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Dragon's Popcorn Mario
55 Plays2 years ago
Join Dave and Jake as they talk about the pathology of deer, rumors of the next console generation, games recently purchased, blackout curtains, and what games they'd like to see remastered in this week's episode!
Intro:
- Super Mario Galaxy - Gusty Garden Galaxy
Outro:
- Team Fortress 2 Soundtrack - BLU Triumphs!
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Transcript
00:00:14
Speaker
Oh.
Introduction and Light Banter
00:00:34
Speaker
How's it going everyone? Welcome to another episode of Soapstone. My name is Jake. I'm joined by my co-host as always, Dave. How's it going tonight, Dave? It's going swell. Nice!
Radioactive Moose and Superhero Humor
00:00:47
Speaker
There's a swelling going down, up or. Oh, it's, it's, I don't know how to like respond to that without it just being blatantly sexual. No, it's my pain. Yeah, exactly. That's fair. Well, I'm glad things are going swell. Um, it's going all right for me too. Yeah.
00:01:09
Speaker
I was gonna say, I'm looking at you now, you look a little, I don't know. Did you get bit by something? Did you bite something? It was a radioactive moose. It could be Canadian superhero. So wait, are you saying that you bit the moose? Yes. There's no way you survived getting bitten by a moose. That's all it takes.
Chronic Wasting Disease Discussion
00:01:35
Speaker
Um, so anyways, chronic wasting disease, um, for deer is terrifying. I don't know what that is. So I'm going to learn as well. Everybody else.
00:01:48
Speaker
I'm going to look this up as I say it, but yeah, it's found in deer elk moose. It damages their brain and causes progressively loss of body condition, behavioral changes, excessive salivation and death.
00:02:08
Speaker
It's a prion disease, so it's one of those brain things. And those are terrifying. This is where the zombie condition or whatever affects certain animals and even humans if they get it.
00:02:23
Speaker
But it's just like, oh yeah, it screws with your brain until you'll just like stand there and stare at something. And so traditionally, the horror situation, as it's set up in my brain at least, is if there's a deer and they have this degenerative condition, they just will not care if you approach them, right? Which could also be a sign of rabies in other animals. Yes.
00:02:47
Speaker
And, uh, they'll just literally, their bodies will start to just like decompose essentially while they're alive. It's, it's, it's terrifying. It's absolutely terrifying. They'll just like stare at you and not move. It's the worst. It's basically the worst.
Fears of Brain Diseases and Personal Stories
00:03:02
Speaker
Yeah. That really seems like there's kind of in stasis, like a mental stasis while their body just like.
00:03:11
Speaker
exists and then passes away over time. Yeah, it's it's pretty messed up. Yeah, I wouldn't really want any brain disease. I feel like that would be terrible. Like imagine if like I wouldn't really want a brain disease. I feel like that would be terrible. Like imagine if
00:03:30
Speaker
Like, I wouldn't, is the joke done? I feel like the joke's done. Wait a minute, wait a minute. I got to two when I was like, I think he just said that. Maybe, does he realize? Did he say it verbatim? Does he realize we're not going to cut this? This isn't how we do another take. But yeah. At least with a lot of physical, any illness sucks. Flat out, I'm not trying to dispute that. At least with a lot of physical stuff, there's at least the,
00:03:58
Speaker
I relatively know what's going to happen. Um, but with your brain stuff, I feel like, I mean, all times or anything, I was like, there's such a fear of like loss of agency, loss of self.
Gaming, Identity, and Metaphors
00:04:12
Speaker
Um, like I remember going to visit like an older relative a long time ago, not somebody who was really new. Cause like, I'm always young when I go to visit these old people who are like great grandparents or great uncles. Um,
00:04:27
Speaker
And like, they just don't know who you are. Yeah. I'm like, I don't know you either old time. Oh, fuck. Yeah. But no, it's like a really scary thing to lose yourself in the moment. Yeah. In the moment. M&M's very familiar. It's like I could be in a lot of physical pain and still be me. Yes. Because I'm always complaining. We know this.
00:04:55
Speaker
But it was so I mean, I couldn't even describe it because I wouldn't be me. But if you were to have an interaction with me, you were like, that's not Dave. Right. But it's Dave's body that has to be very fucking surreal. There's an entire movie about this called Jessica's Body, I think. Yeah.
00:05:14
Speaker
I think it's also a horror movie actually, but anyways, I'm glad you took the bait. This was all an elaborate ploy to talk about the soul, obviously, and identity, personal identity. I figured chronic wasting disease was probably the fastest way to get there.
00:05:33
Speaker
Got him. I definitely would have done a time with Dark Souls or anything like that. That would be crazy. So that would be crazy.
Dragon's Dogma 2 Review and Comparison
00:05:40
Speaker
Speaking of Dark Souls, did you see that drop deck? Jesus Christ. That Dragon's Dogma 2 is out. I did. It's on my wish list. I do actually want to pick it up and play it because I played the first one and I saw one review for this one.
00:05:57
Speaker
I'm also leading, I have a breadcrumb trail of topics to try to get back to eventually. But for Dragon's Dogma, I played the first one and it's weird. It's a very weird game and it kind of wasn't in a lot of ways similar to other RPGs of its time. And the review that I read was like,
00:06:17
Speaker
If that's what you experienced in the first one, get ready for the second one where it's exactly the same. Like this is an RPG that basically exists in a time capsule where they're like, we're going to improve over the first one.
00:06:29
Speaker
but not care about what anyone else has done in the last 20 years yes so i think that's i don't know kind of cool in a way um i also did watch a review of it from suzy hunter who i'll watch a lot of her reviews on stuff yeah and she's
00:06:47
Speaker
I'm trying not to do German accents. But for her review on it, I didn't grow up playing it. Yeah. She said it's very. In-depth RPG, very immersive in that like, hey, do you want fast travel?
00:07:06
Speaker
No. Yeah, we don't do that
Mechanics of Dragon's Dogma
00:07:08
Speaker
here. If you want to go and place something for a fast travel point, if you want to build that, sure, maybe that'll be an option for you in the future. Otherwise, you're walking from point A to point B. Yeah. Oh, you have to go over a mountain? That sucks. You have to go over a mountain. I don't want to say high fantasy, but very
00:07:28
Speaker
Like, I guess middle fantasy? Yeah, yeah. It really depends on how you classify high fantasy, because if you're talking about like magic and...
