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GTA VI IS COMING - Add to Party 11.09.2023
4 Plays1 year ago
This week we discuss GTA VI trailer coming in December, the exodus of the escapist, Like a Dragon Gaiden and Talos principle 2 reviews
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Transcript
Introduction to Add to Party
00:00:15
Speaker
Welcome to Add to Party, a friendship simulator masquerading as a new show. I'm your host, James Hartwell, and I'm joined by... I'll get used to it. I'll get used to it.
00:00:28
Speaker
Andy K. And I'm joined by. Derek Kostiha. Aw. Hey. Why are you awing him for his name? Cause I was excited. I'm excited he's here. And yeah, I'm awing you because you're just a wave of positivity in the world. I'm trying.
Exploring Hierarchies in Friendships
00:00:45
Speaker
I'm drinking Axe Man to get there.
00:00:47
Speaker
But look, Andy has someone now blow him. Someone newer. That's true. There we go. Maybe I was just admiring. What is it? Co-pye, senpai. Oh, I'm senpai. He has a co-pye now, yeah. Wait, am I co-pye? Huh? I don't know co-pye. Let me look this up. Co-pye.
00:01:07
Speaker
I don't get it. A junior in either school or the workforce. So typically someone, your friend or coworker, you'd call Sempire Kohi, depending on seniority. Oh, so do you pour my drink at the bar? Andy, I pour your drink at the bar either way. Oh, thank you. Actually, that's true. I think you did in Seattle. Well, thank you, Kohi. I appreciate that.
Attack on Titan: A Journey and Impact
00:01:33
Speaker
Listen, it's things are, it's finally happened, you know, and not what do you think has finally happened. Attack on Titan is finally over. That's true. I still haven't watched it though. Derek, did you watch it? I did not, but I did hear about the final season part three, the season two, et cetera. If you're, if you're, by the way, I'm not spoiling anything, don't worry.
00:01:58
Speaker
It's it's finally here. Yeah. After what is it? When did the first final season debut? Was it like three years ago at this point? You know, I want to say it was like 2016. No, the final. No, no, it wasn't 2016 because I was still in Providence at that point. The final season definitely started when I was living in Boston, so it had to be in 2019 forward.
00:02:25
Speaker
Well, it's been a while. They've been calling it for and then they just stopped calling them episodes. Now they were these are these are just parts now, right? Well, it's actually it's actually an OVA.
00:02:36
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know anything. I just know some leftists are getting mad because it's like fascism or something. I don't know. I mean, the whole people, like the whole core is like designed on like Nazism. Yeah, but I don't know if it's sympathizing with it necessarily. Well, no, no, no, but it's it's it's it's aping the style and it's drinking it. Yeah.
00:03:06
Speaker
I'm excited to finish it. I've liked Attack on Titan the whole way through, but that makes me a fascist then.
Controversial Themes in Attack on Titan
00:03:13
Speaker
I'm sorry, you guys. I'm sorry, Andy, that you think genocide is just the vibe. That is not what it means. That's what it means.
00:03:24
Speaker
You think 80% of the world's population should be killed. That is not true at all. Listen, it was not publicly stating this, but you can read between the lines. I swear to God. Call high, all right?
00:03:40
Speaker
No, no. Listen, I am just enjoying it with it. Would you call it a thought experiment? That's not a thought experiment. What would it be called? Andy, did you know that a paradise island is Zimbabwe? No. Yeah.
00:03:57
Speaker
Yeah, here, I'll show you. Oh, my God. So the map of like Marley and Paradise Island is actually just a flipped map of the world. So Marley is Africa and Paradise Island is Zimbabwe. Oh, well, listeners at home, hopefully.
00:04:13
Speaker
Hopefully you've all seen Attack on Titan. I don't care if they haven't. Or at least the seminal ending. This is a big deal. Attack on Titan got a lot of people into anime. Yeah. It's kind of a landmark series. It was the posers anime for a long time.
00:04:31
Speaker
I thought Sword Art is the poser anime. Is it? No, I feel like it's almost niche to a certain extent. It is not neat. It's neat. No, no, no, no, no. In in the anime community, it's huge, but it doesn't penetrate outside of the anime community. Listen, I have a friend who's a teacher and she had students write fan fiction about Sword Art Online in her classroom, and they weren't even the kids in like anime club. They were the kids on the football team.
00:05:01
Speaker
Interesting fan fiction about sword art that speaks to young souls. Well, Andy, remember, I showed you that video of on Halloween when a bunch of the New York Jets players walked into the game dressed as Akatsuki from Naruto. Oh, really? Oh.
00:05:20
Speaker
Look at look at anime hitting the mainstream. Now, I think
The Relevance of Toonami in Modern Anime Consumption
00:05:25
Speaker
this may also just be I think it also aired on Toonami, which is going to juice a lot of anime to all the kids. True. It's true. But I may be out of touch. Well, Toonami isn't a thing anymore, is it? Oh, it came back. I don't know if it's gone again. But children don't watch TV. They don't.
00:05:44
Speaker
I guess they watch Elsa and Spider-Man kiss. No, that's old. And that was young children, wasn't it? That was young children. Yeah, that was that was a creepy time on the Internet. What to Nami, what's to Nami up to? Well, we can watch clips on Adult Swim, but no, to Nami has to have a tick tock present or something. Well, it hasn't shown up on my tick tock yet. I don't know if they're doing anything. Oh, no.
00:06:13
Speaker
Oh well. We don't need a Toonami anymore. We have TikTok. But you know what I need? What do you need, Andy?
00:06:26
Speaker
Well, I technically already got it. But is it more beer? No, not more beer. I got to savor the one I bought. It was expensive. But I've been thinking about this.
The Toilet Handle Saga: A Humorous Debate
00:06:39
Speaker
Have you guys ever broken your toilet handle before? We did in Seattle, but.
00:06:46
Speaker
No, I'm talking about like a lever. OK, the one in Seattle was already broken. First off, it was already broken. Yes, it was. Second half, but that's only because I had cheap apartments in college. Oh, OK. I'm feeling validated because I've broken my toilet. You wait, James. Never broken one. How many times? Zero, zero times.
