Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to episode one twelve of Game Spot
Speaker 1: after Dark. I am your host, Tamar Hussein, and I
Speaker 1: am joined by the one the only you already know.
Speaker 1: It's Jean Louisch. You baby, Oh god, you hate to
Speaker 1: hear it. You're supposed to talk yet.
Speaker 2: Aren't supposed to talk?
Speaker 3: Laughter?
Speaker 1: That laughter, You hear that laughter. You hear It's over now,
Speaker 1: of course, because that is Jordan. And that voice you
Speaker 1: heard earlier speaking out of turn is the one we
Speaker 1: call peaches and Cream.
Speaker 3: Michael p the pea still baby yeah, fuck y'all.
Speaker 1: In case you're wondering, In case you're wondering what all
Speaker 1: those weird phrases were, those were all the titles of
Speaker 1: one twelve songs.
Speaker 4: I was gonna say once on one of the four
Speaker 4: of my favorite R and B groups, which was Drew Hill,
Speaker 4: once to all Black Street and ooh ooh Jacket Edge.
Speaker 1: I think that's a strong quartet. That is a powerful quartet.
Speaker 1: You've got Black Street and I'm happy. I'm good, I'm good.
Speaker 1: Of course we are welcoming back. Michael him to the podcast.
Speaker 1: He said he was going to be back, and he's
Speaker 1: back back. He's the only ones and we back.
Speaker 3: I love my wife. I love my wife.
Speaker 1: That is, of course, Chance the Rapper.
Speaker 4: Put some respect Chances doing a lot more than rap.
Speaker 4: Now he's like expanding his this medium empire, and he's
Speaker 4: like really low key and if you watch him on interviews,
Speaker 4: he's like a real humble, chill dude.
Speaker 3: He's just like, I don't know, yeah.
Speaker 1: He's he's he's a nice guy. I can't say I'm
Speaker 1: massively into Chance the Rapper, but I'm into Chance philanthropy
Speaker 1: and the Chances a social Yeah, he's funny, he's cool.
Speaker 1: He had that moment where he was like I was
Speaker 1: standing behind Kanye and Kanye was like fully like Maga
Speaker 1: and he was like standing behind Kanye and everyone's like,
Speaker 1: Chances like it's okay to see that. You truly hate
Speaker 1: to see it, but you know what to see Delta,
Speaker 1: which is out now, and we've got to appropriate people
Speaker 1: to speak about it. We've got Jean Luke, a huge
Speaker 1: kind of Undertail and the other Are you a fan
Speaker 1: of Undertail, Michael, I've never had any.
Speaker 3: Excuse you, excuse you.
Speaker 1: I can't tell joking or not.
Speaker 3: I I ow Toby Fox.
Speaker 4: My career in games media by extension of good by
Speaker 4: like some weird association. But uh yeah, delter Une, Oh
Speaker 4: my god, yo, we're gonna start.
Speaker 1: We're going with We're starting with Delton.
Speaker 4: That's all right, that's why y'all brought off with your
Speaker 4: top off. All right, let me get shirtless real quick.
Speaker 4: We don't do video on this ship no more.
Speaker 3: But uh, who the fuck is we us? Okay ship yo? Okay.
Speaker 3: Delta Roune. First off, I want to say, be.
Speaker 4: Sure to check out nine to nine Potions a Hot
Speaker 4: fan bye podcast.
Speaker 3: Well we do.
Speaker 2: It hasn't even been like five five minutes.
Speaker 4: No, but yash, just stick around here for at least
Speaker 4: an hour. But so, Delta Roune Hot drop on Friday,
Speaker 4: cause so this is the second chapter of Toby Fox's
Speaker 4: Alternate Undertail universe, I guess you could say. And it
Speaker 4: was like it came out of nowhere, no.
Speaker 3: One expected it.
Speaker 4: It was Wednesday after like an Undertail was an anniversary stream,
Speaker 4: six year six year anniversary stream. And then at the
Speaker 4: end it's like boom surprise, Delta Roun chapter two is
Speaker 4: dropping on Friday in two days, and it's fucking wild,
Speaker 4: Like I remember when Delta Roun dropped on Halloween in
Speaker 4: twenty eighteen, the first chapter dropped and that was a
Speaker 4: huge surprise because years because it was yeah, yo, I know,
Speaker 4: and I was watching back the stream I did with
Speaker 4: Tay where I was dressed up as Gorel Moduma, and
Speaker 4: I was like, Yo, what the hell is because it
Speaker 4: came out of nowhere and we're like, holy shit, there's
Speaker 4: another piece of the Undertail multiverse.
Speaker 1: I guess you could say.
Speaker 4: And Undertail means a lot of things. I've spoken about
Speaker 4: Undertail in various capacities through my time at GameSpot, and yeah,
Speaker 4: that game means a lot to me. And then so
Speaker 4: when Delta Une dropped, it was just kind of this
Speaker 4: really overwhelming feeling that holy shit, there's more. I can't
Speaker 4: believe this and it was an incredible experience. So Delta
Speaker 4: in chapter two dropped by a surprise again and that
Speaker 4: it was that sort of feeling all over again. But
Speaker 4: there's a lot more to it, because okay, how about
Speaker 4: I start with this. When you boot up Deltau in
Speaker 4: chapter two, you see that there are slots in the
Speaker 4: main menu for it up to chapter seven. So there
Speaker 4: is three, four, five, six, and seven chapters in the
Speaker 4: Delta Roun story that are planned and this is only
Speaker 4: chapter two.
Speaker 3: This is this I.
Speaker 1: Feel like, this is this is exactly it makes me
Speaker 1: feel exactly how it felt within and James Kemmen was like,
Speaker 1: I've got they two Avatar movies I'm working on.
Speaker 5: Yeah, except like I'm excited. Actually the actually care about this,
Speaker 5: actually care Yeah, but like also like.
Speaker 1: To that point, it's the same.
Speaker 2: Feeling I have when like Corey's like, hey, by the way,
Speaker 2: God of War is going to be a dualogy because
Speaker 2: it's going to take us like forever to make a
Speaker 2: trilogy of God of War games, or in the same
Speaker 2: way people are like, oh yeah, Final Fantasy seven remake
Speaker 2: is the first part of the multi part series. I'm like, dude,
Speaker 2: you've only covered like very early.
Speaker 1: Of this game.
Speaker 2: This is going to take like twenty years, if not longer,
Speaker 2: to cover the entire story at the pace that you're going.
Speaker 2: So the fact that he's like releasing at chapters and
Speaker 2: you're telling me there's like.
Speaker 5: Said, I don't like I just said that because because
Speaker 5: chapter one was basically like mostly him by himself with
Speaker 5: some assistance. Chapter two, uh, like part way through he
Speaker 5: was like, guys, I need some help with this, and
Speaker 5: like kind of like put off the call, got a
Speaker 5: bunch of people in and get the According to the blog,
Speaker 5: he said, like a lot of the framework has now
Speaker 5: been laid out in chapter two that they can then
Speaker 5: use to build the rest of the chapters. So I
Speaker 5: think the rest of the chapters should come at a
Speaker 5: much faster pace. I think he said that chapters three, four,
Speaker 5: and five are gonna come out the same as one.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so it's.
Speaker 5: Not going to be like every three years, we're getting
Speaker 5: one fucking deltaate chapter.
Speaker 6: Yeah.
Speaker 4: Yeah, So the next thing that's lined up is going
Speaker 4: to be a huge chunk. But chapter two, like obviously
Speaker 4: we're not gonna talk about spoilers because it's like that's
Speaker 4: not what this what this is gonna be. But potassium
Speaker 4: my god, yes, bananas the chapter two. So the thing
Speaker 4: with chapter one is that you play through it and
Speaker 4: I feel like you come away with more questions and
Speaker 4: answers because there's a lot of connections to undertail that
Speaker 4: aren't overleas stated. You see a lot of similarities, you
Speaker 4: see a lot of the same characters, but everything's been
Speaker 4: shuffled around and you kind of just don't know how
Speaker 4: to make sense of it. If especially if you're like
Speaker 4: an Undertail diehard fan, it's like, what does this all mean?
Speaker 4: And then kind of when you go into chapter two,
Speaker 4: that groundwork has already been laid, like the battle system,
Speaker 4: the characters, the kind of the world, the concepts are
Speaker 4: already there. So the expectations are very different going into
Speaker 4: chapter two, and I feel like there's this even more questions,
Speaker 4: Like some questions have been answered, but holy shit, does
Speaker 4: chapter two like open its entire open up the entire
Speaker 4: story to even more questions, And the fact that there
Speaker 4: are seven chapters is it's almost comforting in a way
Speaker 4: because you're like, oh, I'm I've worked like the fact
Speaker 4: like Undertail exists on its own, and it could have
Speaker 4: been just that and Toby Fox could have just been like,
Speaker 4: you know what, I'm not doing anything anymore. And it's
Speaker 4: just this really overwhelming feeling of I can't believe where
Speaker 4: this can go because there's so much, there's so much
Speaker 4: to work with, there's so much, there's so many cool
Speaker 4: things that they could do. And the thing about chapter
Speaker 4: two is that there's a lot you could see that
Speaker 4: there's a lot more production values because if like, I
Speaker 4: love chapter one, but you can see in many parts
Speaker 4: where it's bare bones in terms of it's like it's
Speaker 4: dungeon design. Some of the things that that it asks
Speaker 4: you to do in terms of environmental puzzles, it felt
Speaker 4: somewhat bare bones, especially towards the end of that chapter.
