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Switch 2 delayed to 2025, Pokemon pizZA, Shadow of the Erdtree, FF7 Rebirth, & MORE! - Add to Party 02.28.24
4 Plays8 months ago
This week we go over the reviews for FF7 Rebirth, Switch 2 delayed to 2025, Pokemon's next game, Balatro the poker roguelite, and the Shadow of the Erdtree trailer
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Transcript
Introduction to 'Add to Party' Podcast
00:00:15
Speaker
Welcome to Add to Party, a friendship simulator masquerading as a new show. I'm your host, James Hartwell, and I'm joined by Andy K. And I'm joined by Derek Castillo. Hello.
Beer Talk: 'Oofda' and 'Spotted Cow'
00:00:29
Speaker
Welcome, gentlemen.
00:00:30
Speaker
Welcome. Oh, welcome. Welcome. Yes, it's been a long while. It's been two weeks. It felt like forever. All right. A minute away from you all. Oh, I've just been trying to drown it all in. I found a beer called Oofda and I'm drinking it right now. You're not spitting it out. Mm hmm.
00:00:53
Speaker
But I thought that was a fun name because I found myself that I say Uffda when I stand because obviously. Old man. It's yes, exactly. And then I was like, oh, beer called Uffda. That's kind of fun. And I opened it. What's up? Who makes it? New Glarus.
00:01:11
Speaker
I haven't heard of them. They like to have fun. Yeah, they're Wisconsin brewery. Yeah, they make a beer that everybody says is the it's not the actual best beer, but they make something called Spotted Cow. And if you know, like anybody that lives around Wisconsin, they'll be like, oh, man, Spotted Cow. Oh, that's the best. Why don't you sell it here? Blah, blah, blah. And when you have Spotted Cow, it's it's just fine. It's just fine.
00:01:36
Speaker
But I don't know why at any time you bring up beer in Wisconsin from someone around Wisconsin, they always bring up Spotted Cow. I don't know why. Well, my favorite was the Wisconsin segment of our fans. What's the Wisconsin segment of fans? How do you feel about Spotted Cow? Hopefully I didn't just diss your favorite beer. It's not bad. It's a good drink. It's easy to drink. It's kind of smooth. So then they have a little cow on it. What's up?
00:02:04
Speaker
Is it a logger? Is it a nail? I couldn't tell you. As much as I drink beer, I don't know all the different kinds. What is this spotted cow? I know there's one that I don't like and I think they're like vices. I have no idea.
00:02:20
Speaker
What is a spotted cow beer? It's a Belgian style ale. OK. Are those easy drinks? Are those easier to drink? I just think they're usually they're a little wheat forward forward. OK.
Comparing Beer and Game Reviews
00:02:34
Speaker
Light. I think usually lower ABV.
00:02:37
Speaker
You know, I'm looking up as I looked up spotted cow, beeradvocate.com, uh, gives it a score of 85. And you know, for something I hear about all the time, I'd expect a beer better than 85. Yeah. But isn't it kind of like wine beer advocates, like wine specter, spectator or specter where it's like, what does that mean?
00:02:59
Speaker
Like every, everything is like an eighties, high eighties, low nineties. Oh, so you're saying that game. It's like game reviews. Oh, wait, no, if it was a game review, if it's not a 10, then it's trash. Hold on, Andy, just be your advocate themselves. Give it a read that grade, or that was the average reviews.
00:03:20
Speaker
I saw
Buster Sword Bottle Opener Anecdote
00:03:21
Speaker
it says a score of 85. Oh, OK, no. So I've picked up is in the N.A. for their score. Oh, well, I'm trying to look up what my favorite beer was. Oh, gee, rip the brewery that is now gone from us. Oh, gee, beer. Let's look at it. Let's see what that was. Let's see how bad my taste three point seven. Oh, oh. Oh, I like trash beer.
00:03:46
Speaker
No, you don't. I like garbage beer. And that's okay. But also, I think it's out of five. Yeah, it's out of five. So it's not that bad. No, it's horrible. Oh, wait. Oh, wait. Beer advocate gives it an 86. Get rekt spotted cow. Ah, it's only one point better. Doesn't matter. It's a mile better. Hmm.
00:04:13
Speaker
Well, not that we have to keep harping on beer talk, but oof, oof, do I feel validated. Oof. Thank you. Thank you. But, you know, when I opened this beer, I bought a way back when a Buster Sword bottle opener. Oh, that's cool. And I used that to open this beer because, and you don't realize it now, but a lot of stuff comes in cans.
00:04:41
Speaker
So I had no use for my bottle opener, so I specifically bought beer that came in glass bottles. Andy, it sounds like that is a can opener that doubles as a shotgunning tool, just sharpening so that you can make a hole in the can to shotgun your beer. Oh, that's messy.
00:05:01
Speaker
That's, that's a lot of work. And then you just get burpy. I don't know. You have opportunities to use the Buster Sword bottle opener and you say it's too messy. Okay, Derek, fine. Walking in with your solutions. How dare you? No, that is not a solution.
00:05:22
Speaker
What else can I use the bottle opener for? Only things with bottles. Does that have any other use? Well, you know, most bottle openers, like, especially like, you can open cans with them. Like, that's how bartenders do it. They don't use their hands to open cans most of the time. They use the flat end of the can opener. Huh? You can open cans? Yeah. Wait, like, what kind of can? Like, I'm making a nice tomato soup?
00:05:48
Speaker
No, like a can of beer. Oh, my God. My brain went somewhere else. Oh, I can open all my cans with a bottle opener. Yeah. Because, you know, there's like the long flat part. You put that underneath the tab and lift up. This is Buster's sword shape. So now technically, it's technically. I mean, the Buster short has a long, long white part. It's called the entire sword. Yeah. Here at one second, I'm going to go grab a can. We're going to open it with the Buster sword. I'll be right back.
00:06:19
Speaker
Oh, it takes so little to make Andy so happy. Derek, you know that, right? You can take the long, flat end of a beer bottle opener and open a beer with it. Yeah. The only thing I learned recently was that there's a type of wine bottle opener where it's like two thin bars of metal, just about as long as the cork, and you push it through between the bottle and the cork, and then you just pull and twist, and it comes out.