00:07:37
Speaker
fantasy monsters and stuff like that. It definitely is this game. Like, yes, there's a dragon, which is, you know, kind of telling for that. But it's not like magic out the wazoo all the time, all of that. Like, although you can build your character to be magical and stuff. But that's just very much like you are a person in this world. You're not. Yes.
00:08:00
Speaker
a god like you're not the hero you're just a person who has to really slum it um and kind of grind stuff up like a very very very slow burn and slow progression yes yeah you basically like on paper i don't know if i would necessarily like that in a game unless i was in the right headspace yeah yeah it can it can lend itself to a lot of tedium
00:08:23
Speaker
For sure, but like it's also in the same way you're describing how there's no fast travel That's also kind of where a lot of the game happens is because like random encounters and things like that When you're just going from A to B can be how things develop and
00:08:40
Speaker
It's got an interesting, I just like the briefest overview of the lore, because I don't fully understand it, but the part that I get is like the dragon is the big bad, right? This is Dragon Age, essentially. The dragon is the big bad. And the like once per cycle, essentially, the dragon picks someone to be their rival, like it's Pokemon or something. And you play as the rival.
00:09:08
Speaker
And then one of the powers, so the dragon's like buffing you, I guess. Like one of the powers he gives you is the ability to have pawns, which is basically the, to like pull soulless adventurers into existence. And those are, it's kind of this like pseudo multiplayer thing for an actually single player game. And throughout the game, you might be, you know, learning to characterize these pawns as more like involved, right? Or like there, you're,
00:09:38
Speaker
They're your companions in the adventure instead of literally just soulless slaves or whatever. Yeah, so it's kind of it's a cool idea But it's so weird
00:09:49
Speaker
Well, it's also, from what I heard, because they're basically hirelings. If you were to hire a mercenary or something, that counts as a pawn. Yes. But also, it seems that you can hire or select player created pawns. So from somebody else's game. And another thing about the game is because it does literally no hand holding, it's like, here's the game, go figure shit out. Yeah. It's even as far as quest objectives. It might be like, hey, I think there's something going on in this other town.
00:10:18
Speaker
Sorry, what's going on? Like, I know you have to go check it out. And you might need to like find a secret or something else or maybe some political back and forth. But you have to be the one to figure it out unless a player upon might have be privy to some of that information. They might tell you like, hey, I think we should check this one cave. There might be a shortcut there. Oh, OK.
00:10:43
Speaker
Yeah, so that is like a really cool thing as far as the interconnectivity of a single player game. Mm hmm. Yeah, it's kind of like for Elden Ring, if the summons had more personality and then you could share them with other players once you beat the game or something like that. That's kind of the whole world building or
Final Fantasy Graphics and Storytelling
00:11:03
Speaker
cross world nature of it. But I think there were some limitations on the either like D level other people's pawns. If you try to pick them up at a low level,
00:11:12
Speaker
or something. There's some sort of power gating so they don't just like break the game for you. You just you're like, oh, yeah, I'll take the level 99 guy. Yeah, that seems fair. You know, let's just go with piggybacks. You all like kicking monsters in the teeth. Yeah. Uh huh. But it's a novel idea, which is like the most valuable thing, right? It's like other games haven't really done this to this in the same way that Dragon's dogma does. So that gets it points, I think. Yeah, it's.
00:11:44
Speaker
I don't know. It's anytime that there is innovation in something, even if it's not the best, it is a stepping stone onto other things. Yeah. Just like when we had the first vampire survivors started out very basic and then it caught on. Other people were like, I'm going to make something like that.
00:12:02
Speaker
And so it kind of breeds its own genre. Yeah, the survivor like somebody has to start doing that and saying like, hey, here's a concept or a thing or a mechanic gets introduced. People are like, OK, that's actually pretty cool. Yeah. Yeah, it's it's really awesome to see that. And it's cool to be able to go back and see the game that did it. I think sometimes game developers have to risk it when they're like,
00:12:26
Speaker
This game was pretty big. We're going to do something similar to this game and hope that it's a genre that can carry over it, right? And sometimes they land it. Even the Yakuza series.
00:12:38
Speaker
Like initially was people were like, the fuck is this? I think the person who initially made it. Now, granted, I'm getting a second hand from my cousin who loves the series. He's I think he said that the person who was working, I was like, hey, I'm going to stake my job and everything on this. Yeah, I think this will be good. And they're like, OK, you do your thing and we'll see how it goes. And then it did really well.
Appeal and Limitations of Final Fantasy
00:13:00
Speaker
And people were like, wow, this is really in depth, very unique, very out there and.
00:13:05
Speaker
Now we have how many of those games? Because it actually succeeded and took off. Well, I started counting at zero. So I don't know. It's zero index Yakuza series. That's not even true. It's not the first game. But it's really telling how successful it's been, because the last game was like a dragon infinite wealth. So I mean, that's pretty on the nose. They're like, we're doing OK. You maybe need to buy this one. We're doing OK.
00:13:32
Speaker
I know that's the case for Final Fantasy, like that's the traditional story there was they're like, hey, we it's make or break with this game, right? So let's ship it and see. And they just never stop shipping. And neither did the fan base. So.
00:13:54
Speaker
I will say Final Fantasy is credit because I think largely when I look at Final Fantasy as an outside, I have played some of the games, but I don't actively play them now. Right. You're reformed.
00:14:06
Speaker
A lot of them are just so cringe. Oh yeah. But I still have a soft spot in me for like seven. I liked 10. 10 I think actually had a good story. Was 15 the boy adventure?
00:14:24
Speaker
Yeah, that was the boys day out with the car and stuff. I think that was fun as well, but then had some issues like game. But they're very good at designing things that are interesting and cool and you can get on board with a lot of them get so fucking cringe moments like anytime YouTube recommends me something from.
00:14:43
Speaker
uh rebirth i'm like i don't know how much grunting is gonna be in this there was uh you mentioned crane so i have to mention this there's like a 10 minute long video of the final fantasy seven remake i think the the the older one that came out
00:15:01
Speaker
And it's just people vocalizing grunts like through the entire game in response to people talking or situations. I'm not talking like it's a grunt that happens if you swing your sword in combat. I mean, like these people are interacting with each other.
