Speaker 1: Hello everybody, Welcome back to the fire Escape Cast. It
Speaker 1: is episode one hundred. About four years ago, Dan, Mary
Speaker 1: and I said what if we got together? We started
Speaker 1: a podcast for ninety nine episodes. We focused on video
Speaker 1: games and catching up an odd episode one hundred, Pull
Speaker 1: the rug out.
Speaker 2: I you saw. I was going, these tariffs are crazy.
Speaker 3: Let's dig into Yeah, Okaynada, really? What the hell?
Speaker 1: All our gas, much of our lumber, probably some aluminium somewhere.
Speaker 3: Let's dig into it.
Speaker 4: What the alf of America?
Speaker 3: Uh?
Speaker 1: No, Tonight we've got a fun episode planned. That's Dan,
Speaker 1: that's Mary. You know who they are, probably if you're listening.
Speaker 1: We figured we would do something different. We do have
Speaker 1: games we want to talk about, but we'll probably save
Speaker 1: that for next episode. Tonight, we have the sixty four
Speaker 1: game Bracket tournament to decide fire Escape Cast's favorite collective
Speaker 1: game of all time.
Speaker 5: No no, no, no, no no no, that's not pussy pute
Speaker 5: this here. Yeah, it's not our favorite. This is objective science.
Speaker 5: Were earning the best game of.
Speaker 1: One of us only voted from like three franchises, so
Speaker 1: I think it is more favorite than Mary.
Speaker 4: It's just some real tunnel vision coming from some people.
Speaker 1: So we do know we generally have a good idea
Speaker 1: of what each of us nominated.
Speaker 3: What did we do?
Speaker 1: We all nominated twenty five. We were Mary, who's seen
Speaker 1: the bracket?
Speaker 2: Though? Mary, I'm pretty much just going to toss to
Speaker 2: you from here on out.
Speaker 4: Sure, yeah, you we talked about doing this and I
Speaker 4: said I would take this on, and I asked you
Speaker 4: all to send me your top twenty five. What I
Speaker 4: promised you was that your top fifteen would make it.
Speaker 4: And I did that because I think, no matter what,
Speaker 4: even if they're stupid or just incredibly dumb, worthless, I
Speaker 4: would put your top fifteen in because they represent you.
Speaker 4: After that, there is some mixing in, some matchin to
Speaker 4: make sure that we're getting a holistic look at games.
Speaker 4: And I even put in ones that no one put
Speaker 4: in that I feel like are worth discussing just from
Speaker 4: a collective generational Yes, you should at least discuss know what,
Speaker 4: I just.
Speaker 2: Ignore Super Mario Odyssey, so I probably want to.
Speaker 3: Put that in.
Speaker 4: I can't not have some of these on here.
Speaker 3: Is that you're talking about one of the best games
Speaker 3: of all time?
Speaker 1: Is that, sarcast No, I'm just fucking with you. I
Speaker 1: love super Mario Otissey.
Speaker 4: We will there will be some fightings on this one.
Speaker 4: But I think what's interesting about this is that I've
Speaker 4: thought about that game we haven't started yet. I've put
Speaker 4: all these in a bracket, so sixty four bracket, which
Speaker 4: will give us six rounds where we essentially one against one.
Speaker 4: I randomized it, and it is truly random. I did
Speaker 4: not manually touch any of these. I hit random I
Speaker 4: think three times to ensure that there was like no biases. Yep,
Speaker 4: and here they are. They make me laugh. But what's
Speaker 4: funny is that Mike and Dan have not seen this bracket.
Speaker 4: So when I read what is our first matchup, it
Speaker 4: will be your first time hearing these two games that
Speaker 4: will go up against each other.
Speaker 5: To the deck, and if you, the listener, would like
Speaker 5: to see the bracket, we will have posted it by
Speaker 5: this point. I believe after this recording, we're going to
Speaker 5: post them the blank bracket. Well, I mean the first
Speaker 5: round you'll see the first round of sixty four. But yeah,
Speaker 5: we have not seen it. In fact, right before this
Speaker 5: recording we were like, oh, how are we going to
Speaker 5: do present this? And it's like, no, let's we should
Speaker 5: not know. I love the idea of it, like it's
Speaker 5: going to be totally just chaotic thrown out there, but
Speaker 5: at the end the science will all fall into place and.
Speaker 4: Will know that there's a bit of a march madness
Speaker 4: to it. You can follow along if you've written your
Speaker 4: brackets at home, you can see where.
Speaker 1: We did like a week ago, ask people to send
Speaker 1: in their their madness, their theory crafted winner and bracket
Speaker 1: and by now yes will know whether people need to
Speaker 1: be receiving some some cool stuff. But that's neither here
Speaker 1: nor there right now, because I'm ready to talk about
Speaker 1: a lot of Zelda there.
Speaker 4: There are several and you'll also notice I don't think
Speaker 4: this is a huge spoiler, but there was no Final
Speaker 4: Fantasies mentioned by anyone.
Speaker 3: No, we're trying to games. Yeah, this is the most
Speaker 3: overrated franchise.
Speaker 4: He told me. Yeah times that they think it's a
Speaker 4: bit offensive that we do not.
Speaker 3: We never no, no, no, no, we're just fine. We
Speaker 3: don't cover nerdy games. Yeah, they're fine games for ners.
Speaker 3: We don't talk about There was.
Speaker 2: Like three Final Fantasies ten years ago. Who cares.
Speaker 5: J are basically just visual novels and I don't consider
Speaker 5: that games so we cover games on this podcast.
Speaker 1: I nominated several JPGs. I believe I might be wrong,
Speaker 1: maybe marys and matches.
Speaker 4: There's some good genre blending in here, and I think
Speaker 4: people will recognize that. But there are entire categories or like,
Speaker 4: very popular games that did not make the cup because
Speaker 4: they're not our beloved game franchises. However, I did try
Speaker 4: to supplement with Yo. This is a very very popular game.
Speaker 4: It should be on here, and so I shoved it
Speaker 4: in there. Anyway, So Mario games, there's a couple, okay,
Speaker 4: and I'm happy. M hm, your Top fifteen is insane.
Speaker 5: I put so much thought in I did just copy
Speaker 5: and paste my Top twenty five.
Speaker 4: The same game like six times.
Speaker 3: You're gonna hear how different.
Speaker 1: I'm looking forward to Dan winning an argument for a
Speaker 1: three day times tonight.
Speaker 3: Very different.
Speaker 5: I could do a fucking ted talk about how different
Speaker 5: every Mario game.
Speaker 4: Some great fucking games.
Speaker 2: Yeah there's some great game, but a real asshole loco, man,
Speaker 2: a real fucking asshole of the tournament.
Speaker 4: All right, do you want to get started?
Speaker 6: Yeah?
Speaker 5: Way, I just want to give a quicker anecdote here
Speaker 5: that Mike told us to play a game and I
Speaker 5: loaded it up yesterday in case we were going to
Speaker 5: talk about new games today, and wouldn't you know it,
Speaker 5: it's another fucking game about rats in a fantasy environment,
Speaker 5: show a straight road.
Speaker 3: What is the deal with these rat games?
Speaker 4: They know how to get them.
Speaker 1: You'll you'll come around eventually. I'm just trying to slip
Speaker 1: it in through various genres.
Speaker 3: Right now.
Speaker 1: Okay, we should say we don't have judge Jake here.
Speaker 1: If anything comes down to a situation, if no one
Speaker 1: knows who Judge Jakes, we're basically tossed to a producer,
Speaker 1: Jake Decker, for Game of the Year, to basically bang
Speaker 1: the gavel and settle the dispute that really was not
Speaker 1: actually getting anywhere close to a conclusion. We are going
Speaker 1: to use the power of odd numbers tonight in extreme circumstances.
Speaker 1: If we need to go to a vote, that will happen.
Speaker 1: But we're going to let things play out as much
Speaker 1: as humanly possible.
Speaker 5: And I you know this is we're all friends here,
Speaker 5: We've done this before, We've done the debates. I will
Speaker 5: listen to any argument. I will not try to brute
Speaker 5: force anything through. I think we will all be gentlemen
Speaker 5: and ladies, and and we will, we will come to
Speaker 5: a proper conclusion.
Speaker 2: You're so noble for stating all that you just did.
Speaker 5: I didn't want to say it. You're so noble, but yeah,
Speaker 5: thank you.
Speaker 4: But anyway, me, the hero and person who made the
Speaker 4: bracket will place in the winning game after it has
Speaker 4: been democratically decided, and then we will proceed onward from there.
Speaker 5: Speaking of democracy, you've got some thoughts on this new fires.
Speaker 3: What is going on? Uh?
Speaker 1: Trudeau's like, I can't get a hold of this guy, Claudia.
Speaker 3: Down in Mexico. It's like, what about us? It's it's
Speaker 3: all we don't it's all mixed up, all right.
Speaker 4: First on the bracket, Celosi versus.
Speaker 2: Wait, she's still around. I don't an I wonder if
Speaker 2: anybody game rich who's your favorite demons A predicted in
Speaker 2: the final four?
Speaker 4: Okay, are we ready?
Speaker 3: Yes?
Speaker 4: All right? This is a sixty four game bracket, so
Speaker 4: this is gonna be in. We're gonna be here for
Speaker 4: the long haul. Our first matchup is Mike Tyson's punch out,
Speaker 4: Oh my god versus Tetris.
Speaker 3: What No, you can't fucking do that. This couldn't have
Speaker 3: been randomized. You can't do that to me. Random Look,
Speaker 3: I fucking love Tetris, but you don't I feel about
Speaker 3: punch Out, And that's a hard fucking argument to make
Speaker 3: versus Tetris universally beloved.
Speaker 1: I think Mary and I could just sit round one
Speaker 1: out and watch you implode. Fuck you too, I think
Speaker 1: it's randomized. I had nothing to do with any of
Speaker 1: this ran.
Speaker 3: That was that was my number one.
Speaker 5: Last time I did my like one hundred games of
Speaker 5: all time, I did punch Mike Tyson's punch Out. I
Speaker 5: don't feel that way anymore, but it's still definitely like
Speaker 5: top five for me.
Speaker 3: There's not even a point why. That's why the tournament
Speaker 3: tournament Tetriss. What are your thoughts on Tris? I've never
Speaker 3: been asked that before.
Speaker 2: No, truly, I don't know how to even.
Speaker 1: It's just like the purest distillation of video game like
Speaker 1: fun and strategy, and I know there's people that get
Speaker 1: into a certain zone where you can master that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's no rats.
Speaker 4: It depends on how you perceive the blocks, because actually
Speaker 4: I would say that the reason they're so nebulous, just
Speaker 4: like there's these slight changes in style and movement. I
Speaker 4: think you could interpret them as different animals or plants. Yeah, absolutely,
Speaker 4: what what's a square you?
Speaker 2: What makes punch Out so good?
Speaker 3: It is? What's the point this is? We want to
Speaker 3: waste everyone's time here.
Speaker 4: This is the most beautiful.
Speaker 1: I hate this, this punch out to get knocked out.
Speaker 5: This is why college wards use a seating procedure. Can't
Speaker 5: punch out each other, not the first round, but the
Speaker 5: first fucking match up.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, speak of your mind about both games before
Speaker 1: one of them is lost for the rest of the night.
Speaker 5: Mike Texas, punch Out is first folds like the best
Speaker 5: looking game on the NES. There's giant, big ass sprites.
Speaker 5: It fucking it's the game that is aided, the game
Speaker 5: from that era that has aged the best. I would
Speaker 5: say it's aged better than anything on the NES. It
Speaker 5: is pure reflexes and skill and fun pattern recognition, reflexes.
Speaker 5: It's just it is everything I want a video game
Speaker 5: to be.
Speaker 4: Uh.
Speaker 5: It was also this weird anomaly that Nintendo made a
Speaker 5: game with Mike Tyson as the you know, like that
Speaker 5: that's just not the way Nintendo operates. Ever, It's uh,
Speaker 5: it's a lot, It's fucking Tetris. Just put Tetris forward.
Speaker 4: Yeah, just to say, like there's no game that has
Speaker 4: uh passed the test of time better than Tetris itself.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 4: Tetris was on the n E s and it's also
Speaker 4: on everybody's mobile phone currently. It is the game that
Speaker 4: you go to. It's the game that old people, uh
Speaker 4: normally aged people and babies all know what Tetris is
Speaker 4: and can play it.
Speaker 5: Would I would argue that, like I've never done it
Speaker 5: on a phone because it's just like I love Tempris
Speaker 5: so much and it does feel so just sticky and
Speaker 5: nice and responsive that like I've tried it before, like
Speaker 5: when EA put out that first tepts on phones, Like,
Speaker 5: I don't want any muddiness in my Tetris. I want
Speaker 5: immediately fast drop all that that's all bad.
Speaker 4: I played it on like one of those like really
Speaker 4: shitty phones that wasn't even a smartphone, you know, where
Speaker 4: they could barely do anything. I played Tetris on that
Speaker 4: bad baby all the time.
Speaker 5: And bonus too, it's the one they say you should
Speaker 5: play if you like walk in on a murder scene
Speaker 5: and you want to like have your brain process it
Speaker 5: faster so you don't have as much PTSD, so I
Speaker 5: don't know if anything else in the tournament has that.
Speaker 3: So that's another QUI have they really said that? They
Speaker 3: say that, Like, who's they? Just they? I don't know,
Speaker 3: doctor or scientists whatever.
Speaker 5: It's supposed to be a thing where it's like if
Speaker 5: you see something traumatic, like you know, a car crash
Speaker 5: or dead bodies or something, or encounter something super dramatic
Speaker 5: that it it's good to like play Tetris right afterwards
Speaker 5: because it's supposed to.
Speaker 3: Just kind of help your brain. Look, I can't explain it,
Speaker 3: but like I've heard that many times.
Speaker 4: If you need trauma, you can play Mike Tyson's punch Out.
Speaker 3: It's it has injured me.
Speaker 2: That is too good.
Speaker 4: You can add trauma from punch Out. Tetris removes trauma.
Speaker 5: Tyson sent me to like three months of physical therapy
Speaker 5: for my hand when I was speed running it.
Speaker 3: So yeah, it nurts you. It's Look, I.
Speaker 5: Feel like there's an argument I could make if if
Speaker 5: you put like a Mario World against Tetris like a
Speaker 5: but like, there's no fucking way I'm getting punch Out
Speaker 5: pass afters right.
Speaker 3: No, Mary's just smiling. I liked.
Speaker 2: I liked punch Out quite a bit. Uh I played
Speaker 2: it you you put it in my hands. You put
Speaker 2: it in my hands back a few years ago at
Speaker 2: your place in Connecticut, I believe, just to see how
Speaker 2: I liked it, because you've had a hunch I would
Speaker 2: like it because of my appreciation for like pattern recognition
Speaker 2: and Dark Soul's bosses, et cetera. And I loved it,
Speaker 2: and I like.
Speaker 1: I went in with Hubris thinking I would master it
Speaker 1: that night, and then holy shit, I don't think I
Speaker 1: got past the third enemy or fighter rather so like clearly,
Speaker 1: that's it's really impressive that a game in the ne
Speaker 1: e s era had that high of a skill ceiling.
Speaker 3: But Tetris is Tetris.
Speaker 5: It's Tetris timeless. I'm not going to waste anyone's time more.
Speaker 5: But I got hosed, all right.
Speaker 4: That's punch Out versus Tetris. The winner is Tetris. Submitted.
Speaker 1: He's so excited when you heard punch Out and then
Speaker 1: went off a cliff.
Speaker 3: It's like the worst thing you can a couple of these.
Speaker 4: There's a couple of these that I'm really excited about.
Speaker 3: Babies.
Speaker 4: Our next matchup, Breath of the wild versus the birth
Speaker 4: of your first born. Luckily we're all barren. Dishonored too
Speaker 4: versus Star Wars Galactic battle Ground.
Speaker 3: I'm gonna go see.
Speaker 5: Well.
Speaker 3: Fuck.
Speaker 2: Actually, no, I already know what should win this, Mary,
Speaker 2: I don't know if you have thoughts.
Speaker 4: I mean, I think that Dishonored is one of the
Speaker 4: most beloved games of modern times. Keep coming back to it.
Speaker 4: It's very inspiring to other games. I think Star Wars
Speaker 4: is Galactic Battlegrounds as well made, but I just don't
Speaker 4: think it's had the impact that Dishonored two has had.
Speaker 4: But I'm curious what you think.
Speaker 1: Uh No, I think Dishonored two is much better. Galactic
Speaker 1: ballleground is super cool. I've had a lot of fun
Speaker 1: with it. It is it's running off the Age of
Speaker 1: Empire's engine from back in the day, but it basically
Speaker 1: just like blew up the Star Wars universe. And as
Speaker 1: someone who used to like play a lot of real
Speaker 1: time strategy games and theory craft what Lord of the
Speaker 1: Rings strategy game would look like or Star Wars, to
Speaker 1: have that in my hands was phenomenal, especially its scenario editor.
Speaker 1: I actually learned like very very basic coding and pathing
Speaker 1: and making campaign missions in that game with Qui Gon
Speaker 1: and Obi Wan but two, having just recently replayed it,
Speaker 1: I will say Designer two is much better. But I
Speaker 1: I will say Dishoner two, I think is the best
Speaker 1: immersive sim ever made. I'm not going to go super
Speaker 1: far in because I'll have to argue for it again
Speaker 1: next round. But Dishonor two, I just played it again
Speaker 1: two weeks ago. I'm still playing it. Rather, I started
Speaker 1: again two weeks ago, and it holds up real well.
Speaker 1: Since two thousand and sixteen, I believe it was so Yeah,
Speaker 1: Dishonner two is the game there. But if you haven't,
Speaker 1: Galactic Battlegrounds is on Steam. You can go buy the
Speaker 1: whole collection for like twenty bucks and go check it
Speaker 1: out if you like weird, huge, big budget RTS games
Speaker 1: that no one talks about anymore. But uh, but yeah,
Speaker 1: Dishonner two goes to the next round for sure in
Speaker 1: my opinion.
Speaker 5: Can't wait for Dishonor two to get us nuts stomped
Speaker 5: on by a T block next round?
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, is that is that? Yeah?
Speaker 2: I guess it has gone against Yeah, you'll know how all.
Speaker 4: Right, Now you're gonna start feeling it. I will say
Speaker 4: that there are a couple that I think will make
Speaker 4: Mike squirm that are coming up, but like this, some
Speaker 4: of them are easier.
Speaker 1: I'm definitely I'll save the designer to true argument, not argument,
Speaker 1: but like send off for next round rather than delay
Speaker 1: things in the first round.
Speaker 4: Fantastic, Well would you like.
Speaker 1: Another gets out gets canceled as we're doing this argument
Speaker 1: we find out for being racist or.
Speaker 3: Yeah, like the Russian it would be bad whoever made it.
Speaker 4: I think we got to separate here from the artist
Speaker 4: on this one. There's still there's too many villains on
Speaker 4: this bracket.
Speaker 1: Then Alexandria comes out against Gregoro.
Speaker 3: This is a joke for just I like it. I
Speaker 3: appreciate it. Just I just watched that like two days ago. Okay, sorry,
Speaker 3: Next all right?
Speaker 4: Next matchup Warrior where Mega micro Games versus Metroid Prime.
Speaker 1: Wait, I also nominated Prime. So this is either Dan
Speaker 1: dig you as well?
Speaker 3: Yeah? Probably, I mean regardless, it's met fright Prime. There's
Speaker 3: such a we're powerless.
Speaker 1: It's the third matchup, and there's already like a fear
Speaker 1: that comes into Dan's eyes when he hears one of
Speaker 1: his games.
Speaker 5: You start with like one of my favorite games ever,
Speaker 5: and I'm like, oh's great, what's next?
Speaker 3: And now here's another one of my favorite games.
Speaker 4: So many like you put so many silly billies in here,
Speaker 4: being like I like this one, Like there's real games
Speaker 4: going again, there were no silly billies. Then fight for Warrior.
Speaker 4: Where Mega micro games you don't go for it.
Speaker 3: It is, uh the game. It is the game I
Speaker 3: probably load up the most of any video game throughout
Speaker 3: the last twenty five years or I guess twenty.
Speaker 5: It probably came out in like mid two thousands. It
Speaker 5: is the most instant fun game there is.
Speaker 3: Uh.
Speaker 5: It is the game that I put on whenever I
Speaker 5: get all these like new handhelds and stuff, whether it's
Speaker 5: a analog pocket or you know, the trip, all these
Speaker 5: little gimmick things I get, I always just make sure
Speaker 5: warri Wear is on it. And it's always the game
Speaker 5: I play the most on it because in any circumstance
Speaker 5: I can just pick it up, play Warrior.
Speaker 3: Where instant fun.
Speaker 5: I mean, the whole deal with the Mega microgames thing
Speaker 5: is that it's they're like seconds long. You got to
Speaker 5: figure out what's going on. It's funny the first time
Speaker 5: because you're always like, what the fuck is this? So
Speaker 5: a hot dog ran me over and then past that.
Speaker 5: It's just actually this very kind of skillful, fun thing
Speaker 5: to try to get your highest score. It's it's funny,
Speaker 5: it's there's a ton of variety to it because there's
Speaker 5: tons and tons of micro games. It's Yeah, I just
Speaker 5: I adore the humor of it, the idea of Warrio
Speaker 5: just being greedy and being like, oh, games are big,
Speaker 5: I'm just gonna make a bunch of shitty tiny games
Speaker 5: and then you're just playing through it, like the lore
Speaker 5: to this like little minigame collection. Yeah, do either you
Speaker 5: play Warrior Wear at all.
Speaker 1: I've enjoyed them like as one off experiences. I'm not
Speaker 1: a devotee by any means.
Speaker 3: I actually played.
Speaker 2: The most I played was with you at the recent ones.
Speaker 3: Yeah. No, it was the first in the squats. Yeah,
Speaker 3: and then people.
Speaker 1: Were like getting mad at me that I wasn't stopping you,
Speaker 1: as if I have power over what you do with
Speaker 1: your body.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm pro choice. It is. Yeah. I mean that's
Speaker 3: the thing.
Speaker 5: I love so many old games, and I play so
Speaker 5: many retro games. I don't load up linked to the
Speaker 5: past or even like Mario World. As much as I
Speaker 5: load up warriorware every single year for a couple of decades,
Speaker 5: I'm gonna keep.
Speaker 2: That in my back pocket for tonight. Remember, you don't
Speaker 2: load up Mario World or Linked to the past.
Speaker 4: You have the right to remain silent. But he's just
Speaker 4: talking about a game that's already dead.
Speaker 3: Is there no chance here?
Speaker 2: It's up to you.
Speaker 1: I don't care one of them. Yes, I absolutely care. Sorry,
Speaker 1: I'm yeah. I think bet My Prime is much better.
Speaker 4: Than Luania as a genre.
Speaker 5: But I think I think, wait, wait, are you saying
Speaker 5: that Metroid Prime started Metroid Vanas, because that is not
Speaker 5: the kicks.
Speaker 4: I think that Metroid has made Metroid vanias, and I
Speaker 4: think that Metroid Prime is the best in the Metroid series.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 5: But when I think Metroidvania, I mean, if you're giving
Speaker 5: it the credit of like the Metroid Vania name, I
Speaker 5: think that's typically Like there are Metroidvania elements you can
Speaker 5: talk about, like you know Arkham Asylum in three D
Speaker 5: games having metro Venia elements, But metroc Prime was kind
Speaker 5: of its own thing. I think the shocking thing that
Speaker 5: that did was that they were able to take those elements,
Speaker 5: the Metrodvaneus stuff and turn it into a three D game,
Speaker 5: and everyone was skeptical about it. Everyone's like, it's not
Speaker 5: going to be good in first person, and they absolutely
Speaker 5: nailed the field of Metroid So like it is really
Speaker 5: really great, but I definitely would not give it any
Speaker 5: added benefit in terms of like genre stuff.
Speaker 4: I think I think we do have the right so
Speaker 4: to say that it advanced the genre. I do think
Speaker 4: we have the right to say that it was revolutionary.
Speaker 4: And this will come up in this bracket a lot,
Speaker 4: which is not just what you like of it or
Speaker 4: what this group thinks about of it, but what did
Speaker 4: it do for games?
Speaker 3: Right?
Speaker 4: That's one of the reasons Tetris just destroyed Mike Tyson's
Speaker 4: punch Out is because it was revolutionary and it really
Speaker 4: skyrocketed games into a new era. So I just think
Speaker 4: that's something that Metroid series does. I think that's what
Speaker 4: Prime did very specifically, and I just don't think Warrior
Speaker 4: Ware is like on the same caliber, even though it
Speaker 4: is fun.
Speaker 1: Also just think you from a game design perspective, I
Speaker 1: have to admit before you actually put Warriorware in my hands, Dan,
Speaker 1: I was not like impressed by the quote unquote collection
Speaker 1: of minigames reductive view. I had of it, very impressed
Speaker 1: once I saw it all come together. I do think
Speaker 1: it's much more impressive that Metroid Prime sustains like this
Speaker 1: really potent atmospe fear. You get tools at such good
Speaker 1: intervals when you just you think you've mastered a few
Speaker 1: of these areas, and all of a sudden, you get
Speaker 1: the grappling hook, you get the the morphball, all of
Speaker 1: a sudden, You're like, holy shit, this just opened up
Speaker 1: a lot. That game's world design is great. There are
Speaker 1: parts where it's annoying. I still don't love the underwater
Speaker 1: stuff in that game, but like they still did it
Speaker 1: fairly well.
Speaker 3: Compared to a lot of others for the time.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think Metroid Prime, just like I I consistently
Speaker 1: point to that as maybe one of the most like
Speaker 1: effective atmospheres in any game ever.
Speaker 3: Music lighting slowly, Yeah, it's fus Yeah.
Speaker 5: And here's the thing, even if it was just my list,
Speaker 5: I'm pretty sure when I've done these in the past,
Speaker 5: Metroid Prime has probably been above Warrior.
Speaker 3: Ware, or at least close.
Speaker 5: So like, it's hard for me to even say that
Speaker 5: Warrior Ware is better than Metroid Prime, so like my
Speaker 5: vote might even go to Metroid Prime.
Speaker 3: I think I'm just pissed.
Speaker 5: At Warriors, Like all my SIT's getting put up against
Speaker 5: the toughest shit. But yeah, I mean, fuck it here,
Speaker 5: I'll say Warrior or just so I.
Speaker 3: Can it can have a representative here, but have at it.
Speaker 1: You two go Metric Prime for sure Prime. Okay, democracy
Speaker 1: literally just considered.
Speaker 3: Uh.
Speaker 1: I never finished the switch remaster I got. I want
Speaker 1: to go back and just restart it.
Speaker 3: I've been thinking about that for what.
Speaker 1: Metro Prime trilogy is my every single year Christmas break
Speaker 1: except for last year. I go back to, uh, one
Speaker 1: and three are my favorites. Invite I haven't gone back
Speaker 1: to yeh, all right, what's what's the next one? They're
Speaker 1: not tested yet.
Speaker 4: I feel like it's coming.
Speaker 3: Again.
Speaker 4: It's random, so I wasn't able to start with my
Speaker 4: heart breaks. Our next matchup is tomb Raider two versus
Speaker 4: Command and conquer Red Alert.
Speaker 3: I'm sorry about you jump from one letch to another.
Speaker 2: Oh he's not when a fucking Russian blimps dropping bombs
Speaker 2: on you.
Speaker 3: She's about to jump into a Tesla coil.
Speaker 4: Clips out of it.
Speaker 3: Oh is that a tree. Nope, it's a tank. You're
Speaker 3: on fire time travel to kill Hitler.
Speaker 1: Fucking fucking Lara Croft just goes up against one Tanya.
Speaker 3: That was there's a hundred smoker. She just puts tn
Speaker 3: T on Laura's boobs and then dead, laugh about it,
Speaker 3: laugh about it, and swim away.
Speaker 2: But anyway, what's good about Tom Rader two?
Speaker 3: Because I haven't played that game in a while.
Speaker 4: So much Laura in it. She goes to Italy, fun.
Speaker 2: Out there, to the past, to killing Hitler.
Speaker 4: Hitler can't be the reason games win or not win.
Speaker 4: We have to have more reasoning whether or not you
Speaker 4: kill Hitler.
Speaker 3: Okay, fair enough, we had other things we were saying. No,
Speaker 3: that's all.
Speaker 1: Did I mention that there's a woman who looks kind
Speaker 1: of like Laura Croft who runs around and puts C
Speaker 1: four on buildings and blows him.
Speaker 3: Up And she's the coolest unit in the game.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And you can have like as many of them
Speaker 1: as you want if you have the resources.
Speaker 5: You can take out a whole enemy base if you
Speaker 5: just swim up behind it and just set bombs on everything.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Cool, there's a.
Speaker 4: Really good platform. Stupid, this is.
Speaker 2: Two from the nineties, right, not Rise of the tomb Raider.
Speaker 4: No, it is not Rise.
Speaker 3: These are the ones.
Speaker 4: I found that the original ones, even though they had
Speaker 4: some errors, were really motivating, especially for like female protagonists
Speaker 4: in games. I know Metroid Prime was just on here,
Speaker 4: but if that wasn't just before, this would have been
Speaker 4: a really good argument for tomb Raider too, which is
Speaker 4: unfortunate for my timing, But I think it's a really
Speaker 4: good story arc as well. She goes through a lot
Speaker 4: of ship the Again, it's just more of like the
Speaker 4: platforming puzzles of its time were like really iconic, and
Speaker 4: I don't know, I just think she deserved to be
Speaker 4: on here.
Speaker 3: I'm in trouble, Aren't no doubt she's a cool character
Speaker 3: at all. She's awesome.
Speaker 2: And I came around very hard on Rader.
Speaker 4: With the Jolis character in Command and Conquered Alert.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Tanya, there's also a dude who just commands an
Speaker 1: entire like mind control army who can take everybody else's units.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Uri the expansion, Uh, there's is there anybody on the
Speaker 2: Russian side that's like, is.
Speaker 3: James Earl Jones on the on the American side, He's
Speaker 3: in the he's in uh Red Alert one.
Speaker 5: I thought, okay, well either, I mean, it's not it's
Speaker 5: definitely not the story A series of conquer big stars
Speaker 5: is what we said. But but the thing that I think, Mike,
Speaker 5: that we love about it is the commanding and the
Speaker 5: conquering more so than the characters and the story. Although
Speaker 5: it's a fun rapping for a great RTS, but I
Speaker 5: think we'll have more of a chance to talk about
Speaker 5: its strengths in the next round.
Speaker 4: Right, I'm not gonna push this one, so I'm gonna
Speaker 4: agree that the answer and the winner here is Command
Speaker 4: and Conquer Red Alert to. I do have like strong arguments,
Speaker 4: probably for later, but I don't think this one is winnable.
Speaker 4: And I also think it's not. And I also think like,
Speaker 4: there ain't no way she's going to take on these
Speaker 4: other games that are winners.
Speaker 3: Right wait wait, wait, is it gonna be Reddular two
Speaker 3: versus Metroid Prime?
Speaker 4: Now, I'm hold on, we'll get there, we'll get there.
Speaker 3: But yeah, we're brutal.
Speaker 2: Yeah, this is what a bracket is.
Speaker 4: I dan, if you like brutal, let's get to our
Speaker 4: next match. Oh god, our next game matchup totally random
Speaker 4: Metal Gear Solid three Snake Eater versus Minecraft.
Speaker 3: I thought you say your Solid two.
Speaker 4: I mean, it could happen. Are we really not even
Speaker 4: gonna have this discussion? Minecraft like one of the most
Speaker 4: iconic games of modern generation. It's the number one game.
Speaker 4: It's good, It's the number one.
Speaker 1: Okay, I started, I'm technically just to show my hand,
Speaker 1: I'm for snake Eater.
Speaker 3: However, Dan Dan just saying.
Speaker 1: Minecraft It's good is the funniest tape of Minecraft I've
Speaker 1: ever heard in my life.
Speaker 3: To be fair, this is our list. I know it's
Speaker 3: Minecraft head, it's Mary.
Speaker 2: But outside of that, yeah, she she really does never
Speaker 2: shut up, shuts up about him.
Speaker 3: She said the parties are great.
Speaker 1: Yeah, she was like, she's like best parties number one,
Speaker 1: notch number two, deady number three.
Speaker 3: No cut that, cut that, Jake, Jake, cut that. These things.
Speaker 4: I think that we have to talk a little bit about, like,
Speaker 4: you know, just the global impact that the game has,
Speaker 4: the influence of it all. I think Minecraft has made
Speaker 4: a lot of movement in the game in space. It's
Speaker 4: turned the next generation of kids into gamers. It's it's
Speaker 4: about these kids.
Speaker 3: Do you like remember what are your thoughts on Minecraft?
Speaker 2: No it's best game, not favorite. You you called me
Speaker 2: out on that at the.
Speaker 3: Beginnings our list, Well, I was being sarcastic. It's our list.
Speaker 2: Oh I think Minecraft's more important than Snakey.
Speaker 3: That's what the thing is. And I know it can
Speaker 3: be best game of all time.
Speaker 4: But it can come up because I don't think that
Speaker 4: snake Eater is important.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, we are really fucking firing off already.
Speaker 1: Very I don't support what you just said.
Speaker 4: Well, I mean, I just think comparatively Minecraft, Like, what
Speaker 4: would the world be without Minecraft.
Speaker 3: I don't give a ship. What the fuck. I'm not
Speaker 3: waiting to hear anyone here be like, here's why I
Speaker 3: love Minecraft.
Speaker 1: I'm not going to it was Mary's nomination. I think
Speaker 1: Minecraft's extremely important.
Speaker 3: Let me finish. I'm not saying that's the criteria. But
Speaker 3: and I think Minecraft is.
Speaker 1: This like massive, Like I don't all these people who
Speaker 1: are obsessed with making this like fucking metaverse, Like you
Speaker 1: already have one of the coolest little digital uh like
Speaker 1: creation hubs where people can go and just create whatever
Speaker 1: they want. It's called Minecraft. So stop like fucking trying
Speaker 1: to make this dumb metaverse shit a reality. When we
Speaker 1: already have something that's infinitely cooler, especially like doing all
Speaker 1: those game Spot Half Life charity streams when you would
Speaker 1: make the room and people would come make like crazy
Speaker 1: art and like little mini game levels while we were
Speaker 1: doing those live streams. Minecraft is like this massive canvas
Speaker 1: for cool shit and people have done amazing stuff with it.
Speaker 1: I've only ever played it for like thirty hours of
Speaker 1: my life total, I think throughout its lifespan.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but yeah, Snake Eater is just this like operatic
Speaker 2: cold war fucking soap opera with the coolest characters ever
Speaker 2: and one of the maybe the best boss fight in
Speaker 2: all of video games. Go ahead, sorry, and yeah it's
Speaker 2: for also at the time for the series, all of
Speaker 2: a sudden to go from these tight corridors and interior
Speaker 2: close quarters combat where it's like, oh, infiltrate this structure
Speaker 2: and go do the shit. Oh now you're just dropped
Speaker 2: into the wilderness during during this again like this huge
Speaker 2: like stakes the world could end mission against all these
Speaker 2: like rogues, gallery of incredible character design, and you have
Speaker 2: to also like adapt to being outside and using camouflage
Speaker 2: and like survival light elements. That was the first time
Speaker 2: I truly felt like I was in an open world,
Speaker 2: even though it's not really open world. That is the
Speaker 2: first time I was like, oh shit, I can see
Speaker 2: like video games in ten years from now doing some
Speaker 2: cool stuff with this.
Speaker 4: And they did. It was called mind craft because it
Speaker 4: was the ultimate place that you could actually have an
Speaker 4: open world.
Speaker 3: Shit walked into that one.
Speaker 5: It's the perfect form of metal gear solid because it
Speaker 5: blew everyone away in ninety eight when it was like,
Speaker 5: oh my god, it's like a movie. It's like I'm
Speaker 5: playing a movie, but you play it now, it doesn't
Speaker 5: you know, the controls of stuff.
Speaker 3: People struggle with it. Obviously, the visuals have an age
Speaker 3: super well. I think it looks cool, but obviously it looks.
Speaker 5: Old snake Eater and the two was way too complex
Speaker 5: for a lot of people. Again, I love it, but
Speaker 5: three was like telling this incredibly dramatic, awesome story. It
Speaker 5: was one that didn't require a bunch of very specific
Speaker 5: knowledge from old MSX games and you know, weird meme
Speaker 5: theory stuff from the end of two and all that shit.
Speaker 5: It's just a great fucking Cold war espionage story. Like
Speaker 5: Mike said, one of the best boss fights of all time.
Speaker 5: I also think it has the best ending I've ever
Speaker 5: seen in a video game.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, you fucking fight your How would you even
Speaker 1: describe it? You fight your in a field of spoilers
Speaker 1: for because it is about to get a remake, but.
Speaker 2: It Yeah, that's a good point. Yeah, it's got a
Speaker 2: good ending.
Speaker 5: And her character is one of the one of the
Speaker 5: best characters I've ever seen in a game in a
Speaker 5: movie like and the end how that all wraps up
Speaker 5: is just fucking incredible.
Speaker 3: Look.
Speaker 5: Minecraft, obviously, if this was the most important to the
Speaker 5: global Gaming Ecosystem bracket, it's Minecraft. But I think if
Speaker 5: it's us three determining ours like I mean, without a doubt,
Speaker 5: snake eater for me.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'll go snake here as well.
Speaker 4: What's your top uh metal gear of all time?
Speaker 3: It changes every time it gets asked.
Speaker 1: But yeah, don't answer that. She's setting you up for
Speaker 1: failure later in the tournament.
Speaker 3: Minecraft.
Speaker 4: Oh so you are for Minecraft.
Speaker 3: My vote is for don't let her twist you. I'm
Speaker 3: not doing this. I put my vote in. It's locked in.
Speaker 4: They're not all going to get through, Dan.
Speaker 3: I don't have to keep talking it already. You all
Speaker 3: answered straight up too.
Speaker 1: For the record, Mary, because I don't think I actually
Speaker 1: did not nominate him if Okay, I want to clarify.
Speaker 1: I'd seen Dan's list and I was like, there's no
Speaker 1: point in me adding more metal gear solids. If I
Speaker 1: was going to add a metal gerselage in my top
Speaker 1: twenty five, it would have been Snake Eater. Snake Eear is,
Speaker 1: without a doubt, my favorite metal gear. I can say
Speaker 1: that because I don't have any other horses in that race.
Speaker 4: Well, I'm gonna hold you to that, and I'll say,
Speaker 4: then that makes sense democratically for it to win over Minecraft,
Speaker 4: which is insane. So I'll that is the winner and
Speaker 4: submit it.
Speaker 2: That makes sense in fire Escape logic, but I'm gonna
Speaker 2: do it begrudgingly.
Speaker 4: Yeah, Metal Gears, Solid three, Snake Eater versus Minecraft, Metal Gears, Tullow.
Speaker 3: You got us the winner.
Speaker 1: You gotta realize, though, you absolutely know that no fire
Speaker 1: Escape listener got that wrong on their bracket.
Speaker 3: I think they all probably guess snakes correctly. Yeah, maybe not.
Speaker 4: They know the sanity of this.
Speaker 5: I'd like to get a bulligan here because I just
Speaker 5: looked at my top one hundred list and I've got
Speaker 5: met for a prime A forty eight and Warrior were
Speaker 5: at twenty six.
Speaker 3: So I've made a grave error, that's Dan.
Speaker 1: Oh wait, Mary, me and you had a little converse.
Speaker 1: Is this when we bring it up? Or do we
Speaker 1: wait till next episode?
