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Indiana Jones
133 Plays1 month ago
Using the scientific sample of two, Ben and Jess perfectly nail what makes a good Indiana Jones adventure game.
Quest Quest podcast is Ben Vigeant and Jess Morrissette.
Editing by Ben Vigeant
Show art by Kevin "WilcoWeb" Wallace
Watch us on Twitch!
Ben: https://www.twitch.tv/ps_garak
Jess: https://www.twitch.tv/decafjedi
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Transcript
Podcast Introduction and Host Introductions
00:00:21
Speaker
Hi, and hello, hail and well met my friends. Welcome to ye olde's podcast. e That's right. This will be a great intro if we were talking about say King's quest today.
00:00:35
Speaker
not we aren't i mean jokes on you well that's like yeah i' I'm building the bridges that cross it. And that's just what entered my head at that moment. And yes, would have have been better for a King's quest related one. Sure. and When you're building that bridge as you cross it, make sure not to cross it too many times.
00:00:58
Speaker
i oh Oh, oh, very good. Welcome listeners. Hello. Welcome to Quest Quest the adventure game podcast. I'm Ben. I'm Jess. ah We're both on which PS under sport. Eric. He's decaf Jedi. Jess another early record. This is two morning records in a row two morning records in a row. I feel like and I mean our listeners may differ on this. I feel like we are completely different people during the day. Oh, ah well, so I forget like
00:01:35
Speaker
a listener of ah ah my, my old podcast, my Babylon five podcast, ah like they would like why Ryan, who actually sent the request quest earlier, he would say, was this a morning record? Was this a night record? Because we would sometimes do night records and sometimes do
Pre-recording Sessions and Breakfast Chat
00:01:55
Speaker
morning records. And there was a deaf a different quality ah to them. Because yeah, ah we, both of us have ah the week before Christmas off. ah So we're... recording a bunch. Yeah. So we can go is to have these like in the can through at least like September of 2025. Yeah, that way. We can go on vacation, right? Yeah, we we like ah this is where these are going to be entirely out of order. So like last the last one we recorded isn't ah the one where we discuss Brandon shoes from Kyra India one.
00:02:36
Speaker
Um, but, uh, anyway, and that was a bad episode. I mean, I want to be very frank with the listeners. When you hear that one, it's awful. It turns out there is not enough meat on that bone to sustain an hour of conversation. But we, you know, but we sucked it dry. We split it open. We got the marrow out. We got pair of it. Yeah. There's lots of sign during it. Like you can start hearing it set in around about the 20 minute mark. Like then we'll start talking. I'll just go.
00:03:04
Speaker
ah i mere literallyly That's what the listener is supposed to do. hello
00:03:11
Speaker
it' see here It's a little more punchy. I'm having my first coffee of the day. This is, I, uh, sorry, this is, I mean, we're recording this, like it's not even 11 o'clock here in in Chicago, Illinois, the great city in which I live in. It's almost noon for you. What did you have for breakfast? I have to, this is more important than what what what game you played. i'm I'm interested. What did you have for breakfast? Because I want to talk about what I had for breakfast, so I'm asking you. yeah Well, I'm not going to reply and I'm going to cut off your avenue to discuss. No, I had for breakfast a piece of very seedy bread. Like the like the things got like seeds from like matter to different plants in it. Right. um In an alley, a guy opened up his drink. He's like, you want this bread? It's pretty seedy. I guess I had some seedy bread toasted and three brown and serve sausages, maple flavored.
00:04:07
Speaker
maple flavored and a diet coke. They have breakfast and champion did the maple flavor of those breakfast sausages have that like aftertaste of it's like, Oh, this isn't real. Oh, absolutely. Okay. I mean, this was like, this is like and the taste that was left in my mouth was like a chemical equation. Like and el ah you could like taste the the individual, you know, like, yeah, the chemical formula that went into constructing this. Yeah. Yeah. So real Breaking Bad in there.
00:04:37
Speaker
I made because I like I'm coming towards the end of because I'm working the the week of Christmas. um i So I was like, I better start making treat breakfasts. So I made a Dutch baby and I made it savory and it was with dill and goat cheese.
00:04:54
Speaker
That sounds amazing. pass yeah yeah not do he tell someone And then I and then I was going through my fridge because I had the week off. I didn't do any I didn't go anywhere this week. I just cleaned my apartment which was great because my apartment not a good situation. And I cleaned it.