Speaker 4: So with chapter two, like the impression, you get the
Speaker 4: impression right away once you step into the cyber world,
Speaker 4: which is the new kind of piece of the dark
Speaker 4: world that you're going into for chapter two. Your first
Speaker 4: impression is when you're on that little escalator thing and
Speaker 4: you're looking over the city skyline and it's just like
Speaker 4: this beautiful, vivid visual of like this this bustling city
Speaker 4: and the music starts playing and you're there with the
Speaker 4: characters from chapter one and it's just like this, Like
Speaker 4: almost I got teary eyed because I was like, holy shit,
Speaker 4: this is this is now the level that Deltrun is
Speaker 4: being presented at. This is now the new norm for
Speaker 4: something of from the Undertail lineage, And it felt really
Speaker 4: really cool to know that.
Speaker 3: That this is what it is now.
Speaker 4: And yeah, I think it shows that, you know, Toby
Speaker 4: Fox has a lot more he's working with a lot
Speaker 4: more people, he's a lot more resources, and it shows
Speaker 4: and a lot of the different things that you do
Speaker 4: in chapter two, with the environmental puzzles, with some of
Speaker 4: the some of the way the battle mechanics kind of
Speaker 4: twist and change, and like you expect those things from Undertail,
Speaker 4: like those to like your expectations to be subverted, and
Speaker 4: they do it in very, very new and different ways.
Speaker 3: With chapter two. It's really cool. It's I like it
Speaker 3: a lot.
Speaker 4: I don't think it necessarily hits you with the same
Speaker 4: sort of overwhelming feeling that you get in chapter one,
Speaker 4: because chapter one was like this first impression of something
Speaker 4: completely new, but chapter two is like, okay, like you
Speaker 4: could see how this is a segment in a much
Speaker 4: larger story. So yeah, it's I don't know, it's.
Speaker 5: It's like chapter two is like fleshing out the like
Speaker 5: what what it kind of set up, because yeah, it's
Speaker 5: like that first chapter is like, oh shit, like what's
Speaker 5: going on? Like more do more Undertail, let's go like
Speaker 5: there's all my boys that are and you're like really
Speaker 5: excited about it. Where this one. I think something I
Speaker 5: really appreciate about this chapter is that they are they're
Speaker 5: devoting a lot more time to the new characters still
Speaker 5: and and they're keeping the undertail characters more in the background.
Speaker 5: I kind of compared it to like the second season
Speaker 5: of Digimon, like tie in the other crew, like they're
Speaker 5: still there in the background, but we're here about this
Speaker 5: new digit deskiny.
Speaker 2: Going on.
Speaker 1: This second chapter, and.
Speaker 5: I think that there's a lot of really really excellent
Speaker 5: character development, get some really great stuff. But like like Susie,
Speaker 5: they they they bring back in uh Noel, who is
Speaker 5: kind of had like a really small role in the
Speaker 5: first chapter, and she kind of comes back in a
Speaker 5: major way. And and I do this stuff with like
Speaker 5: I want to get into a but like go like
Speaker 5: Rosey's like, oh my god, yeah, so adorable, and like
Speaker 5: some of the stuff that happens there, I was like, oh,
Speaker 5: let's go like oh man, like the my my my my,
Speaker 5: like ship Brain was like it was like tingling. I
Speaker 5: was like, ooh, oh, yes, yes, things are happening, Relationships
Speaker 5: are developing, and you know, I'm I'm very curious to
Speaker 5: see where that goes because I think Toby Fox has
Speaker 5: said it's not going to have like the level of
Speaker 5: interactivity and deviation is undertail, but you can make a
Speaker 5: couple of choices that I'm like, is.
Speaker 3: This gonna lead to something? I'm kind of kind of curious.
Speaker 6: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, A question for you too, as someone who has
Speaker 2: not played Delta Rune chapter one since twenty eighteen. Not
Speaker 2: because I didn't like it. I loved the first chapter.
Speaker 2: I just games just keep coming out and I just
Speaker 2: don't have time ye go back and replay things. The
Speaker 2: reference is bad to the first chapter, are they like
Speaker 2: deep cuts? Like should I go back and replay chapter
Speaker 2: one ahead of chapter two? Or can I just kind
Speaker 2: of jump into chapter two and if I can remember
Speaker 2: the basic strokes, I should be.
Speaker 5: I think you can find Because I also hadn't played
Speaker 5: since like it first came out. Yeah, so and and
Speaker 5: I was like, like it took me and I was like,
Speaker 5: oh right, yeah you you yep, yep, okay, got it?
Speaker 5: Like it all kind of comes back to you.
Speaker 4: Yeah, especially in the in the very beginning you have
Speaker 4: there's a moment where you can just like kind of
Speaker 4: chill and check in with uh, sort of the characters
Speaker 4: from chapter one, and I think that's when all the
Speaker 4: pieces start to fall back into place.
Speaker 3: For me.
Speaker 4: I'm like, okay, cool, I'm kind of up to speed
Speaker 4: all right now let's let's let's go ahead and do this.
Speaker 4: But yeah, to your point in Jean Luke, where there's
Speaker 4: a lot of character development that's that also speaks to
Speaker 4: how like the how broad the vision is for Delta Rune,
Speaker 4: Like they're setting up a lot of pieces like that
Speaker 4: that you wouldn't do in a standalone six five six
Speaker 4: hour game. So these things that you're playing now in
Speaker 4: chapter two are going to pay off, and I see
Speaker 4: it paying off in the further chapters. And also there's
Speaker 4: there's a lot of mysteries going on. There's a like
Speaker 4: Undertail and Delta love to do this where they like
Speaker 4: drop something like what you think might be like a
Speaker 4: throwaway line or a throwaway dialogue box or something tucked
Speaker 4: away in a corner. Yeah, but has like huge like
Speaker 4: implications for the lore and like the truth of what
Speaker 4: actually is happening, Because if you play Undertail, you go
Speaker 4: into this like, Yo, what the fuck is what is this?
Speaker 4: It's kind of unsettling in a really weird way because
Speaker 4: it's a shuffling of something that you already know, Like
Speaker 4: is this connected?
Speaker 3: How is it connected?
Speaker 4: There are obviously clear references to things that happen in Undertail,
Speaker 4: with this, it's like, I I don't know, it's especially
Speaker 4: with the nature of who Raws is. There's a lot
Speaker 4: of subtle hints about my god, this is yeah. To
Speaker 4: get it to say any more would be yeah, but
Speaker 4: I'll just say this like god damn y'all.
Speaker 5: Yeah, this is this is Yeah, something's really good. And
Speaker 5: also I think it's so funny. It's so fun dude,
Speaker 5: the new villain Funny is she's so good. She's maybe
Speaker 5: the funniest character. Toby Fox's friend and she's so funny.
Speaker 5: Same with same with Birdley. Birdley is.
Speaker 3: They have a good dynamic. You love to hate him,
Speaker 3: you love to hate him.
Speaker 4: Oh he's his resident Himbo of of the Deltoe Delta
Speaker 4: mad mad, like just fucking.
Speaker 5: Just yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, Like but like he sucks,
Speaker 5: like yeah, but like in a good way, in a
Speaker 5: good way. I mean, like you love him, but you're
Speaker 5: also like, no, this guy sucks.
Speaker 4: This guy's a douchebag. Like Pas is like a lovable idiot.
Speaker 4: Birdley is just like an idiot idiot exactly. Yes, by
Speaker 4: that Queen is such a good villain. She's so funny
Speaker 4: and like the whole the whole concept of the quote,
Speaker 4: cyber World is early Internet days, so it's a lot
Speaker 4: of jokes and gags based on early Internet stuff, and
Speaker 4: that stuff plays into the combat system and the enemies
Speaker 4: that you fight against. So like the whole nature of
Speaker 4: showing mercy and sparing your enemies. A lot of the
Speaker 4: actions that you do are jokes.
Speaker 3: With the in and of themselves.
Speaker 4: Like you'll have an enemy called pop up, and then
Speaker 4: you'll have two actions, either click or block, and if
Speaker 4: you hit click and it's like, hey, ten more enemies
Speaker 4: popped up because they're pop ups, and if you click them,
Speaker 4: they'll pop up like oh shit. And then you hit
Speaker 4: block and it's like, okay, you have to like hit
Speaker 4: triangle a bunch of times to block all the pop
Speaker 4: ups that are coming up.
Speaker 3: Hurry, hurry, hurry. Okay, cool, you've clicked out of all
Speaker 3: of it.
Speaker 4: It's there's so many good gags and it doesn't it
Speaker 4: never feels like it's trying too hard or trying to
Speaker 4: be too MEMI. It's very much like if you understand,
Speaker 4: if you if you vibe with undertails humor, It's it's
Speaker 4: that all over again, but in a different from a
Speaker 4: different perspective. It's really really good, it's really well done.
