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Dragon Quest Comfort, Indie Media Burnout, and Why
59 Plays1 day ago
In Episode 130, Spencer and I settle into a long, thoughtful conversation about Dragon Quest VII, why comfort and tradition still matter in JRPGs, and how remakes should evolve without losing their identity. From there, we talk candidly about indie coverage, media burnout, Square Enix’s struggles with smaller games, and how traffic incentives quietly shape what gets covered. It’s a loose, reflective episode about taste, responsibility, and loving games for the right reasons.
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Transcript
Playful Beginnings
00:00:21
Speaker
and welcome to episode 130.
00:00:26
Speaker
Feeling flirty. oh hey, the rhyme. I couldn't think of something, but flirty is best. That used to be a big thing on this podcast. That's the best rhyme of 30. Why am I so stupid? Oh, my God. Why didn't I do that? I'm buying out the right sound qualified game chat. It's going solo podcast. Just me.
00:00:46
Speaker
I quit. that's um We're 30, we're one 30 and flirty.
Host Introductions
00:00:51
Speaker
And thank you for joining us on ah this episode of unqualified game chat. I'm your host, Zara Lopez, as always with my friend, my lover, my brother,
00:01:01
Speaker
Some have a problem with that. I don't. Spencer, the legacy. Hello.
Room Rearrangement & Nightmares
00:01:07
Speaker
i Last week I talked, but I rearranged the two rooms. Whoa, you did. See where I sleep now. where's How's the how's the the the flow? Are you having nightmares? The feng shui? Yeah, the feng shui.
00:01:21
Speaker
Well, I kind of always have nightmares for some reason, which isn't. I probably you should probably look into that. um that means like it doesn't Doesn't that mean that ghosts are like having sex with you while you sleep? I can't believe I've heard that, but I start Googling that because you know what? i Anything at this point. I think that is sleep paralysis. um So full disclosure, I grew up in a largely Mexican and Chinese ah cultural neighborhood. So my ah background, so I remember in middle school going to school talking about um a sleep paralysis moment and all the...
00:01:55
Speaker
the Chinese kids were informed me that that is a virgin ghost ah trying to get at you. Specifically, emerg ghosts why do so many ghosts want to fuck me? That's not great. That's not great. i'm and I'm in their camp. What are you talking about? live on I'm ready to die right now.
00:02:14
Speaker
um Yeah, definitely going to Google that. um But no, yeah, it's I mean, there's a you can't really see it because it's right above, but there's a TV in this room so I can I can fall asleep to two little television shows, which I couldn't before.
00:02:29
Speaker
And that's always very pleasant. um You know what I used to do is put on um an angry video game nerd 24 seven stream on Justin. Yeah. Yeah. yeah But Justin TV is not around anymore.
00:02:40
Speaker
ah there's playlists. I'm sure there's like a boot, like Twitch channel that does it. Cause like, cause it was, it was like normal boots and, uh, AVGN and some of NES Pat, whatever that Pat punk guy. Oh, Pat, the NES. I remember that. Yeah.
00:02:56
Speaker
So all those, all those dudes, all those old dudes, uh, uh, John Tron. I was never a fan of John Tron. I was a huge John Tron guy. It's so tragic. I ended up like him when he did that. He did that Katy Perry song. I remember that one. is ah It impressive. It works. And I remember I'd always wake up watching the Justin TV stream. And like I would wake up at 4 a.m. to that song. and yeah I would just like laugh to myself and fall back asleep. Woken up by John Tron's Hollywood cover repeatedly. It's crazy.
00:03:30
Speaker
That's a that's like a a new sentence kind of thing where it's like no one else probably has that. That's your daily dose of Azaria
Podcast Support & Schedule
00:03:37
Speaker
lore. Guys, this unqualified game chat series podcast is recorded every week and posted to podcast services on Thursday. If you want the episodes a week early, please, please subscribe to our Patreon.
00:03:52
Speaker
Come on, subscribe to the Patreon. Give us all your money or else the show's canceled forever. if you If you subscribe to my Patreon, um i'll I'll clean your house. Let the boy clean your house.
00:04:06
Speaker
Zari's doing the little hands behind his back. yeah That's my Adam Sandler. ah What's it that? ah Moving boys where he or him and what's his name? ah Jesus Christ. Is this SNL?
