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Remember Death Stranding 2? and Final Fantasy Figuring Itself Out
80 Plays1 month ago
In episode 125 of Unqualified Game Chat, Spencer and I get real about how Death Stranding 2 fell off the radar fast and what that says about how single-player games survive in today’s cycle. We talk about Kojima’s influence, why studios invest in his work beyond sales, and how remakes are teaching tools for younger developers. We also dig into the Final Fantasy series—what went wrong, what still works, and which entries hold up best.
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Transcript
Introduction of Hosts
00:00:21
Speaker
Hello and welcome to episode 125 of Unqualified Game Chat. I am your host, Lizar Lopez. And with me today is, is he in his ah his his gangster gear with his chain and his black shirt? gosh. That's a one piece shirt. That's not very gangster. That's how gangster he is. Yeah, that's how gangster am with my weeb shirt.
00:00:43
Speaker
Spencer, the legacy. How's it going, everybody? help you This is what, three weeks in a row? is
Winter Experiences and Personal Stories
00:00:50
Speaker
this two weeks? We're on a freaking roll. Some might say we're unstoppable.
00:00:54
Speaker
Yeah. I think it's the the though the the cooling down of the air. keeps us inside. It's fucking cold here. Yeah, it doesn't get us so adventurous. It's going to snow this weekend over here. Are you excited? Is it the first i know the snow? Yeah, it is the first snow. I don't like shoveling, but I like the snow. So it's a real mixed bag for me.
00:01:13
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know anything about that. ah i have There's a lot of dirt around me. i live in a desert. so Imagine if for like four to six months of the year, every time it rained, the rain piled up and you had to lift the rain with a shovel off your driveway for like an hour every day.
00:01:34
Speaker
That's what snowing snow is. I would move.
Running and Technology
00:01:38
Speaker
Yeah, but you can get a snowblower. We have one of those. That helps. It's like a lawnmower for snow. and just's Yeah, but with things like, can't anything just stay the same? like Like, people run today, but they have all this technology on while they're running. They have their AirPods. They have their GPS tracker. But people were running 30 years ago, and they just...
00:01:58
Speaker
They knew what a mile was. Ran in their unitard with their legend numbers. Kilometer. Kilometer, yeah. We have a weird mix of... of metric and imperial, where we like height and stuff. Everyone here is like six feet.
00:02:12
Speaker
Like they say feet inches instead of and pounds instead of stones. But then with distance, we do kilometers and we spell stuff like English. don't know. We're a strange little mix.
00:02:24
Speaker
I'll say that. Do you get mad when you write a review and the editor changes it to like from color to American color? i've For years, I trained myself to ah to fix that. I don't know. I spell things American for monster fun.
00:02:38
Speaker
i've gotten um I've gotten some feedback. Really? oh from, yeah, that's funny.
Canadian Spelling in Games
00:02:44
Speaker
writers Writers will say that that is their native. That is how they talk or how they write and they want to stand... ah I mean, with my why my response as well, you could post this on your blog any way you want.
00:02:59
Speaker
Damn, Union Busters, Zario. No, I'm not that mean. No, but with my my games of the year list, I use my Canadian spelling because it's my list. So I'll write it however I want. I like that. Yeah. I like that.
00:03:10
Speaker
Maybe that maybe that's that's the middle ground that I'll use. Yeah. On personal articles, you can spell however you want. But on reviews and shit, got it. Are you going to be?
Podcast Schedule and Patreon Benefits
00:03:20
Speaker
Well, before we get too far, let's just say eventually we'll we'll talk about games probably after this, but this podcast is recorded every week and posted to podcast services on Thursdays. But actually this episode will be posted to our Patreon and then next week it'll be posted podcast services. So if you want this when it's up, go to our Patreon and subscribe there. You also get our monthly magazine, which is coming out soon.
