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Recommending Tales from the Borderlands
102 Plays20 days ago
Jess attempts to convince a skeptical Ben to play Tales from the Borderlands.
Quest Quest podcast is Ben Vigeant and Jess Morrissette.
Editing by Ben Vigeant
Show art by Kevin "WilcoWeb" Wallace
Watch us on Twitch!
Ben: https://www.twitch.tv/ps_garak
Jess: https://www.twitch.tv/decafjedi
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Transcript
Introduction and Podcast Overview
00:00:19
Speaker
it's quest quest the adventure game podcast oh did it quest quest is the adventure game podcast uh i'm yes i'm jess i'm jess i'm i talked over your uh your actual handle it's uh ps underscore garrick and uh i'm jess i'm oh no wait no you're bimmo um benmo
00:00:48
Speaker
How's going, Ben?
Jawbreaker Film and Cult Classics Discussion
00:00:50
Speaker
i You know, I'm fine. I have ah i have a ah jaw ache. I've been having a jaw ache here. I'm a... It's all those jawbreakers. I keep telling you, I see one those giant... It's like the size of a softball. don't even know how you get it there. It's in the but just like thumbing my nose at but you know i just like you know thumbing my nose at god He keeps saying to me, you keep having those jawbreakers one of those days.
00:01:24
Speaker
I'm going to break your jaw. And I said, all right. You and who's army. Yeah, exactly. Give it a, give it a try. Give it a try.
00:01:35
Speaker
But listen, I have an addiction to jawbreakers and the film jawbreaker. Did you ever see that? I don't even, is it good? i don't know. is that the,
00:01:46
Speaker
the
00:01:49
Speaker
let's look this up okay everybody pause breaker 1999 film all i remember is that it's a movie that's all i remember all i remember is the cover art uh like the the poster art for it so yeah i did not see jawbreaker but i do remember what a colorful uh i'm i'm looking at it now uh it did have a very colorful uh poster yes And the the tagline is death totally bites.
00:02:23
Speaker
I'll note ah that ah it had a ah budget of 3.5 million, which it doesn't seem like very much money. i What I'm fascinated by, if I can say this.
00:02:34
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, starring Rebecca Gayhart, Rose McGowan and Julie Benz, of course, but also starring. Are you seeing this also starring yeah Judy Greer? in carol cane yeah he said i'm seeing is this real mine says pam greer uh yeah no well it's got judy greer from uh arrest development and then it also has pam greer it double greers yeah oh you see the double greer that really uh grinds my greers ah
00:03:07
Speaker
now i'll note that their names and by the way that's very funny joke god oh thank you uh uh i'll note that that Judy Greer and Pam Greer, their names are spelled differently.
00:03:21
Speaker
G-R-E-E-R and G-R-I-E-R. ah So they you get a double Greer, but... you know like uh uh they're they're still and i i'll i'll note here uh according to wikipedia at the the the bottom of the little summary here says while it was a critical and commercial failure at the time of its release it has come to gain cult following people can just say that though
00:03:54
Speaker
I mean, yeah. Yeah. I'm curious. did Did it really have a cult following or is that just a thing like, you know, in, um, a mighty wind, uh, Fred Willard's character, talking about his failed comedy show.
00:04:12
Speaker
It lasted one season, but that's all you need to, to create a cult. Uh, Something like that. I mean, yeah. Part me wonders, like when you say this was ah ah cult classic, is that just like somebody rented it multiple times from Blockbuster with their friends and then wrote this Wikipedia entry?
00:04:33
Speaker
Uh, I'm going to, I'm going to send this to my Wikipedia guy to, uh, add citation needed. do you Could you also send that to my Wikipedia guy who I think is the same. we have the same I think we have the same Wikipedia guy. much is he charging you a month?
00:04:51
Speaker
Well, i he he charges me $75 a month. I'm paying 400. Well, yeah i'm he's a close friend. But I am settling a lot of grudges with him. so yeah i am a lot And winning a lot of bets.
00:05:04
Speaker
i Literally, I just want you to know this is not this is not a drill.
Truth, Integrity, and Personal Anecdotes
00:05:10
Speaker
i am sending it to my friend, Grayson. And saying,
00:05:17
Speaker
and and andd say
00:05:21
Speaker
uh we gotta we gotta throw a citation needed it on that and he's going to say
00:05:29
Speaker
then you you know you could do that that's the point of wikipedia yeah but mean now now that you've talked about it's a conflict of interest there's no chance that wikipedia is going to accept your edit at this point i mean as soon as i hear this episode that's going on to the discussion page right away that's yeah i I gotta... We gotta to find a citation. i need a... You can't just...
00:05:51
Speaker
This is Wikipedia. It's listen, we all were making fun of Wikipedia, but now that Elon Musk is make like attacking it, I am ah a absolute fan of Wikipedia and standby Wikipedia.
00:06:06
Speaker
If this is, I am, uh, uh, I'm negatively polarized, uh, in a massive way to pro Wikipedia where it used to be, let's make fun of those nerds.
00:06:19
Speaker
No longer. Now we're weaponizing those nerds. Yeah, but I've listened, but I care about the integrity. i care about saying, end of the the summary here, last line of it, while it was a critical and commercial failure at the time of its release, it has come to gain a cult following.
00:06:38
Speaker
You can't just say that unchallenged. You have to provide citation. Could you maybe... Petition also for a link, making the the word cult link to ah Wikipedia's entry on cults. That way people can see. Now we're doing jokes and I care. I care. This is, this is I care about integrity.
00:07:03
Speaker
i mean, Ben, in the world we're living in today, truth matters more than ever. More than ever. This also has Jeff Conaway. Yeah. Democracy dies in darkness.
00:07:13
Speaker
That's right. Which are words I've always lived by. Yeah, I say democracy always dies in darkness. I've also said don't be evil. i said I was born into the darkness. Yeah. Like Bane did that one time.
00:07:27
Speaker
right ah Now I'm looking at Jeff Conaway, who is in, he was Kenickie in Greece, and he was also, of course, security officer Zach Allen in Babylon 5. Yeah. In my previous life.
00:07:38
Speaker
I'm looking here ah his Wikipedia page. Does it need some citations also? Well... It lists three spouses...
00:07:50
Speaker
who, uh, and, and I'll have to take a closer look on like under personal, maybe, maybe this, uh, let's see here. Okay. All right. There, there are citations. Okay.
00:08:03
Speaker
Okay. Everyone calm down. Yeah. Nobody, everybody just, yeah. Pay attention to the episode. Now you don't need to rush to Wikipedia. Everyone calm down. We don't have to worry about Jeff Conaway's Wikipedia. Uh, we do have a citation for that. His first listed spouse,
00:08:18
Speaker
is unknown wow yeah you should put somebody in there and then put citation needed beside it she game the system now does it say anywhere in there is there a citation that confirms that a hickey from canickey is like a hallmark card does it say anything about like because he says that but i don't know if he ever really proves it Yeah, you know, well, here's the problem with Grease. It doesn't have the alleged integrity of Wikipedia.
00:08:49
Speaker
That's true. i agree No one's ever said that Grease is the Wikipedia of Broadway musicals. Grease is the word. I mean, yeah, no no question. Grease is absolutely the word.
00:09:02
Speaker
I was also, this is now, now we're, we're into it. I was looking, speaking of Babylon five, my previous podcast, the last best Babylon five podcast, which people, which still people, I was checking its number.
