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22. These popular games actually suck! | The most overrated games | Games Over Plastic
41 Plays4 months ago
In this fantastic episode we discuss the most overrated games of all time! These popular games actually suck! What say you dear listener? Which games that are popular do you not like at all? Let us know!
Check out thee video version at: http://www.youtube.com/@gamesoverplastic
timestamps:
00:00:00- Show Begins
00:05:43- Visions Mana
00:10:56- Mario and Luigi Brothership
00:16:40- 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim
00:23:40- Dragon Age: The Veilguard
00:24:10- Death Stranding
00:24:30- Black Ops 6
00:25:01- Vampire Survivors
00:30:00- Write Ins- Rockstar Games Overrated?
00:34:40- FromSoft Overrated?
00:43:26- Midnight’s Number 3
00:47:41- Hodge’s Number 3
00:54:20- Sean’s Number 3
00:58:30- Midnight’s Number 2
01:05:50- Hodge’s Number 2/ Sean’s honorable mention because he knew Hodge was going to say it)
01:13:30- Sean’s Number 2
01:17:20- Midnight’s Number 1
01:20:40- Hodge’s Number 1
01:25:25- Sean’s Number 1
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Transcript
Podcast Introduction and Co-host Rejoining
00:01:09
Speaker
Hello, welcome, everybody, to Games Over Plastic. This is episode number 22. We are back once again with the man, the myth, the legend, the man that was greatly missed, the master of weebery, Sean Mason. How you doing, sir?
00:01:29
Speaker
I'm doing great. Yeah, I apologize for missing last, ah you know, last episode. I had just a family thing came up like last minute with my grandmother. So I had to deal with that, but everything's good now.
Sports Fandom Discussions
00:01:40
Speaker
We're all set. I'm ready to be here. I was sad to miss the episode, but you guys did a great job. I listened to it Monday afternoon, and it was great. Fantastic. Yeah. The only thing I have to say is that um I am not an Xbox. OK. Well, there you go. Neither is Hodge.
00:01:58
Speaker
Like I said, I'm only an Xbox when I wear that one shirt, because it has a screen on it, but it only plays Redfall. So yeah. So make sure make sure you play those games when they come over to PlayStation, Sean, that we were talking about. But we're happy to have you back. My cat's happy. Last but of course not least, we have the master of graphics, the Bears fan. Hodge, how you doing, sir?
00:02:25
Speaker
Well I'm a Bears fan so not great. um what's so important this so So we're recording this early so the last the last game that happened was the Bears getting their game winning field goal blocked against the Packers which you know is just typical Bears.
00:02:44
Speaker
But after, since, since this, when the episode comes out, they'll have also lost to the Vikings and lions. So the bears will be on a nice losing streak, I'm sure. But, uh, other than that, yeah, happy to be here. Happy to record what to happy to have Sean back. That Xbox episode was fun to talk about, but it's always good having the the trio here. So I'm happy to, everyone's here.
00:03:07
Speaker
Yes, sir. Every, any day that Sean is with you is a better day. No doubt. Um, yeah, speaking of football, you know, I'm a Steelers fan and we just, uh, we lost to the Browns, the sorry Browns. Um, and I thought it was funny though that George Pickens, the Steelers wide receiver, even though we lost to the Browns, he was still talking shit. He, he put out like a quote or something. that He's like, I don't believe that the Cleveland Browns are a good football team at all.
00:03:33
Speaker
and I just love I love the hatred and the pettiness in it because I also am a hater so and I don't think they're good either they beat us but it was a night game in Cleveland in a blizzard and you know stuff happens it was a close game we're gonna destroy them in two weeks in Pittsburgh and I say we because I'm part of the team I'm the number one fanboy all right yeah well So, uh, all
Podcast's Mission and Platforms
00:03:53
Speaker
right, boys. So this is games over plastic, the podcast for the agnostic gamers, no console wars, just fun over here coming to you every other Monday on all audio podcast services, Spotify, Apple podcast, overcast.
00:04:09
Speaker
pocket cast, every cast. We also have amazing video versions at youtube dot.com slash at games over plastic in which you can see our co-host Hodge is amazing artwork on every episode, not most of the time. Every episode, the artwork is phenomenal. So make sure you check that out. As always, if you're listening to the audio version and you want to see the video, just look in the description. We put a link right there for you. So convenient.
00:04:36
Speaker
um Leave us five star ratings on audio platforms if you want. I know we have a eight five star ratings on Spotify. Thank you for that, guys. If you guys haven't rated us yet, please do help us move up that algorithm just a little bit. Maybe we'll gain one or two new listeners, which would be cool.
00:04:52
Speaker
If you are on youtube, please leave write-ins comments and everything down below. We read every single combat or combat every single comment. ah We interact with them. We love you. Leave us likes subscribe. We're trying to hit 100 subs on youtube. I think we're at like 78. That's pretty cool. And yeah, just ah we
Game Reviews: Visions of Mana
00:05:13
Speaker
appreciate you. Basically, you know, we do this. We don't. Yeah, go ahead. if you leave ah If you leave a bad comment, we will challenge you to combat, which is why he said that. so Yes, we will. Of course. Battle to battle of death bow to the death. Battle to the death. Die, die. Okay. But yeah. that's i of box Die, die, die, die, die. But that's enough shilling. Thank you all. We love you. You know, we do this for free. We don't make a sense. This podcast is not monetized. We just do it because we love games and we love you guys. So thank you. And with that said,
00:05:45
Speaker
Why don't we get into some games? Let's go ahead and start with what we are playing. And let's go ahead and start with Sean. ah You were absent last week. What have you been up to, sir? Oh, I've been playing ah just a couple of games. um I'm going to start with Visions of Mana. I'm continuing my play through of that. i had to take a I took a little break from it um just because of some some things came up. I was very busy. And I wasn't just in the mood to like sit down and game for like a long session. And that's what I like to do with my JRPGs is have a longer session.
00:06:15
Speaker
um But I'm loving it. I'm right at the end of the game. I know I am because there's only one story related chapter left. I mean it's sort of related trophy left. The game's phenomenal. There are a lot of twists and turns when you get closer to the end of the game. ah Some of the abilities you get near the end of the game are absolutely insane. Like the amount of like animation going on in the screen, you know, like a real time combat game, like when it's going around, it's just crazy. It makes you like it's so colorful and it's it's really wild. Some of the enemies get really tough nor the end of the game. And I didn't even realize I was playing on hard mode the entire time. I didn't even realize it. I randomly went into the settings like last night and I'm like, I've been playing on hard mode the whole time. And so now like I i had to grind a lot.
00:07:01
Speaker
And then I put it down to normal and I'm like, yeah, I did not need to grind that much because now I'm just like destroying entities like crazy. But overall, it's a great game. I really highly suggest it. It's it's even if you never put a mana game, it's it's awesome. It's made me really interested to want to go back to the series.
00:07:18
Speaker
um um Val is quickly becoming one of my favorite video game protagonists. i Not not of all time, but in that in that echeler, you know, that top 10 tier. um He's a great character, really funny. The only thing um that I do, I don't like about him. There's like one thing I don't like about him. He is so like he gets so lost in his head sometimes. and The other characters make note of it. They're like,
00:07:42
Speaker
Why is Val so like lost? He doesn't feel he's paying attention to us. What's going on here? ah Karina, you know the one with the Texas accent, we brought that up last time. Hey, y'all. Yeah, she continues to be hilarious. she's She's awesome. And her story arc so far has been my favorite. I'm not going to spoil anything about it, but the evolution of her at the beginning to where she is now, I completed her entire arc of you know all her side quests and stuff. And it's it's phenomenal, really, really heartwarming.
00:08:13
Speaker
Good stuff. Yeah. Visions of mana overall. It's great. There is a point in the game where you unlock like probably like be like halfway through the game. You unlock like um the equivalent to like the airship in like old Final Fantasy games when you can just fly around the entire map. ah You unlock like the equivalent to that in this game. And I'm just going to say it is so funny what it is. And it is so anime. And I love it. Love it so much.
Game Reviews: Mario and Luigi Brothership
00:08:39
Speaker
um Is it the power of friendship or fighting gods?
00:08:44
Speaker
That's odd. Oh, it's not now. No, not that. ah Of course that is anime. But no, this is like very much like ah once you see it, you'd be like, wow, that is like so anime. It's it's pretty funny. It's actually really funny. Like, for example, there's it in the middle of there's another like a really anime section. You're in the middle of a boss fight. Right. And all of a sudden, randomly like.
00:09:08
Speaker
A random thing crawls from the sky and drills the boss and deals like 13,000 damage and all the characters go, what the heck was that? What's going on? And it's so funny because it's randomly in the middle of the boss fight. And like, like, you know, like the the typical anime stuff like that, the emotes and stuff come over, come over their heads and stuff. And it's so funny. God, it was hilarious. I like died laughing when I saw it. It was so funny.
00:09:34
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, like I said before, I mean, I think the game looks great. um I think one day I'll play it whenever I have time. That's the issue, though. Time, time, time. There's so many games I want to play. I'm i'm addicted to the concept of of playing games. i'm I'm always checking the stores. Like I have a wish list I've mentioned on ah Xbox on PlayStation and on Steam, and I check them almost daily for deals. And I'm just I can't wait to like find a game that's on my wish list that's on a good sale so that I can buy it so that I could not play it for like a year and a half, if ever. ah it's So it's that's my toxic trait. So.
00:10:10
Speaker
Um, this game's good though, because like, if you, if you like wanted to, like the side quests are not like required at all. And the main story is still good enough where like you can get a lot out of it. So that's cool. And, um, the traveling is so easy. Like if you don't want to, like walking is kind of slow in this game. Like walking around the environment, they have like an option when you get these, like, essentially it's like the,
00:10:33
Speaker
In the mana world, it's like they're equivalent to like um horses. It's like that equivalent. You can like ride around on them and stuff. And you can call them anytime, which is pretty cool. But yeah, Visions of Mana. I really, really liked it. I really like it so far. um I'll be done by next episode for sure.
00:10:54
Speaker
All right. What else you're playing? All right, well this one is why I originally stopped Visions of Mana at first because I really wanted to get through this game and I did complete it. It's a rather shorter game on my list and that is Mario and Luigi Brothership. This is the Mario and Luigi game on Switch. It's the first ever Mario and Luigi game released for like a home Nintendo console. That's probably mainly because they don't really have just a dedicated handheld anymore and I have to say, um I went in with really high expectations and I kind of walked away a little disappointed. No, granted, it's not bad. i There are some aspects that I absolutely nailed, like that the animation, aho like the the emotes of like the game and the animation is so good. um They nailed that.
