Ep. 50 - PAX East 24 Roundup & Dragon's Dogma 2 Impressions!

[00:00:30] Welcome, welcome everyone to season three of the Friday Night Gamecast, a dedicated

[00:00:38] video game podcast where two best friends come together to celebrate games and bring

[00:00:42] you industry news, game impressions, reviews and more.

[00:00:44] I'm your host Nick and I'm joined by the one and only Will.

[00:00:48] We're back baby.

[00:00:50] Let's go.

[00:00:53] We made it back.

[00:00:54] We made it back.

[00:00:55] It's season three episode 50 of the Friday Night Gamecast.

[00:00:58] It's been a while.

[00:00:59] It's been too long.

[00:01:00] Too long.

[00:01:01] Someone say right?

[00:01:02] Yep.

[00:01:03] Too long.

[00:01:04] Well, how are you doing?

[00:01:05] I'm doing well.

[00:01:06] Can't complain.

[00:01:07] Ready to get back into the swing of things.

[00:01:08] You know, we had a real fun trip to kind of break us off into season three that we're

[00:01:10] going to be talking about.

[00:01:11] So I'm just happy to be back in the stew, back in the stew with the boy.

[00:01:14] That's right.

[00:01:15] We're back in.

[00:01:16] We're locked in.

[00:01:17] We got a good docket of programming coming up for everybody this year.

[00:01:20] And I think that things have been great.

[00:01:22] Things have been great.

[00:01:23] I'm just saying it's been a really long break for me.

[00:01:25] Just being back here and kind of packs is huge revitalization for me.

[00:01:30] And, you know, not to bury the lead for everybody, but that's what this show is

[00:01:33] about. It's about big picks.

[00:01:34] Yeah, we're going to be talking about packs and we're going to be doing

[00:01:36] some impressions for Dragon's Dogma too.

[00:01:39] So for everybody who has just a Capcom

[00:01:41] aficionado out there, stay tuned for that.

[00:01:43] We're going to be locking in.

[00:01:44] But before we do that really quickly, I'd like to thank our wonderful

[00:01:47] patrons for their continued support over our extended break.

[00:01:50] I had all types of grandiose plans to be giving our patrons content

[00:01:54] while we were on break.

[00:01:55] However, I think it was just I needed a nice reset rest to sit back

[00:01:58] and just game and just like monitor what's going on out there.

[00:02:02] I did a couple of features, but you know, huge thank you to Lady Blake

[00:02:05] Plox, Y.A. Peerberg, Day Jackson, Intergalactic Pinecone, Fabulous Brianna,

[00:02:09] Chris Ware, Eric Guess, Rick Firestone, Chris of a novel console,

[00:02:13] David C. and J.D. You're all great.

[00:02:16] Thank you so much.

[00:02:16] Appreciate you. Appreciate you.

[00:02:18] Like to jump into some housekeeping really quick when we get into season three.

[00:02:23] As I said before, and kind of mentioned we had been doing,

[00:02:25] I have been doing some features.

[00:02:27] I can't remember if you've been able to jump on any shows recently.

[00:02:31] It was close, close, but yeah, I ended up getting into it.

[00:02:34] So unfortunately, shout out to the boys did not make it on there.

[00:02:36] But I'm excited to top in and then hopefully get a couple

[00:02:39] of little features here and there.

[00:02:40] I have a little incoming, so not going to not going to spoil it

[00:02:43] for the people that we have coming up.

[00:02:45] What are you doing? I don't know about this.

[00:02:47] I'm doing a little something.

[00:02:48] I told you about it.

[00:02:50] I think you did tell me about it.

[00:02:51] I'm going to be doing a double header.

[00:02:52] So I'll come here, do ours and then I'll be in the stew doing my little aspect.

[00:02:57] OK, perfect, perfect.

[00:02:59] But for those who have not caught some of the features that I've done

[00:03:02] on some of our friends of the show guest guest show podcasts,

[00:03:06] I jumped on Dave Jackson's show Tales from the Backlog to talk about

[00:03:11] my experiences finishing properly, Resident Evil 2 Remake.

[00:03:14] That's very impressed. On standard difficulty.

[00:03:16] I was impressed. I was impressed.

[00:03:17] S-Frank, you went and did it.

[00:03:18] Three hours. I did the damn thing.

[00:03:20] Not bad. Not bad at all.

[00:03:21] So I was very happy to jump in there.

[00:03:23] So that's a really, really good episode.

[00:03:24] Dave was really happy with how that performed.

[00:03:27] So let's go ahead and give him a few more clicks.

[00:03:29] Give him some boost if you haven't been over there.

[00:03:30] It's just Tales from the Backlog.

[00:03:32] And you'll find me on that Resident Evil 2 episode.

[00:03:35] I also had the opportunity to jump in with the Elder Trolls Gaming Podcast.

[00:03:39] Good friends and contributors to the show.

[00:03:41] Nate, Jonah and Dan.

[00:03:43] And we also had Naive join us on the Elder Trolls Gaming Podcast

[00:03:47] to talk about Phantom Liberty, which was a game that I played and completed.

[00:03:51] And I'm going to get to really quickly here after we stop.

[00:03:54] So that's just a little bit of housekeeping coming up.

[00:03:56] And then overall we have a little special thing

[00:03:58] that I'll tease when we talk about our gaming updates.

[00:04:00] But that is everything on my end, Will.

[00:04:03] Did you have anything off the top or anything that I've missed so far?

[00:04:06] Because it's been months.

[00:04:07] Yeah, it's been a minute.

[00:04:08] So I'm trying to think as far as housekeeping.

[00:04:09] Not a whole ton.

[00:04:10] I mean, we're just good to be back.

[00:04:12] And like you mentioned, as far as some of the plugs you've been doing,

[00:04:14] make sure y'all please go check those out.

[00:04:16] Excellent, excellent episodes between over there

[00:04:19] out the Elder Trolls as well as Dave Jackson's Tales from the Backlog.

[00:04:22] So it'll be a nice way to get you re-energized as we start this new season.

[00:04:26] That's right. That's right.

[00:04:28] But let's go ahead and jump into our gaming updates.

[00:04:31] And this is going to be gaming updates for the past few months

[00:04:34] since it's as of the day to this recording, it's Easter.

[00:04:37] Hefty, hefty, hefty.

[00:04:38] And so it's like been three months, four months, I guess,

[00:04:41] because we ended at the very beginning in December.

[00:04:44] I probably have the bulk of it.

[00:04:46] So I'm going to ask you to jump in first and let me know, Will,

[00:04:48] what have you been playing?

[00:04:50] It has been the year of two.

[00:04:51] So I was doing Hell Divers 2, which I will go on record as saying I was wrong.

[00:04:57] I think if you listen back to one of our older episodes,

[00:05:00] where we looked at the state of play that it was initially shown at Sony,

[00:05:04] I was dogging this game.

[00:05:05] I was like, oh, what is this EDF trash?

[00:05:08] Who wants to shoot bugs?

[00:05:10] This looks whack could not have been more wrong.

[00:05:13] This game was my life since it came out till about the time

[00:05:16] Dragon's Dogma came out, so it was a huge blast.

[00:05:20] Just love the actual

[00:05:23] co-op aspect of it going in, taking out the PvE is undefeated.

[00:05:26] Right? If you get a couple of friends, you go do that kind of horde mode

[00:05:29] asking this was my first time truly playing a extraction shooter.

[00:05:33] So, you know, you go in, hit the hotspots, get out.

[00:05:36] But it was just a complete blast of a time, obviously made even more fun

[00:05:39] when playing with friends, but surprisingly fun playing with randoms

[00:05:42] and just making sure that you're all doing the right thing as those

[00:05:44] difficulties scale up and you get crazier and crazier bugs,

[00:05:48] you know, charges from your left, biotitans on your right.

[00:05:50] And then of course, don't even get me started on the terminators.

[00:05:53] Those automatons, those clankers, those clankers, the clankers spill oil.

[00:05:58] Well, you got to spill oil.

[00:06:00] You know, I jumping in this game and playing with you.

[00:06:02] This is probably the first game in a long time.

[00:06:04] Since probably like the Gears of War, Halo Reach, Halo Three Days

[00:06:09] where I found myself playing it and not getting overly frustrated

[00:06:12] with dying or the mechanics that were built into the game with people being crazy.

[00:06:16] Obviously, it's a PvE extraction shooter, but I had such a good time.

[00:06:20] I had such a good time playing with you, Shady, the rest of the boys,

[00:06:23] putting peace with all of our friends who join us, you know,

[00:06:26] whenever we are gaming online.

[00:06:28] And it's just it shout out to the developers for the game.

[00:06:30] Error Hit Studios is doing a really great thing.

[00:06:33] And they made such a good call by going from like the top down,

[00:06:37] you know, command and conquer isometric view for hell divers

[00:06:40] into this third person over the shoulder shooter.

[00:06:42] And, you know, shout out to them too for staying away from microtransactions.

[00:06:46] And, you know, obviously they're having it in the game.

[00:06:47] It's supporting the development cycle.

[00:06:49] It's going to support them continuing in the future.

[00:06:51] But it's not a play to it's not a pay to win strategy.

[00:06:54] It's like you can pay if you want to, not necessary.

[00:06:56] You still got to sit there and work hard and get those actual medals.

[00:06:59] You know, yeah, the paying part generally would just allow you to get

[00:07:03] the premium pass or maybe unlock some new armor, which is mostly cosmetic.

[00:07:08] There are a couple of things here and there, but there's no real.

[00:07:11] Hey, this one armor has this one OP class skill.

[00:07:15] Any of the OP class skills you can consider, whether it be surviving

[00:07:18] a lethal hit or packing on two more Stem Packs, packing on two more grenades.

[00:07:23] There are multiple pieces of armor that have those different updates.

[00:07:26] So yeah, it's very refreshing as far as being able to make yourself look cool

[00:07:30] without having to shell out additional money for it.

[00:07:32] Should you not want to.

[00:07:33] And even if you do want to spend those super credits that they have available,

[00:07:37] those are things that you can easily find in game.

[00:07:39] Yeah, you can find them.

[00:07:40] Long as you're just running around and exploring to the best of your ability,

[00:07:43] which you should do with these 40 minute long, larger world missions.

[00:07:47] Then you're going to be able to just naturally get enough to buy yourself

[00:07:50] a pass or buy yourself some cool armor.

[00:07:52] Yeah, it's a little bit of a grind.

[00:07:54] But once you get all the kind of equipment like the shield or maybe

[00:07:57] the rover, it's going to really help you to kind of do some more over.

[00:08:00] Yeah, I know.

[00:08:01] Right. The guard dog shoots you in the back.

[00:08:03] Yeah, fantastic.

[00:08:05] But yeah, so Hell divers has been great.

[00:08:08] And I got to say I got a shout out to you for like and I think I know why

[00:08:13] you love it so much is because you told me this and I didn't realize this.

[00:08:16] And I want to share this with everybody on the show

[00:08:18] that Starship Troopers is one of your favorite movies of all time from like

[00:08:22] that era. And I went back and watched it.

[00:08:24] And I was so surprised at how good that movie was and how cool the VFX were.

[00:08:29] Are you surprised? I told you it was my favorite.

[00:08:30] I mean, I mean, I should be surprised.

[00:08:33] I only like quality.

[00:08:34] But I was just thinking of like watching it and it just being

[00:08:38] cornball in terms of the special effects that were in the thing.

[00:08:41] Because it's because it's a product of this time.

[00:08:43] And I think if you go back, yeah, it's not going to be as cool or new

[00:08:46] as the newest Marvel or, you know, I don't want to say DC because DC

[00:08:50] officials are terrible.

[00:08:51] But like some of the some of the best stuff that you've seen.

[00:08:53] It's no it's going to be nothing from like Deneva New or anything

[00:08:57] like that. But it was honestly captivating watching the ships and stuff

[00:09:01] and then getting destroyed as they're trying to go over the bug planet.

[00:09:04] It was it was awesome, really cool.

[00:09:05] So and that's there's a lot of energy that's baked in hell.

[00:09:07] Diver see and just even outside of the game, too.

[00:09:09] I just love how the community has really taken on this game

[00:09:13] and just ran with how crazy things are, you know, seeing all the fan art

[00:09:18] seeing people on the PlayStation and PC side because this is a fairly

[00:09:22] exclusive title, you know, PC and PlayStation.

[00:09:24] So yeah, exclusive exclusive.

[00:09:25] But it's effectively, you know, not on Xbox, not on Nintendo,

[00:09:28] but people are on Xbox or like clamoring for it.

[00:09:30] They're like, please let us help.

[00:09:31] Yeah. And I would love to give it to Xbox.

[00:09:33] I don't know if it's a timed exclusivity thing that where it's like

[00:09:36] PlayStation says that you can have it on Steam,

[00:09:38] but only Steam and PlayStation for a certain time.

[00:09:40] I'm not sure when it gets loaded up and you get those initial

[00:09:43] kind of loaded screens, you're getting that PlayStation logo

[00:09:45] with the hell diver stuff in the background.

[00:09:47] So I feel like because they bankrolled at least to a degree

[00:09:50] to my knowledge, it's realistically going to be PC slash PlayStation only.

[00:09:55] But I guess never say never, right?

[00:09:57] You know, things could happen and maybe we can see some some Xbox

[00:09:59] reinforcements come from the ODST side.

[00:10:01] Yeah. And I mean, the hype cycle will be off of this game by that point.

[00:10:04] But I mean, you impossible.

[00:10:05] Yeah, I mean, impossible every time democracy never dies roll out, man.

[00:10:09] People just jump on it.

[00:10:10] So awesome. Like going to, I know Reddit is tacky, right?

[00:10:13] But going onto the Reddit or going on Twitter and seeing the people

[00:10:17] that make this art or chat about it or, you know, interact with

[00:10:20] the CEO who the CEO on Twitter is just a baller.

[00:10:23] Like it's so funny watching him interact with the different teams

[00:10:26] and the different players.

[00:10:28] And I don't know everything about this game just feels so special.

[00:10:31] It has issues, obviously, I can't pretend like it's perfect,

[00:10:33] but it's one of those things where I feel like hopefully by the time

[00:10:36] we get to the end of this year, it's at least in the conversation

[00:10:39] as far as a game of the year because a game like this deserves

[00:10:42] some continued recognition, especially how the devs have been putting

[00:10:45] in so much work behind the scenes.

[00:10:46] Yeah, I think they have like a live service category or an ongoing

[00:10:49] ongoing game or something.

[00:10:51] And it's got to be it's got to be up there with for the contribution,

[00:10:54] if not in the action title.

[00:10:55] It's it's really interesting seeing kind of the evolution of the game.

[00:10:59] But I'm going to what I'm more curious about is the game that you had

[00:11:03] been sleep deprived over for the last two nights.

[00:11:06] And that is Dragon's Dogma.

[00:11:08] We've been talking about this look.

[00:11:09] I said I knew when this game came out 2024 before Helldivers

[00:11:13] 2 came and knocked my socks off.

[00:11:14] I was like, I only care about two games in this next two years.

[00:11:17] 2024 is going to be Dragon's Dogma.

[00:11:18] 2025 was going to be GTA 6.

[00:11:20] And Dragon's Dogma came out to people hating on it.

[00:11:24] Understandably, so plenty of issues.

[00:11:26] Lots of things wrong with that.

[00:11:27] I can't pretend like once again, it's a perfect game, but it's

[00:11:30] giving me so much of what I wanted from that first game, which

[00:11:32] I played a little bit of during the break going into

[00:11:36] Dragon's Dogma 2 that I'm just ecstatic, like making your

[00:11:40] pawns, having the pawns all run around, all these great

[00:11:42] mechanics like your pawns catching you, things that I always

[00:11:45] happen to me.

[00:11:46] That moment happened to me last night when I was playing

[00:11:49] and I was like, fuck, that's cool.

[00:11:51] It's so cool.

[00:11:52] And there was another time where I was playing it and it was

[00:11:55] like I was like running around with my two pawns or maybe

[00:11:58] it was three because I had my your main one and then two

[00:12:01] additional purchase.

[00:12:02] Yeah.

[00:12:02] And so the four of us running around and then we like jumped

[00:12:05] in this camp.

[00:12:05] But I think it might have been a situation where none of

[00:12:07] us got hit by the goblins and we just slaughtered them

[00:12:10] in like five seconds.

[00:12:11] And when I finished, I had a mage with me dapped me up.

[00:12:14] You got to give me a dab.

[00:12:15] And I was like, I like this game.

[00:12:17] This game is getting cooler by the second because I've seen a

[00:12:20] couple of fights where the end, you know, they get like the

[00:12:22] classic kind of hand clap as you're walking by.

[00:12:24] But similar to what you were saying there, I ended up just

[00:12:26] routing a goblin camp and I was just standing like side by

[00:12:29] side with my main pawn primrose.

[00:12:31] And she just gave me like a nice little side dap and I was

[00:12:33] like, let's go.

[00:12:34] Like we're handling this.

[00:12:36] I can take on anything.

[00:12:37] And then a griffon swoops from the sky and starts

[00:12:39] screaming.

[00:12:40] I'm a obliterate.

[00:12:40] Oh, oh, whoopsie daisy.

[00:12:44] Yeah.

[00:12:44] So cool.

[00:12:45] No, that's the thing about it, man.

[00:12:46] That game, it is just it's obviously it's Dragon's

[00:12:49] Dogma 2.

[00:12:49] So you have that base level, but they've brought in so much

[00:12:52] of that beautiful DNA from the first game just amped up to

[00:12:55] 11.

[00:12:55] Like you are running around and the whole point is

[00:12:58] exploration.

[00:12:59] So I get people talking about the micro transactions and

[00:13:01] the port crystals and the fairy stones, etc.

[00:13:03] I will say one, maybe I haven't been looking for it

[00:13:05] to, but I haven't had any overt like, oh, you're

[00:13:08] trying to do something go to the store and buy it.

[00:13:10] Like if you have to go to the store to buy

[00:13:11] something, I feel like you kind of have to go out of

[00:13:13] your way or at least go into a separate menu to go

[00:13:15] purchase it versus them giving you pop ups in

[00:13:18] game to go buy new things with those micro

[00:13:20] transactions.

[00:13:21] Yeah, I haven't been popping up on my face, which is

[00:13:23] nice.

[00:13:23] Yeah.

[00:13:24] And then going from there, you're able to just

[00:13:27] run around, find the things from yourself.

[00:13:29] You know, if you're looking for fairy stones,

[00:13:30] pork, crystals, etc.

[00:13:31] Just takes exploration, which is the whole name of

[00:13:33] Dragon's Dogma, right?

[00:13:34] You have the ability to fast travel.

[00:13:37] They have the ox carts now, which are very nice

[00:13:39] ways to kind of get back and forth from places

[00:13:40] without having to just walk on foot, which can be

[00:13:43] very arduous.

[00:13:45] And also lead you to deplete your resources.

[00:13:47] Yeah.

[00:13:47] So but even then running around with ox carts,

[00:13:49] you know, you can doze off to try to make it fast

[00:13:51] and then you might wake up into the middle

[00:13:52] of a goblin attack.

[00:13:53] So then you're sitting there going crazy,

[00:13:55] back and forth, slicing up a couple of

[00:13:57] goblins, people get jumped, your pawn picks

[00:14:00] up a goblin and throws them off a cliff

[00:14:01] because they saw you do it one time.

[00:14:03] So they're like, oh, that's a cool way

[00:14:04] to defeat an enemy and they just copy you.