00:09:17
Speaker
More people listen to that podcast, which has been dead for almost a year. Uh, great art is like that sometimes. Yeah. It's only appreciated after, uh, after its death.
Current Gaming Experiences - Life is Strange
00:09:30
Speaker
Uh, but, uh, there, I was looking at Wikipedia. I was looking at Babylon five stuff and there is a Wikipedia page for the use new, uh, the usenet group for Babylon five, which I don't think that's necessary. We don't need to have, like, i unless they, unless they, like, found the, like, created antibiotics, we don't need.
00:09:56
Speaker
And again, I want to say, I'm negatively polarized into being an absolute fan of Wikipedia in all its forms. my My polarity has just been switch-swapped.
00:10:09
Speaker
Yes. Like that one episode of Star Trek, the original series, where you get like an evil Kirk that beams up. That's right. Yeah. And to note, not um not the mirror.
00:10:21
Speaker
So yeah, we're talking about, yeah, just his evil half. Um, I love that episode because I remember watching that, uh, uh, I have a very distinct memory of sitting in a hospital room with a friend who couldn't speak because they just operated on him, but he could, he could look, he's fine. My friend's fine.
00:10:40
Speaker
He's doing great. Uh, uh, but he could look. So we just had the TV on and like, I would look at him and he would look intensely to indicate yes or no. um yeah well you know uh like uh tos we didn't uh we didn't captain pike him but we probably should have done i should have that super yeah like a blink anyway but i was like well do you want to watch uh star trek that's on tv right now and he like you know he just kind of looked intently forward and
00:11:13
Speaker
And so we we put it on and I was like, oh, it's mirror mirror. And no, no. It will always be that i'm sitting at a hospital room. My friend's fine. Everything worked out. i But he was actually having his evil half removed. Like he was having an evilectomy.
00:11:32
Speaker
Now, now, Jess. Don't you think there's some people who need one of those right now? Sorry to get political.
00:11:44
Speaker
but I like how sweaty evil Kirk is. Like that. He is so sweaty. And a little greasy looking. Yeah. I mean, that's like the main thing. That's how you know. That's how you know.
00:11:56
Speaker
That's how you know he's sweaty. Wait, that's how you know he's sweaty. That's not how you know he's evil. That's not how you know he's sweaty is all the sweat all over him, though. That's true. that's like the I mean, that is probably the number one indicator of sweatiness is visible sweat.
00:12:12
Speaker
that's That's the first warning sign. A lot of people these days often forget that you need sweat to be sweaty. That's true. All right. Well, uh, you know what?
00:12:24
Speaker
yeah I, do obviously this is an adventure game podcast, right? I mean, it's yeah. Well, let's talk about something other than adventure games. Probably when I ask you Jess, what have you been playing?
00:12:36
Speaker
Well, Ben, I've been playing an adventure game. Fuck you.
00:12:43
Speaker
I'm sorry.
00:12:59
Speaker
I've been playing. Oh my God. I've been playing Life is Strange double exposure lately. Yeah, well yeah the Life is Strange sequel that came out ah last year as we record this.
00:13:15
Speaker
It brings back Max Caulfield from the from the original game. And it's really lovely. Like so far. you know, like six hours in or so, remarkably little has happened.
00:13:28
Speaker
It's just like cruising completely on vibes. Like, is it it is it like cruising USA? are you just racing a car around? Yeah, there is a lot of that. Like, there's a lot of like, like i like I just drove through the Golden Gate Bridge. You know, I'm going down the Vegas Strip just a few minutes later. No, absolutely. it's got It's got big cruising USA vibes. But yeah, I mean,
00:13:52
Speaker
We'll eventually have an episode all about life is strange. I'm sure, if not multiple episodes. No, Ben's shaking his head no. He's putting in absolutely no way. I'm enjoying the music. That's what my shake of the head is. I'm i'm just okay they're tapping my like i'm tapping my my feet.
00:14:08
Speaker
I'm hitting my hand on my my lap. i' I'm moving my head back and forth. I'm just having a grand old time. He's grooving. He's, uh, he's over here grooving. Um, but yeah, I mean, it's, uh, it's a great game. I don't know why I love Life is Strange as much as I do. I know it's a popular series and all, but, uh, for whatever reason, um, I just like spending time in that world. Max is a good kid who, uh, I kind of want to see good things happen for Chloe's gone.
00:14:41
Speaker
Chloe is MIA in this game. So yeah we we don't have that classic pairing anymore, but Max has all new supernatural powers. She can now do like the with Paltrow sliding doors power. Oh, I thought you were going to say like she self-adjusted.
00:15:01
Speaker
Well, there's a lot of game left. I'll say that. so There's all sorts of Gwyneth Paltrow potential. Well, I mean, yeah, Gwyneth Paltrow did write the script for this one. A lot of people don't know that. That's what she's been up to. She gooped all over it.
00:15:18
Speaker
But yeah, it's good game. I recommend it. I mean, if you enjoyed Life is Strange and Before the Storm and things like that, Double Exposure is more of the same in a good way. I will also say it has an opening title screen song that has been absolutely stuck in my head. Oh, yeah. Like in a sort of usual lo-fi, acoustic-y, Life is Strange-y.
00:15:43
Speaker
ah kind of way and I've listened to it like seven times a day. i like found myself walking through the halls at work whistling it. I walk around and whistle sometimes. Ben, let me ask you, is that creepy?
00:15:55
Speaker
Or is it like cheerful and charming? um It kind of depends. Have you seen the film M directed by Fritz Lang? No. Now there's a couple listeners who are like, ah, yes, Ben is correct.
00:16:12
Speaker
um But the rest are like, I don't care.
00:16:23
Speaker
uh, what's his name? the The actor who's later in Casablanca who talks like this. Yes. Peter Lorre? Peter Lorre. Peter Lorre plays a serial killer of, uh, like he, i believe he kills children.
00:16:41
Speaker
Oh. And, uh, like- Good for him. The way, uh, that he- kind of announces like his his presence is like you just see a bunch of like scary angles and then you just hear him off in the distance whistling like very like lightly this was a wonderful demonstration of how you get fuck people up with the power of sound
00:17:08
Speaker
Anyway, I think whistling's great.
Survivor Games Mechanics and Appeal
00:17:11
Speaker
ah Ben, what it first of all, what have you been playing? Second of all, what have you been whistling?
00:17:20
Speaker
You know, I'm usually whistling just the tunes that I make up to harass my cats. Or like I'll whistle to let... I've started to whistle to let them know that dinner is served. And then like, I've started to whistle and they've started to pick that up. like so Can you give me sense what that whistle sounds like?
00:17:36
Speaker
No, because they're behind... swarm you. Yeah, you'll carrying your cats. Because they live in this apartment with me. Yeah. And I don't want to deal with Are keeping the apartment when you move out, or are they coming with you? No, we discussed it, and they said they really like it here.
00:17:52
Speaker
Wow, I'm sorry. Yeah, it's okay. It's disappointing. Well, yeah, but they love, they they have an arrangement where they they love seeing the birds out of my north-facing window. They love those birds and squirrels.
00:18:09
Speaker
Now, what have I been playing? i was just asking the same question. is whoa, uh, I've been playing, have, have you, I don't think I've ever mentioned that I love playing these. Maybe I have. This is our 21st. I don't, I'm not writing any of this down.
00:18:27
Speaker
Uh, Have you ever played any of the survivor games? And not I'm not referring to like survivor, you know, Jeff Brooks. Yes.
