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FF7 Rebirth is almost here! & Kojima has lost his damn mind - Add to Party 02.08.2024
4 Plays9 months ago
This week we recap the two states of play from PlayStation and rumors around Xbox.
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Transcript
Podcast Introduction and Hosts' Anxiety
00:00:00
Speaker
you
00:00:14
Speaker
Welcome to Add to Party, a friendship simulator masquerading as Nisha. I'm your host, James Hartwell, and I'm joined by. Andy Kay. And I'm joined by. Derek Castilla.
Self-Awareness and Autopilot
00:00:27
Speaker
Do you know there's like a moment of panic every time I started recording where I'm like, I'm going to forget the intro. I literally was thinking the same thing.
00:00:37
Speaker
as you were speaking i was like uh-oh uh-oh and i gotta remember what to say i'm the passenger princess in this intro i get to sit there and wait for y'all to do your parts i love that it's not even that long but it's just for some reason there's some days when we do it it just rolls off my tongue and there's other days where i'm like dig dig for the next word i need it
00:00:59
Speaker
Oh, it's weird. It's like when you have that moment of self-awareness, like where you realize everything is happening and the world is existing and you're speaking words.
Chocolate Preferences and Ethics
00:01:08
Speaker
Yeah. It's scary falling off of autopilot. I don't like it. I don't think much. I'm just I'm just vomiting what's in my head. So it's scary when I start to become deliberate. But thank you for pulling through, James.
00:01:24
Speaker
It was touch-and-go there for a second. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. You made it. You made it. You know what I think is touch-and-go? What's that? Oh, I just forgot the name of them. The little truffles. The chocolate truffles? Lindt? Lindt? Yeah. Are they called Lindt?
00:01:44
Speaker
Yeah. L-I-N-D-T. Yeah. Lindor. Lindor. Lindor. Lindor. Thank you. I don't know how I feel about them. Like sometimes they're incredibly delicious and sometimes they're just not it. Not it. But I bring it up because I was watching a thing today and they were talking about this chocolate that I was thinking of ordering.
00:02:06
Speaker
Um, insanely, they're like, it's the best chocolate. Some of their sets go for hundreds and hundreds of dollars. And they were talking about how great this chocolate is. It's the best. And then they hadn't tried to try to Lindor before. And then they tried to Lindor and they're like, Oh yeah, that's better. That's better than a hundred dollars chocolate. Um, and so I was thinking about that today. Okay. Well, first of, first off, Andy, just so for reference, you mean the red bag, the blue bag, the gold bag.
00:02:33
Speaker
What's your, what's your thank you. It's the, I have a gold bag and the,
00:02:41
Speaker
The it has. I just hate caramel, you guys. I hate it. That's what it is. It's gross. It's gross. But why are you a stam, Derek, of Lindor's? No. Oh, God, no. I know. I love Lindor. I love Lindor chocolates. I have tried every single one and disliked them all. Oh, wait, then what's your favorite chocolate?
00:03:06
Speaker
Uh, does it cost hundreds of dollars? No, I'm partial to the Japanese Kit Kats. Okay. All kinds of different flavors. All right. Someone got me, they said they were going to get me chocolate from Germany. And I was like, Oh, that's very kind. And then
Ethical Consumerism: Nestle and Beyond
00:03:22
Speaker
they got me a Kit Kat.
00:03:24
Speaker
Is that what you think of when you think of chocolate from Germany? Or should I think of that when I think of chocolate from Germany? You should think about the Beethoven chocolates. I think that's in Germany, where it's like one specific town, they just have Mozart on the packaging of it. And it's like super popular as a gift, but it's actually not that good chocolate. Is that how you feel about Lindor? No, Lindor just...
00:03:53
Speaker
I don't know. It's like leagues better than Hershey's, but it's just, you know, I'm really just not a chocolate guy. OK, all right. And I need some texture like back before Nestle got on my radar. I love me a crunch bar. Oh, brother, I got some bunch of crunches in my cabinet right now. Those are the best. I'm so excited to get into them. Andy, Nestle killed babies. Stop, stop, stop. I mean, who has it?
00:04:25
Speaker
Derek, how dare you? Don't put this on my mind, all right? There's no ethical consumption, even when it reaches those extremes. Gosh darn it. What about Oreos? Do we got problems with Oreos? They're owned by Nestle. No, I think it's Nabisco, isn't it? No, it's Nabisco. You're right. Oh, am I safe, Derek? We know Nabisco's pretty evil too. We're still partaking in...
00:04:50
Speaker
benefiting capitalism so okay well that's that's where the no ethical consumption comes from actually you know what guys i have a book about this a look-up book that someone got me for christmas one moment i'll be right back and he's going to do a dramatic reading from his book that he got for christmas yes which you know he's excited i'm excited that's fair you're wiggling your truffles Derek that's surprising too yeah well you said you're not a chocolate guy that's
00:05:19
Speaker
OK, you guys, I have the Better World Shopping Guide. Every dollar makes a difference. Let's look up chocolate. How does this work? How does this work? Coffee. Lando Lakes makes coffee? Nespresso got an F. Yubon got an F. Nestle got an F on coffee.
00:05:41
Speaker
We're not here for... Okay, chocolate. A plus rating, equal exchange, sweet riot. I've never heard of these things. Endangered species, no clue. Rapunzel, not it. Godiva got a C minus. Hershey's is at a D minus.
00:05:58
Speaker
Oh, Crunch has a little cross and bones next to it. What does that mean? Hold on, Andy. What is this grade for? Is it like how ethical they are? We don't know. It's just the Better World Shopping Guide. Over 100,000 copies sold. Wait, Crunch? Oh, my God.
00:06:19
Speaker
They're a corporate villain, it says. It's aggressive takeover of family farms. It has the most irresponsible corporation award and it's involved in child slavery. Oh no. Yeah. Oh my God. You're a monster. Literally crossing bones or skull and bones. Oh.
00:06:42
Speaker
Well, that makes me feel great, you guys. Let's look up video games. This is the most ethical video games. Vitamins. Do you guys take a multivitamin? Every day. I take many supplements. You take many? Yeah. What do you take? One for joints, turmeric, like stuff that's good for inflammation, beetroot, multivitamin, collagen and biotin.
