Matt Booty Conspiracy Theories | The Big Deal

[00:00:00] Hey it's your boy Dre off the top here to apologize for the sound quality of this episode.

[00:00:05] For some reason, about five minutes in my microphone takes a turn for the worst and I don't know

[00:00:10] what happened.

[00:00:11] I didn't change any settings while I was recording and Steve sounds totally fine in

[00:00:16] this episode and so it's a mystery to me.

[00:00:19] I can't figure it out.

[00:00:20] It's weird but it happened.

[00:00:22] It sounds more than good enough to go forward with so here it is but yeah I just wanted

[00:00:27] to apologize up front because I genuinely do not know what happened here but hopefully

[00:00:32] it doesn't happen again so sorry about the sound quality of my recording during this

[00:00:38] episode of The Big Deal and I just wanted to say that up front so let's start the show.

[00:00:46] Hey I've been thinking doesn't the existence of a Nintendo World Champions NES edition

[00:00:51] suggest that Nintendo World Champions Super NES edition is also in the pipeline?

[00:00:58] Are you not even going to wait till we start the show before you start wish casting before

[00:01:02] you start putting torches on the wall?

[00:01:05] Can we at least play the intro?

[00:01:08] You know what, play your fucking intro.

[00:01:10] Yeah, oh my, that was my intro.

[00:01:12] It's my intro everybody.

[00:01:13] You heard that?

[00:01:14] Step into video game land.

[00:01:16] Welcome to Fine Time.

[00:01:28] Hello party people.

[00:01:43] It's your boy Dre.

[00:01:44] It is also your boy Steve as I am declaring him so.

[00:01:49] Fuck yeah it's Steve as you're declaring him so wait what what what what does that

[00:01:53] even never mind?

[00:01:54] It's fine.

[00:01:55] It doesn't have to mean anything.

[00:01:56] We're having we're having the fine, we're having the time.

[00:01:59] I just said it was fine.

[00:02:01] Never mind.

[00:02:02] Oh my.

[00:02:03] You know what?

[00:02:04] You know what now now I'm going to punish you.

[00:02:08] I'm going to punish the audience too because we're going to talk about a game that we didn't

[00:02:12] like very much as you can tell Kevin is not here.

[00:02:17] Partially by the fact that he's not talking and the fact that we're going to talk about

[00:02:21] this game right now.

[00:02:22] Let's just get it over with because we have quite a bit to get to today but first

[00:02:27] we must talk about Sandland.

[00:02:30] Sandland.

[00:02:31] I don't know even when you say it out loud it sounds kind of dull.

[00:02:41] Sandland well I mean I remember picking it up off the shelf the manga shelf what 15

[00:02:48] years ago now maybe even a little more being like oh I recognize that kind of font this

[00:02:53] has to be an accurate yep look at that shit.

[00:02:56] I do have history of Sandland.

[00:02:58] I have read the Sandland in my 20s.

[00:03:02] I didn't read the Sandland.

[00:03:03] I just saw the trailer at what we're pretending is E3 now and like oh that looks good.

[00:03:08] I know this art style but then I started in this past few weeks when I'm saying Sandland

[00:03:15] out loud more often now it's like maybe this wasn't meant to be said in English so

[00:03:20] much.

[00:03:22] Maybe if you're not familiar with English it sounds a little more exotic than it

[00:03:25] is but Sandland it is and okay people who are familiar with our movie shows whenever we watch

[00:03:35] something bad and it's my suggestion you get on here and have a heavy sigh and you're like

[00:03:41] it's all Andre's fault.

[00:03:43] You want to do that here you want to wrap me out because I did suggest we play this

[00:03:47] because I was thinking of a nice weebie game we could play while Kevin is out.

[00:03:51] No I was going to play this eventually but you were although it is your fault that I played

[00:03:57] it much sooner but I'm not going to go through that rigamarole today.

[00:04:01] Oh man we'll spare them of that.

[00:04:04] Okay he's going easy on me today folks.

[00:04:07] Okay so you know what Sandland is everybody and as we've already said it wasn't very

[00:04:13] good in fact would you say it was actively bad?

[00:04:18] I mean looking past the art style which is really pretty I mean spoiler I didn't finish

[00:04:26] the game yet but I think looking at this game is the only reason why I'm still bothering.

[00:04:30] That sounds like an anime game to me huh?

[00:04:35] I mean it's kind of how it goes sometimes.

[00:04:39] It's not aggressively broken like okay gargoyles remember when I played that like right before

[00:04:46] we took our holiday break I knew what I was getting into with that last year.

[00:04:51] I knew I was getting into some primo garbage but here I don't know why I had some hope here

[00:04:56] I don't know why.

[00:04:57] I should have known Bandai Namco anime license this was going to be an anime game.

[00:05:04] Yeah but like I should have known.

[00:05:08] I mean that doesn't always mean that they're bad that doesn't always mean that

[00:05:11] they're great either but I think the first problem is this is that Bandai Namco tried

[00:05:18] to build this game as an RPG and it is not an RPG by any stretch of the imagination.

[00:05:27] And I don't want to hear the bullshit semantics of like what is or isn't an RPG like we know

[00:05:32] what an RPG is okay?

[00:05:34] Super Mario 64 is an RPG because you walk around and talk to Toad.

[00:05:39] Shut up you know what I mean like I hate people like that it's an RPG because you put on armor

[00:05:45] and you have a sword okay stop that doesn't make it an RPG alright we know what an RPG

[00:05:50] is and this is not one Sandland.

[00:05:54] It's kind of shameful that they try to market it as one for doing research for this episode

[00:05:59] I downloaded the one piece Odyssey game I didn't mean to say it that way like it's

[00:06:05] a Nintendo presentation.

[00:06:06] Jump right in here.

[00:06:07] Gun fruit over there.

[00:06:09] No okay.

[00:06:10] Oh wow.

[00:06:11] I don't even know the thing.

[00:06:14] I've only ever read one piece I've never seen a single cell of animation of one piece except

[00:06:19] like the four kids version which was like hilarious.

[00:06:23] That was it.

[00:06:24] I've seen some of the more age appropriate for us anime but I a bazillion episodes

[00:06:32] of them like no I have things to do.

[00:06:36] I mean no thanks but yeah I downloaded the one piece Odyssey game just to see because that's

[00:06:41] also called an RPG and that's actually an RPG.

[00:06:45] That's like a turn based ass like real ass RPG Sandland is not you know the more I play

[00:06:51] Sandland the more I think they tried making God of War or God of War Ragnarok but with

[00:06:57] stuff to drive but you're playing as the son and your dad can't be bothered Steve

[00:07:03] what the hell are you talking about because on the surface you got an action game trying

[00:07:07] to tell a coming of age story separated out by hubs that don't really mean anything because

[00:07:12] you're in the fucking desert but more anything but more important there was border so on that

[00:07:19] map there was orders yeah but more importantly than that the combat is boring as fuck

[00:07:24] it's not fun like in God of War.

[00:07:27] It's all either trivial in your vehicles or it's just tedious on your when you're

[00:07:31] off when you're not allowed to drive something even when the skill trees come in like why

[00:07:36] I forgot they were there at the time.

[00:07:38] Yeah I looked at it near the end of the game because I just remembered and I had like 11

[00:07:43] skill points to use for the Elzebub our main character yes it's the Elzebub and his

[00:07:49] dad is Lucifer.

[00:07:51] Lucifer was the best can we say that?

[00:07:53] He appears twice and yeah I guess so.

[00:07:56] It's kind of incredible.

[00:07:59] It just I like that his deathly advice to him at some point was just like you don't play

[00:08:06] video games too long or else you know only one hour a day or something that's it that's

[00:08:11] his sagely demon advice.

[00:08:13] Well I think that was more more you know an actual parental restriction he was putting

[00:08:19] on because they made him clean the entire of demon town when he went over by one

[00:08:25] minute.

[00:08:26] Yeah through the story.

[00:08:28] There's just a demon town there's no explanation why demons are in this world by the way which

[00:08:34] is fine I guess you don't have to explain that.

[00:08:37] But Andre as a God fearing human being surely you understand that demons have always existed

[00:08:43] among us.

[00:08:44] Yeah but they don't show themselves to us so readily maybe in this new post apocalyptic

[00:08:51] world they just don't care it's just like whatever.

[00:08:53] I guess this one is when your world is all sand it just blew away all the cover.

[00:08:58] Yeah this game just to summarize like you did this game is a fatally flawed

[00:09:04] combination of two things slavish devotion to the manga which is never really good

[00:09:13] and completely generic open world game design.

[00:09:17] I think in my mini review on Blue Sky called it McDonald's ass game design.

[00:09:22] Hmm they went and got game design C off the shelf at the unreal store or whatever

[00:09:29] and made it look like sand land.

[00:09:31] Accuratoria.

[00:09:32] I'm a deserve better than that.

[00:09:33] Rest in peace like I'm sorry I understand this game is probably set in stone before

[00:09:38] he passed away at the same time like Jesus Christ guys.

[00:09:43] Yeah I guess what we saw last year was mostly done.

[00:09:46] Yeah you know because when they show a game like that it's pretty much done.

[00:09:52] What threw me was when I first booted up my copy and it was like move along for PS4

[00:09:58] whatever it was like yeah because I want to see them in diagram of customers

[00:10:02] that owned a PS4 started playing sand land bought a PS5 and like oh man I

[00:10:08] really got to move my progress a lot.

[00:10:13] The PS5 version of.

[00:10:16] Who are those people?

[00:10:18] I don't even know who that would be.

[00:10:22] Yeah.

[00:10:35] We talk about the best part and you already said it is the graphics because

[00:10:41] wow this game looks crazy.

[00:10:43] I was kind of a little bit down on it I think when it was shown at summer

[00:10:48] game sets I remember Kevin being like because I think I said it looks kind

[00:10:51] of just your typical PS4 game on PS5 running at a high frame rate

[00:10:55] and it's not really doing anything special and I think Kevin was like

[00:10:58] well why do you feel that way?

[00:10:59] I think it looks good.

[00:11:00] I'm like I don't know.

[00:11:01] I want to go back and I should have if I were a better podcast host.

[00:11:05] I want to go back and look at that initial trailer because I think

[00:11:08] the graphics improved since then maybe not like a ton but I think

[00:11:12] they look better than they did a year ago.

[00:11:15] Now even a year ago I was more drawn into character models and vehicles.

[00:11:19] I really wasn't looking at the scenes as much as you were and

[00:11:22] frankly I'm still not looking at the scenes too much because

[00:11:25] those I can kind of take or leave really.

[00:11:28] Yeah even Forestland?

[00:11:31] I don't know Forestland feels like it's haphazardly slapped together.

[00:11:34] Spoiler alert there's a Forestland but somehow desert I don't know

[00:11:39] the world around me wasn't impressing me is what I'm trying to

[00:11:42] impress upon you the listener.

[00:11:45] Yeah I guess so I just think like the character stuff was done

[00:11:50] so well that I think it overcomes that because cell shading

[00:11:55] is a thing that's like a must for these kind of games right I mean

[00:11:58] you got to have it why even make a game like this if you're

[00:12:00] if you don't have cell shading right like get out of here but

[00:12:04] I think what's also great is that this game has like really good

[00:12:08] what we might call manga shading.

[00:12:11] Like the way each character has like those sketch lines on them

[00:12:15] is like perfect and it's not something that's like woven

[00:12:17] into the textures like you might have to do it like

[00:12:19] the ps3 error or whatever this is like an actual shader too

[00:12:23] depending on the position of the character.

[00:12:26] And I think that's great I thought that shit looked really

[00:12:28] good I think that's what really made it pop I'm sure they use

[00:12:31] these techniques and other anime slash manga games right

[00:12:34] but this is the first time seeing it to this degree

[00:12:37] and I think it looked great super effective and cool.

[00:12:40] I think also what really shines here is we know

[00:12:45] Akira Toriyama was really great at robotics and cars

[00:12:50] and motorcycles and stuff like that in all of this shit

[00:12:53] and Sandland is absolutely no exception because it's all

[00:12:56] about the vehicles.

[00:12:58] I love the little whimsical touches like the tanks have

[00:13:00] like painted on eyes and shit like that.

