Good Gains, Well Played
Good Gains, Well Played is a gaming and fitness podcast. While none of the hosts are experts in either field, we do have over 9 years of podcasting experience. Join us each week to cover gaming news as well as our fitness journeys.
Good Gains, Well Played
Xbox Games Showcase Recap And Needing To Prep For Shadow Of The Erdtree
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
This week we cover a few bits of news before recapping the phenomenal Xbox Games Showcase and then talking about the prep we needed to do for the Elden Ring DLC.
Here are the timestamps:
Intro
News Highlight
- 00:33 Jackbox Megapicker
- 01:44 Discord To Improve On PlayStation
- 03:54 PS+ June Additions
- 05:39 Xbox Game Showcase Recap
What We're Playing
- 54:12 Needing To Prep For Shadow Of The Erdtree
- 01:06:17 Lies Of P Platinum Cleanup
- 01:14:07 Valorant Beta
- 01:20:51 Fortnite
Hello, welcome to Good Games All Played episode 164. I'm Clint, aka J C M. With us this week is Isly.
SPEAKER_03Yo.
SPEAKER_01MSI.
SPEAKER_03Hello.
SPEAKER_01And we had the Xbox Showcase this week, which will be our main topic, kind of going over everything that was there. But before we jump into that, I wanted to cover a couple quick news bits that uh happened later in the week because that showcase was on Monday. Actually, it was happening when we were recording last week at the same time. So like immediately after we finished last week's episode, I just went in and watched the Xbox showcase.
SPEAKER_02But oh, that's right.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_01One of the bits of news was that uh Jackbox is finally coming out with a megapicker pack which like unifies all their games. That's like one of the big complaints people have for Jackbox games. Like, oh, I like this one from this game, but which Jackbox was that from? I gotta go find it. You gotta like relaun quit, relaunch a different Jackbox, go back in, yada yada. So now they're like we're just gonna put it all in one because everybody's been asking for this.
SPEAKER_02That is such a good idea. And why did it take them so long to do that?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I I don't know. Like it's crazy because they have like over 50 games, like not every game in each pack is like a banger, right? So it's like, okay, this one's got one game that's good, but you don't want to waste your time having to launch it and yada yada.
SPEAKER_02But I mean, I take some time why they I guess I get why they did it. It's kind of just easier to release like packs as they develop games and stuff like that. But I feel like it would have been so much better if they just released a game and then let you buy game packs for it. It's like one of the few models that I'm okay with microtransactions. It's like, let me just buy the games that I want to buy or buy the packs that I want to buy.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, definitely. Uh and then one of the other things was that uh PlayStation announced that Discord will be improving its integration on the console, allowing you to join calls directly from the console. So right now, the way it's done is you have to transfer the call, and I think you can only transfer via your phone. I was trying to do it on PC the other day and I couldn't forget how to do it. Where on phone it was like, okay, I know right where I have to go to transfer the call. But they are rolling out that update over the next coming weeks. Uh they're starting in Japan, Asia, and then it'll be coming up to other. I wonder how much of it goes back to the way they just set up the PSN. Kind of like remember like name changing wasn't the thing forever, and then when name change finally came in, it's like, well, you l you could lose access to save games because of the way we linked your code.
SPEAKER_00Um I guess versus like Xbox. So many of these things I'm just like, why didn't you do this from the start? Like this was definitely a thing before. Discord, maybe I'll give a pass on, because name change, I won't give a pass on that. Name change, why wouldn't you think you would ever want to do this?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that yeah, because I'm like, I'm like, okay, you know PS3 came out, you know, 2007 or 2006. So it's like, all right, and you're coming up with your network stuff beforehand. It's like, I guess the years prior, and that was still kind of early days for you know, online, like they had online for PS2, but it was like you didn't have like a profile, it wasn't like you know, AOL or whatever else where it's like this is your login. So I can see like, okay, you know, they weren't thinking ahead. There's like, hey, let's do this. Even though Xbox had been out for a year prior, it's like, I don't know, it's DNA's design their stuff all weird versus the way Xbox did it. But I'm sure it has just probably a because I know like I think on Xbox, like when they added Discord to Xbox, I believe you could just join directly from that console. I don't think it's as uh delayed like it was on PlayStation, but good to see that it's finally rolling out. Uh and then the last bit of news for jump on the showcase recap is Sony announced new PlayStation uh games for June. These are games coming to the extra and premium tier, of course. So some highlights are Monster Hunter Rise, uh, Crusader Kings 3, which is exciting for me because I've been wanting to play that game and it's been on my wishlist on console and PC forever. Of course, I know that the base game of Crusader Kings 3 is good, but not nearly as good as when they came out with like the expansions. Um kind of reminds me of like Civ uh in that case, but uh a couple of Lego games and some other stuff, it's like 14 games total. I'm trying to go through here. Uh After Us, Anno 1800, Far Cry 4, uh Lego the Hobbit, Lego of the Incredibles, and then Kayak VR, Mirage, and uh Ghost Hunter and some other stuff. But yeah, it's uh Monster Hunter Rise. That'll be fun. I know a lot of people, I'm sure all the fans of that probably already played it. But if anybody's on the fence, they can go back and play that one. But yeah, Crusader Kings 3. Um, I'm excited about that one being on there. And I've never played any of the Anno games.
SPEAKER_00I'm curious if I feel like I've heard about them. Those are god, they're not story games, are they?
SPEAKER_01No, I can't tell if they're like if they're Civ likes or if they're frostpunk likes. Like I I don't know like or if it's like Tropico, but Tropico is kind of like a spoof on those games.
SPEAKER_02So I'm like something along those lines, like a yeah, like a Civ builder, city builder type of thing.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I I guess, but I know they're like I know they're really like their fan base is pretty hardcore. Um it's kind of like you know, the people that like Civ like Civ. You know, and people like Anno like really like Anno. Um but yeah, maybe I'll I'll give that a try. But yeah, that's it for the news recap. So the main thing we'll be covering is the Xbox showcase. Um, of course, a lot of the games that were shown there will also be on PlayStation as well. Uh unfortunately, they don't have like a good breakdown in a lot of the recaps I look at to be like, oh, this one's also on this platform. Um so some I could miss, and then uh some of them are super obvious, like Call of Duty. Um, but everything will, I believe, is also coming to PC as well. So it's you know if it's not just Xbox and PC, someone will be PlayStation. But uh did you both watch the Xbox showcase?
SPEAKER_02I didn't. Well, obviously I didn't watch it live, but I didn't go back and watch it. I just kind of like read recap stuff on Twitter.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_01Do you watch any trailers?
SPEAKER_02Probably, but I don't remember.
SPEAKER_01You don't remember? Okay.
SPEAKER_02I'll go through these.
SPEAKER_01I'm not gonna cover everything on here. So yeah. I I won't cover all the stuff because there's some games like you know, none of us play Gears, so we don't need to talk about Gears of War E Day.
SPEAKER_00Um but yeah, they had a that was one of the more interesting ones they had. Yeah, I can talk about it.
SPEAKER_01Do you play Gears though?
SPEAKER_00No, but I played I played the first two, I think. I played the first one.
SPEAKER_01I don't think I ever actually played them. Like I've seen them played enough, but I never actually played the Gears games. Um but yeah, they had a really good showcase. Like I thought it was it was super solid. It reminded me of like uh the PlayStation direct when the PS5 was revealed. We had all those stuff like uh they had some Spider-Man, they had the the Demon Souls remake reveal, like that kind of big kind of showcase. Um yeah, a lot of stuff. Again, uh some of these are coming to you know PlayStation as well. Like they had and again, these are aren't in order of how they're shown, it's just kind of how everybody kind of lists them in their own way. Like uh Doom the Dark Ages, which apparently had leaked, but I wasn't paying attention, so I didn't know. Like I heard about it like the day before.
SPEAKER_00I knew a Doom game leaked, I didn't know it was gonna be like Dark Ages themed or anything like that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's and that's coming on PS5 as well. What's interesting about that is I'm like, man, do am I gonna have to go back and finish the the DLC? Like, because there's they talk about stuff in there, I'm like, and there's places you go in the DLC that seems like thematically make sense to this game, which clearly like looks like a you know a prequel and all that stuff. And there's like the mech, and I'm like, and that mech's in the DLC, so I'm like, okay, I think from a lore perspective, maybe I should go back, maybe just put on like normal or whatever and just burn through it super quick, uh just to see this stuff. But I mean it looks looks good. You know, the combat seems a little different than uh, you know, because it kind of changed between Doom 2016 and Doom Eternal. It expanded, and like it looks like they have a you know a counter mechanic with the shield. Um you see that there's like a whip, apparently you get, you can throw the shield, comes back to you.
SPEAKER_00I the weapons look really fun. Like the weapons look ridiculous. There's the machine gun that grinds up skulls and then shoes shoots like bits of skulls at people. I mean it's such a weird combo of like sci-fi demonic horror medieval themed, whatever, however you want to break down the themes, but it works in such a stupid way it works.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. It seemed very that gun, like I don't know why I thought of George Miller, but I'm like, this seems very like Mad Max for some reason.
SPEAKER_00Oh yeah. No, I'm I'm excited about it. I don't think it makes any sense, but uh well, not it makes sense, but I guess like Doom feels with this game and also with like the last ones that they're kind of embracing a little bit of like a slapstick comedy to their games. Um like there are definitely a lot of moments in this trailer where I kind of just burst out laughing because of how absurd it is. And I feel like they're really just fully embracing that, which is great. Makes for a great Doom game.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Yeah, looks good. Uh I think it's coming out next year, I believe, um, is the due date for that. I'm trying to click here, yeah, TBA 2025. Uh we also had Dragon Age the Veil Guard, which is they renamed the whatever the code name was for it previously. But I'm not really a Dragon Age person, so didn't do much for me.
