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Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to the Game Informer Show, a weekly

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podcast covering the video game industry. Join us every Friday

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for a discussion about the latest gaming news, reviews, and

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exclusive reveals, alongside Game and Former staff and special guests

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from around the industry. I'm one of your hosts, Charles,

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and I'm kind of like the Yoshi of this podcast

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group because I know all the words to three thousand

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and five by Child Shcambino. I am joined today by Marcus,

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who's like the Mario of our group.

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Speaker 2: I didn't even know if I should do a Mario

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impression or a Chris Pratts Mario impression.

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Speaker 1: Like do one and we'll guess which it is.

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Speaker 2: It's trash.

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Speaker 1: I'm pretty sure's Chris.

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Speaker 2: I'm pretty sure that's what he says in the trailer

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it's a thousand when he shows him as painting and

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he's just like y yeah.

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Speaker 1: And Eric Van Allen, who's kind of like the La

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ky To of the Game of the Game of Former

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crew because he'd be flying around with that camera.

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Speaker 3: I was like, maybe I'm going to get Charlie day Luigi.

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Maybe I'm going to get like the oas he does

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the pape. Sylvia he's no, but I just get laky too.

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Speaker 1: I just.

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Speaker 3: In Fantasy Mario World. I'm still working.

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Speaker 2: A characteristic. I'm sorry, lak too. Did we not say

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lack it two?

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Speaker 1: I don't know what we say. It's a word I've

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only ever seen written.

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Speaker 3: I like laky too. That's fun.

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Speaker 1: That's that's my best guess. And finally, our special guest

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for today Nicole Carpenter, freelancer extraordinaire, who's kind of like

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the Rosalina of the Game of Former Crew because she's

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not usually here, but the stars have aligned and she's

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finally visiting us this week.

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Speaker 4: Wow, that's beautiful.

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Speaker 1: How do you feel, are you? Do you like Rosalina?

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Speaker 4: Yeah? Yeah, And I also would have accepted Toad.

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Speaker 1: And your tote impression real quick? Oh no, oh no,

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that is that is something today?

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Speaker 2: Would you like to do? You like to do? Michael

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East Toad?

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Speaker 3: I think the discord will automatically noise gate well noises

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Not that I know this from experience or anything, but

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I do think discord noise gates most of those.

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Speaker 1: Hey, ma, well, I really was discorded noisegate at.

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Speaker 2: That that was actually that was that was Captain Toad.

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Speaker 3: Actually I think that was Marge Simpson walking by. That

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was crazy, but.

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Speaker 2: Like later seasons March Simpson where her voice is just destroyed. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Uh well, anyways, but we got a we got a

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great show for you today this week. But before we

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get into all the specifics, I just want to do

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a quick plug for Game Informer dot com slash subscribe,

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where you can go to get our latest issue, which

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features Invincible on the cover. Invincible versus the game. Uh,

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Marcus and Eric, you were you were the duo that went?

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Is that correct?

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Speaker 3: We were?

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Speaker 2: We were. Yeah. I wrote this thing today and we'll.

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Speaker 1: Be talking all about it today. If you want to

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sign up for future physical issues, go to Gameformer dot

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com slash subscribe anywhere in the US. You can also

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get a digital subscription at the same place, and we're

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on newsstands now in bookstores and other plays like that.

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So you go to Barnes and Noble will be there,

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and we're also popping up in countries around the world

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as always. If you see one there, please let us know,

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both because we're excited to be spoted in the wild,

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and also we don't know all the stores that we're at,

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so we would love to have a tally of knowing

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where to point people to go. As always Gameformer dot

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Com slash subscribe. Before we jump into our current issue,

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we're actually going to do a quick moon walk backwards

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into the back issue because Nicole, you wrote a fantastic

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feature on the game Love and Deep Space once't you

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tell us a little bit about like your relationship to

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that game and the formation of this.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, well, so I have been covering Love in Deep

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Space for a little bit and playing it for a

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little bit longer. But basically it's a I would say

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maybe like part visual novel asque like part action game.

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And the core premise is that there's these five guys,

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five very very adorable, you know, lovable cast of characters

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that you can choose a date to date and you

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fight alongside them. You know, you're part of this like

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crew of deep Space hunters. And you go out and

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you try to help, you know, get rid of the

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bad guys. Is you know, that's what you always do.

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But you get rid of the bad guys. But then

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you also come home and you have these five guys.

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You have five boyfriends you can choose from and get

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to know them. There's like the action part but then

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it Love and Deep says recently added a home, like

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you know, your own home, so you can also do

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stuff like cuddle on the couch with your boyfriend or

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like play music with him, or you know, he can

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take a shower.

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Speaker 2: Why not?

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Speaker 3: And you're also there, are you also like present in

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the room, like just hagging out like popcorn, Like he just.

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Speaker 4: Comes out, so like I don't know if you I

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believe this was from this GDC. The Love and Deep

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Space people did a presentation and they showed some of

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the pictures of the guys, the five boyfriends wearing their

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towels after the shower, and it kind of is like

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it's like a way to demonstrate how much detail, attention

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to detail goes into these characters, because each of them

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like wears their towel in a different way, and that

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kind of like says something about the character. It's really cool,

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like they these developers care a lot about the game.

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Speaker 2: How many different ways can you wear a towel?

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Speaker 3: I was I was doing this, yeah.

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Speaker 2: A three.

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Speaker 4: They are large all around the waist too, like so

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these are like they're not like, you know, like doing this,

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but they're all tied different ways around their waist.

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Speaker 1: Huh is the one that's not you said that's largely

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and this is not the most important, but this is

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pretty important. It's all around the Okay, Okay, if I.

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Speaker 4: Do wish one of them just had it like over

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their head.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, that's sweatpants with like the towel wrapped around like

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you just got them working out. Yeah, yeah, I see

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the vision. So this is I've I've heard this described

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not as like necessarily in Atome game, so it's not.

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It has elements of dating sim but you are kind

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of in a not to cite the deep text, but

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you're in like a tenchi moyo situation where you are

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like staying at a place and there's a bunch of

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different and dudes that are all kind of are they

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vying for your character's attention or I don't know if I.

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Speaker 4: Would say vying for their character's attention because like you,

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you know, they all have their own stories and part

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of this, and like there's so there's so much to

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this because not only are you like in this like

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active storyline, but there are also these alternate reality storylines

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and so there's so much variety, Like there's so much

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going on that like it's not just this current timeline,

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this current reality, so like there's just a lot going on,

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and all of these characters play a role into that

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main story as well, and so you can play, like,

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you know, you can do the romance storyline for it's

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getting caught. I won't go into the details of the gotcha,

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but like, so the gotcha is a big part of

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like what content you can see, so you to get

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some of those like alternate storylines, you have to like

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roll for the character stories and stuff, and like it's

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a that's an oversimplication of it, but like basically, like

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you can do what you want to do. You're not

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like locked in.

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Speaker 3: So I was going to ask that's you know, I've

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played some mobile slash gotcha games before, like hon Kai

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and Szendless on zero and things like that. It's five

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dudes and they're kind of locked in. So I was wondering,

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So the gotcha you're rolling for kind of these alternate

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reality versions of them or just like variations on them,

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but they're kind of like the baseline is these five dudes.

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Speaker 4: Yes, the baseline is there's no other like people to

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date other than these five guys. Okay, okay, and like

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the alternate the alternate reality stuff is like wild, it's wild.

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They have some different It's basically got like a theme

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and a story each time it happens, which I don't

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I don't know how long every update or whatever. And

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some of them are like insane.

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Speaker 1: What is the what is the rate?

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Speaker 2: Like?

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Speaker 1: Are we talking like their cavemen in Dinosaur Times here?

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Speaker 2: Or is it just like like superheroes?

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Speaker 4: Yeah, so it basically stays in like the fantasy realm,

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but like one since you're like a queen and like

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you know, oh, and then in this other instance, the

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five guys are like feral werewolfy type guys who are

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like locked in ages, and it's it's yeah, like yeah, no,

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they're locked in cages and literally like you're they're they're feral?

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Speaker 3: Uh huh do they do?

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Speaker 1: They can they talk? Yeah?

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Speaker 4: No, they can talk. They can talk.

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Speaker 2: Are you locked in the cage with them? Are you

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in charge of the cage?

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Speaker 4: I don't. I don't actually don't know if you're locked

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in the cage with them, but I think that they're

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basically they're like, are you scared of me?

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Speaker 3: M okay okay? So I was going to lead in

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to that because I was, like, the the thing with

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this game is that obviously is very loved by people

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who love this kind of content, super popular. It is

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like I feel like it veers into genres that you know,

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like romanticy and things like that. Like people want to

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see like this this kind of content, specifically having those

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encounters and stuff like that, and it has become extremely popular,

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as y'all were saying, and that's kind of like a

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large part of the piece was about like the popularity

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of Love and Deep Space.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, there's the fandom around Love and Deep Space is

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growing in the United States, but it's also huge overseas.

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And when I say huge, I mean like almost like

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k Poppy sort of huge. Like the people who love

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these characters, you know, and everyone has like their favorite

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and they sorry the dog. You probably heard that one.

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Speaker 1: You heard that one right, barely?

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Speaker 4: Okay, cool. Well, so they're like buying billboards to like

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celebrate their favorite character's birthday, or they are, you know,

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holding events to meet up with each other. Cosplayers are

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coming so that they can take pictures with them. Like

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it's huge, and these events aren't small, they're they're big events,

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like big stuff. It's big stuff.

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Speaker 2: Have they Have they even any sense of if they're

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going to branch out to like wider multimedia stuff like

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like you mentioned kind of cosplayers I assume sort of

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performing as them. Have they like did they see themselves

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doing like any TV or animated or even movie stuff

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like with these with these guys.

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Speaker 4: I haven't heard anything on that, but it does seem

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like it's a franchise that has so many different storylines

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that you can pull from, like they're you know, there's

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so many here and so many different worlds that they've

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built within like this main world. So it seems like

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that is something that is doable and like would be

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of interest to people. But I haven't heard anything anything

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on that end.

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Speaker 2: Okay, Yeah, that's it's fascinating. It almost reminds me vaguely

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of like when Infinity Niki started popping off, where at

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least for me personally, that was like a series I

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like the love nicky stuff I had no familiarity of

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prior to playing Infinity Nikki and then learning how massive

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like almost like I don't know if you say quietly massive,

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just because I haven't heard of it, but like it's

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like this, it's a giant thing and then Infinity Nikki

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comes down, and it's kind of like kind of like

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the glass ceiling, like mainstream kind of moment for it.

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I don't any sounds like this game is, like you said,

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it's kind of becoming more and more popular in the

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West in a way that maybe it hasn't before. And

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I assume this is the like Love and d Space,

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Like there's no other games in this series. Is it

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just this game that has just been around or well, well.

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Speaker 4: One, it's nice you brought up Infinity Nikki because it's

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the same team they built this game. In fold Games

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yep O paper games. They kind of go both in

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some some instances. But so Love and Deep Space largely

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is this game, but there is like an early one

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I can't remember what it's called, but this is like

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this is the game.

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Speaker 3: Interesting I to that point earlier. It feels like a

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lot of gotcha games are starting to reach that point

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of not just being a gotcha game and and kind

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of orienting towards that. But a lot of them have

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started to develop themselves as kind of like a lifestyle brand.

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I feel like Infinity Nikki and Love and Deep Space

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are two like really prominent examples of that, maybe genschin

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As like the third one where they obviously like Gotcha

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has kind of been looked at. There's always some new

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legislation or somebody like putting scrutiny on Gotcha, rolls, loop boxes,

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et cetera. It feels like a lot of mobile games

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that have reached a certain level of popularity are now

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eyeing like lifestyle brand stuff the same way that like

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Pokemon might and things like that. And obviously this is

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not going to hit the same massive wide demographic that

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Pokemon might, just by nature of some of the shower

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based content and all that, but it is it is

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really interesting to see these games evolve like that, because,

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I mean, this is there was like I've seen images

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of people like going to conventions for this stuff and

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all that sort of thing like this is I think

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a much bigger thing than some people obviously someone like

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me would like realize at a time. And it's kind

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of cool to see gaming evolve in that way, to

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see something become a lifestyle brand in that way.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, and like regarding the lifestyle brand like this app,

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you know it is more than the love and keepsa

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based game as well, like this app has stuff like

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a period tracker, so you know, oh yeah, so there's

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like different sort of functionalities in there. So this is

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a it has a pre detracker, and then you know,

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your boyfriend is like giving you updates like how you

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feel and buddy like what's you know kind of like

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sort of you know, it's giving you that helpful information,

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but also they're uh, you know, talking to you, comforting

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you that sort of thing as well. Like there's different

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functionalities in there for people, and it's really really cool,

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Like you don't see that, you know. I think there's

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probably some like hesitations like would I want to be

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putting my health information into like an app like that.

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I don't know where they're storing it. I don't know

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what they're doing it. I don't know, probably not, but

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like that's not a concern for everyone.

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Speaker 3: It's I mean, we tell Pikachu when we're sleeping, so

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like and that's some more dangerous.

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Speaker 1: Yeah.

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Speaker 4: I actually believe that in Love and Deep Space that

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there's a functionality where you can like fall asleep with

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the men too.

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Speaker 1: Like I was going to say, I had no idea

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was that that stent of So there's is are there

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like like sleep trackers. Is that a part of it?

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Is it just like other stuff other like health information

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putting in I just I didn't.

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Speaker 2: It's like can you can you treat this as like

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a fit bit that you can date.

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Speaker 4: A little? I don't. I don't know if the sleep

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functionality like tracks your sleep. It does have like you know, sounds,

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it's got it kind of like helps you fall asleep,

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like soothing audio that sort of thing. I don't know

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if it tracks how you sleep, but it does have

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those sort of healthy features.

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Speaker 2: That's interesting that, I mean, the the sort of like

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concerns about in putting your health information aside, that is

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like pretty cool. It's like you don't, like you mentioned

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in your piece, like you don't you just don't see

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that with games or even a lot of tech, but

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sort of something that is so like women's centric. Ah,

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and to kind of have it wrapped around this really

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appealing package of just having these virtual kind of like

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dream guys sort of like help you with that stuff.

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Like in a perfect world, I could see this being

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a way to sort of help women that are I

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don't know if they're if they have any like health

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either concerns or just health trouble, Like if this somehow

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helps them keep track of their lifestyle in a way

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that maybe they wouldn't otherwise do with any other sort

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of like piece of tech. I could see like a

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like a neat sort of like benefit from that, assuming

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all that stuff is sort of above board whatever they

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do with the information you have. But yeah, that's that's fascinating.

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Speaker 4: And part of that is that, you know, for this piece,

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I did an interview with some of the with the

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developers and part and the team is made up of women.

329
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You know. That's also some thing that's very very rare

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to see, is that a development team that is you know,

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has a lot of women on the team. And so

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that's something that I think you can see in the

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00:18:11,319 --> 00:18:14,039
design of this game and the design of its story

334
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and its characters. It reminded me partly of the quote

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from one of the developers on Resident Evil Requiem who

336
00:18:22,759 --> 00:18:26,240
is saying about Hatley on Kennedy and that there was

337
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like so much detail paid even to like the Renkals

338
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in his neck, and that like it's that sort of

339
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like level of detail and care going into all of

340
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these characters.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I assumed the good part of his neck not

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the disease.

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Speaker 4: Part, not the bad part of his neck. I forgot

344
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he has.

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Speaker 2: That little.

346
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Speaker 3: Part of it isn't a bad part of Leon Kennedy's.

347
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Speaker 4: This is like a side note. But I did an

348
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interview with the Leon Kennedy voice factor Nick, and on

349
00:18:56,680 --> 00:18:59,680
the call, he did like the the like moaning and

350
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grew that he does unprompted. I was like, oh my god, like.

351
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Speaker 1: He just does that. What was what was the content?

352
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Speaker 4: It was a little prompted. I didn't say do this

353
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for me, but I said I was asking him about

354
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how he feels that, like everyone is hot for Leon

355
00:19:17,039 --> 00:19:19,480
Kennedy right now, and then he was like, yeah, like

356
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people like it. And then he was like he just

357
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he just.

358
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Speaker 3: Offered that up and then he decided to move like

359
00:19:27,240 --> 00:19:29,039
a fifteen pound instrument next to him.

360
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Speaker 2: Was like.

361
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Speaker 4: No, exactly, And it was so good that I had

362
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to like figure out how to embed audio into this

363
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so I could just put the grunty the middle of

364
00:19:40,400 --> 00:19:40,920
the article.

365
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Speaker 3: Give the people what they want.

366
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Speaker 2: He should start doing cameos, just make grunts for people.

367
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Happy birthday, Steve, Happy birthday.

368
00:19:49,279 --> 00:19:51,359
Speaker 3: Having to move on and move this really heavy rock.

369
00:19:51,400 --> 00:19:55,519
Now I'm going to chop some wood over here real quick, Wow,

370
00:19:56,079 --> 00:19:57,119
crush this watermelon?

371
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Speaker 1: Uh well, I kind of all the danger there? Uh wonderful.

372
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Was there anything else about love and de space the

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00:20:08,079 --> 00:20:11,079
cole you thought was a big enough you wanted to

374
00:20:11,079 --> 00:20:12,160
call out before we move on?

375
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Speaker 4: Oh gosh, I mean I could say that my favorite

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guy is Silas.

377
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Speaker 2: Like I was gonna ask, Yeah, I was gonna ask,

378
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like what are there? What are their names and sort

379
00:20:23,240 --> 00:20:26,440
of like their like elevator pitch, what are their personalities?

380
00:20:26,480 --> 00:20:27,119
Like baseline?

381
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Speaker 4: Okay, I'll go their names their Xavier Yeah yeah, yep, Zane,

382
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Raphael Silas and Caleb Eric.

383
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Speaker 2: There's a Raphael for you.

384
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Speaker 3: I hate that. This is the worst running bit we've

385
00:20:43,680 --> 00:20:44,440
ever come up with.

386
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Speaker 1: And can you can you say, like, uh, Xavier the

387
00:20:49,599 --> 00:20:52,200
blank one, like if you were if you were to

388
00:20:52,240 --> 00:20:54,240
give them to narrow them down a little.

389
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Speaker 4: Bit, Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, Okay, so they have like

390
00:20:58,240 --> 00:21:01,720
oh god, well I can I I honestly only really

391
00:21:01,759 --> 00:21:04,279
note a lot about one of them, and that's Silas.

392
00:21:04,440 --> 00:21:07,640
And he is like his red eyes, he is like

393
00:21:07,759 --> 00:21:13,119
super confident. He's like a little mean, very powerful, and

394
00:21:13,200 --> 00:21:17,119
that's like his elevator pitch. I don't know that much

395
00:21:17,119 --> 00:21:20,079
about the other guys. Honestly, I'm not like, you know,

396
00:21:20,200 --> 00:21:22,119
it's like I got, I got my dude, and.

397
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Speaker 1: Like you're devoted.

398
00:21:24,119 --> 00:21:26,880
Speaker 2: Is he a jerk? He kind of sounds like a jerk.

399
00:21:29,599 --> 00:21:32,519
Speaker 4: Kind of mean, Yeah, I've.

400
00:21:32,359 --> 00:21:35,920
Speaker 3: Heard things about this character, specifically that when you said,

401
00:21:35,960 --> 00:21:46,960
like my favorite stilast, I was like, uh.

402
00:21:42,799 --> 00:21:45,160
Speaker 4: But like he also has a soft side, you know that.

403
00:21:45,039 --> 00:21:47,000
Speaker 3: You of course, of course.

404
00:21:46,799 --> 00:21:51,000
Speaker 4: He's got a little side. But yeah, he like you know, you.

405
00:21:51,000 --> 00:21:53,559
Speaker 2: Know, a little brasive, but you gotta you gotta penetrate the.

406
00:21:54,920 --> 00:21:57,079
Speaker 3: Is he also the one that does the one? So

407
00:21:57,160 --> 00:21:59,680
there was how I learned of this character In the

408
00:21:59,720 --> 00:22:02,799
first was I got like an Instagram reel or something

409
00:22:02,880 --> 00:22:06,079
where it was a cosplayer dresses this character who was

410
00:22:06,160 --> 00:22:11,759
just picking people up at cosplay conventions, because because it

411
00:22:11,799 --> 00:22:14,559
was like his gimme apparently that's the characters like gimmick

412
00:22:14,680 --> 00:22:16,839
is he can pick you up with one arm. And

413
00:22:16,880 --> 00:22:19,039
so this couse player was like it was a video

414
00:22:19,039 --> 00:22:21,559
of him training with like a sandbag doing like one

415
00:22:21,640 --> 00:22:23,799
arm lifts, and then him at the cosplay convention like

416
00:22:23,880 --> 00:22:25,079
just lifting people.

417
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Speaker 4: Because like, yeah, and I actually think that that like

418
00:22:34,359 --> 00:22:38,440
TikTok trend went so much further to than just the

419
00:22:38,480 --> 00:22:43,119
love and Deep Space fandom. Like I saw one arm

420
00:22:43,200 --> 00:22:44,160
pickup challenge.

421
00:22:44,559 --> 00:22:46,440
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's his thing.

422
00:22:47,359 --> 00:22:51,519
Speaker 1: Sick does what does I'm trying to picture just him

423
00:22:51,559 --> 00:22:53,640
being a little bit mean is very funny me trying

424
00:22:53,640 --> 00:22:59,160
to picture his like putting you to sleep dialogue, You're

425
00:22:59,200 --> 00:23:00,000
not asleep yet?

426
00:23:00,880 --> 00:23:01,599
Speaker 2: Taking forever?

427
00:23:03,400 --> 00:23:05,880
Speaker 3: Why is solid Snake angry that I won't go to sleep?

428
00:23:06,200 --> 00:23:06,400
Speaker 2: Yeah?

429
00:23:06,440 --> 00:23:07,720
Speaker 1: I don't know what his voice.

430
00:23:09,160 --> 00:23:11,759
Speaker 2: Impression? Is he a grous.

431
00:23:14,319 --> 00:23:16,519
Speaker 1: I'll just keep asking In one of these times you'll

432
00:23:16,559 --> 00:23:18,480
you'll have a perfect impression of one of these characters.

433
00:23:18,559 --> 00:23:20,440
Speaker 2: Yeah, you're trying to say, like is he a gruff mean?

434
00:23:20,559 --> 00:23:23,000
Is he kind of like a snively like Draco Malfoy

435
00:23:23,160 --> 00:23:23,799
kind of voice?

436
00:23:24,519 --> 00:23:24,759
Speaker 3: To s.

437
00:23:26,640 --> 00:23:31,240
Speaker 4: Like they all have great like like very trigit like

438
00:23:31,400 --> 00:23:32,480
handsome man voice.

439
00:23:32,519 --> 00:23:37,519
Speaker 2: If like they're all very Okay, they're only on Kennedy. Yeah, yeah,

440
00:23:37,599 --> 00:23:39,519
they're only on Okay.

441
00:23:39,279 --> 00:23:43,640
Speaker 1: Okay, Well awesome, Well Love You Space. You can read

442
00:23:43,680 --> 00:23:46,680
about that in our last issue, which why am I Blanking?

443
00:23:46,720 --> 00:23:52,440
On the cover Double seven Double seven First Light. If

444
00:23:52,440 --> 00:23:56,160
you're a subscribing informer, you can check out the digital version.

445
00:23:56,680 --> 00:23:59,440
It also might still be a newsstands right now. Yes,

446
00:24:00,279 --> 00:24:03,559
and also if you are signed in you can see

447
00:24:03,559 --> 00:24:05,480
the article version of that on came from it to.

448
00:24:05,400 --> 00:24:08,119
Speaker 2: Come as well. Yeah, no, fantastic piece by the way.

449
00:24:08,559 --> 00:24:10,039
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's really a really good article.

450
00:24:10,319 --> 00:24:10,559
Speaker 1: Read it.

451
00:24:10,640 --> 00:24:12,680
Speaker 2: Yeah. And also I think next time, kind of like

452
00:24:12,720 --> 00:24:14,759
the way we did the one podcast where you signed

453
00:24:14,759 --> 00:24:16,920
ourselves Ninja Turtles, I think we have to learn more

454
00:24:16,920 --> 00:24:19,480
about the other boys in Love and deep Space, and

455
00:24:19,519 --> 00:24:20,759
we have to which one.

456
00:24:20,720 --> 00:24:25,519
Speaker 1: Fantastic most Like, Yeah, we'll all take like a BuzzFeed quiz,

457
00:24:26,440 --> 00:24:27,160
which which love?

458
00:24:27,160 --> 00:24:31,039
Speaker 4: And also there is a buzz feed quiz for that.

459
00:24:31,440 --> 00:24:34,960
Speaker 1: Oh, there definitely is. Actually, wait, Nicole, you're you're a

460
00:24:34,960 --> 00:24:39,480
BuzzFeed quiz incarnate. Can you just assign us each a boy?

461
00:24:40,359 --> 00:24:42,480
Speaker 4: Oh no, I don't know.

462
00:24:43,039 --> 00:24:48,000
Speaker 2: I'll take whoever. I do think Eric. I think Eric

463
00:24:48,039 --> 00:24:53,599
automatically has to get Rafael, though I signed we signed

464
00:24:53,720 --> 00:24:56,759
Eric Rafael the Ninja Turtles, so I assume it's basically

465
00:24:56,799 --> 00:24:58,960
the same cart. So it sounds like Silas is like

466
00:24:59,000 --> 00:25:01,759
the Raphael of the roup, because he's like the the

467
00:25:01,920 --> 00:25:03,000
abrasive meme one.

468
00:25:04,440 --> 00:25:08,880
Speaker 4: Yeah, I just pulled up Raphael's little profile pages so

469
00:25:08,960 --> 00:25:11,039
I can I can give you guys a little bit

470
00:25:11,039 --> 00:25:18,079
more detail. Let me take a look here. Okay, he's friendly, friendly,

471
00:25:18,119 --> 00:25:29,400
care free, He's oh let's see.

472
00:25:31,160 --> 00:25:31,839
Speaker 2: He is.

473
00:25:32,519 --> 00:25:35,440
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, Oh here's the thing. He's like the last

474
00:25:35,519 --> 00:25:37,440
members of this like ancient race.

475
00:25:37,920 --> 00:25:45,240
Speaker 2: Whoa boys?

476
00:25:45,480 --> 00:25:47,200
Speaker 1: Was that? The sentence said?

477
00:25:47,359 --> 00:25:54,240
Speaker 4: It's not boys, it's not just boys. It's like in

478
00:25:54,319 --> 00:25:56,839
the sea, like a sea god sort of thing.

479
00:25:58,519 --> 00:26:02,000
Speaker 2: And that's kind of it. You don't want to be

480
00:26:02,039 --> 00:26:03,000
a clingy seagull.

481
00:26:04,319 --> 00:26:08,079
Speaker 3: I that just sounds like I'm becoming like a Greek god.

482
00:26:08,359 --> 00:26:10,440
Like that sounds like I'm setting myself up for like

483
00:26:10,440 --> 00:26:12,200
a three Yeah.

