Speaker 1: Hey, everybody, Happy Friday, May thirtieth. This is Game Spot
Speaker 1: After Dark, episode two hundred and sixty seven. I am
Speaker 1: your host, John Luke Sipeke. Join. Next to me is
Speaker 1: one Jacob.
Speaker 2: Decker the Podfather. I'm gonna I'm gonna bring that name
Speaker 2: back for today.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Do you know about that name, the pod Father?
Speaker 1: I don't know about anything.
Speaker 2: Who said that? But someone said that this is Lucy.
Speaker 2: I think it was Lucy joint father. That's really good father.
Speaker 2: After I left and then I came back to do
Speaker 2: what one hundredth episode or two?
Speaker 1: Yeah, we were referred to him as the Podfather and
Speaker 1: I should you should never They should have never left.
Speaker 3: They should have every episode should have been And I'm
Speaker 3: sitting here with the pod Father.
Speaker 1: Oh that's on me. I guess for dropping the ball
Speaker 1: now one, All.
Speaker 2: Right, Jean Luke rolled the Godfather music to play under
Speaker 2: my right now.
Speaker 1: Just played for like half a second. Too much. Stuff
Speaker 1: is going to get delicted.
Speaker 3: We're gonna get copyright strikes because we're so good at
Speaker 3: uh being Italian.
Speaker 1: Someone who knows all about being Italian kind of over there.
Speaker 1: I am learning, you're learning Italian. One. That's all I
Speaker 1: got on I could I.
Speaker 3: Think, uh I saw the kurt Okay.
Speaker 1: Hi, Hey everyone, it's weird we're sitting here again after
Speaker 1: Uh guess when the last time we upluted an episode was?
Speaker 1: What Jesus how long? Well? I mean we've been through
Speaker 1: a lot.
Speaker 3: I mean, yeah, we've been going through a roller coaster
Speaker 3: trying to figure things out to the thumbs a.
Speaker 1: Bit April exact dates, Yeah, eighteenth yep, wow?
Speaker 2: What because that was because I remember someone had said
Speaker 2: happy birthday to me and I was like, oh, thank you.
Speaker 2: I'm surprised anyone knew that. But also it was two
Speaker 2: days after my birthday. That's I remember, Happy birthday.
Speaker 1: Podfay Man, What a different world it was.
Speaker 3: You?
Speaker 1: You, your Marlon Brando. You just you're always like do
Speaker 1: your impressions come on doing an impression. That's just trying
Speaker 1: to trick people.
Speaker 3: That's not tricking, that's trying to see what talents you
Speaker 3: have hidden.
Speaker 1: You got it?
Speaker 4: You come you come to me this episode of I
Speaker 4: Can't do it.
Speaker 1: You come to me on this episode.
Speaker 4: That's much better.
Speaker 3: You kind of you know, you kind of sound like
Speaker 3: someone on a donkey should be in the desert.
Speaker 2: I do or Jean Luke doesert we both do you
Speaker 2: do the Podfather does on a donkey or a camel.
Speaker 1: Close your eyes and dream of a place and see
Speaker 1: what I'm just gonna do that.
Speaker 4: I feel like we have important things to talk about.
Speaker 1: We do. So can we start from the top of
Speaker 1: the whole thing? Yeah, just go ahead and introduced again. Hey, everybody,
Speaker 1: welcome the game Spot after Dark, Episode two hundred and
Speaker 1: sixty seven.
Speaker 3: It has been over a month since we've recorded. I
Speaker 3: bet you I remember the date the last day that
Speaker 3: we love it. We would it be Kurt April eighth, Kurt,
Speaker 3: you get a gold star two days sorry Caper of
Speaker 3: Jake Decker, the Podfather, I remember his birthday. If we
Speaker 3: start on that, JD this one letter above, So we're
Speaker 3: just going to keep it grew up in Jake so
Speaker 3: he doesn't get to say what he wants. Okay, Okay,
Speaker 3: all right, we've been gone for a month, over a month,
Speaker 3: so Tim really seriously, yes.
Speaker 1: Uh, it has been it has been a minute. I
Speaker 1: am sure most of you listening are probably aware of
Speaker 1: the news and the goings on that have happened since
Speaker 1: we have last been on. For those of you who
Speaker 1: do not know, uh, fandom sold Giant Bomb to one
Speaker 1: Jeff Backlar and Jeff Grubb, and they now co own
Speaker 1: it with Janet Choa, Dan Reikert, Mike Manatti, and they
Speaker 1: are now independent. They are now separate from Game Spot.
Speaker 1: And the reason I bring this up is because one,
Speaker 1: we have been sister sits with Giant BM for Prettysion
Speaker 1: the entire time I've been at game Spot, you know,
Speaker 1: nine years longer than that. I think they joined like
Speaker 1: twenty twelve, twenty thirteen, thirteen. So yeah, I mean it's
Speaker 1: it's it's surreal no longer being like coworkers with them
Speaker 1: and uh working with them, and so I don't know,
Speaker 1: like personally, I definitely like feel a sadness to that,
Speaker 1: especially because over the last few months we were working
Speaker 1: much more closely in tandem on like content and you know,
Speaker 1: like we're pairing on their stuff and their parent on
Speaker 1: our stuff. So it's just it's just kind of a
Speaker 1: bittersweet feeling. But it's it's, uh, we're gonna miss them,
Speaker 1: but also we wish them the best, uh and uh
Speaker 1: excited to see what kind of stuff they continue to
Speaker 1: cook up.
Speaker 3: Yeah, they were always a it was a during when
Speaker 3: I first came here. They were always kind of a
Speaker 3: a spirit that exists often their corner from the corner.
Speaker 2: So uh.
Speaker 3: And obviously I knew them as people personas and the
Speaker 3: characters they they represented on Giant Bomb, but it was
Speaker 3: during definitely during these uh the last few months, and
Speaker 3: I was like, I don't know, we were arm in arm. Yeah,
Speaker 3: you know, basically for a while, so like Jeff Grubb,
Speaker 3: Damn Record, Jan and Crewe to Backler of course, yeah, uh,
Speaker 3: we were interlocked in many ways.
Speaker 1: Jam was in the back often helping out with the podcast. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, but I was.
Speaker 2: Just gonna say just to you know, take it way back.
Speaker 2: I was very intimidated. I don't really I've never really
Speaker 2: followed Giant Bomb stuff until I started working at a
Speaker 2: game spot. But I was very intimidated when I first
Speaker 2: met them in twenty fifteen as an intern, because I
Speaker 2: like didn't really know them. But Mary God bless Her
Speaker 2: was like, you got to meet the Giant Bomb folks,
Speaker 2: and I was like, okay, yeah, So like was this
Speaker 2: was still the third floor at the CBS building and
Speaker 2: they were like chucked into this musty corner there. Yeah,
Speaker 2: and we walk up and it's dead silence, and Mary's like,
Speaker 2: this is Jake, He's our intern, and like the whole
Speaker 2: room stops typing and they look at me and they're like, hey,
Speaker 2: what's up and then go back to type. And I
Speaker 2: was like, okay, uh, they're very separate from us. But
Speaker 2: it was cool over the years seeing Giant Bomb GameSpot
Speaker 2: collaborate more and especially like coming to that point. It
Speaker 2: was always funny outside coming in because I would I
Speaker 2: had a similar experience for like, oh hi, and they're
Speaker 2: just like and like to be fairy. It's like, well, yeah,
Speaker 2: they're they're working, but like them in the office environment
Speaker 2: were actually like very quiet, very focused game Spot. But
Speaker 2: I started the Oxus, we were the obnoxious, rowdy like
Speaker 2: frat house, like just like yelling and like screaming.
Speaker 1: And playing Rocket. I started here, which.
Speaker 3: Is like the whole or opposite perspective, I would say,
Speaker 3: from the outside, yeah, probably, you know, it was very funny.
Speaker 3: I started in twenty nineteen, and again I remember walking
Speaker 3: through the Giant Bomb section and it was always dead silent.
Speaker 1: Yeah, always dead silent.
Speaker 3: And then it would come over to the game Spot
Speaker 3: side three pm.
Speaker 1: Beers Peter Brown's getting the beers.
Speaker 3: Pier may have been cracked over at one point, and
Speaker 3: then Rocky League would start and then all of a sudden,
Speaker 3: it was so obnoxious, and you had Persia in the
Speaker 3: corner playing Apex Legends, screaming oh yeah, so yeah, yeah,
Speaker 3: but you know, I guess that's where their energies were
Speaker 3: reserved for being on camera. It makes sense talking constantly,
Speaker 3: and for us it was we were so much more
Speaker 3: information driven and so much more yeah, so our personalities
Speaker 3: were not.
Speaker 1: We didn't have the same outlet on camera, so we
Speaker 1: had to get it out like in person.
Speaker 3: Yeah, which seems a pretty natural segue to yeah, this
Speaker 3: to the future of what this podcast is and.
