00:55:30.360 --> 00:55:36.239
more atrocious storyline and lack of anything
meaningful, and then tout it is the

674
00:55:36.239 --> 00:55:38.440
best game that came out this year, and you guys will hail it as

675
00:55:38.480 --> 00:55:45.159
something that deserves so much praise.
A ten hour long story game with unbelievable

676
00:55:45.159 --> 00:55:50.840
amounts of quick time events and unbelievable
amounts of long ass cut scenes, including

677
00:55:50.880 --> 00:55:54.559
the ending, which is a like
thirty minute long cut scene of just nonsense

678
00:55:54.760 --> 00:56:01.000
trash writing with no real character interaction. Only saving grace for the end of

679
00:56:01.039 --> 00:56:06.599
the boring ass thirty minute cut scene
at the game is the ending where it

680
00:56:06.639 --> 00:56:09.119
sort of introduces a specific character.
Don't want to ruin it for anybody who

681
00:56:09.159 --> 00:56:13.280
hasn't played it, although I wouldn't
waste your time playing it if for being

682
00:56:13.320 --> 00:56:16.639
honest, the game is not interesting. The storyline sucks, and while this

683
00:56:16.719 --> 00:56:22.679
is pretty thematic in superhero games,
is that you're already set in a universe,

684
00:56:22.719 --> 00:56:25.400
you're already kind of set in the
character you know, buying because there

685
00:56:25.440 --> 00:56:30.599
are introduced characters, you're just trying
to sort of keep those characters in check.

686
00:56:30.920 --> 00:56:35.920
This game just does an awful job
at writing the characters. I mean,

687
00:56:36.840 --> 00:56:42.679
unfortunately, I have to critique it
because it's really suffering from, you

688
00:56:42.719 --> 00:56:50.599
know, a significant amount of pushing. And I mean that in a different

689
00:56:50.639 --> 00:56:57.840
sort of way. Is that it's
okay to inject sort of these moralities into

690
00:56:57.840 --> 00:57:00.559
your writing. I mean, if
you write anything, it's going to come

691
00:57:00.599 --> 00:57:04.960
through, of course, But when
the entirety of the story is just sort

692
00:57:05.000 --> 00:57:08.920
of making Peter Parker ound to be
a big sissy piece of shit and everyone

693
00:57:08.960 --> 00:57:13.800
else to be a bigger superhero,
he is And I'll be honest, the

694
00:57:13.880 --> 00:57:16.119
whole school fight, and if anybody's
played the game, you'll know exactly what

695
00:57:16.159 --> 00:57:20.119
I'm talking about was one of those
moments where I just really didn't want to

696
00:57:20.119 --> 00:57:24.880
play the game anymore because the dialogue
is so indicative of someone's personal feelings that

697
00:57:24.960 --> 00:57:30.519
it really just it just makes me. It made me visibly cringe. The

698
00:57:30.559 --> 00:57:36.760
game is not fun. The ending
kind of sucks. The sort of climactic

699
00:57:37.679 --> 00:57:39.920
not really I don't want to say
death scene because it's not, but it's

700
00:57:40.039 --> 00:57:45.039
like that sort of thing that was
like amazing in Spider Man twenty eighteen,

701
00:57:45.119 --> 00:57:47.599
because the writing was great, the
character introductions were great. This game,

702
00:57:47.639 --> 00:57:51.920
it was just a letdown on all
fronts. I wouldn't rate it higher than

703
00:57:51.920 --> 00:57:53.760
a five and a half out of
ten at best, and that's really just

704
00:57:53.800 --> 00:57:58.880
because of the fun gameplay, mechanics
and really just the swing, because the

705
00:57:58.960 --> 00:58:02.320
combat is fairly boring and once you
sort of unlock the base moves, that's

706
00:58:02.400 --> 00:58:06.400
kind of it. You don't really
do anything else. I mean, you

707
00:58:06.400 --> 00:58:09.519
could sure get creative with it,
but I mean, I just think that

708
00:58:09.599 --> 00:58:15.039
the combat is pretty boring. It's
very superhero e, which makes sense because

709
00:58:15.039 --> 00:58:17.280
it's a superhero game, but I
think it got a lot more hype than

710
00:58:17.280 --> 00:58:22.559
it deserved. And I think this
is a good example of holding developers accountable

711
00:58:22.760 --> 00:58:27.760
because they spent five years making a
game that's very small of an upgrade compared

712
00:58:27.800 --> 00:58:31.239
to Spider Man twenty eighteen or even
Miles Morales. I mean, Miles Morales

713
00:58:31.280 --> 00:58:36.159
is basically this, but I think
it's better and it's better written. So

714
00:58:36.360 --> 00:58:39.119
unfortunately, this is my worst writing
game of the year. Although there's many

715
00:58:39.159 --> 00:58:43.559
other problems with Like most overhyped game, this is the best award that I

716
00:58:43.559 --> 00:58:47.800
could give to it, I believe. Thanks for listening, Morning Gamers's trippy.

717
00:58:49.320 --> 00:58:52.880
As you know, twenty twenty three
was the best year for games ever.

718
00:58:52.400 --> 00:58:54.320
There are a lot of games out
loud. One of my all time

719
00:58:54.360 --> 00:58:59.039
fair games got a sequel. Imagine
me twelve years old crying his ass off

720
00:58:59.079 --> 00:59:01.880
Edge Hero to grow up to be
thirty three years old, crying his ass

721
00:59:01.880 --> 00:59:05.599
off as you hear, I fear
to be boring to hear about water Z

722
00:59:05.599 --> 00:59:07.320
eight three again. Though we've all
played it, we've all heard about it,

723
00:59:07.320 --> 00:59:10.880
We've all thought there's no way Asterian
has eight stream with that Tourso so

724
00:59:10.880 --> 00:59:15.320
I'm picking another game to talk about. Yes, Walter's eight three is my

725
00:59:15.360 --> 00:59:20.400
twenty twenty three game of the year, but is it really Yeah, it

726
00:59:20.440 --> 00:59:25.599
is as far as I'm concerned.
The idea of overcoming an invading fleet of

727
00:59:25.599 --> 00:59:30.320
aliens, hanging out with imaginary friends
who love and protect you, sharing intimate

728
00:59:30.360 --> 00:59:36.159
moments with enemies to friends, and
having a really attractive cast as something balder

729
00:59:36.159 --> 00:59:37.920
Skate three does. Well. You
know what else did it? Well?

730
00:59:38.239 --> 00:59:43.920
You fucking guessed it? And those
Mondays, dreams and deadlines. Let me

731
00:59:43.920 --> 00:59:46.480
set the scene. It's Friday night, I just got off my eleven hour

732
00:59:46.519 --> 00:59:51.599
shif data faceless, late stage,
Capitalistic Evil Empire as a Corporation, and

733
00:59:51.639 --> 00:59:54.679
I'm fucking hammered drunk. I'm doom
scroll on Twitter while playing my stupid fucking

734
00:59:54.679 --> 00:59:59.760
gotcha game I See someone Mention a
game about a woman who stuck at work

735
01:00:00.039 --> 01:00:05.199
over the weekend at our faceless,
late stage capitalistic Eva Empire Corporation and Everyone's

736
01:00:05.239 --> 01:00:09.039
hot end This Monday is a visual
novel about a girl a penny stick at

737
01:00:09.039 --> 01:00:13.199
work because you procrastinated too much on
a big project she doesn't know anything about.

738
01:00:13.800 --> 01:00:15.119
The goal of this game is to
somehow make it to the end of

739
01:00:15.159 --> 01:00:17.480
the weekend. It's up to you, with the player, to decide if

740
01:00:17.519 --> 01:00:22.159
you finish the project. Instead of
doing that, you can do other activities,

741
01:00:22.320 --> 01:00:27.199
such as investigating your work facility after
hours, taking naps, playing a

742
01:00:27.199 --> 01:00:30.239
phone game that will literally take hours
of your life away. I set a

743
01:00:30.239 --> 01:00:32.679
bottle clicker to play it for me. Calling your friends and foes and mom,

744
01:00:34.239 --> 01:00:37.719
dueling your hot little tiger girlfriend,
and drinking coffee that may be days

745
01:00:37.760 --> 01:00:45.039
old. No one's there. You've
become uncomfortable. The art pops it's all

746
01:00:45.280 --> 01:00:51.280
pixel art and rats from dismal corporate
America to fanatical about logging. There's a

747
01:00:51.320 --> 01:00:53.960
ton of small detail in every scene
to make it really hit me in the

748
01:00:54.119 --> 01:00:59.400
I fucking hate my job. Bits
like a coffee mug that says, love

749
01:00:59.440 --> 01:01:01.760
your job as much as you love
your coffee. We have those as community

750
01:01:01.840 --> 01:01:06.599
mugs in my office. I fucking
reeled. I hate it so goddamn much,

751
01:01:07.519 --> 01:01:10.840
and every character is delight Your boss, Miss Whiskey. She constantly calls

752
01:01:10.880 --> 01:01:15.039
you to come clubbing with her,
to just give up on the work.