00:11:46
Speaker
Combat they absolutely nailed like the addition of these like brotherhood the brother ship moves where um Mario and Luigi are more interactive during combat like it's always been in these Mario and Luigi games where you have to press separate buttons one to control Mario one to control Luigi and his turn based combat, but they added all these extra moves that Really incorporate the brothers together and that was awesome um and The thing. Also, this it does have random encounters in this game, which is it's not it's not bad. I like random encounters, so that's not bad. But I know that can that can sour a lot of people, especially now when people aren't used to it. um But the comments are really good and the loading screens are really fast. The thing that really deteriorated this game is
00:12:32
Speaker
The writing is definitely a step down compared to previous Mario RPG games, where in previous Mario RPG games, they're hilarious. You want to talk to everybody because everyone has something funny to say. There's always something that they have to say. The writing is just always so good. The writing in this game is nowhere near the ah peak of these Mario RPG games. And there's a lot of bloat, especially when you get to like the middle of the game. They kind of drag things out, a lot lot of backtracking, which isn't great.
00:13:01
Speaker
um the only the thing uh one more some more positives about the game though is that there's a couple of different continents to explore and the first one is rather small so i kind of got like nervous i'm like oh my gosh is this gonna be like a phoned in like Mario and Luigi game but then when you get to the second third and fourth one like they're huge you know like ginormous and there's like no load screens between them so it's like it's pretty cool um it's great the plot's really good i like the Mario and Luigi games none of them they don't really they don't take place in the mushroom kingdom so they're all like different locations and there's all always unique villains like Bowser's usually in it but he's never like the main villain which is great um
00:13:41
Speaker
In this one, you're basically just running around like a new world. You got sucked into like a new dimension. Not dimension, but like a new world. And Mario and Luigi just plopped in there and they have to essentially save the world to try to get back to the Mushroom Kingdom too. it's It's fun. It's good. But like I said, there's a little bloat with the writing. um Combat's great. Animations are great. Enemy design's awesome because it's all so unique.
00:14:04
Speaker
um And yeah, if you like Mario RPG games, you'll like this game as in terms of how I would compare it to like the other Mario RPG games. and This is definitely not as good as like the peak three or like those first three that came out, which is Superstar Saga, um Dream Team, I mean Partners in Time and Bowser's Inside Story. It's definitely not at that level, but i think it's I think it's a solid number four in the list of my Mario and Luigi RPG rankings.
00:14:32
Speaker
Um, but yeah, so I liked it. It wasn't that long though. It was only like I, a hundred percent of it and only took me 14 hours to a hundred percent. it And I talked to almost every NPC in the game. Usually Mario and Luigi games are about 20 to 25 hours to a hundred percent. If you were to just mainline this game, you could probably do it in six or seven hours.
00:14:52
Speaker
um It's a lot easier than other Mario RPG games, too. I found the difficulty not nowhere near as difficult like like I remember Superstar Saga when I first came out people like that was like a really challenging game. Same thing with ah Inside Story. So this was kind of like the Miles Morales of the Mario RPGs. ah I mean, Miles, were I mean, not a bad. not design Miles Morales was good.
00:15:18
Speaker
Oh, no, I think Miles matters is great, but it's not that they didn't market it like it was like a smaller standalone game like they did for miles. Like this is like this is a full price game and it's supposed to be like the next big entry in the series. um But overall, I liked it, but I was a little disappointed with it. All right, fair enough. I do remember I do remember seeing the ratings weren't great. It was averaging like around a six or seven for most people kind of thing.
00:15:45
Speaker
I would like, I mean, I don't score games, but I think like I think a five out of 10 is a little is really harsh for this game. Like I saw my a G and gave it a five out of 10. If I had to put a score on it, i'd put probably between like a seven, seven, five and an eight somewhere around there. OK. Whereas the other games in the series where the other games like the first three games in the series are all nine to tens in my book. And the only one that dream teams probably like like a seven, five ah paper jam. I don't talk about that game doesn't exist.
00:16:21
Speaker
All right. Good stuff. um How'd you have any thoughts on those games before we move on? No, i the brother ship looked good. But after seeing kind of reviews, I was like, eh, maybe if it's ever when Nintendo discounts it in 25 years, maybe I'll give it a look. But I will go up in 25 years. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. molly Well, yeah.
00:16:45
Speaker
All right, let me go ahead and get into what I'm playing now.
Game Reviews: 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim
00:16:48
Speaker
um So first of all, I did save this, like I said in our last episode, I saved this for Sean because this is a Sean game. I did finally beat 13 Sentinels, Aegis Rim or whatever from Vanillaware and Atlas. This awesome Weebish game. um I beat the game. I thought it was quite good, Sean. I did enjoy it.
00:17:12
Speaker
um I love, love the story. The story is phenomenal. It's super deep. It's super intricate. It's very smart, very smart writing. Like they definitely ah they put in some good effort putting this together because they had to weave 13 and actually probably even more than 13 because there's some side characters that are prominent. um Intricate little stories into one narrative that comes together and makes sense um with some twists and turns along the way.
00:17:38
Speaker
um I mentioned that I was kind of halfway on I mentioned you and that message about how I didn't think it was really ah You know that one thing going on I want we're not gonna spoil anything here um and I was right, but I was wrong about the way it was happening I didn't see the the one aspect which I thought was really cool. I did no spoilers but I thought this was cool and Sean not only did I beat this game my friend and Not only did I beat this game, but I got the platinum trophy. That's right. I got the platinum. That's his platinum number four for me, by the way, for those scoring at home. I'm very proud, very proud. My first ever platinum game was, of course, the best PlayStation game ever. Ghost of Tsushima had to do it. um
00:18:23
Speaker
And yeah, I don't even remember what number two was. So i'm so we're going to kill the list there. But anyway, so I beat 13 Sentinels. I platinumed it. It's not a super hard platinum. um You just have to beat the game and then do a little bit of side stuff, like a little bit of cleanup. You got to S rank all the stuff and you got to unlock all the mystery files.
00:18:40
Speaker
It requires like an extra 30 minutes to an hour of like work, but it's not hard at all. um I would recommend this game for people. Like I mentioned before, if you're into reading, because this is a visual novel, this game is reading. um It is cool. One thing that I like about it is that you can turn on the auto, ah whatever, so you don't have to constantly hit like the X button or whatever. um like And you can adjust the speed in which it reads, too, because I read a little bit faster than I don't know. look i read i I read semi-fast. um Not a speed reader. I wish I was. But ah anyway, I like it. I liked every character. ah You asked me who my favorite character was. I don't know if I have one. um I really loved all of them. ah The dude who loved the Yakisoba bread, the dude who loved that was pretty funny. um Remember him with the long hair kind of.
00:19:29
Speaker
He was funny. And then I still do like the the Kisiragi girl um just because she was just like super wholesome. ah But I like all the characters. There was none of them that I was like, this character sucks. All of them had their reasons for what they were doing. Even the ones that were kind of like the antagonist. I understood and didn't hate them. um But yeah, so that's 13 sentinels. Sean, what do you think?
00:19:53
Speaker
Oh, I think I'm so glad you played. It is a really great game. And I echo what you said that it's definitely like a reading heavy game. And it's much more of a visual novel than any any other. I know they they market it as like a real time strategy game where it's 2D with 2D side scrolling elements. But it's definitely not that. It's ah definitely a visual novel. The ending is absolutely crazy. Like the way that they can meld all 13 characters to fit into like one congruent ending is awesome.
00:20:22
Speaker
um Yeah, I i mean, i obviously, no spoilers about it. But what was your like, were you shocked? Were you surprised at all? ah Yeah, I was a little surprised. I didn't see the one aspect, ah which is kind of like a famous movie type aspect. You know what I'm saying ah of this. Yeah. So I was a little surprised. But at the same time, I knew that they weren't i well, this kind of spoiled, but I already kind of said I knew that they weren't really time traveling, though. The thing that kind of gave it away to me was they were referring to it as sectors instead of years. And I was like, that's a little weird. Like, why are they saying that they're going to teleport to the sector for instead of saying to 1985 or whatever? You know what I mean? I'm like, that's a little weird. yeah And that's what kind of made me think like maybe these are just separate cities that are designed to look.
00:21:08
Speaker
like different years. You know what I mean? um But that's not even 100% right. No spoilers. Like there's there's additional layers. Like this is a deep game. It's really good. I thought the combat was kind of kind of mid kind of ass. The combat is just like a side thing. Like you're basically just looking at like a 2d screen. and And you're controlling dots. And you're blowing up like bigger dots. um It's kind of it's kind of stupid, but it's okay.
00:21:34
Speaker
It was all right to break up the visual novel aspects, but it wasn't anything great. um And my one critique of this game is that I love, love, love the story, but I wasn't the most fan of how they told the story, how it's just completely freestyle. Like you can just go into each character in any order you want. I almost think maybe it would be better if it was more of a linear, um where like they just had each chapter set up where it would switch between the characters, but like they just did it themselves and it was like congruent, you know?
00:22:01
Speaker
I mean, you you imagine like a little more linear structure in, you know, Legend of Heroes trails into reverie. They swap between three protagonists in that game and they are a linear based. So it's like you complete one chapter and it swaps to another character and stuff like that. I do want to shout out Agata. He's my favorite character from 13 Sentinels. Absolutely love him. He's a man. but Yeah. That was a dude with the pompadour, right? Yes. Yeah, yeah do he was funny, man. He was funny. He's always fighting those dudes every time.
00:22:31
Speaker
He couldn't help it. Uh, yeah, that's good stuff. yeah Every character was great. remind And he was, he was the romance for one of my favorite characters, Kesaragi, those two hooked up. i I'm pretty sure. There you go.
00:22:45
Speaker
They're a good couple. I like them both. um Yeah, this game, it does have romance. I'm a romance bro. I like romance. ah But it's romance in a different way because you're not controlling like your own character, right? um Instead, you're just experiencing the lives of these 13 people. And you know, they have their, their romance there. Sean, you look kind of frozen on my screen. Are you still with me?
00:23:10
Speaker
No, you're still frozen. We hear you though. So I don't know. Oh, well, should we pause it or should we just keep it moving? We'll just. um We're back. Technical hurdles are fun, but yes, so that was 13 Sentinels. If I have to grade this game, I think I'd give it a seven point five, maybe maybe an eight. I don't know. Like I said, it's a visual novel and that's not my number one thing, but awesome story. I do recommend it. ah Check it out if you're into sci-fi stuff and and cool stories or if you're a weeb, you'll like it.
00:23:42
Speaker
um The next game that I'm playing, I'm gonna keep this real short because I've already talked about
Game Reviews: Dragon Age and Death Stranding
00:23:47
Speaker
it twice. I am still playing Dragon Age, The Vale Guard. I love this game. I think this is an awesome game. um Yeah, I'm 41 hours in. I'm level 40. The story is good to great. um The graphics and the combat are phenomenal. um I'm really enjoying this game. ah It does not deserve the hate. um The trans stuff is stupid and forced, but it's a very, very small aspect of the game.
00:24:13
Speaker
Um, and even the character, the trans character, Tosh, I really like her. She's an awesome character except for the stupid, like, Oh, I'm non-binary that they decided to force in there. And that's it. Like I said, I'll have more thoughts on this when I actually beat the game. We're not going to beat this dead horse. I've talked about it enough. Um, I don't think you guys don't have any thoughts on that game. I don't think so. Hodge, what are you playing, sir? What's going on with you?