00:15:20
Speaker
Through grunts like that is the that is the primary thing like because I Kind of get I understand it sort of for cloud kind of a maybe a little bit. He's this like loner type guy He's like, you know, he doesn't really he's always upset doesn't really want to acknowledge that he has feelings or whatever the crap. I
00:15:39
Speaker
But it's 10 minutes long, right? It's it's absolutely crazy. And I made myself watch it because I was just like, I have to catalog this. You know, this is this is a cornerstone in gaming. So I mean, it can make for some memorable memes like Final Fantasy with Heaven.
00:16:01
Speaker
I don't know what's going on with my tongue today. It is tied up in something. But as far as Final Fantasy X or FFX, the classic laughing scene between Yuna and Tidus is very just... I had it as a sweater once, a Christmas sweater. I don't know where it went. One of the many shirts I've lost over the years. But it stood out as a fun thing. And again, while I do think some of those games can be cringe,
00:16:31
Speaker
I also enjoy some of the cringe. That's fair. Yeah. One man's cringe is another man's treasure. Yeah.
00:16:40
Speaker
Yeah, I think you can suspend disbelief, too, if you're like, oh, this is the way these characters are. And so it gets to the point where it doesn't bother you, unless you're specifically making a compilation of the number of times someone grunts. But like, yeah, it's fine, honestly. It's very, very minor. That's not the type of thing you should critique those games for. Critique them for being $70, right?
00:17:03
Speaker
And coming in 14 parts. Yes. But at the same time, because I don't want to like dunk on this game that I have not played from the cut scenes I have seen as far or as far as a gameplay. Yeah. Like it looks so fucking good. Like, holy shit. Like, dare I say, it looks better than Advent Children. Oh, my gosh. Advent Children came out 20 years ago. But
00:17:29
Speaker
It is really just very cool to see. I mean, granted these things, when did FF7 come out? Like 30, 40 years ago? Yeah. I was negative years old.
00:17:42
Speaker
But to have that stuff actually come to life and be fully realized with good graphics and having such an in-depth, immersive world where you can do other things outside of just, here's the one area you can walk, here's random combat, here's the cutscene, here's the boss. I mean, that's actually very impressive and I'm glad that gaming is going that direction.
00:18:03
Speaker
I'm also just a crotchety old man at this point. I don't want to play it for whatever reason. It's there. It's a JRPG. It's going to take time. I can't skip the cutscenes. You know what one of the things is for me that keeps me from getting super hyped about the new Final Fantasy VII?
00:18:21
Speaker
Hmm. Thank you is the The fact that like I know my progression isn't gonna like one-to-one carry over between these these games Yeah, cuz it's like I Get it. Sometimes you got to hit somebody with a full reboot for the sequel, right? Like Mega Man loads on with all of his powers at the start of the game and you're like, oh What am I gonna do? What's my regression look like? but
00:18:49
Speaker
When I played Final Fantasy seven, um, they had this thing called continuity and across those three discs, you know, you could keep upgrading your characters and your gear and stuff like that. You didn't have to worry about it being separated into completely different games. Um, so that's why the original is better.
00:19:11
Speaker
Yeah, it's going to be a hard thing to manage because obviously you could grind, let's say, the fuck out of the first part or first installment of the new Final Fantasy
Final Fantasy VII Remake Concerns
00:19:20
Speaker
7. And then you go into rebirth and you're just like.
00:19:24
Speaker
slapping people and they die. They have to put like limits on it and things like that. But but you wouldn't hear me out there. There are limit breaks. OK, so I don't really know if limits is the right thing to do. That's fair. That is fair. That joke lets everyone know that I played the game.
00:19:45
Speaker
Yes. Or I have a tab open with just random internet facts and game information. I mean, the thing for me is I like that ability to grind. I think we talked about the pros and cons of random encounters. I don't know if that was on episode or not, but how they can get tedious. But if I beat Emerald Weapon and I get the Emerald Doo Dad, which I don't think is in the game, but maybe it was,
00:20:15
Speaker
I would like to not lose that in episode three, right? So it's like you lose everything, right? Why would I ever grind at all if I know the next phase is going to take it all away because there is no safe transfer? That's just depressing. It's a psychological oppression.
00:20:36
Speaker
They're oppressing me. I mean, I see that. I don't disagree with what you're saying. But I think for how the game is laid out, it's kind of unfortunately unavoidable. You might have to kind of change your mindset to being like they are just separate games entirely.
00:20:56
Speaker
And it's just like with Mega Man, right? Like, hey, we're bringing Mega Man back for more adventures, type thing. And just like tradition, they hit Mega Man with a comet at the very start of the first level to take all his powers away. Basically, Dr. Light summons Mega Man while Mega Man's in the shower. He doesn't have time to go to bed.
00:21:16
Speaker
What's its emergency? I just go fight these, uh, these people, these Mavericks. And he's like, I don't have it in my software. No, you'll be fine. You make a man. You got lemons. He does shoot a lot of lemons. Um, he, he stole them. That's how, that's my theory for how he ended up with so many lemons. Um, but yeah, how much do I lean into this?
00:21:42
Speaker
We'll see. We'll see for Final Fantasy. I do think so. I was kind of joking that maybe I'd wait to play it and jump aboard the PS5 train until like it was out. Right. Like until it was all out so I could play through all of it. But now it's very clear that like these are not connected pieces because you literally don't share a save game. So.
00:22:07
Speaker
I don't know, that incentive's kind of broken a little bit for me. But the other thing to segue into a different topic was that there's like rumors abounding, even beyond rumors, people talking hardware and stuff for the PS5 Pro. And so like, it could be a situation similar to PS4 for me.
00:22:25
Speaker
Or it's like, oh, yeah, I just waited till the good console came out. Why would I jump aboard for this? I'm not going to spend $500 for this trash when I know they're just going to make a good version. Every two or three years, there'll be something new and something shiny and maybe a better hardware, just more storage space. That's always going to happen. So I feel like you just have to buy in at a point if you want to experience that.
00:22:51
Speaker
I just haven't yet hit that point for PS5 because even though they are available now, it's so surreal to me. Remember when they're impossible to find and COVID was like an active thing? Yeah. Is it weird that when COVID was here, PS5s weren't, now that PS5 is here?
00:23:13
Speaker
Hmm. Yeah. Hmm. Suspicious. Maybe PS5 cured COVID. That's all I'm saying. Maybe it did.
