Episode 184: Metaphor: ReFantazio - Grinding Asteroids

[00:00:01] Welcome to Gaming Together, a cooperative podcast. Each pod we play through a cooperative experience that relate to you the listener if this game is the creme de la creme of co-op or something better off playing solo. I'm your host, Nave. Phil is out hunting for the guy that assassinated that CEO and I've got my co-op partner here to join me talking about Metaphor ReFantazio. This is Nick of Friday Night Gamecast. What is up, man?

[00:00:37] This truly is the year of Luigi's, man. They fucking got him. Also, okay, I know you're a big McDonald's guy, right?

[00:00:46] Oh yeah, hell yeah. You can tell just by my oily skin.

[00:00:49] Who the fuck working at McDonald's decided to rat this guy out, okay? I saw this video on Instagram that says, Ronald McDonald doesn't know you. You're not getting a pay increase. Like, what the fuck are you doing? Like, let him live. Let him be a symbol.

[00:01:05] Imagine going back to your normal life.

[00:01:07] Have you seen the picture of him with his shirt off? Like, the dude is like, he's chiseled. His abs are defined. His name is Luigi.

[00:01:17] If you had just shut the fuck up, what is wrong with these people? I mean, hey, I hope they give that person $10,000 and then they can come up out the McDonald's mud.

[00:01:29] Cause, but isn't it like, I thought Crime Stoppers was about like convictions. Like if the information leads to a conviction and that's what they're going to fucking struggle with.

[00:01:39] They're going to struggle actually getting this guy conviction because nobody's going to want to. Yeah. I don't know.

[00:01:46] Dude, look in the, look in the chat. I typed in Assassin Picks Luigi and like, this is what came up.

[00:01:53] I don't have to put this into the fucking thumbnail, but it is just, I guess that's Super Smash Brothers.

[00:01:59] I don't know what I'm looking at. I've never seen that before that it's incredible.

[00:02:02] Oh God. It looks like Assassin's Creed Luigi in like a link tunic.

[00:02:06] Oh, outstanding. Oh, is this really him? He has a, he has a nice smile. Wow. This is crazy.

[00:02:11] Yeah. He's super handsome. His name is Luigi. That's like, dude, maybe Assassin's Creed is real. You know what I mean?

[00:02:19] I wish, I wish I was talking about.

[00:02:21] Because wasn't Luigi in one of the Assassin's Creeds in the Ezio games? Or no, it was Mario. Someone said, it's a me, Mario.

[00:02:28] It's a me, Mario.

[00:02:29] In the game.

[00:02:30] Mario, a tutorial difference.

[00:02:33] Yeah. I don't know, man.

[00:02:36] Yeah.

[00:02:37] That's so stupid.

[00:02:39] Who's to say? What did you get for dinner tonight, Dave?

[00:02:41] Did you, did you, did you, I got chicken.

[00:02:44] It's a, it's this local place called Brahms.

[00:02:48] Brahms.

[00:02:49] Yeah.

[00:02:50] It sounds actually really good. It sounds like that would hit fucking hard.

[00:02:53] It's actually not bad. And the best thing about it is that all of the, all of the farms and shit where they get the food are like here in Oklahoma.

[00:03:00] So like the shit's like super fresh.

[00:03:02] Yeah.

[00:03:03] But it's really like an ice cream shop that sells burgers and shit.

[00:03:07] But I just got chicken because I was like, dude, I just need to be able to one hand.

[00:03:11] I, okay.

[00:03:12] So we're recording on a Monday and it is December and I'm a mailman.

[00:03:15] So I'm in, I'm suffering and in pain.

[00:03:18] I was an hour late to my podcast.

[00:03:20] So from when I, when we recorded, but I was, I was like, I got to get home.

[00:03:25] I haven't done the notes.

[00:03:26] I haven't done anything.

[00:03:27] So I'm like one hand fucking dipping chicken into gravy and the other hand, just speed typing shit.

[00:03:33] These notes.

[00:03:34] Yeah.

[00:03:35] No, man, I get it.

[00:03:36] We are out here struggling.

[00:03:39] So this is a gaming podcast.

[00:03:41] Did you plug your show?

[00:03:42] I don't remember.

[00:03:43] You know, I didn't, but I've been on so many times that the regular listens to gaming together.

[00:03:47] Know what's up.

[00:03:48] It's me.

[00:03:48] It's your boy, Nick from the Friday night game cast.

[00:03:50] If you're a new listener to the show and the metaphor re Fantasio episode is the first content that you have ever picked to listen to Phil and Naves gaming together, a cooperative podcast.

[00:04:03] Welcome.

[00:04:03] First of all, but then second of all, I hope you're coming in on a good one.

[00:04:06] I think this is going to be a good show today.

[00:04:08] But third of all, they're fucking consummate professionals.

[00:04:10] Go back and listen to our fucking Blendo episode.

[00:04:14] We talked about what was that?

[00:04:16] Marvel multiverses.

[00:04:17] It was multiverses.

[00:04:18] That was one of my favorite favorite ever.

[00:04:20] But no, like awesome, awesome podcast.

[00:04:23] But we're the Friday night game cast.

[00:04:24] That's the show that I run with my partner.

[00:04:27] Well, he's not my partner.

[00:04:28] He's my partner on the podcast, but he's not my life partner, if you know what I mean.

[00:04:33] But yeah, we are a topical episode variety video game podcast.

[00:04:38] We talk about sometimes topics and then more often than not, we're actually doing reviews for shows.

[00:04:43] The latest review for our show just dropped talking about Star Wars outlaws.

[00:04:47] Boy, what a game.

[00:04:49] And so if you ever want to check that out, go ahead and find us on all podcasting platforms.

[00:04:53] Friday night game cast.

[00:04:54] Oh, and we're off Twitter.

[00:04:56] I need to be making these announcements.

[00:04:58] I've divorced myself from Twitter.

[00:04:59] We're not on there anymore, but we are over on Blue Sky.

[00:05:02] So if you want to find us over on Blue Sky, we're just over there at FNGCPod.

[00:05:06] It's like that.

[00:05:07] What is that picture of the Indian guys?

[00:05:09] And he's like, no best friends.

[00:05:11] Oh, he's over with this person.

[00:05:12] New best friend.

[00:05:13] Do you know what I'm talking about?

[00:05:14] No, I don't know what you're talking about.

[00:05:17] I got to find this new best friend meme.

[00:05:20] Hopefully.

[00:05:21] What?

[00:05:24] Am I hacked?

[00:05:25] What is Google shopping?

[00:05:27] Friendship ended with Muda Seer now.

[00:05:29] No, that's it.

[00:05:30] You found it.

[00:05:31] Yeah, it's correct.

[00:05:32] Right.

[00:05:32] Friendship ended with Twitter.

[00:05:35] Now Blue Sky is my new best friend.

[00:05:39] Yeah, man.

[00:05:40] I wonder how those guys are doing.

[00:05:42] I wonder what they're doing nowadays.

[00:05:43] I do wonder what they're doing.

[00:05:44] I hope they're okay.

[00:05:45] You can tell how old that is just by looking at it.

[00:05:49] It looks like it was a photo taken in the 80s.

[00:05:52] Oh, man.

[00:05:54] But yeah.

[00:05:54] How are you doing, Nave?

[00:05:55] Are you hanging in there?

[00:05:56] I know it's been a rough couple of days, holiday season with the mail and everything.

[00:06:01] Dang.

[00:06:02] Yeah, I'm doing pretty cool.

[00:06:03] I got a new dog.

[00:06:04] So I don't know.

[00:06:05] You've seen like videos I've been posting.

[00:06:07] I have.

[00:06:08] I have.

[00:06:09] Yeah, my new dog, Luna.

[00:06:10] She's over there sleeping.

[00:06:11] She's kind of mad because I could have given them more chicken and I didn't.

[00:06:15] I was a little bit hungrier than I thought I was.

[00:06:18] But they're both sleeping on the – dude, I was worried that they wouldn't like each other.

[00:06:23] They're over there sleeping right next to each other.

[00:06:24] I don't know if you can see those two spots.

[00:06:27] They're pals.

[00:06:27] Yeah, I see the two dark spots on the couch.

[00:06:30] It's incredible.

[00:06:31] Yeah.

[00:06:31] It was great.

[00:06:32] So I came home from work and Molly gets so mad like so fast because Luna is so much bigger than her.

[00:06:40] Right.

[00:06:40] And so much stronger by extension.

[00:06:45] But Molly starts the fights.

[00:06:47] So when Luna was sitting there, Molly ran up and just slapped her back in the back of her head.

[00:06:52] Like just slapped the shit out of her.

[00:06:53] And then as soon as Luna turned around and Molly takes off running, it's like what did you expect was going to happen?

[00:06:58] And now they're chasing each other on the damn house.

[00:07:00] Yeah.

[00:07:01] But they're fucking best friends, man.

[00:07:03] I'm so happy because Molly needed somebody to chase her.

[00:07:07] That's definitely good.

[00:07:08] Yeah.

[00:07:09] I know it's probably a struggle too getting them, you know, exercise enough, you know, but I know you're probably out there, you know, all the time.

[00:07:16] In the rain, sleet, or snow because of those doggos.

[00:07:19] But yeah, man.

[00:07:21] Yeah.

[00:07:21] I'm trying to wait because it was all misty and disgusting this morning.

[00:07:25] Yeah.

[00:07:25] And so it was like that.

[00:07:27] It's been pretty dreary over here too.

[00:07:28] Yeah.

[00:07:29] It feels like we're in, what is it?

[00:07:31] London.

[00:07:32] Silent Hill 2 you mean?

[00:07:33] Oh, well, it wasn't foggy here.

[00:07:36] It was just like a gross like wetness in the air.

[00:07:40] I'm like, oh, this is not even cool.

[00:07:41] Interesting.

[00:07:42] I can still see everything.

[00:07:45] This doesn't compliment my winter arc.

[00:07:48] Yeah, man.

[00:07:49] It fucking sucks.

[00:07:49] But we are a gaming podcast.

[00:07:52] We talk about video games over here sometimes.

[00:07:54] So we're going to talk about the games that we've been playing.

[00:07:56] Nick, I don't see anything in the notes here.

[00:07:58] What have you been playing?

[00:07:59] Man, what haven't I been playing?

[00:08:02] Not a ton.

[00:08:03] I actually have some fun stuff.

[00:08:05] We're going to talk about one of the similar games, but I'll touch on it.

[00:08:08] I have been playing Marvel Rivals.

[00:08:10] I'll let you lead with that because I have a ton of other stuff to talk about.

[00:08:14] But I have a lot of thoughts on Marvel Rivals as well.

[00:08:16] I mean, I got two hours in last night.

[00:08:18] First time in the game.

[00:08:19] Really, really fun.

[00:08:20] Had a great time.

[00:08:22] Started maining Scarlet Witch.

[00:08:24] Yeah.

[00:08:24] And it's solid.

[00:08:25] It's a solid experience.

[00:08:26] I just don't personally care about like, you know, 5v5 arena shooter games.

[00:08:31] So that's just not my cup of tea.

[00:08:33] But other than that, I have been continuing on playing Dragon Age of the Veil Guard.

[00:08:38] I basically am the point in the game now where all the companions you've collected, you've assembled the team, you have all of the companions that you need for the journey.

[00:08:46] And so I think it's just going to...

[00:08:48] I think I'm like halfway through the campaign.

[00:08:51] And it continues to be very much Dragon Age of the Veil Guard in the modern Bioware sense that I think everybody who plays these games understands today.

[00:09:00] I feel like the...

[00:09:02] From what I've played...

[00:09:03] I mean, I've played an extensive amount at this point.

[00:09:05] An extensive amount.

[00:09:08] And the combat in the Veil Guard is pretty fun.

[00:09:14] It's relatively basic.

[00:09:16] It's very floaty.

[00:09:17] By no means is it going to be as tight as you would see something like from Frontsoft.

[00:09:23] Or maybe some other modern action games.

[00:09:25] It's certainly not going to be on the same level of tightness that you would get from Black Myth Wukong or anything like that.

[00:09:32] But it's serviceable combat.

[00:09:34] And I actually like the flashiness.

[00:09:36] It has a lot of style when it comes...

[00:09:38] I'm playing Necro Daggers.

[00:09:40] The Necro Dagger Ranger.

[00:09:41] So I'm kind of getting up in people's faces and doing it.

[00:09:43] I'm not really playing the distance like magic spells or anything like that.

[00:09:47] But unlocking the new finishers is actually really cool.

[00:09:51] It's very stylish.

[00:09:53] It's very comic book hero stuff.

[00:09:56] But I'm enjoying that part of it.

[00:09:58] The narrative side, I really just can't tell whether or not I'm getting into it yet.

[00:10:02] I'm waiting for the hook.

[00:10:04] And I'm 30 hours in and I'm not quite there yet.

[00:10:06] But I've also been kind of...

[00:10:08] I've been taking my time.

[00:10:09] To be fair.

[00:10:10] I've been taking my time.

[00:10:11] And there are moments where there are flashes of brilliance in that game.

[00:10:14] There are flashes of brilliance where I'm like,

[00:10:16] Oh, that's super interesting.

[00:10:18] That character dynamic is actually kind of compelling.

[00:10:21] Or there are moments where characters speak to each other.

[00:10:23] And I'm like, Oh, that's actually...

[00:10:26] Let's follow that train of thought.

[00:10:28] Let's keep doing something like that down the line.

[00:10:30] But it's also kind of distracted.

[00:10:32] I feel like the story is a little bit distracted.

[00:10:34] Because it's this narrative.

[00:10:36] I feel like this game was supposed to be about Solace.

[00:10:39] And halfway through, they shifted down to third gear.

[00:10:42] And they were like, No.

[00:10:43] We're going to talk about Gilanon and the other god.

[00:10:46] I can't remember the name of them.

[00:10:47] And they're the two elven gods that are corrupted by Blight.

[00:10:50] And it's like, they're talking about this.

[00:10:51] Anyway, it's not really spoilers for the game.

[00:10:53] Because that's like the impetus at the very beginning.

[00:10:55] But yeah.

[00:10:56] Yeah.

[00:10:57] I mean, it's interesting to a certain extent.

[00:10:59] But it's also kind of like, I'm waiting for the...

[00:11:02] I'm waiting for like an, Oh, wow moment.

[00:11:04] This is awesome.

[00:11:05] And I heard from people that's closer to the end.

[00:11:08] Yeah.

[00:11:08] I heard the end is insane.

[00:11:10] And so, like, even people who are highly critical of the game, who have beaten it,

[00:11:14] Or were like, the end is amazing.

[00:11:18] But usually that U-turns into like, it making them more critical.

[00:11:23] You know?

[00:11:23] Because it's like, this could have been the whole game.

[00:11:27] And I obviously don't know.

[00:11:28] It's going to come out to Game Pass eventually.

[00:11:29] And I think I am going to play it.

[00:11:31] I've said it on Blue Sky a couple of times.

[00:11:32] By the way, listener, we're over on Blue Sky as well.

[00:11:35] And it's my picture.

[00:11:36] It's a picture of me.

[00:11:37] It's my account.

[00:11:38] Nave of Gaming Together.

[00:11:40] Not random Gaming Together logo.

[00:11:42] Yeah.

[00:11:43] I tried to just differentiate myself.

[00:11:45] I can't remember if I was talking about this or not.

[00:11:47] I need to do that as well.

[00:11:48] I need to do that as well.

[00:11:49] It's interesting.

[00:11:49] But go ahead.

[00:11:50] Why are you going to do that?

[00:11:52] It's because I'm schizophrenic, I think.

[00:11:55] Because I don't know if you've noticed, but I have a different name on everything.

[00:11:58] So it's like on Discord, I'm Guitar Tiro.

[00:12:02] But on Xbox, I'm Guns vs. Kittens.

[00:12:04] But on PlayStation, I'm that pterodactyl.

[00:12:06] And so it's like having...

[00:12:08] Wait, you have a PlayStation account?

[00:12:10] What?

[00:12:11] Yeah, it's that pterodactyl.

[00:12:13] I got a PlayStation 4.

[00:12:14] I got the Vita, you know?

[00:12:15] Yeah, you got the PS4.

[00:12:16] I'm a Vita evangelist.

[00:12:17] Really?

[00:12:18] The only reason I play mine is because the analog stick is broken.

[00:12:21] But very fucking sad.

[00:12:23] But yeah, I just...

[00:12:26] I don't know why.

[00:12:26] But if I was doing the same thing on both Twitter and Blue Sky, I would just quit one.

[00:12:31] And I'm like, I don't think I should do that.

[00:12:34] Even though, dude, seriously, my engagement on Twitter has really kind of fallen off a little bit.

[00:12:40] Yeah.

[00:12:41] And I'm like, I don't know if that's because so many people have traveled over to Blue Sky.

[00:12:44] I really didn't do it for any other reason other than Aaron asked me to over at Super Pod Saga.

[00:12:50] And so he was like, you should do it.

[00:12:51] And I was like, nah.

[00:12:52] And he's like, nah, you really should do it.

[00:12:53] I was like, okay.

[00:12:55] That's how much conviction I had about it.

[00:12:58] I was like, I guess I will.

[00:12:59] No, Aaron, he was talking in the Goof Troop and he really did sell me on it.

[00:13:03] He talked about the engagement.

[00:13:04] And my thing is that I am so tired of life already that doing the bare minimum on Twitter already has kind of put me at my tipping point.

[00:13:15] Doing the social media engagement thing, I feel like it's half of the content podcasting battle.

[00:13:20] Literally, it is so important if you want to have impact in our space that you have to be chronically fucking online or you need a social media manager, one of the two.

[00:13:30] But yeah, I'm thinking I'll probably keep the Pod account going over on Twitter because there are people over there that probably don't have a Blue Sky account just for shits and giggles at this point.

[00:13:42] But I'm not like on there on there and I'll probably be just regular posting over on Blue Sky and just doing all of the content posts on the Friday Night Gamecast account.

[00:13:51] Yeah, I was definitely curious as to how the interaction would be different.

[00:13:56] Because there are people over on Blue Sky that I follow on Twitter as well.

[00:14:00] And we're mutuals on both, but they never interact with me over on Twitter.

[00:14:05] But they interact with me quite – not like on my posts because I don't really post over there that often.

[00:14:09] But it's like I go over and comment on stuff.

[00:14:12] And so I get a lot of comment interaction over on Blue Sky from these people that never really interact.

[00:14:18] And I'm like I wonder if it's because it's a face and not an icon.

[00:14:22] I've always wondered that on Twitter.

[00:14:23] That's what it is.

[00:14:24] I think that's what it is.

[00:14:25] It's a big piece of it.

[00:14:26] I think my – I made my personal Nikolai at Night Blue Sky account before I made the FNGC account.

[00:14:32] And I have like twice the followers without barely doing any engagement.

[00:14:36] I have like two posts maybe over on my main account, but I have a face to the name.

[00:14:41] And I think it's also in the title of host of a podcast, right?

[00:14:44] People just follow you because of that.

[00:14:46] But yeah.

[00:14:47] But the games though, I did get a little bit off track there.

[00:14:50] Oh, whoops.

[00:14:50] No, no, no, no, no.

[00:14:52] Yeah.

[00:14:52] So I was playing Dragon Age of the Veil Guard.

[00:14:54] Still work in progress.

[00:14:55] Don't really have any solidified opinions about it quite yet.

[00:14:58] Can't come down on the jury.

[00:14:59] The episode that we released for the podcast this last Friday, Star Wars Outlaws, is actually – I have continued putting time into it after beating the campaign because I'm trying to get the platinum.

[00:15:12] I'm working towards the platinum.

[00:15:14] I'm also kind of on the fence of whether or not I want to continue doing that because I was only doing it because I thought Will was doing it.

[00:15:19] And then apparently Will figured out that like he was like there's an achievement in there specifically that you have to take down each syndicate's capital ship in space.

[00:15:28] You're doing like the whole space battle thing up there without taking hull damage.

[00:15:32] So you basically have to kill them while your shields are still active.

[00:15:38] And he said that like you have to do that for all four.

[00:15:40] And he's like that fucking sucks.

[00:15:42] Like every time I do it, like it's just immediately like they wipe out my shields like it's next to nothing.

[00:15:48] So I will see whether or not it's even viable at this point.

[00:15:51] And you have to do 40 contracts.

[00:15:53] And I'm starting to think to myself like 40 is like kind of crazy.

[00:15:56] Like I don't know if I have the capacity to grind out that many contracts because they take time to do.

[00:16:01] We're talking about like 10 to 15 minutes per contract because it's a lot of them ask you to go cross map, go back cross map to turn the quest in.

[00:16:08] And I'm just like, all right.

[00:16:10] So I feel like I need to maybe look up some tutorials on PowerPix or something like that to see if there's a way I can min-max it.

[00:16:16] But still having a great time, like still finding secrets and stuff on the various planets, exploring parts of the planets that are the – there are four main planets in the game.

[00:16:25] And still finding parts of them I hadn't been to previously, which is really, really interesting that I've been having a good time with.

[00:16:32] But moving on, I, of course, have been playing the game for the show Metaphor Refrontasio over on Steam.

[00:16:39] But then I have been looking at a couple of other games.

[00:16:43] I was going to say this for the section where we were talking about what we bought.

[00:16:48] But I don't want to steal your thunder, Nave.

[00:16:49] I did buy three games recently.

[00:16:52] One of them was Sayonara Wild Hearts, which is an incredible game.

[00:16:56] And then the next one –

[00:16:57] So did you beat it?

[00:16:57] No, not yet.

[00:16:58] I haven't booted it up yet.

[00:16:59] But I'm really excited.

[00:17:01] I want to be in like the right headspace for it.

[00:17:03] Yeah.

[00:17:04] And so I want to be able to kind of like jump into it like with a clean palette.

[00:17:08] Jump into it whenever you're like feeling kind of melancholic.

[00:17:12] Like maybe you need a pick-me-up and then let that game be your pick-me-up.

[00:17:16] Let the game – okay.

[00:17:17] I feel like that would be a really good idea because I can kind of uplift out of it.

[00:17:20] But –

[00:17:21] Genially, that's why I've beaten it so many times because sometimes I just feel lonely.

[00:17:25] And I'm just like –

[00:17:25] I need my injection of serotonin straight to the brain, right?

[00:17:29] Yeah.

[00:17:29] It's so good.

[00:17:30] All right.

[00:17:31] Go on.

[00:17:31] Sorry.

[00:17:31] No worries.

[00:17:32] Yeah.

[00:17:32] But the other two games I got was Crow Country and Lorelei and the Laser Eyes because they

[00:17:37] were both like heavily discounted in the Steam game sale.

[00:17:41] So I got both of those over on Steam.

[00:17:43] So I'm really excited about it.

[00:17:44] What the hell is that other one?

[00:17:45] That second one?

[00:17:46] Lorelei and the Laser Eyes?

[00:17:48] It's actually I think one of the last Annapurna games before that fucking stupid woman, billionaire

[00:17:57] daughter, lady shut down the studio because she didn't want to pay the people over there.

[00:18:02] But yeah.

[00:18:03] Oh, dude.

[00:18:03] I forgot about that shit.

[00:18:04] It's a puzzle game.

[00:18:05] It's like black and white and it's very like moody and atmospheric.

[00:18:09] So I'm really excited about starting those games.

[00:18:12] I got those but I had been doing that.

[00:18:14] But yeah.

[00:18:15] And then finally, man, I want to say I'm so happy to finally have an excuse to boot

[00:18:22] up my Xbox and boot up like my PC Game Pass application on the computer because I am officially

[00:18:29] as of today 30 minutes in to Indiana Jones and the Great Circle and it fucking rips, dude.

[00:18:35] It fucking rips.

[00:18:37] I got to the title card and I was like, I'm all in.

[00:18:40] I am so excited.

[00:18:42] I am all in.

[00:18:42] Dude, Machine Games has done it.

