Is RFK Jr a Lizard?? | Vampire Crawlers, Saros, Soul Blazer + More

[00:00:02] Aaron, let's go. Let's do it, buddy. Let's start the show. Yeah, fire up every one of those cylinders. Pull the fucking ripcord. There is no ripcord on this one. Oh, fuck. I don't know what I just pulled, but hey. Push button start. Push button. Hey, it's Super Ghost. Pudding button start. Yeah, it's Super Ghost. We're pushing buttons. We are pushing everything up.

[00:00:36] Yeah. You're probably wondering where we were. We've been doing things. We've been doing videos. Now that this is out, all those will be out. And I think it's been pretty fun, right, guys? I'm enjoying the new us. Oh, my God. We're having a glow up.

[00:01:01] It's just such a new us. Oh, my God. Yeah, it's a new era of Super Ghost, I guess. I guessed. I have to make a point to talk into the camera because there's more people watching us now. I don't know how I feel. Slightly weird. Yeah, I know. I don't really like it, but I gotta do it.

[00:01:28] So on our YouTube channel, you may or may not have noticed that there's some cool videos on there now. We have a bunch of different series. We have Dumpster Dive. We have Retro Roulette. We have Friends Who Fight. We have Aaron's Topic Time. And there's more that are coming. We're kind of just kind of testing the waters. Go see for yourself. There's plenty there for everybody. And that's it.

[00:01:56] This now will be the monthly podcast where we're just going to kind of catch up with each other and, you know, see what we've been up to. And there will be times where we'll do like a special like Nintendo Direct podcast or like if there's a, you know, the Summer Games Fest or whatever. There will be podcasts specifically for those things and more than likely with more of a video component than they have been.

[00:02:24] So still going to be focusing on audio, I guess. But go watch us one time. Just see. Just see. Oh, what would be fun? Go around and recommend one of our videos to check out and like kind of say what it is so that we can. Let me start. Yes, do it. I'm going to recommend Friends Who Fight because it's the only series that features me. That's a great reason to recommend it.

[00:02:54] It's a good one, man. And a great reason to watch. Yeah. I'll be in more eventually. But yeah, I'll be in more eventually. Yeah. Oh, we know. I'm going to recommend this. I'm going to recommend one before Jerry takes. I want to recommend The Dumpster Dive with Tex Murphy. God damn. God fucking damn. What a game. What a video. Jesus. That was such a good one, dude. All the text. There's so many, I think.

[00:03:21] I was crying while I was editing that. Capiche. Capiche. Fucking Nilo. What a diva. Oh, my God. It was so silly. If you guys like FMV games, I can recommend a few. I still think. Well, I mean, after we did. I still have. I think it's called Path to Empress. Oh, my God. I've heard that one is crazy. I tried it. I tried it a little bit. Greg.

[00:03:50] And like, it's like every choice is death. Me and you. We're so. I'm with you. I am so with you. We literally talked about after we did the Tex Murphy thing. We were like, what if one of the other series is just us playing FMV games? That'd be cool. Because they're ridiculous. Yeah. That's. We're not talking about that here. Moving on. I would definitely recommend any.

[00:04:19] Any one of the videos where me and Aaron talk about Pokemon starters. Um. We talk about, um. The water type, grass type, and fire type starters. So whichever one. I say pick your favorite type and watch that video. I should make a reaction video. And then be mad at our decisions. Greg reacts to his own channel. Yes. That'd be hilarious. Greg reacts.

[00:04:49] And it's, it's just. Yeah. It's not even. It's, it's Greg's VTuber reacts. That's funny. That's so stupid. I like that. Yeah. My, uh. My recommendation would be. Obviously. Retro Roulette. Like, that show is so stupid and so funny. Fuck. The episode. Pumuckle. The episode that's out right now, um. Is, is good.

[00:05:17] But they get crazier as they go. And for some reason. Whenever we spun that wheel. And it randomized a game. It kept landing on fucking Game Boy. And it would always be like. Here's a Japanese sports game. Yep. Every fucking time. There was so many times that we, we would just be like. You know what? So. Peek behind the curtain. We landed on so many Japanese sports games. We had to like. Cut it out. We had to be like. This is crazy. Like, it just kept happening.

[00:05:47] And there was a couple times where I actually did try to play it. But I was like. I'm playing baseball with a bunch of like chibi robots. I have no idea what's happening. And it wasn't chibi robo. I have no idea. And it was no chibi robo. Yeah. Like, it was. It was. I wish the baseball game from JoJo's was real. Let's play baseball. Oh my God. Baseball. I forgot about that. Hold on. Jagger. That was great.

[00:06:18] Oh my God. That was so good. That's so good. We got to get back. We got to get back in there. We got to get back in there. That's not a line. Yeah. I'm not ignoring you, Aaron. That is another line. And I do. That is a line. It's a good one. So yeah, go check out some of those videos. I feel like for some reason, I can't put my finger on, I should look into Zenless Zone Zero. I wonder. I don't know. Maybe. There's something.

[00:06:47] Just something. Can you give me a couple of reasons why? That could. Two big reasons why. Two rather large reasons. But anyway, it's time for super important breaking news. We have not forgotten. There's been a lot. There's not a lot. But anyways, super important breaking news.

[00:07:16] Aaron, take it away. You got some juice? Dude, I've got juice. So the whole thing with GameStop trying to buy eBay. Oh, what's his name? Ryan Cohen. He had that interview on CNN. I saw it. The hosts were just asking him basic questions. And he didn't know how to answer them. He would dance around it. The hosts on CNN, they were like, okay, Ryan, well, a good portion of this money is coming

[00:07:45] from investors, blah, blah, blah. Like, where's the rest of this money coming from? How are you going to pay for the rest of GameStop? Or not GameStop. Wasn't he just like, you can find that online. Yeah. He was like, at first he's like, you can find all that information on our website. And they're like, well, we're here right now with you, Ryan. Can you tell us? And he kept being like, oh, I don't understand. I don't understand the question. What? And they'd keep repeating it to him. Four times four. Yeah. I don't understand the basis of the question.

[00:08:16] That's basically every single question they asked. You'd be like, huh? Fucking pardon moi. But yeah. So the other day, I think it was earlier this week, eBay finally responded. And they were like, no doubt. Do you want to put the warranty on that? Oh, let me find their exact verbiage because it was good. Oh, my God. Yeah. It was kind of like it was a slight to them in a way. Like, I know what you're talking about. Yeah.

[00:08:46] Look it up because it was like professional, but also like, are you out of your goddamn mind? Like professional. This isn't worth it. Yeah. This isn't worth any of our time. Like, it's not. Oh, my God. Here we go. We have concluded that your proposal is neither credible nor attractive. Fucking burn, dude. Get fucked. Get absolutely fucked. Now, I wonder. Oh, my God. Hold on. What? Hold on.

[00:09:16] There's another question where. So so the GameStop CEO was like, we're trying to buy eBay so we can, you know, compete with Amazon and the online delivery, whatever. And then the hosts of CNN, they were like, well, I mean, they have logistics centers and they have this and that. Like, how could you possibly plan to compete with a company as gigantic as Amazon? He was like, I don't understand. What?

[00:09:46] Like, he just did the same shit. Like, sorry, what? He definitely doesn't understand. I don't understand. No, he didn't understand the basis of any of the questions. Didn't understand the assignment. Who was that man? Who was like, this is our this is a guy that we like who I guess he approved it because he's, you know, but like, I think there's a guy. There should have been someone. There should have been someone to be like, not him.

[00:10:15] Yeah, because he he would either do that shit where he says he doesn't understand. He'll dance around it or he'll throw buzzwords at you. Be like, we're looking to maximize profitability. We're looking to maximize this, maximize that, enhance this, enhance that or like consolidate our influence. There you guys. Another good one. Yeah, that's something he would say. He's a goof. He's a stupid, goofy fucking idiot. Thank God.

[00:10:43] eBay did not accept that offer. The one last bastion on the Internet. Goddamn. Yeah. So the the piece of information that I had for super important breaking news. So if you don't already know, the steam controllers are out in the wild now. They they shipped out. They sold out in 30 minutes. She was lucky enough to get one.

[00:11:11] And I can confirm that it is a very interesting piece of technology. I don't know where it lands for me yet. I'll get into that in a little bit. But the what happened was these sold out in like 30 minutes or so. So immediately eBay posts selling them for like double the price, which. For one. That's stupid because. It's not.

[00:11:41] A piece of hardware that has any like. Ram or anything that's that has an AI tax right now. So there is no reason for them to be scalped as high as they are. Number two. Valve already said, hey, so like we're we got a lot of these. So there's more coming. Don't buy these off scalpers like they're literally putting them back.

[00:12:07] Like it literally went back in stock as of today, May the 14th. So fuck them. Fuck them. Scalpers. Fuck on top of that. Valve then was like, OK, so what we're going to do now is we're going to do a reservation system. So you have to reserve your spot and confirm. I don't know what the actual. Actually, this is from this is from Valve themselves.

[00:12:36] Steam controller launched on May 4th. And while we were happy to see such a high level of interest, the experience for a lot of you trying to buy it was incredibly frustrating. We plan to continue replenishing stock as we get more in. But in the meantime, wanted to share changes we're making to improve the purchase experience and to to limit reseller activity. We're opening a reservation queue for Steam controller. Once you reserve your place in line will be saved. When we go back when they go back in stock, order emails will be sent in the same order that reservations were made.

