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Speaker 1: Welcome everybody to the Game Informer Show, a weekly podcast

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covering the video game industry. Join us every week for

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discussion about the latest gaming news, reviews, and exclusive reveals,

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alongside Game Informer staff and special guests from around the industry.

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I'm one of your hosts today, Alex Van Aiken, and

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I am joined by Marcus Stewart. Hey, Neil, Marcus, Hi.

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Speaker 2: What's up. It's a reference to our Resident Evil Outbreak

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super replay. Shout out to George, one of our hapless companions.

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He does that a lot. He just goes hi, and

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then he gets like, staff.

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Speaker 1: I saw that. Y'all are what seven episodes into that?

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How's that going?

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Speaker 2: It's going great. We're stuck in scenario three. We're like

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in the middle. We have a key that we don't

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know the bad luck goes to. Yet that's our occurrent

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sort of hurdle camming. Over All of our companions are idiots.

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Cindy died because she carried three red herbs that are useless.

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But yeah, it's going it's going good.

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Speaker 1: It's it's been like, yeah, listeners of your Curious Resident

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Evil Outbreak is the what spiritual prequel to Resident Evil

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Requiem there's some characters introduced in that.

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Speaker 2: There's one one, Alyssa Ashcroft, who was who we're playing ass.

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Speaker 1: He is the only she's the mom of the protagonist.

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Speaker 3: Yes, and.

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Speaker 2: Then also dies in requiem like they just showed that.

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Speaker 1: Okay, great, yeah, sure that's sign Thanks Capcom. We're also

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joined by Eric Van Allen.

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Speaker 4: How you doing, Eric? I'm doing good. I don't have

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anything to reference.

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Speaker 1: I could.

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Speaker 4: I could be like a Pokemon and just say Eric, Eric,

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that's my name.

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Speaker 1: Eric. We're gonna be talking about that later on in

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the show. And we're joined by a special guest, Bill Fairchild.

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You might know him from the nerd nest On YouTube

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or Patreon. Bill. How you do?

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Speaker 5: Hey, how's it going everybody? I'm happy to be here.

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I didn't know i'd have to have a reference ready,

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so you normally don't.

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Speaker 1: It's you know, they're feeling really, they're feeling extra wild today.

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Speaker 2: You could reference something that just happened on this show.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, just hi, yuh, there you go. Oh wow, it's

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a residentieval outbreak.

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Speaker 2: What a callback?

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Speaker 1: Wow? Bill, thank you for joining us. You and I

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met back at Paseas through a mutual friend Bob Wolf

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and Hit it off, and yeah, I wanted to have

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you come on the show. Your expertise is on PC handhelds, right.

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Speaker 5: Well, I wouldn't say that I have any expertise in

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any area in particular, but I do use a lot

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of PC handhelds.

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Speaker 3: Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, And of course the Xbox rock Ally and la

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X are out. Now you've spent about a week with them,

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if I'm not mistaken.

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Speaker 5: And yeah, I'm going to pick your brain. Yeah, they're

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sitting here at my desk. I've been using them a bunch,

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putting them through their I think Microsoft has done some

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pretty cool stuff, but maybe it's not quite far enough.

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Speaker 3: We'll have to talk about it.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, we'll talk about it in just a second. But

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I did want to give you a chance to let

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our listeners and our viewers know what nerd nest is

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all about and kind of what you get up to

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over there.

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Speaker 5: So nerdnest is my YouTube channel, which is also where

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I have my podcast, and basically I do gaming news stuff,

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mostly focusing on PC gaming that kind of thing, but

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I also will talk about what's happening in the rest

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of the industry, hardware reviews, things like that, and then

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every week I also have a podcast where it's myself,

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the Fox Retro gamecre and Fan the Deck and we

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sit down and we look at what's going on in

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the industry and just kind of talk about it, and

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then in the second half of the show, we usually

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talk about the games we've been playing.

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Speaker 1: Awesome. Well, that seems like a natural recommendation for folks

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who listen to this podcast, so make sure to go

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and check that out. Nerd Nest is and that's the

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name of the podcast as well.

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Speaker 5: Right, Yeah, everything's nerd Nest which is actually the name

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of this room because when we built this room, my

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wife was telling one of her friends about it. Yeah,

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like that we that I had like this studio and

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she said, well we her her friend called it the

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man Cave, and my wife goes, well, he doesn't do

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anything manly in there, so they called it the nerd Nest.

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Speaker 3: And I don't. I mean, she's right, I don't do anything.

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Speaker 1: Likewise.

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Speaker 2: You like curling a controller, that's probably manly. Yeah, it's

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pretty light though. You got to get a lot of

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reps in order to get in a good workout.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, more about tone than than muscle. Yeah. Uh well, Bill,

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thanks for joining us. Let's not waste any more time.

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Let's jump into the Xbox rock Ally. Of course, listeners,

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if you need a primer, this is the new Xbox

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partner with asis Zeus. Who are They've previously made the

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rog Ally, which was a very well regarded PC handheld.

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You could still buy it today. It's probably what I

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would consider to be the main competitor of the steam Deck.

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It is more expensive than the seam Deck but has

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been known to get better performance and that kind of thing.

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And Xbox this new Xbox rog Ally and Ally X,

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which are the two different skews. The x is the

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more powerful version. These are kind of the the successor

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to that first rog Ally, And a lot being talked

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about this week about these handhelds and in their performance

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and the new sort of Xbox you know, dashboard of

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sorts that that it's got on there. But Bill, I'll

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kind of toss it over to you to kind of

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continue and expand on that primer and kind of kick

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us off with the kind of your thoughts on these

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devices so far.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, So just to give everybody background on it. There's

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there's two versions. There's the white one and the black one.

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The white one has the a M D rise in

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Z two A chip set, which is very similar to

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the Vangu chipset which is in the Steam Deck, which

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they're they're like these these very low power chips that

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can't really do too much to push games, but if

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you keep the resolution low enough and you turn off

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some settings, you can play a lot of different games

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on them. The other one is the Xbox ally X

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and this one has the Z two Extreme chip set,

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which has a lot more power than the Z two

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A chip set. Uh, this one will give you a

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more power. It also has a bigger battery. It has

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the Xbox I forget what they're called, but the Xbox

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triggers that have Liketic feedback. Yeah, it has those in it,

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but they and then they have seven inch screens, one

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hundred and twenty hurts with VRR which will smooth out

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that gameplay if you are running into hitches because these

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are low power devices. The white one six hundred dollars

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and the black one is one thousand dollars, which is

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pretty expensive. Yeah, large pill to swallow, it is, and

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I think that I think that this would have been

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the for the audio listeners. Sorry, I'm holding up The

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white one would have been better off at five hundred

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dollars and the black one probably would have been better

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off at eight hundred dollars, but according to Microsoft, market

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conditions forced them to raise those prices. So, yeah, things

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are pretty expensive right now. I mean everything's expensive right now.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, of course, yeah, it's no strain. I mean everything's

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getting all prices are getting raised lately. It's a shame.

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But you know, what do you think about the devices? Like,

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how are you enjoying them? What's kind of your use

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case looking like the past week with these things?

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Speaker 3: So I think that.

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Speaker 5: When you're trying to like when people ask that question,

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usually they're trying to decide do I want this or

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do I want that? Like which device do I want?

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And I think that for the most part, when when

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people kind of get stuck in a console war mentality

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that this is better than that, it isn't really like

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that because all of these play essentially the same games.

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You want to buy a Steam Deck, then the Steam

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Deck is going to play the same games that these

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are going to play, and so they're just PCs.

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Speaker 3: Now.

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Speaker 5: The fact that they have an Xbox logo on these

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new ones that introduces like this expectation that I think

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that people have that oh, okay, well it's going to

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be like an Xbox, and they're not like xboxes. They're

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more like Xboxes than any previous Windows PC handheld that

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I've seen. But still I think that Microsoft has further

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to go in order to get the UI really where

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it needs to be, to where you never really realize

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that you're just running Windows. Of course, the advantages that

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these play Steam games, they play Epic games, they play

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Goog games. You can play whatever the hell you want

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on this Really you can play everything, and that's one

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of the really great things about devices like this. If

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you're trying to decide between, say a Steam Deck and

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one of these things, it really depends on what kind

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of games that you're going to be playing and how

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important Windows is to you. Because with Windows it plays everything.

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On the Steam Deck, you lose the ability to play

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games that are like that use anti cheat or DRM, or.

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Speaker 1: A lot of multiplayer games are.

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Speaker 5: Exactly Or if you really are into game pass, even

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though it's now thirty dollars a month, then these are

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the devices that you would want to get over a

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Steam deck, because you can't do game pass games on

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steam Deck for the most part.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, there are some you know, some workarounds, but I

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think that the average user is not going to go

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through the trouble of doing what you need to do

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to get other launches to run on the steam Deck.

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I remember when I first unboxed my It was the

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first it was the LCD Steam Deck had just come out,

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and I went to the trouble of installing battle Neet

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and I was playing Ward of Warcraft with like this

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controller mod and it was it was very cool for like,

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oh this thing can do this, but it was a

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massive pain in the ass anytime I wanted to actually

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go and play it or like have a smooth experience.

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And there's a lot of that kind of stuff with

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the steam Deck where if you put in the effort,

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yeah you can, you can. You can get stuff to work,

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you know, you can get emulation to run and all

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that sort of stuff. But having a Windows handheld, you know,

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just opens the door to so much more you know,

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native support. And I think particularly games like like a

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Marvel Rivals, for instance, I would love to play that

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on this device, or a Fortnite right something that previously,

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you know, I haven't been able to play really because

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of anti cheat yeh, but but yeah it.

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Speaker 2: So is it fair to say as someone like me

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who is like, I have a gaming PC, but I

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am a console person. I just like the convenience of console.

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Is the rock ally better? For like, if I don't

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want to fiddle with anything and I just want the

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closest thing to just like, I just want to install

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the games and they're most likely just play. Is this

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a better option than the Steam Deck?

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Speaker 3: I wouldn't.

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Speaker 5: I would say that it's pretty similar. It also does

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depend on what games you're gonna play, Like, if you're

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just playing like a bunch of indie games or mostly

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single player stuff that you never have to like go online,

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then when you like, the Steam Deck will play of

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the vast majority of my library, it won't play anything

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that's on the Epic Games Store because the Epic Game

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Store doesn't support Well, that's not necessarily true, because you

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couldn't do the things that Alex was talking about before.

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Speaker 1: Not out of the box.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, not out of the box. You will have to

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jump through hoops. Honestly, if you are a console player,

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my recommendation if you want something to play portably is

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to just get a switch to, not because I think

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that the switch to is necessarily better, but it doesn't

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require any thinking on the part of the end user.

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You'd never have to sit down to play a game

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and be like, how the hell does this work?

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Speaker 1: Again?

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Speaker 5: Oh I remember now, or I have to go look

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something up. There's just a lot less friction that way,

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if that makes sense. But that also closes off a

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lot of games to you if you're playing only on

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the switch too.

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Speaker 1: Yeah.

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Speaker 3: Right.

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Speaker 4: Something that I've been really curious about is this has evolved,

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this entire market that kind of just sprung out of

245
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Valve deciding to do Steam decks and and try to

246
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make these at home PCs. Is that even going back

247
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before steam Deck to things like it was the Steam

248
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machines and things like that, you know, it always ended

249
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up being kind of almost a pro sumer product because

250
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you needed to be somebody who was willing to tinker.

251
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You needed to be willing to Even if you play

252
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on Steam Deck and you boot up something like say

253
00:13:23,000 --> 00:13:25,960
Trails in the Sky, you might need to go into settings,

254
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you might need to tinker to get the experience that

255
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you want that you you kind of hope for. Whereas,

256
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like you said, switch to you boot it up and

257
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what you get is what you get, and to some

258
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degree that that can be good or bad. I mean,

259
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on end of switch one life cycle, we kind of

260
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saw how that got a little tired after a while.

261
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But the flip side is that you aren't going to

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have to deal with those menus and stuff like that.

263
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So do you feel like it being a Windows platform

264
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does at least smooth out a little bit more of

265
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that for steam Deck and for the Linux side of

266
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things where people might not be as familiar or even

267
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like ready to do that kind of stuff. Or are

268
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you still kind of having to go into menus to

269
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optimize to kind of deal with the things that come

270
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with kind of a PC environment.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, So I guess the way that I would put

272
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that is, like, let's say you're playing a game on

273
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the Nintendo Switch too, you don't have to worry well, okay,

274
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you don't have to worry on these new devices either,

275
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but you might want to. You don't have to worry

276
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on a switch to how much power the device needs

277
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in order to run the game that you want to play.

278
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So if I'm playing a game like let's say I'm

279
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playing Animal, well, I don't need twenty five watts of

280
00:14:42,080 --> 00:14:46,200
power to run Animal Well. I can run Animal Well

281
00:14:46,240 --> 00:14:48,639
at six wants of power and still get like sixty

282
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frames per second, no problem. On a device like these,

283
00:14:54,200 --> 00:14:56,759
you in order to get the best battery life, you

284
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would want to open up the menus, which admittedly Microsoft's

285
00:15:00,080 --> 00:15:04,759
new full screen experience, which is launching with these devices,

286
00:15:05,879 --> 00:15:09,480
is a lot easier to manage those power settings. Basically,

287
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you hit the Xbox button, you push left, and it

288
00:15:11,919 --> 00:15:14,440
brings up Armory crake, and then you have these little

289
00:15:14,440 --> 00:15:19,399
buttons there that say six watts, thirteen watts, twenty watts,

290
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and you say, all right, well, I'm playing a simple game,

291
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so I'll set it at six watts, and now the

292
00:15:25,159 --> 00:15:28,679
battery isn't going to run through nearly as much. When

293
00:15:29,240 --> 00:15:33,600
some a developer submits a game to Nintendo, Nintendo figures

294
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all that stuff out for you, so then you say,

295
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I'm going to launch this game, and you never have

296
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to think about that. So, even though I do think

297
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that there are a few less hoops to jump through

298
00:15:44,960 --> 00:15:48,639
when you are talking about a Windows style device over

299
00:15:48,679 --> 00:15:52,240
a Steam deck, I still think that these are things

300
00:15:52,240 --> 00:15:55,159
that you definitely want to keep in mind. And I

301
00:15:55,200 --> 00:15:56,840
would say, though, the thing that you have to think

302
00:15:56,879 --> 00:16:00,919
about less is which Proton version you're using for a

303
00:16:00,960 --> 00:16:04,639
particular game. And for the listeners who aren't aware of that,

304
00:16:05,279 --> 00:16:09,240
Valves tried to get developers to make games for Linux,

305
00:16:09,480 --> 00:16:14,559
and developers said god no. So then Valves said, fine,

306
00:16:14,960 --> 00:16:17,679
we'll do it ourselves, and they translated all of the

307
00:16:17,720 --> 00:16:22,000
Windows APIs over to Linux. So then when you go

308
00:16:22,039 --> 00:16:25,039
to run a game that's made for Windows, you can

309
00:16:25,120 --> 00:16:27,320
run it on Linux and it just says, hey, I

310
00:16:27,360 --> 00:16:29,960
need that API, and then Proton says, oh, here's the API.

311
00:16:30,159 --> 00:16:32,360
Don't pay attention too much that it doesn't look like

312
00:16:32,399 --> 00:16:36,279
what you're expecting and then it runs. So sometimes you

313
00:16:36,320 --> 00:16:38,799
play a game and the game won't start and you'd

314
00:16:38,799 --> 00:16:40,440
be like, oh, I'm going to switch to a different

315
00:16:40,519 --> 00:16:44,200
version of Proton, and then it starts. So there's usually solutions,

316
00:16:44,240 --> 00:16:46,720
but you do have to jump through a few more hoops.

317
00:16:47,519 --> 00:16:49,639
But I don't do that very often, if that makes

318
00:16:49,679 --> 00:16:50,240
any sense.

319
00:16:51,600 --> 00:16:53,960
Speaker 1: Yeah, I did a lot of that more when I

320
00:16:54,000 --> 00:16:57,440
first got my Steam deck. I think that was you know,

321
00:16:57,519 --> 00:17:01,840
that's as time goes on, you know, the you just

322
00:17:01,919 --> 00:17:03,240
kind of want to sit down and play a game

323
00:17:03,279 --> 00:17:05,680
and I'm like, I'll sacrifice a few frames here and

324
00:17:05,720 --> 00:17:08,200
there if it means I'll just you know, launch the

325
00:17:08,240 --> 00:17:11,519
game and and and have it do my settings default.

326
00:17:11,559 --> 00:17:14,599
That kind of thing. Most with most games, I would say,

327
00:17:15,000 --> 00:17:18,720
outside of modern Triple A games, that usually works all

328
00:17:18,799 --> 00:17:22,680
right with the steam Deck. Now, I'm currently playing a

329
00:17:22,720 --> 00:17:25,759
game that we can't talk about yet for review, and

330
00:17:26,000 --> 00:17:29,000
you know, it's a bigger game, and I've recently kind

331
00:17:29,039 --> 00:17:31,240
of been on its steam Deck kick again. I kind

332
00:17:31,279 --> 00:17:33,359
of go back and forth between my switch to and

333
00:17:33,440 --> 00:17:35,640
my steam deck. I've been playing Silk Song for a

334
00:17:35,680 --> 00:17:38,359
while on my switch and I kind of am and

335
00:17:38,480 --> 00:17:40,279
done with that. I'm like, okay, back to steam Deck.

336
00:17:40,920 --> 00:17:44,400
And you know, it's it's a real bummer when you

337
00:17:44,440 --> 00:17:47,440
when you open up one of those games and you're

338
00:17:47,480 --> 00:17:50,319
getting you know, sub thirty frame rate and you can't

339
00:17:50,359 --> 00:17:53,039
even hit like thirty frames on the low. And that's

340
00:17:53,079 --> 00:17:55,519
kind of like where my steam deck has started to

341
00:17:56,319 --> 00:17:58,039
let me down a bit. And that's natural, right, It's

342
00:17:58,039 --> 00:18:01,200
not meant to run these games, especially you know, Unreal

343
00:18:01,240 --> 00:18:04,319
Engine five has had you know, a lot of those

344
00:18:04,359 --> 00:18:09,039
games don't work on the steam Deck or run very poorly,

345
00:18:09,880 --> 00:18:13,000
which is another point I want to ask about in

346
00:18:13,039 --> 00:18:16,480
a second. But yeah, if you're just looking to play,

347
00:18:16,640 --> 00:18:19,920
like Bill said, Animal Well or ball x Pit, which

348
00:18:19,960 --> 00:18:21,920
is what we're playing we're going to be talking about

349
00:18:21,960 --> 00:18:24,759
later today on this episode. I've been playing the hell

350
00:18:24,759 --> 00:18:27,359
out of that put, you know, fifteen twenty hours into

351
00:18:27,440 --> 00:18:31,240
it on steam Deck and it runs perfectly. And I know,

352
00:18:31,279 --> 00:18:33,039
like when the steam Deck first came out, people were

353
00:18:33,480 --> 00:18:35,720
you know, we had like God of War on there

354
00:18:35,759 --> 00:18:38,799
and you know, Death Stranding and you can hit thirty

355
00:18:38,839 --> 00:18:43,079
fps with those, but you know, those games are what

356
00:18:43,559 --> 00:18:47,440
you know, six seven years old now, depending and you know,

357
00:18:47,480 --> 00:18:50,400
if you want to play games that came out last

358
00:18:50,480 --> 00:18:53,759
year or even earlier this year, like clar Obscure is

359
00:18:53,799 --> 00:18:55,319
one that I would have loved to play on my

360
00:18:55,359 --> 00:18:58,880
steam Deck, but it's just it runs at an unacceptable

361
00:18:58,880 --> 00:19:03,240
frame rate, Like it just it's not really playable. And

362
00:19:03,799 --> 00:19:06,839
you know, we still see developers release updates here and there.

363
00:19:06,880 --> 00:19:10,319
Baldersgate three just recently got an official patch for steam

364
00:19:10,359 --> 00:19:13,799
Deck that we've talked about on on Gamemanformer dot com

365
00:19:13,839 --> 00:19:17,559
a bit. But yeah, it's I'm kind of at that

366
00:19:17,599 --> 00:19:20,720
point Bill where I am like, Okay, I think I

367
00:19:20,759 --> 00:19:24,160
want to upgrade to something a little beefier. I'm kind

368
00:19:24,160 --> 00:19:26,440
of stuck between the Ally and the ally X. So

369
00:19:26,480 --> 00:19:30,440
that's why I'm kind of really especially curious about your

370
00:19:30,440 --> 00:19:33,519
experience kind of running these modern, more modern games on

371
00:19:33,559 --> 00:19:36,920
those devices. Are you getting better performance or is it

372
00:19:37,000 --> 00:19:39,440
kind of on par with what you'd expect from from

373
00:19:39,759 --> 00:19:44,039
something like an Ally the first generation Ally? Curious to

374
00:19:44,039 --> 00:19:44,920
your thoughts on that.

375
00:19:45,720 --> 00:19:48,799
Speaker 5: So when you say the first generation Ally are you

376
00:19:48,839 --> 00:19:50,759
are you talking about the Xbox ones? Are you talking

377
00:19:50,799 --> 00:19:52,759
about the original white rog.

378
00:19:52,599 --> 00:19:55,079
Speaker 1: Alli, original white rog Ally?

379
00:19:55,240 --> 00:19:58,920
Speaker 5: Okay, that one got That one one runs the Z

380
00:19:59,200 --> 00:20:03,839
one Extra Stream chipset, which is not as powerful as

381
00:20:03,880 --> 00:20:06,759
the Z two Extreme chipsets that are in here, but

382
00:20:06,960 --> 00:20:10,519
a little more powerful than what's in the Steam.

383
00:20:10,240 --> 00:20:11,880
Speaker 3: Deck, which is the van Go chipset.

384
00:20:12,440 --> 00:20:15,039
Speaker 5: And I feel like what I would say about those

385
00:20:15,079 --> 00:20:20,079
in particular is will you get a performance boost? Yes

386
00:20:20,160 --> 00:20:23,799
you will, but it's not really going to be all

387
00:20:23,880 --> 00:20:27,279
that noticeable. And then when you look at the rog Lix,

388
00:20:27,759 --> 00:20:30,440
not the new ones from Xbox, but the one that

389
00:20:30,480 --> 00:20:34,160
came out last year or the year before, I can't remember. Yes,

390
00:20:34,319 --> 00:20:36,400
this one that's black and it doesn't have it doesn't

391
00:20:36,440 --> 00:20:40,480
have the extra handles on it. This also has the

392
00:20:40,559 --> 00:20:44,640
Z one Extreme chipset. So the big difference between this

393
00:20:44,680 --> 00:20:47,519
one and the white one is the form factors a

394
00:20:47,559 --> 00:20:49,559
little bit better, the curves are a little bit better,

395
00:20:49,599 --> 00:20:52,039
It's easier to hold, it feels nicer in the hands.

396
00:20:52,519 --> 00:20:56,599
It has a giant eighty hour battery in it. The

397
00:20:56,880 --> 00:20:59,839
original one I believe had a forty hour.

398
00:21:00,599 --> 00:21:01,079
Speaker 1: Oh wow.

399
00:21:01,640 --> 00:21:05,079
Speaker 5: So when you compare the steam Deck to the rog

400
00:21:05,200 --> 00:21:11,000
ally the not the Xbox Ones. Basically the Z one

401
00:21:11,039 --> 00:21:13,880
Extreme chip set is very is more powerful than the

402
00:21:13,960 --> 00:21:17,920
van Go chip set, but it does not sip the battery.

403
00:21:17,960 --> 00:21:21,799
It chugs the battery, so it just like burns through

404
00:21:21,839 --> 00:21:25,039
your battery really really fast. And they could not compete

405
00:21:25,039 --> 00:21:27,960
on efficiency with Valve. So what they did instead is

406
00:21:28,000 --> 00:21:29,799
they just said, well, I'm just gonna brute force it

407
00:21:30,079 --> 00:21:32,960
and throw a giant battery in there that'll just last

408
00:21:33,039 --> 00:21:36,519
way longer. And that solved the problem for them. And

409
00:21:36,559 --> 00:21:38,759
this is a really really great device. I don't know

410
00:21:38,759 --> 00:21:40,599
how much it costs right now, though.

411
00:21:41,400 --> 00:21:43,359
Speaker 1: That's fair. Yeah, I think I was looking. I think

412
00:21:43,359 --> 00:21:46,920
it's in the five to six hundred range on i've

413
00:21:46,920 --> 00:21:49,799
seen it. There's been some sales that kind of thing, and.

414
00:21:49,799 --> 00:21:51,559
Speaker 3: If you walk into a best Buy you can usually

415
00:21:51,599 --> 00:21:52,480
find one used.

416
00:21:53,079 --> 00:21:54,319
Speaker 1: Oh cool, I didn't realize that.

417
00:21:54,960 --> 00:21:58,440
Speaker 5: Yeah, because the best Buy carries these devices, and so

418
00:21:58,640 --> 00:22:02,079
usually people will buy them. They'll think that it's going

419
00:22:02,119 --> 00:22:04,960
to be a console like experience and they'll have to

420
00:22:05,039 --> 00:22:06,839
jump through hoops and they'll be like, man, I'm not

421
00:22:06,920 --> 00:22:08,799
doing all this, and they'll take it back to the store.

422
00:22:08,960 --> 00:22:11,559
There's nothing wrong with it, you just have to If

423
00:22:11,599 --> 00:22:13,720
you're a PC gamer, you're going to be fine on

424
00:22:13,799 --> 00:22:16,720
these kind of devices. But if you're a console gamer,

425
00:22:17,039 --> 00:22:18,880
you will hit a wall where you're going to be

426
00:22:18,920 --> 00:22:20,400
annoyed at some point.

427
00:22:21,039 --> 00:22:24,799
Speaker 1: Yeah, fair, fair, But yeah, what kind of games are

428
00:22:24,839 --> 00:22:26,319
you playing on it? I know you've only had it

429
00:22:26,319 --> 00:22:28,400
for a week. Are you kind of just jumping around

430
00:22:28,400 --> 00:22:30,680
for testing purposes? Have you? Kind of?

431
00:22:30,799 --> 00:22:34,119
Speaker 5: Yeah, that's all I was doing, was just testing and

432
00:22:34,160 --> 00:22:38,240
testing and testing. So, like I put on Cyberpunk twenty

433
00:22:38,279 --> 00:22:43,960
seventy seven on the new white one. That's this one

434
00:22:44,119 --> 00:22:47,759
is about the same power envelope as the Steam deck.

435
00:22:48,519 --> 00:22:53,279
This one on Cyberpunk twenty seventy seven, I was getting, Oh,

436
00:22:53,480 --> 00:22:57,400
the best would be thirty.

437
00:22:57,160 --> 00:22:58,319
Speaker 3: Three frames per second.

438
00:22:58,720 --> 00:23:02,519
Speaker 5: Okay, And then with the steam Deck on that particular

439
00:23:02,599 --> 00:23:06,720
on Cyberpunk twenty seventy seven, I was getting about thirty

440
00:23:06,720 --> 00:23:09,240
five frames per second. So the steam Deck actually beat

441
00:23:09,359 --> 00:23:14,160
that one in Cyberpunk twenty seventy seven. That's not a

442
00:23:14,240 --> 00:23:20,640
huge surprise though, because Windows is it's very I'm going

443
00:23:20,720 --> 00:23:22,599
to use the word bloated. My friend Carrie is going

444
00:23:22,640 --> 00:23:24,440
to yell at me because I use the word bloated,

445
00:23:24,480 --> 00:23:27,759
because the point that I'm trying to make is it

446
00:23:27,759 --> 00:23:31,440
doesn't deal with the hardware very well, and Linux is

447
00:23:31,480 --> 00:23:36,480
just so much more efficient. So Linux it every time

448
00:23:36,519 --> 00:23:38,960
you install like Linux on one of these devices, they

449
00:23:39,000 --> 00:23:42,079
just run better the games. You get slightly better performance,

450
00:23:42,599 --> 00:23:45,799
and that's why the steam decks beating that one. I

451
00:23:45,880 --> 00:23:49,480
played Borderlands three on the Oh I forgot to tell

452
00:23:49,480 --> 00:23:53,480
you the Cyberpunk twenty seventy seven that I got sixty

453
00:23:53,519 --> 00:23:56,160
two frames per second on the Black one.

454
00:23:56,400 --> 00:23:59,200
Speaker 1: Oh wow, that's this one. That's the thousand dollars one. Yeah, yeah,

455
00:23:59,319 --> 00:24:01,680
that's the that's I mean double the nearly double the

456
00:24:01,720 --> 00:24:02,119
frame rate.

457
00:24:03,039 --> 00:24:05,920
Speaker 3: Yes, but it's also one thousand dollars.

458
00:24:05,799 --> 00:24:07,519
Speaker 1: Yes, yes, very true, very true.

459
00:24:08,319 --> 00:24:12,799
Speaker 5: And then the same similar examples with games like Borderlands,

460
00:24:12,839 --> 00:24:16,680
Three Shadows of the Tomb Raider, Assassin's Creed, Valhalla. I

461
00:24:16,759 --> 00:24:21,519
was getting very similar results between those three things when

462
00:24:21,519 --> 00:24:22,720
I tested it in my video.

463
00:24:23,720 --> 00:24:26,480
Speaker 1: Did you have a chance to check out the Oblivion remake?

464
00:24:26,559 --> 00:24:28,720
I'm curious, so.

465
00:24:28,759 --> 00:24:33,160
Speaker 5: I okay, I have not installed Oblivion Remake on these sure,

466
00:24:33,240 --> 00:24:37,240
but I did make a video where at the when

467
00:24:37,279 --> 00:24:41,559
Oblivion Remake came out, I installed it on all of

468
00:24:41,599 --> 00:24:44,039
the devices that I had and tried it, and I

469
00:24:44,039 --> 00:24:46,920
don't remember what the results were, but it's not good.

470
00:24:47,160 --> 00:24:51,640
But it's an unreal five game. It really like these

471
00:24:51,680 --> 00:24:54,319
devices struggle with Unreal five games usually.

