Transcript
neocharge: What's up, everybody, and welcome to Shapes of Gaming, the weekly conversational podcast all about video games that's unedited, unfiltered, and unhinged. I'm one of your hosts, Matt Stenson, NeoCharge on PSN, and joining me, as always, episode number 51 is the Retro Gaming Encyclopedia, Bob Harriman, Leon Lionheartley on PSN.
neocharge: What's up, dude?
Leon Lionheartly: Yo, everybody, how's it going this evening? Straight out of Colorado Springs. No, it's going good, man. Just having ah but a blast this week doing a lot of random shit going on in my life.
neocharge: Hell yeah. Yeah. ah Speaking of blasts, we got a winter blast here and springs. We got some, we got a lot of snow. So Colorado has been all over the place recently and yeah, it's already melted of course, but yeah, we'll see. We'll see what happens this winter. This spring has been weird. So
Leon Lionheartly: Yeah, and that and that is the norm. If anybody that's been here for more than a couple of years can tell you, yeah yeah my kids and in middle school had a snow day on like May 4th, Star Wars Day.
neocharge: Yeah.
neocharge: Oh, yeah, that's normal.
Leon Lionheartly: you know
neocharge: That's normal.
Leon Lionheartly: That's normal.
neocharge: The lack of snow we've had hasn't been normal.
Leon Lionheartly: Yeah, and that's why my i'm I'm staring in the mountains every morning when I wake up and I have a cup of coffee. I go, do we still have snow on the on Pike's Peak? Is it still there? ah Because that that gauges the summer for me. When it's gone, that's when the shit really hits the fan.
Leon Lionheartly: if
neocharge: Yep. Yep. ah This weekend, i'm probably going snowboarding. They're opening a resort specifically for this weekend because they've gotten a shitload of snow. And Pike's Peak is beautiful now, snow-capped.
neocharge: So, yeah, I think I'm going to go ah catch one more ride on the mountain this this season and then pack it in and get ready for next season.
neocharge: So, yeah.
Leon Lionheartly: Yeah, dude, that's awesome. I'm glad you got it.
neocharge: Yeah.
Leon Lionheartly: youre youre I know the last time you wanted to go, it seems like life keeps it and in the way.
neocharge: Yep.
Leon Lionheartly: And then it's like, well, fuck. Now ah you've you've got one last chance, man. Fucking full send it. Go have fun with it. ah i Take plenty of pictures for us.
neocharge: Oh, yeah, for sure. It's ah Arapaho Basin, A Basin. So it's some of the most gorgeous scenery up in in the resort area.
neocharge: So it's going to be new scenery. I've never been to the mountain, but they said, hey, ah we got snow. We're going to open for a weekend. Come on over. snowboard, ski, have a good time.
neocharge: I'm pretty sure that place is going to be fucking packed because it's the only it's the only resort open.
Leon Lionheartly: Oh, yeah.
neocharge: So the the move is getting up super early and getting to the ah resort around, i don't know, 8 a.m. before first chair ah where you beat all the traffic and everything. So that puts me leaving here around 536. Yeah.
Leon Lionheartly: Oh, hey, you know what? You can text me on the way because I'm up at six in the morning, matter Oh,
neocharge: Right, right. so And i wish I wish the podcast we listened to came out early because I won't be able to listen to that on the way because it comes out around 10 a.m.
Leon Lionheartly: Yeah, dude, it's too bad if you had signal. or yeah I assume you have signal up there, but like just pop in your AirPods while you're boarding and you're just hearing the podcast go.
neocharge: Oh, yeah.
Leon Lionheartly: I could i can imagine just you watching you but going off a cliff because Chris said something so something wild.
neocharge: Mm-hmm.
neocharge: Yep. And I'd have to write in from the hospital and give them a story.
Leon Lionheartly: yeah
neocharge: No. And they're like, we did that. Ha ha. Anyway. No. So you know what podcast you can listen to on a super early Friday morning?
neocharge: Us.
Leon Lionheartly: ah Oh yeah, that's right, us.
neocharge: shapes of gaming shapes of motherfucking gaming uh we're here on our 51st episode we had a cool uh anniversary episode that was really awesome we had the whole crew episode 50 so if you haven't listened to that go check that out uh but we are here for episode 51 and how do we start every episode bob we start it with some beer what are you drinking tonight
Leon Lionheartly: Oh, see, yes. And the right questions. Um, I am going through the last, uh, bit of this living the dream. Um, the powder run.
neocharge: you
Leon Lionheartly: This is the tangerine from last week. Um, I still have one more it's in the fridge and it has your name on it.
neocharge: Yes. Excellent.
Leon Lionheartly: Um, ah This is that cream nail that we we drew glaze, if you will, hey all the time.
neocharge: you know it's It's Clementine.
Leon Lionheartly: And this one with tangerine, which Mr. Admiral Merpes himself is not ah made sure to let us know. It's not orange. It's a tangerine. There's a difference. Yeah.
neocharge: It's Tangerine. It's orange. the It's the color orange. It's a fruit that's orange, all right?
Leon Lionheartly: Exactly. ah But it's delicious. It's great. It's a perfect summer beer, man. So, ah yeah, you know what? Don't let me forget when we go because we've got more we got Mortal Kombat coming.
neocharge: Yes.
Leon Lionheartly: I'll just i'll just bring bring the can.
neocharge: We do. Yeah, we do. I'm also drinking Living the Dream. and Not Powder Run, though, this time.
Leon Lionheartly: yeah
neocharge: I picked up a Fly Real Amber. so It's a traditional amber ale from them. and Yeah, it's ah it's good. it's almost like ah it's It's kind of a red, honestly, and it's really good. So, I mean, if you haven't had one, I'll trade you that for the tangerine.
Leon Lionheartly: I was thinking we do have a beer trade ah to go.
neocharge: Yes.
Leon Lionheartly: Trade has been accepted, folks.
neocharge: Exactly. Indeed. You heard it here first on the podcast. Dude, trading beer is so fun. And just like getting, building the six packs too. There's a lot of liquor stores around here that do that. Where, you know, if you buy a six pack, you're invested in six beers, right? And it's not cheap. Beers aren't cheap. But building your own six pack, you can try all the the different things and they have like local six packs and it's awesome.
neocharge: So yeah, man. ah How's life? Is life good?
Leon Lionheartly: Yeah, no, not not too bad, man. It's been been a lot of google just quite frankly, a lot of different things. Gaming, getting to hang out with friends, playing D&D for the first time in what feels like a year and a half, um
neocharge: Wow, yeah.
Leon Lionheartly: um you know seeing old friends. um Got up super early on Sunday morning. This is relatable because you're going this Sunday, this last Sunday.
neocharge: Yeah, yeah.
Leon Lionheartly: I got up stupid early so because Crystal had to be at work in the morning and then immediately right after was the Pokemon 30th anniversary event at Target.
neocharge: Mm-hmm.
Leon Lionheartly: And which she means she's like, I want one of these. They had all those kinds of stuff, but she wanted this tote bag specifically.
neocharge: e
Leon Lionheartly: and It's a nice bag. The problem is by the time I got up there, the one she wanted was out. So I had to settle for the Pikachu. And I got to say the most sad, I'm sorry. Can I rant for a moment?
neocharge: Please. Which one was she chasing?
Leon Lionheartly: She was chasing the, um it was either going to be Squirtle or Bulbasaur.
neocharge: Okay. No Charmander?
Leon Lionheartly: Were there two?
neocharge: No love for Charmander?
Leon Lionheartly: No.
neocharge: Mm-hmm.
Leon Lionheartly: No, sorry. I knew that was going to break your heart. But I got to say, man, to see, they limit to four items per person. So first off, I'm going to say this. I was there. Yes, I know. i'm probably but probably part of the problem, but I was there for one item. i wasn't there to rotate and just grab shit and resell it. Know that. My wife uses this bag every fucking day. She loves it.
Leon Lionheartly: Secondly, that's the scalper side. Secondly, There was one kid there, I think. And it wasn't even a kid that was fucking old enough to really understand.
neocharge: Oh no.
Leon Lionheartly: They were there with their parents. The toddler. We're talking the same time that I started playing video games kind of thing. And I'm like, bro, What the fuck is happening here?
Leon Lionheartly: Like Pokemon used to be the thing you argue about on the school playground. And now we got adults practically fist fighting over Pokemon merch.
neocharge: Yeah.
Leon Lionheartly: Oh, and by the way, the stands and stuff from the store, people started jacking those and then trying to sell them online like they're GameStop CEO.
neocharge: know
neocharge: Damn. Yeah. the the ah hobby all around that IP cards, games, all kinds of shit. scalpers left and right.
neocharge: And the TCG side, I used to be into it, but it was just too toxic and I got out and ay yeah, things are just being bought, sealed and then sold on eBay. It's extremely easy to resell stuff nowadays. And yeah, it's ah the hobby has become something that I don't like.
neocharge: And Yeah, that sucks, man. So you think a lot of just people there were trying to buy it to flip it?
Leon Lionheartly: Um, there were absolutely some that were there and then there were some that were, you're just, i don't, I'm sorry. There's no nice way to put this. It's gross to me. They were Disney adults, if you know what I mean.
neocharge: Yeah.
Leon Lionheartly: Yeah. Like, and I get it. Pot, kettle. I look guys, I get it, but look, I just say, I'm just saying, but you know, outside of that, I'll end, I'll end this ah a little segment here on a positive note.
neocharge: Dang.
Leon Lionheartly: I've been sitting down and, um, been reading, uh, the ah book ah ah from Reggie, his ah Reggie Fils-Aimé, his biography, um Breaking the Game.
neocharge: h Yeah.
Leon Lionheartly: And ah it's a really easy read. um He's very articulate. Duh. We all know that.
neocharge: hmm. Mm hmm.
Leon Lionheartly: um And it gives you a lot of good introspective. ah And I got to say, i know I promised happy, but it's one last sad thing. The very first chapter in this is a tribute to Iwata.
neocharge: Water. Yeah.
Leon Lionheartly: And ive I was sitting there, I'm like, I'm not crying, you're fucking crying situation.
neocharge: Right. Oh, yeah, man. I remember that. And we have some pretty significant Nintendo news on the docket ah this episode, which we're both very excited about. So, yeah.
neocharge: Cool. well I'm glad you at least got the bag. You got the Pikachu bag. And, yeah, it sucks that there weren't a lot of ah people there that you know were trying to just get a cool Pokemon product, you know, just to own, right?
neocharge: Damn.
Leon Lionheartly: Yeah, yeah. hey It's like, oh, hey, I'm going to max out.
neocharge: Damn.
Leon Lionheartly: And it's like, guys, there's one thing you know that speaks to you. It speaks to your childhood. Go get it and be warm and happy and have the fuzzy memories of, you you know, ah trying to use strength on the, ah on the on the the the what is it, the van so you could get Mew to or whatever it was.
neocharge: Oh, yeah.
Leon Lionheartly: Yeah.
neocharge: Yeah. Right. Yep. Mew.
Leon Lionheartly: Mew, that's it.
neocharge: ah Yep. So, yeah, Pokemon, it's just a gargantuan IP. So, i still have some I still have some of my sets, the originals, and I'm hanging on to them. So, just, I mean, not to resell or anything, just because sometimes I'll crack them open and it's just going back to when I was 10 years old.
neocharge: So yeah, I just, yeah, yeah.
Leon Lionheartly: it's amazing, dude.
neocharge: I like Pokemon. Uh, life's been good. Uh, pretty hectic. lot of changes, the transition, not, not, not from male to female or anything like that, just living situation.
Leon Lionheartly: yeah
neocharge: Right. Uh, just setting up the new place. Uh, and it's kind of, I'm living in both places. so I'm working in one place and living in the other place. So that's been, Kind of cool, and I'm not rushing it or anything, but I'm still gaming. We're going to talk about the the game i have been playing, which I've been really enjoying. And then we are, like you mentioned, we are going to see a video game adaptation movie tomorrow, the sequel to Mortal Kombat.
neocharge: Got two tickets release weekend in XD. So Mortal Kombat 2. Can't wait. It's going to be fun.
