Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Starfield might be game of year and Star Wars: Outlaws doesn't seem real - Add to Party 06.13.2023
4 Plays1 year ago
This week we recap our thoughts and feelings on Summer Game Fest Kickoff, Xbox/Starfield Direct, and Ubisoft Forward
Recommended
Transcript
Podcast Introduction and Banter
00:00:00
Speaker
I'm ready, James. I wanted to. God damn it. Right as it started recording. God damn it, I hate you. You can't tell me what to do. I'm ready all the time. 24-7. Are we recording right now? Yes, we are. I'll delete it in editing. It's fine. Are you there? Shut up. Shut up. Stop laughing so I can do this. Take us away.
Gaming Conferences and Journalism
00:00:38
Speaker
Welcome to Add to Party, a friendship simulator masquerading as a new show. I'm your host, James Hartwell, and I'm joined by Charles Yemott, and I'm joined by Andy Kay. Ah, listen, we can't be doing this. We're professional games journalists now. We are. That's right. I got immediate password packs, but we have too much other shit to talk about. I was going to say, who runs packs?
00:01:04
Speaker
Uh, repop, repop. So they hold the keys to a lot of journalism. Well, that too. Yeah. I was gonna say, once you get one pass, now I can leverage it to get other passes. Oh my goodness. That's how, where else can we be? Well, we are an official media news outlet.
00:01:21
Speaker
Oh, you know what? Maybe if I had done this sooner, maybe we could have gone to Summer Games Fest in L.A. Oh, Summer Games Fest in L.A. What's that, James? Oh, that's right. You're trying. Yeah, that's right. Shut up, Andy. We have three conferences we have to cover. And you say, you might say, James, weren't there five? Yeah, that's right. We're only covering three. Wait, there were five? There's also I mean, there was like 10, honestly, but there's only three worth covering. And the third barely so.
00:01:49
Speaker
because of two games. But anyway, let's
Game Announcements and Initial Reactions
00:01:53
Speaker
start it off. Jeff, the summer keelys kicked off Thursday, June 8th with the Summer Game Fest kickoff. And oh, no, I do. I closed the window that had my docs in it. Oh, professional games. Who could have ever make mistakes? This makes you human, James. No, I have to be better. I have to be a games.
00:02:19
Speaker
Literally, what's our what's our cracking story going to be? Right. I don't know. Listen, you don't think I'm not going there with those wireless lobs. I'm going there with those wireless lobs and take fucking interviews. Well, anyway, good audio quality. Yeah. Well, we'll get there. Listen, we still shoot. Hey, Yoshida's number. So don't worry. I'll call. That's true. That's true. I've been great investigative journalism if you did steal shoe. Hey, you shoot his phone.
00:02:49
Speaker
But anyway, Summer Games Fest kicked off with actually some pretty interesting things. It was a pretty good show overall, I would say. First off, they showed and we're going to kind of do this in a weird order because a lot of things that Jeff show popped up elsewhere. So if it.
00:03:06
Speaker
If we'll talk maybe more in depth about this first game, which is Prince of Persia. Uh, they had a trailer for a new Prince of Persia game, not the remake. That's still in concepting. Um, but seemingly they had a weird 2d version ready to go with a new trailer, Prince of Persian, the lost crown, a Ubisoft original.
00:03:24
Speaker
Subtitled and it's a Metroidvania game set in the like kind of an alternate Prince of Persia world. It looks really cool. We'll talk a little more about that when we get to the Ubisoft press conference. Then after that, we got an extended look at Mortal Kombat one. Looks real pretty. Looks real pretty.
00:03:44
Speaker
Well, they were good at that. Yep. They're good at making nice looking games. It was gory. Wait, was that in the newest trailer? What was I watching? It like turned my stomach. I mean, it's probably a Mortal Kombat. Yeah, it's very gory. I agree. Like, I don't know you guys. I don't know if children. You know, I mean, you know, I'm an old man. I have.
00:04:07
Speaker
I have opinions on what children should watch and play. This isn't your father's Mortal Kombat. Back in my day on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Yes, it was pixelated goofiness. I remember they took the blood off of it to release on the SNES or whatever. Yeah, and now it's... Oh boy, I can't look at it. You had to play the Sega version if you wanted to get the blood.
00:04:34
Speaker
I think I think you could change the color. I forget. It's been a while anyway. Anyways, for all you, Charles, you have anything you want to say about Mortal Kombat? I mean, I know you're the biggest fighting fan of the three of us. I just tangentially interested in it for the story.
00:04:50
Speaker
Well, to be honest, I'm only interested in it for the story. The story looks interesting. It looks like it's a continuation for Mortal Kombat 11. Why is it called one? So at the end of 11, Liu Kang became the god of earth and time, or like fire and time, something like that. And he used that to reset the world and try to remove some of the violence the past 11 Mortal Kombats have made.
00:05:20
Speaker
So now we're starting in this new like, Liu Kang's fanfic AU universe essentially. I love it. Does he get together with, who did he like?
00:05:31
Speaker
Melina or Katana? Katana? I want to feel kissed. Well, that was the thing in the trailer when they revealed it. Katana and Melina don't hate each other. Scorpion and Sub-Zero seemingly fighting on the same side. Apparently they're brothers this time, which finally makes canon what we all thought when we were children.
00:05:54
Speaker
This really is fan fiction. Yeah, it's Luke Hanks, a fan fiction. I love that. Is he going to post it on? I forgot fan fiction sites. I mean, Tumblr, Tumblr makes sense. Yeah. So, I mean, it looks cool. I look forward to the sorry supercut. Agreed. Luke comes on Tumblr. Path of Exile 2 got a new trailer that was barely
00:06:21
Speaker
30 seconds of come see us at exile con in July 28th. Um, uh, exo primal has a dope fucking collab with street fighter six. Sweet. Uh, where if you're unaware of exo prime, we've talked about it a little bit, but one of the main conceit, excuse me, one of the main, I am, I am. I did just get back from a foreign country. Um, yeah, I know.
00:06:48
Speaker
Exo Primal is based on wearing essentially these mech suits. And as a part of the Street Fighter VI collab, there are two mech suits, one based as Ryu and one based as Guile. And they look fucking awesome. It makes me want to play Exo Primal all the more. Oh, also, they announced that there will be a new beta this weekend. So I believe the 16th through the 18th of June. Yeah, I'm so excited to play it. Yeah, I get to play with you guys this time.
00:07:16
Speaker
Oh, no. It will be fun. Yeah, it's gonna be fun.
00:07:25
Speaker
Let's see. They gave a date reveal for which fire the dark fantasy FPS is coming out on September 20th. It's a kind of it's which fire is a very generic looking game that I've never had like a lot of concern or joy. It's been I mean, it's been around in early access for a bit or no, it's going into early access this September. But I mean, I've seen a lot of trailers of it.
00:07:52
Speaker
This looks like on a game where you wonder, do we need this? Yeah, that's the thing, right? It's just like, I don't know the visual style of it's been done to death. Yeah. So they have to execute on like the gameplay, which, you know, sure, they could do that, but you're not going to know that until you play it. So.
00:08:11
Speaker
VR, no one cares. Is this going to be on your PS VR, Charles? It is. Remnant 2? Yeah. Or no, Crossfire. Oh, yeah, I'll give it a shot. Crossfire Sierra squad. Yeah, I'm not. It's not like I'm in want of so many VR. VR FPS shooters. Yeah, no, there's a lot of this. Yeah, like.
00:08:40
Speaker
Uh, much like everything else in my life. Um, of course you would take the easy route. Now I want to see, I want to see new experiences. Show me, show me something I've never seen before. Um, and this, uh, yeah, an FPS game in VR. Wow. Well, maybe it'll be subversive like spec ops. Okay. You'll realize the wars of war in VR. I just imagine a VR game giving people PTSD. Yeah.
00:09:13
Speaker
That's aversive.
Exploring Game Sequels and Franchise Developments
00:09:15
Speaker
We got a new gameplay trailer for Remnant 2. I don't really remember the first Remnant. I'm going to be honest with you. I'm thinking of Remnant from the Ashes, which is different. Yeah, I think. Is it the same game?
00:09:32
Speaker
No, I feel like you would say remnant from the ashes, right? If it's just remnant. Oh, no, we had to figure this out. What is remnant to a sequel to remnant to what was that Square Enix game that was like on the 360 for some reason? And it was like, like, you know, it's a sequel to remnant from the ashes. Yeah. Oh, OK. Yep. Well, then never mind.
00:09:57
Speaker
I am wrong. Last remnant. That's what I'm thinking of. Yeah, no, no, no. So that is very much not that. Yeah, it's it's a bit of a third person souls like game, but it's a shooter instead of a melee combat sort of game. It looks interesting.