00:03:49
Speaker
kind of It kind of creeped up on us. We were not prepared for it. But um we put Silly Pauly Beast on the cover, and I think it looks really good. Sorry, I look at my camera, and i'm like, I need to fix my posture. That's bad. paul I'm hunched.
00:04:03
Speaker
That's not I know. know. It's going to be my 2026, what's it called? Resolution?
00:04:14
Speaker
your Your revolution. Yeah, your resolution. yeah Because once in a while, I've had people in life like, you're not six feet tall. And then I'll just be like, and they're like, oh, you are six feet tall. I'm like, yeah, just have horrendous posture.
00:04:28
Speaker
have horrendous posture. I'm a hunchback. But if I, you know, when I do my back straight and stand up straight. and You got to watch out, though, when you talk like that because your phone's listening and now you're just going to be fed back straightening ads.
00:04:43
Speaker
and That's all you're going to see. That's not bad because I'm not going to buy anything from him. But every time him, I'll go, oh, I should straighten my back right now. And then it'll just be a good reminder. um Speaking of reminders, Patreon, if you want all of that.
00:04:58
Speaker
So now into
Game of the Year Considerations
00:05:00
Speaker
the show. We don't have much to talk about. i mean I mean, now that you talk about the game of the year, I think... I should start thinking about that right now because sometimes I think about it in December and I'm like, fuck, I should. again I mean, games are still coming out in December.
00:05:15
Speaker
so as Yeah. Call of Duty's not out. It could win. Could. I mean, could. It could win. um i Well, battle I think everyone's like kissing Battlefield 6's ass right now.
00:05:29
Speaker
And then now they're all going to Ark Raiders. It's like they keep, everyone keeps moving. everyone's on our Everyone's on a on roll. move I want to create a ah podcast series where i interview RTS nerds, like Romancing of the Three Kingdoms people.
00:05:53
Speaker
And then figure out the fun. Find the fun. Finding the fun in RTS. For the Switch 2 launch, we did a bunch of like quick impressions on the launch library. And one of mine, because we all got a bunch of codes, and we were like, okay, this runs like this on Switch 2.
00:06:10
Speaker
And one of
RTS Games and Nobunaga's Ambition
00:06:11
Speaker
mine was Nobunaga's Ambition. i think I talked it the podcast briefly. I've never played one. um So I was just like, what the fuck is happening? What am I doing? Like, what... the There's like, this is the most complicated thing And I'm not like, I'm not, like a, I'm not going to claim I'm like a Mensa scholar. Okay. I have a slightly above average IQ.
00:06:34
Speaker
Right. ah You can learn. You you can learn. yeah There's ways to learn. yeah I ain't a damn simpleton though. I'm not, I'm not, you know, I play, play pretty complicated games pretty easily. Like I'm like, okay, I understand what's happening.
00:06:49
Speaker
Um, But i could not i i was I was fucking completely lost. with no but I was like, I don't know what I'm looking at. I don't know what I'm doing. ah Mouse mode's kind of helpful.
00:07:01
Speaker
I don't... hi Yeah, i I would love to hear what what people say is awesome about Nobunaga's ambition because like I enjoyed what I was able to do and I was like, oh, this is neat, but i gar i was i guarantee I was scratching like 8% of that game like ah of understanding. So I'm sure there's a lot of shit that's like...
00:07:21
Speaker
I have so many of these like stupid ideas. like In my head, I've created a seven-part series, and I started meeting some of the RTS people on Reddit, just like the hardcore ones. I thought you were saying in your head that you met them. No, no. You were picturing conversations. have created every episode in my head, all the seven episodes. They just have to go the way I want them, and they won't, right? But I'm like that crazy. That's how...
00:07:43
Speaker
freaking crazy i am um and so i've but my adhd i do this all the freaking time where i'll do a half ass i'll one-fourth everything you know and then you run out of this steam for it you're like oh because i also like things to be entertaining so if they don't have that entertaining edge and it's just educational no dude i take the bill nye approach to everything perfect if you're learning if you're learning with the zario You're gonna have a lot fun.