[00:18:44] And to hear people talk about like this game to the extent of you're saying like it's like

[00:18:50] the best parts of what is it?

[00:18:53] Not Deception, but what is it?

[00:18:56] What is the Bethesda game that where it's like the sneaking in the...

[00:19:01] Dishonored.

[00:19:02] Dishonored.

[00:19:02] Dishonored.

[00:19:03] Yeah.

[00:19:03] There we go.

[00:19:04] Dishonored.

[00:19:05] Saying that this game is kind of like Dishonored, saying that it's kind of like Curse of the

[00:19:09] Golden Idol, you know, Forgotten City.

[00:19:12] Like you're literally like checking my boxes in terms of what I want from an adventure puzzle

[00:19:16] game.

[00:19:17] And just like just the pure minutes, like the first intro sequence, this is a spoiler for

[00:19:23] people who want to go into Indiana Jones and the Great Circle clear.

[00:19:26] So skip ahead five seconds.

[00:19:27] But the intro sequence is literally them re...

[00:19:31] Like they literally just put the beginning of Raiders in the Lost Ark into like the video

[00:19:36] game format to like set the groundwork.

[00:19:38] Something everybody who loves this franchise is familiar with.

[00:19:41] And it's fucking so cool.

[00:19:43] It's awesome, man.

[00:19:44] So I can't wait to get deeper into that and figure out more stuff on that.

[00:19:48] But that's about it for me.

[00:19:49] I think I saw that part in a review.

[00:19:51] Or like maybe it was in a trailer or something.

[00:19:54] I think people have been talking about it.

[00:19:55] Yeah.

[00:19:56] So I did just accidentally get exposed to it.

[00:19:58] But this is the thing.

[00:19:59] I've never watched a single Indiana Jones movie.

[00:20:01] Nave.

[00:20:02] Because I look at it and I'm like, ew.

[00:20:04] And then I just never tried it.

[00:20:05] But I have since been exposed to...

[00:20:08] Do you have Disney Plus?

[00:20:09] No.

[00:20:10] Is that the only place it's it?

[00:20:13] I think it's the only place that is streaming for free.

[00:20:15] But you can definitely get it on Amazon.

[00:20:17] Nave, I'll tell you this.

[00:20:18] Okay.

[00:20:19] Do you have like...

[00:20:20] You can like download the Prime Video app on...

[00:20:21] You have that on your Xbox, right?

[00:20:23] I assume you probably watch movies occasionally.

[00:20:26] Semi-occasionally.

[00:20:27] I never watch movies.

[00:20:29] I barely watch anime.

[00:20:31] And I love anime.

[00:20:31] I don't know what you have to do.

[00:20:32] If you have to get like a 12 pack of beer or something like that.

[00:20:35] Just to kick back and crack open a couple old cold ones.

[00:20:39] But like, dude.

[00:20:40] I will literally rent Raiders of the Lost Ark.

[00:20:43] Or The Last Crusade.

[00:20:44] Or The Last Crusade for you.

[00:20:46] Just so you can experience like the vibe.

[00:20:49] And feel it.

[00:20:50] I don't remember who I saw.

[00:20:51] I think it was Chris Ragan tweeted that it was like literally a...

[00:20:54] No, it couldn't have been.

[00:20:56] Because he hasn't played yet.

[00:20:56] So it must have been Mr. Matty Plays.

[00:20:58] It was someone in that last stand media circle.

[00:21:00] And they were like, this is literally like a sequel to one of the Indiana Jones movies.

[00:21:06] And I was like...

[00:21:07] That's what I'm asking for.

[00:21:09] How did Machine Games fucking figure this out and Hollywood couldn't do it for 25 years?

[00:21:14] It's crazy.

[00:21:15] It's just like that Ghostbusters game.

[00:21:16] Have you played the Ghostbusters game?

[00:21:18] No.

[00:21:19] Dude, there is literally...

[00:21:21] It's like Ghostbusters.

[00:21:22] There's like a lot of them.

[00:21:24] I have to make sure it's the correct one.

[00:21:25] Hold on.

[00:21:25] I know they made like one of those asymmetric Dead by Daylight simulators.

[00:21:30] It's just Ghostbusters the video game.

[00:21:32] They even remastered it.

[00:21:34] So it's in the most...

[00:21:35] You can, you know, play it on PS5 and shit like that.

[00:21:39] This is literally the sequel to Ghostbusters.

[00:21:41] Or like Ghostbusters 2 or something.

[00:21:43] Like the actual...

[00:21:45] Like the people who are...

[00:21:46] And I think that some of the voice actors are in it too.

[00:21:48] Or maybe it's just really good.

[00:21:50] Ghostbusters the video game remastered.

[00:21:52] Is that what you mean?

[00:21:53] Yeah.

[00:21:53] The people were saying...

[00:21:54] Like the people who made Ghostbusters were saying like this is basically canonically the

[00:21:58] actual sequel to Ghostbusters.

[00:22:00] Yeah.

[00:22:00] And it's really good.

[00:22:01] But I've never watched Ghostbusters.

[00:22:03] So it's like...

[00:22:03] I don't really know what's going on.

[00:22:05] But I kind of did want to watch it.

[00:22:07] Ghostbusters 1 is the best.

[00:22:09] Most of everything else after that is really iterative and like low-key trash in my opinion.

[00:22:14] I've definitely been exposed to...

[00:22:15] I've seen like...

[00:22:16] I've walked into a room and someone was watching it.

[00:22:19] And I was like, this is neat.

[00:22:21] And then I left.

[00:22:22] Yeah.

[00:22:22] But like because I'm a little kid.

[00:22:23] I have ADHD.

[00:22:24] I would say that like...

[00:22:26] Do you think the ADHD is what would typically stop you from sticking through a whole movie?

[00:22:31] That 100 million...

[00:22:32] At home.

[00:22:32] It's like me sitting here like...

[00:22:35] After like 40 minutes, I'm like moving like, oh god, I've got to do something.

[00:22:39] Like I can't believe that I'm just staring at the TV.

[00:22:43] Yeah.

[00:22:44] I would say that like...

[00:22:45] Do you have any handheld games or something like that?

[00:22:48] Or like you can play like Magic Arena and probably watch that movie at the same time

[00:22:53] or something like that.

[00:22:53] I feel like that would be a move.

[00:22:55] On the Switch, I've been playing the Rabbids, Mario and Rabbids game.

[00:23:00] The Sparks of Hope.

[00:23:01] Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[00:23:02] That's right.

[00:23:02] And that's really good for watching stuff because it's turn-based.

[00:23:05] Yeah.

[00:23:05] And it's pretty easy.

[00:23:06] So it's like...

[00:23:08] It's pretty good.

[00:23:09] Like I'll be like editing the pod and just like playing that passively.

[00:23:12] But then I'll let like 30 minutes go by and I haven't made a single edit.

[00:23:15] I'm like, oh, I should probably re-listen to that.

[00:23:17] Yeah.

[00:23:18] Probably missed a bunch of shit.

[00:23:19] You know what's like also super...

[00:23:22] I don't know.

[00:23:22] I think it's super foundational and important for like the overall experience and something

[00:23:26] that they absolutely get right.

[00:23:27] Right.

[00:23:27] And with just 30, 45 minutes in Indiana Jones, it's part of it is the sound.

[00:23:34] They got Gordy...

[00:23:35] Like I asked for this and they fucking delivered.

[00:23:38] They were able to hire Gordy Hobb, the same guy who composed the original soundtrack and

[00:23:42] the score for the Jedi Fallen Order and Jedi Survivor games.

[00:23:45] Like he literally is just John Williams.

[00:23:48] He basically went to music school and was like, just teach me how to be John Williams.

[00:23:51] And he fucking does it.

[00:23:53] And that's what's so important about all of like Jurassic Park, all the Star Wars films,

[00:23:58] like or at least the original trilogy of the Star Wars films.

[00:24:01] And then like, what is it?

[00:24:03] You know, all of the Indiana Jones for the scores that he composed.

[00:24:06] It's just like, it's so good and just like classically brilliant on so many levels with all the different

[00:24:14] suites and motifs and everything.

[00:24:15] But it's just like he, Gordy Hobb does exactly what you want.

[00:24:19] And it's about that feeling, the immersion of the experience and hearing that like Indiana

[00:24:23] Jones theme in the background as like that through line to carry you.

[00:24:27] It's just, it's great.

[00:24:29] Yeah, I'm definitely excited to play it.

[00:24:31] But like people keep going like, hey, watch.

[00:24:34] I think it's Raiders of the Lost Ark is the one that everyone's going at least bare minimum.

[00:24:39] Please just watch that.

[00:24:40] And I'm just like, I don't know.

[00:24:42] I don't know.

[00:24:43] Maybe I will.

[00:24:44] Maybe I won't.

[00:24:45] I'll think about it.

[00:24:46] Yeah.

[00:24:47] I mean, of course, I think you can go into it blind if you if you really want to and just

[00:24:52] play the game.

[00:24:53] And if the game is good enough, it would inspire you potentially to want to be like, oh,

[00:24:56] I want to know what happens in this universe or like what happens to this character more

[00:25:00] like most of like the Indiana Jones films kind of live separately from each other for

[00:25:05] the most part.

[00:25:07] Raiders in the Lost Ark and the Last Crusade speak to each other more.

[00:25:10] It's really funny.

[00:25:11] Like everybody hates Temple of Doom because Temple of Doom is like really bad.

[00:25:14] And like there's just like really terrible parts about the Temple of Doom.

[00:25:18] And it's one of the things I hate it.

[00:25:19] I mean, it's just like, well, the thing is, is that Steven Spielberg like was in a like

[00:25:25] he was having a relationship during the filming of the movie with like the main the the main

[00:25:30] female protagonist of that film.

[00:25:32] And then like during the filming, they got married.

[00:25:34] And so it's like I just think that bro took his eye off the ball.

[00:25:37] He got too lost in the sauce and decided to make a bad movie on accident.

[00:25:41] And then he came back with another banger for the Last Crusade.

[00:25:44] But yeah, it's yeah, it's really good.

[00:25:47] So, I mean, up to you either way.

[00:25:48] But I would say that like, man, I'll fucking whatever it takes.

[00:25:53] I'll try.

[00:25:54] I try to push Raiders of the Lost Ark on you and see if you like it.

[00:25:57] All right.

[00:25:58] As long as I think that's the one I'll remember that name at least because I don't even remember

[00:26:02] what the other two are called.

[00:26:04] So that's that's promising already.

[00:26:06] At least remember the name for sure.

[00:26:09] Yeah.

[00:26:09] But what have you been playing, Dave?

[00:26:11] So I just started a way out and it's me and Casey.

[00:26:17] We haven't really played too much of it yet because my Internet's been shitty for like all week last week.

[00:26:23] It was spotting out and like I kept getting text messages.

[00:26:27] Like I would be coming home from work and I get a text message from my Internet, my ISP.

[00:26:31] And it's like we're experiencing outage in your area.

[00:26:33] And I'm like, I'm literally on my way home.

[00:26:35] Like it was brutal thing I've read all day.

[00:26:39] So it's like it's like it's been tough to play a co-op only game like that.

[00:26:45] But my Internet's been a little bit better now.

[00:26:46] Luckily, it didn't affect our podcasting or anything.

[00:26:49] Yeah.

[00:26:50] It seems to only be when I'm using my Xbox.

[00:26:53] That's when the Internet goes out.

[00:26:54] But if I'm over here, I could do whatever I want all day.

[00:26:57] And then, you know, it's probably fine.

[00:26:59] So but other than that, I have been playing Marvel Rivals, which may come as a surprise to a lot of people.

[00:27:08] Well, you put 120 hours into Midnight Suns.

[00:27:11] So this isn't surprising to me.

[00:27:13] Well, I Midnight Suns.

[00:27:15] I did that because I have a deep respect for is it Fire Axis?

[00:27:20] I have a deep respect for the guys.

[00:27:22] I don't remember their name.

[00:27:23] That's how much I respect them.

[00:27:24] I think it's Fire Axis.

[00:27:26] But now I'm doubting myself.

[00:27:27] But yeah, the XCOM guys.

[00:27:28] And I love card games.

[00:27:30] So that's what kind of really convinced me to play that.

[00:27:32] Yeah.

[00:27:32] I are goofed.

[00:27:34] The goof troop is our is our group chat that me and you are both in and Philip and all all kinds of people.

[00:27:39] And everyone just has been nonstop talking about Marvel Rivals.

[00:27:43] And I notorious Disney hater specifically at Marvel.

[00:27:47] I really have a fucking bone to pick with you guys.

[00:27:50] But I was just like, no, like looking down on them from my with my nose upturned.

[00:27:56] Like I'm way too sophisticated for that.

[00:27:58] I'm playing metaphor, re-fantasia.

[00:28:00] I'm reading a book but playing video games at the same time.

[00:28:04] What are you plebeians talking about?

[00:28:06] Reading a book and watching anime also.

[00:28:09] And navigating a DVD menu.

[00:28:12] But the – what was I just trying to say?

[00:28:15] Oh, no.

[00:28:16] Okay.

[00:28:16] So I was like, you know, I was shit talking to them the whole time.

[00:28:19] And I was like, I wouldn't be caught dead playing Marvel Rivals.

[00:28:21] So my buddy Dontre comes by and we haven't talked in like a little while.

[00:28:26] And so he comes by and we're drinking and I'm talking.

[00:28:28] We're talking about like our woes and shit.

[00:28:30] And then he's like, you know, have you been playing Marvel Rivals?

[00:28:34] And I'm just like, oh, my God, not you too, dude.

[00:28:37] And so he's like, download it and I'm going to play it.

[00:28:41] Right?

[00:28:41] And so – well, we were in an Xbox party before he came over and he was already talking about it.

[00:28:46] But he was like, download it and then I'll play it.

[00:28:48] That was a lie.

[00:28:49] He made me – he didn't make me play it.

[00:28:52] He goaded me into playing it by using my ego against me.

[00:28:55] So he was like – because my favorite superhero is Spider-Man.

[00:29:00] I mean that's very generic.

[00:29:01] That's a pretty normie answer.

[00:29:03] But I love Spider-Man.

[00:29:05] He's always going to be the boy.

[00:29:07] You mean Squirrel Girl isn't your favorite superhero?

[00:29:10] Dude, that shark is probably my second favorite.

[00:29:12] Jeff the Shark is fucking goaded.

[00:29:14] Are you kidding me?

[00:29:15] Jesus Christ, I love Jeff the Shark.

[00:29:17] It makes me real mad.

[00:29:18] But so I was like, all right.

[00:29:21] I was talking about it and he's like, I know you like Spider-Man.

[00:29:24] Spider-Man is the hardest character to play so maybe you wouldn't be able to play him.

[00:29:28] And I'm just like, what the fuck are you talking about?

[00:29:30] I wouldn't be able to play him.

[00:29:31] Give me that fucking controller.

[00:29:32] I'll fucking show you how to play Spider-Man.

[00:29:35] And then I won.

[00:29:36] We played four games, lost three of them.

[00:29:38] The only game we won was the one where I only played and I played Spider-Man the whole time.

[00:29:42] So I was like, dude, I can do.

[00:29:44] I understand how to play these games.

[00:29:46] Are you kidding me?

[00:29:47] As soon as I was like, I just hit all the buttons and I was like, oh, this is what all these do.

[00:29:50] Okay.

[00:29:52] And you know you have the right bumper that does the or like R1 or whatever.

[00:29:55] Yeah.

[00:29:56] He shoots the web out, pulls them to you.

[00:29:58] I'm like, I didn't know that that's what that did.

[00:30:01] So the first time I did it, I did it to Groot and pulled Groot into my face.

[00:30:04] And then he beat the dog shit out of me.

[00:30:06] I was like, oh, okay.

[00:30:08] Well, I didn't know what that does.

[00:30:09] That's what that does.

[00:30:11] Yeah.

[00:30:11] But then, so they had a stupid sniper lady, Widowmaker.

[00:30:15] I don't know who she is in this game.

[00:30:17] And then they also had, they also had basically Zenyatta, I guess.

[00:30:25] There's like an alien.

[00:30:26] Well, no, there's like an alien girl.

[00:30:28] So Zenyatta is the healer guy.

[00:30:31] That probably.

[00:30:32] Yeah, it is Mantis because it's from Guardians of the Galaxy, isn't it?

[00:30:37] Yeah.

[00:30:37] Okay.

[00:30:37] Yeah.

[00:30:37] So that's Mantis.

[00:30:38] And so they had those two and I was just ganking the shit out of them over and over again.

[00:30:43] And we won so hard.

[00:30:45] I was like, this game is so easy.

[00:30:47] And the game is not easy.

[00:30:48] The team just fell apart.

[00:30:49] It's not.

[00:30:49] No.

[00:30:50] The team fell apart after I started killing their stupid sniper all the time.

[00:30:54] Yeah.

[00:30:54] But I, so I play, I only played a few games.

[00:30:57] I played as Spider-Man.

[00:30:59] I played as Moon Knight.

[00:31:02] Which I kind of hated.

[00:31:04] And then I played as Wolverine.

[00:31:10] That's who it is.

[00:31:11] I played as Wolverine too.

[00:31:12] I couldn't find the sweet spot for Wolverine.

[00:31:16] I got a few kills with Wolverine.

[00:31:18] I played some characters and got my cheeks fucking clapped.

[00:31:22] Like absolutely just like my shit dented in playing people like the Punisher or fucking God forbid.

[00:31:28] What's his face?

[00:31:29] The Winter Soldier.

[00:31:32] And you know what I like.

[00:31:33] But as soon as I started playing Wolverine, I was like, okay, yeah, you know, this is cool.

[00:31:37] He can get them in people's faces.

[00:31:38] I'm kind of the guy who's willing to just like fucking, you know, rush in at any given moment and just try to get in people's faces to like push them back.

[00:31:46] Throw them off like their strategy or their game or knock out the healer.

[00:31:51] And I just couldn't find the sweet spot with him.

[00:31:53] He has this like leaping attack.

[00:31:54] And apparently I was playing with a buddy of mine.

[00:31:56] And I was like, how do you like aim it?

[00:31:59] Because he kind of goes up and then down.

[00:32:00] He was like, you don't aim it at people.

[00:32:02] You actually have to get in their shit.

[00:32:04] And then use it.

[00:32:06] And then you slam them onto the ground, which is actually pretty good if you want to do like big damage.

[00:32:10] But yeah, I got the hang of that because we were after that Spider-Man game.

[00:32:15] He played a full match with some fucking Lee Sin knockoff.

[00:32:19] Yeah, dude.

[00:32:20] It's like a dude.

[00:32:20] He looks like a Ninja Turtle.

[00:32:22] He has like a fucking bandana.

[00:32:24] You're talking about Iron Fist.

[00:32:26] Maybe.

[00:32:27] I don't know.

[00:32:28] This is literally a person I've never in my life seen.

[00:32:31] Like it's like I've seen Wolverine before.

[00:32:33] I could like guess his name probably if I'm staring at it long enough.

[00:32:36] Right.

[00:32:38] This guy I've never heard of before in my life.

[00:32:40] And so he ate shit in that game.

[00:32:43] But I think it was just a bad matchup or something.

[00:32:45] Right.

[00:32:45] Because he was getting singled out.

[00:32:47] It was a game where he was the only melee character on the whole team.

[00:32:51] And everyone else was like long range.

[00:32:52] So he was ever the only one in the shit.

[00:32:56] But yeah.

[00:32:57] So then we would take turns like in between the objectives.

[00:33:01] Because you know it's like you do defense and then offense.

[00:33:04] Or it goes to different like spots on the map.

[00:33:06] So we just kept taking turns.

[00:33:07] And so that's when I played Moon Knight and I played a little bit of Wolverine.

[00:33:11] And Wolverine was my shit.

[00:33:14] I was like oh.

[00:33:15] I was like Spider-Man is great.

[00:33:17] And then because that's the first dude I played.

[00:33:19] And then now I'm playing Wolverine.

[00:33:20] I was like oh yeah.

[00:33:21] Wolverine is a little bit more my style.

[00:33:22] Because he's like.

[00:33:23] Like I would.

[00:33:24] So what I would always do is I'm always using his abilities as movement.

[00:33:29] As gap closing just to get to the place.

[00:33:31] And then by the time I'm in a fight the cooldown is back up.

[00:33:34] And I just run in their face.

[00:33:35] And then start like using all their abilities like to CC people and stuff.

[00:33:40] And it's.

[00:33:41] I just like abilities that move other people like in games like this.

[00:33:45] Because that is always disorienting as fuck.

[00:33:47] To get just yanked around.

[00:33:48] And so that like slam ability is sick on him.

[00:33:52] Yeah.

[00:33:53] I don't know what his fucking ult does at all.

[00:33:55] But.

[00:33:55] He does a.

[00:33:57] He does like a basically a claw tornado.

[00:33:59] Where he'll like just like lose his shit.

[00:34:01] And then it creates like a just a tornado of claws.

[00:34:05] And it like pushes everybody.

[00:34:07] Like it just like probably.

[00:34:08] If you time it right and people are close enough.

[00:34:10] You'll like spread a bunch of people out because of it.

[00:34:13] But yeah.

[00:34:14] I get what you mean man.

[00:34:15] Like I was struggling really finding a main.

[00:34:16] But I eventually found Scarlet Witch.

[00:34:20] Started playing as Scarlet Witch.

[00:34:21] And it was funny.

[00:34:22] I was in the play along pod discord server today.

[00:34:24] And Jared was talking about it.

[00:34:26] It's funny.

[00:34:26] I always forget that Jared is in the Groove Troop.

[00:34:28] But I know he like probably has had it up to here with our bullshit.

[00:34:32] So he's not in there all the time.

[00:34:34] But I was talking with him about Marvel Rivals and the Goove Troop.

[00:34:39] And I found.

[00:34:39] And apparently he's playing Scarlet Witch as well.

[00:34:42] Which is really cool.

[00:34:43] Because she's like honestly she's the most cheesy ass character.

[00:34:47] Like literally all you have to do is just like run and press the right trigger.

[00:34:50] And like aim at people.

[00:34:52] It's so easy.

[00:34:53] And I've gotten so many kills with her.

[00:34:55] I was MVP for a game.

[00:34:57] I was like as soon as I found her.

[00:34:58] I started like winning.

[00:35:00] And the team started winning.

[00:35:01] And I was like okay we're cooking now.

[00:35:03] This is fucking okay.

[00:35:04] This is my game.

[00:35:05] This is my character.

[00:35:06] Literally Jono from the Elder Trolls was in the Goove Troop.

[00:35:09] And he I just typed in the word Scarlet in the control app.

[00:35:13] And the message is Scarlet Witch is such a loser no skill character.

[00:35:17] And he says that randomly.

[00:35:19] Like just there's no one talking.

[00:35:22] And he just says that.

[00:35:23] And no one responds.

[00:35:25] It's because he's playing fucking Hawkeye.

[00:35:27] And he's up in the air.

[00:35:28] And she is literally like she is the cancer for people like Hawkeye, Doctor Strange, and Iron Man.

[00:35:34] She'll literally just suck all of their shit straight out of the air.

[00:35:37] I love it.

[00:35:38] I love it.

[00:35:40] I don't know who.

[00:35:40] I know who Iron Man is.

[00:35:41] I don't know who any of these other people.

[00:35:42] I don't know who Scarlet Witch is.

[00:35:44] I've never seen these people in my life.

[00:35:45] Yeah.

[00:35:46] I mean they what is it?

[00:35:47] Well you said you knew Guardians right?

[00:35:51] Yeah.

[00:35:51] Because of the game.

[00:35:52] Especially because of the game.

[00:35:53] Peter Quill.

[00:35:54] Yeah.

[00:35:55] Yeah.

[00:35:55] I know Peter Quill.

[00:35:56] He's playing Star Lord.

[00:35:56] Star Lord specifically.