00:05:13
Speaker
And so in cleaning out the fridge and getting rid of everything in there, uh, I found, uh, some, uh, honey hot sauce. Yes. So not hot honey, not just hot sauce with it like a kick of honey. And I put that on top of that. So it had a little bit of the sweet that you kind of want in a Dutch baby. Oh.
00:05:35
Speaker
This sounds amazing, Ben. I mean, you had me at goat cheese. i will I will eat all the goat cheese I can get my hands on. I'll i'll eat anything. Yeah. i did Goat cheese is is just remarkable. Thank you. Thank you, goats. Yeah. This podcast is dedicated to our friends, the goats. All right.
00:05:53
Speaker
now You know, there's a great goat in both King's Quest 1 and Broken Sword. um They are their true adventure game ah mascot animals. so I mean, if you have like mascot platformers on a lot of consoles, I feel like goats are the closest we have in the game in space.
Goats in Adventure Games
00:06:11
Speaker
Broken Sword, the the goat puzzle, one of the few puzzles on the planet that has its own Wikipedia page. Yes, but's because it is the goat. It's the greatest of all time.
00:06:21
Speaker
Yeah. All right. So, Jess, everyone's ah now ah fascinated by our various breakfasts. But ah let me ask you a question, Ben. It is not because I'm going breakfast related. That's right. Yeah. You have to go first. So, Ben, have you been playing? Oh, Jess, I got to get a tune for that. I got to go through my royalty free, like the 100 royalty free songs. It's because like I listen to it. I'm like, no, no, no, no.
00:06:47
Speaker
ah Anyway, wait what would my neighbors think if they just hear coming out of my apartment just constant royalty free generic music? They'd think I'm a murderer. Anyway. They would think you just respected copyright, which I mean I want my neighbors to see me as an upstanding law abiding system.
00:07:05
Speaker
imagining someone, imagining someone like you walk like, you know, because the the the walls of my apartment are quite thin, my up upstairs ah neighbor can absolutely hear this podcast live, every fan's dream. um And, ah and they can also hear my stream again, every fan's dream, ah Tuesday nights. Anyway, ah but i ah like that's like you know that the thing of like raw dogging a flight ah of it's like this person only listens to royalty free music and I and i want to be clear not like Ave Maria or like ah you know like stuff yeah that Christmas carols yeah no the royalty free music like the theme like say I think that's a decent theme or our beautiful uh email lounge
00:07:56
Speaker
It's beautiful. I call their pleasant, but non recognizable. Yeah, they just slide off the brain. Anyway, I've been playing. ah So it is ah when we record this, excuse me, when we record this.
00:08:13
Speaker
ah it is the holiday time when this comes out will be passed. ah But holiday time means ah party game time.
Holiday Gaming with Jackbox
00:08:22
Speaker
ah So I've, you know, as as happens every year, ah play with my friends on discord and my family over ah discord and whatnot, we're playing ah some jack box. So of course, we're playing the the new jack box jack box survey scramble I am Uh, just a ah regular purchaser of Jack boxes back to three. I don't have one in two because pretty much everything good in one and two was remade later. So yeah, like there's part of me.
00:08:57
Speaker
that might buy one in two just to say that I have them. I did i have all this. So I could finally play wordspud. I mean, better this reputation it would have to be. i But um ah Yeah, so I've been playing a Jackbox survey scramble, ah which is very fun. Did you you you've you've played it right? Yes, over Thanksgiving when we had all of our family in town for the holiday. We played a lot of Jackbox. Survey Scramble is one that went over really well. It's basically, as you don't know, it's family feud, but it's family feud with like the world's giantest database. You don't have to just wonder like what the number eight answer on the board is. You can find out the number 274th answer on the board.
00:09:48
Speaker
the the The thing about ah it is that also like in between games, you're prompted to answer survey questions. So I assume that ah like, you know, those those feed in maybe they they moderate or sift through them. So there's nothing, you know, offensive or anything. um What? ah ah So yeah, it's a it's a It's a very interesting ah kind of aberration for for Jackbox because it's instead of like the customary ah ah block of like was it four or five different games? Yeah. um It is ah now I think six or so they just added two. Did you know this? They know just rolled out a patch. I think in this last week where they added two more.