00:08:10
Speaker
You're fucking having fun. so you have fun You're gonna laugh. I don't see smirking. um The Perfect Balance is our cool, I forgot the name of it, series that we made briefly in like 2020. Oh, the Hentai Priest.
00:08:26
Speaker
Oh no, I remember, oh my god. haven't thought about that since the day we said it. um no There hasn't been a day that's passed where I have not thought about Hentai Preach. That makes up for for me not thinking about at all.
00:08:39
Speaker
No, you're talking about the history video. Yeah, where we did... we Did we release one or two? I think we released three because Legends of Magic came out. And a mana one, right?
00:08:51
Speaker
Yeah, we did Neptunia. We did... neptunia we did um Magna Carta. A mana game. And Trials of Mana? Or Legend Mana? Oh, we also did The Last Remnant.
00:09:03
Speaker
we yeah But that didn't go did that go up? Yeah, i don't The Last Remnant. Okay, because I know Evolution didn't go up. Yeah, I still have that one. Dude, they're all edited too. That's a good little secret content for people because those are all done. They were a lot of fun.
00:09:16
Speaker
I think we could even, we have the scripts and everything. I don't think it would be too hard for us to to me even re-edit those. and i And it is something I want to return to now that we have actual subscribers. Because if guys check the history videos,
00:09:31
Speaker
No one watched. No one watched. Because that was early the Noisy Pixel. Yeah. We were a little ambitious. yeah We were a little ambitious with our thousand followers and what we could get yeah out of them.
00:09:42
Speaker
that was That was very early. i remember, I think that was 2020 that we did that. It was very exciting. It was. It was fun. I got the bus. You bought me a Dreamcast HD analog thing?
00:09:54
Speaker
I edited the first video in Sony Vegas too. So I was like doing all these weird shortcuts and like trying to understand bit rate. That was pre ah yeah that was those pre me going back to college, I think. Yeah, I was still living in Oakland too. Holy moly.
00:10:12
Speaker
guys want your background i want to point out ah that i also have a dust cleaner do you see mine oh yeah there and there it is you're right i was using it was lowzy who pointed out your issue boxes said dangerously close it looks like that It was on top of the controller thing um case because... it's an optical illusion. but it's it's Yeah, so it's like a little table that is part of this lamp. I see. And this is it's really light because it's here. So it's here. Plus, there is a piece of two-sided tape I could never get off this thing. So it it just kind of holds it.
00:10:48
Speaker
for For those runny noses. It is. I would not do anything else in my room that other people go in. You know? That is... First of all, I have blacklight strips back there, so bad idea.
00:11:01
Speaker
You can't hide thing. Bad idea. Bad idea. There's an immediately... Everyone like, this a fucking disgusting room. Um... yeah Get your mind out of the gutter, Lowe's.
00:11:14
Speaker
I think it was... no I think it it was DC Fat Cat, maybe. Yeah, well I should change my life in the background every episode and and see who notices.
00:11:26
Speaker
was one of those
Death Stranding 2 and Kojima's Creativity
00:11:27
Speaker
troublemakers. it It was one of those troublemakers. Oh, I left my screen. I didn't even notice until now that I left. I was playing Death Stranding 2 and making dinner. Oh, let's talk about Death Stranding 2. No one's talking about it.
00:11:37
Speaker
No one is, because it's it's old news now. It came out... Isn't that fucking psychotic? Yeah, but is that is. How can such a huge game leading up to release make like this strange Hideo Kojima impact and then nothing?
00:11:54
Speaker
Crickets. I mean. That's the problem. Sorry I interrupted you. That's the problem with video games is if you don't have monthly updates to remind people that your game even exists, it just dies.