472
00:24:54,680 --> 00:24:59,960
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, that's totally fair man. Any any other take

473
00:25:00,119 --> 00:25:02,640
aways in general that you think, like the general you know,

474
00:25:02,680 --> 00:25:05,440
our audiences. Honestly, we have a lot of console players

475
00:25:05,440 --> 00:25:08,000
in our audience, but I think there's a growing contingent

476
00:25:08,039 --> 00:25:10,559
of people who have like picked up a Steam deck

477
00:25:10,599 --> 00:25:14,519
and really enjoy it or or are on the fence

478
00:25:14,559 --> 00:25:18,119
about that or a steam deck. But any any kind

479
00:25:18,119 --> 00:25:21,759
of takeaways that might general folks, might people who aren't

480
00:25:21,799 --> 00:25:26,920
necessarily like really into this more niche section of the hobby.

481
00:25:27,519 --> 00:25:30,240
You know, they're not watching you know, nerd nests. They're

482
00:25:30,279 --> 00:25:33,000
not watching wolfed In or the Fox, you know that

483
00:25:33,119 --> 00:25:33,519
kind of thing.

484
00:25:34,880 --> 00:25:38,640
Speaker 5: I think that what there's there's a couple of different

485
00:25:38,640 --> 00:25:41,680
ways to look at it. These devices do have those

486
00:25:41,720 --> 00:25:44,240
speed bumps in the friction that I talked about before.

487
00:25:44,839 --> 00:25:48,319
But at the same time, when you're playing on PC,

488
00:25:49,160 --> 00:25:52,559
you have those Steam sales and there's like one hundred

489
00:25:52,640 --> 00:25:57,559
thousand games on Steam. Yeah, so like everything is pretty

490
00:25:57,640 --> 00:26:01,000
much on PC with the exception of and like PlayStation

491
00:26:01,079 --> 00:26:05,920
in Nintendo exclusives. Eventually it's going to come to Steam

492
00:26:06,000 --> 00:26:08,319
and eventually it's going to be on sale. And so

493
00:26:08,799 --> 00:26:13,680
I think these devices are for the patient gamer. And

494
00:26:13,759 --> 00:26:15,920
if you're a patient gamer, if you're willing to wait

495
00:26:15,960 --> 00:26:17,839
for sales, if you're willing to wait for a game

496
00:26:17,880 --> 00:26:19,839
to come out and you know, work on your backlog

497
00:26:19,880 --> 00:26:22,519
instead of buying the new hotness, well then you might

498
00:26:22,599 --> 00:26:25,279
have a really good time with devices like the Steam

499
00:26:25,359 --> 00:26:28,640
Deck or the Xbox Ally or the ally X, or

500
00:26:28,640 --> 00:26:31,200
the Lenovo Legion Go two, which just came out, which

501
00:26:31,240 --> 00:26:34,839
is eye watering thirteen hundred and fifty dollars. Oh my god,

502
00:26:34,920 --> 00:26:38,480
but that screen is insanely beautiful. From what everybody told me.

503
00:26:38,559 --> 00:26:40,279
I haven't got hands on with that one yet.

504
00:26:40,920 --> 00:26:46,119
Speaker 1: Man, Yeah, I totally agree with that. I mean, Steam

505
00:26:46,200 --> 00:26:49,599
is such a great ecosystem to get into, and even

506
00:26:49,640 --> 00:26:51,279
if you're if you're looking at getting one of these

507
00:26:51,279 --> 00:26:54,640
newer devices, maybe you haven't started building a PC library.

508
00:26:55,000 --> 00:26:58,359
Stuff like Goog and that sort of thing. Are epic

509
00:26:58,400 --> 00:27:02,319
games excellent platform to kind of get those games.

510
00:27:03,119 --> 00:27:06,559
Speaker 5: And one of the things about these new devices over

511
00:27:06,599 --> 00:27:10,160
the Steam Deck is when you press that Xbox button,

512
00:27:11,039 --> 00:27:14,160
it brings up a little menu and it has the

513
00:27:14,240 --> 00:27:17,680
launchers that you have installed on the device right down

514
00:27:17,720 --> 00:27:21,240
below the last couple of games that you played. And

515
00:27:21,319 --> 00:27:24,359
so you can press that button, drop down, open Steam,

516
00:27:24,519 --> 00:27:27,759
drop down open I don't know, Epic Game Store if

517
00:27:27,759 --> 00:27:31,599
you want, which like gog or any of the other ones.

518
00:27:31,799 --> 00:27:34,720
Like on the Steam Deck, you have to jump through

519
00:27:34,759 --> 00:27:38,359
hoops to install other launchers, which isn't a big deal

520
00:27:38,359 --> 00:27:41,000
because you only have to do it once, but it

521
00:27:41,079 --> 00:27:44,720
is something that you do have to do, so that's

522
00:27:44,720 --> 00:27:47,000
another advantage that a device like this might have.

523
00:27:48,119 --> 00:27:50,839
Speaker 4: I do also think it's interesting when we talk about

524
00:27:50,880 --> 00:27:53,680
these devices. I feel like the rise of a lot

525
00:27:53,680 --> 00:27:56,279
of tangential devices when it comes to retro gaming and

526
00:27:56,279 --> 00:27:58,680
things like that have also seen an uptick in the

527
00:27:58,759 --> 00:28:02,680
years since the Steam Deck started to take off. Things

528
00:28:02,720 --> 00:28:05,079
like Ambernick and Me You and all that have also

529
00:28:05,119 --> 00:28:09,119
been booting up in popularity over the last five six years,

530
00:28:09,519 --> 00:28:13,799
And I think it maybe shows just a general inclination

531
00:28:13,839 --> 00:28:16,319
that people, especially as they get older and want to

532
00:28:16,319 --> 00:28:18,119
play some of their older games, They're a little bit

533
00:28:18,160 --> 00:28:19,240
more willing to tinker.

534
00:28:19,279 --> 00:28:20,000
Speaker 1: They're a little bit.

535
00:28:19,880 --> 00:28:23,480
Speaker 4: More willing to say, I I'll deal with an ecosystem

536
00:28:23,480 --> 00:28:26,279
that is not just plug and play, but if you

537
00:28:26,319 --> 00:28:28,599
smooth it out a little bit, having that device that

538
00:28:28,640 --> 00:28:32,160
can play a lot of stuff theoretically across the entire

539
00:28:32,200 --> 00:28:35,279
board really does appeal. I mean that's the Steam Deck

540
00:28:35,319 --> 00:28:37,559
kind of opened my eyes in that regard to saying like, oh,

541
00:28:37,559 --> 00:28:41,079
I have this handheld that is just a PC can

542
00:28:41,119 --> 00:28:44,799
do PC things and not just you know, game boy things,

543
00:28:44,839 --> 00:28:46,920
switch things, you know, like I was used to with

544
00:28:46,960 --> 00:28:51,079
a handheld. So I think in some respects it can

545
00:28:51,119 --> 00:28:54,839
be a device that can be as difficult or as

546
00:28:54,880 --> 00:28:56,920
intricate as you want it to be. If you want

547
00:28:56,960 --> 00:28:59,279
to just open it up and play Steam games, it'll

548
00:28:59,279 --> 00:29:03,160
do that. But if you want to like tinker with it.

549
00:29:03,160 --> 00:29:05,759
It's open to tinkering too, and especially with the Windows environment,

550
00:29:05,799 --> 00:29:07,559
it might be a little bit more comfortable for people

551
00:29:07,559 --> 00:29:09,839
to tinker with than say a Linux environment that they

552
00:29:09,880 --> 00:29:11,000
might not be familiar with.

553
00:29:12,960 --> 00:29:18,880
Speaker 5: Yeah, I never used Linux before the steam Deck. It's

554
00:29:18,960 --> 00:29:22,559
it's actually pretty similar. Like the number of times that

555
00:29:22,599 --> 00:29:25,559
I've needed to go into like the command line is

556
00:29:25,640 --> 00:29:28,440
only because I'm doing crazy nonsense so that I can

557
00:29:28,480 --> 00:29:32,920
make a tutorial or something like that. It's actually fairly simple,

558
00:29:32,960 --> 00:29:36,160
and if you buy the steam Deck you'd never have

559
00:29:36,240 --> 00:29:37,440
to go into desktop mode.

560
00:29:38,079 --> 00:29:42,799
Speaker 4: Now you want to, Yeah, it sounds scary and it is, realistically,

561
00:29:42,920 --> 00:29:45,599
and I've done some of that stuff and it always

562
00:29:45,759 --> 00:29:48,559
you read the documentation, you're like, I don't know about this,

563
00:29:48,599 --> 00:29:51,160
and then you actually do it and you're like, oh,

564
00:29:51,279 --> 00:29:52,359
that wasn't bad after all.

565
00:29:53,480 --> 00:29:56,559
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think that if you guys have these things,

566
00:29:56,599 --> 00:30:00,920
the little little retro guys instead, I've got.

567
00:30:01,960 --> 00:30:04,000
Speaker 1: In my closet. I think we've kind of got a

568
00:30:04,039 --> 00:30:06,519
smattering of like the annber Nicks and that sort of thing.

569
00:30:07,039 --> 00:30:10,799
Speaker 4: I remember an sp here nice. I also recently, I

570
00:30:10,839 --> 00:30:12,519
don't play with it enough, but I've got the MEU

571
00:30:12,839 --> 00:30:14,920
like six button one as well.

572
00:30:16,079 --> 00:30:16,640
Speaker 3: Oh cool.

573
00:30:16,839 --> 00:30:19,519
Speaker 1: I remember when we met at when we met at

574
00:30:19,599 --> 00:30:23,839
PAX to your friend the fox is his kind of

575
00:30:23,839 --> 00:30:29,359
screen name is YouTube channel. He had a DS like computer.

576
00:30:29,400 --> 00:30:30,279
I don't remember what it.

577
00:30:30,240 --> 00:30:34,119
Speaker 5: Was called, I think, but the GPD GPD something I

578
00:30:34,119 --> 00:30:34,440
don't know.

579
00:30:34,559 --> 00:30:37,720
Speaker 1: Yeah, that thing blew my mind. I was like, this

580
00:30:38,079 --> 00:30:40,200
is and he's like, yeah, that was like at least

581
00:30:40,200 --> 00:30:41,839
it was like something like a thousand dollars or twelve

582
00:30:41,920 --> 00:30:44,559
hundred or something. It's something ridiculous. And I was like,

583
00:30:44,839 --> 00:30:47,559
this is so cool though, like it was the clamshell. Look,

584
00:30:48,200 --> 00:30:51,720
it's super cool. But yeah, I mess I mod game Boys.

585
00:30:51,720 --> 00:30:55,440
Actually have a mod that I'm waiting to do when

586
00:30:55,440 --> 00:30:58,599
I get some free time this weekend. But I typically

587
00:30:58,640 --> 00:31:01,039
try to I play a lot, like a pocket that

588
00:31:01,119 --> 00:31:06,359
kind of thing. Okay, usually on my desk. But yeah,

589
00:31:06,400 --> 00:31:07,799
I don't know. I know a lot of people love

590
00:31:08,319 --> 00:31:11,480
using their Steam deck for emulation and stuff. I haven't personally,

591
00:31:12,400 --> 00:31:15,400
uh done that with my steam deck yet, just because

592
00:31:15,720 --> 00:31:18,680
I have I do that on other things other devices.

593
00:31:20,039 --> 00:31:23,599
But yeah, I think, like this conversation is super interesting.

594
00:31:23,640 --> 00:31:25,440
I think I'm one of the things I've been thinking

595
00:31:25,440 --> 00:31:27,519
about actually the last couple of days as I've been

596
00:31:27,599 --> 00:31:30,720
kind of pondering my Steam Deck and if I want

597
00:31:30,720 --> 00:31:33,079
to upgrade it or not. Is I really just want

598
00:31:33,079 --> 00:31:35,799
to rig one of my extra PCs that's laying around

599
00:31:36,119 --> 00:31:40,279
to just boot into Steam os Steam Big Picture Mode, Yeah,

600
00:31:40,279 --> 00:31:42,160
and just set that up in my living room. I

601
00:31:42,200 --> 00:31:45,079
think that I think that might be a weekend project

602
00:31:45,079 --> 00:31:49,759
coming up, because you know, it's just having your PC

603
00:31:49,920 --> 00:31:53,400
library in like a place that's not my work desk,

604
00:31:53,480 --> 00:31:56,039
which is where I do all of my PC gaming.

605
00:31:56,119 --> 00:31:58,839
I'm like, whether it's the Steam Deck or you know,

606
00:32:00,480 --> 00:32:02,920
one of these new devices or rigging a PC. Like

607
00:32:02,960 --> 00:32:06,039
I said, I'm really kind of looking to, you know,

608
00:32:06,079 --> 00:32:07,880
put a little work in and then have a smoother

609
00:32:08,000 --> 00:32:11,319
experience of a more console like experience with my PC

610
00:32:11,519 --> 00:32:14,200
library because that's where I get all my games.

611
00:32:14,519 --> 00:32:17,920
Speaker 4: But I've got a Steam Link that I picked up

612
00:32:18,000 --> 00:32:20,480
like back when they were doing the going away sale

613
00:32:20,480 --> 00:32:24,079
for that, and I'm still I'm mad I never got

614
00:32:24,079 --> 00:32:27,599
a PlayStation TV, and I'm glad that I thought to

615
00:32:27,599 --> 00:32:29,400
pick up a Steam Link before those kind of went

616
00:32:29,440 --> 00:32:32,160
the way of the DODO because it's like the coolest

617
00:32:32,160 --> 00:32:34,880
little device that I had it set up in my

618
00:32:34,920 --> 00:32:36,319
old place. I haven't set it up at the new

619
00:32:36,319 --> 00:32:40,640
place yet, but it's really something else to be able

620
00:32:40,640 --> 00:32:43,160
to just connect like that and move things through. And

621
00:32:43,160 --> 00:32:46,039
the steam deck is actually like kind of decent at that.

622
00:32:46,240 --> 00:32:48,119
I haven't done it in a hot minute, but there

623
00:32:48,200 --> 00:32:51,240
was It might've been Balder's Gate or something that I

624
00:32:51,279 --> 00:32:54,880
did a little bit of streaming to my steam deck

625
00:32:55,079 --> 00:32:58,599
and something where I didn't necessarily need the super high latency,

626
00:32:58,759 --> 00:33:00,440
but I wanted to just be able to I don't

627
00:33:00,440 --> 00:33:02,440
want to sit at my desk right now, I want

628
00:33:02,480 --> 00:33:03,559
to sit on the couch and play this.

629
00:33:03,680 --> 00:33:03,839
Speaker 1: And it.

630
00:33:04,240 --> 00:33:05,559
Speaker 4: Yeah, it worked, it functions.

631
00:33:05,920 --> 00:33:07,400
Speaker 2: Yeah, thank you for reminding me that I have a

632
00:33:08,119 --> 00:33:11,319
steam Link too that I forgot that I owned until

633
00:33:11,359 --> 00:33:12,200
this very second.

634
00:33:12,319 --> 00:33:15,480
Speaker 4: But it all looks under their chair right now, they'll

635
00:33:15,480 --> 00:33:17,960
see they all have a steam Link.

636
00:33:17,720 --> 00:33:20,359
Speaker 2: I think I also bought it when it was like

637
00:33:20,440 --> 00:33:22,559
three dollars and when they were just like please, we're

638
00:33:22,559 --> 00:33:23,960
trying to get rid of these, and I was like, yeah,

639
00:33:23,960 --> 00:33:26,559
I guess so. And I wasn't even PC gaming really

640
00:33:26,559 --> 00:33:28,400
at all, but I was like, well, it's like so cheap,

641
00:33:28,400 --> 00:33:30,559
I should probably just get it, because.

642
00:33:30,400 --> 00:33:34,880
Speaker 1: Yeah, I missed it. I missed it unfortunately. But you know,

643
00:33:34,960 --> 00:33:39,599
Steam has its own you know, streaming between computers that

644
00:33:39,680 --> 00:33:41,440
I use on occasion, and that works fine.

645
00:33:42,680 --> 00:33:45,440
Speaker 5: Yeah, and they have like they're just like steam Link

646
00:33:45,519 --> 00:33:48,400
is now just an app on most set top boxes.

647
00:33:49,240 --> 00:33:50,440
Speaker 1: I didn't realize that that's great.

648
00:33:50,640 --> 00:33:53,279
Speaker 4: That's the crazy part is we're getting to the point

649
00:33:53,319 --> 00:33:55,240
now where I don't use the set top box on

650
00:33:55,279 --> 00:33:58,799
my TV anymore because it has the built in streaming apps.

651
00:33:58,799 --> 00:34:01,160
And I was having that thought. I was like, we're

652
00:34:01,200 --> 00:34:05,519
probably not too far removed from the day when you're

653
00:34:05,519 --> 00:34:08,599
gonna be able to not have you know, a gaming

654
00:34:08,639 --> 00:34:12,559
PC's horsepower inside a TV. But if you've got a

655
00:34:12,599 --> 00:34:15,079
gaming PC that you can just stream it to your

656
00:34:15,119 --> 00:34:17,159
smart TV and you don't have to worry about all

657
00:34:17,199 --> 00:34:19,400
the connections and the hoops and stuff like that. You

658
00:34:19,440 --> 00:34:22,280
can just run it right through an Ethernet cable and

659
00:34:22,679 --> 00:34:23,199
be set.

660
00:34:23,480 --> 00:34:26,760
Speaker 1: So damn, I just realized. So, my my wife and

661
00:34:26,800 --> 00:34:30,639
I we recently got I we have been using like

662
00:34:30,760 --> 00:34:34,719
the first Gin Chrome cast for like the last decade

663
00:34:34,719 --> 00:34:37,360
and finally gave out. So we recently, within like the

664
00:34:37,400 --> 00:34:40,239
last couple of weeks, bought like a whatever, the new

665
00:34:40,239 --> 00:34:43,880
Apple TVs are, and that just reminds me I should go,

666
00:34:43,880 --> 00:34:47,360
I bet it's got a steam a steam on it.

667
00:34:47,920 --> 00:34:51,159
Yeah that I could. I'm that it does, but I'm yeah,

668
00:34:52,519 --> 00:34:57,320
yeah that that sounds like a plan. Yeah, I just

669
00:34:57,400 --> 00:35:01,000
checked it does. Yeah, so that's awesome. But even though,

670
00:35:01,400 --> 00:35:02,239
so the.

671
00:35:02,159 --> 00:35:05,719
Speaker 4: New the Xbox Allies, I assume can also do the

672
00:35:05,719 --> 00:35:08,280
sort of like docking situation where you can hook it

673
00:35:08,360 --> 00:35:10,280
up to a TV and run things off of it

674
00:35:10,320 --> 00:35:11,119
and things like that too.

675
00:35:11,199 --> 00:35:15,320
Speaker 5: Right, Yeah, Actually, there's one advantage that these have over

676
00:35:15,400 --> 00:35:19,559
the steam deck. The steam deck has only one USB port. Yeah, okay,

677
00:35:19,679 --> 00:35:24,360
so when you are docking something like the rog ally

678
00:35:25,159 --> 00:35:28,639
I'm sorry, the Xbox Ally it has two USB ports,

679
00:35:29,039 --> 00:35:31,039
so that means you can plug it into the wall

680
00:35:31,559 --> 00:35:34,920
and then have the other plug go into the TV

681
00:35:35,639 --> 00:35:37,559
so that then it's docked to the TV.

682
00:35:38,199 --> 00:35:40,320
Speaker 3: With a steam deck, there's only one port, so that

683
00:35:40,360 --> 00:35:41,719
means you have to buy a dock.

684
00:35:42,079 --> 00:35:46,039
Speaker 5: Yeah, but they're like, if you turn the wrong way,

685
00:35:46,079 --> 00:35:48,079
you're going to trip over eighty three of them. Like,

686
00:35:48,119 --> 00:35:51,679
there's so many steam deck docks out there that are

687
00:35:52,119 --> 00:35:56,599
incredibly cheap. I would I would not recommend buying the

688
00:35:56,679 --> 00:35:58,719
Valve one because it's eighty.

689
00:35:58,480 --> 00:36:01,639
Speaker 3: Dollars, yeah, which is expensive, but.

690
00:36:01,639 --> 00:36:04,000
Speaker 5: It also comes with an extra power brick so you

691
00:36:04,039 --> 00:36:06,480
never have to unplug that. So like, there's that one

692
00:36:06,599 --> 00:36:10,159
advantage that it has. Plus it gets firmware updates from

693
00:36:10,239 --> 00:36:14,320
Valve and stuff like that. The Xbox ally Ax the

694
00:36:14,400 --> 00:36:17,719
black one also has two ports, but one of them

695
00:36:17,960 --> 00:36:24,119
is a thunderbolt think four. Don't quote me on that,

696
00:36:24,159 --> 00:36:28,280
I can't remember, but that means you can also buy

697
00:36:28,599 --> 00:36:32,840
a very expensive external GPU for a device like this

698
00:36:33,679 --> 00:36:36,360
and then dock it, which I've never tried, so I

699
00:36:36,719 --> 00:36:39,599
can't say how well it works. But you can buy

700
00:36:39,639 --> 00:36:43,679
an external GPU and then because these things aren't CPU bound,

701
00:36:43,719 --> 00:36:46,360
they're GPU bound, like they just don't have the GPU

702
00:36:46,400 --> 00:36:48,360
to deal with stuff, you can go buy an external

703
00:36:48,400 --> 00:36:50,920
GPU and then you have the same games that you're

704
00:36:50,960 --> 00:36:55,280
playing playing on your TV, and it's a much you know,

705
00:36:55,360 --> 00:36:57,920
higher resolution, higher frame rates and that kind of thing.

706
00:36:58,000 --> 00:37:00,960
Speaker 1: Huh, you just sent Eric down a down a rabbit hole.

707
00:37:01,480 --> 00:37:02,719
He's going to start.

708
00:37:02,800 --> 00:37:06,760
Speaker 4: You could build some to the prices, though, Eric, I'm

709
00:37:06,760 --> 00:37:08,920
too I'm too busy. I'm in the realm of I'm

710
00:37:08,960 --> 00:37:11,039
going to build my own like media server and stuff

711
00:37:11,039 --> 00:37:13,199
like that. That's where my next tech hole is going

712
00:37:13,239 --> 00:37:17,920
to be, is falling down the media server pipeline. But

713
00:37:18,320 --> 00:37:20,599
I do find that stuff fascinating as somebody who travels,

714
00:37:20,639 --> 00:37:23,639
because you know, I kind of stopped traveling with my

715
00:37:23,679 --> 00:37:26,239
steam deck because of how bulky it is and then

716
00:37:26,280 --> 00:37:27,960
having to throw a dock in with it and the

717
00:37:28,000 --> 00:37:30,599
cables in with it. I was like, the switch is

718
00:37:30,639 --> 00:37:32,639
so much smaller, it's so much easier to pack. Or

719
00:37:32,639 --> 00:37:35,960
even these retro consoles are you put them in your pocket.

720
00:37:36,000 --> 00:37:38,239
You put them in a pocket in like your backpack

721
00:37:38,320 --> 00:37:40,519
or whatever. It just fits right in. And so I'd

722
00:37:40,519 --> 00:37:43,119
been going that direction for a while, but I'm kind

723
00:37:43,119 --> 00:37:46,559
of waiting for the point where we get to where

724
00:37:46,639 --> 00:37:49,159
stuff is going to be a little bit more portable.

725
00:37:49,320 --> 00:37:51,920
And it seems like even just knocking off the need

726
00:37:52,000 --> 00:37:53,559
for a dock on some of this stuff is going

727
00:37:53,639 --> 00:37:56,079
to help with that. Because you get to a hotel room,

728
00:37:56,119 --> 00:37:57,280
you want to set it up, you want to be

729
00:37:57,280 --> 00:37:59,239
able to play on the TV in the hotel or whatever.

730
00:37:59,400 --> 00:38:01,159
You have to then have a dock. You have to

731
00:38:01,159 --> 00:38:03,320
plug it in. You have to find how to plug

732
00:38:03,360 --> 00:38:06,719
into the TV in a hotel room. I'm sure all

733
00:38:06,760 --> 00:38:08,880
of us have done that at some point is where

734
00:38:09,079 --> 00:38:13,239
where the HDMI ports on the Hodesel TV. So yeah,

735
00:38:13,280 --> 00:38:16,639
any anything that can make that process less painful helps.

736
00:38:17,920 --> 00:38:18,119
Speaker 3: Yeah.

737
00:38:18,679 --> 00:38:21,320
Speaker 5: Little pro tip if you're bringing your switch or switch

738
00:38:21,360 --> 00:38:23,920
to with you someplace, bring a deck of cards. Put

739
00:38:23,920 --> 00:38:26,159
it inside the dock. That way, nothing can make the

740
00:38:26,239 --> 00:38:26,880
dock break.

741
00:38:27,320 --> 00:38:32,599
Speaker 1: Ah. Oh, that's very smart. Yeah, that's smart. I usually

742
00:38:32,639 --> 00:38:35,519
just travel without a dock, but it's been a few

743
00:38:35,559 --> 00:38:39,440
times where I'm like, especially like the recent release of

744
00:38:39,440 --> 00:38:41,400
like Lego Party, Like, oh, I think I'm gonna put

745
00:38:41,400 --> 00:38:44,079
that on my switch and like bring that places. So

746
00:38:44,079 --> 00:38:44,880
that's a very good tip.

747
00:38:45,000 --> 00:38:47,119
Speaker 4: Live out that switch commercial Roof of the Park.

748
00:38:47,239 --> 00:38:47,920
Speaker 2: Yeah.

749
00:38:48,000 --> 00:38:52,760
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm trying, man, I'm really trying. Well, Bill, before

750
00:38:52,760 --> 00:38:54,559
you get out here, any any other games you've been

751
00:38:54,639 --> 00:38:56,519
enjoying lately that you want to shout out or talk

752
00:38:56,559 --> 00:38:58,159
about real quick? I know I didn't.

753
00:38:58,519 --> 00:38:59,880
Speaker 5: I know, it's kind of putting you on the spot.

754
00:39:00,559 --> 00:39:04,039
That's okay, anything you've been enjoying. Yeah, Well, before I

755
00:39:04,079 --> 00:39:07,079
answered that question, I have a question for Marcus. Marcus

756
00:39:07,239 --> 00:39:11,360
asked me the question earlier. Should a console gamer pick

757
00:39:11,440 --> 00:39:14,760
up one of these things? After everything that I said,

758
00:39:15,079 --> 00:39:19,719
how do you feel about steam Deck versus the Xbox

759
00:39:19,760 --> 00:39:23,119
ally stuff. Are you interested in picking one up or

760
00:39:23,119 --> 00:39:24,599
do you still think that's not for me?

761
00:39:25,079 --> 00:39:27,320
Speaker 2: I would So I've yet to buy a steam Deck

762
00:39:27,400 --> 00:39:31,159
or any handheld PC, like I've really like I want

763
00:39:31,199 --> 00:39:33,400
one just because you know, the idea of being able

764
00:39:33,440 --> 00:39:36,400
to play my very large PC libror anywhere is fantastic,

765
00:39:36,480 --> 00:39:40,760
especially for work purposes too. But a lot of it

766
00:39:40,760 --> 00:39:44,079
has been the price of them and some of the

767
00:39:44,119 --> 00:39:46,000
like jumping through hoops that I you know what you

768
00:39:46,000 --> 00:39:49,360
guys have talked about the wrong ally like that price

769
00:39:49,480 --> 00:39:54,199
is it's very oppressive because I I'm the sicko where

770
00:39:54,199 --> 00:39:57,000
it's like, if you give me two versions, I'm gonna

771
00:39:57,000 --> 00:39:59,159
want the best version because if I get the like

772
00:39:59,719 --> 00:40:02,119
you know, like I have a series x Xbox and

773
00:40:02,159 --> 00:40:03,440
not the s because like, well, I want the one

774
00:40:03,480 --> 00:40:05,599
that's always gonna run the things well and I have

775
00:40:05,639 --> 00:40:07,599
to worry about it. So I'm gonna want the thousand

776
00:40:07,719 --> 00:40:16,119
dollars one. And it's but I it's like, what would

777
00:40:16,119 --> 00:40:19,400
you since you guys are sort of like you know

778
00:40:19,480 --> 00:40:21,840
more about this idea, if you were to recommend which

779
00:40:21,920 --> 00:40:25,000
one you think I should get between like a let's see,

780
00:40:25,000 --> 00:40:26,480
like a Steam deck o led, which is the one

781
00:40:26,519 --> 00:40:28,360
I've been eyeing of, like, oh maybe if I get one,

782
00:40:28,400 --> 00:40:31,280
I guess it'll be this one or like the wrong Alley.

783
00:40:31,280 --> 00:40:32,400
Speaker 3: What kind of games do you play?

784
00:40:32,840 --> 00:40:37,480
Speaker 2: I mean, I have mostly my Steam library. It is

785
00:40:37,519 --> 00:40:39,880
probably like I played my game's there more, even though

786
00:40:39,920 --> 00:40:43,960
I have a very large Epic library and then.

787
00:40:43,840 --> 00:40:46,960
Speaker 1: You know my it's a it's a mixture for work

788
00:40:47,039 --> 00:40:47,519
at least.

789
00:40:47,719 --> 00:40:49,519
Speaker 2: Oh, I play like I mean for work, but I

790
00:40:49,920 --> 00:40:52,760
even personally I play like pretty much a bit of everything.

791
00:40:53,119 --> 00:40:56,599
I don't know if there's like is there.

792
00:40:56,119 --> 00:40:59,719
Speaker 4: Type stuff for like more pixel arty type stuff like fidelity?

793
00:40:59,800 --> 00:41:02,000
Why is because that's kind of that that's going to

794
00:41:02,199 --> 00:41:04,159
swing it the most one way or another. I think

795
00:41:04,159 --> 00:41:07,000
if you want to silent hell f that's going to

796
00:41:07,079 --> 00:41:10,199
need a little bit more horsepower than say Animal Well

797
00:41:10,559 --> 00:41:12,400
or Stardew Valley or something like that.

798
00:41:12,800 --> 00:41:15,760
Speaker 2: I think being a switch person has sort of conditioned

799
00:41:15,800 --> 00:41:19,239
me to play lower end stuff on a handheld, just

800
00:41:19,280 --> 00:41:22,760
because I just I just expect that to run without

801
00:41:22,840 --> 00:41:25,800
issue and not want to roll the dice on bigger

802
00:41:25,800 --> 00:41:29,840
triple A stuff. Even so, Yeah, I guess if I

803
00:41:29,840 --> 00:41:32,880
had probably like mid tier smaller things most.