[00:14:06] Yeah.

[00:14:06] Which is so awesome.

[00:14:08] You finish that up.

[00:14:08] You know, everyone gives these are the

[00:14:09] high fives and claps right before you get

[00:14:11] back into the cart.

[00:14:13] Boom, Cyclops comes rumbling out of the woods

[00:14:15] because he heard a bunch of noise.

[00:14:17] And now you have to fight that.

[00:14:18] There is nothing scarier, especially

[00:14:20] early game and it was just like this in

[00:14:22] Dragons Dogma one where you finish up

[00:14:24] a hard combat encounter, maybe you're

[00:14:26] deep, deep in a cave and you need

[00:14:29] to have your lantern because you've

[00:14:30] been running around at night like it's

[00:14:31] pitch black, which is beautiful.

[00:14:32] That's exactly how they need to keep it.

[00:14:34] Or maybe you're out in the woods

[00:14:35] and you're running around in your

[00:14:36] low on resources.

[00:14:37] You haven't camped yet.

[00:14:38] You're getting that dragons, not

[00:14:41] dragons dogma that Dark Souls ask

[00:14:42] where, hey, you take a certain amount

[00:14:44] of health and your health can only go

[00:14:45] max up to a certain level unless you

[00:14:47] rest or heal yourself at an end.

[00:14:50] But going from there and then the

[00:14:51] worst thing is being tired, ragged,

[00:14:54] beaten down all your people all kind

[00:14:55] of jacked up.

[00:14:56] And then you see that health bar pop

[00:14:58] up at the top of your screen.

[00:14:59] It is not just a big old purple

[00:15:00] health bar, but it has three dots

[00:15:02] underneath.

[00:15:02] So you got to go through four

[00:15:04] health bars before you take that.

[00:15:06] Oof.

[00:15:07] I had that happen to me.

[00:15:08] I was in the bottom of a cave.

[00:15:09] I just gone through a sorry and

[00:15:10] hell hole and it was me just

[00:15:12] completely ragged 100 max health

[00:15:14] because I had taken so much damage

[00:15:16] and then I went to go open up a

[00:15:17] chest at my reward, right?

[00:15:19] I was rewarded with a white.

[00:15:20] So now I have to fight this ghost

[00:15:22] with four health bars that doesn't

[00:15:25] take magic, magic damage or rather

[00:15:26] only takes magic damage.

[00:15:28] I am an archer.

[00:15:29] So thank God I had a mage with

[00:15:31] me. Yeah, to shady with his

[00:15:33] his major was helping me out a

[00:15:34] couple of days in a row.

[00:15:36] I need to get both of your

[00:15:37] I need to get both of your names

[00:15:38] or whatever because I got to get

[00:15:39] it on the menu and get your

[00:15:40] pawns.

[00:15:41] Yeah, yeah.

[00:15:41] So my problems are very basic

[00:15:43] and as a whole thing about it too,

[00:15:43] you have friends you can share

[00:15:45] your pawns back and forth for

[00:15:46] free.

[00:15:47] So yeah, normally if you're one

[00:15:49] level or more, it exponentially

[00:15:51] increases how much it costs to

[00:15:53] hire that pawn if they're

[00:15:54] significantly higher level than

[00:15:55] you.

[00:15:55] Yeah.

[00:15:56] But if you have a friend who

[00:15:57] may be level 30 in your level

[00:15:58] 10, you can hire that level 30

[00:15:59] pawn for free, which is nice.

[00:16:02] Got a question for you.

[00:16:03] When you're playing because I

[00:16:05] chose I chose a thief build.

[00:16:06] Okay, so I'm trying to do a

[00:16:07] thief.

[00:16:08] Yeah, it's easy.

[00:16:08] Really cool.

[00:16:09] It's really cool.

[00:16:10] And I like the different daggers

[00:16:11] and stuff.

[00:16:13] When I'm out in the open world

[00:16:15] and I'm fighting harpies and I

[00:16:16] haven't come across a griffin

[00:16:17] thing goodness yet.

[00:16:20] But when I'm fighting these aerial

[00:16:21] enemies that up in the air, your

[00:16:23] dude can only my character can

[00:16:25] only jump a little bit and like

[00:16:26] do a little stabby stab or do

[00:16:27] like a little downward strike.

[00:16:29] If I'm jumping from higher up

[00:16:31] above, you know, onto a

[00:16:32] goblin or you know, rogue or

[00:16:33] whatever.

[00:16:34] Yeah.

[00:16:35] And I have some archers and I

[00:16:36] have a mage in my party, but

[00:16:38] like how am I supposed to get

[00:16:39] those aerial enemies down to my

[00:16:41] level? Like do you get magic

[00:16:42] spells that she can do at some

[00:16:43] point? Like what's the strat

[00:16:44] for that? To a degree as a thief,

[00:16:46] you can increase yourself with

[00:16:48] some magic and they have

[00:16:48] different vocations that you

[00:16:49] can of course switch to and

[00:16:50] make things easier for

[00:16:51] yourself.

[00:16:52] But that's the importance,

[00:16:53] especially early on, of well

[00:16:54] rounding out your party.

[00:16:55] Give yourself a mage.

[00:16:57] Give yourself a rogue

[00:16:59] somebody with some range

[00:17:00] capabilities because a couple

[00:17:02] of arrows will drop the

[00:17:02] harpies and then they're on

[00:17:03] the floor for you to attack.

[00:17:05] Okay.

[00:17:05] Give yourself a fighter or

[00:17:07] potentially a two hand weapon

[00:17:10] wielder, somebody who can draw

[00:17:11] aggro.

[00:17:12] So that's the important part of

[00:17:13] as far as just making sure that

[00:17:14] you're well rounded like

[00:17:15] realistically, especially early

[00:17:16] level, you're not going to have

[00:17:17] a whole lot of tools as a

[00:17:18] thief to pull somebody out of

[00:17:20] the sky.

[00:17:20] But you should have a mage, you

[00:17:21] should have a rogue, you should

[00:17:22] have somebody.

[00:17:23] So it's just for now hanging

[00:17:24] back until they can bring

[00:17:25] them down.

[00:17:26] Yeah.

[00:17:26] And then jumping in for a

[00:17:27] killing.

[00:17:27] Exactly. Or you can draw them

[00:17:28] to you because especially

[00:17:29] harpies, they like to swoop

[00:17:30] down and I don't know if you've

[00:17:31] seen it happen already, but

[00:17:32] they'll pick you up or

[00:17:33] they'll pick up your pawn

[00:17:34] and kind of like fly off a little

[00:17:35] bit and try to drop them from a

[00:17:36] height to do damage.

[00:17:37] Yeah, no, they've just been

[00:17:38] putting me to sleep.

[00:17:39] Yep. So they do that too.

[00:17:41] Yeah, you can try to draw the

[00:17:42] aggro to you have them swoop

[00:17:43] down on you and then hit them

[00:17:45] with like an uppercut or do

[00:17:46] some cool thief moves.

[00:17:47] I know there's a helm splitter

[00:17:48] move where you can jump in the

[00:17:49] air and kind of spin down

[00:17:50] and like crush them.

[00:17:52] So it's awesome.

[00:17:53] It's very fun having a blast

[00:17:55] of a time.

[00:17:55] Yeah, having a really good time

[00:17:57] with it.

[00:17:57] So I just, you know, my

[00:17:58] thinking, I'm just going to

[00:17:59] jump in and just start talking

[00:18:01] about my experience as a dragon

[00:18:02] talking to me too.

[00:18:02] Well, I can't really share much

[00:18:05] more than beyond what you've

[00:18:06] already said, because you're

[00:18:07] going to be the definitive

[00:18:07] expert for this game.

[00:18:08] But of course, I

[00:18:10] think the game has been all

[00:18:11] right. I think what like my

[00:18:12] thoughts are so far is that

[00:18:14] I kind of spoiled myself

[00:18:16] or like like I ruined the

[00:18:18] experience a little bit for

[00:18:19] myself and maybe just lessened

[00:18:20] it a little bit because I

[00:18:21] played a build of Dragon

[00:18:24] Zogma 2 at Pax East at the

[00:18:25] aorist booth that they had

[00:18:27] there and they had this

[00:18:28] machine running on it was

[00:18:30] like an OLED, you know,

[00:18:31] 240 Hertz refresh rate

[00:18:33] monitor.

[00:18:34] They had it running on some

[00:18:35] 40 series GPU with like a

[00:18:37] bus in CPU inside of

[00:18:39] like they had all of the

[00:18:40] computers they had there were

[00:18:41] just all maxed out to

[00:18:43] the top of the range.

[00:18:44] Right? You're paying $4000

[00:18:46] for prebuilt pieces like this.

[00:18:48] Yeah, no, it was crazy.

[00:18:49] And so I'm playing

[00:18:50] Dragon Zogma 2 and it was

[00:18:52] crisp. It's clear.

[00:18:53] It's running at 80 frames

[00:18:54] outside and inside towns.

[00:18:56] Like it was just beautiful

[00:18:59] hands down.

[00:18:59] And so when I bought it

[00:19:00] and I started playing it

[00:19:01] and that inspired me to buy

[00:19:03] it on Steam and play it

[00:19:03] on my rig.

[00:19:04] Yep.

[00:19:05] And you know, I got 3070.

[00:19:06] I got a I got a Ryzen 7,

[00:19:09] you know, 12 core,

[00:19:10] pretty, pretty good CPUs.

[00:19:12] Not bad.

[00:19:13] It's it's mid range.

[00:19:14] It's respectable now.

[00:19:16] But yeah, I'm playing Dragon

[00:19:17] Zogma 2 and I'm

[00:19:18] you know, I'm in I'm in

[00:19:20] villages and I'm struggling

[00:19:21] between like 30 and 40 frames.

[00:19:24] And then it jumps up to

[00:19:25] like 60 between 1680

[00:19:26] when I'm out in the open

[00:19:27] world and stuff.

[00:19:28] But it's like trying to get

[00:19:29] the visuals, trying to

[00:19:30] capture, like adjust the

[00:19:31] settings, turning off the

[00:19:34] DLSS, turning off the

[00:19:37] you know, FSR that's in the game.

[00:19:39] And then they also have different

[00:19:40] like, you know,

[00:19:41] like shadows,

[00:19:43] configurations that you can turn

[00:19:45] off, different sliders that you

[00:19:46] can try to adjust and manipulate.

[00:19:47] And even when I'm online

[00:19:48] and I looked at different

[00:19:50] like ranges of builds

[00:19:52] for PCs and like what's

[00:19:53] the preferred settings

[00:19:54] for the type of build

[00:19:55] that you have.

[00:19:56] And I found something that

[00:19:56] works pretty well for me now.

[00:19:58] Some of the presets are good.

[00:19:59] So I encourage anybody

[00:20:00] who is playing on PC

[00:20:02] if you have

[00:20:03] you know, a relatively

[00:20:05] low to mid range GPU,

[00:20:07] just run with the presets

[00:20:08] and I think you'll be OK.

[00:20:09] But I definitely went deep dive

[00:20:11] to try to get it and look as

[00:20:12] crispy as possible.

[00:20:13] Crispy.

[00:20:14] Yeah, I think I think I did it.

[00:20:16] I think I got it right.

[00:20:16] But yeah, it's just, you know,

[00:20:17] playing the thief.

[00:20:18] It's been fun jumping through.

[00:20:19] I've just I haven't been like.

[00:20:22] I haven't had that feeling of

[00:20:24] like, fuck, I want to play

[00:20:25] Dragon's Dogma right now.

[00:20:26] I'd like I'm not captivated by

[00:20:27] it.

[00:20:28] And the reason why is because

[00:20:29] I'm smack dab in the middle

[00:20:31] of Final Fantasy 7 rebirth.

[00:20:33] And so my attention is drawn

[00:20:34] like and I realize now

[00:20:37] that the true way to play games

[00:20:39] like these and this is just

[00:20:40] from listening to other creators

[00:20:41] to or the true way to like get

[00:20:43] through games in a timely manner

[00:20:44] is just play one at a time.

[00:20:46] You can't split your attention.

[00:20:47] I do believe in having like a

[00:20:50] having like a single player

[00:20:51] game type of situation.

[00:20:52] Yeah, a single player game,

[00:20:53] but then like a bedtime game

[00:20:55] that you can do that you can

[00:20:56] fall asleep.

[00:20:56] It's my biscuits, right?

[00:20:57] Yeah, yeah.

[00:20:58] A little bit of like low

[00:21:00] sensory, low stimulation game

[00:21:01] that's like something that you

[00:21:03] could easily fall asleep to

[00:21:04] because it's got soft music.

[00:21:06] It's very relaxing.

[00:21:07] I do believe in that if that's

[00:21:08] something you want to do, people

[00:21:09] would argue with me, oh, the

[00:21:10] blue lights going to burn your

[00:21:11] retinas out like OK, fine.

[00:21:14] We'll talk when I'm 70.

[00:21:15] But for now, Final Fantasy 7

[00:21:18] rebirth has been incredible.

[00:21:20] So much more than I expected

[00:21:22] from the game.

[00:21:23] And there is a lot.

[00:21:25] They they do kind of

[00:21:26] they're making the game

[00:21:29] longer than it needs to be

[00:21:30] by building in these world

[00:21:31] intel events.

[00:21:32] So it goes from game to game.

[00:21:34] And it's not like one of the

[00:21:35] things that I appreciated

[00:21:36] about remake was the fact

[00:21:38] is that you're playing.

[00:21:39] And then at a certain point,

[00:21:40] you could just go from level

[00:21:41] to level to level.

[00:21:43] You can do some of the side

[00:21:44] quests and you can do some of

[00:21:45] the summons.

[00:21:46] You can do the chattel

[00:21:46] missions.

[00:21:47] I got to the point.

[00:21:48] Yeah, I got to the chattel.

[00:21:50] He returns, right?

[00:21:51] He's the one that's making

[00:21:52] it longer again in this game.

[00:21:53] But I decided that like I

[00:21:55] do want to get the summons.

[00:21:56] I do want to do all the

[00:21:57] world events because they make

[00:21:58] cloud and the team stronger.

[00:22:00] They contribute to the party

[00:22:01] level overall whenever you do

[00:22:03] that. So it's just smarter.

[00:22:04] So it's like, you don't get to

[00:22:05] end game and you're just

[00:22:06] struggling. You don't have to

[00:22:07] do it perfectly.

[00:22:07] You can take some shots from

[00:22:09] high level characters, that

[00:22:10] sort of thing.

[00:22:10] So I've been doing that.

[00:22:12] I've made it to Coast

[00:22:13] of Del Sol.

[00:22:14] So the beach, you know, big

[00:22:16] beach boys time out there

[00:22:17] with a family with a squad.

[00:22:19] And now I yeah,

[00:22:20] I ran into Yuri Lowenthal.

[00:22:23] He's he plays this character

[00:22:24] called Johnny who is

[00:22:26] yeah, and he sounds just

[00:22:27] like Spider-Man.

[00:22:28] He has done like no.

[00:22:29] He has no change.

[00:22:30] It's just Spider-Man

[00:22:31] that's in the game.

[00:22:32] And she's basically also

[00:22:33] in held.

[00:22:34] I also

[00:22:35] would like he's busy.

[00:22:37] He's getting business done.

[00:22:39] So big respect to him.

[00:22:40] But yeah, he plays this goofy

[00:22:42] character named Johnny who's

[00:22:43] trying to revitalize.

[00:22:45] He's trying to rebuild a hotel

[00:22:47] in Coast of Del Sol.

[00:22:48] And so he gets sold a loan

[00:22:51] for this property that's run

[00:22:53] down. Basically.

[00:22:54] He got he got got

[00:22:55] you got con by the mayor

[00:22:56] of Coast of Del Sol, which is

[00:22:57] really funny.

[00:22:58] But yeah, just continuing

[00:22:59] forward, I'm going up Mount

[00:23:00] Correll now.

[00:23:01] So dealing dealing with all the

[00:23:03] stuff there.

[00:23:03] I can't really get too far into

[00:23:05] it because I don't want to spoil

[00:23:05] it because this is everybody

[00:23:07] should be playing it right now

[00:23:08] unless people have flushed it

[00:23:10] for Dragon's Dogma.

[00:23:11] Yes, or what?

[00:23:12] No, don't don't encourage

[00:23:14] that behavior.

[00:23:15] Don't encourage.

[00:23:16] Come forth, or is it?

[00:23:17] No, no, stay stay dead.

[00:23:19] Stay stay dead.

[00:23:21] Let the dragon keep your heart

[00:23:22] in your chest.

[00:23:22] No, it's fine.

[00:23:24] It's fine.

[00:23:24] Anyway, so again, those are

[00:23:26] the two primaries that I've or

[00:23:28] like the one primary in the

[00:23:29] secondary that I've been playing

[00:23:31] one and two Final Fantasy Seven

[00:23:32] rebirth Dragon's Dogma two.

[00:23:34] And then what I had been playing

[00:23:36] before I got got really

[00:23:38] deep into rebirth in Dragon's

[00:23:39] Dogma was Persona three

[00:23:41] reloaded.

[00:23:42] OK, first time playing

[00:23:44] through Persona three.

[00:23:45] Nice. That's my first time

[00:23:46] playing through Persona three.

[00:23:47] And it's really, really cool,

[00:23:48] really fun.

[00:23:49] Obviously, it's Atlas sound

[00:23:51] team and the sound

[00:23:52] and the motion capture

[00:23:53] will rather the sound

[00:23:55] capture for everything and the

[00:23:56] score the design that they've

[00:23:58] done for the game.

[00:23:58] And just the like voice acting

[00:24:00] all all together is just

[00:24:02] incredible.

[00:24:03] That's a great experience.

[00:24:06] Yeah, I don't I couldn't find

[00:24:07] any famous voice actors in the

[00:24:09] game.

[00:24:09] I think there are definitely

[00:24:10] people who have been in the

[00:24:11] industry and they've done like

[00:24:12] anime and other stuff before,

[00:24:14] but nothing really pops out in

[00:24:15] my mind.

[00:24:16] I have to come back and

[00:24:17] relook at the cast for it.

[00:24:18] But it's a really, really cool

[00:24:20] one.

[00:24:20] It's just about some kids in

[00:24:21] high school and they're just

[00:24:22] trying to make it.

[00:24:23] And that's kind of seems

[00:24:24] to be just trying to try

[00:24:25] to make it day by day as they

[00:24:26] blow their own heads off.

[00:24:28] Persona, you know, it's just

[00:24:30] how they have to activate their

[00:24:31] inner power.

[00:24:32] I mean, I get it.

[00:24:32] If I had to go back to high

[00:24:33] school, I probably shoot myself

[00:24:34] in the head.

[00:24:35] So I mean, I get it.

[00:24:36] I mean, I've seen your high

[00:24:37] school pictures.

[00:24:37] You kind of look like what you

[00:24:38] wanted to when you were there.

[00:24:42] But no, it's it's really cool

[00:24:44] that they they're telling very

[00:24:45] interesting stories like there's

[00:24:46] a little girl whose family is

[00:24:47] going through a divorce and she

[00:24:49] kind of attaches to your main

[00:24:50] character because he's somebody

[00:24:51] that's kind of there.

[00:24:52] There's this old couple

[00:24:54] in every relationship that you

[00:24:56] make in the game because there's

[00:24:56] two parts of the game.

[00:24:57] There's one part where you're

[00:24:58] climbing the tower and the

[00:25:00] tower is

[00:25:03] it's the labyrinth.