00:18:38
Speaker
I'm referring to like vampire survivors. I have it not. Okay. Okay. Uh, so I've, I got into vampire survivors, uh, like pretty early, like when it was still in early access.
00:18:53
Speaker
Um, and, like just kind of on a lark. It's like, what's this weird looking little game. And then I was like, Oh, it has become an obsession.
00:19:03
Speaker
And then,
00:19:07
Speaker
Like Vampire Survivors was such a like hit that now there's a whole bunch of other low budget vampire survivors likes.
00:19:20
Speaker
And so I own a bunch of them and I'll probably work through a bunch of them because we got to record a lot of these. So maybe that's what we're doing. We're doing another record in a couple days, though. I might do another survivors type game anyway. So the one I've been playing lately
00:19:39
Speaker
is Deep Rock Galactic Survivor. and believe I've heard of this. That name's familiar. say more about because maybe that's what I'm going to say next that I've been playing.
00:19:56
Speaker
But Deep Rock Galactic Survivor is a single player survivor like where a a survivor like a vampire survivors game is an auto battler.
00:20:13
Speaker
You essentially walk around your only controller like you're your general control is just using the analog stick. You are not generally, there are some that modify this,
00:20:24
Speaker
i controlling anything else or or firing. Your guy just fires off like shots on intervals.
00:20:35
Speaker
And then every little monster you kill, perhaps a little bit of experience that you have to pick up. That's part of it. It's not that you get experience for every kill. you have to pick up the experience.
00:20:48
Speaker
And then you get experience and then you get weapons or modifications to those weapons. So you can, like, fire faster or whatever. And...
00:21:01
Speaker
So what Deep Rock Galactic Survivor does to mix it up is that similar to Deep Rock Galactic, the co-op game is that it has predictable terrain.
00:21:16
Speaker
uh, you you can pick up minerals and resources and things like that, which you can use to get other power-ups. And, uh, it in a similar way to where I said, like, Peglin is a game, uh, that I play, like, maybe if I have, like, a TV show that I'm paying, like,
00:21:38
Speaker
you know, 40% attention to. Yes, absolutely. i know this level of attention pain. Yeah, like where it's like, oh, I just need to, want to have something on because I don't want to feel the the cold loneliness of the world.
00:21:50
Speaker
But at the same time, this isn't very compelling to all of you. So I've grown up with enough screens that I need a memo of two screens at all time. dear i hate now I need at least 12 screens. And that's what the Switch 2 is going to bring us.
00:22:03
Speaker
Whoops. I shouldn't have said that, but oh well. Don't tell Nintendo that I said their big secret. But that's why I've been playing Deep Rock Galactic Survivor. Good survivor-like. We'll return to survivor-likes. Also, the thing about those games is that they're all very cheap.
00:22:21
Speaker
like Yes. That's the that's like kind of ah the hallmark of it. like Deep Rock Galactic Survivor is... This is expensive one. That costs $13, but it has a lot in it.
00:22:37
Speaker
Too rich for my blood. But like ah ah like, let's look here Vampire Survivors is five bucks.
00:22:49
Speaker
And that's great. Anyway, that's why I've been playing. What are we talking about this week, Jeff? Oh gosh, this week we have we have a real banger. I've heard a lot kids saying this one slaps, babe.
00:23:01
Speaker
Because we're going to be talking about one of my favorite games, Tales from the Borderlands. And this is going to follow up of sorts to a previous episode. you You longtime listeners might remember from just a few episodes ago when Ben spent entire episode making the case for why i should play Blackwell Legacy and selling me on this game that he loved.
00:23:28
Speaker
I ultimately played this and streamed it and loved it myself. Well, bad news, Ben. You're in my world now, not your world. Yeah. And turnabout is fair play. So this episode, I'm going to make my case to Ben.
00:23:45
Speaker
as to why he should play telltale games 2014 uh adventure game tells from the borderlands the adventure game spinoff from the borderlands franchise can can i go ahead with why i haven't uh played it so so you have a little bit of terrain and absolutely oh like you you know the challenge please do please do so number one wrong oh making faces oh yeah that saw on but it uh but i i made like a uh-oh face yeah please go ahead number one is that i never got into the generation of post walking dead telltale games okay which were all very ah like
00:24:36
Speaker
That were, you you were talking about, maybe maybe you meant this like to kind of thematically bridge in, like Life is Strange.
Borderlands Series - Personal Stories and Mechanics
00:24:44
Speaker
The only game I've played in that style, other than Walking Dead for this podcast, which is still kind of transitory,
00:24:56
Speaker
i is the the first Life is Strange, which I loved. ah But i so one is, is that I never got into that era of telltale games.
00:25:08
Speaker
I'm not like that just wasn't one that that really pulled me in. So that that's just a little hump because I'm i'm amenable to to trying that out. Number two, and this is the bigger problem.
00:25:23
Speaker
is that I've never played a Borderlands. I, ah every, my exposure to when I see a Borderlands is always negative.
00:25:35
Speaker
Yes. ah Borderlands has ah reputation and I am aware that, uh, it does have its, its many fans, which I believe you are one. is that correct? Mm-hmm.
00:25:53
Speaker
Uh, you are, b is that, is that something that you play with your wife? it is um yeah she and i played uh the first couple of games and the pre-sequel which i guess was an interquel that uh that came out there yeah we played all of those couch co-op uh on console back in the day um if you know my wife was uh was actually uh she went into labor while we were doing a second playthrough borderlands 2 like we we're know if i knew that Yeah, we were literally on the couch together playing Borderlands 2.
00:26:27
Speaker
And yeah, she's like, uh-oh, I think the baby's coming. And I'm like, ah can it wait until we finish this boss battle? ah Because, you know, first and foremost, I'm a gamer.
00:26:38
Speaker
ah I honestly don't remember. i don't remember where we are in the game. Like the next six months. I'm surprised you don't remember the details of ah the Borderlands level that you were ah that you were playing ah during ah the the the moment leading into the birth of your child.
00:26:58
Speaker
What is... I didn't stop playing it. and She's like, she's like, she's like her controller. And like, it's like, I guess I'll drive myself to the hospital. Yeah. And she's like, don't know. This feels pretty serious. I'm not sure if I'm good to drive.
00:27:11
Speaker
And I'm like, ah yeah, you probably have told me that before we got in the middle of this level. yeahs Yeah. yeah. Well, but I, I brought that up specifically to say, you're not the only married couple I know.
00:27:25
Speaker
that has bonded over playing co-op borderlands so yeah there's aren't enough of those sorts of couch co-op I mean it's like god I only play Gears of War yeah I don't know there's i like it's it's just very funny that I know now two married couples that ah are like that, that, that played ah Borderlands together and like multiple Borderlands, like yeah just one, not just like, Oh, we played it like to try.
00:27:59
Speaker
Oh, let's, how would this be? Like we've played, like we've played and completed full Borderlands. But anyway, I'm of like, I have never played them. And for a reason, and there is ah reputation Borderlands.
00:28:17
Speaker
cringe yes a reputation that eventually the series becomes a little self-aware of and leans into ah but even then it's kind of the thing we've talked about on here quite a bit like pointing out how cringe your game is it's kind of the same thing as pointing out how bad a puzzle is it's like Yeah, I appreciate like the meta commentary, but you're still doing that bad thing, right? I mean, this is true. I think there's more to it than that, but certainly the form it exists in, like in popular memory is one where we think a lot about the cringe parts and all the all the non-cringe parts, you know, don't quite break through to the to the broader gaming audience. I think that, yeah, there's no question. There's plenty of cringe.