00:10:18
Speaker
It's not like I remember playing remnant from the ashes and it did nothing for me So I don't have a lot of like high expectations for this game, but hey, you know again sometimes games studios need one game to get the kinks out so Did you Charles did you like remnant from the ashes? Didn't we play this I? Don't think I think I played this with someone and it's not a good sign that neither of you can remember that doesn't say a lot for it Yeah
00:10:48
Speaker
I mean, I've seen other people play it. It's like a game. It's coming out on July 25th. So let's see. Oh, that's nice. Good for you. Yeah. Yeah. Hey, it's important to someone. Keep going, champ. Next for what actually might be considered a pretty shocking reveal. Good for Jeff. There's a new 2D Sonic coming. Yeah.
00:11:17
Speaker
to 2D Sonic Superstars with a new visual art style. Yeah, they haven't used this for anything else yet. It's not made by the Sonic Mania folks. They're working on something else. I know that much. So I don't know who's making this one. But like the gameplay trailer looks really cool. And it has co-op, which I do have no fucking idea how you would do that in a Sonic game.
00:11:43
Speaker
You're just tails. And then you just, I don't know, whip around the screen. You just get dragged by whoever's playing the fastest. I don't know if it does split. So remember, it would also do like split screen on the Genesis and it was just pointless. But I guess he needed it. It also turned into squids and float and go very slow, which is very much like a Sonic game. I wonder if it'll be good.
00:12:07
Speaker
Ah, two of these Sonic games lately, like new release Sonic games, have been pretty good. So, I don't know, it's cool. It's got a kind of a, what's it, was that? Mario Land, what was that game? Yeah, the most recent one that came out on the Wii U, not too, it got re-released on the Switch, but the one that came out on the Wii U. The Super Mario Wii U?
00:12:32
Speaker
Yeah, the I think it reminded me of, especially when it went to go multiplayer. Oh, yeah. Let's mean we're going to get a new bows that. Ooh. No, no, we're going to get a. No, it's. You. Yeah. Dr. Robotnik's going to put on a hat and he's going to become a furry. I wonder his first owner.
00:12:56
Speaker
Next was a review. Next was a reveal, quote unquote, that Honkai star rails come in the PS5. That's right. Popular money making print money printing game is coming to all systems. Well, actually can't the the we they knew we knew it was coming to PS5. They actually just gave a release window. Oh, I see. Which was quarter four. Oh, then they also demo a new character to this hot boy with his robot arm. Oh, so robot arm.
00:13:27
Speaker
Yes. Well, so the rumor is he's going to be a four star, not a five star, but he's already been previewed in certain art for the game. So people are like, oh, he's coming. You can't show a good looking guy. It's him shirtless with his back turned to you and he's sweating. And you're like, no, they're definitely going to make that guy a fucking character. Oh, for sure. You're like, you're not. Don't even.
00:13:51
Speaker
He looks cool. I want to get back to Honkai Star Rail when the world isn't exploding. Yeah. I also recently discovered that there is a huge community of people who ship... Is it March 7th? Oh, yeah. What's her name? Is it March 7th? Yeah, it's March 7th. Who's March 7th? March 7th and the female player character together.
00:14:15
Speaker
Oh, yeah. Well, it's still. Yeah. Yeah. Makes sense. So it's a big community. I I accidentally took a wrong turn and I end up on the algorithm and tick tock. And I was like, oh, OK. A lot of people girl. That's Kafka. She's great.
00:14:35
Speaker
Uh, Keely then also showed off a new trailer for lies of P.
New Releases and Game Demos
00:14:40
Speaker
Um, and you know what? A couple of streamers pointed this out. Man, does he look like Timothy Chalamet. Yeah, he does. Who's that? Absolutely. Uh, Andy, did you see the new dune movie? No. Did you see Timothy show man? Is it C H A L A or S H A L L O way?
00:15:02
Speaker
It's spelled with a C. Okay, then I guess Google's... enough people have spelled it wrong. Oh yeah, he's playing Waka too. That's a jaw. Is he relying on that? Andy's male gaze. I mean, that is a jaw though. Andy, I'm gonna be honest with you.
00:15:25
Speaker
You wouldn't know anything else he was in. I think he was. He was Matthew McConaughey's son in Interstellar, the young version, the one that before he went to space. Oh, well, I'm glad that he landed a role in a video game. Yeah, he was he's also in one of the best SNL sets with him and Pete Davidson work. I think Questlove slaps him or Pete Davidson. I can't remember. Oh, that's funny.
00:15:55
Speaker
If you haven't seen it, you should look it up. Well, let's look at Liza P. Let's look at that person's jaw. That'll be the real teller on the trailer. Now, is this what you played on the streets of Japan? No. So I was telling Charles this. This is actually a different demo than the one I played in Japan. This one seems to start you at the beginning of the game where I played at one that was kind of more in the middle.
00:16:17
Speaker
Uh, but yeah, I, I, I haven't had chances because, uh, I played another demo, um, in preparation for this podcast. I'll probably be diving into this demo next, but from the people who have watched playing it, um, they've echoed my sentiment from the demos that I played in Japan, which is us, man, this game feels so much like Bud Blorn feels so goddamn good. Um, yep. And they also confirmed that it'll be coming out September 19th.
00:16:44
Speaker
I think we knew I think either we knew or we we knew it got delayed December 19th. But either way, we have a September 19th release date, which getting a little crowded there because you have Starfield, which we're going to talk about. And what's the other game that's coming out? Oh, yeah, something else we're going to talk about that the expansion for Cyberpunk also coming out September. But we'll get to that in a little bit. OK.
00:17:12
Speaker
Neither of you played the Liza P. demo, so I don't think we have too much we can add to that conversation yet. Next, shockingly, a new anime RPG from Akira Toriyama, Sand Land. Not just art, but it sounds like he has more creative influence.
00:17:31
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, the last time he made a game RPG was Blue Dragon, right? I didn't know he was involved in creating it. I thought he was just the artist for it. I was curious on the directors that because Blue Dragon was our final fantasy boy. Blue Dragon video. Well, Miss Walker made that. That's right. I'm trying to remember his name. Miss Walker, you're another Sakaguchi. Well, Matsumoto Takuyo Matsumoto directed Blue Dragon. Oh.
00:18:01
Speaker
But Sakaguchi is the what Sakaguchi was the writer. Yeah. Oh, is that what it was? Yeah. But yeah, that caught me by surprise. Whatever created means, I don't know. But they didn't list like I was hoping at the end of the trailer, they'd list the directors. Well, here's what I'd say is Sandland is based off a manga that Toriyama made. So. Oh, well, OK. OK.
00:18:25
Speaker
So this, you know, you would figure it's probably pulling from that. Yeah. Yeah. It was a one volume manga. It ran from May 22nd to August 28th. So I think it was just a 2000. Oh, cause I was going to say I'm a fake fan. Well, not that I follow the story. I mean, I don't know. Yeah.
00:18:47
Speaker
Cool. And it has, for me, unfitting song for the trailer. It's just, it was real weird. It was like hearing Florence and the Machine in my final fantasy. Actually, no, that kind of worked, to be fair.
00:19:05
Speaker
I can't tell if it's because it's Toriyama that it looks like Blue Dragon or the actual animation style they're using makes it also look like Blue Dragon. You know what I mean? I think it's the animation style, too. Yeah. Like, it's one thing to use the character art, but there's another thing to use the game engine to make it look the same, right? Listeners at home, it is just Blue Dragon like.
00:19:30
Speaker
Which is fine. I don't remember liking Blue Dragon a ton. Wasn't it like super grindy? I think probably. I think it was Miss Walker's first game. Was it? I think so. Oh. And then they made your favorite. Lost Out? That's right. Lost Out at the best RPG ever made. Take it Final Fantasy nerds. You know.
00:19:54
Speaker
I've never cried at a video game. I cried during fucking... Lost Odyssey made you cry? Yes. And Andy, I want to be very clear with you. During, I didn't cry during a cut scene. I cried while reading a fucking journal. Oh, I think I cried during one of those too. That's how good the writing for that. That was so good.
00:20:17
Speaker
That was so good. Put it on Steam, you cowards. Or wait, I don't remember. I don't know. Actually, it might be. If it is, I probably own it. Amazon's publishing yet and I'm just reading this directly from Rock River Shotgun because that's the only way to basically describe this. Amazon are publishing yet another MMO called Throne and Liberty.
00:20:38
Speaker
I really, I really don't know why Amazon's also by NC soft and Amazon games. So, you know, Korean MMO, those go so well for everybody who was in Korea. I guess it's, it's a fucking genre that some people like, but man, I burnt myself out on Korean MMOs. Yeah. Like, can you guys explain like what makes it a Korean MMO?