753
01:01:15.400 --> 01:01:16.679
And one of my favorite endings,
I'm gonna spoil it because it's only like

754
01:01:16.719 --> 01:01:21.360
four lines in. She asks you
to come clubbing with her, and if

755
01:01:21.360 --> 01:01:23.599
you agree to it, you wind
up getting fired for the company. Move

756
01:01:23.639 --> 01:01:27.880
back in with your grandfather back home, but he passes away, so you

757
01:01:27.920 --> 01:01:30.400
pick up his hoe and pickaxe and
manage his farm. Eventually you become friends

758
01:01:30.400 --> 01:01:34.679
with the locals, but it is
instant enough to sustain the farm. You

759
01:01:34.760 --> 01:01:37.320
must journey to a nearby cave to
earn more money by killing little jelly creatures.

760
01:01:37.519 --> 01:01:40.760
You live happily ever after, married
to someone of your own, choosing

761
01:01:42.159 --> 01:01:45.519
farming and killing jelly creatures. The
game is great. I love it.

762
01:01:46.000 --> 01:01:50.320
There's also Hannah, who works in
operations. If you've ever worked in a

763
01:01:50.320 --> 01:01:53.079
faceless late stage capitalist to keep a
Umpires corporation, you've probably had to deal

764
01:01:53.079 --> 01:01:58.400
with operations in this year fact that
no one knows what the fuck they even

765
01:01:58.519 --> 01:02:02.480
do around here that ties heavily into
her storeline and it does actually hit like

766
01:02:02.679 --> 01:02:07.840
incredible. My favorite character is Skuy. She's an ex employee who quit because

767
01:02:07.840 --> 01:02:12.880
she hated working for a facelessly stage
capitalist to keep the Empire Corporation, and

768
01:02:13.000 --> 01:02:16.679
is currently pursuing her dreams of becoming
a YouTuber whose entire gig is their frying

769
01:02:16.719 --> 01:02:22.880
foods. Her entire demeanor is just
perfect. Though we all have that one

770
01:02:22.039 --> 01:02:28.199
extremely weary coworker, she just meanders
around the company drinking coffee. It just

771
01:02:28.199 --> 01:02:30.679
fucking hates her job. It's such
a goddamn mood. There's a bunch of

772
01:02:30.719 --> 01:02:35.559
minor characters and they all have tons
of jokes attached to them. You have

773
01:02:35.559 --> 01:02:38.559
a succulent time your desk that Miss
Whiskey gives you that you wind up talking

774
01:02:38.599 --> 01:02:43.400
to, and whenever you do talk
to him, you affectionately call him Lil

775
01:02:43.519 --> 01:02:46.400
Suck. He has he stayed back, stay on track sort of not really

776
01:02:46.519 --> 01:02:51.679
ever, he just distracts you and
makes fun of you. There's also Tiger

777
01:02:51.760 --> 01:02:57.400
Chan, the pre previously mentioned targer
girl that you doodle. She comes back

778
01:02:57.400 --> 01:03:01.039
to life and follows you around for
a bit. It's sort of ambiguous if

779
01:03:01.039 --> 01:03:07.840
it's real. There's also an alien
she abducts you. It's a thing,

780
01:03:07.320 --> 01:03:10.400
but the game pretty much unfolds with
you. Hav any get six inspirations for

781
01:03:10.480 --> 01:03:15.039
ads for this product that you have
no idea about. You wander around,

782
01:03:15.119 --> 01:03:16.599
you talk to people, maybe do
a little bit of puzzling, do a

783
01:03:16.639 --> 01:03:21.480
little time travel to get these inspirations. I love the puzzles they hit sort

784
01:03:21.480 --> 01:03:23.960
of like Hate Plus's puzzles, where
they weren't just click here and do this,

785
01:03:24.000 --> 01:03:28.519
but rather click here, do this
in that order, and that gives

786
01:03:28.519 --> 01:03:30.960
you a hint for the next playthrough. You can easily saves come through the

787
01:03:31.079 --> 01:03:34.480
entire game though. All in all, the game only took me about six

788
01:03:34.519 --> 01:03:37.559
hours of Platinum, but that was
also because I had a little Shivo guide

789
01:03:37.559 --> 01:03:40.000
and an auto clicker. If you
do play and you want to follow up,

790
01:03:40.119 --> 01:03:43.920
the artist does have a monthly fanzine
that you can also buy it unless

791
01:03:43.960 --> 01:03:49.119
Monday dot com. It's pretty much
monthly just PDFs, jokes and stuff like

792
01:03:49.159 --> 01:03:52.480
that. It was a great game. It was only about six hours long.

793
01:03:52.480 --> 01:03:54.800
As I said, it's only about
six to eight dollars on Steam,

794
01:03:55.360 --> 01:04:02.280
and it is a fantastic way too
blow one one evening. Especially if you've

795
01:04:02.280 --> 01:04:06.840
ever worked in a faceless, late
stage capitalistic Evil Empires corporation, then like

796
01:04:08.159 --> 01:04:12.559
you will definitely see a lot of
parallels to your job, even if you

797
01:04:12.599 --> 01:04:16.280
haven't. The characters are all very
fresh. Even my least favorite characters still

798
01:04:16.320 --> 01:04:19.599
wound up being one of my favorite
characters, for instance, and that's not

799
01:04:19.639 --> 01:04:26.199
just because like there's only like four
characters. Aside from Endless, Mondays some

800
01:04:26.320 --> 01:04:31.159
other games that I really enjoyed and
I'm really looking forward to. I finished

801
01:04:31.159 --> 01:04:38.840
the rest of Full Medal Damon Maramasa. If you are okay with a game

802
01:04:39.199 --> 01:04:45.199
that pretty much comes up with an
entire content page and a half of warnings,

803
01:04:45.880 --> 01:04:47.800
definitely check it out. It had
a lot to do with history,

804
01:04:48.559 --> 01:04:59.039
revision of history, politics, mes
kendo god like so much. Also check

805
01:04:59.079 --> 01:05:02.039
out a Tokyo necro not as Bad
has one of the best lesbians I've ever

806
01:05:02.119 --> 01:05:09.760
seen. She's still goddamn powerful.
Her father has like this entire mastery of

807
01:05:09.800 --> 01:05:14.880
a school of martial arts, all
involving around killing the shit out of zombies,

808
01:05:15.440 --> 01:05:19.039
and she hates them so obviously instead
of using this these guns that have

809
01:05:19.159 --> 01:05:25.960
like pile drivers in them, instead
she uses chainsaws and it is incredible.

810
01:05:26.800 --> 01:05:30.880
Beyond that, I also read al
Kana for Rhythms Across the Blue. If

811
01:05:30.920 --> 01:05:36.119
you like your very stereotypical dating sims, definitely check it out. It's a

812
01:05:36.159 --> 01:05:42.719
fun spin on. It has a
lot to deal with sports and not sports.

813
01:05:42.719 --> 01:05:46.880
It's an imaginary sport about floating and
other stuff like that. All the

814
01:05:46.960 --> 01:05:53.360
characters are fantastic, and the sport
actually feels like something I would watch.