00:29:07
Speaker
going on here. and And this was the big thing that like I anticipated because I kind of broke down my case to today as I'm going to lay this out. Wow. into things I think you'll like about the game and then things i think will be big hurdles for you as well. and There's a ah combination of problems here because one is I have no buy-in to this world. Yes.
00:29:29
Speaker
yeah then the second is like, I think these are two real ah distinct but related issues. One is like, because it could be that this was, uh like a like let's say that that it was that you were trying to pitch me on the the telltale for game of thrones which uh like just wasn't my thing um like i just wasn't really really into it um like i didn't really watch the show but you know i'm not i can't it's like oh fantasy world whatever okay
00:30:04
Speaker
like take that George RR Martin I read a bunch of the books so you know what like it's not even that I'm like I just didn't get the show it just didn't get into the show anyway the but uh not sexy enough yeah like I I needed to to to have if if there were just a couple more brothel scenes uh with the guy that played the mayor of Baltimore I would ah love it.
00:30:33
Speaker
the The guy, he was the mayor Baltimore and the Wire, you know. Anyway, or maybe you don't.
00:30:42
Speaker
Not politely. it Anyway, like, so I have like just... like they so i have like just very little knowledge i guess game of thrones was totally the wrong example because i have enough knowledge but like no knowledge of borderlands and also like what i do know about it is like a turn off yeah gotcha no i get that and maybe this is a good time i and the off chance that any of our listeners don't know what borderlands is oh yeah please let me let me let me give you the the quick rundown of it
00:31:20
Speaker
Let's go back to let's go back to 2009 when this scrappy ah first person shooter RPG sometimes referred to as a looter shooter ah hits the scenes developed by Gearbox software.
00:31:35
Speaker
It has a ah distinct and memorable cell shaded art style. All of that cringe humor ah that you're talking about. Cell damage. yeah there you go my brothers and i played cell damage on our gamecube all the time oh man oh my older brother uh pete is like maybe one of the only people to have bought cell damage hd when it came out uh like for i don't know recently i doubt anyone else because it wasn't a very good game but anyway it did look cool this game is beautiful uh if you will oh but we did we also talk about gamecube games those those games were hard yeah beautiful joe yeah more like beautiful difficult
00:32:26
Speaker
a
00:32:29
Speaker
nailed it as opposed to Joe which is easy all right yeah ah the setting of this whole thing ah the first game takes place entirely on the planet of Pandora later games expand out from that a little bit but so it's like uh Avatar yes it's exactly like Avatar it's on the planet Pandora ah you plug your tail into like a dragon and just fly around you where you want to maybe you're also having sex I'm not sure but anyway alright so you have the the planet of plant Pandora it's basically Mad Max the planet ah one kind of interesting element of this is
00:33:02
Speaker
A lot of the game is focused around this planet, having been sort of stripped of every resource by a number of competing ah galactic corporations that have also flooded it with guns and violence. and now they've all left and kind of left this planet to all the raiders and everyone else. Very kind of this...
00:33:26
Speaker
like So Mad Max, but Mad Max is like about a ah fallen Earth, a post-apocalyptic Earth. This is like there's more of a like a sci-fi angle.
00:33:39
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. There's spaceships and shit. Yeah, the big MacGuffin of this whole thing is that supposedly some ancient alien race created vaults on this planet Pandora, hidden vaults. They're supposed to contain untold wealth, advanced technology, everything else. And this draws ah heroes known as vault hunters to the planet.
00:34:03
Speaker
Oh, like the movie Borderlands. Oh, you've seen them. Okay. That's your favorite movie. I love that movie. Yeah. So yeah, these vault hunters come and they kill a bunch of people and blow a bunch of shit up in pursuit of these vaults. And then, know, we have Borderlands, Borderlands 2, Borderlands Pre-Sequel, Borderlands 3, Tiny Tina's Wonderland is ah is a spinoff from that. And then Tales from the Borderlands is this 2014 Telltale Oddity where we see an attempt to take
00:34:39
Speaker
This violent, crass, you know, looter shooter where it's all about just like killing massive numbers of enemies and looting ever increasingly powerful guns from them as you go.
00:34:52
Speaker
And we turn it into telltale style point click adventure game. It's very much... in the walking dead mold right down to the this character will remember that kind of uh heading so here is telltale is a telltale game can be while leveraging this borderlands uh license in the process so so far it sounds great right i mean this is uh now you already see you're like i need to give this one a chance okay so
00:35:23
Speaker
what What do I like about
Telltale Games - Narrative Techniques and Impact
00:35:25
Speaker
this? Let me give you my overarching case for what I think you might like about Tales from the Board. right, let's hear it. And remember, you are under oath.
00:35:36
Speaker
I've been saying that nonstop lately. I don't know. We're like, just lately, I've just been saying that to like everyone, in any context. And remember, you're under oath. Like, I don't know.
00:35:48
Speaker
It's a fun thing to say. I mean, in fairness, you are an attorney. Yeah. Yeah. At law? and No, I'm actually an attorney at SLAW.
00:36:02
Speaker
Oh, okay. Which is a big, this is a big misconception. I, like, I work in a cabbage patch. That's why they call you the cabbage patch kid.
00:36:14
Speaker
Yeah. Cabbage patch kid, comma, attorney at SLAW.
00:36:23
Speaker
Why are some cases you've had to handle recently? How dare you? How dare you make me come up with this?
00:36:31
Speaker
yes like I feel like I did a pretty good joke and now you're you making me do do even more work. i would honestly hack the gars ah ah Vinegar ah versus olive oil.
00:36:49
Speaker
Oh, man. I'm just trying to make you work a little hard because at the beginning of this podcast, you lean back in your seat and of put your hands behind your head and said, I'm not to have to work hard on this one. I did a hilarious bit about Wikipedia for 15 minutes.
00:37:04
Speaker
Well, i'm I mean, think the listeners will judge how hilarious it was. Oh yeah. And history will judge. Yes. And listeners, if you want to talk about how hilarious that Wikipedia bit delivered by attorney at SLA, Ben, you know, check us out on, on Apple podcasts, leave us a review there. Email us at quest quest podcast at gmail.com. You almost forgot what it was.
00:37:27
Speaker
I had this moment at first. i was like, is it quest quest pod? Is it quest quest podcast? Yeah. It's podcast, right? It's podcast. I seldom email it. Except if I'm just mad at and want to pass it aggressively. I wonder if people have emailed questquestpod gmail.com.
00:37:47
Speaker
Maybe. Probably. i mean, i registered a lot of alternatives that could be possible with Mistspun. So I've got like guest guest podcast at dot com gmail at.
00:37:57
Speaker
ah But no, here's what I think you're go like about this game, Ben.
00:38:03
Speaker
It has a surprising amount of heart. which is something I wouldn't necessarily say about the rest of the Borderlands series. And this is where I think the Telltale team really works their magic. By this point in Telltale's history, by 2014, they were figuring out how to not just manipulate your feelings like I accused Walking Dead of doing a few times, but really engage at a more emotional level.
00:38:33
Speaker
I'm looking at my favorite website, wikipedia.org. um and um' I've heard you're a supporter. I'm a supporter. I'm a lover. fighter.
