851: REVENGEANCE (Fantasy Critic Recap)

<v Speaker 1>Hey everybody, It's Friday, are you second twenty twenty four.
<v Speaker 1>Welcome to the Giant BombCast Revengeance powered by n ZXT.
<v Speaker 1>I'm your host, Jana Choa, joined by Skipper of this
<v Speaker 1>Dang Ship Turbo Shawn Sean McDow Jan.
<v Speaker 2>It's the Sean and Jan Show, the Jan Shaunshaw. I
<v Speaker 2>don't know who gets from billing here, but I'm very
<v Speaker 2>excited to do a one.
<v Speaker 1>We can't have an ampersand is this thing?
<v Speaker 2>We can't have an ampersand as I just learned, Yeah,
<v Speaker 2>trying to get this show going here.
<v Speaker 1>Oh man, everyone else is out on assignment. Jeff grubb
<v Speaker 1>en doing a well well well deserved day off. Oh
<v Speaker 1>and how else is he going to spend the day
<v Speaker 1>off the other than hang out with Mikey and Dan reichert.
<v Speaker 2>Yes, the most calm vacation a person can take is
<v Speaker 2>hanging out with those two. Right.
<v Speaker 1>Uh, Sean, We're gonna get you out to an event
<v Speaker 1>one of these days, because you need to warn someday.
<v Speaker 1>I swear it. Jannifesting works everyone as well as Chanceling people.
<v Speaker 2>Oh god, I thought it was a myth.
<v Speaker 1>Hey, Hey, there's certain people we don't hear from anymore.
<v Speaker 2>Huh yeah, y'all wonder where they went.
<v Speaker 1>And there is a certain childlike glee and energy that
<v Speaker 1>pops up whenever the three of those dudes are around
<v Speaker 1>each other.
<v Speaker 2>Oh absolutely yeah, because I mean Grub and Mike have
<v Speaker 2>known each other all a long time and people didn't know,
<v Speaker 2>like going back to like early ish Internet days, like
<v Speaker 2>you know, like the two thousands, that's how long they've
<v Speaker 2>known each other. And then they started working together in
<v Speaker 2>the twenty tens for like the precursor to Games B.
<v Speaker 2>And then yeah, they worked together Games B forever now,
<v Speaker 2>and now they work together on personal stuff in here
<v Speaker 2>a giant bomb.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, yeah, it's uh, I admire it. And the thing
<v Speaker 1>is with Dan, Dan is such a friendly, amicable guy
<v Speaker 1>with any and everyone he meets, like, just picks it
<v Speaker 1>up immediately, good to good to chat, good to gab
<v Speaker 1>with for forever. Yeah, that's right. I canceled Shitley, that's.
<v Speaker 2>Right, banished to the shadow realm, banished.
<v Speaker 1>To the shadow room until I panically need her for
<v Speaker 1>a miscellaneous stream. But anyway, Sean, it was not funny
<v Speaker 1>that uh grubbed took today off because there were some
<v Speaker 1>breaking breaking news as soon as I woke up. Unfortunately,
<v Speaker 1>and I feel really terrible for the homies across the
<v Speaker 1>industry because game Stop has decided to completely completely shut
<v Speaker 1>down Game Informer as an entity, so that is the
<v Speaker 1>web operations, the videos, the website, as well as the
<v Speaker 1>print magazine. And I feel really terrible about this because
<v Speaker 1>not only you know, do I have friends that work
<v Speaker 1>at Game Informer, and there have been some very awesome
<v Speaker 1>people in my life, Dan Reker for example, and and
<v Speaker 1>Chase Striker.
<v Speaker 2>To a Game Informer intrinsically, and you know, I've seen
<v Speaker 2>all this news like sort of initially filtered through our
<v Speaker 2>boy Alex van Aken over there and like saying like
<v Speaker 2>this is how shit's going down, and it's it's wild,
<v Speaker 2>like just seeing them like pull the ruut from under them,
<v Speaker 2>you know, like seeing them talk about how they're just
<v Speaker 2>like locked out of the site in seemingly every way.
<v Speaker 2>Now it's just like, nope, pack it up, y'all, y'all
<v Speaker 2>are out of here. I know that that's so fucked up.
<v Speaker 1>And h you know, this this week hasn't been especially
<v Speaker 1>kind to the industry as a whole. Now, we had
<v Speaker 1>the Bungee layoffs earlier this week, and it just it's
<v Speaker 1>it's especially sore Sean, whenever I see it in games media,
<v Speaker 1>because I feel like, for folks that don't know, we
<v Speaker 1>don't hate each other. Most of us are acquaintances, if
<v Speaker 1>not friends, if not good friends with each other, and
<v Speaker 1>we want to see each other succeed because you know,
<v Speaker 1>I believe in diversity in all definitions of the word,
<v Speaker 1>but especially when it comes to points of view. And
<v Speaker 1>you know, games media pushes the industry forward in a
<v Speaker 1>way where you know there there's a space to be
<v Speaker 1>critical and to to like call people out, are bad
<v Speaker 1>people out? You know, like if there was no grubs
<v Speaker 1>of the world, would we have a Nintendo jail? But
<v Speaker 1>would we have would we properly be calling out the
<v Speaker 1>people that should be called out? And also, like people
<v Speaker 1>like different things, Sean, you and I may have very
<v Speaker 1>similar tastes, but like our tastes wildly vary. Then someone
<v Speaker 1>like Dan. You know, Dan is more of a dewey
<v Speaker 1>type of gamer and not a very talky type of
<v Speaker 1>gamer like you and I will will sit through the
<v Speaker 1>cut scenes, sit through the visual novels. But like that
<v Speaker 1>is we need both of those perspectives right, and we
<v Speaker 1>need more than both of those perspectives to like really
<v Speaker 1>figure out the landscape of video games. And it's yeah,
<v Speaker 1>yeah it stinks.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, it's I mean, it's something that maybe people are
<v Speaker 2>tired of hearing from me. But it's why I always
<v Speaker 2>do try to, you know, sort of see the perspectives
<v Speaker 2>are people when they are talking about game and why
<v Speaker 2>I do my you know, I try not to make
<v Speaker 2>a big deal of it because you know, if a
<v Speaker 2>game sucks, like and everybody knows, like, hey, we have
<v Speaker 2>a show for that, Like we know when something's like
<v Speaker 2>really bad. But the reason that Internet discourse nowadays is
<v Speaker 2>just like, oh something's less than an eight out of ten,
<v Speaker 2>it's the worst thing on earth. It's like, no, something
<v Speaker 2>can just not be for you. It's okay to just
<v Speaker 2>like not like something and not be awful and have
<v Speaker 2>like you said, with having different points of view and
<v Speaker 2>having people from all across the world working on these
<v Speaker 2>different sites, working for these different outlets, having their point
<v Speaker 2>of view bringing that to the table, and being able
<v Speaker 2>to say like I am an RPG person, I am
<v Speaker 2>a visual NOLL person, but also I am a live
<v Speaker 2>service person, I am a mobile game person. Like that's
<v Speaker 2>all really cool, and it feels like that's just shrinking
<v Speaker 2>and shrinking as these companies who don't know how to
<v Speaker 2>manage really talented teams keep just downsizing and trying to
<v Speaker 2>cut corners, cut costs, and seemingly from what people are
<v Speaker 2>figuring out about some of this, maybe some AI you know,
<v Speaker 2>glints in executives' eyes and all of this, and it's
<v Speaker 2>just really messed up that people's lives are being affected
<v Speaker 2>by this. It's it's incredibly messed up.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah. The especially damning part, uh bring up AI is
<v Speaker 1>that apparently the farewell letter that was tweeted out yeah
<v Speaker 1>game and former account has since been found out to
<v Speaker 1>be to have used chat GBT or some other AI.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah. I think I think that's like, you know, an
<v Speaker 2>allegedly allegedly situation. But yeah, it looks like just from
<v Speaker 2>the structure that first of all, we know, we know
<v Speaker 2>no one on staff ROD, so where did it come from?
<v Speaker 2>And seems like, yeah, they probably just AI generated and.
<v Speaker 1>Not definitively true, you know, allegedly allegedly will sprinkle those in.
<v Speaker 2>But still either way, the fact that like you know,
<v Speaker 2>like you can't even get one of the staff members
<v Speaker 2>to like say it for you is just like saying
<v Speaker 2>f off and see you later.
<v Speaker 1>And like there's there's a lot of like a words
<v Speaker 1>being thrown around about like the rug pulled under them,
<v Speaker 1>and he does feel like it, and which is especially
<v Speaker 1>upsetting because you know, the Game Informer had that like
<v Speaker 1>massive massive membership relaunch delio earlier. Was it this year, Sean, Yeah,
<v Speaker 1>it was like months ago.