00:07:08
Speaker
Oh, this is becoming an old man podcast real quick now. Oh, my God. You guys, Centrum and one a day have skull and bones. Oh, no. Oh, my God. Centrum is number 64 of the most toxic water polluters. Oh, my God. Hold on. Before anyone of the viewers misunderstand, I am not a health nut. I just have medical conditions. Oh, I don't think that makes you a health nut. I take the role. Multivitants don't make your health. Yeah. Oh, my God. Even Flintstones got an F rating.
00:07:39
Speaker
Oh my god, one a day is number three in the hundred most toxic air polluters. Oh, this book. Oh, I'm throwing it to the side. It's it's revealing everything that you don't want to know. I'm like sick to my stomach right now. I'm I'm pleased with it.
00:08:01
Speaker
Look, your actions have consequences whether you admit that it or not. So it's better to be knowledgeable and know who you're harming. Oh, my God. Nabisco has an F. Is Nabisco the one that makes townhouse crackers? Oh, no, that's Keebler. That got a D. Well, we're safe, guys. They want you under Nabisco also, I think. Oh, are they? Well, Nabisco has a skull. It's part of the worst company on the Earth.
00:08:31
Speaker
outta here. Who does anything good? Who's good at anything? What about Jerry's maybe? What's that? Ben and Jerry's. Oh, Ben and Jerry's. I think they're pretty good here. Let me look up. Well, they stole they they are currently on land that was owned by a Native Americans and they're not giving it back. Well, we all are, but I know what that's not wrong. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, sorry. No, I'm like, I have a drop of
00:09:01
Speaker
Native blood in me, and I'm still a conqueror. That's true. We're all colonizers. Well, I don't want to say. But Ben and Jerry's is an A minus, by the way. Oh, there you go. So we're safe, guys. Pillsbury is a B. And then Snickers. Oh, my God, is on the M&M's 10 worst corporation list.
00:09:24
Speaker
Child slave labor paid $36 million to Washington lobbyists? Why does Snickers need to give $36 million to lobbyists? Because fat is the enemy, not sugar, not lives. And it's going to say that way no matter how much it costs. Well, I'll tell you what, guys, there's no gasoline company with an A rating.
00:09:51
Speaker
None of these. I would say Schlumberger should get an A rating. They do excellent work, but they don't actually dig the oil. They just sell the drills. Okay. Okay. Oh, fast food restaurants. Chipotle has an A rating. In and out has a B rating. I'm not going to believe anything in this book after Chipotle gets an A. Oh, wait. It has a star. It has a star. Let me see what the star means.
00:10:15
Speaker
constantly infecting people with contaminated. That's because their ingredients are so fresh, Derek. I mean, that happened. You know, 40 percent of their beans are organic, Derek, 40 percent. So organic is sort of vacuous term without any legal. OK, that's fair. That's fair. Well, 70 percent of their meat is naturally right. Oh, God, I guess the bar is pretty low. If it's only 40 percent, you get an A rating.
00:10:44
Speaker
Um, don't worry, though. The corporate villain is KFC. God, you guys damn. Anyway, why? Because I did. So I did have a moment of weakness last week. Oh, I just picked up a snacker because I didn't eat lunch. OK, I was like, oh, macaroni and cheese and fried chicken and tortilla. So I don't don't mind if I do. Well, I imagine they they use corporate farming, which is awful. The chicken is probably sourced from corporate farming. Was it delicious, Derek?
00:11:15
Speaker
It was really
State of Play: Game Trailers and Reactions
00:11:16
Speaker
taste. You could really taste the sadness of the chickens. You know, the suffering was balanced by the creamy mac and cheese. OK, exactly. I'm looking at the beer list now and New Belgium. I don't know what that is. New Belgium. They make fat tire. It's a pretty good beer. Oh, they get an A plus.
00:11:39
Speaker
What about gin? I have to keep going down this rabbit hole, but this is like the first time I've actually used this book. Well, so talking about grading things, we have two state of plays to talk about. That's right. Well, only one because I don't want to talk about the other. We're going to talk about the Final Fantasy one. Don't worry. We'll keep it pretty like spoilers. No, I don't think I mean.
00:12:03
Speaker
I don't know. There's no, Andy, I don't know how I could spoil you because I don't know the differences enough to tell you what they were. How dare you? How dare you? I will leave that conversation. No, you'll be fine. No, it'll be okay. But anyway, first state of play. There was a state of play last week.
00:12:21
Speaker
where, you know, it was, you know, everyone kind of went into it thinking, oh, this is, you know, your standard Sony's got to market things because they made a deal. So it's like, yeah, we got it. But it actually wasn't that bad. Although I will say it started with a bad, a bad trailer for Stellar Blade, the near inspired game by I think it's shift up is making it. I'm not sure who they are.
00:12:50
Speaker
But they had a very weird trailer that was narrated and just did not do the game any favors. I don't know if either of you watched it. I think it's it's very much a game again, very near automata inspired where you're a buxom young woman going through a post-apocalyptic world. And there's a little robot following you.
00:13:13
Speaker
I believe the developer talked about how there's there's like 30 plus outfits you can put the main character in. I think that's cool. I think that's cool. I think it's cool, too. Yeah, it's better than having one outfit and then one outfit that's just less of that same outfit.
00:13:32
Speaker
Like near automata. She wears even less. If you blow yourself up, you get like this weird. You get the skirts get taken off, so you just get a nice view of the ass. Oh, OK. That's what all those ladder climbs are for. Oh, yeah, Andy. Did I ever tell you about the I probably did? Never mind. It was going to be about lollipop chainsaw, but we can move on.
00:13:59
Speaker
But I mean, it's a very interesting looking game, but I think the trailer did a very poor job of just showing it off. It was very slow and methodical. Yes. And it had kind of a very dull narration about it as well. Towards the end, it actually showed some combat and like boss fights and stuff like that. And it looked a lot more interesting, but it was very much kind of like a story trailer for a game where it's like we don't
00:14:27
Speaker
We have no attachment to these characters, so these scenes mean nothing to us. Yeah, a lot of emotionally stirring dialogue out of context, meaning nothing.