00:07:10
Speaker
Well, I've broken mine multiple times. What the fuck are you doing? Are you doing it with your foot? No! I'm just... Andy! So, are you sure you only punched that punching bag for like 600? Because of these muscles that you have just ripping the fucking handle off. Okay, we need to clear this up with Andy and any viewers who are misunderstanding. It's called a handle, but you don't use it to get yourself up.
00:07:39
Speaker
You only push down on it to flush. With fingers. I don't know. Do I call it a handle? I thought a lever. Which may be where this came from.
00:07:55
Speaker
It's not a handle. No, okay. No, literally, I'm just pushing it to flesh. I am not exerting any additional effort, but I've done it multiple times. And it was like a week or two ago that I broke it again. That is called a handle. It is called a handle? Yeah. Okay, thank you.
00:08:15
Speaker
Well, some people call it that officially it's called a flush or a triple level arm. Yes, whatever. It's the toilet handle. Yeah. But I've never called it. I'm living with fear every time. It is the worst feeling to flush and feel like the handle yield.
00:08:33
Speaker
And then just fall off. Oh, OK. I've had that happen, but I fix it like it's not. No, I've actually broke it. There's no way to. Oh, oh, you like snap the plastic or I snap the plastic. Yeah. Inside the chamber, you can actually put the chain back if it comes loose. Yeah. Like I've had the chain come loose before. I've done that, but I just go. I break the handle.
00:08:59
Speaker
What the fuck are you doing? He's just too strong, like you said. I know.
00:09:04
Speaker
Eddie, one finger, that's all it takes. I've tried. Every time I've done it, I make a new commitment to myself to not, I guess, aggressively flush, but I don't know what it is. You're so mad after you poop. You're just like, ah. It's just the worst feeling, you guys. And now I've been doubting my sanity. And even when I went to the hardware store, because I brought in the people. They're like, back again, huh? Well.
00:09:35
Speaker
I went there and I was like, I need to replace my toilet handle. And then I showed them and then they showed me where it was. And it was just the cheap plastic thing again. And I asked, I was like, I'm sorry, but do you have a heavy duty version?
00:09:52
Speaker
He was like, what? And then they grabbed like the manager. And then he was like, no, they don't make heavy duty versions. Like, I've never heard of this before. And then I told him, I'm sorry, I just keep breaking it. And then they were trying to figure out how do I keep breaking it? And then he has. I don't know how you keep breaking it.
00:10:11
Speaker
I don't know, but he said I should probably buy multiple to have on hand. And that just felt like a special type of shame. I can't have backup handles. I just... Andy, personal question, but do you sleepwalk in or sleep pee?
00:10:26
Speaker
I don't. I don't think so. Not according to, I don't know, everyone I've known. I had a friend who would sleep walk or a roommate. They would like stand up and run and scream. It was awful. It's terrible.
00:10:43
Speaker
I'm so lucky to not have that. But I do break the handles and they didn't understand at the store. There's no heavy duty version for me to buy. But I'm just trying to live with this and I'm not getting any validation right now. So Andy, you shouldn't. You won't. No, here's your validation. If it wasn't you sleeping, it's the roommate you don't know you have in your walls. Oh, there's someone in the walls.
00:11:11
Speaker
It's that or your don't know how to use toilet flush. OK, I mean. Mm hmm. No, I say there's always someone on the walls, but go ahead. OK, but to be fair, I want to make a point of clarification. Mine isn't chain driven. Mine is like a lever and it fits into like a hook and pulls. It just pushes up the plunger or whatever and then it sinks down. There's no chain. Do you guys have chain toilets?
00:11:41
Speaker
I mean, not anymore. I have like the one we had in Seattle where it's the two pieces. Oh, that thing was miserable.
00:11:47
Speaker
I don't know. I mean, I've had mine now for four years. And you've never broken it, James. No, not once. Not a single time. Do you feel I don't have that style? I have the classic lever. But if I had James's or the push button style popular up north, I would probably 3D print to cover to press both every time. Yeah. I mean, it doesn't really. I mean, it doesn't. I don't. I whatever one I hit first is the one that flushes. I don't fair. But enough.
00:12:16
Speaker
I mean, that my flusher does a great job when it works. I don't know. I just
Anticipation for GTA 6
00:12:22
Speaker
it's it's it's it's a faulty design and no faulty design. No, no. James, I am not strong at all. Hold on. There's seemingly you are. But there is not enough.
00:12:35
Speaker
Market demand for a heavy-duty one and you call it a faulty design. I it seems like millions of people are perfectly fine with this No, no, no, no, it is manufactured obsolescence. I have decided I'm sure that I've never done. I've never broken a toy
00:12:52
Speaker
No, this is big toilet and they're making faulty handles so that we have to show up to the store every year or two, bringing our handles. The last time I replaced it. Oh, my God. Do you know how many different types of handles there are in terms of ever designs? It's insane.
00:13:09
Speaker
It's insane. They're all different shapes and they go all in different directions and they're different colors. And it's just it's nonsense. And I don't I don't understand why they don't have a heavy duty version, but I cannot be the only one. But apparently I am. I don't know. But I flushed today and I was like, is this the time? Is this the time where the handle gives and it falls off? I don't know. Well, James, I am sorry, but I've been moved to Team Big Toilet because I love a good conspiracy theory.
00:13:40
Speaker
I got to watch out because all conspiracy theories usually end up in anti-Semitism. No, not big toilet, though. I guess I wouldn't be surprised. And they probably rigged the election, too. Oh, careful. This is a delicate time to be talking about anti-Semitism. Wait, I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about big toilet. Oh, OK.
00:14:06
Speaker
and how and how they run the world. And I get it. They do, or at least with my handle. I don't know. Even the people at the story, you guys said they've never seen this before. So I've just been trying to process this and I don't get it. But oh, well.