<v Speaker 2>I remember grubb Head. I think he had Marcus Stewart
<v Speaker 2>on GMM. By the way, also, I have had the
<v Speaker 2>pleasure of working with Marcus. He was on episode Jeopardy
<v Speaker 2>a while back. Great guy. Just he had him on
<v Speaker 2>talking about that and everything, and it seemed like they
<v Speaker 2>were like really optimistic about the future of a Game
<v Speaker 2>Informer and like they were like, yeah, you know, we're
<v Speaker 2>we're being a little more independent in all this. We're
<v Speaker 2>gonna have a little more control. Obviously we're still under
<v Speaker 2>the parent company, but you know, like having a little
<v Speaker 2>more say there, and they seemed happy, and that's I'm
<v Speaker 2>probably gonna keep repeating myself here, but yeah, it's messed up.
<v Speaker 2>It's fucked up. I hate to see it.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, And when I think about like Game Informer as
<v Speaker 1>like an entity, it just felt like a pillar in
<v Speaker 1>this like games media landscape which is quickly quickly shrinking,
<v Speaker 1>and I can't help but feel I guess, levels of
<v Speaker 1>like survivor's guilt, but also just like fear, you know,
<v Speaker 1>of of of how things are over here, because it's
<v Speaker 1>like you never know, you never know the present company
<v Speaker 1>being excluded someone else can swoop in, because that's always
<v Speaker 1>a possibility, especially with like how the how some companies
<v Speaker 1>have been run. Right Yeah, Sean, I I especially wanted
<v Speaker 1>to get your your view on this because you're only
<v Speaker 1>a couple of years younger than me, but I'm curious
<v Speaker 1>to see or hear about how print media with games
<v Speaker 1>was for you because for me personally, and we were
<v Speaker 1>chatting about this prior to the show starting, I think
<v Speaker 1>we have similar backgrounds where like money was a little
<v Speaker 1>bit tight, so video game magazines were kind of like exploratory,
<v Speaker 1>kind of like an escape to experience as much of
<v Speaker 1>video games as we could because we couldn't play them
<v Speaker 1>or rent them or buy any of the games.
<v Speaker 2>Right Yeah, well yeah, to say it was tight is
<v Speaker 2>an understatement. For me, it was very much I was
<v Speaker 2>the kid who and I know other people have done this,
<v Speaker 2>even Grub. We've talked about it a little bit, like yeah,
<v Speaker 2>he was like, yeah, I did that back in the
<v Speaker 2>nineties too, like Nintendo Power and stuff, but like popping
<v Speaker 2>your ass down in front of the magazine rack while
<v Speaker 2>your parents are doing shopping at the grocery store to
<v Speaker 2>like read a little bit of the magazine because they weren't.
<v Speaker 2>You didn't. It wasn't in the budget to buy that
<v Speaker 2>five dollars magazine even that week, but you know, if
<v Speaker 2>you could read it for a little bit while everyone's
<v Speaker 2>doing shopping and the eventually I did get a subscription
<v Speaker 2>or two here and there. Nintendo Power had a deal
<v Speaker 2>whereas like twenty dollars a year. That was easy to like,
<v Speaker 2>you know, sew with my mom. But gaming magazines were
<v Speaker 2>how I experienced video games for a large portion of
<v Speaker 2>my life. I was saying that I received well game
<v Speaker 2>Boy Advance from my grandparents a few years after it
<v Speaker 2>came out for a Christmas one year, and that was
<v Speaker 2>my entry into owning video games. But even then it
<v Speaker 2>was a basically birthday and Christmas kind of thing for
<v Speaker 2>actually buying it, Like you know, we buy you the
<v Speaker 2>new Pokemon for Christmas, and that's like that's it. That's
<v Speaker 2>what we can afford for like the year, and if
<v Speaker 2>I could find some spare change, maybe I could get
<v Speaker 2>something from the used game store. But yeah, reading Nintendo Power,
<v Speaker 2>EGM and Game Informer, all these different magazines are how
<v Speaker 2>I took in gaming news, even just imagining them. And
<v Speaker 2>just like you know, I would go to the demo
<v Speaker 2>station and Walmart or whatever. That was like the arcade
<v Speaker 2>for me for my generation was going to those freaking
<v Speaker 2>kiosks with my friends and then yeah, we would like
<v Speaker 2>rate a magazine, pick them up, bring those home, whatever
<v Speaker 2>we could do where we could do so. So seeing
<v Speaker 2>sort of the you know, the last team carrying the
<v Speaker 2>torch for that era of games media seeing them go
<v Speaker 2>away is just like, it's really sad. It's impressive that
<v Speaker 2>they managed to keep it going for this.
<v Speaker 1>Long, you know, yeah, yeah, yeah, very very similar stories
<v Speaker 1>on my My mom's favorite joke when she would go
<v Speaker 1>shopping is that she would drop me off to the babysitter,
<v Speaker 1>and the babysitter would be the magazine video game magazine
<v Speaker 1>rack at the Barnes and Noble nearby. And I can't
<v Speaker 1>tell you the number of times I'd like fawn over
<v Speaker 1>a game or like flip through pages and then like
<v Speaker 1>look at the next magazine. It'd always be a rotation
<v Speaker 1>of like oh PM for me Official PlayStation Magazine, Game
<v Speaker 1>Informer and EGM and Game Pro as well. Yeah, I
<v Speaker 1>think there were like a couple other ones that like
<v Speaker 1>didn't last too long. Unfortunately, you know, may have read
<v Speaker 1>some tips and tricks, may have brought the notebook with me.
<v Speaker 2>Yeh tricks you know.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, Game Fan and Game Now, one of the would
<v Speaker 1>have an annual or least seasonal video game female character
<v Speaker 1>swimsuit issue. Yes, kind of riffing off of us. Irustrated
<v Speaker 1>And let me tell you, my mom would try her
<v Speaker 1>darnedest to buy me magazines, but what she would do
<v Speaker 1>is she'd quickly flip through them. I got in trouble
<v Speaker 1>for even trying to bring that up to buy.
<v Speaker 2>You weren't gonna get that one. You weren't gonna sneak
<v Speaker 2>that into the cart. She just trying.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah. The justification that would get my mom to sometimes
<v Speaker 1>buy me in oh PM was because of the demo discs.
<v Speaker 1>As we know we've seen on Demo Derby, most if
<v Speaker 1>not all magazine issues came with a demo disc and
<v Speaker 1>those were my bread and butter Sean, all those like
<v Speaker 1>powered me through in between like birthdays and other holidays
<v Speaker 1>where like family would give me some type of money'd
<v Speaker 1>be glorious in between Blockbuster rentals.
<v Speaker 2>Oh yeah, definitely same here because like it was wild
<v Speaker 2>that you would get with just like a six dollar magazine.
<v Speaker 2>I think they were usually a little bit higher than
<v Speaker 2>in official Xbox magazine, but just the fact that you
<v Speaker 2>would get a disc that you could pop in, you
<v Speaker 2>get the magazine, the magazine was good, and then you
<v Speaker 2>would get a disc they could pop in. Play all
<v Speaker 2>these teams where yeah, like eventually because I had to
<v Speaker 2>like hop from system a system. So you know, it's like, oh,
<v Speaker 2>you want the GameCube. We can't buy a GameCube outright,
<v Speaker 2>even if it's used, you know, thirty forty bucks. But
<v Speaker 2>if you trade in the game Boy, you get the GameCube.
<v Speaker 2>So I just That's how I've played basically every system
<v Speaker 2>ever is by you know, just trading it in and
<v Speaker 2>then plus ten bucks or whatever and swapping system system
<v Speaker 2>And PS two was one that I had for longer
<v Speaker 2>than probably any other because I get those demo discs.
<v Speaker 2>I played PS one games. PS one demo discs and
<v Speaker 2>all that stuff, and you know, go to the library
<v Speaker 2>rent all that stuff too.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah. Man, Yeah, One of the things I definitely worry
<v Speaker 1>about with game and former closing is like you know,
<v Speaker 1>those those deeper interviews and just like general game discovery
<v Speaker 1>because Sehn, as we both know, wading through the trenches
<v Speaker 1>of Steam is a gargantuan task when you're trying to
<v Speaker 1>find something new I find like the next big thing.
<v Speaker 1>And Twitter has been on fire for what feels like
<v Speaker 1>years now, that like finding something a new game on
<v Speaker 1>Twitter that isn't just like a fake ad for a
<v Speaker 1>fake game feels especially hard. And I know that, like
<v Speaker 1>you know, TikTok helps with discoverability, Twitch definitely helps with discoverability,
<v Speaker 1>but like having that like I don't know, I think
<v Speaker 1>if iration definitely.