Speaker 5: Just yeah, it feels natural, like yes, nothing, but yeah,
Speaker 5: it's just it's just Toby Fox, dude, nothing, No one
Speaker 5: hits like Toby Fox.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I do have like one more question. I'm sorry
Speaker 2: I'm asking so many, like because this is one of
Speaker 2: those things I really struggle with, uh, most episodic games,
Speaker 2: like like don't tell Nobody, but I have not played
Speaker 2: Life is Strange too, not because it didn't look interesting,
Speaker 2: but just because I'm like, I do not want to
Speaker 2: play an episode one of something and then have to
Speaker 2: wait months on end to play episode two, and then
Speaker 2: wait again to play episode three. But I really liked
Speaker 2: Delta Rune chapter one just because even though it was
Speaker 2: clearly like the first chapter of something, it also felt
Speaker 2: very complete, like it was almost like this is almost
Speaker 2: just like a game in and of itself, like clearly
Speaker 2: there's more story here, but also you could just kind
Speaker 2: of play chapter one and be like, okay, cool, that
Speaker 2: was nice. I can kind of be done ish with
Speaker 2: Delta Rune here if.
Speaker 6: I wanted to be.
Speaker 2: Is chapter two like fairly self contained? Where like it
Speaker 2: ends on a note where I'm like I am satisfied
Speaker 2: with what I played or does it end like in
Speaker 2: a way where it's like, ah, God, damn it, now
Speaker 2: I have to wait.
Speaker 3: I mean definitely, I would say the ladder. Yeah, probably
Speaker 3: the ladder.
Speaker 5: The overarching like narrative like in in the Cyber World
Speaker 5: is resolved. But I mean, yeah, that it that it
Speaker 5: pulls a Delta roun It ends on like a big
Speaker 5: old thing and you're.
Speaker 3: Like, aha, I don't know.
Speaker 5: I kind of compared it to like a like a
Speaker 5: like a book series where it's like, Okay, you're gonna
Speaker 5: get like here's the next book in the Delta Roune saga,
Speaker 5: and we're gonna it's gonna have a good story. But
Speaker 5: then you know they're gonna leave you with some shit
Speaker 5: at the end because they want you to buy book
Speaker 5: three and you know, so, I don't know. It's also
Speaker 5: way longer than chapter one. It's like it took me
Speaker 5: like seven hours to beat oh, like chapter one took
Speaker 5: me like three. So it's it's it's a media it's
Speaker 5: a media amount of things.
Speaker 2: They'd be playing chapter two to discuss it for a
Speaker 2: Game of the Year conversations, or should I be waiting
Speaker 2: until Delta Rune chapter seven comes out to talk about
Speaker 2: Delta Rune as.
Speaker 1: A That's a good question because I guess the question
Speaker 1: is like Undertail had a moment where it hit. It
Speaker 1: was a media strike, right, like it was massive it
Speaker 1: Everyone kind of gathered around it in this one moment
Speaker 1: and played it in its totality and it became a
Speaker 1: cultural moment and for a lot of us, like going
Speaker 1: into the altar room when looking for more of that,
Speaker 1: we crave that right we want to have in many ways,
Speaker 1: as as sad as it might be sound like we
Speaker 1: want to have ourselves defined by another game like Undertail, right,
Speaker 1: because a lot of us are who we are because
Speaker 1: of Undertail. A lot of people would say that, do
Speaker 1: you think this episodic structure and the time it takes
Speaker 1: between them precludes it from having that kind of impact?
Speaker 3: I would say so.
Speaker 4: We also discussed this on ninety nine potions. You know
Speaker 4: what I'm saying, Uh No, I think, I think.
Speaker 1: I think.
Speaker 4: I think Chapter two is like I would put it
Speaker 4: on my personal Game of the Year list straight off,
Speaker 4: but I don't think like if if there's not enough
Speaker 4: rallying behind it, I don't think I'm gonna I would
Speaker 4: fight for it because if if someone comes comes out
Speaker 4: with the argument that's like, this is a segmented thing
Speaker 4: that doesn't tell like it does tell a complete story,
Speaker 4: but it's the broader implication is outside of chapter two itself,
Speaker 4: So it is hard to kind of argue for it
Speaker 4: as like game of the year status or like in
Speaker 4: that conversation, I would argue for it, but I also wouldn't,
Speaker 4: like I wouldn't try convincing someone otherwise because it is
Speaker 4: it's such a unique and different kind of thing that yeah,
Speaker 4: it's it's a I don't know when it comes game
Speaker 4: of the year time, and like I'll be like, hey,
Speaker 4: delt Ue, was this is that I think it should
Speaker 4: be wreckie for this? What do y'all think? And if
Speaker 4: the prevailing argument is like, well, I mean we have
Speaker 4: a lot of games and this is like only a
Speaker 4: segment of a much larger picture, it's kind of hard
Speaker 4: to engauge that with everything else.
Speaker 3: I'm like, yeah, all right, I get it.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I would agree, And I would say as far
Speaker 5: as like in the context of sort of the larger
Speaker 5: like you know, societal context of like is it going
Speaker 5: to have the same impact as undertail, Like probably not,
Speaker 5: just because I do think like like like you said
Speaker 5: that meteor strike of like Undertail just destroying everything in
Speaker 5: twenty fifteen, it was like huge, But I would also say, like,
Speaker 5: you know, I think a lot of people like had
Speaker 5: that impact with Undertail, remember it fondly but then kind
Speaker 5: of left. But a lot of people kind of forget that.
Speaker 5: Like there's been that fan base that is just like
Speaker 5: just just seeped into the Internet and gaming culture and
Speaker 5: just is like planted their their Undertail roots for years
Speaker 5: with all of this stuff, and those people are are
Speaker 5: kind of like in the background making that fan art,
Speaker 5: like you know, like writing up there like stuff about it.
Speaker 3: And fiction all over the placement.
Speaker 5: Fan fiction. They're dirty fan fiction. And so I think
Speaker 5: that that kind of energy is just going to continue
Speaker 5: to build around Delta Rune, like over time, and so
Speaker 5: I can see it becoming this thing where it doesn't
Speaker 5: feel like this just massive thing that comes out of nowhere,
Speaker 5: but like one day you're gonna wake up and like, dude,
Speaker 5: everyone's drawn fucking Delta Rune fan art. Like it's just
Speaker 5: gonna like I think it's just gonna happen, like by
Speaker 5: by the time the final thing comes out, like suddenly,
Speaker 5: it's gonna be everywhere.
Speaker 3: I think.
Speaker 4: I think I think it has a has a chance
Speaker 4: when three chapters three to five come out. Also, I
Speaker 4: think it has a chance to who knows, Like Toby
Speaker 4: Fox is completely unpredictable in terms of what the kind
Speaker 4: of storytelling that like, what he's.
Speaker 3: Gonna pull off.
Speaker 4: He has so many more chapters to surprise us, to
Speaker 4: fuck with our expectations. So I don't think like Delta
Speaker 4: doesn't necessarily have that cultural impact right now, but I
Speaker 4: think that they're like when three, four and five come out,
Speaker 4: and based on what happens in that fifth chapter to
Speaker 4: lead into six and seven, I think it can. It
Speaker 4: had like the fact if you when you put them
Speaker 4: all together, each is each I imagine each chapter is
Speaker 4: going to be about five hours, So at that point
Speaker 4: you're gonna have like a like a twenty to twenty
Speaker 4: five hour game with all those chapters, and assuming that
Speaker 4: chapter five is going to leave off on a cliffhanger,
Speaker 4: I think there's an opportunity to make a different kind
Speaker 4: of impact that's just as large.
Speaker 1: That's what I'll say, right Okay, yah, yeah, I definitely
Speaker 1: need to check you out. I'm gonna but another game
Speaker 1: that I'm currently checking out or planning to check out
Speaker 1: is Death Stranding Director's Cut, which John Luke has been
Speaker 1: playing and reviews on now Live for and seem to
Speaker 1: be as divisive as the original game does. Was like
Speaker 1: released in twenty nineteen and now this new version has
Speaker 1: got some extra bits in it, but largely seems to
Speaker 1: be the same game. Don't look how you get on
Speaker 1: with it? What do you think of it?
Speaker 3: Uh?
Speaker 5: Dude, it's more it's more Death Stranding. I really, I
Speaker 5: really like it's It's one of those things where I
Speaker 5: would say the things I liked about it are already
Speaker 5: what was there, and the new stuff has and I
Speaker 5: haven't finished it, but I played a little bit of
Speaker 5: the new stuff. I would say it's fine. It's like, ah,
Speaker 5: you know, okay, you put racing in the game. That's cool.
Speaker 5: Handle's okay. You put a cannon catapult thing in the game.
Speaker 5: That's pretty neat. There's a little pair of legs that
Speaker 5: will carry my stuff for me and follow me around.
Speaker 5: It's pretty cute. I'm into it, But nothing about it
Speaker 5: like dramatically alters the game in a in a in
Speaker 5: a way that I felt like, oh, like like ah, yes,
Speaker 5: this was like the this is the director's cut I
Speaker 5: was waiting for exactly, with the exception of maybe like
Speaker 5: the visual the like visual and frame re enhancements. But
Speaker 5: you know that's of course if you didn't already get
Speaker 5: it on PC, which kind of had that stuff. But
Speaker 5: for console players, I do think it's like a pretty
Speaker 5: cool upgrade. Of course they're blow and leaves right now
Speaker 5: while I'm talking, but yeah, like it the like that
Speaker 5: game running at sixty fps. I think just like enhances
Speaker 5: that experience a lot and like makes it more enjoyable.
Speaker 5: The adaptive triggers and the haptic feedback I think are fantastic,
Speaker 5: like like having that like the pressure sensitivity on the triggers,
Speaker 5: like at like you're like feeling it on your fingers
Speaker 5: as Sam is like trudging up a hill and you're like,
Speaker 5: oh yeah, Like it's one of those things that like
Speaker 5: sounds really gimmicky and I and I don't think, uh
Speaker 5: they go like there are some games that have like
Speaker 5: maybe gone too hard on the adapter triggers, where like
Speaker 5: it feels like a little maybe a little too much.
