Speaker 1: All right, next category is cool.
Speaker 2: Dude to the Year TENDERUC categories or nominees are Joe
Musashi of Shinobi, Samoa Joe from Pirate, Yakisak.
Speaker 3: Kinako from Silent Hell, f Indiana, Jones from Indiana, Jones.
Speaker 2: Apsu from Ghost of Yota.
Speaker 3: Pizza Chef from Death Stranding.
Speaker 4: To King of All Cosmos of Once Upon a Katamari Fame,
Donkey Kong Samus, sight Seeing Mario, what is that Mariachi
wa Luigi.
Speaker 3: Cruister from Arc Raiders.
Speaker 2: Oh yes, sure, sight seeing Mario. Mario is like backwards hat, sunglasses,
Mario sunshine beach shirt shorts, probably from from Mario kart World.
They all have these different like like you just see
this Dude's like, man, that's a cool Mario. Mario's never ever,
ever been cool.
Speaker 4: Mario. Mario is not a cool character. I'm looking up,
which one do you want? Thank you?
Speaker 2: I okay, I think he's very cool and I'm going
to pull up the thing and you need to describe
this man.
Speaker 3: I think he's very cool.
Speaker 2: Look, how fucking cool that man? He's a cool dude.
Flip flops, he's smoking? Why is there? Yeah? No exciting
Mario is fantastic. And then I will also pull up
a mariachi just so you can see that, which is
kind of exactly what you would expect him look like.
Uh that this is just a good mariaci. And also
like his idle animation. He's like doing this like snapping thing,
like just a very cool variant of Wallaway, got.
Speaker 4: Like sort of Deadlos Martost kind of vibe going on fantastic.
Speaker 2: Yes, cooler, that's tough. Samoa Joe is in Pirate Yakaz
and I not play this game, but I've seen Joe
in there, and that's the thing I just want. Samoa
Joe is maybe just the coolest dude. I could still
take him, but he's he is. I know you guys
aren't wrestling people. Just trust me when I say Samoa
Joe kicks ass. He loves games.
Speaker 4: Uh.
Speaker 2: I cannot say enough about this man. And I want
to see him do more video game stuff. He's in
Twisted Metal Pyriocisan.
Speaker 4: Now.
Speaker 2: Loving games hasn't made me cool? Have you seen yourself
in the mirror lately?
Speaker 4: Judge?
Speaker 2: Can we put Judge Jake on cool?
Speaker 5: No?
Speaker 4: No, no, it's already a crammed category. Crammed I want
to keep is rooster the gun salesman. No, it's the rooster. Oh,
the chicken, the cowboy hat whatever, chicken, rooster whatever? Which
is which is a chicken? Boysters are chicken?
Speaker 2: Yeah? Okay, okay, but you can give him the cowboy hat. Yeah,
and he just I love also to that a pair. Currently,
you just never see him. He's not like modeled in
the game, which as you get back, he's like, you
found a bunch of shit for you.
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, he's doing a job.
Speaker 3: Run a nice guy.
Speaker 4: Yeah yeah, oh you see him in the UI. Yeah,
he's like and he like does you know he shakes it?
But not in the game.
Speaker 2: You're not like down.
Speaker 4: The Yeah, the hideout is like florified menus. Yes, my
chickens are fucking cool too. Have you been to Key West?
Speaker 2: They're cool.
Speaker 4: If you put a cowboy hair one of them, that
makes them even cooler. That sounds it's a cool, dude.
Speaker 2: I want to like someone, I don't.
Speaker 4: I don't want to cut, so I don't know how
helpful this Isn't you have to if anybody has an
obvious cut, go for it. I just I think is
a really good character. Yeah, that's awesome bad ass, great badass.
Speaker 3: Along those lines, Tinico is so so fucking cool because
they are putting her in some of the most absurdly scary,
terrifying situations that I've ever seen, and in no point
is she just like this sobbing mess. She's just like cool.
I guess I gotta hit this person with a board
with a nail in it, Like, let's go. Oh, this
person is an action hero wrapped in the body of
a schoolgirl. I'm like obsessed with her. I think they
did such a good job with making her the protagonist.
I'm really I was blown away by the character development
of this and just how rad she is, so absolutely cool,
deserving of being on here. I will fight for her.
Speaker 2: She is an incredible character.
Speaker 4: I don't want to I don't want to spoil anything,
and it depends on interpretations.
Speaker 2: But there's one interpretation where I'm like, maybe she's not so.
Speaker 3: Cool though, you know, but that's what makes her nuanced
and interesting and silent. Hill is actually about that the
protagonists have a history of like being like sometimes complicated
and shitty, but like that's what makes them like in
the moment, you're just like, damn, this person's really going
through hell and high water for what they believe in
good to make.
Speaker 4: A character like I've never really seen written in a
game before in a way they've it's very very well
written character with some very cool moments.
Speaker 2: I I'm with Mary where I think I'd fight for
her too, at least for now. Now, I want to
offer two cuts. One King of All Cosmos. I think
I added him. He's like I just always found him
to be a very just cool, funny, flamboyant, just like
loud character.
Speaker 3: Visually appealing.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's just very cool.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I just think he's hilarious. I mean, there's nothing
really in one spin acateemory that makes him that much
different than any other Kadmary games. So I think we
cut that, and then Indiana Jones. It's just like, look,
Indiana Jones has been Indiana Jones since nineteen eighty four.
He's always been cool.
Speaker 4: There's nothing in the Great Circle that like I would
say he's less cool in this because it's not. It's
not actually Harrison Fort you know, like he's still cool
because he's Indiana Jones.
Speaker 2: But like it's, oh, yeah, we should.
Speaker 4: I don't know if we ever mentioned last year we
did our game of the year at a time when
we can all get together. Yes, the two major games
that came out that we promised we would talk about
didn't say necessarily, we promised we'd love them. Where Indiana Jones,
The Great Circle and Stalker Too hard of Chernobyl. So
that's why Indiana Jones is on here because we wanted
to make sure we touched on them.
Speaker 2: But I think we cut that and can go all Cosmos.
I'll make the argument for Samos here. Like Samus, I
think she's always just looked incredible. It's like like one
of the coolest designs ever. But also in this game,
it's funny because like some people hate the fact that
there's like extra characters and stuff added here, but like
these other characters when they meet Samus, they're always just
like kind of fan It's like, oh my god's fucking Samos.
Like there's one girl who's just like, I don't I
want to take a picture with you, and I'm like
I can't believe I'm meeting Samus, and and they're all
just kind of marking out, and she doesn't talk, so
like she just kind of like stares at them while
they're being like fanboys, and like at most she'll just
kind of like no or just like shrug, and it's
just like not at all. It's just nonplus by this
and just doing the coolest shit. You know, when you
summon your motorcycles, just a twenty foot backlip in the
air lands super gracefully on this sweet fucking space motorcycle
and cruises across the desert. It's just and then every
like you know in Metroid games, as you get upgrades
and things like that, or whole new suits, the design
of suit changes, and there are a couple of times
in Metrod Prime four where they're like larger changes happened
to the suit, and it's just like, oh, that looks
like I've seen so many cool Samus designs, but there
were a couple of times in this was like, God,
damn it, that's a cool design.
Speaker 4: I was sold on having her in this list when
I got Violin just stopped on the bike and the
way she just stands there, and I'm like, Osh, so
fucking cool.
Speaker 2: Yeah, like Alzheimer, that's cool. The veal is incredible. Yeah, yeah,
I want to keep her.
Speaker 3: I can't keep both of your cool Nintendo boys.
Speaker 2: Both of them A lot of Yeah, favorite bro, all right,
I will I want to.
Speaker 3: I want to say, I think this is a strategic
choice by you to have like four of something from
the same game. That way you have to get one
of her men from the same good person from sacrificing
one when you magically put in multiple there's two from Favorite.
Speaker 2: I love WALLOWEGI sight seeing Mario. He's got sunglasses. He
just looks cooler. Yeah, but flip flops are just never,
They're so rarely Mario pulls it off.
Speaker 4: I don't think so. I think he looks he's more
gonna go wrong. Uh Joe from Shinobi is like it's
a cool ninja. Like I mean, like there's a lot
of cool ninjas and video games.
Speaker 3: Dude, cool fucking ninja's way Cooler's cooler? Your fighting for
uh Mario more than a ninja.
Speaker 2: I don't know if I'll fight for Mario more than
Atsu because Atsu is like God, I just love Like,
you know, you'll encounter like three cocky dudes just like
like a non story thing and it's like, oh, who
are these three assholes, like you know, riding horses around
you walking.
Speaker 4: I guess I'm gonna get my bounty, you're gonna kill you,
and she'll.
Speaker 2: Just like walk up like pull a stord out, say
something cool, and you just slaughter them.
Speaker 4: She shuts their head off, she plays the fun pulls
a guitar out, plays a guitar, and a wolf shows up.
She kills you. She wipes your blood on this like like.
Speaker 2: This is the word scary ass masks and stuff like
she's so I.
Speaker 4: Said this during Oh man, this is more of a
like a later in the episode, but like I said
this when we talked about the game in the first
episode after embargo, the game kind of encourages you to
embrace how bad ass she is. You get a mask
from all of the major characters you kill, So when
I started doing I was like, you get a lot
of cool looking masks in that game. Yeah, it felt
most badass to me to wear the mask of the
one I most recently killed from the main crew, because
then I show up to the next one, and then
the cut scenes you're wearing the snake's mask when you're
about like they're like, oh.
Speaker 2: My recognize it and I don't even know address it,
but it's like, hey, you know where this came from.
Speaker 4: Yeah, she's cool. And then like, I also appreciate that
the sucker punch. I think she can get a bit
one note if you're just playing a lot of the
side stuff, but the main storyline when you get into
I think they introduce characters that play really good foils
to her in a way that she's like, uh, maybe
I was just kind of killing way too many people
the last ten hours, which I appreciate that. Right when
I'm like, maybe she's not the badass, they're like this,
and then she changed, Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 2: I just think you're just extremely killing people.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I get she has she's up there, she's got
reasons to be pissed off after.
Speaker 3: Talking about these really fucking rad people.
Speaker 2: I think that the rooster is out all right, But yeah.
Speaker 3: Rooster wins to these women.
Speaker 2: Okay, I guess we got them.
Speaker 3: That Rooster always gives me my stuff.
Speaker 2: I'm an ally, so I gotta pick a woman.
Speaker 4: I guess fucking Atsu, fucking Hinko and sam Is just
have to win now or else I'm an.
Speaker 2: Idiot, problematic. I think about it.
Speaker 4: Has anyone seen the Rooster's tweets?
Speaker 2: You milkshake rooster God? Uh all right, let's cut Donkey
Kong is always cool.
Speaker 3: Where was he January?
Speaker 2: DK doesn't know who the president is?
Speaker 3: This guy is fine? Is he the coolest?
Speaker 2: There's nothing in Bonanza that makes him cooler than I've
just I've always thought Donkey Kong was just a cool
dude I'd like to hang out with. I still feel
that way. He's admirable. Like his entire goal is to
get bananas. Just loves bananas. If you do, if you
hung out with Donkey Kong, I think he slams some
nanners dead. What do you think? I just think he
would be a positive presence to be around. He's just
like grunting and giving thumbs up and stuff.
Speaker 4: And like I just like the whole as punch of
beer he'sching.
Speaker 2: If he hasn't ha beer, I would like I would
peer pressure Donkey Kong and getting drunk with me. He
would punch a hole to China if he would drank
enough beers from here, hanging off like Polly arrested to
walk the line, like duy, he's got up.
Speaker 4: He's got one of the construction hats with beer like
it's just some ouda pills funneling into his mouth the
whole way through the core.
Speaker 2: He's great, but he's always been great. Nothing special.
Speaker 4: This here so for pirate yakus, I have a question,
is this is this Samoa Joe's coolest.
Speaker 2: Because it's because it's Samoa Joe. That's it.
Speaker 4: Like, I can't.
Speaker 2: I don't have an argument here. I haven't played the game.
Speaker 4: I also want to raise the point I fear for
us if we cut him. If he ever sees this,
I'm just joking.
Speaker 2: Take him.
Speaker 4: I'm afraid of that guy. Guys, guys, as long as
you're in my presence, you're safe.
Speaker 3: Even do an the room as the situation, I'll let.
Speaker 2: You guys know what the plan A, B, and C
is for escaping. No, I understand cutting. I have some
sort of fake sumo suit that I just bounce off him.
Speaker 3: Hopefully Joe will take pity on you once you've pissed yourself.
Speaker 4: Yeah, we can cut what you want me to.
Speaker 2: Fuck, Maybe we cut him since none of us have
played the game he's in. Yes, probably a good Joe
for being very cool.
Speaker 3: Wow, a very impressive cool dude of the Year that
he made it as far as he did without us.
Speaker 2: Playing Pizza chef. Uh yeah, pizza Chef it's it's just
one of those wacky codem moments where it's like, oh what,
he's so.
Speaker 3: Wacky Coachima, Oh my god, can you go back up
to most up its own ass and increase the font
of Kojima?
Speaker 4: Have you seen the pizza chef fight.
Speaker 2: No, it is a super choreographed, impressive fun fight where
you're in a pizza kitchen, rolling over counters and stuff.
They're on pizza at each other and like it's a
it's just a cool scene.
Speaker 4: Uh.
Speaker 2: And he's one who teaches you pizza dough and everything.
Speaker 4: Kojima stumbled across that TikToker who does all the fancy
like pizza do flips in his backyard and punched the messtuff.
He's like, I'm gonna put that in my game, even
though it doesn't make sense.
Speaker 2: No, everything the logic is sound. With everything he has
ever done, we can cut him.
Speaker 4: We got one more to cut?
Speaker 2: Well, can't being morow because I'm not an l I I.
Speaker 4: Mean I think I think it should, I really do.
Speaker 3: I want to be clear, this is not about like,
this is not a gender battle. One of these is
obviously not fucking as cool as you're out of your mind.
Speaker 2: Well, I didn't play it, so can't be that.
Speaker 3: That's not my fault that you don't game enough.
Speaker 4: There is something that happens in side. I won't say
what is, but there's singing having sound hill f that
is way more badass. That does more than anyone on
this list.
Speaker 2: Have you seen Sight Seeing Mario?
Speaker 4: Yes?
Speaker 2: Yeah, because you google for us.
Speaker 3: I don't think Hanako should just stay. I'm I'm fighting
for Hanako to win over. I am not kidding. She
is the most badass protagonist. She is so fucking cool.
The way she keeps her calm and collective under the
most extreme conditions should be studied. And they make it believable.
She's not just this like numb person who's going through this.
She's suffering, but she fucking gets her shit together and
stabs people through the pain. It's unbelievable what she goes through.
Speaker 2: And like there is a scene that is just like
it is.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's something else, like I haven't seen it in
a game before Hyperbolic, but like there's a moment in
that game where it turns and I'm like, oh, I
can't They're not doing this, They're not doing this, And
then they do it, and I'm like, whoa.
Speaker 2: Okay, okay, don't take your word for it. So are
we cutting Samus or sight seeing Mario? It's kind of
up to you. Oh no, oh no, Sophie's choice. Really,
in the same way that we cut Donkey Kong for
just being kind of a He's always been Donkey Kong
and always been really cool. Samus is incredibly cool in
Mentored Prime four. The motorcycle does.
Speaker 4: Bring it up a little bit. But isn't Sicy Morrow
just like a uh like character character aesthetic?
Speaker 2: How dare you?
Speaker 4: I have yes, it is.
Speaker 2: We can cut them. Sorry, they gave him sunglasses in
Hawaiian Jesus.
Speaker 3: He had to fight so hard for this ship.
Speaker 4: Mary, I.
Speaker 2: Think you should say Mike and I for this Wow.
Speaker 3: Know, you guys should all be added to Loserville. You
guys are all worthless. This is an obvious list that
we had to fight through a lot of crap for.
I had to argue multiple times for.
Speaker 2: I don't know you lift, uh so, who's the who's
the coolest dude? Though? Oh?
Speaker 4: I think is just sill left. But you guys seem
passionate about it. To me, it's over Samus. But actually
I've only played Ghostota here.
Speaker 3: That's true. I I haven't played samos I haven't had
time to play Metroid Prime for but I have played
Ghost of You Taie. I do think Osu is such
a badass. It is because of the experiences I've had
with and not Go that I think that Silent Hill
have f takes the cake for me. This might have
to go to a judge because I think they're both incredible.
Speaker 2: I can't you've played all three? Yeah, you you should
be the one to pick.
Speaker 4: Oh shit, he's really so bongo wow.
Speaker 2: Okay, I had faith.
Speaker 3: I had faith in this. I didn't have to jerry
mander anything. It's just natural.
Speaker 4: Can I.
Speaker 2: Quick? Is the right time?
Speaker 4: Now what we read through?
Speaker 2: Or I'll do nominees and then I'll okay, so cool.
Speaker 4: Due to the year, runner ups are Samus and oughts to,
but the coolest dude of the year is Hinoko from
Simon hill F.
Speaker 3: It's true. I also think this is a good time
Dan to just re up what we're doing here.
Speaker 2: Yes, everyone, if you're just joining us, I am Dan Reicher,
This is Mary Kish, this is Mike Maharty, and this
is cool. Judge Jake Decker. We are fire Escape Cast.
If you have never heard us, check us out on
your podcast platform of choice. And uh, we are a
video game podcast. We've known each other for a long time.
We were together kind of like I guess game spots
weirdly though, like.
Speaker 3: Games media for a decade. And now we talk about
games in our off hours and we are discussing Game
of the Year deliberations, including very specific categories for games
that we just think deserve mentions. We have nominees, we
have honorable mentions, and we have awards, and we are
in the thick of it.
Speaker 2: Yes, we are probably at least maybe over halfway through now.
Speaker 3: Hopefully we are.
Speaker 4: I think we still have some more.
Speaker 2: Hours here to go, but yes, we are working through
our categories right now. And our next category is dumb
Thing of the Year parentheses good here.
Speaker 4: Nominees are the couch Gag from Simpson's Fortnite, Leapers and
Arc Raiders.
Speaker 3: Monaco's foot Fetish in Expedition thirty three, Smoking in RV,
Thereat Canon and Peak Lollipop in Peak the.
Speaker 2: Gummy Room from Kirby Air Riders. I'm sure do you
want to take the next one too, Hygante from Kirby
Air Riders, the Zebra Song and DK Bonanza. I think
Dan should just do this splash of death straining. These
are yours, all right, the coffin board and destranding too,
the die Hard Man Dance and death randing too, the
pizza Chef fight and death randing to cut that nobody
likes pizza chef here, guitar battle and desth Randing two.
All right, so this is a good dumb thing, all right.
Let me let's just get the desk randing stuff out
of the way here. Can we have the banana dudes
or no, that's oh they're they're under I thought we're
they're out of the cool dudes. No, they were under
something else.
Speaker 4: They were.
Speaker 2: Yeah. So I'm gonna say these three death randing two
things and I will just let you. I will graciously
allow you to just have one of them. Say, okay,
the coffin board. There are coffins and dest ranting two.
They're like cool future coffins. They're like, you know, sleek
and cool and you know, uh, and you can surf
on them. You can basically tie them to you and
like surf down mountains and kind of like snowboard through
areas and stuff. You can also like shove bodies in
it and bury and stuff like that. But I just
liked surfing around on like snow covered mountains on a coffin.
I thought was very cool. The die Hardman dance God, how.
Speaker 4: Do I die Hardman?
Speaker 2: Is the he became the president. He had the mask
in the first game. He became the president, then he died,
and then he came back as a mannequin Torso and
Destranding two, and then there's a point where you and
the current US president are on the beach, which is
a bit of a purgatory between the living world and
the dead world, and you're kind of just talking about
the nature of the universe, and then the fucking mannequin
pops up and does a fucking like he's doing like
James Brown call out like good God, like dancing around
this mannequin, and then like it's just die hard Man,
and he comes back and he's just it's this whole
crazy song and dance number thing that is just during
a very serious moment, and it tickled me quite a bit.
This is dumb thing of the year good.
Speaker 4: I don't think how part of the game is that
it's sixty hours.
Speaker 2: Okay, that's why I didn't see it, because I I
played like thirty yes, and then even beyond that, it's
you and Higgs Troy Baker's character of the villain. The
final battle is like, you know, Kajima always ends these things.
It's like it's a couple, you know, your shirt lists
on top of a middle gear fighting in the flames
and stuff like that. This one, it's it's this climactic battle,
but you've got guitars. I don't remember why Sam has
a guitar, but Higgs has a guitar from the trailers
and all that stuff, and you are just like guitar
battling back and forth like a fucking guitar room man
sequence and hitting each other with guitars and stuff, and
a fucking giant baby comes out of the sky and
all this stuff, and it is just like the most
unrestrained death Stranding has ever been one or two. And
I just had to smile because it's like, Okay, we
just don't care at all about any sense of keeping
things restrained. It is like full unchained Kajima in a
way that like I like a lot a lot of
people don't like so those those are the three things
I liked the most, like dumb, deast ranting two things.
So you select one to say for now, it doesn't
have to say forever. I think Coffin is not a
dumb thing. I think it's just cool. Yeah, I think
it's just rat like. I love using that thing.
Speaker 4: You know, it doubles as a like an underground incinerator
in tar pits as well. Yeah, because which I would
argue that's not good for the game design, but it's still.
Speaker 2: Cool because yeah, body will create a mechanics.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: I think his repentance for Dan making us listen to
four things that he knew couldn't get through so he
could get one through, we should cut all of them.
Speaker 2: That's exactly what he was doing.
Speaker 3: This is your strategy. You're doing it again, and I
would like you to be punished for it. You get none.
Thank you, good day.
Speaker 2: I love how I don't even know what my strategy
is and you do. You're giving me too much credit
for my thought process. I would say, I, for my
own sake, let's keep Coffin board for now. But Guitar
Battle and die hard Man sounds stupid. That sounds like
that sounds like I don't know what to do with
this game. They need to fight each other with guitar now.
They said it loud. That sounds cool, But like I
I within the game's context, I don't. I think I
just love it when there are creators that clearly no
one's telling them no.
Speaker 4: I just like that a lot.
Speaker 2: You know, whether it's James Cameron Orde or Evan Geli
and Joseph. Only when it's ones.
Speaker 4: I like ye or your box. You love that?
Speaker 2: Is that your favorite thing?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's not for everyone. I mean it'd be cool
if we keep coughin board for a little bit. Okay,
My argument was coffin board is just cool.
Speaker 4: It's not dumb.
Speaker 2: Why it should not coffin pretty dumb?
Speaker 4: Like you say it out.
Speaker 2: Loud though, and it sounds like the coolest fucking thing ever.
Speaker 4: Imagine fucking or like snowboarding down of fucking your great grandn.
Speaker 2: That's her, that's her dying wish. I want to Darby Ellen,
once you go down.
Speaker 4: A black diamond with me and inside the comin strapped
your grandma's casket, you just smashed into a tree. I
gotta get down. It's what you wanted some good. You know,
I'm torn.
Speaker 2: Let's just get it from now. You can cut the
other ones because I'm generous, very thoughtful, Dave, what is this?
Speaker 4: I don't know? Tables the table, the table seems to
be squeaking. I've noticed it too, bathroom.
Speaker 2: I'm good, all right. Do you guys know the Zebra
song Bonanza?
Speaker 4: I do.
Speaker 2: It's fantastic, Like I love all the bespoke songs. When
you do a bonanza, bullshit, that's the best one by far.
Speaker 4: I like that.
Speaker 2: Good dumb. Tell me about Gigante and Caurber writers.
Speaker 4: Who is it?
Speaker 2: Kante? Mike's nodding, And you guys haven't played a lot
of caremeerers.
Speaker 4: I know you have. I've played a d an amount
and I'm the stone. Right. They're all just little things, right,
the machines, the machines, Yeah, these little things that they
stand on.
Speaker 2: They're very cute. Yeah.
Speaker 4: Uh. There's legendary ones too, right, And these legendary ones
are a little bigger. Giante takes up the entire.
Speaker 2: Stage on City Trial, and it just is it a
thing that you can just pick from the like the machines,
So you have to unlock it and you have to
collect all the parts, and if you do, it just
levels all the buildings in City Trial.
Speaker 4: It's broken. It doesn't make sense, it shouldn't be there,
but it is a to your point, like it seems
like like zac Rab was like, I just want to
put this in the game because I think it's kind
of cool. It's unbalanced, it's it's ridiculous, but it just
takes up the entire stage. Whenever you do a spin,
it's incredibly slow, but you can see all the people
you knock out, and then if you get it, the
default city trial ending is everyone against you who's got it.