Leon Lionheartly: Oh, I'm so looking forward to it. Carl Urban.
neocharge: yep Oh, yeah. Yeah. the The casting's great. So it'll be... a And I liked the first one. The first one was good. It's it's a campy fucking video game adaptation movie. It's great.
neocharge: So can't wait to see what they do with the second one. And I can't wait... Dude, I can't wait till they get to the Deadly Alliance ah story arc because that shit was awesome.
Leon Lionheartly: Ooh.
Leon Lionheartly: Yeah, if you know your lore, what you're referring to.
neocharge: ahha ah so yeah I'm excited for that. What's, uh, other than that podcast is going good. Alex has been posting on the socials. He's been killing it. So thank you, Alex, uh, for,
neocharge: you know making our imprint on on the social atmosphere out there because we we don't we don't like to do it. I don't like post so i don't even use fucking social media i personally.
Leon Lionheartly: yeah
neocharge: like I went on my Instagram and I posted a couple snowboarding videos, but I looked at the total posts I've had since 20... I think I started in 2008. It was a cool thing to do. 15 posts.
Leon Lionheartly: Oh, wow.
neocharge: 15 total posts since 2008. I don't really use it
Leon Lionheartly: I don't... eat but Well, I see. I'm the i'm the lurker of the group. oh Dude, i I don't think I have a single post, but I've curated my page, whatever they call it now.
neocharge: it.
Leon Lionheartly: Or it's just like video game random facts, scientific facts, or cooking, like recipes to look at.
neocharge: Yeah.
neocharge: Yeah. Yeah.
Leon Lionheartly: I'm like, get anything else. I don't want it. I don't care. Just get it out of my face. I just want to look at this and lurk and learn new recipes for, i don't know, pick your favorite food.
neocharge: Exactly, exactly. Mine's full full of snowboarding, video games, ah financial stuff, just like, I don't know, life stuff, like motivational things. But yeah, keep your algorithm positive and you'll see positive shit. If you keep clicking on negative stuff, you'll just keep getting negative stuff.
neocharge: So the algorithm learns and you make it whatever want. Pay attention to. Kind of like in life and manifestation.
Leon Lionheartly: Yes, sir.
neocharge: So... Yeah. ah But yeah, where we we're past the year anniversary ah and we're still doing podcast, loving it, drinking some beer, talking some video games, socials are going well. We had an uptick in listeners, which is cool.
neocharge: So happy to hear the new listeners. And if you're a new listener and you want to be part of the community and you want to hang out digitally and talk about all the nerdy shit, Bob, where can they go to do that?
Leon Lionheartly: Oh man, that was a beautiful transition right there. ah But, oh nailed it.
neocharge: Segway. way
Leon Lionheartly: Segway. No, you just go to your favorite browser and you're going to pop in shapesofgaming.com there. That's going to take you to our landing page, our homepage, if you will. That's going to have all the links on there for everything that you're going to need if you want to be, or as little as you desire to be as part of this community.
Leon Lionheartly: If you want to just hear our voices, you got the links for all the podcasts there. Just, you know, leave us some good comments, thumbs up, likes, all of that good stuff. You got the Lord linked to the Discord if you want to come check out what's going on.
Leon Lionheartly: We got people posting beautiful 3D printed artwork recently, conversations about music.
neocharge: Mm-hmm.
Leon Lionheartly: Got some posts from reason of the the recent excuse me con that I went to. So over there. And then, of course, naturally, you got all the socials. If you're not following us, so you can follow us there if you so desire.
Leon Lionheartly: And Alex has been killing. And I noticed he's been he's been posting some pretty good stuff on games, and he's not even playing them this evening.
neocharge: Yeah. ah he it's It's been going well and shout out to him. So we got a good social media presence and yeah, Discord, no expectations there.
neocharge: ah Our expectations is you just don't be a dick. Don't be an asshole and just be cool.
Leon Lionheartly: Yeah.
neocharge: And thankfully, we haven't had any problems except bots, which we've kicked and we're like, yeah, get out of here. And we verified that they're bots and they're just trying to scam or sell shit. So, um, we, we boot and we haven't had a lot of those, you're like couple. So it's been cool. And if you want to join and, and I mean, it's all about a comment. We're a conversational podcast regarding keeping the conversation going on video games. So we created a space where you can talk about the video games you're playing. or the shit you're doing, or the things you're listening to, or the things you're watching. Everything Nerdum, it's there. We have channels for it. So join up and hang out.
neocharge: And we're on there. well We'll comment back if you have questions for us. If you have questions for the podcast, we'll ask them on the podcast. And we ah we engage there. So... yeah it's been ah It's been fun, and we we love it.
neocharge: so What do you say we get into the news? We got a lot, and we'll we'll lightly touch on every one, but there's a lot of good news this week, man.
Leon Lionheartly: Yeah.
neocharge: lot of good announcements, a lot of positivity, which we love.
Leon Lionheartly: Yeah, they do it's we've we've turned the tide a little bit, if you will, um on the news.
neocharge: Yes.
Leon Lionheartly: We were getting nothing but sad stuff. And now, this last week, we had a lot of good stuff. So let's let's just start it from the top, man. This is coming from Game Informer. um This was most recently, there was a ah an event.
Leon Lionheartly: to discuss ah the new game from Rebel Wolves, which is a ah collaboration or a conglomerate, if you will, of developers ah from ah Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077 are some of their accolades. And they have had this game out for a while, The Blood of Dawnwalker.
neocharge: Mm-hmm.
Leon Lionheartly: And we finally got a release date coming on September 3rd, which I got to say, man, that window kind of sucks. That's a little rough.
neocharge: Oh, it's going to get worse too. That September, October chunk is going to fill up real quick. And it's probably going to be the worst we've seen in a while. Last year, it was really bad. Pretty bad because everyone was anticipating GTA to come out. But now they're doing it again.
neocharge: And it's just, it's pent up. And I'm telling you, man, just watch. just um'm I'm calling it right now. The September, October ah Windows...
neocharge: Months are going to be crazy. So.
Leon Lionheartly: yeah you're You're right. i ah We already have Wolverine with it that's already competing with it.
neocharge: Mm-hmm.
Leon Lionheartly: and like oh that's that's That takes some cojones to go up 10 days before.
neocharge: Yeah. Phantom Blade Zero. Mm-hmm.
Leon Lionheartly: Oh yeah, that's true. Hmm.
neocharge: Turok is in the fall, which September, October, or fall.
Leon Lionheartly: But
Leon Lionheartly: ah
neocharge: And that's so one of like four months in the fall. So, or two of four months in the fall, or is September and October. So yeah, it's gonna get crazy. What else do we have there?
neocharge: We have... ah
Leon Lionheartly: are you are you The question I have to ask is, are you actually, ah despite the scheduling, are you interested in this?
neocharge: Uh, no, I'm not.
Leon Lionheartly: Okay.
neocharge: Because honestly, time, right? When?
Leon Lionheartly: Yeah.
neocharge: ah I don't even know when I'm going to get to it. it It does seem like my type of game. I like vampires. I like the mythical setting. I like the devs behind it.
neocharge: ah But again, like we got Wolverine, we got Phantom Blade Zero. i You got to pick and choose, man. You really do. And these games are... or have been on my radar for a while.
neocharge: I'm a little more drawn to them. So nothing against this game. It's going to, I think it's going to be great. It's just the time. That's it. Just the time. I've dropped so many games that I want to play, ah willingly. And I don't regret it because I'm like, you know, I just, I can't get to it.
neocharge: I have so many other games I want to play and I don't want to overwhelm myself. And I don't, I don't want to be regretful. Like, ah I wish I would have played that. or ah like I mean Silent Hill F I never got to it because of it released in October I think or September October So, yeah. It's just... um It didn't make the cut, man.
neocharge: So... And it looks like a game that you could dump many, many hours into. That's why I didn't get Crimson Desert. Because it's like a 400-fucking-hour game.
Leon Lionheartly: laughter
neocharge: i it It intrigues me. I want to play it. i don't I don't care about the negative stuff out there that they're saying. Everything I've seen and everything I've heard ah you know personally from friends and everything I've watched is very intriguing. And it seems like...
neocharge: my kind of game to an extent. But again, man, it's just that time. I line up my games pretty strategically so I can play everything I want and I'm not left like putting a game down for another game.
neocharge: Right.
Leon Lionheartly: Yeah.
neocharge: And sometimes that can get a little nerve wracking, but it's just all about balance.
Leon Lionheartly: yeah I agree. You're right. um I will say this game has it has my attention ah because Phantom Blade Zero looks good, and but I'm still not entirely sure if it's the game that I want to jump into this fall.
Leon Lionheartly: um Wolverine obviously is way up there on the list, um but the other one that is kind of creeping in because of the history I have with the series is going to be Fable.
neocharge: Yeah.
neocharge: Yeah.
Leon Lionheartly: ah
neocharge: Okay.
Leon Lionheartly: because i love I'm a fantasy... I love fantasy and I love sci-fi. i'm ah i'm a I'm a slut for both of them, part of the expression. And and Fable's got that certain level of Monty Python, dry, cheeky humor that I've always loved, which is what which really drew drew me to it.
neocharge: Yeah.
neocharge: For sure.
Leon Lionheartly: So um it's kind of... Dude, you're up there. You're almost there. um But... its if it hits a If it's 200-hour Crimson Desert game, like you say, it's going to have to be dropped.
Leon Lionheartly: And knowing it's Witcher and Cyberpunk, there's probably good chance.
neocharge: Right.
neocharge: Yeah. ah And i mean, these are only the the games we know for a factor coming in fall. I think that the games that are going to hit fall and these are like day one fucking I am playing these, putting everything down and I have like four of them.
neocharge: Castlevania probably is going to hit fall. Bloodstained, the Scarlet Engagement, probably going to hit fall. Kena, Scars of Cosmora, probably going to hit fucking fall. ah What?
neocharge: Let's see. Control, Resonant, it's either going to be late summer or fall.
Leon Lionheartly: Oh, shit.
neocharge: Yup. Yup. And if Gears of War E-Day does hit this year, potentially fall, ah that'll that might be a ah launch exclusive for Xbox. They're kind of changing their strategy there, but Yeah, i I just I can't put I can't put anything like those are already four games that I'm going to drop everything and play because I'm a huge fan of all of them. I mean, probably Castlevania is is the the top one of that if they all release on the same day, Castlevania, hands down.
neocharge: is the one I'm most excited for. ah But I mean, Kena, I'm a huge fan Kena. And these are like games like, oh yeah, I'll put everything down and play this. But when they come out like either in the same week or like four in the same month, you're like, fuck, I got to choose.
neocharge: So yeah, I had to do that with Hades too and fucking Saros and Pragmata.
Leon Lionheartly: Uh-huh.
neocharge: Yeah. in it
Leon Lionheartly: yeah Yeah, you did, man. It's a rough one out there. We've got a lot of games cannibalizing themselves because of the the big elephant in the room.
neocharge: Yep.
Leon Lionheartly: um and then And then if we end up with that ocarina of time...
neocharge: Uh-huh. Yep.
Leon Lionheartly: Yeah.
neocharge: Which we will, because there are more things that point to it, which we're going to be talking about that I'm super excited for.
Leon Lionheartly: Yeah. but yeah
neocharge: There were like three things ah leaked by Nate the Hate, and ah one of these in Ocarina of Time was one, along with another one that we're about to talk about. And all oh, oh.
Leon Lionheartly: Yeah, that's a, that's a, what we'll get there when we get there.
neocharge: So...
neocharge: Oh, yeah. Well, ah I'm excited. I'm excited.
Leon Lionheartly: yeah
neocharge: But yeah, Blood of the Dawnwalker looks super cool, looks up my alley. It is first person. that kind of I do tend to lean towards third person games for some reason. I don't know. I do like first person. I play Borderlands. I play Destiny. But I do lean more towards the third person experiences. So it's right up my alley. But when and sorry. Sorry.
Leon Lionheartly: I don't blame you, man. The only real regret I have with this game is I didn't... Now that I've seen the trailer, I didn't fucking draft it. That's the only thing I hate, really.
neocharge: Oh, yeah. Who's got it on the draft? Is it still open?