<v Speaker 2>It's the same thing with you know, the three sixties
<v Speaker 2>store shutting down Earth I was talking about, like Xbox Live, Arcade,
<v Speaker 2>XBLA was awesome because you had these handpicked games that
<v Speaker 2>they were like, we know these are good and they
<v Speaker 2>may not be what you normally played, but gil my chance,
<v Speaker 2>Gilma try, you know.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, and I think I'm definitely gonna miss that, And
<v Speaker 1>I hope that there's still some space for that. I
<v Speaker 1>know that there's like there are websites doing their darnest,
<v Speaker 1>like indie websites out there, smaller sites doing hours and
<v Speaker 1>hours of unpaid work to try and you know, inform
<v Speaker 1>the masses and help the masses and help game devs,
<v Speaker 1>game publishers and all that jazz. But yeah, I would
<v Speaker 1>I would like for our peers or acquaintances and our
<v Speaker 1>friends to not be in jeopardy all the time.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, it's yeah, not to keep getting depressing, but it
<v Speaker 2>is wild to think of how many of my games
<v Speaker 2>media friends and acquaintances that made in the past year
<v Speaker 2>and a half or so now are not games media
<v Speaker 2>people anymore because their job went up in a puff
<v Speaker 2>of smoke and they haven't been able to find new
<v Speaker 2>work or made. They're freelancing here and there. And it's
<v Speaker 2>just I get what you mean, a little bit of
<v Speaker 2>the survivor's guilt a little bit and just feeling like
<v Speaker 2>that there should be room for everybody in all of this,
<v Speaker 2>you know, and the fact that executives have decided that
<v Speaker 2>there isn't. It's just sucks.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, rough week across the board on both sides of
<v Speaker 1>the fence, and frankly, at this point, I think we
<v Speaker 1>should just tear the fence down and use them to
<v Speaker 1>form picket signs against the powers that be above us.
<v Speaker 2>All I will say shout outs to the people who
<v Speaker 2>are making it work independently. Like I look all the
<v Speaker 2>time at Minmex and what they're doing, and like, you know,
<v Speaker 2>I think Handsome was smart with that obviously kind of
<v Speaker 2>funny before them, way before them, like basically setting the
<v Speaker 2>template for the rest of us where if you want
<v Speaker 2>to seek out independent, if you want to venture out
<v Speaker 2>on your own, like that is the way to do it.
<v Speaker 2>You know, you start your Patreon, you get your name
<v Speaker 2>out there, like you push your name if you already
<v Speaker 2>have one, and just try to get everyone on board.
<v Speaker 2>And I really appreciate seeing those people move on to
<v Speaker 2>that kind of thing and you know, find see see
<v Speaker 2>that their place in the industry is sort of being continued,
<v Speaker 2>just in a different way. And yeah, obviously nex Flanders
<v Speaker 2>Chess pointed out, just says seeing seeing the homies, like
<v Speaker 2>you know, go on to their next thing and have
<v Speaker 2>it be successful. Obviously not everyone can do that, but
<v Speaker 2>you know, maybe we uh, maybe more people start doing that.
<v Speaker 2>And I hope that they can find success in that too,
<v Speaker 2>because it seems like corporates games media is a dangerous
<v Speaker 2>thing right now, all across the board. So yeah, he
<v Speaker 2>wis access and you wish and not wishing the best
<v Speaker 2>for them obviously.
<v Speaker 1>And not not to glaze our dear co workers too much,
<v Speaker 1>but like you know, I definitely appreciate the hustle and
<v Speaker 1>the grind that like Grub and Minati have had over
<v Speaker 1>the years, especially with like their own independent stuff that
<v Speaker 1>you were intimately tied with, Sean.
<v Speaker 2>Yes, now I'm just over there working with them a
<v Speaker 2>whole bunch of stuff and like, yeah, let me tell
<v Speaker 2>you as someone who literally works with them nearly every
<v Speaker 2>day just and Jeff really is one of the hardest
<v Speaker 2>working people I've ever seen, you know, full time dad,
<v Speaker 2>full time employee, just making everything work, and it's wild.
<v Speaker 2>It's a grind, it's a hustle. But just the fact
<v Speaker 2>that yeah, we can have smaller things like that or
<v Speaker 2>bigger things like you know, the kind of funnies and
<v Speaker 2>the min Maxes is really cool.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, And folks, don't worry, we will we will try
<v Speaker 1>our darndice to have some, if not as many of
<v Speaker 1>the folks that were affected by the game and four layoffs,
<v Speaker 1>if not several game and former alumni on a bomb
<v Speaker 1>cast coming up, just you know, wax poetically about the
<v Speaker 1>good times or what the future holds for them till
<v Speaker 1>then again, I am sending the best of vibes. All
<v Speaker 1>of us here are sending the best of vibes to
<v Speaker 1>our comrades of a Game Informer because dang Jesus Christ,
<v Speaker 1>Game Stop fucking sucks. They just sell funk o pops now, Sean,
<v Speaker 1>I don't know if you've been to one.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, crazy how Game Stop went from being dunking on
<v Speaker 2>the three sixties store closing saying, oh, which bet you
<v Speaker 2>wish you bought physical games now, which, by the way,
<v Speaker 2>tone deaf because you can still redownload your games. But
<v Speaker 2>second of all, the fact that games Stop would try
<v Speaker 2>to dunk on anybody as hilarious and now it's led
<v Speaker 2>us to this where, yeah, they don't as a company
<v Speaker 2>give a shit about human lives.
<v Speaker 1>I think what would be a fun bcr perhaps next
<v Speaker 1>week would be best Game Informer magazine covers.
<v Speaker 2>Oh yes, because that's that's like what they've been known for.
<v Speaker 2>A lot of magazines had really good. Nintendo Power eventually
<v Speaker 2>moved towards that, like just the logo and the art,
<v Speaker 2>and eventually it was just the art for subscribers and then, yeah,
<v Speaker 2>Game Informer has been really good about that too, especially
<v Speaker 2>like with the sort of revival we were talking about,
<v Speaker 2>emphasizing that they've had such incredible art.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, definitely, not necessarily the actual cover story itself, but
<v Speaker 1>the cover of the magazine. Yes, just what you see
<v Speaker 1>what draws your attention when you go buy the store
<v Speaker 1>shehelf or now digital storefront. You know, God, because I've sean,
<v Speaker 1>I've got to imagine that even like our more casual
<v Speaker 1>gaming friends have an issue at least one issue of
<v Speaker 1>Game Informer.
<v Speaker 2>Oh yeah, flowing around somewhere. Yeah, Like I was looking
<v Speaker 2>at my stack over there, because I you know, I
<v Speaker 2>pull those out sometimes when I while I show them
<v Speaker 2>off on the show, and I couldn't find any other
<v Speaker 2>game of for us. I know they're flowing around in
<v Speaker 2>a box somewhere because I have boxes of my old
<v Speaker 2>magazine somewhere. I'll see if I can find them. Hopefully
<v Speaker 2>they didn't get lost in a move like what I
<v Speaker 2>was at college or whatever. But yeah, we'll see what happens,
<v Speaker 2>because I definitely treasure some of those old memories.
<v Speaker 1>All right, Sean, So actually, do you have any games
<v Speaker 1>that you would like to talk about?
<v Speaker 2>I do you know what I can like go bullet
<v Speaker 2>point here, because mostly what I've been playing is I've
<v Speaker 2>been getting caught up on Final Fantasy fourteen because you know,
<v Speaker 2>Dawn Trail is out. Everyone's been talking about it. I'm
<v Speaker 2>speaking a game for homies. All the Nasty boys are
<v Speaker 2>talking about Don Trail, and I can't get off my feet.
<v Speaker 2>So I'm like, I need to get caught up on this.
<v Speaker 2>Mike won't shut up, but either so I'm still an
<v Speaker 2>end Walker, though I'm quite a ways away from it,
<v Speaker 2>but hey.
<v Speaker 1>Further than I am Bud.
<v Speaker 2>That's true, Jan, It's so good. It's so good. It
<v Speaker 2>can't emphasize this enough because I see people misunderstand. You
<v Speaker 2>can play Final Fantasy fourteen as a single player Finally Fantasy.
<v Speaker 2>That's how I've done. I've literally never done a raid
<v Speaker 2>outside of just you know, the story mode stuff, so
<v Speaker 2>you can absolutely just play as an RPG. I highly
<v Speaker 2>recommend it. So I've been getting caught up on that.
<v Speaker 2>It's sort of a game I associate with the summer,
<v Speaker 2>so this usually is why I do my catchup. I
<v Speaker 2>don't play it throughout the year and everything. I've been
<v Speaker 2>playing more the Marvel Rivals Alpha Beta or other.