00:04:19
Speaker
Yeah. He passed away. He's the big guy. he passed away. oh Chris Farley. Chris Farley. Jesus. I love Chris Farley, by the way. But they they have a skit together where he's Adam Sandler's character is trying to clean the the room or something. And then pans to Chris Farley. he's like, just let the boy clean your room. it is the best.
00:04:41
Speaker
You got a lot of SNL lore. You got the ah sometimes you'll reference stuff and I'm like, wow, that's impressive because I don't know anything like yeah hair minimum SNL stuff. So it's it's impressive.
00:04:51
Speaker
it's It's a recent thing for me. I think working working remote allows you to like like, I've never seen My Hero Academia, okay? yeah ah But in two days, i'm already I'm already on through like season two. I'm in the middle of season two right now. That's
Multitasking Routines
00:05:06
Speaker
pretty good.
00:05:07
Speaker
Yeah, so I can multitask. I can multitask. And also i have a problem doing one thing at once. So in the shower, I have this cell phone like magnet at the top. I put my I put like a daily show on or some news. going to say you like film yourself in the shower and upload it on. Yeah. And I film myself and I'm like, is this a good angle? What's is that? let's I flex.
00:05:28
Speaker
I do. I do a Backstreet Boys music videos. ah Yeah. My fire. And doing that rain coming down. Bye bye dance in the shower. You're like doing a small version of it.
00:05:45
Speaker
My little stage. Yeah. I'd like double task. I have to double task everything because everything I do in my head is a waste of time. So if I'm taking a shower while I have to, even when I'm brushing my fucking teeth, dude, I'm so crazy. But um' it's always like ah watching an old SNL skits. I have been watching all of David Letterman. He he released his staffs.
00:06:08
Speaker
throughout the 80s and the 90s, the staff's favorites. So I've been watching that series right now. So in my head, by the lore that I pulled for his home, 1980s David Letterman. business David Letterman. That rocks. That's answer cool.
00:06:21
Speaker
It is pretty cool. There's this water about show cancellations and oh he just just a really, really funny time. I never watched The Late Show growing up until maybe like early two thousand s I watched Letterman with my parents and Conan once I was like, oh, I'm going to watch these things on my own late at night. I would watch Conan because he's the bomb.
00:06:48
Speaker
But that was the main two. I think Conan. Conan is honestly, I. I um
00:06:58
Speaker
i feel like I see myself in Conan. and If you watch there, I put out a video this week about. um my top five from last year.
00:07:09
Speaker
But I opened the video like with the personal like who I am kind of thing because I know there's a lot of new people and a lot of people don't really know my past in the game industry or anything or like know what we're trying to do here. know,
Personal Growth Reflection
00:07:22
Speaker
it's new people subscribe every day. you know you got to keep reminding them. give them the lore.
00:07:27
Speaker
Yeah, so i i I quickly dumped it down, but I said something that's like that I feel inside that we're nothing special. you know and i What sucks is that I should have emphasized that That's how I used to feel. And now I feel ah like I'm i'm looking at forward to this year because I think I understand my place more. Yeah. But the the comments that I that i received, whoa, dude. They were very nice. I saw those. Yeah. There's so many. and Very supportive.
00:08:00
Speaker
Yeah. i i It's like, i don't even know how to accept it, you know, because like, yeah and then Conan O'Brien and that's is the same way. Like try to give that guy a compliment and he'll probably tell you it down. yeah And it it it happens in my relation, in my relationships, my girlfriend would, it will call me cute sometimes and I'll tell her to shut up or, you know, like, like shit stop it. You know, like i would get offended almost for being called cute.
00:08:29
Speaker
It's, it's weird, man. It's stuff I have to deal with. Like, self love or whatever. i don't know what it is like. i know i know ah I have the the ah the ability to be successful and i know that I have a lot of charisma and I have the this good these gifts that I have. But in terms of like perspective, like I, I know, i know great people. I know great human beings throughout history. You know, there's so many amazing, talented people out there and I compare them to me and I'm like, I'm nobody. Yeah. That's what I do I'm like, I'm not that. I'm not yeah i'm not that.