Leon Lionheartly: ah No, that is ah with ah Mystic Mace over at This is an Xbox.
neocharge: Okay. Gotcha. All right.
Leon Lionheartly: yeah
neocharge: Good pickup, Mace. Good pickup.
Leon Lionheartly: ah But yeah, man. Anything about Blood of Dawn Walker? If not, we'll see you September 3rd.
neocharge: Vampires are cool. Play it. Sounds cool. But yeah, just me personally, there's going to be other games.
Leon Lionheartly: Yeah.
neocharge: ah There's already other games now that have released that have a solid release date. And I guarantee you there's going to be more games around that launch window that I'm just more interested in So not no shade against it.
neocharge: It's just I have other priorities.
Leon Lionheartly: Yeah, totally get it, man. We're eating good as gamers.
neocharge: Oh, my God.
Leon Lionheartly: um
neocharge: This year is, man.
Leon Lionheartly: Yeah. Well, this next one, you ready to to have next year um booked up for you, man? ah This has been...
neocharge: Yep.
Leon Lionheartly: so I'm going to launch this. This is coming from Push Square. There have been multiple articles about different facets of this of this game. um I just decided to choose for this one um because it's actually coming from Hamaguchi over at Square Enix ah who had was speaking with Nintendo Life.
Leon Lionheartly: um And he says he has completed over 40 full playthroughs of Final Fantasy VII Part 3.
neocharge: That's nuts, dude.
Leon Lionheartly: I'm not even calling it Remake Part 3. It's just Part 3 at this point. ah um And Enico continues on in his interview.
neocharge: Mm-hmm.
Leon Lionheartly: It says, I can't wait for as many people as possible to experience the game for themselves. And myself and the team are working hard to ensure we can create an unforgettable gameplay experience.
Leon Lionheartly: Which... It sounds like we got some more news behind there, Matt. wait before i carry Before I spoil the beans, what else have you heard?
neocharge: I've heard they've solidified a name for the actual game. And there are... They're pointing... And it's there's ah hints in the names of this on the soundtrack.
neocharge: ah Because in Remake, it was called Sephiroth Rebirth. And in Rebirth, it's called Sephiroth Reborn. So... I honestly, I really, I've been saying it for a while, dude.
neocharge: And I'll say it again. think it's going to be called Reborn. But other than ah other rumors I've heard, i've I've heard it's late in development. i've I heard it's pretty much like in the testing phase, polishing phase.
neocharge: And it's, I don't want to spoil anything for Rebirth, but it's kind of following the same thing that Rebirth did, which is exciting because Rebirth was my game of the year.
Leon Lionheartly: Mm-hmm.
Leon Lionheartly: Mm-hmm. That's right. I do remember because that's the year Astro Bot came out.
neocharge: ah Dude, Astro Bot was incredible, amazing, but Rebirth just it it hit like Final Fantasy 7 is my second favorite game of all time and just anything.
neocharge: and that I don't want to spoil anything for Rebirth, but they is they stay true to things and they change things.
Leon Lionheartly: Mm-hmm.
neocharge: Let's just say that, okay? ah And it's it's great fan service. And as a fan, i it was awesome. So, Bob, I'll tell you this right now. This game, let's just let's call it Part 3, Reborn. ah it I don't think any other game this year would deter me from it. i There's only one game.
Leon Lionheartly: and
neocharge: There's a one fucking game that would.
Leon Lionheartly: yes
neocharge: One game out of everything. I shit you not, like anything. anything If Intergalactic came out with this, hands down, Reborn. Part 3 Reborn.
neocharge: um Even though i'm the like Intergalactic is one of my the most anticipated games. Ocarina of Time Remake, maybe. Maybe. But we're probably going to get that this year. ah This is a... I've been it i've been excited for this final part ever since it was announced in 2013 at E3 and ever since it was it was announced to be in three parts and I loved remake ending was interesting but Rebirth made it make more sense. And I loved Rebirth. Rebirth, I think, is my fourth most played game on my PlayStation at about 175 hours. And I plan on playing more Rebirth and going through it in entire ah in its entirety again
neocharge: this fall
Leon Lionheartly: Oh,
neocharge: shit.
Leon Lionheartly: oh
neocharge: Probably when GTA releases, I'm going to be playing rebirth, not in spite of GTA, but I said, I want to, I want to play rebirth again, but I want to play it on the pro, but it's also gotten a pro patch, but it's also got a PSSR 2.0 patch. So it's gorgeous and it runs in a fluid 60. And I wanted to put some space in between when it was released, i think a couple years ago.
neocharge: Uh, and when the next one releases, which is, I think we're about a year and a half out. So,
Leon Lionheartly: yeah that would make sense so what would be the game that would like what's the one game you said you said there was one did I miss oh that is the one okay yeah I don't think yeah
neocharge: It's lining up.
neocharge: Ocarina of Time remake. Yeah. There's no other game. Maybe a Zelda Twilight Princess remake. Like anything Zelda. Um...
neocharge: Other than that, yeah. Because favorite game of all times is Zelda Twilight Princess. Second favorite is Final Fantasy VII. So nothing like this is...
Leon Lionheartly: yep yep yep
neocharge: I'm getting the collector's edition. I'm getting everything. ah I mean, Assassin's Creed Black Flag had a chance to go up against it, but we're getting that way earlier. And even then, this game beats everything. Everything, dude.
neocharge: it'd be like It'd be like if FF8 was remade and you got a remake and you're just like...
Leon Lionheartly: Yep. Yep.
neocharge: I'm dropping everything to play this clearing my fucking schedule.
Leon Lionheartly: ye I had that struggle, man.
neocharge: So yeah.
Leon Lionheartly: I had that struggle because art Mario RPG did get its remake.
neocharge: Yep.
Leon Lionheartly: And it was a day one for... I locked myself in my bedroom for 48 hours straight and played that game. like you that's just
neocharge: Hell yeah.
Leon Lionheartly: So when the Ocarina of Time thing was kind of discussed, and I brought it up to my ah to Crystal, she looked she just gave me a look of the...
neocharge: Yeah.
Leon Lionheartly: year gonna buy that, right, you asshole? Like, we're gonna do this. Yes, because as is tradition, when a Zelda game comes out, and we haven't done it with like these last two, because it just, they weren't her style, but these ones out of the core, being truly two Link, not the Breath of the Wild stuff,
neocharge: Uh-huh.
neocharge: Yeah.
Leon Lionheartly: She watches me play. She helps me with the guides. She's like, all right, hey, cool. Here's what the, i you know, there's an item here. There's this here. And it's kind of, and that's kind of spoilerly.
neocharge: That's awesome. She's your Navi.
Leon Lionheartly: Like, yeah, it's, I get some people like, oh, that's kind of spoilery. But at the same time, it's kind of cool to be like, to her to be a Navi and be like, hey, hey, look here, listen.
neocharge: For her.
Leon Lionheartly: And I'm like, all right, cool.
neocharge: yeah
Leon Lionheartly: and And it's an experience. So it plays differently. I like it. Yeah.
neocharge: I love it. And it's a good good bonding experience. you know good Good time to spend with your spouse. like game It's like a team building exercise.
Leon Lionheartly: Yeah.
neocharge: That's what i was trying to say. Right.
Leon Lionheartly: Yeah. But we're not here talk about Ocarina of Time remake yet
neocharge: Reborn. Reborn.
Leon Lionheartly: ah
neocharge: Yeah.
Leon Lionheartly: yet. So I got to say, Rebirth, huh? Or Reborn is what you called? report it Reborn?
neocharge: reborn reborn yeah
Leon Lionheartly: That's not the rumor I've heard. And this is why I only keep it as a rumor. I'm not reporting on even it yet.
neocharge: Sure.
Leon Lionheartly: is It's supposed to be Returned.
neocharge: Yeah, that's a that could be a good one, too.
Leon Lionheartly: Yeah.
neocharge: It could be a good one, too.
Leon Lionheartly: All right. and i And I'm not saying, folks, don't get your hopes up, but there is the circulation of when we're getting the first trailer drop-in announcement.
neocharge: Yeah, yeah, rumor. I mean, Summer Game Fest, right?
Leon Lionheartly: Yes, sir.
neocharge: Yeah, and it' all it'll close the show if Intergalactic doesn't.
Leon Lionheartly: Yes.
neocharge: Intergalactic supersedes that.
Leon Lionheartly: Yes.
neocharge: Personally, they're pretty high up there. They're close, but seven beats Intergalactic. But from a an industry standpoint, a new Naughty Dog IP beats this.
neocharge: So...
Leon Lionheartly: yeah Yeah, absolutely, dude. I'm...
neocharge: Yeah. just Yep. um They have... So he said he he has beat it 40 times. so You played seven. you beat You beat seven.
Leon Lionheartly: Yeah, i played I played... I beat... So I beat Remake. I damn near beat Rebirth, but technically no, folks. But trust me, I got really so close that I might as well have beat it.
Leon Lionheartly: All right?
neocharge: Yeah, yeah.
Leon Lionheartly: I know how big these games are.
neocharge: we're We're close to disc three. I'm not going to say where we stopped in Rebirth. That might be a little bit of a spoiler, but we we got a lot to cover, okay?
Leon Lionheartly: Yes. Yes.
neocharge: And we got we got a lot of set pieces, let's just say that. And these set pieces are probably the pinnacles of of the story in the game and the weapons. If you know, you know.
neocharge: ah And i I can't wait to see them. what they do with that and how true they say to the original. And like, we, we got end game. Even we got disc three, we got all the exploration. Like we got a lot to cover. So him beating it 40 times, dude, this game better be a 200 hour platinum.
Leon Lionheartly: you know it's going to be you
neocharge: i I want it to be. I mean, Rebirth, i have 175 hours in it. And granted, I dicked around a lot because I was just staring at everything, honestly. So, I mean, you could probably beat it in 80, but hours, 40 times? Damn. So...
neocharge: eighty hours forty times damn so
Leon Lionheartly: yeah that's awesome
neocharge: That's crazy. I love that they're testing it and polishing it and just, yeah, make it great. And I have full faith in you because Rebirth was incredible. It had some interesting chapters, just like Remake had an interesting chapter at the end, but all in all, man.
neocharge: And we got... two playable two more playable characters. One of my favorites that was one of my i mains in the team, um we could say Vincent.
neocharge: Everyone knows Vincent's in the fucking game, right?
Leon Lionheartly: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
neocharge: We got Vincent and Sid, and they've got to be playable, right?
Leon Lionheartly: Yeah.
neocharge: So yeah it's exciting, man.
Leon Lionheartly: it It will.
neocharge: It's going to wrap everything up.
Leon Lionheartly: And i'm like sir I'm curious to see how they...
neocharge: Yeah.
Leon Lionheartly: like How do I fundamental they fundamentally change some things like combat itself stays the same across the two, but they changed the games.
neocharge: Yeah, great.
Leon Lionheartly: Like there's a huge difference. You're going from a very linear down the path, Final Fantasy 13 first 10 hours to all of a sudden what the fuck is happening.
neocharge: Yep.
Leon Lionheartly: I'm in an entire world and like, I'm curious to see how they're going to handle some of those extra points that in, in, coming up.
neocharge: Yeah.
Leon Lionheartly: we We know those set pieces, I think is what you put it. I'm with you, man, because I played the, yeah I know that.
neocharge: Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah, and I love how they did remake pretty linear through Midgar, which the original game was like that too. But then it opens up and you're in Gaia and it's crazy in Rebirth. I think this this was in the marketing, but instead of traversing a overworld map like an old RPG, it's one to one scale.
neocharge: And we're talking fucking Gaia. Like these are continents and you're exploring them on a one-to-one scale. And they they, they did the exploration brilliantly and they just, everything was there.
neocharge: ah man, I can't wait, dude. ah The, the snowy area. oh it's going to be so fucking awesome.
Leon Lionheartly: Dude, I am so...
neocharge: Yeah.
Leon Lionheartly: like i It's going to be awesome. That's the snow area. dad That's something I'm interested to see.
neocharge: Yeah.
Leon Lionheartly: i mean, you know exactly what I'm talking about.
neocharge: Yeah. Glacial Inn or Glacier Inn. ah Yeah. And yeah, I know which which part. And that that's going to hit home specifically.
