Flock (+ Arco First Impressions)

[00:00:11] [SPEAKER_02]: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to another episode of the Pre-Order Bonus podcast.

[00:00:14] [SPEAKER_02]: I'm one of your hosts, Cameron Warren, and I'm joined as always by the Pixel Professor

[00:00:20] [SPEAKER_02]: Jacob Price.

[00:00:22] [SPEAKER_02]: It is August 14th, 2024.

[00:00:25] [SPEAKER_02]: We're doing close together back to back episodes because Jake is going on vacation.

[00:00:31] [SPEAKER_02]: I think I had COVID so we missed an episode and then we had to do another episode.

[00:00:35] [SPEAKER_02]: So we're doing tons of content.

[00:00:36] [SPEAKER_02]: We're doing so much content this week, Jake.

[00:00:38] [SPEAKER_01]: It's a lot of content and last night I just recorded the Indie Impressions episode for

[00:00:43] [SPEAKER_01]: this week.

[00:00:44] [SPEAKER_02]: Oh my goodness, even more content.

[00:00:46] [SPEAKER_02]: Holy crap.

[00:00:47] [SPEAKER_01]: So much content coming from the Pre-Order Bonus podcast, Content Kings over here.

[00:00:55] [SPEAKER_02]: Well guys, yes, patreon.com slash period or cast.

[00:00:57] [SPEAKER_02]: It's calling your name.

[00:00:58] [SPEAKER_02]: Go check it out.

[00:00:59] [SPEAKER_02]: We've got people signing up.

[00:01:01] [SPEAKER_02]: We have new somebody to sign up today.

[00:01:03] [SPEAKER_02]: Jake five dollar tier digital deluxe edition.

[00:01:06] [SPEAKER_02]: They're getting early access to all of our regular episodes plus extended editions, which

[00:01:11] [SPEAKER_02]: we're going to be doing an extended edition on this one.

[00:01:13] [SPEAKER_02]: So you're going to get access to that if you sign up on Patreon and that it's going

[00:01:18] [SPEAKER_02]: to be dope because we're going to be talking about Game Pass.

[00:01:21] [SPEAKER_02]: You got to check that out.

[00:01:22] [SPEAKER_02]: Patreon.com.

[00:01:23] [SPEAKER_02]: That's like that's probably the best way to support us right now.

[00:01:25] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.

[00:01:25] [SPEAKER_02]: Besides leaving review because the more reviews we get, we get more people to

[00:01:29] [SPEAKER_02]: listen to the show.

[00:01:30] [SPEAKER_02]: But super quick.

[00:01:33] [SPEAKER_02]: And since the last day that we talked about this, Gamescom is coming up next

[00:01:41] [SPEAKER_02]: Tuesday. Jake, are you excited to hear all the latest news about the newest

[00:01:45] [SPEAKER_02]: lawnmower simulator?

[00:01:48] [SPEAKER_01]: Did you have we did not plan this, but I do lawnmower simulator was on sale

[00:01:53] [SPEAKER_01]: for like four bucks and I bought it.

[00:01:56] [SPEAKER_01]: No, really?

[00:01:57] [SPEAKER_01]: Did my kid.

[00:01:59] [SPEAKER_02]: You should have told me that four bucks.

[00:02:00] [SPEAKER_02]: That's a steal.

[00:02:01] [SPEAKER_01]: It is a steal.

[00:02:03] [SPEAKER_01]: And maybe this is like my dirty little secret in gaming.

[00:02:08] [SPEAKER_01]: But like some of those sim games like power washing sim, like, dude, they

[00:02:13] [SPEAKER_01]: scratch an itch.

[00:02:15] [SPEAKER_01]: I don't get to play them all that often, but there's just something about

[00:02:18] [SPEAKER_01]: being able to like very neatly, tidily clean up a location or make it look

[00:02:25] [SPEAKER_01]: pristine.

[00:02:26] [SPEAKER_01]: That just in the most like, like the case of lawn mowing sim, like you have

[00:02:30] [SPEAKER_01]: to adjust the blade height on the lawnmower.

[00:02:33] [SPEAKER_01]: Like you can't just mow the lawn.

[00:02:35] [SPEAKER_01]: You have to adjust the blade height.

[00:02:37] [SPEAKER_01]: You have to account for things like that.

[00:02:39] [SPEAKER_01]: But there's just something so sickly satisfying and like completing a lawn.

[00:02:46] [SPEAKER_02]: So, so I in the last two weeks, I've been I dipped back into Factorio.

[00:02:56] [SPEAKER_02]: Oh, nice.

[00:02:57] [SPEAKER_02]: So long those are these same lines.

[00:03:02] [SPEAKER_02]: For whatever reason, the enormous stress of managing a incredible amount

[00:03:10] [SPEAKER_02]: of like lines of production and automation is it like flexes a muscle that

[00:03:17] [SPEAKER_02]: is very satisfying.

[00:03:20] [SPEAKER_02]: And it's the same muscle that I kind of flex at work.

[00:03:23] [SPEAKER_02]: OK, so I have to be in the right mood because in my job, that's like

[00:03:28] [SPEAKER_02]: a lot of what I'm doing.

[00:03:29] [SPEAKER_02]: I'm building like pipelines for data.

[00:03:31] [SPEAKER_02]: And a lot of times it's like, how do they converge?

[00:03:33] [SPEAKER_02]: And how do you get stuff to like work together with code in the game?

[00:03:37] [SPEAKER_02]: It's it's kind of like a similar thing.

[00:03:39] [SPEAKER_02]: It's like I have to be in the right mood because I can end up playing it

[00:03:41] [SPEAKER_02]: and feel like I'm why am I working right now?

[00:03:43] [SPEAKER_02]: I don't I don't understand that.

[00:03:45] [SPEAKER_02]: But yeah, dude, lawnmower simulator.

[00:03:47] [SPEAKER_02]: I could see that I could see it.

[00:03:50] [SPEAKER_02]: You know what I'm saying?

[00:03:50] [SPEAKER_02]: I could see that being a thing.

[00:03:52] [SPEAKER_01]: Something about that is satisfying.

[00:03:54] [SPEAKER_01]: But Gamescom, I actually have just because work is really consume me right now.

[00:03:59] [SPEAKER_01]: I have my summer term ending and then I'm starting the fall term very shortly.

[00:04:04] [SPEAKER_01]: And so this this is like a crunch period.

[00:04:06] [SPEAKER_01]: I haven't been really paying attention a lot to what's supposed

[00:04:10] [SPEAKER_01]: to be coming in Gamescom.

[00:04:11] [SPEAKER_01]: I think the only thing I saw was that we're supposed to get another kind

[00:04:15] [SPEAKER_01]: of deep look at Indiana Jones and the Great Circle.

[00:04:18] [SPEAKER_01]: And with avowed being delayed to February 2025, I'm feeling more

[00:04:23] [SPEAKER_01]: and more confident that that Indiana Jones game is coming the end of 2024.

[00:04:29] [SPEAKER_02]: So a game that I'm bullish on is also going to be showcased

[00:04:32] [SPEAKER_02]: Gamescom that everybody has forgotten about is Towerborn.

[00:04:37] [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, that game.

[00:04:40] [SPEAKER_02]: Yes, Towerborn is a game pass game still supposedly maybe coming this year, I hope.

[00:04:47] [SPEAKER_02]: But the reason I'm excited for it is because it's a super dope looking

[00:04:51] [SPEAKER_02]: co-op modern beat this the pitches.

[00:04:55] [SPEAKER_02]: We made a beat them up for 2024 in like a fantasy setting.

[00:05:01] [SPEAKER_02]: And so it looks super cool anyway.

[00:05:04] [SPEAKER_02]: So they're finally showcasing that at Gamescom.

[00:05:08] [SPEAKER_02]: But anyway, we made the joke about lawnmower simulator because if you don't know,

[00:05:11] [SPEAKER_02]: if you listen to this show, you probably know already.

[00:05:14] [SPEAKER_02]: But Gamescom being in Germany, the German folk.

[00:05:20] [SPEAKER_02]: Shout out to Stefan. Yeah, long time.

[00:05:22] [SPEAKER_02]: All of the podcasts love the.

[00:05:27] [SPEAKER_02]: What was this category of games called Jake Simulators?

[00:05:30] [SPEAKER_01]: Simulation, I'd say.

[00:05:32] [SPEAKER_02]: It's like lawnmower simulator,

[00:05:36] [SPEAKER_02]: European truck, long haul truck driver simulator.

[00:05:42] [SPEAKER_02]: Dude, it keeps going.

[00:05:44] [SPEAKER_02]: Pull the list.

[00:05:46] [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, there's that reminds me because Cameron

[00:05:50] [SPEAKER_01]: tried to get me into what was that one snow runner game.