[00:35:57] Yeah.

[00:35:58] It's weird hearing their voices.

[00:36:00] And like because it's I've heard his voice in the movie but I'm more familiar with the video game Guardians of the Galaxy.

[00:36:07] Right.

[00:36:07] But then I've played the Telltale one and now I'm hearing him in this and they all sound different.

[00:36:13] And I'm like it like doesn't make sense in my brain.

[00:36:17] Your brain is factoring.

[00:36:17] You're like what is going on?

[00:36:19] Yeah.

[00:36:20] Like I could just never get a beat on this guy.

[00:36:23] This guy's anomalous for me.

[00:36:25] At least Chris Pratt isn't voicing him in this game.

[00:36:28] At least this is one area where he's not voicing a beloved character.

[00:36:33] Yeah.

[00:36:33] The fucking Mario.

[00:36:35] Mario and Luigi or whatever.

[00:36:37] Yeah.

[00:36:38] All right.

[00:36:39] So that was the games we were playing.

[00:36:40] I don't know what Phillip's playing.

[00:36:42] I don't want to backtrack us too far because I know we have a lot to talk about.

[00:36:45] But did you like A Way Out?

[00:36:47] I know you said you were playing it in like connectivity issues.

[00:36:49] But did you get enough time to see whether or not you're like okay this is cool?

[00:36:52] Yeah.

[00:36:53] I mean I've played it before.

[00:36:54] So I was just playing it through with Casey.

[00:36:56] So for her first time.

[00:36:57] She really, really, really loved It Takes Two.

[00:37:00] Of course.

[00:37:01] Because It Takes Two is a masterpiece.

[00:37:02] I didn't care about It Takes Two that much.

[00:37:05] I don't know.

[00:37:06] Oh that's wild.

[00:37:06] I just don't know why it didn't hit me the way that it hit everybody else.

[00:37:09] But I also played it with an ex of mine.

[00:37:12] So I feel like that might have something to do with it.

[00:37:14] Oh yeah.

[00:37:16] And the game was like about having a bad relationship.

[00:37:19] I love It Takes Two on like a development level.

[00:37:23] A gameplay level.

[00:37:24] Yeah.

[00:37:24] Like the game design.

[00:37:26] I think I said this last week.

[00:37:27] But like the fact that they just have this intense mechanic that like feels fun and is fluid and functional.

[00:37:35] And then you only play with it for 15 minutes.

[00:37:37] And they're like alright on to the next thing.

[00:37:39] It is just like it fucking blows my mind.

[00:37:41] I'm just like I can't believe it.

[00:37:42] They built an entire.

[00:37:44] I don't know if it was part of a level or an entire level itself in that game.

[00:37:47] That's just a Diablo like.

[00:37:48] Yeah.

[00:37:49] It's fucking cool man.

[00:37:51] Yeah.

[00:37:52] Yeah.

[00:37:52] There's cool stuff in it.

[00:37:53] I definitely appreciated that.

[00:37:55] Yeah.

[00:37:55] I was like maybe go back and play it again.

[00:37:57] Because that was the cool thing too is coming.

[00:37:59] I didn't remember half the shit that I played.

[00:38:01] So I was like remembering things as I'm playing.

[00:38:03] And I'm like dude.

[00:38:04] It's even better the second time.

[00:38:06] Like just re-experiencing it.

[00:38:08] But yeah man.

[00:38:10] A Way Out is really good as well.

[00:38:12] It's funnier.

[00:38:14] Like because it's like nothing is supposed to be funnier.

[00:38:16] But it is way funnier.

[00:38:18] Like especially with the way that they talk.

[00:38:20] Like both of the voice actors.

[00:38:22] Especially.

[00:38:23] Is it unintentionally funny?

[00:38:24] Is that what you mean?

[00:38:25] Yeah.

[00:38:25] It's very unintentionally funny.

[00:38:27] Like some of the line deliveries.

[00:38:28] I just.

[00:38:29] I can't help but just repeat it.

[00:38:31] Like I hear it.

[00:38:32] Like as soon as I hear it.

[00:38:34] Yeah.

[00:38:34] It's like hey.

[00:38:35] Don't worry about it.

[00:38:36] And I'm like.

[00:38:37] I'm like.

[00:38:39] I just.

[00:38:41] Hey.

[00:38:41] We need to get up to that window over there.

[00:38:43] And I'm like.

[00:38:44] Dude.

[00:38:45] I can't help it.

[00:38:45] I'm like dude.

[00:38:46] I fucking love this guy so much.

[00:38:48] Do they.

[00:38:48] Are they doing like the 1920s.

[00:38:50] Like fucking slick.

[00:38:52] Slicker.

[00:38:52] You know.

[00:38:53] What do they call it?

[00:38:54] Like the.

[00:38:55] Greaser.

[00:38:56] Greaser.

[00:38:56] Yeah.

[00:38:57] The greasers.

[00:38:58] Yeah.

[00:38:58] The greaser.

[00:38:59] The slicker accent.

[00:39:00] I love it.

[00:39:01] It kind of is.

[00:39:02] Yeah.

[00:39:02] That's how one of the dudes is.

[00:39:05] All right.

[00:39:05] But yeah.

[00:39:06] So we.

[00:39:08] I don't remember how we lead into this anymore.

[00:39:10] So it's like.

[00:39:11] So Nave.

[00:39:11] What did you buy this week?

[00:39:12] Oh yeah.

[00:39:13] What did Nave buy?

[00:39:14] This is.

[00:39:14] I'm changing the section to what did anyone buy?

[00:39:17] Because I like to hear what other people say too.

[00:39:19] Hell yeah.

[00:39:20] So I bought a game called mouth washing.

[00:39:22] Have you heard about this?

[00:39:23] Because this is kind of the wave.

[00:39:25] I have been hearing nothing but people gush about this game.

[00:39:29] And I'm actually super hyped about it.

[00:39:31] Because I was.

[00:39:32] I was looking at.

[00:39:33] Because Dave Jackson.

[00:39:34] You know.

[00:39:34] Good mutual friend of ours.

[00:39:36] He played it.

[00:39:37] And he was like.

[00:39:38] It's bleak.

[00:39:38] It's depressing.

[00:39:40] And it's excellently written.

[00:39:42] And it's like.

[00:39:42] Really really sharp with like.

[00:39:44] The meta themes that they have.

[00:39:46] Within the game itself.

[00:39:47] I haven't heard a ton about like.

[00:39:48] The gameplay.

[00:39:49] Other than the fact that like.

[00:39:50] This shit is like super deep.

[00:39:51] And if you literally just go on steam.

[00:39:53] And watch like the trailer for mouth washing.

[00:39:55] Like there's some dark shit.

[00:39:57] I'm not.

[00:39:57] I'm even just looking at the.

[00:39:59] The picture that she posted in the chat here.

[00:40:01] Like this is a hundred percent.

[00:40:03] Going to be my shit.

[00:40:04] I'm so excited.

[00:40:05] And I don't think my computer is going to be able to run it.

[00:40:07] I think my computer is that bad.

[00:40:09] But.

[00:40:09] It.

[00:40:10] It is just a low poly horror game.

[00:40:12] And I love this fucking shit.

[00:40:14] Is this eventually.

[00:40:15] I think going to come to.

[00:40:16] Xbox and PlayStation.

[00:40:18] At some point.

[00:40:19] Yeah.

[00:40:20] I'm nervous.

[00:40:21] Because I don't.

[00:40:22] I don't think.

[00:40:22] Because there's like a little bundle.

[00:40:24] With the other games this person's made.

[00:40:25] Or maybe it's just games similar to it.

[00:40:27] But like.

[00:40:27] I don't think those other games are on the consoles.

[00:40:30] So it's like.

[00:40:31] Most likely not.

[00:40:32] Yeah.

[00:40:32] Who's to say.

[00:40:33] But I feel like this one has enough.

[00:40:35] Cache.

[00:40:36] At this point in time.

[00:40:37] That like it'll allow.

[00:40:38] It'll allow.

[00:40:39] I will probably buy it.

[00:40:40] A second time on Xbox.

[00:40:42] Even if like I play it here.

[00:40:43] And it doesn't work.

[00:40:43] I'm just like.

[00:40:44] All right.

[00:40:44] Well.

[00:40:45] You know.

[00:40:46] You win some.

[00:40:46] You lose some.

[00:40:47] But I'm really excited for it.

[00:40:49] This is the Knave Seal of Approval.

[00:40:51] Preemptively.

[00:40:51] I think this is going to be exactly my kind of shit too.

[00:40:54] Yeah.

[00:40:54] I don't know if it's going to be like Signalis tier.

[00:40:58] Or not.

[00:40:59] But.

[00:41:00] I mean.

[00:41:00] I'm crossing my fingers.

[00:41:01] Hopefully.

[00:41:02] Like it's.

[00:41:02] On your personal level.

[00:41:04] Because I haven't played it yet.

[00:41:04] But Crow Country tier.

[00:41:06] Oh dude.

[00:41:07] Yeah.

[00:41:07] I was wanting to talk about that.

[00:41:09] But.

[00:41:09] Yeah.

[00:41:09] We need to move on.

[00:41:10] But man.

[00:41:10] I'm so glad you bought Crow Country too.

[00:41:12] That shit is so good.

[00:41:13] Yeah.

[00:41:14] That's our most viewed video.

[00:41:15] On our YouTube.

[00:41:17] Is me just.

[00:41:18] So.

[00:41:18] I wanted to put the soundtrack.

[00:41:20] The song.

[00:41:21] That plays in the safe room.

[00:41:23] But I couldn't find it online.

[00:41:25] So.

[00:41:25] I went myself.

[00:41:26] And just recorded it.

[00:41:27] On Twitch.

[00:41:28] And then just.

[00:41:29] Ripped that VOD.

[00:41:30] And put it on YouTube.

[00:41:31] So that I could rip that audio.

[00:41:32] And then put it into our fucking.

[00:41:37] Vibes to jump through.

[00:41:38] Yeah.

[00:41:39] And.

[00:41:40] That video.

[00:41:41] Ended up getting like.

[00:41:42] Quite a bit of views.

[00:41:42] Because it's just people.

[00:41:43] Googling Crow Country.

[00:41:45] Save room music.

[00:41:46] And then.

[00:41:46] You know.

[00:41:47] It's just chilling.

[00:41:48] Again.

[00:41:48] It's such a vibe.

[00:41:50] But.

[00:41:51] So.

[00:41:51] Did you.

[00:41:52] Did we talk about what you bought?

[00:41:54] Yeah.

[00:41:54] I mean.

[00:41:55] I mentioned it a little bit earlier.

[00:41:56] But I was talking about.

[00:41:57] The fact that.

[00:41:58] You know.

[00:41:59] I did.

[00:41:59] I did buy.

[00:42:01] I bought Crow Country.

[00:42:02] Lorelei and the Laser Eyes.

[00:42:03] And then.

[00:42:03] I also bought another game.

[00:42:05] That not a lot of people.

[00:42:06] Have talked about.

[00:42:06] But it was a recommendation.

[00:42:08] From Chris Copeland.

[00:42:09] Of the Retro Hangover podcast.

[00:42:11] It's this really cool game.

[00:42:12] Called Saviorless.

[00:42:14] And.

[00:42:15] It's like a.

[00:42:17] Really.

[00:42:17] I mean.

[00:42:17] There's just like.

[00:42:18] I'll go to the Steam description.

[00:42:19] The store page.

[00:42:20] To kind of like.

[00:42:20] Give everybody.

[00:42:21] Like a.

[00:42:22] Breakdown.

[00:42:22] But it says.

[00:42:22] Embark on a journey.

[00:42:23] To the Smiling Islands.

[00:42:24] The realm of the saviors.

[00:42:26] Where an enigmatic guide beckons.

[00:42:28] The seasoned narrator.

[00:42:29] Has shared this story.

[00:42:30] Countless times.

[00:42:31] Yet none have graced.

[00:42:32] The miraculous land.

[00:42:33] Can you seize your narrative.

[00:42:34] And ascend.

[00:42:35] As a savior.

[00:42:37] And so.

[00:42:37] It's giving me like.

[00:42:39] Super heavy.

[00:42:42] Vibes.

[00:42:42] Like it's literally.

[00:42:43] Just like a Metroidvania.

[00:42:44] It's a 2D.

[00:42:45] Metroidvania.

[00:42:46] But it's giving me.

[00:42:47] Vibes on the same level.

[00:42:48] Of like a.

[00:42:49] Hollow Knight.

[00:42:50] Or potentially even.

[00:42:52] What do you call it?

[00:42:53] It's the.

[00:42:54] Oh God.

[00:42:55] The blasphemous.

[00:42:56] Franchise.

[00:42:57] Have you ever played.

[00:42:58] Blasphemous.

[00:42:58] Or seen.

[00:42:59] Seen blasphemous before.

[00:43:00] I've seen it.

[00:43:00] Because I see it in the store.

[00:43:01] All the time.

[00:43:02] And the.

[00:43:03] The.

[00:43:03] The.

[00:43:04] Uh.

[00:43:04] The image.

[00:43:05] Like the box art.

[00:43:06] Always catches me.

[00:43:07] And then I look at it.

[00:43:08] And I'm like.

[00:43:08] Oh I probably wouldn't like this.

[00:43:09] But unfortunately.

[00:43:11] Oh do you not.

[00:43:12] Fuck with like.

[00:43:12] 2D.

[00:43:13] Metroidvanias.

[00:43:13] Like that.

[00:43:14] It's tough.

[00:43:15] It's so.

[00:43:15] Like I tried to play Animal Well.

[00:43:18] And I got filtered hard.

[00:43:19] Like I'm like.

[00:43:20] Oh my God.

[00:43:20] Really?

[00:43:21] This is difficult.

[00:43:22] Oh no dude.

[00:43:23] I like.

[00:43:24] You know how you talked about.

[00:43:26] Metal Hellsinger.

[00:43:27] How you got in like.

[00:43:28] A flow state with Metal Hellsinger.

[00:43:29] Yeah.

[00:43:30] That was me with Animal Well.

[00:43:31] I like started up Animal Well.

[00:43:33] And then like.

[00:43:34] 8 hours disappeared from my life.

[00:43:35] And I was like.

[00:43:37] I was like.

[00:43:38] Balls deep in that game.

[00:43:39] It was so good.

[00:43:40] That was me with Trepang too man.

[00:43:43] Yeah.

[00:43:43] Dude.

[00:43:46] But.

[00:43:46] Right.

[00:43:46] And I.

[00:43:47] I'm so impatient.

[00:43:49] Especially it's like.

[00:43:50] I.

[00:43:50] I.

[00:43:50] In my head.

[00:43:51] My ego is like.

[00:43:51] I'm good at video games.

[00:43:52] And then when I'm not good at a video game.

[00:43:54] I'm just like.

[00:43:55] This game is bad.

[00:43:56] This game is obviously bad.

[00:43:58] That is like a fucking hill.

[00:43:59] That I have to fight through.

[00:44:00] A fight over every day.

[00:44:02] Like I'm just like.

[00:44:03] I have to convince myself.

[00:44:04] No.

[00:44:04] The game's not bad.

[00:44:05] You just gotta be patient.

[00:44:06] Dude.

[00:44:07] I am not patient enough for Animal Well.

[00:44:08] I got stuck for like.

[00:44:10] 25 minutes on this.

[00:44:12] Mundane part.

[00:44:13] And then I.

[00:44:13] Like there's this part.

[00:44:14] It's just like.

[00:44:15] The.

[00:44:15] These things are going left and right.

[00:44:17] Like this wall of things.

[00:44:19] And you just.

[00:44:19] Yeah.

[00:44:19] Platform up.

[00:44:20] And I'm like.

[00:44:20] How the fuck do you get through this.

[00:44:22] Without getting hurt like three times.

[00:44:23] And I realize you can just not move.

[00:44:25] And it'll just go over you.

[00:44:27] And I'm just like.

[00:44:27] Yeah.

[00:44:28] Oh my god.

[00:44:28] Oh no.

[00:44:29] I'm so mad.

[00:44:30] Yeah.

[00:44:31] The end of that game is actually like.

[00:44:33] Really.

[00:44:33] Tough.

[00:44:34] Really difficult too.

[00:44:35] They're like.

[00:44:36] As you get later in the game.

[00:44:37] Not to spoil it for you.

[00:44:38] But there are like enemies that aggro you.

[00:44:40] That.

[00:44:41] And you can't.

[00:44:42] Do anything.

[00:44:42] But like run away and avoid them.

[00:44:44] But they're like.

[00:44:45] It's.

[00:44:45] It's hard.

[00:44:46] It's hard.

[00:44:46] But yeah.

[00:44:46] Man.

[00:44:47] I love.

[00:44:47] I loved animal well.

[00:44:48] You should.

[00:44:48] You should give it a crack.

[00:44:49] Another crack.

[00:44:50] Different state of mind.

[00:44:51] You might.

[00:44:51] It might hit you differently.

[00:44:52] I probably will.

[00:44:53] I did push myself through Hollow Knight.

[00:44:56] But I did end up really liking Hollow Knight.

[00:44:58] Did you?

[00:44:59] But Hollow Knight is hard.

[00:45:00] What was different about that?

[00:45:02] Um.

[00:45:03] The vibe.

[00:45:04] Yeah.

[00:45:04] I think it was like the.

[00:45:06] It's so much of the aesthetic.

[00:45:08] And the atmosphere.

[00:45:09] And the audio.

[00:45:11] It's just like.

[00:45:12] It was so immersive for me.

[00:45:14] So.

[00:45:14] Yeah.

[00:45:14] I.

[00:45:15] It took me a lot longer to get frustrated with it.

[00:45:18] And I.

[00:45:19] And that's a game where you can like just.

[00:45:22] Rank your health up.

[00:45:23] And shit.

[00:45:24] Like you got all those like the badges and shit.

[00:45:26] Like you can just make yourself a tank.

[00:45:27] And I'm just like.

[00:45:28] I'm gonna look up where these fucking badges are.

[00:45:30] So that I can just be the beefiest boy.

[00:45:33] Because that's how I got through Dark Souls like 2 originally.

[00:45:35] The first one I ever beat.

[00:45:36] I just googled like where is the best shit.

[00:45:39] For people who are bad at this.

[00:45:41] Like.

[00:45:42] How do you survive?

[00:45:43] Yeah.

[00:45:44] But um.

[00:45:45] What were we talking about?

[00:45:46] I can't remember.

[00:45:47] Um.

[00:45:47] Oh.

[00:45:48] We were talking about Saviorless.

[00:45:49] Yeah.

[00:45:50] Saviorless.

[00:45:50] But yeah.

[00:45:51] No.

[00:45:51] That's.

[00:45:51] That's the only things that I really bought.

[00:45:52] I will say.

[00:45:53] I.

[00:45:54] I know that we're.

[00:45:55] We're an Xbox positive show over here.

[00:45:57] I have to shill a little bit.

[00:45:59] For uh.

[00:46:00] Sony.

[00:46:00] Hiroki Tatoki.

[00:46:01] Called me up personally.

[00:46:02] Asked me.

[00:46:03] Can you promote this on Gaming Together.

[00:46:04] For your next appearance.

[00:46:05] And I was like.

[00:46:06] Don't worry.

[00:46:07] Tatoki Sensei.

[00:46:08] I will do it.

[00:46:09] That guy's always out to get me.

[00:46:11] I bought.

[00:46:12] Um.

[00:46:13] A.

[00:46:14] A.

[00:46:15] A.

[00:46:15] A 30th anniversary PS.

[00:46:17] Portal.

[00:46:18] PlayStation portal.

[00:46:18] And I bought a 30th anniversary PlayStation DualSense Edge controller.

[00:46:24] So I'm edging now.

[00:46:25] All the time.

[00:46:26] Uh.

[00:46:27] And let me tell you man.

[00:46:28] Like the.

[00:46:28] The DualSense Edge controller.

[00:46:30] Literally.

[00:46:31] It's so.

[00:46:32] I mean.

[00:46:32] First of all.

[00:46:32] It's a beautiful controller.

[00:46:34] It's got that classic gray that you got from the PlayStation 1 generation.

[00:46:37] The packaging is just immaculate.

[00:46:39] Everything that you could ask for from it.

[00:46:41] Um.

[00:46:42] But the.

[00:46:42] The paddles and the functionality.

[00:46:44] Everything.

[00:46:45] It's exactly just like the Xbox Elite controller.

[00:46:48] Um.

[00:46:49] And they're both really good.

[00:46:50] Like there's.

[00:46:51] Between the two of them.

[00:46:52] Like I would say that.

[00:46:53] Typically though.

[00:46:54] Xbox Elite controller has way more battery life.

[00:46:57] Than the DualSense Edge controller.

[00:46:58] And I don't.

[00:46:59] Really know why.

[00:47:00] Other than the fact that like.

[00:47:01] Maybe the DualSense Edge.

[00:47:02] Has to deal with a lot more like.

[00:47:04] Haptic.

[00:47:05] Feedback.

[00:47:06] Stuff.

[00:47:06] That's going to happen.

[00:47:07] I was going to ask.

[00:47:07] Does the.

[00:47:08] Does the DualSense Edge.

[00:47:10] Edge have the switches.

[00:47:12] For the.

[00:47:13] For the.

[00:47:14] So how does it.

[00:47:15] How does it interact with the haptics?

[00:47:16] It's got the back paddles.

[00:47:18] I haven't played a super.

[00:47:20] Haptic feedback intensive game.

[00:47:21] Like recently.

[00:47:22] Like I have been playing Outlaws.

[00:47:24] And I have been playing like.

[00:47:25] Like in Outlaws is a thing.

[00:47:26] Where you're fucking like.

[00:47:27] Hacking things all the time.

[00:47:28] And it's got one of those mini games.

[00:47:29] Where the.

[00:47:30] It's like the controller will vibrate in time.

[00:47:33] With the thing that you're supposed to do.

[00:47:34] It's like a little rhythm game.

[00:47:36] And you have to like.

[00:47:37] Hit the buttons at the right time.

[00:47:38] And it's just got like the tension.

[00:47:40] On the rods.

[00:47:41] But like the actual.

[00:47:42] The.

[00:47:42] The back paddles.

[00:47:43] Don't have any like.

[00:47:45] Haptic feedback that are implemented into it.

[00:47:47] It's really just like.

[00:47:49] A normal DualSense controller.

[00:47:51] Just with like.

[00:47:52] Back paddles.

[00:47:52] And like.

[00:47:53] Customization.

[00:47:54] I will say though.

[00:47:55] One thing that it does have.

[00:47:57] That the Xbox.

[00:47:58] Elite controllers don't.

[00:47:59] Is that.

[00:48:00] I know that Xbox Elite controllers.

[00:48:01] Has that little button.

[00:48:03] In the center.

[00:48:04] Where you can switch game profiles.

[00:48:05] Depending on what game you're playing.

[00:48:06] If you've already created a custom profile.

[00:48:08] The Xbox application.

[00:48:10] And you can change the color.

[00:48:12] Of like the.

[00:48:12] The thing too.

[00:48:14] The dial.

[00:48:14] Like the little Xbox.

[00:48:15] Yeah.

[00:48:16] It's fucking sick.

[00:48:16] The cool thing about this though.

[00:48:18] Is that.

[00:48:18] The DualSense Edge.

[00:48:19] Gives you like.

[00:48:20] Function buttons.

[00:48:21] That are little buttons.

[00:48:22] That are beneath the joysticks.

[00:48:24] That allow you to like.

[00:48:25] Mid game.

[00:48:26] If you're playing like.

[00:48:27] Dragon Age.

[00:48:28] And you're like.

[00:48:28] Fuck it.

[00:48:29] I want to play.

[00:48:30] My.

[00:48:30] Elden Ring.

[00:48:32] Loadout.

[00:48:32] You can just press it mid game.

[00:48:34] And then like.

[00:48:35] There's a shortcut.