00:21:03
Speaker
Grinding, grinding and probably a great character creator, because that's what it always. Yeah. Oh, yeah. It's always the most beautiful character. That's how they get you every year. Are they usually free to play them? No, really? They're that grinding pay. Yes. Yeah. Well, God bless. I mean, I mean, the only way I played
00:21:32
Speaker
It wasn't Gil. It must have been the original Guild Wars. No, it wasn't Guild Wars. It was the other one. Fuck. Well, there's another heroes. No. What's the other NC soft game? Guild Wars, too. No, there was I played on private servers that had like XP turned to like 200 percent shit like that. Are you talking about Maple story? That's no. No, it wasn't Maple story. It had it had.
00:22:00
Speaker
It had like Guild Wars, like very pretty heart and everything like that. I'll think about it in the back of my head, but I mean, I was playing this game at like 200 XP, 200% item drop, and man, they're still grinding. Sounds miserable. Yeah. Well, I was playing it that way and it was tolerable.
00:22:24
Speaker
Imagine playing it normally. Oh, boop, boop, boop. I'm skipping that. How do we to got it? It's a gameplay trailer. Oh, and I mean, I don't like to. It looks good. It does, huh? Yeah. Yeah. I think we talked about it last time. I don't know if we're going to play it, but it looks really nice. Why not? I hate games. I will never get that in your love of Resident Evil. I will never understand. It is an action game.
00:22:54
Speaker
I'll never understand any game that ends with you having a rocket launcher. Like 90% of Resident Evil ends with you using a rocket launcher.
00:23:06
Speaker
Tell me I'm wrong. I've only played the first one and you shoot at the end. I think you use a rocket launcher, right? And then you also in two. Pretty sure you do in three. You definitely do. It's not a rocket launcher, but it's a hand cannon seven and eight. What happened at the end of eight? You don't have a rocket launcher at the end of eight.
00:23:33
Speaker
bad game. Well, like two looks good. Maybe I'll play the first one. Yeah. I mean, fucking remedies.
00:23:41
Speaker
Can't miss for the moment. And so until they fuck it, fuck it up, they're on their Golden Street. Great. We got that remedy magic, baby. When will it run out? I don't know if they've had a dud, except for that one that we all forgot on the Xbox one.
Major Gaming Showcases and Reveals
00:23:56
Speaker
Alan Wakes? Like shattered or fractured or something. I don't know. What was that remedy game? It was a multimedia whatever. Oh, I know what you're talking about. And I don't know.
00:24:08
Speaker
Next we got a new trailer for Warhammer 40k space marine 2 colon other things
00:24:18
Speaker
Charles, you're a resident expert. How do you? It looks real good. And as for someone who has counter picked this game in another league, I'm slightly concerned. But I'm also at the same time where I'm like a good gameplay trailer and then a bad game only brings the score lower. We could have bring the hopes up. They'll crash even the high.
00:24:40
Speaker
I don't know. It looked. I mean, it looked the visual fidelity of the trailer and the set pieces they showed of you fighting hundreds, hundreds and hundreds of what are the cryptids? Tyranids? What is it? Tyranids. Tyranids. Yeah. Tyranids. Like that game looks.
00:24:55
Speaker
Looks real nice. Yeah, it looks really good. I mean, it keeps everything very interesting. The first Space Marine ended on a cliffhanger. So it's very exciting to see Captain Titus here because you're like, oh, no, he's going to be OK. Seemingly, he's OK. So let's find out together what happened in between all that.
00:25:19
Speaker
Apparently, they're using the zombie or tech from the World War Z game, which was a very good zombie game. I think it was just a little content sparse. Yeah. Used for the tyrannids. So, hey, that's a good sign. It's no confirmed date, but just this winter. Oh, OK. Oh, my God, that statue. Yeah, statue looks real cool. Is that someone ripped in half? It's a tyrannid ripped in half.
00:25:48
Speaker
Which is good because to your needs are bad. God, I am a boomer. All the glory to the glory to the was it for the God? Yeah. Well, the emperor is also what is it? Was it? What's the like the kingdom called the empire of man or something like that? Imperium of man. Yeah, there it is. Thank you. Do you have opinions about? Yes, your grace. Don't know what it is. All right. Not even a little. John Carpenter.
00:26:19
Speaker
Yeah, John Kompeter's toxic commando, which super weird game to make. I don't know if either, you know, about the toxic commando. And I do know that's something I barely know about. Oh, fucking want to describe this to you, too. Listen, James, you don't have to do anything. Yeah, I know. It's traumatic for you. It's not. No, it sounds like it's pretty tough.
00:26:47
Speaker
Is it a new IP? We have the search bar on Wikipedia. That's when you want to stay in Wikipedia. That doesn't. Yeah. All right. Well, anyway, John. Yeah, it's a new looks like it's, you know, this is another World War Z style game. Probably looks something in the vein of, you know, you're back for bloods.
00:27:09
Speaker
It's the same studio made who's making Space Marine 2 and World War Z. So this will be coming sometime next year, but a more traditional on Earth zombie slaying adventure. I was thinking it was going to be like an until dawn. Nope. Shoot, shooty, shooty. Wait, John Carpenter, isn't he like the thing guy? He's the horror guy. But yeah, so why is whatever.
00:27:37
Speaker
Next up, we got a villain trailer for Gortash from Baldur's Gate 3. As we were near, it's 1.0 release on August 31st. I'm looking forward to that game, right? Yeah, I mean, it's been in early access for...
00:27:53
Speaker
Year and a half, two years, though? Just one? I don't know. What's the one we didn't like? That's a long list. That's fair. There's another D&D one, though. Don't worry about it. Let's see here. Also, very weirdly, they confirmed on this that Spider-Man 2 is coming out on October 20th.
00:28:19
Speaker
Which is super weird that Jeff got the release date and not the Sony show. That's a good point. I don't. We also got confirmation. We get to see a cool still of Venom of Miles and Peter flying Venom and that Venom won't be Eddie Brock. Yep. I don't know what that means. Eddie Brock is traditionally the person who is bonded with the symbiote. OK. Yeah.
00:28:48
Speaker
Yeah, it's interesting. I don't. Yeah, I don't fully get why Spider-Man Spider-Man's release date got put in the Summer Games Fest. My only thing is hubris from Sony just being like, listen, our showcase is a banger. We let's give this one to Jeff. He needs it. The only reasonable thing I heard was this allows them to have two news cycles because they had the last one and now they get this one. No, I thought that kind of makes sense, but it's like it's just the date.
00:29:18
Speaker
This is just a poll that Jeff has. And we have a similar poll now that we're on. So that's right. It's Jeff Keeley. Jeff Keeley adds a party.
00:29:30
Speaker
Uh, black desert online has an expansion coming out. I had to hurry this up because we have to talk about starfield for like 45 minutes. Honestly, I don't even know much about it. Oh, Andy. Oh boy. All right. We'll get there. Uh, uh, a new trailer for Lord of the rings, which lower the range game.
00:29:48
Speaker
Sorry, James, I interrupted you. No, no, no, that's fine. Also, as we talked about recently, the Embracer Group actually announced today on June 13th that they'll be making a lot of corporate restructuring and layoffs because of that $2 billion shortage. And one of the things they said is, we are going to literally, quote unquote, exploit the Lord of the Rings franchise.
00:30:10
Speaker
Oh, they said that in it. They said the literal word exploit. Oh, man. So they're going to drill down on Lord of the Rings games. We're going to get more gamers like grimly or whatever his name is. This game kind of looks like a deep rock galactic, but instead of being in space, it's in not the rings. Yeah. Who's grimly, then? No one.
00:30:38
Speaker
All right. All right. All right. All right. We got a trailer for like a dragon game. The man who erased his name coming out on November 9th. Looks super fun. Oh yeah. Like a dragon. Oh wait. No, this isn't the one we'll get there.
00:30:55
Speaker
I'll go back though really quick. Sorry, James. Yeah, sure. I heard this. So like a dragon Gaiden, which are usually remakes, right? Nope, but yes. Oh, what are the remakes called? The remakes are called. I thought they were called to Zami. OK, thank you. Thank you. So the man who erased his name, I heard it was like done in the the the vein of like Spider-Man or something.
00:31:23
Speaker
Oh, what you're talking about, literally, Andy, is this scene right here. I mean, just find it here. You has a bunch of new fighting styles and weirdly, one of them involves throwing the wires at people and grabbing them. Ready? Here. Oh, OK. I thought it was like a or something. No, no, no, no. Oh, this is awesome.
00:31:42
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, this is coming back to like a dragon eight or excuse me, like a dragon seven and like a dragon eight will still be in the turn based style like a dragon game. The man who races name will be in the beat them up style a la Judgment and the previous like a dragon slash yakuza games. This will be a side story game, too. It's only going to be 10 to 15 hours, something like that. It's supposed to bridge the gap between seven and eight. It looks super cool. I can't wait for it.
00:32:11
Speaker
Don't care about under the waves, don't care about the next cod. We were talking about this before the podcast. Ben Brode came out to discuss the new conquest mode for Marvel Snap. They didn't really expand on it while they were out there. It seemed like Ben was kind of just flying by the seat of his pants. However, they did release a trailer today that explained what it is. Charles, do you want to give the explanation of it?