[00:05:54] [SPEAKER_01]: Is that what it's called?

[00:05:56] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, that's one of SnowRunner.

[00:05:58] [SPEAKER_02]: That's that's one of them.

[00:06:00] [SPEAKER_02]: You know, you know what I mean?

[00:06:01] [SPEAKER_01]: All right. Have you seen this game?

[00:06:03] [SPEAKER_01]: It's another one of those trucking games, but it takes place in space.

[00:06:09] [SPEAKER_02]: Shoot. What is it?

[00:06:10] [SPEAKER_02]: Oh, yeah, I play that space space truckers.

[00:06:12] [SPEAKER_02]: It's coming out. Star trucker.

[00:06:15] [SPEAKER_02]: Maybe star trucker. Yes.

[00:06:17] [SPEAKER_02]: It's like the trucking.

[00:06:20] [SPEAKER_02]: Games, but in space.

[00:06:23] [SPEAKER_01]: Did I got Cameron was like, Jake, you got it.

[00:06:26] [SPEAKER_01]: You got to do this snow runner game.

[00:06:29] [SPEAKER_01]: And I tried it in 20 minutes.

[00:06:31] [SPEAKER_01]: I rage quit.

[00:06:33] [SPEAKER_01]: I was so bad and I managed to like

[00:06:38] [SPEAKER_01]: drive my truck into a ditch.

[00:06:40] [SPEAKER_01]: And so I'm trying to set up the winch to like get out.

[00:06:43] [SPEAKER_01]: And I was like, screw this game.

[00:06:46] [SPEAKER_02]: But, you know, there's some do once you get out of that ditch,

[00:06:49] [SPEAKER_02]: though, there's something so satisfying to be like, dude,

[00:06:52] [SPEAKER_02]: I got out of the ditch.

[00:06:53] [SPEAKER_02]: Listen, I'm crazy at video games.

[00:06:55] [SPEAKER_01]: Star trucker doesn't have ditches because there's no ditches in space.

[00:06:59] [SPEAKER_01]: So I'm more willing to give star trucker

[00:07:03] [SPEAKER_01]: a try as another foray into the genre.

[00:07:06] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I feel like

[00:07:08] [SPEAKER_02]: Kerbal Space Program is kind of in this Microsoft flight.

[00:07:14] [SPEAKER_01]: They're just like management Sims, right?

[00:07:16] [SPEAKER_01]: Like in addition to just being like simulators, right?

[00:07:19] [SPEAKER_01]: You have to manage a lot of things.

[00:07:20] [SPEAKER_01]: There's always a lot of buttons to push and things to think about

[00:07:24] [SPEAKER_01]: when you're playing these games like PowerWash Simulator.

[00:07:27] [SPEAKER_01]: Like I was thinking about nozzle types a lot with different materials

[00:07:31] [SPEAKER_01]: that I'm trying to hose down to clean an area.

[00:07:34] [SPEAKER_02]: Euro Truck Simulator 2.

[00:07:38] [SPEAKER_02]: There's only train simulator.

[00:07:40] [SPEAKER_01]: OK, there's got to be like 15 of those.

[00:07:42] [SPEAKER_02]: Some of these border officer Internet Cafe.

[00:07:47] [SPEAKER_01]: Border officer is this like Papers, Please, but

[00:07:50] [SPEAKER_02]: I'm sure there's like sailboat simulator.

[00:07:53] [SPEAKER_02]: There's anything and everything you can imagine anyway.

[00:07:56] [SPEAKER_02]: Lawnmower simulator Gordon Ramsey, Chef Simulator.

[00:08:00] [SPEAKER_02]: There's actually there's a funny Instagram

[00:08:03] [SPEAKER_02]: slash TikTok that I've seen going around of a guy with a full blown

[00:08:11] [SPEAKER_02]: full blown like.

[00:08:14] [SPEAKER_02]: Sim setup in his house for

[00:08:18] [SPEAKER_02]: lawnmower simulator with like an industrial

[00:08:21] [SPEAKER_02]: and it shows him like driving like the industrial lawnmower anyway.

[00:08:24] [SPEAKER_01]: Like in his office, like at the desktop.

[00:08:27] [SPEAKER_01]: There's just yeah.

[00:08:28] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, he is just he's just mowing that beautiful lawn.

[00:08:34] [SPEAKER_02]: Anyways, yeah, gamescom should be fun.

[00:08:36] [SPEAKER_02]: There's not going to be anything like crazy announced.

[00:08:39] [SPEAKER_02]: We're not going to do like predictions or anything, but it's always fun.

[00:08:42] [SPEAKER_02]: It's going to be on Tuesday during a workday.

[00:08:44] [SPEAKER_02]: So don't give me an excuse to ignore work for like an hour and a half.

[00:08:47] [SPEAKER_01]: Well, I was just going to say you said that you use

[00:08:48] [SPEAKER_01]: the same part of your brain as in work as you do with factorials.

[00:08:52] [SPEAKER_01]: So by that logic transitive property, shouldn't you be able to play

[00:08:55] [SPEAKER_01]: factorial and company time to keep your brain strong for the work that you do?

[00:09:01] [SPEAKER_02]: I mean, honestly, like

[00:09:04] [SPEAKER_02]: factorial should be like a high school

[00:09:07] [SPEAKER_02]: course, and I'm not joking because it teaches you

[00:09:12] [SPEAKER_02]: like how to build systems and how to get like really good

[00:09:15] [SPEAKER_02]: at building systems that are self-sufficient.

[00:09:18] [SPEAKER_02]: And that is a really interesting like part of your brain

[00:09:22] [SPEAKER_02]: I feel like a lot of people like don't tap that makes you better at a lot of stuff.

[00:09:28] [SPEAKER_02]: So if you can figure out if you can get like really good at making self

[00:09:33] [SPEAKER_02]: like self reliant systems like automation.

[00:09:37] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, you're going to be really good, like better at everything you do.

[00:09:41] [SPEAKER_01]: OK, anyway, OK, ranch for a second.

[00:09:44] [SPEAKER_01]: That was a good pitch.

[00:09:45] [SPEAKER_01]: That was a pretty local high school.

[00:09:47] [SPEAKER_02]: I'm going to be teaching the fact that the truth is,

[00:09:50] [SPEAKER_02]: I'm not very good at these games to be.

[00:09:52] [SPEAKER_02]: I'm like not very good at them.

[00:09:53] [SPEAKER_02]: I I just probably because it just it takes an amount of energy.

[00:09:57] [SPEAKER_02]: I'm not willing to put in, but that's amazing.

[00:10:02] [SPEAKER_02]: Well, Jake, that was a good side note.

[00:10:05] [SPEAKER_02]: We already kind of talked again.

[00:10:06] [SPEAKER_02]: These are going to be these episodes are going to be close together

[00:10:09] [SPEAKER_02]: in release, I think.

[00:10:11] [SPEAKER_02]: I think we're just going to split them like a few days apart.

[00:10:12] [SPEAKER_02]: So we can already talk about what we've been playing.

[00:10:15] [SPEAKER_02]: I haven't played anything new since we last talked

[00:10:17] [SPEAKER_02]: and have more boulders gate three, obviously, but you already knew that.

[00:10:19] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah. But what we do is I was going to say, I haven't played anything

[00:10:23] [SPEAKER_01]: else really new either just because I've been so busy with work.

[00:10:27] [SPEAKER_01]: But I was I think I think you're about to segue into what I was about

[00:10:30] [SPEAKER_01]: to segue. I want. Yes.

[00:10:32] [SPEAKER_01]: We got we got some good news, folks.

[00:10:34] [SPEAKER_01]: I was actually really excited about this.

[00:10:36] [SPEAKER_01]: And so the devs behind the game are Arco.

[00:10:40] [SPEAKER_01]: They sent us some review keys for Arco a few days ago.

[00:10:44] [SPEAKER_01]: And so we have been playing through it.

[00:10:47] [SPEAKER_01]: This is a game that I was going to get anyway,

[00:10:49] [SPEAKER_01]: just because it's a Latin American dev team.

[00:10:55] [SPEAKER_01]: It's a very, very cool pixel art.

[00:10:57] [SPEAKER_01]: And so I've been playing a bit of it.

[00:10:59] [SPEAKER_01]: I know Cameron's been playing a bit of it.

[00:11:01] [SPEAKER_01]: And so what we're going to do is the game actually comes out on August 15th.

[00:11:05] [SPEAKER_01]: So by the time you hear this, maybe the game's already out.

[00:11:08] [SPEAKER_01]: But we wanted to give you a little bit of just insight of our

[00:11:12] [SPEAKER_01]: just initial impressions playing Arco.

[00:11:14] [SPEAKER_01]: So what have you thought about just the beginning of Arco

[00:11:17] [SPEAKER_01]: as you've been playing through it?