[00:13:02] Why are they there who knows.

[00:13:04] I like that the jump on has a little beach chair at the

[00:13:07] at the cockpit.

[00:13:09] Yeah it's great.

[00:13:11] It's like why do we have that you know I like the more

[00:13:16] race car designs or should I say like I like ands

[00:13:19] motorcycle that kind of looked like something boom would drive

[00:13:22] almost but I had that big shield that came up from the

[00:13:25] front and like over the top like in a almost like a big

[00:13:28] circle almost like a almost like a tron cycle.

[00:13:32] I get it Toriyama we all saw Tron.

[00:13:36] Yeah I mean look I'm sure he pulled from that right but

[00:13:39] like I like how later yeah we don't care obviously with

[00:13:43] at this point they give you a robot and it's just it's

[00:13:46] just robo from Chrono Trigger with a cockpit.

[00:13:49] Yeah it really is speaking of characters and robots I got to

[00:13:56] say I don't hate this cast like at all spending time with

[00:14:00] these people and demons and whatever make me want to

[00:14:03] read the manga you did I did not I want to now.

[00:14:08] But how they're implemented in this particular video

[00:14:10] game is not doing it for me at all.

[00:14:13] Thief and Rao make fine father figures for BL here they even

[00:14:18] try doing the God of War thing of trying to break up the

[00:14:22] monotony of driving in the desert because there is a

[00:14:24] lot of driving in the desert by telling stories and

[00:14:27] dispensing advice of you know things that might be helpful

[00:14:31] or you know passing their other experiences down.

[00:14:33] This does not work out in practice because they'll

[00:14:36] either cycle through the same dialogue lines again and

[00:14:39] again or unlike the other games I keep bringing up will

[00:14:44] they'll expertly put a hold on conversation if you disembark

[00:14:47] to check out a thing they'll punish you by starting all

[00:14:50] the fuck over again or they'll talk through whatever you're

[00:14:54] doing.

[00:14:56] It's so unbelievably sloppy it feels like something a

[00:15:01] PS2 or like GameCube game would do seriously with the

[00:15:05] dialogue it feels like Sonic Adventure 2 where they're

[00:15:08] just like talking on top of each other or just like lines

[00:15:11] would cut off each other or something I swear to God it

[00:15:13] feels like that.

[00:15:15] Like and that's what really makes a game so monotonous not

[00:15:19] just the gameplay itself it's just like like you said it's

[00:15:23] a really open open world with not a whole lot to do in

[00:15:27] it with enemies that are just kind of sitting there until

[00:15:29] you bother them or they'll never bother you there's

[00:15:32] no sense of danger.

[00:15:34] There's no nothing so you could say like okay maybe

[00:15:37] it's like kind of a chill out just kind of venture game

[00:15:40] will know because like the dialogue sucks too much and

[00:15:43] repeats more than a game from three generations ago.

[00:15:47] That's and again that's what really makes a game monotonous

[00:15:51] that there is some points where I just really had to turn

[00:15:53] on a podcast so I was like I'm going to be out here

[00:15:56] driving for like 45 minutes I know it and doing some side

[00:15:59] quest I can't listen to this anymore.

[00:16:01] Wait you were doing some side quests because after a while

[00:16:04] I just made it my life's mission to only drive to the

[00:16:06] next objective.

[00:16:08] Well I this was early on of course but think about that

[00:16:11] I got so sick of it early on.

[00:16:13] Secondly remember a few months ago when Kevin played

[00:16:17] Gollum and they knocked his ass down however far off the

[00:16:20] mountain and then it changed the checkpoint to where

[00:16:24] that point was.

[00:16:27] I think that's sort of the same principle to what

[00:16:31] triggers these conversations here too because more than

[00:16:34] once I'm trying I'm swerving around in a tank and and

[00:16:38] well just go the dirt's packed down a bit more dirt's packed

[00:16:42] down a bit more dirt's packed down a bit more here.

[00:16:47] There might be a camera by.

[00:16:51] It's just like oh my fucking God I'm going to lose my

[00:16:54] mind I can't yeah I think that's what happened to me

[00:16:56] I kept hearing something like that I'm like if I hear

[00:16:58] this one more time I'm gonna scream.

[00:17:00] Oh yeah so before you get to like the first town

[00:17:03] where you can actually craft stuff or it's like every time

[00:17:06] you pick up something almost every fucking time Bielsa

[00:17:10] Bub is like hmm I'll keep it it might be good for later.

[00:17:16] Steve no joke I maybe heard that a hundred times I think

[00:17:20] I heard that a hundred times.

[00:17:22] I mean oh my fucking God.

[00:17:27] It's so amateurish if for a for an anime game you

[00:17:31] can't just come up with a few different things to say or

[00:17:34] don't say anything don't say anything I talk about all

[00:17:38] the time how games just talk too much maybe this didn't need

[00:17:41] to say anything at all.

[00:17:43] You know there's that tile and Mario maker where you trip on

[00:17:46] it and it makes the sound effect maybe they didn't need

[00:17:48] to use it here in Sandland.

[00:17:51] Yeah oh what's my favorite though.

[00:17:54] I think it kind of sounds like help me the who you know

[00:17:58] the thing well they're playing sound effects here it's

[00:18:00] playing entire strings of dialogue because that's the

[00:18:02] only way I can imagine it imagine this working.

[00:18:05] We've talked a little bit about the manga and how things

[00:18:09] may have kind came off better there and I want to go into

[00:18:11] that a little more detailed because you remember the part

[00:18:15] where you have to dress up like thief by the way thief

[00:18:18] is retain I guess you could say it's Bielsa Bub's

[00:18:21] retainer of sorts do you like how it's basically the

[00:18:24] dragon quest 7 hero except like old so what he looks like

[00:18:29] after you put after you put that and then I put it together

[00:18:32] you know that that's wild.

[00:18:35] Lucifer is also Mr. Satan with like maybe a touch of Magus

[00:18:40] maybe maybe yeah that's that's you know if you want to play

[00:18:45] a little Toriyama bingo there there you go.

[00:18:48] Also before I go on about the manga part you start this

[00:18:51] game by writing a centaur some sort of automatic driving

[00:18:55] thing and they're teaching you how to do this and that

[00:18:58] and then you get to the demon village and then you never

[00:19:01] see a centaur again.

[00:19:02] Hey I think I saw one in a cut scene you know like in the

[00:19:06] court like like watching a latter day Simpsons episode

[00:19:09] where we see dead characters in the corner.

[00:19:15] Come on like you started the game that way and you like

[00:19:18] how they start with like waking up all his demon friends

[00:19:21] you know staking out taking those filthy humans

[00:19:23] water jugs right and then like that never those characters

[00:19:27] are never seen again.

[00:19:30] Why did you start the game that way?

[00:19:32] Was it because the manga started that way?

[00:19:35] Exactly and that kind of scene makes sense for a manga

[00:19:40] and not for a video game and again with thief where he

[00:19:44] dressed up like Santa Claus to go like to do your stupid

[00:19:48] umpteenth stealth mission right that make that kind of

[00:19:51] humor and that whole scene makes sense for a manga that

[00:19:55] didn't really translate to like a cut scene very well in my

[00:19:58] opinion.

[00:19:59] I think it would have made more sense if we did the Santa

[00:20:02] outfit more than once but we don't we don't see it after

[00:20:04] that.

[00:20:05] No it doesn't happen again sorry spoilers for the rest of

[00:20:07] the game that's the only time you see it.

[00:20:10] So like oh okay do you and now you know you've seen

[00:20:13] this do you remember the part after Rao has a story

[00:20:17] moment he goes outside Spino the village and he's

[00:20:22] it's nighttime and he's just out there and then Beelzebub

[00:20:26] is up on a cliff standing up on a cliff absorbing dark

[00:20:31] energy he says we need dark energy because we got a lot

[00:20:35] of battles ahead and then the moon is just so and then

[00:20:39] he like looks back at Rao like smiles or whatever and

[00:20:43] then the very next scene is flashes back to town

[00:20:45] stay time like nothing happened.

[00:20:47] That's a manga scene that's the end of a chapter

[00:20:51] right that's something you do at the end of a chapter

[00:20:54] that's not something you do in a video game like if we made

[00:20:58] it to the next day and I was like Beelzebub can now use

[00:21:01] the dark fist of something or other I don't know that

[00:21:04] would have been something but.

[00:21:06] No it's nothing it's nothing at all it just existed

[00:21:10] and look I'm not one of those people who says oh

[00:21:12] everything in the game has to mean something or that

[00:21:15] was a I don't think there's any such thing as a useless

[00:21:17] scene in a game or a movie I hate that I hate when people

[00:21:21] say shit like that okay I'm not even saying that here

[00:21:24] I'm not even saying the scene is useless I'm just saying

[00:21:27] you gotta like you gotta connect the player to it

[00:21:30] somehow or else it does become like well that happened

[00:21:34] I guess you got all these dangling carrot plot lines

[00:21:39] leading us into a wall like they don't get brought

[00:21:42] up anymore.

[00:21:43] Yeah, it's just weird well don't you think the entire

[00:21:46] existence of the swimmers is our like manga characters

[00:21:51] they were fun and everything but like they didn't really

[00:21:55] ground themselves like to the game very well that were

[00:21:59] again that kind of storytelling works for like you're

[00:22:01] reading something then that's kind of why like you know

[00:22:04] in movies and stuff those kind of characters usually

[00:22:07] get cut because there's no way to like bring that

[00:22:09] to a watching audience versus a reading audience.

[00:22:13] Do you feel that way about the swimmers from

[00:22:15] off base here?

[00:22:16] I just thought the swimmers were underutilized so I guess

[00:22:20] it's what you're getting on about.

[00:22:23] I mean like they were they were fairly interesting in a

[00:22:25] game that had a lot of not interesting things to deal

[00:22:28] with so.

[00:22:39] So we've talked a lot about aesthetic and whatever

[00:22:42] but getting back to why this game kind of sucks for

[00:22:46] me I don't know I don't know if it's the biggest reason

[00:22:49] but it might be the biggest reason it's the loot or the

[00:22:52] lack thereof and let me explain what I mean here.

[00:22:56] One thing I really don't like in games like this is when

[00:22:59] you're collecting a bunch of doodads and you have no idea

[00:23:02] why what do these do?

[00:23:04] I don't know.

[00:23:05] I'm just collecting much of crafting parts and

[00:23:07] bullshit for no reason.

[00:23:09] Okay, I guess and that's one thing right whatever but

[00:23:14] I just don't like contextless collecting it just

[00:23:17] doesn't it doesn't make me want to get more.

[00:23:20] They don't tell me why I need this stuff.

[00:23:22] It doesn't matter how many times the Elzabub says hmm

[00:23:24] I'll keep it.

[00:23:25] It might be useful later.

[00:23:26] Okay, well later should be now because I don't know

[00:23:30] what this stuff does.

[00:23:32] So this loot problem basically trickles down to the

[00:23:35] rest of the game because when you get new vehicles

[00:23:39] that let you do new traversal tricks and whatever like

[00:23:42] you know you get the jump bot and let you jump up

[00:23:45] on cliffs to get to new treasure chest.

[00:23:47] It's just the same crap in there.

[00:23:49] Why am I getting this stuff?

[00:23:50] I'm not really motivated to go in all these little

[00:23:53] caves and jump up on all these little cliffs to get

[00:23:55] crap personally.

[00:23:57] Usually when I get into these open world experiences

[00:24:03] you'll hear me say something like oh man you know me

[00:24:05] and my wanderlust I can't finish this game because

[00:24:08] I keep getting caught up doing side shit and things

[00:24:11] and I can't put this game down.

[00:24:13] Andre this is not a problem for me.

[00:24:15] You know why?

[00:24:17] Because of everything you just said and moreover

[00:24:21] this side quest don't really help either.

[00:24:23] Normally you'd use that sort of thing to you know

[00:24:25] maybe do a little bit more storytelling or maybe

[00:24:28] hook you up with some things you couldn't get otherwise.

[00:24:30] It's like oh boy thanks for saving my pet rattlesnake

[00:24:33] or whatever it is I had to help you find here's

[00:24:36] some more shit you were able to find everywhere

[00:24:37] the whole time anyway.

