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2025 in Preview
18 Plays4 months ago
Join Dave and Jake as they look ahead to the most anticipated games coming out this year!
Intro:
- Sonic CD - Metallic Madness (Good Future) [JP/PAL]
Outro:
- Sonic CD - Metallic Madness (Present) [JP/PAL]
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Transcript
Episode Introduction and Dave's Health Check-In
00:00:32
Speaker
How's it going, everyone? Welcome to another episode of Soapstone. My name is Jake, and I'm joined by my co-host is always Dave. How's it going today, Dave? Terrible. Yeah. It's a new day. I'm still feeling sick from a couple days earlier. no Hope it clears up. It's not been so bad, but I don't want to really be around other people, possibly get them sick. Right.
00:00:55
Speaker
That's good. I mean, that's that's better than wanting to be around other people in order to get them sick. Take my plane. Yeah. Oh, speaking of, I saw Nosferatu.
Nosferatu: Themes and Personal Anecdotes
00:01:08
Speaker
Oh yeah? How was that? And that is, it was good. um I don't usually watch horror movies. um We originally were playing around with the idea of watching it Christmas day when it came out, because apparently In the story, it is Christmas. oh um So it's that's it's like thematic or whatever. um But we saw it on Saturday and it was pretty good. um Related to the plague, because the plague is a factor in the character of Nosferatu. It's like a plague plague vampire guy, but rats. Rats. Rats, rats. We are rats. They got that in there. It's been just barely, but you know.
00:01:48
Speaker
I think at some point when I was in high school, I was starting to grow my hair out from just that standard buzz cut that I had had my entire life. Um, and then at a certain point, someone's like, Oh, you look like Willard. And I'm like, the fuck does that mean? I've never met somebody named Willard. Um, so i then after researching a little bit, Willard is I guess it was just a movie, maybe it was a story first, but a guy who could basically control rats. And when a certain romantic interest does not seem as interested, you know, it's like the the scorned guy. OK, he's like, Oh, I should murder, murder everybody with my rat powers. So I think it's a lot of stuff like that. um Yeah.
00:02:34
Speaker
But also kind of in a plague tale, specifically plague, um that kid is also controlling swarms of rats. Yeah, so it's a theme. An interesting superpower to have. Yeah, I was going to say I would not have taken Dishonored as seriously if the protagonist was named Willard.
00:02:54
Speaker
yeah um Oh yeah, I guess there's rats in that too. Yeah. Corvo. I mean, still just Crow, but sounds way better than Willard. Yes. Especially given the the setting, but. Also doesn't even sound right. Willard. Willard. Yeah.
00:03:15
Speaker
It sounds like someone's making it. This is a generator. This is an AI generated name. Yeah, it's like when we mix ah William and Turd together, we got Willard. Yeah, I was going to say Richard, but Turd isn't even better.
Elden Ring Night Rain and Gaming Anticipation
00:03:29
Speaker
But yeah, um we'll see, you know, rap powers could be good. I would say I i would say that well i going to say so Corvo Corvo used his rap powers for good.
00:03:43
Speaker
more than Nosferatu did but that's not strictly true that's player deterministic um you could you could do a lot of bad things with rats in that game if you wanted to i guess what did Nosferatu do with rats if it's not spoiling the movie um i mean i guess it's a minor spoiler but it's not gonna matter and also i mean the movie's been out for like a hundred years years. Yeah. So like, like actually, um, but unleashes, unleashes a plague basically via plague ship that he arrives on. Um, and then the, the ending of the movie is basically dealing with and somehow resolving the threat.
00:04:27
Speaker
of Nosferatu and the plague that he's unleashed on the city. But like, honestly, the coolest thing about um the movie is like a lot of the visuals for it. There are some scenes that are just like, it's so trite and cliche, like the whole like every frame of paint or every frame of painting type thing. But there were some of them I was like, this absolutely could just be ah on a wall somewhere. It's very, very pretty or striking.
00:04:52
Speaker
um So I recommend it for that. Check it out at some point. In movies. yeah um But also a horror movie. So I don't watch that many of those. And it it takes more effort for me to watch a horror movie than any other kind. I would need to watch it with people um and at home, not in the theater. Yeah. In case I need to pee in my pants.
00:05:20
Speaker
We were the furthest away. We were in the very back row. So we had the most distance. Yes, exactly. Nobody can be behind you biting you is all the same. Uh-huh. Except maybe the person who's in the projector booth. They're dangling down, hanging on by their toes.
00:05:38
Speaker
Yeah, I was kind of curious based off of what I've been hearing and like little snippets of the substance. And that's been a ah horrible year of 2024. Um, I had somebody give me the, the overall spoiler synopsis for long legs. And that one did not seem remotely and interesting. The name doesn't inspire anything. No, it's like, I think of daddy long legs, the not spider creature. Um,
00:06:15
Speaker
So yeah, I don't know. ah those are all Those are all last year's problems. We've escaped that. um Goodbye, 2024. I'll never have to deal with the impact or your ramifications again. and Exactly. Exactly. All decisions, it's like a telltale game. All the decisions that were made in 2024, none of them matter. None of those will have any impact on what happens in 2025. Meanwhile, everybody in the world was like, we're going to remember that.
00:06:48
Speaker
This is a strict no politics zone. We don't i mean never talk politics here. It's only video games all the time. um So video games all the time. ah Clearly, you know we're always looking toward the future. We love or never live in the here and now. Anything spicy on your list for next year.
00:07:10
Speaker
I mean, one of the biggest things that I'm still very hyped about is going to be Elden Ring Night Rain, which was debuted, previewed at the Game Awards, and it's going to be an Elden Ring co-op roguelike with a shrinking zone. yeah It's this kind of the Battle Royale bubble, but none of the other aspects of ah Battle Royale.
00:07:35
Speaker
But I'm very curious to see one, what the fuck that's going to be. Yeah. um Two, if it does well, because obviously like from soft stuff, I would like to see their things do well. And then where it kind of goes after that, because they've said they don't want to like do Dark Souls again. But then Elden Ring, which was kind of like Is it this kind of super dark souls? So I'm fine if they keep changing environments as long as they keep good tight core gameplay as they have with armor core as well. Right. But really, I'm just hoping it's another good entry in their catalog. Yeah. But that's probably my spiciest one is Night Rain. How about you? I mean, Night Rain is also going to be the spiciest.