SPEAKER_00I mean I played uh what was the one that Inquisition when that came out, but the like sorta reboot, sorta not, but the going back to trying to make Dragon Age Dragon Age game.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, whatever it was. I I know it, like it wasn't game of the year, but that year, but people go back and go, eh.
SPEAKER_00It was it was a fine game. It was just it was the game where they tried to make Dragon Age like marketable again because two was I mean, honestly, aside from one, aside from origins, the Dragon Age games really went downhill quick. Um and Inquisition was then being like, look, we're back to what made us great.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I mean I enjoyed playing it, but like the lore of the characters like meant nothing because I didn't play any of the other Dragon Age games. Uh and just like it was a year where there wasn't much that year is kind of one of the reasons why it it won. Uh but yeah, I was like, I'll give it a shot, you know, play it. And uh yeah, it wasn't too bad. It just I I have no like I'll who knows if I'll end up playing this down the line, but I just have no interest in it currently. And I I I do love the the tweets that people quote where it's like people mad that there's like uh oh, you can romance all the characters and you know, this way, and like, oh, they're making like the character so woke. It's like, did you never play Dragon Age?
SPEAKER_00Definitely like basically always been a thing with Dragon Age.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's literally people complaining who have never played the games.
SPEAKER_00Exactly. Yeah. I feel like in the first one people were pissed off because I think there was maybe like one character that you could only romance one, like if you were one gender, like literally only one single relationship was like that, and people got pissed off. Everything else was you could date whoever the hell you wanted.
SPEAKER_02There was one straight person in the game, and everybody was angry about it. I think that's what it was.
SPEAKER_00I might be misremembering, but I'm pretty sure there was literally one straight person, and people were like, Why can't I romance this person?
SPEAKER_01Because like the one everybody wants romance. It was like that in Cyberpunk, where like not every relationship uh could be a same-sex relationship, and they're like, Man, I really like this character, but because I rolled a female character, I can't romance them. They're uh you know, bum them out. Um it's just like it's like, yeah, well, that's real life, I guess, right? Everything, but uh it was it was that was always funny. I I guess maybe you could mod it in, but who knows. Um then we got a longer trailer for Metal Grasol Delta, which oh I did watch that one. I can't tell if they're just using the same audio and like VO and just improving the quality, or if they re-recorded the audio. I think they might have re-recorded it because David Hayter does sound more like current-day David Hayter when he's doing the snake voice. My only and you know what's funny is like I I watched how I like the trail, you know, it's fun. I like seeing the comparisons. It was interesting that one scene where there's like uh snakes in the river, and he's got the the crocodile helmet, but there's like a robot camera thing floating around. I'm like, that looks new. I don't remember that from the first game.
SPEAKER_02A robot, oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01It's like how there's spotlight, and it's like you know, I got little rockets, like a little proto drone kind of thing. It's like I don't remember that, but uh I did think that I I wasn't too keen on the boss, the boss's redesign, and I I couldn't tell like what like it didn't feel like because she has very strong and sharp features, and obviously that's could be a design of the limitations of that console, but it was like very distinct, and I feel like they smoothed some of it out in her face, and I thought like uh maybe it's just me, but then I saw like a bunch of uh Japanese people on like it got fed at me on Twitter, like uh Japanese folks talking about it as well, like kind of disappointed in the way that the boss looked and how they felt like you know, Snake kind of looks like okay, Snake is kind of like one-to-one, you know, here's this upgraded to you know, Unreal Engine 5. But the boss kind of lost some of what made her unique in that design in this. Um, so it seems like there are some people out there who who aren't too excited about the boss's redesign, but I maybe when I hear the boss talk, it'll be fine. But just seeing that quick, that quick scene, I was like, I don't know. I feel like they they should have given another pass, but that's just me.
SPEAKER_02I feel like well, I wonder how much of it too is like lighting because I mean obviously in the original there wasn't super dynamic lighting or anything like that, and the characters were always kind of lit a specific way to make them stand out from the background and the environments and stuff like that. But she definitely had this very like like battle-worn, kind of almost gaunt-looking face and features kind of all the time. So I wonder if maybe it's just like because the lighting is softer, maybe in certain circumstances she'll have more of that look to her, or if they did kind of like soften her features for whatever reason and make it look, I don't know, more realistic or just softer. I don't know. But yeah, you're right, she definitely looks she does look different. She doesn't have that kind of like very recognizable, stark like face that yeah, yeah, like battle worn and everything.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, because like her her eyes are dark, kind of like hey, I'm looking at a comparison picture right now. I'll just drop quickly drop it into the Discord while we're talking, so at least we both we all kind of know what I'm talking about here. But uh like, yeah, like if you if you look at it, like okay, she kind of got that same kind of dark eyes. Um jump to present. Jesus. I oh that's not what I wanted. Copy image. I did I just paste. There we go.
unknownPaste it.
SPEAKER_01Um like she's got kind of those those dark eyes still. Her I it kind of looks like her her left cheek does look like it's a little sunken in, kind of like like you see her cheekbones a little more. And like I said, it could be maybe when she starts talking to Jack, it'll be like, okay, I see it. I you know, it looks better or it it works, but I don't know. It just that was just the only thing that kind of stood out. I'll be curious to see the other characters too.
SPEAKER_02God, it almost looks like it could just be the shading, but yeah, it like lighting is shading as like the lighting is yeah, like different.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, because like OG, like there's no lighting, like it's just just like light, you know, because it's that era.
SPEAKER_00There's no like, you know, you know, but uh yeah, so like maybe and maybe it was at the exact angle, like if if she was kind of looking down, you know, kind of like she is on the right, like the face on the left still has pretty distinct eyebrows and like a pretty distinct ridgeline. The hair looks like a little bit darker, but again, that could just be because the one on the right is like everything is lit up. Um it might look better in motion or when people actually play it. I don't know. I feel like it's not like they I don't feel like they tried to eliminate unique features so much as it might just look different with updated graphics and better lighting and actual like clothing that responds to how people move. It like it might just be a a better technology.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, but like Snake looks like like at least boss in five, that was like okay, this this looks different because he's a little older. So you know, it's it's still him, but it's like it's different. The remake, like it looks like they just kind of took that and like UE5 up res, and it like I don't know, again, like you said, it could just be the fact that there's better lighting, it's I don't mention five, and again, once I see the voice, maybe it'll work. It's just yeah, when I first saw it, I was like, I was like, there's something missing, but I don't know what it is. Like maybe her her jaw is like it it looks like it's sharp on the one side, but on the other side, it kind of like it blends into the neck, so I can't really see it. But it could just be a fuzzy image.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and the one that's also with her looking down and to the left at the end of the day. Exactly. The left image is like looking straight on, so you're not gonna see a strong drawback looking straight on.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, exactly. It's it's like they're not one-to-one directions, like, yeah. So I I'm I'm curious to see more trailers of you know, of the boss, and then like I I think too, like seeing her in that iconic suit uh that she wears, like that'll be also the kind of the definitive uh thing as well. But so I'm wondering, like, okay, what about Ava? You know, because there's a you see Oslot in like a still that someone took of the trailer, and he's down the ground, like, okay, it looks like Oslot. But yeah, I'm curious about some of the other characters as well.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, but yeah. I will say though, in the newer in the remake, she at least to me looks more her age, the age that she's supposed to be.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So there's it it's hard to like get like wrinkles in in like in that kind of game. I mean, they can because they do it on like Sokolov, I guess, but uh yeah, like that's it.
SPEAKER_02Like super exaggerated.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's why I feel like you know, kind of that shading on her cheeks, like as it's like more like sunken in, like she's because she's I don't know. I guess that's the way they do it, but yeah. Um, yeah, we'll see how it goes in motion. But yeah, it looks looks real good. It's UE5. Um, yeah, and I I think it's just re-recordings for the most part, but because they have the the opening bit with the I'm blinking on his name, um, the main guy talking to Snake on the plane. Like it sounds like exactly like it, whereas David Hayter's lines sound like he's re-recorded them. Um, but yeah, we'll see. But yeah, looks good. I I'm excited for that one. Uh then we also had another trailer for State of Decay, not a gameplay trailer, just another CG trailer. Uh State Decay 3, that is. Um, I'm I want to see gameplay because that's a franchise I've never been interested in because it was only on Xbox. Um, I think two might have been on PC, but now it's like, okay, now that I have a PC, now it's you know, maybe I check it out with like Game Pass or something. Uh because I used to remember hearing like Bernie talk about it on like Roosty podcast back in the day, and even though it was like the first one was super jank, um, even while the second one was jank, um they still like had some pretty fun like uh like immersive storytelling or emergent storytelling in that game.
