Life is Strange: Reunion, Super Meat Boy 3D, Raccoin (New Balatro-Like)

<v Speaker 1>Welcome back everyone to the Game Informer Show, a weekly
<v Speaker 1>podcast covering the video game industry. Join us every Friday
<v Speaker 1>for discussion about the latest gaming news, reviews, and exclusive reveals,
<v Speaker 1>alongside Game and Former staff and special guests from around
<v Speaker 1>the industry. I'm one of your hosts today, Alex van Aiken,
<v Speaker 1>and I'm joined by Marcus Stewart.
<v Speaker 2>How you doing, Marcus, Hey, I'm doing great, not as
<v Speaker 2>great as yous. You came back from a whole bang vacation.
<v Speaker 1>I did, yes, I was gone for a while. We'll
<v Speaker 1>get into it in a second. Before that, Charles Hart.
<v Speaker 3>How you doing.
<v Speaker 4>I'm doing great because when you love what you do,
<v Speaker 4>you never worked day in your life, So I kind
<v Speaker 4>of don't even need a vacation when you think we're
<v Speaker 4>all a.
<v Speaker 3>Family, and when you're with family, you're always relaxed.
<v Speaker 4>I had I had a joke idea, or like I
<v Speaker 4>was thinking about doing it for April Fools or something,
<v Speaker 4>and it's kind of just the gist of it is
<v Speaker 4>like when you work in the games industry, it's just
<v Speaker 4>like that saying, when you love what you do, you
<v Speaker 4>never work a day in your life. Mostly because we're
<v Speaker 4>often laid off and looking for work in your life.
<v Speaker 4>You'll love it.
<v Speaker 2>Almost sounded like you were throwing shade at Alex of like, well,
<v Speaker 2>I actually didn't need a vacational like some people because
<v Speaker 2>I love what I do.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I'm good, I'm fine. Yeah, I love this company.
<v Speaker 1>So I'm going to be here forever. Yeah, I will
<v Speaker 1>never take a day off.
<v Speaker 4>I'm trying to think the best way says I'm better
<v Speaker 4>than you. I guess.
<v Speaker 1>I guess that's kind of what I'm getting at, just
<v Speaker 1>because just better than you in every way. Huh, and
<v Speaker 1>got so much more work at that than you. Oh interesting, anyways,
<v Speaker 1>how is your vacation, Alex? My vacation was good, Charles. I.
<v Speaker 1>I went on a Royal Caribbean cruise. It was my
<v Speaker 1>first cruise ever, and it is relevant to this podcast. Yeah,
<v Speaker 1>because I went to the day okay, Royal Caribbean. I
<v Speaker 1>was on a ship called the Adventure of the Seas.
<v Speaker 1>It was my grandparents' fifty fifth anniversary, so like they
<v Speaker 1>had some of us family come with them, and so
<v Speaker 1>that's why I went.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, Alex, but now said, this is your first cruise.
<v Speaker 2>Have you ever been on a boat? Yeah?
<v Speaker 4>Oh yeah, great question.
<v Speaker 3>I love boats. I love.
<v Speaker 2>Okay, e question.
<v Speaker 1>You know, I had my boating license in the state
<v Speaker 1>of Nebraska. Actually, I've never lived in Nebraska. During during COVID,
<v Speaker 1>kayl and I wanted to get away and we went
<v Speaker 1>to this like really nice lake and we went camping
<v Speaker 1>and Nebraska and Nebraska. It's called Lake McConaughey, and it's
<v Speaker 1>like one of those lakes that's like very beach like
<v Speaker 1>you know what I mean. Uh, And we rented a
<v Speaker 1>boat when we were camping, and so I got I
<v Speaker 1>had to get my license for that.
<v Speaker 4>So it's a crazy lord drop. And if you ever
<v Speaker 4>play two truths in a lie, a perfect two truths
<v Speaker 4>and a lie, I have a license in the state
<v Speaker 4>of Nebraska. Of case I've never lived in my life.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah. Yeah.
<v Speaker 1>But you know cruise ships, you know, they're like, uh,
<v Speaker 1>little cities on wheels or not on wheels crucially.
<v Speaker 3>On I took. Yeah, I was in Vegas.
<v Speaker 2>I was gonna say, does a propeller count as a wheel?
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, I guess on propeller, No, I don't think so.
<v Speaker 1>But they they have like all this stuff on board.
<v Speaker 1>They had an arcade and I wanted to I'm having
<v Speaker 1>to have to fill out this post cruise survey. I
<v Speaker 1>want to do it, you know, give my feedback, but
<v Speaker 1>I wanted to get your two's feedback on the arcade
<v Speaker 1>based on the arcade cabinets that I that they had that.
<v Speaker 3>I took photos of. I want you to think, like,
<v Speaker 3>what do you like?
<v Speaker 1>Let's start with like expectations, you know, I don't You
<v Speaker 1>don't need to say what you're expectations are, but be
<v Speaker 1>thinking about what you would think a cruise ship arcade
<v Speaker 1>would be.
<v Speaker 2>Like, you know, so I have stayed in a couple
<v Speaker 2>of like resorts in Orlando, and they tend to have arcades,
<v Speaker 2>and generally they tend to be relatively small, but like
<v Speaker 2>dense of like like how many machines can we shove
<v Speaker 2>into like a relatively small space I would imagine for
<v Speaker 2>a cruise ship, especially because I've also never been on
<v Speaker 2>a cruise ship despite living in Florida all my life.
<v Speaker 2>But every time I see a commercially look lavish and
<v Speaker 2>like expensive, So I would imagine, like an arcade would
<v Speaker 2>be pretty pretty big or at least like respectably sized.
<v Speaker 2>So I think they can they have this space to
<v Speaker 2>put some pretty like high end stuff. So my expectations
<v Speaker 2>are pretty high.
<v Speaker 3>I think.
<v Speaker 4>Okay, if I was making a cruise ship, to me arcade,
<v Speaker 4>the arcade part of the cruise ship is way more
<v Speaker 4>about this is going to look great in pictures. It
<v Speaker 4>is going to be one of twenty five I have
<v Speaker 4>bullet points of a thing to do on this cruise ship.
<v Speaker 4>But I think it's gonna be way more about style
<v Speaker 4>over substance. Like I think it will look really cool
<v Speaker 4>from the outside. It's gonna have all the LEDs, and
<v Speaker 4>then you go in and it's gonna be like arcade
<v Speaker 4>one on one. That's my guess.
<v Speaker 1>That's that was my expectation, Charles. Okay, because I'm cynical
<v Speaker 1>like you, I'm like, Okay, they just this is a
<v Speaker 1>marketing point for like people that want activities for their
<v Speaker 1>kids on a ship.
<v Speaker 2>But I would also say it because a cruise ship
<v Speaker 2>has such a big, like a diverse clientele, it would
<v Speaker 2>have to have machines that appeal to Like most ages,
<v Speaker 2>you might have like your fruit ninja, your giant fruit ninja,
<v Speaker 2>but then in the corner you have like your galaga
<v Speaker 2>and your pac Man's for the older folks.
<v Speaker 1>Okay, okay, yeah, yeah, I like this. Let's start with
<v Speaker 1>going into you walk into the arcade, right, and one
<v Speaker 1>of the first things you see are the prizes.
<v Speaker 2>Right.
<v Speaker 1>Okay, they don't have like a prize desk. Also, I
<v Speaker 1>walk into this arcade, I'm literally the only person inside.
<v Speaker 1>I felt like I was in like a liminal space.
<v Speaker 1>There's no employees, there's no other people playing the games,
<v Speaker 1>just a bunch of arcade machines turned on. I was
<v Speaker 1>literally by myself.
<v Speaker 2>Resort resort arcades are kind of like that. There's no
<v Speaker 2>one supervising them. You're on your own. Yeah.
<v Speaker 1>So they've got a claw machine with licensed Super Mario plushies.
<v Speaker 2>Oh okay, so.
<v Speaker 3>I'm I'm up.
<v Speaker 1>It'll be on screen for people. But you know, they've
<v Speaker 1>got like Mario and Yoshi and all that. So I
<v Speaker 1>was like, okay, we've got like we've spent some money
<v Speaker 1>on like some licensing, who knows if it's legal, And
<v Speaker 1>now going into the arcade, it looks a little underwhelming,
<v Speaker 1>I'll admit, you know very much.
<v Speaker 3>But the deeper you go, we've got another stacker is.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah for audio listeners, the first photo look like a front.
<v Speaker 2>It just looked like a line of claw machines.
<v Speaker 3>So you might not be able to see it.
<v Speaker 1>But on the stacker, which is like just one of
<v Speaker 1>their like little game Mini Prime major prize.
<v Speaker 3>Games, you know, gotcha kind of thing.
<v Speaker 1>You can get AirPod Max's, you can get a Metaquest
<v Speaker 1>three s. You can win an Apple Watch ten, or
<v Speaker 1>you can win an Xbox series show.
<v Speaker 2>There.
<v Speaker 3>That's fair. That's fair. Okay.
<v Speaker 1>So there are a couple of more generic machines that
<v Speaker 1>are inside the arcade, but then you get to a
<v Speaker 1>ski Ball table that is Joker in Batman themed, full licensed.
<v Speaker 1>I have never seen a sche Mall machine quite like it.
<v Speaker 1>It's covered in Joker green, You've got the decals everywhere.
<v Speaker 1>But I had nobody to play with, so I didn't
<v Speaker 1>play that one of those games.
<v Speaker 4>That's like there's enough going on where like the theme
<v Speaker 4>is ski Ball, you know, I hope I have seen
<v Speaker 4>the licensed ski Ball, which.
<v Speaker 2>I have not. That's actually in terms of like the
<v Speaker 2>overall great this this is like a few points in
<v Speaker 2>his favor because I love ski ball, and if you
<v Speaker 2>put ski Ball in your arcade, I'm already like looking
<v Speaker 2>at it pretty favorably.
<v Speaker 3>And you will come.
<v Speaker 1>I came to realize I was like, holy cow, they
<v Speaker 1>spent a lot of money on licensing or or at
<v Speaker 1>the very least they love license games at this arcade,
<v Speaker 1>I'll start with that. So moving over, once we get
<v Speaker 1>into the main arcade proper, they had a cabinet of
<v Speaker 1>a dimmed, dimly lit like CRT, the sort of arcade
<v Speaker 1>like old style cabinet of Split Second.
<v Speaker 2>They're like, this is the nineties section.
<v Speaker 1>Yes, so that we had split second in the racing game,
<v Speaker 1>we had dead heat unleashed.
<v Speaker 2>I'm sorry, go back. I didn't know there was an
<v Speaker 2>arcade cabinet for split Second. I don't know. Yeah, I
<v Speaker 2>knew that.
<v Speaker 3>You can't see it very well on the photo I'm
<v Speaker 3>showing on screen right now. Yeah, I've seen it. I'm
<v Speaker 3>looking at it, but I am. And it seemed better days.
<v Speaker 3>It was well loved.
<v Speaker 1>But then they've got a Plants for Zombies the Last
<v Speaker 1>Stand machine. Okay, so you're playing Plants for Zombies with
<v Speaker 1>like you're holding the like flower cannon, which was cool.
<v Speaker 3>They've got ski ball.
<v Speaker 2>You know that that has to be rigged in away
<v Speaker 2>to be like unfair, because if someone is really good
<v Speaker 2>at plants versus zombies, they are not leaving that station, Like,
<v Speaker 2>no one will get a turn.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, they had a Jurassic Park Onrail shooter classic.
<v Speaker 2>Gotta have you gotta have some sort of Jurassic Park shooter.
<v Speaker 2>It's not the Jurassic Park Shooter, but it is one.
<v Speaker 1>Probably one of the highlights. They have a Mario Kart
<v Speaker 1>Arcade GP.
<v Speaker 2>Oh, yeah, that's a classic. That one's you see that
<v Speaker 2>in a lot of arcades. That's the Japanese one that
<v Speaker 2>it's got a lot of Japanese characters that you don't
<v Speaker 2>see in the kind of like globally released Mario card games.
<v Speaker 4>Yeah, I play.
<v Speaker 2>And the drum guy, the little drum happy drum guy. Yeah,
<v Speaker 2>he's a driver.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, they had one of those.
<v Speaker 2>Those are on.
<v Speaker 1>They had a they had a lot of racing cabinets.
<v Speaker 1>They had two Sonic Sega All Starts racing arcade cabinets.
<v Speaker 2>Oh. I don't think I've ever played those.
<v Speaker 4>So this is a thing of like if the intent
<v Speaker 4>is like I got these two rotten twelve year olds
<v Speaker 4>and I can't deal with the you like could drop
<v Speaker 4>them off at the arcade and they would do stuff
<v Speaker 4>all day, like there's actually enough stuff to Yeah, I
<v Speaker 4>think So was this like were they all like you
<v Speaker 4>just entered because it's a cruise ship you can play
<v Speaker 4>unlimited or was there like tokens you had to buy
<v Speaker 4>or something, or it was.
<v Speaker 3>Just it was free.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, okay, yeah, the cabinets were turned onto the free mode,
<v Speaker 1>I believe, but there were some of them were the
<v Speaker 1>prizes were the prizes were you had to pay to
<v Speaker 1>play the prizes like you would put your resort card
<v Speaker 1>on them.
<v Speaker 2>Okay, yeah, it would be like the games that would
<v Speaker 2>normally spit out tickets are the ones they're charged, like
<v Speaker 2>you probably at the pay right.
<v Speaker 1>I didn't play that, but like some of them were
<v Speaker 1>were set the free mode, but you just like tap
<v Speaker 1>your cruise card. You can kind of see on like
<v Speaker 1>one of on this cabinet here, Yeah, this is the
<v Speaker 1>this one was out of service. But they have a
<v Speaker 1>Guitar Hero Arcade cabinet, which I don't know if you
<v Speaker 1>ever played Guitar Hero Arcade. It's really fun. It's actually
<v Speaker 1>it's one of my favorite ways to play probably my favorite.
<v Speaker 3>Way to play Guitar here. Honestly, it's a really cool,
<v Speaker 3>cool game. Is it?
<v Speaker 2>Is it any different than normally playing Guitar Hero, which
<v Speaker 2>also involves just standing in front of a screen.
<v Speaker 1>It's head to head to head mode. Yeah, but there's
<v Speaker 1>also it's just cool because you're in an arcade playing guitar.
<v Speaker 2>I guess if you play well, you could potentially have
<v Speaker 2>a crowd gather and be like guitar hero.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, and I don't remember. I remember it has a
<v Speaker 3>pretty extensive library.
<v Speaker 1>They also had a like, you know how back in
<v Speaker 1>the day, there was like you'd have a lot of
<v Speaker 1>arcades where it's like a ride that like moves you
<v Speaker 1>around and stuff.
<v Speaker 2>Remember the old River raft ride. It was like a yeah,
<v Speaker 2>together to use the orea.
<v Speaker 3>So they've got one of those. But for Ghostbusters.
<v Speaker 2>Okay, all right, now we're okay, all right, I've never
<v Speaker 2>seen that. I'm a big Ghostbusters fan. I need to
<v Speaker 2>know more about that. That looks cool. Yeah, you got
<v Speaker 2>a book of cruise. You gotta go, you know, I did.
<v Speaker 2>We talked about his off air. But I went to
<v Speaker 2>MegaCon the week not too long after you came to
<v Speaker 2>Orlando so that you could get to your cruise, and
<v Speaker 2>I dressed up as I had a Ghostbusters outfit.
<v Speaker 3>Girlride outfit before. Yeah, and we.
<v Speaker 2>Found a Ghostbuster section and I got to take a
<v Speaker 2>picture inside of an authentic ECTO one which is cool
<v Speaker 2>bucket list for me of like they have inter like
<v Speaker 2>do you want to get in? And it's like, yes, yes, please.
<v Speaker 2>So I marked out when I saw the Ghostbusters, Uh
<v Speaker 2>whatever that game was, it looks cool. Did you play it?
<v Speaker 3>I didn't know.
<v Speaker 1>I didn't play most of the games. I was just
<v Speaker 1>walking around. I was like it was my day where
<v Speaker 1>I was just walking around learning what the cruise ship
<v Speaker 1>was like because I never been on one, and I
<v Speaker 1>was like, oh, there's an ARCHI.
<v Speaker 3>They're supposed to be arcade. Let's go see that.
<v Speaker 2>So I'm just picking and going up the random people
<v Speaker 2>and just asking boat questions just excuse me.
<v Speaker 3>Of yeah, keep on me star ward or whatever, star.
<v Speaker 2>Side, starboards.
<v Speaker 3>I'm talking to the captain.
<v Speaker 2>Yeahs moving right now.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah.
<v Speaker 4>It's like, yeah, this guy won't leave me alone. He's
<v Speaker 4>like in a meeting and you're just tugging on his
<v Speaker 4>shirt sleeve of like how many knots are per hour?