[00:13:05] So basically, in order to like order it, you just reserve it and then you get an email and then you go, OK, cool. I'll buy that now. So that feels good on them. Yeah, I think that's a very smart way to do this.

[00:13:23] And it gives me hope that they'll do the I'm almost certain that they're going to do the exact same thing for the Steam Machine, which, by the way, I believe is very, very close to not only having the announcement of its price point and its release date. I think we're going to see it before the fall.

[00:13:41] I think it's going to release over the summer just because there's been several of the like the docking, like the dock trackers of like shipments that are being made because they they pretty much knew that the Steam controller. They were like, this is going to get announced any day because they just offloaded like three tons of Steam controllers.

[00:14:06] So sure enough, it got announced like the price and the release, which was like, I think, a week after they were like, yep, this is here's the price you can preorder next week. And it only took like five days, maybe four or five days for me to get mine. OK, so I'd say those those steam machines are going to go out quick, too. Nice. I'm really excited about the steam machines because I want I would like to have one, but I don't need one.

[00:14:34] I have I have I built my own thing, but like. I would love to tinker with one, but I also kind of like can't wait for someone like you, Aaron, to finally pick this thing up and be a part of the PC cult. Fucking throw my laptop in the trash. Yeah, no. Fucking chuck it out of walls. Straight into the woods. I'll scalp it online. I'll sell it online.

[00:15:01] You know, there's three things I hate in this world. It's macaroni and cheese scalpers and Ricky Gervais in that order. Fuck all of those. The three worst things in the world. Yeah, your face. Fuck. We would have got the office if it wasn't for Ricky Gervais. Every time he shows up on anything, I just want to I want to choke. I don't like his face. He looks like a goblin. He looks like he does.

[00:15:30] Well, I hope, though, that like with the reservation system with the controller and then hopefully, you know, they do it with the steam machine and they get to come out as valve and talk about how successful it was and how they maybe did it. This could be something that's moving forward. This like industry standard so that there is less scalping overall because it is so fucking annoying. I know.

[00:15:58] Greg, tell us about scalpers and AI attacks and Ricky Gervais. I mean, there's all that. I mean, it's it's it's so prevalent. Like it's worse than ever with it. So it's like when you try to get tickets for anything, it's so bad. Like I know that's where scalping started, but it's like scalping is almost become like sanctioned now. When you try to buy tickets for anything, it's ridiculous. Like they're they're called resellers to make it feel better. But like it's it's it's still scalping. No. Yeah.

[00:16:25] Didn't Toronto implement something new on Ticketmaster where like you can't sell the tickets for more than what you bought them for? So I think that's a thing. What? OK, OK. You know, it's so dumb. So it's yes. Tell us. Doug Ford, who is the premier of Ontario. He recently. Don't get me started. I know. So exactly.

[00:16:53] Recently, he announced that he was going to, you know, put a bill forward so that, you know, you couldn't to what Jerry's saying. You have to like it can't be worth more than a certain percentage of what it was purchased for. Like, I think it's still like you can get a little bit more off of it, but not enough to, you know. So the ticket prices are down.

[00:17:20] Doug Ford is one of the reasons why Ticketmaster was allowed to do the real resale thing. Anyways, there was a bill introduced fucking years ago and there was and it was not allowed. And he's the one who got rid of it in the first place. So he is literally now standing up and being like, look at me solving this problem. And then if you pull back the curtain, it's like, you did this. You did this.

[00:17:47] Aaron, if I can, if I can make one request when you're editing this, please input the video of Doug Ford swallowing a bumblebee. Please just put that in there because this man is a bumbling idiot. Not coming from the, not coming from the government per se, but the premier is coming from the health sector. Holy Christ. I just swallowed a beet. Oh my God. Holy Christ. I knew that little bugger. Around him. Around him. I'm good.

[00:18:16] He's down here buzzing around right now. Pun intended. Not the word. He sucks. He sucks. Yeah, he's kind of a dumbass. He's not as shitty as what we have to deal with, but he's kind of a dumbass. I just had an idea. Greg, go ahead. I'll hold it. Cut this because it's irrelevant to anybody unless you live in Ontario. He just passed, it's something like the Retail Holiday Act or something like that.

[00:18:46] And basically what it means is that on Victoria Day, if you work in retail, your store can be open. And that's normally a stat holiday for us. And now. What the fuck? Because like head office doesn't care about the individual. They're like, all right, we're open guys. And it's like, motherfucker. And it's just like, it's basically signed into Ontario law that, I mean, if you work retail, you are less than other people and you don't get to have a day off. Yeah. Also.

[00:19:16] That's so stupid. That's so stupid. Give you a little bit more context, Aaron, for like the type of shit, corrupt politician, like person he is. He also like is passing, got something passed that essentially is you can't freedom, freedom of information act stuff does not apply to his government.

[00:19:37] So you can no longer he's like, you can hear what he's had a history, like like a litany, like a litany of business scandals. And like so many, like anytime there's like anything has been requested or looked into. It's like, OK, that's shady. That's you helping out your your buddies in real estate. That's you helping out your buddies and whatever. And he's basically made it illegal for him to get caught anymore.

[00:20:04] He has like such a deep history of like fucking like lining his own pockets blatantly and everybody sees it and like fucking nothing can happen. So now take that, Aaron. Take that information. Close your eyes. Multiply all that crazy shit by about 20. And that's what I have for my premiere. She's a dumb, crazy bitch.

[00:20:28] And I hope, I hope, I hope, I hope, I hope one of these days she flies to Mar-a-Lago and fucking stays there. That'd be cool. Her plane explodes mid-flight. Oh, the dream. OK, so here's my idea. People hang on for a minute. We should do like a ranking or a tournament of like the worst fucking people. So we've got like RFK Jr.

[00:20:57] Fucking, I don't know, Chris Pratt. You'll hit me out of it. He doesn't like that. He sounds like someone's shaking him. Roseanne Barr. Fucking um. Roseanne. Yeah. I don't think of other terrible people in mind. There's a brain that's eating my brain. There's a worm eating my brain from the inside like an apple core. That's our feature. Solid. I didn't see my dead raccoons. Solid topic.

[00:21:27] Solid topic. Topic time with Aaron. I gotta go check out the dead raccoons. Penis. I've gotta go feed the dead raccoons in my basement. Fucking. Do you think that like, because remember how he was like running for office? Yeah. Yeah. No. Remember that? Yeah. Do you think maybe he would have won if he had to just like did a. Just cleared all the poop out of his throat.

[00:21:58] Just get one of those good ones. Oh man. Oh, next time on topic time. We're going to do that. Next time on topic time. We analyze RFK's neck. No, I don't want to look at that. Trying to find out what the fuck's going on there. Frankie shitty people. I'm the same color as a Slim Jim. Oh man. And it works out in his jeans all the fucking time.

[00:22:28] Oh, I love that. He's such a fucking reptile. He is actually a reptile. He, that's, you know, all the Facebook moms and people who like, were like reptile people and stuff like that. It's like the cop, like, but they'll say that about people who are normal. And then there'll be like side with people. Like that's it. They're like, that's my maha influencer, man. And it's like, that's the reptile people. That's it. He literally looks like one. And he sounds like one. What are you doing?

[00:22:58] That's what happens when you teach an iguana to fucking talk. Fuck. Yeah. Like that's it. He, he reminds me of the fucking cockroach guy from Men in Black. Like he just doesn't know how to be human. I need sugar and water. But like, instead he's like, he's on the treadmill in fucking blue jeans. Or he's like cutting off a dead raccoon's penis on the side of the road. He doesn't know how to be a normal person. He's just like adopting our fucking ways. Did you ever see that video?

[00:23:27] You ever see that video of when that dude fainted in the Oval Office? And he just like booked it out. Yeah, stop. He just left. He didn't even like, he was just like, ah, like he just fucking left. He got so spooked. He's like a deer. He got spooked like deer. Literally. Literally. It's like spooking a fucking chameleon. I wasn't running. I had to go get my penis cutting knife. Oh my God.

[00:23:57] His penis. Okay. So. That's. That's it for breaking news. I have some news. I got news. I got news. I got news. You found news? I got news. Did you get news? Okay. Tell us what the news is all about. What's the news? It's both related to game sales on either end of the spectrum. So. Okay. Do you guys hear the, this is a little bit older, the Subnautica 2 thing where the

[00:24:25] the Kraft and CEO looked, looked on chat GPT on how to not pay out bonuses. And then they were. Oh yeah. They were like, I think it was court. Like you can't do that. Yeah. Subnautica 2 went on sale and sold with it within one hour, one million copies. Holy shit. So he's got to pay out some bonuses. Good. And it's probably only grown. Fuck. Within one hour. Fuck that.

[00:24:57] People blatantly going into the Subnautica discord because the game leaked like, I don't know, four or five days early online, like pirates leaked it. And, but people were like straight up going in that discord being like, yo, look at this. Look at me playing this game. And people were like, that's not out yet. And then like the dev was like, Hey man, fuck you. Like, like straight up, like the hammer punk.

