WEBVTT 1 00:00:07.960 --> 00:00:12.080 Welcome everybody to the Game Informer Show, a weekly podcast 2 00:00:12.199 --> 00:00:15.240 covering the video game industry. Join us every week for 3 00:00:15.279 --> 00:00:19.120 discussion about the latest gaming news, reviews, and exclusive reveals, 4 00:00:19.120 --> 00:00:23.079 alongside Game Informer staff and special guests from around the industry. 5 00:00:23.359 --> 00:00:25.800 I'm one of your hosts today, Alex Van Aiken, and 6 00:00:25.879 --> 00:00:30.960 I am joined by Marcus Stewart. Hey, Neil, Marcus, Hi. 7 00:00:32.880 --> 00:00:37.039 What's up. It's a reference to our Resident Evil Outbreak 8 00:00:37.240 --> 00:00:42.039 super replay. Shout out to George, one of our hapless companions. 9 00:00:42.039 --> 00:00:44.719 He does that a lot. He just goes hi, and 10 00:00:44.719 --> 00:00:46.520 then he gets like, staff. 11 00:00:46.280 --> 00:00:48.960 I saw that. Y'all are what seven episodes into that? 12 00:00:49.119 --> 00:00:49.799 How's that going? 13 00:00:50.240 --> 00:00:54.200 It's going great. We're stuck in scenario three. We're like 14 00:00:54.280 --> 00:00:56.560 in the middle. We have a key that we don't 15 00:00:56.600 --> 00:00:59.280 know the bad luck goes to. Yet that's our occurrent 16 00:00:59.359 --> 00:01:02.920 sort of hurdle camming. Over All of our companions are idiots. 17 00:01:04.319 --> 00:01:06.840 Cindy died because she carried three red herbs that are useless. 18 00:01:07.079 --> 00:01:08.680 But yeah, it's going it's going good. 19 00:01:08.840 --> 00:01:12.319 It's it's been like, yeah, listeners of your Curious Resident 20 00:01:12.400 --> 00:01:17.239 Evil Outbreak is the what spiritual prequel to Resident Evil 21 00:01:17.280 --> 00:01:19.799 Requiem there's some characters introduced in that. 22 00:01:20.159 --> 00:01:25.000 There's one one, Alyssa Ashcroft, who was who we're playing ass. 23 00:01:25.359 --> 00:01:27.560 He is the only she's the mom of the protagonist. 24 00:01:27.719 --> 00:01:28.040 Yes, and. 25 00:01:29.760 --> 00:01:32.319 Then also dies in requiem like they just showed that. 26 00:01:33.439 --> 00:01:38.760 Okay, great, yeah, sure that's sign Thanks Capcom. We're also 27 00:01:38.879 --> 00:01:40.840 joined by Eric Van Allen. 28 00:01:40.879 --> 00:01:43.920 How you doing, Eric? I'm doing good. I don't have 29 00:01:43.959 --> 00:01:45.040 anything to reference. 30 00:01:45.159 --> 00:01:45.439 I could. 31 00:01:45.680 --> 00:01:48.400 I could be like a Pokemon and just say Eric, Eric, 32 00:01:48.680 --> 00:01:49.280 that's my name. 33 00:01:49.599 --> 00:01:52.480 Eric. We're gonna be talking about that later on in 34 00:01:52.519 --> 00:01:55.560 the show. And we're joined by a special guest, Bill Fairchild. 35 00:01:55.599 --> 00:01:58.120 You might know him from the nerd nest On YouTube 36 00:01:58.239 --> 00:01:59.920 or Patreon. Bill. How you do? 37 00:02:01.040 --> 00:02:03.719 Hey, how's it going everybody? I'm happy to be here. 38 00:02:03.760 --> 00:02:05.599 I didn't know i'd have to have a reference ready, 39 00:02:05.640 --> 00:02:07.239 so you normally don't. 40 00:02:07.359 --> 00:02:10.479 It's you know, they're feeling really, they're feeling extra wild today. 41 00:02:10.680 --> 00:02:13.520 You could reference something that just happened on this show. 42 00:02:14.400 --> 00:02:17.960 Yeah, just hi, yuh, there you go. Oh wow, it's 43 00:02:18.000 --> 00:02:19.120 a residentieval outbreak. 44 00:02:19.319 --> 00:02:20.039 What a callback? 45 00:02:21.199 --> 00:02:25.520 Wow? Bill, thank you for joining us. You and I 46 00:02:25.560 --> 00:02:28.360 met back at Paseas through a mutual friend Bob Wolf 47 00:02:28.800 --> 00:02:31.919 and Hit it off, and yeah, I wanted to have 48 00:02:31.960 --> 00:02:36.680 you come on the show. Your expertise is on PC handhelds, right. 49 00:02:37.680 --> 00:02:40.000 Well, I wouldn't say that I have any expertise in 50 00:02:40.039 --> 00:02:42.680 any area in particular, but I do use a lot 51 00:02:42.719 --> 00:02:44.080 of PC handhelds. 52 00:02:44.159 --> 00:02:44.680 Yeah. 53 00:02:44.879 --> 00:02:48.479 Yeah, And of course the Xbox rock Ally and la 54 00:02:48.800 --> 00:02:51.840 X are out. Now you've spent about a week with them, 55 00:02:51.840 --> 00:02:53.400 if I'm not mistaken. 56 00:02:53.360 --> 00:02:57.080 And yeah, I'm going to pick your brain. Yeah, they're 57 00:02:57.120 --> 00:02:59.199 sitting here at my desk. I've been using them a bunch, 58 00:02:59.240 --> 00:03:02.879 putting them through their I think Microsoft has done some 59 00:03:02.919 --> 00:03:05.840 pretty cool stuff, but maybe it's not quite far enough. 60 00:03:05.840 --> 00:03:06.840 We'll have to talk about it. 61 00:03:07.080 --> 00:03:09.000 Yeah, we'll talk about it in just a second. But 62 00:03:09.039 --> 00:03:10.439 I did want to give you a chance to let 63 00:03:10.479 --> 00:03:14.039 our listeners and our viewers know what nerd nest is 64 00:03:14.080 --> 00:03:15.479 all about and kind of what you get up to 65 00:03:15.520 --> 00:03:16.000 over there. 