[00:24:39] I don't want to know.

[00:24:42] No, thank you but no.

[00:24:44] Wanderlust solves a lot of issues right?

[00:24:47] Tears of the Kingdom is big time wanderlust.

[00:24:49] One of the few blemishes I think that game has

[00:24:52] is that the loot isn't very good.

[00:24:54] I said I said this when we talked about it last year.

[00:24:57] I don't really like going to this like moblin enclave

[00:25:00] to get open this box with that has like five arrows in it.

[00:25:03] It's just like okay I guess I'll just avoid them.

[00:25:06] You know which is fine.

[00:25:07] I mean it doesn't ruin the game by into the game

[00:25:09] still a 10 out of 10 that doesn't fucking matter right

[00:25:12] but that game has so much other great exploration

[00:25:15] and a million other things to do.

[00:25:16] That's all you get to do in Sandland.

[00:25:20] And again I know I'm comparing some Sandland

[00:25:22] to Tears of the Goddamn Kingdom

[00:25:24] but you know what I'm trying to say like

[00:25:26] if they give you that urge to adventure

[00:25:29] you're not going to care about the other shit

[00:25:31] or at least it's not going to matter that much

[00:25:33] but when that's all you got

[00:25:35] you kind of have to make it good and it's not good.

[00:25:38] I don't think I did any of the bounty hunting.

[00:25:41] Um, I did one by accident

[00:25:43] and I didn't go back and turn it in.

[00:25:46] I mean I turned on my Max of Five

[00:25:48] when I made it to the guy

[00:25:49] but I didn't roll on to anybody in particular.

[00:25:52] I figured well if I find them I find them

[00:25:54] and I never did.

[00:25:56] Oh well too bad.

[00:25:58] Doesn't matter.

[00:25:59] Yeah nothing really matters in this game

[00:26:01] that sort of makes me feel sad in a way

[00:26:05] but I know you're done

[00:26:06] but I can't wait to be done.

[00:26:10] You know I will say it's worth beating.

[00:26:13] I do think you should play the entire thing.

[00:26:15] I'm at the point where I'm in too deep

[00:26:17] and it's like well I made it this far.

[00:26:19] Yeah I say play the whole thing

[00:26:22] you're going to get some cool

[00:26:23] you'll get some more cool Toriyama character stuff

[00:26:27] and like some other cool visuals.

[00:26:29] I do think it's worth beating.

[00:26:31] I don't want this.

[00:26:31] I don't want this to sound like the audience

[00:26:33] like this is the worst game in the world.

[00:26:35] It's not.

[00:26:35] I gave it a C minus.

[00:26:37] Like you know what I mean?

[00:26:38] It's better than like Princess Peach Showtime.

[00:26:42] It's but I mean I think so.

[00:26:45] I mean you want to compare that real quick

[00:26:47] like the last bad game we talked about

[00:26:49] like I do think it's better than Peach.

[00:26:51] I mean it didn't have any weird performance issues

[00:26:55] if that's what we're going to really compare.

[00:26:57] I mean not just that.

[00:26:59] Although there was a weird time fairly early on

[00:27:01] where I blew open a hole into a cave

[00:27:04] and you can tell it wanted to load

[00:27:06] like because it was like it started

[00:27:09] but then it's like oh wait I don't have to load this shit

[00:27:11] and then it just skipped right back to me

[00:27:13] driving to where the cave was like oh okay there.

[00:27:18] It's like never mind what system do you think this is?

[00:27:21] Pretty much.

[00:27:22] You know that makes honestly

[00:27:24] PS5 makes like not so great games a lot more tolerable

[00:27:29] with like instant travel, instant fast travel rather.

[00:27:33] Yeah I'll admit to using fast travel in this game.

[00:27:37] Remember a while ago where we talked about

[00:27:39] if the game is good or fun to play

[00:27:42] we don't use it that much.

[00:27:43] Well if I've been to a place before I guess what I was doing

[00:27:47] guess how I was getting back every single time.

[00:27:51] There's just nothing to see man.

[00:27:53] Let's talk about vehicles a little more

[00:27:56] because that's the game's claim to fame

[00:27:59] and none of that stuff is very fun.

[00:28:02] The vehicle stuff whether it's combat or whatever

[00:28:05] but like we'll get to combat in a second.

[00:28:07] I want to talk about strictly vehicles first

[00:28:09] because for two reasons I don't think they're very fun.

[00:28:13] Number one the menus at the garage are so oddly laid out

[00:28:19] and just not intuitive at all.

[00:28:21] It's so weird that you have to build like every individual

[00:28:24] part of the vehicle and then attach them all individually

[00:28:29] and then say I would like to build this vehicle.

[00:28:32] Why do you have to do that?

[00:28:34] Andre fuck the menus in Sandland.

[00:28:37] Maybe I'm just spoiled by other games

[00:28:41] but let me just build the thing if I found the parts.

[00:28:44] Like the roadblocks should be if I need a material

[00:28:47] and really fuck that too.

[00:28:50] If I can't just combine materials or pay sand dollars to fill

[00:28:54] in the gaps it's stupid too because then you got to move

[00:28:59] your ass to the crafting station which by the way

[00:29:02] is not in the same place as the garage until you do a

[00:29:04] series of side quests.

[00:29:06] I think that was the one side quest I did do on purpose.

[00:29:09] I mean and who knew that would be the reward right?

[00:29:11] I mean just like I mean if I had known that I would have

[00:29:14] done that a long time ago right and then the second problem

[00:29:17] with the vehicles ties back to the loot problem I mentioned

[00:29:20] earlier in a game like this where you kill so many enemies

[00:29:24] boring enemies will get to that.

[00:29:26] You should be getting tons of vehicle parts with like

[00:29:29] variety and frequency like 80% of the fun of borderlands

[00:29:34] is that they shower you with guns constantly.

[00:29:37] Ooh what's this one I picked up?

[00:29:38] Hey you want that one and you know hey I got this one check

[00:29:41] this out right?

[00:29:43] You don't get any of that in Sandland.

[00:29:45] They're so stingy with the loot of the vehicles

[00:29:49] and it's no fun whatsoever like I get that maybe I'm

[00:29:54] asking for a game that this was never going to be

[00:29:56] but maybe like give me one exciting gameplay thing give

[00:30:00] me one reason to go out there and search and that could

[00:30:04] have been it and that it's not.

[00:30:06] The first tank I blew up dropped a gun part of some kind

[00:30:09] like oh okay this this I can get behind we'll blow up

[00:30:12] vehicles and get parts that we can salvage to build

[00:30:15] other thing I can get behind this except it in fact

[00:30:19] was not the way this works most of the time.

[00:30:22] Yeah again tears of the kingdom showers you with

[00:30:26] random blades and shields and whatever right like

[00:30:29] just whatever just dumping it on you it's like oh I want

[00:30:32] this one oh that one looks cool oh that's the same as

[00:30:34] the one I already have will take a duplicate and when

[00:30:36] it breaks shit like that you don't have any of that here

[00:30:39] in Sandland.

[00:30:41] It sucks.

[00:30:43] Also also like why do the vehicles disappear like two

[00:30:47] seconds after you exit them?

[00:30:49] Why is that a thing?

[00:30:50] Real talk Andre I thought I was getting certifiably

[00:30:54] crazy the first few times this happened like I needed

[00:30:57] to get my medication adjusted or something like I

[00:30:59] know I just left this tank here where did the fuck

[00:31:01] did it go?

[00:31:05] And they make you deal with opening that stupid wheel

[00:31:07] every single time you do anything.

[00:31:10] I'd say graphics on PlayStation 5 processing power

[00:31:13] on PS2 but even Grand Theft Auto 3 remembers when

[00:31:16] you left a car nearby so I really don't know why

[00:31:18] they did this.

[00:31:21] It doesn't make any sense maybe they thought like

[00:31:24] okay once you get out of the tank you're kind

[00:31:26] of done with that for a while.

[00:31:28] No you're not because they want you to do this and

[00:31:30] that I guess it's good that once you're in a vehicle

[00:31:33] you can swap between the other ones instantly and

[00:31:36] you're already in the vehicle.

[00:31:37] Thank God for that.

[00:31:40] Yeah, if you really want to call I don't know I just

[00:31:42] found all those wheels cumbersome and okay I could

[00:31:46] deal with only having five of them because the cars

[00:31:48] are worthless worthless anyway but I don't know

[00:31:51] I felt like I was going again going that's like

[00:31:54] I didn't choose this one I chose the other one

[00:31:56] and you know me.

[00:31:59] Let's talk combat because we've made fun of it

[00:32:01] enough throughout this let's just dive right into it

[00:32:04] but honestly Steve I don't know what there is to

[00:32:07] dive into because tell the folks how every encounter

[00:32:11] in this game is solved.

[00:32:13] You roll around in your tank and you shoot things

[00:32:15] until bad guys stop moving.

[00:32:17] The boss fights are the same but they have a

[00:32:19] meter that goes down.

[00:32:21] That's it everybody circle strafe circle strafe

[00:32:24] and shoot Steve you want to know how I beat the

[00:32:26] last boss.

[00:32:27] Did you drive around in your tank and shoot it

[00:32:29] until it died?

[00:32:30] Yeah, yeah, I drove around in a circle and shot

[00:32:34] and then it died and then I beat the game.

[00:32:36] That strategy works from the first second to

[00:32:40] the very last boss trash.

[00:32:44] Steve I legit think PS one games are deeper than

[00:32:49] this I would say like the original armored core

[00:32:52] is deeper than Sandland.

[00:32:54] Seriously like at least at least in like car

[00:32:58] combat like twisted metal or whatever the enemies

[00:33:02] are like actually actively pursuing you and

[00:33:05] there's like danger.

[00:33:06] Oh man this guy's chasing me better go down

[00:33:08] this street in that street.

[00:33:09] Oh I'm going to pull 180 and blow him away

[00:33:11] or something all the enemies in this game just

[00:33:14] sort of perk up if they even notice you're

[00:33:16] there in the first place they get the

[00:33:19] Metal Gear Solid exclamation mark and by

[00:33:21] the time they do that you're they're dead

[00:33:23] because this game is so easy and kill everything

[00:33:25] in a couple shots and then it's like

[00:33:28] okay they're not pursuing me they don't seem

[00:33:31] to care that I'm here.

[00:33:32] Why am I even like who cares then?

[00:33:36] Why am I even doing this?

[00:33:38] The closest I got to challenge was during

[00:33:41] the rocket cycle fight in the tomb with

[00:33:43] Captain Jackass where it's clear that they

[00:33:46] want me to get on my own rocket cycle

[00:33:48] and shotgun them in the face.

[00:33:50] You can't actually control that thing very

[00:33:51] well in a tight space.

[00:33:53] You know maybe it's because I'm old and I

[00:33:55] don't have good reflexes but that's the

[00:33:57] way I feel about it.

[00:33:58] You know what I like?

[00:33:59] No I couldn't do it either.

[00:34:00] You know what I did?

[00:34:01] I got in the tank and I shot at where he

[00:34:03] was going to be instead of where he was.

[00:34:05] Yeah, that's exactly what I did.

[00:34:07] I thought it was funny when you try

[00:34:09] to get anything that's not a hovercraft

[00:34:10] into the water like after you come out of

[00:34:12] it he's like no Prince it's we're

[00:34:14] going to sink.

[00:34:17] Yeah, it's it's a lot

[00:34:21] and then it takes away like a chunk of HP

[00:34:23] when you do that.

[00:34:24] It's like, okay, sorry.

[00:34:25] Geez.

[00:34:26] Yeah, just not exciting combat at all.

[00:34:29] Not engaging.

[00:34:30] Not fun.

[00:34:32] You know when this game gave me the

[00:34:33] feeling of dread though when I was like,

[00:34:35] oh no this this game may not be very good.

[00:34:39] It's the first quote unquote boss you fight.

[00:34:41] It's the King Army ship that has

[00:34:44] the big water tank, the big circular

[00:34:45] water tank.

[00:34:48] And it appears and as soon as

[00:34:50] the battle starts, everyone's giving you

[00:34:52] crazy advice.