[00:25:29] Yeah. Like, and I mean, I get it. And he was making, you know, good points because he, he was like, a lot of people think I'm a millionaire. I'm not, I don't own a house. I rent a home. Uh, I'm one person and I'm not rich. So yeah. How about buy my fucking game? Yeah. And also the developers are not like the public, like the, it's the publisher that was trying to write the CEO of craft. Craft. Yeah.

[00:25:57] So the developers themselves are still people who work really hard on this. And, um, they were the ones that would have been getting screwed over if, um, you know, this CEO was allowed to do what he did. So it's like then on top of that going in and these developers being like, now only did I have to fight for my bonus because my CEO was asking AI how to fucking screw me over.

[00:26:22] Now you're in here blatantly throwing it in our face that you're doing this. But also I think it's an early access game. So like, yeah, you're going to, you're going to pirate the worst possible version of this game. Yeah. Yeah. I never understood people that pirate early access. It's like, so you're just going to download the updates. So you're just going to steal a demo. Yeah. Basically like, you know what the developer made a really good point to, he was like, I would

[00:26:51] rather you buy this game off steam, play it for two hours and go, not for me. And then just refund it. Yeah. He was like, then just stealing it. And like, and I get it. I get that. And I do, you know, I'll fan boy out a little bit on, on valve here.

[00:27:12] Like they have, I think one of the most consumer friendly platforms in video games because they allow, dude, you don't even need a fucking reason to refund. You just can't go past two hours of gameplay. And then everything is a refund. So like forever. Yeah. Yeah. Oh my God. I have so many games. I think there's a date. I think there's a date. Damn it. Oh no, no, no.

[00:27:42] Yeah. Not, not like you can't go through your library. Like never played this one. Yeah. There's a lot of stuff that I bought that I've not played. Or I played for a little bit. Beth just starts to see a dollar size. She's like, I have a treasure trove of games I'm going to refund. I have quite a few games that I never really thought of. And then the GameStop CEO comes in. He's like, I don't understand the base. Do I have a deal for you? He takes up two fresh crispy dollar bills. And he was like, I'll give you two bucks for it.

[00:28:10] He'll give me two dollars for a game that I haven't played. Okay. Especially if I can't refund it. So now the other end of the spectrum. Saros is reviewing, reviewing really well. Like phenomenally well. It's such a good game. It is not selling well at all. My heart breaks. It is selling slower than maternal. And like, it's just a comedy of errors how the game was marketed. Because I was reading about this and then someone was like, this article is how I found out the game was even out.

[00:28:42] Like, it's. Yeah. You know, I've only been keeping track of it because my uncle really liked maternal. And so I've kind of been keeping up to date because he's not. He wouldn't pay attention to games coming out anyways. Like regardless of the biggest marketing campaign in the world. So I've just been keeping an eye on it so that I can be like, hey, but you to what you're saying, Greg, and to that point, I have like look it up once a month because I forget and I haven't heard about it. Yeah.

[00:29:10] Like, so I'm like, I gotta, I gotta, when is that coming out again? Because no one's talking about it. Like it finally hit 300,000 units sold. But it took two weeks to get there. Oof. Oh man. And like, isn't it like really within the first. And it's like, if I remember correctly from something I heard on like a gaming podcast,

[00:29:35] it's really the first hundred days of sales that is like really important when it comes to like the devs, the studio and stuff, getting their money and everything. I don't know. Maybe that's like a specific thing, but I remember hearing about like how the first hundred days of sales are the most important.

[00:29:56] I feel like if the game goes on sale relatively quick, like, like a Capcom level of quickness to sale. Cause like Capcom games usually go on sale like pretty fucking quick. Like they'll, they'll get marked down like 10 to 15% in the year that they come out. So like if they do that with Saros, I think it has a chance to sell more, but I don't know if it'll be within that. It won't be in that window.

[00:30:26] Like, no, I feel like I heard that. And I like, I heard that on like a reputable place, but I'm not a hundred percent. I've heard, I've heard something. I also, I'm pretty sure. I also had seen something about the, the way that it was being reported that the numbers, cause they did the same thing for,

[00:30:51] there was another game that I feel like was being like told that it was not selling well, but they were like, well, hang on. You're not, you're not doing the, I can't, I don't know. I was just scrolling through a bunch of shit. And I seen something that like a couple of times, but it might've been from like the Saros subreddit, which I mean, they could be just drinking a full fucking 46 ounces of copium over there right now. But as somebody that owns the game. Yeah.

[00:31:21] Aaron, go ahead with your hot take. I was going to say, I think that it's like in Saros's case, wasn't marketed very well rather than eventually laying off the devs. They should just fucking can whoever was in charge of marketing this game and getting the word out. Cause obviously they didn't do a fucking thing. I don't know what their budget was. If they had one, if there was a marketing team for this one, like there's, there's some, some money thrown at this. Then they should be fucking canned.

[00:31:50] Cause I, I've only ever seen maybe like a couple of ads for this game on a, like I have live TV with Hulu and I've seen like Saros come up maybe three times in the past couple of weeks that it's been out. So fire those people, get new people in, keep the devs. Cause they've obviously made something great. The review, the reviews fucking prove that shit. So I think another thing, I think another thing too, um,

[00:32:20] that might be not a good idea. And I guess we'll see in due time how this plays out. And if they're going to state of the word, if Sony actually does commit hard, which they said they have to stopping PC games, um, of their, their exclusives. Cause before like Returnal got a PC release. It was one of the first ones that got like the port. Um,

[00:32:50] but Saros is not getting that apparently like Saros is staying on PlayStation. And I think, I mean, I just was telling you guys about Stellar Blade. Yeah. That they were like, Hey, so we're working on Stellar Blade two. We're going to, we're going to publish it ourselves because we're going to put it on PC. Good on them. Yeah. So Stellar Blade two will come on PC because they're kind of, they're, they're breaking away from the Sony exclusivity. And I like, I get it.

[00:33:20] Like Sony has a lot of money that they can throw at some of these games and they have a pretty well documented track record record with high performing games that are exclusives. Saros is definitely one of them, but I feel like the same, same way about Alan Wake, like that not being on steam, stupid. Like I, it's so stupid to me. I get it.

[00:33:47] I get that they had like a partner with Epic or whatever, whatever. But the second, the second they put that on steam, everybody is eating good. Like it's going to sell neighborhood. Yeah. I just, it would be, I don't have any confidence in any of these like large triple A's, you know, companies to not just can everybody for not performing well.

[00:34:17] Like they shut down blue point for why, for why. Um, and I think it would just with house Mark, it's so sad to hear that because they've been such like a, like a staple in like a really like well-known and well-loved, um, dev team and stuff for a long time. Like they're a loved studio and they always put out like games that have

[00:34:46] reviewed really well, but they to be like honest though, they always put out games that are reviewed really well, but never had the sales to back them up. And so going in with Sony a little bit of them, purchasing them, purchasing them after, um, returnal. Cause they didn't, uh, purchase house Mark until after returnal got released. Cause it was kind of like a, um, here, release this game with our money as an exclusive. And if you do good,

[00:35:15] then we'll like purchase you as like, we'll, um, acquire you. I feel like returnal was a fairly big, like early launch game too. It was, it did well. I don't, well, I don't know how, how well it sold. I think it's sold. Okay. Like I don't think it was, it was bad sales or anything. It just is kind of like, well, I guess what I'm getting at is that to penalize house Mark for not selling like gangbusters.

[00:35:44] When it's always sort of been a studio that like overperformed undersold anyways. And they're also like very like, um, tough as nails, like niche combat systems and ideas and stuff. And I just, I think that it's kind of like you, you, they're doing what they've always done. And now like, so don't fucking shit on them for it. Like, I just, it's like, this has been their kind of thing.

[00:36:14] The whole time that they've existed. Nothing, if anything, it should be the publisher that's penalized. They're doing a shitty job of getting the word out and, and trying to sell this game. Like they should be. And again, that this is all hypothetical too. Like nothing has actually happened to house Mark yet. Like the, the numbers are poor, poor. Um, but you know, who knows what's going to happen. I'll say this because I will talk about Sarah's in a little bit here. Um,

[00:36:43] the most unfortunate part about this whole thing that this is selling. Not great. Is the fact that returnal was the like least accessible game for people to pick up and play. It was amazing. That game was fucking incredible. However, I think there's only 10% or less of the people that own that game have beat that game. It's I'm not, it took my uncle. He played it.

[00:37:12] It took him 200 and something hours to beat that game. God damn. Um, it's nuts. And, but the problem with that game is fixed in Sarah's Sarah's literally fixed every single thing that people bitched about in returnal. Cause returnal, just to give you a backstory, you had to start a run and it was like, you had to start from the start and go all the way to the end to get like,

[00:37:42] to beat the game. It wasn't like you unlock shortcuts, but you still had to start from the beginning every single time. Whereas Sarah's, you literally just warp to like, once you get to a point, you just warp. You can go from the start and go all the way through like a crazy person. I've gotten like three bosses deep so far as Sarah's. Cause I've, I've like, once you upgrade and like the upgrades seem like they're a little, little bit more powerful.