66 00:03:17.039 --> 00:03:21.039 So nerdnest is my YouTube channel, which is also where 67 00:03:21.080 --> 00:03:26.400 I have my podcast, and basically I do gaming news stuff, 68 00:03:27.000 --> 00:03:30.719 mostly focusing on PC gaming that kind of thing, but 69 00:03:30.879 --> 00:03:34.319 I also will talk about what's happening in the rest 70 00:03:34.319 --> 00:03:37.759 of the industry, hardware reviews, things like that, and then 71 00:03:37.879 --> 00:03:41.439 every week I also have a podcast where it's myself, 72 00:03:41.960 --> 00:03:45.759 the Fox Retro gamecre and Fan the Deck and we 73 00:03:45.800 --> 00:03:48.159 sit down and we look at what's going on in 74 00:03:48.199 --> 00:03:50.159 the industry and just kind of talk about it, and 75 00:03:50.199 --> 00:03:52.280 then in the second half of the show, we usually 76 00:03:52.280 --> 00:03:53.599 talk about the games we've been playing. 77 00:03:54.199 --> 00:03:57.599 Awesome. Well, that seems like a natural recommendation for folks 78 00:03:57.599 --> 00:04:00.360 who listen to this podcast, so make sure to go 79 00:04:00.479 --> 00:04:03.400 and check that out. Nerd Nest is and that's the 80 00:04:03.439 --> 00:04:04.479 name of the podcast as well. 81 00:04:04.560 --> 00:04:08.520 Right, Yeah, everything's nerd Nest which is actually the name 82 00:04:08.560 --> 00:04:11.159 of this room because when we built this room, my 83 00:04:11.240 --> 00:04:13.479 wife was telling one of her friends about it. Yeah, 84 00:04:13.479 --> 00:04:16.240 like that we that I had like this studio and 85 00:04:16.439 --> 00:04:19.720 she said, well we her her friend called it the 86 00:04:19.720 --> 00:04:22.720 man Cave, and my wife goes, well, he doesn't do 87 00:04:22.759 --> 00:04:26.759 anything manly in there, so they called it the nerd Nest. 88 00:04:26.560 --> 00:04:32.120 And I don't. I mean, she's right, I don't do anything. 89 00:04:33.439 --> 00:04:33.920 Likewise. 90 00:04:35.800 --> 00:04:40.720 You like curling a controller, that's probably manly. Yeah, it's 91 00:04:40.759 --> 00:04:42.360 pretty light though. You got to get a lot of 92 00:04:42.399 --> 00:04:44.079 reps in order to get in a good workout. 93 00:04:44.439 --> 00:04:49.839 Yeah, yeah, more about tone than than muscle. Yeah. Uh well, Bill, 94 00:04:50.040 --> 00:04:52.680 thanks for joining us. Let's not waste any more time. 95 00:04:52.759 --> 00:04:56.439 Let's jump into the Xbox rock Ally. Of course, listeners, 96 00:04:56.439 --> 00:04:59.600 if you need a primer, this is the new Xbox 97 00:04:59.639 --> 00:05:04.839 partner with asis Zeus. Who are They've previously made the 98 00:05:05.120 --> 00:05:10.040 rog Ally, which was a very well regarded PC handheld. 99 00:05:10.079 --> 00:05:12.759 You could still buy it today. It's probably what I 100 00:05:12.800 --> 00:05:16.279 would consider to be the main competitor of the steam Deck. 101 00:05:16.399 --> 00:05:18.240 It is more expensive than the seam Deck but has 102 00:05:18.279 --> 00:05:21.040 been known to get better performance and that kind of thing. 103 00:05:21.439 --> 00:05:25.839 And Xbox this new Xbox rog Ally and Ally X, 104 00:05:25.879 --> 00:05:28.240 which are the two different skews. The x is the 105 00:05:28.279 --> 00:05:31.800 more powerful version. These are kind of the the successor 106 00:05:32.120 --> 00:05:36.720 to that first rog Ally, And a lot being talked 107 00:05:36.720 --> 00:05:39.920 about this week about these handhelds and in their performance 108 00:05:40.040 --> 00:05:45.639 and the new sort of Xbox you know, dashboard of 109 00:05:45.720 --> 00:05:48.279 sorts that that it's got on there. But Bill, I'll 110 00:05:48.319 --> 00:05:49.720 kind of toss it over to you to kind of 111 00:05:50.120 --> 00:05:52.839 continue and expand on that primer and kind of kick 112 00:05:52.879 --> 00:05:54.319 us off with the kind of your thoughts on these 113 00:05:54.360 --> 00:05:55.800 devices so far. 114 00:05:55.920 --> 00:05:58.439 Yeah, So just to give everybody background on it. There's 115 00:05:58.560 --> 00:06:01.199 there's two versions. There's the white one and the black one. 116 00:06:01.240 --> 00:06:04.439 The white one has the a M D rise in 117 00:06:04.560 --> 00:06:09.040 Z two A chip set, which is very similar to 118 00:06:09.199 --> 00:06:13.519 the Vangu chipset which is in the Steam Deck, which 119 00:06:13.839 --> 00:06:18.519 they're they're like these these very low power chips that 120 00:06:19.000 --> 00:06:22.639 can't really do too much to push games, but if 121 00:06:22.639 --> 00:06:25.120 you keep the resolution low enough and you turn off 122 00:06:25.120 --> 00:06:27.480 some settings, you can play a lot of different games 123 00:06:27.560 --> 00:06:32.759 on them. The other one is the Xbox ally X 124 00:06:33.040 --> 00:06:37.120 and this one has the Z two Extreme chip set, 125 00:06:37.199 --> 00:06:40.399 which has a lot more power than the Z two 126 00:06:40.480 --> 00:06:44.120 A chip set. Uh, this one will give you