Speaker 3: What are you doing now? You have to bring it up?
Speaker 3: There's that for next episode.
Speaker 4: No, it's like a good time.
Speaker 3: No.
Speaker 2: Dan's talking about how his opinions change over time.
Speaker 4: They do tend to change over time.
Speaker 3: That's a natural part of humanity.
Speaker 1: Yeah, of course, But like then the time span that
Speaker 1: I'm talking about, it's pretty funny how drastically it changed.
Speaker 4: Like in general, what we're saying is is that when
Speaker 4: you fight really hard for a game like Snake Eater
Speaker 4: and you're like, this is like my most number one
Speaker 4: game of all time. Will also remind everybody that in
Speaker 4: twenty nineteen, Dan had Links Awakening at number six of
Speaker 4: his Game of the Year list and said, and I quote, yeah,
Speaker 4: one of the best top down Zelda games. End quote.
Speaker 3: Yeah, talk about the remake. The remake is fine. I
Speaker 3: don't hate the remake.
Speaker 4: Fucking piece of shit.
Speaker 3: No no, no, no, no, no no no no no
Speaker 3: no no no.
Speaker 2: Mary, read the whole quote. Read the whole quote.
Speaker 4: One of the best games ever made.
Speaker 2: Oh, which read when you said it's one of the
Speaker 2: best top down zelding, I don't have the copy.
Speaker 4: That's the quote you sent it to me.
Speaker 2: Oh, it's on It's Giant Bombs twenty nineteen Dan's list.
Speaker 3: You said, blah blah blah.
Speaker 4: The Switchek remake fixed any problems I previously had with this,
Speaker 4: and now I can properly enjoy one of the best
Speaker 4: top down Zelda games.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Oh, I think that's fair, Like I think the
Speaker 3: remake it did fix a lot of my problems with it. Okay,
Speaker 3: that's the one I played. That's what it's still like.
Speaker 3: Not one of the best, not what I would have recommended,
Speaker 3: but it is the better.
Speaker 2: Version, one of the best zeld Yeah, the copies that
Speaker 2: you called it one of the one of the best
Speaker 2: Selda games top down.
Speaker 3: That's fine, that's not a creezy.
Speaker 2: Well we'll say that later. We'll take into this at
Speaker 2: a later point in time.
Speaker 4: Inconsistent at best.
Speaker 3: I'm just a man. Who of all, I'm just a man.
Speaker 4: No youd evolved because you have the rhyme opinion and
Speaker 4: then changed it to be worse.
Speaker 2: Okay, So, uh so Minecraft is.
Speaker 4: Lost to fucking snake Eater.
Speaker 3: Next it got eaten.
Speaker 4: Stardoo Valley. Oh God versus x Calm two.
Speaker 3: We're gonna hurt Mike with this one. Me. God damn it.
Speaker 3: That's one of my top five games of all time.
Speaker 3: This feels good, all right. Let me just fucking eulogize
Speaker 3: this thing. Mary. We don't have to say ship, you
Speaker 3: get a horse.
Speaker 4: It's so much fun.
Speaker 3: Let's just watch a man die for a little bit
Speaker 3: of here.
Speaker 4: You can actually pinpoint. The second is Heartbreaks in half.
Speaker 3: And I love Starduo Valley.
Speaker 1: So I'm not gonna like be too upset, but I
Speaker 1: am one of my top five games of all time.
Speaker 1: That doesn't really matter. What I will say is I
Speaker 1: just played, and I'm toward the end of a long
Speaker 1: War of the Chosen campaign. As of recently, game is
Speaker 1: still absolutely incredible. I've been attached to characters in that game, which,
Speaker 1: for those who may not know, they're all procedurally generated.
Speaker 1: You just form bonds with them through the gameplay, what
Speaker 1: they do with their what you choose to do with
Speaker 1: them with their skills. They have all this Snipers is
Speaker 1: assault Specialists. The mission designs incredible war that Chosen is,
Speaker 1: in my opinion, the best expansion in any genre ever.
Speaker 2: Xcom two, I think was phenomenal.
Speaker 1: I think War of a Chosen came along and just
Speaker 1: blew me away with how they messed with the xcomp
Speaker 1: formula of building out the squad of procedurally generated characters
Speaker 1: hunting these different bosses throughout incredible missions. They added the
Speaker 1: loss of these zombies that you were fighting, so there's
Speaker 1: like three warring factions basically outfitting these soldiers, getting attached
Speaker 1: to them, sending them on missions, dreading sending your best
Speaker 1: ones on like mission impossible type scenarios. Either they die
Speaker 1: and you remember it for a week and it hurts,
Speaker 1: Like genuinely, I don't give a shit when fucking Sepharroth
Speaker 1: kills Erith or whatever the fuck, but I genuinely care when,
Speaker 1: like my Brazilian sniper who I named Gie Santo's after
Speaker 1: a basketball I like dies, it hurts and.
Speaker 2: Or they pull or they come out of it and
Speaker 2: then yeah, or you come out. They come out of
Speaker 2: it and they're just it's the most badass heroic shit
Speaker 2: ever because they you kept them behind on the map
Speaker 2: and to let every save everybody else and they escape
Speaker 2: it's just like in terms of being this emergent story machine,
Speaker 2: this like empathy for these characters engine It's incredible and
Speaker 2: I haven't even I'm not even gonna like dig into
Speaker 2: like how good the turn based systems are designed, and
Speaker 2: the enemy variety and all the different risk reward scenarios
Speaker 2: you have to consider throughout any given mission and any
Speaker 2: given campaign strategy layer, and in the turn based battles
Speaker 2: of life, it's uh, it's I think my favorite strategy
Speaker 2: game of all time and I still play it to
Speaker 2: this day and it gives me joy even if it's
Speaker 2: not going to move forward in the tournament.
Speaker 3: I vote for Start Valley. Yeah, that's fine, Mary, I'm
Speaker 3: up for that.
Speaker 4: I vote for Stardoo Valley. It had to happen, yea, Chris, Okay,
Speaker 4: everybody's gonna eat it on the nobody.
Speaker 3: Hear that. Yeah, goddamn it.
Speaker 4: It's a good one.
Speaker 2: A couple of versus Stone Cold? What what's the next round?
Speaker 2: I vote for Stone Which one.
Speaker 3: Is starting with this starting?
Speaker 4: The next game in the bracket is Halo Combat Evolved
Speaker 4: versus Gears of War?
Speaker 3: Oh oh oh, the old thoughts is actually a really
Speaker 3: interesting one.
Speaker 1: The Xbox matchup. My nomination was Halo. For the record,
Speaker 1: I also really like Gears of.
Speaker 4: War obviously excellent and revolutionary and so important for the
Speaker 4: Xbox's history. I just think only one of them has
Speaker 4: like a sick chainsaw gun, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: Laser Actually, yeah, if we're talking, if we're talking, if
Speaker 1: we're talking importance to Xbox's history, Halo is way more important.
Speaker 3: Well.
Speaker 5: It's tough though, because like that, I was kind of
Speaker 5: prepping my argument in my head here, and I was
Speaker 5: trying to think of, like, oh, well, Gears has been
Speaker 5: the more consistent series throughout, where's Halo had more down
Speaker 5: swings and stuff. But we are to be clear, this
Speaker 5: is about Halo one versus Gears of War one. Yes, right, yes,
Speaker 5: with that uh man, that co op you know, we
Speaker 5: take it for granted now co op campaigns, and obviously
Speaker 5: there's co op games on you know nes, but on
Speaker 5: the level of this huge shooter campaign, this big budget
Speaker 5: cool thing that was like built for co op where
Speaker 5: it's party obviously like Dom go this way, Mark.
Speaker 1: Oh, I thought you could just as easily have been
Speaker 1: talking about Combed Evolved up to that point.
Speaker 5: For the record, sure, yeah, I mean out of all
Speaker 5: this fucking awesome co op too, like the whole Halo series,
Speaker 5: but it.
Speaker 2: Doesn't have the branching paths.
Speaker 4: It doesn't have the branching paths.
Speaker 5: It was built for it in a way that like Halos,
Speaker 5: it's not like it was an afterthought. Like obviously it
Speaker 5: doesn't by accident be a great game.
Speaker 4: You don't have to, but it is. It is like
Speaker 4: beneficial to play with an additional player when you play Gears,
Speaker 4: because you can like you can snipe while the other
Speaker 4: person is like down on the ground. It's really sick
Speaker 4: to save your buddy like that.
Speaker 5: Yeah, And I feel like I could see myself playing
Speaker 5: Halo campaigns and I think I have playing them solo.
Speaker 5: But for me Gears, I think every single one of
Speaker 5: those games. The first time I went through all those campaigns,
Speaker 5: I made a point till I remember when three came out,
Speaker 5: Me and three friends, we went to the game and
Speaker 5: Former office over weekend. We all just like sat in
Speaker 5: the same room and played through four player co op
Speaker 5: campaign again, that's three one was increased.
Speaker 3: That's three two.
Speaker 1: But why is the co op inherently in this argument
Speaker 1: you're making. It's like you're making co op inherently better
Speaker 1: than single player.
Speaker 3: Why is that the case?
Speaker 2: That's I'm genuinely interested.
Speaker 5: I just because in terms of just memories of good
Speaker 5: memories of those two games, I remember just a lot
Speaker 5: more fun and laughing and kind of team strategy stuff
Speaker 5: going on when I was playing Gears one versus I mean,
Speaker 5: it's great in Halo one too, because like that Enemy
Speaker 5: AI was way ahead of its sign back then.
Speaker 1: Yeah, in terms of communal experiences, I would say one
Speaker 1: of my favorite memories in any video game is the
Speaker 1: land parties that I had with Halo Commet Evolved, which
Speaker 1: is not co op, but you were cooperating with the
Speaker 1: people on your team to take out other humans on
Speaker 1: in four v four matches.
Speaker 5: And which is so fucking good that you'd get a
Speaker 5: bunch of fore you get sixteen friends in one place,
Speaker 5: all looking CRTs around in xboxes because it was that
Speaker 5: fucking good And.
Speaker 3: There's no no solid factor to that.
Speaker 1: But like I still genuine to this day, I don't
Speaker 1: know when the last time many people have played Combat Evolved.
Speaker 1: Is that game is still my favorite in the whole series.
Speaker 1: If we're being my opic, I'm gonna really hone in
Speaker 1: on that I think there are really good Halo's.
Speaker 3: Outside of that.
Speaker 1: I'd say Halo as a whole package reached its peak
Speaker 1: with three probably, However, Halo County evolved still to this day,
Speaker 1: is one of the best shooter stories told. The way
Speaker 1: they build up the mystery and they use these like
Speaker 1: themes from Alien, like Ridley Scott's all over Halo one,
Speaker 1: aliens from Alien. Really Scott's Alien nineteen eighty nine? Was
Speaker 1: it earlier than that seventy nine Alien? Ye seventy I
Speaker 1: The way they build up mystery and it's it's it's
Speaker 1: in the like counter or half life vein of storytelling
Speaker 1: where it's like, okay, maybe there's a quick cutscene, but
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, like they're telling a lot of
Speaker 1: the story while you're still in the driver's seat. Through
Speaker 1: the first like whole half of that game is some
Speaker 1: of the best shooter missions in any game. Then you
Speaker 1: have the Silent Cartographer is almost like an open world
Speaker 1: farcry game. Outside, it's just the variety there up front.
Speaker 1: The weapon design, best pistol, best gun in video games,
Speaker 1: I'd argue maybe the top three. I I love Gears
Speaker 1: of War and what they did with that movement system
Speaker 1: and the third person the roadie running and the chainsawing
Speaker 1: and the like the crawling. It's impressive Halo to me.
Speaker 1: And obviously Halo's controls when it first came out on
Speaker 1: the Big Boy Xbox controller where they tweaked, they had
Speaker 1: to tweak those, but Halo just proved dual analog shooters
Speaker 1: could exist, which was crazy.
Speaker 3: Anyone.
Speaker 1: It's second nature today now because Halo did so much
Speaker 1: of that. But like I also just the multiplayer in
Speaker 1: that game is the co op, the single player, the environments,
Speaker 1: what cool of cool fucking universe they designed from scratch.
Speaker 1: We take it for granted now that the Halo universe
Speaker 1: is a thing with a fucking streaming show, But like
Speaker 1: that video game was just any form of entertainment that
Speaker 1: was a cool world, a cool story. It just happened
Speaker 1: to be in a fucking like, really fun, badass video game.
Speaker 1: And I don't know I've talked about it enough, but
Speaker 1: Halo Commet of All is still one of my favorite
Speaker 1: shooters of all time.
Speaker 5: Ever, everything you said is correct, and I think this
Speaker 5: is the first one on this bracket that I think
Speaker 5: it seems like all of us are like, yeah, they're
Speaker 5: both looking great.
Speaker 3: There's not a clear winner here.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and Gear for the also last thing, I'll say
Speaker 1: Gears of the Gears of War, I agree, has been
Speaker 1: more more consistent as a series. I do not think
Speaker 1: one is my favorite game by a long shot in
Speaker 1: that series, but but it absolutely brought a huge new
Speaker 1: vibe to shooters in video games, and like, at first
Speaker 1: the macho stuff annoyed me, but looking back, I was like, no,
Speaker 1: that's that's part of like the that's part of it,
Speaker 1: that's part of the tone.
Speaker 3: They were just it was it.
Speaker 5: Yeah, Okay, So anyway, I will just say, because Mary,
Speaker 5: I know you've got a lot of thoughts on Gears,
Speaker 5: so I'll just say quickly that I think they're both great.
Speaker 5: I was annoyed at times from the halo'saign. I feel
Speaker 5: like it's a little more prone to just be like,
Speaker 5: where are we going now, what's next, like especially like
Speaker 5: the library and stuff like that. I think there are
Speaker 5: some some dips, like the levels that aren't amazing. But
Speaker 5: I played through both them co op. I played through
Speaker 5: Halo one with Bonk right before the pandemic, and I
Speaker 5: played through Gears one with my sister Kayla. A couple
Speaker 5: of years ago, and they're both great still. They're both
Speaker 5: incredible co op experiences. But I think I do remember
Speaker 5: as a game Gears being I think my vote's going
Speaker 5: to go with Gears. I think I like that game more.
Speaker 4: I mean, ultimately, like as Dana said a lot, this
Speaker 4: is our list, and so it's really like our experiences
Speaker 4: that will determine what this is. Gears was extraordinarily influential
Speaker 4: to me personally and got me into shooters when I
Speaker 4: actually didn't think that that was a genre of game
Speaker 4: that I could play, or that I wasn't good enough
Speaker 4: to play. There was something about the cover based shooting
Speaker 4: where I was like, oh, I can handle this. It
Speaker 4: was bit of a blend between shooting and also strategy
Speaker 4: that I felt like I could wrap my head around
Speaker 4: and UH and get into shooters for the first time.
Speaker 4: I also think it did some innovative things with UH
Speaker 4: with combat, like maid tagging. It had some really iconic
Speaker 4: guns torque Bow, which allowed you to explode enemies from back.
Speaker 1: Yeah nice, I know, you just walk up and punch
Speaker 1: them with it too, and then yeah cool like world
Speaker 1: building design thing.
Speaker 3: I agree.
Speaker 4: I mean, I think they're they're both great worlds honestly
Speaker 4: because uh uh d Day or like Immersion Day for
Speaker 4: Gears was also very iconic, and they had a really
Speaker 4: interesting worldview of our world, like a you know, our
Speaker 4: universe that was destroyed by aliens that were underground the
Speaker 4: whole time.
Speaker 3: And.
Speaker 2: You get.
Speaker 3: That's episode.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's actually how it started. Yeah, and uh you
Speaker 4: you fight inside of a bug.
Speaker 3: I don't know.
Speaker 4: There's just like so many wonderful levels that I'm like,
Speaker 4: this is so iconic, and even though I do agree
Speaker 4: it's not, it's not actually like my favorite, but I
Speaker 4: think it is just such an important game in the series,
Speaker 4: and I think it's the one that kind of changed
Speaker 4: my life. So I personally have to go with Gears,
Speaker 4: but I have I have a fond respect for Halo,
Speaker 4: and I know that Halo generally, I think might be
Speaker 4: more beloved as a franchise.
Speaker 3: But for me personally these days, Halo's got up some
Speaker 3: stains on it, but it does where it's like Gears.
Speaker 1: I'm sure Gears, I think people just kind of are
Speaker 1: apathetic these days. Emergence Day could maybe turn around, but
Speaker 1: I'm not super I like Gears five a whole bunch
Speaker 1: the Hord mode in Gears five is incredible.
Speaker 5: Well, I just feel like Gears has been a less
Speaker 5: polarizing series over there.
Speaker 3: Like, you know, I played through every.
Speaker 5: Gears campaign with Kayla, like in a row, back to
Speaker 5: back to back, and it's not like, oh ship, we
Speaker 5: got to this one. I know, you know, Judgment is
Speaker 5: kind of a different thing, and I actually don't even
Speaker 5: just like Judgment. But I think Halo has more, especially
Speaker 5: post Bungee, you know, post three. I had a little
Speaker 5: rock year of a history there. But again, it's not
Speaker 5: about the series. I think Hammer of Don was that
Speaker 5: in the first one. Mary, Yeah, okay, my vogue goes
Speaker 5: two years of war.
Speaker 4: Okay, all right. Democratically, I think it's done. Might give anything.
Speaker 3: I said what I say.
Speaker 2: I think they're more polarizing because people care more about Halo.
Speaker 4: But's Halo versus Gears. Gears wins nice, all right. The
Speaker 4: next one. In addition to Dan's heater, which.
Speaker 3: Is now on, I got a rug.
Speaker 4: Look that is so small?
Speaker 3: What is that? Oh my god? Now for a for
Speaker 3: a smaller room.
Speaker 4: The bathroom, Matt, there's nothing else.
Speaker 3: Get a rug, Dan, I promise you. Dan.
Speaker 1: Everybody watching this can say definitively, a bigger rug would
Speaker 1: fit in that room.
Speaker 3: This is how space works.
Speaker 4: Stupid, stupid man.
Speaker 3: He's trying to He's trying to use up our energy
Speaker 3: of argument on the.
Speaker 4: Save it for this one. The next one is World
Speaker 4: of Warcraft versus Super Mario Odyssey.
Speaker 3: Come on, Mario Mario Odyssey, charge you every fucking month
Speaker 3: to play it? Case closed, I'll.
Speaker 1: Save the big is World of Warcraft there because you
Speaker 1: nominated or because you thought it was something we should
Speaker 1: talk about.
Speaker 4: I think it's something that we should talk about, and I,
Speaker 4: upon retrospect, realize that Odyssey is going to destroy this game.
Speaker 4: But it is a very important game and the best.
Speaker 2: Three D platformer of all time.
Speaker 3: But versus the game, the charges you have a month
Speaker 3: to play it. I like World of Warcraft just fine.
Speaker 3: I paid the subscription bay fine.
Speaker 4: I like it just fine. Do you sound like a
Speaker 4: Southern defense attorney. I like World to war Craft. It's
Speaker 4: just fine.
Speaker 2: It is, But well, what you've got like a Florida
Speaker 2: Panhandle thing going on when really what you want is Savannah,
Speaker 2: which is lock Molesses spilling out of your mouth.
Speaker 1: I World of Warcraft was cool. I liked my Dwarf
Speaker 1: Hunter and my elf Gnome and my.
Speaker 3: Out of here argument.
Speaker 4: All right, this is not this is not an argument.
Speaker 3: I'm moving on.
Speaker 4: That's phenomenal.
Speaker 2: Fuck Ukon versus Texas Tech.
Speaker 3: So I was thinking, yeah, next.
Speaker 4: Matchup, Super Mario World versus Call of Duty four.
Speaker 3: Oh God, that sucks.
Speaker 2: Did you who nominated Call Duty four?
Speaker 3: Did just that? Is that just on there? It should
Speaker 3: that would have been actually just on there.
Speaker 4: It might have been in Dan's top twenty five. But
Speaker 4: as I said, I did, yeah, no, it should be
Speaker 4: stop adding them after about fifteen to twenty.
Speaker 5: It's my forty seven on the last time I did this,
Speaker 5: I don't give a shit, but this belongs here.
Speaker 3: This belongs here, y Yeah. Yeah, Like.
Speaker 5: Mario World is one of the like four or five
Speaker 5: games in history that I would consider a perfect video game.
Speaker 5: Nothing should change, and it's aged. It's just as fun
Speaker 5: to play now as it was in nineteen ninety one.
Speaker 5: It is the peak of two D Mario, and I
Speaker 5: would argue maybe maybe even the best Mario game. It's
Speaker 5: kind of between like that and Odyssey. I would say, yeah,
Speaker 5: it is untouchable to me, it is touchable. Yeah, it's
Speaker 5: it was my top ten. It's my number five game
Speaker 5: of all time. Yeah, it's It's a perfect video game,
Speaker 5: absolutely perfect.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm not going to argue to Mario World
Speaker 1: over Call Duty, but Call Duty four or I will say,
Speaker 1: it's no question that we're still enthrall to how successful
Speaker 1: in groundbreaking It's multiplayer was.
Speaker 2: Campaign still holds up really well.
Speaker 1: I played it recently, but like it's that multiplayer just
Speaker 1: absolutely changed the game in a way that, for better
Speaker 1: and worse, these days, people are still emulating.
Speaker 3: I played that. I think I prestiged the eighth prestige
Speaker 3: in that game.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I played Two War.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but I'm not gonna I don't care enough about
Speaker 1: it to say it over Mario World though, Soup Mario World.
Speaker 1: I like to Mario World a whole bunch, but I'm
Speaker 1: kind of apathetic about both of them in a way
Speaker 1: that I'm not gonna.
Speaker 4: Well, you have to, sorry, where's your vote? I'm confused.
Speaker 3: I'll go to Mario World.
Speaker 1: Okay, Okay, so Mary, if you care enough about Call
Speaker 1: of Duty, then I could be tie breaker because I
Speaker 1: don't right now care about either of these enough to
Speaker 1: like really argue.
Speaker 4: So I'm also a bit apathetic to these, and so
Speaker 4: I was going to kind of bow out and see
Speaker 4: how you feel about both of them. I've played both
Speaker 4: of them. I think they're both solid games. They neither
Speaker 4: of them are in my top ten of all time
Speaker 4: or like a game where I would like fight tooth
Speaker 4: and nail for. Call of Duty was also like pretty
Speaker 4: monumental for me. Is like I think COD four was
Speaker 4: my first time playing a COD I didn't play a
Speaker 4: COD before that, so that was a big deal for me.
Speaker 4: Campaigns great like it's it's a it's a it's a
Speaker 4: solid game. Super Mario World is iconic and beloved and
Speaker 4: a fantastic fucking game to play with your siblings, And
Speaker 4: so I guess I could lean more towards super Mario World,
Speaker 4: but I wouldn't. I wouldn't fight for either of them.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I love both of them.
Speaker 4: More passionate person should fight this one.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean I do love both of them.
Speaker 5: I've spent so much time with four and undeniably is
Speaker 5: super important. It seems like we all respect it quite
Speaker 5: a bit. But yeah, I mean, you could put fucking
Speaker 5: Metal Year Solid against Mario World, and I would have Uh,
Speaker 5: I might go Mario World. You know, like, that's how
Speaker 5: much I love Mario World. So what's that merry.
Speaker 4: I'm just making sure I heard you that Super Mario
Speaker 4: World is more then.
Speaker 3: I did not say that Metal Gear, and I would
Speaker 3: not say that, And I don't know if I'm gonna
Speaker 3: have to say that right now. All I have to
Speaker 3: say is that's the.
Speaker 4: Beauty of brackets. You absolutely the fuck will have to
Speaker 4: say that at some point. It's just a matter of time.
Speaker 5: I will cross that bridge when I come to it.
Speaker 5: The bridge right now is Mario World beats Call of
Speaker 5: Duty four.
Speaker 4: Okay, sounds like there's no grave oppositions to this, so
Speaker 4: we're gonna go with Super Mario World winning over Call
Speaker 4: of Duty four. Right next? Total war war Hammer three.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't give a fuck what's next.
Speaker 4: I'm going Red Dead Redemption two.
Speaker 5: Fuck me, God damn it, this is funny. I'm going
Speaker 5: Red Dead too. I've always loved that game.
Speaker 4: It's really funny.
Speaker 5: That's a good one for Mikey. Lock me in for
Speaker 5: Red Dead Redemption two. I was playing it today.
Speaker 1: God damn it, Mike Clear, I'm not wasting breath talking
Speaker 1: about Total War war Hammer three to either of you.
Speaker 2: Anymore. I've made that vow and I have any to
Speaker 2: play it with now.
Speaker 3: But yeah, I can't. I can't say he's.
Speaker 4: Not on this podcast. He'sn't get a fucking vote. Which
Speaker 4: one do you want?
Speaker 3: Oh? Fuck? I?
Speaker 2: Oh god, I don't know. I feel like I don't.
Speaker 2: I feel like I have to talk myself into both
Speaker 2: of them.
Speaker 3: Why were they going married? Do you have a vote?
Speaker 4: I would probably because I know this is this is
Speaker 4: Michael's Sophie's choice, So I think, like, based on what
Speaker 4: Mike thinks, I'll probably support him in it. I played
Speaker 4: both of these.
Speaker 3: When did you play Total War war Hammer three?
Speaker 4: I skimmed it.
Speaker 7: No, you didn't fuck up, you liar, you didn't know.
Speaker 7: You didn't win the war. Skimmed it's so total. Yeah,
Speaker 7: for the third time, it's crazy.
Speaker 2: You're gonna be You're gonna be eating your words.
Speaker 1: The show blows up, and that gets syndicated when we
Speaker 1: when when Peacock wants the show on its streaming and
Speaker 1: you guys don't get a penny.
Speaker 3: I don't even know how that works.
Speaker 4: I'm just saying I think I think you should probably
Speaker 4: get a heavier, heftier saying, yeah, I know, I'm just.
Speaker 3: Trying to figure out how to.
Speaker 2: I've played Total Warhammer three much much, much more than
Speaker 2: Red Dead Redemption two. But you know what, Total war
Speaker 2: Warhammer three I already said x Com two is my
Speaker 2: favorite strategy game of all time. Total war Warmer three
Speaker 2: is right behind it.
Speaker 1: The tough thing with Total war war HEMM three is
Speaker 1: you're kind of talking about all three games because of
Speaker 1: the Immortal Empires mode.
Speaker 2: But Red Dead Redemption two.
Speaker 1: Just one of the most impressive video games ever in
Speaker 1: it's world design, it's writing, it's it's absolutely replete with flaws,
Speaker 1: of course, but everything else is just so strong.
Speaker 2: It's it's a monumental game.
Speaker 1: Total Warhammer three is not better than Red Redemption two,
Speaker 1: but I right now would rather play Total war Warhammer
Speaker 1: three for what it's worth.
Speaker 3: But I.
Speaker 4: I just said, you just keep sucking that Warhammer and
Speaker 4: I can't.
Speaker 8: Do.
Speaker 3: You know what, it's Red Deredemption two.
Speaker 1: I've talked enough about Warhammer three with my past soliloquies
Speaker 1: about it, have not gotten be able to fucking play it.
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna right now, So Red two is my vote?
Speaker 3: Did Yeah, Red.
Speaker 4: Dead Redemption two wins over Total war Warhammer three.
Speaker 3: I'm with Dan. I got some conspiracy theories going on
Speaker 3: about whether this is how random this was, she had
Speaker 3: to make any bad choices here.
Speaker 4: I also want to say, there's been uh, well I
Speaker 4: lost tomb Raider, there's been, Yeah, there's I prioritized a
Speaker 4: lot of your guys' games because you guys felt so strongly.
Speaker 4: I also want to say that when it comes to
Speaker 4: the bracket, who got the most games in? Mike did,
Speaker 4: because more games.
Speaker 2: In probably had more outliers than you two right.
Speaker 4: Ones that I think are like also just universally liked.
Speaker 4: So it's like you put games in yours where I
Speaker 4: was like, this is a game that the world we.
Speaker 3: Should talk about. Okay, I got, yeah, that we should
Speaker 3: talk about.
Speaker 2: Yeah, like RPGA a little.
Speaker 4: Bit more obscure. I put in as many as I could, Dan,
Speaker 4: but I couldn't put in all of your fucking crap.
Speaker 1: Well, yeah, I had to balance out Galactic Battlegrounds with
Speaker 1: an RPG because Dan wasn't about to put an RPG.
Speaker 3: On his list.
Speaker 4: Yeah, okay, next the next one?
Speaker 3: Wait?
Speaker 2: Sorry, how many have we done so far?
Speaker 3: How many? Like? I don't know? Bracket is weird?
Speaker 4: One two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.
Speaker 3: Nine, ten.
Speaker 4: We've done ten matchups twenty games.
Speaker 2: I guess there were a few.
Speaker 4: We have a long way to go. Yeah, sorry, all right,
Speaker 4: next matchup the legend of Zelda Majora's Mask versus Borderlands Too, Joe.
Speaker 3: Is the best game ever made. What do we do it?
Speaker 3: It's so fucking cool.
Speaker 4: But you had to be there at certain times of day.
Speaker 3: That's cool.
Speaker 4: Borderlands you just get to play and shoot.
Speaker 2: Stop you nominate Borderlands too, There's Guns is a great game.
Speaker 3: I love that. I got it like a nine high,
Speaker 3: but yeah, it's too high. I regret that score. But yeah.
Speaker 1: The first words Dan ever said to me in my
Speaker 1: life were when he said or he even say it
Speaker 1: to me. I heard him across the room say that
Speaker 1: in turn keeps dying a lot when he had a
Speaker 1: level forty character and I had just started mine at
Speaker 1: Charity a children's hospital.
Speaker 2: Anyway, Yeah, I think Borderlands was a phenomenal game.
Speaker 1: It's the best Borderlands, but also Majors Mask is just
Speaker 1: this intricate puzzle box of Azelda that absolutely flew too
Speaker 1: close to the sun in its N sixty four version,
Speaker 1: but in its three DS remake and now you can
Speaker 1: play it on the switch.
Speaker 2: They must.
Speaker 1: They iron out like the two biggest problems it had.
Speaker 1: And now I think people appreciate it for how brilliant
Speaker 1: it's time loop structure was and how it was.
Speaker 3: It was brilliant back then, but it was.
Speaker 2: Yes, I think it's more accessible. Yeah, yeah, series that's
Speaker 2: always been in a series, that game. Yeah, aged perfectly, Randy.
Speaker 1: She's got that Randy pitch in her pocket right Now'randy
Speaker 1: Pittsford and Andrew Reiner pulling Mary very.
Speaker 4: I think this is a losing battle.
Speaker 3: It is just objectively, you've already lost.
Speaker 2: I would happily play Borderlines too with you at some point.
Speaker 3: Yeah, no, you don't deserve boxes d.
Speaker 4: The winner. The winner is the legend of Zelda Majora's
Speaker 4: mouth sick. Cool Okay. The next matchup GTA five versus
Speaker 4: elden Ring elden Ring.
Speaker 5: I mean, look again, if this was like impact, like
Speaker 5: mainstream impacts of like GTA the online part of five,
Speaker 5: way bigger than I think anybody would expect it. But look,
Speaker 5: I like GTA five a lot. I think it's a
Speaker 5: great fucking video game. Uh, one of the better GTAs,
Speaker 5: I would say, Uh, elden Ring Is. There's just nothing
Speaker 5: like it. I mean, we gave a game of the
Speaker 5: Year and didn't give it a second thought. It seems
Speaker 5: you know, it's a well.
Speaker 1: You gave it a second thought. You were trying to
Speaker 1: push Vampire Survivors over. I had to talk about how
Speaker 1: one was seation.
Speaker 4: No, you didn't even put it in your top fifteen
Speaker 4: Elton Ring Vampire Survivors.
Speaker 3: Oh oh well no, no, it's just elden Ring is.
Speaker 4: Oh, I've changed my mind. That was just silly lollygagging.
Speaker 4: And now this is serious game time and elden Ring
Speaker 4: is important.
Speaker 2: It is.
Speaker 4: Is iconic, it is revolutionary, and like to this day,
Speaker 4: there are people who make a living playing GTA role
Speaker 4: playing as a job. It's so crazy that you can
Speaker 4: do that. I find it just wild to me, the
Speaker 4: intricacies and the amount of world building in GTA that
Speaker 4: you can have your own mansions, You can play as
Speaker 4: a cop if you want to, You can role play
Speaker 4: as all these different characters. You can just play the
Speaker 4: damn game, but you can also play online with all
Speaker 4: these different mini games. The The Heists and GTA five
Speaker 4: are god tier. Getting four people together and being like
Speaker 4: we're gonna we are going to take this bank down
Speaker 4: as a group and then run from the cops. Is
Speaker 4: It is just so much fun And I would rather
Speaker 4: play GTA five bank heists than I would elden Ring
Speaker 4: Right now.
Speaker 3: I'm GTA Mike.
Speaker 5: I feel like you, being smarter than me, would be
Speaker 5: better at explaining because I'm kind of coming because I
Speaker 5: feel like elden Ring has been talking about so much
Speaker 5: for so many years, including by us, that I would
Speaker 5: trust you to make this argument here.
Speaker 1: Yeah, if it was Red Dead two versus elden Ring,
Speaker 1: I would go Red Dead two. And GTA five is
Speaker 1: undoubtedly phenomenal. The just sheer achievement wise, being able to
Speaker 1: zoom out and then go across the map and zoom
Speaker 1: in on a new character that they've fully written character
Speaker 1: in an open world was incredible, but still nothing like
Speaker 1: that has been done since it's GTA online. That is
Speaker 1: truly the impressive thing to me as someone who went
Speaker 1: into the one of their careers to do like a
Speaker 1: biker gang and like how you can move up the
Speaker 1: ranks and assign your friends.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Mary's right.
Speaker 1: Honestly, one of the best role playing games you could
Speaker 1: play today is GTI online, but elden Rings how they
Speaker 1: took their craft at pattern recognition based combat of challenge,
Speaker 1: of overcoming it, of the sheer number of character builds
Speaker 1: that are viable, and elden Ring in a world that
Speaker 1: has biomes as different as a place where you basically
Speaker 1: can just get poisoned from walking around to a place
Speaker 1: where they're just it's built to house giants, so you
Speaker 1: have to worry about fighting giants left and right, and
Speaker 1: then your build might not even work to account for
Speaker 1: all the things they did in elden Ring, I think
Speaker 1: is more impressive than the undoubtedly extremely deep detail in
Speaker 1: uh Los Santos. There's still stuff in Los Aantos that
Speaker 1: people are have not figured out yet, Like Rockstar. There's
Speaker 1: alien stuff, there's big foot stuff that people are still
Speaker 1: finding new clues to today. But I still think elden
Speaker 1: Ring it's how it's paced with its boss fights, just
Speaker 1: the fact that you can go into a side dungeon
Speaker 1: that not everybody has seen, and it's just one of
Speaker 1: the most intricately designed labyrinths of a Some are like
Speaker 1: more puzzle box oriented, others are just more about funneling
Speaker 1: you toward this incredible boss fight that again, like I
Speaker 1: might have seen bosses that you two haven't even fought.
Speaker 1: And again, just the ease with which you can switch
Speaker 1: between character builds. But the fact that there's such a
Speaker 1: high skill ceiling for like sixteen different viable builds. That's
Speaker 1: a like a that's something that like even character action
Speaker 1: action games, most of them haven't achieved the fact that
Speaker 1: it works in such a huge, vast world of that
Speaker 1: scope where you can eventually climb on top of these
Speaker 1: walking cathedrals and then go talk to a turtle with
Speaker 1: a popat to respect. And there's there's something about Elden
Speaker 1: World's Elden Rings World that they took dark Souls, and
Speaker 1: if you've seen those maps of Dark Souls, it's really
Speaker 1: about just moving downward gradually. But the way that they
Speaker 1: achieve that without you really realizing how far down you're moving.
Speaker 1: There's that certain subtlety to Elden Rings World design that,
Speaker 1: after like twenty hours of playing, you step back and
Speaker 1: be like, holy shit, I've been underground. I've been underground
Speaker 1: in this underground map that's basically as big as the
Speaker 1: surface for ten hours now, and it's just as nuanced
Speaker 1: as any far Cry game.
Speaker 2: That I've ever played. Elder Ring to me is more
Speaker 2: more impressive.
Speaker 3: Yeah, let me ask this.
Speaker 5: You know, undeniably, the GTA online stuff is huge, and
Speaker 5: you know, Mary, you bring up the role play stuff
Speaker 5: and that's fascinating that, Yes, people can do that, and
Speaker 5: there's a whole it's so detailed and there's so much
Speaker 5: going on in Los Santo's that like, holy shit, that
Speaker 5: can be a whole or game if you want to
Speaker 5: make it that.
Speaker 3: But do any of us do that. I don't know
Speaker 3: if we do, Like, are any of us doing GTA
Speaker 3: rob But I did for a long time.
Speaker 4: I mean, it is an older game, so I have
Speaker 4: to also like give it credit. We're talking when we
Speaker 4: talk about us internally, GTA was very monumental to me
Speaker 4: and my time at game Spot, and I played it
Speaker 4: weekly in a series where every week we would come
Speaker 4: up with some bullshit that was so much fun. I
Speaker 4: have laughed myself to tears playing GTA five. It is
Speaker 4: so immersive and so goddamn funny. Eldin Ering only really
Speaker 4: produces like one emotion out of me, and it's usually
Speaker 4: like extraordinary stress because I am trying to live in
Speaker 4: this anxiety fueled death World. Yes, it's very good at that,
Speaker 4: but I just had so many more ranges of emotions
Speaker 4: playing GTA.
Speaker 3: I laughed, I.
Speaker 4: Cried, I screamed, I got angry. I mean, I really
Speaker 4: went through it with GTA, and I just also, I
Speaker 4: think generally speaking, I just had more fun. Whereas elden Ring,
Speaker 4: I do agree. I actually think it's more impressive. I
Speaker 4: think it is. I think it is perfectly executed. But
Speaker 4: we're just talking about often what it is that brings
Speaker 4: us joy to play, like we get excited about. And
Speaker 4: while I think elden Ring is expertly constructed and genius,
Speaker 4: I think GTA is the sandbox I wish to play
Speaker 4: in all the time, and I just think it's it's incredible.
Speaker 4: So I unfortunately I don't think I'm going to survive this,
Speaker 4: but GTA is the game for me.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, I mean it's and I get the argument
Speaker 3: it's it's one of the greats, but yeah, I'm going
Speaker 3: with elden Ring for mine.
Speaker 2: Michael elden Ring as well. GA GTA online especially is
Speaker 2: fucking red.
Speaker 4: Elden Ring wins over GTA five next Super Mario Galaxy
Speaker 4: two versus Rocket League.
Speaker 2: Oh did you also know this is a genuine question.
Speaker 2: Is this the only galaxy here?
Speaker 3: Did you do both? I probably put Galaxy one on it?
Speaker 2: Okay, because I'm just curious. Okay, yeah, go go for it.
Speaker 3: Okay, look, Mike, what are you voting? Rocket League? Okay,
Speaker 3: I'm not gonna breath. Rocket League wins the whole tournament. No,
Speaker 3: it just joking.
Speaker 5: I doned to talk about other Mario games. Yeah, I'm
Speaker 5: not gonna waste my breath. Put Rocket League forward. Galaxy
Speaker 5: two is great, takes all the things that were great
Speaker 5: about one, as a nice overworld system and everything. I
Speaker 5: think it as less of the motion bullshit that the
Speaker 5: first one had. Uh, it's great, but I don't need
Speaker 5: to I don't need to think it's praises, It's it's fine.