00:14:42
Speaker
But it looked cool. Yeah. I just remember when the trailer was running the first time. For some reason, I was thinking this could be a Parasite Eve game. And that's what was in my head. It was you all thought that when it came out, we were like, this is not Parasite Eve. Like watching this, there's like literally zero, zero to suggest it. So we need a new parasite. That's what I learned from this.
00:15:10
Speaker
Granted, the mechanic of the third Parasite Eve was her clothes coming off. So that's maybe there's a link. What's that? Of course it is. Of course it is. Actually, and they didn't even call a parasite. It was third birthday because I think they lost the rights to Parasite Eve. I don't know. Maybe that's why we'll never get it. But those genes kept ripping, kept ripping. They also gave a release date coming out April 26th. So not that far off.
00:15:40
Speaker
Um, I don't think that far off. Yeah. And I don't think there's a lot in that release being. So that's, you know, this has a nice sleeper hit formula. If, you know, a clear space for this game to come in and really dominate the conversation. Hopefully. Wait, is 2024 going to be the year that games can actually release and not the last year.
00:16:00
Speaker
Oh, without being crowded out. Yes, because now we've got I still haven't played like a dragon as I committed. And just as an aside, I beat like a dragon. What already? Fifty four hours play time. I didn't complete all the side stories, but oh, I was expecting it to be way longer.
00:16:21
Speaker
I think if you like I completed the whole of the Animal Crossing storyline, I didn't do all of the Pokemon storyline. OK. And I did maybe like half of the side stories. OK. And yeah, about 54 hours. And that's a very reasonable amount of time. I was expecting 100 plus. I mean, I think if you read. Well, here's the thing.
00:16:44
Speaker
To to get there's this thing with here you called lifelinks where like these there's um
00:16:52
Speaker
basically these little stories, side stories involving Curio. To get the last one, you have to do so many things. Like all those little achievements, like take 50 pictures, dine at restaurants 50 times. You have to do a lot of them or grind out the dungeon to level up Curio. Either way, it will take a while. I ended up just watching it.
00:17:15
Speaker
I got one through eight. And then the ninth one, I was like, I saw how far I had to go to get nine. And I'm like, I'm just going to watch on YouTube. Yeah. That's fair. Well, just as a quick thing, would you recommend it? Oh, yeah, it's a great game. It's top three. Yakuza. Oh, I'm so excited. I'm so excited. Oh, I'm excited for that game. So yeah, Starblade back to the state of play. Oh, no. All these other games. You know what? God bless it.
00:17:44
Speaker
Maybe it'll be good. I don't know. Next, they had a preview trailer for Helldivers 2, which is coming out tomorrow, February 8th. No reviews yet because nobody got review copies until the servers went live. There have been plenty of like preview events that people have played and they say, you know, they had a good time with it. I never played Helldivers 1. Did you, Andy? I did. I really liked it. People said.
00:18:11
Speaker
Yeah, the switch from top down was not as jarring as they thought it would be going to third person. It was kind of like once you got used to it, it was cool. Are you going to be any, you know, that's a that's a game we could really knock out while we're waiting for Final Fantasy for the next couple of weeks. When does it come out? Oh, wait. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, OK. How long is it?
00:18:34
Speaker
I feel like it's the kind of game you can drop whenever you have something more pressing and pick it up a few months later if you feel it.
00:18:50
Speaker
Well, I have to see the cross play works as long as I got a notification from Google. Now I'm wondering if it was fake because it was from like a no name website, but it said like hell divers has already outsold pal world. Yeah, that was the pre the pre-orders for hell divers are very high right now.
00:19:09
Speaker
I didn't even know anybody liked this game. I think it's just it's it's in a time where RPGs are coming out hot and fast, by the way, like a Dragon 8 sold on sold a million copies as to selling our GG game ever so far. Oh, and happy.
00:19:30
Speaker
And persona three rewrote has also just recently sold a million copies, which is the highest selling Atlas game ever. Really? Well, like in the initial release, even more than persona five in like initial like launch window. Yes. I guess maybe persona didn't blow up really until five. Yeah. But I think it was also a slow burn to like people.
00:19:57
Speaker
That's interesting. I'm so happy to hear that about, um, like a dragon though. Like, oof, oof, that makes me happy. I was always worried that like, no one's gonna buy it, but they did. Woo! Maybe we won't play Helldivers this weekend, Andy.
00:20:11
Speaker
This weekend I won't be, well, we can play it after this. Yeah, that's fine. We'll figure out the time. They also showed a trailer for Foam Stars, which released earlier this week. Again, people seem to have fun playing it. I don't like Splatoon style games, so it's not for me, but it's out. If you want to play a Splatoon game that's not on the Nintendo Switch, now you have Foam Stars.
00:20:37
Speaker
Yeah, I didn't like it. And this one is season one is starting. So much like all the other online, not esports, but attempting to be an esports title, they're going to have seasons, new characters coming out like it's it looks like a lot of fun. And I am the end of Splatoon games. Oh, did you get into Splatoon, Derek? No, again, I don't have a switch. Oh, wait. Yeah.
00:21:04
Speaker
Eric, you're supposed to send Derek your switch. He has to he has to ask me for it. Oh, that's fair. I think I've just been trying to force it on you, Derek. I'm sorry. Andy, you can really force it. You can pay for it. Absolutely not. You're a big boy. You're from the sign lines.
00:21:25
Speaker
Next up, there was a trailer for Dragon's Dog 2. And I got to say, this trailer actually got me super excited for the game because I think I've never really made this connection before. But watching this trailer made the game super feel like Monster Hunter, which makes a lot of sense because they're both Capcom games. Oh, Monster Hunter, really?
00:21:49
Speaker
Yeah, if you like, if you go and look at the trailer and jump to like, I don't know, like the 45 second mark, the way he's climbing on this dragon. Feel straight out of monster hunter. Sure, sure, sure. And yeah, I was like putting it in that context of like, this is an open world fantasy RPG with monster hunter like mechanics. I'm like, a little more excited about track and stockman now. OK. Did you play the first one? I played a little of the first one. I never finished it.