00:14:21
Speaker
Oh, wow. That's been my struggle. How are you guys doing? Yeah, that's definitely a struggle. I'm going to say that right now. Well, I don't have another one on hand. OK, so this don't have another one on hand. I didn't want to buy an extra one.
00:14:37
Speaker
I just when they said buy a second one, I said, I don't have the room, which of course I have the room. But then they were just like, well, then just hang it in your bathroom. You're going to need it. Maybe it's time you get into 3D printing and you 3D print one every time you need to. Oh, my God. Is that why I buy a printer?
00:14:54
Speaker
No, no, Andy, Andy, just buy a spare, tape it to the bottom of the lid of your tank. Oh, it's right there. Now, it's a good call to use a backup tire for my toilet. Sure. So I. No judgment. Well, I mean, when you break it, then you just have to you have to take off the lid and then you lift the whatever. And I mean, there's work arounds the first time. Mm hmm. Mm hmm.
00:15:23
Speaker
Oh, I only meant to say the first time I did it for like a week I was flushing my toilet that way. But then I worked up the courage to go to the hardware store and they've been very kind. They were very kind. Well, even though they were all making fun of me, they were very kind. As they should. Well, I mean, I mean, yeah, if you're working at a hardware store, what are you going to do? I went to the guy asking for heavy duty.
00:15:48
Speaker
I even prepped myself on the way there. I was like, I'm an adult, all right, with an apparent problem. I'm going to spend what I need to get the handles for my lifestyle. Hey, I OK. I guess I do have hidden strength. All right. So don't mess with me. All right. Don't mess with me because I'll snap you. Well, Andy, here's.
00:16:13
Speaker
Well, Andy, well, maybe you will snap. Oh. Because in excitement, because GTA six is finally coming. OK. After how many years? Shit. When did GT five come out? Derek, what was that? 10 was a 10. GTA five was released on on the PS two on the PS three and Xbox 360. Yeah. Yeah.
00:16:41
Speaker
It wasn't it was it 2012, Derek or 2013, September 17th, 20 2013. Oh, all right. 2013. Yep. Gosh, that was so long. I remember 10 years. Yeah. Well, actually, I mean, let's be honest, right? It's not coming out till next year. So it'll be 11 years. True. Well, there's no guarantee it's next year. That's also true. As promised a phenomenal 2025 year.
00:17:09
Speaker
Who promised a good five? Take two. The parent company of Rockstar Games who had their investor calls today and prompted Rockstar to release or say that the first trailer is going to be released in early December.
GTA 6 Leaks and Rockstar's Reaction
00:17:25
Speaker
I'm almost guaranteeing it's going to be at the game awards.
00:17:29
Speaker
Oh, is this a Keely hookup? Maybe. I don't know. It's either. I mean, rocks are also generally speaking, just does their own thing. But I would not be surprised to see it at the Game Awards. That's a huge. But James, the question is Game Award for 2023 or 2024 because they didn't give a year. They just said early December. That's that's true. That would be the most rock star thing in the world to be like, that's coming in December next year.
00:17:56
Speaker
Uh, yeah, I would say too, I wouldn't necessarily be surprised, Derek, if they're saying that 2025 thing, because GTA online six will probably release in 2025. Sure. So, but yeah, there was an announcement earlier today, yesterday.
00:18:17
Speaker
uh that yeah there will be a trailer coming out early december uh this was leaked by jason schreier and then confirmed by rockstar itself so it's it's finally have after the leaks and leaks and leaks so and andy dare how much have you seen of gta gta 6's leaks because we've talked about it before so it's
00:18:37
Speaker
There's like a big leak, I think maybe like a year ago at this point. Didn't they have art? No, like last September-ish timeframe, 2022, there was 90 plus footage slash clips that was
00:18:53
Speaker
leaked out to the public. So this, these were clips recorded in debug mode by the devs themselves shared through slack of glitches, pointing out what needs fixing and showcasing the progress of certain features that they're working on. So not gonna name the person, but the person responsible has been arrested for this. And to this day,
00:19:16
Speaker
Uh, rockstar is still taking down the videos. You can find them. I'm not going to direct you where, but they're wink, wink, nudge, nudge. They, they confirm a lot of the theories that have been going around in the past decade.
00:19:30
Speaker
Yeah, it as I recall from them, it did look to be where they had. How do you call it? It seems to be kind of almost like a Bonnie and Clyde kind of story where you're a couple and you're more focused on like robbing. I think the original leak had them robbing like a diner or something like that. Oh, I think so, Bill, but yes.
00:19:55
Speaker
Yeah. So yeah. Whereas GTA five was based on kind of like three people, three different characters at different points in like their criminal career. Yeah. GTA six seems like it's at least for these characters is going to be following the rise and probably fall.
00:20:15
Speaker
of two characters. Now we don't still know where it's going to be. I'm still hoping for Vice City because god damn it, it just rates itself with that GTA 5 VI and then CE. So yeah, I'm behind the Vice City being the main portion given the
00:20:32
Speaker
location of the leaked clips. I watched quite a few of them. I didn't get to see all of it. Did it kind of lean towards Vice City? It leaned heavily towards Vice City. It leaned towards modern day with smartphones and modern cars, although that could be using GT5 assets with new engine updates. Sure.
00:20:55
Speaker
And some of the other tidbits like some random videos put out by Rockstar seem to imply South America as a location and even potentially having more than one main city. So there's some speculation it'd be East Coast with Liberty City and Vice City. That'd be fun. All speculation by the way.
GTA Online: Longevity and Enjoyment
00:21:23
Speaker
I mean, are you two ready for a new GTA six? Sure. I never beat five. Oh, really? Derek, did you beat five? I beat five and put in many hours into online.
00:21:35
Speaker
But the thing that'll kill me on six is, please put it on PC at the start. Please. I beg. Oh, I mean, I feel like they will this time. Oh, five. When five came out, it wasn't like as big a thing to be doing that. Now I feel like. Oh, with shark cards, they have to.