00:08:18
Speaker
um I mean, the other ones, the other ones are things that like maybe the perspective games are would be the ones I'd be most hyped for. So like, perhaps, I mean, Silksong can't be delayed forever. Oh, prospect. Okay. Yes.
00:08:33
Speaker
um but What did I say? you said I heard you say perspective, and I was like, ah which point of view are you referring to? Yes. I am never myself. I use someone else's eyes for this. um But yeah, I mean, it would be bad it would be great if we could escape the meme and Silksong could actually be released. It's not made by Valve. Huh? It's not made by Valve. like There's a chance, right? There's still a chance? Yeah.
00:09:01
Speaker
I think they're going to. ah The thing that still upsets me the most is every fucking day. Someone has a new article about Silksong and oh, it's not here yet. But oh, here's why it's good. still I don't care. It'll happen when it happens. Stop yeah speculating all the time. um Yeah. But yeah, I would love for that to come out. um And I would love to play through it and then watch a video on all the lore implications I missed because boy howdy am I going to. um Yeah. But um a big thing since a lot of these games that are coming out in 2025 are successors or sequels. Yeah. It's previous entries in an IP is um what are they going to add or do differently?
00:09:49
Speaker
Because they need to stand out from their first one to be like it's this is distinctive Right, but it still needs to be similar enough to be like, ah, these are the same universe. This is a continuation Right. I mean, I know we already talked about night rain and there was an attempt to move to the next game but that's where night rain should get points right cuz like I, there are so many, apparently FromSoft made a bunch of games. I learned, um, last week, I think that they, uh, had a game not called Elden Ring. It was called like, um, it's like, it's not elder. It's like oldest ring or something like that, but it's one of their old games and their catalog. Um, and I'd never played that. I never played any of the PS two stuff. It seems like they hit a point where it's like, okay, everything that they make beyond this point is fire.
00:10:40
Speaker
And some people might argue Demon's Souls. I have got impressions from Dave about Demon's Souls, so I would argue Dark Souls. But like um they haven't really missed since then. And even when they branch out to like Armored Core, that's still kind of their wheelhouse. It's just a wheeled house that they had to like dust off, get all the cobwebs out, clean it up for guests.
00:11:07
Speaker
um But they've still done a really good job. And this is the first time they're like, what if we just launched an idea into the void and like attached some things to it and made a game? um Honestly, yeah. When I looked up, they're like, hey, what is this game exactly? Because from the previews, I didn't get a great idea. They're like, oh, it's a co-op roguelike.
00:11:30
Speaker
um Yeah, I read all the words they think I was like hey, is it early access open world? yeah felt Wrong to say um But here's the thing You find new ideas from just like trying stuff and sometimes it fucking sticks and you won't really know until the public receives it But to loop this back to the point we're talking about I think to your point Elden ring night ring is a good successor because It's taking Elden Ring stuff for the most part. It's saying like, hey, it's going to be in this format. But they as we've seen, as they showed one single boss from Dark Souls 3, I'm like, oh, my God, it could be any boss. It could be anything. It could be new stuff. um So that's part of where the excitement is, especially since they've really been tuning um the mechanics of stuff.
00:12:25
Speaker
You know what? You know what? One of the things makes me excited. This is one of the good flag indicators for the game being focused on fun and instead of like other shenanigans. Yeah. Is I was like, OK, they they confirm that there's no horse. People won't ride horses. I'm like, all right, well, that seems like it would suck if you got to move really fast. What are you doing to make up for that? And anyway, you run fast. You just run really fast.
00:12:52
Speaker
That's that's the alternative. It's like, oh, can you imagine the first people who faced like mounted combat in the field or whatever? They're like, oh, we need a solution to this. What if we just run really fast, gain the ability to just run up walls and stuff like that? And that's what they're doing for a night rain.
00:13:10
Speaker
i but but bam and but yeah Spin dash not confirmed, but heavily implied based off. I mean, they have those fucking electric sheep. Don't tell me the code doesn't exist. It's true. Yeah, it's right there. I mean, actually, I already have an animation when you use that power, but that's true. That's the that everyone gets that. That's just what happens if you sprint out of combat. At least it'd be funny. It wouldn't be actually be cool. It would be hilarious. OK, now I'm good now.
00:13:41
Speaker
So we're excited um jointly for Night Rain. Night Rain. I hope so. Is that safe to say? Yes. As we talked about it frequently across episodes. I know. It's sort of a meme at this point. There's actually there's there's a good list of games here that I'm sort of excited for. um We'll hit maybe with another one. What you got? um So at some point, we're going to have to address that some of these games are going into early access next year. So I'm excluding those.
00:14:09
Speaker
Um, because I don't think I'm going to play them at launch. Like I'm waiting on Hades two. If I'm waiting on Hades two, I'm not like jumping into subnautica two on drop. Right. Um, that is one. I mentioned it, but not directly. So that's fine. Um, I'll be waiting for that one probably to actually launch because everyone else can do all the beta testing for me. I'll just enjoy the game. if Um, ghost of Yotei.
00:14:39
Speaker
I don't know how to pronounce that, but I think Yotei. Yotei. That was kind of one of the
Open World Games: Innovation and Fatigue
00:14:44
Speaker
the standouts for me. I wonder if they're going to do the same thing. They probably are releasing it to PlayStation first. um But like Ghost of Tsushima was such a good game. Yes. It was really stand out for it brought me back to open world because I think this was before Elderwing when it came out. Mm hmm. That sounds right.
00:15:07
Speaker
But yeah, everything was just so beautiful. And the things that you were doing for like minor challenges, your little things along the way did not feel bad. yeah um They felt interesting and unique. And then if you're like, Hey, where do I go? You kind of swipe up on the little pad on your PlayStation controller and the wind blows in the direction you should go. Yeah, there's lots of things affected by wind aka Everything's tall grass um Or a lotus flowers. Yeah, and it looks it looks gorgeous
00:15:40
Speaker
It was, I want to jump on that and it looks gorgeous because that was actually so many times I do not care about graphics and games. yeah I'll be completely honest. Like if your game can make it to my computer faster, if you turn off the graphics, a lot of the times I just prefer that um because good graphics have been done. And are you really competing with the best of them? Ghost of Tsushima was like, we absolutely can. This is one of the games that's going to make you grateful for all of the hardware in your system. And that's pretty rare for me these days. I'm I'm a I'm an old man. I don't care for new experiences. But like Ghost of Tsushima is that it is. Yeah, it's if it wasn't, it should have been one of their like launching with a PlayStation type games because it really looks so good. Yeah. um
00:16:37
Speaker
It must have been far later in the ps4 lifecycle because this is prior to ps5 and ps4 has been around for like 30 years at this point. So Like feel like it probably came out shortly before the ps pro. I don't know ps4 pro Yeah, but i'm curious to see what they're going to change in that. Yeah because I mean, honestly, if they just made a new story and like same thing, I don't know if I would be necessarily drawn ah to pick it up. But as I am now a PlayStation boy, um I've always been I've always been a Sony fan boy. You know that. Right. And with my PS5, I might consider picking it up. Right. But again, it needs to do something more than the first.