00:22:18
Speaker
The first one was very not to use a ten dollar word, but esoteric. It was like it was very much where I was like, what do you what do you want from me game? This is I understand you have a rich story. I kind of just want to have fun. Oh, but for anyone listening, watch this watch the trailer. I don't get monster vibes at all from it. Oh, and you're a big hunter. I'm climbing all over the monsters and everything.
00:22:48
Speaker
It feels more like scripted event time. No, but that's not Dragon's Dogma at all. The whole thing with Dragon's Dogma 1 was that you could climb on anything. That was the big deal about it. Okay, maybe it just was weird because I saw the ogre thing run into the ice bikes and then just staggered there and just sat there for a long time. Well, you know, there's a level of trailer-ness to it, right?
00:23:14
Speaker
But no, that was no. The big thing with Dragon's Dog is kind of shadow of the classic esque. You could always like climb on the big monsters you were fighting and everything like that and like surfaces and you could throw people and shit like that. So it was it was very much a game about playing with physics and like climbing and stuff. So I never played it. Was it on the PS3? Yeah.
00:23:37
Speaker
it was a ps3 game as a matter of fact yeah i remember it like i just remember it was supposed to be like this is like skyrim but yeah i think it got sold right i think
00:23:47
Speaker
I think if you actually I didn't like Monster Hunter at that point, because the world hadn't come out yet. Yeah, and everyone. But yeah, now that I kind of contextualize it as being Monster
Upcoming Games and Nostalgic Returns
00:24:00
Speaker
Hunter. And this is not anyone like in the press or saying that. But so I could be wrong. But watching you from the trailers, I'm like, I can see the DNA. I wonder if that's coming out in March 22nd.
00:24:15
Speaker
Man, that's coming up. Yeah. Well, you have finished. Well, you have finished Final Fantasy seven rebirth by March 22 days after it comes out. Was it? Wait. Oh, wait. That's right. Wait. Oh, my God. Yeah, that should be plenty of time. Wait. Rebirth is in like rebirth is in 20 days from today's February 7th. Oh, my God.
00:24:43
Speaker
OK, I'll think more about that later. Next day on a trailer for Metro VR game, PlayStation VR desperately needs games. This one is coming. So it's coming 24 so that we don't know when.
00:24:59
Speaker
Uh, after that, they shadow dropped a new silent little mini game called the short message, which is available now. And you could play for free. Did you play it? No, I watched someone play it though. Wait, are you a big baby? Yeah. Oh, horrible. Okay.
00:25:18
Speaker
hate horror. Oh, you hate it. But isn't Silent Hill 2 one of your favorite games? No, I've never played Silent Hill. Oh, wait, I remember playing Phasmophobia with you and you did submit a lot of time in the truck. Yeah, no, it was Yeah, I know better those situations real quick. I'm like,
00:25:39
Speaker
Phasmophobia had just the right amount of jank and with friends that I could play. That's true. It was with friends. I have this really dumb rule that I cannot play a scary game unless it's dark out and with the lights on. And then I get too scared. So then I never play them. But I want to play it. After that, they also showed the combat trailer for the Silent Hill 2 remaster slash remake. No date, but it's just coming in.
00:26:09
Speaker
It just says in development for PlayStation five. That one. I don't think it's a remake as much as a remaster, because if you look at it, I don't know, it looks like kind of Resident Evil 70 in terms of graphics. So it's not like it doesn't look like a brand new twenty twenty four game. Oh, I was going to say it looks very good. Oh, it looks very good. Let's let's not. Yeah, let me not undersell that. But I don't think it looks like remember when like Demon Souls came out. Hmm.
00:26:35
Speaker
Like it doesn't look that good. Oh, I hear what you're saying. OK. Well, this is not like it. This is not a complete rework of the game. This is this is an upscaling and, you know, and lighting update like the lighting update. Yeah. And and probably some updates to mechanics to make it a little more reasonable for modern players.
00:26:58
Speaker
I am I played the original for a little bit. And then I got like stuck in a hotel. I was like, this is it. This isn't it anymore. But I feel bad. I feel bad. I like that's that's a game you're supposed to play. That's part of the canon of brilliant games that everybody loses their mind over. I somehow still avoided the ending. I still don't know what happens. The Shiba did it, Andy. Oh, is that what it is? Yep.
00:27:26
Speaker
There's a sheba. There's a sheba ending for it. I don't know. Oh, is that the the dog and the UFO? Yeah, pretty much. I just know they have UFOs, but they have they have gag endings in Silent Hill, which I've always appreciated. I beat the first one, though. I beat the first one. I think that made told this, but the first one made me pee my pants out of sleep over.
00:27:50
Speaker
What if you do admit that, Andy? It was a it's a very vivid memory. I remember playing it and then like, well, we were all playing it or I was just watching or no, I think I brought my demo over. So I did it to myself. I brought my demo over and the demo takes place in the school and I peed myself. So I think I peed myself right in the beginning.
00:28:13
Speaker
Yeah, OK, well, oh, and I was fourth or fifth grade. I don't know if that's too old to pee yourself moving on. What are you doing? You can say.
00:28:28
Speaker
There are other couple smaller announcements. Sonic Generations X X Shadow is coming later this fall. Hold on. I'm offended that you you start off by saying it's a small announcement when that was the star of the show. Oh, to be fair. So Sonic Generations is a game that's been out for 10 years. Oh, I thought I wrong. No, no, it's it's pretty old game.
00:28:55
Speaker
Yeah, they're bringing it to the PS5 and they're probably in. It says PS5 and PS4, and I wouldn't be surprised with doing a rerelease on PC as well. And they're adding, in addition to classic Sonic and 3D Sonic, which is the whole point of Sonic Generations, they're adding a bunch of Shadow missions to it as well. From, I guess, Sonic Adventure 2. Where was Shadow in? Shadow is, didn't he debut in 2? I think so. And he had his own game.
00:29:23
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. They didn't really go into how much it says here in the trailer plays Shadow the Hedgehog in a brand new story campaign and tackle and tackle iconic 2D and 3D stages as classic and modern Sonic and a newly remastered version of Sonic Generations. So I don't I don't know necessarily how much shadow there's going to be in there, but.