[00:48:35] That you can set up.

[00:48:36] To switch mid way through.

[00:48:39] And you can just do that.

[00:48:40] Or like.

[00:48:40] You just.

[00:48:41] If you're switching over games.

[00:48:41] This makes it very functionally easy.

[00:48:43] To be like.

[00:48:44] Oh.

[00:48:44] I customized this entire controller.

[00:48:46] Just so I could play.

[00:48:48] This specific style.

[00:48:49] And have like.

[00:48:50] These buttons on the paddles.

[00:48:51] And whatnot.

[00:48:51] Like it's.

[00:48:52] It's really intuitive.

[00:48:53] And easy to use.

[00:48:54] So.

[00:48:55] Yeah.

[00:48:56] It's not.

[00:48:56] I mean.

[00:48:56] It's not that the.

[00:48:57] Xbox Elite controller.

[00:48:58] Functionally doesn't have a different.

[00:48:59] But you can load.

[00:49:00] Six different.

[00:49:01] Different.

[00:49:02] Profiles.

[00:49:03] At any given time.

[00:49:04] So.

[00:49:04] Yeah.

[00:49:04] I think the Elite has three.

[00:49:05] Or four.

[00:49:06] I think it's four technically.

[00:49:07] Because there's like a default.

[00:49:09] That has nothing changed.

[00:49:10] Yeah.

[00:49:11] But there's that.

[00:49:12] And then like.

[00:49:13] I'll tell you though man.

[00:49:14] And I won't take too long in this.

[00:49:15] PlayStation portal is crazy.

[00:49:17] Do you care about.

[00:49:18] Do you like to play games.

[00:49:19] Like in bed.

[00:49:20] Like handheld mode.

[00:49:20] Like if you had the.

[00:49:21] Choice to play your Xbox.

[00:49:24] Series X.

[00:49:25] In bed.

[00:49:26] Just using like an Xbox.

[00:49:27] Handheld.

[00:49:28] Would that be like.

[00:49:28] The pocket for you.

[00:49:29] Would you really like that.

[00:49:30] Or do you prefer.

[00:49:31] To play in the living room.

[00:49:33] I prefer to play in the living room.

[00:49:34] For sure.

[00:49:35] But I.

[00:49:35] I think I would use it.

[00:49:37] If I had people over.

[00:49:39] Like or.

[00:49:40] Because like.

[00:49:40] If people are over.

[00:49:41] Sometimes they'll be playing something.

[00:49:43] And it's like.

[00:49:43] I could be doing.

[00:49:44] That's usually what I use the switch for.

[00:49:45] That doesn't work in that scenario.

[00:49:46] Because they'd be doing the Xbox.

[00:49:47] But like whenever they're over.

[00:49:48] Playing magic.

[00:49:49] And I'm dead.

[00:49:50] I'm like.

[00:49:50] Oh.

[00:49:50] I could just grab the switch.

[00:49:52] And then I would just be able to grab the portal.

[00:49:53] And just do whatever.

[00:49:55] Um.

[00:49:55] Whenever I'm in bed.

[00:49:56] My dogs tend to fuck with me.

[00:49:58] If I'm not.

[00:49:58] Oh really.

[00:49:59] Sleeping.

[00:50:00] So I lay.

[00:50:00] If I lay in bed on my phone.

[00:50:02] Like if I start playing chess.

[00:50:03] Or like scrolling fucking Twitter or something.

[00:50:05] They will start messing with me.

[00:50:07] Because they're like.

[00:50:07] I know you're not asleep.

[00:50:08] Like.

[00:50:09] We can see you.

[00:50:10] We can.

[00:50:10] We can clearly see you Nave.

[00:50:13] Yeah.

[00:50:13] That's fine.

[00:50:14] Okay.

[00:50:15] But yeah.

[00:50:15] No.

[00:50:15] PlayStation portal.

[00:50:16] Perfect bedtime game.

[00:50:17] Doesn't work.

[00:50:18] Long distances.

[00:50:19] Funny enough.

[00:50:19] If you're like.

[00:50:20] Halfway across like the state.

[00:50:22] In visiting family.

[00:50:23] Or something like that.

[00:50:24] The lag is going to be crazy.

[00:50:26] Unless you're playing like.

[00:50:27] Bellatro.

[00:50:28] Um.

[00:50:29] It's not going to work really.

[00:50:30] If you're trying to like.

[00:50:30] Do an action game.

[00:50:31] Or anything like that.

[00:50:32] But it's.

[00:50:32] It is functional.

[00:50:33] You can do it.

[00:50:34] You just.

[00:50:34] You know.

[00:50:35] Have to be connected to a wireless network.

[00:50:36] But that's it.

[00:50:37] That's all for the.

[00:50:38] The PlayStation Schilling.

[00:50:39] Thank you for your sponsor.

[00:50:40] Heroki Tizoki.

[00:50:42] Uh.

[00:50:42] So.

[00:50:43] Other than that.

[00:50:43] We have.

[00:50:44] We don't have too many new pod updates.

[00:50:46] Um.

[00:50:46] We got.

[00:50:47] Actually.

[00:50:48] Last week.

[00:50:49] I went and checked our Spotify.

[00:50:52] To see if we had any comments.

[00:50:53] On any of our episodes.

[00:50:54] And I confidently proclaimed.

[00:50:56] Nay.

[00:50:57] There are no comments.

[00:50:58] Which was.

[00:50:59] Ignorant.

[00:51:00] That was ignorant.

[00:51:01] I was oblivious.

[00:51:03] How the comments worked.

[00:51:04] Okay.

[00:51:05] So.

[00:51:06] The way that I imagined.

[00:51:07] And you can follow along.

[00:51:08] This is.

[00:51:09] This is totally logical.

[00:51:10] I would.

[00:51:11] I imagined the most recent comments.

[00:51:13] Would go at the top.

[00:51:15] So that.

[00:51:15] And that is not how it works.

[00:51:17] Over on Spotify.

[00:51:18] Um.

[00:51:19] It worked.

[00:51:19] The way it works is.

[00:51:20] It sorts it by the episodes.

[00:51:22] Which is like the second.

[00:51:23] If.

[00:51:23] If it's not.

[00:51:24] Most recent.

[00:51:25] Then obviously.

[00:51:26] It's just by episode.

[00:51:27] Right.

[00:51:27] And so.

[00:51:29] I would get the little icon.

[00:51:30] Like giving me.

[00:51:31] Like a little notification.

[00:51:32] That's like.

[00:51:32] Hey.

[00:51:32] You got a.

[00:51:33] You got a comment.

[00:51:33] And I would go look.

[00:51:34] And I would not see anything.

[00:51:36] At the top.

[00:51:38] Because I'm like.

[00:51:38] Oh I've already seen this comment.

[00:51:39] So it's lying to me.

[00:51:40] That's what I assumed.

[00:51:41] Is that it was just.

[00:51:42] Wrong.

[00:51:43] But uh.

[00:51:44] It was not wrong.

[00:51:45] So we have a couple of these comments.

[00:51:47] That I want to get through.

[00:51:48] This one from.

[00:51:50] 23 days ago.

[00:51:52] So I'm sorry about this.

[00:51:54] My guy.

[00:51:55] Uh.

[00:51:56] But from.

[00:51:57] Jamar.

[00:51:58] Jamart.

[00:51:59] Or.

[00:52:00] Jet.

[00:52:01] Help me out here.

[00:52:02] What does that say?

[00:52:03] Uh.

[00:52:03] Let me pull it up.

[00:52:05] Let me pull it up.

[00:52:05] Uh.

[00:52:06] Jamart.

[00:52:07] Yeah.

[00:52:08] Jamart.

[00:52:09] Jamart.

[00:52:10] That's what it looks like to me.

[00:52:11] This was on the.

[00:52:12] Episode 51.

[00:52:13] Grounded.

[00:52:14] So he dug.

[00:52:14] He dug deep.

[00:52:15] That's like two years ago.

[00:52:16] I think.

[00:52:17] Um.

[00:52:18] He says.

[00:52:19] Grounded has come a long way.

[00:52:20] Since fully yoked edition came out.

[00:52:22] Not only is the finished game.

[00:52:23] One of the best co-op experiences ever.

[00:52:25] But with the addition of playgrounds mode.

[00:52:27] There is endless potential for user created content.

[00:52:29] I really think you guys should try it again.

[00:52:31] On mild difficulty.

[00:52:32] Giant as just because we were very critical of this game.

[00:52:35] Because we decided we were hardcore gamers.

[00:52:38] And we played it on like.

[00:52:39] It was not worth it.

[00:52:40] We didn't know what we were doing.

[00:52:41] Damn that's crazy.

[00:52:43] He says.

[00:52:43] You played it on Elden Ring mode.

[00:52:45] Yeah.

[00:52:45] That was not the move.

[00:52:47] Uh.

[00:52:47] But he says.

[00:52:48] On mild difficulty.

[00:52:49] Or with a custom server option.

[00:52:51] Either way.

[00:52:51] I'm enjoying listening back to these.

[00:52:53] Uh.

[00:52:54] Listening to these back episodes.

[00:52:55] After discovering your pod.

[00:52:56] Through Knave's guest appearance.

[00:52:57] On the Game Pass Grab Bag.

[00:52:59] Great.

[00:52:59] Game Pass Grab Bag.

[00:53:01] Pod.

[00:53:02] Fuck.

[00:53:02] That's like a.

[00:53:03] Tongue twister.

[00:53:04] Uh.

[00:53:04] Keep it up guys.

[00:53:05] Alright.

[00:53:06] So.

[00:53:06] I always wonder if these like.

[00:53:08] Guest appearances.

[00:53:09] Ever like.

[00:53:10] Results in anything.

[00:53:11] So there's some.

[00:53:12] There's some actual.

[00:53:13] He must not have made it to the Pistro episode yet.

[00:53:15] He's not quite out on Gaming Together.

[00:53:18] Oh man.

[00:53:19] I wonder because like.

[00:53:20] When I go and guest on just a totally normal podcast.

[00:53:23] Like Game Pass Grab Bag.

[00:53:24] I'm like.

[00:53:24] I wonder what happens when people come over.

[00:53:26] And they hear the Pistro story.

[00:53:30] It's not a story.

[00:53:31] I read the story.

[00:53:32] I didn't piss in a drawer.

[00:53:33] I think everybody needs to be entertained.

[00:53:35] Just a little bit.

[00:53:37] Yeah.

[00:53:37] I hope so.

[00:53:38] Well.

[00:53:38] So.

[00:53:39] The next.

[00:53:40] Most.

[00:53:40] Old.

[00:53:41] Well.

[00:53:41] This one isn't that old.

[00:53:42] It's only six days old.

[00:53:43] It was on our.

[00:53:44] Isonzo episode.

[00:53:45] Which by the way.

[00:53:46] The title.

[00:53:47] Turtle Saver.

[00:53:48] Slash.

[00:53:48] Deer Slayer.

[00:53:49] No.

[00:53:50] Annoying Music.

[00:53:50] In parentheses.

[00:53:51] What the fuck.

[00:53:52] Is happening.

[00:53:53] What were you doing.

[00:53:53] What were you doing.

[00:53:54] Nave.

[00:53:55] When you wrote that.

[00:53:55] I can't.

[00:53:56] I can't.

[00:53:57] In good conscience.

[00:53:59] Say I wrote that.

[00:54:00] There's no way.

[00:54:00] I wrote that.

[00:54:01] That's so big.

[00:54:02] Did you black out.

[00:54:03] Philip.

[00:54:03] I must have blacked out.

[00:54:05] Philip must have done it.

[00:54:06] Okay.

[00:54:06] Okay.

[00:54:06] I don't know.

[00:54:07] What this is a reference to.

[00:54:09] I thought you always did the titles.

[00:54:10] Does Philip also do them sometimes?

[00:54:12] Every week.

[00:54:13] Every other week.

[00:54:14] It's whoever edits it.

[00:54:16] Is the one who does the title.

[00:54:16] Because they're the one.

[00:54:17] They're the first one.

[00:54:18] That gets to the thing.

[00:54:19] But.

[00:54:20] I.

[00:54:21] Have autism.

[00:54:22] So I will change it.

[00:54:23] I will just change it.

[00:54:24] Without him saying.

[00:54:25] And he has long since given up.

[00:54:27] Like.

[00:54:27] He's like.

[00:54:28] If they've changed it.

[00:54:29] Then just whatever.

[00:54:29] Like.

[00:54:30] I guess.

[00:54:30] Yeah.

[00:54:31] But.

[00:54:31] I like to think I'm good at.

[00:54:32] At titling things.

[00:54:34] There must be.

[00:54:35] An excuse for this.

[00:54:36] That I didn't change it.

[00:54:38] Or maybe he changed it back.

[00:54:39] And I just never noticed.

[00:54:41] And he got.

[00:54:41] He got a slick one on me.

[00:54:43] But anyway.

[00:54:44] On.

[00:54:44] Isonzo.

[00:54:45] We have Tate.

[00:54:46] And then two emojis.

[00:54:47] I can't see.

[00:54:48] They're rectangles for me.

[00:54:50] But.

[00:54:51] He says.

[00:54:52] Isonzo is one of the best shooters.

[00:54:53] I've played.

[00:54:54] It's an amazing balance.

[00:54:55] Between strategy and pure fun.

[00:54:56] It's so fun to play with friends.

[00:54:58] And just scream.

[00:54:59] And get all hyped up.

[00:55:00] Have you played Isonzo?

[00:55:02] I haven't.

[00:55:03] I remember you guys talking about it.

[00:55:04] And it just sounds like a sweaty.

[00:55:06] World War 2 immersion shooter.

[00:55:07] And I'm not.

[00:55:08] That's not my bag.

[00:55:09] It's very fun.

[00:55:11] With like.

[00:55:11] Because the screaming is real.

[00:55:13] Like you.

[00:55:14] Even if you're not playing with people.

[00:55:15] You will just hear the NPCs.

[00:55:17] Like.

[00:55:18] Bloody murder.

[00:55:19] Screaming.

[00:55:20] Screeching from across the map.

[00:55:21] And you're just like.

[00:55:21] Oh my god.

[00:55:22] War is real.

[00:55:24] Yeah.

[00:55:24] This is the real deal.

[00:55:26] That's awesome actually.

[00:55:28] It is a very goofy game.

[00:55:30] But I really enjoy that.

[00:55:31] Thank you Tate.

[00:55:32] Then we have our most recent episode.

[00:55:34] Navember.

[00:55:36] Which.

[00:55:36] I don't.

[00:55:37] Did Phillip come up with that?

[00:55:38] That's clever.

[00:55:39] Navember.

[00:55:40] Yeah.

[00:55:40] I love you like that.

[00:55:41] It must have been Phil.

[00:55:42] That is clever.

[00:55:43] So yeah.

[00:55:44] Phillip made this nut title.

[00:55:45] I just left it as is.

[00:55:47] But it was from Alex Ortiz.

[00:55:48] Our buddy.

[00:55:49] Alex Ortiz says.

[00:55:51] To answer the secret question.

[00:55:52] Potatoes are my favorite vegetable.

[00:55:53] Can't go wrong with different ways.

[00:55:55] You can eat it.

[00:55:56] Unless you're sent back to the past.

[00:55:59] During the potato famine.

[00:56:01] Yeah.

[00:56:01] Halfway through that episode.

[00:56:03] I asked what everyone's favorite vegetable was.

[00:56:05] To see if they're paying attention.

[00:56:07] Because.

[00:56:07] For like an hour.

[00:56:09] I'm literally just going.

[00:56:10] Oh.

[00:56:11] This game was pretty good.

[00:56:12] This game was bad.

[00:56:14] Like I'm literally doing a tier list.

[00:56:15] And I didn't realize.

[00:56:18] That.

[00:56:18] That listening experience.

[00:56:20] Possibly wouldn't be very.

[00:56:22] Very fun.

[00:56:23] Or engaging.

[00:56:26] You're doing the best you can.

[00:56:27] If you know what I mean.

[00:56:29] It was fun.

[00:56:30] For a minute.

[00:56:31] Until my voice literally started going out.

[00:56:32] And I was like.

[00:56:33] I can't.

[00:56:33] I can't finish.

[00:56:34] And you're like.

[00:56:35] And I'm done.

[00:56:36] Yeah.

[00:56:37] I really thought I could do a thousand games.

[00:56:39] But that's.

[00:56:40] That's.

[00:56:40] That's so many games.

[00:56:41] I didn't realize how many games I was.

[00:56:42] Dude.

[00:56:43] Have you seen that fucking.

[00:56:44] I mean.

[00:56:45] Should we talk about this?

[00:56:45] You just need to play.

[00:56:47] 900 idle games.

[00:56:48] And then you got the rest of it.

[00:56:49] In like real games.

[00:56:50] You know what I mean.

[00:56:51] Yeah.

[00:56:51] Yeah.

[00:56:53] That was the thing too.

[00:56:54] Is like.

[00:56:55] Over half the games.

[00:56:56] I didn't play.

[00:56:56] So I'm like.

[00:56:57] So many games.

[00:56:58] I'm like.

[00:56:58] I haven't played.

[00:56:59] I haven't played Sonic Adventure Battle.

[00:57:01] I haven't played.

[00:57:01] And.

[00:57:03] There'd be like.

[00:57:04] 15 Sonic games in a row.

[00:57:06] Or Mega Man.

[00:57:06] I'm like.

[00:57:07] I haven't played any of these.

[00:57:08] I don't play Mega Man.

[00:57:11] All right.

[00:57:12] Anyways.

[00:57:13] Patreon.

[00:57:13] Here at Gaming Together.

[00:57:14] We work hard to provide.

[00:57:15] Excellent co-op content.

[00:57:17] For you.

[00:57:18] The listener.

[00:57:18] If you have the means.

[00:57:19] Please consider.

[00:57:20] Supporting us on Patreon.

[00:57:21] Link is in the description.

[00:57:22] This is the list of our current supporters.

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[00:57:26] Insane Cracker 04.

[00:57:27] And Nikolai at Night.

[00:57:28] Hmm.

[00:57:32] Whenever you're here.

[00:57:33] He's a.

[00:57:34] He does it.

[00:57:36] Thank you for your support.

[00:57:37] Go and give.

[00:57:39] Our good friends over at Friday Night Gamecast.

[00:57:41] A.

[00:57:41] A listen.

[00:57:42] Go give them some.

[00:57:43] Ratings.

[00:57:44] Go give them comments on Spotify.

[00:57:45] We're paying attention.

[00:57:46] We're watching.

[00:57:46] We're listening.

[00:57:47] Yeah.

[00:57:48] And we're angry.

[00:57:48] That you're not commenting more.

[00:57:50] I have comments on our.

[00:57:52] Spotify as well.

[00:57:53] That I have not seen.

[00:57:54] So we're in the same boat.

[00:57:55] Yeah.

[00:57:56] It's.

[00:57:57] I.

[00:57:57] Before you had to publish them.

[00:57:59] And I was like.

[00:57:59] I like this.

[00:58:00] Because now I for sure see it.

[00:58:01] But now it's like.

[00:58:03] I don't know what I'm doing anymore.

[00:58:04] Oh.

[00:58:05] Also.

[00:58:06] I don't know what happened.

[00:58:07] I used to have a thing here.

[00:58:08] I'm going to.

[00:58:08] On Spotify.

[00:58:09] I have a thing opened up.

[00:58:10] There it is.

[00:58:12] I was on Super Pod Saga.

[00:58:14] I mentioned this last week.

[00:58:15] But I was wrong.

[00:58:15] There was not that episode coming out.

[00:58:17] It is now out this time.

[00:58:19] Episode 124 over there.

[00:58:21] Where we just.

[00:58:22] Talk.

[00:58:23] There's no subject for that.

[00:58:25] We just talk.

[00:58:25] We're just.

[00:58:26] You're just booling.

[00:58:27] You're just kicking.

[00:58:27] Yeah.

[00:58:28] And then we have a live reaction to me getting banned on Twitter.

[00:58:32] Over there.

[00:58:32] Yeah.

[00:58:33] I saw the clip on there.

[00:58:34] That was very funny.

[00:58:36] Very dumb and silly.

[00:58:38] So we're going to go do the Am I the Asshole section.

[00:58:40] We're going to take a little break.

[00:58:42] Go pee pee time.

[00:58:43] And then the music is going to play right now.

[00:58:45] Boop.

[00:58:46] Boop.

[00:58:46] Boop.

[00:58:47] Boop.

[00:58:47] Boop.

[00:58:48] Boop.

[00:58:48] Boop.

[00:58:49] Boop.

[00:58:49] Do you have to.

[00:58:50] Is she pulled up?

[00:58:51] I am pulling up the sheet now.

[00:58:52] Should I just pick something?

[00:58:55] Yeah.

[00:58:55] You can pick.

[00:58:56] It doesn't really matter.

[00:58:58] Okay.

[00:58:59] Ooh.

[00:58:59] I see.

[00:59:00] I see an arcane one.

[00:59:03] All right.

[00:59:04] We're going number 32 since we both talked about work.

[00:59:07] This one's kind of long, but I think I can go.

[00:59:12] This one goes.

[00:59:13] I picked number 32.

[00:59:15] Yeah.

[00:59:16] The name is Get Down Mr. President PC.

[00:59:20] But I do that.

[00:59:21] I say that all the time because Luna is always like jumping in front of me when loud noises happen.

[00:59:27] And I always say, get down, Mr. President.

[00:59:29] Get down, Mr. President.

[00:59:31] That's how she acts.

[00:59:32] It's fucking intense.

[00:59:34] It's very Middle Gear Rising Revenge that's coded.

[00:59:36] Would I be the asshole if I asked my coworker to pay for my brand new laptop they broke accidentally?

[00:59:43] Um, so get down, Mr. President PC says, I work in a very small camp store.

[00:59:49] I don't know what that means.

[00:59:50] Is it like a camp store that sells camping equipment?

[00:59:52] I'm the only worker, but the store is attached to another department.

[00:59:55] So I am only a few steps away from other coworkers.

[00:59:58] They do a totally different job.

[01:00:00] And the only time they're in the store is for toilet breaks.

[01:00:03] I work 13 plus hour shifts and have been dealing with bad health, hospitalized, and out of work for a month.

[01:00:10] With that, management has said that I can basically do whatever I want if nobody's in the store.

[01:00:16] If everything's taken care of, they allow me to do schoolwork, game.

[01:00:19] If I'm able to work at any moment, it's fair game.

[01:00:23] As such, I sometimes bring my personal laptop in.

[01:00:26] I usually use it for email slash like gaming, but rarely do actual work work too.

[01:00:33] The desk I was given isn't really a desk, but part of a countertop used by customers.

[01:00:38] It's not ideal.

[01:00:39] I only have it there while using it, never unattended.

[01:00:43] Long story short, one of my coworkers went to go through the gate half of the counter.

[01:00:48] This gate is unsupported and 50 pounds.

[01:00:51] The company is legally supposed to have a mechanical support on it.

[01:00:53] Oh, this is getting in the weeds.

[01:00:55] But it's never been installed despite it being brought up multiple times, even by a safety inspector.

[01:01:01] Unfortunately, if you push the gate too hard like they did, it can do a full 180-degree turn,

[01:01:06] folding it into the rest of the table space that we use for everything work-related.

[01:01:11] And it is also where I was sitting typing an email.

[01:01:16] Thankfully, this lab was heroically stopped by my brand-new laptop I bought last week.

[01:01:21] The chassis on the top half stopped it from landing on my hands and on the keyboard, or I would have broken slash seriously hurt my hands.

[01:01:29] The laptop got completely obliterated.

[01:01:32] The coworker felt awful immediately.

[01:01:34] It was clearly a total accident.

[01:01:36] I was really choked up, but I tried to reassure him that it was all good and that I checked if it was under warranty.

[01:01:41] I just wanted to figure it out with the least amount of cost to anyone.

[01:01:47] Shit happens.