PS5 Exclusives and Buying Decisions
00:23:20
Speaker
If you're concerned about the effects of the PS5 Pro, then they're going to mess stuff up more. But yeah, no, the specs are actually out for it for PS5 Pro. It's on a bunch of news articles and stuff. I still think they just need more. Like yesterday. Titles on the console.
00:23:37
Speaker
Yeah, because like outside of ff7 like what catches your interest besides demon souls I mean like to be honest, this is a little bit maybe I shouldn't admit this on this specific podcast But like I don't even know if I would really play demon souls because I know that it's faithful. It's a faithful remake
00:23:55
Speaker
And I also know that, like, even Dark Souls 1 feels pared down, feature-wise, in a lot of ways this year, if you were to go back and play it. And Demon's Souls was the predecessor to that. So, like, I already know, because obviously our gratuitous involvement in the Souls community, you just, like, parry backstab tons of stuff, or the big bosses, you just avoid the move, hit the boss, right?
00:24:25
Speaker
It's just like the entire game. So it's not massive for me and short for that particular game. Um, I would say Spider-Man, but it's going to come out like it already came out for PC, I think, or it will. Can I throw in a hotsick? Sure. Why is Spider-Man two Spider-Man? Hmm.
00:24:50
Speaker
Like, I thought it was going to be like a whole different game from how it was advertised and they're like, uh, nope, a New York, uh, same systems that is a little bit bigger. We add another character. And I'm like, okay. Like to be fair, Spider-Man is, it's a good game. It is a fun game. It is a very.
00:25:09
Speaker
I'd say closer to like a cinematic, more like a movie experience as far as how things are tied together. You can very much be kind of caught up in the Spider-Man universe, but it feels very much like you're playing through a movie or like a TV show as far as like how events transpire and stuff.
00:25:31
Speaker
Now, as far as Spider-Man, I think very faithful to the progression in the comics from earlier games. Cool. But it feels weird to just kind of take that again. They're like, here's to my brain, at least, once more of a separation between games, like even Breath of the Wild and the sequel. Tears of the Kingdom. Yeah.
00:26:01
Speaker
I don't know that Tears of the Kingdom added a lot, but in my mind, I'd be like, this should be DLC. And my brain would be screaming that constantly. Yeah, yeah. That's fair. I mean, for that, I can't speak to Spider-Man as much because I just played the first one. I haven't played the second one. But for Tears of the Kingdom, I agree.
00:26:22
Speaker
It very much lifts a lot of the assets. And the big thing is like, there's a different story kind of it's still the legend of Zelda thing. And then it's the building. The building was like the major thing for that game that just was completely absent in the first one. Um, but it could be an expansion for sure. Uh, it definitely could have been.
00:26:48
Speaker
Like it's a big world, but like, yeah, it has a lot of DNA in common with the first game. That's undeniable. It actually reminds me in some ways of Majora's Mask. Cause that game was like on a time crunch. And so they lifted a bunch of assets from Ocarina of Time. And it's one of the reasons that that game is actually like so freaking weird is because they were just like 300 miles an hour trying to get that game done and shipped.
00:27:17
Speaker
And so it's just so weird, but love it. Yeah, I'm not gonna buy a PS5. I was looking through this list as you were talking about Spider-Man. I was looking through this list of like PS5 exclusives and I was like, this isn't an exclusive, this is an exclusive, et cetera, et cetera. Like what is this list using as a criteria of an exclusive? They're like, a console exclusive is an exclusive if it comes out on only that console and then maybe PC. And I'm like,
00:27:47
Speaker
That's not helping me, right? Like, if it's a PC game, I can play it on PC. Like, I know that's not the case for everybody, and that's fine, but... I mean, initially, when I got the PS4, I mean, I had a lot of games that eventually did get ported to PC. Like, when I played through Monster Hunter World, initially, that was all on PlayStation.
00:28:12
Speaker
And shout out to friends of the show, Justin and Rachel, who suffered through playing with me while I was using a little PlayStation single earbud and mic, and I'm sure it sounded like trash as I was playing in the living room. Yeah, I use that too.
00:28:29
Speaker
But yeah, then was poor to PC and I played it again. Um, near was another one near automata, your automata near tomato. I think I'm here at tomato near tomato. And like I played on PS4 and it's just, when it came out, I wasn't going to wait, but then it came out on PC as well. Yeah. I played that one just on PC.
00:28:51
Speaker
And then Replicant came out on PC, but I also got it for PlayStation because I'm like consistency. That's fair. I mean, I was playing with a controller anyway, so it doesn't matter that much outside of, you know, obviously having better graphics or something. That's not, that's not a given on PC ports are like trash these days, but, um, if it's just playing the game, yeah, a lot of these are coming out on PC as well. So I don't.
00:29:16
Speaker
I don't really see the need for it. Um, here's, here's the interesting one. I think we were in agreement for PS five. It just doesn't have the, the value proposition for us to want to get one. Um, like I would rewire all the ethernet in my house before I bought a PS
Switch 2 and Backwards Compatibility
00:29:32
Speaker
five. Like I'll just say it, but for you, what do you get a switch to with backwards compatibility?
00:29:42
Speaker
Um, it would depend on what would be out for it that I want. And then how much was improved. Cause like, let's say I just wanted to play like two games. I don't know if that's worth necessarily getting a whole new console for. Um,
00:29:57
Speaker
What if it improved netcode for Smash Ultimate if you have to switch to? I would give you a grand right now to make that happen. Yeah, put Goku in Smash. Cowards. But yeah, it would really have to...
00:30:17
Speaker
I don't know what my magic number is. Yeah. But it would at least be like I would imagine five or six titles or I'm like, oh, it's exclusive to this. I want to experience it within the next couple of years before it gets ported to something else or just, you know, the console kind of dies off. But yeah, it would need to be a couple of those or at least I'd have to have some friends who were like, oh, we're all getting it and this will be a game we can play together. OK, maybe I'll jump on the train. That's fair. Yeah.
00:30:46
Speaker
Also, under-related, I know I told you, but I'll tell the audience. I'll hold it up to the audience of the camera. Can you guys see that? Yeah. Everybody sees it. I got Super Mali RPG for the Switch.
Gaming Nostalgia and Classic Games
00:31:00
Speaker
And that is something that was originally on Super Nintendo, right? I think so. Yeah, yeah. It's one of the old ones. Yeah.