00:29:46
Speaker
I mean, I imagine that there's going to be at least a good like 10 hours of shadow content. Whoa. That's generous. Yeah, I don't know about that. I mean, this is like shadow generations. Like, yeah. Now, there's generations. Is generations mean something to you that this was your take of the show? Also like the best Sonic game in the last 10 years. Like, yeah.
00:30:12
Speaker
We've been dry of a good Sonic game. This is the last one. Actually, that's not true. Sonic Mania was good, too. But have you listened to the soundtrack of Frontier like like the butt rock from it? It's incredible. Like it's like they don't use what what is their name? Crash something.
00:30:34
Speaker
Crash Bandicoot? No, sorry, the band that makes or Crush 42 or something. Oh, I don't know. The ones that make all the Sonic Adventure butt rock songs. OK, the one, you know, we're like in the second one, you're skateboarding down. You're assuming I know too much about. Oh, I thought it was a meme. Anyways, the butt rock is iconic. And then the new one has like they like shifted
00:31:00
Speaker
How do I describe this? But I went through a phase where I was obsessed with the butt rock in Sonic Frontier because it feels like it's like a like a kid's bop version.
00:31:12
Speaker
of hard rock for this generation, like Zoomers. And it's just so interesting. And it unironically slaps. I was embarrassingly into it. So hold on, hold on. You're saying butt rock?
00:31:32
Speaker
I so I don't know if you'd call it butt rock. But I like I consider. OK, well, what is the definition of butt rock? I consider butt rock like you have too much more to talk about to get into butt rock. Listen, it's just it's a pair. It feels like a parody of itself, right? Like it leans so hard into a trend that it's a parody.
00:31:52
Speaker
Yeah. Oh, OK. Well, then it is but rock. Anyways, listen to the frontier soundtrack. They also showed a trailer for the up the PS5 rerelease of until dawn.
Ken Levine's Judas and Narrative Dissonance
00:32:06
Speaker
Also, the rising, the vampire, the vampire survival game that we had a good time with, you know, almost a year ago at this point, I think.
00:32:14
Speaker
I ended up playing it because they didn't have controller support. Those are all definitely will now. OK, that's interesting because that's the only the last game in the past, like five years. I returned to Steam. I did not. I had a good time with it. I ran a server for it, honestly, because we had such a good time with it. Did anybody think the until Dawn trailer made it worse?
00:32:39
Speaker
Yeah, I think the lighting was off or something like that. They need a little more time on that game. Like, yeah, like they're they're up, rezzing it or remastering or whatever for PS5 were built and enhanced is what they say. Rebuilt and it looked fantastic on PS4. And like now that they've whatever you say, then rebuilt.
00:33:00
Speaker
It looks worse. It just looks worse. I don't know why they're doing it. It's not done by the studio. I don't remember their name. But let's get to the two big stars of the state of play first. We got our first look at Judas.
00:33:15
Speaker
Which is was it Ken Levine's new game from Ghost Story? And it's his man. It looks like Bioshock in space. But you know what? I'm not mad about it. Oh, really? Well, I shouldn't say. Oh, really? To me, it just said, like, look like, yes, this is Bioshock. But that's what that's what Ken Levine makes. Yes. Yes.
00:33:36
Speaker
But like even like the graphics a little bit, like the character designs and stuff. Not that that should be a problem. I'm I'm picking on something that does not matter. But it sounds like Bioshock is important to you. I mean, I agree with the first Bioshock. Did you get an infinite third one?
00:33:53
Speaker
I played it's one, two, and infinite. I think I played infinite. Well, I did play infinite. I know it's the one in the sky. Yeah. And I know now you're really in the sky. You're in space. Do you hear you typing? Oh, sorry.
00:34:12
Speaker
is violently Googling Bioshock. Yeah, I know. It's his mechanical keyboard master recently. No, I was too busy looking up the $100 word that comes to mind, should come to mind every time Bioshock comes up. Ooh, say it. Ludo narrative dissonance. I don't know what that means.
00:34:29
Speaker
Oh, I could. Derek, I know that word is always on the tip of my tongue. A little narrative dissonance is when the game play does not match the storyline. Yeah. And the idea was guilty of that in spades. Really? I didn't think Bioshock was guilty of that. The cyberpunk is like the big one that comes into it where it's like, hey, you're going to die in three weeks. Do you want to become the best fighter in all of Night City? Do you want to run around and get all these cars for this guy? It's like.
00:34:59
Speaker
Like that's, that's ludonarrative distance. When a game, when a game is telling you, you have a short time frame, but we're not, that's one example of a ludonarrative distance, but yeah, gameplay and storylines do not match. Now, Derek, what inspired you to use that word?
00:35:18
Speaker
Oh, I honestly, I think there was a bunch of games journalists would pull that term out of when talking about Bioshock. Really? I don't remember anybody talking about Bioshock with ludonarrative dissonance, but I could be wrong because Bioshock was very much a linear storyline. So I don't I can't see how the game play the story weren't tied together. I don't remember much.
00:35:48
Speaker
It's just a minor, a few minor things.
Kojima's Vision and Death Stranding 2
00:35:51
Speaker
Like your moral choices that were presented, you actually didn't get reflected in like, Oh, okay. Maybe I could see that. Yeah. Like it was more just like do whatever you want. The results are going to be the same. Hmm.
00:36:05
Speaker
But it presented that it could be something. Yeah, that's fair. I think that's a fair. I don't know if that's necessarily a little narrative dissonance, but that is a hundred dollar word. Jesus Christ. Yeah. Maybe I just roll my eyes every time I hear it, even though I never knew what it. Well, it's probably been explained to me before.
00:36:23
Speaker
All I remember about the first Bioshock is remember I bought a 360 and then I bought Bioshock. And I was like, that made me realize what next gen was. Like that felt like the jump from PS2. And I remember what did it was in the beginning was like the stone staircase, how they were like wet. And I was like, this is the brilliant thing ever. A wet stone. Look at this.
