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S2 Ep72: F.E.A.R. 3
76 Plays6 years ago
Join Dave and Jake as they talk about a game! Yep, this one is a game.
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Thoughts? Comments? Requests for new episodes? Feel free to email them in!
SoapstonePodcast@gmail.com
Like our podcast? Like our podcast! We'll post when new episodes are uploaded!
https://www.facebook.com/SoapstonePodcast/
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Transcript
Introduction & 'Fear 3' Initial Thoughts
00:00:39
Speaker
How's it going, everyone? Welcome to another episode of Soapstone. My name is Jake, and I'm joined by my co-host, as always, Dave. How's it going tonight, Dave? It's going swell. Yeah? Just a little bit swollen.
00:00:51
Speaker
Yeah, and some bruising. Minor bruising, yeah. That's how people prefer to eat bananas. Jake beats me. We said we wouldn't talk about that. Speaking of getting beaten.
00:01:10
Speaker
Fear three is the game for some reason we're talking about this week. Yeah I don't know either Yeah, it was I feel like a nostalgic pick for you because you're like I remember the fear series Yeah, and fear three has multiplayer so we ended up getting around to playing that over the course of
Game Review Format & 'Fear 3' Critique
00:01:34
Speaker
Two sessions two sessions. Yeah, it was like two days, but it wasn't they weren't connected in any way It's a terrible not a terribly long game. It's not a terribly fun game. No, not really. It's not a terrible. It's a terrible game We usually wait till the end to reveal but we figure we'll just get it out of the way up front
00:01:52
Speaker
I mean, this is a new format because we've always talked about like, hey, I really enjoy this game. Yeah. And we don't talk about what the game is. We just like go into it for 10 minutes. Oh, this is a first person shooter. If you don't know the name anyway, then we keep going.
Comparison to Previous 'Fear' Games
00:02:07
Speaker
Yeah. But this is something that it wasn't bad.
00:02:12
Speaker
But I would say at no point was it good. Yeah. It's a, it's not like a particularly recent game. I don't care enough about it to look up when it came out, but it was probably around like 2013, 15, something like that.
00:02:26
Speaker
Previous listeners will realize that that's a huge fucking statement for me every time like Jake doesn't matter like nobody gives a shit when things came out he's like Well, I'll just put in the notes anyway, and then yeah always read it always and you go for every game So if you're not doing it for this one, that's really saying something
00:02:43
Speaker
Yeah, it's it's disappointing on like multiple layers for me because I played the um the previous games and I really enjoyed them Um, I did some like I was gonna say amateur youtube work, but that actually is lending myself too much credit It's actually just like you posted on youtube, right? Yeah. Okay. Okay, like i'd throw uh Throw a logo down in the corner be like, yeah, that's me. You know, whatever Um, I like had i've done that since like need for speed carbon which came out like
00:03:12
Speaker
forever ago made like a stint of videos as many like 15 year olds do and then like never revisited it basically but fear was one of the games i actually had some clips up of it was in particular the the penetrator a weapon that we'll get to i guess if we were talking about the weapons but basically you could like shoot enemies and they'd stick them up to walls
00:03:41
Speaker
Uh, we'll get to it now. I realize so I do that a lot. I'm trying to change it. Um, where I'll say like, we'll get to X, but then I don't know why I don't just go into it
AI & Gameplay Innovation in 'Fear' Series
00:03:53
Speaker
immediately. Basically it's a gun that pins people to walls. Yeah. It's essentially shoots railroad spikes, which I feel like in any game is terribly enjoyable. Oh yeah. It has a certain, uh,
00:04:07
Speaker
I was going to say viscousness to it, but now, uh, it's like a weighty. Yeah. Nature to it. Yeah. So I like made that video just like a short clip and I was just like, this is cool. And like fear used to be like really cool. It was kind of pushing the bounds of what people kind of expected in FPS, which is the kind of game fear is. Um, they had like really cool lighting. Like it was one of the first games where you could like shoot a, uh,
00:04:35
Speaker
lamp or something on the ceiling it'll like spin around and okay, I had like dynamic lighting and stuff and That was sweet. And then the AI also was well received because They were smart, right? Yeah, or even if they weren't smart. This is interesting
00:04:54
Speaker
This actually has nothing to do with fear three, but we don't care about that game. But they gave the impression of being smart, technically. If you go back and you just kind of analyze it, because what they would do is they're like these replicants, just like clone soldiers. You fight them in all of the fear games.
00:05:14
Speaker
but they'll call out uh where you are and they the programmers and the um the designers came up with so many lines for them to do these call outs that it makes them seem more aware it makes their ai seem better even if it's largely just take cover push forward take cover push forward they'll call out like he's behind the potted plant or he's next to the elevator door or you know something like that you're like but i'm next to the elevator door oh no
00:05:44
Speaker
me it's it's cool though because Even without like massively improving the at the AI It gives the suggestion that the enemy is adapting to everything you're doing and that's enough to draw people in Yeah, I think Just a little bit more It keys you in mm-hmm. It's like
00:06:09
Speaker
You feel like you're being observed and you have to react to it. Yeah. Versus just.
00:06:16
Speaker
Kind of like breaking down and shoot it going. Oh, this is their path. All those aim for where their heads are going to be. If they crouch, it's probably about here. I can probably throw in a grenade when they're clustered behind this thing after I shoot them to force them in the cover type thing. It kind of like, it gets in your head a little bit. Cause you're describing like your standard gameplay or like, Oh, I'll crouch behind cover. I'll wait for them to pop, shoot them, do whatever.
00:06:40
Speaker
But then you crouch behind cover and they call out, he's behind the boxes. And you're like, oh crap, like they know I'm here. Like, are they going to throw a grenade? And meanwhile, like Snake is in the box going, shoot the box.
00:06:56
Speaker
Oh man, but um Yeah, it it was really fear one was really kind of innovative in that space and it was actually scary Which is another thing like fear three doesn't have So was it like an atmospheric? Yeah, like horror shooter. Mm-hmm
00:07:14
Speaker
And like so my go-to example for spooky games because I don't play many yeah would obviously be amnesia Mm-hmm. So what do they do to make it spooky? I think it's um kind of a So they do have a couple traditional jump scares but they they play some somewhat intelligently I actually remember one of the jump scares from from fear one and
00:07:37
Speaker
It's um, you have to climb down a ladder and so you're like, okay, well look down nothing there I've already explored everything above me, you know, like I know the floor I'm on I'm just gonna climb down the ladder and You start like climbing down the ladder and right before the so there's like an animation where you're like going down a rung You're putting your hand one more rung down the ladder
00:07:59
Speaker
and right before the top floor that you just came off of, just goes out of view, you see Alma's feet just standing there, like watching you go down the ladder. And then if you go back up the ladder, she's not there at all.