Speaker 1: And Game Spot Video as a whole. Yeah. So, I
Speaker 1: mean obviously, like we've been very closely collaborating with Giant
Speaker 1: Bomb and now that they are independent, So what does
Speaker 1: that mean for what we're doing on our end? So,
Speaker 1: if you've been paying attention to the YouTube channel, we
Speaker 1: have gone back to traditional scripted veoed video reviews, gone
Speaker 1: back to previews. We're kind of we keep calling it
Speaker 1: going back to basics here. I'm for whatever reason, I
Speaker 1: don't love that term, but I guess I guess that's
Speaker 1: what it is, but we're trying to kind of look
Speaker 1: back at what we've done in the past, what works,
Speaker 1: what our audience wants, while also I think learning certain
Speaker 1: lessons from what we've been doing in the past. So
Speaker 1: like one of the things that we're going to continue
Speaker 1: to do. What I like doing is these more off
Speaker 1: the cuff two camera stuff where we've been like having
Speaker 1: somebody sit down in the studio and kind of give
Speaker 1: their impressions on it. I reminisced about the Witcher last
Speaker 1: week exactly, Kurt. You did one on Doom about the
Speaker 1: Power Fantasy, did one on Expedition, and then we have
Speaker 1: like the person on behind the camera kind of bantering
Speaker 1: back and forth with them a little bit. Our audience
Speaker 1: seems to like that, and I like doing those, so
Speaker 1: I think we should keep I like doing them.
Speaker 3: I feel if it's in a post COVID world where
Speaker 3: we're actually back in the office and actually trying to
Speaker 3: do things. This was something that we tried doing at
Speaker 3: least I was a part of right at the tail
Speaker 3: end before COVID happened, where we were experimenting with the
Speaker 3: idea of having people who did editorial the editorial team
Speaker 3: actually get in front of a camera and try and
Speaker 3: do their preview there what would be their traditional preview review,
Speaker 3: but do it in front of a camera, and we
Speaker 3: would have people behind the camera kind of directing them
Speaker 3: and having it be more conversational. So it came off
Speaker 3: as natural as human as possible.
Speaker 1: Yep.
Speaker 3: And we have not been able to do that until recently.
Speaker 3: So it's like, yes, let's get back in the studio,
Speaker 3: let's use multi caams, let's include the people who are
Speaker 3: behind the cameras and actually talking, like push that conversation
Speaker 3: and be more natural about it.
Speaker 1: So agreed. I feel way better about that too.
Speaker 2: And I also like, I think in the ten years
Speaker 2: I've been at game Spot, now this is the most
Speaker 2: focused I think our YouTube strategy plan has been because
Speaker 2: I don't know how long some people have been following
Speaker 2: game Spot, but I'm sure they know for a very
Speaker 2: long time, we post so much stuff all the time.
Speaker 4: It was overwhelming. It was trailers, but we.
Speaker 2: Are focused on reviews, previews and those sort of op
Speaker 2: ed videos, as well as some other stuff here and there,
Speaker 2: Like I'm sure Max is going to have something to
Speaker 2: say about Zelda, and like we might do some interest
Speaker 2: analysis switch to analysis analysis.
Speaker 1: We have room for us to I mean, I don't
Speaker 1: think we're ever gonna shoot down if someone has like
Speaker 1: a weird idea they want to try. I think we
Speaker 1: should always be, you know, encouraging newest stuff. But you're right,
Speaker 1: very focus, which I think is I think it is
Speaker 1: good for us. I think it's better for the audience.
Speaker 1: So I'm I'm excited about all that we got to
Speaker 1: focus this podcast one of the most unfocused, one of
Speaker 1: the most unfocused. What do you mean we're so consistent.
Speaker 1: We've never missed a week.
Speaker 3: It's like since April eighteenth, we've just been showing up
Speaker 3: week after week.
Speaker 1: Oh we forgot to record those past six episodes. Oh
Speaker 1: you know, I just I just didn't get uploaded. Shut
Speaker 1: So I think, uh it, it probably would not be
Speaker 1: a surprise to the audience to hear that. I think
Speaker 1: we have struggled with the focus of this this podcast
Speaker 1: for a little while, because I mean to be honest,
Speaker 1: like Jake, we were talking about it, like when the
Speaker 1: podcast started, this was like god one was it was
Speaker 1: like twenty eight it was. It was because like we
Speaker 1: just didn't have like this was talking we didn't have it.
Speaker 1: We didn't have an outlet for us to talk about
Speaker 1: stuff outside of of at each other in Rocky League exactly.
Speaker 3: This is what was for too earlier where this segue
Speaker 3: was like Giant Bomb has this has always been their
Speaker 3: their mo to be for fa saying have their personality
Speaker 3: speak for I mean the Giant Bomb was always personality first,
Speaker 3: and the games and the things they covered the by
Speaker 3: product of the people they were, which is probably why
Speaker 3: they were so silent in the office vers us who
Speaker 3: did not have outlet.
Speaker 2: And it sounds like that was the idea, Like it
Speaker 2: was that we're playing all these games in order to
Speaker 2: support editorial to create video painter views, but we all
Speaker 2: had ideas and opinions and thoughts on things. And I
Speaker 2: remember one of the earlier episodes we did on Death Stranding,
Speaker 2: and I remember that being very interesting because that game
Speaker 2: was very divisive, and we had our review that got
Speaker 2: a nine out of ten that.
Speaker 4: County did, and then we had people in the obvious
Speaker 4: who really didn't like it.
Speaker 2: And I remember like this podcast coming into fruition and
Speaker 2: thinking like finally, like we have so many different opinions
Speaker 2: to share on Death Stranding, and we have the outlook
Speaker 2: to do it because before, like, yeah, you might hear
Speaker 2: like rumblings about like what other people think, or you
Speaker 2: might see someone post on Twitter, but there had never
Speaker 2: been at least since I was at GameSpot. I know
Speaker 2: they had done podcasts in the past, but there had
Speaker 2: never been like a consistent weekly way for folks to
Speaker 2: share their opinions. Yeah, exactly. So that's kind of how
Speaker 2: this podcast started.
Speaker 3: After dark, which it was from whatever remember happened after work?
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, because it was a thing where it was like, well,
Speaker 2: podcasts don't really get a lot of views, and we
Speaker 2: have Giant Bomb and they like have some of the
Speaker 2: biggest podcasts gaming podcasts in the world. So it kind
Speaker 2: of felt like it was like what's the word like
Speaker 2: by by the Bootstraps, No, like, you know, come on
Speaker 2: the ground was like kee.
Speaker 1: Snapping, Bob give it. You know. It felt like it
Speaker 1: felt like.
Speaker 2: Something we wanted to do because we thought it was fun,
Speaker 2: rather than something that was told no one was like, hey,
Speaker 2: you need a podcast. It was like yes, myself and
Speaker 2: Lucy because Lucy played a huge role.
Speaker 4: Early on, we were like.
Speaker 2: We wanted outlet's do this and you know, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2: Two hundred and sixty seven episodes two.
Speaker 1: Hundred and sixty seven episodes. But I think as the
Speaker 1: years have gone by, the and and that that original
Speaker 1: purpose kind of sort of I guess ceased to exist
Speaker 1: or or got muddied to some degree where well, the
Speaker 1: landscape has changed for us exactly, so our team has
Speaker 1: become smaller by proxy of the of how this industry
Speaker 1: has been rolling out, and COVID changed a lot of it.
Speaker 2: COVID changed a lot of the idea was we'd be
Speaker 2: in the office after work hanging out talking about video games,
Speaker 2: and then Covid was like, Okay, we have to keep
Speaker 2: it going. And it was me scheduling guests all during
Speaker 2: COVID to kind of like get different perspectives in a
Speaker 2: way that was fun, but like you're saying, it kind
Speaker 2: of felt like, you know, we didn't really know. It
Speaker 2: was kind of all over the place.
Speaker 1: All over the place. I think it's been all over
Speaker 1: the place. It's had a bit of an identity crisis,
Speaker 1: and we've we've had a lot of conversations over the
Speaker 1: like a year plus of like what do we want
Speaker 1: the podcast to be, how do we want to structure it,
Speaker 1: and this and that, And I think recently we've seen
Speaker 1: we feel like this is a good opera tunity to
Speaker 1: make a clean break. All that is to say is
Speaker 1: we are going to be sun setting game Spot after
Speaker 1: Dark in its current traditional form, because we're going to
Speaker 1: be taking the game Spot Show, which we were experimenting
Speaker 1: with over the past few months on video, and we're
Speaker 1: going to be turning that into a new premiere podcast
Speaker 1: for game Spot hosted by one kurr in Divina. I
Speaker 1: don't know who's terrible. You are all going to regret that.
Speaker 4: I already regret it.
Speaker 1: You keep saying that to me because I'm the one
Speaker 1: who keeps giving you permission to do stuff and interstitials.
Speaker 1: I don't regret any of those, Kurt, what if you
Speaker 1: made it in your sticials? What was what I said
Speaker 1: to you? I think this said. I was like, you
Speaker 1: have no idea what you just started?
Speaker 3: And I said, yes, I do, Like, you don't know
Speaker 3: what you just started? Why do you think that was
Speaker 3: a mistake? And that's how Game of our Lives began,
Speaker 3: and that's how these breaking news segments began and all
Speaker 3: these things that we were doing in the power block.
Speaker 1: Yes, in between things, I was like, you do not
Speaker 1: know you just started? So I just want to say,
Speaker 1: like I the fact though I've never gotten like as
Speaker 1: many comments about anything I've made at Game Spot that
Speaker 1: I have about Games of Our Lives, and it just really,
Speaker 1: first of all, thank you everyone who has like said
Speaker 1: that to us, like that, how great it was, Like
Speaker 1: it's it's it's nice. It's heartwarming, like to be like
Speaker 1: if a Fiel the lifelong dream of mine. Yeah, this
Speaker 1: is a true thing.
