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New World Order! Square Enix President Stepping Down, Bungie Stumbles On Their Lore, And a NEW Host?!?
4 Plays1 year ago
This week we talk about new game releases, Square Enix's president stepping down, and why penis ads plague Andy.
All under the guidance of a new, yet, familiar host as James preps for his trip to Japan.
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Transcript
Introduction to 'Add to Party' and Recording Challenges
00:00:14
Speaker
Welcome to Add to Party, a friendship simulator masquerading as a new show. I am your host now, Charles Yamat, and I've been joined by
00:00:27
Speaker
James, James preparing for recording on location in Japan. I'm already screwed up trying to do this in the second spot. Hartwell. And I've been joined by, you don't have to do it for this, Andy. Oh, thank God.
00:00:43
Speaker
OK, well, we're off to the good side. We need to get these kinks out. That's that's my fault. Not yours. Yeah. Right. Yeah. So James is going on location to Japan. And Charles has graciously offered to post. What's up? You served you. Well, I'm trying to sugarcoat it. OK.
00:01:08
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. No, it's the throne was empty and it was lonely. Everyone else was too afraid. I certainly was. Also be prepared for this is the last week of me having good audio until I get back.
00:01:25
Speaker
No, we're going to have fucking war correspondent. I want to be honest with you. I bought this little thing that plugs into my cell phone that has a wireless lav mic that I clipped into my fucking shirt. Oh, really? Yeah, it was like 30 bucks. I'm like, that's not bad. We'll see if it works. You know, you know, the problem isn't that Japan has bad Internet. They have reasonable Internet. It's just seeing if the audio quality will stay good.
00:01:53
Speaker
I, I did test with it. Like I did it at like a voice recorder and it sounded okay. It doesn't sound as beautiful as my Elgato wave three here, but it's, I think it's passable. Yes. Cause I made you buy a wave three. Yeah. Way too many times messing around. Yeah. So, you know, we're going to play around. Hmm.
00:02:14
Speaker
I have reigns. We're going to go places. You have weird and strange places. And we're just going to have to go. Can we go to a strange place real quick? Okay. Whatever long Furbies done now, Andy. But I need your help. So I think Google thinks I'm a pervert right now. I mean, you are right. Well, I think
00:02:39
Speaker
OK, I think the journey started because I started playing mobile games.
Unusual Mobile Game Ads and Google's Perception
00:02:45
Speaker
And by that, I mean the Tomb Raider game, which is what Tomb Raider go. No, that one's really good. There's one called Tomb Raider Reloaded, and it's not worth talking about. But ever since I started playing that and browsing the store for new games, Google keeps offering me ads.
00:03:07
Speaker
of just like big booby women asking me to solve puzzles. I mean, they do that to everyone, Andy. That's not about you, Andy. Don't worry. No, I never. Well, I was just like, what did I Google in my browser?
00:03:22
Speaker
But, so, okay, so whatever, you know, I thought it was funny, whatever. Now, I don't know what this is, but there is this one site that keeps showing ants to me now, like on the, like, like, you know, like banner ads and stuff. And at first it was, it was like show like stuffed animal, like just really weird random stuff. But there was always one thing that kind of looked like a penis, but not really.
00:03:54
Speaker
And I didn't know, I didn't know if it was trying to look like a penis. So can I share this? Oh, we're not streaming though. Yeah, we're not streaming. So yes, you can share it. And listeners, you know, I went ahead and looked up Tomb Raider Reloaded.
Exploring Tomb Raider Reloaded's Art Style
00:04:12
Speaker
And, you know, if you know who Lara Croft is, you might be worried that you'd be showing too much cleavage or anything.
00:04:18
Speaker
Tomb Raider Reloaded doesn't do that. She's not really showing any cleavage whatsoever. She just looks like a normal woman.
00:04:26
Speaker
Well, I don't know. Would you call that super deformed? Super deformed a little bit. A little bit. Right. But anyway, I don't like the art style, but it does play the main Tomb Raider theme in the menus, and that's enough to hook me. But let me share this picture with you. Now, be aware that it's progressed into much more where now I know that it's not joking around. But initially, it was just this picture at the very top.
00:04:54
Speaker
Oh, let me know when you see it. It was just the picture at the very top. And then you can see at the bottom of this picture, it's like a yak stuffed animal.
00:05:02
Speaker
picture of the it looks like, like a clip or something or maybe like a chord organizer,
Humor in Odd Online Ads
00:05:08
Speaker
but it reminded me of like a crude, a crude dick. Well, I mean, listeners, imagine the crude drawings of a penis where you just draw a long cylinder and then two circles at the bottom.
00:05:26
Speaker
It's kind of like that. So I mean, I don't blame you, Andy. Yeah. That it looks that kind of looks like a penis. It kind of. I think he's a pervert. Yeah. I would say that Andy is a pervert, though. I am a pervert. But so everywhere I went, it was just this this dick clip or whatever this thing is. I don't know what it is.
00:05:45
Speaker
And then it would have like eight like this like Asian woman like modeling something on her hand. It was so weird. And then the second picture that started showing up is this thing. I don't know what it is, but it looked like a.
00:06:01
Speaker
Okay, what came to mind is like a thing you would use to peace standing up. But I don't think women use that. I wonder. No, there's something women use to do that. Yeah. Yes, but that's not what that is. It looks like God, how do we describe this to the listeners?
00:06:20
Speaker
It looks like a thing that you would put on a car, like a car muffler, but the only thing I could think is this thing is meant to help me pee. And I didn't understand. Do you know what that is? Because I'm not clicking on it. No, I don't know. But Andy, you should just click on it. I'm not clicking on it. What are you afraid of? Yeah. It's not like the computer is going to think better of you.
00:06:47
Speaker
Okay, I should also say I've also been like clicking on the X of the ad and I keep saying don't recommend ads. I've done this for a week and it's only shown me more.