SPEAKER_00I mean, people love those games.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's why I'm curious. Like, you know, it's like one of those games too where it's like your survivors can die and yada yada, and you feels like you're going up your alley. Yeah, maybe that's why I'm curious. Like, I want to see gameplay, but not just another CG trailer. I'm like, I get it. You know, people die, you collect their stuff, okay. Like, I want to see more of it. Um, well, we'll have to wait for that one. Um, another trailer for Fable. I feel like that's one of those games where it's like kind of like a vow, and I'm like, you guys are just showing too much of it now. It's like just release it already. Um, especially because it's like, I I'm like, you just did the same kind of character talking trailer not too long ago. You know what I mean? Like with the giant, and then it turns out like, oh, and then the main characters. I'm like, you just it's the same style. Like, why would you do that two times in a row? But yeah, that they just gotta release that. That'll be next year. Um, then they had like a little expansion bit for Fallout 76. They showed the Shattered Space DLC for Starfield. Um, there was rumors back in the day that once the DLC hit, then they would port the game to PS5. So I'll be curious to see if that turns out to be true. That kind of behind the scenes rumor. But who knows? Um, then there was like a Call of Duty trailer, whatever. I don't know, Black Ops 6, who knows? They I know they had a full like showcase afterwards to talk about it. I'm like, I can't like I skimmed through it just because I was curious, and it's like it's the same talking points that they do, like when they revealed Ghost back in the day, and I'm like, and Ghost was a bad game. And it's also like our fish technology, you know, like just I'm like, really, guys? Like, I just can't take you seriously when you're talking about like advanced stuff for a Call of Duty game. Like, it's Call of Duty.
SPEAKER_02It's like they're so desperate to find things to talk about that are new, to be like, look at this thing. Or in reality, it's just the same game that they. Make every two years, but they can't say that. So they're like, look at these fish.
SPEAKER_01They did say, like, in this, like, oh, and the players' choices impact. And I think there was like a black ops game, a black ops game where your choices did actually impact the story. So I'm curious like if they're bringing that back, because I don't think that's been a thing for a while, but it's yeah, it's just like, come on, man. You guys like the way you talk about it, like it's you know the next huge thing and it'll have like a you know, whatever campaign. I know the past couple campaigns and Call of Duty's have not been that great, so maybe they're just trying to sell it on that. But like if you talked more about like when Black Ops Cold War came out on the new consoles, and it was like, oh, here's our uh we're using ray trace shadows and stuff like that. Like, show me the tech stuff. That's cool. Because I'm like, oh damn, it was like one of the early games to do ray trace shadows, and ray trace shadows are awesome. Um by and stuff like global illumination, that kind of stuff. That's that's dope. Show me that. But yeah, it was like nothing. Uh and then they showed another trailer for South of Midnight. We were wondering where that game was, you know, a lot of people were as well, because they kind of like has been quiet for a while. Um they actually showed gameplay. Uh you know, it it looks different than what I was expecting. Kind of reminds me of Canon Bridge of Spirits.
SPEAKER_00It looks really cool. I I was pretty excited about it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, like that boss fight, kind of like action, third person action, and like the boss gets defeated and like the the world comes back to life, a lot like Canna.
SPEAKER_00Um but I was like, yeah, if uh you know I think I'm just excited about the different setting. It's really fun that it's not the typical fantasy setting.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, definitely. Yeah, I'll be curious to see how that turns out. And like I said, because it'll be on PC, I'll I can always give it a shot on like Game Pass or something. Um then they had uh Age of Mythology Retold, which I believe is just a remake, right, of uh Age Mythology. That's not my kind of game. I don't really play those.
SPEAKER_02I have no idea. I've never played those.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Then they had uh a game was interesting to me, also stars uh buddy Clive, um, is Claire Obscure Expedition 33, they showed, which is like um this open world turn-based RPG, but with real-time mechanics, and like the the UI kind of remind me a little bit of like Persona, but not like as stylized, but kind of in the same you know, pop-out UI in a kind of half-ring, um, but turn-based. And yeah, it looked really interesting. I'm curious to see how that one turns out. That's by from Sandfall Interactive. Um, I forget what they have done or if they're new. Uh Interactive.
SPEAKER_02Did that one have a release date or it said TBA 2025? Oh, okay. I thought because I put it on my list, but usually I put release dates by stuff so I can add it to my calendar, and I didn't have that one, so I don't I couldn't remember if they had a release date or not.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, but that one looks really cool, especially if it's turn-based. You know, we talked uh last week, uh, you weren't here, but but we talked about that one game, um, and I I just forgot it because I uh didn't open it because we already talked about that. Lost Helden is that game with that like the turns and everything, where like you do your attack turn and then your defensive turn, and it's kind of turn-based with more action style. And then this is like, okay, if it's more turn-based RPG, kind of like Persona. I was like, okay, that could be really interesting. It looks that could be cool, so I'll keep my eye on that. Uh then another one I saw that I liked or looked interesting to me was a Flintlock The Siege of Dawn, which they called a Souls Light themselves in the trailer, which was funny. But uh, yeah, it's an open world action RPG, and it looks uh yeah, it just looked pretty interesting to me. I was like, I I like what I see in this trailer. Just the combat, you know, fight big bosses, especially if it's like a souls light mechanics and whatnot. So it's from A44 games who have done Ashen was their last game that they did.
SPEAKER_00Ashen was god, that was the you died and left like an ash corpse, right?
SPEAKER_01I don't know. I came out in 2018, I didn't play it. I got an 8.5 from my gen. Um short game, 16 hours, main story. Let's see. It's a soul's like with solid combat, great art style, and interesting world. So that's what they they said.
SPEAKER_00Okay, sure.
SPEAKER_01Bye-bye. Yeah, I don't see anything about ash, turn in ash, whatever. But um, yeah, I mean this is like I said, looks pretty good. I'm I have it on my wish list and follow it's coming out on PlayStation as well. Uh July of uh July of this year, so next month, eight on the 18th, over a month from now. There's a lot of games that came that are like, oh, it's coming out July, it's coming out August. It's like, dang. That's soon. Yeah, this is one I'm gonna have to keep keep my eyes peeled for since it'll be coming out soon. Um then another one they saw is coming out called Frag Punk from Bad Guitar Studios. This is kind of more of a me interest kind of thing. It's like a 5v5 game, but it has like cards, and there was a game that came out recently called uh it was like versus friends or friends vs. Friends or something like that. And it's like a 1v1 FPS, but it also has cards, so it's like, oh you can, you know, has like special abilities actor during this, but having a 5v5 version of that with a more uh not like different art style, but kind of like in that I guess you call it like Valorant style, I suppose. But it's like you can flip the world upside down, you can turn on big head mode, stuff like that, and like slow down time, I guess. Like that looks really cool. I'm like, I like that idea of bring that mechanic from friends versus friends, but put in a 5v5. And then how do you fit that those mechanics into the world, especially turning something upside down? Like, is it just a a section? Is the map broken up in grids, and that's how the cards, the area of effect of a card is, you know what I mean? So but that one interested me. Um then they showed Perfect Dark was there.
SPEAKER_00Um that game is uh interesting. I uh so I know people are super excited about Perfect Dark, and I watched that trailer and I was kind of like, man, it just doesn't feel the same to me, and I can't place why.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I don't know. I I never played the Perfect Dark games. Um and this one's also being developed by Crystal Dynamics, not just uh I forget what they called the the main Microsoft Studio. Um the initiative, that's right. Uh but yeah, I'm like I I it was interesting because I wasn't expecting some of that gameplay because like the the parkour stuff that they're doing, and then like some interesting gun combat. I'm like, how is it is it really gonna play like this? Um but it looks interesting, especially with the stealth stuff and like the the hacking where like they record the voice of the character in the distance and use that to replicate, you know, to get through a door or whatever. I'm like it's like they didn't even pull out a gun for like a while. Like some point out, like it took like two and a half minutes before the gun came out in the trailer.
SPEAKER_00Um it definitely looks like they're going for more of like a uh like a simulation style game of really trying to build out the features and the city as opposed to what I typically thought of Perfect Dark as about of you know just killing aliens and shit. Um It looks good. Like it it doesn't look like a bad game, it just looks different than I think I was expecting.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, someone pointed out again, because I didn't play any of the games, so they said like there's like two corporations, I guess, that are like each sided with a different alien faction, I suppose. And it's like in the first game, you were fighting with one faction against the other. And in this one, you start off as on the other faction trying to take out the other one. And so they're one, you're like, maybe it's like uh you know, you're working for the bad group at first, and then it gets revealed to you, like, hey, actually, where the good guys help us fight, like Joanna gets you know, whatever kind of haze mind wash is going on, gets taken out, the veil gets removed, and realize, like, oh, I'm I'm I should be fighting with the good guys or something like that. Right. Um, but yeah, I mean it it looks interesting. Uh I'll have to see. You know, it it's funny because like overall the name doesn't do anything for me. I'm like, I don't care about perfect dark, but like if the game turns out good, like I could see playing on PC, I guess, with Game Pass or something. But we'll see. That's a TBD um on that one in 2025, apparently. Uh then we had a Life is Strange Double Exposure. Uh another Life is Strange game, but it's from Deck 9, who did they did True Colors, right? And then the other one, the second one with the brothers, correct?
SPEAKER_00I think that's like Taylor 2 god, not Taylor 2. I forgot what it's called.
SPEAKER_01But yeah, Deck 9, they did um let's see, Deck Oh darn it, I clicked the ad. Dang banner popped down. Um yeah, they did Before the Storm, um, True Colors, and they did the remaster. So I guess they did before the storm. I guess they didn't do the the um the brother one that was from someone else, but um oh, they also did the expansive telltale game. I forgot that was a thing. Um yeah, the uh I think I know a lot of people like true colors. Uh I forget because I know people typically like the don't nod versions of the Life is Strange games, and there's kind of like you know, another studio doing that thing, so it's not don't nod, but and it's also bringing back a character that typically they don't do, I guess. Like it's always different characters in each of the Life is Strange game, but hey, people seem uh seem excited about another Life is Strange. Be curious to see how that does uh when it comes out. Um let's see, trying to see what else they had here. They had a long trailer for Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, which went on for a little longer than I was expecting. And yeah, I mean it looks you know, Troy sounds really good doing his in his uh Harrison Ford impression. Um but yeah, uh, I mean, that's kind of like okay. If it's good, I'll play it on PC. But I don't know where you're at with that game.