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, we're gonna have to bat down hatches soon.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I've heard that's a protocol. But yeah, that's the
<v Speaker 1>Royal Caribbean Arcade. So so I do I do need?
<v Speaker 1>I need your survey rating one out of ten what
<v Speaker 1>would you what would you rate it?
<v Speaker 2>Ten?
<v Speaker 3>Be in the highest based on what you've seen today.
<v Speaker 4>Felt felt like an eight to me, felt like it
<v Speaker 4>was like it's got got everything you would want there.
<v Speaker 4>It didn't seem it wasn't crowded, so you could just
<v Speaker 4>kind of play what you want, had a pretty good variety,
<v Speaker 4>didn't seem I don't know that seemed.
<v Speaker 3>Only one arcade out of commission.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, yeah, which game was it?
<v Speaker 3>It was a Guitar Hero arcade.
<v Speaker 4>The guitar Okay, you know I have a bad one down.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, at least the guitars are there. I feel like
<v Speaker 2>in other places guitars been ripped out a long time ago. Yeah,
<v Speaker 2>but you know, I don't know. I have a pretty
<v Speaker 2>high bar for arcades. I don't think I can go
<v Speaker 2>in eight. That Ghostbuster's cabinet is is very like that
<v Speaker 2>bumps it up quite a bit. I'll give it like
<v Speaker 2>a seven.
<v Speaker 3>To five, all right, Yeah, I like that.
<v Speaker 1>I think I would go seven to five as well,
<v Speaker 1>seven five or and eight, depending on you know, how
<v Speaker 1>how I was feelings.
<v Speaker 2>That would have helped a lot.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah. And they also didn't have hydro Thunder.
<v Speaker 2>Which is like a big another big one. Yeah, or
<v Speaker 2>like a beat them up like a like an arcade,
<v Speaker 2>beat them up with some sore. Yeah.
<v Speaker 3>They didn't have any beat ups that I saw, Like, no, you.
<v Speaker 1>Got to have like a street fighter or TECHNI I
<v Speaker 1>didn't see any.
<v Speaker 3>No.
<v Speaker 4>Okay, well I was clearly I was filling in the
<v Speaker 4>gaps in my assessment. I assume there was lots of
<v Speaker 4>normal arcades if you didn't take pictures.
<v Speaker 3>Of like, yeah, they didn't have a ton of fighting
<v Speaker 3>games there.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah.
<v Speaker 1>If I can't challenge I guess you had the Jurassic
<v Speaker 1>Park one.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah. I mean it's not in the Jurassic Park one
<v Speaker 2>though different. But it's like, if I can't challenge a
<v Speaker 2>like retired Grandpa and a cruise to Tech and three,
<v Speaker 2>then what are we doing? Yeah?
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, one hundred percent.
<v Speaker 1>Uh well, Marcus, uh, let's get to a real video
<v Speaker 1>game that you've been playing. Life is strange reunion you've
<v Speaker 1>been getting that you've been playing that. I know you're
<v Speaker 1>you're almost done with the review before we do get
<v Speaker 1>into that. I'd be remiss if I didn't say, if
<v Speaker 1>you're enjoying this show, get a copy of game and
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<v Speaker 2>You know, they just built a new Barnes and Noble
<v Speaker 2>in my area. Now one more place that you can
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<v Speaker 4>They probably been making so much money on Yeah, so like, guys,
<v Speaker 4>we got to open a new location.
<v Speaker 3>Sounds like hotcakes. I thought there's a video.
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<v Speaker 4>An ad real quick. We did announce our new cover
<v Speaker 4>story last week, which is Soul Frame. Yeah, if you
<v Speaker 4>subscribe to the magazine before April twenty second, you're going
<v Speaker 4>to get a code for the early Access program.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, early preludes, and they call it preludes, but it's
<v Speaker 1>effectively their PC early Access.
<v Speaker 4>So if that's it, if you're a subscriber to get one.
<v Speaker 4>If you haven't subscribed yet, you can get one just
<v Speaker 4>by subscribing for April twenty second. Yeah, and that's very
<v Speaker 4>exciting because.
<v Speaker 3>We're trying to bring back the demo disc days.
<v Speaker 4>Yeah, but you get to play the game helf, so
<v Speaker 4>it's way better than a double dose, to be honest. Yeah.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, you can't get.
<v Speaker 4>Down to mail.
<v Speaker 1>But anyways, life is strange, Marcus. You've been playing what's
<v Speaker 1>the setup for this? Or are Max and clothes this
<v Speaker 1>like Max and Chloe are back?
<v Speaker 3>What's the kind of the reunion thing?
<v Speaker 1>I don't I haven't really kept up with with the game,
<v Speaker 1>but the reunion tells me, tells me things.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, so I finished this game. As you said, this
<v Speaker 2>is the return of really Chloe because Max returned in
<v Speaker 2>the previous game, Double Exposure. But yes, this is the
<v Speaker 2>The big selling point is that Chloe, who was you
<v Speaker 2>know in the first Life is Strange as well, as
<v Speaker 2>they had her own prequel story before the storm. Arguably
<v Speaker 2>the most popular character in the Life is Strange franchise,
<v Speaker 2>besides Max, and who has been gone for the last
<v Speaker 2>decade due to just narrative reasons, She's back in this one.
<v Speaker 2>And yeah, I'm going to preface this by saying that
<v Speaker 2>overall I like the game. I feel like the things
<v Speaker 2>I'm about to say we're going make it sound like
<v Speaker 2>I'm more negative on it then maybe I actually am.
<v Speaker 2>But I do have some, like some significant problems with
<v Speaker 2>this game. So I'm a Life a Strange fan. I
<v Speaker 2>like that first game. I you know, it's not perfect,
<v Speaker 2>but I did like that first game, and I liked
<v Speaker 2>the weight it ends, or at least the ending that
<v Speaker 2>I chose. And I actually liked Double Exposure last year,
<v Speaker 2>which I know some fans had took an issue with
<v Speaker 2>in regards to some of the narrative stuff, especially towards
<v Speaker 2>the second half it goes some like wild places, But honestly,
<v Speaker 2>I was I was probably a little bit on more
<v Speaker 2>on board than anything. And I think Double Exposure is
<v Speaker 2>a great start because this game is a direct sequel
<v Speaker 2>to that game. It takes place nine months later, and
<v Speaker 2>because of that, this is probably or not even probably,
<v Speaker 2>it is the least newcomer friendly, Like this is as
<v Speaker 2>direct a sequel as it can be, to the point
<v Speaker 2>where it almost feels like if this was a movie,
<v Speaker 2>this game and Double Exposure would have been filmed at
<v Speaker 2>the same time and then cut in half and then
<v Speaker 2>just part like it just picks up right from there
<v Speaker 2>and becau because of that, like they do do like
<v Speaker 2>a cinematic kind of like previously a Life is Strange
<v Speaker 2>like recap video that kind of highlights the pivotal moments
<v Speaker 2>from Double Exposure. But it's one of those recaps that
<v Speaker 2>I think is more helpful if you did play the
<v Speaker 2>game and are a little fuzzy about things than if
<v Speaker 2>you were coming to this completely fresh, and I think
<v Speaker 2>a lot of people are, or at least if you're
<v Speaker 2>a fan, you might be coming to this little fresh
<v Speaker 2>because Chloe's back, but I would highly recommend playing Double
<v Speaker 2>Exposure before this one, just because this game doesn't really
<v Speaker 2>go out of its way to re establish the cast.
<v Speaker 2>It's very like a lot of my interactions kind of
<v Speaker 2>felt like I either succeeded or failed because I already
<v Speaker 2>knew how characters behave because I spend so much time
<v Speaker 2>with them in the last game. And in some cases,
<v Speaker 2>you spend less time with some characters that were mainstays
<v Speaker 2>in the other games. So it's like you even you know,
<v Speaker 2>you're not getting a lot of like new introductions to
<v Speaker 2>these people. However, it seems it feels like Deck nine
<v Speaker 2>developer still tried to find a way to get newcomers
<v Speaker 2>to like the same level of familiarity as fans, because
<v Speaker 2>one of my big complaints with the story is that
<v Speaker 2>right out the gate they retcon or like they essentially
<v Speaker 2>wreck con a very big part of the ending in
<v Speaker 2>the previous game of Double Exposure. Of Double Exposure, Yeah,
<v Speaker 2>there's a interesting and I don't know how much we
<v Speaker 2>want to talk about explicit spoilers for Double Exposure. I
<v Speaker 2>don't know if either of you played it or not.
<v Speaker 1>No, I didn't, Okay, So the life is a Strange
<v Speaker 1>series feels very hard to get into. For me, I
<v Speaker 1>feel like there's like so many spin offs and games
<v Speaker 1>like Life Is Strange, Life Is Strange too, Life is
<v Speaker 1>Strange Before the Storm, Life is Strange. True colors, Life
<v Speaker 1>Is Strange, Double Exposure, Exposure.
<v Speaker 4>And Reunion, to me are the first ones that I
<v Speaker 4>do think are hard to get into because for the
<v Speaker 4>most part they're all like kind of anthology or like
<v Speaker 4>even the other.
<v Speaker 1>Colors will stand alone, right, Yeah, two I think is
<v Speaker 1>Life is Strenge.
<v Speaker 2>Two is also standalone. It's really yeah. I thought about
<v Speaker 2>that where I was like, oh, yeah, I had the
<v Speaker 2>knee jerk, like most of the series is anthologized, but
<v Speaker 2>then I really thought it was like, actually, that's not
<v Speaker 2>true because there's six games total and four of them
<v Speaker 2>involve Max and or Chloe.
<v Speaker 4>It was only it was a minute where they were
<v Speaker 4>almost all unrelated, and then they were like, nah, we'll
<v Speaker 4>just go back and just make let's bring games in
<v Speaker 4>a row.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah. So yeah, because of that, like Before the Storm,
<v Speaker 2>I mean, outside of a Chloe's mechanic from that game
<v Speaker 2>making its return, it's kind of not required. I guess
<v Speaker 2>reading will say for this game, I do think the
<v Speaker 2>first game because and they did this with double exposure
<v Speaker 2>to One of the first things they ask you is
<v Speaker 2>what choice did you make at the end of the
<v Speaker 2>first Life is strange because the way that game ends
<v Speaker 2>sets up Chloe's fate and how they're going to bring
<v Speaker 2>her back in this game. Because I don't know if
<v Speaker 2>we want to get into decade old spoilers at this point,
<v Speaker 2>but basically, the end of Life is strange. One you
<v Speaker 2>make a choice that either decides whether or not Chloe's
<v Speaker 2>alive or dead. And because if you chose like I
<v Speaker 2>did back then, Chloe has been dead for a decade
<v Speaker 2>in this series, and.
<v Speaker 3>So they have to try to kill her. That's cruel.
<v Speaker 2>You don't first, you don't know if you knew the
<v Speaker 2>way that game, I don't go.
<v Speaker 3>I don't go here. I'm sorry.
<v Speaker 2>If you knew the game way that game ends, I'm
<v Speaker 2>I was shocked how many people went the other way,
<v Speaker 2>because it's I went.
<v Speaker 4>I went the other way. I did go the other
<v Speaker 4>way when I played it. Yeah, I don't know why.
<v Speaker 4>I was just like, oh, I don't want to that's
<v Speaker 4>a whole It's all about Chloe. Why would I ever
<v Speaker 4>kill Chloe?
<v Speaker 2>I mean, yeah, I could kill everyone I know, my parents,
<v Speaker 2>her parents, the town, everyone else can die, but.
<v Speaker 4>Even two of Like I think the maybe I don't
<v Speaker 4>know if we can do this in the edit. Maybe
<v Speaker 4>we should go in and put a spoiler warning or
<v Speaker 4>proper before this of just what we were talking about.
<v Speaker 2>But we can do it as we're gonna. We're gonna
<v Speaker 2>get into slight spoilers for life a strange one A
<v Speaker 2>decade out long or decade old.
<v Speaker 1>I had that game, I had the interne that game
<v Speaker 1>sploiled for me in twenty fifteen, like I have done,
<v Speaker 1>and I never played it. So I feel like that's
<v Speaker 1>like one of the most uh at least kept secrets
<v Speaker 1>of video game endings.
<v Speaker 4>Sure, I think it's interesting. I also don't know the
<v Speaker 4>context that when it's going up. I think also the
<v Speaker 4>interesting thing is I believe that like the romance between
<v Speaker 4>Max and Chloe isn't it's expressed when you sacrifice Chloe
<v Speaker 4>and when you don't, then they just like run away together,
<v Speaker 4>but they don't like kiss. Like I think that's like
<v Speaker 4>a whole weird thing. I remember being like, obviously these
<v Speaker 4>two people would love So I'm gonna save Chloe and
<v Speaker 4>then they like they're like, we're gonna go in our
<v Speaker 4>van and explore.
<v Speaker 2>So that was It's funny because one of the questions
<v Speaker 2>and when the when Reunion begins, they kind of give
<v Speaker 2>you the there's a few questions they ask about the
<v Speaker 2>original life is strange and double exposure, Like here's like
<v Speaker 2>five really big decisions that are going to determine the
<v Speaker 2>game state at the beginning of Reunion. Yeah, like, so
<v Speaker 2>what did you it's Chloe alive or dead? What did
<v Speaker 2>you choose at the end of the first game. And
<v Speaker 2>then the other one in regards to the first game
<v Speaker 2>is were they just friends or were they more than friends?
<v Speaker 2>And they actually showed us still of them kissing earlier
<v Speaker 2>in the game. I don't think they were ever a
<v Speaker 2>couple in my game. I actually had to stop and remember,
<v Speaker 2>like I actually don't remember. I was like, I think
<v Speaker 2>they were just friends in my game as far as
<v Speaker 2>I know. So they feel like I remember if I
<v Speaker 2>if I'd gotten them together, and I don't remember that.
<v Speaker 2>So I made it so they were friends, but it
<v Speaker 2>looked like it did happen before the ending garles.
<v Speaker 4>There, I guess there's it's a moment where I can't
<v Speaker 4>remember what the thing is, but it's a very like
<v Speaker 4>teenage movie thing where I can't remember what the context is,
<v Speaker 4>but it's like, come on, let's be crazy, just kiss me.
<v Speaker 3>You you know, you even leve loose.
<v Speaker 4>You could choose to kiss her or not to kiss her,
<v Speaker 4>and I think when you do kiss her, she's like, WHOA,
<v Speaker 4>I didn't think you would do that. But it's not
<v Speaker 4>like a it's not like it's like yeah, but there.
<v Speaker 4>It's it's played off as like a joke or like
<v Speaker 4>a one off thing, but it's very obvious that it's
<v Speaker 4>like clearly Max, Max is very into it that moment,
<v Speaker 4>he clearly has feelings for Chloe when you select that
<v Speaker 4>option anyway.
<v Speaker 1>Sure, yeah, But basically, so for people who are like
<v Speaker 1>picking this game up, do they have like a suggested
<v Speaker 1>if you didn't play those games that it's like suggested
<v Speaker 1>Chloe's alive for Chloe's dead.
<v Speaker 2>No, it's very much they or like whatever you want.
<v Speaker 1>So, yeah, I was those games. You're just like, I
<v Speaker 1>don't know, I guess she's dead.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I don't know.
<v Speaker 4>Play this game.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, I's going to be people that do.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, Like I don't know why you would play this game,
<v Speaker 2>if you didn't have any connection to Max or Chloe, Like,
<v Speaker 2>if this is your first life, is strange? That just
<v Speaker 2>be weird.
<v Speaker 3>It's in a humble bundle, you know, yeah, very.
<v Speaker 2>Least yeah, yees. So, or if you were, like if
<v Speaker 2>you were a fan of the first game and somehow
<v Speaker 2>skipped Double Exposure and then skip right, I don't know,
<v Speaker 2>if you just really want Chloe and we're like, well
<v Speaker 2>that their Max game is cool, but there's no Chloe.
<v Speaker 2>So I'm going to get into the walm with Chloe
<v Speaker 2>and it's like, well, you should believe that would happen. Honestly, Yeah,
<v Speaker 2>there's there's an exception for everything, I guess, right, But
<v Speaker 2>all it has to say is that because of that,
<v Speaker 2>there's a big thing that happens at the end of
<v Speaker 2>Double Exposure, which I'm going to try to talk around
<v Speaker 2>it as best I can because that game is still
<v Speaker 2>relatively new and I just told people they should play
<v Speaker 2>Double Exposure first before they get into this one.
<v Speaker 3>But okay, spoilers for this.
<v Speaker 2>There is a there is a a revelation at the
<v Speaker 2>end of the last game that affects multiple characters and
<v Speaker 2>how they perceive Max, and that is pretty much thrown
<v Speaker 2>under the rug in this game and a very narratively
<v Speaker 2>unsettle like it kind of commits the one of the
<v Speaker 2>worst narrative sins of how do we undo something that
<v Speaker 2>we established earlier in a story and what's the quickest
<v Speaker 2>way to do it? And there's probably like two or
<v Speaker 2>three things or tropes you guys are thinking of right now,
<v Speaker 2>and I don't know if I want to say exactly which.