804
00:41:32,679 --> 00:41:36,840
Speaker 5: Of Yeah, Yeah, are you playing a lot of online

805
00:41:37,239 --> 00:41:39,880
games where you're playing against other people where you might

806
00:41:39,960 --> 00:41:43,360
have to worry about Marcus hates multiplayer.

807
00:41:44,199 --> 00:41:45,639
Speaker 2: He won't admit it.

808
00:41:45,880 --> 00:41:47,280
Speaker 1: He won't he won't admit it.

809
00:41:48,119 --> 00:41:49,920
Speaker 2: I don't hate it, but yes, I'm a I'm a

810
00:41:49,960 --> 00:41:53,159
single player minded person pretty much ninety percent of the time.

811
00:41:54,199 --> 00:41:57,159
Speaker 5: Then, I think for the most part, not one hundred percent,

812
00:41:57,199 --> 00:42:00,159
but for the most part. Steam Deck o led the

813
00:42:00,159 --> 00:42:02,360
one that you're thinking of, probably the mid tier one,

814
00:42:02,440 --> 00:42:06,239
not the most expensive one, because you can easily upgrade that.

815
00:42:07,079 --> 00:42:08,719
The thing that you get when you get the more

816
00:42:08,880 --> 00:42:11,719
expensive one is you get an anti glare coating on

817
00:42:11,760 --> 00:42:15,719
the screen, which makes the oleed a little less punchy,

818
00:42:16,320 --> 00:42:18,519
which you kind of don't want that, but at the

819
00:42:18,519 --> 00:42:22,480
same time also less reflections, So there's that. But then

820
00:42:22,519 --> 00:42:25,559
you also get a you know, more storage. But swapping

821
00:42:25,599 --> 00:42:27,559
out the storage on the steam Deck in any of

822
00:42:27,599 --> 00:42:31,719
these devices pretty much is dead simple. It's literally a

823
00:42:31,760 --> 00:42:35,199
couple of screws, take it out, put it in, screw

824
00:42:35,239 --> 00:42:38,320
it back together, and you're fine. Yeah, So I would

825
00:42:38,360 --> 00:42:42,599
say probably the five hundred and fifty dollars Steam deck

826
00:42:42,679 --> 00:42:46,559
OLAD is going to be the one that would probably

827
00:42:46,599 --> 00:42:49,639
work best for somebody who plays games like you.

828
00:42:50,280 --> 00:42:55,760
Speaker 2: Okay, that's half of a raw Yx too, Yeah yeah, yeah.

829
00:42:55,360 --> 00:42:59,000
Speaker 4: For like context, Like I have started to pick my

830
00:42:59,079 --> 00:43:01,440
steam Deck back up, and it's mostly been for things

831
00:43:01,559 --> 00:43:05,519
like Persona three, Reload Trails in the Sky first chapter,

832
00:43:05,960 --> 00:43:10,360
Digimon's Story, like turn based RPGs that just feel cozy

833
00:43:10,440 --> 00:43:12,360
to kind of sit on the couch and play while

834
00:43:12,400 --> 00:43:16,480
you have a second screen going because I am a

835
00:43:16,559 --> 00:43:19,079
child of my generation and I need the subway surfers

836
00:43:19,079 --> 00:43:26,400
on top of the video. But it's really effective for

837
00:43:26,440 --> 00:43:28,280
that kind of stuff. If you want to get into

838
00:43:28,280 --> 00:43:31,639
like clear Opscure, then that's going to need the horse power.

839
00:43:31,719 --> 00:43:34,199
But I've found that a lot of what you would

840
00:43:34,199 --> 00:43:36,960
say a kind of mid range RPGs over the last

841
00:43:36,960 --> 00:43:39,440
few years in terms of what they need from performance

842
00:43:39,480 --> 00:43:41,679
and horsepower, do really well on the steam Deck.

843
00:43:42,760 --> 00:43:48,440
Speaker 2: Okay, one day, I'm not planned when I'm gonna make

844
00:43:48,440 --> 00:43:50,519
the plunge either way, I just kind of look at

845
00:43:50,519 --> 00:43:54,280
them from a far and go, hmm, wait for like.

846
00:43:54,440 --> 00:43:57,119
Speaker 1: May maybe when I put on my clown makeup and

847
00:43:57,159 --> 00:44:00,840
pay a thousand dollars for the ally, you can buy

848
00:44:00,920 --> 00:44:02,920
my old lead. I think I've got the mid to

849
00:44:03,079 --> 00:44:03,679
old d one.

850
00:44:04,119 --> 00:44:05,920
Speaker 2: I like the the clown makeup is a I like

851
00:44:05,960 --> 00:44:07,960
that that's a pre's part of the buying.

852
00:44:08,440 --> 00:44:12,599
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, especially because I posted already online that there's

853
00:44:12,639 --> 00:44:14,440
no way on God's Green Earth that I'm gonna pay

854
00:44:14,440 --> 00:44:16,960
a thousand dollars for a handheld. There's a there's a

855
00:44:17,079 --> 00:44:20,159
very real chance I will be paying a thousand dollars, which.

856
00:44:22,599 --> 00:44:25,679
Speaker 4: Absolutely I've said before that I would never become the

857
00:44:25,719 --> 00:44:27,360
type of person who would spend a lot of money

858
00:44:27,360 --> 00:44:30,280
on cardboard, And then I started playing Magic the Gathering,

859
00:44:30,400 --> 00:44:31,960
so like, there's a room for all of us to

860
00:44:32,039 --> 00:44:33,480
change for the better and for the worse.

861
00:44:33,719 --> 00:44:38,719
Speaker 1: You know, well, Bill, before you get out of here,

862
00:44:39,119 --> 00:44:41,320
you've been playing anything you want to shout out or

863
00:44:41,360 --> 00:44:42,280
talk about real quick.

864
00:44:43,159 --> 00:44:47,519
Speaker 5: So I've been playing a lot of which is I

865
00:44:47,559 --> 00:44:50,639
have tons, so many games to play, and I can't

866
00:44:50,679 --> 00:44:54,679
stop playing two games. The first one is Cloverpit. Have

867
00:44:54,719 --> 00:44:55,920
you guys been playing Cloverpit?

868
00:44:56,800 --> 00:44:58,599
Speaker 1: I haven't played Overpit's sick.

869
00:45:00,280 --> 00:45:03,880
Speaker 5: It's so fun for the people who were watching or listening.

870
00:45:05,000 --> 00:45:09,159
You think, Billatro, which everybody knows about because of the

871
00:45:09,159 --> 00:45:13,159
Game Awards, last year, but instead it's a slot machine

872
00:45:13,199 --> 00:45:16,840
and when you lose, you get killed, and that's the

873
00:45:16,840 --> 00:45:20,119
whole game, and it's it's super fun. The other one

874
00:45:20,119 --> 00:45:23,800
that I've been playing is MEGABONK. Have you guys been playing?

875
00:45:24,559 --> 00:45:26,639
Speaker 2: No, that's another one I need to play. Happen Hearing

876
00:45:26,639 --> 00:45:26,920
a lot.

877
00:45:27,039 --> 00:45:28,559
Speaker 1: It's on I think it's on a couple of our

878
00:45:29,400 --> 00:45:31,599
lists to touch before the end of the year. I'm

879
00:45:31,679 --> 00:45:34,639
very familiar. It's it's it's a rogue light right, like

880
00:45:34,800 --> 00:45:38,400
sort of like Vampire Survivors Risk of Rain a little bit.

881
00:45:39,199 --> 00:45:42,599
Speaker 5: Right, yeah, very much like Risk of Rain, like, yeah,

882
00:45:42,639 --> 00:45:45,519
because you just can't you get these swarms coming after you,

883
00:45:46,159 --> 00:45:49,159
and you can just do some crazy things. I was

884
00:45:49,199 --> 00:45:54,599
playing yesterday as Calcium, who is a skeleton that rides

885
00:45:54,599 --> 00:45:58,639
a skateboard, and longer he goes without getting hit, the

886
00:45:58,760 --> 00:46:01,719
faster he goes. And then I ended up picking up

887
00:46:01,760 --> 00:46:05,519
a power up that may that tied my damage multiplier

888
00:46:05,639 --> 00:46:10,559
to my speed. Oh man, So I was doing tons

889
00:46:10,599 --> 00:46:13,760
of damage, just throwing bones at people or at these

890
00:46:13,800 --> 00:46:18,119
goblins or whatever, and it like it's got this ridiculous

891
00:46:18,199 --> 00:46:21,960
ps one esthetic. It's so ugly that it's charming. Yet

892
00:46:22,000 --> 00:46:25,719
the same time, and I've been playing the hell out

893
00:46:25,719 --> 00:46:28,800
of that game. I think I got it two weeks ago,

894
00:46:28,960 --> 00:46:30,760
and it's like, it's the kind of game that you

895
00:46:30,800 --> 00:46:33,800
pick up and you play for ten minutes and then

896
00:46:34,039 --> 00:46:36,440
you're done. I've got seven and a half hours in

897
00:46:36,480 --> 00:46:39,920
this game already. Yeah, and it's it's that it's not

898
00:46:39,960 --> 00:46:42,079
the kind of game that you spend that much time in,

899
00:46:42,440 --> 00:46:43,679
but you can't stop playing.

900
00:46:43,760 --> 00:46:45,800
Speaker 2: I know I don't need We're gonna talk about balls

901
00:46:45,800 --> 00:46:47,639
Pit later, but I don't need another one of those

902
00:46:47,719 --> 00:46:50,519
when I have so many other big games to get through,

903
00:46:50,760 --> 00:46:53,159
but also can't wait to hear about that super good

904
00:46:53,159 --> 00:46:56,320
as someone that spent way too much time with Vampire Spers.

905
00:46:57,000 --> 00:46:59,239
Speaker 1: Yeah, clover Pit is one that's been on the top

906
00:46:59,280 --> 00:47:02,159
of my wish list for a while. I think Eric

907
00:47:02,239 --> 00:47:04,599
was showing I was over at his place recently, and

908
00:47:04,639 --> 00:47:08,079
I think Northern Lion's been streaming it, and that thing

909
00:47:08,199 --> 00:47:11,920
looks can't put me on blast like this. We can't

910
00:47:12,000 --> 00:47:13,599
let the people know that you come over. I just

911
00:47:13,639 --> 00:47:16,400
show you Northern Line videos. That's that's what it is.

912
00:47:17,000 --> 00:47:20,760
I recently saw a post that was like, dudes love

913
00:47:20,840 --> 00:47:23,320
showing you YouTube videos. It's like part of their culture

914
00:47:24,320 --> 00:47:27,880
was like that describes Eric to a t. And they're

915
00:47:27,880 --> 00:47:30,519
always Northern Line clips. But that's okay, I love Northern Line.

916
00:47:31,719 --> 00:47:33,880
But yeah, clover Pit has been on my list since

917
00:47:33,880 --> 00:47:37,679
seeing that. It definitely has that inscription look to it, right,

918
00:47:37,760 --> 00:47:40,400
like the really yeah you know like.

919
00:47:42,119 --> 00:47:48,079
Speaker 6: Buckshot Yeah yeah, yeah, Like all the textures are wobbly,

920
00:47:48,599 --> 00:47:51,639
like they kind of just shake like you guys probably

921
00:47:51,639 --> 00:47:52,840
aren't old enough to remember this.

922
00:47:53,119 --> 00:47:55,599
Speaker 3: Do you guys remember Doctor Katz? Yeah, comedy.

923
00:47:55,719 --> 00:47:56,920
Speaker 2: I love Doctor Katz.

924
00:47:57,400 --> 00:48:00,719
Speaker 5: Okay, Doctor Katz had this squigglevis and that's what.

925
00:48:02,639 --> 00:48:03,880
Speaker 3: Cloverpit reminds me of.

926
00:48:03,880 --> 00:48:06,960
Speaker 2: It's Squigglevision, the Doctor Katz and video games. They call it.

927
00:48:08,320 --> 00:48:11,480
Speaker 4: Finally Yeah, we finally made one.

928
00:48:12,280 --> 00:48:16,079
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, Bill, thank you again for joining us today

929
00:48:16,119 --> 00:48:18,280
on the show. Before we take a quick break, will

930
00:48:18,320 --> 00:48:20,519
you just go ahead and plug where folks can find

931
00:48:20,519 --> 00:48:23,480
you online? Social media, Patreon, that kind of stuff.

932
00:48:24,360 --> 00:48:26,960
Speaker 5: Yeah, you can find everything that I do over at

933
00:48:27,000 --> 00:48:30,519
YouTube dot com, slash, nerd Nest or nerdnest dot tv,

934
00:48:31,239 --> 00:48:34,880
and I mean you can find me on Blue Sky,

935
00:48:35,000 --> 00:48:37,480
but I think it's nerdnest dot tv on Blue Sky,

936
00:48:37,760 --> 00:48:40,800
which is how Alex and I have been talking. Yeah,

937
00:48:40,840 --> 00:48:43,639
I don't really post to any of the other platforms

938
00:48:43,679 --> 00:48:45,800
all that much, and honestly, I don't really post a

939
00:48:45,800 --> 00:48:48,400
Blue Sky all that much, but you know, every pretty

940
00:48:48,480 --> 00:48:51,840
much everything is on YouTube, YouTube, dot Com, slash nerd, Nest.

941
00:48:52,559 --> 00:48:55,960
Speaker 1: Awesome. Well Bill, thanks for joining us, and hopefully we'll

942
00:48:55,960 --> 00:48:56,800
have you back on soon.

943
00:48:57,800 --> 00:48:59,480
Speaker 3: Thanks so much. It was really fun talking to you

944
00:48:59,480 --> 00:49:00,480
guys and meet you guys.

945
00:49:00,960 --> 00:49:05,079
Speaker 1: Yeah, by welcome back everyone to the Game Informer show.

946
00:49:05,239 --> 00:49:07,960
We've got still a packed episode. We're gonna be getting

947
00:49:08,000 --> 00:49:11,840
into our Ball x Pit review impressions in just a second,

948
00:49:11,880 --> 00:49:15,880
as well as Vampire the Masquerade, Bloodlines two, Battlefield six

949
00:49:16,320 --> 00:49:19,639
by Sweet Carol at the very end, well, we'll we'll

950
00:49:19,679 --> 00:49:22,079
talk a little little bit about legends, which I think

951
00:49:22,079 --> 00:49:25,960
we've got like a collective hour in our first impressions,

952
00:49:26,000 --> 00:49:26,760
Pokemon legends.

953
00:49:26,840 --> 00:49:31,960
Speaker 4: Yes, we're just talking about legends, Yes, various myths.

954
00:49:31,559 --> 00:49:37,719
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, the legend I am Legend. I am legend. Yes,

955
00:49:37,800 --> 00:49:41,079
that's what we're to get into our exclusive review of

956
00:49:41,159 --> 00:49:44,159
I Am Legend. Guys, let's get into Ball x Pit.

957
00:49:44,320 --> 00:49:48,360
This is uh from I believe. I know it's being

958
00:49:48,360 --> 00:49:52,320
published obviously by Devolver Digital, but It's being developed by

959
00:49:53,079 --> 00:49:58,559
a fellow named Kenny Sun, the Legend. The Legend Kenny

960
00:49:58,639 --> 00:50:03,239
Sun previously worked on mister Sun's hat Box. That's where

961
00:50:03,280 --> 00:50:06,840
I know that name, from which I believe, Marcus you

962
00:50:06,840 --> 00:50:09,039
were a fan of if I if I remember correctly. Oh,

963
00:50:09,119 --> 00:50:11,760
I've never played it, but maybe it was Alex Stadnick.

964
00:50:12,000 --> 00:50:12,960
Speaker 2: Do you think I would like it?

965
00:50:13,679 --> 00:50:17,360
Speaker 1: I think so, yeah. But ballocks Pit is is Kinney's

966
00:50:17,519 --> 00:50:22,199
latest game, again being published by Devolver. Is a brick

967
00:50:22,280 --> 00:50:26,920
breaker ball fusing rogue light that's describes itself on the

968
00:50:26,960 --> 00:50:30,719
Steam listing, and I think that's pretty dang close to

969
00:50:30,719 --> 00:50:33,159
to what what the real experience is like. There's also

970
00:50:33,280 --> 00:50:38,719
a sort of base building harvesting system that you know,

971
00:50:38,760 --> 00:50:42,320
you continually expand. But the whole premise of the game

972
00:50:42,599 --> 00:50:47,760
is at the very start, giant sort of meteor hits

973
00:50:47,760 --> 00:50:51,320
this big city called ball Balon, which is this great

974
00:50:51,360 --> 00:50:53,280
city looks sort of like Menace tier at from one

975
00:50:53,320 --> 00:50:56,000
of the rings a little bit, and it creates this

976
00:50:56,079 --> 00:51:00,320
huge pit and pretty much all of humanity is much

977
00:51:00,320 --> 00:51:04,760
wiped out save for some you know, loan survivors, and

978
00:51:04,800 --> 00:51:08,079
you're slowly building up a settlement by diving deeper into

979
00:51:08,119 --> 00:51:14,039
the pit to find resources and uncover new townsfolk to

980
00:51:14,280 --> 00:51:17,000
come back to your settlement and kind of help build

981
00:51:17,000 --> 00:51:20,159
things up. But the main sort of mode that you're

982
00:51:20,199 --> 00:51:24,440
engaging with most of the time is this brick breaker

983
00:51:24,519 --> 00:51:27,280
style game where you're playing a character. At the bottom

984
00:51:27,320 --> 00:51:34,320
of the screen. There's a vertical scrolling battlefield with legions

985
00:51:34,320 --> 00:51:39,039
of enemies coming down, and you are playing a brick

986
00:51:39,119 --> 00:51:42,440
baker game where you're throwing special balls that do special effects,

987
00:51:42,719 --> 00:51:44,599
as well as what they call baby balls, which are

988
00:51:44,639 --> 00:51:47,719
just sort of like normal balls that bounce around, they

989
00:51:47,719 --> 00:51:51,280
bounce off balls, they bounce off enemies, and you're slowly

990
00:51:51,480 --> 00:51:55,639
kind of taking out these hordes of batties while slowly

991
00:51:55,719 --> 00:52:00,679
upgrading your character from the sort of XP gym that

992
00:52:00,719 --> 00:52:03,480
you get from defeating those enemies. And there are mid bosses,

993
00:52:03,559 --> 00:52:07,039
there are are big bosses, and there are you know,

994
00:52:07,039 --> 00:52:11,039
you have to do runs multiple times to kind of unlock,

995
00:52:11,639 --> 00:52:13,840
you know, the next area. I'm having a lot of

996
00:52:13,840 --> 00:52:17,320
fun with it. It's been really my main driver on

997
00:52:17,400 --> 00:52:20,360
my Steam deck, and I think I probably put probably

998
00:52:20,400 --> 00:52:23,920
fifteen hours into it at this point, and it's one

999
00:52:23,960 --> 00:52:26,960
of those games that reminds me of loop Heiro and

1000
00:52:27,039 --> 00:52:30,000
the way that when I first looked at Loopierro on Steam,

1001
00:52:30,280 --> 00:52:33,119
I was like, I heard it's cool, but it's not

1002
00:52:33,199 --> 00:52:35,480
really a looker, and I don't know if it's for me.

1003
00:52:36,119 --> 00:52:38,239
And then I played Loopierro and I was like, oh

1004
00:52:38,280 --> 00:52:41,559
my god, this thing is great. You know, I have

1005
00:52:41,559 --> 00:52:44,480
hav any very similar experience with ball x Pit, where

1006
00:52:44,800 --> 00:52:47,079
it's kind of my radar wasn't sure if I was interested,

1007
00:52:47,679 --> 00:52:51,280
and you know, it was pleasantly surprised. But I'm curious

1008
00:52:51,440 --> 00:52:54,119
Eric and Marcus where you guys are at with the

1009
00:52:54,159 --> 00:52:57,079
game and how you're enjoying it or if you're not

1010
00:52:57,159 --> 00:52:57,639
enjoying it.

1011
00:52:58,960 --> 00:53:01,280
Speaker 4: I put it pretty decent amount of time into it

1012
00:53:01,320 --> 00:53:04,280
so far. I I don't know that I would call

1013
00:53:04,320 --> 00:53:06,960
it so it's weird. I don't know that I would

1014
00:53:07,000 --> 00:53:10,760
say I'm like a roguelike guy, But then I play

1015
00:53:10,840 --> 00:53:15,119
basically every roguelike that comes out and have an opinion

1016
00:53:15,159 --> 00:53:16,880
on it, so I guess maybe I.

1017
00:53:16,880 --> 00:53:20,400
Speaker 1: Am like a roguelike guy. I just look.

1018
00:53:20,440 --> 00:53:24,840
Speaker 4: I got into FTL and Binding of Isaac when they

1019
00:53:24,840 --> 00:53:27,559
were both like coming out, and I think it just

1020
00:53:27,599 --> 00:53:30,719
like it hooked and and I bring that up because

1021
00:53:30,760 --> 00:53:34,159
I do think Ballpit. Well, first of all, I'll call

1022
00:53:34,199 --> 00:53:38,119
it Ballpit. Much like Hunter Hunter I believe, I believe

1023
00:53:38,119 --> 00:53:38,960
the ex is silent.

1024
00:53:39,079 --> 00:53:41,400
Speaker 1: But in the review and the review, I did ball

1025
00:53:41,599 --> 00:53:44,360
x pit and then I recorded some alternate takes with

1026
00:53:44,559 --> 00:53:46,639
just ballpick ball, cross.

1027
00:53:46,440 --> 00:53:55,320
Speaker 4: Pit yeah, all times pit yeah pit. Yeah. So with Ballpit,

1028
00:53:55,840 --> 00:53:58,519
it's been really interesting. I do think it's a really

1029
00:53:58,519 --> 00:54:01,639
cool game. Like, like to be clear, I am, I'm

1030
00:54:01,800 --> 00:54:06,000
very warm on it. I do kind of wish some

1031
00:54:06,039 --> 00:54:09,079
of the base building stuff was a little bit not

1032
00:54:09,400 --> 00:54:12,360
the way it was, just because there's I think as

1033
00:54:12,400 --> 00:54:14,719
that starts to grow, it's it's novel at first, but

1034
00:54:14,760 --> 00:54:17,280
then kind of started to degrade on me over time.

1035
00:54:17,719 --> 00:54:20,119
But I only bring that up because I think it's

1036
00:54:20,159 --> 00:54:23,079
a really clever idea, and that idea plays out very

1037
00:54:23,079 --> 00:54:25,880
well when you're actually in the pit and climbing through stuff.

1038
00:54:25,920 --> 00:54:29,239
Because you brought up that it's brick Breaker, it's a

1039
00:54:29,280 --> 00:54:33,159
little bit of Pinball, it's a little bit of Vampire Survivors.

1040
00:54:33,199 --> 00:54:35,000
I think there's a lot of touchstones that if you've

1041
00:54:35,039 --> 00:54:39,360
played any sort of run based game in the last

1042
00:54:39,480 --> 00:54:41,400
five to ten years, you're going to see that here.

1043
00:54:42,079 --> 00:54:45,920
But what it's the reminded me the most of just

1044
00:54:45,960 --> 00:54:48,440
in terms of general concept and idea, has been stuff

1045
00:54:48,519 --> 00:54:52,000
like Galaga, where you're kind of managing this ever approaching

1046
00:54:52,119 --> 00:54:56,719
wall of enemies, and yeah, there's kind of just always

1047
00:54:56,920 --> 00:55:00,320
constant pressure on you, the player and the There's an

1048
00:55:00,320 --> 00:55:03,840
interesting push and pull between how much you are willing

1049
00:55:03,880 --> 00:55:08,599
to see ground or try to push forward and play

1050
00:55:08,639 --> 00:55:12,599
the way that you want to play to then risk

1051
00:55:12,639 --> 00:55:14,360
it them eventually getting to the bottom and starting to

1052
00:55:14,400 --> 00:55:15,840
hit you, because once they get to the bottom of

1053
00:55:15,880 --> 00:55:17,960
the screen, or once they get close enough because you

1054
00:55:18,000 --> 00:55:21,000
can't actually walk forward on the screen, and then enemies

1055
00:55:21,000 --> 00:55:22,960
if they're in melee range, will start to actually attack you.

1056
00:55:23,000 --> 00:55:25,639
Because of it, you can kind of play around with that.

1057
00:55:25,679 --> 00:55:27,239
You can play around that space. And there's a lot

1058
00:55:27,280 --> 00:55:29,840
of balls that I think do more interesting things than

1059
00:55:29,840 --> 00:55:31,239
I thought there would be. I kind of went in

1060
00:55:31,360 --> 00:55:34,719
expecting like, Okay, you're going to have chain lightning ball,

1061
00:55:34,760 --> 00:55:37,880
You're going to have some sort of damage over time ball,

1062
00:55:37,920 --> 00:55:40,639
You're going to have a ball that turns into more balls,

1063
00:55:40,719 --> 00:55:43,360
because that all seems natural, and those are all there.

1064
00:55:44,199 --> 00:55:45,880
I think the more interesting parts of this game to

1065
00:55:45,880 --> 00:55:49,599
me are the ones that say, Okay, this ball will

1066
00:55:49,639 --> 00:55:52,119
have higher krit chance if you hit it hit something

1067
00:55:52,159 --> 00:55:55,320
from the right hand side, or this ball will do

1068
00:55:55,920 --> 00:55:59,360
more damage, but once it hits the back of the

1069
00:55:59,400 --> 00:56:02,440
screen and starts bouncing back down, now it's going to

1070
00:56:02,480 --> 00:56:05,639
do less damage. Or conversely, this ball does less damage

1071
00:56:05,719 --> 00:56:07,840
until it hits a wall and then it starts picking

1072
00:56:07,920 --> 00:56:11,440
up damage the more it bounces. And you can combine

1073
00:56:11,480 --> 00:56:15,159
that with things like the wind ball, which kind of

1074
00:56:15,199 --> 00:56:18,239
pass It moves slower, but it passes through enemies instead

1075
00:56:18,239 --> 00:56:19,119
of bouncing.

1076
00:56:18,719 --> 00:56:19,280
Speaker 1: Off of them.

1077
00:56:19,760 --> 00:56:22,400
Speaker 4: You can do really cool interesting things with that. I

1078
00:56:22,400 --> 00:56:25,079
think the physics of this game, the actual feeling of

1079
00:56:25,639 --> 00:56:28,599
balls ricocheting around and how you can manipulate that to

1080
00:56:28,639 --> 00:56:31,760
do really cool things, is one of the more interesting

1081
00:56:31,760 --> 00:56:35,519
and novel parts of Ballpit that have really like resonated

1082
00:56:35,559 --> 00:56:38,320
with me. I think it would have been very easy

1083
00:56:38,360 --> 00:56:41,360
for this game to just be You're playing brick breaker

1084
00:56:41,639 --> 00:56:44,239
and you get like cooler ways to break the bricks,

1085
00:56:44,239 --> 00:56:46,039
but it's kind of just that. And I think the

1086
00:56:46,119 --> 00:56:50,639
ways in which the developers have thought to expand the

1087
00:56:50,679 --> 00:56:56,199
playspase of brick breaking Galaga style like very retro feeling

1088
00:56:56,280 --> 00:57:01,320
concepts and infuse so much new novel into it really

1089
00:57:01,320 --> 00:57:03,400
really works for me, and I find that really really compelling.

1090
00:57:04,599 --> 00:57:07,599
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, Marcus, I'm curious. I'm curious to your

1091
00:57:07,639 --> 00:57:10,239
thoughts before I dive into a rabbit hole that I

1092
00:57:10,239 --> 00:57:10,800
was about to go.

1093
00:57:10,840 --> 00:57:13,440
Speaker 2: And No, it's a lot of it's a lot of fun,

1094
00:57:13,519 --> 00:57:16,880
I said earlier. I it's got a lot of the

1095
00:57:16,880 --> 00:57:19,840
same hooks that Vampire Survivors had in me of just

1096
00:57:19,960 --> 00:57:24,639
this kind of like endlessly replayable, but very easy to

1097
00:57:24,840 --> 00:57:27,360
play because it's an auto shooter, like you're just shooting

1098
00:57:27,360 --> 00:57:28,920
the balls, like so literally all you have to do

1099
00:57:29,000 --> 00:57:30,360
is just move the character.

1100
00:57:31,000 --> 00:57:38,320
Speaker 4: So uh oh, I you're not wrong, However, it is shooting.

1101
00:57:39,000 --> 00:57:41,760
Auto shooting is something you toggle. And I will say

1102
00:57:41,800 --> 00:57:44,679
something that did impress me was it starts you off,

1103
00:57:44,880 --> 00:57:47,480
not letting you auto shoot, and then you turn it

1104
00:57:47,519 --> 00:57:48,920
on and I'm like, well, why would I ever turn

1105
00:57:49,000 --> 00:57:51,719
this off? And then you start to get some balls

1106
00:57:51,760 --> 00:57:54,800
that make you go like maybe I don't just want

1107
00:57:54,800 --> 00:57:58,639
to auto shoot? Yeah, I think that's pretty interesting.

1108
00:57:59,119 --> 00:58:03,079
Speaker 2: Okay, Yeah i'ven't. I don't think I've encountered balls that

1109
00:58:03,239 --> 00:58:06,920
would have made me question that. So okay, that's interesting.

1110
00:58:07,039 --> 00:58:09,159
Speaker 1: Yeah, there are some balls that deal damage to you

1111
00:58:09,199 --> 00:58:09,920
when you shoot them.

1112
00:58:10,639 --> 00:58:11,920
Speaker 2: Oh okay, gotcha?

1113
00:58:12,079 --> 00:58:14,639
Speaker 1: Huh yeah. And so if you have auto shoot on,

1114
00:58:15,280 --> 00:58:17,519
you're just like slowly you.

1115
00:58:17,599 --> 00:58:20,320
Speaker 2: Know, yeah, because I turned it off. Yeah, I turned

1116
00:58:20,360 --> 00:58:22,440
on auto immediately because I was like, I'm playing a

1117
00:58:22,440 --> 00:58:23,639
controller and I was like, oh, I don't want to

1118
00:58:23,679 --> 00:58:26,639
hold down to the trigger the whole time. It's like,

1119
00:58:26,639 --> 00:58:28,400
I'm just gonna play it like it's Vampire Survivors and

1120
00:58:28,519 --> 00:58:31,519
just have it, you know, I just want to focus.

1121
00:58:30,440 --> 00:58:33,559
Speaker 1: Most builds you can get away with auto.