00:17:27
Speaker
they can't they can't fucking pull a uh here's your here's the kingdom underground I think I think we have slightly different like expectation lines for that. Like, so I enjoyed Tears of the Kingdom. They do some different things. It is pretty samey to Breath of the Wild. um But honestly, the lunch that I think that Ghost of Tsushima ate like the most for me is in the Ubisoft space, like in the Far Cry in the Assassin's Creed. Yeah. like how do you take an open world game and you actually make it interesting? They just did all of that stuff better. Even when the things are the same, it's like, oh, do you have a ranged, perhaps a dart based attack that causes enemies to attack one another who you can use from stealth? Like this has been in Assassin's Creed and Far Cry and whatever for like forever as part of their standard set in stone. ah Like here's how you assault an outpost playbook, right?
00:18:28
Speaker
But it just felt better in Ghost of Tsushima and so they literally just ate their lunch. I'm... I would be fine if it was... Not to just say more of the same minor improvements and things like that on top of it. um For one more game, they get one more. Once you get to three, then you're then you're starting to look a little bit like Ubisoft with a pretty coat of paint. That's true. That's true. um Well, I'm glad that you mentioned that because another thing coming out in 2025 is going to be Assassin's Creed six, which seems very
00:19:03
Speaker
Very inspired by ghosts of Tsushima. Yeah. I don't know if they can land that. I mean, I again, I'm an old man. I'm crotchety.
00:19:16
Speaker
um I'm not really big on series that like keep going. Yeah. um So like I've never been a far cry person. I've never been an Assassin's Creed person. I mean, fuck Ubisoft as a whole. But those things just I didn't really latch onto them outside of Assassin's Creed 2. Right. which Which is good. That's you.
00:19:39
Speaker
it's your thought yeah We were memeing on Ezio being in all these other situations because Ezio is the most iconic one. and Yeah, um definitely stood out as a ah fun game.
00:19:52
Speaker
but Yeah, I think those games will have kind of like their core art audience, like the ride or die people who I'm waiting for the next installment of this thing. I love this thing. I just want more of it. Yeah. And then, I mean, I'm definitely going to consider myself a picky son of a bitch who I don't want to play most things and I need to find like those little oh, maybe I can salvage enjoyment from something. Maybe this game. Yes, yes, yes. I mean, that's fair. I do think that's fair.
00:20:25
Speaker
I also I had to fact-check this one thing because it can't we can't get can't give Ubisoft anything um There i have been 14 mainline game entries and the Assassin's Creed franchise I'm not talking about your mobile games. I'm not talking about your spin-offs mainline games brother wine Yeah with shadows being the 14th so 13 if you weren't counting that but like I Yeah, saying it's like Assassin's Creed 4, there's a lot of things between Assassin's Creed 2, Assassin's Creed 3, and 4. Like, I think 2 led into 3, which I believe was like Black Flag. Now I've closed the window so I can't check myself, but... um
00:21:09
Speaker
Yeah, it's been a long time coming and It's the call of duty problem.
GTA and Metal Gear Solid: Impact and Remakes
00:21:15
Speaker
Yeah at a certain point I'm not giving you credit unless stop copying your own homework, right? Like you you you have not changed enough things And I hope they go some shush SEMA can or in this case. Yeah, yo, yo, okay. you Okay. Okay um can Do a little bit more there. I have more faith in them than Ubisoft. Is that fair to say, I guess? That's the type of thing that is fair to say.
00:21:41
Speaker
ah So what about other things that are kind of like long? I don't want to say long-running titles, but like they've gotten past three. Like how do you feel about GTA six? That's a pretty high number. It's not it's not Assassin's Creed 14, but ah um it's a pretty high number.
00:22:02
Speaker
i think I think GTA is is, I don't think they have a confirmed release date, but then they've obviously started releasing information about it, trailers and stuff like that. It's not just leaks now. It wouldn't surprise me if we got a release date for next year. um It also wouldn't surprise me if we got a confirmed re release date for the following year. um But I will admit, GTA, I enjoy it.
00:22:29
Speaker
It is a bigger thing for other people. Like there are, there's a, there's a lot of people out there to whom GTA is their MMO. Um, like GTA online. There's a lot of GTA five online videos that I've seen on YouTube.
00:22:47
Speaker
It's like once, once you get to the phase of community development to where there's now like role play servers and stuff like that, I'm like, okay, this is, this is a pretty advanced community and GTA got to that. Um.
00:23:04
Speaker
But I mean, I'm curious because we we were talking about how Ubisoft kind of phones at home a little bit with some of these changes. And I feel bad saying that because they like they do have a lot of hardworking people, fewer than they had in the past because of all the layoffs. um But GTA, like they like to just inject as much possible production value. I said GTA, but Rockstar. As much production value as they possibly can into any game that they actually make these days. so
00:23:39
Speaker
I mean, yeah, it seems like it's kind of their baby game or a series because if I was pretty well received and I know they're looking to add a lot of stuff in for six and it's going to be on, I assume latest gen hardware. Yeah. And I think it's really going to hit big. I don't know if it's going to become like game of the year, but I think it's widely anticipated. Yeah. I think this was GTA 5 was on for some reason when I was looking earlier at like the most purchased games of all time or whatever, highest grossing games, only GTA was up there. It was like top 10 I think.
00:24:24
Speaker
um So i I fully expect that when this game comes out, people who did not buy a latest generation Xbox or PlayStation or whatever, they might buy one for this game. Like GTA is a big deal. Yeah. Um, it's okay for me though. It may not be a, may not be a day one. I mean, I'm in a similar boat, but yeah. Um,
00:24:48
Speaker
It could be different if they're like, Hey, play GTA and multiplayer, like for the story or something like that. Cause I could actually see that being hilarious or like very cool.