Speaker 3: Whereas like, as long as I could remember having had
Speaker 3: a creative thought, I've always said I want to make
Speaker 3: soap opera like and Max got recognized that Max for
Speaker 3: his heartrending roles looking at the camera holding a hammer.
Speaker 3: What I think is the heart and soul of Games
Speaker 3: of our Lives because Max has been in every single
Speaker 3: one of them, and then it has needed to say.
Speaker 1: A word, just look over your shoulder with a hammer
Speaker 1: a very important role.
Speaker 3: Uh So yeah, thank you for everyone, yes in your games,
Speaker 3: in the Games of our Life.
Speaker 1: So Yes, the Game Spot Show is now going to
Speaker 1: transition into a podcast hosted by hosted by Kurt We
Speaker 1: will have I mean, there's things you want to say,
Speaker 1: but just so people know, this is an after Summer
Speaker 1: game Fest switch launch. Yes, yes, we are next week,
Speaker 1: so that will happen in after Summer game Fest, and yes,
Speaker 1: to go back to after Dark. This will be the
Speaker 1: final episode of game Spot after Dark in its traditional form.
Speaker 1: What I mean by that is, don't delete your feed,
Speaker 1: because we still plan to use after Dark, but in
Speaker 1: a more experimental, one off way for things like, hey,
Speaker 1: we brought a developer in and maybe we want to
Speaker 1: have an extended chat with them, maybe we want to
Speaker 1: do a spoiler cast, maybe we want to do a
Speaker 1: deep dive. We want to use this in I guess
Speaker 1: that more experimental, one off after Dark kind of way.
Speaker 1: But that means that it will be on a you
Speaker 1: know when it makes sense, So it's not going to
Speaker 1: be a regular weekly thing anymore. And if what you
Speaker 1: are looking for is that, like, hey, I just wanted
Speaker 1: that like weekly traditional video game podcast where I kind
Speaker 1: of hear about like you know, like games and potentially
Speaker 1: news or you know whatever, we end up shaping the
Speaker 1: Game Spot show to be, that's what that podcast will be.
Speaker 1: So when that happens, we'll probably I will probably post
Speaker 1: a short promo for that podcast on this feed, so
Speaker 1: you will if you listen to this feed exclusively for
Speaker 1: like information about that stuff. You will know when that
Speaker 1: podcast airs. Maybe we'll try and promote it on some
Speaker 1: other means as well. Ideally like to promote it. It'd
Speaker 1: be nice to promote a thing. You know. We will
Speaker 1: but well, all of that is is you know, we're
Speaker 1: coming up with this plan, so I'm not gonna want
Speaker 1: to get too far. But uh yeah, oh kind a
Speaker 1: bitter sweet and doing after Dark it feels it feels time,
Speaker 1: but I don't know. I mean, I took it over
Speaker 1: after Jake left the first time, and to be perfectly honest,
Speaker 1: I don't think I'm the best shut up for a podcast,
Speaker 1: but I had fun trying it. I had fun doing it.
Speaker 4: I'm doing great.
Speaker 1: Thank you keep us something all right?
Speaker 2: All right, I was gonna the worst toast by far
Speaker 2: was I'm just kidding.
Speaker 1: But it's been It's been a lot of fun doing
Speaker 1: this podcast, not just with YouTube but everyone who's been
Speaker 1: on it, you know, Lucy Tam alumni like Michael Hyam
Speaker 1: and you know, like, yeah, it's it's been great.
Speaker 2: Like us some really cool people, like like I was
Speaker 2: saying during COVID, like I just put out feelers. I
Speaker 2: was like, hey, who do we want to see on
Speaker 2: this podcast, and I got so many responses and got
Speaker 2: so many people on to chat with and made a
Speaker 2: lot of friends that you know, maybe I would have
Speaker 2: met in some other way, but like it was, you know,
Speaker 2: during COVID, it was like, oh wow, I'm expanding my
Speaker 2: network in the most isolating times ever, you know, which
Speaker 2: which was cool. But beyond that, like I don't know,
Speaker 2: it's been might get a little emotional. We'll see.
Speaker 1: See.
Speaker 3: I'll say this this podcast got me to be on
Speaker 3: got me to do podcasts.
Speaker 1: That's true.
Speaker 3: I've been very anti I'm not doing a podcast, and
Speaker 3: now you're hosting one. It was my ultimate get.
Speaker 1: Past.
Speaker 3: I only I only came on this podcast. Well, first off,
Speaker 3: I never asked to be so well not, I mean, okay,
Speaker 3: hold on. I was eventually asked to be yes, but
Speaker 3: it was never like a thing like to be a
Speaker 3: consistent guest. I was only on it basically when I
Speaker 3: had something to promote, which I was fine with. It's like, oh,
Speaker 3: do you the like true fiction is coming out kirking
Speaker 3: on here or remember when I was coming out?
Speaker 1: Okay, all right?
Speaker 3: Or I think I think I don't even know if
Speaker 3: I was on here, I think I was postcart Locker
Speaker 3: that I actual finally became a permanent fixture. But I
Speaker 3: want to say that it has been an honor to
Speaker 3: be able to be a fixture of this thing and
Speaker 3: kind of get to grips with you know, I don't know,
Speaker 3: doing the thing I usually would not traditionally go out
Speaker 3: my way to do.
Speaker 1: Thanks for letting me be here. Get out.
Speaker 3: Okay, I'm gonna get on and start the other podcast.
Speaker 3: All right, So recap.
Speaker 1: We're we're doing a game spot show as a new
Speaker 1: podcast to look forward to a couple of weeks after
Speaker 1: summer game fests, after all the madness of that switches
Speaker 1: die down. We will we'll get to that a little
Speaker 1: bit after dark. We'll be sunsetting its traditional form. But again,
Speaker 1: don't get rid of this feed because we are going
Speaker 1: to be occasionally uploading it for kind of more experimental
Speaker 1: one off videos. Also, I know I have promised this
Speaker 1: for a while, but I am going to finally get
Speaker 1: all of the old episodes that got lost when we
Speaker 1: had to transition podcast hosts a few years ago up
Speaker 1: for people to listen to older episodes, because apparently people
Speaker 1: do that. I've had people message me and be.
Speaker 3: Like I was listening to all the old episodes in
Speaker 3: order and then they just stopped and I was like,
Speaker 3: what are you doing?
Speaker 1: Why? Why? It was crazy, But like okay, like so
Speaker 1: I do plan to do that. Apparently we have like
Speaker 1: a high school graduate intern now, so I'm just gonna
Speaker 1: make them do it. Yeah, I can't wait. I can't
Speaker 1: wait for that. I hope what if they listened to
Speaker 1: this and they're like, I.
Speaker 3: Can't cancel it, cancel I'm done. I got plans for
Speaker 3: that in turn.
Speaker 2: But I do want to give a big thank you
Speaker 2: to the audience too. I mean, like, yeah, some people
Speaker 2: who have like stuck with us for a very long time.
Speaker 2: I mean people in the game Spot Discord. I feel
Speaker 2: like that discord was like built basically through the podcast
Speaker 2: itself yep, and has been kind of inactive. And I
Speaker 2: think a lot of that is on us because of
Speaker 2: all the shifting things. But uh yeah, pick shout out
Speaker 2: to the audience, because obviously, you know, that's what kept
Speaker 2: this alive for as long as it did. Two hundred
Speaker 2: and sixty seven episodes just crazy, seriously, uh and and
Speaker 2: you know, hopefully you know it's still us.
Speaker 1: We're going to be on that that new show. So
Speaker 1: I think, if are you, I mean, do you want
Speaker 1: me on there? Or like, uh, well I was gonna
Speaker 1: use my my puppet. I was not for an audio podcast. Well,
Speaker 1: you know, we'll have some cameras going, so we will.
Speaker 1: We will.
Speaker 4: We've got this beautiful set. We got to show it up.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we should probably show it off a little bit.
Speaker 1: But yeah, we will all appear on we will all
Speaker 1: be on that thing. So I think if you like
Speaker 1: us and you like what we bring, you should first one.
Speaker 3: And I even I might even have a co host
Speaker 3: who's not one of YouTube that's true?
Speaker 1: Should we say that or should well, okay, we can staremburg.
Speaker 1: It's hard.
Speaker 3: It's not hard to find out based on how many
Speaker 3: people we have to work here, but there's somebody who's
Speaker 3: currently employed here. But I'm excited the idea.
Speaker 1: Of having a co host. Yes, me too. I think
Speaker 1: that'll be a good I think you too, is a
Speaker 1: dynamic will be good. Yeah, in a puppet, it'll.
Speaker 3: Be you and your robot wife robot arm wife, yeah,
Speaker 3: my robot, my biotic commando or about arm wife. What
Speaker 3: are you guys doing here? I have a date. I
Speaker 3: gotta go back behind the set here. We'll see you
Speaker 3: in fifteen seconds. All right, Well, that was a lot
Speaker 3: of information. I think we'll take a we'll do something
Speaker 3: we've never done on this podcast and take a quick break.
Speaker 3: We will be right back with a more normal episode
Speaker 3: of games spout after dark. Well, we'll talk about some
Speaker 3: gosh dang video games, and.
Speaker 1: We're back with some video games. Uh, Jake, you had
Speaker 1: me write down a thing on my notepad called Fantasy Life.
Speaker 1: I continue, Oh, I forgot to write the rest of
Speaker 1: it down.