00:06:48
Speaker
I'm... wait... I'm trying to...
00:06:53
Speaker
Also, I'll get a picture for you. There's two cut. There's two cut. Well, three, technically, if you count the rabbit. But there's there's two kinds of wine openers. There's one where it's just the corkscrew and it has the lever that attaches to the lip of the bottle. And then there's the arm one where you screw the corkscrew in and it raises up these two arms as you screw it in. And then you push down on those two arms and then the court comes up. I gave you a picture of it so that you can see this picture and put it into our slack.
00:07:25
Speaker
OK. Oh, it is, as Derek described, a a too long thin pieces of metal that I guess go on either side of the cork and somehow lift it up. I don't understand how that conceptually works. No, my buddy had a little alcohol already in the system, tried it out and made a huge mess and pushed the cork into the bottle. So I don't know either. But it's apparently a thing.
00:07:55
Speaker
All right, Andy, let's
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Reviews
00:07:56
Speaker
see. How's the Buster sword do? So unfortunately, I only the only thing in cans I have is tonic. So we're going to be making a gin and tonic live during this podcast.
00:08:07
Speaker
I don't know how to use it for so I'm not using the actual bottle opener part. Yep. Like there is the bottle. Where is the describe this Buster Sword bottle opener to me? Where is the bottle opener part? Is it on the blade? No, it's it's like it's cut out into the blade. OK, so take the edge of the Buster Sword like the tip.
00:08:34
Speaker
Yeah, I guess I put it that way. Yeah. And then you put that underneath the tab and then lift up. All right. Get ready for a refreshing burst. This isn't efficient. It got stuck.
00:08:51
Speaker
It's not. Yeah, it's still not. I'm going to break the table. So bartenders use a. They do not do this. They do. Yeah. Here, I'm going to go get my bartender bottle opener. I'll be right back. This is astounding audio as Andy goes and gets props. I.
00:09:15
Speaker
Well, okay, I'm back. Okay. All right, so now I'm opening it with an actual bartender one, or at least the one. Okay, maybe I just don't know what I'm doing. There we go. I'm never doing it again. Well, yeah, but if you have to open like a hundred cans overnight, you don't want to do it with your finger.
00:09:39
Speaker
You know what? That's fair. Yeah. I guess I've never paid attention. And also as a consumer, I appreciate them not putting their hands right where I'm about to drink from. Drink, yeah. Also true. We're all living our life together. But well, thank you for guiding me through that. We are not getting more use out of my Buster sword, though, unfortunately. I'm sorry. But that's OK. And now we're finishing off a handle a gin.
00:10:08
Speaker
that had about a drink left in it, and someone told me to throw it away anyways. That's weird. Yeah, they're wasteful. They're monsters. Well, speaking of Buster Swords, it's the eve of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth coming out as we record this. Yes, it is. Comes out midnight tonight. I'll probably pay a little tonight.
00:10:31
Speaker
Well, remember midnight releases? Yeah, that's a thing. Is anybody doing a midnight release for Rebirth? No. There's got to be some. There's got to be a GameStop somewhere where everybody knows each other's names and they all came together tonight to celebrate. If it was anyone, it would not be a GameStop. It'd be like some local store. Yeah. Like a comic shop that also sells games or something like that. I don't think GameStop opens up midnight releases except for consoles now.
00:11:00
Speaker
Are there even that? Oh, that might be applicable to our later story, but I can't open the lime juice. Use your teeth. So the reviews are out. Reviews have been out for a week. Uh, currently setting an open critic at a 93, which actually rates it the second highest final fantasy of all time.
00:11:24
Speaker
Really? Yep. What's the highest? That nine is the highest at 94. How serious? As it belongs. Derek, stop. How dare you? Look, don't let a more forgettable cast get in the way of admitting that it had better gameplay. Okay. Really? Better gameplay? A hundred nobles agree it's the highest rated game.
00:11:49
Speaker
I genuinely can't open this. Yeah, but we're not here to talk about how grade nine is. That's intro. What was remake then?
00:11:59
Speaker
Remake was, I think it was in the 80s. Hold on. You got to remember, people were promised a one-for-one remake. We weren't promised. In blood, we were promised. Because that's what fans thought they were going to get. They weren't promised it. We got a good, we got a good, we got a good. Yeah, a remake came in at an 88.
00:12:21
Speaker
No. Yep. B plus. Still a good grade. I would have been happy with that in college. Andy, you know, you know what's sitting at a, you know, a fan of fantasy sits at a 92. No. Final Fantasy 12. Really? The remake or the original? The original. I remember everybody hating it when it came out. I guess not. I guess I'm validated. Yes, you are, buddy.
00:12:46
Speaker
Eurogamer's Ed Nightingale gave it a four out of five. Rebirth is a playful take on an emo classic that's bloated but full of character and a bit to justify its own existence. That's ouch. This is actually an interesting thing, and we'll talk about this more. I've heard a lot. Michael Hingham at IGN gave it a nine out of 10. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth impressively builds off what remakes set in motion. Bulsa's a best-in-class action RPG full of exciting challenges and awe-inspiring recreation.
00:13:14
Speaker
awe-inspiring recreation of a world that has meant so much to so many for so long. And then Tamoor Hussein at GameSpot gave it 8 out of 10. Rebirth keeps its narrative focus on characters while bringing new dimensions to comment, but it stubbles in its pivotal moments. And that's an interesting thing. I've seen a lot of reviews about this game, and I think there's been a lot of discussion of this game succeeds despite itself. Really? What does that mean?
00:13:44
Speaker
There are parts spoilers or I'll kill you. Yeah, I mean, I have no idea about the story. Mechanics wise, I know a little bit. Did you play the demo, Andy? No, I'm like almost completely blind to this game. OK.
00:14:02
Speaker
Um, so that's fine. Uh, I mean, what I'm going to say is nothing that's like shocking,
Mini-Games in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
00:14:10
Speaker
right? Um, for based on pre trailers, you've already seen like,
00:14:16
Speaker
There's a hundred mini games in this thing, which we've been we've been kind of talking about since the trailers have come out. And the mini games are a little narratively breaking. I think people have said that the mini games are essentially there to pad out the game because it's the middle part of the story. So not a lot can happen.