00:32:38
Speaker
So basically, and by half paying attention to the trailer, people use a limited currency to enter into basically a single elimination tournament with getting rewards as you climb the ladder. It is a different mode than the normal rank mode that is currently available on Snap. And to be honest with you,
00:33:07
Speaker
Sure. Well, you're still a player though, Charles, aren't you? I'm playing right now. So professional.
00:33:18
Speaker
I am three ranks away from reaching the level one hundred rank, the highest rank you could get. Oh, which would make me hit my streak of the total amount of digital card games that I've played where I reached the highest rank would make it to three. I've only done two so far. What were the other ones? Hardstone and have time for these things.
00:33:46
Speaker
because you nerds want to talk about Final Fantasy seven rebirth. I love it. I love it. So there are a bunch of other announcements that aren't worth talking about. They're fine. No, not compared to seven. Yeah. He did then close his show with a trailer for Final Fantasy seven rebirth and it's chock full of confusing footage.
Fan Excitement and Speculation
00:34:10
Speaker
It opened it opened with seemingly Barrett Tifa and read 13 dead being wheeled into ambulances and then cut to visuals of after the, uh, the end of final fantasy sevens Midgard section, where they collapse like the, uh, the whole section, that one section there. Uh, but then it cuts to them leaving Midgar and going out into the world. So it's real confusing. That's okay.
00:34:37
Speaker
I'm pumped. I'm pumped. It got me excited. It got me emotional. They noted that it'll be coming out early 2024. Sorry, Charles, but you do get a free drop for that. I do. And then also, we'll be coming out on two disks. Yeah. That's right.
00:34:56
Speaker
That's right. We're taking it back, baby, to see multiple disk release. I love it. I love it. The people, the pop that to just got is so amusing and great. I got the reaction they wanted. I think everybody, everybody's just thrilled to even see that.
00:35:16
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. So you two were like fucking out of your minds about the first game. Cause I knew you got, you both got the super collector's edition. Oh yeah. Of course. Are you going to be doing that again this time? Of course.
00:35:30
Speaker
How could I know? Unless I already, the only thing that could stop me is if I already, it might be a play arts figure, and if I already have the play arts figure, it would just be silly to buy it, unfortunately. And I already have Sephiroth, and I was wondering if it was gonna be Sephiroth.
00:35:47
Speaker
Based on how this based on the trick this trailer I wouldn't be surprised if it's Tifa this time I already feel it feels like they're making this game very Tifa focused at least based on this trailer
00:36:01
Speaker
Oh, Elena in this. Let's go. I was going to ask you, is Elena a new character? She was pretty, at least I remember her being kind of minor in the original. She's a new recruit. Well, you meet her actually in the caves, right? I don't.
00:36:18
Speaker
after you get out of Midgar? I haven't. Listen, I played Final Fantasy 7 once. Oh, my God. Just watching this trailer. Oh, that was the other show. They demo'd a bunch of gameplay. Oh, God. Oh, the combo attacks from intergreed have been worked into the main game. I still need to play intergreed, actually. So I'm like having waves go through me. This isn't appropriate to be on air for. Oh.
00:36:44
Speaker
Hmm it definitely seemed just from a story point it seemed like it's Sephiroth's kind of saying essentially that he killed Tifa back during the Was it Niflgard insolent and is like who the fuck is this person? Nevelheim? Yeah, so yeah, that is the implication Yeah But to be honest with you
00:37:07
Speaker
What you see in that cinematic right there is also shown in the original game. So it could be a very easy misdirection because Sephiroth does staver in the original game too. So if they make that the cutscene, then you're like, yeah. How cool would that be?
00:37:30
Speaker
I like the theory that, again, this is the theory that both Aerith and Sephiroth are from the future. So he's talking about, it's like, I killed her. So it's like, who is she that this person who came back in time was supposed to be dead? Yeah, no, I agree. And that's why I do think it makes better sense if the theory is that he's talking about Aerith instead of Tifa.
00:37:59
Speaker
Yeah. Wouldn't the idea be that he's really Genova too? Who is? Genova is. Sephiroth. Doesn't he merge with, he merges with Genova, doesn't he? Yep, he does. Yeah, so it's actually Sephiroth is actually Genova just taking on the appearance of Sephiroth. Oh.
00:38:20
Speaker
It's interesting. I like this Rebirth storyline and what it's doing. We have to move onto the Xbox showcase, but very quickly, how did you guys feel about some Achilles? Good. It was really good. I think it was well-paced. There's certainly some slowdowns, but it was not like some showcase past where it's like after the first 30 minutes, it wasn't worth watching.
00:38:46
Speaker
Yeah, I think he's getting his stride. I still don't understand his connections, but he's starting. He's growing. He's doing better. No, no, all the ring, no armored core, no Kojima, no Kojima. Oh, maybe Kojima is not responding. Apple has Kojima now. That's right. That's right. During World Developers Conference, they announced that deaf stranding and potentially future games will be coming to the back.
00:39:12
Speaker
Who cares? Apple, I guess. I mean, if Kojima gets money, go and get that bag. All right. Well, now let's now let's go to the biggest surprise of the week. And that was Xbox fucking came to play. Remember how we were talking about the Xbox showcase being like, all right, Xbox impresses.
00:39:31
Speaker
They heard it and they came. Yeah. We're going to have to skip through some of these to not talk about all of them so deeply, because there's a couple we really need to talk about, especially in the Ubisoft as well. But they did a siege. They opened with a CG trailer for the new Fable game. And it seems going to be starting Richard Iota, which fucking great. Like if you had to put a face on a new Fable game, Richard Iota is a perfect person to do that. What is that?
00:39:59
Speaker
He's from the IT crowd and a bunch of other stuff. That's where he got famous for. How do you spell his name? It's right there. A-Y-O-A-D. Excuse me. Is Peter Molyneux involved? I don't know, actually. Do they have trees that you cut down and grow back? Well, they don't. Look, I think they learned a long time ago to put him in a room by himself. Somebody absentmindedly nodding and saying, yeah, yeah, that's exactly what happened.
00:40:29
Speaker
Good. I could just last thing like goddess or something. I don't know. Yeah, that was a mess. Next, they had a. So I remember they're like no CGI trailers, but they had seen in game trailers made with the engine, which is an interesting cop out. But another game called South of Midnight. It's sent in the American Deep South.
00:40:55
Speaker
Then it's by Compulsion Games. It looks interesting, but not a lot for us to talk there. We'll talk more about this game in the Ubisoft discussion after this one, but they showed the trailer for Star Wars Outlaws. Real great.
00:41:14
Speaker
They then showed I, this is actually an interesting conversation. Um, the spirit fair developer Thunder Lotus has debuted his next game called 33 and mortals with 33 player co-op multiplayer. You're not trying to fight each other. This is like a fucking raid where the 33 of you are working towards one goal. I love it.
00:41:36
Speaker
But I think it also has kind of like battle royale style, like shrinking map to try to keep everyone in the same place as the mission goes on. It looks super cool and I'm super looking forward to playing it. Spearfarer was a great game that made you cry.
00:41:52
Speaker
Oh, I heard those things. Yeah, Spiritfare was a great game. We had a gameplay trailer for Payday 3 that's coming out September 21st. Looks like Payday. What? Next, in what was supposed to be a surprise. Yeah. That would have been a big one. Curse you, Instagram. Atlas accidentally posted the trailers for the Persona 3 remake, Persona 3 reload, and a new Persona Tactics game.
00:42:20
Speaker
based on Persona 5 on their Instagram a few days out of the Xbox Showcase. Oops. But it's happening. They're remaking Persona 3. And it very much looks like they're not changing a lot except kind of the UI and moving it more towards the Persona 5 style. They have confirmed that the stuff from Portable and I think the other version of the game are not going to be in it.
00:42:45
Speaker
So the female protagonist won't be in it, which is like, I guess, sure, Atlas. It was really well received as I. Yeah, I'm sure. Well, when they release it again with that stuff. Oh, sure. Yeah. That that'll be coming out early 2024. I know we've talked about the Persona 3 remake already, so I'm just going to keep going.
00:43:14
Speaker
Next, we see Obsidian Entertainments of Vowed, which is basically supposed to be kind of their Skyrim. Oh boy, it looks good. Well, aren't they better at being Bethesda than Bethesda? They famously were the people who made Fallout New Vegas, which everyone says is the better game than Fallout 3. And South Park.
00:43:37
Speaker
Oh, yeah, they did. They did make South Park games, which are fantastic games, even if you don't really like South Park all that much. I'm excited to see something come out of them. Yeah, it looks I mean, it very much you can see the kind of Bethesda Skyrim roots in it. And, you know, obsidian's got the chops. I didn't love the outer worlds. I don't know why it never really clicked for me. That was their kind of space game that they made.