Speaker 2: Fantasy Life I the Girl who Steals Time. Oh, okay,
Speaker 2: of course, come on, of course it's yeah, why is
Speaker 2: that weird?
Speaker 1: You you don't like that? Oh, let's go tell the developers.
Speaker 1: Kurt doesn't like the name of this game. So what
Speaker 1: is this like one of your like anime visual novels? Like,
Speaker 1: what are we talking about?
Speaker 2: Kind of Uh do you guys know about Fantasy Life?
Speaker 2: It's an I the Girl, No, Fantasy Life, I colon
Speaker 2: the Girl.
Speaker 3: I don't know why. No, the Girl who Steals Time.
Speaker 3: So Fantasy Life, I colon colon.
Speaker 1: That's the series.
Speaker 2: I have no idea why there's an eye in the title.
Speaker 2: I have absolutely no idea Fantasy Life I, and if
Speaker 2: they explain it, I don't know because I hammered through
Speaker 2: all that dialogue.
Speaker 1: Don't care.
Speaker 4: Well, actually some of us okay, do you do?
Speaker 2: Have you guys played any of the Fantasy Life every
Speaker 2: single one of them? Okay, you kind of know what
Speaker 2: I'm actually I've never played a single either of I.
Speaker 4: However, they are developed by Level five, do you know?
Speaker 1: Oh? Okay, so I think way hold on?
Speaker 2: Who's why Level five is a Level five I is
Speaker 2: a Japanese studio, and I would say probably their most
Speaker 2: famous games now maybe apart from like the Layton Professor
Speaker 2: Layton series. No Cooney Okay, you know Cooney one and two.
Speaker 2: I adore both those games. It was two of my
Speaker 2: favorite RPGs. I think about both of them often.
Speaker 1: Life of a three DYES game. Yeah, that's how it started.
Speaker 1: Is a three D S game.
Speaker 2: But a new one just came out for Switch PC,
Speaker 2: and I think it's supposed to come to Switch to
Speaker 2: I haven't looked into it, but uh, these games are
Speaker 2: basically Life sims, but I feel like they're not as
Speaker 2: relaxed or cozy necessarily, at least this one is not. Essentially,
Speaker 2: you start the game you create your character, you crash
Speaker 2: land on an island because you're on a dragon or something.
Speaker 2: I'm skipping a lot of the dialogue. But then you
Speaker 2: pick from like one of twenty different I think it's twenty.
Speaker 2: It's there's a lot of different life paths you can choose,
Speaker 2: and basically whatever life path you choose kind of affects
Speaker 2: the mechanical day to day grind. So you can do
Speaker 2: like a tailor, you can do a minor, you can
Speaker 2: do a.
Speaker 1: Like a.
Speaker 2: Guy with a sword, a sell sword, a mercenary, podfather
Speaker 2: a podfather, uh and it and and the game still
Speaker 2: tells like a linear story. However, the way you get
Speaker 2: there is by whichever life path you choose. This is
Speaker 2: the first one I've played, and I've only played like
Speaker 2: three or four hours, and.
Speaker 1: I'm really liking it.
Speaker 4: It's kind of cool.
Speaker 2: I I I've played Starting Valley, I get super into
Speaker 2: Stardu Valley. I've played some old Harvest Moon games back
Speaker 2: and then they never got super into those. But this game,
Speaker 2: it seems like it gives you so many options of
Speaker 2: like which path do you want to go down? And
Speaker 2: then if you're not happy about one, you can switch
Speaker 2: like that and it seems like there's a whole track
Speaker 2: depending on whichever one you pick, where you can kind
Speaker 2: of like basically dictate how you want to play through
Speaker 2: that entire game depending on the life path you choose.
Speaker 2: I'm surprised I haven't played any other ones, because I
Speaker 2: really do like Level five, at least the games I've
Speaker 2: played by them.
Speaker 1: I've never played the Layton games. I think you've played them.
Speaker 1: I've played most of.
Speaker 2: The Layton games quite a bit, right, those cool. It's
Speaker 2: definitely it's definitely nothing like that, and it is a
Speaker 2: like action RPG. It's not turn based, which you know,
Speaker 2: I think people might think that because I hadn't mentioned
Speaker 2: Nino Cooney, which I think are both. What I remember
Speaker 2: was Nino Coney, you know Cooney. No, they're technically not
Speaker 2: turn based, but anyway they are. It is like an
Speaker 2: action RPG, and there's co op. I haven't tried co op,
Speaker 2: but there's a lot of cool ideas. The reason I
Speaker 2: picked it up is because it was getting a lot
Speaker 2: of really good reviews, like Nine's eights, and I was like,
Speaker 2: you know what, this seems like a good one to
Speaker 2: dip my toes in, and so far I'm really enjoying it.
Speaker 4: I think it's cool. I'm glad I gave it a shot.
Speaker 2: And I think it comes to switch to on launch
Speaker 2: and I think it's like upreds and all that.
Speaker 4: Kind of stuff.
Speaker 1: So I'm excited. Okay, check it out on switch to.
Speaker 2: To launch game. I just I think it's a launch game.
Speaker 2: It may be like a little after but out now
Speaker 2: on switch and PC.
Speaker 1: So it we'll be coming to switch to. Okay, this
Speaker 1: is probably me being general or uh assuming I thought
Speaker 1: I was going to be pixel art.
Speaker 4: It is not pixelart.
Speaker 1: I'm not super into the art style.
Speaker 2: It's like very uh you know, big head like little
Speaker 2: body games.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 2: There are certain aspects that I like and others I don't.
Speaker 2: But but it's there's a lot of tongue in cheek there.
Speaker 1: Wait, hold on what career or did you pick?
Speaker 2: I chose a mercenary because I wanted to hit things
Speaker 2: with a sword, but I.
Speaker 1: Kind of wish i'd hit stuff if you were fish
Speaker 1: or whatever.
Speaker 2: Fish Okay, but it definitely like when I look at
Speaker 2: the map, which the map is pretty big, but it
Speaker 2: seems like you unlock different parts of the map as
Speaker 2: you go. But it seems like there's like things to
Speaker 2: do no matter where you are.
Speaker 4: And no matter which vocation you choose.
Speaker 2: So if you are a fit fisherman or a fisher person,
Speaker 2: fisher person fisher price, uh there's like spots where you
Speaker 2: can go fish and collect rare fish and sell them
Speaker 2: and complete quest where.
Speaker 4: People like bring me fish.
Speaker 3: Is there as we've ever done a Vincent price, but
Speaker 3: fisher fish fisher price combo where it's like a fish
Speaker 3: Vincent price okay. Uh? So actually, so when you do
Speaker 3: your mercenary stuff, do you like Okay, so you go out,
Speaker 3: you beat stuff up. Yeah, and then there's the starter
Speaker 3: valley aspect of it, right, yeah, so do you go
Speaker 3: back home? So I just got to the part where
Speaker 3: I got a home, and it is like, so you
Speaker 3: don't get a home from the start.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it took me like three or four hours before
Speaker 1: I got a home. And have you been camping out?
Speaker 2: Even almost I've been staying at the end, bottles, staying
Speaker 2: at the end, that's yeah, it's not cheap.
Speaker 3: I always read these old novels from the thirties and
Speaker 3: forties where people lived at hotels, I know, like hotel
Speaker 3: rooms being here were their apartments, but now in the
Speaker 3: way like I'm living at a hotel because I'm a
Speaker 3: transit It's like, no, you you you just go to
Speaker 3: a hotel and you book a room and that's your months.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 3: Anyways, and I read that and I'm like, I like
Speaker 3: the sound. Yeah, just like, oh, I'm just I'm living
Speaker 3: at this hotel.
Speaker 2: I want to like write all, you know, like I'm
Speaker 2: going to check myself in here for three months and
Speaker 2: write a novel or.
Speaker 4: Fantasy life. I the girl who's the fantasy life?
Speaker 1: Ie the girl. So have you met the girl who
Speaker 1: steals time?
Speaker 4: I have? Yeah, she's not very nice.
Speaker 1: Well she's stealing time.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's waste my time. I don't have time for this.
Speaker 3: That's what I would say to it, Like I don't
Speaker 3: have time for you stealing my time. Exactly, I have
Speaker 3: time for this conversation. Is that what it is is
Speaker 3: she's stealing your time as instant.
Speaker 2: There to have you time travel like different errors or something. Anyway,
Speaker 2: I wanted to shout it out because we didn't do
Speaker 2: a review for it, but the reviews I saw were
Speaker 2: really positive, so I want to give it a shot.
Speaker 2: And like I said, only a couple hours in, but
Speaker 2: so far I'm enjoying it quite a bit.
Speaker 1: Cool.
Speaker 3: Don't waste my time. I I Fantasy life. H I
Speaker 3: you meet you? We we we yes see I'm going
Speaker 3: to transition over to Kurt.
Speaker 1: Hi. We both can playing a little game. It's a
Speaker 1: little game. It's a little game. It's also a big
Speaker 1: game coming out. It's a little expense. It feels expensive
Speaker 1: little game. Yes, it is a you know, yeah, it's
Speaker 1: an expensive It feels feels expensive. It feels very Yeah,
Speaker 1: like a lot of love and care and craft put
Speaker 1: into it. We're talking about to a tea, which is
Speaker 1: U the new game from the Katamari uh domas creator.
Speaker 1: I forget their name off my head. Thank you appreciate that.