484
00:26:12,359 --> 00:26:16,359
Speaker 4: Like painting. He's like sensitive, you know, I kind of I.

485
00:26:16,319 --> 00:26:20,880
Speaker 1: Kind of like Raphael's cool. Yeah, I'd fall asleep next

486
00:26:20,880 --> 00:26:24,319
to him. That's kind of my But not the Ninja turtle, No, no,

487
00:26:24,400 --> 00:26:30,400
of course not. Uh well, well, well I also sorry.

488
00:26:30,440 --> 00:26:32,160
The last thing I want to say, I really enjoyed

489
00:26:32,160 --> 00:26:34,240
you kept preferring to them as five guys, which is

490
00:26:34,279 --> 00:26:36,559
the burger restaurant. And every time I was thinking about

491
00:26:36,599 --> 00:26:38,559
the burger restaurant all from working there.

492
00:26:39,400 --> 00:26:41,400
Speaker 2: He just got really hungry reading your piece.

493
00:26:41,640 --> 00:26:44,079
Speaker 1: I got really hunger, Like I can't focus something about cheezburg.

494
00:26:45,359 --> 00:26:45,720
Speaker 2: All right.

495
00:26:46,119 --> 00:26:49,799
Speaker 1: Next second, we're going to talk about, uh, the new

496
00:26:50,079 --> 00:26:56,000
cover story, Invincible Versus. This is a fighting game, Nicole,

497
00:26:56,039 --> 00:26:57,240
you familiar with Invincible?

498
00:26:58,039 --> 00:27:00,720
Speaker 4: Literally not even not even not you knowail.

499
00:27:00,559 --> 00:27:03,039
Speaker 1: A little bit? All right, Well, luckily we have two

500
00:27:03,720 --> 00:27:09,000
Capital E experts here to explain not only why Invincible

501
00:27:09,119 --> 00:27:12,079
is worth your time, but why Invincible Versus is a

502
00:27:12,079 --> 00:27:14,640
big deal. Take it away, boys.

503
00:27:15,279 --> 00:27:18,400
Speaker 2: Yeah, So Invincible, for those that don't know, it is

504
00:27:18,440 --> 00:27:22,440
a started as a comic series by Robert Kirkman and

505
00:27:22,640 --> 00:27:25,799
Corey Walker. The artist Robert Kirkman also known as the

506
00:27:25,839 --> 00:27:28,640
creator of The Walking Dead, so these are kind of

507
00:27:28,720 --> 00:27:32,359
his two big babies. And you know, the Invincible comic

508
00:27:32,400 --> 00:27:35,000
has been around. Started in two thousand and three, ran

509
00:27:35,119 --> 00:27:39,279
until twenty eighteen. It's a superhero comic about a kind

510
00:27:39,319 --> 00:27:42,720
of like the very brief brief is sort of synopsis

511
00:27:42,759 --> 00:27:45,359
is that it stars Mark Grayson, who is this teenage

512
00:27:45,400 --> 00:27:48,759
hero who is the son of this kind of like

513
00:27:48,839 --> 00:27:52,880
all powerful superman like alien named Omni Man, who's sort

514
00:27:52,880 --> 00:27:56,559
of Earth's protector. And without getting into crazy spoilers, because

515
00:27:56,559 --> 00:27:59,319
if you watch the Amazon Prime series, the first episode

516
00:28:00,200 --> 00:28:04,519
ends in a kind of wild way but essentially things

517
00:28:05,400 --> 00:28:08,920
Mark kind of finds himself betrayed in a certain way,

518
00:28:09,599 --> 00:28:11,680
and but like kind of the crux of the show

519
00:28:11,880 --> 00:28:14,680
is just kind of a coming of age story of

520
00:28:14,799 --> 00:28:19,519
him developing these incredible powers and joining a superhero team

521
00:28:19,599 --> 00:28:22,920
of other teenage heroes and him trying to just figure

522
00:28:22,960 --> 00:28:25,519
out how to be a hero while also juggling a

523
00:28:25,559 --> 00:28:29,839
lot of like very morally gray situations. Like he's he's

524
00:28:29,920 --> 00:28:31,680
kind of learning how to be a hero. He wants

525
00:28:31,680 --> 00:28:33,559
it to do a good or be a good person.

526
00:28:33,680 --> 00:28:35,119
He's very much in the sort of like I don't

527
00:28:35,119 --> 00:28:37,079
want to kill people, but kind of like one of

528
00:28:37,119 --> 00:28:38,680
the things that makes the comic in a show so

529
00:28:38,720 --> 00:28:40,559
good is that he has put in these situations where

530
00:28:40,960 --> 00:28:44,519
his beliefs are challenged on a regular basis, and the

531
00:28:44,640 --> 00:28:48,759
series dives a lot into sort of like how being

532
00:28:48,759 --> 00:28:51,599
a hero and dealing with some really traumatic stuff kind

533
00:28:51,599 --> 00:28:54,240
of affects his psyche and how he sort of like

534
00:28:54,720 --> 00:28:58,319
changes his kind of his viewpoint on what it means

535
00:28:58,359 --> 00:29:03,400
to be the safe for humanity. It's also very much like,

536
00:29:03,440 --> 00:29:06,359
in some ways a parody of the superhero genre, and

537
00:29:06,400 --> 00:29:09,599
in other ways it's it's like a very mature take

538
00:29:09,640 --> 00:29:12,720
on superheroes, especially around the time that it first came out,

539
00:29:12,720 --> 00:29:15,839
where it's like it's like, you know, it's very colorful

540
00:29:15,880 --> 00:29:18,960
in its presentation, but the dialogue is it's very grounded

541
00:29:19,000 --> 00:29:21,200
and realistic. Like the way characters speak to each other,

542
00:29:21,440 --> 00:29:25,039
it's very mature, it's vulgar, and it's also incredibly hyperfire.

543
00:29:25,599 --> 00:29:29,480
Like characters die in the show in like like Mortal

544
00:29:29,559 --> 00:29:33,960
Kombat esque fashion and oftentimes like you'll see characters that

545
00:29:34,000 --> 00:29:38,359
you really like get the absolute just crap kicked out

546
00:29:38,359 --> 00:29:41,599
of them, like Mark himself. Like the name Invincible is

547
00:29:41,640 --> 00:29:46,000
almost like in some ways, it's almost like a joke, we.

548
00:29:45,880 --> 00:29:47,640
Speaker 3: Were making a joke while we were out there on

549
00:29:47,680 --> 00:29:51,400
this cover story. That's like invincible does not mean invulnerable, right,

550
00:29:51,599 --> 00:29:55,440
Like it does not necessarily mean that you can't take damage,

551
00:29:55,599 --> 00:29:58,880
you can't like get hit, and that is a recurring theme.

552
00:29:58,920 --> 00:30:02,559
And like Segus knee into the fighting game aspect of

553
00:30:02,559 --> 00:30:07,119
this is like this is it weirdly feels like a

554
00:30:07,200 --> 00:30:10,240
mixture of fighting game genres because it tries to incorporate

555
00:30:10,359 --> 00:30:14,720
so much of the not just different mechanics of games,

556
00:30:14,759 --> 00:30:18,240
but also the visual language of games that kind of

557
00:30:18,240 --> 00:30:22,559
feel in conversation with Invincible, your Mortal Kombats and obviously

558
00:30:22,559 --> 00:30:25,279
your killer instincts, because a lot of the team comes

559
00:30:25,279 --> 00:30:29,759
from killer instinct and things like that. So it is

560
00:30:29,880 --> 00:30:33,279
kind of interesting to see in that way, like Invincible

561
00:30:33,480 --> 00:30:35,559
ends up feeling like a natural fit for a fighting

562
00:30:35,559 --> 00:30:36,759
game in a lot of ways.

563
00:30:37,279 --> 00:30:38,640
Speaker 2: Yeah, and that was one of the big things where

564
00:30:38,720 --> 00:30:40,799
like even Robert Kirkman when we interviewed him, he talked

565
00:30:40,839 --> 00:30:43,160
about because he grew up a video game fan and

566
00:30:43,200 --> 00:30:45,400
it's still a gamer to this day, but he grew

567
00:30:45,480 --> 00:30:47,359
up a fighting game fan in particular, and he talked

568
00:30:47,359 --> 00:30:49,599
about how much he loved Street Fighter, but especially how

569
00:30:49,680 --> 00:30:52,440
much he left Mortal Kombat, which he didn't really confirm this,

570
00:30:52,599 --> 00:30:54,839
but like seeing his work in Invincible and maybe even

571
00:30:54,839 --> 00:30:57,240
to some extent, The Walking Dead, it's almost hard not

572
00:30:57,279 --> 00:30:59,720
to think that Mortal Kombat has some sort of like

573
00:30:59,799 --> 00:31:03,759
just ubconscious influence on just the way he depicts graphic violence.

574
00:31:04,480 --> 00:31:07,279
But he was telling us back then that one of

575
00:31:07,319 --> 00:31:11,279
his like bucket list dreams was Invincible video game, but

576
00:31:11,319 --> 00:31:17,119
specifically an Invincible fighting game. So when he started Skybound Entertainment,

577
00:31:17,119 --> 00:31:19,240
which is the company that he's the chairman of, in

578
00:31:19,279 --> 00:31:23,680
the twenty tens kind of like their multimedia strategy was like, hey,

579
00:31:23,720 --> 00:31:26,680
we have these really promising properties. We have The Walking Dead,

580
00:31:26,720 --> 00:31:28,680
we have Invincible. I think these can be bigger than

581
00:31:28,680 --> 00:31:31,279
what they are. And then over time they started working

582
00:31:31,319 --> 00:31:33,119
on like, well, we can turn this into other forms

583
00:31:33,119 --> 00:31:35,279
of media. This could be TV shows, this could be movies,

584
00:31:35,319 --> 00:31:37,559
and then maybe one day this could be video games.

585
00:31:38,119 --> 00:31:40,319
And sort of The Walking Dead kind of became the

586
00:31:40,359 --> 00:31:45,839
first success story for that strategy. You know, they helped

587
00:31:45,880 --> 00:31:48,000
launch that show. Of course it becomes the biggest thing

588
00:31:48,000 --> 00:31:50,759
in the world. And then it also, maybe more crucially

589
00:31:50,799 --> 00:31:53,680
for Invincible verses, it led to the creation of The

590
00:31:53,680 --> 00:31:57,039
Walking Dead video games that Telltale made, and of course

591
00:31:57,079 --> 00:32:00,119
that first season in particular is still celebrated as one

592
00:32:00,160 --> 00:32:03,160
of the best narrative games of all time, and it

593
00:32:03,440 --> 00:32:06,480
spawned so many just video game spinoffs of The Walking

594
00:32:06,519 --> 00:32:08,880
Dead that it kind of it kind of laid the

595
00:32:08,920 --> 00:32:11,720
seed for hey, we can we've we've done this with

596
00:32:11,759 --> 00:32:14,119
The Walking Dead. Maybe now we can go back to

597
00:32:14,240 --> 00:32:17,680
Invincible and see if we can maybe make the fighting

598
00:32:17,680 --> 00:32:20,079
games of our dreams. And then on the other side

599
00:32:20,079 --> 00:32:21,839
of the Cohen you have quota up the developer of

600
00:32:21,880 --> 00:32:24,680
this game. As Eric mentioned, they are formed from the

601
00:32:24,720 --> 00:32:27,480
ashes of Double Helix, which was a team that made

602
00:32:27,519 --> 00:32:32,240
the twenty thirteen Killer Instinct kind of reboot that launched

603
00:32:32,279 --> 00:32:35,480
with the Xbox One, which was a really good fighting game.

604
00:32:35,960 --> 00:32:38,720
Some might even say underappreciated honestly, because it doesn't really

605
00:32:38,759 --> 00:32:41,319
get brought up very often when you're kind of talking

606
00:32:41,319 --> 00:32:43,640
about the best fighting games from that era. You hear

607
00:32:43,759 --> 00:32:46,400
your Street Fighter, hear your Mortal Kombats, you hear like

608
00:32:46,519 --> 00:32:48,680
Dragon Ball Fighters, and then Killer Instinct maye because it

609
00:32:48,720 --> 00:32:51,920
was so early, it tends to get buried a little bit.

610
00:32:52,319 --> 00:32:56,119
Speaker 3: It was platform I will I will pretty much tell

611
00:32:56,240 --> 00:32:59,559
you with a lot of certainty that the reason why

612
00:32:59,720 --> 00:33:02,799
it didn't get like celebrated as much in the community.

613
00:33:03,160 --> 00:33:06,680
Certainly had a fervent following, a really competitive player base

614
00:33:06,720 --> 00:33:09,039
that would show up, that would put on great tournaments

615
00:33:09,039 --> 00:33:12,119
that had great action. They were consistently fun to watch.

616
00:33:12,440 --> 00:33:16,400
But I do think being on Xbox for so long

617
00:33:16,759 --> 00:33:19,200
was a thing. It was at a time when a

618
00:33:19,240 --> 00:33:22,119
lot of PlayStation or a lot of fighting game fans

619
00:33:22,160 --> 00:33:26,559
were playing things on PlayStation specifically most games. PlayStation was

620
00:33:26,559 --> 00:33:29,519
the default, and that has started to shift in the

621
00:33:29,519 --> 00:33:33,119
past few years, but I think that did ultimately effect

622
00:33:33,559 --> 00:33:37,599
it maybe not reaching the widest coverage that it could

623
00:33:37,640 --> 00:33:42,920
have because fighting game fans kind of just they especially

624
00:33:42,960 --> 00:33:45,319
if you're a diehard, you buy the console to play

625
00:33:45,359 --> 00:33:48,960
where the players are, and that is what you do ultimately,

626
00:33:49,759 --> 00:33:52,640
And for a while that was I think the three

627
00:33:52,799 --> 00:33:56,240
sixty was pretty popular for the for Street Feighter four

628
00:33:56,279 --> 00:33:59,720
if I remember correctly, But then with the new generation,

629
00:33:59,759 --> 00:34:02,079
it was all PlayStation from then on.

630
00:34:02,240 --> 00:34:04,440
Speaker 2: So yeah, and it did helped that the Xbox One

631
00:34:04,559 --> 00:34:08,159
just as a whole, did not launch in the rate

632
00:34:08,199 --> 00:34:11,000
of state. Yeah, Like people were not enthused about that console,

633
00:34:11,039 --> 00:34:14,320
regardless of what killers think specifically.

634
00:34:13,840 --> 00:34:17,840
Speaker 3: And Street five was like a PlayStation exclusive for a while.

635
00:34:17,840 --> 00:34:20,239
If I like a PlayStation console, it was I think

636
00:34:20,239 --> 00:34:21,920
it's I think it always was. I don't think it

637
00:34:21,960 --> 00:34:23,960
ever left that platform, they ever moved.

638
00:34:24,280 --> 00:34:29,440
Speaker 2: Yeah, but but yeah, So when Double Helix was bought

639
00:34:29,440 --> 00:34:32,760
by Amazon, a few of the key members eventually found

640
00:34:32,800 --> 00:34:36,639
a way to quarter up, which was a Skybounds Like

641
00:34:36,719 --> 00:34:39,760
once they formed Skybyline Games, they formed a first in

642
00:34:39,880 --> 00:34:42,440
house studio because before they were just a publisher. They

643
00:34:42,440 --> 00:34:45,519
published a lot of some pretty good games like Before

644
00:34:45,519 --> 00:34:47,360
Your Eyes, which is one of my favorites. They published

645
00:34:47,360 --> 00:34:51,159
that again, they published Escape Academy, most recently A Good

646
00:34:51,239 --> 00:34:55,760
Night Universe last year. But then they decided, for like

647
00:34:55,920 --> 00:34:58,000
their if they want to do license games for their

648
00:34:58,039 --> 00:35:01,119
two babies, walking Down an Invincible, they wanted to bring

649
00:35:01,119 --> 00:35:04,159
that in house. Because something I thought was interesting I

650
00:35:04,159 --> 00:35:08,159
didn't expect them to talk about, was they were they

651
00:35:08,159 --> 00:35:12,920
felt kind of burned when Telltale shut down suddenly, because

652
00:35:12,960 --> 00:35:15,440
you know, they that studio was like just churning out

653
00:35:15,440 --> 00:35:18,239
these money making Walking Dead games. But then when they

654
00:35:18,320 --> 00:35:20,880
shut down out of nowhere in twenty eighteen. One thing

655
00:35:20,920 --> 00:35:22,840
that I think people forget was that that happened in

656
00:35:22,880 --> 00:35:26,679
the middle of them making the Walking Dead the final season. Yeah,

657
00:35:26,679 --> 00:35:29,559
and it threw that entire game into like disarray of

658
00:35:29,760 --> 00:35:31,360
because I think they had put out maybe one or

659
00:35:31,440 --> 00:35:34,639
two episodes before everything fell apart, So it's like, is

660
00:35:34,639 --> 00:35:39,440
this game gonna be finished? And that kind of sort

661
00:35:39,480 --> 00:35:42,639
of like scared them into being like, you know what,

662
00:35:43,440 --> 00:35:46,880
maybe for our stuff, we need to keep this kind

663
00:35:46,920 --> 00:35:51,599
of close to home. So sort of when the idea

664
00:35:51,599 --> 00:35:54,039
of doing anything when Invincible came up, they were like, well,

665
00:35:54,519 --> 00:35:55,880
we don't want to just we know, we want to

666
00:35:55,880 --> 00:35:57,519
make a fighting game. We don't want to just give

667
00:35:57,519 --> 00:35:59,639
this to any studio or just set up any studio.

668
00:35:59,639 --> 00:36:02,719
We want actual fighting game experts to make this. So

669
00:36:02,760 --> 00:36:05,880
they formed Quarter Up. They brought in several of the

670
00:36:05,960 --> 00:36:08,360
leagues that were at Double Helix, who turns out they

671
00:36:08,400 --> 00:36:10,280
wanted to make this game too, because a lot of

672
00:36:10,360 --> 00:36:13,920
them are Invincible fans just in general. So it's kind

673
00:36:13,920 --> 00:36:16,679
of just this perfect marriage. And so they've been working

674
00:36:16,760 --> 00:36:19,119
on this since. I think they said twenty twenty three

675
00:36:19,199 --> 00:36:23,280
was when they really started production on this game. And

676
00:36:23,480 --> 00:36:26,079
the kind of the pitch is, you know, three v

677
00:36:26,239 --> 00:36:28,960
three Tag Fighter, very much in the vein of Marvel

678
00:36:29,039 --> 00:36:33,119
versus Capcom or like name it Arc System tag Fighter,

679
00:36:33,719 --> 00:36:37,239
whether it's Dragon Ball Fighters or whatnot, with the Invincible license.

680
00:36:37,400 --> 00:36:39,719
And while we were over there, Eric and I got

681
00:36:39,719 --> 00:36:41,400
the fly out to sky Bound. We got to play

682
00:36:41,559 --> 00:36:44,880
probably like a combined ninety minutes of the game, and

683
00:36:44,920 --> 00:36:46,480
I think Eric and I, you know, you and I

684
00:36:46,480 --> 00:36:49,880
are both we both enjoy fighting games quite a bit,

685
00:36:50,480 --> 00:36:54,159
and I think we were both impressed with how much

686
00:36:54,199 --> 00:36:56,559
fun this game is. And again, on one hand, it

687
00:36:56,559 --> 00:36:59,480
shouldn't be that surprising because of the expertise involved. But

688
00:36:59,559 --> 00:37:02,239
I think all so, I don't know, maybe sometimes they're

689
00:37:02,239 --> 00:37:05,559
still at lingering. When you take a license game and

690
00:37:05,639 --> 00:37:08,800
apply it something you're just wonder like, is can is

691
00:37:08,800 --> 00:37:10,639
this gonna be as good as if it was an

692
00:37:10,639 --> 00:37:13,159
original project? And but I will say it's like, again,

693
00:37:13,199 --> 00:37:14,960
it's a fighting game fan, and as someone that I

694
00:37:15,519 --> 00:37:17,920
really love Invincible, like I'm excited for season four to

695
00:37:17,960 --> 00:37:22,440
start next week, this is like hitting all of the

696
00:37:22,519 --> 00:37:26,639
right notes, like the faithfulness that a source material is there,

697
00:37:26,840 --> 00:37:29,119
like in terms of just how the characters portrayed, the

698
00:37:29,199 --> 00:37:33,559
dialogue between them, and also just how referential the move

699
00:37:33,639 --> 00:37:36,239
sets are, like they were. We were talking to the

700
00:37:36,239 --> 00:37:39,599
combat designer and he talked about how pretty much ninety

701
00:37:39,639 --> 00:37:42,760
percent of everyone's moves is some reference to either of

702
00:37:42,800 --> 00:37:45,159
the comics or the show. So if you are a

703
00:37:45,159 --> 00:37:47,559
fan of either of these, you will see things and go, oh,

704
00:37:47,599 --> 00:37:50,400
I remember when that happened, and some of it's like

705
00:37:50,440 --> 00:37:53,039
it's like something that happened once and like a panel

706
00:37:53,119 --> 00:37:55,480
of a comic or like a scene in the show,

707
00:37:55,840 --> 00:37:57,639
and it'll be there. So it's like if you're just

708
00:37:57,679 --> 00:38:00,360
like an eagle eye view or you're just like it's

709
00:38:00,400 --> 00:38:02,760
like a constant broach, which is really cool Easter Rags,

710
00:38:04,119 --> 00:38:07,800
but also just the in terms of the gameplay, like

711
00:38:07,920 --> 00:38:11,920
it feels great to play, like you know, I'll pass

712
00:38:11,960 --> 00:38:14,199
to you for this. But like even one of the

713
00:38:14,239 --> 00:38:16,320
things that impressed I think both of us was just

714
00:38:16,760 --> 00:38:18,719
how easy it is to just pick up and play

715
00:38:19,039 --> 00:38:22,360
in general. Like there's a lot going on, but they've

716
00:38:22,400 --> 00:38:25,199
managed to kind of boil down a lot of seemingly

717
00:38:25,360 --> 00:38:28,320
advanced mechanics into some like really simple inputs.

718
00:38:29,119 --> 00:38:31,960
Speaker 3: It's it's been a rising trend in fighting games, I

719
00:38:32,000 --> 00:38:35,679
think because the damn kind of finally broke. I mean,

720
00:38:35,840 --> 00:38:38,599
for years there had been the Persona four arena had

721
00:38:38,639 --> 00:38:41,360
auto combos and things like that, and people would freak

722
00:38:41,400 --> 00:38:44,480
out and be like, oh my gosh, we're simplifying fighting

723
00:38:44,519 --> 00:38:46,800
games too much. It's it's we're going to lose the

724
00:38:46,840 --> 00:38:51,320
magic and it yeah, yeah, it turns out that you

725
00:38:51,360 --> 00:38:54,239
don't need to freak out. Sure, like a player can

726
00:38:54,280 --> 00:38:57,559
make the Evo top a playing modern controls on Chunlee,

727
00:38:57,800 --> 00:39:01,079
but like ultimately that has not changed strategy of the game,

728
00:39:01,239 --> 00:39:04,079
and a lot of people playing modern controls. Scott Washington

729
00:39:04,119 --> 00:39:09,639
Pools that year, so it's fine, and I think when

730
00:39:09,639 --> 00:39:13,199
it comes to Invincible Versus it definitely has that sort

731
00:39:13,199 --> 00:39:17,199
of universal approach to the language of the fighting of

732
00:39:17,719 --> 00:39:21,960
We have universal launchers, so if an input does something

733
00:39:21,960 --> 00:39:24,880
on one character, it will do it on all those characters.

734
00:39:24,920 --> 00:39:26,480
So if you want to launch somebody in the air,

735
00:39:26,559 --> 00:39:30,400
it's down heavy and that, and then you hold heavy

736
00:39:30,519 --> 00:39:32,679
to follow into the air, and then you can do

737
00:39:32,719 --> 00:39:34,400
an auto combo in the air if you want, or

738
00:39:34,480 --> 00:39:36,159
you can do your own combo and you can try

739
00:39:36,159 --> 00:39:38,880
to link that together. Obviously, you might drop it if

740
00:39:38,920 --> 00:39:41,119
you do it that way, but you could potentially get

741
00:39:41,119 --> 00:39:44,440
more damage if you find interesting links and things like that.

742
00:39:46,280 --> 00:39:50,320
I think in that way, taking inspiration from Marvel Versus

743
00:39:50,320 --> 00:39:52,559
Capcom was maybe one of the smarter things they could

744
00:39:52,559 --> 00:39:56,480
have done, because when I think about fighting games as

745
00:39:56,480 --> 00:40:01,559
a whole, games like Teken or Street Fighter are very tense.

746
00:40:01,599 --> 00:40:04,320
They're very one on one. It's one combatant and you're

747
00:40:04,320 --> 00:40:07,719
playing this very tense back and forth. But Marvel Versus

748
00:40:07,719 --> 00:40:10,280
Capcom has always been the hype machine. It's been the

749
00:40:10,320 --> 00:40:13,960
thing that is there's so much stuff on the screen,

750
00:40:14,079 --> 00:40:17,320
and there's crazy moves and really long combos. It's where

751
00:40:17,360 --> 00:40:20,199
you get lightning loops. It's where you get storm putting

752
00:40:20,239 --> 00:40:23,760
constant barrages on the field. It's where you get sentinel,

753
00:40:23,920 --> 00:40:29,480
just like oppressive offense or Magneto doing crazy stuff doom

754
00:40:29,599 --> 00:40:33,760
dive kicks, like Marvel is the heype machine in the

755
00:40:33,760 --> 00:40:37,760
fighting game scene, and I think a lot of obviously

756
00:40:38,079 --> 00:40:40,199
the people at a quarter up play fighting games, and

757
00:40:40,239 --> 00:40:42,559
they watch fighting games, and they a lot of them

758
00:40:42,840 --> 00:40:47,159
were citing like Marvel is hype. This style of game,

759
00:40:47,239 --> 00:40:50,840
the three on three tag fighter, allows you to make

760
00:40:50,920 --> 00:40:55,519
characters more disposable and more powerful. So now you get

761
00:40:55,559 --> 00:40:59,199
to have these moments of it's okay if one character

762
00:40:59,320 --> 00:41:02,280
can get blown up because you have two more in reserve.

763
00:41:02,360 --> 00:41:04,199
So you didn't like just end the round in an

764
00:41:04,280 --> 00:41:08,239
unsatisfying way. And so the way that translates into invincible

765
00:41:08,360 --> 00:41:12,360
verses is that fits the tone of the show, where

766
00:41:12,920 --> 00:41:17,719
violence is rampant, it's sudden, it's aggressive. People like like

767
00:41:18,199 --> 00:41:21,320
I'll be playing as Cecil and then maybe Monster Girl

768
00:41:21,360 --> 00:41:24,519
tags in whax me around like Hulk did to Loki

769
00:41:24,599 --> 00:41:28,280
in that one Marvel movie, and then that's it. It's

770
00:41:28,320 --> 00:41:31,079
it's done, and and Cecil's toast and I got to

771
00:41:31,119 --> 00:41:33,960
bring in you know, Mark and and Adam and Adam

772
00:41:34,000 --> 00:41:37,480
Eve to to fight this out. Uh, And that's that's cool.