00:14:40
Speaker
because they can only really do so much right here because then they'll tip into the end part, which is going to be the third game. So they have to keep in this comfortable middle. So because of that, these mini games are kind of filling in a little bit of the narrative like bloat or less than bloat, I should say. So I have a...
00:15:05
Speaker
This is one of the few games where I say it might actually deserve the 10 out of 10. Despite this slog that you're describing, and that is cloud in a swimsuit. Oh, good. They've all got swimsuits then. I don't think a lot was in a swimsuit in the original, was he? I think, I think too, some people have said that where it's like, um,
00:15:29
Speaker
the introducing actual, actual RPG, like party mechanics into the series where you can actually like choose how to cloud responds to things where it's like, you can be like positive cloud where it's like, Hey buddy, you'll get them next time, you know, or something like that, as opposed to being kind of like the gruff distant loaner. Um, which I also, I hear sometimes some party members are like, that doesn't sound like cloud.
00:15:56
Speaker
That's kind of cool. And but most of the mini games are good, especially Queens Blood, which is the card based mini game. I've heard nothing but praise for it. Oh, so that's something I'm looking forward to. But I most of the mini games at least are not optional to play at least once. So you kind of have to play every one of the mini games at least once because the story kind of throws you into them.
00:16:25
Speaker
Which, again, gets to that kind of ludonarrative dissonance thing, where it's like, yeah, you know, there's this big deal going on, but hey, let's raise some chocobos. They had all of that in the original, though, I think. No, it did. It did. And that's not, and that's not to say it, is it? Truth would have been livid, although I don't think anybody said ludonarrative dissonance when, in 97, when that came out.
00:16:50
Speaker
They did not. We were not that. We just weren't. All right. All of my games were reviewed by, I don't know, game bros. What would you call them? I don't know. It wasn't the height of writing, though. This game's journalist. Really? Another thing is traversal. Sorry. Yeah.
00:17:11
Speaker
They're also another thing is traversal is a touch slow. They've added, I want to say parkour, but like climbing mechanics to the game. This is in the demo so you can experience it. And it's slow. It's slow.
00:17:28
Speaker
Yeah, but it's entirely optional. No, it's not. No, you're going to have to go places sometime names on very slow climbs. And I mean, again, right. RPGs like this encourage you to explore every inch of the map. So when you have to slowly climb up and down things.
00:17:48
Speaker
It, it just kind of like kills the pacing. And again, these are complaints I've heard from a lot of reviews.
Narrative Style of Rebirth vs Kingdom Hearts
00:17:55
Speaker
Um, something I did actually, and interestingly, Andy, I did hear, um, people comparing this to infinite wealth because recently, um,
00:18:05
Speaker
And infinite wealth actually does the party RPG mechanics a little better. Whereas like, you know, now that, like you're saying, like you can have these kinds of conversations and quote unquote dates with your team members at a golden saucer, I guess. And.
00:18:21
Speaker
But it's all kind of done in like a mission based thing, whereas an infinite wealth, you know, while you're wandering around the world, there's these conversations that just organically pop up that helps you learn about your things. And it feels more natural and infinite wealth than say it does in rebirth. Sure. So some some things that Yakuza does better.
00:18:39
Speaker
Oh, listen, but again, I'm describing a bunch of things that are like bad, right? And but the other I still hear Evan go, it's still a great game. It's still a great game. It's I have heard there's some confusion about the story. Oh, yeah. Yeah, it doesn't it doesn't sound like it ends on the most satisfying note. I mean, we got a third game.
00:19:05
Speaker
Yeah, we got it through. Well, you know, that's that's the curse of the middle game. You know, it doesn't sound though like Nomura messed it up too much from what you're describing. Don't you dare say anything? I mean, you don't include spoilers. So no. And I and I haven't tick tock hasn't spoiled anything for me, shockingly. I mean, it probably will eventually. But.
00:19:28
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, they yeah, they said the narrative can be confusing at times and the ending leave something to to be satisfied now, whether or not individual players will feel that when we get there. I've heard the word confusing thrown around a lot for the ending. Sure. So and what does someone say? It's very much more like Kingdom Hearts storytelling than Final Fantasy. That was my worry. You got this.
00:19:59
Speaker
No! He'll make versus 13 if it's the death of a man. This is literally the worst case scenario of literally what you just did. Well, I mean, here's the thing. Now I've set your expectations low. When you go in and it's not so bad, you'll feel better about it.
00:20:14
Speaker
I don't know about that. Oh, man. I have I have heard people compare it to Kingdom Hearts storytelling. So that is something it is a concern of mine, because honestly, I liked how remake ended. I thought it was like a very. Yeah, I thought it was very interesting and it left the story on like a very kind of like, hey, anything can happen kind of point.
00:20:38
Speaker
So Andy, take solace in this. It has a hint of Kingdom Heart, but you're probably not going to get a canon story in a mobile game that's no longer able to be.
00:20:51
Speaker
or a card game like Kingdom Hearts is wild. Kingdom Hearts is wild. Again, my only exposure is the first game and even that was tough. I oh, my heart just sank. Oh, it's it'll be OK. I'm sure. But here's the thing. Again, all these things, people complained about all these things. They still gave it a 93 and.
00:21:14
Speaker
I think it's at 100% recommend the game. 100% recommend. From the audience who it's unable to buy until midnight. Oh, I thought that was the critics that do that.
00:21:25
Speaker
No, that's critics recommendation. Oh, it's okay. 100% critics recommend. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. So I don't know. I mean, just realize Nomura is not good at his job. Like genuinely, he's not. It doesn't matter. He gets attached to series and IPs that people love dearly. I mean, so maybe he starts doing a good job and then he messes it up.
00:21:54
Speaker
I don't know. I don't think I'm being quite as fair to him, but I'm just frustrated.