Speaker 1: See this is why you should host a podcast. Listen
Speaker 1: to me. Well, I did the video for the for
Speaker 1: for the review. Who is lives in San Francisco, San Francsco. Yeah,
Speaker 1: which is cool.
Speaker 3: He rolled he he rolled into her office a few
Speaker 3: months ago during GDC. Just show a bit of to
Speaker 3: a t and he usually just for some context and
Speaker 3: not to put this guy in blast anyway, But when
Speaker 3: developers come through our office, it's they usually have a
Speaker 3: team with them. They usually uh usually pr is organizing it,
Speaker 3: usually someone from publishers helping them through or some of
Speaker 3: that nature.
Speaker 1: Takayashi showed up by himself on one of those one
Speaker 1: wheel skateboards. I saw the one wheel skateboards first and
Speaker 1: was like, oh, who's that that mosquitas I was like,
Speaker 1: oh okay, and he just showed up and I was like,
Speaker 1: this guy made one of my favorite games of all
Speaker 1: time and presents himself as one of my favorite people
Speaker 1: I have ever done this, so uh yeah, but he
Speaker 1: came through and uh yeah.
Speaker 4: Three yes, charger right.
Speaker 3: He did ask if we had a library and asked
Speaker 3: if we had a charger. We did not, Yeah, but
Speaker 3: Lucy came to me like, oh, Kurt does, Kirt definitely does.
Speaker 1: I was like, what, you'll give up yours? Right?
Speaker 3: What the what?
Speaker 1: And I would have.
Speaker 3: But I don't know why she pinned me. Somebody's just like, oh,
Speaker 3: he's got one of his back podcast. Maybe should start.
Speaker 3: Who's carrying around just such a wackys carrying around chargers.
Speaker 1: For three d s s for PSPs. It'd be great
Speaker 1: if I only carry the chargers but not the handhelds.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I didn't have a three DS but I have
Speaker 3: a three charger because someone might need a charge.
Speaker 1: So yeah, to a T, to a T to a T. Yeah,
Speaker 1: the newest game from them. How would you describe this game?
Speaker 3: So I'm comparing it to another game okay, Japanese game
Speaker 3: that I really like called natsum On twentieth Century Kid,
Speaker 3: which is so okay.
Speaker 1: Let me back up. I would describe this game as
Speaker 1: a thirteen year old adolescent coming of age coming of
Speaker 1: age sim. Yes, you play as a thirteen year old
Speaker 1: stuck in the tea posset, stuck in a tea pose.
Speaker 1: They don't know why, they don't know why. They're a
Speaker 1: tea the perfect but it is the perfect shape yea.
Speaker 1: And yeah, you like go through kind of like just
Speaker 1: days of their line and day by day, day by day. Uh,
Speaker 1: and you like you'd like go to class.
Speaker 3: I mean that dog but not even like even more granular.
Speaker 3: You'd get up every morning, you'd have to you'd have
Speaker 3: your You have a dog who you name? I name
Speaker 3: my Tom Jones, and my dog Tom Jones helps you
Speaker 3: through your day to day routine because dog, yeah, yeah exactly,
Speaker 3: So that dog helps you get dressed, so you choose
Speaker 3: your outfits Yep, you go to the bathroom, which, by
Speaker 3: the way, I have a solid five minutes of capture
Speaker 3: the bat The opening bathroom scene is one of the greatest,
Speaker 3: so I was like just going ham on this, really
Speaker 3: watch your experiences for yourself. But the dog helps you
Speaker 3: use the bathroom. Yep, doesn't show you how, but clearly
Speaker 3: the dog says, I can only assume something something to
Speaker 3: help you don't know what. And then even further, you
Speaker 3: have to eat your breakfast. But eating your breakfast in
Speaker 3: of itself is a chore because your spoon is long,
Speaker 3: so you have to actually move your arms individually to
Speaker 3: pour the cereal, to pour the milk, and then pick
Speaker 3: up the spoon, and then move the spoon to your
Speaker 3: mouth and control your mouth to ship and then brush
Speaker 3: your Yeah.
Speaker 1: And if you wash your face, yeah, because you then
Speaker 1: have cereal in your teeth and you need to brush it. However,
Speaker 1: after I think it's the first or second time you
Speaker 1: do it. Uh, Once you turn thirteen, your mom's like,
Speaker 1: you're an adult. Now you can choose if you want
Speaker 1: to or not, so technically you don't have to do
Speaker 1: it anymore. You did you skip it? No? I do
Speaker 1: it every time every day. I'm like, no, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: keep doing this every time I need to wash my face,
Speaker 1: I need to brush my to like mini games, like
Speaker 1: how does this work?
Speaker 3: Like you one m when you you you would walk
Speaker 3: up and click on the table and in that moment,
Speaker 3: like an analog you know, the right analog stick would
Speaker 3: control an arm and then you use the triggers.
Speaker 1: Something And it's not as like chaotic as you would assume, Like.
Speaker 3: What is it called, Dad, It's just yeah, it's not chaot.
Speaker 3: It's more you know, accessible in that way. It's it's
Speaker 3: meant to be doable, you know, to just kind of
Speaker 3: convey this person's life.
Speaker 1: But I was about to say, because like I do
Speaker 1: it every day in that yeah, you brush your teeth,
Speaker 1: yeah yeah, But in the game, I'm like, no, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna eat cereal, I'm gonna eat my breakfast, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: brush my teeth. I'm gonna get the ibogogers.
Speaker 3: Yeah, off, my, I'm gonna go to draft and get
Speaker 3: my sandwich. I'm gonna go to the draft and get
Speaker 3: my sandwich and then go to school. Yeah yeah, yeah,
Speaker 3: but I want it, But I compare it to Natsuman,
Speaker 3: so not Suman's much more. For those who don't know,
Speaker 3: it's a Japanese series where he plays a boy over
Speaker 3: this You play over a summer vacation basically, but the
Speaker 3: game has no real.
Speaker 1: Goals.
Speaker 3: You create your own goals. The entire idea of the
Speaker 3: game is for you to experience the summer as you
Speaker 3: want as a child, a whimsy child that can do whatever.
Speaker 3: It's onal Japan and roll Japan, catch bugs, go fishing,
Speaker 3: talk to strangers, or do none of that. The game,
Speaker 3: no matter what, continues and will end after thirty some days.
Speaker 4: Join the Mystery Club.
Speaker 1: Join the Mystery Club, and in many ways, uh.
Speaker 3: To a Tee reminds me of that where it's this
Speaker 3: whims It's still captures the same sort of whimsiness of
Speaker 3: being a kid with where nothing is really that important
Speaker 3: and you could do whatever you want. But but To
Speaker 3: a Tea's is very linear. It's still a streamlined game,
Speaker 3: but it captures the same spirit of just being a
Speaker 3: kid and doing kids stuff and experiencing life through the
Speaker 3: lens of a child, where to you, as an adult,
Speaker 3: those things don't seem important, but to a child like
Speaker 3: can be you know means everything, like means the world,
Speaker 3: and I think the game is UH captures that spirit.
Speaker 3: I've said very I've said many times on this podcast,
Speaker 3: I do not like teenagers. I don't like playing games
Speaker 3: as teenagers. But I've learned through to a Tea that
Speaker 3: I love playing games as children when they are represented
Speaker 3: properly as children, which is imaginative and whimsy and open
Speaker 3: to the world, and to a T captures it so
Speaker 3: well to an emotional point for me, where like I've
Speaker 3: gotten strain, I've been very moved by this game purely
Speaker 3: by the idea, not even because you're a tea and
Speaker 3: the game is basically about coming to terms with who
Speaker 3: you are and why you and just being yourself. But
Speaker 3: Uh just captures the feeling of what it's like to
Speaker 3: not have many cares in the world, or to see
Speaker 3: the world through a way that is still childlike in lens.
Speaker 3: I don't know, it moves me and I Steve Watts
Speaker 3: gave it our Steve Watts very own. Seve Wats gave
Speaker 3: it a six out of ten. Having read the review
Speaker 3: and done the video for the review, I one hundred
Speaker 3: percent agree with everything they've said because the game is
Speaker 3: doesn't go very far in its.
Speaker 1: Actual gameplay mechanics. Yes.
Speaker 3: In fact, I would almost say I would argue that
Speaker 3: it's tedious. Tediousness does capture it's like a very specific
Speaker 3: spirit of the day to day life and routine of
Speaker 3: a child. But I can't understand why that it's absolutely
Speaker 3: a barrier for people where they get to a certain
Speaker 3: point where like I'm just brushing my teeth every day
Speaker 3: and washing my face and walking around to hown and
Speaker 3: collecting coins and really like not doing anything with the
Speaker 3: real objective other than going to school and having a
Speaker 3: silly conversation and coming back. But it's for those reasons
Speaker 3: that I.
Speaker 1: Love it. Yeah, it's it's I feel like out of ten.
Speaker 1: I feel somewhere kind of a video. I think I
Speaker 1: land somewhere kind of in the middle where I I
Speaker 1: don't I don't feel I agree. I agree with you that,
Speaker 1: Like I think every point Steve makes makes total sense.
Speaker 1: I don't quite feel that level of like tedium about it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: But it also, I would say, didn't emotionally impact me,
Speaker 1: maybe the way it has you. The song gets mused.
Speaker 1: I mean, I think this song is great, Like both
Speaker 1: songs are great.
Speaker 3: Like the so Jake that every chapter starts like a
Speaker 3: TV show and not like where it has like an
Speaker 3: opening and closing track.