00:38:45
Speaker
Yeah, I stand. Again, I've been negatively polarized. That's about as good as you can get. um All right, so in the the Telltale Games...
00:38:57
Speaker
timeline So you've got The Walking Dead in 2012. Then you have Poker Night 2. Great game. ah Then you have The Wolf Among Us. which I believe pet you, you liked Wolf Among Us, right? liked it quite a bit. Yeah. I thought, I mean, honestly, I've liked most of Telltale's catalog that played.
00:39:15
Speaker
And then, and then you have Walking Dead season two, hotly anticipated, I'm sure. And then, and and then this comes after ah that.
00:39:25
Speaker
This is Tales from the Borderlands comes after ah Walking Dead season two. And then what follows Tales from the Borderlands? I was surprised by this. It's Game of Thrones after that.
00:39:39
Speaker
Oh, wow. I would put that later in timeline in my head. thought Game Thrones was way later, too, because i I thought my recollection was that people kind of were ah having some some ah fatigue with that format at that point, which is to say they they might have.
00:40:00
Speaker
But I thought Game of Thrones was a little bit uh uh later not only was it was game of thrones next but it was concurrent yes to to get as much crunch out of that telltale team as possible right i mean yeah i mean this was ah now you're releasing multiple games simultaneously episodically it's uh it's wild times tales from the borderlands the first episode is out november 25th
00:40:31
Speaker
2014 and game of thrones. The first episode is out December 2nd, 2014. twenty five Like they're right. That's insane.
00:40:43
Speaker
They are uh, Right on top of each other. And this is curious because the way I remember this too is, know, there's a pretty positive reception for tales from the borderlands at the time. This is a game that, uh, that lot of people, uh, tend to like, I think, I think that positive critical reception,
00:41:02
Speaker
But then I remember, too, Game of Thrones was when I believe I first started seeing the criticisms pop up, like, this formula. This is starting... These things are starting to feel... This shit again. Yeah, formulaic. And that would really dog a lot of telltale releases on through to the end, which is a shame, because there's good stuff in the later back end of that catalog. Those Batman games are so good.
00:41:23
Speaker
Do... Would... be i i recall because i've seen like a little bit of tales of the borderlands um uh like gameplay doesn't it kind of make fun of that format a little bit like it plays around with it right like it does kind of all remember which if you're already starting let's loop back here if you're starting to do the meta jokes at the same time as you're also releasing straight ones but they're still in the same format and you're kind of deep in it.
00:41:56
Speaker
Like maybe it was, like maybe we're like, you know, maybe feel we're starting to get a little... you know ah Yeah, there's one that's memorable to me. don't think this is a spoiler particularly, but at one minute, or sorry, one moment in the game, ah the one of the lead characters, Reese, and his his best buddy, like, share a real moment of bonding and and bro out together. And there's this, like, momentous quick time event where you fist bump your best friend after really broing out together.
00:42:28
Speaker
And instead of popping up at the screen, you know, like this character will, you know, we'll remember that. Instead, it's like this character will never forget that. i I mean, it's got some cute stuff like that. But again, i mean, I think that speaks a little bit to what the center of my case is. This is a game very much built on the relationships between its characters. You have a dual protagonist. You have ah Reese, who is a... ah a corporate ah guy trying to climb the ladder of one of those aforementioned galactic corporations that have destroyed this planet, essentially. And then Fiona, who is a local con woman, and both of them are chasing after the same MacGuffin.
00:43:13
Speaker
You get a little bit of ah sometimes the same events told through both of their perspectives. so are they Are they together or are they two separate, like parallel... They get split up, so they're running parallel. You're flopping back and forth between them as the as the episodes go. And both of them ah have sort of a sidekick. Reese has his best buddy from work.
00:43:36
Speaker
ah Fiona has her her younger sister. And along the way, yeah they're both chasing the same MacGuffins and trying to track each other down and trying to find their way to a vault ah for various reasons.
00:43:50
Speaker
But those relationships that form through the game, including when they start to overlap with some of the characters from other Borderlands games, there's not a ton of that. There's enough that, you know, fans to like a treat for the fans. It's not a treat for the fans. Yeah, to it's just a nice little like sneaky snack.
00:44:07
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. Right. Absolutely. So it's got a lot of that, but there's some real heart between these characters. I mean, it's, uh, they're likable characters. The interplay between them feels pretty real. It's surprisingly touching, like for a series that again, I would never say that about like this game.
Branding and Storytelling in Telltale Games
00:44:27
Speaker
And you know, this is a low bar, Ben, but this game made me a cry a few times ah when I played it. I mean, that's, ah I cried everything. yeah i cried yeah um I cried right before this podcast started. as I was like, hey, do it, Ben. You're like, Jess, you got this. and and yeah And I did have the record on, so we will like ah play that. Patrons only. Patrons only can hear me Oh, yeah, yeah. all right, fine. That's, yeah, let's monetize how easy it is to make you cry.
00:44:55
Speaker
No, but this I think is the big selling point. I think it's hard for me to judge because again, I was coming to this with a lot of experience in the Borderlands series, but I think that's the biggest selling point for me is that It has enough heart that I feel like it might be able to drag you kicking and screaming into the Borderlands universe. Do I think it'll make you want desperately go out and play the shooter games? No, probably not.
00:45:24
Speaker
But I do think as an adventure game fan, there's something to enjoy here. I, well so so, there is, so one, one thing about all of those telltale games, and I, I, as I said, I haven't played other than playing a little bit of, uh, Walking Dead season one, ah for this.
00:45:43
Speaker
i even though i didn't like walking dead season one that was remarkably compellingly written and i honestly can't say ah you know and i watched you stream uh uh the batman games which i do yeah i agree with you those are wildly underrated yeah i I've seen people on like in forums and and so on, like adventure game groups, just slag on those Batman games.
00:46:15
Speaker
When I watched you like play them, I was completely caught up. and But i'm I'm saying all this to say that um the the writing quality at Telltale was always good and i mean and that's like you know if they didn't have good writing then then what you know what did they have uh right there isn't even in games like or even in episodes of telltale games that didn't necessarily work for me
00:46:55
Speaker
ah like some of the earlier tales of monkey island was tales a thing that they were trying to make was that like kind of a like now you have tales from monkey island you have tales from the borderlands did they do other did they do any other tales well hold on i've got open in front of me the the The problem is is that ah like everything was licensed.
00:47:18
Speaker
Yes. And at a certain point, it's just the name of... Tales from the Batman. like Yeah, it's just the name of the... like It's you know Batman, colon. like Guardians of the Galaxy so Telltale series. so And maybe... and you want to know what? It's probably... like Maybe they use the they were like maybe considering using like the Tales thing since they are...