1122
00:58:34,199 --> 00:58:37,000
Speaker 4: I think that I would then draw comparisons to things

1123
00:58:37,000 --> 00:58:39,079
like Binding of Isaac, where the first time I played

1124
00:58:39,079 --> 00:58:40,480
Binding of Isaac, I was like, why would I not

1125
00:58:40,519 --> 00:58:42,199
just walk around with the fire button held down all

1126
00:58:42,199 --> 00:58:44,880
the time? Why would I ever use my bombs to

1127
00:58:44,960 --> 00:58:46,159
not just blow things up?

1128
00:58:46,360 --> 00:58:47,199
Speaker 1: Why would I? You know?

1129
00:58:47,320 --> 00:58:49,320
Speaker 4: And then suddenly you start to understand that the play

1130
00:58:49,320 --> 00:58:51,599
space is a lot deeper than you think it's going

1131
00:58:51,639 --> 00:58:54,559
to be, but also that they're doing more things with

1132
00:58:54,760 --> 00:58:57,599
those verbs than you normally expect a video game to do.

1133
00:58:58,039 --> 00:59:02,360
I think a lot of video games, broadly speaking, love

1134
00:59:02,400 --> 00:59:05,079
the idea of you do thing and then you do

1135
00:59:05,199 --> 00:59:07,320
more of thing. But I think What often sets a

1136
00:59:07,400 --> 00:59:11,000
really good run based game apart for me is where

1137
00:59:11,000 --> 00:59:13,800
it makes you have those moments of careful consideration where

1138
00:59:13,800 --> 00:59:16,760
you say, I need to play differently than I do

1139
00:59:16,920 --> 00:59:19,239
for every other run, where I need to like consider

1140
00:59:19,880 --> 00:59:23,119
my playset and my play style a little bit differently,

1141
00:59:23,159 --> 00:59:26,360
because now I'm playing something that is going to both

1142
00:59:26,519 --> 00:59:29,639
encourage me to play differently and reward me for playing differently.

1143
00:59:29,920 --> 00:59:31,920
And I do think Ballpit nails that.

1144
00:59:32,679 --> 00:59:36,800
Speaker 2: Yeah, It's there's a primal satisfaction that I have and

1145
00:59:36,840 --> 00:59:38,679
probably all of us do to some degree of just

1146
00:59:38,760 --> 00:59:42,079
watching balls bounce around and break up, just like I've

1147
00:59:42,079 --> 00:59:46,800
always really loved the Arcanoid and this is just like

1148
00:59:47,239 --> 00:59:53,519
this is basically like fancy, more involved Arcanoid to me. Yeah,

1149
00:59:53,559 --> 00:59:55,880
with a little bit of Tetris, because I think of

1150
00:59:55,920 --> 00:59:58,119
Tetris when I see the kind of like enemy scrolling

1151
00:59:58,119 --> 01:00:01,679
closer and closer and how but instead of like reaching

1152
01:00:01,719 --> 01:00:03,639
the top is bad, reaching the bottom is bad, it's

1153
01:00:03,679 --> 01:00:06,320
like reverse Tetris. This game is so weird in terms

1154
01:00:06,360 --> 01:00:09,800
of the different sort of like things it takes. It's

1155
01:00:09,880 --> 01:00:12,400
like the watch a McCall a bar of video games.

1156
01:00:12,920 --> 01:00:14,559
Just like it's got a little bit of everything, and

1157
01:00:14,599 --> 01:00:18,440
it manages to blend together in a way that is

1158
01:00:19,639 --> 01:00:22,199
it's amazing how kind of like quickly you kind of

1159
01:00:22,199 --> 01:00:25,559
pick up what it's putting down for how sort of

1160
01:00:25,639 --> 01:00:28,320
like for how many different things it sort of mashes

1161
01:00:28,360 --> 01:00:30,440
together that you won't think on paper it wouldn't work,

1162
01:00:30,599 --> 01:00:32,320
But then you only need to play like around and

1163
01:00:32,320 --> 01:00:34,960
you start to go like, oh, oh, okay, I think

1164
01:00:34,960 --> 01:00:37,559
I get what this is cause and I think when

1165
01:00:37,599 --> 01:00:40,480
you just watch a trailer it's even hard to sort

1166
01:00:40,480 --> 01:00:44,719
of kind of like understand completely what you're kind of

1167
01:00:44,719 --> 01:00:47,639
getting into. I think once you get in there, And

1168
01:00:47,639 --> 01:00:48,960
I think it's one of the reason why I Steam

1169
01:00:49,000 --> 01:00:51,360
Demo did so well when it was available on Next Fest,

1170
01:00:51,360 --> 01:00:53,360
Like I played the crap out of that, and thankfully

1171
01:00:53,360 --> 01:00:55,760
your progress carries over from the Steam Demo, which is

1172
01:00:55,800 --> 01:00:58,320
greats Like I just fired up the full game and

1173
01:00:58,360 --> 01:01:00,960
it's just like, hey, we saw you played demo. Here

1174
01:01:01,000 --> 01:01:05,079
you are just start off where you were. But yeah,

1175
01:01:05,159 --> 01:01:08,079
it's uh, it's fun. Like it's it's one of those

1176
01:01:08,119 --> 01:01:11,400
games you get I get so lost in, like you

1177
01:01:11,440 --> 01:01:13,679
get that zen state when you're like on a really

1178
01:01:13,719 --> 01:01:17,760
good run and you're watching all of your balls kind

1179
01:01:17,760 --> 01:01:19,679
of like do what you want them to do. And

1180
01:01:19,679 --> 01:01:21,440
I also get really excited with like it does the

1181
01:01:21,480 --> 01:01:25,320
Vampires of Ivors like weapon fusion stuff. So every time

1182
01:01:25,360 --> 01:01:27,400
you pick one of those up, I'm just like, oh man,

1183
01:01:27,440 --> 01:01:30,320
I'm gonna like I would just combine things together just

1184
01:01:30,320 --> 01:01:32,039
to see what happens, not even like I don't know

1185
01:01:32,079 --> 01:01:35,559
if this has any strategic advantage, like for this current situation,

1186
01:01:35,599 --> 01:01:36,880
but I just want to see what it does because

1187
01:01:36,880 --> 01:01:39,800
I haven't mixed these two things yet. And then even

1188
01:01:39,800 --> 01:01:41,679
when it's something that's like Okay, I don't know if

1189
01:01:41,679 --> 01:01:43,559
that did exactly wanted to do, it's still like a

1190
01:01:43,719 --> 01:01:45,039
it's fun to just experiment.

1191
01:01:46,360 --> 01:01:50,559
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's like a discovery element exactly. Yes, that that

1192
01:01:50,559 --> 01:01:54,679
piece reminds me of Alchemy, the old mobile game that

1193
01:01:54,719 --> 01:01:58,000
people would play where you would have different elements and

1194
01:01:58,079 --> 01:02:01,719
you would just like combine them to unlock another element.

1195
01:02:02,239 --> 01:02:04,000
And I think in that game they were like over

1196
01:02:04,039 --> 01:02:07,639
three hundred of them. In this game, there are significantly less,

1197
01:02:07,679 --> 01:02:10,840
which is kind of a bummer because I think that

1198
01:02:11,000 --> 01:02:15,960
is my favorite piece of this game, is the fusion system,

1199
01:02:16,320 --> 01:02:18,599
and I think like as as you go, it kind

1200
01:02:18,599 --> 01:02:20,440
of slows down quite a bit.

1201
01:02:21,039 --> 01:02:25,519
Speaker 4: I do think one thing that I kind of have

1202
01:02:25,760 --> 01:02:28,039
with this game in regards to that is that you

1203
01:02:28,039 --> 01:02:30,559
have two different kinds of so for the people at home,

1204
01:02:31,480 --> 01:02:33,400
you have a ball, so you pick up the chain

1205
01:02:33,519 --> 01:02:36,199
lightning ball or the frost ball, the one that freezes

1206
01:02:36,400 --> 01:02:39,000
random pieces, which I think is probably one of my

1207
01:02:39,000 --> 01:02:41,760
favorite ones, just because the ability to stop the line

1208
01:02:41,840 --> 01:02:48,039
from advancing is very helpful. You level it up three

1209
01:02:48,119 --> 01:02:50,920
times and then it has hit basically it's max level.

1210
01:02:51,159 --> 01:02:53,480
But once it's at that max level, you can either

1211
01:02:55,159 --> 01:02:57,000
I forget which one is, which there's one that is

1212
01:02:57,039 --> 01:02:59,760
combining it with another max level ball to kind of

1213
01:02:59,800 --> 01:03:04,039
just stick the two things that those balls do together

1214
01:03:04,320 --> 01:03:06,400
to make them do the same thing together. And I

1215
01:03:06,440 --> 01:03:08,079
think that one once you do that, it is kind

1216
01:03:08,119 --> 01:03:11,719
of completed. It is finished, or you can fuse them

1217
01:03:11,760 --> 01:03:15,239
into something completely brand new that will kind of have

1218
01:03:15,280 --> 01:03:18,960
elements of both, but maybe do something that is kind

1219
01:03:19,000 --> 01:03:20,400
of brand new. I think one of the ones that

1220
01:03:20,639 --> 01:03:23,119
I remember getting that I really thought was interesting was

1221
01:03:23,599 --> 01:03:25,880
it gave the ball an AoE around it that was

1222
01:03:25,960 --> 01:03:28,320
kind of burning the whole time, and it did some

1223
01:03:28,360 --> 01:03:30,760
really cool stuff with that.

1224
01:03:30,760 --> 01:03:31,519
Speaker 1: That one.

1225
01:03:31,639 --> 01:03:35,400
Speaker 4: You can then level up and I think eventually fuse

1226
01:03:35,480 --> 01:03:38,719
with other things as well, And I ended up getting

1227
01:03:38,880 --> 01:03:41,760
just a little annoyed by that, because then if you're

1228
01:03:41,760 --> 01:03:43,800
trying to min max, if you're trying to say, I'm

1229
01:03:43,840 --> 01:03:45,719
making the most use of every single one of my

1230
01:03:45,800 --> 01:03:48,199
limited slots, because you have a limited number of slots

1231
01:03:48,199 --> 01:03:50,400
for how many balls you can have and how many

1232
01:03:50,440 --> 01:03:52,559
passives you can have. So if you're really trying to

1233
01:03:52,599 --> 01:03:57,039
max that stuff out, suddenly one is technically a better

1234
01:03:57,079 --> 01:03:59,039
and slot option than the other one because it can

1235
01:03:59,079 --> 01:04:01,679
get stronger, it can continue to grow over the course

1236
01:04:01,719 --> 01:04:04,440
of the game, whereas other ones kind of the evolutionary

1237
01:04:04,480 --> 01:04:08,880
path stops, and that in the same way the Vampire

1238
01:04:08,880 --> 01:04:10,679
Survivor is. The one thing that annoys me in that

1239
01:04:10,719 --> 01:04:12,400
game is when you have to pick up something that

1240
01:04:12,480 --> 01:04:14,719
isn't going to then play into an evolution of a

1241
01:04:14,760 --> 01:04:17,719
weapon somewhere down the line. I go like, I'm not

1242
01:04:17,760 --> 01:04:21,039
playing optimally. I don't have the best possible build in

1243
01:04:21,079 --> 01:04:25,000
this moment. Is this run just crap now? And it's

1244
01:04:26,440 --> 01:04:29,719
it's good to force yourself to not play that way

1245
01:04:29,800 --> 01:04:32,679
every single time, And in other games, I think they

1246
01:04:32,719 --> 01:04:36,119
give you ways of forcing you to not play optimally.

1247
01:04:36,199 --> 01:04:39,000
Every single time. But I think when it dangles it

1248
01:04:39,079 --> 01:04:41,320
over your head like that, it does like annoy me

1249
01:04:41,519 --> 01:04:43,840
just a little bit where I'm like, ah, just just

1250
01:04:43,920 --> 01:04:45,800
let me fuse them and make something new and then

1251
01:04:45,920 --> 01:04:48,639
keep growing that that way instead of having the path

1252
01:04:48,719 --> 01:04:52,199
cut off suddenly. It doesn't It doesn't feel great when

1253
01:04:52,199 --> 01:04:54,320
I'm like I had to settle for this because I

1254
01:04:54,400 --> 01:04:57,480
just needed an extra slot, I needed more firepower, and

1255
01:04:57,519 --> 01:05:00,480
then like, oh, I'm just have a suboptimal build now

1256
01:05:00,559 --> 01:05:02,559
and I hope I can kind of squeak out something

1257
01:05:02,599 --> 01:05:02,920
with this.

1258
01:05:03,559 --> 01:05:06,039
Speaker 2: Yeah. I guess that's a consequence of just the rang

1259
01:05:06,400 --> 01:05:08,960
with the power ups, like you don't know what you're

1260
01:05:08,960 --> 01:05:10,920
gonna get until you get it, just like, oh, well

1261
01:05:11,000 --> 01:05:13,599
this is the one I yeah needed, but I gotta

1262
01:05:13,639 --> 01:05:14,519
roll with it.

1263
01:05:14,719 --> 01:05:17,519
Speaker 4: I do think their way of doing rerolls in the

1264
01:05:17,519 --> 01:05:19,880
game is really interesting because it's the currency that you

1265
01:05:19,920 --> 01:05:22,800
want to bring back to the base to spend on

1266
01:05:22,880 --> 01:05:25,760
certain buildings and stuff like that. So the fact that

1267
01:05:25,800 --> 01:05:27,800
you're kind of gambling with it in that way where

1268
01:05:27,840 --> 01:05:32,599
you say, Okay, I don't want any of these available balls,

1269
01:05:33,039 --> 01:05:36,280
but it's going to cost me a decent chunk of

1270
01:05:36,360 --> 01:05:39,320
change to reroll. Do I want to bring that money

1271
01:05:39,360 --> 01:05:41,320
back or do I want to spend it for the

1272
01:05:41,440 --> 01:05:44,159
chance to stay down here longer and get more cash.

1273
01:05:44,320 --> 01:05:47,440
I do think that's kind of compelling. I think that's interesting.

1274
01:05:47,280 --> 01:05:50,119
Speaker 2: When you I haven't done a thing where you retry

1275
01:05:50,159 --> 01:05:51,880
a run. I usually just go back to the base,

1276
01:05:52,000 --> 01:05:52,639
Like what is that?

1277
01:05:53,079 --> 01:05:54,960
Speaker 4: Do you just you start over again?

1278
01:05:55,119 --> 01:05:56,360
Speaker 1: You just do a new run?

1279
01:05:56,800 --> 01:05:58,840
Speaker 2: Oh okay. I didn't know if it's like like with

1280
01:05:58,920 --> 01:06:01,880
like risking anything by not just taking whatever I got

1281
01:06:02,039 --> 01:06:05,159
back back to base. I probably I'm surprised I haven't

1282
01:06:05,159 --> 01:06:07,280
reatryause I'm kind of with you, Eric, were like the

1283
01:06:07,519 --> 01:06:10,159
base building stuff, It's like it's like fine, it's like novel,

1284
01:06:10,199 --> 01:06:13,119
but it's definitely like I don't necessarily look forward to

1285
01:06:13,159 --> 01:06:16,880
going back there. I just kind of keep doing ball

1286
01:06:16,960 --> 01:06:20,079
runs and then I just kind of ye, I kind

1287
01:06:20,079 --> 01:06:23,079
of like treat the the base building stuff as sort

1288
01:06:23,119 --> 01:06:24,639
of like a means to an end of like, well,

1289
01:06:24,719 --> 01:06:27,519
I guess I need this to to upgrade.

1290
01:06:28,679 --> 01:06:29,840
Speaker 3: Get that progression.

1291
01:06:31,199 --> 01:06:33,559
Speaker 1: Yeah. And I think Eric, you're talking specifically about the

1292
01:06:33,599 --> 01:06:35,440
reroll the items that you're getting in.

1293
01:06:35,360 --> 01:06:37,320
Speaker 4: The world, and talk about rerrolling the items that you get,

1294
01:06:37,320 --> 01:06:39,880
which that that is for gold, which is one of

1295
01:06:39,920 --> 01:06:42,199
the resources you can get in the pit, that you

1296
01:06:42,239 --> 01:06:44,480
then bring back to your base to spend on, say

1297
01:06:44,519 --> 01:06:48,960
building a new building where a character might live. And

1298
01:06:49,000 --> 01:06:51,440
then you have to you basically have workers who are

1299
01:06:51,599 --> 01:06:53,519
ex balls that you fire off, and you play a

1300
01:06:53,519 --> 01:06:56,760
little pinball game where you, like dark Cloud build out

1301
01:06:56,800 --> 01:06:59,920
a town and then kind of bounce your workers off

1302
01:07:00,039 --> 01:07:03,280
different resources and buildings to either construct the buildings or

1303
01:07:03,280 --> 01:07:06,159
harvest the resources that then turn into more things that

1304
01:07:06,199 --> 01:07:09,239
you invest into that. I do think that's an interesting

1305
01:07:09,360 --> 01:07:13,199
inner loop of the game. I just don't know that

1306
01:07:13,280 --> 01:07:16,960
I particularly love. It starts to feel samey after a while.

1307
01:07:17,159 --> 01:07:19,400
You just kind of get into a monotonous loop of

1308
01:07:19,400 --> 01:07:23,199
it where you're going, Okay, well let me arrange everything

1309
01:07:23,280 --> 01:07:24,880
that I have that needs to be built.

1310
01:07:25,119 --> 01:07:27,000
Speaker 1: I'm constantly rearranging things.

1311
01:07:27,360 --> 01:07:29,480
Speaker 4: Yeah, and not in a way that feels very exciting.

1312
01:07:29,639 --> 01:07:30,719
I didn't feel like it's.

1313
01:07:32,119 --> 01:07:34,480
Speaker 2: Yeah, kind of like this was already like I need

1314
01:07:34,519 --> 01:07:39,039
to expand this land because I probably should have the money. Yeah,

1315
01:07:39,159 --> 01:07:41,559
do you guys have a guess have a favorite character?

1316
01:07:41,719 --> 01:07:45,559
Like I just unlocked a third character. I haven't used

1317
01:07:45,559 --> 01:07:50,199
them yet, but the second the guys.

1318
01:07:51,079 --> 01:07:53,639
Speaker 4: I like the twins a lot, the ones that both

1319
01:07:53,639 --> 01:07:57,119
shoot a ball and basically invert the shot depending on

1320
01:07:57,159 --> 01:07:59,920
where you're aiming. They're they're pretty fun.

1321
01:08:00,239 --> 01:08:02,559
Speaker 1: I think I've got like eight characters unlocked, and there's

1322
01:08:02,599 --> 01:08:06,159
a ton to unlock. I have a guy who he's

1323
01:08:06,199 --> 01:08:10,360
a shield bearer, and his shield is like the classic

1324
01:08:10,400 --> 01:08:13,639
brick breaker platform that you would typically like scroll back

1325
01:08:13,639 --> 01:08:19,159
and forth to hit a ball. It's yeah, like yes,

1326
01:08:19,239 --> 01:08:21,800
sort of yeah, yeah, like a pong paddle. Yeah, like

1327
01:08:21,840 --> 01:08:24,399
in the game Pong, and like the platforms that you

1328
01:08:24,439 --> 01:08:27,800
move around the game the game the video game Pong,

1329
01:08:29,439 --> 01:08:33,760
not like ping pong paddles, but yeah, like a pong paddle,

1330
01:08:34,079 --> 01:08:40,000
legally distinct Pong. Yeah. And so he his bonus is

1331
01:08:41,720 --> 01:08:45,439
essentially if you bounce balls that bounce off his shield

1332
01:08:46,000 --> 01:08:49,119
gain extra damage, and so you're kind of like moving

1333
01:08:49,239 --> 01:08:51,880
your baby balls around and like pushing kind of you're

1334
01:08:51,880 --> 01:08:55,039
almost like shoveling enemies back. Because there's also like a

1335
01:08:55,079 --> 01:08:57,119
little bit of melee damage. I think that he can

1336
01:08:57,159 --> 01:09:01,520
do or you can modify it eventually to do damage

1337
01:09:01,520 --> 01:09:05,159
when you're in melee range. And so that's an interesting build.

1338
01:09:05,680 --> 01:09:08,560
I do, like I was talking to Leo Vader about this,

1339
01:09:08,920 --> 01:09:10,439
and it's funny. Leo told me he was like, and

1340
01:09:10,479 --> 01:09:12,880
I'm curious, I need to listen to Two Men Max

1341
01:09:12,920 --> 01:09:15,520
to see if his house opinions ended up shaping. But

1342
01:09:15,560 --> 01:09:17,720
it was like the first day or two we had

1343
01:09:17,920 --> 01:09:19,760
copy of the game, and I was like, we went

1344
01:09:19,800 --> 01:09:22,319
on a we had like a double date plane and

1345
01:09:22,399 --> 01:09:23,800
was like, hey, have you had a chance to play

1346
01:09:23,840 --> 01:09:27,039
Ballpit And he was like, yeah, I don't know if

1347
01:09:27,439 --> 01:09:29,119
the game is fun or if it's just hard to

1348
01:09:29,159 --> 01:09:31,800
put down. And he was like, I don't know if

1349
01:09:31,800 --> 01:09:36,600
I mean too cerebral, but he was telling me and

1350
01:09:37,079 --> 01:09:39,479
we kind of were talking about there's a character un Locke,

1351
01:09:39,479 --> 01:09:42,720
who just auto picks all of your upgrades, and so

1352
01:09:43,399 --> 01:09:46,720
it's the most turn off your brain. You don't even

1353
01:09:46,760 --> 01:09:50,600
pick your upgrades or evolutions. You literally just like aim

1354
01:09:50,680 --> 01:09:52,000
and moves.

1355
01:09:52,039 --> 01:09:54,239
Speaker 2: Kind of fun actually, just kind of having to roll

1356
01:09:54,279 --> 01:09:56,560
with whatever happens and just make the most of it.

1357
01:09:56,680 --> 01:09:57,720
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah.

1358
01:09:58,039 --> 01:10:01,920
Speaker 4: I remember when when Auto Chess started and people were like,

1359
01:10:02,000 --> 01:10:03,960
why would you ever play that game? You don't even

1360
01:10:04,000 --> 01:10:05,920
control your units. You just put him down and watch

1361
01:10:05,960 --> 01:10:08,239
him fight, And I'm like, dude, there's nothing better than

1362
01:10:08,399 --> 01:10:12,720
just you put thing down and get immediate feedback and

1363
01:10:12,760 --> 01:10:15,359
then slightly tinker with it and then put thing down

1364
01:10:15,399 --> 01:10:16,720
and get immediate feedback.

1365
01:10:16,840 --> 01:10:17,079
Speaker 3: Yeah.

1366
01:10:17,119 --> 01:10:19,920
Speaker 2: I'm a Final Fantasy twelve defender because I love the

1367
01:10:19,920 --> 01:10:22,399
Gambit system so much and I felt like when I

1368
01:10:22,399 --> 01:10:24,600
got to the point where the party just took care

1369
01:10:24,600 --> 01:10:26,560
of everything with minimal input for me, I was like,

1370
01:10:26,640 --> 01:10:27,680
this is gaming right here.

1371
01:10:28,039 --> 01:10:30,600
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's really the manager.

1372
01:10:31,239 --> 01:10:33,439
Speaker 2: Yeah, you're like, I've set this up so well, this.

1373
01:10:33,479 --> 01:10:36,079
Speaker 1: Is my reward. Yeah yeah, yeah.

1374
01:10:36,239 --> 01:10:38,359
Speaker 4: Some of the best gaming is just middle management.

1375
01:10:39,079 --> 01:10:42,159
Speaker 1: Yeah. Oh yeah, I need that. I need that bad.

1376
01:10:43,000 --> 01:10:45,159
I need to check out that grocery store simulator because

1377
01:10:45,199 --> 01:10:46,479
that's probably real good.

1378
01:10:47,039 --> 01:10:49,560
Speaker 4: No, that's that's You're not middle manager in that because

1379
01:10:49,560 --> 01:10:50,520
you're doing all the stuff.

1380
01:10:50,560 --> 01:10:54,079
Speaker 1: Is that not the final boss? Like you find the middle.

1381
01:10:53,800 --> 01:10:57,159
Speaker 4: Management, you need the one you need like factorio where

1382
01:10:57,159 --> 01:10:59,600
you're you're putting down the stuff that does the stuff,

1383
01:10:59,680 --> 01:11:02,119
and ya the one that make sure that everybody's doing

1384
01:11:02,119 --> 01:11:05,560
the stuff right. You know, you gotta get back into satisfactory.

1385
01:11:06,319 --> 01:11:08,479
Oh man, there's okay, so this is kind of a

1386
01:11:08,479 --> 01:11:11,439
crazy pivot, but I think someone told me that there's

1387
01:11:12,239 --> 01:11:15,600
you know, arc Knights or R Knights the anime one

1388
01:11:15,640 --> 01:11:20,319
of the mini anime games out there, and specifically anime

1389
01:11:20,600 --> 01:11:23,760
gotcha style games. I think there's a new one coming

1390
01:11:23,800 --> 01:11:26,039
out that has like Factorio elements in it, and I

1391
01:11:26,079 --> 01:11:29,119
was like, that's messed up. That's why would you put

1392
01:11:29,199 --> 01:11:34,239
Genschen in Factorio? That's that's too much scratching my brain

1393
01:11:34,319 --> 01:11:35,560
all at the same time.

1394
01:11:36,800 --> 01:11:41,600
Speaker 1: That's dibolical. Well, Eric, I'm gonna kind of put you

1395
01:11:41,640 --> 01:11:43,119
on the spot and I want I want you to

1396
01:11:43,119 --> 01:11:46,319
talk aboutause I didn't do that to myself. Yeah, Vampire

1397
01:11:46,399 --> 01:11:51,279
the Masquerade Bloodlines too transition to that game, you are

1398
01:11:51,319 --> 01:11:55,760
a massive Bloodlines one fan. Uh and and though you

1399
01:11:55,800 --> 01:11:57,840
weren't quite working here when we went on the cover

1400
01:11:57,920 --> 01:12:01,079
story for that game, you were kind of finishing up

1401
01:12:01,119 --> 01:12:04,439
interview phase, we did reach out to you as like

1402
01:12:04,520 --> 01:12:07,920
a behind the scenes hey, we got some questions for you,

1403
01:12:08,079 --> 01:12:09,800
Charles and I did as we were kind of prepping

1404
01:12:09,800 --> 01:12:12,680
for that story, and so shout out to you for

1405
01:12:12,840 --> 01:12:17,039
helping prepping us with that cover story, working for free

1406
01:12:18,720 --> 01:12:23,560
for like twenty minutes on a Discord call. But you're

1407
01:12:23,640 --> 01:12:27,119
kind of our resident Bloodlines expert. I would say out

1408
01:12:27,159 --> 01:12:31,439
of anybody out of anybody else on staff, and so

1409
01:12:31,520 --> 01:12:34,680
I kind of hold your opinion. I hold your opinion highly.

1410
01:12:35,239 --> 01:12:36,800
So I want to know what you think about this game.

1411
01:12:37,119 --> 01:12:39,319
Speaker 2: Yeah, before you say what you're gonna say, can we

1412
01:12:39,319 --> 01:12:41,760
acknowledge that it's kind of wild this game is actually

1413
01:12:41,800 --> 01:12:42,560
coming out this week.

1414
01:12:42,680 --> 01:12:44,680
Speaker 4: Yes, that That's where I was going to start, is like,

1415
01:12:44,760 --> 01:12:48,760
we need to talk about the path that Vampire Bloodlines

1416
01:12:48,760 --> 01:12:51,279
two took here, because that is an important part of

1417
01:12:51,319 --> 01:12:55,279
the story. Vampire blood Lines two was originally set up

1418
01:12:55,319 --> 01:12:58,039
to be the you never thought it would happen seql

1419
01:12:58,119 --> 01:13:00,600
to a game that was kind of a cult classic

1420
01:13:00,640 --> 01:13:02,720
of its time that got overshadowed by many other games

1421
01:13:02,760 --> 01:13:04,720
that came out around it's whendow. I believe Half Life

1422
01:13:04,720 --> 01:13:07,680
two came out around the same time that Bloodlines one did,

1423
01:13:08,359 --> 01:13:12,000
and Bloodlines one, even though it was made by a

1424
01:13:12,079 --> 01:13:15,119
very legendary studio, kind of was a bit of a

1425
01:13:15,119 --> 01:13:20,159
buggy mess at launch, had very notorious technical problems, and

1426
01:13:20,520 --> 01:13:24,319
despite being this incredible story, an incredible world, incredible atmosphere,

1427
01:13:25,800 --> 01:13:29,119
just was kind of against all odds and led to

1428
01:13:29,279 --> 01:13:34,439
the closure of that entire venture and was just an infamous,

1429
01:13:34,520 --> 01:13:38,479
like almost made to be a cult classic type story.

1430
01:13:38,520 --> 01:13:41,000
You know how you hear about the production of something

1431
01:13:41,039 --> 01:13:44,119
and you're like, oh, okay, that's the story around. It

1432
01:13:44,159 --> 01:13:46,600
was too good for it not to become this, this gem,

1433
01:13:46,680 --> 01:13:49,359
this thing that people would appreciate later. And it almost

1434
01:13:49,439 --> 01:13:54,079
makes sense in hindsight. But so Bloodlines, two potential sequel,

1435
01:13:54,199 --> 01:13:56,560
people coming back from the original team to work on

1436
01:13:57,199 --> 01:14:01,000
a follow up seemed like, oh my god. We never

1437
01:14:01,039 --> 01:14:03,359
thought this would happen. We never thought this was possible.

1438
01:14:04,880 --> 01:14:09,800
Over the years, development troubles ensued. There was a demo

1439
01:14:09,960 --> 01:14:12,479
of the game that was playable at some point that

1440
01:14:12,520 --> 01:14:15,159
you can still go find the footage on YouTube of it.

1441
01:14:15,520 --> 01:14:19,199
But eventually the studio behind it was taken off the project.

1442
01:14:19,800 --> 01:14:22,319
The project was put in limbo, and finally it was

1443
01:14:22,359 --> 01:14:25,279
given to the Chinese Room, which is the studio that

1444
01:14:25,359 --> 01:14:27,840
worked on a number of horror games. Still Wakes the

1445
01:14:27,880 --> 01:14:29,520
Deep and things like that that you might know of

1446
01:14:30,079 --> 01:14:33,119
not really done what I would say are RPG's action

1447
01:14:33,239 --> 01:14:34,119
RPGs in the past.