Speaker 1: Yeah, this is like the intro and this is like
Speaker 1: the credit where the credits would play. And the songs
Speaker 1: are lyrically and.
Speaker 3: Uh melody melodically are like insane in the Yes, it
Speaker 3: sounds like somebody wrote a bunch of words and force
Speaker 3: them into a melody.
Speaker 1: It's part of the words rhyme.
Speaker 3: It's just sentences, okay, but they're done and somewhat of
Speaker 3: a melody to try and match. Yeah, it captures that
Speaker 3: sort of uh, the wackiness of the quokiness of of
Speaker 3: like how to Marry Demasi in that way. But musically
Speaker 3: the songs are amazing, Like I think they're so good.
Speaker 3: They like they use the swelling of certain melodies at
Speaker 3: certain moments in the game, which I think is what
Speaker 3: moves me so much anyways.
Speaker 1: But yeah, lyrics are great. Lyrics are great. I I
Speaker 1: do find the game quite charming. I think it's really
Speaker 1: funny and a lot of spots funny. And uh, again
Speaker 1: it looks very very good, Like there's just like a
Speaker 1: level of it's that I guess it's kind of uh,
Speaker 1: it's got it's its roots and sort of the aesthetics
Speaker 1: and styles of of you know, things like Kada Mari
Speaker 1: or like other stuff that he's made.
Speaker 3: Like, uh, well, I think the thing is with the
Speaker 3: Kamar is that it's it's it's this is gonna sound
Speaker 3: so stupid, but it's like I viewed, it's like a
Speaker 3: very punk game. As ever, it's rudimentary looking, but it's
Speaker 3: very distinct. It's very but like you can look at
Speaker 3: the shapes of those things in those games, it's like
Speaker 3: it just feels like somebody's just made character models and
Speaker 3: got them in like everything looks yeah.
Speaker 1: But it's in terms of like sort of like the colors.
Speaker 3: In the Uh, what's it the I can never remember
Speaker 3: the name of the game his last game that his
Speaker 3: team did that was the one I didn't play it.
Speaker 3: I played it, and I can't remember the name of
Speaker 3: it where you stack things. I can't remember the name
Speaker 3: off the time I had. Yeah, anyways, but was it yes, yes,
Speaker 3: But again, those games are mechanically driven, so it's weird
Speaker 3: to see this game. Yeah that is not mechanically driven
Speaker 3: like his other games and look quite prestigeous in comparison.
Speaker 1: Exactly this is I would say them all story dialogue heavy,
Speaker 1: Oh without a doubt?
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, do you ever play Naby Nabby Boy? Don't
Speaker 3: get near my k Nobby Nabby Boy?
Speaker 1: No, I have not play Nay not be nabby Boy
Speaker 1: is probably the most experi mental one where it's like
Speaker 1: it's less a game and more just this little like
Speaker 1: interactive thing you can do where you play as Knobbynolly Boy,
Speaker 1: which is like this weird worm guy that you can
Speaker 1: just you can yeah, you like you would control each
Speaker 1: He has two heads and are like a like head
Speaker 1: and a butt, and you can like control each one
Speaker 1: with the left and right stick. It was a p
Speaker 1: S three exclusive and you could like stretch them out
Speaker 1: and then like stretch them around stuff and you could
Speaker 1: they could get cut in half and then you would
Speaker 1: like have two of them and they would run around
Speaker 1: and there was like no end goal or objective. You
Speaker 1: would just do that. But every time you you stretched
Speaker 1: it would it would make a girl, uh get bigger
Speaker 1: and girl was this like other worm creature that starts
Speaker 1: on Earth and just grows and every It was a
Speaker 1: multiplayer game where everyone who would you know, you don't
Speaker 1: actually play with other people, but as your you're not
Speaker 1: be nobby length would be calculated with other players and
Speaker 1: you would all collectively increase the length of girl, and
Speaker 1: you could go and look at like girls progress and
Speaker 1: she'd be like, oh she's on Earth. Oh now she's
Speaker 1: crossed the moon. Now she's at Mars, and now she's
Speaker 1: that meanness. And I think they got all the way
Speaker 1: to the end of the Solar system by the time
Speaker 1: that game like you know, closed out or whatever. But
Speaker 1: there is something like that is like the most polar
Speaker 1: opposite of like what this game is, where it's like
Speaker 1: that game was like all just like yeah, weird mechanical
Speaker 1: nonsense and there was no objective and this is like
Speaker 1: more focused, but it's much slower and you have to
Speaker 1: kind of be into the dialogue and what it's trying
Speaker 1: to present stuff.
Speaker 3: That's why keep comparing it to Natzuman, because it's a
Speaker 3: game kind of without a clear objective other than to
Speaker 3: experience the adolescents life of a boy who shaped like
Speaker 3: a tea.
Speaker 1: And that's really it. But boyd is ye, that's true.
Speaker 3: It's it's it's it's it is ambiguous to how you
Speaker 3: design that character basically, I mean like, but it's it
Speaker 3: is a made character.
Speaker 1: You just like you. It doesn't you kind of a
Speaker 1: sign you don't even you're you as a player. I
Speaker 1: think that's kind of Yeah, they don't even pay. Say
Speaker 1: you can name this.
Speaker 3: You can pick whatever you want to pick whatever you
Speaker 3: want however you want, like the first to aid, Like,
Speaker 3: I like my name's Crut because I was bored. I
Speaker 3: didn't have the time to come up with the name.
Speaker 3: But yeah, you could, you know, slap a skirt on
Speaker 3: walk out on Town.
Speaker 2: I would have suggested you name your character Kurt. Never anyway,
Speaker 2: I think to a T is not for everyone.
Speaker 1: Nothing is, but you should check it out if if
Speaker 1: that speaks to you, because I do think it is
Speaker 1: is a worthwhile thing to experience. It's see for yourself.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm gonna say something insane, probably, but I think
Speaker 3: it so far it's my favorite game that I play.
Speaker 4: It's like more than Adam.
Speaker 3: I love of love Adam Fall, but in terms of
Speaker 3: a thing that I can imagine years from now seeing
Speaker 3: still reaction from me, Yes to a tee, but I
Speaker 3: can imagine myself booting up Adam Fall years from ount
Speaker 3: and actually playing that again.
Speaker 1: Maybe not so much to a T. I see makes
Speaker 1: sense On a narrative emotional level. I think to a
Speaker 1: tea is something to be remarked upon. Speaking of games
Speaker 1: that aren't for everyone, Elton Ring Night Rain took us
Speaker 1: this long to get the Night Rain, I took us
Speaker 1: as long to get to know.
Speaker 4: We have to be quick about it too.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well well, uh, I'm just kidding. It's the last
Speaker 1: traditional episode. We could go a little longer than our
Speaker 1: usual one, but I won't go too too long. But
Speaker 1: other than Ring Night Rain, it is out there is reviews.
Speaker 1: We gave it a very high review of nine out
Speaker 1: of ten. That was Richard Wakeling probably one of the
Speaker 1: higher ends. This game has kind of been getting a
Speaker 1: sort of polarizing reactions maybe too strong of a word,
Speaker 1: but mixed.
Speaker 3: I saw that on steam Ahead Mix. But it looks
Speaker 3: like the because so yeah chat.
Speaker 2: Or something I was looking because I for the record,
Speaker 2: I've been having a very good time met elder Ring
Speaker 2: Night Rain. There are definitely criticisms and they're seeing things
Speaker 2: that frustrate me, But I think at the end of
Speaker 2: the day, I respect the fact that from Software found
Speaker 2: a very interesting way to take a lot of assets
Speaker 2: and ideas from Elden Ring and other from games and
Speaker 2: turn them into something that.
Speaker 1: Felt that feels truly unique in a way that.
Speaker 4: I don't think you see too often.
Speaker 2: That said, I was curious about these reviews, and a
Speaker 2: lot of the negativity I think came down to the
Speaker 2: fact that A, it's not really like other souls like
Speaker 2: games that from Software has done.
Speaker 1: Sure, B.
Speaker 2: Playing with ramdos not ideal, so you can technically play solo,
Speaker 2: but it's not really designed too. Like I'm pretty sure
Speaker 2: enemies and bosses will scale depending on how many players
Speaker 2: you have, but the.
Speaker 1: Way those enemies are designed designed and is clearly meant
Speaker 1: like you're supposed to have like one person kite the
Speaker 1: boss so that you can then do this, like, it's
Speaker 1: not design.
Speaker 4: You pull yeah, yeah, like with the dog that splits
Speaker 4: into three.
Speaker 2: Doing that by yourself would be rough, right, So a
Speaker 2: lot of people on Steam were frustrated that A, it's
Speaker 2: not very much fun playing by yourself, but the game
Speaker 2: also doesn't have a lot of things to support playing
Speaker 2: by yourself in terms of like I guess people were saying,
Speaker 2: there's no like actual in game voice chat, so you
Speaker 2: can't communicate in game. Oh, I don't even think about that,
Speaker 2: because we were just using Discord, and there was ever
Speaker 2: use ping system. But it's fairly simple and there's no
Speaker 2: like in game text chat, so there's a lot of
Speaker 2: communication stuff that just aren't there.
Speaker 4: And when I was reading that, I was like, Okay,
Speaker 4: I get it.
Speaker 2: Like the thing is though, for me, I would never
Speaker 2: play this game by myself, and I would never play
Speaker 2: with Randos. I have only except for that first night
Speaker 2: when we played it and we had one random with us.