00:47:42
Speaker
telltale and uh but also ah like for monkey eye like the difference between well this actually explains it the difference between monkey island and borderlands and then you know walking dead jurassic park uh you know ah wolf among us etc etc etc is is those two are existing games yes so that's good point yeah he to differentiate um yeah and so they can't say
00:48:13
Speaker
like telltale wasn't going to say monkey allen five right um you can't say borderlands the pandoran adventure or something like that they had to to make it very distinctive the like minecraft is the the other one that is based off a game and that is minecraft story mode yeah like which that makes sense within the concept of the the yeah but anyway what what is to to what is kind of compelling about the that argument or what is not kind of uh what is compelling about that argument to me is that ah you know i would be hard pressed to think of like
00:48:59
Speaker
poor telltale writing i think i was thinking the same thing like i can't think of a game that would point to it's like ah the writing was the problem on this one even like a game like jurassic park which is not a great game i mean has some good writing it it's consistently entertaining in the writing yeah yeah no i've i've uh yeah there there were some pretty good parts from that streaming game playing Jurassic the uh thinking about them now i the and you can watch them I believe they're all on your YouTube right they are decap jedi so ah on YouTube but um the you know I think the the the trick with these games with with this era of Telltale and also with
00:49:48
Speaker
um with the uh like Life is Strange and other games made in this style is that it's it's all a magic trick right like you know and the magic trick fails like it's if if you if you see the magic trick twice uh you know if you if you watch a magician do the same magic trick a couple times you'll you know you'll be like oh the quarters in his other hand he's just waving and one hand around yeah uh uh but uh like so
00:50:25
Speaker
the telltale was very good like at doing like you know continuing to lean on this magic trick analogy uh here is that it's like you essentially know if you're playing those games essentially it's It's kind of generally just have one path.
00:50:53
Speaker
Yeah, certain plot points are baked in. Certain set pieces are going to happen whether you choose one option or another. yeah and the a Telltale but trick of a like of a telltale game past that like you know maybe people didn't you know entirely figure like feel that way immediately with walking dead though i'm sure they figured out quickly when they replayed it like an episode yeah like waiting for the next one but uh the the the magic in their quality of writing is you know if you're magician
00:51:38
Speaker
uh as i said it's all about ah doing like this the the misdirect right and because you know i'm seeing a magic show i know that you know this guy isn't wielding eldritch forces like and so i'm there to be entertained i you know i'm not there to believe that magic is real i'm sorry to say and i would i would love it if magic was real You're their Penn and Teller style to call bullshit on everything that that a magician does, You know, I mean, I'm their Penn and Teller style to more do the fool us thing as opposed to just sit there and and declare that a perfectly functional things are bad libertarian style. but i' say I like to sit in the audience of magic shows and just be like, this isn't real. That's
00:52:31
Speaker
that coin did this year saw i i got to see uh in in new york uh in and of itself uh the the the magic show i don't know have you ever heard of this they had a filmed version of it that went up on hulu and i haven't watched the film version of it i'd be very interested and ah if it would be like people seem to like the the filmed version ah like i one of the major tricks of it was him doing something with members of the audience that was very impressive
00:53:12
Speaker
nice ah but yeah uh now i'm getting way off track in and of itself it was also directed by frank oz that's right plazzy derrick himself uh you mean miss piggy herself uh yoda himself uh wow that's amazing many more ah
00:53:34
Speaker
Well, the man of a thousand freaks. Um, but yeah, but that's what they called him. Um, yeah, yeah. Jim, Jim would give him a call and be like, Hey Frank, I need, i need another freak.
00:53:48
Speaker
Yeah. He'd be like for you. got it another freak. I bet I spent all night in the Jim Henson creature shop. make This one's a sexy pig. ah one am Yeah. The frog's going to want to fuck this pig.
00:54:02
Speaker
She's real sexy.
00:54:07
Speaker
I was just like, know. I know just what to do.
00:54:14
Speaker
And then he did all that.
00:54:19
Speaker
it's a legendary character now legendary legendary character anyway because they needed for someone for kermit the frog to have sex with yeah well my complaint with early muppets cream he like when he's trying to sell like wilkins coffee and stuff but there's no sexual tension i was i was just like what is this is this frog a virgin i can't respect him
00:54:48
Speaker
he's gotta get his frog dick pet
00:54:57
Speaker
oh brother mom in case you're listening that was ben that said that last part just in case you
00:55:06
Speaker
You better leave this in the edit. Oh, yeah. No, no, no. that Please. they Come on. That's absolutely staying in the edit. But no, I mean, Tales from the Borderlands.
00:55:21
Speaker
I mean. But yeah, they they're good at. It does that telltale thing. It hides does the magic trick stand. Expect that. Yeah. I mean, there's some other great. I mean, there's some things about like the cell shading looks really well. This is really a good marriage of what.
00:55:35
Speaker
the Telltale engine was capable of doing and not that different than some of the visual style that Ari developed with Walking Dead. But that dovetails really nicely at the visual style Borderlands already had.
00:55:47
Speaker
It feels like those games just from a different angle, kind of the same way, like what it reminded me of You know, if you played much Warcraft three and then ever like jumped into early World of Warcraft, it's just like I'm like a guy walking around in Warcraft three. Only now it's this giant world.
00:56:04
Speaker
It has a little bit of that feeling. It's like, oh, well, you know, i'm I'm still in that world, but I'm interacting with it in a very different way. I'm lightly jogging everywhere rather than sprinting from point to point.
00:56:15
Speaker
so it's got that going for it i like that does the whole smash cut to the title cards when you're introducing new characters which feels a little tired now but when borderlands did it in 2009 felt pretty cool you know i'll i'll like it is a bit of a cliche to have a clever title drop yeah but every now ah and again i I'm still like all I'll watch a movie recently watched one with a very good one.
00:56:49
Speaker
Uh, lately, um, and or hundreds of beavers. Okay. Jess, have you seen this? No. Jess, I think you would love hundreds of beavers.
00:57:02
Speaker
And I'm going to say this as somebody that that thought it was a bit oversold to me. Yeah? i Hundreds of beavers. Have you heard about this movie? No. No.
00:57:13
Speaker
no hold on all right for google that or am i going in trouble left turn and uh to da one recommendation uh deserves another jess you should watch 100s of beavers i really love the movie poster maybe be this might be like a family watch i think oh wow this might be something you all but maybe you you watch it and then like to determine um uh like yeah i would say uh give it a watch but uh uh before but um i think this is it is ah hundreds of beavers is a uh brand new where it's like it came out last year or two years ago um silent film oh uh shot
00:58:01
Speaker
ah by a
Robot Sidekicks and Game Humor
00:58:03
Speaker
couple goofballs in wisconsin ah and it is ah like cheese balls yeah ah pretty much the cheese heads is what we call them here in the midwest uh and it is just very very silly Like, I don't like I honestly I don't know how how else to to sell it because it's like a silent film and it's just a lot of physical comedy and silly costumes and people falling down. There's a lot of that.
00:58:43
Speaker
You don't like people falling down. Yeah. And ah i I think you'd really enjoy, ah you know, like ah in these ah troubled times.
00:58:56
Speaker
you in democracy could die in darkness uh you might you might enjoy a light silly film made by a couple cheese heads uh having having just a ah blast running around in the snow um with with the with their camera uh uh hundreds of beavers ah check it out that's that's my recommendation now back to tales from the borderlands there you go well you've convinced me to check out this movie uh and to watch jawbreakers uh but i don't know if i've won you over yet uh until well i think i am won over because i am like i'm won over uh because i like as i said the the writing uh
00:59:47
Speaker
ah You know, i like Telltale writing a lot. um And did they do, after the transition to that style, like the the more narrative, choose your own adventure, so-and-so will remember that,
01:00:11
Speaker
did they do any other comedies? Because like before in the point and click, you have like three seasons of Sam and Max, you have strong bad, you have a Wallace and Gromit, you have monkey Island.