1448
01:14:34,199 --> 01:14:35,720
Speaker 2: Not In fact, you might say they've done the hard

1449
01:14:35,720 --> 01:14:40,039
opposite of that, dear Esther and was that everybody's gone

1450
01:14:40,039 --> 01:14:40,760
to the rapture.

1451
01:14:41,399 --> 01:14:46,840
Speaker 4: Definitely have narrative chops not quite as experienced, at least

1452
01:14:46,840 --> 01:14:50,000
in their published work when it comes to more action

1453
01:14:50,039 --> 01:14:51,319
of all stuff. And I mean, I'll be the first

1454
01:14:51,319 --> 01:14:53,079
one to tell you that the worst part of Bloodlines

1455
01:14:53,079 --> 01:14:57,960
one was the combat. It's bad not what you show

1456
01:14:58,039 --> 01:15:02,520
up to that game for. It's a means to an

1457
01:15:02,640 --> 01:15:08,960
end in that game. And with Bloodlines too, my feeling

1458
01:15:09,000 --> 01:15:13,239
has largely been that is that I think the story

1459
01:15:13,439 --> 01:15:16,479
is interesting. I don't know that it has hooked me

1460
01:15:16,560 --> 01:15:19,319
the way that Bloodlines one hooked me at this point,

1461
01:15:19,359 --> 01:15:22,520
I will say, at this time of playing, we will

1462
01:15:22,560 --> 01:15:25,119
have a review up. By the time that this review

1463
01:15:25,199 --> 01:15:28,680
is out. Charles is writing that review and has put

1464
01:15:28,720 --> 01:15:32,720
more full, complete thoughts. I've put about probably somewhere in

1465
01:15:32,720 --> 01:15:35,159
the vicinity of seven hours or so into the game

1466
01:15:35,199 --> 01:15:41,439
at this point personally, and I think the thing that

1467
01:15:41,479 --> 01:15:45,479
has struck me the most is just that it's definitely

1468
01:15:45,520 --> 01:15:50,960
doing vampire things, and it knows what the vampire appeal

1469
01:15:51,159 --> 01:15:54,159
is in this specific mythology, in the ways it talks

1470
01:15:54,199 --> 01:15:57,159
about how the vampire society works, in the ways that

1471
01:15:57,239 --> 01:15:58,720
it leans into a lot of the stuff that I

1472
01:15:58,760 --> 01:16:05,640
think even broadly of vampire you know, just fiction will enjoy.

1473
01:16:05,720 --> 01:16:08,079
You know, Vampire the Masquerade is all about the masquerade.

1474
01:16:08,119 --> 01:16:10,000
It's about the idea of what does it mean for

1475
01:16:10,079 --> 01:16:12,840
vampires to live amongst people? And they have to maintain

1476
01:16:12,920 --> 01:16:16,399
the masquerade yea. And so in this game, the first

1477
01:16:16,439 --> 01:16:20,439
section you're in, you're an elder vampire that's awaking from torpoor,

1478
01:16:20,560 --> 01:16:24,159
which is kind of a long sleep, and you break

1479
01:16:24,199 --> 01:16:30,279
the masquerade because you are basically blood starved and there's

1480
01:16:30,319 --> 01:16:33,640
a bunch of cops that are all kind of flooding

1481
01:16:33,680 --> 01:16:36,520
into this building and you just kind of gotta go

1482
01:16:36,680 --> 01:16:40,840
nuts on all of them. And so that is considered

1483
01:16:40,840 --> 01:16:43,800
a break of the masquerade because pretty soon, you know,

1484
01:16:43,880 --> 01:16:45,960
work gets out, newspapers get onto they're like.

1485
01:16:45,960 --> 01:16:48,479
Speaker 1: Oh this supernatural killing.

1486
01:16:48,560 --> 01:16:49,960
Speaker 2: People were torn apart.

1487
01:16:49,720 --> 01:16:50,359
Speaker 1: In this building.

1488
01:16:50,439 --> 01:16:52,960
Speaker 4: It's like that's a break of the maskerade. People are

1489
01:16:52,960 --> 01:16:57,000
going to get suspicious, and so you kind of get

1490
01:16:57,039 --> 01:17:00,399
locked into all this while you also have what I'm

1491
01:17:00,399 --> 01:17:04,119
going to call is basically a Johnny Silverhands in your head.

1492
01:17:05,680 --> 01:17:06,119
Speaker 1: Yeah.

1493
01:17:06,159 --> 01:17:11,800
Speaker 4: The Yeah, you have a the disembodied voice of a

1494
01:17:11,880 --> 01:17:15,399
Malcavean vampire in your head kind of talking to you

1495
01:17:15,439 --> 01:17:18,479
throughout the game. And the way that if you played cyberpunk,

1496
01:17:18,560 --> 01:17:21,920
you had Johnny Silverhand, or you played Batman Arkham. Was

1497
01:17:21,960 --> 01:17:24,000
it night where Joker was following you everywhere?

1498
01:17:24,079 --> 01:17:24,279
Speaker 5: Yeah?

1499
01:17:24,359 --> 01:17:25,359
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's the same thing.

1500
01:17:27,439 --> 01:17:31,600
Speaker 4: And so your your vampire fire is an elder vampire

1501
01:17:31,920 --> 01:17:34,000
and you're kind of trying to figure out what's going

1502
01:17:34,000 --> 01:17:36,840
on while you're also trying to figure out why there's

1503
01:17:37,159 --> 01:17:40,720
this dude embedded in your brain. And they use that,

1504
01:17:40,840 --> 01:17:45,079
and especially the Malcavian aspect. Malcavian vampires have kind of weird,

1505
01:17:46,000 --> 01:17:49,439
surreal but like ability to tell the future and see

1506
01:17:49,680 --> 01:17:51,960
through truth and kind of do that, but they're also

1507
01:17:52,039 --> 01:17:53,640
kind of spacey and weird and say weird things all

1508
01:17:53,680 --> 01:17:55,600
the time. They play with that a lot to do

1509
01:17:55,640 --> 01:17:59,640
some really cool storytelling things. And the vampire politics are

1510
01:17:59,680 --> 01:18:02,279
pretty good too. I like vampire politics. I think it's

1511
01:18:02,319 --> 01:18:04,319
really fun when you get into the stuff of there's

1512
01:18:04,439 --> 01:18:09,399
the kind of hierarchy of vampire rulers, the camarilla who

1513
01:18:09,520 --> 01:18:13,359
enforce the Masquerade, who are kind of the established power,

1514
01:18:13,439 --> 01:18:16,199
the old money of the vampire world. And then you

1515
01:18:16,239 --> 01:18:19,119
have the anarchs, who are kind of the new bloods

1516
01:18:19,159 --> 01:18:21,439
who want to support thin bloods who are kind of

1517
01:18:21,520 --> 01:18:24,760
weaker vampires. Of a newer generation that aren't considered as

1518
01:18:24,760 --> 01:18:28,800
strong as older vampires are, even older vampires like you

1519
01:18:28,840 --> 01:18:32,079
are as an elder, and it's a lot of really

1520
01:18:32,159 --> 01:18:35,600
interesting parallels to class, to society, to all that kind

1521
01:18:35,640 --> 01:18:37,680
of stuff that vampire can really dig into and have

1522
01:18:37,760 --> 01:18:40,359
some fun with. I think when this game is doing that,

1523
01:18:40,479 --> 01:18:43,840
it's doing really cool stuff with it. My problem is

1524
01:18:44,039 --> 01:18:47,000
just not doing enough of it, and a lot of

1525
01:18:47,000 --> 01:18:51,399
it gets bogged down in kind of you need to

1526
01:18:51,439 --> 01:18:54,079
go here because that's where the combat set pieces, and

1527
01:18:54,119 --> 01:18:56,840
that's where the cool thing is, and you have this big,

1528
01:18:56,880 --> 01:19:00,960
open world, but it's not fun to move around in,

1529
01:19:01,239 --> 01:19:03,439
especially because they give you a lot of movement tools,

1530
01:19:03,439 --> 01:19:05,199
but a lot of the movement tools you can't use

1531
01:19:05,239 --> 01:19:08,439
because if people see you flying and leaping up buildings,

1532
01:19:08,479 --> 01:19:13,560
that's a break of the masquerade, and so you have

1533
01:19:13,600 --> 01:19:16,319
to be a little bit sneaky about it. But even

1534
01:19:16,319 --> 01:19:18,640
the ways that you kind of would lure somebody over

1535
01:19:18,800 --> 01:19:20,920
to feed on them, to refill your blood gage, to

1536
01:19:21,000 --> 01:19:23,119
use more of your meters and more of your abilities,

1537
01:19:23,119 --> 01:19:26,680
and things like that aren't very well explained to you

1538
01:19:27,239 --> 01:19:30,399
and aren't really intuitive in the ways that you would

1539
01:19:30,479 --> 01:19:32,600
use them. And so what it ends up feeling is

1540
01:19:32,640 --> 01:19:34,840
like I'm going from combat arena to combat arena in

1541
01:19:34,880 --> 01:19:37,520
this open world city and then occasionally getting cut scenes where.

1542
01:19:37,359 --> 01:19:38,039
Speaker 1: I'm making.

1543
01:19:39,399 --> 01:19:42,600
Speaker 4: Somewhat interesting narrative choices. I know that one thing that

1544
01:19:42,680 --> 01:19:45,000
Charles said to me was he did not feel like

1545
01:19:45,039 --> 01:19:46,960
it was immediately clear that he was making a lot

1546
01:19:46,960 --> 01:19:49,199
of choices that actually had an impact on the story.

1547
01:19:49,640 --> 01:19:51,800
He and I are playing two very different characters. He's

1548
01:19:51,840 --> 01:19:55,520
going more of the I don't care an arc route.

1549
01:19:55,560 --> 01:19:58,319
I've been playing more of the Camarilla route, and I

1550
01:19:58,359 --> 01:20:01,319
will say I've had the exact same experience. So take

1551
01:20:01,359 --> 01:20:06,560
with that what you will. But uh, I've I think

1552
01:20:06,640 --> 01:20:12,960
there is there's enough here that it does scratch a

1553
01:20:13,000 --> 01:20:16,960
certain itch for me in terms of just enjoying the

1554
01:20:17,079 --> 01:20:21,000
vampire world. But I also think it is abundantly clear

1555
01:20:21,000 --> 01:20:22,560
that this is a game that was made from the

1556
01:20:22,640 --> 01:20:26,960
bones of other games, that was made from the attempts

1557
01:20:27,000 --> 01:20:30,399
to It's very clear in the same way that when

1558
01:20:30,399 --> 01:20:32,760
I played Vailguard, I was like, you can tell in

1559
01:20:32,840 --> 01:20:35,039
some ways that this game's been in development for a

1560
01:20:35,119 --> 01:20:37,560
very long time. There's just kind of lingering aspects of

1561
01:20:37,600 --> 01:20:41,119
it that feel like, this doesn't make total sense for

1562
01:20:41,199 --> 01:20:42,640
what they're doing right now, but it would have made

1563
01:20:42,640 --> 01:20:44,800
sense that the game was slightly different. There's kind of

1564
01:20:44,800 --> 01:20:46,840
that here where you have this really big open world

1565
01:20:46,880 --> 01:20:49,239
and all this cool stuff, but for a large portion

1566
01:20:49,359 --> 01:20:52,520
of the early section, the open world is just there

1567
01:20:52,520 --> 01:20:56,479
for you to run between waypoints in. There's not really

1568
01:20:56,520 --> 01:20:59,520
anything interesting happening in it. You can find occasionally some

1569
01:20:59,560 --> 01:21:01,520
people that you can feed on that will give you

1570
01:21:02,359 --> 01:21:05,439
bonus blood points that kind of go towards learning other

1571
01:21:05,880 --> 01:21:06,680
resonance skills.

1572
01:21:07,000 --> 01:21:07,239
Speaker 1: Yeah.

1573
01:21:07,359 --> 01:21:08,159
Speaker 3: Yeah, is it.

1574
01:21:08,079 --> 01:21:11,199
Speaker 2: Closer to something like Mafia's open world where it's like

1575
01:21:11,239 --> 01:21:13,119
their open worlds have never been interesting that Yeah, it's

1576
01:21:13,119 --> 01:21:15,720
been about like no, just just get to the next mission.

1577
01:21:15,720 --> 01:21:17,279
It's just background dressing.

1578
01:21:17,319 --> 01:21:17,600
Speaker 3: Really.

1579
01:21:17,840 --> 01:21:21,159
Speaker 4: I would absolutely draw comparisons to Mafay the Old Country,

1580
01:21:21,159 --> 01:21:23,680
which I played some of earlier this year and felt

1581
01:21:23,680 --> 01:21:26,600
the same way, where there's an open world here, but

1582
01:21:26,640 --> 01:21:31,119
I don't necessarily know that it adds anything to the

1583
01:21:31,199 --> 01:21:36,079
experience right exact. Yeah, it suddenly makes me question like,

1584
01:21:36,239 --> 01:21:40,960
is would this just function better as a linear game,

1585
01:21:41,279 --> 01:21:46,159
as a more directed game, or even just not bothering

1586
01:21:46,319 --> 01:21:48,640
with throwing me out into the open world and then

1587
01:21:48,640 --> 01:21:50,760
putting me back in, and a lot of the open

1588
01:21:50,800 --> 01:21:53,039
world stuff ends up being So you choose a clan,

1589
01:21:53,319 --> 01:21:56,640
which also feels weird because they kind of acknowledge that

1590
01:21:56,680 --> 01:21:59,600
you're an elder vampire and that means that you have

1591
01:21:59,800 --> 01:22:02,760
a lot of different powers. Usually your clan would determine

1592
01:22:02,800 --> 01:22:04,560
what kind of powers you have the same way that

1593
01:22:04,600 --> 01:22:06,840
a class would determine them in a D and D

1594
01:22:07,079 --> 01:22:10,119
campaign or something like that. Here you choose kind of

1595
01:22:10,119 --> 01:22:13,319
what clan you've been sired into, but also you can

1596
01:22:13,399 --> 01:22:16,800
kind of just learn the other ones as you absorb

1597
01:22:16,880 --> 01:22:19,319
blood resonance from feeding on the right people and then

1598
01:22:19,359 --> 01:22:22,279
spending them on that stuff, more or less.

1599
01:22:22,119 --> 01:22:25,439
Speaker 2: Just choosing your starter clan, but you're the other stuff anyway.

1600
01:22:26,520 --> 01:22:29,760
Speaker 4: Yeah, and I think some of the abilities are kind

1601
01:22:29,760 --> 01:22:33,000
of novel I chose. I wanted to pick something that

1602
01:22:33,000 --> 01:22:36,319
I don't normally do when I played Bloodlines. One my

1603
01:22:36,359 --> 01:22:38,680
favorite class to play is the tor Door because that's

1604
01:22:38,760 --> 01:22:43,239
just like your charisma class. That's your smooth talking narrative

1605
01:22:43,279 --> 01:22:45,600
class that loves to kind of talk their way out

1606
01:22:45,640 --> 01:22:48,000
of things. But you have a lot of other interesting

1607
01:22:48,000 --> 01:22:51,479
options there. If you do a no sfaratu, which is

1608
01:22:52,119 --> 01:22:55,560
literally your You look like the old movie monster vampires,

1609
01:22:55,960 --> 01:22:57,920
and so if you get seen by a normal person,

1610
01:22:58,039 --> 01:23:01,199
that's a break of the massquarade can't be seen. And

1611
01:23:01,239 --> 01:23:04,319
there are no Sparatu in Blood Lines two, but you

1612
01:23:04,319 --> 01:23:08,239
can't play as a no Saratu. There are Malcavian characters,

1613
01:23:08,600 --> 01:23:10,039
and one of the things in Blood Lines one was

1614
01:23:10,079 --> 01:23:12,560
you could play as a Malcavian and you would get hallucinations,

1615
01:23:12,600 --> 01:23:15,439
and you would hear voices and you get weird dialogue

1616
01:23:15,520 --> 01:23:18,640
choices that would kind of hint an almost fourth wall

1617
01:23:18,680 --> 01:23:23,680
break at various times. There are Malcavian characters in Blood

1618
01:23:23,720 --> 01:23:26,680
Lines two. You play as a Malcavian character in very

1619
01:23:26,720 --> 01:23:32,079
specific story segments, but you can't be a Malcavian in

1620
01:23:32,119 --> 01:23:36,359
that moment. All of the choices that you make around

1621
01:23:36,399 --> 01:23:38,640
your clans seem like they just funnel you into what

1622
01:23:38,720 --> 01:23:40,520
kind of combat you want to play. And I think

1623
01:23:40,640 --> 01:23:44,760
that's the biggest miss for me, is that the appeal

1624
01:23:44,800 --> 01:23:48,000
of Blood Lines one was, Yes, you can choose to

1625
01:23:48,000 --> 01:23:49,880
be a Bruha and you can play through that game

1626
01:23:49,920 --> 01:23:53,199
as just a ripper of just like tearing people apart

1627
01:23:53,239 --> 01:23:54,039
with your claws and.

1628
01:23:54,000 --> 01:23:54,680
Speaker 1: Things like that.

1629
01:23:55,159 --> 01:23:58,720
Speaker 4: Yeah, or you can choose to be you know, a

1630
01:23:58,840 --> 01:24:02,039
Malcavian and like a very different narrative experience and then

1631
01:24:02,119 --> 01:24:04,720
have like difficulty added because now you're going to have

1632
01:24:04,880 --> 01:24:08,279
less combat tools, fewer combat tools to work with. Everything

1633
01:24:08,279 --> 01:24:11,079
in this game feels very based around the combat and

1634
01:24:11,279 --> 01:24:13,199
you are going to fight and you're going to have to.

1635
01:24:13,279 --> 01:24:16,239
It reminds me almost of when dis X Human Revolution

1636
01:24:16,359 --> 01:24:18,399
came out and a lot of people had critiques around

1637
01:24:19,319 --> 01:24:21,159
you know, you could do cool stuff with a lot

1638
01:24:21,159 --> 01:24:23,800
of the narrative in that game, but ultimately you're going

1639
01:24:23,840 --> 01:24:27,319
to get siloed into fighting in certain areas no matter what. Right,

1640
01:24:27,479 --> 01:24:30,039
same thing here, only you're not really getting any of

1641
01:24:30,079 --> 01:24:33,720
the narrative anyways, because outside of a few times when

1642
01:24:33,720 --> 01:24:37,600
the game kind of acknowledged that, oh you're you're a Tremere.

1643
01:24:37,680 --> 01:24:40,279
I played a Tremare in Bloodlines Too, which is like

1644
01:24:40,279 --> 01:24:45,439
a blood sorcerer kind of. There's one character who's like, oh,

1645
01:24:45,479 --> 01:24:50,079
that's why you're stinky, because like the stereotype around the

1646
01:24:50,079 --> 01:24:52,800
Tremare is that they just love to be around blood

1647
01:24:52,840 --> 01:24:54,840
and they read their books all the time. They don't

1648
01:24:54,840 --> 01:24:59,239
really care for themselves hygienically, and that was about it.

1649
01:24:59,239 --> 01:25:01,039
It's about all I've had so far in terms of

1650
01:25:01,079 --> 01:25:07,319
recognition of my clan in the first seven hours or so. Yeah, yeah,

1651
01:25:07,319 --> 01:25:10,119
I got called stinky, But.

1652
01:25:12,640 --> 01:25:13,479
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah.

1653
01:25:13,479 --> 01:25:16,039
Speaker 4: It just it bums me out because I think when

1654
01:25:16,039 --> 01:25:18,560
I think back to Bloodlines one again, one of the

1655
01:25:18,560 --> 01:25:21,720
big things in that game is is it gives you

1656
01:25:21,760 --> 01:25:25,199
a lot of almost imsign type elements. I think, as

1657
01:25:25,279 --> 01:25:27,920
much as it is a CRPG, it also has a

1658
01:25:27,920 --> 01:25:30,159
lot to share in common with games like dis X,

1659
01:25:30,479 --> 01:25:35,319
where you have multiple ways of kind of approaching different encounters,

1660
01:25:35,399 --> 01:25:39,840
of handling them in different ways of stealthing or talking

1661
01:25:40,199 --> 01:25:46,119
or doing combat. And here the play space feels much

1662
01:25:46,159 --> 01:25:49,279
more narrow, much more head towards the combat. I don't

1663
01:25:49,279 --> 01:25:51,479
think the combats all that interesting either. I think the

1664
01:25:51,479 --> 01:25:53,560
perry system doesn't feel great. I think a lot of

1665
01:25:53,560 --> 01:25:56,359
the combat abilities don't feel great for some reason. You

1666
01:25:56,439 --> 01:26:01,800
don't you don't pick up guns, so you don't have weapons.

1667
01:26:01,520 --> 01:26:04,119
Speaker 2: At all that you'll have the franchise.

1668
01:26:04,960 --> 01:26:07,479
Speaker 4: In Vampire blood Lines one, you could absolutely pick up

1669
01:26:07,479 --> 01:26:10,960
weapons and you know, keep a keep a few things

1670
01:26:11,000 --> 01:26:14,640
on you for for when things got messy, and usually

1671
01:26:14,680 --> 01:26:16,520
in that case you would also use your clause because

1672
01:26:17,399 --> 01:26:19,960
a vampire's claws are usually going to be more powerful

1673
01:26:20,000 --> 01:26:22,039
than most other stuff you have in that game. Sure,

1674
01:26:23,600 --> 01:26:26,600
but it is still acknowledged. And even in Bloodlines too,

1675
01:26:26,640 --> 01:26:29,520
they acknowledge. You know, there's a section where Fire wakes

1676
01:26:29,600 --> 01:26:32,000
up and is talking to some vampires, is like, hey, like,

1677
01:26:32,079 --> 01:26:34,479
what's different in this time right now? And one of

1678
01:26:34,520 --> 01:26:38,720
the characters says, guns are pretty powerful right now, like you,

1679
01:26:38,920 --> 01:26:41,159
they've they've gotten a lot stronger in the hundred years

1680
01:26:41,159 --> 01:26:44,039
that you've been asleep. You know, they're not muskets anymore.

1681
01:26:44,159 --> 01:26:45,600
You might want to be afraid of them a little

1682
01:26:45,640 --> 01:26:48,560
bit because one of the ways to actually kill a

1683
01:26:48,600 --> 01:26:51,119
vampire in the Vampire series is to take their head off,

1684
01:26:51,640 --> 01:26:56,279
And boy, howdy are there shotguns and things like that

1685
01:26:56,359 --> 01:26:59,720
in this game that can absolutely do that, and so

1686
01:27:00,000 --> 01:27:04,520
so it's weird to acknowledge that. But then what Fire

1687
01:27:04,640 --> 01:27:08,319
has is basically a telekinesis that lets you grab something

1688
01:27:09,279 --> 01:27:11,600
and it's kind of your way of picking things up,

1689
01:27:11,640 --> 01:27:14,439
so you can throw bottles and bricks to distract people,

1690
01:27:14,600 --> 01:27:18,159
instell sections, or you can just hit them with it,

1691
01:27:19,000 --> 01:27:22,520
or you can like telekinesis a gun, and then Fire

1692
01:27:22,560 --> 01:27:27,600
will like point it and shoot it with his telekinesis like,

1693
01:27:27,920 --> 01:27:30,239
what if Jean Gray fired a pistol by just thinking

1694
01:27:30,239 --> 01:27:31,479
about doing it right, like that.

1695
01:27:31,520 --> 01:27:32,079
Speaker 3: Sort of thing.

1696
01:27:32,520 --> 01:27:36,560
Speaker 4: Yeah, and that feels like a very strange decision in

1697
01:27:36,600 --> 01:27:39,159
this moment, And I guess the idea was that they

1698
01:27:39,199 --> 01:27:41,560
want you to be kind of in the moment and

1699
01:27:41,600 --> 01:27:44,880
finding characters and not relying on just oh, I'm playing

1700
01:27:44,880 --> 01:27:48,000
a shooter. But guns still end up being a very

1701
01:27:48,039 --> 01:27:50,680
crucial part of big combat arenas where you're dealing with

1702
01:27:50,760 --> 01:27:52,520
a lot of enemies that are all swarming you at

1703
01:27:52,560 --> 01:27:55,000
the same time. You might not be a combat class.

1704
01:27:55,039 --> 01:27:57,439
It's built for that, so you might need to be

1705
01:27:58,039 --> 01:28:00,600
knocking people's weapons out of their hands, picking them up

1706
01:28:00,640 --> 01:28:02,279
and firing them back at them and stuff like that.

1707
01:28:02,319 --> 01:28:03,840
As a tremeer, I was having to do that a

1708
01:28:03,840 --> 01:28:06,960
lot because my other move was just curse somebody with

1709
01:28:07,000 --> 01:28:10,079
a blood curse. That makes it so once they you

1710
01:28:10,159 --> 01:28:12,159
have to like kind of concentrate and kind of your

1711
01:28:12,199 --> 01:28:15,920
casting magic on them, and then once it's casted, the

1712
01:28:15,960 --> 01:28:18,119
next thing they get hit by will just kind of

1713
01:28:18,119 --> 01:28:22,000
make them explode in a blood explosion and deal damage

1714
01:28:22,000 --> 01:28:23,600
to everybody else around them. So I would kind of

1715
01:28:23,600 --> 01:28:26,520
curse somebody from the stealth from the Shadows and throw

1716
01:28:26,560 --> 01:28:28,279
a brick at them, and then they blow up and

1717
01:28:28,359 --> 01:28:29,520
kill a bunch of people, and then I'd go in

1718
01:28:29,600 --> 01:28:34,039
and sweep up and take out everybody left. But a

1719
01:28:34,039 --> 01:28:36,720
lot of times that meant I needed guns, I needed pipes,

1720
01:28:36,800 --> 01:28:39,279
I needed weapons that I could use to kind of

1721
01:28:39,319 --> 01:28:43,520
fight people, and it never really felt that great to do.

1722
01:28:45,640 --> 01:28:49,960
So yeah, Bloodlines too. I think it's another case of

1723
01:28:50,000 --> 01:28:51,720
this game was about as good as it could have

1724
01:28:52,039 --> 01:28:54,800
wound up being. And I have a lot of sympathy

1725
01:28:54,840 --> 01:28:57,760
for the people who worked on it for years and

1726
01:28:57,840 --> 01:28:59,720
got laid off. I have a lot of people a

1727
01:28:59,760 --> 01:29:01,399
lot sympathy for the people who had to pick up

1728
01:29:01,399 --> 01:29:03,479
a project that had been in development for so long

1729
01:29:03,520 --> 01:29:06,279
and see it across the finish line. But I think

1730
01:29:06,319 --> 01:29:11,279
it wears a lot of its long development on its

1731
01:29:11,279 --> 01:29:14,159
sleeve in that way, and I'm hopeful that it picks

1732
01:29:14,199 --> 01:29:16,279
up a little bit more steam. I do think the

1733
01:29:16,399 --> 01:29:18,520
way in which you could salvage itself for me would

1734
01:29:18,560 --> 01:29:21,760
be if the story gets more interesting, if the characters

1735
01:29:21,760 --> 01:29:23,880
get more I do find the characters very interesting. I

1736
01:29:23,880 --> 01:29:26,520
think their vision of Seattle as a vampire town is

1737
01:29:26,640 --> 01:29:28,880
very compelling. I think a lot of the characters that

1738
01:29:28,920 --> 01:29:33,199
they've installed, there's a new princes, there's a fight for power,

1739
01:29:33,960 --> 01:29:37,439
a clear divide between what the thin Bloods wants and

1740
01:29:37,600 --> 01:29:40,119
them wanting to see Seattle as kind of a refuge

1741
01:29:40,119 --> 01:29:43,760
city for thin bloods, where other cities will not acknowledge

1742
01:29:43,800 --> 01:29:46,760
thin bloods or will oftentimes hunt them down and kill

1743
01:29:46,800 --> 01:29:50,840
them because they see them as weaker vampires. And I

1744
01:29:50,880 --> 01:29:53,399
find that tension very interesting. I find the politics of

1745
01:29:53,399 --> 01:29:56,920
this game very interesting. But I think that's kind of

1746
01:29:57,039 --> 01:29:58,600
going to have to be the saving grace because I

1747
01:29:58,600 --> 01:30:00,399
don't know that the combat or anything like that is

1748
01:30:00,439 --> 01:30:02,399
really going to do anything for me in this game.

1749
01:30:03,000 --> 01:30:05,319
Speaker 1: Mhmm, damn, that's a bummer.

1750
01:30:05,840 --> 01:30:07,479
Speaker 2: Yeah, you think else like what it see it through

1751
01:30:07,600 --> 01:30:08,840
the credits.

1752
01:30:08,640 --> 01:30:11,720
Speaker 4: But I probably will. I probably will. I've seen a

1753
01:30:11,720 --> 01:30:14,039
lot of Vampire games through just because I do like

1754
01:30:14,079 --> 01:30:16,560
this world so much. I think if you're listening to

1755
01:30:16,600 --> 01:30:20,600
this and any of that sounded appealing, maybe worth checking out.

1756
01:30:21,119 --> 01:30:23,119
I mean, I will tell you that Vampire the Mass Grade,

1757
01:30:23,159 --> 01:30:24,720
but Lens one is still one of my favorite games

1758
01:30:24,760 --> 01:30:27,039
of all time. I was actually replaying it ahead of

1759
01:30:27,960 --> 01:30:30,640
this game coming out. And it it stands the test

1760
01:30:30,640 --> 01:30:32,960
of time. It's very, very good. And there was the

1761
01:30:34,119 --> 01:30:37,079
I think fairly underrated Vampire the Mass Grade Swan Song

1762
01:30:37,239 --> 01:30:38,199
that came out a while ago.

1763
01:30:38,319 --> 01:30:40,600
Speaker 1: Yeah or something.

1764
01:30:40,720 --> 01:30:42,319
Speaker 2: Yea Ryan really liked that one.

1765
01:30:42,359 --> 01:30:45,199
Speaker 4: He reviewed that it's a very I don't know that.

1766
01:30:45,279 --> 01:30:47,680
I think it also has its own problems, but I

1767
01:30:47,720 --> 01:30:51,239
think it was a very interesting take on the vampire

1768
01:30:51,319 --> 01:30:54,279
world and did some really cool things in that realm,

1769
01:30:54,319 --> 01:30:58,560
especially if you have often missed the sort of telltale

1770
01:30:58,640 --> 01:31:02,000
style of games or that sort of adventure game set up.

