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Pokémon Needs a Reset, Ninja Gaiden 4 Review, Dragon Quest’s 2D Comeback
56 Plays2 days ago
In Episode 124 of Unqualified Game Chat, Spencer and Jesse dissect Ninja Gaiden 4’s questionable story DLC rollout, celebrate the Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D remake’s stunning improvements, and debate why modern Pokémon feels like it’s lost its soul. With plenty of tangents on developer legacy, remake fatigue, and Game Freak’s 3D struggles, this one’s a must-listen for anyone passionate about where gaming is headed.
0:00 – Intro & catching up on PAX videos and Noisy News Week
4:50 – Ninja Gaiden 4 talk: story DLC frustrations and gameplay praise
14:00 – Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D remake impressions and improvements
27:00 – Game Freak’s 3D problem and why Pokémon needs HD-2D
34:18 - Yay or Nay light
Recommended
Transcript
Shirts and Holiday Gifts
00:00:21
Speaker
Hello and welcome to episode 124.
00:00:25
Speaker
of Unqualified Game Chat. I'm your host, Desarro Lopez, and with me today is my black shirt brother, Spencer, the Legacy.
00:00:36
Speaker
Hello, I think it's a My Hero Academia shirt from like five years ago. have an edge. It's like golden faded. Yeah, your shirt's fucking cool. It has a pocket. Oh, and the slime is in the pocket.
00:00:49
Speaker
The slime is in the pocket. I will say, and I'm not being an Azario about this, oh but when it comes to shirts, I don't like ironed-on feel.
00:01:01
Speaker
It gets really hot well get like The shirt quality, 7 out of 10, it's a gilded. What do you expect? But on top of that, the the but the the iron press-on, it's fine. It's a cute shirt.
00:01:15
Speaker
well I'm not complaining. I'm just saying if you want get- I hope small press on instead like a big logo. Right, all rest by yeah right, remember right, right. If it was my, if it's coming up December, which means Christmas time, if you're planning on getting anything. Okay. Now know the shirts. All the listeners are expected to get us gifts.
00:01:38
Speaker
Yes, yes, yes. feel like we're, we never have emphasized that because we thought you guys would be thoughtful enough to do it. It was every year. Read between the lines. You read between the lines. You get nothing. ah And I know this year everyone's going to oh, it's so much more expensive to ship stuff between the board. Right, right, right.
00:01:53
Speaker
Okay, but how many hours of entertainment have we given you? Yeah, and we do home visits too. yeah We do home visits, yeah, for terminally ill adults.
90s Ads and Sponsorship
00:02:01
Speaker
Kids are not allowed to listen to the podcast, so it can't be kids.
00:02:05
Speaker
You can, we'll just to hang out in your living room. Like, i'm I don't remember, don't remember the N64 wrestling game, but I'm sure there was like a, rep when the wrestlers came into your house, was like backyard, backyard.
00:02:19
Speaker
wrestling. There's like a commercial where the deadly bros came into like broke into the. of that Yeah, that's us. That was you were in the nineties. That was a lot. A lot of ads were like a character breaking into the house or out of the TV. That was a big thing. I remember like a crash band. a cut lot A lot of characters who kind of like invaded your. I think there was one with Agumon for digital characters would just invade your your space a lot in the nineties. That was a big Tony the tiger just showing up after after he hung out with your mom. Yeah. It's little sus. What's she doing? Tell me why she's a taken woman. She's married. Why the fuck are you in my house? Why are you my house? tiger
00:02:55
Speaker
i Are you a real tiger or a furry? Where's dad? And then it turns out mom's not there and dad is. That is. and the Enjoy that drama. Very progressive for the Very progressive. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
00:03:11
Speaker
um We have a show today. We missed last week. I was in New York. We did warn you. It's true. We did say as I was going to New York. um yeah neighbor I was able to put out a Noisy Newsweek on Monday. So please watch that because...
00:03:28
Speaker
It's going to be the money cow eventually, guys. it's going to be the It's going to be the only thing on Noisy Pixel that we can actually put sponsorships on. Yeah, I'm excellent. It's like, maybe this podcast, but I can't think of ah one person would sponsor this. It would have to be like a real like indie like from Newgrounds era. like Right, right. It would have to be. Sure, fuck it.
00:03:53
Speaker
It would have to be a NordVPN partnership where we pay them. and we pay We pay them so that we can look like we're sponsored. Yeah, Raid Shadow Legends. That's an old joke. I haven't seen Raid Shadow Legends things and in years. So I guess the VPNs are still going on, though.
00:04:12
Speaker
it's a lot of like what I get is a lot of insurance ads and a lot of those stupid. um There's like two lanes and a guy shooting. And then they had that. All those fake ass games. had that one.
00:04:25
Speaker
It's called Class War and it's going viral. You remember that? I don't know. I don't know. They got like the guy from The Boys to do. yeah, yeah. They got the from Boys. He was like an American accent for some reason. He's like.
00:04:38
Speaker
almost got It's called Clothwar and it's going viral. like oh my god Watch that ad just for that part. yeah or If you know that ad, please leave a comment. yeah um Anyway,
00:04:53
Speaker
ah i want to talk about Ninja Gaiden 4.
Ninja Gaiden 4 Critique
00:04:57
Speaker
Did you play that, right? No. i Someone else covered it Who reviewed it for Monster Run? I think it was.
00:05:05
Speaker
think it was Nick. I should go off the top of my head. But I think it was Nick. know what? It's been a busy review month. It's been two weeks. since like It's been like Yeah, I have not stopped.