00:44:06
Speaker
Not Outer Wilds. Right. Right. Outer Wilds is the other game. Outer Worlds is the obsidian RPG game. Did either of you... Andy, you like the side of it? What about you, Charles? I forget how you feel about Skyrim sometimes. How did I feel?
00:44:31
Speaker
So to be honest with you, I thought it looked good. I don't have necessarily a problem with Skyrim games. They're just there. It's my standard, right? So it's just all like, yeah.
00:44:46
Speaker
Andy, just for you, Sea of Thebes is getting an expansion with content for Return to Monkey Island and Guybrush Threepwood. Yeah. I mean, that seems like a fucking slam dunk for, I mean, did Rare, it was Lucasfilm's made the original Monkey Island games, right? Rare wasn't involved, were they? No. Okay.
00:45:10
Speaker
But I mean, like, if you were going to put Monkey Island crap anywhere, oh, you see, it seems like a great place to do it. It's I think it's a wonderful crossover. Yep. And the original diverse voice actor is back. Oh, how fun. Oh, neat. Andy, are you going to have to play Sea of Thieves? Oh, well, I should probably beat return to monkey.
00:45:32
Speaker
into it though if you end up playing see thieves let me know because I've always been looking for excuse to play that game I've never played it neither really oh well it's on game pass that's right baby I hate it one of these days I'll subscribe to game pass for more than a dollar
00:45:52
Speaker
Uh, next up they're announcing that a fight simulator is getting an update to 2024 version with a bunch of cool new great shit. What does that mean 2024? They're upgrading the engine, make it look prettier.
00:46:09
Speaker
Next, they had a new trailer for Senua Saga Hellblade 2. It was last one was more of the combat demo. This is more of kind of a story trailer where they show you you're definitely going to have multiple voices talking in your head the entire time. That's cool. And this is using the Epic engine, right?
00:46:32
Speaker
You made it the power of your iPhone? Unreal Engine 5? Yeah, I think it's an Unreal Engine 5. Oh, did I say thank you? Unreal. No, you're absolutely correct. I was being a goof. Yeah, it's Unreal Engine 5, yeah.
00:46:45
Speaker
No firm date just this coming in 2024. Yeah, I still I'm selling the same problem. I still have with it, which is the first game. Well, no, actually, that's even worse. Actually, the first game is literally about her like coming to terms with her own traumas and dealing with things. And for some reason, oh,
00:47:08
Speaker
uh she's there's like there's no lead there's nothing about the story where this would make sense of like what is she doing now like she has like she she'd come to turns with a very personal story and resolving it and then suddenly she's somehow dealing with all this and you're like
00:47:27
Speaker
There's no it doesn't make sense about any of the characters currently. Yeah, it's just like higher stakes, everything in the sequel, everything uncharted two is better than uncharted one. This is the uncharted two.
00:47:45
Speaker
Uh, next up, we got a trailer for, it was a very confusing, uh, like a dragon infinite wealth, which everyone was like, wait a minute.
Upcoming Games and Unique Concepts
00:47:53
Speaker
Is this a side story? No, this is actually the name for like a dragon eight. Yeah. Uh, which, uh, RGG confirmed later, but features protagonist, uh, Ichiban Kasuga waking up, wait for it, not in Japan and also start naked.
00:48:10
Speaker
Yeah, it was great. They did a very Austin Powers like thing with a bunch of shit blocking his genitals. It was. Yeah, but this might be the first Yakuza game that has takes, especially in a mainline game, taking place somewhere outside of Japan. Yeah, maybe it's Hawaii. It's people have confirmed it's Hawaii. OK, specifically Honolulu and Waikiki Beach where we were not too long ago. Yeah.
00:48:40
Speaker
I'm assuming the infinite wealth was from the minigame and the previous one. That's always the thing with Yakuza games, which is like, at a certain point, you become a billionaire. Oh, okay. That's in all of them. Okay.
00:48:55
Speaker
Yeah. Like in most of them, there's usually a side story game where you can like make so much money. Sure. But then, you know, or in the rest of the game, you know, what I realized walking this trailer, each of us tattoo extends down to his ass cheek. That's accurate, though, for Yakuza. No, no, no, it's fine. But it's just like, I never knew that wasn't we never get that personal. Yeah. He never takes the pants off.
00:49:23
Speaker
Now you're eating good tonight. Yeah. Take. Remember, we all obsessed about Ray's bulge. Now we've got a whole show. These bulge when they showed up. Yeah. Six. No, I looked fun. I mean, I'm glad that they're they're basically saying we're going to keep this game light. We're going to keep. I mean,
00:49:48
Speaker
I don't know how like it's a Yakuza game, but we're going to keep, you know, each Yvonne's kind of fun humor and his hairstyles back. Yes, I was worried about that.
00:49:57
Speaker
But I also want all of his friends to come back. I mean, I can't imagine they won't. I love every single character. But who's to say then I won't love every new character? I was always worried when a new character showed up that I wouldn't like them. And I ended up loving them. So I definitely saw a production interview they did where there was like a picture of him talking to Namba. So OK, good. I need them. They're fine.
00:50:25
Speaker
But I mean, it's super cool. It's if if you're going to leave Japan, Hawaii is not a bad place to go to find people who also speak Japanese. So it's a good move on their part. I'm pumped. My biggest fear, though, is that the original. Well, I guess we call it Yakuza or like a Dragon 7.
00:50:47
Speaker
That was exclusive to Xbox for a while. Yes, it was. I don't mean this one's going to be exclusive to Xbox. No, I think RGG said now that all games will be day and date released on all platforms or something. I don't want an Xbox. Next up, because we're not going to talk about the Capcom showplace, they they donated. They demonstrated.
00:51:11
Speaker
a trailer for a new game Kunitsu Gami Path of the Goddess, which is an action game, but also kind of a little strategy game where there's, you're also cut your first person or third person fighting, but you're also on sort of a hexagonal map. It's kind of weird and interesting. Um,
00:51:29
Speaker
I think we need more trailers to really kind of understand what's going on with it, but it looks it looks visually interesting. Yeah, it doesn't look like a sequel. Yeah, I'm down for it. Afghan's killing it. So yeah, they really are. We got a trailer for Forza Motorsports. Sure. Then it will be coming out on October 10th. As a different game, you said, I forgot. Oh, Spider-Man.
00:51:56
Speaker
Uh, we got a trailer for overwatch two, uh, their new flashpoint mode. Uh, by the way, overwatch also announced that you will have to pay $15 for some of the new PVE content. We don't have time to dig into that. Maybe next week. Yeah, I know, man. I know.
00:52:18
Speaker
First, uh, next game, the persona five tactics game. Um, so it's not in the same art style. Let's see, uh, chibi style. And I would say they're also, huh? Is it like Q I think a persona Q was like a 3DS game. I'm pretty sure.
00:52:35
Speaker
Oh, I don't know. It seems like it's taking place in kind of a separate universe where persona takes place in the real world, air quotes. This is taking place in some sort of like dream world. I don't know if I want that.
00:52:57
Speaker
I mean, tactics games aren't for me, but it's just weird that they would do that. I mean, I guess it's not weird. Persona five really took off. Yes.
00:53:08
Speaker
But like, cause here's the thing, I need to double check, but who makes this guy? Oh, Niponichi, nevermind. I don't know. Atlas is one of the publishers for, for, for this guy. Yes. Yeah. So they just like, you know what? Let's just put slap persona on this. It's fine. It'll be okay. It might as well.
00:53:30
Speaker
I think persona Q is supposed to be like Etrion Odyssey. I can be making that up, but maybe. Moving on. Next. There was a show. We'll talk more about that at the end of this podcast, the end of this showcase. After that, Dontnod's next game. It's a stylish platformer. Basically you're climbing shit. Looks super cool. Oh, I like climbing stuff.
00:53:54
Speaker
Yeah, Andy, it's a game basically based around climbing puzzles. Wait, what? That's like my favorite stuff. What? Yeah. Yeah. You saw.
00:54:04
Speaker
You are targeted, Andy. I love this stuff. And it's made by Dontnod, who are a fantastic game. What are they doing? I mean, good. They walked away from Life is Strange a while ago. Well, they made that game where that starred a woman, I remember. And they said no one would publish it because the woman kissed a man. And that's great. So no one wanted to publish it. That's the opposite. But anyway, it was really interesting trying to get a woman led game published.
00:54:33
Speaker
Their whole story will be coming out fall 2023. Uh, next was a D debut trailer for still wakes the deep, which is a horror ocean exploration game. Don't really know too much about it.
00:54:48
Speaker
Uh, next was a skateboarding dungeon, exploring, journaling girl coming to an emotional growth game called Dungeons of Hinterberg. Oh, does she kiss a boy though? She might. She might kiss a girl. Well, then that's fine. That makes it not gay.