a 127 00:06:44.600 --> 00:06:48.360 more power. It also has a bigger battery. It has 128 00:06:48.759 --> 00:06:52.959 the Xbox I forget what they're called, but the Xbox 129 00:06:53.079 --> 00:06:58.879 triggers that have Liketic feedback. Yeah, it has those in it, 130 00:07:00.240 --> 00:07:02.720 but they and then they have seven inch screens, one 131 00:07:02.759 --> 00:07:06.040 hundred and twenty hurts with VRR which will smooth out 132 00:07:06.079 --> 00:07:08.720 that gameplay if you are running into hitches because these 133 00:07:08.720 --> 00:07:12.319 are low power devices. The white one six hundred dollars 134 00:07:12.360 --> 00:07:15.160 and the black one is one thousand dollars, which is 135 00:07:15.560 --> 00:07:19.879 pretty expensive. Yeah, large pill to swallow, it is, and 136 00:07:20.040 --> 00:07:22.639 I think that I think that this would have been 137 00:07:22.959 --> 00:07:25.079 the for the audio listeners. Sorry, I'm holding up The 138 00:07:25.079 --> 00:07:28.120 white one would have been better off at five hundred 139 00:07:28.160 --> 00:07:30.480 dollars and the black one probably would have been better 140 00:07:30.519 --> 00:07:33.839 off at eight hundred dollars, but according to Microsoft, market 141 00:07:33.879 --> 00:07:38.240 conditions forced them to raise those prices. So, yeah, things 142 00:07:38.279 --> 00:07:41.240 are pretty expensive right now. I mean everything's expensive right now. 143 00:07:41.519 --> 00:07:45.000 Yeah, of course, yeah, it's no strain. I mean everything's 144 00:07:45.000 --> 00:07:48.000 getting all prices are getting raised lately. It's a shame. 145 00:07:48.240 --> 00:07:51.199 But you know, what do you think about the devices? Like, 146 00:07:51.240 --> 00:07:53.519 how are you enjoying them? What's kind of your use 147 00:07:54.040 --> 00:07:56.879 case looking like the past week with these things? 148 00:07:57.639 --> 00:07:59.199 So I think that. 149 00:08:00.639 --> 00:08:03.439 When you're trying to like when people ask that question, 150 00:08:03.600 --> 00:08:06.639 usually they're trying to decide do I want this or 151 00:08:06.680 --> 00:08:09.720 do I want that? Like which device do I want? 152 00:08:10.279 --> 00:08:14.399 And I think that for the most part, when when 153 00:08:15.160 --> 00:08:17.839 people kind of get stuck in a console war mentality 154 00:08:17.879 --> 00:08:20.240 that this is better than that, it isn't really like 155 00:08:20.319 --> 00:08:23.480 that because all of these play essentially the same games. 156 00:08:24.480 --> 00:08:26.759 You want to buy a Steam Deck, then the Steam 157 00:08:26.800 --> 00:08:28.439 Deck is going to play the same games that these 158 00:08:28.439 --> 00:08:31.680 are going to play, and so they're just PCs. 159 00:08:32.600 --> 00:08:32.799 Now. 160 00:08:32.840 --> 00:08:35.200 The fact that they have an Xbox logo on these 161 00:08:35.240 --> 00:08:40.840 new ones that introduces like this expectation that I think 162 00:08:40.840 --> 00:08:43.960 that people have that oh, okay, well it's going to 163 00:08:44.000 --> 00:08:47.919 be like an Xbox, and they're not like xboxes. They're 164 00:08:48.000 --> 00:08:54.120 more like Xboxes than any previous Windows PC handheld that 165 00:08:54.159 --> 00:08:58.200 I've seen. But still I think that Microsoft has further 166 00:08:58.279 --> 00:09:00.600 to go in order to get the UI really where 167 00:09:00.600 --> 00:09:03.720 it needs to be, to where you never really realize 168 00:09:03.879 --> 00:09:08.039 that you're just running Windows. Of course, the advantages that 169 00:09:08.120 --> 00:09:11.639 these play Steam games, they play Epic games, they play 170 00:09:11.799 --> 00:09:14.000 Goog games. You can play whatever the hell you want 171 00:09:14.039 --> 00:09:18.399 on this Really you can play everything, and that's one 172 00:09:18.399 --> 00:09:21.720 of the really great things about devices like this. If 173 00:09:21.720 --> 00:09:25.080 you're trying to decide between, say a Steam Deck and 174 00:09:25.320 --> 00:09:28.000 one of these things, it really depends on what kind 175 00:09:28.000 --> 00:09:31.000 of games that you're going to be playing and how 176 00:09:31.080 --> 00:09:36.720 important Windows is to you. Because with Windows it plays everything. 