00:21:54
Speaker
Yeah. But Derek, I want to know, what do you do in GTA Online in terms of like that you played it for such an extended period of time? So in GTA 5, there's RP servers. Okay. Oh, have you done the RP servers, Derek?
00:22:12
Speaker
Not a whole lot, but RP servers can consume a lot of time. Sure. So I've enjoyed some content creators, not VTubers, content creators who have taken also and created great content. But honestly, just doing heists with two or three friends, great time. You can do the lobbies. Yeah. Yeah. There's a whole system that took took a while before they released. Oh, my God. Fuck those heists. Yeah. Some of them were annoying.
00:22:40
Speaker
The prison one. Yeah, but just mayhem because you don't know when the hacker is going to come into your lobby and just murder. Yeah, that's the other thing. Fight him. So it's just a way to mine. Turn off your brain and shoot up the city in Minecraft in Minecraft. Yes.
00:23:03
Speaker
I played a little bit of the online, but I just wasn't understanding the longevity of it. Granted, I'm not good at any online game for any extended period of time, so I'm not the audience for it, but it just always blew my mind how many people play online. I just wanted to know what they're doing. What are you doing? Well, it's also kind of like the premier racing game, too. Oh?
00:23:29
Speaker
Yeah, like just like people just like race cars all the time because between the custom created maps and all the different cars. Really? Like, yeah, it's like the best online racing game that exists right now, probably. That is not specifically a racing game. Yeah, it's amusingly. But I will say that my favorite racing in the game is going up on top of a mountain, calling a cab each person.
00:23:57
Speaker
and racing, whose cab driver can get them down to the bottom alive first? Because the taxi driver AI is not that good at off-road. No, they are not. So it sounds like you make your own fun too. I mean, yeah, that's always been kind of the allure of GTA. People are so creative. Before online, all you would do is put in the cheat codes to get like the flying tanks and just go on a spree. Now you get to have your friends be victims of that spree.
00:24:27
Speaker
That's true. I remember when I was younger, you'd pass the controller, right, to see who can get to the highest star for longest. I guess isn't it just that? Pretty much. You can do that. And but in a group setting and spend a lot of money. Apparently, I don't know what you're spending money on, but OK. Cars, weapons, life insurance, they would release vehicles just for the online to
00:24:54
Speaker
get people to spend money on shark cards. Andy, did you know that they added a DeLorean that flies like it's fucking Back to the Future 2 into the game? Well, they had a mission for that in the. That was the second. That was like the second big expansion to online, I think.
00:25:12
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. It was quite fun. Yeah, it was. Hey, good on them. I'm glad they created a good game. They've made infinite money. Where is Max Payne for? I don't know. I'm waiting. Well, I think they're probably going to be doing a reboot of Max Payne. They are. Remedy is making it. Yeah.
00:25:31
Speaker
Um, but I want, I've talked about it before on the podcast. I just want more fat drugged out max pain. I don't think you're getting that. Um, amusingly too, um, because I don't have enough to do in my life. Never. Um, I've, I've really, I've actually started replaying red. Oh, really? Yeah.
00:25:53
Speaker
I don't know why. I kind of wanted like a more chill game. So I've been playing that and I've been playing a PC with all the graphics turned up to max. And let me tell you, that came so much prettier now. I wasn't pretty before. No, it was pretty before, but now it's like fucking beautiful. Oh, well, you have a God tier card. Well, God tier as in a couple of years ago.
00:26:14
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, this, this, the car, I have a 30 night that'll hold me for probably another three or four years minimum. So I'm sure, but oh, you know, it's funny. I blew out the fucking, I cleaned out my computer the other day, all the dust out of it. And it took like 10 degrees Celsius off the max on my video.
00:26:35
Speaker
I was like, oh, under load, it's it's at 60 instead of 70. Oh, wait, do you guys keep track of the temperature of your computer? I have. I'll do it before I do a cleaning session. I'll do a few burn tests and then clean it. How do I check the temperature? There's apps I have because I have the the little water cooler thing that has the LED screen that sits over the CPU and that shows the CPU and GPU temperature on it.
00:27:06
Speaker
What anime girl do you have? I don't have any anime girls on it. What? I just have I have the CPU and GPU temperature on it. So I found I can do it. I have Corsair because I have lights in my computer. All mine's in Fahrenheit, though.
00:27:23
Speaker
That's fine. I mean, that's fine. It's just, it's always going to be in like triple digits. Don't worry about that. I want to compare my, um, temperature. Well, what is it? What's your, what's your temperature? I'll tell you. I changed it to Celsius. I'm at 40. Yeah. On your CPU. Uh, yes. Yeah. That's I'm at 41. Oh wait. No, I'm at 37 on my CPU. I was looking at my gigabyte tech something. I don't know what that is. I think that's my motherboard.
00:27:51
Speaker
Yeah. Well, my AMD Ryzen five, I'm at thirty seven. Does that mean I'm a casual, though, that I'm not burning at 60? No, it means it could be very efficient. But also for anyone listening who wants to compare to their temperatures, hardware info 64 is a good free program. Oh, and are you excited that you're going to be getting my second hand card from Charles? Who? Because Charles bought a new video card, so that means you get Charles's video card.
00:28:19
Speaker
Wait, what did I already have? I actually have a different hand me down from someone. Yeah, me from me. You it just keeps working its way backwards. No, the mine is from a different friend who rebuilt his and replaced a different one that I got from someone who rebuilt theirs. I'm on a GTX 1070. I don't know what that is.
00:28:40
Speaker
I don't know if mine might be better than the one Charles had might be better than that. Well, it played. What's the new missed game or the one before it abduction? Play that one pretty good. That's all I need. I don't need much. I don't need much. But you need everything. I have a 1070.
00:29:01
Speaker
living that good life but I don't know I'm at 37 degrees so I feel like kind of a casual you know whatever whatever well
00:29:12
Speaker
Well, well, you know, who's not going to be talking about the latest GTA six news. That's the team behind the escapist.