00:06:59
Speaker
Yeah, because you're engaging by saying don't. Wait here, the ad disappeared. Well, anyways, there's the car muffler P device. And then the third one now is just like a dangling balls that you hang off of your bike seat. Yeah, similar to when you see truck balls on a bike.
00:07:20
Speaker
Excuse me. Excuse me. That's truck nuts TM. All right. Let's cut nuts. Sorry. Well, they've got him for the bike, too. And it just keeps like all these not I don't know what these are here. Let me click on the muffler. But I have said so many times don't recommend this nonsense to me. Now I've started saying that it's inappropriate. At first. Oh, here it is. Here it's again. OK, I'm clicking on it. I'm engaging. Mm hmm. They got you.
00:07:47
Speaker
Oh, Andy reminds me of like those old people who when they get a spam group text, they go stop texting me. Oh, you guys, it's not for peeing standing up. It's a faucet extender. Oh, that makes sense. So it's so you put it on a faucet and it kind of turns it into a water fountain.
00:08:10
Speaker
Here, let me take a screenshot. It's the strangest thing you got. I mean, I can see how it becomes a fountain. Imagine something you would use to pee standing up is actually meant to be a fountain. Well, let's click on the dick clips. What are those?
00:08:30
Speaker
What are these? I thought and I thought things were going to get weird when I went to Japan. No, starting now. No, don't worry. James is going to go to those Japanese porn stories and be like, no, this is nothing. Let me tell you about the ads I see. I grew up in the Internet before safe search. Nothing faces me. I guarantee you, you will not know what that dick clip is. It's a balloon, not tire.
00:09:00
Speaker
Oh, OK, it's fun. But it looks like this place. I don't understand. And then there's just the truck nuts. But anyways, it's Temu Dotcom. I think I know that name. Yeah. What's that? I feel like I know that name. Make sure to go to Temu Dotcom. That's for all your phallic adjacent needs.
00:09:26
Speaker
Right. Another thing says chicken nugs and mama hugs. OK, I'm going to get a shirt that says that and I don't know. I don't know you guys. Anyways, you guys gave me the courage to click on these, but also you just made me engage with this content. So I can expect more of these now. Yep. Showed up again. What's going on?
00:09:52
Speaker
Stop seeing this ad. Ad is inappropriate. We'll try not to show you the ad again. I've done this for a week. Anyways, thank you. Well, don't worry, gentlemen. And that's my thesis statement.
Wollong Fallen Dynasty Game Mechanics
00:10:05
Speaker
Yes. Speaking of things people didn't want, and yet silk showed up. Wollong Fallen Dynasty came out this past week.
00:10:14
Speaker
which I believe is essentially a Souls-like game, a third-person action game made by Koi Tecmo, which is interesting that they made it. One, because they already made a game like that, which is Nioh 2, if I recall. Is that right?
00:10:34
Speaker
Well, you and you too, but yes. Yeah, yes. The neo franchise. Yes. Now, here's the thing. I have not played this because I, you know, I actually have such a big backlog. I just can't get to it. But everybody else, you know, not Andy, but James, did you try it out? Not yet. I probably won't get to it till I get back, mostly because I've heard that it's long.
00:11:03
Speaker
maybe in the 30 to 40 hour range, you know, assuming you you're good, which I am. So it's not a problem, but I like that confidence, James. That's a lot. If you put you put you play a couple of Soulsborne games, you get confidence. Yeah. You're in every step. Did you beat Sekiro? I did. Oh, wow. OK. Yeah. And I beat the the demon of hatred or whatever the fuck is. Oh, look at that. This guy.
00:11:33
Speaker
even the hatred being one of the harder bosses in the Soulsborne series listeners. So here's my thing with Wollong. It definitely looks very beautiful. It's a technical step up from everything. Reviews have been a little bit middling though, surprisingly. People find it...
00:11:58
Speaker
There are people that like it. There are some valid criticisms about certain mechanics and how long the game is. But reviews are, I think last we looked was around an 80. I would know because this is one of my picks in the fantasy league and it's only okay.
00:12:20
Speaker
I really liked it. I've heard that there's also this morale system that no one quite understands how it works, too. Koei Tecmo loves to put some weird secondary mechanic in the games, and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. Like in Neo Two, it was turning into a demon. Hmm. Oh, man, you know what? I did not play Neo Two, so that is interesting that you bring that up. Turning into a demon.
00:12:46
Speaker
I was actually I have that on my steam deck because I'm like, you know, I haven't played, you know, two. Well, and I mean, the other big thing, too, is that the PC port, not great, very unoptimized, which I think might also be where kind of some of the low reviews are going. I know that's definitely a reason why I'm taking my time to play it because I would rather play it on my computer or my steam deck. Wait, why? Just easier.
00:13:14
Speaker
Isn't it on PS five? It is. It's also on PC game paths. Yeah. Oh, on. Oh, on Xbox, whatever. Yeah. Come on. Also. Also, I heard that load times on the Xbox are considerably longer than the PS five version two. So just in general, it's not super well optimized. I think Neo two and one had that problem at initial launch when I that I recall. Hmm. Oh.
00:13:42
Speaker
I mean, yeah, I was going to say I, I, I got Neo two, I believe from the PS plus monthly games away back when I still haven't gotten to it. We'll see when I get to it. It's a good one. It's actually, it's, it's better than one. I liked, I liked one. And so they had some good fights there. Interesting system. It's, it's actually, it's harder than one too. That's a, you hit that skill wall really quick in Neo too. Oh, well.
00:14:10
Speaker
Walls are meant to be broken, says every Soulsborne player. Yeah, but I mean, yeah, it's it's a pretty game. And I think I think it's just one of those things where it's like it needs a little more. It needed a little more time in the kitchen to to get out to be where it wanted to be. But it certainly has. It certainly wasn't released. You know what I mean? Like feature incomplete. Sure. It just could have used more polish.