00:08:15
Speaker
Hey, out of the corner of your eye, what was that? Yeah, just for a second. And the first game does that really well by like not overdoing it. And then also you don't actually know anything about what's going on in fear or first encounter assault recon as the full acronym is, because that's a acronym if I've ever heard one, right?
00:08:41
Speaker
But yeah, she like she like liquefies your squad in fear one and you can't get to them to like help them or anything She's just a little little little girl basically who's almost by the way, so she's a little girl All right, yeah No, she's got long hair and she looks like the girl from the ring. She's the girl from the ring Yeah, it's essentially just like a psychic
00:09:07
Speaker
She's the girlfriend. Yeah.
Horror Elements & Character Depth
00:09:11
Speaker
It's funny how absolutely apt it is. Like you're like, yeah, but what's the differences from the Rayleigh Danny. Um, and there is actually a point in, uh, in fear one where, um, usually anytime you see her, it's always transit, uh, transitory transient. You see her for a short period of time.
00:09:33
Speaker
but there's one point where you have to like flip a switch and the game's like, okay, we'll put her on the opposite side of this control room you're in and you can like see her through the glass and that'll be spooky because you can't reach her, but she's watching you. I'm like, okay, like, you know, fair enough, relatively spooky. So I sat there and I just stared at her. She just sat there staring at me. It's like, and I looked at her and she looked at me and she doesn't leave until you leave the room. That was kind of funny. I liked that script today. I was just like,
00:10:02
Speaker
Free me from this prison But yeah those like fear one it's probably pretty good I don't remember much from fear two nobody cares. This is approaching nobody cares and fear three is a hundred percent nobody cares but From what I can say of my experience in the fear series aka fear three. Yeah
00:10:28
Speaker
It's a shooter. Yeah. And it's it's solely based off of like the backs of the previous games. Mm hmm. Because it's like, hey, it's fear three. That's the third one in this franchise. Yeah. But all of the plot stuff going around in it, to be fair, I was kind of thrown into the universe and they don't go back and be like previously on fear. Yeah.
00:10:52
Speaker
So everything's just kind of asinine but even in the context of everything you've told me about fear one if you're two I'm like, that's still really asinine. Yeah, and I don't I don't care You're like I I'm almost certain you've played games like this where you're like the questions are compelling but then you get answers and you're like, oh
00:11:13
Speaker
Well, that's dumb. And that's, that's like the essence of fear, unfortunately. Like it just devolves into like B tier writing and nonsense.
00:11:26
Speaker
Yeah, it's it's like somebody submitted something to a subreddit or like a green text in 4chan. And then you're like, what if this was the core skeleton for a game and we put shooting in it? Yeah. You have your main character's point man.
00:11:48
Speaker
Mm-hmm, which is a great name really also doesn't speak. No He has like just kind of loose facial expressions. Yeah, he looks like a budget Wolverine. I was gonna say he looks like a furrier caveman Also accurate actually
00:12:05
Speaker
He's kind of like that tough guy who shoots people because he doesn't speak and because he doesn't really emote. He's fucking worthless. He's pretty freaking worthless. He's really dumb. Conversations happen around him and at him.
00:12:22
Speaker
but he never really he doesn't respond because it's like he harkens from the silent protagonist in games and he actually has like a backstory unknown backstory in fear one that like has very loose uh applied implications for his like identity and everything similar thing in two so people are like oh he's going to develop like people are going to figure out what what's really going on like he's alma sun is basically the big reveal but you know that in fear three
00:12:52
Speaker
He also don't care. You don't care and it doesn't make him better. Yeah, it changes nothing like his identity actually changes nothing And I think we've moved past that like this game was made back in the mandatory multiplayer like shooter days where it's like oh better throw a co-op in that one like no people are gonna play a single player shooter and
00:13:16
Speaker
And so people hate single player games. I mean, it's, it's not super common to see a single player FPS, I'd say anymore. Um, true, but like the technology has also advanced with it. So it's possible. Yeah.
00:13:34
Speaker
Um, if you made a single player game you could still do way better than fear three Yeah, kind of the problem. Yeah, like because We were talking about how the leaps and bounds came from the previous series. It's not strictly true. They introduced New features in particular the co-op for for fear three Um, and all of the mechanics of the other uh protagonist Uh pax and fettle um
00:14:01
Speaker
But that's about all they really really added to Fear three and it actually I don't think it even looked good when it came out like It feels dated and it looks dated. So I'm gonna use a phrase and you tell me if this is correct. Mm-hmm it had the graphics and capabilities of Like a Prince of Persia too. Mm
Unique Features: Fettel's Gameplay
00:14:26
Speaker
-hmm. Yeah, is that two Thrones? I can't remember if that's two Thrones or warrior within but
00:14:31
Speaker
Which was the sand one. I think that's most of them. Sands of Time are kind of the core central theme of Prince of Persia. What was that 2D one where you just kind of like jumped? Oh, that's the original Prince of Persia. Hope you identify that one. It doesn't look good. No. It handles okay. Oh, yeah.
00:15:00
Speaker
All right. I'm going to get to the meat of stuff, which is Jake was nice enough through this co-op campaign to let me play Paxton Fettle. Yeah. Who is the brother of point man, who point man shots in the face and he's now like a spooky ghost, but can also still be hit by bullets.
00:15:19
Speaker
so Also, like I don't I'm not gonna I'm not gonna get in the plot. I've got like 30 bullet points. I'm not even gonna touch There's no explanation in universe for why? Fettle comes back as a specter. It's a free point man. It just happens. They're just like, oh no, we need two characters You have two point man's No
00:15:42
Speaker
But he is he's cool. Well, he's actually really fun his aesthetic is very much like The main villain from the first Ghostbusters movie. Hmm. Who's the guy in the painting? I forget his name. I wouldn't know. I don't think I've seen it Ghostbusters, right? I mean I've heard of it, but I don't think I've seen it All right Not that I'm like a diehard Ghostbusters fan. It's just something I grew up with I
00:16:10
Speaker
It's worth a check, guys. Probably a little dated now, but great theme music. Anywho, watch it for Halloween.