Speaker 3: Rocket League's very good too.
Speaker 4: The winner is Rocket League. You did not put Super
Speaker 4: Mario Galaxy one on here. This is the only Super
Speaker 4: Mario Galaxy.
Speaker 3: But there are other Mario games. Yes, No, that's it.
Speaker 3: We're out. I just Rocket League. There's no use. Just
Speaker 3: put it forward.
Speaker 4: Next Team Fortress two versus Mario Party two.
Speaker 5: I tried to get Team Fortress two to run on
Speaker 5: my computer for so long it seems so fun and
Speaker 5: it wouldn't run on my E machines.
Speaker 3: So Mario Party two.
Speaker 4: It's not my fault.
Speaker 3: You were like.
Speaker 4: Team Fortress too. It is one of the latest games
Speaker 4: of all time.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's such a good going to maybe go to
Speaker 2: bat for Mario Party two.
Speaker 5: I just don't really hear you talk about Team I
Speaker 5: don't think you've ever talked about Team Fortress.
Speaker 3: He was a child.
Speaker 2: I play a lot of teas. I abolutely love Team
Speaker 2: Fortress too.
Speaker 1: It's just there are better variations of Team forts two
Speaker 1: in my opinion now, but they exist because Team Fortress
Speaker 1: two laid the foundation first.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yah, yeah, yeah yeah.
Speaker 5: Mario Party two is the best Mario Party Cool. There's
Speaker 5: plenty on the Internet. There's plenty on the Internet of
Speaker 5: me doing Mario. You move your little little whatever game forward.
Speaker 5: That's fine with your computers and your internet.
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's no internet outside of Kansas City.
Speaker 4: I believe that your reason for liking another game is
Speaker 4: that you just couldn't play Team Fortress too, and so
Speaker 4: you like looked through your blinds of all the other
Speaker 4: kids having fun and couldn't play.
Speaker 5: I basically hated PC games until I actually had a
Speaker 5: PC that could run stuff.
Speaker 4: So it's so good. Fantastic Team Fortress to wallops, Mario
Speaker 4: Party two to win.
Speaker 3: She's really just driving the nails in matchup.
Speaker 4: She's coming whatever wins is the sheet Hitman World of
Speaker 4: Assassination versus Fire Emblem three Houses.
Speaker 1: Come, Yeah, I love Fire through House. I'm not I'm
Speaker 1: drowning that child? If wait, is that what happened in
Speaker 1: Sophie's Choice? Probably I never saw. Did they drown her
Speaker 1: in million? What's the one where they drowned?
Speaker 3: The one? I can't see it?
Speaker 2: Am I making this up? Did I dream about this?
Speaker 3: I've never seen a baby drown I mean neither outside
Speaker 3: of a movie.
Speaker 4: Dan, Why would you even say that?
Speaker 3: I have never seen I'm thinking of the Nirvana album cover.
Speaker 3: Oh I was just swimming for money? Yeah? Uh no,
Speaker 3: I absolutely.
Speaker 1: I think love Fire three Houses, but I love Hitman
Speaker 1: World asassination. Hitman World Assassination is like, if you want
Speaker 1: do you want to see what like good game design is?
Speaker 3: Just play those games. If three Houses want to.
Speaker 2: Know what we're capable of, just show them what Io
Speaker 2: has made.
Speaker 5: Yeah, Three Houses is good, but it had way too
Speaker 5: much of that bullshit in between missions. I thought it works,
Speaker 5: but Awakening would have been the one that even that,
Speaker 5: like there's Awakening was awesome to make.
Speaker 3: Stuff in between the good stuff. But hit Man definitely
Speaker 3: hit Man. Yeah, agreed, I don't this will.
Speaker 4: Be our last before the break okay?
Speaker 3: O god?
Speaker 4: Oh and just to be clear, Man World of Assassination
Speaker 4: wins over Fire Emblems.
Speaker 2: Assuming everybody knows this.
Speaker 1: Listen, Yes, I'm assuming everybody knows this, but if you're listening,
Speaker 1: hit Man World Assassination is what they rebranded the whole
Speaker 1: trilogy into as one big package, just so people know.
Speaker 4: It's so nice that way, you don't have to make
Speaker 4: a choice, you just get Oh.
Speaker 2: I thought you was saying I was nice for explaining it.
Speaker 2: It was like, I'm just letting them know.
Speaker 4: You, you idiot.
Speaker 3: It takes a lot so thoughtful Mike, all right.
Speaker 4: Witcher three Wild Hunt versus Metal Gear Solid.
Speaker 3: You motherfuckers better not screw me on this.
Speaker 4: Oh random?
Speaker 2: Oh Actually, honestly, I think this is going to be
Speaker 2: hardest for me.
Speaker 3: Okay, Mike, I didn't put.
Speaker 1: What your three on there for the record. I think
Speaker 1: Mary might have put it there because we do need
Speaker 1: to talk about it.
Speaker 3: But like I acknowledged the Witcher three is a very
Speaker 3: good game. Stop I'm saying that.
Speaker 4: Everyone keeps saying it's a very good game. Making the
Speaker 4: bracket is an honor.
Speaker 3: I'll say this, it is getting.
Speaker 5: Despite that, a lot of like I know, the narrative stuff,
Speaker 5: like there are a lot of things that it does
Speaker 5: more than your standard like action RPG thing like you know,
Speaker 5: like a side question Witcher three do really matter, and
Speaker 5: a lot of them, like some of the best stories
Speaker 5: in the game I know are in these quote unquote
Speaker 5: side quests. But there's a level of care and thought
Speaker 5: that goes into that game that I can't just be like, oh,
Speaker 5: there's a million of these type of games. It is
Speaker 5: in its own league with that stuff. But Medal Year
Speaker 5: Solid one was a see change for video games. It
Speaker 5: was in nineteen ninety eight. You did not see things
Speaker 5: on that level that were everybody. Everybody was like, holy shit,
Speaker 5: it's like we are playing a movie. I was reading
Speaker 5: a preview, a magazine preview of Metal Year Solid and
Speaker 5: they had to explain that, like you'll see the camera
Speaker 5: change like an a movie, and the camera the quote
Speaker 5: unquote camera will be in different positions, and it's it's
Speaker 5: got voice acting. It's like the idea of a game
Speaker 5: being cinematic did not exist on that level until the
Speaker 5: first Metal Gear Solid. It changed everything. That level of
Speaker 5: voice acting, the quality of voice acting, the story itself,
Speaker 5: the gameplay. It was ambitious in a way that nothing
Speaker 5: before it had been in that type of genre, and
Speaker 5: I think it changed. Like we're talking about storytelling, you know.
Speaker 5: I brought up the storytelling in Witcher three and the
Speaker 5: narrative and stuff.
Speaker 3: It's great.
Speaker 5: Metal Gear Solid laid the groundwork for modern cinematic video
Speaker 5: game experiences.
Speaker 3: I agree.
Speaker 4: Metal Gear walked so that Witcher three could run, and
Speaker 4: it really.
Speaker 1: Metal Gear walks so Witcher three could jump in a
Speaker 1: jet and fly.
Speaker 4: Like it's true, Dan, I.
Speaker 2: I I love Metal Gear Solid.
Speaker 1: The first one I used to I used to say
Speaker 1: the games were in this ascending order, my favorite. So
Speaker 1: one was my favorite, and then two and then three.
Speaker 1: But that's all changed. Like, I think you're under selling
Speaker 1: a bit how impact. I know you said the Witcher
Speaker 1: was impactful, but like I don't, I really don't care anymore.
Speaker 1: If a game is like a movie, I get what
Speaker 1: you're saying. The presentation was such that he was Kojima,
Speaker 1: who has basically just always wanted to be a movie director,
Speaker 1: was making a game to look more cinematic, to be
Speaker 1: more immersive for the player. Presentation wise, Witcher three was
Speaker 1: not concerned with seeming like a movie. It wanted to
Speaker 1: be a really fucking good role playing game where you're
Speaker 1: immersing the world.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's a really good fucking video game. You know
Speaker 4: the debate we're having.
Speaker 2: Uh yeah, no, Witchard three.
Speaker 1: Like like you say, like there's there's some side quests
Speaker 1: that were interesting, but like other games are doing that
Speaker 1: they for you might know, Your Solid absolutely did things
Speaker 1: before a lot of other games, any other game did things.
Speaker 1: But Witcher three did the thing that every other video
Speaker 1: game up until then was trying to do. And it's like,
Speaker 1: here's how you do it. And I think other games
Speaker 1: since have been better in terms.
Speaker 3: Of open world RPGs.
Speaker 1: But yeah, which your three, the scale, the quality of
Speaker 1: its writing, characterization, the choices you can make, the world itself,
Speaker 1: the design, how they how alive it feels when you're
Speaker 1: just moving through it. It's apples and oranges, open world
Speaker 1: versus very confined, meticulous space. Also, someone who came to
Speaker 1: meddle Your Solid in like two thousand and twelve for
Speaker 1: the first time. I think the controls had already really
Speaker 1: aged out by then.
Speaker 5: I'm not denying that, And it's not about which one
Speaker 5: has aged better, because.
Speaker 2: That's right, that fairly Okay, Sure, I rescind that small
Speaker 2: part of what I just said, then.
Speaker 4: Will strike the last sentence from your incredible statement.
Speaker 5: Jay cut that I feel like it's like we're comparing
Speaker 5: like Meddle their Solid is apocalypse now compared.
Speaker 2: To like I understand. That's what's that's what's fucked about
Speaker 2: this this format, and that's why it hurts.
Speaker 4: That's why it hurts so much.
Speaker 3: Wait, what's Dragonheart? It was this bad CG Dragon. I
Speaker 3: think Sean Connery was the voice.
Speaker 4: It's they shared a heart one.
Speaker 5: No one's like Dragon Heart sucks ass. But it's just like, look,
Speaker 5: which I do not do the thing where I diminish
Speaker 5: the Witcher. I don't love the Witcher.
Speaker 4: You can't.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it doesn't. It does not need your approval.
Speaker 5: I know, I know, but it's just it cannot be
Speaker 5: overstated how much of a monumental moment for the medium
Speaker 5: that metal year Solid in nineteen ninety eight was the
Speaker 5: Witcher three is very fucking good, and it improved upon
Speaker 5: the things Witcher one and two did, but it was
Speaker 5: nothing on the level like I mean, Metal Your Solid
Speaker 5: one was like Mario sixty four levels of like everything's
Speaker 5: different now because we didn't know it was possible.
Speaker 4: Are you talking about? Three had an entire micro game
Speaker 4: within it that became its own game as a result
Speaker 4: of it, people didn't like put money games and became
Speaker 4: outside of it.
Speaker 3: That shit. That's I'm talking like changing shit.
Speaker 2: I what was what did Minecraft go up against?
Speaker 3: Dan?
Speaker 1: You're doing a thing you do where you tell Mary
Speaker 1: that an argument is not valid because we're trying to
Speaker 1: get our favorite game are what we think is the
Speaker 1: best game.
Speaker 4: Mine versus Metal Gear Solid three Sneak Eater.
Speaker 1: We're talking about impact, like Mary talked about Minecraft impact
Speaker 1: and we kind of like shoot that away.
Speaker 5: I'm also like, I'm not saying just on the industry.
Speaker 5: I am saying I'm also extrapolating that to be impact
Speaker 5: on me as a gamer at that time, and we've taken.
Speaker 4: That into account as we've decided that it's not as important.
Speaker 1: Oh, I think I think Metal Your Solid was. If
Speaker 1: we're arguing what's more important it's tough, metal gear solid
Speaker 1: I think is more important for video games. Yeah, I'll
Speaker 1: give them that.
Speaker 4: I agree, I think I think it's a very monumental one.
Speaker 4: I think that the Witcher three is just an incredible experience.
Speaker 4: And he's also talking about like how cinematic it is.
Speaker 4: I mean, do you remember this nomadic cut scenes in
Speaker 4: which Er three after you had just like killed so
Speaker 4: many people and then you sat down and heard someone
Speaker 4: sing a very sad song and how much it made
Speaker 4: people feel in that moment, and then you got to
Speaker 4: dead a sick lady. I mean, that game gave you
Speaker 4: all the emotions.
Speaker 3: It was like a movie.
Speaker 5: Shoot sniper Wolf in the face while ancon watched and cried.
Speaker 1: Otocon's a little puss, but like he's supposed to be. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I honestly this is hurting me more than I'm letting on.
Speaker 1: I'm just enjoying poking Dan in the ribs because mental
Speaker 1: YOURSELD is incredible and it's important.
Speaker 2: It absolutely changed things. I was not around when it did,
Speaker 2: but I understand in the context of video game history
Speaker 2: how it did.
Speaker 1: Uh, it's apples and origes. In the sense of what
Speaker 1: I said earlier, one impacted things coming after it. One
Speaker 1: did everything better than everything Buddy had been trying to do. Sure,
Speaker 1: I don't know. Personally, I don't know. I honestly don't
Speaker 1: know which I value more. I will just say the
Speaker 1: overall response I had to the Witcher three, which I
Speaker 1: played at the time it came out, So again, it's.
Speaker 2: Hard for me to compare it to Meddle. Your Solid
Speaker 2: was more profound in many ways.
Speaker 5: I will say this, my first time playing Middle Year
Speaker 5: Solid is probably, no joke, the most memorable and impactful
Speaker 5: moment I.
Speaker 3: Have ever had playing video games. That's how strongly I
Speaker 3: feel about it.
Speaker 5: Like there are a lot of games that I played
Speaker 5: and it's like, Wow, this immediately feels really good.
Speaker 3: Wow, I fucking love this game. This is great.
Speaker 5: Meddle Year Solid is the number one as far as
Speaker 5: like impactful moments on my life in a game that's nice.
Speaker 3: I appreciate it so nice.
Speaker 1: I would say the same thing to Mary, like, if
Speaker 1: you're trying to sway me, I don't give a shit
Speaker 1: what something meant to you personally. For the record, yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm not poopooing your experience. I have X com two
Speaker 1: experiences that I like, you could easily tell me, like
Speaker 1: shut up.
Speaker 3: That's the part of this format, is I truly like
Speaker 3: the more I.
Speaker 2: Think about it, the more I'm second guessing because I autely.
Speaker 3: Like h I mean, ultimately, I do think it is
Speaker 3: going to come down to Mike here, because, like you know, I.
Speaker 4: Agree, I just want to express like a little bit,
Speaker 4: because there was a lot of heavy push for metal gear,
Speaker 4: and I just want to express like the vastness of
Speaker 4: the world of the Witcher three, the Wild Hunt, and
Speaker 4: how much fun each individual space is. In that game,
Speaker 4: you were working with kings and you were discovering that
Speaker 4: they were like pieces of shit, and you were like
Speaker 4: solving crimes and people were getting killed by these like
Speaker 4: crazy monsters in bogs, and you got to like find
Speaker 4: lots and lots all the side quests that you got
Speaker 4: to do in Witcher three where you were finding out
Speaker 4: all these different people that needed you, and you were
Speaker 4: just like ultimately the badass dude that came in there
Speaker 4: and solved those crimes. Sometimes the people who hired you
Speaker 4: were actually the bad person, and you got to kind
Speaker 4: of discover that and figure it out. The storytelling, the
Speaker 4: immergi siveness of that environment. Oh Man, the fucking game
Speaker 4: system of having two swords and building up your play style,
Speaker 4: and you were like, I need to have this exact
Speaker 4: different spice concoction before I can take on this rock monster,
Speaker 4: which was so dope the first time you experienced those
Speaker 4: giant tree bosses or those rock monsters. I mean just
Speaker 4: so many moments where you would actually say out loud,
Speaker 4: that's sick. I cannot believe this happened. The Roach travel system,
Speaker 4: and you would often not even like fast travel. You
Speaker 4: would just let Roach run and the music would turn
Speaker 4: up and you would vibe to the fact that you
Speaker 4: were the Witcher. Role playing is the Witcher was so
Speaker 4: much fun. God damn, that's such a solid game. And like,
Speaker 4: when I think back on it.
Speaker 3: I don't.
Speaker 2: I don't think there's any right answer for me because
Speaker 2: I wasn't.
Speaker 1: I will say if I was, if I was there,
Speaker 1: what year was this ninety eight?
Speaker 3: If I was there in.
Speaker 2: Ny eight fucking.
Speaker 1: Swirling a Surrah when Psychomantis like fucking read my memory card,
Speaker 1: I would have fucking shipped my high brow pants.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and when you have to unplug the control, it's
Speaker 3: impossible all time.
Speaker 5: Let me say this too, is that as good as
Speaker 5: the Witcher is that everything it's doing, it is a
Speaker 5: matter of it refining and improving a lot of things
Speaker 5: to a certain degree. Like, but the leap from things
Speaker 5: in that genre before it to the Witcher three is
Speaker 5: nowhere fucking near the leap between what came before Metal
Speaker 5: Year and Metal Year.
Speaker 1: Sure, but I would still say Apocalypse Now is a
Speaker 1: better movie than Citizen Kane.
Speaker 2: I'm sorry to say.
Speaker 3: Yeah, So that's that's what I'm saying. I still think,
Speaker 3: like sitting in a vacuum.
Speaker 4: Man, Apocalypse Now is such a fucking sick film. Sweet
Speaker 4: Ultimately we all agree Apocalypse.
Speaker 1: It's also like it's also we're doing like a U
Speaker 1: Magic Johnson versus Steph Curry thing here. There's a there's
Speaker 1: probably a more clear answer there, but like it's different
Speaker 1: eras times like the impact of one can be outweighed
Speaker 1: by just the sheer quality other. I do think I
Speaker 1: have to give it to the Witcher three, though I
Speaker 1: do think it's a better game, even even though Metal
Speaker 1: Gear Solid absolutely deserves It's it's.
Speaker 4: The brackets spoken. The Witcher three Wild Hunt knocks out
Speaker 4: Metal Gear Solid into the loser bracket Submit score.
Speaker 5: Why couldn't that have been temperious. I kind of don't
Speaker 5: like Witcher three. Couldn't it have been something I really love?
Speaker 3: Wait?
Speaker 2: Wait wait wait, wait couldn't couldn't What do you mean?
Speaker 3: Couldn't there something I had to take out fucking metal
Speaker 3: gear in the first round, something I liked a lot.
Speaker 3: I kind of don't like what three.
Speaker 5: I know, I know, after the seventh hour of chasing
Speaker 5: fucking flower pants around the continent.
Speaker 3: Whatever the dandelion flower, you got it right when you
Speaker 3: actually thought on yes, thought about it for two seconds.
Speaker 3: You got it right.
Speaker 2: All right, I'm gonna go to the bathroom and.
Speaker 4: We'll be back. Ye, I calling you, Michael.
Speaker 2: Now, I know that's what you have done that, Michael Moore.
Speaker 4: Amanda does it and I think it's funny.
Speaker 3: Yeah, does she does it with love?
Speaker 4: I kind of do it like a bit of a spice.
Speaker 3: And yeah, you're Michael, you do it.
Speaker 4: You take out the trash man.
Speaker 2: Coming back to you, Sexy Hark and oh the fires
Speaker 2: sixty Hark all times just got fucking walloped by the
Speaker 2: Witcher three.
Speaker 3: Turns out we made the right choice there. I don't know.
Speaker 3: I just involuntarily shivered when you said that. I'm not kidding.
Speaker 3: My body rejected that. Oh, Dan and Ben Hans are
Speaker 3: gonna be so disappointed. I'm just shouting out, Ben, You're
Speaker 3: just both wrong. Hands.
Speaker 1: Hanson's face flashed through my head when I went on
Speaker 1: the break, because, like, I feel like he's gonna be
Speaker 1: really pissed at us.
Speaker 3: First, he loves Memory. I don't know how he feels
Speaker 3: about Winter, but I know.
Speaker 1: But he's also a like, really really knowledgeable video game
Speaker 1: history so I feel like he's going to be I think, yeah,
Speaker 1: I agreed.
Speaker 4: Anyway, it's not a video game history bracket. It's Fire
Speaker 4: Escapes Best Game of All Time bracket. And as we
Speaker 4: just mentioned, metal Gear Solid was just removed in round
Speaker 4: one by the Witcher three Wild Hunt. Our next matchup
Speaker 4: the Legend of Zelda Linked to the Past. This versus
Speaker 4: say something stupid Skyrim.
Speaker 3: Oh we're cool? Are we cool?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 4: Are we cool? I have a lot of good things
Speaker 4: to say about Skyrim.
Speaker 3: Link to the Past is it's.
Speaker 2: Also, I don't I don't think we need to expound
Speaker 2: on what makes Skyrim great.
Speaker 3: It's a great game.
Speaker 1: It's it's incredible. People keep buying it because it holds up.
Speaker 1: But like Link to the Past is one.
Speaker 5: Of if I lost metal years solid at the link
Speaker 5: of the Past back to back, I'm just quitting the.
Speaker 1: You made it one hundred I can't talk to you
Speaker 1: to Yeah, the Past is just one of the most
Speaker 1: well designed things ever game or otherwise. Yeah, Dan's I
Speaker 1: feel like all of Dan's games get mentioned first.
Speaker 3: So then he's like, it's.
Speaker 4: Random, random, can't and some of these I do think
Speaker 4: some of them coming up. I do think like you'll
Speaker 4: see some of his second So it does, it does happen,
Speaker 4: but yeah, it's just so, it just so happens that
Speaker 4: all of his weird ones have been first.
Speaker 3: So far.
Speaker 5: We're next time Solids, my weird niche Chase.
Speaker 4: Now I'm just old.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we've got different eras.
Speaker 4: This would not be a Shakespeast at Cloud.
Speaker 1: I feel like we did represent some like different generations
Speaker 1: of gamer here.
Speaker 4: Yeah, we have for like a well and for the record,
Speaker 4: like a lot of these like additional games to get
Speaker 4: us a bit more full circle were ones I came
Speaker 4: up with which I was like, well, we have to have. Well,
Speaker 4: it'll be weird if we didn't, right, I think it'll
Speaker 4: be weird if we didn't have. And a lot of
Speaker 4: the weird niche indie ones that will come up. I
Speaker 4: also know we'll probably not survive, so like, I will
Speaker 4: see how we go. But it was an honor to
Speaker 4: get started through the first round.
Speaker 5: It's so weird though, because it's like, yeah, we are
Speaker 5: kind of from slightly different you know, age right, Yeah,
Speaker 5: but also we have wildly different tastes in games, so
Speaker 5: this is just a crazy Yeah.
Speaker 1: Sure, I don't mean to paint it like I'm like
Speaker 1: twenty years younger than you. I think I just came up,
Speaker 1: bab I came up at a time. I'm kind of
Speaker 1: envious that. Again, you were there for shit like metal.
Speaker 2: You're solid.
Speaker 1: I mean I was seven. I wouldn't have gotten that
Speaker 1: when I was seven. Like I also wouldn't have been allowed.
Speaker 4: To pl your parents were really cool.
Speaker 2: Yeah yeah no, I mean gotten it, understood it, or yes,
Speaker 2: been allowed to play it. But like but I yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: you get what I'm saying.
Speaker 3: It was a good times I was born.
Speaker 2: It's a really fucking good time.
Speaker 4: Our next game matchup is Rainbow six Rogue Spear Versus
Speaker 4: had half Life two.
Speaker 3: Ah, that's fine, put half Life through.
Speaker 1: I had I had half Life on my listen, those
Speaker 1: are both mine, But I know Mary had Half Life
Speaker 1: at number one.
Speaker 4: I mean half Life is like, it's the second message monumental,
Speaker 4: is it the first?
Speaker 3: Is it the Is this still the best first person shooter?
Speaker 8: Mm?
Speaker 2: It's between that Halo one for me. I don't need
Speaker 2: to get into the whole list.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Rainbow Rogue Spear is still like the peak of
Speaker 1: the previous era of Rainbow six where you're actually planning
Speaker 1: out these incredibly tense, complex tactical insertions with different team members,
Speaker 1: and that game still does not get enough love for
Speaker 1: how new it's systems were in terms of planning, how
Speaker 1: you can have four squads of AI, the AI for
Speaker 1: your co op teammates or not even co op your
Speaker 1: teammates was incredible, some awesome maps for terrorist un and
Speaker 1: for single player varied objectives just all around, probably the
Speaker 1: best like spec ops type game ever before it went
Speaker 1: to the Siege era, which I absolutely love. But uh yeah,
Speaker 1: Rokeespier is one of my favorite games of all time,
Speaker 1: and I have fond memories playing with my brothers. But
Speaker 1: now Half Life two is maybe still the best shooter.
Speaker 3: Of all time.
Speaker 4: Maybe it's gotta be half Life.
Speaker 2: Take that with the greatest seal because I can't think
Speaker 2: of it.
Speaker 4: It's gotta be. But yeah, I have a lot of
Speaker 4: good memories playing Rainbow six. I actually don't think I played.
Speaker 4: I played Siege.
Speaker 3: I think.
Speaker 1: First to say this one was kind of my like
Speaker 1: cool guy, I vote, like, oh this is my off
Speaker 1: the radar.
Speaker 3: Fuck I suck sometimes.
Speaker 4: Yeah, Okay, you went for the underdog and it went
Speaker 4: up against Half Life two and now it's dead. So
Speaker 4: I hope you're happy with yourself. Half Life to win
Speaker 4: against Rainbow six Rogue Cheddar, and now we are on
Speaker 4: to our next matchup. It's just a weird name. Spear.
Speaker 3: It's a weapon, but it's rogue, but it's but it's
Speaker 3: a dewey star. Yeah, it's a rogue spear.
Speaker 4: I find that a strange name. Our next matchup is
Speaker 4: I don't have any response.
Speaker 3: It's not.
Speaker 2: Fairly common couple. That's what military operations to do.
Speaker 3: They take two.
Speaker 2: It's like modern cocktail bars.
Speaker 1: It's like, oh, Gurney and sons, Like they just combined
Speaker 1: two random unrelated.
Speaker 4: Nouns Rainbow six, Gurnie and sons.
Speaker 1: Yeah, like as every new restaurant in New York or
Speaker 1: bar is like two words that make no sense together, Wolf.
Speaker 3: And tenor.
Speaker 4: Uncharted Tonic.
Speaker 3: Yes, that's my second favorite charged game.
Speaker 4: The next next matchup, Fallout three versus Divinity Original.
Speaker 3: Sin To, This is going to be completely divinity.
Speaker 1: I feel like I have the most where I have
Speaker 1: what's the what's the horse in both races? But like
Speaker 1: I know, Mary's divinity Original sin To. Absolutely she never
Speaker 1: shuts up about it. I absolutely adore that game.
Speaker 2: But Fallout three is my favorite, one of my favorite
Speaker 2: open world games.
Speaker 3: Let's let's do it.
Speaker 2: Go somebody, Mary.
Speaker 3: I don't even know what the divinity really is serious
Speaker 3: Larry previous game.
Speaker 2: I'm sure it's Larry Studios game before balters Gate three.
Speaker 3: It's one of the best.
Speaker 4: Jesus Divinity Original Sin Too really paved the way for
Speaker 4: RPG storytelling. You're basically like on this Sick Journey. You
Speaker 4: can play it with friends, you can also play this solo.
Speaker 4: The storytelling and dynamics at play here so that when
Speaker 4: you meet a character and you tell them that they're
Speaker 4: a really good thief, they can come back later and
Speaker 4: rob you. I mean, you are building people over time
Speaker 4: that will impact hours and hours and hours later. Down
Speaker 4: in this game, and you put a lot of time
Speaker 4: into building these characters and watching them develop and interact
Speaker 4: with the world, and you are truly actually developing the
Speaker 4: world as you play Divinity Original Sin. The amount of
Speaker 4: different types of characters you can play as. Whether you
Speaker 4: want to be a rogue or you want to be
Speaker 4: a witch that does massive AoE spells, it's the world
Speaker 4: is your oyster, and so being able to play around
Speaker 4: with the environment, do environmental based kills. This is all
Speaker 4: turned combat, so you get to kind of really think
Speaker 4: and strategize about how you want to kill your opponents.
Speaker 4: It's methodical and it's extraordinarily intricate. It's crazy the things
Speaker 4: that you can concoct. And again, this is the kind
Speaker 4: of stuff that like made boulders Gate is infamous as
Speaker 4: it is. But I actually the reason I put Divinity
Speaker 4: Original Sin in here is because I just think for
Speaker 4: me personally, Divinity was all about that world building and
Speaker 4: that stunning storytelling that allows you to say, I am
Speaker 4: a witch with a heart of gold. I work hand
Speaker 4: in hand with my sorceress friend and we play lone
Speaker 4: wolf style and we just kind of burn the house
Speaker 4: down in our way. Well, so in Divinity Original Sin,
Speaker 4: you're supposed to you're supposed to play as four people,
Speaker 4: but in Lone Wolf you can play as two people
Speaker 4: that get one additional skill, so it's actually a place.
Speaker 4: So but lone Wolf style is like here, instead of
Speaker 4: playing with a pack of four, your playing with like
Speaker 4: two or less people, so that you can actually get
Speaker 4: through everything in a meaningful way. Key's finding secret doors
Speaker 4: and hidden passageways. I mean they were kind of like
Speaker 4: this is kind of the pinnacle of that design as well.
Speaker 4: So like you might you might meet someone and they'll say,
Speaker 4: we got to get into this old dungeon, but we
Speaker 4: can't find an entrance. There's like ten different ways to
Speaker 4: get in it. So how I get into this dungeon
Speaker 4: and and win will be completely different to the way
Speaker 4: Mike has done it. And they're both valid and really
Speaker 4: interesting and engaging ways of telling a story, and they're
Speaker 4: unique to us. I might have found a key in
Speaker 4: a bush because I killed like somebody and they led
Speaker 4: me to this like secret X on a map, and
Speaker 4: so I found this like hidden back passageway. Mike might
Speaker 4: have found c Ford exploded his way into the front
Speaker 4: and then killed everybody who got in his way. It's
Speaker 4: so awesome how unique every person's story is in Divinity,
Speaker 4: and so it's really fun not just playing Divinity, but
Speaker 4: talking to each other about how they actually got through
Speaker 4: the same area, how different they are. But they're all
Speaker 4: really fun. And Divinity is like such a joy to play,
Speaker 4: you guys, I mean it's it's it's brilliant in terms
Speaker 4: of game design, how how everybody can play it differently.
Speaker 3: Come out twenty seventeen, I believe.
Speaker 5: Yeah, Okay, I was gonna say, this is the first
Speaker 5: I've heard about it, and I was like, that's that
Speaker 5: cannot be coming from Giant. The name Divinity original set,
Speaker 5: I'm shocked to But that's sure whatever like that the
Speaker 5: name of this game.
Speaker 2: Did you think Larian just came out of nowhere with
Speaker 2: Ballerskate three?
Speaker 3: I literally when I went to Belgium to go to
Speaker 3: Larian to cover Balder's Gate three.
Speaker 5: This is somebody should miss as somebody something about like
Speaker 5: you're Larian contact will be just like, what the fuck
Speaker 5: is a Laryan contact?
Speaker 3: And I never heard of Larryan before this. Dan, don't
Speaker 3: you should cut this? No, don't. I don't have anything.
Speaker 3: It's just I don't know this is not not.
Speaker 1: Deserve what to play Baller's Gate three, and you didn't
Speaker 1: things to look up what the studio has.
Speaker 3: Worked on in the past. I probably would have gotten
Speaker 3: around to it. You did it. We're just gonna didn't
Speaker 3: get around to travelog stuff. I don't need to know
Speaker 3: anything for that.
Speaker 4: That's a ball gate.
Speaker 3: That's beside the point.
Speaker 4: Anyway, I'll be the one that goes to that. Europe.
Speaker 3: They're very nice, Larry and studios. Everyone there was awesome.
Speaker 3: Natun it.
Speaker 4: This isn't the very nice awards. This is the fucking best.
Speaker 5: Game of right, No, noreat. You can watch their head
Speaker 5: to blow up and slow.
Speaker 3: It's great.
Speaker 2: No so followed three was my vote.
Speaker 3: However, I.
Speaker 1: Don't care about it as much as you care about
Speaker 1: Divinity Original Sin Too. Followed three was, But I love
Speaker 1: Divinity Original Sin too. I think I like Balder's Gate
Speaker 1: three bit more. However, I haven't gone back to it
Speaker 1: since I last played. Me and Jake were doing a
Speaker 1: co op campaign. I'd be fine with Divinity Original Sin
Speaker 1: Too going up. I do think Fallout three is the
Speaker 1: whole conversation about Fallout three versus New Vegas gets heated.
Speaker 3: I think fallow three is better.
Speaker 2: I don't.
Speaker 3: I like.
Speaker 2: People talk about how New Vegas.
Speaker 3: Can have those.
Speaker 4: What divinity is? It's not that you like one better, no.
Speaker 3: Better than New Vegas. Yeah, yeah, oh that's allowed it. Yes,
Speaker 3: follow follow three.
Speaker 1: I think I'll say this before I agree with Mary
Speaker 1: about divinity originals in two. Fallout three I think was
Speaker 1: really impressive. It almost had a if it wasn't for
Speaker 1: the elder scrolls. Uh for Oblivion doing the open world
Speaker 1: RPG really ba basically like Bethesda putting it, debuting their
Speaker 1: new style of game that carried through Skyrim, Fallout for
Speaker 1: New Vegas, Starfield now sort of to a lesser extent,
Speaker 1: but that open world go Anywhere RPG. It took Oblivion
Speaker 1: and ran with it. In this post apocalyptic sci fi
Speaker 1: world where there's a fucking city built on a decrepit
Speaker 1: aircraft carrier. Talk about changing the world. You can go
Speaker 1: find this town built around a dodge what you think
Speaker 1: is a doudgshell of a nuke stuck halfway in the ground,
Speaker 1: and there's a cult worshiping it and they're radiated, and
Speaker 1: they're some ghouls that got outcasts, and you start to
Speaker 1: learn the fucking story about different people going in and
Speaker 1: out of that town is just some of the some
Speaker 1: incredible RPG writing. And then you get faced with the
Speaker 1: choice of whether you want to blow it up or not.
Speaker 1: Later you can change the world in that regard, and
Speaker 1: then the closer you get toward like the mall and
Speaker 1: the Capitol.
Speaker 2: Building, the more urban it becomes.
Speaker 1: It's you could spend like hours an hours scavenging out
Speaker 1: in the wastes in like in Bethesda or fox Chase
Speaker 1: or whatever, Chevy Chase or whatever the neighborhoods are. That
Speaker 1: That's still one of my favorite open world Bethesda games.
Speaker 1: But but yeah, Divinity Original Sin Too and the quality
Speaker 1: of its writing and the the just sheer number of
Speaker 1: things you can stumble on that have unforeseen repercussions like
Speaker 1: hours later is like I would even say Larian's work
Speaker 1: kind of outpaces the Witcher or CD project in that regard,
Speaker 1: which is saying a lot as we've discovered.
Speaker 3: So are we retconning the Metal year thing? No, I'm
Speaker 3: fine with Original Sin Too.
Speaker 4: Racket has spoken tan.
Speaker 1: Original Sin Too and Balder's K three are probably two
Speaker 1: of the the two best CRPGs ever made, and one
Speaker 1: studio made both of them, which is just crazy. That's
Speaker 1: neither here nor there, I guess. But yeah, Larryan makes
Speaker 1: really good video games. If we did this, if we
Speaker 1: did this episode in another like five years, I probably
Speaker 1: put Baller's Gate three on there. Yeah, it hasn't settled yet.
Speaker 4: It hasn't. I haven't actually had enough time to finish it.
Speaker 4: It's just a really long experience. But I absolutely like
Speaker 4: I was just so moved by Divinity by the end
Speaker 4: of it, and it's just a kind of an iconic
Speaker 4: part of my life I think of it. I also
Speaker 4: know it's around nine years old because I was playing
Speaker 4: it when I got the call that Simon needed a home,
Speaker 4: and so I know that it's around that time because
Speaker 4: I had all my snacks ready and I had my
Speaker 4: pillows on the floor and I was getting ready to
Speaker 4: play Divinity Original Sin when I got the call saying, hey,
Speaker 4: can you come get them? And I said yeah, and
Speaker 4: I put all my way and I got my dog instead.
Speaker 2: He farted his way into your campaign.
Speaker 4: Farted his way into my heart.
Speaker 3: Yeah. No, diminitting Originals in two is awesome.
Speaker 5: I'd fight Herder for Fallout three. I liked it a
Speaker 5: lot back then. I thought the DLC, especially for that era,
Speaker 5: was like, oh yeah, really really good.
Speaker 4: Follow It is also I think the Maryland so beloved
Speaker 4: in terms of like just globally. I thought I would lose,
Speaker 4: and so I am.
Speaker 2: I'm not sure how I thought.
Speaker 1: I actually Fallout three is still one of my personal
Speaker 1: top fifteen games of all time. I have really fond
Speaker 1: memories of it. That was my first I didn't play
Speaker 1: Oblivion until I played Fallout three, so that to that
Speaker 1: open world. But that's that we all know what I'm
Speaker 1: talking about, to literally go anywhere, spend hours wandering kind
Speaker 1: of bethest open world. That was my first exposure to it.
Speaker 1: I went back to Oblivion and it had already started
Speaker 1: to age by then, and then by the time Skyrim
Speaker 1: came out, I was, you know, in awe of that.
Speaker 1: But No Divinity Originals in two was just so brilliantly engineered.
Speaker 5: I think something that hurts my memory of Fallout three
Speaker 5: is that I look back and it was so emblematic
Speaker 5: of that period where it was just like very much
Speaker 5: this like kind of monochrome thing. It was just a
Speaker 5: lot of just drabby apocalypse drab stuff. Like when I
Speaker 5: think back, like something on the aesthetic now is Okay,
Speaker 5: it's just kind of that one note.
Speaker 3: I mean it should be. It's about the apocalypse, but
Speaker 3: it's apocalyptic, yeah, interspersed with all the grays and the Browns. Yeah.
Speaker 4: But had a good world building too. I mean it
Speaker 4: had a show made after it. I mean it's it's
Speaker 4: really made its way into pop culture now and the
Speaker 4: Fallout universe is quite interesting. So I think this is
Speaker 4: a tough matchup, and I think that they're both just
Speaker 4: really solid. So I just have to go with the
Speaker 4: one that is more meaningful to me. But I think
Speaker 4: they're both great games. Where are we at then? What's happening?
Speaker 3: I will go to Divinity, Okay, I mean my vote
Speaker 3: will go fall Out.
Speaker 4: But it's fine, Okay, you are not Your heart isn't
Speaker 4: broken on that one.
Speaker 3: It's good, okay. Yeah.
Speaker 4: Our next matchup, Splunky versus is Tony Hawk's pro Skater three.
Speaker 3: Oh okay, all right, all right, look, Splunky is a
Speaker 3: very good rogue light.
Speaker 4: Would you be a little Splunky? It's so important, It's
Speaker 4: like one of the best rogue lights.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 5: I didn't play it until like five years. I want
Speaker 5: to say, like, when did they come out? I didn't
Speaker 5: play during the pandemic, or I didn't play it until
Speaker 5: the pandemic.
Speaker 4: It was during Game Spots Era, soe twenty fourteen, it
Speaker 4: is going to be my guest well with my game
Speaker 4: spot Era sorry not game Spots Existence.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 4: I remember Carolyn Pettitt was raving about Splunky and that's
Speaker 4: actually why I picked it up. And my god, did
Speaker 4: I put so many hours into Splunky at the time.