00:14:40
Speaker
Okay. Well, that makes sense. Clean it up. It looks really cool. I won't play it. It looks cool. Elden ring has killed souls games for me now. I think that's the greatest game of all time. That's one of the best. That's it. I'm so excited.
00:14:56
Speaker
Um, I would be playing Elvin ring right now. If I didn't still need to finish forbidden forbidden West still, let's say I'm a, listen, I'm in Las Vegas and Salt Lake city nowadays. Well, I'm, I'm actually technically past there now. Um, I'm in the other area, but you know, we'll get there, but you know what else let's not talk about those older games. Let's talk about another new game that came out, but with the hint of nostalgia, the dead cells return to Castlevania DLC dropped. Okay.
00:15:26
Speaker
And am I potentially playing it literally right this second? Maybe. Yeah, because you don't want. It's really good. The the 88 on my fantasy critics score definitely reflects that. No, it's great. Really fun. I would say.
00:15:51
Speaker
So, Charles, how much have you played? Oh, barely. I like only the very beginning. But you got into the castle and everything, right? Right. Okay, yeah. So it's not a separate mode or anything like that. You still play normal Dead Souls. It's usually pretty easy to find the entrance to the DLC part.
00:16:13
Speaker
Um, you can get there in like under five minutes if you find it or lucky enough. Um, but like once you get in there, man, it feels like Castlevania and it feels like a good Castlevania too. Like Renami wasn't involved in the development, was it?
00:16:32
Speaker
No. OK. But I mean, I think this just speaks to the fact that, you know, roguelikes inherently have a sort of Metroid Castlevania quality to them. And when you're playing it, you're like, this doesn't feel all that different. It just feels like Castlevania in a different art style. Yeah, I never really thought about it like that. Castlevania would work perfectly as a rogue light or whatever.
00:17:01
Speaker
But Konami does nothing. Well, no, they let more talented people use their IP, at least in this case. Yeah. God bless. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, man. If only Konami could die. And just let their IP scatter to the wind. Oh, yeah. Absolutely.
00:17:24
Speaker
What do you want out of Konami? What do you want? No, I don't want another Metal Gear Solid. Let it rest. Well, do you want a remake of Metal Gear Solid? No. Zone of Endus for me. I mean, they have that HD remake. Oh, you want a sequel? Yeah. Oh, but that's Kojima too. I know. Oh, no. Kojima is doing his own thing now.
00:17:47
Speaker
Do you? Would you love an open world mech game with a mech strand like game as you scavenge for parts to repair your mech until to restore to a strongest so you could fight a bad guy? That's probably going to be that might be armored core six. Hiring Miyazaki. Probably not, but.
00:18:17
Speaker
I've been looking for somebody just like you. You found the golden ticket in your copy of Elden Ring. Well, so
Destiny 2 Lightfall Expansion Critique
00:18:28
Speaker
those are two of the games that got released this week. There's actually a third big one that came out, which is Destiny 2's latest expansion, Lightfall, which if people are
00:18:43
Speaker
following along with the lore, which I would applaud you because not even the most biggest PhD holding Destiny Lourner can follow the story of Destiny whatsoever. Too many proper nouns. Oh, I had to go watch a video. Yeah. I spent some time on the wiki. I was like, oh, who's oh, we found out that I was like, OK. Yeah. And honestly, unfortunately, Destiny 2's latest expansion, Lightfall, continues that.
00:19:12
Speaker
very obtuse lore story telling. There's a lot of people that are kind of confused about what's going on, why they're doing the things they do. How come in the middle of this attack, I have to leave and go to a different place to unlock the new subclass I want to get and fight a different boss than the main guy in that different planet? It was in fact an old boss that you beat already. Yeah.
00:19:42
Speaker
Yeah, so there's some weird momentum problems with the game, seemingly. I think a lot of people are kind of scratching their heads at that. At already Destiny 2's not good reputation in terms of story and how they handle it.
00:19:59
Speaker
Famously in the original Destiny, all the lore of a lot of the characters were locked behind character cards, which are not stored in the game. You have to go to a website and connect your account. God, that was so dumb. Yeah. So why you do the things you do? Who are these people you're playing with? Why do you care if they die? You should know it's all there.
00:20:29
Speaker
somewhere else has been going on for 10 years. I did play like the first five missions and I will say it's still a fun game like the new subclass is called Strand. So.
00:20:49
Speaker
The lore is now that you've unlocked all the powers of the light and now you're unlocking powers of the darkness and the previous expansion it was stasis power and this expansion it's Strand power which basically lets you just fucking whip around the map like you have a grapple hook.
00:21:07
Speaker
And it's super fun. Yeah, it's super fun. In fact, it's in for some classes, it's so broken that you can basically never touch the ground in some missions. Aw, what was that game that we played? Titanfall? Oh, Titanfall is so good. That was so fun. That had bungee people in it, right? Yep. Wasn't that studio founder fun? Oh, God, that game was so good.
00:21:30
Speaker
Well, I'm glad you're enjoying it gameplay wise. But yeah, I mean, I don't know if I'll finish it. I think part of the issue people have, especially with the story. Is is kind of what Charles is saying, right? Essentially. It feels like they just kind of punted it. They're they certainly covered some things and tried to like expand the lower a little bit, but it does feel like
00:22:00
Speaker
you know, we're waiting for the next expansion to finish up this whole storyline. Yeah. And some interesting bits too, involving Strand, this new subclass, and the story for the game, is that the full power of the subclass Strand is also tied to these seasonal drops that are coming out for the game.
00:22:23
Speaker
But not only the strand powers, but also story bits and pieces will also come out along with these seasonal drops. So as seasons come up in the game during the year, another piece of the story will move forward along with unlocking a new power for the strand. So if you play right now and you get strand, you don't have many powers associated with it.