[00:25:04] It's like it's named after the

[00:25:06] I can't remember all this up in

[00:25:07] my head.

[00:25:07] It's I'm I can't believe I

[00:25:08] can't remember it, but it's

[00:25:09] like the famous labyrinth from

[00:25:11] Greek mythology that you go

[00:25:12] into and it's like endless,

[00:25:13] right?

[00:25:14] So it's just a continuous

[00:25:15] climbing tower.

[00:25:17] And when you're in there,

[00:25:19] that's where the main fighting

[00:25:21] occurs, where you're basically

[00:25:22] doing turn based combat.

[00:25:23] It's very similar to to, you

[00:25:25] know, your Pokemon or other

[00:25:27] games where you're bringing out

[00:25:28] characters and your persona are

[00:25:30] very close to Pokemon where it's

[00:25:31] like each of them have different

[00:25:33] abilities and different

[00:25:34] elemental abilities.

[00:25:35] There are some that like aren't

[00:25:36] damage dealing, but they'll like

[00:25:38] imply a curse onto a shadow.

[00:25:40] And there are some that do like

[00:25:41] specific attacks or AoE attack.

[00:25:43] So you have like lightning fire

[00:25:45] ice.

[00:25:45] And the goal is to kind of

[00:25:47] target the enemy's weakness.

[00:25:49] And so you have one character

[00:25:50] who's like an operator whose

[00:25:51] job is primarily responsible to

[00:25:53] figure out the enemy's weakness.

[00:25:55] And so you just climb through the

[00:25:56] tower, you rinse repeat, you

[00:25:57] collect stuff while you're in

[00:25:58] there.

[00:25:59] The other side of that game is

[00:26:00] the social sim side where you're

[00:26:02] in school and you're building

[00:26:03] relationships with people.

[00:26:04] Some of it is other friends like

[00:26:06] the track team captain or,

[00:26:08] you know, the student council

[00:26:09] president.

[00:26:10] So there's there's all sorts of

[00:26:12] different characters that are

[00:26:12] in the game.

[00:26:13] There's even one guys like

[00:26:15] they have a lot of them are

[00:26:16] very archetypal or stereotypical.

[00:26:19] There's like the fact kid who

[00:26:20] eats.

[00:26:21] He eats his feelings.

[00:26:22] Yeah, yeah.

[00:26:22] Surprise, surprise.

[00:26:25] And then like I said, there's the

[00:26:26] girl.

[00:26:27] I can't remember her name.

[00:26:28] And there's also an interesting

[00:26:29] one where you go back to your

[00:26:31] dorm and you play an MMO

[00:26:34] and you have a friend who's

[00:26:36] like an older woman that you

[00:26:38] play with the MMO with

[00:26:40] and like y'all make friends

[00:26:42] online, but it's very shadowy

[00:26:43] and you're not sure who it is

[00:26:44] and you may get groomed in

[00:26:45] this game.

[00:26:46] What's what's going on?

[00:26:47] Yeah, there's what are we

[00:26:48] doing in Japan?

[00:26:49] There is some criticisms that

[00:26:50] are implied there about the

[00:26:51] what are we doing as a

[00:26:52] relationship?

[00:26:53] But like I'm playing it and I

[00:26:54] don't see anything that's like

[00:26:56] untool like ridiculous like

[00:26:57] nothing ridiculous has happened.

[00:26:59] It's just like you're making

[00:27:00] friends.

[00:27:00] And I mean, like you could

[00:27:01] argue that, you know, it's

[00:27:03] just as ridiculous for him to

[00:27:04] make friends with like the old

[00:27:05] couple as like the, you know,

[00:27:07] the adult woman who he's

[00:27:08] playing with online.

[00:27:09] But yeah, regardless, it's

[00:27:11] fun.

[00:27:11] And then like each of the

[00:27:14] every time you talk to these

[00:27:15] people or you interact with

[00:27:16] them, they have persona

[00:27:19] archetypes that relate to

[00:27:21] the arcana that is assigned

[00:27:23] to each persona.

[00:27:25] I know that's that's a lot of

[00:27:26] proper balance that I

[00:27:27] thought it was like some of

[00:27:29] them like the girl is the

[00:27:30] hanged man and there are

[00:27:31] hanged persona like

[00:27:33] like a certain Inumaki dog

[00:27:35] or there's like the old

[00:27:36] couple or the Hyraphant and

[00:27:38] they're a different persona

[00:27:39] that embody the Hyraphant

[00:27:41] arcana.

[00:27:42] And so every time you level

[00:27:43] them up, whenever you create

[00:27:45] or fuse personas, they make

[00:27:47] them stronger.

[00:27:48] So it's really it's it's cool

[00:27:49] because everything that you do

[00:27:51] contributes to the other and

[00:27:52] it like integrates the game

[00:27:54] play in a way where it's like,

[00:27:55] I just want to keep doing this

[00:27:56] because it's very easy to make

[00:27:57] things powerful as I level up.

[00:27:59] And it's cool just unraveling

[00:28:01] the stories of the different

[00:28:02] characters that are in there.

[00:28:02] So persona three, very cool

[00:28:04] Xbox Game Pass, jump in and

[00:28:05] play it.

[00:28:06] OK, the last thing that I'm

[00:28:07] going to note because we are

[00:28:08] running a little bit long on

[00:28:09] this section of what you're

[00:28:10] playing, but I wanted

[00:28:12] to let everyone know that to

[00:28:14] please join our Patreon

[00:28:15] because I'm going to give

[00:28:16] myself a hard deadline.

[00:28:17] I had meant to put this video

[00:28:18] out earlier.

[00:28:19] I've been running into some

[00:28:20] capture card difficulties,

[00:28:22] getting footage for this.

[00:28:23] But I think I might have

[00:28:24] resolved that I might have

[00:28:25] figured out how to do it right.

[00:28:27] But yeah, join our Patreon.

[00:28:28] I'm going to be releasing it

[00:28:29] there first, but I'm creating

[00:28:31] Nick's Winter Game Chronicle

[00:28:33] is a video that I've put

[00:28:35] together that's talking about

[00:28:36] my experiences with multiple

[00:28:38] things that I've been

[00:28:38] playing starting in December

[00:28:40] and ending in like February.

[00:28:41] So I played cyberpunk

[00:28:43] Prince of Persia, the lost

[00:28:44] crown cocoon in power world.

[00:28:46] And I basically talked about it

[00:28:48] in a 15 minute video

[00:28:50] that I'm kind of designing

[00:28:51] and kind of formatting the way

[00:28:52] that it might do some

[00:28:54] be successful and be clickable

[00:28:55] on YouTube.

[00:28:57] So that's something that I have

[00:28:58] out there that I'm hoping

[00:28:59] that people could check out.

[00:29:00] Give me some feedback,

[00:29:01] give me some advice on just

[00:29:02] let me know like what you think.

[00:29:04] So so please check that out.

[00:29:05] And eventually I'm going to

[00:29:06] be releasing that into our

[00:29:08] normal feed to have some

[00:29:10] extra content for the viewers

[00:29:11] here gives us some generation.

[00:29:13] That being said, we're going

[00:29:15] to go ahead and transition into

[00:29:16] our main topic of the show,

[00:29:18] which is our PAX East

[00:29:19] 2024 showdown.

[00:29:42] OK, so my first bullet

[00:29:44] point I wanted to talk about

[00:29:46] our PAX East is just a review

[00:29:49] of Boston City.

[00:29:50] Where do we start?

[00:29:51] Where do we start?

[00:29:52] Well, what do you think?

[00:29:53] What do you think about driving

[00:29:54] the city? You're a psychopath,

[00:29:56] madman. So don't do it.

[00:29:57] Don't make the mistake we did.

[00:29:59] Oh, we're rent a car

[00:30:00] so we can drive around.

[00:30:01] I guess just take public

[00:30:02] transit because people up there

[00:30:03] do not care.

[00:30:04] They drive like they don't have

[00:30:05] insurance and they don't care

[00:30:06] about their lives or the lives

[00:30:07] of anyone near them.

[00:30:08] They really don't.

[00:30:08] They really don't.

[00:30:09] And shout out to huge,

[00:30:10] huge shout out to Sarah

[00:30:11] for being our primary chauffeur

[00:30:14] to and from the hotel

[00:30:15] to the convention center.

[00:30:16] So from the hotel

[00:30:17] to the convention center.

[00:30:18] And that was, yeah,

[00:30:20] I felt for her it was

[00:30:21] it was really tough going back

[00:30:22] and forth.

[00:30:23] And the thing that sucks

[00:30:24] about that city is that you

[00:30:25] make one wrong turn.

[00:30:26] You add 30 minutes to your

[00:30:28] trip. So it's just

[00:30:30] yeah, you make a.

[00:30:30] Yeah, it's very easy to make

[00:30:32] a bad mistake as you're going

[00:30:33] throughout.

[00:30:34] Pat Boston.

[00:30:35] But yeah, no, it was it was

[00:30:36] nasty. It was rainy.

[00:30:38] I am assuming that they

[00:30:39] don't have it every year.

[00:30:41] But shout out to the PAX

[00:30:42] convention organizers for

[00:30:44] recognizing that everybody was

[00:30:45] miserable in Boston

[00:30:47] in March because PAX East 25

[00:30:49] is going to be set in May next

[00:30:50] year.

[00:30:51] Yep. So that's cool.

[00:30:52] You know, for the FNGC return

[00:30:54] the for the return

[00:30:55] for the return of the Kings,

[00:30:57] we're going to be jumping in

[00:30:59] and trying to try to head up

[00:31:00] to PAX East next year

[00:31:01] and then checking it out

[00:31:02] and see what has to offer.

[00:31:03] And then hopefully, you know,

[00:31:04] at that point, you know,

[00:31:05] it'll be a lot easier

[00:31:06] for us to do it

[00:31:08] and have fun and it'd be

[00:31:09] pleasant for us to enjoy

[00:31:10] the city a little bit.

[00:31:11] Indeed, indeed.

[00:31:12] But yeah, you know, it's just I

[00:31:13] wanted to talk about PAX

[00:31:14] and we jumped into it.

[00:31:15] I wanted to see like, you know,

[00:31:17] when we initially

[00:31:18] like the first impressions

[00:31:19] when we walked through the doors

[00:31:21] and we got in there, where was

[00:31:22] your thoughts? Where was your

[00:31:23] headspace? What did you think

[00:31:24] when we got to the convention?

[00:31:25] And it was nice.

[00:31:25] I mean, getting there that

[00:31:26] first day Thursday, so we went

[00:31:28] the full four days of Thursday,

[00:31:29] Friday, Saturday and of course,

[00:31:31] Sunday. Yeah. Best days were easily

[00:31:32] Thursday and Sunday when, you know,

[00:31:34] you had less people there.

[00:31:35] So right. Had a blast that

[00:31:36] first Thursday.

[00:31:37] I felt like we got a chance

[00:31:38] to probably see the most things

[00:31:39] and really get a chance to walk

[00:31:41] around before everyone else

[00:31:42] flocked in and started taking up

[00:31:43] a bunch of space.

[00:31:44] But it was a blast of a time

[00:31:47] getting in initially, getting

[00:31:48] the big old PAX X

[00:31:50] and getting our photo there.

[00:31:50] So we got to throw that up on

[00:31:51] the Twitter if we if we haven't

[00:31:53] already, we got to post up

[00:31:54] the little picture there.

[00:31:55] I think we did.

[00:31:55] I think we got that picture

[00:31:57] specifically is one of the four

[00:31:58] that I saw.

[00:31:59] Good there. Yeah.

[00:31:59] So it's just really cool

[00:32:02] walking into the center itself,

[00:32:03] seeing how everything was

[00:32:04] put together for PAX.

[00:32:05] Like you said, as far as shout

[00:32:06] out to the people actually putting

[00:32:08] it together, everything looked

[00:32:09] nice and neat.

[00:32:10] It was, of course,

[00:32:10] labyrinthine just because that's

[00:32:12] how a convention is going to be.

[00:32:14] But following the maps,

[00:32:16] following the online maps and then

[00:32:18] a lot of those bigger, either

[00:32:19] floating or just kind of

[00:32:21] straight up stationed

[00:32:23] posters areas, kind of showing

[00:32:25] what games were where or what

[00:32:26] devs were where it was really

[00:32:28] easy to see even from the show

[00:32:29] floor. Now, of course, as you

[00:32:31] get closer to Saturday, which

[00:32:33] was the craziest day,

[00:32:35] yeah, it gets it get real

[00:32:37] thick. There's plenty of the

[00:32:39] kind of thing. I think Saturdays,

[00:32:40] it'll be either a panel day

[00:32:43] or B stay away from there,

[00:32:45] like explore Boston Day because

[00:32:47] Saturday was nuts trying to

[00:32:48] actually see things, you know,

[00:32:49] two hour plus lines for everything.

[00:32:52] Yeah. And I think that like

[00:32:54] you know, next year, the hope is

[00:32:55] is that, you know, we're doing

[00:32:56] on content about it now and we

[00:32:57] want to make sure that it's

[00:32:58] very clear that we've been to

[00:32:59] PAX and we're doing coverage

[00:33:01] on the show and everything.

[00:33:02] But, you know, hopefully with

[00:33:03] a media badge, it will make it

[00:33:04] that much easier to schedule

[00:33:06] interviews with developers and

[00:33:07] be able to have exclusive time

[00:33:08] that's just for us.

[00:33:10] Set aside to like sit down with

[00:33:11] him and talk about the game.

[00:33:12] Maybe get a chance to play it a

[00:33:14] little bit and jump in and

[00:33:16] actually have a real like hands

[00:33:17] on experience. And that might be

[00:33:18] something that Saturday can be

[00:33:19] dedicated towards but agree.

[00:33:21] I 100 percent agree with you,

[00:33:22] you know, Friday and Saturday.

[00:33:23] It is just a glut of

[00:33:26] sweaty, nerdy

[00:33:27] and love it. Gamers.

[00:33:28] Love to see it. You know,

[00:33:29] and it's it's OK.

[00:33:30] It's good. Yeah.

[00:33:31] It's hard for me as

[00:33:33] as a practiced

[00:33:35] extrovert, extrovert,

[00:33:36] natural introvert.

[00:33:38] It's it's hard to be around a swath

[00:33:40] of humanity for extended periods

[00:33:41] of time. I get overstimulated

[00:33:43] and it's like you get drained.

[00:33:45] I mean, I'm sure you felt in the

[00:33:46] same way. You're on the show floor

[00:33:47] lights are flashing.

[00:33:48] You're standing up the entire day.

[00:33:50] It's like it's like being in a mall

[00:33:52] and you're rockin your exclusive

[00:33:54] Friday night.

[00:33:54] Out of Paris hoodies.

[00:33:55] That's right. Yeah. That's right.

[00:33:56] Our hoodies look great.

[00:33:57] They were fantastic.

[00:33:58] Great. It's a funny story

[00:33:59] about the hoodies.

[00:34:00] I ordered them and, you know,

[00:34:02] shout out to Gell and Rob,

[00:34:02] who we also saw at Pax

[00:34:04] East. Got a really fun time with

[00:34:06] them. But they sent me

[00:34:07] link to a site that helped us

[00:34:09] create a couple of hoodies for

[00:34:11] us.

[00:34:11] It's very expensive to make

[00:34:13] those. So I don't necessarily

[00:34:14] know if that's going to be viable

[00:34:15] merch strategy for the show.

[00:34:17] But, you know, we'll figure

[00:34:18] something out.

[00:34:19] I'll talk to maybe be Etsy Shop

[00:34:21] is in our future for folks

[00:34:23] who want to actually get some

[00:34:24] merch and, you know, spread

[00:34:25] the word.

[00:34:26] Right.

[00:34:26] Right.

[00:34:27] A little human billboards for

[00:34:28] us. You know exactly how it

[00:34:29] is. Exactly.

[00:34:30] And speaking of Kelvin Rob,

[00:34:31] to shout out to the boys for

[00:34:32] hanging out with us a little

[00:34:33] bit during the Pax itself.

[00:34:35] You know, we had a good time

[00:34:36] getting some grub hanging out in

[00:34:38] the show floor, walking around

[00:34:39] and kind of being like a big old

[00:34:40] unit. And then you even had

[00:34:42] a special kind of

[00:34:44] you know, guest appearance on

[00:34:45] one of their live episodes

[00:34:46] there. So I did.

[00:34:47] I did. I forgot to include that

[00:34:49] in the housekeeping. But I

[00:34:50] was on their show and it was

[00:34:51] like their first episode back

[00:34:53] from Pax and they were

[00:34:55] they were basically we recorded

[00:34:57] it in the media room

[00:34:59] and they re-recorded talking

[00:35:01] specifically about

[00:35:03] Pax East and everything that

[00:35:04] was involved with it.

[00:35:05] So it was cool. It was nice.

[00:35:06] It was a good time being able to

[00:35:07] sit there and talk with him.

[00:35:08] And yeah, we had a little bit

[00:35:10] difficulty scheduling it because

[00:35:12] people had like reserved.

[00:35:13] It's like a free for all in

[00:35:14] there. It really is.

[00:35:15] So like anybody with a media

[00:35:16] badge comes in and even though

[00:35:18] like you reserve it,

[00:35:19] you set aside time for a spot.

[00:35:21] They have like an area

[00:35:22] with like curtains and we weren't

[00:35:24] sure if we were going to go back

[00:35:25] there. It was like it was a big

[00:35:26] trial run for them.

[00:35:27] I think this is their first year

[00:35:28] with the media badge. But no,

[00:35:29] it was it was cool being able

[00:35:30] to sit down and talk with them

[00:35:31] about the experience there.

[00:35:32] It's it just like our thoughts

[00:35:34] and being able to sit and you

[00:35:36] know, be there at that convention

[00:35:38] and how important it is to show

[00:35:40] your face and shake hands with

[00:35:42] people in the industry.

[00:35:43] I think it will go a long way

[00:35:45] in the end.

[00:35:47] But yeah, so you definitely

[00:35:48] let's move on to our next topic,

[00:35:50] which is the food at Pax East,

[00:35:52] which was awesome.

[00:35:53] All in all, the food itself

[00:35:54] was pretty good. Now, was it

[00:35:55] very expensive?

[00:35:56] Of course.

[00:35:57] Yes. If you eat food at the

[00:35:59] hotel, it's not the best.

[00:36:00] Although I'm not going to lie.

[00:36:02] I was I was feeling the

[00:36:03] continental breakfast we had

[00:36:04] every morning. Breakfast was

[00:36:05] some of my favorite parts of the

[00:36:06] day. Breakfast did it.

[00:36:07] They had everything that you

[00:36:09] needed for breakfast, eggs,

[00:36:10] bacon, sausage,

[00:36:11] fruit, cakes, fruit, waffles.

[00:36:13] If you want it, you can get

[00:36:14] omelets. I did not tip the poor

[00:36:15] omelet guy. I felt very bad about

[00:36:17] it. But I wouldn't go my omelet.

[00:36:19] Anyway, I'm sorry.

[00:36:19] They over they they charge me

[00:36:21] for the cops in that city.

[00:36:22] OK, they took my money.

[00:36:23] I could I could have given it

[00:36:24] to the omelet guy.