<v Speaker 3>One may make us. I'm messaging you on slack? Was
<v Speaker 3>that right?
<v Speaker 2>No, it's not that, but it's not far off. It's
<v Speaker 2>another one in the the Unholy Trinity?
<v Speaker 3>Okay? Yeah?
<v Speaker 4>Is it? Is it based on uh? Like, like, does
<v Speaker 4>does a decision you make affect the way that these
<v Speaker 4>characters perceive you? Or is this like one of these
<v Speaker 4>like linear moments that always happens in double exposure?
<v Speaker 2>I don't remember how it if it was, if it's
<v Speaker 2>always going to happen in double exposure, or if it's
<v Speaker 2>only because of what I decide. I can't remember, so
<v Speaker 2>that could be a possibility. It only it makes it
<v Speaker 2>seem like it was a like you were going to
<v Speaker 2>be railroaded into it, because they really go out of
<v Speaker 2>their way to undo it, you know, like like immedia like, yeah,
<v Speaker 2>man can't believe such and such happened, and yeah, that's
<v Speaker 2>why people aren't acting the way you want. But as
<v Speaker 2>a fan, that was really like, Oh, that has a
<v Speaker 2>lot of like major story implication. I can't wait to
<v Speaker 2>see how they follow it up. And then the characters
<v Speaker 2>are more or less reset to their state as they
<v Speaker 2>were before the end of Double Exposure. That's kind of
<v Speaker 2>a letdown because then you don't really see them evolve
<v Speaker 2>past where the end of Double Exposure is, and you're
<v Speaker 2>kind of getting more of what they were maybe like
<v Speaker 2>in the middle of Double Exposure. So that's like disappointing.
<v Speaker 2>So this game because Chloe is back, which I will
<v Speaker 2>say because one of my biggest fears coming into this
<v Speaker 2>was like, one, is it even gonna make sense the
<v Speaker 2>way did they bring her back? And two is it
<v Speaker 2>going to feel like she's kind of shoehorned into this?
<v Speaker 2>Like is this like a breaking case of emergency get
<v Speaker 2>Chloe back in here, because I don't know, keep interest
<v Speaker 2>in the series alive. And I'm happy to say that
<v Speaker 2>for me, it doesn't really feel like that. I think
<v Speaker 2>the story justifies her presence both logically in terms of
<v Speaker 2>just the rules of the world and also playing off
<v Speaker 2>Max's actions in the last game, because in the last game,
<v Speaker 2>she had the ability to travel between two different realities
<v Speaker 2>trying to solve a murder mystery, and in one reality
<v Speaker 2>her friend that gets murdered is dead and the other
<v Speaker 2>one she's alive. So there's like two different sets of
<v Speaker 2>the same character that you're interacting. Dratic game, and so
<v Speaker 2>it's like it feeds into like sort of like the
<v Speaker 2>multiverse stuff and actually finds a like natural way to
<v Speaker 2>weave in both endings of the original life is strange
<v Speaker 2>and combine them in one of like either outcome is
<v Speaker 2>valid now because now we have opened the can of worms.
<v Speaker 2>That is a multiverse.
<v Speaker 4>Uh gotcha.
<v Speaker 2>I think they do it as clean as you can
<v Speaker 2>with you know, anything regarding a multiverse. And I think
<v Speaker 2>thematically her presence makes shit sense because it's a lot
<v Speaker 2>of like some of the most interesting conversation to game
<v Speaker 2>are her and Sofie, who is one of the primary
<v Speaker 2>characters in the first game, because they're they're in similar boats. Again,
<v Speaker 2>I won't go too far into like why they are,
<v Speaker 2>but they're they're kind of like they're in the same
<v Speaker 2>boat of like supernatural existential crises, and like the moments
<v Speaker 2>where they're like their fates are kind of like threaded
<v Speaker 2>together because of that, and I think also even just
<v Speaker 2>their upbringings, they have a lot of like similar stuff
<v Speaker 2>that the game gets into that I think, like the
<v Speaker 2>conversations those two have are like fascinating, and it's like
<v Speaker 2>seeing that and also seeing Chloe interact with the new
<v Speaker 2>cast is very fun, like seeing your interact with Moses,
<v Speaker 2>who is like Alex's new best friend from that was
<v Speaker 2>introduced in Double Exposure, and some of the other characters.
<v Speaker 2>It's very much the feeling of like when you meet
<v Speaker 2>like you bring like your childhood friend to meet like
<v Speaker 2>your current friends kind of a thing, and you're like,
<v Speaker 2>I don't know where this is gonna go. I don't know,
<v Speaker 2>like I love them BO, but already gonna get along,
<v Speaker 2>especially Chloe, because like you know, this is a Chloe
<v Speaker 2>that's older and wiser, but she's still Chloe, so there's
<v Speaker 2>a little volatile. It's like, oh, I was always interested
<v Speaker 2>to see how she would behave around others, and I
<v Speaker 2>think there's a few moments that are pretty fun, especially
<v Speaker 2>to stuff with her and Moses. I think Chloe in general,
<v Speaker 2>Like I really like her character this game because this
<v Speaker 2>is Chloe now that as far as she knows, she's
<v Speaker 2>never died. So this is more like, if you chose
<v Speaker 2>the ending where she lives, this is the Chloe that,
<v Speaker 2>as far as you know, this is your Chloe. Like
<v Speaker 2>she has gotten to grow up. She's ten years older now,
<v Speaker 2>like she's like pushing thirty, if not thirty years old.
<v Speaker 2>She's had life experiences, she's matured, and she's kind of
<v Speaker 2>she softened in a way that age does to you.
<v Speaker 2>But she still has some of that rebelliousness that made
<v Speaker 2>Chloe Chloe, but it's less. This is a little less
<v Speaker 2>cringe than it was in the first game, because I
<v Speaker 2>was some ofelar to like critician in the first game
<v Speaker 2>of like, she's maybe a little too like Bart Simpsony
<v Speaker 2>at times in a way that I don't know doesn't
<v Speaker 2>always feel like not always maybe like a well written
<v Speaker 2>like teenage drama, Like this feels like an adult trying
<v Speaker 2>to come up with like a rebellious teen than like
<v Speaker 2>someone that was a rebellious teen writing a rebellious teen.
<v Speaker 2>Sometimes I think this feels closer to like she's an
<v Speaker 2>adult that used to be that person and still has
<v Speaker 2>some of that in there, but is now kind of
<v Speaker 2>like become a lot more self reflective about her past
<v Speaker 2>behavior and also like her feelings with Max and like
<v Speaker 2>the broader. Like the broader story surprisingly isn't so much
<v Speaker 2>Chloe dealing with her her sort of like wait, I
<v Speaker 2>was supposed to be dead, but I'm not. What's happening
<v Speaker 2>here and it's more about this this fire that they're
<v Speaker 2>trying to prevent. So, like, you know, each one of
<v Speaker 2>these games has like a big mystery you're trying to
<v Speaker 2>solve this one. Max gets a vision early on where
<v Speaker 2>oh my god, the school Calidoon, It's on fire and
<v Speaker 2>everyone dies and I have one weekend to prevent that
<v Speaker 2>from happening. So you have to go around and investigate
<v Speaker 2>people and grill some of the students and faculty to
<v Speaker 2>find out like who's going to be the one that
<v Speaker 2>starts as fire and why where does it come from?
<v Speaker 2>And Chloe helps you along with that. I think that
<v Speaker 2>story or that mystery is a bit convoluted in a
<v Speaker 2>way that kind of feels like, well, we need to
<v Speaker 2>keep people guessing, So what if it was this and
<v Speaker 2>this and this and to the point where I would
<v Speaker 2>always have to There were times right at the stop
<v Speaker 2>and go like wait, wait, wait, so what where are
<v Speaker 2>we at right now? Like I need to review our notes,
<v Speaker 2>Like I feel like the mystery gets a bit messy,
<v Speaker 2>like it it kind of gets there at the end,
<v Speaker 2>but the road there I was. I feel like I'd
<v Speaker 2>play enough like detective games to where I feel like
<v Speaker 2>the best detective games keep you in the dark, but
<v Speaker 2>you're always still. You feel like you have a grasp
<v Speaker 2>on like the evidence and where leads could go exactly,
<v Speaker 2>and I feel like they they lost me a few
<v Speaker 2>times here. And there's even points where because this game
<v Speaker 2>you're going around, you know, collecting clues or investigating things.
<v Speaker 2>You can inspect objects, which I couldn't remember if you
<v Speaker 2>could do that in double exposure, but you can kind
<v Speaker 2>of like Resident Evil style like rotate and then sometimes
<v Speaker 2>if you rotate something you might like, oh, I didn't
<v Speaker 2>see this little detail here, and you can miss you
<v Speaker 2>can miss evidence, and you can miss items that can
<v Speaker 2>lead to situations playing out differently than they whatever if
<v Speaker 2>you add found them, which I appreciate. But then other
<v Speaker 2>times there's evidence that the story just kind of gives
<v Speaker 2>you that winds up being really important where I was like, like,
<v Speaker 2>there's one moment until towards the end that really threw
<v Speaker 2>me for a loop where you're kind of in your all, right,
<v Speaker 2>here's everything we have. Let's put our heads together and
<v Speaker 2>really start locking in who did this because we can't
<v Speaker 2>once you choose, like once you're gonna about to make
<v Speaker 2>an accusation, you cannot go back on it. Uh. And
<v Speaker 2>then there was one there was like a couple of
<v Speaker 2>piece of evidence where I was like, I don't remember
<v Speaker 2>finding this, and then there's one that winds up being
<v Speaker 2>incredibly crucial involving a character that they kind of treat
<v Speaker 2>as if yeah, you knew this right, And I was like,
<v Speaker 2>I don't remember reading this at all. I feel like
<v Speaker 2>I would it because this is like pretty big, and
<v Speaker 2>then it winds up being really important, and it was
<v Speaker 2>kind of like, oh, I wish I wish i'd find that.
<v Speaker 2>I think maybe the contextualize those like oh, no, Moses
<v Speaker 2>found this, and it's like, can you find like something
<v Speaker 2>less useful, like like yeah, like I feel like I
<v Speaker 2>didn't really I gotta get just got lucky, like oh,
<v Speaker 2>it was already here, you know, through no effort of
<v Speaker 2>my own. And you're doing this as Max and Chloe.
<v Speaker 2>You're splitting time between two of them. Max has her
<v Speaker 2>time rewind powers from the first game, so she has
<v Speaker 2>lost the reality shifting power she had in Double Exposure,
<v Speaker 2>which I actually missed because the time rewind stuff in
<v Speaker 2>the first game was never really that deep. It was
<v Speaker 2>very much it was kind of like trial and error
<v Speaker 2>of like, oh, I said the wrong thing to someone,
<v Speaker 2>better rewind and then you just pick the right answer,
<v Speaker 2>and then that's how you move on. And that's pretty
<v Speaker 2>much the case in this game. Like there's multiple conversations
<v Speaker 2>where it just goes sideways, either because you think you're
<v Speaker 2>gonna say the right thing and then that person reacts
<v Speaker 2>in the way you did not expect. But then Max
<v Speaker 2>is like, Okay, I know that they're apparently in a mood,
<v Speaker 2>so I'm gonna tailor my conversations to not set them off.
<v Speaker 2>So then you just rewind and then and there's some
<v Speaker 2>cases we have to rewind multiple times until you find
<v Speaker 2>sort of the one correct thing.
<v Speaker 4>They'll be like, they'll be like, what are you my dad?
<v Speaker 4>I hate my dad, And you'll go back to the
<v Speaker 4>beginning of the conversation. You're like, so Dad's am I right?
<v Speaker 2>That's exactly how it goes, Charles. That is one thousand
<v Speaker 2>percent how it goes, like, oh he said something I
<v Speaker 2>can use, you know, like, oh man empathy? Am I right?
<v Speaker 2>So yeah, So that stuff is just less interesting than
<v Speaker 2>Double Exposure, which had the like, oh, you're splitting, you're
<v Speaker 2>jumping between realities and you have to solve puzzles of
<v Speaker 2>like you got to move one thing in one reality
<v Speaker 2>and then it affects the other reality and like an
<v Speaker 2>interesting way, Like I actually thought that was like really engaging,
<v Speaker 2>kind of like puzzle design in a first game. There's
<v Speaker 2>none of that here, and I just don't think the Yeah.
<v Speaker 2>And also I don't know if they unless I'm forgetting.
<v Speaker 2>I don't even know if there's a narrative reason for
<v Speaker 2>why she lost her powers, like there's a big moment
<v Speaker 2>that happens to be in the last game that kind
<v Speaker 2>of like the culmination of her powers. I don't remember
<v Speaker 2>if they they might have, and I'd just forgotten like
<v Speaker 2>expressed like what, so why can't Max just do both now?
<v Speaker 2>Like because in the first game or I guess the
<v Speaker 2>last game, she didn't have her time powers because they
<v Speaker 2>had evolved into the reality stuff and now they've gone
<v Speaker 2>back to just the time stuff. And yeah, this might
<v Speaker 2>be on me. I might just have missed or forgotten
<v Speaker 2>the line of dialogue that explained it away. But yeah,
<v Speaker 2>it's just mechanically less interesting. Chloe has the back talking
<v Speaker 2>thing that she had and before the storm, which is
<v Speaker 2>basically like thing. That's what they call it. It's a
<v Speaker 2>backtalk mechanic thing.
<v Speaker 4>And that's like the combat sort of.
<v Speaker 1>Okay, all right, it's a debate just talking back to
<v Speaker 1>your superiors.
<v Speaker 2>It's basically a debate battle more or less, where you
<v Speaker 2>get in certain conversations and usually it's like, Okay, I
<v Speaker 2>need to get this guy to listen to me or
<v Speaker 2>to do something I need them to do. So I
<v Speaker 2>have to you know, we're gonna have a verbal joust.
<v Speaker 2>And then I got to really say some I got
<v Speaker 2>to pick the responses that are really gonna sweat a
<v Speaker 2>conversation my way, whether there's some zingers based on information
<v Speaker 2>I know about this person, like oh, I know this
<v Speaker 2>guy has daddy issues, so I'm gonna mention daddy issues
<v Speaker 2>and that'll that'll really like put some chinks in the
<v Speaker 2>armor or I found a piece of evidence earlier that
<v Speaker 2>I can cite and like contradict whatever they're trying to say.
<v Speaker 2>But it's really just like you pick two or three
<v Speaker 2>correct responses in a row and then you win, and
<v Speaker 2>then they tell you what you want. I was not
<v Speaker 2>super big on it and before the Storm, and I'm
<v Speaker 2>still not really that big on it now, Like I
<v Speaker 2>just think it's it's okay, but it's just not that interesting.
<v Speaker 2>And there's also not a ton of them, surprisingly, like
<v Speaker 2>there's only a handful of them in this game, which
<v Speaker 2>is surprising. I think about how much time you spend
<v Speaker 2>as Chloe, which is probably like a good fifty to
<v Speaker 2>fifty split between Max and Chloe.
<v Speaker 4>Can I ask, then, Marcus, what you've prefaced it by
<v Speaker 4>being like, it's gonna sound like I don't like this game,
<v Speaker 4>but I had a good time, and it has been
<v Speaker 4>mostly stuff you don't like. Is there what does the
<v Speaker 4>game do well for you?
<v Speaker 2>I think like the performances are great, especially Max Chloe,
<v Speaker 2>and like most like the core cast, they're all great,
<v Speaker 2>which is not surprising. I think the soundtrack is strong,
<v Speaker 2>which is another thing that these series has always had
<v Speaker 2>kind of up its sleep. I do think there are
<v Speaker 2>some really good, like emotional moments like this, Like pretty
<v Speaker 2>much anytime Max and cl excuse me, Max and Chloe
<v Speaker 2>are sharing a scene together, it's magical, like I kind
<v Speaker 2>of relished a moment or like Okay, they're alone, we're
<v Speaker 2>taking a break from the plot, and they're having like
<v Speaker 2>some real conversations about one all my again in my
<v Speaker 2>game where Chloe's dead, Like I have lived this life
<v Speaker 2>where I have kind of moved on free me you
<v Speaker 2>but not really and now you're back and I'm like
<v Speaker 2>terrified of losing you again. And also like there's in
<v Speaker 2>a theme of like inevitability around you know, Max has
<v Speaker 2>tried so hard to bend reality to her whim in
<v Speaker 2>order to save others. But it's also like, you know,
<v Speaker 2>there's no free rides with that of like if you
<v Speaker 2>fix one thing, that's at break five other things, and
<v Speaker 2>are you even and how much of a burden that
<v Speaker 2>would be of like if you have the ability to
<v Speaker 2>redo everything, is that more of a curse than anything?