00:22:46
Speaker
and you're supposed to get more throughout the year. So they keep you invested. Yeah, which is a, which, yes, this is a live service game. They didn't, that's not a good way to make your players feel fun to, you know, play it right now. It sounds like if you really wanted to do it, you should play at the end, but you miss on the story if you don't play now. So there you go. It's a little disappointing.
00:23:16
Speaker
Yeah, and especially since they've had good, the last two expansions have been good. The fact that this one kind of fell on its face is unfortunate. Yeah, it's just a little weird. I think they're taking some chances here, seeing what they could get away with. Yeah, it's actually a very good way.
00:23:39
Speaker
I'm just not sure they, I'm not sure people truly thought this was the best idea. I just want to see, it just seemed as if they were just wanting to know how far they could push it. That's kind of a shame. Hmm, that's too bad. A lot of people are very invested in this and they got something
00:24:01
Speaker
Was this in the pipeline still before Sony bought them? I am. Sony announcement was last year. I can imagine the game development has to take longer than half a year. Does that mean Bungie hasn't been able to spread its wings? I mean, listen, that deal supposedly was. Bungie still gets to do whatever it wants.
00:24:28
Speaker
Yeah, essentially Sony just kind of becomes their publisher, really. And is this Bungie's best idea? No, it's actually in the class is great. The everything else less so. Wait, is light fall or whatever the heck the thing is called? Is this free? No, it's 50 bucks. And then you have to pay for like your season. I believe that just I.
00:24:54
Speaker
I don't think that's a boomer take that that's just not. I mean, it's it's a pretty established thing at this point where you like $50 and then did you say a season pass? Yeah. Yeah. $50 and then a season pass. That doesn't. It's it's it's pretty established. That's how life service games work now.
00:25:16
Speaker
If it's free to play, I get it, but whatever. It's a tired conversation. I'm just still surprised by it.
Dragon Ball Z Tenkaichi Nostalgia
00:25:25
Speaker
Yeah, I think we should go back to traditional expansions where it's not really expansion. It's just an entire game that's piled on together. Much like our next release game that got announced, Dragon Ball Z Tenkaichi. That's a which Andy, do you remember Budokai Dragon Ball Z? I do.
00:25:45
Speaker
Yeah. Were you Buddha guy guys? Uh, I mean, I was, I was tired at it back in my days when I would do that. Oh, and by pirate, I mean, I would like get game fly and then I would rip it to a hard drive on my PS2. Yeah. I felt so bad when I had so much access to games is when I played the least of them.
00:26:09
Speaker
Anyways, Budokai was one of the victims of my gameplay. Is gameplay still a thing?
00:26:20
Speaker
Um, I forget, I didn't fully get to read this, but is this going, it's not a remake, right? It is. No, it's a new game. It's an entirely new game. That's going to come forward. Yep. Yeah. Which is exciting because honestly, the cool thing with Dragon Ball Z Budokai was it made a legitimate fighting game out of Dragon Ball Z. Like the other ones, Dragon Ball Z has had a couple older games that came out with it, but this was like the first one where they kind of properly were like, this is,
00:26:48
Speaker
You know, it felt more modern at the time. Yeah. And, you know, there's a there's a soft spot. I think everybody that grew up around that time got to watch Dragon Ball Z in the morning as they got ready to go to school. Everyone knew what you were talking about when you said when you yelled instant transmission in the playground and ran really fast. I don't know. Not my playground, but that's OK. That's OK.
00:27:15
Speaker
That's it. It's fucking white people. But actually not. But yeah, I continue. But no, there's a lot of nostalgia here for people that love Dragon Ball Z and people that got the chance to play Budokai. And I heard a lot of people are very excited for the game. Now, here's the thing, listeners. You may not know this, but Dragon Ball Z kept going.
00:27:46
Speaker
There's a lot of, there was a lot of characters by Dragon Ball Z. It's tripled, quadrupled maybe in characters by now with the end of the series. Some good, some not so good. Yeah. So this might be one of those fighting games that we have like 50, 40, 60 characters or whatever. I think, Oh, I mean, definitely more. If you scroll down, that was a big part of Budokai too, right? Having all those characters. Yeah, everybody. Oh, maybe it didn't talk about how many.
00:28:16
Speaker
Um, yeah.
00:28:22
Speaker
It just looks like DBZ. It's like they, what was the one that came out? Was it just called fighter Z? Thank you. It just like they took that just excellent graphic engine. I don't know if it's using the same engine at all. And then it just tied it to this. I thought Buddha was like an arena fighter. Yes. Yeah. Fighter Z is a traditional 2D fighter. Yeah. This is a 3D arena fighter.
00:28:50
Speaker
Um, which I don't, I struggled to think about what is contemporary in that these days, like virtual fighter would be the closest. Is Tekken really arena fighter? I guess kind of. I technically, yes. Hmm. The DBZ are flying all over the place. Oh yeah. That's, I mean, the, the, the verticality is what makes PewDiePie special. Um, and there was a good single player mode. It's just basically went through the entire series, but.
00:29:18
Speaker
What is it? Dragon Ball Dragon Ball Kakarot has a lot of that, too. I actually wonder if they're going to be using the Kakarot engine to do this. I mean, it'd be sweet. You know, I'm worried because I'm not necessarily a fighting game person, but like there is Tekken 8 Street Fighter, six Mortal Kombat, twelve Dragon Ball Z.
00:29:48
Speaker
And I'm like, I could only get back into one. I can't play any street fighter six, Charles. I know. And that's the thing. I, I think, I think it's about jury, Charles. What about jury? Well, that's the thing. I think it's going to have to be street fighter six that I end up going with because I can't play all these other ones, like Mortal Kombat. I'll watch the super cut movie from the, for this. Yeah. It.