Speaker 4: I yeah, it's a really, really really solid game, expertly crafted,
Speaker 4: and god it was kind of like everybody wanted to
Speaker 4: talk about it at the time. I think it's gonna
Speaker 4: be a tough cell depending on how big everyone is
Speaker 4: into Tony Hawk's Pro Skater three, which I also played,
Speaker 4: I had one of the best soundtracks.
Speaker 2: All right, not to offend everybody.
Speaker 1: I know two of course, but like which I have
Speaker 1: a hard time differentiating Tony Hawks.
Speaker 3: So I can tell you all of it.
Speaker 5: It's three is I think the best Tony Hawk because
Speaker 5: it is the one that like one kicked ass and
Speaker 5: then two introduced the manual, so then all of a
Speaker 5: sudden you can chain things together. Yes, I know, man
Speaker 5: that really opens things up. But three was the one
Speaker 5: that added the revert, which was the last step you needed.
Speaker 5: Where it's like, if you're doing a vert trick as
Speaker 5: you land, you hit R two and you can kind
Speaker 5: of spin around into a manual. So at that point
Speaker 5: you can basically just go the whole two minute run
Speaker 5: and then some by just chaining a million things together.
Speaker 5: So if you got good at that game, and that
Speaker 5: is one of the few games were talking about punched
Speaker 5: out earlier. I injured my my thumb fucking turned black
Speaker 5: from just digging in so hard on this game, because
Speaker 5: it really rewarded you getting into that flow state and
Speaker 5: knowing how to change your flip tricks to your grinds,
Speaker 5: to your verts, to your manuals and reverts and everything.
Speaker 5: The levels are fantastic.
Speaker 2: It is.
Speaker 5: It is the peak of one of the all time
Speaker 5: great franchises. It's also i think maybe just like it
Speaker 5: rivals the best marios with like the best feeling games
Speaker 5: of all time to play. You feel fucking awesome when
Speaker 5: you're pulling stuff off in that game.
Speaker 4: To this day, it's a tough.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's nodding my head.
Speaker 3: For those who don't who are just listening, it's.
Speaker 4: Just such a solid it's a solid game. I mean,
Speaker 4: I I also enjoyed playing this. I don't think I
Speaker 4: had the childhood experiences playing it old people have, but
Speaker 4: I I did.
Speaker 3: You were younger than me.
Speaker 4: Had I had friends who played this game, and that
Speaker 4: I would go over to their house and we would
Speaker 4: play together. And it is just like a really iconic
Speaker 4: and seamless experience, and it was a cool person's game.
Speaker 4: Everyone who was cool had this in their house. I
Speaker 4: think it's kind of iconic to its time, and I
Speaker 4: think I actually I don't think I would fight that
Speaker 4: hard for Splunky over it.
Speaker 3: I think I think this is awesome.
Speaker 5: It's really good, and there's some similarities here too, because
Speaker 5: I really do think Spilunky will be one of those
Speaker 5: games that ten twenty years from now, just by nature
Speaker 5: of the design and what that game is, I think
Speaker 5: that will feel really good to play eternally. I think
Speaker 5: if there's anything that might be dated with it, I
Speaker 5: kind of think the art style is a little kind
Speaker 5: of of its era.
Speaker 3: I don't love the art styles Plunky.
Speaker 5: You know, Tony Hawk three doesn't look modern or anything,
Speaker 5: but that was more of a technological limitations.
Speaker 3: I just and maybe it's subjective.
Speaker 5: I just don't love this flunky art style, but I
Speaker 5: think it will play great ten twenty thirty years from now.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it was really solid, Mike. I'm curious where you're
Speaker 4: at here. I'm like, I'm not going to like die
Speaker 4: on this hill.
Speaker 2: But yeah, uh, I can't split the decision between those two.
Speaker 1: So again, I barely remember Tony Hawk pro Skater three
Speaker 1: as its own individual entity. I will say I I
Speaker 1: have only ever played I say only. I think I've
Speaker 1: probably put being honest fifty hours into Spelunky. I've played
Speaker 1: more two, and Spelunkie two, in my opinion, is like
Speaker 1: one of those games that's close to perfect. I the
Speaker 1: first Pelunkie was the first time as an adult. I
Speaker 1: think that I felt the same sense of discovery and
Speaker 1: mystery and what the fuck's gonna happen next? And all right,
Speaker 1: there's a lot of complex rules I need to learn
Speaker 1: through trial and error. I'm not going to read a guide.
Speaker 1: Oh this warps me to hear. Oh this pisses him
Speaker 1: off if I use this item. Let's not mess with
Speaker 1: this prospector Oh okay, now he's got a shotgun. This
Speaker 1: is great, turns out the shot and can really fuck
Speaker 1: you over in certain areas. Wait a minute, there's a
Speaker 1: whole new biome I didn't even know about. Uh, Spelunky
Speaker 1: reminded me why I loved video games to begin with.
Speaker 1: That's a very personal thing, but I just think it
Speaker 1: was built.
Speaker 2: Spelunky's like the most video game ass video game ever,
Speaker 2: And in this argument, it's going up against Tony Hawks
Speaker 2: pro Skater three, which is one of the from what
Speaker 2: you've told me, if it's anything like Tony Hawk's pro
Speaker 2: Skater two, which I played the shit out of, one
Speaker 2: of the most video game as video games ever, I
Speaker 2: don't particularly care that much for each one. I can
Speaker 2: see myself going back to Spelunky two in like a
Speaker 2: year or two, and that's all I talk about. But
Speaker 2: at this point in time right now, I'm I'm kind
Speaker 2: of differing on this.
Speaker 3: One right now.
Speaker 5: It's funny I made the argument earlier about how I
Speaker 5: still load up, you know, warrior ware every time I'm
Speaker 5: setting up an analog pocket or something like that, and
Speaker 5: some of them, like a lot of them, they will
Speaker 5: only play like two D games and maybe up to
Speaker 5: like you know, PS one, and whenever I get one,
Speaker 5: it's like, oh, okay, steam Deck. I heard that's good,
Speaker 5: like you know PS two or the Rock Ally or
Speaker 5: something that the one I always go to to test
Speaker 5: how good something is with PS two stuff is Tony
Speaker 5: Hawk three, just because you go to the Foundry, you
Speaker 5: just drop right in and you're instantly like if something
Speaker 5: is even the slightest bit off with that game, you know,
Speaker 5: because that game controlled so fucking tightly. So that is
Speaker 5: my go to all the time with anything from that
Speaker 5: PS two era, and I do think it holds up
Speaker 5: incredibly well. I'm sure if somebody came to it now
Speaker 5: for the first time and you know, and didn't play
Speaker 5: all of the series leading up to it, it might
Speaker 5: be a bit much. But yeah, you know, Mary mentioned
Speaker 5: the music too, starting out with Asa Spades, and I
Speaker 5: think that one had the Dell, the funky Homo Sapien,
Speaker 5: a bunch of great stuff on there. Like it's just
Speaker 5: it's it's an iconic fucking game, iconic series, and this
Speaker 5: is the height of the series.
Speaker 4: Dude's Blunky had so many fucking sick moments where you
Speaker 4: were just.
Speaker 6: Like, there's no way I'm gonna make it out of this,
Speaker 6: and then you fucking did, and you'd be like, yes,
Speaker 6: I am the greatest gamer alive, and then you would
Speaker 6: get hit by a fucking snake, and then and then
Speaker 6: you would just get hit three more times before you
Speaker 6: hit there he was dead.
Speaker 4: He was so beautiful that game humbled the shit out
Speaker 4: of you.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah.
Speaker 2: It's also like it's up there with GTA five in
Speaker 2: the sense that why the fuck did the developer spend
Speaker 2: that much time making this ending quote unquote ending and
Speaker 2: it Spelunky it's not really a thing which the I've
Speaker 2: never seen it, but there's criteria to reach a certain ending.
Speaker 2: It's like, I don't I genuine don't understand how anybody
Speaker 2: discovered this, let alone achieve this, and they probably spent
Speaker 2: I don't know. I don't design games, but it must
Speaker 2: have been a sizable chunk of the fucking time it
Speaker 2: made to make that game, just so maybe one person
Speaker 2: could see it and then tell their friends at the
Speaker 2: water cooler, which is the really cool shit about most
Speaker 2: of my favorite video games. Again, I'm sure like I'll
Speaker 2: come around to Spelunky two again more in the future,
Speaker 2: game which I loved but always was just comparing it
Speaker 2: to the first game, which I SPLUNKI one was one
Speaker 2: of those games that always impressed the hell out of
Speaker 2: me more than I genuinely got attached to. Yeah, I'm
Speaker 2: I don't know, am Am I the deciding vote right
Speaker 2: now or Mary or you kind of.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think that I put Splunky on here, so
Speaker 4: I lean towards Splunky, but I'm not gonna this is
Speaker 4: This is a tougher sell for me, but I will.
Speaker 2: Say I will say Dan had swayed me more than
Speaker 2: me too.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think.
Speaker 4: I think it was very important to you, and I
Speaker 4: do think Splunky was important to me. But I don't
Speaker 4: think that I see Splunky getting very far in this bracket,
Speaker 4: and I just think which I think.
Speaker 1: It should, but I don't think I have put enough
Speaker 1: time and like into it. But that's again, that's just
Speaker 1: doesn't matter.
Speaker 4: Okay, Tony Hawk pro skater three winds over Splunky.
Speaker 2: Chris Plants rolling in his bed.
Speaker 4: It's a fire escape.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, no, he listens poops just joking in bed. Yep,
Speaker 2: did you guys not know this about Chris Plant?
Speaker 3: No? No, that's thing.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, he's got new fandangle toilet beds.
Speaker 3: Look, that's what we did in Kansas City growing up.
Speaker 1: He's from there can Sands and there poop beds. What
Speaker 1: we call ourselves too could never fall as you po
Speaker 1: into Dreamland.
Speaker 4: Next matchup super Mario Bros.
Speaker 3: Three.
Speaker 4: Would you like me to say brothers super Mario Brothers three?
Speaker 3: I usually just say Mario three.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, versus the Last of Us?
Speaker 3: This is like the okay Corral, let's look at it.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you don't see it. It's like twelve angry men,
Speaker 4: but there's only three of us. But we're all kind
Speaker 4: of like looking at each other.
Speaker 3: I when you start, I think I was the last
Speaker 3: of us.
Speaker 4: I was also the last of us. That's a joint.
Speaker 1: Hey, I swayed my Mary swayed me on divinity. You
Speaker 1: got me an, Tony Hawk. I'm not rigid.
Speaker 2: I mean I'm very hard right now, but I'm not
Speaker 2: like stubborn.
Speaker 4: I mean, come on, the last of Us is like
Speaker 4: this iconic storyline.
Speaker 3: Did Mario three ever changed?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 4: That you for anybody?
Speaker 2: No, I I this is not a matchup. I anticipated
Speaker 2: I was.
Speaker 5: About to say it was the last of us in
Speaker 5: a movie. They made a whole series.
Speaker 4: Basically, Yeah, they sure did. It's HBO series and it's extremely.
Speaker 3: If I'm not gonna win, like do I do?
Speaker 2: I waste I know, yes, please, because I'm open to
Speaker 2: being swayed.
Speaker 4: Can't waste your breath.
Speaker 3: I love it. But I feel like this is like
Speaker 3: a metal your solid thing of two words. So I'm
Speaker 3: going into old man like you had to be there.
Speaker 3: You did have to be there. So Mario, fucking Mario,
Speaker 3: you both understand. How great guy? Yeah?
Speaker 5: If you're a fucking four or five year old like
Speaker 5: I was in the late eighties, obsessed with fucking Mario.
Speaker 3: All right, but what what you were obsessed with? Whatting him? Oh?
Speaker 3: Having sex with Mario?
Speaker 2: Yes?
Speaker 3: No, that did it? Sounded weird now that I think
Speaker 3: about it. Okay, no Mario, Okay, when you're obsessed with
Speaker 3: fornicating with Mario like I was as a four year old,
Speaker 3: like I am.
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, as a four year old, Mario was everything.
Speaker 5: Mario was the entire world. It was the only thing
Speaker 5: that mattered. I didn't know pro wrestling existed for another
Speaker 5: five years.
Speaker 3: Mario was the world. And then two comes out. I
Speaker 3: loved I mean the US too. I love that.
Speaker 5: I'm not gonna do a whole history thing here anyway.
Speaker 5: Three starts getting hyped up like crazy, and this is
Speaker 5: around the time, you know, I'm five or six, I'm
Speaker 5: starting to give video game magazines and shit, I'm seeing
Speaker 5: screenshots of like Mario three. Oh my god, he's got
Speaker 5: a raccoon tail, He's got all that. Oh it looks
Speaker 5: so fucking good. And then the Wiz comes out that
Speaker 5: movie where they showed that do not know this. It
Speaker 5: was just an old guy thing.
Speaker 2: Wiz a Seinfeld character for me.
Speaker 5: Oh wow, okay. Well, at the the climax of the
Speaker 5: Whiz was they goat. It was like a thing in
Speaker 5: conjunction with Nintendo. This movie was made but released in theaters.
Speaker 5: And at the end they go to this like video
Speaker 5: game competition where somehow they turn Mario three into a
Speaker 5: thing and they're doing the bonus games as a competition. Anyway,
Speaker 5: all the matters was it. It was kind of the
Speaker 5: debut of Mario three. The way they would do it
Speaker 5: Nintendo Direct now to show off the new Mario. It's like, oh,
Speaker 5: if you want to see Mario three before it comes out,
Speaker 5: we're gonna show parts of it. And the Whiz it
Speaker 5: was the Wizard. I think it's called The Wizard. Yeah,
Speaker 5: And so people literally like the hype was so crazy
Speaker 5: that you would go buy a fucking ticket to go
Speaker 5: see this movie to get a glimpse of a new
Speaker 5: video game instead of watching it on an E three
Speaker 5: stream or a YouTube video or something like that.
Speaker 3: That's how off the charts the hype was.
Speaker 5: And I think where it falls off for me in
Speaker 5: terms of being able to make a major argument here
Speaker 5: is it was not necessarily a meddle year solid moment
Speaker 5: where it's like this changes everything. It was more of
Speaker 5: a Zelda one to link to the past situation, where
Speaker 5: it's like it is taking the framework of the original.
Speaker 5: This is what that greatly improved, even though this was
Speaker 5: actually on the same system Zelda went from SNS. This
Speaker 5: is on the same system. It was just that Mario
Speaker 5: three was leaps and bounds ahead of everything one and two?
Speaker 3: Did I mean? I fucking love two?
Speaker 5: But three is three is right behind Mario World in
Speaker 5: terms of just like this is a perfect video game.
Speaker 1: So I have not played much Mario World, Burrows three,
Speaker 1: three different games, World Barrows three, Super Mario Bros.
Speaker 3: Three. Okay, oh is that what we're talking about.
Speaker 1: Yes, I've played. I played it back in the day.
Speaker 1: I've not played much since I was young. It's incredible still,
Speaker 1: it's game design like game design, what what is it?
Speaker 1: Is it what makes the platform and good level design?
Speaker 8: You know.
Speaker 5: It was the first one to have that overworld, you know,
Speaker 5: whereas like you know, one, you just go from thing
Speaker 5: to thing, and and two you go from the level
Speaker 5: of the level, and there were warps and stuff like
Speaker 5: that and one and two, but with three you had
Speaker 5: the overworld where you could decide, like, I fucking hate
Speaker 5: this auto scroll level. Uh you know, I know if
Speaker 5: I don't beat it, I can't get to this toad house.
Speaker 5: But I can just go do this level instead of
Speaker 5: that one. I can still get to the fortress, you
Speaker 5: know that type of stuff. And then the skips and
Speaker 5: stuff were like you'd find the warp whistle. There three
Speaker 5: warp whistles hidden throughout the eight worlds and everything. Each
Speaker 5: world had a fun gimmick. It was the first sight
Speaker 5: seeing to do like the big small world where you know,
Speaker 5: you go into one like the Goombazzer Giant and like,
Speaker 5: you know, fun gimmicks like that. The power ups were incredible.
Speaker 5: It's the one that introduced the raccoon tail. So it's
Speaker 5: the first one where Mario's like flying, which was a
Speaker 5: last and that opens up like as soon as like
Speaker 5: you open up the ability where Mario can fucking fly.
Speaker 5: There are all these moments where it's like, yeah, but
Speaker 5: you need to get a run up to fly, So
Speaker 5: certain parts of levels you oh, I could fly right now,
Speaker 5: And there's always that mystery of like what is above
Speaker 5: the screen right now? You know, if I were to
Speaker 5: fly right now. A lot of times you go up
Speaker 5: there and it's like, oh shit, there's all these clouds
Speaker 5: and question mark blocks, and there's a fucking pipe there
Speaker 5: that takes them to this bonus area. So even though
Speaker 5: it was just a side scrolling platform or there was
Speaker 5: always this mystery of like what's just out of sight?
Speaker 5: Or weird fucking things like if you duck on a
Speaker 5: white block for six seconds, it puts you behind the stage,
Speaker 5: like it puts you behind the background elements, and you
Speaker 5: can run behind things and warp to other areas and stuff.
Speaker 5: It's just so filled with secrets that felt nothing short
Speaker 5: of magical back then. You know, the previous Mario one
Speaker 5: and two had you know, some warps and things like that,
Speaker 5: but three just was the most mysterious and fascinating thing
Speaker 5: I could fucking imagine in you know, late eighties early nineties.
Speaker 3: Okay, it's incredible and it holds up today.
Speaker 5: It plays like you know, Mario one was very important
Speaker 5: to me, doesn't play amazing these days.
Speaker 3: Mario three. I play it now and I fucking love
Speaker 3: every second of it.
Speaker 8: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I replayed the Last of Us the Remastered recently, and
Speaker 1: I like the Last of Us Part two.
Speaker 3: I think it's way too long. I think a lot
Speaker 3: of it was bloated.
Speaker 1: Last of Us Part one is still one of the
Speaker 1: most incredibly paced games a just the cross country post
Speaker 1: apocalypt It's like the best road trip game ever, and
Speaker 1: I think people forget that it's a road trip game.
Speaker 1: You're trying to get to Saltly City or no, you're
Speaker 1: originally trying to get to You go through Pittsburgh Northwest.
Speaker 2: That's where Part two eventually they get to. But there
Speaker 2: you get to Salt Lake City. That's where you see
Speaker 2: the giraffes in that moment, which.
Speaker 1: I guess like cliche is that moment has become now
Speaker 1: that actually was really fucking cool to like be in
Speaker 1: this really grim world for that long and you're doing
Speaker 1: some fucked up shit as Joel, and I also don't
Speaker 1: think that game gets enough credit for how good its
Speaker 1: combat is, and I think last part last was part two.
Speaker 1: Is roguelike Mode actually showcases the combat in a way
Speaker 1: that I'm like, yes, this is last part one. It's
Speaker 1: very much about like, what the fuck is in my
Speaker 1: immediate vicinity that I can just smash someone over the
Speaker 1: head with quick Okay, I don't have any other choice.
Speaker 1: I'm just gonna kick him a few times, punch him,
Speaker 1: and then there's another guy coming at me. I've got
Speaker 1: one rifle bullet left, but I don't want that guy
Speaker 1: to kill me. So like the way that that game's
Speaker 1: combat captures the heat of the moment decision making that
Speaker 1: many games kind of trivialize grounds that combat in a
Speaker 1: way that works for that world. So well, I'm not
Speaker 1: gonna sit here and say that that game was what's
Speaker 1: the phrase I'm looking for. I think a lot of
Speaker 1: people say, oh, it's grim. It was like really it
Speaker 1: was violent, it was dark. Like, I still love playing
Speaker 1: the game. I have a lot of fun playing it.
Speaker 1: I think it feels great. I think the remaster helped.
Speaker 1: I also, like, I know the weapons sway got criticized
Speaker 1: because it just didn't feel great. It was like I
Speaker 1: don't think it's supposed to. Joel's not a soldier, he's
Speaker 1: his dad. That like shit went south, But holy shit,
Speaker 1: it's up there with Half Life two. Half Life two
Speaker 1: is City seventeen, opening off the train and then running
Speaker 1: escaping through the hallways, like the intro to the Last
Speaker 1: of Us when Sarah, your daughter dies, When you're escaping
Speaker 1: the military and you're kind of controlling things.
Speaker 3: You're not.
Speaker 1: It's very naughty Dog set piece cinematic, but you're sort
Speaker 1: of controlling it, which they're very good at. It turns
Speaker 1: out all the way straight through to again. I think
Speaker 1: people have looked. I think Last gets that BioShock infinite
Speaker 1: treatment where there absolutely are big flaws and it's thematic storytelling.
Speaker 1: I'll I'm right there with people. I also think people
Speaker 1: look back and kind of diminish the impact certain moments
Speaker 1: had at the time that last line and Last was
Speaker 1: Part one. I replaying it recently, is still we all
Speaker 1: know the implications it has for Part two.
Speaker 3: The fact that.
Speaker 2: Going back to the game, that script led up.
Speaker 1: To that moment so fucking expertly that I didn't I
Speaker 1: reviewed that game for Gaming Nexus back in twenty thirteen.
Speaker 1: I had to run Rush Home from E three. Jump
Speaker 1: into that game, start playing it, and as I was
Speaker 1: playing it was like, oh my god, what is how
Speaker 1: has Naughty Dog done this? You know they came off
Speaker 1: of Uncharted three before they did this. That was just
Speaker 1: like a studio flexing its design chops, showing hey, we
Speaker 1: can do this as well. That Joel Ellie relationship there
Speaker 1: are those two characters are just so fleshed out, so real.
Speaker 1: I hate the phrase lived in, but they you know,
Speaker 1: it was what Troy Baker.
Speaker 3: And uh from Mass Effect.
Speaker 7: I don't know the girls, Yeah, it's I really should
Speaker 7: look but like, yeah, they killed those parts and.
Speaker 1: Like that relationship, and you learn more about Ellie and
Speaker 1: you're like, oh, okay, Ellie's the central character here, but
Speaker 1: like the the you know, Joel using her as a yeah,
Speaker 1: and you all of a sudden talk.
Speaker 4: About Ryan and everyone's like what the fuck?
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: But again, replaying it, I forgot how well that was handled.
Speaker 1: Because Joel gets he falls off a balcony in the
Speaker 1: campus where they think there might be something they need
Speaker 1: in Colorado.
Speaker 2: He falls off, piece of rebar goes through him. He's like,
Speaker 2: that's through his kidney.
Speaker 3: He's fucked. She gets him back on the horse basically,
Speaker 3: and then it cuts.
Speaker 1: And for those who don't remember, the game is structured
Speaker 1: into each each of the four seasons, so that was fall, fall,
Speaker 1: and then all of a sudden it cuts and it's
Speaker 1: just winter. It's the close up on that rabbit, just
Speaker 1: like kind of like being cute in the woods, and
Speaker 1: all of a sudden arrow hits it. There's that famous
Speaker 1: like stream clip of the girl, the woman who is
Speaker 1: like streaming that she sees it surprise, and all of
Speaker 1: a sudden, you're like, holy shit, I'm playing as Ellie.
Speaker 1: It was like a yeah, it was like ride in
Speaker 1: the way. The camera came behind her and you realize,
Speaker 1: oh my god, it's going in a position. I'm going
Speaker 1: to play as her. They don't tell you that Joel
Speaker 1: is in a basement in this house in this random
Speaker 1: suburb in the cold, because they couldn't put him anywhere else.
Speaker 1: Like the the restraint that game shows in many moments,
Speaker 1: and how it ties that the impact of its big
Speaker 1: storytelling moments into the gameplay. When all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: like when Ellie sees Nolan North's character David, who is
Speaker 1: like there's something off about him, but he's really charming
Speaker 1: and charismatic. Turns out no, he's a cannibal cult leader
Speaker 1: and he killed that performance as well. It's Nolan North,
Speaker 1: But I'm as the control goes back to you, as Ellie,
Speaker 1: You're like, I really am in a dire situation.
Speaker 2: This dude is creepy and dangerous. I need to get
Speaker 2: the fuck out of here.
Speaker 1: The way that game flits between Okay, here's the story
Speaker 1: we want to tell his Naughty Dog, But then when
Speaker 1: the control goes back to your hands, the way that
Speaker 1: they can kind of transfer the momentum of the emotion
Speaker 1: from that cut scene into your controller is just fucking like.
Speaker 1: Part two doesn't get anywhere close to Part one in
Speaker 1: that regard. And you know that, I think Last of
Speaker 1: Us is Naughty Dog at its peak. They have not
Speaker 1: surpassed it yet.
Speaker 3: And I that that.
Speaker 1: I'm so happy I replayed that game recently because it's
Speaker 1: still really fucking holds up. It's just also paced really well.
Speaker 1: The mission variety mission not mission, but like level variety.
Speaker 1: The situations you're in, this fucking gang that's abducting people
Speaker 1: in Pittsburgh. I need to sneak and then all of
Speaker 1: a sudden oh stelt Steltz fucked.
Speaker 2: I gotta go loud and just try to kill people
Speaker 2: however I can to protect Ellie's love it.
Speaker 4: It's it's a really tough comparison as well. This is like,
Speaker 4: uh Apocalypse Now Versus Paddington Bear two, Like they're both
Speaker 4: really excellent, but like, holy shit, one is annihilating and
Speaker 4: stressful and just will gut you. I do think Super
Speaker 4: Mario Bros. Three is a fantastic, fantastic childhood experience, and
Speaker 4: I you know, we've been doing a lot of this
Speaker 4: is like which one would you play? Which one do
Speaker 4: you enjoy play more? And it's like, really, it depends
Speaker 4: on my vibe because I would not play the last
Speaker 4: of Us on a whim. It is stressful and chaotic
Speaker 4: and like really hard to get through in some parts,
Speaker 4: not because it's bad, but because it's so gut wrenching
Speaker 4: on my soul, whereas like Super Mario Bros. Is the light,
Speaker 4: It is ice cream baby, It is like yes, please
Speaker 4: all the time. You could play that game at any
Speaker 4: moment and it will bring you joy.
Speaker 2: So they're just really really really quick response to that, Mary,
Speaker 2: I agree, but I also think there are moments of
Speaker 2: joy throughout the Last of Us that you forget about
Speaker 2: that just of course get overshadowed by how grim the
Speaker 2: rest of it is.
Speaker 1: But like they really earn those like giraffe moments, so
Speaker 1: to speak. But anyway, sorry, someone who get killed, go
Speaker 1: ahead down, yeah.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, you know how I am with Mario
Speaker 5: and how I love it. Obviously my boat will go
Speaker 5: to Mario three. I played it like three days ago
Speaker 5: and we so fun. But I don't think of The
Speaker 5: Last of Us often, frankly, and I don't think of
Speaker 5: it as like one of my favorite games. But you know,
Speaker 5: as we talk about it, and I am kind of
Speaker 5: brought back to my time with it. I'm not a
Speaker 5: I don't like playing stealthily. I don't like playing stealth games.
Speaker 5: I like Metal Gear for the story. I don't like
Speaker 5: sneaking around because I'm bad at it, and the Last
Speaker 5: of Us I don't consider a stealth game. But like
Speaker 5: what Mike was saying about, like the stealth mechanics and everything,
Speaker 5: I think the actual stealth gameplay is better in the
Speaker 5: Last of Us than I have seen in Metal Gear
Speaker 5: or Splinter Cell or Assassin's Screed.
Speaker 3: It's fucking awesome.
Speaker 5: For that sun and I also don't consider myself someone
Speaker 5: who likes stories in video games for the most part,
Speaker 5: and the Last of Us specifically that first one. Actually
Speaker 5: I like two as well, but that first one especially,
Speaker 5: I remember being like invested. You know, normally cut se
Speaker 5: time is like all right, I'm like half paying attention
Speaker 5: with most games. This one I was like by the end,
Speaker 5: I was like god damn, and yeah that last line
Speaker 5: and going to credits is just like, would you say it's.
Speaker 4: A more gripping story than a metal Gear No, let's.
Speaker 3: Say absolutely not.
Speaker 1: I think it's more grounded than a metal gear literally
Speaker 1: by definitely, like metal gear is just such more like
Speaker 1: big scale and like it's.
Speaker 4: President Baby is winking at me. Yeah there's like.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, whatever, I mean it not.
Speaker 4: On this list.
Speaker 5: I do think Middle Yourselid is the best story ever
Speaker 5: told across any medium. I do believe that Mike's eyes
Speaker 5: just about popped out of his head. But like, yes,
Speaker 5: I do think it is the best story in the
Speaker 5: history of.
Speaker 3: In his grave.
Speaker 2: Yeah story ever, yeah, yeah, to your point last yeah, no, no, no,
Speaker 2: it's all the same.
Speaker 3: Like I I do really respect the Last of Us.
Speaker 3: I did really enjoy it.
Speaker 5: And I don't think the winner of this should be like,
Speaker 5: you know, just because I go back to Mario three
Speaker 5: like twice a month for my entire life doesn't necessarily
Speaker 5: mean it's better or worse than a game that I
Speaker 5: played in twenty thirteen and haven't thought about that much
Speaker 5: since it's not about replayability. And I'm also not saying
Speaker 5: that the House is better than Mario. It helps, you know,
Speaker 5: my vote is Mario three for the record, but it's.
Speaker 3: All to say we know, we've heard you. Yeah, I'm
Speaker 3: not going to put up a stink about Last of
Speaker 3: Us if that's where this goes.
Speaker 1: I love the stealth in the Last of Us because
Speaker 1: it actually feels it's not a lot of games are like, oh,
Speaker 1: you have the option to go stealth. The option to
Speaker 1: go allows like no Last of Us is like stealth
Speaker 1: is a necessity until it's not an option anymore.
Speaker 5: And then the way it transitions into like oh ship
Speaker 5: that caught me, like here's a brick, fuck you, it
Speaker 5: was really good.
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, Or here's a Molotov cocktail. His friend's on
Speaker 1: fire and now he's freaking out even though yeah it's
Speaker 1: fucking good.
Speaker 4: Yeah, Well we're gonna need to make a call. So
Speaker 4: I'm going to say, okay, I'm going to say the
Speaker 4: Last of.
Speaker 3: Us all right, fair enough.
Speaker 1: If that was the last most Part two versus well,
Speaker 1: I didn't nominate it, but like if it came, I wouldn't.
Speaker 2: I would have gone Mario. But last week I agree
Speaker 2: so much better.
Speaker 4: Part two is like so stressful Part one or Last of.
Speaker 2: Us too long.
Speaker 1: I also don't think they should have so exhausted Gears
Speaker 1: five like those Open World Last.
Speaker 4: Of Us wins against Super Mario Brothers three. Our next matchup,
Speaker 4: Left for Dead two versus Resident Evil remake, Oh fun,
Speaker 4: this one, This one is my sadness. Left for Dead
Speaker 4: two is extremely important to me. It is absolutely like,
Speaker 4: when it comes to horror genre, the best multiplayer like
Speaker 4: stress them zombie game I've ever played. And I didn't
Speaker 4: play Resident Evil until later in my life. So my
Speaker 4: experiences with what's the perfect zombie game, it's It's Left
Speaker 4: for Dead too, and it always is Left for Dead too.
Speaker 4: It is just this iconic team based zombie game. It
Speaker 4: stresses you out. There's so many good moments of camaraderie
Speaker 4: figuring out, like going against your first witch, hitting your
Speaker 4: first parked car and having the alarm go off, getting
Speaker 4: all the gas canisters in the mall while things are
Speaker 4: absolutely going to shit really hype you up. And I feel,
Speaker 4: really this is a really tough one for me. I
Speaker 4: feel really strongly about Left for Dead two, but I
Speaker 4: mean I Resident Evil remake.
Speaker 3: How did the two zombie games?
Speaker 2: Yeah, Left four Dead and Left for Dead two is
Speaker 2: a the director.
Speaker 1: The AI system they use to control the flow of
Speaker 1: things is just still no idea. How the fuck you
Speaker 1: even make something like that?
Speaker 3: And two?
Speaker 1: Left for Dead and one and two, which kind of
Speaker 1: might as well be one thing, are like the most
Speaker 1: difficult games to talk about what makes them feel so
Speaker 1: good because they're so simple on the surface and the
Speaker 1: immediate moment to moment gameplay is so seems simple. But
Speaker 1: people are still modding Left for Dead too, A shit
Speaker 1: ton of people still play that game over Back for Blood,
Speaker 1: and there's like videos you could see the comparisons, like
Speaker 1: here's why that minu shaw matters in how you can
Speaker 1: destroy things in a room and Left for Dead and
Speaker 1: why the bullets hitting a zombie this way make it
Speaker 1: feel just satisfying to play, and how ducking and shooting
Speaker 1: just over characters head. It's it's really hard to put
Speaker 1: into words, and I'm clearly not good at it, but
Speaker 1: that game is just still even like Zombie aside from
Speaker 1: Zombies and co op, it's just one of the best
Speaker 1: feeling shooters ever.
Speaker 3: It's I truly want I want to see like a video.
Speaker 1: I say that breaks down what makes it so good
Speaker 1: on a you know, on a nuanced level, because I
Speaker 1: don't fully understand it, but it still feels amazing to
Speaker 1: jump back into today.
Speaker 3: But Resume Will Remake, Oh my god.
Speaker 4: Yeah, Dan, I'm curious where you are. Yeah, I put
Speaker 4: Left for Dead and you put Resident Evil Remake. I'm
Speaker 4: with you on another Resident Evil, but REMA is still
Speaker 4: a little rough for me. It's obviously phenomenal, but it
Speaker 4: actually I think it was my favorite of all the
Speaker 4: Resident Evils.
Speaker 3: Which kind of funny.
Speaker 4: I think I'm backtracking a little bit. Resident Evil is
Speaker 4: like Remake specifically, is like very iconic and very important.
Speaker 3: I think I just have.
Speaker 4: This is really hard. The Left for Dead. I have
Speaker 4: like a lot of good memories with Mike and I
Speaker 4: have some of the best memories at my time at
Speaker 4: game Spot and beyond playing Resident Evil, so I would
Speaker 4: be really happy with both of these, and it guts
Speaker 4: me that one of these won't get through. I'm curious, Dan,
Speaker 4: like where you are on this.
Speaker 5: I'm I'm coming from the place where it's like, I
Speaker 5: was never a big zombie game guy, but like I
Speaker 5: did like Resident Evil quite a bit, and I did, like,
Speaker 5: I think there's two games that I liked a lot,
Speaker 5: and I've played both of these games a lot. I
Speaker 5: was never a fanatic about either of them. I think
Speaker 5: my appreciation for ARI grew over time, and my first
Speaker 5: time actually playing through the remake was they you know,
Speaker 5: probably like fifteen twenty sixteen, they put it on Steam. Like,
Speaker 5: I actually like tank controls. I was never an anti
Speaker 5: tank control person, but I just say that it was
Speaker 5: the remake where they took that, they made that an
Speaker 5: option to do normal stuff, and I did that once.
Speaker 5: Then I was like, oh wait, I totally see why
Speaker 5: they do tank controls going back to that. But I
Speaker 5: think that is, you know, until the last five years,
Speaker 5: I think it was a no brainer for the best
Speaker 5: remake of all time as far as that Ari remake
Speaker 5: and the fact that that first time they put it
Speaker 5: out in what O two or whatever, which was a
Speaker 5: few year, like what ninety six to two, not that
Speaker 5: much time between it, because like, yeah, Ari one came
Speaker 5: out ninety six set to ninety eighty one, Yeah, and
Speaker 5: the GameCube Ari remake was two in that time. I'm
Speaker 5: reer seeing screenshots of it in magazines and being like,
Speaker 5: that's not possible.
Speaker 3: There's no way.
Speaker 5: The fucking candles looked that good, Like the lighting, like
Speaker 5: it just looked insane. And it was so faithful to
Speaker 5: all of the things that made the original one just
Speaker 5: six years prior so great and just objectively made everything
Speaker 5: so much better, and not just it's not just the
Speaker 5: remaster treatment. It is the fully like we are changing puzzles,
Speaker 5: we are adding entire parts of this game that were
Speaker 5: not there before that we're maybe alluded to in a
Speaker 5: note or something with Lisa.
Speaker 3: That shit was awesome. It was like Left for Dead.
Speaker 5: I think was a very impressive, especially for its time
Speaker 5: online co op game where you didn't see a lot
Speaker 5: of stuff doing what it was doing. Mike, you mentioned
Speaker 5: the director tech and like that really was like, holy shit.
Speaker 5: For a game where you only have a limited amount
Speaker 5: of kind of space and objectives and stuff, that's how
Speaker 5: you keep it fresh, is like each play through is
Speaker 5: different because it is throwing different stuff at you every time.
Speaker 3: That was brilliant. So but ultimately, I I think I
Speaker 3: have to go with remake. I think it was just such.
Speaker 5: It is one of the best remakes of all time
Speaker 5: and even just standing on its own, uh what a
Speaker 5: what a tremendous achievement.
Speaker 2: I think it's one of the best remakes all time
Speaker 2: until two.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and for the series is really caking games.
Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, I mentioned met Oh wait are we is
Speaker 2: this decided?
Speaker 3: Or Mary?
Speaker 1: You're still fighting Left for Dead. I'm not going to
Speaker 1: fight that, Okay, cool, I'll save this for the Sweet sixteen.
Speaker 4: Then Resident and Evil remake wins Over Left for Dead too.
Speaker 4: I think the reason is is because like this is
Speaker 4: very justified to me, Like all of the arguments so far,
Speaker 4: it's like I just can't I can't argue with any
Speaker 4: of these things. So yeah, I also think it's a
Speaker 4: two v one already, so it's like it is what
Speaker 4: it is. Resident Evil Remake wins Over Left for Dead. Next,
Speaker 4: this one's for you, Mike, Bloodborne versus Ratchet and Clank
Speaker 4: going Commando.
Speaker 1: I'll go blood Born, but I've got I've gotta go
Speaker 1: blood Born, but I've dan I think you might be interested.
Speaker 1: I think most of the time me and you talked
Speaker 1: about our favorite Wratchet Clank James, it was up your.
Speaker 3: Arsenal was up.
Speaker 1: Your arsenal was my mine was forever two and I
Speaker 1: went back and replayed them all like two years ago,
Speaker 1: three years ago. I think Going Commando is actually the
Speaker 1: sweet spot between that more traditional three D platformer over
Speaker 1: world design and you're still kind of plaffering up your
Speaker 1: arsenal has a lot of that, like they were almost
Speaker 1: trying to go more shooter. You pick a mission, you
Speaker 1: drop in, and then you fight through some stuff. Going Commando,
Speaker 1: I think is I honestly think the peak would maybe
Speaker 1: be the PS three trilogy Crack and Time, Tools and
Speaker 1: Distructions and Destruction. Yeah, there's only two, and then there
Speaker 1: was there was something Booty.
Speaker 3: Question for Booty.
Speaker 1: They're all there, a lot of them are innuendo. But
Speaker 1: Going Commando, I think is my h like I said,
Speaker 1: my sweet spot for like the old and new Ratchet
Speaker 1: and Clank direction and Rift Apart was awesome on PS
Speaker 1: five a couple of years ago, but no, Going Demando
Speaker 1: is the weapon design, like how creative Insomniac got and
Speaker 1: the world design, how it blended the platforming and the
Speaker 1: exploration and the gunplay. It took me, Oh, this is
Speaker 1: actually I told you an answer for that email we
Speaker 1: got where I wouldn't remember, we couldn't remember some little
Speaker 1: feature in a game that made us completely play it
Speaker 1: differently that someone like to tell us about. My cousin
Speaker 1: told me there was a whole other targeting aiming set
Speaker 1: up in Going Commando that was not default, because Going
Speaker 1: Commando used the free aim like you shot whichever direction
Speaker 1: Ratchet was aiming of the first game, but there was
Speaker 1: an option that actually made it more like up your
Speaker 1: arsenal before up your Arsenal came out, where it was
Speaker 1: more traditional you aim, he aims where the camera's looking,
Speaker 1: if that makes any sense.