[01:01:48] Exclamation point.

[01:01:49] Unfortunately, nada.

[01:01:51] The only maybe option won't work since it did take months and I needed a laptop for my school program next month.

[01:01:58] And because I will need serious surgery in the very near future, so I was wanting something I could use in the hospital.

[01:02:04] The coworker later said, if I can't find a way to get it covered by, they can pay half of the cost of a pair or replacement or whatever.

[01:02:11] It's better than zero, but if roles were switched, I know I'd pay it in full.

[01:02:15] The cost was $950 Canadian dollars after tax.

[01:02:18] You boys over at the Elder Trolls know what that means.

[01:02:21] I know it's not negotiable.

[01:02:23] My coworker isn't hurting for cash, but I get nobody wants a random $1,000 bill.

[01:02:28] I'm also upset with my employer.

[01:02:32] I easily could have been seriously injured while just doing my job.

[01:02:35] I want to reiterate that the area I was using wasn't dangerous.

[01:02:39] There's just no okay reason for the table to fall that way.

[01:02:44] Would I be the asshole if I talk with them, laid out clearly, asking to pay the full $950, show them the receipt with the exact amount, and then say whatever they're willing to pay?

[01:02:53] I'll accept, but that difference is money I'm losing for something they know isn't my fault.

[01:02:58] I'd be open for partial payments.

[01:03:00] What do you think, Nave?

[01:03:03] That's kind of difficult.

[01:03:04] Should you be gaming at work?

[01:03:06] I would be gaming at work.

[01:03:08] If they said I could, I'd be like, oh, fuck yeah, I'd be gaming all the fucking time.

[01:03:13] I'd always be doing it.

[01:03:14] If I knew there was some weird spot that an accident could happen, I usually try not to keep my stuff there.

[01:03:22] An expensive $950 laptop.

[01:03:25] And I'm going to say this right now.

[01:03:28] $950 is pretty fucking cheap for a laptop, especially depending on what kind of graphics are.

[01:03:34] I don't know what you're gaming on over there, Mr. Get Down, Mr. President.

[01:03:37] But $950, it's not that many shekels for a laptop.

[01:03:42] I'm pretty sure Get Down, Mr. President is a game.

[01:03:45] Oh, is it?

[01:03:46] I thought that was the name of the poster.

[01:03:52] Oh, yeah, it is.

[01:03:53] Let me see.

[01:03:55] Oh, I think it's just called Mr. President.

[01:03:57] Yeah, do you see this game?

[01:03:59] Yeah.

[01:04:00] Oh, shit.

[01:04:01] Hold on, let me see.

[01:04:02] It's fucking stupid.

[01:04:07] I don't know why I knew this.

[01:04:09] I must have just seen like a fucking Instagram reel.

[01:04:11] Is it just like Donald Trump and this security officer just sprinting in front of him?

[01:04:20] It says Rump for President.

[01:04:25] Holy shit.

[01:04:27] This is actually $10 on Steam.

[01:04:29] I love it.

[01:04:30] People are insane.

[01:04:32] Yeah.

[01:04:32] The greatest simulator in the world.

[01:04:34] No, really.

[01:04:34] You get to protect the life of a great man.

[01:04:37] And he's probably the greatest.

[01:04:39] You have to defend him against the liberal maniacs trying to kill him.

[01:04:44] Wait, the thing says you play as Dick Rockhard Johnson, a bulletproof man, the best bodyguard money can buy.

[01:04:53] He has sworn to protect the most hated presidential candidate of all time, Ronald Rump.

[01:05:01] Dude, this came out October 10th, 2016.

[01:05:03] This was right before the 2016 November elections.

[01:05:07] Dude, I hope they secured the bag, honestly.

[01:05:10] This is great.

[01:05:11] Yeah, this is really stupid.

[01:05:12] Fantastic.

[01:05:13] But back to Am I the Asshole?

[01:05:15] Yeah, I think this guy is a little bit of an asshole.

[01:05:17] I mean, like, I don't really care about your medical problems.

[01:05:20] And, you know, all of that.

[01:05:21] A lot of that fucking Am I the Asshole post is superfluous fluffed.

[01:05:25] You brought your fucking laptop to game at work, which is like, eh.

[01:05:31] You're gambling.

[01:05:33] You're gambling already, number one.

[01:05:35] Is there stuff that you could be doing at work?

[01:05:37] Like, really?

[01:05:38] Are you telling me that you did everything that you need to do, but you felt compelled to bring your laptop to work?

[01:05:44] Also, number two, if you were so reliant on this laptop, not only for gaming but also for school, what are you doing with it at work?

[01:05:53] Do they not have a computer at work?

[01:05:55] That's what I don't understand.

[01:05:56] It's like most workplaces have computers now.

[01:05:59] I mean, like, I know.

[01:06:00] I'm in a part of the laptop class where you can basically, you know, use the Google.

[01:06:05] I don't go crazy on my work computer, but I do like some personal email stuff on there as well.

[01:06:11] I don't know.

[01:06:11] What do you think?

[01:06:12] I think that they answered their own question in the, like, synopsis here at the bottom because close to the bottom, they said that the coworker already offered to pay half of whatever it costed.

[01:06:24] And then at the end here, they're like, I'm okay with a different – a partial payment.

[01:06:30] They just don't – so what they're asking is should they ask for the full $1,000?

[01:06:33] I think go for it, honestly.

[01:06:35] I mean, like, if it seems like they're reciprocal, they're reciprocating already before you even ask.

[01:06:40] They're like, oh, I'll pay half of it.

[01:06:42] Just throw it out there and just be like, hey, it was this much.

[01:06:44] Like, would you be willing to pay the whole thing?

[01:06:46] And if they say no, just be like, okay, well, it's just a loss.

[01:06:49] You know?

[01:06:50] Like, as long as you're, like, civil about it.

[01:06:52] And I feel like just from the way that they're talking that they might be, like, adverse to confrontation.

[01:06:58] I feel like they would probably just be civil about it and be like, all right, yeah, sure.

[01:07:01] I'll take the – what is it?

[01:07:03] Quick math.

[01:07:04] $475?

[01:07:06] No, that's not right.

[01:07:07] It's not that much.

[01:07:08] It's like $850 US dollars, I think.

[01:07:10] Well, I was thinking like half of $950.

[01:07:14] I think that's $475, right?

[01:07:16] Yeah, you're right.

[01:07:18] Something like that.

[01:07:20] Yeah, I think – yeah, math is really hard.

[01:07:22] I would say that, like, part of the issue – part of the issue with this is that I see a lot of people in the comment section responding and being like, the employer is at fault.

[01:07:33] The employer is at fault because, like, you know, he said that it's supposed to be proper waste.

[01:07:38] I've worked in a lot of places.

[01:07:39] I worked at restaurants in a lot of places.

[01:07:41] Let me just fucking tell you.

[01:07:42] OSHA doesn't care about you.

[01:07:44] Your employers don't care about you.

[01:07:46] Your employers don't care about the equipment that's in the back of house of wherever you work.

[01:07:49] You're going to do your fucking job with the amount of times I've had, like, occupational exposure to, like, dumb shit of just, like, stuff that just isn't poor.

[01:07:57] I had, like – I worked in a restaurant one time where they had to put mugs, like, glass – heavy glass mugs in a freezer.

[01:08:05] This was a bar.

[01:08:07] You had to put heavy glass mugs in a freezer to make them cold because that's the whole thing is you want to get them, like, ice cold to bring them out to the actual freezers at the bar and then someone orders beer.

[01:08:16] They get an ice cold beer, whatever the fuck.

[01:08:18] There was one time there was a wheel that was on this heavy rack where I had all of these, like, beer mugs that, like, literally just was, like – it was wobbly forever.

[01:08:29] And as I was pulling this thing out of the beer, this entire rack – and I'm talking, like, 150, 180-pound rack of glass beer mugs came down this ramp.

[01:08:38] The wheel came off.

[01:08:39] It fucking fell.

[01:08:40] Oh, shit.

[01:08:41] Fell back onto me.

[01:08:42] I hit the ground first.

[01:08:43] The fucking metal shit bashed into me.

[01:08:45] I was concussed, and no, I didn't file a workers' compensation claim because I was stupid.

[01:08:50] I was an idiot kid.

[01:08:52] They were like, are you sure you're okay?

[01:08:54] You don't need to go to the hospital.

[01:08:55] I was like, no, no, no.

[01:08:55] I'm good, and I shook it off.

[01:08:57] Like, I'm pretty sure that I, like, lost consciousness for, like, half of a second.

[01:09:01] But, like –

[01:09:01] Dude, that's the thing.

[01:09:02] What are you going to do, right?

[01:09:02] When I got rear-ended working with – as a postal worker, I got rear-ended at one time, and everyone was just like, hey, you should fire a workman's comp thing.

[01:09:12] I'm like, nah, I'm all right.

[01:09:14] Dude, I shouldn't.

[01:09:15] What the fuck was I thinking?

[01:09:16] And I guarantee you if I got into a wreck again, I'd be like, nah, I'm all right.

[01:09:20] I'd be like, my arm hurts.

[01:09:21] But for real, like, at the end of the day, I was like, dude, my back hurts, like, legit.

[01:09:27] Like, not even a joke.

[01:09:28] And it wasn't even, like, an intense fight.

[01:09:30] I mean, an intense fight.

[01:09:31] It wasn't an intense crash.

[01:09:32] But, like, I was like – I specifically remember when I got rear-ended.

[01:09:38] I just saw all of my mail and packages, like, move forward.

[01:09:42] And I was just like, what the fuck?

[01:09:44] Like, you just go into slow-mo whenever crazy shit like that happens.

[01:09:47] Yeah.

[01:09:48] But my point is that, like, my accident was, like – I mean, like, yeah, it was technically the employer's fault because, like, the wheel probably should have been fixed.

[01:09:56] And this was, like, a huge glass thing of, like, things.

[01:09:58] And it's, like, it's definitely a risk to your employers and you want to, like, save money in the workplace, right?

[01:10:03] But at the end of the day, it was my fault that I was idiot enough and I didn't, like, stop it from, like, falling backwards more on me.

[01:10:09] Or just – I could have done something different.

[01:10:10] I don't know.

[01:10:11] Like, there's just – there's a million and one things at the end of the day.

[01:10:13] But at the same time, it's like – there's, like, tons of examples throughout my life that I simply don't remember where it's, like, shit just doesn't work in workplaces.

[01:10:22] And I know that sometimes employers just can't afford to fix things sometimes.

[01:10:25] And whether or not that's a valid thing, like, it's really just on you as somebody in the workplace to kind of manage what you're doing.

[01:10:33] And if you're already doing something that you're, like, technically, like, yeah, they said you could do it.

[01:10:37] But, like, should you really be doing it?

[01:10:39] I don't know.

[01:10:39] Like, it's not really – it's not really anybody's fault but your own that your laptop was in, like, a very dangerous space for a laptop to be, right?

[01:10:48] If you want your workplace to compensate you for something that happens, you should –

[01:10:53] They won't do it.

[01:10:54] Well, I'm saying you should have let it hit your hands.

[01:11:00] Exactly.

[01:11:00] If you would have broken your fingers, they would have probably have had to do something.

[01:11:05] That's 100% of workers' comp claim.

[01:11:07] That's 110%.

[01:11:08] Like, if it was a person, a safety inspector said this needs to be fixed, this needs some kind of support, whatever the case may be, and you literally get hurt as a result of that, that it's, like, what workers' compensation is there for.

[01:11:19] So you don't have to pay for bills.

[01:11:20] That's your employer's responsibility.

[01:11:22] But this case, like, it's, like, your fucking laptop.

[01:11:24] And all of these people in the comments being, like, your work should pay, your work should pay.

[01:11:28] I dare fucking to you.

[01:11:29] If he went and asked his employer to compensate him for the broken laptop, that's a quick way to get fired because they'll be just, like, no.

[01:11:35] Like, I mean, I don't know about Canadian laws, but here in America, if you fucking come to your employer as, like, a minimum wage worker, or not minimum wage, but just, like, an hourly retail associate, and you're like, can you pay for my laptop?

[01:11:47] They're laughing you out of the room.

[01:11:49] They're like, that's a funny joke.

[01:11:51] Get back to work.

[01:11:52] I'm not paying you for this little short break.

[01:11:56] So that's, I don't know.

[01:11:58] America is very, I would say, very puritanical when it comes to workplace culture and that sort of thing.

[01:12:06] I don't know if maybe Canada is a little bit different, but, yeah.

[01:12:10] I mean, like, I feel...

[01:12:11] Oh, yeah, I forgot they're Canadian.

[01:12:12] Yeah, I feel bad because it's, like, the guy who's, like, the co-worker and stuff, he didn't mean to do it, but he did break it.

[01:12:18] And there have been situations like that in the past.

[01:12:20] Like, if he can afford to help out, I would, like, definitely, like, push.

[01:12:24] If you're going to lean on anybody, lean on the guy that, like, actually broke your shit and be like, hey, man, like, you broke it.

[01:12:30] Can you just pay me?

[01:12:31] If you want to give me, like, 500 now and then, like, 400 later, that's fine.

[01:12:35] But other than that, like, there's not really...

[01:12:38] You're in between a rock and a hard place.

[01:12:41] Yeah, just hit the guy up.

[01:12:42] And if he's honest about it, I mean, like, most people, I think, would be willing to, like, try and fix the thing that they broke.

[01:12:50] You know what I mean?

[01:12:51] So I don't think it's, like, a huge deal.

[01:12:54] I don't really think you're an asshole.

[01:12:55] Everyone labeled her an asshole.

[01:12:56] I don't think it's that big of a deal.

[01:12:59] Is it she?

[01:12:59] I didn't know it was a she.

[01:13:00] Or was it a she?

[01:13:01] I don't remember.

[01:13:02] I already closed it.

[01:13:03] Yeah.

[01:13:03] I don't know why.

[01:13:04] Just, like, in your brain, you just, like, fucking make this human up.

[01:13:09] Yeah, you imagine who that person is.

[01:13:11] Yeah.

[01:13:11] It's like the people in your dreams and you have no idea who they are.

[01:13:14] You're like, how did you even get here?

[01:13:16] Like, how are...

[01:13:18] How did you get here?

[01:13:20] So let's go to 77 for mine.

[01:13:25] Okay, 77.

[01:13:27] And then this is by deleted.

[01:13:29] So they gonzo.

[01:13:32] No man's guy.

[01:13:34] Oh, shit.

[01:13:34] I know this is going to be a shit show.

[01:13:35] Oh, this is short, though.

[01:13:38] Or wait, did I click on the wrong one?

[01:13:40] I must have double clicked.

[01:13:42] Okay, no, this one's by Gamer Girl Throwaway.

[01:13:43] I had two opened up for some reason.

[01:13:45] I don't know how that happened.

[01:13:47] What is Gamer Girl?

[01:13:48] Gamer Girl Throwaway 20.

[01:13:50] So I think we had something last week about this.

[01:13:55] Am I the asshole for trying to find people online to play a game with me?

[01:14:00] Already off to a great start.

[01:14:02] This sounds like a really good relationship.

[01:14:04] Six years ago.

[01:14:06] Boyfriend and I are gamers, mainly online, so we can play together.

[01:14:10] There's an online game that I really like playing.

[01:14:12] My boyfriend tried to play it as well, but he didn't like it.

[01:14:16] No problem.

[01:14:17] I'll play by myself or find people online to play with me.

[01:14:20] Boyfriend was okay with this.

[01:14:22] Really bizarre writing style.

[01:14:25] You know, it's kind of hard for me to get a cadence.

[01:14:28] Like, kind of chalk.

[01:14:29] It's like cliff notes.

[01:14:31] You know what I mean?

[01:14:31] Yeah, it's not super intuitive.

[01:14:33] Yeah.

[01:14:34] So, but now he found out that I tried to find people to play this game with through Reddit.

[01:14:41] He's angry at me over this.

[01:14:43] He found out through Reddit.

[01:14:44] I don't really know how Reddit works.

[01:14:45] Can you, like, see?

[01:14:47] Well, yeah.

[01:14:47] We literally look at what we were posting.

[01:14:50] It sounds like he, you know, he found out that he, that she tried to ask people on Reddit,

[01:14:58] but he still, he was just like looking and then saw her post.

[01:15:01] Or maybe she told him about the post and was like, huh?

[01:15:04] He's angry at her over this.

[01:15:05] He's always got to check your partner's Reddit account.

[01:15:08] See what they're fucking, see what they're commenting on.

[01:15:10] With paper trail they're leaving behind.

[01:15:13] In my mind, it's no different than him trying out competitive gaming with other people.

[01:15:18] He's found people online who want to team up with him for competitive gaming.

[01:15:23] I, I also hate how no games are being mentioned.

[01:15:26] It's just like generically.

[01:15:27] Okay.

[01:15:28] He told me how he feels as if I'm emotionally cheating on him because a guy responded to my post trying to find people to play this game with.

[01:15:37] Am I the asshole for trying to find people to play a game with?

[01:15:41] A game he refuses to play with me.

[01:15:43] Parentheses.

[01:15:44] Sorry for formatting.

[01:15:45] Reddit mobile sucks.

[01:15:46] Apology accepted.

[01:15:47] I'm sorry for talking shit about you right away.

[01:15:50] And then ETA.

[01:15:52] I don't know what that means.

[01:15:53] Estimated time of arrival.

[01:15:56] I am 24.

[01:15:57] Boyfriend is 28.

[01:15:59] The game I want to play is No Man's Sky.

[01:16:01] So finally, we got ourselves a video game we can latch on to.

[01:16:07] Game mentioned.

[01:16:08] That's what he always says.

[01:16:10] Dude, so he's not an asshole for not wanting to play No Man's Sky, right?

[01:16:14] He's playing competitive games.

[01:16:15] He's playing Battlefield.

[01:16:16] He's playing Marvel Rivals.

[01:16:18] He doesn't want to play No Man's Sky.

[01:16:20] That's a girl MMO.

[01:16:22] No, I'm kidding.

[01:16:24] Yeah.

[01:16:25] No, here's the thing.

[01:16:28] He's angry.

[01:16:29] I don't know what he is.

[01:16:30] He feels emotionally cheating on him because a guy responded to his post trying to find people to play this game.

[01:16:34] Yeah, this is just – I mean he's 28.

[01:16:36] She's 24.

[01:16:37] They're fucking kids.

[01:16:38] I mean I don't know.

[01:16:39] 28 is a little bit old to be insecure about that.

[01:16:43] I think that personally if I were to be the boyfriend in this situation, I would be like – I would be like kind of – I would – I feel like asking strangers on Reddit to play a game with you.

[01:16:58] Just like I'm not a person that likes playing with strangers.

[01:17:01] I know you and Phil like when you sometimes do games like or if you do like – what is it?

[01:17:05] Like the creative lobbies on like Halo Infinite or something like that.

[01:17:08] You like playing with the strangers.

[01:17:10] Oh, yeah.

[01:17:10] I am about that fucking vagrant life.

[01:17:14] Yeah.

[01:17:15] I just – I don't really like that.

[01:17:18] I kind of feel like my game time is like kind of like my private time.

[01:17:21] It's my own special time for Nick.

[01:17:23] So if I am playing with somebody, it's somebody that I know personally or have met online and know like somebody through the podcast community, whatever the case may be.

[01:17:32] Like but playing with a stranger is like not really what I'm looking to do unless it's an anonymous stranger and it's like a multiplayer situation, right?

[01:17:40] Yeah.

[01:17:41] If she were to like – I don't know.

[01:17:42] If like the difference for me here is that like it's about like the personal factor, right?

[01:17:46] She's asking – she made a post maybe on No Man's Sky, Reddit being like looking for co-op partner or something like that.

[01:17:54] Like so I can – we can grind asteroids or whatever the fuck they do in No Man's Sky.

[01:17:58] No idea.

[01:17:59] Like my whole thing is that if she was on Discord in like a Discord community or in like I don't know, some whatever online community forum or something like that about No Man's Sky and she was like making friends with people and I knew this was happening.

[01:18:11] It's no big deal.

[01:18:12] It was like, oh, you're playing with like the people from the Discord server or the goof troop equivalent of like a No Man's Sky group chat or something like that.

[01:18:20] Okay, cool.

[01:18:21] No worries.

[01:18:22] But like I don't know.

[01:18:23] I mean it's just – it is – it's like a hazy area but I also think it's like it bears communication and if people are going to play the way that they want to play, I mean Ace is fine.

[01:18:34] It's not something that I would ever do.

[01:18:36] But if that's the way that she wants to play and as long as she's not like actually like having relationships with someone over the video game, then like who fucking cares, right?

[01:18:48] Yeah.

[01:18:48] I think it just really depends on how she worded it in the Reddit post.

[01:18:52] But then again, you have the little – you have the Reddit like icon things that you can be a female or a male like Reddit character.

[01:19:00] Oh, really?

[01:19:00] I didn't know that.

[01:19:01] I didn't know that about Reddit.

[01:19:02] Well, it's like if you look at the comments –

[01:19:05] Like an avatar or something?

[01:19:06] There's little avatars you can customize and I think you can put a picture in there too.

[01:19:10] But down here, there's a Queen Moogle.

[01:19:12] Ignore the name because that gives it away right away.

[01:19:14] But like then they have like the Chinese buns on their Reddit avatar and like the rainbow.

[01:19:20] Oh, yeah.

[01:19:21] I see that.

[01:19:21] Okay.

[01:19:22] If this person posted – I'm looking for a game in – I don't know.

[01:19:26] That was kind of demeaning voice I just gave her.

[01:19:29] But if you're looking for a game in any subreddit, someone is going to see that and be like, ooh, girl detected.

[01:19:36] And then like there are people who specifically seek out females whenever they're in LFG kind of communities.

[01:19:42] Same.

[01:19:43] Like people are fucking creepy on certain online spaces.

[01:19:46] Like there are big weirdos out there.

[01:19:48] And so if like – if there's a fucking salad fingers dude and he's like playing a game with my girlfriend, like I would be concerned.

[01:19:56] I'd be like –

[01:19:56] Holy shit.

[01:19:57] Salad fingers, dude.

[01:19:58] Surely that can't be fun for you, right?

[01:20:01] Yes.

[01:20:02] We can't undermine the asteroids as yet.

[01:20:04] Like no.

[01:20:05] Do you like oxygen?

[01:20:09] I'm getting oxygen over here.

[01:20:13] Yeah.

[01:20:13] But like I don't know, man.

[01:20:15] Like it's just – it's one of those things where it's like if she's just like posting on a forum and she's got like a lot of friends and she's been posting on it for months and they've talked and like they've been DMing or something like that and they've been planning what they're going to do in game.

[01:20:27] And then she starts playing with in game.

[01:20:28] Like who am I really to judge as long as like she's comfortable with the people that she's engaging with but it's at the same time like if it is like if I get weirdo vibes, I would want to be involved.

[01:20:40] But if I want to be involved that much, I just play the stupid fucking game with her.

[01:20:44] I'd be like, okay, you got 30 minutes and then I'm going back to Marvel Rivals or something like that.

[01:20:49] You know what I mean?

[01:20:49] Like we'll do –

[01:20:50] Yeah, I can only take this for so long.

[01:20:51] We'll grind asteroids for like 15 – 20, 30 minutes, an hour.

[01:20:56] I'd just be an hour of my time and then we're going back to Star Wars Outlaws or whatever the fuck.

[01:21:03] Yeah.

[01:21:04] That LFG thing is really tough because you said you don't ever like play with randoms.

[01:21:08] This is a phenomenon that is like it plagues LFGs for real on like Xbox especially in games like Overwatch or Rainbow Six Siege.

[01:21:18] Yeah.

[01:21:18] And the thing is is that there are a lot of women that like actually thrive in that attention.

[01:21:23] Really?

[01:21:23] Whenever they make – they'll make the LFG and it will be like girl host, hashtag girl host, hashtag – it's like chill lobby like looking for – like there's – people play up into these things.