177 00:09:37.120 --> 00:09:39.639 On the Steam Deck, you lose the ability to play 178 00:09:39.679 --> 00:09:44.120 games that are like that use anti cheat or DRM, or. 179 00:09:44.159 --> 00:09:45.759 A lot of multiplayer games are. 180 00:09:47.759 --> 00:09:51.039 Exactly Or if you really are into game pass, even 181 00:09:51.080 --> 00:09:55.480 though it's now thirty dollars a month, then these are 182 00:09:55.639 --> 00:09:57.440 the devices that you would want to get over a 183 00:09:57.519 --> 00:10:01.039 Steam deck, because you can't do game pass games on 184 00:10:01.120 --> 00:10:02.440 steam Deck for the most part. 185 00:10:03.200 --> 00:10:06.399 Yeah, there are some you know, some workarounds, but I 186 00:10:06.440 --> 00:10:09.639 think that the average user is not going to go 187 00:10:09.720 --> 00:10:12.399 through the trouble of doing what you need to do 188 00:10:12.440 --> 00:10:14.279 to get other launches to run on the steam Deck. 189 00:10:14.320 --> 00:10:17.360 I remember when I first unboxed my It was the 190 00:10:17.440 --> 00:10:20.080 first it was the LCD Steam Deck had just come out, 191 00:10:20.360 --> 00:10:23.559 and I went to the trouble of installing battle Neet 192 00:10:23.759 --> 00:10:26.000 and I was playing Ward of Warcraft with like this 193 00:10:26.840 --> 00:10:30.440 controller mod and it was it was very cool for like, 194 00:10:30.519 --> 00:10:32.759 oh this thing can do this, but it was a 195 00:10:32.799 --> 00:10:35.679 massive pain in the ass anytime I wanted to actually 196 00:10:35.759 --> 00:10:39.360 go and play it or like have a smooth experience. 197 00:10:39.679 --> 00:10:40.919 And there's a lot of that kind of stuff with 198 00:10:40.960 --> 00:10:43.200 the steam Deck where if you put in the effort, 199 00:10:43.240 --> 00:10:45.399 yeah you can, you can. You can get stuff to work, 200 00:10:45.480 --> 00:10:47.279 you know, you can get emulation to run and all 201 00:10:47.320 --> 00:10:52.200 that sort of stuff. But having a Windows handheld, you know, 202 00:10:52.399 --> 00:10:55.200 just opens the door to so much more you know, 203 00:10:55.399 --> 00:11:00.440 native support. And I think particularly games like like a 204 00:11:00.480 --> 00:11:03.039 Marvel Rivals, for instance, I would love to play that 205 00:11:04.759 --> 00:11:09.600 on this device, or a Fortnite right something that previously, 206 00:11:09.799 --> 00:11:11.679 you know, I haven't been able to play really because 207 00:11:11.720 --> 00:11:16.000 of anti cheat yeh, but but yeah it. 208 00:11:16.279 --> 00:11:18.559 So is it fair to say as someone like me 209 00:11:18.600 --> 00:11:20.679 who is like, I have a gaming PC, but I 210 00:11:20.720 --> 00:11:24.120 am a console person. I just like the convenience of console. 211 00:11:24.720 --> 00:11:28.360 Is the rock ally better? For like, if I don't 212 00:11:28.399 --> 00:11:30.480 want to fiddle with anything and I just want the 213 00:11:30.519 --> 00:11:32.519 closest thing to just like, I just want to install 214 00:11:32.519 --> 00:11:36.200 the games and they're most likely just play. Is this 215 00:11:36.639 --> 00:11:38.320 a better option than the Steam Deck? 216 00:11:40.639 --> 00:11:41.080 I wouldn't. 217 00:11:41.080 --> 00:11:44.320 I would say that it's pretty similar. It also does 218 00:11:44.360 --> 00:11:46.320 depend on what games you're gonna play, Like, if you're 219 00:11:46.320 --> 00:11:49.600 just playing like a bunch of indie games or mostly 220 00:11:49.679 --> 00:11:52.559 single player stuff that you never have to like go online, 221 00:11:53.320 --> 00:11:56.759 then when you like, the Steam Deck will play of 222 00:11:56.879 --> 00:12:02.000 the vast majority of my library, it won't play anything 223 00:12:02.080 --> 00:12:05.039 that's on the Epic Games Store because the Epic Game 224 00:12:05.080 --> 00:12:07.919 Store doesn't support Well, that's not necessarily true, because you 225 00:12:07.960 --> 00:12:11.600 couldn't do the things that Alex was talking about before. 226 00:12:11.720 --> 00:12:12.480 Not out of the box. 227 00:12:13.120 --> 00:12:15.080 Yeah, not out of the box. You will have to 228 00:12:15.200 --> 00:12:19.159 jump through hoops. Honestly, if you are a console player, 229 00:12:19.759 --> 00:12:22.840 my recommendation if you want something to play portably is 230 00:12:22.879 --> 00:12:25.919 to just get a switch to, not because I think 231 00:12:25.919 --> 00:12:29.120 that the switch to is necessarily better, but it doesn't 232 00:12:29.200 --> 00:12:32.480 require any thinking on the part of the end user. 233 00:12:32.600 --> 00:12:35.200 You'd never have to sit down to play a game 234 00:12:35.279 --> 00:12:37.360 and be like, how the hell does this work? 235 00:12:37.399 --> 00:12:37.639 Again? 236 00:12:37.960 --> 00:12:40.399 Oh I remember now, or I have to go look 237 00:12:40.480 --> 00:12:44.240 something up. There's just a lot less friction that way, 238 00:12:45.039 --> 00:12:47.200 if that makes sense. But that also closes off a 239 00:12:47.240 --> 00:12:49.120 lot of games to you if you're playing only on 240 00:12:49.159 --> 00:12:49.759 the switch too. 241 00:12:50.440 --> 00:12:50.919 Yeah. 242 00:12:51.000 --> 00:12:51.120 Right. 243 00:12:52.919 --> 00:12:56.120 Something that I've been really curious about is this has evolved, 244 00:12:56.759 --> 00:12:59.039 this entire market that kind of just sprung out of 245 00:12:59.679 --> 00:13:02.919 Valve deciding to do Steam decks and and try to 246 00:13:02.960 --> 00:13:05.759 make these at home PCs. Is that even going back 247 00:13:05.759 --> 00:13:07.759 before steam Deck to things like it was the Steam 248 00:13:07.799 --> 00:13:12.200 machines and things like that, you know, it always ended 249 00:13:12.240 --> 00:13:15.799 up being kind of almost a pro sumer product because 250 00:13:15.799 --> 00:13:17.759 you needed to be somebody who was willing to tinker. 