[00:36:25] But you know, six in one hand

[00:36:26] half a dozen the other and I

[00:36:29] yeah, the food at the hotel was

[00:36:30] good. The food that was

[00:36:32] inside of the Pax

[00:36:33] Convention Center because we didn't

[00:36:35] do that. We never we I didn't

[00:36:37] get anything. We didn't actually

[00:36:38] I bought some water from some of

[00:36:40] the vendors there.

[00:36:41] But there was like actual food

[00:36:42] vendors and to hear it from

[00:36:43] everybody that's not really

[00:36:45] terrible. Yeah, that's what we

[00:36:46] didn't do that. We just did the

[00:36:47] food trucks outside.

[00:36:48] The food trucks outside were

[00:36:49] good. Yeah.

[00:36:50] But the bulgogi was good.

[00:36:52] Well, the bulgogi was like

[00:36:52] what 20 bucks?

[00:36:53] Something like that. Yeah.

[00:36:55] Yeah, it was terrible.

[00:36:56] But the bulgogi price.

[00:36:57] Yeah, the price was terrible.

[00:36:59] Price was harsh.

[00:37:00] Yeah. And the day that

[00:37:02] I was spending some time with

[00:37:04] with the game duo boys with

[00:37:05] Kelvin and Rob, we went

[00:37:07] and the food trucks it was

[00:37:08] raining like crazy on that

[00:37:09] Saturday and the food trucks

[00:37:10] were underneath the awning.

[00:37:11] And I there was a bunch of

[00:37:13] people in different lines, but we

[00:37:15] ended up going for the mac and

[00:37:16] cheese truck.

[00:37:17] And I got some buffalo mac and

[00:37:18] cheese. It was pretty good.

[00:37:19] OK, it's not the best that I've

[00:37:20] ever had, but it was pretty

[00:37:21] good. All right. They did

[00:37:22] have fresh hand squeezed

[00:37:24] lemonade.

[00:37:25] That was that was good.

[00:37:26] Amazing.

[00:37:27] It was amazing. I wish you were

[00:37:29] there because I know you're

[00:37:29] a huge lemonade fan.

[00:37:31] So regardless, you know, next

[00:37:33] time we get around to that next

[00:37:34] year.

[00:37:35] Definitely next year. Shout out to

[00:37:36] Davios, though.

[00:37:38] Yeah, oh my goodness.

[00:37:39] Lobster. Davios.

[00:37:40] That I had there. Crazy.

[00:37:41] Yeah, very, very good.

[00:37:42] If anybody is going up there

[00:37:44] and you're craving Italian,

[00:37:44] you're craving if you're

[00:37:46] willing to just throw some

[00:37:47] bands around, you know, throw

[00:37:49] some money around.

[00:37:50] They got some good stuff.

[00:37:52] So anyway, I'd like

[00:37:54] to take a moment to talk

[00:37:56] about the panels.

[00:37:58] So for kind of to reiterate

[00:37:59] for everyone, the way that Pax

[00:38:00] is organized is you walk

[00:38:03] in and it's this massive

[00:38:05] convention center and you go

[00:38:07] straightforward and you take

[00:38:08] escalators downwards into the

[00:38:10] main that basically the ground

[00:38:11] floor. And that's the Expo Hall

[00:38:13] where they have all of the

[00:38:14] games and the developers

[00:38:16] and they have all of these

[00:38:17] different booths set up for,

[00:38:18] you know, different things

[00:38:19] that you can go and

[00:38:20] experience there.

[00:38:22] However, there are also panels

[00:38:23] that are running concurrently

[00:38:25] where people can file and

[00:38:27] it is mainly just like it's

[00:38:28] open to whoever.

[00:38:30] From what I understand, I think

[00:38:30] you have to be validated by the

[00:38:31] Pax people and usually it

[00:38:33] might be Pax working managers

[00:38:35] that are reaching out and

[00:38:35] asking if you want to be a part

[00:38:37] of the panel or other people

[00:38:38] that are doing it. But they

[00:38:39] have a thing where you can

[00:38:40] just apply for a panel on their

[00:38:41] website and go do it if you

[00:38:42] really, really wanted to.

[00:38:44] But yeah, so they have

[00:38:46] panels that are scattered

[00:38:47] throughout rooms that are

[00:38:49] surrounding the second

[00:38:51] the first and second floors

[00:38:53] of that facility.

[00:38:54] And that was really cool.

[00:38:56] There were there are a

[00:38:56] bunch of like really good

[00:38:57] ones. Were there any

[00:38:58] standout panels for you that you

[00:38:59] remember? I like the Future Game

[00:39:00] Showcase panel.

[00:39:01] So that was the one hosted by

[00:39:04] the voices for Clive

[00:39:07] and Carlac.

[00:39:07] So yeah, it was very fun

[00:39:09] watching those two that are

[00:39:10] on Twitter like chopping up all

[00:39:11] the time. So it's really funny

[00:39:12] kind of watching them quote

[00:39:13] unquote in person get to

[00:39:15] host that.

[00:39:17] Future game showcase.

[00:39:19] And it was cool. It gave us

[00:39:20] a couple of things that were

[00:39:21] there on the floor to

[00:39:22] actually check out too.

[00:39:23] So it was very nice going

[00:39:24] from that to then over the

[00:39:26] next couple of days.

[00:39:27] Seeing some of the games that

[00:39:28] they talked about and checking

[00:39:29] out there.

[00:39:30] But that was very fun.

[00:39:31] Just getting to see what was

[00:39:32] available, what we can kind of

[00:39:33] expect throughout 2024.

[00:39:36] I also of course shout out to

[00:39:37] Dave Jackson with the

[00:39:40] the DS panel.

[00:39:41] Yeah. So you know, I got to

[00:39:42] get a leap be agents in there.

[00:39:44] So oh my gosh.

[00:39:45] I leap be agents was cool.

[00:39:46] And you got it added to the

[00:39:48] definitive exactly.

[00:39:49] 15 DS titles.

[00:39:51] The most plays.

[00:39:52] There was another one that I

[00:39:53] saw some other another

[00:39:55] the panelist who was on the

[00:39:56] far right.

[00:39:57] I couldn't remember his name

[00:39:58] off the top of my head, but he

[00:39:59] like took a picture and posted

[00:40:00] it on Twitter playing 999,

[00:40:03] which is another like Atlas

[00:40:04] Murderer Mystery Investigation

[00:40:06] game.

[00:40:06] Never played it.

[00:40:08] Yeah, they had a ton of like

[00:40:09] deep cuts.

[00:40:10] Which is nice in there.

[00:40:11] Yeah, it was nice.

[00:40:11] I appreciated everybody

[00:40:13] like arguing between Pokemon

[00:40:15] Black and White versus Pokemon

[00:40:16] Soul Silver and Heart Gold.

[00:40:18] So that was that was fun.

[00:40:19] But yeah, no really, really

[00:40:21] cool.

[00:40:21] And I'm I'm glad that

[00:40:22] somebody also added

[00:40:24] ace attorney.

[00:40:25] Of course.

[00:40:25] I'm sad that they took it from

[00:40:26] you, but I'm glad it's all

[00:40:27] that had to do with ace attorney.

[00:40:29] That was my first choice.

[00:40:30] So then after that, I think

[00:40:31] it was saying Phantom Trick.

[00:40:33] If I'm not saying or yeah,

[00:40:35] Phantom Trick goes detective

[00:40:36] and then someone got that one

[00:40:37] too.

[00:40:38] So I was like, all right, cool.

[00:40:38] So I'll pick the next best

[00:40:40] thing.

[00:40:40] So we'll eat be agents.

[00:40:41] You know, got to get some

[00:40:41] rhythm in there.

[00:40:42] Yeah.

[00:40:42] You play with the DS and

[00:40:43] you're tapping the screen

[00:40:44] or you got to have a little

[00:40:45] fun something that gives you

[00:40:46] that Nintendo flair as

[00:40:47] well as it exists.

[00:40:48] So it was cool.

[00:40:49] I thought it was

[00:40:50] controversial them trying

[00:40:51] to take the 10 dogs off

[00:40:53] in place for animal crossing.

[00:40:54] But I feel like that's like a

[00:40:56] throwdown that all my cozy

[00:40:58] gamers need to have.

[00:40:59] That's a conversation cozy

[00:41:00] gamers need to have what's

[00:41:00] higher in 10 dogs or

[00:41:03] sounds like a nice future

[00:41:04] episode, right?

[00:41:05] We're going to have some people

[00:41:06] on here to kind of brawl it out.

[00:41:07] I would love that.

[00:41:08] I would love that.

[00:41:08] I'm going to reach out to some

[00:41:09] folks so see if we can we

[00:41:10] can incorporate that in there.

[00:41:12] You have yourself the

[00:41:12] what it is.

[00:41:13] So the panels you enjoyed

[00:41:14] checking out.

[00:41:14] Yeah, I mean, I got to

[00:41:15] echo the same with you.

[00:41:17] I think that it was really cool.

[00:41:18] We got the chance to go see

[00:41:20] obviously Dave Jackson's show

[00:41:21] on Sunday was like the last

[00:41:23] panel that we saw and then we

[00:41:23] had to like flee Boston.

[00:41:26] Very quickly, scheduling issues

[00:41:27] and all of that.

[00:41:28] But yeah, we got the chance

[00:41:31] to sit down and watch the kind

[00:41:32] of funny games showdown,

[00:41:34] which is actually really fun.

[00:41:36] It was really fun.

[00:41:36] We came in a little bit too late.

[00:41:38] So we kind of were stuck

[00:41:40] in the back of the room,

[00:41:41] but it was so cool.

[00:41:41] Kind of just, you know,

[00:41:42] moving around, see it's

[00:41:43] checking it out.

[00:41:44] It was it was a fun little

[00:41:45] time to do that there.

[00:41:47] So that was that was neat.

[00:41:48] And then it was

[00:41:51] the one that wasn't maybe

[00:41:52] after that, that we went to go

[00:41:54] see at the end of the day or

[00:41:55] might have been the next day

[00:41:56] where it was it was careers

[00:41:59] in in game and the game

[00:42:01] game industry.

[00:42:02] We saw the part two.

[00:42:03] We saw part two.

[00:42:04] I didn't realize that they were

[00:42:05] kind of you need to show up for

[00:42:06] both. They probably talked

[00:42:07] about a lot of interesting

[00:42:08] stuff that we didn't get to

[00:42:10] because it was split up into two

[00:42:11] parts. But I just assumed

[00:42:12] that you can go from one

[00:42:14] to the other.

[00:42:14] And but I was wrong obviously.

[00:42:16] So yeah, next year maybe

[00:42:18] we can jump in and maybe

[00:42:19] check it out. It was it was

[00:42:20] definitely geared like the

[00:42:22] advice that they were giving

[00:42:23] was sound advice.

[00:42:24] And it was advice that everyone

[00:42:25] I think across the board needs

[00:42:26] to hear or be reminded of.

[00:42:28] I think Will and I are old

[00:42:30] enough at the point where we have

[00:42:31] several years in our

[00:42:32] professional experience where

[00:42:33] it's like we understand we're

[00:42:35] supposed to be presentable

[00:42:36] when we show up to work.

[00:42:37] We understand the difference

[00:42:38] between friends and co workers

[00:42:39] and and I get it how it's

[00:42:41] like video games like that

[00:42:42] might blur the line.

[00:42:43] You walk into game dev

[00:42:45] industry and you see people

[00:42:45] playing video games for their

[00:42:46] job where you're just like,

[00:42:47] oh, it's just like my house.

[00:42:48] Well, it's not.

[00:42:49] No, it's still a work day.

[00:42:50] It's still it's still a work day

[00:42:51] and you still have, you know,

[00:42:52] KPIs that you need to hit

[00:42:54] and all that good stuff.

[00:42:55] So no, but it was really cool

[00:42:57] seeing that and then just

[00:42:59] them reaffirming that a lot of

[00:43:00] this is really hard work.

[00:43:01] And yeah, you're expected to work

[00:43:02] really hard if you want to see

[00:43:04] any success in the industry.

[00:43:05] So it's just, you know,

[00:43:06] that's that's part of the life.

[00:43:07] I think that one of my

[00:43:09] favorite ones, though, I think

[00:43:11] by far was the Phantom

[00:43:13] Liberty panel.

[00:43:15] Did we saw that together?

[00:43:16] I know you did that one solo.

[00:43:18] That's right because you were

[00:43:19] in at the Science Center

[00:43:21] Science Center on Saturday.

[00:43:22] And yeah, so I actually went that

[00:43:23] went to the Phantom Liberty

[00:43:25] panel with Kelvin Rob and Mikey

[00:43:28] and we went there and we sat down

[00:43:30] and it was just all of the

[00:43:32] the lead development team from CD

[00:43:35] Project. So it was like all of

[00:43:36] the principal, I think directors

[00:43:38] that were in charge of their

[00:43:39] respective departments that were

[00:43:41] there and it was really,

[00:43:41] really cool hearing them talk

[00:43:43] about where they were coming

[00:43:44] from and how they pulled

[00:43:45] everything from the Witcher 3

[00:43:47] and incorporated it to CD

[00:43:48] Project and like they spent a

[00:43:50] good amount of time talking about

[00:43:51] the way that they pivoted from

[00:43:53] vanilla cyberpunk into Phantom

[00:43:55] Liberty and the 2.0 update

[00:43:57] and how they like reorganize

[00:43:58] their entire team to, you know,

[00:44:00] kind of hit all the metrics

[00:44:02] that they wanted.

[00:44:02] And it was it was kind of sad

[00:44:04] to hear though about how

[00:44:05] heartbreaking it was for the team

[00:44:07] like directly from the developer

[00:44:09] how he was like he took it

[00:44:10] so personally about the

[00:44:12] reception of cyberpunk when it

[00:44:13] first came out and kind of how

[00:44:15] like everybody across the games

[00:44:17] media industry and then just

[00:44:18] fans across the board were

[00:44:19] really upset and disappointed

[00:44:21] in the experience even though

[00:44:22] people had spent 10 years of

[00:44:24] their lives trying to hit

[00:44:26] that hit that mark

[00:44:27] and then just it didn't land.

[00:44:28] So it's but you know,

[00:44:30] it was interesting how they

[00:44:31] they took that and then

[00:44:32] they just digested the feedback

[00:44:34] and then they turn it into

[00:44:35] something great which is

[00:44:36] Phantom Liberty and the 2.0

[00:44:38] update across the board.

[00:44:38] So it's a great game now.

[00:44:39] Yeah. So it's definitely one

[00:44:40] of those great comeback stories

[00:44:41] from recent video game history

[00:44:43] probably up there alongside

[00:44:45] No Man's Sky where you know

[00:44:46] something comes out.

[00:44:47] It's drastically different

[00:44:48] than what the expectation was.

[00:44:50] But with that perseverance and

[00:44:52] you know, the team with a sound

[00:44:53] vision coming in and doing

[00:44:55] right by the players

[00:44:57] turns out pretty well.

[00:44:58] Yeah. So I really like

[00:44:59] Phantom Liberty across the board.

[00:45:00] Yeah. And there was they

[00:45:02] were trying really hard

[00:45:04] not to spoil anything because

[00:45:05] I'm sure they're under strict

[00:45:06] embargo or strict, you know,

[00:45:08] legal restrictions on what

[00:45:09] they can or can't say.

[00:45:10] They were regarding cyberpunk

[00:45:11] or about project Orion.

[00:45:13] OK, project Orion, which is

[00:45:14] the next cyberprong project

[00:45:16] and the words that one

[00:45:18] of the directors used there

[00:45:20] was New World.

[00:45:23] And my idea

[00:45:25] is that project Orion is going

[00:45:27] to be cyberpunk but in space.

[00:45:29] So we're getting Starfield.

[00:45:31] Better start learn their lesson.

[00:45:35] I think it's I don't think

[00:45:36] it's going to be in space.

[00:45:36] I think it's going to take

[00:45:37] place on a different planet.

[00:45:38] OK, I think it's going to be

[00:45:39] on like maybe some

[00:45:42] other planet in our solar system.

[00:45:44] Like it could be, you know,

[00:45:45] some like a smaller scale,

[00:45:47] smaller scale.

[00:45:48] Yeah, like a moon that's orbiting

[00:45:49] your and it doesn't have to be big

[00:45:51] because not having a universe

[00:45:52] to explore, right?

[00:45:53] Cyberpunk was already big enough

[00:45:54] as it is indeed with that massive

[00:45:56] night city. Yeah.

[00:45:57] It's just night city.

[00:45:58] You want to make sure that you

[00:46:00] drill down into the city itself

[00:46:01] versus give you a kind of

[00:46:03] superficial city, right?

[00:46:04] And then oh, you have 10 planets

[00:46:06] to explore and then half of them

[00:46:07] have nothing on it.

[00:46:08] So right exactly.

[00:46:10] But yeah, so it was like really,

[00:46:12] really cool seeing all those folks

[00:46:13] being able to check out

[00:46:14] those different panels and doing

[00:46:16] that. But now that we've got

[00:46:17] that out of the way, I think what

[00:46:19] we should do now is transition to

[00:46:21] a breakdown of the awesome games

[00:46:23] that we played and experienced at

[00:46:25] PAX East. Breakdown.

[00:46:27] Very, very exciting, very

[00:46:28] exciting to get into.

[00:46:30] I'm going to go ahead and jump

[00:46:31] in and start us off

[00:46:33] with the first game, not the

[00:46:35] first game I played, but you

[00:46:36] know, the first game on our

[00:46:37] list, which is Dustborn.

[00:46:38] This is a game that's been

[00:46:39] being developed by

[00:46:42] Quantic Dream, developed

[00:46:44] by and produced by Quantic

[00:46:45] Dream. It is.

[00:46:46] It has like a comic book, 2D

[00:46:50] cel-shaded art style.

[00:46:51] And it's about this girl

[00:46:54] who is in

[00:46:57] this future dystopian world

[00:46:59] where it's like they're

[00:47:01] California has seceded from the

[00:47:02] Union, like the Union of America

[00:47:04] has transformed in the shape

[00:47:06] of of like just different

[00:47:08] territories across the US.

[00:47:10] There's no longer states in

[00:47:12] California seems to be its

[00:47:13] like own individualized

[00:47:14] republic.

[00:47:15] And it's like something has

[00:47:17] happened to the people there.

[00:47:18] It's like very similar

[00:47:20] to something that you would

[00:47:21] see in like a coffee talk or

[00:47:22] like that one Will Smith movie

[00:47:23] that everybody hated where

[00:47:24] there are like elves and orcs

[00:47:26] and stuff like that in modern

[00:47:27] world. Yeah, right?

[00:47:28] Yeah, I don't know why people

[00:47:29] like I thought it was all right.

[00:47:30] It's not good. It's not.

[00:47:31] It's not. It's all right.

[00:47:32] No.

[00:47:33] But anyway, continuing on,

[00:47:35] basically the humans in the

[00:47:37] future, they have

[00:47:39] mutated, they have changed in

[00:47:40] a way.

[00:47:42] And this girl and her

[00:47:43] friends, they're in college.

[00:47:45] They don't like the city there

[00:47:46] and they want to get out.

[00:47:47] And so their way of getting

[00:47:48] out is by creating a band.

[00:47:51] But there is this like

[00:47:52] governing force called

[00:47:54] like the Justice Syndicate or

[00:47:56] Justice Squad or something like

[00:47:58] that, that travels throughout

[00:47:59] the territory and they're

[00:48:00] basically just authoritarian,

[00:48:02] like militant,

[00:48:04] terrible people that oppress

[00:48:06] oppress the humans

[00:48:08] of the society.