[00:34:53] You should take the high ground

[00:34:54] so you can shoot him.

[00:34:55] Hey, you can hide behind these bricks

[00:34:56] over here.

[00:34:57] Hey, if you tail him this way,

[00:34:59] he might get confused and think

[00:35:01] you're over there.

[00:35:02] All this shit is being said to you

[00:35:04] and all you really have to do

[00:35:06] is stand right there and shoot

[00:35:08] it like four times and then it explodes.

[00:35:11] It's like peeking into a stream

[00:35:14] and everyone's backseat gaming like

[00:35:16] everyone's like everyone is shouting

[00:35:17] advice at you at the same time.

[00:35:19] But in the meantime, you could just

[00:35:20] shoot it in the face however like

[00:35:22] three or four times and you're done.

[00:35:24] Yeah, it is there.

[00:35:26] Hella backseating you and it's like

[00:35:28] I can just shoot it.

[00:35:29] It's not really doing anything to me

[00:35:31] and if it does it takes off like no HP.

[00:35:34] Who cares?

[00:35:36] It's just it's just it's just incredible man.

[00:35:40] You know going back to I said

[00:35:43] this was McDonald's game design,

[00:35:45] you know game design see off the shelf.

[00:35:49] Why are there random 2D sections?

[00:35:52] Why are they there?

[00:35:54] Because the Elzebub is a old games

[00:35:58] enthusiasts and old games had side

[00:36:01] scrolling sections.

[00:36:02] I you are you are giving them so much

[00:36:06] credit.

[00:36:06] I am actually angry.

[00:36:08] How much credit you know how I feel

[00:36:10] when you do a movie reviews.

[00:36:12] Oh, I never said anything that far fetched.

[00:36:15] I've never reached that far at least

[00:36:17] reach for stuff that that's that's there

[00:36:20] mostly kind of.

[00:36:23] I OK I reached a little during

[00:36:25] 3000 years along just just a little OK.

[00:36:29] But like yeah, there's random 2D sections.

[00:36:31] Who knows why?

[00:36:33] There's random stealth sections

[00:36:35] sometimes two or three in a row

[00:36:37] and you know how much I love those

[00:36:39] in my video games

[00:36:41] and then there's one stealth section

[00:36:43] early on where you're stealing a tank

[00:36:44] and like you're jumping across rooftops

[00:36:46] and these big yellow strips of paint

[00:36:48] jump here and then jump here and then jump

[00:36:50] here because we're so stupid.

[00:36:53] We're so fucking stupid, Steve.

[00:36:55] We can't figure out how to jump between

[00:36:56] the rooftops without that yellow strip

[00:36:58] of paint.

[00:36:58] We have no idea what to do.

[00:37:01] How would we figure it out?

[00:37:02] There is a later stealth section where I

[00:37:05] didn't even need to do stealth.

[00:37:06] I just needed to go left of where one

[00:37:09] guy was and then jump and jump and jump

[00:37:11] and like oh look, I slipped past all

[00:37:12] your guys already.

[00:37:13] You didn't even see me.

[00:37:15] And there's there's such big I mean,

[00:37:16] they're not hard stealth sections.

[00:37:18] There's such leeway where it's like

[00:37:19] whatever, but it's just like

[00:37:21] I don't want to do that ever.

[00:37:24] It's like did they just

[00:37:25] it's so poorly considered at every

[00:37:27] turn. That's why I said

[00:37:29] that it feels like you know what it

[00:37:30] feels like this is going to be

[00:37:31] hella rude, but I don't care.

[00:37:33] It feels like someone made an elaborate

[00:37:35] mod

[00:37:37] on top of another game.

[00:37:39] Like this was an entirely different

[00:37:40] game and someone made like the best

[00:37:42] Sandland mod ever for it.

[00:37:45] You know,

[00:37:47] I don't think you're wholly off base

[00:37:48] because earlier you brought up

[00:37:51] Slaver's Devotion to the Manga.

[00:37:53] Again, I did not read the manga,

[00:37:56] but there's got to be a reason why

[00:37:58] we spend time in two giant airship

[00:38:00] things on three separate occasions

[00:38:03] that look exactly the same and have

[00:38:05] the exact thing while not

[00:38:07] living in them, but you know

[00:38:08] that attack you in them

[00:38:10] and you know, punish you for

[00:38:12] heading off the beaten path.

[00:38:14] You know, it's just dull.

[00:38:16] I appreciate sticking to a theme,

[00:38:17] but maybe our time could be more

[00:38:20] brief in these places or maybe

[00:38:22] you do more storytelling

[00:38:23] or maybe you do anything that isn't

[00:38:26] causing me to notice this shit so much.

[00:38:29] Going through ruins is like

[00:38:32] the perfect storytelling device.

[00:38:35] You can talk about how the world

[00:38:36] was before you can even speculate

[00:38:38] how the world was before you could

[00:38:39] say how this even happened.

[00:38:41] You could say what you've heard

[00:38:43] about it or rumors like there's

[00:38:45] so much potential for storytelling

[00:38:47] there and character stuff

[00:38:48] when you go through anything like

[00:38:50] that and Sandland is simply

[00:38:52] not interested.

[00:38:54] You know, it said I think they

[00:38:55] kind of were because I could have

[00:38:57] maybe this was my brain hoping

[00:38:59] for something more because I could

[00:39:00] have sworn they were talking

[00:39:02] about the time a little bit

[00:39:03] of the times before thief was

[00:39:05] about to start something,

[00:39:06] but then a snake pops out

[00:39:08] and unlike all the other times

[00:39:09] where he's more than willing

[00:39:12] to start a dialogue tree

[00:39:14] all over again.

[00:39:15] Nah, we're just moving along.

[00:39:17] It's just like, OK, that didn't happen.

[00:39:19] Never mind.

[00:39:20] Well, are you saying back there?

[00:39:21] Huh?

[00:39:21] What?

[00:39:22] Okay.

[00:39:23] I've been around for 15,000 years.

[00:39:25] I know some things like yeah,

[00:39:27] like what can you tell us about it?

[00:39:28] All right.

[00:39:29] Tell us about anything at all.

[00:39:32] Maybe put on the Santa suit again.

[00:39:34] That was fun.

[00:39:34] Yeah.

[00:39:35] Hey, could that be like DLC?

[00:39:38] Santa suit or so he wears the whole time.

[00:39:40] I paid 99 cents for that.

[00:39:41] I think that might be in the $15

[00:39:44] pack that they keep advertising me

[00:39:45] when I load up the PS5 menu.

[00:39:48] The Dragon Quest 7 hero outfit for thief.

[00:39:54] Isn't that what he's already wearing without the hat?

[00:39:56] Basically because he has to show off

[00:39:58] his little curly hair, right?

[00:40:00] His little little curly Q little dairy queen.

[00:40:03] You see, I like the characters.

[00:40:04] I'm with you on that.

[00:40:06] I really do like these people

[00:40:07] and I liked it when I read it too.

[00:40:09] But you know,

[00:40:10] I'm going to source it from somewhere

[00:40:14] sometime after this,

[00:40:15] but the video game is not it guys.

[00:40:18] Nah, it's a shame about the Centaur.

[00:40:21] So it sucks that you did not have a Centaur buddy.

[00:40:24] That could be a vehicle,

[00:40:25] a Centaur vehicle.

[00:40:26] Come on.

[00:40:27] Yeah, they just had those weird dinosaurs parked out of

[00:40:30] settlements and things like no, no Centaur buddies.

[00:40:33] Well, you know, Centaur buddies.

[00:40:35] Yeah, we're all the Centaur's were.

[00:40:37] Centaur stripper land.

[00:40:41] That's a different dimension that doesn't exist.

[00:40:45] You're just jealous because you weren't invited to go to

[00:40:46] Centaur stripper land.

[00:40:48] I mean, I didn't.

[00:40:49] I mean, if you look around town there in demon village

[00:40:52] are no female Centaurs.

[00:40:54] They all seem to be dudes.

[00:40:57] I'm telling you, they're all in Centaur stripper land.

[00:41:00] Oh, there that's where that's where all the women are

[00:41:03] women Centaurs.

[00:41:04] Okay, got it.

[00:41:05] Sorry.

[00:41:06] I didn't understand.

[00:41:07] Yeah.

[00:41:09] Okay, geez.

[00:41:10] Sounds like you got a good operation going on here.

[00:41:13] Well, me it's whoever's running that.

[00:41:17] You are.

[00:41:17] We'll be right back.

[00:41:55] We're back.

[00:41:56] All right, we got big questions, baby, and especially

[00:41:59] over the last couple of days.

[00:42:01] We just had a few here, but then stuff happened,

[00:42:04] Steve.

[00:42:06] Yeah, very inconsiderate of everybody to just do.

[00:42:08] Do you guys not know when we record?

[00:42:10] Come on.

[00:42:12] Yeah, we don't like to work this much the last minute.

[00:42:14] You know, we have two weeks in between leisurely at

[00:42:16] this and that.

[00:42:17] If you give us all the news on Monday and Tuesday,

[00:42:19] it's like, come on guys.

[00:42:20] But anyway, a lot of stuff happened, but let's start

[00:42:23] with this.

[00:42:24] You know, Andre, in a just world I'd be sitting here

[00:42:27] saying Nintendo has unveiled the switch successor.

[00:42:30] Let us rejoice and consider how much we might need

[00:42:32] to put away for release time.

[00:42:35] But we don't live in a just world.

[00:42:37] So I have to say long running Spanish Game New

[00:42:40] Site Vandal has the following tidbits from peripheral

[00:42:43] manufacturers about the device.

[00:42:46] It's larger than the switch.

[00:42:49] Joy-cons are magnetic.

[00:42:51] Switch pro controllers are supported and my favorite

[00:42:56] said peripheral companies touch the system in an

[00:42:59] opaque box to get a feeling for dimensions of design

[00:43:02] without ruining the secrecy of the console.

[00:43:05] What?

[00:43:08] That is hilarious.

[00:43:09] What happened to NDAs?

[00:43:11] Yeah, what?

[00:43:12] I mean, did they just not trust anybody anymore?

[00:43:14] Like, no, you put your hands.

[00:43:16] Okay, you know what?

[00:43:17] It sounds like it sounds like a game show.

[00:43:20] Remember like game shows are starting to lose their grip

[00:43:23] like in the late 80s or whatever when they're

[00:43:25] starting to fall out of favor and they were trying

[00:43:27] all manner of wacky shit.

[00:43:29] This sounds like some 13 week game show that would air

[00:43:33] on CBS, you know, who's my dick Clark?

[00:43:35] Cause he was being nice or whatever contractually obligated

[00:43:38] and just like someone just puts their hands inside of

[00:43:41] a box and feels what the prize is.

[00:43:43] It's a toaster oven.

[00:43:44] Congratulations.

[00:43:46] You went a toaster oven, you know, like that.

[00:43:49] You guys are really good game developers.

[00:43:51] So you could walk away with these five dev kits

[00:43:54] or you could trade it all for what's in the box.

[00:43:58] Oh, man.

[00:44:02] It's just it's it's just so funny.

[00:44:05] I don't know why device an entire game show over this

[00:44:08] but point being this is ridiculous.

[00:44:10] Just let people see the console, man.

[00:44:13] Who cares?

[00:44:13] We know it's another handheld with joy cons and a screen

[00:44:17] like how secretive could that possibly be Steve?

[00:44:20] Well, I think it's still pretty damn secretive

[00:44:23] because 36 ish hours ago as of recording time.

[00:44:28] Yeah, I'm moving right along here.

[00:44:29] Nintendo tweeted from their business account.

[00:44:33] This is for a color president of Nintendo.

[00:44:35] We will make an announcement about the successor to

[00:44:38] Nintendo switch within this fiscal year.

[00:44:40] It will have been over nine years since we announced

[00:44:43] the existence of Nintendo switch back in March 2015.

[00:44:46] We will be holding a Nintendo Direct this June regarding

[00:44:49] the Nintendo switch lineup for the latter half of 2024.

[00:44:52] But please be aware that there will be no mention of the

[00:44:55] Nintendo switch successor during that presentation.