00:16:19
Speaker
I ain't scared to know ghosts. Yeah. I am. I am actually very scared of ghosts I'm scared of racists who dress up For separate reasons, um But fettles whole thing is he can't use guns unless he possesses people So hey, he can possess people what which is pretty dope. Yeah, he can also kind of like shoot out these Like bolts yeah psychic energy which
00:16:50
Speaker
Does some damage and also he has the ability to Suspend people and things in midair like a principle Yes, I was like how let your jokes just fall as someone out there chuckled like once and that's all I'm going for
00:17:09
Speaker
So you have like a meter of like psychic bullshit. Once that's filled, you just, you pick somebody up and you can zap them while they're kind of stuck there and they're kind of locked there indefinitely. Or if you have enough psychic energy, you can possess their body. Right. And Fettel does this creepy, but awesome, like,
00:17:29
Speaker
Uh, cause then you're in that person's body. Um, you always have a grenade and then you have whatever guns they have. So usually I'll go in and then I'll kill my squad and then I'll gun everybody down. And then eventually like the body will time out.
00:17:46
Speaker
But it makes for much more fast and intense gameplay, which I like. And it makes me invested because you get to do cool, sneaky, beaky shit. It's been a long time since I played Fettles. Does he heal when you possess people? I remember something about his health bar. You take the life of the person you're...
00:18:05
Speaker
Maybe I've never fully understood the health system in fear 3 because it's one of those Red stuffs gonna come in from the outside if there's too much. Yeah, you'll die But we won't tell you where that line is right if he's like point man, maybe his health just regenerates I Feel like over time it just kind of like oh the bloods going back in my body Just scoop some of that back up It's the whole thing
00:18:34
Speaker
It's intrinsically cool though to use people as, as meat shields, like psychically possess them. And he was like, all right, here we go. He plays the opposite of point man, whose super power is the ability to slow time, which while cool is like relatively common, you know, in games and media at this point and federal also benefits from it. So you're like, oh yeah, thanks for the time slow. Um, I'm not going to share my powers with you to a certain extent. Right.
00:19:03
Speaker
And then he just gets to have two guns. That's his thing. And he gets more grenades. He can accumulate a stash of grenades. But otherwise, superpowers are better. Yeah. It's fun because if there's a certain annoying type of enemy, I'll usually try and go for them. Like, oh, this person is kind of sniping in the background. If I can get in range, I'll just be the sniper.
00:19:28
Speaker
Or if there's like somebody being a shield e cunt I'll just take that and be like alright Jake.
Co-op Dynamics & Game Design Critique
00:19:34
Speaker
I'm the wall. I don't like slowly move forward That's fun, but it does make for interesting fights like because point man kind of
00:19:46
Speaker
Against his name you're very much encouraged to use cover like all the time when you're playing as point man and Fettel doesn't care He's just like oh, I'll just take the person behind all of them and then shoot them all in the back and so like They did you couldn't kind of like synergize. You're just like, oh, I'm really low. You can like cover that person it's almost always point man though because Fettel's just
00:20:09
Speaker
He's so cool doing federal shit. Yeah, I think like I think you might have gone down once in the game to the like needs revived state I went down significantly more than once. Yeah, that's definitely the character not me Yeah, it was
00:20:27
Speaker
Fine, but um a lot of times I would I think I would pick you up while I was in somebody else's body Yeah, it's like oh, sir. Are you hard? My dead squad behind me. Yeah it Really? I think the only part of that game that I'm like, this is a fun mechanic is going just full pedal to the federal Which I just had to stuff that term in there. That was good, but
00:20:51
Speaker
The rest of it's kind of samey like in between like the different I'm gonna use bigger quotes your levels. Mm-hmm. I think those count Yeah, we'll coin it now it's like different backgrounds and settings but it doesn't really change What you're doing. It's not usually different mechanics per level right and if there is it's like a trophy like I
00:21:17
Speaker
Don't worry. We put this thing in here. Yeah, like every game has to have like oh did you want a vehicle section right or did you want to have like the The classic one that I was talking about yesterday was the oh There's like a derailed train. Yeah Navigate in between parts of the train on this bridge on a bridge. It's also kind of destroyed. Whoa, absolutely mandatory. Oh
00:21:41
Speaker
I think that's really noticeable in the game. I agree. Anytime the level opened up, this is a pretty open area. It harkens back to those early 2000s games where you're like, oh, open area. Okay, well, where are the health packs? Because I know this is going to be fight or whatever. That's 100% accurate here. It is pretty much go from encounter to encounter.
00:22:04
Speaker
and then occasionally have like a hallway or something so someone could talk in your earpiece like the traditional sort of style yeah um but i mean like that's you know that's not significantly more than goldeneye like it's very core roots fps and not necessarily in a good way
00:22:23
Speaker
It's fun to do But it it's not gonna make or break the game. Yeah, it's just kind of like Okay. Yeah, it's gonna it's it's it's like your friends building a house and they're like, all right We poured the foundation and you're like, okay and like it sets and then they like start moving like their couch and stuff on there Throw a bed down and you're like, uh, I feel like there's more you're like, no, it's fine like sticks an umbrella
00:22:53
Speaker
Like maybe there should be more, you know And maybe there maybe there should have been more The other thing is the game kind of has it. It has like a tone problem, but that's It's existed ever since fear one I think or it's like are we a scary game? Are we an action game? Are we a scary action game? Like do we want a pepper and humor? Yeah, it's Yeah, it doesn't know Mm-hmm
00:23:23
Speaker
And now it maybe it was like something where it was like broken up across multiple teams or it's kind of like it got handed off in a weird way. Yeah. It's like the day sex boss fights, right? Yeah, we haven't covered that yet. Maybe I shouldn't talk about the day sex boss fights, but that's, that's what I think of when you talk about multiple teams.
00:23:46
Speaker
Are you referring to, like, Deus Ex Machina as a concept, or are you referring specifically to Deus Ex? Yeah. Human Revolution is the first one, right? And Mankind Divided, I think, was second. Yes.