Speaker 2: It's pretty cool. And this is the thing that you
earn in why city Trial. So it's not a thing.
It's not like a vehicle. You unlock and you can
pick it whenever.
Speaker 4: Right, you do have to unlock it in a different mode,
but once you've unlocked it, then it'll appear in City Trial.
Speaker 2: But you can't pick it as your man. Okay, So
it is it is very random based doesn't happen every run. Honestly,
that's like I like broken things like that. It's so stupid,
that sounds the scale of it is ridiculous. I'm on board.
With that, that's like we have the gummy Room. I
loved it.
Speaker 4: That was when I kind of.
Speaker 2: Realized what Kirby aer Writers was because like I never
played the game game really man, was what the fuck
is this? And it just seems like chaos. And then
when I like went into the Gummy Room, I just
realized as just like, oh, no, one's telling them, no,
just just I don't know. It's a roomflow you look
at fucking gummies and you can zoom in on them
and you have a sword and a magnet or whatever. Yeah,
I would I would say if we're picking a Kirby
aer Writers thing, that Gigante things sounds more substantial. But
but I do think the gummy room is what made
me respect Kirber Writers.
Speaker 4: I think if we want Kirby a writers thing, I
would fight for over down the room.
Speaker 2: Okay yeah, uh okay, Mary, we're all killing our babies here.
We did some curve, we added some destinanding, which peak thing.
Speaker 3: I mean, I think they're both good in different ways.
They're both absurdly stupid. That cannon and peak is meant
to help you launch each other to an area that
you would not have been able to climb to. But
you can't really tell where your destination is going to
be until you put someone in it and send them
pack in very funny to launch someone into a mountain
and hope that they get to the area they're meant
to get to without dying.
Speaker 2: Is there like a dotted line or a radical or something,
or do you just kind of like point and shoot.
Speaker 3: It's a point and shoot situation, and so you're kind
of like it just like reminds me. This thing reminds
me of like a real cannon where you're like, someone's
got to get in there, and one of your friends
has to be like, it'll be me, And you get
in this cannon and just hope that you fucking make
your destination. If they don't, we all laugh. If you do,
we all cheer. It results in these epic cheers or
laughter of whatever ends up happening. So I think it's
a very funny addition to this game. And it didn't.
It didn't start and Peak it was added later on,
and when canon was added, collectively all players were like,
what an absurdly funny, ridiculously stupid thing to add to
this game. We needed more ropes, we needed ladders, we
needed practical things in this game. Was like, you get
a canon that you can't control the book, and I
think that's funny, and I think it's dumb, and it's good.
The lollipop was this is a funny it's cannon in
the sense that it was originally in the game and
it was always in the game. The lollipop is a
an enhancer for your stamina. So you eat a lollipop immediately,
you get unlimited stamina for like ten seconds. So let's
say you cannot climb this thing it's too tall and
there's only one of you.
Speaker 2: This is the perfect.
Speaker 3: Opportunity to take a lollipop, a gurree up and climb
that way. You can maybe put a rope down for
everybody else. But the second you're ten seconds is up,
you go into a sugar crash and you pass out.
And so it's very funny because you'll you might actually
succeed and get to the part that you're trying to
get to. When you pass out, you can roll off
the edge. It's just very funny, like lick a lollipop
and then be like, I'm I can do it, and
you get to the top and then you fall off.
I think it's I think it's very funny. They're they're
both brilliant, but I think the cannon has resulted in
some of the funniest It is chaos. It is chaotic
that the developers thought of this as a traversal mechanic,
and I applaud them for coming up with something so stupid.
Speaker 2: It so it sounds like a three suit, like a
Laurel and Hardy bit or something of just like the
physical comedy, Just like I'm gonna put someone in a
cannon and see what the fuck happens. It's almost certainly
gonna be stupid. Like I think that sounds incredible. Lollipop
sounds great too, but cannon sounds better.
Speaker 3: They're both so so stupid and so funny. But yeah,
I would have to go with the canon. Smoking an
RV there yet is so stupid, but it does actually
give you a It gives you like a boost of
stamina as well. I think ultimately what it is is
it's aesthetic. It's very funny to be in an RV
with your peers. You're looking around and one person's driving,
maybe someone's flipping burgers, and somebody's doing nothing, but everybody's
smoking a fucking.
Speaker 2: Sick and it's just really chugging some lung beers.
Speaker 3: And there's beers. It's it's unnecessary. I don't know what
the developers were thinking, because you could tell they had
to make very stern decisions of what they had time
and energy to code into this game. There's moose in
this game that don't walk. They're just ping images, like
like you can tell when they ran out of budget
and we're like, we're out of time. But they put
a lot of energy into these six They put a
lot of energy.
Speaker 4: Into you beer.
Speaker 2: It's just you're just these like pudgy dudes an RV
and like that does seem like such a natural, like yeah,
that fits here, This is great.
Speaker 3: They're so silly and unnecessary, and I think it's I
think it's exemplary of this category.
Speaker 2: It is so.
Speaker 3: Stupid and it is. It is a funny thing, and
they added a mechanic to it so it actually has
a value. When you smoke the cigarette, you get like
a boost of energy and you can do something if
you need to. But ultimately it's.
Speaker 2: For cool factor. I got something that I'll mention, but
I will also cut right afterwards. But like Simpsons, Fortnite
I loved so much. But like, as far as the
gags and stuff like that, I was trying to think of,
Like there's a million little ones and references where it's like,
oh you see the rake on the ground, I know
what we're gonna do there. Oh you see the phone
at mose Bar Okay, I see. It's like and there's
so much people like us that just love Simpsons and stuff.
It's like it delivers all that cool to my being.
Speaker 3: I'm glad that they were able to capitalize on.
Speaker 2: It so well. Yeah, And I think the reason the
couch gag was maybe the best version of it with
Fortnite is because like Fortnite is already this insane thing
where it's like every ip that's ever existed is in there,
and then you put the super iconic thing like if
you go in the Evergreen Terrace portion of the map,
you go down there, you can go into the Simpsons house,
you can take a mission from Marge or whatever. But
also you go to the couch and you can hit
X to sit, and it's just like I was playing
a Solid Snake and my sister is playing is Vegeta
and we hit X to sit and now just Homer's
or a snake as they're holding basically a duff they
rebranded slurp. It's just like solid snake and vegeta on
the Simpson's couch, and it's like, that's so stupid and funny.
And then when you think about it, just like, oh,
it could be a Zeno morph, it could be Ariana Grande,
it could be like, man, what a what an exemplary?
You know, It's like this is what Fortnite is just
everything ever and it's just kind of wild to see
it all together in a way that I think could
feel a lot shittier, but Fortnite I kind of love
how they do it. So it was I wanted to
pick something from Simpsons Fortnite just because there's a lot
of good, dumb things in there. I think we cut it.
I think there's some stronger ones here, but like again,
Simpsons Fortnite was fantastic. How about Monoco's foot fetish?
Speaker 4: This is like kind of money.
Speaker 6: Is it?
Speaker 2: Does it hang with the others? You're the fun guy,
right what? No, don't show me your feet, Mike.
Speaker 3: Don't you want to represent this one because you are
are a little freak boy.
Speaker 2: I'm a freak boy, but that with feet.
Speaker 4: Didn't you add this one?
Speaker 2: No, Jake, did I think, look at us who looks
like a foot freak?
Speaker 4: Then judge dot com order, Okay, so we're cutting that.
I didn't add it. Hm.
Speaker 2: I like they really are the hottest appendage. They look
every foot looks exact same. That's not people love it. No,
they don't look the same. I mean human does the
ones Some are like probably missing toes or have like
dirty anyway. I I love the zebra song. I don't know.
I think they're stronger examples of good dumb things this year.
Speaker 3: Yep, Okay, I think we have to make an argument
for leapers. I haven't heard it again, Yes, yes, I
can do this.
Speaker 2: Have you seen those things jump?
Speaker 4: Yes?
Speaker 2: And it's not just that they jumped, It is that
you try to kill them and then everything else starts
jumping when you like the amount of times that you
go to kill them and it's like, oh, they're still going.
They just they just throw all their weight at something
and if it's a wall, they'll hit the wall.
Speaker 4: The the the animations are like very good and they
just kind of tumble and fall and they look so
stupid when they do this, there's just limbs flying everywhere,
but they're also like scary as hell. Yeah, I think
they're real dumb just because of how their limbs are
flying everywhere, they're bashing against things. I think it should
be here, but there's some stiff competition. This is a
strong five here. Ooh boy.
Speaker 2: I think I think this category should be like the
thing that is dumb and funny but also like has
like it's actually like it's not just a gag. It
is a thing that actually kind of plays into the game.
And I think most of these, like definitely the cannon jigonte,
I mean the coffin board, it's actually a really good
way getting around the leapers are they're actually really good
enemies to cut. I think there's an argument maybe the
smoking is the least actually like that seems like the
most esthetic kind of vibes thing.
Speaker 3: Like then it's not essential or necessary. It is very
dumb and it is good, but I don't think it's
as good as these others, so I'm willing to cut it.
I will say right now, I have said this before,
but I think it is the noble and honorable thing
to do to also cut death stranding to stop you
from doing the thing that you always do. What's that
You just shove a bunch of shit down our throats
and hope that one gets through.
Speaker 4: I think the coffin board is cool though, it's really cool.
I guess that was the strategy. It worked because I
love the coffin board.
Speaker 3: Yeah, he got you.
Speaker 2: It wasn't like considered. That's one of the things I
love that. No, it's not. I'd like a lot in
that game. But I want to cut smoking.
Speaker 3: It maybe cut leapers.
Speaker 2: I think, I think leapers. I think it's I think
it's cool to be anti tobacco. That's a good point,
which one is saving lives.
Speaker 4: You're literally surfing around on an already dead body, where
smoking is creating more of them that could trigger a
foid out. Yeah, but it's not cool year, it's dumb
thing of the year. You're right, it's dumb good, all right,
and we're taking smoking out. We can take smoking, okay,
So then what is.
Speaker 2: The dumbest thing of the year? Good, dumb good. Honestly,
Mary makes a good point for Cannon. It sounds like me.
It does sound like it actually seems like a thing
where if it goes well, it could be a game changer,
right for that run. Well, the death that sounds amazing.
All of these are like Giganta sounds incredible to but
that canon that seems like what this category is?
Speaker 3: I just al't want to say, like when you have
like four people and somebody because these are you know,
prop gen of what item you get. When someone's like
there's a canon, everyone goes oh because you don't know
if it's good or bad yet, Like you know it's sick,
but like it could be the death of the entire run.
That's how risky it is. It's so funny.
Speaker 2: I like you're just like the idea of launching someone
up and they're like, oh, yeah they died. Yeah, yeah,
I would vote for Cannon. Okay, are we agreed?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 4: I think so? All right, dumb thing of the year. Good.
The runner ups are coffin Board Death Stating two, Gagonte
Kirby aer Ride, and Cannon.
Speaker 2: In Peak is the winner. That's a good category.
Speaker 4: That was good. So I believe we are No, we're not.
We're in our last category No.
Speaker 2: Two, three, four, five, six, seven. We got eight more.
Speaker 3: I think we need to start burning through some of these.
Speaker 2: We'll see some of them be longer than others. Definitely,
Oh my god. Yeah, well okay, well, next one is
Dumb Thing of the Year Bad.
Speaker 3: So this is a thing that is stupid, just like
the last category and bad.
Speaker 4: But we don't like it, right, Yeah, we like the
other dumb things. We don't like these dumb things.
Speaker 2: The nominees are meanbout sound effects and metroid weird campaign
choices in Black Ops.
Speaker 3: Seven, Everything About Mine's I.
Speaker 4: Diehard Man Dance, The Xbox Rock Ally Lost Soul Aside
Tower Dominion's aesthetic.
Speaker 2: Online lobbies in the Wheelchair Basketball.
Speaker 3: Game, Everything Mario Party Jam.
Speaker 2: I'm sorry weird, and I think it's mine, that says
Randy Pitchford. I want to say to cut the Xbox Rock.
Xbox Rock ally has major problems.
Speaker 4: Uh we.
Speaker 2: Mostly tied to windows and everything. I will say, despite
its problems and its frustrations, it is like the one
I travel with. Like I am traveling with it, Like
like it runs things very well now that I've got,
like the full screen experience and all that. Like it's
a powerful handheld. I like the the ergonomics of it
and everything. It's the windows stuff sucks. I hate that
she locked in a loop of not being able to
log in.
Speaker 4: Yeah. Oh, I've had so many different problems with it.
Speaker 2: But like the fact that I am still like putting
it in my bag when I travel and stuff, and like,
I fucking love my Steam Deck, but there are certain
games and stuff that like will run better on the
Xbox Rock ally, and like I'm not even using the
Xbox parts of it. I'm like loading up Steam. I
love steaming, you know. I'm it's basically a little more
powerful Steam Deck to me. But if I want to
play Fortnite on it, if I went, like when I
was homework thanks skimming playing all that with my sister,
I was playing on the Rock ally, you know, you
can't easily load up the epic games to wear on
a Steam deck, So I want to take that off.
It's got fucking problems for sure, but I don't think
it's beyond saving.
Speaker 4: I would say we can cut Towered tom Innion sesthetic.
I think it is bad. It's really dumb. I'd love
that game. I don't think it's dumping. I don't think
it contends with a lot of the stuff here. That
was just the one I added because that is the
biggest knock.
Speaker 2: I have a guess.
Speaker 4: I guess to add to that, then, I would say
weird campaign choices in Black Ops seven because I actually played,
I just saw videos of it and I was like
that looks dumb, and then just moved on with it.
Speaker 2: It doesn't seem like a great campaign anyway. But also
the fact that yeah, me and Kayla like loaded up
and we're like, let's check it out, and its like
we both right away. We're like, there's just a million
little things from like all these characters have health bars
and sell built for like multiplayer and eight days. It's
got like a loot system. It just doesn't feel like,
like I like the traditional Call of Duty campaigns. This
felt like just a weird hodgepodge DLC mode that like
just did not.
Speaker 4: It did not feel good at it dumb.
Speaker 2: It's just kind of bad.
Speaker 4: It just sucks.
Speaker 2: Yeah, like everything about Black AP seven just seemed like
a total misstep. I'll just say the Mario Party Jamboree
thing is insane. It's like one of those things it's
like way too expensive. It's like an add on version
or switch to edition upgrade of Mario Party Jambrie, which
is not a great Mario Party game anyway. Uh, and
it's just like separated into like, oh, you can play
like the old Mario Party Jamboree, but it doesn't have
a resolution boost. But you can play the new Switch
two edition stuff here, but then you're on locks there.
Don't go to it. It's just a very weird Nintendo
thing of like this package doesn't make any fucking sense.
Speaker 4: Uh.
Speaker 2: It's it's it's almost hard to describe how confusing is.
We tried to stream it a couple of times, and like,
none of the new stuff they add of it is
like super substantial or good or anything. And it's just
it's so confusing that like I don't even think it's
worth talking about. I just think it sucks. Like again,
Lego Party, That's that's what I go to right now.
Mario Party jambri and Switch to is bad. Uh.
Speaker 4: I like throughout Lost Soulicide because I was like, that
was a really dumb game. I don't know if you
saw much of this game, but it was absolutely like
I think it was a Sony published game as well.
Speaker 2: That was just kind of like what what or so
Sony help fund?
Speaker 4: I don't know.
Speaker 2: It's a very strange game, but I didn't.
Speaker 4: Really play it. I just watched footage of it and
I was like, yeah, that looks bad.
Speaker 3: What's bad?
Speaker 2: Mine's hot? What's going on there? I mean, is that
even like dumb? Or is that just like a catastrophic failure?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 2: I think it's it's like a dumb is Like I
think a dumb is like, oh what a dumb thing
like Mine's Eye was a massive waste of time and
resources and and I'm sure talent that worked at the studio,
which is bad leadership. Just the final game seemed soulless
and terrible, and then what there was like recent stuff
to where I think this goes into like larger like
labor and layoff stuff, which isn't really what this category
is about. So I don't even know. Maybe it's just
that game fucking sucks, and everything surrounding it seems like
it stinks. But I don't know if it's necessarily like
no dumb thing, you know. Yeah, Oh, let me just
talk about the ambo sand efects of Metroid. So I
have a bunch of Mibo for some fucking reason, and
usually when I get a new intenda first party game,
it's like, Okay, what's the Mibo support And I didn't
want to buy the fifty dollars fucking Samus bike ones
or anything like that, but oh I got these old
Metroid ones. They usually like if it's the same series,
it usually does something. You go into the Ambo scan
thing and you scan the old ones, and you have
to go into a menu, go into the ambo thing,
scan the Metroid ambo and it will just play a
sound effect from Metroid.
Speaker 4: Well.
Speaker 2: Also on the viola right, you can listen to a
song or it's like some music. I don't think I
got that. I just literally would like scan specific amibos,
but that's what I heard. Maybe that's the bike one
or something. But like the old ones are just like, oh,
it's the like you got an item sound that you
could hear in a menu, or you can just play
the Metroid game and hear the Metroid sound.
Speaker 4: Dumb.
Speaker 2: It's insane. It's just so stupid. But yeah, uh, die
Hard van Dance, you saw that and did not like.
Speaker 4: It, right, I thought it was really dumb. Yeah.
Speaker 2: I described it to Ben Hanson and it was like, oh,
this seems like the bad kaJama. So maybe it's just
me that likes it. So keep it on here. Then
I looked at Jake for that because he didn't like it.
Speaker 4: This is dumb thing that they're bad. Yeah, dumb Kajima,
bad Kajamia.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but I'm saying I think he thinks it's bad.
He did not like the Yeah, do you think it
hangs on this category? Uh?
Speaker 4: I mean, what's the deal with online lobs? Oh god?
Speaker 2: We tried to fucking play this game on Giant Bomb
and it was like, okay, I think it was me
grab Manati. It's a three on three wheelchair basketball game.
It's like, all right, we'll go on, We'll Dragon Drag, Extrive,
Drag Extra Yeah. Yeah uh. And you get thrown into
a lobby with it's like twelve people or something, and
I think they're trying to do like a pickup game
type thing for like the online lobbies, but like, we
could not team up with each other. We were like
in a lobby of twelve and it just randomly put
like six of us together and jumbled us up. So
it's like, oh, me and Grub and Rando against Manati
and two others. It's like, wait, we're three, We're in
the same Why are we not? We can't play on
a team, like it's an online sports game and we
couldn't even like party up. It just seems like there's
so many baffling decisions that went into this, but key
among it is like, even if the game was bad,
you would think you'd be able to like play with
two friends against three people. It doesn't even let you
do that.
Speaker 3: I don't even think you need to say Drag X drive.
Nintendo Multiplayer is like always notoriously so fucking ass.
Speaker 2: And Internet Yeah, yes, but Kirby Air Riders had the
best implementation of Nintendo Online Multiplayer genuinely mind blowing really,
which doesn't say a lot considering, yes, how bad they
are normally, but kind of a tangent. But like, I
don't know if i'd just say Nintendo Online because that's
a different thing.
Speaker 3: Well, then they messed up here again, I agree, I
would say that's worse than it sounds like you like
die hardman, so I would take that off if you
like it.
Speaker 2: I like it a lot, and it's not that. Yeah,
I liked it a lot. Yeah, I mean yeah, I'm
okay with these.
Speaker 3: All right, And then Randy Wentz done.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Randy pit first again, it's done Bad Thing of
the Year. It's Randy Pitchford of Gearbox. Yeah, that guy
just needs to stop doing everything he's doing. Stop talking.
Speaker 4: Next, the category is best Remake and Remaster.
Speaker 2: All right. Nominees are Eller Scrolls for Oblivion Medal, Your
Sawid three, Delta, Sneak.
Speaker 3: Eater, Tony Hawk, pro Skater three and.
Speaker 2: Four, Charles in the Sky First Chapter, Final Fancy Tactics,
The Ivilis Chronicles, Zelda, Breath of.
Speaker 3: The Wild, and Tears of the Kingdom.
Speaker 2: Switch to first question. Anyone played Tactics, Yeah, okay, it's
on my list. I love Tactics. I just haven't played
it yet want to make sure somebody has so.
Speaker 4: I didn't plead the original, so it's hard for me
to like say, but it seems like people are pretty
happy with it. Yeah, by getting Yeah, I don't know
that I would go back to the what do I
have it on? It was on PSP. I played the
game for the first time, a PSP classic or whatever
you want to call it, and.
Speaker 2: Then I went to PS three for the War the
Lions one.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I can't foresee going back to it in any
other way now that I played this one.
Speaker 2: Okay, these are all really good. Boy. I know the
Tony Hawk four stuff bothered some people that were big
on the like more open original game. I don't know.
I don't know where you guys are right with Like
Tony Hawk.
Speaker 4: I played a lot of three plus four.
Speaker 2: It didn't bug me, but didn't bugged me either, you know,
and it felt incredible, Like the important part of those
games is the feel of it. That's why Tony Hawk
HDU sucked, But like this was killer. I loved it.
I love Delta Oblivion. Is anyone going to go to
back for Oblivion if we're looking for seft to cut?
So I played a lot of Oblivion remastered.
Speaker 4: I think that's a weird one because I think there
are very special things that they kept from the original
that make the remaster feel just as weird and out
of place and kind of awkward in.
Speaker 2: A way that I really appreciate. But I also, god,
I don't know.
Speaker 4: I don't even know how to talk about that, to
be honest, Like I I I think it could probably
go out of how I feel because it is they
like added sprint and like made the graphics better, but
it is still the same Jankie game, which I love.
But they're like weird things that I'm like, oh, you
could have done this too, and it would just been
a little smooth, a little more interesting, Like you could
have just taken a tiny risk here.
Speaker 3: I think you can take out Zelda too.
Speaker 2: I was gonna say, I don't.
Speaker 3: I mean, I just don't think it did anything that
in fucking groundbreaking.
Speaker 2: The important thing with those is the performance, and it
is like I did play through, like I'm probably gonna
finish it, but I finished three of the four shrines
and Breath the Wild again, and you know, it's my
favorite game ever, and it just plays so much better.
But as far as like adding things, I mean there
was like the fucking Zelda notes, bullshit app stuff or
whatever like that. Better things on this list, Yeah, totally.
I am very glad that those remasters not even they're
just the switch to editions that just run better. I'm
so happy they exist. It is the way to play
those games now. But these other ones are more substantial. Definitely, Uh,
Delta really fun. I'm very happy Delta exists. I mean, snaky,
it is one of the best games of all time.
I think it like got to the finals of our
was it a Patreon thing, where did the one hundred
best games all time? Yeah, I mean Tony Hawk's great,
you know, Trelton Sky, I think you'd be the one
to talk about that. So once again, I didn't play
the original. I played this one.
Speaker 4: But from what I understand and kind of like the
sentiment I've heard is that this is kind of how
people wish they remade the Final Fantasy seven. Like it's
very true to that original, but at the same time,
they redid the entire art style, they redid the combat,
they brought it up, they brought it up to like
sort of a modern audience, you know, in a way
that I really appreciate. I've been really enjoying. But once again,
like I didn't play the original, so like maybe it's
not the best, but like it's same thing with Final
Fantasy Tactics. For me, it's just like I didn't play
the original, but I like what I played of if
a list chronicles and I want to play more. And
I didn't play the original Trails in the Sky, but
it seems like a very substantial rework and remake of
that game.
Speaker 2: Are we thinking that Metal Year and Tony Hawk are
locks and we have to decide between Trails and Tactics. Yes, sure, yeah,
I guess I would look to Jake for that. Then,
oh God is ere in the same spot with both
those games.
Speaker 3: It seems your favorite child.
Speaker 4: I feel like I didn't play enough of Tactics to
do you feel pretty strongly about Tacticals.
Speaker 3: Like Tactics, I think Tactics is very well received, But
the most important opinion is this table.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, I mean I love.
Speaker 4: Final Fantasy Tactics was one of my favorite games of
the few hours I played of Ivolis Chronicles. Again, it's
just so much more convenient to play, and also I
think they it was a pretty faithful job they did.
I didn't play Trials in the Sky though.
Speaker 2: I will also say I think a great remake or
remaster is like, you know, taking some of the biggest
and best games of all time and making them more
accessible to modern audiences. And I think nobody's going to
deny that medal year solid Tony Hawk, Final Fantasy Tactics.