<v Speaker 1>Oh surprising, actually.
<v Speaker 2>I mean I'm an overwatched guy, used to be at least,
<v Speaker 2>and so you know, now here with like like I
<v Speaker 2>was mentioning on the BombCast, I think being able to
<v Speaker 2>say this is just the good Overwatch that I can
<v Speaker 2>now present to my friends when it comes out and say, hey,
<v Speaker 2>remember the good old times. And I keep going back
<v Speaker 2>to it because you know, I found my mane in Rocket.
<v Speaker 2>You know, I like being the healer who can also
<v Speaker 2>deal damage. And I've been winning left and right, you know,
<v Speaker 2>helping my team. So it's just fun. It's a good time.
<v Speaker 1>I've yet to check out the beta. Maybe I can
<v Speaker 1>convince you all to play with me.
<v Speaker 2>That's right, you didn't play with us.
<v Speaker 1>They dragged me to Comic Con show.
<v Speaker 2>See when does it a room. I'm trying to think
<v Speaker 2>of when it ends. It might be like Monday. Maybe
<v Speaker 2>doesn't work out, but yeah, we were talking about getting
<v Speaker 2>you in for a few games, so if we can,
<v Speaker 2>that would be really sick. I did want to surprise
<v Speaker 2>you with one, though, Jan, I've been holding off on
<v Speaker 2>this until literally this moment where I was like, okay,
<v Speaker 2>there's like a moment where me and Jan need to
<v Speaker 2>talk about something. I'm gonna drop this on him. He's
<v Speaker 2>not gonna see it coming. He's gonna be right. So
<v Speaker 2>another bit of unfortunate news is that a romhacking dot
<v Speaker 2>is also closing down. Yeah, a lot of fan translations
<v Speaker 2>and fan tweaks like you see sometimes like colorizations of
<v Speaker 2>Game Boy games into DX games. That's where a lot
<v Speaker 2>of that stuff has been posted. And so that's closing
<v Speaker 2>down for personal reasons related to the owner. But something
<v Speaker 2>that I started earlier in summer, I haven't finished, but
<v Speaker 2>I started because of the fan translation. I don't think
<v Speaker 2>I it's actually hosted on ram haacking. I think it
<v Speaker 2>was hosted elsewhere, but sort of you know, all in
<v Speaker 2>this vein here, Jan, I've ever heard of Rockman EXE,
<v Speaker 2>Phantom of Network, and Legend of Network, No, I thought,
<v Speaker 2>so these are mega man bound network games Jen has
<v Speaker 2>not heard of because they were made for mobile phones,
<v Speaker 2>you know, just like old school dumb foam feature phones
<v Speaker 2>in Japan in the mid two thousands. This is a
<v Speaker 2>incredib preservation project that has been happening where people are
<v Speaker 2>trying to get like feature phones, Like we had bad
<v Speaker 2>cell phones in the two thousands here in the US.
<v Speaker 2>That's like yeah, like nochias that could run Snake. For
<v Speaker 2>the most part, they had like simple three D games
<v Speaker 2>on their phones. Over in Japan, like there's like a
<v Speaker 2>Mega Man Legends sequel that is only on phones and
<v Speaker 2>stuff like this. So a lot of these games are
<v Speaker 2>getting preserved, and they have managed to preserve Phantom of
<v Speaker 2>Network and it's sequel Legend of Network, which are games
<v Speaker 2>that continue the Battle Network story. They like take place
<v Speaker 2>between us like three and four and then five and
<v Speaker 2>six or something like that, and they are just Battle
<v Speaker 2>Network games, but you know, we never got to play them,
<v Speaker 2>and so they've been preserved from those old phones because
<v Speaker 2>they managed to find people who still had them sent
<v Speaker 2>around a drawer, you know, on one of those old
<v Speaker 2>crappy phones, and Fan translated them as well. So I've
<v Speaker 2>been playing those a little bit. I played them a
<v Speaker 2>little bit earlier in summer, and then I've been coming
<v Speaker 2>back to some here and there. I found out a
<v Speaker 2>way to get the You need to use a Java
<v Speaker 2>emulator jan to run these things because that's what those
<v Speaker 2>phones ran. I've been playing them on my steam deck
<v Speaker 2>because there's like a whole guide of how I get
<v Speaker 2>the anulayer on your steam deck, matha, bumps and every
<v Speaker 2>So it's impressive because you know, like these phones could
<v Speaker 2>do GBA style games, and it is. Yeah, like the
<v Speaker 2>animations aren't quite there and everything like that. They're a
<v Speaker 2>little simpler, but just mellork.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I'm looking at a video now of what I
<v Speaker 1>assume maybe is just someone recording off of their phone
<v Speaker 1>in the hub world or reallyst navigating in the map
<v Speaker 1>is more isometric than to an angle and it normally.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, so the land segments, it's sort of like the
<v Speaker 2>switch from like Persona three to Persona three portable, where
<v Speaker 2>you know, the like daytime over world segments have been
<v Speaker 2>simplified to a menu. But then when you're in the
<v Speaker 2>Dungeony area, so like for these games, the a cyber
<v Speaker 2>world is Mega Man. You're just running around with Mega
<v Speaker 2>Man like you won the GBA games. Graphics again slightly simpler,
<v Speaker 2>but again to the battles, it's just battle network battles.
<v Speaker 2>And yeah, it's been These projects are really cool and
<v Speaker 2>why you know again, shouts rom haacking dot and that
<v Speaker 2>a little sat sye that one go the you know,
<v Speaker 2>moders and everything. We'll move on to something else eventually,
<v Speaker 2>but so sad to see that, psycho. But seeing stuff
<v Speaker 2>like this and yeah that man. I love revisiting these
<v Speaker 2>old games that we never got through fan translations. It's
<v Speaker 2>so cool.
<v Speaker 1>God, I had no idea this existed. This is so
<v Speaker 1>freaking cool, dude. Yeah right, yeah, I actually don't mind
<v Speaker 1>the land sequences just being relegated to a menu, because.
<v Speaker 2>Right, and that's like where if you need to cut
<v Speaker 2>corners to fit down to like, you know, a Java
<v Speaker 2>phone download in the two thousands, that's that's where you
<v Speaker 2>like cut it down right.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, some of those later games had a little bit
<v Speaker 1>too much walking around as land for my taste.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, you remember, like if you didn't know where to go,
<v Speaker 2>you would eventually just start running around spamming the rbund
<v Speaker 2>to try and check in.
<v Speaker 1>Mm hmmm h just like I'm just gonna try and
<v Speaker 1>jack in everywhere. Just let me jack in already, please.
<v Speaker 1>Oh oh I'm not. I'm calmly asking please, is what
<v Speaker 1>it is. I'm not demanding anything, respectfully. Sean did you
<v Speaker 1>ever get into the Mega Man Battle Network competitive scene
<v Speaker 1>that was kind of like homebrewed.
<v Speaker 2>No, And it's because I washed a match and I'm like,
<v Speaker 2>I know what all these things do. I don't know
<v Speaker 2>if I have the execution to do them. Yeah, Like
<v Speaker 2>you see a Competitive Bowl Network match, because they still
<v Speaker 2>like doing that in Japan and now with like a
<v Speaker 2>homebrew net code that they have like GGPO basically put
<v Speaker 2>into some of these ambulators, I can do online matches
<v Speaker 2>with the old games emulated and chat. Like if you
<v Speaker 2>know Ball Network at all, you know, it's like a
<v Speaker 2>card based action RPG where you're like tossing a tax
<v Speaker 2>back and forth, but just to see like constantly they do,
<v Speaker 2>you know, moves instantaneously because they just like it's crazy,
<v Speaker 2>it's wild.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I think people are emulating. It's either Battle Network.
<v Speaker 1>I want to say it's five.
<v Speaker 2>They do six they do because because they see it
<v Speaker 2>as like the most balanced.
<v Speaker 1>Oh fair, fair fair. Yeah. But yeah, watching Competitive Battle
<v Speaker 1>Network is exactly as Sean says, it's kind of when
<v Speaker 1>you go from like hobbyists to watching professionals play and like, yeah,
<v Speaker 1>oh okay, I'm just gonna continue sitting over there, It's
<v Speaker 1>like if you don't understand Marvel versus Capcom or you like,
<v Speaker 1>remember when you first started understanding Marvel versus Capcom at
<v Speaker 1>high level seeing all the flashy crap happound screen, You're.
<v Speaker 2>Like, what is going on here? Like you may even
<v Speaker 2>know what the moves are doing, but you don't understand
<v Speaker 2>how they ended up doing them. Yeah, it's it's crazy
<v Speaker 2>stuff to see those people in action.