00:55:08
Speaker
I don't think you know what gay is. I'm talking about mainstream publishers, James. That's fair. Next, we got a demo. Next, we got a gameplay trailer for Phantom Liberty, the the expansion for Cyberpunk 2077. That will be coming out September 26. And it'll be costing 30 dollars, which not an unreasonable.
00:55:33
Speaker
A lot of this information has come out about it, one of which is that it'll be taking place in this area called Dogtown, which is south of Pacifica, and more or less will involve you saving and hanging around with the president of the new United States.
00:55:52
Speaker
So it is also going to come with a gigantic rehaul of the game. Police, AI, physics, vehicle combat, skill tree revamps. They're they're implementing a lot of stuff from cyberpunk edge runners where it's like, hey, if you put too much fucking mods in your body, you'll start getting like these negative effects, cyberpsychosis style. So
00:56:18
Speaker
It's actually, you know, they're, they're taking another swing at this game. I think we all kind of said when cyberpunk came out, I can't wait for two to three years and they released the X back. And this may be the time based on these trailers. Um, I mean, you know, fool me once, shame on me, fool me twice or fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me. So I'm not willing to give CD project red, any kind of benefit of doubt about this, but they're saying all the right things and the trailers are looking real fun.
00:56:47
Speaker
And they put a lot of work into the base game in them in between. Also, we'll be starting at your cell, which we did do and that Keanu Reeves will be coming back and recording new lines as Javi Silverhand, which is good. It's always very jaunting when you go to play like an expansion of a game that has like a popular actor. And he's very talky during the base game, but then you go to the expect stuff and he's. Yeah. So, yeah, I mean, are you two excited for the the expect?
00:57:18
Speaker
I never played the original though. You tried. Didn't you return it, though? I did. Or are you going to try it again now? I guess is a better way to know. Really? What do you you have to understand the depths of my pettiness, you know? Your money back. What? Yeah. Yeah, your money back. Yeah. But my feelings were hurt. And that's valid. That's valid. Um.
00:57:49
Speaker
next up we got a trailer for city skyline 2 all your sim city builders
00:57:56
Speaker
rejoice, it'll be coming out on October 24th. After that, hey, hey, remember how we were all laughing? Ha, Alice got all their things leaked. They must be mad. One thing didn't leak. Alice popped up again. They have a new IP, baby, metaphor, Re-Fantazio, which seems to be a persona-style game set in a kind of almost medieval fantasy world. Is this the one he's been working on for a million years? Mm-hmm.
00:58:25
Speaker
Oh, so is there like history to this? There was the guy who made Persona. They spun off an internal team for him to work on something way, way, way back when. And it was going to be a medieval kind of game. We had like one picture of like, actually, I would say maybe not medieval because I think there are cars. So maybe like steampunk. OK. Yeah, I didn't know if anything came of it, but I remember they were working on a new IP and I got really excited. And that was like a million years ago.
00:58:52
Speaker
Um, so this is really cool that something's coming of it, which is another Catherine, but, um, I'll take it. I was gonna say, is this the first new IP for Atlas since Catherine? Probably. I mean, I'm sure there's others, but let's be real. Yeah. Um, yeah, they didn't, I don't think they gave a date for it. Let me skip to the end here. Oh no, 2024. Yeah. So next year, so next year, Alan's fans going to be meeting pretty well with like three games.
00:59:21
Speaker
Um, hopefully it won't take a year for them to release it. Like it did persona five. So did it take like a year after released in Japan to come out in America? It was a bit, wasn't it? It was a good amount of time. Uh, to do next was a game called tower born. It looked real fun. Um, I don't think there's anything super interesting to talk about it though.
00:59:42
Speaker
Uh, after that clockwork revolution, uh, a new game might made by in exile entertainment. Let me tell you something. If that was it fucking gearbox should suit them or who makes a bioshock? Is it gearbox? No, it was, um, well, they're defunct now. Cause that's why I'm left and made a different studio. That's right. Yeah. Is this game of mine studio?
01:00:05
Speaker
No, they're they're making that other game with the blonde lady in space. Oh, that's right. You're right. You're right. Yes, this is made by in exile who they made wasteland three torrent tides of numeria. So they made a bunch of was it a RPG games or not a energy isometric RPG games. So like kind of turn based
01:00:34
Speaker
that kind of like disco Elysium or something like that. If you even played wasteland three or torment, but very heavily influenced by like tabletop and like a D and D style game. Um, so cockrook revolution though, as a first person shooter that holy shit looks exactly like Bioshock infinite.
01:00:51
Speaker
I like, but I mean, not in a bad way, not like, Oh, this is just such a dock off. This looks like very visually interesting and very like I'm looking forward to it. Yeah. But man, it just goes to show you how much Bioshock like set the, set the standard for that style, you know, for the steam punky. Yeah. Like, yeah. Cause like, it's hard to look at this and not think Bioshock. Yeah, absolutely.
01:01:15
Speaker
Yeah, so that's my thing I felt bad about, which is I was just like, this does look like a lot of work was put into it. This is Bioshock.
01:01:25
Speaker
It does look like instead of portal hopping like infinite had where you're jumping between different dimensions, this will have some sort of time travel based component where you could change things in the past and affect the future and so forth. How much of that will actually happen in the gameplay? I mean, it looked like there were times where you could like blow up something and then rebuild it, but
01:01:47
Speaker
You know, it's, I think physics like that can get tricky. They didn't give a window for it. It said coming in due time. So we'll see. Sure. Yeah.
01:02:01
Speaker
Uh, yeah. And then they announced a new Xbox series S they'll have a terabyte hard drive, which cool. The, I think the standard series S only has 120 gigabytes or 256. I can't remember which, but it was pretty small. So it's, storage has gotten a lot cheaper, so it's nice to see them upgrade the series S to get more.
01:02:24
Speaker
I still don't see the value in buying a Series S comparative to the Series X, but hey, someone's people are buying them. Yeah. Oh, we'll see. And then let's talk about Starfield.
Starfield and Ubisoft's Star Wars Outlaws Discussion
01:02:38
Speaker
Yeah. Now, tell me about it. Charles, did you watch the extended part of the Starfield trailer? I watch. Well, what counts as extended? The part that came after the Xbox Showcase. Yeah. OK.
01:02:53
Speaker
So first of all, during the showcase, they had a three minute trailer that was beautiful. It was a fantastic trailer for Starfield. Then they spent 35 minutes detailing every system of the game. Oh, wow. Based everything from combat, story mechanics, character creation, gunplay.
01:03:20
Speaker
Space combat ship customizable shipbuilding customizable base building how they procedurally generate worlds How those worlds are stockpiled by handwritten content? Like if you had like a list of questions be like, okay Bethesda How are you gonna make all these things work, right? They sat down there went through that list one by fucking one for you and man, it looks too good to be a bit like it this looks like
01:03:50
Speaker
Um, like the debt, like if someone is going to make no man's sky too, but actually do everything they said they were going to do and not to knock on fucking, um, the no man's sky devs. They've done a lot to make that game a lot better, but I think the idea of what we all wanted no man's sky to be. This is really close to it. And I know that's a dangerous level of hype to give to any game, but man, they're doing everything they can to show this game is being exactly what we think it is. Hmm.
01:04:20
Speaker
I don't know Charles, how did you walk away from their feeling about it? That's why I agree on that. They're definitely doing what they can because it's seemingly everything we've been asking for. It's just one of those things where we just kind of wait and they're just like,
01:04:41
Speaker
Uh, how do I say this? Um, it's kind of, it's basically just like, huh, it's, it's either going to be exactly what we wanted or, um, things are going to fall short. Like Tom Howard literally said you have thousands of planets.
01:04:57
Speaker
Yeah, he did not say what's going to be on all thousands of planets. Well, so the way they described it in the extended gameplay or the extended trailer or showcase was that they have a library of content, whether that be like cities or questlines or stories. And as you travel to planets, the game will procedurally generate those planets.
01:05:26
Speaker
And then fill in those planets from that library, which means that you like the way they described it means you as a player, right? I could go to a planet and get a completely different experience than you. If you went to say that same planet, because it would be built differently and it would choose different elements to populate it based on our paths and our stories. Hmm.
01:05:50
Speaker
That is the way they described it. We will see. We will see how it actually plays out. But based on how they described it, that's what it sounded like to me. Was Todd Howard in any of this? Yes. Oh, Todd Howard was narrating the whole goddamn thing. Andy, I want to be very clear with you. At one point, he's like, you see that mood there? He did not. Yeah, he did. Did he do it with a wink? No, he was on screen, but I bet he did.
01:06:18
Speaker
That moon isn't in the background. You could travel to that moon. So the only thing I've heard about this game is that Microsoft has every QA person they have QA-ing this game. Yeah, I think they said every person doing QA at Xbox is working on Starfield. Yeah, and because they know.