These are like pillars. I'll be honest, I don't know
what the fuck Trails in the Sky is sure, so like,
I don't know if that's as necessary you know, maybe
that's just me. I don't know what it is, but yeah,
I'm okay cutting that. Okay boy, I mean you know,
I'm a Medal Year guy. I really like Delta. It
is very very faithful, but the visuals are so upgraded,
the quality of life stuff, being able to switch camo
on the fly with the dpad, it is. I'm very
particular about Meddle Year Solid, and I would be the
first to be skeptical of a Metal Year project without
Kajima involved. Yeah, it was clearly made with love and
reverence for the original, and I don't know how you
could have done it better.
Speaker 3: I have to give you credit for this as well.
This is like your expertise, and I have seen the
before and afters. It looks really good. They did a
great job, so I wouldn't be mad if this one.
I think this is a totally fair argument, unless anyone
has like a strong argument for someone else.
Speaker 4: I will say I started up Metal Gear Solid Delta
and I was like, played this game before, not that
long ago, don't need to play this, and like all
deaf for it. I played five minutes and I was like,
I'm good, don't don't need to play it. I think
that's unfair. You know I probably should have played more
before I say more, but I do think like there
is an argument that this doesn't necessarily need kind of
like the same thing I was thinking with Oblivion, where
it's like, does this really need it?
Speaker 2: I mean, you can say that about Tony Hawk too, Like,
you know, I played Tony Hawk First Skater three several
times a year, like since it came out, even like recently,
and it didn't need it. But I like the fact
that it is just available and looks better for modern audiences,
easily playable and modern hardware and stuff like. I just
think these are very important games to like be easily
playable in twenty twenty five and beyond.
Speaker 3: I think it has to go to the judge. Oh shit, sorry, Bud,
give us that sweet, sweet beat.
Speaker 4: That'll give me time to think. Way for the bongos. Uh,
it's going to Final Fantasy Tactics.
Speaker 3: He's the judge. He's the judge. He gets to make
these calls.
Speaker 2: I I mean, but I also love Final Fantasy Tactics,
So I'm not like mad.
Speaker 4: I'm just happy.
Speaker 2: I'm like mantle gear a Tony Hawk tough ship. Next category,
it's not poop a k A most okay. Game of
the Year nominees are Assassin's Creed Shadows, Mafia the Old.
Speaker 3: Country, Nintendo Switch to Welcome.
Speaker 4: Tour, Mario Kart World, and Borderlands. For I want to
say one thing. I don't think any of us played
Mafia the Old Country, so I don't know that it's
fair that it's even here.
Speaker 2: I did, Oh you did, that's why finished?
Speaker 4: Oh weird? Have you ever met this man?
Speaker 2: Your friend?
Speaker 4: Supposedly, I don't follow his work.
Speaker 3: Oh my god.
Speaker 4: Wow.
Speaker 3: I think Assassin's Creed Shadows should also not be on
this list.
Speaker 2: It's pretty good.
Speaker 3: I think it's pretty good. I think it's unfair. I
understand we're having.
Speaker 2: A bit of a lull, but I think Assassin's Creed.
Speaker 3: I think it did good for an Assassin's Creed, and
I think it gets it's I think it should get
its due, and I think it should be.
Speaker 4: Off this list.
Speaker 2: I feel like Dan has something to say.
Speaker 4: I do.
Speaker 2: Oh the way you were looking, I was like, I'm
just drunk. It's still mad about that metal years. Yeah,
I was thinking, like I can feel this. It's gonna
be either Mario Kart World and Intend to Switch to
Welcome Tour. I think Mario Kart World gets too much shit.
I will agree it's not the top two Mario Karts ever,
but it's not this huge disappointment. I think some people
pointed as I would, Okay, I guess it is. It's okay.
I kind of just want to play eight de Luxe
to be honest, But it's ninety circuits A Deluxe is
really fucking good. And switch to Welcome Tour is like,
I don't even know what that is? Like is that okay?
Like I don't know, it's like Google docs. Okay, Like
it's just it's barely a game, you.
Speaker 3: Know, it's barely a game.
Speaker 4: I kind of liked it.
Speaker 2: I'm definitely more forgiving a welcome Tour. I kind of
liked it.
Speaker 4: I liked it, yeah too, because it was a very
weird thing and like Nintendo was like telling you about
all the features of their system in like mini games
and it.
Speaker 2: Very Nintendo way. Yeah. Yeah, there were many games like
we want to show you very specifics about how like
Rumble Motors.
Speaker 4: Were four K with like one one that was awesome.
Speaker 2: There were some clever stuff in there, for sure. Actually,
you know what I like, I like to switch to
Welcome Tour take it off here. I'm for that. I
guess I don't know you did. You didn't play it,
there's no way.
Speaker 3: Yeah no, I'm gonna say then because we're already at
our SMS. Mario Kart was just okay.
Speaker 4: The way you described it sounded okay. I actually I
think it's I had. I liked quite a bit about
Borderlands for wow. I think my thing with Mario Kart
World is like, man, they were cooking for so long.
We had Mario Kart eight for like ten years before
that came out, and it's just kind of like, all.
Speaker 2: Right, there's an open world and there, and there's the
to be fair, there is the cool like wall writing stuff,
but what percentage of players actually they don't and the
open world stuff is not as much of a game.
Like when I saw that first trailer for World, I
was like, this is the game changer, this is the
killer app, and like it's a very good game. But yeah,
after like a ten year wait and everything, like what
could they possibly do with the next Mario card and
like it's not exactly I think what I wanted? So boy,
I think that could win? Yeah, okay, yeah, are you
a Mike Carr World. Sure, okay, it hurts me to
say it, but yeah it's not poop aka the most
okay game of the Year.
Speaker 4: Uh. Nomin Or runner ups are Borderlands four, Mafi The
Old Country, but the winner is Mario Kart World. Great
all right, next category, all right A fan favorite the
most fucked Fucker. Shout out to Deadlock, who came up
with this the only podcast I listened to. And nominees
are Fox Mask from Silent Hill, F.
Speaker 3: The Birthing Monster from Silent Hill, F The Banana Thieves
from Lego Party, Mulgren from The Midnight Walk, Libra from
Eldon Ring Night Rain, All Three, All the Act Three
Bosses in Silk Song, Bush from megabonk Fred from Look Outside,
Higgs from Death Stranding two.
Speaker 2: ORNI dude in Haities two?
Speaker 4: Do we is this dionics is that he's the guy
with the lead that always wants to fuck It.
Speaker 2: Describes a lot of them, though, doesn't you guys know
Matt Riddle. He looks like Matt Riddle.
Speaker 4: He's the guy who's like, one, Hey, what's up?
Speaker 2: Do you want to have some? Diis? I think, yeah,
you want to have some? And the cow from or
just Cow from Mario Kark.
Speaker 3: Is it possible, Judge Yake, for you to replace this
category text with images from some of these characters, because
I think it's important that might be.
Speaker 2: I know, I don't want to push it, but but
also for the audio.
Speaker 3: Some of my arguments are so based on the visual
design of these characters that either all of the people
in the audience are gonna have to google them or
you're gonna have to put up a quick image.
Speaker 2: You know, so many people will listen on audio that
I think, like, if you do want to see, I'd
say google, but.
Speaker 4: I would say, do your breast to describe. I would say, like,
you know some of the more fucked up ones. Okay, well,
I to start out, I would say a birthing monster
I think deserves it over Fox Mass from Silent Hill
left totally.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think I put fox Mass on there.
Speaker 4: I put fox Mass sounds like there's got to be
something in here. And then I saw you added birthing monster.
I was like, oh, yeah, that's the one.
Speaker 3: The birthing monster is what it sounds like. It is
like literally giving birth. I think it's a classic Silent Hill.
It's indicative of horrors of birth. Of children. It's crying,
it's slithering, it's vile, it's bulbous, it's pussy. It's really
fucking upsetting, and it does lock you in a space
with it with a key. There's no way out, and
if you kill it, it just comes back. You can't
actually kill it, Like I think this is a puzzle
where you have to solve it with this, with this
being in your vicinity. Absolutely grotesque, fucker.
Speaker 2: I mean, I never even saw the video everyone saw
in Junior High of actual birth, and like everyone acted
like that was horrifying. So I don't even know that
looks like I'm sure this is worse than that. Right,
it's not as bad, but the real is like it
probably we don't.
Speaker 3: Like I can't even imagine birth, and I think it does.
Speaker 4: It? Really?
Speaker 2: Why did you say that with a safe cadence like
I like holes like Mary kishive, we don't want it.
Speaker 3: I think it's a very clear horror for so many people,
and yeah, absolutely vile. I think it. I think personally
it should remained.
Speaker 2: There's something on here that doesn't belong.
Speaker 4: Now.
Speaker 2: To be fair, I've only played this once, but the
Banana Thieves and Lego Party.
Speaker 4: Were coming cool dudes.
Speaker 2: I thought they were in that. Hey, hey, Mike, why
don't you describe what they fucking do? What is there
one thing they do? The Banana Thieves and Lego party.
Speaker 4: They pull up in like the penultimate round, in a
banana shaped boat with like sixteen mufflers and they're dressed
like bananas, matching the boat with sunglasses, and they've got
night at the Roxbury era cell phones the size of
like fucking the like the key cards in GoldenEye. Then
when someone rolls up and pays them seventy five Lego studs,
they steal it from.
Speaker 2: Damn they Then they don't just steal it for me do?
They then call in.
Speaker 4: A fleet of balloon riding monkeys in the sky, one
monkey of which has a similar cell phone, is like, yeah,
we got a boss, and they all just drop onto
the person that you put the hit on. Yeah. So
it was me like eight times with like a fleet
of monkeys falling on me, And like I think, because
like Lego's staying true to the property, They're like, well,
it has to just be the monkey figs that we
created in the game. But what it looks like is
a bunch of the monkeys falling on the character who
is in like horrified, do you fall on your back?
Speaker 2: Like no, and a bunch of the monkeys just kind.
Speaker 4: Of fall and pile on this person steal whatever you
tell them to steal, whether it's the gold brick more
often than not, I would imagine, or some studs. Then
they just basically like Fulton Recovery system back up into
the sky, and the banana dudes like, all right, peace out,
and then he goes to the next place to make it.
Speaker 2: Give you the gold brick that the monkeys fucked you for.
Speaker 3: Cool, Yes, cool dudes.
Speaker 2: In case that was not clear, it just in general
does not. Yeah, it was not.
Speaker 4: The monkeys piling on them had more than a hint
of some uh salacious behavior.
Speaker 2: Yeah, if you're under a pile of monkeys that are
all just like shaking, and yeah, it's really fucked up stressed.
Speaker 4: And then so in order to so like to Jake's point,
like the banana thieves are actually pretty fucking cool. And
then oh and then they have the audacity to show
up to the awards ceremony in the last place.
Speaker 2: The monkeys are like yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4: Yeah, we know what we did. Yeah, they're they're so
fucking cool. They should have been in Cool Dudes, they
are badass.
Speaker 2: I don't think they would have beat out.
Speaker 3: I think it's funny. I think it depends on who's
hiring them. I don't think they belong here.
Speaker 2: I don't either. They should have been a ghost of
Yotakil Tree unlocked to get the banana themes and ghost
of that's like mon and then you just they just
descend on every like outpost and just wreck the Samurai.
Speaker 4: Cool.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you're playing the guitar like. I'll be honest, if
they didn't just fuck me into the last place today,
I'd be like, God, this is the coolest thing I've
ever heard.
Speaker 3: I know they gotta goers dance.
Speaker 2: Fucker were coming force. I agree.
Speaker 3: I think I put in the molegrim. Anyone who has
played The Midnight Walk. If you haven't, here's my short
sales pitch.
Speaker 2: This is a uh I want to look up mom,
because you told us to get.
Speaker 3: Everyone Google mole Grim the Midnight Walk. It's listed in
the upper left corner so you can see how to
spell it.
Speaker 2: This is like a.
Speaker 3: Claymation style game. You're in first person, you're running from
I want to say it looks like a slithering shit.
It looks like a gray slug with sharp teeth.
Speaker 2: You know what it looks like to me is it
looks like you know, in the eighties they would make
these shitty horror movies and stuff, but it was all
like practical effects would be like the Monsters stuff. It
looks like a thing made of like rubber, and.
Speaker 4: Like, yeah, that thing looks it's like someone's thumb that
was decomposing and then a grow a nose and teeth, eyes.
Speaker 3: It doesn't look like it should be alive. But it
is hunting you. And a huge component of this game,
and the reason I added it isn't just the way
it looks, but it also like it's hunting you, and
so you have to hide under these peaks in the game,
and when you hide, even if you hide, if it
saw you, it chases you and sticks its head in
the hole to look for you and having it like
look really close, it gets really into the camera looking
over and around you. Very upsetting. It's a terrifying boss.
You can hear him. He's he's slithering around. It's nasty
and if he catches you, ah, it's genuinely upsetting to
be hunted by this. This give was in VR as well, right,
it is in VR, and I think that's like an
additive skin. I did not play it in VR. I
just played it on PC. I don't think you need
the VR experience. I think it would probably be more
it would be an even fucked fucker if you were
in in VR. But as a PC game, I think
this is a vile, disgusting monster that hunts you. It
is frightening, and he's also kind of sad. It's kind
of like the additive part of it. He's not just gross,
he's just this sad, little massive goose.
Speaker 2: Obviously this sounds like, this sounds great for this category.
Speaker 3: Yeah, he's nasty, so he's a good it's good. He
is a good person for this category. I think I
don't know if he's a person. He's a good little slug.
Speaker 2: I think we got a couple of potential cuts here.
One I don't love. I have not seen all the
Act three bosses and soilks on I'm sure they all
suck ass in terms of just like this is just
a huge pain in the ass to kill, but like
a huge blumpanglers, like a whole axe bosses into one thing.
I don't know. This seems like we got some strong
options here.
Speaker 3: Put this in there. I don't remember placing this. I
do think that the bosses and Silk Song are really
agro and they're very difficult. But even like the main
girl that you fight at the very end, what's her
name and a.
Speaker 4: Song?
Speaker 3: Yeah, she's got all the clouds around her, and she's
tiny and white, and she's got this tiny.
Speaker 2: Spin or needle or pointy or something point. She's really tough,
jade fire.
Speaker 3: She's brutal, and she's not even the toughest. I just
think like you're getting to a point where it's really stressful.
I don't actually think that she's a fucked fucker, though,
because that descriptor is for someone who looks that's for
someone who looks vile. I'm so thirsty. Wait, are we
at a beer?
Speaker 4: No?
Speaker 2: No, get something else.
Speaker 3: Anyway, I don't think she belongs. So let's take out
the Act three bosses.
Speaker 4: Wait, hold on? I put that there.
Speaker 2: I was like, did you do Act three? Did you
complete Act three?
Speaker 3: I didn't complete Act three?
Speaker 4: Actory is fucking brutal.
Speaker 2: That is almost the reason I stopped playing that game.
Speaker 3: But it's gonna come up.
Speaker 2: To that Act three.
Speaker 3: I'm looking into it. I don't think that they're fuckers.
Speaker 2: I think they are all fuckers except for one.
Speaker 4: There's one boss that isn't and there's a very touching
story as to why that boss is there and I
and I liked it. But all the other ones Buckings.
Have you done Coral Tower? Yes, I just finished hated
that ship.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that one's really really tough, and there's a really
tough run back for it as well. So every time
you lose, there's like a five minute journey to get
back to the boy.
Speaker 2: It's just arena arena, arena arena, and then.
Speaker 3: The I know, but the end reward.
Speaker 2: I'm venting a little because that Act three almost broke me.
Like that almost broke me.
Speaker 4: I almost wish I didn't play through Act three because
of how whoa much like how brutal that third act
was something I ended like I got credits on two,
which I did, and then it's like I did the.
Speaker 2: First kind of like went down. I was like, I
got so many other games playing now, I've been playing
like sixty hours of Soak Song and maybe I'll come
back to Act three and like, so my thoughts on
such song are very positive.
Speaker 4: I've heard stuffing that're still very positive. But Act three
was such a and they like I don't want to
spoil things. They like do things to the world that
also make it more of a pain to traverse in
a way that I also did not like to. Act
three for me was just I was just I felt
like I was banging my head against the keyboard the
entire time I was playing it. To your point, these
bosses aren't like fucked fuckers and like a you know
again Fu Funcker kind of way, you know, like a
fucker right now, I didn't say it on a mute.
Where what is this week?
Speaker 2: What characters?
Speaker 4: Anyway?
Speaker 2: I just need to get that off my chest.
Speaker 4: Okay, No, I'm like fair, but it's a fair thing
to bring You're talking about in the end of Act two,
not at all what I was talking about.
Speaker 3: It's just I'm not talking about that either.
Speaker 2: Yeah, those those bosses are absolutely.
Speaker 3: This is a fair point. I don't think they belong
in this category.
Speaker 4: I don't.
Speaker 2: I I will cut Higgs from Death Training two. Uh,
this is stiff competition. This is Troy Baker's character, the
main bad guy from desth training two. He's just a
weird joker, guitar player, guy that like wants to end
the world. And uh, he always got a tragic backstory
or something. It's it's not the deepest character. He's fucked up,
for sure. He has a guitar. He says, to win
fire a bunch. Uh, there's better stuff in this category. Okay, cow,
we'll What the fuck's up with that cow? That point right?
He's riding a motorcycles. Don't even to look up picture
you've seen a cow be imagine one on a motorcycle.
Speaker 4: It's fucked up.
Speaker 2: That sounds cool.
Speaker 4: I don't know if he's.
Speaker 3: I would sounds like a cow having a good time.
Speaker 2: I don't trust him.
Speaker 3: I think cows deserve to be able to live better lives.
Speaker 2: It's pretty cool.
Speaker 3: That seems awesome that you lost cred.
Speaker 2: All right, that's pretty cool, Cad.
Speaker 3: While you guys are, while you guys are googling Google
Fred from look outside. This is important that I explained
that this is a character that you meet. When you
meet him, he says, I'm a painter and there are
people trying to hurt me. You need to know I
am the real Fred. Kill all the other Freds. The
next thing you do, I don't think that's that's a Listen.
I'm listening.
Speaker 2: I'm trying to Fred.
Speaker 3: So the next thing you need to know is is
you open a freezer and in the freezer is a
decapitated head of Fred on like an alien body. And
the head says, I am Fred. The person you just
talked to is not Fred. That person is an impostor.
They cut my head off, they put me in here.
I am the real Fred. And you have to you
have to help me kill that guy immediately and protect me.
And then right there your characters to make a decision
of whether or not you kill the Fred you just
met that said listen, every other Fred you're gonna meet
is an imposter, something's going on, or the guy that
you met in the freezer, and that starts a cascade
of decisions. As you keep going, you keep meeting more Freds,
and the Freds get more and more fucked up.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 4: There's there's Wriglyfred. There's tumor Fred. There's bright Fred. There's
shadow Fred Fred who bites toxic Fred, godhead Fred, faceless Fred.
Speaker 2: Look at this, I this seems incredible.
Speaker 3: It's actually very different.
Speaker 4: He is.
Speaker 3: And it's also very the thing because the whole point
of what this is setting up is somebody's lying to
you and you, as the character, get to decide who
the real Fred is. I think this is one of
the more brilliant things that happens. And Look Outside, which
anyone who doesn't know, is a game where you it's
kind of like a point and click adventury thing, but
you're you have to solve a horror. This is a
horror experience where you can't look outside. There's an alien
or some entity that's taking over the world, and you're
coming across these characters where something horrible is happening to them.
This area of Fred is terrifying. I find it so
stressful to go in each door knowing I'm going to
find another Fred who's going to beg to me that
they are the real Fred. And they're all disgusting, they
are all vile, and it's a really cool sequence there.
Aret there art guy like went off the chain on
this one. So hats off to this game and Fred.
Speaker 2: I mean Mary. Between Fred and Mulgrum, I mean these
are two like slam dunks.
Speaker 3: I know they are both slam dunks and I think,
like take the cow off. I can't. Yeah, I can't.
I'm glad you didn't ask me. I think they both
belong on him.
Speaker 2: Look awesome. Yeah, uh, Mike, I'm with you. On the
bush from Megabank, that's fucked up. Do you want to
tell about the bush?
Speaker 4: Yeah? So, uh, First, the first forest level in Megabank,
on a tier one, you can come across a bush
that has googly eyes that's kind of like tracking you,
and then you can press X on it to like, uh,
what does it? Investigate the bush and then all of
a sudden, two feet in a snipe rifle pop out
of it starts yeah, and you see bush and then
he starts chasing you. In the first tier, it's uh,
you see red laser sites track you down and take
out like half your health with each shot that he makes.
If you encounter him on later tiers, he doesn't even
bother with the sniper rifle. He just chases you and
kind of like humps you across the map. It's only
later you can if you upgrade a certain Tome secondary
item to the right level and complete Forest tier two,
I believe, or beat the Bush, you can unlock him
as a character. So that's just a little like R
two D two shaped bush with the same proportioned feet
running around with like guns attached, the sniper rifle attached
to me.
Speaker 2: Like that is like the soul of a fucked fucker,
where it's like you just think, it's like, oh, what's
this bush? I can hit X on this, And there's
so many things in that game where it's like, oh,
it's a pot, No, I got some gems. It's like, oh,
here's the thing. Oh I got a nice thing, and
it's like a bush, I can hit X on it.
And then it's like hunting with a sniper. Every world
has one.
Speaker 4: There's the Bandit in the Desert, and I forget the
third one, and they're all really difficult if you do
them too early. You really need to know what you're doing,
or you need to be confident you're at the right level.
But Bush is the first one, and then it's very
funny that you can then unlock Bush as a character
later on. Yeah, he's a he's a fucker. It was
like we can probably cut horny, like this is a
very strong category. Now we got some real contenders. The
horny dude in Hades two.
Speaker 2: Every time I get to his area and I was like,
I'm just walking to this weird fu hotel, Like, yeah, man,
I just want to whatever you give me, I just
want to clean. And you know, I think Dionysius, it's
the guy with a leaf on his dick and he's
just like drunk and it's like some some weird going on. Yeah, yeah,
I think there's so much like weird to cow people
dancing around and stuff.
Speaker 4: Tell me about Libra, Yeah, well I was gonna offer
that one up as a as a cup. But Libra,
I think has kind of become notorious in Night Rain
for being a bit of a fucked fucker. Uh. He
does this thing when you do an ever dark run
where he summons a bunch of random people who come
and fight against you and just he's a pain in yass.
But I don't think he's as fucked as some of
these other ones. Yeah, we got some This is a
crazy categories here, and yeah, I think it's because it's
let's keep bush boys. So we got a birthing monster,
we got the weird.
Speaker 3: They're all miserable.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we got the bush. I kind of like the
idea keeping bush because it's a different flavor of fucked.
The rest of these guys, I agree, so out of
the like just horrific hr Geiger, you know, crafty and whatever. Like,
Can we which one of those can we cut?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 2: I think either Birthing Monster or Mulgram probably this. I
like what I've seen in a way that i've seen
Silent will be sucked up before.
Speaker 3: I'm gonna I'm gonna do something out of character, and
I'm gonna say the Birthing Monster can go because I
expect this ship from Silent Hill. They they have consistently
made horrible, disgusting monsters, and they've also played with like
children birth before and other Silent Hills. This wasn't outrageously.
Speaker 2: Related to correct.
Speaker 3: This wasn't something where I was like, I can't believe it.
I've never seen a Fred before where they have ten
characters that are all pretending to be Fred, but only
one of them is Fred and the others are monsters
that have consumed his soul. I've never seen a Mulgrim,
which is like some kind of weird toilet slug that's
found its way out and is trying to also eat you.
These are very stressful character designs that deserve more.
Speaker 2: I think I think your description of Fred was what
sold me on that, and he's different, and I would
recommend you know, Mike looked it up and like Mary said,
like looking at it is helpful look up Fred from
Look Outside.
Speaker 3: The well play Look Outside. I mean, ultimately, like the
reason we do this Game of the Year showcase and
we talked to you about all these games is because
they're all worth playing. There's a lot of reasons to
play all the games that are nominated. For various reasons,
people probably won't I think naturally want to play or
like expect to play Look Outside. This is an indie
ass indie game. It might not it might not take
all of your boxes, but if you're interested in scary games,
cosmic horror, this game is terrifying. It also was a
really cool mechanic, just very briefly, where you actually can't
unless you open a certain amount of doors. It's making
you experience a certain amount of rooms before you're allowed
to go to.
Speaker 2: A safe room. Like no, that's cool, Okay, it's very cool.
Speaker 3: So it's designed to scare the shit out of you,
and they do an excellent job. So if you like
to be scared, check out.
Speaker 2: Horror earth Bound or Horror Mother three.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Nightmare Fuel.