00:12:08
Speaker
But I mean, i don't know. like I don't think a game like Death Stranding 2 needs to live past it. Because when it's a single player game, right the bulk of its sales are either going to be at the start or through sales later.
00:12:20
Speaker
um But it's not like they need like high Steam charts of like people playing right now. Because it's single... like With fighting games and shit, it's like, yeah, you gotta... How do you... do Is it... is it is it all Does it all weigh on those day one sales? And there's no like... Plus, the other thing is, I would say Death Stranding harder to...
00:12:43
Speaker
is harder to um it's less immediately accessible than metal gear where it's like metal gear solid you can jump in like metal gear solid one and other than like it's an old game so people might have difficulty if they like weren't alive when it came out and they're like i have no clue what the fuck like the top tip like sure i can understand that maybe for younger people uh younger oh my god i'm so fucking old but um yeah do You go in and you're like, okay, I get the story. Like if you haven't played Metal Gear one and two, it doesn't matter if you play Metal Gear Solid, you get what's happening. You're like, okay, I'm shooting.
00:13:16
Speaker
I'm hiding. But Death Stranding is like, here's an insane new world with a bunch of actors that you know. and you're delivering packages, and all the characters have insane, goofy names, like Die Hardman.
00:13:30
Speaker
And, like, i think it's a lot more, like, i don't think Death Stranding is going to be most people's first Kojima game, and they'll be like, oh, I totally get the hype of of this guy. They'll be like, what is fucking going on?
00:13:43
Speaker
Like, I don't... ah I think that plus this is a sequel to the first one. so Right. That's i'm thinking too. So your sales are yeah your sales are already kind of cut in half. Like a Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth had less sales than remake because that like Death Stranding 2 is 100% going to have. a I just love that.
00:14:01
Speaker
Like I wasn't even huge on the first game um when I partial part of that is that I reviewed it in the review period and that is not a game that's meant to be played in like three days ah because it's just the same shit because you're doing the same thing.
00:14:14
Speaker
i played I played the PC version of Death Stranding. I remember that. yeah i got to review that one. um I wouldn't have played that game otherwise, by the way. If I wasn't reviewing it, there was never a chance in hell that I would. I'm glad I did. I'm enjoying 2 a bit more, but I'm glad...
00:14:29
Speaker
I'm just glad it exists. I'm glad that these, like Kojima has free reign to make something this bizarre. And at times like anti fun in some way, like, but interesting. And it's like, no one else could make this and no one else would get the budget for this. So I'm really happy. I think that's what it comes down to too, is Sony's like, um and I know Xbox is now cuddling up with Kojima, but um Sony,
00:14:56
Speaker
From a developer standpoint, working with Kojima, instead of them ah putting budget into their own internal teams to develop on-engine stuff and and make new discoveries, but they can do what they did was they invested in Hideo Kojima's company they're sharing assets. like That information is now Sony's. Everything that heat that their team develops for Death Stranding, all that goes to Sony. like They all have that that um those capabilities now in terms of unique systems, um
00:15:28
Speaker
ah kind ah ah compression, all this all this crap. like it's not even necessarily about the final product it's about what they were able to accomplish in through research that they got out of that game so even putting it out they might have not even been expecting anything they just wanted to invest in some cool yeah photo tech and stuff it's like um apple with killers of the flower moon where it costs like a shit ton of money and they put it out and everyone's like they're not going to make the money back it's like i don't think they're
00:16:00
Speaker
trying like i'm in the train I think it's to boost their perception as like an artist's studio like we put out art we put out quality content like that kind of thing so I think this is a similar thing where it's like yeah we might not make as much off of Death Stranding 2 as off of like a new Ratchet and Clank or Spider-Man but we will have the prestige of having Hideo Kojima's new game and and having allowed him to do whatever he wants, like that kind of thing.
Remakes, Remasters, and Developer Legacy
00:16:30
Speaker
Having a big name on the roster.
