Hello, everybody, Welcome to Game Spot After Dark, episode two hundred and
thirty four. I'm your host, John Lusak. You joined this week by
the one and only Michael p Hiham. Michael's going, what a new baby,
It's chip. Motherfucking boy. It's been a minute since I've been on,
It's true. So it's a good to be back. Yeah, it's
good to have you back. Thank you. Yeah. I have been around
the world, and by the world, I mean the United States of America.
So for US Americans, that's the only listen, we run this ship.
You know what I'm saying. Fucking America. I fuck that shit,
Fuck America. You know what I'm saying. Yeah, absolutely, Uh guess.
Kyle Hilliard, Magazine content director of Game and Form, how do you
feel about America? I feel pretty good. I don't know if I feel
as strongly as as I'm just look, I'm just thrown off by all the
profanity, all the podcasts that I am on. We're all we bleep it
out, we keep it to ourselves. I just I don't know what to
do with myself here in this situation. A little boys, it's exciting,
it's it's it's thrilling. In a way. It's like I've I've graduated to
an R rooted movie somehow. Yeah, although I'm honestly like they should have
shut us down a long time ago. Oh yeah, listen, no one
knows that we still do this. You think fandom knows that we do this?
Fuck out of here Red Ventures never knew nothing. CBS didn't know anything.
So that's like two hundred and thirty four episodes. So that was my
zone, the Red Ventures. That was That was my time's true. Yes,
Y used to be at game Spot. You were our mobile editor,
if I have that time. Yeah, it was never on the podcast though
I don't know whose fault that is. I bugged people just let me on.
I had to leave and then you know, come back a year later.
That's what I had to do. Yeah, well we finally got you
on all this time later. You just had to leave and go back to
gaming for me. Yeah, that's right, But it was it was a
good time. I was here. I was here for I was only I
looked back. I was looking at my Lincoln recently. It was only like
six months. Wow, that it wasn't that long. Yeah. Still,
it was a it was a weird little thing. Yeah, Yeah, you
did a lot of stud that time. Yeah, you were. You were
all our mobile stuff at the time. That was that was cool game spot
legend. Yeah were you did you help out with the Swipe thing that we
did? Was that. I would go so far as to say I was
instrumental. There you go swipe thing, there you swipe at. I did
on that. It was like two more and others did a lot of the
writing and like appearing in the Swipe showcase and Greg Miller hosted. But I
was doing a lot of like the behind the scenes stuff like getting talking to
mobile developers and getting their stuff like on Swipe, and I did some stuff
with ub Soft like yeah, so yes, I was. I was,
needless to say I was. I was pretty heavily involved in the Swipe showcase,
right. Yeah. For for those who don't remember that, we did
a thing in what twenty two where we had like a Swipe mobile gaming showcase
and that was our our attempt to do like our own little little showcase with
some premieres and stuff. And honestly, I thought it was like pretty solid,
especially for like a first time thing when you can think about like the
the small crew involved putting that together. I think that came together really well.
Yeah, I was happy. Cool, it was cool. Yeah,
that was that was a neat little thing. But yeah, Kyle, thank
you for joining us. Yeah here from Game Informer. I believe you have
a like a magazine to talk about I don't know, Like, so the
words on paper is what you're telling me. Yeah, it's like it's your
parents will know about it, Like if you all came about it, they'll
be like, oh I remember that stuff. Yeah yeah, oh yeah,
yeah. I think my parents had some magazines, you know, magazine.
I've seen some magazines before in the woods. Other Game Informer is not that
kind of magazine. I just want to get there. This is not I
mean, I guess you could find some copies of Game Informer out in the
woods. What how much more copies of Game Informer do you think you would
sell? You know, pivot to this new direction, this new direction,
some dirty magazines Game Informer, after Dark, Yes, put me on the
set of I think After Dark is taken. I don't know if that's a
vail. It might not be. Well, Brenton, we'll end it out.
It's like a franchise thing, right, you just got to pay us
you know, like sixty of all your profits, all your profits. I'm
definitely writing down all these ideas for sure. I got a notebook here right
next to me. Yes, tell me about Game Informer's new standalone sub that
you guys are doing. Oh yeah, yeah, I mean we could certainly
save plugs for the end if you want. Are you sure we could just
do it? Now? Get all the way all right here, let's get
out of the way. Game Informat this is. This does sound maybe odd
that it's like Game Informer you can subscribe to Game Andform magazine now, but
it's it's a thing now. It's like the first time in my obviously I
was at Game Informer, or rather I was not a Game Inform for a
period of time. I was hanging out a game spot and doing some other
things. But I started. I was there in twenty eleven. I came
back somewhat recently. My boss, editor in chief, Matt Miller's been there
for something like twenty years, and we were talking about it the other day,
and in that time, as far as we can remember, there's never
been the option to just go to our website and subscribe to the print magazine.
That's just not the thing that's never worked like that. Yeah, it's
always been in store like you's always been through game Yeah. God, this
is so hard for me now, especially because my resume is game Stop,
Game Spot. But yeah, you had to you went to the store to
subscribe to the magazine. But for yeah, for the first time, potentially
ever. I could be wrong about that. I don't, I might,
you know, don't quote me on this necessarily, but like you can go
to subscription dot game Informer dot com and for nineteen dollars to ninety one cents,
which is a reference to the founding year of the magazine. We've been
around since nineteen ninety one. You can get ten issues for the year mail
to physical issues, which we're really excited about. You know. It gives
us this kind of like standalone subscription things so you can support game and Former
directly. So we're very excited about it, and it's why I'm here and
why I appreciate you letting me come on to plug it. Yeah, of
course, Ellia. Yeah, man, I mean Game Informer is like one
of the last stand ending physical print things like in the game space. I
know there's Edge magazine as well. Yeah, Edge is still out there.
Yeah, but like a lot. Yeah, and listen, I love etching
too, you know what fun after dark. This is why you can't have
me on a You can bring on nice, very nice, clean people like
Kyle Hilliard onto your podcast, and I fuck it all up. No,
a Game Informer is just like a staple. So I know, there was
a period of time in which the subscription the physical magazine was kind of in
a limbo before you kind of relaunched with this sort of subscription model, and
it's like, what is Game Informer if not the magazine to have? And
like, yeah, it makes a special Yeah, it's like that. That's
it. Just it feels like that is like a staple of games media,
whether or not people like still heavily invest in physical media or physical magazines and
ship like that. So but yeah, and over the years, like a
bunch of people that I know and our friends with work at Game Informer,
like Alex van Akin is one of my closest friends in the industry, and
obviously through him, I have met Marcus and I podcasted with with y'all.