Speaker 5: I don't think this does. I think this strikes a
Speaker 5: good balance where I didn't find it like annoying, but
Speaker 5: I did feel like it it it was adding to
Speaker 5: my experience. You can also turn it off if that
Speaker 5: stuff does bother you, of course, but uh yeah, it's
Speaker 5: it's good. They added like I don't know, they just
Speaker 5: like added. It's like Kajima, like you just like adding shit.
Speaker 5: Like he added the firing range, which is like straight
Speaker 5: up like metal gear solid like ride in VR missions
Speaker 5: where like you're in like this dome and like it's
Speaker 5: like this giant hollow room from like the X Men,
Speaker 5: and he he even does like kind of like the
Speaker 5: like the like the fist up like yeah, I did
Speaker 5: it at the end, which is like very much referencing
Speaker 5: metal Gear. And I'm like, all right, like that's cool.
Speaker 5: You know, the actual playing those of our missions, you're like, oh, okay,
Speaker 5: I'm doing like a little stealth challenge or I'm throwing
Speaker 5: grenades at BT's and you're like, like that's all right.
Speaker 5: It's not really like the thing that I necessarily loved
Speaker 5: about dest s Randing. So I'm you know, like I
Speaker 5: mesked for it a little bit and was like, ah,
Speaker 5: this is cool, but it's not what I'm looking for.
Speaker 5: The more interesting thing is the new mission they added
Speaker 5: where you actually like have to steal through this this
Speaker 5: like hidden bunker and that's kind of where where a
Speaker 5: lot of like the like I guess metal geariness that
Speaker 5: cogin is kind of trying to see it in there.
Speaker 5: That stuff's cool because they do seed it throughout the game,
Speaker 5: so like at the very you can you unlock the
Speaker 5: first one at the very beginning of the game, and
Speaker 5: then it'll be like, oh, there's a door locked, we
Speaker 5: have to unlock it. Uh, well, we'll let you know later.
Speaker 5: So then it kind of has to play more of
Speaker 5: the game and then it's like, okay, now you can
Speaker 5: go back there and do that. And there's there's sort
Speaker 5: of a a little bit of a hinted at a
Speaker 5: story there, but I haven't really played much else beyond
Speaker 5: that like first little sections. I can't comment on like
Speaker 5: where that goes or like does that wrap in larger stories?
Speaker 5: It its own side thing. I'm not really sure, but.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 5: It's just it's I would say like if you were
Speaker 5: looking for this specifically for the new content, like it's eight,
Speaker 5: but if you were just like, oh, I want to
Speaker 5: play Death Stranding again, or I've never played it, or
Speaker 5: you know, like this is like a very this is
Speaker 5: like the definitive version. I would say it's very good.
Speaker 5: It brings in a lot of the upgrades that like
Speaker 5: the PC version had. They actually brought in the Half
Speaker 5: Life stuff from the PC version into this, which is like.
Speaker 3: Kind of weird.
Speaker 5: I wasn't expecting that. I figured that would have been
Speaker 5: like a like a Steam exclusive type thing. There's uh.
Speaker 5: They added like ultra widescreen support, which is hello weird.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 4: It an only PlayStation or the only console game ever
Speaker 4: to get ultra wide screen support.
Speaker 5: Yeah, it's it's not when I say ultra wide screen support,
Speaker 5: the game will run at ultra wide, but the PlayStation
Speaker 5: five itself does not support ultra wide monitors. So you're
Speaker 5: getting like the black bars.
Speaker 3: Okay, but you get the increased FOV.
Speaker 5: But you get the increased fovs, you get the same
Speaker 5: experience of ultra wide.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 5: So it's like you're the game is actually true ultra wide.
Speaker 3: You are getting cinematic yeah yeah, but but like you.
Speaker 5: Get the the increased fov you get like the increased
Speaker 5: space on the side, Like same with the cut scenes,
Speaker 5: Like it has that ultraight experience, but I'm like, could
Speaker 5: you have to work within the limitations of Sony saying like, man,
Speaker 5: don't work on ultra wide monitors like that.
Speaker 2: Well, but that's like the first thing that I've heard
Speaker 2: that has actually made sense with this whole director's cut
Speaker 2: like crap that Sony keeps pedaling with these experis the
Speaker 2: fact that it's like, now, this is my original vision,
Speaker 2: like this giant like wide shot and Sody being like, now,
Speaker 2: that's not how games work, and like cutting it down
Speaker 2: to fit standard screens, which is probably not at all
Speaker 2: what happened. They probably went the opposite way, but that
Speaker 2: makes sense. That makes sense with a director's cut label.
Speaker 5: And I go back and forth on it because part
Speaker 5: of me, like I kind of get annoyed at the
Speaker 5: black bars, and I was like, ah, like I've maybe
Speaker 5: I don't know if I want to play on this,
Speaker 5: But at the same time, I actually do really like
Speaker 5: the way the game like looks in ultra wide and
Speaker 5: like the increased FOV I think like really like adds
Speaker 5: to the sense of like scale of the environments and
Speaker 5: kind of really like sucks you in. But yeah, you
Speaker 5: also get the black bars, so you kind of have
Speaker 5: to pick and choose with this one. Let's play on
Speaker 5: PC and you got an ultra wide monitor, which case
Speaker 5: you're set. But yeah, man, ste's training.
Speaker 3: It's good.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm excited to play. I really really want that
Speaker 1: kind of game right now.
Speaker 2: So yeah, yeah, you're excited for that game right now
Speaker 2: with everything else that is coming out, you're excited.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah. Like it's also like it's it's surprisingly it's
Speaker 1: less demanding than people realize. Oh, it's as demanding as
Speaker 1: you allow it to be, right Like, and jumping back
Speaker 1: into that game is like it is the equivalent of
Speaker 1: just stepping outside and going for a walk in a
Speaker 1: digital way, right Like, it's you just kind of you
Speaker 1: have to barely pay attention. You just kind of selk
Speaker 1: it in. And that feels kind of not liberating, but
Speaker 1: like it's comforting at a time when every other game
Speaker 1: is you need to engage think about this, learn new mechanics,
Speaker 1: experience new worlds. It's that comfort to it. So I
Speaker 1: kind of think I'll have it as like a compliment
Speaker 1: to the other new games I'm playing or want to play.
Speaker 5: I think I think that's a good way to play it.
Speaker 1: Is that okay with you? Jordan?
Speaker 6: I guess.
Speaker 2: I mean, I guess it's fine. It's there's there's so
Speaker 2: many games about the come out. I can't believe you're
Speaker 2: like trying to squeeze in a game that came out due.
Speaker 1: I can't even fathom that. I'm going to play it
Speaker 1: alongside Sable, I'm going to play it alongside Del Larude,
Speaker 1: I'm going to play it alongside Guardians, all these other games.
Speaker 1: Tell him, yeah, everything, I'm getting, lining it all up.
Speaker 1: I'm ready. Speaking of being ready, Michael was up obsturd
Speaker 1: hours for Final Fantasy stuff.
Speaker 4: Oh you know what it is, you put you bring
Speaker 4: me on here. I got to talk about Final Fantasy fourteen. Yeah,
Speaker 4: this will this will be this will be quick, or
Speaker 4: so I say. But yeah, the live the live stream,
Speaker 4: the developer live stream, which covered all so I went
Speaker 4: into this. I was covering it for for fan Bite
Speaker 4: because that's what I do now. So I was just like, yeah, okay,
Speaker 4: it's seven o'clock on a Friday night.
Speaker 3: I'm ready to go.
Speaker 4: It's me and Mike Williams posted up ready to cover
Speaker 4: whatever whatever news comes out, and we're like, okay, this
Speaker 4: focuses on the changes to every class, like okay, so
Speaker 4: the probably broad reaching things that we could probably do
Speaker 4: some breakouts on these motherfuckers. Detailed changes for every single
Speaker 4: one of the jobs and classes in Final Fantasy fourteen,
Speaker 4: and there are nineteen of them now, two of which
Speaker 4: are completely new because they're coming with the new expansion.
Speaker 4: Seventeen of them are existing only like three of which
Speaker 4: I really really play all the way played all the
Speaker 4: way up to max level. So basically I'm trying to
Speaker 4: cover all these fucking different things which I kind of know,
Speaker 4: few that I know like an expert, and two that
Speaker 4: nobody knows about, and.
Speaker 3: I'm just like yo.
Speaker 4: And that stream went on for six hours and eighteen minutes,
Speaker 4: and it was lovely.
Speaker 3: It was great.
Speaker 4: It's you know, we were Final Fantasy fourteen players were feasting.
Speaker 4: This was it was so good. There's a they oh
Speaker 4: my god. So it's like all these changes coming to
Speaker 4: every single job and then so we did all kinds
Speaker 4: of breakouts on that. It was it was intense because
Speaker 4: it was all like a learning process to where we
Speaker 4: have to and it was also is in Japanese, but
Speaker 4: also that there was a translator, but it was conversational style,
Speaker 4: so trying to pick up on all the different details
Speaker 4: that were they were detailing. Was a bit challenging, but
Speaker 4: we did it. It was cool, and it made me
Speaker 4: really excited to try all these different classes that I
Speaker 4: haven't tried in Final Fantasy fourteen. Like I'm excited to
Speaker 4: be a healer. I played Astrologen, which is cool because
Speaker 4: I got to flip around tarot cards and heal that way.