Speaker 2: I'm told that sounds cool as hell.
Speaker 4: Okay, well we've got it.
Speaker 2: Then.
Speaker 4: The most fucked fucker runner ups are Bush, Megabank, Mulgram,
Midnight Walk, and the winner is Fred from Lookoutside.
Speaker 2: All right, have some heavy hitters this here for that
one that's cool to have.
Speaker 3: Look Outside win anything that's awesome. I'm really excited you
told me. Yeah, yeah, all right.
Speaker 4: Next up?
Speaker 2: Next up is Best Game to Look At.
Speaker 3: Oh, this is a vision. This is like not just
visual fidelity, every artistic style, direction, color, you name it.
So it's just like we keep these really vague and
kind of generic intentionally to be like, what would.
Speaker 2: You like looking at?
Speaker 4: Yeah? Yeah.
Speaker 2: And the nominees this year are Ghost of.
Speaker 4: Jota, Silent Hill, Kingdom Come, Deliverance Too, Death Stranding two, Shanobi,
Art of Vengeance, Keeper, Sectory, Sort Of a Sea, The
Midnight Walk, Claire Obscure Expedition thirty three, Metroid Prime.
Speaker 3: Four, Luminous Ares.
Speaker 2: Ooh man, I'm looking for easy cuts and it's not
even that easy, I know.
Speaker 3: I mean, I'm gonna I'm gonna offer up a couple.
I think that Keeper is really cool. I'm going to
offer it for a couple of reasons. It's a really
neat looking artistic style. I think it looks good. It
did not play great for me on a Steam deck.
It like they didn't obviously like make sure that it
played on a lot of different consoles, and I think
that's a bummer. So I think that is a cut
for me, just because if.
Speaker 4: You want it to play good, it has to play
I have another potentially controversial cut. I think there's some
really cool environments in Clare Obscure. I don't think it's
the best looking game. I think it's actually pretty rough
around the edges. I don't think.
Speaker 2: Fidelity wise, it's necessarily the mostly pushing the I love
the design so much that you're just that weird, you know,
swirly Eiffel Tower, and like the design of like the
guest rolls and a bunch of these characters, even like
the actual main party and everything. I think they all
k cool.
Speaker 4: You know, the first major area, you're basically in like
a coral reef, but it's not underwater, almost like it's
really it looks awesome.
Speaker 3: Yeah, like your hair is floating like you're underwater, but
you're running like you're not underwater. I thought that was cool.
Speaker 2: And part of the reason I've never really clicked with
turn based RPGs and stuff is I feel like so
many of them are so tropy, and like, all right,
I got a big sore and there's a fucking castle,
and it came whatever, I don't give a shit this Like,
I've never really seen a game where the characters and
environments looked quite like this, and that is kind of
why I was willing to go outside of my usual
comfort Ja. Yeah you can. Also you can.
Speaker 4: You can have characters in with berets and baguettes slung
over their shoulders, So that's cool, it is.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we're gonna have to make some cuts, I think, like,
can we if no one is opposed, let's take out Keeper.
Speaker 4: That game is so beautiful, though artistically I think it's
we can't keep them all so far ahead of a
lot of these games.
Speaker 3: All right, all right, tell me, Judge, I need you
to throw some stuff out.
Speaker 2: Then things throw out? Well, uh, okay, Lumin's a rise Luminous.
That game. It's a great puzzle game. But part of
Luminus has always been the sights and sounds and it's
just beautiful shifting. But like if you've played the tetrisffect again,
Luminis kind of did that before Tetris effect. We're just
kind of shifting you never knew, like, oh this time
it's apples and broccoli, and now it's shifting into like
it's taxis and ice, and you know, it's just the
way it seamlessly kind of flows in and out. But
it's still kind of the same puzzle game.
Speaker 4: Uh.
Speaker 2: I don't think it's gonna hang with some of the
other ones here, but it is a beautiful game and
the music's fantastic.
Speaker 4: I don't think it's gonna make it okay. I think
we can cut personally secretory. I think it's a really clean,
vibrant looking game, but it is.
Speaker 3: Really Wars beautiful. Yeah, yeah, not in this category.
Speaker 2: It's what I want. It's exactly what I want that
game to look like. It's readable, I know what I'm
doing effect.
Speaker 4: Even Luminous Arise on most or like even Geometry a
Wars was like they did that.
Speaker 2: I wouldn't change the thing about the way that game looks,
but like there's every one's doing more interesting things with Yeah,
what about Metro Prime four. I think you even said
that in your head it kind of looks like metrics
and maybe Yeah, it's just I'm a mark for you
know that metroc Prime Nostologia. But like everything is just
so clean. It's it's the best looking Nintendo game like ever.
It's just that design is.
Speaker 5: What is that?
Speaker 3: It's not a really good argument, damn, just out of nowhere.
We're talking about ghost of your time. We're talking about
like these are like games are so sunningly beautiful, and
you're like, of all the other Metroids, which are a
bunch of stinkers, this one looks pretty like I'm just saying,
like none of them are known for their art style.
Speaker 2: Metro Yes, beautiful fucking sies. What are you talking about?
Speaker 3: This entire category is about pushing art to its limit.
That's really not what Metroid is known for.
Speaker 4: The I disagree with that, but I do think with
metro print, like the desert in metrod Prime for.
Speaker 2: It's empty, the deserts are I will I will say
the design of Samus and just nostalgia goes a long way.
You need a shovel, dug. Nostalgia goes a long way
with it. It I've been thinking a lot about my
thoughts the Metro Prime four A lot.
Speaker 4: Is the most up it's can we put Dan up?
I've been thinking a lot about my thoughts on this game.
Speaker 2: This. I feel like Dan's being kind of obnoxious.
Speaker 3: Right now and you won't acknowledge, Like it's not that Metroid.
Metroid is a beautiful game. I'm not saying it's not.
I'm just saying, like we're talking about category, Like this
category is like about incredible visual aesthetic. These are like
really pushing it. It has that Metroid Prime four pushed
the boundaries of visual aesthetics to a new level.
Speaker 2: Everyone's talking about beautiful aesthetic.
Speaker 4: Played this game.
Speaker 3: I've looked at it, which is what you need to
do to vote for this.
Speaker 2: Category best game to look at? You know this ethereally
space adventure. The design of a samusis suon in these
alien worlds, everything, the Vault Forge, the way, like I said,
these environments look fucking incredible. Like Metroid is a beautiful
game has always been a beautiful game, going back to
the nes Sites sounds, Metroid is very much known for that,
and I think Metroid Prime four is one right there.
It's not I mean, it's a switch to game. It's
not gonna hang fidelity wise or anything, but art design wise,
I think it's up there with the best of them.
Speaker 3: I just feel like you're looking at a bunch of
tunnels and doors.
Speaker 2: Oh is it time? Yes, he just said.
Speaker 4: I've been thinking about my thoughts about this game a
lot lately.
Speaker 3: Mary has an, I have a Christmas gift for you.
Speaker 2: Oh what are we doing? She had something for you?
Speaker 4: Can you?
Speaker 3: I want to be careful with our setup, but is
it possible?
Speaker 4: What is this?
Speaker 3: That camera closer?
Speaker 2: Oh my god?
Speaker 3: This just so that we can make sure that the audience.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Mary said, like, let me know when Dan's being
the most obnoxious. This is my Wendy's moment.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Dan, I made you something. I made this for
you based on who you are. To me, mean, I
really appreciate it if when you show this gift, because
it takes time for you to reveal it, that the
audience gets to enjoy it too. So I'd like you
to like kind of show it like this is that Okay,
not the New Yorker.
Speaker 2: That's just the reveal.
Speaker 3: It's not the New Yorker, Okay.
Speaker 2: Okay, it's just uh this here, I got it. What
the just au kf b R three nine two but okay,
looks a lot like it. It's the Fire Escapes, Pad mh.
I appreciate the reference.
Speaker 4: You're reference game of the year.
Speaker 2: It's the Clues. Okay, all right, I don't have any
problems yet.
Speaker 4: That's weird.
Speaker 2: Oh, it's a lot of time involved to make this.
Speaker 4: Oh my, keep going. You can't fake that.
Speaker 2: That's just a marker on a paper.
Speaker 3: I spent three months on this.
Speaker 4: Good what's on the page for.
Speaker 2: The audio listener? If you've seen mcgruber, it's pretty much
a one to one so far of the KFPR three.
I'm too Pad of just shining all Jack working, no play.
It's just my name a million times over? Uh in
a notepad?
Speaker 4: Oh my god.
Speaker 2: Da, it's a it's look, there's no description I can do.
Speaker 4: That's gonna do this justice? Right now?
Speaker 2: You should find the video version. This is on a
notebook paper with actual marker.
Speaker 4: There's the way you fake this. I can feel the
marker ink. Let's get that close, Mike.
Speaker 2: You want to describe that? Yeah, it's it's Mary hanging
from a like what looks like a trellis pooping on
Dan or Mike Manatti from way above. It's a pretty
good drawing me.
Speaker 3: It's a red steno. It's the exact same notebook that
he made in the book.
Speaker 2: You said, like when Dan's being like very Dan, I
ironically love this. I know I told you that. I'm like,
if you think this is going to deflate his ego, no,
why I am putting this in there was like my yearbooks.
Speaker 4: And that this is this is as soon as you said,
I've been thinking a lot about my thoughts on this day.
Speaker 3: I've been thinking a lot about you and how much
I hate I also love you.
Speaker 4: This is fantastic.
Speaker 2: This is incredible practice.
Speaker 1: Yeah ship stuck my hands suck, Yeah sucks all right, probably,
ok right, this is incredible.
Speaker 4: Okay do we really cut my red pranport defend me?
Speaker 2: I didn't play it yet.
Speaker 4: Oh. I think that series is I think that series
is purposely kind of dark, and I think when that
series uses color, it's with the intention and I think
it's no. Yeah, but I don't need to defend you.
We don't have to cut it yet. But like looking
at this list, I already know what my winner is.
I'm just trying to find the other cuts to get there.
All thrown out there. I think like Kingdom Come Deliverance
is a very beautiful game and it relies on realism
in a way to create its world, and I think
it is stunning, but like it's not striking. Maybe yeah,
I feel like at a certain point I appreciate how
much it sticks to that like bohemian bohemia, And I've
seen videos about how like the bushes and trees and
how the folly just set up that's realistic and like
very and it's it's really cool. But like when I
play that game, I'm not just like this was it
was not the most striking time to be alive visually,
but like they stuck to that for the purposes of
the set. But yeah, they like researched everything down to
the very like buckles that would have been on every belt,
which is like not exactly what I look for in games,
but it's like considering how much impressive. Yeah, yeah, but
I don't know that's like my favorite to look at.
Speaker 2: I want to cut Shanobi. I think that art style
is killer. I think certain things like these super attacks
where the dragon comes in there, like there's some of
that just hand around art style is incredible. But there's
a lot of areas too, in environments that are just like,
I don't know, here's a big kind of like factory area.
Here's just like you know, some of the like it
doesn't really stand out. I think it it looks great.
It's a stacked category.
Speaker 3: It's stacked. I think we should talk about death stranding too.
Speaker 2: I mean, I think out of all these that's probably
the most like, holy shit, photorealistic fidelity type, you know,
like that is. But it also it's not like it's
boring realistic. It is very surreal, otherworldly, you know. It's.
Speaker 4: Yeah, there's pars in that game, like a there's the
uh when the what the characters when they were walking
toward the first plate gate. Oh yeah, all those characters.
Oh yeah, the costume design, the like, the depth. But
even right at the beginning when you start off, I
don't seek out photorealism in games. I actually think, like,
I'm kind of not against it, but it really does
not do much for me. But early on in that
first opening scene, I'm like, this looks pretty real. Those
ridges you're kind of along, that was one of the
most stunning things ever. I don't But to answer Mary's question,
I don't think the whole game really looks that great
in a way other open world games here look fucking
stunning everywhere you look. But I do think there are
moments that pop in a way that I'm like, that's
unreal looking. Yeah, there are some very i think purposely
muddy areas in that game that are supposed to be
like a quagmire that he's fighting through.
Speaker 2: But like and look, I know, photo realism, like some
people might find it boring or whatever, but like if
you just talking about like people looking like people in
looking like these actors, the facial animations and things like that,
Like the capture technology is like it's in a league
of its own, you know. I think there's something to
be said for that.
Speaker 4: I'd say, uh, just to kind of changeups, I think.
I think Silent Hill Left probably doesn't hang. I think
that is a very beautiful game, and the way it
uses color is impressive, But they're also like like early
on you're just kind of going through the very monotone
town and it's like, I know it's intentional.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's foggy, it's a it's a dream like nightmare.
Speaker 4: I don't think it hangs.
Speaker 2: As much as I do like the direction and art
style of it, I think like it's a it's.
Speaker 3: A category all I will concede. I think if we're
at this point, I think we have to rea talk
about Claire obscure. Yeah, I would like someone has to
be an advocate for this game at this point.
Speaker 2: I also say, right now, I think the heavy hitters
are I think Ghost of Yota. I think that's training two.
To me, those are the two. I didn't play sort
of the Sea, but from what I saw it looks
it looks awesome, but it looks awesome in the way
that like Journey or you know, the other games from
this developer ab Zoo like have looked they're stunning.
Speaker 3: I think it's a stunning design. I think we've seen
that style before. I do love the sand and the
addition of like sea creatures with the sand, it looks amazing.
It's funny like as we keep talking about the stuff though,
like I'm maybe more inclined to keep Keeper than I
am sort Of the Sea. And that's just at where
we're at with this conversation. But like, there are games
I'm going to fight for and I'm not sure if
I would fight for sort of the Sea. It's beautiful, though.
Midnight Walk is also like again, it's it's so cool
to have a claymation style game like that in today's age,
especially as we're like talking about.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 3: AI, and just like the way that artists are making games,
this game is handmade. It's it's incredible that they've constructed
this the way that they have, and all the characters
they look ridiculous, and they've done such a good job
creating original, disgusting characters. So at this point, at some
point it's subjective and I have to let.
Speaker 2: It go up. I'll say, uh, I think Expedition thirty
three is beautiful, but looking at the rest of this list,
I don't know if it's gonna hang. I think the
environmental Artist, Yeah, yeah, I'll be willing to like again,
this is very stacked.
Speaker 4: I also, I mean Keeper, I know I fought for it,
but looking at like Ghosts of Yota, I mean i'd
say Keeper over Death Stranding, but I would too, But
I mean Midnight Walk, I think is one that I
wouldn't want.
Speaker 2: To Yeah to me, it's Yota des stranding in Midnight Walk, Michael, I.
Speaker 4: Think The thing with Keeper though, is like every single
frame or shot in that game I think you could
print and put on your wall and it would look
incredibly like it doesn't it doesn't look like a video
game in a video game way. They did this very
cool watercolor style that just gives so much depth and
layer to that game in a way like I don't
think I've seen a game with that style. Uh, And
like you know, as I just said, like I would
literally print out screens from that game. And the way
the camera is faced, so you don't control the camera
in that game, and it's very very intentional because every
shot is just so well composed and there is like
a level of detail and perfection to how these shots
are that like it's it's such a visually stunning game.
But they don't have the motion capture that Death Straining has,
So you know, put a bunch of.
Speaker 3: Dots on someone's face, just zoom in on someone's cheek
doesn't mean that it's an amazing just the.
Speaker 2: Technical stuff like what Mike was saying about, like that
that playgate thing with like all the like cult is
going in and.
Speaker 4: I will say, like the first time in Death Straining
when you go into that like alternate reality and you
fight that one guy and there's.
Speaker 2: All the maybe the most stunning looking things. This is
the best game to look at. I first saw that
section when I was at that preview event Japan. Let
it sit there, and it's the ferris wheel and the like.
Speaker 4: Yeah that parts.
Speaker 2: They lots more tree stuff.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 2: I'm so glad you brought that up because when I
was at that preview event, you know, there were like
thirty people playing the game, all on different things in
the same room, and you know, I'm getting up to
use the bathroom stuff. I had food poisoning, I was
shipping my brains out, Etcagma production really, oh my god,
I chat so much there. Well, no, I need to
know that. That's crucial and it's crazy. So on one
of my nineteen ships.
Speaker 3: Because you were a production, how much consistency.
Speaker 2: I would get out toilets and I would walk and
just taking my time, and uh so people were getting
ahead of it. And you saw this Ferriss wheel scene
and then you actually ship your pants as five chili dogs.
Speaker 5: Oh my god, the chili dogs don't eat it. Give
ahead a little more.
Speaker 2: So as soon as I'm walking to the bathroom and
like I would just out of the corner of my
eye see all these different stations and I would just
see these like spinning pinwheel like with all the light
and they were putting on we had bass ps fives
at that, and I was like, what the fuck is that.
I would like be trying to look away, but I
was like, that is a stunning looking sequence, and then
I got to it, and holy shit, Like I do
think that that Neil section with the fireworks and everything
is maybe the best best game to look at. I
think it is like the best looking sequence I've ever
seen in a game that definitely really really good.
Speaker 4: I would say like that was the moment where I
was like, oh, like they like you don't even see
that stuff on PC, like like it's just tremendous.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, Judge, I think this has to go to you.
I don't think I'm willing.
Speaker 2: To cut that stranding Midnight.
Speaker 4: I think I think as much as I love Keeper
and Mary, that was like the first one you brought up.
Speaker 2: I think I think that's I'll take it.
Speaker 3: I think that's fair. I want to start this by
saying I believe very firmly that the winner here is Ghost.
I agree, and I think it is incredible in so
many ways. I don't think we should have to argue
for it. If we're all in alignment, it is so
unbelievable we don't have.
Speaker 2: To argue, but I think we do need to give
it credit of things where's like there's obviously the fidelities
is stuff, like it's a beautiful looking game, Like the
environment's incredible the way that like, oh, the snowy area,
this kind of umninal area. But then even the little
things like you know, how many fucking maps have we
looked at in open world games? And you look at
the map here and just all the kind of like
you know, paint lines and stuff and just kind of
the hand drawn like fortresses and things. And when you
get the map pieces and you're trying to look at
all the rivers and stuff in a line, it like
everything feels like there's just cohesive hole in that game.
So clean.
Speaker 4: Again, like every like Sword hillt you get like even
if it's not like the style you're going for without too,
it's so like just looks incredible with the threads around
the hilt. But like I don't like every single environment
I was in the scale the lighting, the color, like
use of color is up there, like Assassin's Creed Origins.
It's one of my favorite and open worlds. Like you
go into that bamboo forest in the north and it's
just perfectly dark, and you can like the way the
footprints settle into the snow, they're still there when you
come back. The when you're just looking out of the coastline,
the way the fog settles over it. Like I feel
like I can smell that game almost because it looks
so good no matter what environment. And then you go
out of the beaches in the south and it's like
completely different vibes. I like that is up there with
the most beautiful games I've ever played. Yeah, and I
not that this is the best barometer, but I've never
felt the need to go into photo mode that often.
And like I actually like when I was playing that game,
I pulled up my own my old screenshots from like
a few days before, Like this game is fucking unreal.
Speaker 2: There's the late title card when you're riding the horse
and you just see the mountain in the background. Stuff,
Like it's rare than I'm like taking a back.
Speaker 4: Feel like kill Bill meets Glorious Bastards meets in the
mood for Love. It feels like wankr WHI was involve
with every shot of that and the fact that you're
controlling the camera and they still manage to make every
single site line that beautiful is.
Speaker 3: And it's a part of the design. When you choose
your next mission, it's done through the flower petals in
the wind, Like how nice is that? It's not an arrow,
it's the wind going through the reeds that you're running
through on your horse, like hot damn.
Speaker 2: Like a lot of that they did that in Sushima,
you know, the winds and everything. But like I think
they just took everything and just up a notch. They
really did with something like the cinematic quality of this,
Like I mean the Sushma was very influenced by Kersawa
and I'm different movies and stuff, but like, I think
the cinematic influence is much more obvious in the direction
of this one.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and like a lot of the quests know exactly
how good looking the world is. It's like it's not
go to this place, it's there's a very there's an
orange tree somewhere in this area, go find it, and
then you stumble upon it. I forget what kind of
tree it is. It's not the Ginkgo trees, but it's like, yeah,
it's gorgeous. And then you're finding these like ice statues
of a woman and her daughter everywhere. That's snow statues
at center, but like, oh, then the villages, Like the
architecture is just like there's a lot of intricacy to
every piece of wood. I that game is just also
fucking costume design. Every time I got a new leaving
leaving aside this the quest design, which I'm sure we'll
talk about later, but like every new uh gear set
I got, I was so fucking excited to upgrade it
to see what it looked like because it's like, especially
like the Crimson kimono or whatever. It was like, yeah,
so many of them look unreal and just like further
embraced the ninja fantasy that game I every layer.
Speaker 2: I think that game looks incredible.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I think it's the winner, all right. I already bowlded
it good best game to look at.
Speaker 4: Runner ups are Midnight Walking, Death Straining too, but the
winner is Ghost of Vote yep.
Speaker 2: Nice. Next category is category.
Speaker 4: Is best game to listen to? Second to last before
we get the Game of the Crista. Nominies are South
of Midnight, Keeper, Sectory, Luminous or Eyes Stranding two, Hollow Night,
Silk Song, Metroid Prime four, Beyond Doom, The Dark Ages,
Claire Obscular, Arc Raiders.
Speaker 2: Uh, I'll cut Death Stranding.
Speaker 3: I do well the game that you've put in every
category that's crazy, and.
Speaker 4: I've cut a lot too.
Speaker 2: I just think like I always am annoyed whenever it's
a movie or game or something, and I feel like
the soundtrack is like, oh, it's the creator being like,
check out my eclectic taste.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 2: It's like it's I hated Baby Driver. It's like, yeah,
we get it, Edgar Wright, like, oh yeah, we've we've
heard the music. It's just annoying to me. It's people
trying to be I just don't like Baby Driver.
Speaker 4: As a movie.
Speaker 2: But I mean, I think all the music and deest
randing makes sense for what's happening. But it's just like,
all right, we get it today. I follow your Instagram,
I get it.
Speaker 3: You know, Keeper is better to look at than sound.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, I agree.
Speaker 2: I think there's respectfully cool tracks.
Speaker 3: But like, like, let's be real here, they can all
be winners.
Speaker 2: Sectory kicks ass. I mean it might as well be
Jountry Warst music to me, you know, which is good
for whatever.
Speaker 3: It's not the winner, and I think we have to
start like being a bit more our creators. The sound
design is incredible. Is this really like our best game
to listen to?
Speaker 1: All?
Speaker 2: Well?
Speaker 4: Actually? So? I think the thing about our creators though,
is that the sound design implies how you play that game. Like,
the sound design is so important to that game in
my opinion. You can hear where there's gun, yeah, like
like the guns sound differently, so you know what people
are using away you. You can hear the robots. You
know it's robots.
Speaker 2: You're gonna have to do it.
Speaker 4: So I think, like maybe it doesn't sound pretty as
like some of these other games, but I think like
the actual usefulness of the sound design, I think is
something that a lot of games don't quite get to
that level. So the proximity chat genuinely sounds like there's
an echo to it when you or in certain sized buildings.
That's like it does actually kind of reverberate around bigger rooms,
and then when they're in small hallways, it sounds like
it's right there.
Speaker 2: Like I think, oh, high boss.
Speaker 4: I think a good example is like Battlefield has incredible
sound design, but it's like not all that useful and
you're actually playing it, you know, it's just like.
Speaker 2: A bunch of like just cacocophony. You know, it's just
a bunch of shit happening.
Speaker 4: But in our graders, it's like it's very intentional and
like every sound means something, and I think that's pretty cool.
Speaker 3: Yeah, not the game that I want to listen to.
Speaker 2: Metrod Trime Pour has all of the good Metroid sounds
that you want to hear, and it has like a
couple like all Timer tracks like that. The Pury Green
track is incredible, but overall, I don't think it's going
to hang.
Speaker 3: It's just shocking that you, like, did you nominate those?
Speaker 2: I don't know.
Speaker 3: I may have you did this in Death Stranding too,
I assume, but not Hades Too, which is like to
listen too, has fucking music in it.
Speaker 2: It has a boss.
Speaker 3: Dedicated to music.
Speaker 2: Oh, the sirens would be here, like like why we
do what we do?
Speaker 4: I don't remember any video games such a.
Speaker 3: Music oriented video game, but you didn't nominate I don't
remember game music South of Midnight is stunning and is
set to musical tracks. So everything, the story, all the
boss fights, they're all set to musical tracks. It is
incredibly well done and it does deserve a nod. I
would cut other things before I cut it. I think
Doom love me some metal music, and I think it
is really good metal music, but I don't think it's
actually the best metal music I've ever heard.