00:25:00
Speaker
um I haven't put that much thought to that though. That's top of the noggin idea. Saints Row did it, but it's also like an arcade game. GTA is like more serious. I cannot really cite my multiplayer experience brief, although it was as any type of thing towards Saints Row.
00:25:22
Speaker
we Did have technical difficulties. There's a lot of fucking I don't think I got more than like two minutes into the game Yeah, I actually had forgotten that we even played that together at all until yeah of Um, it was a very brief time. Um, yeah. But yeah, I think a lot of the appeal of GTA is just, again, it was an early open game where it's like, what do you want to do? Go do it. Yeah. Do you want to steal this car, listen to this music and like,
00:25:53
Speaker
Has some cops chased you? Go nuts. Do you want the the the windows to dim as you pay somebody for sex in a non-explicit interaction? um like You don't see anything, but it's all implied. Yeah, your parents ah your parents didn't realize this was in the game. Of course they didn't. How could they? um Australia will ban this.
00:26:17
Speaker
That's what I'm looking forward to. Everything that we talk about being banned in Australia. That's my bingo card for 2025. Yeah, I think this is going to be like the most accessible RP type of game. Yeah, I think so. um What about Metal Gear Solid? What would it what would it take to get you to play the Snake Eater remake? metal Metal Gear Solid Delta?
00:26:47
Speaker
All right, I have a list. I have a list of demands. Free Kojima. With Kojima not being there, I mean, obviously they're going to be like, hey, we're going to make the same game, but updated. yeah And I loved Metal Gear Solid 3. That is... one of two I played, but it was my first entry ever. And it was very fun, very unique ah compared to what I had played before. And I have like an attachment to it. Every time I climb a ladder, not in real life, mind you, that never happens. But in any video game, there's always like the, oh, it's classic me, but.
00:27:32
Speaker
um
00:27:34
Speaker
Yeah, I don't really know what they would add for me to be like, yeah, let me give Konami my money. Yeah. um Because it would be kind of cool to play Metal Gear Solid 3 again. But I'm not there's not that much of a pull for me to want to play it again versus it kind of like living in a happy place several, several many, many years back. Right.
00:28:01
Speaker
You know the only thing that complicates this for me is like how well done the ah Silent Hill 2 remake was. um like I really wanted that to be a little bit worse.
00:28:16
Speaker
ah um Cause they got, it was well received and they, they innovated in some spaces for the game to like make the combat literally playable and other changes that like they make sense to make, yeah but they also made them. And so I don't know, like a lot of, a lot of effort went into that. Like apparently puzzles and things got remixed and maybe I'm giving credit to the developer.
00:28:41
Speaker
more than the publisher, right? Like, maybe this was not, oh, Konami getting right back on the track. They need to be on. Maybe it's like, oh, they actually just found the super fans for the original game, and then they happen to be able to make a game as well. um I don't know if it's a similar situation for our Metal Gear Solid. um You mean like people within the company are like, Metal Gear Solid 3 was the best thing we ever put out. We need to do that again.
00:29:10
Speaker
Yeah, I guess I don't know like if this is in-house development or if they're grabbing a different studio because that's kind of what they did for Silent Hill 2. I think it was like Bloober Team or whatever, Bloober Team. I think it's Bloober Team.
00:29:26
Speaker
Can never remember exactly. And everyone that I talked to says the name too fast because they're also not confident in what their actual name little the blue bloom is. a blu but blu Blubber team. Yeah, but b blur blubber, blubber. But I don't know for Metal Gear Rising. yeah Outside the Konami.
00:29:48
Speaker
i There is a part of me that's like, oh, the younger generation by like 10 years, other people will be able to experience this game without it being as janky. But Metal Gear Solid still has a lot of quirks and like silly things about it. Yeah. Like making and one of the bosses poop to death.
00:30:13
Speaker
it's It's just stuff like that. like It doesn't exist anywhere else and like I'm there for it. Right. um This is for the Scibbity toilet generation is what you're saying? Yes.
00:30:25
Speaker
Yes, yes, I should say. But I hope they don't change anything with some of the characters. I should say all the characters, they're pretty iconic as a part of as far as their role in the ongoing war i and like trying to use this technology.
00:30:48
Speaker
I don't know. I liked Volgin. Yeah, I like that he was a crazy motherfucker. This whole series, they made him gay and it was just like a footnote as opposed to, hey, everybody, who what we did this? It's just like, hey, there's a person who just has a different sexuality than. Yeah, that's a good representation. Yeah. Yeah.
00:31:14
Speaker
Now, he was a villain. um So as all gay men are, obviously, you know, shooting lightning out of their hands. It's advanced. scar but Yeah, i I hope it stays as true to the original. um And I don't know, I really would like to.
00:31:34
Speaker
have Kojima involved in any way, shape or form or him be given credit because fuck Konami. That's fair. I think that's entirely fair. The reason I want this to succeed to some extent is so they'll continue to remaster the games, which eventually maybe I'll play. I will see. But eventually they'll get up to MGS five.
00:31:53
Speaker
where, if you remember, Kojima has a cameo as one of the characters that can be saved. And I just want to have Konami release the remaster and then have to make the decision of whether to have Kojima's likeness in the game still.
Fable and Doom: Remakes and Innovations
00:32:10
Speaker
This is a 30-year plan, basically, to see the light of day. But I'm curious what they would do. That would be funny. um Yeah.
00:32:20
Speaker
ah Let's see, what else we got up this year? Fable? Fable, yeah. This one kind of like passed under my radar. I didn't realize they were remaking Fable. There was a ah trailer before that like some other game event and it looked pretty. It didn't show any actual gameplay. Yeah. So I think that's why a lot of people like just put it on the shelf mentally. Yeah. I liked Fable one. I enjoyed that. Yeah.
00:32:50
Speaker
And I haven't played other Fables. If you played the PC releases of Fable, ah there's a lot fewer to choose from. It's a lot of those stayed on Xbox. Yeah. But yeah, I enjoyed it. It was just simple um RPG type stuff.
00:33:12
Speaker
I just remember being fun. Yeah. Outside of like the escort missions. It was just like, oh, here's a fun game where I can do. I can hit enemies. I can shoot them. But again, it was earlier days. Yeah. It was also nice to try and mess with your stats to get into certain areas more to buy out everyone's house, to rent stuff, to make money. to that I own this entire village. A lot of things like that. It was fun to like experiment and play around with. um You really don't even know what it falls under now. Yeah. I had a third-person action RPG, but that's almost any game that exists. I enjoyed Fable. I think for me, Fable was also some of my early exposure to British humor, and sometimes I just didn't get it.