Speaker 2: So it was way easier to aim and shoot, and
Speaker 2: that change how I play the game. But yeah, no,
Speaker 2: I'm going Bloodborne.
Speaker 1: I don't even I don't necessarily unless anybody else objects
Speaker 1: to Bloodborne.
Speaker 5: I I've definitely spent more time thinking about and playing
Speaker 5: ratching clank games, and I Bloodborne was the first Rumsoft
Speaker 5: game I actually beat, you know, like I respected Dark
Speaker 5: Souls and Damon Souls from Afar, but like I would
Speaker 5: play like five ten hours and be like, ah, I'm good.
Speaker 5: I don't really know what I'm doing here.
Speaker 3: Uh. Bloodborne was like, oh shit, okay, this one was
Speaker 3: so luch.
Speaker 4: Like for me too. It's the first one where I
Speaker 4: was like, I get how these games are meant to
Speaker 4: make you feel.
Speaker 5: Yeah, it was undeniable, and I do feel like that
Speaker 5: has been on my shortlist of games I want to
Speaker 5: go back to because I think when I did play it,
Speaker 5: I just didn't really have that language of how those
Speaker 5: games work. But now that I've spent so much time
Speaker 5: playing like elden Ring and even like you know, Armored
Speaker 5: Core or whatever you know, or Secio, I think if
Speaker 5: I went back to Bloodborne now, I would just because
Speaker 5: I understand from games more than I did back then.
Speaker 3: I think I'd enjoy it more.
Speaker 5: I just think there's more going on there, like ratting
Speaker 5: You know you said ice cream earlier when it comes
Speaker 5: to Mario Mary and Uh, I think ratching Klink is
Speaker 5: fantastic ice cream.
Speaker 3: I think Bloodborne is a Mike say a fancy wine.
Speaker 2: U Bloodborne, I'd say it's like an arm.
Speaker 5: I take it back all right, Bloodborne's really good. I'll
Speaker 5: vote for Bloodborne.
Speaker 4: All right, Bloodborne wins over Ratchet and Clank going Commando,
Speaker 4: I will agree. I think that is a fair cool. Okay, uh,
Speaker 4: this next one, are.
Speaker 3: We out of the first round yet? No? No, although
Speaker 3: it goes much faster because like a lot of arguments,
Speaker 3: a lot.
Speaker 4: Of arguments have been made.
Speaker 3: But we'll see.
Speaker 4: Because this yeah, we still have like ten more games,
Speaker 4: and you.
Speaker 3: Already killed Metal Year, which is the one I'd be
Speaker 3: talking about the most. So yeah, and there's no more
Speaker 3: Metal games.
Speaker 4: It was a beautiful victory. Actually, think we have like
Speaker 4: eight more matchups. Okay, Uncharted Too versus Soul Caliber.
Speaker 3: Fuck all right, Look when.
Speaker 5: You said Uncharted too, I was like, great, I can
Speaker 5: be the champion for this game that I think people
Speaker 5: forgot about how fucking good.
Speaker 3: A lot of people did.
Speaker 5: People don't give the credit. Uncharted two came out with
Speaker 5: twenty ten or whatever. It was ridiculu, especially for someone
Speaker 5: who loves like, you know, y octane action bullshit. The
Speaker 5: train sequence and everything just unmatched the time. So I
Speaker 5: was ready to go to bat and be like I'm
Speaker 5: gonna champion on Turn It two. But then you said
Speaker 5: soul Caliber. Fuck everything else, my vote soul Caliber.
Speaker 4: Okay, do you have anything else to add to why
Speaker 4: soul Caliber?
Speaker 3: Yes?
Speaker 5: It is a because I like fighting games a lot,
Speaker 5: but I've never been like competitive in terms of like, like,
Speaker 5: you know, I like Moral Combat because the characters and
Speaker 5: special moves and fatalities are all cool. I like Street
Speaker 5: Fighter because it's a fun thing to do with your friends.
Speaker 5: I never wanted to be like, oh, let's really seriously
Speaker 5: learn this and get competitive and go to EVO or
Speaker 5: rank up online with fighting games. Uh So, soul Caliber
Speaker 5: was the one where it's like, god damn, it was
Speaker 5: so good. If you wanted to be that competitive level player,
Speaker 5: you could dig super deep into the training mode and
Speaker 5: command lists and all that stuff and learn each character.
Speaker 5: But also if you wanted to play way more casually,
Speaker 5: which is the way I typically played fighting games, you
Speaker 5: could go in there and it was the king of like,
Speaker 5: you know, you jam on X and Y a little bit,
Speaker 5: you block some things, and you're gonna do some really
Speaker 5: cool looking shit and it feels awesome. It feels like
Speaker 5: it's not playing for you, but you could just do
Speaker 5: a lot more cool shit by kind of hitting buttons
Speaker 5: than you could in a street fighter or something like that.
Speaker 5: But I loved it so much that I wanted to
Speaker 5: go the extra step, and so I went in and
Speaker 5: like every single fucking character in Soul Caliber, I went
Speaker 5: move by move in the command list and learned every
Speaker 5: single thing. It is the game I have played the
Speaker 5: most in my entire life. I've our count out. Soul
Speaker 5: Caliber is number one for me, without a doubt, and
Speaker 5: I didn't expect that because again, it was never competitive
Speaker 5: level fighting game player. But it was just so good
Speaker 5: and so fun that it's like I want to learn
Speaker 5: every fucking character. And there was such a ride with
Speaker 5: that where it's like, oh, at first Keelick was my guy,
Speaker 5: but then I start really learning like Mitsurugi or Taki
Speaker 5: or a Nightmare, and it's like the depth matters, Like yeah, yeah,
Speaker 5: I what's the what's the phrase? It's it's something something deep,
Speaker 5: something wide, whatever it is. It can be as shallow
Speaker 5: or as deep as you want it to be. It
Speaker 5: can be no, baby, wow, that's all that's Jesus.
Speaker 3: As deep as you're willing to go.
Speaker 5: You can be drunk in a dorm room, mashed on
Speaker 5: the Dreamcast controller and having a great time, or.
Speaker 4: We didn't buy shallow dish dot com.
Speaker 3: Or you can.
Speaker 5: You can spend hundred hours learning every character and it's
Speaker 5: like any level in between. You were gonna have a
Speaker 5: great time with that game. And another one of those
Speaker 5: that I will pick up and play anytime. When we
Speaker 5: did Extra Life recently, me and Manati just played a
Speaker 5: good amount of it, and it's like, wow, this is
Speaker 5: still like the best fighting game ever, like not even
Speaker 5: just nostalgia wise, it's just no, no fighting game has
Speaker 5: ever been nearly this good.
Speaker 1: I think, right you put you went into your basement
Speaker 1: and we had the controller. You went into your basement
Speaker 1: under your studio in Connecticut, and you played me blind
Speaker 1: basically while I was actually seeing the TV upstairs, and
Speaker 1: you beat me. Or tonight it was like best three
Speaker 1: out of five and I think I might have just
Speaker 1: barely beat you and you're in your basement with the
Speaker 1: remote controller.
Speaker 5: Not seeing the television. Yeah, just yeah, it's man, what
Speaker 5: a tremendous fucking game. Yeah, every day It's one of
Speaker 5: those games. Every time I think about Soul Caliber, I
Speaker 5: want to be playing Soul Caliber right now.
Speaker 4: Aw, that's really moving. I have to say, Like when
Speaker 4: it comes to like our list. That's a very endearing
Speaker 4: pitch and I loved it fine by me, all right, yeah,
Speaker 4: Soul Caliber, I mean you won me over Bud.
Speaker 5: I'm such a psycho about that game that I had
Speaker 5: like two hundred and fifty hours on my playtime and
Speaker 5: I was so like, wow, I played this game a lot,
Speaker 5: and then my VMU died my memory thing, and so
Speaker 5: when I got a new one, I left it like
Speaker 5: on a pause screen or in a level for two
Speaker 5: hundred and fifty hours so it would be accurate.
Speaker 3: Again. Wow, that's just me being an insane person. But yeah,
Speaker 3: yeah it's a great game. Yeah.
Speaker 4: Okay, Soul Caliber wins under over Uncharted two. Our next
Speaker 4: matchup the Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time versus Halo two.
Speaker 3: Okay, let's talk Halo two first.
Speaker 5: I think the big Halo two is Xbox Live, and
Speaker 5: I think at least for me, I don't know if
Speaker 5: it was the same with both of you, but like,
Speaker 5: that was that first like, oh shit, online multiplayer. You know,
Speaker 5: I never had PC online multiplayers, so to me it
Speaker 5: was a revelation.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: A lot of late nights in college.
Speaker 2: Parties with people in fucking China.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's what it felt like. I was like, this
Speaker 3: is the future. It was tremendous. It was fucking tremendous.
Speaker 5: I know the campaign was very polarizing at the time
Speaker 5: and not the best ending and things like that, but
Speaker 5: it is very very good.
Speaker 3: Still a good campaign. I love that campaign still. It is.
Speaker 3: It's fun, it's messy, but it's yeah, but Aina, it's Ackerina,
Speaker 3: that's my vote.
Speaker 4: Wow, what a good pitchna, Dan, do you oppose?
Speaker 3: No?
Speaker 5: At least some flowers to Halo two before Okarina trampled it.
Speaker 4: I put Halo two because it is upwards of one
Speaker 4: of the most beloved games of all time, like globally,
Speaker 4: so I filled in a gap.
Speaker 5: Sure, sure, good call. Okay, but Acker well, we'll probably
Speaker 5: talk about Okerna more when we need to.
Speaker 3: But I don't know if it's gonna make it that far. Well,
Speaker 3: oh my god, I don't know. I'm joking, but maybe
Speaker 3: it won't. I next round at.
Speaker 4: Least next one. Uh, Hollow Night versus Shadow of the Colossus.
Speaker 3: That's an interesting one. Okay.
Speaker 8: Wow?
Speaker 3: Can I go to Can I go?
Speaker 2: Can I take a break before this because I really
Speaker 2: use the bathroom? Sure, that's that's our that's our tease.
Speaker 2: Okay break yeah, yeah, are and we're back for Hollow
Speaker 2: Night versus Shadow of the Colossus.
Speaker 3: That Shadow classis was my nomination.
Speaker 4: This is not fair. I think that this is really
Speaker 4: hard because they actually, shockingly they.
Speaker 3: Really do have a lot in common in terms of like.
Speaker 4: Being extremely innovative, where other people have like duplicated elements
Speaker 4: of both of these games, the story elements, the surprise,
Speaker 4: the ability to take on just incredible feats and feeling
Speaker 4: so powerful by the time you're done with it. And
Speaker 4: I I really also I have a massive fondness for
Speaker 4: Shadow of the Classes. So this is like kind of
Speaker 4: gutting for me as well. We all know where my
Speaker 4: heart is going to go here. I just want to say,
Speaker 4: when it comes to a game I would pick up
Speaker 4: and play right now to the end of the time,
Speaker 4: it's Hollow Night, because there's so much to explore in
Speaker 4: that game. My only like one thing about Shadow of
Speaker 4: the Colossus that I think is limiting is that there's
Speaker 4: only so many COLOSSI and I I have seen them
Speaker 4: and I have experienced them. But every time I go
Speaker 4: into a new avenue of Hollow Night, I'm like, I
Speaker 4: can't believe that there's a whole fucking beehive in this wall,
Speaker 4: and that is so sick that they just keep They
Speaker 4: surprise me consistently and way more than I was surprised
Speaker 4: in Shadow of the Colossus. The depth of Hollow Night
Speaker 4: and how much they packed into that world and each
Speaker 4: area is fascinating. There's no boring area of Hollow Night.
Speaker 4: It's all it's all fucking sick. The scope of that
Speaker 4: game is why I have to give it to Hollow Night.
Speaker 4: I can proceed, but I will stop there for now.
Speaker 3: I do.
Speaker 5: I think you're right about like the scope and the
Speaker 5: variety and things that Hollowen has the edge over Shadow
Speaker 5: of the Clauses for sure, and there are similarities. I
Speaker 5: think they both do a lot of show don't tell
Speaker 5: you know, as far as the world building, and you know,
Speaker 5: even like the vibe of the games is kind of
Speaker 5: just like vaguely sad and.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, yeah decrepit world or like maybe like once
Speaker 4: was has collapsed now you're seeing the ruins of it. Yeah,
Speaker 4: they have a lot and it's weird. They actually have
Speaker 4: a lot in.
Speaker 5: Common, even though yeah, the games themselves where it's like
Speaker 5: Hollow Night is a Metroidvaniace. Shadow of Glosses is like
Speaker 5: I always compared Chat of the Classes to punch Out,
Speaker 5: where it's like.
Speaker 3: It's like Boss Rush sixteen boss fights. Not a rush,
Speaker 3: but like boss yeah, sixteen boss.
Speaker 4: It's true, but the traveling to the bosses is so
Speaker 4: poetic and it's deep. You think and and a lot
Speaker 4: about yourself. You bond with your horse and develop a
Speaker 4: relationship with your horse, which comes into play, like I think.
Speaker 5: The most interesting video game character of all time according
Speaker 5: to Ben Hanson, Agro the Horse. Yes, he believes Agro
Speaker 5: the Horse is the most interesting video game character of
Speaker 5: all time.
Speaker 3: But we don't need to unpack that.
Speaker 4: Has he met Roach?
Speaker 3: No, it's Agro. Yeah, ever a big boss and everyone there's.
Speaker 4: Weird, like not even characters. There's more interesting horses in games.
Speaker 3: Oh I I'm with you.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I you were talking about how poetic it can be.
Speaker 1: Just get from play is the place in that you
Speaker 1: come up to some bosses. The more the more bosses
Speaker 1: you fell, the more you come up and you're like.
Speaker 2: This fucking bird was just like minding its own business
Speaker 2: in this lake, in this gorgeous forlorn lonely place and
Speaker 2: I'm kind of come in and just kill him because my.
Speaker 3: Little human.
Speaker 2: Needs needs the Colossus souls. But yeah, god, you get
Speaker 2: to some of those environments, it's just like it feel
Speaker 2: it truly feels like no one has set foot in
Speaker 2: that temple where you fight the monkey boss in like Millennia,
Speaker 2: that game I mentioned Metroid Prime and then Resuvill Remake
Speaker 2: and Shadow the Colossus, three games that just they they
Speaker 2: understand how to create atmosphere in a way that no
Speaker 2: other games do, and there's got like it's it's feels
Speaker 2: so weird to say Shadow the Colossus is some of
Speaker 2: the best boss fights ever because of course it's it's
Speaker 2: built around it. It's you know, it's it's Ueida doing
Speaker 2: Uda and co.
Speaker 3: Doing their thing.
Speaker 2: But like.
Speaker 1: The Bird, especially when you first realize, like, oh man,
Speaker 1: he's swooping right down over that platform, there's no way,
Speaker 1: Oh he's got fur on his shoulders like above the
Speaker 1: w am I gonna just get pulverized if I try it.
Speaker 1: And then you jump and you grab the fur and
Speaker 1: it starts soaring up and you're holding out for deer
Speaker 1: life and your music.
Speaker 3: Yeah, the music, like.
Speaker 1: Crescendos even that, and that's one of sixteen. There are
Speaker 1: a couple in there that I actually I replayed with
Speaker 1: the remaster. I'm like, those were not great, but the
Speaker 1: fact that they tried that in I don't I'm pretty
Speaker 1: sure I could be mistaken. I think the first God
Speaker 1: of War came out not far from Shadow of the Colossus.
Speaker 3: Oh five yeah, Yeah? Were they both? Five? Yeah?
Speaker 2: And I played both of those in like back to
Speaker 2: back weeks, and like, holy shit, you cannot have two
Speaker 2: more different games. The fact that it is empty is
Speaker 2: almost like more impressive to me than if they stuffed
Speaker 2: it chock full of things like a lot of Ubisoft
Speaker 2: games feel the need to do now or the last
Speaker 2: fifteen years have but like yeah, and also yeah, showed
Speaker 2: out and tell is spot on because like you understand
Speaker 2: what the story is telling you, even though they are
Speaker 2: not the only words you hear for a while, or
Speaker 2: like the chanting of that like godlike thing that's narrating God.
Speaker 2: The architecture and in Shadow of the Colossus is just
Speaker 2: some of the best ever.
Speaker 3: That game world is so unique.
Speaker 5: I think it might be the most beautiful game I've
Speaker 5: ever played. Yeah, graphical fidelity I'm just talking everything.
Speaker 2: It's back when I cared about this kind of thing
Speaker 2: that was always the game. I was like, oh, Ebert
Speaker 2: needs to play Shadow to Colossus. But like that's leaving
Speaker 2: aside the fact that it really does just have these
Speaker 2: badass boss fights that are on a scale of like
Speaker 2: you really don't see much unless it's like a like
Speaker 2: an anime inspired game that's like, okay, you're like armored
Speaker 2: cores or something, you're flitting around, but this is just
Speaker 2: a little puny, like what seems like a teenage dude
Speaker 2: trying to kill these giants.
Speaker 4: And the animation of them as well, showing him fall
Speaker 4: and stumble. The animation makes him feel so fallible again,
Speaker 4: comparing to like an Assassin's Creed, where it's like when
Speaker 4: you get hurt, he just kind of like jukes back
Speaker 4: into position, but you get tossed around like a frisbee.
Speaker 4: And Shadow of the Colossus. They want you to feel weak,
Speaker 4: and I think it's a masterclass in character design and
Speaker 4: character animation as well.
Speaker 2: You feel weak and then you feel triumphant when you
Speaker 2: kill it, but then it's like.
Speaker 4: I feel like a bad buy. You weren't supposed to
Speaker 4: do that.
Speaker 5: Game where I reviewed that back in the day, and
Speaker 5: I remember thinking that, like I remember in the review
Speaker 5: just focusing on like these boss fights are so clever
Speaker 5: and they're huge, and it's so you get to climb
Speaker 5: up this whole thing, this platform am his boss fights,
Speaker 5: and I don't think I put much thought into like
Speaker 5: what was happening or the world or the story or anything.
Speaker 5: And then I played the remake as an older wiser
Speaker 5: man and I was like, oh, wait, okay, this is
Speaker 5: actually like on a different level, Like it was kind
Speaker 5: of hitting me the like oh got it. Yeah, I'm
Speaker 5: just killing these fucking peaceful, beautiful creatures.
Speaker 1: You know, like in this literally by definition you assume
Speaker 1: they're all endangered because there's.
Speaker 3: One of them.
Speaker 1: You're just slaughtering all of them because you want to
Speaker 1: save what you're like the princess, like.
Speaker 5: Just elegant shit of just like the way you find
Speaker 5: it is just hold your sword up with a circle
Speaker 5: button and it's the beam of light and so beautiful
Speaker 5: and for And that was in that post GTA three
Speaker 5: world too, where it's like everything was trying to do that,
Speaker 5: Like we weren't full Ubisoft Matt Barf Open World yet,
Speaker 5: but everything was just like, we need a million side questions,
Speaker 5: a million things, collectibles and all this stuff. And it
Speaker 5: was kind of bold enough to be like, no, it's
Speaker 5: it's open, you can go wherever you want, but like
Speaker 5: it is desolate. Yeah, and that that lends itself to
Speaker 5: the vibe of that game. Yeah, Oh it's so good.
Speaker 4: Hollan I also has these like moments of desolation where
Speaker 4: it's just like you've seen nothing. The Kingdom I think
Speaker 4: it's called like the Kingdom of Tears or whatever. It's
Speaker 4: just like this dead kingdom. Everything has gone from it.
Speaker 4: The halls are empty, everything has died and moved on. Yes,
Speaker 4: there are bad guys there, but like, ultimately you're walking
Speaker 4: around this hollowed out town and there's so many stories
Speaker 4: left untold. What were the kings of this place? What
Speaker 4: were the people?
Speaker 3: Like?
Speaker 4: Why is it abandoned? What happened here? I asked myself
Speaker 4: that in so many areas of Hollow Night, it was
Speaker 4: telling me a lot without telling me anything, just watching
Speaker 4: all the death and destruction and Hollow Night. And I
Speaker 4: am here killing a lot and trying to get through
Speaker 4: it to what purpose I don't even fucking know, But
Speaker 4: you want to kind of investigate these terrifying and really sad,
Speaker 4: sad spaces. Every once in a while you will come
Speaker 4: across and who's singing or a person who is alone
Speaker 4: and they're telling you they're really sad story and it's
Speaker 4: pretty brutal. The world building of Hollow Night and just
Speaker 4: what a what a cold environment it sets you out
Speaker 4: to be and you're not a hero. I think it's
Speaker 4: made that kind of clear. You're not bad nor good
Speaker 4: in that game. You're just kind of trudging along in it.
Speaker 4: I think that's also meaningful because you can kind of
Speaker 4: make that call as the player of like what kind
Speaker 4: of person you think you are in this environment? But
Speaker 4: you are certainly a murderer trying to get through. I
Speaker 4: think it's I think it's just meaningful to give your
Speaker 4: the player agency in that space. I think both games
Speaker 4: do this quite well to let you decide are you
Speaker 4: bad or good? Shadow of the Classes does that extraordinarily
Speaker 4: as well. You know, you are fighting for a girl,
Speaker 4: right you are. You are fighting for the health of
Speaker 4: someone that you love, and that is valid, but you're
Speaker 4: also destroying beautiful Colossi and they weren't fucking doing anything,
Speaker 4: like Mike said, like It's not like they were destroying
Speaker 4: a town. They were like hanging out, having a little nap.
Speaker 2: It was like a religious prophecy that told me to
Speaker 2: do it, if memory.
Speaker 4: Serves Yeah, And so it's just kind of they're they're
Speaker 4: both pretty gutting games in that in that space. But
Speaker 4: I do absolutely love the agency of determining, like what
Speaker 4: kind of person I think I am in this world.
Speaker 4: Hollow Night feels so sad and so alone in so
Speaker 4: many ways, and it's often like raining in a lot
Speaker 4: of the spaces, and I think it's just kind of
Speaker 4: adding to the environment that you are alone and you
Speaker 4: are going to go through some shit to get where
Speaker 4: you want to be. I think it feels great when
Speaker 4: you're able to get into these spaces. And I still
Speaker 4: like to this day, like I will just travel around
Speaker 4: Hollow Night because the music and the world building and
Speaker 4: the visuals are so stunning. I love visiting those spaces.
Speaker 4: I like that is like still the game that I
Speaker 4: play when I just like want to like immerse myself
Speaker 4: in an environment that I love so much.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I love Hollow Night, But like Shout of the
Speaker 2: Colosses to me is is uh, you.
Speaker 4: Want to play it? Which one would you play more?
Speaker 3: Now? Off, Dan, I'm not trying to be antagonistic. I
Speaker 3: just I came around it really is.
Speaker 2: It really is a kind of a perfect but also
Speaker 2: a terrible matchup. Like, yeah, so brutal similar. I hate
Speaker 2: to say it because I know how much Hollow Night
Speaker 2: means to you, Mary, But like.
Speaker 4: Guys, there is like not even that many CLASSI like,
Speaker 4: they don't even do anything.
Speaker 3: It's yeah, like you don't.
Speaker 4: Have to learn their moves, you just jump on.
Speaker 3: You absolutely need to learn their moves. There's a bunch
Speaker 3: of them that are agile. I know, you know it's
Speaker 3: really good. She's like, I know, it's a tough one.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's honestly, like it would have been easier to
Speaker 1: pick holl And Night Over like an Arcadie game than
Speaker 1: another artistic Yeah, and it's.
Speaker 5: Just happened to go against one of the most beautiful
Speaker 5: games ever made that also holds up really well.
Speaker 3: And yeah, I have to go shadow the Classes. I'm sorry,
Speaker 3: I feel bad.
Speaker 4: I have to go Shadow the Classes is funny, stupid,
Speaker 4: not like you know, with valid reasons. This is really hard.
Speaker 3: I think we sold that argument really well. Shadow. Okay,
Speaker 3: at least you lost to something better than the Wincher three. Yeah,
Speaker 3: you died with dignity, Yeah.
Speaker 4: There is dignity and losing to Shadow the Classes one
Speaker 4: of the most loved games of all time.
Speaker 5: All right, fine, honestly I have pushed for Hollow Night
Speaker 5: if circumstances were different.
Speaker 3: Fine.
Speaker 4: Our next matchup is Titan Fall two versus Portal Oh fuck.
Speaker 3: Me, that's an interesting one. Was you were you Portal Mary?
Speaker 4: I am Portal Yeah did you do?
Speaker 2: You did Portal over Portal two just to claim?
Speaker 4: So this is an interesting one, and I think it
Speaker 4: could come back to haunt me.
Speaker 2: I do.
Speaker 4: I do think that Portal two is like the more
Speaker 4: enjoyable fundamental game, right, Like it's the one you can
Speaker 4: play with another person. It has extraordinarily good puzzles, and
Speaker 4: I think, uh, the world the listeners might be like,
Speaker 4: why didn't you do Portal two?
Speaker 3: You suck?
Speaker 4: I did choose Portal one because I think this is
Speaker 4: our list and even though I think Portal two is
Speaker 4: the better game, So this might come back to bite
Speaker 4: me in the butt. Portal original is like the quintess
Speaker 4: essential world building that needed to exist for Portal two
Speaker 4: to be as good as it is. It's the one
Speaker 4: that invents Gladys. It's the one that gives you this
Speaker 4: incredible skepticism of the world that you're in. Right in
Speaker 4: Portal two, you know your person is bad, right, like
Speaker 4: you know Gladys is not good, and you have to
Speaker 4: deal with them. But in Portal one, the game actually
Speaker 4: sets you up where you're supposed to kind of like
Speaker 4: Gladys and like you're supposed to kind of enjoy them,
Speaker 4: and they're telling you that you get cake at the end.
Speaker 4: And so when there's that twist in the game, which
Speaker 4: is I think almost a trope now, but at the time,
Speaker 4: the first time you recognize that the game is going
Speaker 4: to kill you unless you break the wall and get through,
Speaker 4: blew my fucking mind. And I think that that's the
Speaker 4: first time that I recognized that a game designer could
Speaker 4: get me to I thought I was like breaking the game, right,
Speaker 4: but it was all designed. But that was the first
Speaker 4: time that I was tricked into believe that I was
Speaker 4: like cheating the game and kind of solving this amazing mystery,
Speaker 4: uh and trying to like compare it to something else
Speaker 4: that I can't. I just think it was so brilliant,
Speaker 4: how it it tricked me as a player to to think, Wow,
Speaker 4: I'm going to go against what this game wants me
Speaker 4: to do. I'm going to do my own thing, and
Speaker 4: and how that built. I also think the ending is
Speaker 4: is magnificent. It is a wonderful story from beginning to end.
Speaker 4: Oh my god. And the puzzles in one are also awesome.
Speaker 4: So this might come back to haunt me, but I
Speaker 4: just like One the most.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Mary, I'm with you.
Speaker 5: I think One is the way to go here because
Speaker 5: you know, because the way it was released, it didn't
Speaker 5: really have to sell itself because like you're gonna buy
Speaker 5: the Orange Box based on like, oh, here's Saint Fortre's,
Speaker 5: here's Half Life and the episodes and everything. It's like, oh,
Speaker 5: here's this bonus little thing. So like this bonus little
Speaker 5: weird thing, little puzzle game. Me, Oh cool making portals,
Speaker 5: that's cool. And then it just blew everyone away. And
Speaker 5: you know, in a time where people didn't really say
Speaker 5: meme as much, you launched a million memes and everything dah.
Speaker 5: And then so I feel like with two, it was
Speaker 5: almost kind of that like Wayne's World two or Austin
Speaker 5: Powers two thing where it's just like, Okay, we're gonna
Speaker 5: do like we're gonna have a little song at the end.
Speaker 5: We know, we're gonna have a bunch of goofy you know,
Speaker 5: fun jokes and stuff in the middle. Whereas, like I
Speaker 5: thought it was a little more endearing in the first
Speaker 5: one when I didn't expect it, when it was like, oh,
Speaker 5: this game's like silly and weird and it's kind of
Speaker 5: like breaking the fourth wall a little bit, and oh
Speaker 5: there's this weird song at the end. Where's like the
Speaker 5: second one was like, well, yeah, of course they're gonna
Speaker 5: do this, like that's the this is the tone, this
Speaker 5: fits with the tone, whereas the first one you didn't
Speaker 5: know the tone yet, and it was more kind of
Speaker 5: surprising to learn that stuff. So yeah, like maybe as
Speaker 5: a whole, Portal two might be a better game, but
Speaker 5: I remember one more finally, you know.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, Titan Fall two is mine.
Speaker 3: I believe.
Speaker 1: I still I still think about that multiplayer often, especially
Speaker 1: how well they employed like fighting game recognition. It's incredible.
Speaker 1: But like the multiplayer, the way you can recognize a
Speaker 1: a scorch from a distance as opposed to a monarch
Speaker 1: and know that you're gonna have to counter them a
Speaker 1: certain way, and there's certain their weaknesses. When they call
Speaker 1: down the mex it's still such a fucking thrill to
Speaker 1: call down a mech from space, jump into it, and
Speaker 1: then you're pilots in it. All of a sudden, you're
Speaker 1: launching like shoulder mounted flames and then just shooting explosives
Speaker 1: at tiny little pilots near you.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the campaign is just one of the most I
Speaker 2: don't want to say underrated.
Speaker 1: Anybody who's played it knows it's really good, but it's
Speaker 1: like overlooked often in the face of other shooters. I
Speaker 1: sometimes forget it compared to Halo, Half Life, Two, Gears
Speaker 1: of War, et cetera. But like, yeah, the the interplay
Speaker 1: between how good it feels to be a pilot but
Speaker 1: also how good and powerful it feels to be in
Speaker 1: a Titan is incredible.
Speaker 3: The mobility is insane too, it is. The mobility is
Speaker 3: so fucking good.
Speaker 4: Yeah, fast you could be and how strong you can
Speaker 4: be depending on the titan you choose.
Speaker 5: So fun person and stuff where's like you're wall running
Speaker 5: and the like stick knipe into the wall and like
Speaker 5: snipe down like shit.
Speaker 1: Hell yeah, and for like for Vince Ampela and the
Speaker 1: people who made call Duty four to go over and
Speaker 1: do that. But add the other layer of you're not
Speaker 1: just prestiging, and you're not prestige like you're not just
Speaker 1: ranking up all these individual pilot handheld weapons and the
Speaker 1: pilot perks and the equipment. You're also doing it for
Speaker 1: all six of these Titans that all have very different
Speaker 1: there they might as well. It might as well be
Speaker 1: a hero shooter once you get into them, or again
Speaker 1: a fighting game you see a scorch monarch. I'm forgetting
Speaker 1: some of the uh, some of the other names right now,
Speaker 1: but the one with the more like semi automatic rifle
Speaker 1: or the sniper rifle, and you're ranking them up individually
Speaker 1: and whatnot. You can customize them their look. You can
Speaker 1: put your stamp on them as well, in a way
Speaker 1: that you couldn't call Duty four. So for them to
Speaker 1: come over and make that was great. But like I'm
Speaker 1: not going to sit here and say it's better than
Speaker 1: Portal by any means, But Titan Fall two is still
Speaker 1: When they brought the servers back online a few years ago,
Speaker 1: I was me and Rob Hanleery were I don't know
Speaker 1: anybody in the world more like happier than us two.
Speaker 3: That day we jumped in and it was it was
Speaker 3: fucking really good. It holds up like crazy.
Speaker 5: We don't stream like a year ago on Giant Bomb
Speaker 5: and we're all like, holy shit, why are we not
Speaker 5: playing this all the time?
Speaker 2: Like I had my favorite titan I was a scorch
Speaker 2: Maine Rob.
Speaker 3: Rob had his man I I had. Yeah, I was
Speaker 3: getting double XP codes.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but uh but no, Portal Portal deserves that spot
Speaker 2: as well.
Speaker 4: Yeah, okay, agreed, Portal wins over Titan Fall two. Uh,
Speaker 4: the next one.
Speaker 3: Why she's smiling? Why she grinning?
Speaker 4: Haites versus Metal Gear Solid two Sons of Liberty.
Speaker 3: Wait, what Haes is that you? I did? Yeah? No,
Speaker 3: I mean yeah, oh fuck.
Speaker 2: Haes is like because he likes like haities more than
Speaker 2: we do.
Speaker 4: Haties was our game of the year.
Speaker 2: We did not talk about it. That was our first
Speaker 2: game of the year.
Speaker 4: It was It was the one that kind of actually
Speaker 4: launched us as a podcast, so I think it's internally
Speaker 4: valuable to each one of us. It's also hilariously the
Speaker 4: one we didn't discuss. So we did Game of the
Speaker 4: Year originally and we debated very intensely our first ten
Speaker 4: through number two, and it just never we actually, like
Speaker 4: famously just forgot to talk about Hades, or maybe we
Speaker 4: just didn't remember. By the end, it was so renowned
Speaker 4: and we just we spent so many hours in it,
Speaker 4: and I think we still look very fondly on Hades.
Speaker 2: So yeah, id on here.
Speaker 3: It, Yeah, needed to be on here.
Speaker 2: I did not put it on mine.
Speaker 1: Kind of maybe strategic's the wrong word, but like I figured,
Speaker 1: I thought Dan had it on there.
Speaker 3: Honestly, I like it a lot.
Speaker 2: He did it.
Speaker 3: I fucking love Hades.
Speaker 2: I'm willing to be swayed to metal Gear, but like, Okay,
Speaker 2: god damn Haites.
Speaker 3: Still it's Hades.
Speaker 1: Haiti's one of the top five games I want to
Speaker 1: play right now that I wasn't even thinking about until
Speaker 1: right now.
Speaker 5: I put a lot of stock into anything, games, movies,
Speaker 5: anything with people that are just unlike anything else, and
Speaker 5: Meddle Year Solid two, even in this series of Middle
Speaker 5: Year Solid is unlike anything else I've seen. First of all,
Speaker 5: the marketing was the craziest shit ever, because you're coming
Speaker 5: off Middle Year Solid one, which I made the argument
Speaker 5: for that earlier, and how it just was a giant
Speaker 5: shift in what people expected from games. And then just
Speaker 5: three years later, they're coming out with this game because
Speaker 5: it's on PS two that looks it looked like Witchcraft.
Speaker 5: When you saw that E three trailer, it's like, how
Speaker 5: could games possibly look this fucking good? Then they put
Speaker 5: out a demo on Zona the enders and people can
Speaker 5: play it, and we're playing that demo over and over
Speaker 5: and again.
Speaker 3: Witchcraft.
Speaker 5: It was just insane, the amount of detail, graphical prowess,
Speaker 5: all this stuff, and they're setting up this very intriguing
Speaker 5: story and then you play it and it does maybe
Speaker 5: the boldest thing a video game has ever done, where
Speaker 5: you take this universally beloved character of Solid Snake, you
Speaker 5: promote this game as like Solid Snake's Next Adventure, and
Speaker 5: it's like, holy shit, you liked them back then check them.
Speaker 5: Now everything's fucking cooler, Now, bigger steaks, all this shit,
Speaker 5: you're Solid Snake again. And then to take this beloved
Speaker 5: fucking character and then a couple hours in be like, nope, sorry,
Speaker 5: you're not him. You're this weave that everyone hates.
Speaker 3: And they fucking mark the mark.
Speaker 5: The trailers they lied, they straight up lied, and the
Speaker 5: trailers showing scenes that don't happen, to make people think
Speaker 5: that they're Solid Snake the whole time, and it's not
Speaker 5: just a cheap gotcha thing.
Speaker 3: It play.
Speaker 5: I'm not gonna spend I could spend hours talking about
Speaker 5: the themes and stuff that this game is doing, but
Speaker 5: the idea of the player's relationship to the character and
Speaker 5: things like that and just the nature of video games
Speaker 5: and stuff, it all plays into that. Uh, And it
Speaker 5: plays beautifully into the story way that I fucking hated
Speaker 5: back then because every I don't think anyone was ready
Speaker 5: for that game back then, because it's just like, what
Speaker 5: the fuck, why aren't we Solid Snake? And it took
Speaker 5: me years of replaying it and reading about it and
Speaker 5: talking on forums about this to understand what Kajemo is
Speaker 5: trying to do with this, and it's it's very complex,
Speaker 5: and again, like I don't know how like I could
Speaker 5: if you want to.
Speaker 3: See trying to do more importantly sequels and it's riding.
Speaker 5: Is this player surrogate where he has basically played a
Speaker 5: Solid Snake through the VR. There's no short way to
Speaker 5: do this. It is unbelievably complex. But to be so
Speaker 5: bold to take like it would be bold if this
Speaker 5: was an indie project and they did this, but like
Speaker 5: middle year, solid was the biggest fucking thing. And then
Speaker 5: a few years later to just throw all of it
Speaker 5: on its head and take such a risk, the likes
Speaker 5: of which people still.
Speaker 3: Haven't done since.
Speaker 5: And then even with the narrative itself to nowadays, you know,
Speaker 5: we're talking about four social media, you know, two thousand
Speaker 5: and one, A lot of these codecs and stuff in
Speaker 5: these conversations you'll see people repost nowadays because it's insanely
Speaker 5: prescient the stuff that they were saying about. What I mean,
Speaker 5: that was the first time I ever heard the word meme.
Speaker 5: I mean this is four years before I had heard
Speaker 5: a Facebook, you know, and them talking about how the
Speaker 5: proliferation of memes and online culture and divisions kind of
Speaker 5: splintering off and echo chambers and stuff and the effect
Speaker 5: that's going to have on the world and human interaction
Speaker 5: and stuff, which at the time, every review and everybody.
Speaker 3: I talked to was just loll, Kajima is crazy. What's
Speaker 3: he talking about?
Speaker 5: And then you go back and you look at this
Speaker 5: shit in twenty twenty five, and it's like, oh, my
Speaker 5: fucking god, how did this happen? In two thousand and one,
Speaker 5: while at the same time remaining an incredibly engaging video game.
Speaker 5: Like you know, there are criticisms I would have. I
Speaker 5: don't think the selection of boss fights and everything in
Speaker 5: characters is as strong as one or three. But in
Speaker 5: terms of just a fascinating, forward thinking, bold, unlike anything
Speaker 5: else experiment, uh, there is nothing like it in entertainment,
Speaker 5: I think.
Speaker 3: So, I don't know, it's uh I put it. It's
Speaker 3: probably number two.
Speaker 5: When I was I was putting over you know, middle
Speaker 5: of your Solid one as the like number one impactful
Speaker 5: thing it ever felt in games. This is right, This
Speaker 5: is like one b you know, and I think it
Speaker 5: is probably the game. You know, we always have a
Speaker 5: game's aging well or whatever, and that like it so
Speaker 5: feels good. Mario World feels good to play Metal You're
Speaker 5: Solid two ages so well because you look back and
Speaker 5: you just are more impressed at the shit he was
Speaker 5: trying to do with that game, and it just feels
Speaker 5: better as time goes on.
Speaker 4: Now, you did say that the boss fights weren't perfect.
Speaker 8: I'm not.
Speaker 3: Oh, it is not a perfect game. Great.
Speaker 4: I just wanted to rehash that point because I believe
Speaker 4: that Hades is one of the most perfectly designed games
Speaker 4: of all time. I think the boss fights are so
Speaker 4: so intricate and wonderful to replay, and it is a
Speaker 4: really awesome experience to have a unique build as a player,
Speaker 4: right you will, you're forced to play it differently each
Speaker 4: time because of the way that game is designed. You
Speaker 4: cannot play the same build each time. You can't make yourself.