And yeah, and Charles shouts out to fucking Charles Hart, my mother fucking
boy fan bite legend you know, I love Charles is amazing. I didn't
know Charles until I returned and he kind of started around the same time I
restarted, and I was like, who is this guy? This guy,
Yeah, Charles, Charles is different. Yeah, and so, and you
realize you look at the masthead and Game Informer is such a small group of
people, Like what is it like six people on editorial and like Matt Miller
at at the top, I see Brian Shay and tank tops at press events
and shit, still he's still doing his thing, all tank top Shay.
Oh my god. Well, I was at the Rebirth preview event. It's
fucking raining outside and I'm chilling in the lobby of the hotel we're staying at.
Brian Shay walks by in short shorts and a tank times like, oh
yeah, I'm in the middle of work and I just wanted to say,
what's up to you guys, Like what the fuck's chilling with us for in
the lobby for an hour? He's like, all right, I'm gonna go
continue my work out. Yeah. So it's just like small crew is still
holding it together. It's it's really amazing that the quality that y'all are still
able to put out with such a slim crew, and I know Alex is
the lone video producer and putting in the work. Yeah, you know,
it's a shame, what do Yeah, it's a shame of having a Blake
is also a really dear friend as well. I always yes, shout out
to Blake Hester, who is a fantastic writer when he's still out there doing
it. But yeah, we lost him recently, which sucked. Yeah,
but I think that speaks to just like the talent that still exists. It
has existed that Game in Former for such a long So you see that in
the on the website, and you get to see that in the print magazine.
Yep, if you subscribe, great on every week over here. And
no, that's I really appreciate that. It's a that's very nice. Thank
you so much. Yeah, of course. So and then like I get
to I get to work with y'all every now and then on podcasts and see
all at events. So I know I'm not I'm not just making ship up.
Yeah. You always pitch me features if you want Mike email, Yeah,
y'all. Oh wow, okay, I'm going to g I baby.
All right, Well, there you have it. Go. I'm a head
out, so thank you guys for need I'm full. No, I want
to hang out and talk video games with you. Excellent. What have you
been playing this week? What do you got? I'm laughing because like I
haven't really honestly kind of the same fake ass gamer. I'm so sorry I
did. I finally beat Prince of Personal Lost Crown oh great, yeah,
minutes ago last week for the first time as well. I kind of I
like picked it up when it first came out, kind of had to drop
it because of a bunch of stuff, and then finally got back around to
the finish. What'd you think, like, same yeah, same boat.
I made it my like I get I, you know, ride my indoor
bike for a little while a couple times a week, and I was like,
Prince of Persia was my bike riding game. So I was like I
was knocking it out like, you know, twenty or thirty minutes at a
time, a couple times a week. But I love Prince of Persia so
much, like I Sands of Time is like is way up there, like
it might be in my like top ten if I if I factor in like
nostalgia and time and place and like how much that game affected me at the
time, and so, like I've always had a soft spot for the Prince
of Persia series, and yeah, Lost Crown was I really loved it.
Like it was. It was a lot different obviously than like, you know,
say A Sands of Time or something like that, but just probably my
favorite you know, quote unquote metroid experience probably since Dread. Yeah. I'm
trying to think if there's anything else that like really stuck out in that time,
but yeah, I was. I was very happy with it, and
it was it is one of those games that where I beat the final boss
and then went back and started mopping up things, even though I was like,
I don't have any reason to do this. I'm playing it on Switch.
I don't even I'm not even getting in achievements or anything, Okay,
So like I was like, I just want to I just want an excuse
to keep playing. Oh. So yeah I was. I was very happy
with that. Guy, dude, Yeah, I did the same thing.
I went one hundred percent of it. Some of those challenges, those endgame
platforming challenges are fucking brutal. That shit, it's hard, but it's like,
oh, it's so satisfying, Like yeah, I'm I'm completely with you.
Like I think this game feels the closest to what I loved about Dread,
which was like the sense of like speed and energy to it is it's
a lot faster than your typical metrod Vino Like like I love the combat and
Dread like that that game like moves, and this game has a similar kind
of attitude about it where like some of the boss battles and the and just
like the pacing or everything, like it's it's I don't want to say,
like it's not like souls like or anything, but it's just like I don't
know, like they're like you're doing like jungle combos in this game, you
know, like there's like a depth to the combat that you don't see as
much in a Metroidvania that I was just like completely in love with with this
game, Like I like I I I heard it it sold okay, maybe
like not as well as they wanted to, but like I really like them
to make a second one of these, like I mean really good even if
it didn't like you know, we're not talking Assassin's Creed numbers or anything obviously,
but like it for sorry, the Prince of Persia reputation did not need
to be repaired necessarily, right. It's not like people were like, ah,
that last one was terrible or anything like that, but like, I
think what it did for the franchise is kind of like maybe more important than
the monetary game. Right. It's like it's like, Okay, Prince of
Persia is still important to you, be soft and they can still do good
stuff with it, and I hope that, I, like you, I
really hope they continue to reintroduce it to two people, yeah, because it's
been so long since you've had a Prince of Persia. Aim, What was
what was the last one the I think I think the last one was twenty
ten, the Forgotten Sans, the like movie tie in one and ty In.
It wasn't actually like it was weird, like released it around the time
of the movie, but it was like a in between. It was like
sequel to Sands of Time, prequel to Warrior Within, missing chapter for How
He Became Emo. Yeah yeah, yeah, so like Warrior Within was the
last one that I remember, and that was still PS two era. Yeah,
yes, holy yeah. Forgotten Sands is like the epitome of like perfectly
acceptable. It was fine. It's like, there's nothing wrong with it,
but you beat it and you're just like, sure it was a video game.
Yeah, I love two thousand and eight, the sort of one.