1771
01:31:02,079 --> 01:31:04,760
It does some really cool things in that respect. So, yeah,

1772
01:31:04,760 --> 01:31:06,239
I've been sitting on that game. I have it on

1773
01:31:06,880 --> 01:31:08,199
thick Steam or the Epic store.

1774
01:31:09,760 --> 01:31:12,239
Speaker 2: Cool. Yeah, that's a bummer. I was looking forward to

1775
01:31:12,239 --> 01:31:14,039
playing as to someone that like, this is gonna be

1776
01:31:14,079 --> 01:31:16,399
sort of like my gateway into Vampire to Mask Greade.

1777
01:31:16,439 --> 01:31:19,159
Like I've never played the tabletop game or the original game.

1778
01:31:19,439 --> 01:31:21,640
There was a point where and it might still happen.

1779
01:31:21,680 --> 01:31:23,960
We even thought about playing the first game as like

1780
01:31:23,960 --> 01:31:28,800
a super replay, which could still happen. It's eric gets

1781
01:31:28,800 --> 01:31:31,880
you to do that, who knows, But yeah, I just

1782
01:31:32,039 --> 01:31:34,199
I like the the things that people complain about with

1783
01:31:34,239 --> 01:31:35,800
this game in terms of the action, it was like

1784
01:31:36,000 --> 01:31:37,880
for me, as someone that I had no attachment to it,

1785
01:31:37,920 --> 01:31:39,720
I was like, oh, it kind of looks like a

1786
01:31:39,760 --> 01:31:42,800
little bit like dishonor. That's that seems cool. I like Dishonored.

1787
01:31:43,359 --> 01:31:45,880
I don't know, that does sound like it's exactly accurate,

1788
01:31:46,000 --> 01:31:49,039
especially like immersive SIMP stuff like I'm sure it's not that,

1789
01:31:49,279 --> 01:31:51,159
but just like it tickled that part of my brain

1790
01:31:51,199 --> 01:31:53,560
of like, maybe this will be for me as someone

1791
01:31:53,600 --> 01:31:57,920
that is not precious to this, to this series, but

1792
01:31:58,159 --> 01:32:00,600
here in the combat is not great. It's actually that's

1793
01:32:00,600 --> 01:32:01,479
a really big bummer.

1794
01:32:05,159 --> 01:32:08,800
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, I think this is not This is not

1795
01:32:08,920 --> 01:32:12,520
a Dishonored Tier M sim. This is not a like

1796
01:32:13,439 --> 01:32:17,279
you know, I'm trying to be vague here, But other

1797
01:32:17,319 --> 01:32:19,640
stuff I have played so far this year has done

1798
01:32:19,640 --> 01:32:22,840
more for me in sort of the realm of narrative

1799
01:32:22,920 --> 01:32:26,600
choices and narrative decision making and character crafting that I think,

1800
01:32:28,239 --> 01:32:30,479
I just don't know. It's it's it's kind of a bummer,

1801
01:32:30,479 --> 01:32:31,520
but it is what is.

1802
01:32:32,399 --> 01:32:39,079
Speaker 1: Yeah, Well, taking a wild turn here from from bloodlines

1803
01:32:39,119 --> 01:32:44,520
to different kind of blood line. The front Line Battlefield six,

1804
01:32:45,399 --> 01:32:46,760
which I've been playing.

1805
01:32:46,520 --> 01:32:48,840
Speaker 2: Quite everyone related on the front line.

1806
01:32:49,279 --> 01:32:53,680
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, it's like the family civil war situation. A

1807
01:32:53,720 --> 01:32:57,840
lot of a lot of unbred stuff happening, you know,

1808
01:32:57,880 --> 01:33:00,680
a lot of a lot of family family ties on

1809
01:33:00,720 --> 01:33:06,920
the on the battlefield, you know, fighting your brother in arms. Yeah,

1810
01:33:07,159 --> 01:33:09,560
you know, it goes, you know, it goes. I've been

1811
01:33:09,560 --> 01:33:15,000
playing Battlefield six and really really enjoying it. If you're

1812
01:33:15,000 --> 01:33:19,239
looking for single player impressions, I have none. Okay, you

1813
01:33:19,239 --> 01:33:20,520
can skip this part of the video.

1814
01:33:20,760 --> 01:33:22,960
Speaker 2: That's like the main thing in this game, isn't that

1815
01:33:23,000 --> 01:33:24,399
what the series is all about? Yeah?

1816
01:33:24,479 --> 01:33:28,359
Speaker 1: Yeah, everyone loves Battlefield. It's known for its single player campaigns.

1817
01:33:28,600 --> 01:33:31,920
Nobody pays an interest to the multiplayer, so uh no.

1818
01:33:32,159 --> 01:33:35,600
But if you're looking for single player impressions, go read

1819
01:33:35,640 --> 01:33:37,920
our review written by Jake we saw. He did a

1820
01:33:37,920 --> 01:33:40,239
great job talking about it. It sounded like it was

1821
01:33:40,319 --> 01:33:45,479
kind of like, eh, yeah, not much stake in what's

1822
01:33:45,479 --> 01:33:48,520
happening in that single player. But no, I've been playing

1823
01:33:48,680 --> 01:33:52,640
the multiplayer. Uh and you know, I've kind of been

1824
01:33:53,840 --> 01:33:56,239
been on the Battlefield beat a bit in the lead

1825
01:33:56,319 --> 01:33:59,439
up in terms of you know, we went to several

1826
01:33:59,439 --> 01:34:02,960
preview events that kind of thing, and you know, had

1827
01:34:02,960 --> 01:34:05,399
a good look at what that what was on offer,

1828
01:34:05,760 --> 01:34:09,680
you know, at launch ahead of time, and going into it.

1829
01:34:09,720 --> 01:34:13,000
Really enjoyed what I saw on the preview builds and

1830
01:34:13,039 --> 01:34:15,399
all that kind of stuff, and that that enjoyment has

1831
01:34:15,439 --> 01:34:20,920
continued into the final release. I've really really enjoyed getting

1832
01:34:20,960 --> 01:34:25,680
back into just the the loop of you know, grinding

1833
01:34:25,680 --> 01:34:29,239
out levels on my character and getting new attachments on

1834
01:34:29,279 --> 01:34:33,920
my weapons and really kind of customizing that getting into

1835
01:34:33,960 --> 01:34:36,680
the settings. And I've been finding a lot of guides

1836
01:34:36,720 --> 01:34:41,439
on TikTok of all places for like, I play a

1837
01:34:41,479 --> 01:34:45,239
lot of sniper. I play sniper a lot in battlefield

1838
01:34:45,279 --> 01:34:47,920
games specifically. I think it's called recon in this one,

1839
01:34:48,079 --> 01:34:51,760
but typically with snipers and battlefield you really have to like,

1840
01:34:53,199 --> 01:34:56,079
you know, take into account your bullet drop and all

1841
01:34:56,079 --> 01:34:59,640
that kind of stuff and your fire rate, and that

1842
01:34:59,720 --> 01:35:03,199
can be a challenge for some players. It's always a challenge.

1843
01:35:03,239 --> 01:35:06,560
I've really liked figuring out in a battlefield game, you know,

1844
01:35:06,600 --> 01:35:10,600
getting to know your scope and like the range on

1845
01:35:10,680 --> 01:35:13,319
it and worry how far up you need to kind

1846
01:35:13,319 --> 01:35:16,159
of like aim to hit your shots right. To think

1847
01:35:16,159 --> 01:35:17,520
about bullet This.

1848
01:35:17,399 --> 01:35:19,319
Speaker 4: Is his way of saying that he misses a lot

1849
01:35:19,319 --> 01:35:19,960
of his shots.

1850
01:35:20,800 --> 01:35:22,840
Speaker 1: Now this is my way of saying I broke the system.

1851
01:35:23,319 --> 01:35:26,960
Well somebody else did h and I am Now I

1852
01:35:27,000 --> 01:35:30,319
follow this TikTok guide where essentially, if you attach a

1853
01:35:30,439 --> 01:35:35,000
range finder onto your sniper rifle, you can then go

1854
01:35:35,039 --> 01:35:37,199
into your key bindings. And I was showing this eric

1855
01:35:37,239 --> 01:35:42,159
this earlier, and you can set essentially you can set

1856
01:35:42,159 --> 01:35:44,560
it number one. So when you press right click on

1857
01:35:44,600 --> 01:35:47,800
your mouse, which is look down sites right looking into

1858
01:35:47,800 --> 01:35:51,680
your scope, you can also have that be steady aim

1859
01:35:51,840 --> 01:35:54,600
like hold your breath. And so by default, now when

1860
01:35:54,600 --> 01:35:57,520
I click the right the right mouse button, not only

1861
01:35:57,520 --> 01:36:01,000
am I zooming in, but my characters automatically holding his breath.

1862
01:36:01,039 --> 01:36:03,760
So I've got the study is shot possible, which it's

1863
01:36:03,760 --> 01:36:05,319
not a big deal. Normally you can just hit shift

1864
01:36:05,359 --> 01:36:07,399
and you know you can do it yourself, but it's

1865
01:36:07,479 --> 01:36:09,039
nice to kind of have it right when you ain't

1866
01:36:09,079 --> 01:36:11,720
down your sites, it's ready. In the same way I

1867
01:36:11,760 --> 01:36:18,800
have bound the rangefinder the zeroing like zero in your

1868
01:36:18,800 --> 01:36:21,960
scope and your sniper, which essentially I've bound that to

1869
01:36:22,000 --> 01:36:24,560
the left click. So the order of operations is when

1870
01:36:24,600 --> 01:36:28,039
you right click you scope in, you're holding your breath,

1871
01:36:28,239 --> 01:36:31,239
you left click. The order of operations is that it

1872
01:36:31,399 --> 01:36:35,479
zero's your sniper first and then you shoot the bullet.

1873
01:36:35,600 --> 01:36:37,840
And so I'm expecting this to be taken out of

1874
01:36:37,840 --> 01:36:40,279
the game very soon because as it stands right now,

1875
01:36:40,319 --> 01:36:44,359
you can pretty much be at any range and if

1876
01:36:44,359 --> 01:36:47,079
you have your key mindset like this, if you have

1877
01:36:47,199 --> 01:36:50,920
your weapon the radical pointed on a person, no matter

1878
01:36:50,960 --> 01:36:53,880
how far away they are in the game, you will

1879
01:36:53,920 --> 01:37:01,600
hit them. And boy is it fun. Just like real life.

1880
01:37:02,079 --> 01:37:03,359
Oh yeah, just like real life.

1881
01:37:03,359 --> 01:37:04,319
Speaker 2: You know remember when.

1882
01:37:06,600 --> 01:37:09,079
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's.

1883
01:37:08,960 --> 01:37:10,920
Speaker 4: I think the Geneva devs worked on that one a

1884
01:37:10,960 --> 01:37:11,600
little bit, you know.

1885
01:37:11,880 --> 01:37:15,960
Speaker 1: Yeah, getting triple quadruple kills with a sniper in your

1886
01:37:16,000 --> 01:37:20,239
hand feels amazing. Uh and and and it feels like

1887
01:37:20,319 --> 01:37:22,000
everybody has the tech to do it. It's not like

1888
01:37:22,039 --> 01:37:24,439
a exploit, like anybody can go and do this. So

1889
01:37:25,000 --> 01:37:28,720
it's fun. That makes it okay. It's definitely not going

1890
01:37:28,760 --> 01:37:31,600
to stay in the game. I can almost assure you

1891
01:37:31,640 --> 01:37:32,279
they're going.

1892
01:37:32,279 --> 01:37:35,279
Speaker 2: It wasnt you just called it out for everyone.

1893
01:37:35,359 --> 01:37:37,920
Speaker 1: Well I got it from a youth, Yeah that's me.

1894
01:37:39,279 --> 01:37:41,479
Speaker 4: But in general, going to catch the heat for it,

1895
01:37:41,640 --> 01:37:44,720
not not the TikTok creators. Yeah, learn this lesson the

1896
01:37:44,720 --> 01:37:45,359
hard way.

1897
01:37:45,640 --> 01:37:49,199
Speaker 1: It is what it is, you know. But I man,

1898
01:37:49,239 --> 01:37:52,399
I'm really enjoying Battlefield. It's it's taken me back to

1899
01:37:52,800 --> 01:37:55,119
battle Bit when Eric and I played that, when that

1900
01:37:55,239 --> 01:37:59,319
just came out. Yeah, and battle Bit was just, you know,

1901
01:37:59,399 --> 01:38:01,680
it was came out in a time where the Battlefield

1902
01:38:01,720 --> 01:38:06,079
series was hurting, and you know, it just there's such

1903
01:38:06,119 --> 01:38:14,119
a fun, sticky, unique feeling to Battlefield that other series

1904
01:38:14,159 --> 01:38:17,640
just don't can't replicate or haven't, and battle Bit was

1905
01:38:17,640 --> 01:38:19,640
the closest thing, and battle Bit did a great job.

1906
01:38:20,039 --> 01:38:22,800
But to have the real thing with all the features

1907
01:38:22,840 --> 01:38:27,239
and the polish and the backing of like seven studios

1908
01:38:27,279 --> 01:38:31,520
behind it and a one Mega studio, which is problematic

1909
01:38:31,560 --> 01:38:33,960
in other ways, but for the sake of getting a

1910
01:38:33,960 --> 01:38:36,600
good Battlefield game, I think I think it has paid

1911
01:38:36,600 --> 01:38:40,720
off for them. I'm really enjoying the maps. There are

1912
01:38:40,720 --> 01:38:43,479
some levels I don't love, like I kind of prefer

1913
01:38:43,640 --> 01:38:46,840
the bigger ones where you have all the vehicles in play,

1914
01:38:47,039 --> 01:38:49,479
but there's a fair amount of modes that you can

1915
01:38:49,560 --> 01:38:52,720
choose from, and each of them are, you know, pretty fun.

1916
01:38:52,760 --> 01:38:55,840
I think the Escalation is the new mode where Jay

1917
01:38:55,920 --> 01:38:57,960
called it out in our reviews and I think I

1918
01:38:58,039 --> 01:39:00,159
might have talked about it in this show previously. But

1919
01:39:00,960 --> 01:39:03,319
sort of like you know, you start with five or

1920
01:39:03,359 --> 01:39:06,880
six points and you're slowly the map is slowly kind

1921
01:39:06,920 --> 01:39:10,600
of closing out as like as the longer you hold

1922
01:39:10,640 --> 01:39:14,279
like a zone, eventually it just becomes your territory, and

1923
01:39:14,359 --> 01:39:16,720
so the amount of points on the map you're fighting

1924
01:39:16,720 --> 01:39:20,199
over gets shorter and shorter and thus get more intense.

1925
01:39:20,359 --> 01:39:23,279
Every area gets more intense because it's getting more focus.

1926
01:39:23,960 --> 01:39:26,039
And that's a really fun way to play. But I mean,

1927
01:39:26,079 --> 01:39:29,680
just getting in there and playing Breakthrough is really my

1928
01:39:29,760 --> 01:39:33,399
preferred way to play, like attack and defend, and yeah,

1929
01:39:33,680 --> 01:39:36,560
I'm you know, that's what I want to play tonight.

1930
01:39:36,760 --> 01:39:38,479
I just want to get out of battlefield after work

1931
01:39:38,520 --> 01:39:42,720
and grind some grind some attachments on my weapons, and

1932
01:39:43,399 --> 01:39:46,840
you know, have fun with friends, get on some voice chat,

1933
01:39:46,880 --> 01:39:49,119
and just get up to shenanigans.

1934
01:39:50,000 --> 01:39:53,159
Speaker 4: The shenanigans happen pretty fun. As someone who has been

1935
01:39:53,239 --> 01:39:55,640
on that voice chat, I mean when we were playing

1936
01:39:55,680 --> 01:40:00,119
the other day during our Cuff Bust stream, yeah it

1937
01:40:00,239 --> 01:40:03,840
was I was reminded of what one of the greatest

1938
01:40:03,960 --> 01:40:07,680
joys in gaming is which is the first time you

1939
01:40:07,720 --> 01:40:10,199
boot up a battlefield, and it doesn't have to be

1940
01:40:10,199 --> 01:40:12,000
your first time play battlefield just has to have been

1941
01:40:12,039 --> 01:40:14,560
a while. But the first time you get in a

1942
01:40:14,600 --> 01:40:17,079
helicopter and you have to attempt to fly the helicopter,

1943
01:40:19,920 --> 01:40:22,479
I don't think I've laughed that hard in a long time.

1944
01:40:22,640 --> 01:40:25,560
Our good friend Jesse Vittelli was flying the helicopter and

1945
01:40:25,560 --> 01:40:28,439
I was on one of the side gunner positions, and

1946
01:40:28,479 --> 01:40:32,520
at multiple points we were on solid ninety degree angles,

1947
01:40:32,840 --> 01:40:37,760
wedged between buildings and flinging around and just all the

1948
01:40:37,800 --> 01:40:41,119
alarms going off and then being like, don't worry, we're fine,

1949
01:40:41,119 --> 01:40:46,079
we're fine, and the rotors chopped through fuselage and things

1950
01:40:46,119 --> 01:40:50,079
like that. I love Battlefield when it's doing that. I

1951
01:40:50,079 --> 01:40:54,600
think it's one of the funniest games that is not

1952
01:40:54,640 --> 01:40:56,640
supposed to be funny out there.

1953
01:40:58,800 --> 01:40:59,399
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, it.

1954
01:41:00,439 --> 01:41:03,279
Speaker 4: I think those games are incredible at player interaction when

1955
01:41:03,319 --> 01:41:05,560
you get down to that, in the ways that silly

1956
01:41:05,600 --> 01:41:07,800
player interactions can play out, and if anything, I wish

1957
01:41:07,800 --> 01:41:11,119
they leaned into that more. I'm somebody who really loved

1958
01:41:11,840 --> 01:41:14,159
I would play a battlefield too a lot. In Battlefield

1959
01:41:14,199 --> 01:41:17,319
nineteen forty two, back when that came out, and I

1960
01:41:17,399 --> 01:41:19,800
loved those games because they would often have those kind

1961
01:41:19,800 --> 01:41:22,600
of strategic emplacements. But I would sneak to the back

1962
01:41:22,640 --> 01:41:25,840
of the enemy lines and plant C four on their jets,

1963
01:41:26,239 --> 01:41:28,359
and then I would wait, and then somebody would hop

1964
01:41:28,399 --> 01:41:30,239
in the jet and start to take off, and I'd

1965
01:41:30,279 --> 01:41:33,399
wait for them to just get off the runway like wheels,

1966
01:41:33,479 --> 01:41:36,119
just starting the lift into the air, and then boop

1967
01:41:36,720 --> 01:41:40,199
and watch it explode and be like got em. And

1968
01:41:40,199 --> 01:41:42,319
then I'd wait for the next jet to respawn. I'd

1969
01:41:42,319 --> 01:41:47,359
do it all over again. It was good stuff. I

1970
01:41:47,359 --> 01:41:49,479
haven't really found ways to do that kind of chaos

1971
01:41:49,960 --> 01:41:53,039
in Battlefield six yet, but it does just have some

1972
01:41:53,119 --> 01:41:55,319
good chaos. I wish the maps were a little bit more.

1973
01:41:56,760 --> 01:42:00,720
I don't know, individual that makes sense.

1974
01:42:01,159 --> 01:42:01,920
Speaker 1: Yeah, a lot of.

1975
01:42:01,880 --> 01:42:04,600
Speaker 4: The maps outside of the New York map, even the

1976
01:42:04,600 --> 01:42:07,000
New York map at times feels a little samy because

1977
01:42:07,000 --> 01:42:09,680
of the level destruction. At some point, all the buildings

1978
01:42:09,760 --> 01:42:13,920
just start falling to pieces, and they kind of just

1979
01:42:14,600 --> 01:42:17,600
maps start to feel very samey as they all turn

1980
01:42:17,680 --> 01:42:20,159
to rubble, and I wish they had a little bit

1981
01:42:20,199 --> 01:42:24,439
more personality to some of the points that you're holding.

1982
01:42:25,039 --> 01:42:28,680
They tend to fall within kind of the usual suspects

1983
01:42:28,720 --> 01:42:30,319
of what you would expect from that sort of stuff.

1984
01:42:30,319 --> 01:42:32,000
I wish there was a little bit more dynamism in

1985
01:42:32,039 --> 01:42:34,279
that regard. I think that's my only major critique of

1986
01:42:34,279 --> 01:42:35,199
the multiplayer so far.

1987
01:42:35,960 --> 01:42:37,680
Speaker 1: Yeah, I would agree with you. I think that's my

1988
01:42:37,760 --> 01:42:41,479
major critique as well, But it's not really necessarily hindering

1989
01:42:41,479 --> 01:42:45,960
my enjoyment most of the time. It's it's something I

1990
01:42:46,000 --> 01:42:49,239
would like to see them addressed in future map updates,

1991
01:42:49,279 --> 01:42:51,640
like as they bring out new seasons and that kind

1992
01:42:51,680 --> 01:42:53,680
of thing. With this game, I'd like to see some

1993
01:42:53,720 --> 01:42:56,600
more personality in those maps for sure. If Wake Island

1994
01:42:56,760 --> 01:42:58,840
ain't in that game right now, you know Wake Island

1995
01:42:58,880 --> 01:43:00,960
is going to be in that game itself. Oh, there's

1996
01:43:00,960 --> 01:43:02,399
there's no way they're not going to put a Wake

1997
01:43:02,439 --> 01:43:05,199
Island in there. So yeah, but they need they would

1998
01:43:05,199 --> 01:43:05,680
need boats.

1999
01:43:07,199 --> 01:43:08,600
Speaker 4: They do need boats boats.

2000
01:43:08,960 --> 01:43:11,239
Speaker 1: There are no boats in the game right now. Yeah,

2001
01:43:11,520 --> 01:43:14,800
there are no boats, but I must Wake Yeah exactly,

2002
01:43:15,239 --> 01:43:19,079
I need them to add that for sure. But I

2003
01:43:19,119 --> 01:43:23,800
really want to see Yeah, you can absolutely nobody's ever

2004
01:43:23,840 --> 01:43:25,359
crashed the boat boat.

2005
01:43:25,560 --> 01:43:29,560
Speaker 4: A boat has never crashed before. Yeah, there's no icebergs

2006
01:43:29,560 --> 01:43:30,560
in this game, so we're fine.

2007
01:43:31,399 --> 01:43:36,680
Speaker 1: Yeah, I do. Oh, you had said something that triggered

2008
01:43:36,720 --> 01:43:37,640
something in my brain.

2009
01:43:38,960 --> 01:43:42,000
Speaker 2: It's about boatsm Titanic.

2010
01:43:43,039 --> 01:43:45,239
Speaker 1: No, No, it was about battlefield. But that's okay.

2011
01:43:47,000 --> 01:43:49,760
Speaker 4: I don't know Wake Island boats. I have no boats,

2012
01:43:49,800 --> 01:43:52,279
but I must Wake. Yeah, that was all good stuff.

2013
01:43:52,399 --> 01:43:54,520
I don't know where I like that the Wake Island had.

2014
01:43:55,039 --> 01:43:56,920
I think it was the nineteen forty two one had

2015
01:43:57,039 --> 01:43:59,399
the aircraft carriers. So you did the aircraft carrier take

2016
01:43:59,439 --> 01:44:03,960
off because people, yeah, so bad at aircraft carrier takeoffs,

2017
01:44:04,159 --> 01:44:06,760
and it's it's hard, that's a short runway, and if

2018
01:44:06,760 --> 01:44:09,279
you've got to refuel that thing, good luck. Like, honestly,

2019
01:44:09,279 --> 01:44:11,319
you're just crashing the plane and respawning it at that.

2020
01:44:11,359 --> 01:44:15,119
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I don't know anybody. I've never seen somebody

2021
01:44:15,159 --> 01:44:18,039
actually the plane. Yeah.

2022
01:44:18,119 --> 01:44:21,439
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think in modern battlefields you don't have any

2023
01:44:21,520 --> 01:44:25,359
sort of need to refuel or restock or anything like that.

2024
01:44:25,399 --> 01:44:28,640
I was driving one of the anti air tanks because

2025
01:44:28,640 --> 01:44:32,000
I'm a nerd that likes to operate the anti air vehicles,

2026
01:44:32,720 --> 01:44:36,439
the big radar dishes and stuff, and I was noticing.

2027
01:44:36,479 --> 01:44:38,640
I was like, oh, normally I would be like I

2028
01:44:38,680 --> 01:44:40,399
need to be an engineer so I can repair and

2029
01:44:40,439 --> 01:44:42,119
restock and things like that, And I was like, Oh,

2030
01:44:42,119 --> 01:44:44,760
I don't need to. It just kind of like auto restocks.

2031
01:44:45,319 --> 01:44:48,920
Speaker 1: There is a pass Yeah, there's a passive for engineers

2032
01:44:48,920 --> 01:44:54,279
that if you're in vehicles automatically yeah. Yeah, but you

2033
01:44:54,279 --> 01:44:57,920
don't have to worry about refueling. Yeah, which i'd like

2034
01:44:57,960 --> 01:45:00,640
to see, you know them kind of tinker with that

2035
01:45:00,680 --> 01:45:01,399
kind of McCain.

2036
01:45:01,479 --> 01:45:04,760
Speaker 4: Supply lines in battlefield, you know what I'm saying. Yeah,

2037
01:45:04,840 --> 01:45:07,279
I do like running some tank shells to the front

2038
01:45:07,319 --> 01:45:10,640
line to restock the abrams and all that kind of stuff.

2039
01:45:10,640 --> 01:45:12,359
Speaker 1: That'd be kind of fun. That sounds like the kind

2040
01:45:12,359 --> 01:45:14,600
of shenanigans you get up to. And what is that game?

2041
01:45:15,680 --> 01:45:17,439
Oh god, I played it for a little I played

2042
01:45:17,439 --> 01:45:22,000
it for very little. Hell what loose? Oh yeah yeah, yeah,

2043
01:45:22,079 --> 01:45:23,920
they've got some of that kind of stuff in there

2044
01:45:23,960 --> 01:45:24,520
a little bit.

2045
01:45:25,760 --> 01:45:27,800
Speaker 4: That's that's because it was old timey war. Now we've

2046
01:45:27,840 --> 01:45:30,159
invented ways of not having.

2047
01:45:29,960 --> 01:45:30,680
Speaker 3: To do that.

2048
01:45:30,880 --> 01:45:31,560
Speaker 1: Yeah.

2049
01:45:31,600 --> 01:45:33,960
Speaker 4: It's like when mass effect Mass Effect one came out

2050
01:45:34,000 --> 01:45:36,239
and they're like, we just don't have clips anymore because

2051
01:45:36,239 --> 01:45:38,479
we invented guns with infinite bullets.

2052
01:45:38,680 --> 01:45:40,279
Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly what we needed.

2053
01:45:42,000 --> 01:45:43,760
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's we all needed that.

2054
01:45:44,239 --> 01:45:48,199
Speaker 4: Finally we wiped out bullet scarcity.

2055
01:45:50,680 --> 01:45:52,720
Speaker 1: But yeah, that's about all I got to say about Battlefield.

2056
01:45:52,800 --> 01:45:55,680
I just want to be playing it. You know. It's

2057
01:45:55,800 --> 01:45:59,039
it's it's scratching the itch. It's not doing anything wild.

2058
01:45:59,319 --> 01:46:04,000
It's very straight forward, but it's it's hitting the spot.

2059
01:46:04,199 --> 01:46:07,680
Speaker 2: Seems like it's like a good back to basics almost

2060
01:46:07,840 --> 01:46:08,439
from what I like.

2061
01:46:08,720 --> 01:46:12,279
Speaker 1: Yeah, I would say sat Battlefield kind of yeah, yeah,

2062
01:46:12,359 --> 01:46:14,439
it kind of needed to be. H it feels it

2063
01:46:14,439 --> 01:46:17,239
feels like a foundation for something bigger. Oh, I remember

2064
01:46:17,319 --> 01:46:19,720
what I was gonna say. Uh, I'm very curious to

2065
01:46:19,760 --> 01:46:25,159
see how Portal evolves, which is their UGC platform for

2066
01:46:25,319 --> 01:46:28,800
people making maps and modes and yeah, that kind of thing.

2067
01:46:28,840 --> 01:46:31,920
I would like to see what emerges from that. I've

2068
01:46:31,960 --> 01:46:35,119
thought about tinkering that with my tinkering with that myself,

2069
01:46:37,000 --> 01:46:40,279
because I messed with it in twenty forty two a bit,

2070
01:46:40,560 --> 01:46:43,880
and I know they've kind of upgraded what you can

2071
01:46:43,920 --> 01:46:46,600
do with it a fair amount. So I want to

2072
01:46:46,640 --> 01:46:48,439
get in there and tinker with that and see what

2073
01:46:48,600 --> 01:46:49,359
see what's what.

2074
01:46:50,039 --> 01:46:52,119
Speaker 4: I don't know that I would think of Battlefield as

2075
01:46:52,119 --> 01:46:56,359
the kind of space that you would have incredible room

2076
01:46:56,560 --> 01:47:00,520
for for verbiage to evolve in a in a UGC environment,

2077
01:47:00,800 --> 01:47:03,840
Because when I think of UGC within a game like this,

2078
01:47:03,880 --> 01:47:07,279
I think of Halo and how you really cool stuff

2079
01:47:07,319 --> 01:47:09,039
came out of people being given the tools to just

2080
01:47:09,039 --> 01:47:11,760
make whatever they wanted to in Halo. But I don't

2081
01:47:11,840 --> 01:47:14,960
know that all of the mechanics of Battlefield would lend

2082
01:47:15,199 --> 01:47:17,880
themselves well to that. But also, like I don't know,

2083
01:47:17,960 --> 01:47:20,000
prove me wrong. I like, go out there and do

2084
01:47:20,039 --> 01:47:23,079
something cool with it, even if it's just we made

2085
01:47:23,119 --> 01:47:25,920
only up but you're playing as a bunch of random

2086
01:47:26,159 --> 01:47:26,960
Army soldier.