00:30:14
Speaker
The last one for Mortal Kombat 11 was about three, four hours long. It was a good time. What's Liu Kang up to now? Yeah. Now that he's a god and reverse time back to the prehistoric era. What? Oh, yeah, baby. I'm not lying. How did he do it? You're going to have to watch these movies. You're going to be entertained. You're going to be entertained. That's cool. Yeah.
00:30:43
Speaker
but like, yeah, we could watch that. Tekken 8, I mean, it's not like they have a great story. Yeah. Watch out Tekken fans will come at you for saying that. No, listen, they can, they understand. It's just people taking turns throwing each other off a cliff. Don't, don't. That's very true. They're not going to say anything. They'll have to stand down.
00:31:05
Speaker
But, you know, all right, I guess we don't have much there because I guess that's no one else loves Dragon Posey. I know what I was going to say. So you made that point, Charles. It's it's like the year of fighting games. All these games are coming out this year. Yeah, it's kind of weird. You think they would spread them out ever so slightly more knowing that there are a smaller niche community. Yeah, I agree. But you know what?
00:31:34
Speaker
Some of them are going to have to blink. I feel like like Dragon Ball Z probably won't release this year. I hope not. Is it competitive? I mean, every fight, every you can. I mean, unless they make it not competitive and by which I mean like there are characters that are obviously unbalanced, but even then the community will just ban those characters. So that's true.
00:31:56
Speaker
Yeah, that's true. I think. Yeah, they're. Yeah, they're. I don't think when the first Buddha came out, it was meant to be competitive. I think it was just meant to fall in line with all the other. Well, don't worry. It was not like that big at that point.
00:32:11
Speaker
Yeah. And Andy, let's not talk about creators' intentions of games becoming competitive, lest we talk about dangerously close to Smash Brothers. No, no, please. Let's not. No, no. We don't want that smoke, Andy. No. But you know what? Here's some good news for you.
Legal Impact on Loot Boxes and FIFA
00:32:31
Speaker
Ooh.
00:32:33
Speaker
The Austrian court has ruled against Sony and EA about loot boxes and they call it illegal gambling. Finally. Yeah. Yeah, they do. You mean this thing that has all the markers of gambling is considered gambling? But, you know, and again, right now it is only the Austrian court. This case has been considered across all a lot of different places right now. And this is probably one of the first ones that may have made a full decision yet, which is good.
00:33:03
Speaker
But really, in this context, listeners, the soccer organization FIFA has a FIFA game wherein you can create your own best team of like your all-star lineup of soccer players. But those players aren't free and you can't directly buy them. What you have to do is you buy packs
00:33:32
Speaker
And just like, you know, opening up booster cards for baseball, or if you're a better person and play games like Final Fantasy TCG, you have a chance of opening cards that you like and want. One of them.
00:33:49
Speaker
could be your favorite person. And they all have different rarities. You could get duds, you could get useless things. But you know what, it's $4, you know, it's a certain cost every time you open a pack, and you may not have what you want. So it forces people to spend large amounts of money to build their dream team.
00:34:08
Speaker
Uh, and guess what? That sounds like gambling and it looks like the court agrees. Um, and interesting enough, um, you know, it's not EA that has to pay, you know, refund these, um, these, uh, purchases. It's going to be Sony because it was done through the PlayStation store. Like it is interesting, actually. No, it is. Um, it basically it's putting all the weight on the, um,
00:34:38
Speaker
the marketplace organizer, right? And so now the marketplace gets to be like, listen, we can't, we can't allow any type of gambling on our store. And it kind of forces them to regulate better. Which is like a way in trouble because they don't have a gambling license.
00:34:59
Speaker
Yeah, that's why they did. That's how they're able to go after them. So I guess if like Sony can get a gambling license, I think it works. Yeah, but online gambling is also not super legal everywhere. Like, I mean, especially in the US. Yeah.
00:35:17
Speaker
James would know. Yeah, I do, actually, because I am bombarded with emails every goddamn second, letting me know sports online sports betting is coming to Massachusetts this Friday. Oh, just in time for the local league. So March Madness season. OK, March Madness. But.
00:35:42
Speaker
No, it's everyone wants you to sign up with their thing. We'll give you $200 if you sign up with us. Whoa. Because they don't make so much money when you just keep betting.
00:35:57
Speaker
God, that's just so gross. Yeah. Yeah. It's a bad practice, Andy. Yeah. We are praying on people in human impulses in order to get money from them. Is that inherently bad? Yes. But also fun. Listen, liquor is also inherently bad for you, but you know what? I'll have a drink.
00:36:26
Speaker
That's true. Everything in moderation. That's right. Yeah. So this is going to be, I mean, this is.
00:36:35
Speaker
One, it's the right ruling. Let's be real clear, listeners. You don't want all this unregulated gambling going on, especially if it's in your video games, which everyone plays, including your children. Yeah, I was about to say children. I mean, it's almost like trying to say, but what about the children? This is one of the few cases where it is actually, what about the children?
00:37:02
Speaker
I mean, yes. Um, similar to, Oh God, I guess. Um, what, what would you say is the equivalent of this when we were younger? Was it maple story and buying Mesa points with your parents' credit card? I didn't play maple story. I'm trying to think what games
00:37:26
Speaker
I was too much of a nerd. I didn't play those games. I played. I played online 3D shooters. But I had online girlfriends and Neopets.
00:37:42
Speaker
No, but I mean, I think when we were younger, I think it was actually mostly just trading card packs, right? Yeah. Sure. Yeah. But it wasn't as, it wasn't as highly engineered as it was nowadays. Yes. No, I remember saving up a lot of money and then going out. Charles. I got it. There you go. Pogs. Man.