[01:21:34] Big city goth girl looking for hard dick gamers.

[01:21:37] You say that shit but it's almost – that's almost what these fucking things say.

[01:21:42] No way.

[01:21:43] Really?

[01:21:43] Yeah.

[01:21:43] Oh, shit.

[01:21:44] Where it's people just looking for a group of people that are going to be really cringy and those are the worst.

[01:21:49] Those are the worst fucking ones.

[01:21:51] You've been in those chats and you're like –

[01:21:52] Yeah.

[01:21:53] To the point where I started avoiding – I think this – it's been like a year since we talked about this on the show I think.

[01:21:58] But I would – I have always avoid LFGs where hashtag girl host is one of the tags.

[01:22:02] Not because I don't want to play with women but because of what kind of person seeks out that tag.

[01:22:09] You know what I mean?

[01:22:09] Yeah, exactly.

[01:22:10] That they're like, oh, there we go.

[01:22:11] This is what I wanted.

[01:22:12] Yeah, I get that.

[01:22:12] This is my Tinder match for sure.

[01:22:16] I'm skipping the line.

[01:22:18] Yeah.

[01:22:18] Yeah.

[01:22:19] Well, this person is –

[01:22:21] I'd say not the asshole.

[01:22:22] I forgot what the fuck is going on.

[01:22:23] I'm not the asshole.

[01:22:24] Oh, yeah.

[01:22:25] Boyfriend is mad because looking for gamers online.

[01:22:28] On Reddit.

[01:22:29] Yeah.

[01:22:29] They just need to talk.

[01:22:30] On Reddit of all places.

[01:22:31] I think they just need to talk.

[01:22:32] I don't even think the boyfriend is that bad.

[01:22:34] He's being a little paranoid but I mean –

[01:22:36] It also depends on how they met.

[01:22:38] Emotionally cheating by asking people to play a game is kind of crazy.

[01:22:42] It's kind of wild.

[01:22:42] That's what I was saying.

[01:22:43] I think it depends a little bit on how they met as well because if they met –

[01:22:48] So if they met through kind of this –

[01:22:51] Well, I meant like literally they met playing games online and they're like, oh, now we're dating.

[01:22:55] And so now he's got that connection.

[01:22:57] And then she turns around and does it again.

[01:22:59] Yeah.

[01:22:59] She's like, oh, she found me through video games.

[01:23:02] Maybe she could find someone else that's better.

[01:23:03] Like I'm just trying to get into the mindset because I don't – I really – I'm so – I'm way too lenient whenever it comes to these kinds of boundaries.

[01:23:12] I'm just like go hang out with whoever you fucking want and then that stabs me in the back sometimes.

[01:23:16] So it's like we all have our little fucking blind spots.

[01:23:21] This person just needs to be a little bit less paranoid about what their girlfriend is doing.

[01:23:26] Trust your partner, okay?

[01:23:27] And if you don't trust them, articulate why you don't trust them.

[01:23:30] And whenever you do that, make sure that you're receptive to counter arguments and don't take them as personal attacks.

[01:23:38] It's going to be okay.

[01:23:39] It's going to be okay, everybody.

[01:23:41] He has to understand that if you're not going to play this game with her, then she is going to play with someone.

[01:23:47] She's going to play with someone and it's not you.

[01:23:50] It's not you, brother.

[01:23:51] You either play with her or you just let her play it or whatever.

[01:23:53] And you download No Man's Sky on your fucking PC and you play with your girlfriend or else.

[01:23:58] Yes.

[01:23:59] I mean, yeah.

[01:24:00] And it's also like, man, playing – even if it's a game you don't really like, it's still – there's an experience to be had.

[01:24:06] You know what I mean?

[01:24:07] Nave, imagine if like you had a partner that came to you, if you had a girlfriend and it came up and was like,

[01:24:15] Nave, I have a game that I really, really, really want to play.

[01:24:20] And it's called Star Wars The MMORPG.

[01:24:24] I fucking –

[01:24:24] Will you play with me?

[01:24:26] What would you say?

[01:24:27] Does it even work?

[01:24:28] Is that a real – that's a real thing, right?

[01:24:31] Isn't that like KOTOR or Knights of the Old Republic or –

[01:24:33] It's the Old Republic.

[01:24:36] Nave, will you play The Old Republic with me for like 15 hours, please?

[01:24:41] What would you say?

[01:24:42] Can I be a Jar Jar Binks?

[01:24:44] I will – even if I can't, I will roleplay as a Jar Jar Binks.

[01:24:48] You'll download the Jar Jar mod.

[01:24:51] You've got to download the Jar Jar mod.

[01:24:54] I will go into ChatGBT and I'll – everything I ever type into the chat, I will type into ChatGBT and I'll like say this like Jar Jar Binks.

[01:25:01] And just get – how would Jar Jar Binks say –

[01:25:06] I feel like ChatGBT would be like we can't do that.

[01:25:10] It violates our terms of service.

[01:25:12] Yeah, you're getting a little too crazy in the Star Wars roleplay, buddy.

[01:25:16] Yeah.

[01:25:17] Oh, shit.

[01:25:18] Well –

[01:25:18] I can make anything fun.

[01:25:20] It doesn't matter.

[01:25:21] No assholes.

[01:25:21] I will entertain my way through anything.

[01:25:25] Yeah, no assholes.

[01:25:26] So that was the end of the asshole.

[01:25:27] That was pretty clean, pretty cut and dry.

[01:25:30] Yeah.

[01:25:30] Very cool.

[01:25:31] We're going into the next break and we're going to do the review for Metaphor Re-Fantasio.

[01:25:39] Okay.

[01:25:40] And we're back.

[01:25:41] Also, dude, did you – did Luna try to open the door?

[01:25:46] Because you said you saw her behind me.

[01:25:48] No, I didn't.

[01:25:48] I don't think she did.

[01:25:50] The door was slightly ajar.

[01:25:52] Luna knows how to open doors.

[01:25:55] She's like a velociraptor.

[01:25:57] Yeah.

[01:25:57] Well, so – well, I have the normal doorknob, but my front door doesn't close very well.

[01:26:02] Yeah.

[01:26:02] So like the lock is really what keeps it closed.

[01:26:04] But if Luna can like get up and slap that lock down and if the door is loose, then the door will just open up especially because of the air pressure and shit.

[01:26:14] But the – so one night I was like doing something.

[01:26:19] I can't remember.

[01:26:19] I was like laying in bed and then I got up and I started walking into the living room and I realized my fucking front door was like ajar.

[01:26:27] And I was like, oh my god.

[01:26:28] My dogs are gone.

[01:26:29] And then they're just laying on the couch and the front door is open.

[01:26:32] Yeah.

[01:26:33] And I was like, what is this?

[01:26:35] I felt like my shit was haunted.

[01:26:38] Like Luna freaks me out.

[01:26:40] You got to flip the deadbolt, man.

[01:26:42] No, that's what I'm saying.

[01:26:43] She flips it down.

[01:26:45] Like she unlocks my door.

[01:26:46] That's actually crazy.

[01:26:48] What about the – do you have like a security little thing at the top?

[01:26:53] No.

[01:26:53] I'm going to have to get something like that.

[01:26:55] Yeah, you should.

[01:26:55] You know those bars that go on like car steering wheels?

[01:27:01] That would be a lot.

[01:27:02] But like you could – does your doorknob also have a lock on it or is it just the deadbolt?

[01:27:06] It's just the deadbolt.

[01:27:07] Oh, yeah.

[01:27:08] I know some apartments are like that.

[01:27:09] But, yeah, I would say like if you could like find something that Lowe's pretty cheap, you can get a little chain for the door.

[01:27:15] So if she does some crazy stuff like that and open it up or alternatively, you could buy like an electronic doorknob or like actual door deadbolt that you can control with your phone.

[01:27:29] And then like the switch doesn't turn unless you're using your phone or whatever.

[01:27:33] That's fucking – maybe I need that thing because I've been checking it every day when I come home from work to see if it's unlocked and it's never unlocked.

[01:27:39] So she only ever does it when I'm home.

[01:27:42] Yeah.

[01:27:42] Trying to go outside.

[01:27:43] She's going to get you – yeah, she's going to get you up and aware and pay attention to her.

[01:27:49] Dogs are fucking crazy.

[01:27:50] We're back though.

[01:27:51] We're back.

[01:27:52] I think.

[01:27:53] Metaphor re-fantasio.

[01:27:56] Not a spoiler alert but big notification right at the beginning.

[01:28:00] Me and Nick, neither of us have beaten this game.

[01:28:03] Correct.

[01:28:04] We are both pretty deep in.

[01:28:05] We'll talk about that later.

[01:28:08] So we aren't – so even if you haven't played the game, we aren't going to spoil the entirety of it.

[01:28:12] But we are going to spoil quite a bit because I just want to get this out.

[01:28:15] I just want to talk.

[01:28:16] I just want to talk about it.

[01:28:17] I'm so excited to talk to somebody about this game finally.

[01:28:19] Yeah.

[01:28:20] Yeah.

[01:28:20] We got this grab from Steam.

[01:28:23] The description, it says,

[01:28:39] It feels weird because it's in Ye Olde but then it has an ampersand right there.

[01:28:44] Which I guess is Ye Olde also.

[01:28:45] But I mean, I don't know what the fuck I'm talking about.

[01:28:48] So this was released in October of this year.

[01:28:51] Very late.

[01:28:52] By Atlas, Sega.

[01:28:55] We have the Metacritic.

[01:28:56] That is a 94 must play over on fucking Metacritic.

[01:29:00] And I must say I agree.

[01:29:02] Yeah.

[01:29:02] 100%.

[01:29:03] 100%.

[01:29:04] Yeah.

[01:29:04] I feel like the 94 and the user score of 8.8 kind of just speaks volumes, especially for this like –

[01:29:11] Okay, this might be a hot take, but the Shin Megami Tensei Persona metaphor like Atlas games, I feel like in my opinion are still very niche.

[01:29:22] Like it is a niche genre.

[01:29:24] So to get like over 1,000 user ratings and be very favorable and then like obviously having the really incredibly solid critical reception that it's had, I think speaks wonders to its quality.

[01:29:36] And yeah, so it's a must play.

[01:29:37] Yeah, it's interesting because Persona 5 blew way up and I think the anime really helped Persona 4.

[01:29:45] So Persona has this like – this critical darling aura around it.

[01:29:51] And then Shin Megami Tensei just is like completely unknown almost still.

[01:29:56] Like even though the newest one came out, I still feel like it's completely dwarfed.

[01:30:01] Even that Soul Hackers game that came out kind of recently.

[01:30:04] People didn't like that apparently for whatever reason.

[01:30:06] I'm not sure.

[01:30:07] I bought it and never played it.

[01:30:10] But you know how I do.

[01:30:14] It's like this – so Atlas has this like serious like auteur critical darling like Persona.

[01:30:24] I'm trying to not say that word, but that's the only way that I can think of.

[01:30:27] But they have this persona in the gaming industry of being these auteurs with their games.

[01:30:33] Reputation.

[01:30:33] There we go.

[01:30:34] That's better.

[01:30:36] But they come out with this game and they still get the critical reception.

[01:30:40] I don't know how well this game is selling though.

[01:30:44] Yeah, that's a good question.

[01:30:45] I feel like it's just so hard because you don't hear anything about it until Square Enix starts bitching about not meeting expectations with their Final Fantasy mainline entries.

[01:30:56] Let me see.

[01:30:57] Let me see if anyone said anything.

[01:31:00] It says over one million copies.

[01:31:02] It says over one million.

[01:31:03] So it's past the million mark.

[01:31:04] On the first day.

[01:31:05] Yeah.

[01:31:06] That's actually really good on day one, which is kind of crazy.

[01:31:09] I guess the Persona 5 hype has really built up.

[01:31:13] Not to mention the fact that Atlas has really been killing it with the remakes and obviously the ports that they brought to Game Pass with Persona 4 Golden and Persona 3 Reload.

[01:31:23] Like Persona 3 Reload is really, really good.

[01:31:26] And I do not know how that game played originally.

[01:31:28] But as like a modern, like it's still Persona.

[01:31:31] It's the Persona format.

[01:31:32] But it's really, really well done.

[01:31:35] So I imagine that everybody who started playing that, they've just been on a train of releases that are just like banger after banger after banger.

[01:31:43] So yeah, good for them.

[01:31:45] One million copies day one is awesome.

[01:31:47] It says that is the record for them.

[01:31:49] So I mean this is selling better than Persona and everything.

[01:31:52] So I mean I think they deserve this really good.

[01:31:55] But I mean it's not hitting for everyone.

[01:31:56] We have people in the goof troop that aren't really vibing with this, Chris.

[01:31:59] Chris, he hasn't beaten – he hasn't gotten to like the main game playable section in the prologue.

[01:32:05] He can't say he doesn't like it yet.

[01:32:06] Chris, if you're listening to this, I love you, buddy.

[01:32:08] But just finish the prologue.

[01:32:10] I'm begging you.

[01:32:11] Out of everyone though in our pod circles, the guy running one hour, one decision, it makes the most sense.

[01:32:18] But it's just – I mean like you have to understand that like so much of Atlas games are visual novels.

[01:32:24] Like that's just period point blank.

[01:32:26] Like they want to – like they want you to think it's an RPG.

[01:32:29] J.K.

[01:32:29] It's like a dungeon raiding simulator slash visual novel.

[01:32:33] That's all these games are.

[01:32:35] Until you get your ass beat in the fucking fight.

[01:32:38] Dude, the fucking place I'm in, dude, I don't even – we'll talk about that later.

[01:32:42] Okay.

[01:32:42] This game is difficult.

[01:32:43] We got some Steam reviews.

[01:32:44] All of – every single person in there is either saying this game is the bee's knees, the cat's meow,

[01:32:50] or they're bitching about the performance on the PC, like the anti-ellising or the mouse and keyboards board or the –

[01:32:56] they got de novo and they're all bitching and crying.

[01:32:59] The drivers aren't updated.

[01:33:01] I was really hoping that there would be people like being funny but not for this game.

[01:33:05] No one's being funny at all actually.

[01:33:08] So we got one review here.

[01:33:11] And I don't know how – I don't know if this is going to be an interesting conversation or not.

[01:33:15] But it's by Transmental Me.

[01:33:18] Not recommended.

[01:33:19] 6.4 hours on record.

[01:33:20] So they didn't even get past the first cut scene basically.

[01:33:25] It says,

[01:33:57] Isn't Atlas the developer?

[01:33:59] It's – I mean, no.

[01:34:02] Who's the developer?

[01:34:03] No.

[01:34:04] I think Atlas is the developer and Sega is the publisher, right?

[01:34:06] That's right.

[01:34:07] No, you're right.

[01:34:08] I'm wrong.

[01:34:08] Yeah, developer – Studio Zero is the developer.

[01:34:11] Co-developer with Atlas.

[01:34:12] But it's Studio Zero who's the team within Atlas that did this.

[01:34:16] Okay.

[01:34:17] Oh, yeah, because they're like doing all kinds of shit.

[01:34:19] Yeah, Studio Zero was the one that did Catherine if I'm not mistaken.

[01:34:23] Fuck yeah.

[01:34:24] Clown react all you want.

[01:34:26] I enjoy the steam points.

[01:34:27] I don't know what that means.

[01:34:28] Grand Blue Fantasy Relink allows you to choose between male and female MCs.

[01:34:33] And these games should as well.

[01:34:36] There's nothing in the story so far that would – six hours in.

[01:34:40] There's nothing in the story so far that would have been impossible to do as a female player.

[01:34:44] The whole point of the game is to change the world to be fair and inclusive.

[01:34:49] Yet the developer themselves fails to do so for half the gaming community, which is female.

[01:34:54] There's a lot of things that go through my mind looking at this.

[01:34:58] Yeah.

[01:34:59] I kind of understand where this person is coming from.

[01:35:00] But what do you think about this?

[01:35:02] We kind of had a powwow before because I was like – I was even hesitant to even include this.

[01:35:07] I don't know, man.

[01:35:09] This is a little bit hard.

[01:35:11] I feel like people have big feelings.

[01:35:14] And I think it's okay to have big feelings sometimes.

[01:35:18] Taking out your big feelings on developers of people that you don't really know and then just assuming that a developing team is full of toxic weirdo men just because they're Japanese is actually a little bit cringe.

[01:35:31] Trust me.

[01:35:32] I pay very close attention to gaming news.

[01:35:35] If there were reports of toxic workplace culture over at Atlas or even Sega for that matter, we would fucking hear about it.

[01:35:43] Shit in the news cycle, whether it's on Twitter, Blue Sky, YouTube, shit like that gets circulated very quickly.

[01:35:49] And I haven't heard anything to the extent that Atlas has – what is the term that they used?

[01:35:56] Well-documented exclusionary views.

[01:35:59] Yeah, like a source.

[01:36:01] I don't want to be the reddit there.

[01:36:02] Is your claim here just because you can't play as a female in these games that that's exclusionary?

[01:36:08] I don't know.

[01:36:09] But again, I will admit that none of the Persona games that I'm aware of have main female protagonists.

[01:36:16] They have lots of female characters that are incredibly well-written and multidimensional.

[01:36:19] But no, you can't play as a female in these games.

[01:36:22] I think that at the end of the day, if you feel so passionately about playing as a female in your video games, there are a lot of games out there that have character creators that you can create a game and play as characters.

[01:36:36] And I mean like that's not saying like go back to your country where you came from or anything like that.

[01:36:40] But at the same time, like you have to understand that you have to meet art and medium where it's at.

[01:36:46] And where for whatever reason, you know, for whatever creative decisions that were, you know, made in the room at the time, Atlas slash Studio Zero decided to make a male, yes, albeit androgynous male protagonist.

[01:37:00] And so like this is the thing about media literacy is that you have to engage with media where it's at because if you don't do that, then you're already kind of like at the gate coming into it and you're bringing your own ego.

[01:37:10] You're bringing your own kind of idiosyncrasies into the art itself instead of just experiencing the art as it is.

[01:37:17] I feel like the interesting thing about metaphor is that it's a game about art.

[01:37:22] It's a game about the way that human beings engage with art in their own worlds and how that shapes their view of society.

[01:37:28] And if you can engage with this game and the writing that's in this game and on a deep enough level to understand that I can't have everything my way, then again, like maybe this just isn't the game for you.

[01:37:39] This isn't something that really is going to speak well to the kind of person that you are at this point in time.

[01:37:44] Maybe wait till you're a little bit older.

[01:37:46] You might appreciate it when you have a little bit more life experience.

[01:37:50] I think it is telling whenever they say here at the bottom.

[01:37:54] It's like the whole point of the game is to change the world to be more fair inclusive.

[01:37:57] That is a large part of the story, but it's also not the main point of the game.

[01:38:02] There are a lot of different things happening simultaneously.

[01:38:07] I do want to power slide in.

[01:38:09] I didn't want to because you were in a flow state, so I didn't want to interrupt you, but I'm going to power slide in.

[01:38:13] The comments are already here, but in Persona 3, in the portable version of it, you can play as the female protagonist.

[01:38:21] Now go and delete your comment.

[01:38:22] Actually, don't delete your comment.

[01:38:23] Thank you for the engagement.

[01:38:25] Go mino sai.

[01:38:26] Thank you for the engagement.

[01:38:28] Go mino sai.

[01:38:29] They probably...

[01:38:30] It's a takimasu.

[01:38:31] As soon as you said that, I bet everyone heard my click, click, click, click, click.

[01:38:35] As I'm like, wait, wait.

[01:38:36] I think I need to be sure before I do this correction.

[01:38:40] But yeah, you can do the...

[01:38:41] You can do it only in the portable version of Persona 3, so not the new version that's on Game Pass and everything.

[01:38:46] And I see a Reddit post here asking why the female protagonist in 3 is gone.

[01:38:53] And they said that...

[01:38:55] And I don't know what the source is.

[01:38:56] This is literally just Google pulling it up.

[01:38:58] But it says, after working on Persona 3 portable, the development team felt that the amount of work and effort that was put into her in the end product ultimately wasn't worth it.

[01:39:07] And I don't know what exactly that's referencing.

[01:39:12] Maybe this is the well-documented misogyny that this other person is referring to.

[01:39:18] Wait, could you say again what they said wasn't worthwhile?

[01:39:21] The amount of effort and work it took, I guess, to have a divergent storyline like that.

[01:39:29] So this is the primary thing that I'm...

[01:39:30] Oh, to have two different genders, yeah.

[01:39:32] Yeah, so what I'm thinking...

[01:39:33] I'm assuming that that's what that means because that's where the angle I was going in from.

[01:39:37] You nailed it with what I was going to say before.

[01:39:40] Kind of...

[01:39:40] I always am a proponent of letting the artist make the art that they have envisioned.

[01:39:48] And if they're envisioning the story with a male protagonist, then they just have a male protagonist.

[01:39:52] Just because it's a JRPG or an RPG in general doesn't mean that you...

[01:39:56] You get to have a character creator.

[01:39:58] Yeah.

[01:39:59] Imagine like...

[01:40:00] Sorry, go ahead.

[01:40:01] Well, I was just saying...

[01:40:02] I think that having a female protagonist does change quite a bit.

[01:40:06] Especially in games like Persona where you have these...

[01:40:08] Like, you can have these intimate relationships.

[01:40:11] And if you...

[01:40:11] Unless you want to make every single character bisexual, which is kind of immersion breaking...

[01:40:18] You...

[01:40:18] Because in Persona 5 specifically, you can go around dating like everybody.

[01:40:23] Yeah.

[01:40:23] That's the thing with Persona 3 is they had to do...

[01:40:26] They had to change the relationships because I don't think all...

[01:40:32] I don't think they were all bisexual or anything.

[01:40:34] I haven't played Persona 3.

[01:40:35] But like, they had to give you more options for those kinds of things.

[01:40:39] Whenever you add that variance, you add all these variables that you have to like account for.

[01:40:44] And like, you now have to write completely different storylines.

[01:40:47] And if that's just not their prerogative, then I mean...

[01:40:49] It doesn't matter that the protagonist is androgynous.

[01:40:52] And I mean...

[01:40:53] Come on.

[01:40:54] Androgynous people need love too.

[01:40:56] Why are we...

[01:40:57] Why are we eight?

[01:40:58] Yeah.

[01:40:59] I mean, my thing is too...

[01:41:00] Like, to add on to that...

[01:41:02] It's like...

[01:41:02] The only thing that...

[01:41:04] You know, I can say...

[01:41:06] That like Lens Defensive...

[01:41:07] Like, put females into games like these...

[01:41:09] Is that like...

[01:41:10] The game isn't really about the protagonist.

[01:41:13] Like, the protagonist is just a vehicle.

[01:41:15] It is a tabula rosa like template to get you inside of this world and experiencing these different characters that are part of the main cast.

[01:41:22] I think that like the amount of money that it takes to rewrite as well as like revo...

[01:41:28] Do like the vocal direction for all of the voice lines because this is a heavily voice acted game.

[01:41:33] I imagine that the amount of hours that each of the voice actors had to put there in the recording studio...

[01:41:38] It might have been a week.

[01:41:39] It might have been two weeks.

[01:41:40] But that's a long time.

[01:41:41] And that's a lot of money to get people to voice this many lines.

[01:41:45] If they're looking at it to the extent where it's like...

[01:41:47] Okay, well, we've had this passive like male protagonists in our games.

[01:41:51] We've already had this person that we have in mind for the lead male protagonist role.

[01:41:55] Let's just go ahead and lock it in and do it this way.

[01:41:57] I don't know at what point along in the development process you can do that.

[01:42:01] It's hard.

[01:42:02] But like, I mean, there is an expense factor to that.

[01:42:05] But then like with this game, metaphor and the fact that like you can't have relationships...

[01:42:09] I mean, to my knowledge, there aren't really any relationships other than those that you build with your party to then increase their archetypes later on.