00:16:32
Speaker
yeah And, and it's, it's, it's almost like, um, Remakes and remasters, I don't think are necessarily about the the fan pleasing the fan base and and that kind of stuff. in In its current stage, I think we're in this really weird place where older developers that we love, the Nomuras, the Tales of teams, all those guys, they're either retiring or dying now.
00:17:01
Speaker
Yeah. and this ah This collected ah information, this collected... like um way of game design, it's going to be lost with them.
00:17:15
Speaker
And so I think this whole renaissance and returning, even the tells of specifically right now, the only reason we're getting these tells of remasters is because a rise fucking sucked is because they, they got a new, team and this new team of developers on a rise and they didn't know what a tells of game is. yeah So basically this is the, it's these teams that are just setting up the next 30 years of a series. And that's this idea of remakes and remasters. It's like, and I think- That's what was thinking about Quest too.
00:17:47
Speaker
I was like, oh, because like Hori's involved in all of them. And it's also new, but like, it's basically, and I i think they're going to remake like every Dragon Quest at this point. Right. So I think that is him being like, OK, here's how you make 2D Dragon Quest that is more simple. Here's how you make Dragon Quest 7, which is more complicated and long and 3D.
00:18:04
Speaker
I think that makes sense. and So let's look at what makes these games fun. What do audiences like? Well, not audience not audiences in to the year 2000 1990.
00:18:15
Speaker
What audiences in 2025 take from these experiences? What can you improve about them to make them? Yeah.
Evolution of the Final Fantasy Series
00:18:21
Speaker
Final Fantasy is, I think, is the biggest series that that kind of gets the shit end of the stick on a lot of these conversations because I don't think Square Enix has allowed enough grace with the Final Fantasy series from fans.
00:18:36
Speaker
I think there's just so many different fans of Final Fantasy that it's at the point where it's like Sonic, where it's like, no one game from this franchise will please probably even like you probably can't even please like 80 of the fan base with yeah like because some people want final fantasy turn base some people want it to be like 16 where it's like light devil may cry some people want it to be in the middle some people want atb some people want more mature stories like 16 or seven or etc some people want more fun light-hearted ones like five or like nine like
00:19:08
Speaker
It's totally like there's so many games and everyone has a favorite one and every single one is someone's favorite. And that means that that they're looking for games that are like that. And when there are 16 mainline games plus 100 spinoffs, then yeah, like what do you what do you do other than something new, I guess, but to see, you know.
00:19:31
Speaker
People are like they're acting like Final Fantasy series is in some weird spot right now. Bitch, I lived through the crystal fucking bearers age dude. like You don't know what you're talking about. what it comes I would say it's in a weird i think like it's in a weird spot in terms of like, i think they could make them a bit quicker, think. I understand game development has changed, but it's insane to think that like how many Final Fantasy games came out in the same period of time as like Remake Rebirth. or it's like we're
00:20:06
Speaker
like I was thinking about that the other day, where I was like, oh man, like obviously game development is very different and more taxing, probably to an extreme, but it's like Final Fantasy 1 to 10 came out in like 12 years-ish total, and like That was 20, 25 years ago, and we have gotten five or six games in that time of mainline.
00:20:31
Speaker
They really put they really put this this strange pressure on the entire thing. Yeah. I never really understood it until maybe Lightning Returns, because I remember the event when Lightning Returns was revealed, and it was so...
00:20:47
Speaker
um It was like ah ah the developer walking on ah ah a lonely stage, it looks like a black curtain behind him, and then yeah ah showing revealing what Lightning Returns even was.
00:20:59
Speaker
And I remember this so vividly because of how different it felt from from ah from a real Final Fantasy reveal. And I was like, oh, like... Like this is changing. This is this is not like the exciting ah reveal or like what like it's I don't know if if they'll ever go back to the yearly stuff. don't think ever you, but I would settle for like less than. So the way I phrase it is in Dissidia's and I'm like, OK, so but the last Dissidia came out seven years ago, almost eight years ago.