[00:11:22] [SPEAKER_02]: Uh, flashback vibes to like.

[00:11:28] [SPEAKER_02]: I mean, this isn't the type of game it is, but when I opened it up,

[00:11:31] [SPEAKER_02]: I immediately like my brain went to.

[00:11:36] [SPEAKER_02]: Like the early, like the mid 90s,

[00:11:40] [SPEAKER_02]: watching my brother play like King's Quest on his PC

[00:11:43] [SPEAKER_02]: because of the art style, like the art direction and kind of what they're doing.

[00:11:47] [SPEAKER_02]: And that's what Arco is like a 8 bit.

[00:11:51] [SPEAKER_02]: Pixel and you play you play from like a really.

[00:11:56] [SPEAKER_02]: Backed off perspective, and so the character is very tiny

[00:11:59] [SPEAKER_02]: and it's like a beautiful vista.

[00:12:03] [SPEAKER_02]: And it's super unique, like I haven't seen a game

[00:12:06] [SPEAKER_02]: do that, like from that high of a perspective.

[00:12:10] [SPEAKER_02]: And that it was like a really striking image.

[00:12:13] [SPEAKER_02]: Like when I first jumped into it, I just was like, oh, man, I haven't like seen

[00:12:18] [SPEAKER_02]: something do this before.

[00:12:19] [SPEAKER_02]: Like you can see in a lot of pixel pixel based, you know, pixel design games.

[00:12:25] [SPEAKER_02]: Like you can see stuff from afar and sometimes like in a Vista

[00:12:28] [SPEAKER_02]: or like in a cut scene, but actually play from that perspective

[00:12:31] [SPEAKER_02]: and have like your character person like be like really small.

[00:12:35] [SPEAKER_02]: Super unique, super interesting.

[00:12:37] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I it's interesting because when I first started

[00:12:40] [SPEAKER_01]: following Arco, which is probably about a year ago,

[00:12:43] [SPEAKER_01]: that's really what they highlighted was those beautiful pixel vistas.

[00:12:47] [SPEAKER_01]: And it's interesting because the vistas themselves, like.

[00:12:53] [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know, they feel really highly detailed,

[00:12:56] [SPEAKER_01]: but it's a relatively chunky pixel art style, right?

[00:13:00] [SPEAKER_01]: Like I'm thinking like Sea of Stars would be the total opposite.

[00:13:04] [SPEAKER_01]: See if stars is pixel art, but it doesn't feel like pixel art at all

[00:13:08] [SPEAKER_01]: because you don't get like the chunky squareness of the pixels, right?

[00:13:14] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, in Arco, it manages to just create these beautiful backdrops,

[00:13:19] [SPEAKER_01]: but like retaining this pretty old school chunky pixel art style.

[00:13:23] [SPEAKER_01]: I thought it was yeah, I love looking at the game for sure.

[00:13:28] [SPEAKER_01]: At first, I didn't know what to think of the little sprites.

[00:13:31] [SPEAKER_01]: I was like, oh, they're almost too small to like not have enough detail

[00:13:34] [SPEAKER_01]: for my taste.

[00:13:35] [SPEAKER_01]: But and this is something I mentioned a lot in the impression series.

[00:13:39] [SPEAKER_01]: But if you have a good character portrait, it elevates your sprites

[00:13:43] [SPEAKER_01]: because you just kind of transfer in your imagination, like what

[00:13:48] [SPEAKER_01]: what the sprite looks like.

[00:13:50] [SPEAKER_01]: And you kind of fill in those gaps of what it's doing

[00:13:53] [SPEAKER_01]: when they're riding a llama around or whatever they're doing in Arco.

[00:13:56] [SPEAKER_01]: And this game has really good character portraits.

[00:13:58] [SPEAKER_01]: So I kind of got over that relatively quickly.

[00:14:00] [SPEAKER_01]: But man, yeah, big fan of how it looks.

[00:14:05] [SPEAKER_01]: But Cameron, I'm super curious because between the two of us,

[00:14:08] [SPEAKER_01]: Cameron is is your tactics guy.

[00:14:12] [SPEAKER_01]: And I don't play a whole lot of tactics game,

[00:14:15] [SPEAKER_01]: but I really am super interested in knowing what you think of the tactics

[00:14:20] [SPEAKER_01]: actual strategy in the combat in Arco.

[00:14:25] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, again, super unique here and interesting because it's it's

[00:14:31] [SPEAKER_02]: it's not turn based.

[00:14:34] [SPEAKER_02]: Right. It's it's like I think it actually I take it like one point five

[00:14:39] [SPEAKER_02]: turn. Yeah, yeah, I think it's like it's sort of so if you ever played

[00:14:47] [SPEAKER_02]: my goodness, what's the obsidian RPG

[00:14:51] [SPEAKER_02]: that about its world is based on Pillars of Eternity,

[00:14:55] [SPEAKER_02]: Pillars of Eternity, Pills of Eternity is real time.

[00:14:58] [SPEAKER_02]: But technically the actions happen in turns sort of.

[00:15:05] [SPEAKER_02]: I could be saying that completely wrong, but that's the vibe.

[00:15:07] [SPEAKER_02]: Anyway, this is like somewhat similar.

[00:15:10] [SPEAKER_02]: So I just again, I haven't gotten very far on it.

[00:15:12] [SPEAKER_02]: These are impressions of a full episode on this game soon.

[00:15:16] [SPEAKER_02]: But yeah, it

[00:15:19] [SPEAKER_02]: definitely unique.

[00:15:21] [SPEAKER_02]: There's a little bit of like skill or like quick button press skill

[00:15:27] [SPEAKER_02]: and precision with a mix of tactical combat, which is something that I really

[00:15:31] [SPEAKER_02]: like if you can pull off.

[00:15:34] [SPEAKER_02]: Shout out to Final Fantasy seven remake being like the

[00:15:38] [SPEAKER_02]: preeminent example of that.

[00:15:39] [SPEAKER_02]: Right. This has like a little bit of that, right?

[00:15:42] [SPEAKER_02]: Where you're dodging and you're kind of trying to move around the map

[00:15:46] [SPEAKER_02]: and position yourself, but you're doing it in real time.

[00:15:49] [SPEAKER_02]: But you're kind of setting it up in a tactical format.

[00:15:51] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah. Super, super interesting approach to combat.

[00:15:53] [SPEAKER_01]: For sure. Yeah.

[00:15:55] [SPEAKER_01]: I typically am a little wary of this type of combat,

[00:15:59] [SPEAKER_01]: but that sort of to me, I just it's like one point five.

[00:16:02] [SPEAKER_01]: Like you are making your turn in the enemies preparing their turn

[00:16:06] [SPEAKER_01]: and you can see what they're doing.

[00:16:08] [SPEAKER_01]: But you have to have really good, like short term predictability,

[00:16:11] [SPEAKER_01]: especially when you're dodging enemy bullets, because

[00:16:15] [SPEAKER_01]: and this is something this is a kind of tension that I actually really like

[00:16:18] [SPEAKER_01]: in this because I'll be because positioning is everything in this game.

[00:16:22] [SPEAKER_01]: Right. You need a position so that you that's how you really dodge

[00:16:26] [SPEAKER_01]: most attacks is by getting far enough away from an attack.

[00:16:30] [SPEAKER_01]: But anyway, I'm kind of getting ahead of myself.

[00:16:31] [SPEAKER_01]: But I love this tension of like when I do an action

[00:16:36] [SPEAKER_01]: and I know that like an enemy is going to be firing three pistol rounds at me,

[00:16:41] [SPEAKER_01]: seeing those pistols like rounds come at me, the bolts are flying at me.

[00:16:44] [SPEAKER_01]: And then they stop in air.

[00:16:46] [SPEAKER_01]: And then my turn is about to begin again.

[00:16:48] [SPEAKER_01]: And sometimes it's like, did I was that a smart positioning move

[00:16:53] [SPEAKER_01]: that I just did?

[00:16:54] [SPEAKER_01]: And actually took me a little bit like in the very beginning

[00:16:56] [SPEAKER_01]: of the game, you fight some lizards and they're just like all melee.

[00:16:59] [SPEAKER_01]: There's no projectiles.

[00:17:00] [SPEAKER_01]: And I was like, oh, dude, this game, you can very easily

[00:17:04] [SPEAKER_01]: paint yourself into a corner.

[00:17:05] [SPEAKER_01]: And if you do, you're dead.

[00:17:08] [SPEAKER_01]: Like there's just not that much you can really do about it.

[00:17:12] [SPEAKER_01]: So it's actually it's actually really working with me because it's creating,

[00:17:16] [SPEAKER_01]: like I said, this type of tension between the turns

[00:17:18] [SPEAKER_01]: because the turns overlap.