<v Speaker 2>Then you're almost trying to like min max your life
<v Speaker 2>and that's not fun. And maybe you just need to
<v Speaker 2>learn how to let things go and maybe things are
<v Speaker 2>just going to happen no matter what, even if it's
<v Speaker 2>like a variation of that thing, And what do you
<v Speaker 2>do then when you've just kind of lived your life
<v Speaker 2>almost like untraining yourself to let fate be random. Like
<v Speaker 2>I think there's some interesting conversations there, especially in regards
<v Speaker 2>to Chloe, and then Chloe's sort of like like her
<v Speaker 2>view on reality knowing that I'm like a lie, but
<v Speaker 2>also I'm supposed to be dead in other versions of me,
<v Speaker 2>and what does that even mean for me as a
<v Speaker 2>character that already kind of had a very somewhat nihilistic
<v Speaker 2>view in the world, especially when she was younger. And
<v Speaker 2>then yeah, and kind of have living a life being
<v Speaker 2>dealt to bad hand and then kind of when you
<v Speaker 2>find out that maybe it's not bad lucky, you're just
<v Speaker 2>pretty destined, Like this is just how things are supposed
<v Speaker 2>to play out for you, and whether or not you
<v Speaker 2>accept that or not, Like when it gets into that stuff,
<v Speaker 2>and then when again it's just the life heavy stuff
<v Speaker 2>and just like, hey, do we like each other? Like
<v Speaker 2>where are we at? Are we are we just friends?
<v Speaker 2>Or what? I like that stuff and like that stuff
<v Speaker 2>can be so good that it kind of makes me
<v Speaker 2>forget the the other like narrative hiccups with like the
<v Speaker 2>I guess the main plot with the fire mystery, and.
<v Speaker 4>I do get it of like, it's like the series
<v Speaker 4>is kind of like it has strengths other than this,
<v Speaker 4>but it's primary draw for me has always been sort
<v Speaker 4>of the vibe, Like it's just a game that like
<v Speaker 4>you enjoy existing in the vibe of and the relationship
<v Speaker 4>between the characters and I it sounds like that continues
<v Speaker 4>to work for you.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, Like I like the vibes of these games too.
<v Speaker 2>I like these characters like this new these new characters
<v Speaker 2>that they've introduced since Double Exposure, like the students, I guess,
<v Speaker 2>and some of the teachers, like most of them come
<v Speaker 2>back here. So it's like, oh, it's cool getting hang
<v Speaker 2>out with you again. I wish you still were what
<v Speaker 2>I thought you were going to be at the end
<v Speaker 2>of the last game, but you know, it's still I guess,
<v Speaker 2>kind of fun to talk to Loretta. They're like s
<v Speaker 2>new be podcast girl or who you know Vin or whatnot.
<v Speaker 2>But yeah, I and you know, going back to the
<v Speaker 2>sort of the like it feels like these were the
<v Speaker 2>same game cut in half. You are largely still exploring
<v Speaker 2>that school from the first game, which is a little
<v Speaker 2>disappointing in terms of like you're not there's a couple
<v Speaker 2>of new spots you go to, but you are like
<v Speaker 2>running around at camps again. You're going to the snapping
<v Speaker 2>turtle bar again, so if you want it, like on
<v Speaker 2>playing the location, it's like, oh, it's this again. You know,
<v Speaker 2>there's some you're just kind of seeing the passage of
<v Speaker 2>time of like oh, Okay, here's a poster I wasn't
<v Speaker 2>here before, or something referencing what's happened in nine months
<v Speaker 2>between this, but it's this again. So yeah, I'm still,
<v Speaker 2>like I said, I'm still forming my final opinion, like
<v Speaker 2>it's you're not wrong in charge that it does feel
<v Speaker 2>like And I've written down stuff like is there more
<v Speaker 2>that I dislike than I do like? And is the
<v Speaker 2>things I do like like weaker than the things that
<v Speaker 2>I have problems with? I'm still forming that conclusion in
<v Speaker 2>my head right now. By at the time this airs,
<v Speaker 2>my written review will probably be live on the site
<v Speaker 2>so you can read my full thoughts. But right now
<v Speaker 2>I'm kind of sitting at like the things I cared
<v Speaker 2>about are most worried about, of like, are they gonna
<v Speaker 2>botch the Chloe stuff. I think they pull that off,
<v Speaker 2>and maybe that's why I feel higher on this game
<v Speaker 2>than it sounds like. Is like, the one thing I
<v Speaker 2>was nervous about they didn't screw up is just some
<v Speaker 2>of the other stuff around it, and maybe suffers because
<v Speaker 2>of that.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah okay, yeah, well cool, but yeah, well that is
<v Speaker 3>life is strange Reunion. Thanks for getting into that, Marcus.
<v Speaker 1>Before we take our break, I do want to talk
<v Speaker 1>about a game that I have been enjoying for all
<v Speaker 1>of twenty four hours. I downloaded it yesterday, but I
<v Speaker 1>have since sunk about four hours into it. It's called
<v Speaker 1>rack Coin Coin Pusher roguelike. Are either of you familiar
<v Speaker 1>with this one?
<v Speaker 4>Now? Was this? Was this a game? Was this a
<v Speaker 4>Captain in your crew Ship arcade room?
<v Speaker 3>Yeah?
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, exactly, So this is a This is definitely for
<v Speaker 1>It's published by the same publisher as Bilatra, okay, and
<v Speaker 1>it's very similar in taking something that is traditionally, you know,
<v Speaker 1>associated with gambling and adding a bunch of modifiers and
<v Speaker 1>chaotic elements to just make it larger than life and
<v Speaker 1>and and just ridiculous. Right, So, if you've ever been
<v Speaker 1>in an arcade or like a bar and they've got
<v Speaker 1>like one of those. They have several of them, like
<v Speaker 1>in Minneapolis. The popular one is called Bonus Hole, and
<v Speaker 1>it's where you put the quarter in at the top.
<v Speaker 4>That's the name of the game Bonus Hole.
<v Speaker 2>Yeston podcast.
<v Speaker 1>Bux I Love you Guys, one of those games where
<v Speaker 1>you put the quarter in the top and you have
<v Speaker 1>to time it to where there's like a spinning arm
<v Speaker 1>and when you put the quarter and it shoots it
<v Speaker 1>out and you're slowly trying to push there's like a
<v Speaker 1>an upper platform of quarters that are that's going back
<v Speaker 1>and forth against the back wall the machine, and you
<v Speaker 1>want to put your quarters in the sides to try
<v Speaker 1>to get the coins in a spot where they'll be
<v Speaker 1>pushed off onto the bottom platform and you're slowly at
<v Speaker 1>the very front of the machine is like a pit
<v Speaker 1>and the quarters are slowly being pushed off and whenever
<v Speaker 1>they get pushed off, you get the quarter.
<v Speaker 3>So it's a quarter machine coin pusher. Yeah, can I.
<v Speaker 2>Does in the real life version of this? Does anyone
<v Speaker 2>genuinely like this game? Oh do you love push?
<v Speaker 1>My last birthday, I spent a kid, you not, probably
<v Speaker 1>ninety minutes with my friends in front of one of
<v Speaker 1>these things, and I was having the time of my life.
<v Speaker 1>I only let myself do it like once a year
<v Speaker 1>because it's like the most lizard brain.
<v Speaker 3>Activity you can do.
<v Speaker 1>But my friends were like, okay, it's your birthday, and
<v Speaker 1>they were like going to the eight, going to the
<v Speaker 1>ATM machine and like getting out another ten dollars out
<v Speaker 1>for me and bringing me quarters back.
<v Speaker 3>And I was just sitting there halving the time of
<v Speaker 3>my life.
<v Speaker 2>It just always seemed like, on one hand, it seemed
<v Speaker 2>like the easiest, I guess, gambling game to win, but
<v Speaker 2>it's also maybe the most boring to where it's like
<v Speaker 2>it's so boring that I don't even care now I
<v Speaker 2>think maybe deceptively easy. It looks the way I just
<v Speaker 2>can never bring my.
<v Speaker 3>There is skill.
<v Speaker 1>There is a skill involved, because you're right, there are
<v Speaker 1>deceptive ones and you have to be able to look
<v Speaker 1>at the field and read the game, you know what
<v Speaker 1>I mean, And there no where to put your quarters.
<v Speaker 4>Do the ones you go to do they have like
<v Speaker 4>sometimes they'll like stack up a tower of quarters in there,
<v Speaker 4>or sometimes they'll just be sitting in it.
<v Speaker 1>Yes, that's in this game. The coin tower. The ones
<v Speaker 1>I go to are not like that. They don't have those,
<v Speaker 1>but I have in my past, I have seen those.
<v Speaker 4>The nice part about when there's the coin tower is
<v Speaker 4>in theory you will eventually win. It's unclear weather you'll
<v Speaker 4>break even with the amount of quarters that you go
<v Speaker 4>into it. But it is a kind of nice form
<v Speaker 4>of gambling where at some point you, by the laws
<v Speaker 4>of physics, they got you. That tower has to fall over.
<v Speaker 3>Yes, something about an analog gambling.
<v Speaker 2>Machine, you know what I mean? You know the ones.
<v Speaker 1>You know you see you see the game in front
<v Speaker 1>of you. The stats can't be changed with like computer stuff.
<v Speaker 1>Like it's an honest it's honest, you know what I mean.
<v Speaker 2>It's old fashion cheating.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, Like you look at them, you're like, Okay, clearly
<v Speaker 1>I can see the evidence of all the people before
<v Speaker 1>me and all the wins that they put.
<v Speaker 3>In the machine and didn't get out. But it's gonna
<v Speaker 3>be different for me. I can respect that kind of.
<v Speaker 4>That's like going into like the like cyclops Is Layer
<v Speaker 4>and seeing the dead bodies of all the adventures that
<v Speaker 4>came before you, and it's like, I but I will prevail.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, Like a guy who loves to collect bones and.
<v Speaker 2>You're like, yes, do you feel like, as someone that
<v Speaker 2>I guess is an avid enjoyer of this game, do
<v Speaker 2>you feel like any of your skills have transferred over
<v Speaker 2>into like how this game's logic works.
<v Speaker 1>Yes, yeah, it is physics based, and I feel like
<v Speaker 1>the strategies I think apply, I think and this one.
<v Speaker 1>I do think this is a little more unwieldy and
<v Speaker 1>harder to grasp at the start than maybe Bilatro is.
<v Speaker 1>I just think that there's something about poker that is
<v Speaker 1>I think Bilatra is a little more straightforward and simple
<v Speaker 1>at the start when you're first learning it, whereas this
<v Speaker 1>has like several different systems at play. You've got you know,
<v Speaker 1>a spin wheel, You've got clips for like trinkets on
<v Speaker 1>the side of that cabinet that alter those kind of
<v Speaker 1>actor as you're bolotro jokers, right, So it's like your
<v Speaker 1>score equals value of coin times score rate, which like
<v Speaker 1>there's some of that stuff.
<v Speaker 3>You're like, what does that mean? I don't get it,
<v Speaker 3>But once you just play a few a few games,
<v Speaker 3>then you'll kind of start to get it.
<v Speaker 1>They're like, oh, I really like this, uh this map
<v Speaker 1>trinket because whenever I score a coin on the left, middle,
<v Speaker 1>or right side. It changes based on the round sounds
<v Speaker 1>that people will play. Bilotro will be like, oh, that
<v Speaker 1>sounds like some cards from that game where it's like, uh,
<v Speaker 1>you know if you play if you play red cards
<v Speaker 1>this turn, you're gonna get bonus modifier, right, similar thing
<v Speaker 1>but with positioning in this game.
<v Speaker 3>And then there's others that are like.
<v Speaker 1>That play more onto uh. There's different characters in the
<v Speaker 1>game that you play as, So you can play as
<v Speaker 1>like a raccoon guy who is very much all of
<v Speaker 1>his special coins because everyone's playing with quarters gold coins
<v Speaker 1>in the machine. But every character has their own suite of.
<v Speaker 3>Special coins.
<v Speaker 1>Think of it almost like a one of the characters
<v Speaker 1>and slay the spire, right. Everyone has like their common
<v Speaker 1>cards that everyone can kind of get, and everyone's kind
<v Speaker 1>of playing the same rules, but everyone's unique decks are
<v Speaker 1>a little different.
<v Speaker 3>Right uh.
<v Speaker 1>And the more that you play, the more you unlock
<v Speaker 1>more of those special cards for that character. Very similar
<v Speaker 1>concept with rat Cooin. I was playing one character last night.
<v Speaker 1>It was probably the most unwieldy of the bunch, but
<v Speaker 1>their special coins that were all about animals, and like, uh,
<v Speaker 1>you would summon like bunny rabbit coins, and if you
<v Speaker 1>summon multiple bunny rabbit coins, they will like be drawn
<v Speaker 1>to each other. They'll hop to each other, and they'll
<v Speaker 1>multiply and they''ll spawn more little babies.
<v Speaker 3>Baby.
<v Speaker 2>Is there is there any kind of like game master
<v Speaker 2>character like Bilacho has the Joker guy? Is there anything
<v Speaker 2>like is there a raccoon?
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, the raccoon. There's like the owner of the shop.
<v Speaker 1>And he is very much like that character to laugh
<v Speaker 1>at you. Uh, you know, he's not in the way
<v Speaker 1>that the Joker does, but he does have like he's
<v Speaker 1>got some personality right it gets the job done.
<v Speaker 2>Does he want you to succeed? I guess like is
<v Speaker 2>he relishing in your defeat?
<v Speaker 1>I don't know if I know enough about him yet.
<v Speaker 1>He's very strict. He's like, you're out of coins, but
<v Speaker 1>he will let you. He'll often let you shake the
<v Speaker 1>cabinet once before you before it ends. You get one
<v Speaker 1>cabinet shake at the very end, and that that has
<v Speaker 1>that has saved me on a couple of rounds. That
<v Speaker 1>is also offensive, Charles, I, because just because you're right,
<v Speaker 1>I do I Actually the alarm went off on my
<v Speaker 1>birthday because my friends were getting a little too rowdy
<v Speaker 1>and we started shaking the machine. Was like monkey's like
<v Speaker 1>a munch of monkeys.
<v Speaker 3>Trying to get the banana.
<v Speaker 4>I just just the way that you've described liking this machine.
<v Speaker 4>I can just be like, God, if I could just
<v Speaker 4>shake this stupid thing.
<v Speaker 1>Oh yeah, So in real life there are are alarms
<v Speaker 1>on it, and the alarms will go off.
<v Speaker 3>Which happened on my birthday. But you know, you get
<v Speaker 3>to usually get one grace, one grace alarm grace.
<v Speaker 4>Yeah, like you spent You've given us fifty dollars in
<v Speaker 4>these machines, so you get one shake.
<v Speaker 3>And then Yeah, that's kind of the vibe of this
<v Speaker 3>game too.
<v Speaker 4>You use the word unwieldy a few times. Would you
<v Speaker 4>say it's like it feels bad? Or is it just
<v Speaker 4>hard to grasp? Is it hard hard, hard to grasp?
<v Speaker 3>It always feels good, let me tell you, Trus, Even
<v Speaker 3>if you don't know what's happening, there's this.
<v Speaker 4>Game to you. I don't like the way that you
<v Speaker 4>like this game.
<v Speaker 1>I was playing it while Kayle and Caayla and I
<v Speaker 1>were watching a near reality TV show last night hosted
<v Speaker 1>by Gabby Wendy Shout Out to love overboard and I
<v Speaker 1>had this plane on my laptop and she's like, thank
<v Speaker 1>god that that that is a virtual game, and like
<v Speaker 1>that is like a video game and not a real thing, because.
<v Speaker 3>I don't, like I don't. I'm glad that we essentially
<v Speaker 3>have this version for you to play, never play the
<v Speaker 3>real thing like this. And I was like, of course,
<v Speaker 3>of course, I know my limits.
<v Speaker 4>In a very affectionate way. I love like playing this
<v Speaker 4>game with reality TV on the TV is a very
<v Speaker 4>like lizard Brain evening.
<v Speaker 3>Oh yeah, that was awesome.
<v Speaker 4>Let's just get messy and gamble, you know, yeah evening.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, and yeah, I'm really enjoying it. I think like
<v Speaker 1>the characters ad I was kind of talking about the
<v Speaker 1>rat the coins. The biologist has like rabbit coins that
<v Speaker 1>can spawn, and then you can summon wolf coins to
<v Speaker 1>hunt the rabbit coins, and then you have modifier. You
<v Speaker 1>have a stomach coin that you can play where every
<v Speaker 1>every three hunts that you complete, you spawn a new
<v Speaker 1>like an that the wolf can hunt or you know,
<v Speaker 1>when the wolf uh you know kills or successfully hunts,
<v Speaker 1>it creates a poop coin, and then you can add
<v Speaker 1>a fertilizer coin to get rid of the poop coins
<v Speaker 1>and it takes the value of that coin and multiplies it.