00:34:03
Speaker
um And other times I was like surprised by how quickly dark it could go. You're just like, oh, you want to marry this lady? Well, you have to kill her sister because that's what she wants you to do or whatever. um And ah other just random things. There's a there's like there's there was a stone um and you had to hit different letters on the stone to guess the like spirit who's inhabiting them, whatever, whatever their name is. I think it was one of the talking doors.
00:34:32
Speaker
You have to hit the stone hit the letters on the stone. And the letters on the stones were T, I, S, and H. And so there's a voice line if you pick the word that you would have picked. And it's just it's special. They like just recorded it just like that. The the guy like sounds it all out and then just says the word monotone, repeats it once, and then no follow up.
00:35:00
Speaker
It was just entirely on you. to to It's like, hey, you the player, you picked a swear word. You did. I'm reminding you, you picked a swear word. um His name was Hitz, which people would get later because that's not like a name for a person, but I guess the first one isn't either.
00:35:17
Speaker
Um, so there's your game facts and for maybe it'll make it into the fable remake. I wonder if they're going to, cause I didn't play the other titles. So if you have, please let me know, have they kept morality, that morality system throughout the games?
00:35:34
Speaker
I think that like I, so I haven't played the others, but I know that they did to a certain extent. Like one of them was around like making decisions for a kingdom. I think you were a king in that one, um, or queen, I guess. And the, um,
00:35:50
Speaker
But that was kind of like macro scale. It wasn't the same as like, do you eat baby chickens, which is something you could do in the original fable. Um, or you could get fat. One of the doors needed you to get fat. whole like It was so weird. Yeah. I, I really don't know what to expect. Um, I hope it's good. Yeah.
00:36:15
Speaker
A lot of these games, like when we're talking about the remat the ream remakes, I guess they're not really for me, per se. like I played Fable Lost Chapters, which is just the version for a PC with a DLC and all that stuff, and I'm basically good on that. I guess I don't need the same Fable game. It would have to be different.
00:36:33
Speaker
um But, on the other hand, for people who have never played these games, it's hard to recommend the old Fable game. like It has that Xbox 360 with the full Duke controller type jank. Yeah. um I guess that's the original Xbox. But like that old game jank. And i'm like I couldn't really recommend it. And if they can if they can make it better for a modern yeah audience, then cool. I think a big struggle of a lot of these older games is, hey, do you want to have a fixed camera? And I'm like, is that going to affect how I move? And they're like, uh-huh.
00:37:11
Speaker
ah don't think about it don't yeah Don't worry about it. oh It'll bounce around if you get near a ledge or something like that. That's what you want to happen. Yeah, it's just I hope with the progression of technology and things have been coming out in other games that it at least keeps that yeah weird to be like, oh, we have all these modern things that we've figured out solutions for in gaming. And then to be like, oh, but we kept this one thing that's like legacy from four years ago to the bad system. We've created it or changed it anyway, and we've chosen not to.
00:37:49
Speaker
Yeah, they do like to do that sometimes as well um Another one now another game coming out next year um Old or maybe not old depending on how you interpret it but doom the dark ages How are you feeling about more doom? Could you hop into the the suit of the Doom Slayer one more time or are you all slate out?
00:38:16
Speaker
I feel pretty slayed out. um If it was on sale, maybe. I mean, Doom 2016 and the following titles, yeah they play super well. like I know we talked about it in the episode, but The music, the way the animations do. Animations do. They do, though. You're not wrong. You're shooting your gun. You're ripping out somebody's spine. and You're sending somebody on fire to get their armor. You're doing all of these things, and it kind of just everything weaves together nicely. Yeah. um In an ideal situation. And it's just the tone of that game and everything that fits in universe, it's just super tight. like Yeah.
00:39:02
Speaker
He's like, hey, our main thing is killing demons, so we're going to make that badass and fun. And you're like, yeah. It's just like, what if, I mean, again, like you said, we talked about it in the episode, but especially for Doom 2016, it's just an ego trip. It's like, what if we just, everything that we do is tailored to make you feel like an absolute badass? Like, there is nothing but that.
00:39:27
Speaker
um And occasionally there's tough enemies and maybe it's difficult at times, but when you get that winning run, you looked like a bad arse, like all the way through, right? Like retreat and wait to regenerate health was not a thing in doom. So it's like, Hey, um,
00:39:46
Speaker
I'm just imagining like the Doombringer next to his dad looking out at like a field of demons. it' like It's like, hey, son, you have to go and kill these. It's like, but what if I need health and ammo? And he just kind of like lightly gestures his arms and says, you will find everything you Mother Nature will provide. Exactly, right? Use all parts of the demon. Something like that, I think, is good for that type of game because like we want to encourage you to kill more demons. How can you do that? ah You have these resources. Oh, the ammo is limited. Well, you can get them from killing demons. So it all checks out. Yeah. Use the use your little chainsaw thing makes them explode in a pinata.
00:40:29
Speaker
um um My fear for this is so I haven't played the I played doom eternal But I didn't play the DLC for it and it's still on a backlog somewhere But it's in that space where the backlog is beginning to fray and join with like the surrounding aether It's like it might not ever happen um and my fear for doom the dark ages is what are they doing differently? Like, what's the hook? What's the interesting thing about this? Or is this just exactly more doom, right? um Because I was kind of more interested in the the overarching, it's weird to say the overarching plot for doom, but kind of, sort of, ah Dr. Samuel Hayden.
00:41:15
Speaker
Um, but I don't know what they're doing differently here to kind of like mix it up a little bit. Or is this just more doom, right? Is this a, is this an, a map pack essentially? Yeah. It needs to be more than that. I'm trying to think what they added in Doom Eternal. They added the, uh, the swing bars, I think in Doom Eternal.
00:41:35
Speaker
Yeah, like some verticality to them. Yeah. There's definitely more verticality in Doom Eternal, which was nice. And then you also were like, we're doing like these jump dash puzzles to platform around.