00:23:59
Speaker
Well, for the purists out there, you know what I'm talking about. I realize there's an original Deus Ex. But yeah, there's a big tonal shift where it's like, hey, here's all this satanic imagery and we'll have pentagrams and stuff and an abnormal number of candles. That's how you can tell. They're really trying, right?
00:24:21
Speaker
That's got to be like a feng shui decision. It's like I really want all this energy to be Funnelled through this smoke cloud. That's definitely generating in this room. Yeah it's I don't know why where the trope kind of started with it's just like Unsettling imagery and like blood and then like painting the walls with blood But like there's some areas in this where it's like this is way too much blood though I think that's
00:24:50
Speaker
i want to say the point yeah but i feel like you can always do a lot more with a little yeah to kind of like hint and let your imagination kind of run with it versus covering everything in blood and candles and imagery you're like i get it yeah this is the blood candle level all right but maybe they're just trying maybe it was an attempt to convey like hey this shit is so extreme that like no square inch was not covered yeah i don't know it's
00:25:17
Speaker
It's like even allowing for all of that though. I don't think there's an explanation in the game for why there's like blood and candles all over the place like I Don't think there's an end universe explanation for any of it It's just like this is what you should have in this in the creepy level in the warehouse or whatever
00:25:37
Speaker
And I think, I don't know, it just doesn't contribute anything really to the game. I'm glad it's in there. And so it's not literally just corridor, open area fight, corridor, open area fight, but I don't know. We're still, we're still in the foundation.
00:25:58
Speaker
Yeah, the foundation didn't entirely set. Yeah. You visit your friend's house and you're like, can I have to throw out those shoes? The bed's sunken into them. Actually, we follow Asian traditions. If you could leave your shoes at the door, that'd be great. Thank you. And you're like, I have to throw out these socks. Also, I can't move.
00:26:20
Speaker
Just imagine you like step and you put your shoes to the side. They're just like got them again enjoy the house sucker I Want to have like one friend who has a minivan? Mm-hmm. We're like They're just always like within like five to ten minutes and calm go here And did you do that thing and they just like are there at the door open? I just like run in there They just like I'm like go go go right off. It's like a GTA call pickup or something. Yeah
00:26:46
Speaker
But it's after like I make like a bad pun. I go into the van just into the van Oh my gosh, that'd be awesome. It's like I'm gonna go out and grab some cigarettes quick There's a van waiting for you to pick you up for cigarettes It's like the red light you're like, well, we can't obey traffic laws, right? There's a stop sign like right outside your house and then just stop there every time you behind like a school bus is like taking the kids object and
00:27:15
Speaker
And let's see what else does fear have Technically there's there's a plot.
Narrative & Gameplay Consistency Issues
00:27:21
Speaker
It's not good. Don't really care about it
00:27:23
Speaker
No, it's very, uh, mishmashy of random shit. Yeah. I think like they're inspired by Japanese horror, but it is, you squint in your eyes and I agree. I agree with the ice. Um, it's not a racist thing. I'm not in the racist way, but suspicion. Um, and I agree with the suspicion on the comment, but the original.
00:27:45
Speaker
like Alma was inspired by this like creepy Japanese girl idea and motif but Like they just took it in the Western horror direction, which is like here's some jump scares and Here's some like B movie plot and none of it like means anything. So it's hard to get attached to it
00:28:07
Speaker
And that's that's probably That's the the box Review line like that's the review line you put on the box art and you ship out the coffees. None of this means anything Okay, when you accept it as is
00:28:24
Speaker
Like there's some there's some cool ideas in it because some of the guns are like futuristic You mentioned the vehicle segments. I actually enjoyed the max But it's a fun like power flex. Yeah The only downside is you're kind of limited by the mech speed Mm-hmm, which is very slow and anytime I feel gated in a game or I have like a heavy limitation and
00:28:49
Speaker
It's like, hey, you're gonna be underwater and it'd be like cool, but also you're slow as fuck. Yeah Okay, or it's like hey this thing you're gonna have to like resurface for air every once in a while because that's a mechanic now you're like
00:29:03
Speaker
All of the other levels in Why are we doing this now? Okay, I get why we didn't finish subnautica if you have to be above any time We're not at the surface you're disappointed. I Literally always surface. I don't go into my base. I don't have any type of oxygen generation. It's just me in the sky, baby I Go back down
00:29:24
Speaker
Yeah. I agree. I don't think they, I'm not going to disagree much. I think here, cause we're all just tearing into the game at this point, but it doesn't, the mech levels, although the mechs are cool, they don't serve any function beyond the basic turret sequence does in the RPG formula, or it's just like time to flex.
00:29:45
Speaker
I shoot the guys kill the guys you're like great, you know speeds up the pace slightly Boy you other what the other thing you said I also agree with the like the slowing down because the max themselves are very slow So if you're not shooting people, it feels bad to just be in a mech And then the game also does this whole like
00:30:03
Speaker
We're going to throw two helicopters at you in sequence. You got to just shoot both of them out of the sky. And she's like, okay, first one's down. All right, next one comes in. Shoot it down. All right, now we're good to go. And there's also points where you mentioned gates also. They straight up say like, hey, no mech beyond this point. Either the level straight up ends or there's just a small door or something.
00:30:25
Speaker
My god the the fucking Waste high. Yeah, like hurdles was like, what are you gonna do? Jump it? Yeah Yeah, I figured out a way to rent my car over that shit just to have the vehicle later on like
00:30:42
Speaker
There's times we're like in halo. It's fine because the vehicle sequences are vehicle sequences You're up against other vehicles and it's fast-paced and it's you and whoever else in the warthog Right and you're shooting down ghosts or like dealing with a tank Or using the tank on the bridge
00:30:58
Speaker
Exactly and like that feels good because like You're going the whole time and you're doing stuff. Yeah, and then at a point it's like hey This literally is not roads anymore. You have to be inside buildings. So it's gated off. Okay, I get it. It's possible and it Doesn't feel as bad as like why can't I take my mech over here? Or why do I have to stop to be like?
00:31:22
Speaker
Oh, I got to go into the control room. Flip the lever. Yeah. Oh, the bridge is going down now. Thanks. Pull the lever crunk. Um, you also, you, you were talking about the small barriers. The worst part about it is that like space bar for PC controls is like a double handed smash. There is a melee attack, like on the large max that can be used to destroy barriers. Except those, those are, those are the, get out of the Mac, get out of the next engine.