SPEAKER_02I don't think I'm gonna play it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. It looked fine. I mean, it didn't look bad. I just I it looks like an Indiana Jones game. Uh you know, I feel like Uncharted was a hard sell for me. Um I feel like the Indiana Jones game is a similar vein, you know. They're just I I typically don't play that style of games. The like treasure hunter type games.
SPEAKER_01I'm curious how, yeah, how will it go with like obviously St. Ann Jones? So you the blueprint for them is kind of like the trilogy, right? Like what did they do in the other the the three first movies? But also like you've had an entire Unchars series and the Tomb Raider remake trilogy come out, and that's like who did you know, Spence on that formula? It's like will it still work? You also had a new movie that came out that was you know okay to the audience, but it's like will it how will it feel? Is it gonna be two movies and not enough more like the recent games that were inspired by it? Or but yeah, I'm I'm really interested to see how that goes. Because it's not like they're bad storytellers. Like I like this story in uh the Wolfenstein games, right? Which you wouldn't expect because it's just Wolfenstein.
SPEAKER_00I don't think it's so much like the bad storytelling, is I'm just very, very used to that type of storytelling, and I don't feel like it's had a lot of innovation in how they structure the stories recently. Like a lot of those games are really formulaic in a really predictable way, and I can't remember the last one where I've been like, wow, you did something totally different. I'm caught off guard and surprised that this worked really well. Like a lot of them are just kind of like, oh, yeah, find mystical artifact, mystical artifact does X thing, bad guys, which are either Nazis or um, you know, transformed explorers that found the artifact first but became mutated, are after you now. And I like that. I just they feel very samey pretty much always. And I don't know what it would take for me to feel like it was new again, but the Indiana Jones game just doesn't feel new. And I think that's something I'm this isn't just with Indiana Jones, like I'm struggling with that a lot lately of games just feeling kind of like copies and me wanting just an experience that's different. And then the games I tend to be like drawn towards are the ones where I can put down a reason of why it feels different to me.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, I'll be really interested to see how it does. If it's like, especially because it's you know, it's not gonna have that Wolfenstein gunplay because Indiana Jones, it's more whip and you know, fisticuffs, kind of, and stealth, I guess. So I'm curious, like, how will that work? Will the puzzles be fun? You know, so it'll be really interesting to see, you know, how they do. And like obviously, because you're doing an IP, you're kind of also limited to what you can do, right? Because it's like it's not like Disney's gonna be like, oh, go ahead and do whatever. It's like, no, you the character has to act this way, they can't do stuff that they wouldn't do. So it's like you're kind of held back in that aspect.
SPEAKER_00You're not gonna say, like, oh, Indiana Jones can go on a murder spree and kill everyone, and also like you're not gonna say, like, oh yeah, sure, you can do something unexpected, like, you know, cut off his arm and make him like one armed or something. Like, you there's only a set number of things you can do with the character. Disney is pretty limiting, and it's a story that people are very familiar with. So I'm sure it'll be really well made. I just don't know if it will be like it can still be a nine out of ten game or something, but if it's not a new experience or like some that does something really drastically good, it's just probably not something I'm interested in.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Yeah, I'm I'm really curious about this. Like taking a great studio and giving them an IP that was great, and like, can it still have their signature while being wrapped in that package um that they they're confined to? So I'm I'm I don't know. We'll see. I feel like it's easy to make like a a Nazi villain, right? I mean they did Wolfenstein. They could so it's you know, but yeah, I'm I'm really curious how this is gonna turn out. Uh and then yeah, the like I said, they showed a vow, and it's like, okay, I've just released that game already. I think that's I know.
SPEAKER_00I forgot a vowd was like still existed.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, well, it was at their last showcase where it's like, but the combat seemed kind of slow and clunky, but it could just be because it was like, you know, probably a build that's months old at that point. Uh because it's like we talked about like enemies that would just stand still so you could do your little magic attack. I'm like, oh, they're really gonna stand still. You know, it's kind of a little jank, like, hey, hit your mark and bad guy so I can do this real cool thing.
SPEAKER_02Um like they forgot to turn on the enemy AI for the demo that's just in like dev mode.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it was in uh showcase your abilities mode.
SPEAKER_00Um yeah, I'll be curious to I know I think it got leaked like the release date, and then I think, but I I forget what it was, but it's q4, so it's probably just gonna be like I would assume like maybe November the leak date was November 12th, but then they even came out with a statement afterwards, or it was like it's not a published release date because we're not actually sure that's the release date. So yeah. It's kind of like that is around when they're shooting for, but we also already knew they were shooting for Q4, so it was kind of a like take this with a grain of salt now that it's been leaked because it's not accurate yet.
SPEAKER_01Yep. Uh and then a game they shut off that is interesting to me is a game called Atomfall, because it's by Rebellion, who are the folks that do the sniper leak games, which are really good. But I'm like, it I'm don't know quite yet what this game is. Like it looks like okay, something supernatural kind of happens. Kind of reminds me of like Pacific Drive, where it's like, okay, the world was normal, but now it's not. But I'm like, I can't also tell, like, okay, what time period are we in? Because some buildings look modern and some look old, and there's also like dudes in like research, you know, hazard outfits, like kind of more present day, but there's like guys with armor and I think muskets and like bows and whatnot. So I'm I don't know what's happening, but if it's by rebellion, I'm I'm I'm interested because like I said, I I love the sniper elite games, they're really good. And if they're doing another and they do open world really well, so I'm I'm curious what uh it's supposed to be an action RPG, so I'm like, okay, I I don't know what's going on in this world, but seems it looks interesting, you got my attention, so I'll I'll I'll follow it. Um and then they showed a long trailer for Assassin's Creed Shadows. Um that was there, which looks awesome. Yeah, and I think because it's only next gen, I think Mirage is also only next gen, but Mirage also was kind of like in the sands, it was a throwback, and it kind of you know didn't have that architecture. I don't know if it's the Japanese architecture or what, or like because maybe they had more time on this one being next or current gen only, but like it doesn't look like Assassin's Creed, if that makes sense, like visually, be and I think it's I don't it could be like a boss thing, like it's the lighting, like maybe the lighting's better, but see, yeah.
SPEAKER_00I was thinking to me the gameplay looked more polished than I'm used to from Assassin's Creed, which the gameplay for Assassin's Creed has been kind of samey for a long time. And I thought the gameplay in this actually looked more polished, and it reminded me of like how Ghost of Tsushima had different mechanics. It kind of gave me that vibe when watching it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. I mean, it looks good. It's not like I liked what I saw, you know, it's a long, long trailer, but um yeah, and I like how it's just like, okay, who do you want to do? Who do you want to be to take out this target? And it's like it lets you kind of choose there. So I'm curious, like, okay, well, you know, we talked about this before, like, will it be more like syndicate where you can be either in most situations and then like they each have their own unique stories they have to do? Um, so yeah, the the sneaking underwater and like using a little reed to breathe out, breathe air was kind of funny. I'm like, okay, that's fun in the trailer, but I'm like, how am I gonna be doing that a lot? So uh yeah, it looks good. I'm I like the I get I don't know if they've done this in other Assassin's Creed games. They're doing it in stealth games all the time, but like when there's stealth in around and like they grab the one like person and they drag them away to like knock them out in another room. Like obviously, most FPS games with stealth let you drag characters, but I like seeing that. I'm like, okay, that's cool. And then you gotta like take the body somewhere and knock them out. Uh you don't have to, you know, have to kill them because AC it's always like, oh, just stab. Like there's typically no knockout, it's just kill them.
SPEAKER_02Just kill, always kill.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So yeah, fun trailer. And then yeah, the couple of quick highlights. There's some other games to show that again. We didn't talk about like uh mixtape, uh, Microsoft Flight Simulator, the Vessel of Hatred for Diablo 4, Warcraft Expansion, Sea of Thieves, Season 1, um Stock 2, Hard Chernobyl.
SPEAKER_00Did you see that Diablo 4 quote where they were talking about how they with Diablo 4 they tried to emulate um the loot grind that was so popular in Diablo 2, and then how they were like caught off guard that people didn't like that?
SPEAKER_01I didn't see that, no.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so they they had an interview where they were talking about like successes and failures of Diablo 4. And one of the comments they made is like, oh yeah, you know, we uh we designed Diablo 4 to emulate the loot grind that we thought was so popular in Diablo 2, but it doesn't seem to have landed this time around. And I was just thinking, like, wasn't Diablo 2 like 20 years ago? Like, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02And also I don't I don't think it was as popular as they think it was. That was kind of just what the game was.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_00It it was what the game was, and it's like, yeah, and there also just weren't you know a ton of other games like that at the time.
SPEAKER_01Exactly. And there wasn't like a lot of online, you know, live service games like there are now, a bunch of that stuff where it's like you had the time to invest and spend in these kind of games back in the day. So it's like you really kind of fell into that loop and you enjoyed it a lot. Yeah, it's funny because I I I know with the recent updates to Diablo 4, like one of the complaints was that now it's like it's too easy because the the loot they changed the loot drops, which is funny. So people like it's a little too easy now. So I don't know if that just makes it uh like even on the hardest difficulties in dungeons if it's too easy there, and they can probably balance it, but I thought that was a funny complaint.