Speaker 2: I think this is the weakest of the Doom sound.
Speaker 4: I agree.
Speaker 2: Then the Luminous the music is a big part of
the game, but I think Jacob Geller said something about
how a lot of it sounds like songs that would
be like Royalty Free on like a Netflix reality show
or something like that. That yeah, and it's like I
think I'm the PSP and every like. It works for
the game and everything, but like, I cannot imagine listening
to any luminous music outside of the context of luminis.
I think we can cut it, Okay, does Hollow nine
have good music.
Speaker 3: Hollan Nite does have good music. I think it's within
the context of it. It's hilarious. I think if if
we had nominated other games, I would have been like
holy shit, Like this game, like the music is so
essential to the gameplay. I don't think that's true with
Hollow Night, but I think it's incredible for world building
an atmosphere.
Speaker 2: You know a game I should nominate for this is
Ball x Pit.
Speaker 4: They've got some really fucking good songs, and that especially
the Desert got stuck in my head for like six days.
Speaker 3: There is good music in there. I think it's like,
I think we're we're at the point though, where I
think we've started making some like serious cuts, and I
think if we're gonna fight really hard for our greaders,
I would keep that over, but I won't lose Clare Obscure,
which I think is just phenomenal and probably the winner,
and South of Midnight, which I think put this game
is about the music. The music is core to the game,
and then the game mechanics work around the music.
Speaker 2: That is so cool. I mean we didn't like the
musicself of Midnight. It was like too on the note literal.
Speaker 4: Yeah, Like when you're climbing the tree and it's like
singing to you about climbing the tree, It's like, Yep,
that's what I'm doing.
Speaker 3: There's a body in that tree though.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, I get why people like it, and
I do think it. I think the music is self
is good, but the way it's set to the game
I couldn't do. But music is so core to that game,
I'll take it.
Speaker 2: We're also at a point with Ease three where we're
arguing we are direction and music.
Speaker 4: It's got really good soundcheck score and also the sound
direction is good too for a turn based arpag like
the noises when you're actually like connecting with the boss.
Speaker 2: And it was just like to listen to like great
voice acting.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, the voice actors unbelievably good.
Speaker 2: Except for Ben Star.
Speaker 3: It's okay, it's amazing.
Speaker 4: They're also about this, Okay, best game to listen to.
Runner ups are Arc Raiders in South of Midnight and
the winner is verb Obscure Expedition thirty three Spill some Ink.
Speaker 2: This is the final one, alright, the final top before
before we take a break and then Top ten. Okay, yeah,
here it is Dumbass of the Year.
Speaker 4: Parentheses positive or negative here nowadays are Nate from Baby Steps,
Miles Mackenzie from Metroid Prime four.
Speaker 3: Void Kong from Donkey Kong Bonanza.
Speaker 2: Dora of Hades two, doll Man deast Randing two, Tropio.
Speaker 4: Hollow Night, Silk Song, Oh, Yachtslee from Avowed, the guest
roles from Expedition thirty three and Mike, you want to
take this one?
Speaker 3: Randy Pitchford.
Speaker 2: I boy, they're good ones here. I think do Main
is just a cool dude. Yeah, I think we cut
doll Man.
Speaker 3: Dumb Man's fine.
Speaker 4: You've seen that cigarette swim dance thing he does. Yeah,
it's incredible and it's this old head stupid but so much.
Speaker 2: Yes, yeah, uh hmm. Yachtsley is more just insufferable than
a dumb ass. I just like Yachtsley is someone if
she was my neighbor, I would move. Yeah, that's a
good way to describe.
Speaker 4: I don't know.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't know. I get that's the dart in
the bull's eye. I yeah, she's not great.
Speaker 4: It sucks. Oh god. The gest rolls are so fucking good.
I think they embody kind of down. There's such little
fucking ships and they're like good, but they're such there there.
Speaker 2: They're so quick to talk.
Speaker 4: Ship even though they're like a quarter of your size,
Like you come, are you fact?
Speaker 2: Those? He's really good at this, He's like, this is
a dumb ass.
Speaker 4: Good I gotta leaves really good, unbelievably.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they're so fun. I love that. The same vein
as Yachtley the fucking ghost from Haities two. Dora, I
think again inferable. I don't think it's a dumb ass.
She's just like, you're just I just hate talking to you.
She's a I'm trying to think. I feel like they
go a bit too like Manic Pixie dream Girl with her.
It's just too gen z. Just uh, I hate you
and now I'm sweet, Like you know, I just hate
that ship. But like, I don't spoil it, but what
do you think? The twist for Dora is a chaotic
character named Dora.
Speaker 3: She's an explorer.
Speaker 2: I don't know Dora.
Speaker 4: Like God, I don't want to spoil it because people
haven't done it, but but like immediately met this character
and I was like, Okay, they are doing this thing.
Speaker 2: It's this this character in mythology or whatever. And it's
just like, Okay, Dora.
Speaker 3: Saw it.
Speaker 4: You saw it coming, yes, And to the point where
I was like, that's such low hanging for but maybe it's.
Speaker 2: There's a box involved. Oh but I was like, okay, okay, yeah,
I just she sucks. Boy, void Kong is a dumb ass.
Speaker 4: Uh.
Speaker 2: I think he's really funny. I think he's the way
but he's a dumb ass.
Speaker 4: And it's also the way he's got stakes all over
the world that you then destroy and he's Yeah.
Speaker 2: Also it's so fucking funny. Again, we're spoiling this game
of the year. But the fact that like he's built
is like, I'm the bad guy in this game. I
Void Kong and then like there the King k Rules
comes like fuck you. Yeah, it's like you fucking suck.
He's just plugging up holes all over the world. Yeah,
I love that. Boy. Miles mackenzie sounds like an actual
like an anybody who says what I don't mind him, Like,
I mean, yeah, the when you first meet him, he'snnoying
and then it's just like he's just a nerdy guy
that upgrades her farm. Well maybe that maybe we cut him.
Then I think we cut him.
Speaker 4: It's just like he's totally You have.
Speaker 3: To feel strongly about these or either direction or they
have to go.
Speaker 4: I think I think Trobio is very good. Trobo's awesome.
Speaker 2: He's a dumb ass.
Speaker 4: Yeah, just a super cocky sings his own name and like, yeah,
he's great.
Speaker 3: I think he's kind of built this aura and he
has a stage and there's all this text about him.
I actually think Trobio is perfect for this list, so
I think he should stay Nate. I don't feel super
strongly about Nate positive or negative. But he is a
dumb ass.
Speaker 2: That's the thing he is. Like, he is so purely
a dumb ass.
Speaker 3: Turns down a map, turns down help, doesn't want to.
Speaker 2: Just lives and just fucking sits around his dirty pajamas,
and you know, it's like, yeah, you just you suck
your dumb ass, you know, Like I don't know, but
it's not like positive or negative. It's just like dumb.
This is just a dumb dude, dude, you know. Yeah,
it's like some of these other are lovable dumb asses
or you're so fucking dumb. Uh it's notable. You know,
who are you thinking with that? Hmm, Nate, like removing
Uh Yeah, I just don't. I don't think it's positive
or negative. And he just sucks.
Speaker 3: He does suckle. We gotta cut. I want to keep Trobio.
I feel strongly about that.
Speaker 2: I think the gestrels are hard. I think this is
a tough one.
Speaker 4: This is tough.
Speaker 2: We got Void Kong, Trobio, the guest rolls and Randy
Pitchford of Gearbox, the human man that exists gestrols. After
you beat, after you beat the first suck up a top,
they're like.
Speaker 4: Oh my god, we fucked up. We didn't build it correctly.
That's like they're literally good dumbasses. They're so fucking funny,
they're they they're just basically like cooler. What are the
things the seeds you get from Breath of the Wild,
Oh rack, they're like co rocks but funny.
Speaker 2: I will say, Randy already won in one dumb thing
of the year bad. I think we can cut Randy. Yeah,
congrats to Adam uh and so it's void contrivial guest
of God Mike, I think.
Speaker 3: We need to do another gestrial impression to really steal
the deal.
Speaker 2: All right, guests, tell us we should win.
Speaker 6: Because we are the prom defenders of our village and
we don't need the sucker pophy.
Speaker 2: Well, defend our own bad and our honor.
Speaker 6: Argue with your stupid paintings and your stupid endings and.
Speaker 2: Multiple endings to this game. I don't care about that.
We will fuck you up, Gestro.
Speaker 4: Yeah, all right, the mass of the year runner ups
are a void Kong Trovio. But the winner is the guest.
The gest rolls from expision thirty.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's time to figure out the top ten games
of twenty twenty five. We have a blank Google oc
in front of us. We are fire Escape. We are Dan, Mike,
Mary and Jake. And this is it. After twenty four categories,
it is down to this. What are you laughing at him?
I was trying to move the pages. It wouldn't move. No,
because we don't have anything below this. Wait, we got
to fill it out. Judge Jake, the cool judge Jake
over there will be the one filling this out as
we populate this list, cut things off, and then order
the final top ten of the year. I guess it's
time we start naming stuff. That's it, the obvious ones.
Speaker 3: Wait when we do like a lot of circle that
when one person isn't naming six games?
Speaker 4: Uh, okay, I'm not gonna just go out of order
a bit.
Speaker 2: I'll say.
Speaker 4: Blueprints haities two. Okay, let's leg it in time, Jesus
go faster, faster, faster.
Speaker 2: Wait haities two.
Speaker 4: Okay.
Speaker 2: Also, I have to fix the fonk because you're ready, Judge,
he looks like a damned fool. He looks like a
audio listener. He's got a damn donkey congo. All right,
talking to Amy stuff Expedition thirty three.
Speaker 4: I'm gonna put Silent Hill left, okay, Uh Monster Trained two,
Ghost of a Yota.
Speaker 2: Thinking and chewing and chewing Shnoby Art of Vengeance?
Speaker 3: Yeah yeah, hello night silk song.
Speaker 4: Uh ar rats. If you're gonna do Shnoby, I will
see Megabank sectory.
Speaker 3: Randy Pitchford, you can skip. I'm thinking the art of Vengeance.
Speaker 2: All I'm going to do oh for.
Speaker 3: Game of the Year, all right, Bud.
Speaker 2: I felt hollo, okay.
Speaker 4: Oh.
Speaker 2: I'm difficult and I make people's lives more meaningful. So
I'm wasted on my gun argument my.
Speaker 3: Impressions to help me get through my bad arguments.
Speaker 2: These we beats are metaphor for religion, not religious. Uh
do we have here?
Speaker 3: Uh?
Speaker 4: You already said Hayes two. I think of my Now
I'm getting into my like five to tens battlefield six.
Speaker 2: Donkey Kong Bonanza, thank you Peak.
Speaker 4: Really? Yeah?
Speaker 2: Yeah, it doesn't feel good, does it? Sens Man and
Donkey Kong had.
Speaker 3: Negative aura.
Speaker 2: You know what I'm muting you?
Speaker 4: Uh night Rain.
Speaker 2: Mm hmm.
Speaker 3: At some point, yeah, start looking because at some point
if you're just saying games, we're wasting if.
Speaker 4: Not ventured outside my list, I haven't. I'm trying to now.
I'm just trying to remember, like that's training too. Oh yeah,
that's training to metroids. Not on there yet either, assuming
you want there?
Speaker 3: Said, Yeah, our creators is on there by.
Speaker 2: Mm hmmm. Did we get our graders? Yeah, we got
our creators. I think all of my favorites are here.
Speaker 3: I think the ones where I know they can they
have a chance are on there.
Speaker 2: Checking mine, I think most of my big ones around.
We got Blue Princy the first one. Yeah, hm hmm.
That seems pretty strong.
Speaker 4: Let me how things cropping.
Speaker 3: Out and make sure yeah speak now or forever hold
your piece. We have Shinobi.
Speaker 2: Okay, so we have nineteen right now? Avowed I loved it.
Speaker 3: You would have to argue for it.
Speaker 2: I'll look at my kind of loose list right now.
Speaker 3: If it's not on your top ten I don't want
you to say that's.
Speaker 2: Something I don't even know right now. It's at my
like loose sixteen.
Speaker 3: Don't put it on there.
Speaker 4: Okay, Okay, you know what I mean. For struggling, then
find something. Maybe that's a good sign, a like a
sign that we Yeah.
Speaker 2: I mean like Luminous is like close to my top ten,
but I know i'd be the only one and it's
not even definitely on my top ten. So Mark, our
World's not gonna make it. You were saying Fortnite should
make it. Oh, the out Foxies came out earlier this year.
Speaker 4: Oh, we did talk.
Speaker 2: About that was really that was a really good one
for the Fox. Yeah.
Speaker 3: I don't think Papastrella will make it. I don't think
Guns of Fury will make it.
Speaker 2: Keepper, do you guys want Keeper?
Speaker 3: I don't think it's gonna make it.
Speaker 4: Yeah, But I mean, like, do you still like, do
you still think it's it could get like number ten?
Speaker 3: I don't think it will get top ten.
Speaker 2: Okay, that is how I feel.
Speaker 3: I like that game. I I like that game. I
do not think it's ten. I don't think Doom is
top ten. I don't think will World is top ten.
Midnight Walk is not top ten. There's a lot that
I like, Man, I know, it's a great year. This
is a good We're being tough because it was these
are these are hot contendees and I just don't think
we're probably going to get them in and I want
to respect everybody's.
Speaker 2: It's the best year since we started doing this podcast.
Like I look back at my top tens of every
year and usually like they're they're years where it's like
the one, two, and three I feel strongly about. In
the rest it's like, yeah, that was fine. This is
the first time I've ever wanted to do a top
twenty list for Giant Bond the font so.
Speaker 3: People can see all the games on here because people are.
Speaker 2: Like, yeah, I'm struggling with that because it's going to.
Speaker 4: Be tough to.
Speaker 2: Yeah, maybe go half a size for now and then
uh I think it's on Dora. Yeah no, I'm scrolling.
Speaker 3: I'm running out of funians. I'm worried.
Speaker 2: Sixteen more cookies.
Speaker 4: Oh my god, We're so blessed. Give her the crunchiest food.
Speaker 2: I love it. It's the best thing I've ever Oh
my god, I can right here. I don't need to hear.
Speaker 4: That's fine, it's not true. It's pretty small, but they're
all there. We do have twenty here.
Speaker 2: I think that's probably a good place to start to start,
you know, chopping this.
Speaker 4: Down a little.
Speaker 2: I'll be realistic. Lego Party is probably gonna be in
my top ten.
Speaker 3: Yeah, bless you for even trying.
Speaker 2: No, I'm not even trying. I'm cutting it up literally
the first cut. Yeah, is that where we're doing. We're
trying to find ten to cut. We need, we need
to just cut. I know Lego Party is not gonna
make it.
Speaker 3: Let us not make strong arguments for white here. We
know that's gonna make it.
Speaker 4: Battlefield six, I've had some great times of that. I
think it is a really really strong course correction for
the series. I don't think I'm gonna get into the
top ten here as a group, but I've had tons
of fun with that game.
Speaker 2: This year.
Speaker 4: You've been sitting on the fence because you liked three
and four or even like Battlefield one and been wanting
to go back. This is the time all all offer
up Night Rain. That is a game that I played
the hell of, but the hell out of, but I
think it's just me. I'll offer up out Foxies because
it came out in like.
Speaker 2: Two hang on, I don't not yet. I am very
impressed with what I saw of Ooh today and I
definitely want to play it. I just don't know in
such a stacked year if that's a realistic top ten,
especially when you know most not played it before today.
Speaker 4: I would ask Jake because I recency bias and the
fact I've never played. I just watched Mary play it today, Like,
do you think you would? Do you think you would
have ammunition for it to be the top ten. I
think it's a brilliantly designed game. I don't think we
cut it yet, but I think it's probably like if
there's some impassioned arguments for other games, then I think
it's I.
Speaker 3: Would like to hear an impassioned argument for DK Bonanza.
I'm not saying it's not good.
Speaker 4: Yeah, let's hear it.
Speaker 2: He's dressed like, yeah, I couldn't finish it because than.
Speaker 4: You thought d K Banansa was boring. No, that's not
what he burnt out because you were trying to get
every single thing. Yeah, that's not that's not myself in
I got I got halfway through, and I was like,
I can't play this game anymore.
Speaker 2: Oh, we got a Kayla my sister in the chat
saying she does not see Dynasty Warriors origins. Is that
a did we make a mistake? Sorry, I don't think Yeah, yeah,
we already locked it in. Yeah weird.
Speaker 4: I didn't think we'd have to argue to get I
will say Bananza is definitely my top ten.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's definitely definitely in my top ten. Yes, I
don't think we need that. That's not on the cutting
board yet. Cutting board? Is that the free yes, chopping
chopping dropping block chef? Yeah sure, yeah yeah, if you're
making myself one, Yeah, this is gonna be tough.
Speaker 4: Ooh uh peak.
Speaker 3: I think that that has a lot of merit to
be on this top ten for how much work it
did this year in terms of games to play with friends,
I think it was one of this is for us.
I just want to say, like culturally, this is like
a very important game that was significant in terms of
sales consistent players, Like people played this game because it's funny,
it's entertaining, and it's goddamn good. And I played it
a lot. I played this almost every weekend for like
a couple of months. I'll fight for peak.
Speaker 2: Let's do this the stuff we've crossed out, Let's go
ahead and move it down into another zone there and
get it off the even start section. Yeah, another area.
Speaker 4: Man, after we do this, I would be curious to
hear everyone's like top three, because I think that's kind
of bad, wildly different. This is the least certain I've
been about my top five, like maybe since we started
doing the podcast. It's just gonna come down to who
I'm most annoyed with, and then it's joking.
Speaker 2: I think Monster Trend two is a tremendously designed game.
I feel like no one here like is against it
or anything like that. But did who here like really
dove in and played a ton of it? Mike, Yeah,
and like every faction, I played maybe ten hours of it,
and I thought it was very very good. It thinks
I don't. I really don't like the art style of
that game. I don't either, Yeah, but it is a
very smart game, great game. It's one of my favorite
deck builders.
Speaker 4: And I'm not even a deck builder person, but like
as a ROGUELI, as a deck builder, as a atagy game,
I think it's incredibly smart. I think it's it definitely is.
That's one of the games on this list I thought
the most about when I wasn't playing it. I the
knocks against it. I think they tried way too hard
to force story into it. There's like cut scenes between
the stuff, which I did not need. They did not
do in the first game. I don't know why they
felt they need to do that here, but I still
think that is absolutely Like, if you're that is a
much better what is the game Climbing the Tower that
they started that deck Builder roadblike genre Slay the Spire,
Slayest Spire, Thank you, I think it's it's a much
much better Slay the Spire. As much as I like
Slay the Spire, but I think that's the best version
of a Slayest Spire so far that I've played.
Speaker 2: Do you think it makes top ten? It's very It's
definitely my top ten, But I mean the group how
big this list is right now?
Speaker 4: Yeah, but I can't like I'm probably number two in
terms of liking it. I think it's stay in there,
but like I'm going to keep it in there. I
want to keep it in there just because like only
we played it's it's against.
Speaker 3: I think like, we have to talk about the group here.
Not enough of us have played Metroid Prime for this
to be a hot contender.
Speaker 2: I realized that, Yeah, I like Metroid Prime.
Speaker 4: I haven't finished it, but it is my like number ten,
and I could see it moving up, but right now
having not right now it's in.
Speaker 2: My top three. Oh wow, I mean I fucking love it.
I mean there's a chance that I made my number
one and I cut it. Yeah, I mean there's a
chance Prime for is my number one? Was your one wasn't?
I mean most days it is. But I mean yeah,
Like Jake, I feel like you're the one who's playing
it the most, Like you're actively playing it here. I
think it's very good. Like I'm super into it and
I cannot wait to play more.
Speaker 4: In the interest of progress, can we put Monster Trained
two at like top runner up just so? I like, No,
I could potentially get it back in if I don't
hear better arguments on the line, because I really fucking
love that game.
Speaker 2: But I don't think.
Speaker 4: I don't see any others here that we're gonna obviously
cut as a group right now.
Speaker 2: I want to argue something here as cool as elements
of Arc Raiders are wow is the game and stuff
because like as an extraction shooter. An extractor shooter. Again,
I'm not an expert in the genre, but it's all
about the loot and everything. Honestly, every time I get
back and I'm in the menus, I'm just looking at
four hundred wires and rubber parts and plastic parts, and
I'm just trying to like clear out my inventory and
fucking sell into one of five fucking different shopkeepers.
Speaker 4: Like, I don't think the loot stuff is exciting at all.
You know what also is not that great? And this
third person shooter is the shooting that's fine. No, it's
not good. The drones and like hell divers or hell
divers too, Hell divers too, I think is we're talking about,
Like third person shooter became my bar.
Speaker 2: I don't think the shooting is good in Arc Raiders
is good. I tolerate it because I love playing with
the people I'm playing with. I like it, but I
but I am with you in that.
Speaker 4: Like my least favorite part of that game is when
I get back to base and I'm like, oh, my
inventory is full, and now I have to like but
that's extrac shures I would say, but like, going beyond that,
I would say, the UI here actually has numerous problems
where it's like not nearly that easy to be able
to junk stuff as a group things around and.
Speaker 2: Remember and which fucking shopkeeper and everything. It's just like
it's a messy thing for a game that is so
much about your you know, the loot and what you have,
and we need to sell and we need a craft
and everything. It's like it's laborious to do any of that.
Speaker 4: The way I've described this game though, is like the
highs are so fucking high and the lows are pretty low.
But like I think Battlefield is like, you know, it's consistent.
We already cut it, but it's a battlefield consistently fun.
But I've never been like like I don't remember anything
I've done in Battlefield, but I remember these moments and arc.
Speaker 2: Raders more than I remember yeah, like.
Speaker 3: Moments really extraction Shooter, and it has like evolved the
genre tremendously, and I think it's it is so important
to gaming when we're talking about like the evolution of
what we want games to be and like what they
can be, Like it is a very important game. I
think we have to like put that into account when
we're if we're reordering things, you can make it lower.
But I would put that above Death Stranding too.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, fuck yeah, I would one person that go
ahead and do it.
Speaker 4: I played I think forty hours of that game. I
like that game quite a bit. I still think at
its heart it is a fine triple A open world
game with really cool tools, a.
Speaker 2: Fine open world triple A game. It is like Horizon,
same engine. It's that boring game Death Stranding two.
Speaker 4: Is I'm going, I'm sneaking around with mediocre stealth around
these bases, and then when like it opens up, it's
fine shooting over the shoulder. And then I'm like, there's
really cool tools. They clearly had a lot of good
micro ideas, but overall, like you're immediately getting like I
immediately felt like I Horizon Forbidden West's outposts. It's so
much more interesting than Horizon's ever been.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but I'm also doing the like Calculus now of Like, Okay,
I fucking loved us Training too. It's high up on
my list. I don't feel like any of you love
this game. Nobody here beat it, so I.
Speaker 4: Like it a lot. It's almost, But.
Speaker 2: I just I'm wondering how realistic it is for me to.
Speaker 4: Get it on time. Guys' you've you've read my brilliant
thesis about my turnaround with director's cut for the first game.
Yes for two it I genuinely don't feel like anybody.
Kojima himself was like thinking does this actually fit in
this game? And we can stand him all day. I
love his ship. Some of my favorite games time Medle
Gear Solid three included are came from his mind. Like
I love so many things this guy has done, but
like it only like Dan, you mentioned gimmicks all the time,
this game is just a collection of like hundreds of gimmicks.
Speaker 2: I love gimmicks. I know, I don't want to very clear,
and I.
Speaker 4: Like it's it's so I if my problem is I
think if any other studio tried to, like have this
doll that was doing around synchronized swimming and water, we'd
be like, this is fucking stupid, it doesn't make sense.
Speaker 2: But because his kogim, we like, I love this, it's
the best thing. Like this game's real good, but it
fits in that world. I mean, if.
Speaker 4: I really don't think it fits in this world, I
don't think. I don't think this world has an identity.
I think the first game had a clear, cogent, mysterious,
powerful identity.
Speaker 2: And two is just a collection.
Speaker 4: It's it feels like the whiteboard in the first pre
production meeting and they're like, great, now go make this.
Speaker 2: God, I feel like two is better than one in
every conceivable way.
Speaker 4: That's that.
Speaker 2: Bananas, that's it's every what possible thing is better in
one than two.