251 00:13:17.919 --> 00:13:21.159 You needed to be willing to Even if you play 252 00:13:21.159 --> 00:13:22.879 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 00:13:25.960 --> 00:13:28.679 you might need to tinker to get the experience that 255 00:13:28.759 --> 00:13:31.919 you want that you you kind of hope for. Whereas, 256 00:13:31.960 --> 00:13:35.080 like you said, switch to you boot it up and 257 00:13:35.120 --> 00:13:37.399 what you get is what you get, and to some 258 00:13:37.480 --> 00:13:39.440 degree that that can be good or bad. I mean, 259 00:13:39.440 --> 00:13:41.759 on end of switch one life cycle, we kind of 260 00:13:41.799 --> 00:13:44.960 saw how that got a little tired after a while. 261 00:13:45.960 --> 00:13:50.279 But the flip side is that you aren't going to 262 00:13:50.320 --> 00:13:52.480 have to deal with those menus and stuff like that. 263 00:13:52.559 --> 00:13:55.039 So do you feel like it being a Windows platform 264 00:13:55.159 --> 00:13:57.600 does at least smooth out a little bit more of 265 00:13:57.639 --> 00:14:00.399 that for steam Deck and for the Linux side of 266 00:14:00.440 --> 00:14:02.720 things where people might not be as familiar or even 267 00:14:02.919 --> 00:14:04.759 like ready to do that kind of stuff. Or are 268 00:14:04.799 --> 00:14:07.200 you still kind of having to go into menus to 269 00:14:07.240 --> 00:14:10.159 optimize to kind of deal with the things that come 270 00:14:10.240 --> 00:14:13.039 with kind of a PC environment. 271 00:14:14.320 --> 00:14:16.960 Yeah, So I guess the way that I would put 272 00:14:17.000 --> 00:14:19.080 that is, like, let's say you're playing a game on 273 00:14:19.120 --> 00:14:23.360 the Nintendo Switch too, you don't have to worry well, okay, 274 00:14:23.399 --> 00:14:25.600 you don't have to worry on these new devices either, 275 00:14:25.679 --> 00:14:27.720 but you might want to. You don't have to worry 276 00:14:27.759 --> 00:14:32.159 on a switch to how much power the device needs 277 00:14:32.159 --> 00:14:33.919 in order to run the game that you want to play. 278 00:14:34.320 --> 00:14:37.159 So if I'm playing a game like let's say I'm 279 00:14:37.200 --> 00:14:42.000 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 00:14:48.679 --> 00:14:53.000 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 00:14:56.759 --> 00:15:00.000 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 00:15:09.480 --> 00:15:11.919 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 00:15:19.600 --> 00:15:22.240 and you say, all right, well, I'm playing a simple game, 291 00:15:22.320 --> 00:15:25.080 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 00:15:33.639 --> 00:15:36.559 all that stuff out for you, so then you say, 295 00:15:36.600 --> 00:15:38.440 I'm going to launch this game, and you never have 296 00:15:38.519 --> 00:15:41.600 to think about that. So, even though I do think 297 00:15:41.639 --> 00:15:44.159 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 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 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 Alli, original white rog Ally? 379 00:19:55.240 --> 00:19:58.920 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 Deck, which is the van Go chipset. 384 00:20:12.440 --> 00:20:15.039 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 Oh wow. 399 00:21:01.640 --> 00:21:05.079 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 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 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 Oh cool, I didn't realize that. 417 00:21:54.960 --> 00:21:58.440 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 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 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 Three frames per second. 438 00:22:58.720 --> 00:23:02.519 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 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 Yes, but it's also one thousand dollars. 458 00:24:05.799 --> 00:24:07.519 Yes, yes, very true, very true. 459 00:24:08.319 --> 00:24:12.799 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 They're a little bit. 535 00:28:19.880 --> 00:28:23.480 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 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 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 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 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 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 Oh cool. 573 00:30:16.839 --> 00:30:19.519 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 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 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 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 And it. 630 00:33:04.240 --> 00:33:05.559 Yeah, it worked, it functions. 