Mass Resignation and Creation of Second Wind
00:29:20
Speaker
Cause they, they're going to be talking about in their new channel. Uh, yeah. Uh, if you don't know who the escapist is, you might know them from Yahtzee and zero punctuation where a British man reviews games at a rapid fire pace. Um,
00:29:34
Speaker
For many, many years. He'd many, many years. I was surprised to hear he's still doing it. No, not anymore. Actually, he quit in solidarity with them. Yes. Well, that's it. So, yeah. So the escape is I mean, it is a channel that essentially have a lot of things I would only, generally speaking, watch zero punctuation when it would pop up because they're always pretty funny. Oh, yeah. And I didn't necessarily always even agree with Yahtzee, but I kind of always thought they were amusing to watch.
00:30:00
Speaker
Um, but yeah, the, uh, the escapists, the owners fired the editor in chief and in solidarity, most of the staff has quit with them, including Yahtzee. Uh, and now they have formed their own new group called second wind.
00:30:19
Speaker
But I think this is the death knell for the escapist at this point, right? Because there was like a, I want to say almost like five years ago, there was like a big exodus of like content and like, cause everyone was like, Oh, so there's nothing except Yahtzee now. Right. Like when everyone else left. Now, this is mostly a reduction in their ability to do video formats. They still have been doing, uh, actual written articles and like still today they've been releasing them, but
00:30:49
Speaker
There's no numbers on who they have on staff or on contract to keep providing content, but haven't seen a video since.
00:30:57
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. I think they wiped it all out. And I'm pretty sure the people who left, they already had in the pipes to start their own thing. I mean, they probably saw it coming. Yeah. But my big fear, well, number one, I'm glad that they're well, hopefully they land on their feet, right? They had a plan B, I hope is successful. But the parent company that bought
00:31:22
Speaker
The Escapist Gamer also owns Destructoid, and I'm a Destructoid boy. I've been reading it for 10 plus years, and I'm worried that they're gonna kill Destructoid. It's not the same anymore. It hasn't been for years, but this has me worried with what they did at the Escapist. I'm worried they're gonna kill Detoid.
00:31:45
Speaker
I'm very very scared. Hopefully this exodus of talent and creativity shows them to actually identify their strengths of their members. Well that's what it is like what pulled me to detroit and people to the escapist right like Yahtzee obviously but
00:32:05
Speaker
some of the other personalities writing for them. I know Jim Stephanie Sterling, too, wrote for The Escapist for a while after Detroit. But what Gamer did at Detroit is they let go a bunch of the voices that were interesting and funny. And now it's just nonsense, except for Zoe Hanley. She's fantastic, but that's it. And I'm worried they're going to wipe it. They wiped out The Escapist. I don't. How do you make money in game journalism anymore?
00:32:32
Speaker
I mean, obviously we have a hyper successful podcast with lots of sponsors, but how does anybody else do it? Patrion. Yeah, Patrion. I mean, that's what's a second wind is doing. There was another like I think it was just this week or last week, people from Kotaku launched a new website. I forgot what it was, but like The Verge had something on it, but it has like Steven Totillo or whatever. What was his name?
00:33:02
Speaker
Oh, I know you're talking about, but yeah, that's it. Yeah. He has a new, they have a new website now. I'm trying to find it. Aftermath. Aftermath. Yes. Now what's interesting about their model is that they are like, you need to subscribe. Like it is a pay service or there's a paywall or at least that's the intention.
00:33:25
Speaker
And another unique feature is that it's owned by the writers themselves. There's no overlords to fire you if you don't double viewership within a quarter. Yes. Yes. Which is the way... Excuse
Surviving in Game Journalism
00:33:38
Speaker
me. It's the way we have to do anything.
00:33:42
Speaker
We need to pay the creators more directly because people focused on hyper-profit can't do it. Now, with Aftermath, I don't really care about anybody on here. If they got Detroit people, I would pay. I'd 100% pay. I have no problem. I want to give my money to people's content I like because I think that's just what we have to do now.
00:34:08
Speaker
No one's encouraging these voices anymore. So I hope the escapist people do well that left. I hope the best for aftermath too. But the sites we like are dying. Well, the site, at least me, Detoid was a huge part of my life. And I was actually thinking the other day, I don't know what game site to even read. I don't check anything else except Detoid for games.
00:34:30
Speaker
Rock Paper Shotgun out there. What's up? Rock Paper Shotgun. Isn't that like PC only, though? No, but I think they're also sort of on the decline. Are they? Are they owned by gamer? No, but personally, I stick to individual content creators on YouTube and support through Patreon because fuck YouTube right now. Yeah. Why are we mad about the ad blocking there? Because that was
00:34:59
Speaker
that and they've raised the price on subscriptions and there. Yeah, they did. And I was mad at man. Well, Andy, Andy doesn't care because he has the grandfather plan. I do. I had to give it up because my partner would watch YouTube videos and it would have ads and would drag me up a fucking wall. So I had to get a family plan. I'm still coasting at eight dollars, baby.
00:35:23
Speaker
But I mean, here's the thing. And this is what I will tell you. I look they have this thing on there now, which is like you can see how much video you have watched. And no, I have watched 4300 hours of ad free. Wait, I'm going to do your I've never checked this before, but I want to say it's greater. It says greater. So if you go, you click your little portrait and that's you to premium benefits. Oh, this is embarrassing. Seventy three hundred.
00:35:54
Speaker
7,300. Wow. Ad-free videos. Oh, those are just the video. Oh, no, 7,300 hours of ad-free. I have a YouTube problem. I'm trying to disconnect from it. That's very interesting considering I turned YouTube on and go to sleep at night, Andy. Oh, it consumes my entire life. I am on a journey right now. That's one of those things where it's like, oh, fuck YouTube for having to pay.
00:36:19
Speaker
I I watch YouTube more than I watch anything fucking yeah, I don't blame YouTube at all for I have no problem I pay full price for a YouTube premium. Yeah me the value is there I would say music I would pay full price premium if the premium was split up among channels I watch it does
00:36:38
Speaker
It. Yeah, I think they get it. Does it not give anything to Mr. Beast? Does it not give anything to any of the other? No, no, it gives it gives it like they there's like a percentage of your of your monthly gets split up between all the channels that you watch based on the percentage that you watch them.