Speaker 4: It feels like like an actual game that people got
together to make that made sense in any way. Stranding
first game compared to two. I'm gonna strive running a coffin,
and then I'm gonna fucking dip people into tar, and
then I'm gonna use a rocket launcher. Have you played
Death Straanding one? Yes, I've played it a lot, and
it has way more fucking like, actual purposeful design behind it.
There's pacing to it. It's not just automatically, dude, Like
I swear to god, if you put Horizon Forbidden West
up against Death Stranding two, the actual things you're doing
are exactly the same.
Speaker 2: You're just using different.
Speaker 4: Tools to do it.
Speaker 2: Wow, I agree, That's what I'm saying. Like I could
go into a whole thing, but I don't think it's
worth it, because I I don't think there's anything I
could possibly say right now.
Speaker 4: Des Straining one twice. The first time I didn't love it,
but I still played through it. The second time, I
really enjoyed it. And I think it's because I bought
into that vision in a way that kind of surprised me,
because I felt like there was a cohesive direction this
game was going, and two is just like, Okay, it
just turns into an open world game where I'm like,
except I'm carrying a bunch of boxes and I'm shooting people,
you know, Like, I feel like it lost some of
the thing that made Death Straining two unique and like
the one Destraining one unique, and I think, like speaking
on Kajima, being like, well, people liked the preview too much,
so I gotta make it bad now. Straining one felt
like it was.
Speaker 2: Des Straining one where it was very like divisive, and
Destrating two felt like he like, like that felt very fake.
Speaker 4: It was like, Okay, well, too many people like it.
So my boy Nicholas winning refin half his moves fucking sucks.
So I want more than pretty drive, right, Yeah, I
like Pusher Trilogy in Valhalla, but like, I really do
like that game again.
Speaker 2: I I it's almost like a number ten for me.
But it's right on the cusp. I don't look. I
don't think it's making our top ten. I'm not willing
to have it to be cut yet.
Speaker 4: I think two of us have had any passionate argument
against it. I don't think Mary's gonna fight for it.
You don't know.
Speaker 3: Moving on. I think it should be below Monster Hunter
Monster Train too, and I think we just see how
we feel.
Speaker 2: Can we test the little alt shift up? Down?
Speaker 3: Does that work down yet? Down?
Speaker 4: Oh?
Speaker 2: That's a good set, and then put it up?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 2: No no no no no no no no no no
no no no not yet, not yet, not yet, not yet.
Speaker 3: Mm hmm.
Speaker 2: Let me ask this, Jake, where would generally Oh be
on your top ten? Pretty well, it's both destining for sure.
I know is pretty high on mine.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, you got there fifteen and I think that's fair.
Speaker 2: I'm destrating two is pretty high on mine. Mike likes
it a decent amount. I think Ooh seems very cool.
I like what I've seen.
Speaker 4: I want to play it, but what I saw of
Oo today felt like more of a more of a
well designed game than Destraating.
Speaker 2: Two, which I like despite it.
Speaker 4: Write a review about Destraating Two directors and it's sick
and then way back and will annoy Mary by saying
it was the best game that came out that year.
Speaker 2: It'll get its time.
Speaker 4: The Sun Silent Hell f Jake, I asked you if
I should play that, and you told me that it's great.
Speaker 2: But the gameplay itself sucks. The gameplay is not great,
like that is something that it's hard to get around.
Speaker 4: And I've heard arguments like, oh, it's intentional, you know,
like gameplay is bad for reason, you know, and.
Speaker 2: I got to play that ship. Silent Hill fans are
something else.
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, they are to be fair, and I'm sure
I'm sure there's some in the chat and they're not happy.
But like I, I do think the story, the themes,
the direction, all that really elevates that game, like so
far beyond its gameplay. And I don't think the gameplay
is terrible, like it's it's not awful, it's not unplayable,
but it is not like it you want to say
you played it too. Don't put this all on me.
Speaker 3: I actually think the gameplay is pretty pretty good, and
I've been I enjoyed the puzzle design and that is
quite good. I think it puts you in these tremendously
terrify find situations. And you know, we're at this point
we have to start putting it on a list, right,
like how high is it? And I think it's too high?
Speaker 2: Yeah, we kind of finessing a little.
Speaker 3: What I would like us to start thinking about is
what's in your top ten? Right Like Donkey Kong Bananza
is not in our top ten, I would well get
used to it.
Speaker 4: Donkey Cong Bananza absolutely deserves to be in our tops, like, no,
my top four games.
Speaker 3: We're doing this is what we're talking Bananza like six spaces.
Speaker 2: I think it's above our creators.
Speaker 3: Yes, yes, of course, I think that's fair.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you're so measured. You're measured, and.
Speaker 3: I think Silent Hill. But but are we pushing out
Megabank or Sectory there.
Speaker 4: We talked about it.
Speaker 2: We're just trying to trim it down and then we're
gonna rank.
Speaker 3: I'm just talking about moving ship around.
Speaker 2: Okay, Okay, that's what I was asking. I didn't I
don't have any strong.
Speaker 3: I think Ghost of Yota has to be talked about.
Speaker 4: Is gonna be very high I think I think is
one of the best games that came out this year. Like, uh,
do you want to talk about it now or I
I'm I.
Speaker 2: Think there's gonna be a conversation about Yota later. I
think for Surete will be like high up on our list.
I don't think we need to I think now we
need to focus on the ones that might be on
the bubble.
Speaker 4: That's what is not that.
Speaker 3: I don't think Okay, Shanobi is on the bubble. Second
Sectory is on the bubble.
Speaker 4: Sectory. I will say, I think Sectory is a great game,
well crafted. I love a lot what they're doing, combining
that like Geometry Wars with Vampire Survivors with just generally
like that Tetris effect.
Speaker 2: You don't really see the I've heard several people bring
U vampires vivers.
Speaker 4: I don't really see that just because you're you're killing
enemies and you're collecting the Yeah. Yeah, I'm not saying
it's heavily inspired. I'm just saying it's a I mean,
it's correct. Yeah, but I guess oh Ship, sorry, one
game that's not on here, Well, I guess ball x Pit.
Speaker 2: Is anybody gonna also? I really that was one of
the first year I.
Speaker 3: Think it's good, but I actually would fight for Sectory
or Megabonk. And we're getting to the point where like
it's not gonna get it. I don't think it's gonna
make It has too.
Speaker 2: Many big flaws. I think the building to cut it.
But I don't feel was in my top five to.
Speaker 3: But but if you were to ask me, like which
one should hit in the top ten, I would I
would fight for Sectoria, megabunk more.
Speaker 4: I think recency bias, I think I think. I think
recency bias is heavily affecting Sectory. I agree to I
don't think we're gonna talk about Sectory.
Speaker 2: In six months. At the moment, I don't know. I
don't think.
Speaker 4: Is that game is such recency bias. I think it's great.
I think it's well made. I think it's visually stunning,
But I truly don't see all Like all of house
Mark's games, I think the best house Mark game that
I've ever played was probably what was their second game.
Speaker 2: Awesome is Sick.
Speaker 3: I would like to make a case for why Peaks
should be in our top ten.
Speaker 2: I think I'm not against top ten.
Speaker 3: I think Peaks should be in top ten and Sectory
should be out.
Speaker 2: I'm fine with sure.
Speaker 4: Okay, Well, I was gonna say, if we're going to
cut Sectory because of like recently, I think is the shot.
Speaker 3: Well, who was on fifteen? Babe, Like, it's already over
for you, but it's not out yet. No, no, no, no, no, no,
you're this is false, hope. Anything that's not in top
ten is basically out.
Speaker 2: Because we haven't ordered it. We just got to cut
it down in ten and then we.
Speaker 3: Are No, girl, it's over. Who's over? I understand what
you're saying, but like, no, keep We're We're at the
point where we're like fine tuning. What's a bubble for
top ten? We're bubbling top ten, and I'm saying we
should be switching. Okay, Peak in Sectory.
Speaker 2: Brandy Pittford gave me this Shock List winner of this year,
super do like a half one for me.
Speaker 4: I gotta get up earlier than anybody. Thank you.
Speaker 2: Mike Manadi. I know you're watching all these great time
bomb shot classes.
Speaker 4: We used to have.
Speaker 3: Heard he hates smugs.
Speaker 2: He well, no, he's turned around the mugs, shotglasses are next.
Speaker 4: I just don't see us cutting many things from the
top ten outside of Arc Raiders right now. I think
that game is awesome, but I really don't know that.
Speaker 2: In Shnobi, I would cut our graders before Shanobi. Wow,
all right, I'd cut them both. Just do you want
to swap those?
Speaker 4: All right?
Speaker 2: No, not swap those. Put Peak in Arc Raiders spot.
Speaker 3: I would put Peak in our grader's spot because I'm
a psychopath.
Speaker 2: It okay, cheersing, yep, all right, let's get down to it.
Wait up in like five hours. Okay, oh, Monster Trento
gonna make it.
Speaker 3: Maybe we're passive, just keep that.
Speaker 2: Yeah we're not. We're there my mind.
Speaker 4: These below are just like potential, like ammunition to.
Speaker 3: Only pay attention to top ten. If you're not going
to fight tooth and nail for it to be in
the top ten, you're you're wasting air. If you're not
saying right now, Metroid Prime four has to be in
the top ten, it's better than Shnoby.
Speaker 4: But that's like, that's where we're at. I got moved
out because none of us have played it. Really, but
that's not you that can supersede us.
Speaker 3: I know, make the argument I.
Speaker 4: Would put Metroid over Sho me too. Yeah, and I
fucking love Shnoby. That's Metro Prime four number ten right now.
Speaker 3: I like Shnoby, but I haven't played Metroid, but like
I really like Shnoby's I don't. I don't like this.
Speaker 2: I played them both extensive, beat both of them, like
near one hundred percent completion. I do think Metrod Prime
four is significantly better.
Speaker 4: Taking a photo, make sure there's no Shenanigans volunteering, because I.
Speaker 2: M Snowby's like might be like six or seven for
I'm cutting Metric, I'm cutting a monster train. I don't
think it's okay, bag Baby God dest Raining and Metrid
Prime four.
Speaker 4: It's just.
Speaker 2: M I'd fight for Metroid Prime four. I think it's
a losing battle for me with Death Training two. I
just don't think I'm gonna it's over. I don't think
it's doable. I'll be realistic. I yeah, you can get it.
Speaker 3: It's like making it sound like it's a sacrifice. It's
already dead.
Speaker 2: Yes, I'm just I'm just being realistic. Yeah, it's not
gonna make.
Speaker 3: It great, thank you. I think Schnoby. I think it's
a Shnobi is still in. I'm a little bombed to
lose Shob. I loved it.
Speaker 2: I don't necessarily want to lose it yet.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but you're fighting for Metroid above it.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Oh but that wouldn't as we were saying, that
would knock it down. Well, I don't think is gonna
make it. It's not I don't.
Speaker 4: It's not like it's awesome. I played a little bit,
so we only have to cut one.
Speaker 2: Oh my, there's my any thoughts.
Speaker 3: No, never Okay, there's games like I'll die over, and
there's games that I'm okay with, But I am apprehensive
to make any glaring changes. At this point, I actually
think we have it.
Speaker 2: I mean, I don't really care about Silent Hill. Do
you want to cut it? Cute? No?
Speaker 3: I think Silent Hill f is really important and I
think it's where it belongs. I don't think it's going on.
Speaker 2: It's fun to play. It's all just trying to be
deep in whatever. It just seems boreal. If that was
the case, it would have been it would have won
up its own ass. But it didn't. Probably good whatever.
Speaker 3: Five Metroid Prime is hanging on by a thread. I
actually really like the Metroid series, and I'm looking forward
to playing this, and I've heard things that are really
good about it, really mixed things.
Speaker 4: About it, so it's I mean, I've already played more
Metroid Prime than I did Shnoby. Not that I didn't
like Shnoby, but I just was like school. But there's
also some like I don't know, I love Metroid Yeah,
I think.
Speaker 2: Some Again I said earlier, the environments in Shnoby are
just some of them are uninspired. Some of them are awesome.
There's like that city with all the like Sega retro
dreamcasts and shit everywhere, but like, ah, some of the
level design didn't really do it for me. The combat
is stellar, It's like some of the best two D
combat ever. But some of the environments, I'd say, actually
most environments, yeah, kind of wrote I could I could
see I I'd rather see silent. He'll get knocked off.
But if I need to be a hero, I would
I would sacrifice Shnoby. What do you think, Mike to
put Metro Prime at ten?
Speaker 3: Right?
Speaker 2: I mean, we need to one and then we can
figure out orders wants to make a strong choice.
Speaker 3: I would prefer but I didn't play. I don't think
I have a.
Speaker 2: Call here in this eleven.
Speaker 4: I've got like, like six I feel extremely strong about,
so I'm I don't know that I weigh in on
like the ten eleven if it's between Shnoby or I
like Schanoby a lot, but not enough to I feel.
Speaker 2: Very strongly about ten of these eleven.
Speaker 4: To judge.
Speaker 2: Oh god, fuck, uh Shnoby's getting cut.
Speaker 4: Wow, that hurts.
Speaker 2: That hurts.
Speaker 3: I love it.
Speaker 2: It punched above. It's wait. I mean, it wasn't ever
the biggest franchise or anything, and then it came out.
Speaker 3: It's like a holy good for doing well.
Speaker 2: And I don't even really care about the old Chenobey games.
I never had him on Genesis. It's like this one
was so fucking good it was undeniable. But yeah, that's
a tough year. I think we have a perfect top
ten already.
Speaker 4: You don't say crazy things yet.
Speaker 3: Look at this, it's already perfect. We have some things
to move.
Speaker 4: Oh no, it's not perfect. Actually I just saw here
that I I mean, what'll stand for having just you know,
made the rolling to cut Schenobi. I think Metroid's good
at ten. I don't think we put it up. I
think we honestly happy to get it on there. You
feel strong enough about it. I feel like it's a
Prime ten because we haven't played it, But like Prime,
I like what I've played. It's very high on your list.
Speaker 2: I think.
Speaker 3: I think Ken say, I think that's as far as
she goes.
Speaker 2: You know what. I would be happy for that and
blathering us up with Whiskey to get his games in.
I think not to go for the jugular, but Blueprints
can get knocked down. It will get knocked I don't
Blueprints is not gonna be our game of the year.
Speaker 3: Wow, why don't we stop at the other end of
the spectrum. I think megabonk is where it should.
Speaker 4: Be same, same, maybe above Silent Hill. Oh I see, Okay, Dan,
I want to point out something. Yeah, you're we just
got a game that only you have really played onto
number ten for me?
Speaker 3: Yeah, why don't you shut the fuck up?
Speaker 4: Those who have played Silent Hill left and they've given
passionate arguments for it.
Speaker 2: I know I'm just being a stinker. It's a one
game on here I haven't played, and I don't care
about I can tell what is like the most egregious
ranking here to like each of us right now. I mean,
obviously Blueprints is number one.
Speaker 4: I can see a case for Blueprints is number one,
and I'm not going to, like fight tooth and nail
keep it at number one over other things, so I'm
gonna save ammunition.
Speaker 2: I think Mega Bonk should be above Peak.
Speaker 3: I don't think that's the case. I think Mega Bonk
has done extremely well for the game that it is,
which is a Vampire Survivor clone that has added some
things and made it really delightfully.
Speaker 4: Member was my number one game.
Speaker 2: It's Risk of Rain two.
Speaker 4: I want to point out like it's it's it's definitely
a mashup, though.
Speaker 3: I think it's incredible. I'm just saying like, I think
it's where it belongs. I think it's really good. I
think Peak was extraordinarily innovative. I think it capitalized on
something that UH gamers in our audience was like really
excited to watch and play. I put so many hours
into this game with my friends, and can we talk
about like guttural belly laughs. This is the game that
did that for me. This is the game I didn't
put repo on here. I didn't put any of the
other games that were like so funny to all of
you guys on here, this is the game that I
wanted to play every weekend. This is the game that
was so joyful.
Speaker 4: I have a question, and I I'm really not trying
to go anywhere with this. It's actually just more curious
is that game was it dependent on the people you
were playing with? I guess any multiplayer game is obviously
if you're playing with people you don't like, you're not
gonna like it.
Speaker 3: But like, is the game people I hate?
Speaker 2: Right? Is the game itself really really good?
Speaker 4: Or is it just a good avenue for you hanging
out with people who are just like really fucking funny
and fun to hang out with.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and that doesn't mean it's not. That doesn't disqualify it,
because again Arc Raiders, that's why I loved it.
Speaker 3: I mean I don't think it's I think to your
point right as well, because we're like talking about like
how fucking brilliant was it? I think Pete kind of
feels like one of those game dev games where they
made it in a couple of weekends, where like, isn't
this great they.
Speaker 4: Worked?
Speaker 3: I don't think this is like some impeccably designed game.
I think it works extra extraordinarily well for what it's
intending to do, which is allow people to like come
together and play for a weekend. I think that it's
designed impeccably for its purpose. So when we're talking about
like and this, this is just kind of going to
like what our top ten really is. But like Megabonk
is designed impeccably for someone who's like won't play a game.
But I want to take it too seriously. I don't
want to worry about it too much. I think Megabank
is exactly where it is, and I also think Peak
is exactly where it is. I don't think it's going
to go any higher, but I don't think it should
necessarily go any lower.
Speaker 2: Is where I'm at with it.
Speaker 3: Like I'm not fighting for Peak to get higher. I'm
just saying like, when I think of Megabonk, I think
of like, Damn, I had a lot of like nice
casual nights watching TV and also playing this game, And
when I think of Peak, I was like, how many
amazing weekends did I have? Finding people to play this
with and having really glorious weekends with it was very
meaningful to me to play this game and to find
this game, and I think it was really brilliantly constructed.
And I'm not saying Megabank was bad. I'm just we're
at this point where we're like we're calling out these
like impeccable.
Speaker 2: Games were the rest of the night for sure. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
I wouldn't move it. I do feel like the legs
on a lot of these friends slop games. When you
look at like the history, the short history of this genre,
there's they really don't have legs as fun as they are.
You know, you play Lethal Company a few times, you
play Fast and Phobia a few times, you play Repo
a few.
Speaker 3: Times, megabonk in ten years and be like what people.
Speaker 2: I think people will talk about Megabonk longer than they
talk about Peak.
Speaker 3: I don't think they will.
Speaker 4: I think Peak is the exception to that, because like
I still play Peak. Peak is one of the few
friends slot games I still play because I think it's
mechanics are so much fun and even if like they're
not people you like that you're playing with, like there
is that like there's more mechanics that come into play
when you're playing with multiple people that I think make
it worth it. Like, you know, if we had Repo
in here, I'd be like, yeah, Repo, Like Repo is
very funny, but I'm.
Speaker 2: Not going to play more. But Peak I still come
back to it is one of the best ones of those, Yeah,
if not maybe the best.
Speaker 3: Yeah, people talk about this genre, they're to bring up Peak.
Is this like pinnacle of Like this was a pivotal moment.
I don't think Megabonk was this pivotal moment. I think
it was just an excellent addition to an already established genre.
Speaker 2: I think it was the first one to take the
vampire survivor's type auto shooter thing to like three D
and do it really really well the way it did.
Speaker 3: He Yeah, I think it did.
Speaker 2: No, Peak is really it's really good.
Speaker 4: Yeah. I mean I haven't played enough Mega Bank to say,
but I like Peak a lot. So yeah, I mean
I'm fine with Mega Bonk at nine.
Speaker 3: Like I'm fine with Megabonk at nine.
Speaker 2: Yeah. A lot of these do kind of look like
generally where they should be.
Speaker 4: I mean, let me ask you to uh, And I
don't mean to keep gunning for this, it's just because
it's the only game I haven't the only game on
this list I really haven't played.
Speaker 2: And that's do you think Silent Hill f is in
the right spot? Like, genuinely, do you think it's top five?
Speaker 4: If it is? Like you've you have you very impassionate
arguments about it, And that's why I was like, all right, cool,
it sounds rad and I've been texting Jake about like
I need to play it, And it's a genuine question.
It's not like I'm not trying to be disingenuous. No,
I mean, god, I think it is better than Ghosts
of Viote, which is a weird comparison to make because
they are two very different games. But I think the
themes and the characters and the ideas that Silent Hill
goes for is something.
Speaker 2: That I've not really seen in a game before.
Speaker 4: Like, well, that's obviously I don't want to spoil things,
but like you're speaking very vaguely and I kind of
need more. Yeah, I know you don't want to spoil anything.
That's because there is a moment in like what what
kind of themes are they touching on really well that
no other game has.
Speaker 2: Are you worried about spoiling mic or the audience, the audience.
I mean, I think maybe we could give like maybe
a three minute save zone here if you want to
fast forward or mute the twitch stream or something like that.
Do you think this is the game of the year,
This is when you spoil stuff a little bit or
just as as like I okay, I I think it
can go down. But I think, like I really like
Ghost of Fiote. I was surprised how much I like
Ghost of Yote. But Ghost of Yote is kind of
like junk food in a way, like the side content.
But I yeah, yeah, I know, sorry, you're you're I And.
Speaker 4: I think I think Silon Hill f is like swinging
for something that fuck yeah, how do I say that?
Without do you do? You? Do? You want to add
something like I trust you too? Like that I know
you're talking about like I trust your taste in the game.
Speaker 2: I just I feel like the.
Speaker 4: Way I'm describing it too makes it sound like it's
very up its own ass. But there is a sequence
in this game that is like I've never seen in
a game before, and.
Speaker 2: They do something that is disturbing beyond so many levels.
But I think it works. I think I want to
hear that I think you have to.
Speaker 3: Maybe go into it.
Speaker 4: A lot because it's right now, number before, I feel
like I've just been here.
Speaker 2: But I think if I I think you have, if
I explain it, fuck, I don't want I don't want
to ruin it because we have the spoiler tag. People
are people are assuming we were talking spoilers right now anyway,
it's God, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4: So the whole kind of premise around that is that
there is a lot I'm not making a good case,
so I'm too drunk to like make a case for this. No,
that's fine. I know it's tough because like you don't
want to spoil it, and like also, I'm sure the
build up is like a huge part of what makes
it good. But I think a lot of what makes
Silent Hill Life so good is everything that's unsaid. There
is so much subtext and context that I think builds
on each playthrough where you get to a point where
you learn so much about characters that are not obvious
us at first, and it builds and it builds and
it builds.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 4: I think the moment in particular that I think about
constantly is, uh, God, she fucking saws her own arm
off and it's just this like fucking insane, like.
Speaker 2: Oh god with James Franco in the movie. Yeah exactly, Yeah.
Speaker 4: Yeah God.
Speaker 2: I hate that I said that because I don't know
how many people have played that game.
Speaker 4: But but there's that. I I.
Speaker 2: We can leave it alone for now, and then maybe
we do. I think it can drop down, Mary, do
you think it dropped down?
Speaker 3: I think it can drop down, But I think I think,
like I would have problems with it being We're at
the point where I'm gonna start saying other game names
and I want you to understand that you're gonna be
like what, I love it, but it's like, sure, no,
I know. I don't think it can be below Donkey Kong.
I think it it is extremely powerful what it's doing,
and it's using game mechanics and design and story in
a way that is important and it needs to be.
It needs to be at a certain level. So I
don't think it has to be in the top five,
but it can't go.
Speaker 2: I wouldn't if you swapped it with Hallow Night.
Speaker 3: I would be okay with that. I figured, I'm amazed
that you offered that.
Speaker 2: I like Hollow Night a lot.
Speaker 4: I let me be clear. I like Hollow Night silks
On quite a bit. I just don't think it's the
best game of the year.
Speaker 3: I didn't think that it was going to make it
to best game of the Year. But I do think
that it's under where it should be. It's an incredible game,
but I didn't expect it to win.
Speaker 4: But it's a it's a weird year where I usually
we'd start at the bottom of the top ten and
kind of like whittle things away and then get but
like it's almost like.
Speaker 2: I don't want to put Donkey Kong above Silent Hill.
So Donkey Kong is a weird franchise and that like
obviously everyone's always loved the character. He's been a mainstay
and everything, but they definitely have never found a way
to move him into three D in a meaningful way.