[00:38:10] People are out there saying that Sarah's is easier game than returnal. And I think that's kind of false. I think it's only because that you can just, yeah. Like, and you can add modifiers, um, that like you have to balance. So you can be like, uh, your, your hits do more damage, but then like that moves a needle. And if it goes in the red, you have to put like a debuff to, to balance it out. So like, then you'll have to be like, okay, well, uh, you lose more, uh,

[00:38:40] lucenite or whatever the, like the currency is when you, when you die. Okay. So you don't get to retain as much. So you've got to like balance it out. But like, cool. You can, you can kind of make it easier in certain aspects, but then you kind of also have to balance that out with like debuffing something or like kind of making a penalty. But I think the way that they did that was good because honestly, there's certain sections of the game where I was like, I gotta, I gotta figure out how to balance this out a little bit more. Like this is, this is nuts. Well,

[00:39:09] I hope that my, I guess my hope though is that yes, like we are being a little bit doomer about it, but it's kind of hard not to feel that way. Given, you know, especially especially the current climate of, you know, blue point was right there. Like, it's just all the Xbox shit last year where they were like, it's like an industry standard right now. So just fuck over these people. The second they like, you know,

[00:39:37] the high five rush people that they did good too. They did good. They did good. So, you know, all of that, but I, I'm going back. My hope is that all of the positive word of mouth of, um, not just, you know, what you're going to say later, but like a bunch of people talking about this and hearing that, um, this is something that's going on. Maybe that'll cause enough conversation and enough buzz that one, people will be aware that it, it's out. Um,

[00:40:07] and then, um, you have people being like, it's more forgiving than returnal was. I, I forgot that it was out too. If I'm being honest, right. I completely was like, wait, that's out now. And I was like, Oh shit. For two weeks. Yeah. I know. I only just bought it. Like I was, I don't know. I was, I was just like looking at the article and I was like two weeks. Yeah.

[00:40:44] I think this is a good, good time to, to transition into getting caught up and talking about what we've all been playing, what we've been up to. We've been playing games together. We've been playing games solo. We've all been playing lots of shit. We've all been spending lots of money on video games. Not that we should, but also not, not that we shouldn't neutral, you know, we don't have the money to spend, but spending money on video games isn't any worse than spending money on other things. Yes. Yes.

[00:41:14] True. So let's, let's get into it. Let's, let's, let's start talking about some video games that we're playing, man. Video games. Hell yeah. Bitch games. Greg, you want to go first, man? Cause like, uh, there's, there's a, there's a game that I could think of that we've been playing together. We, we, we, we touched on that last time. So I'm not going to touch on it again, but I'll tell you what I have been playing. Yes. Let me see what my hour count is.

[00:41:45] So it's, I've got, uh, 20 hours, which is impressive for my current situation. I have been, I have been, I have been playing, uh, heroes of might and magic olden era. And guys, this game is so fucking good. That's so, it feels so random. It's not random. It's not random. If Beth, if you look at my profile for a super ghost, you'll see in my top five games, either one of them is heroes of might and magic three. Um,

[00:42:15] I have no look at it. Well, you should have looked, we should read anyway. What the fuck Beth? I'm just kidding. And this game, I actually play this game and I oftentimes think like, you know, I think that's what actually really enjoyed this game. Maybe. I don't know. So like, so what, what the game is, is it's, I've never played anything else like it. Um, there's been copies since it came out, but that's serious. I mean,

[00:42:41] but so what it is essentially is it comes there. Their game has two, has three phases. So there's the first, first phase phase where you're on the overworld map. And it's, it's kind of like civilization, kind of like a board game where you have a certain amount of movement each day that the game takes place over days. And then you go and you can pick up like mines and resources and, and stuff like that off the map. Um, the other phase is building up your faction cities,

[00:43:11] which requires the resources you pick up, et cetera. The faction cities lets you require, uh, recruit, um, units for your army, which then he used to do and do the combat phase with the other random mobs. And the combat is all turn-based tactics, combat. Okay. And then you have like melee units, you have range units, you have casters. And then your hero, the titular hero that you play as is like your main, your main character. And they can be a magic based hero,

[00:43:40] which has like a spell book. And they, they cast, you know, altering spells, or you have a might based hero, which base, which buffs the attack and defense of your units. It's turn-based for like, you can play hot seat with a friend. Like, like we could get like this on, um, fucking what's it, what's it called? Um, yes, we get it on parsec because you could, there's a hot seat mode and just like, and just like go through it. It is.

[00:44:09] And it's such a return to form. Like the third game came out like 20, 1999. It came out and it's, it's so beloved. And this game is just like a rehash of, of that game with some like modern, um, conveniences. It's, it's so good. Is this, when did this come out? It went on to early access, uh, last week, I think. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Whoa.

[00:44:38] 20 hours. Yeah. Since then, it's pretty good. And it's, it's had a demo, which I played the shit out of. And then it's just, it's so good. I, I, I keep threatening to make a series where I teach you guys all how to, all how to play heroes because it's so fucking good. And then like, if you look up heroes on like YouTube, all the content creators are just the most European people you've ever seen because it's one of those games that's got huge traction in Europe, but not as much in North America.

[00:45:08] So you watch it and it's just like today we're going to play heroes of might and magic all then. I will break down these affection for you. And it's, it's so great. That's, I don't know if you can top that. Yeah. I think, you know, you'll need to have a VTuber with even more assets. I'll find the most European RFK VTuber I could find. Yeah.

[00:45:36] An RFK voice changer bot. That's not European at all. Like the scream voice, but it's RFK. Do you, do you want to watch a scary movie? You know what, Kai? When you do RFK, you just sound like a fucking, an old man ghost. Old man. Good. That's what he is. He is. He sounds like a fucking old man, but the bust. Fucking. Oh, these children.

[00:46:07] No, that's not, that's not, that's too shaky for RFK. The teenagers have lower sperm count than before. It sounds like so painful. Frogs are making them gay. For him to talk. I wish it, like he wouldn't do it. Oh God. What's crazy is imagining Cheryl Hines, who's married to him, and is like constantly defending him. It's like, what? How? I don't understand how you're doing this. Girl. Why? Yeah.

[00:46:37] Shaywan, it's married. What are you playing, man? Or Greg, is that the only thing that you've been playing? I haven't been playing anything else. I'm playing Night Rain. I've been playing Night Rain with you, you know, as you're continuing that grind on there. Vampire Crawlers. I've been playing, messing around a bit with that. Oh shit. Yeah, we all did. Yeah. Spoiler alert. Yep. We all done did that crawl. Did everybody beat it after? I have, no, I almost went to Arcade again. No, I have not yet beaten it.

[00:47:07] Are you? No, that's me. That's me on my screen. I mean, well, Greg, you get a pass. Aaron, no goddamn excuse. What the fuck? I was playing fucking Tomodachi life, and then, and then Vampire Crawlers came out, so I put Tomodachi on hold, and then, like, hopefully so. And then I started playing a couple other games that we'll get to in a little bit, and I had to put, like, everything on hold, but, you know. If you don't beat that game, you're gonna be down for some studying, if you know what I mean.

[00:47:39] Please don't cut off my penis, RFK. Um, so was there anything else, Greg, that you were playing? That you wanted to talk about? I don't believe so. I think, I think that is, let me just check one last thing, but I think that is, nope, that is literally it. That's all I've been doing. Nice. Uh, Aaron, tell us now what you've been playing that's so goddamn important that you can't beat Vampire Crawlers. Well, oh, fuck,

[00:48:09] I guess it's been a month since we did the last podcast, and in that, I talked about that new season of Diablo 4. Uh, so now here's the new, new season of Diablo 4. It looks like I'm playing piano. Dun, dun, dun. The extension is out now. New, new season. It's out. I had no idea. That's what I, it was a Cerro, so I was like, wait a minute, that's out? Yeah. What is going on? It's awesome. Like, so they completely changed the skill trees now. They made every, like, they wanted to make it so, like,

[00:48:38] every point that you spend on your skill tree feels meaningful, because before it would be like, you would put a point into this ability, and then there'd be like, fucking eight different nodes with different passive abilities that didn't really fucking matter or do anything. Um, because it'd be like, you'd put one point into one of these passive abilities that has a max of like, maybe eight, like eight stacks of that passive or whatever. But in the new skill tree, now it's like,

[00:49:08] you're only doing that kind of thing for the main skills. And then branching off of that main skill, you've got like, um, two passives that affect that fucking skill. This over here, two passives that affect the skill also over here. And then you've got the three big, like, I guess, ability changing passives, uh, right up top. So, those, once you buy them, that's it. So,

[00:49:36] you don't have to waste a million fucking skill points trying to get like, plus 18% fucking mana regeneration per second per 30 seconds if you do this. None of that stupid garbage anymore. It'll be like, you'll buy your fucking title crush or something stupid, and then you'll buy this ability that makes it so that it slows enemies and this and that. So, it all feels so good and smooth. Um, the, the, the loot, like, in the last,

[00:50:06] in the last fucking season, I feel like I was constantly, I was getting legendaries just fucking showered upon me. Every fucking thing I killed would drop a legendary. And I'd be like, why can't I hold all these legendaries? That's a really old fucking meme reference for all y'all. Um, I would just be inundated up to my fucking tits and legendaries. But in this new season, they've dialed that shit. Super down. basically slowed down the grind to where it actually feels like a grind. Like,

[00:50:35] you have to grind out legendaries and grind out aspects and stuff. And it, because like last season I played for maybe like a week or two. And then I was just done. Cause I, I'd gotten everything build maxed out. Fucking everything's good. I'm done playing. But in this one, I'm two weeks in and I still haven't finished my build, but I'm a, I'm a paladin and it's great. How long does this last again? I think three months, isn't it? Okay.