631 00:33:05.920 --> 00:33:07.400 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 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 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 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 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 I didn't realize that that's great. 648 00:33:50.640 --> 00:33:53.279 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 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 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 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 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 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 Dollars, yeah, which is expensive, but. 690 00:36:01.639 --> 00:36:04.000 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 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 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 Yeah. 737 00:38:18.679 --> 00:38:21.320 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 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 Live out that switch commercial Roof of the Park. 748 00:38:47.239 --> 00:38:47.920 Yeah. 749 00:38:48.000 --> 00:38:52.760 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 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 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 What kind of games do you play? 784 00:40:32.840 --> 00:40:37.480 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 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 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 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 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 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 He won't admit it. 808 00:41:45.880 --> 00:41:47.280 He won't he won't admit it. 809 00:41:48.119 --> 00:41:49.920 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 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 Okay, that's half of a raw Yx too, Yeah yeah, yeah. 829 00:42:55.360 --> 00:42:59.000 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 I haven't played Overpit's sick. 869 00:45:00.280 --> 00:45:03.880 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 Do you guys remember Doctor Katz? Yeah, comedy. 923 00:47:55.719 --> 00:47:56.920 I love Doctor Katz. 924 00:47:57.400 --> 00:48:00.719 Okay, Doctor Katz had this squigglevis and that's what. 925 00:48:02.639 --> 00:48:03.880 Cloverpit reminds me of. 926 00:48:03.880 --> 00:48:06.960 It's Squigglevision, the Doctor Katz and video games. They call it. 927 00:48:08.320 --> 00:48:11.480 Finally Yeah, we finally made one. 928 00:48:12.280 --> 00:48:16.079 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 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 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 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 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 Yes, we're just talking about legends, Yes, various myths. 954 00:49:31.559 --> 00:49:37.719 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 Do you think I would like it? 965 00:50:13.679 --> 00:50:17.360 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 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 Am like a roguelike guy. I just look. 1018 00:53:20.440 --> 00:53:24.840 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 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 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 Off of them. 1077 00:56:19.760 --> 00:56:22.400 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 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 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 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 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 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 Oh okay, gotcha? 1113 00:58:12.079 --> 00:58:14.639 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 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 Most builds you can get away with auto. 1122 00:58:34.199 --> 00:58:37.000 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 Why would I? You know? 1129 00:58:47.320 --> 00:58:49.320 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 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 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 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 That one. 1225 01:03:31.639 --> 01:03:35.400 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 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 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 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 Do you just you start over again? 1278 01:05:55.119 --> 01:05:56.360 You just do a new run? 1279 01:05:56.800 --> 01:05:58.840 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 Get that progression. 1291 01:06:31.199 --> 01:06:33.559 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 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 I'm constantly rearranging things. 