Speaker 2: Other than that, I've only played with you and Stu yep,
Speaker 2: and then Matt Paget and another friend.
Speaker 1: Oh cool.
Speaker 2: So I have only played with other people and I
Speaker 2: am having a great time in that sense. I think
Speaker 2: the bosses are really cool. I think they have done
Speaker 2: some really creative things with those final bosses you fight.
Speaker 2: I like playing as a lot of the characters. I
Speaker 2: like how a lot of the characters are built around
Speaker 2: like Eldin Ring or Soul's character fundamentals, but they kind
Speaker 2: of break outside of what's expected an elder Ring. Like,
Speaker 2: for instance, I'm playing the Duchess, who at first that
Speaker 2: was pretty frustrated with, but now I think it is
Speaker 2: one of my favorite characters. But she has a dodge
Speaker 2: where she like essentially flips away.
Speaker 4: And if you build her so.
Speaker 2: She has extra high stamina or endurance and it replenishes quickly.
Speaker 2: And then you have like every time you do a
Speaker 2: dodge roll, a lightning storm happens, you are just like
Speaker 2: dashing around enemies with.
Speaker 1: Lightning ORMs crashing down.
Speaker 2: Meanwhile, she has an ability that lets her rewind all
Speaker 2: the damage done to an enemy in the last five seconds.
Speaker 2: So like, so like, essentially, a teammate'll hit with a
Speaker 2: very big attack and I'll catch them with a rewind
Speaker 2: and all that damage will be hit again. So I
Speaker 2: think there's a lot of really cool ways to synergize
Speaker 2: with these characters. I've talked a lot about you've been
Speaker 2: playing too, but I just I've been having a very
Speaker 2: good time. Yeah, as a from as a from software sicko,
Speaker 2: I've been having a very good time.
Speaker 1: Uh yeah. For me, it's funny. The first match we played,
Speaker 1: I hate it. Nope, gotta bleep that one out. Here's
Speaker 1: my one. Yeah, keep keep track of the time. For me, Kurt.
Speaker 1: For anything, I hated it. I was like, this sucks.
Speaker 1: I'm not enjoying this. And a lot of it is
Speaker 1: because there is a very specific way I like to
Speaker 1: play what I think of when I think of a
Speaker 1: from software game, which is like what those games. Despite
Speaker 1: how like frenetic and fast I can get in, the
Speaker 1: combat has a slow pacing to it where you can
Speaker 1: really like take your time, soak in the environment, look
Speaker 1: at your surroundings. When you kill an enemy, you have
Speaker 1: a moment to like breathe and like collect yourself. You
Speaker 1: can look at your weapons that you find and your items,
Speaker 1: and you can like read the description and you can
Speaker 1: like like you can play that game at its own pacing,
Speaker 1: And I like that rhythm. And this game is like
Speaker 1: go go, go, go go, like there is there is
Speaker 1: none of that. You have to like know it what
Speaker 1: you're doing and you have to be like we just
Speaker 1: have to grab this thing and go and like and
Speaker 1: you know, I will lose if you do not exactly
Speaker 1: and will and would you say so?
Speaker 3: Because like I was thinking about that because like one
Speaker 3: of my favorite games of all times is Blood Born,
Speaker 3: and I always think about the process of like the
Speaker 3: opening hours that game is you cannot rush through it
Speaker 3: unless you know it exactly, Like you can't. You can't
Speaker 3: just run through that environment. It's amaze, it's it's an
Speaker 3: absolute nightmare through that on your first try. I was
Speaker 3: gonna ask, would you say that this game feels as
Speaker 3: though it was The design was with the assumption that
Speaker 3: people who were playing it already played and knew elden Ring.
Speaker 3: So would that still make sense for someone like you
Speaker 3: who likes to soak in the environment. Does that make
Speaker 3: sense for a game that you already technically know?
Speaker 2: I mean, the thing is sorry to yeah, I want
Speaker 2: you to answer that question. But the thing I will
Speaker 2: just add on quickly is it pulls from a lot
Speaker 2: of what you know from elden Ring, but I feel
Speaker 2: like a lot of it has a twist. So you
Speaker 2: think you know something how something works, but it doesn't
Speaker 2: quite work that way, and then you find yourself out
Speaker 2: of time and it's like, oh, that's what that does.
Speaker 4: See Like I was like the first.
Speaker 2: Time I went to one of the bonfires or whatever
Speaker 2: the sites of Grace, I like didn't understand level up
Speaker 2: because it's just a blanket level up. You don't choose stats,
Speaker 2: it's just thinging being being level up.
Speaker 1: Run. Yeah, it's like, once you know how the game works,
Speaker 1: this pacing makes sense, but the game it's still has
Speaker 1: that from software thing where they want you to kind
Speaker 1: of like figure it out on your own, and figuring
Speaker 1: it out on your own while also having like a
Speaker 1: literal wall of fire like pushing you that can get
Speaker 1: that can feel frustrating at first because you're just like
Speaker 1: I okay, Like I want to take my time and
Speaker 1: learn this game, and I like that you're not trying
Speaker 1: to like just tell me exactly what to do, because
Speaker 1: figuring out the almost like puzzle elements of like well,
Speaker 1: what does this area do and what's like this, like
Speaker 1: what what's the best route you know, for like getting
Speaker 1: my gear? Like that's fun to figure out, but you
Speaker 1: in the opening first times we did it like it
Speaker 1: can feel very like it feels like the game is
Speaker 1: trying to like push you along in a way that
Speaker 1: I found frustrating. Once I started to figure out what
Speaker 1: the game was doing and like the way it wanted
Speaker 1: me to play, and I got used to all of that,
Speaker 1: I was able to start enjoying it. Found artificantly more,
Speaker 1: found a character I really liked and exc I didn't
Speaker 1: like the first character at all. I was, yeah, they're fine.
Speaker 1: I ended up going with like the the witch character reclose,
Speaker 1: and I was like, wow, I really like just being
Speaker 1: able to like throw magic everywhere and all this and that,
Speaker 1: so and I feel like that also fits balances really
Speaker 1: nicely with the characters like you and stew would play.
Speaker 1: So once I got into that rhythm, it was like, Okay,
Speaker 1: I'm having a great time with this. It's just that
Speaker 1: initial opening hours was was rough and having to divorce
Speaker 1: that from sort of what I expect with from software,
Speaker 1: which is where I think like this game kind of
Speaker 1: almost like does itself a disservice by having the word
Speaker 1: elden Ring in the title, Like it makes sense because
Speaker 1: it's building off of like the aesthetics of elden Ring.
Speaker 1: What if it was Limb Grave, Limbveld. Actually now it's
Speaker 1: called Limveld. Oh fuck your own podcast, But it makes
Speaker 1: sense because like, yep, like it's using that aesthetics and
Speaker 1: also like, hey, guess what elden Rings sold, like thirty
Speaker 1: million copies or whatever, Like obviously we're going to new
Speaker 1: It's a no brainer. But then at the same time,
Speaker 1: it's like, but if you like elden Ring, doesn't mean
Speaker 1: you're going to like this game. And I think that's okay,
Speaker 1: and I I have come around. I went from I
Speaker 1: did not care about this game at all too. I
Speaker 1: actually now quite like it, and I do. I think
Speaker 1: it's cool that from Software was using their like they're
Speaker 1: kind of like untouchable at the moment, like they can
Speaker 1: they can mess up real bad and it doesn't matter,
Speaker 1: it's not going to hurt their bottom line, like they
Speaker 1: they will be fine, and they're like using that opportunity
Speaker 1: to try something different rather than just do the safest
Speaker 1: thing possible, which would have just been an Elden ring.
Speaker 2: Two.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we've talked about this on this podcast.
Speaker 3: How we encourage We all three of us collectively agree
Speaker 3: that developers should be more willing to reuse their assets
Speaker 3: in creative cool ways. Yes, like RGG has with all
Speaker 3: the yakaza and like a Dragon games, and like even
Speaker 3: I mean I would even argue like from Breatha Walld
Speaker 3: to t Here's the Kingdom, and like use those things
Speaker 3: to build upon and create something.
Speaker 1: So it's cool to see from Software do this.
Speaker 2: Some of the assets that they have pulled for this
Speaker 2: game is a real middle thinker to some players. Sick
Speaker 2: like there is a reviewer talked about it and I
Speaker 2: actually cut it from the video review because I was
Speaker 2: bummed to know that this specific boss was brought back
Speaker 2: for this game. I was like you, like you, Oh
Speaker 2: my god, there it's a real like you have to
Speaker 2: tell me, I'll tell you. I don't know yet Dark
Speaker 2: Souls three boss. I don't know if you played.
Speaker 3: Oh that's the only one I haven't played. But I
Speaker 3: was gonna say, I imagine now with the context of
Speaker 3: being supporting people who developed using assets, as long as
Speaker 3: it's done with some sort of intent, I do. I
Speaker 3: mention a meeting for this game being like collering, so old,
Speaker 3: what are we going to do? He's working on something else, so.
Speaker 1: Shove it all together. What's popular rogue Light?
Speaker 3: Okay, it's time for I mean, I doubt that's exactly
Speaker 3: how it went down, but I can imagine that's all
Speaker 3: it took. Or in the case of somebody's like, what
Speaker 3: if we just took off our assets that made a
Speaker 3: rogue light and.