[00:17:21] [SPEAKER_01]: Maybe that's a better way of thinking about it.

[00:17:22] [SPEAKER_01]: It's turn based, but the turns overlap.

[00:17:25] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[00:17:27] [SPEAKER_02]: Like I said, I, I,

[00:17:30] [SPEAKER_02]: I just I love tactical combat like this that kind of makes you

[00:17:34] [SPEAKER_02]: take your time and think.

[00:17:36] [SPEAKER_02]: And a lot of people like don't like they see turn based

[00:17:39] [SPEAKER_02]: and they get turned off or they see sort of tactics and they get turned off.

[00:17:42] [SPEAKER_02]: But I think if you kind of dig into those style of games

[00:17:47] [SPEAKER_02]: and you give it time to kind of let it sink in,

[00:17:50] [SPEAKER_02]: you start to realize that it just expands.

[00:17:54] [SPEAKER_02]: What combat for me,

[00:17:55] [SPEAKER_02]: just expands massively like what combat is.

[00:17:58] [SPEAKER_02]: I know some people just don't find it fun, like feeling, but

[00:18:04] [SPEAKER_02]: I'm going to bring in Baldur's Gate three here.

[00:18:06] [SPEAKER_02]: That's why that's that's that's why I love that game so much,

[00:18:10] [SPEAKER_02]: because one of the reasons I love that game so much

[00:18:14] [SPEAKER_02]: the tact like the combat is literally endless

[00:18:17] [SPEAKER_02]: and like how you can manipulate it to do the stuff that you want to do.

[00:18:22] [SPEAKER_02]: Anyway, that's why tactics stuff like I just I just find

[00:18:25] [SPEAKER_02]: like so much more interesting and you Arco's got it here.

[00:18:28] [SPEAKER_02]: So anyway, excited to continue to play more

[00:18:31] [SPEAKER_02]: and have a full blown shot about it later on.

[00:18:34] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I'm excited to play as well.

[00:18:37] [SPEAKER_01]: One of my only concerns would be, OK,

[00:18:41] [SPEAKER_01]: are there an infinite number of scenarios for combat

[00:18:44] [SPEAKER_01]: that will still be engaging to me?

[00:18:47] [SPEAKER_01]: And the some of that some of that concern, I feel like is

[00:18:51] [SPEAKER_01]: is offset because after you get out of the tutorial

[00:18:54] [SPEAKER_01]: and you're like deep into the first there's like three stories.

[00:18:57] [SPEAKER_01]: And when you get deep into the first story,

[00:19:00] [SPEAKER_01]: you realize that there's actually a really big skill tree in this game.

[00:19:05] [SPEAKER_01]: And so you actually get a lot of options in combat.

[00:19:11] [SPEAKER_01]: And you know what?

[00:19:12] [SPEAKER_01]: This game actually gave me a little bit of Roadwarden vibes.

[00:19:16] [SPEAKER_01]: Just the way that you can progress from, you know,

[00:19:19] [SPEAKER_01]: you progress from city or to interesting location

[00:19:23] [SPEAKER_01]: to the next village.

[00:19:25] [SPEAKER_01]: And there's an interesting story that's unraveling there.

[00:19:28] [SPEAKER_01]: And then the last thing I'll say about early impressions with this game is

[00:19:31] [SPEAKER_01]: at first, the narrative, I was concerned that it would just be kind of.

[00:19:37] [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know, trite like rote.

[00:19:41] [SPEAKER_01]: But after you get out of that tutorial

[00:19:43] [SPEAKER_01]: and you start getting deeper into the story, like the first story, especially

[00:19:48] [SPEAKER_01]: this is going to be the biggest flex.

[00:19:51] [SPEAKER_01]: This is going to be the biggest compliment.

[00:19:52] [SPEAKER_01]: I hope the devs are listening right now.

[00:19:54] [SPEAKER_01]: It made me think of the classic epic Argentine poem, Martin Fierro,

[00:20:01] [SPEAKER_01]: which is so this is 19th century Gaucho,

[00:20:06] [SPEAKER_01]: the Gaucho of all Gauchos of Argentina.

[00:20:10] [SPEAKER_01]: And this similar time period,

[00:20:13] [SPEAKER_01]: I feel like it's like post independence Latin America.

[00:20:17] [SPEAKER_01]: You're in you're in the wilds, right?

[00:20:19] [SPEAKER_01]: You're in El Desierto and you are just kind of fighting.

[00:20:23] [SPEAKER_01]: And there's lawlessness.

[00:20:25] [SPEAKER_01]: And it's actually one of my favorite pieces of literature to teach,

[00:20:28] [SPEAKER_01]: because with a lot of like North American, like American students,

[00:20:33] [SPEAKER_01]: they don't realize that Latin America has its own very cool flavor

[00:20:36] [SPEAKER_01]: when it comes to like Wild West.

[00:20:39] [SPEAKER_01]: And I just feel like Arco does an incredible job

[00:20:43] [SPEAKER_01]: of embodying that type of literature from Latin America,

[00:20:47] [SPEAKER_01]: that like 19th century, almost leading up to industrial revolution,

[00:20:54] [SPEAKER_01]: kind of wild western stuff.

[00:20:58] [SPEAKER_01]: And it draws from a lot of different traditions, not just like Argentina,

[00:21:02] [SPEAKER_01]: like but from all different things from Latin America.

[00:21:04] [SPEAKER_01]: But I just think they do a cool job with that.

[00:21:06] [SPEAKER_01]: Like and I'm super curious how the stories will unfold as I go.

[00:21:10] [SPEAKER_01]: So hopefully keeps full steam ahead.

[00:21:13] [SPEAKER_01]: But I think it's off to a strong start.

[00:21:18] [SPEAKER_02]: Absolutely. Well, Jake, let's let's move right along

[00:21:23] [SPEAKER_02]: and go into our game for this episode.

[00:21:27] [SPEAKER_02]: We are going to be chatting about breaking down, analyzing

[00:21:33] [SPEAKER_01]: flock. Yes.

[00:21:35] [SPEAKER_02]: Flock. And thanks again to Game Pass for feeding us all these games.

[00:21:42] [SPEAKER_02]: Which. If you're a Patreon subscriber, stick around at the end,

[00:21:45] [SPEAKER_02]: because we'll do an extended episode where we're going to talk about Game Pass.

[00:21:48] [SPEAKER_02]: But Jake, how are we going to break down flock?

[00:21:50] [SPEAKER_01]: We will be talking about flock in three different categories.

[00:21:55] [SPEAKER_01]: The first category will be the narrative.

[00:21:57] [SPEAKER_01]: And so we'll be focusing on the story of flock and,

[00:22:01] [SPEAKER_01]: you know, just like what narrative themes are present

[00:22:03] [SPEAKER_01]: and kind of how it pushes you forward and how it gets you interested

[00:22:05] [SPEAKER_01]: in the characters that are there in flock.

[00:22:08] [SPEAKER_01]: Next, we'll be talking about game design.

[00:22:11] [SPEAKER_01]: Here we're talking about the mechanics.

[00:22:14] [SPEAKER_01]: Sometimes we dabble a little more into level design.

[00:22:17] [SPEAKER_01]: When we're talking about flock, there'll be plenty to say

[00:22:21] [SPEAKER_01]: in regards to like unlocking different areas and kind of why

[00:22:25] [SPEAKER_01]: and how that's designed and how you progress in the game.

[00:22:28] [SPEAKER_01]: And then finally, impact on the industry.

[00:22:31] [SPEAKER_01]: Here we like to put on more speculative hats.

[00:22:33] [SPEAKER_01]: We like to think, OK, what lessons are being learned?

[00:22:36] [SPEAKER_01]: Or is flock maybe the product of just different types of innovations

[00:22:40] [SPEAKER_01]: that have occurred in the gaming industry in the past few years?

[00:22:43] [SPEAKER_01]: So that is how we will be talking about flock tonight.

[00:22:51] [SPEAKER_02]: Narrative for flock.

[00:22:57] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, this one is

[00:23:02] [SPEAKER_02]: I don't really know what to say.

[00:23:05] [SPEAKER_02]: You're you you get dropped into an overworld

[00:23:10] [SPEAKER_02]: on a big old bird.

[00:23:12] [SPEAKER_02]: And then you run across a little seemingly town

[00:23:16] [SPEAKER_02]: and there are some derpy characters in there.

[00:23:18] [SPEAKER_02]: And they're like, hey, let me help you find grow your flock.

[00:23:22] [SPEAKER_02]: And then you go out and you find

[00:23:25] [SPEAKER_02]: different weird types of Pokemon

[00:23:28] [SPEAKER_02]: ask bird things that can fly.

[00:23:31] [SPEAKER_02]: And that's pretty much the narrative.

[00:23:33] [SPEAKER_02]: Right. What am I missing?