1311 01:07:27.360 --> 01:07:29.480 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 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 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 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 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 Yeah. Yeah. 1358 01:09:58.039 --> 01:10:01.920 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 Yeah. 1366 01:10:17.119 --> 01:10:19.920 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 Yeah, that's really the manager. 1372 01:10:31.239 --> 01:10:33.439 Yeah, you're like, I've set this up so well, this. 1373 01:10:33.479 --> 01:10:36.079 Is my reward. Yeah yeah, yeah. 1374 01:10:36.239 --> 01:10:38.359 Some of the best gaming is just middle management. 1375 01:10:39.079 --> 01:10:42.159 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 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 Is that not the final boss? Like you find the middle. 1381 01:10:53.800 --> 01:10:57.159 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 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 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 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 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 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 Oh this supernatural killing. 1486 01:16:48.560 --> 01:16:49.960 People were torn apart. 1487 01:16:49.720 --> 01:16:50.359 In this building. 1488 01:16:50.439 --> 01:16:52.960 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 Yeah. 1493 01:17:06.159 --> 01:17:11.800 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 Yeah? 1499 01:17:24.359 --> 01:17:25.359 Yeah, it's the same thing. 1500 01:17:27.439 --> 01:17:31.600 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 I'm making. 1543 01:19:39.399 --> 01:19:42.600 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 Yeah. 1573 01:21:07.359 --> 01:21:08.159 Yeah, is it. 1574 01:21:08.079 --> 01:21:11.199 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 Really. 1579 01:21:17.840 --> 01:21:21.159 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 Just choosing your starter clan, but you're the other stuff anyway. 1600 01:22:26.520 --> 01:22:29.760 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 Things like that. 1629 01:23:55.159 --> 01:23:58.720 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 Yeah, yeah. 1653 01:25:13.479 --> 01:25:16.039 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 At all that you'll have the franchise. 1668 01:26:04.960 --> 01:26:07.479 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 Sort of thing. 1696 01:27:32.520 --> 01:27:36.560 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 Mhmm, damn, that's a bummer. 1750 01:30:05.840 --> 01:30:07.479 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 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 Yeah or something. 1764 01:30:40.720 --> 01:30:42.319 Yea Ryan really liked that one. 1765 01:30:42.359 --> 01:30:45.199 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 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 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 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 Quite everyone related on the front line. 1806 01:32:49.279 --> 01:32:53.680 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 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 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 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 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 You know remember when. 1882 01:37:06.600 --> 01:37:09.079 Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's. 1883 01:37:08.960 --> 01:37:10.920 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 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 It wasnt you just called it out for everyone. 1893 01:37:35.359 --> 01:37:37.920 Well I got it from a youth, Yeah that's me. 1894 01:37:39.279 --> 01:37:41.479 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 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 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 Yeah, yeah, it. 1954 01:41:00.439 --> 01:41:03.279 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 Yeah, a lot of. 1975 01:42:01.880 --> 01:42:04.600 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 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 They do need boats boats. 2000 01:43:08.960 --> 01:43:11.239 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 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 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 It's about boatsm Titanic. 2010 01:43:43.039 --> 01:43:45.239 No, No, it was about battlefield. But that's okay. 2011 01:43:47.000 --> 01:43:49.760 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 To do that. 2048 01:45:30.880 --> 01:45:31.560 Yeah. 2049 01:45:31.600 --> 01:45:33.960 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 Yeah, exactly what we needed. 2053 01:45:42.000 --> 01:45:43.760 Yeah, that's we all needed that. 2054 01:45:44.239 --> 01:45:48.199 Finally we wiped out bullet scarcity. 