815
01:05:54.800 --> 01:06:00.360
Shameless plug for Signalis it still exists. It's still the best game of the

816
01:06:00.440 --> 01:06:05.199
year all years. Forever Shared a
un recently came out with a re release

817
01:06:05.280 --> 01:06:11.480
for White Album. The first One
and also one. White Album was the

818
01:06:11.480 --> 01:06:16.920
prequel to a game that is like
legendary in the visual novel Spaces One is

819
01:06:17.559 --> 01:06:23.239
pretty much the prequel to every key
visual novel. All of the team that

820
01:06:23.360 --> 01:06:29.639
did One pretty much went on to
being in Key, so games like Clannad,

821
01:06:30.119 --> 01:06:34.440
Cannon Air, all of those guys, all key all came from this

822
01:06:34.480 --> 01:06:39.679
one project. But yeah, I
get rant. If you do want to

823
01:06:39.719 --> 01:06:42.519
hear me a loath of my jobs
more and feel free to follow me on

824
01:06:42.519 --> 01:06:47.119
Twitter at Shrimpy Underscore Shift eleven and
if you want to hear me drunkenly round

825
01:06:47.119 --> 01:06:50.199
about visual novels, feel free to
follow me on Blue Sky, same thing

826
01:06:50.280 --> 01:06:54.599
without the underscores. I do also
want to do a shout out to the

827
01:06:54.639 --> 01:06:59.800
Assenheim Project as well a collab for
recruiting PC ninety eight games to be able

828
01:06:59.840 --> 01:07:03.800
to be playable in browser with several
translated and fully playable. Right now you

829
01:07:03.840 --> 01:07:09.760
can play True Love ninety five,
Divvy Dad, a few others. But

830
01:07:09.840 --> 01:07:12.679
yeah, if you do want to
cringe and see how far we've come with

831
01:07:12.800 --> 01:07:17.559
our writing in visual novel spaces,
absolutely hop over to t ss dot A

832
01:07:17.840 --> 01:07:24.840
s E n h E I M
dot Org's right for that. Yeah,

833
01:07:25.159 --> 01:07:29.679
it'd be good new crime read Flowers
and I will see you guys next year.

834
01:07:29.760 --> 01:07:33.480
I hope everyone has fantastic safe holidays
and play some good ass video games.

835
01:07:33.880 --> 01:07:39.800
Take care big all right. Game
of the Year, My name is

836
01:07:39.840 --> 01:07:47.840
sigis. I like MMOs and mostly
play Pharma Fantasy. But for my game

837
01:07:47.840 --> 01:07:54.199
of your recommendations this year, games
i've played, so I'm gonna go with

838
01:07:54.199 --> 01:07:58.239
the real obvious one. I loved
Pharma Fantasy sixteen. It was amazing,

839
01:07:58.920 --> 01:08:01.840
a good job through and three had
a little had a few stale parts to

840
01:08:01.920 --> 01:08:08.119
it, but still, man,
I haven't been a game in thirty two

841
01:08:08.159 --> 01:08:12.719
hours in a lot, thirty hours
straight in a long time, like just

842
01:08:13.039 --> 01:08:16.760
thirty two hours of playing that game. I still go back to it occasionally.

843
01:08:17.239 --> 01:08:19.800
I enjoy the harder difficulty stuff.
I haven't gotten around to the DLC

844
01:08:19.920 --> 01:08:26.800
yet, but like by and large, I really enjoyed myself with that game.

845
01:08:27.399 --> 01:08:30.520
I know some people said the combat
felt a little stale. I don't

846
01:08:30.560 --> 01:08:33.159
personally feel that way. I like
the way that I have to mix and

847
01:08:33.199 --> 01:08:40.960
match things that could also be THEMO
player in me. The real big highlights

848
01:08:41.159 --> 01:08:46.159
for me in that game where the
boss fights, Holy shit, those are

849
01:08:46.560 --> 01:08:50.359
some of the most fun boss fights
I've had since the other game that would

850
01:08:50.359 --> 01:08:56.479
be on my list, which would
be Sonic Forces, where I Holy god,

851
01:08:57.960 --> 01:09:00.920
I still remember those moments and like, I really wish there was just

852
01:09:00.960 --> 01:09:03.399
a boss rush mode because I'm pretty
sure actually they add in one. I

853
01:09:03.399 --> 01:09:09.399
haven't just haven't gotten to it,
but holy fuck. Uh, definitely one

854
01:09:09.399 --> 01:09:13.560
of the high points of my year. The Phamit fight literally blew me out

855
01:09:13.600 --> 01:09:17.439
the water. Dude. You I
still remember that first moment, screaming whoa,

856
01:09:17.600 --> 01:09:26.079
whoa, Holy fuck whoa, and
just like I just yeah, I

857
01:09:26.119 --> 01:09:29.439
love that fucking game. I love
the attention to detail with it, uh,

858
01:09:29.560 --> 01:09:32.439
the way that there's little nods and
references, especially if you're a fourteen

859
01:09:32.479 --> 01:09:35.359
player like I am, right,
like, for instance, like Bahamad goes

860
01:09:35.640 --> 01:09:41.399
spoilers, Bahamad goes golden at some
point and I was like, oh shit,

861
01:09:41.640 --> 01:09:45.880
oh look at you and throwing fucking
awkwards down like crazy. Uh.

862
01:09:46.920 --> 01:09:51.279
Also the second recorded or the third
recorded use of Zeta Flair literally ever,

863
01:09:53.079 --> 01:09:58.640
uh, which was insane. I
thought that that was that was the high

864
01:09:58.680 --> 01:10:00.039
point for me. I saw him
fucking already examined. I was like,

865
01:10:00.319 --> 01:10:06.880
no fucking way, no fucking way. Uh. The time fight was great

866
01:10:06.880 --> 01:10:11.439
too. The music there was great. In fact, the music for the

867
01:10:11.560 --> 01:10:15.399
entire game was amazing. But you
know that's soaking. He just does great

868
01:10:15.439 --> 01:10:21.520
fucking work no matter what he's doing. Yeah, just a fucking really good

869
01:10:21.560 --> 01:10:25.720
game that I loved. Let's see
what else that I beat this year.

870
01:10:27.359 --> 01:10:30.560
I really enjoyed Wishes did come out
this year, didn't it? Pretty sure?

871
01:10:31.279 --> 01:10:34.960
I've really loved Street Fight or six. It's been a well, I

872
01:10:35.000 --> 01:10:42.239
stay really love I haven't been enjoying
it casually, good game, fun time,

873
01:10:42.319 --> 01:10:46.359
bad music, terrible music. Oh, I fucking beat Ultra Kill for

874
01:10:46.399 --> 01:10:50.199
the first time. That's a good
fucking game that everybody should play. Holy

875
01:10:50.239 --> 01:10:55.720
shit. I actually ended up streaming
that game this year towards the beginning of

876
01:10:55.760 --> 01:10:59.800
the year when I had time off
and when I was fighting it. That

877
01:10:59.920 --> 01:11:05.319
was exhilarating. The moment to moment
of action, the lightning fast like reactions.

878
01:11:05.359 --> 01:11:11.159
You had to have the fucking robot
what's to say A two? I

879
01:11:11.159 --> 01:11:15.760
think no? Uh? In the
red version of you dude, I could

880
01:11:15.840 --> 01:11:19.199
not beat him. It took me, I think legitimately three hours, so

881
01:11:19.239 --> 01:11:24.079
that the second time you fight him
to kill him. That was a fucking

882
01:11:24.119 --> 01:11:27.319
trip. And then I found out
there's like extra little levels that I've never

883
01:11:27.359 --> 01:11:30.039
done. I still need to go
back and do those. So those are

884
01:11:30.079 --> 01:11:35.079
fucking great. Let's see what else
did I play this year? I have

885
01:11:35.359 --> 01:11:42.239
been currently Oh uh Armor Corps.
Armor Corp six that was also really amazing.

886
01:11:42.720 --> 01:11:46.399
I had a fun time with it. I really enjoyed the customization for

887
01:11:46.479 --> 01:11:53.760
it. Just solid gameplay overall.
I make this joke because I know people

888
01:11:53.760 --> 01:11:57.560
who play Armor Corps hate it.
I really felt like I was just playing

889
01:11:57.560 --> 01:12:00.359
a Gundam, Like I just walk
in and they be like, Hey,

890
01:12:00.399 --> 01:12:01.560
I'm gonna fucking get your ass,
and I'm like, no, you're not.

891
01:12:02.239 --> 01:12:04.560
No, you're not. I swear
left right, shoot him down,

892
01:12:05.039 --> 01:12:08.880
Like nah, not you. Where's
the boss at? Show me, show

893
01:12:08.920 --> 01:12:12.079
me, show me the guy that
that's actually helping you. A nice curve

894
01:12:12.119 --> 01:12:14.840
of difficulty. I know people had
problems with that first boss. I did

895
01:12:14.840 --> 01:12:19.479
too. By the way, beat
it before the nerves get direct idiots one

896
01:12:19.600 --> 01:12:29.079
time, uh Beatholius, Like it
really was a knowledge skill check that made

897
01:12:29.119 --> 01:12:33.600
me actually have to like sit there
and redo my entire uh my entire setup

898
01:12:33.720 --> 01:12:38.600
multiple times. You kill him.
Loved the music in that game as well.