773
00:41:37,519 --> 00:41:39,360
It works, and that means that those characters can be

774
00:41:39,440 --> 00:41:42,840
really powerful to express that power and also express that

775
00:41:42,840 --> 00:41:47,920
that violence from the show. But there's like sprinklings of

776
00:41:47,920 --> 00:41:52,719
of killer instinct in there. There's a surprisingly complex, uh,

777
00:41:53,360 --> 00:41:57,039
give and take on the guard side with those sorts

778
00:41:57,079 --> 00:42:00,480
of like breakaway moments where you can try to hit

779
00:42:00,480 --> 00:42:02,880
somebody and then you can do like a not a perry,

780
00:42:02,960 --> 00:42:04,639
but it's like a power through it, kind of like

781
00:42:04,679 --> 00:42:08,639
a combo breaker, and you can also faint into those,

782
00:42:08,679 --> 00:42:10,920
so you can fake a combo breaker to bait an

783
00:42:11,039 --> 00:42:13,039
enemy out and then get them back with it. And

784
00:42:13,039 --> 00:42:15,800
there's there's a surprising amount, I think, especially for a

785
00:42:15,840 --> 00:42:19,159
tag fighter, of a focus on those very one on

786
00:42:19,159 --> 00:42:23,440
one mechanics that I think really does work and mixes

787
00:42:23,480 --> 00:42:26,679
in some really interesting flavor that you wouldn't get if

788
00:42:26,679 --> 00:42:28,800
this kind of just felt like they did Dragon Ball

789
00:42:28,840 --> 00:42:34,920
Fighters right. And overall, I walked away just thinking about

790
00:42:34,920 --> 00:42:38,679
that game constantly, like in my head, being like like

791
00:42:38,760 --> 00:42:41,079
there was some cecil stuff I wanted to try out.

792
00:42:41,159 --> 00:42:44,599
Still there was some Robot if you couldn't tell, Like

793
00:42:44,639 --> 00:42:50,440
my favorite characters were like Cecil Robot. I really like Bulletproof. Yeah, well,

794
00:42:52,639 --> 00:42:57,519
I mean Bulletproof. He had some like RecA stuff going

795
00:42:57,559 --> 00:42:59,800
on that was really fun. I want to get too

796
00:42:59,840 --> 00:43:02,280
deep into like fighting games, terminology and anything like that,

797
00:43:02,360 --> 00:43:06,360
but he had some cool kind of flow charty combat

798
00:43:06,519 --> 00:43:09,719
that made it seem like you could kind of condition

799
00:43:09,840 --> 00:43:12,800
your opponents to get used to one string of combos

800
00:43:12,840 --> 00:43:14,679
and then flip it on them when you think they

801
00:43:14,760 --> 00:43:18,519
figured out the flow chart. And I love stuff like

802
00:43:18,559 --> 00:43:21,599
that where you literally just played mind games with your opponent.

803
00:43:21,639 --> 00:43:23,559
They're used to like right right left, right, right left,

804
00:43:23,559 --> 00:43:25,800
and now you go right left, left and stuff like that,

805
00:43:25,880 --> 00:43:29,440
and it hits so good. So yeah, if if they

806
00:43:29,440 --> 00:43:32,000
have me on the plane home thinking about that, they've

807
00:43:32,039 --> 00:43:34,679
they've stumbled onto something, they figured something out.

808
00:43:35,800 --> 00:43:39,360
Speaker 2: I think the other thing too, is that the characters

809
00:43:39,360 --> 00:43:41,840
feel distinct from each other, but they also, you know,

810
00:43:41,840 --> 00:43:44,920
they feel true to what the characters are, and maybe

811
00:43:45,159 --> 00:43:48,360
in terms of just making them feel individual, I think

812
00:43:48,400 --> 00:43:49,880
I was most impressed with how they made all the

813
00:43:49,960 --> 00:43:54,639
Veiltmites feel. Yes, Nicole in Invincible the Veltmites are they're

814
00:43:54,639 --> 00:43:58,440
basically are they're basically Kryptonians if they ripped, Yeah, Like

815
00:43:58,440 --> 00:44:02,280
I imagine if all Kryptonians and see we're evil. So

816
00:44:02,320 --> 00:44:05,559
they all have just superman like abilities and are like

817
00:44:05,639 --> 00:44:08,559
the most powerful threat in the in the Invincible universe.

818
00:44:08,559 --> 00:44:12,079
So there's there's four of them represented in a game

819
00:44:12,079 --> 00:44:15,440
between Omni Man, Thula and Nissa and Luken and I

820
00:44:15,440 --> 00:44:19,360
guess technically Invincible himself. So it was like I was

821
00:44:19,360 --> 00:44:21,360
wondering how to make them all feel different because it's like, oh,

822
00:44:21,360 --> 00:44:23,199
in the show there, since they all have the same

823
00:44:23,400 --> 00:44:26,320
abilities of just they can fly and it can punch

824
00:44:26,400 --> 00:44:28,519
really hard, how do you make that this think? But

825
00:44:28,519 --> 00:44:30,119
they found a way to sort of like tap into

826
00:44:30,159 --> 00:44:32,840
like again going back looking at the source material and

827
00:44:32,840 --> 00:44:36,880
finding moments with those characters saying, Oh, Thula, what's cool

828
00:44:36,880 --> 00:44:39,039
about her is that she has a long braid with

829
00:44:39,159 --> 00:44:41,440
a blade at the end, and she uses that, she

830
00:44:41,519 --> 00:44:44,239
incorporates that into her fighting style. Let's just really lean

831
00:44:44,320 --> 00:44:46,440
on that. And she actually became one of my favorite

832
00:44:46,480 --> 00:44:48,960
characters because of just like she's like good zoning because

833
00:44:48,960 --> 00:44:51,239
she can use the blade to like kind of like

834
00:44:51,280 --> 00:44:54,599
a scorpion like throw it at you and gang people

835
00:44:54,639 --> 00:44:57,280
towards you. She can like slice you up really fast

836
00:44:57,320 --> 00:44:59,599
with it. Like there's some like really sick combo stuff

837
00:44:59,639 --> 00:45:01,119
you can do with that braid.

838
00:45:02,039 --> 00:45:04,960
Speaker 3: There was a lot of like visual language was reminding

839
00:45:04,960 --> 00:45:07,480
me both of like go tanks from Dragon Ball Fighters,

840
00:45:07,519 --> 00:45:11,559
but also Rashid from Street Fighter five, like the sort

841
00:45:11,559 --> 00:45:14,320
of whirlwind tornado hits and things like that. But then

842
00:45:14,320 --> 00:45:19,159
also yeah, throwing out the the dagger like like dagger

843
00:45:19,199 --> 00:45:22,239
of hair almost had like a little bit of Milia

844
00:45:22,360 --> 00:45:25,320
from Guilty Gear in there as well, Like there's there's

845
00:45:25,320 --> 00:45:28,280
some really cool just little bits where I don't think

846
00:45:28,320 --> 00:45:30,280
it was intentional to say like, hey, this is what

847
00:45:30,800 --> 00:45:32,559
you know, We're just going to take these characters and

848
00:45:32,599 --> 00:45:37,280
smash them all together. It was more like this, this

849
00:45:37,480 --> 00:45:42,440
style seems appropriate for this character, and we're going to

850
00:45:42,480 --> 00:45:46,559
really lean into some concepts that will make that character saying.

851
00:45:46,679 --> 00:45:48,559
I think my favorite one that they were telling us

852
00:45:48,559 --> 00:45:51,360
about was that Thulah has kind of a a dead

853
00:45:51,400 --> 00:45:54,599
angle attack where you can hit at just the right

854
00:45:54,639 --> 00:45:58,639
angle with the the air spike to really like do

855
00:45:58,760 --> 00:46:01,639
some damage and open up like long combo strings if

856
00:46:01,679 --> 00:46:04,480
you can get that right angle when you're throwing that

857
00:46:04,599 --> 00:46:08,280
hair spike out. Uh and and it makes for really

858
00:46:08,280 --> 00:46:11,599
interesting cast I think you we we talked a lot

859
00:46:11,639 --> 00:46:14,880
about the Viltremites and stuff, but even just some of

860
00:46:14,920 --> 00:46:18,000
the normal quote unquote characters like your your Marx and

861
00:46:18,039 --> 00:46:20,880
your Omni Man's and stuff like that do end up

862
00:46:20,920 --> 00:46:24,880
feeling widely different because of the way that they adapt

863
00:46:24,960 --> 00:46:29,760
those characters and specifically how they fight. Luken, he's the Zonggief, right,

864
00:46:30,000 --> 00:46:32,880
he was gonna say, he's pretty much very grappily He's

865
00:46:33,079 --> 00:46:36,119
he I wanted to make him work so bad because

866
00:46:36,119 --> 00:46:39,079
there's something so hype about a grappler in a fighting game,

867
00:46:39,280 --> 00:46:41,559
Like you watched. You watch somebody go off as like

868
00:46:41,719 --> 00:46:45,920
King or Zangief on somebody, and it's hard to even

869
00:46:45,960 --> 00:46:48,159
be mad. It feels bad to be the person getting

870
00:46:48,159 --> 00:46:51,079
destroyed by a zong Gief, but watching someone get destroyed

871
00:46:51,079 --> 00:46:57,039
by Zogie if you're like, do it again, do it again? Yeah,

872
00:46:57,519 --> 00:47:00,920
it's just Kylo Rinnon at one meme, I I understand

873
00:47:00,960 --> 00:47:03,760
wrestling fans in that moment truly. I'm like, I get

874
00:47:03,760 --> 00:47:04,920
it now, I get it.

875
00:47:05,639 --> 00:47:07,159
Speaker 2: Yeah, but yeah, it's.

876
00:47:07,159 --> 00:47:09,639
Speaker 1: Sorry real quick, Kylo Ren In that one meme, can

877
00:47:09,679 --> 00:47:10,719
we is this.

878
00:47:12,840 --> 00:47:13,000
Speaker 2: Is it?

879
00:47:13,360 --> 00:47:14,639
Speaker 3: The more are you talking about?

880
00:47:14,679 --> 00:47:17,760
Speaker 2: The more about the more? Which one were you? Are

881
00:47:17,800 --> 00:47:19,199
you thinking of him with out his shirt off?

882
00:47:21,880 --> 00:47:25,440
Speaker 3: Can you imagine Kylo Wren in those like high waisted shorts,

883
00:47:25,440 --> 00:47:27,039
but he's in like love and deep space.

884
00:47:27,159 --> 00:47:35,440
Speaker 2: That's what I'm talking about. Yeah, yeah, actually yeah, yeah

885
00:47:35,559 --> 00:47:39,840
he should be Yeah, make it happen.

886
00:47:41,559 --> 00:47:42,599
Speaker 3: Yeah, I need to continue.

887
00:47:43,280 --> 00:47:56,960
Speaker 2: I mean ignites his lightsaber? Is he talking with the

888
00:47:57,039 --> 00:48:01,280
mask anyway? But yeah, yeah, I mean kind of like

889
00:48:01,800 --> 00:48:04,280
it's it's the significant fighting game is like it's as

890
00:48:04,360 --> 00:48:06,400
much fun to play as it is to watch. And

891
00:48:06,440 --> 00:48:08,360
I think this game has a great balance because like

892
00:48:08,440 --> 00:48:11,119
every match because of the number of defensive systems that

893
00:48:11,199 --> 00:48:13,320
you have, the number like the tagging in and out,

894
00:48:14,079 --> 00:48:15,559
and there's so many ways that you can turn the

895
00:48:15,639 --> 00:48:18,320
tide of battle where it just feels like a ping

896
00:48:18,400 --> 00:48:21,280
pong match constantly, like you're seeing like, okay, the tide

897
00:48:21,280 --> 00:48:24,199
shifting this way, now dependent's shifting the other way. Who's

898
00:48:24,239 --> 00:48:25,880
going to get the upper hand, who's going to maintain

899
00:48:25,880 --> 00:48:28,559
the momentum the most? And even with Eric and I

900
00:48:28,679 --> 00:48:30,280
when we were like, you know, we're learning the game

901
00:48:30,320 --> 00:48:32,960
on the spot, so we're far from like high level players.

902
00:48:32,960 --> 00:48:34,960
But I feel like most of our bouts it was

903
00:48:34,960 --> 00:48:37,000
like pretty back and forth, even though Eric beat me

904
00:48:37,159 --> 00:48:40,880
most of them ultimately in the end, but like it

905
00:48:41,000 --> 00:48:43,400
was like a lot of times he had to earn

906
00:48:43,440 --> 00:48:45,039
it a little bit, and there was other times where

907
00:48:45,039 --> 00:48:48,639
he absolutely annihilated me. But you know, who can say,

908
00:48:48,679 --> 00:48:50,840
you know, I'm learning the game. I'm too busy trying

909
00:48:50,840 --> 00:48:52,679
to figure out the systems and stuff. You know, I'm

910
00:48:52,719 --> 00:48:53,599
taking notes and whatever.

911
00:48:53,679 --> 00:48:55,239
Speaker 3: Mental I did show up with a bit of chip

912
00:48:55,239 --> 00:48:56,880
on my shoulder where I was like, this is my

913
00:48:57,000 --> 00:49:00,320
first time covering a fighting game for GI, So I

914
00:49:00,320 --> 00:49:03,159
felt like I had to kind of like establish myself,

915
00:49:03,199 --> 00:49:07,800
like I know what I'm doing. Dominant, yeah, yeah, not

916
00:49:07,880 --> 00:49:12,360
dominant so well, because also this is maybe like inside baseball,

917
00:49:12,400 --> 00:49:14,119
but it's like you kind of show up and you

918
00:49:14,159 --> 00:49:16,840
want to show people that, like I speak the fighting

919
00:49:16,880 --> 00:49:20,360
game language, like let's let's talk about some some frame data,

920
00:49:20,440 --> 00:49:22,840
let's talk about like some some deeper stuff here. And

921
00:49:23,519 --> 00:49:25,639
it does kind of like ease in a little bit.

922
00:49:25,760 --> 00:49:29,320
But also to that point, yeah, there's a lot of

923
00:49:29,320 --> 00:49:32,119
deep stuff to explore this game. There's there's been like

924
00:49:32,199 --> 00:49:34,920
open betas and stuff like that. That that I think

925
00:49:35,039 --> 00:49:37,840
already finding game players have been digging through it. I

926
00:49:37,840 --> 00:49:41,760
think the only reservation I had was when they were

927
00:49:42,039 --> 00:49:44,360
first describing this game teaching us how to play it.

928
00:49:44,400 --> 00:49:46,679
I was like, this is a lot of systems. There's

929
00:49:46,719 --> 00:49:48,639
a lot of things to keep track of, because already

930
00:49:48,679 --> 00:49:51,960
a tag fighter is on the more complex side of

931
00:49:52,000 --> 00:49:54,320
a fighting game, because you have three characters to think about.

932
00:49:54,320 --> 00:49:56,679
You have assists, you have tag tag in and tag out,

933
00:49:56,679 --> 00:49:58,960
you have snap back things like that, where you're kind

934
00:49:59,000 --> 00:50:03,800
of playing these games of who you have out and

935
00:50:03,880 --> 00:50:06,119
who you want out on the opponent side, who you

936
00:50:06,119 --> 00:50:07,920
want to be fighting, what the matchup is, and how

937
00:50:07,920 --> 00:50:11,480
you can push that in your favor, and adding in

938
00:50:11,519 --> 00:50:15,000
a lot of kind of guard breaking, combo breaking type

939
00:50:15,039 --> 00:50:18,039
stuff where you're playing these sorts of intense foot see

940
00:50:18,039 --> 00:50:22,960
games can get a little complex and can overwhelm a

941
00:50:23,000 --> 00:50:26,199
player at first blush And I think for maybe the

942
00:50:26,239 --> 00:50:28,079
first I was looking back at our B role and

943
00:50:28,159 --> 00:50:30,199
I was, you could tell in the first few matches

944
00:50:30,719 --> 00:50:33,239
we're trying to find our footing. And I remember they

945
00:50:33,519 --> 00:50:36,480
told us a few things like, hey, this is kind

946
00:50:36,519 --> 00:50:39,559
of like like this is the main way to do

947
00:50:39,639 --> 00:50:42,719
like a launcher combo. This is like the main way

948
00:50:42,760 --> 00:50:45,000
of like, oh you can do this, and this is

949
00:50:45,079 --> 00:50:47,400
kind of like how you see this, And then they

950
00:50:47,400 --> 00:50:49,360
told us about the feints and things like that where

951
00:50:49,360 --> 00:50:52,280
we could start incorporating kind of switch ups in what

952
00:50:52,320 --> 00:50:55,280
we were doing. And it hit a point where I

953
00:50:55,440 --> 00:50:57,840
felt like I could see everything, like like I was

954
00:50:58,239 --> 00:51:03,239
neo watching the matrix. I was like, I get it now,

955
00:51:03,480 --> 00:51:06,039
and suddenly like it shifts and I was like, okay,

956
00:51:06,079 --> 00:51:08,280
now I'm in geared. Now I'm going and suddenly the

957
00:51:08,320 --> 00:51:10,480
action just starts to take over. And I think that

958
00:51:10,599 --> 00:51:13,480
might be the case here where it seemed a little

959
00:51:13,480 --> 00:51:16,679
intimidating at first, but honestly it flows really well for

960
00:51:16,719 --> 00:51:18,840
anybody who just wants to like pick up the sticks

961
00:51:18,960 --> 00:51:20,840
and match some buttons.

962
00:51:21,519 --> 00:51:23,880
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's fun. And you know, there's other modes in

963
00:51:23,880 --> 00:51:26,599
there that we touched on the cover story. Mainly, the

964
00:51:26,639 --> 00:51:29,079
big one was the story mode that they're still being

965
00:51:29,199 --> 00:51:31,840
very cagey about, but there is like a story like

966
00:51:31,880 --> 00:51:34,639
a cinematic story mode. We actually have a written feature

967
00:51:34,719 --> 00:51:37,039
all about it on the website and a video feature

968
00:51:37,079 --> 00:51:37,519
that will.

969
00:51:37,519 --> 00:51:40,719
Speaker 3: Dat by the time it will be live by this point.

970
00:51:41,239 --> 00:51:43,079
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, we're kind of trying to pick their brains

971
00:51:43,119 --> 00:51:45,639
about it, but it's like kind of what we gleaned

972
00:51:45,719 --> 00:51:47,840
was like, okay, it's like a shorter story mode. They

973
00:51:47,920 --> 00:51:50,760
described it as very much like playing an episode of

974
00:51:50,760 --> 00:51:52,599
the show, and it takes roughly the same amount of

975
00:51:52,639 --> 00:51:56,679
time to get through. It's like an hour ishull no

976
00:51:56,960 --> 00:52:00,000
real idea of what the plot is. Unfortunately, we didn't

977
00:52:00,079 --> 00:52:01,960
get to see the story mode, so he was just

978
00:52:02,039 --> 00:52:05,559
kind of like grilling Mike Rogers, the narrative director. He

979
00:52:05,679 --> 00:52:07,679
was very good at sort of like keeping a lot

980
00:52:07,679 --> 00:52:08,840
of things close to the vest.

981
00:52:10,079 --> 00:52:14,239
Speaker 3: There were some hints specifically, like he did gesture towards

982
00:52:14,239 --> 00:52:17,760
that there's a window in time. Obviously, if you've seen

983
00:52:17,800 --> 00:52:20,800
the show, certain events happen, certain characters and the state

984
00:52:20,880 --> 00:52:23,079
they are in and things like that, you will kind

985
00:52:23,119 --> 00:52:24,920
of see them in the cast of this game the

986
00:52:24,960 --> 00:52:27,360
way they are presented in this game, and you'll be like, oh, okay,

987
00:52:27,400 --> 00:52:30,280
so this is kind of like a rough window of

988
00:52:30,320 --> 00:52:34,519
where this probably falls, and and that that is kind

989
00:52:34,519 --> 00:52:36,800
of they they said they found like their window to

990
00:52:37,079 --> 00:52:39,599
kind of put the story in there and do this

991
00:52:39,679 --> 00:52:42,800
and still kind of get away with not worrying too

992
00:52:42,880 --> 00:52:47,679
much about canonicity and things like that. I would mostly

993
00:52:47,679 --> 00:52:50,280
say that this you know, they're they're big driver was

994
00:52:50,320 --> 00:52:52,960
they wanted it to feel like an episode of the show, right,

995
00:52:53,159 --> 00:52:55,840
and so that's that's kind of the takeaway. I don't

996
00:52:55,880 --> 00:52:58,960
know how that ends up incorporating so many different characters,

997
00:52:59,159 --> 00:53:01,079
especially on the viilt mind side, but I am like

998
00:53:01,239 --> 00:53:02,599
really curious about it now.

999
00:53:03,719 --> 00:53:06,679
Speaker 2: Yeah, and it was also exciting to me at least

1000
00:53:06,679 --> 00:53:11,039
maybe specifically is that so Skybound Animation, the studio that

1001
00:53:11,199 --> 00:53:15,119
actually makes the show, helped work on the game, specifically

1002
00:53:15,159 --> 00:53:18,639
in the cinematics department, kind of going back to how

1003
00:53:18,840 --> 00:53:23,320
in house this game is, and they were talking about how,

1004
00:53:23,480 --> 00:53:26,159
you know, why they went with the art direction because

1005
00:53:26,159 --> 00:53:27,960
if you've seen the cinematics and needing the trailers, it's

1006
00:53:27,960 --> 00:53:30,079
got that kind of Spider Verse style kind of like

1007
00:53:30,079 --> 00:53:32,400
almost stop motion sort of look, which is not how

1008
00:53:32,400 --> 00:53:34,480
the show looks at all, but it's kind of like

1009
00:53:34,880 --> 00:53:38,199
a stylistic choice for this game, for the story. But

1010
00:53:38,239 --> 00:53:41,519
then they mentioned how they got for the director of

1011
00:53:41,559 --> 00:53:44,960
the scenes. They got a South Korean animator slash director

1012
00:53:45,039 --> 00:53:48,880
named So I'm gonna if I mispronounce as I apologize,

1013
00:53:49,039 --> 00:53:53,280
It's like sung On Kim, who is like really well

1014
00:53:53,320 --> 00:53:56,159
known in a lot of like animation circles, because when

1015
00:53:56,199 --> 00:53:58,400
I was looking up his credits, I was like, oh

1016
00:53:58,480 --> 00:54:01,239
my god, he's like the animation director for all the

1017
00:54:01,760 --> 00:54:03,760
animated shows that I like, Like, he was the guy

1018
00:54:04,159 --> 00:54:08,639
that directed Jackie Chan Adventures and uh, the Batman if

1019
00:54:08,679 --> 00:54:10,440
anyone remembers like that two thousand.

1020
00:54:11,199 --> 00:54:13,679
Speaker 1: That was that was? That was my Batman show.

1021
00:54:14,239 --> 00:54:18,280
Speaker 3: Yeah, that shows, yeah, which won awards for in that

1022
00:54:18,559 --> 00:54:21,920
And the one that specifically got me was he's directed

1023
00:54:21,920 --> 00:54:25,960
several episodes of The Boone Docks, a lot of ones

1024
00:54:26,360 --> 00:54:29,480
that have like really good fight scenes in them, and

1025
00:54:29,559 --> 00:54:32,280
so yeah, I was immediately like, oh.

1026
00:54:32,840 --> 00:54:36,159
Speaker 2: Same, he did like twenty seven episodes of The Boone Docks.

1027
00:54:36,159 --> 00:54:38,079
So he was like, he's pretty much one of the

1028
00:54:38,119 --> 00:54:43,000
main guys you can said responsible for like director more show.

1029
00:54:42,599 --> 00:54:46,400
Speaker 1: More recent stuff. You opened with Jackie chan Adventures, and

1030
00:54:46,480 --> 00:54:49,079
I didn't know if there's something that like within the

1031
00:54:49,159 --> 00:54:52,000
last five ten years.

1032
00:54:51,960 --> 00:54:56,760
Speaker 2: Nothing that I recognized, okay from yeah, but those are

1033
00:54:56,840 --> 00:54:59,840
definitely yeah for my the things that I liked. I

1034
00:54:59,880 --> 00:55:02,199
was like, oh, I'm a big fan of all these shows.

1035
00:55:02,559 --> 00:55:04,760
That's pretty cool because I remember when we were talking

1036
00:55:04,760 --> 00:55:07,079
to Margine as, the head of the Skyline Animation. She

1037
00:55:07,079 --> 00:55:09,480
she didn't get it into what he did, but she

1038
00:55:09,599 --> 00:55:11,840
was very much like if you're into no in terms

1039
00:55:11,880 --> 00:55:14,280
of like if you follow animation, you know this guy,

1040
00:55:14,360 --> 00:55:17,880
he's a pretty big deal, and you're like, okay, so

1041
00:55:17,960 --> 00:55:19,760
excited to see kind of how that translates to something.

1042
00:55:19,840 --> 00:55:21,639
If you watch some of the trailers that they've put

1043
00:55:21,639 --> 00:55:23,559
out for like either the character reveals or even the

1044
00:55:23,599 --> 00:55:26,280
initial reveal trailer, you do see some scenes from the

1045
00:55:26,320 --> 00:55:28,199
story and get a sense of some of the fight scenes.

1046
00:55:28,239 --> 00:55:30,320
So it's like, Okay, it seems like it's gonna be

1047
00:55:30,559 --> 00:55:35,039
like fun to watch, but yeah, it was a good trip.

1048
00:55:35,199 --> 00:55:37,039
Like you know, if you check out the full cover

1049
00:55:37,119 --> 00:55:40,039
story in the magazine, we talk about you know, we

1050
00:55:40,079 --> 00:55:42,400
go into greater depth about the fighting systems, about the

1051
00:55:42,440 --> 00:55:45,679
game's development history, quarter ups sort of like hopes and

1052
00:55:45,760 --> 00:55:50,119
dreams for the competitive scene like EVO, and even talk

1053
00:55:50,199 --> 00:55:54,000
about Omni Man's appearance in Mortal Kombat one and how

1054
00:55:54,039 --> 00:55:56,920
that kind of helped like what Nether Realm did for

1055
00:55:57,360 --> 00:56:00,199
that character, because that's technically that characters first time in

1056
00:56:00,239 --> 00:56:02,320
a fighting game, so how they kind of like looked

1057
00:56:02,320 --> 00:56:03,880
at what a nether Realm did for him and how

1058
00:56:03,920 --> 00:56:07,360
to help inform how they approached Omniman in their game.