00:09:11
Speaker
I, there, there's so many great people out there doing amazing things for like nonprofits and like really changing the world on things. And, you know,
00:09:22
Speaker
I have accepted though, that I can help. And that's why I've been putting out these previews that are designed to give indie developers a little more feedback, a little more, hey, if you did this because indie developers don't have access to mock reviewers, they're too expensive.
00:09:40
Speaker
for for for viewers For listeners, mock reviewers are journalists that, mostly journalists that that you probably read reviews of all the time on IGN and all those other websites.
00:09:54
Speaker
these publishers will reach out to them, have them sign a bunch of NDAs and pay them five to $10,000 to basically review their game, maybe eight months up to a year before it's released to give the to give them an
Supporting Indie Game Developers
00:10:08
Speaker
idea, um the stakeholders, an idea of, uh,
00:10:12
Speaker
what the game will review like but it's really bare bones and kind of stupid it's like sometimes four slides for five thousand ten thousand dollars and it's it's ah it's insane this ah anyway any developers don't have access to that kind of stuff no no way i think i can i think i want to create a a an ah environment where that may be possible to an audience a growing audience like ours you know like You don't have to fucking pay us. you know We'll cover your fucking game. like Let's share the success. Let's share it. like if i if i'm able to If I like your game and I'm able to bring other people to like it, to buy your game, but the people that like it discovered it through us, well, I still got all that money from ads. you know
00:11:04
Speaker
I still got all that money from the subscribers because they'll keep coming back for more. That's the idea. There's this, there's a symbiotic structure there that we need to find that, that it's crazy when I get emails from Japanese people that are like, Hey, ah how much to, how much do, do you charge for you, for, ah for you to share this news?
00:11:25
Speaker
We don't charge anything. like what Well, who's told you that we charge? you know Who's told you that that you have to pay? That's what I'm wondering. Yeah, that's that's not how news is supposed to work.
00:11:37
Speaker
that's Yeah, that's fucked. Yeah. And it's always like like small indie teams from Japan. And I want to change that. And I think we can, man. I
Positive Feedback Gratitude
00:11:50
Speaker
think we fucking can. You're in a good position, too.
00:11:52
Speaker
I think we can. Dude, yeah the the first Ascendant, ah a developer from the first Ascendant, I don't play the first Ascendant, but I cover the news press releases. I don't have time to play these games, but he they they emailed me last night because we're like one of the few Western websites that even cover their updates. And he's like, if you need do anything, just reach out. I wanted to be like, dude, don't have time to play a game, but I'll keep covering it. yeah I didn't say that. I didn't say that back, but... You should be like, give me everything in the game. so Yeah, that's what i wanted to say. I have fucking everything. Just let me hang out in the lounge with some of your female characters for an hour.
00:12:31
Speaker
I'm not greedy. yeah i'm upre I don't want greedy. I don't want to get greedy. But did post news. but i most your news I think I do cover that game because the attractive characters are there. But hey, whatever. but That's Azario coded. I don't think anyone's going to be like, no way.
00:12:53
Speaker
um But sorry for that tangent. i And I appreciate anybody who's listening that that commented on that video, on my top five video. I really... I cried a little bit, but I'm going to use that. That's going to fuel me for the for the rest of the year, guys. I won't need that validation. as Those tears will lubricate his joints to make him yeah more powerful than ever.
00:13:17
Speaker
You played a game, Dragon Quest 7 demo. I'll tell you that I didn't get around to playing it, but I would love to hear your thoughts. It's excellent. I want to say again... the That's favorite song.
00:13:33
Speaker
i It went off the rails there, but yeah, I know what you were going for. that way I tried to wrap it up quickly. I didn't i don't have a proper ending without doing the whole... Yeah, without doing the whole... Yeah, we would have extended the podcast. do people be yeah i oh That was in people's ears. You know, I don't know. It was explaining it, which took way longer. which Right, right, right. And now we're here.
00:13:58
Speaker
Now we're here. and I still think it's kind of goofy that they're remaking 7 um When the 3DS remake, that seems weird. that's like That's like Disney making live action Moana now, where it's like, that was not even like a decade ago. What are you doing? What? what um But didn't they do that with like Final Fantasy 2 and 3, where they're like doing like a... Yeah, GBA, PSP, they were fucking... I have those DS. yeah I haven't played them. Are they good?