Speaker 4: But now I want to play White Mage. I want
Speaker 4: to get ready for Stage, which is the new one coming.
Speaker 4: I'm really excited to try the new Reaper job.
Speaker 3: But also.
Speaker 4: There's like Summoners and magic DPS classes that I really
Speaker 4: want to dig into now because I'm excited for the
Speaker 4: changes that they're bringing to along with the new expansion.
Speaker 4: So that was that was wild, and I started. I
Speaker 4: started playing more White Mage with Final Fantasy fourteen, and
Speaker 4: it's it's making me see a different side. I think
Speaker 4: last time I was on here, I was talking about
Speaker 4: fishing raids and then so inso that feeling again where like, oh,
Speaker 4: there's this piece of this game that I knew was there,
Speaker 4: but it didn't engage with it. But now that I'm
Speaker 4: engaging with it, I'm seeing the game from a very
Speaker 4: different perspective. And there's still so much more to that
Speaker 4: game I need to dig into. But that live letter
Speaker 4: was wild because yeah, all those different details on every
Speaker 4: single job in class in that game, and Walker's coming soon,
Speaker 4: I couldn't be more excited. But also within that was
Speaker 4: that I think a lot of people were hyped up
Speaker 4: for data travel data center traveling, so no matter which
Speaker 4: server you're on, you would be able to meet up
Speaker 4: with a lot of people who play on different servers,
Speaker 4: which you can't really do now unless they're in like
Speaker 4: the same So there's servers, and then there's data centers.
Speaker 4: Data centers house multiple servers and you can't travel between
Speaker 4: data centers, but you can travel between the same servers
Speaker 4: on your own data center. So for example, like I
Speaker 4: can't hang out with Takis Fuego because Taki's Fuego is
Speaker 4: on a different data center. Data center travel would allow
Speaker 4: that that I can go over to whatever data center
Speaker 4: you're on, TAM and I could hang out with Talkis
Speaker 4: Fuego and do quests and raids and all this other stuff,
Speaker 4: but they had to delay it. I think that was
Speaker 4: the big news ticket from that, alongside all the different
Speaker 4: updates and changes for all the jobs and classes is
Speaker 4: that they plan to implement data center data center travel
Speaker 4: with the launch of end Walker, but they're like, yo,
Speaker 4: we literally cannot do that right now, I think, And
Speaker 4: that's alongside that there's just so much traffic. There's so
Speaker 4: many new players and the servers are already being impacted,
Speaker 4: and they said that, like, the last thing that they
Speaker 4: want to do is implement this new change on launch
Speaker 4: day for their biggest expansion yet amidst all this wild,
Speaker 4: crazy server traffic that they're getting that it's unprecedented for them.
Speaker 4: They're still trying to build out new servers to.
Speaker 3: Handle all of this. So along with the.
Speaker 4: Launch of an expansion, you can imagine how many moving
Speaker 4: parts there are and how intense that is going to
Speaker 4: be on uh server side. So yeah, unfortunately I won't
Speaker 4: be able to kick it with Taki's Fuego, But yeah,
Speaker 4: Final Fantasy fourteen, Man, we're gonna be getting media is
Speaker 4: gonna be getting hands on with n Walker very soon.
Speaker 4: Holy shit, man, it's gonna be It's gonna be like
Speaker 4: just coming coming off of deltrou in chapter two going
Speaker 4: into the next Final Fantacy fourteen expansion. Yo, I am
Speaker 4: eating good out here. You know what I'm saying. Oh,
Speaker 4: and I also I yo. Okay, So Toby Fox has
Speaker 4: been playing Final Fantasy fourteen. I know you've been playing
Speaker 4: Final Fantasy fourteen because I made all the connections between
Speaker 4: Delta and Chapter two. Chapters one and two and all
Speaker 4: the other chapters are basically Final Fantacy fourteen expansion packs.
Speaker 3: I see it.
Speaker 4: I already know where the story is going because I've
Speaker 4: made all the connections to fourteen.
Speaker 3: It's there. I see it.
Speaker 2: You sound like you're losing your mind, Michael, No, you're
Speaker 2: losing your mind.
Speaker 4: There are character parallels between those two games, and this
Speaker 4: is worry about lightness and darkness and the clashing at
Speaker 4: the grayness of morality and all this other bullshit. It's oh,
Speaker 4: it's so good, Okay.
Speaker 1: Of course, when and Walk is out, you will be
Speaker 1: able to read all the most deep and insightful commentary
Speaker 1: on it on games but docomm and nowhere else but Jordan.
Speaker 1: You've been playing Kenna Chi's Spirits is this is up?
Speaker 1: And we gave it a pretty good review. Phil gave
Speaker 1: it a.
Speaker 2: Night Yeah, what do you make a wonderful review? I know,
Speaker 2: John Luke, you've been playing it too, So I want
Speaker 2: to know if you feel the same way about this. Uh,
Speaker 2: Keina like might be my biggest surprise gaming wise for
Speaker 2: this year. Not in the sense of like, oh my god,
Speaker 2: I'm amazed that this game is good. I had hoped
Speaker 2: and assumed that it was going to be a good game,
Speaker 2: but like, Keana's one of those releases that like Press
Speaker 2: hasn't had a ton of hands on with, and we
Speaker 2: haven't seen too many like actual gameplay trailers for the game,
Speaker 2: Like they've kind of been focusing on like, hey, we're
Speaker 2: we were an animation studio, so this game is going
Speaker 2: to be pretty as fuck, And I'm like, oh yeah,
Speaker 2: this this game looks really really cool and pretty. But
Speaker 2: I also kind of expected it to be your kind
Speaker 2: of standard maybe like Ratchet and Clank three D platformer
Speaker 2: or more legend in Zelda puzzle game, and like it
Speaker 2: does have some of those elements, but like I didn't
Speaker 2: take too much attention to the fact that, like six
Speaker 2: months ago, Game Informer had like Kana's like their headlining
Speaker 2: thing for one of their magazines, and in it they're
Speaker 2: talking to one of the founders of Ember Lab, the developer,
Speaker 2: and they're like, oh yeah, a lot of people at
Speaker 2: our studio are huge into Securo Shout of Sight twice
Speaker 2: and the Soul's Born games, and it was like this
Speaker 2: one random sentence. I didn't take much of that. So
Speaker 2: when I played Kana, like the first thing that shocked
Speaker 2: me was like, Wow, this game.
Speaker 3: Is really fucking hard.
Speaker 2: Like it's it's surprisingly really difficult, And I did not
Speaker 2: expect that at all, given it's arts. Like I'm not
Speaker 2: saying that wholesome cutesy looking games they can't be hard,
Speaker 2: but just the way that Kana was presented, I did
Speaker 2: not expect going into it that. When I was going
Speaker 2: to start playing it and facing some of the bosses,
Speaker 2: I was like, this is like on par with like
Speaker 2: some of the battles I've had in Securo Blood Born
Speaker 2: in Dark Souls three, Like the attacks have to be
Speaker 2: like parried and dodged at like really precise times, and
Speaker 2: I have to like keep make sure that I don't
Speaker 2: heal too soon because a very limited amount of times
Speaker 2: to heal. And this is like a dance of death
Speaker 2: that if I get, if I'm a tempo off, I
Speaker 2: am going to be wrecked in the worst possible way.
Speaker 2: And there's just like no conceivable way that I can
Speaker 2: recover unless I just play the rest of the boss
Speaker 2: fight perfectly. And I'm like, I'm amazed that they were
Speaker 2: able to hide the fact that this game is going
Speaker 2: to be really, really hard all the way up until
Speaker 2: it released, like unless I just missed something somewhere where
Speaker 2: they mentioned like, oh, by the way, this game is
Speaker 2: going to be incredibly hard. But like it's got it's
Speaker 2: got great boss design, it's got like some of the
Speaker 2: best like boss battles I think I've played in almost
Speaker 2: any video game.
Speaker 3: I love it.
Speaker 2: I love it so much.
Speaker 1: That is the thing that is made it shoot up
Speaker 1: to the top of the my must playlist the mention
Speaker 1: of Securo style design or challenge and do Cell style challenge.
Speaker 1: But I'm I'm super super keen to play the game,
Speaker 1: super keena to play that game. You know what I'm saying, Wow,
Speaker 1: John Luke, what do you make of it?
Speaker 2: Ah?
Speaker 5: I feel bad because I don't I don't feel like
Speaker 5: I don't like it as much as everyone else. Not
Speaker 5: to say I don't like it, but that's not I
Speaker 5: don't think it's a good game, but at least like
Speaker 5: right now, and maybe maybe it's just the context in
Speaker 5: which I'm playing it, or the current headspace I'm in,
Speaker 5: but like I'm not, I'm not feeling it quite as much.
Speaker 5: Part of it actually is that combat difficulty, because I
Speaker 5: think the rest of the game, when it comes to
Speaker 5: like the platforming and the exploration, the puzzle solving is
Speaker 5: so like chill and easy going that like the difficulty
Speaker 5: of the combat just sort of frustrates me more than
Speaker 5: I find it enjoying because I'm like like, oh, this
Speaker 5: isn't what I'm looking for right now. Like I'm I like,
Speaker 5: I'm having such a good time like wandering around and
Speaker 5: like finding the different rots and doing the little puzzles,
Speaker 5: and then it's like, all right, now you gotta do
Speaker 5: this really hard boss and I'm like I don't want it.