[00:48:09] Anyway, so like that's kind

[00:48:10] of like a general synopsis

[00:48:12] of the story of the game,

[00:48:13] but basically the gameplay is

[00:48:15] very similar to what you would

[00:48:16] find in something like a

[00:48:20] in like a life is strange type

[00:48:21] game. It has a lot of similar

[00:48:23] life is strange vibes when

[00:48:24] you're going from character

[00:48:25] to character, you're having

[00:48:27] conversations, you're building

[00:48:28] up your relationships.

[00:48:29] And then there are moments

[00:48:30] where they cut and there are

[00:48:32] scenes where you have some

[00:48:33] combat.

[00:48:34] And I got to say you're

[00:48:35] fighting, you're fighting the

[00:48:36] cops of this world.

[00:48:37] And she picks up a bat and

[00:48:39] she does the thing where she

[00:48:40] pulls the bat to her because

[00:48:41] she has like this mechanical

[00:48:43] like magnetic glove

[00:48:45] that one of her sister gives

[00:48:47] her. And it gave me like the

[00:48:49] high fire rush moments where

[00:48:50] she draws it to her.

[00:48:51] And I was like, oh, this is sick

[00:48:52] and like the music is bumping.

[00:48:55] The gameplay combat

[00:48:57] was just rough, man.

[00:48:58] It was it was really rough to

[00:49:00] get through. I was not super

[00:49:01] happy with it. I believe I

[00:49:02] texted you like my overall

[00:49:04] thoughts in the beginning.

[00:49:05] Like there is no

[00:49:07] there was no feeling of impact.

[00:49:08] Everything is kind of floaty.

[00:49:10] There is like response lag

[00:49:12] when you're moving around the

[00:49:13] character. Again, this is going

[00:49:14] to be a similar theme that we're

[00:49:16] going to talk about with a lot of

[00:49:16] these games on our list.

[00:49:18] But everything must be an

[00:49:19] early alpha build is my hope

[00:49:21] because like this is obviously

[00:49:23] going to be a relatively double

[00:49:25] A profile game and they seem

[00:49:27] to be wanting to take it very

[00:49:28] seriously.

[00:49:29] But it's just it's got a long

[00:49:31] way to go for me to be

[00:49:32] interested further

[00:49:34] in this game. They also did

[00:49:35] the terrible thing that

[00:49:37] frustrates me when

[00:49:39] I play games like this, especially

[00:49:41] narrative story based games that

[00:49:42] are based on relationships where

[00:49:43] it's everybody is talking

[00:49:45] at like point eight seven

[00:49:47] speed.

[00:49:48] Like they're talking just a

[00:49:49] little bit too slow.

[00:49:51] And it's the most infuriating

[00:49:52] thing when I'm done reading the

[00:49:53] subtitles.

[00:49:55] And I got like two seconds

[00:49:56] to wait for them to like finish

[00:49:58] speaking the words.

[00:49:59] They didn't allow you just kind of

[00:50:00] skip past it. Well, I

[00:50:01] you wanted to hear the voice

[00:50:02] act. I wanted to hear the voice

[00:50:03] acting and I wanted to get as

[00:50:04] much as I could with it.

[00:50:05] But it's like yeah.

[00:50:07] Also, we had I stood in line

[00:50:08] for that demo for so long.

[00:50:10] I I I was so I

[00:50:12] was going to speak to Ben

[00:50:13] Star personally to play that

[00:50:15] demo. I was very impressed.

[00:50:16] I was like, I cannot believe you

[00:50:17] don't just turn.

[00:50:18] Go talk to the boy who is right

[00:50:19] there. He was he was like

[00:50:21] he was like very, very close.

[00:50:23] He was like five feet away from

[00:50:24] well and we were standing in

[00:50:25] line together and he was talking

[00:50:26] to like the model who

[00:50:28] they hired to cosplay the main

[00:50:29] character of this game.

[00:50:30] Then a couple other people came

[00:50:31] up and spoke to him and

[00:50:32] everybody got their pictures with

[00:50:33] Ben Star. But I was like, you

[00:50:34] know what? I'm gonna let the

[00:50:35] man live and let them live.

[00:50:36] I don't want to be a stand.

[00:50:37] What am I going to say?

[00:50:39] Clive Rossfield is amazing.

[00:50:40] You're the you're the goat.

[00:50:42] You're the final fantasy goat.

[00:50:44] Sign my forehead.

[00:50:45] Anyway, Dustborn is good.

[00:50:48] It was all right.

[00:50:49] Good as good as a strong,

[00:50:50] strong statement. But it was all

[00:50:51] right. So it shows some promise

[00:50:53] and we got a bunch of merch from

[00:50:54] it. They gave us some plushies

[00:50:55] and cool stuff about the game.

[00:50:58] But I mean, my hope is that

[00:51:00] yeah, we got a little blow up

[00:51:01] inflatable bat and stuff like

[00:51:02] that. But my real hope

[00:51:04] for this game is that we

[00:51:06] get to a point where

[00:51:08] they smooth out all of the

[00:51:09] wrinkles. They make the combat

[00:51:11] feel good. Like if the combat

[00:51:12] felt as good as it did in

[00:51:14] High-Fi Rush, we'll be in a great

[00:51:15] place. But it needs

[00:51:18] some time to work out the

[00:51:19] kings. How about you go talk

[00:51:21] about Fallen Aces for us?

[00:51:22] So with Fallen Aces, this

[00:51:24] was a game that came to us

[00:51:26] from the studio New Blood.

[00:51:28] This is my first time seeing

[00:51:29] the studio. But if Fallen

[00:51:30] Aces is any indication of how

[00:51:32] their previous work went,

[00:51:33] it's definitely something to

[00:51:34] check out and look into Fallen

[00:51:36] Aces itself. Super fun looking

[00:51:38] game when we actually hopped

[00:51:39] into it, played very much like

[00:51:40] a Doom or any of those kind of

[00:51:42] previous boomer shooters if you

[00:51:43] feel you with those. But this

[00:51:44] one had a very nice

[00:51:46] noir overtone to it. You weren't

[00:51:49] going in there just shooting

[00:51:50] guns and going like crazy. A

[00:51:51] lot of your fighting was

[00:51:51] actually hand to hand melee

[00:51:53] pipes, attacking enemies,

[00:51:55] making them drop things and

[00:51:56] then picking up those weapons

[00:51:58] and then using those against

[00:51:59] them. So hitting them over the

[00:52:00] pipe, one of the items you

[00:52:02] can grab off the wall was a

[00:52:02] fire extinguisher. So you

[00:52:04] spray down the back guy with

[00:52:05] a fire extinguisher, then you

[00:52:06] run up and hit him with a

[00:52:06] finisher where you can just do

[00:52:08] a roundhouse kick where

[00:52:09] because you're in first person,

[00:52:10] your camera spins in the 360

[00:52:12] as you kick them, which was a

[00:52:13] really great touch. So all in

[00:52:15] all, I mean, the game itself

[00:52:17] to they gave you, I think it

[00:52:18] was roughly maybe 20, 15

[00:52:20] minutes or so to kind of

[00:52:21] explore the open level that

[00:52:23] they gave you. And there's

[00:52:24] a lot of really fun things

[00:52:26] to find secrets are hidden.

[00:52:28] We got a chance to speak

[00:52:29] to the main dev, the lead

[00:52:31] dev from not mistaken Trey

[00:52:32] who is in a nice pinstripe

[00:52:34] suit kind of dressed up like

[00:52:35] a little gangster. So it was

[00:52:36] awesome. I really see

[00:52:38] is really cool in to the

[00:52:39] overall look and that feel

[00:52:40] of fallen aces. But he was

[00:52:42] just pointing out like, hey,

[00:52:43] you hop up here, you know,

[00:52:44] get some verticality, you

[00:52:45] jump up on some of these

[00:52:45] vents, you can go find

[00:52:46] yourself a gun or one of

[00:52:48] these really fun open

[00:52:50] world items that I got a

[00:52:51] chance to find was you

[00:52:52] walk around the corner and

[00:52:54] there's often this room

[00:52:56] that you have no reason to

[00:52:57] go to. But if you happen

[00:52:58] to go into it and there's a

[00:52:58] barber getting roughed up by

[00:53:00] some goons, you go in

[00:53:01] there, beat the goons up,

[00:53:02] leave the barber alone,

[00:53:03] obviously, he'll give you a

[00:53:04] key to his back room that

[00:53:05] has a pistol in it or

[00:53:06] something. Yeah. So just

[00:53:08] being able to go out of the

[00:53:09] way, do these fairly

[00:53:10] intuitive side missions

[00:53:12] and open areas to find

[00:53:14] these secrets, find these

[00:53:14] stronger weapons, which

[00:53:16] one, obviously, you're

[00:53:16] playing this kind of

[00:53:17] realistic game. You get a

[00:53:19] gun, right? You shoot

[00:53:19] somebody in the head and

[00:53:20] they're dead. You have

[00:53:21] limited bullets, of

[00:53:22] course. But the cool thing

[00:53:23] is after you run out of

[00:53:24] your bullets, you can

[00:53:25] hit the alternate button

[00:53:26] to flip that pistol over

[00:53:27] into like a pistol whip

[00:53:29] location. Yeah, where

[00:53:30] you can start just

[00:53:31] bopping people in the head.

[00:53:32] So really kind of giving it

[00:53:33] to him old Casablanca style.

[00:53:34] And then of course, all the

[00:53:35] items in the game you can

[00:53:36] throw, whether it be the

[00:53:38] fire extinguisher or pipes,

[00:53:40] etc., which includes the

[00:53:41] pistol. So then you go with

[00:53:42] the John Wick, you shoot a

[00:53:43] couple of shots, you throw

[00:53:44] the empty gun at a bad guy,

[00:53:46] you stun him, you run up and

[00:53:47] do an uppercut and knock his

[00:53:48] lights out. And so yeah,

[00:53:49] it was very fun. It was

[00:53:50] a really, really good time.

[00:53:51] It was so cool. And it

[00:53:52] was like even cooler. This

[00:53:53] is like a perfect example

[00:53:55] of the idea that we're

[00:53:57] here and we're playing

[00:53:58] this game. And it's like

[00:54:00] a different experience

[00:54:01] being able to play the

[00:54:02] game and have the developer

[00:54:03] over your shoulder being like,

[00:54:04] oh, go around that corner

[00:54:05] and open up that trunk.

[00:54:07] And then I do it and I pull

[00:54:08] out a shotgun. It's just the

[00:54:09] coolest thing. Talking to Trey

[00:54:11] after we got our hands on

[00:54:12] it's just got the coolest

[00:54:14] art style that it's like

[00:54:15] you would look at it and

[00:54:16] you think, oh, what is this?

[00:54:18] You know, garbage shovel

[00:54:19] wear that you're playing.

[00:54:20] But it's actually it feels

[00:54:21] good once you're in the

[00:54:21] game. It looks really cool.

[00:54:22] It's like you're stepping

[00:54:23] into a comic book. Exactly.

[00:54:25] How they give you for the

[00:54:26] cut scenes as well as very

[00:54:27] noir, you're painting

[00:54:28] through a comic book.

[00:54:29] Really solid voice acting.

[00:54:30] All things considered too.

[00:54:31] Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, definitely.

[00:54:33] It's like hearing the enemies

[00:54:35] like you go into a building

[00:54:36] and they're like, I know, yeah,

[00:54:37] in there, get out here.

[00:54:38] You know, the classic, you know,

[00:54:40] early, you know, 1940s

[00:54:42] accents that they have.

[00:54:43] It's it's neat.

[00:54:44] But yeah, definitely there is

[00:54:46] a lot of like immersive

[00:54:47] sim elements in the game

[00:54:48] that I wasn't expecting.

[00:54:50] And then talking to him

[00:54:51] and it's like, yeah, we

[00:54:52] looked at all kinds of games

[00:54:53] like pray 2017 that you

[00:54:55] and I both really, really

[00:54:56] enjoyed and loved and, you

[00:54:57] know, other types of

[00:54:58] immersive sims that so it's

[00:54:59] like it's cool where he was

[00:55:00] like, yeah, you get in this game

[00:55:02] and you can go anywhere you want

[00:55:03] to. You're not like there is

[00:55:05] a path you can go down.

[00:55:06] There is like a cannon pass,

[00:55:08] but you can approach this

[00:55:09] in a lot of different ways.

[00:55:10] And I think you even called it out.

[00:55:11] You were like, oh, it's cool.

[00:55:12] You were going up on top of

[00:55:13] buildings and stuff that I didn't

[00:55:14] even think about going into.

[00:55:16] So I wasn't even thinking

[00:55:17] about jumping up on the vents

[00:55:18] and using that verticality.

[00:55:19] I was kind of sticking on the

[00:55:20] ground floor, ran into

[00:55:22] a gift shop and picked up

[00:55:23] little toy soldiers

[00:55:24] with throwing them at bad guys.

[00:55:25] It's like makes you feel very

[00:55:28] just like scrappy movie

[00:55:29] vibes where you just grab

[00:55:30] the things off the wall and

[00:55:31] chucking them at people to kind of

[00:55:32] stun them so you can go and punch

[00:55:33] him in the face. Oh, yeah.

[00:55:34] It was very cool. Yeah.

[00:55:35] Another great thing is about

[00:55:36] that you mentioned with Trey and

[00:55:37] having the dabs kind of over

[00:55:38] your shoulder is you can even

[00:55:39] talk to some of the people there

[00:55:40] at the QA team.

[00:55:41] Yeah. We spoke to Dahlia there

[00:55:42] at the QA team.

[00:55:43] Got the chance to just ask

[00:55:44] and kind of pick their brain

[00:55:45] about some of the information

[00:55:46] and some of the things that we

[00:55:47] were seeing and ask one of my

[00:55:48] favorite questions, which is

[00:55:50] as somebody in QA, right?

[00:55:51] Like what are some cool

[00:55:52] glitches or things you've seen

[00:55:53] pop up in the game that you then

[00:55:55] just thought it was so cool.

[00:55:56] You had to keep it in.

[00:55:57] So getting the nice little scoop

[00:55:58] there. All weapons you can

[00:56:00] block with as well.

[00:56:01] So they have pans like, you know,

[00:56:03] cooking pans, cast iron pans.

[00:56:04] Yeah. And when you're blocking

[00:56:06] with the pan, they initially

[00:56:08] had it set to nullify any

[00:56:10] damage where as long as

[00:56:11] you're blocking with the pan,

[00:56:12] like the pan is effectively

[00:56:13] invulnerable, right?

[00:56:14] It takes some damage and they

[00:56:15] can break, but the damage

[00:56:16] itself is nullified by the pan.

[00:56:18] But that extended to bullets.

[00:56:19] So what was happening was people

[00:56:21] were shooting at you and they

[00:56:22] have guns and then you're

[00:56:23] blocking with a pan and you're

[00:56:24] just like blocking the bullet.

[00:56:25] So you think of it from the

[00:56:27] outside looking in, right?

[00:56:28] You're very MK Ultra almost.

[00:56:31] Like, I don't know if you've seen

[00:56:31] that movie with Jesse Eisenberg.

[00:56:33] No. Yeah. You're sitting there

[00:56:33] like blocking pans or doing a

[00:56:35] pan shot or something.

[00:56:36] So they thought it was really,

[00:56:36] really cool. They changed it

[00:56:37] to make it so that bats and

[00:56:39] things like that will do some

[00:56:40] damage, not to make it OP,

[00:56:41] but they kept in that blocking

[00:56:43] bullet mechanic. So if you get a

[00:56:44] chance to check out fallen aces

[00:56:47] either on the demo or pick it up

[00:56:48] when it comes out later on this

[00:56:49] year, hopefully then we'll be

[00:56:51] seeing some really cool items

[00:56:52] there pop off online.

[00:56:54] I think you will.

[00:56:55] We're going to go ahead and

[00:56:56] talk about another game that I

[00:56:58] think was, you know, really

[00:56:59] up there for us.

[00:57:00] And that's robots at midnight.

[00:57:01] This is in the section of the

[00:57:03] packs rising.

[00:57:04] Yep. Showcase that they had.

[00:57:05] There is a section of the

[00:57:06] Expo 4 that they blocked out

[00:57:07] specifically for very small indie

[00:57:09] developers that don't seem to

[00:57:11] have like a larger team or a

[00:57:12] lot of backing.

[00:57:13] They really needed a highlight

[00:57:15] and I think that this game

[00:57:17] was both of our, you know,

[00:57:18] one of our favorites that we

[00:57:19] played so far and it's called

[00:57:20] robots at midnight.

[00:57:22] It's essentially a soul

[00:57:23] It's essentially a soul's light.

[00:57:26] The gameplay, the way the graphic

[00:57:28] design that they have in the game,

[00:57:29] the art style, it's similar

[00:57:31] to a power world where you're

[00:57:32] running around.

[00:57:33] I think the color passing

[00:57:35] and the color grade and obviously

[00:57:36] the lighting that they have is

[00:57:37] very different.

[00:57:38] It's kind of like you're

[00:57:39] playing at sunset as you go

[00:57:41] throughout.

[00:57:41] And I think you go on later

[00:57:43] on and then you're playing at

[00:57:44] midnight, of course, at some

[00:57:45] point throughout the game,

[00:57:46] you're playing in the dark.

[00:57:47] But essentially, you don't really

[00:57:48] know much.

[00:57:49] You're just this like

[00:57:50] character, this female character

[00:57:51] who was sent to this island.

[00:57:54] I think the idea was like one of

[00:57:55] the designer islands that

[00:57:57] your grandpa had like paid

[00:57:59] for is one of those things where

[00:58:00] you work your whole life and then

[00:58:02] you pay for an all inclusive

[00:58:03] retirement package at the end

[00:58:05] of your life and then they show

[00:58:06] up there and then it's just

[00:58:08] she wakes up and then

[00:58:10] everything has gone to hell.

[00:58:11] She can't find any of her

[00:58:12] family and then like all of

[00:58:13] these robots that were supposed

[00:58:14] to be running things.

[00:58:16] They've gone insane.

[00:58:18] So she has to basically fight

[00:58:20] all of these mechanic,

[00:58:21] you know, mechanized monsters

[00:58:24] that are crawling throughout

[00:58:25] this island.

[00:58:26] And it's really cool.

[00:58:28] It's exactly what you think of

[00:58:30] when you talk about souls born

[00:58:31] combat. There's a nice dodge

[00:58:32] role. There's parries that

[00:58:34] you that are in the game.

[00:58:35] This is another one where it's

[00:58:36] like we had the dev going to

[00:58:37] the team and like, oh, man,

[00:58:38] you're pretty good.

[00:58:38] I was like, no, I'm not good.

[00:58:40] And I immediately get obliterated

[00:58:42] by some of these some of

[00:58:44] these, you know, enemies

[00:58:45] that were there and then they

[00:58:46] did a favor and teleported me

[00:58:48] to the final boss, which was

[00:58:50] a sweet boss fight.

[00:58:51] It was a cool boss fight.

[00:58:52] Yeah, laser and spit fire out.

[00:58:54] Yeah, yeah, it was spitting

[00:58:55] fire at you and you just had

[00:58:57] to like, you know, memorize

[00:58:58] its attacks is very, very fun.

[00:59:00] And also using some of your

[00:59:01] abilities, you're able to like

[00:59:02] punch the thing to like stun

[00:59:04] it and then do like a jump slam

[00:59:06] attack. It was all very,

[00:59:07] very polished.