00:31:09
Speaker
And I played like an hour of it on an emulator, like 15 years ago. And I was like, this seems cool. But yeah, apparently it's been getting very good reviews as far as this version. And I can actually play it in a modern setting. So I figured I would check that out. So look forward to that at some point in the future. Yeah. Is it like a remake? Is it a remaster?
00:31:37
Speaker
I think it is a remaster. I'm sure they did, you know, take some other liberties with them. I think for the most part, it is pretty faithful to the gameplay and everything. It's just.
00:31:52
Speaker
I mean, look, you can actually see how Gino looks there. It's like he has, he has definition. Look at his abs. This is a baby Mario, an abby baby Mario. I'm forgetting the name of the cloud at the moment. It's like Lecudas of Borg or something. What the fuck did you say? It's like Lecuda, something like Lecuta.
00:32:16
Speaker
Locky 2 is the clip of the rides on a cloud and pulls you when you fall off of your car. Oh, is that not the one you're thinking of? No, like the little cloud guy on the box. Ah, okay, I'm not sure. How are we enjoying this visual media? Yeah, we're doing what we can here. Write in if you guys know the character we're talking about.
00:32:44
Speaker
I believe it. I didn't play this originally. So I think that that character died on the SNES or had died until resurrected here.
00:32:58
Speaker
We were actually talking about this in another Discord. Oh, my gosh. But. Yeah, because I think I mentioned this to them, like, oh, it's nice because like it doesn't stay on any one thing too long. And that's something I very much have appreciated about it takes to like, hey, here's this fun idea mechanic, this little area and world that will be very specific to this.
00:33:23
Speaker
Here's your adventure, and now it's gone. And now it's something new. Yeah. And it's something that's equally engaging, but it doesn't share any DNA. It's really like, oh, this again. Yeah. Uh-huh. It's a break from the previous thing. It can be a completely separate thing. I sent you a picture of the old art for Mario. It looks like he's a.
00:33:46
Speaker
yeah if you guys have kicked in and he realizes he's in public that's what that face is uh-huh if you guys are following along at home look up super mario rpg legend of the seven stars uh for the super nintendo and the art is just like bowser looks
00:34:02
Speaker
He's blazed or something. Like I, I'm not sure what's going on with those. He looks like a five nights at Freddy's idol stance. Peach kind of looks like a blow up doll.
00:34:19
Speaker
That's unfortunate, just how it is. It is true though, unfortunately. A lot of old box art free games is just funny as shit. Mega Man is a great one to look into. Was that like the one where there's just a picture of a guy that was like close up and... Yup.
00:34:38
Speaker
They have some weird ones. It's also interesting to see some of the changes between what's released in America versus what's released in Japan. Yeah. I think a lot of the Kirby titles in Japan, like Kirby's, you know, cute and bubbly and friendly. And then in America, they're like, let's give him like the the slash eyebrows. I mean, he's like menacing or tough. Uh huh. And just like a minor difference, but like it just it changes a lot of the characterization on the box art. Oh, yeah.
00:35:09
Speaker
Yeah, I'm looking up some of these now. We're kind of just going off on a, this is a very unfortunate visual gag bit, but I'm looking at like bad video game covers across the ages and it's excellent. Just Google that. I'll tell you guys what I Googled. There you go. Follow along at home. It was weirdest game box art and it took me to Comic Alliance page and there's just a lot of great stuff.
00:35:39
Speaker
I digress. Some people listen to our podcasts without a computer to search along with us. I've never said it's the most optimized experience, but you know. Bring your laptop on the train, all right? Uh-huh. You should be working anyway. It's a capitalist society. Do what we can. Time. Do what we can. Work hard for that money.
00:36:01
Speaker
I will say as I'm getting Older I hate I hate using that term like I'm old. I'm not I'm 32. I mean, everyone's getting older though. Yes time passes I'm not discounting that except for this one time where Mm-hmm I am finding myself enjoying more of these Nintendo titles Where it's like hey, here's a fun novel idea. It doesn't stick around too long. I
00:36:27
Speaker
Cause it's hard for me to once you get into like a really long RPG, even if it's something I enjoy cause it's just like that mental taxation of like, I need to block out time for this when
00:36:41
Speaker
You have to sleep, you have to work, you have to do some errands, you have to let the dog out to piss. You have to go out to piss and the dog's like, are you done yet? And then you got to do like food and life happens and there's a lot of things that can go on that will kind of like eat your time. So like having like a nice little fun thing is nice. Oh yeah. It's nice to have as an option out again. I think like there's something to be said for weekend games.
00:37:06
Speaker
where it's like, okay, I can like close the blinds and just play this. Submerse myself in this. Like the last, one of the last major games I did that for. I mean, I definitely did to some extent for like starfield, but, um, persona five is the big one. Yeah. Where I literally had blackout curtains up while I was playing this game. Part of it was occasionally combined just to breeze you. Um, but like it's harder to commit to something like that now.
00:37:36
Speaker
So if a game is like, Oh, this is going to be considerably longer than like an hour, I might try to break it up, you know, play something else instead. I've been playing against the storm recently, which this isn't going to turn into a full segment on it, but it is a cool game. I love so much about it, but each settlement that you're building takes around an hour, even with using like time acceleration. Um,
00:38:02
Speaker
You can go faster if you're better at the game. It can take longer if you're like me, but like it's gonna take time. Yeah. And it's also kind of a stressful game. And so I find myself more and more, I'll do one settlement and then be like,
00:38:19
Speaker
I am now going to play a different game because I have this sort of milestone before, like, I don't want to jump into another one. If it's going to be even longer, I'll just be more exhausted, something like that. But there's a lot of games like that. Thankfully, I know that there are also a lot of good pickup games, obviously MOBAs.
00:38:42
Speaker
like Overwatch shooters, Battle Royale games, Starcraft, all that stuff where you can just play it and then choose whether to continue. That's nice. I like having things like that as an option, but there is something to be said about
00:38:58
Speaker
When you kind of like get yourself up like, Oh, I know I have a block of time. I wish once we experienced this fully, you can do the same thing with like a movie too, but like, Oh, it's just me. I have snacks or beverages available. I'm comfy. Let's get into it. Oh yeah. And then just having that serotonin go right to your brain.