00:10:36
Speaker
They added two more games. So there are let's see here. ah I'm I'm pulling up ah the. um The the the Steam page. and This is kind of fun. It has multiple modes for the same game as opposed to most of the packs. that That's right. yeah Four or five completely separate games. That's right. It's all the the family feud concept and then iterations around that at some level. The survey based on everything is based around.
00:11:05
Speaker
um ah So yeah, there's whatever. Anyway, everything is based around the central conceit of this survey. ah Like of the these surveys, they're all pulling from the same data. It is just that there are like, I don't know, six or seven different games that are built around them, which like the the the most basic one Uh, high low is essentially just family feud, uh, is just like, and, uh, but then like everything else, uh, you know, they get a little, they get a little fancy, they get a little clever with them with mixed results. But I think, uh, like I have a lot of fun with them and, uh, the, the two, they added one.
00:11:49
Speaker
that's a lot of ah the the two that they added are actually very fun. Jess, they added one that is called ah dares. Oh, which is that i you're like, so you you make a guess and it says like, okay, so on the list of ah ah famous animals, you said elephant and that's number 37.
00:12:13
Speaker
It passes to the next player, but what you do is you you say, um I dare the next player ah to to get a number higher than 35, to guess an animal that's higher than 35 or lower.
00:12:29
Speaker
The 35. So like you, you have to get them to you like, you have to say it has to be below. Your next guess has to be below this number on the big survey. And that's very fun. Ooh. You can pick like the most obscure answer and then just say that the person you have to get more obscure than this. you yeah Oh, that's neat. I haven't played that version. That's really cool. And then the other one is also fun. Uh, it's called dash.
00:12:56
Speaker
And what it is, is that it just, uh, it's a, it's a race. All of your, your little avatars are on like a little racetrack and it just presents you with a bunch of survey answers and you just poke. Like you just tap the one that you think is higher and that gets you ahead.
00:13:13
Speaker
And like, you can also do like double or, uh, uh, like you can hit a double thing, but if you're wrong, you move back. Um, and yeah, like, and the further up you go, the more choices, choices from the multiple choice you get. So it becomes very difficult. It's great. I, I really, I, I am, uh,
00:13:35
Speaker
As I said, I buy all the Jackbox. I'm a, I'm, I'm a big Jackbox supporter. And part of that is, is that it is made right here in Chicago. Um, and in fact, I, you know, uh, uh, some comedy people I know, uh, have been involved with it. So I, I'm happy to support them, but.
00:13:52
Speaker
i I, you know, I think this is a ah really ah solid game, it even if just for Hilo, which is just a nice basic ah ah family family feud ah game. What's your favorite Jackbox game? Oh, man. What's my favorite Jackbox game? Or maybe not your favorite. What's the one that comes out when you're playing with your family?
00:14:16
Speaker
The game that my whole family wants to play is always trivia murder party, trivia murder party too. Okay. Yeah. Um, that's the one that everybody loves. Um, yes, which I've played too much of at this point. I'm, I'm a little burnout on, uh, like, uh, but that's the one that people who play a lot less Jack's Jack box in my circle.
00:14:37
Speaker
always go straight for. um and when ones When you say your family, is this like ah you, your wife, and your your kid, or is this like more extended? like you know More the extended family. A lot of times, we wait until we can get like a good crowd of, like during COVID, we would get you know yeah yeah all the extended family together to do it online. And then we have holidays, usually the the bigger crew.
00:15:03
Speaker
um some of the ones that like I personally love that maybe aren't as as popular I think dictionarium is a lot of fun great yeah yeah like when I see rankings of these things I see people who like really put dictionarium way lower than I would expect I really dig Dictionarium. I like, uh, I like Fibbage and Quiplash. Obviously those are kind of some of their, their cornerstone. That's why I don't enjoy. I'll be honest. And this is a shame because I think some of their most beloved games fall into this category. If it's anything that involves drawing.
00:15:39
Speaker
I'm out on it. I'm not an artist. And even at the level of like scribbling stick figures on my phone struggle immensely. ah So I tend to move away from like your TKO's. TKO is always, Drawful never gets so in my in my circle friends always have to have a TKO. Yeah. Always have to have a TKO around.