Like, I love that game so much. I am a huge defender of
Pop two thousand and eight because, like, dude, the community is like
real split on that, Like some people are haters of that game. We
call those the wrong people. Yeah, those are the correct people, and
then the right people who right recognize it for being this beautiful, brilliant game
with a wonderful ending that I wish they had never extended with DLC. That's
a whole topic, completely completely, Yes, absolutely, we're on the same
page. Yes, on the same page here, pretty sure in our line.
Yeah, man, that that game, that game's rules, and I'm
there was nice to see it back, not to not to take not to
derail something, but I did. I did remember that. There was one
other game I played this week where I booted up Suicide Squad because I was
like, I want to try I wanted to try Joker. I wanted to
try Joker, and uh, I was like, how is this is this?
Like what is this? Can I just I beat the game? Can
I just like, can you just give me Joker? I've put a lot
of time in this game. Sure, And like there was like a little
cut scene that I was like, it's it was like you know, two
D comic panels kind of cut scene, and then it like threw a bunch
of missions at me, and I was like, all right, this is
like three or four missions. I went and did the first one, and
the difficulty was just insane, and I died, like for the first time
in my full playthrough of Suicide Squad. And I was like, well,
that's a that's a wrap on Suicide Squad. So you didn't even get the
Jokers. No. I just closed it. I was like, that's it.
That's all I can do. I'm sorry, damn, because I was
about to be like, no one here a game. We're not playing this,
Like no one, no one, no one, no one wants to
do that. So I was like, oh, you can get the opinion
of someone who's played the Joker. Can you buy him? I think you
can. Okay. I was considering it because, like I, Suicide Squad
is a weird thing, because I was like ready to defend that game in
the first like three or four hours of it and then it just falls off
a cliff and I was like, this is not doing it for me.
But the best thing about it to me was like moving around as the different
characters. I was like, if you give me a new character to move
around with, with new like movement abilities, I'll at least like put my
hands on the controller and try it. Sure, so I just want to
see what that's like. But the fact that they put up like a bunch
of hurdles to even do that, I was like, this is this is
a bad call. Ship Yeah, well, rip well. I mean sounds
like the lesson is played Prince of Persia and skipped out on Suicide Squad.
If I mean, I feel like most people who taught about I got the
hottest takes sound after dark listen. Prince of Persia pretty good, Suicide Squad
not so much. No. I mean like it's Prince of Persia came out
in January, and when you get to the end of the year, I
feel like, you know, it's one of those things where people sort of
forget the You got to remind people. You got to remind people that Prince
of Persia was out there and it was fire. It is a. It
is a fire ass game that would probably make a lot of people's top tens
if they played. It's stiff year for sure, but don't invest time in
Suicide Squad. I feel like most people have made up their minds about suside.
No one's all like, maybe I should get into it now, No,
yeah, to get into it. Yeah, yeah, it's never been
a better time to not get giving Suicide Squad a second chance? All right,
Mike Maharty relaxed. I'll make jokes about that being a Mike Maharty thing.
Yeah, but everyone does it. But but also he hasn't made a
video. I mean, he hasn't made one of those like like five six
years, So it's like it's this joke that like doesn't make sense to anyone.
Yeah, like five people get it and no one else does, And
he's probably gonna be like, why the fuck is people talking shit about me
a second chance? Do you mind explaining it to me? Because I know
he came around on death Stranding? Is that the bit or was that something
he did a game spot for that he did after well, the just strending
thing he did after. But there's just a period where for like I feel
like a couple of years where Mike like made a feature that was like giving
this game second chance, and then like a video did really well, and
then for like a brief period he was like he was given all sorts of
like he has got hit. So like, I respect the ship out of
it for sure, because they're a good video. Yeah, but it's like
one of those things it's like, all right, you'll fall Out for a
second chance, huh, and then the video does numbers like fun, I'm
gonna play Fallout four again? Yeah. No, I genuinely like those kinds
of videos. Yeah. My favorite thing as a Death Stranding fan was seeing
Mike turn around on it and yeah, you get it now, which,
yeah, there's Mike. Mike was an Internet game informer for a while,
so that's yeah, game and former legend right there. And now he's he's
working for a local like Minnesota video game consulting place too. Turns out that's
a that's Berts's joint too, right. Yeah yeah, wow, all roads
lead to you know your stuff, and so yeah people, Yeah I was.
I was chopping it up with Matt Berts at Mike Party's wedding and I
didn't know who he was. I thought he was just some guy because he
was like in a suit wearing shades and we're on the boat going over to
Red Hook and then I was I was like, oh, ship, yo,
what's up? Man? Like I'm Michael whatever and it's chopping up with
me and I was like, oh, so what do you do? And
he's like like I was a game reformer for a long ass time, Like,
oh fuck, no, let me tell you about my homeius Alex fan
Ake and you know, saying I know what's so put it, I know
what's going on with the building and ship, and yeah, it was a
It's a lot of fun, man, a lot of a lot of dope
people coming in and out of a gi the as subscribed to the magazine nineteen
ninety one. You know what I'm saying, Yeah, let's do it.
You know what I'm saying, So fuck You know, there's a lot of
a lot of history there. Shit. You know, well, don't give
suicide Squad a second chance. No, don't get that's no one needs to
make that video, yeaheah. I am curious if someone will make that.
Someone will make that in a year, right, people could hate watch that
probably, I mean, yeah, probably Hey, let's let me do it.
I need Bunny. It's not look, it's not like completely without merit.
It's not like this like it it works sure, like I like swinging
around as Harley. I just I don't know. It's just so I'm so
bummed that that's just where we're at with the ARCAM universe. Like that's my
biggest takeaway. It's like seeing if I'm not gonna spoil anything because I know
you guys are going to get to it soon established you guys are gonna play
it. But like, I just that was the thing I was. I
was. I was pretty energized in the first hour or two, and then
I remember just watching the end credits and just being like, ugh, this
this yeah, it's just like I hate that one of my literally like some
of my favorite games ever period, Like this is where the fiction is now,
right, And just like you know, rock Stety is such a talented
group of I'm like, you know, like I want to see those guys
make like really cool stuff. So it's it's just a yeah, it's a
shame. Well I hope well, I was just saying, I hope w
B learns their lesson, but I w b is not the type of Yeah,
it's not the type of parent company that seems to learn their lessons,
I guess. So I hope whatever they got lined up next is not that.