[00:23:35] [SPEAKER_01]: That's like that's pretty much the narrative. Right.

[00:23:38] [SPEAKER_01]: To add a little more detail, you you're flying on this giant bird.

[00:23:43] [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know.

[00:23:44] [SPEAKER_01]: I get the impression that you come from this like family of,

[00:23:48] [SPEAKER_01]: I think the end of description, it calls you a flying shepherd of sorts.

[00:23:53] [SPEAKER_01]: You are going to meet the professor Jane, who I believe is your aunt, maybe

[00:24:01] [SPEAKER_01]: this ornithologist kind of out in the middle of nowhere.

[00:24:04] [SPEAKER_01]: And she's like, great, you know, all my research assistants have gotten lost

[00:24:08] [SPEAKER_01]: and I just need somebody to help me catalog more critters.

[00:24:12] [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, everybody's calling them birds.

[00:24:15] [SPEAKER_01]: But I actually went back and I was like, do they actually call these birds in the game?

[00:24:18] [SPEAKER_01]: Anyway, so you're that's you're there.

[00:24:20] [SPEAKER_01]: You're like the new research assistant.

[00:24:22] [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know. Coming from academia, I'm like,

[00:24:25] [SPEAKER_01]: it sounds like the professor ran out of funding

[00:24:29] [SPEAKER_01]: and has a tight deadline and needed to get some

[00:24:33] [SPEAKER_01]: some more bodies out here to start cataloging birds.

[00:24:37] [SPEAKER_01]: So I mean, that's the premise of the game.

[00:24:40] [SPEAKER_01]: There are other people in sort of this town

[00:24:44] [SPEAKER_01]: and really just like two other MPCs that you meet with one who essentially

[00:24:51] [SPEAKER_01]: let's see one who I'm not even sure is a vendor now that I'm thinking about it.

[00:24:55] [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know the thing about this narrative, to be honest,

[00:24:58] [SPEAKER_01]: is that it just gives you a reason to go collect all these flying creatures.

[00:25:03] [SPEAKER_01]: And it's I think it's a good reason.

[00:25:05] [SPEAKER_01]: Like it's kind of like, hey, let's let's make a game that's kind of fun.

[00:25:09] [SPEAKER_01]: It's like science light and let's catalog some things.

[00:25:14] [SPEAKER_01]: And it's cute, but I you just can't read too deep into this story,

[00:25:19] [SPEAKER_01]: into the world building, otherwise you just get a bunch of questions.

[00:25:23] [SPEAKER_01]: So yeah, it stopped thinking too hard.

[00:25:26] [SPEAKER_02]: It's not it's it's just not that game.

[00:25:28] [SPEAKER_02]: You know, it's not that game.

[00:25:29] [SPEAKER_02]: It doesn't need to be.

[00:25:30] [SPEAKER_02]: It's very much like there's games that exist that are just meant to be

[00:25:39] [SPEAKER_02]: like, here's a chill experience where I go do a thing

[00:25:43] [SPEAKER_02]: and it makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside.

[00:25:46] [SPEAKER_02]: And that's like what this game is.

[00:25:48] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it's like playing Slime Rancher.

[00:25:50] [SPEAKER_01]: Like I couldn't tell you what the story of Slime Rancher is.

[00:25:53] [SPEAKER_01]: But I go out there with my little goo gun

[00:25:55] [SPEAKER_01]: and I slurp up these cute little blobs and I put them into pens and I feed them.

[00:25:59] [SPEAKER_01]: And it's satisfying.

[00:26:01] [SPEAKER_02]: The best thing I can say about this narrative is it doesn't matter at all.

[00:26:04] [SPEAKER_02]: So you could just you could just ignore it.

[00:26:07] [SPEAKER_02]: And it's not really there and it's not meant to be there.

[00:26:11] [SPEAKER_02]: And sometimes we play games that are like that.

[00:26:13] [SPEAKER_02]: And that's what this category ends up being.

[00:26:15] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, honestly, yeah.

[00:26:16] [SPEAKER_01]: It's silly. It's lighthearted.

[00:26:18] [SPEAKER_01]: It's fun. I will say that Flock was my kids game of the year.

[00:26:24] [SPEAKER_01]: Top contender.

[00:26:26] [SPEAKER_01]: It's been it's actually been seeded or it's been replaced.

[00:26:31] [SPEAKER_01]: But I will say that the narrative is fantastic for kids.

[00:26:34] [SPEAKER_01]: My kids were like, oh, all these, you know, the at the very beginning

[00:26:39] [SPEAKER_01]: of the game, this one species of flying burrito critter,

[00:26:43] [SPEAKER_01]: the burglaring Buell comes and reeks a bunch of havoc

[00:26:47] [SPEAKER_01]: and steals a bunch of stuff from from Professor Jane.

[00:26:50] [SPEAKER_01]: And so my kids are like, oh, well, let's help Professor

[00:26:53] [SPEAKER_01]: Jane get all the stuff again.

[00:26:55] [SPEAKER_01]: And so it was like enough incentive to get my kids motivated,

[00:26:59] [SPEAKER_01]: which, like you are saying, is like honestly, that's enough

[00:27:02] [SPEAKER_01]: for this type of game, because this game isn't trying

[00:27:04] [SPEAKER_01]: as far as I know.

[00:27:05] [SPEAKER_01]: It's not trying to give you some bigger picture.

[00:27:08] [SPEAKER_01]: It's just trying to put you in a cute, fun, cozy world

[00:27:12] [SPEAKER_01]: and just to really, really hone in like

[00:27:16] [SPEAKER_01]: fun flying and fun collecting.

[00:27:19] [SPEAKER_01]: And it accomplishes that.

[00:27:24] [SPEAKER_02]: Let's talk about the mechanics, Jake.

[00:27:26] [SPEAKER_02]: So Flock is a creature collectathon.

[00:27:31] [SPEAKER_02]: So basically you fly around on a giant bird.

[00:27:35] [SPEAKER_02]: Flying feels super great.

[00:27:37] [SPEAKER_02]: It's smooth, it's fast.

[00:27:39] [SPEAKER_02]: You move around the map at like a very good clip.

[00:27:43] [SPEAKER_02]: You're flying on this bird that it's cool.

[00:27:46] [SPEAKER_02]: I mean, look, any game where you're like flying

[00:27:48] [SPEAKER_02]: and it feels good is just fun.

[00:27:51] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, like it's fun to just kind of like float around

[00:27:53] [SPEAKER_02]: and feel like you you just have freedom to kind of go

[00:27:56] [SPEAKER_02]: wherever you want and go quickly.

[00:27:57] [SPEAKER_02]: And then your goal is you're going around and you are

[00:28:02] [SPEAKER_02]: you're basically cataloging all of the different species

[00:28:09] [SPEAKER_02]: and types of creatures like out in the overworld.

[00:28:14] [SPEAKER_02]: And then there'll be these NPCs that are like, hey,

[00:28:17] [SPEAKER_02]: can you go find, you know, a creature of that looks like this?

[00:28:22] [SPEAKER_02]: That's part of this group of species.

[00:28:25] [SPEAKER_02]: And then you go up to them and you'll you'll catch them

[00:28:29] [SPEAKER_02]: and you catch them by using a whistle.

[00:28:32] [SPEAKER_02]: And you get the whistles by kind of continuing the story

[00:28:35] [SPEAKER_02]: and, you know, going through and then you'll go and you'll

[00:28:39] [SPEAKER_02]: there's a certain mechanic that you use to go and you get the new whistle

[00:28:42] [SPEAKER_02]: and it gives you access to catch more creatures

[00:28:44] [SPEAKER_02]: and it kind of progresses like that.

[00:28:47] [SPEAKER_02]: But yeah, this is like just a super fun,

[00:28:53] [SPEAKER_02]: endearing collectathon, I think, particularly.

[00:28:55] [SPEAKER_02]: I love the touch of when you go.

[00:29:00] [SPEAKER_02]: When you come across a new species, the NPC pops up on the screen

[00:29:04] [SPEAKER_02]: and asks you to answer a question about it.

[00:29:08] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, which is just kind of fun.

[00:29:10] [SPEAKER_02]: It's just like a fun thing.

[00:29:11] [SPEAKER_02]: It's like kind of a dumb thing, but it's one of those

[00:29:12] [SPEAKER_02]: like simple things that makes it fun and makes it feel a little bit like,

[00:29:17] [SPEAKER_02]: oh, I'm like a birdwatcher, like sort of virtual,

[00:29:20] [SPEAKER_02]: like like National Geographic ask situation.

[00:29:23] [SPEAKER_02]: Which is just super dumbed down, like

[00:29:26] [SPEAKER_02]: version of that.

[00:29:28] [SPEAKER_02]: But that is it, you know, just very simple fun.