00:36:47
Speaker
We're in the future, guys. Thanks, Bioshock. And now we got to do this for more wet stones. Yeah. Well, you know who lives in the future? Who? Fucking Kojima. Oh, my God. Because they closed out the state of play with a new trailer and the official title of Deaf Stranding 2. Deaf Stranding 2. On the beach. On the beach.
00:37:12
Speaker
I'm not going to really do try to describe it because I feel like that does no justice to the fucking weirdness of this trailer.
00:37:23
Speaker
But there's a couple of things you can kind of pull out of it that aren't as crazily weird. One, this will be taking place in seemingly Mexico. The United States has been reconnected to the chiral network from the first game. And it sounds like you're going to be
00:37:41
Speaker
exploring the rest of the continent to bring them into the fold as well. Also, it sounds like they talk more about like weapons and like actual gun shooting. So there might be an emphasis on actual like firefights in this game, where in the first game, they punished you by if you killed someone and didn't incinerate their body, the game would just suddenly end. That's true.
00:38:08
Speaker
Um, so yeah, it's, you know, that's interesting. I think that's, that was a big complaint from the first game where it's like, why do you have guns if there's no incentive to use them? Yeah. Yeah. So.
00:38:22
Speaker
I think they're fixing that. Um, but as, and there's some returns in the trailer and some twists and turns and fucking weird ass shit. I highly recommend you go watch the trailer. Hold on, hold on. It's like, just go watch it because they've got a guitar weapon that shoots lightning and is also a, a plasma blade.
00:38:51
Speaker
It's all I could think was from the trailer was, number one, I remember nothing from Death Stranding. I remember Death Stranding pretty well. I remember loving it. And then now going back to this trailer, I'm like, what is anything?
00:39:07
Speaker
But also there's a lot of stuff that's like trademark Kojima dumb, but Kojima always delivers even when stuff is dumb. Like he somehow makes it important to the world where you're like nodding along with him at the end. And I'm so excited to like learn the in world reason why he has a guitar that shoots lightning. I don't think there's going to be a reason other than at school, but.
00:39:33
Speaker
I know. Come on. It's Kojima. He's going to explain it. Well, he had a guitar in the first game. Really? And also, I think it's because Trey Baker plays guitar. I didn't. I don't remember the guitar. I swear he had a good idea. Again, I remember nothing. Oh, yeah, that's right. I'm watching the show right now. It also introduced the puppet that moves up 16 FPS while everything else moves in 60 FPS.
00:39:58
Speaker
Very weird. I I'm so. At the top, by the way, nobody seems off put by it. No, no, no one. Kojima is great. Kojima can do whatever he want, and he never under delivers. Death Stranding was great. Yeah. I think it's a 20, 2025. So next year, he still has a game going on, though, with Microsoft, right? No.
00:40:25
Speaker
Or I don't know. Maybe that might be over. That might be OD. What is OD? OD was the game they announced the game awards with Jordan Peele. Oh, so got another one. And then and then after Death Stranding 2 trailer.
00:40:41
Speaker
Uh, he came, they came out with Herman Holst and showed that he is also going to be making a action stealth espionage game for PlayStation, which will be his probably third. He'll be his next game after OD, which means it probably won't see it till the PlayStation six.
00:41:03
Speaker
I have a feeling it's going to be like Kojima's last game. He said he said that this is going to be the culmination of his 40 years of game development. And it looks like he's just making a movie.
00:41:18
Speaker
Um, if you don't know, um, was it action espionage is how Kojima always described metal gear solid. Um, right now the working title is fizant P H Y S I N T. So like physical intelligence kind of, um, but
00:41:40
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, we're probably not going to hear anything about that game for years.
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth: Speculations and Comparisons
00:41:45
Speaker
For many years. Well, and then the big reveal was that like a drone flew out of the announcement and they were at some movie studio. They were at, I think it was Fox. Was it Fox? I think it was Fox. It was something like a name you know. Oh no, it's Sony Pictures because it's Sony. Oh, that's fair. I was picturing Paramount or who was the one with the holding the torch?
00:42:10
Speaker
that's columbia who sony owns them oh okay um i think sony is that the columbia picks lot okay um this in my mind was when or like sony trying to get kojima back after they're after dust ranny and they're like no kojima you can go your own way
00:42:30
Speaker
Now they're begging him to come back with a stealth action espionage game. Yep. I have to say, though, knowing nothing other than that, it'll be the culmination of his career. I have such high expectations and I can't wait. Really? Wait, because you've played all the Metal Gear Solid, right? Yeah. Did you play Death Stranding? I did not play Death Stranding. I'm too casual of a gamer to get into a Stranding type gameplay. Oh my gosh, shut up. But no, I just never picked it up.
00:43:02
Speaker
That's fair. Maybe watch it. I don't know. But the story I thought was fantastic. Oh, do you think Jeff Keeley is going to be in it? I'm sure he will. Wasn't he in the first one like as like a side thing? Yeah, he was. He was one of like the colonists or whatever that you would meet. Is Guillermo del Toro going to be in it?
00:43:22
Speaker
We get seen him yet, but I mean, there's no reason he wouldn't be. I'm forgetting. Yeah, maybe we did. He was. He wasn't die hard, man. He was. He was on. Is he just timing die hard? He was hard. I don't know.
00:43:36
Speaker
But I wonder who's Kojima's new friends that are going to be in it. Jordan Peele. Who's that? Oh, Jordan Peele's going to be in it for sure. Probably. Hey, you know what? We've got a couple of years. We have to be Kojima's friend to be the new one. Listen, if Charles had stolen Shuhei Yoshida's phone, we could definitely have had Kojima's number. That's true. Listen, he picks up. He'd pick up for Yoshida.
00:44:05
Speaker
I thought on the overall, this is a pretty good state of play. I feel like I give it like, you know, four out of five. I think there's definitely been some real stinkers of state of plays lately. And this was, you know.
00:44:19
Speaker
Death Stranding was doing a lot of work to pick that up to the four out of five, but on the overall still, I mean, there was a good pace of announcement in there. That's stellar blade trailer. Kind of weird. I still like the game, but it was just a bad open on. Yeah. Open with it. Yeah. It was a six minute trailer too. So kind of like it. And there was like dev talk and just. Oof. Okay. But I feel like the big thing for this is all the variety. They have something that completes anyone.