So yeah, fingers crossed? Is that it? So that? That's
it? It was just suicide Squad. That's all you've been, Michael.
You'd appreciate that I did because I played Like a Dragon and and Rebirth back
to back. Yes, I know. What would be a great thing to
do after playing those two games is, of course, start Persona three.
Yeah, let's go, let's go, which is like I live in a
house with like a Persona fans. My wife and daughter are both big Persona
fans. One of our cats is named Mona, like like a black cat
with a yellow collar. She's always gonna have a yellow collar. So,
like, I know Persona, Like I'm around Persona in my household. But
this, this is the first time I've properly like stepped into a persona and
like I'm gonna play it. This is like this is where I start.
So that's a good one to start with. Yeah, starting with Peak.
That's that's amazing. I mean, that's kind of its reputation. I feel
like it's like everyone's like I love five, five is great, I love
four, But like real the real fans know that three is like the best.
You know, It's like, at least that's a perception I have from
the outside, the real real fans, Two's the best. Would I would
love to see a too remake. I think the two is really special,
But it's definitely a victim of being like a PS one era r it was
still it's a very different kind of game. Yeah, it's it doesn't have
this like three is the first. Like we've talked about this a lot before,
but like three is the first iteration of the school calendar system, so
you can tell that even in reload, you can tell that they're still,
uh, this is like the first iteration of them trying this formula. But
they add so much on top for reload that it's it like it rounds out
the whole experience, so it feels more fully because if you go back and
play portable or fests, you could tell that there's just like there's so many
gaps in the for especially if you come from five and four golden going back
to three, you could tell like, Okay, there's a lot of cool
shit they did in four and five that just isn't in three. So then
they with Reload, they kind of fill in the blanks, fill in the
gaps there with some legitimately like very cool stuff, especially if you've played three
before. There's a lot of sweet moments that really help compliment the things that
you already know about them, and if it's your first time, then you
feel like you're getting a complete experience exactly. Yeah, like you'll probably experience
what like my partner Georgia experience, where like she playing through Reload, you
know, didn't play the original version. Are portable, so like when new
stuff would happen, I'd be like, oh, whoa, this is like
all new, and she would be like shocked. How many times I said
that just like that's new, that's new, and she's like really like that
feels like essential and it's just like, man, so yeah, you really
are getting like the best version of this game, which is awesome. It
is the and then and Rebirth is like the opposite of that, because you're
like this was they had to put this, they had to keep this.
It is. Yeah, it is really weird how like Rebirth and Reload are
just the complete opposite approaches to remaking a game where like Rebirth, so much
stuff in it, game design, fuck yeah, and like, yeah,
so much of it I do like, but at a certain point you're like,
you need to pump the brakes on some of the show. Like I
like some like I like some of this ship, especially Kosa del Soul.
I'm like, oh, yeah, this is this is dope. I like
being here, but nothing has really happened in the story in the past ten
hours. I forgot what we were doing in this story. And then it
picks back up and you're like, oh, okay, cool, we're back
on track again. But it is the It is the complete opposite. Where
Reload is more or less extremely faithful to the original source material. They didn't
really change the story rather than just, like I said, filled in the
gaps, And then you have Rebirth where it's like we're not only are we
filling in the gaps, the gaps are fucking bursting at the seams. Baby
chokea bowl racing fucking soccer with Red thirteen Queen's Blood Tournament. Motherfucker. We're
getting beach outfits and we're playing a shooting gallery game and then you're spinning rifles
and whether you want to or not, Yeah, you gotta do it,
uh that. You know. I look back more and more people playing Rebirth
around me, and then like I keep talking to them about their experience,
and it is there's almost a consensus where everyone's like, yeah, this there's
just like too much shit and also the fucking ending this is and that like
it fills me with life every time someone finishes Rebirth and is on the same
exact page. I'm gonna have a slightly controversial opinion. I agree with everyone
about the too many mini games, Like you're all correct, I think,
but for whatever reason, it doesn't bother me. Yeah, I'm just like
it just works for me because I'm like, I'm like playing the game a
second time with my brother. So we just like play like a couple hours
every Sunday, and like we got to all like the coast of this ould
stuff again and I was just like, oh man, maybe maybe this time,
like it'll it'll drag for me because I'm experienced the second time. No,
I was still like it is great. I love it. It didn't
bother me. Don't get me wrong, Like I enjoyed it. It's just
you know, how you ever did you play the originals. I never did,
so I'm like, or rather I never finished it, right, like
I played okay bit but yeah, damn. So it's it's been a weird
experience for me. I think you're going to ask me to get how far
oh no, no, how far have you been in Rebirth? Like yeah,
I I literally played like a Dragon, took a suicide squad break and
then and then I played through Rebirth and then yeah, persona, I really,
I truly was like at the beginning of this year, like it was
a goal for me. It's like I want to play those three RPGs,
like I want because like that was my first like a Dragon proper ship.
Yeah, the hell of a starting point, I guess. So I started
with guid In right like I played through Guidence. It worked for me,
I well, and then again, like I said, I I live in
my again. My wife like like that's like one of her favorites is seven
Like so like I saw a lot of that game, so I at least
had like, you know, the table set for me, and then I
played Guide and and and Okay and Infinite Wealth. So now I'm a super
fan. I guess you could say, are you going to go back and
going back. He's going to some of the older ones. I can say
out loud that I will, but if I'm being honest to myself and listening
into my heart, there's no world where I go back. Well, I
will say this, and Joe Luke, you'll probably agree with me. At
least give Zero a chance. Yes, Zero is the quintessential Yakasa experience.
So if that's like the only one that you play from the series, at
least you got like the best taste of the best representation of the Yakaza franchise.
Whether or not you pick it up from there is like, you know,
I'm not gonna bust your balls or anything if you don't. But if
you play through Zero, you experience it, at least you got to say,
hey, you gave it a fair shot. I saw the best of
the best. So definitely it's like going back and like at least seeing the
beginning, right like that seems yeah, that seems like feasible, But I
am I also try to recognize when I you know, my backlog is sure
is the same as just throwing in stuff in the trash. At this point
in my life, you want to you want to add seven more games than
that thing. Exactly, Man, just get rid of the rest and just
put zero in there. That's all you need. Yeah, exactly, guys,
I got to play more Suicide Squad. I can't be playing joker.