00:36:58
Speaker
That was my understanding. Like, yeah, that's how I always. Yeah, I mean, I could be wrong, but that was always my understanding of it, because I always remember people saying YouTube Red paid them the best. Yes. Like her watches. Yeah. Well, I need to do my research then and see if I change my mind. Yeah. I wouldn't be surprised. But yeah, I just always remember people being like YouTube Red. Like you see, like our ad revenue is like bullshit. And then YouTube Red revenue was like a big amount.
00:37:26
Speaker
Yeah. Dude, I watched YouTube without ads for accidentally. And I don't know how people can live in that world. Oh, I know. That's what was happening. She was watching videos of ads and I'm like, I'm going to die. I can't. Especially when it was like two ads in a row. I was like, Oh, they are.
00:37:50
Speaker
I listen and I realize how I will recognize how spoiled that is. But who boy? Yeah, boy. Can't do it. It's a different world. And I got seventy three hundred hours of value out of my YouTube premium. Well, you know, you're going to get more value out of. Oh, tell me.
00:38:12
Speaker
It's playing the Talos Principle 2. Oh, God. I don't need that crisis. Yes, you do. Talos Principle 2 reviews are out. It's currently sitting at an 88 on open critic with 100% of critics recommending it.
00:38:30
Speaker
Nice. Dominic Tarrison at PC Gamer gave it an 89 out of 100 saying, not just a great sequel, but a thoughtful and human and human narrative adventure wrapped in a satisfying and beautiful puzzle game.
Talos Principle 2: Philosophical Puzzles
00:38:42
Speaker
Ruth Cassidy, Eurogamer, going to four out of five. The Talos Principle 2 is an ambitious sequel that explores bold, if unambiguous territory in its philosophical robot puzzling.
00:38:52
Speaker
And Joe Donnelly at GamesRadar gave it a four and a half stars out of five saying, this sequel brings Crow Team back to the top of that table where it's more than earned its place. I'm glad. The first one was a good game, but I think as we've discussed, it made me very uncomfortable. Yes, it highlights the positives of human philosophy and just all of that.
00:39:19
Speaker
I threw the lens of a robot, which just upsets you. It does upset me. It genuinely did. It would make me like so uncomfortable I'd have to stop. But well, I stopped because the story made me question too much what a soul is. But also they had that stupid like replay your movement puzzles. And screw that. Screw that. I know those are the worst types of puzzles.
00:39:45
Speaker
which according to my friend, the new one doesn't have. So if you hate puzzles where you go where you do a move like a trace path and then you replay it doing something else, the new one doesn't have it. Now, I don't know if the new one asks you to consider if humans are just bags of meat or if there is anything else unique to them. I don't know.
00:40:10
Speaker
Here, let me try to change your mind, Andy. Yes! Okay, and the Talos Principle 2, you get the opportunity to convince robot minds of your own beliefs. You can meld them to your own philosophy. You're not just being told one thing is correct. You can try to convince the main character's friends that, you know, maybe you should consider giving up your rights. No! Not that specifically, but there's choices to be made and
00:40:40
Speaker
Listen, my condition is that as I grow older, I am going to warm up to the idea of robots having rights. I'm just not there yet. But I would not have a conversation with a robot telling them to not have rights. If we're at the point where I can have that conversation, I'm hoping that I'm not a bad person by then.
00:41:06
Speaker
Good. But Andy, are you going to change your mind before one is changing your bedpan and they're trying at home? I hope. I don't know. I would even say like compared to a couple of years ago, I think I'm in a better, more accepting place.
00:41:25
Speaker
I don't know, you guys, though. It just makes me really uncomfortable. I don't know. I don't know. Giving up the idea of a soul. I don't know, you guys. Do robots have souls? Not according to Tal... Well, I don't know. Talos Principle didn't give me an answer. It was just a computer asking me questions. That's all it was. Yeah, I think this is a really interesting game that none of us have actually played. So I'm going to give an imprecise
00:41:50
Speaker
look after just watching a few reviews, it looks like some not slow. So normal puzzle gaming, think a lot of portal to especially in the later portions with the star. Yeah, but with a tell rather than show method for explaining the philosophy of their storyline, which is fine. And
00:42:11
Speaker
multiple endings the puzzles look very entertaining and they have a system that lets you bypass a hard blocking puzzle you can go through multiple different areas if one puzzle is blocking you or two or three in one area you can go attack some other puzzles and if you're just stuck by one you can bypass a few but that's a hard set limit of three that you only get back after you go back and beat the mission you decided to bypass okay so
00:42:40
Speaker
That was a problem I had in Portal 2, where I'd get a puzzle that took me like five hours to get past because I am dumb.
00:42:51
Speaker
I think that this has a great looking gameplay to it. Yeah, people really enjoyed it. I haven't had a chance to play Tal's Principle. It's definitely on my list. I'm too busy playing Red Dead Redemption 2 for now, the third time. I loved it, save for those rewind puzzles and the metaphysical, I don't know what the word I'm looking for is.
00:43:18
Speaker
But I'd recommend it. And the second one, my friend said, too, like it's you have like all your abilities from the first one already. And so it's expanding on puzzle ideas and mechanics from the get go, which is pretty cool, I think.
00:43:33
Speaker
Well, Andy, you know what game isn't going to challenge you to expand your mind? Oh, gimme, gimme, gimme. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Give me that trash. It's like a dragon game. The man who erased his name currently sitting at a 79 on open critic with 80 percent of critics recommending it. Yeah.
00:43:53
Speaker
Phil Savage at PC Gamer gave it a 70 out of 100, saying, it may be short, but it still packs a punch. Like Drag Gaiden does little new, but its story is fascinating and heartbreaking in equal measure. Michael Hangum at GameSpot gave it an 8 out of 10, saying, RGG Studio's latest action brawler is a captivating and emotional look at Kiryu's life that offers the greatest hits of the series gameplay.