Speaker 4: The game will push you into new builds. So playing
Speaker 4: that game and facing each of those bosses with a
Speaker 4: different loadout making you rethink how you can fight each
Speaker 4: of those bosses with your unique builds. It's fresh each
Speaker 4: and every time, and the boss fights are incredible, especially
Speaker 4: the final one where you take on Zeus. Goddamn, what
Speaker 4: a finale. To even get to Zeus is such a marvel.
Speaker 4: But when you actually have that vibe that you think
Speaker 4: you can beat Zeus, and then they're like, bitch, now
Speaker 4: it's just new game. Plus, like, this game was expertly crafted.
Speaker 4: It is the best of Super Giant Man.
Speaker 2: It was Hades, right, just yeah, you said Zeus, what
Speaker 2: does he fight? He fights his dad, Hades.
Speaker 4: Oh, who's Zeus?
Speaker 3: I don't think Zeus is in the game, Like you're Hades.
Speaker 4: The player is Hades.
Speaker 3: No, you're they made up, Zach.
Speaker 8: You're right.
Speaker 2: Now, your dad is Hades, the guy of the Underworld.
Speaker 4: But who's Zeus. I think he does Zeus like things.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, I'm just clarifying for You're right.
Speaker 4: I guess I thought that Zaggreous. You fight, you fight
Speaker 4: Hades cow, and that's a really tough final boss fight.
Speaker 4: I guess I thought it was Zeus.
Speaker 1: He's kind of the brilliance of it is it can
Speaker 1: sometimes be semi easy because you built your the you
Speaker 1: can agree so fucking well, which is cool, like.
Speaker 3: A great rogue light.
Speaker 5: I feel like, you know, dead Sales Hades, like you
Speaker 5: can break it, and that's part of the joy, is like, oh,
Speaker 5: this build is fucked up.
Speaker 3: I love this.
Speaker 4: It was kind of before that was a thing too,
Speaker 4: Like Hades was before Breath of the Wild, where it
Speaker 4: was like, oh shit, are you like allowed to do this? Oh,
Speaker 4: it wouldn't fuck I'm gonna sell make seventeen as.
Speaker 2: It was before, like Blatro though, Like Blatro is definitely
Speaker 2: like ropelike in that.
Speaker 4: Felt like crazy when you were able to break the game,
Speaker 4: but it was designed for you to be able to
Speaker 4: do that.
Speaker 2: No, wait, you're right Breath of the Wild came out.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, Breath came out, was like twenty twenty.
Speaker 3: Okay, gotcha.
Speaker 5: Although technically I guess Hades might have been in like
Speaker 5: early Access or something.
Speaker 3: But yeah, oh, just to.
Speaker 1: Give you where my head's at. I like Hades more,
Speaker 1: but I do think Dan had a stronger argument.
Speaker 4: Yeah, but he has a strong argument about all of
Speaker 4: these fucking games. Sure, yeah, Hades is like he did
Speaker 4: this before with Snake Eater and.
Speaker 2: Was like, no, I vote for Snake Eater, I just
Speaker 2: because I like Snake.
Speaker 4: I know, I'm just saying they can't all get in,
Speaker 4: you know what I mean, Like, there's not six hollow
Speaker 4: nights that I get to fucking cry over, but He's
Speaker 4: cried over each one of these little bad babies, and
Speaker 4: I just think like, at some point they're not all
Speaker 4: getting in.
Speaker 3: Sure, I I don't know, I don't shoving so many
Speaker 3: in the door.
Speaker 4: We can't stop them all.
Speaker 3: I just think.
Speaker 1: Hades is an undeniably good game, and I don't remember
Speaker 1: a single moment in Hades where I wasn't enjoying it.
Speaker 1: Medlic your solid too, I absolutely love and it's loftier
Speaker 1: in its goals and uneven, not even for sure, And
Speaker 1: again it comes down to like do I do I
Speaker 1: value the peaks of metal gar Salad two more or
Speaker 1: this the consistent greatness of Hades, And like.
Speaker 5: Oh man, I would almost make the argument that, like,
Speaker 5: you know, we've brought up the ice cream thing several
Speaker 5: times and I'm usually missed her ice cream when it
Speaker 5: comes to games just instant, you know, gratification everything, And
Speaker 5: in this rare circumstance, I think Hades is the ice
Speaker 5: cream and I'm arguing against it because I feel like
Speaker 5: midagor sell it too is such an anomaly and I
Speaker 5: feel like it's important but industry and the history of games.
Speaker 1: Of the two sure, But I would say, like calling
Speaker 1: Hades ice cream is kind of underselling how genius a
Speaker 1: lot of it is, like I shouldn't a genius, but like, no,
Speaker 1: it's close to perfect on the level of like Spilunky
Speaker 1: how I was talking about, and like.
Speaker 2: The way they can balance even like the weak builds
Speaker 2: are interesting because you're like, Okay, this doesn't synergize with that.
Speaker 2: I think I've probably put like all of us at
Speaker 2: least one hundred hours into Hades at this point, and
Speaker 2: I I think I would still learn something new if
Speaker 2: I played an hour tonight, which is just incredible to me.
Speaker 2: I I I think Hades is mine as well. Your
Speaker 2: argument for Metal, Your Solid two was very good. It
Speaker 2: was better than your MGS one.
Speaker 5: Well, and that's the things less than like, you know,
Speaker 5: because I love Hades. Yeah, I didn't like the Witcher. Yeah,
Speaker 5: this thing's less. It still hurts, but hey, I still
Speaker 5: got three is alive?
Speaker 3: Right yeah, oh yeah.
Speaker 2: There no, but yeah, Hades is just like Hades is
Speaker 2: just one of the best video kides.
Speaker 3: It's really I think intent.
Speaker 1: I think five years from now we're going to start
Speaker 1: like putting it up there with I mean, we already
Speaker 1: are talking about it in the breath of some of
Speaker 1: the best games ever.
Speaker 3: But like you just put a middle year two. Yeah, true, Yeah,
Speaker 3: this is it. This is when it fully shines. Okay.
Speaker 2: I it is a battle not to try to in
Speaker 2: early access, but I really just want to wait until
Speaker 2: day one.
Speaker 3: I haven't. Yeah, I missed around for like an hour
Speaker 3: or two.
Speaker 2: And hearing I'm hearing good things about how she plays
Speaker 2: differently than Graya, so looking forward to it.
Speaker 4: I I'm glad to hear that we have concluded that
Speaker 4: Hades beats out Metal Cure Solid two Sons of Liberty.
Speaker 4: We still have four more.
Speaker 3: Okay, and then that's a podcast.
Speaker 4: That's round one.
Speaker 3: Oh ship. Yeah.
Speaker 4: Our next matchup GoldenEye double oh seven versus Silent Hill two.
Speaker 3: Oh, Golden Eye. You didn't think about it.
Speaker 5: It's Golden Yeah, I know that's that's easy. Look, I
Speaker 5: respect Iron Hill too, good job. It's a nice sad game.
Speaker 5: Golden Eyes fucking gold remember that.
Speaker 3: Exactly, nice sad game. And then all of a sudden,
Speaker 3: this Vince McMahon comes out, Golden Eye, Gold. He's gonna
Speaker 3: golden He's got a I mean go because I mean,
Speaker 3: I'm not even gold and gold.
Speaker 1: You're gonna have to fight for this because I uh,
Speaker 1: Golden I was on my list as well.
Speaker 8: I think.
Speaker 3: Which one has the auto top?
Speaker 2: Good?
Speaker 4: Also have sexy ladies. Maria is in it. She's trying
Speaker 4: to get up all in that butt.
Speaker 1: I mean, Tokyo also has an Eiffel Tower. But which
Speaker 1: one do we talk about?
Speaker 3: Sorry?
Speaker 4: Continue, No, I'm losing.
Speaker 3: You're up against Okay.
Speaker 4: Dan talks about the story and like how powerful the
Speaker 4: story is. There's probably no other story that's talked about more.
Speaker 4: When it comes to the horror genre in games than
Speaker 4: Silent Hill too. It's the most iconic story where you
Speaker 4: the prog and I'm gonna it's like, how do I
Speaker 4: do this out spoiling it?
Speaker 2: Like?
Speaker 4: The point is is that you are slowly descending into
Speaker 4: hell and learning over time while you're killing all of
Speaker 4: these terrible beasts and like monsters and discovering terrible things
Speaker 4: about the other people who are in Silent Hill for
Speaker 4: awful reasons. You are slowly coming to the realization that
Speaker 4: you are not a good person and that Silent Hill
Speaker 4: is your health. And I think it's one of the
Speaker 4: first games that I played where I, over the course
Speaker 4: of the story, really recognized and loathed my own character.
Speaker 4: You still play as them, and you kind of still
Speaker 4: solve it. It is beloved in terms of game storytelling
Speaker 4: that the way that you play this game will ultimately
Speaker 4: determine your ending. How much time you spend with Maria
Speaker 4: can actually give you a better ending. Whether or not
Speaker 4: you kill the final boss, you actually can choose not
Speaker 4: to and take pity on them and be there for them.
Speaker 4: All of that actually impacts the type of outcome for
Speaker 4: your character, which is so fascinating. And why all of
Speaker 4: the alternate endings for Silent Hill get mass amounts of views,
Speaker 4: because it's really interesting to see how you choose to
Speaker 4: play this out in this just dark and desolate and
Speaker 4: despicable world it is. It is evil, and it really
Speaker 4: deals with some dark shit. There are children. There are
Speaker 4: very mature themes in this game that I didn't think
Speaker 4: you could fucking do in video games and get away with.
Speaker 4: Very serious topics are are in Silent Hill too, and
Speaker 4: I think they're done with grace. I mean that, like
Speaker 4: honestly in the sense like some of these things you
Speaker 4: might like laugh at or scoff at, and you don't
Speaker 4: laugh at what they're talking about in Silent Hell, like
Speaker 4: very serious, intense topics. But somehow, even though you're like
Speaker 4: switching between your shotgun and your uh, you know, your
Speaker 4: sniper rifle or whatever it is that you have, you
Speaker 4: are taking the situation very seriously. I think it does
Speaker 4: it with grace and dignity for these characters, and so
Speaker 4: I think it's a monumental achievement in story and character
Speaker 4: design that Golden Night doesn't have any of that shit.
Speaker 4: It's just really fun to play.
Speaker 5: Well, No, I mean if you're an odd job, and
Speaker 5: multiplayer you can chop dudes in the nuts and it's
Speaker 5: very annoying for your friends.
Speaker 2: If you throw a knife straight, it goes right in
Speaker 2: the jaws.
Speaker 3: Is nuts too. Yeah, that's a good time. Yeah slippers only. Yeah,
Speaker 3: like I like a lot, but like.
Speaker 4: I don't want to. You be really careful with how
Speaker 4: you what you say next, because your next words are
Speaker 4: gonna be muffled by your own cold night.
Speaker 2: Gold Knight created a genre.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was the first first person shooter. Everyone knows this.
Speaker 2: No, it brought the PC shooter's Doom, Wolfenstein Quake two consoles,
Speaker 2: which nobody thought was possible at the time. But also
Speaker 2: just you were talking communal experiences, like how hard that
Speaker 2: game went on split screen. I mean, it didn't have
Speaker 2: a choice to go anything but split screen in terms
Speaker 2: of multiplayer at the time. But like the map variety
Speaker 2: for its multiplayer, the picking between characters getting fucking pissed
Speaker 2: when someone went odd job because they were shorter than
Speaker 2: everybody else you couldn't shoot them. But like, yeah, I
Speaker 2: don't know, it was it was a communal It was
Speaker 2: a communal experience on par with like a precursor to
Speaker 2: combat of all of land parties.
Speaker 3: Which I mean more personal experience.
Speaker 5: But yeah, but just speaking of personal experiences, like you
Speaker 5: know how much I love Mario and did as a
Speaker 5: you know, little child and stuff, and I still didn't
Speaker 5: get a sixty four When it came out four launched
Speaker 5: with Mario sixty four. I played at Target Kiosk and
Speaker 5: was like, this is the craziest shit I've ever seen.
Speaker 5: But I still, like, realistically could not afford it. You know,
Speaker 5: there's just not like I was not able to play
Speaker 5: it outside of a Target Kiosk or a friend's place.
Speaker 5: Mario Kart came out. I love Mario Kart, I can't
Speaker 5: There's no way I can get a sixty four. I
Speaker 5: can't afford this thing. I played GoldenEye, and I went
Speaker 5: to a couple of friends places after sixth grade and
Speaker 5: played GoldenEye, and I was like.
Speaker 3: I need to find a way to make this happen.
Speaker 5: And I don't remember if that was mowing lawns or
Speaker 5: selling a bunch of old games or something, but it
Speaker 5: was like, you know, at a time where resources were
Speaker 5: limited in terms of like my money and my resources,
Speaker 5: I was like, whatever it takes, I have to have
Speaker 5: this game in my house. So I held off Mario
Speaker 5: love and ass that I was on in sixty four
Speaker 5: until I played GoldenEye, and I was like, well, there's
Speaker 5: not a choice anymore.
Speaker 3: This is the coolest shit.
Speaker 5: And especially like I again you talk about first personal
Speaker 5: Trutters and Doom and all that stuff. I had these
Speaker 5: shitty computers. I was not part of that FPS, you know,
Speaker 5: the early days of that. I did play some Doom
Speaker 5: in Wolfenstein, but in terms of like having something on
Speaker 5: that level, like when it's new and relevant, GoldenEye was
Speaker 5: the one where it's I have to have this, whatever
Speaker 5: the cost, I have to and it was so much
Speaker 5: fucking fun campaign multiplayer.
Speaker 3: It just was the full package.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I love Doom and Wolfenstein, but I don't
Speaker 2: think shooters would not be nearly as big as they
Speaker 2: are today if it wasn't for GoldenEye.
Speaker 3: Golden I is the predecessor of Halo to Call of
Speaker 3: Duty to yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and also like the main missions, the campaign missions
Speaker 1: for how they adapted the movie, and I didn't see
Speaker 1: that movie.
Speaker 2: For years after I had played the game many many times.
Speaker 1: But like, not all of it is aged well, but
Speaker 1: there's some really cool objective stuff where it's like the
Speaker 1: train yard. It's like, all right, I gotta find the
Speaker 1: black box, but that won't trigger Trevellian until I get
Speaker 1: to this area and then all of a sudden, I'm
Speaker 1: surrounded by guys on the edge of this area in
Speaker 1: the dark that I didn't see. And you know, a
Speaker 1: lot of this is through rose tinted glasses, of course
Speaker 1: because it's the N sixty four, but so much of
Speaker 1: the storytelling they got across in that in the mission
Speaker 1: design was really impressive.
Speaker 3: For ninety seven. Yeah, and also like the difficulty stuff.
Speaker 5: Every game's difficulty settings was typically like the enemies have
Speaker 5: more health and they hit you more and you take
Speaker 5: more damage. This was between Agent Secret as Double Agent.
Speaker 5: It was like the difference between on the dam, you
Speaker 5: just run to the dam and jump off to Oh
Speaker 5: I need to go here and go into this whole
Speaker 5: area I didn't have to go to before, and I
Speaker 5: had to disable these alarms like you see parts the
Speaker 5: level and do things that you wouldn't do if you're
Speaker 5: playing on a lower difficulty. So there was so much
Speaker 5: depth to the campaign.
Speaker 3: Yeah, they did that in Time Twitters two again. Yeah.
Speaker 5: Yeah, no pre radical and all that stuff. Like they
Speaker 5: were fantastic of that shit, and uh not that I
Speaker 5: even mention the multiplayer, which was maybe the thing that's
Speaker 5: most known for. Yeah yeah, Goldenn is the top ten
Speaker 5: gold ye yeah, Golden Knye.
Speaker 4: Okay, Golden Knye winds over Silent Hill too. Our next matchup,
Speaker 4: Diablo two versus Super Mario sixty four.
Speaker 3: Oh, come on, now, come on, now, let's not be silly.
Speaker 2: Can I I don't think I don't need a full break.
Speaker 2: I just want to run to the I think this
Speaker 2: is you two.
Speaker 5: Oh as far as the argument, do you have a horse? Yeah, oh,
Speaker 5: then it's winning, Okay. I like we don't even talk
Speaker 5: about it.
Speaker 3: Diabo to quite a bit, but Mary, if you want
Speaker 3: to a nice concession speech for Diablo.
Speaker 4: I mean, one of the greatest stories ever told of
Speaker 4: what the devil you are? You become the devil, you
Speaker 4: fucking dickhead. You would know?
Speaker 2: Yeah, who would have thought you would have talked that
Speaker 2: definitively about loser.
Speaker 4: I this is like an iconic game.
Speaker 3: You furnest is going off every time you talk.
Speaker 4: You know, every time, just like a little teapot is
Speaker 4: boiling behind his stupid head. I mean, I think it's
Speaker 4: this is silly. I think like we were just like
Speaker 4: fighting about like how iconic Golden Eye was and like
Speaker 4: how how it was like the Pinnacle like inspired all
Speaker 4: these games. Yablo was like the ultimate of its time
Speaker 4: as well of being able to I don't know, just
Speaker 4: mass kill mass hordes of the undead for its time
Speaker 4: in lots of different ways, and being able to like
Speaker 4: compile different types of fighting styles. Uh, deciding your character
Speaker 4: first of all was very iconic and important, but then
Speaker 4: adding to your weapon. This is like a game I played.
Speaker 4: You like played this obsessively in your basement. You played
Speaker 4: this with your friends, and everyone talked about what happened.
Speaker 4: You played this with your dad, or like with your parents,
Speaker 4: or like with your older brother. This is like the
Speaker 4: fucking game that everybody in their family households, like talked
Speaker 4: about with each other. This game is iconic. I think
Speaker 4: it's more iconic than Super Mario sixty four. I think
Speaker 4: that it's more important. What I said, I actually think.
Speaker 3: I think I think important to.
Speaker 2: But yeah, Mario sixty four like proved three D could work.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's like the single biggest technological leap in the
Speaker 3: history of the industry.
Speaker 2: I mean.
Speaker 4: Like, okay, like there's another one of him. There's more.
Speaker 4: There's a mention Diablo was like iconic for its time.
Speaker 4: It like changed the way we perceived like the depth
Speaker 4: of these styles of video games, plus the story.
Speaker 3: Six more literally added a D.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's like one that's just like one that's so
Speaker 4: superficial one D.
Speaker 3: Mary.
Speaker 1: I love you so much and I any I would
Speaker 1: follow your Diablo too, But I feel like you're just like.
Speaker 3: Willfully. I think it's like the worst possible game you
Speaker 3: could be going against with this argument.
Speaker 4: I just disagree. I don't think I never played this
Speaker 4: stupid game. Mario drown.
Speaker 3: Just trying to kill him is what you're doing. What? Yeah,
Speaker 3: I I.
Speaker 1: Feel like you've gotten a few bad ones in a row,
Speaker 1: Mary with your matchups, But like I, this one was
Speaker 1: da I think.
Speaker 5: Oh yeah, there's many games on this list you could
Speaker 5: have had an argument with Diablo Mario's sixty four.
Speaker 3: Okay, there's anything left to be said about Diablo. Feel free.
Speaker 3: The stage is yours.
Speaker 4: I think it's a better game, and you can go
Speaker 4: fuck yourself. Mario Super sixty four beats Diablo too, fine,
Speaker 4: all right, we have two more mashups?
Speaker 3: Do you need to Yeah, I need to.
Speaker 4: Gather my tears.
Speaker 3: All right, we're back.
Speaker 1: We have two more matchups in the first round. In
Speaker 1: the first round, is this like potentially a part one
Speaker 1: and two things.
Speaker 4: Or it might be We're gonna have to see how
Speaker 4: we go here?
Speaker 3: Move fast one.
Speaker 5: Keep in mind, I think after this first round, I
Speaker 5: think in terms of the matchups, we are like half
Speaker 5: done before and I think it's like sixty five matchups
Speaker 5: for sixty four entrants.
Speaker 4: We'll see how you feel because some of the secondary
Speaker 4: matchups are gonna be bret but these are.
Speaker 3: Gonna be that's gonna be like majora versus Like, these
Speaker 3: are gonna be a game. We really we've laid the
Speaker 3: groundwork for why they We'll see.
Speaker 2: Yeah, let's readdress after the next round.
Speaker 4: Okay, So the next one is Resident Evil to remake
Speaker 4: versus Metro Last Light.
Speaker 2: I mean I can speed they both are. I can
Speaker 2: speed this one along. It's resuable to remake.
Speaker 4: I won't fight that at all.
Speaker 2: Possibly the honestly the best.
Speaker 3: Remake of all time.
Speaker 1: I think over a resumeable one remake, I would have
Speaker 1: to say Metro Last Light. If you're looking for if
Speaker 1: you love half life, two and you a lot of
Speaker 1: shooters just aren't doing it for you, and you're looking
Speaker 1: for like the true spiritual successor.
Speaker 2: I've said this for a long time. Metro Last Light
Speaker 2: is the actual spiritual successor to Half Life two. It's
Speaker 2: the best thing you could play as a shooter, and
Speaker 2: before Half Life three comes out, if it ever comes out,
Speaker 2: it's it's the first Metro twenty to thirty three, really
Speaker 2: rough around the edges. Metro Last Light.
Speaker 1: Incredible linear, but then there's these open ended sequences you're
Speaker 1: also managing, like Survival Light elements in incredibly atmospheric, underground
Speaker 1: and above ground, post apocalyptic wasteland in Russia.
Speaker 3: Exit.
Speaker 1: This is great, but I feel like it definitely lost
Speaker 1: something of the craft when it went away from the
Speaker 1: linear already of Last Light.
Speaker 2: But yeah, God resume to remake. I'll save everything I
Speaker 2: want to say for next round.
Speaker 3: But it's.
Speaker 5: Yeah, if you liked Half Life two but you wish
Speaker 5: you had to press the button every five minutes Gordon
Speaker 5: Freeman wipe his glasses off, then you love Metro exactly.
Speaker 3: Yes, yes, yes, okay, the second one. I hated every
Speaker 3: Metro I've ever played.
Speaker 4: Great Resident Evil to remake wins over Metro Last Light
Speaker 4: our final.
Speaker 3: I know one game that's going to be in this,
Speaker 3: it has not come up yet.
Speaker 4: Our final matchup is I haven't heard Mario enough. Doom
Speaker 4: versus the Legend of Zelda, Breath of the Wild.
Speaker 2: It was Breath of the Wild. We haven't talked about
Speaker 2: Breath the Wild.
Speaker 3: Wow, a little weird. The dirty draw for Doom shit
Speaker 3: twenty sixteen Doom. Yeah, and you put that in there.
Speaker 3: Uh No, I did not.
Speaker 4: No, I did that based on I did I did
Speaker 4: that based on popular demand, and I actually was thinking
Speaker 4: it should be the original because it was pretty fucking important.
Speaker 3: It's incredibly important. Yeah, yeah, yeah, what are you going
Speaker 3: to say?
Speaker 4: Though I know, I know it got it got a
Speaker 4: dirty draw. I think it actually would have won over
Speaker 4: some other games just because it is. It has a
Speaker 4: very important origin, and uh, it was kind of timeless,
Speaker 4: much like Diablo. I would say, like this was the
Speaker 4: game that, like when I walked into my cousin's room
Speaker 4: and they were playing this, everybody shut the fuck up
Speaker 4: and watched them play Doom like Doom was fucking sick.
Speaker 4: It did a lot. It was very important. It is
Speaker 4: so hard to come up against Breath of the Wild, though.
Speaker 2: So exist without due.
Speaker 4: I know in many ways should have put GoldenEye against
Speaker 4: Doom instead of Silent Hill One would say, Okay, you
Speaker 4: guys are ready for round two.
Speaker 3: That's it.
Speaker 4: There were some games that didn't make it. I don't
Speaker 4: know if you want to do any honorable mentions. If
Speaker 4: you were like I would, I'm like, so sad weren't there.
Speaker 5: Mario, ma Sunshine, Marie Galaxy One, Yep, Mari Pretty World.
Speaker 4: I promised I would do up to fifteen, and I
Speaker 4: did as many as I could, Like I think I got.
Speaker 2: Up to like teen.
Speaker 3: For most of us we talked about.
Speaker 4: Twisted Metal two didn't make it, Castlevania Symphony of the
Speaker 4: Night didn't make it, Mortal Kombat two didn't make it,
Speaker 4: Batman Arkham Astylum, Kingdom Hearts, wor Frame.
Speaker 3: Kingdom Heart was my honorable mention. I love the first game.
Speaker 4: I wanted to put Outer Wild, but I killed off
Speaker 4: my own baby.
Speaker 3: God for you when I said that, Ah, the idea
Speaker 3: of you playing you're way too cool. I don't.
Speaker 1: I don't like any of them except for the first game,
Speaker 1: and it's all nostalgia. It's all nostalgia.
Speaker 4: I think that was a tough one.
Speaker 3: Mass Effect two is oh yeah, Massfect two is really fun.
Speaker 4: No, it's fine, I know, but it didn't even hit
Speaker 4: your twenty. So to me, I was like, it can't
Speaker 4: be that important if it didn't hit any of our
Speaker 4: top twenty.
Speaker 3: But I don't know what the hottest take is tonight.
Speaker 1: That Diablo two is more important than Mario sixty four
Speaker 1: or Dan saying men on your solid is the best
Speaker 1: story in any medium ever.
Speaker 3: I will I will die on that hill.
Speaker 2: You're gonna die.
Speaker 4: Also, you're gonna die on a hill.
Speaker 3: Keep in mind, I know, like fourteen storms, what are
Speaker 3: you gonna do? Shoot me?
Speaker 4: Said man right before he was shot.
Speaker 1: Anyway, Okay, yeah, times Twitters two would have been fun,
Speaker 1: but I yeah, anyway, all right.
Speaker 4: Okay, cool, I'm moving on, uh to round two, Round
Speaker 4: two start. I'm going to just start back at the
Speaker 4: top so these won't shock you, because these are the winners.
Speaker 4: Tetris versus Dishonored two.
Speaker 3: We're gathering here bridge no dishonor to so of the best.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's up there with hit Man World assassination,
Speaker 1: like level design, holy shit, cracking the slab and the
Speaker 1: clockwork mansion are I still don't know how Arcane pulled
Speaker 1: it off. Arkane is one of the most underappreciated developers
Speaker 1: around today period. Even with all the critical adoration, death
Speaker 1: Loop got Dishonored two being able to play both Corvo
Speaker 1: and Emily in one of the most unique video game
Speaker 1: worlds established by Dishonor one, with like the whaling industry
Speaker 1: and this steampunk meets Victorian meets supernatural. I absolutely think
Speaker 1: Dishonor two is the best immersive sim ever, still, unless
Speaker 1: you count hit Man World Assassination as immersed sim, which
Speaker 1: I kind of do.
Speaker 2: It's phenomenal, but it's not Tetris. It still holds up
Speaker 2: really well. I just like I said, I played it
Speaker 2: a couple of weeks I started a new campaign a
Speaker 2: couple of weeks ago.
Speaker 4: Tetris, Tetristris, Tetris, you bad bitch. You go against Dishonored
Speaker 4: in win. Tetris wins against Dishonored too.
Speaker 5: You know, I've read and heard so many bad takes
Speaker 5: about video games over the years. I still have yet
Speaker 5: to see the earnest, Like, let me tell you why
Speaker 5: Tetris is bad.
Speaker 2: I could think of a few people who would write
Speaker 2: it and try to. Yeah, I think we know some folks,
Speaker 2: but yeah, god, I want what if I like, I'm
Speaker 2: not gonna do this, but what if I broke off
Speaker 2: and like started my own Patreon and that was my
Speaker 2: first article, Like Tetris is fucking terrible.
Speaker 3: Bad is bad.
Speaker 4: Actually, if you like Tetris, you're bad at games.
Speaker 2: If you're like Tetris, then you're a fucking.
Speaker 4: Communist. I was gonna say some kind of like nonsensical
Speaker 4: argument that really heats them up.
Speaker 3: Yeah, like commy stuff, I shouldn't do voices.
Speaker 2: What's the next matchup? The next matchup is what's going
Speaker 2: to match up against Tetris next round?
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, what's gonna die?
Speaker 4: Metroid Prime versus Command and Conquer Red Alert to Oh.
Speaker 3: Fuck, which one has a better chance to? No, I'm
Speaker 3: not I shouldn't think ahead, Look, gal, it's not like ahead.
Speaker 3: I think in the short term.
Speaker 5: I know, for this podcast specifically, there is some serious
Speaker 5: love for Red Alert too.
Speaker 1: I yeah, that's my vote. I care so much more
Speaker 1: about it than Metroid Prime. I think Metroid Prime is
Speaker 1: fucking rad.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Red Alert two is the gift that keeps on giving
Speaker 1: incredible one on one multiplayer just I Also one thing
Speaker 1: we didn't talk about first round. So many strategy games
Speaker 1: are so overly concerned with balance, and I know it's
Speaker 1: a I'm not I don't mean to say this game
Speaker 1: is in balance, but it really fucking is. There's no
Speaker 1: population there's no population cap, meaning you can make as
Speaker 1: big of an army as your computer can handle, which at.
Speaker 3: The time rocketeers yep.
Speaker 2: That that game is just like g I Joe bullshit,
Speaker 2: like we can you can make whatever the fuck you want.
Speaker 2: If you can make it bigger and faster than your enemy,
Speaker 2: you're probably gonna win. But also they might have laser
Speaker 2: anti air towers that can fuck you up, and there's
Speaker 2: gonna be.
Speaker 3: Made a bunch of blimps. Yeah uh yeah.
Speaker 2: Al for me, it wasn't even going against Metro Prime Primecredible.
Speaker 5: We're at that point where every game that is coming up,
Speaker 5: we're probably all gonna be like, yeah, that game is
Speaker 5: fucking incredible.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but alert.
Speaker 5: Okay, I don't think go play Prime. If you haven't
Speaker 5: played Prime, there's remastered right there. I want to replay Metrics.
Speaker 3: It's phenomenal.
Speaker 4: The map is fucking insane, like you'll lose your ship
Speaker 4: when you look at the map at the end of
Speaker 4: this game. All right, red Alert two wins over. You
Speaker 4: guys are breaking my soul.
Speaker 3: We have to do the funniest thing.
Speaker 4: Yeah, no, no, no agendas being reasonable. Sorry, I just
Speaker 4: I think you guys are laughing too much. Metal Gear
Speaker 4: Solid three Snake Eater versus Stardew Valley.
Speaker 3: Oh look, I like starting a lot. Okay, let's be really.
Speaker 3: You know what I am.
Speaker 2: Actually I think I'm swayable on this one. I love
Speaker 2: metal Gear to a point.
Speaker 5: Okay, here's okay. Starty Valley was my game of the
Speaker 5: Year twenty fifteen. The big hit I would give against it,
Speaker 5: which did not impact my enjoyment of the game in
Speaker 5: the least, was that it was intentionally and unapologetically this
Speaker 5: isn't a bad thing derivative of Harvest Moon. So all
Speaker 5: the things I loved about it when I played it.
Speaker 5: If I had just been introduced to Harvest Moon or
Speaker 5: given it a chance ten fifteen years before, I probably
Speaker 5: would have fucking loved it. But it just just so
Speaker 5: happened to be my first farming sin and it does
Speaker 5: you know, from people who played more games than that
Speaker 5: genre than me, it does seem to be an incredible
Speaker 5: one of those and one of the best, if not
Speaker 5: the best, but it was it had other games had
Speaker 5: laid the groundwork, whereas Snake Eater was the first snake eater,
Speaker 5: the first thing on that level. So that that is
Speaker 5: if I had to kind of kill one of my
Speaker 5: babies here, that's what I would say about Stardu.
Speaker 4: What do you mean it was the first snake eater.
Speaker 4: Stardu was the first Stardo, like Snake Eater is first,
Speaker 4: like you know, uh, I don't know. Whatever fucking stupid
Speaker 4: game it is where it's like a describe what makes
Speaker 4: it so innovative because it's it's.
Speaker 3: Third in it Outdoor Stealth was huge at the time.
Speaker 4: It's the third in a metal gear.
Speaker 3: But it's it's it's very unlike one and two.
Speaker 2: It's my favorite, but it's not.
Speaker 4: But it's this isn't Harvest Moon three. This is the
Speaker 4: first Stardo. This is the first in its universe.
Speaker 3: Right, But like the format and what you're doing is
Speaker 3: incredibly finiscent of what you do in Harvest.
Speaker 4: Moon, where it's not incredibly reminiscent of what you do
Speaker 4: in Metal Gear.
Speaker 5: I mean you are sneaking around, you are killing guys
Speaker 5: and stuff like that. But the setting, the way the
Speaker 5: story is laid out, the time frame and effort like
Speaker 5: there is, there's a lot that Snake Eater does to
Speaker 5: differentiate itself from Metal Gear Solid one and two for sure,
Speaker 5: Like there's I can't think of a game before Snake
Speaker 5: Eater that feels just like Snake Eater, whereas Harvest Moons
Speaker 5: are incredibly similar to Stardy Valley from look to gameplay
Speaker 5: to format. Absolutely, But it's not about innovative. It is
Speaker 5: about our favorite and that's what it comes down to.
Speaker 5: And I just think Snake Eater, h No the best game. Yes, yes,
Speaker 5: I started Valley is very very, very very good.
Speaker 3: I love that game. Meddle Year Solid three. The moments
Speaker 3: of gameplay, moments I had will stick with me.
Speaker 5: And then the story itself is as much as I say, like, Oh,
Speaker 5: Medal Year is the best story ever, these stories, specifically
Speaker 5: of Snake Eater is the best story I've ever seen.
Speaker 3: In a game.
Speaker 1: Mary, For the record, I'm not like decided. I love
Speaker 1: Metal Gear. Snake Eater is my favorite, but I like
Speaker 1: Metal Gear to a point, I don't adore it as
Speaker 1: much as Dan does.
Speaker 3: I love Stardoo as well.
Speaker 4: I think every metal gear has its little foibles, right,
Speaker 4: They're not perfect games, and they have like flaws. Stardo
Speaker 4: is quintessential. It is just one of these iconic games
Speaker 4: that doesn't really have any issues. You can spend your
Speaker 4: day fishing. You can spend it in the Minds. You
Speaker 4: can spend it romancing people. You can spend it trying
Speaker 4: to get a unique item that you can fill your
Speaker 4: rolodex with. I love getting the Minds and opening up
Speaker 4: a geode and seeing what you can discover with it,
Speaker 4: plus the romance options. This game continues to be updated.
Speaker 4: It is insane how many updates this game has had
Speaker 4: over the last ten years. The guy just keeps adding
Speaker 4: to it. And it is so intricate that no matter
Speaker 4: how you choose to spend your day, you have a
Speaker 4: great day. This game is peaceful, it is calming. It
Speaker 4: will lower your blood pressure. This game is designed to
Speaker 4: just give you pure endorphin rushes and make you feel
Speaker 4: the It's like game serotonin. It is so delightful and whimsical,
Speaker 4: and the music, the visuals, it's all expertly designed to
Speaker 4: get you to just enjoy your day and start you.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but also if you want to fucking minmax shit
Speaker 1: and be a psychopath who can make those crazy farms
Speaker 1: by like day fourteen, the underlying intricate systems are there
Speaker 1: for you to have this fucking hydro farm in two weeks, just.
Speaker 2: Not to build onut what you're saying. It's also can
Speaker 2: be pretty hardcore.
Speaker 3: If you want it to be.
Speaker 4: It's true. My friend Josh plays it totally different than me,
Speaker 4: and like he plays it like Factorio and it's kind
Speaker 4: of insane to watch because I don't play it like
Speaker 4: that at all. I play it to like romance people
Speaker 4: and make as many friends as I can, and also
Speaker 4: I do like to make at least some money, but
Speaker 4: ultimately I just kind of like want to win best
Speaker 4: prize at the fair because it feels good, and I
Speaker 4: like to complete the Rolodex, like I want to complete
Speaker 4: all the different items that are you know, in the
Speaker 4: museum and things like that, so you can play it
Speaker 4: however you want and still have the best time. I
Speaker 4: really do think it's also universal. I think everybody who
Speaker 4: plays that game similarly to Tetris, I just don't see
Speaker 4: a lot of people saying Stardu sucks, Like it's just
Speaker 4: not something people tend to criticize it's just too wholesome.
Speaker 5: You're right in that started that does not have many flaws.
Speaker 5: In fact, I'm struggling to kind of think of one.
Speaker 5: But in terms of you know, you're asking about like, oh,
Speaker 5: what a's snaky, or do it was different than one
Speaker 5: or two or game support or something. I'd like to
Speaker 5: just narrow win on one specific part of that game.
Speaker 5: Leading up to the middle of that game, you have
Speaker 5: been taught basic things like you've got these goggles that
Speaker 5: are thermal, You've got these things that you should pay
Speaker 5: attention to in the environment. You've got these binoculars and
Speaker 5: stuff like that, whatever, so you know how to use
Speaker 5: this stuff. And then suddenly you are thrust into a
Speaker 5: thing where you were in a larger area and there
Speaker 5: is a sniper. There is an older sniper that is
Speaker 5: it's like a one hundred years old It is this
Speaker 5: ancient dude that's trying to kill you, and you have
Speaker 5: to take everything the game has taught you leading up
Speaker 5: to that point to be like, what do I fucking
Speaker 5: do here? I can't see this guy. He's not like, Okay,
Speaker 5: I'll turn on my radar thing here, But it's picking
Speaker 5: up all these birds, and shit, I don't know which
Speaker 5: one he is. Turn on the thermal things, I can't see. Oh,
Speaker 5: maybe there's some fresh footprints there. But then how it
Speaker 5: rains it gets cold, I can't tell there. And so
Speaker 5: you're just kind of like walking around very uneasy. Occasionally
Speaker 5: you're hearing him kind of like bark out at you
Speaker 5: or taunt you or whatever, or his fucking birds yelling
Speaker 5: at you or something. And it can be what's that
Speaker 5: he's got, like a parrot, and you can there's so
Speaker 5: many different paths to get this guy. You could kill
Speaker 5: his parrot and he's mourning the parrot, and you sneak
Speaker 5: up on him and steel his fucking closed and his
Speaker 5: gun and everything and choke him out or whatever. Or
Speaker 5: you can just kind of be like, you know, sitting
Speaker 5: in a bush scanning with binoculars and you see the
Speaker 5: glint of his scope and you can just shoot this
Speaker 5: motherfucker in the head. You can fucking save the game
Speaker 5: in the middle and come back a week later and
Speaker 5: he dies of old age. You could you could have
Speaker 5: ye two scenes before that, after a cutscene he's in
Speaker 5: a wheelchair, and after the cutscene ends. If you zoom
Speaker 5: in with your sniper rifle, you can catch him. There's
Speaker 5: like a brief little window where you see the boss
Speaker 5: wheel your new house. You can shoot him in his
Speaker 5: wheelchair and he fucking explodes and dies and you don't
Speaker 5: have to do the hour long boss fight.