01:00:25
Speaker
i Like, you know, you have ah all these games that are funny or comedies or, or, you know, of light and tone. And then ah after the walking dead and it's all,
01:00:40
Speaker
kind of bigger licenses though i wouldn't say borderlands is a particularly yeah large license um but all these these other ones i'm sure guardians of the galaxy is it has its guardians of the galaxy humor and this one has it i mean this one definitely has what made you cry so yeah well so guardians the galaxy uh and so did game of thrones and uh puzzle agent and uh Poker not at the inventory too. And All those Law & Order games, every one of them. Like, it makes me really sad when sometimes Law & Order doesn't win.
01:01:18
Speaker
ah So, you know, um yeah. And yeah, yeah, yeah. yeah but no i mean this one has that that borderlands humor but yeah i mean it's it's it's not a yuck-em-up comedy in that sense necessarily mean let me let me say i've got a couple of secret weapons here at the end okay uh let me like good soundtrack every episode opens with some lessons music that's usually very on point it's like a Well, in true we're talking about streaming this. So yeah, I just do it. It'll just get muted.
01:01:48
Speaker
Don't worry about it. It has one the closing song of the final episode. My silver lining by first aid kit is maybe one of my favorite songs to ever appear in a video video game. It's really good.
01:02:00
Speaker
I like that a lot. Good voice acting got Troy Baker and Laura Bailey as the leads. Chris Hardwick's in there as one of the supporting characters. That's, not helping me i know that's not i realized that tell yeah i know i realized that im this is in the interest of full disclosure um but let me tell you i've got two more selling points for you ben this is gonna push you over the edge okay patrick warburton as reese the main character's jerk boss he's a corporate stiff
01:02:37
Speaker
He's a jerk of a boss and he is giving the full war burden. He's i mean such a, he's such a treat in voice acting. Yes. Brock in venture brothers is such a wonderful and funny performance.
01:02:52
Speaker
which I'm guessing is maybe where Telltale made the connection with him. You know, he was Brock in Poker Night 2. Oh, yeah, he was, wasn't he? Yeah, i wonder if that's where they made this connection.
01:03:03
Speaker
But he is fantastic. He is just a complete asshole in the game, and you want to see bad things happen to him in a really wonderful way. ah So that that's one of my final, like, take-home points. It's got Warburton doing a full Warburton. I do like You want that...
01:03:21
Speaker
Boy, do you remember when like, don't know, maybe you weren't following this closely, but when Space Adventure was first like getting kicked around, there's a lot of talk about how great it would be to get Patrick Warburton as ah as the main character there. And he does look like a Warburton character. He feels like he's designed from the ground up to be a Warburton.
01:03:39
Speaker
space venture does have a pretty good cast though it does it has a just pretty pretty talented cast was there was there one other there's one more important point i think ben this is this is something i really need you to weigh in on this game has an adorable robot sidekick The sidekick's named Gortus.
01:04:05
Speaker
It's voiced by famed voice actor Ashley Johnson, who's got a long list of credits. i have to look for Not familiar? Yeah. This is an adorable robot sidekick.
01:04:20
Speaker
And Ben, i think that adorable robot sidekicks are a selling point in almost any video game they appear in. because And, you know, like the sort of robot sidekick that's best known in the Borderlands series is Claptrap, you know. Of course. ah Even though I know who Claptrap is.
01:04:39
Speaker
Yeah, and Claptrap's whole job is to be horribly annoying. and And you're supposed to hate Claptrap. And you enjoy when bad things happen to Claptrap. And you you root against Claptrap at some level while he's trying to be annoyingly helpful and condescending at the same time.
01:04:54
Speaker
Gordas is none of that. Gordas is a pure soul that I think will win your heart. You're going to like Gordas too. quite a bit and i was curious do you have favorite robot sidekicks uh from other games is there or maybe media in general i mean i was thinking like this is a theme for me like i pal 18 from anachronauts uh a game i dearly love tom hall's anachronauts has this super adorable little robot sidekick pal 18 even as a kid the dumb little droid that like roger wilco buys in space quest one
01:05:29
Speaker
yeah Like I loved that robot. I want a robot buddy. And this game gives you a really adorable robot buddy. Hmm. So like planet fall. I haven't like, that's the canonical Floyd. Yeah. Lovable robot buddy from adventure gaming. And neither of us have played that.
01:05:46
Speaker
Nope. Uh, no.
01:05:50
Speaker
I, you know, i don't know. This is, this is probably something that once we're done with the podcast, I'll probably remember. So those of you who are in our discord, uh, when you're discussing it, uh, the, the, the day this comes out, ask me if I thought of a robot, uh, sidekick in the, or do you just hate robots?
01:06:11
Speaker
No. Well, uh, because I mean, so there, there, there are robots that immediately come to mind. ah which are because I was trying to think of one in a game.
01:06:22
Speaker
i The, the main robot sidekicks that I think of, of when I think of beloved robot sidekicks are of course, Crow T robot and Tom Servo as an enormous mystery science theater fan.
01:06:37
Speaker
So yes to me, those are definitive, funny robots gotcha especially crow big i'm a big crow head gotcha in in all in all of crow's forms because now multiple people have played crow yeah Yeah.
01:06:58
Speaker
No, I think you'll like Gordas. I think, again, just another character that gets added over the course of the episodes that but really just charmed me to death. Now, I did have my notes here. What is Ben not going to like about this? Let's hear it.
01:07:11
Speaker
And you already highlighted it. do think the biggest time you're going have to get over is less the lack of knowledge or honestly interest in the Borderlands universe and franchise and everything.
01:07:23
Speaker
I think the biggest hurdle could be the humor. I mean, how is it? You know that I'm very picky about my humor. That's right. How funny is it to you when someone is in the middle of saying something and like their head just explodes because like a snapper shot them from 400 yards away? Like, is that funny?
01:07:44
Speaker
Or is it just like, I wish that guy didn't get his head exploded. Is it kind of like random? Like, is it random? Like, uh, like, uh, you know, that just happened. i mean, they don't do that. That just happened joke too much, but definitely it's like, where did, yeah. Just sort of out of nowhere.
01:08:00
Speaker
What if I'm a big fan of borderlands and adventure games and that just happened humor? Where can I go for that?
01:08:10
Speaker
ah That's New Tales from the Borderlands, the sequel that was just released a few years ago and then never mentioned again. It's one of the worst. This was not Telltale game. This is a Gearbox. You have to be the only person that played all of New Tales from Borderlands.
01:08:25
Speaker
Of this, I am almost positive. It got okay-ish reviews, which I don't understand. Is that true? I think it got like middling reviews. It 60s and 70s and stuff like that. It doesn't deserve that.
01:08:39
Speaker
It deserves like 20s and 30s. Was one of i I once again invite the listeners to go into ah the decaf Jedi YouTube archive and watch the Tales from the Borderlands 2 or New Tales from the Borderlands streams because it nearly broke me.
01:09:01
Speaker
it nearly broke me i mean everything this game gets right somehow that one gets completely wrong and you are ah liker like you you try to like came in with like because i'm watching and i don't recall if that's one where you have like uh the chat displayed but if you see me in the chat i'm I'm just on team.