Sixty four they tried, you know about that. It's the
cases is not good and he's like they've gone back
to two D stuff. They've like, like sixty four. I'm
kind of a defender of it, Yeah, but it's like
it's not exactly So there's a reason they haven't done
a big three D Donkey Kong between like twenty and
twenty twenty five is like twenty five years of not
really trying another one of those. I think this was
an incredible revival of like one of the most iconic
video game characters of all time, from just the aesthetics
of what he looks like and everything to what they
managed to do where you take the Odyssey team and
it's like, Okay, task them with, let's make a Donkey
Kong platformer. And I'm sure if it just played like
Mario Odissey or Mario Galaxy or anything, but it was
Donkey Kong and like, oh, they threw into mine cart
levels and you can write a rhino or whatever, I'm
sure it's still be a very good game. But they
did not do that. They made it. They reinvented Donkey Kong,
and like, what would Donkey Kong do? What would be
fun to do as Donkey Kong in a three D environment?
And that's He's just a big fucking dumb ape and
all he knows how to do is to swing his
arms around and fuck things up. And so three of
the four face buttons are fuck things up, and one
of them is jump. And then they had this brilliant
idea of like, okay, well, what if just like that's
the whole hook of the game. Is that just destroying
the environment and then all those other things the low
hanging fruit or you know, riding ramby the uh, the
mind cart levels and things like that, Like you know,
they add all those mainstays. You know, you put in
the cranky Kongs, you do the fan service UF, here's
Diddy or Dixie. Here's all that stuff. But it is
not just Mario Odyssey with the Donkey Kong skin. It
is not just playing the hits. It is reinventing Donkey
Kong and the way he looks, the way he plays,
and making a three D platformer that like, that's a
genre that's been around since the mid nineties, and they've
tried so many times, so many developers and so many
series have tried to like change what a three D
platform can be, and it's always just like, I don't know,
here's a different type of jump, here's a hat that
gives you a different way to fly, or something like that,
And no one's really gone as big as this game did,
and that like what if you could just destroy the
entire world and we made it work. You know, you
can dig yourself through an entire mountain and the camera
and the silhouettes and all that system, Like it just works,
and like Mike talked about earlier, like you can find
your own ways to different objectives, you can break the
world in ways that makes it all work. Yeah, I
think it is a tremendous achievement that I think deserves
to be high up three.
Speaker 4: D platformers, to me, is a genre that just requires
precision and like intentionality, and the fact that you can
actually like burrow through the world and mess with a
level design, or at least the aim of the level
design is incredible. I don't only we have not had
something like that. I don't think anybody's ever going to
try that again for good reason. But the level design
itself also deserves credit. I mean not just the aesthetic
of each level, but also like some levels are more
about layering and it's more of verticality and how you're
kind of descending through this canyon. Others are more about
like exploring the forests and kind of finding these little
hidden nooks and crannies, and then the fact that you
can just kind of break the game every five feet.
It reminds me of Tiers of the Kingdom. I think
Tiers the Kingdom's a far superior game. Yeah, Sapples and Oranges,
but I think Heier's the Kingdom. They did a really
good job of letting you kind of like cheat, and
like with between us End and the Ultra Hand, I
think they were like, I think it's just more indicative
of Nintendo getting more open with letting players kind of
fuck with their games in a way that's really encouraging.
Speaker 2: But I like don Kong Bananza a lot.
Speaker 3: For me, it would be higher, But I don't know
what you mean by that though, because you keep saying higher,
But like we're out a point, we have.
Speaker 4: To start saying what I said. I just said for me,
it would be higher, but I'm fine with where it is.
Speaker 3: Sure, Sure, I think then maybe it's more for like
Dan like well'ing to me. What I'm saying to you
is like, no one's saying it's not an excellent game,
but at this point we're saying, like, uh, it has
to challenge another game for its spot. And I don't
see any game that I would swap with Donkey Kong Finanza.
Speaker 2: What are the things that like thematically and everything? It
sounds like Silent Hill. There's some interesting characters and the
themes and everything. But like what, like people have been
saying that it's about Silent Hill since you know the
first one and definitely the second one, Like is it
really doing anything? Like what is it doing that other
Silent Hills have not been given credit for decades ago?
Speaker 3: Well, I mean, I think it's reinventing a genre that
already established itself, but it's doing it in such a
way where often when we're talking about these games and
Donkey Kong falls into this, so it's like a really
nice comparison where you're like, well, to do anything new
for this, for this character or for this world, and
it's like, actually, yes it did, and it might be
one of the best absolutely in its series. I think
it is. It is pushing the boundaries of narrative design
and characters, and uh oh, it's dialogue is so good
because like, no one is annoying. It doesn't have any
obnoxious characters or wasteful time. It's all pretty efficiently and
expertly connected. To me, even though you guys are talking
really positively about Donkey Kong Bananza, it also seems a
little shallow or you're just basically like he can destroy
the world, he can do whatever he wants with it.
That's awesome, Like that is that is important that when
you can do that and you can break the game
that you're where you're at. I'm not seeing that. It's
it's absolutely like world breaking or like genre shattering.
Speaker 2: That's what you mentioned, reinventing the genre. You said Silent
Hill reinvented the genre, and like, that's what I was
saying with d K Bonanza is all that stuff of
decades of three platforming, And I do think it was
doing a lot of things too, like you know, do
things that three platforms have not done before. So I
would challenge, like, what is it would you call Silent
Hill f in terms of genre a survival horror game?
Speaker 3: It's survival horror. And I also think, like, uh, in
terms of narrative design, I think it's doing something with
girls that it hasn't done before. A lot of times
when we're talking about like the history of Silent Hill,
there's like a lot of male protagonists that are dealing
with like the horrors of things that they've done in
the past. It's very refreshing to seeing it done with
this protagonist.
Speaker 2: But that's the franchise, right, I want to boil. You
said it was reinventing the genre. So would you say
the genre of Silent Hill F is survival horror? Yes,
So what would you say Silent Hill F is doing
to reinvent the survival horror genre?
Speaker 4: I mean, to Mary's point, I think it's all narrative,
Like I don't think. I don't think the gameplay itself
reinvents it. But like I mean, the red pills, Like
what they did with that I think is pretty What
are the red pills? So we're just spoil whatever because
I feel like we're getting you need specifics to sell
me on these platitudes. Red pills heal you. And they
are presented to you at the beginning, and you know
about these red pills and you take the right and
they look like medicine. And the more you play, the
more you learn about these red pills that you are
taking constantly, and you start to learn what these red
pills are, and you've made it to the end of
the game, and basically it kind of like pushes you
to an ending that is defined by the fact that
you have been taking these red pills, and then you
do a new game plus and it you you know
about these red pills and you play the game differently,
it is like, I just feel like that's like getting
to the end of Banans and they're like the bananas
were bad the whole time.
Speaker 3: Like I just like that seems Donkey Kong would never
do that because it's too deep and Donkey Kong is
just like about this story in the world. But what
I'm saying is, you guys are ragging on a game
for trying something else, don't do anything besides breaking the world.
Speaker 4: I'm not ragging not doing anything besides breaking the world.
That's a pretty big thing for It's worthy of.
Speaker 3: The top ten, but I'm saying it's limiting how far
it really.
Speaker 2: I want to be clear, I am not ragging on
Silent Hill, lef. I'm just saying, if you say it
reinvents the genre, I need to hear how.
Speaker 4: I know.
Speaker 2: That's why I don't hear, because like that that's a
big thing to say, yes, and I need to hear you.
We may just kid okay. I would say like Silent
Hill left deserves to be of Ghost of Yota.
Speaker 4: I like Ghost of Yotae a lot Donkey Kong Bonanza
that is an argument that I am open to. I
think Bonanza is amazing, but like Ghost of Yota for
me is junk food. Like it is a game that,
like I played fifty hours of that game. I still
plan on finishing it, but it is a game that
like did not compel me the way that Silent Hill
has or even Donkey Kong, you know.
Speaker 2: And that is where I think I will. I would
be okay with Silent Hill being above Ghost of Yota,
because I do feel that way about Yote as much
as like we, I think all love that game a lot. Yeah,
but like you kind of hinted that here, like I
haven't beaten it yet. I've had it since three weeks
before it came out or whatever, and every time I
play it, I'm enjoying it. It's a popcorn movie. It
is like, oh that that kill felt great, you know.
I like the story and everything, but it's not something
that like I'm thinking of Sectory way more than I'm
thinking of Ghost of Yota, and every once in a
while be like, oh right, I still need to work
on Ghost y Oota and I'll go and I'll I'll
play three hours tomorrow.
Speaker 4: Night, and I do want to point out because I
feel like we talk about addictive games a lot. Sectory
is one of the games that's designed to be addictive
and make you want to play when it's not a way.
I just want to push back against the fact that
that necessarily makes a game better. But I'm fine with
what you're saying. I'm fine with Yota dropping. I love Yota,
but I think, like, just yeah, I don't know I dropping.
Speaker 2: I would see the argument of putting Silent Hill above
Yota easier than I could see putting Silent Hill above
DK Bonanza. Yeah, what if we went.
Speaker 4: So what if we swapped Bonanza and Yote right now?
Isn't that what we're all kind of sad of saying?
Have you played DK Bananza? No, I'm not.
Speaker 3: Impressed by arguments either. I'm really not.
Speaker 2: You said it reinvented a genre, and then we asked You're.
Speaker 3: Like, you're some about Silent Hill, ealth, I'm talking to
you about Bonanza. Tell me why Bonanza should be more?
Speaker 4: Thing about it?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 3: About how it breaks the world.
Speaker 4: Yes, it breaks the entire genre. Say like, it really
invents the three D platformer genre, and I just gave
an argument for how it did that you couldn't give
an argument for how.
Speaker 2: You need to back up how Silent Will have reinvents
survival horror.
Speaker 3: You you actually haven't convinced me with your Bonanza argument.
And you keep saying because you're saying an argument that
it worked, but you're just talking. You actually didn't convince me.
I'm not convinced that Donkey Kong Bonanza did what you
said it did.
Speaker 2: But I feel like we went at length about it.
We talked a lot about a lot.
Speaker 3: There was a lot of talking, and I just did
not feel that it actually did what you said it did.
Speaker 2: I guess it's just kind of wall it can't like
I guess that's one tactic for tonight.
Speaker 3: You make platforms, you destroy them, You move up, you
move down.
Speaker 4: But like.
Speaker 3: What else, Like that's it, that's it, you move around
a lot.
Speaker 2: We went in depth on it, and we still need
to hear how Silent Hill reinvented the genre.
Speaker 3: Silent Hill f is using story in a way. It
has a protagonist that hasn't been explored in a way
that has been like very profound. It is using mechanics
to push the player.
Speaker 2: To like.
Speaker 4: How has the protagonist been explored in a way that
no other game has.
Speaker 3: I don't think there's a lot of other young female
protagonists in a horror genre that have been as strong
as this character.
Speaker 4: That's like why she.
Speaker 3: Kind of won Biggest Dude of the Year is because
she she's extremely powerful and she's quite fearless in what
she's doing. But like, I don't want to get too
I think I think it's a fallacy, like focused too
much on on on her as like the reason that
it should be.
Speaker 2: What it is.
Speaker 3: I think what I'm saying is that, like every decision
you make in Silent Hill has a very dramatic effect
that you don't find until the end of the game.
Every choice that you're making is impactful and important, and
you don't recognize the value of that until actually new
game plus, Like that's when you realize that the decisions
that you're making were very impactful. I don't know, I think,
I mean, I think we're in a bit of a standstill.
I'm not convinced that Donkey Kong Bonanza is this like
powerful game. I think it's I think it's great what
it's done. I'm I'm not like I had the chance
to tell everybody, like you got to play Donkey Kong
and you didn't. You guys told me to play Sectory.
Speaker 2: What we t for like three episodes about how you
should play Donkey Kong.
Speaker 3: No in discord, we said, hey, if anyone really needs
to play a game, to make sure it's discussed in Sectory.
Speaker 2: We had not talked about. It came in really hot.
We had not talked about on the show any of
the listeners who listened to every.
Speaker 3: Episode, not like it's gonna be in it, Like it
wasn't up there.
Speaker 4: We talked a lot about dk Bananza on the episodes.
I feel like we're just rewriting fire Escape episode history now.
Speaker 2: And like dk Bananza came out months and months ago,
and like Sectory were like came in hot and we
hadn't played it or talked about it. So it was like, hey,
we should try to get this in beforehand.
Speaker 4: With I'm fairly happy with this ranking so honest. So
it goes left DK Bananza. But I will say, Mike,
you better finish Donkey Kung Bonanza if you're fighting this
hard for.
Speaker 2: It, because it's incredibly strong ending. That's what I've heard.
Speaker 4: But the middle section is I'm so over it, Like
I fired it up, and I was like, Okay, I'm
going to get through the Hamburger level, and I'm like,
I can't do this, And I had to sell on
Hamburger like it's I think it's a very good game,
but like it did not compel me the way that
it was that I hoped.
Speaker 2: I mean, I'm certainly not going to say like narratively
like no, he likes bananas, you know, Like, I'm just
it was narrative. Obviously s Hill, it clearly has it.
But I wish the Odyssey team made another Mario platformer.
Speaker 4: I mean I do too, but yeah, yeah, same, No.
I I honestly have no problems with the entire ranking person.
Speaker 2: I mean, okay, I'm okay with like five down, and
I think we got to talk about the top four. Yeah,
how you feeling about the five down?
Speaker 3: Are you talking about five to ten?
Speaker 4: Sorry?
Speaker 2: I think five to ten looks good.
Speaker 3: I can accept.
Speaker 2: I hate to say it, but I don't think we're
getting Silent Hill any higher.
Speaker 3: Mary, I don't think it's getting any higher.
Speaker 2: I had a shit argument and I just spoiled parts
of the game.
Speaker 4: And then I'll like, I'll see what the fuck you
guys are talking about and I'll be like, yeah, they were,
they were getting at some stuff. I just.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I found it very refreshing. I'll say that. That's
the last thing I'll say. The fact that it's above
Ghosts of Yota is like incredibly high praise. Yeah, Yota
is my top in my top three of the year's
top five for me. Yeah, that's not saying we can't
fuck with five through ten, but like, I mean, I
think we can move on.
Speaker 3: I think we can't fuck with five through ten. I
think you can fuck with four through one. I think
like if if you're really pushing for DK at that level,
that's the fucking highest it ever goes. I'm dead fucking serious,
and I'm like almost irritated about it. The fact that
it got this high is insane. Like picking at these games,
it's it's like, it's like we can, we can maneuver
these things, But like, how is K fucking top four?
Speaker 4: As long as you're threatening us, like bring a better
argument next time that you want.
Speaker 3: To really, oh, it's not verticality, Like that's not that's.
Speaker 4: Middle.
Speaker 3: Does it even stick the ending? You don't know?
Speaker 2: Extremely from what I've heard, it does stick.
Speaker 4: The hour is like it was some of the strongest
in the entire push in the middle section is because
I want to see the ending.
Speaker 2: Is incredible of that game.
Speaker 4: I heard it's like Inception Levels.
Speaker 2: It's so fucking good.
Speaker 4: Yes, so fourth through one this will be I think
Blueprints is going to be really nice.
Speaker 2: I think Blueprints is number four A.
Speaker 3: I'm with you.
Speaker 2: It is awesome. Everyone I've ever talked to, including me,
like even the ones who loved the game so much,
they all kind of petered out at certain points, like wow,
there's more after the credits. This is almost maybe too
much of this game. I think it may be overstated
to welcome a little bit. I think it is number four,
and I think it's ordering the other three.
Speaker 3: I'm in agreement that it should go down. I think
Blueprints is really brilliant with its design. I think there
is a point where I get a little frustrated about
the test of my time and its value. This will
probably come up with multiple games in our top four
of like how much does it value your time? But
in these other games, even if you lose or if
you have struggles, you're learning tactics, you're learning strategy, you're
learning gameplay. Sometimes in Blueprints, RNG is what it is,
and you just have a bad run. It feels bad
man to play like thirty minutes and lose because they
didn't they didn't give you the room you fucking needed.
Speaker 2: That sucks.
Speaker 4: Yeah, as much as I love that game, it's again
I mention it, I don't know what my number one
of the year is. Blueprints was a contender. There's times
later on after I'd found what room forty nine or whatever,
it was like it was like, I really like a
lot of what this game is doing. It's making me
think on different levels about the actual overall world. It's
making me kind of question how big it is, how
precise it can get. I love how there's puzzles within
puzzles within puzzles. I love how I'm finding Like Mary
mentioned this the first episode, you guys talked about it,
it's like you come across little bits that you think
are just like throwaway lore, and it's actually a really
crucial hint for a puzzle in a type of room
you don't unlock until like your thirtieth day. I love that,
But there's also later on I'm like questioning, I think
the game's too long the stuff you could do. I think,
like later on, it's like, I don't think the rogue
Light meets I don't even know how you describe it,
rogue light meets walking simulator meets house builder works later
on because again the RNG, which is kind of core
to a rogue light, ends up fucking you. And the
interesting stuff, which is I think so much that game
is incredible because you're like, all right, you're balancing inventory
management and your footsteps and your currency and the type
of rooms you're building and what you're served and the
other overall permanent upgrades you unlocked, like the mine or
the garage or the driveway. Sorry, that kind of dissipates
later on in the game. I just don't think it
there's not enough fuel to carry through the whole way.
Speaker 3: I think there's a high that I got trying to
hit credits, right, Like getting to that end room was exhilarating,
and the moment where all the pieces fell into place
and I had enough keys and I had the gems
and the luck of the draw the RNG was working
for me, and I got to the end and I
was like, this is one of the best moments I
think I've ever experienced in games. It felt so good,
and then I got to the end and they were
like there's more, and I was like amazing. But I
never caught that high again. I still continued playing for
another ten to fifteen hours, but it never caught that
initial moment of getting to the end room. I think
to me one of the bummers was is like constructing
the game in such a way where once you hit
the credits, did you really need to keep going? How
did they keep pushing me? How did they encourage me
to keep playing?
Speaker 2: It feels like in the first Star Wars, if like
they blew up the death Star and then it's like, yeah,
you want to watch like Luke hang out for a while.
Not really, it seemed pretty cool and the death start
Blue left you know like it could probably ended there.
Speaker 4: Yeah, because I guess compared to like Hollow Night, which
once you quote unquote hit credits, like after that, there's
a fuck ton that's still really compelling. It's it's there.
The structure does not carry through for Blueprints, I'm fine
with that moving anywhere. I think I think I do
think it's top five.
Speaker 3: I think it's top five.
Speaker 2: Bonanza.
Speaker 4: I think Blueprints is top, Michael do something. I think
Blueprints is. I love him.
Speaker 2: I was with you, I was riding with you for Bonanza.
Speaker 4: I think five is much.
Speaker 2: We're gonna get fair enough, fair enough.
Speaker 4: Let sleeping dogs lie.
Speaker 2: I'm fine, I'm fine. Just sleeping dogs also a good game.
Let's put it on with a second. Mary was giving
me eyes in a way that I think she might
actually kill me.
Speaker 4: So let's relay.
Speaker 2: Okay, to calm down, astagonize it. He's sleeping, Okay, Okay's perfect.
Speaker 3: No, I'm not sure. I think we do need to
have an honest conversation about Hades Too. I think it
is extremely good. I don't know if it's gody for me.
I think that Hades Too is incredibly additive to what
Hades did, But I always just kind of feel like
I'm playing Hades. Yes, it is. It is a better
version of Hades, but I I sometimes like revert back
to how I felt playing Hades and how incredible that
made us feel, and how that was our goaty. I
think that this is like rehashing a lot of what
Haites was, and I don't know if it's as additive
or as like explorative. I don't know if it's like
really changing the game as much as Hades one did,
and I think we should probably like we should have
that conversation of like is it is it really this
monumental game or is it just feeding us something up
we loved a lot.
Speaker 2: It's giving us more of what we loved, Like Haites
one was our game of the year and whatever year
that was, and this is definitely more Hades and in
the hub world is like, oh, we're planting things and
then like all the incantations like building out the bar
and the fishing area and all of this sudden and
the challenges. There's a lot more Hades here. I do
think it's better than one in every way. I agree,
I really do. And like I said earlier, I do
think that going up and going out thing adds a
ton of variety to it.
Speaker 4: I also want to put this out there. Last year,
our Game of the Year was in many ways more
Breath of the Wild. I obviously I'm being reductive there.
I think Tiers of the Kingdom did many big things
that didn't What was last year's Tears of the Kingdom
was two years ago? Oh my god, so two years
ago it was Tiers of the Kingdom. I think it's
like how meaningfully did it build on Hades and or
like was what how it built on it? Just enough
to make it feel impactful again, I love tasting too.
I played so much of that game. I saw almost
as much as I could. But but I do think, like, like, dude,
I could not, Like I skipped through so much of
that dialogue. I just didn't care, and like, not that
that makes that game bad, like it's still one of
my favorites, but I so like, but it's just like
that's so much. There's so much, and like every time
you finish a run, it's like, all right, I talked
to half those doors about something great, and it's just
like I just want to hit things with it. Yep.
It just was like almost I think Haities one was
a good balance of that well. I think like Hades
two has much better gameplay, much better like builds, and
much better weapons. I do think the balance between like
plot and gameplay and Haites one I thought was like
the perfect balance.
Speaker 2: I just kind of skipped it all on both. It
seems pretty similar to me.
Speaker 4: Yeah, uh but yeah, I mean I don't know that
I said all that just to say like, yeah, I
think you can go down.
Speaker 2: It's the thing I'm thinking about a lot now as
I'm trying to figure out my personal top ten is
like I don't maybe Hades two is my number one.
I mean just as a game, as a rogue light, like,
I still think it's like this is the standard bearer
in the genre. You know, it's one of my favorite genres.
If it's not my favorite genre, Hell, this podcast, I
feel like, what between Returnal and Hades?
Speaker 3: And yeah, we didn't even talk about it. Yeah, Hades
was such a brilliant It was such a which a
brilliant game for its genre, and we all knew it.
We knew at the moment we laid eyes on it,
we knew when we were talking what it was. And
I don't feel that way this year, where I'm like, yep,
it's just unquestionable. And this one I question like was
it so monumental? Was the impact higher? Did it add
so much more? Of course, it's a fucking slam dunk
of a game.
Speaker 2: It's Hades.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's fucking Haites. We all loved that game. But
at this level you have to start asking yourself, like
was the was the additions so much more? Impactful than
what Expedition thirty three did.
Speaker 2: You're right, because you know, Hades won was a revelation
like that was the first game of that type, of
that caliber we had really played. And this is while
I do think objectively better than the first game, in
every way it's almost a Breath of the Wild tiers
the Kingdom situation. I do think that Tears the Kingdom
in so many ways on paper is better than Breath
the Wild. Yeah, but how much do you factor in
that first time that like revery exactly, Yeah, And like
the first time we played Hades like, we hadn't played
anything quite like that. We've definitely played things like Hades two.
It was called Hades one. Yeah, And even though I
think it's better, it doesn't have the same impact, doesn't.
Speaker 3: Have the same shock value that Expedition thirty three had
because no one was fucking expecting that. No one was
expecting that when you built these characters and experience these
stories that you could you could have this world building,
or you could the way that you have uh a
design in a turn based game where you actually have
to be on your toes and be ready with quick
time events, but not in an annoying way and an
actual fun way that makes sense.
Speaker 2: Well, but they've done that in a lot of games
going by, like Paper Mario and Mario Vigini and stuff
and like, but I do think this is my favorite
version of that of like having that like interaction in
turn based battles. God, the perry's just felt better, Like
you know, it feels great when you perry something in
Paper Mario Jump dodge and then downwards when the whole
party down all hit back with something like it made
those is the best incredible Yeah, well yeah, while we're
on Expedition thirty three, I also think.
Speaker 4: That game overall the fact that and like I love
RPGs where each character feels like they came from a
different game. This one is kind of like this is
the front runner for that.
Speaker 3: Maybe you don't like the character that I didn't like,
and I thought that was really fascinating.
Speaker 2: Like you have to learn.
Speaker 4: It's like you get a new character and you're getting
with someone with a double sided size, what's her name?
Speaker 2: The third character mile.
Speaker 4: You get cl and you're like, fuck, this is like
at first it was a lot. You're like, she feels
like she came from a different game. Like where the
moves are different, building up the car like the Tarot
cards when you figure it out.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's what I'm saying. That's I'm saying.
Speaker 4: She's my favorite character though, because like once like you
have to the fact that they have these different characters
who are all very very a metrical in their design,
and yet they can each contribute so strongly to the
combat is incredible. It feels almost like a strategy game
in which the factions are very asymmetrical and I'm learning
each of them. It feels like a different game each
time I play. It's like it goes between these characters
in combat, and each time it goes to a new character,
my brain has to like access a different wrinkle across
the way. It's like, oh fuck, Seal plays like this,
all right, Mile plays like this all right? Now, I
need to like fucking first characters the most boring. You
just build up his attacks and then you just go
all out. But he's kind of a one note character,
so it makes sense for him. But like there's so
much wrapping around that too. And like much as I
would say the pictos you can ignore them for long stretches,
I do still think similar to the Crest system if
you take the time to actually like acknowledge how much
they can change the game. The pictos you can break
Expedition thirty three really early on with each character. I
think that's one of my favorite things about it is
a bunch of people were like, ah, well, you know,
like you you're so overpowered for that final boss and
I'm like, yeah, it's sick.