Speaker 1: Or like Drew Scanlon did a Melgar salad and just
Speaker 1: like freak out and panic and throwd that just actually
Speaker 1: landed next to him in the jungle.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 5: Yeah, It's like, you know, Meddleger's Solid three is not
Speaker 5: on a imercive sim but I feel like it's one
Speaker 5: of those everyone's got their stories of like, oh here's
Speaker 5: how I did it, you know, and what a remark
Speaker 5: like you talk about what differentiates it from like one
Speaker 5: and two. There's nothing like the end fight in Middleger
Speaker 5: Solid one or two. Like there's very few things in
Speaker 5: games since that are like that fight, and that is
Speaker 5: the extreme example in three, But there are just so
Speaker 5: many different things where it's like if you do this,
Speaker 5: this weird thing will happen. All these things that I
Speaker 5: saw that Mike didn't play while he's playing through. On
Speaker 5: top of it just being a killer story from ginning
Speaker 5: to end, incredible setting, it's just like it's it's unmatched.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Mary, I'm sorry. I think I've a few in
Speaker 1: a row. I feel like you're getting bad matchups. But
Speaker 1: Snakier is the one male your solid. I'll go to
Speaker 1: bat far and like just thinking about.
Speaker 4: The same for your wife.
Speaker 3: Yeah, to finds in the mud. She has a parrot.
Speaker 3: She does hide in the jungle often. She's one hundred.
Speaker 4: Yeah, keep little gear Solid three. Snake Eater wins over
Speaker 4: Stardeo Valley.
Speaker 3: That was a weird matchup.
Speaker 4: Yeah, all right. Next matchup Years of War versus Super
Speaker 4: Mario Odyssey. I am taking so many els and I
Speaker 4: feel like my deck I'm just gonna literally do I
Speaker 4: know Odyssey is gonna win?
Speaker 3: This is a question.
Speaker 4: I know that we all know that everyone's time dragged
Speaker 4: through the fucking every goddamn matchup.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I love gears. I love gears.
Speaker 4: Shut up. The next matchup, Super Mario World versus Red
Speaker 4: Dead Redemption two.
Speaker 3: This is gonna be bad. That's an insane This is
Speaker 3: gonna get the most video game.
Speaker 5: To nineteen ninety one versus Yeah, we're gonna have to
Speaker 5: talk in circles for an hour to get to.
Speaker 3: The end of this one that's not Let's let's figure
Speaker 3: this out.
Speaker 1: How we do this, Mary, where just give us a
Speaker 1: barometer before we make our like opening and closing arguments?
Speaker 3: Where what are you leaning toward? Or are you or
Speaker 3: do you? Literally have no clue because this is just stupid.
Speaker 3: It's the most opposite.
Speaker 4: I've played both of them, and they're both fine, and
Speaker 4: I love either.
Speaker 3: That's not what I expected you to say. Okay, that's fine,
Speaker 3: though I can about this matchup.
Speaker 5: The things I love about Mario World were it's just
Speaker 5: the most dewey ass I press this button, have fun
Speaker 5: game ever and instantly reacts. Everything's all the shit I
Speaker 5: didn't like about Red Dead two, where it's I hit
Speaker 5: the button and then I wait for it to happen.
Speaker 5: It's just so polar opposite my brain. Even though I
Speaker 5: have come around on Red Dead to appreciate what it
Speaker 5: does very well, it is so opposite to me. And like,
Speaker 5: obviously I'm going to go Mario World. Obviously, that's my
Speaker 5: obviously the craziest matchup.
Speaker 3: I don't even know where to begin, like to compare them. No,
Speaker 3: I never had to make this decision.
Speaker 4: Nobody has ever been here before.
Speaker 2: Okay, this is Super Mario World. Yeah, Mario Bros.
Speaker 3: Three. Okay, No, I have a hard time. This is
Speaker 3: the best one. This is the second game ever. Right,
Speaker 3: it's either this or Odyssey.
Speaker 2: It's the second or third Mario game ever.
Speaker 3: Fourth, Well, Mario, do you want to count fifth? I
Speaker 3: don't know.
Speaker 4: I do struggle though, because we just had Super Mario Odyssey.
Speaker 3: I mean that there's a reason he's fucking Mario.
Speaker 1: It's the early Yeah, yeah, there's the early Mario Mario bros.
Speaker 5: Is Well, there was Mario Bros. Well, we're not gonna
Speaker 5: dunk Super Mario Brothers. Super Mario Brothers two in Japan,
Speaker 5: which was the Lost Levels here, So that's two different
Speaker 5: games there. There's Super Mario Brothers three and then World
Speaker 5: was the day debut for the Superintendo.
Speaker 2: Yes, and World is where it really came into its own.
Speaker 3: She's debut looks fuck awes on the Yellow Cape. Yeah.
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, this is a good one.
Speaker 3: Yeah. I don't know, I can, I can like, what
Speaker 3: do I do? What do you do? What do we?
Speaker 3: What are we talking about?
Speaker 2: You?
Speaker 3: How do we? What do we? It's definitely Mario World.
Speaker 3: To me, I'm not gonna be anti red Dead guy.
Speaker 2: I'm not gonna be anti Mario, but it's definitely Red
Speaker 2: Dead for me.
Speaker 3: I just I don't know. Red Dead two is one
Speaker 3: of the.
Speaker 2: I think it's my favorite Western.
Speaker 3: In anything. Mine's the Mario party to Western Land? Yeah?
Speaker 4: Stick fuck? What's your favorite sci fi? Why it's Mario's.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 1: Everything I'm saying is not a distraction from whatever Mario
Speaker 1: game we're talking about, but Super Mario World I'm joking, okay,
Speaker 1: But at the same time, I totally understand that, in
Speaker 1: its moment to moment gameplay read that Redemption two can
Speaker 1: get frustrating. Of course, it absolutely can. But also, I
Speaker 1: just don't think we talk often enough about how many
Speaker 1: different systems in that game need to coalesce in order
Speaker 1: for you just to get back to camp. And then
Speaker 1: Charles be like, oh, there you are, I need let's go.
Speaker 1: Let's go, like we got to go defend these buffalo
Speaker 1: The people are hunting. If you stay out away from
Speaker 1: Camp too long, the AI. The game is like good
Speaker 1: enough for the AI to come find you, and Bill
Speaker 1: be like, hey, Dutch is.
Speaker 3: Wondering where you are?
Speaker 1: Like Dutch is already the character is worried about Arthur's
Speaker 1: loyalty that is expressed in these systems that work across
Speaker 1: this massive open world wilderness. You could be camped out
Speaker 1: in the fucking snowy mountains and then Bill sees you
Speaker 1: when you come down out.
Speaker 3: Of the slopes.
Speaker 2: He's like, dude, we've been looking for you. Why the
Speaker 2: fuck have you not been back in a while. When
Speaker 2: that happened, that was like, oh my god. The game
Speaker 2: is actually like I was away in the wilderness. I
Speaker 2: thought I thought I was alone and I was from
Speaker 2: all the other characters, but the game is like, Okay,
Speaker 2: he's off doing his own thing, camping and he can't.
Speaker 2: I went up there because I was doing that gunslinger
Speaker 2: quest with the journalist and I was doing the shootout
Speaker 2: to prove I was the faster gun I came back out,
Speaker 2: and the game like new we're talking about Lefferded two's
Speaker 2: director whatever the fuck Magic Rockstar employed there knew that
Speaker 2: I came out after in game week away or whatever
Speaker 2: it was. And then there's someone like chastising me being
Speaker 2: like that also told me talk about show don't tell.
Speaker 2: It's like that showed me that Dutch was already worried
Speaker 2: about Arthur's loyalty and.
Speaker 1: Then for you to go back to the camp. The
Speaker 1: number of quests that can also trigger is just astounding,
Speaker 1: because Charles could come up, and then Bill could come up,
Speaker 1: and then Josiah could come up and say, Hey, I
Speaker 1: want to go talk to you about this. And it's
Speaker 1: not like you have every single option of valuable available
Speaker 1: to you at any given moment. It's there are just
Speaker 1: numerous factors of what you just did in Valentine in town,
Speaker 1: or what you just what your morality check out was
Speaker 1: on that past decision, or maybe you just want to
Speaker 1: fuck off and watch how you can shoot a barrel
Speaker 1: in the back of your wagon and then light the
Speaker 1: trail on fire and drive the barrel into an enemy
Speaker 1: or into a like a cowboy ambush like you can
Speaker 1: in like Far Cry. There's so many things to talk
Speaker 1: about with Red devordemp Shi too, but I think for
Speaker 1: now it's just it's I think the best way I
Speaker 1: can start is just like I don't know any other
Speaker 1: game that can combine that many systems into this like
Speaker 1: believable simulation that just continuously can like I can feel like,
Speaker 1: I don't know, it's just invelable.
Speaker 5: But it's an impossible argument to have that everything you
Speaker 5: just said is one hundred percent accurate, Like that is
Speaker 5: all the stuff that makes Red Dead Redemption too beautiful
Speaker 5: and impressive and everything, And with Mario World, it's like,
Speaker 5: what am I gonna to counter that with? Like, oh man,
Speaker 5: the secret exit and Donut Planes is pretty cool. Yeah,
Speaker 5: it's a much simpler but also super elegant in an
Speaker 5: awesome game in ways.
Speaker 3: That are so fucking different. Yeah, but it's just it's
Speaker 3: such a different like it could be.
Speaker 5: It could have come out this year and it would
Speaker 5: still kick ass, but it's in such different ways than
Speaker 5: Red Dead Redemption two is impressive.
Speaker 1: So it's just this is a matter of Mario's minutia
Speaker 1: and like moment to moment just absolute like chemical cause
Speaker 1: and effect in your brain, Red Dad's Big Picture an
Speaker 1: orchestra as opposed to that single really good violinist.
Speaker 5: I will not play Red Dead Redemption two unless I
Speaker 5: have a few hours that are open and it's like
Speaker 5: I want to sit down.
Speaker 3: I want to so I want to like get lost
Speaker 3: in this world.
Speaker 5: I cannot tell you how many hundreds of times in
Speaker 5: my life I've just been like, I'm going to load
Speaker 5: up Mario World and play a level for four minutes
Speaker 5: and I'm going to have a great time, you know
Speaker 5: where It's like, it's just such a polar opposite gaming experience,
Speaker 5: Like where do we even be get? Like obviously I'm
Speaker 5: going Mario World, but yeah, I.
Speaker 4: Feel like playing Red Dead Redemption two, like that is
Speaker 4: a gutting space to be in. But I will say
Speaker 4: when it, when it hits, I think the highs a higher.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I I I.
Speaker 1: I guess I could say this about many games, not
Speaker 1: just Super Mario World, but like it's it's fucking awesome
Speaker 1: when a game just feels incredible to play and it
Speaker 1: triggers that joyful response and that fun thing and that
Speaker 1: like that thing you can go back to. But like
Speaker 1: up there with things like The Last of Us or
Speaker 1: even Shadow of the Colossus, Red Deredempty two is up
Speaker 1: there with like the range of emotions that game can
Speaker 1: evoke is yeah, fucking vast uh, which again it doesn't
Speaker 1: really help compare it to Super Mario World, but well
Speaker 1: one of them.
Speaker 4: Has to be best.
Speaker 3: I mean, you know, my vote, my vote.
Speaker 4: I really I feel this deeply. And it's obviously you're
Speaker 4: both extremely passionate about each other's games, uh, for your
Speaker 4: own reasons as well, but something has to be the
Speaker 4: victor here. I just think that there is something untouchable
Speaker 4: about the mechanisms that Red Dead is put into place
Speaker 4: that make everything so distinct, and the fact that you
Speaker 4: can play it in so many different ways, and how
Speaker 4: intricate what they made was. I do think it's a
Speaker 4: modern marvel. I will agree that Mario is probably the
Speaker 4: funner one to play, right like, that's the one I
Speaker 4: grew up playing. But I think we're here to kind
Speaker 4: of just determine which one we think is like in
Speaker 4: this matchup. I think Red Dead is, like it's a
Speaker 4: modern marvel. It's just incredible what they were able to
Speaker 4: accomplish with it.
Speaker 5: Sorry, well, no, no, I get it. It's like Mario
Speaker 5: World Courses through my veins. It feels like it's part
Speaker 5: of my DNA, Whereas like Red Dead Redemption two is
Speaker 5: something that I had to kind of like really sit
Speaker 5: down and intentionally force myself to appreciate.
Speaker 3: And I do, and I really do.
Speaker 5: I I'm not suddenly like, oh, it's my favorite game
Speaker 5: of all time, but I'm really enjoying playing through it
Speaker 5: again right now again. I was doing it right before
Speaker 5: this podcast and it's like, man, this game. Yeah, it's
Speaker 5: an unbelievably impressive game. And so I'm not gonna like
Speaker 5: again not a Metal Gear Solid versus the Witcher three situation,
Speaker 5: which is the worst thing that's ever happened.
Speaker 3: I really think he's.
Speaker 5: There's I've done so many Games of the Year arguments
Speaker 5: and ship like that where my babies don't win and
Speaker 5: stuff like that, and it's like.
Speaker 3: They don't matter.
Speaker 5: I don't get mad about it and I don't really
Speaker 5: nothing matters, and this what Yeah, it's really it's all cool.
Speaker 3: It's all coolie. Yeah, that's cool.
Speaker 4: Well, save your energy for this next one. Our next
Speaker 4: matchup is the Legend of Zelda, Majora's Mask versus Elden Ring.
Speaker 3: Wow, that's crazy.
Speaker 2: Really, are you sure it's my favorite game of all time?
Speaker 3: Okay?
Speaker 5: Yeah, there's certain ones here, like Majora's Mask and Riddler
Speaker 5: two where it's like, you know, there's the the like
Speaker 5: the Blue Wall they talk about and like the it's
Speaker 5: just like and Dan's like Michigan.
Speaker 3: But and I have our Arizonas and whatnot.
Speaker 1: But yeah, but those those proved shakable Uh god, these tariffs.
Speaker 2: What do you guys think.
Speaker 3: Tarriffs? I just say that. I just don't like the tariffs,
Speaker 3: is my thought. What about the chips They're going to
Speaker 3: be expensive or eggs or something. Yeah, I'm worried about you, guys.
Speaker 3: I'm worried about the world stage. Shut up.
Speaker 2: Let's put coachma on it. Let's have him figure it out.
Speaker 3: President, Okay, majora. Eldon. I'm just waiting to see whether
Speaker 3: I need to make an argument. That's the thing I
Speaker 3: don't like. Mary. Are you firmly elden Ring?
Speaker 4: I think that elden Ring is the people's choice. Yeah,
Speaker 4: I think it is your. Yes, what's your I'm the people.
Speaker 3: You're a tiebreaker? Wow, Okay, this is the first I've
Speaker 3: done that. It is the first you've done that. Mary
Speaker 3: and I are usually I feel like I'm usually.
Speaker 4: You're usually the one that we're trying to sway.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, I'm a peacekeeper usually.
Speaker 4: Anyway, go ahead, Dan, where are you at?
Speaker 5: Elden Ring is one of the absolute best game And
Speaker 5: it is like, you know, when I thought Breath of
Speaker 5: the Wiles, like, I didn't think I could feel like
Speaker 5: this again with games as a you know, forty year
Speaker 5: old man. Eldon made me feel it again and it's like,
Speaker 5: holy shit, we're a great time for video games. That said, uh,
Speaker 5: that moon looked really crazy when he looked up. That
Speaker 5: was real fucked up when he looked up. And there's
Speaker 5: nothing fucked up in Elden Ring.
Speaker 3: There's a giant it's all cute. Yeah, it's real fucked up.
Speaker 3: Oh god, that's tough.
Speaker 5: Should should I look back at my top hundred for reference?
Speaker 5: Or is it better if I don't know to make it?
Speaker 4: You have to make it with your.
Speaker 2: Make an argument, or I could like talk about MAJORA.
Speaker 4: I think ultimately Dan knows all those arguments, though, I
Speaker 4: think I think to me, it's just like which one's bester.
Speaker 4: I mean, look, I this is Sophie's choice. Make the call.
Speaker 2: Yeah, drowned the kid.
Speaker 4: It's actually worse than that, just so you know what happened.
Speaker 4: It's a gas chamber of situation.
Speaker 3: What is Christ?
Speaker 2: What do you mean like you had to choose a
Speaker 2: kid to not go to the Jesus Christ.
Speaker 3: I should stop saying that.
Speaker 4: Then we comedically it's kind of it's kind of evolved
Speaker 4: past that as like Sophie's choice here, but yes it is.
Speaker 3: That's the origin. Yeah, oh my god, we should stop
Speaker 3: using that collectively.
Speaker 5: Man I okay, So I was just trying to form
Speaker 5: an argument in my head about like, oh, Major's Mask
Speaker 5: being so weird and surreal and just the playing with
Speaker 5: the format of like you know, the time and all that.
Speaker 5: But then I think about like Eldon Ring, Like Elton
Speaker 5: Ring wasn't a game that like played it safe.
Speaker 3: Elton Rings crazy and weird, nychotic. Yeah, like the ship
Speaker 3: where it's like the map's that big.
Speaker 2: Structurally, I would say Majors Mask.
Speaker 3: Is bolder, but that the time stuff yeah times yeah,
Speaker 3: but no, the scale. I like the mask stuff a ton.
Speaker 3: That's a fun thing. The Bomber's note.
Speaker 4: What about the ring?
Speaker 3: What about the Eldon I don't even know what the
Speaker 3: ring is?
Speaker 1: The ring and Elden Ring a ring ring the shattered
Speaker 1: in the past and it represented the family and they
Speaker 1: were trying to Marget had one of the pieces.
Speaker 3: And like they I don't know a single character in
Speaker 3: Eldon Ring. Uh fuck, I'm gonna say Elden Ring, I'm fine.
Speaker 3: If I had to lose, I'm fine.
Speaker 5: So that was tough because like I'm such a Zelda
Speaker 5: Nintendo mark, but like, yeah, finds pretty undeniable.
Speaker 2: I don't even think Majora's Mask is the best Zelda game.
Speaker 2: It's just my favorite game of all time.
Speaker 5: It's just so fucking interesting, and that's why it sucks
Speaker 5: that it went up against the game that was also
Speaker 5: incredibly interesting.
Speaker 4: And that's where we're at right now.
Speaker 3: That was like a kryptonite for Majora. It's like, well,
Speaker 3: I've got some.
Speaker 1: Stuff to say about elden Ring, but I think I'll
Speaker 1: save it for the next whatever the next matchup is,
Speaker 1: because I don't I agree.
Speaker 2: I think it's a I'm fine with that beating.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I can't believe elden Ring Legend of Zelda, Majora's Mask.
Speaker 4: Our next matchup, Rocket League versus Team Fortress too.
Speaker 3: That's a weird one.
Speaker 4: It is a weird one. I'm gonna I'm just gonna
Speaker 4: say Rocket League. I think it is like the game
Speaker 4: I would rather play, No easy.
Speaker 3: Market.
Speaker 4: Okay, Rocket League wins?
Speaker 3: Uh next market.
Speaker 4: Hit Man World Assassination versus Witch Your Three Wild Hunts.
Speaker 1: People are laughing. Damn sorry, Mary start Over. I told
Speaker 1: a really funny joke. I guarantee there's some.
Speaker 2: Of the.
Speaker 3: There's people in there.
Speaker 4: Let it die down. Hit Man World of Assassination versus
Speaker 4: Witcher three, Wild Hunt.
Speaker 1: Oh hit Man, the Wincher three did its job, killed job,
Speaker 1: it got rid of medal.
Speaker 3: Here put that dog out of it. Ad Yeah, oh god,
Speaker 3: I love the Witcher three.
Speaker 4: I love what would you have picked over hit Man?
Speaker 4: World of Assassination h and Metal Gear Solid.
Speaker 5: Across the whole tournament of those two? Oh if it
Speaker 5: was Oh you're saying, if it was hit Man versus
Speaker 5: Middle Year. Yeah, Oh, okay, not I'm close. Yeah, well
Speaker 5: I just never got.
Speaker 4: There, all right. Our next matchup is the Legend of
Speaker 4: Zelda A Link to the Past against Half Life two.
Speaker 3: Oh, this is gonna be rough.
Speaker 4: I'm gonna ruffle some feathers.
Speaker 5: I'm gonna I'll say. Let me start by saying I
Speaker 5: probably beat Linked in the Past one.
Speaker 3: It's about your personal experience with the game. That's what
Speaker 3: we're doing.
Speaker 2: No, it doesn't sway us though, when you just talk
Speaker 2: about how deep your connection is to a game, like
Speaker 2: why is the game better? I'm telling you this because
Speaker 2: I want it to win. But Half Life two is
Speaker 2: really really fucking good.
Speaker 3: I'm sorry.
Speaker 2: I didn't mean a shit on it. I shouldn't have
Speaker 2: done that. That was me, Dan, You beat it fifty
Speaker 2: times continue and.
Speaker 3: I've never beat Half Life two because near the end
Speaker 3: they've just kind of got tired of it. That's why
Speaker 3: you said that, to be apologize for that. To be fair, I.
Speaker 5: Didn't play Half Life two until the Orange Box, which
Speaker 5: was like what five six years November three years, three
Speaker 5: years was already news.
Speaker 4: Like afford to play the best game of its time.
Speaker 5: That is also yes, because my computer couldn't run it.
Speaker 5: So that's why linked the past is better.
Speaker 4: You shouldn't. That's a bad argument. I mean, I would
Speaker 4: say Half Life is uh a good one too, one
Speaker 4: of the what like the best first person shooter of
Speaker 4: its time that like completely gets you to scale in
Speaker 4: insane way. What you're able to accomplish towards the end
Speaker 4: of it with the gravity gun fucking nuts. I also
Speaker 4: just want to express, when it comes to like enemy
Speaker 4: to friend design, which I had never seen in a
Speaker 4: game before Half Life, the idea that you would like
Speaker 4: be so afraid of these I call them sand spiders.
Speaker 4: Somebody else might call them something else, but they're like
Speaker 4: these like scary little guys that like kill you, but
Speaker 4: then you get an item and they become your friends,
Speaker 4: and you could utilize them to your advantage. So fucking sick,
Speaker 4: like really satisfying storytelling through game design. And this is
Speaker 4: important because it might come up later. It's not just
Speaker 4: about whether or not it tells a good story. It's
Speaker 4: the fact that it's telling a good story through our medium. Well,
Speaker 4: it's game design story mechanics that is so brilliant about
Speaker 4: Half Life two. It is a stunning achievement for video games.
Speaker 4: And yeah, it is better than a Link.
Speaker 3: To the past. Have you played through Link to the Past?
Speaker 4: Yes, I played it on a CRT, so I played
Speaker 4: it in its authentic vibe as well, and it is
Speaker 4: very fucking good. And I won't be mad about this,
Speaker 4: Like I won't cry about this one because a link
Speaker 4: to the past is phenomenal. I just think Half Life is,
Speaker 4: like it deserves its fucking due. That's what I think.
Speaker 5: God it's tough, Like, well it's not tough for me,
Speaker 5: I know what mine is. But like this is like
Speaker 5: we're at the point where, like all the competitions, these
Speaker 5: are all.
Speaker 4: Good, they're all winners. And I will not be sad.
Speaker 4: Link to the past is phenomenal. I can't I can't
Speaker 4: argue that it's not phenomenal. What I'm saying is that
Speaker 4: Half Life two is extraordinary and there's just not too
Speaker 4: many for like first person shooters that did what this
Speaker 4: game fucking did also in its time, and it has
Speaker 4: a fucking killer ass story.
Speaker 1: I mean even today, there's still shooters that don't understand
Speaker 1: how how they it just misses the mark.
Speaker 2: They miss the mark when it comes to like how
Speaker 2: oh god, the mission pacing the fucking Every time I
Speaker 2: think about that game, it's one of those things where
Speaker 2: I think about a new section or a new mission,
Speaker 2: or I'm like, no, that was the best mission.
Speaker 1: It's like, okay, well Raven Home. Oh no, there's the
Speaker 1: whole underbridge section. Oh no, there's the whole Uh there's
Speaker 1: the whole sequence with the the caves and the actual
Speaker 1: like go kart hovercraft.
Speaker 3: That far.
Speaker 4: I was so sick. You can break it too, Like
Speaker 4: I think, am.
Speaker 2: I reading this correctly? It's down to me.
Speaker 4: Yeah, Dan will never budge God.
Speaker 5: I want to say one of them is my favorite
Speaker 5: game ever at the other is I think, fine, I'm
Speaker 5: not gonna.
Speaker 2: Budge Two's not fine, let me say that, but.
Speaker 3: Like, no, it is one of the great cities. One
Speaker 3: it hurts, I do have to.
Speaker 1: Go Link to the past. Though Link the Pass is
Speaker 1: linked to the past. This Link of the Past is
Speaker 1: still like a perfect video game.
Speaker 4: I'm not mad about it. I think a Link to
Speaker 4: the Past is iconic and I absolutely loved playing. I
Speaker 4: played it through on a Christmas break and god, that
Speaker 4: was really cool playing it on like waking up Christmas
Speaker 4: morning and Link the Past really really really fun.
Speaker 2: Yeah at game was that ninety one?
Speaker 3: Uh? That was? What what month do you remember? I
Speaker 3: don't remember. I remember Japanese. I got it for Christmas.
Speaker 3: I was born.
Speaker 2: See, so I'm as old as that game.
Speaker 3: Wow.
Speaker 4: All right, Legend of Zelda Link to the Past wins
Speaker 4: against Half Life two. Our next matchup is Divinity Original
Speaker 4: Sin to against Tony Hawk pro Skater three.
Speaker 3: You motherfuckers.
Speaker 4: I mean, come on, like the storytelling and Divinity Original
Speaker 4: Sin is like it's breathtaking and like in Tony Hawk,
Speaker 4: Dan was like, you can like add another way to
Speaker 4: add to your combo.
Speaker 3: He did say that that's a quote, But Dad, what
Speaker 3: that game? God, that's it's so important for what that was?
Speaker 4: My combo.
Speaker 3: Combos are very important Tony Hawk. Yeah, Oh man, why
Speaker 3: the fuck do I have to keep doing this. Uh ship.
Speaker 4: Do the thing, Mike?
Speaker 3: Does it sway you that no one has heard of Divinity?
Speaker 1: That's that's demonstrably false. Just because you said that, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna walk around to Okay, I have to go Divinity
Speaker 1: and too, Dan. I love good c RPGs so much,
Speaker 1: And that is the second they are. You know, that's
Speaker 1: the second best one ever made.
Speaker 4: We just like, keep fucking placating this guy who cannot read.
Speaker 3: You can read. The codex took too long, so I
Speaker 3: hit extra. You're supporting what she just said, don't do it?
Speaker 3: What was Divinity against Tony three? Oh god?
Speaker 2: Did you? Did you just realize how little of the
Speaker 2: flight you put up? Do you want to try to
Speaker 2: sway me?
Speaker 4: Noo?
Speaker 3: But yeah, I think you're more of a defendity guys lost.
Speaker 3: But that's just a tragedy. Yeah, you got a video
Speaker 3: game ass video game versus a visual novel.
Speaker 2: I like video game ass video games every once in
Speaker 2: a while, But Divinity Yet, Divinity Original Sin two is
Speaker 2: a video game ass video game.
Speaker 3: Let's not. I don't get that wrong.
Speaker 2: You can, you can, You're you're If you pick a
Speaker 2: skeleton for a character, people get are afraid of you
Speaker 2: and won't talk to you unless you put a bucket
Speaker 2: over your head and you walk around half the game
Speaker 2: with a bucket over your and they're like, alright, I
Speaker 2: guess I'll talk to you.
Speaker 3: Okay, it looks so dumb.
Speaker 2: It's it's a very video game.
Speaker 3: Ass video game. That's fine. I like that idea anyway.
Speaker 4: Divinity Original Sin two wins, knocking out Tony Hawk's pro
Speaker 4: Skater three just on.
Speaker 3: A mission to push console games forward every round. I
Speaker 3: know he's anti I'm still bitter about PC games. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So the guy with a fucking bo Jangles, No, that's
Speaker 1: an Xbox. You have a fucking Wendy numerous forty nineties. Here,
Speaker 1: give a Burger king forty ninety.
Speaker 3: I should talk to him, all right. What's the next
Speaker 3: match up?
Speaker 4: The Last of Us versus Resident Evil Remake? Zombies, Old Vernon,
Speaker 4: Old v New.
Speaker 2: I fought Harvard the Last of Us and I love
Speaker 2: the Last of Us.
Speaker 3: It's incredible. Yeah.
Speaker 2: I like RESL remake more.
Speaker 4: I think Resident Evil Remake is just more genius in
Speaker 4: terms of it's like design, Okay, cool, easy. The story
Speaker 4: I think of the Last of Us is very important.
Speaker 2: Here's why you're in this mansion?
Speaker 4: Surviveh okay, Bloodborn versus Soul Caliber?
Speaker 2: Oh god, damn it, this is I gotta go to
Speaker 2: the bathroom. I'll be You can keep talking because we
Speaker 2: got swam marriages, so Dan, you can try. Yeah you want,
Speaker 2: I'll be right back.
Speaker 4: Don't I feel like you should be here.
Speaker 1: I I've been drinking so much water. I can be
Speaker 1: back in like thirty seconds if you guys came camp.
Speaker 3: Okay, do it. Yeah, I've been drinking a lot of
Speaker 3: beer and whiskey.
Speaker 4: Do I like fighting games? I like tech in.
Speaker 3: Okay, Okay, that's nam Okay, you know Yoshi mits you?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 3: Is sol Calval? You know? Hey, Hachi? Yeahs than a
Speaker 3: sol Caliber? Yeah about that?
Speaker 4: How important is this to you?
Speaker 3: Soul Caliber?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 3: Uh? Top five game of all time? Well?
Speaker 4: Did you play Bloodborne? Though you liked Bloodborn?
Speaker 3: Yeah? It was the first from soft game I ever been.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you just don't think it's so calib material.
Speaker 5: No, Bloodborne didn't make my top hundred. I didn't even
Speaker 5: consider for my top hundred. Soul Calber is like, yeah,
Speaker 5: like top five probably, Yeah, Soul Colored. That was the
Speaker 5: one I was telling him about how it's the most
Speaker 5: I've ever played a video game.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's surprising too, because you just don't talk about
Speaker 4: fighting games that much generally.
Speaker 5: No, but that was it was unbelievable because, like it was,
Speaker 5: I bought the Dreamcast and it was one of the
Speaker 5: launch games, and I didn't know anything about There were
Speaker 5: a couple, you know before Soul Caliber, and I didn't
Speaker 5: care about it, but it got straight tens in EGM,
Speaker 5: and when that happened, I would be like, okay, if
Speaker 5: we got four tens, I got yeah, your solid. So
Speaker 5: I bought soul calber fell in love with it. It
Speaker 5: became a thing me and my stepdad played like every day.
Speaker 5: We were obsessed with it. And then so that was
Speaker 5: like ninety nine. I went to college in O two.
Speaker 5: By that point, three years later, I'm still fucking playing
Speaker 5: it every day. It became a nightly thing in the
Speaker 5: dorms where it's like it was our like pre bar ritual,
Speaker 5: it was our just every night if we weren't going
Speaker 5: to the bars thing, we're just playing eight on eight
Speaker 5: Soul Caliber. We had a Lizardman Shots thing where it
Speaker 5: was eight on eight random team battle and if you
Speaker 5: get Lizardman for every guy you kill with Lizardman, the
Speaker 5: guy you beat has to take a shot. So, like
Speaker 5: there were nights we couldn't even go to the bar
Speaker 5: because we were just like having so much fun playing
Speaker 5: Soul Caliber and like so this is we're like years
Speaker 5: and years and years even past Soul Caliber two and
Speaker 5: three coming out, we just kept going to one. I
Speaker 5: was arranging tournaments in the dorms.
Speaker 3: And stuff like that.
Speaker 5: It was just like such an incredible important game in
Speaker 5: my life, even though like I'm not a huge fighting
Speaker 5: game guy. It was so much fun and to this
Speaker 5: day is so fun that it is on the short, short,
Speaker 5: short short list of my absolute favorite.
Speaker 3: Games of all time.
Speaker 4: Mike, have you played Soul Caliber?
Speaker 3: Yeah? I like two of the most. I think is
Speaker 3: that heresy to say no, A lot a lot of
Speaker 3: people do, and two is very good. I just prefer one.
Speaker 3: I like too.
Speaker 2: I played two on every platform because I liked playing
Speaker 2: the different characters.
Speaker 3: Link and ha ha ha shu Spawn.
Speaker 5: Yeah, that's the one that got me to buy an Xbox,
Speaker 5: just because it was the closest controller to drink guest.
Speaker 4: I think if I can just say this, I mean
Speaker 4: I'm happy to hear more but I've heard a lot
Speaker 4: about soul Caliber, and I've heard a lot about Bloodborne previously,
Speaker 4: and I think that soul Caliber has come a long
Speaker 4: way on this bracket, and I think soule Caliber has
Speaker 4: done very good for soul Caliber.
Speaker 3: I see where this is going.
Speaker 5: I would argue we do have frum soft representations us
Speaker 5: putting it doesn't vote the bracket. We Majora's Mask, one
Speaker 5: of our absolute favorites. We have no fighting and representation.
Speaker 3: I think you know we.
Speaker 4: Don't have any final Fantasy representation too, and you laughed
Speaker 4: about that.
Speaker 3: Oh, it's the brackets.
Speaker 1: Randomized representations doesn't matter when it's randomized, like we don't
Speaker 1: have I think we least all of our metro veneas
Speaker 1: didn't We think you should be very proud.
Speaker 3: Don't even have Symphony? Yeah?
Speaker 2: No, Uh do you want me to do blood Worm?
Speaker 2: Marry you voting for blood Born?
Speaker 4: I'm gonna vote for Bloodborn, Okay, but I do. I
Speaker 4: do respect Dan's fondness and appreciation for soul Caliber, and
Speaker 4: I kind of want to play it.
Speaker 3: It's so fun.
Speaker 4: Bloodborn wins over soul Caliber. Next matchup, the Legend of
Speaker 4: Zelda Ocarina of Time versus Shadow of the colosso.
Speaker 5: Oh, nocked up. I mean it's Acrena, but yeah, that's Akara.
Speaker 3: But this just sucks. I don't want to kill Shadow
Speaker 3: that it is, that's.
Speaker 2: The seventeenth Colossus.
Speaker 3: Is this argument?
Speaker 4: Okay? I think I am in agreement with that as well.
Speaker 3: Yeah, okay, I think we did. We did a good
Speaker 3: job with the Shadow talking about it alright at the Behemoth.
Speaker 3: You know what this is. That's a.
Speaker 5: Hatey situation where just one game of the year, we
Speaker 5: didn't have to talk about it. We have not even
Speaker 5: had to argue for Yeah, because it's so good, you know.
Speaker 4: Okay, next one, just to close that out, Okarina of
Speaker 4: Time wins against Shadow the Colossus, knocking it out. Our
Speaker 4: next one, Portal versus Haites.
Speaker 3: That's interesting.
Speaker 4: This one's a tough one for me personally because these
Speaker 4: are both really beloved and I I deeply love both
Speaker 4: of these games very much for very different reasons. So
Speaker 4: I'm really curious for you guys, land on this one.
Speaker 3: This is the first one where I think I'm torn.
Speaker 4: I am a little torn too. I was kind of
Speaker 4: wondering if someone felt strong but why.
Speaker 1: Over to the other if you'd ask me an hour
Speaker 1: ago before we talked about Haites more, I think I
Speaker 1: would have leaned Portal. But now that we've talked about Hades,
Speaker 1: the more I'm realizing, it's like God that that game
Speaker 1: is barely not even five years old yet in terms
Speaker 1: of not counting early access, and it's already like one
Speaker 1: of the few games that was we could instantly call
Speaker 1: a classic. It was game of the Year that year
Speaker 1: and we were already using the or No, we didn't
Speaker 1: talk about it, but then the next year it was like,
Speaker 1: Haities really is just a fucking marvel.
Speaker 4: I'm happy with Hades. I think Haities is a phenomenal
Speaker 4: game and it's earned its spot.
Speaker 5: So yes, yeah, and just to say, like I think Portal,
Speaker 5: you know, a lot of it is just a fantastic game,
Speaker 5: like the moment to moment, like test chambers and stuff
Speaker 5: are so good and clever, and it's a good puzzle game.
Speaker 5: But I do feel like a lot of the wrappings
Speaker 5: of it are are kind of gimmicky in a way
Speaker 5: that will feel dated, where it's like, yeah, we've heard
Speaker 5: the cake is a lie thing a million times and
Speaker 5: song and everything.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, we've evolved a little bit whereas Hades.
Speaker 5: I don't think there's any real gimmicky stuff in Hades.
Speaker 5: I think Hades is one of those Mario World type
Speaker 5: games that you know, twenty years from now you could play,
Speaker 5: and I don't think it's going to feel dated. I
Speaker 5: think that art style is going to be great. I
Speaker 5: think that gameplay is going to be great. Yeah, I'll
Speaker 5: go Hades.
Speaker 4: Okay, by unanimous decision, Haites over Portal two more for
Speaker 4: this round. The next one is GoldenEye versus Super Mario
Speaker 4: sixty four. What really the bracket half spoken.
Speaker 3: That's the worst one yet. I think the N sixty
Speaker 3: four titans are clashing. I will say my.
Speaker 2: Soul really did lean very slightly toward one of them,
Speaker 2: but that I'm not.
Speaker 3: Okay, let me make my I think I've got a
Speaker 3: coherent thing here.
Speaker 5: I was talking earlier about as once as I love Mario,
Speaker 5: I didn't and you know, just do everything possible to
Speaker 5: get it and sixty four. When Mario sixty four came out,
Speaker 5: it wasn't until GoldenEye that I determined it was needed.
Speaker 5: It was I needed to get it for GoldenEye. So
Speaker 5: that's in the Golden Eye bucket. But then also I've
Speaker 5: gone back and I've played both these games a lot.
Speaker 5: I think beating both these games a couple times a
Speaker 5: year forever. And there are always those times in Mario
Speaker 5: sixty four where it's like, yeah, you start off, oh
Speaker 5: you have a bomb battlefield, this is great, the penguin race,
Speaker 5: that's fun, and then you get the hazy maze cave
Speaker 5: or some of these later levels. I don't want to
Speaker 5: do this er, it's like just like more obnoxious stars
Speaker 5: to get. I'm never really annoyed in GoldenEye. I feel
Speaker 5: like with GoldenEye, I'm always like fuck yeah, Like every
Speaker 5: part of that campaign on all that dif and difficulties
Speaker 5: on a multiplayer Goldeny is like only positive. Like if
Speaker 5: you're talking to impact on the industry and all that stuff, yes,
Speaker 5: Golden I brought FPS to console and all that in
Speaker 5: a serious way, but Mario sixty four has the bigger
Speaker 5: impact from just the three D stuff.
Speaker 4: Sorry, who are you voting for because you're all over
Speaker 4: the place.
Speaker 3: Yeah yeah, but I am leaning GoldenEye. I am leaning GoldenEye.
Speaker 3: Yeah yeah.
Speaker 1: Anytime I think of how good Mario sixty four was
Speaker 1: still is good, that's not That's not what I'm trying
Speaker 1: to say. I also think it's like, oh, the first
Speaker 1: five worlds, I'm like, oh my god, I missed this,
Speaker 1: and then I was like, yeah, it's hazy mased cave.
Speaker 3: It's the.
Speaker 1: It's the one where you have to depending on the
Speaker 1: level on the level, you jump into the frame and
Speaker 1: it will raise the water level. That is a cool
Speaker 1: concept that quickly is like, what the fuck is this world?
Speaker 1: It's like it just looks like a level editor, like
Speaker 1: a Golden eight.
Speaker 2: To me is also like, it's also just it's got
Speaker 2: the whole package, multiplayer campaign.
Speaker 3: Xenia Xenia. Imagine Xenia just strangling Peach with her I
Speaker 3: gotta go Golden Nye too.
Speaker 4: Okay, I won't fight this.
Speaker 3: I think.