<v Speaker 1>It's a little bit complicado to set up if you
<v Speaker 1>were not well versed with uh, you know, going into
<v Speaker 1>your router and figuring out your IP and all that jazz.
<v Speaker 1>But uh, you know, if that is that is something
<v Speaker 1>you want to partake in. They have a very active
<v Speaker 1>and very helpful discord community, yet a specific discord.
<v Speaker 2>I think because the the Legacy Collection does have online
<v Speaker 2>I believe you can get matches with people in six online,
<v Speaker 2>like specifically it's either switch or PC I believe, where
<v Speaker 2>like they have a small community or like everyone who
<v Speaker 2>wants to do that already owns it, so you can
<v Speaker 2>like ask them that they want to do on there
<v Speaker 2>instead or something like that.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, okay, okay, we'll dig this. Sean. What about we
<v Speaker 1>take quick breaking break and then we're just going to
<v Speaker 1>recap everything that's going on in the Giant Bomb Fantasy
<v Speaker 1>Critic league.
<v Speaker 2>Sounds good to me, all right fitted the black.
<v Speaker 1>Wow, what a RESTful break that was, Sean, I feel
<v Speaker 1>like a new person.
<v Speaker 2>We took a forty eight hour break in Wow.
<v Speaker 1>I know, I know. This is what happens when they
<v Speaker 1>just let the producers do whatever, because it's like, well,
<v Speaker 1>we press all the buttons on the website.
<v Speaker 2>Did you see that tweet from Mike last night where
<v Speaker 2>he's like, I'm playing Dark Souls until a game as
<v Speaker 2>Mornings you mentioned say game as Decides and name the
<v Speaker 2>wrong show that also wasn't happening today. So Jeff was like, boy,
<v Speaker 2>you got a long stream coming, buddy.
<v Speaker 1>Very very long stream. So we've we've we did a
<v Speaker 1>stream where we did a Serpentine draft. Sean, you are
<v Speaker 1>the league manager here, yes, for a Giant Bomb using
<v Speaker 1>Fantasy Critic. For folks that are semi familiar with fantasy football,
<v Speaker 1>this follows a similar thing, except instead of drafting players,
<v Speaker 1>we were drafting releases that are coming out this year
<v Speaker 1>prior to them coming out, and then the score that
<v Speaker 1>we receive is based off of how they review out
<v Speaker 1>in the world.
<v Speaker 2>On Open Creeks specifically now moved to I believe they
<v Speaker 2>use a open credit card there.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, so pretty much everyone on the GB staff is competing.
<v Speaker 1>We have Grubbed, Mike, Dan, Tam Turbo, Sean, myself, back
<v Speaker 1>of Art, Nikki, and Lucy. So there are nine spots.
<v Speaker 1>I want to say nine spots. Yes, I listed nine people,
<v Speaker 1>so that means there're nine spots. And you've definitely heard
<v Speaker 1>us talk about the Fantasy critic since we've drafted on
<v Speaker 1>various Giant Bomb programming, and I kind of just wanted
<v Speaker 1>to give folks an update on what the standings are
<v Speaker 1>and refresh everyone's memory as to what games everyone has
<v Speaker 1>claimed because you.
<v Speaker 2>Keep hearing you know, we'll say it in passing like
<v Speaker 2>back will be like, I can't believe you grab that game,
<v Speaker 2>Like I wanted to get that for my team.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah. I'm guilty of this because I keep losing some
<v Speaker 1>bids and not staying on top of them. But a
<v Speaker 1>couple of us have a full now if I am
<v Speaker 1>looking at this right.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, is it just Mike or does Grub?
<v Speaker 1>Mike, Dan and Grub all have a full roster of games. Okay,
<v Speaker 1>gotcha Okay, so we'll start with the current standings, and
<v Speaker 1>this is still projected as of right now. Uh, ninth place,
<v Speaker 1>we have Lucy James Games eight, who has negative points.
<v Speaker 2>I would like to point.
<v Speaker 1>Out, oh oh yes, actually I just saw that part.
<v Speaker 2>Let's see the yeah, the difference. VENO, Lucy's in ninth
<v Speaker 2>with negative three points six points. And who's next up?
<v Speaker 1>In eighth place? We have Nikki with thirty two point
<v Speaker 1>ninety three points.
<v Speaker 2>Spin of a delta there.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, yeah, that's like the opposite of a bell curve.
<v Speaker 1>And then in seventh place we have Jeff Backlar thirty eight.
<v Speaker 2>What was the name of each of these leagues? By way,
<v Speaker 2>we have Lucy James Games with Lucy James publishes games,
<v Speaker 2>Nicky's Good Video Games g m M, and then Jerff's
<v Speaker 2>Important Collective.
<v Speaker 1>Then sixth place we have okay, this iset whatever. Sixth
<v Speaker 1>place we have myself with cut the Check Games thirty
<v Speaker 1>eight point forty two. Sean, you are in fifth place,
<v Speaker 1>but projected third. We're just I'll just look at the
<v Speaker 1>actual points here.
<v Speaker 2>I'm sorry, it was my was my Polish name.
<v Speaker 1>Lucky Low Puney Feet Incorporated.
<v Speaker 2>I just really want to flip what you're saying that,
<v Speaker 2>thank you, Jam.
<v Speaker 1>No problem, Bud. In fourth place we with forty three
<v Speaker 1>point forty six points. We have Tam with grow Up.
<v Speaker 2>TAM's had passed me recently or this happened a while ago.
<v Speaker 1>Hasn't drafted anything, so I think.
<v Speaker 2>That tell okay.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I think TAM's going with the I'm not going
<v Speaker 1>to check this model and let everyone else fumble.
<v Speaker 2>The back well for a couple of people that might
<v Speaker 2>be working.
<v Speaker 1>Uh. And then in third we have Dan Record Records
<v Speaker 1>Market forty three points in number. In second place Mike
<v Speaker 1>and I with Critical Path Publishing, and currently in first
<v Speaker 1>Jeff Grub with Grubb one out games How sixty two
<v Speaker 1>point oh three points.
<v Speaker 2>So, as you can see, Grub, Mike, and Dan are
<v Speaker 2>definitely the ones who are really competing here. I'm for
<v Speaker 2>the reker, I'm in the middle of back I'm trying
<v Speaker 2>they keep out bidding me. Someone somewhere always out busy,
<v Speaker 2>and that's how me, Grubb and Mike have been doing
<v Speaker 2>Fantasy correct for a few years now with our you know,
<v Speaker 2>personal community, and so this is what always happens to me.
<v Speaker 2>I'm like, I'm gonna put a good healthy bid on
<v Speaker 2>it because we have one hundred dollars to spend as
<v Speaker 2>we choose to draft games throughout the year for our team, uh,
<v Speaker 2>you know, to get more points. And I'm like, you know,
<v Speaker 2>thirty dollars even forty dollars for these big games, that'll
<v Speaker 2>be enough. But no, y'all wild y'all putting like Dan
<v Speaker 2>puts seventy dollars on a game one time. I think, well,
<v Speaker 2>for Astrobot, he like bet almost everything Unastrobot, which that's
<v Speaker 2>gonna pay off?
<v Speaker 1>Sure?
<v Speaker 2>Yeah that yeah, yeah, yeah, it's wild wild out here.
<v Speaker 2>I can't compete.
<v Speaker 1>I'm especially mad at Jeff Backlar because I put a
<v Speaker 1>smooth fifty one dollars on Thank goodness, you're here thinking
<v Speaker 1>like no one's gonna no, it's gonna outbid me here.
<v Speaker 2>Yep, I think I put forty on that one.
<v Speaker 1>That this guy sneak said like that, how much did
<v Speaker 1>he does he spend?
<v Speaker 2>Okay, Jan, I know no one else on our team
<v Speaker 2>is listening to this, So between you and me, you
<v Speaker 2>always gotta do one over what you want to do,
<v Speaker 2>Like you want to do fifty bucks, you need to
<v Speaker 2>do fifty one because someone else is also going to
<v Speaker 2>think fifty bucks.
<v Speaker 1>Okay, okay, yeah, let's see. Uh shall we go through
<v Speaker 1>the game that everyone has?
<v Speaker 2>Uh? Sure? Yeah? Why not?
<v Speaker 1>Some of these have yet to come out, so b
<v Speaker 1>be forewarned, so there are still potential for points. I'll
<v Speaker 1>read TAM's if you want to grab Dan's sure, I
<v Speaker 1>mean like alternate, Yeah, well alternate. So for grow up games.
<v Speaker 1>So far, the games that have released and have reviews
<v Speaker 1>are Tech and Eight Brothers, A Tale of Two Sons,
<v Speaker 1>Parentheses remake, and Hell Divers two very good pickup. Sean
<v Speaker 1>Tam is still waiting on Male Gear Solid Delta Snake
<v Speaker 1>Eater and Dragon Ball Zero Sparking zero with a counterpick
<v Speaker 1>against you. Yes, Fire Emblem Genealogy of the Holy War remake,
<v Speaker 1>Parentheses unannounced.