00:44:49
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, they did. They covered a lot of different genres and a lot of different types of games, so. I think that's good. Yeah, I'm excited. Oh, and they also did a Ho-Yo game, right? That was Endless Zone Zero. What a name. Yep. What a name, but yeah, that's not the only state of play because there was another state. No, Andy, it's going to be fine. I don't I'm not going to spoil anything. Don't spoil a single thing.
00:45:19
Speaker
so there was another state of play that happened yesterday where they dived into Final Fantasy rebirth and honestly it wasn't really that much of a dive I will say it was kind of just it was a extended trailer and they really kind of just showed like look at our open world that we have created
00:45:38
Speaker
And they showed kind of a lot of the different zones that you'd be going to in the different environments of those zones. I'm trying to keep it nice and generic for you, Andy. Thank you. I have avoided it so much. And like my Google feed now has been I've had to like I'll see a picture. I'll see the first word of a title and just, oh, everybody's trying to spoil everything for me.
00:46:00
Speaker
Yeah. They, they showed a lot of the, it seemingly every mini game that was in final fantasy seven, they have re-engineered and recreated for rebirth. No matter how silly or how stupid what's in the original game, they remade it baby. And it's in there.
00:46:17
Speaker
It looks like they're going hard. They are. And I said, Sandy, two discs. I exactly two discs. I have been completely blind to everything. So my only knowledge is the previous trailer. But they're they're going and there's going to be a demo to write.
00:46:35
Speaker
The demo is out now. Um, it covered, and there's going to be an update to the demo probably coming next week. Cause you have to figure they don't have that much time. Um, the demo is the, uh, is Niffleheim. Let's, let's clown Tiva's hometown, Andy. Nibbleheim. Nibbleheim. Yeah. It's the Nibbleheim section.
00:46:55
Speaker
Yeah, because they did mention or I saw a spoiler in an article title that it's not really, but that you can play as Sephiroth. Yeah, but you didn't you and oh, he was in your he was on your team in the original during that's at that part, right? Yeah, you never got to play as him, but he was there. Well, I mean, yeah, but you control them, didn't you? Because I guess, yeah, my brain is thinking running around with him on the map. Yeah, no. So, yeah.
00:47:23
Speaker
I mean, I don't know anything about story for it, but yeah, the demo contains that it cuts off at a certain point. It doesn't do the whole story, but there's a bit of combat in there and all that. And and then they said, yeah, they're going to do an update to the demo soon to give you a taste of the open world experience as well. Wow.
00:47:47
Speaker
I'm not going to play the demo. I'm just going to wait. No, just wait. But I mean, I watched people play it. Oh, fair. But I didn't feel I don't feel like a burning desire to play it. Oh, I mean, this is why I didn't play like a dragon. And I'm obsessed with like a dragon. I will say they're focused on how many mini games and side quests there are in here. They kind of give me pause because I'm like,
00:48:26
Speaker
So showing how much they're sticking to the heart and, you know, all of the memories that you made back as a kid, where God damn, you've tried to win that race so many times. And Peter just cheated and he finally won. Like, it'll be nice to go revisit many games that created real memories over some key story elements.
00:48:38
Speaker
I'm not here for this.
00:48:52
Speaker
Andy, I will tell you, they did add a dating mechanic to the game.
00:49:00
Speaker
Uh, what's the golden saucer, right? Is that where they hang out? Yeah. Yeah. Apparently. So they added like dialogue choices to the game. So you can, and based on those dialogue choices, you can raise your team party level with certain members of the team and you can buy their words, go on dates with them at the golden saucer. I guess that was kind of in the first one. Was it?
00:49:27
Speaker
Depending on I don't remember what the qualifier was, but you would go on a date with someone at Golden Saucer and there it could be one of them. Haha. OK, because this sounds like it could be anybody, including Red 13. Oh, see, that's kind of cool. No, he wasn't in the original one, and I thought they hinted at it in the first one.
00:49:45
Speaker
Because you would have that flashback memory in the remake one where someone talks to you. Of course, Aerith talked to me. But Barrett was one of the people that could talk to you. Yeah. It seems like they're adding a little bit of that RPG style decision making in there. OK. That's fun.
00:50:03
Speaker
That's that's fine. That's fine. I feel like that's in the spirit of the original I I am the I am the the The un the undriven snow for our group where I don't have any strong opinions about Final Fantasy 7 So everything I see I'm just kind of like okay
00:50:21
Speaker
I have a burning and emotional reaction to literally everything. I don't know if this one's going to hit me as hard as the first one. I think I talked about even the opening scene. Depends where it ends, right, Andy? What's that? Depends where it ends. In the in the story of Final Fantasy 7. Where it ends? Well, I mean, here's like I don't know enough about storyline, but Sephiroth kills Aerith like where in terms of the storyline?
00:50:49
Speaker
Oh, sure. Yeah. I don't know if you'll kill her in this one, though. Well, I mean, well, that's the thing. Who knows what will happen. But do you think that will be like the final story beat of this section? I don't. I don't think so. I think people's expectations are so high that that'll happen. But so not. No, no, no, no. Not that he'll kill her because I doubt that that'll be the sit. They'll repeat that as well because it's almost too expected.
00:51:15
Speaker
Um, but whatever should happen in that moment that will happen, that'll be the final story beat of the story. That's what I'm getting at. Is there going to be three or four games? Three. Did they? That'd be too, that'd be too early for it. In my mind it would, but I don't know. I could be wrong. I could be. Wasn't there like a, like a question mark for the four? I have a memory of them saying, we'll do a fourth one if it needs it.
00:51:46
Speaker
That's that seems weird because I don't know. Oh, it'll be everybody saying it's a trilogy. I just have this memory of them saying maybe this was before they revealed it was a three game. Anyways, I feel like it would be a weird place to stop it. OK. All right. Maybe between disc one and two. That would make sense if they're making a big deal about it being two discs. I would say that the death happens at the end of this one because that's how it happened in the original.
00:52:06
Speaker
Oh, I don't remember that. I could be wrong.