Speaker 5: How is it what I want? What I want at
Speaker 5: the moment, But I like I respect what it's going
Speaker 5: for with that stuff. It's just like, for whatever reason,
Speaker 5: that's not clicking with me. There's also like a few
Speaker 5: like weird minor things that are like very specific to me,
Speaker 5: Like I find uh some Kenda's movement to be like
Speaker 5: kind of stiff, like, uh, she she doesn't have any
Speaker 5: Because I was trying to figure out like why her
Speaker 5: why her walking just like fell off to me, and
Speaker 5: I realized it's because she doesn't have any uh like
Speaker 5: forward momentum, like a build up to her run animation.
Speaker 5: She just like immediately goes one to one hundred, which
Speaker 5: I think makes perfect sense for the combat.
Speaker 3: Feels a little.
Speaker 5: Weird with the platforming. I don't know, like something about
Speaker 5: it like was just not quite clicking with me. The
Speaker 5: I like the puzzles. I like the looks fucking gorgeous,
Speaker 5: Like I mean, like just wandering around it, you're like,
Speaker 5: holy shit. But like yeah, like the platforming, it's like
Speaker 5: it's fine, it's little, a little basic. It feels a
Speaker 5: lot like a PS two throwback, like a huge PS
Speaker 5: two throwback, like they were like all right, uh Jack
Speaker 5: and Daxter, old school ratchet and clank, like let's go,
Speaker 5: like you know, like that kind of energy, And I
Speaker 5: like mad respect for that, and I like part of
Speaker 5: me loves out about it, but there's another part of
Speaker 5: me that's like, like I played so many like two
Speaker 5: thousand era like Alice Madness Return, like like it reminds
Speaker 5: you of like Alice actually a lot like American mcgeese.
Speaker 5: Alice is actually maybe the one that running me the
Speaker 5: most of like in terms of the way it feels
Speaker 5: like the platforming and stuff, and I was like, that's awesome.
Speaker 5: I've kind of played like so many of these as
Speaker 5: a kid that like maybe I'm I'm just like come
Speaker 5: in wanting more out of that genre. I don't know,
Speaker 5: it feels like a meat problem because I like no
Speaker 5: one else is like feeling this way about it at all.
Speaker 2: No, I mean I totally get it because it does
Speaker 2: that thing like going off you're like a PS two comparison,
Speaker 2: and there's like a bunch of things where it's like, oh,
Speaker 2: when you're about to reach a new cut scene, it
Speaker 2: doesn't do that thing that games today do where it
Speaker 2: kind of just like naturally flows into a cut scene.
Speaker 2: It's like there's a pause, like a very quick fade
Speaker 2: to black, then fade back in to like go into
Speaker 2: the cinematic. When Kana's jumping to like grab a ledge, uh,
Speaker 2: you have to be like exactly angled onto the ledge,
Speaker 2: like if there's any deviation, she just kind of like
Speaker 2: doesn't the ledge and she just kind of like it
Speaker 2: hits off her shins and she just falls down. It's like, oh,
Speaker 2: like this is a problem that I have not encountered
Speaker 2: in video games in like a decade.
Speaker 5: She's got that really infuriating a dak and Jack and
Speaker 5: Daxter double jump, where like the first jump is like
Speaker 5: really good, and then the second jump is like a
Speaker 5: little spin that like it's just a little hop and
Speaker 5: you're like no, like like it always feels like you're
Speaker 5: not gonna like grab the like uh, you're gonna like
Speaker 5: get onto the ledge like you do. Like obviously it's
Speaker 5: designed in a way where you do, but like there's
Speaker 5: that part of me that's always like like this, I
Speaker 5: wish there's.
Speaker 2: Clearly been designed for the combat, because like in the combat,
Speaker 2: it's like, oh, you jump, and then you'll double jump
Speaker 2: and it's like, oh, now you're high enough to possibly
Speaker 2: jump over the attack like in Sekio, and there's those
Speaker 2: unblockable attacks that you have to jump over the enemy
Speaker 2: and on them. Or it might be a case where
Speaker 2: you're double jumping, then you can do a downward slash,
Speaker 2: or you can do that slow mo freeze thing in
Speaker 2: the area you're charging your bow and you can like
Speaker 2: snipe someone from it air. Like Clearly all of Kana's
Speaker 2: movements have been designed to appeal to the very challenging
Speaker 2: combat gauntlets that she has to go through, so they
Speaker 2: feel a little bit strange, I will give you that, John, Look,
Speaker 2: they feel a little bit strange. And then they translate
Speaker 2: over to the puzzle and the platforming segments. You're like, oh,
Speaker 2: I kind of expected her jump to be a little
Speaker 2: further outward or at least appear to be further outward
Speaker 2: than it does. And it's like, oh, but it's designed
Speaker 2: more to like give her the height in combat so
Speaker 2: that you can snipe enemies from afar jump over there.
Speaker 5: That's it, Because it's like, yeah, it's like the movement
Speaker 5: feels better for the combat and doesn't feel quite as
Speaker 5: good for maybe the platforming. But also I'd rather be
Speaker 5: doing the platforming than the combat. So like my brain
Speaker 5: is like, none of these are quite hitten for me,
Speaker 5: like as hard as I want them to, but I
Speaker 5: still want to keep playing it, and like, you know,
Speaker 5: maybe maybe I just need to like take a break
Speaker 5: and come back in like a better headspace for it,
Speaker 5: because I do think all the praise for the game
Speaker 5: is like absolutely well deserved, and like, if this game
Speaker 5: has any interest, you have any interest in.
Speaker 6: This, like you should absolutely pick it up.
Speaker 5: It's just like, for whatever reason, it's an exact moment,
Speaker 5: it's not hitting me as much as I want.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm still very keen to play it at least check.
Speaker 5: It out, but yeah, very keen to play it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I said that. I said that already. I
Speaker 1: am honestly like I'm spending a lot of my time
Speaker 1: kind of having on the post review calm down where
Speaker 1: I just want to play something that doesn't require too
Speaker 1: much like not thought, but like too much investment. And
Speaker 1: the game that I've kind of leaned in on is Hades,
Speaker 1: which I'm playing on stream a lot. And I don't
Speaker 1: think I'm not going to take any time talking about
Speaker 1: Hades at length because I think everyone's talked about it thoroughly.
Speaker 1: It's fantastic. And I played it initially when it first
Speaker 1: came out in early access, and I was like, I'm
Speaker 1: going to come back to this when when it comes
Speaker 1: out and you know, completed, and I didn't get a
Speaker 1: chance to come back to it, and I did and
Speaker 1: recently and I am having a hell of a time.
Speaker 1: I got the Gauntlet.
Speaker 3: Hell of a time.
Speaker 2: Hell, we were supposed to just let it go.
Speaker 4: My no, this is this is why I need high around.
Speaker 1: About I already did this.
Speaker 3: Great game. Continue.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I've got the I can't remember what they called
Speaker 1: the gauntlets.
Speaker 2: This the best the best weapons in the game.
Speaker 1: Yes, I love that because it's called like the air.
Speaker 1: It's got the long range punches and then the dragon
Speaker 1: punch and then you get the Zeus's stuff on it,
Speaker 1: the boons and yeah, and then Optimist's best goal.
Speaker 4: So I am my god, I love artemists so much.
Speaker 4: I love her design, so shouts out to gen Z.
Speaker 4: She's gen Z is like the uh not not the
Speaker 4: generation of gen Z. Gen Z is her name. She
Speaker 4: is like the lead artist for all of Super Giant stuff.
Speaker 4: Her character designs are.
Speaker 2: Just oh, she's like, I want a video game specifically
Speaker 2: about that artemis, like the artemist that is in Haites,
Speaker 2: like I have the first time I saw him, like
Speaker 2: man and the I can't remember who voices her, but
Speaker 2: just like the like raspiness that she brings to the
Speaker 2: role and the fact that like there's like an underlying
Speaker 2: like bit of hurt and trauma like in her past
Speaker 2: that she keeps alluding to. I'm like, I want this story.
Speaker 2: I want this video game, and I'm like, I can't
Speaker 2: remember some voices.
Speaker 1: I'm very into Artemis. I like Artemis a lot. Artemis
Speaker 1: and are my two favorite characters. It is just a
Speaker 1: good egg, like a wholesome dude.
Speaker 3: He's a thick boy. Thick boy, he's thick as hell.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and like the first time you give them, the
Speaker 1: next days like you shouldn't give this to me, you know,
Speaker 1: this is too good for me. And I was like, bro, oh, yeah,
Speaker 1: he's very sweet. You're the best. Yeah, he's very sweet.
Speaker 1: So those are those are my guys. And so I'm
Speaker 1: playing a lot of that, but I'm going to jump
Speaker 1: into Keena next. I think Quina and Sable. We also
Speaker 1: published a review for Sable today, written by frequent reviewer
Speaker 1: Excellent writer Richard Wakeling, and he gave that a nine
Speaker 1: out of ten, and I said it was like really
Speaker 1: really lovely open world exploration game, no combat, just focuses
Speaker 1: on learning the world and experiencing it, and it sounds amazing.
Speaker 1: So I'm going to check that out for sure as well.