Speaker 2: Dialogue and I'm like, I don't give a ship.
Speaker 4: I one shot at that, dude. One of my biggest
ship bron One of my biggest pet peeves in modern
games where I would argue, like the games that are
the most successful are the ones where developers are willing
to let you break a blatro returnal haities like Octopath.
It's like no, Like one of my biggest pet peeves
is when you do spend the time minmxing these characters
and making them way too powerful and you get to
the boss, they're like, oh no, that that ability doesn't
work because it's a boss and it wouldn't makes sense.
Speaker 2: Thirty three is like, I you've earned it.
Speaker 4: There were several buss Yes, you've earned it. You thought
about it, like there's time. There was days I was
shower burn like ten times. There's days I was there's
days I was showering. I'm like, oh my god, I
could make him so fucking powerful. And then like you
do it against a boss and they're like, yeah, I
guess we gave you these tools and we set these
rules out and you fucking smoked them in like three hits,
so sure, go for it. And that's like the whole
game is about this ex the first expedition that actually
has a chance to complete this like vicious cycle, and
then obviously leaving aside all the implications of the bifurcated ending,
but it's like I love that, Like it shows so
much more confidence in your game design when you're like
you give freedom to the players and you do not
like kind of yank the the leash at any point
when they're like actually kind of really pushing up against
the walls. That's awesome to me. And that was when
I was like, this game is fucking rad.
Speaker 2: And I think there's so many ways, like with each
character you mentioned like being like from a different game
and everything with all their different systems, like that could
have so easily been overwhelming, Like I could I could
totally imagine a world where this game was like every
time I get a new character giving me way too
much of a tutorial and me being overwhelmed, me like
fuck this, I'm done with it. But like every one
of those main characters in your party has such a
different style of turn based combat, but they kind of
explain it quickly, and like even if you don't get
it right away, like remember the cl stuff, Like I
can't remember she. I think she was the son in
moon stuff, And like you build, you build up the
I forget what it was called. Like you would build
up a certain resource and then you.
Speaker 4: Would you're jumbling too. You're building up the sun and
moon energy or something. Then you're spending spending that on
the cards that also the moon. You build up the
moon and burn.
Speaker 2: The Yeah, yeah it's been it's been a while, but
like I remember like being at first like this seems
like a lot, but then you just like do a
few fights and it's like, oh, I think I'm starting
to get it. And like even if you don't fully
get it, you can still just kind of do attacks
and stuff. It is it eases you into this stuff,
and before you know it, you just kind of understand
how these different characters work and just every battle, like
I I feel like that's the thing that always turned
me off of the RPGs, is like you'd get into
random battles and things like that, and every fucking time
in a Final Fantasy seven or something goes under the fights,
I'm just gonna hit X, I'm gonna pick the same
fucking things, I'm gonna.
Speaker 4: Be bored or whatever.
Speaker 2: And every time I did, like I was seeking out
fights in this game because of all these systems and
the real time stuff in those fights and everything, Like
I felt engaged all the time, and these systems were
fun to play with and everything, and that is like,
I honestly don't think I've ever enjoyed a turn based
RPG more than this one.
Speaker 3: I've never liked a turn based RPG in my life,
and I think you and I are probably similar on this.
The dialogue, the characters, oh, like, spare me. This was
the first time where I was like, maybe I don't
need to like learn everybody's fucking backstory and understand everything
to appreciate the fact that these people are dying every year,
lower and lower and they're trying to save their very skins.
It's cool to watch them die and have such an
incredible villain, the father figure, the Pierce Brosnan come in
and kind of like acts a character.
Speaker 2: I really.
Speaker 3: I loved that character and that kind of gutted me
a lot. Rebuilding and finding someone that I was like
half okay with but he wasn't the character I wanted.
Took a lot of rebuilding of trust for me to
to grow and adapt to a new person. This entire
game is like going back to like how we're talking
about Silent Hill f This game is a lot about
love and loss and coping. I think I think it
deals with it in a way where like for someone
like me who does not like a lot of bullshit,
I cared about these characters at the very end when
I had to make a very serious decision, I meant it.
I was very emotional about the decision that I made
and I had to live with it. And at the end,
I wasn't happy. I don't think anyone's probably happy at
the end of that game, but I it felt earned,
it felt honest. I was like, I'm okay with this.
I agree with like the direction they took this game.
I felt like I learned a lot. I grew a lot.
I saw those credits and I was like, I'm I
feel like very powerful with what they've given to me.
Speaker 2: We're not the most like story heavy podcast, but some
one's accused us of this. We talked about people love
the fucking Haiti story. We were talking about skipping through
to whatever. I this is a turn based RBG, and
I loved the story. I cared about the characters, the
choice at the end you reference like it, like all
these characters were so well written, so well acted, Like
I actually was invested in what was going on here.
I'm watching the alternate endings and stuff like that, like
it is a remarkable achieved remarkable achie. I also like
talking about the multiple endings.
Speaker 4: I feel like multiple endings in the vast majority of
video games that have them come down to like, oh,
who do you want to live or die? Or who
do you?
Speaker 2: Oh? Like do you want to like Jedia this game?
Speaker 4: I don't think it's like the most well written story
of any medium ever told. However, I appreciate that, like
the ending is more it's more complicated than just like
who lives or who dies?
Speaker 3: It's like who's good and bad?
Speaker 4: It's asking you, like, do you do you think it's
more important that someone has an illusion and they're happy
or if they know the truth and it might fucking
hurt them. Grow.
Speaker 2: So it's actually asking.
Speaker 4: It's not like I know there's people who are like, oh,
anybody who picks this sending is objectively a bad person,
like fuck it all the bad one, the one where
because they're like, oh, if you pick this one, you
effectively murder mile right, like yeah.
Speaker 2: Wave male like going to the real world or whatever,
the blue pill red pill thing. No, no, no, no,
the opposite, if you maintain the painting the illusion you
staying the one where he's playing the piano and you're
a bad person.
Speaker 4: Yeah, And I was like, you just know, you're just like,
who the fuck? Maybe we're in a painting right now,
is my Like like it's matrix like blue and red Pill.
But I just like appreciate that it's not just like
a dumb like, oh, do you want to side with
this this sort of hot villain or.
Speaker 3: Do you want to side with this Like listen, there
there's a bunch of hot characters.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: I mean, I agree with you, though, Like it's so
much harder to recognize this.
Speaker 4: Character a while to figure out because I had to
go stuff what elaborate, I had to jail.
Speaker 3: I hope we're not. I hope we're not.
Speaker 2: On the.
Speaker 4: If you're saying it, I'm not sorry.
Speaker 3: I think it's important to respect morally gray characters and
nuanced storytelling that are they good or bad? Do you
want them to live or die? The choice that you're
given at the end of this game is important because
neither of them are morally correct, and it is up
into interpretation, and that is the fucking point, because the
point is for us to discuss those things and decide
what is meaningful to you. I actually believe that when
we discuss this, originally we had different endings. We chose
different things, and.
Speaker 2: I don't think I fully understood the maintain.
Speaker 3: And you guys maintained and I don't think I don't
think that you were wrong or right. I think the
point is is that we got a really good discussion
about why we chose them the way we did, and
whether or not we regretted it or changed your mind.
That is brilliant game design. It's brilliant game design to
make you make that choice and make you question your
own choice. And this game should probably be number one.
Speaker 4: Yea, yeah, yeah, I stepped away for a bit though,
like haities two Hollow Night, do we want to like
figure out we didn't talk a lot about HOLLI Night.
Speaker 2: I feel like this is the right believable talk about
Hollo Night.
Speaker 4: I feel like we need to ignore the fact that,
like the internet was on fire over like dumb discourse
again some good difficult Oh that's I know. I'm just
saying every time, That's what I'm saying. So it's like
I don't play it.
Speaker 3: But I think what's interesting though, is like you and
I were talking about the argument of like time wasted time,
if you're like frustrated with your time, if you feel
like you're lost your time.
Speaker 4: We talked because when Plant was on, we talked about
we were talking about baby steps, and then we're like,
I guess we could talk the same about hollowits R.
Speaker 3: And I think you can actually make that argument for
blueprints as well. The point is is like sometimes you
like make a run in blueprints and you don't get
the rang that you wanted and you waste it, and
that's frustrating. It's very frustrating to like work very hard
and very be very smart but not get what you
want because the game didn't work out. It's equally very
frustrating in Hollow Night to beat your head against a
wall with a boss that's very difficult, and they've made it.
The difficulty level is so high that the minor mistake
or any any issue, you're gonna die and you're gonna
to fucking go back through this runback. I think they're
both frustrating. It is my opinion that Hollow Night Silk
Song has higher highs because I am working so hard
to beat a boss. When I beat it, I know
it's because I worked very hard to learn every mechanic
I learned. I watched their attacks, I watched when I
was able to heal I had to learn. I have
a vivid memory about taking three hours to beat this
like Drill Boss, and it was such a bitch boss.
But after three hours, I was like, that is my victory.
For three hours, I fucking broke my face against this
and I did it, and I am amazing, and that
high sticks with me. It's very important to me more
than after the credits of Blueprints, specifically after that, like
the high of hitting the final room and Blueprints is extraordinary,
but after that, it never it never capped. I agree
every boss in Silk Song passed like the final box.
You're like, I'm a god, I'm a golden god. I
had to work extremely hard to do this, and so
I am. I think that game is where it should be.
I welcome arguments for it, but I think I think
it rewards a goddamn dedicated gamer.
Speaker 2: It is one of the best metro adveniers of all time, definitely,
like among the great grades, the super Metroids and Sympony
the Knights. It's incredible, but it's not perfect for reasons
we talked about, and like, I do think some of
the complaints about the runbacks and stuff like that, and
the difficulty, like, sure, I get it, and those peoples
are pretty high for a lot of those bosses, But
what you were just saying about, like when you get
that win, you're not thinking about like, no, they did
a little too much HP. It's like I fucking did it.
I yeah, I said that on the episode after I
think it.
Speaker 4: After it released, I was like, the peaks are so
high and so impactful that I forgive all the very
very many little things I don't like about the game.
Speaker 2: It I think I mentioned this every game of the year.
Speaker 4: It's like it comes down to, like, do you value
consistent greatness or do you value higher peaks? So like
it's The Sopranos versus The Wire. For me, it's like,
I think The Wire is a is consistently a great show,
whereast The Sopranos has some real low valleys, but the
peaks are so high.
Speaker 2: It's like, do you which do you value?
Speaker 4: Yeah, I feel like Hades two is more consistently a
very good game than Hollow Night.
Speaker 2: However, Hollow Night's peaks are way the fuck up there.
You wouldn't put All the Night above.
Speaker 3: No, I think we're talking.
Speaker 4: It's that's I'm saying, like, what do you value more?
I I personally think haities. I think the order is
correct right now. Again, I think Hollow Knight like my.
Speaker 2: Knee jerk is that Hades is better than Hollow Nite.
But like there's an argument.
Speaker 3: I think there is a world in which these are both.
These are both sequels to incredible fucking games that are
genre breaking. The world talks about them. We all love
the originals. I think that Hollow Knight adds more Silk
Song adds more to that world than Hades two adds
to Haiti.
Speaker 2: Oh, Silk Song is way more.
Speaker 3: It's a bigger world. They add more to the game design,
they add more to the mechanics, push the level. The
level design is better, the boss fights are more incredible.
Speaker 4: I think.
Speaker 3: They push it a step further.
Speaker 4: I think Hades where I'm at. I think Hades two
is a better game. I think Hallownite Silk Song is
a better like on the continuum of like Hollow Night,
the first game and the sequel.
Speaker 2: Hallow Night takes bigger swings, you know.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I think I I as much as
I like detest many parts of Silk Song, and I
think like people ignore them, I also like I'm right
there when people are like, yeah, these were some of
the best moments ever, I'm like, yeah, it's it's really,
really fucking good. I still think this order is correct,
but I'm not gonna I'm not gonna like throw a
fit if Hallownight goes up. Yeah.
Speaker 2: I do think the closest thing is Hades and Hollowite,
Like that could go either way, I think, but I
think the rift is exactly where it should be.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm not I don't think I'm arguing for much
of anything, and I don't think I would like fight
tooth and nail. I will make a final case that
I think I think Hades to a lot of people
have generally said, and even this crew has generally said
that Hades two is just like Hella more Haites. It's
so good and it's so smooth. I think Hollow Knight
built upon a solid ray foundation. I think it. I
think it made a fucking universe. Can I just say it, like,
there's a point to where it rocks you Haities two.
I'm never like shocked, but there's a point in Hollow
Night where you're fucking captured and you wake up in
jail and you get nothing, and you're like, all right,
and you have to find your You have to fucking
claw and scratch your way out of that place. Is
so sick to get your wings. They make you fucking
they make you scratch for everything, like you really earn
your stripes in that game.
Speaker 2: I will say, uh, with Hades two. The entire time
I played that game, I was just like, I am
loving this, I'm having a good time. It was kind
of like it was a hum that was like very
high up here. I felt great the whole time. Yeah,
Callow Knight was the thing where it's like I would
be like I was yelling, you know. It's it's the
way I haven't done since Eldin Ring where I am
just like, god fucking down with these bosses and like
I got I thought I had this. I thought I
had these patterns memorized and with some fucking horseshit and
you did this thing or whatever, Like there were so
many bosses. I am not someone when I'm playing by
myself and I'm not on camera or anything that's like
yelling at a game and getting like emotionally involved that way.
I was fucking yelling for like fifty hours playing Silk Song,
and I see that as a good thing.
Speaker 4: I love it.
Speaker 3: I love your emotion I have. I have strong guttural
reactions to Hunter's March. There are these times in Hunter
March where you get past the section of platforming and
you say, oh, surely there's a bench.
Speaker 2: Pre oh my god.
Speaker 4: You get into the bench and then the thing like yeah,
that's like sends forts some dark souls one ship, and
I'm like I I literally like went out to the
living room, like Amanda's like, are you still playing Hollow Night,
I was like, no, I'm never playing that game again.
Speaker 2: And then like that night, of course, after playing fucking.
Speaker 4: Bilewater, youah so hard to get up there and you
sit in the fucking chair and then just falls.
Speaker 2: It's I that's good.
Speaker 3: The emotions that it elicits from you is so much
higher than the emotions I had in Hades two. Did
I say yes? I liked Hades two all the time
ever since I played eighty two. I was like, I
like this, this is good. But did I ever scream
at the top of my lungs. Did I ever like
say to myself, you're the fucking best, or like maybe
you should give up? I felt the highs and lows
of every gamer when I played that. I think I
think it pushed me to my core. Is it perfect? No,
But I think it pushes you emotionally, and that is
a victory, that is a triumph that should be rewarded.
I think it's just incredible.
Speaker 4: I really really don't like the idea of runbacks, like
I think. I think that team Cherry is so often
moving the goalposts in that game that I feel like
I know what the goal is and then they're like Nope,
that's not what it was. You had idea, and that
can be powerful. Like then all of a sudden you're like,
I got to the bench and the falls through. It
could be frustrating. I also think, I again, you get
the moments in that game where it's so fucking cathartic
that you just beat something, You're like, holy shit, I
accomplished something.
Speaker 2: That.
Speaker 4: Again, in hindsight, I forgive a lot of little things
that I was like, oh man, I don't even like
how that there was not a compelling area to explore
from a three D platforming or exploration perspective. I think
a lot of times like I feel like I've heard
people glaze Team Sherry a bit and I'm like, I
think they have faults. But like, again, looking back at
the Sopranos thing, it's like, Spron's one of my favorite
shows of all time because despite the fucking Christopher Columbus episode,
they also have Made in America, which is like one
of the best episodes of TV ever. So like, what
do I think about when I think about the Sopranos,
I think about those highs. So it's like, again, I
don't think Silksong is in any way the most consistently
good game I've ever played, especially even this year. Haities
two was consistently Dan you mentioned like a home is
a really good way to phrase it. It's like it was.
I was on the same wavelength with it the whole time.
But again, like Silk Song is more of an EKG
of someone who was like fucking having a heart Attade
was like this that Silk Song, its best moments are
unlike anything I've played this year or in many years.
Speaker 2: I do think the EKG thing, I think that is
more interesting than the hut Oh you know so, I honestly,
after this conversation, I could see Silk Song going to two. Yes,
I I'm fine with that.
Speaker 4: I think that's a more I don't like it more
than Expedition thirty three, and no like, nope, nope.
Speaker 3: I'm not going to fool myself into thinking that I
can get Silk Song to go to eat but which.
Speaker 2: There's a world. But if you want to talk to
you about Bonanza being number one, let it go. Going
to bed in the morning, this is when I check out.
Speaker 3: Silks Song is is my goady and there's a lot
of reasons for it, and I agree with you. It's
not perfect, but I think I think the feelings that
it elicited in me is why I fight so hard
for it. It is incredible that it is that it
has made me feel the way I feel when I
play it angry, scared, sad, alone, joyous, triumphant. Its highs
are absolutely unstoppable. I feel stronger when I play when
I'm like, oh, what game am I going to play again?
What play game am I going to play? When I
leave here, I'm going to continue to play Silk Song.
I want to continue that journey. I've beaten Expedition thirty three.
I don't think all new game plus it. I don't
think I'll play it again. That was a very powerful
journey and I'm proud of it. I'm glad I finished it.
I will be still thinking about Silk Song forever. I
will be thinking about this game for the next five years.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm not gonna think to your point, like I
you know, as much as I hated Act Through, not
hated act Through Silk Song, but I as frustrated as
I was. The second I finished that, I was like, well,
I'm gonna play again on switch and like immediately grab
my switch and started playing through again. I also, I
also last thing I'll say, I appreciate how Silksong kind
of feels like an antidote to I mean, we have
Megabonka number nine, Like I think there's this, there's this
genre of game, not genre, many genres that are kind
of capitalizing on this, like tune out, play this game passively,
and you'll still be making progress and ranking up.
Speaker 2: I think I'm not saying that's bad. I think it's
a place for that.
Speaker 4: It's the Airplane game, like right, Like that's what I
want to melt ours. I appreciate this Silk Song is
kind of like fuck that we want you engaged every
step of the way, whether it's good or bad. I
want you to actually like come to this. We don't
want it to be like merely addictive and compelling in
an immediate sense. We want this to actually be a
range of emotions. And I love that.
Speaker 2: That's yeah.
Speaker 4: I do feel like games are gonna keep going the
former way for a while, and I appear appreciate that
Silk Songs like now we're gonna swim against the tide
on this one, and we're gonna like whatever people. People
are gonna hate us as we clearly seen, like fucking
people have a lot of problems with the challenge level
of this.
Speaker 3: Game, but it is a challenging game, and I think
like that can be debatable of like it's it's it's
merit when you're beating your head against a wall, Like
is that is that how you want to spend your time?
That's like the biggest detriment I hear against it, which
is like, man, I like just don't want to go
against a boss for four hours. I respect that there's
so much time you can spend in this game up
leveling your character, just getting beads that you can spend
them on shops. When you play with different buildouts, different
character builds, you will find that maybe that boss isn't
so difficult. You do have to challenge yourself as a
player to say, maybe I shouldn't be playing the same
web and fucking playing for the last.
Speaker 2: Buy a water boss, and once I put on this
ship where it's like I can hang out in the
poison water and be fine. I can just be a
little shit hanging out in the poison and like a
little in the poison. Yeah.
Speaker 3: Once you learn like there's areas where you can prevent
poison or fire damage. There's an area where, like you
can put on an armor that prevents fire damage, and
it's just like you, I understand the frustration of that area.
You can get past that once you learn the different
things that you need to get past it.
Speaker 4: I think an cockering of time level shit like going
to death mountainy out the red tunic, yours?
Speaker 2: Yeah, doctor, go run anyway.
Speaker 3: I don't think it's probably gonna get any higher.
Speaker 2: So yeah, I think would you want to like I
like this ranking. I like this a lot.
Speaker 3: I could make a case. I my I've said it already.
My personal game of the year is Silk Song. I
think it is the best game of this year. I
think that it will be very difficult to get it
above Expedition thirty three. I also think Claire Obscure is phenomenal,
and I'm not angry with it being at number one.
I'm okay with this. I am okay with this. I
got no problems with it. If you want me to
make a case, i'll try. I don't think it's happening.
I think it's done very well. I'm not angry about it.
Speaker 2: I like this. I like Banana Blueprints. No no, no,
that's when I would leave THEA.
Speaker 3: I think we could try switch. We could probably switch
MEGABONK and Donkey Kong Bonanza.
Speaker 4: I like this.
Speaker 2: You know this is our list? I think our list? Yeah,
can we read them? No one, Let's start with you
with ten and then go to Marry so she could say,
you said, I say blueprints, So that's my number. Ten
is Metroid Prime.
Speaker 3: Four, Number nine is MEGABONK.
Speaker 4: Number eight is Peak, Number seven is Ghost of Yota.
Number six is Silent Hill.
Speaker 3: F Number five is Bonanza.
Speaker 2: I'm sorry, what's it's full name?
Speaker 4: Please?
Speaker 2: DK Bonanza, Donkey Kongress, is government care about it?
Speaker 4: Number four Blue Prince Sorry. Number three is hades to Sorry.
I thought Mary would be on that. Mary say it,
Blue Prince, No, No, No. Number two is Going Smooth,
Hollow Night, Silk Song, and number one Jake Clare Obscure
Expedition threty three nice. I also want to point out
the poetic beauty of the fact that we have a
role playing game at number one for Fire.
Speaker 2: That's crazy.
Speaker 4: I think I know.
Speaker 2: It's it's really a game.
Speaker 4: No no, no, no, no no, we're sand Fall Champagne
we've been we've been uh working under sand Fall Studios.
Speaker 2: Is our pen name.
Speaker 4: No, no, no no. I just think it's cool that
like a strategic turn based game, guy number one. It's
so it's undeniable. That's the least dewey game that's won.
I think it's a very dowey game. But I think
it's the most talkie game that's won our Game of
the Year. God, it's turn based RPG, and none of
us are upset about it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's it's an incredible accomplishment, and they they, uh,
we've also been talking about like games that sound really good.
There's this boss and Claire Obscure that sings and you're
listening to her. The closer you get to fighting her.
Oh yeah, it's cinema. It's it's really incredible. Even you know,
when I talk about like how much I love Hollow Night,
there's no there's no time I can think of where
I was, like, man, I was like getting closer and
closer to a boss fight for like two hours while
I heard her, Like, Claire Obscure was like teasing me
for a really long time. Every time I got close
to a boss fight or a monumental story break. It
earned every story that it told, and that's hard to do.
Every everything that it did, I I every time a
character died, I wanted to cry. Every time a character
was mad at someone, I was like, yeah, fuck them.
It really earned those stories.
Speaker 4: Honestly, getting number one was not that hard. It was
just cutting it down to ten, which was this is
a fucking good year. I think like half of mine
didn't even make the time. I mean looking through like
out Foxies would have been in ten. Yeah, that was.
Speaker 3: Close, Like rat you can still switch it with Metroid
Prime four.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's that's debating.
Speaker 3: My call.
Speaker 2: Ye a me call.
Speaker 4: I'm going to put out Foxies at number ten instead
of Metroid Prime four day, can you swap?
Speaker 2: Can he put out Foxies?
Speaker 4: Never?
Speaker 2: No, no, no, that's ridiculous.
Speaker 4: Game came out like nineteen sixty three or something and
switch out Foxies with DK Bonanza.
Speaker 6: We provou without the sucker, but we did not even
need them. They decided that our game by themselves.
Speaker 2: We're at seven hour. That's the game of the year.
That's the game of the year. Almost eight hours. Hooray shit, okay, yeah,
well we didn't kill each other. Yeah, a game of
the year that was tremendously shrink Jack, Oh folks, Boss,
thank you for tuning in. Boss, Thank you for your help,
whether you've been watching us on Twitch, watching us on YouTube,
listening on your podcast platform of choice, Thank you so much.
We are fire Escape. I am Dan, This is Mike,
this is Mary, this is cool, Judge Jake. Our game
of the year is Claire Obscure Expedition thirty three. Thank
you for listening and tune in. We'll be back soon. Bye.