01:06:44
Speaker
But they also said even compared to other Bethesda games, it's already less buggy. Yeah. Which in one way I thought was an interesting and embarrassing thing to admit. I mean, we all kind of just. Yeah, exactly. It's not even a secret. We all know it. But they're just like, yeah, we do a bad job.
01:07:04
Speaker
and we're already doing better, but that's a pretty low bar. So yeah, and I would say to like even though since the last time they showed starfield, you can see the visual fidelity has gone up a lot like they've really been working on the lighting engine. Like I think the last time we saw the characters, they all looked really flat. But now you kind of they seem much more in the world. They also said that it'll be running at lock 30 FPS on consoles, which unsurprising.
01:07:31
Speaker
Sad, but you know, they're at least being upfront about it. And hey, you know, I'd rather they hit a realistic target and then not like, you know, as I mean, or it's like, just make sure you're always hitting 30. That's fine. I mean, I'm going to play it on PC so I don't give a shit.
01:07:46
Speaker
on Game Pass. On Game Pass. Although they also did announce today that you can buy premium upgrade editions, which will give you some certain pre-order bonuses, as it were, including five days of early access. So if you're planning on getting the game on Game Pass, you can still do that. But you can buy this upgrade for your 30 or 40 dollars to get five days early access, some custom gear and a custom storyline.
01:08:16
Speaker
Oh, interesting. My thing with this is Bethesda games always and always and have always lived and died by the modding community fought for was peeing the ass to mod. And it still kind of is, although people have gotten a lot better at it. I worry about this game.
01:08:39
Speaker
But because you have to think, too, like if you have this the ability to procedurally generate worlds and then load them with content, that's so perfect for modding. Sure. Just extra modded content. And also like the they got to like how you can really build like custom ships and shit like that with their ship builder. It's like, you know, people are going to want to put in like the enterprise and fucking X wings and bullshit. You know what I mean? Oh, yeah. Oh, definitely true.
01:09:04
Speaker
Yeah. So it's like, these are the kinds of things that are going to keep people coming back your games. I'm hoping Microsoft didn't fuck that up for them, but we won't know about that for a while. Unfortunately. I mean, I remember for a long time, people were like, GTA five is unmoddable. And like 10 years later, what we have RP servers. So at a certain point, the community will get what it wants. We'll just have to say, but.
01:09:26
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. I man, we've all kind of like talked about Starfield like tongue in cheek going, well, we'll see. We'll see Xbox. But man, this trailer, it almost makes you a believer. Like it's it's as close as you come to not playing this game and going, I think they got something. Yeah. Yeah. Andy, I it's 45 minutes. I do recommend you watch this the deep dive. Hmm. I don't know if I'll play it.
01:09:55
Speaker
They also at the end of it showed that you will also have magic powers. There's magic? Oh, you didn't see that Charles at the end. I wasn't paying that much attention.
01:10:08
Speaker
At the end of the combat, it was like right here. Yeah, here is he's walking down the hallway and then he lifts his hand and then all of a sudden everyone goes floats like they went zero grab. Oh, so there will be space match this game. Oh, it's going to be good. Also, Todd's looking great, by the way. Look at those blue eyes. I could stare into them all day. He can lie to me on whatever he wants.
01:10:38
Speaker
All right. Oh, we're an hour and 13 in and we still got it. Charles, I'm sorry. We're going to talk about the demo next week. Sure. Well, do you not want to talk about Star Wars Outlaws because Star Wars Outlaws is actually kind of good to talk about. Well, 16 is coming out soon. Well, no, that'll be good. Actually, the review should be coming out next week. Actually, the review should be coming out this week. Hmm. That's interesting. When will the reviews come out?
01:11:05
Speaker
I wonder if there are really copies. They'll probably come out on Monday, the beginning of the week. Well, that will work, then. We can talk about our experiences with the demo and the reviews next week. Is that fair? Go for it. OK, I'm sorry. I want to talk about it, too. I played it. It was a great trailer or a great demo. But I do want to talk about Star Wars outlaws.
01:11:29
Speaker
Is this the one that that woman was making and then they kicked her out or whatever? No, that's she's making that with someone else. Yeah, so the Ubisoft forward came out. It was kind of a dud, honestly, a partial.
01:11:46
Speaker
Yeah, they showed a new game, Avatar Frontiers of Pandora. It looks like Far Cry Primal set on Pandora. They also showed more about X Defiant.
01:12:01
Speaker
team, the team PVP game with all the factions from various Ubisoft games. Um, they dug into more Prince of Persia. We don't have to talk about this, but Prince of Persia looks real good. It, it's a 2d Metroid platformer, Metroidvania platformer, Prince of Persia. I'm very excited about it. Um, I just want to see, is there anything else actually important to talk about? Did you scroll up a little bit? Was that check on radio?
01:12:27
Speaker
No, it wasn't. It's right in the public. Oh, wait. No, it's roller champions. Roller champions still lives. Oh, they're getting. Roller champions. Roller champions is getting a jet set radio event. Oh, OK. Yeah. What are they doing with that IP? They demoed more about Assassin's Creed. Sure. It looked boring. They said it was it was bad. Like I still want to play that game, but it looked bad.
01:12:53
Speaker
But then they closed the show with Star Wars Outlaws with a 10 minute gameplay. They say gameplay. I have feelings about this. So Charles, you did you watch this 10 minute trailer? I did. Andy, did you watch this? I did not. Okay. About it. And you're such a professional.
01:13:15
Speaker
Yeah, so this is Ubisoft's new Star Wars game made by the massive team, the people who originally did the division. And you play as a, I guess, kind of like a smuggler or a rogue in the Star Wars universe. It's set in between Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. And basically, you know, you're a lovable outlaw, stealing, fighting, you know, exploring the universe, trying to get away from the Empire. And you play a woman.
01:13:44
Speaker
Yep, Kves, I believe is her name. Is the Internet mad yet? Sometimes, yeah, they say she looks weird, and I do kind of agree with them, but I'm not. I'm not. And would you say that, James? Depends. Sometimes, yes, Ubisoft has a weird art style. That's fair. You also have an adorable little companion that you can use to trigger like locks and move things, but also pick up guns for you mid fight and stuff like that. That's cool.
01:14:15
Speaker
Here's my thing with this trailer. Hmm. It looks too smooth for an Ubisoft game. Oh, they did talk about how essentially they have every studio in their portfolio working on this. Like this game has to fucking hit or we're going under is the feeling I get about a loss, which is kind of like how Microsoft is with Starfield where it's like this game has to fucking succeed or we're all in fucking trouble. So, yeah, Ubisoft is all in hands on this one.
01:14:44
Speaker
Is this a single player game? This is a single player game. I'm sure it'll be microtransaction to hell and back. Sure. But it is a single player. Wow. Remember when EA had the license? Yeah, they like to take it away from them. Yes, they did because they made three games and two of them were Battlefront. Yeah.
01:15:09
Speaker
Wait, what was that? The Rogue Squadron? Yeah, but I mean, you have a trailer, essentially you stealing an item from a mafia base or a gang on, I think it was Tatooine, doesn't really matter. Actually, no, it's not Tatooine, it's the planet Ray is on at the beginning of...
01:15:27
Speaker
whatever the sequel trilogy is, The Force Awakens. And then the Empire is like, oh, we're going to get you. And she escapes into space. And they go into a space combat section with pretty nice looking space combat. And then she jumped into hyperspace to a new planet.
01:15:46
Speaker
Um, this had, you know, all sorts of like wanted levels and things like that, like the empire hunting and chasing you. I mean, also demoed a speeder bike section where she was running and shooting. The game looks good. It looks good. I don't trust Ubisoft to make this game. Like I know, I know according to them, this is the game and they've made it. I don't believe that Ubisoft knows how to make a game. I mean, they do, they do, but it's like,
01:16:16
Speaker
I don't know how to describe it. Like this game looks like the best parts of all their other games, which makes a lot of sense, right? Like they have all their studios working on it. Makes a lot of sense to say that way, but. Barely do things work out when you have that many people working on a single project, you know what I mean? Yeah. And Ubisoft has a history of fucking up with things like that. I don't know, Charles, are you less pessimistic about this? Are you ready to believe Ubisoft?
01:16:46
Speaker
No. I mean, even before I said that, were you having doubts about this game? Hmm. Hmm. Was I? No, I don't know. That's it. No, I believed. My thing was this was a pleasant surprise. You know, it comes in free. If it's good, it's good. Sure. Whatever.
01:17:11
Speaker
But I don't know, like Ubisoft isn't necessarily this good track record when it comes to not making something called Assassin's Creed. Yeah, or Rainbow Six Siege. And even then, I took forever to get it. Yes, it did.
01:17:29
Speaker
And wild, wild dogs. Well, Annie, you say the division is good. This is the division studio is the primary studio for this game. Sure. Yeah. I like to do this. I guess like I would say like this game has kind of at least this trailer would want you to think right. It has a prestige level of say how like a GTA is. You know what I mean?