00:05:16
Speaker
ah As Zahri can attest, there's been like four RPGs to review this month. Yeah. Pretty much every hour outside of like sleeping and the gym and stuff has been. Yeah, I was complaining about Digimon and then I fucking started playing The Outer Worlds 2 like an idiot. Yeah, I went Digimon to Pokemon to Dragon Quest.
00:05:36
Speaker
All in a row. It's been crazy. James Carr on our website. Oh, James Carr. Hey, what did he give it? gave it a 4.5 and they used our score on one of their graphics. Yeah, because I saw the commercial. Congrats. That's cool.
00:05:50
Speaker
Very nice. I gave it an 8.5.
00:05:56
Speaker
I'm sure we would have been of the commercial if I gave it a nine. Yeah. Oof. Damn. But fucking banging out the door. Give us that name. Give us the EasyPixel.
00:06:07
Speaker
Give us that name. ah They've never done that. um So, what... what i And then everyone in the fucking comments was like, Ninja Gaiden doesn't need story. and And I want to say, it wasn't the story, the lack of story that got me.
00:06:26
Speaker
Yeah. Like, I was fine. when I even say, like, Ninja Gaiden has never had a story. This is okay. But there they are selling story DLC next year. Yeah, that is true. And that's where I get pissed off. It's like, why are you selling what is missing from this game just to sell it in a patch later on?
00:06:45
Speaker
I couldn't come to terms with that. And there's also some issues with the bosses. ah Ryu's whole thing is just a recap of the entire game, condensed almost, so you just play through the same levels. Yeah, because there's two characters, right?
00:07:02
Speaker
Right, right, right. You go through the same, wow, it's definitely Cry 4 again, where you go through the same levels as the old character. Wow. Yeah, yeah. It's a weird choice. In a condensed version, but same themes, same enemies, same layout.
00:07:16
Speaker
Huh. So like, say if you didn't, if you didn't surf in this early stage, well, you're not going to surf in it as Ryu. They didn't like add new gimmicks to it or anything.
00:07:28
Speaker
That's strange. So that kind of bummed me out. um But in terms of an action game, I think it is one of the best action games I've ever played. Devil May Cry 5.
00:07:40
Speaker
Devil May Cry 5 levels just fun. Better than Better than V, Devil May Cry 5. I would watch my brother play Ninja Gaiden Black on his Xbox all the time.
00:07:53
Speaker
And I thought it was so cool. Yeah, it was very fun to watch as a kid. I wrote a comic book as a little child about ninjas. That was just the story of Ninja Gaiden Black. But all the names had one letter different.
00:08:06
Speaker
Uh, but then we, then we played Ninja Gaiden two and three out were both like, this isn't great. Uh, so, uh, I should check out four because, and, and that's the second Ninja Gaiden this year technically cause there was a rage bound. Yeah, that was great. That was excellent. I reviewed that.
00:08:23
Speaker
Um, it's a big year for Ninja and the, the fucking creator died. The design, that was really sad. Yeah. No one wouldn't, um, his name, I think I, I want to say his name, but I don't want to mess it up.
00:08:37
Speaker
It's a Daki or something like that. Yeah. Inagaki, I think. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Inagaki. Um, uh, He, uh, no one remembers that, uh, that Wii U game that he put out. What it? Uh, Devil's Third.
00:08:55
Speaker
i remember that. That was like controversial. I remember. Yeah. Cause the fucking marketing was him at a strip club or something like, but wasn't a club it was literally just his Yeah.
00:09:09
Speaker
so go and just him hanging out with fucking uh uh strippers wow he was a badass man he was a badass and he was really good story anytime yeah anytime that i see that i i hear a developer anecdote about him or he's brought up shit in the world but it's just, it's, it's very pseudo levels of, I don't care.
00:09:32
Speaker
Yeah.
Creators, Fans, and Influences
00:09:33
Speaker
be it It is a tour. Yeah. And I honestly, like there's some times where, creators kind of lift the veil on, on the whole thing. Like, like when, then this is totally off subject, but Doja cat goes on Twitter it's like, I don't know any of you guys, like you guys talk to me, like, you know, me and like, that's got, that has got to affect every creative in this business. Oh yeah. hundred At least one time where they come to this realization that they are actively engaging with people that they don't know. And then it kind of just snaps and they have like this realization moment, like, like they do, but, but so many developers don't really like showcase that. And he was always like, they're always so quick to share these stories. And I, I appreciate that. Uh, we're able to at least because he hasn't been around. He had like a couple canceled games recently, but like,
00:10:28
Speaker
it's ah It sucks. It sucks that he was so young. Oh, 100%, yeah. that' so It's always weird. it's that's That kind of death always reminds you, like, oh yeah, there's no, like...
00:10:40
Speaker
There's nothing thing like, oh, the guy that guy made Ninja Gaiden. He can't randomly die. Yeah. like you know You kind of think in terms like fiction where you're just like, oh, people can't die like that suddenly. But that's the kind thing that wakes you up for a little while where you're like, oh, yeah, you can just die. And like that's crazy. I remember Awadis passing, it was almost like I kind of like forced myself to forget about it for a couple of years. like i I didn't even like try to process it.
00:11:08
Speaker
And I would much rather live in a world where someone like Iwata is than live in a reality. And that gets me. There's a few people like that. Robin Williams, stuff like that.
00:11:20
Speaker
Oh, yeah. Oh, man. Paul Rubens. Oh, fuck. That hit me hard. Yeah. That was another one that was just like, you made Dragon Ball. He can't die. Like, that doesn't make sense.