[00:29:32] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it's wild because when you think about flock,

[00:29:35] [SPEAKER_01]: it is excruciatingly bottlenecked in terms of like how you progress

[00:29:40] [SPEAKER_01]: and how you get these whistles and how you unlock cosmetics

[00:29:44] [SPEAKER_01]: and how you're able to like charm because you don't exactly catch them,

[00:29:48] [SPEAKER_01]: but charm these new creatures and you add them to your flock.

[00:29:52] [SPEAKER_01]: But I actually think that this is kind of the genius of this game design

[00:29:56] [SPEAKER_01]: is that you do not feel the bottlenecks in place,

[00:30:00] [SPEAKER_01]: like really all that much.

[00:30:02] [SPEAKER_01]: There's some there's some big obvious ones in that,

[00:30:05] [SPEAKER_01]: like there's like the cloud level is really high.

[00:30:09] [SPEAKER_01]: And so as you discover like a key species or a new species

[00:30:13] [SPEAKER_01]: of a specific region, then you can lower the cloud level,

[00:30:17] [SPEAKER_01]: which essentially unlocks a bunch of new areas for you to explore,

[00:30:19] [SPEAKER_01]: to find new creatures like that's like the biggest gatekeeping moment

[00:30:23] [SPEAKER_01]: when that whenever that occurs.

[00:30:25] [SPEAKER_01]: But otherwise, it's just like, OK, let's cruise around here.

[00:30:30] [SPEAKER_01]: Let's look for there like little grassy mounds and you can have like flying.

[00:30:34] [SPEAKER_01]: I think they're called flying beans.

[00:30:36] [SPEAKER_01]: Basically what they say these little sheep,

[00:30:39] [SPEAKER_01]: they'll like eat the grass on a grassy mound

[00:30:41] [SPEAKER_01]: and then you'll find a burglary bule and you fish him out in this one mechanic.

[00:30:46] [SPEAKER_01]: And then that kind of unlocks a whistle or something else,

[00:30:49] [SPEAKER_01]: whether that be like the ability to expand how big your flock is

[00:30:53] [SPEAKER_01]: or just like even it unlocks a few items in the cosmetic shop to buy things.

[00:30:58] [SPEAKER_01]: And that's I mean, that's kind of it.

[00:31:00] [SPEAKER_01]: But like you said, like you have to get a whistle.

[00:31:02] [SPEAKER_01]: You have to charm things. You have to expand your flock.

[00:31:05] [SPEAKER_01]: And when you're finding these like key or new species,

[00:31:08] [SPEAKER_01]: they tend to evolve a little more like it's a little more of an involved

[00:31:13] [SPEAKER_01]: puzzle to try to figure out how to get them.

[00:31:15] [SPEAKER_01]: And then you have this mechanic when you do identify a new species, right?

[00:31:18] [SPEAKER_01]: I know Jane, the ornithologist is just like,

[00:31:21] [SPEAKER_01]: hey, you know where you answer these questions.

[00:31:23] [SPEAKER_01]: Let's categorize this real quick.

[00:31:25] [SPEAKER_01]: And it feels like on paper I feel like it's a ton of grindwork,

[00:31:28] [SPEAKER_01]: but because the gameplay is very quick and smooth,

[00:31:33] [SPEAKER_01]: it doesn't feel that way at all.

[00:31:35] [SPEAKER_01]: Like you mentioned the gliding,

[00:31:36] [SPEAKER_01]: I was going to say real quick in the in the flying or gliding around,

[00:31:40] [SPEAKER_01]: you actually don't control verticality at all.

[00:31:44] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah. And the game does that, you know, automatically.

[00:31:46] [SPEAKER_01]: But it doesn't in such a smooth and satisfying way that I didn't feel like I lost anything

[00:31:54] [SPEAKER_01]: You know what? I mean, it's just a smooth smooth

[00:31:57] [SPEAKER_01]: Gameplay loop in the way that you just kind of progress the story and and get through the flock. Yeah, absolutely

[00:32:04] [SPEAKER_02]: It's it's just super chill

[00:32:08] [SPEAKER_02]: flowy

[00:32:10] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, man

[00:32:12] [SPEAKER_02]: It's it's a great like

[00:32:16] [SPEAKER_02]: If you need something that's just gonna kind of take your mind off stuff and let you just chill and relax on the couch

[00:32:24] [SPEAKER_02]: This is like

[00:32:26] [SPEAKER_02]: This this couldn't be more of like that vibe

[00:32:29] [SPEAKER_02]: And then you can also

[00:32:32] [SPEAKER_02]: You can also unlock cosmetics

[00:32:35] [SPEAKER_02]: not like in a fortnight way, but just like

[00:32:39] [SPEAKER_02]: You unlock like

[00:32:42] [SPEAKER_02]: Sweaters and hats that the I think the NPC lady

[00:32:47] [SPEAKER_02]: I forget her name like knits for you when you discover like the patterns

[00:32:50] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah

[00:32:50] [SPEAKER_02]: And then you collect when the sheep when you drop the flying sheep off on the meadows and they eat the grass

[00:32:57] [SPEAKER_02]: Then you can cut their wool and then that gives you wool that you can use to like craft new cosmetic

[00:33:05] [SPEAKER_02]: Clothing which is it makes a little

[00:33:08] [SPEAKER_02]: Visual sound where of the wools of the sheep's wool getting like put into your getting

[00:33:15] [SPEAKER_01]: Shaved off which is pretty funny. Did I actually love the audio design in this game that little chip like yes and

[00:33:22] [SPEAKER_01]: tweets or whatever from the the flying creatures and

[00:33:26] [SPEAKER_01]: Even now like when the sheep bleeding and when they're getting shorn and stuff

[00:33:30] [SPEAKER_01]: It was just super delightful. And I mean, that's really the experience here

[00:33:35] [SPEAKER_01]: I did want to add that some creatures are much more difficult to find and this

[00:33:43] [SPEAKER_01]: Man, this kind of drove me up a wall

[00:33:45] [SPEAKER_01]: Sometimes you get like a description and this was I would actually say is one of the few negatives of flock

[00:33:50] [SPEAKER_01]: Sometimes like you'd find a research assistant that's lost out in the wild and they'd say hey bring me this this creature and

[00:33:56] [SPEAKER_01]: They would give you the most vague description of something to find

[00:34:00] [SPEAKER_01]: and it was like

[00:34:02] [SPEAKER_01]: Freaking like I don't know man, you know what's insane though is that I struggle to find a bunch of these creatures my kids

[00:34:10] [SPEAKER_01]: dude, they

[00:34:14] [SPEAKER_01]: They've pretty much

[00:34:16] [SPEAKER_01]: 100% did this game like finding all the creatures and and I'm like dude

[00:34:21] [SPEAKER_01]: How did you find that? And he's like, oh well, you're like one of my kids is like

[00:34:26] [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, well, I talked to this research assistant and they gave me this description

[00:34:29] [SPEAKER_01]: So I went here and I found it and I was like, dude, are you serious? Like

[00:34:33] [SPEAKER_01]: Are we reading different things? I like pulled up my save file or whatever and like I

[00:34:39] [SPEAKER_01]: Don't know like I I enjoyed this game

[00:34:42] [SPEAKER_01]: But my kids like this this game is really speaking to them for whatever reason they get everything that's happening there

[00:34:48] [SPEAKER_01]: I found some of the stuff to be just too obtuse, but maybe I'm just too dull to do it

[00:34:53] [SPEAKER_02]: It's crazy what kids lash onto man, like my kids

[00:34:58] [SPEAKER_02]: They thought this game was cool, but like they didn't say and maybe I just need to open it back up again

[00:35:03] [SPEAKER_02]: But yeah, they were like, I'm out. I'm going back to Fort or it back to Minecraft

[00:35:10] [SPEAKER_02]: Which is funny cuz I'm like they play Minecraft co-op and I'm like guys I don't I don't play this

[00:35:18] [SPEAKER_02]: My son has a Minecraft backpack

[00:35:20] [SPEAKER_02]: I'm like, I don't play it. I don't even play Minecraft. I want to get to get the Mario backpack

[00:35:25] [SPEAKER_02]: Why didn't you get the Mario backpack, I don't know Mario backpack man

[00:35:29] [SPEAKER_02]: Dude, he's actually there. I think their game of the year is gonna be astro bot

[00:35:33] [SPEAKER_02]: They still play astrobots playroom. They just they freaking love that game. They're platformers man. They just love the platformers

[00:35:41] [SPEAKER_01]: so I got you know platformers and kids man, what a

[00:35:44] [SPEAKER_01]: What a good match right?