[00:45:00] Oh boy.

[00:45:02] The secrecy continues so out loud right now.

[00:45:05] Do we think they're going to repeat the switch playbook

[00:45:08] where you know, they're going to show the thing off and fall

[00:45:11] have a real showcase blowout in the winter and get everyone

[00:45:14] excited for March again.

[00:45:16] Yeah, we're hopefully will have a few more games

[00:45:18] launch with it other than Metroid Prime 4 or what?

[00:45:23] Yeah, you know this feels like it's following the playbook.

[00:45:26] Isn't it?

[00:45:27] When did we see switch October 2016?

[00:45:30] That was about the time.

[00:45:32] Yeah, that sounds right.

[00:45:33] Blowout in January release in March.

[00:45:36] Now I'm not saying they're going to release in March again.

[00:45:37] I think they're actually well, I don't know, right?

[00:45:40] Fiscal year.

[00:45:41] I'm sure they wanted to launch March 3rd with switch

[00:45:44] that made a lot more sense right now.

[00:45:46] Nintendo is pretty flush.

[00:45:47] They don't really need that.

[00:45:49] Um.

[00:45:51] You know what's interesting about this though is that

[00:45:54] they are confirming there is a direct in June.

[00:45:58] Now, they don't usually do that.

[00:46:00] Look, if Ubisoft's allowed to make a conference announcement

[00:46:04] for August right this second, I think we could cut

[00:46:08] Nintendo some slack about a direct in June.

[00:46:11] I mean, that's fine, but they don't usually say so so far

[00:46:15] in advance.

[00:46:17] It's kind of weird.

[00:46:19] No, Xbox didn't did that.

[00:46:20] Didn't they didn't Microsoft say like, oh, we're going

[00:46:23] to have this presentation in May and it was like February.

[00:46:26] Yeah, there's something.

[00:46:27] Yeah, I feel like I'm talking about.

[00:46:29] I think it was thq Nordic that just did the one in August

[00:46:32] now that before you all at me in the comments.

[00:46:36] You're going to be corrected by all the the our

[00:46:38] Redditors who we don't have any Redditors who listen

[00:46:41] all the embrace all the Embracer heads

[00:46:43] all the Embracers.

[00:46:45] Um, yeah.

[00:46:47] What do you think?

[00:46:47] Is that the playbook?

[00:46:48] Do you think we're just we're following the script again?

[00:46:52] It sure feels like the playbook.

[00:46:53] I mean, we got a jet.

[00:46:55] We got a July game.

[00:46:56] I mean, I wouldn't call it a great one, but they

[00:47:00] now have releases through July and if they're really

[00:47:03] going to talk about the software lineup for the latter

[00:47:06] half of 2024, it really sounds like we're doing

[00:47:10] the switch thing again.

[00:47:12] But you know where again, maybe the software last

[00:47:16] bit of software piece or switch isn't so sad after

[00:47:19] all, but that remains to be seen.

[00:47:22] Well, speaking of sad, the fact that he reminded us

[00:47:25] that they announced in X as it was known back then

[00:47:28] in March 2015 dog, the Wii U had been out for

[00:47:33] what two years change like two and a half years

[00:47:37] at that point.

[00:47:37] Yeah.

[00:47:38] And they were already like, fuck this.

[00:47:41] But you know, I think they did that because

[00:47:44] they had to it felt like spin because it was like,

[00:47:47] OK, OK, OK, we know this sucks, but we'll get you next

[00:47:51] time and sooner than you think.

[00:47:52] Well, they had they did that and they also announced

[00:47:55] the pit the them wiggling into mobile at that time.

[00:47:59] They're like, we got a thing with me is coming like

[00:48:01] next year and then further along, we're going to do

[00:48:03] fire emblem and animal crossing.

[00:48:05] It's going to be good, you guys.

[00:48:07] All that stuff happened.

[00:48:09] Yeah, I did.

[00:48:10] You know, I guess so.

[00:48:11] I mean, what what happened to Dr.

[00:48:14] Mario World though?

[00:48:15] I mean, she's well, that wasn't part of the DNA thing

[00:48:19] and that died.

[00:48:22] I like me, Tomo.

[00:48:23] I don't give a fuck.

[00:48:24] People can talk shit.

[00:48:25] I thought me.

[00:48:25] Toba was good.

[00:48:27] What's it learned what everyone had for dinner last

[00:48:29] night?

[00:48:29] Its job was done.

[00:48:32] It was great.

[00:48:32] I love taking pictures in that thing and setting up silly

[00:48:35] shit going back to real quick.

[00:48:38] The hardware thing.

[00:48:40] Do you want to talk about the magnetic joy cons?

[00:48:43] Like we've heard about this for like a couple months

[00:48:45] now and I didn't.

[00:48:46] I haven't put it in the sheiks.

[00:48:47] I didn't really know what else to say about it,

[00:48:49] but since we're on these topics.

[00:48:52] Do you think that's weird because I've heard

[00:48:54] about this before like when the switch was coming

[00:48:56] out, they said they were thinking of magnets and

[00:48:59] then they didn't do it because it just kept

[00:49:01] falling off and then that's a big class

[00:49:03] action lawsuit.

[00:49:04] We happen everyone breaking their switches,

[00:49:05] but now I guess they figured it out.

[00:49:08] If it's magnets and a rail, I can see I work

[00:49:11] in just fine.

[00:49:13] And a rail.

[00:49:14] Why would you have both though?

[00:49:16] Just to really stick it on.

[00:49:17] I don't know.

[00:49:18] I feel like I'd be the guy that that in gameplay

[00:49:21] in the moment like pulls it apart.

[00:49:24] We'll see.

[00:49:25] That's a thing.

[00:49:26] The fact that they feel confident doing this

[00:49:28] means that that can't happen.

[00:49:30] They have to be really strong magnets like

[00:49:33] you know, you could break your control stick

[00:49:36] right now in your pro controller if you wanted

[00:49:38] to, but you'd have to apply such force on

[00:49:40] purpose.

[00:49:42] I feel like they couldn't fall off during normal

[00:49:44] gameplay, but then if only we could see the

[00:49:47] darn thing and get a better impression of it

[00:49:49] for ourselves.

[00:49:51] So we'll know these these peripheral guys

[00:49:54] have to play what's in the box and into

[00:49:58] no headquarters.

[00:50:02] No, I'm not going to make up a game show

[00:50:03] theme here.

[00:50:05] You know,

[00:50:08] so over the last couple weeks since our last

[00:50:11] big deal, there was an entire hell divers to

[00:50:14] saga that came in went.

[00:50:17] So basically what happened is that held diverse

[00:50:19] to was supposed to require a PlayStation

[00:50:21] network account to play on PC.

[00:50:24] But then the servers were getting so slammed

[00:50:26] when the game came out of our members.

[00:50:27] No one could play online.

[00:50:29] So they waived this requirement.

[00:50:31] So everyone just, you know, Q and play.

[00:50:34] Now that the servers are stable, Sony was planning

[00:50:37] to finally implement this PSN login requirement.

[00:50:41] And this is a big problem because they were selling

[00:50:44] the game in territories where PSN is not a thing.

[00:50:50] So what happens on May 30th when the requirement

[00:50:53] goes live and you live in a place where you

[00:50:54] can't have a PlayStation network account?

[00:50:57] You're fucked.

[00:50:59] So steam offered up refunds to anyone in soon

[00:51:02] to be affected territories.

[00:51:04] The negative reviews went through the roof

[00:51:06] on steam.

[00:51:07] Holy shit, they got reviewed bomb and rightfully

[00:51:09] so and everyone effectively then bullied Sony

[00:51:14] into reversing their stance on this just

[00:51:16] a few days later.

[00:51:18] So a PSN account will not be required in any

[00:51:21] territory to play hell divers to on steam.

[00:51:24] Bullying corporations works again.

[00:51:27] Woohoo, right?

[00:51:29] And that's the end of the saga.

[00:51:31] But there's something about all of this

[00:51:33] that really bothers me still and I just can't

[00:51:37] let it go.

[00:51:38] And it's the fact that I don't think people

[00:51:43] actually cared about this.

[00:51:46] If you're in affected territory.

[00:51:47] Yeah, sure.

[00:51:48] Of course you care about this.

[00:51:50] I'm talking about Americans or anywhere else

[00:51:52] where you live and you have PSN and you're

[00:51:54] playing hell divers to on steam.

[00:51:56] You didn't care about this.

[00:51:59] I think this was just something to be mad at

[00:52:01] because the Internet told them to.

[00:52:04] Yeah, I'm saying it a lot of the outrage

[00:52:06] over this.

[00:52:08] I think it was fake.

[00:52:17] Because let's think about this logically

[00:52:19] for just a second.

[00:52:20] Okay, PlayStation Network has been a thing

[00:52:23] for getting to be what almost 20 years now

[00:52:26] just like how console gamers sometimes dabbling

[00:52:28] PC gaming here or there.

[00:52:30] PC players do the same shit with consoles.

[00:52:34] You'd be hard pressed to find anyone

[00:52:36] who has never had a PS3, 4 or 5.

[00:52:38] And PlayStation had been the most popular

[00:52:41] brand worldwide for like a solid decade now.

[00:52:43] So I would imagine a large majority of people

[00:52:46] who play games regularly already have a

[00:52:48] PSN account if they are able to, of course.

[00:52:52] And if you don't have a PSN account,

[00:52:54] you could sign up for one for free in like

[00:52:55] two seconds.

[00:52:57] So if you are able to have one and you're

[00:52:59] playing hell divers to on steam and you're

[00:53:01] outraged by this PSN requirement,

[00:53:05] I got to ask you something.

[00:53:07] What's wrong with you?

[00:53:17] Seriously, what is the problem?

[00:53:19] Why would you care about this?

[00:53:21] Why in the world would this be a stopping

[00:53:24] point for anybody?

[00:53:26] I can't even comprehend why unless

[00:53:29] the reason is some tweets or some red

[00:53:31] it post told you to be mad about it.

[00:53:33] I really think that's the case here because

[00:53:35] it makes no sense otherwise.

[00:53:39] Ask the average person who spoke out against

[00:53:41] this, ask them why they don't like this.

[00:53:43] I bet you they don't have a reason.

[00:53:46] And I bet a lot of them play hell

[00:53:48] divers to on PS5 anyway where this entire

[00:53:50] point is moot.

[00:53:51] People are out here just complaining

[00:53:54] to complain.

[00:53:56] Hope their arguments just a little bit

[00:53:58] and they fall apart like a house of cards.

[00:54:01] Nothing about this outrage adds up

[00:54:03] and I'm not buying it.

[00:54:05] I do not and will not believe anyone

[00:54:08] actually cares about this.

[00:54:11] Some might posit that folks are mad

[00:54:13] on the behalf of others who wouldn't be

[00:54:16] able to play the game anymore, you know,

[00:54:18] which is something I also absolutely do

[00:54:22] not buy at all.

[00:54:23] I'm sorry.

[00:54:25] Like you do not care if someone in Morocco

[00:54:28] or somewhere PSN doesn't exist,

[00:54:30] can't play the game anymore.

[00:54:31] You're not being virtuous.

[00:54:33] You're not sticking up for the have nots.

[00:54:35] You don't give a hot fuck.

[00:54:37] Like I don't I I'm sorry.

[00:54:39] I just don't buy it.

[00:54:41] I mean, I'll be honest.

[00:54:42] I didn't even know PSN wasn't available

[00:54:44] worldwide until this controversy,

[00:54:46] but I bet you didn't know either.

[00:54:49] So don't pretend like you care now.

[00:54:51] You're not being an ally in that case.

[00:54:53] You're just being part of the mob.

[00:54:55] Okay.

[00:54:57] And then there's people who act like

[00:54:59] it's some sort of security issue.

[00:55:01] Oh, I don't want Sony to see what I'm doing

[00:55:04] or whatever they keep saying.

[00:55:06] A dog.

[00:55:08] You think valve isn't seeing what you're doing?

[00:55:12] What kind of operation do you think this is?

[00:55:14] Do you really think Sony is somehow this much

[00:55:16] more the evil or corporation where they just

[00:55:19] absolutely cannot see what you're doing

[00:55:22] when you're playing helldivers too?