00:21:58
Speaker
No, I shat on a lot of negatives. I say other notable positives. The game is beautiful. Yeah. Beautiful. Well, that was the one controversy I heard is that it looked like a PS3 game. Oh, really? Yeah. I guess everybody was dunking on it like that. The graphics on rebirth or remake rebirth. Oh, I heard the games. I mean, just the facial animations, everything like that. But I've seen the game in the demo to the demo looked really nice. I think there are several tiers of
00:22:28
Speaker
of settings for the graphics, you can have performance mode where it may be right around the edges if you're on a base like the oldest PS five, they can play it, but they also have the beauty. There's only one PS five deck. Oh, hey, we got a I'm sure there's a pro challenge, but yeah, there's there's rumors that devs are getting specs on the pro recently as so the PS4 pro may be coming honestly this Christmas, but we'll see.
00:22:58
Speaker
I'll probably play on pretty mode. Yeah, but after this, I'll blink you a video of the comparison. I think it was in the last trailer, actually. Oh, so I don't know. I'm playing the demo. I mean, I've heard a lot of people say the game looks nice and the open world looks good. Similarly to the combat has improved. And the first people actually praise it better than it's better than 16.
00:23:25
Speaker
Oh, I by the end of 16, I was ready to move on. But I mean, but 16 got a lot of praise for its its combat. Definitely for trying something new and so different. I thought it did a really good job. Yeah, it's it's definitely an evolution of the combat in remake. And now with the synergy attacks that were in intermission are now fully integrated with everyone. Cool.
00:23:53
Speaker
Cool. How lucky we are. Yep. And you only have to wait, what is it? Two and a half hours to play it. Oh, well, there we go. Well, now I have the the basic version on preorder.
00:24:07
Speaker
So did you get physical, Andy? What's up? Did you get physical? Yes, I have it preordered at Best Buy, which I realize not. Do you guys ever go to Best Buy? No, like the vibe is so different now, like when it's like it's an appliance store more than any.
Nintendo Switch Successor Rumors
00:24:27
Speaker
So it's like a viewing room for Amazon.
00:24:30
Speaker
And like, listen, so the that part doesn't bother me as much. It's the it's like at least the ones near me, they are convinced you are going to steal. Like they are. Oh, yeah. So everything is either locked up or it's paper slips or it's QR codes to scan to get help. And it's just it's just a bad feeling. OK, mine is not like that.
00:24:56
Speaker
It's. Are you picking it up? Are you picking it up tomorrow or are you getting it delivered? So I'm picking it up. So and I just did preorder at the counter because it's it's just the same thing. I'm just going to have to ask or like get a slip of paper. But I will say when I was there a couple of times ago, someone wasn't was running out holding things and stealing.
00:25:19
Speaker
So and then people were chasing him. And then I think they stopped in the parking lot. So maybe everybody is stealing from them. I don't know. It's just sad to like be like it's just they just think you're going to steal. Oh, I don't know. It's very sad. It's not as magical at once was. But I will be picking it up tomorrow. Well, you know what? People will probably try to be stealing. What's that?
00:25:42
Speaker
Nintendo's successor to the Switch, but that won't be until March of next year. Oh, yeah. So the Switch 2, which we still don't have a name for, there was a big rumor that it was coming out Christmas time, 2024.
00:26:03
Speaker
Um, and everybody was kind of like kind of coalescing around that. Um, and then everybody kind of stopped and went, actually it's now going to be March. Um, and this has now been, uh, confirmed, I guess, or at least backed up by a Japanese news publication, Nikkei, uh, which reported, which was reported first by VGCs and others earlier this month.
00:26:25
Speaker
that Nintendo has moved it to March to help avoid potential hardware supply issues. So there was a thought, too, that they're doing it so they could have, you know, kind of a good game release lineup when the when the new switch comes out. But I mean, both are good reasons.
00:26:44
Speaker
I mean, I don't know if you I mean, do you guys did you get a switch on launch? I know Derek doesn't have one. Did you? I did not know. Yeah, they were. It was very hard to get one. Yeah, it was very hard to get the old. Didn't you? I got one. I famously went to a mall parking lot and paid a man in cash to get my switch because it had the best Zelda of all time, which it did. Oh, is that your favorite Zelda? No, but it's one of the best solos of all time. OK, fair, fair.
00:27:13
Speaker
Um, so yeah, I was like, I was like, Oh, I'll switch that. You know what? That's fine. I'll, I'll skip. I'll wait. I'll get a switch later. And everyone's like, this cell is real good. I bought that Zelda on Wii U.
00:27:30
Speaker
I wasn't going to do that. That's fair. You know, there was something else in that article that talked about how when this was revealed that Nintendo's delaying it until March, their stock dropped by like eight percent. That's normal. But here's the thing I don't understand. It's because they're missing the Christmas sale.
00:27:55
Speaker
But they're still going to make a ton of money. Yeah, but the idea is that if you can release it for Christmas, it increases that quarter's financials.
00:28:08
Speaker
And if it's coming out March, there's a chance it gets delayed into 20 into later 2025, which in fiscal, in fiscal year talk is actually 2026 fiscal year. So it's like a whole, why would you want to sell if you're still going to make the money? Andy, Andy, you need to realize that stocks are basically imaginary prices. I mean, yeah, every car sale is still a very valued stock for some reason.
00:28:40
Speaker
You're not wrong, Derek. I mean, the other thing too is that people sell it because they're like, oh, well, their stock price isn't going to go up because of good sales and good numbers. So we're going to go put our money in something else for now. And we'll come back and buy it later when it's closer.
00:28:56
Speaker
Oh, okay. To be fair, I'm naive to that complete process. It's just in my brain, I was just thinking, they're just going to print money a couple months later. Like, what are you worried about? Wait a couple months for more money. Yeah. A lot of families will spend much more than they can normally afford for Christmas.
00:29:15
Speaker
They've been saving all year for it. And you know, the average and below average family might not be able to afford a switch unless it's Christmas or birthday. That's fair, but I think it's still going to sell out. Yeah. It's really, it's really just because their, their quarter growth is going to be slower because it's coming out at a different quarter. So people are like, Oh, well now I'm going to put my money somewhere else right now. Let's just like chill. All right. Let's wait a couple of months.
00:29:42
Speaker
But then again, I need that switch to needs to come out yesterday, though. Why? Oh, my God. I well, not that this is necessarily the switch's fault because tears of the kingdom win pretty damn well, honestly. But I I've I kind of was like, you know, I'm going to start replaying Pokemon Scarlet and not replaying, finishing it because I didn't really finish Pokemon Scarlet when it came out. And man, even after all the patches, that thing still runs like shit.