00:16:03
Speaker
Um, and what was, sort oh, go ahead. No, no, you please. please and And part of that is, is that like, I have friends who are talented artists and family who are talented. And also I'll play with them and they'll bring out their, their iPad and their Apple pencil and start to like go. Yeah. Like, and I see the thing is, is with, with TKO, I'm not a great artist.
00:16:28
Speaker
Maybe sometimes I'll bring out my stylus, uh, uh, which does help. Like I'll, I'll just pull out my phone stylus and doodle, but I'm never that good at it, but that's fine. Uh, because TKO like it never, like I it's, it's, it's more funny to me to see how people are able to like take a drawing of mine. If they do take one of, uh, my, my drawings.
00:16:58
Speaker
and, and pair it with something funny because it's, it's more like in TKO you're pairing, uh, random art with random phrases and trying to make a coherent shirt. Uh, and that old formula. Yeah. And, uh, the, the, the thing about like is, is that, so it's like,
00:17:21
Speaker
If the drawing isn't that good, but the the phrase like kind of unlocks something in it, it's very, you know, i've I feel like i'm I'm talking too like densely about a very silly game, but that's like, we love TKO. We like all the, the, the be funny ones. That's what my, like my group of friends were in my family. We're all the like, do the, the be funny ones. So obviously Quiplash always, yeah always, always is a hit, but then like joke boat. Oh, I love joke boat. Joke boat is, is a big hit. Um,
00:17:51
Speaker
Yeah, I think collaboratively funny games are, for me, like the best of Jackbox. Any chance where I can come up with a funny idea and then someone else iterates on it or takes it in a completely different direction than I was expecting, things like that. I think for me, that's when Jackbox games really shine. Um, and I, I mean, I love all these ding dang things. I'm a first day buyer of kind of anything they put out to. I haven't bought the naughty pack yet. i'll never I'll also say that I haven't purchased the naughty pack. The thing I'll say is I'm also glad that they they've, uh, they're doing this, this survey, uh, game and that the naughty pack is just kind of remixes mostly it looks like yeah of existing games. I think there's like one new one in it. Um,
00:18:37
Speaker
because I was thinking like, especially by the time they got up to like, what, 10 is it 10 is the last like numbered one. Like it's like, all right. You know, like you got, you guys put out.
00:18:51
Speaker
And like, I understand it, like it's not a subscription, but they have to keep these servers up. Like, you know, like you put up, like they have to put out like a new pack of games every year. Yeah. Are you telling me that it would be hard to make like a total of 50 small games as part of like some sort of single collection? Is this a backdoor way for you to talk about, about you took them like eight years to to make UFO 50?
00:19:21
Speaker
that's right so And mean yeah, so, you know, yeah, like, uh, this, this took them about 10 years. Um, so UFO 50 is definitively better. Jess, what have you been playing? Actually quit playing video games. Uh, no, I'm joking. I'm still playing video games. Yeah. No, this is a weird place to drop that. Wouldn't it? Um, yeah, I've actually taken up the cloth.
00:19:49
Speaker
Yeah, I was really gonna say I decade myself to my faith. And that doesn't include ah video entertainment anymore. ah But no, I have been playing band. I think this is a great opportunity to talk about our topic for this week.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
00:20:03
Speaker
No, no, it's, it's hard to believe this happened so organically. But I've been playing Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, the brand new Indiana Jones. I think there's been some adventure games about Indiana Jones. You know, I'm checking my notes here and it turns out there have. Well, just just pulled out like this massive like this, this huge journal. It's dog eared. It honestly, it looks like the Grail diary.
00:20:35
Speaker
i It's, ah it's just, uh, it's like the grill diary only. It's a list of all the sushi rolls. I like to order at various restaurants around town. So love I would love to have one of those because I always forget. Yeah, I do too. And they're like little sketches of them in the margins, just like the grill diary. All right. All right. Just when you're sorry, uh, uh,
00:20:59
Speaker
How how how how much do you love like just the like absolutely bizarre ah sushi rolls that like a place will have like they'll have like a California roll in a like a Philadelphia roll and whatever like you know like yeah and then they have like the this is the mountain summer shine autumn roll or something like that it's got like five thousand things and yeah yeah like where where are you on those You see, I think they almost always like a crazy over the top sushi roll almost always is not as good as a much simpler role. Yes. Do I nevertheless order them? Yeah. Pretty frequently. Yes. So aligned on this.