899
01:12:40.319 --> 01:12:44.119
For my first Armor Corps, I
think it was I think it got

900
01:12:44.159 --> 01:12:45.800
a little too hard in the middle. There was a point there was mission

901
01:12:45.800 --> 01:12:48.119
where I like I had to do
some other stuff. You need to fight

902
01:12:48.399 --> 01:12:50.680
your way through this entire corridor and
shit, and I was like, I'm

903
01:12:50.680 --> 01:12:54.680
not doing this. Rather fight the
boss over and over and over again than

904
01:12:54.720 --> 01:12:59.720
do this like thirty times. Otherwise, I loved it to death. The

905
01:13:00.119 --> 01:13:05.640
weapons are my favorite. It's a
really satisfying feeling and going. The noise

906
01:13:05.680 --> 01:13:11.880
is terrible, but you get the
idea. Other games, oh entropy effect

907
01:13:11.880 --> 01:13:15.159
plays blue interpret the effect, so
it's plays blue and name only, naming

908
01:13:15.239 --> 01:13:19.159
characters only. Very good rogue.
Like, if you haven't played it yet,

909
01:13:19.199 --> 01:13:24.000
I think it just released. I
think they just finished, like actually

910
01:13:24.000 --> 01:13:29.119
releasing it. But I played it
on Early Access right, and the entire

911
01:13:29.279 --> 01:13:34.800
time I have I really enjoyed myself, Like I haven't pushed myself to beat

912
01:13:35.000 --> 01:13:40.199
a roguelike in a long time,
and I am doing it there. I

913
01:13:40.239 --> 01:13:45.000
love the mix and match skills.
The characters feel very real, reminiscent to

914
01:13:45.079 --> 01:13:48.600
their fighting in counterparts. There's some
people who say it's not like Blaze Blue

915
01:13:48.600 --> 01:13:54.880
and Name Only. I don't think
they played Blaze Blue that long. Like

916
01:13:55.159 --> 01:14:00.560
the the chin feels like Jens uses
her crests and feels like s fucking my

917
01:14:00.800 --> 01:14:03.399
zips around on her fucking pole arm
like you're playing the game like you're just

918
01:14:03.479 --> 01:14:10.840
doing your emotions over and over and
over again. Very fun times. Yeah.

919
01:14:10.880 --> 01:14:13.840
Other than that, really, the
only other game that I really played

920
01:14:13.840 --> 01:14:18.119
this year was Farma Fantasy fourteen,
and as a longtime player now for the

921
01:14:18.199 --> 01:14:24.000
last like three or four years,
I've always really enjoyed myself with the raids

922
01:14:24.000 --> 01:14:27.880
and things. A little bit of
a trudge if you've never played an MMO,

923
01:14:28.640 --> 01:14:30.960
but I severely tell you that it'll
be worth it. If you've never

924
01:14:31.000 --> 01:14:38.039
played, it's just a great time. That's about all I got. Thanks,

925
01:14:38.159 --> 01:14:41.119
Rob, and I hope you have
a nice day. Hello there,

926
01:14:41.159 --> 01:14:44.800
fellow adventures. JSP Gamescast co host
Drew Roberts here again to share my thoughts

927
01:14:44.840 --> 01:14:47.039
for Game of the Year twenty twenty
three. Well, it's never easy selecting

928
01:14:47.119 --> 01:14:50.159
exactly which game is deserving of the
coveted title. Game of the Year.

929
01:14:50.439 --> 01:14:54.199
Twenty twenty three, in particular,
is a year stacked with so many standout

930
01:14:54.239 --> 01:14:58.359
titles it feels almost impossible to choose
a clear cut winner. And that's only

931
01:14:58.359 --> 01:15:00.920
from the pool of games that I
actually managed to play and complete. After

932
01:15:01.000 --> 01:15:05.399
much consideration, back and forth in
rumination, I'm confident in saying that Octopath

933
01:15:05.439 --> 01:15:11.039
Traveler two from Square Ings's team Asano
deserving of my pick for Game of the

934
01:15:11.119 --> 01:15:15.199
Year. This pick may seem a
bit unusual in the face of such titles

935
01:15:15.239 --> 01:15:17.520
such as The Legend of Zelda,
Tears of the Kingdom, or Balter's Gate

936
01:15:17.600 --> 01:15:21.399
three, a game I unfortunately did
not get to play. Octopath Traveler two

937
01:15:21.399 --> 01:15:26.279
comes in as a sleeper hit,
building upon what its predecessor tried to achieve

938
01:15:26.439 --> 01:15:30.399
while also pushing itself off to new
heights. Octopath Traveler two starts as identically

939
01:15:30.439 --> 01:15:34.479
as the first. You're given the
opportunity select for one of eight prospective protagonists,

940
01:15:34.760 --> 01:15:39.000
ranging from the bright eydo Chet setting
off on an adventure to stop a

941
01:15:39.079 --> 01:15:43.960
rapidly approaching calamity, to the exile
Prince Kari fighting to reclaim his homeland from

942
01:15:43.960 --> 01:15:46.920
his warmongering brother and preventing him from
drowning the continent and blood. It's up

943
01:15:46.960 --> 01:15:50.199
to the player to choose which adventure
to embark on first, but will soon

944
01:15:50.239 --> 01:15:55.720
come to learn about all the inhabitants
of Solicia. While returning players from Octopath

945
01:15:55.760 --> 01:16:00.560
one will already be familiar with the
games setups and systems. Octopath who improves

946
01:16:00.560 --> 01:16:03.239
itself on the original in terms of
scope a narrative one hundredfold. While some

947
01:16:03.359 --> 01:16:08.560
quirks from the first game still exist
within Octopath DNA, Autopath two does a

948
01:16:08.640 --> 01:16:12.000
much better job of creating a living, breathing world where aspects of all these

949
01:16:12.039 --> 01:16:15.359
stories interconnect with each other, as
well as deep in the connections between the

950
01:16:15.399 --> 01:16:18.359
playable characters, which was a major
fault of the first game. The game's

951
01:16:18.399 --> 01:16:23.760
narrative aspects are vastly improved from the
first game, weaving much more compelling tales

952
01:16:23.800 --> 01:16:29.039
for its protagonists while also subtly connecting
them together that comes and brings a finale

953
01:16:29.119 --> 01:16:31.760
that is one of the best payoffs
in games I've played this year, if

954
01:16:31.800 --> 01:16:38.920
not recent memory. Also returning for
the second outing is an excellent soundtrack from

955
01:16:38.920 --> 01:16:43.319
composer yes Andri Nishiki. To pair
along with the journey from solemn character themes

956
01:16:43.399 --> 01:16:46.760
vowing revenge to high octane boss battle
themes, Autopath two doesn't slatch in the

957
01:16:46.760 --> 01:16:50.000
sound apartment. If the game isn't
deserving a Game of the Year, it's

958
01:16:50.000 --> 01:16:54.520
certainly deserving a Soundtrack of the Year. In a feat I thought impossible.

959
01:16:54.640 --> 01:16:58.279
Nishiki how does himself in the second
outing and produce some of the best music

960
01:16:58.319 --> 01:17:00.880
to come across my ears. We
cannot get enough of this game soundtrack and

961
01:17:00.920 --> 01:17:06.560
honestly worth it alone for the experience. I constantly think about the soundtrack all

962
01:17:06.800 --> 01:17:13.600
the time. The entire year.
Was this soundtrack in my head the entire

963
01:17:13.680 --> 01:17:17.960
time. This is very much the
best soundtrack of the year. I will

964
01:17:18.000 --> 01:17:21.319
fight you, I will fight you, I will fight you, I will

965
01:17:21.319 --> 01:17:27.920
fight you. This is the soundtrack
of the year. The main gameplay aspects

966
01:17:27.920 --> 01:17:30.880
from Octopath Ie, the combat and
path actions, remain mostly unchanged from the

967
01:17:30.880 --> 01:17:34.039
previous outing. While I still feel
that the path action system is something that

968
01:17:34.039 --> 01:17:38.239
can be improved upon, it's serviceable
enough for the scope of the game.