00:14:24
Speaker
The DS ones are interesting. They're 3D. With Final Fantasy 3, they gave the characters like actual... character in the game where it's like they names and shit like luneth and them. I just have the PSP ones.
00:14:39
Speaker
Or I just played the PSP ones. i Yeah, that's how I played one and two originally. and It was like, oh, these are cool like pixel things with bonus shit. And then now the pixel remasters are, they don't have the bonus stuff, but they have all the things you want from remasters like speed up and and whatever. They don't have that opening f FMV that was in the PSP one? No, if only.
00:15:00
Speaker
i remember I remember playing, I was going on a trip, a family trip somewhere, and we were at the airport, and I had, I bought Final Fantasy 1 for my PSP to play on the trip, and I was so excited, and I was playing it in the airport.
00:15:11
Speaker
um So that's my very vivid Final Fantasy 1 memory. Dragon Quest 7, sorry, sorry. Dragon Quest 7, sorry, that was on me too. um But yeah, so this is a whole different remake than the 3DS one. It's completely like read remade and different, um and I like the 3DS one a lot.
00:15:27
Speaker
Great game. But this one, um it it has this diorama style that people are mixed on, but I really like It kind of reminds me sometimes of Rankin-Bass, like Rudolph and Santa Claus is coming to town, where like the character will make like a little expression like, oh, and it's like a very earnest joy. and you're like, oh, that's that's cute. This does feel like a little stop motion special. um But yeah, so the the demo is the first...
00:15:53
Speaker
anywhere from like four-ish on hours, depending on your... How does that feel, that diorama stuff, how does that feel while you're playing? Is there like a frame? Like, is it like watching the Spider-Man universe, enter the universe or whatever? It's like... um It's not choppy or with the... Right? so No, it's not choppy or anything. It's very like, if you didn't know that it was like models and stuff, you would just be like, oh, this is just like...
00:16:21
Speaker
very interesting 3D animated style. um Because it does look like ah a 3D animated game, but it's so detailed and like textured thatre that that's when you're like, oh, these are models that they handmade. Different from Neo Fantasia. Fantasian, right? I was thinking it's kind of similar in terms of like, oh, yeah, they they made like the little dioramas for the settings and stuff. And it is kind of similar to that.
00:16:44
Speaker
um But with this, like the the players are our our dioramas as well. um or the character Yeah, that's interesting. Yeah, and I think they look really great. They're very expressive and very... i think that also helps us stand out from the previous remake, where the previous remake was very much just a 3D, like, colorful... Because the original Dragon Quest VII on PS1, for those who don't know, was still 2D. There was, like, three d ah opening FMV that showed like the island and stuff, I think. there was It was very small uses because they were they were worried that transitioning to 3D would make Dragon Quest kind of lose its identity.
00:17:23
Speaker
um but did they sorry Sorry, didn't they have it to where you can like see the SNES version in one screen and then the 3D version in another or something? like Wasn't there a way to like play both versions? was there on the On the DS version or something like that.
00:17:40
Speaker
There's a way to like switch to the classic version or something. No, that's, um I think what you're talking about is Dragon Quest 11 had 3DS version that was 2D. And then when they made Dragon Quest 11 S, you could play the version on your PlayStation. You could switch it at save points to the 2D version or back to the 3D. Yeah, I think that's that's that. Which is also crazy. That's a crazy thing that happened. I can't believe I did that.
00:18:04
Speaker
um they'll never do it again don't question they're willing to spend money on dragon quest i appreciate you know for all you the merchandise sells the merchandise i mean it's a fucking slime but the dude brings in bags should all look you can kind of see if move my chair right next to my bed that blue dot is a is a a slime light um that I went off a crane game site like five years ago.
00:18:35
Speaker
that's And then there's a slime up there and there's like slimes here. So I can't fucking talk. lie somewhere I got slimes everywhere. um Yeah. So it's the first, um the game is broken up into, you go to different kind of vignette style stories through in the past using these tablets. You find pieces of tablets, put it on a pedestal and then you get warped into them.