<v Speaker 3>There's a lot of that kind of.
<v Speaker 1>Stuff in this game, and a lot of wheel spins,
<v Speaker 1>a lot of bonus coins that get dropped. There's a
<v Speaker 1>lot of fun systems that I think if you know,
<v Speaker 1>Balatrow was my game of the year in what twenty
<v Speaker 1>twenty four, and you know, if if you like that game,
<v Speaker 1>like if you're one of the Bilatrasikos, you're there, You're
<v Speaker 1>gonna find something to like about this game. I think
<v Speaker 1>the format is different, but the chaos and the you know,
<v Speaker 1>the strategy.
<v Speaker 3>Really there's a lot of strategy at play as well.
<v Speaker 1>And while there are you know, roguelikes inherently have like
<v Speaker 1>an element of to them, there is you do have
<v Speaker 1>to have like a you develop a game sense to
<v Speaker 1>really you know, that's required to beat a run and
<v Speaker 1>I've beaten two runs so far. And whether you get
<v Speaker 1>you get like new skins for your arcade cabinet, and
<v Speaker 1>eventually I think you can like modify your cabinet and
<v Speaker 1>add like special effects where like if a coin goes
<v Speaker 1>down this ramp on the back platform, it's icy and
<v Speaker 1>it's gonna slide a little you know, there's there's modifiers
<v Speaker 1>like that at play, and you can also place gadgets
<v Speaker 1>on the board, so you know, you can place like
<v Speaker 1>little sort of like Tesla coils. They kind of like
<v Speaker 1>look like Tesla coils coils, and every three you can
<v Speaker 1>like there's a buy and sell system and there's like
<v Speaker 1>a shop in between rounds, and it's like every three
<v Speaker 1>items that you sell, the Tesla coil is going to
<v Speaker 1>summon like a UFO and it'll either spit out more
<v Speaker 1>coins or absorb coins for you and score them where
<v Speaker 1>they're at. Or you can lay down a fishbone to
<v Speaker 1>like block off part of the part of the board
<v Speaker 1>and like are part of the cabinet and make the
<v Speaker 1>coins push, you know, around it. It's it's really interesting.
<v Speaker 1>It's a lot of fun. And I think I know
<v Speaker 1>I gave you guys codes before we before we started
<v Speaker 1>the podcast. I think you guys should really play it.
<v Speaker 1>I think I think you'll enjoy it.
<v Speaker 3>It is verified as well, so this I.
<v Speaker 2>Ever enjoyed these kind of games, the coin pushers. This
<v Speaker 2>will redeem it for all the.
<v Speaker 1>Other And then you kind of visit Minneapolis soon and
<v Speaker 1>I'll take you out for the real thing. Yeah, to
<v Speaker 1>the bonus al There are two Bonus Holl locations that
<v Speaker 1>I know of in Minneapolis. Bus Yeah, and I bet
<v Speaker 1>we can convince Dan Raicher to go out with us too.
<v Speaker 1>I know he's a bonus Hole connoisseur.
<v Speaker 2>He told me about that.
<v Speaker 4>That makes perfect sense to me. I know I can't.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, of course.
<v Speaker 3>Uh well cool, Well let's take a quick break.
<v Speaker 1>We're gonna come back. We're gonna talk about a new
<v Speaker 1>daily puzzle game that Charles was in playing. We're gonna
<v Speaker 1>talk Damon and Baby, and then we'll close the show
<v Speaker 1>out with conversation about the early hours of Super Meat
<v Speaker 1>Boy three D. We'll be right back right after this,
<v Speaker 1>Welcome back to the Game Informer show. Charles tell us
<v Speaker 1>about parse word. I know this is a new he said,
<v Speaker 1>this is from the guy behind Wordle. And is it
<v Speaker 1>part of the New York Times stable of games or
<v Speaker 1>is it separate?
<v Speaker 2>Is it part of the New York multiverse separate?
<v Speaker 4>I no, it's a I can't think of a good example.
<v Speaker 4>So Josh Josh Wardle is the guy that created Wordle.
<v Speaker 4>The name of the games a pun on his last names,
<v Speaker 4>just Wardle with words so that's what it's called Wordle.
<v Speaker 4>He sold Wordle to the New York Times, but he
<v Speaker 4>is a separate game developer, so he parse word is
<v Speaker 4>separate from the New York Times stable of games. Maybe
<v Speaker 4>one day he'll sell it also for bigure deal or whatever.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, and did.
<v Speaker 2>He also make this game for his wife who was bored?
<v Speaker 3>I don't know.
<v Speaker 4>I don't think so. I think he's got more collaborators
<v Speaker 4>on this one, and I think he's gotten more into
<v Speaker 4>like I don't know, Yeah, I don't think so, as
<v Speaker 4>far as I know.
<v Speaker 2>Okay, for as I don't know, he made Wordle or
<v Speaker 2>originally the story was that he made Wordle to entertain
<v Speaker 2>his wife, and then it just kind of blew up
<v Speaker 2>from there.
<v Speaker 4>Yeah, super up, which I think.
<v Speaker 2>Is way to get rich being sweet to your wife. Yeah.
<v Speaker 4>There are some people that I think rightfully were like
<v Speaker 4>mad when he sold it to New York Times because
<v Speaker 4>they're like, it was a fun indie thing. It was
<v Speaker 4>just for them. It was free, and then now it's
<v Speaker 4>still free for the New York Times, but like there's
<v Speaker 4>bonus stuff you can get for subscribing, and like just
<v Speaker 4>taking it from a free independent thing to a corporate thing.
<v Speaker 4>On one hand, I totally understand that. On the other hand,
<v Speaker 4>like the like, I don't know, it's a it's a
<v Speaker 4>great deal for him theoretically, like he made a lot
<v Speaker 4>of money off of it, and I I that to me,
<v Speaker 4>the happy ending of that story is I made a
<v Speaker 4>game for my wife and then I made like a
<v Speaker 4>million dollars from selling it.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, now, or especially if he didn't want to like
<v Speaker 2>manage it like I didn't. I didn't sure was not.
<v Speaker 2>I didn't get into this to manage a giant like thing.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah yeah, so take it off hand, give me the money.
<v Speaker 4>Anyways, So I've I have been playing a lot of
<v Speaker 4>different kind of daily word games, which is just kind
<v Speaker 4>of a staple of the internet now of like just
<v Speaker 4>every day there's a new little puzzle And one of
<v Speaker 4>the ones I've been into is Minute Cryptic and it
<v Speaker 4>has these cryptic clues. And the way that these work
<v Speaker 4>is it's a sentence that's written out and it seems
<v Speaker 4>just like a normal sentence, but then you realize that
<v Speaker 4>the different words are telling you to do other things
<v Speaker 4>to them. So, for example, if if a game it
<v Speaker 4>had something like uh head scrambled or something, the word
<v Speaker 4>scrambled implies to you that you're gonna take one of
<v Speaker 4>the words around it and mix the letters up, and
<v Speaker 4>the final answer is going to be something like that,
<v Speaker 4>where there's all these words that kind of indicate what
<v Speaker 4>you're supposed to do to the other words in the sentence,
<v Speaker 4>and then some of the words in there are going
<v Speaker 4>to be the definition of the clue.
<v Speaker 3>Cool.
<v Speaker 4>So if it said, for example, uh, scrambled lemon head,
<v Speaker 4>this is not that's not that's all I'll come here
<v Speaker 4>a sentence, but it would be scrambled lemon head, you
<v Speaker 4>would know that the word scrambled means you're supposed to
<v Speaker 4>change the letters of a word next to it. If
<v Speaker 4>you scramble the letters of the word lemon, it means melon,
<v Speaker 4>and melon's another word for head. That's like the structure
<v Speaker 4>of these You have a word that says what you're
<v Speaker 4>supposed to do. You have a word that has letters
<v Speaker 4>you're going to mix around, and they have a word
<v Speaker 4>that's a definition and it's usually frame and it's they
<v Speaker 4>can get really crazy, really complicated depending on how it goes.
<v Speaker 4>Parse Word is a new daily game where it takes
<v Speaker 4>that concept and instead of it just being like you
<v Speaker 4>look at the words and you figure it out, you
<v Speaker 4>piece it together. Each word exists as a little box
<v Speaker 4>you can click on and you can drag them to
<v Speaker 4>nearby words to see how they'll affect different things. And
<v Speaker 4>so it's a really way of like. It makes it
<v Speaker 4>very accessible. It makes it a little bit more gamified,
<v Speaker 4>and you can set it to like easier heart or whatever.
<v Speaker 4>And I have just been playing it every day. I
<v Speaker 4>think it's really cool. It's definitely way less accessible than wordle.
<v Speaker 4>Like I think you could play wordle as like a
<v Speaker 4>nine year old as long as you have a grasp
<v Speaker 4>of like the English language and what letters go where.
<v Speaker 4>This one is definitely a little bit more challenging. So
<v Speaker 4>I'm just gonna walk you guys through today's puzzle real quick,
<v Speaker 4>just as an example.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, so it.
<v Speaker 4>Is wanting thirty divided by six at first, wanting thirty
<v Speaker 4>divided by six at first. Now I've already said this.
<v Speaker 3>We're gonna be dividing something into two.
<v Speaker 4>Yeah, so I happen to know. And if I click
<v Speaker 4>on the word divided, it has a orange line under it.
<v Speaker 4>When you click on a word with an orange line,
<v Speaker 4>that implies that it can do another thing. In this case,
<v Speaker 4>wanting thirty divided by six at first. If I drag
<v Speaker 4>six at first together, the first letter of six is S,
<v Speaker 4>so six at first simplifies to S. So now our
<v Speaker 4>clue is wanting thirty divided by S thirty. The word
<v Speaker 4>thirty divided by S, meaning S is a letter that's
<v Speaker 4>going to divide the word thirty in two means we're
<v Speaker 4>going to put the S into the word thirty, which
<v Speaker 4>makes the word thirsty, which is another word for wanting.
<v Speaker 2>Well, verbalize like the steps to solve one of these,
<v Speaker 2>It sounds like you're giving an algebra lesson.
<v Speaker 4>Yeah, and I get it. I totally get it. The
<v Speaker 4>nice thing about this I already already did this clue,
<v Speaker 4>So that's part of the reason I was walking through
<v Speaker 4>it so quickly. But it's a thing that if I
<v Speaker 4>was just looking at that, you'd have to put all
<v Speaker 4>the piece together. Yeah, this one, you can drag six
<v Speaker 4>at first as a phrase together and they'll be like, well,
<v Speaker 4>that could mean this. It also could mean something else,
<v Speaker 4>like if I open up, let me do it in
<v Speaker 4>an incognito.
<v Speaker 2>We got to solve for X.
<v Speaker 4>If I do six at first, it says either at first,
<v Speaker 4>so the first letter of six s, or.
<v Speaker 1>You're gonna have to record this this this screen by
<v Speaker 1>the way, for the podcast, the video version, So.
<v Speaker 4>You want to do it again just to have Yeah,
<v Speaker 4>I'll just pull it up. Yeah yeah. The word at
<v Speaker 4>also might might be like we're combining these two words
<v Speaker 4>that are next to each other. So the options are
<v Speaker 4>six at first is either the letter S or six
<v Speaker 4>first as a word, And sometimes you got to go
<v Speaker 4>through a lot of those projs. Anyways, it is hard
<v Speaker 4>to verbalize, yeah, which is why I'm glad that there's
<v Speaker 4>a video comodient in the podcast. But I find it
<v Speaker 4>really fun. It's a more accessible way to do it,
<v Speaker 4>and it's also kind of a gateway into other cryptic
<v Speaker 4>stuff if you're into into that. They're cryptic crosswords, where
<v Speaker 4>like every clue of the crossword is one of these
<v Speaker 4>like super obscure things. Minute cryptic is like one level
<v Speaker 4>more difficult than parse word, where you can get hints,
<v Speaker 4>but it's not like a dragon drop type thing. The
<v Speaker 4>one that I've been doing lately is pokey cryptic. Let
<v Speaker 4>me make sure I got that, uh right, yeah, pokey cryptic,
<v Speaker 4>which is, uh, it's these cryptic clues except the answers
<v Speaker 4>are all Pokemon or Pokemon moves or.
<v Speaker 2>Bill On's Oh man, I would fail that.
<v Speaker 4>So this one is I avoided permanent marker initially drawing
<v Speaker 4>or neatly or neatly detailed fish for never mind, I'm
<v Speaker 4>not gonna explain it.
<v Speaker 3>The answer is shark.
<v Speaker 4>It's great. It's fun. So I think if you're if
<v Speaker 4>you're interested, like a quick little word game, quick browser game,
<v Speaker 4>they're free, they're available once every day and parse word.
<v Speaker 4>That's good.
<v Speaker 2>Do you get the sense like, is it taking off
<v Speaker 2>in a similar way that wordle bit or is this
<v Speaker 2>a little bit more like under the radar?
<v Speaker 4>I thought I heard about this through like it was
<v Speaker 4>a Polygon headline. Maybe, like I have not seen anyone
<v Speaker 4>talking about this game. It has only been through my
<v Speaker 4>normal video game news channels. So I do not think
<v Speaker 4>it is taking off it a significant way. But I
<v Speaker 4>also don't think it's intended to. Like there's very much
<v Speaker 4>a community of this sort of like ward based puzzle?
<v Speaker 4>Does it type deal?
<v Speaker 2>Does it let you post your your answer it like
<v Speaker 2>you could word? But like, hey I did it? Look
<v Speaker 2>everyone I saw it.
<v Speaker 4>You can there's a yeah, I can copy my results
<v Speaker 4>and it has the number of partsword it is, it
<v Speaker 4>gives your time, and then it's, uh, I got a
<v Speaker 4>perfect on this. I don't know what that means if
<v Speaker 4>I just didn't click on the wrong clue and it happened.
<v Speaker 4>But and then also as the mode that you're in,
<v Speaker 4>so you can set it to easier or harder, just
<v Speaker 4>depending on how you're feeling.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, make sure you post that you got a perfect.
<v Speaker 4>I should. And also this is this is parsword today
<v Speaker 4>the day recording April second, Parswords sixty four. So there've
<v Speaker 4>only been sixty four of these clues so far. It's
<v Speaker 4>relatively new. I'm sure it will be that's more.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, do you prefer to have these in the browser
<v Speaker 1>or do you do you like having them as like apps.
<v Speaker 2>Like on your phone, played on your phone.
<v Speaker 4>I have a tab group on my Safari on my phone,
<v Speaker 4>so I just have a tab group that's just daily games,
<v Speaker 4>and I can just kind of cycle through all of
<v Speaker 4>them really quickly. If it was like a New York
<v Speaker 4>Times app, like, I think that would be fine if
<v Speaker 4>that's where all the games are. But in this case,
<v Speaker 4>because it's so many games from different sources, I don't
<v Speaker 4>mind them in browser because they're all in the browser
<v Speaker 4>app on the phone. Yeah.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, cool.
<v Speaker 1>I'm I'm always fascinated when a new daily game comes
<v Speaker 1>up and.
<v Speaker 3>I think, I think it's really fun.
<v Speaker 1>I'm glad that there's one that kind of getting your attention.
<v Speaker 1>I pulled it up in a tab on my browser
<v Speaker 1>to to check out.
<v Speaker 3>But well, cool, well Marcus, let's send it back over
<v Speaker 3>to you.
<v Speaker 1>You've been playing Damon and Baby, which is what is
<v Speaker 1>that a twin stick shooter? Yeah, of sorts. Yeah, yeah,
<v Speaker 1>I remember the character design was very like striking and
<v Speaker 1>kind of attention grabbing, and it's been on my list
<v Speaker 1>to play.
<v Speaker 3>And is the game finally out?
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, it came out sometimes March some Yeah, in March
<v Speaker 2>some point.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah.
<v Speaker 2>This is a This is an ARC Systems joint too.
<v Speaker 4>Wow.
<v Speaker 2>You know, best known for probably their fighting games more
<v Speaker 2>than anything. Yeah, Dragon Ball Fighters, the upcoming Marvel took on.
<v Speaker 2>But yeah, this is them. I played this. Guilty Gear.
<v Speaker 2>Guilty Gear and Blaze Blue are probably their biggest things. Nice,
<v Speaker 2>but yeah, I played this during the Game Awards last year.
<v Speaker 2>I took an appointment to go see the the pr
<v Speaker 2>and play about an hour of it, and I liked it.
<v Speaker 2>I like it was like just a fun just kind
<v Speaker 2>of almost turn your brain off and just shoot things
<v Speaker 2>and really like cartoony and almost Dyskaia esque kind of world.