00:52:13
Speaker
I think even though like the loading or like the disc change screen I'm actually I think I'm making it up I don't remember what the disc change screen was But I my bets is if they kill someone I think they're gonna kill Tifa But I think if they kill someone it will be between the discs. They spent all that time modeling her though Okay at this point. What if he kills Barrett?
00:52:36
Speaker
Oh. That'd be fun. Just shoving Masamune through Barrett. Man. But I don't know. I feel like everyone is on the table. Sephiroth could die at the end of this one. Ooh. Be fair, Derek. Sephiroth's been dead the whole time. Oh yeah, because this is Advent Children, Sephiroth. Which I still don't understand all of that. I actually went back and I was reading the TV tropes for Final Fantasy VII to be like, how does this work again?
00:53:07
Speaker
I should probably do that. I should probably do that. I read the Sephiroth page to be like, OK, no, I kind of get it. I kind of I don't. But I'm just I'm just here for the fan service. Just give me things I remember so I can clap. That's that's what I think. I think it was a perfectly fine little state of play. I think it went went out of its way to show.
00:53:33
Speaker
you know, like the depth of how deep they're going into like these little, like, because I think the complaint I heard from people about remake was that it was very much a linear storyline. But I heard that's kind of basically what Midgar was anyway. But I think people are saying like, you know, if you're going to remake it, why did you make it so linear? This one, I think they're taking that criticism like, you motherfuckers are going to have so much to do.
00:54:01
Speaker
yeah that's the thing i remember from that one trailer was this seems big like it's doing a lot like the locations they were showing like it seems you're going everywhere yeah um and i'm wondering if this is gonna be kind of like
00:54:16
Speaker
You know what? Maybe this will be maybe Aerith will die at the end of it. I don't know. But like it's given me vibes of the Avon Gillian rebuild movies. Yeah, I've been thinking that too, Andy. Yeah. Like where he goes, like he starts to change it and then he goes way off in the second half of it. And I'm wondering if they're going to do that, which I'm here for. And I was kind of there for in the rebuilds and then no.
00:54:44
Speaker
I like how the rebuilds. I, you're, I respect you. I'm sorry that you want, uh, was it was his name, something? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm sorry that you want him to be depressed.
00:55:01
Speaker
I do. That's when he does his best stuff. He's too happy to work on Godzilla. I don't know. God, I'm not going to get in that list. And to be on the record, I wanted it different. I wanted everything to change. I just thought the way he did it was bad. Before you go on the next one, is I respect you with the northern version of Bless Your Heart? OK. I got the vibe right there for Mandy. Wait, no, no. Oh, I guess. I don't know.
Microsoft's Future Plans and Xbox Strategy
00:55:31
Speaker
It just bums me out.
00:55:33
Speaker
Bummer, you know, anyways, well, let's wrap this up with the rumor mill, because there's some there's some interesting things been going on this past week. A bunch of leaks shot out of Microsoft this past week, basically saying that every Microsoft game is going to be coming to PlayStation five. There's this leak about Gears of War, a leak about Starfield, about the new Indiana Jones game. And it got to the point where Phil Spencer himself sent out a tweet saying, quote,
00:56:02
Speaker
Hold on. It's loading. Come on, Elon. Faster. There we go. Quote, we're listening and we hear you. We've been planning a business update event for next week where we look forward to sharing more details with you about our vision for the future of Xbox. Stay tuned. So next week, we're going to be talking about whatever the fuck this thing is going to be. Let me just preempt it. I already released this news weeks ago.
00:56:23
Speaker
I know. I was I was thinking that Derek's going to be like, I fucking called it. The writing's been on the wall. Wait, refresh me, gloat. I'm trying to remember.
00:56:33
Speaker
I've refreshed on what? What did you say specifically, Eric? They're going to shift away from all hardware and to shift only into software. Oh, yes. Game Pass will come to PlayStation. And I don't think I don't think the Xbox, I don't think Game Pass will ever be on PlayStation because that that denies PlayStation money. Yeah, I don't know if Sony would let it on there. If not, then they'll just release the games on
00:57:01
Speaker
Yeah, for 70, you know, like 60, 70 dollars because that way said Sony gets its store cut. If they put a subscription service on there, Sony wouldn't get a cut that will never do that. Well, no, if it's a subscription on Sony hardware, they'd get the 30 percent cut. And that's they would get. They would get some weird percentage that wouldn't be as good as them getting full game sales. You know,
00:57:24
Speaker
I still don't think they're pivoting away from consoles. I still think they're going to have a console. I think it's going to continue having a high tier console that will match the PS5, and they will have a low tier console for people to entry level into. I think they're just going to reevaluate how many of those high tier consoles they make. They're going to be like, yeah, this is going to be a luxury item. We don't have to make a million of them.
00:57:54
Speaker
Like I think it's obvious from a technical perspective that the Xbox does not match the PlayStation hardware at the high. No, no, it's they're pretty similar. I don't. The only thing I think it beats is in the SSD loading time, because Sony like to devise their own fucking SSD chip for it, which is not just SSD. It's APU optimization, which is going to be a bigger and bigger part of performance going forward.
00:58:24
Speaker
Microsoft did something too with theirs though, but that's also why you can't plug in any like M2 drive into the Xbox. You have to get a specific Xbox branded hard drive to expand the Series X. So they both have that stuff.
00:58:40
Speaker
I mean, they will have it, but it's my opinion that the Xbox hardware falls short just when put next to each other. That's fair. Well, we'll have to find out what Phil Spencer is going to say on another episode of Add to Party, a friendship simulator masquerading as a new show. I've been your host, James. I don't know. Maybe Barrett dies. Hartwell. You stole mine.
00:59:09
Speaker
Nice try. And I've been joined by... I finally have one prepared. Andy, I don't know, maybe Tifa dies. That'll be fine. Okay. And I've been joined by... Derek, rolling around at the speed of sound. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you, Crush 40, something? It's something. Thank you, Derek. You get it. Listen to Sonic. Surrounded by Sonic nerds. Shut up.
00:59:40
Speaker
Genesis punks. Oh my God. Now that songs in my head. Go. Let's do it. Have a good night, everyone. Have a good night. Have a good morning. Catch you in your night. Wherever you are. So considerate. Bye bye.