[00:35:47] [SPEAKER_02]: bro astrobot is out in like three weeks I

[00:35:51] [SPEAKER_01]: Am super excited

[00:35:53] [SPEAKER_01]: Which is nuts, yeah

[00:35:56] [SPEAKER_01]: Anyway, yeah flock you can tell that we're kind of treading water here because it's hard to come up with a lot of things

[00:36:01] [SPEAKER_02]: To say no, it's it's a simple game. Let's talk about

[00:36:05] [SPEAKER_02]: impact impact on the industry for flock dude, I I love how

[00:36:11] [SPEAKER_01]: like

[00:36:11] [SPEAKER_01]: Innovative and unique this game feels maybe it's not even that innovative

[00:36:15] [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know

[00:36:16] [SPEAKER_01]: I think it's an innovative take on like creature collection because it's just pure creature collection

[00:36:21] [SPEAKER_01]: You know no battling no combat. It's just puzzling and it's finding and it's charming right and then adding to your flock adding to your

[00:36:28] [SPEAKER_01]: To your notebook your field book your scientific field book

[00:36:34] [SPEAKER_01]: And so I think that like games like flock are the ones that really stood out to me like in wholesome game directs

[00:36:41] [SPEAKER_01]: There's something that's like this isn't just like a cozy farming sim because that's like words in the thick of cozy farming sims

[00:36:48] [SPEAKER_01]: Nothing against that there's just a ton of them right now

[00:36:50] [SPEAKER_01]: And so when I see a game like flock that's just like super pretty looking and has beautiful bright colors

[00:36:56] [SPEAKER_01]: And it's just like delightful light and breezy gameplay

[00:37:01] [SPEAKER_01]: I think it's like man

[00:37:02] [SPEAKER_01]: This is this is I love having games like this and I love games that feel fresh and that games that don't feel

[00:37:08] [SPEAKER_01]: Like they have to explain their weirdness either right like I feel like we're kind of in this moment culturally where there's a huge

[00:37:15] [SPEAKER_01]: Obsession over lore or world building rather than narrative or story of like different universes and

[00:37:23] [SPEAKER_01]: Flock I think kind of just throws that out the window

[00:37:25] [SPEAKER_01]: It's like hey

[00:37:27] [SPEAKER_01]: Here's narrative motivation to kind of do what the game is designed to do don't ask questions about the world-building

[00:37:33] [SPEAKER_01]: Don't ask questions about the Lord don't ask why these creatures do the things that they do

[00:37:37] [SPEAKER_01]: Just just enjoy the experience

[00:37:39] [SPEAKER_01]: And so I think flock is actually like a triumph in that regard where it's like just enjoy this game

[00:37:46] [SPEAKER_01]: just like go out there and

[00:37:48] [SPEAKER_01]: Collect stuff and add your flock and find the weirdness

[00:37:52] [SPEAKER_01]: In the weird designs and just kind of appreciate some of the humor that's in here

[00:37:56] [SPEAKER_01]: Appreciate like the absolutely funky looking you know, what'd you call them? Pokemon bean bird creatures?

[00:38:03] [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know

[00:38:04] [SPEAKER_01]: whatever they are dude just like just enjoy them and I

[00:38:08] [SPEAKER_01]: Really want to see

[00:38:10] [SPEAKER_01]: More games like flock that just say you know what video games can just be about having a good gaming

[00:38:17] [SPEAKER_01]: Experience like just having a good time

[00:38:20] [SPEAKER_01]: Not worrying about all the stuff that comes with it. So I so

[00:38:25] [SPEAKER_02]: One thing we fail to mention that I actually didn't even realize this game has co-op

[00:38:31] [SPEAKER_01]: So I haven't even touched the co-op. Yeah, we should have mentioned this earlier

[00:38:36] [SPEAKER_02]: So I just I mentioned that because I was just quickly checking the Steam page and it's advertised as a multiplayer co-op game

[00:38:44] [SPEAKER_02]: So Jake and I did not play the co-op, but that sounds fun

[00:38:48] [SPEAKER_02]: So we need so follow up maybe when a future episode will spend two minutes commentary on the co-op. Yeah. Yeah

[00:38:54] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I feel like how did I miss that because I am always looking for

[00:38:59] [SPEAKER_02]: co-op

[00:39:00] [SPEAKER_01]: Experiences I the reason why I forgot to mention I know this is because I was really hoping that this would have couch co-op

[00:39:07] [SPEAKER_02]: No couch. Oh, that's it. That's a mess. It's not so nice

[00:39:11] [SPEAKER_01]: Honestly, I think it's a miss because I would have loved to play this game with my kids

[00:39:18] [SPEAKER_01]: Instead of I mean it was still a good I would say family game because we each have save files and we're able

[00:39:23] [SPEAKER_01]: To talk about the game and like that way the game is still like a family bonding experience

[00:39:29] [SPEAKER_01]: But if this game had couch co-op it would have been on another level

[00:39:33] [SPEAKER_02]: So I'm reaching a point in my family life where I literally

[00:39:39] [SPEAKER_02]: want to go and buy an Xbox series s and like a

[00:39:45] [SPEAKER_02]: 32 inch TV and put it like in the same room as my big TV

[00:39:53] [SPEAKER_02]: so that I can do

[00:39:55] [SPEAKER_02]: Co-op without it just like between Xbox is like in the same room because I I'm so sick of like having cool co-op games

[00:40:03] [SPEAKER_02]: Where I can't do couch co-op and it's just couch co-op is just not

[00:40:07] [SPEAKER_02]: It's just not that common, dude. It's it's the I mean there's some really good couch co-op games

[00:40:12] [SPEAKER_02]: Like my family would have just been addicted to bro force nice for months

[00:40:17] [SPEAKER_02]: Including my kids they're like blowing up like terrorists. That's pretty funny

[00:40:24] [SPEAKER_02]: But

[00:40:25] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I mean anyway, sorry we're off on a co-op tangent now, but I just I wanted to mention that because

[00:40:32] [SPEAKER_02]: Super interesting that it's not couch co-op. Well, I mean that is really weird

[00:40:36] [SPEAKER_01]: This I think this is actually not too much of a tangent really at all

[00:40:39] [SPEAKER_01]: This is important to this impact on the industry conversation a game like flock had it come out 15 20 years ago

[00:40:45] [SPEAKER_01]: It would have had couch co-op

[00:40:48] [SPEAKER_01]: Like if it were to have any sort of multiplayer experience it would have been couch co-op

[00:40:54] [SPEAKER_01]: But to your point the corporations are super happy with you Cameron because they want you to buy an extra console and extra TV

[00:41:01] [SPEAKER_01]: Whatever to just do co-op. Yeah, but it's it's kind of I agree it

[00:41:06] [SPEAKER_01]: I think it's something worth lamenting and I mean, I don't know

[00:41:11] [SPEAKER_02]: Some of the time I think it's technical limitations

[00:41:16] [SPEAKER_02]: Other times it's you know, it's obviously like a choice and then there's obviously obviously, you know

[00:41:22] [SPEAKER_02]: monetary reasons behind it, but like we can do PC if it's like a cross play situation, but

[00:41:30] [SPEAKER_02]: It's just super annoying I

[00:41:32] [SPEAKER_02]: There's so many games that I would play with my kids that I just we don't play it cuz it's like well

[00:41:37] [SPEAKER_02]: There's no co-op and it's not to player. It's only online co-op and that's that's kind of a bummer

[00:41:42] [SPEAKER_02]: Surprisingly one of the biggest games out right now is actually house couch co-op and that's a Diablo 4. Yeah

[00:41:49] [SPEAKER_02]: Which is kind of wild. So anyway

[00:41:52] [SPEAKER_02]: No, this is a putt. This is I was gonna mention

[00:41:54] [SPEAKER_02]: This is an Annapurna an interactive game, which obviously is a pretty famous publisher well known for

[00:42:02] [SPEAKER_02]: highlighting the

[00:42:03] [SPEAKER_02]: Artistic side of games which is a super important to hold up. So I think I think that

[00:42:09] [SPEAKER_02]: Is this game gonna be a blockbuster hit absolutely not only has 113 reviews on Steam

[00:42:14] [SPEAKER_02]: So I'm sure it's gonna most of its most of its attention from

[00:42:20] [SPEAKER_02]: game pass

[00:42:22] [SPEAKER_02]: but game pass should

[00:42:25] [SPEAKER_02]: Support should use you know

[00:42:26] [SPEAKER_02]: Some of the big titles that bring in the money in the subscriptions on that to like support super cool

[00:42:31] [SPEAKER_02]: Artistic like fun experiences like this

[00:42:35] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I'm super glad this game exists. It's it's great

[00:42:38] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I want games like this to exist man

[00:42:41] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm still hung up on this this co-op thing because I feel like sorry this is a wrap

[00:42:46] [SPEAKER_01]: I'll close my thoughts on co-op with this but like if you

[00:42:51] [SPEAKER_01]: In your right. I'm kind of ignoring like technical limitations and like creative vision and stuff here

[00:42:56] [SPEAKER_01]: But it just kind of bothers me because it is when you make a game online co-op only

[00:43:03] [SPEAKER_01]: In some games sure that kind of makes sense with

[00:43:05] [SPEAKER_01]: But when it when you do that you are saying that there's a specific

[00:43:09] [SPEAKER_01]: Demographic that gets to play this game or that should play this game and that's people who have individual setups, right?