<v Speaker 2>Yes, I because everything we heard was that game is
<v Speaker 2>coming out this year, and I would like to point out,
<v Speaker 2>based on the way things are going and the Nintendo
<v Speaker 2>announcements we've had some I've actually dropped that game because
<v Speaker 2>I am no longer confidence coming out. So but the well, yeah,
<v Speaker 2>but the way it works with the counterpicks is though
<v Speaker 2>that Tam still gets the counterpicks. So yeah, if anyone
<v Speaker 2>doesn't know what the counterpicks. Are you miss our explanation
<v Speaker 2>on the initial episode. Uh, obviously the picks you know
<v Speaker 2>that should be self explanatory. You need to pick the
<v Speaker 2>games that score the best to get the most points
<v Speaker 2>on the grading system. Counter Picking is something that they
<v Speaker 2>do to like balance it out where you need to
<v Speaker 2>really think about which games will underperform, so games that
<v Speaker 2>will get seventy points or under seventy points on Open Critic.
<v Speaker 2>And so you can also counterpick something that you don't
<v Speaker 2>think will release. And so Tam was like, this game
<v Speaker 2>doesn't exist, I'm I'm counterpicking this. This is not coming out,
<v Speaker 2>and so that that's why he picked that one. And
<v Speaker 2>if it does not release, he doesn't gain points because
<v Speaker 2>it's not underperforming. But he will break even. He will
<v Speaker 2>get zero points, so he won't be gaining a he
<v Speaker 2>also won't be losing any Next up here is uh, yeah, Dan,
<v Speaker 2>what he currently has dance lineup is nuts. He might
<v Speaker 2>win this whole thing. He has Final Fantasy seven Rebirth,
<v Speaker 2>which netted him because if you score above ninety you
<v Speaker 2>get bonus points. So Final Fantasy seven Reburse ninety three
<v Speaker 2>on OPENCRIC has him with twenty five points off of
<v Speaker 2>that one game alone, strong start. He also has a
<v Speaker 2>Princess Peach Showtime a few points there and a thousand
<v Speaker 2>Door thousand Year Door remake also get them decent amount.
<v Speaker 2>But then he also has a good lineup in well,
<v Speaker 2>first of all, earth Blake probably not coming out, so
<v Speaker 2>maybe not a great pick there. But frost Punk two
<v Speaker 2>got an Astrobot, which is gonna pop off riffed of
<v Speaker 2>the necro Dancer. He just barely beat me on this
<v Speaker 2>one because this is free points, may not ten points
<v Speaker 2>for three points. He got black Ops six, he got
<v Speaker 2>UFO fifty, and the game that he doesn't even know exists,
<v Speaker 2>Anton Blast, which is that Warrior Land. Like that's gonna
<v Speaker 2>get him some points too. And then he counterpicked Metro
<v Speaker 2>Prime four Beyond because he thought it would do poorly,
<v Speaker 2>but because he was like, that's not coming out this year,
<v Speaker 2>and he's right, so he's breaking you on that one
<v Speaker 2>for his Countramot.
<v Speaker 1>Okay, I think Dan may may be able to like
<v Speaker 1>run away with it, depending on because of not only
<v Speaker 1>Astrobot and Black Ops six. Frost Punk Okay, you.
<v Speaker 2>Think that's gonna be like Grebsay's selection bias. You think
<v Speaker 2>people who want to review, that game will review and
<v Speaker 2>they will think it's very good. Gotcha, gotcha.
<v Speaker 1>I'll get the next two Seawan since the second one
<v Speaker 1>is my own list, Jeff Backlar with important collective. Jeff
<v Speaker 1>doing pretty well with the games that he has that
<v Speaker 1>are out. He has send you a Saga, hell Blade,
<v Speaker 1>two Ultros, Harold Hallibit and thank Goodness you're here, Thank
<v Speaker 1>goodness you're here, being the highest scoring critics scoring for Jeff, I.
<v Speaker 2>Only sell around eighty six. Okay, I don't feel as bad,
<v Speaker 2>but still that's sixteen points, so good amount of points there.
<v Speaker 1>Rounding out back Lar's roster is Stalker two, Heart of Chernobyl.
<v Speaker 2>Risky.
<v Speaker 1>I feel like that would have been a good counterpick
<v Speaker 1>looking at it now, Baby Steps, which I'm not sure
<v Speaker 1>is gonna come out this year. Same and then Black
<v Speaker 1>Myth Wukong.
<v Speaker 2>And that one that one's probably gonna do okay as well.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I think that the selection bias, like we just
<v Speaker 1>mentioned my factor in there or my factor against it,
<v Speaker 1>like super fans may be like this is poo poo. Yeah,
<v Speaker 1>and then Jeff's counterpick is against me with Silent Heel
<v Speaker 1>to remake.
<v Speaker 2>I could see it. Yeah, because we don't know for
<v Speaker 2>sure when that game's coming out, right.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I mean we keep like I gotta imagine we're
<v Speaker 1>going to see more of.
<v Speaker 2>It soon, right, Yeah, No, feeling great about that one.
<v Speaker 1>I'm not feeling great with some of my picks were
<v Speaker 1>looking at him now with cut the check games we
<v Speaker 1>have myself, a bunch of my picks have been out
<v Speaker 1>leading the pack is like a dragon Infinite Wealth. Loser
<v Speaker 1>of the pack though, is Skull and Bones negative score?
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, score fifty nine. We got negative ten, but in
<v Speaker 2>portant to note that Infinite Wealth did break into ninety,
<v Speaker 2>so you did get bonus points there or oh no,
<v Speaker 2>you didn't quite get both points there, but yeah, twenty points,
<v Speaker 2>which is very good.
<v Speaker 1>I also have Grand Blue Fantasy Relink, which I do
<v Speaker 1>want to circle back and check out with you, Sean.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, we keep like mentioning in passing we really should.
<v Speaker 2>I keep hearing good things about it, even like people
<v Speaker 2>circling back saying, hey, don't don't sleep on this one,
<v Speaker 2>so maybe do this for the random stream one day
<v Speaker 2>or something.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, and then I have Stellar Blade and Kales of Keinzarazao.
<v Speaker 1>I thought Tails of Kinzaraza would be better received.
<v Speaker 2>Ah, We were talking about this last night, actually, Migro
<v Speaker 2>and Mike. We thought, because it came out too close
<v Speaker 2>to Prince of Persia, it may be like paintings on
<v Speaker 2>a slightly negative light.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, yeah, that's what I was thinking as well, Like
<v Speaker 1>that that makes sense unfortunately. And then my two games
<v Speaker 1>that have yet to be released Silent Hill two remake
<v Speaker 1>based off the trailers I still don't know how to
<v Speaker 1>feel shot, and then Visions of Mana, and then my
<v Speaker 1>counterpick is against Lucy James with Hollow Night Silk Song, which.
<v Speaker 2>That was maybe risky pick. That's like when I counterpicked
<v Speaker 2>Tears of the Kingdom the other year, where I was like, look,
<v Speaker 2>if this comes out as planned, i am screwed. But
<v Speaker 2>I'm really confident this is game push. And so yeah,
<v Speaker 2>with Silk Song early in the year ago gone either way.
<v Speaker 2>But yeah, it really seems like that's not coming out,
<v Speaker 2>so you're probably safe there.
<v Speaker 1>When is the other possibility of its shadow dropping at
<v Speaker 1>a big thing, Like, there's probably just two more instances, right,
<v Speaker 1>I mean.
<v Speaker 2>It could be as ley as the game awards, honestly.
<v Speaker 1>Fay, Yeah, that's that's the When does this fantasy critic
<v Speaker 1>cut off?
<v Speaker 2>I believe it was until the end of the calendar year. Okay, okay,
<v Speaker 2>coo cool cool cool, Okay, So i'll I can't take
<v Speaker 2>the next two here then, since you did too, So
<v Speaker 2>I am, of course the manager of Lucky Lapani Feet, Inc.
<v Speaker 2>And leading the pack here they heard the other metaphor
<v Speaker 2>for animals, we have Unicorn Overlord is my definitely my
<v Speaker 2>ace in the hole right now. That got eighty eight points,
<v Speaker 2>So eighty eight as a score, so I got eighteen points.
<v Speaker 2>My other releases so far, though not as great. Pennies
<v Speaker 2>Big Breakaway, Nintendo World Championships, As Edition, and Zendless Zone
<v Speaker 2>Zero all scored in the seventies, so I got some
<v Speaker 2>points on the board from each, but not nearly as
<v Speaker 2>many as I wanted.