[01:42:18] Like, there's no romantic relationships in the game.

[01:42:21] So I mean, like it could literally just be a slider to the extent of do you want to have like a boy model or a girl model at the very beginning and then just play the game?

[01:42:31] And that way you could do that.

[01:42:32] But then that means that you just don't have voice acting because it's just too expensive.

[01:42:37] But I feel like this game...

[01:42:38] I think it depends because it's like in Dragon Age, the Veilguard, they get around that by just only referring to the player as the Rook and never really using pronouns voiced, right?

[01:42:47] They never like be like, she's doing that, right?

[01:42:49] Exactly.

[01:42:50] Yeah.

[01:42:50] They're always like, Rook's over there.

[01:42:52] Yeah, Rook's over there.

[01:43:01] But the reason why you can't have a female protagonist in this game...

[01:43:05] And I guess you could write it if you wanted to, but let me get the explanation myself.

[01:43:09] I'm cutting myself off.

[01:43:10] But so the reason why they need to be a male protagonist is because you take the place of the prince who is missing.

[01:43:19] Yeah.

[01:43:20] And the prince is a male.

[01:43:21] So it's like the reason why you are able to take the place of the prince is because you look like what the prince might look like because he's been missing for like decades.

[01:43:32] For years and years, yeah.

[01:43:32] So if you were a female, that might fuck things up because that's not always the plan.

[01:43:38] Like that's a plan like 28 hours into the game where you're like, well, I guess this is what we're doing now.

[01:43:44] And the prince is a super important character to the overall plot.

[01:43:48] Like you can't just like, especially in context of the culture and the world that this game takes place in.

[01:43:53] Like he is the son of the king that got killed, right?

[01:43:55] So it's not like you can...

[01:43:56] I mean you could make it a princess hypothetically.

[01:44:00] But again, that kind of like you're writing an entirely different character from the beginning or the entirely different story from the very beginning of the game.

[01:44:08] And they just didn't do that.

[01:44:09] And me and Nick haven't beaten this game, so we have no idea how the prince is going to play a role in the...

[01:44:16] I have a theory.

[01:44:17] I have a theory about it though because I got more to level 8.

[01:44:22] So I'm...

[01:44:23] Oh, I also have more to level 8.

[01:44:25] And he's just like, he's just like, ah, I could tell you, but I don't want to influence your shit.

[01:44:30] And I'm like, what do you mean?

[01:44:32] Wait, what if I need to know whatever you're going to say?

[01:44:35] Right.

[01:44:36] That's whatever.

[01:44:37] But we're going to get to talk about all the fucking companion things and stuff too.

[01:44:43] Okay, so yeah.

[01:44:43] So this person's the asshole.

[01:44:45] Third am I the asshole?

[01:44:47] The thing also is like Grand Blue Fantasy allows you to have a male or female character.

[01:44:51] That's a different game with a different people who had a different fucking idea in mind for their fucking game.

[01:44:58] Like what do you mean?

[01:44:59] It's like in Skyrim you can fucking...

[01:45:01] And I'm like, what do you...

[01:45:03] That's Skyrim.

[01:45:04] It's like being mad, like going in and being mad that in Resident Evil 4, well you could play as Claire Redfield in Resident Evil 3 remake.

[01:45:15] Why can't you play as Claire in Resident Evil 4?

[01:45:17] It's about Leon.

[01:45:18] Yeah.

[01:45:19] It's about Leon.

[01:45:21] And Ashley it's like, okay, all right, that's fine.

[01:45:24] I don't know.

[01:45:25] This is a silly...

[01:45:26] This is just silly.

[01:45:27] That's why I wanted to include it.

[01:45:28] So History and Preconceptions.

[01:45:30] I was fucking on board for this fucking game whenever I saw it.

[01:45:35] I saw the announcement trailer.

[01:45:37] I don't remember where it was.

[01:45:38] It was probably on one of Jeff Keighley's damn greasy stages.

[01:45:42] But as soon as I saw how fucking stylish and amazing this game was, I was like, never again am I looking at anything about this game.

[01:45:51] I'm already sold.

[01:45:52] It's so slippery, that Keighley stage.

[01:45:54] It's just so slippery with grease.

[01:45:56] It was crazy when Hideo Kojima came out and slipped and fell.

[01:45:59] Slipped and fell and busted his ass.

[01:46:01] Jordan Peele's power slid in and caught him.

[01:46:04] That was a really cool part.

[01:46:05] I don't know if it was staged or not, but no pun intended.

[01:46:08] But I was totally into it.

[01:46:11] And I've definitely...

[01:46:12] See those fuckers fighting?

[01:46:13] Yeah, I see they're fighting.

[01:46:15] They're playing.

[01:46:16] They're playing.

[01:46:17] Hilarious.

[01:46:19] Aw.

[01:46:20] They have a friend.

[01:46:22] They bite each other's ears.

[01:46:23] I don't know what that's about.

[01:46:24] It's very normal.

[01:46:25] It's very normal.

[01:46:26] Yeah.

[01:46:27] It's just play.

[01:46:29] Yes.

[01:46:30] A little tasty ear meat.

[01:46:31] But yeah, you said History and Preconceptions.

[01:46:33] You were locked in on the game.

[01:46:34] You were already on board.

[01:46:35] I was locked in.

[01:46:35] Yeah, so what did you think?

[01:46:37] I love Persona 4 and 5.

[01:46:40] And so I just knew Atlas was going to cook.

[01:46:44] Yeah.

[01:46:45] I played...

[01:46:46] Okay, so my history with Atlas isn't super extensive besides recently.

[01:46:52] I own Catherine.

[01:46:54] It's been one of those games on the backlog.

[01:46:57] Catherine, to me, is one of those pillar titles of high art that I haven't gotten the experience yet.

[01:47:03] Like, I haven't played through all the way through.

[01:47:06] I put like 30 minutes into Nier Automata.

[01:47:08] But I was like, oh shit, this game is important.

[01:47:10] I got to put it away until I have time for it.

[01:47:12] And then I played like maybe like three to five hours of Persona 5.

[01:47:17] And I was like, oh shit, this game is important.

[01:47:19] I don't have enough time for a 120-hour, you know, crusade to go through Persona 5.

[01:47:25] I got to put it down so I can get Persona 5 Royale.

[01:47:29] Since that's the real experience of Persona 5.

[01:47:31] So I put that down.

[01:47:32] But like, you know, when I saw Metaphor Re-Fantasio at the...

[01:47:37] Like, it was basically just being hyped and prepped at like Summer Games Fest and then Game Awards last year.

[01:47:41] I was like, oh, it's more Atlas, you know, fucking Persona bullshit.

[01:47:45] I was like, it's going to be a game.

[01:47:47] I was going to be like, this is a 200-hour JRPG.

[01:47:50] I don't...

[01:47:51] I'm not going to have time for it.

[01:47:52] I don't want to play it.

[01:47:53] And then I got fucking Psy-Opt.

[01:47:55] And you know what?

[01:47:56] But...

[01:47:56] Ronald Rump?

[01:47:57] Was that you?

[01:47:58] It was Ronald Rump.

[01:48:01] It's my alternate persona on Game Together.

[01:48:05] It was Will that actually was the one responsible for getting me to play this game.

[01:48:11] Even though I put like 60 hours into Persona 3 Reload and also didn't beat that game either.

[01:48:16] I'm notorious.

[01:48:17] Dear listeners, if you're listening to me at this point, you see a trend that's going on.

[01:48:21] But like I was very much convinced until not only the reviews dropped, but everybody in our own personal circle was like, holy shit.

[01:48:29] Hold on.

[01:48:30] Metaphor ReFantazio is the truth.

[01:48:32] You need to play it right now.

[01:48:33] And I was like, all right.

[01:48:34] I'm buying it.

[01:48:35] I'm buying it.

[01:48:36] Calm down.

[01:48:36] Let me play it right now.

[01:48:40] And so I did that.

[01:48:41] But like, you know, the other games like I had mentioned, I, you know, dabbled with Persona 5, fell off of it.

[01:48:47] Plans to go back in the future at some point.

[01:48:48] You probably beat that game in like a month.

[01:48:50] And I was like, how the fuck did he do that?

[01:48:52] A walkthrough.

[01:48:54] A walkthrough.

[01:48:54] I had a walkthrough.

[01:48:56] But then I played Vanilla Wears.

[01:49:01] God, what is it called?

[01:49:03] Unicorn Overlord earlier this year.

[01:49:05] And that game was fucking gas.

[01:49:07] And I was like, holy shit, this is really good.

[01:49:09] Like the art style is so individualistic.

[01:49:12] Dude, Sega is cooking.

[01:49:13] Sega is like fucking publisher of the year, honestly, at this point.

[01:49:16] But between Unicorn Overlord, Metaphor Re-Fantazio, and like what is it?

[01:49:21] Infinite Wealth.

[01:49:22] Infinite Wealth.

[01:49:23] Like they're just – they're making fucking shmoney.

[01:49:25] They're making the shmoney.

[01:49:26] And I love it for them because I just want more.

[01:49:29] I just want more of the chicken noodle soup that they're giving me every day.

[01:49:32] So yeah.

[01:49:32] Dude, the cadence that they're releasing at Laka Dragon Games now.

[01:49:35] There's another one coming out in February.

[01:49:37] And I'm just like, I can't wait.

[01:49:39] I'm like, I'm going to lose 80 hours of my life to this hell yeah.

[01:49:42] Do you think like the developers over at –

[01:49:46] like RGG, are they like the poor MAPPA employees who have to sleep under their desks so they can get the next season of Chainsaw Man out on time?

[01:49:55] Like what do you think is going on over there?

[01:49:56] No, absolutely not.

[01:49:57] They are reusing all their –

[01:49:59] They do so much assets.

[01:50:00] Every game is the same game.

[01:50:03] But we love them for it.

[01:50:04] And we're like, yes, just keep doing this.

[01:50:07] I now understand why people buy Madden every year because I was like, yes.

[01:50:12] I saw a news post that was like the lead game designer for Infinite Wealth was like, yeah, I think we're going to get another 18 years out of this game engine before we do another update.

[01:50:22] And I was like, yeah.

[01:50:24] They're wilding out over there, dude.

[01:50:26] But yeah, so I did that.

[01:50:28] And obviously I jumped into Metaphor of Roof Fantasio and it fucking got us hooks in me so quickly, dude.

[01:50:33] It's not even funny.

[01:50:35] And then now I have a sickening 116 hours in this game and I'm not even in October yet.

[01:50:43] So this is easily going to be 125 to 130 hour experience.

[01:50:47] And that's if I'm booking it, if I'm like actually like breakneck, like not reading and like trying to finish the game.

[01:50:54] But I'm trying to read everything.

[01:50:55] That's the thing too.

[01:50:56] Yeah, I refuse.

[01:50:57] I refuse to book it.

[01:50:57] So I'm just enjoying it.

[01:50:59] And every time I'm not like totally feeling it, I put it down, which is like what's really delaying my beating of this game is that I only want to play it if I'm at least 80% focused.

[01:51:11] You said your time earlier.

[01:51:13] I've got 93 hours and the listener might be thinking, holy shit.

[01:51:17] Yeah, the listener might be thinking, holy shit, this game sounds long.

[01:51:20] I think me and Nick are slow playing it.

[01:51:24] I don't know what we're doing.

[01:51:25] Well, I've also – there have been times where I just leave it running in the background and I listen to the music and I'll fucking like bullshit on my phone or like fall asleep on the couch and then I'll wake up to like the grand trad like theme playing and blaring.

[01:51:39] I'm like – before I have to go to bed.

[01:51:41] But yeah, so there's a good amount of hours.

[01:51:44] I would say of those 116 hours, it's a solid like 90 hours of like gameplay for sure.

[01:51:51] Yeah, and gameplay is an interesting way to put it because this game has two – like two different modes.

[01:51:58] And what was interesting when Dontre came over, I was playing this game and he – I was like trying to explain to him what the game was and he's like, this doesn't look like the kind of thing.

[01:52:06] He's like – because I don't like all these games that came out after Elden Ring and they're like, I can do that.

[01:52:11] Like I just want to like roam around and fight the things because I'm in an area where I'm just way stronger and I'm just attacking everything and killing it.

[01:52:17] And I'm like, no, you don't understand that this is only like a third of the game being in a dungeon.

[01:52:23] You just happen to walk into during that.

[01:52:25] You've talked about how hard it is.

[01:52:27] Have you not been done any grinding at all?

[01:52:29] You've just been doing like just straight up the battle encounters?

[01:52:34] Yeah, I've not grinded at all.

[01:52:35] I will kill every enemy I see but I don't like stand around and actually fight.

[01:52:41] So in the area I'm at, every single enemy I can kill in the overworld but there are like chimeras that I have to fight.

[01:52:49] And the chimeras and then there are these blob things.

[01:52:51] And the blob things are the bane of my existence with the party that I put together.

[01:52:56] And I'm also the type of person that just refuses to switch the characters out.

[01:52:59] So I'm also doing it to myself.

[01:53:01] Just switch them out.

[01:53:01] Hey, here's a question though.

[01:53:03] Can you switch out your party in the middle of a dungeon?

[01:53:06] Yeah.

[01:53:07] Or do you have to finish that dungeon or like leave it and then come back?

[01:53:10] You can switch your party in the pause menu.

[01:53:12] And if you're in battle, you can hit the right bumper the way that you escape.

[01:53:17] And you can switch your party in there as well.

[01:53:19] Like one character at a time.

[01:53:21] And it doesn't even have to be the character whose turn it is.

[01:53:23] Really?

[01:53:24] But it takes up a turn unless you rank them up high enough.

[01:53:29] I think it's like rank five or six which isn't very high.

[01:53:31] But like that lets them switch in and not take a full turn.

[01:53:35] Like it only takes half a turn.

[01:53:38] So like that's one of the coolest things about the – what is it called in this game?

[01:53:45] Because it's like the bonds and –

[01:53:48] Oh, yeah.

[01:53:49] Basically, yeah, the archetype bond system.

[01:53:52] Yeah.

[01:53:53] So whenever you rank those up, you get all these like little perks and stuff.

[01:53:56] And it's very similar to Persona 5.

[01:53:57] I don't remember if 4 did it as well.

[01:53:59] But yeah, the social link is pretty cool.

[01:54:02] We don't have any notes at listener for this.

[01:54:06] So there's no real structure.

[01:54:07] We're just going to kind of talk and vibe on this.

[01:54:10] I think we're eventually – we're going to start talking about the story.

[01:54:12] But the whole bond, the social link bond thing coming back from Persona,

[01:54:20] I'm really happy this is here because I love this kind of thing in the Persona games.

[01:54:25] I don't know if these are in the Shin Megami Tensei, right?

[01:54:29] Like how much do you know about Shin Megami Tensei?

[01:54:32] Not much, man.

[01:54:33] I wish Aaron was here that we could phone a friend and ask him.

[01:54:36] I imagine that the Personas – like because playing Persona 3,

[01:54:40] I've heard people say it's like the closest thing to an SMT game there is

[01:54:45] because I feel like especially with like the Persona 3 thing

[01:54:48] where you can like breed your Personas to make new ones.

[01:54:51] I don't know.

[01:54:52] Did they do that in 5 as well?

[01:54:53] I didn't get far enough in 5 to know if you could like synthesize

[01:54:57] or like do alchemy on the Personas to do it.

[01:55:01] But I feel like the gameplay is like one for one like the same thing,

[01:55:06] a question mark.

[01:55:07] But I imagine that, you know, SMT, like if it's one of the mainline SMT games,

[01:55:11] they probably have certain idiosyncrasies or quirks to the actual gameplay element of it

[01:55:17] that's, you know, specific to the name of that franchise

[01:55:21] as opposed to what differentiates it for Persona.

[01:55:24] But I feel like – I have a sneaking suspicion it's all the same thing.

[01:55:28] But yeah, I really like it in this game.

[01:55:30] Like just to talk about overall in terms of the flow of the gameplay,

[01:55:34] it is very much like we've said before.

[01:55:37] I don't know if this is going to be in like the recording earlier,

[01:55:39] but like this game is very reading heavy, right?

[01:55:42] So like you're going to be asked to read a lot of text.

[01:55:45] And like a lot of it is voiced, which is nice

[01:55:47] because then you can kind of like put the controller down

[01:55:49] or just like listen to what they say.

[01:55:51] And I will say this is something that a lot of games that do this,

[01:55:54] it really annoys me.

[01:55:56] Like Zelda is infamous for doing shit like this

[01:55:58] where it's like there's like two pauses after the end of every sentence

[01:56:02] and you have to click A and it's like not super responsive

[01:56:04] until they go to the next sentence.

[01:56:06] That's one thing that this game gets perfectly right

[01:56:09] is that as soon as a character finishes their sentence or their statement,

[01:56:13] it rolls immediately seamlessly into the next statement

[01:56:16] so it feels like a natural actual conversation.

[01:56:19] And they don't have that weird voice acting thing

[01:56:21] where the cadence is too slow.

[01:56:23] So when it comes to like the visual novel element of this game,

[01:56:27] it is excellently done.

[01:56:29] And it's excellently voice acted and written, of course.

[01:56:31] And we'll talk about the writing and the story here in a little bit.

[01:56:34] But like that gameplay side of the element is really fun.

[01:56:37] And then like, of course, like the dungeon crawling

[01:56:39] and the overworld nature of it.

[01:56:41] Like that's something to, you know, the listeners that they ask you.

[01:56:45] There's basically like, you know, two different areas.

[01:56:47] You're either in towns, cities, towns, villages,

[01:56:50] and you're talking to vendors and you're talking to, you know,

[01:56:53] your companions and you're building relationships

[01:56:55] or you're gathering equipment, normal like RPG stuff.

[01:56:59] And then you go out into the wilderness

[01:57:01] or you go out into a dungeon.

[01:57:03] And that's like where the main gameplay elements are.

[01:57:06] And like you basically, while you're out in the gameplay,

[01:57:08] you're running through the overworld.

[01:57:10] And they have enemies kind of like the newer Pokemon games

[01:57:13] for the people who are familiar with Pokemon games.

[01:57:14] They have their little, you know, monsters

[01:57:17] that are roaming the dungeons.

[01:57:18] And you can either, if you're strong enough, one hit kill them.

[01:57:21] Or alternatively, you can get a couple of slashes on them

[01:57:24] and then you can get advantage to begin a fight.

[01:57:27] And that's when the epic battle theme music will kick in.

[01:57:30] And then that puts you into the turn-based,

[01:57:32] typical Persona fight sequence that you would get.

[01:57:36] Dude, that fucking music is wild too.

[01:57:38] That's so good, man.

[01:57:39] It was like,

[01:57:39] I will disappear.

[01:57:42] I'm like, fucking get it.

[01:57:43] Let's fucking go.

[01:57:44] He's fucking spitting, man.

[01:57:46] I love it.

[01:57:46] I want to see that monk perform live.

[01:57:48] Have you seen videos of him actually performing?

[01:57:50] I think he was at Tokyo Game Show this year.

[01:57:52] Doing the actual live performance.

[01:57:55] No, but I fucking,

[01:57:56] I think it was the same show,

[01:57:58] but where the voice actor for Majima

[01:58:01] was singing his fucking,

[01:58:03] like his most popular karaoke song.

[01:58:05] Did you see that?

[01:58:06] I'm like, dude, to live this life, man.

[01:58:09] That just, what a miracle Yakuza is.

[01:58:13] Would you be losing it if you were in the crowd over there?

[01:58:15] I would start crying.

[01:58:16] I'd probably get on my knees and start crying.

[01:58:19] He's like, I can't believe this is happening to me.

[01:58:21] I felt so much emotion just watching the video.

[01:58:24] He was so happy too.

[01:58:26] And I'm just like, dude,

[01:58:27] these people fuck,

[01:58:28] this is the culture, man.

[01:58:30] This is what I want to be a part of.

[01:58:31] I fucking love this shit.

[01:58:34] But yeah, so,

[01:58:35] so gameplay wise,

[01:58:36] like, I mean,

[01:58:36] what do you think about the way,

[01:58:38] just like generally,

[01:58:39] they switch it up between like those main,

[01:58:42] like actual gameplay elements

[01:58:44] where you're in the dungeons,

[01:58:45] collecting golden beetles,

[01:58:46] finding the chest.

[01:58:47] Like, what do you think of the dungeon designs overall?

[01:58:50] Oh, the dungeons?

[01:58:52] They're fine.

[01:58:53] I don't,

[01:58:54] I'm not necessarily like a huge,

[01:58:56] like dungeon crawler kind of person,

[01:58:57] but the dungeons are kind of so simple

[01:58:59] that I don't ever really feel frustrated.

[01:59:02] The thing that frustrates me the most

[01:59:05] is the,

[01:59:06] actually like the,

[01:59:07] the most innovative thing

[01:59:08] that they've done to the formula,

[01:59:10] like this,

[01:59:10] the Atlas formula,

[01:59:12] which is the real time combat

[01:59:14] transitioning into the turn-based combat.

[01:59:17] Yeah.

[01:59:18] Cause in a lot,

[01:59:18] when you,

[01:59:19] when you think about like,

[01:59:20] this isn't brand new,

[01:59:21] it's like in like,

[01:59:22] if you think about super,

[01:59:23] super Mario,

[01:59:24] what is it?

[01:59:26] Super,

[01:59:27] Mario and Luigi Superstar Saga.

[01:59:30] You do the thing where you,

[01:59:31] if you hit them in the overworld,

[01:59:33] you get a little extra damage.

[01:59:35] And this,

[01:59:36] like you can literally kill the enemies outright.

[01:59:38] Right.

[01:59:39] Yeah.

[01:59:40] The thing that irritates me though,

[01:59:41] is when you're like doing like a 12 hit combo on an enemy,

[01:59:46] and then they just hit you.

[01:59:47] The enemy only has to hit you a single time.

[01:59:50] And then you are at a disadvantage.

[01:59:52] You're at a disadvantage.

[01:59:53] Yep.

[01:59:53] At the beginning.

[01:59:54] And sometimes they attack you.

[01:59:56] So sometimes they attack you so fast.

[01:59:58] And in other times you hit them like 18 times.

[02:00:01] I'm like,

[02:00:01] why,

[02:00:02] why haven't they staggered yet?

[02:00:04] I just,

[02:00:04] I would have like dodged away.

[02:00:06] If I had thought that it was possible that they would take that 15th hit.

[02:00:11] It makes me so bad.

[02:00:13] Every time it happens to me.

[02:00:15] Yeah.

[02:00:15] The thing is,

[02:00:15] is that like,

[02:00:16] I don't know if I necessarily have the same experience as you do,

[02:00:19] because I did grind at the very beginning of the game.

[02:00:22] I did type into YouTube,

[02:00:23] best way to start out metaphoric,

[02:00:25] Fantasio and Soul Guide.

[02:00:26] And it was basically just like in the first,

[02:00:28] like main primary dungeon when you're in Grand Trad,

[02:00:31] like just standing between the two,

[02:00:33] like the two red crystals that spawn enemies and just farming enemies and

[02:00:39] farming archetypes that way.

[02:00:40] So I did that twice.

[02:00:42] I only did that twice,

[02:00:44] but doing that twice for maybe like two to three hours a piece really,

[02:00:49] really gave me a level advantage.

[02:00:51] So there were times where it's like,

[02:00:53] you know,

[02:00:53] the game caught up to me,

[02:00:54] but for whatever reason,

[02:00:56] the fact that like I had all of the different archetypes unlocked at any

[02:01:00] given moment,

[02:01:01] that was really easy for me to be like,

[02:01:03] okay,

[02:01:03] like I kind of know what to go into this fight with.

[02:01:05] I can pick and choose,

[02:01:07] you know,

[02:01:07] transition Holkenberg from the,

[02:01:09] you know,

[02:01:10] magic,

[02:01:10] magic night to a healer or cleric,

[02:01:13] or like chain stroll from a samurai to a pugilist,

[02:01:17] like that sort of thing.