969
01:17:38.600 --> 01:17:41.479
Combat, however, is where the
game shines. The break and boost system

970
01:17:41.479 --> 01:17:45.279
of octopath is one of the most
satisfying turn based combat systems, allowing for

971
01:17:45.359 --> 01:17:48.039
snappy battles that keep the player on
the toes as the game progresses. Job

972
01:17:48.079 --> 01:17:51.520
system also makes its return, with
each protagonist representing one of the twelve job

973
01:17:51.560 --> 01:17:55.960
classes available to the player, all
of which are mix and metch allowing players

974
01:17:55.960 --> 01:18:00.680
to come up with deep and interesting
team compositions. Some will note that Octopad

975
01:18:00.720 --> 01:18:03.680
two still isn't perfect in what it
sets out to do. However, it's

976
01:18:03.680 --> 01:18:06.760
made leaps and bounds over the original
and comes out way ahead because of it.

977
01:18:08.079 --> 01:18:10.960
I played Octopad two at the very
beginning of the year, and even

978
01:18:11.000 --> 01:18:15.479
after playing Zelda Sea of Stars,
Trails Into Reverie, Residuvil four, Fire

979
01:18:15.560 --> 01:18:17.960
Mom Engage, and many other games
this year, it's the journeys I made

980
01:18:17.960 --> 01:18:21.880
in Octopath Traveler two that still hit
me the hardest. The character vignettes that

981
01:18:21.960 --> 01:18:27.119
still tug up my heart strings,
the melodies that I constantly find myself humming,

982
01:18:27.479 --> 01:18:30.359
the feelings that make me want to
return to Solicia still resonate with me

983
01:18:30.439 --> 01:18:33.960
in a powerful way, and it
stays with me long after I've shown this

984
01:18:34.079 --> 01:18:42.279
game, And so I can confidently
say Octopath Traveler two is deserving of Game

985
01:18:42.359 --> 01:18:46.840
of the Year and welcome back to
where it all began. Did you guys

986
01:18:46.920 --> 01:18:51.039
have a wonderful trip through a year
of incredible video games? I certainly did.

987
01:18:53.640 --> 01:18:58.840
We had a lot of people contribute
this year. We had some new

988
01:18:58.880 --> 01:19:01.199
voices this year, which he it's
very, very excited for. And there

989
01:19:01.239 --> 01:19:05.880
was a lot of games listed,
and there was several different like takes on

990
01:19:06.359 --> 01:19:13.159
video Game of the Year segments.
Right. You had Nick who did his

991
01:19:13.199 --> 01:19:18.520
own personal Nick Awards, right,
some good, some bad. I take

992
01:19:18.560 --> 01:19:23.800
a little issue with the last one
he did, but I can't really talk

993
01:19:23.840 --> 01:19:28.399
about it here because I didn't beat
that game until twenty twenty four when I'm

994
01:19:28.399 --> 01:19:31.479
recording this. Yes, I am
late on my own show, Sue me,

995
01:19:33.600 --> 01:19:38.680
so that's something you'll hear from me
later down the road. But you

996
01:19:38.720 --> 01:19:44.000
know, we had a top five
list from Asher, We had personal takes

997
01:19:44.039 --> 01:19:49.560
from like Drew as well as Tinfoil, who was a new contributor. We

998
01:19:49.600 --> 01:19:55.680
had a very passionate speech about Assassin's
Creed, which is a series that I

999
01:19:55.720 --> 01:19:59.000
don't think any of us really think
about these days too much, aside from

1000
01:19:59.000 --> 01:20:01.520
to meme on it, but that
series still means a lot to people out

1001
01:20:01.600 --> 01:20:05.680
there, right, and Rev took
us on a wonderful journey on like what

1002
01:20:05.800 --> 01:20:11.199
really speaks to him in that franchise
and some of the popular ones don't speak

1003
01:20:11.199 --> 01:20:14.800
to him, And he gets really
in depth about it, and I found

1004
01:20:14.800 --> 01:20:20.279
that super interesting. You look at
Ryan who played through Signalis, which was

1005
01:20:20.279 --> 01:20:25.600
an incredible game, right, He
found a lot of enjoyment out of that

1006
01:20:25.720 --> 01:20:28.600
and a mobile game that he's stuck
with. Right, he is not one

1007
01:20:28.680 --> 01:20:30.479
to stick with mobile games for very
long, but Nick speaks to him,

1008
01:20:30.479 --> 01:20:35.000
and I can agree that that game
is pretty solid, and a whole host

1009
01:20:35.039 --> 01:20:43.960
of other games I would mentioned that
are pretty incredible in their own rights.

1010
01:20:44.560 --> 01:20:48.720
So what about me? What about
me? In twenty twenty three, One

1011
01:20:48.800 --> 01:20:54.399
of my goals this year was to
play more video games than the previous year,

1012
01:20:55.920 --> 01:21:00.600
and I hit that goal. I
smashed that goal. Actually, I

1013
01:21:00.640 --> 01:21:06.000
was actually able to play and knockout
just about every major release this year and

1014
01:21:06.079 --> 01:21:11.239
a bunch of little, tiny ones. I think I clocked in at over

1015
01:21:11.359 --> 01:21:15.359
sixty games across all platforms, which
is an insane number for me for someone

1016
01:21:15.359 --> 01:21:20.359
that like hardly has time to do
anything. And a lot of the ones

1017
01:21:20.359 --> 01:21:25.399
that I loved were talked about today, right Balder Skate three, I don't

1018
01:21:25.399 --> 01:21:28.399
need to say much more on that. Like, I love that game.

1019
01:21:28.399 --> 01:21:31.640
That is probably my game of the
year if I had to pick a single

1020
01:21:31.680 --> 01:21:35.479
game. What that game does for
that genre in the industry, change the

1021
01:21:35.520 --> 01:21:42.439
landscape, which I'm very curious to
see how other developers react to that release

1022
01:21:42.600 --> 01:21:48.479
and maybe maybe see what changes in
terms of like dev cycles and how games

1023
01:21:48.520 --> 01:21:55.600
are developed. Street Farther six was
mentioned like, this was a year of

1024
01:21:55.600 --> 01:21:59.600
incredible fighting games, right. Street
fart Er six came out and kind of

1025
01:21:59.600 --> 01:22:03.359
revital lies the space with amazing net
code, a great single player campaign,

1026
01:22:03.960 --> 01:22:09.840
a bunch of like training mode features, and just like a really tight package

1027
01:22:09.840 --> 01:22:12.640
out of Capcom, who we were
kind of meming on for the past couple

1028
01:22:12.640 --> 01:22:15.000
of years as far as our fighting
games go. And to follow that,

1029
01:22:15.079 --> 01:22:18.880
we heard about Grand Blue Fantasy Versus
Rising, which is an incredible game that

1030
01:22:18.920 --> 01:22:25.880
I'm playing through now. So fighting
games are an amazing spot. Cocoon Asher

1031
01:22:25.960 --> 01:22:30.840
talked about this game, which was
a game I introduced to him, which

1032
01:22:30.880 --> 01:22:34.800
is one of my favorite puzzle games
of the last like ten years, probably

1033
01:22:34.840 --> 01:22:40.840
since like The Witness, Right,
so there's a bunch of games in there.

1034
01:22:40.880 --> 01:22:45.560
Final Fantasy sixteen was a game that
I really loved. Hi Fi Rush,

1035
01:22:45.720 --> 01:22:50.279
I think is incredible, probably my
favorite character action game of all time

1036
01:22:50.479 --> 01:22:55.239
if I was to really sit down
and think about it. It's art style

1037
01:22:55.479 --> 01:23:01.920
is really smooth. It captures that
look and feel of like a Futurama type

1038
01:23:02.000 --> 01:23:09.840
thing. The action is very tight, but also not like so strict that

1039
01:23:09.840 --> 01:23:13.119
somebody can't play it. It is
an action of rhythm game, and it

1040
01:23:13.279 --> 01:23:17.199
rewards you for playing on beat right, but you don't have to. You

1041
01:23:17.239 --> 01:23:19.840
can still get through that game without
it. There are some moments that sort

1042
01:23:19.840 --> 01:23:24.760
of require it when it comes to
like parrying. But I do believe in

1043
01:23:24.800 --> 01:23:29.920
that game's accessibility options, which it
has some of the best accessibility in all

1044
01:23:29.960 --> 01:23:32.880
of games of this year and probably
just in general right. It is definitely

1045
01:23:32.960 --> 01:23:36.039
up there. It took a lot
of care and to make sure that anybody

1046
01:23:36.079 --> 01:23:39.600
could pick up and play this game. You can probably adjust the timings of