00:39:19
Speaker
Yeah, I think I kind of, I wasn't joking about the blackout curtains, but there's a psychological aspect to that. I think that can be enticing to people, even if they don't literally need blackout curtains, but like I'm going to focus on this for now. I know I'm not going to be distracted by something, right? Like, um, when I played Elden Ring for the first time, I have three monitors in front of me and I literally just turned off my side monitors.
00:39:46
Speaker
I wasn't in discord. I wasn't doing any of that. I was just sitting there experiencing the game. Right. And this is not usually the way I play games. I've got like YouTube up over here. I've got discord up over here and it's like listening to music and trading stocks or whatever. I don't do that, but you get the point. Um, but it's nice to be able to focus up sometimes and just like immerse yourself in a game and have the time to do so. Yes.
00:40:13
Speaker
I will say at a, I won't dox the friend, but like I know some friends who have like a nice TV and like a couch in front of it and like it's set up to play remotely as well. And it's just going to be so cool to be like, Oh, I'm in the mood to do this. I'm just going to, you know, squat up, get comfy, and then just have that experience. Right.
00:40:36
Speaker
I think one of the things that people like about going to the movies is, I appreciate not being ducked by the way. You're welcome. By the way, he lives in Jamaica. Time's always been a real... You're making me angry.
00:40:52
Speaker
That was not happy about that one. But same thing with like going to a movie where it's hey, gigantic screen, everything else is dark.
Immersive Theater Experiences at Home
00:41:02
Speaker
You might be cognizant of the people you are with or just other people sitting nearby. But it's all for that experience. And it's just that block of time where you're like this.
00:41:14
Speaker
And it only stops if you're like, I have to pee really bad. Physical need overrides how immersive in-game is. But hey, if you've already finished your popcorn, I'm going to name it. Yeah, exactly. You do what you have to. Now, there is something to be said for the trickling sound in a bucket disturbing others around you who are also otherwise worse than the experience.
00:41:42
Speaker
Which is why if you hear someone peeing in their popcorn bucket, you need to do it at the same time. You minimize the disruption over the long term if everyone takes care of it at once. Did you ever wonder why sometimes pee smells like popcorn? Oh no. Now you know. Oh no. It's a lack of hydration. It's a buildup of ocmun.
00:42:04
Speaker
Alkalines or something, I don't know. Yellow stuff. Oxidants. Warheads, yeah. Oxidants. It's rust. If antioxidants are good for you, oxidants leave through your pee? I don't know.
00:42:18
Speaker
Yeah. But also, I know we've talked about this recently, but it also comes up every time we go to see a movie with people. What's your go to movie snack? Like, what are you getting? If you're not like worried about, oh, it's going to make my tummy hurt or bubble, but like, yeah, what's your ideal? Oh, I want to get this. So I'm I'm really basic.
Favorite Movie Snacks and Theater Experiences
00:42:40
Speaker
I went to the wrong thing. They're malts, those little malt candies.
00:42:47
Speaker
But my brain went to malt-o-meal, which is not what that is. Nope, not a, I don't think they're called whoppers because whoppers are the, uh, the wafer balls, right? And yeah, I know what you mean. Um, but there's like the, uh, the flat ones that are like caramel. And you've lost me. Uh, not familiar with that one actually. Flat caramel candies. I don't remember anything anymore. That's part of the problem as I get older. Um,
00:43:15
Speaker
It's been so long since I've actually won. I don't usually go to the movies that often. And then to when I go, I like I'm not doing snacks. Right. Usually I'm like, oh, I eat before or I eat after like an actual meal. Milk Duds. I do like Milk Duds, but also I'm looking at a list here for things that would usually be in a theater. I also like Reese's Pieces.
00:43:37
Speaker
or just Reese's in general. I can say those because Dave can't contest them. Never heard of it. Starburst is probably near the top though. They sell Starburst there? I don't know. Sometimes you can get Starburst. I mean, I remember Lycanics and Dots. I'm not buying candy.
00:43:58
Speaker
At the movie. I'm stealing. I have both popcorn kernels and a popcorn maker that are going into the theater with me. It'd be even better if you brought like a, one of like the old popcorn makers that uses like steam in a bag and it does all of them at once with an explosive bag. Just like unfolds into the full stand, the bucket in it and stuff. Yeah. Um.
00:44:26
Speaker
But I will say, I will admit that, uh, just eating a bunch of candy doesn't really do it for me anymore. Um, it'll, it'll make my tum, tum hurt. Yeah. After I had dinner time, like, well I'm really in the mood for fruit snacks. Cause I had a primo hoagie and I was like, Oh, this is hitting all the bases as far as like flavors and textures. Oh, I'm missing a sweet. What would that mean? Um, that's one of the reasons why I love.
00:44:57
Speaker
soda or anything, but like sweet carbonated things. I'm like, Oh, it's cold. Like that carbonated love that tastes like not water. Oh man. Yeah. Yeah. We, uh, we drink a prodigious amount of diet soda. Like in this household, we don't even like generally buy it, but anytime we're going somewhere like fast food or whatever, it's always like diet soda. Um,
00:45:22
Speaker
Because it takes care of that. It's just like, okay, you have that desire for something sweet. You can trick your brain into thinking that you just had some sugar.
00:45:32
Speaker
But also it's just good as like an offset to salt. Yeah. That's one of the big things. Like, well, they're like at the movies, like, Hey, popcorn and wouldn't be nice to have like a nice fresh Coke. And they show you like this 30 second animation. Yeah. You're a cyber if you just get popcorn. Like I understand if you get water or something like that's fine. It's not Coke, right? You didn't, you didn't set through a 10 minute advertisement for water at the beginning of this. But like.
00:46:01
Speaker
Just popcorn is insanity.
00:46:04
Speaker
Like you'll just die. I think your throat will just seize up and you'll just die. Do you remember the animation? I think it might've been specific to regal cinemas, but it's like, Hey, welcome to the movies. And that's what the roller coaster ride. Uh-huh. And then around the roller coaster, just in floating in space, all these like, yeah, concessions like popcorn and soda. And I'm like, Oh, I want these foods. It's really good. But for some reason I now feel nauseous. Why is that? Uh-huh.
00:46:34
Speaker
It's pretty great. I love that that's a thing. It also helps because it's always at the beginning of the movie, like right before the movie starts, I think. It'll have that and then the please for real this time turn off your cell phone. And then I think the movie starts. But prior to that, it's like 30 minutes of commercials. So you know the commercials are done and you should focus up.