Leon Lionheartly: Yes, it will.
neocharge: Yeah. And I hope they do it really well. So, ah yeah. And dude, if they can nail, like in the original, you get a fucking traversal vehicle that you can go around Gaia with, right? The high wind. Everyone fucking knows this.
neocharge: If they do that, if they make Gaia completely... exploreable with the highland, the high wind and you take off and, oh my God, I don't, I'm probably going to sit there and just stare and, and, and tear up, maybe even cry for like 10 minutes.
neocharge: Just be like, oh my God. Every time, dude, that, that high wind theme. Oh, so good.
Leon Lionheartly: Yeah, it's an iconic theme. And that's what I'm curious about, man, is how you...
neocharge: Yeah.
Leon Lionheartly: There you go. Yeah.
neocharge: and da da da the Okay, I'm done.
Leon Lionheartly: Yeah.
neocharge: I listen to that every time I take off on a plane. It's kind of like my my good luck charm, and it's awesome. So if you ever take off on a plane, you have a window seat, you're looking out, you and you've played Final Fantasy VII, throw on High Wind Takes to the Skies on the original soundtrack.
neocharge: You're welcome.
Leon Lionheartly: Oh, yeah. I'll keep that mind. Good. No, but yeah, dude, I'm i'm excited for this. um we're We should see more soon.
neocharge: ah
Leon Lionheartly: We'll keep feeding you. But yeah, we'll...
neocharge: Summer Game Fest, less than a month away.
Leon Lionheartly: Yep, that's when we're supposed to get it, folks. Or at least the the trailer. And we'll see um if that comes out there.
neocharge: Right. Right. And they they have they have closed out a Summer Game Fest with... They closed out Summer Game Fest 2021 or 2022 with Rebirth.
Leon Lionheartly: Yes, they did.
neocharge: The first trailer for Rebirth. So... Ooh. Dude, am beyond hype for this fucking game.
Leon Lionheartly: I know, dude.
neocharge: Man.
Leon Lionheartly: <unk> I'll i'll ah watch your streams and watch your trophy list and because you'll you'll you'll be so far.
neocharge: I'll
Leon Lionheartly: Dive into it I'm like, Matt, why haven't you progressed? Hold on. I just need to get one more run in.
neocharge: be like I'll be like o oh what's up sorry was playing Final Fantasy Reborn yeah I'll stream i'll stream my ah Rebirth ah my new playthrough for Rebirth as well i'm playing on hard I'm be playing on hard so cause it's new game plus and all your materia carries over and all the shit carries over so I did the same thing for Rebirth and Remake.
Leon Lionheartly: Okay.
Leon Lionheartly: they're
Leon Lionheartly: so Okay, yeah. I'd be curious.
neocharge: I i replayed Remake on hard on New Game Plus in anticipation for Rebirth. So I'm doing the same thing for Reborn, Return, whatever it is.
neocharge: my My vote's still on Reborn. We'll see, though.
Leon Lionheartly: We'll see how it goes.
neocharge: Exciting news.
Leon Lionheartly: I'll definitely check it out. Because yes, I'm excited to see how you play this of that game as a fanatic, if you will. ah Final Fantasy 7.
neocharge: Mm-hmm. Oh, yeah.
Leon Lionheartly: Ah,
neocharge: Cloud always has Lightning.
Leon Lionheartly: yeah well done.
neocharge: I mean, it just makes sense. And it's my favorite, uh, my favorite element. So not lightning from 13, lightning, the materia.
Leon Lionheartly: i yeah i knew what you meant, but I guess that is a good point to clarify.
neocharge: yeah I know like for the listeners. Yeah.
Leon Lionheartly: Yeah, yeah. Don't get too excited, Alex. Sit down.
neocharge: yes
Leon Lionheartly: so
neocharge: Our sweet baby boy. It's okay. All right.
Leon Lionheartly: a oh So, those those are all rumors, though.
neocharge: Yeah.
Leon Lionheartly: But you know what is confirmed, Matt?
neocharge: Yeah. Oh, man. So much. So much.
Leon Lionheartly: So much.
neocharge: Which one?
Leon Lionheartly: Let's start with the one that broke yesterday out of the middle. of Well, they both broke. Yeah. like That's weird. They did both break at the same time, didn't they?
neocharge: Kinda. I think one...
Leon Lionheartly: Yeah. All
neocharge: I got an email about one, and then Bo broke the the news about one that's like, oh, there's a direct.
Leon Lionheartly: all right. So, let's...
neocharge: There was a direct, and it just shadow fucking dropped.
Leon Lionheartly: i
Leon Lionheartly: Right. Let's go ahead and start in the the morning of the day and tell this tale because I was sitting at work.
neocharge: Yes.
Leon Lionheartly: I finally just got finished doing some stuff. i was like, hey, you know what? I'm going to go jump online real quick. I'm going to take a few moments, a moment to decompress. And all of a sudden, I just see, boom, Mina the Hollower it officially has a release date.
neocharge: Yep.
neocharge: Mm-hmm.
Leon Lionheartly: and I was like, wait what? Yep. Yacht Club came out on a 10 a.m. mountain time on a on a Wednesday and said, Oh, hey, ah we're releasing Mina.
Leon Lionheartly: We know you forgot. ah We didn't forget about it. We know you didn't forget about it. um Oh, by the way, it's coming May 29th. Here, you've got three weeks.
neocharge: Yep. yeah You sent this to the group ah before Bo, which is crazy, right? ah You sent this the group. I was like, oh, holy shit. And they were like, is this is this real?
neocharge: ah Or like were you it like, is this a spoiler? And I was like, ah so i was like, I checked my email and i was like, oh, nope. I just got an email because I'm a backer of the game. And they officially announced it over email.
neocharge: I missed it about like 40 minutes prior. before you sent that. And yeah, you broke it to the, to the group. So yeah, finally, fucking finally this game.
neocharge: I'm very excited for this game because I played the demo and it's a Zelda Castlevania souls. Like.
Leon Lionheartly: It's good way to put it. Oh, with a eight or with a Game Boy Advance or Game Boy Color, rather, should I say, art style.
neocharge: Yeah. 16. Yeah. sixteen yeah
Leon Lionheartly: Yeah.
neocharge: So or it's like between 8 and 16-bit style.
Leon Lionheartly: Yeah.
neocharge: Yeah, it's great. A top-down isometric, and you're this little mouse, Mina, and she's a hollower. She can go into the earth, and it like plays with the depth.
neocharge: And it's gorgeous pixel art. Very fun combat. it's It's pretty hard. it's It's got some souls-like elements to it, and including the combat. So yeah, Yacht Club,
Leon Lionheartly: Yeah, it does.
neocharge: They're going hit it out of the park. I can't wait. I'm excited for this. I backed it day one.
Leon Lionheartly: Yep.
neocharge: It's...
Leon Lionheartly: The soundtrack. Oh, dude.
neocharge: Yeah.
Leon Lionheartly: The music in that.
neocharge: Because you played the demo too.
Leon Lionheartly: Woo!
neocharge: It released on Switch 2, the demo. um Or Switch.
Leon Lionheartly: Yep.
neocharge: It was a Switch 1 and I played it on Switch 2. But yeah, the demo is pretty beefy. And ah you have three weapons to choose from in the beginning. there's It's a cool currency system.
neocharge: ah Yeah, the story is... intriguing so i've this is on my list i've been waiting uh i got the backer survey it's like which which copy do you want i got the digital copy uh because the physical copy i think it's like a hundred bucks tier and i was like yeah i'll get it i'll get it when it drops at best buy for like 30 bucks i'll still get the physical copy or fan gamer might do it because fan gamers like heavily linked with this for some reason uh but i'm super excited man i know you are too
Leon Lionheartly: Ho, ho, ho, ho.
Leon Lionheartly: Yeah, this is a is a beautiful game. I played... You're right. The demo was beefy, and I know this, but I got like an hour or ah into it, and i was like, I think I've seen enough.
Leon Lionheartly: I'm good. I don't need any more Mina until it's fully here because I want more Mina. um And yeah dude, you know, maybe somebody should draft this. Yeah.
neocharge: Yep. Yep. There are two types of demo players because I played it three times. played the whole demo three times because it changes depending on the weapon you choose.
Leon Lionheartly: yeah
neocharge: So it's kind of cool.
Leon Lionheartly: That's fair.
neocharge: Yeah.
Leon Lionheartly: Yeah, that is a good point to do that.
neocharge: Yep.
Leon Lionheartly: ah I just, I know me, I would have been sitting here scratching, you know, the, y'all got any more of that Mina? and i ah Especially since we didn't have a date until yesterday.
neocharge: yep Yeah, yeah. This was your second draft, so you ah you believed in it. And yeah, i ah it was on my it was high on my list, but you picked that up real quick. So I think i think it's going to net you high 80s or low 90s easy.
neocharge: I think because Yacht Club, really good. They've been sitting on this for a while. They've been polishing it. They've been talking about it for a while. ah They've been playtesting it. There's a ton of demos.
neocharge: Um, they've taken a lot of fan feedback and it's just evolved over the years. and I think we're going to get a gem of a game and I think it's going to be up there with indie game of the year for sure.
Leon Lionheartly: Yeah, that that's going to be the the the problem is it's indie game, and there's a lot of good ones that have come out this year. um But this is absolutely probably going bubble at the top. this ah You're right.
Leon Lionheartly: I believed in this. so The second I saw it was available in the draft and like all the big guys, Saros and stuff were gone, I'm like, fuck it. I'm taking Mina because you know that's going to hit. That is a solid high 80s game, 100%.
Leon Lionheartly: Maybe not game of the year because it is very retro in some aspects and people look down on that for some reason.
neocharge: Right.
Leon Lionheartly: But outside of that, i wouldnt they're yeah, exactly.
neocharge: Their loss.
Leon Lionheartly: Okay, your problem.
neocharge: Right. Yeah. i Fun fact, I drafted this last year ah ah because it's it was i mean it was supposed to release last year and then they were like, oh, we're releasing it.
Leon Lionheartly: Yeah.
neocharge: like It had a a date or a window. and then they're like, Oh, we ran into some stuff. And then they finally announced, I knew I like a week ago. They're like, Oh, it's gold master. And I'm like, Oh, it's coming out in a month. Cause usually once gold master hits, you got a month and then it it releases. So nailed it.
neocharge: Cause I think they were, they announced it was gold master end of April and we're getting an end of May. So
Leon Lionheartly: Yeah. No, that works. That that ah that does sign up. But yeah, Mina the Halloware coming May 29th.
neocharge: yeah.
Leon Lionheartly: And while a crowded window, it's not, it could be worse.
neocharge: Yeah, it is unfortunately crowded because First Light comes out the 27th. And then I'm personally excited for Lego Batman Legacy of the Dark Knight. ah But that's kind of a game I can play at the same time.
neocharge: That's a pick up and play mindless collect-a-thon, right?
Leon Lionheartly: Mm-hmm.
neocharge: so But First Light, I think, takes precedence over Mina.
Leon Lionheartly: In first light, we as we know, it was reported. I didn't put it in the news, but as it's been put out, it's expected to be about a 20-hour campaign. So that'll be a nice, good, maybe couple of days, you know maybe a week to stretch out.
neocharge: Beautiful. That is perfect. Yeah.
Leon Lionheartly: Perfect. Perfect.
neocharge: That's a week for me. That's a week for sure.
Leon Lionheartly: Yeah.
neocharge: Yeah. Yeah.
Leon Lionheartly: Bam in. And then when we thought it couldn't get any better, um you mentioned earlier, Beau for some just randomly drops.
neocharge: I
Leon Lionheartly: Hey, by the way, Nintendo decided to do a direct, didn't tell anybody. And Miyamoto just comes out and says, hey, guys, guess what?
neocharge: wouldn't tell anyone.
Leon Lionheartly: Star Fox is back. but
neocharge: Yeah, it's like, hey, ah yeah, we we remade Star Fox 64. It's no big deal. It's it's coming out June 25th. So, yeah, here's a direct for it. hope ever It's whatever. it's it's It's like whatever. It's like a ah ah fan favorite 64 title with, you know, and an iconic first party Nintendo character. You know, wow we remade it. it's And it looks incredible. and So, yeah, buy it if you want. If if not, a we don't care.