00:44:17
Speaker
And Eric Van Allen at Destructoid gives it an 8 out of 10 saying like a dragon Gaiden has games, laughs, tears, and brawls where characters dramatically reveal their resplendent back tattoos. It does what a new like a dragon entry needs to do and tease up some big emotional moments for its longtime series leads along the way. If you want a deep story with twists and turns, this may not be all you hope for. But if you run off the beaten path to get a model,
00:44:41
Speaker
Oh, it can model AI out of the UFO catcher. This should be more than tied you over to infinite wealth, which is coming out in like two months. I'm so excited. I'm so excited for infinite wealth. Whoo. I haven't even watched the new trailer. I want to I want to go in as unspoiled as possible. Are you going to play Gaiden though, Andy? No.
00:45:04
Speaker
Really? I think I've realized that I don't like traditional like a dragon games. I think I only like the term based ones, the term based one. I tried the samurai one. I tried zero and I even tried the demo of man without a name or whatever at packs.
00:45:26
Speaker
And it just it just doesn't click to me. And it's it. I am mad that it doesn't click for me because they they align so much with everything I want. Who knows? But, ooh, the new one with the Ichi bond. Mm. Yum, yum, yum. I want it. I want it. I want it so bad. So it's actually out today. It comes out on Game Pass tomorrow. That's when I'll start playing it. Oh, my God. Game Pass. Come on. Huh? I say Game Pass.
00:45:55
Speaker
They deal in gaming the best deal in gaming available on PC. By the way, you don't need a console. Yep. PC, cloud and and console. No one uses cloud, though. But actually, you know what? When Starfield came out, a lot of people were using cloud, but really.
00:46:13
Speaker
Yep. Oh, yeah. Cloud had a wait time to use it when Starfield launched, but neither here nor there. Yeah, it sounds like from what I'm hearing from a lot of people, a lot of these reviews is it's like, yeah, you know, if you like like a Dragon Yakuza games, you'll like this one, but it's not necessarily anything that's going to pull anyone new in, which I think is fair. I think this is a very.
00:46:39
Speaker
Yeah, I think this is very much a story that's here for the fans. Yeah. Like to be here to be, you know, hey, you got questions and you need set up for infinite wealth. This is where we'll do it for you. And it sounds like the story is real good, which is honestly what I mostly of what I come to Yakuza games for. It's my it's my Japanese soap opera. Mm hmm. Yeah. So I don't know. I'm looking forward to playing it tomorrow in between.
00:47:08
Speaker
I finished Liza P, by the way. Oh, what's your final take on it? It's real good. Yeah, it's real good. Yeah. Well, you know what? Capcom, or listen, like RGZ Studio may not make too much money on this game.
00:47:28
Speaker
No, but you know what? Capcom is like, hey, just make good games. It's that easy. Yeah, Capcom says it's on track for its 11th straight year of growth after strong sales with Street Fighter six topping two point four million sales in the Resident Evil franchise as a whole has cleared one hundred and fifty million sales. Man.
00:47:53
Speaker
Yeah, Resident Evil 4 Remake sold 1.66 million copies during the first half of the fiscal year. Now, you said 11 years, right? Yes. 11 straight years of growth. Games came out 11 years ago. Andy, that's not how you...
00:48:13
Speaker
How do you fucking not know how to use Google? I asked Google what Capcom games came out 11 years ago. All right, whatever. Okay, Google guru. Maybe I should ask Google bar this.
00:48:30
Speaker
Yeah, so yeah, Capcom has been hitting pretty good. I mean, between the Resident Evil remakes, Devil May Cry, Monster Hunter, which I'll talk about more in a second, and Dragon's Dogma 2 coming out soon.
00:48:45
Speaker
Yeah, Capcom's been killing it lately. It seems like you know what it was when they really Resident Evil 7, I think, is really when it started turning around because they got that re engine out. And then ever since they got that re engine, things have just gone buck wild for them.
00:49:01
Speaker
I don't know, James, you said 11 years ago, which according to Google Bard, that means Dragon's Dogma. There you go. Rod's Wrath and Devil May Cry HD Collection is what really earned the tie. Fair enough. Two of those I'll agree with. Dragon Song was a great game.
00:49:24
Speaker
No, but I feel like, you know, they've had maybe for the past 11 years, they have steady growth. But I feel like ever since Resident Evil 7, they've had at least one hit a year. Oh, yeah. I think I would agree with you with 7. It felt like something changed and crushed it ever since. Yeah. I mean, they still failed. Exo primal.
00:49:45
Speaker
But they have enough success. They have enough successes that they can they can cover that up. Hold on. Really? I cannot say the next round was a failure because I've never heard of it until you just brought it up. Why earlier in advertising? The game was available. So this in this article that I'm looking at actual primal, the game which was available in Game Pass for consoles and PC at launch sold fewer than nine hundred forty thousand nine hundred forty thousand copies by the end of September.
00:50:13
Speaker
Which is pretty low for them, which is ridiculous. It's a dinosaur action game like overwatch
00:50:20
Speaker
Yeah, but it's it's fucking dinosaurs and shooting like that. I would have played that. It was a joy when I played it the first time. It was great. And then we tried playing it again. And then just, you know, we got to play for like an hour. But, um, no, I thought it had everything in the making, except they just needed more game modes. And I wonder if that's where it dropped. I don't know. Maybe it just had no legs. But God, that's a bummer. Poor X-Men primal.
00:50:49
Speaker
Well, and the other thing, too, which I don't think is actually in the article that I showed you guys, but they also said they still have one more big game for fiscal year 2023 that they're expecting to complete to take almost like half of their sales for the year to meet their growth. And I'm going to bet you that's Monster Hunter six.