00:38:06
Speaker
Let me tell you about POGS in the sense that I never bought. All right, kids, sit down. Grandpa's got a story. I never bought POGS. I started with one, and then I won them all. I had two rolls of POGS. I don't know where to buy them. I never knew. They just grew naturally from conquest of the schoolyard.
00:38:31
Speaker
Can you get that good slammer that has a lot of heft to it? Kids, it's ball in a jack. It's Jackson Ball.
00:38:42
Speaker
Yeah, that's it. But yes, um, pogs are great kids. If you don't know what that is, Alf is back in pog for, we need, we need, uh, we need somebody to make a tick tock of it and really get that show some tricks, trick pog loops. Just get that going. And tech decks need to come back.
00:39:07
Speaker
Oh, I remember those. Oh, man. You know, this is it's all marketing. Yeah. You're like, yeah, people are geniuses. I wonder if pogs is all my. Evil geniuses. Evil geniuses. But like like pogs is like selling you
00:39:32
Speaker
Garbage. Well, I mean, a lot of things sold to us are garbage, but like pods, especially, or maybe a pet rock. Maybe that's the ultimate. I would say nothing beats pet rock. Nothing beats pet rock. Yeah. Pet rock really eluded me as a child. How much was a pet rock when it came out? Nothing. It's around. I don't know. I don't know what it would be in 1970s dollars was a pet rock. Probably three or five bucks. I have to guess.
00:40:00
Speaker
Let's fit, this is really important. The rock costs only one cent.
00:40:06
Speaker
Oh, oh, no, that's that's the manufacturing costs. Oh, how much was a pet rack in the 80s? How much was the pet rock sold for? I think is what you're looking for. How much was a pet rock in the 70s? Four dollars. Oh, I was right. So what is four dollars from 19? Probably somewhere between like 12 and 16 by inflation calculation calculator.
00:40:32
Speaker
Oh, there's too many acronyms. I don't care. Oh, my God. Let's go 1970 to today. One second. This is important. 1970. What? Forty dollars? Oh, wow. Well, I did 1970. Let's do the 1975. Well, one dollar in 1970 is worth about seven point one to four dollars times seven. Wait a minute. We just haven't risen in life.
00:41:04
Speaker
I need to talk to my local alderman about this. Oh, well. Well, you know what?
Square Enix Leadership Change and NFT Controversy
00:41:13
Speaker
Don't worry, pet rocks were a bad decision. And you know who else had to own up to bad decisions? Square Enix president, Square Enix president, Yosuke Matsuda, is going to be stepping down with pending approval by the CEO, by the executive board, to get replaced by Takashi Kiryu.
00:41:35
Speaker
Um, kids love live service Avengers. All right. No, NFTs. No. Uh, what, what about a stupid game with an unlikable protagonist to the fantasy world? Shit.
00:41:50
Speaker
And listeners, maybe you've heard about us talk about him tangentially throughout the years. But Yosuke Matsuda is famous for being one of the CEOs that was completely supporting the figuring out how to integrate NFTs into their games. And their products as famously some of their merchandise will come with NFTs. And Andy and I have been holding strong not to buy
00:42:18
Speaker
in order to not get NFTs from them so they don't get the wrong idea. Yeah, there was another wave that came out. Wonderful figures.
00:42:28
Speaker
Go on. I'm just so mad right now. And Yosuke is the head right now, and under his leadership has been part of a number of failures for the company. One being First Spoken failing, Ballon Wonderland failing, just a string of bad PR. And while Square- Did they put Ballon Wonderland on him?
00:42:56
Speaker
Um, well, I mean, you know, they, they always blame the maker. It happened on his watch. Wonderland was a wonderful risk. They took, didn't pan out, but I think it was more, it's that thing of like he has seniority. So we have to let him do what he wants kind of thing. Exactly. Which is a something I don't like about, um, Japanese, Japanese, uh, office culture. So, um, but here's the thing, right?
00:43:23
Speaker
Your Yosuke, you made a lot of bad decisions. You get replaced with this other guy, Takashi Kiryu. And, uh, he's head of marketing, by the way. So don't get your hopes up. Yeah. And you know,
00:43:41
Speaker
What's next? Do they retire? I forget what happens to, uh, uh, Japanese business presidents. Are they like normal, like Western way of just like switching to another company? They just take, I thought, I thought the idea, I mean, this is, this may be outmoded an idea, but I always understood it with Japanese word culture that.
00:44:04
Speaker
you kind you don't job hop job hop you you work for one company for your entire life more or less right so he's gonna he's gonna get to be put uh in the back shed and just mean that or he can start like some sort of like investment hedge firm or something because i'm sure he's a multi-millionaire oh for sure i mean yes that's it um
00:44:28
Speaker
Rich, well, assuming rich executives will probably well off and, you know, screw him. He's not to the level. You don't have this as a story in here, Charles, but I believe today it was announced that some Riot Studio devs are starting their own studio or Riot Studio staff.
00:44:50
Speaker
I don't know if they're the problematic ones or not, but they're starting the, I think it's called Believe. And one of their chief investors is Michael Eisner of Disney fame.
00:45:02
Speaker
Oh, you know what, though? I thought that was the joke. Like, we didn't know is like, is that the Michael Eisner? It is the Michael Eisner. Oh, weird. I mean, his investment firm is is is a part of it. So yeah, but that's what that's what I'm saying with like him. He could probably be into like one of those investment firms. You also end up on board of directors on probably a lot of companies. That's the other scam which people get. Yeah, this is the shuffle.
00:45:31
Speaker
But just be on board of directors for like eight companies get paid 80 grand a year for two meetings. It's a good idea. Listen, I think it's a great idea. I would do it in a heartbeat every time. Listen, just because you don't have it doesn't mean I can't. But here's the thing, guys.