1047
01:23:39.640 --> 01:23:44.199
that stuff to make it easier for
you. The way that the world reacts

1048
01:23:44.239 --> 01:23:47.920
to the music that is being played, so like everything is timed to the

1049
01:23:47.960 --> 01:23:51.800
beat of the music. All of
the animations, even like little subtle stuff

1050
01:23:51.800 --> 01:23:58.439
like lights flickering in the background or
machinery that are like turning and twisting and

1051
01:23:58.439 --> 01:24:01.039
stuff, everything reacts to the word
that the music is being played. The

1052
01:24:01.079 --> 01:24:06.319
attention to detail is wild, So
that is that was a huge standout for

1053
01:24:06.359 --> 01:24:11.520
me. Zimplee Chronicles three was the
game that I got to for the first

1054
01:24:11.560 --> 01:24:15.159
time this year. That was something
that I've been meaning to play for a

1055
01:24:15.199 --> 01:24:18.520
while, and I got through it, and I feel almost as passionate as

1056
01:24:18.520 --> 01:24:23.840
as sure about that game like that, that game is truly one of the

1057
01:24:23.840 --> 01:24:28.800
best JRPGs to release in a very
long time, and it hits the ground

1058
01:24:28.880 --> 01:24:30.760
running, and it is a world
that you love to be in AND's characters

1059
01:24:30.760 --> 01:24:36.119
that you love throughout the whole entire
thing. Peak Peak for that for that

1060
01:24:36.279 --> 01:24:42.279
studio, I can't wait to see
what they've learned from that. So what

1061
01:24:42.319 --> 01:24:45.960
about games that haven't been listed,
right, what are some other games that

1062
01:24:46.079 --> 01:24:51.159
kind of speak to me that came
out in twenty twenty three or that I

1063
01:24:51.279 --> 01:24:56.800
played in twenty twenty three At the
beginning of the year. Space for the

1064
01:24:56.880 --> 01:25:00.880
Unbound came out. That is a
small side scrolling game done by a small

1065
01:25:00.920 --> 01:25:09.279
studio in Southeast Asia, Indonesia,
if I remember correctly, And that game

1066
01:25:09.479 --> 01:25:13.399
is truly like an emotional ride,
right. It's a very simple, like

1067
01:25:13.439 --> 01:25:16.479
slice of life kind of side scrolling
game where you're just kind of doing fetch

1068
01:25:16.560 --> 01:25:19.279
quest. Right. You're hanging out
with your girlfriend and she's like, let's

1069
01:25:19.319 --> 01:25:21.520
go do this, So you go
do that, You go pick up this

1070
01:25:21.840 --> 01:25:27.359
and to give to this person,
and just a really emotional story comes out

1071
01:25:27.399 --> 01:25:31.840
of it that left me in tears. It's a little longer than it needs

1072
01:25:31.840 --> 01:25:34.720
to be, right, It is
like a five to six hour game that

1073
01:25:34.720 --> 01:25:39.760
could probably be like a four hour
Like the backtracking gets a little rough at

1074
01:25:39.800 --> 01:25:45.840
times, but it started my year
off with like such a bang because I

1075
01:25:45.880 --> 01:25:49.760
was not expecting it. In a
beautiful pixel art. The music is incredible

1076
01:25:50.039 --> 01:25:55.359
and just a truly, truly emotional
and like personal story that is being told.

1077
01:25:55.439 --> 01:26:00.920
There amazing release from that team.
I played like a dragon Guiden,

1078
01:26:00.159 --> 01:26:04.800
which this is the first time I've
caught up on the Yakuza series, right,

1079
01:26:04.840 --> 01:26:06.520
Like, I get to play them
as they come out. I don't

1080
01:26:06.560 --> 01:26:12.399
feel behind, and Guidan is probably
one of the best in the series.

1081
01:26:12.760 --> 01:26:15.359
Right. It certainly is top tier
in my mind. It has one of

1082
01:26:15.439 --> 01:26:20.159
the strongest endings for the entire series. Which think about that, I'm including

1083
01:26:20.239 --> 01:26:26.800
Judgment and all the other games in
this series. Right, it has one

1084
01:26:26.800 --> 01:26:34.920
of these strongest endings for our protagonists
Cosma Kidio in the entire franchise. I

1085
01:26:35.119 --> 01:26:39.199
was left in tiers by the end
of that game. It is a short

1086
01:26:39.239 --> 01:26:43.199
experience. It is like the miles
morales of the Yakaza series, right,

1087
01:26:43.239 --> 01:26:46.079
so you can get through that whole
game in like twenty that I think I

1088
01:26:46.520 --> 01:26:50.760
basically one hundred percent of that game
in about twenty ish hours. It's not

1089
01:26:50.960 --> 01:26:58.960
much, but man, it is
a really tight experience that you should go

1090
01:26:59.079 --> 01:27:02.840
in to that game after playing the
entire series, right, because this is

1091
01:27:02.920 --> 01:27:11.479
very much the end of like QTO
storyline, so it cashes in on pretty

1092
01:27:11.560 --> 01:27:14.960
much the entire series, right.
There are some key games that are that

1093
01:27:15.000 --> 01:27:19.239
are important that it focuses on,
but it really banks and you haven't been

1094
01:27:19.279 --> 01:27:25.239
with this character from the beginning to
the end, and it's it's incredible.

1095
01:27:25.359 --> 01:27:28.880
And it's a different tone for an
ending too, because normally, like the

1096
01:27:29.079 --> 01:27:32.560
end of these Jakraza games are like
very like high energy, like the adrenaline

1097
01:27:32.680 --> 01:27:38.800
is is pomping and uh shit's hitting
the thin and it's just like, oh

1098
01:27:38.840 --> 01:27:41.000
I gotta get in there, I
gotta go, gotta gotta gotta go.

1099
01:27:41.640 --> 01:27:45.760
But this one has a very like
sad like tone to it, right,

1100
01:27:46.000 --> 01:27:51.720
This is definitely like an end of
like an era type feel and the emotions

1101
01:27:51.760 --> 01:28:00.520
going in just like it feels different
than anything before. It definitely recommend you

1102
01:28:00.640 --> 01:28:04.680
know, playing through that series and
getting to that game. Paranormal Site was

1103
01:28:04.760 --> 01:28:10.720
a horror visual novel that came out
of Square NX, out of all places,

1104
01:28:10.800 --> 01:28:14.279
like this is a Square NX in
house team, right that put out

1105
01:28:14.319 --> 01:28:18.439
this small little visual novel game that's
probably about ten ish hours, maybe a

1106
01:28:18.479 --> 01:28:23.560
little bit more than that. That
really messes with you. I want to

1107
01:28:23.600 --> 01:28:27.600
be very careful about like talking about
it, because you should go into it

1108
01:28:27.680 --> 01:28:30.600
with a fresh like with a blank
slate, Like you shouldn't really know much

1109
01:28:30.600 --> 01:28:33.840
about what's going on in Paranormal Site, but it talks about like the Seven

1110
01:28:33.920 --> 01:28:40.560
Mysteries of Hojo I think it was, and you're just kind of investigating like

1111
01:28:41.000 --> 01:28:46.399
this murder that happened, and it's
it gets crazy. There's supernatural elements to

1112
01:28:46.520 --> 01:28:51.239
it. It kind of messes with
the player a little bit, ye know.

1113
01:28:54.439 --> 01:29:00.359
It does some things where you're like
are you There's like a a feeling

1114
01:29:00.479 --> 01:29:04.439
that I'm being seen right now,
like you're seeing through me right now.