2087
01:47:27,600 --> 01:47:30,880
Speaker 1: Yeah. I mean, honestly, I would like to see just

2088
01:47:30,960 --> 01:47:35,880
like maps, you know, user creative maps, see what comes

2089
01:47:35,880 --> 01:47:39,640
out of that. But yeah, and I think right now

2090
01:47:39,640 --> 01:47:43,359
it's mostly I've just seen modes. Yeah, I don't know.

2091
01:47:43,399 --> 01:47:45,720
I don't know if there's an actual level editor. I

2092
01:47:45,760 --> 01:47:48,600
think there is, you have to. I don't know how

2093
01:47:48,640 --> 01:47:51,239
they've got it all working. It's kind of separate in

2094
01:47:51,239 --> 01:47:55,239
a weird way, like you can log into the browser. Yeah,

2095
01:47:55,359 --> 01:47:59,119
I know, it's edible maps, not edible maps, editable maps.

2096
01:47:59,159 --> 01:48:02,560
I loved one custom logic, and like you can mess

2097
01:48:02,560 --> 01:48:05,279
with the AI stuff too, So I want to dive

2098
01:48:05,319 --> 01:48:08,159
in because I used to be big into Forge and

2099
01:48:08,199 --> 01:48:10,560
I like at least dabbling with these things when they

2100
01:48:10,600 --> 01:48:15,079
come out. But but yeah, I'm gonna toss it over

2101
01:48:15,119 --> 01:48:18,199
to you, Marcus. You've been playing a game called by

2102
01:48:18,560 --> 01:48:20,359
Sweet Carol? Is that right?

2103
01:48:20,720 --> 01:48:21,000
Speaker 2: Yep?

2104
01:48:21,399 --> 01:48:23,880
Speaker 1: I don't know anything about this game, so please enlighten me.

2105
01:48:24,680 --> 01:48:27,399
Speaker 2: Yeah, this game caught my eye God, probably like a

2106
01:48:27,479 --> 01:48:30,920
year ago with a trailer. To thing about this game

2107
01:48:30,960 --> 01:48:34,319
if you've never heard of it is the art direction,

2108
01:48:34,680 --> 01:48:41,520
which it's very evocative of classic Disney's or specifically like

2109
01:48:42,119 --> 01:48:45,119
maybe like old animated movies, but like I think Disney

2110
01:48:45,159 --> 01:48:48,079
is probably where your mind's gonna go, especially in particular

2111
01:48:48,199 --> 01:48:51,479
like the work of Don Bluth, like his era of

2112
01:48:51,520 --> 01:48:55,199
Disney and his films. It's not like a one to one,

2113
01:48:55,279 --> 01:48:59,000
but it's like the closest comparison. And it's also like like,

2114
01:48:59,000 --> 01:49:02,439
despite looking like a whimsical Disney movie, it's a bit

2115
01:49:02,520 --> 01:49:06,199
of a horror game where you control a sort of

2116
01:49:06,239 --> 01:49:15,920
almost like prototypical Disney princess esque character who is an

2117
01:49:16,079 --> 01:49:19,880
orphan at this sort of like all Girls' School it's

2118
01:49:19,880 --> 01:49:24,279
set in England in the early nineteen hundreds, and it's

2119
01:49:24,560 --> 01:49:27,560
the school's called Bunny Hall, and it's this girl that's

2120
01:49:27,600 --> 01:49:29,960
kind of like looking for her friend Carol. Like the

2121
01:49:29,960 --> 01:49:33,439
girl's name is Lana, and her friend Carol has gone missing.

2122
01:49:33,840 --> 01:49:38,079
She doesn't know why. They're like best friends, and everyone

2123
01:49:38,119 --> 01:49:40,600
at the school is pretty horrible to Lana, Like there's

2124
01:49:40,680 --> 01:49:43,359
like sort of like the mean girl group there that

2125
01:49:43,720 --> 01:49:46,199
kind of bullies her all the time, and then her

2126
01:49:46,359 --> 01:49:48,520
like I don't know if she's like the head mistress

2127
01:49:48,640 --> 01:49:50,520
or one of her teachers is kind of mean to

2128
01:49:50,560 --> 01:49:53,720
her too, and everyone's just kind of like out against

2129
01:49:53,800 --> 01:49:57,560
her just for being like different and weird and not

2130
01:49:57,640 --> 01:50:03,640
like a proper lady. So the game itself, it's it's

2131
01:50:04,199 --> 01:50:08,159
basically an old school point and click adventure combined with

2132
01:50:08,239 --> 01:50:10,319
like a little bit of a platformer, but it's got

2133
01:50:10,359 --> 01:50:12,760
the like it's got the point and clicks kind of vibes,

2134
01:50:12,800 --> 01:50:16,520
Like you're exploring these environments, you're picking up items you

2135
01:50:16,560 --> 01:50:19,520
got like an inventory, and you're just trying to pretty

2136
01:50:19,560 --> 01:50:23,840
much complete like a complicated order of operations to get

2137
01:50:23,840 --> 01:50:28,039
out of like a of a room or to escape something.

2138
01:50:28,840 --> 01:50:31,520
So there's there's like stealth involved. There's a bit of

2139
01:50:31,600 --> 01:50:34,680
like hide and seek stuff where you're like hiding from

2140
01:50:34,760 --> 01:50:37,119
characters and you have like like you can hold your

2141
01:50:37,159 --> 01:50:39,960
breath kind of like an amnesia thing to make sure

2142
01:50:40,000 --> 01:50:43,720
that uh, creatures don't find you. Like it's it's like

2143
01:50:43,760 --> 01:50:46,520
a mix of a of a couple of different genres.

2144
01:50:47,039 --> 01:50:49,520
And I think so far, like I'm on the fourth

2145
01:50:49,600 --> 01:50:52,439
chapter right now, so like a few hours in. I'm

2146
01:50:52,560 --> 01:50:55,680
enjoying it just because I love the presentation and I

2147
01:50:55,840 --> 01:50:59,079
just like the like it's got like a soundtrack that's

2148
01:50:59,079 --> 01:51:01,520
evocative of old Disney movies, like kind of like swelling,

2149
01:51:01,560 --> 01:51:04,079
and it's like inspiring. But then you kind of get to

2150
01:51:04,239 --> 01:51:07,239
the kind of more subversive stuff of like, oh, there's

2151
01:51:07,279 --> 01:51:10,520
like a creepy owl here with like glowing red eyes,

2152
01:51:10,600 --> 01:51:14,760
and oh, I'm being chased by like a a weird

2153
01:51:15,199 --> 01:51:19,239
bunny creature that looks like it used to be a teacher.

2154
01:51:19,319 --> 01:51:22,920
But it's like now this like horrifying rabbit that's chasing

2155
01:51:22,960 --> 01:51:27,279
me with a giant like meat tender rising mallet, and

2156
01:51:27,319 --> 01:51:29,560
I have to hide from it as I'm trying to

2157
01:51:29,640 --> 01:51:34,239
solve a bunch of puzzles around this thing like it's

2158
01:51:34,640 --> 01:51:39,439
it's pretty it's been pretty enjoyable, if not just a

2159
01:51:39,479 --> 01:51:42,800
little like you know, like kind of buy the numbers

2160
01:51:42,880 --> 01:51:46,000
like adventure game stuff. You know, you read like a diary.

2161
01:51:46,079 --> 01:51:47,960
It's like, oh, okay, you need to find a key.

2162
01:51:48,039 --> 01:51:50,199
Oh there's a lot dealer here, or here, I need

2163
01:51:50,239 --> 01:51:53,600
to divert electricity to activate this machine to grind up

2164
01:51:53,640 --> 01:51:55,840
some meat to then do this. Like it's like a

2165
01:51:55,840 --> 01:51:57,439
lot of like you know, kind of seeing the solution

2166
01:51:57,479 --> 01:51:59,279
and and working backwards in the way that a lot

2167
01:51:59,279 --> 01:52:03,359
of adventure games are. I think my biggest problem with

2168
01:52:03,399 --> 01:52:05,199
the game so far is that it's a bit janky,

2169
01:52:05,880 --> 01:52:09,119
at least on PS five, which is where I'm playing it.

2170
01:52:09,119 --> 01:52:13,319
It's on I think, like mostly everything I know. It's

2171
01:52:13,359 --> 01:52:15,279
on BC and Xbox. It might be on Switch, I'm

2172
01:52:15,319 --> 01:52:20,239
not sure, but there's a bit of a there's a

2173
01:52:20,319 --> 01:52:22,479
hitchiness to some of the animations because you can like

2174
01:52:23,039 --> 01:52:24,520
do some like light like I say, a lot of

2175
01:52:24,560 --> 01:52:27,319
light platforming and jumping around and like climbing stuff, and

2176
01:52:27,359 --> 01:52:29,600
there's a I don't know if it's something maybe with

2177
01:52:29,720 --> 01:52:33,560
the animation or if it's like I don't know, but

2178
01:52:33,600 --> 01:52:35,880
there's like a little bit of like a almost like

2179
01:52:35,920 --> 01:52:39,600
a tech demo feel to some of the interactions, or

2180
01:52:39,640 --> 01:52:42,560
it's like, ooh, it feels like this could have been

2181
01:52:43,119 --> 01:52:45,119
a little bit more polished to make this a little

2182
01:52:45,239 --> 01:52:50,880
less like a little less rough. Yeah, like and even

2183
01:52:50,880 --> 01:52:54,000
some of the like voice acting and like the like

2184
01:52:54,039 --> 01:52:57,800
the lip sync is is pretty off with certain characters

2185
01:52:59,600 --> 01:53:02,319
like I. The other big thing that I unlocked recently

2186
01:53:02,399 --> 01:53:04,520
is that you get the ability pretty early on to

2187
01:53:04,520 --> 01:53:08,279
turn into a rabbit, so you could transform into a

2188
01:53:08,399 --> 01:53:11,760
rabbit at will, and that opens up new gameplay where

2189
01:53:11,760 --> 01:53:14,239
you're kind of the rabbits faster and you can kind

2190
01:53:14,239 --> 01:53:18,680
of like crawl into areas that Lana has a grown

2191
01:53:19,199 --> 01:53:22,600
or I guess like a regular sized person can't access.

2192
01:53:22,640 --> 01:53:24,359
It could be good for running away from things. The

2193
01:53:24,439 --> 01:53:26,920
rabbit smaller, but the rabbit's also more vulnerable can't take

2194
01:53:26,960 --> 01:53:31,199
as many hits as as Lana. I also interacted with

2195
01:53:31,279 --> 01:53:35,479
another character that you kind of switch between, who is

2196
01:53:35,520 --> 01:53:39,920
a guy. He's like a weird looking like he's the

2197
01:53:39,920 --> 01:53:41,560
way he's drawn, he almost looks like he comes from

2198
01:53:41,560 --> 01:53:43,119
a different game because he has a little bit more

2199
01:53:43,159 --> 01:53:47,560
of the like kind of like early kind of like

2200
01:53:47,720 --> 01:53:50,680
tube animation look to him, like if you like think

2201
01:53:50,720 --> 01:53:53,800
of Cuphead a little bit as a modern example, Like

2202
01:53:54,039 --> 01:53:55,680
he's like the only thing in the game that kind

2203
01:53:55,680 --> 01:53:58,359
of looks like him, and I'm wondering what that's all about.

2204
01:53:58,359 --> 01:54:00,479
But there's like a segment where you're switching roll between

2205
01:54:00,520 --> 01:54:04,079
Lana and this guy who you're controlling his head and

2206
01:54:04,159 --> 01:54:07,600
nothing else because it's been separated from his body. This

2207
01:54:07,680 --> 01:54:09,880
game's weird, guys. I don't know if that was evident.

2208
01:54:11,039 --> 01:54:14,159
There's a lot of weird stuff in this game. But yeah,

2209
01:54:14,199 --> 01:54:16,560
so far it's been it's been fine, Like it hasn't

2210
01:54:16,640 --> 01:54:19,399
like blown me away once you kind of settle into

2211
01:54:19,520 --> 01:54:22,560
sort of like the novelty of the presentation. But there

2212
01:54:22,640 --> 01:54:26,159
is a story that is The story being told so

2213
01:54:26,239 --> 01:54:28,000
far is interesting, Like it seems like there's like a

2214
01:54:28,000 --> 01:54:31,520
bit of a like Lana brushing up against this alternate

2215
01:54:31,800 --> 01:54:35,319
sort of like reality that has all these fantastical creatures

2216
01:54:35,359 --> 01:54:38,239
are kind of bleeding into the sort of like mundane

2217
01:54:38,279 --> 01:54:41,159
world that she occupies, and that she seems like there's

2218
01:54:41,159 --> 01:54:44,359
season like she might have a bigger destiny than she's

2219
01:54:44,439 --> 01:54:46,840
aware of, and she's trying to, like I said, just

2220
01:54:46,880 --> 01:54:48,920
find her friend Carol. But it seems to be a

2221
01:54:48,960 --> 01:54:52,479
conspiracy around her, like maybe some maybe the school staff

2222
01:54:52,520 --> 01:54:55,520
maybe knows more than they're letting on. And there's and

2223
01:54:55,560 --> 01:54:56,960
there's a lot of like the sort of like the

2224
01:54:57,039 --> 01:55:00,720
rabbit motif that keeps appearing between like the bunny monster

2225
01:55:00,880 --> 01:55:03,720
and the name of the school and Lana turning into

2226
01:55:03,760 --> 01:55:06,159
a rabbit. It seems like there's something like a larger

2227
01:55:06,239 --> 01:55:11,039
lore with like rabbits that they like where I stop,

2228
01:55:11,199 --> 01:55:13,439
they kind of like open the door a little bit

2229
01:55:13,479 --> 01:55:15,199
more on that. I'm kind of interesting to see where

2230
01:55:15,199 --> 01:55:15,880
it goes.

2231
01:55:17,760 --> 01:55:25,359
Speaker 1: Cool. It certainly grabs me, like visually it's but I

2232
01:55:25,399 --> 01:55:29,520
don't know, like the horror side of it seems.

2233
01:55:29,880 --> 01:55:33,479
Speaker 2: I will say the horror is okay. I say this

2234
01:55:33,560 --> 01:55:36,079
as like I love horror. Somebody tolerance for horror is

2235
01:55:36,079 --> 01:55:38,600
pretty high, Like I can, I can endure a lot

2236
01:55:38,640 --> 01:55:41,960
of really scary stuff. This has been very mild, like

2237
01:55:42,199 --> 01:55:45,439
very very mild. Like it's been more like ooh, like

2238
01:55:45,520 --> 01:55:47,479
almost like Halloween spooky.

2239
01:55:47,560 --> 01:55:49,119
Speaker 1: This is a whimsical horror.

2240
01:55:49,560 --> 01:55:53,159
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, you're like, oh, that owl looks a little creepy.

2241
01:55:54,199 --> 01:55:55,840
Speaker 4: What little I've seen of it kind of reminds me

2242
01:55:55,880 --> 01:55:58,800
of clock Tower in that way. Like it gives me

2243
01:55:58,840 --> 01:56:02,199
some clock Tower vibe, maybe not wholly in gameplay, but

2244
01:56:02,279 --> 01:56:05,319
just in the sort of esthetic and vibe it's going

2245
01:56:05,399 --> 01:56:08,199
for somewhere in the realm of like clock Tower meets

2246
01:56:08,239 --> 01:56:10,199
Alice in Wonderland type vibes.

2247
01:56:10,560 --> 01:56:13,279
Speaker 2: Yeah, like I could see that. Like it's there's like

2248
01:56:13,319 --> 01:56:17,119
a few like mild jump scares here, and Narrator's only

2249
01:56:17,199 --> 01:56:19,560
been one like jump scared that like really got me

2250
01:56:19,600 --> 01:56:23,199
because it was so unexpected. But I think if you're

2251
01:56:23,279 --> 01:56:25,439
like if you're in this game because you think it

2252
01:56:25,479 --> 01:56:27,640
looks cool in the art direction and you like sort

2253
01:56:27,680 --> 01:56:30,239
of like classic adventure styles, but the horror is the barrier.

2254
01:56:30,279 --> 01:56:32,520
So far, at least from what I've played, I think

2255
01:56:32,600 --> 01:56:35,640
it's been more than manageable, and I think sort of

2256
01:56:37,439 --> 01:56:40,560
like there's like plenty of levity between the sort of

2257
01:56:40,600 --> 01:56:44,560
like more overtly scary stuff that kind of bounces it

2258
01:56:44,560 --> 01:56:47,960
out gives you a nice break from it. So yeah,

2259
01:56:48,039 --> 01:56:50,079
I again, I can't speak for the rest of the game.

2260
01:56:50,079 --> 01:56:52,840
Maybe it goes off the rails and becomes like terrifying

2261
01:56:52,920 --> 01:56:56,119
later on, but I've actually been sort of surprised. I

2262
01:56:56,199 --> 01:56:58,239
felt like a lot of the trailers were leading into

2263
01:56:58,319 --> 01:57:01,000
the sort of the the thing of like, oh, it's

2264
01:57:01,000 --> 01:57:04,359
like a Disney movie, but it's terrifying, and it's like

2265
01:57:04,920 --> 01:57:06,560
it's not really so far.

2266
01:57:07,399 --> 01:57:12,800
Speaker 1: Yeah that's fair. Yeah, well cool. That was by Sweet

2267
01:57:12,840 --> 01:57:16,279
Carol in case you missed it. And to round out

2268
01:57:16,319 --> 01:57:19,239
the show, I'm gonna toss it over to Eric. I

2269
01:57:19,279 --> 01:57:23,720
want to hear your your very very early impressions of

2270
01:57:23,760 --> 01:57:28,600
Pokemon Legends Z to A. I've got my copy right here,

2271
01:57:29,119 --> 01:57:31,119
which okay, I want to I'm gonna say something real quick.

2272
01:57:31,199 --> 01:57:37,399
Number one, Nintendo, what are we doing with this box?

2273
01:57:37,920 --> 01:57:42,640
Speaker 2: Number paragraph? They did? They put it back on the front.

2274
01:57:43,439 --> 01:57:43,560
Speaker 4: There.

2275
01:57:43,760 --> 01:57:46,000
Speaker 1: Yes, there's a back of the box quote that says

2276
01:57:46,079 --> 01:57:49,199
includes the Nintendo Switch game and Nintendo Switch To Edition

2277
01:57:49,319 --> 01:57:54,319
Upgrade Upgrade Pack. Upgrade Pack also available separately. For details

2278
01:57:54,439 --> 01:57:58,079
visit and then it's other languages, and then the support page.

2279
01:57:58,199 --> 01:58:00,960
There's a QR code. Please the love of God. Just

2280
01:58:01,000 --> 01:58:04,800
like you've already got so much text on the back,

2281
01:58:05,000 --> 01:58:07,880
just add some more texts. Okay, Alex, the thing I'm

2282
01:58:07,880 --> 01:58:09,880
curious about, can you turn it back around to the front.

2283
01:58:10,800 --> 01:58:12,880
I'm not sure how I'm supposed to know that this

2284
01:58:12,960 --> 01:58:15,520
is the Nintendo Switch To version of the video game,

2285
01:58:15,920 --> 01:58:19,840
right what the red bar and the text underneath the

2286
01:58:19,880 --> 01:58:22,000
logo and then the giant block of text at the

2287
01:58:22,039 --> 01:58:28,079
bottom of of Oh don't worry, Oh okay, thank god.

2288
01:58:28,199 --> 01:58:30,800
Speaker 2: It Also, it's gonna be found the switch to section

2289
01:58:31,000 --> 01:58:32,920
of whatever story you get it from.

2290
01:58:33,239 --> 01:58:36,079
Speaker 4: I'm only being a little facetious because I know that

2291
01:58:36,079 --> 01:58:38,199
there's still going to be people that are like I

2292
01:58:38,239 --> 01:58:41,159
accidentally bought the Nintendo Switch one version of those games.

2293
01:58:41,359 --> 01:58:42,439
Speaker 2: They get what they deserve.

2294
01:58:43,479 --> 01:58:48,039
Speaker 1: Yeah, but also I don't know, like Nintendo, you can

2295
01:58:48,119 --> 01:58:52,520
leave the dumb people behind a little bit, okay.

2296
01:58:51,199 --> 01:58:54,800
Speaker 2: Like has never done that. They are like have you

2297
01:58:54,840 --> 01:58:56,319
seen their games?

2298
01:58:57,560 --> 01:59:00,680
Speaker 1: Yeah, listen, let's let's raise the bar a little bit, Nintendo.

2299
01:59:01,279 --> 01:59:03,119
You know, let's expect a little more from our players.

2300
01:59:03,159 --> 01:59:08,079
And also, why is Pokemon the Pokemon Legends logo is

2301
01:59:08,239 --> 01:59:12,279
blurry if you get close. That is not my camera.

2302
01:59:12,520 --> 01:59:16,720
That is like there is just an inherent blur. It's

2303
01:59:16,760 --> 01:59:20,159
a little like not It's way easier to see in

2304
01:59:20,199 --> 01:59:23,079
person when you hold it up, like, you know, five

2305
01:59:23,159 --> 01:59:25,399
six inches from your face. It looks like they took

2306
01:59:25,439 --> 01:59:28,319
the logo and like upscaled it in photoshop. It doesn't

2307
01:59:28,359 --> 01:59:29,640
it looks like a rastered image.

2308
01:59:30,119 --> 01:59:33,000
Speaker 2: It's a artistic choice. It's the blur for how fast

2309
01:59:33,039 --> 01:59:37,359
you're going to be open to camera.

2310
01:59:37,800 --> 01:59:40,399
Speaker 1: Showed it off.

2311
01:59:40,439 --> 01:59:43,159
Speaker 4: You can tell even here that it's like not quite

2312
01:59:43,199 --> 01:59:44,760
as sharp as you would expect that.

2313
01:59:45,079 --> 01:59:48,920
Speaker 1: Yeah, what's going on? Man? It feels like I'm curious,

2314
01:59:49,000 --> 01:59:49,600
we're gonna find it.

2315
01:59:50,000 --> 01:59:52,279
Speaker 2: I hope that's not I hope that's not an omen

2316
01:59:52,279 --> 01:59:53,600
for like the graphical fidelity.

2317
01:59:53,800 --> 01:59:55,960
Speaker 1: Hold on, let me see, is there like a clean

2318
01:59:56,039 --> 01:59:57,079
version on the back.

2319
01:59:58,520 --> 02:00:03,760
Speaker 2: Ax, he's taking the oh Alex for audio listeners. Alex

2320
02:00:03,880 --> 02:00:06,720
just took the box art out of the box, and

2321
02:00:06,760 --> 02:00:09,079
I guess the inner art is a math. That's cool.

2322
02:00:09,439 --> 02:00:13,359
Speaker 1: Well, I was hoping the switch to cartridge. Yeah, I

2323
02:00:13,439 --> 02:00:16,159
was hoping there was like a clean version of this

2324
02:00:16,600 --> 02:00:18,600
without all the dumb text on the front cover.

2325
02:00:19,800 --> 02:00:21,199
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's what it was.

2326
02:00:21,399 --> 02:00:24,840
Speaker 4: E ten plus. Does the the fantasy violence really put

2327
02:00:24,840 --> 02:00:25,119
it over?

2328
02:00:25,239 --> 02:00:25,359
Speaker 1: Oh?

2329
02:00:25,439 --> 02:00:26,279
Speaker 2: Someone dies this?

2330
02:00:27,760 --> 02:00:27,960
Speaker 1: Yeah?

2331
02:00:28,199 --> 02:00:31,039
Speaker 4: They gave they gave Pikachu a gun. It's crazy. Isn't

2332
02:00:31,039 --> 02:00:32,520
shoot it? But he does wield it?

2333
02:00:32,520 --> 02:00:35,239
Speaker 1: Agree? I mean the end of Scarby is kind of dark,

2334
02:00:35,880 --> 02:00:39,119
you know, like, yeah, maybe they're maybe they're ratching it

2335
02:00:39,359 --> 02:00:41,840
up in this one, But yeah, I'm just kind of

2336
02:00:41,880 --> 02:00:47,760
disappointed and in the production quality of the physical version

2337
02:00:47,800 --> 02:00:48,239
of this thing.

2338
02:00:49,399 --> 02:00:51,800
Speaker 4: This is probably like the thing that I say that

2339
02:00:51,880 --> 02:00:54,119
gets me the most heat, So I'll just say it.

2340
02:00:54,840 --> 02:00:58,760
I've been a digital buyer of games for a while now,

2341
02:00:59,000 --> 02:01:01,239
and so that doesn't really bother me because I just

2342
02:01:01,960 --> 02:01:04,560
know I did this thing last night at like eleven

2343
02:01:04,800 --> 02:01:05,960
and it was golden.

2344
02:01:06,239 --> 02:01:08,319
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's fair. I go back and forth for the

2345
02:01:08,319 --> 02:01:12,119
Pokemon games. I like to get them physical, and I

2346
02:01:12,119 --> 02:01:14,119
only do it for Nintendo. I don't all everything else

2347
02:01:14,159 --> 02:01:18,920
is digital, Yeah, but I try to get their first. Yeah.

2348
02:01:19,039 --> 02:01:20,239
Speaker 4: A lot of the Switch games I have are the

2349
02:01:20,239 --> 02:01:23,119
ones that were like very low print, so like I

2350
02:01:23,159 --> 02:01:25,319
have like House and Fota Morgana and things like that,

2351
02:01:25,520 --> 02:01:27,800
like very date, they weren't going to have a big

2352
02:01:27,880 --> 02:01:30,159
run anyways, Pokemon Legends.

2353
02:01:29,640 --> 02:01:31,439
Speaker 1: Tell me, tell me what this game is like that

2354
02:01:31,479 --> 02:01:32,359
I haven't played yet.

2355
02:01:32,800 --> 02:01:35,479
Speaker 4: So we we will have coverage coming of this in

2356
02:01:35,520 --> 02:01:36,840
a more robust format.

2357
02:01:37,239 --> 02:01:37,520
Speaker 1: Brian.

2358
02:01:37,600 --> 02:01:41,399
Speaker 4: She is currently locked in the review chamber with with

2359
02:01:41,520 --> 02:01:44,640
no sunlight or no very.

2360
02:01:44,560 --> 02:01:46,640
Speaker 2: We said we're not letting him out until he catches.

2361
02:01:46,399 --> 02:01:49,800
Speaker 4: Them all exactly exactly. He's he's going to catch them

2362
02:01:49,800 --> 02:01:51,760
all or he's going to stay in there trying.

2363
02:01:53,359 --> 02:01:53,520
Speaker 1: No.

2364
02:01:53,600 --> 02:01:56,239
Speaker 4: So he's working on that for us. I did boot

2365
02:01:56,239 --> 02:01:58,560
this up last night and play about say, like an

2366
02:01:58,600 --> 02:02:03,159
hour hour and a half of zaw my early takeaways.

2367
02:02:03,359 --> 02:02:05,279
I feel like I got a sense of this when

2368
02:02:05,279 --> 02:02:07,439
I was you know, we did the NGT a while ago,

2369
02:02:07,960 --> 02:02:10,239
and then we also there have been previews and stuff

2370
02:02:10,279 --> 02:02:12,640
like that. It is really interesting the way that they

2371
02:02:12,640 --> 02:02:17,399
have kind of reinvented Pokemon combat in this game, because

2372
02:02:17,960 --> 02:02:20,600
I think I had noticed before that it seemed a

2373
02:02:20,600 --> 02:02:23,600
little bit different than what you would normally expect from Pokemon,

2374
02:02:24,159 --> 02:02:26,279
while still maintaining a lot of the core tenants of

2375
02:02:26,319 --> 02:02:29,239
what Pokemon combat is. But then when I was actually

2376
02:02:29,239 --> 02:02:31,119
playing it, I thought it was a little bit interesting

2377
02:02:31,159 --> 02:02:34,800
the way it played out. Basically, you are running around

2378
02:02:34,840 --> 02:02:38,760
on the map and I'm not outside of what looks

2379
02:02:38,760 --> 02:02:41,359
like the mega fights where you're dodge rolling around big

2380
02:02:41,439 --> 02:02:43,199
attacks and things like that. I'm not really sure what

2381
02:02:43,319 --> 02:02:48,319
the idea is behind letting you just do the Dark

2382
02:02:48,359 --> 02:02:52,760
Souls dodge roll all the time, but you can. But

2383
02:02:52,800 --> 02:02:55,279
the more interesting thing is that you kind of issue

2384
02:02:55,319 --> 02:02:57,560
these commands to your Pokemon to use different moves, and

2385
02:02:57,600 --> 02:03:00,239
those moves have individual cool downtimers that were I mean

2386
02:03:00,199 --> 02:03:03,399
a lot of Zeno blade uh. And so there is

2387
02:03:04,800 --> 02:03:06,520
I what I what I think I like about it

2388
02:03:06,600 --> 02:03:09,359
is that encourages you to use those status moves a

2389
02:03:09,399 --> 02:03:11,199
little bit more because it means that you're kind of

2390
02:03:11,199 --> 02:03:15,600
getting this interesting DPS rotation in that feels almost mmoi

2391
02:03:15,960 --> 02:03:18,880
compared to say Pokemon, where you're kind of going my turn,

2392
02:03:18,920 --> 02:03:21,239
your turn, my turn, your turn. Now there's a little

2393
02:03:21,239 --> 02:03:23,720
bit more incentive to say, well, I'm going to use

2394
02:03:24,119 --> 02:03:26,800
tail or a leer and then I'm going to follow

2395
02:03:26,840 --> 02:03:28,800
it up with some attacks and and I'm kind of

2396
02:03:28,840 --> 02:03:32,760
doing things on cool downs, and it incentivizes that play

2397
02:03:32,800 --> 02:03:35,000
style a little bit more. Also makes battles a little

2398
02:03:35,000 --> 02:03:39,399
bit faster, I feel, because you do, I mean, things

2399
02:03:39,439 --> 02:03:42,920
died faster. You know, Pokemon are kind of out in

2400
02:03:42,960 --> 02:03:44,560
the open world. It's a little bit easier to just

2401
02:03:44,640 --> 02:03:46,560
kind of like beef with them real quick and then

2402
02:03:46,720 --> 02:03:48,000
and yeah, settle it.

2403
02:03:48,279 --> 02:03:52,359
Speaker 1: I'm curious on that on that front. And Scarby, there

2404
02:03:52,439 --> 02:03:54,239
was that ability where you kind of throw your Pokemon

2405
02:03:54,239 --> 02:03:56,680
out they would just go fight stuff. The fast battle.