[00:59:08] It was the most polished game

[00:59:10] I think that we have played

[00:59:11] since we were there.

[00:59:11] So I had a really good time.

[00:59:13] Did you have anything that

[00:59:13] you wanted to add on that?

[00:59:14] Just a really, really fun

[00:59:15] action RPG.

[00:59:16] Just making sure we're kind

[00:59:17] of getting everything together

[00:59:18] there. So yeah, you're on

[00:59:18] planet Yobu and you're playing

[00:59:20] a Zoe and it's pretty similar

[00:59:21] what you're saying.

[00:59:22] OK, that luxury destination

[00:59:24] in ruins and you're fighting

[00:59:24] off all those robots.

[00:59:25] But it was really, really cool.

[00:59:26] They mentioned it.

[00:59:27] It was like a souls like,

[00:59:28] right? Like a light like they

[00:59:30] called it a La Croix.

[00:59:31] Yeah, yeah, souls game.

[00:59:33] So I thought that was a

[00:59:34] really, really neat thing to

[00:59:36] and was it from not mistaken

[00:59:38] they were saying it's like

[00:59:39] Xbox exclusive for like a year.

[00:59:41] OK, then it should be later

[00:59:42] on out this year, 2024.

[00:59:43] So looking forward to checking

[00:59:45] that out. It should be really cool.

[00:59:46] Yeah, definitely looking

[00:59:47] forward to that.

[00:59:48] Now your best friend had a game

[00:59:50] at the showcase, too.

[00:59:52] Yeah. So you want to talk about it?

[00:59:54] The game that first is going

[00:59:56] to be whether this big mode

[00:59:59] is the team with video game

[01:00:01] Dunke, I believe, is his

[01:00:03] developer studio or his

[01:00:05] publishing studio, rather.

[01:00:06] Yeah. And their first game

[01:00:07] that they're publishing out here

[01:00:08] is going to be Animal Well.

[01:00:09] So this is

[01:00:11] the single dev game

[01:00:13] by Mr. Billy Basso.

[01:00:14] So looking forward to checking

[01:00:16] this one out some more.

[01:00:17] It was a really fun game.

[01:00:18] I was thinking it was more of

[01:00:20] kind of like a platformer ask,

[01:00:21] but you're just checking out things

[01:00:22] in the back end.

[01:00:23] And it's been marked as

[01:00:25] like a Metroidvania, which makes sense

[01:00:26] as far as being able to hit some

[01:00:27] of the parts and saying, OK,

[01:00:29] we're going to come back when you

[01:00:30] find things like the firecrackers,

[01:00:31] right? Otherwise, you can't fight

[01:00:32] the ghost or finding some other items.

[01:00:34] I'm sure that will be in the future.

[01:00:36] A lot of good Metroidvania games

[01:00:38] out there packs, which is

[01:00:39] oh, yeah, and butter.

[01:00:40] Yeah, so it was really cool

[01:00:41] seeing some of that.

[01:00:42] We'll talk about some more later on,

[01:00:43] but keeping it with Animal Well

[01:00:44] is just a really fun game.

[01:00:46] It looked really, really beautiful,

[01:00:47] considering the kind of pixel art

[01:00:49] and things. And they did an excellent

[01:00:50] job when I say he single programmer

[01:00:53] ability to really nice job as far

[01:00:54] as the layering with a lot of these

[01:00:56] like the foliage and the lushness,

[01:00:59] giving you that sense of darkness

[01:01:00] for boating in the background

[01:01:01] when you're running back and forth,

[01:01:02] even though it was on a 2D plane.

[01:01:04] Yeah.

[01:01:04] And the different enemies

[01:01:06] that you come across is generally

[01:01:08] not like a hay.

[01:01:08] You see an enemy and you're fighting

[01:01:09] them. A lot of the times

[01:01:10] you're using wits or you're using

[01:01:12] your own smarts to get around an enemy.

[01:01:14] So there's a dog that can attack

[01:01:15] you. You need to have a frisbee.

[01:01:18] So you can like throw it for the dog

[01:01:19] to catch and they can escape

[01:01:20] past it. Otherwise, it'll rip you up

[01:01:22] like Kujo.

[01:01:23] You have a couple of ghosts that

[01:01:24] will track you down

[01:01:26] almost in like a Pacman style

[01:01:28] once they come on screen.

[01:01:29] But if you have some firecrackers,

[01:01:30] you scare the ghosts off.

[01:01:31] So you want to make sure that

[01:01:32] your stank stocked up on that

[01:01:33] using it at the right time so

[01:01:34] that you can escape and do that

[01:01:36] precision platforming in order

[01:01:37] to get back and forth.

[01:01:38] Yeah. But all in all, it was a

[01:01:39] complete blast of a game.

[01:01:41] Is this something I don't know?

[01:01:42] I do like the Metroidvanias

[01:01:43] and I am curious to see,

[01:01:45] I believe the release date is

[01:01:46] supposed to be May 9th

[01:01:48] on what they continue to do as

[01:01:49] far as with the kind of jumping

[01:01:51] and sliding. It felt fairly good

[01:01:53] overall. A couple of times here

[01:01:54] and there, you know, you hit a jump

[01:01:55] and you're like, can't tell if

[01:01:56] that's me. Can't tell if that's

[01:01:57] the game. Yeah.

[01:01:58] But all in all, it was definitely

[01:01:59] something that one was not a huge

[01:02:01] line, which is always nice to

[01:02:02] see. Always nice.

[01:02:03] We walked over there and you

[01:02:04] want to play.

[01:02:05] Because they had like six or

[01:02:06] eight different rigs running at

[01:02:07] the same time, including, I

[01:02:08] believe, y'all and

[01:02:10] the boys over at gaming

[01:02:12] also a poor PS5.

[01:02:14] My God, a poor abuse.

[01:02:15] PS5 on the carpet.

[01:02:16] Thing was sitting on a carpet

[01:02:18] upside down like how

[01:02:20] come on, be better.

[01:02:22] Be better big mode.

[01:02:23] Yeah, I got to understand them

[01:02:24] not. Well, yeah, I can understand

[01:02:26] them, you know, maybe not.

[01:02:27] You work in video games.

[01:02:28] You should know how to treat

[01:02:29] the equipment. How dare you?

[01:02:31] That thing is five hundred

[01:02:32] dollars. The disrespect.

[01:02:34] I'm going to take that home

[01:02:34] with me. What's money?

[01:02:35] What's money?

[01:02:36] I need to I need to PS5

[01:02:37] in the office. But I think

[01:02:38] over there you had a chance to

[01:02:39] talk to.

[01:02:40] Did you talk to Dan?

[01:02:41] Dan Adelman. I did.

[01:02:42] I was able to while I was

[01:02:43] waiting, you know, standing in

[01:02:44] line to play the game, I talked

[01:02:45] to Dan Alderman.

[01:02:46] He was really cool guy basically

[01:02:47] just talking about the production

[01:02:49] and design of the game.

[01:02:50] He was talking about, you know,

[01:02:51] how they went into it and what

[01:02:53] they're and, you know, what their

[01:02:54] general idea was for the game.

[01:02:56] And it was just like you said,

[01:02:57] they wanted you to be in this,

[01:02:59] you know, lost world.

[01:03:00] There isn't any huge

[01:03:02] underlying narrative to take away.

[01:03:04] It is more of an experience,

[01:03:06] but I will say the experience

[01:03:07] of the game in and of itself

[01:03:09] is very, very unique.

[01:03:10] I haven't played many platformers

[01:03:12] like this. So I loved it.

[01:03:13] There were these little kind of

[01:03:15] like neon animals that are in the

[01:03:16] background. Like that's the idea

[01:03:18] is that you're in this like forest

[01:03:20] and you're chasing down these

[01:03:21] animals and you're just this

[01:03:22] little square that's jumping

[01:03:23] from place to place out of all

[01:03:25] the games that I play. This is

[01:03:26] like a 10 out of 10 minute

[01:03:28] counter in the demo that was

[01:03:29] baked into it.

[01:03:30] This was one where I was like,

[01:03:31] damn, I really want to keep

[01:03:32] playing with it because I got

[01:03:33] hung up on the part where you

[01:03:34] had to flip switches to open

[01:03:36] up new levels to go higher

[01:03:39] to open up the map to get a

[01:03:40] little bit further. So that was

[01:03:41] really, really cool.

[01:03:42] The timer did you dirty too?

[01:03:43] It was like once you hit the timer

[01:03:44] started like slowly.

[01:03:46] I know.

[01:03:46] It was like that.

[01:03:47] Yeah.

[01:03:48] Yeah. The loss of closing in.

[01:03:49] I was just like, I just want to

[01:03:50] play a little bit more.

[01:03:51] So they did a great job of

[01:03:53] showcasing that there.

[01:03:53] And this is one of the ones

[01:03:55] that had like a definitive date

[01:03:56] for this year, 2024

[01:03:57] for everybody to look forward

[01:03:59] to, I believe it's May 10th

[01:04:00] is when it's going to be

[01:04:01] coming out and I think it's

[01:04:02] coming out everywhere.

[01:04:03] Xbox, PC,

[01:04:05] PlayStation, if I'm not

[01:04:07] mistaken, I could be could

[01:04:08] be very wrong about that.

[01:04:09] So correct me if I'm wrong.

[01:04:10] Well, if you see anything,

[01:04:11] I'm seeing everything with Xbox

[01:04:13] when those PlayStation switch.

[01:04:14] OK, so not Xbox sad.

[01:04:16] Anyway, regardless, I think it's

[01:04:18] going to be I mean, that would be

[01:04:18] a great Xbox game past

[01:04:20] in the whole if they're able

[01:04:21] to grab it. So, you know,

[01:04:22] between now and then there's

[01:04:23] some time. But yeah,

[01:04:24] definitely a good, good

[01:04:25] experience that people need to

[01:04:26] keep their eye out for in terms

[01:04:27] of indies that are coming out

[01:04:28] this year.

[01:04:30] Jumping into the next one is

[01:04:32] a really fun little quirky

[01:04:33] game called Rusty

[01:04:35] Rabbit.

[01:04:36] And it was cool.

[01:04:37] I have a little stamp here

[01:04:39] that I think the developer

[01:04:41] or the personnel that they had

[01:04:43] at the booth, there was just one

[01:04:45] very, very kind woman

[01:04:46] that was there.

[01:04:47] I she I think English

[01:04:48] might have been her second

[01:04:49] language, she was just helping

[01:04:50] getting me in and out of the game.

[01:04:52] She really wasn't able to talk

[01:04:53] too much about it.

[01:04:54] But I did take some of the

[01:04:56] some of the merch that were

[01:04:58] rather the car that they had

[01:04:59] scattered around there.

[01:05:00] It's neat. It's basically

[01:05:01] just you're playing as this cute

[01:05:03] little rabbit boy who's just

[01:05:05] he's kind of like this cocky

[01:05:06] mech pilot.

[01:05:07] And he goes around the stamp.

[01:05:09] Yeah, yeah, no, he's he's really

[01:05:10] cool.

[01:05:11] His name is Stamp.

[01:05:13] And so he basically

[01:05:14] just jumps in and it is exactly

[01:05:16] kind of what you were saying

[01:05:17] earlier. It's just a Metroid

[01:05:18] vania. So the mech

[01:05:19] has multiple different

[01:05:21] firing modes.

[01:05:22] It has like a drill

[01:05:24] that you can use to bust open

[01:05:25] pillars. It has missiles that

[01:05:27] you can launch and it has a

[01:05:28] sword that you can use to

[01:05:29] like swipe at enemies, that

[01:05:31] sort of thing.

[01:05:31] And I only imagine that as you

[01:05:33] go later on throughout the game

[01:05:34] that you're going to be doing

[01:05:35] it. But it's it's nice.

[01:05:36] Again, mechanically

[01:05:38] like jumping around the physics

[01:05:39] like it has a grappling hook to

[01:05:41] that you need to use to grab on

[01:05:43] to some like points, some

[01:05:45] little access points in order

[01:05:46] to grapple yourself yourself to

[01:05:47] new levels, slingshot yourself

[01:05:49] in different places.

[01:05:51] And so there were there were

[01:05:51] little cool elements about it.

[01:05:53] The music was nice.

[01:05:54] There was this nice little touch

[01:05:55] that they had where

[01:05:57] where you're fighting as stamp

[01:05:59] and you're fighting the

[01:06:00] enemies that are in the game

[01:06:01] and you kill one.

[01:06:01] He does this like cool little

[01:06:02] yeah, like he's like

[01:06:04] he's like a little personality.

[01:06:05] Yeah, he's there's a personality

[01:06:07] in this game. So I thought it was

[01:06:08] really, really cute.

[01:06:10] And it seemed like it would be a

[01:06:11] really fun and you to jump in

[01:06:12] and out of. I don't know how long

[01:06:13] it might be.

[01:06:14] Don't have a lot of information

[01:06:16] on the game, but I know that you

[01:06:16] can wish list it now on Steam

[01:06:19] and learn a little bit more about

[01:06:20] it. It does kind of have this

[01:06:21] futuristic cyberpunk look

[01:06:23] that's kind of baked into the

[01:06:24] experience there.

[01:06:25] So it's fun.

[01:06:27] It's definitely good.

[01:06:28] But I'm curious to hear what

[01:06:30] you thought about this.

[01:06:30] So we have one of my favorite

[01:06:32] games of the showcase for

[01:06:33] sure. Go to least fun.

[01:06:34] Go to the time warrior time

[01:06:35] shift warrior, I should say.

[01:06:37] So that was really, really cool.

[01:06:39] I'm looking to get a chance to

[01:06:40] one, just play it straight through

[01:06:42] and it gave me really

[01:06:44] heavy kind of Prince of Persia

[01:06:45] vibes at first. Oh yeah.

[01:06:46] I'm like side scrolling, but it's

[01:06:47] almost like an isometric.

[01:06:48] You're kind of looking over the

[01:06:50] very fun mechanic about this

[01:06:51] game is that you have these

[01:06:53] remnants. They're effectively

[01:06:54] ghosts of yourself.

[01:06:55] Yep. And the whole point is

[01:06:56] when you hit these fighting

[01:06:58] areas, these arenas, you go out,

[01:07:00] you have I think it's 20

[01:07:02] seconds, maybe.

[01:07:04] Yeah, somewhere around there.

[01:07:05] Yeah, it's not a long time.

[01:07:06] It's like maybe close to 20 seconds

[01:07:07] or so. But you go out, you attack

[01:07:09] the enemies and you do as much

[01:07:11] damage to them, hopefully killing

[01:07:12] them that you can.

[01:07:13] Once you either get to the end

[01:07:14] of that time or if you hit

[01:07:16] the left trigger, I think when

[01:07:18] I was playing on the Xbox

[01:07:19] controller that was plugged into

[01:07:20] the PC, it will bring you

[01:07:22] back to the start of the

[01:07:23] fighting area.

[01:07:24] And then from there, you get

[01:07:25] the chance to run out again.

[01:07:26] But now this time that remnant

[01:07:28] that past version of you runs

[01:07:29] out and does what you

[01:07:30] previously did.

[01:07:31] Yeah. So if there are 10

[01:07:32] enemies on the screen and you

[01:07:34] killed five that first time

[01:07:36] through when you come back, if

[01:07:37] you kill the other five and it

[01:07:38] takes you about the same amount

[01:07:39] of time, you complete the

[01:07:40] actual fight then once it

[01:07:42] finishes up.

[01:07:43] So that in itself is a fairly

[01:07:45] simple concept.

[01:07:46] I think it's really cool, but

[01:07:46] it's a fairly simple concept

[01:07:47] that then expands and becomes

[01:07:50] crazy as you introduce

[01:07:52] enemies that need to be

[01:07:53] defeated at the same time.

[01:07:54] Otherwise they respawn some

[01:07:56] enemies that only block whenever

[01:07:58] you attack.

[01:07:58] So you attack them from the

[01:08:00] front in your old life and

[01:08:01] then in your new life, you

[01:08:02] attack them from the back.

[01:08:03] Yeah. So mixing in

[01:08:06] those different enemies and

[01:08:07] increasing the amount of

[01:08:08] enemies you're fighting, you're

[01:08:09] starting off maybe 10 enemies

[01:08:11] that you fight at a time, which

[01:08:12] is not that bad.

[01:08:13] Less in the future, you know,

[01:08:15] you hop up and next thing, you

[01:08:16] have 25, 30, 45, sometimes

[01:08:18] even 50 enemies.

[01:08:20] That being said, as you

[01:08:21] progress and you find new

[01:08:22] things once again, this isn't

[01:08:24] really metronvania, but it

[01:08:25] is a heavy amount of

[01:08:26] exploration as you're going

[01:08:27] from these arenas to

[01:08:28] arenas.

[01:08:29] But you can explore and

[01:08:30] find different things like

[01:08:31] different special abilities

[01:08:33] that help you move.

[01:08:34] Some of them like a dash move

[01:08:36] that allows you to do more

[01:08:37] damage as you dash through an

[01:08:38] enemy or shooting out

[01:08:40] a specific magic attack at

[01:08:41] an enemy.

[01:08:42] You have some that make you

[01:08:43] invisible.

[01:08:44] So a really nice trick that I

[01:08:45] had a chance to do during the

[01:08:46] demo was to run out,

[01:08:49] make myself invisible past the

[01:08:50] initial set of enemies, go to

[01:08:51] the back and kill all the

[01:08:52] enemies in the back.

[01:08:53] So then when my remnant goes

[01:08:54] and does that, my remnant is

[01:08:56] invisible in the front.

[01:08:57] I can come in on the back

[01:08:58] and clean the enemies up that

[01:08:59] I stealthed through that

[01:09:00] first time.

[01:09:01] Yeah.

[01:09:01] So it's very, really cool.

[01:09:03] You even get the chance to see

[01:09:04] that your remnant will kill

[01:09:05] certain enemies based on the

[01:09:07] old life they did with a little

[01:09:08] skull over their head.

[01:09:09] However, you can either

[01:09:11] interrupt your remnits

[01:09:12] killing that enemy or

[01:09:15] accidentally cause them to

[01:09:16] desync from that life.

[01:09:18] Oh, really?

[01:09:18] If you attack the enemy or

[01:09:20] get too close to that enemy,

[01:09:21] if you leave them alone,

[01:09:22] it's just like your remnant

[01:09:23] killing them like normal.

[01:09:23] But if you were, for example,

[01:09:25] attacking an enemy in an old

[01:09:25] life, kill it.

[01:09:27] And then you draw the aggro

[01:09:28] from that same enemy in your

[01:09:30] new life.

[01:09:30] It may pull them out of the path

[01:09:32] where your remnant was just

[01:09:33] attacking now air.

[01:09:35] And the remnant, yeah, exactly.

[01:09:36] OK. Yeah. No, that's right.

[01:09:38] So it was really, really cool.

[01:09:39] That was a really, really fun

[01:09:39] game. I honestly just had a

[01:09:41] blast with it.

[01:09:42] And even afterwards talking to

[01:09:43] one of the chronic dream

[01:09:44] community managers, Richard,

[01:09:46] I'm just got a chance to kind

[01:09:47] of talk with him about the main

[01:09:48] character, EMA and the different

[01:09:50] skills that are available.

[01:09:52] Things that we're looking

[01:09:53] forward to.

[01:09:53] We got some cool caps here

[01:09:55] for a controller.

[01:09:57] So it was really, really fun

[01:09:58] looking forward to seeing this

[01:09:59] game. Now, this game is already

[01:10:00] out on PC.