00:31:51
Speaker
It's that moment, exactly. But, I don't know, there's some cool ideas in it. Like, we're kind of just- Yeah, fettle. Yeah, fettle. Lumping all the fights together, but there's clone commander fights, which are like these big guys. They're like a meter tall, someone's saying, if you speak that language.
00:32:14
Speaker
and they have like these energy shields and they Move around the battlefield by just like opening portals in reality to like move from one wall to another it's just one of those like If you imagine someone like casually opening a door and like walk into the doorway. Yeah, they do that with walls But they don't open the door. They just kind of like step into the wall Yeah, and then a second later or two that step out somewhere else and
00:32:41
Speaker
They just emerge. Yeah. Yeah. It's actually, it's a really cool effect and I kind of wish like the player had some ability to do that in some place. I have no idea how you would do it, but, um, it's, it's super cool. But as soon as you don't know how a game like portal would do something like that, technically impossible.
00:32:57
Speaker
The problem, so here's the difference though. Here's the mechanical difference and portal at least you have the portal gun. So you're like, put an entrance there, put an exit here. If you were the clone commander and you walked through the wall, you're like, okay, where do I go? And how do you signal your intent to arrive somewhere else? Right?
00:33:16
Speaker
You're just like, oh, from the ether space, I'll emerge from this, uh, container. It should just be like a random point to get the cheese. Oops, sorry, skipped the end of the game. Oh, 7-Eleven. I gotta go back. This is definitely a wrong turn. I remember when my dad went out for cigarettes and he stepped through a portal and he never came back. It's the only explanation. Oh man. Um, but yeah, as soon as, as soon as you break their overshield, Fettle can actually possess them.
00:33:43
Speaker
Which is great. Yeah until you're in a room Because if you want to go through actual doorways because when you're in his body you can't face through walls Yeah, you are actually too tall and too wide to fit through a doorway. Mm-hmm I tried crouching crouch jumping running crouching and jumping shooting
00:34:03
Speaker
You're fucked. You're stuck in that area. Yeah, you cannot either have to wait for the body to time out or just Force exit the body, right? What sucks? It's a It's really unfortunate. It's a hard mess Because that would have been a perfect game design opportunity to allow Fettle to flex just be like, oh, okay. You actually were paying attention and
00:34:26
Speaker
Cause usually the commanders, if you kill them, they have like a self destruct, like deus ex kill switch, basically, um, do damage to people around them or whatever. You're like, Oh, you're paying attention. You actually possess this guy. Awesome. Let's let you play with him like through the next fight. That'd be great. You know?
00:34:45
Speaker
I don't think Fettle needs more fun mechanics versus Point Man, but it's already been proven he has them, let him play with it. But no, they're like, oh, you got him? Okay, well, I mean, jump out then. And it's really dumb. Like I was actively disappointed because we called it out too. We're just like, oh, we're going to get them low, then you possess them. Get them low, possess them. And then immediately there is a doorway. I'm like, what am I doing?
00:35:14
Speaker
You know, like you're actively interfering with what I thought would be fun gameplay. Yeah. That's a dumb thing to do game. Don't do that. So anyways, this game hurt me deeply. I'm not even sure what to add to it at this point. Yeah. It's.
00:35:34
Speaker
It's like B movie, the game, but not like B movie. Right. A B movie. Right. According to all known laws of video game development, a gamer should not be able to be this bad. No, it just seemed like they were going through and trying to check some boxes. Yeah. Um, and it does. It's just not cohesive at all. So it, it does not get a high score in my book.
00:35:59
Speaker
It's like they, they ran out of, I feel like you, you need to have intention when you make a game, if you want it to be good or like really anything, right? Like you have to have something that's driving a reason for the media to exist other than just, I need money. Like, and even if you just need money, you have to have something to bring forward. And this game just really doesn't have it.
00:36:22
Speaker
It really just felt like their whole thing was like, I'm definitely going to be free on the Epic store at some point. Epic store didn't even exist yet. They were playing the long game. Yeah. And I don't know. I think even, even the culmination. So there's like, there's a culmination at the end where, uh,
Endings & Series Legacy
00:36:43
Speaker
you get points. That's the other mechanic is you get points for, uh, getting like a bunch of consecutive kills, headshots, you know, if you're point man.
00:36:51
Speaker
We're just doing other things in the game. Yeah, which it does not tell you Well, it does after a while like you get a little pop up in the corner Hey, you killed a bunch of people while being possessed. Well, you were possessed someone has federal Mm-hmm points. You're like, okay Yeah, and the end the level it will compare the two scores and whoever has more points is the favorite son. Yeah. Mm-hmm
00:37:15
Speaker
which doesn't affect anything outside of like the very end of the game you have like two plot endings yep that's that's it and even then it's like so i i didn't recall exactly the ending usually fettle wins like when we play in this case uh point man one but um
00:37:36
Speaker
If Point Man wins at the end, then he kills Fettl by shooting him, which makes no sense because Fettl's already a ghost. But he can still be shot as I've proved by dying and getting it. Right. Usually could take a bullet though. So that's the unexplained part. And then like Alma gives birth to like a baby and Point Man like coddles this baby swaddle.
00:38:04
Speaker
Something I want to call out because I don't expect anybody who's listening to play this. I just don't. Who's not listening to play this. Yeah. When the baby is like taking it, it's not like.
00:38:16
Speaker
He kind of just like reaches and grabs and it's like a solid object The baby is like fully wrapped in a towel. Yep, like fully wrapped It's just enough space for like this is where like the face would be able to see But that's it, but it's like a solid fucking nugget And he like kind of like one arms it like a football I and then he leaves yep
00:38:42
Speaker
and like Alma disappears at that point the reason the only reason I mention that is because it will balance out entirely with Fettles ending and Fettles ending he possesses point man okay which is something you can't usually do in the game because then it's a single player game again but it possesses point man still takes the baby and then like cannibalizes Alma
00:39:09
Speaker
because he's freaking weird i guess i don't know uh and that's that's the end but the end result is the same on the vanishes like literally just poof if point man wins and is like eaten if federal wins and the baby survives in either case so they were clearly planning like hey
00:39:27
Speaker
For lore reasons like we don't know the picture right? And there has to be a baby There's always a baby. There's always a crazy psychic person. That's that's the fear Slightly slightly worse than laughs There also was not always a baby in a crazy psychic person, but you know whatever But yeah, I mean other than
00:39:54
Speaker
a couple inspired, or not inspired, I'm not going to say inspired, a couple cool sort of levels. There's like an ocean of blood that kind of happens at one point. Like while... You don't go in the ocean. It's nearby. Right. You don't like take a rowboat out. Go for it. Go for a fish.