00:24:38
Speaker
Yeah, so nothing new with me. um I'm still playing through Death Stranding. I'm not that far because I've been obsessed with Black Ops 6, which is the other game I'm playing. ah So I just beat Portnaut City, which is kind of the first big area of ah I finished the first big area of the country. So I'll be heading across the.
00:24:58
Speaker
Way to go to the next area soon um But other than that, yeah, nothing really to add I'm still loving it I adore that game so fucking much like I've said a million times It's like it's a therapeutic game because it's just so chill but the story is so intriguing the entire world is ah it's It's just I love it. But yeah, I don't have much to add to it. It's just the same is glowing review as it was before ah But black ops 6 I'm still playing through it's just a fun ah Get off work and get destroyed by nerds who don't stop playing kind of game and it's just a whole lot of fun and I'm enjoying that but I
00:25:38
Speaker
just got, if you if you are watching the video version, I got my 30th anniversary PlayStation five and the portal, which for people who know me, I was shit talking the portal. I mean, i it's not that I didn't.
00:25:54
Speaker
think it was a cool product or anything. But I thought $200 for a streaming only device is really stupid. It just seemed so overpriced. But then of course, my monkey brain went Ooga Booga when I when they announced the 30th anniversary version of it. So I bought it. And I've been playing vampire survivors on it just because it's such a good little mobile handheld game.
00:26:16
Speaker
And ah my so my cousin, I'm who I'm living with right now, his consoles are just hardwired into the Internet. So which is how people say is like the best way to play the portal like that just boost this the signal. um Mine is in the other room on the wired or all wireless Internet. And it's a little slower. Sometimes I skip, but the portal still playing very well you despite that. So I'm actually very impressed with how well it connects to it.
00:26:45
Speaker
Um, it's not perfect. Sometimes it does get a little choppy, especially once in vampire starvers, when you get into the later levels and it's just a, just a boat, you're just being bow guarded by a thousand enemies at the the same time. So it will get a little choppy there. Frames will drop a little bit, but.
00:26:59
Speaker
and It's definitely not bad. So once I do have my own apartment next month, um it'll be really nice to hardwire because I know my my apartment, they confirmed that they have fiber internet now. So I'll be hardwiring my PlayStation and it'll be flawless. But overall, ah obviously Vampire Star of Vibers is a great game. So I more so wanted to talk about the consoles because I forgot how much smaller the refresh of the PS5 is compared to the launch PS5. It is like,
00:27:28
Speaker
It's night and day, how big the the size is, but then obviously ah the PlayStation one branding on it is beautiful. I'm so happy I bought this thing. I'm going to sell my other PS5 today, ah go to the store and buy it. And I honestly, I might be selling my Raja ally too, just because I don't play it anymore. And I figured with Xbox saying that in a few years, there'll be an Xbox handheld. That's why I got the ally in the first place was to play game pass games on the go.
00:27:54
Speaker
So when that launches, I'll probably look into that, but, uh, for now I don't need it. So I'm going to sell them, but yeah, this PS five, the PlayStation one branding, the controller is beautiful. I, it looks so much better than I thought it was going to. Like in the photo, the photo looked great, but.
00:28:10
Speaker
holding it, it's a gorgeous controller. I'm kind of actually bummed I didn't get the Elite. I did buy the, or not the Elite, the Edge. I did buy one, but ah someone one of our buddies didn't get one at pre-order, so he was kind of bummed, so I just sold it to him. I didn't need it, but I kind of, at this same point, at the same time, I'm like, ah, I kind of wish I had kept it because they are fucking beautiful. But I might get an Edge eventually, but for now, I'm loving just the the branding of the 30th anniversary stuff, and it's gorgeous. but Yeah, I'm excited to play other games on the portal because it's and the screen is way bigger than I thought it was going to be like it. It is. You look like you're kind of looking at a TV and you're.
00:28:49
Speaker
It's it's a gorgeous gorgeous device and with them adding the beta For just streaming games to it. I am very excited for that So I actually feel like I did make a good investment by buying this thing because they're only good it's obvious They're only gonna add to it. So who knows maybe eventually they'll let you just stream your library and stuff like that rather than just ps plus games and Hopefully they do kind of they just keep improving it. But yeah, I'm really enjoying my time with the portal. So ah yeah, I don't know if you guys have any but thing to say about any of those games or either a device. I was going to ask about the um the portal. ah Does it feel weird having like just like a giant screen between like the basically the dual sense? No, it's it really it just feels like you're holding a controller. Basically, obviously your hands are a little wider and then you're looking at a screen. So it feels like you're playing a switch or an ally. Like it it just feels.
00:29:40
Speaker
It just feels like you're playing a Switch with a PlayStation controller. It's really nice. I like yeah i i i do i mean, I still do think it's a little overpriced, especially this one. I think it was $20 more just because it was the 30th anniversary one. and And so as of right now, what it does, it still seems a little overpriced, but I am loving it for what it is. And yeah, I'm just a whore for the PlayStation one. So I bought the the 30th anniversary stuff because I wanted it. But yeah, I'm really enjoying the portal. It's it's a it feels very comfortable and like to the place. Obviously, since there's no center of the controller, there's no touchpad and all that, the the PlayStation button is on the left side and then the microphone button is on the right side, like just kind of in the corner right by the screen. So that's how you get to it. And yeah, it's really it's laid out really well. It runs really well. And so, yeah, I'm i'm enjoying the portal and I'm happy that I got it and I'm happy they're going to keep improving it.
00:30:38
Speaker
Here's my prediction. Here's my prediction 2026 no 2030 2030 I apologize 2030 we're gonna see the big 30th anniversary for the ps2 and it's gonna be a ps6 console and Are you I could see that? Yeah, and they're gonna bring that and they it's gonna be I said the ceiling I got a feeling I Yeah, it's the same with the how Xbox is already talking about next gen. I if they don't do a 25 anniversary in 2026 with the original Xbox and an original Halo, they're just throwing money away by not doing that because and the Duke controller and the giant Duke controller. Yeah, like they really I know they released it, but still.
00:31:21
Speaker
Yeah, they well, I think it was an unofficial controller, but yeah, it they they really do need to do something for that like because the yeah, this the place, the PlayStation one is it's it's a beautiful like design for the PS5. And I think the PS5 is hideous, but the PS5, PS1 version, 30th version is it's gorgeous. I love it.
00:31:45
Speaker
Nice. Yeah. Good stuff. I think the portal was cool. um I was a little disappointed that they didn't have the streaming, but now it seems they're adding that. So that's smart. and That gives it a lot more value. And I was also disappointed that for some reason they didn't have Bluetooth. I thought that's dumb how they're like trying to lock it down to their little, their two headsets. But I think it's a cool device for sure.
00:32:06
Speaker
Yeah, i I think the heads I could maybe I'm justifying something that doesn't need to be that they don't deserve to have justified. But I think it's just because Bluetooth would kill the battery quicker. It was the same with the switch how it didn't have Bluetooth. I think it just kills the battery and then we need to keep it alive as long as they can. So they only have wired controllers. But you can also I know it has a button on it to connect like the the actual PlayStation official one. So I'm guessing it's just a different connection type. I don't know.
00:32:31
Speaker
I could be wrong. i not ah I'm not a tech person, so who knows? that it is It does kind of suck, but at the same time, I'm not using head so headphones right now anyway. I'm just playing on my couch while I watch TV, so I don't really i don't really need the headset. But yeah, overall, it's a cool device. All right, good stuff, good stuff. All right, um one second here.
Listener Hot Takes on Rockstar Games
00:32:53
Speaker
Alright, here we go. So let's go ahead and get into the write-ins. We got a couple write-ins and these are adjacent to our main topic of discussion. I solicited these write-ins here. Our topic today is going to be three games each um that are beloved games or franchises that we personally weren't feeling. We didn't like. We were not, we are not fans of. So I got two write-ins here that are adjacent to that and I'll read the first one.
00:33:18
Speaker
And we'll have Sean read the second one. The first one was from our friend Zach from the discord and his His take is he says Red Dead 2 is not fun to play None of the rockstar games are people are fooling themselves and I feel like I'm going crazy So Red Dead 2 sucks. It's not fun according to Zach. What say you guys, huh?
00:33:43
Speaker
All right, Zach, I love you, man. I've known you for almost five years now. Going back to, you know, early 2020, I met you probably in like February, 2020. And honestly, this is probably of the worst take I've ever heard you say. This is like an awful.
00:33:59
Speaker
awful take and i like i said man you're a great person love you but ah dude rockstar games are freaking amazing like and this is coming for someone who just played red red dead 1 this year and still haven't played red dead 2 but just go back and play gta 4 and even gta 5 i know people don't like it i love gta 5 i like it dude those games are so much fun to play just driving around the city and just doing whatever the heck you want, going in a blimp, going really high up and just jumping out of it with a parachute. That is so fun. Getting any car, the variety of environments in these Rockstar games and just running around the world. ah it is so the The world is so alive that there' it's so much fun. There's always something to do. Objectively, Rockstar games are amazing and they're so much fun to play.
00:34:47
Speaker
and that's not it's It's not subjective, it's objective. so It's a straight up fact, it's not an opinion. Look at look at the numbers. GTA Online, do it. Dang, okay, okay. Let's say you, Hodge. Any thoughts on this? Rockstar sucks, Red Dead sucks. Oh, he's gonna talk about it later, okay. I will say this. First of all,
00:35:11
Speaker
I'm going to hit you with a partial stand down, but then I'm also going to support you a little bit. So ah Rockstar Games is awesome. All the GTA games are fantastic and super fun to play and awesome games. And Red Dead Redemption 1 is fantastic and awesome and fun to play. I will somewhat agree with you about Red Dead Redemption 2.
00:35:31
Speaker
Not from the aspect that it's not good because it's a great game, but from the fun aspect. I think in Red Dead Redemption 2 they hyper focused on the realism um and the story. The story is phenomenal and the realism and graphics are insane, but the fun factor?
00:35:47
Speaker
I dropped the game two, three times myself and had to go back to it ah because it is it's very long running. It feels super long and there's long travel times like the combat is like there's like never ending like monster closets basically like there'll be a cabin and somehow like 150 like enemies will come out of this cabin and you'll be gunning them down. um It's not in my opinion. It's not the most fun to play.
00:36:14
Speaker
It's not horrible, don't get me wrong, but Red Dead Redemption 1 is a better game in my opinion. But the narrative was was insane and the graphics are insane. and um but So I'll somewhat support you, Zach, but for the most part, we're going to have to hit you with a ah calm down on that one. Yeah. um How can you say you cannot say GTA games are not fun to play? Oh, they're awesome. I can't wait for six.