Speaker 1: They're like maybe maybe someone was just really passionate about
Speaker 1: wanting to try that.
Speaker 2: But I think it does say a lot where like
Speaker 2: to your point, like, I can definitely picture that meeting happening,
Speaker 2: But if that meeting did happen, and this is what
Speaker 2: from software walked away with I think it just once
Speaker 2: again proves how like talented and creative and forward thinking
Speaker 2: and how like not to gas them up too much.
Speaker 2: But like no one else is really doing this stuff, Like, yeah,
Speaker 2: there is a circle that's reminiscent of Battle Royale. Yes,
Speaker 2: there are things that carry over run to run like
Speaker 2: a rogue light, but like I've never really played anything,
Speaker 2: and like obviously it plays like Elder Ring, but like
Speaker 2: all those disparate parts coming together in a way that
Speaker 2: like I've never seen before saw competitive, it's cooperative.
Speaker 3: Now let me have another question, how does this make
Speaker 3: you feel about the future? For that switch to the
Speaker 3: Dust Bloods that one, I'm okay more excited. I'm still
Speaker 3: wary about it because it's PVPV although I have heard
Speaker 3: supposedly that I guess like the PvP element is supposed
Speaker 3: to be like your character has like a role so
Speaker 3: there's like a level of role playing to it, where
Speaker 3: like your character is supposed to have like a specific
Speaker 3: objective that may require hunting down another player or may
Speaker 3: mean you go help another player. So it's kind of
Speaker 3: like I've heard it's like the Old Covenants, and like
Speaker 3: there's a little bit so like, hearing that made me like, oh,
Speaker 3: that's actually kind of interesting. Like I think about games
Speaker 3: like the Ship.
Speaker 1: You know, if you guys ever played the Ship, the
Speaker 1: ship is like a It's what Assassin's Creed multiplayer was
Speaker 1: inspired by. Okay, but it's like an Assassin thing where
Speaker 1: you're all on a ship, but like everyone plays, you
Speaker 1: role play and everyone has like different objectives, and I'm like, Okay,
Speaker 1: that actually sounds like kind of interesting. So I'm the
Speaker 1: weird thing is I don't care. I don't really no.
Speaker 3: I like elden Ring and I love I love like
Speaker 3: Blood Boring is my favorite, is my favorite from soft game,
Speaker 3: and I've I've played Demon Souls and Dark Souls and
Speaker 3: all that jazz. I really have no desire to play
Speaker 3: night Rain. However, hearing you two talk about it has
Speaker 3: gotten me weirdly pumped and excited for dust bloods Okay,
Speaker 3: because I'm excited at the idea of hearing that they're
Speaker 3: doing something like this. Well, and I'm more excited about
Speaker 3: new ips and new things that I don't know, yeah,
Speaker 3: than I am to just go back to elder Ring
Speaker 3: in this term, So I'm like that actually gets me
Speaker 3: pumped for Dusk Bloods of the idea of like, okay,
Speaker 3: there an experiment this way, it makes sense to.
Speaker 1: Do it in a new place.
Speaker 2: And I think I think my gut reaction to Dust
Speaker 2: Bloods was like, oh, I don't really want it from
Speaker 2: software game.
Speaker 1: I think that was sad. Yeah, but I think with
Speaker 1: Night Rain and Plus, I.
Speaker 2: Even think back to like, you know, what they did
Speaker 2: with Demon Souls back in the day and Dark Souls,
Speaker 2: like that was so weird and revolutionary and different in
Speaker 2: terms of how multiplayer works, and hearing you talk about
Speaker 2: like this more role playing spect like, I feel like
Speaker 2: they're not making this multiplayer just because they want to
Speaker 2: make it multiplayer. I feel like that team has a
Speaker 2: very strong concept of what they want this multiplayer to be.
Speaker 1: Obviously we know.
Speaker 2: Very little about it, but I'm excited nonetheless, and I'm
Speaker 2: probably more excited after I've played a night Yeah, I'm.
Speaker 3: So curious if like Dust plus was supposed to be
Speaker 3: a Bloodborne game, you know, and maybe because I don't know,
Speaker 3: it's called dust plotch like Sony didn't want to Spot
Speaker 3: pay for it, and then Nintendo's like, well, like all right,
Speaker 3: we'll just change a few things, and now, like it.
Speaker 2: We'll just put a Bloodborne on PC and we'll make
Speaker 2: all the money so much quicker than that will.
Speaker 1: Definitely happen anyway, ye elden Ring Knight rain. Uh, it's
Speaker 1: an interesting One's cool. Yeah, I've come around to I
Speaker 1: am glad this game exists, and I am actually quite
Speaker 1: enjoying it. Also, forty forty bucks. It's not it doesn't
Speaker 1: have any like micro transaction nonsense, it doesn't have any
Speaker 1: like it has. They start they start adding dance moves.
Speaker 1: I mean there are emotes still, but it's all no,
Speaker 1: can you floss?
Speaker 2: No? Well maybe yeah, you can use the what do
Speaker 2: they call it, like the prattling stones or whatever where
Speaker 2: thank you?
Speaker 1: You can do that. So I just expanded, I'm like, hello,
Speaker 1: thank you.
Speaker 3: Wait, is that it just does that on its own?
Speaker 3: Character holds of the little stone and gl do you
Speaker 3: do it? No, it's it's a can yeah, but you
Speaker 3: can get more of them.
Speaker 1: We're really waiting. At one point, I just was like
Speaker 1: looking away and all of a sudden, I just kept
Speaker 1: hearing whoa, and I'm like, what's going on? I like
Speaker 1: that cool game, and I think that's a podcast would
Speaker 1: be winding down. I guess. Before we go real view
Speaker 1: podcasts the podcast, let's briefly talk about our Summer game
Speaker 1: Fest plans so people are aware what's going on next
Speaker 1: week with us. Obviously, we're going to be in LA
Speaker 1: to cover Summer Game Fest, as well as all the
Speaker 1: other showcases around it, the Xbox showcase. We're going to
Speaker 1: have play Days, which is the like do they call it?
Speaker 1: Do people? Do people outside of our industry know what
Speaker 1: play Days is? It's gonna sounds like such a douchey thing,
Speaker 1: I know, but the play play Days is weird. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Play Days is basically put on by Summer Game Fest,
Speaker 1: where it allows you to walk around and play the
Speaker 1: game play games. It's like the show floor for E
Speaker 1: three in a smaller form, but it's exclusively for the present.
Speaker 1: I don't know if the people know what that is.
Speaker 1: I know, yeah, I think it's kind of weird. Do
Speaker 1: they know?
Speaker 4: I think the people who listen to this probably know,
Speaker 4: But I think you know.
Speaker 2: On our YouTube channel though, I think, like you know,
Speaker 2: we started videoing like we're play Days, people are like,
Speaker 2: I don't know that is?
Speaker 1: I yeah, I agree with that. I've always thought we
Speaker 1: should maybe like stop doing Okay, SOF game coverage. Sure, yeah,
Speaker 1: I think a lot of people though to your point,
Speaker 1: probably the majority of people who watch SGF watch that
Speaker 1: show case, and then they don't really pay much attention.
Speaker 1: They just maybe see like oh I Jen and games
Speaker 1: will put up a lot of videos about games. I
Speaker 1: guess they saw them or whatever, like they're probably were
Speaker 1: things happening. Yeah, we'll be there. We're gonna be checking
Speaker 1: out a lot of games.
Speaker 4: There's something else happening next week too, right.
Speaker 1: Oh, I don't know. Is there something happening next week?
Speaker 4: When did your precinct video go up? That's it?
Speaker 1: Oh, that's it next week? Oh, it's this weekend right tomorrow.
Speaker 1: But something else happening next week. I'm trying to think. Oh,
Speaker 1: Kanitsu Gami is getting mouse controls. Oh you like on
Speaker 1: the PC. Oh no, they already had it on it. Well,
Speaker 1: then where is it gonna be on?
Speaker 4: Hmm, Well, I think that's podcasting.
Speaker 1: We're gonna have all want of stuff next week. We
Speaker 1: have a lot of stuff. Well, we'll be covering all
Speaker 1: the big things anyway. Yeah, all right, start starting next Thursday.
Speaker 1: We'll be covering some stuff. We might be waiting in
Speaker 1: some lines for some midnight releases of things anyway. Thank
Speaker 1: you so much everyone for listening to what has been
Speaker 1: the final traditional episode of Game Spot after Dark. Once again,
Speaker 1: this podcast will continue in some form with more experimental
Speaker 1: one off videos, and after Summer game Fest, please look
Speaker 1: forward to our brand new podcast, The Game Spot Show,
Speaker 1: hosted by Curtin Divina and Mystery guest and Mystery co host.
Speaker 1: Thank you all so much for listening.
Speaker 4: Much than I am, but not as credible.
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, all right, that has been mister credible over there,
Speaker 1: the Podfather himself One last time, pod Father Part three,
Speaker 1: The Death of Jacob. No, we can't, we can't. We're
Speaker 1: gonna end the podcast stop. Please, Thank you so much
Speaker 1: for listening all for these years. Everyone. We really appreciate it.
Speaker 1: We'll be back. Yeah, we're not. We're not. You're not.
Speaker 1: We're not done yet. The sun is rising after Dark.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, oh, we were gonna make a joke about that,
Speaker 1: were we. Yeah. Oh, it's time to it's time to
Speaker 1: wake up.
Speaker 2: Doo doo