00:18:58
Speaker
And this demo covers, the intro to the game in the first tablet leading up to you getting the second one. And
Dragon Quest VII Demo Discussion
00:19:06
Speaker
they, the pace is different. Again, for people who don't know Dragon Quest seven on the PS one, one of its big talking points back in the day was that it took four hours to fight your first slime.
00:19:16
Speaker
um Which back then it was like, wow, I'm a child who doesn't get games often. That means this is going to be a long game this going rock because it's like 100 hours to mainline that game or beeline that game. um But then with the 3DS one, they sped that up to like 45 minutes to an hour.
00:19:31
Speaker
um And this one, I would say, is closer to the 3DS version, but less necessarily speedy. You still get the kind of homey vibe at the beginning.
00:19:43
Speaker
um But yeah, so so there's changes like that. been sped up. Puzzles have been have been changed. um They give more character. Well, about as much as a 3DS one to like Kiefer and Maribel and stuff. But it's What about the voiceover? Is it like the British? Yeah, the voiceover's great. I love Dragon Quest voiceover. I don't know it is. It's very quirky, very charming.
00:20:05
Speaker
It's like crazy. It's so like they do all these different accents. all like Characters in different parts of the world have different accents and they're all like fun and like Light. Yeah, it's very even the the prior to the voice acting, if you played like the DS games, the the character, it would be like phonetically spelled out in like a southern accent or something. you're like, oh, this is this is very charming.
00:20:27
Speaker
um So yeah, they still do that. um The music is is beautiful. The gameplay is very fun. There's a there's a couple of editions. They added these big enemies called Vicious Enemies on the world map where you go hit them and they're really hard, but you get if you beat them, you get ah their heart, which is a little orb that you can equip as an accessory. So it's like, oh, you got a slime heart. And I'm sure those will be...
00:20:52
Speaker
Very important to the to making your characters strong going forward. um You can see, like the 3DS game, you can see the enemies now, so there's no random and encounters. You can avoid them, you can run up to them and hit them.
00:21:05
Speaker
um If you're high enough level, you can hit them and they'll die before the battle and you'll get less experience, but it's immediate. um But yeah, no, it's ah everything about that game is beautiful to look at. there's a If you want to see video footage, I did edit together a quick ah preview video on Monster Vine for the demo.
00:21:23
Speaker
um And I played it on PS5 and it's it's it's beautiful. um I played a lot of it on my portal as well. um And it's, I don't know, I'm very, i mean, it goes without saying that I'm excited for Dragon Quest, whether it's a remake a new one, but I'm like, I'm stoked for for, it's three weeks away an now or so. um I'm so excited. What about 12? Yeah, where is, that's good question. Where is 12? What do you
Hopes for Dragon Quest XII
00:21:51
Speaker
think?
00:21:51
Speaker
What's happening with that? Should it retain its anime roots or go down this like realistic route that people seem to think it's going down? I don't like that. I like, here's, i ah i had a,
00:22:05
Speaker
I was explaining my friend, we were talking about Star Wars movies, which led to an argument because it's Star Wars. Yeah, yeah, always. Where we were like, oh, um I was explaining that I really like my mainline Star Wars movies to be very pulpy, high at high fantasy action. like It's like Indiana Jones where it's like, this is a pulpy serial adventure.
00:22:30
Speaker
i don't want to be like subverted or surprised in the main numbered movies because I go to them going, this is just going to be a fun adventure with, with like heroic characters, blah, blah, blah.
00:22:42
Speaker
And so that's the, so the the sequels I wasn't hugely into because they, in a lot of ways tried to like subvert stuff. And that's interesting, but I think that's best done in spinoffs like rogue one and stuff or video games or whatever. And then the main things are very like basic, um,
00:22:57
Speaker
they i They don't need to be high art and I don't necessarily want them to be beyond that. And so with Dragon Quest, like I love Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy equally. And I love Final Fantasy because the stories are complicated and the characters are complicated and the gameplay always changes in complicated ways.
00:23:14
Speaker
And it's great. And I love Dragon Quest because it's super simple and it never changes. And I know exactly what I'm getting. Dragon Quest is like the the embodiment of adventure.
00:23:25
Speaker
Yes, it's adventure and comfort. That's Dragon Quest. You don't know what's around this corner. You don't you don't know who you're who's what antagonist is going to threaten ah your your your world in this adventure, but You're confident in your cast and you're having fun. like you like like No matter what happens, it's going to have a happy end. it's very There's a very good Tim Rogers video action button. He used to work for Kotaku.