1059
00:56:07,639 --> 00:56:10,800
I thought was a fun little anecdote. But yeah, we

1060
00:56:10,840 --> 00:56:13,719
mentioned the issue is not The issue is live now

1061
00:56:13,840 --> 00:56:17,440
for digital subscribers. The print version will be coming into

1062
00:56:17,480 --> 00:56:18,719
mail at the end of the month as well as

1063
00:56:18,760 --> 00:56:21,199
hitting newsstands. If you've seen the magazine, we did a

1064
00:56:21,199 --> 00:56:23,559
really cool I don't think we've ever done this specifically

1065
00:56:23,599 --> 00:56:26,320
for a Game Informer, Like we've had alternate covers before,

1066
00:56:26,639 --> 00:56:29,159
but I don't think we've ever had dual art on

1067
00:56:29,199 --> 00:56:31,719
a cover. So if you see here, depending on which

1068
00:56:31,800 --> 00:56:35,079
version you get. So we're holding up the subscriber version,

1069
00:56:35,159 --> 00:56:36,599
so if you're a subscriber, this is the one you

1070
00:56:36,599 --> 00:56:40,599
get in the mail, where the front cover is illustrated

1071
00:56:40,639 --> 00:56:43,760
by Corey Walker, who is the co creator of Invincible

1072
00:56:43,800 --> 00:56:46,960
and sort of the artist that designed all the characters,

1073
00:56:47,039 --> 00:56:50,639
so he created this original piece for the cover, and

1074
00:56:50,679 --> 00:56:53,639
then on the backside is the same image, but it's

1075
00:56:53,679 --> 00:56:56,480
rendered in the quarter up style, So this was designed

1076
00:56:56,480 --> 00:57:00,599
by Quarterups art director Dan Er, so it's a little

1077
00:57:00,639 --> 00:57:03,239
closer to the endgame style. But if you go to

1078
00:57:03,559 --> 00:57:08,280
stores and buy the new stand version. Be the order

1079
00:57:08,320 --> 00:57:12,159
is flipped, so the quarter up version is front. Corey

1080
00:57:12,199 --> 00:57:13,800
Walkers is on the back, and.

1081
00:57:14,039 --> 00:57:16,880
Speaker 3: The front will have kind of your more magazine styling

1082
00:57:17,039 --> 00:57:19,239
on it, if I remember correctly, it'll have some of

1083
00:57:19,320 --> 00:57:21,760
like the here's what's in this issue, and it'll look

1084
00:57:21,840 --> 00:57:24,039
kind of what you expect like a traditional game informer

1085
00:57:24,119 --> 00:57:26,320
to look like where's the subscriber? One is like a

1086
00:57:26,360 --> 00:57:28,320
showcase piece, which is pretty cool.

1087
00:57:29,079 --> 00:57:32,000
Speaker 2: Yeah, I definitely want to buy both of them because

1088
00:57:32,480 --> 00:57:34,719
they're both cool. But yeah, if you want to, and

1089
00:57:34,760 --> 00:57:36,400
we we would love it if you did too. If

1090
00:57:36,400 --> 00:57:39,440
you just if you subscribe the game and then also

1091
00:57:39,519 --> 00:57:41,519
went out to your bookstore and bought the other one,

1092
00:57:41,519 --> 00:57:42,280
that would be a great way.

1093
00:57:42,400 --> 00:57:44,440
Speaker 3: If you want to just go to your bookstore and

1094
00:57:44,480 --> 00:57:51,079
start buying game informers, we would love that. The sick Yeah,

1095
00:57:51,119 --> 00:57:53,400
the coolest person in your friend we need.

1096
00:57:53,599 --> 00:57:56,519
Speaker 1: We've seed a few whales that'll just go out the

1097
00:57:56,519 --> 00:58:01,360
Barns and nobles and just hoard them. Nicole, I was

1098
00:58:01,360 --> 00:58:03,800
going to ask of the two covers of the rendered

1099
00:58:04,199 --> 00:58:06,519
game style and the comic style, which which of the

1100
00:58:06,559 --> 00:58:07,320
two do you prefer?

1101
00:58:08,320 --> 00:58:14,400
Speaker 4: Well, comics, I think I like the stylized, like the

1102
00:58:14,800 --> 00:58:15,800
comic book style.

1103
00:58:16,320 --> 00:58:18,000
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, I like.

1104
00:58:18,159 --> 00:58:21,000
Speaker 4: I think they're both very lovely, and I do love

1105
00:58:21,440 --> 00:58:27,119
that you have both, that they're the exact same image essentially. Yeah,

1106
00:58:27,639 --> 00:58:29,800
I like the comic style. I like like really stylized

1107
00:58:29,840 --> 00:58:30,960
sort of sort of art.

1108
00:58:31,320 --> 00:58:33,639
Speaker 3: I think I do. Like A fun note for those

1109
00:58:33,639 --> 00:58:35,119
of you at home is if you look on the

1110
00:58:35,159 --> 00:58:38,719
on the front, it's obviously very stylized. I love just

1111
00:58:38,800 --> 00:58:40,840
something about this. This look always looks good. But if

1112
00:58:40,840 --> 00:58:43,320
you flip around, Elemental in the back actually has a

1113
00:58:43,360 --> 00:58:45,880
lot more like elements and like action going on around

1114
00:58:45,880 --> 00:58:47,519
her and stuff like that, and it looks pretty sick.

1115
00:58:47,639 --> 00:58:50,440
Speaker 1: So and I believe on the the news stand version,

1116
00:58:50,480 --> 00:58:55,119
the Elementals fire is overlapping on the Game and Former logo.

1117
00:58:55,320 --> 00:58:56,119
It's like a little bit of it.

1118
00:58:56,639 --> 00:58:58,320
Speaker 3: Tell we had a lot of fun with the design

1119
00:58:58,360 --> 00:58:59,679
of this one.

1120
00:59:00,159 --> 00:59:02,320
Speaker 2: In the subscriber verse. I know Kyle Hilliard was a

1121
00:59:02,320 --> 00:59:05,400
big fan of this. Omni Man's cape is over the

1122
00:59:05,440 --> 00:59:09,519
Game in Former logo, which where yeah, sort of like

1123
00:59:09,559 --> 00:59:12,599
an insight baseball thing. Whenever we look at cover art

1124
00:59:12,679 --> 00:59:15,960
for for issues, like we're usually trying not to keep

1125
00:59:16,000 --> 00:59:19,360
the logo obscure. But there are times where artistically there's

1126
00:59:19,400 --> 00:59:21,960
some like cool thing, like when we when people either

1127
00:59:22,000 --> 00:59:25,079
have ideas for how to touch the logo or cover

1128
00:59:25,159 --> 00:59:27,719
it up in some way. We do tend to like that,

1129
00:59:27,760 --> 00:59:30,360
but we always have to consider, like, you know, well

1130
00:59:30,360 --> 00:59:32,880
people know what it is. But in the cases where

1131
00:59:32,880 --> 00:59:35,320
we do sort of green light it, it usually winds up

1132
00:59:35,320 --> 00:59:37,400
pretty cool. And this is when we were like, oh, yeah,

1133
00:59:37,440 --> 00:59:38,840
I think we have to keep it like that, Like

1134
00:59:38,880 --> 00:59:41,920
I love that. You know, you guys know what you're getting.

1135
00:59:42,159 --> 00:59:43,920
And you can call a Cape Informer too if you

1136
00:59:43,920 --> 00:59:49,079
want yeah, or just armor yeah, or the hot new

1137
00:59:49,079 --> 00:59:50,079
issue of Omer.

1138
00:59:52,760 --> 00:59:56,000
Speaker 1: Well awesome. Well that was our cover story again. You

1139
00:59:56,039 --> 00:59:59,960
can subscribe now and read that digitally. Otherwise it should

1140
01:00:00,039 --> 01:00:03,199
be on you stands and in nailbox soon. All right, now,

1141
01:00:03,199 --> 01:00:04,960
we're going to take a quick break and then we're

1142
01:00:04,960 --> 01:00:08,639
going to come back and discuss more of Nicole's legendary

1143
01:00:08,760 --> 01:00:16,519
reporting about a certain game company that starts with nintend Well,

1144
01:00:16,519 --> 01:00:17,400
be right back.

1145
01:00:19,800 --> 01:00:21,159
Speaker 2: And we're back.

1146
01:00:21,760 --> 01:00:25,360
Speaker 1: We're going to talk about Nicole's latest piece. I'll know

1147
01:00:25,400 --> 01:00:29,679
it's a big cliffhanger or talking about Nintendo. And so

1148
01:00:29,800 --> 01:00:35,119
recently you wrote on Aftermath. It's a great independent game site.

1149
01:00:35,880 --> 01:00:39,679
They are suing the US government. What the heck?

1150
01:00:40,159 --> 01:00:50,440
Speaker 2: That's us kind of crucially, Charles, You're not the US government.

1151
01:00:51,079 --> 01:00:53,280
Speaker 1: No, I mean, I guess I'm kind of like, depending

1152
01:00:53,280 --> 01:00:55,239
on who you ask, I'm kind of their boss. I guess,

1153
01:00:55,280 --> 01:00:57,840
like I'm I tell them what I don't want them

1154
01:00:57,840 --> 01:01:01,519
to do, like collectively, me and the other people with them. People.

1155
01:01:02,159 --> 01:01:07,920
That's true anyways, Uh, Nicole tell us about this this story.

1156
01:01:08,559 --> 01:01:12,480
Speaker 4: Yeah, well, so Nintendo is one of like maybe two

1157
01:01:12,559 --> 01:01:15,800
thousand or so companies that are suing the US government

1158
01:01:16,360 --> 01:01:23,599
to get refunds on the money that they spent on tariffs,

1159
01:01:24,039 --> 01:01:31,119
the tariffs that were implemented last year. Yeah, yeah, it

1160
01:01:31,119 --> 01:01:31,800
was last year.

1161
01:01:31,679 --> 01:01:33,360
Speaker 1: Right, it was last Yeah.

1162
01:01:33,360 --> 01:01:34,760
Speaker 4: I'm like, I've lost all track of.

1163
01:01:34,719 --> 01:01:42,360
Speaker 2: Time, Like, yeah, it was like a year ago. Now, yeah, yeah,

1164
01:01:42,360 --> 01:01:43,599
it's only a year ago.

1165
01:01:46,119 --> 01:01:47,960
Speaker 4: It's both like wild that it's a year ago, but

1166
01:01:48,039 --> 01:01:54,360
also it's only a year ago. Anyways. So basically, the

1167
01:01:54,519 --> 01:02:00,039
Supreme Court ruled that those tariffs were you know, we

1168
01:02:00,119 --> 01:02:03,119
can't do that, and so all these companies are trying

1169
01:02:03,159 --> 01:02:06,760
to get a refund. Now, Nintendo is one of those companies.

1170
01:02:07,599 --> 01:02:12,719
The lawsuit is pretty basic. They don't say how much

1171
01:02:12,800 --> 01:02:17,199
they spent on tariffs, but they are basically being like,

1172
01:02:17,440 --> 01:02:20,360
but we deserve a refund, you know, as do any

1173
01:02:20,360 --> 01:02:24,639
of these other companies, because the Supreme Court ruling was

1174
01:02:24,679 --> 01:02:28,559
a little bit unclear on like what you do to

1175
01:02:28,639 --> 01:02:30,960
get the refund at the point where it came out,

1176
01:02:31,000 --> 01:02:33,079
so all these lawyers were like, yeah, you're gonna have

1177
01:02:33,119 --> 01:02:36,679
to sue, and then all the companies started suing. However,

1178
01:02:38,440 --> 01:02:42,599
the government, the Customs and Border Protection are working on

1179
01:02:42,760 --> 01:02:47,280
a system I guess that will give refunds so that

1180
01:02:47,400 --> 01:02:51,519
lawsuits won't be necessary. That's like in the works. There

1181
01:02:51,559 --> 01:02:54,320
was a filing where they were like, I don't know,

1182
01:02:54,360 --> 01:02:58,440
like maybe a month they couldn't do the refunds. Now,

1183
01:02:58,440 --> 01:03:00,000
they were like, we need like a month to work

1184
01:03:00,199 --> 01:03:04,239
this system because this is like I think it was

1185
01:03:04,280 --> 01:03:08,639
like one hundred and sixty billion dollars worth of tariffs,

1186
01:03:08,679 --> 01:03:11,719
like were tariffs from that time, like the extra tariffs

1187
01:03:11,760 --> 01:03:16,119
were collected, and so like that's a lot of money

1188
01:03:16,360 --> 01:03:19,159
to figure out how to give back to these companies.

1189
01:03:20,239 --> 01:03:23,559
But the system is good because like smaller companies that

1190
01:03:23,599 --> 01:03:26,159
were impacted by that, which is like every small company.

1191
01:03:28,079 --> 01:03:30,559
They some of them, like you know, they don't have

1192
01:03:30,599 --> 01:03:33,159
like a lawyer on hand, like Ninten, like Costco.

1193
01:03:33,039 --> 01:03:35,360
Speaker 2: Or FedEx, and some of them just went out of

1194
01:03:35,360 --> 01:03:36,360
business because of.

1195
01:03:36,519 --> 01:03:39,760
Speaker 4: Yeah right, yeah, so they especially don't have like so

1196
01:03:39,800 --> 01:03:44,400
many so many went out of business. Yeah, So it's

1197
01:03:44,519 --> 01:03:47,960
very up in the air on like how the process

1198
01:03:48,039 --> 01:03:50,320
is going to go, like whether this lawsuit like will

1199
01:03:50,360 --> 01:03:52,760
even move forward, because if there's a system, there's like

1200
01:03:52,800 --> 01:03:55,920
no point for that lawsuit. But I think one of

1201
01:03:56,000 --> 01:03:58,280
the other things that people are talking about in regards

1202
01:03:58,320 --> 01:04:02,679
to this with Nintendo and other companies is, you know,

1203
01:04:02,920 --> 01:04:04,840
what are they going to do with the refund? Like

1204
01:04:04,880 --> 01:04:06,599
what are these companies going to do with the refund?

1205
01:04:06,880 --> 01:04:08,800
And largely they're probly just going to keep it, like.

1206
01:04:09,000 --> 01:04:12,519
Speaker 2: Because then FedEx came out and said publicly we are

1207
01:04:12,559 --> 01:04:15,960
going to pass this back to consumers somehow. I don't know.

1208
01:04:16,239 --> 01:04:18,320
I don't know if they've elaborated since they announced it.

1209
01:04:18,320 --> 01:04:21,079
I would imagine, not knowing how this works, it'd be

1210
01:04:21,079 --> 01:04:23,639
like almost like a class action payout kind of a

1211
01:04:23,679 --> 01:04:26,760
thing of like we have your data, we know how

1212
01:04:26,840 --> 01:04:29,280
much you paid and what the difference would be from

1213
01:04:29,280 --> 01:04:30,639
the tariffs. So we're just going to send you that

1214
01:04:30,679 --> 01:04:34,760
amount and like a little check or something. But yeah,

1215
01:04:35,039 --> 01:04:36,880
I I don't know.

1216
01:04:36,800 --> 01:04:41,280
Speaker 4: I don't I've been thinking about that, not a specially.

1217
01:04:41,000 --> 01:04:44,480
Speaker 1: What we all do. We all get like an e

1218
01:04:44,679 --> 01:04:50,000
shop credit for everyone nso for a year. We already

1219
01:04:50,039 --> 01:04:53,280
get a free copy of a Welcome Tour on the switch.

1220
01:04:53,000 --> 01:04:56,119
Speaker 2: To, everyone gets a Super Mario Galaxy movie ticket.

1221
01:04:56,960 --> 01:04:57,599
Speaker 1: That'd be good.

1222
01:04:58,559 --> 01:05:00,920
Speaker 3: That'd be crazy if it's like a little domino like

1223
01:05:01,079 --> 01:05:04,079
tariffs are implemented in the US and big domino like

1224
01:05:04,119 --> 01:05:10,519
Welcome Toward costs ten dollars now, But I obviously this

1225
01:05:10,679 --> 01:05:12,800
is like the tariffs we're hitting. Right around the time

1226
01:05:12,840 --> 01:05:15,760
that Switched To was launching, and that was the hugest

1227
01:05:15,760 --> 01:05:18,199
story for a long time, was like this is a

1228
01:05:18,239 --> 01:05:21,000
major video game launch. There was a lot of speculation

1229
01:05:21,079 --> 01:05:23,639
at the time, like what is Nintendo going to move

1230
01:05:23,800 --> 01:05:26,199
the launch? Are they going to suddenly increase the price?

1231
01:05:26,280 --> 01:05:30,119
Like what are they going to do? And I think

1232
01:05:30,440 --> 01:05:33,000
it makes sense that this company is now being like, hey,

1233
01:05:34,199 --> 01:05:36,320
we had to launch under this, and now you're saying

1234
01:05:36,440 --> 01:05:39,360
like it shouldn't have been this way, Yes we would

1235
01:05:39,400 --> 01:05:41,400
like that, and also like it's money on the table

1236
01:05:41,480 --> 01:05:46,480
like they're going to pursue it. So, as you noted,

1237
01:05:46,480 --> 01:05:49,239
this is a lot of companies are doing this right now.

1238
01:05:49,280 --> 01:05:52,400
This is not like an individual. I think, because we're

1239
01:05:52,400 --> 01:05:55,239
in a game's bubble, we sometimes go like, oh, Nintendo,

1240
01:05:55,239 --> 01:05:57,920
assume the US government. A lot of companies are suing

1241
01:05:57,960 --> 01:06:00,840
the US government right now because they're all to get

1242
01:06:00,840 --> 01:06:03,199
their money back from that situation. But I do think

1243
01:06:03,239 --> 01:06:05,880
with Nintendo, there is especially when they get involved in

1244
01:06:05,920 --> 01:06:09,440
the legal realm, an era of like this is notable

1245
01:06:09,480 --> 01:06:13,239
because Nintendo doesn't usually walk into legal situations that they

1246
01:06:13,239 --> 01:06:14,400
don't feel very confident.

1247
01:06:14,480 --> 01:06:19,559
Speaker 2: And Nintendo's the only of the console makers that has

1248
01:06:19,559 --> 01:06:23,719
declared like like Sony and Microsoft have not either, even

1249
01:06:23,800 --> 01:06:26,679
though they also raised their console prices for the same reasons.

1250
01:06:26,719 --> 01:06:28,679
I know they I don't think they ever explicitly said

1251
01:06:28,719 --> 01:06:31,199
Mando's terrors, but they pretty much said without saying, and

1252
01:06:31,239 --> 01:06:33,480
those messages of like, you know, the current economic environment,

1253
01:06:33,519 --> 01:06:36,000
we got to jack this Xbox up a second time.

1254
01:06:36,719 --> 01:06:38,880
Speaker 4: I've been looking keeping on it, and I haven't seen

1255
01:06:38,920 --> 01:06:42,480
any other game companies specifically. There were some tabletop companies

1256
01:06:42,519 --> 01:06:47,599
that sued the government early on for different reasons. Yeah,

1257
01:06:47,639 --> 01:06:50,199
but I haven't seen any other like game companies that

1258
01:06:50,440 --> 01:06:53,280
filed lawsuits recently against U's government.

1259
01:06:53,800 --> 01:06:56,840
Speaker 2: Well, you know, Nintendo set the trend with eighty dollars games,

1260
01:06:56,840 --> 01:07:04,119
so they'll set the trend with suing the government. Yeah.

1261
01:07:04,159 --> 01:07:07,639
Speaker 1: Wow, Yeah, I was gonna say. Also, yeah, the the

1262
01:07:08,199 --> 01:07:10,280
Eric kind of mentioned it, but the idea of Nintendo

1263
01:07:10,360 --> 01:07:13,639
getting involved and everything, like, oh oh, they're almost around,

1264
01:07:14,719 --> 01:07:16,960
but it's kind of a lot of companies involved. Uh

1265
01:07:18,199 --> 01:07:22,639
do you think does it does it feel significant like

1266
01:07:22,719 --> 01:07:25,360
Nintendo being the one that's doing it. Does it feel

1267
01:07:25,400 --> 01:07:28,679
like a Nintendo thing to you? Or do you think

1268
01:07:28,719 --> 01:07:31,639
it's just like a they're they're just the ones that

1269
01:07:31,679 --> 01:07:34,360
would jump on the opportunity to get the money back.

1270
01:07:35,320 --> 01:07:39,920
Speaker 4: I think that the lawsuit part is like a big

1271
01:07:39,960 --> 01:07:42,920
company thing and that I wouldn't be surprised if we

1272
01:07:43,000 --> 01:07:45,880
saw I wouldn't be surprised if like Microsoft and Sony

1273
01:07:45,920 --> 01:07:48,800
were like considering this as well, now that the refund

1274
01:07:50,000 --> 01:07:54,880
system is in the works, like maybe if that's not necessary,

1275
01:07:54,920 --> 01:07:57,119
maybe like lawsuits are not necessary. So I think that

1276
01:07:57,199 --> 01:07:59,599
maybe that's perhaps why we haven't seen any other game

1277
01:07:59,719 --> 01:08:02,159
like big game companies doing this. But I do think

1278
01:08:02,159 --> 01:08:05,760
it's significant because like, this is Nintendo and it is

1279
01:08:05,800 --> 01:08:08,760
such an iconic brand, and you know, you think of

1280
01:08:08,800 --> 01:08:11,079
like cost Co or FedEx and like, yes, those are

1281
01:08:11,119 --> 01:08:14,239
part of our everyday lives, but Nintendo is part of

1282
01:08:14,239 --> 01:08:17,560
our everyday lives, like as or a lot of people's

1283
01:08:17,560 --> 01:08:25,039
everyday lives as like something that's like fun, you know, fun, exciting, bright, colorful, happy.

1284
01:08:25,239 --> 01:08:28,319
And it does feel significant to see them suing the

1285
01:08:28,399 --> 01:08:33,039
US government. And because one of the things I've had,

1286
01:08:33,119 --> 01:08:35,840
you know, monitoring, like the response to this online and

1287
01:08:36,159 --> 01:08:39,279
the thing that every person who responded to this story

1288
01:08:39,279 --> 01:08:42,399
in the comments or on social media are like, this

1289
01:08:42,439 --> 01:08:45,800
is the first time I've ever been on Nintendo's side

1290
01:08:45,880 --> 01:08:49,199
on a law superfoork because Nintendo is a litigious company,

1291
01:08:49,560 --> 01:08:51,000
famously ruthless in the court.

1292
01:08:51,079 --> 01:08:52,960
Speaker 2: Right, yes, but.

1293
01:08:52,880 --> 01:08:59,840
Speaker 4: They sue small they sue individuals for you know, ip reasons.

1294
01:09:00,159 --> 01:09:03,640
So to see this big, big lawsuit is significant. It

1295
01:09:03,680 --> 01:09:06,960
is significant to see people saying like, I'm on Nintendo's side.

1296
01:09:08,159 --> 01:09:08,479
Speaker 2: Yeah.

1297
01:09:08,720 --> 01:09:11,640
Speaker 1: It was also right around I think it was also

1298
01:09:11,720 --> 01:09:14,640
last week where they were the Pokemon company, I want

1299
01:09:14,680 --> 01:09:16,479
to say, put up a statement being like, hey, we

1300
01:09:16,520 --> 01:09:19,119
don't agree with these memes that are being made by

1301
01:09:19,119 --> 01:09:23,039
the White House. Yeah, so I do think there is

1302
01:09:23,119 --> 01:09:29,119
like a I can't imagine those things were coordinated, but

1303
01:09:29,359 --> 01:09:33,920
it does create an appearance of like, uh, Nintendo's not

1304
01:09:33,960 --> 01:09:36,279
happy with US government right now, and as is often

1305
01:09:36,319 --> 01:09:39,079
the case, other people are not and they're like, hey, Nintendo,

1306
01:09:39,159 --> 01:09:40,840
thanks for sticking up to me or for me.

1307
01:09:41,000 --> 01:09:44,159
Speaker 2: Yes, yeah, the White House is gonna ooh sorry you go.

1308
01:09:44,680 --> 01:09:46,279
I was gonna say they're gonna be a Nintendo jail

1309
01:09:46,319 --> 01:09:50,159
for some They're not going to be getting zeldaco. Yeah,

1310
01:09:50,439 --> 01:09:56,000
they're not gonna get invited to many events. Yeah, yeah, god.

1311
01:09:57,520 --> 01:10:02,640
Speaker 1: Yeah, uh well yeah, wild story. I'm glad you're here too,

1312
01:10:02,720 --> 01:10:05,640
help us phill us in. And also it's a story

1313
01:10:05,640 --> 01:10:08,720
that like, uh, you know, you get a different thing

1314
01:10:08,720 --> 01:10:10,439
from reading the headline than you do for reading the

1315
01:10:10,479 --> 01:10:12,760
actual story, as is often the case. But it's always

1316
01:10:12,800 --> 01:10:15,119
nice to have someone come on and explain for people

1317
01:10:15,119 --> 01:10:16,239
that have just seen something like that.

1318
01:10:17,239 --> 01:10:21,000
Speaker 4: When I saw it come through, like I monitor like

1319
01:10:21,079 --> 01:10:24,479
the legal systems where lawsuits are uploaded, and when I

1320
01:10:24,520 --> 01:10:25,640
saw that, I was like.

1321
01:10:26,760 --> 01:10:32,119
Speaker 3: What, Yeah, it's it's like a really important piece of

1322
01:10:32,159 --> 01:10:34,800
like investigative reporting and all that, which is kind of

1323
01:10:34,840 --> 01:10:36,680
like why I was excited to have you on the

1324
01:10:36,720 --> 01:10:39,079
show in the first place, because I think a lot

1325
01:10:39,119 --> 01:10:42,920
of games reporting sometimes we think of just leaks. We

1326
01:10:43,000 --> 01:10:46,319
think of like, oh, it's it's just you got somebody

1327
01:10:46,319 --> 01:10:48,079
on the inside to give you the scoop of it,

1328
01:10:48,199 --> 01:10:51,039
like GTA six is sit on Mars or whatever, like

1329
01:10:51,039 --> 01:10:54,840
like it's a it's there's a lot of video game

1330
01:10:54,880 --> 01:10:59,199
reporting that happens in the trenches of just there's filings,

1331
01:10:59,239 --> 01:11:02,079
there's loss dudes, there's quarterly reports, and you have to

1332
01:11:02,119 --> 01:11:05,359
learn how to read the numbers and understand like sort

1333
01:11:05,359 --> 01:11:07,960
of the moves that are happening within those and breaking

1334
01:11:08,000 --> 01:11:11,880
them down for people. And I think it's really interesting

1335
01:11:11,920 --> 01:11:14,880
because people see that and they're like, oh really, and

1336
01:11:14,920 --> 01:11:18,239
then suddenly headlines like Nintendo is suing the US government

1337
01:11:18,279 --> 01:11:20,319
comes out and they're like, well, it's like yeah, that's

1338
01:11:20,439 --> 01:11:23,720
that's what reporting looks like sometimes, and it's it's really cool.