00:30:12
Speaker
Oh, no. Was it two DLCs have come out for that game and it still runs like trash? Just be clear. You're talking about in the docked mode, not the moment in handheld. So, but it still ran like trash on the dock.
00:30:29
Speaker
I haven't played it in docked yet. Um, I use, I don't really play my switch in docked mode as much anymore. I mean, that's fair for most people's use cases, but it might run really well in the doc, but then again, I mean, I doubt it makes that big of an improvement.
00:30:45
Speaker
because there's like there's like dips down to like 15 FPS with a huge pop in. It's like pretty bad. Oof. Oof. OK, quick review corner. I bought Prince of Persia for Switch, the new one, which also ran super well on the Switch. It runs fantastic. And it's also fantastic. Like it is weird how good of a game that is. I don't know why I just expected that games aren't good.
00:31:14
Speaker
Like a game just won't be good. It's fantastic. Please buy it. I want more games like that. It's incredible. Well, it's all really well. And actually, the director came out and thanked everyone for which sold well. Yeah, it's old. Well, director talked about how they're actually having they have some post release plans for that game as well. So that makes me so happy. I had like I just assumed because it's a single player game, Ubisoft wasn't going to care about it, but apparently they did. They did a great job.
00:31:44
Speaker
And then there was just never going to be more. But that's wonderful. It's it's so good. It's so good. Oh, but back to Pokemon, though, I don't think you can really blame the hardware as much as I said. Yeah, it's not necessarily the switch's fault. But having having better hardware would allow me to brute force my way through game game freaks poor optimization. Do you think you'll finish it or deals? Will you stop?
00:32:11
Speaker
No, well, I mean, I'm going to I'm going to slow down. He's going to play it kind of as in between break while I'm playing seven. So I don't know. We'll see how long it takes me to place beat seven. I'll probably I'll probably beat seven by next weekend.
Pokemon Legends ZA Speculations
00:32:26
Speaker
I had to get a machine and I'm just envious. Let's see. I don't know how big it is. Yeah, I don't know how long it's going to take. But I like I know people have like
00:32:38
Speaker
They're like, I'm getting into double digit chapters after playing 18 hours. So I don't know how many chapters they're going to be, but. I just expect everything to take me 80 hours. I just can't do anything faster than that. And that's OK. It is OK, except that it takes a long time. And then James has beaten three more games in that time. Oh, well. Well, you know what game maybe I'll be speaking of Pokemon also.
00:33:08
Speaker
Yes. It was Pokemon Day this week. Okay. And they had their usual Pokemon Day direct where they talked a lot about mobile games and then reveal the thing that everyone thought they were going to reveal except not.
00:33:25
Speaker
No, they're not going back to black and white remakes, which is what everybody thought they were going to do. No, we're skipping over Gen 6. I think it's Gen 6. And going straight to Gen 7, which is X and Y. And they're doing Pokemon Legends ZA.
00:33:42
Speaker
which is set in the Kalos region, which was based on France and was the home for Pokemon X and Y, which never got a third version like most Pokemon do or a second version, I should say. Is this is ZA a singular game? Yeah, yes, it's it's I it's not it is probably going to be a sequel to X and Y,
00:34:07
Speaker
Or maybe a prequel based on what this trailer shows, because the trailer talks about redevelopment. So there is this idea that maybe this game takes place when you're building up the Luminous City in the Kaoist region, which is like the main city. So Pokemon Legends as an Arceus took place in like, I don't know, how would you describe that? Like medieval, but...
00:34:33
Speaker
It was firmly in the past in a pre-electricity world. Pokemon's Legends ZA seems like it's going to be taking place in kind of almost
00:34:46
Speaker
Uh, industrial revolution timeline almost kind of seems, but then also it shows holograms. So could potentially even go further into the future. It's very confusing. We won't know more. Um, it's not coming until 2025, perhaps a launch title for the switch. So it is being branded with the Nintendo switch logo, but since they haven't actually officially announced the switch to or whatever the name it, it could be, but it's going to be accessible on your old switch.
00:35:15
Speaker
Oh, I 100% expected to be because I listen, fucking switch. Pokemon games are going to be available on the first gen switch for as long as which exists. I guarantee you. It's the FIFA for Nintendo. Yeah. Yeah. And for those who are questioning what's what is about FIFA, they released FIFA on the PS2 well under like the 2010s. It just kept going. Everybody has a PS2.
00:35:45
Speaker
And everybody wants to play FIFA. Let me tell you some deep Pokemon lore. I want to know all of it. So in X and Y, there's a lot of talk about a great war, a great Pokemon war that occurred 3000 years ago. And you and one of the characters you meet is a tall man. And by I mean tall, he's nine feet tall. Holy. That's like in.
00:36:10
Speaker
That in his official description or like long as he's nine feet tall. And this man is actually the emperor from 3000 years ago. And do you want to know what his name is, Andy? What? A.Z. Oh, and this was X, Y. This was an X, Y. And what's the name of this new game? It's C.A. What does that mean? I don't know.
00:36:37
Speaker
Well, well, the kids call the Zaza something James loves. What is it? It's weed. Oh, is it? Oh.
00:36:46
Speaker
They also showed the mega evolution logo at the end of the trailer for this as well, which meaning they're bringing back mega evolutions, which frankly speaking are my favorite of the extra, the, um, the extra abilities that they've added to games recently. So what is a mega evolution? Uh, basically you evolve, you can kind of evolve your Pokemon as an extra time during battle.
00:37:13
Speaker
just during the battle and it becomes more powerful and gains access to different skills and things like that. Do they get bigger? It depends on the Pokemon. Oh, usually they get bigger, though. Yeah, it's not like Gigantamax, which was in Sword and Shield where they get to the size of a fucking coliseum. This is just more of like it's literally like an evolution like mega Gengar is just kind of like a different shaped Gengar.
00:37:42
Speaker
So there is one difference, though, that I really appreciate for the competitive scene that it gives changes to types. So you can't change their types. Yeah. So you can mind game and then try to draw out something that's strong against what you could mega evolution into and then just hit him with the left hook, which I like.