Leon Lionheartly: it It feels almost like...
neocharge: It's literally what it feels like, dude.
Leon Lionheartly: it
neocharge: They did the same thing with Metroid. It's just like, oh Metroid Prime 4. There we go. Here's two here's two Kirby directs.
Leon Lionheartly: it was It was even worse. It feels even worse with now that because Nate the Hate was getting beat on in social media because he originally was one of the he was the leaker behind this game coming.
Leon Lionheartly: um And then it did it didn't hit in April.
neocharge: Yep, yep.
Leon Lionheartly: they We didn't get the announcement in April. So everybody was starting dogpile on them. And then all of a sudden Nintendo's like, oh, yeah, we forgot.
neocharge: Mm-hmm.
Leon Lionheartly: It felt spiteful.
neocharge: basically right it's like oh shit we forgot to announce that quick just drop that direct real quick so yeah exactly so miyamoto comes on and it's like yeah we're uh we're making a new starfox game called starfox and everyone's awesome he's like and it's going to be a remake of the original starfox 64 the lilac wars and
Leon Lionheartly: Yeah.
Leon Lionheartly: me and meldo get in front of the camera quick
neocharge: ah I was like, what the fuck? That's awesome. I love Star Fox 64, and it looks incredible. The character models look a little weird. just I'm not going lie.
neocharge: Fox 64.
Leon Lionheartly: let's Let's be real. i So i've i have I've watched this trailer a couple of times, and then I look at screenshots online, and I realize the problem I have with these is the character models, if they're in a stealth frame, are terrifying.
neocharge: Have you seen Andros?
Leon Lionheartly: I'm not going to say bad. They're terrifying. Yes. But when they're in motion, it's not so bad. So, ah guys, you know you need to clean that up a little because you got to be able to, you know that you're going to just give you screenshots.
neocharge: Right. Yeah.
Leon Lionheartly: And when Fox McCloud's looking like that, like that dead Fox meme, I'm like, yeah.
neocharge: Yeah, yeah. um June 25th. I do have one game in front of this that I'm really excited for. Square Enix is basically making a Zelda game called The Adventures of Elliot, A Millennium Tale.
Leon Lionheartly: Mm-hmm.
neocharge: ah I want to get this on launch. I will probably get it on launch. I don't know if I'll play it on launch, though. So ah this will switch to exclusive.
neocharge: So that's cool. ah It looks awesome. Water affects everything. And this will be my first Switch 2 game I buy.
Leon Lionheartly: yeah ah Dude, that's great. You know, this will be a this would be a steal from steal from ah the wife.
neocharge: Yep,
Leon Lionheartly: Borrow her Switch 2.
neocharge: yep there you go.
Leon Lionheartly: This is a...
neocharge: It's the family Switch 2 anyway.
Leon Lionheartly: Yeah, this is a game...
neocharge: Let us...
Leon Lionheartly: and You're right. Star Fox 64 is a it's a special game, man. And this is a easy to pick up and do in a weekend.
neocharge: Yeah.
Leon Lionheartly: Star Fox 64, depending on what they include, I know there's the extra online multiplayer and things like that. That's that's awesome.
neocharge: Yeah.
Leon Lionheartly: But the core story of itself out of Star Fox 64, the game itself is pretty small. You can...
neocharge: Oh, you can be in a couple hours.
Leon Lionheartly: Yeah, you can beat it in a couple hours. And yes, there's replayability, but trust me, folks, I've done all of it.
neocharge: Oh, yeah. There's different routes and shit, so...
Leon Lionheartly: Yeah, i do all the routes and you could have them done in a weekend. There's people are going to be posting their their stuff their stuff and be like, oh, I beat Star Fox 64 4,000 times and it's only been released for 12 hours. It's going to happen. um
neocharge: Yeah.
Leon Lionheartly: But...
neocharge: I can't wait for the people that are like, this was a $60 game and I beat it in two hours. was like, did you play the original, bro?
Leon Lionheartly: yeah
neocharge: Go play it again and shut up.
Leon Lionheartly: Yeah, yeah. This time you don't have to pay for the rumble pack.
neocharge: Exactly. Exactly. i You can play it with the classic 64 controller, which is cool. that the ah The classic one they sell for the Switch 2 or the Switch 1 and Switch 2.
Leon Lionheartly: Mm-hmm.
neocharge: So that's cool if you really want to get old school with it. And yeah, dude, there's screenshots. They have a trailer for it. it I was... pretty impressed with how it looked. Like I was like, Oh shit, we're in, we're in the next generation of Nintendo. Now, uh, prime four looked gorgeous too. And, uh, I think that was like the showcase for me that what the switch to could do and how it could run games.
neocharge: So I do, I wish it was a new star Fox game. Yeah. But am I super excited that they're remaking 64? Uh, yeah. Also.
neocharge: So yeah. I hope it runs well.
Leon Lionheartly: All right.
neocharge: I hope it just just just at least hit 60, just locked. Just please. Because Star Fox is a very fast-paced, reactive game, right?
neocharge: And it would benefit from 60 frames. Consistent. So ah from everything we saw in the the trailer, in the marketing material, it does look like it runs really well.
neocharge: and the characters look cool. So apparently there's new story beats with ah some characters, and they delve into character arcs more. There's four-player online co-op or PvP. I don't know which, but that's cool.
neocharge: I'm not going to play it. I'm not going to play the online.
Leon Lionheartly: but
neocharge: I'm just going to play the campaign over and over and over.
Leon Lionheartly: yeah
neocharge: Go to the Z sector. Go to solar.
Leon Lionheartly: You know, I agree we um with that because I'm not doing online.
neocharge: Yeah.
Leon Lionheartly: I'm just not. But I will, particularly on Nintendo's like online services, I've heard it's gotten better, but I still don't trust it very much.
neocharge: Yeah.
Leon Lionheartly: um I think it's... It's really beautiful, and I can't wait to see what the underwater stuff looks like.
neocharge: Yeah.
Leon Lionheartly: And and I'll leave it like that, because those were some of the most beautiful...
neocharge: Yep.
Leon Lionheartly: or
neocharge: The Landmaster.
Leon Lionheartly: um And this has to run at 60.
neocharge: Hell yeah. Yeah, it does.
Leon Lionheartly: I just have one request, Nintendo. You don't have to do this, but it's a simple request from a a guy who's been supporting you for 40 years. Can you please put the rumble, when you do the rumble from at the end of these boss fights, give us this rumble that you gave us with the rumble pack.
Leon Lionheartly: And if you know what I'm talking about, you know what I'm talking about. Where your hand went, yes, every time.
neocharge: Oh yeah, it almost shakes out of your fucking hands. like... Yes.
Leon Lionheartly: ah But yeah, dude, I look forward to this.
neocharge: yes
Leon Lionheartly: i They've got yo ah Yoshiaki Koizumi behind this, um who's been the counterpart. He's the the the second lieutenant, if you will, to take pick your your poison or verbiage for Miyamoto since fuck the 80s.
Leon Lionheartly: Something like that. Just late 80s, early 90s. he's he's he's got He's got a name, but a weight behind him. um So I think he's going to serve his right.
neocharge: Oh, yeah. Yeah. ah somebody should Somebody should definitely draft this for sure.
Leon Lionheartly: Yeah.
neocharge: ah This was rumored, ah what, like a month ago or something by Nate the Hate? And it was rumored with another thing that's way more exciting. I'm sorry, Star Fox, but way, way more exciting that now puts weight behind something that could be a generational game for everyone this year and i drafted both of them and uh that other game is the legend of zelda ocarina of time remake uh and that is supposed to hit this holiday of course it's a rumor but this the one of two leaks just came out to be true this leaker is pretty notorious for having a good track track record of things becoming true
Leon Lionheartly: um
neocharge: And i I think we could get a Ocarina of Time remake announcement this summer for a holiday release. And that is going to, that's crazy, right? The two main Switch titles. I mean, we got Yoshi and the Mysterious Book, which is going to be great.
neocharge: But the two main heavy hitting first party Switch titles are remakes from the 64. This year. Yeah. Keep it
Leon Lionheartly: That's awesome, dude. I love it.
neocharge: this year
Leon Lionheartly: Give it give it to us.
neocharge: yeah keep it up
Leon Lionheartly: It just ah looks like that 3D Mario is ah not going to come anytime soon.......
neocharge: Uh, yeah. Yeah. This, this puts validity behind that too. So I gotta, I gotta drop that probably, but, I'm still, I'm still holding out. It could be either one. It's either Mario or Zelda.
neocharge: Uh, cause we ain't getting Pokemon. That's their top three. Mario's out of Pokemon.
Leon Lionheartly: Yep.
neocharge: And, You got to have one of those holiday release for your new fucking system, right? We had DK. That was kind of like a launch window. And then holiday, we didn't really. i mean, we had Metroid, but Nintendo kind of forgot about that one. So and that wasn't really holiday. That was later in the year.
neocharge: But we got to have a holiday marquee title. One of the three. We're not getting Pokemon. It's got to be Mario or Zelda. gotta be. And it's probably gonna be Zelda and it's probably gonna be Ocarina of Time Remake.
Leon Lionheartly: Yeah, I could see that. And that would be awesome.
neocharge: Which, holy holy shit. What timeline are we living in right now? I cannot believe it, dude.
Leon Lionheartly: Yeah, dude, i I see it now. um Not to like puff my chest out, but I'm killing it in the draft this year. I got some really fucking awesome bang for your buck.
Leon Lionheartly: You're going to come in with ah these two potential, at least one confirmed, potentially two, and then to still have the potential of both of us getting our dick slapped because Bo has GTA 6.
Leon Lionheartly: It's just wild!
neocharge: i I know. I know.
Leon Lionheartly: i just i What timeline is this?
neocharge: Yeah.
neocharge: I don't know, man.
Leon Lionheartly: Thank you.
neocharge: So many bangers.
Leon Lionheartly: is
neocharge: So, yeah. ah This has been officially confirmed. Star Fox. It's just called Star Fox. And it's based off the Lilat Wars Star Fox 64, a remake i coming June 25th. So it is really close.
Leon Lionheartly: Ooh, you know what I thought I just had there, Matt?
neocharge: What?
Leon Lionheartly: You know what be really good is please, folks, go out and buy this.
neocharge: What?
Leon Lionheartly: Buy Star Fox. Send Nintendo a message. Because if we can get Star Fox 2026 to sell well and get Nintendo to go, oh, there's still a market here, maybe we can get Star Fox Adventures.
neocharge: Oh yeah, dude.
Leon Lionheartly: And matt that is a...
neocharge: GameCube. Fucking loved Star Fox Adventures.
Leon Lionheartly: hey Hey, kids, did you like Zelda? Did you like Star Fox? Go play Star Fox Adventures.
neocharge: Yeah. Do you like hot blue foxes?
Leon Lionheartly: yeah
neocharge: Well, have I got the game for you? Here's Crystal. Weird name, I know.
Leon Lionheartly: Yeah.
neocharge: but
Leon Lionheartly: Right? Yeah. But no, dude, it's such an underrated game.
neocharge: So...
Leon Lionheartly: Please go do it.
neocharge: Oh my God. One of my favorites on the game cube. I still have the original. That would be amazing. It was, it's like dinosaurs and shit like that. Incredible game. Very underrated and kind of ahead of its time. So yeah, good call out.
neocharge: Hell yeah.
Leon Lionheartly: Yeah, man.
neocharge: Hell yeah.
Leon Lionheartly: But yeah, that's that's ah that's the news for this week.
neocharge: Cool.
neocharge: Yeah. Yeah.
Leon Lionheartly: Lots of positivity.
neocharge: Um,
Leon Lionheartly: Let's keep it going.
neocharge: Yeah, lot of positive stuff. It was pretty news-heavy for announcements. um Xbox had their thing. ah That was kind of shadow-dropped, just kind of like a dev direct. ah You can go check it out.
neocharge: it's It's basically telling everyone that the path for Project Helix and how they're doing development and how they're going to be interacting with developers and I mean, Asha kind of seems to be turning the ship around, and I love it. I want to see it. I'm not going to go back ever, but I want that competition to be there for PlayStation so PlayStation gets a fire lit under their asses and doesn't get complacent like they did in the PS3 era.