00:21:40
Speaker
um You and I, I, every weekend I, I, I, I get, I get sushi. Uh, like I get some delivery sushi and every time like it's like, no, I know I would like this thing that I know I would like, or I can get this thing called the the pink ranger and like, uh, you know, it has, and like for whatever reason, this particular sushi restaurant in Chicago, all their special roles are like the green ranger, the red ranger. Like it's all like power ones.
00:22:10
Speaker
Who wouldn't love that? And like, and I, like, I'm just like, Oh, yeah. And I always liked the more simple ones better. yeah i'm I'm seduced. I'm seduced into spending $20 on a fucking roll.
00:22:24
Speaker
No, I mean, you you sit me down and you say, Jess, like, what kind of roles do you like? And what tell you like a simple yellow tail tuner role? Marvelous. Absolutely. Sign me up for that. I don't need any little oozoo on there. Maybe I'm good. Um, right. But you know, you sit me down with a role that has 36 ingredients. I'm going to be like, I probably should try that even though it costs three times as much as the role I know I like.
00:22:48
Speaker
And then I'm like, yeah, this is fine. We've been better with less stuff. Yeah. It's always, it's always, it's, it's always like, I'll just have it. Just be like, why did I do this? But you know what? Then I do it the and next week. I do because I'm looking for the one that will fix me. All right. So Indiana Jones.
00:23:07
Speaker
jones in The great circle. They should have called it Indiana Jones and the great game. why because I'm really enjoying it. it's It's a really good game. I mean, it's the brand new Bethesda machine games, uh, 2024 release. Uh, this one is, um, it's just, it's just ah a really incredible. I gotta watch this game. I got it.
00:23:30
Speaker
It's one of the prettiest games I've ever played. It really gets what Indiana Jones is all about. It gets the adventure, it gets the exploration, the humor. Now, Grant, I'm only a couple hours in, but of what I've- Have you played off the stream? Because I watched you stream it. Have you played off the- I have. Okay, so I would've seen everything you played to this point, actually. Yes, and I mean, it's just been exactly the kind of Indiana Jones game that I've wanted to see. And that's what got us talking. You know, to draw back the curtain, we did discuss this beforehand. Surprise listeners. ah This isn't just a happy coincidence. and we We started talking about this idea of, you know, like, what are the elements that define a great India Jones game? And I'm curious how much they overlap with sort of the elements that define a great
00:24:22
Speaker
India Jones film because I mean we live in a world where we've had three to four good India Jones films roughly. No, no, we're, we're disagreed on this, but that's fine. I always said I'll, I, you know, I, I, I'm, I'm, I'm a snob. but ah I,
00:24:45
Speaker
like Raiders I love. And that's really it. I like bold, bold stance on writers. And then, uh, and then there are bits and pieces of the other three that I enjoy. Mm-hmm. That's it. Like, uh, uh, uh, I mean, I, you're never going to get me to say, I don't like the opening of temple of doom because the opening of temple of doom is actually one of my favorite like Spielberg things is the best part of the whole film. Yeah. Yeah.
00:25:13
Speaker
yeah And then, like, the way that the title appears, like, over, like, I think it's one of, like, just this really ah wonderful piece of ah filmmaking. And then, I don't- A love letter to the movies. Yeah. Yeah, which I like. No. You see, um but I'll just put my cards on the table. Love the first three. ah Just, I'll throw Temple of Doom in there. Love Last Crusade. All three of those are on my good list. Uh-huh. I liked Dial of Destiny, pretty much. I thought it was perfectly fun. I thought it was good stuff. I know you enjoyed it, so but how do you feel about Crystal Skull?
00:25:53
Speaker
ah You know, that one's tough. There are moments I like in it. There are elements. I mean, bring back Marion. Good thing. ah I I don't know if I love the end. This is something we'll talk about the MacGuffin of the crystal skull. Not that I think aliens have no place in Indiana Jones story, but rather just I don't know if they really paid it off that great. And it's it's interesting with the post like trilogy.
00:26:21
Speaker
Indies, like the two that came out, is that like, in like, ah Raiders, and ah Last Crusade, the the MacGuffins are explicitly religious.