<v Speaker 2>And yeah, I've been playing. I've probably played about the
<v Speaker 2>first ninety minutes or so of the full version. I'm
<v Speaker 2>playing it on my switch, which I think is a
<v Speaker 2>good call. So it's a really good handheld game. And
<v Speaker 2>the ideas that you play a demon name I think
<v Speaker 2>his name's Damon, and he is trying to become like
<v Speaker 2>the the Overlord, Like there's a whole demon hierarchy that
<v Speaker 2>he's trying to climb, and for reasons unknown, you have
<v Speaker 2>been cursed to be bound to this human child who
<v Speaker 2>don't I wouldn't say, like it's like a baby baby,
<v Speaker 2>but I don't know. It's like between a baby and
<v Speaker 2>a toddler. And I know that's a very there's like
<v Speaker 2>a year difference, but maybe it's because this little girl
<v Speaker 2>has a full head of hair. I'm like, I don't
<v Speaker 2>think it's like an infant. It's a little close to
<v Speaker 2>the baby walk. She she kind of just hangs out
<v Speaker 2>in your back the entire time until there's times you
<v Speaker 2>throw her and I have to remember like when you
<v Speaker 2>throw her, does she stand on her feet or is
<v Speaker 2>she just laying there? That's a good question.
<v Speaker 4>I gotta fire it back up my head. Like toddler
<v Speaker 4>like to toddle, I think is to walk kind of funny.
<v Speaker 4>So I think a toddler can walk. Is that that's
<v Speaker 4>the distinction between the two. I think. I think that's true.
<v Speaker 3>A cryptogram.
<v Speaker 2>Toddler to walk. Yeah, I feel like a toddler should
<v Speaker 2>be able to say like.
<v Speaker 4>Short tottering steps in the manner of a young child.
<v Speaker 2>I do associate like some degree of of like mobility,
<v Speaker 2>and like you should be able to say like a
<v Speaker 2>word or two. I think when you're a toddler. This kid,
<v Speaker 2>as far as I've seen, is not talked. So maybe
<v Speaker 2>it's just the baby that it's just got a very
<v Speaker 2>luscious head of hair, like a dumb baby. Wow.
<v Speaker 4>I mean, I was shocked the whole time roasting the
<v Speaker 4>baby like not pull its weight.
<v Speaker 3>Maybe I don't know.
<v Speaker 2>It's crazy. Listeners, is that this is the first time
<v Speaker 2>he said that. I was shocked when he told that
<v Speaker 2>to Wes when he had his child last year, And
<v Speaker 2>I just didn't call it out because I thought we.
<v Speaker 4>Were babies eating cake with her hands.
<v Speaker 2>Westy, what a little idiot. Yeah, I believe it was
<v Speaker 2>your exact quote. But so, yeah, you're this lumbering demon.
<v Speaker 2>You got a cute human baby on your back, and
<v Speaker 2>you guys are trying to find a way to or
<v Speaker 2>at least he is trying to find a way to
<v Speaker 2>remove himself of this curse, and you're navigating this world
<v Speaker 2>that like it's a cool world setup because humanity exists
<v Speaker 2>and it's set in like present day, and but everyone
<v Speaker 2>like humans are very much aware of demons to the
<v Speaker 2>point of not really being particularly interested or like affected
<v Speaker 2>by their presence. Like the first time you go to
<v Speaker 2>like a human area with this baby, everyone's just kind
<v Speaker 2>of looking at you, like, what's that demon doing with
<v Speaker 2>that child? That's weird and not wanting to talk to you.
<v Speaker 2>But you know, you are such an inconvenience to them,
<v Speaker 2>or like a minor inconvenience, I should say, which I
<v Speaker 2>think is like a fun sort of premise. You hook
<v Speaker 2>up with this angel who is part of this like
<v Speaker 2>heavenly insurance agency that you file acclaim with to try
<v Speaker 2>to get this kid off your back, literally, and so
<v Speaker 2>she sticks around because she's like well, I got I
<v Speaker 2>gotta hang out with you to help kind of like
<v Speaker 2>fill out this claim that you're trying, like I need
<v Speaker 2>to be a witness to this, And she's like very bubbly.
<v Speaker 2>She she reminds me if you're a Deskuya fan, or
<v Speaker 2>specifically the first guy, if you remember Flawn, the angel
<v Speaker 2>character in that game, how bubbly she is. She reminds
<v Speaker 2>me of that, and almost even visually kind of is
<v Speaker 2>reminiscent of her, which I like. But yeah, you're exploring this.
<v Speaker 2>It's like an isometric game. You are wielding a bunch
<v Speaker 2>of different fire arms, so you have like a pistol,
<v Speaker 2>machine gun, shotguns, and you are just twin stick shooting
<v Speaker 2>your way across these levels, blasting all these demons. The
<v Speaker 2>shooting feels fine, there is some jank to it, which
<v Speaker 2>is one of my kind of like one of my
<v Speaker 2>main complaints. My biggest one is that you can't like
<v Speaker 2>so you have to manually reload and whatnot, but you
<v Speaker 2>also have to manually like holster your weapon, which I
<v Speaker 2>don't like.
<v Speaker 4>Because of how interesting.
<v Speaker 2>Fast paced this game is. It's weird that I like
<v Speaker 2>the moment I stop shooting, he doesn't just automatically put
<v Speaker 2>his gun away and just keep it moving because when
<v Speaker 2>you do have your gun, you move slower than if
<v Speaker 2>you would if you didn't. And so like, there'll be
<v Speaker 2>times where I clear out a room and I'm ready
<v Speaker 2>to go, but then I forget to put my gun away,
<v Speaker 2>so he's like he kind of creeps forward in full
<v Speaker 2>you know, aim mode, and you have to remember like wait,
<v Speaker 2>oh right, what's the button to put the gun away?
<v Speaker 2>And it sounds minor, but it actually is it feels
<v Speaker 2>like it there's it makes the game kind of hitch
<v Speaker 2>you a little bit, having to stop that or stop
<v Speaker 2>and do that so often that I really wish I
<v Speaker 2>wasn't there. And it's actually it's bothering me more and more,
<v Speaker 2>uh as I keep playing through it.
<v Speaker 4>But is that is that a thing that bothers you?
<v Speaker 4>Like in a like I'm someone that like when I'm
<v Speaker 4>playing like Jedi Survivor, I like put my lightsaber away.
<v Speaker 4>I press the button to put it away after every encounter?
<v Speaker 4>Do you just let it go?
<v Speaker 3>It? Is that?
<v Speaker 2>Is that?
<v Speaker 4>Does that feel different than this context? Because it's yeah,
<v Speaker 4>because of the movement hamper.
<v Speaker 2>Oh yeah, because in Jedi Survivor it doesn't affect your
<v Speaker 2>movement whether you have the lightsaber on or off. So
<v Speaker 2>if anything, I'm putting it away more for like immersing
<v Speaker 2>reasons of like, oh yeah, if I was in this world,
<v Speaker 2>it'd be really dangerous to have this ignited all the time.
<v Speaker 2>He would put that away to not frighten the people
<v Speaker 2>around him and so that he can do this wall
<v Speaker 2>round a little more effectively, whereas in this game it's like, oh,
<v Speaker 2>like I just want to like sprint through this corridor.
<v Speaker 2>Oh white the guns out? What's the gun button again?
<v Speaker 2>To put this away? It's like, why can't this just
<v Speaker 2>disappear in it sown again? I know it. I know
<v Speaker 2>it sounds as like minute as you're probably thinking like,
<v Speaker 2>oh my god, that's it. It's like in practice, it's
<v Speaker 2>more annoying than it sounds, I promise.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah.
<v Speaker 2>The the enemies themselves are pretty fun to fight. They
<v Speaker 2>kind of fly out, you fly when kind of like
<v Speaker 2>bullet hell almost like isometric Gallica patterns a bit, which
<v Speaker 2>speaks to me as a big Galica fan, like they're
<v Speaker 2>coming in like little like circles and like fan patterns,
<v Speaker 2>and you're trying to like clear them out before they
<v Speaker 2>reach you. The enemies themselves are pretty wacky and fun,
<v Speaker 2>which I like too. There's just like weird demon designs.
<v Speaker 2>It's like one guy that like just carries a giant
<v Speaker 2>coffin on his back and he uses the coffin as
<v Speaker 2>a shield, so you have to try to get behind him,
<v Speaker 2>or these weird like on Charles. I don't know if
<v Speaker 2>you played this game out or not, but Charles, they
<v Speaker 2>kind of like miniature versions of the weird aliens from
<v Speaker 2>Thousand Times Resist, the like the floating guys with the
<v Speaker 2>rings over their whatever they call I forgot. They look
<v Speaker 2>like menu versions of them, like a lot, and like
<v Speaker 2>they can and their whole thing is that they only
<v Speaker 2>go after the kid, so they'll try to like separate
<v Speaker 2>the kid from you in almost like a Super Mario
<v Speaker 2>Brothers or like Yoshi Island kind of way of like, oh,
<v Speaker 2>don't let them escape with your baby. Uh. But yeah,
<v Speaker 2>every time I see them, I just think of A
<v Speaker 2>Thousand Times Resists, which is funny because they're so totally different.
<v Speaker 2>These games.
<v Speaker 4>Yeah, I'm like that sounds horrifying. It's like, yeah, Alex,
<v Speaker 4>did you play a Thousand Times Resist?
<v Speaker 2>No?
<v Speaker 1>But I I've watched a lot of media and read
<v Speaker 1>a lot about it.
<v Speaker 4>Yeah, just just like impossibly large aliens that speak in
<v Speaker 4>such a like they're they are so like I think
<v Speaker 4>I love crafty and horror to me in a way
<v Speaker 4>where I'm like my brain can't come round that, and
<v Speaker 4>the idea of shrinking that down and being like I
<v Speaker 4>want the baby.
<v Speaker 2>It's like and there's like there's like five of them
<v Speaker 2>in a room. Yeah, but yeah, so like I like
<v Speaker 2>the creature designs, I like the like the tone in
<v Speaker 2>the humors. It's like very funny. I'm still making my
<v Speaker 2>way through it. I'm gonna keep playing because I like it.
<v Speaker 2>It's like a fun sort of like mindless. Just I'm
<v Speaker 2>gonna lay down my switch and just blast through some
<v Speaker 2>levels and and interact with these weirdos. I just wish
<v Speaker 2>that the combat was a little bit tighter, but it's fine,
<v Speaker 2>Like once you get into like enough of a rhythm
<v Speaker 2>you can kind of ignore maybe a little some of
<v Speaker 2>the jank there. But it's like a totally it's like
<v Speaker 2>it feels like junk food and like a like a
<v Speaker 2>mostly good way, like this is just video game junk food.
<v Speaker 2>Like I'm blasting on these environments. A lot of things
<v Speaker 2>are really destructible, so you get that satisfaction. You're also
<v Speaker 2>collecting a lot of ingredients to do a lot of cooking,
<v Speaker 2>which is like an unexpected mechanic where like, oh, I
<v Speaker 2>gotta you gotta find recipes and you're picking it like enemies.
<v Speaker 2>You're you're blasting the thousand times with this demons and
<v Speaker 2>they dropped like loaves of bread, which is very funny,
<v Speaker 2>and it's like, yeah, that's what I imagine came out
<v Speaker 2>of those guys, and you're just like, I need this
<v Speaker 2>bread to make a hamburger, so the hamburger heal me,
<v Speaker 2>or it can give you other like stat buffs that
<v Speaker 2>you can bring into a fight. You're also collecting like
<v Speaker 2>like there's like light loot stuff in this game, or
<v Speaker 2>like oh, you're finding different guns that have different weapon properties,
<v Speaker 2>so it's like it's not necessarily this gun's better worse
<v Speaker 2>than each other. It's more like do you want to
<v Speaker 2>sacrifice power versus fire rate? And you know that just
<v Speaker 2>comes down to more personal preference than anything, and then
<v Speaker 2>managing Like I've been playing so much Pacopia that I
<v Speaker 2>have to kind of like remind myself of not playing
<v Speaker 2>Pucobia because the menus are similar where I like, I'll
<v Speaker 2>fill out my inventory slots with all the items and
<v Speaker 2>then I'll immediately hit the like sort button in Pocopia
<v Speaker 2>to try to get all in order. It's like, oh no,
<v Speaker 2>it doesn't work here, okay, just because I'm it's the
<v Speaker 2>same thing. We're like, yeah, I'm carrying a bunch food
<v Speaker 2>around like I'm doing Pacopia, but you know you can
<v Speaker 2>hide in and chest and whatnot just to get rid
<v Speaker 2>of it. There's like some platform and like you're getting
<v Speaker 2>platforming abilities, though they're doled out really randomly in this
<v Speaker 2>game in a way that it feels like they'd be
<v Speaker 2>easy to miss. But I don't know the level design,
<v Speaker 2>at least in the in the initial area, it's this
<v Speaker 2>like almost like a labyrinth of like an overworld where
<v Speaker 2>you're trying to get to the main story point, but
<v Speaker 2>there's so many paths that you can seemly go down
<v Speaker 2>pretty freely. From what I like, you know, like you
<v Speaker 2>ever played games that are more open than you expect.
<v Speaker 2>We were kind of like, oh, sooner or later, we're
<v Speaker 2>gonna funnel me where I need to go, Like, surely
<v Speaker 2>I can't go left, And it's like, oh, yes, I
<v Speaker 2>can go left, and I'm going farther than I ever
<v Speaker 2>thought it would be. Should I even be allowed to
<v Speaker 2>go down here this early? Because what if I get
<v Speaker 2>lost and I forget where I was supposed to go
<v Speaker 2>and then I find like a traversal ability. It was like, wait,
<v Speaker 2>this is important. Would Day have told me to go
<v Speaker 2>down here? Surely if I had not done it myself?
<v Speaker 2>And what I have thought to like be this thorough.
<v Speaker 2>So it's I It's like the design feels a little
<v Speaker 2>all over the place there, So I'm hoping that doesn't
<v Speaker 2>persist throughout the rest of the game, unless there's maybe
<v Speaker 2>a little bit of like if I re ran that
<v Speaker 2>whole section, I could see maybe what the intent was of,
<v Speaker 2>Like no, no, no, no. If I had gone down, if
<v Speaker 2>I had kept going where I was going, it would
<v Speaker 2>have pointed me back there eventually. I don't know. But again,
<v Speaker 2>going back to the video game junk food thing, it
<v Speaker 2>is good at doing that of like mostly shutting your
<v Speaker 2>brain off and enjoying some of the humor and these
<v Speaker 2>weird conversations and these these weird characters and this cute
<v Speaker 2>baby and just shooting a bunch of weird looking demons
<v Speaker 2>and I think that's all I need from it for now.
<v Speaker 2>We'll see how it evolves. I keep playing deeper, but
<v Speaker 2>for now having like a decent enough time with it.
<v Speaker 3>Nice. Uh yeah, I wanna, I wanna.
<v Speaker 1>I think, like the the big draw for me in
<v Speaker 1>this is the environments look really fun. I like the
<v Speaker 1>kind of art style everything has, like this sort of
<v Speaker 1>faded dusty look to it, like arid kind of look
<v Speaker 1>to it, almost like a Western a bit to me
<v Speaker 1>when I.
<v Speaker 2>Like very it's got a cell shaded look kind of
<v Speaker 2>like it almost gives me like PS three era vibes.
<v Speaker 2>Like it almost feels like this maybe specifically like the Vita.
<v Speaker 2>I don't know, the vet upsy. There is something like
<v Speaker 2>this feels like this would have been like a PSP
<v Speaker 2>cult classic. It's got it's such a specific vibe. But
<v Speaker 2>there's That's what I keep thinking of.
<v Speaker 3>That's an excellent comparison. Uh.
<v Speaker 1>It very much looks like like this is like the
<v Speaker 1>Vita game, you know what I mean? Like if you
<v Speaker 1>were to rewind the clock back thirteen years, that's a
<v Speaker 1>great point of comparison.
<v Speaker 2>I would have been talking about this game alongside Genda
<v Speaker 2>Arc and like man, no one talks about these really
<v Speaker 2>goods games.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, no, one's talking about a skate plan, you know
<v Speaker 3>what I mean.
<v Speaker 4>This the cell shadedness kind of adds to that too
<v Speaker 4>in a way of like.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, and I like the like the isometric camera like
<v Speaker 1>adds to it as well.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's going to.
<v Speaker 4>Really be readable and like a small screen.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah yeah, yeah.
<v Speaker 2>Uh.
<v Speaker 3>I'm excited to play it.
<v Speaker 1>I did get a code for Switch, so I'm looking
<v Speaker 1>forward to checking it out at some point once, once
<v Speaker 1>I'm off the Po Copia wagon, I think I'll check
<v Speaker 1>that out.
<v Speaker 2>Alex, you will never be off the Po Copia wagon
<v Speaker 2>because you can always build more wagons. I know.
<v Speaker 1>I'm I'm like sixty hours in and I've beaten the game,
<v Speaker 1>and I still am putting a few hours in every day.