00:23:51
Speaker
ah And when he reviewed Dragon Quest XI for Kotaku on YouTube, he describes Dragon Quest as like bedtime stories. well it's very You can play it before bed and it's very whimsical and charming. And even when it gets like really intense or dark, it's not like It's not like Final Fantasy XVI where you're like, holy fuck, this is crazy. It's like, oh, the good guys are going to come through. It's going to be very whatever. um So yeah, so drag like if Dragon Quest XII, I don't want it to be any form of of action gameplay. it to be strictly turn-based still.
00:24:28
Speaker
I want it to stay... I know, you know rest in peace, Akira Toriyama, but i think um his... the person that was making Toyotaro, who's doing Dragon Ball Super, has really nailed his style.
00:24:43
Speaker
Right. And I think he would be a pretty suitable successor um to the Dragon Quest stuff, perhaps. ah And even if not, like, I don't know. I i don't envy their position because...
00:24:58
Speaker
that style is so core to Dragon Quest that I don't know how you proceed with him being gone. But I think it's important to stick to that look of you know cartoon. it's It's almost hard to describe Toriyama's style because everyone knows what it looks like. because everyone i got it I recently got a Toriyama game. One one second.
00:25:19
Speaker
Oh, yeah. Let me see. I wonder if you know this one.
00:25:28
Speaker
Keep talking. Keep talking. Okay. Hi, everyone. um Like I was saying, you know, everyone knows what Toriyama style looks like. It's very colorful. It's very charming. It's very cartoony. Is it toe ball? Yeah, it is toe. I knew it.
00:25:42
Speaker
Hell yeah. oh It has the, this is the one with the final fantasy seven sampler in it. Hell yeah. That rocks. Yeah. That's so cool. And I didn't know that he did the character designs for this, but then I saw the characters and was like, yeah you're like oh that it's fucking Dragon Ball.
00:26:00
Speaker
That's Dragon and Ball. His is my favorite art style in the world since I was a kid. So I really... I don't think you can make Dragon Quest without it. And I'm sure they've done Dragon Quest without him.
00:26:12
Speaker
do it like I'm sure he didn't design every monster for the spin-offs or every monster for the promotions or every character. for like I'm sure that they've done that and they can figure out how to proceed from there. But i i really the the point of all this I'm saying is that I really want Dragon Quest XII to be firmly...
00:26:30
Speaker
still a Dragon Quest game. Like the the beauty of Dragon Quest to me and I think a lot of other people is that it doesn't change that much. Okay, but how ambitious can they get? Okay, so if you have, if you stick to this anime style, would you fear that maybe it leans too far into like the Genshin Impact kind of anime visuals that now when you see games, these these mobile games like Genshin Impact and Girls Frontline 2, they look great. They look anime, you know, but they kind of,
00:26:59
Speaker
retain this like other I like gotcha backbone like yeah like even the even that approach I don't think will work for Dragon Quest no I don't like I think Toriyama's the tenets of his style are so unique that like, I don't think like you could never mistake them for anyone else's that you'd be like, that's Dragon Ball. Like you, you saw it all while you're like, that's Dragon Ball. Yeah. Yeah.
00:27:28
Speaker
So I think, yeah. Yeah. honestly, hear me out. Like a, like a paper comic bookie style. That sounds so stupid. Take it out loud, but almost like colorful, like comic bookie character looking characters, but like,
00:27:48
Speaker
they're paper it's just paper right on it's paper it's dragon quest um i mean like even that i was thinking after you said that there's no bad ideas okay there's no fucking bad ideas i i haven't said damn word i would never ever install my friend azario Or stupid ideas. Stupid fucking ideas, Cesario. Stupid fucking ideas will never work and are going to get blacklisted. This is your last day in the industry.