1115
01:29:05.880 --> 01:29:11.880
Incredible game. I walked away from
that game like truly impressed by what they've

1116
01:29:11.920 --> 01:29:16.399
done. Trails to Reverie was a
game that we played this year that is

1117
01:29:16.439 --> 01:29:23.479
the newest Trails series game. Like
you've heard me Andrew talk about these games

1118
01:29:23.640 --> 01:29:28.119
for the past however long this podcast
has been going on, I don't think

1119
01:29:28.119 --> 01:29:30.840
there's much else to really say about
it. Like this was a breath of

1120
01:29:30.920 --> 01:29:33.000
fresh air for us having gone through
the Cold Steel series, which we were

1121
01:29:33.159 --> 01:29:38.840
very like on right, we didn't
really care for them that much. They're

1122
01:29:38.840 --> 01:29:42.399
solid, but it's okay, and
Reverie like revitalized us and it's like,

1123
01:29:42.479 --> 01:29:45.079
oh yeah, this is why we
love this series. And it's not without

1124
01:29:45.119 --> 01:29:50.600
its issues, but ultimately it points
us in a very like good direction right

1125
01:29:50.640 --> 01:29:54.880
where it's like, Okay, I
think we've got sort of the worst of

1126
01:29:55.039 --> 01:29:58.239
it out the way, and now
we're trending in a positive light to where

1127
01:29:58.319 --> 01:30:00.880
like we're really looking forward to which
is the next game that we'll get,

1128
01:30:01.079 --> 01:30:05.680
probably some time in twenty twenty four, so stay tuned for that. I

1129
01:30:05.760 --> 01:30:10.600
got to play Live a Live for
the first time this year. It did

1130
01:30:10.640 --> 01:30:13.479
come out on consoles in PC this
year, came out of Switch To twenty

1131
01:30:13.560 --> 01:30:16.479
twenty two, but I never got
a chance to play Live a Live the

1132
01:30:16.600 --> 01:30:21.520
original version. I've seen it played, right, I know of Live a

1133
01:30:21.600 --> 01:30:27.560
Live, but I never got to
experience it. And I took the opportunity

1134
01:30:27.640 --> 01:30:30.119
to get through. It is not
a very long game, twenty ish hours

1135
01:30:30.479 --> 01:30:33.039
maybe a little bit more, and
it was really good, Like it's it

1136
01:30:33.359 --> 01:30:38.079
stands the test of time. It
does some super experimental things. It is

1137
01:30:38.600 --> 01:30:43.039
these It is kind of like the
prequel or the predecessor to like an octopav

1138
01:30:43.119 --> 01:30:46.600
Traveler, right where you have like
these seven or eight protagonists that have nothing

1139
01:30:46.640 --> 01:30:49.119
to do with each other, that's
just kind of going on their own little

1140
01:30:49.159 --> 01:30:54.239
storylines, and then at the end
it kind of ties everything together in a

1141
01:30:54.279 --> 01:30:58.079
way that is mind blowing, honestly, and you're like they had these ideas

1142
01:30:58.159 --> 01:31:00.840
back in you know, the bigness
nineties when this came out. That's crazy,

1143
01:31:02.600 --> 01:31:06.560
and it got touched up with the
HD two D look. So it

1144
01:31:06.720 --> 01:31:10.880
is a beautiful game. I'm running
over time, but you know what,

1145
01:31:10.920 --> 01:31:13.279
I'm the host of the show,
so I could do what I want.

1146
01:31:14.479 --> 01:31:16.359
I gave Asher like fourteen minutes,
I can get like the same amount,

1147
01:31:16.479 --> 01:31:20.439
right, That's how this works.
But that just goes to show there's so

1148
01:31:20.680 --> 01:31:25.880
much to talk about and I won't
even get to everything right that it is

1149
01:31:25.960 --> 01:31:29.840
insane to me that like there's I'm
gonna stop with this recording and be like,

1150
01:31:29.920 --> 01:31:30.960
dang, I should have talked about
this, I should talk about this.

1151
01:31:31.239 --> 01:31:34.600
Star Ocean the second Story remake came
out. I didn't even have this

1152
01:31:34.680 --> 01:31:38.479
on the list. I just looked
at it on my desktop as a recording

1153
01:31:38.479 --> 01:31:41.199
list, and I'm like, man, that game is phenomenal, like what

1154
01:31:41.399 --> 01:31:45.840
a remaster remake should be in my
eyes. Right, it's just enough different

1155
01:31:45.960 --> 01:31:49.800
to like keep you engaged, and
it's still like that same game that you

1156
01:31:49.920 --> 01:31:53.039
know, I can break that game
in the same way that I broke it

1157
01:31:53.119 --> 01:31:58.880
originally. It is. It is
a great, great release. See if

1158
01:31:58.920 --> 01:32:00.800
Stars was a game I was really
looking forward to that came out this year.

1159
01:32:02.520 --> 01:32:09.159
I really enjoyed that game. I
do have a few criticisms about it,

1160
01:32:09.760 --> 01:32:13.720
right, I do feel a little
like let down towards the end of

1161
01:32:13.880 --> 01:32:16.520
that game. There are aspects of
the ending that I truly do love,

1162
01:32:18.000 --> 01:32:21.239
but there's another aspect of it that
I'm like, I wish there was more

1163
01:32:21.279 --> 01:32:24.760
here. And I don't know if
it was like a time constraint thing or

1164
01:32:24.920 --> 01:32:29.119
just like they're setting up for more, but there's like an abruptness to the

1165
01:32:29.279 --> 01:32:32.920
ending that's just kind of like,
man, I wish you did more here,

1166
01:32:33.079 --> 01:32:39.720
but the journey through that game was
incredible for me. I love the

1167
01:32:40.199 --> 01:32:42.840
look of that game. I love
the music of the game. I really

1168
01:32:42.960 --> 01:32:45.840
like the combat too. I know
some people kind of fall off of it,

1169
01:32:45.119 --> 01:32:48.880
maybe think it's a little too easy
or something like that, but I

1170
01:32:49.039 --> 01:32:53.239
was like, just amount, just
the right amount engaged with, like trying

1171
01:32:53.319 --> 01:32:56.279
to break the locks and trying to
find the right like combination of skills to

1172
01:32:56.359 --> 01:32:59.159
get through this enemy. Like it
was just enough to string me along,

1173
01:32:59.239 --> 01:33:04.960
and I wish there was more,
right but ultimately like it also felt like

1174
01:33:05.039 --> 01:33:10.319
it was just enough. You know. I certainly love that game. It's

1175
01:33:10.399 --> 01:33:15.640
high on my personal list of games
to play this year. I wholly recommend

1176
01:33:15.640 --> 01:33:18.920
people at least check it out.
It's also not a very long game,

1177
01:33:19.079 --> 01:33:24.079
thirty to forty ish hours compared to
like a Boulders game, which is hundreds

1178
01:33:24.079 --> 01:33:30.840
of hours. Right, but yeah, Ceo Stars incredible release first, no

1179
01:33:30.119 --> 01:33:33.560
second release, right for the studio
because it's a Messenger studio, So imagine

1180
01:33:33.760 --> 01:33:41.760
those guys making an RPG. Chia
is a game that came out that's t

1181
01:33:42.279 --> 01:33:46.279
C Chia. I wanted to take
a second to highlight this game because I

1182
01:33:46.279 --> 01:33:49.479
thought it was really cool. I
didn't finish it, but I do think

1183
01:33:49.520 --> 01:33:54.760
about this game a lot, Like
I'm very fond of this game. It

1184
01:33:54.920 --> 01:34:02.239
is a team It is a game
that is inspired by a culture that not

1185
01:34:02.319 --> 01:34:05.720
a lot of people have known about
prior to its release, and that's a

1186
01:34:06.199 --> 01:34:11.279
chain of islands known as New Caledonia
I believe it is, which is like

1187
01:34:11.359 --> 01:34:15.319
a French territory, is composed of
like a dozen islands in the South Pacific.

1188
01:34:16.199 --> 01:34:24.159
And it is really good. It's
really really good at just like introducing

1189
01:34:24.239 --> 01:34:29.039
you to this culture, this group
of people that are in this area,

1190
01:34:29.159 --> 01:34:31.640
and like the traditions that they go
through. And it follows the journey of

1191
01:34:31.680 --> 01:34:34.279
this girl who is trying to like
save her father that got to kidnapped,

1192
01:34:34.279 --> 01:34:41.439
and she has the ability to like
send her send our consciousness into any object

1193
01:34:42.000 --> 01:34:46.399
or being in the world. Right, So there's some fun like body possessing

1194
01:34:46.479 --> 01:34:50.439
things you can do in this game. But when you meet new characters,

1195
01:34:50.520 --> 01:34:55.000
they go through like little rituals and
they have like these little moments where they're

1196
01:34:55.000 --> 01:34:58.319
singing like folk songs and stuff like
that, and they're just giving you little

1197
01:34:58.359 --> 01:35:03.520
bits and pieces of like how these
people live right in what their culture is

1198
01:35:03.800 --> 01:35:09.399
like and it is really cool.
It's chill. It is not a very

1199
01:35:09.520 --> 01:35:13.000
like high stakes game, despite like
the premise, like the intro sequence is

1200
01:35:13.119 --> 01:35:15.239
kind of like crazy, but when
you get to the act of playing this

1201
01:35:15.399 --> 01:35:19.119
like open world game, it's just
like I'm just doing these small tasks and

1202
01:35:19.239 --> 01:35:24.560
just exploring these islands and it is
very cute and wholesome and I really like

1203
01:35:24.680 --> 01:35:28.039
it. Maybe one day I'll finish
it. I don't know, but that

1204
01:35:28.119 --> 01:35:32.800
game left a very very strong impression
on me. And finally, the game

1205
01:35:32.840 --> 01:35:36.520
that I want to talk about at
least a little bit here is Tears of

1206
01:35:36.600 --> 01:35:41.239
the Kingdom, which is a game
that stuck with me in a way that

1207
01:35:41.359 --> 01:35:45.520
I did not think it really would. I am someone that really enjoyed Breath

1208
01:35:45.560 --> 01:35:49.239
of the Wild. I like that
game a lot, but also post elden

1209
01:35:49.359 --> 01:35:53.760
Ring right, there's something about open
world games that I'm like, you need

1210
01:35:53.840 --> 01:35:58.199
to do something here, because this
space can get very boring and uninteresting.