00:36:37
Speaker
Oh my God, I'm taking the day off. Sorry. I don't care when it comes. but I'm taking the day off from work. Hopefully it comes out in the summer. Then I won't have to take the day off. Your kids will take the day off too. They'll all be sick. Probably. they're all Yeah, they're all hyped for it. All right.
FromSoftware Games Discussion
00:36:50
Speaker
Let's go ahead and get into our next write in. Sean, you want to read this one?
00:36:54
Speaker
Uh, yes. Hang on one second. One second. One second. Um, doing a little timestamp stuff. All right. All right. So for our next right in from our good friend, meatball, um, he says likely my hottest gaming take firm software games are overrated. And I'd argue in certain ways, detrimental to the creativity of the video game industry, the sheer popularity of games like dark souls. Sekiro.
00:37:22
Speaker
<unk>ra zacaro yeah and Elden Ring have caused countless developers to chase a trend and slash or copy and paste a similar formula instead of focusing on creating something holistically new.
00:37:33
Speaker
Um, I would argue that I somewhat agree with you. Um, I love firm software games. I'm not gonna like be like, Oh my gosh. Yeah. Firm software games are terrible. But I think people chasing like video, other games that are popular has been happening forever. I mean, we see it all the time. And I think there's a cycle that happening every five to six years where You get a span of games coming out five years later after a game trying to chase what a like the game that came out five years ago is look at all the Breath of the Wild like games we have now that are coming out in like the 20, 20, 21, 22, 23 around there. Breath of the Wild was a 2017 game. Look at all the live. um
00:38:15
Speaker
like games like Fortnite, like Battle Royale, like people are still trying to chase that, and that was 2017. So, I don't know, i would i wouldn't I would say that detrimental to creativity, I would not agree with, because I think that's just how, that's the nature of video games, everyone's trying to chase something, be similar to that. As far as overrated firmsoft games, um I think, I don't think they're overrated, no. I mean, I like them, but yeah, I don't think they're overrated.
00:38:46
Speaker
All right, well, what about you, Hodge? Any thoughts on Fromsoft is overrated? Um, I was actually thinking of including this on my list of three overrated things, but I have only played like two ah souls likes and they were both briefly. So it's not that like I don't consider something like I don't like that's beloved. It's just something that didn't click with me and then I never put that much more effort into it. So it's kind of a I agree. But ah at the same time, it's out of just not playing them that I'm agreeing because it it just doesn't.
00:39:21
Speaker
Like it doesn't click for me. So it's i so I kind of agree. But like you guys said, other companies just trying to copy it, like the amount of every time we watch ah a ah state of play or, you know, one of one of those presentations, there's five fucking souls likes in a row. And you're like, another one, really? We're another souls like is come really not like it's it's like another one.
00:39:48
Speaker
Yeah. And so it's like for that, i I do agree. But at the same time, I can't like I can't say like olden rings, just i I don't get why people I've never played olden ring. So I I can't come out saying why why would anyone like olden ring? It's not good. Like I have no idea what is because.
Game Awards Critique
00:40:05
Speaker
I've already given up on souls like game and it's not even that that's it that they don't click with me I just fucking suck at video games. So I Just don't want to die for three. I like I played the Liza P demo because that setting is so cool I loved it it just the setting itself would made me want to play it so badly and then the first like not even boss mini boss I came across just murdered me right away and I'm like, okay, I guess this game's not for me. I'm not goingnna play so So it's just a genre that it whooped my ass too much that it's really not like, I don't like it. It's like, it doesn't like me. ah So that's kind of where I stand with those games. Yeah. Shout out to Timothy Chalamet though. He was great in that game. yeah But yeah, so I want to play it though. And it sucks because I got my asthma, but it looks so fucking cool and I want to play it, but I can't. Yeah, meatball. I respect it, man. I always respect some good hating, you know, some good hating. You gotta get it off your chest sometimes. It's good, you know? Can't always be positive. ah This podcast is about positivity, but sometimes you gotta let the hate seep in, you know? um I will agree that it is a little bit annoying that all these developers now are just copying the formula. Like, like Hodge said, you'll see three, four games at a showcase that all, they all kind of look the same. They all got that same kind of boss looking combat. They got the four icons in the bottom left.
00:41:28
Speaker
You got to like dodge a little bit. Ooh, you got to dodge and parry or something. It's like, yeah, they all kind of look similar. um I will say that Elden Ring was a masterpiece, um but that's the only ah Souls game that I've ever played, really. um But I'll also say here, and this is my take, is that DLC does not belong at the Game Awards for Game of the Year. So screw you, Shadows of the Urgery. You don't belong, in my opinion. But with that said,
00:41:56
Speaker
Since they did include you, I'm hoping that it wins. I want the chaos. Let the chaos rain. I want to see all these developers who made actual full games get mad and complain because they lost to a DLC. um I want to see the chaos, but it doesn't belong at all. What do you guys think about that real quick? We'll move on.
00:42:15
Speaker
You agree? i I couldn't care less about Jeff Healy's fake game awards. Yeah, if I'm being honest, i kind of I'm kind of happy that he kind of auctioneers his way through the awards, where he's like, best streamer, it's FaZe, best streamer's girlfriend, FaZe's girlfriend. like I like that he just kind of goes through them like that, like because i I genuinely watch it as it's as if it's a showcase where they're going to show off games. That's what I think of when I watch the game awards. It's cool when they do the game of the year where they do the orchestra playing all the songs. That's really fucking cool. But the the award itself, i I can't pretend to care.
00:42:51
Speaker
Yeah, he's like, he's like, yeah, best artwork, blah, blah, blah, best soundtrack, blah, blah, blah. All right, guys, we're in a hurry. OK, let's watch this 10 minute Logitech ad. Go ahead. Yeah, exactly. All right. Anyway, we're going to get a bunch of it. We're going to get in a bunch of Amazon Prime games or Prime ads because I guess they're sponsoring it. Yeah. Shout out to Prime. I like Prime. Love Prime. Yeah. All
Disliked Popular Games Discussion
00:43:10
Speaker
right, boys. Shout out to that on-court anime.
00:43:13
Speaker
Oh yeah. Yeah. All right. Let's go ahead and keep it moving. Let's get into our main topic of discussion. Great segue. Shout out to Zach and Meatball and shout out to you, the listener. Leave us a like. Haha. All right. So we're going to talk about three games that we don't like that are popular. The order is going to be Midnight Hodge Sean. So that's what we're going to do. So I'm going to go ahead and start us off here.
00:43:38
Speaker
With my number three games, these aren't necessarily like in super order, but we ordered them because that's what we do. ah My number three game. I am pulling up the list right now because I can't remember it.
00:43:50
Speaker
is going to be it's okay so it's like two games in one ah but i guess i'll mainly pick one it's freaking survival games so i put down arc and i put grounded um these games are popular like arc games very popular and these types of things i hate these survival games they're so obtuse um they piss me off like i don't want to get in there there's very little direction they barely tell you what to do You got to go fight a bunch of stupid bugs and you got to craft a freaking like you start with nothing and you have to like try to craft kind of like Minecraft too. I don't like that either. But you have to like craft a freaking axe and then you have to chop down stuff and and you're starving and you're getting sick and you're dying and you're weak and I don't like it at all.
00:44:32
Speaker
um The only good thing that ever came from Ark is I played it briefly with my brother. My brother really liked this game and and he bought it for me. He's like, you got to play this game with me. And and I have two vivid memories from Ark and they were both of him like getting owned and it was hilarious. ah The one time he got he got finessed out of all of his gear in Ark.
00:44:52
Speaker
um some dude walks up to him like he's in his encampment and the guy invites him to his guild or whatever um and my brother accepted because he was like kind of a newish player and he didn't know so once he accepted and joined the guild apparently this gave the other player permission to open his storage chest and the guy opened my brother's storage chest and took everything robbed him completely blind just finessed him and took everything and then left and then kicked him from the guild and left And I thought that was hilarious. like It was screwed up, but it was funny. like He got finessed in Ark. And then the second memory, I actually played with him. And we're like, all right, we're going to set up this camp on like this little bay. You got the water. It's nice. And we're trying to build a little fort. We're getting attacked by like these freaking swans or something. Some kind of flying birds just keep attacking us nonstop. like Literally, they would not stop. We couldn't kill them. We had like no weapons.
00:45:46
Speaker
Um, if we did manage to kill one, they just kept coming and coming and coming and it was so annoying. They kept killing us. Um, and then somehow my brother got like some kind of sickness and some random player came over and locked him in a cage because he had some kind of illness, uh, and like just left. So my brother was locked in a cage and he couldn't get out and I couldn't free him. but And it was hilarious. Like he was, so he was getting, uh,
00:46:10
Speaker
He was getting taken advantage of an arc, but screw those games. um I don't like them. I don't like the lack of direction. I don't like the difficulty. I don't like how obtuse it is. Screw you arc. You guys have any thoughts on these? Have you played any of these?
00:46:24
Speaker
never played it but my only memory of arc is so arc though the one with the dinosaurs in it that's all i remember the one with the dinosaurs i think it's called arc survivor like evolved or something i think came out ah someone was playing it all who lived on my floor my senior year of um college. And I'll never forget like walking I walked the second I walked in his he his door open, i walk I was like, Hey, what's that? And I walked in his room, he got eaten by a dinosaur, like straight up just can't get Tyrannosaurus Rex just came down and chomped him. And I just like, Oh, that's alarming. And I walked out. See, that's funny. Maybe that's what makes these games special. It's just the funny, awkward memories like that, like the ones I had with my brother. um But the gameplay itself sucks. Hodge, any thoughts on this?
00:47:09
Speaker
Well, really quickly with that, I feel like it's kind of the same with Helldivers, too. It's the game is fun. It's a it's an amazing game, but the best parts are watching your friends get owned and just laughing at it. That's the that's the best part. But as for survival games, um I don't know if it's the same as like State of Decay or whatever. I've never liked the type of games where you're kind of in a live server building shit, because if you don't log in, your shit gets destroyed. And it's like I want my game to pause when I turn it off. I don't want it perpetually. It's not a time I got you where I have to go out of my way to fucking save it every day. Like it should be when I close out of a game, my stuff is there the next time I log in. So I've always hated that about those kinds of games. um But you made you reminded me of ah when I played Fallout four, ah your brother, your story about your brother reminded me, there's like a cult you can that's like around Boston or whatever. And I remember walking up to him.
00:48:05
Speaker
and I thought I was gonna like trick them by like saying yes to everything and join but no I just accidentally joined the cult and they stole all my shit so I was like fuck so I restart the I restarted my save point and then I went in and murdered them all instead because I was like I thought I'd be like yes I want to join like so I could get like in and trick them but no they just stole all my shit so I restarted the the save point dude That was so funny when he got finesse because I was living with him at the time like I had got laid off um And like he was getting so bad. He's like no stop. He's taking my stuff. What the fuck? ah hilarious it Just got robbed It's funny dude. I love my brother, but you know, this isn't serious. It's just video game So wait, I had a good laugh his expense there and he we laugh about it to this day now after the fact he laughs too Hodge what's your number three?