I got a good joker. Uh ship man. Well, welcome to RPGs
man, I mean, I mean not before this fake gamer over here.
But we're working on it. We're working on Yeah. So that chronal trigger
just accounted for nothing for me all those years ago. That's like when you're
applying for like a job in your career and they're like, well, you
don't really have to put McDonald's on here, Like that's not whoa whoa.
Do not compare Chrono trigger to McDonald's by the way, I guess, I
guess that is kind of where I went with that. I love chronal Trigger.
Yeah, oh no, no, no, yeah, we're all jokes
here, Crown Trigger. Wait were you was that? Was that? That's
on Jake's backlog? You've played I've played Okay, No, it was on
Jake's backlog. Yeah, he's the one who hasn't played it because Jake,
Jake like bought a DS copy like years in right, Yeah, and it's
like unopened, and then he found out it's worth like five hundred dollars or
something. So he's like, he's like, I'm not opening that. Yeah,
that's probably the right call. He's really basically playing Final Fantasy fourteen,
right, Like, that's he's got it. He's got to do that?
Is that Jake? Oh no, well no, I must be thinking with
somebody else. Okay, there was a period of Jake try to play Final
Fans. He got pretty deep in it, got he got further than me.
I'll be honest. I was fuck you, Okay, I know.
Yeah, that's my backlog. I'll eventually get there. Yeah. I replayed
Trigger. It's in mine too. They played it last year. Yeah,
okay, sure that add another That was because each expansion is like a full
ass game. Yeah, so you could add seven yakas of games. You
could add five Final Face to fourteen expansions, or I could play like twenty
five suicide squads in that time, the fuck man Ship six hours. It's
nothing job. No, Uh, that's what's up man. I replayed Crown
Trigger last year, and let me tell you that game holds the fuck up.
It is it is, it's this is not a hot take. Everyone
everyone says that like crow Trackers literally like everyone's favorite game of all time,
right, But I was just I think I've talked about before in the podcast
as I was replaying it, but oh, it is that game is so
close to perfect. I was gonna say it's people always like say, like,
yo, they should do a Chrono Trigger remake, and like how can
you remake literal perfection? Like I just like I don't even understand, like
why you would want a remake of it, like a proper port, sure,
like maybe a better port than the PC one that I think they kind
of eventually sort of cleaned up and then the matters took care of the rest.
But like if you play it on Steam now, you'll you'll be happy
with it. Like yes, like they updated the fonts and stuff. But
I wouldn't say no to like a two and a half D, you know,
I don't know what we call that these days. To wash two D,
i'd style, yeah, I would. I don't need a rebirth approach,
you know, Like I know, because the visuals like that game still
to me. I don't know, I'm an old man, but that game
still looks great to me. So like I don't like I don't need it
to. I guess they could like give it an anime look like, they
could really make it look like a Torianma anime. Yeah, I don't.
I don't think I want that. I don't think I want that either,
because there's a there's a certain mood to the pixel art that, like the
Crown Trigger is, that game shifts its moods so drastically every time you like
travel to a different time period and there's like a certain atmosphere that you get
that you can't really this is the case with like any old RPG. I
feel like, yeah, and this is sometimes it's a problem where you lose
the spirit of the original thing. And like Crow Trigger is definitely a game
that would probably lose a lot of its spirit in a modernization of it,
and even something like updating the pixel art or whatever it is still or like
if you did, like a HG two D version of it, there's a
very specific atmosphere that you have to strike with it otherwise you lose a lot
of what that game felt like playing. So, man, I don't know,
I could. I could talk about chron Trigger like any day of the
week, because that shit is Man that shit so incredible. They fucking nailed
it so many years ago, but video games peaked videos from there pretty much.
See If Stars is pretty good though, Oh yeah, you are a
series of Stars. I haven't. I haven't checked that one out yet.
I know people were I love Stars, Yeah, yeah, yeah, I
mean if you, if you, if you're like kind of like I almost
feel like like I just I bring it up in the conversation of like,
oh what if they remade Chronal Trigger. It's like if you were like Jones
in first Chrono Trigger but want something new, Like See If Stars is about
as close you get. I feel like in four you fuck with a chain
echoes at all? No, I didn't. It's one that I downloaded and
really thought about because it does seem like my style of RPG, because I
do. I am not the biggest RPG guy, right, Like, uh,
I like this, I'm starting Persona this first time I played Persona,
but like that era really that's where I found RPGs, right, Like I
played earth Bound in Mario RPG like within a month of each other, and
like Final Fantasy is actually when I've never finished, but like it's really appealing
to me, and I've played a lot of it, and Chrona Trigger is
and Mario already said, Mari RPG, but Crone Trigger is sort of in
that pool, so I like that era of like RPG. But yeah,
Chained and Chained Echoes is like definitely you know, calling to that. But
yeah, I never I never got around to it, but it's in my
backlog and I'll definitely play it for sure. Yeah, let's just keep adding
ship to Kyle's backlog, filing right here in my in my trash can to
be clear, Like those games sound great and I'm sure I would love them,
but I just I try to be honest with myself about that. It's
like, you know, like let's commit one way or the other here.
Yeah, I've definitely like learned recently of like I should probably just got to
be real. Yeah, I should start being more realistic about some of the
ship. Yeah, we're not children anymore. We're grown ass motherfuckers who have
responsibilities in Yeah, I mean honestly, I've I've kind of like I used
to be like super Oh I'm not used to be. Like I'm still super
passionate about the things that I like and I love sharing that with other people,
but I'm also a lot more realistic about when I recommend things to people
because I us like, especially with Yakua's, I used to be like one
of the motherfuckers. I would shake you be like, yo, you're gonna
play seven. Now I'm just kind of like you should play zero, and
if not, I don't give a ship Like Yeah, I'm way more chill
now because I understand how time works. On the you hit your thirties,
buddy, you just like, yo, time is crazy. This should be
moving. You got to like cook dinner and stuff. Yeah, I mean
you you have a family, Kyle, I get it. You got to
ask me to do stuff. Yeah, dude, everyone can't just be getting
like, you know, uh a little hot pockets over at the seven to
eleven and then play akasa all night. That sounds pretty good. I still
kind of do that because that sounds all right, That sounds like a good
Friday night. I mean, to be fair, the amount of nights me
and Georgia are just like, yo, what if we just get McDonald's and
just yeah, this that's the thing for for you particular, is like you
and Georgia play games together, Yes, experience games together. Yes, it's
it's it's it's a blessing and a curse in the sense that when it's a
game we're both really into, like a Yakuza, it's like, oh,
it's easy. When it's a game that's like just I'm into, uh,
it's like difficult because it's like I come home from work and I'm like,
well, I want to spend time with you. I don't want to be
like, hey, what's up and then just like go to my computer and
like put on my headphones and play you know whatever, Like ye couldn't be
me. So yeah, it's like, you know, you want to you
want to play games with your with your significant other when you can. Do
you have like a two TV setup? Do you guys do that at all?