00:28:16
Speaker
um But other than that, um no but yeah I was thinking, like i don't i i was like is there like a ah similarly iconic Japanese artist style who could... Dark Cloud 2. I don't think it would work. I think Dragon Quest is so firmly Toriyama that you have to make it as close to Toriyama's style as it's not like final fantasy where you can have no murder designs or amara designs or like all of dragon quest has been toriyama so i i yeah i truly hope they they stay as firmly toriyama-esque as possible and turn-based and like tr like dragon cuts 11 was a huge step in terms of like
00:29:00
Speaker
you you wander around in 3D like in eight, but it's totally like it was a PS4 game. So there was a huge difference in terms of the colors and the quality and the the crafting system and everything that they added.
00:29:11
Speaker
And I think like that kind of step is good where you iterate and you add on, but you never diverge. You never make it like other than the MMO because you can't really have a strictly turn based. I understand that.
00:29:22
Speaker
Or the spin offs. The spin offs can do whatever they want. Like Rocket Slime is a fantastic game and it's nothing like a Dragon Quest in terms of gameplay. But yeah, so I truly hope 12 stays in the lane that I deeply love Dragon Quest being in. Google google real quick ah the first Berserker Kazan.
00:29:41
Speaker
Because, yeah, but that's like, that's the visuals that I see in my head with the logo for Dragon Quest 12. oof would suck. I get it. I know what you're... I get it.
00:29:54
Speaker
I know. That would piss me off. But look at the logo. That's all I can compare it to. Because other than that, I would want it to it like dark railer which show look like Dark Cloud 2 meets Ni No Kuni. You know, like that, like... i don't know. Just kidding.
00:30:08
Speaker
I don't want it 15. It did feel not that Dragon Quest-y, but... I don't know. It could be... How long has it been since i was fucking that was That was during COVID. That was, what, 2021? Yeah. So i' it could have absolutely undergone revisions and shit. I hope. But that could have been a very early thing. Like, look at... a There's lots of games that change a great deal. from a now Remember, like, the Persona 5?
00:30:37
Speaker
first picture with like the, the chairs and the, the ball and chain. And everyone was like, this is going to be fucking crazy. And it was, it was still like persona. It wasn't. Yeah. I think the only thing that they retained from that is the, the tearing off of the, yeah. the, mat like the cause there was supposed to be like a whole, well, they, I guess the, the velvet room is the prison system, but it didn't, it wasn't like, yeah, it wasn't as intense as as that. um But I, and I, I think,
00:31:04
Speaker
I've been ranting about this a long time, I I'm wrapping up. But I think there's a very good chance Dragon Quest won't change that much because not only is it like known for that, but i from the things that it's anecdotal, but from the things I've seen, like the Japanese audience, which is the main audience, which right because it's a whole thing, like it's ah one of the pride and joys of Japan, is they seem to also really want it to stay like drag they Dragon Quest is one thing, like the main games in in their minds, it seems. So I think that they they were to if it was to look like the I'm not saying that the Berserker Kazan game looks bad or anything. It's just like it's a very nice style. It looks great, but that doesn't fit Dragon Quest all. Yeah.
00:31:50
Speaker
Do you see how it like with the compared to the logo next to the logo that. I 100% see what you mean. Yeah. Yeah. um yeah Yeah, so i think I think, and I hope, and I suspect it will be a Dragon Quest game. and it will Well, I think that's the thing, the interesting spot that Square Enix finds themselves in so often, and I think people like really give them shit for it.
Square Enix Collective & Indie Games
00:32:11
Speaker
It's like when they release a game like Voice of Cards or Harvestella,
00:32:19
Speaker
people give them shit for it as if like it's ah it's a showing of their lack of... um graphical budget, you know, when they're releasing these smaller projects.
00:32:30
Speaker
Square Enix is a crazy company to accuse of of not doing visuals. That's crazy. Right. And and people were like, I mean, nobody, nobody, so many people, so many people fucking talk, man, about like,
00:32:46
Speaker
Like, what can we do in this industry? How can we help? But when Square Enix creates a whole company called Square Enix Collective, where they actively work with indies, every month, they did this for a few years too, every month they would, host or every six months or something, they would host three indies on their website and people could vote on it to which ones they would market. And they would choose the the winner and then they would market they would take it to release Yeah.
00:33:11
Speaker
After a while, dude, media stopped covering it. People stopped participating in it. So the Square Enix Collective themselves had to start publishing their own games. That's why how we got like Fairfax Segna.