2055 01:45:50.680 --> 01:45:52.720 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 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 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 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 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 Yep? 2104 01:48:21.399 --> 01:48:23.880 I don't know anything about this game, so please enlighten me. 2105 01:48:24.680 --> 01:48:27.399 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 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 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 This is a whimsical horror. 2240 01:55:49.560 --> 01:55:53.159 Yeah, yeah, you're like, oh, that owl looks a little creepy. 2241 01:55:54.199 --> 01:55:55.840 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 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 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 Number paragraph? They did? They put it back on the front. 2274 01:57:43.439 --> 01:57:43.560 There. 2275 01:57:43.760 --> 01:57:46.000 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 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 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 They get what they deserve. 2294 01:58:43.479 --> 01:58:48.039 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 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 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 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 Showed it off. 2311 01:59:40.439 --> 01:59:43.159 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 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 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 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 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 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 Yeah, that's what it was. 2326 02:00:21.399 --> 02:00:24.840 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 Oh? 2329 02:00:25.439 --> 02:00:26.279 Someone dies this? 2330 02:00:27.760 --> 02:00:27.960 Yeah? 2331 02:00:28.199 --> 02:00:31.039 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 Brian. 2358 02:01:37.600 --> 02:01:41.399 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 We said we're not letting him out until he catches. 2361 02:01:46.399 --> 02:01:49.800 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 No. 2364 02:01:53.600 --> 02:01:56.239 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 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 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 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 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 I love it. 2420 02:04:34.000 --> 02:04:37.920 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 You know. You go into the. 2433 02:05:11.000 --> 02:05:15.600 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 So it's. 2458 02:06:18.039 --> 02:06:21.039 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 I at that moment. 2473 02:07:01.479 --> 02:07:03.000 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 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 It's hey, look, that's that's an all time goat right there. 2482 02:07:22.439 --> 02:07:25.079 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 Right, Yeah, I didn't. 2504 02:08:30.680 --> 02:08:34.920 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 So did I. 2509 02:08:42.960 --> 02:08:45.039 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 Man, right or die? 2520 02:09:15.159 --> 02:09:17.680 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 Okay, so I do like the like, oh, okay. 2530 02:09:52.960 --> 02:09:55.079 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 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 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 Because I imagine it came like it does. 2544 02:10:41.880 --> 02:10:45.600 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 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 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 It's weird. It's just weird, and. 2585 02:12:50.920 --> 02:12:54.359 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 Maybe I'll maybe I'll join you. Yeah, I know. 2641 02:15:45.560 --> 02:15:48.520 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 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 Yes? 2661 02:16:47.639 --> 02:16:51.440 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 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 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 Very curious about just the I'm not like into Pokemon. 2682 02:17:54.360 --> 02:17:56.799 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 Yeah, yeah, gotta let them know it's easy. 2705 02:19:03.360 --> 02:19:07.319 Yeah, they're really concerned about people buying the wrong edition. 2706 02:19:07.639 --> 02:19:12.600 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,