[00:55:24] If you've played a PlayStation at any point

[00:55:26] in the last 20 years,

[00:55:28] whatever you think they're going to see,

[00:55:30] they already saw it.

[00:55:32] And if you actually cared that much about being

[00:55:35] off the grid,

[00:55:36] you wouldn't be playing an online game on steam

[00:55:39] in the first place.

[00:55:41] So that kind of thinking doesn't add up for me

[00:55:43] because it's not real.

[00:55:45] By virtue of you participating in any of this

[00:55:49] in the first place,

[00:55:50] you don't actually care who has your information.

[00:55:53] And if you want to generally complain

[00:55:56] about why you need a PlayStation Network login

[00:55:59] to play a random game,

[00:56:01] like this is not unique to helldivers too.

[00:56:05] I have to have a Capcom ID to play Shoot Fighter 6

[00:56:09] on PS5 or I have to have a Blizzard account

[00:56:13] to play Overwatch 2, right?

[00:56:15] There's Ubisoft accounts also

[00:56:18] and there's Bethesda accounts

[00:56:20] and all of this stuff has existed for years.

[00:56:24] None of this stuff is new

[00:56:25] and I'm willing to bet most of the people complaining

[00:56:28] about this for no particular reason

[00:56:30] have done logins in other games that they play.

[00:56:34] And if you look at the Steam page,

[00:56:36] there was always a warning on the Steam Store page

[00:56:39] for helldivers too that said third party login required.

[00:56:44] I think that was always there.

[00:56:45] Someone feel free to correct me if I'm wrong,

[00:56:47] but I'm pretty sure that was there since the beginning.

[00:56:49] So if you bought this game anyway,

[00:56:51] despite that warning,

[00:56:53] that's kind of on you, isn't it?

[00:56:55] It seems pretty disingenuous to complain about it

[00:56:58] after the fact.

[00:57:00] So you can sit there and say,

[00:57:01] oh, I just don't want to log in all you want,

[00:57:03] but you also didn't care enough to read the Store page

[00:57:06] that warns against it.

[00:57:07] So how upset are you really allowed to be?

[00:57:09] Like there's a lot of people who don't like DRM

[00:57:12] in their games and Steam always warns against that.

[00:57:15] So people don't buy games that say,

[00:57:17] hey, this includes DRM,

[00:57:18] this includes this kind of DRM or that.

[00:57:21] All right.

[00:57:21] This should be the same thing.

[00:57:22] If you don't want to use a third party login,

[00:57:25] then you should read that print.

[00:57:27] If that matters to you that much,

[00:57:28] which it doesn't,

[00:57:31] but nobody did that because nobody actually cares.

[00:57:35] So anyway,

[00:57:36] I'll shut the fuck up now,

[00:57:38] but the reaction to this entire thing was bothering me

[00:57:40] so much and I just couldn't let it go.

[00:57:43] So thanks for letting me get this out of my system.

[00:57:45] And hey,

[00:57:46] it's not like any of this stuff is happening anyway

[00:57:48] because Sony reversed the decision on all this

[00:57:50] and I'm glad they did.

[00:57:52] So people in territories without PlayStation Network

[00:57:54] could continue to play because they sold it to them already.

[00:57:58] And that's the right thing to do.

[00:57:59] So great for them.

[00:58:01] But the rest of y'all,

[00:58:03] well,

[00:58:03] I said what I had to say.

[00:58:19] Where did where did Steve go?

[00:58:22] Steve,

[00:58:22] are you still here?

[00:58:24] Yeah,

[00:58:25] sorry,

[00:58:25] I was trying to give Bethesda my information so I can play

[00:58:29] Doom 3 on my Switch later.

[00:58:33] People were mad about that too.

[00:58:34] Remember that shit?

[00:58:35] When the Doom's came out on the modern consoles,

[00:58:38] I'm like, guys.

[00:58:40] I forgot all about that.

[00:58:41] Oh, I bought them cheap and I played Doom 1 and 2 last year.

[00:58:45] I'm like, oh, right.

[00:58:45] They want to log in.

[00:58:46] Fine, I'll make a login.

[00:58:48] You just,

[00:58:49] you're just taking login,

[00:58:50] you freaking Bethesda.

[00:58:52] Yeah, who care?

[00:58:52] I mean, I already had one because I was in betas for like

[00:58:56] Doom 2016 and stuff.

[00:58:57] So I already had a Bethesda account,

[00:58:59] but like whatever,

[00:59:01] I'm not going to go over this again.

[00:59:02] I already talked enough.

[00:59:03] Let's move on to the next thing.

[00:59:06] Yeah, so gaming's best friend,

[00:59:08] Jason Schreyer was on,

[00:59:10] I guess yesterday in relation to recording time

[00:59:14] saying Microsoft's closed in four studios,

[00:59:17] namely Arkane Austin who developed Red Fall,

[00:59:21] Tango Gameworks,

[00:59:22] who put out everyone's favorite Xbox game from last year,

[00:59:25] Hi-Fi Rush and other games like Ghostwire Tokyo,

[00:59:29] which me and Andre enjoyed

[00:59:31] and the Evil Within,

[00:59:32] which I didn't play,

[00:59:33] along with Alpha Dog Studios and Roundhouse Games.

[00:59:36] Andre, four studios in a day.

[00:59:40] Nothing, nothing, nothing is safe, huh?

[00:59:43] Nothing.

[00:59:44] Nothing is good enough.

[00:59:46] No, no amount of money is good enough.

[00:59:48] No amount of critical claim is good enough.

[00:59:51] Nothing is good enough for these blood sucking companies.

[00:59:55] Is it?

[00:59:56] What we are in an absolute tailspin.

[01:00:00] Hi-Fi Rush might be the most goodwill.

[01:00:04] The Xbox brand, any brand, any brand, fuck that.

[01:00:08] Any brand has earned in the last decade from like going low to high,

[01:00:13] mainly because Nintendo and Sony are probably already kind of up there,

[01:00:16] but still just earning back people and being like,

[01:00:20] hey, Xbox is doing a thing.

[01:00:24] Then Hi-Fi Rush and they just do not care.

[01:00:30] That does not matter to them.

[01:00:33] And people are taking this as if like, well,

[01:00:36] if it doesn't sell cod numbers, then it's a failure to them.

[01:00:40] And you know, maybe that's part of it.

[01:00:42] And I don't necessarily think that's it though, Steve.

[01:00:46] I have a, I think it runs much, much deeper than that.

[01:00:50] Like they went out of their way by the way

[01:00:54] to defend Hi-Fi Rush after the first few months when the rumblings were that

[01:00:58] like it wasn't doing what they thought.

[01:01:00] I think Jeff Grubb came out a couple of months later.

[01:01:02] It's like, oh, Microsoft doesn't, you know,

[01:01:04] they're kind of wishy-washy on this, you know?

[01:01:06] Remember that?

[01:01:07] Yeah.

[01:01:07] And then Matt Booty or whoever, your favorite guy, Matt Booty.

[01:01:11] My favorite guy.

[01:01:11] You don't think it's a real name?

[01:01:12] Yeah, your favorite guy you don't think is real.

[01:01:15] I just don't think his name is real.

[01:01:16] Let's get the record straight.

[01:01:18] Okay.

[01:01:19] So Matt, he's just Matt Smith and he just changed his name to Booty

[01:01:23] because it's more, I mean...

[01:01:24] What?

[01:01:25] We do not have enough time to get into my Matt Booty conspiracy tonight.

[01:01:32] I would love to hear all of your Matt Booty conspiracy theories.

[01:01:35] We'll save it for unpopular opinions when Kevin's here.

[01:01:40] But yeah, so like, and they went out of the way to defend Hi-Fi Rush.

[01:01:43] Oh no, it's doing great for us because of this and that.

[01:01:46] And now the studio is closed.

[01:01:48] So, okay, you know what?

[01:01:50] Before I go on, say what you got to say about this

[01:01:53] because I have several branching theories.

[01:01:55] Yeah, I know you like to say Nintendo is in fact competing with Sony and Microsoft

[01:02:01] and we can debate on that point all night.

[01:02:05] But you know, letting their games run wild and free on the competition

[01:02:09] as we went over, they get, they put out four games and then they're like,

[01:02:13] here's a good Chuck Arrara on Nintendo Switch out mind

[01:02:17] because who gives a shit anymore?

[01:02:19] And then closing down a bunch of these studios just months

[01:02:23] not even after that announcement.

[01:02:26] I don't know to me again, I'm just going to keep saying this until the platform goes away.

[01:02:33] This is not the, to me, these are not the actions of a studio

[01:02:37] or a company that has a lot of faith and Xbox being anything resembling

[01:02:42] a competing platform.

[01:02:43] Nintendo announced a future announcement, two of them really in the past day

[01:02:49] and Microsoft responded by shitting the bed and telling everyone.

[01:02:52] I know these things are planned ahead, but that's not a great look

[01:02:56] when you're on Al Gore's Internet and just scrolling through.

[01:03:00] It's such a bad here.

[01:03:03] Here's the thing.

[01:03:04] Here's the thing.

[01:03:05] I was listening to Jeff Gershman talk about this a few hours before recording time here

[01:03:10] and he made a really, I don't know if it's a good point just

[01:03:13] but just trying to get inside the head of Microsoft and I want to run this

[01:03:17] by you and see what you think where he was saying where maybe

[01:03:21] and this is still fucked up by the way, but maybe hi-fi rush comes out.

[01:03:25] Right?

[01:03:25] It does whatever it does and then they're just looking around the room

[01:03:29] like, okay, Shinji Mikami isn't here anymore.

[01:03:33] We don't really know what your next project is as a Ghostwire Tokyo to.

[01:03:38] I don't know.

[01:03:40] What do you guys want to do?

[01:03:41] Well, maybe we can do this or that.

[01:03:43] Well, if you don't really have any direction right now, how about

[01:03:46] everyone just go home?

[01:03:50] You know, because that's how a company thinks like

[01:03:52] well, that's not you're not really doing anything us for for us right now.

[01:03:56] Just just whatever.

[01:03:57] Let's just pack it up.

[01:03:59] Why are we paying you?

[01:04:01] Is what Jeff Gershman was going through and again, that's fucked up, right?

[01:04:05] That's probably maybe how this went.

[01:04:08] So that's what I'm saying.

[01:04:09] I think there's many layers here.

[01:04:10] I don't think it was just like hi-fi rush and do cod numbers.

[01:04:14] You know what I mean?

[01:04:15] I mean, okay, but they spent a good chunk of time buying up all these

[01:04:19] companies so they wouldn't be in this mess and here we are in this mess worse than ever.

[01:04:26] Yeah, of course.

[01:04:27] That's why it's fucked up.

[01:04:28] You know, but just just to like for him positing some like Microsoft thinking

[01:04:34] right?

[01:04:35] I guess that makes sense to a corporation like that.

[01:04:39] Although like that makes no sense still no matter how you carve it up.

[01:04:44] I just have a hard time wrapping my head around that kind of corporate thing because

[01:04:49] as we've gone over the last time, we went through some leaked emails.

[01:04:53] I can't go to the store with my low paycheck and go one tango game works please

[01:05:01] and then just throw it away when I'm done with it.

[01:05:04] I can't do it.

[01:05:04] I can't even think that way.

[01:05:08] That's insane, right?

[01:05:09] Arcane Austin.

[01:05:10] Yeah, they made Redfall.

[01:05:11] They also made pray 2019 pray, which like, you know, that wasn't that long ago.

[01:05:19] Right?

[01:05:20] People like that game.

[01:05:22] So you're just okay.

[01:05:23] Redfall Redfall happened.

[01:05:24] Okay, bye.

[01:05:26] It would be like packing up Bioware after Oh Mass Effect and drama.

[01:05:30] Okay, see ya.

[01:05:32] By the way, if Dragon Age doesn't do well or it sucks, they're dead by

[01:05:35] the way, they're so dead.

[01:05:38] They're done.

[01:05:40] No, but nobody closes a studio like EA remember they're the masters.

[01:05:45] They've been doing this forever.