No. We do have our computers next to each other though, so
we we do do things like, you know, we play lots of crafting
survival games together. We played All the Grounded together. Oh yeah, Balder's
Gate three. We we We've been playing uh Man Balls Skate two though.
That's a good game. Yeah. We ballys Kate three run. We we
did that together co op. She got Reel into that game a lot.
So yeah, yeah, we we definitely try and play those games nice together
when we can be a family. Man. Yeah, get everyone involved,
especially Brinks breaks. Oh now the Xbox three sixty on No. Two copies
of the game Brinks. Uh. I'm impressed you went with that because most
people just think Blinks the time Sweeper's not the same thing. But letter,
so you get it. You understand well baby though, so cute. Yeah,
Michael, yo, what have you been checking out? I've seen the
Visions the Visions of Mana. Oh ay, yeah, yeah, RPGs,
just keep it on that train. Yeah, yeah, I got to play
Visions of Mana at Packs East twenty twenty four. It is probably the well,
no, that's not true. I've been playing Final Fantasy fourteen still.
But that's like the only new Ish game that I've actually sunk time into.
And I did the preview for GameSpot dot com. I think that went up
last week, so it's been a while since I've had hands on with it,
but I did the preview and Tom chopped up the video version for that.
But uh, Visions of Mana is a action RPG, and if you've
played Trials of Mana you kind of know what you're getting into. So this
is like the first Trial I'm sorry was Trials? Was that the remake remak?
Yeah, Beau a remake that came out in twenty twenty. When was
the last original man Oh yeah, I was just gonna say, it's been
fifteen years and they did that collection of fuck some of the older ones,
I think, including like translating some that never came to this stage. So
like we sort of got a new one, sure us, but yeah,
you're right, like proper new one. Yeah, proper new Mona game.
This is the first one in fifteen years, so it's kind of a big
deal for the series because they have relied on remakes or re releases for quite
a while now, and the Mona series ever since, I feel like ever
since Secret of Mona, which was like the kind of like the first first
full iteration of the Mana as a series because it started off as a Final
Fantasy spinof so Final Fantasy Adventure was technically the first Mona game, so it's
supposed to be like an action RPG spinoff for Final Fantasy and then kind of
became its own thing. Sorry, but in the modern era, Mana has
been in a really weird spot, and I think Trial's Mona was indicative of
that because like, yes, this is a remake of an old game,
but at the same time, it it felt like a game that was trying
to be modern but didn't really fully understand what makes an action RPG good way.
And I don't want to like hate on it, because like it was
a decent game, but you can tell that just like there's something sticky about
how this game works, and there's just like quality of life features that other
action RPGs have done for many, many years that just weren't present in that
game. And it's kind of like it was a bummer that, yeah,
you don't want, Like Mana is not like the biggest franchise, but in
a fully realized modern version of it, you're like, ah, they're kind
of missing the mark on this one. So I didn't really like Trials Amana
all that much, even though I respect the hell out of it. Vision's
Mana is they get to kind of rebuild from the ground up because it is
a completely new game, but there's still some of that some of that stickiness
that has come over from from Trials. I feel like they're using a lot
of the same foundation, okay, which is I want to see what it
feels like in a full game, but from the demo that I played,
I could tell like, Okay, there's still there's still some it's rough around
the edges, especially with the targeting system, and since it's an action RPG,
and you're like, you're in a combat arena when you're fighting these motherfuckers
and shit, and then the lock on you lock onto an enemy, but
the camera doesn't lock onto the enemy, and then so they're like darting around
the combat arena. But I can't move the camera because if I use it,
if I move the right stick, it changes what I'm locked onto.
So the camera doesn't fucking move. And I'm like, yo, y'all got
oh my god, this is the worst shit. But everything else around it
is genuinely fascinating. I think the art style is really well done. It
looks gorgeous. Yeah, I love the way it looks. It's not technically
impressive, but the art style is it's like the color pop like it's so
vibrant. Yeah, it looks so vibrant. And because this is a fully
realized or a fully new game, they have massive open regions in the similar
vein of Rebirth, whether it's like broken its regions whatever. But like the
background art is like so expand it looks expansive. It reminds me of Zeno
Blae Chronicles three in the sense that like you get a sense of scale from
this world and it just it looks it looks beautiful. So I'm like,
oh, yeah, hell yeah, this is this is you know, they're
they're working with something here. And then like the individual dungeons, the way
elements work in the monasteries, like elemental affinities are just kind of like a
big deal to there. And like the way you there's so many different classes,
and depending on which each character equips, like they equip elements, they
get a completely different class than from another another character. So if they equip
the same elemental thing they get, they play completely differently. So there's a
lot of flexibility that I can see, like a lot of potential in the
flexibility and how the class system works with this game, and I think that's
fascinating, So I want to dig more into that when the full game comes
out. And the way you explore that world too. They do a lot
of interesting things with the elemental affinities and how you manipulate the environment, how
you move around the environment. So it's just not like a dungeon you like,
you run through, you fight a bunch of enemies, and then boom,
there's a boss. So there's they tease a little bit in that in
the demo where I'm like, Okay, cool, I can get to this
spot by doing using this element and doing all kinds of interesting things there.