1339
01:11:23,760 --> 01:11:26,319
So yeah, keep it up and go check out Nicole's

1340
01:11:26,319 --> 01:11:28,840
work on on your You're on Aftermath a lot, obviously,

1341
01:11:28,880 --> 01:11:31,479
you're you're in GI any other places you want to

1342
01:11:31,479 --> 01:11:32,920
shout out, any pieces you want to shout out.

1343
01:11:33,840 --> 01:11:36,119
Speaker 4: I do have a cool piece. This is a print

1344
01:11:36,159 --> 01:11:40,640
media thing. I have a really interesting piece about mountains

1345
01:11:40,640 --> 01:11:44,199
and games coming to Trails Magazine, which is a magazine

1346
01:11:44,239 --> 01:11:51,960
oh mountaineering, like alpinist things like class and it's about Karen.

1347
01:11:52,880 --> 01:11:57,840
It's awesome and valley peaks and why climbing is a

1348
01:11:57,920 --> 01:11:59,640
thing in games. Right now, I don't know when that

1349
01:11:59,680 --> 01:12:02,039
will come out, Like I just filed the draft and

1350
01:12:02,119 --> 01:12:04,680
so it will come out of a future print magazine

1351
01:12:04,720 --> 01:12:09,119
thing whatever schedule that's on. But uh yeah, Like it's

1352
01:12:09,199 --> 01:12:15,800
really cool to see come to see magazines, you know, websites,

1353
01:12:15,960 --> 01:12:20,359
publishers who are interested in video game things who don't

1354
01:12:20,399 --> 01:12:21,920
typically cover that sort of thing.

1355
01:12:22,960 --> 01:12:26,279
Speaker 2: That's awesome. That's like fun discussion points, you like, best

1356
01:12:26,399 --> 01:12:28,800
thing like what are the best mountains and video games?

1357
01:12:29,359 --> 01:12:34,399
Speaker 1: That's gotta we gotta do that top five Yeah yeah yeah.

1358
01:12:34,600 --> 01:12:37,159
I also want to say you're doing some writing for Mothership,

1359
01:12:37,279 --> 01:12:38,760
right yeah.

1360
01:12:38,880 --> 01:12:42,239
Speaker 4: Yeah. Mothership is great. So my previate my old my

1361
01:12:42,239 --> 01:12:45,600
bosses at Polygon, Zoe and Maddie started Mothership, a feminist

1362
01:12:45,760 --> 01:12:49,840
games media games video game site, and it's a really

1363
01:12:49,920 --> 01:12:52,720
cool endeavor and I'm so happy that they have been

1364
01:12:52,720 --> 01:12:56,399
so successful in like crowdfunding or you know, the subscription

1365
01:12:56,479 --> 01:13:01,199
model has been like so exciting and it's working, Like

1366
01:13:01,840 --> 01:13:05,520
that's cool, that's amazing. Yeah, yeah, I love Mothership. I

1367
01:13:05,560 --> 01:13:07,960
am working on a couple of stories. By the time

1368
01:13:08,079 --> 01:13:11,399
this episode probably goes live, this story will be But

1369
01:13:11,720 --> 01:13:16,039
I spoke to folks about uh, you know outer Loop,

1370
01:13:16,159 --> 01:13:22,800
the or sorry Loop, the Interslos among us folks you know,

1371
01:13:22,840 --> 01:13:27,600
released their contract, their like funding contract, and so I

1372
01:13:27,640 --> 01:13:30,079
spoke to them and a lawyer to break down, like

1373
01:13:30,159 --> 01:13:37,880
what is so uh poignant about a company just being

1374
01:13:37,920 --> 01:13:40,800
so transparent about what's in their contract and like it's

1375
01:13:41,039 --> 01:13:43,079
really good and how that could impact the industry.

1376
01:13:44,479 --> 01:13:45,239
Speaker 3: Yeah, awesome.

1377
01:13:45,359 --> 01:13:46,800
Speaker 1: Yeah, I was gonna say. I don't know if we've

1378
01:13:46,800 --> 01:13:49,800
gotten a chance to uh shout out Mothership on the

1379
01:13:49,840 --> 01:13:52,199
podcast yet, but that is definitely define some of beautiful

1380
01:13:52,640 --> 01:13:56,760
uh check out for interested more games writing specifically by

1381
01:13:56,800 --> 01:14:00,880
women presenting people. Awesome. Well, we're gonna move on now.

1382
01:14:01,640 --> 01:14:05,960
We got some reviews up this week. I'm gonna go first.

1383
01:14:06,000 --> 01:14:09,600
I'm gonna keep it relatively short because I don't think

1384
01:14:09,640 --> 01:14:12,199
everyone here knows about Monster Hunter, and also I don't

1385
01:14:12,199 --> 01:14:14,640
have a lot of strong feelings about this game. But

1386
01:14:14,680 --> 01:14:19,840
I reviewed Monster Hunter stories three. If you're familiar with

1387
01:14:19,840 --> 01:14:21,960
Monster Hunter, it's a game where you play a hunter

1388
01:14:22,000 --> 01:14:24,319
and you hunt monsters.

1389
01:14:24,920 --> 01:14:27,439
Speaker 3: A lot of would not have would not have elicited that.

1390
01:14:27,840 --> 01:14:31,079
Speaker 2: Yeah, Yokovich did that once in a movie.

1391
01:14:31,479 --> 01:14:33,520
Speaker 1: I've heard. I've heard. I heard it was awesome. I

1392
01:14:33,600 --> 01:14:34,359
heard everyone love.

1393
01:14:34,600 --> 01:14:35,359
Speaker 2: That's what I heard too.

1394
01:14:35,520 --> 01:14:41,479
Speaker 1: Yeah. Anyways, Uh, Monster Stories is a spin off where

1395
01:14:42,319 --> 01:14:45,800
you play as a character who can tame monsters, and

1396
01:14:47,039 --> 01:14:50,399
tamed monsters are known as monsters. I don't know why.

1397
01:14:50,640 --> 01:14:53,960
They don't really explain it. M O N S T

1398
01:14:54,000 --> 01:15:00,119
I E S for whatever. You like it, okay it

1399
01:15:00,399 --> 01:15:09,399
it kind of gives me the ick. I think if

1400
01:15:09,439 --> 01:15:12,760
they were cut I would like if the monsters themselves, like,

1401
01:15:12,840 --> 01:15:15,079
there's a I have a canine, which is like a

1402
01:15:16,319 --> 01:15:20,399
there are palamutes in a rise. They're like, you can

1403
01:15:20,479 --> 01:15:22,760
you can tame them in this game. That's a monsty

1404
01:15:22,840 --> 01:15:25,079
because that's a little guy. But then when it's like

1405
01:15:25,359 --> 01:15:28,319
big bulky gorilla man and I'm like, oh, it's my

1406
01:15:28,399 --> 01:15:30,279
little monsty, I'm like, Okay, well.

1407
01:15:30,359 --> 01:15:33,840
Speaker 2: I can't believe you're just gatekeeper for what It was

1408
01:15:33,880 --> 01:15:34,479
not hot.

1409
01:15:36,079 --> 01:15:39,359
Speaker 3: Until I started talking. Firm position is anti monsty.

1410
01:15:39,680 --> 01:15:44,520
Speaker 1: That's crazy No anyways, Uh, it's it's an interesting game.

1411
01:15:44,800 --> 01:15:45,159
Speaker 2: Uh.

1412
01:15:45,560 --> 01:15:51,920
Speaker 1: So it's the core series for Monster Hunter is an

1413
01:15:52,000 --> 01:15:55,000
action game, and they're usually these like big, long, drawn

1414
01:15:55,039 --> 01:15:56,960
out fights between you and the monster, and it requires

1415
01:15:56,960 --> 01:15:59,319
you to like there's a whole core loop of like

1416
01:15:59,359 --> 01:16:02,560
you craft the art, resist the elemental type, and you'll

1417
01:16:02,560 --> 01:16:04,239
get your weapon, and it's kind of got like a

1418
01:16:04,239 --> 01:16:07,359
fighting game title move stets. You're gonna learn all your moves,

1419
01:16:07,479 --> 01:16:09,199
You're gonna learn where to hit the monsters.

1420
01:16:09,600 --> 01:16:09,760
Speaker 2: Uh.

1421
01:16:09,800 --> 01:16:11,560
Speaker 1: And a lot of the newer games, you're you're teaming

1422
01:16:11,640 --> 01:16:14,800
up with people online to like strategize and be these

1423
01:16:14,840 --> 01:16:15,720
real difficult monsters.

1424
01:16:16,079 --> 01:16:16,439
Speaker 2: Uh.

1425
01:16:16,520 --> 01:16:18,399
Speaker 1: But it's very it's a lot to get into. It's

1426
01:16:18,399 --> 01:16:21,600
a lot to learn, and the more recent games have

1427
01:16:21,600 --> 01:16:23,279
been a lot better about tutorials and stuff, but it's

1428
01:16:23,279 --> 01:16:26,239
a bit of an overwhelming experience of becoming in blind

1429
01:16:26,560 --> 01:16:29,119
MONTA Stories takes that and they're like, what if it

1430
01:16:29,159 --> 01:16:31,640
was a turn based game where you can kind of

1431
01:16:31,680 --> 01:16:34,560
take your time and then you're like collecting these monsters.

1432
01:16:34,920 --> 01:16:38,479
So I have a hole of the stables of all

1433
01:16:38,479 --> 01:16:42,039
my different breeds of monsters, uh, and they all have

1434
01:16:42,079 --> 01:16:46,439
different abilities. And this is the third in that series,

1435
01:16:46,439 --> 01:16:49,960
but it has a different visual style, so it's less.

1436
01:16:50,159 --> 01:16:53,119
They were kind of like Chibby before. Maybe if everyone

1437
01:16:53,159 --> 01:16:56,640
was Chibby, I'd be like, yeah, monsters, but now these

1438
01:16:56,680 --> 01:17:00,680
are like feels it's sells shape did, but it also

1439
01:17:00,720 --> 01:17:03,800
feels breath of the wild specifically because the main character

1440
01:17:03,840 --> 01:17:07,479
has a like champion tunic blue is like the default

1441
01:17:07,520 --> 01:17:09,600
costume that.

1442
01:17:09,520 --> 01:17:11,600
Speaker 2: Should be a Crayola Crown Champion tunic.

1443
01:17:12,520 --> 01:17:12,760
Speaker 1: Yeah.

1444
01:17:13,880 --> 01:17:16,359
Speaker 3: When I when I saw the trailers for this, the

1445
01:17:16,399 --> 01:17:19,600
first thing that left to my mind was how to

1446
01:17:19,640 --> 01:17:24,920
Train your Dragon specifically, Like it's the style of we

1447
01:17:24,960 --> 01:17:27,840
have fantasy armor and things like that, and it's like

1448
01:17:28,119 --> 01:17:31,039
kind of almost maybe more on the live action side

1449
01:17:31,199 --> 01:17:33,560
of how to train your Dragon, which is not I'm

1450
01:17:33,600 --> 01:17:35,159
sorry is not a compliment, but.

1451
01:17:37,239 --> 01:17:39,039
Speaker 2: Is there any point in this game where the main

1452
01:17:39,119 --> 01:17:43,680
character holds their hand out to connect to the dragon?

1453
01:17:43,960 --> 01:17:45,880
Speaker 3: And is that a thing?

1454
01:17:45,560 --> 01:17:47,479
Speaker 2: That's what you do in these movies?

1455
01:17:47,520 --> 01:17:49,760
Speaker 3: You're like, never train your dragon.

1456
01:17:51,159 --> 01:17:53,239
Speaker 2: The New Jurassic World movies do that too. Were like

1457
01:17:53,319 --> 01:17:54,399
all of Chris.

1458
01:17:54,199 --> 01:17:58,720
Speaker 3: Pratt, that's usually every monster's like whoa okay an avatar?

1459
01:17:58,880 --> 01:17:59,000
Speaker 1: Right?

1460
01:17:59,039 --> 01:18:01,439
Speaker 3: They like hair connect did with the dragons and then

1461
01:18:01,560 --> 01:18:03,479
like bonded for life or something, is it?

1462
01:18:03,800 --> 01:18:06,960
Speaker 1: Yeah? But it always it always starts with a hand.

1463
01:18:07,000 --> 01:18:09,960
It's a very horse girl thing. It's the open palm

1464
01:18:10,239 --> 01:18:11,760
to the horses.

1465
01:18:12,000 --> 01:18:14,279
Speaker 3: Now, because the next place I was gonna go is

1466
01:18:14,319 --> 01:18:18,079
that that's what they do in Tarzan's just what you.

1467
01:18:17,840 --> 01:18:23,600
Speaker 2: Do to tame animals for some reason, and then they

1468
01:18:23,680 --> 01:18:27,000
do like the hands together. How much Phil Collins is

1469
01:18:27,000 --> 01:18:28,319
in this game, that's a great question.

1470
01:18:28,960 --> 01:18:34,159
Speaker 1: It would not be out of place. It's not. It's

1471
01:18:34,159 --> 01:18:35,800
not the style of music that is in the game.

1472
01:18:35,840 --> 01:18:37,840
But if it did start playing, I'd be like, honestly,

1473
01:18:38,239 --> 01:18:40,600
I kind of I kind of like I would like

1474
01:18:40,640 --> 01:18:43,159
the game if it had like a slightly more rustic edge,

1475
01:18:43,199 --> 01:18:43,760
like that.

1476
01:18:45,439 --> 01:18:49,039
Speaker 3: Edge Phil Collins, rustic edge Phil Collins.

1477
01:18:49,279 --> 01:18:54,079
Speaker 1: A slight it would give the game a more rustic edge.

1478
01:18:54,079 --> 01:18:56,520
It would feel a little more like never mind, never mind,

1479
01:18:56,640 --> 01:19:01,439
we're most we're reading.

1480
01:19:01,279 --> 01:19:05,960
Speaker 3: So out back, Little Domino. Let's talk about monster hunter stories,

1481
01:19:06,000 --> 01:19:09,720
Big Domino. We're slandering Phil Collins.

1482
01:19:10,239 --> 01:19:11,319
Speaker 2: Uh.

1483
01:19:11,479 --> 01:19:14,840
Speaker 1: The this game has a more adult kind of look

1484
01:19:14,920 --> 01:19:16,399
to it. I wouldn't say adult, it's just a little

1485
01:19:16,399 --> 01:19:20,520
more mature. You're playing as like clearly older characters. You

1486
01:19:20,560 --> 01:19:23,960
are the prince or princess of a nation called Azuria,

1487
01:19:25,000 --> 01:19:27,760
and you are also a ranger, So you are a

1488
01:19:27,800 --> 01:19:31,159
monster rider. You tame monsters, but the rangers are like, uh,

1489
01:19:31,880 --> 01:19:36,239
ecologically minded, so they're like not just taming monsters. They're

1490
01:19:36,279 --> 01:19:38,399
like going out and they're like, we're gonna care for

1491
01:19:38,439 --> 01:19:40,960
the environment. We're gonna get rid of these invasive species,

1492
01:19:40,960 --> 01:19:43,880
and we're gonna raise monsters from eggs and release them

1493
01:19:43,920 --> 01:19:46,520
back into the wild to like restore the population, which

1494
01:19:46,560 --> 01:19:49,039
is always like a vibe in the Monster Hunter games,

1495
01:19:49,399 --> 01:19:51,479
but I really appreciate in this game that it's like

1496
01:19:52,199 --> 01:19:56,039
it's there's no in in Monster in our wilds. You're like,

1497
01:19:56,119 --> 01:19:59,079
we're we're respecting the environment. We do that by killing

1498
01:19:59,159 --> 01:20:01,479
monsters all the time, and they always have a good

1499
01:20:01,520 --> 01:20:03,640
reason for it. They're like, oh, it's disrupting an ecosystem

1500
01:20:03,760 --> 01:20:07,359
or doing that. But it is a weird disconnect between like, well,

1501
01:20:07,399 --> 01:20:09,920
if I kill nine more of these big frogs, I

1502
01:20:09,920 --> 01:20:12,279
can make new boots and that'll be good for the environment,

1503
01:20:12,520 --> 01:20:15,800
whereas in this game it's a little more specific of like, no,

1504
01:20:15,960 --> 01:20:18,880
if we have like you need a certain population to

1505
01:20:19,079 --> 01:20:21,159
sustain this thing, and then you'll start discovering their eggs

1506
01:20:21,159 --> 01:20:26,640
and wild and stuff. The story is kind of fire emblemy.

1507
01:20:26,840 --> 01:20:30,680
So you're you're one nation. Uh, there's another nation called Vermail,

1508
01:20:31,199 --> 01:20:33,680
and early on you have like a conference between your

1509
01:20:33,800 --> 01:20:36,680
monarch and their monarch and then the Princess of Vermail.

1510
01:20:37,199 --> 01:20:41,039
I think it's the princess. It's weird. It's kind of

1511
01:20:41,159 --> 01:20:42,920
all the government systems are kind of weird in the game.

1512
01:20:43,039 --> 01:20:45,199
But she's like, how about this instead of going to war,

1513
01:20:45,399 --> 01:20:48,720
I'll volunteer to just stay in your kingdom kind of

1514
01:20:48,760 --> 01:20:51,640
as like a what do they call it.

1515
01:20:51,640 --> 01:20:54,880
Speaker 2: It's like when you're captured, but like politically captured or yeah,

1516
01:20:54,920 --> 01:21:03,560
what is that? Yes, we're loaning him out to you.

1517
01:21:03,880 --> 01:21:05,640
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah.

1518
01:21:05,680 --> 01:21:09,000
Speaker 2: I don't think award means because like Robin is Batman.

1519
01:21:09,199 --> 01:21:13,600
Speaker 3: And I don't think, no, it is ward. You're right,

1520
01:21:13,760 --> 01:21:16,760
but it is like used in this way, in a

1521
01:21:16,840 --> 01:21:21,479
political man way. Yeah, it is like they have they

1522
01:21:21,479 --> 01:21:24,680
have adopted or like traditionally you would marry into the family,

1523
01:21:24,920 --> 01:21:27,039
so that way there was like a tie there. It's like, hey,

1524
01:21:27,399 --> 01:21:30,800
don't lace each to this castle your kids inside, and

1525
01:21:31,000 --> 01:21:33,359
just like in DC comics, it was the keep the

1526
01:21:33,359 --> 01:21:35,119
Graysons and the Waynes from fighting.

1527
01:21:35,840 --> 01:21:47,319
Speaker 1: Yeah exactly, Yeah, but all all of those Graysons famously

1528
01:21:47,439 --> 01:21:48,720
orphaned Dick Grayson.

1529
01:21:50,520 --> 01:21:52,359
Speaker 3: It's not like the Waynes are doing much better.

1530
01:21:52,600 --> 01:21:59,680
Speaker 1: Like okay, sorry, I need to actually stop some more.

1531
01:21:59,760 --> 01:21:59,920
Speaker 2: Back.

1532
01:22:01,840 --> 01:22:06,520
Speaker 1: Toddy knows what it is, so she joins your side,

1533
01:22:06,560 --> 01:22:08,600
and it's kind of a there's a big there's a

1534
01:22:08,640 --> 01:22:11,239
thing called the encroachment, which is basically this big creeping

1535
01:22:11,359 --> 01:22:14,000
like crystal effect that is giving people this like deadly

1536
01:22:14,000 --> 01:22:18,439
disease crystalysis. It's making the monsters go crazy, and your

1537
01:22:18,560 --> 01:22:21,039
nations need to unite to basically figure out what the

1538
01:22:21,079 --> 01:22:23,880
issue is and go solve it. And that's kind of

1539
01:22:23,880 --> 01:22:27,239
the core plot of the game. My general vibe on

1540
01:22:27,279 --> 01:22:30,520
the game is that, like, it does everything totally fine.

1541
01:22:30,600 --> 01:22:35,479
I think the story is engaging enough that I wasn't

1542
01:22:35,520 --> 01:22:37,560
like bored by it, but I wouldn't say there was

1543
01:22:37,720 --> 01:22:40,479
enough like big plot twists that I was like, whoa,

1544
01:22:40,520 --> 01:22:45,319
this is a groundbreaking story. The combat I enjoyed. It's

1545
01:22:45,359 --> 01:22:47,880
you and one of your monsters. You fight side by side,

1546
01:22:48,680 --> 01:22:56,359
you fight monsters, monster versus monsters, and there's elemental advantages

1547
01:22:56,439 --> 01:22:59,119
your weapons. You'll hit different parts of the monster's body

1548
01:22:59,159 --> 01:23:03,039
to do stuff. And then there's also it has like

1549
01:23:03,079 --> 01:23:07,159
a kind of type circle thing, so there's technical tax

1550
01:23:07,199 --> 01:23:10,000
speed attacks, and power attacks, and the only reason I

1551
01:23:10,000 --> 01:23:11,920
could keep track of them is because they're color coded,

1552
01:23:12,159 --> 01:23:17,199
like firewater and grass in Pokemon. So if someone's gonna

1553
01:23:17,199 --> 01:23:19,800
attack you with a power attack, that's red, so you

1554
01:23:19,880 --> 01:23:22,000
have to use the blue attack and you'll do a

1555
01:23:22,039 --> 01:23:27,439
head to head and then you'll win. And I yeah,

1556
01:23:27,479 --> 01:23:29,199
I'm very glad they're color coded like that, because I

1557
01:23:29,199 --> 01:23:31,399
would have I would have never remembered if it wasn't

1558
01:23:31,399 --> 01:23:32,279
firewater Grass.

1559
01:23:32,439 --> 01:23:34,720
Speaker 3: I wonder if that was intentional in a way that

1560
01:23:34,720 --> 01:23:37,000
they were like, well, we should probably color code these

1561
01:23:37,159 --> 01:23:39,439
so that way people just cast media recognition.

1562
01:23:39,720 --> 01:23:46,640
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, yeah, uh. It is kind of a fun

1563
01:23:46,720 --> 01:23:49,279
little game. I don't think it was a groundbreaking I

1564
01:23:49,279 --> 01:23:50,960
saw someone refer to this as like an early Game

1565
01:23:50,960 --> 01:23:53,560
of the Year contender. I just don't. I don't think

1566
01:23:53,560 --> 01:23:56,720
it left enough of an impression on me to feel

1567
01:23:56,720 --> 01:23:59,760
that strongly about it. But it took me like sixty

1568
01:23:59,800 --> 01:24:01,960
houts to get through, and there was plenty of sidecon.

1569
01:24:02,079 --> 01:24:04,439
I didn't side content. I didn't do so if you're

1570
01:24:04,479 --> 01:24:06,720
wanting like a big RPG. I think if you're a

1571
01:24:06,720 --> 01:24:10,199
Monster Hunter fan and you're specifically like excited to see

1572
01:24:10,279 --> 01:24:13,359
like you know, your Rathelos again, or there's some monsters

1573
01:24:13,359 --> 01:24:15,800
in this game that I recognize hero Monster on a

1574
01:24:15,920 --> 01:24:17,760
Wild so that I think are new to that game

1575
01:24:17,840 --> 01:24:19,359
that are now in this game. And that's fun. So

1576
01:24:19,399 --> 01:24:24,520
there's your new monsters in this new style. But yeah,

1577
01:24:24,560 --> 01:24:27,359
I don't think it's like a must play by any means.

1578
01:24:29,279 --> 01:24:30,760
But I didn't have a terrible time with it, and

1579
01:24:30,800 --> 01:24:32,600
that's that's my verdict.

1580
01:24:33,039 --> 01:24:35,000
Speaker 4: So you said that this was an adult this was

1581
01:24:35,039 --> 01:24:36,960
an adult game. Can you shower with any of the

1582
01:24:37,039 --> 01:24:38,439
characters that are.

1583
01:24:39,600 --> 01:24:42,319
Speaker 2: In the like f.

1584
01:24:44,760 --> 01:24:46,680
Speaker 3: Yeah?

1585
01:24:46,760 --> 01:24:52,000
Speaker 1: So uh no, Well you can kind of change your

1586
01:24:52,039 --> 01:24:54,920
ally's clothes a little bit. But I think it's because

1587
01:24:54,920 --> 01:24:57,840
they gave me like the deluxe version when they I

1588
01:24:57,880 --> 01:25:01,720
got like my review code, I I will say, it's

1589
01:25:01,760 --> 01:25:07,319
not Uh the men aren't the ones that seem like

1590
01:25:07,359 --> 01:25:10,039
they're only wearing towels. If you want to see skin,

1591
01:25:10,279 --> 01:25:14,720
definitely more of the alternate female character's skins. What it

1592
01:25:14,800 --> 01:25:16,800
is always one of those things where I'm like, like,

1593
01:25:17,079 --> 01:25:21,079
I the alternate skin for this guy Gowl, He's like,

1594
01:25:21,439 --> 01:25:25,159
you know, scary guy, he's got like alternate dark colored skins.

1595
01:25:25,199 --> 01:25:27,239
I'm like, that's cool. Like what about eleanor can she

1596
01:25:27,239 --> 01:25:29,319
have like some cool arts in armor? And like all

1597
01:25:29,359 --> 01:25:32,520
the options are like two piece armor, where I'm like

1598
01:25:32,520 --> 01:25:34,720
what I don't I don't know why we went to

1599
01:25:34,760 --> 01:25:37,239
the two piece immediately, and I don't mind that that exists.

1600
01:25:37,279 --> 01:25:40,239
I just wanted like some cool other options and instead

1601
01:25:40,239 --> 01:25:44,079
it's just like nope, you get anyways. Uh No, it's

1602
01:25:44,119 --> 01:25:47,439
not there there. I would say there are probably some

1603
01:25:47,520 --> 01:25:50,960
hot guys here if you're like into anime kind of style, but.

1604
01:25:53,039 --> 01:25:56,680
Speaker 3: Or the monsters, I'm still saying, or the monsters, the monstie.

1605
01:25:56,720 --> 01:25:58,920
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, thank you, yeah, thank you so much.

1606
01:25:59,399 --> 01:26:03,680
Speaker 3: I assume you've got wraths. We've got uh Narga Kuga,

1607
01:26:03,840 --> 01:26:07,159
We've got uh the Gaya Chris, We've got.

1608
01:26:07,000 --> 01:26:09,840
Speaker 2: Like some of the classes and Capcom should do a

1609
01:26:10,479 --> 01:26:13,840
visual novel dating sim but they turn all the monsters

1610
01:26:13,840 --> 01:26:19,600
into people, so like Howards don't represents into people like

1611
01:26:19,840 --> 01:26:23,359
you know what would look like as a hot guy

1612
01:26:23,520 --> 01:26:24,079
where he's like.

1613
01:26:26,439 --> 01:26:28,560
Speaker 3: This podcast don't monsers in the.

1614
01:26:28,560 --> 01:26:31,279
Speaker 2: People have com If you want some free money?

1615
01:26:31,720 --> 01:26:34,319
Speaker 1: What is that called this. There's a word for that, right,

1616
01:26:34,680 --> 01:26:36,039
the Japanese.

1617
01:26:36,199 --> 01:26:42,039
Speaker 2: When you turn like an animal, I don't know, I

1618
01:26:42,079 --> 01:26:43,279
want to be Japanese word.