[01:05:49] So anyway, let me run a few thoughts by you and see what you think because

[01:05:55] I think what's overall going on here is that Xbox has never had to or

[01:06:01] been made to nurture or build anything from the day they existed.

[01:06:07] So let me put it this way.

[01:06:10] They released our first console, the Xbox.

[01:06:12] They release Halo with that console, one of the biggest generation

[01:06:17] defining hits of our lifetime.

[01:06:19] Okay, no matter what we think of it, that's true.

[01:06:23] So they came out the gate with an all timer.

[01:06:27] Let's think about what else is coming out.

[01:06:29] Let's let's move to Gamecube for a second.

[01:06:32] Nintendo's putting out Luigi's Mansion, but now Pikmin right in

[01:06:36] that launch window.

[01:06:38] Oh, you know that that Smash Brothers thing we did a couple

[01:06:40] years ago.

[01:06:41] Maybe we should make a Gamecube version.

[01:06:43] Oh, it could be a new game.

[01:06:44] Oh, soccer.

[01:06:44] I can just put that out in 10 months.

[01:06:46] Can't he sure after he works himself to death?

[01:06:50] You know, okay, fine.

[01:06:52] Right.

[01:06:52] They're just kind of following up.

[01:06:53] Now obviously they did Luigi's Mansion because Mario Sunshine

[01:06:56] was not ready.

[01:06:57] We all know that.

[01:06:58] But they're trying a thing, right?

[01:07:01] Now look at what's happening.

[01:07:03] Pikmin 4 sold really well.

[01:07:06] And it's in its one.

[01:07:08] Yeah, it did.

[01:07:09] Luigi's Mansion 3 Nintendo just got done with their financials

[01:07:13] that has cracked 15 million copies.

[01:07:16] Did it?

[01:07:17] Good for them.

[01:07:18] That's crazy.

[01:07:19] I never thought a Luigi's Mansion game would ever sell

[01:07:22] that much in my life.

[01:07:23] And here we are.

[01:07:24] Right now.

[01:07:25] I'm not sitting here saying that Nintendo thought, oh,

[01:07:28] you know, 25 years from now when we make a Luigi's Mansion 3,

[01:07:32] we're going to sell a billion copies.

[01:07:34] But they play the long game is what I'm trying to say.

[01:07:38] Microsoft does not do that at all.

[01:07:42] They bring out gears of war.

[01:07:44] Okay, it's a big hit.

[01:07:45] Now let's just keep doing that.

[01:07:47] Yeah.

[01:07:49] So that you I know this is very scattershot.

[01:07:52] Do you understand what I'm trying to say though?

[01:07:54] Microsoft is just not they're just not interested in

[01:07:57] playing this game.

[01:07:58] They just want results.

[01:08:00] They're not a games company.

[01:08:01] Yes, I buy into this.

[01:08:03] And I mean technically they are but they're not thinking like

[01:08:06] one they don't need to necessarily stick with any one particular

[01:08:10] idea for very I buy into this.

[01:08:13] Okay.

[01:08:14] I don't know.

[01:08:14] I think their long game is important in their back catalog

[01:08:17] to the other systems how long until they get a missed walker

[01:08:21] and some college students to get blue dragon onto everything

[01:08:24] else.

[01:08:25] It lost Odyssey and shit.

[01:08:29] I mean if you want to I mean if you want to go there you can

[01:08:31] go there too.

[01:08:32] They pander to Japan for like two years right with those games

[01:08:36] and they were going to try to do a little bit more on X bone

[01:08:39] with scale bound until they're like nah, we don't we don't need

[01:08:42] that.

[01:08:43] I remember a long time ago in 2007 when the fire and boom

[01:08:48] Brady and Dawn at a time when no one was giving a shit about

[01:08:51] the fire and they put that shot a week before Mario galaxy

[01:08:55] and that sold something like 350,000 copies.

[01:08:58] Like at the time like that's not bad for fire emblem but

[01:09:01] that's bad for we and that that that that that that that's

[01:09:04] why they are like doing this might be dead until awakening

[01:09:08] when it turned out nope it's good.

[01:09:11] Well I mean Animal Crossing City folks hold like 1.7

[01:09:15] million copies which is kind of trash right and then

[01:09:19] you think like okay that's significantly less than like

[01:09:21] the wild world what's going on here and then you know new

[01:09:24] leaf comes out and this gang busters new horizons comes

[01:09:27] out and it's one of the best selling games of all time.

[01:09:30] So sometimes you just need to stick with it and I think

[01:09:33] that's why Nintendo stuck with fire emblem now Microsoft

[01:09:36] would have cut bait a long time ago they would have cut

[01:09:38] bait before you even get to like DS they never took

[01:09:41] any of that seriously anyway do you remember when they

[01:09:44] said oh yeah go ahead rare go go make them GBA in DS

[01:09:47] games leave a pinata for DS why the fuck now we don't

[01:09:50] give a shit what did happen didn't it did he call racing

[01:09:55] DS you betcha I forgot well see okay that one I barely

[01:10:01] remember what the hell do you do in Viva Pinata DS I

[01:10:04] can't even imagine I played the original on 360 I couldn't

[01:10:09] either I just remember seeing it on the shelf forever I

[01:10:11] can say I touched it that game has to look like hot

[01:10:15] ass. So Square Enix released a shareholder statement

[01:10:22] titled notification of recognition of extraordinary losses

[01:10:28] oh boy guys let me just read it.

[01:10:35] Can you say that name again please please sure notification

[01:10:39] of recognition of extraordinary losses.

[01:10:42] That sounds like never mind what that sounds like because

[01:10:49] it goes to the tune of at the meeting convened on March

[01:10:53] 27th 2024 the board of directors of Square Enix holding

[01:10:57] co limited the company voted in light of the myriad

[01:11:01] changes underway in the environment surrounding its

[01:11:04] group to revise the group's approach to the development

[01:11:07] of high definition HD games with the intention of

[01:11:10] being more selective and focused in the allocation of

[01:11:13] development resources as a result of a close examination

[01:11:16] of the group's development pipeline undertaken in keeping

[01:11:19] with this revised approach the company expects to recognize

[01:11:22] approximately 22.1 billion yen in content abandonment losses

[01:11:28] on its books in the fiscal year ended March 2024.

[01:11:34] What does that mean for everything like all the

[01:11:36] small shit we like you know Alcari profile

[01:11:40] or for me things like bravely default or Octopath Traveler

[01:11:45] or anything else that's made in glorious HD 2D we done.

[01:11:52] I really don't know what this means.

[01:11:55] I'm confused and scared.

[01:11:57] I just got done playing Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth one of the

[01:11:59] best games I have played in a very long time and it makes

[01:12:04] me feel like that might be all they want to do.

[01:12:11] By the way 22 billion yen as a hundred and 42 million US

[01:12:15] dollars which is not a small amount of money for any company.

[01:12:21] So abandonment losses means that games they have certainly

[01:12:25] canceled right.

[01:12:26] That's what it means abandonment that stuff that was

[01:12:29] in development and that's the money they spent on developing

[01:12:32] those games now they're saying never mind.

[01:12:35] Or even if they maybe they just had plans for their life

[01:12:38] action live action life service that they had to bail on.

[01:12:43] Abelans fall if they had however much more planned for

[01:12:46] that but like nope.

[01:12:48] Yeah but like we can list them off right speaking of

[01:12:51] Babylon's fall we can just list them all off can't we

[01:12:54] Diofield Chronicle Star Ocean the divine force various

[01:13:00] day life Valkyrie Elysium for spoken Harvest Stella stranger

[01:13:08] of paradise Final Fantasy Origin fucking foam stars

[01:13:13] probably right like I haven't played most of these games

[01:13:17] and neither has anyone else like some of them have their

[01:13:20] fans but that doesn't mean that they did well.

[01:13:23] Like I've heard a few people I mean I think you said a

[01:13:25] few nice things about Harvest Stella.

[01:13:28] I love Harvest Stella and one day I'm even going to finish it.

[01:13:34] Hey I mean you know but that doesn't mean that they're doing

[01:13:37] anything in the market here point being it sounds like

[01:13:41] Square is done with things that just don't sell well which

[01:13:45] does make me fear for all Final Fantasy all the time.

[01:13:48] Steve I really want to believe there's some room for the

[01:13:53] actual Nishi titles in the Square Enix catalog.

[01:13:58] Like if they didn't keep hanging their hopes on live

[01:14:00] service garbage I would think it would be a no brainer to

[01:14:02] let in HD 2D or Harvest Stella slip in now and again.

[01:14:07] But if I learned anything across all of our creative endeavors

[01:14:11] is that no one ever learns the right lessons from any of

[01:14:13] these blunders like they're going to look at this like

[01:14:18] well I think it's about time for season 7 of foam stars.

[01:14:22] It's the big party that no one's going to there's no

[01:14:26] way that game is going to last that long.

[01:14:28] I'm not saying it's going to crash like Babylon's fall but

[01:14:31] like did anyone actually buy a copy of foam stars.

[01:14:35] I know we all got it for included with Roy L with cheese

[01:14:39] for the month but has anyone outside of that bubble actually

[01:14:45] purchased a copy of this game.

[01:14:48] I bet 99% of the players of this game are on PlayStation.

[01:14:52] No doubt.

[01:14:54] If it's on steam or whatever I have no idea but I'm just

[01:14:57] saying like there's just no way nobody else is nobody is

[01:15:01] playing this.

[01:15:03] I bet it's better than destruction all stars.

[01:15:06] I'm you know me I'm just of the mind where you need that

[01:15:08] diverse library I'm I'm playing Dragon Quest 11 on the

[01:15:12] side now and I'm scared for its future by the way that's

[01:15:15] a whole other topic but just in general but a square

[01:15:20] inch without Dragon Quest I can't even imagine it I

[01:15:22] know it's probably coming anyway but again another topic.

[01:15:26] They just it just seems like maybe Square will they've

[01:15:30] never Square's never known how to budget right we know that

[01:15:33] no but but I just again not to just put Nintendo Nintendo

[01:15:39] so good and virtuous up on a pedestal or anything like

[01:15:42] that but they know how to pitch a game and have it be

[01:15:49] the right price and have it look the right way and sell

[01:15:52] enough copies of that thing.

[01:15:55] Right like again we're talking about playing a long game

[01:15:58] Microsoft doesn't do it.

[01:16:01] One to switch came out as the switch launch it sold 89k

[01:16:05] that first month guess what it sold over 3 million copies

[01:16:09] and I bet that game didn't cost him anything they got

[01:16:13] some actors to do some funny FMV and that's it.

[01:16:16] So like they know how to return on investment like that

[01:16:21] and I don't think Square gets it where it's like dog a million

[01:16:26] people are not going to buy Harvestella.

[01:16:29] I remember them blowing a huge fit when 3 trillion people

[01:16:33] didn't buy.

[01:16:35] Oh my God for spoken.

[01:16:37] Yeah.

[01:16:38] Hmm everyone was supposed to everyone with a was supposed

[01:16:41] to buy a PlayStation 5 and for spoken in order to meet

[01:16:45] for our forecast like that was never going to happen.

[01:16:48] To first good please.

[01:16:53] Yeah even if it was good which it's not and you were talking

[01:16:56] about like you know the taking the wrong lessons away.

[01:17:00] That's what they're going to do because they're not going

[01:17:01] to go back and look at for spoken and be like well maybe

[01:17:04] we should have you know when we were changing this from

[01:17:07] Project Athea maybe we should have just inserted like a

[01:17:11] real world wisecracking girl and they're talking pet cuffs

[01:17:16] like maybe we should have just made a fucking like fantasy

[01:17:19] game like we know how to do instead of just focus testing

[01:17:22] this game to death and being like what do the people want

[01:17:27] what's going to sell to Americans.

[01:17:29] Right they could have just they could have just let the

[01:17:32] game be what it is before that that's what for spoken

[01:17:35] reeks of right that just reeks of corporate meddling

[01:17:38] at its finest and it's worst really but like

[01:17:43] they're not going to look within they're not going to be like

[01:17:45] hey maybe we shouldn't do that next time.

[01:17:47] They're just going to think well we just can't make any

[01:17:49] RPGs on our final fantasy.