But it was a pretty sure demo is like thirty minutes in total, and
you know, you can only gain so much from experiencing a full art like
an RPG in thirty minutes. Like fuck, dude, this is gonna be
like, ah yeah, forty fifty hour game, so there's only so much
you can get out of it. But I am keeping my eye on it.
I do want to give it a fair shake because uh, you know,
I you know mana is. It's just it's one of those series that
have like escaped me, so I I want to give it a give it
a full, full chance to see what they're cooking up. So it's one
when you fight in that game, are you just running up to a monster
on the open world or is it like you touch a monster and then you're
taken to a separate arena. No, it's just the all the monsters are
like are on the field and then once you engage with them, it just
creates like a circular combat are you know, around that enemy. So there's
a little transitions, there's no like it is like Final Fantasy sixteen was a
little like that right where it just sort of lok to off sort of Dragon
Quest the elevens kind of like that. I correct. Yeah, so it's
it's like that you're not you're not like loading into a separate instance. The
thing with yeah, action RPGs like the Tail series has never quite clicked with
me because there is that like line that gets drawn, or at least the
ones that I have played, where it's like, all right, time to
fight, let's start the fight, where it's like it's like I would at
this stage in sort of game development and the technology available to us, I
really do just want to run up and hit something with a sword without having
to think too, without having to like see a screen, you know,
a transition. Yeah, So it sounds like I just I need I want
like a good fast pace to action RPG combat. You know, I absolutely
want to be stuck down at all. So it sounds like that's going forward
at least like you yeah, just sort of engage in fights right away,
which is nice. Yeah. Yeah, so yeah, it's it's it's one
of those so if you played, I mean, I think I feel like
they've from remake and rebirth, I have kind of like set the tone in
terms of like templatizing how to do an action RPG correctly or not correctly.
But like that's a that's a framework in which squennx can like work off for
other games, and it it seems to like work really well for like sixteen,
and it seems like Visions of manas taking a lot of lessons from that
as well. So yeah, just like small things though, just like the
flow of the actual action and the target targeting system. Please I hope that
they figure this out before a launch. It's coming out in the summer,
so a little bit of time, yeah, Because yeah, it's a it's
got a dragon girl with a Southern accent. Okay, it's got a fox
boy with like a like a posh English accent, and then you got anime
sword boy, who's your typical anime sword boy, you know what I'm saying.
So you know, I'm interested in the dragon ladies to be honest.
Yeah, you know I had I had the great the Great snake Lady versus
catgirl debate, wow in years past. But how about we add dragon girls
to that? You know what I'm saying, dragon girls, bunny girls.
There's so many all bunny girls. Yeah, yeah, that's that's a foregone
conclusion. There's also there the elf girl. So you know, girl,
this competition, yo, we got we got start, we got tier list,
this ship. You know what I'm saying, turns out there all s
t here. Yeah and yes and yeah, that is Vision Zamana. Dude,
does he have a release date? I was, I can google it.
I thought, don't put you on the spot because I think it just
says it's like summer. Yeah, I don't think I've confirmed a release date
yet, but yeah, look twenty summer twenty twenty four, between quarter two
and three, and so I don't know what that means. That's just I'm
not a lot of those words are made up. So the seasonal court out
of it, who knows. Yeah, so that'll come out when it comes
out. But that's that's a that's a this year joint. Man. I've
been playing too many RPGs, man, I had to skip out on Dragon's
Dogma two, and I still haven't finished Unicorn Overlord. I would like to
play in a Corner Overlord. There's no way. I don't have the time.
I want to play more Dragons Dogma. I haven't had time to play
any of that this week, so like I've been like I got to get
back to that. Like I'm having a moment with Dragon's Dogma where like I'm
questioning my taste because like I bounced off of it and I'm like, am
I wrong? Like it's like how I feel about it. Yeah, it's
like because like so many people who are just like, this is the greatest
thing that's ever happened to video games, and I and I just I don't
know. I it wasn't clicking with me, and I gave it a real
shot. I get at least I feel like I gave it a real shot.
I played it like six hours or something like that. I bought a
house, you know, I'm a I'm a homeowner in that, but uh,
I don't know, just I just it's a little too aimless for me,
which is what people seem to like about it, is like how aimless
it is. But I think I was. I don't know, it just
wasn't quite clicking for me. Yeah, it's it seems like one of those
games that is either going to be your favorite shit or you're gonna not give
a fuck. So that's what I love about it. Yeah, that just
makes it feel so like it's not trying to be a people pleaser necessarily.
It's like, this is what our game is. If you don't fucking like
it, eat my ass. Yeah, eat my ass, go play Suicide
Squad, and I respect the hell of it. I'm glad that like games
like this still exists too. Absolutely, yeah, oh absolutely, yeah.
Yeah. Just sometimes guy's got to tell me where to go, I'll do
the thing, you know what I'm saying. Yeah, I think a pond
system is fucking cool though, And like some of the ship that I've seen,
I was like watching someone play it because I'm like, Okay, I
don't have time to do it myself, but I like to watch someone else
play. There's crazy shit that happens in like the back half of that game.
It's just like you need to get to that stuff. Yeah, like
just bold moves for like, oh, I don't expect the game to do
this, but then they do it, and like, yo, that's that's
crazy, that's wild. I know some Majora's Mask type ship and just well
now you're now you've said the worst. Maybe let me pull it out of
the backlog trash can I mean, I guess I have not installed it.