00:41:46
Speaker
um I mean, I know they kind of touted the chainsaw shield ramp and like some other stuff. Um, they introduced the marauders. So that was a mistake. The worst, not the episode, but, um, yeah, I would like to see what they do because right now it does kind of look like a,
00:42:10
Speaker
They just kind of waved the skin like, it's old in time. Yeah. I'm like, OK. I put my finger on it. Wolfenstein. That's the reason I'm concerned about Doom. Yeah. Because I'm concerned it's on the same trajectory. It's just going to jump as many sharks as it can in rapid succession. And I'll no longer be interested.
00:42:32
Speaker
um Hopefully not. Co-op, there you go. Add co-op to Doom. There's two Doomslayers now. Easy peasy. I'm so sad as the sentence keeps going on. yeah
00:42:45
Speaker
No, no, no, okay. Co-op, Doom Slayer, and Isabel from Animal Crossing. There you go. I've done it. One billion copies sold.
Borderlands and Humor in Games
00:42:56
Speaker
Um, it would be funny if Nintendo also was like, Hey, we're going to do another animal crossing thing. ah That would be incredible. Um, how do you feel? I mean, I asked this in the same format. Um, uh, why is border lands for a bad game to pick up this year? Oh, um, border lands three was probably.
00:43:23
Speaker
not as widely well received as Borderlands 2 was. That's correct. Which is unfortunate because Borderlands 3 was obviously the newer updated. Better game functionally, I would imagine, at least as far as graphics and gameplay. But I guess they kind of lost got lost in the sauce as far as the story, the humor, the writing. um And they've had good writing in the past. Yeah.
00:43:52
Speaker
Like I remember when Borderlands 1 came out, like that tone was something that we hadn't really seen in video games where things were a little crazy. People could swear and you could murder somebody's guts out and you have like these crazy guns.
00:44:08
Speaker
um
00:44:10
Speaker
But yeah, I haven't really tracked the progression of the Borderlands games as much. Yeah. Because it's still very much a looter shooter. But the main reason I would want to be there is for someone like the anecdotes, like the environment really. Because I feel like the guns shoot, so you're now left with class abilities and the world and your story.
00:44:38
Speaker
But I mean, like I think part of that is actually the issue with Borderlands, is it hasn't done anything other than that. And like the class abilities can be fun. And they a lot of times, they have interesting class ability like classes. But the ones that I remember the most are literally DLC for like Borderlands 2. Is this name Krieger, I think? Something like that.
00:45:00
Speaker
Yeah, the, uh, the psycho, his whole mechanic is all about like taking damage or damaging himself or, uh, going into the dying state so that he can run at somebody with like a pipe bomb and blow them up. And then if he blows somebody up, he keeps living like all this other, like insane gameplay or like the macro answer, which is a great name. Um, and like.
00:45:25
Speaker
All of these all these cool ideas, um but they just really haven't changed much about the game since Borderlands 2. It felt like the last time that they really they really did something. And that they innovated. Yeah, and like this comes out anytime we're talking about Borderlands, but like Handsome Jack was basically the that was the peak of their writing and even they acknowledge it by continuing to have him be, Oh, you want to play like borderlands, the pre-sequel or whatever. Okay. You can play as like a handsome Jack, like doppelganger or whatever, like a bodyguard, a body double, I think it is. And you're like, yeah, I mean, that's kind of funny, but
00:46:07
Speaker
All of these, all paths lead back to Rome and Rome is handsome Jack and you know, butt stallion. Um, and yeah, I just, they just, they just really haven't innovated at all. Like mechanically, it's still just random guns. And if you're invested in the story, then great. But for the most part, it hasn't been.
00:46:30
Speaker
too much of that and they throw in more pop culture references. That's something that always immediately ages like the day after. um I think they had like influencers be the enemies for one of them or something like that. And it's like in Borderlands three. um Yeah, they were essentially using like social media to kind of promote their group. And it's like um It's like subscribe and obey. Subscribe, like and obey. Like and obey. That's what it was. Yeah. Like that's cool is like a box art thing. That's cool is like a one off thing. But like to have that be like the full theme you're leaning into feels kind of weird because nobody else in the universe has ever talked about social media or a type of stuff. It also does kind of age a little bit because
00:47:26
Speaker
I can't say in 15, 20 years, we're not going to have Instagram influencers or anything like that, but it's like if you played a game and they had a MySpace reference, you're like, really? Do you have a MySpace reference in your game? Like that's what it's going to be like. Right. It can. If it's something that's like.
00:47:45
Speaker
of the times. Like if you have a game, it's like, hey, this is based around like mid 2000s. Yes. OK, cool. Put that stuff in to be like, this is time accurate. um Otherwise, it makes more sense to do timeless.
00:48:01
Speaker
Jokes, right? Yeah, like I don't want to be there. Do I need to bring up the fucking three stooges or like other people are like just doing silent comedy? There are certain things that are universally funny, like situations that like, oh, everyone being comfortable in the situation um that you can lean into or play upon and do stuff with. Without being like.
00:48:25
Speaker
Oh, that just hit me in the ear. What up? Like kind from what he just from the paper. Yeah. and News from 2025 or whatever, right? Yeah. it's There's so many ways you can work around it. Like for a day. You're like, Oh, I remember that. And then if you like play the game like 10 years later, you're like.
00:48:44
Speaker
Oh, okay. Yeah. Well, it's because it's a reference to reality. Right. And a game should be able to stand on its own. Like when playing Borderlands, I want to learn about Pandora. I want to learn about the moons. I want to learn about the corporations and stuff because it's not Earth. Right. And if you go like introduce all of these tropes that are literally just Earth.
00:49:06
Speaker
It's not maybe it is relating to me directly or something like that. But the cost is I'm thinking of Earth when you do that. Right. I feel like there's a better way to approach it with kind of satire or parody. Yeah, you can still hit some like, hey, here's some real life events that happens, but maybe show them in game universe. Right. Yeah. Maybe it happens with like these same characters. You're like, oh, I can kind of apply this to really I see the parallels, you know.
00:49:36
Speaker
Yeah. i mean i just being Remember that thing? Guys, it was really funny. you Remember that thing? That was a good voice. That was impressive. Thank you. I i took it from Veggie Tales a long time ago and I'm like, oh, I can do this at parties. i Yeah, I mean they already have they already have that right like they have the corporations they have how people interact honestly the the heights of Borderlands writing are closer to like the old fallout Where it's just like absurd things will happen and then tragedy can strike and to have that it did They're just like I'm waiting for the funny moment. Here's the fun. That's not funny at all. Oh Geez ah beans. That's
00:50:19
Speaker
And like, if you're a multiplayer laughing and joking around and stuff, and you're like, that was a character that I liked from the previous game. I don't like this anymore, right? Like that takes, it takes strength in writing and the the ability to like understand breadth and what the type of storytelling you're trying to tell.