SPEAKER_00I don't know. It's hard with games like that because I feel like the actual answer is like it's just a feel like you can tell if it's too hard or too easy or satisfying or not, and if it's not satisfying, then it just doesn't work.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Yeah. Um I was trying to look to see if there was what else I might have missed. I know there was uh some showcases, I think, on Monday, but I can't uh really find a good list of stuff that was also shown after the fact. Um I know some as far as releases go, I know the Allen Wake 2 Night Springs DLC has reviewed well. Um Destiny 2. Oh no, I haven't played it yet because I was like, I'm I'm not gonna play it right now. It's like I'll play it probably when I get back from I'm like going out of town for like a week, and then I got a business trip I gotta go or I gotta go on right after, and I'm like, I don't have time to play it. It's like I'm just doing mainly Lysa P trophy stuff, and then uh because I don't want to come back after two weeks and be like, how the hell do I play this game? Um so I'm I haven't played it yet. I'm in no rush. But uh I know like Destiny 2 the final shape is pretty.
SPEAKER_00And this is the official last expansion of Destiny 2, right?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, they did like some thank you to the community. Um so yeah, it's like the last. I know there's like some bugs, like server launch issues, um, as you'd expect in these kind of games, but uh yeah, apparently it's reviewed well. I mean, I my cousin, I think he's playing it, or maybe he's playing some content he missed before he plays it, but he's been getting back into Destiny 2.
SPEAKER_00I would love to know how they're actually wrapping it all up, because I feel like somewhere along the way, Destiny 2 just became this convoluted mess of a story. And I would just really like to know how they actually tie it all together. I'm gonna need to watch like a story summary.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, definitely. Yeah, I'd be I'd be curious because I I probably won't play it like yeah, it'll be a bit more like PS plus extra at some point, just like a lot of them have. Like I think like uh Beyond Light did, whatever. Um, so I'm like, okay, I could do that, then I have to play the the Witch Queen, right? And then after that is this one.
SPEAKER_00But uh Yeah, I mean the added difficulty of how many of those actually exist anymore, though, since they've sunset so much stuff.
SPEAKER_01Right, yeah. But it's like in how much of the story stuff do I have to can I do all of it solo? Do is there story lock behind raids I have to do? Like, so it's probably just easier to watch. Like a let's see how it goes just a YouTube video breakdown. But yeah, that's kind of uh it for the news. Like I said, it was a really good showcase from Xbox. Uh they had an interview with Phil Spencer at I jammed like the day after, I believe. And it was funny because like it was so weird because they had a live audience there, and like he, you know, they Ryan McCaffrey asked him like about the closures, but he kind of sidestepped the thing by like, we're not really focusing on that, we're kind of focusing on making sure the the severance packages are out and all the people are taken care of. And there's like cheers from the crowd. I'm like, really? Like he didn't answer the question. Like, come on, man.
SPEAKER_00It's like an annoying comment about that. He he made some comments like, yeah, as CEO, I have to make a lot of hard decisions. And it was like, I don't think anyone is ever questioning that you have to make hard decisions as a CEO. They're questioning why you talked about how you weren't going to close studios like this and then close studios like this. They're not like they're not talking about CEO's an easy job, you know, we don't understand. They're talking about like, why did you have such mixed messaging for something like this that you seem to be fully in support of, and then clearly we're not fully in support of.
SPEAKER_01It his response reminded me a lot of like, and not to say that they're one-to-one at all in any way, but like when there's like, you know, a shooting and people talk about gun control and like now's not the time. We should be grieving. And it's like same, like, oh, I don't want to talk about why they're closed. I want to focus on just making sure they're taken care of because we said they don't have a job anymore. Right. Like, let's not talk about it right now.
SPEAKER_00It's like, oh, you want to make sure they were taken care of? Don't fire them. Yeah, then they'll be taken care of.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Go into the details about why behind the scenes, like, okay, the perception is this studio did well, they had a hit game. Why did they get closed? And it's like, you know, well, yeah, I did well, didn't do as you know as well. I and I'm so worried about I was trying to do the math on it. Like, they they talked about like you know how many, I think it's like 35 million Game Pass people, and I was trying to do the math, like, okay, if you have like 39 million and everybody has ultimate, and then you and I try to look like all the games that were coming out over the next like 18 months, and like, okay, if they're all on here, here's how much revenue you're gonna take in each month, and then you divide that up amongst the 18. Like, is that sustainable? Especially if it's you know, they they ration out based on downloads and plays that month on Game Pass. So it's like if a new game comes out and it does really well, it gets the bulk of that share from the Game Pass revenue, and then it's like the next month they don't because it's a single player game, they fall off. It's like, okay, was that enough? And I'm I'm really curious about that business model, and we've talked about so much. Like, yeah, it's like how much at what point does the content surpass the user revenue to where it's like, okay, now we're in a tough position, especially when you're doing a Call of Duty, which obviously will still sell well at PlayStation, but like you're doing, you know, the next Elder Skulls, you know, all these big long in-production games, the next Fallout, like that take so long.
SPEAKER_00Um well, and Call of Duty is gonna be really interesting because the a lot of people thought that they wouldn't put Call of Duty on Game, well, that they didn't want to put Call of Duty on Game Pass, but that they would also simultaneously have to put Call of Duty on Game Pass. And you know, they are putting it on Game Pass, so and it's also like they're not number one in console sales, right?
SPEAKER_01So it's like they're not losing that much if by by doing it because they wouldn't have sold nearly as much as they're gonna sell on PlayStation and PC, you know what I mean? Even though PC can have you know Game Pass as well. But it's like if the biggest platform holder you're still gonna sell on, it's like, all right, yeah, maybe we'll take a small hit, but it's not that much, you know, right versus if they were number one, um, then it'd be like, okay, now if you're the market leader, it's like, all right, now we gotta look at the numbers. But yeah, I'm like, but I guess if you're the market leader, then maybe you'd have more game pass subscribers, yada yada. But again, I'm just curious about that. When does the development cost line pass the revenue graph line in that chart? Like, where is that? And then again, going back to the how they divvy it up, like if you have a month where Call of Duty is continuously number one, and then all the other single-player games you have coming out aren't doing well, your state of decays, you know, or obviously that game lasts a little longer because it's uh you know, you keep has replayability, but like you know, South of Midnight, Fables, stuff like that, like Doom the Dark Ages. It's like, okay, well, if Call of Duty is still the most played game, are they gonna get the most revenue from Game Pass? Like, I don't know. It just seems especially because of their conversation they had a while back where they still they eat they themselves said they still don't have it perfect on their end. I'm like, why would you have like you have an idea, but you don't have all the stuff knocked out? Like, I'm just that's my concern. Because all like the only thing you can do is just increase the price, right? And then at some point your cost of the service is too high to where people aren't gonna want to do it. Um if especially if it's a year where you don't have enough games coming out or what have you. Um because I think it's like if you don't have like I cancel memberships to like Netflix when it's like, okay, all the shows I watched aren't I'm done. I'll wait for the next you know season of Castlevania or or uh you know Stranger Things or something, and then I'll come back to it. But right now it's like the lol. Like I do that with Hulu. Like I canceled Hulu long time ago because like nothing on Hulu I wanted to watch. But now like they're showgun, so FX is on Hulu. I'm like, okay, well at some point I gotta do that. But yeah, I don't know. That's their problem. But it's just anytime I look at it, I'm like, man, these is like all the games that they showed. I'm like, that's so many games coming out that are gotta be on Game Pass. And I'm like, I don't know how you especially because like even for the ones that are like that aren't first party, like you're paying them to be on Game Pass. So it's like, okay, well, how much are you paying them? Because it's gotta be around as much as kind of the market value if they weren't on there, you think it would be, you know? Um so but anyways, uh yeah, I don't know.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, everyone wants a piece of the pie and you have to pay everyone some fee in order to get them to put their games on Game Pass. And yeah, it just seems like it's gotta be a lot of money and that you are relying on the games that are gonna sell really well or draw a lot of people to essentially cover the games that won't.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and then it's like, okay, if Call of Duty is number one for multiple months and you're making, you know, however many millions each month from you know all these Game Pass subscribers who are also playing this game, like once they hit that recoup of the investment, do you then divert the majority of it to the studios that aren't making that kind of money on Game Pass because not that many people are playing them? Like, yeah, I don't know. Or they just release them on other consoles, I guess. But uh yeah, I don't know. Interesting stuff. But yep, that's uh kind of for a big showcase, like I said, really good, really good show for Xbox. Um, you know, especially for how bad of a year they they had, but for studio shutdowns and what have you. Yeah, yeah. Um I'll say probably the highlight of the show. Yeah, well, like Xbox was the highlight of like of the summer game fest, yeah. Yeah, yeah, I didn't watch like all the because like they had the PC game show and like all the stuff. Like I the downside of that is like it's such a blast of stuff. I'm like, I'm not tuned in. I don't know what's good until I hear a podcast talk about it. It's like I try to look at stuff, but it's like it's so hard. Like I I don't want to like when you're not PlayStation or Xbox, I don't want to just go through and click through 25 YouTube thumbnails and see if it's something I like. You know what I mean? It's like I it's just I I don't got time to do that. Like I I want it in a package that I know I can watch and that has either good buzz or hear about again, hear about it on a podcast. Um but but yeah. Um all right. Well, we can go ahead and move on to what we've been playing. Uh Zara, you were out last week, so we'll go ahead and start with you. Um what have you been playing?
SPEAKER_02Uh I'll be honest, not much.