00:11:35
Speaker
but I have this. I'm still working on my Sandland piece whenever I get time, but it's like turning into like one of those things where I don't even know ah how to put it out. Or what's become...
00:11:47
Speaker
Nobody talks about it, so I'm getting like this more this like responsibility to tell every angle of this game because nobody talks about it. I'm just meaning to play it because I love the original one-shot.
00:12:00
Speaker
i need they could Make it your December game. December. me let me see oh or i mean like make it like the game that you play over december i think maybe will. You could put it in easy mode.
00:12:12
Speaker
I'll even let you put it in easy mode. don't need it in easy mode. don't need it there. letting Dragon Quest 1 and 2 on Dragon Quest mode,
Game Remakes and Industry Impact
00:12:20
Speaker
sir. It's so cool, man, because they do some Suikoden stuff where every side mission you do adds somebody to your town. They do some crazy shit like that. It's a cool game. also reminds me that have to play Suikoden.
00:12:34
Speaker
the The remake. Yeah, I'm able to play the Suikoden. Oh, okay. Yeah. So I'm going to, I got it. got a hold. No one really likes the first one. I have the most fond memories with the first one though. You have talked about the first one. I remember that. You do love that. That's just me.
00:12:50
Speaker
I, uh, I think I very briefly played the DS one, Tier Curris or something. Oh, yeah. When was a lad with LimeWire and an R4 card, and I was trying every game I could get my hands on.
00:13:02
Speaker
Well, it's funny you brought him Ninja Gaiden Black, is that I remember the copy I played on was a burned copy. Hell yeah. yeah On a hacked Xbox that I was able to play at a friend's house.
00:13:16
Speaker
um But... but yeah I was circling back to Ninja Gaiden. Great, great action game. um It was fun to go to that game after, well while I was playing Outer Worlds 2, kind of, but is it took me 16 hours to beat, and I was kind of happy with that.
00:13:35
Speaker
Yeah, no, that's a great language. I would even went for 12 hours if they if they ended it at 12 would have been like oh cool I have like I could do the new game or whatever but because 16 hours I was like I'll just I'll touch on the new game stuff see how it is and then um I value shorter games like that more and more as I get older.
00:13:54
Speaker
Right. At least I can beat them and then let the real gamers play the play the post game stuff. Yeah. Once in a while you play a big 40 to 80 hour game and you're like, that was great.
00:14:05
Speaker
But when you do like three in a row, you're like, I need some eight to 12 hour games to slot in there better action based. And then, you know, you, you can, you slot those intermittently and you have a perfectly balanced diet of games.
00:14:21
Speaker
So let's talk about Dragon Quest 1 and 2 HD Remake. You gave it a 4.5 out of 5? I did. We gave it a 9.5 out of 10. No, so um no dah so i didn't play it.
00:14:37
Speaker
I have a copy. I've not played it yet. But um I'm curious, like how how did you approach it? like well what What stood out to you this time around? Yeah. So I had a bit of a an interesting experience with it where I had played one to completion as a teenager ah and I didn't get super far in two when I was younger.
00:14:56
Speaker
So I knew what I was going into with one, but with two, I was less familiar. So I was kind of able to play one game be like, oh, these are the differences. These are the updates and play the other one to be like, oh so.
00:15:07
Speaker
this is a pretty new experience to me. So I kind of got the best of both worlds. um But with one, I kind of approached it as I did the original one where i was like, okay, this is going to be really simple. It's like when you play like Final Fantasy one or something and you're like, it's going to be pretty routine, like get to new town, grind outside until you can buy all the gear from that town, staying at the end to whatever next town. that could build law um But I was pleasantly surprised they added a lot more narrative elements ah to make it stand out a bit more. They gave Princess Gwailen the damsel in distress kind of character.
00:15:43
Speaker
I did see that. Yeah, they walk they they gave made her playable in the first one. Or not playable. She the story had a story scene. Story scenes. um yeah They it kind of made like more characters exist who are like part of the Royal Guard and like stuff like that. They brought in ah Robin Hood from Dragon Quest III. They did a bunch of things in both games to really connect the trilogy um where like I think fairies didn't appear in Dragon Quest till 3, which is a prequel to 1 and 2.
00:16:12
Speaker
ah So they had fairies in 1 and 2 in this version. So that it's like, oh, these characters who don't trust humans, they trust you in these games because of Erdrick from 3. So it gives a line where you're like, yeah, this is this is cool.
00:16:26
Speaker
I could see that happening too when originally creating this ah trilogy to where like once the third one came around, they had already corrected several things that they wanted to like fix in the story.
00:16:37
Speaker
So it's kind of cool. their Their rollout of this entire structure of releasing three first, which is the first, which is the actual first one, and then doing one and two, pretty smart.
00:16:48
Speaker
Very confusing yeah from a consumer standpoint, but ah smart from a gamer standpoint. It's kind of like like how Yakuza Kiwami. It's like remakes, but they do little changes where it's like, this is what they clearly were aiming for. or This makes it fit better with future ones.
00:17:01
Speaker
It's kind of like that, where it's like, oh, like they've made 1, 2, and 3 flow a lot better. um They've added a lot more ah similarities and continuity ah things to it.
00:17:13
Speaker
you You get the sigils in Dragon Quest 1 now as well as 2 to kind of link them. And then with Dragon Quest 2, the biggest thing for me is that they they made the characters in the party feel like characters were like before they were pretty thin.