00:50:44
Speaker
And I don't feel like they have it anymore. But maybe, maybe I'm wrong. I didn't play the pre-sequel. I remember nothing from three other than the influencers, so I guess that was the standout for me. um I mean, Randy Pitchford seems really on board with Borderlands 4, so maybe that's your tale. I think he also really liked...
00:51:07
Speaker
Oh, crap. I can't remember the name. Bulletstorm. That's what it was. um they had a Is that right? I think that's right. It was the the score game. You like run around and like kick people into cactuses and blow stuff up. It was like combos based off all these kills and things. It was a flop. Didn't do very well. But it was also made by Gearbox.
00:51:28
Speaker
um We'll see. The trailer, all of that negativity, the trailer for four actually had a slightly more serious tone, which gave me a little bit of hope, actually. And it's also been a while. So this is sort of like, if it had been a while since Call of Duty came out, do you think that they could come out with something different?
Switch 2 and Metroid Prime 4 Speculations
00:51:47
Speaker
Maybe in the future you'd have a little bit more hope. Maybe not a lot, but a little bit more.
00:51:51
Speaker
so But I mean, I guess it's who they're making the game for. Is it just core Borderlands for Borderlands sake audience? In which case they really don't have to change too much. They just need to update it a little bit. Yeah. um Are they trying to get new people?
00:52:08
Speaker
make it a fun standalone experience and not have to depend on oh remember in one two and three no i don't know but that's not the only game there's one other game on this list looking at uh this year with a four in it And this is actually a combo. I'm going to put these together, because i I think they're probably related. At some point, we're going to get the Switch 2, because like literal pictures are showing up now. like nintendo Nintendo is doing the Valve thing, where there's the Deadlock launch or whatever. They're like, let's just pretend that it doesn't exist. And eventually, everyone will know about it, and we can just say it exists. So Switch 2, hopefully around April.
00:52:53
Speaker
um And then Metroid Prime 4 Beyond, which has been announced and is supposed to release this year, and it sure seems like that would fit with the new console. I mean, I agree. um I can see those going together.
00:53:10
Speaker
I've never given a fuck about Metroid, not even once. I can't weigh in on this, but I know that the original Metroid Prime was a huge shift because it had always been a side scrolling game. yeah and They're like, hey, what if we did a first person game?
00:53:27
Speaker
By the way, the GameCube will be your controller of choice. You're like, what? No. But I think because it was like a huge shift in perspective in the technology, if you liked Metroid in that universe, you're like, oh, shit, I got to experience it on a much more immersive level. That's fucking huge. That was awesome. I did not finish the remaster for Prime. Oh, OK.
00:53:55
Speaker
But yeah, I don't think they've done that for other titles. um So the fact that they're... I mean, they must have had Metroid Prime's two and three, right? I think so. Yeah, for sure. and but I believe so. I don't think they're just going to four. That'd be very funny. guys I guess this will be their latest in the series. um I think they haven't played the other Prime, so...
00:54:17
Speaker
I don't know how well they did. I'm pretty sure Prime 3 had some like, I think that was the one where they were playing around with like, the same personified Samus is not correct. But they like, she was working in like a military organization or something like that.
00:54:34
Speaker
and they kind of made her more mundane or just like a person working under somebody or whatever and it just people didn't really like that direction for the character because samus is intrinsically an awesome character like she just goes off on her own into space and like captures aliens to sell to the highest bidder or whatever. Also her flexibility. Who the fuck's turning into balls? Get out of here. That's crazy. That's very impressive. Bird people. Chose on technology or not? Can't explain that. Sam Zarein is an impressively. Very true. And I think that was one of the critiques for three, if I remember correctly. But I mean, it's a new system in theory. We'll see what they could do with it.
00:55:19
Speaker
um Everything we actually know about the Switch 2 itself is not crazy inspiring. I guess the hardware is just supposed to be better. um And I don't know if Nintendo generally releases consoles that are like, yeah, your frame rate's going to be higher. But that might be this one. um We'll see, I guess. yeah Probably this year.
00:55:45
Speaker
I hope it doesn't shoot itself in the foot. I think there's a lot of Nintendo fans, a lot of Metroid Prime fans who are stoked for this and are willing to maybe overlook some minor things here and there. But as long as it's still Metroid, I feel like it should do OK. Yeah.
Upcoming Games: Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 & Others
00:56:06
Speaker
I think that's fair. And I mean, also even even saying like, you know, not every Nintendo game is a hit these days, most of them are still better than what anyone else releases from a quality perspective. Whether they's an not or not they're a hit, they're still sixty dollars. Yes. And and never on sale to. Yeah.
00:56:27
Speaker
um I guess like rapid fire. Some of the ones I'm interested in kingdom come deliverance to that one's actually coming out in January, which is this month. um Should be interesting about that's in city and RPG. um It's like, I guess, on console. No, this is the official release. This is the official. I just saw some previews for it. That looks good. Like a dragon pirate yakuza in Hawaii is the title of a game.
00:56:59
Speaker
Yeah. And I don't know. Yeah, because the ones are always wild, but they're always fun. I honestly don't think you could like. sit somebody down, have them play for two hours and be like, yeah, I didn't have a good time. No, there's always going to be something where like I got hooked into this. Yeah. Yeah. The thing for me is I actually kind of I enjoy the um the non turn based ones more than the the JRPG ones. They're both excellent. Don't get me wrong. And the writing and the JRPG ones are are great. I just mean from a mechanical standpoint. I enjoyed the fighting system. Yeah. um A little bit more.
00:57:40
Speaker
I like the turn-based stuff because it reminded me of old RPGs and then also you could play as a homeless man and put like seeds on somebody and then pigeons would attack them and that was entertaining for me. That's pretty good. It's hard to it's hard to compete with that. That's another thing that like Yakuza does well is to like have these people going to fight and they're like, we're going to pick some random fucking objects and tie it together.
00:58:02
Speaker
ah Yeah, there was a, and Yakuza zero. It's not as crazy as that because you're still just playing as a guy, so you don't get to put seeds on somebody as a homeless person. But one of the fighting styles was a beast mode and it was entirely based around.