SPEAKER_01Not much. You got like Izzy last week.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I just um it was a shitty week and it was a busy week. So um I spent and I was uh I had a coworker retire last week, so I was like making a gift for her too, so that took up a lot of my normal gaming time. But basically just playing a lot of well, my farming game, farm together, and then uh Honkai Star Rail. That's pretty much all I've really been playing.
SPEAKER_01I was gonna say I don't think I'd seen you on FF that much.
SPEAKER_02Which actually reminds me, I need to buy Dawn Trail. Um I should probably do that right now because it comes out like next next, not next week, the week after next two weeks. Oh my god, next week is Elden Ring DLC, right? Right next Friday.
SPEAKER_01It is, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I'm not gonna be playing that anytime soon. No, no, I I still because I I'm I rolled, I talked about this last week, but you weren't here. No. Uh is that like I I did roll New Game Plus, so I'm like, I have to like speed run through Rodan and Doom Mog, and it's just like I'm like, I like I know what I could do, and I think Elden Ring is one of the Souls games where it's like Ng Plus isn't that bad, or maybe it's like Ng, but no, Ng plus and Elden Ring is not bad.
SPEAKER_00It's yeah, much, much more mild than some of the other Souls games.
SPEAKER_01Because that that and we talked about it last week, but that was like my concern was like, you know, the Bloodborne DLC I did on New Game Plus, and that shit was difficult. Yeah. Um and I was like, oh man, do I want to just like like I watched like a you know speedrun guide. I'm like, could I just do like a dumb common Azure build and then just respec before the DLC? But like it sounds like okay, maybe that I won't need to worry about being in New Game Plus when I go to the DLC.
SPEAKER_00Um and I I also think that like Souls games DLCs, historically, they're kind of hard compared to the base game. Like, usually they are a step up from the base game, and I often feel like new game, like first, you know, start of the game DLC on Souls games is usually as hard as like new game plus in the actual base game, if that makes sense.
SPEAKER_01I guess there were some because like in Bloodborne, there were those some enemies I forget, like when you first get out of the church, there's like these one enemy type there that was annoying. I think because they had a lot of health and they hit hard. But like, yeah, like Ludwig was a tough fight, Maria wasn't too bad, and then fucking Orphan of Cos. Don't get me started. But um when I think of like Dark Souls 3, like there was the the one fight, was it what's her name? Uh it's like a four-stage fight with like the the lady and her dad or whatever. Uh oh, Sister Frieda Frida? Frida, yeah. Like that was just because it was like so many stages. I was like, dear Jesus. Like and the like that's why that one's annoying. And then the last fight against the the dude. I was like, I I didn't think that one was too bad. Uh, but that could be also, I think I did play like some of the runaround world parts co-op. Um, but I did the fight solo, but and I never did the Dark Souls 2 DLC, so I can't I can't compare it to that. And I don't I did Dark Souls 1, but that wasn't that bad from what I remember.
SPEAKER_00Dark Souls 2 was tricky. Dark Souls 2 had uh God, I can't remember what it's called, but it was like a a knight in the base of a tower that was really freaking hard. Yeah. They nerfed like three times because it was so hard.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. Uh so I'll be curious to see like how how it goes, but I probably it's just I have to because I did the first boss fight and it went fine. Like I've been doing two tries. I was like, okay. You know, and I talked about how it like Liza P just ruined Elden Ring for me because I'm like, oh my god, I'm so used to Liza P combat. But yeah, so I'm curious how but again I have to it'll be fine. I guess it'll be good too, because like I wouldn't want to just go straight into the DLC without refreshing myself on Elden Ring or the Soul style combat outside of Liza P. So I guess that's good. And that it won't be too bad. Like getting a mo, I guess I could just run through some sections and just like speed run get items that I need, I suppose, for like the lift and whatnot. So um, and I gotta go kill that big white dragon again on New Game Plus, I guess.
SPEAKER_02But um that's basically what Michael's doing right now. He's playing it again because I reminded him that it comes out next week, and he was like, Oh, I guess I should get in. And he forgot that he was in New Game Plus and building like stupid builds. He his main weapon was the like bubble horn thing, and he was like, Oh, I need to I need to figure out what the hell I was doing. Yeah, basically and uh I don't want my game. I I don't think I actually ever beat my game because I watched him beat it, like fight um the Elden Beast and stuff, and then he picked the ending that I was gonna pick. I was like, fine, I don't know. That's the ending I want, but I've already seen it. So I think I'm still in regular new game. I don't know, I'll have to go on and check and try to remember what I was doing. But I was just remembering, like, we were talking about the other DLCs. I feel like in Dark Souls 3 the bosses weren't particularly bad, but the areas sucked. Like they were just horrible to get through. And now I'm remembering like how much I I don't want to say hated, but hated the Halligree. So I'm kind of worried that like I just want a big, like, new area to kind of run around and explore. I don't want it to be this like horrible slog just to get to boss fights that are fun, but not like particularly challenging or anything like that. I mean, I know it's gonna be hard, but I just want like I'm kind of very the opposite of the typical FromSoft enjoyer where it's like I like going through the areas and kind of making my way through them. And the bosses are just kind of like the walls that I have to break down to get to the next little area that I can explore and go through. And that was my favorite thing of Elden Ring, and probably why I did dislike Halig tree so much is because it was like fuck this place sucks. Everything just everything just sucks here.
SPEAKER_01Oh, I slipped off the branch.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I slipped off the branch, and now I'm in it's just like horrible enemy upon enemy upon enemy, and it's just like you're just doing it to get to millennia, basically.
SPEAKER_01So get out of my way, Loretta.
SPEAKER_02I know, right? Just like, ah, this place sucks. Um so yeah, but I don't know. I'm kinda I'm looking forward to having a new big I want a new big area to just wander around in and five cave entrances and that that like early the early Elden Ring kind of feel where you're just like everything's big and everything kind of has a purpose and you're just finding cool things.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Yeah, I gotta figure out like what I need to do to because I know like that the one guy can says you're maiden list, like he can teleport you to Mug's area if you just kill like the either A you invade, but I think they if you play offline you just have to kill some like you know invader NPCs or something like that. Like he can teleport you there, and then you have to go to like find a corpse. But I I don't remember like how far you have to do, and I forget like what triggers Radon's festival, so I'm like, I think I have to kill like a certain amount of people and then it triggers.
SPEAKER_02Um like it's go to the Rylicario Plateau triggers his festival or progressing Ronnie's questline.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, because I remember I didn't go there the first time because like tip when you go there first, like it has that that fight there between the two like the two enemies that attack at the same time, the beast and the dude. And I didn't do that fight because I just by the time I got to his place, like the festival was started. So I like missed that. It was funny like because when I was watching like Don't Line play it back in the day, I was like, what the hell is this fight? I don't remember. Like it took like three hours to beat it. I was like, I don't remember this at all. And it's like, oh, because I it just you can skip it.
SPEAKER_02Um you can miss it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so I just gotta like figure out like what I'm gonna do. But I'll I think July there's outside of uh one of those games from Xbox Game Pass we were talking about, or a game showcase, uh, I don't think there's much else. So I think once I finish, once I platinumize a P, I'll probably just spend some time chip chipping away at getting to the DLC in Elden Ring, and then maybe by the time I actually get there, it'll drop in price. I don't know. Maybe it'll take me a long time. I have no idea, but uh I'll have to look up like because I it was funny. Like I watched like the speed run, I'm like, okay, that's great. Like I get it, you use the common zero, but I'm like, there's still everything in between, like running places, like do I run past? Like, is it like because I I thought about the two like in Lysa P like, okay, I'm on New Game Plus, like how much should I just how much does just running past enemies to get to the next boss is it detrimental because I'm not getting the levels, but I'm at that point where leveling up my attack stats doesn't do anything really. So it's like, is it worth just giving myself more HP like to fight these enemies? You know, because I d I'm kind of like curious about that too. Like, can I just speedrun to a boss and not fight anything? And will it be a bad idea versus actually getting some souls and leveling up and whatnot?
SPEAKER_00I mean, that's how speedruns go, is that you don't level up, you just use the boss souls, which are historically significantly more than you would get leveling up and exploring, anyways.
SPEAKER_01Sure, but I mean it's also like that I feel like for me, I do so much exploring, like that's a big chunk of levels like gone. And so it's like by the time I'd get to a boss that, you know, if if I was not in New Game Plus, let's say just normal games, like, yeah, sure, the maybe I'm not hitting as hard. So it's like, okay, can was this a boss that I was able to beat with only X amount of SS flasks, but I was doing you know 1.5x more damage in my first playthrough, uh, versus you know, versus now because I sped run, I didn't level up as much. Like, I'm that's where I'm I'm curious. Like, um, because like there's definitely bosses in like Lies of P where it's like because of them on new game plus, it's like, alright, they got I don't do as much damage, obviously, so it's like they're giving me trouble just like they did the first time around. And I'm like, but anyway. What about you, what have you been playing?
SPEAKER_00Uh I've been going back through Elden Ring as well, trying to get ready for the DLC. Um mostly I forgot a a ton of shit about the game, so um doing that and then um going back through Alan Wake, the first one to get the platinum trophy, which I missed a few manuscript pages that were really obvious and don't understand how I missed them. So have been collecting those. But yeah, mostly mostly uh Elden Ring and getting ready for the DLC, trying to figure out my builds again. I had a lot of like really low-level specialized builds, so none of them are in a great spot for the actual DLC and starting it because the whole point was making them for PvP since it'd already beaten the game. Um I just forgot a lot of my like PvE stuff. But I've enjoyed going back and playing it again. I love the game. I think it's a great game. Um I love running around in that world, and I'm curious. I did download Lies of P. I'm curious if I'm going to have trouble going back after Lies of P or if I should wait.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Seems like a bad time to start another Souls-like type of game.