00:17:31
Speaker
as far as I got there, they were pretty thin because it was like an n NES RPG from like the late 80s. So they they could only do so much. um But, you know, it's helped. It has really good voice acting. They have a lot more dialogue.
00:17:43
Speaker
which gives them a lot more personality. There's tons more scenes of them interacting and and doing things and smaller narratives in the different towns. They added the fourth party member, which is the Prince of Canuck's sister, the Princess of Canuck, so that you have a full party.
00:17:58
Speaker
ah Plus, she's ah the whole thing is that you're all bloodline from Erdrick. So since she's his sister, she is too, so... she should be there. um And I think I read that they wanted to include her ah originally, but like the development time and so it just didn't work on the and NES version time wise.
00:18:16
Speaker
So I think it is very cool that these kind of stand as a way for the developers of the original to be like, this is what we wanted to 30 years ago. um But in like gorgeous detail and as nice of presentation as you could possibly give it in like a perfect row, like you said, with three, one, two.
00:18:36
Speaker
So I had ah an excellent time. i have a bit more to do in two, um but it was like, um i was I was blown away because i when I was going into them, i was like, okay, these are going to be lighter in terms of story.
00:18:49
Speaker
um Yeah. Dragon Quest 4, 5, 6 onward. um Technically, we know this story. This story has been told. Yeah, and it's pretty straightforward. It's like you the first one, you save the princess from a dragon and then beat the dragon lord.
00:19:05
Speaker
Um, the second one, you get the sigils, you go to fight Argon. Um, but then with this, there's a lot more stuff added to make it. that I've, I've been seeing that square annex is not shy about taking liberties with changing or altering up some of the endings.
00:19:21
Speaker
Like, I think I read that one more clearly addresses three. And I don't know if that's because of the fairy inclusion or um ah the extra story scenarios, but it it almost like sets up being from three. It's like, it's like, yeah, hundred it's really cool.
00:19:41
Speaker
It's great. i I hope they do this with the rest it too. I know they walk on tiptoes about so that kind of stuff sometimes about altering some of the stuff, but think, it's like uh players and players don't players don't care about that they they just don't want to take like uh i think in zelia they took out the the cigarette or the pipe oh yeah out of one of the stupid things and like in George Rose Wizard Adventure when they did the anime on tv they would censor cigarettes by blacking out this entire part of someone's face there's just a huge black blot um
00:20:15
Speaker
Yeah, I think with with things like this, ah changes that make it line up better with future entries and past entries, no one minds. It's when you do stuff like that's more controversial, like Final Fantasy 7 Remake, where you're like, oh, maybe it's a multiverse. Maybe it's different timelines. but And it's like, OK, that's extreme. That's an extreme. Right, right.
00:20:34
Speaker
and Compared to like, oh, these characters from Dragon Quest III are also in one and two because they take place after and it makes sense for them to be there. And it's like, oh, yeah, that just makes it feel more like a trilogy, like a long story. Um, I mean, like, it's not like George Lucas editing where it's like, oh, we put in a wacky CG musical number that doesn't contribute to the plot. It's, it's like, oh, this strings together everything.
00:20:57
Speaker
I can't see, I can't see us ever getting another, uh, final fantasy seven remake project. the way that they're the way that they're it's too much resources it's uh it's barely paying out for for square even from the first announcement of this remake project they had no idea what they were doing the developers didn't even know they saw their name in the trailer and they're like what like that was cyber connect right Yeah, yeah. And as so yeah that's what CyberConnect was in it. But like they showed Nomura's name on there and he's like, I've never. Oh yeah, he was like, what? Wait minute.
00:21:37
Speaker
I didn't hear about this. Yeah, it was. a Or like why he was like creative director. It's it's just stuff like this. like the The project is by and large messy. And I think since that announcement, what, in 2016 or 2018 or whatever that was, um since that announcement, ah remakes and remasters have kind of gone through like this um almost like acceptance phase where like,
00:22:01
Speaker
this is what, this is what we accept as a remake. This is what we accept as a remaster. But that line is being more defined as, um, I agree as we, as the result of getting so many more remakes is like, right. People are able to be like, okay, i like how this one does it. I don't like this about it. And now it's a lot easier to communicate. Like, Hey, I want,
00:22:21
Speaker
changes to either be additional or like connected to the other ones rather than outside of the bounds. But I mean, and that's totally personal too. That comes down to the person. I mean, yeah i I was wary about seven remake, but other people are like this fucking rocks. I love multiverse. Like it comes in. you Yeah. It's just like the rewriting and maybe you have the story, like the storyboard or whatever,
00:22:48
Speaker
yeah but The amounts of rewrites and just the the resources that the FF7 remake project takes, like I think we can guarantee that we're going to see. If Square approaches maybe a Final of Fantasy IX, it'll be more or less the same game.
00:23:05
Speaker
Yeah, it'll be a one game, one disc. like Yeah. i think i and i I think Seven could have been shortened to like the remake 100%. think it could have been two parts. Yeah, they're milking us.
00:23:16
Speaker
And I say that, Five Fantasy Seven's my favorite game ever. i've I was buying it like four times already. it's And i it's a Hobbit thing where it's like, it didn't need to be three movies. it It didn't need to be three parts. it's I think you can...
00:23:30
Speaker
And that is hard because I do respect what they're doing with remake and rebirth. And I loved rebirth a lot. Uh, but at the same time, i do wish there was like a, a more one to one seven remake. That's like,
00:23:43
Speaker
Oh, it's just, it plays like 7. Yeah, they' not they'll tell you to play the ah that the Final Fantasy 7 remaster or whatever that they put out. but You could just play this.