[00:43:15] [SPEAKER_01]: I do think it's a missed opportunity

[00:43:17] [SPEAKER_01]: With a game that is extremely family friendly

[00:43:22] [SPEAKER_01]: To not have it be

[00:43:24] [SPEAKER_01]: Local co-op just because I feel like you get I don't know the experience

[00:43:29] [SPEAKER_01]: Would just translate super well, but you know, this is coming from personal hurt so nobody

[00:43:34] [SPEAKER_02]: No, I'm too seriously. I am going to be controversial here and I'm gonna say this is a miss by the developers

[00:43:39] [SPEAKER_02]: Ooh bottom line and I think

[00:43:43] [SPEAKER_02]: These super artistic

[00:43:44] [SPEAKER_02]: Experiences that we love and we highlight on this podcast that literally most people do not care about

[00:43:51] [SPEAKER_02]: People are not gonna list of the episode

[00:43:53] [SPEAKER_02]: If you're coming across our podcast from the first time

[00:43:55] [SPEAKER_02]: This is gonna be an episode that you are not going this isn't gonna be your entry point into the show probably not

[00:44:00] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, cuz you cuz you don't care

[00:44:04] [SPEAKER_02]: But I so I'm gonna be a little controversial for a second say like I think developers of games like this I

[00:44:11] [SPEAKER_02]: Love again. This is a great game. I love it exists

[00:44:14] [SPEAKER_02]: I want like super artistic like self-expressed games to exist like this

[00:44:19] [SPEAKER_02]: But you also have to do a little bit of a better job of making them marketable to like broader a little bit

[00:44:26] [SPEAKER_02]: Sometimes I think you do sometimes I think it benefits everyone. How can you take something and take your idea?

[00:44:33] [SPEAKER_02]: that's very, you know unique and

[00:44:36] [SPEAKER_02]: Expressive and like get into the hands of more people

[00:44:39] [SPEAKER_02]: I think a super simple way to do that is couch co-op creature collecting game

[00:44:44] [SPEAKER_02]: Like how you spin it and how you position it and kind of these small features you put into games like this

[00:44:49] [SPEAKER_02]: Just makes a massive massive difference in my opinion

[00:44:54] [SPEAKER_02]: Now whether that comes through on like a sales side or whatever. I don't know

[00:44:59] [SPEAKER_02]: But I think they absolutely would like if you positioned it in that way, right?

[00:45:06] [SPEAKER_02]: So yeah, I think thinking about it more I am more disappointed I

[00:45:13] [SPEAKER_02]: Want I want us to be it's it's one of those things like when a game is

[00:45:18] [SPEAKER_02]: Amazing

[00:45:18] [SPEAKER_02]: But it has crappy performance

[00:45:21] [SPEAKER_02]: Right. That's it. That's a thing like that matters the technical side of it matters and like the positioning side of it matters

[00:45:28] [SPEAKER_02]: because you want

[00:45:31] [SPEAKER_02]: You do you create art for people to expect does an artist always want the most amount of people possible to experience their art

[00:45:40] [SPEAKER_02]: Not necessarily

[00:45:42] [SPEAKER_02]: I think that's what makes art like interesting and unique because sometimes you just create art to like create art for arts like I

[00:45:49] [SPEAKER_02]: Don't know that that was I don't think that's like when you're making a video game

[00:45:52] [SPEAKER_02]: It's a little different because it is a product that you are putting out on the market

[00:45:56] [SPEAKER_02]: You're putting it on multiple marketplaces

[00:45:58] [SPEAKER_02]: Xbox Steam these ecosystems that exist for the purpose of so and then when you get it published by a publisher

[00:46:04] [SPEAKER_02]: Even more so like it exists to be sold as a product, right?

[00:46:08] [SPEAKER_02]: So there is always even though this is a super artistic expression, there's always that little element of like

[00:46:15] [SPEAKER_02]: Commercialism and how do you make it more?

[00:46:18] [SPEAKER_02]: Commercial or consumable like a wider group of people

[00:46:23] [SPEAKER_02]: And I would like to see games like this like consumed by a wider group of people

[00:46:27] [SPEAKER_02]: But I think there's little things there's steps that you have to take in order to make that happen. Anyway, yeah

[00:46:33] [SPEAKER_01]: I mean just to make a quick comparison with other artistic mediums, right? I feel like

[00:46:38] [SPEAKER_01]: Poetry for example as an artistic medium

[00:46:41] [SPEAKER_01]: it's easier for the artist to just kind of self express and

[00:46:46] [SPEAKER_01]: Just throw it out and then with the audience that it lands with it lands with them with the audience that it doesn't it doesn't

[00:46:52] [SPEAKER_01]: But with video games because they are so highly commercialized, right?

[00:46:57] [SPEAKER_01]: You can't be so willy-nilly about who you want your audience to be right and it's tricky, right?

[00:47:04] [SPEAKER_01]: And this is something that I mentioned fully, you know well aware of the industry issues that are happening right now

[00:47:11] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, this is this is just one of those things about art and art that is also entertainment

[00:47:16] [SPEAKER_01]: Right is that you want it to entertain and you want it to entertain a lot of people and you want a lot

[00:47:22] [SPEAKER_01]: Of people to enjoy your art, right?

[00:47:25] [SPEAKER_01]: But yeah how you package that and how you deliver it to all those people so they can consume it is

[00:47:31] [SPEAKER_01]: Very difficult and so you do have to you who do have to have your reader in mind, right?

[00:47:36] [SPEAKER_01]: This is something that's talked a lot about in terms of writing where you can't have something be so personal that it's

[00:47:43] [SPEAKER_01]: Impenetrable to an outside audience

[00:47:44] [SPEAKER_01]: Otherwise, no one is gonna kind of feel the artistic experience that you're trying to communicate

[00:47:49] [SPEAKER_01]: You have to make it relatable in some regard and yeah, so we're kind of getting really theoretical here

[00:47:56] [SPEAKER_01]: But to kind of bring it back just to the nitty-gritty

[00:47:59] [SPEAKER_01]: I

[00:48:00] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah a game like flock. I really enjoyed it individually my kids really enjoyed it individually

[00:48:05] [SPEAKER_01]: We've been able to bond over it through our discussions about it

[00:48:09] [SPEAKER_01]: However, I think the experience would have been much more elevated if we had been able to sit shoulder shoulder on the couch

[00:48:16] [SPEAKER_02]: Playing it together. I also think it needed a battle rail mode and microtransactions

[00:48:27] [SPEAKER_02]: No, that's it that's not what I'm just be clear that is

[00:48:31] [SPEAKER_02]: Not what I'm saying that was a totally

[00:48:35] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, speaking of which there is a new Marvel season coming to fortnight in a couple days, dude

[00:48:42] [SPEAKER_02]: Flock ladies and gentlemen

[00:48:44] [SPEAKER_02]: It's on game pass

[00:48:46] [SPEAKER_02]: Again, this is the if this is the official Xbox game pass podcast

[00:48:52] [SPEAKER_02]: We've talked so much about it. If you are patreon subscribers stick around

[00:48:57] [SPEAKER_02]: After the show we're gonna continue the conversation in our extended edition of this episode

[00:49:01] [SPEAKER_02]: Actually specifically talking about game pass and continuing that discussion

[00:49:08] [SPEAKER_02]: If you're not a patreon member, this is the end so ladies and gentlemen if you like this show

[00:49:13] [SPEAKER_02]: Please go to your podcast platform with choice and leave us a review

[00:49:17] [SPEAKER_02]: It's super helps. If you haven't done that and you've been listening for a long time, please

[00:49:20] [SPEAKER_02]: I feel like we need to do like a review

[00:49:23] [SPEAKER_02]: Like a review drive or something Jake like post the link to the different review spots something like that

[00:49:29] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, anyway, if you're listening, you just heard that please go leave a review if you like the show

[00:49:33] [SPEAKER_02]: You can find us on Twitter at period or cast. You can join our discord jump in on the conversation

[00:49:40] [SPEAKER_02]: Come talk about video games with us period of on his podcast discord link to that is in the description

[00:49:45] [SPEAKER_02]: Already mentioned patreon a bunch

[00:49:47] [SPEAKER_02]: Thank you so much for listening

[00:49:49] [SPEAKER_02]: Appreciate you. Have a great night

[00:49:53] You