1619
01:26:43,319 --> 01:26:46,159
Speaker 3: And I was so like making a mental note to

1620
01:26:46,279 --> 01:26:49,520
like cut this if you say one of multiple words.

1621
01:26:50,399 --> 01:26:56,279
Speaker 1: All right, I am absolutely incorrect Japanese words.

1622
01:26:59,199 --> 01:27:01,720
Speaker 4: When they turned poke, I'm on, it's a human like humanoid.

1623
01:27:01,760 --> 01:27:03,560
But I'm all for this. I don't know what these

1624
01:27:03,640 --> 01:27:06,399
monsters look like, but I think they should turn into humans.

1625
01:27:06,760 --> 01:27:09,439
Speaker 2: Yeah, that chicken from Wild that the one that you

1626
01:27:09,520 --> 01:27:11,479
ride around, What would that look like as a hot guy?

1627
01:27:11,840 --> 01:27:16,079
Speaker 1: I want to say gadjinka no one, no recognition. I

1628
01:27:16,079 --> 01:27:19,319
looked it up and that exists. Now. The second length

1629
01:27:19,319 --> 01:27:23,199
that came up is Kadjinka wiki fur the Furry Encyclopedia, which.

1630
01:27:23,119 --> 01:27:24,680
Speaker 3: Makes me feel like I'm going in the right direction.

1631
01:27:24,880 --> 01:27:29,439
Speaker 1: But yeah, I mean, I mean all every monster has

1632
01:27:29,479 --> 01:27:31,920
an armor set and you put it on, so that

1633
01:27:32,039 --> 01:27:34,520
is kind of like, oh, I guess on that note,

1634
01:27:34,520 --> 01:27:36,960
my one pet peeve about this game, not one pet

1635
01:27:37,640 --> 01:27:42,439
eric so hard not to lose my mind. I'm pivoting slightly.

1636
01:27:43,199 --> 01:27:46,479
I mean my character this game lets you put in

1637
01:27:46,800 --> 01:27:49,760
put on glasses in the character creator, which I love

1638
01:27:49,800 --> 01:27:52,800
because that's to me, that's like my main facial defining

1639
01:27:52,880 --> 01:27:55,039
characteristic is like if I have glasses, then I can

1640
01:27:55,199 --> 01:27:56,439
identify as that character.

1641
01:27:56,880 --> 01:28:00,199
Speaker 3: Are you a are you a self insert character? Your

1642
01:28:00,199 --> 01:28:03,560
creator like, do you make characters that look like you?

1643
01:28:03,960 --> 01:28:07,119
Speaker 1: Do I generally speaking or in this game generally speak

1644
01:28:07,119 --> 01:28:10,960
generally because I can't. I never get there's never a

1645
01:28:11,000 --> 01:28:14,039
hair texture that's close enough to mine. And it's usually

1646
01:28:14,079 --> 01:28:16,359
like if if you're doing any facial hair, I feel

1647
01:28:16,359 --> 01:28:17,960
like I have a hard time getting this combo.

1648
01:28:19,159 --> 01:28:22,399
Speaker 2: Yeah, I feel yeah.

1649
01:28:22,439 --> 01:28:24,840
Speaker 1: This game, though, I was like, I was like, oh,

1650
01:28:24,960 --> 01:28:26,680
I can put on glasses and I can have like

1651
01:28:26,680 --> 01:28:29,000
a little beerd There's no mustache, but it was like

1652
01:28:29,079 --> 01:28:31,520
close enough that I was like, yeah, okay that this

1653
01:28:31,560 --> 01:28:34,159
guy kind of looks like Charles. I remember, like Dragon's

1654
01:28:34,159 --> 01:28:36,199
Dogma two, you have to get like so far in

1655
01:28:36,239 --> 01:28:38,520
the game to even find the glasses option. And I

1656
01:28:38,560 --> 01:28:44,760
was always like, anyways, but my character was clearly a

1657
01:28:44,800 --> 01:28:49,319
black guy, no, no debate about that. Both my parents

1658
01:28:49,319 --> 01:28:53,560
were white, and it wasn't really addressed. And I don't

1659
01:28:53,720 --> 01:28:57,359
I don't know if it's like just the genes of

1660
01:28:57,399 --> 01:28:59,560
the world. It's just like I don't know, And there

1661
01:28:59,640 --> 01:29:02,520
was a thing where at one point the king like

1662
01:29:02,600 --> 01:29:05,199
puts me in charge of some you know, military thing,

1663
01:29:05,279 --> 01:29:07,640
and someone's like, Oh, why are you so nervous to

1664
01:29:07,640 --> 01:29:09,119
be in charge of it? And the guy's like, Oh,

1665
01:29:09,159 --> 01:29:10,920
he's worried that everyone's going to look at him and

1666
01:29:10,960 --> 01:29:14,000
think of his mother, the trader who betrayed the kingdom.

1667
01:29:14,439 --> 01:29:16,319
And I was just like, I don't think anyone looks

1668
01:29:16,319 --> 01:29:25,800
at me so and told looked like the trader exactly,

1669
01:29:25,960 --> 01:29:27,520
And I was like, what did she cheat on the

1670
01:29:27,600 --> 01:29:29,439
king with a black guy? And that's why I look

1671
01:29:29,560 --> 01:29:31,079
like this? So that's why I'm the trader.

1672
01:29:31,119 --> 01:29:31,520
Speaker 3: I don't know.

1673
01:29:32,079 --> 01:29:33,720
Speaker 1: And then also my hair.

1674
01:29:34,079 --> 01:29:36,079
Speaker 2: I can say so many things and I won't.

1675
01:29:36,600 --> 01:29:41,079
Speaker 3: As a as a kid this podcast on the Rail.

1676
01:29:41,359 --> 01:29:43,760
Speaker 1: It's like a kid model and no matter what your

1677
01:29:44,079 --> 01:29:46,079
adult form looks like, the kid model has like a

1678
01:29:46,119 --> 01:29:50,039
bowl cut. So I was just here, like, my I

1679
01:29:50,239 --> 01:29:53,920
have clearly curly hair on this black character. I don't

1680
01:29:53,920 --> 01:29:56,479
know how we went from bowl cut at age seven

1681
01:29:56,960 --> 01:30:01,960
to like tight afro at age I think it was.

1682
01:30:01,920 --> 01:30:04,359
Speaker 2: The trauma of losing your mom that made your hair.

1683
01:30:05,800 --> 01:30:10,760
Speaker 3: Yeah, you can ask another, ask another question about this.

1684
01:30:10,800 --> 01:30:12,920
This segment that was only supposed to be like five

1685
01:30:12,960 --> 01:30:17,560
minutes trying to more things. So you have you have glasses?

1686
01:30:18,159 --> 01:30:18,680
Speaker 1: Yeah?

1687
01:30:18,800 --> 01:30:21,880
Speaker 3: Does anyone else in the story have glasses?

1688
01:30:22,680 --> 01:30:25,840
Speaker 2: Oh?

1689
01:30:26,359 --> 01:30:28,800
Speaker 3: Because because everything you have said so far implies to

1690
01:30:28,840 --> 01:30:32,359
me like a high fantasy fire emblem kingdom type thing.

1691
01:30:33,199 --> 01:30:36,119
And all I can think is where did you get

1692
01:30:36,159 --> 01:30:37,359
the glasses from?

1693
01:30:37,800 --> 01:30:39,520
Speaker 2: Like that the lenses?

1694
01:30:39,720 --> 01:30:44,960
Speaker 3: Like is Merlin running an optometry shop like down the street?

1695
01:30:45,079 --> 01:30:47,920
Like is he how's he cutting the glass and making

1696
01:30:47,960 --> 01:30:49,840
the frames? Like what's he doing?

1697
01:30:50,479 --> 01:30:53,600
Speaker 1: There is a guy that has goggles, but those aren't glass,

1698
01:30:53,760 --> 01:30:54,920
that's not glasses.

1699
01:30:55,000 --> 01:30:58,319
Speaker 2: The glasses are probably crafted from monsters too, like everything

1700
01:30:58,319 --> 01:30:59,439
else in that world.

1701
01:31:00,079 --> 01:31:03,840
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm trying to think of the the I'm trying

1702
01:31:03,840 --> 01:31:06,159
to think of like the limits of the technology in

1703
01:31:06,199 --> 01:31:10,239
this game, because there's like sand chips, that's a thing.

1704
01:31:11,520 --> 01:31:15,520
Speaker 3: So they have machinery, they have, you know, the the

1705
01:31:15,600 --> 01:31:18,079
ability to produce.

1706
01:31:19,600 --> 01:31:22,640
Speaker 1: Lookout points. So there is like binoculars, so they do

1707
01:31:22,720 --> 01:31:27,079
have some kind of like lens making stuff in that sense.

1708
01:31:27,159 --> 01:31:31,159
Speaker 3: But yeah, I don't think there's any other last first classes.

1709
01:31:30,640 --> 01:31:35,199
Speaker 4: Made home in the glasses factory exactly.

1710
01:31:36,680 --> 01:31:38,720
Speaker 1: Sand Monster, the heat Monster.

1711
01:31:39,079 --> 01:31:41,319
Speaker 3: Okay, you know what it turns out like the first

1712
01:31:41,319 --> 01:31:44,720
glasses were made in like Italy and like the thirteenth

1713
01:31:44,720 --> 01:31:47,640
century or something, So we're probably fine in terms of

1714
01:31:48,319 --> 01:31:50,079
technological business.

1715
01:31:50,640 --> 01:31:53,000
Speaker 1: As a prince, I'm the only person that could afford.

1716
01:31:53,680 --> 01:31:54,760
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's messed up.

1717
01:31:55,279 --> 01:31:57,680
Speaker 2: It's actually instead of a crown, you get glasses and

1718
01:31:57,680 --> 01:31:58,720
it's the sign of royalty.

1719
01:31:59,199 --> 01:32:01,960
Speaker 1: Yeah, there's a thing to see in the D and D.

1720
01:32:02,079 --> 01:32:04,279
In the player's handbook, which is also like you know,

1721
01:32:04,399 --> 01:32:07,159
high fantasy medieval stuff. There's like prices for all these

1722
01:32:07,159 --> 01:32:10,760
like regular items, and it's like one gold piece, two

1723
01:32:10,800 --> 01:32:13,239
gold piece, a potion of healings like fifty gold pieces.

1724
01:32:13,600 --> 01:32:15,479
A gold piece is like ten dollars. Also like a

1725
01:32:15,520 --> 01:32:18,960
postion of healings like five hundred dollars, Like whoa, by far,

1726
01:32:19,600 --> 01:32:21,880
I don't think anything goes over Like two or three

1727
01:32:21,960 --> 01:32:26,079
hundred gold pieces. A thousand gold pieces is a spyglass.

1728
01:32:26,600 --> 01:32:29,920
They're like, we gotta be realistic here. That's really hard

1729
01:32:29,960 --> 01:32:32,439
to make with a technology that we have. It's gonna

1730
01:32:32,479 --> 01:32:33,960
be way more expensive everything else.

1731
01:32:34,039 --> 01:32:34,880
Speaker 2: Can you not just do?

1732
01:32:35,039 --> 01:32:37,640
Speaker 3: Like Wizard Lasick? Like is that not a thing in

1733
01:32:37,840 --> 01:32:38,720
D and D?

1734
01:32:39,159 --> 01:32:42,520
Speaker 2: A Wizard Lasick? I don't know, Like you can't just

1735
01:32:42,680 --> 01:32:45,920
have like a magic spell that's just like prepare your

1736
01:32:45,960 --> 01:32:46,800
eyes poof.

1737
01:32:47,000 --> 01:32:49,800
Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah, well I kind of like the idea that

1738
01:32:49,840 --> 01:32:51,760
he's like above you with the wand and he's kind

1739
01:32:51,760 --> 01:32:52,159
of like.

1740
01:32:52,720 --> 01:32:56,800
Speaker 2: Shooting into your eyes precise even though it's magic.

1741
01:32:57,199 --> 01:33:01,039
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, yeah, no, Cale's doing it.

1742
01:32:59,560 --> 01:33:03,560
Speaker 4: Oh, it's just my magic. I use this to fix

1743
01:33:03,600 --> 01:33:04,399
people's eyes.

1744
01:33:08,640 --> 01:33:10,119
Speaker 3: Would have been it would have been nice to have that,

1745
01:33:10,159 --> 01:33:11,359
like a year and a half ago.

1746
01:33:11,920 --> 01:33:13,359
Speaker 4: I haven't done it to myself clearly.

1747
01:33:13,960 --> 01:33:16,680
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, you don't trust it that much, Marcus. What's

1748
01:33:16,720 --> 01:33:18,880
it like to be able to see? Well, I do

1749
01:33:18,960 --> 01:33:22,199
wear contacts, so oh okay, okay, never mind, I'm in

1750
01:33:22,239 --> 01:33:23,520
the same boat but cooler.

1751
01:33:24,960 --> 01:33:25,880
Speaker 1: Yeah, you'll be there.

1752
01:33:25,960 --> 01:33:27,000
Speaker 3: You'll be there for a while.

1753
01:33:27,720 --> 01:33:30,359
Speaker 1: The other the other games all have contact lenses, which

1754
01:33:30,399 --> 01:33:31,239
is why you don't see.

1755
01:33:31,119 --> 01:33:33,920
Speaker 2: The glasses exactly. They figure that out.

1756
01:33:35,520 --> 01:33:38,079
Speaker 1: Anyways. If you want more detailed thoughts on all starting

1757
01:33:38,079 --> 01:33:41,199
the stories three, or you know, more concrete things about anything,

1758
01:33:41,399 --> 01:33:43,840
I want, I don't talk about race or glasses at

1759
01:33:43,880 --> 01:33:46,319
all on that piece, just really really more of a

1760
01:33:46,319 --> 01:33:49,640
supplementary discussion to that. But you can see that that's

1761
01:33:49,680 --> 01:33:51,039
live on the site, right now I get a game

1762
01:33:51,119 --> 01:33:54,239
a seven point five out of ten, I think that

1763
01:33:54,560 --> 01:33:57,199
people it's always the worst way to end of review.

1764
01:33:57,239 --> 01:33:58,479
So I didn't write this in the text, but it's

1765
01:33:58,520 --> 01:34:00,920
always a thing of like, if you like Monster Hunter

1766
01:34:01,000 --> 01:34:03,439
and you like the other Mashrner stories game, they'll probably

1767
01:34:03,520 --> 01:34:05,760
have a fine time with this, but it's not It

1768
01:34:05,760 --> 01:34:12,479
shouldn't be your introduction to turn based role playing games, right, yeah? Cool? Well,

1769
01:34:12,479 --> 01:34:17,439
speaking of reviews, Marcus, you after doing a cool preview

1770
01:34:17,479 --> 01:34:20,960
trip to go visit the studio or just talk to

1771
01:34:20,960 --> 01:34:21,680
people that made the game?

1772
01:34:22,600 --> 01:34:25,239
Speaker 2: Quarters, what a what a manufacturer? The wrestling that's where

1773
01:34:25,239 --> 01:34:26,039
wrestling comes from.

1774
01:34:26,399 --> 01:34:31,800
Speaker 1: There you go fast produced. You are now done with

1775
01:34:31,840 --> 01:34:34,520
your review, presumably by the time this goes up of

1776
01:34:34,680 --> 01:34:38,319
w W two K twenty six. How does it shape

1777
01:34:38,399 --> 01:34:41,119
up against the past entries?

1778
01:34:41,479 --> 01:34:43,159
Speaker 2: Should I give Eric a heart attack and play another

1779
01:34:43,199 --> 01:34:50,079
wrestling thing song to transition into the next segment? Yeah,

1780
01:34:52,680 --> 01:34:55,920
John Cena, what do you want.

1781
01:34:56,359 --> 01:34:56,520
Speaker 4: There?

1782
01:34:56,560 --> 01:35:04,920
Speaker 2: It is? It's like covered it. Wow? You know the

1783
01:35:05,119 --> 01:35:07,199
okay lyrics? Okay, and expect that.

1784
01:35:12,039 --> 01:35:14,039
Speaker 4: One day.

1785
01:35:15,000 --> 01:35:19,960
Speaker 2: Yeah, this game unfortunately, it's it's funny how much our

1786
01:35:20,319 --> 01:35:23,600
reviews are kind of parallel charts because I At the

1787
01:35:23,600 --> 01:35:25,399
time of writing, I have not scored the game, but

1788
01:35:25,439 --> 01:35:27,600
I have largely finished my review. It'll be up by

1789
01:35:27,600 --> 01:35:30,159
the time you're listening to this, though. But where I'm

1790
01:35:30,199 --> 01:35:33,359
hovering at right now is around like a seven point five.

1791
01:35:33,880 --> 01:35:38,960
Uh so the same score I like wrestling. I generally

1792
01:35:39,319 --> 01:35:41,720
enjoyed the two K games. Even though there's a lot

1793
01:35:41,760 --> 01:35:45,159
of criticism I have with them, I do still find

1794
01:35:45,199 --> 01:35:47,680
fun with them. I you know this, I know some

1795
01:35:47,680 --> 01:35:49,279
people don't like the same aspect of it, and then

1796
01:35:49,319 --> 01:35:52,239
I get it, but I do have This is my

1797
01:35:52,319 --> 01:35:56,520
probably my least favorite since they came back. So a

1798
01:35:56,520 --> 01:35:59,119
lot of the same modes are there. And again, like

1799
01:35:59,159 --> 01:36:01,600
you said, Charles, is hard to not just say like, hey,

1800
01:36:01,640 --> 01:36:03,800
if you like those other games, so probably like this one.

1801
01:36:03,840 --> 01:36:06,159
But that's even harder for like an annual franchise, like

1802
01:36:06,279 --> 01:36:09,079
annual sports games. You're like, yeah, they did the thing again,

1803
01:36:09,199 --> 01:36:13,760
what do you want? So yeah, it's like all the

1804
01:36:13,800 --> 01:36:16,960
modes are there. You know, they add a few new

1805
01:36:16,960 --> 01:36:20,800
match types that are generally fine, but they're not like,

1806
01:36:21,560 --> 01:36:23,399
at least to me, they're not going to like blow

1807
01:36:23,439 --> 01:36:26,039
your socks off, but they're like nice to have just

1808
01:36:26,119 --> 01:36:29,319
the join the collection of them. I will say the

1809
01:36:29,359 --> 01:36:33,520
big thing kind of with in terms of new stuff

1810
01:36:33,640 --> 01:36:36,760
is like the Ringside Pass, which is their first four

1811
01:36:36,840 --> 01:36:40,840
way into introducing a battle pass. So traditionally in these games,

1812
01:36:41,000 --> 01:36:44,520
they're sort of like monetization strategy has been to release

1813
01:36:44,800 --> 01:36:48,119
these post launch DLC packs or like hey, here's a

1814
01:36:48,159 --> 01:36:51,279
pack with a few wrestlers and some cosmetics and other things,

1815
01:36:51,399 --> 01:36:53,880
and you can buy those ala carte, or if you

1816
01:36:53,920 --> 01:36:57,119
buy either of the like two or three special editions,

1817
01:36:57,159 --> 01:36:59,640
you'll just have like instant access to it. And those

1818
01:36:59,680 --> 01:37:03,760
packs dropped throughout the year. On one hand, and when

1819
01:37:03,800 --> 01:37:06,680
you kind of like like look at those two, there's

1820
01:37:06,720 --> 01:37:08,960
not much different because they're still paying extra money for

1821
01:37:09,119 --> 01:37:11,800
post content, which is like not new in games. And

1822
01:37:11,840 --> 01:37:14,319
I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with it. And

1823
01:37:14,399 --> 01:37:17,000
even with this battle Pass from what I've you know,

1824
01:37:17,039 --> 01:37:19,920
played from it, I I I think if you if

1825
01:37:19,960 --> 01:37:22,479
you have like a strong feelings about battle passes either way,

1826
01:37:22,560 --> 01:37:24,399
I think you kind of know where we are stand

1827
01:37:24,840 --> 01:37:27,840
with this game. Regardless of what this game does. I

1828
01:37:27,880 --> 01:37:29,960
will say, to their credit, what I do like about

1829
01:37:30,000 --> 01:37:32,720
there is is one none of the rewards expire, so

1830
01:37:32,760 --> 01:37:35,520
there's no like none of that toxic fomo of like

1831
01:37:35,560 --> 01:37:38,199
I need to log in now because yeah, you know,

1832
01:37:38,239 --> 01:37:40,920
Booker T is gonna disappear in two days. They don't

1833
01:37:40,920 --> 01:37:43,279
do that. Everything is always there all the time, So

1834
01:37:43,319 --> 01:37:46,600
I do like that, and I do think like there's

1835
01:37:46,640 --> 01:37:48,680
been some updates during the review here, it would have

1836
01:37:48,720 --> 01:37:51,520
kind of tweaked the sort of like progression of like

1837
01:37:51,520 --> 01:37:54,640
how long it takes, but even before the tweaks, And

1838
01:37:54,680 --> 01:37:56,239
maybe I'm saying and I'm coming to this with a

1839
01:37:56,239 --> 01:37:59,399
little bit of a I don't know, naivete. I don't

1840
01:37:59,399 --> 01:38:00,800
know if that's the word I want to use. But

1841
01:38:00,840 --> 01:38:03,880
I don't play multiplayer games generally. It's not really my thing.

1842
01:38:04,079 --> 01:38:06,279
So I don't really deal with battle passes just in

1843
01:38:06,319 --> 01:38:09,760
my daily life, like and even the ones when I

1844
01:38:09,800 --> 01:38:12,359
do log into them, I never buy anycause I don't

1845
01:38:12,359 --> 01:38:16,039
play enough to be like to feel enticed to pay

1846
01:38:16,119 --> 01:38:18,680
for a premium tier, like usually the free tier is

1847
01:38:18,720 --> 01:38:21,199
about as much engagement as I'm going to put into

1848
01:38:21,239 --> 01:38:24,920
the game probably anyway. So I'm I'm generally pretty neutral

1849
01:38:24,920 --> 01:38:27,199
on battle passing. I've never had a reason to hate

1850
01:38:27,239 --> 01:38:30,199
them or love them either way. I guess I will

1851
01:38:30,239 --> 01:38:33,479
say for this game once. I do think there's some

1852
01:38:33,560 --> 01:38:36,119
negative sort of like side effects that affect the other

1853
01:38:36,199 --> 01:38:39,319
modes because of the ringside pass being present. I think

1854
01:38:39,520 --> 01:38:42,319
mainly My Rise, which is like the story driven mode.

1855
01:38:42,640 --> 01:38:46,359
So My Rise, it's usually like two campaigns. You create

1856
01:38:46,399 --> 01:38:48,720
your own male or female wrestler, or in this game,

1857
01:38:48,760 --> 01:38:50,039
as they like to call them, wrestlings.

1858
01:38:51,439 --> 01:39:02,079
Speaker 5: But right, you can't do that in a review. You

1859
01:39:02,119 --> 01:39:03,760
can't just lie about the game.

1860
01:39:03,800 --> 01:39:10,680
Speaker 1: And then say if they were actually.

1861
01:39:10,359 --> 01:39:14,800
Speaker 2: Called like I, I mean, I guess you could call

1862
01:39:14,960 --> 01:39:21,199
that if you want. But but in the previous games

1863
01:39:21,239 --> 01:39:23,920
it was the same structure. Like you play, it's like

1864
01:39:23,960 --> 01:39:28,079
a original storyline. You're talking to wrestlers that are voiced

1865
01:39:28,119 --> 01:39:31,560
by the actual wrestlers, and you're like hanging out backstage,

1866
01:39:31,560 --> 01:39:34,079
and usually those initiate matches in the ring, and then

1867
01:39:34,119 --> 01:39:37,880
cinematics moments happened, like cutscenes, and it's choice driven, so

1868
01:39:37,960 --> 01:39:40,199
depending on how you respond, you can make yourself a

1869
01:39:40,199 --> 01:39:43,319
good guy wrestler or a bad guy wrestler. And generally

1870
01:39:43,359 --> 01:39:46,920
they're like always corny and cheesy and dumb, but also

1871
01:39:47,159 --> 01:39:49,439
wrestling can be corny and cheesy and dumb, so it

1872
01:39:49,520 --> 01:39:51,520
kind of lines up and it's if you enjoy like

1873
01:39:51,680 --> 01:39:54,680
dumb fun then I still get a kick out of them,

1874
01:39:54,920 --> 01:39:57,560
even while acknowledging how silly the stories are. But in

1875
01:39:57,600 --> 01:40:00,680
this case they change the structure where now instead of

1876
01:40:00,720 --> 01:40:04,840
just playing kind of like constant story moments in between

1877
01:40:04,880 --> 01:40:07,720
the big story milestones, you now have to play a

1878
01:40:07,840 --> 01:40:10,319
bunch of random matches in a row to fill up

1879
01:40:10,359 --> 01:40:13,079
a star quota. Because every time in the game, when

1880
01:40:13,119 --> 01:40:15,319
you complete a match, you get a star rating, which

1881
01:40:15,399 --> 01:40:17,239
is sort of like a real life thing from like

1882
01:40:17,720 --> 01:40:21,359
wrestling journalists or critics that will assign star ratings to

1883
01:40:21,439 --> 01:40:23,399
matches like, oh, that was a five star match. They

1884
01:40:23,439 --> 01:40:25,079
kind of have that built into the game. That's been

1885
01:40:25,079 --> 01:40:27,680
a thing for like ever, but now they're using it

1886
01:40:27,720 --> 01:40:31,079
in My Rise, where if you like, you have to

1887
01:40:31,079 --> 01:40:32,800
wrestle a bunch of matches and then if you want

1888
01:40:32,840 --> 01:40:35,560
to unlock the next story thing, you have to have

1889
01:40:35,600 --> 01:40:39,199
twelve stars across how many ever matches, So they're like, oh,

1890
01:40:39,239 --> 01:40:41,760
I wrestled this guy that was a two star match,

1891
01:40:41,800 --> 01:40:44,760
so I need ten more stars across how many of

1892
01:40:44,800 --> 01:40:47,279
her matches that get to the next thing. And it

1893
01:40:48,039 --> 01:40:52,279
sucks it is it creates such a grind now to

1894
01:40:52,399 --> 01:40:55,319
get to the next like plot milestone, and none of

1895
01:40:55,319 --> 01:40:58,199
these matches are really related to what you're doing. And

1896
01:40:58,239 --> 01:41:02,640
a lot of times the pool is very shallow where

1897
01:41:02,680 --> 01:41:05,119
it'll be like like you can decline matches and then

1898
01:41:05,119 --> 01:41:07,000
they'll just match you up with somebody else. But there

1899
01:41:07,000 --> 01:41:09,039
are multiple times, right decline, like three times in a row,

1900
01:41:09,039 --> 01:41:10,640
and it was the same guy like just popped up

1901
01:41:10,640 --> 01:41:12,319
and you're like, oh, it's the Miz, and like, well,

1902
01:41:12,319 --> 01:41:13,920
I already wrestled the Miz. I would like to fight

1903
01:41:13,960 --> 01:41:15,640
someone else, Like well, it's gonna be the Miss again,

1904
01:41:15,840 --> 01:41:18,159
and like is there anyone else around that isn't the Miss?