00:38:02
Speaker
Yeah, people, I don't know if they're split on Mega Evolution, but they're definitely, it was the most interesting, I think, in terms of these gimmick things they've done. And it's because, honestly, they put the most effort into it because they had to create new models for Mega Evolutions. Jage to Max sometimes had new models.
00:38:25
Speaker
Uh, in the newest one in Scarlet Violet, there's drasticizing in which they just become crystalline and they get a hat. Oh, okay. Yeah. Um, but that's not as like, you know, labor intensive on their side or visually interesting. I would say they have more money than God. And it's not like there's even that much detail to their character designs. God, come on, Pokemon company. Like I know you can do it. Oh no, not game freak, right?
00:38:55
Speaker
Yeah, well, I mean, Game Freak and the Pokemon Company go hand in hand. It's just like I'm looking at this screenshot from Final Fantasy seven on all this like insane detail and all this stuff. And it's like. I don't know, because I just know they didn't put all the Pokemon into the new one or whatever I heard. I'm like, I feel like you're I mean, they don't usually do that most of the time now. Oh, for some reason, I thought they always did. And that's why people lost their mail. I get tired if there's more than like 350. It's just the mind.
00:39:26
Speaker
I mean everyone's got their favorite Pokemon. So it's like if it's not included it's kind of sucks. Well, then I no longer care Yeah, I mean there's a thousand plus Pokemon at this point it sounds annoying yeah
00:39:40
Speaker
I'm looking forward to this. I generally enjoyed Pokemon's Legends Arceus. I thought it was a nice little spin on the formula. Frankly, I enjoyed Arceus more than I enjoyed Sword and Shield, and so far, Scarlet. I don't know. The way they're talking about it seems like it's going to literally take place only in the city, which is kind of confusing because
00:40:07
Speaker
How are you going to catch Pokemon if you're only in the city? But I don't know. It's, it's weird. Well, we'll see. We'll find out more. We'll probably this summer we get some more information about it or usually actually Pokemon information usually comes out in November. So maybe November we'll get a Pokemon direct that will tell us more about what's coming up. Okay.
00:40:26
Speaker
Maybe they'll be biomes. I just remember there was like circles in the trailer. Yeah. The trailer was like really expecting me to know what was going on. And yeah, it really it really expected you to understand the cows. Exactly. It was just winking repeatedly. I had no idea what it was trying to get across.
00:40:44
Speaker
Well, I've got a game for you to play while we wait for Pokรฉmon's legend ZA. Tell us. That's Bellatro. Yeah, I had never heard of this game. Oh, I fucking love Bellatro. So Bellatro is a indie game made by one person that came out last week, came out on the 20th.
Bellatro's Post-Launch Success
00:41:05
Speaker
And it is a poker based roguelike.
00:41:10
Speaker
I actually ascribe it being closer to Yahtzee, if you're familiar with the Yahtzee, where you're in Yahtzee, you roll dice and you're trying to essentially get poker hands. And you and those are assigned a score value. Am I the only person who's ever played Yahtzee? I played it way back when I don't recall playing it. I had like a handheld toilet version. Yes, yes, I love it. My father was obsessed with it. Yeah.
00:41:36
Speaker
But yeah, so basically you have a deck of 52 cards with you can augment you can chain you can get you can change you can get abilities like change suits that are adding make them wild cards.
00:41:50
Speaker
Um, and then you also get jokers, which have kind of abilities to give you multipliers or bonuses to your card hands. So it's like, you know, when you, when you play a flush, increase your score times two or something like that. So, but basically what you're trying to do is create poker hands that beat the, uh, the score that it gives you. So it's like, like in the first one, it's like score 600 points.
00:42:18
Speaker
And you do that by playing poker hands and the poker hands have score values assigned to them. And it's super fucking fun. Now you're a poker person, right? No, I hate. Well, I mean, I'll never play poker with anyone. But you find that, well, I guess you're not playing against anyone, right? No, it's first. No, it's play one player only. It all it sounds very complicated.
00:42:41
Speaker
And most people agree with me because it grossed one million dollars in eight hours. Where did people even find out about this? So it hit big during Steam Next Fest. Oh, a demo came out. I played that demo probably for like 15 hours. No way. Yeah. Demo was real good. Hey, look at Next Fest, by the way. All right. Lifting up independent creators. It worked.
00:43:08
Speaker
Yeah, they, uh, they sold 250,000 copies across PC, PS five Xbox and switch within its first three days. That's crazy. Good on them. Did that one person port it to all those consoles? I think so. Their publisher, uh, what is it? Who's publisher's name play stack probably helped with the, uh, porting. Sure.
00:43:32
Speaker
But yeah, one, it's a one man development team. And I mean, it's, it's a very simple game. It's, it's so, it's so simple. Like, oh, oh, I mean, in, in general too, uh, it scored a 91 at open critic. Oh, Hey, worse than seven though. Worse than seven better than remake. Yeah.
00:43:58
Speaker
Uh, wow. Let's actually give you some reviews. Cause maybe they can kind of give a little more context to, uh, Corvo Rau. I don't know his name, a gaming trend, give it a 90 out of 100. While the idea of a poker rogue, like might sound like a niche game, the flair and fun found within collateral makes an absolute must play for fans of the genre. Breaking the rules of poker to score millions of chips and a single hand was a rush. And I was always chasing ways to push it even further beyond.
00:44:24
Speaker
While there are a few times you can feel it snubbed by the look of the draw, these are wildly overshadowed by the moments where you hit it big. So this is like gambling. Actually, it was funny. My partner saw me playing. It's like, are you spending money? I'm like, no, no, no. How much is the game? Uh, I think it's 50. It's either 15 or $20. I think it was on sale when it first came out last week. Sure. I was wondering if it was like a vampire diaries or what was that game called? Vampire survivor. Yeah.