GTA Series Criticism
00:48:54
Speaker
Um, I'm just going to go since I since I hinted at it earlier. i I think the Grand Theft. I don't like the Grand Theft Auto games. I never have. I only played Grand Theft Auto three and I only liked it because it was like the first open world ever. And so I thought that was really cool being able to go around an open world, even though now the map is tiny compared to the rest of games today. But I've just it's never appealed to me. I don't know if it's.
00:49:20
Speaker
My personality, I don't like running around as a criminal and beating up hookers. I don't know what it is, but I just, I don't, I've never cared for any of the stories. I've never liked any of the characters, the worlds I've never cared for. Driving around, listening to music was always fun, but I've, I've tried, I've tried multiple times to play grand theft auto games and they've never appealed to me. I just don't care. And going with that, uh,
00:49:46
Speaker
Since it's kind of the same, I was going to say Rockstar as a whole, but I love Red Dead Redemption 1. It's one of the best so good games ever made. And Undead Redemption is the greatest expansion ever made. ah So I can't shit on Rockstar as a whole because I love that game. But I also don't I didn't like Red Dead Redemption 2 as I might have said it on the show before. But if they ever do release a next gen patch where it's 60 FPS and you know, Ray Chase, whatever, whatever they need to do to put it on next gen. I will try it again because it's not that I fell off of Red Dead 2 because I didn't like the game. Even though you were right, it's not that fun because you have to do other shit. That's like I don't want to clean my horse and shave my beard. I don't want to do that. It doesn't. That's not fun. But they the story from what I've heard, it's amazing, obviously. So I really want to play the story.
00:50:41
Speaker
But the gameplay is what turned me off. And then the reason I dropped the game, I think I've told this before, but I was on I had to go from a camp to someplace to do a mission. And, you you know, you do the scenic like conversational carriage ride or whatever. And it was literally like a 10 minute ride. And I it crashed three times in a row once I approached it. So I did the ride three times.
00:51:05
Speaker
and on the third crash i was like fuck it i'm done with this game i'm it's busted for me i don't know why because that's not that wasn't like a it didn't happen with everyone at launch i bought the game at launch and so that happened that kept happening i was like fuck it i'm done with it and so not this point i don't want to play a 30 fps game so i'm waiting for a patch for it to unlock the frame rates or just have a 60 fps mode and i'll go in back and try it but As of right now, i couldn't I couldn't do it. I fell off Red Dead Redemption 2. And yeah, I've just never cared for GTA. So it was always Red Dead Redemption. It was like the only Rockstar game I've ever been like, ooh, I guess I do kind of like Rockstar, even though I've only liked one of their games. So yeah.
00:51:46
Speaker
Yeah. So here, let me get my bars off and then we'll pass it to Sean cause he's next anyway. Um, it'll be more synergistic. So I think you're wrong. GTA is awesome, but I respect it. Um, do you like eighties, eighties music, eighties vibes? Are you into that? Is that your thing? yeah I know not told yeah people have told me I'd like vice city at that point. I had fallen off of GTA. So I just, well, the reason The reason why I mentioned this is because I don't know if you saw, but they finally, they just released an update for the legendary. Remember the Definitive Edition games that came out that were a mess? Well, they just released a big update just like last week or two weeks ago, um which fixed a bunch of stuff and made the visuals and the lighting significantly better. And now it is probably the best time ever to go back and play the Vice City Definitive Edition because it looks it looks quite good. And it's an awesome story with great music and 80s vibes. And I think you would like it if you played it.
00:52:38
Speaker
But fair enough, it's one of those with I ever do see that trilogy like, you know, obviously the BRAC BRAC Friday, the Black Friday sales are starting. And so it's it's ever like one of those things where I see the trilogy for 20, 30 bucks. I might go in and and draw try it and give it a shot. But it's just as a kid, I never wanted to. I don't know if it's just a kid in me. I like playing goofy platformers more than murdering people. I don't know. But I just.
00:53:03
Speaker
it's It's just never they never stuck out to me as a kid. And by the time five came, out I'm one of like the six people in the world who haven't bought GTA five because it's sold seven point to quintillion fucking copies at this point. So I'm I'm yeah, one of the six people who has yet to play it. But just just because I just don't care about GTA anymore. and i and I've I've I've never tried gave a shit. So I just never played it. But what say you show on and then get into your three.
00:53:32
Speaker
Alright, so for those watching the video, I had to step away for a second because I had to go throw up after I'm hearing the slander thrown at GTA in this episode. First, Zack, and now Hodge. I cannot believe that you don't find GTA games fun like they're so like and even if you don't want to do all the murder stuff look at all the minigames you don't want to go play darts with Roman and don't go golfing with Franklin and calling up Trevor and say hey let's go let's go hang out and go golfing and Let's go ride jet skis. um No, there's so much to do in these GTA games. I find them so much fun. Even just like when you're bored, just driving around the city and just, you know, I'm gonna go, I'm gonna go try to rob the airport, steal one of the, you know, the giant jets and go fly away and see if I can, ah you know, get away with it.
00:54:21
Speaker
um there's just so much to do in the games i love them i love playing all the little mini games in them too like i play them all like i remember in gta 5 they had like i said they had golfing they had bowling which was in gta 4 as well they had the you could ride jet skis there was like little race courses you could go around and race there's just so much to do i love doing it all um hodge i'm sorry that you don't like them i apologize that um You don't understand the greatness that is the Grand Theft Auto series. And this has come from someone who's only played four and five. Like, I have never gone back and played the old ones, which I plan on going to. um But yeah, GTA, I love. um Yeah. Yeah, I'll do it real quick.
00:55:02
Speaker
put a bow on this. GTA is not about killing hookers. It's not about killing people. It's about a sandbox. It's about a good story and a sandbox. You can do whatever you want in the city. You can steal cars. You can steal planes. You can do all kinds of hijinks. You got the mini games. You got the music. You can do whatever. It's awesome. Sean, take it away, sir. What's your number three?
Telltale Games Quality Debate
00:55:22
Speaker
All right I'm gonna I'm gonna make some people angry with this one but my number three is the telltale games in general just like overall the entire telltale series um I cannot stand these games.
00:55:37
Speaker
um From a visual aspect, I feel like my eyes are bleeding when I look at them. like Especially those those like Walking Dead games, I'm like crying tears tears of blood are coming out of my eyes just from looking at this. like It is so janky. One, the framerate is horrendous. And this is coming from someone who didn't understand what framerate was when these Walking Dead games first came out. in the um Wolf Among Us came out. I'm like, looking at it, I'm like, why does this look like I'm watching a stop action animated, stop animated film right now? The games crashed like a million times and 9,000 bugs. And this comes from someone who likes Bethesda games, you know, bug Bethesda. But this game, these games and the narratives are not like, I'm like, guys, you're making choices. They don't mean anything. They all end up being the same thing. And then, you know, they end up then they release this.
00:56:28
Speaker
No, no, no, I don't know. Maybe this and then they release the sequel They release like a subsequent sequels and like then it was some some choices that your playthrough could not be could be considered non-canon now Like um that doesn't make any sense to me and then we have the release schedule of these games Oh, we're gonna release one now ah six months later. We release episode two. Oh and two weeks later We'll do episode three and then another year. We'll do episode four gosh, what is wrong with these telltale games and the only telltale games that I actually enjoyed was back to the future and I made myself enjoy them because it was back to the future. Yeah, telltale games cannot stand them. I remember how to watch my sister play through
00:57:10
Speaker
What I don't even know the 2012 game what didn't that one game of the year or something walking dead season? I don't even know. No, I remember her watching her. Yeah. Watching her play that over the summer of 2012 and being like, oh, my gosh, I just want to go play whatever tales game I was playing at the time. But, yeah. All right. All right. Hodge, any thoughts on that?
00:57:34
Speaker
Um, I'm not going to completely disagree with you because especially those games did. I think they fell off. I loved the first season, but I didn't play it until it was completed um because I agree. It was so stupid that they'd really, it was, ah they'd be five episodes long and they'd release them like every three, four months. And it's like, by that point, I've already forgotten what happened in the previous episode and I'm not about to go back and replay it because your choices matter throughout the season, at least not.
00:58:00
Speaker
maybe not following seasons, but I liked it the first season. I thought it had a great story. As for the art style, I completely disagree about that. It's meant to look like the comic book, which it does, and it it succeeds at that. um I liked the first season, and I like the look of it, but Telltale games did eventually get worse and worse and worse, which ah which is obviously why their studio eventually shut down because I remember I played the first episode of the Batman one and I was like, this is fucking terrible. And I just stopped playing it. I always wanted to play Wolf Among Us. I just never got around to it. I played the first episode of that one as well. ah But I just never finished it. full But what?
00:58:41
Speaker
and smith second looks awful so bad But yeah, so I ended up I ended up falling off telltale so I I agree but I disagree I liked the first season I thought it was a very good story and I enjoyed playing my I enjoyed my time with it, but Uh, yeah, that's what this episode is about. Just, just liking things people like. So I'm not going to hate you for it. That's right. This is the haters ball this episode. yeah All right. Did you guys play the telltale game of thrones one? That was pretty decent. Um, ah although I hate that they never had a part two because there was no payoff.
00:59:13
Speaker
Um, yeah, I never, I never bothered because it just didn't look very good. And I was tired i level a teles by that time. Well, I liked game of thrones, but I was just tired of telltale at that time. So I was like, I think I have it because it might've been a game of gold or some shit, but I know it's no point in playing it now because there was never a part two. So there's no payoff.
00:59:33
Speaker
All right. Well, good stuff. Good stuff. I
Fortnite's Cultural Impact
00:59:35
Speaker
respect it, Sean. I respect it. All right. My number two, this is going to come as no surprise. It's going to be Fortnite. I hate you. I hate Fortnite. Fortnite is trash. This game is garbage. I wish it would die. um I remember when this game came out in 2017 or whatever, and literally it was the only thing anyone was ever talking about and only thing anyone was ever playing.
00:59:57
Speaker
And I was like, I cannot wait for this game to die. I was like in a year from now or whatever, nobody's going to be playing this trash. And here we are in 2014, like seven years later or whatever. Motherfuckers are still playing this game nonstop. You got stupid ass kids doing like the floss dance and stuff. You just want to punch them in the face.
01:00:15
Speaker
um The only time I've ever wanted to punch a kid is when you see these Fortnite. yeah um I just hate it. I hate what it's done to the industry, which will be a topic we'll get to later with the monetization and the the battle pass and everything. um It's stupid.
01:00:30
Speaker
The game sucks. The graphic sucks. Building a condominium sucks. um And I even tried the no build mode. I was like, oh, there's no build. Let me go ahead and try it. And I still, I'm just not feeling it. I'm not a fan of battle royales in general um because I don't like the pacing. It's like you, you wait in a fricking lobby and then you have to wait on a plane or a bus and then you land. It's like, oh, we're dropping bro.