[00:51:05] I think it is three months. Yeah. Okay. Um, the other game I'm playing though, like the, the one I've been main main bitching is, uh, I think maybe you've heard of this Jerry soul blazer on SNES. Oh yeah. It's a good game. It's one of those, um, is it quintet or quartet? The, cause it's like that and like terror enigma and some other game that are in that little series. Um, illusion of guy. Yeah. Illusion of guy. There we go.

[00:51:34] Maybe it is quintet. No, it's quartet for, yeah. Cause it's a court, a quarter. Um, yes, a soul blazer. It's, uh, an action RPG for SNES. And it kind of starts out like pretty much any of those other games where like the world, the world is barren. Then you're this like angel man that's sent by the gods to go bring the fucking motherfucking place back. Let's get this party started. Um,

[00:52:02] and you'll go into dungeons and beat up monsters and you'll find these little switches that'll, um, basically revive people back in the little hub area. And as you do that, they'll give you information about where to find this item, which you'll bring back to your hub area again to unlock some other new area in the hub world. And if it's, it's awesome, it's such a sweet fucking flow. Cause like one run through the dungeon and you'll have unlocked, like,

[00:52:32] or not unlocked, like brought back, I don't know, 10 to 15 different people. So by the time you're almost low on health, you can just warp right back to your hub area, unlock a bunch of shit, go back into the dungeon and then keep on cooking and fight a boss. you know, I've never beat that game and I have always been curious cause I've beat illusion of Gaia several times. Um, and I've,

[00:53:01] it's on my bucket list to beat Terranigma. I've gotten to the, basically the very end and just, I don't know, stopped for some reason. Um, but I, I have always known about soul blazer and I've never really dug into it because I feel like the type of game that you're describing and I'm now remembering, I feel like at the time I was like, this isn't secret of mana, get this out of here.

[00:53:26] So now with a kind of fresh set of eyes and going into, yeah, I'm a grown man now, mature man, opinions of my own. I got my own opinions. And then I can open on my own. I feel like I can go back into this now and, and probably enjoy it a little bit better. It's, it's really fucking cool, man. Like it's just, it's cool to like, you go into the dungeon, step on a switch and it'll be like, um,

[00:53:56] you released a dog. It'll just be this dog sitting by a stump. I remember that. Yeah. Then you'll go back to the hub area. You'll talk to the dog. He'll be like, Oh, uh, my name's turbo. My master died long ago. I created this place to, uh, to keep animals free from harm and such and such. And some real heartwarming shit. And then it'd be like, talk to the stump. The stump knows a lot of shit. Talk to the stump and you'll talk to the stump. And it'll be like, I know where a sword is.

[00:54:25] Give the birds seeds and it'll give you a sword. Cute. Yeah. It's, it's, it's real. You know, it's cool too, is that that game uses like a lot of the same assets that illusion of Gaia used afterwards. And then, Oh, I'm sure. Terranigma used after that, like same sound effects. There's a lot of like little like orbs and stuff, all like the blue orbs that you pick up. Like all that shit is throughout those,

[00:54:55] those games. Like it's, and it was a, that was an Enix game. Yep. Hell yeah, man. That was all Enix. I really want to go through and beat all those now. That and, and brain Lord. That's another cool action RPG on SNES that, that looks really cool too. That's the one though, with like the weird ass, like perspective. Is that the one with a weird perspective or like you turn? No, I'm thinking of brandish and brandish too.

[00:55:25] Oh yeah. Those are like, they're like top down, but like when you, when you push like left and right, like it moves like your whole, like the map basically like, it's a, it's gross person. I don't know. It's like first person, but like in third person, it doesn't make any sense to me. Um, I still think you should probably go back and be vampire crawlers. I know I'm, I'm real far into it. That last boss.

[00:55:54] Holy shit. That was really cool. That was really cool. Oh my God. I finished the, uh, the milk factory or the milk, whatever. And then I was, I did a couple of runs. I got to the weenie. I did a couple of runs on the weenie bridge. And then, uh, and then I think the new thing of Diablo came out and I was like, all right, that bridge is a real son of a bitch. The first time you get to it, dude, even the teeny bridge was a bitch. The first time I got to it. Yeah.

[00:56:24] By the time I got to, I think there's three bridges. Yeah. I think by the time I got to the third one, I was just like, Oh, I, I broke the game. Like I, I'm just annihilating everything. God, I love the way this, the fucking game does that too. Like you unlock the ability to have, uh, two survivors or crawler, my bad, two, two, holy shit, crawlers. And then you get three and then it's like, okay, why don't I just fucking hack into the game and just give myself all

[00:56:50] like three crawlers is fucking way too much. And it's so broken. And like, dude, I had, I had a team. I had a team from like the middle of that game that carried me through the end of that game. And it was insane. Like by the time, um, I don't remember. See, that's the thing about these types of games. It for sure involved Pugnala. It is Pugnala. Yeah. It was Pugnala. The gun chick. Yep. Yeah.

[00:57:20] It was Pugnala. And I did Pugnala the witch. And the witch with the cats. Yeah. I tried that. I didn't like it. And then I had a third one that like, every time you played a yellow card, you drew. So two that were like, every time you play. That's the one that I used to. That's the, uh, the lady. Well, no. Oh, the second Pugnala is every time you play a yellow card, you draw. Oh, and then I have, you know how you had, um,

[00:57:50] like the guy who looks like, um, the guy from Castlevania. What's. Oh yeah. That's the guy that I use too. No, no. The guy there's, if you use him in place, so many of like this, the lightning ring or something like that, you unlock this girl version of him. And she's like drawing cards every time you play. Poppea or something. Maybe the one with, uh, uh, Mana song fireball. Sorry.

[00:58:20] The one with what? Mana song. No. Or the fireball lady. I don't know. Maybe that's the Alucard looking guy. That's the fireball. he's the, he's the Alucard looking guy, but, um, I can't remember, but she's the, the, the first one in the second row. Had I do. So there's the first girl in the second row. Oh, that's no, that's is a first girl in the second. Oh no. Nevermind. Nevermind. Go ahead. Go ahead. Go ahead. My, here's my, I do, I do the bear who, uh, you,

[00:58:49] you get more, uh, amounts whenever you play a purple card or whatever. Yeah. The, the old man with the fucking cartwheels. Holy fucking shit. I'm going to break my finger off doing this. Those cartwheels, man. Yeah. They're great. I, I would get, I would get those like deep into a run and like max them the fuck out. And it'd just be like, Oh, I, Porta, I think is who you had. Yeah. That's his name. Porta. Yeah. That's yellow. Yellows increase your area.

[00:59:21] Yeah. So, I, um, I loved that game. I really did. I loved everything. I could not put that game. Like you guys were talking about it and I was like, yeah, I don't really want to play a deck builder. But then like, like I didn't realize at all. Like I had no idea what kind of game it was really. I just, I was like, Oh, I thought it was just like something additional to like vampire survivors. And then you guys were like all raving about it. And I was like, well,

[00:59:51] I guess I better check it out because I loved vampire survivors. And it's like, it's not even at all like vampire survivors. Like, I mean, kind of like it shares a lot of, a lot of things with it, but like this game is at, totally different game. And I liked like the first person, like dungeon crawling and just like how snappy it was. Like boom, boom, boom, like battle. And then like, you're just fucking ripping dudes. And like, yeah,

[01:00:21] it, it struck something with, and I was sick the day that I threw it on and I was laying in bed. And I just was like, I guess I'm just going to stay here now for the rest of the day. Like, I think this is it. And then, Dolo came over and we were hanging out and we were going to, we were going to try to beat super meat boy 3d. And cause we're at like the last place in that game. And like halfway through our hangout,

[01:00:50] I was like, dude, do you know what vampire crawlers is? he's like, no, he's like, I didn't really like vampire spiders. I'm like, okay, hear me out. I threw that thing on and we could not stop playing it. Like we were like kind of taking turns. And like, it was fun for me to watch him play. Cause I let him like start a new file. And he was just like, Holy shit. Like, I don't want to put this fucking game down. Like this is insane.