00:44:53
Speaker
That was like three dollars. Like I didn't understand how they made money. It was insane. Well, they made money because everybody. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But it's just like after processing fees and everything like it is fifteen dollars. OK. At full price. At full price. Yeah. Reasonable ask affordable, I would say. Yeah. And I mean, it's just it's a game. It's a game that like I found multiple combinations and way to win like
00:45:21
Speaker
There are times where it's like I build a deck where it's like just trying to get a flush, where it's all get all the cards with the same suit. And I get these cards that increase the amount of chips I get when I play a flush. And I get these jokers that increase the multiplier of how many chips I get based on playing flush. And sometimes it's playing just a pair of cards, just two cards. And that's all I need to beat it because I've gotten so many abilities that augment that.
00:45:49
Speaker
So I just play one pair and I'm getting hundreds of thousands of chips. Oh, wow. Yeah. You're playing on PC? Yep. It sounds like it would be a good mobile game. Yeah, there's a. I think the next place it'll show up is mobile. I'll probably blow up on it goes up there, too. I because that's what I thought when I had a friend message me the other day and he was like, Andy, recommend a good mobile game. I couldn't say a single one.
00:46:18
Speaker
Luck be a landlord. What's that? It's a is the other is a deck builder game, more or less, but it's not based on a slot machine. So you are getting different icons that do different things you put in the slot machine and you essentially spin the slot machine and try to get things to line up to do abilities to make money and use that money to pay your rent.
00:46:47
Speaker
Well, I have a completely different opinion of a good mobile game. I think the only good mobile game are rhythm games and games that use GPS to track your movement and incorporate the real world into it. And my personal poison is Bang Dream Girls Band Party.
00:47:02
Speaker
What is that, Bane? It's a rhythm game, just Japanese, obviously, and it is pretty fun. They do a lot of collaborations with existing IPs and VTubers. Does that have keys in my eye? No. Trash. Well, then why even bother? Why even? I was thinking about her the other day and I was like, don't fall down that rabbit hole, Andy. Stay away.
00:47:29
Speaker
Um, but I love rhythm games. He was looking for a toilet game. I don't know. Can you play a rhythm game on the toilet? Not in public. That's too engaging for a toilet game, I feel like. No, a song is like three to four minutes, which is a healthy bowel move in times. So you can get two games in one sitting. Yeah. The graphics look, I don't know if I could play a rhythm game on the toilet and you can't play it at home. Luck be a landlord, Andy. This looks like a toilet game.
00:47:58
Speaker
It looks like you could roll out a couple. It is shockingly addictive. I've gone back to it several times. It's a fun little game to play. I wish I had a toilet game. Maybe it'll be luck be a landlord. You should try it. You might like it.
00:48:15
Speaker
I think Deck Builder games, don't you? My voice is cracked. No, I have a mixed relationship, I should admit to. I always said I hated them, but now I'm like, Andy, is that fair? Because I was playing a Deck Builder recently, that was a lot of fun. But I don't know, like when they go super in depth, it was like, oh, what was it? It was described that it was similar to Dominion, I think.
00:48:40
Speaker
Except it was skinned with anime waifus and has bandos. Of course it was. Yeah, and it was a ton of fun. It was a ton of fun. Because usually with deck builders, I get really in my head about am I building the optimal deck and then I feel like an idiot and then I'm not having fun.
00:48:58
Speaker
Um, but this one was just, it was just a joy. It was just a joy. Uh, but so maybe I do like that deck builders. I think maybe in the right situations, I like deck builders, but I don't see how this is a deck builder. It looks like a slot machine because your, your deck is the slot machine. Gotcha. Gotcha.
00:49:20
Speaker
Well, I will keep you guys up to date on my next toilet time. Well, don't worry, Andy, you also have Queen's Blood coming in to see Rebirth to be your next deck builder. What's that, Queen's Blood? Oh, I don't even I didn't even know that was a thing, so I'm going to have to. Yeah, there's a there's a card game in there that everyone's tripping over themselves to to say is fantastic. And so maybe one of the best parts of Rebirth. Is it on the same tier as Gwent? People have thrown around that it's as good as Gwent. OK.
00:49:48
Speaker
Well, now it has my attention. Maybe I'll play this Final Fantasy game. Didn't they try spitting off Gwen and then it didn't work? No, it worked. People play it. I mean, it's niche, but people play it. Well, I'm excited to see what it'll be like. Queen's Blood, very dramatic, but I support it.
00:50:12
Speaker
Give me a toilet game, Final Fantasy VII. Well, you know it's not a toilet game. What's that? That's the DLC to Elden Ring Shadows of the Urg Tree.
Elden Ring Expansion Announcement
00:50:23
Speaker
Oh, you don't want to play that from the toilet.
00:50:25
Speaker
Well, last week, the Ellen ring basic more or less shadow dropped the trailer for this. They they I think it was Monday or Tuesday. They put out a tweet being, hey, by the way, tomorrow morning, we're giving you the trailer for Shadow of the Earth Tree. Wow. Yep. And what a trailer. Yeah. What do you guys think? Oh, my. Oh, it looks it looks real big.
00:50:52
Speaker
Is that a compliment? Yes. Okay. Oh, Derek, Derek, give your thoughts on it. What did you think? The variety of the new things that I see just sparks joy. I see kicking martial arts. I see chaingun glowy crossbow. I see enemies I've never seen before, obviously.
00:51:16
Speaker
Although I do see that almost like lion-headed, Sandman-esque boss. I can already tell that's going to be a chore, but in a good way. In a good way. I mean, they showed at least, I want to say five or six Bane bosses, which means there's probably going to be at least double that. Yeah, I got a bad feeling about the red-haired one. Mesmer.
00:51:42
Speaker
Mezmer, who is the kind of the main villain of the trailer, is there. I have never seen this before. They are doing a collector's edition for the DLC. Wow. Which is.
00:51:58
Speaker
You know, that's ballsy. Um, and the statue is of Mesmer who is, uh, it was millennia for the first one. I don't think I'm going to get the collector's position this one, just cause the, the design of, uh, Mesmer doesn't spark as much joy in me as millennials did. That's fair.