Yeah, Like the it's like dragon'szog but one kind of does a similar thing
though, And like Major Mass, I always point to it as like the
quintessential aimless game or the game you have to figure out what the fuck to
do, yeah, in it, And just the way cycles work in that
game is like really bold, man, And like, I don't think Nintendo
would ever do something like that again. And they they they they evolve in
different directions in different ways. But man, I still got a lot of
love for Majorita his mask, and I feel like watching with Zogwa Twus Marcus
Stewart over at Game and Former, I've been watching him. We've been streaming
it on our channel, so I've been I've been getting to watch him play
it for the first time, which has been fun. Like he's Zelda fan
but he'd never played Major's Mask. Yeah, and then I'm like a super
fan who played it right when it came out, played the remake on three
ds and everything, so it's it's been fun to kind of watch somebody see
what is so weird about that game, Like like you go into that game,
like, I know, this one's weird, but what you forget like
how weird it is, and it's it's fun to see like structurally, yeah,
it's weird, but just like the overall tone of that game is oh
yeah, I mean like there's like there's the Rings of Grass that were an
operama of time that you would just you could like hit and get rupees and
stuff. And like in Majora's Mask, the first one you see you walk
up to it, you cut grass, and all the grass starts like it
comes to life and starts like like walking away, and it's like stuff like
that where you're like this is so weird. It's just like it feels so
extream, like yeah, it's a fever dream for sure. Yeah, it's
like I love about it. Yeah, there's like a surrealist element to majors
Mask that is fucking wild. And I would like have watched many a video
essay about Majora's Mask and every time she's like yeah, dog, like I
wish more people like tried ship like this, because yeah, you probably won't
see Nintendo do that kind of thing again. But what nintend should do They
should give Majora's Mask a second chance. Oh my god, get the funk
out of here, all right, Well, I mean they should put it
on Switch. I mean honestly, so that that's how they just bring that
version over. Oh my god. Oh that and the because the Opera of
Time three D is like legitimately the best version. I would probably make that
argument for Majors Mask as well, because they like there's like little things like
they moved the location of the bank so it's like easier to make a deposit
version, and it's like that's such a smart little change. Yeah. I
don't know if anyone's asked Nintendo to do this, but they should bring those
games to Switch. Just putting it out there. Yeah, I don't think
anyone's asking. I don't think they know. Oh you guys want this?
Should we bring Twilight Princess as well? I mean we could throw that in
there too, it's just sitting there, take a second. We just didn't
know. I think you just right click to file and export to Switch.
I think it's very easy. I don't know anything about it, but you
just changed the dot exc to you know, like switch. Yeah, export
is done. Ye come on there you go. Oh my god, it's
it's like the Drake Lil Yachty gift with their like the computer at the best
Buy or whatever, like, oh, that's crazy. I didn't know that.
Yeah. Yeah, I would love to just see more DS games come
to come to Switch. I know it's not easy to fully part over those
things, but give us. They gave us the Entry and Odyssey first trilogy.
Give us persona cue, give us que to okay, give us mask,
give it the three link between worlds, you know, between the worlds
world game spots. Game of the Year twenty thirteen. True, Yeah,
you guys are you guys are smart. Yeah, that's why that happened.
Yeah. Here, I was not here with games, but uh, you
know they were. They were cooking back. That is. That is one
thing I was bummed about with my tenure at Game Spot is I was in
a perfect little zone where I was not able to participate in any Game of
the Year discussion. It's like, it would have been nice to see how
you guys do it once, you know, Yeah, because I have no
idea. I don't know, you guys made the right call that the year
I was aara z elden Ring and I was like, yeah, sure,
correct, it was probably a very easy year. Yeah, that was pretty
unanimous. Yeah, that was like, okay, we have certain years that
we're just like we're not even gonna like argue this. We all know what
the deal is. Yeah, yeah, oh yeah, that was I mean
to be fair game and former. That's what it was for l and Ring
as well. Everyone elt in ring number one, yes, yes, okay,
now let's figure out the rest. Everything else is like that's the more
interesting yeah right, yeah, yeah, it's when you get into like the
nines and ten, the little the tense. We don't rank them anymore nine
to ten, but like trying to get in those little like spots, you
know, that's where the real it's for the real interesting debates that the audience
never gets to hear about. We probably it's like we should record that.
We also probably shouldn't record that, Like you know, it's just like a
level of inside baseball. They don't really need to get behind people don't really
we talk about it in like after the fact, of course, sure,
sure, Like the way in which I maybe don't want to hear it raw.
I know, and well listen, I love it raw, but uh,
listen on that Octopath Traveler to the Great Debate that wasn't even a debate,
man, I just fucking came in. I said, this is fucking
fire ship I've ever played in my life. Y'all, don't listen to me.
I'm out of here. Yeah I believe it. Yeah, I had
already my contract had already expired, so that threat was empty. But that
was I love. I love doing it like that. So yeah, well,
what do you think that's gonna have to be a podcast this week?
Unersonately? Yeah, sorry, I got to cut a little early this week
because I gotta take care of some stuff. I'll say the game I played
for next time, Grinder, I'll just say, yeah, you should go
play. That's pretty good, solid, it's a it's a solid, cute
little game, not too long. It's a good Devolver Devolver asked Evolver.
Yeah, yeah, I agree. You know, it keeps it keeps it
moving. It's got some it's got some energy, some charm into it.
The last Baust was a little little rough, but it was good. It
was a good game. But yeah, I can talk about that more next
week. Thank you Kyle so much for coming on. It's thanks for having
me absolute pleasure. I'm gonna I'm gonna demand my way on again in the
future because that's how I went on this time. My messaged he I was
like, hey, can I come on? Yeah? No, and then
you know what, like I will not say no. Yeah many weeks to
be clear, also many weeks, Jean Luke could use an extra all right
voice. I struggle to get people to show up on this fucking podcast.
But you texted me. You're like, yo, can to show up to
the podcast? Say less up there? So no, but I appreciated.
Everyone's just busy, but yeah no, thank you for being on. Yeah
no, it's fun cool. And then Michael, thanks for being on as
always. Of course I love coming through, taking y'all snacks and ship awesome.
Well, thank you everyone for tuning in. As we said at the
top, if you want to go check out Game Informers new standalone sub you
can go get that. Four was at nineteen oh one, No one but
ninety one because it's it's a reference to when Game Informers started. We didn't
in nineteen oh one that crazy covering chest and shit like you guys, you
guys are gonna love this thing called video games in seventy years, like you're
gonna be over the moon for it. It's gonna be good. But yeah,
no, thank you, thank you for thank you for letting me come
on. Thanks for plugging it again, and we'll show the new issue.
We will reveal the new issue on this Tuesday, depending on when you listen
to it and if you could cover reveal. Yeah, and if you subscribe
like now or in the coming days, you will get that issue in the
mail that we reveal on Tuesday. Yeah, awesome. I subscribe, so
I'm actually gonna get that in the mail. It's exciting. I've got a
video game magazine and the mail it so it'll be cool. Thanks again,
Kyle, Thanks again, Michael, Thanks again everyone for listening, and we'll
see you all next time. Peace. Then dam thing da