00:33:23
Speaker
We got some... ah Sorry, my cat's jumping on here. Get down. um, fair effect saying that ah there's a few other cool games that they, that Square Enix collective released. Um, but nobody cared. This is a, this is a huge publisher actively working with the indie community and could not get the resources to continue it. And yet we have the ability to complain about, ah complain about, ah there's no, there's no, there's no support for indie developers. and and And it's no, like there was support. You guys didn't care about Square Enix. And now Square Enix wants to make NFTs and AI. So right good job.
00:34:06
Speaker
Right. Right. That's what you get for not fucking buying Harvestella. And that, what's that, that one, like, um, Oh, that that that visual novel that came out last year about the ah the case. the the it's like ah It was like ah an adventure game, a dark adventure game. Anyway, it came out and ah I gave it a 9 out of 10. It was so good. And then everyone else started reviewing it afterwards. but um Yeah.
00:34:30
Speaker
They release these tiny games, you know, and it sucks that Square Enix is in this position where they feel the need to even consider making Dragon Quest 12 more in line with like graphical prowess of like the Final Fantasy 15s.
00:34:42
Speaker
And no, you don't need to just please. I know we fucked up back then. I know done and we didn't we didn't care. um But i yeah, I think i think there's there's there's too many voices, there's too many loud voices and not enough people actually putting their dollar down on some of these these titles. um Because with games like Harvest Stella and um some of the smaller games, that voice of cards, it's really hard for Square Enix to even get people to review those games. Most of the time they have to go to content creators and like do paid like coverage. through through content creators and to even get coverage because the IGNs and maybe the bigger guys don't see like a budget and even covering them. You know, why would they pay one of their writers to cover it when they're not going to get any incentive in terms of traffic to these? And I think that's where we, that's where media kind of falls flat recently is that we, we have the ability and the audience to make, to boost up games. And yet we actively,
00:35:52
Speaker
cover things that's bringing them down. Like, like like we'll we'll focus on the closures more, we'll focus on the closures and the negatives more than the successes because the closures and the negatives are the traffic.
00:36:06
Speaker
It's such a shame that everything has been commodified to the point of like, truly like that won't get clicks, don't write it. And that won't like it's, yeah, everything comes down to SEO and traffic and it's such a bummer because yeah like negativity thrives. So it's because everyone's like, ooh, I'm not saying that like I'm above like I've also seen like negative things and been like, that's interesting. like I'm going to read that.
00:36:31
Speaker
um But it's shame that that's how it works because like Yeah, it's, I don't know. It's a rough spot. The Pokemon list, the top 10 list that'll take you an hour to write will get significantly more traffic than the review that takes you 15 hours to produce.
00:36:49
Speaker
Yeah, 100%. And like, wait, why don't being journalists make good reviews? And it's like, because you're only going click on the first one that comes out. and it's going to be rushed because it's the first one that come out and they had to play a 40 hour RPG in a week and write a review.
00:37:06
Speaker
And by clicking that one, you've said that you want speed over quality. So yeah. oh What do you think going to happen? Now that's the norm.
00:37:17
Speaker
It's a, it's a, it's a weird position. And I think, I think if anything, the comments on that video are telling, um that people do want to discover things again. And
Conclusion & Call to Action
00:37:33
Speaker
if we could help along that way, I think we're in a good spot.
00:37:37
Speaker
Yeah, I agree. think that's a great thing to strive towards. Before we before we sign off, are you excited for the new Gorillaz album coming out? Yeah. Yeah. We should have ah we have a listening party.
00:37:52
Speaker
It should be fun for the for the mountain. Yeah. I like it's gonna be i hear it's going to be good. I listen to a couple like like podcasts on it. Just because it's just just to have something to talk about with you. You're like a dad learning how to play Fortnite for his divorce.
00:38:09
Speaker
No, I'm excited. i've I've listened to each of the singles that they released so far. and Yeah. all They've all ah tickled my fancy. So I'm excited. It's exciting. though I always love new albums. I love new new stuff.
00:38:22
Speaker
Go, Damon. Well, this has been a good episode. Yeah, this been a good episode. Everyone go play the Dragon Club. Don't worry about what I'm doing. i'm doing You'll see it on the website. Yeah, Zarya's going to show it through actions while I just show it.
00:38:46
Speaker
No easy pixel.