[02:01:18] So I was able to kind of min max that way and go throughout it.

[02:01:22] But yeah,

[02:01:22] and then like 99% of the dungeons,

[02:01:24] I'm just running around the dungeons,

[02:01:26] one hit killing the enemies in there and then going for chests.

[02:01:29] And I will say like,

[02:01:30] it's a little cumbersome.

[02:01:31] Like I don't necessarily like,

[02:01:32] and you know,

[02:01:33] a critique about the dungeons itself is that there are so many of them that

[02:01:36] have different floor plans.

[02:01:37] And I just did one that was like,

[02:01:39] actually like not super fun to do because you have to like go throughout the

[02:01:44] entire floor and it have like elevators.

[02:01:46] It was a really,

[02:01:47] it was interesting in concept because it was like actually an optional dungeon,

[02:01:50] but it's like the,

[02:01:51] I don't know.

[02:01:52] You probably did it.

[02:01:53] It's the tower of,

[02:01:54] it's like the spire of like greed or something like that.

[02:01:59] And it's like,

[02:01:59] actually it's like a remnant of Shibuya in Tokyo or something like that.

[02:02:03] And you're walking through it.

[02:02:05] I don't know if that's like a heavy spoiler for the game or something like

[02:02:08] that,

[02:02:08] but I feel like it's like inferring that everything that happened to the world

[02:02:13] that's in metaphorary Fantasio is just,

[02:02:15] this is like a post-apocalyptic earth,

[02:02:17] like thousands or millions of years in the future.

[02:02:20] And like what had survived as humanity has become this.

[02:02:23] They are,

[02:02:24] they drop a lot of hints,

[02:02:25] but it never becomes totally apparent until you get to that pyramid and you

[02:02:29] go underground and,

[02:02:30] and you see the,

[02:02:31] the ruins of like our world.

[02:02:33] Yeah.

[02:02:34] But it's so cool.

[02:02:36] The,

[02:02:36] like the whole thing about the book being like our world is like all,

[02:02:40] and they're like,

[02:02:41] wow,

[02:02:41] that's some crazy fiction.

[02:02:42] That's always what I used to sell to my friends.

[02:02:44] I'm like,

[02:02:45] dude,

[02:02:45] imagine like a story,

[02:02:46] like a story,

[02:02:48] like Lord of the Rings.

[02:02:49] But every night at the campfire,

[02:02:50] they read a book that was about our world.

[02:02:52] And that was Lord of the Rings to them.

[02:02:54] You know what I mean?

[02:02:55] Yeah.

[02:02:56] That is really interesting.

[02:02:57] It's an interesting concept and it's actually like hilarious because of like

[02:03:01] the whole,

[02:03:02] I think it's,

[02:03:03] it's another critique that people talk about.

[02:03:04] This game is like the facility philosophy that's baked into the ideas of

[02:03:09] what is considered good or what is considered just within the,

[02:03:15] like the moral framework of metaphor is like this idea of equality and

[02:03:19] egalitarianism that is depicted in the novel that Moore wrote,

[02:03:23] not because of the main protagonist,

[02:03:24] but in spite of the main protagonist,

[02:03:26] which is really,

[02:03:27] it's,

[02:03:27] it's,

[02:03:27] I don't know.

[02:03:28] I don't know yet.

[02:03:29] I'm not a hundred percent sure,

[02:03:30] but it's,

[02:03:31] it's,

[02:03:32] it's,

[02:03:32] it's fascinating to kind of like see putting slowly putting the pieces

[02:03:36] together and look at it.

[02:03:37] But the fact that like,

[02:03:38] if it is really our world,

[02:03:39] it's this idea that the book that the protagonist is reading,

[02:03:44] and this is something that has brought up multiple times throughout the show

[02:03:46] is that he's reading this novel and it's depiction of like the people that

[02:03:49] live in a democratic society where they pick the,

[02:03:52] you know,

[02:03:52] they,

[02:03:52] they pick who rules based on,

[02:03:55] you know,

[02:03:55] majority opinion.

[02:03:56] And I,

[02:03:56] I think it's really interesting to kind of look at it from that

[02:04:00] perspective and,

[02:04:01] and see like,

[02:04:02] you know,

[02:04:02] this idea of like,

[02:04:03] so what's how everything is so unjust in both in the world of metaphor,

[02:04:08] but then it's idealized within the fiction that this main protagonist who's,

[02:04:14] you know,

[02:04:14] running for the office of the King running for like the throne of this world

[02:04:19] that you're in.

[02:04:20] And it's like,

[02:04:21] you know,

[02:04:21] he's,

[02:04:21] he's trying to do it for justice.

[02:04:22] I don't know.

[02:04:23] What did you,

[02:04:24] what did you pick out there though?

[02:04:25] Have you read this?

[02:04:27] Utopia by Thomas Moore.

[02:04:29] No,

[02:04:29] I haven't actually.

[02:04:30] That's who Moore is named after.

[02:04:33] Really?

[02:04:33] And this book is,

[02:04:34] I,

[02:04:35] apparently this book is basically the book that they're reading.

[02:04:38] Not,

[02:04:38] I don't think it's exactly the book that they're reading,

[02:04:41] but it's supposed to,

[02:04:42] you're supposed to immediately be like,

[02:04:44] Oh,

[02:04:44] Moore,

[02:04:45] Thomas Moore.

[02:04:46] And they're reading a book about like a,

[02:04:47] their perfect version of like a utopia,

[02:04:51] basically.

[02:04:52] It's like,

[02:04:53] I,

[02:04:53] I don't know what this book's about,

[02:04:54] but I've had it for a while.

[02:04:57] Really?

[02:04:57] Yeah.

[02:04:58] The back says,

[02:04:58] you didn't buy it because of metaphor.

[02:05:00] That's awesome.

[02:05:01] No,

[02:05:01] I've had this book for like years.

[02:05:03] You're a true intellectual name.

[02:05:04] Honestly,

[02:05:04] I would have read it if I was a true intellectual,

[02:05:07] but,

[02:05:08] uh,

[02:05:09] cause it says,

[02:05:11] uh,

[02:05:12] Thomas Moore's utopia is one of the most important works of,

[02:05:15] of European humanism through the voice of the mysterious traveler.

[02:05:19] Raphael Hithloday describes a pagan communist city state governed by reason,

[02:05:26] addressing such issues as religious pluralism,

[02:05:29] woman's rights,

[02:05:30] state sponsored education,

[02:05:32] colonialism,

[02:05:32] and justified warfare.

[02:05:35] Utopia.

[02:05:36] I mean,

[02:05:36] yada,

[02:05:36] yada,

[02:05:37] yada.

[02:05:37] That kind of,

[02:05:38] it does hit on a lot of things that this game hits on as well.

[02:05:41] Maybe not women's rights.

[02:05:42] I don't know if that ever comes up,

[02:05:44] but,

[02:05:44] um,

[02:05:45] religious pluralism and state sponsored,

[02:05:47] uh,

[02:05:48] state sponsored education,

[02:05:49] colonialism,

[02:05:50] justified warfare.

[02:05:50] That like all of that shit is in here in this game to some degree.

[02:05:54] We even got that Robin hood girl going around,

[02:05:57] uh,

[02:05:58] stealing from the rich and becoming rich.

[02:06:01] She's not really giving to the poor.

[02:06:05] She's like,

[02:06:05] I'm going to kill.

[02:06:06] You're talking about,

[02:06:07] um,

[02:06:08] you're talking about the power.

[02:06:11] Yeah.

[02:06:11] Catherine.

[02:06:12] Yeah.

[02:06:12] Catherine,

[02:06:12] I think is her name.

[02:06:13] And she's just like,

[02:06:14] I hate rich people.

[02:06:15] I don't know why I hate it,

[02:06:17] but I hate rich people.

[02:06:18] And I was like,

[02:06:19] you know,

[02:06:19] honestly,

[02:06:20] preach queen.

[02:06:21] It's so funny with the CEO thing.

[02:06:24] Like,

[02:06:24] man,

[02:06:25] this game,

[02:06:26] playing this game with like the fucking,

[02:06:29] I,

[02:06:29] I was playing this game during the election,

[02:06:32] election shit.

[02:06:33] Oh my God.

[02:06:34] It's like,

[02:06:35] so like,

[02:06:36] do you think that they,

[02:06:37] you don't think that Atlas like thought about that before they,

[02:06:42] them choosing to release this game?

[02:06:44] Cause it's just,

[02:06:45] it's so,

[02:06:46] it's so on the nose.

[02:06:47] Topical.

[02:06:48] What?

[02:06:49] Yeah.

[02:06:49] So topically relevant with what's happening today.

[02:06:51] I was just like,

[02:06:53] ah,

[02:06:53] like I,

[02:06:54] it's part of me like thinks,

[02:06:55] no,

[02:06:55] it's just the timeframe that their financial analysts said it was a good time to put it out because of what's in the gaming industry,

[02:07:00] not necessarily because of,

[02:07:02] um,

[02:07:04] you know,

[02:07:04] other things,

[02:07:05] but I don't think Atlas did that,

[02:07:06] but I think,

[02:07:07] I definitely think Hideo Kojima thought about that whenever he released Death Stranding on Xbox.

[02:07:14] Like because of,

[02:07:15] because of COVID.

[02:07:16] Cause it's all about uniting America.

[02:07:18] Right.

[02:07:18] So it's like that dude was waiting for that.

[02:07:21] Like,

[02:07:21] he was like,

[02:07:22] Oh,

[02:07:22] I'm about to,

[02:07:22] Oh,

[02:07:23] I'm about to cook.

[02:07:24] I'm about to slap this bitch down on a,

[02:07:26] on our Xbox boys.

[02:07:28] We're going to connect Xbox and PlayStation.

[02:07:30] Um,

[02:07:32] I don't remember what we were talking about.

[02:07:33] Utopia by Thomas Moore.

[02:07:35] Yeah.

[02:07:35] Well,

[02:07:35] just,

[02:07:36] I was,

[02:07:36] I was talking about like how interesting this idea of the utopic world,

[02:07:41] um,

[02:07:43] when we're very much lifting,

[02:07:44] living through a dystopia currently in modern society,

[02:07:48] you know,

[02:07:48] like,

[02:07:49] and it's like,

[02:07:50] that's the funny thing too about metaphor is that their current world is deeply,

[02:07:54] deeply broken.

[02:07:56] And like their political system has been broken for generations.

[02:07:59] Like everybody talks about how the King was just,

[02:08:02] you know,

[02:08:02] a,

[02:08:03] he was just a,

[02:08:04] a puppet of the Sanctus church and how the Sanctus church seems to be seeped into

[02:08:09] everything that it's causing problems in the world as well.

[02:08:13] Like it's got so much that it's talking about,

[02:08:15] but specifically like the novel aspect.

[02:08:17] I remember seeing Gene Park talk a little bit about this over on Twitter and he's very

[02:08:21] deeply into this game.

[02:08:22] He's a,

[02:08:23] you know,

[02:08:23] very famous,

[02:08:24] uh,

[02:08:25] game journalist that Nave is,

[02:08:26] Nave and I both are well aware of,

[02:08:27] but,

[02:08:28] um,

[02:08:28] he was talking about how like the idea is like one of the questions that he asked of

[02:08:32] the developers is like,

[02:08:34] is one of the core themes of metaphorary Vantageo,

[02:08:37] the idea that a fair and,

[02:08:40] uh,

[02:08:41] what did he say?

[02:08:42] He said was a,

[02:08:43] um,

[02:08:45] it was something to the extent of is a fair and equitable democracy,

[02:08:50] just a work of fiction.

[02:08:52] And is that like what it's like kind of aiming at these days?

[02:08:57] and the developers like,

[02:08:58] Hmm,

[02:08:58] I never thought about it that way before,

[02:08:59] but you might be onto something there.

[02:09:01] So like,

[02:09:02] Oh,

[02:09:02] you stop being cheeky.

[02:09:04] Would you cut it off?

[02:09:05] I don't,

[02:09:06] I like,

[02:09:06] I like it a lot because like,

[02:09:08] depending on your,

[02:09:09] uh,

[02:09:09] your social proclivities,

[02:09:10] I think that you can take,

[02:09:12] you can take a lot of things out of this.

[02:09:14] And I think that that's really indicative of like beautiful works of art.

[02:09:17] Whenever you,

[02:09:18] whenever,

[02:09:19] whatever perspective you're coming at it from,

[02:09:21] you're taking away these,

[02:09:22] these messages that,

[02:09:24] uh,

[02:09:25] because like there's somebody like more right-leaning Colin Moriarty was saying

[02:09:29] that he sees all,

[02:09:30] he sees a lot of right-leaning imagery inside of this game.

[02:09:33] And it's like,

[02:09:34] well,

[02:09:34] a lot of these ways that you,

[02:09:36] whenever you're,

[02:09:37] when you're talking to people and having these conversations about stuff,

[02:09:39] there's,

[02:09:40] there are explicitly people who are more right-leaning,

[02:09:42] like the guy,

[02:09:43] uh,

[02:09:44] the,

[02:09:44] oh shit.

[02:09:45] I wish I had the list pulled up,

[02:09:46] but it's the guy who gives you the commando,

[02:09:49] uh,

[02:09:50] the commander,

[02:09:51] uh,

[02:09:52] archetype tree.

[02:09:53] Barden.

[02:09:53] Barden.

[02:09:54] Yeah.

[02:09:54] That's his name.

[02:09:55] Cause he is that he is literally a,

[02:09:57] like a military,

[02:09:58] he turns like his village into like a military,

[02:10:01] uh,

[02:10:02] like city state.

[02:10:03] He's just trying to protect him,

[02:10:04] man.

[02:10:05] He has his hearts in the right place,

[02:10:06] right?

[02:10:07] Yeah.

[02:10:07] That's the thing.

[02:10:08] Did you ever beat that guy?

[02:10:09] Did you ever beat his?

[02:10:10] Cause I did get all the way through this.

[02:10:11] I did.

[02:10:11] I think I got him to level seven.

[02:10:14] I'm not a hundred percent sure if I got him level eight,

[02:10:16] but I basically did the thing where you go back to the desert.

[02:10:20] The,

[02:10:20] I think it's like the Tradia desert and you fight the human.

[02:10:23] That's like the snake human that swallowed the party earlier on.

[02:10:26] You fight him with Barden.

[02:10:28] And he talks about how like everything he did was because he knew that there was an

[02:10:31] external threat that was,

[02:10:32] you know,

[02:10:33] threatening society.

[02:10:34] And this is something that,

[02:10:35] you know,

[02:10:35] obviously,

[02:10:36] you know,

[02:10:37] America says all the time about their military industrial,

[02:10:39] you know,

[02:10:40] complex is that,

[02:10:41] you know,

[02:10:41] we have to make America strong because who else is going to defend our

[02:10:45] sovereignty?

[02:10:46] Like we can't allow our adversaries to become stronger than us.

[02:10:49] And that's,

[02:10:49] I don't know.

[02:10:50] There's,

[02:10:50] there's a lot of things that you can tie into it,

[02:10:52] but it's interesting because they literally the townsfolk revolt because he's

[02:10:56] using the tax money to build a wall around the town.

[02:10:59] Yeah.

[02:10:59] To protect from the worm.

[02:11:00] He built a wall to protect the worm.

[02:11:02] Yeah.

[02:11:03] And he also had the soldiers like on guard all the time to watch,

[02:11:08] especially because of what happened to the children,

[02:11:09] what happened to the children at the very beginning of his arc.

[02:11:12] Like literally the sanctuaries of this village,

[02:11:15] this we're,

[02:11:16] we're in spoilers at this point,

[02:11:18] folks.

[02:11:18] So I apologize if you've already heard more than you wanted to hear,

[02:11:21] but like,

[02:11:21] you know,

[02:11:22] like Nate said at the beginning of the show,

[02:11:23] like we can't talk about this game without spoiling pieces of it,

[02:11:26] but this is like relatively early on.

[02:11:28] But like the Sanctuaries is literally just feeding children to this human that

[02:11:32] she has locked in her,

[02:11:33] like a dungeon of her castle,

[02:11:35] because it's like it basically the human is either fooling her or she is

[02:11:40] manipulated or she's gaslit herself into believing that it's just a,

[02:11:44] an avatar of her child that she lost.

[02:11:46] Yeah.

[02:11:47] Either.

[02:11:47] Um,

[02:11:48] and so grief.

[02:11:49] Yeah.

[02:11:49] Yeah.

[02:11:49] So it's,

[02:11:50] and it's so cool because that is like real,

[02:11:53] that's a real psychological phenomenon.

[02:11:55] Yeah.

[02:11:56] Where imprinting,

[02:11:57] imprinting a lost loved one onto something else and just becoming totally

[02:12:02] devoted to that thing as if you're possessed.

[02:12:04] That's like such a cool,

[02:12:06] I can't remember the,

[02:12:07] the book I read that I was like that.

[02:12:10] There's this like,

[02:12:11] ah man,

[02:12:11] I can't remember,

[02:12:12] but like,

[02:12:13] it's really cool.

[02:12:14] Well,

[02:12:15] it's also interesting and an incredibly deep,

[02:12:17] a deeply fascinating thing about this game is that none of the antagonists

[02:12:21] in like almost every single person that you think,

[02:12:24] oh yeah,

[02:12:24] they're just going to be evil.

[02:12:25] It'll be fun to take this guy down and I'll fucking kill them.

[02:12:28] You know,

[02:12:28] I'll feed them to the crows.

[02:12:29] Like every single like awful thing that happens in this world,

[02:12:33] you meet the person that is responsible for that awful thing.

[02:12:37] And then you realize that they have motivations that are deeply human and

[02:12:41] compelling.

[02:12:42] And you're like,

[02:12:43] wait a second.

[02:12:44] I don't hate you as much as I wanted to hate you.

[02:12:47] Like,

[02:12:47] why are you doing this to me?

[02:12:48] Because like,

[02:12:49] I actually don't get it.

[02:12:49] And it's one of the most fascinating things about one of the main antagonists

[02:12:53] of the game is Luis Gielborn.

[02:12:55] Like the interesting thing about Luis is that he is a product of a system.

[02:12:59] Again,

[02:13:00] like a system of this like Royal,

[02:13:02] um,

[02:13:03] I guess,

[02:13:04] you know,

[02:13:04] uh,

[02:13:05] Royal government,

[02:13:06] this,

[02:13:07] this Royal hegemony that has failed almost all of society and has perpetrated

[02:13:12] evil after evil.

[02:13:13] And he has been a part of that because he was a part of the military and he

[02:13:17] recognized that he is.

[02:13:18] And he's also,

[02:13:19] I mean,

[02:13:19] he's also a fascist.

[02:13:20] He's also totalitarian,

[02:13:21] but at the same time,

[02:13:23] he's like this world,

[02:13:24] like what I,

[02:13:25] I have to make this world different through violent means.

[02:13:29] That's something that,

[02:13:30] um,

[02:13:31] Malcolm X purported a lot in his like writings and his philosophy teachings.

[02:13:34] He didn't think that you could bring radical change to the U S you

[02:13:37] couldn't being radical change with the culture without a piece of

[02:13:40] violence being a part of that.

[02:13:41] And I think that's one of the core themes of like Louise's motivations is

[02:13:45] that he wants to reshape the world in his image,

[02:13:47] but he and the protagonist are reading the same book.

[02:13:50] They're reading the same novel so much.

[02:13:52] I was so happy whenever that,

[02:13:54] cause I,

[02:13:55] I love the,

[02:13:56] the duality shit.

[02:13:57] And the fact that he like immediately pins the protagonist and he's like,

[02:14:01] you're going to be a problem,

[02:14:02] but if you can kill me,

[02:14:04] then you deserve to win.

[02:14:05] He's got this,

[02:14:06] like the lions,

[02:14:08] like alpha lion thing.

[02:14:09] Oh my God.

[02:14:10] You know what I mean?

[02:14:11] Yeah.

[02:14:11] It's basically the,

[02:14:12] the survival of the fittest mentality,

[02:14:13] the evolutionist mentality.

[02:14:16] It's also because literally you almost kill him and he is like,

[02:14:21] if I'm not strong enough to survive this,

[02:14:23] then that,

[02:14:24] then that's just it.

[02:14:25] I accept my death,

[02:14:26] but I'm not going to just die because that means the,

[02:14:28] because I need you to work for it.

[02:14:30] That's how I play magic.

[02:14:31] The gathering.

[02:14:33] I'm going to fucking,

[02:14:34] I'm going to make you work for this win,

[02:14:35] but I also,

[02:14:37] but I also,

[02:14:37] he literally Bush did nine 11s,

[02:14:39] the fucking,

[02:14:40] the,

[02:14:40] the,

[02:14:41] the,

[02:14:41] the country because he lets the humans,

[02:14:45] like he's letting humans like kill people because he needs people to

[02:14:49] understand that the humans are a threat so that it escalates the importance of

[02:14:53] his rule.

[02:14:54] It's like,

[02:14:54] and that's like going on.

[02:14:57] Yeah.

[02:14:57] That's what happened to strolls like family.

[02:14:59] His family was just like in a village in a town that like,

[02:15:02] they called for reinforcements.

[02:15:03] They knew the humans were coming.

[02:15:05] And then like,

[02:15:05] apparently the Louise was part of the person responsible for like not sending

[02:15:09] military aid because he needed to make an example to the Republic or to

[02:15:13] like the actual like citizens that know you need a strong militaristic

[02:15:18] leader that is able to like take action and be powerful enough to make

[02:15:22] change.

[02:15:22] And it's one of the most interesting things.

[02:15:24] Like every single main character has storylines that are connected to what is

[02:15:29] flawed about this world,

[02:15:30] whether it's Hulkenberg,

[02:15:31] Heismay,

[02:15:32] everybody like this was a deeply,

[02:15:34] deeply like racist culture.

[02:15:36] Like everybody is embattled,

[02:15:38] embattled against each other.

[02:15:39] The church is primarily responsible for sewing division amongst different

[02:15:43] classes and different races of individuals.

[02:15:46] But it's,

[02:15:47] it's one of the,

[02:15:48] you know,

[02:15:48] the most fascinating things is that they're tackling so many of these real life

[02:15:53] concepts at such a high level that the games that I've played this year,

[02:15:59] that it's like,

[02:15:59] you know,

[02:16:00] I'm playing my oopsie doopsie star Wars game and my bad dragon age,

[02:16:03] the veil guard.

[02:16:04] And I'm rooting in,

[02:16:04] I'm tooting on call of duty.

[02:16:06] Right.

[02:16:06] And I mean,

[02:16:06] we both love quality,

[02:16:07] quality,

[02:16:08] black ops.

[02:16:08] It's a great game.

[02:16:09] Everybody go play that right now.

[02:16:10] But at the same time,

[02:16:11] it's like this game,

[02:16:13] like,

[02:16:13] again,

[02:16:14] if you're able to engage with the way that,

[02:16:17] with the persona formula,

[02:16:18] the way that,

[02:16:20] that studio zero is presenting this game to you,

[02:16:22] like there's just so much to be taken away from this game.

[02:16:28] Yeah.

[02:16:29] And just,

[02:16:29] yeah,

[02:16:29] go ahead.

[02:16:30] Everything is just so fucking well-written.

[02:16:32] It's beautifully written.

[02:16:33] And I,

[02:16:34] the one thing that I always am a proponent of is it,

[02:16:37] like taking risks and showing genuine adversity and humanizing it.

[02:16:42] And like,

[02:16:42] it's like,

[02:16:43] I'm not like,

[02:16:44] Oh man,

[02:16:45] when I'm playing Wolfenstein,

[02:16:46] I want every Nazi to have a name and like a daughter that I had to know.

[02:16:49] It's like,

[02:16:50] I don't give a shit about that.