00:45:48
Speaker
Do you have any hope just because a president has changed for Square? Square is in this weird spot. We've watched a lot of presentations. Square Enix is in all of them with a lot of games of varying qualities. They're just in every console showcase. Either big games or a lot of smattering of small games are different.
00:46:18
Speaker
Which I think is interesting. They, they publish a lot of things square does. Um, it's just, I don't know. When do you see the effects of this change? If it's going to be even useful at all? Like my hope is still that they get acquired by somebody. Yeah. I am thinking about it. I've actually been kind of impressed. Like first spoken was a really cool thing that they did. I think.
00:46:43
Speaker
And like Balan Wonderland was really cool. Like, you know, they panned in the ways that they did, but they were taking like really good risks that I was happy to see. And they released some more JRPGs. Like, I honestly, at least in my ignorance, I didn't like him because of the NFT thing, and he was messing up my figurine collecting. Like,
00:47:06
Speaker
That wasn't great for me. That's what's important, Suzanne. Honestly, they were dumping a lot of money into new IPs, and that's a good thing. And if we get someone else in there and they're much more conservative, that scares me. And if someone buys them out, at least the cynicism in me is you buy them for their IP, so they're just going to make more of the same.
00:47:33
Speaker
Um, but I had actually, honestly, in terms of like the content they were creating, maybe they weren't at the quality they needed to be, but they were like trying stuff. I might be too optimistic, but I don't know. They were trying stuff, right? I'm not. So, well, I mean, let's say here's my problem with trying stuff and not making them good. You can't do that forever.
00:47:56
Speaker
Yeah, you get like two. Yeah. And they've had more like square is known for not being good with their money and like cost of development. Yeah. Like it. And you're going to make, if you're going to do this experimenting, which I like, I like that they did all this variance.
00:48:14
Speaker
But there was a lot like there's not a quality. There's no like people that are like saying like, yeah, let's try it. And then stopping them before it gets too long. And then they say, OK, this isn't panning. Well, we need to fix it. Like, like the only person I trust in Square is Yoshi P. Yeah. Like that's the only one. And he had to be more their ego. Didn't. Didn't Nintendo have to bail Square out at some point?
00:48:44
Speaker
Like they had to give them, they had to like invest in them so they could stay solvent. I hadn't heard that. I don't know. Maybe. I might be thinking of a different company, but I know there's, I swear it was square, but I remember like some company did like an investment into them to keep them solvent. Cause they're like, well, we're about to go out of business. And we're like, well, we like your games. So stay in business.
00:49:08
Speaker
For some reason, HAL Laboratory comes to mind. I don't think that's maybe it was HAL. I don't know. I can't be sure. It sounds more likely it's HAL. I don't know. It was in my brain. But I want studios to do new things and like Square makes good stuff. Also, they made the new Tomb Raiders really good.
00:49:27
Speaker
because they just threw a bunch of money at it and then got mad that it didn't make a lot more. There's room for improvement, but they were taking risks and I was happy for it. I don't know. I would say that the person they're elevating to be the new CEO is not the type of person you make your CEO when you're looking for a sale.
00:49:53
Speaker
Um, interesting marketing generally means that you're looking for a new direction. That's more customer focused. Okay. So if you're, if you ended up getting someone more on the financial side, usually that means that the board of directors is looking for somebody to evaluate selling the company.
00:50:13
Speaker
Listen, I want Square to stay strong, independent. Do it. I need Square to focus and make a string of good things that aren't just
Hypothetical Character Stats Discussion
00:50:26
Speaker
a bunch. Final Fantasy 7 remakes. Well, I need them. They need to be good. Oh, they've gotten one correctly so far. Yeah. Actually, what did people say about Crisis Core?
00:50:41
Speaker
This is an old game. I mean, they didn't really change it. Yeah, I think. Let's take a look at open. I wouldn't be surprised if it was like mid 70s. Xeno crisis. That's also on my steam deck. Xeno crisis. Oh, crisis core. 80 percent. Oh, yeah. Pretty decent. Yeah, not bad. Like this is a good game to play on a plane. Yeah.
00:51:08
Speaker
Don't worry, you get to meet Genesis. Oh, I know the red Sephiroth. So, you know, it's been a slightly slower news week. So I've come up with some some fun theoretical questions for us. All right. My question to you guys. This isn't how I how I arrange this podcast.
00:51:29
Speaker
Damn right. Let's say this isn't the ship I believe. That's it. Fight for it when you're properly back. Uh, but let me ask you guys, right? Cause I was, uh, you know, I was listening to a different podcast and I was enjoying their fun little X thought exercise on certain game mechanics and, um,
00:51:57
Speaker
For us, let's say stats are real, like strength, intelligence, speed, whatever. What would you say is your strongest stat? And what would you say is the strongest stat for your co-hosts? And we don't have to stick with traditional stats. You could come up with ones where you're like, that's a stat, and say that's your strongest. Because I know mine.
00:52:21
Speaker
I know yours. I know Andy's too and mine. Oh, James, I, I, I, listen, it's very easy for me to judge people off the, off the, off the chain immediately. Oh, me too. Charles, you're, you're kind of a split. So it depends how you see yourself really, but, um, I'll start with Andy, Andy, definitely charisma. Oh, thanks.
00:52:43
Speaker
You're welcome, buddy. For me, it's Constitution. I'm very hard to kill. I have a ridiculously, I have a strong resistance to most levels of
00:52:55
Speaker
alcohol and drugs. I was actually going to say the I was going to say the drugs and alcohol pit. I was just like, he's like, you know, I've seen James put these away. Just be like fine. And then Charles, you are either strength or dexterity. I'm not really sure how you see yourself because your martial arts background, you know, I don't necessarily see you as like, you know, a power lifter. You're definitely the strongest of the three of us. Hmm. That's true.