[01:10:02] So I think it's something to where

[01:10:03] I either need to check it out

[01:10:06] or hope that it comes to anything

[01:10:07] else in the future.

[01:10:08] OK. Yeah, definitely

[01:10:10] going to try and find it on PC

[01:10:12] so I can play some more because

[01:10:14] I had the same experience that

[01:10:15] you did. It was just it was fun.

[01:10:17] It was a blast.

[01:10:18] It's like, you know, I can't

[01:10:19] add any more than you did because

[01:10:20] you did perfect. But it's just

[01:10:21] like imagining Hades combined

[01:10:23] with Prince of Persia

[01:10:24] where you're going back in

[01:10:26] your reversing time, but you

[01:10:27] have shadows that you're fighting

[01:10:28] with in order to complete

[01:10:29] objectives.

[01:10:30] And it was cool just like the

[01:10:31] feeling of playing it, watching

[01:10:32] the timer count down and you're

[01:10:34] like, oh, am I going to get it?

[01:10:35] Am I going to get it?

[01:10:36] And then finally like hitting

[01:10:37] that last enemy just in the

[01:10:39] nick of time to open up the

[01:10:40] next area that you go through

[01:10:41] because it's just arena to

[01:10:43] arena.

[01:10:44] Really, really cool.

[01:10:45] So yeah, shout out to the

[01:10:46] listfonga. That was that was

[01:10:47] a great one.

[01:10:48] The next one that I'd like to

[01:10:49] jump into is something that

[01:10:50] really means a lot to me.

[01:10:51] And that's called so to speak

[01:10:53] again, another packs rising

[01:10:55] showcase game

[01:10:57] that is also available at the

[01:10:58] demo if I'm not mistaken is

[01:11:00] available on Steam right now.

[01:11:01] So you can go in and try it out.

[01:11:03] This is really, really cool game

[01:11:05] developed, I think exclusively by

[01:11:06] Eric Anderson.

[01:11:08] He's had some help with the

[01:11:09] audio design and maybe a little

[01:11:10] bit of writing in the game as

[01:11:11] well. But interesting

[01:11:13] pixel art style game that is

[01:11:15] essentially an educational game

[01:11:17] teaching the player how to

[01:11:18] speak Japanese.

[01:11:20] I could have used this.

[01:11:22] Anybody I could have used this

[01:11:23] if anybody is interested in

[01:11:25] learning Japanese or learning

[01:11:26] the title at all in any sense

[01:11:28] of the imagination.

[01:11:30] Like this is going to be a great

[01:11:32] title to just jump in and

[01:11:33] experience teaching you

[01:11:36] what what Kanji

[01:11:38] different Kanji mean is

[01:11:40] incredibly vital.

[01:11:41] And I think that I didn't get

[01:11:43] a lot of time to play it

[01:11:44] because we were standing up,

[01:11:45] you were talking to him and I

[01:11:46] think I was I was getting hung up.

[01:11:47] It was like, I think there was

[01:11:48] a glitch in the part that I

[01:11:50] was playing or I just was

[01:11:51] stupid. I understand what

[01:11:53] the game wanted me to do.

[01:11:53] But I was having trouble

[01:11:55] moving on. But it was is

[01:11:56] interesting very straightforward.

[01:11:57] You're essentially you see

[01:11:59] a character speak the

[01:12:02] like the name in Japanese

[01:12:04] of the Kanji and then you drag

[01:12:06] that to the object that the

[01:12:07] Kanji represents.

[01:12:09] So and then it goes on and I

[01:12:10] think that it only starts

[01:12:11] building the different Kanji

[01:12:13] and how they compare sometimes

[01:12:15] and attach and create different

[01:12:16] phrases and sentences.

[01:12:18] It's very, very cool.

[01:12:19] I'd like to get some more time

[01:12:20] with this game to kind of open

[01:12:21] it up. But it's a cool,

[01:12:22] very chill laid back,

[01:12:24] you know, sound design where

[01:12:26] it's just a beat to score on it.

[01:12:27] It's very, very nice and the

[01:12:29] pronunciation is very clear.

[01:12:31] So it's something that's

[01:12:32] perfect for beginner learners

[01:12:35] who want to understand how to

[01:12:36] read Japanese better.

[01:12:38] And it's going to help you read

[01:12:39] and speak it too, because it's

[01:12:40] going to help you with that

[01:12:41] pronunciation aspect.

[01:12:42] So very, very fun, so to speak.

[01:12:44] Yeah. So you're talking with

[01:12:45] Eric there. It was just really

[01:12:46] fun. And that's the another

[01:12:47] thing too. This was another one

[01:12:48] of those games that was in

[01:12:49] the rising showcase area of

[01:12:51] Pex. Yeah. So it's nice

[01:12:53] just being able to talk to the

[01:12:54] devs and especially ones that are

[01:12:55] so passionate about something like

[01:12:57] this. You know, this is one of

[01:12:57] those out there games, right?

[01:12:58] So to speak, teaching you to play

[01:13:00] Japanese, this is not a looter

[01:13:01] shooter. No, this is not a

[01:13:02] shoot them up. This is no.

[01:13:03] Yeah, this is not going to be a

[01:13:04] big thing for people.

[01:13:05] Definitely a passion project

[01:13:06] from Eric, you know, going

[01:13:08] through and using his

[01:13:10] love for video games to,

[01:13:11] you know, teach and kind of

[01:13:12] show some things here.

[01:13:15] Just talking to him and getting

[01:13:16] the chance to actually speak

[01:13:17] about the game itself.

[01:13:17] You know, he said it was

[01:13:18] partially inspired by The

[01:13:19] Witness. This is one of

[01:13:20] his history games. Which is

[01:13:21] awesome. Yeah. The Witnesses

[01:13:23] is a tough, tough puzzle game.

[01:13:25] If you have imagined that the

[01:13:26] puzzle elements are going to

[01:13:27] get even harder.

[01:13:28] Yeah. But my mistaken, he said

[01:13:30] that this was based off of

[01:13:31] like the game itself.

[01:13:33] He at one point saw a sign

[01:13:35] that said people who are not

[01:13:36] customers of the store do not

[01:13:38] park here. And that kind of

[01:13:39] inspired his his thought

[01:13:41] process of making this

[01:13:42] because he's like if I can

[01:13:43] get someone to play through

[01:13:44] this game and eventually see

[01:13:45] that sign and be able to

[01:13:46] kind of read it out fully,

[01:13:48] that's what the overall

[01:13:50] processes. That's what the

[01:13:51] source for. So you're

[01:13:52] starting off with like, you

[01:13:52] know, Ocean River Lake Stream,

[01:13:54] very small, easy to kind of

[01:13:56] grasp pieces and eventually

[01:13:58] working your way up to those

[01:13:59] those multi-parted signs or

[01:14:02] different sections that is

[01:14:04] multifaceted compound sentences.

[01:14:06] Yeah. Those compounds in it

[01:14:08] every time.

[01:14:09] So yes, but he was trying to

[01:14:10] get the players to learn

[01:14:11] that level of knowledge.

[01:14:13] And even something, for

[01:14:14] example, he mentioned, I

[01:14:15] believe it was one of his

[01:14:16] friends daughters had to

[01:14:18] play in the game there,

[01:14:19] checking it out. And she

[01:14:21] noticed the congy, if I'm

[01:14:24] not mistaken, for a river

[01:14:26] and recognized it from

[01:14:28] playing his game. So he said

[01:14:29] that was already like a huge

[01:14:30] win in my view is being able

[01:14:31] to see something like that

[01:14:32] have real world applications.

[01:14:34] So shout out to Eric. Yeah,

[01:14:35] those are really fun game.

[01:14:37] I didn't get the chance to

[01:14:37] play it myself, but it seems

[01:14:38] like you mentioned earlier

[01:14:40] in the episode here, some

[01:14:41] of those kind of cozy games

[01:14:42] to go to sleep to this is

[01:14:43] almost the equivalent of

[01:14:45] putting on Spanish or

[01:14:46] something and then trying to

[01:14:47] go to sleep and like learn

[01:14:48] through absorption.

[01:14:49] You can just play it a

[01:14:49] little bit.

[01:14:50] I don't think that works.

[01:14:51] But yeah, I don't think the

[01:14:52] absorption so many movies.

[01:14:54] But yeah, yeah, yeah,

[01:14:55] Dexter's laboratory.

[01:14:56] Oh, yeah, I was 100 percent

[01:14:58] that I'm not actually my

[01:14:59] favorite episode.

[01:15:01] So he said something he said

[01:15:02] like one Spanish word and then

[01:15:03] I got how to be a millionaire

[01:15:05] you know, only do

[01:15:06] oh my yeah.

[01:15:08] Little French.

[01:15:09] Was it French?

[01:15:10] It wasn't.

[01:15:10] It was French.

[01:15:10] Yeah, I'm not going to

[01:15:12] but moving on from there.

[01:15:14] So so to speak, fantastic

[01:15:15] game in that same area

[01:15:17] for the rising showcase,

[01:15:18] we got a chance to play

[01:15:19] Memories Reach to I believe we

[01:15:20] both played this game.

[01:15:21] So this was a very fun puzzler.

[01:15:23] We talked about the witness

[01:15:24] previously with an inspiration

[01:15:26] for so to speak.

[01:15:27] And I was seeing some similar

[01:15:29] inspirations there as well

[01:15:30] through memories reach,

[01:15:31] getting the chance to talk to

[01:15:33] the dev there been

[01:15:34] and there was some really nice

[01:15:37] was he saying it was Metroid

[01:15:39] Prime was another big part.

[01:15:41] And it was an inspiration.

[01:15:42] Yeah, it showed a lot of neon

[01:15:44] elements. Exactly.

[01:15:45] The neon that the flora

[01:15:46] that was happening out in that

[01:15:47] world. This is a huge puzzler.

[01:15:49] So once again, not a shooter,

[01:15:50] not a looter, anything like this.

[01:15:51] You're going through your

[01:15:53] doing the first person.

[01:15:54] Yeah, that's completely first person.

[01:15:56] So it was really, really fun.

[01:15:58] Once again, getting the chance to do these.

[01:16:00] And I'm glad that I didn't have to have

[01:16:02] him look over my shoulder and be like,

[01:16:04] you're doing that wrong.

[01:16:04] Right? It's like maybe an extra level

[01:16:06] of pressure when the dev is making

[01:16:08] the game is like watching you

[01:16:09] struggle with a puzzle.

[01:16:10] So I'm like, I don't want to be too smart.

[01:16:13] I'm not stupid.

[01:16:14] I swear.

[01:16:15] But it was awesome.

[01:16:16] So an exploration based puzzle game here.

[01:16:19] There are three main genres of puzzles,

[01:16:21] including the holographic puzzles,

[01:16:22] which the majority of that game was at Pax.

[01:16:26] There were some environmental puzzles

[01:16:27] and then some overall world puzzles.

[01:16:28] So like you're moving pieces of the world,

[01:16:30] pieces of that environment itself

[01:16:32] in order to make the puzzle work.

[01:16:34] It was a mostly solo project

[01:16:35] with a couple of different things

[01:16:37] like some of the writing

[01:16:38] and some of the art

[01:16:39] that was done from outside sources,

[01:16:41] but aside from the actual programming

[01:16:42] and everything that was all our single dev there.

[01:16:46] With a lot of nice secret narrative items

[01:16:48] and scans that are available.

[01:16:49] There were a couple of scans.

[01:16:50] I don't know if you saw during the actual playing itself,

[01:16:52] like for example,

[01:16:52] there was like a lower down scan

[01:16:53] of like a dead creature.

[01:16:54] I got that.

[01:16:55] Kind of like a deer type.

[01:16:56] You know, it's like an alien.

[01:16:58] That was like, it's like

[01:16:58] you're uncovering a mystery in the world.

[01:17:00] Exactly. Yeah.

[01:17:01] There's another big Metrovania piece too,

[01:17:03] because even from the very beginning of that demo,

[01:17:05] there are some spots where

[01:17:06] there was like some radiation

[01:17:07] that you couldn't get past.

[01:17:08] It would give you that the Geiger Crackle

[01:17:10] right and allow you to progress.

[01:17:12] Does not kill you.

[01:17:13] Nothing in this world is really deadly.

[01:17:14] You can't fall off the cliffside and die.

[01:17:16] You can't walk too far into the radiation and die,

[01:17:19] but it just bars your progress.

[01:17:21] Right.

[01:17:21] So that you have to actually do

[01:17:22] the puzzles themselves to get through.

[01:17:24] But it was really good.

[01:17:25] Also, shout out to Australia.

[01:17:27] Is there our dev from Melbourne?

[01:17:29] And he was telling us as far as like

[01:17:30] they have the Pax there too.

[01:17:31] So I don't know if maybe we got to do

[01:17:32] an international Friday night game cast.

[01:17:35] Pax, just let us know.

[01:17:37] Let us know.

[01:17:38] Let us know when you want us.

[01:17:39] Australia.

[01:17:40] We'll fly out down there.

[01:17:41] We'll let you fly us out down

[01:17:43] to Pax Australia.

[01:17:44] It's one of the places that I've always wanted to go.

[01:17:47] Yeah, this was really interesting.

[01:17:48] I also just kind of to add on what you were saying,

[01:17:50] like the architecture gives me big Halo 4Runner vibes

[01:17:54] when you're looking at like this style of design.

[01:17:56] It's very brutalist, very neo-futurist.

[01:17:58] So it's very cool.

[01:17:59] Lots of neon, lots of like light open world design.

[01:18:03] So I'm really excited to like,

[01:18:04] because I feel like the demo was just

[01:18:06] the first beginning world maybe that you like end up in.

[01:18:09] So I'd be really excited to see

[01:18:10] what it would be like or what it would look like

[01:18:12] as you get later into the game.

[01:18:13] Yeah, you were saying there's at least four main areas

[01:18:16] that all have kind of different looks to them.

[01:18:18] There's a jungle research area.

[01:18:19] There's a city in the clouds.

[01:18:21] You eventually orbit out in space

[01:18:22] and then there's an underground area as well.

[01:18:24] So yeah, it'd be really nice to see how those visuals

[01:18:28] lend themselves to the different main four areas

[01:18:30] that he talked about there.

[01:18:31] Yeah, that'd be really cool.

[01:18:34] The next game that was connected,

[01:18:36] and I think Liz McDonald who we made a connection with

[01:18:40] while we were playing Robots at Midnight,

[01:18:42] she's a community manager for that developer team

[01:18:45] and she was also a community manager for the dev team

[01:18:47] for this next game which I played called Farrah.

[01:18:50] Farrah is really interesting.

[01:18:52] I think maybe one of the games that I played

[01:18:56] that needed some of the most work on

[01:18:58] in terms of getting it up to par,

[01:19:00] it's a third person open world crafting sim

[01:19:05] like we talked about, you know,

[01:19:06] I mentioned that it made illusions to power a little

[01:19:08] bit earlier, very similar.

[01:19:10] There's no collecting Pokemon,

[01:19:13] but like our collecting of pals,

[01:19:15] whatever you wanna call it.

[01:19:16] But as you're going throughout this world

[01:19:18] is mainly kind of designed around you

[01:19:19] building up your encampment, I think,

[01:19:22] and going throughout there.

[01:19:23] It's like cool art design though.

[01:19:25] As you're going throughout the world,

[01:19:26] there's lots of different diverse enemies

[01:19:27] that you can fight.

[01:19:28] Your character, you know,

[01:19:30] there's a lot of verticality.

[01:19:31] You're jumping off of cliffs.

[01:19:32] You have wings, you're gliding down

[01:19:35] throughout the world to go to your objective points

[01:19:37] and stuff, and there's also a grapple

[01:19:39] in this game as well.

[01:19:41] It's just, you know,

[01:19:42] to talk about some of the issues,

[01:19:43] of course there is like no mantling.

[01:19:45] There needs to be a mantle for a lot of that.

[01:19:48] There is just like the physics haven't quite,

[01:19:51] they haven't quite figured it out

[01:19:52] in terms of like just some of the just mechanical jank

[01:19:55] that is in that experience there.

[01:19:57] You know, I played it for a good amount of time

[01:19:59] and was able to go through a couple

[01:20:01] of the main tutorialization missions

[01:20:03] and figure out, you know,

[01:20:04] you're opening up portals to like

[01:20:06] take the resources and shoot the resources

[01:20:08] back to your camp and then you have to go out

[01:20:10] and acquire other special resources,

[01:20:12] like killing some bigger enemies and then do it.

[01:20:14] The combat looks really cool.

[01:20:16] When you're fighting, you have this massive axe

[01:20:18] and you're doing like jump spin attacks

[01:20:20] and slamming on the ground,

[01:20:21] you know, shoot out like a little like thing

[01:20:23] on the ground to like go mess up an enemy.

[01:20:25] It's nice.

[01:20:26] Okay, so the combat was pretty tight.

[01:20:28] The combat was probably the best part about that game.

[01:20:30] I just think that like,

[01:20:32] you know, there was a lot of like pop in.

[01:20:33] There was a lot of, you know,

[01:20:34] a little bit of like screen tearing

[01:20:36] in terms of the frames in the game.

[01:20:37] So there is definitely some work to be had there.

[01:20:40] I also think that they're just,

[01:20:41] there will be fun for people.

[01:20:43] This is a game that people will enjoy.

[01:20:45] If you are somebody that enjoys those open world crafters

[01:20:48] like Craftopia or Pow World or, you know,

[01:20:51] anything that's, I mean,

[01:20:52] and it also, it takes a lot of inspiration from Fortnite.

[01:20:57] Oh, really?

[01:20:58] It takes a lot of inspiration

[01:20:58] from the art design of Fortnite.

[01:21:00] Interesting.

[01:21:00] So you're running around in the world.

[01:21:01] It's not nothing in terms of the mechanically,

[01:21:03] but just like a lot of the character design

[01:21:05] and the way that your character moves

[01:21:07] throughout the space.

[01:21:08] It's like very similar in a sense.

[01:21:10] So yeah, that's a really fun one.

[01:21:12] And there was a game that you played that I did not play.

[01:21:14] Yep.

[01:21:15] So I got the chance to skedaddle over

[01:21:16] as you were playing Farrah actually.

[01:21:18] And I went to go play Umbra Claw,

[01:21:21] which is a game from Inti Creates.

[01:21:23] This may be a company that you probably would know

[01:21:26] mostly from the 2D side scrolling Bloodstained game.

[01:21:29] So Bloodstained Curse of the Moon

[01:21:31] and Curse of the Moon 2.

[01:21:32] So these were kind of D-Makes to a degree,

[01:21:35] obviously not the exact same game of Bloodstained,

[01:21:37] which is another Metroidvania, right?

[01:21:39] Popsin' up a door.

[01:21:40] But moving on to this game, Umbra Claw,

[01:21:42] it was actually a really neat looking game.

[01:21:44] One, the visuals themselves, very pretty.

[01:21:47] It's almost like a kind of watercolor-esque.

[01:21:49] They did have more hard lines as far as the outlining,

[01:21:52] but the art itself looked very, very nice for Umbra Claw.

[01:21:55] Here you play as a cat named Cwone,

[01:21:57] who goes on a perilous journey through the afterlife

[01:21:59] known as the Soul Plane.

[01:22:00] You're trying to make your way back to your owner.

[01:22:02] And in doing so, there's not a whole lot initially

[01:22:05] you can do as far as damage to an enemy.