00:23:55
Speaker
You don't have to like work that hard. You can have PS2 graphics. Square Enix had a great style on PS2. The Kingdom Hearts Crisis Core era of like, wow, this is colorful. It has style. um But yeah, no, I agree. I would love to see more I want to say small scale because like HD2D is not necessarily like small. So it takes work and time, but I to They keep getting better every, every release.
00:24:21
Speaker
ah hundred percent. I think we'll see, like, I think we'll definitely see the advancements of where HD2D is. Not probably in this project, but whatever Octopath is is planning next, that'll probably give us a good idea where that style is heading.
00:24:39
Speaker
Hopefully they'll use whatever they learned from that for four or five. Because right now it seems like, ah because acquire is the developer, but they use the, um the Square Enix like engine for, for these things.
00:24:53
Speaker
And if, and if they they're, and if ah the developer, I forget that i mean, it starts with an A. um Those developers on Dragon Quest.
00:25:04
Speaker
Okay, well now we're going back to acquire, you know, it's our thing. huh Is it our thing? Our thing is okay. Yeah, great developer. um ah They've been around for a long time. They used to do these mech PS one games.
00:25:17
Speaker
but A lot of Japanese companies started with mech games. That's cool. Yeah, like very with the from soft and yeah. Right. I think it's because like the RPG elements of them, the customization of them, you don't have to, you don't have to, uh, the polygons can be like squares and they don't have to be people, you know, like, true your and it just lends itself to cool. And then it's just a numbers game after that. Yeah. under understand But you know what? I can't, you i couldn't even, i don't even know.
00:25:45
Speaker
remake why like Square Enix, they're remaking Dragon Quest 7 again. So I yeah couldn't even predict like they less than 10 years ago, they remade Dragon Quest 7. So I couldn't even predict what they're going to That's true. Next.
00:25:58
Speaker
So that's
Game Development and Future Styles
00:25:59
Speaker
true. I, I, I can only hope that they use these remakes as a way to teach new developers how to work on their tools. That'd be great.
00:26:09
Speaker
Because, mean, even with this, the Dead or Alive developer passing, developers are just going retire or die. Like, well, you're going to lose this knowledge sooner or later. Yamamoto and Sakurai and stuff aren't going to work on games for like 50 more years. It's got to.
00:26:32
Speaker
people have got to learn and there is like there's always new artists coming up and stuff so I'm not too worried but I do agree that this is a great way to show like this is how we did it but this is how you do it now with the same project so you can yeah I agree I think that's that's a solid way of kind of showing people how things work plus it's pretty guaranteed money printers for if they're remakes of of popular games. You know who should do HD 2D is fucking Game Freak.
00:27:03
Speaker
3D is not working for you guys. Okay, I'm sorry. Get out of 3D. Get out of there. ne Do HD new games, remakes. I don't care. But your pixel art fucking rock. So just go with it.
00:27:14
Speaker
Yes. And you know what? You could still give girls dumpies on the pixel art. It's fine. Game Freak. still still get what you want People are still gonna make insane fan art of these characters, even if they're made out of like eight pixels. So it doesn't matter. Just, God, I would love Game Freak to just do HD2. That would be so good.
00:27:37
Speaker
Hear me, game freak. I'm like playing it out of my head because even with the 3D stuff, since because like Paul ah was at that stupid Palworld and all those other games, a lot of like these, like Humble humble Games had a Pokemon-like game, but so many others are doing it.
00:27:56
Speaker
And kind of like if you play those games, they're better than Pokemon. Yeah, like they're designed. Feature-rich. yeah They're less stuck in it in their ways, yeah. Look at Digimon. We see this in the Digimon.
00:28:09
Speaker
Digimon has so many things where its like every Digimon has a voice and a custom attack anima- a minimum of one custom attack animation for a special- like, you got Pokemon. I know you have no creative- and and no financial incentive to because right you break records with every new entry no matter how they're animated.
00:28:28
Speaker
But wouldn't it be even cheaper to do HD duty and then you would make even more money and it would look nice. Let's talk about, let's talk dollar signs. Let's talk, let's talk money. That's all you students understand. Um,
00:28:41
Speaker
yeah, this is the first Pokemon that I actually bought at launch in years. I usually buy every Pokemon at launch. I don't play them. Yeah. at all I don't, I don't, I can't remember the last Pokemon I beat.
00:28:55
Speaker
Um, I'm trying to think now maybe, maybe leaf green. Wow. That is, that's like 20 years. Holy yeah one years. I think that's a, but I didn't play I didn't play black I didn't play. black too i didn't play their peak, their peak.
00:29:14
Speaker
You know what? ah When did like Ruby Red and those come out? Ruby and Strapfire was Game Boy Advance, so around Fire Red, Leaf Green times of same era. Oh, okay. That's the same line, huh?
00:29:26
Speaker
I've played every entry as they've come out. and And Black 2 is still the best one? No, I think HeartGold's the best by far. i like I love... You know, HeartGold, yes.
00:29:37
Speaker
So the remakes where they just added shit. Yeah. It was the perfect remake. They added stuff and kept everything... was like perfect. um Yeah. But yeah. No, I would... ah And ZA...
00:29:50
Speaker
It's a very fun game. ah There's a lot of fun things in it. It's just like you can use two fun things. Name two fun things. Totodile. Okay. Pokemon. ah And also, ah i I love the Legends thing where you just real-time whip balls as shit.