00:21:37
Speaker
And there's one more game to add characters from in that time since the last one. o Just five. Yeah. like yeah That's crazy. Completely caught up. Yeah. That's insane. Like between Dissidia, the first one, and NT, there was between like not only new characters from older games, but there was Lightning. There was Noctis.
00:21:59
Speaker
There was Yshtola. There like... And then, yeah, but then with this one in what might be a longer gap, it's Clive. That's it.
00:22:10
Speaker
I don't know. That's so weird to me. ah Part of it is that they're focusing on remake, but I don't know. it's just it's ah It's just strange. There was lot of pressure on remake, too.
00:22:23
Speaker
There was a lot, especially on part three. Holy moly. Oh, my gosh. I think it should have been two parts at most, but...
00:22:30
Speaker
I think we talked about this last week. That third disc, even in the original. Yeah, it's basically just the fight. You fight the ruby weapons. and then yeah okay It's basically the free roam disc.
00:22:42
Speaker
and You buy you buy ah Casa del Sol or turn it to Cloud del Sol or something. classicdotes i just I wish there was more Final Fantasies because... every time there's a new one, it's like an interesting new world. Like 16, I think I'm like documented on the podcast being like, I don't know if I love it, but the story and characters are interesting and they're like new. So it's like, oh, cool.
00:23:05
Speaker
um I think 15 for me was the first one that I was able to, in the game industry, was able to follow from reveal. i was i was working at DualShockers at the time. So from reveal to to the release of that game,
00:23:22
Speaker
Even the delays, um crazy amount of marketing budget. They they like rented out a whole LA theater and stuff at one point, and they delayed the game. Fabula Nova Crystalis. Right before the event, that the the the um release date got leaked or something.
00:23:41
Speaker
So bad. I don't think I was in high school yet when they announced Versus 13. And then it came out when I was... in my second university. That's like how long that game took and how many iterations. And you know what?
00:23:56
Speaker
Even despite all that, I'm fucking ride or die for 15. I love 15. I kind of like 15, dude. I love 15. I think 15 is a fucking good game. I think it's incredible. And I completely understand every critique people have about it. Yeah, sure.
00:24:09
Speaker
fucking love it. could play 13 and 15 right now. yeah And I know. i could play thirteen and fifteen right now and ah and i don't know If you say the ending of 15 doesn't make you cry, you're a fucking liar.
00:24:21
Speaker
You're a liar. everyone brings up what that chapter eight or whatever whatever dude fuck out of here it's like okay yeah like there it does they filled in the gaps with dlc and it's bad that there were gaps but like i played it at launch and i wasn't like what happened i was like oh it's weird that they and include more detail on that but i understand what's happening like right i don't know maybe we're just battle fantasy 15 apologizers It's true. It is a game that I looked. I do know it's messy.
00:24:50
Speaker
Yeah, it's messy, but it is. I think there's beauty in that mess. It's a really cool game. It is really fly around. It rocks flying around, driving around with the boys. Yeah. and The city of music while you are you're on the road doing funny little side quests.
00:25:06
Speaker
Oh, what a game. Taking photos. but cool Well, there's no. Is there a Final Fantasy that released this year that we could put on our top ten or top five lists?
Black Friday Game Purchases
00:25:14
Speaker
Tactics remake. tactic or remaster, I guess. i actually i actually have have not played that one yet. I'm playing that after Death Stranding 2.
00:25:22
Speaker
I need to. i need i'm I'm going to need it to play it for the end of the year stuff. um And I guess that's why i have I'm holding off, because December is when they... Yeah, the codes. The codes. Codes. Yeah, for listeners, some for the bigger games, they generally will give codes out to to gift guides and game of the year lists. Gift guides and stuff.