01:00:53
Speaker
and then like you get screwed you can't find a weapon and you die if you're unlucky and then you're freaking waiting again and it's just it's so slow paced i need more action than that man i need i need more more uh help me out shawn i need more adrenaline you know whatever um this game sucks i'm happy for hodge that he likes it but screw this game uh down with fortnite um what do you what do you think shawn any thoughts It's funny, you say you're tired of Fortnite. Try being surrounded by teenagers who are freaking obsessed with this game. my You know what? It coincides with my teaching career as well, because i start my first school year teaching was 2018, the 18-19 school year. And since then, that's been the dominant aspect of my... um
01:01:38
Speaker
Students, they all love Fortnite. They still talk about it. Try teaching, figured try try working with figurative language and specifically alliteration with teenagers who are obsessed with Fortnite because all their examples. Oh, let's go to Loot Lake. Let's go to... um I don't even know why twisty towers um soggy sewers I don't even know but that's all they say that's what they do when you're going over when you're when you're going over figurative language anytime you do alliteration oh we start throwing out these fortnight names
01:02:09
Speaker
You just want to choke these kids and be like, sit down and play BioShock, you little shit. Play a good game. I don't know. The amount of times I'd like be out in front of my classroom door and just monitoring the hall like different between classes and just seeing kids do Fortnite stuff.
01:02:25
Speaker
And I'm like, Jesus, like, yeah yeah, like I had said the other day, like, um, before Halloween, the the kids got to dress up for Halloween. I saw like Fortnite costume. So John dressed up as a, there's the freaking bus you can jump out of. Pretty cool costume idea. I'm not gonna lie. That was pretty cool. Very unique. Um, but yeah, Fortnite inspiration, uh, people want V but like one of the teacher I work with, she does like, she's, she's a special ed teacher.
01:02:49
Speaker
um She says she's a very small group of kids. She does like a raffle for kids and The winner of the raffle gets like a like a $20 gift card to whatever they want. I like the last 16 kids who've won Going back to last year wanted V bucks Wow hodge we know you hate this game too. What are your thoughts?
01:03:11
Speaker
Yeah, I fucking hate Fortnite. Everyone who plays it should die. um No, i obviously i I disagree, but I don't disagree with some of the things you say. ah like When it was the cultural phenomenon back in 2018, it did get annoying, but it I didn't pay attention to it really because I'd get off work and my buddies would be like, all right, we're squatting up. Let's go where we drop and kind of thing.
01:03:34
Speaker
i i I mean, I don't think it's the best Battle Royale. I think that title belongs to Apex Legends. That game plays amazingly. I mean, it's way too sweaty for me now, so I don't play it anymore because the people who are playing it are the only the hardcore who start still playing. So i but I, because I used to win Apex Legends a lot and then now I could never get close to finishing around anymore. But ah with Fortnite, yeah, it's,
01:04:01
Speaker
i I mean, I also think we i mean will like you said we're gonna do an episode about kind of live service games and as a whole but I think that it really ruined it at the point when they started getting licensed IP in the game because that's when it just became who can we put in fortnight.
01:04:18
Speaker
like they's Like it's literally a joke on the internet of something random will happen. Like, oh, Rand Paul passed the legislation. And then there will be a comment like Rand Paul's skin in Fortnite when. like It's a joke of like people asking, when is this going to be in Fortnite? And so i under so i'm not even going to like I'm going to defend it the in the fact that I think it's a very fun game. And the gameplay is very good. like It's a very fluid game.
01:04:44
Speaker
But I understand why people don't like it. And obviously, it it is a very childish looking game, which is actually why I didn't want to play it. My when it first came out, my brother's like, oh, we should try this Fortnite game. I'm like, that looks fucking terrible. And then I played it and I was completely wrong. It's a very fun game. But It's also a game where ah being older and everyone's busy and stuff, if you if you have if you're lucky enough to find time to play games with your friends, it's it's a lot of fun just to squat up and it's just shoot the shit kind of game. I mean, that's what we're doing in Black Ops. You and can have six people on a team now. so
01:05:16
Speaker
You can have six people instead of four planes. So I like it for that. But I understand the complaints about it. But I think it's a it's a very fun game. And I like that it's always like ah changing. So there's always something new, because if it was just one island forever, it would get boring and no one would like it. So I like that they're innovative about that. But yeah, there's plenty. There's plenty to to dislike about Fortnite for sure. Right on. And my brother likes Fortnite, too. And I hate him for it. Like he's older than me. And he likes Fortnite. I'm like, dude, grow up.
01:05:46
Speaker
All right. I mean, you got a game. number You got it. Yeah. One second. You got a game you can run around is ah Peter Griffin fighting Spider-Man versus, you know, the roll. It's great. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's crazy.
01:06:01
Speaker
But ah yeah my ah my number two my second game ah This one, you know,
Skyrim's Flaws and Comparisons
01:06:08
Speaker
it's screw it. I'm just gonna go get back at you right now skyrim. I did not like this game. I Did not find it fun I it was when I tried it on Xbox I post the videos where my cart was literally doing cartwheels as I'm getting shipped into the town and I'm like what the fuck is happening and and then the cart got stuck in a corner so the people couldn't go over to be executed or whatever and I got stuck so I had to restart the game and then it did it again and it was worse but this time horses started just flying across the screen and I was like what the fuck is like I know these games are meant to be buggy that's like the whole bugs as the thing like you said but this is horrible and then so I switched over to PC on my ROG and that's when it started playing a little better it was it was it wasn't as janky it had
01:06:53
Speaker
That at that point, it was like the acceptable level of Bethesda jank, where it's like something just kind of maybe someone T poses really quickly or some shit like that. Like it's going to just be the minute minimal jank, but it aged horribly. I think I did not find it fun. ah It's a cool world. Don't get me wrong. Again, like I said, it takes a lot for me to get into a ah medieval kind of fantasy setting. It's not my favorite genre. The Lord of the Rings is the only thing that I love. That is that kind of setting.
01:07:22
Speaker
Um, but yeah, so I just, I couldn't, I couldn't get into it. I get it. Why people loved it at the time, even though, like I said, I thought the best game in that year was like Arkham city, or I think did portal come out that year. I can't remember, but our portal too. Uh, but I can't remember what it was, but yeah, I always thought like, ah etc I thought, I didn't think he was even the best game of that year. So yeah, I've Skyrim's it's not for me. Sorry, people.
01:07:48
Speaker
Okay. Okay. So I guess I'll go since Sean's coming up next. Yeah, you're wrong. Skyrim's awesome. I love this game. ah It's funny though that you had, I did get a laugh at those bugs. You posted those videos, dude. That cart was going crazy. Like what the hell is going on? It looked like a rave, like the horse rave. And it's so weird because I've played this game like a hundred times. So you always see that. Like that's an iconic start. Like, Oh, you're finally awake in the cart.
01:08:14
Speaker
And I've never seen it do that. So of course it would happen to you. ah But ah yeah yeah, I mean, Bethesda games are always slightly buggy um because of the scope. Like it's always huge worlds with a a thousand objects that you can interact with and stuff. So it just goes off the script. But ah not usually to that level. I think you got a little unlucky there. um But yeah, I mean, it's a game that shows its age for sure. I mean, it's 13 years old now.
01:08:39
Speaker
um You have to be into RPGs and you have to be into like that fantasy setting and you have to kind of immerse yourself. You have to be like, you know, I am the dragonborn. I'm going to go explore this cave and see what's in there. And if you're not in that headspace or you're not really feeling that, it's definitely not going to be for you. um i do I will say ah just a random aside that avowed looks incredible. um I saw I don't know if you saw Maddie's videos and other previews, but avowed looks super sweet. And I think maybe maybe that could be your ah your in to like these yeah style RPGs.
01:09:11
Speaker
I loved Outer Worlds. Obsidian of what I've played from them, they haven't missed. So I am and I haven't I don't watch any of the preview videos because I don't want to really overexpose myself to it. But I did see screenshots of it and it looked.
01:09:27
Speaker
Beautiful. It looks so good. So I am excited, especially it's the whole, you know, game pass thing. It's available for a free trial basically via game pass. So I'm definitely going to try it. I am excited for avowed. Yeah, I'm hoping it's a more modern looking kind of star on a star field Skyrim that I fall for it. But Yeah, Skyrim itself, i I couldn't fall for. It was just maybe 2011. If I tried it, I would have liked it more. But playing it this year, I was just like, I can't do it. ah Sorry.
01:09:58
Speaker
Yeah, any listers out there real quick, if you're if if you are kind of adjacently interested in a valve, check out Mr. Matty plays video that he did. He did a preview of it. There's no real spoilers like it's just the start of the game. But the game looks way better than I ever thought it would. Like the the zones look way bigger. The graphics look gorgeous. The combat looks fine. And he he had a lot of really good things to say about it. And it got me genuinely excited. And Sean, sorry about that. What do you think about Skyrim? I think you might agree with him, huh? Game blows.
Bethesda Game Preferences
01:10:31
Speaker
Hodge you you um you brought up Batman Arkham City. I'm gonna say this Arkham City aged like a nice fine wine. Oh, I don't die room Skyrim aged like milk yeah got those similes in there got that similes in there uh no skyrim um is absolutely awful um i i cannot believe that people thought this game was like the god's gift to earth it controls horrendous like it is so clunky and so like it feels awful to play the writing is so
01:11:04
Speaker
bla Like, compared to Fallout, like, Fallout's writing is, like, premier. Skyrim, I was, like, reading, I'm like, this is so boring. This is horrendous. And I played it for, like, four or five hours, and I was like, nope, can't do it. And this is someone who, like, loves Bethesda games. And I played hours of Bethesda, like, hours upon hundreds of hours of Bethesda games. And I've, like, encountered maybe one or two bugs in my entire playthroughs of Bethesda games.
01:11:29
Speaker
Skyrim I had like seven bugs in my four hours seven eight bugs. I'm like, I don't know I I can't I don't I'm even going back to 2011 like I cannot say I couldn't see myself in 2011 play this and being like like coming playing Scott playing Arkham City and then go play in that and being like why is this so jank like it's so Like I can't play a game like that in I don't know. it just It's so bad to control. And playing New Vegas the year before, New Vegas came out in 2010, and that aged so well compared to Skyrim. I still need to play that one. I've so heard nothing but good things about that one. will we'll do ah We should definitely do an episode just on our controversial takes in general, because my controversial take about Bethesda, I love Fallout. I love that world. But Starfield's been my favorite Bethesda game I've ever played. I thought i think that game plays very well. ah
01:12:19
Speaker
Cause I legit, the only thing I don't like about starfield is the loading to from planet to planet. That's the only thing I don't like about that game. I loved it other than that. I thought it was a great game and I thought it's overhated, but yeah, that's, it's my favorite Bethesda game. So that's controversial of all my, of all my BGS Bethesda game. Well, my, of all my Bethesda games that I've played starfield is my second to least favorite.