1905
01:41:19,840 --> 01:41:22,760
Speaker 1: And it's like, I guess, Miss, can you describe the Miz?

1906
01:41:23,720 --> 01:41:26,319
Speaker 2: Did you ever? I had Charles, you might you might

1907
01:41:26,359 --> 01:41:28,840
be young, and Nicole, I don't know how old you are,

1908
01:41:28,840 --> 01:41:31,640
But are you guys familiar with the real world.

1909
01:41:32,079 --> 01:41:33,840
Speaker 4: That's the only reason I know the mis?

1910
01:41:34,640 --> 01:41:38,520
Speaker 2: Okay, So he came from the real world and famously

1911
01:41:38,520 --> 01:41:40,840
created the Miss persona there and he said he wanted

1912
01:41:40,840 --> 01:41:42,800
to be a wrestler on the show and then he

1913
01:41:42,880 --> 01:41:45,479
actually did it, and he has been in w since

1914
01:41:45,479 --> 01:41:47,439
two thousand and six, and is he came in as like, oh,

1915
01:41:47,520 --> 01:41:49,680
he's the reality show guy. It's a wrestler, what a

1916
01:41:50,039 --> 01:41:51,880
you know? He thinks he's hot stuff. And he has

1917
01:41:51,920 --> 01:41:53,920
evolved that character in different ways, especially when he got

1918
01:41:53,920 --> 01:41:56,239
into acting he became more of a Hollywood character. But

1919
01:41:56,359 --> 01:42:02,000
basically he's this like kind of like smarmye, kind of

1920
01:42:02,079 --> 01:42:07,119
like cowardly villain who has somehow like who basically in

1921
01:42:07,159 --> 01:42:11,760
real life has outlasted and overachieved given where he came from,

1922
01:42:11,760 --> 01:42:14,640
Like every wrestling veteran thought he'd be gone within a year,

1923
01:42:14,720 --> 01:42:17,199
and he has outlasted everyone. And he has had a

1924
01:42:17,319 --> 01:42:21,640
genuine Hall of Fame caliber career. So it's to his credit.

1925
01:42:21,920 --> 01:42:22,880
He's a very good talent.

1926
01:42:22,960 --> 01:42:27,119
Speaker 4: Okay, yeah, had gone because I think as that like

1927
01:42:27,600 --> 01:42:30,840
kind of like he's a reality like what is he?

1928
01:42:30,840 --> 01:42:33,880
Speaker 2: He's a wild mouth guy.

1929
01:42:33,359 --> 01:42:36,520
Speaker 4: Yeah, I didn't realize he had such a successful wrestling career.

1930
01:42:37,119 --> 01:42:38,359
Speaker 2: Yeah, I was one of the guys at the time

1931
01:42:38,399 --> 01:42:39,800
and he came in. I was like, I hated him.

1932
01:42:39,800 --> 01:42:41,479
I thought he was grading and then I was very

1933
01:42:41,520 --> 01:42:43,840
much like he didn't come from real wrestling. He'll be gone,

1934
01:42:43,880 --> 01:42:46,039
he won't make it six months. And then fast forward

1935
01:42:46,079 --> 01:42:48,800
twenty years later and he's won like every championship and

1936
01:42:48,880 --> 01:42:52,239
main event at WrestleMania, and he deserves all the flowers

1937
01:42:52,239 --> 01:42:53,159
that he's now.

1938
01:42:53,039 --> 01:42:56,399
Speaker 3: Getting, and you still don't want to wrestle him.

1939
01:42:56,279 --> 01:42:57,600
Speaker 2: But no, I don't want to wrestle him three times

1940
01:42:57,640 --> 01:42:59,439
in a row. In my eyes, don't want to. Don't

1941
01:42:59,479 --> 01:43:04,359
like Matt much. So yeah, and I don't notice for sure,

1942
01:43:04,439 --> 01:43:06,840
but I suspect the reason that they change the structure

1943
01:43:06,960 --> 01:43:10,720
is because of the Ringside Pass, because you earn experience

1944
01:43:10,760 --> 01:43:13,319
points in the Ringside Pass for doing pretty much anything

1945
01:43:13,319 --> 01:43:16,439
to gain, like engaging with any mode, but you get

1946
01:43:16,479 --> 01:43:19,560
more points for winning matches, So I think they wanted

1947
01:43:19,600 --> 01:43:23,520
you to use my Rise as a way to gain

1948
01:43:23,680 --> 01:43:27,199
experience to fuel the Battle Pass. So it's like, if

1949
01:43:27,239 --> 01:43:29,479
we give you a bunch of random matches that you're

1950
01:43:29,520 --> 01:43:33,079
probably going to win, this will make you unlock more rewards,

1951
01:43:33,239 --> 01:43:35,439
which on one hand is kind of admirable of like, oh,

1952
01:43:35,479 --> 01:43:37,520
you're giving me more ways to unlock your rewards, but

1953
01:43:37,600 --> 01:43:39,800
also you're doing it in a way that sucks, and

1954
01:43:39,840 --> 01:43:42,840
it just completely derails the pacing of this usually pretty

1955
01:43:42,840 --> 01:43:46,319
brisk and like to the point story mode. And I

1956
01:43:46,640 --> 01:43:49,119
almost wonder IF's like I'm not insane because I don't

1957
01:43:49,119 --> 01:43:51,479
always retain these story modes each year because they're not

1958
01:43:51,560 --> 01:43:54,439
memorable generally. But I even fired up. I usually fire

1959
01:43:54,520 --> 01:43:56,359
up the previous year's games when I'm doing a review

1960
01:43:56,359 --> 01:43:57,920
of the new one, just to compare things, because sometimes

1961
01:43:57,920 --> 01:43:59,520
there's so similar to at their mind myself like was

1962
01:43:59,520 --> 01:44:02,319
this in the last your game? And so I actually

1963
01:44:02,359 --> 01:44:04,279
fired up two K twenty five's My Rise just to

1964
01:44:04,640 --> 01:44:06,960
remind myself of how quickly it moves. I remember liking

1965
01:44:06,960 --> 01:44:08,399
it last year, and I played a few of the

1966
01:44:08,399 --> 01:44:10,640
story matches and I was like, yeah, it's just moment

1967
01:44:10,720 --> 01:44:14,119
the moment, just next thing, Like there's really no downtime,

1968
01:44:14,239 --> 01:44:17,239
Like there's optional side quest that you can do to

1969
01:44:17,840 --> 01:44:20,199
gain experience to pump up your character, but otherwise you're

1970
01:44:20,199 --> 01:44:22,880
free to just go through it and none of that's here.

1971
01:44:23,159 --> 01:44:25,600
And so it's my least favorite My Rise in a while.

1972
01:44:27,079 --> 01:44:28,880
The other big thing is the Showcase mode, which is

1973
01:44:28,920 --> 01:44:31,640
sort of like it's always it's like a playable documentary

1974
01:44:31,640 --> 01:44:33,560
more or less. I usually centers on the cover star,

1975
01:44:33,880 --> 01:44:36,840
so this year it's CM Punk and it's like half

1976
01:44:36,920 --> 01:44:39,600
of a historical sort of retrospective where he's you know,

1977
01:44:39,600 --> 01:44:42,640
They've shot all these vignettes with him where he's introducing

1978
01:44:42,640 --> 01:44:44,359
each match and he's like, yeah, I wrestled this guy

1979
01:44:44,359 --> 01:44:46,439
in two thousand and eight at SummerSlam. Man, what a

1980
01:44:46,439 --> 01:44:49,760
crazy match. Let's let's play that. And then the other

1981
01:44:49,840 --> 01:44:53,479
half is just like what IFFs because for Punk he left.

1982
01:44:53,560 --> 01:44:55,560
He walked out on w B in twenty fourteen and

1983
01:44:55,560 --> 01:44:57,880
didn't come back until twenty twenty three, so there's like

1984
01:44:57,880 --> 01:44:59,800
that ten year gap where he's like, well, what if

1985
01:44:59,800 --> 01:45:03,520
I stayed, who could I have wrestled? And that stuff

1986
01:45:03,600 --> 01:45:06,279
is also hit and miss because for the historical half,

1987
01:45:07,000 --> 01:45:10,640
it's really only focused largely on like one year, which

1988
01:45:10,680 --> 01:45:12,760
is like twenty thirteen to twenty fourteen, so like the

1989
01:45:12,840 --> 01:45:15,600
last year of his first run, and I think if

1990
01:45:15,640 --> 01:45:18,640
you're a Punk fan you want it's much of like

1991
01:45:18,640 --> 01:45:20,960
a wide breath because he came into W and six,

1992
01:45:21,319 --> 01:45:23,439
so yeah, like a long run in his first time.

1993
01:45:23,840 --> 01:45:26,920
And Grant I am ignoring the matches that they can't

1994
01:45:26,960 --> 01:45:31,119
do because certain opponents wrestle in other companies that he's like, Okay,

1995
01:45:31,119 --> 01:45:33,720
well we can't do Christiericho because he signed with AW

1996
01:45:33,920 --> 01:45:35,920
and him and Christierigo had a big feud. We can't

1997
01:45:35,920 --> 01:45:38,239
do Jeff Hardy because Jeff Hardy's in TNA, even though

1998
01:45:38,239 --> 01:45:40,319
they have a working relationship with TNA, and I think

1999
01:45:40,359 --> 01:45:42,199
they just announced the Hardy's are going to be DLC,

2000
01:45:42,239 --> 01:45:44,479
so maybe no, I don't know what the excuses with

2001
01:45:44,520 --> 01:45:48,119
that one. Maybe, But anyways, those are fine. That happens

2002
01:45:48,119 --> 01:45:51,439
every year with Showcase. But even still, there's just so

2003
01:45:51,560 --> 01:45:54,199
much of his career that is either touched on in

2004
01:45:54,239 --> 01:45:57,159
the little videos or just isn't really mentioned. So like,

2005
01:45:57,199 --> 01:46:00,279
if you wanted the ECW run of cmpunk get to

2006
01:46:00,279 --> 01:46:02,319
play any of that. If you wanted the straight edge

2007
01:46:02,359 --> 01:46:04,720
society era of punk, which is one of my favorite

2008
01:46:04,760 --> 01:46:06,199
eras of punk, you don't get to play any of

2009
01:46:06,199 --> 01:46:12,159
that stuff. Even maybe the biggest omission if it is

2010
01:46:12,199 --> 01:46:15,159
Money in the Bank twenty eleven, famously one of his

2011
01:46:15,199 --> 01:46:17,439
most famous matches, maybe his most famous match where he

2012
01:46:17,439 --> 01:46:21,600
beat Johnston famously guys short story, Punk was Gonna leave

2013
01:46:21,720 --> 01:46:25,399
WWA in twenty eleven challenged kind of promo that we

2014
01:46:25,399 --> 01:46:28,079
call the pipe prom promo. He basically broke the fourth

2015
01:46:28,119 --> 01:46:33,479
wall and criticized ww's creative, criticized Vince McMahon on live television,

2016
01:46:33,560 --> 01:46:35,119
and it's kind of the thing that propelled him to

2017
01:46:35,119 --> 01:46:37,319
superstart him because everyone's like, he's just say some wild

2018
01:46:37,359 --> 01:46:40,039
stuff right now on TV. And then was going to

2019
01:46:40,039 --> 01:46:43,199
walk out on w AT Money in the Bank twenty eleven,

2020
01:46:43,239 --> 01:46:45,000
a pay per view that was in Chicago, which is

2021
01:46:45,000 --> 01:46:48,199
his hometown, so everyone's one hundred percent behind him. He's

2022
01:46:48,199 --> 01:46:50,560
fighting Johnson of the biggest baby face. He was getting

2023
01:46:50,600 --> 01:46:53,279
booed out of the building and he threatened like, Hey,

2024
01:46:53,279 --> 01:46:55,319
if I win this title, I'm going to leave the

2025
01:46:55,359 --> 01:46:58,000
company with the title. I'm going to walk out with

2026
01:46:58,039 --> 01:47:02,079
this and you're gonna not have a champion and one wow.

2027
01:47:03,880 --> 01:47:06,520
And then he came back anyway a few weeks later,

2028
01:47:06,720 --> 01:47:08,359
but it was a huge thing at the time.

2029
01:47:09,640 --> 01:47:10,239
Speaker 1: He didn't.

2030
01:47:11,720 --> 01:47:12,520
Speaker 4: Out of it.

2031
01:47:14,079 --> 01:47:16,159
Speaker 3: That zegues into something I was going to ask about

2032
01:47:16,199 --> 01:47:19,079
this was just like I don't even know wrestling super well,

2033
01:47:19,119 --> 01:47:21,760
but I know that CM Punk for years was kind

2034
01:47:21,800 --> 01:47:24,920
of that person who was speaking out about things, was

2035
01:47:24,960 --> 01:47:27,640
going on podcasts and talking about things that were happening

2036
01:47:28,159 --> 01:47:32,560
in the WWE. Like he has been a vocal person

2037
01:47:32,800 --> 01:47:38,760
about like the way that company conducts business. And I wonder, like,

2038
01:47:38,920 --> 01:47:40,439
how much of that do you feel like this is

2039
01:47:40,479 --> 01:47:43,640
still a WWE branded game, and in the same way

2040
01:47:43,680 --> 01:47:45,960
that like Madden doesn't really touch on a lot of

2041
01:47:46,000 --> 01:47:49,159
the bad stuff that happens in football, Like is the

2042
01:47:49,239 --> 01:47:52,439
WWE game avoiding a lot of the stuff that would

2043
01:47:52,479 --> 01:47:53,720
paint them in a bad light.

2044
01:47:54,199 --> 01:47:55,960
Speaker 2: Well, no, because they had money in a bank, Like

2045
01:47:56,199 --> 01:47:58,760
the company worked with him on that storyline, Like he

2046
01:47:58,800 --> 01:48:00,479
didn't just go out there with my phone and say

2047
01:48:00,520 --> 01:48:01,800
what they wanted, Like they knew he was going to

2048
01:48:01,880 --> 01:48:04,680
do that. They just let him do it because Vince McMahon,

2049
01:48:05,079 --> 01:48:06,960
for better or worse, he'll do whatever it takes to

2050
01:48:07,000 --> 01:48:09,159
sell tickets. So even if it's him going out there

2051
01:48:09,439 --> 01:48:12,000
and punk literally saying that this company will be better

2052
01:48:12,039 --> 01:48:16,159
off once he's dead, Vice was okay with that because

2053
01:48:16,199 --> 01:48:20,359
he's a businessman. So it's you know, we're kidding into

2054
01:48:20,439 --> 01:48:23,920
sort of like the more wilder real life sort of

2055
01:48:23,920 --> 01:48:26,159
like psychology of wrestling, of yeah, go out there and

2056
01:48:26,199 --> 01:48:28,560
say terrible things about me, I don't mind because we're

2057
01:48:28,560 --> 01:48:33,039
trying to sell tickets, or yeah, go disparage the company.

2058
01:48:33,119 --> 01:48:33,760
It's okay.

2059
01:48:33,800 --> 01:48:36,520
Speaker 3: Well, what I'm saying is like not to like pull

2060
01:48:36,600 --> 01:48:39,239
the veil back, but there's like a degree of kfabe

2061
01:48:39,239 --> 01:48:42,760
where it's like, Oh, this this guy sucks and I'm

2062
01:48:42,800 --> 01:48:44,840
willing to beat him. And then it's like that's part

2063
01:48:44,840 --> 01:48:47,359
of the act, that's part of putting on the show.

2064
01:48:47,560 --> 01:48:51,479
And and obviously, like as social media is proliferated, those

2065
01:48:51,520 --> 01:48:55,039
personas have had to expand or or like reality shows

2066
01:48:55,039 --> 01:48:57,399
have had to encompass broader parts of their life than

2067
01:48:57,479 --> 01:49:00,279
just when they're on the quote unquote stage when in

2068
01:49:00,399 --> 01:49:03,479
like the Squared Circle and all that, so like they

2069
01:49:03,479 --> 01:49:06,079
have had to be larger than life. And but with

2070
01:49:06,079 --> 01:49:08,640
with Punk there was like very specific, like he was

2071
01:49:08,720 --> 01:49:11,319
like the infamous moment where he was on like was

2072
01:49:11,359 --> 01:49:15,000
it tranquilizers or something that that they were like do

2073
01:49:15,039 --> 01:49:17,920
you not remember the the pooped his briches story, because

2074
01:49:17,960 --> 01:49:19,680
this is the one I always think of with CM

2075
01:49:19,760 --> 01:49:22,399
Punk specifically, I think I.

2076
01:49:22,479 --> 01:49:24,319
Speaker 2: Do remember him mentioning in a podcast that he craped

2077
01:49:24,359 --> 01:49:26,159
himself in a ring, which is actually a pretty common thing.

2078
01:49:26,159 --> 01:49:27,920
Like a lot of wrestler be like, yeah, I took

2079
01:49:27,960 --> 01:49:29,960
a I took a fall so hard, I got slams

2080
01:49:29,960 --> 01:49:31,479
so hard that I pooped my pants in a ring

2081
01:49:31,479 --> 01:49:31,920
a little bit.

2082
01:49:32,399 --> 01:49:35,920
Speaker 3: There's there's a there's a podcast episode talking about this,

2083
01:49:36,039 --> 01:49:38,039
but it was it was happening around the time that

2084
01:49:38,079 --> 01:49:40,199
a lot of people were coming out about like the

2085
01:49:40,239 --> 01:49:44,720
health ramifications of being a wrestler, and like how a

2086
01:49:44,760 --> 01:49:46,840
lot of wrestlers were having to put up go fundmes

2087
01:49:46,880 --> 01:49:50,840
to support themselves because of longstanding things that happened to

2088
01:49:50,880 --> 01:49:53,159
them because of wrestling. And so that's what I'm saying

2089
01:49:53,199 --> 01:49:56,359
is like, does it feel like there's a glossing over

2090
01:49:56,520 --> 01:49:59,039
of that or does it more just feel like W's

2091
01:49:59,159 --> 01:50:01,039
is putting on a vision of seem punk that is

2092
01:50:01,359 --> 01:50:04,720
maybe their vision, but not the vision that fans would

2093
01:50:04,720 --> 01:50:05,720
want of CM punk.

2094
01:50:06,199 --> 01:50:08,600
Speaker 2: No, because they've the real reason I think this match

2095
01:50:08,640 --> 01:50:10,000
is an end because they talk about Money in the

2096
01:50:10,000 --> 01:50:11,840
Bank twenty eleven all the time. They didn't when he

2097
01:50:11,960 --> 01:50:14,119
was gone for ten years because he was persona non

2098
01:50:14,119 --> 01:50:16,199
grata in general when he was gone, so they just

2099
01:50:16,239 --> 01:50:19,800
did not talk about him. But even when he was

2100
01:50:19,800 --> 01:50:21,640
there the first time, and since he's come back, they'll

2101
01:50:21,640 --> 01:50:23,119
be like, yeah, it's went to Bank twenty eleven, one

2102
01:50:23,159 --> 01:50:25,399
of his greatest matches. But I think the real reason

2103
01:50:25,399 --> 01:50:27,399
it's not there is because Vince McMahon is involved in

2104
01:50:27,399 --> 01:50:30,560
that match, and Vince McMahon is currently persona non grata

2105
01:50:30,640 --> 01:50:34,119
and wuy for horrific reasons that you can look up

2106
01:50:34,119 --> 01:50:37,560
on your own, but like, he is involved in the

2107
01:50:37,600 --> 01:50:40,079
finish of that match because he in storyline, he tries

2108
01:50:40,159 --> 01:50:43,439
to stop Punk from winning and fails. So like, when

2109
01:50:43,439 --> 01:50:45,079
I think about, like, how do you recreate that match

2110
01:50:45,119 --> 01:50:49,319
without the vins running, I guess and it's like, I

2111
01:50:49,359 --> 01:50:51,600
think you could probably get around it, because it's like, yeah,

2112
01:50:51,640 --> 01:50:54,159
he's in the match, but he doesn't play, he doesn't

2113
01:50:54,199 --> 01:50:57,520
really get involved physically. He just kind of comes out

2114
01:50:57,640 --> 01:51:00,880
and stands on the stage. But he also sends another

2115
01:51:00,960 --> 01:51:03,359
guy named John Lorenidis, who was also implicated in that

2116
01:51:03,399 --> 01:51:06,159
same lawsuit, try to do something, but he also was

2117
01:51:06,239 --> 01:51:09,760
like nullified pretty quickly. So it's like, I think you

2118
01:51:09,760 --> 01:51:11,520
could just do a version of that match without him

2119
01:51:11,560 --> 01:51:13,279
and it wouldn't change things. But I think maybe they're

2120
01:51:13,319 --> 01:51:15,239
just like, no, we don't even want to go near

2121
01:51:15,279 --> 01:51:17,680
it because because he is present in the match, which

2122
01:51:18,079 --> 01:51:21,520
fair enough, but I that's all to say again, if

2123
01:51:21,520 --> 01:51:23,760
you're a Punk fan and you expect because everyone would

2124
01:51:23,760 --> 01:51:25,159
think like, well, that's match is going to be in

2125
01:51:25,159 --> 01:51:26,920
there and that's like his defining match, and they're like, no,

2126
01:51:27,039 --> 01:51:30,640
that's not in there, so that the show, the historical

2127
01:51:30,640 --> 01:51:33,439
side is kind of lacking the dream match stuff, or

2128
01:51:33,439 --> 01:51:35,640
it's just him finding opponents that he's never wrestled or

2129
01:51:36,199 --> 01:51:38,479
or in paid, or like kind of like inserting himself

2130
01:51:38,520 --> 01:51:41,359
in situations that involved other wrestlers where it's like, oh,

2131
01:51:41,760 --> 01:51:44,800
WrestleMania thirty was the Daniel Bryan show. But if I'd stayed,

2132
01:51:45,039 --> 01:51:46,960
maybe I would have been Daniel Bryan. I would have

2133
01:51:46,960 --> 01:51:49,399
wrestled Triple Ah in the opener and then inserted myself

2134
01:51:49,399 --> 01:51:52,560
in the three way main event. That stuff's fun, but

2135
01:51:52,600 --> 01:51:54,479
it goes on for like a really long time, like

2136
01:51:54,479 --> 01:51:57,239
a little too long honestly, where I was kind of

2137
01:51:57,239 --> 01:51:59,199
like ready for it to be over. I do like

2138
01:51:59,199 --> 01:52:01,720
that the matches don't have as many of the optional

2139
01:52:01,760 --> 01:52:05,359
objectives anymore, where like because you're playing at least the

2140
01:52:06,199 --> 01:52:08,600
historical matches, they'll be like, hey, there's a point in

2141
01:52:08,600 --> 01:52:10,560
this match where Punk hit a DDT, So if you

2142
01:52:10,640 --> 01:52:13,520
hit a DDT when we tell you you'll unlock a

2143
01:52:13,640 --> 01:52:17,399
thing afterwards, there's like half of it. Feels like there's

2144
01:52:17,399 --> 01:52:19,119
like half of that in these matches, so they're quicker,

2145
01:52:19,119 --> 01:52:22,119
they get through, but now there's just like more matches,

2146
01:52:22,479 --> 01:52:26,000
so it's longer in a different way. But they also added,

2147
01:52:26,039 --> 01:52:28,199
for the first time at least that I can remember,

2148
01:52:28,319 --> 01:52:30,880
like an alternative version where instead of playing kind of

2149
01:52:30,920 --> 01:52:33,119
like the timeline version, you can do like a gauntlet

2150
01:52:33,159 --> 01:52:36,039
match where it's like, okay, like straight up, there's a

2151
01:52:36,079 --> 01:52:38,399
video punk saying listen, we all know not everyone has

2152
01:52:38,439 --> 01:52:39,800
the time to get through this, but you want to

2153
01:52:39,800 --> 01:52:42,479
get all the unlockables. So instead you're going to compete

2154
01:52:42,479 --> 01:52:45,640
in one gauntlet match where it's one after the other.

2155
01:52:45,760 --> 01:52:49,039
It's you versus all twenty opponents that appear in Showcase,

2156
01:52:49,239 --> 01:52:50,840
and you have to beat them one at a time,

2157
01:52:51,279 --> 01:52:53,279
but you don't get it, like your health is the

2158
01:52:53,319 --> 01:52:56,840
same throughout, so it's just an endurance run. But it's like,

2159
01:52:56,880 --> 01:52:59,479
if you manage to win this, you will unlock everything

2160
01:52:59,600 --> 01:53:02,840
that Showcase offers, so you can do it two ways,

2161
01:53:02,960 --> 01:53:05,680
which is kind of neat. It's hard, and best of

2162
01:53:05,800 --> 01:53:07,760
luck to anyone that pulls it off. I tried it,

2163
01:53:07,800 --> 01:53:12,119
and you know, lost within like match five. But I

2164
01:53:12,239 --> 01:53:14,319
like that as kind of like a fun little like

2165
01:53:15,039 --> 01:53:16,600
endurance test. I do.

2166
01:53:16,640 --> 01:53:18,640
Speaker 1: I like that a lot. I wish more games were

2167
01:53:18,680 --> 01:53:21,920
just like, hey, you're only level two. But here's the

2168
01:53:21,960 --> 01:53:24,720
boss rush for the whole game, and do this the

2169
01:53:24,760 --> 01:53:27,560
old luck the highest level spells good luck.

2170
01:53:30,000 --> 01:53:33,479
Speaker 2: The other big thing that I uh not a fan

2171
01:53:33,560 --> 01:53:35,479
of is the Island. So this was the mode that

2172
01:53:35,600 --> 01:53:38,399
was introduced last year, and it's basically if you played

2173
01:53:38,479 --> 01:53:40,840
NBA two K, Like they've always had their version of

2174
01:53:40,880 --> 01:53:43,159
this where I forget what they call it, like my career,

2175
01:53:43,479 --> 01:53:45,079
but it's the thing where you make your own custom

2176
01:53:45,279 --> 01:53:47,399
player or in this case, the custom wrestler, and they

2177
01:53:47,479 --> 01:53:51,680
drop you in like a open hub with like you know,

2178
01:53:51,720 --> 01:53:54,680
there's other characters online or people running around and you

2179
01:53:54,720 --> 01:53:57,159
basically just go around do missions. But really what it

2180
01:53:57,239 --> 01:53:59,720
is is that it's it's like a digital shopping mall

2181
01:54:00,000 --> 01:54:02,319
where they want you to spend the VC to virtual

2182
01:54:02,319 --> 01:54:04,800
currency to be like, hey, you could buy cosmetics for.

2183
01:54:04,800 --> 01:54:07,399
Speaker 1: Your rest are there like real world ads.