00:30:07
Speaker
You just aim and throw shit and hit them in the head and then catch. That's way more fun. Just running around in open field, whipping balls at everything. That's fun. That's really fun. um So this is not technically a new Pokemon game. This is like like the side.
00:30:22
Speaker
I don't know. Well, it's like canon to the main games because it's a sequel to X Y. takes place five years later. So it's not, but it's not that Arceus thing. it's It's that sub series where it's like you're running around freely and and and like that.
Pokemon Discussions and Reflections
00:30:39
Speaker
And because it's Pokemon Legends, Arceus and Pokemon Legends, ZA. But i think even though they're kind of spinoffs, they take place in the same.
00:30:47
Speaker
i think they just elaborate on the past and stories and shit of Pokemon. You know what me thinks? What does you thinks? I thinks that they have multiple teams working on pokemans at this moment.
00:31:01
Speaker
And this, our Arceus team is doing this, but there is another team working on what is really Pokemon. This is, this is the appetizer to whatever they, they have coming up next year. That's going to blow us away.
00:31:20
Speaker
It's going to be developed for Switch 2. You've got to be careful with getting your hopes that high.
00:31:27
Speaker
Let me... Get me in the room. Get me in the room with Game Freak. I'll let them know about my experience playing Leaf Green 20 years ago, and we we'll get back to basics. What other ones have you played? You're oh, nonsense, Leaf Green. but they will leave i up And I own of them, man. I gave you Motherbockers money for nothing.
00:31:48
Speaker
i didn't even play them. I just think it's so fun that they released two of them and I get to pick my favorite. Yeah. I don't buy both of them. don't buy both of them. That's don't buy both of them. I'm not... I'm not that bitch. I have the same experience as you were. I'm like, ooh, this one is more red themed and this one's more purple themed.
00:32:06
Speaker
Oh, I'm going to do this one. And then um my brother will be like, ooh, I'm going to do the other one. And it's like, yeah. That was awesome. There's only one version of this, right? Yeah. Legends, there's only one.
00:32:17
Speaker
um Next year is going to be the year. I think they leaked what they are. but oh yeah. I saw those Reddit leaks and whatever. I don't know if I looked them because I didn't want to spoil.
00:32:28
Speaker
The only thing I saw from those leaks was that they were like, maybe the next generation should be in Canada. And then they were like, oh, the political situation with indigenous peoples in the past would be difficult to explain Pokemon. And I get that. That's true.
00:32:40
Speaker
We have a not great reputation with that. But God damn, I want Pokemon in Canada. I want to see Canada represented by the biggest media franchise ever as a cool land with like snow and.
00:32:52
Speaker
Have they done Brasilia? ah ah Paldeo, I think, was Spain. Before that was Belar, which was England. Before that was Hawaii.
00:33:03
Speaker
That's crazy. They did England before America. France. No, America was black and white. Oh, was it? Yeah. Black and white were America. um There was a novelization of black and white. And that's why I know the story. It's fun story. It's fun Black and black too white too.
00:33:21
Speaker
A genuinely great story for Pokemon. Yeah. like Right. And I don't mind simple Pokemon. So like i my favorite's gold. And that's literally just like, oh, Team Rocket is back.
00:33:32
Speaker
Yeah. Now we have different. But. I kind of like seeing the the narrative of ZA because like people seem really upset and sad. Yeah, it's surprisingly like the characters are surprisingly well written, given like the last couple of games have had some very irritating characters.
00:33:48
Speaker
um The story, it really is like I didn't really ever think like, oh, I need a sequel to X and Y. ah But then this came along and it was like, oh, shit, that I remember these characters. This is interesting to see where they're going. um And it's, yeah, no, and it has a very nice ending, too. so We were supposed to do yay or nay, by the way.
00:34:12
Speaker
Get us talking about little marketable creatures that capture in games and we use the... So how about I just tell you yeah what I'm excited for? Tell me.
00:34:23
Speaker
And then you tell me what you're excited for. we'll do We'll do a popcorn style... um So I'm going to say November 6th on Switch 2, Hyrule Warriors Age of Imprisonment.
Hyrule Warriors and Kirby Anticipations
00:34:39
Speaker
Hyrule Warriors Age of Imprisonment is the newest title in the Hyrule Warriors series and is developed by Koei Tecmo Games. that They put a dash between Koei and Tecmo on the Nintendo website. And that hasn't been a thing for a long time. that's funny.
00:34:54
Speaker
Nintendo. With support from Nintendo, the games features the game features epic battles against hordes of enemies as it ties the untold story from Hyrule's distant past of the imprisoning war and that ultimately led to the events of The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom.
00:35:13
Speaker
It's warriors and it's Zelda. Yeah, that's a pretty safe bet. I will say that I haven't i'd hate fucking Breath of the Wild, but Hyrule Warriors, I fuck with that.
00:35:25
Speaker
I enjoy Breath the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, but I would like to get back to old school. so I mean, I prefer 2D Zelda anyway, but yeah, no, I love a good Warriors game.
00:35:35
Speaker
Ooh, a nice Age of Oracle. Oh, Oracle, you like that? You like that pull? You like that pull? You weren't expecting that? You weren't expecting? Capcom's other was so peak.
00:35:47
Speaker
Why can't you do that no more? You weren't expecting that deep cut. I wasn't. not Those are my favorite. I love Link's design in those two areas, like the long hair. I love Yeah. I love I'll look for him.