[01:22:07] It's mostly dodging through them and trying to escape

[01:22:10] and kind of continue that 2D side-scrolling.

[01:22:12] A little bit more jumping as well,

[01:22:13] so you have some wall climbs

[01:22:14] that you can do things like that.

[01:22:16] So you can't fight back?

[01:22:17] Initially.

[01:22:18] Okay.

[01:22:18] Now, if you get hit once...

[01:22:20] I know you hate that.

[01:22:21] Yeah, yeah, but it had a really cool effect

[01:22:22] as far as the kind of dodge-through mechanic

[01:22:24] gave you a nice little slow-mo move.

[01:22:26] So you're getting your Zack Snyder on

[01:22:28] whenever you dodge through an enemy.

[01:22:30] However, if you get struck one time, Cwone does die,

[01:22:33] but death is not to the end

[01:22:35] because from there, you get to use one of your nine lives

[01:22:38] and you then come back with a new move.

[01:22:42] So one of the things that happened to me

[01:22:43] when I first died to an enemy

[01:22:44] was I came back with a cat claw attack

[01:22:46] which kind of gave me like the spirit of a tiger

[01:22:48] as I did a claw move and let me attack enemies.

[01:22:51] So from there, I was able,

[01:22:52] instead of having to jump through or jump over an enemy,

[01:22:54] I could kind of claw them and destroy the smaller ones.

[01:22:58] So it's very interesting.

[01:22:59] Every time you die,

[01:23:00] you get like a new update

[01:23:02] or a new ability added on to Cwone,

[01:23:04] but each time you die there in the soul plane,

[01:23:07] you also lose a part of your cat manatee.

[01:23:09] So you're trying to make sure

[01:23:10] that you hopefully beat the game.

[01:23:12] Obviously, Perfect World's not taking any hits

[01:23:14] because you wanna get back to your owner 100% cat,

[01:23:16] but you can eventually grow wings

[01:23:19] and kind of flow over things.

[01:23:20] You get turned to like a little mini ninja

[01:23:22] where you're running on two legs

[01:23:23] and like jumping up walls.

[01:23:24] This sounds so cool.

[01:23:25] It's really, really cool.

[01:23:25] And you said it's 2D?

[01:23:27] Yes, 2D.

[01:23:28] Okay, yeah, okay.

[01:23:28] So highly recommended.

[01:23:30] Umber Claw should be coming out later this year.

[01:23:33] I don't want to say it was May,

[01:23:36] but it looks really awesome.

[01:23:37] And I'm actually very surprised

[01:23:40] that I had such a good time with it

[01:23:42] and I'm looking forward to checking it out.

[01:23:43] I think I can once again,

[01:23:44] I'm not mistaken, I think I can play it on Switch.

[01:23:46] So you might have to keep your Switch

[01:23:48] for a little bit longer so I can check that out.

[01:23:50] Go for it, buddy.

[01:23:52] Yeah, that sounds amazing.

[01:23:53] I'm definitely gonna have to see if I can

[01:23:55] I can grab a copy of that whenever it does drop

[01:23:58] or if I can play a demo or something like that.

[01:24:01] One of the games I think is one of the best

[01:24:03] that we played is a game that's called Fretless.

[01:24:07] Okay.

[01:24:08] Really, really interesting title.

[01:24:09] This is a demo is again out on Steam now.

[01:24:13] We actually because the line was so long

[01:24:15] and the devs were like under a lot of pressure

[01:24:17] at that point, were we able to go check it out?

[01:24:20] We got there and they were like,

[01:24:22] hey, go check out the demo.

[01:24:24] Like you might not have time to play it today.

[01:24:26] And I was like, okay, yeah, sure.

[01:24:27] We just added to the list.

[01:24:28] I got the chance to jump on it.

[01:24:29] Will's and MPC so I was able to jump in and check it out.

[01:24:33] Incredibly, incredibly cool title.

[01:24:36] I think that obviously this is a pixel art RPG.

[01:24:42] And they called it a guitar PG.

[01:24:45] It's their little tagline for it.

[01:24:47] Essentially like the year in this world

[01:24:49] where everything is run by music.

[01:24:50] So all of the different areas are named like

[01:24:53] harmonies hope or drop D overlook

[01:24:57] or the like, I don't know.

[01:24:59] They have the fretboard forest sort of thing.

[01:25:02] They have like the different names

[01:25:03] for the regions as you go throughout.

[01:25:05] You plays this one character who's just a silent protagonist.

[01:25:08] You go and you talk to these really lovely NPCs

[01:25:11] that have everything kind of revolving around you going

[01:25:14] and trying to like basically the idea

[01:25:17] and from the demo that I plays,

[01:25:18] you're trying to join the battle of the bands

[01:25:20] that's happening here.

[01:25:22] And essentially it's a turn based combat mechanic system

[01:25:26] that's put in there.

[01:25:27] So you go into like the forest

[01:25:29] and you're trying to go find some guy

[01:25:32] that is gonna help you get into the battle of the bands.

[01:25:35] And as you go throughout, you run into these enemies

[01:25:36] that look like little screws that like,

[01:25:39] put the strings on the guitar.

[01:25:41] Oh, okay.

[01:25:42] And upgrade to the guitar.

[01:25:43] You have like different weapons.

[01:25:44] So you can use a guitar, you can use a base

[01:25:47] and you can put mods on them

[01:25:49] so you can do some new strings.

[01:25:51] You pick up like you pick up pedals

[01:25:54] that will increase the power or change your abilities

[01:25:58] when you're playing with your guitar.

[01:25:59] So really, really cool.

[01:26:01] When you are in combat basically it's turn based,

[01:26:03] you go and you have like a selection of five to six cards

[01:26:08] that are at the bottom of the screen

[01:26:09] and you can choose to either do something

[01:26:11] that does damage or you can choose to buff yourself

[01:26:14] by creating shield.

[01:26:16] And then you can do add ons to your guitar

[01:26:18] or your base where it's like every time you enter battle

[01:26:20] you get 10 shield sort of thing.

[01:26:22] And then you have different cards you can select

[01:26:24] that do AOE attacks to enemies.

[01:26:26] And if there are some randomized cards

[01:26:28] where it's like you do a thing

[01:26:30] and it will throw out attacks.

[01:26:32] And if it hits the same enemy twice

[01:26:34] it applies a debuff to them.

[01:26:36] So really, really cool combat mechanics.

[01:26:39] Once you have enough hits

[01:26:41] and once you build enough power

[01:26:42] there is an ultimate attack

[01:26:43] that you can choose to apply at any point

[01:26:46] when you're doing a fight

[01:26:47] where at that point you choose that ultimate

[01:26:49] and you do a little like kind of guitar hero thing

[01:26:53] where it's like a turn based thing.

[01:26:55] Similar to, similar but different to the high-fi rush.

[01:27:00] Okay, oh when you're doing the parries

[01:27:02] like when you then put you into that.

[01:27:03] Where it's like dun, dun, dun

[01:27:05] and you wanna be able to hit those at the right time

[01:27:07] and then you can build up

[01:27:08] and make that ultimate attack stronger.

[01:27:10] And it's like it has different levels

[01:27:12] and you can collect different ultimate attacks.

[01:27:14] Really, really cool game.

[01:27:16] There's a lot of personality

[01:27:18] in all of the different characters.

[01:27:19] It's so neat.

[01:27:21] And it's like, and it's just like,

[01:27:23] well I love Midwest Emo

[01:27:25] and like the baseline score is just like

[01:27:27] a cool low-fi version of like a Midwest Emo styled guitar

[01:27:33] that's like plucking in the background

[01:27:34] and every different character

[01:27:36] their words are vocalized

[01:27:39] through like different guitar string plucks.

[01:27:41] It's very, very neat.

[01:27:43] I would say that this is probably

[01:27:46] one of the most polished and cool

[01:27:48] and interesting games of the show.

[01:27:49] Like it was struggling like we were thinking about

[01:27:51] like what's gonna be the best of the show?

[01:27:53] And this is definitely really, really high up there for me.

[01:27:56] So the demo is free on Steam right now.

[01:27:58] So everybody go check that out.

[01:27:59] This is another one that's coming out this year

[01:28:01] that's gonna be an indie banger.

[01:28:03] So you heard it here first, fretless.

[01:28:06] Like even the animations for it is just immaculate.

[01:28:09] Like I actually look so good.

[01:28:10] Yeah, it's incredibly well done.

[01:28:12] It's incredibly well done.

[01:28:14] And then there was another game

[01:28:15] that I'm gonna go ahead and close our conversation off with

[01:28:19] and it was called Unwound.

[01:28:20] Really, really interesting game.

[01:28:22] It's like a very kind of, I don't know, dark philosophically.

[01:28:27] Like you are this piece of yarn

[01:28:29] and you're traveling on a spaceship

[01:28:31] and you crash land

[01:28:32] and you lose your limbs and your eyes

[01:28:34] and basically your job is to collect your limbs

[01:28:38] and you're in this very weird world

[01:28:40] where there's a bunch of different,

[01:28:42] these different characters or video game

[01:28:46] like kind of fantasy fairies and stuff that are going around.

[01:28:49] There's one character called the Welcome Shrimp

[01:28:52] which is just this floating amoeba

[01:28:54] that's talking to your character guiding you

[01:28:55] through the tutorial section

[01:28:57] and you're going throughout

[01:28:58] and it's neat, you're rolling around in the yarn

[01:29:00] and you pick up legs

[01:29:01] and you can choose to either walk around on your legs

[01:29:04] and jump up or roll around.

[01:29:05] Toy Story Nightmare.

[01:29:06] Yeah, basically the idea is that

[01:29:09] you're going through this world

[01:29:11] and the world is disintegrating.

[01:29:13] Like the world is falling apart as you're going through it

[01:29:17] and it was cool because I was talking to the developer

[01:29:20] and she was like, I really don't like happy ending stories

[01:29:24] and she was like, the idea that I took to this game

[01:29:27] is that you're going through it

[01:29:28] and the best thing that you can hope from your life here

[01:29:31] is that you're gonna do something positive

[01:29:33] for the people that are around you

[01:29:35] and so you see that right off the bat.

[01:29:36] There are some enemies that are there in the game

[01:29:38] where you can choose to get into turn-based combat with them

[01:29:42] and then fight them,

[01:29:43] but there's also a choice you can make to joke

[01:29:46] and you can tell an enemy a joke

[01:29:47] and if they like it, they'll be your friend

[01:29:49] and go into your inventory

[01:29:51] and then they won't bother you for the rest of the game.

[01:29:53] Okay.

[01:29:53] Yeah, so it's cool.

[01:29:55] It's a neat little design.

[01:29:56] Again, another one that had some issues

[01:29:58] in terms of like, you were able to,

[01:30:00] it was funny, the people that were playing in front of me

[01:30:02] were going outside of the boundaries of the game

[01:30:04] and going on top of the geometry of the world.

[01:30:06] So it was cool.

[01:30:07] I definitely need some work and a little bit of physics

[01:30:09] that were going on there,

[01:30:10] maybe some UI issues that were text was popping up

[01:30:14] where it wasn't supposed to

[01:30:15] and she had to reset the area a couple of times

[01:30:17] for me to go through.

[01:30:18] But again, it seemed like a solo developer project.

[01:30:21] She only had a couple people helping her out with it,

[01:30:23] but it's something that could use a little work

[01:30:25] and be a fun little title that everybody can enjoy.

[01:30:29] And that is gonna be pretty much everything

[01:30:30] that we played at the Paxi Showcase.

[01:30:32] There was tons there.

[01:30:34] We chose not to play Sand Land.

[01:30:36] We chose not to play Final Fantasy 14 online.

[01:30:39] Rest out to a curatorial, come on.

[01:30:42] Wish we got a chance to look at Sand Land a little bit,

[01:30:44] but I think there's a demo out, if I'm not mistaken.

[01:30:45] There is a demo and people are kind of like it.

[01:30:48] It's all right.

[01:30:49] Yeah, it's a Bandai game.

[01:30:50] So classic bandai.

[01:30:51] Ain't nothing wrong with the Bandai game.

[01:30:52] I'm looking forward to sparking zero later this year.

[01:30:54] Yeah, I just wish they didn't do me so dirty with Kakarot.

[01:30:58] I mean, at least I hear that they continue

[01:31:00] to add onto it, so that's a good thing.

[01:31:03] Yeah, but what are you gonna add onto a poop sandwich?

[01:31:06] People said that about Cyberpunk and look at it.

[01:31:08] Fan of Liberty, baby.

[01:31:10] I refuse to believe that they remade Kakarot from the ground up,

[01:31:13] but maybe I'll download it and check it out.

[01:31:15] One of these days.

[01:31:16] One of these days.

[01:31:17] Will, I have a question for you.

[01:31:18] Did you platinum Paxi East?

[01:31:20] No, but I got so close.

[01:31:21] So there's this thing called Pax XP

[01:31:24] where you could run around and scan things with your phone

[01:31:26] and kind of get little badges and symbols and et cetera.

[01:31:29] It was just a collectathon, right?

[01:31:30] I was doing my Ubisoft jaunt

[01:31:32] and I was just running around collecting things,

[01:31:34] including me being behind Nick

[01:31:36] and then randomly dropping off the face of the earth

[01:31:38] to go scan something,

[01:31:39] leaving this man to fend for himself in the elements.

[01:31:42] Yup.

[01:31:43] And all for naught because I didn't get,

[01:31:45] I think there was like one more I was missing, but.

[01:31:47] Yeah. Oh no, it was still fun.

[01:31:49] It was cool running around

[01:31:50] and doing like real life Easter egg hunting

[01:31:53] and just scanning some of those things

[01:31:55] for Mountain Dew,

[01:31:56] scanning some of the things for the actual Pax itself.

[01:31:59] Yeah. Doing some really fun quizzes.

[01:32:00] Like they had some really cool quizzes

[01:32:02] and all the things that were added on.

[01:32:03] They didn't annoy you?

[01:32:04] No, the one that was wordal.

[01:32:05] That was super annoying.

[01:32:06] Yeah, it was.

[01:32:07] And then they had another one that was like,

[01:32:08] what are some of the enforcer favorite snacks

[01:32:10] to eat while gaming?

[01:32:11] And I got four out of six and I could not figure it out.

[01:32:14] I was like pizza popcorn, chips, cookies, nothing.

[01:32:18] Nothing, there was two missing.

[01:32:19] Pizza while you're gaming?

[01:32:20] Why not?

[01:32:21] Get the pizza grease on the controller, right?

[01:32:23] Do you not wipe your hands off?

[01:32:25] I mean, yeah, but still there's residue.

[01:32:27] You don't be a Philistine, just wash your hands.

[01:32:30] Wash my hands in between gaming.

[01:32:32] I eat the pizza, I go wash my hands,

[01:32:34] I go back to playing.

[01:32:35] Exactly. And then take another bite of pizza.

[01:32:36] When you're waiting on the Helldiver pod to drop,

[01:32:38] you go wash your hands and then you come back.

[01:32:42] So when the, yeah, when the bile titan

[01:32:43] just evaporates my body.

[01:32:45] Exactly.

[01:32:46] You know, then wash your hands, come back,

[01:32:47] take another bite.

[01:32:48] Yeah, there's levels to this shit.

[01:32:50] There's levels to this shit.

[01:32:52] But very close, very close to platinum again.

[01:32:53] Yeah.

[01:32:54] But let's talk about now our FNGC game of the show.

[01:32:59] Good, good, good.

[01:33:01] Now we've talked about some stuff here

[01:33:03] and we had some ideas.

[01:33:04] We talked about this before the show and everything.

[01:33:06] Has your mind been changed based on

[01:33:09] what I've been able to share or anything like that?

[01:33:11] Or are you hard set on it?

[01:33:13] I mean, it's the kind of thing where Fretless is so cool.

[01:33:15] I wish I had the chance to play it

[01:33:16] because I felt like it probably would have been up there

[01:33:18] if I had the chance to actually check it out myself.

[01:33:23] So I mean, if it was gonna go any other way

[01:33:25] to something I haven't potentially played, right?

[01:33:26] It would probably be Fretless.

[01:33:27] Like that looks really fun.

[01:33:28] Everything I've seen about it, the gameplay wise,

[01:33:30] et cetera, is all really, really good.

[01:33:32] The pluckiness of Fretless reminds me a lot

[01:33:35] of Dave the Diver and all the reasons

[01:33:36] why I love Dave the Diver.

[01:33:38] Still love it.

[01:33:39] I was playing it while I was at Pax.

[01:33:40] Have you had, talk about that.

[01:33:41] Have you had the chance to play

[01:33:42] the Dave the Diver Godzilla?

[01:33:46] Like the...

[01:33:47] I think you gotta get farther.

[01:33:48] Or you might have to finish it

[01:33:49] and then it's just like a DMC.

[01:33:50] We're same with Dave the Diver slash Dredge, right?

[01:33:54] The collabs have been crazy.

[01:33:55] The collabs have been really cool with that game.

[01:33:57] So I definitely want to get deeper into it

[01:33:59] just so I can experience some of those.

[01:34:01] Get my little Godzilla time in there.

[01:34:04] But yeah, I think across the board unilaterally,

[01:34:07] I love Fretless, but I'm gonna go ahead

[01:34:09] and align with you.

[01:34:11] And if I'll just say it,

[01:34:12] well we wanna give our game of the show

[01:34:14] to robots at midnight.

[01:34:16] And just say that it was such a cool looking aesthetic

[01:34:20] and it was a polished game

[01:34:21] and it was put together

[01:34:22] and the devs were so great

[01:34:24] and they were kind and gracious.

[01:34:25] They gave us everything we wanted.

[01:34:27] We got the open world gameplay design

[01:34:29] and then they put us in a boss room,

[01:34:30] which was cool as heck.

[01:34:32] It's cool as all get out.

[01:34:33] So definitely something that we wanna return to

[01:34:36] and make sure that we're adding to our wish lists.

[01:34:38] We're keeping an eye out,

[01:34:40] really hoping that they can get a deal with somebody,

[01:34:43] on one of the services,

[01:34:44] whether it's PlayStation Plus or Xbox Game Pass,

[01:34:47] either way, we're looking forward to that.

[01:34:49] So congrats to the developers of robots at midnight.

[01:34:53] Finish line games.

[01:34:54] Really, really good stuff out there.

[01:34:57] But that's gonna be it for tonight.

[01:34:59] I wanna give a big thank you to all of our listeners.

[01:35:01] If you've enjoyed our content

[01:35:02] and you wanna support us further,

[01:35:04] please go check us out

[01:35:05] and give us a rating or review

[01:35:06] on your podcasting platform of choice,

[01:35:08] whether that's Spotify, Apple Podcasts or Good Pods

[01:35:11] and your podcatchers out there.

[01:35:13] We love the engagement.

[01:35:15] You can also reach out to us

[01:35:16] on all social media platforms.

[01:35:18] We're gonna be most responsive on Twitter,

[01:35:20] but keep an eye out for that, will.

[01:35:23] If there's anybody that wants to reach out directly

[01:35:26] and say, hey, I saw you at PAX,

[01:35:28] you were awesome, where can they find you?

[01:35:30] You can find me on Twitter at realkingzilzotai,

[01:35:33] that's R-E-A-L-K-I-N-G-Z-O-S-O-T-A-I.

[01:35:38] And with that, everybody keep gaming,

[01:35:40] take it easy and have a great Friday night.

[01:35:42] Dooses.

[01:35:43] ["Pirates of the Moon"]