1211
01:35:58.720 --> 01:36:01.239
But Tiers of the Kingdom, for
me, did a really good job of

1212
01:36:01.319 --> 01:36:08.359
stringing me along, especially with this
narrative. I do feel like that world

1213
01:36:08.560 --> 01:36:12.359
is lived in in a way.
There are a lot of NPCs that are

1214
01:36:12.399 --> 01:36:16.319
about. There's a lot of side
quests that have side stories to them that

1215
01:36:16.720 --> 01:36:23.000
can not every one of them is
hits, right, but like they're charming

1216
01:36:23.159 --> 01:36:26.159
at the end of the day,
right, Like I get the feeling that

1217
01:36:26.319 --> 01:36:30.359
these people are living in this world
in between like the sky area and like

1218
01:36:30.520 --> 01:36:34.880
the underground area. You kind of
do like a lot of environmental storytelling.

1219
01:36:35.039 --> 01:36:39.399
So like when you're exploring the underground
it's like you realize, like, oh,

1220
01:36:39.600 --> 01:36:44.520
there was there were people living here
before. Right. You start seeing

1221
01:36:44.640 --> 01:36:48.720
like the statues and some of the
monuments that are around, like the rock

1222
01:36:48.840 --> 01:36:53.399
formations, the temples that are about, and just like there's a whole thing

1223
01:36:53.520 --> 01:36:57.960
down here. I wonder what the
story is about that stuff. And it

1224
01:36:58.079 --> 01:37:02.159
also like it's one of the games
that like really gives Zelda a strong like

1225
01:37:03.119 --> 01:37:06.800
presence in the game, Like she
has she goes on her own journey through

1226
01:37:06.840 --> 01:37:11.920
this game that is equally as important
as Link's journey through the game. She

1227
01:37:12.039 --> 01:37:15.800
has a level of like agency in
this game that she doesn't have before that

1228
01:37:15.359 --> 01:37:20.479
that is incredible to me. That
builds up to one of the best payoffs

1229
01:37:20.560 --> 01:37:25.279
I think in the entire series that
brought me to Tears and continues to bring

1230
01:37:25.359 --> 01:37:28.399
me to tears. I will see
artwork of like a very particular moment in

1231
01:37:28.479 --> 01:37:32.800
this game that like elicits an emotion
out of me. There is a weight

1232
01:37:33.359 --> 01:37:41.960
behind like the revelation of like where
Zelda is right that I'm just like,

1233
01:37:42.119 --> 01:37:46.720
I can't believe y'all went here,
Like this isn't something that this isn't necessarily

1234
01:37:46.760 --> 01:37:53.079
something new that they've done for this
character, but there is a weight behind

1235
01:37:53.239 --> 01:37:58.520
it in the in the way that
it's revealed is just like heartbreaking in a

1236
01:37:58.560 --> 01:38:03.079
way that I feel like they've never
done before. Getting the Master Sword in

1237
01:38:03.199 --> 01:38:09.800
this game literally like will be a
moment that sticks with me for all time,

1238
01:38:10.600 --> 01:38:14.359
right, And I can't really say
that for very many other games maybe

1239
01:38:14.399 --> 01:38:16.439
ockerat of time, because like that
was one of the first ones that I've

1240
01:38:16.479 --> 01:38:27.439
played, but like, man,
I love that game. And then the

1241
01:38:27.520 --> 01:38:30.159
system mechanics that that's before you even
talk about the system mechanics, and that

1242
01:38:30.239 --> 01:38:34.880
was something that I didn't really engage
with to like that extreme level of building

1243
01:38:34.960 --> 01:38:40.359
gundams and stuff like I'm very basic, I'm very I'm dumb. I'm not

1244
01:38:40.560 --> 01:38:45.000
gonna sugarcoat it. I made simple
stuff. I'm a cave Man. But

1245
01:38:45.119 --> 01:38:48.319
I get so much enjoyment out of
the clips from that game, Like anytime

1246
01:38:48.359 --> 01:38:53.760
I see a clip posted and it's
just someone with a crazy creation, puts

1247
01:38:53.760 --> 01:38:57.439
a smile on my face, man, Like very few games can do that.

1248
01:38:58.720 --> 01:39:04.479
It surprised me every single time.
So I think ultimately I am torn

1249
01:39:04.560 --> 01:39:09.399
between like a Tears of the Kingdom
or boulders Gate three for like a Game

1250
01:39:09.479 --> 01:39:12.800
of the Year award, But like, why not both? You know?

1251
01:39:12.960 --> 01:39:15.960
Why not? Every game that I
listed here, they're all games of the

1252
01:39:15.079 --> 01:39:20.760
year in my eyes, and most
of those I listed was released this year.

1253
01:39:21.159 --> 01:39:25.560
Right that it on top I said, this was one of the greatest

1254
01:39:25.640 --> 01:39:29.319
years in video games. Like,
think about that for a second. The

1255
01:39:29.399 --> 01:39:32.800
games I listed here, all of
them could be like nine or ten out

1256
01:39:32.840 --> 01:39:36.319
of tens, right, And then
you have all the games that were listed

1257
01:39:36.600 --> 01:39:42.439
before y'all got to me, right, that are also like nines and tens

1258
01:39:42.560 --> 01:39:48.359
in their own rights, Like it
is incredible. So that's that's my rant,

1259
01:39:48.800 --> 01:39:55.359
you know that. That is my
my summary of twenty twenty three.

1260
01:39:56.439 --> 01:40:01.159
I want to think everyone that contributed
to this again, this is one of

1261
01:40:01.319 --> 01:40:06.479
my favorite projects for the Games GAS
to work on. Game of the year

1262
01:40:06.560 --> 01:40:10.399
means a lot to me. This
is something that I would love doing to

1263
01:40:10.600 --> 01:40:14.439
put some sort of positivity out there, even though sometimes we have little negative

1264
01:40:14.479 --> 01:40:17.319
segments here and there, but it
is always a fun time, you know.

1265
01:40:19.119 --> 01:40:24.159
I love hearing everybody's recommendations. If
there's games that I haven't played,

1266
01:40:24.600 --> 01:40:27.680
I always write them down so that
I can get to them the following year.

1267
01:40:28.399 --> 01:40:30.399
And I hope that, like you
guys, take away something too right.

1268
01:40:30.479 --> 01:40:32.800
If this is something that you really
enjoy, please let me know.

1269
01:40:33.239 --> 01:40:39.840
You know, I always open submissions
for people, so like, if you

1270
01:40:39.920 --> 01:40:41.760
want to be a part of it
the next one, you know, you

1271
01:40:41.960 --> 01:40:46.800
just let me know. And I
look forward to twenty twenty four. It's

1272
01:40:46.840 --> 01:40:51.199
going to be an incredible year as
well. I feel so thank you guys

1273
01:40:51.319 --> 01:40:57.039
for listening, Thank you guys for
contributing. Thank you guys for always being

1274
01:40:57.119 --> 01:41:00.920
here. Thank you to developers for
developing these amazing games. Thank you to

1275
01:41:00.000 --> 01:41:05.239
this industry for sticking around and being
so fucking cool. Like I love all

1276
01:41:05.279 --> 01:41:11.520
of it. So I have a
wonderful new year, enjoy some games.

1277
01:41:11.760 --> 01:44:04.960
Thank you, Bye School, School, Because the