01:17:50
Speaker
We're like the world is lived in and you are like, you know, everything you could just walk in and exist into everywhere and everyone's ready to go. I have never seen Ubisoft like execute on that level. You know what I mean? Where they they have that kind of.
01:18:08
Speaker
high details like a GTA or even a Naughty Dog game, right? Like Naughty Dog doesn't do great open world games, but like their narrative focused stuff is like so good and so dialed in. Like I've never seen an Ubisoft game that delivers as well as say like a Naughty Dog game did. I don't know. The division world's always like impressed me.
01:18:31
Speaker
Division was a good world. I feel like we filled in a lot of the division with our own fun, though. That's fair. We. Yeah, they they they created a perfect New York City that allowed us to create characters within it. They didn't really do like this fantastic job of building like.
01:18:50
Speaker
a narrative that you were a part of. Oh, I didn't care at all about the story. Yeah, exactly. Right. This is them are like, no, no, we're making a narrative that you're going to love and you're going to really feel like this character is what they're trying to do without laws. Hey, good. People love Star Wars. People do fucking love Star Wars.
01:19:10
Speaker
So I hope it is good. Oh, then this is I guess this is against what's the red-headed Star Wars Oh Jedi fallen order fall in surfer in order. Okay, I'll cast this I'll cast this Shouldn't be in this game
01:19:26
Speaker
Okay. Um, all of the Calcastas stuff happens before the original trilogy. So, I mean, he could, it would just kind of be like, he survives into the original trilogy kind of thing. So it takes a little narrative, um, narrative urgency away from it. But yeah, like I.
01:19:45
Speaker
I want to play the game they are showing me in this trailer. I just refuse to trust Ubisoft enough to actually look at this game. And I don't know what that says about me or Ubisoft. It's OK. What's the worst that happens? You don't buy it. No, that's that's the thing. But here's the thing. They're showing me this and I'm like, oh, this is a great game. I would love to play this game. Yeah. I don't know if this game actually exists or they're just doing a great job marketing it.
01:20:17
Speaker
And I'll be sad about that, right? Because they're getting hopes up. That's true. This is this is very much the difference between the starfield and in the outlaws discussion where it's like starfield sat down and went, OK, OK, we're not going to bullshit you here. Let's walk through everything. Yeah. And like when you watch the starfield, you could see the Bethesda roots and be like, oh, I still see where this is a Bethesda game. You know, with this, this is Ubisoft going, we're taking the next step, motherfuckers. And everyone's like, are you so?
01:20:46
Speaker
Are you though?
01:20:47
Speaker
I don't think you. Yeah, because we no one needs another Assassin's Creed or maybe they do. I shouldn't take that away from people. Don't worry, Andy. You say we don't need another one. We've got you covered on all the Assassin's Creed. We made the same joke last week. Yeah. This looks good, you guys. It looks really good. It looks really good. I do not care about Star Wars, but this looks good.
01:21:16
Speaker
Yeah, this is like if they made GTA in Star Wars, that's what this game looks like. But it looks so polished. Well, that's the thing. I need to see like.
01:21:29
Speaker
like many documentary like they did for Fucking Starfield so that I can see it in all sorts of different ways. That isn't, you know, what is it, Penny Arcade? This this almost feels like Bullshot,
Next-Gen Gaming Shift and Showcase Recap
01:21:40
Speaker
right? You know, where it's like you're showing me this. How do I know you didn't just render this one frame a time each day? You know, this is not going to be on PS4.
01:21:53
Speaker
Oh no. And actually that is an interesting point to be that I would say of all the games shown over this weekend, most of them were next gen exclusive. So we're finally getting to that point now where the previous gen is kind of getting pushed out. This looks like a next gen game. Yeah. Wow. Well, great. Was this one more thing? This was their end of their presentation. See your cheekbones? I don't know. They're very sharp.
01:22:19
Speaker
Makes me uncomfortable. What's wrong with that? What's wrong with that? I didn't say. Oh, right. Okay. I don't know her face. I don't know. There's like, I get a weird uncanny valley thing when I look at her face. I don't know what it is. I, okay. I'm not sexist, but kind of understand.
01:22:47
Speaker
I'm not sexist. I don't know what it is. I wonder if it's her hair because my immediate reaction is I want to change her hair so bad. Maybe it's the way it's framing the face, but I understand the uncanny valley because they're just very defined.
01:23:03
Speaker
And it doesn't feel like a video game kind of like character model of a face, which is, which is fine. Like if you're going for more realism and we're like, she has a personality to her face, which is a good thing. It's just interesting to see it in a video game. I would say. Yeah. I feel like, you know, a different nice femme chef ponytail, you know, nice.
01:23:25
Speaker
Um, no, I don't know. We'll say, but yeah, I mean, and they also said it will be coming out 2024, uh, late 2024. If I had any guests, but that game's coming out end of fiscal 2024. I guarantee you.
01:23:41
Speaker
Because they're going to take all their possible time to deliver in this game and still get credit for it for the 2020. That could be a cool game. Yeah, I'm fucking looking forward to it. Here's the thing, though. It's going to get judged against Starfield. And man, if Starfield hits like everyone's expecting it to. It's a different game, though. What is it's a very much a different game, but I will say any a lot of people having now seen that Starfield thing are going shit. Tears of the Kingdom might not be game of the year.
01:24:11
Speaker
Yeah, honestly. Yeah, I don't know. This would turn into maybe a longer discussion. I don't. I don't know. Space just doesn't interest me, but star with this, though, looked like it had like a personality to it, whereas Starfield didn't look like that to me. I think Starfield demands a certain amount of filling in the world with yourself, but that's also part of its charm. Yes, yes, that's completely fair. And I'm lazy. I don't like to create my own character, so.
01:24:41
Speaker
Maybe Outlaws aligns more with what I'm looking for.
01:24:44
Speaker
And all right. Well, the last thing, and then we do have to wrap this podcast and that is re starfield. Um, you get to choose backgrounds in starfield and it has tangible effects on the game. One of which is called kid stuff where your parents are. And you pay a certain amount of money to pay for like their apartment or whatever, and you can go visit them. That's awesome. Yeah. You just talk about world living movie. Think about that. What a fucking, but that is the thing to add to.
01:25:13
Speaker
That's fun. That's cool. Even the dad makes like a dad joke when you walk in. It's like, Oh, we got a visitor here. That's great. It turns out good. We didn't review like a real, real quick Xbox showcase, Charles. How would you rate that? It was really good. I honestly think it was probably their best showcase they've done. Yeah.
01:25:39
Speaker
I would agree. It's definitely their best showing they've made in the Phil Spencer era. And then the Ubisoft one, man, it was boring up until the Star Wars trailer. That was it. Yeah. And it had Prince of Persia.
01:25:57
Speaker
I mean, yes, Prince of Persia. I feel here's the, all right, we have to end this podcast, but my quick feeling of the first Persian game is that's going to be a great game to play, but you don't have to do a lot to solve me on that game, which is a 2d Metroidvania, Prince of Persia game. Sick. You know what I mean? Like just get that game in my hands. Yeah. Because it's like, you can't, there's not a lot you can do to sell me on that game other than telling me it's actually fun. Sure. You know, yeah.
01:26:23
Speaker
Oh, but it was a great weekend for games. It was. Yeah. Honestly, I think these were stronger, excluding Ubisoft, but they were stronger than the PlayStation Showcase. I kind of. Oh, yeah. God, both. S.G.F. and Xbox blew PlayStation out of the water. Kind of embarrassing for Sony. Like, I know console wars aren't supposed to be a thing anymore, but they're still kind of fun to me. And no.
01:26:54
Speaker
reasonable, reasonable. Yeah. What a bummer. Next week, we will be back with probably the final fantasy 16 reviews and our feelings on the demo, which all three of us played and we'll probably honestly play more of before we come back next week. Uh, yeah, it's a fun demo. Um, but we'll talk about all of that and more.
01:27:17
Speaker
And more on another episode of add to party, a friendship simulator masquerading as a new show. I have been your host, James. Hmm. Starfield might be game of the year. Arwell. And I've been joined by Charles rank 98 out of 100 in smart will snap your mind. And I've been joined by Andy. Huh? What is my game of the year? I don't know. Okay.
01:27:46
Speaker
There we go. I'm going to leave it open. Maybe 16. That's true. We'll see those reviews. Maybe because we're not getting rebirth this year. Nope, not this year. Hmm. Yeah. Honestly, it wouldn't be fair. There's way too many good. It wouldn't be fair. It wouldn't be fair. Regardless of all that.
01:28:07
Speaker
Have a good night. Say your last name. Say my- I said my last name! You say that, I f***ing never hear you say it. Oh. Well I have to say it in a quieter tone. Those are my s- I have no idea. I was gonna say, that's my period. I was saying things quieter at the end of a-