01:09:24
Speaker
This sucks. Like I'm just, and you're, you're trying to find like you're, you're sincerely trying to, to make it, uh uh you're you're sincerely trying to make it like a positive experience and i'm just a big old rain cloud no but i mean but the game was the rain cloud oh yeah by the time i got it's raining it's raining yeah you were right uh i was wrong i mean there's no question about this i mean and that's i mean horrible humor there horrible game unlikable characters everything this game gets right the sequel could not possibly get more wrong it really just throws it all out the window but i mean i guess that's it yeah i mean do you find exploding heads by do you like if someone steps in poop and it's just like oh man i just stepped in poop is that a funny joke i mean can you handle the anthony birch of it all uh i guess who that is okay uh he's the lead rider on borderlands too oh he's the guy that people don't like
01:10:24
Speaker
like he's the guy that people don't like i i don't think people post about this online yeah i don't think he's the lead
Personal Stories and Listener Engagement
01:10:30
Speaker
uh on uh rider on this but is on the team and his his humor that comes into play on borderlands to really become sort of the definitive tone for the series borderlands one was not quite as steeped in humor and and sort of the the sense of humor it's known for now is very much like his stamp on it. ah He's also the ah host of the Dungeons and Dragons actual play podcast, Dungeons and Daddies, if you'd like to hear more of his work.
01:11:00
Speaker
but it is any of those. Yeah. that it's Yeah. It's, it's, uh, it's an acquired taste. Uh, and again, i think the question will come. I'm curious to see if you agree to stream this.
01:11:14
Speaker
I'm curious to see if what I believe the heart of this game can outweigh the cringe humor that you stated at the top was one of your bigger concerns about this whole enterprise.
01:11:26
Speaker
Well, you know, I, I, I'm mean interested in it too, because I, I will stream this game. That's how I wait. Let's not be stay like, that was, that was baked in the cake.
01:11:39
Speaker
Uh, yeah. I mean, yeah, it was, but I don't think anyone on that team is listening. So if you wanted to be just like, no, Jess, I can't do it. yeah know I mean, no, we're not going to be, I'm not, I'm not going to do like, I'm,
01:11:50
Speaker
yeah like ah dave dave gilbert has a enormous nice guy uh reputation and also telltale ah is i don't think uh like even the sequel telltale company i don't think telltale exists anymore yeah or they could release wolf among us too tomorrow for all we know and that's the great thing about telltale And in Showdown, I have no ah qualms about making fun of.
01:12:20
Speaker
So, ah yeah, no, it's like you have certainly. And also, I mean, you know, Blackwell, that series is excellent. Did ever tell you i applied for a job at Gearbox?
01:12:32
Speaker
No.
01:12:36
Speaker
Yeah. um as I applied for an entry level routing gig at Gearbox um not all that long ago, like within the past five years i just saw this one day and i was depressed about my job i was like i'll just send off like some writing samples and a and a resume and uh and see if i can get an entry level uh writer position and you know what um they confirmed the receipt of my application whoa so i got to that stage of the hiring process you still have a chance is what you're saying
01:13:13
Speaker
Well, mean, I guess that's it. I haven't heard yet if they filled the position. yeah So I guess I'm still in the running. So who knows by the time this airs, I may be the lead rider on borderlands four. Yeah.
01:13:23
Speaker
Oh, God dare to dream Ben. Yeah. D to D. Um, Yeah, no, I'm going to play this. i i am going to, so right now, for those of you who ah watch ah my stream, I'm currently playing a great Telltale game, which is Sam and Max Season 1, Sam and Max Save the World.
01:13:44
Speaker
Fabulous. I'm enjoying the fuck out of Oh my God. Such a good game. i i I, I think, so this is what I'm going to do. I'm going to play some, something else.
01:13:55
Speaker
going to, I'm going to cleanse my palate. So I don't, like telltale to telltale and kind of even even though you don't want to tell to tell yeah yeah tap tip tipt tip tap tap tu tip uh i don't want to do that uh so i'll i'll stick something in the middle there i'm not sure what it is yet uh and then but after that after whatever uh adventure game i play next on my stream after that tales from the borderlands it's done you heard it here first it's gonna be sam and max save the world
01:14:31
Speaker
less manly and then is going to launch into tales from the borderlands that's his next uh that's his upcoming i am thinking it should probably be whatever it is to like i should do like you know something like pixely and older uh next and then jump forward in time uh i don't know your chance to be bold enough to stream the homie d clown point and click adventure game this you you could not even you can be the one no you could discover if there's anything lurking in that game you'd rather not have just it's my job to bully you into doing that not uh the reverse i know that's the thing like i feel like i'm so easily bullied into playing the worst games on earth i played beverly hillbillies the adventure game
01:15:19
Speaker
can't you just occasionally take one for the team and listen i i i've played some some unpleasant games i played uh oh yeah name 11 pac-man 2 well that counts as like nine or so by itself it's bad enough yeah yeah i'm i'm trying to remember what is the last game that really like pissed me off i don't remember uh uh That should be a new segment.
01:15:46
Speaker
Games that pissed Ben off. Yeah, games that pissed me off. ah But anyway, yeah, no. we'll ah we We will definitely play it on Adventure Tuesday, ah probably. it's it ah I'm going to guess probably mid-May. maybe Maybe towards the end of May, I would anticipate. if Because I have, as of this record, i and this will come out before the next one,
01:16:13
Speaker
uh like the next adventure tuesday that is um uh i probably have two more sam's sam's and max's maybe three ah probably two and then uh and then let's say three for the next and then yeah so coming in quarter one 2026 it's quarter two quarter two was jumping ahead to next year oh oh oh
01:16:39
Speaker
but now i see ben i hope that you do enjoy this i hope that i do too i'm not wishing you know i'm not wishing ill yeah and ben can i give you an out i'm gonna play fair you did not ask me to play the entire black whale series necessarily thought i did but maybe you did i was i'm going i'm pretty sure i did but maybe but maybe i just say you hate this game i want to officially as your co-host give you permission to bail after the first episode. Like if you're, if it is just too awful to continue, if if I've, wrong if I've judged wrong as someone who, okay. like Borderlands already. Okay. And it can't translate to someone who is coming into it as a complete, uh, noob who is already,
01:17:26
Speaker
you know, justifiably predisposed negatively toward the game. I will understand if you have to bail after the first episode. I won't hold you to it. I will be disappointed, but I won't hold you to it.
01:17:37
Speaker
All right. Okay. Well then we'll see. That's suspense. That's suspense. that's how you build an audience yeah all right well uh that has been quest quest the adventure game podcast uh thank you so much for listening ah you can send us an email as said at quest quest podcast at gmail.com send us an email you know our next one that we're recording is is going to be based off of an email that's that's ah that's a that's a tease
01:18:09
Speaker
Maybe you, because I didn't respond to that email. Maybe you, you're listening at home. Someone that sent us an email and you're like, are they going to talk about my email in the next one? Maybe you. know it's not you.
01:18:21
Speaker
Maybe it's you. Odds are so many people that have sent emails, it's probably not yours. Maybe it's you. also, good chance it might not be, just to be clear here. That's going to be a request quest, though.
01:18:31
Speaker
Yeah, next week is a request quest. Yeah, we love our fans so much. If you just write us and tell us any old thing you want an episode about, Ben and I will spend an hour and 15 minutes talking about it no matter what.
01:18:46
Speaker
yeah uh let's let's be be sure to get that on the record um now uh and uh please give us a rate and review you know so so people can find this you know we love you but we want more people we want more people to send us even more fucking emails all right that's right Uh, then, ah be sure to, uh, I already said what, uh, next week is, but let's pretend, let's pretend I didn't say that.
01:19:17
Speaker
Okay. Uh, join us, uh, next week on quest quest. When we talk about, I thought said we're going to be doing a listener ladder next week. Yeah. Well, the listener requested this, uh, uh, when we, uh, listener requested, we discussed shitting the sequel to pissed.