00:52:14
Speaker
Now, when it comes to... OK, question. When it comes to these things, are these more like expansion packs than DLCs? I would say, yeah, it's more like an expansion pack. I don't feel like expansion pack is a word we can even use anymore. I feel like it's all DLC. But like, what do you describe the scale of something like this? DLC feels trivial. OK, so if you break up a campaign into chapters, I expect maybe
00:52:42
Speaker
the DLC to be like a quarter to a third of the chapter content to be really amazing. And this one looks like it's it's aiming for that. From software did say afterwards in some conversations or like confirmations that the DLC, the new area of the DLC will be about the size of limb grave, which is the first area of the game that you enter is a pretty, pretty good size. OK.
00:53:11
Speaker
Expansion pack size or DLC size? I want to bring the word back. Expansion pack makes me think of Nintendo 64.
00:53:20
Speaker
Oh, does it? Oh, it makes me think of Starcraft. Yes, it reminds me of RTS's. Yeah, implicitly. I'm thinking the Ram expansion pack that you put into your N64. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Listen, I want to play perfect arc multiplayer. I think you needed it for that. I forgot. Or maybe multiplayer only worked and needed it for the campaign. One of the two.
00:53:42
Speaker
Um, but I guess maybe expansion pack wasn't used that much with games. I don't know, but it just sits firmly in my brain. Oh, uh, also, sorry, they also gave a release date for, um, June 20th. Oh, I think I have an idea with the difference, like an expansion pack ads, like a new race or a new, uh, unit, like type that you can select and usually like a campaign surrounded by them.
00:54:12
Speaker
So this is an expansion pack? No, they're just giving you more tools from what I can see. Like, except maybe the...
00:54:22
Speaker
the kicking martial art, it all seems to align with the spells and arcana and abilities that's already existing. Yeah. And that might just mean they're definitely adding new weapons and new and new skills. There was one point a the like the player character was wielding kind of this shield with two blades attached to it. And they jumped up or a golden wings appear. That's pretty cool. It is. It is awesome.
00:54:52
Speaker
I watched the trailer. I still don't want to play it. I want to like Elden Ring so bad. But to be fair, though, like and Derek, you were calling out like these new classes or well, they're not new classes, new weapons, new tools, whatever. Like those looked cool. Like those are my speed. All right. I can't hold a shield and parry all day. I need to do some dumb anime moves. And that's what all that's what Elden Ring had from beginning to end. Did it?
00:55:19
Speaker
Yeah, I'm a lot of in the samurai. I don't know. We all know my experience. I hated it and I feel so alone.
00:55:27
Speaker
Some other notes, too. It looks like the entrance to the DLC is going to be in Moog's Arena. If you remember, there's an egg with an arm sticking out of it. And the person's name is escaping me, who that's supposed to be. But Moog is about, I want to say, two thirds through the game. So if you're planning on doing a replay of Elden Ring, probably a good idea to start maybe early June. No, hold on.
00:55:54
Speaker
You could you can reach Moog in like 10 minutes. Yeah, if you feel like it. But if you want to like kind of replay the game and get your bearings back, gives you a good amount of time starting early June. I'm definitely going to do a new play through in preparation for it. Oh, no. Are you going to kill the dragon in the first 10 minutes?
00:56:15
Speaker
on this playthrough. That depends how much my muscle memory comes back for that. Okay. Can you dare? Oh, it trivializes the first two bosses if you do it. Three, really, if you want to think about it. But then you can break about it. Well, no, no. Then you can just speed through the early content with being overleveled. And then, like, where's fun of that? Going through at level one, that's something impressive.
00:56:41
Speaker
I definitely think the size of this DLC is kind of like Elden Ring 1.5. It's probably a good way to... Is this Elden Ring Royale? Or I don't know what else we would call it, but... I don't think so. No. It looks like just a new... It was the new girl you can date. It looks like a new area. It looks like new people to me in Kill, like everyone else in Elden Ring. I'm looking mad at them.
00:57:08
Speaker
Other news that came out to let me solo her said that when the DLC comes out his watch may finally end If you're not aware of let me solo her he is a naked man Wearing only a pot on his head you can Pretty reliably summon to beat Melania who is widely considered the hardest boss of all that guy
00:57:34
Speaker
Yeah, he said when the DLC comes out, his watch may be over finally. Oh, OK. I wouldn't be surprised if we see some mention of Let Me Soul or somehow in this, too, because that really took over the world when it did. He was acknowledged by them, right? Yeah. OK, like I wouldn't be surprised if part of this DLC is they put in an NPC summon there that you can just summon and have a good chance of beating millennia.
00:58:04
Speaker
Oh, just put like a spirit in there. That's like put a spirit there. And, you know, just live the meme. Well, I'm glad that this game is coming out. All right. It's meeting everyone's expectations. I wonder how much it'll cost maybe like 40. Oh, they said that to 40 dollars. OK, that seems fair. The scope is way too big on it. That's why it's an expansion pack. And that's also why it took almost two years to make.
00:58:33
Speaker
Yeah. What are the what are the Final Fantasy 14 things called? Are those called expansion packs? They're called expansion. They're just called expansions. MMOs like Dermatology. Wait, so was Starcraft called an expansion pack or an expansion? It was an expansion pack. You paid $40 to get the next campaign. OK, so I'm bringing back an expansion pack. OK, all right. Just wanted to make sure I wasn't being completely oblivious to something.
00:59:03
Speaker
Well, Andy will bring back more dead terms on another episode had to party a friendship simulator masquerading as a new show. I've been your host, James. I can't solo her. Actually I did. I beat her by on my own heart. Well, and I've been joined by Andy. Um, I was going to say Alden ring is trash, but that's not fair. Oh, I know. I know. It's not fair. Um, what is trash though?
00:59:33
Speaker
I don't know, my buster sorted opening cans. And I've been joined by. Derek, actually trash, because I was alluding to there being an older PS5 and a PS5 Pro. Tastya. Well, I saw yourself a games journalist. It was a good bet, Derek. All right. And it's on the horizon. I just remembered the in the performance mode and the graphics mode.
00:59:59
Speaker
You're right. There's like a there's I think there is like a new SKU PS5, but it's still the same specs. There is a new. Yep, you're right. I think it has like better cooling and stuff. I don't know. Yeah. Who knows? Who knows? Have a good night. Have a good night, everyone. Or good morning, as Derek would say. Caught you. I'm more considerate. I was going with the generic farewell. Oh, well, I'm sorry I spoke over you then. Hi.