00:40:11
Speaker
The only reason I slightly appreciated that was metal eclipses blood ocean. Yeah, which I did actually watch I know There's no one actually shout into the mic for that. Yeah There wasn't that many YouTube views on it actually and it's like official adult swim channel, too. So I don't know
00:40:33
Speaker
It's not a good clip because it's not like one of the songs from the show. Yeah, or like a cool interaction like witty bits just like Hey, remember the part in season one or two where they like screen the dumb movie? Yeah, there you go. This is just a very specific scene Yeah, yeah but uh
00:40:53
Speaker
Yeah, so that's that's basically fair. I can't think of much else that the game had that i'm missing We only mentioned So the only weapon we mentioned was basically the only one that's particularly special the rest are just guns Yeah, have you heard of a shotgun? Have you heard of an smg? Yeah, have you heard of a rifle? Have you heard of a sniper like his?
00:41:15
Speaker
Yeah, it's a shooter and it's kind of like it's funny because fear had really cool solid like original FPS mechanics and Then kept those mechanics through like three games over all these years and all the expansions Yeah, exactly. That's what that's what really feels like it's missing is like if this game came out in the place of fear one and
00:41:42
Speaker
I'd be disappointed in the story also, but like I'd be like oh cool. There's a bunch of like mechanics and things like that but it wouldn't have There was barely a difference to me between fear 1 and fear 3 in some ways I feel like fear 3 actually has worse graphics. I don't even know if that's true or not, but yeah, it's It's it's a little bit unfortunate and occasionally we have to cover bad games in order to balance everything out
00:42:09
Speaker
It's in the rules. Just like we have to have some bad episodes. You appreciate the good episodes. Right. Because you've listened to them all, right? Right. So basically for those keeping score, we now need to have two years of good episodes. I'm not that far yet. Yeah. Well, we're about there. We're almost on to your mark. We started recording podcasts in January of last year. Oh, wow. Yeah.
00:42:38
Speaker
I don't know if we started posting them, then it might've been closer to like March, but it's definitely closer to March. Yeah. But we're getting there. For some reason, people continue to listen weird. Yeah. I think, and I think they're bored. Hey, nothing else is going on in my life either. I get it. Um, so tangential question, because we're talking about fear a lot.
Personal Fears & Anecdotes
00:43:03
Speaker
Do you have any fears for yourself? Yeah. The dark.
00:43:08
Speaker
Just the dark in general? No, just the things in the dark.
00:43:17
Speaker
Like oh, no, it's the um, so not really as an adult as much Um, but as a kid, I definitely was scared of the dark Um, I think even in the wrong mindset i'll find myself moving more quickly out of a dark room like as an adult um, but That's a rare occurrence. It's like something's unsettling So when you have like worked in the obsolete at night and like no one else is there you have like a deployment and you're leaving it like
00:43:45
Speaker
Got early hours the morning and you know, I think this is like the exit sign. Mm hmm Even though i've like I know the space i've been here for years type thing i'll still be like Getting the fuck out of here. Yeah Yeah, I wasn't like Trying to be snapped or snippy either with like other things in the dark because that's the actual The the scary part of the dark isn't the darkness itself? It's just the idea you're like, oh, maybe something is there or like, okay That's the first step to being scared of the dark is that question?
00:44:14
Speaker
Like and it's Yeah, that's basically where my mind went as a kid. I was just like, you know, it's darkness. That's fine No, it's the things in the darkness. They could be there. That's what that's what I'm scared of And just that idea kind of expands
00:44:30
Speaker
as an adult, I don't know. Um, I guess apathy and you're afraid of that. Yeah. I guess more afraid of like being so comfortable that I don't take risks anymore or like change anything. Um, that's probably the closest thing as an adult.
00:45:00
Speaker
Also elections pretty scared of election Just in general not the people involved who could be elected just the act of putting What do you know who told you I don't know though. What about you? You can answer for kid and adult too
00:45:25
Speaker
It's probably like the same type of stuff. Definitely just the dark in general when I was a kid. So like my bed has always been positioned in a way where it would be in the corner. So I have less sides to worry about because nothing can come up between the wall and the bed as that is a very tight space. So we're safe there. So usually I will sleep and I still do that now so I can like view the door.
00:45:54
Speaker
Right now there are times like we're all shifting my side. I'm just like I don't care if something's gonna come up and kill me in the middle of the night I'm not gonna say I've had a great run, but like I'm okay with it. Yeah
00:46:05
Speaker
But one thing that unsettles me about this apartment is usually I like to have the AC on. So we'll keep it at a nice cool temperature. It makes it easier for you to fall asleep, right? But it'll toggle on if it's like, Oh, I should probably add some more cooler to get that temperature back down. Yeah. So like the fan will come on and then I'll hear like the door move a little bit. Like someone's jiggling the handle. Yeah.
00:46:26
Speaker
That was very unsettling. Yeah, and I got used to it though But then I started noticing that like after the air shut off There's a bit of like a vacuum so it moved the door back, right? But there would be no airflow afterwards like oh, it's the air turning on so I just hear like the door move I'm just like No But it's that like I feel safe because I'm in my own space but at the same time space it's
00:46:55
Speaker
I've not lived here that long. It's dark. I don't know. It's been a little while now. I'm just glad you haven't like seen any like footprints in the carpet or anything that I might've left behind while I'm playing with your door. Good night, Jake. Yeah, good night to all of myself out. Don't worry. I should the door close. You just sitting at the bottom of the stuff. So I'm just waiting. Just crouching. Wait for it. Yeah. It's going to be fucking epic. Um,
00:47:23
Speaker
After that is like there's some things I just I don't like as much I've gotten older. Yeah. I'm still not crazy about heights. Oh, yeah. It's something I can.