[01:01:21] And I was like, yeah, dude, like this, this is heroin. This game is heroin. Pure. It is fucking black tar heroin. Yeah. No, I didn't like survivors either. And was so into this, but I, I'm, I'm a, I love deck builders in general. And then this is like, just have a good, healthy deck. Um, and each run is so quick too. Like if, if you're not super optimized,

[01:01:51] Oh yeah. Greg had like a two hour one or something. That was crazy. Two hour run. Jesus fucking Christ. Greg, what are you doing? Because I am thorough and I take my time and I think about my moves. No, not in this game. Eventually you're just like, blam, blam, blam, blam, blam. I have a, I have a confession. It took me, it took me till the last,

[01:02:19] it took me till the last level to realize, um, that you could, that when you knock back and like the boss enemies, they didn't do the damage to you. Yeah. Yeah. Also fuck the bosses that have that like ring of eyes. Every time you play a card, it fucking charges up. Fuck you. That's more strategic. Did you guys kill death at all? Did you kill death? Oh God, no, I didn't. I could, I never, I got him once. I got him once. And, um, when I got him,

[01:02:49] I didn't, I had like five bonus lives because like, cause I think that's what you max out at is five, um, revivals. Um, okay. And I, I, I did, that was before I realized that if you knocked him back or froze him with, Yeah. Freeze him. Freeze him. That was the easiest way. Yeah. And so I didn't know that that was the case. And so it did it. It's like, I'm not kidding. Like I didn't, and I got him, uh,

[01:03:18] I did that and got pretty close. I think that was like halfway through the game. And then I, I'm not, I'm genuinely did not know until I was like in the last area. And I was like, get, I got a bunch of those freeze lances or whatever. And then I was like, Oh, that's the way we're like, Oh my God, they don't hit me when they're frozen. And, and then if I don't, if I play like my, um, cards that don't hit them to pull, like to refresh it over,

[01:03:48] then I can kind of go back. So then I was like balancing, hitting them only when I got down to those last couple of cards with the freeze. Um, so that I could then, yeah. So it's like, okay. And then everything was way easier. Then it was super easy. Um, besides vampire crawlers, what else have you, have you been playing? Yeah. Um, well, one quick update, final fantasy 14 update. Um,

[01:04:17] I'm all caught up and happy to report. Um, even though there was a brief moment of genuine fear, uh, Jonathan Bailey is back as graha. Yeah. There was one patch where he was, it wasn't him. And I was like, he's gone. Unsubscribe. I was so sad. I was like, it just isn't the same. And, um, not only did he come back for the newest patch, he is, um, confirmed.

[01:04:45] He's rerecording all of the lines for the previous one. So that if you go through now, um, you know, that's cool. Yeah. So weird. Nice. Yeah. So I thought that was really great. I'm happy. He's still around. Um, that's really it. And then other than vampire crawlers, what I'm happy. He likes doing it. Me too. Because he 100% does not have to anymore. And I, I think that. Speaking of Final Fantasy 14, Beth, you're wearing, you're rocking a, you're got your scion shirt on. I do. You were almost wearing the same shirt. Not, I mean,

[01:05:15] you can't see it. But. Um, that's my boy right there. Um, but yes, I, I, that's, I, Greg, that's really what makes me happy the most about it is that he does, clearly does not need to do this anymore. Like he has consistent good work, but for him to come back and then also do the lines for the previous patch that he missed when he like doesn't, once again, doesn't need to.

[01:05:43] I think that shows that he really loves this character and understands like how much, you know, he appreciates it in the same way, like players appreciate that character. And I, I think that's amazing. Um, so that's. What have, what have you been playing? Other than that? Um, I've been playing. Besides obsessing over Grotty, what have you been doing? Um, I was obsessing over him while I was catching up. Um, uh, Pokemon champions.

[01:06:12] That's kind of really what I've been playing. I love, I'm so into it. Um, I helped you get a thing. Yes. You, you begged someone, please, please fight me online. Just so that I can get this so that I can get the VP for it. Um, yeah, yeah. It's been really good. It's, uh, it's one of those things that, um, I've been watching competitive for a while.

[01:06:42] So there's like, I understand in the two V two format, um, generally what's good. Like, you know, I know the good stuff and all that, that kind of, you know, and what items are great for which Pokemon. But then there's like the, then it gets into stats distribution. And then also I realize I may understand what Pokemon do, but when you're, it's really about that minute to mission,

[01:07:09] minute to minute decision making as the turns go. And that is a whole other skill that I'm sometimes. And, and people say that turn-based RPGs are outdated. Fuck you. No, the fuck they are. It, it is legitimately like, really fun to kind of like, to build out your teams. Um, or, um, I've been really,

[01:07:39] cause this is a mega Pokemon format. So I've been working around Venusaur a lot. Cause I just, I really like the mega. It, it, when it megas, it'll loses two of its, um, two of its super effectives essentially with its ability. So like, you know, it can be for people who don't know that it gets that they'll kind of click the super effective move and they're doing half of the damage they think they should be doing. So it can lead to getting good trades.

[01:08:08] Um, and so I, I liked building around Venusaur. But I'm learning, I'm learning fast. I got to, I got to the master vault here and I was hovering around the lower, like low end of it and couldn't climb much higher once I got in there. Um, but yeah, learning it's, it's been a, it's been pretty fun and I've done my dailies every day. Um,

[01:08:37] and just to get like the VP and stuff and season two just started. Um, and I got to say the pot, another thing. Okay. The monetization isn't as, Hey, it's not, it's not like predatory. It doesn't feel pay to win. Um, it definitely, I won't, I won't deny if someone gets into it and they, they're like, but there are clear benefits for getting a subscription. Um,

[01:09:05] and doing the battle pass there is that's undeniable. Like they have to have some incentive, but if you want to do this completely free to play, I think you have just as much, um, opportunity to compete at a consistent and a high level as someone who has all the other stuff. Um, I really, this, the discrepancy really comes down to game knowledge and decision making in those turns.

[01:09:34] And that's something that can only be acquired through playing. Um, and so that it does, it does, it does feel pretty good for them. Fucking competitive Pokemon is, is kind of almost like poker in a way where you have to, you have to, you have to boil down every possible decision that your opponent could make. And then your reaction to it. Like I, I, I stopped playing a millennia ago.

[01:10:02] I feel like back in the sun and moon days, but, um, you would constantly think like when it, when it got to that point where you knocked out a Pokemon and they're, they're choosing someone to send out. It's like, shit. Well, fuck, who do I, who do I throw in? What if they stone edge this? What if they, yeah, I love that so much about competitive Pokemon. Like there's just so much, so much strategy and so much complexity and depth to Pokemon that you really don't see in the,

[01:10:31] the normal games. And it's, it's awesome. You, it's one of those things that it's like anybody, people want to say like the mainline Pokemon games are too easy. Like sure. Absolutely. Like, you know, they don't actually make it tough as nails. Like they do design it for children to be able to get through given enough, you know, time, but you can't say that that system isn't complex. Like there's so much going on. It's just that like, it doesn't get,

[01:10:57] there's nowhere that in the games that highlight it as much as like the competitive format. When you get into that, when you are playing, like, especially in doubles when, so that all the moves, like including like helping hand and these other, like targeting your partner moves actually matter. It's so complex.

[01:11:19] There's so much depth into that system that I think that what's been cool to see as a Pokemon fan, but also someone who's been watching competitive is you're, because of the ease of access of champions. You're seeing a lot of people who are kind of like, like competitive games, but never wanted to get into competitive Pokemon because of the barrier to entry with having to build,

[01:11:47] like the amount of time needed to build teams are now getting into it. So a lot of Pokemon content creators who focus on battle content that I watch, they're now training or coaching or jumping onto streams or collabing with very popular content creators, like really well-known popular content creators. And those content creators are still playing in their own time or doing live streams with it,

[01:12:17] even after like the, the hype's died down. So it's like the interest is there. The fun is there. And yeah, I really like it. I think it's great. Woohoo, Pokemon.

[01:12:47] Okay. So I am known to play a thousand games at once. It's all right. I'm not actually playing that many right now. I was playing a handful of them, but I've been beating them. Like I beat Resident Evil nine. And then, and I jumped into post trauma, which was not a good game. I think it wanted to be better than that. That's a whole,

[01:13:16] as a whole ass bag of McDonald's. I just seen coming through the, that's. It wasn't subtle. No. It got here way sooner than I thought. I thought it was going to be longer. But yeah, I am. I've been playing though. I've been playing that Saros. That's Saros. Saros is, I would say a nearly perfect follow-up to Returnal. Cool.

[01:13:46] It's not as good as Returnal in some ways, but not all. It's way better than Returnal in a lot of different ways though. Like I was saying earlier to you guys is that it's way more accessible. Like I truly think that either one of you could pick up Saros now and like get it. Like you could, you, it would click and you'd be like, okay, this is, this is, it's tough. Don't get me wrong.

[01:14:14] It's fucking really tough. But you, you feel like there's progression. Even when you die, you feel like there's progression, which is good. And it also does like the things that Returnal did with like the, it's so, if you don't know, Returnal is like, it's a roguelike, but it also sort of has like Metroidvania kind of vibes to it. Where like you'll,

[01:14:44] as you progress, you'll unlock like a new weapon or power up and you'll be like, oh shit, I can grapple shit. Now I can grapple onto that fucking ledge. So then like when you start over, you're like, oh, I didn't realize I could go up there in the first biome. Like now I can like grapple all the way up there. And then you'll go up there and be like, oh shit. There's like, there's a, like a decent, like power up and like health up here. So like Saros does that.

[01:15:13] But the way that Saros is mapped out, you don't have to do a continuous run like you had to do in Returnal. Like Returnal was brutal. That game was insane. Like a, a one and run was like an hour and 40 minutes. Fuck that. Like set aside some fucking time. Cause you're going to be locked in for a minute. Almost as long as one. Whereas like. Power crawlers for me.

[01:15:43] Right. But the thing with Returnal was like, there was not really any way for you to. Like to be like, okay, I'm, I'm like halfway through this, like pretty intense run. I'm just going to like save here or like pause it. Nope. There's none of that. It's a roguelike. So get fucked. Whereas Saros, a typical run in Saros for me is about 30 minutes. Nice. That's way better. Nice crisp. 30 minutes.