01:12:43
Speaker
Skyrim's at a level of its own though i do like so i do like starfield but skyrim's on a level of its own it's it's way down there it's like i put it right there with um you know uh the last jedi and rise of skywalker oh i don't know if i go that far but all right oh no i will i will because yeah going no No, maybe Acolyte, but ah no, because actually no, that's even worse. But no, because Last Jedi and Rise of Skywalker made me want to kill myself.
League of Legends and Arcane
01:13:17
Speaker
Skyrim, I just didn't like. You guys are crazy. Sean, what's your number two, sir? All right, my number two is, hang on one second, I just gotta do timestamp real quick. I gotta to do some math real quick, sorry. um My number two is,
01:13:34
Speaker
It's gonna hurt some people, but it's League of Legends, this ah MOBA game here. yeah MOBA's in general, I'm kinda like, what the heck are these games? But the reason why I have this is because there was a group on my college track team, probably like six of them.
01:13:51
Speaker
they were absolutely obsessed with like to the point where like you'd go in their room and they'd have these intricate builds going like their pc's they'd have all these like pc's set up and they'd be only playing league and like i'm i'm just i'm i'm locked into league right now i can't do anything like to the point they would skip practice sometimes to like play league of legends and like i'm like guys let's go uh let's go do something or hey you guys want to come play as a smash bro now we're playing league of legends like that's all they did was They go to track practice, they go to track meets, they go to class, and they play League of Legends the entire time. And it got to the point where that's all they would talk about was League. Like League, guys, guys, League, League, League. And they're like, if you don't play a League, you're not a real gamer. So I tried it. So I was like, you know what? I'm gonna try it and give it a fair shot.
01:14:35
Speaker
and I like did not understand what was going on. I think I'm a pretty uh pretty savvy gamer myself and I got on there and was like whoa this is like you guys think some people think MMOs are like throwing all these or jrpgs are throwing all these different mechanics at you go try to play league of legends that that game is so confusing There's like nine million things going on on the screen like you're like, what do I click? What do I do in the kit? Everyone's like clicking everything wicked fast. And it's like I have no idea what's going on. I'm using this hero or this this I don't even know what they're called in League of Legends. But League of Legends, I absolutely cannot stand. And the people who play it, I'm not I'm not I know this is an overgeneralization, but like I always find that the people who play League of Legends are the ones who are like, I'm a real gamer. I play League of Legends or
01:15:24
Speaker
You're not real. You don't play League or I'm so you're a casual Yeah, like I I just can't I can't do League of Legends. I will say ah Before we get to midnight because I think you're next right? Yeah, I before I should have put this in into what we're playing because it's kind of a gaming thing, but I've been rewatching arcane I just rewatch the first season I'm getting into the second season now that show is so much better than it deserves to be because it is based off such a shitty IP because League of Legends I Agree, it's fucking horrible. Even my my younger brother plays it and even he's like this game sucks I don't know why I play it and it's so I'm just like
01:16:06
Speaker
But the show is so fucking good that I'm like, how is this based off League of Legends? Because that game is so dumb. But this show is a masterpiece. And so I just find that funny, though, of the complete contrast between the game versus show. But yeah, I agree with you. League of Legends sucks.
Dragon's Dogma 2 Criticism
01:16:26
Speaker
I also agree. League of Legends does suck. um I don't want to be clicking like click, click, click. You hear that? This is League of Legends. Frickin' losers. Get a life. Get a life, all right? Play some real games, all right? yeah But if you want to play a MOBA, play SMITE. right SMITE's fun. That's an actual third-person action MOBA where you you can use a controller or a WASD to move around like a normal human. wow And then you can cast some the abilities. Yeah, WAST.
01:16:58
Speaker
um But yeah, that game sucks. nobody Nobody likes that game. Actually, tons of people like that game. It's super popular. But we don't like that game. So all right. I think that's a great pick. Yeah, we're not going into mine yet. But you've inspired me to change my number one. Now I know what my number one is going to be. So you go. And then we'll get to me after. Wow. OK. All right. Well, my number of one. Hang on. Wait, wait. Podge, I'm going to message you on Discord. I'm going to guess it. OK? OK.
01:17:22
Speaker
All right. It better not be smart. Like, what the hell? All right. That game's not even popular enough. All right. Yeah. So anyway, it's not popular enough to hate. It's not so. All right. So my number one is a game that came out this year.
01:17:35
Speaker
that a lot of people really love this game. And I thought that this was gonna be an incredible game. I thought it might be a game of the year nominee. This game sucks. And I'm talking about Dragon's Dogma 2. I wanted to like this game so much. I'm like, this is a midnight game, you know, open world RPG fun combat. This game was so mid and so trash.
01:17:58
Speaker
first of all shout out to gj from the discord we love him he gifted me the game on steam i appreciate it i wanted to like this game so bad especially because he gifted it to me i wasn't gonna i didn't want to drop it i put like 25 plus hours into the game i tried so hard to like it the story is super mid The combat is very annoying because it's just the same enemies over and over. You can't freaking fast travel. They're like, it's immersive. You have to walk or ride a cart. I'm like, dude, it's twenty twenty four. All right. Get a life. This is lame. um And also I had ah quite a few glitches. um One glitch like they gave me a quest off the start of the game. They're like, go do this.
01:18:39
Speaker
And I come to find out after dying like 30 times um that this was not a quest that you were supposed to do until much later in the game when you were much higher level. And there was no indication of that. And they gave it to me right near the start, like in the first town you get to the first big town. I'm like, what a stupid game.
01:18:56
Speaker
Um, I had a glitch when I got to the second or third city where like I was trying to, I had to go talk to a dude in a prison and like, he just kept repeating the same line from from before. He's like, I'm still working on it. Come back. And I would literally, I would go sleep and I would sleep and I would sleep and I would sleep and I'd come back and he'd be like, I'm working on it. Come back. And then I'd go do like a quest or two and I'd come back. He's like, I'm working on it. Come back. Like the game completely glitched. I'm like, this game is terrible.
01:19:21
Speaker
And I they got the pawns I thought the pawns would be really cool because it's like oh I can use hodge's character that's hodge in the game and he's gonna like he's gonna point out that there's a chest over there but you know what the pawns really are they're companions that have no story and no interesting shit at all because they have literally no story they just have one line quips it's like a marvel movie this game sucks If you like ah Dragon's Dogma 2, I'm happy for you. But the game is trash. That's my pick. Number one, Dragon's Dogma 2. Play some real r RPGs, kids. All right.
MMOs and Their Appeal
01:19:55
Speaker
What's that you, Sean? Anything?
01:19:57
Speaker
I just want to say, I was really happy that you had dropped this guy. I had told you, you you kept bringing up in our conversations how much you weren't enjoying it. though I'm like, why don't you just drop it? Why don't you play something you like? Why don't you? know No, no, I'm 20. I'm going to get to it. I'm going to get to it. And then after like three weeks, you were finally like, yeah, I'm good. So I was like really happy that you dropped it. Because you are visibly not having fun. And you could see it on your face when you talk about the game, how upset and boring you were, how bored you were. So I'm happy that you dropped it.
01:20:27
Speaker
That's funny. ah Do you have any thoughts of that and then get in your number? No, sir I remember watching a trailer for it and I didn't know what the game was because they hadn't shown the title card and I've never been into these games. And I remember thinking it looked kind of cool. But and when I saw the name, I was like, oh, I'm never going to play it. But yeah, it's a it's definitely not a genre of game that I that I play, but.
01:20:49
Speaker
um My number one, so this was, I actually had three different things I was trying to think of, but I was ah first at first going to go with Metal Gear Solid just because I've tried the first one so many times and I can't do it because the controls are bad, but I decided I'd skip that one because I do actually want to play those again because it's not really the game itself, it's just how poorly it's aged.
01:21:09
Speaker
um And then I was gonna do ah you had you made me think RTS is when you were talking about mobas and I was like I'm not huge on those but I'm actually gonna go with something mean Sean actually DM me because I didn't think about it. It's World of Warcraft Guild Wars those fucking MMOs because I just They have always looked like shit to me. I don't think they look any good. the All thegraphic the graphics always suck. And the just the constant, you're just grinding for just random, like, it's just a live service. You're always in doing stupid shit that doesn't matter. And I just, I don't like that kind of gameplay. I just don't think it looks fun. I don't think it looks good. i've tried I played World War Craft, it's briefly once. And I was like, this is,
01:21:55
Speaker
horrible why is this why do people like this and why have nerds put like Thousands of days of playtime into these games. I don't get it. They don't look fun I don't see where the addiction can form like a fortnight or a battle royale I could see where the addiction forms because when you lose you want to get back and fucking try and win again, but in MMOs I don't see where it's pulling you in constantly. So I don't know. Maybe it's just like yeah my brother was also obsessed with RuneScape when he was a kid. He was obsessed with ah that little weird Internet game. And I just every time I'd see him playing, I'm like, that doesn't look fun. Why are you?
01:22:33
Speaker
Why are you playing this? So I've never understood that. So MMOs in general, but World of Warcraft obviously is the main one. And then he was also obsessed with Guild Wars, which is the other one I was thinking of. But yeah, the I've the MMO. I don't get it. I don't get why people like it.
01:22:49
Speaker
Okay, I mean, interesting pick. um I am an MMO fan in the past, especially I played a lot of MMOs. I played some World of Warcraft. It was fun. um My favorite MMOs, though, were more of like the PvP, the player versus player ones, like I've talked about assurance call and shadow bane and Dark Age of Camelot, these really old because I'm old ah games or the a lot of the focus was on like,
01:23:12
Speaker
player guilds and fighting and killing other players and looting their stuff and ah the politics that arrive from that like in an assurance call um like guilds would form and go to war with other guilds and like ah you would control like dungeons. There were dungeons where you could use to like level up and get resources and a guild would actually like claim a dungeon um and they would be like theirs and the other guilds would it raid the dungeon and like kill all the people in it and like It was it was just awesome. But i I respect that. I respect it. It's not for everyone. um Sean, what say you about WOW and then you got your number one? Well, I did message college that I said World of Warcraft. That was going to be that was my guess. um Yeah, I my friends are so into like RuneScape and World of Warcraft like growing up and like I never played those games. And I was like, like I had no interest in them at all. The only MMO I ever played was Toontown.
01:24:06
Speaker
like tunetown online Yeah, i was ah I was like six years old, seven years old, it was like 2002, 2003, I was playing tootown running around. That was so much fun because you fought these cogs, you fight these like robot, they're called cogs, and you had to like infiltrate like these buildings. And the combat was cool, it was like throwing pies at people, squirting them with water.
01:24:26
Speaker
Basically playing pranks on them. I loved it and it was like minigames. But yeah, that's the only MMO I ever played shout out to Think it was like Dory one two something something. Oh seven XX that those my there's my buddy I met on there and then I never talked to him again um Real quick, I'll just say that I also I've never played RuneScape either, um and I don't understand why people like that game because it looks like shit. um I'm old. That game looks so crappy and old to me. I'm like, I don't get it. But anyway, yeah, I think it was because it was free. So it probably because didn't you have to pay monthly for World of Warcraft?