00:47:36
Speaker
Get through But like the older I get like that that fear sense. I don't have that young like carefree mindset anymore. Yeah Which is why I'm glad I did skydiving when I did because I could definitely not do it now Yeah, cuz I'd be like mm-hmm too fucking high
00:47:53
Speaker
I've been pretty bad with heights above medium height. Above medium. What is medium height? The reason I say that is 20 feet up, something like that on a bridge, something like that, that's fine. Higher than that or less of a sense of security in the air. That's the big thing. That's the thing that really gets me.
00:48:14
Speaker
I also realized how much my previous answer was kind of like a cop out. So I'd like to replace my answer as a child with hell, which really actually terrified me as a kid because religious upbringing and whatnot.
00:48:30
Speaker
Yeah, it's meant to be like this Larger than life like this is the worst thing in the world. It's not really in the world It's just there's no one's ever thing where it's pure torment and everything. Yeah, it's hard to hard to put like a positive spin on it Really? Yeah, what's funny is like? I don't know I'll save some of this for the religion episode which obviously will eventually have but dude that would be Kind of fun actually. Yeah, I would I would do it totally
00:48:56
Speaker
Yeah, because we both grew up as a churchy boys. Yeah. Choir boys, I think is the term. Thank God. I couldn't, couldn't carry a tune. Saved you that. Thank you guys. He was looking out for me. Oh man. But yeah, it's, um, I thought about it a little bit. That was, that was definitely more scary than anything else. Just because of, um, trying to push you in. I don't know.
00:49:26
Speaker
I think it is. I think it is. Trying to push you towards, you know, salvation in that case. Fire and Brimstone is one of the oldest kind of theologies of the church and I was definitely afraid of that as a kid. But you can save that story for a more
00:49:43
Speaker
uh appropriate episode people can opt out of if they want to I mean they could opt out of any of them at any point you can stop don't tell them you can't stop otherwise you'll go to hell right that's that's the qualifier oh man thanks god friend of the show yeah i hope so we're doing all right so far you know coming up coming up on two years it's pretty good pretty good run god usually shuts these things down
00:50:12
Speaker
So a slightly different question of what has been a time where you were really afraid not necessarily like you Had like a static fear of like I don't like this idea, but something happened. You're like, oh, holy shit Yeah, maybe something caught you off guard or just like a an event scenario interesting. I'm the same as an event. Oh
00:50:33
Speaker
Oh, actually, I know a good one. This is something I'm not super, I'm not proud of at all, I guess. Oh, good. Yeah. So I really liked paintballing with, or I liked the sport of paintball. I was super interested in doing this. And we had a youth group, the safest group you could possibly go with out to the mountains to play paintball.
00:51:00
Speaker
And I was like excited for this. I had my paintball gun. It wasn't like absolutely top of the line, but it was pretty good. I had the paint. I had everything I needed. I had the mask. I was like, sweet. Finally going to have this fun with all my friends. And then like we started and we kind of like shot back and forth almost like behind trees, things like that. I shot at some people. They shot at me. Somebody got tagged. I kind of like snuck around, go up behind them on top of the mountain.
00:51:29
Speaker
basically and cover and I Got relatively close to this guy and started firing at him. He shot shot back like 30 feet away or something, right and I get penned basically by fire and I have like I guess I can only really describe it as kind of like a panic attack and
00:51:53
Speaker
I have no idea why it happened like to this day. Um, but to my great shame that I carry forever, I surrendered under fire at like 30 feet. I know. And I appreciate you feeling sorry, but I was like terrified in like just a moment. Immediately after it happened, I was like, holy crap, I'm just playing paintball. Why would I do that? You know, right? But I was like, you know, you're relatively young teenager.
00:52:21
Speaker
And, uh, it was then that I realized that I need to be sure of my mental state and whatever I'm doing. Right. And, uh, kind of not get too invested in the moment, I guess for that. So you're trying to enlist. You're like, what's up? Yeah, I would be the worst possible choice to enlist, I think coming off of that. But that's something that, I don't know, I thought about it a long time, like on the way down the mountain, on the way back in the years since I'm just like, huh?
00:52:52
Speaker
I think that I probably would have just been shot by my own army, you know, or something like that in the military. I'd say what you got to do is you got to find this guy on Facebook, go to his house and shoot him from 31. With a paintball gun to specify. I actually remember none of the people that I was with. Absolutely zero of them. And actually, no, that's not true. I remember literally our youth pastor whose name was Nathan, friend of the show.
00:53:21
Speaker
But that was the time I was actually scared. I know I was actually scared because I surrendered in freaking paintball. Do you have a story like that? Did you also surrender in paintball? No, I was going to say, though, that if we had like a Patreon tiers, one of them would have to be a friend of the show. Friend of the show. Yeah, that's the zero dollar mark. A sponsor. Hmm.
00:53:47
Speaker
I should have been thinking about this in case you turned it back on me instead of paying attention to what you were saying. No, I mean like that just means I'm a really good storyteller and I can tell the verbose thing. I was enthralled. Oh nice. This is how I learned I can make thralls. Nice.
00:54:06
Speaker
Um, so like a brief spurts of fear is like a, like a stomach sinking feeling would obviously, I'd go back to the skydiving story. Yeah. Cause that happened in waves. Cause initially like you're watching the safety video and signing up paperwork. You're like, ah, they gotta do this for everybody, right? Yeah. Right. And then like you suit up and you're like waiting for stuff and like you see other people go up and like the plane ahead of you and you're kind of like,
00:54:36
Speaker
All right, really doing this. It's kind of unsettling. And then once you get on the plane, it is essentially a tuna can with wings. And I say that because the door they have is like a, like slides up, slides down, kind of like a garage door, but made of just aluminum foil. It seems like the weakest material. There's just like anyone who stays in the plane until we get to diving altitude will go through the Brazilian area.
00:55:07
Speaker
It's like you're going up with like 12 to 14 people for a plane that you feel like could physically carry to yeah, so it's Uncomfortable initially, but then like you steady up and you're like they're talking to you trying to like see how you feel I'd be like because like they do this all the time right they know that people are having like apprehension and Concern, but they wanted this to be like a fun thing. So you like you'll come back, right? I
00:55:32
Speaker
or still want like buy footage of your time there or whatever.
00:55:39
Speaker
And then like once that was stable was good and then the door opened again aluminum foil and I was like Because you just look out it's nothing Yeah, and then like the first group goes because I was a couple groups back. Mm-hmm Because you have like these like your duct tapes to your instructor right so they can do all the hopefully more The duct tape, right?