[01:16:12] Crisp 30 minutes. And like, once you start to like power and like, don't even get me started on this skill tree. Oh my God. The skill tree is so good. And like, there's, you know, you have like your, your main currency that you get. And when you die, it, I think there's like a penalty. I think it starts off. It's 50%. So like if you, if you have a thousand on you, when you die, you,

[01:16:41] you maintain 500, but in the skill tree, eventually you can unlock nodes that are like, lose less when you die. And I think you can get it down to like, you only lose like 10% when you die. So like, the more that you progress in the game, the more that you actually feel bad-ass. But then like, I got to, I think it was maybe the third or fourth biome. And I hit a fucking brick wall. And I was like, what the hell is going on with this biome? Like,

[01:17:11] why am I fucking up so bad here? Like, this is crazy. And what it was, I had to, like, I got so used to using one type of weapon, which was the, uh, the shotgun. I got really used to using the shotgun and the shotgun was really good. And it was good for like being up in like the monsters, like faces and just being like, kablam, kablam, kablam. And then bounce out of there. The enemies changed a lot in that biome.

[01:17:39] And the biome also had poison. So like there, it was a lot of shit going on. I then discovered that there were like different modifications to the same kind of guns. And one of the guns has, um, a feature called smart aiming. So it auto locks. So I was able to focus on the crazy amount of bullet hell that was going on and just hold the trigger and time my reloads.

[01:18:09] Like it changed. It was almost like I had to change how I thought about approaching that biome with a different like setup. And again, what I think would be interesting is like, if either of you played it, you'd probably be like, Oh, I, I didn't use that at all for that biome. I totally went this route. Like I went with this weapon and this special weapon. Um, because I, I feel like the way that this game can be played,

[01:18:36] it's kind of how you want to play the game. And like, do you want to try to be the person that uses a shield a lot? And because like you can absorb certain color orbs and it converts into power energy to use your special items. So like, I don't use that as much as I probably should. But what I usually do is I'll focus on getting a weapon that has,

[01:19:05] um, I think it's called power, um, enter or like power something. Oh, a power generator. And what that does is the more that you use the weapon, the more it actually builds up your, your power for your specials. So like I ended up getting like a crazy combo of like just unloading like a, an automatic weapon that has like a high clip and high rate of fire so that my power is just constantly going up. And then I'm like, kablam, kablam,

[01:19:34] like shooting crazy shit at these guys. The other cool thing that this does is when you go into a biome at certain points, you'll need to, um, kind of, it's almost like you turn the level to like the dark world and it like switches the level. The problem with that is the yellow orbs. Then when they hit you, they do corruption. So like, say if your health bar is this big, you have corruption and you can't,

[01:20:03] you can't get that back. The only way you can get that back is by using your power moves or eventually you get like different unlocks. I won't say what they are exactly, but there's other methods to get rid of corruption, but it becomes a problem. And then it also becomes a thing where like you can only progress in a lot of the biomes and after you've activated the dark world. That's usually like when you go fight the boss, like you're usually fighting the boss in the dark world.

[01:20:33] Um, so there's, there's a lot of depth to the game. And I think the game is about 20 hours long, like ish. If you're just kind of mainlining it, I'm probably going to land around 25 to 30. If I had to make a guess. Oh, that's a huge difference. Yeah. So I'm, I'm going to, you know, I I've been going back and doing like long runs, starting at like the first biome and like trucking through. Cause like,

[01:21:01] you can literally like get that first boss. Cape, keep going to the next biome. Okay. Now we're onto the next boss. And eventually you do unlock like a second chance where like, if you die, you get brought back to life like one time. Um, and my rule is kind of like, okay, I'll do like a full run until I've used my second chance. And then it's like, okay, now I got to play it safe. And then I'll usually try to duck out before I die so that I can like maintain all of the currency that I have.

[01:21:31] But again, what I'll say about it is that if you thought that returnal was a really cool game, but it was just too difficult or like, you just didn't have the time to sink into that thing. I get it. Totally get it. I'm surprised that I beat it. Um, or if you just really like the idea of there being a triple a roguelike, cause that's kind of what this is, right? Like this is, this is a triple a roguelike. Um, cause it does all the things, man. It's like you clear a room and then it's like,

[01:22:01] Oh, cool. Here's a, here's a weapon upgrader. Here's a, here's a new buff. Like it's, it does the thing that you want it to do. Um, but it's got a lot of money thrown at it that I hope they make back. Fingers crossed. Um, so yeah, go check out Sarah. It's, I've been playing a bunch of night rain with Greg. That's been a ton of fun. Um, I've, I'm also almost through super meat boy 3d.

[01:22:30] This game is super good. It's, it is just, it's, they've managed to make super meat boy and then make it 3d. It's that like, if you like super meat boy, yeah, if you, it's like Mario 3d world, but like with super meat boy, that's the best way that I can describe it. And it's hard as fuck. It's super hard. But like, if you like super meat boy at all, you got to play this because it's, it's, it's like that,

[01:23:00] but better in some ways. It's really good. Good. Really good time. Eventually. And then I don't think, well, I played vampire crawlers, uh, beat that. I think that's, Oh, there was another game that I've been playing with my friends. Beth and I have been playing some balladins. Oh, I was like, what is a ton of fun? It's so fucking fun. Yeah,

[01:23:29] but we, we can't leave Aaron out anymore. I know. We've been trying to get him to play the damn game with us, but he won't stop playing super Nintendo games. They good though. They good. I'm just kidding. And what was, um, what hit me up next time you want to play and I'll play. I will. We will hit you all the way up. And Jerry. Yeah. Do it before we start. Cause last time, uh, last time you and Jerry played, um,

[01:24:00] we were like, Oh, we were like, let's play tonight. Let's get Aaron in on this. And then like four hours passed. And you started, we started playing and I was like, is Aaron coming? And Jerry's like, Oh, I haven't asked him yet. And I'm like, Oh, it's like 10 o'clock at night for him. Let him ask. Like, why would you? So here's the whole issue. Usually in the evenings, usually I,

[01:24:27] I turn my brain way down low, like way down. I'm talking like almost all the way off. Like slow mode. Yeah. Like, so sometimes, yeah, it's not, uh, Beth, you will have to, yeah, I guess I will have to take that on. You will have to take responsibility. Yeah. I'll, uh, also need to get Beth and Greg on some Diablo four. Cause it's really fucking good now.

[01:24:56] It's, it's so much better now. I mean, I own that expansion. I, I just need to, I did. I didn't know it was out. No one, they didn't tell me. They didn't let me know. Didn't have Blizzard knocking on my door. Let me know. Yeah. Hello, Gregory, a new expansion is out. And then they run away. That guy's fun. Um, real quick before we get into the random racks, what's the next target on everybody's list right now? I'll,

[01:25:26] I'll quickly say, what's a good segment? Uh, Pragmata is the next one for me. I'm starting it probably as soon as I finished Sarah's. Yeah. And I can't wait. Cause I've only heard really good things. Nice. Uh, I need Greg to play that game. What? Pragmata? Yeah. Why? Cause I need you to text me and be like, I cry. Oh, I could tell you without him playing it.

[01:25:56] That would happen. I know that's what, but I want you to, I want that in the moment. Like that's what I, you know, I want. Wait, is that game sad? Am I going to cry? No. Okay. It just, it just, it's just my connection to childlike things. I'd be like, Oh yeah. Oh, the child, the child. Why are you so cute child? I don't want children. Her dance is so good. I was going to say,

[01:26:25] I don't want a little dance. I have, I am not, I don't have maternal instincts. When I see Diana get excited and break, put up that picture. Uh, and every time someone reacts to it, I'm like, what a sweet angel baby. be Capcom was like, Beth Scott, baby. Government will fix the birth rate. We will. Yeah. Right. I was like, Oh my God. Capcom's getting me with this. Like,

[01:26:55] I don't want kids. Um, so that's it. I want Greg to play. I want me to play. And I'm going to, I'm going to play it very soon. I want to play that too. But the, the game club is doing earthworm gym 3d for our, uh, for our annual shitty games month in may. And yeah, it's so, it sucks, man. It sucks so bad. I got through the first level and I fucking hate it. I hate everything. The game is fucking garbage, dude. I was going to say,

[01:27:25] you just physically hurt Jerry. When you said the name, we did. Um, the fact that you play that before you play resident evil nine. Well, it's free. It's fucking free. So number one, I can just download a ROM and play it. It's free. Number two, uh, Steve from fine time. He bought me a copy or he bought me a copy on gog, uh, earthworm gym 3d on gog. He bought a copy of that game on God. He bought it on gog.

[01:27:55] Um, so yeah, buy me resident evil and I'll fucking play it. No, you won't. I've, I bought you a game. I will. No, you'll play it for like three or four hours. And then you'd be like, dude, but then, but then the Sega Genesis game was really calling my name. No, if it's resident evil, I'll play all the way through. They, they just, they have that, that thing to them. I mean, Capcom doesn't fucking miss if it's Capcom. I'm going to play. I'm going to play true with. Yeah.