00:47:00
Speaker
That's always fun, though, too, because that's how I would usually get news about other things coming out, is I'd go to a movie and they're like, hey, this will be a thing in the future. I'm like, OK. Did you know there are other movies that this is not the only one? This is becoming a thing. I don't know if I like it. They made this whole building for. Built it for the Prince of Egypt. That was it.
00:47:27
Speaker
That's the one movie I remember liking it, but I probably haven't seen it since I was like 10. Yeah
00:47:43
Speaker
It's kind of dramatized, dramatized. It has cool visuals. It's got a cool animation. You think they added drama into the plight of the Jews? A little bit. A little bit. No, it's less dryly written. Yes. Than the Bible story.
00:48:06
Speaker
I think they should do that with more Bible stories just to highlight some of them where you're like, I didn't know that was in the Bible. Yeah. It would be cool if they had like their own twist on it, right? Like they threw Daniel into the lion's den. He dies. That's the end of the story or something like that. Jesus walks into resurrect Lazarus.
00:48:31
Speaker
walks back out, shaking his head. Me like, couldn't do anything for him. Next story, it was actually older shit. I'll be honest. I revived him. Uh, he, he was a zombie. I had to put him back down. You have to clean him up a second time. Jesus puts away the shotgun. Um,
00:48:53
Speaker
I could always do like a whole Bible episode. I, I still think it's such a fascinating thing that is weirdly still so predominant in our society. Oh yeah. I mean, we're in America. So yeah, it's kind of big, kind of big, but like real talk, I could go to another country and they could have their own religion. And I'd be like, that is also kind of weird how ingrained it is into the society. Yeah. Yeah. I mean,
00:49:23
Speaker
We've talked about religion a couple times, but I'm with you. I still could like at any point turn this into a 50-50 religion and video games podcast.
00:49:35
Speaker
but yeah I'd also have to I think at a certain point I'd run into a similar problem as I as we encounter with video games or it's like we're gonna need to become more red and we're gonna like end up going to like a seminary school or something like that so we can better critique religion for our hobbyist podcast
00:49:56
Speaker
Or you just go on YouTube once. That's the end of it. You see one religion video and it's just only recommendations. Um, it'll be that and like the, uh, that religious, uh, souls like side scroller. It's not salt and sanctuary. It's the other one.
00:50:14
Speaker
There's another one. There's another one that was based around Catholic theming and all of that. Oh, god damn it. This is the one game I can literally never think of even though I've...
00:50:31
Speaker
Blasphemous. Blasphemous, thank you. Yeah. There we go. That's way better. Look at any other episode and look at my timing for when I figured that out. And it's minutes. Yeah. Or I just don't think of it. And you're like, oh, it's blasphemous. Like, yeah. Uh huh. This has happened like multiple times. It's happened on the podcast. I know at one point it was in the video game, like of the week or whatever video game of the day.
00:50:57
Speaker
I don't know how I feel that you you've remembered specific instances of this. Well, it's because it's blasphemous. And this is it keeps coming back up and I keep forgetting the name. Guess the game was the thing it was. But yeah, the second one for that came out and I just haven't gotten around to it. I haven't been feeling like a Metroidvania type. Yeah.
00:51:25
Speaker
It's fair. I mean, all that time in berserk, boy, what are you going to do? Um, that we talked, it has a call back to a recent episode, the mega man alike. That's a coming up. Yes. Yeah. Mega man was a very popular, uh, I've heard, um, what would you like to see a sequel or a reboot of?
00:51:53
Speaker
A sequel or a reboot? Because I know they're hitting up a lot of classic stuff. That's a good question. What's an old game that I still really enjoy and wouldn't mind playing a new version of? Anything from Donkey Kong. Metroid's been keeping up with titles.
00:52:16
Speaker
Part of me, this is going way back, and you know what? It could be that this still is published, but like Oregon Trail, I would love to see like a more fully featured Oregon Trail. That's not, I know the joke is ha ha, there's Oregon Trail, but like actually Oregon Trail.
00:52:36
Speaker
That could be cool. No for math blaster. I've done enough of that. Yo. Um, the Davidson company, the Davidson learning company, their whole suite. Um, I know they had some other stuff in there. I just don't remember what it was. I remember playing one of the math plaster cause there was a couple.
00:52:56
Speaker
Mm hmm. Yeah, they were cool. I enjoyed them as a kid. I don't know if they were cool. I enjoyed them as a kid. I think a lot of those things that were, you know, educational and you enjoyed his kids because there weren't other options at the time. Yeah. Yeah. There was a game on one of the school computers where basically you had to solve math things. Then as soon as you input the
00:53:24
Speaker
the answer, I think it turned you. And so essentially you had like follow a maze and like not fall. Ah, okay. It's like a time component sort of thing. Yeah. Or maybe you'd pick an answer, a certain answer to turn a certain direction or something. Um, I forget exactly how it played, but I remember getting into that pretty deep and they're, uh, they're surprisingly compelling. Um,
00:53:52
Speaker
trying to think if I have another answer though, cause those are going like way back. Part of me was like, Oh, but like there were some really cool Sonic games I played. I literally have the opportunity to play modern Sonic games and I do not do it. So it can't be that. Um, but I did like, I did like Sonic CD. Um,
00:54:12
Speaker
I don't know, it would have to be something between then and now, I guess. And a lot of those games that I played actually are seeing remasters, right? Like Command and Conquer just recently came out on Steam, like the full series, or at least most of them. And like those things were ones you could not play multiplayer without Gamespy Arcade anymore, right? So like that's big. It would probably be some sort of RPG, I imagine.
00:54:43
Speaker
Uh, I'll answer, uh, Dragon Age, Dragon Age origins. I have been thinking and deciding against playing Dragon Age origins multiple times.
Reminiscing Dragon Age Origins
00:54:53
Speaker
Like over the last year, because it's just so much, but I would love to see like an expanded version of that game.
00:55:02
Speaker
When did that come out? Originally. Like, it must have been around the Bioshock days or a little bit later, right? Dragon age origins. What do you think it came out?