<v Speaker 1>And then yeah, no, no, sorry, go ahead, that's wild
<v Speaker 1>for Pennies Big Breakaway Surprisely.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I think that one was just it wasn't quite
<v Speaker 2>I like it. It's not quite what people want though,
<v Speaker 2>because they were expecting just Sonic Adventure, and it is
<v Speaker 2>it was much different than that. They really made a
<v Speaker 2>new thing with it. I think it just in jail
<v Speaker 2>with a lot of people.
<v Speaker 1>Sure.
<v Speaker 2>And then the other like release that I have is
<v Speaker 2>actually my counterpick of Lucy James with foam stars. That's
<v Speaker 2>why she has negative points. Is oh, Starry scored sixty,
<v Speaker 2>so since it was ten under the seventy point threshold,
<v Speaker 2>I got ten points off of that one. So I'm not,
<v Speaker 2>you know, doing great for points right now, but I
<v Speaker 2>got bangers still coming out. I did manage to get
<v Speaker 2>Metaphor Refontasio. That's points, dude.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, that's points. Yeah.
<v Speaker 2>I also got Dragon Quest three HD two D remake.
<v Speaker 2>That's points right there. I'll tell you what Leja Zelda
<v Speaker 2>Echoes of Wisdom. That's points minimum in the eighties, absolutely
<v Speaker 2>like yeah, and then I think this will just be
<v Speaker 2>solid points Lego Horizon Adventures and yeah. I also got
<v Speaker 2>my other counterpick because I would like to remind you
<v Speaker 2>and everyone else y'all need to get your second counterpick
<v Speaker 2>sometime in the next month or you will lose points.
<v Speaker 2>And my second car pick is the next Mario Cards,
<v Speaker 2>which there's.
<v Speaker 1>No way, no way, no, no, no possible way this year.
<v Speaker 2>No, no, absolutely not. Yeah. So it's like who I'm
<v Speaker 2>trying to like, remember, who the hell you? Okay, you know,
<v Speaker 2>we'll get to that list later. So I'm doing okay
<v Speaker 2>right now, and I think I might be picking up
<v Speaker 2>a lot of Steam here in the next couple of months.
<v Speaker 1>Sean, you got two empty spots here. You have anything
<v Speaker 1>you're eyeing or thinking about.
<v Speaker 2>I was eyeing a game that Grubs stole from me,
<v Speaker 2>and then I was eyeing Thank goodness you're here, and
<v Speaker 2>I was like, okay, those will be the two. And
<v Speaker 2>I didn't get out of one, so I still got Yeah,
<v Speaker 2>I still got some space on my team, which means
<v Speaker 2>I do sell money or work with so maybe I
<v Speaker 2>do end up picking those up and it you know,
<v Speaker 2>maybe something will get shadow dropped or like you know,
<v Speaker 2>shadow announced or something, so we could still bid on
<v Speaker 2>it before it releases. That would be really good. And
<v Speaker 2>then Mikey his Critical Path publishing, so he has two
<v Speaker 2>really strong picks in Persona three reload which got eighteen
<v Speaker 2>points and Brand Anniversary Edition, which got nineteen points. He
<v Speaker 2>also has points on the board from Eiden Chronicle one
<v Speaker 2>hundred Heroes that one kind of flopped a little bit,
<v Speaker 2>so only a few points, super Monkey Ball, Banana Rumbull,
<v Speaker 2>same thing. And then SteamWorld Heist two is just released,
<v Speaker 2>so that's one that is settling. But he'll get a
<v Speaker 2>round twelve points for that one. And then he also
<v Speaker 2>counterpicks Skull and Bones, which did not do well, so
<v Speaker 2>that that scored fifty nine, so we because of rounding,
<v Speaker 2>I guess he got ten points off of that. Maybe
<v Speaker 2>you know, get max of ten off counterpicks I actually
<v Speaker 2>don't know. Yet to be released. He has Star Wars
<v Speaker 2>Outlaws which I remember that and avowed, and India Jones
<v Speaker 2>in a great circle, all good picks. He spent all
<v Speaker 2>of his money on those days, basically not looking right now.
<v Speaker 2>Indiana Jones, we'll see what happens there, and then Star
<v Speaker 2>Wars Outlaws seeming like solid but maybe if he so,
<v Speaker 2>we'll see how those work out for him. But he
<v Speaker 2>also has Mino the Hollower, the Plucky's Squire, and that
<v Speaker 2>would be it Rodnao's team. So Mike has a lot
<v Speaker 2>of points on the board. His yet to be released games.
<v Speaker 2>We'll see if they even come out this year, I
<v Speaker 2>don't know. But you also managed to get a new
<v Speaker 2>three D Mario game as his counterpick. That's very safe,
<v Speaker 2>so he'll probably be okay, you know, breaking even on
<v Speaker 2>that one because that's probably not gonna release all right.
<v Speaker 1>Final three here of the Giant Bomb Fantasy Critic. I'll
<v Speaker 1>take Grubs with grubbling out Games. Grub is on the
<v Speaker 1>board hits Heater, which I can't freaking believe he got right.
<v Speaker 2>I hate that we, like all forgot about this game
<v Speaker 2>while it was eligible.
<v Speaker 1>Like with the Heist of the Century Ladies and Gentlemen,
<v Speaker 1>Jeff Grubb has picked Bilatro or Alatroe ninety one points,
<v Speaker 1>getting him or ninety one critics score ranking, giving him
<v Speaker 1>twenty three points. Additionally, grubbed for a dollar.
<v Speaker 2>You got that for one dollar dollar, just snuck it
<v Speaker 2>in there.
<v Speaker 1>Grub also grabbed Dragon's Dogma two, which you know had
<v Speaker 1>a lot of steam at the beginning of this year. Yeah,
<v Speaker 1>as well as Kunisugami Path of the Goddess. And I'm
<v Speaker 1>not familiar with this one. Sean Banishers Ghosts of New Eden.
<v Speaker 1>I damn not familiar with this either. Actually, I don't
<v Speaker 1>know why this feels like it is a no. I'm
<v Speaker 1>looking at the box art now, still don't know what
<v Speaker 1>this is.
<v Speaker 2>Oh, I've seen this inny events, but yeah, I just yeah,
<v Speaker 2>I didn't realize this released.
<v Speaker 1>Okay, sure, all right, and then sure not Sean Grubs
<v Speaker 1>games that have yet to release, so there's no reviews
<v Speaker 1>just yet. Metal Slug Tactics solid pickup. Yes, Mario and
<v Speaker 1>Luigi Brothership beat me out on by only like five bucks, which, oh,
<v Speaker 1>that would have been such a good addition to my team.
<v Speaker 1>That's that's a strong pick. He also has Towerborn, which
<v Speaker 1>we'll see more of very very soon, Skate Story, which
<v Speaker 1>I'm curious about. Microsoft Flight Simulator twenty twenty four.
<v Speaker 2>That's a Grub pick. He picked the original one, I
<v Speaker 2>believe in the first year we did this, and it
<v Speaker 2>did very well for him because you know, people just
<v Speaker 2>the selection bias. Again, the people who want to love
<v Speaker 2>that game reviewed it and loved it. So I think
<v Speaker 2>he's gonna get mad points off that one.
<v Speaker 1>And then his last pick here Dragon Aged the Veilguard.
<v Speaker 1>We'll see what happens there. We'll see what happens there.
<v Speaker 1>I think it may look good for Grub ultimately, but
<v Speaker 1>I don't want him to loss.
<v Speaker 2>He's leading right now in points and he has solid
<v Speaker 2>releases upcoming, so we'll see how that shakes out.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, but we still have a couple of big events
<v Speaker 1>coming out for the rest of the year, Sean, So
<v Speaker 1>you and I and some other folks if they remember
<v Speaker 1>how to log in, have have some time to gain
<v Speaker 1>some points. Do you want to take Lucy's.
<v Speaker 2>I why don't you take a Lucy's I watched the
<v Speaker 2>last one?
<v Speaker 1>Oh you will? Okay, all right, all right? With Lucy
<v Speaker 1>James published publishes games. Lucy only has two titles that
<v Speaker 1>have charted so far, one of those being oh, I
<v Speaker 1>should mention Grubbs Counterpick Power World.
<v Speaker 2>Right, which we had to do some finaggling to like
<v Speaker 2>even get that on the board because it's an early
<v Speaker 2>access game and everything. But yeah, it looks like just
<v Speaker 2>no points have been signed, as I might have to
<v Speaker 2>give him that one point.
<v Speaker 1>Lucy's games that have come out are still Wakes the Deep,
<v Speaker 1>netting her seven points. Sure, I'm surprised that I've heard
<v Speaker 1>positive buzz around that, but maybe not enough people have
<v Speaker 1>checked it out. And then the most surprising Sean giving
<v Speaker 1>Lucy negative ten points his Foam Stars.