00:53:25
Speaker
What's that? Interesting, interesting. I like this reasoning. Andy, have you decided? No, don't worry. We're going to put Andy on the spot. Give you my thoughts on on all of us real quick. Oh, no, because I, you know, I actually think
00:53:49
Speaker
Uh, Andy's should be charisma. Um, should, um, but I actually think there might be, there might need to be a little subclass of it. Um, because I would say Andy has a way of getting people to like him. I try very hard. But he doesn't have a good way of handling it once people do.
00:54:16
Speaker
Yeah, I think, you know, I know some stories. Yeah, you're right. Which I feel like if you're truly charismatic, you should be able to handle both. Extract putting yourself in and extracting yourself out. I can't. So I feel like there has to be like a sub charisma stat, right? Like it's because my kindness skill is just too high to tell people to go away. Yeah.
00:54:45
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. So this is what happens when you min max. I max it out and I can't deal with the repercussions. Yeah. For James, I feel like I had to come up with a stat necessarily a little bit.
00:55:09
Speaker
Oh, you know what? No, no, let's not come up with the stat. Could be insulting. Yeah, but I would actually honestly also say charisma with James and I have very similar lines of work and we have to deal with a lot of people. And in in that way, we also have to deal with everyone here just as much and
00:55:33
Speaker
That's it. So I think there's a good way to talk with people like true charisma, not like Andy's uncontrollable charisma. Charles, I actually had my yearly review today. Yeah. And one of my peer review notes from other people was that I am disarming and genuine. And I was like, oh, man, I've got them all fooled.
00:56:01
Speaker
I was going to say, I was like those idiots. I thought you desperately try not to connect with them. You didn't even go to the party. That's right, Andy. That's the trick. Yeah. Oh, you're hard to get. They'll never see it coming.
00:56:24
Speaker
That knife will show up just as friendly. Yeah. And then for myself, actually, you know, I think it's a really good camouflage of a skill, but I think my highest stat is luck. You don't have to be good at everything. You just be lucky. That is actually true. You are stupidly lucky.
00:56:53
Speaker
Things work out. Didn't you get fucking empty rows on both of your trips to Japan? Oh, yep, yep. And I didn't pay extra. It was economy. I slept, you know, I slept horizontally. Thirteen hour flight, which is fine. I don't know what everyone's problem was. Yeah. Oh, man.
00:57:19
Speaker
Yeah, so it's a good time. That is fair. All right, Andy, what do you got? Yeah, you had time. Well, I would agree for myself. It's charisma.
00:57:33
Speaker
How charismatic of you. I had no experience of it just, oh god, just working out. I think I've told it, but even at work, I had, I literally had a room stand and clap for me because like my- Oh god, that's my worst nightmare. With being the fun guy. And I'm like, oh, this is the most humiliating thing in the world. He's fun. Is being celebrated for being the fun guy. Screw you. But- The new job, Andy?
00:58:00
Speaker
No, that was at my old job. Oh, OK. I was about to say, man, that was fast. No, my new job, my new job. I've gotten similar stuff, not a room clapping for me. Not that. Yeah. But I constantly get the feedback of, oh, you're so fun. Everyone loves working with you. Blah, blah, blah.
00:58:23
Speaker
the president of the company was like, we want to hire more people like you. And I just, no, stop. So charisma is all I can ride on. That's all I got going for me. James, I was thinking for you kind of like a combination, like sort of like constitution because like you can drink
00:58:50
Speaker
and smoke and like all those good things. But then they're like. But like, I don't know, there's just like a leadership type of thing to it, too. Not in terms of your your ability to withstand indulgence, but I don't know what would I don't know the stats that it would be for. Andy, well, you know why I'm a Leo. I don't know what that means like.
00:59:20
Speaker
Do you not know about astrology, Andy? Oh, really? It's so stupidly fun. It has no meaning about anything, but it's always fun. No wonder you're a Leo. So I think charisma and constitution then, maybe? Those are your skills. Sure. There you go. I'm giving those to you.
00:59:46
Speaker
Um, and then for Charles, I think also a type of, like, I want to say like wisdom. Cause like his wisdom, the right thing. Cause I feel like you're very good at like knowing things or you're very thoughtful or remembering or all those different things. So you're, you have a very good skill there.
01:00:09
Speaker
And I think charisma too. So yours is charisma and wisdom, James's charisma and constitution, and mine is just charisma. I got nothing. It's not strength. I can't lift anything. It's the sound of, if we had mics at our listeners homes, you'd hear all of them protest and be like, no, no, Andy, you have more. No, no, no, I'm not fishing for compliments. I guarantee you I'm not. But really, if you want to send Andy a compliment, it would make his deck.
01:00:38
Speaker
If you were to tweet, add to party pod on Twitter, send him his words of encouragement. Granted, like self-deprecation, it's like.
01:00:52
Speaker
It's an art topic because it's like a lazy path to humor. But like, it's also like super interesting and funny. But like, I don't know. I've been thinking about that a lot though. Like what are my lazy jokes? And how can I make my jokes not so lazy? Before I killed her. Listeners. There's a there's a setup for that joke. That's the punchline. Yep.
01:01:21
Speaker
That's, it's Andy's favorite joke. That's why he's laughing right now. Maybe he'll tell it to you on another episode of add to party, a friendship simulator masquerading as a new show. And I've been your host Charles. And I've been joined by James. I did just beat death while I was doing this podcast and returned to Castlevania. How do you, he's been joined by, well joined by.
01:01:51
Speaker
Andy. I'm getting there. I'm getting there. Min Max. I'm a min max. Max K. Mm hmm. Yeah. Can't wait to hear about more news from James, especially in his safe flight back. But good luck, James and everyone. Have a good night. I want you to speak to check in next time. OK, I'll speak to you from the future. Oh, that's right.
01:02:20
Speaker
Tell me the lottery ticket. All right then guys. Good night. Good night.