Speaker 1: Those are my main things. I've also been watching Iron
Speaker 1: Blooded Orphans, which is I I traditionally do not like Gundam,
Speaker 1: like I don't like. I don't like. I don't like
Speaker 1: mechanime very much. I don't like them. I don't I
Speaker 1: don't like. They don't hit for meats. Yeah, I I
Speaker 1: watched Macross back in the day and that I enjoyed
Speaker 1: that men because it was like very musical, and I
Speaker 1: I like the original Gundam. I kind of watched it
Speaker 1: more out of interest, just instead of being like, I'm
Speaker 1: very into this and there's parts of what's it called
Speaker 1: the one that everyone loves with with the Maxot, even
Speaker 1: Evan Gellyon, I love that's the one very very for
Speaker 1: any no, no, no, no, no, even Gullion is even
Speaker 1: Gallion is the one thing that even Gillyon is that
Speaker 1: the that makes me think maybe there is I'm just
Speaker 1: not finding the right specific vibe of clearly I forgot
Speaker 1: the name of the animals very popular, you know, lads
Speaker 1: underground and then they come up to the top and
Speaker 1: green Lug and that's the one. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I
Speaker 1: watched that and it was like not for me, Nah, yeah.
Speaker 3: I mean that that's fair, that's fair, but heartbreaking right now.
Speaker 1: Well, I'm orphans, I'm blood. Orphans is a Gundom show
Speaker 1: that is more specifically focused on the human character, and
Speaker 1: a lot of Gundam shows are also focused on the
Speaker 1: human characters. But like this is about like a ragtag
Speaker 1: bunch of kids who are basically discarded and and like
Speaker 1: are living on Mars like planet and like fending for
Speaker 1: their life, and they're part of the military, but they
Speaker 1: treated like shit. They're basically like thrown. They're the team
Speaker 1: that are constantly thrown at the danger so that the
Speaker 1: a team can basically like get away with you know,
Speaker 1: just retreating or thinning out the enemy so then they
Speaker 1: can come along and they just there's this little team
Speaker 1: that could that constantly is just fighting above their punching
Speaker 1: above their weight constantly, and they've come together as a
Speaker 1: unit and they've started to realize that they need to
Speaker 1: look out for themselves because no one else is looking
Speaker 1: out for them. So it's this little team that is
Speaker 1: like existing inside this corrupt or like this degrading system,
Speaker 1: but also is like rebelling against it in ways.
Speaker 5: You know.
Speaker 1: It's that kind of vibe where their leader is like
Speaker 1: very much aware of how they're being exploited and is
Speaker 1: making decisions and making actions that are just skirting the
Speaker 1: line of like showing the middle finger to the authority,
Speaker 1: but doing it in a way where they can't outright
Speaker 1: like like sentence them to l or anything like that.
Speaker 1: But ultimately is like looking after his crew. And I'm like,
Speaker 1: three or four episodes in, it's way more at least
Speaker 1: at least to begin with. It starts off it has
Speaker 1: the political stuff that you want out of it with
Speaker 1: different factions, but it's not all focused on look, I've
Speaker 1: got a massive robot. It's more like smaller utility units fighting.
Speaker 1: And then when the robot appears, the Gundom appears, you're like,
Speaker 1: holy shit, and it packs a punch because of it,
Speaker 1: like you get you get a Gundom fight within the
Speaker 1: first episode, but it's not a Gundom fight in the
Speaker 1: way that you see most Gundom fights. It's kind of
Speaker 1: like the way they use their the avas in in
Speaker 1: the first of the first few episodes, where it like
Speaker 1: the avas in the first few episodes of Evangelion they
Speaker 1: show up, do like a punch and a kick and
Speaker 1: then power down because everything's fucked and you're like, oh,
Speaker 1: I see what's going on. It's like it's kind of
Speaker 1: that more of that kind of vibe to begin with,
Speaker 1: because like the Gundams that they find, they look like
Speaker 1: the iconic Gundoms that we know, but they've also been
Speaker 1: a a bandoned for a really long time, so it's
Speaker 1: like and and the pilots are kind of like not
Speaker 1: familiar with them and not synchronized with them in it
Speaker 1: in a way. But it's a really really good show.
Speaker 1: I'm really enjoying it so far. It's like written by
Speaker 1: Murray Okada, who's a female manga screenwriter and director, and
Speaker 1: she's worked on a bunch of things that are really
Speaker 1: called like Black Butler, Vampire Knight and Fate s Day
Speaker 1: Night and a few other things. Yeah, she also worked
Speaker 1: on Her. She also worked on Amtaro. Yeah, she worked
Speaker 1: on the third. So she's got she's she's gotten eclectic
Speaker 1: and she's like very storied, like writer, a bunch of amazing,
Speaker 1: amazing stuff behind her. And it's two seasons. Apparently both
Speaker 1: seasons are bangers, So I would highly recommend it. It's not Netflix,
Speaker 1: which is what I'm watching it on.
Speaker 4: And I'm real good time, ah dog you talking about
Speaker 4: this is like shot this all the way up to
Speaker 4: the top of my list. This is checking every single box.
Speaker 1: I feel like you'd like it a lot. I feel
Speaker 1: like you'd like it. And then the other thing that
Speaker 1: I was watching was like I caught up on my
Speaker 1: hier Academia. This season has been kind of mid but
Speaker 1: they covered the Shigaraki Tomura origins, the main villain origins
Speaker 1: in these in these last two episodes, and that is
Speaker 1: that story is one of the most traumatizing stories in
Speaker 1: my hira Academy. It feels like completely different. It feels
Speaker 1: like this is It feels like it goes from hey,
Speaker 1: this is a take on superheroes, to hey, we gave
Speaker 1: this series to gingi Eto for a couple of episodes.
Speaker 1: What the fuck is going on?
Speaker 5: And where's this sat what?
Speaker 6: What?
Speaker 5: How far is this in?
Speaker 1: This is like the latest I can't remember the exact
Speaker 1: episode numbers, but it's like the latest two episodes in
Speaker 1: season five. And I it's.
Speaker 2: Weird because they switched it because in the manga, like
Speaker 2: this arc comes before the uh arc where Bakaga Medorian
Speaker 2: Totarroki are doing yeah, and they switched it for the
Speaker 2: anime and I'm like, at first, I thought they were
Speaker 2: just going to skip this arc, and I'm like, that's
Speaker 2: an odd choice.
Speaker 1: That's an odd well, there were some questions about whether
Speaker 1: they would do it because it's genuinely that fucked up
Speaker 1: in the manga, it's like worse because it's like it is.
Speaker 1: I mean, this is a boy who anytime he touches anything,
Speaker 1: it decays, and he also has childhood trauma, so you
Speaker 1: can see where that goes, and it is like genuine
Speaker 1: I think, John, Look, I don't know if you're caught up,
Speaker 1: but like or even I am, Like, you can watch
Speaker 1: those two episodes as a self contained in isolation story
Speaker 1: and you come away feeling like one, you'll come away
Speaker 1: feeling that was heartbreaking too. You'll be like, that is
Speaker 1: well fucked up, and why is it in this show?
Speaker 5: If I stopped what like season three.
Speaker 3: I mean yeah, just like crop in and just.
Speaker 1: I mean like you've got the context because you know
Speaker 1: who Shugaraki tomorrow is because he was in season one
Speaker 1: and two and three, So like it would be good.
Speaker 1: You have the necessary context, which is the familiarity with
Speaker 1: the character. The things that will be weird is where
Speaker 1: they're currently at. The actual like exploration of his story
Speaker 1: takes place within the context of a battle that is
Speaker 1: happening that you don't have context for Okay, okay, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: it is like it is like imagine if you were
Speaker 1: getting Goku's backstory in the middle of the Cell games,
Speaker 1: you'd be like, what the hell's going on? But it
Speaker 1: is still doable, and honestly, like the actual fight that's
Speaker 1: happening around them is kind of not great. It's like, okay, so,
Speaker 1: but like it's only in the second half of episode
Speaker 1: two that that comes back in. You could watch the
Speaker 1: Tomorra episodes and not really be spoiled about what's going on,
Speaker 1: and I would reckon even it might get you to
Speaker 1: it might make you want to watch catch up on
Speaker 1: it because it is real good. Yeah, and that's pretty
Speaker 1: much what I've been doing. So let's move on to
Speaker 1: listen to questions. If you would like to send us
Speaker 1: a listener question, you can email us after Dark podcast
Speaker 1: at GameSpot dot com or join our discord. You can
Speaker 1: DM me or Lucy to get invited to that. And Michael,
Speaker 1: can you read this first question? Please?
Speaker 6: Yes?
Speaker 5: Hi, y'all, apologies and advance. This question is like hell
Speaker 5: old we have Like yeah, I was.
Speaker 2: Wondering, like Michael here just to answer this question, Michael, question.
Speaker 4: I've seen this question on like the last like two
Speaker 4: episodes while I was on it ago. But anyway, I'm
Speaker 4: emailing because I'm listening to the Giant BombCast quote unquote
Speaker 4: this week aka game Spot after Dark featuring Jan and Jeff,
Speaker 4: which was when I was on the BombCast as well
Speaker 4: two months ago, like things like yeah, two months ago.
Speaker 4: And I think I've heard a couple of times that
Speaker 4: you can't join up your friends in Final Fantasy fourteen
Speaker 4: without paying, which is which Wilsh sort of true. It
Speaker 4: is pretty easy to circumvent. First, the party must be
Speaker 4: made by someone who has paid for the game. Because
Speaker 4: they are allowed to friend people who are in the
Speaker 4: free trial, they can invite friends Elie, they can invite
Speaker 4: everyone who is on the free trial, and then everyone
Speaker 4: can go adventuring together. Also, free trial users can join
Speaker 4: a cross world linkshell, so that's another way to have
Speaker 4: an FC like experience. I hope that helps.