<v Speaker 2>I remember when we were doing the draft and like
<v Speaker 2>I was holding it in because I was the only
<v Speaker 2>one who I played the beta, and when she picked
<v Speaker 2>film Stars, I'm like, okay, cool, nobody color picked this.
<v Speaker 2>This is free points for me. And I came around
<v Speaker 2>to me. I was like, Lucy, I'm sorry, you made
<v Speaker 2>a dumb on this one.
<v Speaker 1>Oh boy, sorry to all the phoami's out there. Lucy's
<v Speaker 1>counterpick is Dragon ball Z Sparking Zero. I feel like
<v Speaker 1>that game might hit.
<v Speaker 2>Oh no, dam was absolutely right to clown and I
<v Speaker 2>are for this one. When she picked that, he was
<v Speaker 2>just like you fool, because yeah no, the Budokai people
<v Speaker 2>are gonna get nuts over that one.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, So sorry, Lucy, Yeah sorry dog. The other Lucy's
<v Speaker 1>remaining titles that have yet to be released Hollow Night,
<v Speaker 1>Silk Song, which may never see the light of day.
<v Speaker 1>M hm, Rise of the Golden Idol.
<v Speaker 2>That one, that one will hit.
<v Speaker 1>That one, it's gonna be good points. This Assassin's Creed Shadows.
<v Speaker 1>I feel like it's going to be an interesting I
<v Speaker 1>feel like.
<v Speaker 2>People are optimistic, so I think that's like a solid
<v Speaker 2>points that will probably be somewhere in the like eighty
<v Speaker 2>to eighty five range. So I think that's just like
<v Speaker 2>three modest amount points.
<v Speaker 1>And her last two titles are The Altars and Phoenix Springs.
<v Speaker 2>Alters A L T. E.
<v Speaker 1>R S.
<v Speaker 2>That's the like clones on a spaceship game.
<v Speaker 1>That's right, a bunch of yawns, not Jans yawns.
<v Speaker 2>Yes, Phoenix Springs.
<v Speaker 1>What is Phoenix Springs.
<v Speaker 2>I actually don't know that one by name either Springs game.
<v Speaker 2>Uh yeah, I don't know if I've ever seen this
<v Speaker 2>game before. O is a very artistic game.
<v Speaker 1>To one of those. Okay, and rounding out the final
<v Speaker 1>member of the roster, Sean, you would do the honors.
<v Speaker 2>Good video games t M, and they have nothing but
<v Speaker 2>good games here. First of all, you know crez do
<v Speaker 2>Ea Sports College Football twenty five said twelve points on
<v Speaker 2>the board because it scored eighty two. Uh, kind of
<v Speaker 2>goes downhill from there. We got another Crabs Treasure netting
<v Speaker 2>eight points, Riise La Ronan netting seven, Mario versus Dokey
<v Speaker 2>Kong remake was six, oh boy. And then we have
<v Speaker 2>pell World, So that's that's where seventy one. So they
<v Speaker 2>would get one point, Rebel get next point one point.
<v Speaker 2>That's how that would work out. Uh, they picked the
<v Speaker 2>next Mario Kart for some reason. Uh, Nikki, I'm sorry,
<v Speaker 2>you're getting zero points on that one. And then Pokemon
<v Speaker 2>Legends z A, which this is this is a while
<v Speaker 2>because they didn't pick z A. They picked next Pokemon
<v Speaker 2>legends like as like hail Mary when we initially drafted
<v Speaker 2>and they got the game because that got announced, but
<v Speaker 2>no points because it come out next year. And then
<v Speaker 2>their only counterpick is earth Blade, which that that's probably
<v Speaker 2>a break even one because I'll see that one coming
<v Speaker 2>out this year. So not looking amazing for Nicki's team.
<v Speaker 2>But I just some wild picks down there that I
<v Speaker 2>want to go over.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah yeah, lots of shots in the dark.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, so so much paid off a little bit, but
<v Speaker 2>some which are not. Nick You should log in and
<v Speaker 2>maybe do some clean up.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah yeah, yeah, I just well, I mean, Lucy's in
<v Speaker 1>the negatives, you.
<v Speaker 2>Know, I did.
<v Speaker 1>I want to keeping it for you.
<v Speaker 2>This is kind of fumbling a little bit.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, Nicki still has ninety eight dollars, so Nicki has
<v Speaker 1>some money.
<v Speaker 2>Around exactly, so they can turn this around. Definitely. Well,
<v Speaker 2>we'll see what happens, and.
<v Speaker 1>Folks, that does it for the recap on a fantasy critic.
<v Speaker 1>If you want to have your own fantasy critic for
<v Speaker 1>video games, go I don't know, go make friends. I'm
<v Speaker 1>not gonna set this up for you.
<v Speaker 2>There's playing communities out there. There are, I believe there
<v Speaker 2>is a community run Giant Bomb when they you know,
<v Speaker 2>obviously it's closed now because we're mid year, but yeah,
<v Speaker 2>find whatever community you're in, they probably have one going
<v Speaker 2>on throughout the years, like so many outlets do it nowadays,
<v Speaker 2>cause it's just fun. You know, it's just dumb fun.
<v Speaker 2>I think, like to just you know, really think hard
<v Speaker 2>about these things and then try to like cheer on
<v Speaker 2>your favorite games throughout the year, like, yeah, it's cool.
<v Speaker 1>I really enjoy it because even going through the unannounced
<v Speaker 1>or the games that have yet to come out and
<v Speaker 1>get scored Sean has got me excited for the rest
<v Speaker 1>of the year because you know, I thought like, oh,
<v Speaker 1>we're done with games, right, We're done. Cool, It's like
<v Speaker 1>there's still a bunch of games coming.
<v Speaker 2>Out, some solid games at that some of those are
<v Speaker 2>looking real good. So yeah, God's still it's freaking August.
<v Speaker 2>Like I can't believe there'sh Jesus Christian. You'res going by
<v Speaker 2>too fast.
<v Speaker 1>I'm gonna on some stuff. Oh that's right now, Okay,
<v Speaker 1>I've too.
<v Speaker 2>I don't know if you can. Right now. I think
<v Speaker 2>it's bidding closes Thursday night Nuts.
<v Speaker 1>Well, yeah, uh bid process in processes in one day. Well,
<v Speaker 1>well we'll see.
<v Speaker 2>We'll see. May do that on like Monday or something.
<v Speaker 1>All right, a note to myself, bid on the games
<v Speaker 1>and remember the games folks. That about does it for
<v Speaker 1>Giant pomcast revengeance Sean, thank you so much for joining me.
<v Speaker 2>Oh it is a pleasure, Jane, and I hope that
<v Speaker 2>people enjoyed that are a little one on one convo here.
<v Speaker 2>I think we card some good topics. Hopefully people had
<v Speaker 2>follow the fancy Craig stuff too. I think this was
<v Speaker 2>a good show.
<v Speaker 1>It's a lovely little chat. You know. Sometimes we are
<v Speaker 1>people talking over each other, goofing and gabbing. Sometimes you
<v Speaker 1>just need something gapping.
<v Speaker 2>We got to just hang out for once, you know.
<v Speaker 2>This is nice.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, so intimate.
<v Speaker 2>You know the reason people love the intimacy in the
<v Speaker 2>live chat exactly.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, Mike, Mike hasn't said a single word, and I'm offended.
<v Speaker 1>I hope he is a little rude. It's a little
<v Speaker 1>it's a little rude. It's a little rude. Not gonna lie,
<v Speaker 1>just hawking his duck dynasty around, you know. Yeah, change
<v Speaker 1>one letter in there. It becomes a little little hr nightmare.
<v Speaker 2>All right. Thanks for listening, everybody.
<v Speaker 1>We'll see you next week for another fun week of
<v Speaker 1>giant bomb programming. Folks, get ready pack your bags. Some
<v Speaker 1>of us will be seeing you at packs West. I'm
<v Speaker 1>pretty sure. I'm like ninety percent sure. And then more
<v Speaker 1>adventures to be seen. Just got to book some tikies
<v Speaker 1>and we'll be there. A group of us will be there.
<v Speaker 1>He's been shown, I've been jammed, and you at home
<v Speaker 1>have been lovely. Go treat yourself to a good bucket
<v Speaker 1>of chicken today, and if you're a vegetarian or vegan,
<v Speaker 1>buy a bucket of chicken for a friend. They'll appreciate that,
<v Speaker 1>they will fall in love with you.
<v Speaker 2>Is okay? Can vegetarians do that?
<v Speaker 1>They can buy chickens has Composi the fa