SPEAKER_03I know, that's why I'm like, I feel like I should just wait.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I I would wait probably, because it's not that far away. And yeah, I think it'd be it'd be fun, it'd be better to have like that fresh soulness-ness in your head. Because like the last game you played was like what uh armored core, right? So you haven't played like a souls game in a while. So I'd say play Elden Ring, do maybe do the DLC then last week. I mean, if the DLC wasn't gonna say play Liz B because I want to talk about more Liz P, but uh and it's just so good. Um like I'm replaying it again, and I'll probably have to play it a third time. Um I was like, man, I think this is like number two, like for me. Um after Bloodborne, yeah, it's like it's like Bloodborne, Lizope, Sekiro, and then like uh no, I Bloodborne, Lizapy, Elden Ring, Sekiro, and then like probably just group all the Dark Souls games and Demon Souls together. Sure. Um but yeah, because just like and the only reason Elden Rings up there is because like I love I have an affinity for open world games. So I'm like, give me an open world game in a franchise I already enjoy. I'm like, you're just you you son of a bitch, I'm in. Like you're just making this game for
SPEAKER_02Me at this point.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, right, exactly. I'm like, gimme like direct inject into my veins, like it's everything I want. Yeah. Uh yeah, Lyce P is just I really love that game. Yeah, I swing a lice P. Yeah, I'm going through I man. So when I was doing my New Game Plus, I'm like, okay, here's all the trophies I need. Now there's one where it's like you have your Legion arms like talking about before, where it's like, okay, one of the Legion arms, I didn't get all of them in my first playthrough. So like, okay, I'll unlock these Legion arms. And there was one that I didn't buy on my NG Plus of my new run. But on my first run that I did that I stopped, um, the one where I on my first game I played, I you know, I told I beat this, yeah, I beat this boss using the thing. Yeah, yeah. Um, I stopped and I just made a new save uh to do a new run. It didn't like overwrite the first one, just made a second one. But I had one of the Legion arms on that first playthrough. And so when I unlocked all the other ones first, it gave me the trophy. So I'm like, oh, this equipment trophy apparently goes across saves because like you know, it's just my profile um on my PSN. So I'm like, okay. So now my question I'm trying to ask myself is can uh I do that for other collectibles? Because when I was doing New Game Plus, I'm like, okay, what do I need? I'm like, okay, I need to do this person's side quest, I need to do this person's side quest, and I need to like collect all the weapons, and I need to collect all these records, these music records. And I'm like, okay, and the music records you can only complete on New Game Plus, because on New Game Plus, they give you like five new golden records that you have to you can only get in NG Plus. I'm like, all right, and I forgot to grab a special weapon when I beat the game the first time on the best ending. So I'm like, all right, I'm gonna have to get that that weapon later on. And I got to I gotta check to see if I have it. Because right now I'm at the the second to last boss. Oh, I'm last boss if you do the bad ending, but second to last if you don't. Um so I'm like, okay, I think I have enough humanity by line that I can get this extra weapon now. Because I think you can get it from what I've read, you can get it like by chapter, you know, blank or whatever, as long as you're you've progressed far enough in your line. So I think I can grab it. If I do that, that'll give me the trophy because I have all the boss weapons. That's the only weapon I'm missing for special weapons. But then I forgot that when I was first researching my collectibles and quests I needed to do when I first started, there was one where it's like, oh, to get this record, you have to do so-and-so's side quest. And I was like, okay, remember to do that. And I'll write it down or something. You know, I'll know it when I get there. So I was playing, I'm thinking, okay, what records do I need? Because I grabbed the last record, the last gold record I needed, um, because I progressed far enough to get it. And I'm like, okay, apparently I'm missing one record. And it's like, oh, how do you get it? It's like, oh, it's from this person's side quest. But I progressed the story, and it was funny because like I got to a boss or like a mini like enemy uh boss thing in an area, and I killed them. And I remember when I first killed them, like they had like a dying, like they were still kind of human, and like they said something. And this time they didn't. I was like, that's weird. They didn't say anything. And I realized it's because I didn't talk to the NPC I needed to in an earlier chapter to trigger the quest to where then when I kill this person, they die, and then I go back to them and I tell them, like, hey, I found the person you're looking for, and then I lie to them and I get the record. So I'm like, so now they're dead because I progressed too far in the story, but I still have my first game save right in that chapter where I meet that NPC, and I'm wondering, okay, if I just play this save, I talk to them, trigger the quest, defeat the boss, it immediately sends me to the the next chapter is the area I go where I find the NPC they're looking for. I still have to beat, I think, uh the boss in the area, which I hate that boss, but now that I know how to do that boss and I just did it again in the Jane Plus, I guess that could be easy. But I don't know if collecting the record there will count towards me collecting the records on the one like it did for the equipment. You know what I mean? So I'm tempted to try that because if that doesn't work, I'm gonna have to do new game plus plus just to go back and get this fucking record.
SPEAKER_02Um play it a fourth time just to get this thing that you keep missing. Right.
SPEAKER_01And I'm like, I'll have to remember okay, when I get to this chapter, make sure I talk to the NPC and do it. Luckily, it's like it's not too far, and I can like just at that point, I think New Game Plus Plus is easier for Liza P. Um, so I can just like okay, speed run it, get to the bosses, kill them, uh, get past the one annoying boss, that's kind of tough, and then just go do this. Um, so I'll probably do that. Uh but yeah, I'm at like the the I was hoping I could finish it last night. I was like doing the second to final boss, like, damn, man, not being able to do as much damage as I was doing. And then it was like, oh right, if I use this one weapon, which is more of a strength-based weapon, so I like respect myself to be that. And like I'm going through so much of the items that let you respect, because I kept doing it over and over in that game. And it's like, oh, I this is the I like using the advanced weapons here. Oh, I'm in this chapter with these. Okay, let's switch back because I just wanted to, which is fine because I get to try a lot of different weapons that game, which is fun. Um but but yeah, I'm like right at the end there. Oh, that's what I need to do. I need to go back and see if I can grab the other weapon. Because actually, if I can grab the weapon now, I don't need to fight the boss. Because the only reason I wanted to fight him is because when he when he dies, you like you can lie to him, and that like helps trigger towards the weapon that you need. But I think I can probably just get that weapon now. I should just check it. Um, and if that's the case, then I can just go back to my other save where I had just really bad stat spread because I didn't know what I was doing. Luckily, if I beat the boss that's in that chapter I'm at, that's right when they give you the respec ability. Um, so I can just respec and then I think I should have that weapon that's like OP for strength on your first game and just run that shit uh and be like, all right. But but yeah. Luckily, it's like I enjoy the game so much, I'm like, I don't mind having to do it again. It's just like I bum myself out knowing that damn it, I should have paid more attention because I like I bookmarked them and I paid attention to the other ones, like, oh, for this guy, I gotta make sure I I find this thing and I read it, and I talk to this guy at the end of the game, which me gives me the item where I talked to that dude, so I completed that one. I'm like, make sure I do this right, and I did like everything else good. And it was just like this one where I forgot to talk to this NPC. I don't know how I missed them too. Like, cause it's funny because I I talked to them in my first playthrough. I found them because, like, you know, exploring, go down the ladder, there they are. And then I found the person, and then I I guess they go back to the hotel, but I guess I didn't ever find them or pay attention to them actually being there. So I didn't talk to them when I could have just told them there, like, oh, here's this, and then I get the record. So I missed it even on my first playthrough. I was like, because I remember looking at I was like, Oh, complete Bella's side quest. Like, who the fuck is that? And I look at the picture, I'm like, I remember that. Like, I don't I didn't realize they go back to the hotel. I was like, damn it. But uh, it was funny, like uh my buddy of mine was playing Fortnite, and I had like re-downloaded it just because I wanted to play some uh like I was like, I'll just play like Fortnite ranked. So be like, I know it'll be boss at the beginning and then just some normal people at the end, just kind of play a BR. And I did like to roll out that. And he's like, Oh, I've been playing Fortnite. I was like, okay, so we'll play. So I played with him last night, did some duos uh ranked and whatnot. It was fun. But then like immediately when we're back to Liza P the next day, like square is pickup in Fortnite. So when first thing I did, I go to Liza P, I go to pick something up, and it's like I hit square, I'm like, I use one of my health files. Like, damn it, that's not what I wanted to do. Like, I I got my buttons confused. I had to quickly get over that.
SPEAKER_00But it's always hard going back to a game and actually like getting the controls down again.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, usually it's um it's not too bad for me, like typically, but it's like I think because I I must have just I played enough it to where like it just that one second I instantly went to go hit square instead of X. It's like my bad. Um and then it was uh so I got into Valorant beta and I was like, okay, I'll download that on PlayStation. And they're like, oh, you can invite five of your friends. I'm like, man, you don't know me. I don't have five people invite to play Valorant on PlayStation.
SPEAKER_02Also, like why make people sign up for a beta and then just give them a bunch of codes and be like, invite everybody else.