00:26:35
Speaker
Uh, and like specifically like Christian religious. Yes. And then the McGuffin in, uh, temple of doom is not Christian. Obviously it's what, what are they trying to get? I don't even remember. It's been a minute. Uh, the stones are they, the Ankara stones, Chicago, I don't know, but they are like a a spiritual. That's right. they They definitely have like a supernatural spiritual element. And then Crystal skull kind of has that but it's like this aliens thing and then there's no religion at all in and it's Archimedes a dial which says a lot about the world we live in today. Well, I'm not I've i'm just say you're at then.
00:27:19
Speaker
me Well, I'm just saying that it's not like it feels it. I don't know. There's something about like the the mysticism. I like that. yeah I really like in in ah like those first three that isn't quite there in the the the other two.
00:27:36
Speaker
Anyway, I love in these capacity to still remain a skeptic in spite of everything that he's seen. Like after you pop the top on that Ark of the Covenant, you'd think subsequent encounters with the supernatural was a real ah top popper, wasn't it? it but right but you think It was a real Pringles situation. You know, once you pop, you can't stop is what they say when it comes to arcs of the covenant. Yeah, they should have said that to Bellock.
00:28:06
Speaker
i
00:28:09
Speaker
But no, I mean, you would think at some point, India would be like, yeah, this is probably some sort of God or alien or supernatural thing. It's never just Nazis, ah you know, but he's still every time. He's like, oh, I can't believe it. du This one turns out to be real, too. the You know, but it really there really is a holy grail. Who would have guessed it?
00:28:33
Speaker
but maybe They were going down rabbit hole here. yeah I think this is because we're going to because I yeah know we're talking about like kind of essential pieces of of Indiana Jones. Yes. And then like I feel like we've left the what you've been playing because I want to incorporate I think that into the the game discussion. Yes. ah So but yeah get back to that. How did you get introduced to Indiana Jones? Like were you an Indiana Jones kid?
00:29:00
Speaker
Uh, I remember we had, um, I was not in any, I remember we had it, uh, we had last crusade on VHS. That was a big VHS seller, right? Like that was one that they like really pushed the consumer VHS pricing on that one. If I recall, I think everyone had copy of that on VHS. Yeah. And, um, uh, I remember, uh, like,
00:29:28
Speaker
You know, and I actually, I'm not 100% if I watch Raiders or Last Crusade first, but I have a stronger memory of just like picking up, like just kind of going through our video collection as a kid on like a board Saturday afternoon and popping in Last Crusade, just being like, I wonder what this is. And, and watching it and being like, Holy, so this is so good. And then, uh, as a kid, I remember thinking Raiders was the boring one.
00:29:56
Speaker
This was also kind of how I felt about Star Wars. It's not that I thought A New Hope was boring, but I thought that, like i because I think Return of the Jedi and Last Crusade are very similar kind of films, in my opinion, um ah because they're they're very similar films to the the first movie. yeah yeah follow like They they take the the template from the the the first film, and then they do it again, except they do it like bigger. Yes.
00:30:25
Speaker
And, uh, and they're a little like, and they're also like each, like a little funnier, a little looser, a little, uh, like a little more, uh, like yeah with an eye on family, I would say this is like in last crusade, last crusade way funnier. Oh yeah. I mean, it is a comedy movie as much as it is an action adventure movie. I feel like like, like Raiders.
00:30:50
Speaker
has funny moments. Mm hmm. But like glass crusade is like funny as you know, wrong ticket. It has, you know, like it ah has a hilarious moment that he's discovered when that he's been sleeping with the same Nazi as his father. That's always awkward. um yeah yeah like Like pulling out my ah yeah pulling I have to say the, ah, Venice callback as he emerges from the manhole early in the film is to young me who probably saw that movie when I was like 12 or 13 years old. I thought that was the funniest joke I'd ever seen. Like that movie was like dialed into my sense of humor. I'd watched, like for me, yeah I think I watched Raiders first as a kid on cable at some point. I watched Temple of Doom
00:31:44
Speaker
at a sleepover when I was way too young to be watching Temple of Dome. I think that terrified to you. Yeah, it went into like the Chekhov's earwig category of movie scenes that traumatized me throughout my childhood. But you're not doing that shit in the 80s. No, they did. They really loved doing that. They loved scaring the kids.
00:32:04
Speaker
um You know, probably I don't think I'll surprise anyone when I say, you know, I'm a big Star Wars fan, but as a kid, certainly I would say probably. I loved Indiana Jones more like Indiana Jones was was my thing like I just I couldn't get enough. You were an Indian kid. So when I was an Indian kid like the the Lucas Arts catalog that came with the games, did you look through?