00:51:10
Speaker
Not Mega Man. No, you mean World 2? Well, yeah, that's still Monster Hunter 6. I've never heard of the people using numbers. We use it. Well, I mean, you just use. Yeah, they don't usually use numbers. Well, no, they don't until four. They did use numbers. Oh, that's true. But then they came out with World, which was a new definitive edition, new high resolution models, some quality of life. Oh, wait, there wasn't four would have been world.
00:51:39
Speaker
Am I crazy? Five rise then? Five is rise. To be fair, I remember playing something on 3DS and I think it had a number in it, so I don't remember that. No, Monster Hunter World Ultimate was a 3DS game. I don't know. Okay, I'm not crazy. James, you are crazy. James, you're crazy. Oh, wait. I had a people case saying Monster Hunter 6. Whatever.
00:52:01
Speaker
Well, people in a lot of people, I say monster hunter six is coming in March of 2024, but it should be seven. I don't know. Whatever. I don't know. World sort of gave the quality of life things people wanted, created a divide between people who enjoyed the quote unquote more realistic. You're not blocking a dragon with your shoulder tackle. I'm sorry.
00:52:25
Speaker
put five and six in the same generation has like four and four ultimate. So six is a good terminology, but I'm hoping they go back towards world, but with the mobility of the bugs. Yeah. But yeah, I mean, when did rise come out? I think that was about three, four years ago at this point.
00:52:47
Speaker
Uh, 2021. Yeah. Three years. Wow. So yeah, it'll be, if it comes out March of next year, it'll be three years. Now I do have a question. I am a monster hunter slut. I love Monster Hunter. Fair enough. I don't really know how much of the general population likes Monster Hunter. Like I've been playing Monster Hunter now in a capital city of a major US state.
00:53:11
Speaker
And I've barely seen other people playing it. This is a mobile game out of Pokemon Go for anyone who's unaware. There's just we talked about it. Yeah, but we gave her a hard one journalism. Yeah, there's just no one out there playing. So I don't know. I mean, Monster Hunter is like Dragon Quest big in Japan. No, it it's it. No, it's not that big, but it's the equivalent of like World of Warcraft for us. Maybe you didn't know. Maybe you didn't play it, but you knew someone who did in school. Yeah.
00:53:41
Speaker
But Dragon was like like you knew multiple who played it minimum. That's fair. I mean, I think of it as like there's like a trilogy of games in like Japanese gaming, and I think it's like Monster Hunter Dragon Quest Final Fantasy. I hear. And then there's that one weird like board game video game that's like Monopoly or something. What is that anticipation?
00:54:08
Speaker
I don't know, but I remember there was like this video game series that's like Monopoly that for some reason is gigantic in Japan and just no one cares about it here. Oh, interesting. I don't remember the name, so that was a good story. But I ran into people playing Monster Hunter now. By that I mean, you know, sometimes I'll see the number tick up that they could join my party and then my traumatic diabolos hunt story where no one joined my party.
00:54:36
Speaker
Um, but no, this isn't, and nothing could match what Pokemon Go was. Um, but Poke, or Monster Hunter now, I think is worthy of, um, a player or a player base, but I haven't gotten to the late stages. I'm still on five stars, like a casual. And they still need to roll out updates to the map to match Pokemon Go. The rural players are just have no resources.
00:55:01
Speaker
Oh, that's fair. I mean, I'm I'm not in a rural area. I live in Boston and I still have no resources. It's not great here. Really? Oh, I guess I'm very lucky then. I have a monster hunter stop. I just spin. I am. I am in a fucking dead zone. Oh, yeah.
00:55:23
Speaker
Which on Pokemon Go, there's one I can hit right from my house, but in Monster Hunter now, I can't. Oh, that's weird that they didn't do the Fulton. They're apparently using a map from like 2020, but even that's missing nodes from the 2020 Pokemon Go, given online map curation. Hmm. There's gotta be a reason behind it, I'm sure. I don't know.
00:55:46
Speaker
But I like it. Yeah, we've got a new Monster Hunter that's going to account for half of Capcom sales, apparently, which I cannot wait for. I gave up a Monster Hunter frontier because I got I got filtered by Wyatt Espenas at Hunter rank four. It was too hard without committing like 20 hours of farming other stuff. But now I'm emulating Monster Hunter try from the Wii on Dolphin. I can't legally buy this game and play it. I'm not violating any morals. Oh, Derek, did you get this team deck?
00:56:16
Speaker
No, I did not. Think about it. It's like the best emulation device that is possible. Well, I can't. Well, actually, I can just play with an Xbox controller on the Steam Deck. You could. But that's just your PC. Yeah. Well, I mean, sure. Listen, and Derek, that's true. If they don't want your money.
00:56:38
Speaker
You can play. It's not your fault. So Frontier was the Wii one or Wii U? Frontier was like a 2013 PC game that never was released to the Western community. So I was playing a private server with translations, but Monster Hunter Tri was released worldwide on Wii.
00:57:00
Speaker
And there's a actually active online scene, but it does involve downloading ISOs and emulating. So this is technically illegal. Do not do it. Do not do it. Do not do it. But there's people ready to join you in a hunt if you do. Just waiting to do it.
00:57:21
Speaker
Well, you know, I remember even fantasy star online used to have until just very recently an online base, like the Dreamcast one. Um, people are keeping these games alive. And Derek, I'm glad that, um, you're able to keep it alive. God bless you, Derek. God bless you. I know I'm getting lost a lot for Monster Hunter. Emulating old games. Well, maybe next week we'll be able to talk about what else Derek's a slut for. Ooh.
00:57:51
Speaker
on another episode of Add to Party, a friendship simulator masquerading as a new show. I've been your host, James. I should really stop playing so many old games. And I've been, I haven't played Spider-Man yet. I really, I need to play Spider-Man. It's old anyway. I've been joined by Andy. Um.
00:58:20
Speaker
I'm just too strong for toilets. Too strong, and I've been joined by. Derek, the classic gamer of the group, Kastya. You are a gamer, emulating all that stuff. Legally, legally emulating, dumping the ROMs, doing everything. Can't sue, can't sue, can't sue. Good night. Or good morning, depending on where you are.