2406
02:03:56,800 --> 02:04:00,520
Speaker 4: Yeah, is that in this game no, well kind if so.

2407
02:04:00,560 --> 02:04:02,720
The way it works now is you basically just have

2408
02:04:03,359 --> 02:04:05,279
a Pokemon out like you.

2409
02:04:05,199 --> 02:04:08,079
Speaker 1: Have your your Did you play Arsius at all? Yeah?

2410
02:04:08,119 --> 02:04:08,920
Is it similar to that?

2411
02:04:09,399 --> 02:04:11,840
Speaker 4: It's pretty similar to Arsius in that way. There's also

2412
02:04:11,920 --> 02:04:14,399
kind of the free range Pokemon catching where you throw

2413
02:04:14,479 --> 02:04:16,479
the ball and you can kind of aim it and

2414
02:04:16,520 --> 02:04:19,119
things like that and sneak up on them with crouch

2415
02:04:19,119 --> 02:04:22,279
attacks to get you know, stealth captures and things like that.

2416
02:04:23,159 --> 02:04:27,479
A lot of that has returned from Arsius. I think

2417
02:04:27,600 --> 02:04:30,000
that has really surprised me. I do think the world

2418
02:04:30,159 --> 02:04:32,239
of Lumios is delightful.

2419
02:04:32,479 --> 02:04:33,359
Speaker 1: I love it.

2420
02:04:34,000 --> 02:04:37,920
Speaker 4: I was actually it's really embarrassing of me. I was

2421
02:04:37,960 --> 02:04:40,840
taking a lot of screenshots of the hotel that you

2422
02:04:40,880 --> 02:04:43,600
go to stay in, because you go into this hotel

2423
02:04:43,680 --> 02:04:46,600
and there's just all these different chairs laid out with

2424
02:04:46,640 --> 02:04:48,760
a rug and some coffee tables and stuff like that.

2425
02:04:48,760 --> 02:04:51,000
I've been kind of in that zone because I've been

2426
02:04:51,159 --> 02:04:52,760
I just moved to a new apartment and I've been

2427
02:04:52,840 --> 02:04:55,720
kind of decorating and things like that. But I was

2428
02:04:55,800 --> 02:04:59,560
really kind of taken aback by how the Pokemon Company

2429
02:04:59,560 --> 02:05:02,479
and game free game Freaks specifically are really good at

2430
02:05:02,479 --> 02:05:06,720
just creating these lived in environments that feel like they're natural,

2431
02:05:06,880 --> 02:05:08,159
like people exist there.

2432
02:05:10,039 --> 02:05:11,039
Speaker 1: You know. You go into the.

2433
02:05:11,000 --> 02:05:15,600
Speaker 4: Hotel room and there's a little station where the cookies

2434
02:05:15,640 --> 02:05:17,359
and the water are that you kind of get whenever

2435
02:05:17,399 --> 02:05:19,319
you go to a hotel, and there's there's a night

2436
02:05:19,399 --> 02:05:22,960
stand that has a lamp and a phone next to it,

2437
02:05:23,000 --> 02:05:25,239
and a little outlet for people to plug in their

2438
02:05:25,319 --> 02:05:28,000
charging stuff, and there's kind of the little luggage racks

2439
02:05:28,000 --> 02:05:30,079
set out for you that your character puts their travel

2440
02:05:30,079 --> 02:05:32,239
bag on. And I know it's a really weird thing

2441
02:05:32,239 --> 02:05:35,159
to hone in on, but it played out. The more

2442
02:05:35,199 --> 02:05:36,760
I played this game, the more I was like, there's

2443
02:05:36,760 --> 02:05:39,680
a lot of just little touches throughout each area in

2444
02:05:39,800 --> 02:05:44,479
Lumios that makes it feel very you know, vibrant. As

2445
02:05:44,680 --> 02:05:47,000
as a landscape, I was worried that going to a

2446
02:05:47,039 --> 02:05:49,760
city would make every block kind of feel the same.

2447
02:05:49,880 --> 02:05:54,399
Yah you just have building by building by building, and

2448
02:05:54,439 --> 02:05:57,439
instead there's definitely a lot of storefronts and buildings that

2449
02:05:57,520 --> 02:06:00,760
just kind of exists as blocked in resting when you're

2450
02:06:00,760 --> 02:06:02,960
in the wild areas and things like that. But even

2451
02:06:03,000 --> 02:06:06,600
within there, you'll go buy a stall and somebody selling

2452
02:06:06,680 --> 02:06:08,760
some goods or something, and they'll kind of have it

2453
02:06:08,840 --> 02:06:11,039
laid out and it'll look like somebody actually like went

2454
02:06:11,079 --> 02:06:12,600
to a city and set up their stall, just like

2455
02:06:12,640 --> 02:06:15,000
you would see if you were in name a major

2456
02:06:15,039 --> 02:06:15,960
metropolitan area.

2457
02:06:16,079 --> 02:06:16,640
Speaker 1: So it's.

2458
02:06:18,039 --> 02:06:21,039
Speaker 4: I find that really surprisingly appealing out of all this.

2459
02:06:21,720 --> 02:06:23,760
The fashion, from what I've seen, is very very good

2460
02:06:24,159 --> 02:06:27,199
for people who like character customization. I think Pokemon when

2461
02:06:27,199 --> 02:06:28,840
they do that, they do that very well, and that's

2462
02:06:28,880 --> 02:06:32,640
really fun to see. And so far, Like I mean,

2463
02:06:33,079 --> 02:06:35,319
I'm not even close to being able to comment on

2464
02:06:35,359 --> 02:06:38,399
a story or anything like that, but I do like

2465
02:06:38,439 --> 02:06:41,199
the general setup of Lumios is kind of having these

2466
02:06:41,800 --> 02:06:44,840
nightly battle royales where people are competing in the streets

2467
02:06:44,880 --> 02:06:48,000
for points to become the best trainer in the city

2468
02:06:48,039 --> 02:06:52,159
and stuff like that. I said this on Blue Sky,

2469
02:06:52,199 --> 02:06:55,319
but I was like, you know, maybe having a walkable

2470
02:06:55,359 --> 02:06:57,680
city where everybody at night challenges each other and my

2471
02:06:57,760 --> 02:06:59,399
latest hyperfixation would fix me.

2472
02:07:00,760 --> 02:07:01,640
Speaker 1: I at that moment.

2473
02:07:01,479 --> 02:07:03,000
Speaker 4: Where I was like, it'd be pretty sick if I

2474
02:07:03,039 --> 02:07:05,319
lived in it. I live in a fairly walkable city now,

2475
02:07:05,319 --> 02:07:07,039
but like, if I lived in a walkable city and

2476
02:07:07,079 --> 02:07:09,439
then at night everybody just went out into the streets

2477
02:07:09,439 --> 02:07:12,960
and started, you know, doing magic the gathering Commander duels.

2478
02:07:13,199 --> 02:07:15,760
Speaker 1: That'd be kind of sick. I'd be pretty into that.

2479
02:07:15,960 --> 02:07:18,560
You should play the Pokemon Trading card game on game

2480
02:07:18,600 --> 02:07:19,159
Boy Color.

2481
02:07:19,600 --> 02:07:22,399
Speaker 4: It's hey, look, that's that's an all time goat right there.

2482
02:07:22,439 --> 02:07:25,079
Speaker 1: That's that's the best. I think that's like the most

2483
02:07:25,119 --> 02:07:28,079
slept on Pokemon game in my opinion. Absolutely.

2484
02:07:28,520 --> 02:07:31,039
Speaker 2: I know the Legends series is different than like the

2485
02:07:31,199 --> 02:07:33,279
I guess, the mainline Pokemon games, But are are you

2486
02:07:33,319 --> 02:07:36,479
still picking like a starter, like who is your first Pokemon?

2487
02:07:37,840 --> 02:07:43,159
Speaker 1: I went with Tepig. My my options were Tepeig, todad Isle,

2488
02:07:43,239 --> 02:07:48,159
and Chickorita. I don't particularly love any of those options,

2489
02:07:48,159 --> 02:07:49,119
if I'm being honest with you.

2490
02:07:49,159 --> 02:07:50,800
Speaker 2: It's way Why are two of them from the same

2491
02:07:50,920 --> 02:07:53,680
Jen and then tepegs from like the later Jens.

2492
02:07:53,960 --> 02:07:57,319
Speaker 4: That's weird, I think, if I remember right, the Fire

2493
02:07:57,439 --> 02:08:02,359
Pokemon of that one was that's the last and Sinda

2494
02:08:02,439 --> 02:08:06,399
Quill was in RCS as the fire option, So oh.

2495
02:08:06,079 --> 02:08:08,960
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah. I will say Tota Dial is one of

2496
02:08:09,000 --> 02:08:13,359
my favorite characters in Pokemon, and so I will be

2497
02:08:13,399 --> 02:08:17,239
picking him. But I do want to say people hate

2498
02:08:17,319 --> 02:08:20,039
on Tepig and like his evolution line like m bore

2499
02:08:20,159 --> 02:08:22,760
and all that. I I'm a Tepic defender.

2500
02:08:23,560 --> 02:08:25,239
Speaker 2: I just want to say I think he's cute. I

2501
02:08:25,600 --> 02:08:28,039
don't know, I've never played his games, but he's like

2502
02:08:28,039 --> 02:08:29,039
a cool fire pig.

2503
02:08:29,119 --> 02:08:30,640
Speaker 3: Right, Yeah, I didn't.

2504
02:08:30,680 --> 02:08:34,920
Speaker 4: I didn't play his original gen, but I picked Tepig

2505
02:08:35,039 --> 02:08:36,880
just because I was like, I don't really love Tota Dial,

2506
02:08:37,039 --> 02:08:40,600
I don't love Chickorita. So because I went with Sindquill

2507
02:08:40,680 --> 02:08:41,479
in that gen.

2508
02:08:42,319 --> 02:08:42,760
Speaker 1: So did I.

2509
02:08:42,960 --> 02:08:45,039
Speaker 4: It's like I'll just I'll just It's like I'll just

2510
02:08:45,119 --> 02:08:47,239
go fire on this one. I tend to like the

2511
02:08:47,239 --> 02:08:51,840
fire starters a fair bit and Tepig. You want another

2512
02:08:51,880 --> 02:08:56,199
thing that this game nails is the animations, just little

2513
02:08:56,279 --> 02:08:59,279
little animation. So you picked Tepig and you have your

2514
02:08:59,279 --> 02:09:01,560
first battle on then Tepics like yeah and walks up

2515
02:09:01,600 --> 02:09:03,560
to you and you put your fist out to fist

2516
02:09:03,600 --> 02:09:05,600
bump it and it does like a little hop and

2517
02:09:05,680 --> 02:09:08,600
spin and like slaps your fist with its tail, and

2518
02:09:08,600 --> 02:09:13,720
then it's like ha ha, and I'm like yeah.

2519
02:09:12,560 --> 02:09:13,680
Speaker 1: Man, right or die?

2520
02:09:15,159 --> 02:09:17,680
Speaker 4: And so yeah, I think they nail that. One thing

2521
02:09:17,800 --> 02:09:22,880
that I will just say almost immediately apparent, and probably

2522
02:09:22,920 --> 02:09:24,880
what the largest complaint of this game is going to

2523
02:09:24,960 --> 02:09:29,399
end up being no voice acting is that the game

2524
02:09:30,000 --> 02:09:34,079
voice acting. No, but it's it's really become a problem

2525
02:09:34,119 --> 02:09:37,319
at this point, Like I can't sugarcoat it anymore. There

2526
02:09:37,319 --> 02:09:41,840
are entire cut scenes where people are talking, having conversations

2527
02:09:41,880 --> 02:09:45,520
like we are right now, and they're just mouthing. They're

2528
02:09:45,600 --> 02:09:49,000
just like pantomiming to like their subtitles at the bottom.

2529
02:09:49,119 --> 02:09:52,600
Speaker 2: Okay, so I do like the like, oh, okay.

2530
02:09:52,960 --> 02:09:55,079
Speaker 4: This is this is going to be bad audio for

2531
02:09:55,199 --> 02:09:59,279
people listening on the podcast. But they're basically like yeah,

2532
02:09:59,720 --> 02:10:04,119
it talking with their hands. It's yeah, and talking with

2533
02:10:04,159 --> 02:10:06,800
their hands. I'm exaggerating that, Like they're kind of just

2534
02:10:07,000 --> 02:10:10,520
saying things and then like like mouth movements and then

2535
02:10:10,560 --> 02:10:11,880
there's subtitles at the bottom.

2536
02:10:12,279 --> 02:10:14,079
Speaker 2: I'm why. The first thing that came to mind was

2537
02:10:14,079 --> 02:10:18,520
the NP season Sonic six talking with the.

2538
02:10:19,079 --> 02:10:24,159
Speaker 4: Yeah yeah, and it really there are a lot of

2539
02:10:24,239 --> 02:10:27,520
big not even big story moments, but like things happening

2540
02:10:27,560 --> 02:10:31,079
and characters getting involved where I even had moments where

2541
02:10:32,079 --> 02:10:35,399
it felt unclear who was talking in a cutscene because

2542
02:10:35,439 --> 02:10:37,680
of the fact that there was no voice acting.

2543
02:10:38,439 --> 02:10:41,800
Speaker 1: Because I imagine it came like it does.

2544
02:10:41,880 --> 02:10:45,600
Speaker 4: But in one specific cut scene, very the first one

2545
02:10:45,640 --> 02:10:48,680
that you see, there's kind of three characters in a group,

2546
02:10:49,159 --> 02:10:55,279
and it feels undetermined which one is specifically talking at

2547
02:10:55,279 --> 02:10:58,239
which time, And I was kind of going, like, I know,

2548
02:10:58,279 --> 02:11:00,960
I'm not supposed to be following everything that's happening right now,

2549
02:11:01,359 --> 02:11:07,119
but this feels like intentionally unintentionally ambiguous, and that's I

2550
02:11:07,159 --> 02:11:10,760
don't know, that's it just feels like my thought on

2551
02:11:10,840 --> 02:11:14,359
it is, if you're not going to have voice acting,

2552
02:11:15,119 --> 02:11:17,439
then don't do the cut scenes. Just have it all

2553
02:11:17,479 --> 02:11:20,720
be text boxes that you thumb through, because then at

2554
02:11:20,800 --> 02:11:23,239
least it's like, okay, well you still have textboxes that

2555
02:11:23,359 --> 02:11:25,720
have characters' names on them and you can kind of follow,

2556
02:11:25,800 --> 02:11:29,199
like who is talking, right, But if you're gonna have

2557
02:11:29,239 --> 02:11:31,960
cut scenes, I mean, the most annoying one, the one

2558
02:11:32,000 --> 02:11:34,079
that always gets brought up, is in Sword Shield, there

2559
02:11:34,119 --> 02:11:37,119
was a fight that happens in kind of a rock

2560
02:11:37,279 --> 02:11:41,000
venue where someone is literally playing music and singing a

2561
02:11:41,039 --> 02:11:46,079
song and is just headbanging and singing into a mic.

2562
02:11:46,199 --> 02:11:49,960
But there's no noise whatsoever. It's just like the same

2563
02:11:50,000 --> 02:11:53,119
background music is playing. It has not changed whatsoever. It's

2564
02:11:53,960 --> 02:11:58,399
and it's not like reflecting. There's not somebody singing. It's

2565
02:11:58,479 --> 02:12:01,600
just someone pantomiming, and it's like very strange.

2566
02:12:01,840 --> 02:12:03,880
Speaker 2: Yeah, it kind of feels like like there's plenty of

2567
02:12:03,920 --> 02:12:06,439
games where there's no dialogue and it's supposed to be text,

2568
02:12:06,439 --> 02:12:07,880
but I feel like they're, like I said, they're shot

2569
02:12:07,880 --> 02:12:10,359
in a way where you're like, oh, I'm not supposed

2570
02:12:10,359 --> 02:12:13,119
to hear this, but like what you're describing sounds like

2571
02:12:13,520 --> 02:12:15,319
it almost feels like, oh, there was going to be

2572
02:12:15,399 --> 02:12:17,520
voice acting, but we ran at a time, so we

2573
02:12:17,640 --> 02:12:17,800
just there.

2574
02:12:17,840 --> 02:12:21,039
Speaker 4: There's plenty of RPGs that straddle the line of they

2575
02:12:21,079 --> 02:12:23,800
say like, okay, well Final Fantasy fourteen, does this, Trails

2576
02:12:23,800 --> 02:12:25,319
in the Sky it just came out this year. Does

2577
02:12:25,359 --> 02:12:29,359
this where there's not going to be text. There's going

2578
02:12:29,399 --> 02:12:31,279
to be text in a lot of scenes, but it's

2579
02:12:31,319 --> 02:12:33,399
not always going to be voiced. It's only going to

2580
02:12:33,439 --> 02:12:36,239
be voiced for the big kick scenes, for the big moments, right,

2581
02:12:36,560 --> 02:12:40,359
that would work fine. It's really weird that Pokemon is

2582
02:12:40,399 --> 02:12:43,199
doing even more of these cut scenes and even more

2583
02:12:43,239 --> 02:12:46,760
of these big moments it is not voice acting them.

2584
02:12:47,119 --> 02:12:50,000
Speaker 1: It's weird. It's just weird, and.

2585
02:12:50,920 --> 02:12:54,359
Speaker 4: I think that is annoyingly one of the biggest knocks

2586
02:12:54,960 --> 02:12:57,079
already of this game against it, and I think will

2587
02:12:57,079 --> 02:12:59,239
continue to be as I get deeper into the game.

2588
02:12:59,279 --> 02:13:03,640
But otherwise, like I a while back, I might have

2589
02:13:03,680 --> 02:13:07,119
talked about this on the podcast, actually, but Pokemon Legends,

2590
02:13:07,199 --> 02:13:09,199
Arsius is the reason that I care about Pokemon again.

2591
02:13:09,560 --> 02:13:12,680
It's straight up like I had fallen completely off the

2592
02:13:12,720 --> 02:13:16,079
Pokemon train. Wasn't really into Sword Shield. Like I thought

2593
02:13:16,119 --> 02:13:18,199
it was fun, but I didn't think it was amazing

2594
02:13:18,399 --> 02:13:20,439
and it didn't reignite my love that I had when

2595
02:13:20,439 --> 02:13:23,239
I was in Red, Blue and Gold Silver Days. But

2596
02:13:23,439 --> 02:13:26,680
Arcius was like the breath of fresh air that I

2597
02:13:26,720 --> 02:13:32,640
wanted from that series, and za z through a feels

2598
02:13:32,680 --> 02:13:34,640
like it is doing the same thing where I'm just like,

2599
02:13:34,720 --> 02:13:38,239
this feels fun, this feels new, this feels interesting. This

2600
02:13:38,319 --> 02:13:41,600
is a side of Pokemon that I've always wanted them

2601
02:13:41,720 --> 02:13:45,439
to explore. I love the concept of what is a

2602
02:13:45,479 --> 02:13:49,359
city like when Pokemon live in it, when they're part

2603
02:13:49,399 --> 02:13:52,439
of that world, and what are the tensions that arise

2604
02:13:52,560 --> 02:13:55,279
from it? Like Detective Pikachu kind of touches on this too,

2605
02:13:55,399 --> 02:13:59,319
But the idea of a different angle of Pokemon life

2606
02:13:59,479 --> 02:14:01,640
and the sort of battle royale thing. God, I love

2607
02:14:01,680 --> 02:14:04,640
a tournament arc like it's it's hitting a lot of

2608
02:14:04,640 --> 02:14:07,159
big buttons for me in terms of this is the

2609
02:14:07,199 --> 02:14:11,079
sort of story that it feels like refreshing and new

2610
02:14:11,239 --> 02:14:15,279
and different and intriguing and fun and and so in

2611
02:14:15,319 --> 02:14:19,920
that way, it's like cool game freak still has the sauce,

2612
02:14:20,199 --> 02:14:24,039
still has the juice when they need it, but there's

2613
02:14:24,079 --> 02:14:26,319
still a few things that feel like they're holding Pokemon

2614
02:14:26,399 --> 02:14:30,800
back from hitting those like Breath of the Wild, notes

2615
02:14:30,800 --> 02:14:35,760
of like this is becoming this giant, like defining piece

2616
02:14:35,800 --> 02:14:37,800
of this series. Instead, it's like, we got a really

2617
02:14:37,800 --> 02:14:40,640
good Pokemon entry, and I'm happy to have a really

2618
02:14:40,640 --> 02:14:43,479
good Pokemon in tree that can be excited about because

2619
02:14:43,640 --> 02:14:46,720
I liked a lot of aspects of Scarva, but it

2620
02:14:46,800 --> 02:14:48,199
had a lot of hang ups. It had a lot

2621
02:14:48,199 --> 02:14:50,520
of problems with it too, and I like that I'm

2622
02:14:50,680 --> 02:14:52,439
I get to be a little bit less hung up

2623
02:14:52,520 --> 02:14:54,479
on the problems here. But there are still a few

2624
02:14:54,560 --> 02:14:59,399
like asterisks with zaw So. But that being said, I'm

2625
02:14:59,439 --> 02:15:02,560
really enjoying my time with it. I can already tell

2626
02:15:02,600 --> 02:15:04,720
like this is the game that I've wanted on my

2627
02:15:04,800 --> 02:15:08,720
switch to for a while, Bonanza didn't hit as hard

2628
02:15:08,720 --> 02:15:11,640
as I wanted it to. Mario Kart World is Mario

2629
02:15:11,720 --> 02:15:13,439
Kart World, you know. I was never going to sit

2630
02:15:13,439 --> 02:15:15,520
there and play like sixty hours of Mario Kart World.

2631
02:15:15,520 --> 02:15:17,319
I was just going to raise friends that be that.

2632
02:15:17,560 --> 02:15:19,479
But this is the game that I think I've been

2633
02:15:19,479 --> 02:15:21,880
waiting for on my switch too, much like Arcius was

2634
02:15:21,920 --> 02:15:24,000
that game for me on the Switch one, and I'm

2635
02:15:24,119 --> 02:15:26,600
very excited to play more of it. When van Aken

2636
02:15:26,640 --> 02:15:30,279
is out there in the battlefields of real war doing

2637
02:15:30,399 --> 02:15:34,640
crazy stuff with his whole breath, drop shot crap, I'm

2638
02:15:34,640 --> 02:15:37,840
going to be out in the streets of Lumios beating

2639
02:15:37,920 --> 02:15:42,520
up kids pidgies for points.

2640
02:15:42,520 --> 02:15:45,520
Speaker 1: Maybe I'll maybe I'll join you. Yeah, I know.

2641
02:15:45,560 --> 02:15:48,520
Speaker 4: There's multiplayer. Okay, so the multiplayer is kind of crazy.

2642
02:15:48,600 --> 02:15:54,199
I was joking, jokingly calling it Pokemon does Commander because

2643
02:15:54,880 --> 02:15:58,039
it's essentially four players in a battle arena, all bring

2644
02:15:58,079 --> 02:16:02,279
their Pokemon out and ring their teams with them and

2645
02:16:02,319 --> 02:16:04,960
then fight for knockout points and take down points and

2646
02:16:05,000 --> 02:16:07,560
things like that. So you can do kind of a

2647
02:16:07,600 --> 02:16:10,920
weird like it's for player, free for all, so you

2648
02:16:10,960 --> 02:16:13,640
can build alliances and then break them and stuff like that,

2649
02:16:13,720 --> 02:16:15,359
and you're doing kind of fun stuff with that. I

2650
02:16:15,399 --> 02:16:18,600
have not played it yet myself, but I'm very excited

2651
02:16:18,600 --> 02:16:21,199
to do that because I think that's a really fun,

2652
02:16:21,319 --> 02:16:25,119
interesting way to reimagine the Pokemon multiplayer space. I think

2653
02:16:25,279 --> 02:16:28,720
in that way, they announced Pokemon Champions a while back

2654
02:16:28,800 --> 02:16:31,079
as kind of the this is our competitive thing. If

2655
02:16:31,119 --> 02:16:34,120
you want to do turn based competitive Pokemon, go play

2656
02:16:34,120 --> 02:16:37,479
Pokemon Champions. I like that this might free them up

2657
02:16:37,520 --> 02:16:40,479
to do some weirder things with Pokemon multiplayer moving.

2658
02:16:40,239 --> 02:16:44,840
Speaker 2: Forward, call the last I guess big thing is this

2659
02:16:44,879 --> 02:16:46,559
game running all right on switch too?

2660
02:16:46,719 --> 02:16:46,920
Speaker 1: Yes?

2661
02:16:47,639 --> 02:16:51,440
Speaker 4: Yeah, I was playing it handheld last night kick stand

2662
02:16:51,479 --> 02:16:55,000
it out because I just didn't want to hook up

2663
02:16:55,000 --> 02:16:58,799
my dock to anything, and it ran super well. Maybe

2664
02:16:58,840 --> 02:17:02,239
like a few random moments of like oh, going into

2665
02:17:02,280 --> 02:17:03,920
a new area and it was like oh, okay, okay,

2666
02:17:03,920 --> 02:17:07,200
we're good, and that was it. Otherwise it ran really

2667
02:17:07,200 --> 02:17:09,319
really well. I was really happy with it. I haven't

2668
02:17:09,399 --> 02:17:12,440
tried doc yet, so we'll see how that pans out.

2669
02:17:12,479 --> 02:17:16,600
But definitely, I think the biggest thing I remember from

2670
02:17:16,680 --> 02:17:19,120
games even like Arcus, where you would see a Pokemon

2671
02:17:19,159 --> 02:17:20,520
off in the distance and it would kind of look

2672
02:17:20,600 --> 02:17:23,840
like a slideshow. I have not had any of those

2673
02:17:23,840 --> 02:17:27,120
moments yet in in z through Ray, and that's been

2674
02:17:27,239 --> 02:17:31,639
very reaffirming. This is also on normal switch right, No,

2675
02:17:31,840 --> 02:17:34,440
I'm playing on switch to. To clarify, I am playing

2676
02:17:34,440 --> 02:17:34,920
on switch to.

2677
02:17:35,079 --> 02:17:36,760
Speaker 2: Yeah, I was like, I don't know if we heard

2678
02:17:36,760 --> 02:17:38,559
anything yet about how to switch one version.

2679
02:17:39,639 --> 02:17:43,719
Speaker 1: Go via condos on that one go with us, my friend.

2680
02:17:46,600 --> 02:17:49,000
I mean, I've been.

2681
02:17:49,000 --> 02:17:52,920
Speaker 2: Very curious about just the I'm not like into Pokemon.

2682
02:17:54,360 --> 02:17:56,799
Speaker 4: Can you can you pull out the box again and

2683
02:17:56,879 --> 02:17:58,600
check to make sure that there is a Nintendo switch

2684
02:17:58,639 --> 02:18:00,840
to version. I wasn't clear on the box.

2685
02:18:01,079 --> 02:18:04,479
Speaker 1: Also, while I was looking, I also realized the top

2686
02:18:05,200 --> 02:18:11,680
it's one screenshot, but like different cremes, it's all the same.

2687
02:18:12,600 --> 02:18:15,280
They're they're like trying to show an animation playout.

2688
02:18:15,319 --> 02:18:17,639
Speaker 4: I think they tried to put a gift on the

2689
02:18:17,680 --> 02:18:18,360
back of the box.

2690
02:18:18,479 --> 02:18:22,079
Speaker 2: They could they could have had five different photos off

2691
02:18:22,079 --> 02:18:22,399
the game.

2692
02:18:22,479 --> 02:18:24,840
Speaker 1: No, no, no, no, we got a gift. We also

2693
02:18:24,920 --> 02:18:27,959
let's cover up the entire Oh my god. Yeah, this

2694
02:18:28,120 --> 02:18:31,479
is bad product design. I'm just gonna we should.

2695
02:18:31,200 --> 02:18:34,719
Speaker 2: Start reviewing box arts. We just started like accounting that

2696
02:18:34,760 --> 02:18:37,159
into our review scores is how good the box art is.

2697
02:18:37,799 --> 02:18:42,040
Speaker 4: I still don't understand the giant red bar across the

2698
02:18:42,040 --> 02:18:43,760
top of the box art that just says didn't to

2699
02:18:43,840 --> 02:18:47,079
know switch to. That's I think maybe the most danding

2700
02:18:47,120 --> 02:18:50,760
thing for me that I because because for a while

2701
02:18:50,799 --> 02:18:53,280
I thought that was part of the actual box and

2702
02:18:53,319 --> 02:18:54,920
it was just built into it. But no, that's just

2703
02:18:54,920 --> 02:18:57,120
something they're putting on all the box arts for switch to.

2704
02:18:57,399 --> 02:19:02,719
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, gotta let them know it's easy.

2705
02:19:03,360 --> 02:19:07,319
Speaker 4: Yeah, they're really concerned about people buying the wrong edition.

2706
02:19:07,639 --> 02:19:12,600
Speaker 1: I guess. I guess. So well, that's gonna be it

2707
02:19:12,719 --> 02:19:16,559
for the show this week, everybody. Thank you for tuning in.

2708
02:19:16,639 --> 02:19:20,319
Of course, head over to Gaminformer dot com slash subscribe

2709
02:19:20,840 --> 02:19:24,440
to pick up a physical magazine subscription or a digital

2710
02:19:24,440 --> 02:19:28,159
one and get get new issues of Game and Former

2711
02:19:28,200 --> 02:19:32,319
delivered to your door or your inbox ten times a year.

2712
02:19:32,559 --> 02:19:34,440
We got some good stuff coming up on that front.

2713
02:19:34,719 --> 02:19:37,719
Don't forget to check out our Outer Worlds two coverage

2714
02:19:38,040 --> 02:19:42,360
over at Gaminformer dot com slash outer Worlds two, and

2715
02:19:42,920 --> 02:19:45,040
stay tuned for next week on the Game Informer Show.

2716
02:19:45,559 --> 02:19:48,559
I've been Alex, that's been Eric and Marcus be sure

2717
02:19:48,559 --> 02:19:51,360
to follow them. You can follow Eric at C Mousey

2718
02:19:51,920 --> 02:19:56,120
se a m O O S. I follow Marcus Stewart

2719
02:19:56,200 --> 02:20:02,079
at Marcus Stewart seven, so that's a right, Marcus cool.

2720
02:20:02,440 --> 02:20:05,719
And you can follow me at its Van Aiken. That'll

2721
02:20:05,719 --> 02:20:36,040
do it for the show this week. Thanks everybody, goodbye,