<v Speaker 1>But yeah, I speaking of another game. Closing out the
<v Speaker 1>show with this game, but a game that you know,
<v Speaker 1>I have complicated feelings on. You know, It's like there
<v Speaker 1>are parts of it like really kind of scratching a niche,
<v Speaker 1>and then there are other parts where you kind of
<v Speaker 1>just turn your brain off. Super meat Boy three D
<v Speaker 1>is out. I have played about three hours of it.
<v Speaker 1>I first starters. I love three D platformers, especially challenging
<v Speaker 1>ones as a precision platformer in the same vein of
<v Speaker 1>the original where if you get hit or if you
<v Speaker 1>hit you know, an obstacle, you die in one shot
<v Speaker 1>and you have to restart the level, and similarly to
<v Speaker 1>the first game, or I guess there's multiple games, but
<v Speaker 1>the I guess similar to the series. It's got like
<v Speaker 1>that end of level screen where it shows all of
<v Speaker 1>your attempts via you know, the meat boys running and
<v Speaker 1>getting killed, and it's always.
<v Speaker 2>Which actually looks cooler in three D, maybe because this
<v Speaker 2>technically impressive to see a bunch of three D models
<v Speaker 2>all just un routes.
<v Speaker 1>I think the game looks really good. It's got a
<v Speaker 1>really good art direction. I think the the lighting and
<v Speaker 1>like the more it's a stylized look, but they've crammed
<v Speaker 1>a lot of detail into it in a way.
<v Speaker 2>The boys style. But yeah, which.
<v Speaker 1>They got really great lighting artists working on this thing.
<v Speaker 1>I mean, in the best ways. I think three D
<v Speaker 1>art three D platformers, excuse me. One of the big
<v Speaker 1>draws for me always is like that, what's that art
<v Speaker 1>look like? How are they building out these worlds? You know,
<v Speaker 1>it's a very playful format and you can really kind
<v Speaker 1>of stretch and bend concepts to make fun.
<v Speaker 3>Levels, and I think Super me Boy three D does
<v Speaker 3>that well. I just think there it's a little unwieldy.
<v Speaker 3>I know, I've used that.
<v Speaker 1>Term for rack Cooin with With Super me Boy three D,
<v Speaker 1>I think the controls work great. However, I think the
<v Speaker 1>camera at times, the camera it's weird. It's really the
<v Speaker 1>level of design that is like really hot and cold
<v Speaker 1>for me. There are some levels I'm like, that was excellent,
<v Speaker 1>Like that was an incredible level and really feels like
<v Speaker 1>it's making full use of the three D, and then
<v Speaker 1>there are levels where I wish that they had fixed
<v Speaker 1>the camera and like fixed the level to like a
<v Speaker 1>two D plane with three D art. And I think
<v Speaker 1>other games like I think you ukul Lateen The Impossible
<v Speaker 1>Layer does this a bit. Other I don't know if
<v Speaker 1>Crash Bandicoot four does it. I don't recall, but Mario Odyssey,
<v Speaker 1>for instance, where like you'll have these three D platforming
<v Speaker 1>sections and then the camera wal transition and you're suddenly
<v Speaker 1>in like an old two D style, you know, and
<v Speaker 1>they play up the nostalgia Mario with you know, the
<v Speaker 1>old art. But I think that this game would benefit
<v Speaker 1>from that kind.
<v Speaker 3>Of variety, but like it's almost like a constraint. It
<v Speaker 3>needs a little constraint to it.
<v Speaker 1>Because there are certain sections where that are worse because
<v Speaker 1>it is three D and that you're kind of moving
<v Speaker 1>to and from the foreground and the depth of field
<v Speaker 1>or not the depth like your depth perception is not
<v Speaker 1>always it doesn't feel accurate to what you actually need
<v Speaker 1>to do. And there's some some level parts where it's
<v Speaker 1>like I just ran off the level because I thought
<v Speaker 1>I was supposed to go that direction, but yes, the
<v Speaker 1>other direction. Yeah, And that is like the way that
<v Speaker 1>like you need to like very much signify where I'm
<v Speaker 1>supposed to be going, because it's really frustrating to be
<v Speaker 1>like I'm like playing this thing pose level perfect, and
<v Speaker 1>but there's like mixed signals on where I'm supposed to
<v Speaker 1>go next, and I die and have to restart and
<v Speaker 1>that doesn't feel good. So I think it's like, yeah,
<v Speaker 1>there are some levels that it's like it works great
<v Speaker 1>and it's like I'm moving forward. I know I just
<v Speaker 1>need to be moving forward, and I think that's when
<v Speaker 1>it's at the best, or if it gives you like
<v Speaker 1>a diorama level almost where it's like, Okay, I need
<v Speaker 1>to scale the left side of this cliff and then
<v Speaker 1>I'm gonna jump here and scale the right and go
<v Speaker 1>up top and come back around.
<v Speaker 3>And it's like it almost feels like a Mario.
<v Speaker 1>A Mario level, right, And that feels really good. But
<v Speaker 1>it's when it's it's when it combines the like very
<v Speaker 1>intense sequences and like with a lot of obstacles and
<v Speaker 1>like enemies that are shooting you and that kind of thing,
<v Speaker 1>and then it wants you to like it presents you
<v Speaker 1>multiple paths, but only one is correct, and it's like
<v Speaker 1>that doesn't work in this sure for me. Yeah, but Marcus,
<v Speaker 1>I'm curious what you think about the game. I am
<v Speaker 1>enjoying it, to be clear. I just think it's like
<v Speaker 1>a little hot and cold depending on the level.
<v Speaker 4>For me.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I haven't played nearly as much as you. I
<v Speaker 2>played the first like several levels of it, so I'm
<v Speaker 2>still early. But I felt that immediately, like I adore
<v Speaker 2>Super meet Boy, the original one. I think that is
<v Speaker 2>I think that is in the running for like an
<v Speaker 2>almost perfect two D platform, or just because of how
<v Speaker 2>tight and like well designed those levels are, for like
<v Speaker 2>especially for the style of game, and even though it's
<v Speaker 2>like difficult, it's it's so good at just alleviating that
<v Speaker 2>pain because of the instant respawns and just how like
<v Speaker 2>how quickly it just throws you back into it. And
<v Speaker 2>this game has all that. But yeah, to your point
<v Speaker 2>about the camera, sometimes it makes it a little hard
<v Speaker 2>to sometimes even tell if you're making contact, and they
<v Speaker 2>do do things to try to communicate it of like
<v Speaker 2>I mean, you got the little ring under Meat Boys,
<v Speaker 2>you can always tell what that one. And when he
<v Speaker 2>does the wall run, he has little blood trails here,
<v Speaker 2>like Okay, I guess I'm touching it. But even then,
<v Speaker 2>sometimes the camera and I did feel this the most
<v Speaker 2>with the wall running sequence where I would jump at
<v Speaker 2>it at an angle and I would think I was
<v Speaker 2>close enough to the wall and you just fall and
<v Speaker 2>I was like, oh, do I need to like jump
<v Speaker 2>like I guess like more to change my trajectory, Like
<v Speaker 2>it looked like I was fine, but just maybe because
<v Speaker 2>the camera's pulled a little too far back and I
<v Speaker 2>can't I couldn't tell quite like because met boys kind.
<v Speaker 1>Of small far back so you can see what's coming
<v Speaker 1>next exactly like.
<v Speaker 2>What you mean and yeah, and in regular two D
<v Speaker 2>meat Boy, that's so much easier to communicate, like it's
<v Speaker 2>easier to to tell distance and in trajectory, whereas in
<v Speaker 2>a three D game it's again because the there's just
<v Speaker 2>so much more space to play with. And yeah, it
<v Speaker 2>is a it is a tricky thing of like how
<v Speaker 2>close do you pull in? But then you would obscure
<v Speaker 2>this buzz saw that's coming ahead that you need to
<v Speaker 2>be aware of because you gotta like you gotta run
<v Speaker 2>and then jump at the right moment to dodge that
<v Speaker 2>thing or whatever. So there, Yeah, there was frustration, and
<v Speaker 2>it was it was like when I was still learning
<v Speaker 2>a game, and I'm thinking, like is this just me
<v Speaker 2>just getting a grasp on, because like it is the
<v Speaker 2>just the meat Boy controls. You're doing all the same
<v Speaker 2>things that you could do in meat Boy, they haven't
<v Speaker 2>I mean.
<v Speaker 3>Running, you're dashing, yeah, dashing, jumping, running, Yeah, Like a.
<v Speaker 2>Lot of that muscle memory is transferable here, same versus
<v Speaker 2>just exactly, but it's just applying it to this space.
<v Speaker 2>It did make me go like maybe it's the level
<v Speaker 2>I feel like, I I know how meat Boy behaves.
<v Speaker 2>He's got the same floatiness that he end in that game,
<v Speaker 2>and I was wondering, like does it just does it
<v Speaker 2>not work as good in a three D space to
<v Speaker 2>have that floatiness.
<v Speaker 1>Or I think it runs when when everything when the
<v Speaker 1>objects are offset from the what would it be not
<v Speaker 1>the z maybe the Z axis. I don't know, when
<v Speaker 1>it's like off set and you can see that depth
<v Speaker 1>and you can there's like background when it's not when
<v Speaker 1>you're not looking at a ninety degree angle. How about
<v Speaker 1>that it's much easier to tell when you are making
<v Speaker 1>contact with the.
<v Speaker 3>Walls, and.
<v Speaker 1>You know there are Most of the time, I don't know.
<v Speaker 1>It's tough because there are some moments where I'm like
<v Speaker 1>this game is benefiting from being three D and I'm
<v Speaker 1>glad that it's a three D platformer in this moment.
<v Speaker 2>And there are moments in the loves Eye played ors
<v Speaker 2>like oh this is this is really cool, this is fun.
<v Speaker 2>Like it's not every level I didn't play and go like,
<v Speaker 2>oh what the hell?
<v Speaker 3>It was just like yeah, yeah.
<v Speaker 2>Like one a few, like a small handful of those numbers.
<v Speaker 3>Other time I feel like a heavier hand.
<v Speaker 1>Whoever was like kind of curating the levels, like stamping
<v Speaker 1>stamp up approval. I think they could have been a
<v Speaker 1>little harsher, you know what I mean, Like, Okay, this
<v Speaker 1>level isn't working. Let's shift the camera angle or let's
<v Speaker 1>shift the asset the game objects orientation a little bit
<v Speaker 1>so that we can kind of see it better.
<v Speaker 3>Whenever there's like a little forward momentum.
<v Speaker 1>When you are going along that Z axis into like
<v Speaker 1>away from the camera, the game feels better because you
<v Speaker 1>have like this orientation of like, Okay, I'm going forward
<v Speaker 1>and I can kind of see see things a little
<v Speaker 1>more clearly. At least for me, it feels that way.
<v Speaker 1>And there are boss fights in the game that they
<v Speaker 1>do really well where you have to ask, like how
<v Speaker 1>the bosses are you know, I'm I really like the
<v Speaker 1>boss fights. I think everything is really clearly clearly sort
<v Speaker 1>of displayed, like when there are missiles coming, there's very
<v Speaker 1>similar to like how meat Boy has his you know,
<v Speaker 1>his little orientation red circle. So you know, it's kind
<v Speaker 1>of like the contact shadow, right for like Mario, when
<v Speaker 1>you kind of know you can orient yourself in three
<v Speaker 1>D space with it more easily. The the like missiles
<v Speaker 1>and stuff that bosses are shooting at you are very
<v Speaker 1>clearly flagged as if you're in this spot, you're going
<v Speaker 1>to get hit right, and there's a lot let less
<v Speaker 1>guessing work, and I think that they handle the bosses
<v Speaker 1>well because of that. I think sometimes there's like some
<v Speaker 1>weird timing issues where like the boss destroys part of
<v Speaker 1>the level and it creates like new terrain for you,
<v Speaker 1>and sometimes when you're like kind of in your flow,
<v Speaker 1>you kind of get to it a little too soon
<v Speaker 1>and you kind of have to stand there for a
<v Speaker 1>second and wait for the boss to to catch up
<v Speaker 1>and do their thing, and that feels a little funny.
<v Speaker 1>But I think so far I've killed I've beat two
<v Speaker 1>bosses so far, and I'm at the third one. I've
<v Speaker 1>been enjoying them for the most part. Yeah, I was.
<v Speaker 1>I was curious how they were going to pull it off.
<v Speaker 1>And it's a mixture of The first ball is very
<v Speaker 1>much like there is a scrolling level and the boss
<v Speaker 1>is very agro and like sweeping his arm at you
<v Speaker 1>and throwing missiles, and it's all about managing where you're
<v Speaker 1>at in that scrolling level, making sure that you're not
<v Speaker 1>getting killed by the bounds of the level, and then
<v Speaker 1>also jumping and dodging the boss's movements and that feels
<v Speaker 1>really good. And the second boss is very stationary. You're
<v Speaker 1>in the single arena, a circular arena, and you're jumping
<v Speaker 1>from between platforms. It's the boss like you know, it
<v Speaker 1>swipes expanding rings of damage. Yeah you are you are, no,
<v Speaker 1>actually not in that boss. It's very much like there's
<v Speaker 1>a pit in the center and you don't want to
<v Speaker 1>fall into the pit where the boss is, and so
<v Speaker 1>you're kind of jumping from the outer platforms.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly.
<v Speaker 4>Well he's playing rec coin yeah yeah.
<v Speaker 1>And so I'm I really enjoyed that aspect of it.
<v Speaker 1>I wish this soundtrack was doing a little more for me.
<v Speaker 1>It's they kind of make a joke in the in
<v Speaker 1>the Steam page about like the soundtrack is just like
<v Speaker 1>the guitar center employee yelling at you for playing the
<v Speaker 1>same old metal songs. I'm like, yeah, that's exactly what
<v Speaker 1>the soundtrack is. And I don't know why you would
<v Speaker 1>want it to be that is it annoying?
<v Speaker 4>Like what is what is?
<v Speaker 3>It's not annoying.
<v Speaker 1>I just it's it's kind of forgettable a little bit.
<v Speaker 1>And say and I feel like one of my favorite
<v Speaker 1>parts about three D platformers is the music, you know,
<v Speaker 1>there's always like or usually the best ones have like
<v Speaker 1>really great melodic tracks that like stick in your head.
<v Speaker 3>And I feel like.
<v Speaker 1>Super me Boy three D is just kind of like
<v Speaker 1>the same old garage rock band, just rhythm, guitar, drums
<v Speaker 1>and du yeah yeah, and it's like there's not really
<v Speaker 1>anything for me to grab onto. It's all kind of
<v Speaker 1>like just it's like a wall of noise a little bit,
<v Speaker 1>but like it's not annoying, Like it's slow enough in
<v Speaker 1>the mix that is kind of there, you know.
<v Speaker 3>It's like, oh yeah, there's.
<v Speaker 4>Just like the level design, it's a wall that's hard
<v Speaker 4>for you to grab onto.
<v Speaker 2>Wow.
<v Speaker 4>Yeah, put that. Put that in your review, Marcus.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, yeah, okay, Yeah, it's like Grant Grant her Coke
<v Speaker 2>can't compose every three D platform.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, exactly exactly.
<v Speaker 1>Or I think like it would have been great to
<v Speaker 1>get like I feel like this game would really benefit
<v Speaker 1>from like distorted drum machines almost, like uh, I want
<v Speaker 1>every game to have the same soundtrack as Grindstone, like
<v Speaker 1>Grindstone like a grimy like like.
<v Speaker 2>I thought of, like, do you just want like jazz
<v Speaker 2>every time something you get a simple crash.
<v Speaker 1>And yeah, no, I just feel like it needs something
<v Speaker 1>to like differentiate.
<v Speaker 4>It's like a bigger decision.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, it's doing give me some more keywords in the
<v Speaker 1>music choices of like you know.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, auto tune, meat Boy, Yes.
<v Speaker 3>Please God, mumble rap.
<v Speaker 1>In the building with the it's like British underground rap.
<v Speaker 2>I mean, honestly meet like like a mumble rapper, like mumble.
<v Speaker 3>I would love British grunge rap.
<v Speaker 4>I love uh jumping the game like a bat point.
<v Speaker 2>Oh my god, that's perfect. That sounds that just makes
<v Speaker 2>it sound like just the it's just the buck mumble
<v Speaker 2>guy pop from the building boys in there. Because Yeah,
<v Speaker 2>the meat Boys series is such a weird trajectory, right
<v Speaker 2>because they're Super meat Boy, like the I mean, if
<v Speaker 2>we want to go back, there's like Regular meat Boy,
<v Speaker 2>which is what like a flash game I think, ariginally Yeah,
<v Speaker 2>and then they're you know, Super meat Boy, which was
<v Speaker 2>just the glow up of that and became one of
<v Speaker 2>the greatest games ever made. Never And it's wildly when
<v Speaker 2>you think about we've never gotten like a true sequel
<v Speaker 2>in a game that was like, yeah, we got Super Forever,
<v Speaker 2>but that was an auto runner yeah, yeah, like it
<v Speaker 2>was that game, but it was it would be like
<v Speaker 2>if Mario brother like Super Mario Brothers came out and
<v Speaker 2>then the next game was Super Mario Run the mobile game. Yeah. Yeah,
<v Speaker 2>we've never gotten like a proper two D follow up
<v Speaker 2>to the original, and that too. I was gonna say,
<v Speaker 2>there's a reason for it, like you know, Edmund and
<v Speaker 2>and Tommy split up. But like, it's just fascinating to
<v Speaker 2>me that this is kind of the closest thing because
<v Speaker 2>like they've only just kind of done weird spin offs
<v Speaker 2>because there was that what was it? The Doctor Feed
<v Speaker 2>is like like the the Mean Bean Machine kind of
<v Speaker 2>like homage that they did with Doctor Feed.