00:58:19
Speaker
picking up nearby objects from the environment and smashing them against people. And the number of memes that are just like, um, you're, you know, you're, you're acting pretty confident, uh, when you're next to Yakuza, who's next to a bicycle or something like that, right? It's just, uh, they say Kazuya, not Kazuya. Um, you said Yakuza. I said Yakuza. Yeah. Yeah. Um,
00:58:45
Speaker
Some of the same characters. Some would say the same characters in a different order. Suspicious? I don't know. Maybe. um Think about it. Do your research. It's a fun series, though. I am curious. They're making a lot of them. Like, a lot.
00:59:00
Speaker
yeah and i don't know if these are just shorter titles or if these are going to be like fully fledged games yeah because the infinite wealth i didn't play either i came out last year but because it had a character who already had a full-fledged game i assumed it was I guess closer to like DLC size content on average. Not Elden Ring, Shadow of the Air Tree. That's different. Yes. Yeah, that is not a normal DLC. We'll see for that one now. Monster Hunter Wilds. I'm going to mention this one real quick. I might actually play this. I don't really play the off season monster hunters um because
00:59:46
Speaker
I don't need to, but Monster Hunter Worlds was the massive entry into the franchise for me. And then also my jumping off point for the franchise. um And this could be my reentry to the franchise as it's the other big actually made for people on PC. So it's your game.
01:00:06
Speaker
The main thing for me, I mean, it's always like charming to have like a palico buddy where you can like make stuff for or watch the cooking animations. You go back to town. There's just a certain charm about that game. Mm hmm. That is not enough for me to pick up wild. That's fair.
01:00:25
Speaker
A friend to me recently said a social gathering like, hey, you're going to pick up wilds and play with us? And I'm like, fuck, because I do want to play games with them. And this would be the group who I'd play with. Exactly. I am kind of considering it. Yeah. um But it would be on PS5 and not when it comes out later on PC. That's fair. That is fair. I can't I can't get two copies of Monster Hunter again, Jake. and yeah I mean, as I don't have a PS5, I We'll just be getting the one. and Coffee unless I end up with a PS5, but currently not in the cards. so um I also have my notes here. Charge Blade. So shout out to all the Charge Blade wielders out there.
01:01:06
Speaker
um Rapid Fire. Split Fiction. Good. We talked about it. Uh, probably going to play it and be honest. We talked about a lot of games. We probably won't play you today because I was going to message somebody else who I played. Um, it takes two with. I was like, if we're to play this for the first time, it has to be a Jake because we're we'll do an episode on it probably. Right. So that comes out in March, March six. That's the only one I found a date for. Yeah. There was a lot that don't have dates locked in. So we might be talking about games that we're also going to be talking about next year when they haven't come out yet.
Bungie's Marathon and Indie Game Discoveries
01:01:41
Speaker
Um, so the stuff released marathon, that's kind of weird. I think I do expect that one to push. Um, also everything going on with bungee, uh, seems, yeah I dunno, the ah destiny game came out. They didn't make it. It was for mobile devices. And some of the early impressions were like, I kind of wish that these people just had the IP and you're like, Oh no, that's not good.
01:02:08
Speaker
um Marathon, though, maybe, I don't know. Could be. ah It's also going to be like five years after extraction shooters were relevant. But what are you going to do? Yeah. um Really, no idea where that's going to go. I will say the last one on here for me that has my interest is Judas. Judas, yeah. Because it's going to be another kind of Levine game. So a similar play style, I hope, to Bioshock. Yeah. um just kind of a first person exploring RPG, have some magical powers, and always interesting universe. The thing that got me into Bioshock was Sander Cohen, the god, the most eccentric, terrifying person you can encounter. ah Yeah. So yeah, I hope they have more stuff in that vein. But obviously, I don't want them to make Bioshock in space.
01:03:06
Speaker
Yeah, it was I was gonna say, I was gonna make the joke. It would be very funny if you play as a guy and you see a lighthouse at some point and they're just like, hey, this isn't Bioshock. It's not Bioshock. But you are a guy. There is a lighthouse.
01:03:22
Speaker
um But I think that would probably be a little bit too derivative. And whenever people come out with a nice novel idea or a nice world building, here's the issue.
01:03:33
Speaker
um There's only so many novel stories you can tell in the exact same universe before that creativity wants to explode out and wants to escape that universe. And if you're a really good writer, you can probably tell a lot of stories in the same universe, but, um, and being familiar with the universe isn't bad either. Right. But I am curious what they can do if they break free from rapture, you know.
01:03:58
Speaker
Yeah, I hope I hope it's good. I have like Hennel Veen's ideas for like designing stuff in the past. Like I've always found the Vigors and the plasmids to be very interesting. Yeah. And also just how the universe is designed.
01:04:16
Speaker
I don't know. I like those games. so there I'm sure you've heard me mentioned many times. Yes, I have. There's an indicator. There are signs. There are physical signs on Dave's body. Bioshock? Bioshock might be one of the games. I think I'm good there. Yeah.
01:04:34
Speaker
ah Hopefully we get some more information for Judas. There's other games on this list We'll talk um talk about them as they become relevant probably um But for a lot of these, you know, they're not guaranteed to come out next year and maybe we get a chance to circle back anyways um So there are things that will come out in 2025 that are not on this list. Probably. This is not that long. if This is all the game. What happened to the Indies? Indie games just did not. They're not allowed this year. This is no Wendy's 2025.
01:05:06
Speaker
So just for context, what Jake and I both do is kind of independently look at like, hey, what game is coming out in 2025? But of course, that's me from like major news sources talking about major games. Yeah. So a lot of if not all indie stuff.
01:05:22
Speaker
Will not be covered here. So there could be stuff that is coming up in 2025. They're just not aware of Um, I don't have to look into that on the side in my own time and I suggest you do as well because a lot of indie titles Fucking slap. Yeah Even if they don't announce pantry cleaner simulator one year in advance, which would would be necessary to get them on this list Maybe it's worth playing, you know, but happy new year everybody If you guys have games that you would like us to talk about in this upcoming year, or maybe there's things you're looking forward to that we didn't cover, you want to get our opinions, you can send those in, you know, we'll do what we can. It's very, there's a lot of backlog, there's a lot to work through, but soapstonepodcast.gml.com or join the discussion on Facebook at facebook dot.com slash soapstonepodcast. And as always, we'll see you in the next one. Have a good night.