Leon Lionheartly: Yep.
neocharge: And competition is always, always, always, great for the consumer. So I love seeing Xbox focusing on the things that really matter, which are the developers and the games.
neocharge: So Asha is making some good moves and I don't want them to go fully exclusive again because i mean, man, we got that announcement for Halo.
neocharge: But if they if they want to release their shiny new first party exclusive games on their system first and then we get the the scraps and the better version, honestly, Six months later, I'm all for it.
neocharge: Whatever. Yeah.
Leon Lionheartly: yeah Yeah, absolutely. I agree. Because that competition is good for the market, particularly on an Xbox that's...
neocharge: Yeah.
Leon Lionheartly: I mean, they're playing nice, but like an Xbox that's aggressive and has a fire in their ass, so to speak, really motivates PlayStation. That's what happened during the 360 era.
neocharge: Oh, yeah.
Leon Lionheartly: Everybody knows that.
neocharge: yeah
Leon Lionheartly: the three sit Well, not everybody. you get Some people weren't around, right? then But it's the 360...
neocharge: Right. Shit.
Leon Lionheartly: It was discovered early on.
neocharge: Really?
Leon Lionheartly: The 360 had a fatal flaw.
neocharge: Yeah.
Leon Lionheartly: um And Microsoft knew about it. But the idea was to beat playstation ah beat PlayStation to the market. And that's what they did.
neocharge: yeah
Leon Lionheartly: They beat them to the market by six months to a year. um They knew the flaw was there. They calculated the risks and said, fuck it, we're going to burn the money because if we have to pay it back, we're going to least earn up front. And that's when you and...
Leon Lionheartly: you and I were playing Xbox games, you know, heavily. And that really ignited PlayStation because the PlayStation 3 ultimately did have some good stuff, but not a lot of people were there. And it was on the PlayStation 4 that we really got to see what Sony was doing.
neocharge: Yep. It hit its stride. Late PlayStation 3 was pretty good. I mean, that's when we got The Last of Us. And it it definitely hit its stride. But yeah, the the red ring of death, the three rings, ah the the actual the the CPU or the GPU, i forget, the die would separate from the motherboard.
Leon Lionheartly: Hmm.
Leon Lionheartly: ah huh
neocharge: To fix it, sometimes you could wrap your fucking console in a towel superheat the internals to melt the thermal paste and melt that chip back to the motherboard and fix it.
neocharge: Crazy.
Leon Lionheartly: I did it. I did it.
neocharge: Thankfully, thankfully, I never had a red ring and I had three Xbox 360s. I had an elite.
Leon Lionheartly: Holy shit.
neocharge: I had a launch and I had the S model. ah And I had my PlayStation, my PS3, the optical drive died on me.
Leon Lionheartly: Yeah. Yeah.
neocharge: unfortunately so i had more problems with the with the ps3 not the playstation 3 uh than the xbox 360 weirdly so dude my optical drive died on me during uh two games were launched it was two weeks apart god of war 3 and final fantasy 13 do you know how fucking devastated i was because you couldn't get them digital like
Leon Lionheartly: Oh, shit.
Leon Lionheartly: You know, it it's etc right because my optical drive died on me. And I say this in air quotes um on my PlayStation 3 as well. It wasn't that it stopped reading.
Leon Lionheartly: It was I put i already had a game in and I hit the eject button on the controller. Thought I heard something. Nothing came out. i was like, what the fuck? There's a game in there.
neocharge: Mm-hmm.
Leon Lionheartly: So I hit the button. And because it was not hardware emulate ah ah like the 360 where it physically ejected the tray and it was a software emulation to push the disc out or control, should I say, it didn't pop the disc out. And I had pressed the button and I was like, all right, well, then maybe I just forgot to put it back in. Put another game in and it put two discs on top of each other.
neocharge: Oh, no. That's what happened to me, but it stopped reading. So there's a little compartment where you take a Phillips head screwdriver and you manually crank out the disc.
Leon Lionheartly: Yeah, I took the son of a bitch apart.
neocharge: That's what they had me do.
Leon Lionheartly: Man, it is what it is.
neocharge: Ah, dang.
Leon Lionheartly: But I guess at the end of the day, I did get a rid of ringing to death with Xbox, but I didn't care because my PlayStation 3 optical drive died. The difference was i was I was going to spend basically quarters to the dollar to get a 360 versus a PlayStation 3 replacement.
neocharge: Yeah.
neocharge: Right. Yep. So, yeah. ah I like the direction Xbox is going, and we'll report more on it when ah they announce something. We're getting the partner, or we're getting the the showcase this June on the heels or before Summer Game Fest. It's part of Summer Game Fest, but I don't know if it's before or after the main keynote, Jeff's main keynote, but we'll report on it. And I like the moves they're doing, man. I like i like what Asha's doing. And I was concerned, but keep it up.
neocharge: Keep up the good work. So, yeah. Cool, man. Well, what are we playing?
neocharge: We are playing...
Leon Lionheartly: Sorry about that. heading Head to mute. But yeah, I'm playing.
neocharge: You're good. the The timing was impeccable on my end.
Leon Lionheartly: i It was perfect. ah No, I got a couple of games ah that are cleanup duty. And then I know you've been heavily into to one game in particular. So if you want, I'll just kind of spit out my my cleanup duties here and then let you have the floor with us.
neocharge: You said duty. Sure. You go first.
Leon Lionheartly: duties.
neocharge: so yeah
Leon Lionheartly: ah ah But yeah, no, i I went ahead and I got the platinum for Vampire Crawlers. um I'm only missing two trophies. They are there.
Leon Lionheartly: Yes, I know they're calling to me. But Pankle, this developer, he's got he he There's always DLC. And with the DLC comes additional trophies, and there's going to be multiples for it.
Leon Lionheartly: um It's going to happen. So I'm just going to wait for for some DLC to stack up, spend $10, get five ah DLC packs, and then go play more Vampire Crawlers.
neocharge: Mm-hmm.
Leon Lionheartly: ah
neocharge: Mm-hmm. Oh,
Leon Lionheartly: this game is a one more run game folks. Um, definitely. I talked about it extensively last week, but, uh, it's dangerous.
neocharge: oh yeah. Okay.
Leon Lionheartly: It's addicting. Um, and i highly recommend it. Uh, I believe I got the platinum in about 23 to 25 hours, give or take. Um, so for $10, um, you're getting, if you like the gameplay loop, uh, you're getting huge bang for your buck in this.
neocharge: Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Leon Lionheartly: Um,
neocharge: um Not my type of game. I'd like to see it played. So if you if you play it again, stream it. i it's ah It looks interesting, but man, there's just too much going on for me. i Maybe I'm old or something, but I'm just like, there's too many things.
neocharge: There's too many things there. Yeah.
Leon Lionheartly: I got to come by sometime and I'll download it and show you my account because it looks like there's a lot going on.
neocharge: Yeah.
Leon Lionheartly: But once you understand that it's really a chill game um in terms of like there's a repeat a pattern where you can kind of just turn your brain off and you don't have to think about it.
neocharge: Okay.
Leon Lionheartly: You're just like, oh, yep, I know what's going to happen.
neocharge: Yeah.
Leon Lionheartly: But who knows? Well, maybe we'll look in. ah Maybe I'll get you on the boat. I'm going to get you one day. You're going to appreciate these games.
neocharge: No, I appreciate them.
Leon Lionheartly: that Yeah, get it.
neocharge: it's They're just not my style. So I'm glad you're enjoying it though. And I mean, man, there's a lot of trophies in there. And the fact that you only have two left, you said crazy, two or three or a few handful.
neocharge: Let's just say,
Leon Lionheartly: Yeah, I think it's like two and there's there's like 168 trophies something silly.
neocharge: Wow. That's a lot of trophies.
Leon Lionheartly: I don't know how they get away with it other than the fact that they're all bronze and one platinum.
neocharge: Oh, wow. Okay. Yeah. Because they I think they have a budget of points and they can allocate it however they want. There's just a bunch of bronzes. That's nuts
Leon Lionheartly: Yeah, it's ah it's funny. I don't know. i i I respect it. It's kind of a, hey, they're not breaking or like ah being one of those cheap pay for platinum games.
Leon Lionheartly: But at the same time, it's kind of poking fun at the the trophy system.
neocharge: i Yeah.
Leon Lionheartly: um They're like, hey, how many trophies can we get away with? Like, seriously, Sony, how many are you going to let us do um just for the sake of it? And I appreciate that kind of humor.
neocharge: That's crazy. Yeah, there's a crazy point system on the back end of the the trophies. And it's just a bunch of math. And it's crazy how the levels go up and what a bronze contributes to and what a platinum. I think a bronze is like 10 points.
neocharge: A silver is like 20 points gold is 50 and platinum is 300 or something like that and then in any rpg you know every level you go up you need more points to get to the next level and it gets crazy man like i think i gain maybe 10 levels a year at at like level 400 something that's crazy yeah
Leon Lionheartly: Hmm.
Leon Lionheartly: Yeah, that's awesome, dude. um But yeah, Vampire Crawlers, don definitely go check it out, folks. um But you know what is your style? um Pragmata.
neocharge: yeah
Leon Lionheartly: I came back to it ah because there is a ah addition.
neocharge: Yeah, you did.
neocharge: Did some in-game, did you?
Leon Lionheartly: Yeah, there's some endgame. There's an endgame mode, folks. Surprise in this kind of game. um But you go you go play. It's just endgame stuff, but I'll tell you this much. It is fucking hard.
neocharge: Yeah, it is.
Leon Lionheartly: Deceptively hard. I don't want to spoil anything, but I was like, oh, this should be a quick in and out, fire it up on a Sunday morning.
neocharge: now
Leon Lionheartly: should be able to get this knocked out in like an hour or two, go see what the additional but a reward is, if you will.
neocharge: the
neocharge: I think I texted you and I was like, hey, I noticed you finished Pragmata, but you didn't do the end game stuff. you're like, oh yeah I'll knock it out. And I'm like, good luck.
Leon Lionheartly: yeah And it is a...
neocharge: I was like, it's hard, bro.
Leon Lionheartly: right It is hard. It is a gauntlet. It really tests your skills. um
neocharge: Yeah.
Leon Lionheartly: And the reward, I think, is worth it. So definitely would heavily, heavily recommend people go check it out. Unknown Signal. You get it after your new yeah after your your you yeah after your first playthrough. um And yeah, good luck.
Leon Lionheartly: I think you put it best, Matt.
neocharge: e Yeah, because I was debating because I had I had my next game that I'm going to be talking about, but I was debating like, do I because I I still want to go through it again in the hard mode difficulty.
neocharge: And I was debating, well, maybe I'll just knock this out during that playthrough. And I was like, ah no, I don't want to. have this on hard mode and come back to it and not have muscle memory. So i was like, eh, I should probably do this. And I was like, okay, I'll do this one thing.
neocharge: And if it's too hard to do and I can't do it, then I'll back off. And I completed that one thing and i was like, all right, I'll do this next, next thing. And then I was like, okay, well I'll do this next thing.
Leon Lionheartly: Yeah.
neocharge: And I just kept progressing to the point where I was like, oh I'm like 80% done with it.
Leon Lionheartly: yeah
neocharge: So Yeah, it's ah it's tough. And I love when games do this. um It's not necessary. It's just bonus content. it's I mean, it's it's necessary for the platinum, right?
neocharge: But it's not necessary for the overall experience, right? And it's a culmination of everything you learn throughout the entire game, and they put your skills to the test, and they're like, here you go.
neocharge: Overcome this, and... The reward's pretty sweet, like you said. So there's ah multiple rewards you get, which are 100% worth it.
Leon Lionheartly: Okay. I agree. Definitely go check it out. Just remember if you go for the Platinum, folks. I'm not brave enough for that. ah
neocharge: i'm I'm one trophy away.