00:35:59
Speaker
um All right, your turn. Yes. I'm looking at what I'm reviewing. Oh, ah Kirby Air Riders, also on the Switch. That game looks like pure chaos, man. That game looks like fucking, like I just drank three monsters and then shoved shoved some sugar up my ass yeah and...
00:36:25
Speaker
experienced the fastest thing for 10 seconds and then just like something. I pulled the first one with friends a lot.
00:36:37
Speaker
um I'm not a big racing game guy, but they're not. don't know. they're They're not quite racing. they're Can do you consider them racing? And I'm already chaotic and weird. Like, I don't know. Plus, you know, Sakurai's the thing I do I trust Sakurai so deeply that's crazy with anything like Sakurai I've been having this tradition where every once in a while I'll like go out for dinner by myself to get like sushi or something and I'll just like have soccer as little YouTube essays on on my phone because you can watch them on silent because they're subtitles.
00:37:07
Speaker
Oh, I love. Yeah. And not enough people watch those, by the way. So if you're listening to this, go subscribe. Excellent. I swear, like they are the perfect development tools and they maybe have like 10,000 views on them. It's nuts. They're incredibly interesting. And there's so many facts that no one talks about from the north. Like he reveals shit and you're like, wow, that's a huge deal to learn about. Did you see he spent like a million yen to develop those and produce them? Like he lost money. All in advance.
00:37:32
Speaker
Yeah. He lost money. lost money, yeah. and And they're so good. Like, you can see why. Like, they're high quality. they're They have, like, little animations and, like, yeah perfectly they're all translated. Like, they're excellent videos. I highly recommend everybody. Yeah. but Not enough people watched them.
00:37:46
Speaker
um but They weren't in the echo. I already liked him before because, you know, he made Smash and Kirby and shit it's like, oh, this is great. ah But seeing, like, his opinions on stuff and his approach to things, It's just like I trust this man with my game life like I will play anything. Kid Icarus Uprising, I fucking love that game. That's an incredible game.
00:38:05
Speaker
So do you think he develops games for a younger generation, ah like in our generation or a older generation? Like who's who do you think Kirby's? I think because I look at this game and I don't see interest in anyone over 30 really liking this. I see this game as like a let's get kids back into Kirby type of game with the explosions, the constant like colorful effects, the ah the transitions. They're beautiful.
00:38:32
Speaker
they're They're beautiful to look at. It's amazing that ah Switch 2 pulls this off, ah the speed off. But like that chaos to me screams Fortnite crowd.
00:38:44
Speaker
but I mean, the original is pretty chaotic too, to be fair. That's true. That's true. but And like Kirby lends himself well to that atmosphere of like... And I remember when I first saw that game, I thought it was a lie. I didn't... I thought... like i Almost like I gaslit myself that it even was ever game.
00:39:00
Speaker
yeah game And you can tell they got faith in it because they have like five amiibo for it. that's what's this there's like a battle ro yeah fucking 200 bucks uh what's this uh this battle royale aspect of the trial or the like free roam thing i read a lot with my friend a long time ago where uh you kind of just kind just drops you like a big city island hub and you just flyer like you can compete with your friends do shit you know just fly around and explore shit you can I don't It's very interesting. It's the kind of thing where, like, as a kid, I would make up stories in that mode. ah
00:39:33
Speaker
So there's nothing like that one mode in Mario Kart where they have you, um like ah like, a waiting lobby or something like that, right? Maybe a little similar, but more much more detailed and, like, intentional with its design. Much more for, like, fun.
00:39:49
Speaker
but yeah Here's to Kirby. Here's to Kirby. We love you, Kirby. Pollo. ah November 6th, same day as um Same day as Hyrule.
New Games and Genre Excitement
00:40:02
Speaker
This indie game called Unbeatable comes out.
00:40:04
Speaker
Unbeatable is an anime-inspired rhythm game where you figuratively and literally rock the stage. The rhythm gameplay is simple, requiring only two buttons, one for up and one for down. It's easy to learn, but challenging to master. Avoid getting overwhelmed yourself. The game is split into two parts. One half involves exploring and taking your time, while the other half demands you keep up the beat.
00:40:25
Speaker
This is a cool little comic book-y little indie game that has a rhythm aspect and cute anime girls, so... It's through it's really easy. It's really easy to get me to cover your game.
00:40:37
Speaker
Yeah. There's certain checkpoints where if you like hit them. Yeah. Put an indie girl in it and I'll be indie anime girl. Music. I love music.
00:40:49
Speaker
Develop a game for me. Yeah. You'll get coverage. um What about you next game? Oh. Terminator 2D No Fate. Oh, look nice pick.
00:41:01
Speaker
Cool little 2D platformer hack and slash kind of thing. um I guess there's probably more bad Terminator movies than good ones now. But you know what?
00:41:12
Speaker
Terminator 1 2? I think we didn't give all... yeah I mean, Judgment Day, whatever. like are ah Not Judgment Day, the one with... Prince of Mention's good. yeah the the I never saw it.
00:41:25
Speaker
I think there was a camp period where like they just they they they didn't know what we wanted. And I think the newest ones, they to. There's a lot of Alien, where there was just kind of like, there was a while where it was just like, all the shit was coming out. was like, this is fucking weird. well This is not at all. People are hating on the show right now, huh?
00:41:42
Speaker
She was really weird, but it's kind of fun. I liked it, but it's definitely fucking weird. The production value just like yeah he he makes is well, always is why I watch it, but it's fucking weird. It is. with you have a little eyeball guy and like the Peter Blanch.