00:25:43
Speaker
But i I use those codes to see if i that they should be on my game of the year list. Yeah, that's what I use to. else it'll just be a lot of indies that I was able to beat this year. That's fair.
00:25:54
Speaker
Yeah, I think I'm going to play that after Death Stranding, and then maybe I'll get Sandland, like you said. I'm not going to buy any games until Black Friday. Dude, those buy two get ones? That's when I'll buy Death Stranding 2. That's when I'll buy Astro Bot. That's when I'll buy Yote. That's when I'll buy Sandland. I can't pay $70 a game, guys. I don't know who out can, but two games is $140. Here, know like year i know it kind of like makes sense in terms of conversion, but fuck, it hurts to buy a game and it'd be over $100. That hurts, man. it's like I bought Dragon Quest 1, too, even though I reviewed it because I have a sickness or I need the physical copies of every Dragon Quest.
00:26:38
Speaker
Oh, I saw the picture. it was $90-something. Wow. Oh my god.
00:26:45
Speaker
It's rough. But I'm not reviewing Dragon Quest VII, so I don't feel bad about about buying it. Because it's because someone else picked let said, can I do it? And I was like, yeah. so Well, let us know ah what you think about the Final Fantasy series.
00:26:59
Speaker
Which one's your favorite? Which one's your favorite, Isario? Oh, fuck, dude. I really like a It's it's's kind of like the proto 15 where it's kind of a mess, but it's so charming and cool like that it's fine.
00:27:12
Speaker
my My thought, and i I have nothing to back this, but I think it's because we all fucked with Seven and all like the secrets in the world. And then in Eight, they're like, oh, people love secrets. Let's do all like these secret fucking- The world is huge. You can go to heaven. You can go to hell. You got Ragnarok up in space. like ah yeah they could't they could have to They could have toned down the discovery a little bit. yeah But you know what?
00:27:37
Speaker
Nowadays it makes for good YouTube content. We'd be like all the crazy secrets. Right, yeah, yeah. there's i If you're one of those YouTubers that like all the crazy shit in games, 8 has so many crazy secrets. Chocobo Kingdom is also in there. And it's still breakable in a fun way. Where if you like...
00:27:53
Speaker
draw if you draw early and you do triple triad yeah yeah because the enemies level with you you can just stay level like three the whole game and just have ultima and shit on the first disc and just blow through the it's so cool um get get the boost on your gfs yeah that's a good that's interesting i wouldn't have pegged you for an uh an ape man that's interesting Dude, I love it. I can, I, I, you know, who i you know who I was drawn to most, uh, mostly in that, uh, group was actually Zale.
00:28:25
Speaker
Oh, thought you were gonna say Irvine. I felt like as a kid while I was playing it, I felt I was Zale. You were energetic and you loved hot dogs. Yeah. And then like, no one understood me and I just wanted friends and I was like, yeah so, so if you catch me, anybody, when I shake hands,
00:28:42
Speaker
And this is only because of Zell. I'll wipe my hand on my leg to wipe it off and I'll shake someone's hand. But I only do it because Zell does it. that is That's funny. That's good. Yeah, that is real that is a very real thing about me.
00:28:57
Speaker
when i ah When I used to hurt my, like if I would like stub my toe or something, I would grab my leg like Laguna when I was a kid. That was so sick. oh yeah you Over the top. Yeah. Which nobody understood because this was before the great shift where being a dork was cool. So everyone like, what the fuck are you doing?
00:29:14
Speaker
Yeah. But yeah, that's it. Yeah. Cool. Seven's my favorite game ever. i Which one? Seven. Seven? Yeah. It's my favorite game ever.
00:29:25
Speaker
it's It's too easy though. Everyone loves this one. I think my my favorite memories of discovering Final Fantasy were Final Fantasy VII because it was the first Final Fantasy that I played. And I remember my cousin like named all the the characters different names and stuff. And I yeah and i could remember every name. that It's crazy, dude. It's like that that experience.