SPEAKER_01I think it's because it's like at least then they can kind of they can do like okay, we have like a minimum, I guess, server threshold. And it's like, but people can invite up to a max of this. So like it could be you know potentially 5x. And it's like, okay, that's kind of the range. And it's like, and I kind of get it, like maybe maybe that 5x is the max they could do. So like, okay, if we if we do less than that, people can invite their friends and they're more likely to play a multiplayer shooter. Um, I suppose. But uh, but yeah, I did the tutorial for that. Um, it's so weird to play a game where there's no sprint. Uh like the it's like Counter-Strike where the only way you can run faster is pulling out your knife. And like I haven't played Counter-Strike in since CSGO uh when that was on PS3. And it's so it was like it was so weird. And then like Crouch isn't on the circle, it's on like L3 for some reason. I'm like, I gotta change that. Uh put on R3. But uh yeah, it was just played that tutorial, and then I was like, you know, I'll I'll see what kind of modes they got, because I don't want to play the the bomb mode. I'm like, oh, they got deathmatch. I was like, okay, I'll go on a deathmatch. And this is like the next day, it was last night. I was like, I'll play deathmatch, you know, first to 40 wins. I get in there and it's like, I have a gun. And you have like, and they turn off all abilities in the shop. So you buy whatever gun you want, you just run around first to 40, that's all. So I'm like using the pistol, I'm like, I keep getting killed by people with like rifles. Like, how are people getting other guns? And I'm like, maybe they just buy them from the store, and I'm like trying to figure out how to open the store. And I only did the tutorial one time where they teach you, and so I'm like, I hit every button on the controller, and I'm like, how do I open the store? So I'm like, I'm googling, you know, how do I open the store in Deathmatch? And it's other people on PC being like, everybody else has a different gun. How do I only have a pistol? And I'm like, oh, you just hold the buy button, which is B on PC. I'm like, oh, hold it. Then it must be the touchpad because touchpad opens up the scoreboard. So I hold the touchpad and then it opens up the store. I was like, God damn it. I was like, can you not just put on the screen, like when I spawn, put the little touchpad, say hold to open the store? You know what I mean? Like, put it in the UI.
SPEAKER_02Uh that seems like a weird thing for them to not put in the UI.
SPEAKER_01Like they want to encourage you to go into the store and buy new things, and yeah, because I I think what I've seen, like when people play the actual diffuse bomb plant mode, it's like I think the buy button is on the screen like during the prep phase. Like you can't run out, it's like, oh, prep phase. And so I think it's there. Just in deathmatch, it wasn't, I guess. But then I got into my second match, and then I I won the second match, team deathmatch, which was a lot of fun. It was funny because like everybody was using like these ARs, and I found like I was like, oh, let me try the sniper rifle. Didn't work for me. It was like because aiming down sides was really weird with that. I think it it doesn't do like the Call of Duty brings it up, and then you're in the scope, and then you go back down. It's like it brings it and then just jumps to the looking down the reticle, which threw me off. So I was like, okay, whatever. But then there was like a DMR, and I pulled it out, and I was like, oh, this is really good. I like this gun. So I was like, use the DMR, get a ton of kills, and then everybody else started like I was number one, like really quick. I jumped like 18 kills super fast. And then everybody else like started switching to the DMR because I can hear the gun, and then if I got killed, I could see what they killed me with. And so like, I'm like, okay, so everybody knows like clearly if the guy number one is using this, maybe it's really good, so we'll use it too. And so then I'm like, all right, then I got the end, someone started catching up to me at like around 30, and I'm like, all right, I gotta switch up. So I switched like the silenced SMG, and then I just wiped a bunch of people out. It was funny, like, because it when I first got the DMR, it was like I got a pentakill. It didn't give me anything for it because it was death match, it was like it like announces like every time I after the third kill, it's like dun, and then the fourth kill it's like dun, and then on the fifth one, it's like dun, like a high pitch thing, and it's like pentakill or whatever. Like, oh, that's okay. I didn't get anything for it, but whatever. And then uh but yeah, I I won. I was like, and I was trying to think, I was like, did I win because I have better headphones, or I you know, because no one else has map like because I assumed like on console the console beat would either be a hardcore shooter fans or lapsed PC players who maybe stopped playing Valorant on PC and like, oh, I'll play it on console because it'll be fresh people. And I was like, I because I got when I got on this the second game, I got number one. I was like, I didn't expect that, but I don't know if like that's indication that either A everyone's just bad and I'm just the best bad one. I don't know, but it was just it threw me off. It was kind of like when X Defiant came out.
SPEAKER_00Betas usually don't have um I feel like betas usually don't have the same level of like skill as the actual game release, that people just aren't as hardcore about it, they're much more willing to try things out and experiment.
SPEAKER_01Which I thought would be the case like if everybody was like rank one, but there were a lot of people that were like high rank in the lobby. So like they had clearly been playing like the beta for a bit because it just went live this weekend. Uh because even like X Defiant, like when I played that when that first came out, that had a lot of people who were like higher ranked than I was, and there were some pretty skilled like just Deathmatch people, but I like still had number one on my team in like two games in a row after a couple games. It was just like it just kind of surprised me. Now I didn't obviously play like team deathmatch or the actual plant diffuse modes yet, so I have no idea how it'll go. But uh yeah, I'll probably keep playing it, I guess, see how it goes. Because I think it's a free-to-play game, right? Um mess around, but no idea. Having to having to learn the abilities of all the like the different people is gonna throw me off because then I'll be like, it's one of those games too where you know if someone picks that person, you can't play them. So it's like, okay, I need to find at least like three people that have abilities that I care about. Um so that seem good anyways, but I'll have to check that out. But yeah, I played that for a bit. Um but yeah, I've been the downside is I'll be gone for two weeks, so it's like okay, I come back to it, and it's like everyone's gonna be well, I forget. I think the beta goes through July, so it'll still be in beta.
SPEAKER_02Um you'll come back and there will be a meta that you don't understand, and you're like, I don't why is everybody using this?
SPEAKER_01Right, yeah. I'm like, all right, I'll just have to go counter meta and hope it works. But um, yeah, I feel like that could be a game that's fun if like if I had more people to play with, you know, kind of like when I was playing, like when I was playing Fortnite, I was like, what the fuck is all this stuff? Like, what does this do? What does this do? What does this do? Because my buddy has been playing it for a while, but I'm like, I have no idea what some of these the worst part about Fortnite too is like they change guns. So like none of the guns that I used when like season one, season, even like season two, or like uh when they I guess chapters. I don't know if I played chapter two, um, but like season one through whatever to the end of chapter two, um, or then chapter one, like they got rid of them. So now it's like, oh, here's like the a warmonger's AR, and here's like uh this AR, an all-rounder AR. And like, but they're all kind of different, but I have to shoot them and use them to figure out which one actually. Okay, this one fires slow. Oh, this one's just an assault rifle, but uses, you know, pistol rounds or whatever. Um, so it's like I don't have the here's the scar. Here's this gun, here's this gun. And I know like from back in the day. It's like it, it's it always throws me off. I'm like, is this any good? Is this any good? But yeah, that's a that game's so so silly. We had a a round where we were like playing and uh we've like stole like this vault opened up and there's someone in there and we stole their car. It was like super like decked out. Like, I don't know why they have vehicles in that game, but we were just like flying around the map essentially in this damn car with rocket boosters, and I'm like, we are gonna die because the thing's gonna explode because it got crashing. It was just like flipping all over the place, you know, where we don't where we're going, we don't need roads because we're in the air for so damn long. But it was just so insane. Um, I mean it was fun. Like it, like I said, if you're playing with a friend, that's why I like I could see myself go back to that game if I had people to play with. But I look like I got them to download Super Animal Royale, so hopefully at some point we'll uh we'll play that. Because I went back in. It's like I was like, you know what, I want to play Super Animal Royale. And it was like first game back because like I I won. I was like, oh hell yeah. It's like because it's just a casual little BR. It's super fun to play.
SPEAKER_00Super Animal Royale is the game you wanted to play.
SPEAKER_01It's a battle royale, man. It's fun because it's a top-down, you know, twin stick shooter style battle royale.
SPEAKER_00It's just such a random, like, oh yeah, this is the one I want to play. This is my craving right now.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, you know, I just wanted to fast, like, quick BR where there's like no voice chat. I can play it Q solo. There's you know, can't really sweat it like in like modern Warfare Warzone or something.
SPEAKER_02It's a type of game where you're not likely to run into any tryhards or any like streamers.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's it's a it's a very it's like a casual, it's more casual battle royale, but it's still a lot of fun. Uh yeah, that's it. Just work on Lies of P Platinum, and then you guys will just have to talk about the Elden Ring DLC. Um there will be no episode next week. Uh I'll be out of town. Uh so I won't be recording. So that should give you guys plenty of time to play the if you get to it easily.
SPEAKER_00I I have to beat so I have to go away next week uh for work as well. And I'm like, I have to beat the DLC before I go away. So I either need to like mainline the DLC or it's gonna have to wait like two weeks. Because that's gonna be a difficult one to start and then stop and come back to later. I do have a portal. It it works really well, but traveling in hotels it's always a challenge. Just usually because of the hotel Wi-Fi and connecting.
SPEAKER_02I also have a week to try to beat it because that comes out and then Dawn Trail comes out the following Friday for early access. So I either have a week to beat it or I have a week to get into it, and then I have something to play while I'm waiting to log into Final Fantasy 14.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, you're in the queue. You're like, all right, I'll fight this boss.
SPEAKER_02There's 18,000 people in front of you in the queue. Okay, I will go play Elden Ring.
SPEAKER_01That's right.
SPEAKER_02But I'm on vacation the week after that, so plenty of time to do that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, lots of vacation, lots of travel. Alright, well, we'll go ahead and wrap it up there for this episode. So thank you for all tune in. Thank you, Izzy. Thank you, Zah, for joining. And we'll see you all next time.