[01:17:51] I'm not saying I need Octopath Traveler 3 but a future

[01:17:56] where we don't get a Dragon Quest 3 HD is scary to me.

[01:18:01] No that's coming out there's no way that's not coming

[01:18:04] out.

[01:18:04] I know it's kind of scary because we haven't heard of

[01:18:06] it in a few years but it's got it.

[01:18:08] It's got to happen right there's just no way it'll be the

[01:18:11] last good Dragon Quest game.

[01:18:14] I'm so scared about 12 it's not even funny that's another

[01:18:17] topic that's a whole other podcast.

[01:18:39] All right before we get out here you want to play a game

[01:18:43] let's play a game what do you got for me.

[01:18:45] Okay here's what I want to do it's a simple game.

[01:18:48] So I love jingles and games any jingles you know short short

[01:18:53] little clips of music that ground you everyone knows the

[01:18:56] Donkey Kong jingle when you see 25 meters or 50 meters or

[01:18:59] whatever right those jingles are sometimes better or more

[01:19:03] memorable I should say not necessarily better than actual

[01:19:06] music is sticking your head and one of our favorites

[01:19:09] between us maybe our favorite series between us I would

[01:19:13] say is Phoenix right and boy they have the jingles.

[01:19:16] They do have the jingles that it's I think each game has its

[01:19:20] own jingle they don't need to do it but they did.

[01:19:23] Yeah it's tradition now if they ever used a jingle it'd be

[01:19:26] like oh come on guys.

[01:19:28] I think they might have dressed up the first one in to use

[01:19:33] in a late in versus Phoenix right but that's what a lot

[01:19:38] of that game was dressing up a lot of the music in both

[01:19:40] of those but anyway.

[01:19:42] Yeah no that's appropriate for a crossover though you

[01:19:45] want to hear some like best of kind of stuff right but so

[01:19:49] here's what I want to do let's just figure out what our top

[01:19:52] three between us we have to agree on this jingles are the

[01:19:56] Phoenix right series now obviously there's six Phoenix

[01:19:58] right game so I have eight total here because I added the

[01:20:02] first great ace attorney one and Miles Edgeworth was

[01:20:07] it called investigations.

[01:20:09] It's a turning investigations.

[01:20:10] Yeah ace attorney investigations so we have eight on the

[01:20:12] board here let's just we'll go through them all we'll see what

[01:20:15] makes our top three again we have to agree so if we're really

[01:20:18] if we're really disparate on something we got to come to a

[01:20:22] consensus.

[01:20:24] Okay that's why I want to do this if we just have our

[01:20:26] separate list as might you know that's no fun I want us to

[01:20:29] argue okay that's what I'm trying to induce here on fine

[01:20:31] time.

[01:20:32] What if I don't like Phoenix right this whole time you

[01:20:35] were just lying to me and I can prove it now I'm just

[01:20:38] kidding.

[01:20:39] Okay let's start okay let's start with the original Phoenix

[01:20:46] right ace attorney.

[01:20:52] I said great I don't know if it'll make the top three but

[01:20:55] you know.

[01:20:59] Liv's rent free in my head but

[01:21:02] is that the one you remember the most I'd say so really

[01:21:06] is it just because it's the first one or just I played

[01:21:09] the first one a bunch so that might be it too.

[01:21:12] Okay so that's one obviously we don't have three yet to pick

[01:21:16] from or more than three but so let's just move on to justice

[01:21:19] for all the sequel.

[01:21:25] And I can already tell you I like that one more than ace

[01:21:27] attorney for sure.

[01:21:35] Well you might recall from that game the stakes were

[01:21:37] higher so the interstitial here also seems like it has

[01:21:42] more a higher sense of urgency.

[01:21:45] Yeah well that game has a very high sense of urgency as

[01:21:48] you all know trials and tribulations has a very heavy

[01:21:54] air about it very and I've always thought this jingle

[01:21:58] was a bit jaunty.

[01:22:02] For trials and tribulations it seems a little like happy

[01:22:06] for the tone of that game doesn't it.

[01:22:13] I like it a lot though that's my favorite out of the three

[01:22:16] I would say so far objectively I'd be going one three two

[01:22:21] so far.

[01:22:23] You think ace attorney is the best one this one

[01:22:29] until we get further in anyway yes.

[01:22:32] All right so that's three obviously okay now we're

[01:22:34] going to listen to Apollo justice and we're going to

[01:22:36] have to see if we're going to knock off one of these first

[01:22:38] three okay so here's Apollo justice ace attorney

[01:22:46] and I'm going to tell you right now this is my absolute

[01:22:49] favorite one.

[01:22:51] So I think it has I think it has to be here.

[01:22:58] Yeah it's the it's the tune of a guy that's in way over

[01:23:02] his head and that's what the game is about and it

[01:23:03] definitely fits here too so

[01:23:06] would you agree would you say it's the best one so far

[01:23:08] I could let the first ace attorney game slide a bit

[01:23:12] down in favor of Apollo justices so what so what's out

[01:23:16] that means justice for all is out this one.

[01:23:22] Yeah I'll have to let that go I guess okay yeah see it's good

[01:23:25] but I don't want to let go of trials and tribulations

[01:23:28] I like this one too much

[01:23:32] so I think that's a keeper as well as Apollo justice

[01:23:39] justice for all is great in the context of the game

[01:23:42] but if we're strictly ranking how the jingle sounds we got

[01:23:46] to go trials and tribulations at least you can take it

[01:23:48] I think we can take game into account.

[01:23:50] No I think that's because of what you said about Apollo

[01:23:53] justice is perfect.

[01:23:54] I think we can I think we can include that that's why I

[01:23:57] said what I said about trials and tribulations as well

[01:23:59] it feels a little like happy not as pensive as I might

[01:24:03] think for a game like that in that same thing I think

[01:24:06] you could stick

[01:24:08] justice for all in trials and tribulations and not

[01:24:10] miss a step though.

[01:24:12] Yes I absolutely agree with that.

[01:24:15] Okay so let's hear dual destinies.

[01:24:26] You know just got 2013 in here.

[01:24:30] I really like this one.

[01:24:37] It's so good right?

[01:24:39] That's a we're back in business theme because we all

[01:24:44] thought this wasn't coming back for a while.

[01:24:47] That's but more than any of them that feels like the most

[01:24:50] Phoenix right will be right back after these messages.

[01:24:59] Man maybe we have to stick to destinies on there now.

[01:25:04] See but I don't know where.

[01:25:07] I say we have to get rid of your baby ace attorney.

[01:25:09] Yeah maybe we do.

[01:25:11] Yeah right so I think right now we have we have the

[01:25:15] we have trials and tribulations Apollo justice

[01:25:18] and dual destinies.

[01:25:20] I think we have to we have to get rid of this one.

[01:25:25] Fine we'll put it away for now.

[01:25:27] Okay we'll put it away.

[01:25:29] Okay let's listen to spirit of justice.

[01:25:39] You know it's not bad but I don't think it's top three.

[01:25:49] It's not bad at all and it definitely hooked me in

[01:25:52] when I was playing it but

[01:25:55] in this situation when you're having me rank them all

[01:25:57] one after the other no it's not

[01:26:00] I wouldn't stick this in anywhere at all no.

[01:26:04] Well obviously all of these are good.

[01:26:07] No they're all good none of these are bad.

[01:26:09] Yeah none of these are bad we're just putting them against

[01:26:12] each other yeah spirit of justice doesn't really I just

[01:26:15] kind of feel like it's a not as good version of

[01:26:22] of dual destiny here the dual destinies rather.

[01:26:26] Well we're no we're absolutely not going to move it out of

[01:26:28] the way of the way of dual destinies so no.

[01:26:32] And we're definitely not getting rid of Apollo justice.

[01:26:38] We that's a keeper.

[01:26:40] So okay yeah spirit of justice sorry you don't make the top

[01:26:43] three all right let's listen to our two bonus ones and see

[01:26:46] if they make the cut let's hear great ace attorney.

[01:26:57] Steve it's got to be on there huh.

[01:27:02] It's got to at least be number three.

[01:27:04] It's got to be there huh or or not higher.

[01:27:12] I mean obviously they dressed it up for the time period

[01:27:15] but the way you know they're like setting you down gently for

[01:27:19] in between the you know the for save time so like okay we

[01:27:23] could take a breather here like we made it through the

[01:27:28] gauntlet for now we can we could take a breather.

[01:27:31] But now see now we're getting down to it what do we cut

[01:27:35] trials and tribulations.

[01:27:41] Maybe I hate to do that but I think we might have to

[01:27:44] I don't like it either but that might have to go because I

[01:27:47] don't want to get rid of dual destinies for a second.

[01:27:50] Yeah we're not getting rid of dual destinies which is this

[01:27:56] and we're not getting rid of again Apollo justice which is

[01:27:58] this.

[01:28:03] I think I think those have to stay so trials and tribulations

[01:28:06] unfortunately.

[01:28:09] It's wild we're not even going to have anything from the

[01:28:12] original trilogy in here I did not expect it going this

[01:28:14] way.

[01:28:15] I didn't either and it's not that the original trilogy is

[01:28:17] bad it's just that they figured it out better as we

[01:28:19] went along.

[01:28:21] Yeah I mean the original is around Game Boy Advance I mean

[01:28:25] yeah did their best but.

[01:28:27] Well I mean that music is still obviously you know Jesus

[01:28:31] Christ.

[01:28:32] Okay we got one more which is Miles almost said Miles

[01:28:35] attorney.

[01:28:37] Miles Edgeworth Ace Attorney investigation so let's hear it.

[01:28:46] It's almost too obvious but I can't it's not bad again

[01:28:49] but I'm not sticking it on this list.

[01:28:51] It's not a top three is it's not.

[01:28:57] It's hard knows like Edgeworth tries to be I get it but

[01:29:02] it's not an all-timer.

[01:29:04] Yeah unfortunately oh well okay yeah so that yeah see all

[01:29:10] of these are good that's what makes it tough it's not

[01:29:12] like we we went through any of these is like okay that

[01:29:14] definitely isn't here we at least had to consider each

[01:29:17] one.

[01:29:18] All right so our top three is Apollo justice Ace Attorney

[01:29:26] Phoenix Wright dual destinies and the Great Ace Attorney.

[01:29:41] I'm sorry trials and tribulations I wanted to have you but

[01:29:44] yeah remember when Nintendo had the Touch Generations game

[01:29:49] that line on DS like brain age and shit.

[01:29:52] I think that's what that was the kind of image they were

[01:29:56] trying to make that that last great Ace Attorney

[01:29:58] is just oh yes I'm sitting here with my coffee in my

[01:30:01] giant stylus by my jumbo screen DS solving cases.

[01:30:08] That's what they try to do with hotel dusk the holding it

[01:30:11] like a book it's like I'm looking at this very sophisticated

[01:30:15] art style with these sketchy lines and I am drawing in my

[01:30:18] DS smoking a pipe.

[01:30:20] God I hope that's coming to switch to you know what though

[01:30:24] yeah well I mean it's the same situation as another code

[01:30:26] we didn't get the second one because Nintendo of America

[01:30:29] hates us at back then so I ended up getting an import copy

[01:30:33] but we still need that for everybody.

[01:30:37] Well yeah I mean that.

[01:30:39] Fuck I mean I know Kevin wouldn't put this as a place

[01:30:42] or bets because he doesn't know enough about that type of

[01:30:44] shit but like if he were to put that in will that be in

[01:30:48] the June Direct.

[01:30:50] Oh I would I would have I would have to put something

[01:30:54] on it maybe not much but look I got to make up my money

[01:30:57] still so you're right.

[01:31:00] All right should we get the fuck out of here.

[01:31:02] You're ready to do something else.

[01:31:05] The sooner I leave the sooner I have to start playing

[01:31:08] something else and I don't want to go to the Wonderworld.

[01:31:14] You got to go to the Wonderworld buddy.

[01:31:17] Look forward to that next big deal until then we're

[01:31:20] going to get out of here follow us on Twitter at

[01:31:22] fine time podcast or check the description of this

[01:31:25] podcast to find our names on Blue Sky see you next time.

[01:31:28] Bye.