00:29:42
Speaker
And we we through through one morning, we got all out of Midgar, and then he had to go home because he stayed the night. and are you stayed the night and um the next the the I went to KB Toys like that weekend and I bought Final Fantasy VIII thinking that it was the
Final Fantasy Personal Anecdotes
00:29:58
Speaker
sequel. It was VII-II, yeah. i played a I played Kingdom Hearts and I got to Memphis Coliseum and Cloud walked out and I went, that's the coolest character I've seen in my fucking life as a little child.
00:30:11
Speaker
And then I immediately... begged to get final fantasy 7 and i was like i need a whole game of this guy yesterday yeah and then played five is heaven and that was it that was the end for me fucking the one wing angel fucked you you got i i was like this is good shit this good shit um but yeah if i had to pick a less like not that i would say yeah what's your hipster pick it's be like three or four is some no I three is messy two is met like there I find every Final Fantasy interesting like I don't think any of them are bad in the main line but it might be ten I really love ten ten I played shortly after like yeah I remember being like a preteen and getting to the end of ten and being like that was the most most emotionally moving experience I've ever seen in my life yeah
00:31:04
Speaker
I could see 10 being a yearly game for some people. i but I feel like I play Legend of Mana every year. and Because i can fight it and you can beat it pretty quickly. But I just like playing it and doing random runs on it.
00:31:17
Speaker
But... 10 is definitely one of those games where you don't even have to beat it. You just load up a memory later load up a save file and then like... Run around in the world and have a good time. Yeah. You know what? 10.2 is good for that. 10.2 is like, if you have random save files of 10.2, just jump in. owned 10.2 almost immediately after 10 and I never played it because I was really scared my dad would walk in and be like, why you what is this? all Why is all the girls beast? They're beast guys.
00:31:48
Speaker
Which my dad probably would have just been like, oh, yeah, that makes sense. He's playing a game like this at his age. But as a kid, I was traumatized because when was playing Kingdom Hearts 1 or 2, my dad came in during Winnie the Pooh World, and he was like, what are you doing? And I was like, I need to keep late from here. This is not going to go well.
00:32:06
Speaker
And he was like, I remember him being like, my to my mom, he was like, he's playing a Winnie the Pooh game. And I was like, no, it's not. It's not. It's a grown up game, but I'm just giving it a bad time. If you came in during Pirates of the Caribbean world, and mean different you we wouldn't be talking about this right now. so I remember after that, I was like, he can't see me playing Final Fantasy 10 too.
00:32:26
Speaker
He can't. So I haven't. There's been times I would not let my dad in my room for for like even posters that I had up. I kind of fell into the anime addiction pretty hard after got got my twenty s Yeah, because I just wanted everything that I couldn't afford as a kid.
00:32:45
Speaker
That is the cool that is the underprivileged child to adult experience that you're just now I can buy everything I fucking want. And that's how you end up with a room like this. Yeah. is by doing that Yeah, I I'll I think it was probably like seven years ago where I actually played every game that I owned. and Wow, that's intense.
00:33:06
Speaker
Yeah. It's intense. Anyway. Anyway. Well, anyone, everyone, thank you. for We were planning on making this a short episode, but actually, right once once you get Final Fantasy.
00:33:17
Speaker
Comment in your favorite Final Fantasy. Defend your thesis. Defend your thesis. We will be in the comments saying mean things. And we'll see you next week when it's ah Thanksgiving.
00:33:28
Speaker
Is it your Thanksgiving? No, ours was in October. We're done. Oh, okay. um Mine's coming up. Oh, that means it's almost Black Friday. Yep. I could smell it. i just call it Friday because I don't see race. but yeah no Yeah. Yeah.
Episode Wrap-up and Farewell
00:33:40
Speaker
just call it Friday. I don't know. I respect.
00:33:42
Speaker
yeah See you next week. Bye.
00:33:57
Speaker
zel