[01:28:24] They're in a whole other. Like, yeah, like the past. They're, they're really knocking it out lately. Like they are the triple a for me. Like that's the one, like outside of like, Sony games, like Capcom is like the one that I think about that. I'm like, Oh, Capcom is making that game. That's going to be a good game. And kudos to them for putting out a new fucking IP in 2026, man. Yeah, that's cool. And it did well, like, yeah,

[01:28:54] did well reviewed very well. And like that game, again, I hate to say and use like this kind of terminology, but like that game had every, every right to fail. Really? I mean, Jesus Christ. It got announced when, before the PS five came out. Yeah. It's been a long time. I think it, it was, it was either at the end of, like the last,

[01:29:24] I feel like it was either the last Sony showcase of the PS four era, or it was in that, that reveal, like the PS five thing where it was like, here are all the games coming out in the, like this year type thing. Right. Jesus. So it was one of those two things. Cause it was either like literally right before the five or that. Um, it was like, I'm still waiting for dude. I'm still waiting for deep down. Oh, I was like, and little devil. That's never coming. Cherry. Do you remember that?

[01:29:53] People said that about pragmata, that it was never coming. And then. Yeah. It came true. True. I guess so. What's, uh, what's, what's next on everybody's list? I mean, you guys targeting the ability to play a video game. Yeah. And Greg, Greg needs to start catching up in final fantasy 14. So I can do those raids. Yeah, I know. Oh my gosh. I got so much. Greg's busy.

[01:30:22] Give the guy a break. Greg's busy, but 14. 14. I will one day find the time. I will one day find the time. I think my, my, I understand. Because I have to, I have to game in segments. Like, uh, maybe the next thing I'll, I'll knock out is, uh, uh, well, I'll load up some path to Empress and we can, uh, yeah, true. That will be fun. Try to try to get her to Empress.

[01:30:51] To get her to Empress. I, I'm so interested. I'm so curious about that. I tried it a few times. And the first time I got her forehead, like branded and she got exiled. The second time I got her just like, what is this fucking game? I, I've been hearing people like, um, so I'm not sure. I don't know. What I do know is that it's one of those games that people, um,

[01:31:19] online beg streamers to play. It's an FM, it's an FM game. Right. And you play as basically a, uh, this, this, uh, this woman who starts as a handmaid and it's, it, it, it's like, it goes through and it's like, okay, uh, you're in line waiting for this, this lady. What are you going to, uh, to do and use some options and you choose one? Like this seems safe. And then it's not safe. And you get your forehead branded. I think it'd be so, so silly. Absolutely.

[01:31:50] This, uh, this description for the game is something else. You've never played a game like this before. Road to Empress. Capital. I is a cinematic palace adventure where your choices decide everyone's fate, tackle multiple story branches with a high mortality rate with charm, wisdom, and courage. First dot, dot, dot survive. That is true. First, you got to survive because it's perilous out there. It's perilous. Oh, the capital. I was a one.

[01:32:20] I'm going to, Oh my God, this game is on 25% off right now. We'll definitely get that. Yeah, we'll be getting that. I own that motherfucker. That'd be a good one. Yup. Um, all right. Well, I guess we'll get into random wrecks and get the hell out of here. Random. Recommendated. Yeah. Go Greg. Give us your random recommended thing. I recommend that everyone go at least try out the demo of heroes and might, magic, old and era.

[01:32:50] It is so good. It's got a robust tutorial. So if you don't know what you're doing, it'll walk through literally every step of the way. It is sensational. And one of my favorite game series of all time is back. Heck. Yeah. It's back. baby. Yep. Same brain. Same brain. Beth, what you got? Beth. Oh shit. I will say, uh, play. Uh, play the trails in the sky. First chapter remake.

[01:33:20] Um, I've only ever heard good things about that. I need to. Yeah. It's such a good series, but I think in general, if you don't even, you're kind of like intimidated by how many games are and, and it's, you know, cause it is the continuity is continuous. Um, even just playing, um, sky first chapter and second chapter, uh, is just a great experience on its own. And then if you really like it, you can keep going. But, um,

[01:33:50] first chapter it's been out for a year. So maybe there'll be some discounts and, um, second chapter is coming out this year. So what better time than now to get into. What a time to be alive. What a time. What a time to be alive. You know what, Jerry? What a time to be alive. What a time to be alive. There's never been a better scene in the RF cable. What a time to be alive. What a time. It sounded like a robot with that one.

[01:34:18] There's raccoons all over Toronto. No, lots of study. Aaron, what do you got, dude? I think everybody needs to go play a bomber man game. I don't give a fuck which one you pick. Um, preferably any of the super bomber man's or 64, dude. It's what's up. 64 is good. Fuck it. That's it. Blue place is bomber man. 64. It's actually good.

[01:34:47] It's fucking really good. It is that or Saturn bomber man. Just go pick. Saturn bomber man is real good, dude. Especially in co-op. Good fucking music too, man. Super fun. Yeah. Using a bar man. It's crazy. Um, I was, I was going to recommend, uh, a game obviously, cause I got a billion of them, but I also need to say this. I need to say it out loud and I need to say it on the air. This is a TV show. I gotta,

[01:35:17] I gotta tell people to watch real quick. Say it loud. Say it proud. So once again, Apple TV has not missed very many times. Um, the majority of their fucking shows are insanely good. This is no different. Widow's Bay is one of the fucking coolest shows I've seen in a while. It's like, it's, it's a, it's a comedy. It's funny as hell. I think one of the show runners of, uh, parks and rec is one of the like main writers on this,

[01:35:46] but it's a horror show. That's actually legit fucking scary too. But also you go from like laughing hysterically to being like, what the fuck? Oh my God. Like it is wild. It is so crazy. Totally random. Fully random. Is it like, do you remember that show called Harper's Island? It's, I, I don't know. It's on an Island.

[01:36:15] It takes place on an Island and it's basically like monster of the week. There's like all this crazy shit that happens on this Island. And like the mayor is the main character played by Matthew rice, who was, uh, he was like the main character in the Americans. He was fantastic in the Americans. Um, so he's the mayor and he's like desperately trying to get like tourism on this Island. But like all the town folk are like crazy and just like drunks and like, like they're always like, he'll be like,

[01:36:45] yeah, like, uh, you know, we'll, we'll, we'll make it so that the hospital's nice. And they're like, yeah, you can, you can drive by the hospital. You just can't stop. And he's like, you absolutely can stop at the hospital. That's the point of the hospital. And they're like, you're not supposed to stop at the hospital. Hospital's haunted. And he's like, don't fucking tell people this. Like, and it's like all these like different crazy things. Like that's kind of every, sorry. It was like if, uh, Buffy, the vampire slayer was from the POV of the mayor. And he's like, ah, my city's on the hell now.

[01:37:16] Yeah. And like how anybody that's born on the Island, leave the Island, like they die. Like they, they have heart attacks or something. And then like, there's like all, it's like a lot of like old, like fishing, fishermen lore. And like, you know, like mermaids and fucking like sirens and stuff like that. Like it is very, very good. And I will say the, the, I think it's the third, third episode. Anyways,

[01:37:44] there's an episode with a hag and it is fucked. It is fucked. Super, super spooky, but also insane. Like you go literally from being terrified and like tense and like not even taking a breath to then immediately. I was like crying. I was laughing so hard. Like it's one of those kinds of, it's kind of like, it's kind of like evil dead. Maybe that's why I like it so much. It's kind of like evil dead.

[01:38:14] It's kind of goofy, but then it's also like kind of spooky. Let's go check that out. And then if you want to play a game, uh, play Carpathian night starring Bella Lugosi, which is a classic Vania. It's like a new classic Vania. It's just straight up like an eight bit looking Castlevania game. And, uh, it's, it's good. It's a, it's a good time. If you just want a good old classic Vania, go check it out.

[01:38:45] And that's it. Fantastic. I ended off with the burp. Aaron, Aaron, get us, get us out of here, dude. Like put it in drive pedal to the metal. Yeah. Well, people go check out the new site. We got a new site. Uh, it's got the podcast on there. It's got the, uh, it's got all of our videos on there. There's a page for all the shows. You can check out all the shows, taste test them a little bit, give them a little,

[01:39:13] like little sniff tests and everything. But, uh, all those RFK workout videos on there. Yeah. Oh, those are, those are good. Those are sweating in your jeans. It's like a Richard Simmons workout video, but RFK. But, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, it's still on a fucking treadmill. God, what a terrifying fucking thought. yeah. Super ghost outside.

[01:39:42] Literally everything's there. You can still read about us if you want. It's all there. You can read. Yeah. Now check out YouTube. We're doing so many changes. Yeah. Check out our YouTube for, for the love of Pete. I don't know who Pete is. Pete Davidson. I don't know, but go for the love of, for the love of Pete Davidson. Go check out our YouTube for fuck's sake. God damn. Good shit. Yeah. There's some good shit. And there's going to be lots more. There's going to be tons more. There's lots where it came from. Um,

[01:40:13] and we're going to, we got, we got some, we got some, we got some cool ideas. Got some cool ideas. I'm going to play those FMV games. All right. That that's going to do it. That's going to do it for the, the monthly podcast of super ghost. There it is. We did it. Yeah. We can all retire now. Oh, retire. All right. All right. Everybody say bye. Bye. Bye. Bye.