Leon Lionheartly: Yeah. I think i have I have a couple, but there's two that are just really grinding me.
neocharge: Yeah.
Leon Lionheartly: We can talk about them because one of them is the same one you have and the other one is another one that I was like, ah maybe I'm just getting bad at games because this one can kiss my ass.
neocharge: Yeah.
neocharge: Huh. Yeah. you I didn't... Yeah, we'll we'll talk about the trophies after this, for sure.
Leon Lionheartly: Yeah. but yeah that's a But that's just a cleanup on Pragmata.
neocharge: Yeah.
Leon Lionheartly: Put it up on the shelf. We'll see. Capcom, ah they recently announced they sold 2 million copies. So this game should...
neocharge: Congratulations. That's awesome. Yeah.
Leon Lionheartly: Yeah. And unlike Square Enix, to them, that's a success.
neocharge: Yeah. Right? um' I'm really glad it's success. That's what publishers mainly look at are the sales of the game. It got highly rated and man, it's a gem of a game.
neocharge: So if you haven't played Pragmata, go check it out. It's incredible and it's it's definitely in the conversation this year. Let's just say that.
Leon Lionheartly: Yeah, I agree with you there.
neocharge: so
Leon Lionheartly: ah You know what would have been in the conversation this year if it released to this year, Matt?
neocharge: So.
neocharge: What?
Leon Lionheartly: Hey, DS2. Uh...
neocharge: Yeah.
Leon Lionheartly: Uh, but yeah, I jumped back. So once I got done with the cleanups there, jump back to Hades two, there's, there was no like, Oh, it was like riding a bicycle. it
neocharge: Mm-hmm. Okay. okay
Leon Lionheartly: Same knowing exactly what I need to do, knew exactly where I was at, knew what the objectives were. Um, this game, the more I get into it, the more, the more, if you've played Hades one, the more you start to appreciate Hades two as it goes along in a good way. Like you're like, Oh, this game is really good. Um, I hate,
Leon Lionheartly: Don't want to say what I came across because technically it's it wouldn't be a spoiler for the ah for the for the listeners, but I will say it would be a spoiler for you individually.
neocharge: o
Leon Lionheartly: um So I'll keep that shut. But I did meet the... How do i put this? I met my favorite, my preferred favorite um um character the model character.
Leon Lionheartly: and his the model I fucking love it, man. You won't see it right away.
neocharge: Excellent.
Leon Lionheartly: You're going to have to get in a while. And then when you get to it, you're going to hear something. You'll be like, oh, I know who i know who it is. And then you're going to see the character model because you know how it is when they always give it the dialogue.
neocharge: Oh,
Leon Lionheartly: I want to see your reaction because it's fucking amazing. It's 10 out of 10. Love it. And the in the dialogue is even better. ah I was so excited.
neocharge: yeah. Okay. A returning character from Hades or new?
Leon Lionheartly: a Returning character.
neocharge: all Oh, I think I have an idea of who it is.
Leon Lionheartly: ah Yeah. um But, yeah yeah and I still, I have to double check, but I don't think ah here's the really cool thing.
neocharge: Hmm.
Leon Lionheartly: I'm 20 hours in Matt. And I don't think I found all the, all of the, the, the boon givers, if you know what I mean.
neocharge: Oh, yeah. Yeah. maybe Yeah. I mean, Hades won the... We can say it. Gods and goddesses.
Leon Lionheartly: Yeah, yeah. they I don't think I found all of them yet. I could be wrong. I'd have to double check. But every time that was like, oh there was a point where i was like, oh I guess this person's not there. And I was like, kind of sad.
neocharge: Yeah. There were some ones later in the game in Hades, so I'm i'm glad that you haven't. mean, I heard there's some... kind of obscure ones in Hades too, which I'm excited because I'm a big Greek mythology buff, if you will, big nerd.
neocharge: So I know some shit about Greek mythology. So the obscure ones, I'll be like, ah, the Leo pointing meme. Ah, so, and I i just played sons of Sparta and that has some pretty fucking obscure,
Leon Lionheartly: yep yep
neocharge: ah gods and goddesses. Like, did do you know Nike? Nike is a, yeah, it's like, she's a goddess and like, and it's Greek mythology.
Leon Lionheartly: and yeahp
neocharge: So Nike is the goddess of speed, ironically. So that was in Sons Sparta, which is cool. So, yeah.
Leon Lionheartly: oh that's That's good, man. No, you'll appreciate this. There's a lot of deep cuts in here. My kiddo loves, what's that musical?
neocharge: no
Leon Lionheartly: The Odyssey. ah
neocharge: Yeah.
Leon Lionheartly: and Epic, The Odyssey, or whatever it is.
neocharge: Yeah.
Leon Lionheartly: and just Hey, is that dad? Is that who that is? Hey, look, it's who... in I don't want to spoil anything for you for those that don't know Greek mythology too well, but they're there. There's some deep cuts.
Leon Lionheartly: um Not just in the the gods and goddesses, but
neocharge: Oh, yeah.
Leon Lionheartly: you know environments and enemies and stuff like that and you'll love it.
neocharge: Dude, I'm chomping at the bit to play this game. And I'm i'm close, man. I'm close. Because i'm I beat the game. I beat the game I'm going to talk about. which Did you have anything to say else to say on Hades 2?
Leon Lionheartly: Nope. I highly recommend it, folks. I'm just sad that I came i couldn't draft it this year.
neocharge: Oh, right. Dude, I've drafted that game three years in a fucking row, man. ah Crazy. But yes, ah I decided to, I had a choice. I can play Hades 2 or Saros.
neocharge: And I said, you know what? Shout out to Bo, because this was his idea. He said, Saros is going to be the appetizer. Hades 2 will be the main course. But God damn, was this a hell of an appetizer.
neocharge: My goodness.
Leon Lionheartly: Yeah.
neocharge: So I played and beat Saros. I have some in-game stuff to do, but i I did beat it and I rolled credits on it. I put about 25 hours into it. And so this game, Saros, is first party, released, i think, like a week ago or something like that. Made by Housemarque, one of the top tier first party PlayStation developers, in my opinion. playing it on PS5 Pro, obviously. It's PS5 exclusive, and it's a third-person roguelike and third-person shooter roguelike. A lot like Returnal.
neocharge: um I platinumed Returnal. I am very familiar with Housemarque games. I've played all of them, almost all on launch. and You got Resogun, you got Batterfall, you got Nex Machina, Alien Nation, Dead Nation,
neocharge: I'm a big fucking Housemarque fan.
Leon Lionheartly: and
neocharge: Okay? This is my favorite Housemarque game.
Leon Lionheartly: Wow.
neocharge: Yeah.
Leon Lionheartly: that say up because
neocharge: Yeah. Yeah.
Leon Lionheartly: Returnal is good, but there's something about Rezogun.
neocharge: Mm-hmm. Oh, yeah. Resogun's phenomenal. Next Makina used to be my favorite. Actually, Returnal used to be my favorite. This is better than Returnal.
Leon Lionheartly: I am...
neocharge: And... it improves on it in so many ways. A lot like Returnal. The bones of Returnal are here. Returnal walks so this could fucking fly. And it's a very fast-paced, roguelike shooter. It's a bullet hell and...
neocharge: Man, it's just gorgeous. that you know It's entrancing. All the bullets coming at you. And boss designs are awesome.
Leon Lionheartly: All
neocharge: The enemy designs are awesome. Level design is crazy. ah the So let me let me get the slightly negative stuff out of the way.
neocharge: Okay?
Leon Lionheartly: right, go ahead.
neocharge: Cut scenes are in 30 frames. That's a little jarring. The whole game runs beautifully locked. I think it might even be higher, but I could be wrong. 60 frames. Buttery fucking smooth.
neocharge: When you get to a cut scene, and there are quite a few, even the boss introduction cut scenes, they run at 30 frames. It's a little jarring. Not game-breaking. Just a little jarring.
neocharge: And I'd say mid-game... progression, traversal ability, pacing needs some work.
neocharge: Let me elaborate.
Leon Lionheartly: yeah Yes.
neocharge: you you it's It's got the Metroid elements, right? Dude, Housemarque, huge fan of Metroid. I've seen Returnal had Metroid elements and inspirations. This game has a lot of Metroid elements and inspirations.
neocharge: You go through the levels, you get an ability, and then you could revisit levels that allow you to open up new paths and progress to different parts of the map, right?
neocharge: So you you start getting these, but then there's a big old fucking lull for some reason. And you play a good chunk of the game without getting one. So when you don't have when you're not getting these new abilities, it sometimes gets repetitive.
neocharge: And it's new in this game.
Leon Lionheartly: I love
neocharge: I think it's in the marketing material, but you can warp to levels if you want. So Returnal, you have to start from level one, go through to the end, right? Well, in this, you you can open up warps and you can warp to the level.
neocharge: So you can either, so and but you can also start from the ground up and just over level and steamroll the fucking game.
Leon Lionheartly: that dude.
neocharge: And that's what I did.
Leon Lionheartly: yeah i love that dude
neocharge: yeah ah Yeah. Until the end and I won't get too much into it, but They're like, hey, remember Returnal? Well, Seros is a little easier and more accessible, but ah you beat the game and this is in-game now, so fuck you This is now Souls-like.
Leon Lionheartly: You know, it's it's funny you say that you overleveled that. ah ah Just a ah real funny for Hades, too. um When I booted it up because it had been a couple of weeks, I don't know how.
Leon Lionheartly: I promise I didn't have this turned on initially. And it's not a spoiler unless you know what i'm talking about. But when I died on my first run, yeah something happened and I was like, fuck, God mode was turned on.
neocharge: Oh, yep.
Leon Lionheartly: You know what I mean? And I was like, oh.
neocharge: Yeah.
Leon Lionheartly: And i was like, after a minute, I was like, that kind of feels, you know what? Screw it. and I just kind of let it roll.
neocharge: Yep.
Leon Lionheartly: I'm like, I'm going to over level.
neocharge: I played. Yeah, I played most of Hades with God mode on. Not gonna lie.
Leon Lionheartly: Oh, okay.
neocharge: yeah
Leon Lionheartly: look Sometimes you got to swallow your pride. That's all I'm saying.
neocharge: Yep. Yep. But yeah, this, ah it just, so those are the, the only two things there, there's kind of a law with the abilities, but then it, it ramps up and it's like a minor nitpick. It's like a nine and a half, nine out of 10 game easily.
neocharge: Incredible top five of the year so far for me. Uh, it's my favorite housemark game. This game is fucking gorgeous on the level of pragmata.
neocharge: on the level of horizon forbidden West, the lighting, the character models, uh, the route Raouli, I don't know how pronounce his name, but he's the main character, uh, Arjun Devraj, and e just nails it.
neocharge: It's the, the performance is awesome. Uh, and the the story is very interpretive and, engaging every step of the way. It's kind of like a Resident Evil, like what the fuck is going on?
neocharge: And then halfway through the game, you're like, what the fuck is going on now? And then at the end of the game, you're like, what the fuck was that? And it's very interpretive.
neocharge: So it's definitely a game after you beat, you want to maybe discuss with someone and see their in their interpretation of it. And it ah it explores a lot of themes. So it's it's very cool.
neocharge: Very cool story.
Leon Lionheartly: that
neocharge: um And the what they said in the marketing was, you know, there's a sun that is dying. And every time the sun dies, ah the environment changes. And then when you die, you come back and you come back stronger.
neocharge: And that's a reoccurring theme the and the entire way of the game. So you play halfway through a level and then you get to a specific point, something happens and the the sun dies and you see an eclipse. And then the entirety of the level changes.
neocharge: Your currency gets more and the enemies get stronger. The environments get more hazardous. And the cool thing is there are many biomes in this, more than maternal. Let's just say that.
neocharge: And I was kind of concerned like, oh, this trope, you know, you go through half the level and then this happens. Well, there are unique things that happen to each level when that happens in the sky.
neocharge: So... It's not always the same thing. So like level two has a different way that the environment changes. And when I saw that level two is my favorite. And when I saw that, I was like, Oh fuck.
neocharge: Yeah, dude, that's awesome. So yeah, it's really, really cool. So many guns to choose from. I've used them all very rarely. Do I pick up a gun and I'm like, and i don't like this one.
neocharge: don't like this one Every time I find it, there are some stinkers. Let's just say that maybe 10 to 15%.