Speaker 3: Thanks to Michael for getting me addicted to a game
Speaker 3: that made him cry best.
Speaker 4: David Oh, David Yo playing Final Fantasy fourteen.
Speaker 1: You know question that wasn't a question? Well, I know
Speaker 1: I wasn't a question. We just came in. I just
Speaker 1: I just wanted to give Mike his his du Yeah.
Speaker 4: Community shouts out to David for for for letting the
Speaker 4: folks know spreading the good word the critically claimed MMRPG.
Speaker 4: That's a free trial up to level sixty. No, don't
Speaker 4: play time and you get the first expansion in Heaven's
Speaker 4: Word for free.
Speaker 1: Jorden, can you read this second question for sure?
Speaker 2: Hey, After Dark Crew, love the podcast. I'm a veterinarian
Speaker 2: practicing for over twelve years. Bless you you keep our
Speaker 2: fur babies healthy. Love you, love you a lot, and
Speaker 2: love hearing you talk about your fur babies in addition
Speaker 2: to video games. I was listening to episode one oh six, okay,
Speaker 2: so this is probably this is more feedback then, and
Speaker 2: you were talking about your kiddies frequent vomiting like it
Speaker 2: was normal. I missed this conversation. I was not at
Speaker 2: this podcast. Frequently vomiting once a week or more is
Speaker 2: not normal in a cat. Yes, long haired cats can
Speaker 2: occasionally get hairballs, which we'll usually see in the vomit.
Speaker 2: But if you have a cat that vomits once a
Speaker 2: day or even just once a week, you really should
Speaker 2: bring that up with your primary care veterinarian. I can't
Speaker 2: really offer a lot of advice without an existing veterinary
Speaker 2: client patient relationship. But cats can have food sensitivities or
Speaker 2: other chronic Oh man, I am not going to even
Speaker 2: try to pronounce that word. Gastro intestinal gas, intestinal ailments
Speaker 2: that can be treated with changes and diet or sometimes medications. Again,
Speaker 2: I would highly recommend you bring this up at your
Speaker 2: next veterinarian wellness appointment or sooner if you are seeing
Speaker 2: any weight loss. I really appreciate how much you love
Speaker 2: cats and games as much as I do.
Speaker 1: Well, that was I wanted to read that. So he
Speaker 1: got breaks up there? How's breaks, Dan?
Speaker 3: Breaks? I love you breaks, I miss you very much.
Speaker 6: She's good.
Speaker 5: We just got her a little seasonal collar. She's got
Speaker 5: a little candy corn themed oh holiday season. She did
Speaker 5: throw up two days ago.
Speaker 2: On our bed.
Speaker 1: I hate to see.
Speaker 5: So the throwing up has not stopped. It had slowed
Speaker 5: down for a little bit though, so we were like
Speaker 5: feeling good about it, really oh cool, like we figured
Speaker 5: this out, and then she threw up and we're like,
Speaker 5: gosh it, Well, I guess it's still happening. But yeah,
Speaker 5: you know, I don't know I mean we're obviously like
Speaker 5: every time it happens, we're very like, like what should
Speaker 5: we do? Should we go to the vet? Uh?
Speaker 3: You know, we do.
Speaker 5: I think I definitely want to like talk to a
Speaker 5: veterinarian about it. But also like like Jenna Max were like, yeah,
Speaker 5: she just like throws up all the time, Like apparently
Speaker 5: she's just always been like that. Ohn't know if that's
Speaker 5: that's not really a good thing.
Speaker 7: But like twelve years, twelve years, vet says it's not normal.
Speaker 7: So you know, but Brinx is she's doing all right?
Speaker 1: Uh yeah, Oh my my cat, one of my cats,
Speaker 1: Kiki Sun, the older of the two, the white one. Unfortunately,
Speaker 1: she's just started pissing in places that aren't her little
Speaker 1: box anymore. I think it's because she's stressed, and she's
Speaker 1: like she's got she's got a hyperthyroid issue and we
Speaker 1: have to take her to the vet and like she's
Speaker 1: lost a lot of weight and yeah, she's sadly, San
Speaker 1: is having a rough time and isn't in a good
Speaker 1: place right now. So I'm like, Okay, that's what you want.
Speaker 1: I guess I won't be mad at you. But the
Speaker 1: other one, the other one's fine.
Speaker 4: Show cuho's who's the feedback from that?
Speaker 3: The feedback was from Michael from New York.
Speaker 4: From I'm trying to take care of my cat over here.
Speaker 1: Okay, well, we do have some questions, but unfortunately we'll
Speaker 1: have to save those for next week. I wanted to
Speaker 1: get back to get through some of the feedback and
Speaker 1: start clearing the cat backlog, but we've got a few down,
Speaker 1: so we're getting closer to the actual questions, many of
Speaker 1: which come from Rockets. He's just putting in work with
Speaker 1: the questions in the meantime, Michael Wickham, people find.
Speaker 4: You, ah sh you could find me and all of
Speaker 4: them up bullshit at Michael P Higham on Twitter and
Speaker 4: at fanby dot com, where you can check out things
Speaker 4: such as a Loss of Judgment review, frequent coverage of
Speaker 4: Final Fantasy fourteen, and shit like that. I left GameSpot
Speaker 4: to start a Final Fantasy fourteen vertical which is coming soon,
Speaker 4: which is going to be an offshoot of fan Bite,
Speaker 4: So I am that is what I'm working on. That's
Speaker 4: the project that I'm actually heading up. So when the
Speaker 4: time comes, keep your eyes peeled for that. We'll be
Speaker 4: making big announcements and showcasing a website specifically dedicated to
Speaker 4: Final Fantasy fourteen.
Speaker 2: Very soon, you cannot go back to Van Byte and
Speaker 2: say what I did about episodic games and life is
Speaker 2: changed to I just realized where you work now, and
Speaker 2: like they will crucify Natalie.
Speaker 3: Natalie, Natalie and Kenn are about to hear.
Speaker 1: This, Jordan, where are you and what are you.
Speaker 6: Uh?
Speaker 2: People can find me on Twitter at JM Remae. I'll
Speaker 2: say when this podcast goes up, I either will be
Speaker 2: very excited about the Hollow Night Silk Song announcement that
Speaker 2: happened at the Nintendo Direct and I'll be posting about that,
Speaker 2: or I'll be once again enduring the bullying from everyone
Speaker 2: around me. It's like, hah, Jordan, I can't believe you
Speaker 2: expected to hear about Silk Song. Nintendo's never going to
Speaker 2: give that to you. So I'll be in one of
Speaker 2: two headspaces. We'll see, we'll see.
Speaker 1: I think it's gonna be the latter. Badly, I can believe.
Speaker 2: Tam, this is the last chance. Even if it's just
Speaker 2: like the seafood trailer at the PlayStation event, We're like,
Speaker 2: you know what, we know you've been looking forward to
Speaker 2: this game. This game's not coming out this year. It's
Speaker 2: coming out in twenty twenty two. I'm like, you know what,
Speaker 2: I'm cool with that. Just give me anything, Team Cherry.
Speaker 2: You can even just like have like a one second
Speaker 2: clip of just like Hornet like jumping from one side
Speaker 2: of the screen to the other while they're like switching
Speaker 2: from one game to the next game, and I'll be
Speaker 2: content with that. Just like admit that the game still
Speaker 2: exists somewhere.
Speaker 1: Keep holding that. What you are, what you're up to.
Speaker 5: You can find me at John Luke scitee on Twitter.
Speaker 6: Uh.
Speaker 5: Apparently all that Nintendo stuff got leaks, or a good
Speaker 5: chunk of it.
Speaker 1: It's leaking. It's leaking.
Speaker 3: Check that out.
Speaker 5: I don't know, I don't know what what it is yet,
Speaker 5: but I'm I'm looking forward to some of the.
Speaker 1: There's no Silk Song on the list.
Speaker 3: It might not be everything, it might not be everything.
Speaker 3: You don't know.
Speaker 5: I want to, I want to. I don't want to
Speaker 5: disappoint you, Jordan. I want I want you. I just
Speaker 5: want Jordan to be you know what, That's what I want.
Speaker 2: Constant point man, John Luke. I can't say that we
Speaker 2: got a new five. I can't be too hard.
Speaker 3: That's the next.
Speaker 2: Man.
Speaker 5: I've been I've been playing all of them. I'm going
Speaker 5: through fusion right now. I'm ready. Every day in bed,
Speaker 5: I get out my deep my three DS and I
Speaker 5: play a little bit of a Sam's Returns just for
Speaker 5: like an hour in bed, and I'm like, like, I'm
Speaker 5: really excited about it. So maybe, yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 5: I'm gonna be here hanging out, hanging out, making podcasts,
Speaker 5: covering games.
Speaker 1: I will also be here hanging out making podcasts and
Speaker 1: covering games. And you can find me on Twitter at
Speaker 1: tomorre H, or if you want to watch me stream,
Speaker 1: you can find me on Twitter TV for a session
Speaker 1: more h. I'd love to see it, and we will
Speaker 1: see you next week.
Speaker 6: Peacey, Hey, don't trump the
Speaker 2: Don't trankle, don't something el