00:41:54
Speaker
Very strange. I don't, it's almost like for me, it's almost like I'm not even like watching it as an alien movie because I know it's kind of like disconnected, but it's supposed to be connected. Fuck them.
00:42:05
Speaker
It's kind of so, yeah, similar to Terminator 2 where like, ah literally the first two people are like these are the best and then a bunch of stuff of varying quality comes out um but yeah no I'm excited for that don't think we've gotten a reply back so i I'll reach out again but it looks I don't I'm always down for a little Terminator I heard that the people who made RoboCop, the really good RoboCop game, made a Terminator game before it.
00:42:32
Speaker
But I need to check that out. yeah. it's It's pretty good. and It's a little janky, but expect it. Yeah, RoboCop was a little janky, but it fucking rocked. so On November 13th, Atelier Risa Secret Trilogy Deluxe Pack comes out, and that's three Atelier Risas packed into one game.
00:42:53
Speaker
That's every thigh, every costume, every every entry, every synthesis system. Yeah. All in one.
00:43:05
Speaker
um i will say, like i'd love every single one, but three's ending kind of sucks. Yeah. Never played Natalia. Now's your chance.
00:43:16
Speaker
Now's my chance. To rise up. For Ryza. Is that a character? You can have that. Okay. Well, that's free.
00:43:27
Speaker
Is that a character's name? I don't. Rise is her name. Okay. So I said Rise Up, like Rise. I see. all it's Very clever. Very clever. Yeah. this this ah This month, next month is very mid-heavy because you got Monster Hunter Stories 2. Yeah.
00:43:42
Speaker
have pipeline. I should play those. Um, they got this, little this, uh, solo develop, uh, gigasword on November 13th, which is like a 2d, uh, puzzle game. You have a giant sword, but really it's like one of those old, like, uh, did you ever play like those game boy random games that were just like,
00:44:03
Speaker
puzzles. They're like you you you had to like navigate like a grid almost like I mean gyro if you look at old like n NES games with like Rob the Robot or whatever we have to you have to like take the take the doctor or whatever and like make him go up and then always walking and then he makes him go down and now but you have to avoid enemies the whole time.
00:44:24
Speaker
don't know. Stuff like that. It's like a puzzle. It's a 2D puzzle game. Okay. and you're not really there to fight you're there to avoid and and get through um get this stuff um a solo leveling game is coming out on november 17th don't expect much well my hot take it sucks i don't get the solo leveling my brother fucking oh hey you need to chill you need to chill the fuck out right now dude brother loves so well So many people love Zola Love. You know why?
00:44:56
Speaker
You know why? Because it's rags to riches. Everyone loves a fucking underdog, dude. it's like, that's all it is. It's not like there's so many stories like that where it's like that and more. I don't know. And I'm not even saying that as like an elitist thing because I fucking love I hear you.
00:45:11
Speaker
yeah hear what you're saying. And I agree. I don't know why everyone likes it so much more than everything else. I don't know how it got into this thing, but I do think the Korean nature of it, that it's like almost like what Koreans are able to do good anime too. Yeah. It's like, yeah, there's that moment of like, oh, other places can make anime.
00:45:32
Speaker
Well, just in this past year, um, think it's called like, Manwha or something like that, the Korean manga. Um, it's, it's now, it, it, Yen Press is now publishing that in the West. Like, solo leveling honestly opened the door. Yeah, that makes sense. For these webtoons.
00:45:51
Speaker
And I think that is the only thing that's cut carrying it right now. But, like, Like even Dragon Ball, like even like a like even a lot of these old things that we hold true to ourselves, everything that comes after is going to arguably be better.
00:46:07
Speaker
don't know. and and i don't know Well, Dragon Ball kind of rebooted a couple times, dude. Dragon Ball holds up really well. I don't know. I reread the whole thing. like That was a bad that was a bad that a bad ah example.
00:46:22
Speaker
I'm saying that like we'll see in like four years and we'll look back. Yeah, solo leveling is like all these other things. But I will say that if anything comes out now after solo leveling, everyone just compares it to solo leveling and does doesn't compare solo leveling to what it takes from like, solo out online. Yeah, and like all these other animes. you know like That's fair. That does happen. So now everything is just being compared to solo leveling.
00:46:46
Speaker
instead of uh i've watched the whole thing so i'm not saying it from someone who hasn't i just don't don't know if my brother didn't want to watch it every week i would not have watched it i like the anti-hero angle too like tower of god kind of has that as well uh i everyone loves uh everyone loves an under hero everyone loves the anti uh uh underdog yeah a little underdog ah But yeah, that game's coming out on um the 17th. I wouldn't expect much, but... um
00:47:20
Speaker
And Netmarble's developing it, so expect something kind of... Something kind of... Mobile-esque. well yeah um Yeah, and then we got so we got some other ah cool games, I guess.
00:47:35
Speaker
Yeah.
00:47:38
Speaker
Call of Duty Blop 7.
Closing Remarks
00:47:41
Speaker
Meh. You know the problem with Call of Duty is I don't know what is being updated. I'm just like, yeah, but I press this button and I fire it. My dog's just started fighting randomly. I think that's them telling me that it's time to wrap up.
00:47:55
Speaker
All right, everyone. All right. That's almost an hour long episode for you, lucky dog. Okay. Oh, hi. Oh, hi. Oh, you got your little chicken?
00:48:07
Speaker
Oh, you got your little chicken? Okay. um
00:48:13
Speaker
We'll see you all next week. We will.
00:48:28
Speaker
and zkiel