00:55:17
Speaker
Me looking at the the clock on my computer like that's gonna help. Uh-huh. Was it I guess 20 years ago I guess 15 years ago 15 years ago. Well, I'm not gonna be able to do the math, but that's probably correct 2009 I was pretty close because I think Bioshock came out in 2008. So I was like a Year off. So what year did that come out? 2009 and what number did I say? 14 years ago
00:55:45
Speaker
I said 15 years ago. 15 years ago. What's 15 plus nine? 15 plus nine. One second. Just a second. I want to pause for Jake while he does a basic math in the browser at 24. So you were off by 2000 years, but still pretty good guess. Um, no, that was, that's exactly correct.
00:56:11
Speaker
You could have left it at the 2000 years, Joe. I like that. It's good. It's good. Just continue the chain of it. What about for you? If you were forced to remaster a game?
00:56:24
Speaker
modified the question slightly for you, I suppose. But I think a lot of what I grew up with was kind of like early emulation of like Super Nintendo games or Super Nintendo games. So like Kirby Super Star. Oh, yeah. I wouldn't mind if they modernize that, but I wouldn't want it to lose its charm.
00:56:47
Speaker
because it has such good old sprite work and like sound effects that were like crispy. And again, a lot of it was like limitations of the medium at the time or technology, but they completely filled that space, though, like with what they could do with the technology. They just like Kirby was excellent.
00:57:05
Speaker
Yeah. Um, and they didn't feel, it doesn't feel like the type of game that has deficiencies, right? Like the remaster is what making it available on newer hardware. Like, I guess improving the graphics too, expanding on parts of it. But like, I really did enjoy a lot of those old Kirby games, like Kirby air ride fucking banger. Um,
00:57:31
Speaker
Hmm. I'm not trying to think. I probably played the most on GameCube in my teenage years. Obviously did a lot of Melee, some Mario Kart, Animal Crossing, which to be fair, they've been continuing
GoldenEye Multiplayer Memories
00:57:46
Speaker
making those games and Smash as well.
00:57:53
Speaker
I mean, I'm kind of stuck on like an old gamer. I was like, man, I wish they would bring that back. Yeah. I mean, that's fair. Um, I think, uh, last time Eric was on, he mentioned perfect arc. Yeah. Like there's going to be, or potentially at some point a remake.
00:58:11
Speaker
for that, but it might be, who knows if that comes out. That would be cool. That's another type of game that was awesome. If they actually modernized it though, because there's a local bar place where you can play some old games on 64 and some other consoles and we played it at a friend's birthday and I'm like, oh, this sucks.
00:58:34
Speaker
Cause this is before they had like a dual analog aiming. So you kind of like walked around and then maybe they were in front of your reticle. You hold the button that disables your legs and allows you to point the gun somewhere. Yeah.
00:58:50
Speaker
Would you like to walk or aim? Beg your pardon? Pardon? Yeah. Pick one. Pick one. Also, someone else has picked odd jobs, so submit your resignation now, I guess. Oh my god. Because the auto wave doesn't catch him. But if it does, you'll only shoot him in the head. It's like when you own these games and you'd have friends come over, obviously because you have it and you were playing it a lot,
00:59:16
Speaker
You were way better at the game than your friends. So when we would do. It's not snow blind, it's the other one, but basically you have two bases on either side of like a little snowy mountainous area, basically two bases. So usually the opponents would kind of spawn at the opposite ends. This is night fire. Is this 2007? Yeah, this would be night fire. Yeah.
00:59:44
Speaker
Because that's where you still have odd job. And I remember getting deep. Now, to be fair, the hat had a decent amount of tracking on it. But I remember being decent, arcing it in a certain way. So I could be out of vision. And then somebody would be on the enemy base, just looking with the full tactical sniper. Like, where is he? Where is he? And they see the hat. And they're like, so they try and get out of the Zoom. It was already too late. You've been hatted. Hat trick.
01:00:14
Speaker
Did you ever play agent under fire Um, I didn't play much because I think these are into the well into the game cube games. Yes, for sure I I was didn't have one I'll just say it right. I didn't have one so I didn't get to play as much of those. I had one friend who I think had uh Night fire and we played it like once that was like for xbox though. I think that was on xbox
01:00:38
Speaker
Okay. Yeah. Well, I think Agent Under Fire was also on PS2. I just remember in the multiplayer, you had more flexibility of settings. So you could turn on low gravity. You could use the grapple, and you could have like no cooldown on the grapple.
01:00:55
Speaker
And then you could have the golden gun, which is always a one shot kill. Yes. And she'd be like zipping around the map, just trying to basically tribes ascend to kill people. But that's what it's like. It's pretty much it's like you're describing tribes or Titanfall or something like that at this point.
01:01:12
Speaker
Which is crazy. I do like that. They come back with game mode ever since Goldeneye because Goldeneye was the first one where it's like, oh, you want to turn on paintball mode or instant kills or slappers only or like big head mode or more games need fun settings like that. Oh.
01:01:29
Speaker
You know why it doesn't happen though, is because like the way game development works is everything is going towards this is a shippable feature. Yes. And there's going to be a day one patch and people are going to burn themselves out and all of that. You don't have this opportunity where it's just like, well, there's like five guys and they were drunk, so they decided to add Donkey Kong to the game. Right.
01:01:56
Speaker
I do miss some of that stuff existing games because that was always very novel and fun. Yeah. Yeah. That would be a good question. We can leave that one to our listeners. What would be a game that should be more novel or fun or a game that you like, but you would like to see more wacky and zany stuff added to it?
Engaging Listeners in Gaming Enhancements
01:02:18
Speaker
And what would you like to see as wacky and zany stuff? Cause Dave and I were, we're overexposed to this. We play smash ultimate and that game has Sora in it somehow, but you know, maybe there's a lot of games out there that could benefit from a big head mode. Who's to say? I mean, kudos to like the tech in series for at least giving the option to do character customization and letting it be a little silly, a little bit out there. Um, though they do open with like one of the playable characters is a bear.
01:02:48
Speaker
or like a robot, a wooden robot. So like, he hasn't been in since tech and tech. Yeah. It's, it's, they established their own baseline of being a little bit out there, but I do miss some of the zaniness. That's fair. Yeah, that's fair. It's all moved to Andy's. A lot of good stuff in Andy's.
01:03:12
Speaker
But if you guys have a lot of good stuff in indies, you can go ahead and send it. I don't know what that means. You can go ahead and send it in. Soapstonepodcast.gmail.com. Or you could join the discussion on Facebook. Facebook.com slash soapstonepodcast. And as always, we'll see you in the next one. In these notes.