Speaker 4: I think this is fine. Okay, I agree Golden Night,
Speaker 4: Golden Eye wins over Super Mario sixty four and the
Speaker 4: final one for this round, Resident Evil to remake versus
Speaker 4: The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild.
Speaker 1: It's got I think it's the best remake of I
Speaker 1: cannot think of a better.
Speaker 3: Brutal and not just as a remake, it's just one
Speaker 3: of the best, amazing, it's amazing game. I'm just saying like,
Speaker 3: of all the good remakers, you're up against the best game. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yep.
Speaker 4: Okay, that's the end of this round. If you want,
Speaker 4: I might go to the bathroom and take.
Speaker 3: Yeah okay, and how many are left?
Speaker 2: Sweet sixteen?
Speaker 3: Now? Sixteen? Yeah? Boy? Okay? Wait what happened to Mario Ottisy?
Speaker 3: Was that earlier that round? Think it's still in right?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 3: Okay?
Speaker 2: I would you want to marry his game against boy?
Speaker 8: Yeah?
Speaker 3: No, sorry, come on, yeah, okay, it'll be back. Yeah,
Speaker 3: all right, and we're back. We are now officially into
Speaker 3: the Sweet sixteen. Uh.
Speaker 1: If you your brackets are intact at this point, I
Speaker 1: commend you. I think there's been some surprises. I don't
Speaker 1: I don't think we have as a group have talked
Speaker 1: about the Witchard three mouch before, so that might have
Speaker 1: caught people off guard.
Speaker 3: Uh what did it beat? Oh? Melg solid.
Speaker 2: I also think Divinity Originals in two might have been
Speaker 2: a little uh what's the word?
Speaker 1: Like a underdog coming up. So kudos to you if
Speaker 1: your brackets intact. Okary, we're out of the Sweet sixteen.
Speaker 4: Our next matchup is Tetris versus Command and conquer Red
Speaker 4: Alert too.
Speaker 3: Mike, Mike, can we just do it?
Speaker 1: I truly, I'm not doing this as a bit. I
Speaker 1: actually I have my My heart is made of command
Speaker 1: of Conquer, Red Alert, Tetris, Tetris.
Speaker 3: I don't I blow it up, blow up history. I
Speaker 3: don't want to be that. Uh.
Speaker 5: I love Tetris. Tetris is fantastic, but my heart is
Speaker 5: also with Redular two.
Speaker 2: Tetris effect is probably the best version of Tetris ever.
Speaker 3: And I love Tutus effect.
Speaker 1: It is fucking ethereal and otherworldly and it's affecting. But
Speaker 1: oh my god, Red Alert two one of the best
Speaker 1: strategy games. It's the best strategy game ever, I think.
Speaker 2: And uh yep, okay done.
Speaker 4: I think this isn't our best list for like historical accuracy.
Speaker 4: This is our list. So if that's the one that
Speaker 4: you're you have, you know, the biggest boner for, then
Speaker 4: that's the one that you get.
Speaker 3: My dick is so huge for alert To, all.
Speaker 4: Right, Red Alert To wins against Tetris.
Speaker 8: It's really not a big it's not it's not a bit,
Speaker 8: but it is funny like oh yes, respect, yeah, oh god,
Speaker 8: I really am kind of hard, all right.
Speaker 4: Our next one, Metal Gear Solid three Snake Eater versus
Speaker 4: Super Mario Odyssey.
Speaker 3: Yeah, your Solid three, dude, Odyssey is fucking awesome.
Speaker 2: Is the best Mario game.
Speaker 4: I agree. It's one of the reasons why I like why.
Speaker 4: I was like, well, I mean Super Mario Odyssey. Like
Speaker 4: Odyssey is like the pinnacle.
Speaker 5: It's best Metal Year versus best Mario from When you
Speaker 5: put it that way, those are my two favorite series.
Speaker 5: That's my holy trinity is Metal Here Mario Zelda, but
Speaker 5: like Metal Gear probably one and two.
Speaker 3: I think I go Snake Eater.
Speaker 4: I'm gonna be Odyssey. Obviously. It's the It's the best Mario.
Speaker 4: It's fucking insane.
Speaker 3: It's it's pure joy beginning the end.
Speaker 4: It's pure happiness incarnate.
Speaker 3: But can you beat a boss by saving the game
Speaker 3: and leaving for a week and then he just dies
Speaker 3: of old age? Fucking cool, It's really cool.
Speaker 2: It's tough because then you think about Odyssey, it's like
Speaker 2: my mind's going to like, okay, well, maybe there's a
Speaker 2: higher skill ceiling in.
Speaker 3: One and Odyssey. You can chain together all the hat
Speaker 3: throws and jumps and shit.
Speaker 5: Oh if you want to speed run and stuff like, yeah,
Speaker 5: odysty is way more interesting, and I'm getting I got
Speaker 5: every single moon in that and did all the super
Speaker 5: crazy bonus endings and all it's it's incredible. It's a
Speaker 5: fucking perfect game. But I will remember Middle of Your
Speaker 5: Solid three forever. I mean, same with Odyssey.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I really, really really like Super Mario Odyssey.
Speaker 1: It is my favorite Mario game. But Snake Eater is
Speaker 1: just has so many fucking colossal moments that are are
Speaker 1: too good to ignore, right, I gotta go Snake Eater.
Speaker 4: Okay, I'm blown away.
Speaker 2: I'm surprised that was that easy for you. Dan, Not
Speaker 2: that it was easy, but like, I'm shook it.
Speaker 3: I mean, snaky fucking cool.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's good, all right, Okay.
Speaker 4: Snake Eater bumped out Super Mario odysty I didn't see
Speaker 4: that coming. I wonder how this one will go. Red
Speaker 4: Dead Redemption two versus eldin Ring.
Speaker 5: Okay, Red Dead had a nice ride. I would have
Speaker 5: put it before, but strongly elden Ring here.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I agree, I mean I think elden Ring. So
Speaker 4: the reason we like fought for Red Dead and it
Speaker 4: got as far as it did was because it was
Speaker 4: so intricate and because it was so well designed. Elden
Speaker 4: Ring is so intricate and so well designed on the
Speaker 4: scale is incredible.
Speaker 3: When we're freedom, I'm not I'm not gonna fight that.
Speaker 1: Sure, Yes, elden Ring wins. I think I don't even
Speaker 1: think elden Ring's world is on the same. No, other
Speaker 1: Ring's really.
Speaker 5: Good by the moment when you get past storm Bail
Speaker 5: and it's like you're already like fifteen hours in and
Speaker 5: then you see all that shit.
Speaker 3: Oh it was fucking real for me a while.
Speaker 1: It was it was the the subterranean, the fact that
Speaker 1: that whole thing was under you the whole time, which
Speaker 1: tears the kingdom also.
Speaker 3: Did, but like I was more interesting, Yeah for sure. Yeah, no,
Speaker 3: that's fine, Okay.
Speaker 4: Rocket League bumps out red Dead Redemption two.
Speaker 3: Wait no, we didn't talk about Rocket League yet.
Speaker 4: Sorry, elden Ring bumps. Sorry, I was reading.
Speaker 2: Ahead Clandestine Ship to get Rocket League for fucket.
Speaker 4: League won our best game. Our next matchup is Rocket
Speaker 4: League versus hit Man World of Assassination. I do think
Speaker 4: this is gonna probably. I mean, I I love both
Speaker 4: of these games very much.
Speaker 3: I would be.
Speaker 4: Shocked if Rocket League survived this. It just doesn't seem
Speaker 4: like it will.
Speaker 3: I mean, I was just saying, I'm firmly hit Man.
Speaker 3: I'm yeah, you're Oh wait, you're on you're hit Man
Speaker 3: as well. Mary. I I think.
Speaker 4: I have I have more fun with Rocket League, but
Speaker 4: I respect and love hit Man, so I'm fine with
Speaker 4: hit Man.
Speaker 8: Yeah.
Speaker 4: Here, I thought that was there's no losers in this,
Speaker 4: but I mean, I personally love Rocket League more.
Speaker 2: I thought you were going to go Rocket League, and
Speaker 2: I would have to figure that out because I truly
Speaker 2: don't know how I would pick.
Speaker 3: But yeah, hit Man.
Speaker 1: I would have picked Hitman eventually, let's be honest. But
Speaker 1: I think I think you would have to hit Man
Speaker 1: or Rocket League.
Speaker 4: Rock League is sick, feeling crazy League is.
Speaker 2: Crazy feeling made they yeah, yeah, okay, well.
Speaker 4: Then hit Man beats rocket League. Next legend of Zelda.
Speaker 4: A link to the past versus Divinity Original Sin too. Shit,
Speaker 4: I think this is probably where Divinity stops. I think
Speaker 4: that's it for me. A link to the past is
Speaker 4: like really hard to argue against, and that's really good.
Speaker 3: So yeah, I'm with that is why this is why
Speaker 3: we're friends. Yeah, I didn't expect that. Okay, yeah, okay, okay, okay.
Speaker 6: Uh.
Speaker 4: A link to the past bumps out Divinity original sintwo uh.
Speaker 4: Next Resident Evil remake versus Bloodborn, God damn interesting one.
Speaker 2: I still have to go blood Born.
Speaker 4: I'm gonna go remake.
Speaker 3: Oh no, I'm torn, I do.
Speaker 4: I just think Resident Evil remake is so fucking insane.
Speaker 4: It's so cool, like the game, the level design, it's
Speaker 4: so cool, and like, I know, Bloodborne actually also has
Speaker 4: good level design, but like, oh well, well, well.
Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, well actually if dan If are you swayable
Speaker 1: or you are.
Speaker 3: You, I'm not gonna labor this Resident Evil.
Speaker 2: Sulright, that's fine, Yeah, all right, that's fine.
Speaker 3: They're both great. But when I think Ari remake, I'm like,
Speaker 3: oh yeah, that's hell yeah, and Bloodborne I'm like, oh yeah,
Speaker 3: I should go back to that. But like Ari remake, okay, yeah,
Speaker 3: it's it's so good.
Speaker 1: Okay, I think comparing Resume remakes level designed to bloodborns
Speaker 1: is asenine, But that's fine.
Speaker 3: Saying at break in here and kick my ass, yeah,
Speaker 3: will be there. I'll hold him while he kicks you.
Speaker 1: I don't know how that would work, but the dooms
Speaker 1: do not let him know that that. Okay, No, Resume
Speaker 1: Will remake is great, It's phenomenal.
Speaker 3: I love it.
Speaker 4: Okay, uh Resident Evil Remake, Bumps Bloodborne. I'm amazed with
Speaker 4: how quick that went.
Speaker 3: Too.
Speaker 4: Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time versus Hades.
Speaker 3: You had had, yeah matchup, we're hurtling towards everybody else.
Speaker 2: Yeah, notice this, I think the final four from what
Speaker 2: I'm I'm a lot of at that. Let's not get
Speaker 2: that far.
Speaker 3: I think the final four is.
Speaker 1: Going to be two really really rough matchups. Yeah, it's
Speaker 1: it's got to be Akarina.
Speaker 4: Okay, so Akarina Bumps out Haites. Next, GoldenEye versus Breadth
Speaker 4: of the Wild.
Speaker 3: Ah man, all right, I fucking love Golden Eye. But whatever,
Speaker 3: Yeah it happened.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yep, all right, sick. That was the sixteen. So
Speaker 4: we're really down now we're down to uh.
Speaker 3: Was that sixteen or eight? Eight?
Speaker 4: Now we have eight?
Speaker 3: Now we have eight? Okay eight, this is the Elite eight. Okay, yeah,
Speaker 3: this is the Elite eight.
Speaker 4: Are you ready?
Speaker 3: Oh?
Speaker 2: Yeah, the one we just created is gonna Okay.
Speaker 4: Command and Conquer Red Alert two versus Metal Gears, Hulid three,
Speaker 4: Snake Eater.
Speaker 3: Oh that's where it has been fun that we push
Speaker 3: we made Command of Conquer. I'm still I'm still riding
Speaker 3: Reddler too, but it was good while we were there.
Speaker 3: We this is your stop. I'm fine with that.
Speaker 2: I'm not I'm gonna get off again.
Speaker 3: With Reddler too. You know you got to get off.
Speaker 2: Hold on, hold on, hold on, let me know, let
Speaker 2: me actually like think about this for a second. That
Speaker 2: was just kind of pure did going.
Speaker 3: Nope, I'm going Reddler to respect it. I respect I
Speaker 3: got it? Yeah for me? Have you heard enough about
Speaker 3: both of these merry or do we.
Speaker 4: Really talked a lot about both of these games? Can
Speaker 4: you do like, because you've talked exhaustively, can you just
Speaker 4: give me a nice like listen, this is my final
Speaker 4: pitch and it should be short.
Speaker 3: Metal Ear Solid three is the best story in the
Speaker 3: middle Gear Solid series. It is, no, no, no.
Speaker 2: I wanted you to save that for potentially next round
Speaker 2: because the more I think about them, like, what am
Speaker 2: I doing?
Speaker 3: It's come.
Speaker 2: It took me.
Speaker 3: I'm sorry it took me so long, but yeah, it's okay, yep, okay.
Speaker 4: All right next. Oh and just to clarify, uh, metal
Speaker 4: Gear Solid three wins against Command and Conquer red alert
Speaker 4: to our next matchup is elden Ring versus hit Man
Speaker 4: World of Assassination.
Speaker 3: This time I'm going to hit Man.
Speaker 4: I'm I think, oh, i'm.
Speaker 3: Uh uh.
Speaker 4: Different ways they're like so important.
Speaker 3: I think hit Man's more uneven. I think there are
Speaker 3: levels that are not great.
Speaker 5: I think, especially in three near the end, like the
Speaker 5: train level and stuff, it started thinking like we cared
Speaker 5: more about the story and the lore of forty seven
Speaker 5: than we do.
Speaker 3: Sure, yeah, that's true.
Speaker 1: I will say also, I don't see many people talking
Speaker 1: about I think elden Ring can actually get really fucking
Speaker 1: boring in the open world. Sometimes it's not I'm not
Speaker 1: saying it needs to be densely as I don't. I
Speaker 1: don't want it to be more ubisofted, but I still
Speaker 1: think there are vast stretches of that open world that
Speaker 1: it can't even I'm not I'm already trying to compare
Speaker 1: it to another open world game that does so many
Speaker 1: things better.
Speaker 3: But like.
Speaker 1: My point being, I totally agree with you with hit
Speaker 1: Man three, and like I think they went way too
Speaker 1: story focused with some of the stuff in three, even
Speaker 1: though that also has some of my favorite maps.
Speaker 3: Berlin great maps. Yeah is Real.
Speaker 2: Is incredible but like.
Speaker 1: I also do think elden Ring has some of those
Speaker 1: throwaway dungeons where it's like, oh, this is just a
Speaker 1: cut and paste of that mini boss, that cat one
Speaker 1: that swipes downward at you.
Speaker 5: It's all you know, gray and stepping on switches and yeah,
Speaker 5: definitely that Catos.
Speaker 3: That's that's.
Speaker 2: That's all I'm saying is like, I think I think elden.
Speaker 4: Ring can be on even as well, but like I
Speaker 4: think I'm leaning towards elden Ring.
Speaker 1: That's fine again, It's just I'm totally fine with that.
Speaker 1: I mean, Hetman was Elite eight that I think it's
Speaker 1: where it deserves to be.
Speaker 4: Okay, elden Ring beats hit Man. Next legend of Zelda
Speaker 4: Link to the Past against Resident Evil remake.
Speaker 2: Ship.
Speaker 4: I mean, I don't think too many of us are
Speaker 4: probably gonna argue with Linked in the Past.
Speaker 1: So yeah, okay, it's okay, my my, my trifecta Zelda
Speaker 1: Resident Evil and I used to say Ratchet and Clank, Yeah,
Speaker 1: but I think it's probably Halo. These're all very good
Speaker 1: serious anyway, Yeah, Linked in the Past.
Speaker 4: I thought you're gonna say two games and then.
Speaker 3: That would have been really god. I wish I was God.
Speaker 2: I wish I was as funny as Mary. I would
Speaker 2: have said that would have been Goodfecta is Zelda and
Speaker 2: Resident Evil and Zenya.
Speaker 4: Okay, so uh linked to the past wins of a
Speaker 4: Resident Evil, our last one Legend of Zelda Ocarina of
Speaker 4: Time versus Legend of Zelda, Breath of the Wild Man.
Speaker 3: All right, it's it's Breath of the Wild.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but also like that's the best Zelda game versus
Speaker 2: the second best Selda.
Speaker 5: Right, well, I disagree with that, but like, I do
Speaker 5: think that Okarina. Part of what's so magical about that
Speaker 5: is that it was their first swing at three D,
Speaker 5: same way that Mario sixty four was, Like, how the
Speaker 5: fuck is it that? Like, we didn't have three D
Speaker 5: games before, and then Nintendo on their first swing their
Speaker 5: two biggest franchises, they super knocked it out of the park.
Speaker 5: And not just like, oh it was good for early
Speaker 5: three D. No, Akarna is still one of the best
Speaker 5: games of all time. I still play through that and
Speaker 5: I'm in awe of how fucking good that game is.
Speaker 5: But Breath of the Wild is on a different level.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and.
Speaker 3: It's yeah, it's breath the while for me same.
Speaker 4: The bracket has spoken. We are at top four. You ready?
Speaker 3: Oh boy?
Speaker 4: Okay, Metal Gear Solid three Snake Eater versus Eldon Ring.
Speaker 3: Oh I mean I'm snake Eater.
Speaker 4: Sorry, Bud, I'm elden Ring.
Speaker 5: God, all right, Mike, this is a big one, elden Ring.
Speaker 5: Remember the b man that makes a Tommy gun out
Speaker 5: of bees and shoot.
Speaker 3: Bees in the up.
Speaker 5: Remember the long Predator sequence with a tall letter. Remember
Speaker 5: the Spirit river God?
Speaker 3: Cool? Yeah, Lightning Man.
Speaker 1: Let me at least say this snake here is the
Speaker 1: cooler game. Yeah, but that's mm hmmm.
Speaker 3: But is it?
Speaker 4: Bester? Like the boss fights?
Speaker 2: My god, some of the best boss fights or the
Speaker 2: best boss fight ever?
Speaker 4: The character?
Speaker 1: Can you put your p S five on sleep and
Speaker 1: go away and then you come back and read On's
Speaker 1: Dead of old age?
Speaker 2: No?
Speaker 3: You can you eat twenty mushrooms and spin around a
Speaker 3: bunch of puke. Not fuck huge pro sack. So you
Speaker 3: canna have sex and snake Eater on a bear? You
Speaker 3: know you know what's rough?
Speaker 2: I actually I I don't. I'm not it's it's here.
Speaker 2: I'm not complaining. All I'm saying is I don't think
Speaker 2: elden Ring should be in our in in a final four,
Speaker 2: but it is, and it's it's a fucking phenomenal game.
Speaker 3: I think I just.
Speaker 1: A lot of people like elden Ring more than I do,
Speaker 1: but I also know it's it's like monumental, It's fucking awesome.
Speaker 1: I love it, oh, I I honestly, I think I
Speaker 1: have to go snake eater. I I love elden Ring,
Speaker 1: but like, h like fucking cool ship cool ship per minute.
Speaker 2: Like ye.
Speaker 3: To us? Yeah, but also like I I how did
Speaker 3: we get here? Yeah?
Speaker 1: I stand by that. I'm elden Ring is a great game.
Speaker 1: I haven't I have qualms with it that I think
Speaker 1: it got farther than the should have.
Speaker 4: That's fine, Okay, somehow Metal Gear Solid three one over
Speaker 4: elden Ring, and now we are at Legend of Zelda
Speaker 4: Link to the Past versus Legend of Zelda Breath of
Speaker 4: a Wild.
Speaker 3: I can't lose. I just realized that way, what's still
Speaker 3: there even if all of my favorite games.
Speaker 2: Even if elden Ring had won, though, yeah, but this
Speaker 2: is three of my favorite games.
Speaker 3: This is two of Fary's.
Speaker 2: I think, like, yeah, yeah, I think we all win,
Speaker 2: which is good.
Speaker 3: The Wild Yeah, that's the hardest decision I could ever make.
Speaker 4: I think that's very very very very very very difficult.
Speaker 3: All Right.
Speaker 4: The Past is like pretty expertly designed.
Speaker 5: Oh it's way more replayable. I have, like I said,
Speaker 5: played that probably fifty times. Breath the Wild. I haven't
Speaker 5: gone back to since the first time, just because I
Speaker 5: feel like you can't. Really is the exploration in the
Speaker 5: discovery that was so huge with Breath the Wild more
Speaker 5: than the moment to moment, Like I understand the complaints
Speaker 5: about the breakable weapons and all that stuff, and I
Speaker 5: wonder if that would be worse on subsequent playthroughs and
Speaker 5: like linked to the Past kind of has the edge
Speaker 5: and like more dungeons and traditional dungeons, because that was
Speaker 5: one of the complaints about Breath the Wild was that,
Speaker 5: like it's got four kind of dungeons.
Speaker 3: I think the Past has a shit ton and the
Speaker 3: light world dark world stuff.
Speaker 8: Uh.
Speaker 5: I go back and forth between these two of my
Speaker 5: favorite end of all time, And I still don't know
Speaker 5: the answer.
Speaker 3: Mary, Are you leaning anyway so slightly?
Speaker 4: I'm suffering.
Speaker 2: I am leaning one way if.
Speaker 1: If it makes it easier on you, I can tell
Speaker 1: you where I'm leaning and I don't think you're a
Speaker 1: surprised I'm leaning Breath.
Speaker 2: Of the Wild.
Speaker 4: Breath of the Wild.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think Breath of the Wild is what video
Speaker 1: games were building towards since they fucking started.
Speaker 4: Yea, elements of it are just so wild.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's comparing a fucking like I'm not enough of
Speaker 1: an expert to understand whether this is a good metaphor,
Speaker 1: but it's like comparing link to the Past.
Speaker 2: Is this really fucking intricate, really.
Speaker 1: Well made, ornate watch, Breath the Wild is the fucking
Speaker 1: Grandfather Clock Like, it's they're so.
Speaker 2: I have never played a game.
Speaker 1: With the sense of discovery is just so potent, even
Speaker 1: after one hundred and twenty hours and Breath of the
Speaker 1: Wild and that's there's absolutely nothing. I I think if
Speaker 1: you're if you're talking about lack of flaws, then Linked
Speaker 1: to the Past wins every single fucking day over any
Speaker 1: video game ever made. It's I think it's the It's
Speaker 1: the only game I would call perfect.
Speaker 3: It's like that in Mario World for me.
Speaker 1: Yeah, there there are very few, but like, Breath of
Speaker 1: the Wild is just it's weird too, because I also
Speaker 1: I also think.
Speaker 3: M no, I'm I'm sold. It's Breath the While for me.
Speaker 4: Breath of the Wild. Yeah, just so incredible, the way
Speaker 4: it makes you feel, the story where you go, I yeah,
Speaker 4: it's beautiful, the way.
Speaker 1: The way you can have You can you can jump
Speaker 1: in for five minutes and have a memorable mini adventures time.
Speaker 1: You can jump in for an entire Sunday and like
Speaker 1: just see ship for twelve hours straight. That you just
Speaker 1: there's there's stuff in there that no one. People don't
Speaker 1: talk about because there's so much. But like all of
Speaker 1: a sudden, you're paragliding over this cycliff and all of
Speaker 1: a sudden there's this little beach village. You had no
Speaker 1: idea existed. That ship ton of NPCs. There aren't even
Speaker 1: that many side quests to pursue from there. It's just
Speaker 1: this whole community living down there. That's like, oh no,
Speaker 1: we're fishermen. We just found this little inlet's protected from
Speaker 1: the wind. Like, oh cool, good for you. I gotta
Speaker 1: go fucking build this village.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's a sick.
Speaker 5: You can do stupid shit that you're not even ready for.
Speaker 5: Where it's like, oh, I wonder if I can get
Speaker 5: on the other side of this mountain during a thunderstorm,
Speaker 5: and even though you don't have nearly enough stamina or anything,
Speaker 5: you can just kind of like I'm gonna get my
Speaker 5: stand on the back, I'm gonna try to crawl and
Speaker 5: jump over there and like it to what end. It's
Speaker 5: not even for like a mission. It's just like you're
Speaker 5: climbing a mountain to see if you can, and it's rewarding.
Speaker 3: It's ye.
Speaker 1: Also, I fucking was very wrong earlier. I said this
Speaker 1: on or two is the best immersive sim ever, maybe
Speaker 1: Hit Man. It's Breath of the Wild Tiers of the Kingdom.
Speaker 1: But Breath of the Wild especially like in the debate
Speaker 1: between Breath of the Wild Tiers of the Kingdom, it's
Speaker 1: like even now, and I said at the time it
Speaker 1: came out, it's like Tiers of Kingdom is a better
Speaker 1: game technically.
Speaker 2: I I think I was wrong. I Breath of the
Speaker 2: Wild just.
Speaker 3: It changed. It's hard to say it changed.
Speaker 1: Everything because I don't think anybody else can do that. Again,
Speaker 1: it's not something people can emulate, so it's not like
Speaker 1: the closest. The closest anybody got was from software being
Speaker 1: like okay, well let's try to do a similar open
Speaker 1: world that we put our combat in. But even if
Speaker 1: it was breatha while versus elden Ring, I still ten
Speaker 1: times out of ten would go breath of the wild.
Speaker 1: Me too, truly really hit me the first time I
Speaker 1: was in a thunderstor storm and all of a sudden
Speaker 1: that you hear lightning in the distance, and all of
Speaker 1: a sudden, the sword you're holding starts sparking.
Speaker 4: Such an awesome moment.
Speaker 3: There's those layers.
Speaker 1: Shit, sorry, I hit my microphone. There's layers where it's like, oh,
Speaker 1: there's a storm, weather patterns, it's random.
Speaker 2: This is awesome. Why is my sword sparking? You then
Speaker 2: maybe get hit by lightning.
Speaker 1: You're like, that was fucking awesome, even though I have
Speaker 1: half a heart left and there's like the bit it
Speaker 1: bit it low health. Once you then figure out you
Speaker 1: can throw the sword at an enemy to get them
Speaker 1: struck by lightning.
Speaker 2: That's like the definition of immersive sim. It's like causing.
Speaker 3: Effects all the different things.
Speaker 1: You can put it to their chest and sneak up
Speaker 1: to their face before they wake up, and just steal
Speaker 1: the weapons off their neck.
Speaker 4: Right without fighting them.
Speaker 2: Then all of a sudden you go to the desert
Speaker 2: and you can fucking wakeboard around on sand seals.
Speaker 3: You don't have to do that at all. It's breath
Speaker 3: the wild. There's always a fucking shrine in view that
Speaker 3: you can go do and those are just phenomenal.
Speaker 4: And like the shrines are all so good and there's
Speaker 4: so many.
Speaker 2: Of them, and they become fast travel points.
Speaker 4: What you're done, yep, smart, elegant, elegant. Yeah, that's using
Speaker 4: the towers for uh uh. They were just like really
Speaker 4: wonderful ways for you to see the aggression in your
Speaker 4: stamina meter over time.
Speaker 5: And before that, like you know, stamping maps and stuff
Speaker 5: was the thing you saw at the time in open
Speaker 5: world games. Like the fact that you could like you
Speaker 5: had the five beacons you could put from your binoculars
Speaker 5: like oh, I see a thing, but then you can
Speaker 5: also check them in and be like, oh here's the thing.
Speaker 3: I could probably come back once I have this, and yeah,
Speaker 3: holy shit, like yeah.
Speaker 2: Also the way they made survival light shit kind of accessible.
Speaker 2: It's like you go into the cold stuff, you see
Speaker 2: the thermometers start to drop.
Speaker 3: You're like, well, what the fuck am I supposed to do?
Speaker 1: It's like, well, you can't go there yet, go get
Speaker 1: some warm clothes, you fucking idiot, and then eat some peppers. Yeah,
Speaker 1: or get this ability to fucking freeze a block of
Speaker 1: river so you can jump across. Also, the amount of
Speaker 1: ways that those the physics of those seemingly simple four
Speaker 1: abilities can I won't put them on the same level
Speaker 1: as the Zone ieabilities Tiers of the Kingdom, but I
Speaker 1: do think they they're less like tires the Kingdom. Those
Speaker 1: the zone iabilities were kind of like superpower ass shit,
Speaker 1: which is great.
Speaker 3: Kind of mess.
Speaker 5: There's more you could do, but it did require a
Speaker 5: little more kind of like fiddling and stuff like that.
Speaker 5: Or it's like Breath the wild. Yeah, I don't like
Speaker 5: the powers as much as Here's the Kingdom, but I
Speaker 5: like the fact that I'm not constantly trying like, okay,
Speaker 5: let me rotate this the right way and stick it
Speaker 5: over here.
Speaker 1: And you know, also, oh my god, there, that's like
Speaker 1: my favorite game to watch. Like GDC talks about where
Speaker 1: they're like, oh, here's how we set up. No matter
Speaker 1: where you are in the world, there's always going to
Speaker 1: be the triangle rule, which is we want something in
Speaker 1: the foreground to show you the scale. We want something
Speaker 1: in the back to show you what you.
Speaker 2: Can climb around, go around this for but also keep
Speaker 2: in mind you can climb basically anything in this game,
Speaker 2: so we also want you to consider whether it's worth
Speaker 2: going over something. But then it might rain and then
Speaker 2: you're slipping, and then there's always those like hair like
Speaker 2: skin of your teeth and get.
Speaker 3: Over the edge, like just keep pressing the analystic forward
Speaker 3: just or do I do it that last.
Speaker 2: Jump with the B button that will then send me
Speaker 2: to my death if I funk up, or just the
Speaker 2: little flutters of a flute.
Speaker 3: The music in that game, the way it plays organically
Speaker 3: into like when a breeze hits the trees. Oh my god.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we could talk forever about it. I just wanted
Speaker 2: to at least be like, well.
Speaker 4: You have to keep talking about it, because if Breath
Speaker 4: of the Wild is winning over linked to the Past,
Speaker 4: then our final matchup is fuck Solid three Snake Eater
Speaker 4: versus Legends and Breath of the Wild.
Speaker 3: I thought we were yeah, sorry, I thought we were.
Speaker 4: That was that was the top four.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so now it's two two and I'm fully I
Speaker 3: think the Wild.
Speaker 2: Yeah sorry, I thought we were done with the episode.
Speaker 3: I was like, let's just.
Speaker 1: Now it's it's Breath of the Wild versus Snake Ear, Yeah,
Speaker 1: which is a cool matchup.
Speaker 3: That's a really good matchup, but also like love it. Yeah,
Speaker 3: it's it's breath the while, it's bread Yeah, yep, yep. Terrytown.
Speaker 1: You're building up the village and like each person brings
Speaker 1: their instrument, which is a very good ode to the
Speaker 1: series past, where the central conceit of every game was
Speaker 1: an instrument.
Speaker 2: He was playing to manipulate ship.
Speaker 3: There's just a million, dude.
Speaker 4: The moment you see the giant maze in the distance
Speaker 4: and you're like, I wonder if like.
Speaker 3: Several four right, yeah, and the Lost Wood stuff.
Speaker 5: Psycho all the times, just a random fucking Bocablan camp
Speaker 5: and you're just fucking I wonder if I can roll
Speaker 5: this bomb down here?
Speaker 3: And then like man, I guess you can. Yeah.
Speaker 4: Game, what a game?
Speaker 1: I like as send in Tears of the Kingdom, I
Speaker 1: like Ultra hand m hmm, I like what is the
Speaker 1: I know there's fuse. Fuse is the one. Fuse is
Speaker 1: the one I went back to Breath of the Wild.
Speaker 1: Not being able to combine all those items into weapons
Speaker 1: is the one I do miss when I come back
Speaker 1: from Tiers of the Kingdom.
Speaker 3: What's the fourth zone? I ability I'm missing.
Speaker 1: Oh, reverse time, which actually becomes like the really overpowered one.
Speaker 3: If you know how to use it. But yeah, sure, yeah,
Speaker 3: Breath of the Wild is just.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think I've still seen only like thirty five
Speaker 1: percent of that game. That's probably under selling it. Fifty
Speaker 1: five percent of that game. There's a lot in that game.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'll never forget.
Speaker 5: I was with Bianca and I was I got the
Speaker 5: Switch and Breath the Wild a few weeks before it
Speaker 5: came out, and I was playing it. It's one of
Speaker 5: those things where I'm losing my mind playing it, and
Speaker 5: I'm wondering, like I need to talk to someone who's
Speaker 5: been playing this, and uh, you know my message friends
Speaker 5: and stuff are is this?
Speaker 3: This is like one of the best games of all time?
Speaker 2: Right? You see this?
Speaker 3: Did you see this? Holy shit?
Speaker 5: Even Tight Island all that stuff and Bonk and I
Speaker 5: went out like while I was halfway through the game
Speaker 5: to some Greek plays and we were just in the
Speaker 5: middle of eating and she was like, oh, yeah, so
Speaker 5: how was Zelda? And I found myself just ranting and
Speaker 5: raving about like how fucking incredible this was? And I
Speaker 5: found myself tearing up and thinking like I did not
Speaker 5: know video games could still make me feel this magic.
Speaker 5: I mean, I still love video games, but like that
Speaker 5: level of magic of like how open this world is
Speaker 5: and the possibilities and exploration and rewarding you for trying things.
Speaker 5: And I just couldn't stop talking about it. I felt
Speaker 5: myself getting emotional. It's like, holy shit, I've been talking
Speaker 5: about video games my higher life and I can't tell you,
Speaker 5: as an adult that I've ever felt that emotional just
Speaker 5: being like this is magic.
Speaker 2: I think there's an assumption like every I think there's
Speaker 2: an assumption at any age, but especially like when you've
Speaker 2: seen played as many video games as all three of
Speaker 2: us have individually and collectively, you've played the best game.
Speaker 3: You're ever going to play. But for that child's a
Speaker 3: feeling again, for that's.
Speaker 1: Come along in twenty seventeen, and I kind of know
Speaker 1: it fifty hours in. Honestly, Like the farther I get
Speaker 1: from that game, the more I'm like, yeah, those feelings
Speaker 1: were all correct. It's that's crazy. And also, speaking of
Speaker 1: the Witcher three doing things that, like a lot of games,
Speaker 1: have been trying. Breath of the Wild makes the Witcher
Speaker 1: three look like fucking intro course, like, thank you. So
Speaker 1: many games had been trying open worlds had been trying
Speaker 1: immersies and elements had been trying it, just like I don't,
Speaker 1: I truly don't know how it was done.
Speaker 4: It doesn't change that it beat Metal Gear Solid in
Speaker 4: the first round of our game deliberation.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but hey, everything worked out in the end, didn't it.
Speaker 4: It did work out in the end. So uh, fire
Speaker 4: Escape's best game of all time is Legend of Zelda
Speaker 4: Breath of the Wild. Your job, everybody.
Speaker 1: In like a month, it'll be eight years old, right,
Speaker 1: March twenty twenty seventeen. Wow, yeah, I think it was March.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was March twenty seventeen.
Speaker 2: Because Horizon was February.
Speaker 1: No, Horizon was like two weeks before the first Zero
Speaker 1: Dawn was two weeks before it was Forbidden West.
Speaker 3: There was like a month before Tiers at Kingdom.
Speaker 5: Oh, it was right for elden Ring. It was right
Speaker 5: for elden Ring, correct, Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah, yep. Another
Speaker 5: really something special yep.
Speaker 1: Uh And on a even in twenty seventeen, a pretty
Speaker 1: underpowered console, no less like when you go into the
Speaker 1: Lost Woods.
Speaker 3: It was a launch game and it was underpowered. Yeah. Yeah, man,
Speaker 3: imagine the tea. What a game. Yep.
Speaker 4: Well, wonderful to have one hundred episodes with you guys.
Speaker 4: Congratulations for one hundred episodes.
Speaker 3: Yeah, four four years ago now April twenty twenty one.
Speaker 5: On four years Wow, will always be like, we're going
Speaker 5: to start a podcast and they do three or four episodes,
Speaker 5: then then they stopt us.
Speaker 1: I said that to Amanda tonight and we were making dinner.
Speaker 1: H're recording this on a like a Sunday night, and
Speaker 1: I was like, I was like, as much as like
Speaker 1: when I first met her, she's you know, there's there's
Speaker 1: a joke that's like, oh, every fucking every guy has
Speaker 1: a podcast, And I was like, I held off for
Speaker 1: like six dates telling her it wasn't sick. She discovered
Speaker 1: it before that, but I was like, I'm not going
Speaker 1: to tell around our an early date that I have
Speaker 1: a podcast because every fucking guy does and it's probably
Speaker 1: not just guys, but like, I think, I know that's
Speaker 1: like the meme kind of thing.
Speaker 3: And then tonight, at that time, it was like pandemic times.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's the only way you could talk to people
Speaker 4: right too, and I think, actually it is how we
Speaker 4: talk to each other and like still communicate and spend
Speaker 4: time together, so it does do those things well.
Speaker 1: Tonight at dinner, I was like, I was like to
Speaker 1: be to be completely honest, I was like, oh, okay,
Speaker 1: it's Sunday. It's like I got some other things I
Speaker 1: gotta worry about tomorrow. I was like, ah, we gotta
Speaker 1: do this best game of all time recording tonight. And
Speaker 1: then like as I started thinking about it more, I
Speaker 1: was like Jesus Christ one hundred episodes, Like I could
Speaker 1: I commit to stuff pretty easily in my life, but
Speaker 1: like this four years is like it has flown like
Speaker 1: and I it, Yeah, I don't know. I never once
Speaker 1: doubted that we would get far into it, but it's
Speaker 1: like it it hit me today how much of like
Speaker 1: a commitment it has been, because like there's been.
Speaker 2: Times we were all really, I guess we will record
Speaker 2: this before I fly across the world in like eight hours.
Speaker 5: But like surgeries and yeah, all sorts of just like
Speaker 5: yea GODI.
Speaker 4: Was a race to the finish last year, like finding
Speaker 4: with all of our busy schedules. So but we make
Speaker 4: it work. And I'm like that we have it.
Speaker 5: Yeah, yes, maybe occasionally have to get a substitute or something,
Speaker 5: but like now we're.
Speaker 1: Not episode No, it's been wonderful. I love you too,
Speaker 1: love all our listeners for being with us for a
Speaker 1: hundred episodes. We'll be back to our normal as scheduled
Speaker 1: programming next episode one hundred and one. We're into the
Speaker 1: triple digits now officially politics. Now, yeah, it's all politics.
Speaker 2: So we'll talk about the tariffs, we'll talk about we'll
Speaker 2: talk about potential for partnerships with various countries, and we'll
Speaker 2: kind of theory craft different trade agreements in the coming
Speaker 2: trade why it will be great Greenland.
Speaker 3: We've got a lot of thoughts on Greenland. I'm geting
Speaker 3: my notes together.
Speaker 1: We're pretty sure if Xi Jinping just plays Breath of
Speaker 1: the Wild, then he might come around on a bunch
Speaker 1: of American ideas.
Speaker 3: We'll see, even though it's not an American game. We'll
Speaker 3: just tell him we made it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we'll be back in two weeks and we'll be
Speaker 2: talking about some modern new games. I'm sure a lot
Speaker 2: of actually.
Speaker 3: Fun ton of games we could be talking about next episodes.
Speaker 3: That'll be fun. All right, Well, thank you as always everybody,
Speaker 3: Thank you Mary, thank you Dan.
Speaker 2: We'll be back in episode one oh one.
Speaker 4: Thanks for listening, guys.
Speaker 3: Thanks everyone,