Leon Lionheartly: Yeah.
neocharge: But every time I see a new gun, it's like, Oh cool. Cause you, you, you, you know break open these chests and you can either get ah a buff which has a debuff on it. Just kind of like the Malignance and Returnal. you know It's a very risk-reward system.
neocharge: And then you have your shield. But when you activate your shield, starts taking away your power bar. starts taking away your power bar And then at the and the secondary of the level, you have enemies that can corrupt you.
neocharge: And if you get corrupted, it corrupts your health. But to get rid of the corruption, you use your power weapon. But when you use your power weapon, it takes away your shield. But when you use your shield, it takes away your power weapon. So it is.
Leon Lionheartly: It's a little dance there. I like that.
neocharge: It's very high risk reward, very balanced. And i mean, the last part, they start incorporating and introducing many more mechanics that...
neocharge: play on if you're chasing something too much it starts becoming detrimental to you so it's the best well no Hades is the best roguelike I've played it's second best for now
Leon Lionheartly: Hmm.
Leon Lionheartly: you
neocharge: Um, it's really good, man. It's, uh, it's getting some mixed reviews online. I mean, it's sitting at an 89 on open critics, so it's, it's critically reviewed. Well, I think it's sold well. I think it's sold four times more than returnals. So I think house Mark is good there.
neocharge: And I think PlayStation is happy with the sales. So yeah, I had a blast all the way through that little law. I, you know, and you just kind of persevere. You keep on keeping on, I guess, but, uh,
neocharge: Yeah. All the ability, you're you're getting a new weapon or ability, like in the first part of the game, like left and right. And it's, yeah. yeah runs blistering 60 frames, just fast paced combat. If you loved Returnal, this takes Returnal and puts it to an 11 with a whole new setting.
neocharge: And it's not Returnal 2.0, right? It's very unique in its own way. And there's story beats kind of like Returnal when she goes in the house and everything. So yeah, it's a gem, dude. And I beat it and I'm in the end game. And I don't,
neocharge: really, like, I beat the game and it rolled the credits and, like, I got the trophy for beating game, but there's one little thing. They're like, well, have you? Have you beat the game? Or do you really want to know what's going on?
Leon Lionheartly: What?
neocharge: And I'm like, I really want to know what's going on! So, yeah. Oh, 87.
Leon Lionheartly: Dude, that's awesome. This this game sitting 87 right now OpenCritic.
neocharge: yeah oh eighty seven okay because Still, anything over is good. Anything over is great. Anything over is phenomenal.
Leon Lionheartly: Yeah, this this game looks really good.
neocharge: so
Leon Lionheartly: um This is the...
neocharge: good and
Leon Lionheartly: if i is If I had to say, man, this is the game that yeah honestly Wolverine is going to be good, but this is the one that had mostly for the Sony first party had my attention more than anything.
neocharge: Yeah. This is a Bob ass game. I'm just telling you right now. You need to play this at some point and the soundtrack, very heavy metal.
Leon Lionheartly: Oh, you're speaking my language. See, you said, hey you said, you said Saros was, is the, the, the appetizer earlier.
neocharge: This is a Bob ass game.
neocharge: Yes. Yes.
Leon Lionheartly: Vampire crawlers is the appetizer.
neocharge: Okay.
Leon Lionheartly: Hades choose the main course because it's so large and meaty and enjoyable.
neocharge: Yep.
Leon Lionheartly: And then Saros, since I knew it was smaller, but beautifully done, it's the dessert.
neocharge: Same for me.
neocharge: Dessert. Excellent. Excellent. I like that. Damn. Three rows. So you're going to play him back to back?
Leon Lionheartly: ah Dude, roguelikes are... they're They're just... They're like catnip for me. Just... Okay.
neocharge: yeah Cerus will get you. And there's a there's a skill tree too. So you're chasing... It's called Lucenite. um And it's your currency. But then you also have another currency, more rare, called Halcyon.
neocharge: So... And the skill tree is huge and it locks you from progression on the skill tree until you beat a boss.
Leon Lionheartly: okay
neocharge: So when you beat the boss, you're locked to progression. But then when you beat that boss, you can unlock the node in the skill tree, which also gives you a unique perk or buff or so stat increase.
neocharge: So, and the skill tree is fucking massive. It's crazy big. um so And then there are buffs and debuffs for the world. So think of the heat meter in Hades.
Leon Lionheartly: Yep.
neocharge: ah So you can buff or debuff.
Leon Lionheartly: Yep.
neocharge: And if you debuff too much and you you get a positive score, which gives you more currency, ah I have maxed out the skill tree. And I don't really need currency anymore.
Leon Lionheartly: Well, you you get that in every role when you break it, man.
neocharge: Yeah.
neocharge: Yeah. Yeah. But I still have nodes that require the rarer currency that are, have a finite amount and there's a collectible amount um gauges for each biome, which you can see clearly.
neocharge: So,
Leon Lionheartly: Yeah.
neocharge: Yeah, I'm having a blast with it, man. So you can play it different ways. You can either go through it from the first level, go through the entire game and get to the next point in the story and just steamroll everything.
neocharge: Or if you want um more of a challenge, you can warp directly to that at your current level. and do it that way. I think the bosses scale. I'm not entirely sure, but I've had many friends that are like, yeah, I just beat this boss with a sliver of health left. And I did that probably three times.
Leon Lionheartly: yeah
neocharge: So it's very well balanced. And then there are times where you you have the boss to a fucking sliver of health and you die.
Leon Lionheartly: all
neocharge: So it's the
Leon Lionheartly: Oh, that's you do it for the love of the game though. You're like one more run.
neocharge: Exactly.
Leon Lionheartly: I'm going to get you this time.
neocharge: Exactly. Right. Right. Exactly. So yeah, just ah ah the set pieces are incredible. I can't ah keep, you know, I i can't stop gushing about this game because I think everyone should play it, and I think it's very accessible as a roguelike, and it can be as hard as you want it or as easy as you want it, but most importantly, it is a super fun, premium, polished, high-fidelity, next-generation, technologically advanced experience.
Leon Lionheartly: Well done. That's very well played, man.
neocharge: Yeah.
Leon Lionheartly: Right off the top of your head, too.
neocharge: Thank you. Yeah, yeah. i don't write shit down. Are you kidding me? i have the I have the intro, which is two fucking sentences, and we just wing the rest.
Leon Lionheartly: and it's And it says in there, unscripted.
neocharge: Exactly. And that's why it's unhinged sometimes, too.
Leon Lionheartly: ah Yes. But no, that's awesome.
neocharge: Yeah.
Leon Lionheartly: I'm glad you're enjoying it. It's ah it's definitely got my attention.
neocharge: Yeah.
Leon Lionheartly: um just april and April kind of hosed us all, to be honest.
neocharge: Good.
neocharge: I know. It did. It did. But how you're excited for me to start ADS 2 so like we can start talking about it and you can see how I play it. That's me with you anders and
Leon Lionheartly: Okay. Because, yeah, I wouldn't...
neocharge: And Saint Slayer. Not going to lie.
Leon Lionheartly: Oh, I forgot about that one.
neocharge: and
Leon Lionheartly: ah ah oh And then we still got Mina coming, ah which is another great retro style.
neocharge: Yeah.
Leon Lionheartly: This year is a great year for games, man. if you
neocharge: Fantastic.
Leon Lionheartly: Yeah, you got there's something for everybody.
neocharge: There is.
Leon Lionheartly: But, yeah.
neocharge: There's not enough games. Where are the games?
Leon Lionheartly: it would Where are the games at? Oh, sorry, here.
neocharge: Where are I'm going fucking put my list in front of your stupid face and say pick one. Fucking stupid.
Leon Lionheartly: And there's no backlog.
neocharge: ah but Yeah, man. Oh, yeah. No, no. I deleted my backlog. I had like five games on my back. What backlog? i don't know what you're talking about. The backlog is a facade.
Leon Lionheartly: Yeah, I don't know.
neocharge: The backlog is a facade.
Leon Lionheartly: yeah
neocharge: It's as big or as small as you want it to be. Yeah.
Leon Lionheartly: I mean, honestly, I've i've kept it i've kept a backlog somewhat for like conversation pieces with you and other people, but I've never really had a backlog for the longest time.
neocharge: know
Leon Lionheartly: And here's the reason why. is you'll forget about a game.
neocharge: yeah
Leon Lionheartly: And you'll be like, oh I'm really excited for this game, but there was other things that came up. And you'll forget about it, and then you'll see it goes on sale like four years later, or five years later, where you get it for 70% off, and all of a sudden you're like...
Leon Lionheartly: oh so that's right. And you get it for cheap. You get all of the DLC. You get all of the packages complete, ah like the complete experience.
neocharge: yep it's true
Leon Lionheartly: And it's it's great. you You feel kind of the FOMO. If you get rid of if you ignore the FOMO um and just accept that gaming's fun, um you'll you'll find some gems and then you can come back later and you know have a conversation with somebody who played it four years prior and compare experiences and shit.
neocharge: Oh, yeah.
neocharge: Absolutely. Yep, for sure. I think I got, like, I think The Witcher. After all was said and done, The Witcher 3, all the DLC, everything, including the the base version of the game, fully updated, 15 bucks.
Leon Lionheartly: yeah
neocharge: Nuts! That's a steal, right?
Leon Lionheartly: that That's a steal, man.
neocharge: That's crazy. Yeah. Crazy. But yeah, if you don't, I mean, you don't have to be part of the conversation, play what you want, play what you feel. Um, I like playing games in parallel with people sometimes. So then we can talk about it and we can have that conversation, right? Like we're going to gush about pragmata and, you know, all the, all the games we're playing. So, and we do it on discord. We talk about it on discord. We have spoiler channels for discord. So if you want a spoiler channel on discord, we can create that.
neocharge: But, uh, Yeah. Seros, Hades 2, Pragmata, Vampire Crawlers. Go check them out. Play them all at once. Okay.
Leon Lionheartly: okay
neocharge: Yeah, there's there's... Go ahead.
Leon Lionheartly: I was going to say, that's that even that's too psychotic for me.
neocharge: Right. Right. Yeah. So ah there's something out there for everyone. Go check them out. But yeah, after Seros, it's Hades 2, baby.
Leon Lionheartly: yeah I can't wait to see that stream, dude.
neocharge: It's Hades 2.
Leon Lionheartly: You're going to fucking love it.
neocharge: I don't... I might go for the Platinum on Saros. I'm pretty close. I think I'm like 72%, and i think I have one more story beat to do, and then I have some cleanup, and then there's one Platinum breaking trophy in there.
neocharge: saw Complete an entire biome without getting fucking hit.
Leon Lionheartly: ah
neocharge: You know, bullet hell.
Leon Lionheartly: but That sounds like Harvest. They did that shit with RezoGud, man.
neocharge: e e Yeah, don't have the Platinum on Rezo again. I have a strategy with some specific ah buffs you can get. um But all in all, I have so most of the trophies cleaned up.
neocharge: There's a few that are pretty tough. that I'm up for the challenge. I've only put 25 hours into it, so I'm still kind of in the seething phase, if you will.
neocharge: ah So I still want to you know chew through it a little bit more, but man... I am not going to lie. My hands are getting fucking itchy for Hades, too.
Leon Lionheartly: You're going to, yeah. Make sure you're done with Saros. That's all I can say.
neocharge: I trust me. I know that's why. i that Yeah, that's why I haven't picked up Hades, because I know I'm going to literally get sucked in. So, yeah, man.
neocharge: Cool. Well, we talked about all our games, talked about all the cool news. We're going to the hell out of here. This has been episode 51 and we're still going strong.
neocharge: Thanks for listening. Appreciate all your support and check out our socials. Check out the discord. Leave us a like if you want. Subscribe the podcast. It's all free. We're going ask you for any money.
neocharge: So appreciate your listening and your engagement. Thanks so much. Have a great rest of your evening, day, night, wherever the hell you are and whatever the hell it is.
Leon Lionheartly: Peace.