01:25:03
Speaker
Mm hmm. Yeah, that's that's probably why it was just a free option back in the day when there weren't many options. So that's probably it. But I
Assassin's Creed Series Review
01:25:11
Speaker
will say quickly before we move on, ah World of Warcraft did provide us with one, one of the greatest South Park episodes of all time and two, just the greatest Internet, like the beginning of Internet memes of Leroy Jenkins.
01:25:27
Speaker
so So so I will I will give it its props for that.
01:25:32
Speaker
Take it away, Sean. Alright, my number one is the Assassin's Creed series. I don't like these games. I think they're awful. I think they play horrendously. I think they know feel so clunky to play. I'm like, I want to do this, and I'm like, oh, I know, I'm hopping into this haysta haystack. I'm hopping into the bushes, trying to run around, trying to scale the world. I'm like, can I actually scale that building if I try? What buttons do I have to press? It has to run around? I think the story is horrendous. like
01:26:04
Speaker
It's all complicated. I know they took out some of like the I don't even know. What's it called? Absterco? or calledargo orgo I know they they took out like the real world stuff and then I heard they're like trying to go back to it. Don't even get me started in a movie. The movie was like 70 percent in the real world. Not even like in the game world. Like I don't know. These games I tried and they feel so bad to play and like Assassin's Creed 3 had such a cool setting that like American Revolution was like, oh, this is going to be the one that drags me. And I'm like, no. And some of my friends were so into these games that like like that's all they did. And one which one had like the online, like the Assassin's Creed online aspect? Was that Unity? you
01:26:43
Speaker
Oh unity had co-op. Yeah. Are you talking about? No, it was the one where you could like, you could go around and like, you'd like hunt people. Oh, that was just too. Yeah. I thought you were talking about all my friend all of my friends to do was that and they love that brotherhood game. They did the same thing, but then like, I don't know. I tried to play them and they were so, they felt so bad and the story was so convoluted. I'm like,
01:27:07
Speaker
It was so I couldn't stand him. I can't I can't and I know everyone's like oh black flag God's gift earth the greatest sea game ever Yeah, well go play. Um Skull and bones fools that good
01:27:21
Speaker
ah did You didn't like any of them. Did you try origins? Origins like the rp the first RPG won. I'm done. I'm not trying them. go see yeah Ambulance agrees on the outside. Taking them away, huh? Taking them to jail. ah What do you think, Hodge? You got any Assassin's Creed experience or takes?
01:27:38
Speaker
I'm going to it's another one where I agree, but I also disagree. um So when when one the first one was announced, I um i watched that reveal the trailer um like almost daily. I know not like the trailer one where it's like the going up, then he jumps up in the sky to. satin guy not that one It was like a gameplay trailer and it shows like she's walking you through and he's like going through the crowd and you can see him like kind of grabbing people by the shoulder to nudge by and all that kind of shit and then all of a sudden he gets up to a wall and just climbs the wall because that had never been done in a video game before and I was blown away by just how open this world was. ah Then the first one did end up being a little bit of a disappointment but
01:28:21
Speaker
to and brotherhood I love so I'm gonna completely disagree with you there but I understand at the same time that was back when all the missions were very samey it was basically go sit on this bench and wait for the person to walk by and then get up and then go stand in this crowd so they don't notice that you're standing there.
01:28:37
Speaker
Like it did have a pretty bad stealth. The main, I liked Abstergo part in the first game, but as the games went on, it got worse and worse um because in the first one, it's just you're a guy who's captured and they're trying to get in your brain. You don't know why. And then you find out it's because it's magic or blah, blah, blah, bullshit.
01:28:56
Speaker
And so it was kind of cool. The reveal that Abstergo is the Templar spoiler alert, but I don't care. So I liked it. But then, yeah, by the time they got to three, I was so excited for a Revolutionary War, Assassin's Creed. I thought that was such a cool setting and then it ended up kind of sucking. And then four, I yeah, I disagree. Four is an amazing game. I really love that game. And same with Origins. I loved Origins.
01:29:21
Speaker
Odyssey, I fell off just because I had just completed Origins, so I couldn't go back to back open worlds, so I didn't play it. And then Valhalla hearing that it was like a million hours long, I didn't even bother. ah So I fell off of the Assassin's Creed, so I agree in the sense that the games did kind of get samey and boring a little bit. they they they overs They overstay their welcome in most of them. ah some of their Most of them are way too long for what they should be, which is why it was kind of cool when Mirage came out, but I didn't bother playing it because I'm kind of over it.
01:29:50
Speaker
But i I agree with not loving it, but I definitely don't hate Assassin's Creed I think it was a good it was a good I even the movie wasn't amazing I like it more than other people do but I do think it's a bad movie But I think it's a fun bad movie. Not just a terrible bad movie. So I I'm a little softer on this series. I'm kind of intrigued as to what shadows will do. But I agree with it, especially when it was an annual release, it should have never been an annual fucking a game it that they weigh it. So they they. Yeah, I agree, but disagree at the same time is the long winded way of saying that.
01:30:31
Speaker
Right on. I completely disagree. Assassin's Creed is one of my favorite series. um I love them. Assassin's Creed 1 was trash. It was a cool proof of concept, but it was really repetitive and lame. Two best in the series. Phenomenal. Ezio Auditore. Amazing character. So good. Great story. And I love the little minigame where you have to manage and build up that little town, Hodge. That was fun, too. Yeah, it was just awesome.
01:30:57
Speaker
Yeah, I don't like the survival game kind of thing where you build up towns, but when it's just kind of you're getting it so you can get more equipment and stuff where you're kind of up. It's more of an upgrade rather than you're not actually sitting there building the city. I hate that kind of shit. But when it's the ad, you're just kind of getting you have the ability to open this weapon shop or so. I like that kind of stuff. Yeah. Yeah, it was cool. It wasn't super deep, but it was fun and it gave you gameplay rewards out of it. So it was nice. Yeah. um Yeah, that game was awesome. What?
01:31:26
Speaker
I'll never forget Christmas 2007, all my friends opening up their Assassin's Creed for Christmas and me getting Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Explorers in Time freaking out about it and loving that game while everyone else was playing their Assassin's Creed game. And that is the moment where it all went wrong. Sean turned into a huge weeb.
01:31:47
Speaker
You know, but anyways, Assassin's Creed is awesome. ah Three, I really did like three because I'm a huge history and revolutionary war fan. The setting's incredible. I do agree that that is probably one of the most obtuse games because instead of having like big cities to scale, like they got you climbing and trees and stuff. So I can see how strong that might be a little bit awkward to get into. Probably not the best first impression, but Good game for I believe, I believe they're remaking
Final Gaming Thoughts and Preferences
01:32:15
Speaker
this. So maybe when they come out with a remake, you guys will give it a shot. who know Well, I love Sean. I'd have to give it a shot. I think a I think a big reason why I never got into the Assassin's Creed games, though, is because like that time frame that 2007 to like.
01:32:31
Speaker
2014 2015 I was so like much like ah I'm only playing jrpgs and 2d and 3d platformers type of guy like it was very rare for me to to to um to go away from like jrpgs or platformers like it was so rare for me to do that um you know you had the occasional games that I like the GTAs that I would you know want to play um but it was so hard for me to not play those type of games because I was that's all right that's like what I like to do Yeah, so two two final things. Also, I will give a shout out to one of my favorite games of all time, Assassin's Creed Odyssey. That game is so beautiful and so fun. I love the white sand beaches, the turquoise water sailing around Greece, giant statues of Poseidon and Zeus, and ah just the setting, the Sparta versus Athens. It's super cool, dude. So fun, lighting swords on fire and cutting people up with it. Hodge, you look like you want to come in here.
01:33:29
Speaker
Oh, I just saying I really need to get back to Odyssey because I did like it. It's just I was so burnt out on open world that I fell off of it. But I do want to go back to that one because I and I wanted to love Valhalla. But when I heard how long it was, I'm like, I can't because the Norse setting looks so cool. But hearing how long it was, I'm like, I can't do it. I just can't.
01:33:48
Speaker
It's very it's very like and it's funny. Actually, I watched the review from a show up and he was like boring, bloated and endless was his title or whatever. um And that actually ah that expectation going into the game, knowing that it was going to be super long and repetitive made me enjoy the game more. um But anyways.
01:34:07
Speaker
ah got Okay, so just one final thing and then we'll wrap it up here. Sean, if they do remake Assassin's Creed Black Flag, and if it comes out and it's remade and and it's good, will you play it? Will you try it? depends You don't have to. Depends what else comes out around that sad time. All right, you heard it here first. He will play it. It's official. All right. just ki all right plus five hundred Let's go ahead and wrap things up, guys. I think this has been a fantastic episode, as they always are. We always do a great job, you know? Had ourselves on the back. Let's go ahead and get out of here. Final thoughts for episode number 22. And let's start with you, Sean. What are your final thoughts, sir?
01:34:51
Speaker
Yeah, a lot of a lot of ah interesting takes we got here. We got some GTA hate. We got some firm soft hate. We got a lot of ah online gaming hate with our Fortnite, our League of Legends and our World of Warcraft. I think we're going to this video might, you know, piss some people off. Oh, damn it. I just thought of one that I should have done. Oh, well done there. I mean, if you want to real quick honorable mention it, go ahead.
01:35:16
Speaker
Uh, the Pokemon series, they've gotten worse every time. So that one. I do love Pokemon, though. I do love Pokemon, but the games are ever since Shield. I they've sucked. So like ever since Shield, you mean ever since Sun? I never played Sun. I liked Ultra Moon, actually. Yeah, I liked it. Oh, all right. But it was the first one I had played since Silver, so that's why I hadn't played any corn.
01:35:42
Speaker
My final thoughts are that Skyrim is awesome. Assassin's Creed is awesome. Fortnite sucks. And Dragon's Dogma sucks. So yeah, that's pretty much it. ah Thank you guys for tuning in. We definitely appreciate you. um Hodge, your final thoughts, sir, before we get up out of here.
01:36:00
Speaker
Yeah, I actually I know we definitely like doing the positivity. We made this podcast. We could talk about games we love rather than two console wars. But it is fun just kind of having a talk about like here's why I think this is a little overrated and like I don't like. So it is it is it's ah it's not really a negative topic as much as it is just interesting to kind of explore different opinions rather than just don't. We definitely don't want to be video game shows where everything is amazing and nothing sucks. So.
01:36:28
Speaker
and So it's it's nice to have honest conversations about why we don't like certain things. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. All right. Well, that's going to do it for us, guys. This has been games over plastic episode number 22. Hope you all have a great day. We're going to go ahead and get on out of here. Goodbye. Bye. That conversation around GTA was a drunken moment with no alcohol involved. I will now erase that out of my memory.