<v Speaker 3>I don't remember this.
<v Speaker 1>I feel like they got a really good got that
<v Speaker 1>was really recognizable, and they're like, all right, let's make money,
<v Speaker 1>you know. And I would have thought that meant super
<v Speaker 1>Mute Boy too, you know, but instead of that's what
<v Speaker 1>merchandise you know.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, yeah, yeah, they wanted it, and Edmund said, no,
<v Speaker 2>it's boring, no, yeah, but butcheck in respect, you know. Yeah,
<v Speaker 2>I know I get that. I understand his reasoning for it,
<v Speaker 2>and just see one of something more creatively interesting. But
<v Speaker 2>it's such an interesting franchise, Like it's one of the
<v Speaker 2>greatest games ever made, especially of the last ten fifteen years.
<v Speaker 2>And it's when you think about, like, oh where did
<v Speaker 2>it go after that, you're like, it went some weird
<v Speaker 2>places if there was never the obvious sequel, and it's
<v Speaker 2>just kind of just a lot of like side quest.
<v Speaker 2>I guess we'll say, we'll see how this one turns out.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, well, I'm going to keep playing it. I am
<v Speaker 1>enjoying it. People were asking me on this. I did
<v Speaker 1>a stream earlier in the week and people.
<v Speaker 3>Were like, is it worth it?
<v Speaker 2>I'm excited to keep playing.
<v Speaker 1>Such a hard question to answer, Like, if you have
<v Speaker 1>disposable income and you like to check out new games,
<v Speaker 1>I do think, yes, it is worth exploring this more.
<v Speaker 1>You know, comple complicated version of this thing that has
<v Speaker 1>some good ideas, has some less instellar execution in some places.
<v Speaker 1>But at the end of the day, yes, it's fun.
<v Speaker 2>Right.
<v Speaker 1>If this is the only game you're picking up in March,
<v Speaker 1>I would say, or April, now, I guess go play
<v Speaker 1>Slight the Spire to play po Cope.
<v Speaker 3>Uh, you know you know what I mean.
<v Speaker 2>Likes.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, when you're into those thing kind of things.
<v Speaker 1>If if you are just like dying for a new
<v Speaker 1>platform and you're like, Okay, I played Big Hops and
<v Speaker 1>you know I really want another platformer, I say, pick
<v Speaker 1>it up, you know, like it's it's fun. You know
<v Speaker 1>you're gonna have a good time. Probably, I think there
<v Speaker 1>are some frustrations that you're gonna have to deal with.
<v Speaker 3>I believe it is.
<v Speaker 2>Yes, Okay, I just feel like, you know, it's funny,
<v Speaker 2>like when when Brian asked me what platform I wanted
<v Speaker 2>this on, Like I still associate meat boys so much
<v Speaker 2>with the Xbox that I have a I have a
<v Speaker 2>PS four bro PS PS four, bro PS four PS
<v Speaker 2>five Pro that I recently purchased ahead of the now.
<v Speaker 2>As of today as we're recording, the price has now
<v Speaker 2>gone up on all PlayStation platforms on April second, and
<v Speaker 2>I bought a PS five Pro, Like they forced my
<v Speaker 2>hand to finally upgrade before it would cost more money.
<v Speaker 2>So I should really be trying to play everything on
<v Speaker 2>it as possible to justify this one.
<v Speaker 3>I'm waiting for the next gen.
<v Speaker 4>I did want to ask this. This was a podcast
<v Speaker 4>topic we had floated and I think forgot about. But
<v Speaker 4>now that you brought it up. I did want to
<v Speaker 4>ask just as a quick if we're done with Super
<v Speaker 4>Meat Boy, if it's a transition, I just wanted to
<v Speaker 4>ask you real quick, Marcus, like, have you felt a
<v Speaker 4>different I think the thing about my PS five that
<v Speaker 4>has surprised me, but not even surprised me, just compared
<v Speaker 4>to other platforms I've had. I've never felt while playing
<v Speaker 4>a PS five game like I wish this thing was
<v Speaker 4>more powerful, Like it's never felt inadequate for the game
<v Speaker 4>that I have on it, Whereas like the PS four,
<v Speaker 4>I had a base PS four and I would play
<v Speaker 4>God of War twenty eighteen and that thing would sound
<v Speaker 4>like a jet engine like it was. It would heat
<v Speaker 4>up my bedroom? Was how hot that game made my
<v Speaker 4>PS four And to the point that I kind of
<v Speaker 4>got a PS five because I'm like, I can actually
<v Speaker 4>play this game without headphones because it's not louder than
<v Speaker 4>the freaking TV.
<v Speaker 2>Right now, it's not a safety issue. I don't feel
<v Speaker 2>like this is gonna explode and burn my house down, right.
<v Speaker 4>But is the PS five pro or you are you
<v Speaker 4>being like, oh wow, this is amazing and I feel
<v Speaker 4>like it was a notable clear upgrade or is it
<v Speaker 4>more feel like it's a this is a niche product
<v Speaker 4>if you want to, you know, get those extra frames in.
<v Speaker 2>I mean, it's both for me. I So I'm gonna
<v Speaker 2>I'm gonna preface this by saying this is not the
<v Speaker 2>impulse purchase. That it sounds like I'm grateful to say
<v Speaker 2>that I could, I could comfortably afford this. That said,
<v Speaker 2>I do not, or rather, I cannot tell the difference
<v Speaker 2>because I don't have a TV that can take advantage
<v Speaker 2>of what it is doing. Because I have a ten
<v Speaker 2>year old four K TV that you know, it's good,
<v Speaker 2>but it doesn't have the like and I'm not a
<v Speaker 2>tech guy, but it doesn't have like one hundred and
<v Speaker 2>twenty hertz or you know, o lead stuff or any
<v Speaker 2>olead or anything like that. So it's probably like a
<v Speaker 2>hurt screen. Sure why not, I don't know, probably your
<v Speaker 2>cap Yeah yeah, so it's like it can't get the
<v Speaker 2>full I guess might of this thing. I need to
<v Speaker 2>upgrade my TV, which I've been planning to for a while.
<v Speaker 2>But I'm I'm like a I think you.
<v Speaker 1>Will notice the difference just between sixty frames a second
<v Speaker 1>and one hundred and forty four And that's not that.
<v Speaker 3>Not every I don't know if every I don't think
<v Speaker 3>that's the default for games.
<v Speaker 1>I think it's just kind of like one of those.
<v Speaker 1>It can go up to this. Some games will, some
<v Speaker 1>games won't. Yeah, but I do notice a significant difference
<v Speaker 1>when I'm playing games with my PC between sixty herds
<v Speaker 1>one hundred and forty four hertz.
<v Speaker 2>I also notice a difference. Yeah, I haven't played maybe
<v Speaker 2>like the I haven't played like the craziest games on
<v Speaker 2>Indian Like I just reviewed Life is Strange on it.
<v Speaker 2>I don't think Life is strange, just like the Horsepower
<v Speaker 2>showcase that it's gonna be like, man, look at it.
<v Speaker 2>I could see every follicle of Chloe's hair. This is crazy.
<v Speaker 2>And then the only other game that I've fired up
<v Speaker 2>in it just because I've been so busy with review
<v Speaker 2>games was Re Animal because I've been making my way
<v Speaker 2>through that nice and Your Animal already looks really nice
<v Speaker 2>on its own, and that would be a good game
<v Speaker 2>because there's so many like blacks and like like lighting
<v Speaker 2>is such a big thing in that game. It's a
<v Speaker 2>very dark games, a lot of shadows and various black
<v Speaker 2>yes contrasts, and you got a little lighter that really
<v Speaker 2>pops in that game because the lightings yet so I
<v Speaker 2>I but you know, because of my display, it probably can't.
<v Speaker 2>I don't know how much. But I don't even know
<v Speaker 2>if that game does any like tan any like tangible
<v Speaker 2>PS five pro dancements. I would have to like look
<v Speaker 2>up a list to see, like, what are the games
<v Speaker 2>that actually take advantage of this I know that's out there,
<v Speaker 2>and then see like, oh do I have any like
<v Speaker 2>I I thought about finding a President Evil again because
<v Speaker 2>I have heard that that looks nicer on a pro.
<v Speaker 4>That's the first one that uses the PSSR, the improved PSSR,
<v Speaker 4>which is the thing that.
<v Speaker 1>Right, you know, I only want to play games with
<v Speaker 1>d L S S five so until they've got that
<v Speaker 1>on there.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, yeah, that's your other stance is d L S
<v Speaker 2>SI did I? I don't even know what the letter?
<v Speaker 4>What is it?
<v Speaker 3>De DLS five, d L.
<v Speaker 2>S S five it's your stance PRO five.
<v Speaker 4>Hate Oh, Alex, I would love to see that on raccoil.
<v Speaker 3>What do you even do?
<v Speaker 2>The raccoon just looks like Rocket from Marvel.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, and then it.
<v Speaker 4>Does take you to the bonus hole like in your home,
<v Speaker 4>but it's really real.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, everything is like sweaty and like moist, and it
<v Speaker 1>was like, there's too much.
<v Speaker 2>The window.
<v Speaker 3>Let's dial down the jen a I slop how about that?
<v Speaker 3>Which yeah, yeah, anyways, I.
<v Speaker 2>Like that and smaller the system. It's a little so
<v Speaker 2>skinnier shots, it's smaller. Yeah, did you have a dramatically so?
<v Speaker 2>But I had never never get rid of do they.
<v Speaker 3>Get rid of the angel wings? Like alien wings?
<v Speaker 2>The smaller the collar not the collars still going strong.
<v Speaker 2>They just added ridges to it.
<v Speaker 3>Now, okay, so like it's got the.
<v Speaker 2>Black I think. I guess their fans. I guess I've
<v Speaker 2>had assume like there vents, but now those are like
<v Speaker 2>on the side.
<v Speaker 4>That's when they fit the extra frames.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, that's where Kai holds his deck to. That's where
<v Speaker 2>three of his blue eyes are. But it is like
<v Speaker 2>it was like, well, this is like slightly less unwieldy
<v Speaker 2>if I needed to travel with this at least because
<v Speaker 2>it also doesn't have a disk drive. Well, actually, you
<v Speaker 2>know what, I forgot that it doesn't have a disk drive,
<v Speaker 2>And I'm this is really this really makes me confront
<v Speaker 2>my habits because I'm I was always taunting like I
<v Speaker 2>need a disk drive despite not being a physical game
<v Speaker 2>purchaser in very long time. But there's no other part
<v Speaker 2>of me that's like, but what if I do get
<v Speaker 2>a disc, I should have it just then I think
<v Speaker 2>that's fair. But then I was like, so I said,
<v Speaker 2>I would still need to buy one of those, and
<v Speaker 2>I'm afraid to look at how expensive they are because
<v Speaker 2>of how crazy everything is with tech. But then also
<v Speaker 2>the thing I did have to buy that I forgot
<v Speaker 2>about was a stand. I forgot this stupid thing didn't
<v Speaker 2>come with a vertical stands by being like a gajillion dollars.
<v Speaker 2>It's like, you can't give me a stand.
<v Speaker 1>It's like when you buy like a new phone, it
<v Speaker 1>doesn't come with the wall charger.
<v Speaker 3>It's like, come on.
<v Speaker 4>Dude, yeah yeah, It's like where's this?
<v Speaker 2>So I had to buy that on Amazon. I think
<v Speaker 2>it was thirty bucks first, the stand.
<v Speaker 4>That's wild. Can't it simply can't be. I don't know
<v Speaker 4>enough about manufacturing, but I don't. I don't believe that
<v Speaker 4>that costs thirty bucks.
<v Speaker 2>And it's like there's nothing Sony could tell me that
<v Speaker 2>could I would believe them. It's like, why couldn't we
<v Speaker 2>include this in the box, like we did with the
<v Speaker 2>BASEBS five.
<v Speaker 4>Yeah, my fiance got me a three D printer for
<v Speaker 4>Christmas that I look at plastic things. I'm like you
<v Speaker 4>someone someone could I could make you. I could make you.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, there's there's like weird cloning vibes, Like I feel
<v Speaker 2>like he would go to a parent and say, like, yes,
<v Speaker 2>I have a job having a baby. I could make
<v Speaker 2>one for you.
<v Speaker 4>Can I can perfect the.
<v Speaker 2>Form you're expecting. It is like you want to see
<v Speaker 2>the pinnacle of the human being. Can make I can
<v Speaker 2>make you blue my machine.
<v Speaker 4>I am one going to make a British rap theme
<v Speaker 4>for Super meat Boy three D because it's all I've
<v Speaker 4>been thinking about this entire podcast My lunch. That'll be
<v Speaker 4>my lunch song for tomorrow.
<v Speaker 2>Send it to Team Me and see if they patch
<v Speaker 2>it into the game.
<v Speaker 4>But yeah, hey guys, I haven't played your game. I
<v Speaker 4>just heard some of my friends talk about.
<v Speaker 3>It's also going to be a licensing nightmare to get
<v Speaker 3>this song approved.
<v Speaker 4>Imagine it was British here you go.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, yeah, yeah, But I want to shout out that
<v Speaker 2>I did not make the PS five pro Plunge alone.
<v Speaker 2>I took Kyle Hillier down with me. He was also
<v Speaker 2>on the he was on the fence and then when
<v Speaker 2>I told him I did it, and then he texted
<v Speaker 2>me a picture over the weekend of his new PS
<v Speaker 2>five Pro Pro box and was like, grit it together.
<v Speaker 2>Now we both had our ants for.
<v Speaker 1>We both made poor purchasing decisions, and now we're both.
<v Speaker 2>Saying like they better not announce at PS six next year.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, I'm going to stick it out. But I'm glad
<v Speaker 3>that you got it before the price went up. That
<v Speaker 3>is a that is a win.
<v Speaker 4>I did say that dollars is crazy.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, and no vertical stand.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, that's ridiculous by a PC, y'all. You know, borrow
<v Speaker 1>your friends, borrow your friends. PS five flowing, I do
<v Speaker 1>exclusives come out.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah. No.
<v Speaker 1>Anyways, I think that's gonna be the show for this week, fellas.
<v Speaker 1>Thanks for thanks for making it a good one. I
<v Speaker 1>feel I felt like I had a lot of fun
<v Speaker 1>talking with you all this week. I needed it and
<v Speaker 1>you know what, back but that landlo it feels great.
<v Speaker 1>Kayla unfortunately has landsickness, which is where she still feels
<v Speaker 1>like she's.
<v Speaker 2>On a boat.
<v Speaker 1>To her many years ago, and she had it for
<v Speaker 1>like three weeks where she felt she was like swaying
<v Speaker 1>on a boat.
<v Speaker 3>It's like an.
<v Speaker 4>I'll spend the day in the ocean as a kid,
<v Speaker 4>and I would be in the waves and I would
<v Speaker 4>come home and.
<v Speaker 2>It still feels like, you're.
<v Speaker 3>She's had that and it's driving her nuts.
<v Speaker 2>But oh, I always kind of.
<v Speaker 4>Yeah, yeah, it's yeah, it's opinion of you.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, don't forget Peter to pick up a copy of
<v Speaker 1>Game Informer magazine. Uh, gameformerre dot com slash subscribe has
<v Speaker 1>all the info you need to know on how to
<v Speaker 1>get ten issues delivered to your door every month, not
<v Speaker 1>every month, ten months a year, and uh yeah, it's
<v Speaker 1>a great way to support us. It's a fantastic product.
<v Speaker 1>We have amazing features from writers from all around the
<v Speaker 1>world about your favorite games or ones that you haven't
<v Speaker 1>heard about, and the people who make them. It's a
<v Speaker 1>fascinating I think it's the best thing that we do here.
<v Speaker 1>It is a thing that separates us from other other
<v Speaker 1>news outlets in the space. And it's a damn good product,
<v Speaker 1>damn good quality, and we work our butts off to
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<v Speaker 1>to buy a full subscription, Go find us on your newsstand,
<v Speaker 1>whether you're in the States or internationally. All right, that's
<v Speaker 1>gonna do it. Enjoy the show, enjoy your week, Thanks
<v Speaker 1>for being here.
<v Speaker 3>Goodbye everyone,