00:56:03
Speaker
No, it's it's one of those if they fart if you fart they know you're that close but like the people in front of me like went out and It's kind of lean forward and then disappear. Mm-hmm because obviously this is they're just falling and you're still like flying away yeah, that was disconcerting and then the actual like Jump like you don't look down but then you're out of the plane and then you realize you know the plane and
00:56:29
Speaker
I'm just going to pause you for a second. Is there anything worse? Cause this is all I can think about when you're in line. Yeah. Is there anything worse than being in line for something that challenges your fears? Like that's been bad for me. Yeah. Cause like the whole time you're like, it's going to happen. Yeah. It's going to happen sooner now. Yeah. So like, um, but it, but it's not happening right now. If it was right now, maybe I could deal with it, but it can't happen yet.
00:56:55
Speaker
It's like the knowing it's about to happen. Yeah. So like even like big slides as a kid, because again, not crazy about heights or like super fast things or things that make my stomach drop because it's unsettling. I'm not used to it. Yeah. Um, but yeah, definitely did get that too in the past, even log flumes. I'm like, I don't know guys, but you did it though. You, you jumped out of that, uh, yeah, that, uh, tuna can.
00:57:23
Speaker
That was the best walk afterwards. I'm like, solid ground. Yeah, I don't know. That would be a lot.
00:57:33
Speaker
But that's like a nice story. It's not like somebody had like a knife type thing. Right. You also overcame it in the end. So this is like this follows the hero's journey where they're challenged and then they overcome it. Whereas in my case, it's like it was challenged and then surrendered. But that's OK. I've had other accomplishments in life to make up for surrendering and paintball when I was a young teenager.
00:57:58
Speaker
Yeah, it's been great. My main regret though, there's a rule in place that if you can get close enough to them and you can tap their shoulder, you can just tell them they're out. You can stealth kill them. Oh, that's some OG shit. That's what I should have done. I descended the hill too early. Could have come around above the guy. Everyone's been running combat boots. There I was in my ninja Tavi. Naruto run at him. Tap him.
00:58:25
Speaker
Yeah. I thought about it since then. I was like, man, paintball would actually be pretty fun. Although we haven't had the best group record of organizing activities consistently and then playing them. I would definitely shoot some people I know. And I think it would just be like a fun, cause I like the friendly rivalry. Right. So it's fun to like, let's say you're on the enemy team. It'd be fun to be like, all right, I've known Jake a long time. We do the podcast together. I'm definitely going to try and shoot him specifically. Yeah.
00:58:55
Speaker
But if you shot me, I'd be like, oh, he got me. But then I would think about it for like the next, till the next time we go, like, I'm going to get you next time. I enjoy that aspect of it. But at the same time, I sure, I'm sure I'd be shot once and be like, I really don't want to be shot again. Right. Yeah. It's not like, um, the, uh, it's not a comfortable experience at all. Like some people, obviously we didn't have any like douchebags or like freeze their paintballs or other like nonsense things. It was like serious.
00:59:23
Speaker
serious bruising, but you can still, depending on where you get hit, it can hurt a lot. Like I had, um, a friend who got shot in the clavicle and it's just like, you know, like, Oh, Oh yeah, that's, that's bad. Um, yeah. Don't remember much about him. He had a spider paintball gun though. That was the brain.
00:59:43
Speaker
Oh, yeah. I remember spider brand. I remember when, cause kids in high school initially got into airsoft, which we did a lot, which is like fun. Cause you just find someone who has like woods nearby and you're like, let's go. And you have fun for like until you're right out of ammo. Um, those are like pellets though. Right. I didn't, they're like small babies, but they're all done with like, uh,
01:00:09
Speaker
Compressed air. Yeah, so like my thing you had to like double pump it and I was I never had upper body strength I did for like Six months four years ago, and that was great and I need to go back to the gym But like you pump it and then I tried Shooting it and I feel like at 30 to 40 feet mm-hmm it would hit something if your aim wasn't bad no, but it would kind of be like
01:00:37
Speaker
Yeah, it wasn't nearly as bad. It wasn't meant to have like impact or shoot through anything besides an aluminum can at 10 feet. Yeah. I think like one of the upsides to paintball is it's more obvious when you get tagged.
Conclusion & Listener Interaction
01:00:50
Speaker
Um, not all the time. I'm like, dude, you're covered in paint. Yeah.
01:00:54
Speaker
So literally, uh, back to youth pastor Nathan, he had like this freaking fluorescent paint and he was, uh, he was like the cool youth pastor. I put that in quotes, you know, like, cause everyone knows like if you grew up in the church, he was the younger one, right? Exactly. Like with the kids more. Exactly. He's like, you know, the one that's fine with people setting up PlayStation, all of a sudden he had like a wrist bracelet and he's like, he would kind of like lean forward and share, be like, all right, guys. So I think that this Psalm is really talking about.
01:01:20
Speaker
Yeah. He's the person who's like, sex is okay. Just make sure it's in your marriage. Then it's great. You know, it's like, he's that guy, right? And, um, but yeah, he had this freaking like fluorescent paint. So you like shoot people and then point at them and be like, you're out. He'd call other people out. Usually it's your responsibility, uh, to call out when you get hit. You just say, I'm hit, raise your arm and you die. I sat in it on my chest. But yeah, that's, uh, that's the paintball story.
01:01:51
Speaker
That's the skydiving story. It's more impressive than water diving.
01:01:57
Speaker
We could just share a random story. Is that could be an episode? This is all I have. This is all I was provided with when like my standard template was printed out, printed out. And I came into existence at 20 years old. It's like, here's one memory. This is what you get. Everything else is groundhog day for Jake. I have to be like, Jake, we do a podcast together. Right. Message me night of, just like, Oh geez. So it was backpack on.
01:02:26
Speaker
But yeah, I think that's fun. Let us know if you want to hear more life stories. I can make stuff up. It's fine. Dave has real memories. Um, I can find some stuff on the internet. Um, but as always, thank you guys for listening to the soapstone. You can reach out to us with your feedback at soapstone podcast at dml.com or join the discussion on Facebook at facebook.com slash soapstone podcast automatically goes to HTTPS for security.
01:02:56
Speaker
So you don't have to feel afraid. Yeah. Oh, that's good. Like that. Oh, I was making a tie back. All right. Well, we'll see you in the next one.