2184
01:54:07,439 --> 01:54:10,159
Speaker 2: There, there's realm of brands like you can buy Nike,

2185
01:54:10,439 --> 01:54:14,359
you can buy an Jordan on top of just like

2186
01:54:14,399 --> 01:54:16,920
the regular WWE stuff.

2187
01:54:17,239 --> 01:54:18,119
Speaker 1: Yeah.

2188
01:54:18,159 --> 01:54:21,039
Speaker 2: So like there's like in the open hub, like the

2189
01:54:21,079 --> 01:54:23,640
center of it is just like store after store after

2190
01:54:23,720 --> 01:54:28,039
store of these little clothing shops and you can only

2191
01:54:28,079 --> 01:54:31,680
buy everything in here with the VC, which you can

2192
01:54:31,840 --> 01:54:34,760
earn in game, but you know it takes a while.

2193
01:54:34,880 --> 01:54:37,760
And it's also you have to spend VC to upgrade

2194
01:54:37,800 --> 01:54:40,520
your character in this specific mode, so you have the

2195
01:54:40,600 --> 01:54:42,760
ration in your money basically to be like, well, do

2196
01:54:42,800 --> 01:54:45,000
I want to make my character stronger so I can

2197
01:54:45,000 --> 01:54:47,119
get through these matches, or do I want to buy

2198
01:54:47,119 --> 01:54:50,640
that shirt that looks really cool? And I said this

2199
01:54:50,720 --> 01:54:52,479
last year in my review about this, and it stands

2200
01:54:52,520 --> 01:54:55,000
now where it's like, that's like, it's not fun to

2201
01:54:55,119 --> 01:54:58,479
feel like I have to budget, like potentially real money

2202
01:54:58,479 --> 01:55:00,560
to be like, man, that's cool out for set, but

2203
01:55:00,600 --> 01:55:04,079
I don't want to pay like ten bucks fifteen bucks

2204
01:55:04,079 --> 01:55:07,000
to get like a full set of like shirt, sneakers,

2205
01:55:07,039 --> 01:55:09,640
gear for my fake character when I could just make

2206
01:55:09,680 --> 01:55:12,600
them stronger. And it also doesn't help that the missions

2207
01:55:12,600 --> 01:55:16,319
in the mode are just not fun anyway. Like this

2208
01:55:16,439 --> 01:55:18,359
year they're doing a thing where you join one of

2209
01:55:18,439 --> 01:55:21,720
three factions led by either Cody Roads, CM Punk or

2210
01:55:21,800 --> 01:55:24,840
Rhea Ripley, and they're all goofy and silly, like Rhea Ripley,

2211
01:55:24,880 --> 01:55:27,720
who is like this goth looking chick and wrestling. She's

2212
01:55:27,720 --> 01:55:29,439
like one of the most popular stars, but she has

2213
01:55:29,479 --> 01:55:33,720
like a like basically like a goth group, Punk has

2214
01:55:33,760 --> 01:55:36,359
an anarchist group, and Cody Rhodes, who is like an

2215
01:55:36,399 --> 01:55:39,319
all American boy, has like the Order of Tradition. You know,

2216
01:55:39,359 --> 01:55:43,520
we're very upstanding citizens here. And you join one of

2217
01:55:43,560 --> 01:55:46,520
them and you just play all these missions, but then

2218
01:55:46,560 --> 01:55:48,560
you wind up interacting with the other groups anyway and

2219
01:55:48,600 --> 01:55:50,960
doing missions with them, so you're gonna get to to

2220
01:55:51,039 --> 01:55:53,600
experience all three of them in some fashion anyway. But

2221
01:55:53,680 --> 01:55:57,439
a lot of times it's either just the regular wrestling

2222
01:55:57,439 --> 01:56:00,399
matches against you know, like a story opponent, or they

2223
01:56:00,399 --> 01:56:04,079
have these, uh, these kind of like roguelike style towers

2224
01:56:04,640 --> 01:56:07,319
where you compete in a tower and each group has

2225
01:56:07,359 --> 01:56:09,239
their own like theme tower, and then you go down

2226
01:56:09,279 --> 01:56:11,600
like a roguelike path of like you know, it's forks

2227
01:56:11,600 --> 01:56:14,079
in the road. You get stops that are matches, and

2228
01:56:14,119 --> 01:56:15,960
then there's some stops in the middle where it's like, hey,

2229
01:56:15,960 --> 01:56:21,159
here's a health pickup or here's an item.

2230
01:56:19,520 --> 01:56:21,800
Speaker 1: And that's kind of items in this game.

2231
01:56:23,039 --> 01:56:26,319
Speaker 2: So they're in in in the island specifically, you can

2232
01:56:26,359 --> 01:56:30,279
equip the wrestlers with like basically like little power ups

2233
01:56:30,359 --> 01:56:32,479
or perks to help you during matches. Like, oh, this

2234
01:56:32,600 --> 01:56:36,119
perk makes you lose stamina less often, or this one

2235
01:56:36,199 --> 01:56:40,079
lets you do submissions better. It's like stuff like that.

2236
01:56:41,479 --> 01:56:43,920
Speaker 1: Weapons ever, No, it's just.

2237
01:56:44,479 --> 01:56:46,199
Speaker 2: Now there's plenty of those under the ring that you

2238
01:56:46,199 --> 01:56:46,840
can pull out.

2239
01:56:47,119 --> 01:56:48,840
Speaker 1: I just didn't know if it was like with this

2240
01:56:48,880 --> 01:56:50,920
one you spawned with a spiked bad.

2241
01:56:51,479 --> 01:56:54,199
Speaker 2: That'd be funny. Not that I've seen. Maybe maybe it's

2242
01:56:54,199 --> 01:56:57,279
in there, but it's usually more like I guess, ability focused,

2243
01:56:58,199 --> 01:57:01,439
But yeah, those just aren't that fun to get through.

2244
01:57:01,920 --> 01:57:03,920
It just kind of like just feels like grinding. And

2245
01:57:04,159 --> 01:57:06,279
so it's just like and again like just being in

2246
01:57:06,319 --> 01:57:08,840
the island, Like the island looks cool visually because it

2247
01:57:08,880 --> 01:57:10,640
just looks like a giant w B theme park and

2248
01:57:10,680 --> 01:57:13,800
there's a lot of like visual easter eggs and references

2249
01:57:13,800 --> 01:57:15,920
for like, if you're a hardcore wrestling fan, you'll see

2250
01:57:15,960 --> 01:57:17,960
something and there's a lot of like inside jokes to

2251
01:57:18,079 --> 01:57:21,039
just WB's history. But once you get beyond the theme

2252
01:57:21,079 --> 01:57:23,000
park aspect, they're like, yeah, this just feels like a

2253
01:57:23,039 --> 01:57:25,319
digital shopping mall with a bad roguelike mode in there.

2254
01:57:25,359 --> 01:57:27,079
I don't really want to mess around with this, so

2255
01:57:27,399 --> 01:57:30,439
h yeah, so it's not it's still it's a little

2256
01:57:30,439 --> 01:57:31,920
bit better in a sense that they have voice acting

2257
01:57:31,960 --> 01:57:34,039
this year, which last year they didn't, But it's still like,

2258
01:57:34,239 --> 01:57:36,000
you know, I played enough to get a sense of

2259
01:57:36,039 --> 01:57:37,640
it and was like, yeah, I never really want to

2260
01:57:37,640 --> 01:57:38,159
play this again.

2261
01:57:39,000 --> 01:57:39,920
Speaker 1: Yeah.

2262
01:57:40,279 --> 01:57:42,319
Speaker 2: The other stuff like my GM, which is kind of

2263
01:57:42,319 --> 01:57:44,840
like the General Management sim Like, that's still fun. That's

2264
01:57:44,840 --> 01:57:47,359
still one of my favorite modes. They let you book

2265
01:57:47,359 --> 01:57:50,279
intergender matches now, which is the thing they introduced last year,

2266
01:57:50,479 --> 01:57:53,520
and now you can add more people to multi mid matches,

2267
01:57:53,560 --> 01:57:56,119
so that's cool, but it's still very much the same mode.

2268
01:57:57,159 --> 01:57:59,479
Same with My Universe, which is kind of like the

2269
01:57:59,520 --> 01:58:03,159
living sim where it just simulates a w B calendar

2270
01:58:03,199 --> 01:58:05,560
schedule so you can like run your own shows and stuff.

2271
01:58:06,079 --> 01:58:07,720
I've never really been into that mode, but I know

2272
01:58:07,720 --> 01:58:11,079
there's people that like love and really dig into that thing.

2273
01:58:12,359 --> 01:58:14,119
Now you can do to w B draft this year.

2274
01:58:14,560 --> 01:58:16,760
You know, I did it. You know, it's pretty much

2275
01:58:16,760 --> 01:58:18,680
the draft plays of the same. It doesn't my in

2276
01:58:18,760 --> 01:58:21,640
my GM, honestly, So it's like, yeah, I guess it's

2277
01:58:21,680 --> 01:58:22,680
it's cool. I guess again.

2278
01:58:23,760 --> 01:58:27,520
Speaker 6: Level of enthusiasm, like and I did it, I mean

2279
01:58:28,520 --> 01:58:33,159
I participated, Yeah, I mean when I review these When

2280
01:58:33,159 --> 01:58:35,520
I review these games, like, because there's so many modes,

2281
01:58:35,560 --> 01:58:37,079
it's like, not everything's going to be for you.

2282
01:58:37,159 --> 01:58:38,960
Speaker 2: And to their credit, if something's not for you, you

2283
01:58:39,000 --> 01:58:41,159
don't have to engage with it. There's probably one or

2284
01:58:41,159 --> 01:58:44,439
two other modes that will you know, we'll we'll find

2285
01:58:44,479 --> 01:58:47,159
your you'll find your time in Uh. It's just that's

2286
01:58:47,199 --> 01:58:49,960
not one of them. The one I is up there

2287
01:58:49,960 --> 01:58:51,920
with the Island in terms of like, I never like this,

2288
01:58:51,960 --> 01:58:54,159
and I don't think i'll ever like this is my Faction,

2289
01:58:54,279 --> 01:58:57,720
which is the other VC heavy mode where it's like

2290
01:58:57,720 --> 01:59:01,199
a digital card game where you buy card packs and

2291
01:59:01,239 --> 01:59:04,239
you compete with players online, and that is also like very.

2292
01:59:04,199 --> 01:59:06,479
Speaker 3: Much like it's fun? Is it fun?

2293
01:59:07,039 --> 01:59:07,560
Speaker 2: What's fun?

2294
01:59:07,680 --> 01:59:09,600
Speaker 3: FIFA FIFA Ultimate Team?

2295
01:59:10,039 --> 01:59:13,399
Speaker 2: I probably I've never like, I know what Ultimate by.

2296
01:59:14,119 --> 01:59:16,479
Speaker 3: If I like packs, they have players in them and

2297
01:59:16,520 --> 01:59:18,560
you play with them in the thing, and you're trying

2298
01:59:18,600 --> 01:59:21,560
to crack packs for better versions of players to then

2299
01:59:21,640 --> 01:59:26,439
slot into your team to go play online or whatever, Okay,

2300
01:59:26,520 --> 01:59:30,000
then yeah, I guess so it's cool. We remade the

2301
01:59:30,000 --> 01:59:31,920
most evil system in gaming. That's awesome.

2302
01:59:32,079 --> 01:59:35,640
Speaker 2: Yeah, this has been a thing for like years now.

2303
01:59:35,840 --> 01:59:39,039
It's oh so in the priest modes. Yeah, so I mean, yeah,

2304
01:59:39,039 --> 01:59:40,840
I know Ultimate Team has been around even longer.

2305
01:59:41,319 --> 01:59:44,359
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's more just interesting to me that you're like,

2306
01:59:44,720 --> 01:59:47,319
and there's this mode which also has ways to spend money,

2307
01:59:47,319 --> 01:59:49,800
and there's this mode which also has ways to spend

2308
01:59:49,840 --> 01:59:52,680
money in this mode, which also has ways to spend money.

2309
01:59:53,479 --> 01:59:55,920
Speaker 2: Yeah, and it's like, yeah, they give you free cards

2310
01:59:55,960 --> 01:59:58,000
from like the Battle Pass and stuff, but you know

2311
01:59:58,039 --> 02:00:00,399
it's really just to be like, you know, should take

2312
02:00:00,439 --> 02:00:02,800
this cool card, did you get into my Faction and

2313
02:00:02,840 --> 02:00:05,840
put it in the work, And also like on top

2314
02:00:05,880 --> 02:00:08,239
of it just being a little nefarious, the car game's

2315
02:00:08,279 --> 02:00:12,159
not fun, I guess a TCG fan, I've never thought

2316
02:00:12,199 --> 02:00:15,600
that the My Faction card game was fun and that's good.

2317
02:00:16,199 --> 02:00:18,239
It's like it doesn't even have that going for it.

2318
02:00:18,399 --> 02:00:21,119
So it's usually the mode I spend at least am

2319
02:00:21,119 --> 02:00:24,039
I like it's the elephant graveyard of those games for me. Basically,

2320
02:00:25,479 --> 02:00:28,000
I'll check in and play an obligatory match and go like, yep,

2321
02:00:28,039 --> 02:00:30,239
still not fun. All right, never see you next year,

2322
02:00:30,279 --> 02:00:34,359
I guess. But like it kind of like the whole package,

2323
02:00:34,359 --> 02:00:37,199
like it's the the n Ring Wrestling is still what

2324
02:00:37,319 --> 02:00:40,319
it is. There's been subtle tweaks made, but a lot

2325
02:00:40,319 --> 02:00:43,279
of it's kind of imperceptible, honestly, which is maybe a

2326
02:00:43,319 --> 02:00:46,000
little bit more damning than anything where it's like, I

2327
02:00:46,039 --> 02:00:49,279
know you're telling me that, like we tweak the reversal system,

2328
02:00:49,399 --> 02:00:52,720
and there's you know, there's like other new interactions where

2329
02:00:52,720 --> 02:00:54,640
like oh, you can like lock up with someone and

2330
02:00:54,680 --> 02:00:57,760
push them into the turnbuckle, Like okay, that's like that's cool.

2331
02:00:57,800 --> 02:01:00,880
You know that wasn't there before and that could begically useful.

2332
02:01:01,199 --> 02:01:04,279
But everything else is like I'm not really I know

2333
02:01:04,399 --> 02:01:05,960
you're telling me it's her, but I don't really see it.

2334
02:01:06,000 --> 02:01:07,640
I'm playing a lot of these matches. I feel like

2335
02:01:07,680 --> 02:01:10,359
I'm not really having to adjust my muscle memory from

2336
02:01:10,359 --> 02:01:13,039
these games, So I guess it doesn't ruin the game

2337
02:01:13,079 --> 02:01:16,079
whatever you did, but it also doesn't make it marginally

2338
02:01:16,319 --> 02:01:20,600
better either, as far as they can tell. Yeah, yeah,

2339
02:01:20,760 --> 02:01:24,359
it's so yeah. I'm kind of like with Showcase in

2340
02:01:24,439 --> 02:01:28,119
my rise, especially being not as great as previous years

2341
02:01:28,199 --> 02:01:31,439
and then the Island feeling like like Okay, this is

2342
02:01:31,479 --> 02:01:33,439
just here to stay now. I think like this is

2343
02:01:33,479 --> 02:01:36,720
like the NBA two kification of this franchise now, I

2344
02:01:36,720 --> 02:01:40,920
guess yeah, it's it's made it the weakest entries since

2345
02:01:40,960 --> 02:01:43,720
they came back with two K twenty two. Again, if

2346
02:01:43,720 --> 02:01:45,159
you like the n ring stuff, like, if you just

2347
02:01:45,159 --> 02:01:47,560
want to focus on just like the wrestling, it's still

2348
02:01:47,600 --> 02:01:50,039
like enjoyable if you already like that stuff, and the

2349
02:01:50,159 --> 02:01:52,520
new little like additions like the new weapons or whatever

2350
02:01:52,600 --> 02:01:55,359
will be fun, but everything else is just a step

2351
02:01:55,359 --> 02:01:56,920
below the previous year.

2352
02:01:58,960 --> 02:02:03,840
Speaker 1: Sang, well, there you go. I I always feel bad because,

2353
02:02:04,399 --> 02:02:07,239
uh Nicole's joining us now also doesn't know all that

2354
02:02:07,319 --> 02:02:10,199
much about wrestling, and I feel like you always go

2355
02:02:10,279 --> 02:02:13,119
through the whole thing, and I'm like, for your sake,

2356
02:02:13,239 --> 02:02:14,880
I always want to be more invested. And then you

2357
02:02:14,920 --> 02:02:16,239
finish the review, I'm like, yeah, I don't want to

2358
02:02:16,279 --> 02:02:19,600
play that game. It doesn't actually sounded all that fun.

2359
02:02:19,760 --> 02:02:21,199
I mean maybe if I knew what it was, it

2360
02:02:21,239 --> 02:02:22,840
might be fun, but it was what.

2361
02:02:22,760 --> 02:02:24,840
Speaker 3: Would you say, you're you're tapping out?

2362
02:02:26,079 --> 02:02:28,520
Speaker 1: I would say that I would, and and Marcus would

2363
02:02:28,520 --> 02:02:30,600
be like hey, and I'd be like, yeah.

2364
02:02:30,239 --> 02:02:31,920
Speaker 2: That's the thing. I mean, I guess it's an MMA

2365
02:02:32,119 --> 02:02:35,840
thing too, It's not exclusively wrestling, but yeah, yeah, yeah,

2366
02:02:35,840 --> 02:02:37,600
well don't you guys know about money and you know

2367
02:02:37,640 --> 02:02:39,439
the lore behind money in the bank twenty eleven, So

2368
02:02:39,479 --> 02:02:41,720
you're like educated on wrestling.

2369
02:02:41,800 --> 02:02:45,560
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm slowly leveling up and eventually I'll be able to.

2370
02:02:46,000 --> 02:02:48,640
Speaker 3: We did a I'm not going to retain that knowledge.

2371
02:02:48,840 --> 02:02:53,000
I'm just gonna I've already that was in my ram

2372
02:02:53,159 --> 02:02:54,760
and I've already cycled it out.

2373
02:02:54,880 --> 02:02:57,880
Speaker 2: It's the next step is we all take a work trip.

2374
02:02:57,920 --> 02:03:00,840
We'll expense this. We all go to Monday Night Raw Wow.

2375
02:03:02,079 --> 02:03:05,479
Speaker 1: I I, Marcus and I were on a podcast ninety

2376
02:03:05,560 --> 02:03:07,840
nine questions. We had to answer questions about each other,

2377
02:03:08,439 --> 02:03:11,520
and I got sounds aboub bule I got. I did

2378
02:03:11,560 --> 02:03:14,239
so many of them wrong, and all of Marcus's answers

2379
02:03:14,279 --> 02:03:16,880
were like wrestling focused. And afterwards I was like, I

2380
02:03:16,920 --> 02:03:19,479
feel like I gotta just out of service to Marcus,

2381
02:03:19,520 --> 02:03:21,640
I gotta learn some of these guys' names or just

2382
02:03:22,159 --> 02:03:26,800
something I don't know. Uh well, uh, that'll mostly do

2383
02:03:26,880 --> 02:03:28,119
for a show. I do want to end out with

2384
02:03:28,159 --> 02:03:30,880
a just one little game for Nicole here, just to

2385
02:03:30,920 --> 02:03:34,600
tie everything back together. So today we talked about emmenimal verses,

2386
02:03:35,039 --> 02:03:37,159
talked about monster on a story three, talk about w

2387
02:03:37,319 --> 02:03:40,720
W two K two six. You are now in charge

2388
02:03:40,720 --> 02:03:44,000
of Love and Deep Space, and a boy from one

2389
02:03:44,039 --> 02:03:48,359
of those games is going to be the sixth guy.

2390
02:03:48,560 --> 02:03:50,279
What what's the game you're picking to be?

2391
02:03:50,479 --> 02:03:50,560
Speaker 4: Like?

2392
02:03:51,079 --> 02:03:52,720
Speaker 1: They're going to join Love and Deep Space.

2393
02:03:54,960 --> 02:03:56,560
Speaker 4: From the games we talked about today.

2394
02:03:56,760 --> 02:04:04,000
Speaker 7: M hmmm, Well the only man who name I can

2395
02:04:04,079 --> 02:04:08,159
remember from CM Punk.

2396
02:04:08,800 --> 02:04:12,119
Speaker 3: Yeah, there we go, d M Punk joining the cast.

2397
02:04:12,880 --> 02:04:15,760
Speaker 4: I have to say I did remember two of their names,

2398
02:04:16,039 --> 02:04:18,880
and I lined and said one because I don't like.

2399
02:04:19,119 --> 02:04:22,079
I don't want them missed. I don't want them.

2400
02:04:22,920 --> 02:04:27,840
Speaker 2: Yeahs start watching real world looks like, but.

2401
02:04:29,880 --> 02:04:32,079
Speaker 4: I don't want the moves to join Love and Deep Space.

2402
02:04:32,199 --> 02:04:33,159
Speaker 1: That's fair, that's fair.

2403
02:04:33,239 --> 02:04:33,640
Speaker 2: Can we do?

2404
02:04:33,880 --> 02:04:35,960
Speaker 3: Can we do Invincible and have Omni Man? But it's

2405
02:04:36,000 --> 02:04:39,439
actually just JK Simmons. Just JK Simmons is in Love

2406
02:04:39,479 --> 02:04:42,920
and Deep Space. Now that'd be that'd be kind of sick.

2407
02:04:43,239 --> 02:04:46,000
Speaker 2: That'd be nice, is it? JK Simmons wearing the Omni

2408
02:04:46,039 --> 02:04:46,640
Man costume?

2409
02:04:48,039 --> 02:04:51,920
Speaker 1: He could be he could be well yeah, no, no

2410
02:04:51,960 --> 02:04:54,279
reason not. I mean maybe that's maybe that's an alternate

2411
02:04:54,359 --> 02:04:56,960
version of him. You just unlock all the JK. Simmons

2412
02:04:57,119 --> 02:05:00,319
performances and all the other dimensions, I mean.

2413
02:05:01,760 --> 02:05:07,199
Speaker 2: Dimension. He's a gym rat, he's in shape, he is

2414
02:05:07,279 --> 02:05:09,640
he's Yeah.

2415
02:05:08,680 --> 02:05:09,920
Speaker 1: He's just evil sometimes.

2416
02:05:09,920 --> 02:05:12,840
Speaker 2: So it's just I'd love evil sometimes.

2417
02:05:14,600 --> 02:05:17,359
Speaker 3: Is that not part of the allure? Have I misunderstood?

2418
02:05:17,399 --> 02:05:19,840
I thought I thought we were going to the Faralel universe.

2419
02:05:20,279 --> 02:05:26,399
Speaker 2: I was still rather sleep next to Omniman JK than

2420
02:05:26,439 --> 02:05:27,479
Whiplash JK.

2421
02:05:28,159 --> 02:05:29,640
Speaker 3: Are you sleeping or are you awake?

2422
02:05:30,119 --> 02:05:30,800
Speaker 2: That's your sleep.

2423
02:05:34,720 --> 02:05:37,279
Speaker 1: If omniymn doesn't like you, you don't have to worry

2424
02:05:37,279 --> 02:05:40,000
about it for very long. If whiplash JA because it

2425
02:05:40,000 --> 02:05:42,439
doesn't like you, he's gonna really torment you.

2426
02:05:42,399 --> 02:05:42,760
Speaker 2: Your la.

2427
02:05:44,359 --> 02:05:46,960
Speaker 1: I'll take tens in from the listener, Korra, it's my favorite.

2428
02:05:47,000 --> 02:05:48,720
Speaker 3: J Oh, that's a good JK.

2429
02:05:48,800 --> 02:05:49,159
Speaker 2: Simmons.

2430
02:05:49,199 --> 02:05:49,279
Speaker 1: Ye.

2431
02:05:49,399 --> 02:05:50,720
Speaker 2: Yeah.

2432
02:05:50,760 --> 02:05:54,359
Speaker 1: Anyways, Thanks so much everyone for joining us this week

2433
02:05:54,760 --> 02:05:58,439
on the Game Reformer show. UH as always a good

2434
02:05:58,479 --> 02:06:00,840
game for dot com slash subscribe subscribe to the physical

2435
02:06:00,880 --> 02:06:05,159
issue where a newsstands bookstores. You can subscribe digitally as well.

2436
02:06:06,279 --> 02:06:10,680
Thanks to our amazing guest Nicole Carpenter for joining us today.

2437
02:06:11,560 --> 02:06:13,960
Your knowledge is invaluable.

2438
02:06:14,920 --> 02:06:16,640
Speaker 4: Thank you, it was really fun.

2439
02:06:16,880 --> 02:06:22,399
Speaker 1: Thank you for having y awesome and UH Nicole, is

2440
02:06:22,399 --> 02:06:24,600
there anything you'd like to plug on your way out?

2441
02:06:25,199 --> 02:06:27,640
Social media or recent articles?

2442
02:06:27,640 --> 02:06:31,319
Speaker 4: Maybe social media? Find me on Blue Sky. My name

2443
02:06:31,399 --> 02:06:35,680
is Nicolecarpenter dot whatever, Blue sky on.

2444
02:06:36,800 --> 02:06:38,479
Speaker 3: Dot bisky dot social.

2445
02:06:38,800 --> 02:06:41,800
Speaker 4: Yeah, oh that's what it is, bisky dot Social.

2446
02:06:43,239 --> 02:06:45,039
Speaker 1: Beautiful. There you go, and you can find me at

2447
02:06:45,119 --> 02:06:47,720
Chuck Douck three sixty five. You can find Marcus at

2448
02:06:47,760 --> 02:06:54,079
Marcus Stewart seven. You can find Eric at c moosey uh.

2449
02:06:54,119 --> 02:06:56,119
And of course you can see all of us in

2450
02:06:56,479 --> 02:07:06,479
the Supermaro Galaxy movie coming out early April. Roll Yoshi Mario. Uh. Yeah,

2451
02:07:06,640 --> 02:07:08,800
Eric filmed. Eric filmed the whole thing. So he was

2452
02:07:08,840 --> 02:07:09,880
hanging out with Chris.

2453
02:07:10,399 --> 02:07:12,520
Speaker 3: I still can't get over. Even in Fantasy World. I

2454
02:07:12,560 --> 02:07:15,520
have to do work. That's that's terrible. It's it's a

2455
02:07:15,760 --> 02:07:20,399
it's a stunningly accurate dunk on me. But also he

2456
02:07:21,640 --> 02:07:23,359
likes it. Just get going on the camera.

2457
02:07:23,520 --> 02:07:24,039
Speaker 1: Look at him.

2458
02:07:24,039 --> 02:07:24,720
Speaker 2: He's so happy.

2459
02:07:25,000 --> 02:07:26,319
Speaker 3: He loves stress.

2460
02:07:27,920 --> 02:07:29,840
Speaker 1: All right, thanks so much for joining us. Everyone. We'll

2461
02:07:29,840 --> 02:07:30,920
see you next week.