00:32:32
Speaker
Uh, the, the little catalog and see that they sold, uh, those leather brand, fine leather, fine leather jackets. Yes. They sold those in the the catalog and a West and a fedora. yeah Yeah. She said, absolutely not. then Let me tell you some of that found recently. So my parents brought to my house about a year ago, this giant box of stuff from that written for school, like certificates, you know, showing that got like the presidential physical fitness award, or, you know ah you know, report cards and all this other sort of stuff. And they had some essays I'd written through school. but oh And in sixth grade,
00:33:10
Speaker
ah I'd written and typed and printed out, of course, because I was a kid in sixth grade that had my own printer. ah I'd written a what do you want to be when you grow up um essay, and I identified two potential career paths. The first was archaeologist. Because of Indiana Jones. I loved it. Can you guess what the second career path a 11 year old Jess might have identified the leisure suit wearer You're not far off. The essay literally says I want to be a game designer at Sierra. Oh, yeah. someday Yeah. no i use that me too Yeah. Yeah. This is like a consistent theme that has never gone away, which makes us I think the two perfect people to talk about Indiana Jones games.
Indiana Jones Adventure Games Overview
00:33:55
Speaker
So ah speaking of Indiana Jones games, let's talk about the first
00:34:00
Speaker
uh, Indiana Jones, uh, adventure game, uh, from Lucas film games, uh, released in, uh, July of 1989. Uh, I, I, okay. So first off, this is really funny. Uh, the, the box has a big Indiana Jones font leather leathers, letters.
00:34:25
Speaker
I'm letter jackets. I N D Y in the and then underneath it. I hate in the last crusade. I hate this branding. I look kind of earlier today too. You can't just have in the in the Indiana Jones adventure fought with like the orange yellow fade like gradient thing. Yeah, and he doesn't look right there. I hate him. I wonder why that is. I wonder if it like because it has to be like a marketing call like we're like because it's like it must it must have been that they were like well you know the people might not be able to to to ah see like Indiana Jones is is too wide to fit into a like a small game box ah so indie that gets it across and we put in the font but I think just
00:35:19
Speaker
Like the, the, the font does it, you know, it does it. I mean, and you're probably exactly right. I mean, shelf space was at such a premium back in, uh, back in the eighties and nineties and software stores. I bet being able to have a box that was identifiable as an Indiana Jones game from across the room probably is the sort of thing that could have converted into thousands of sales, particularly potentially nationwide and worldwide. So I bet you're on the right track there. But this is one I love. I mean, I played the I ah played the Atari 2600, Indiana Jones, I think it was inscrutable. But I believe I'm like 99 percent certain that Last Crusade was my first LucasArts game. i I couldn't tell you which and this was one of mine because my first LucasArts games were from
00:36:16
Speaker
Uh, like, uh, a compilation pack, one of the greatest gifts I've ever been given on a birthday, uh, compilation that had, uh, this it had secret or monkey Island at Zach McCracken and at maniac mansion. And it had the loom. Oh man. I had one of the later ones that had like day of the tentacle, Sam and max full throttle. That's an incredible collection. I mean, if you want to make a lifelong adventure game freak.
00:36:46
Speaker
i put it Well, and I was a Sierra and I just bought Sierra games. So I had no idea, like I knew that there were other adventure games, but like, you know, Sierra had the the, you know, the, the seal of it's like, well, I trust this product because I like all of these games. And so I was gifted this, this was a gift, uh, like, I don't know, like my eighth, ninth birthday party.
00:37:09
Speaker
uh, from one of my elementary school friends. And I like it. I didn't know that there was this other big company that was doing these, including an Indiana Jones game, which was very exciting. Uh, all right. Indiana Jones, the last crusade, uh, the adventure game, uh, the, the, the, you know,
00:37:32
Speaker
Well, a thing that they ah I think ah Ron Gilbert, who's one of the the designers on it, has said is like, they didn't have a lot of time. Because the they this came out with the movie. Yes. ah So this came out they were given the the script, and this is all off ah from my recollection. So if I got anything wrong, you know, ah ah blame my terrible memory. um Don't act yeah don just never don't add him. Never crazy. Yes. But ah like, they, so they had the the script, it came out with the movie. And ah like, you know, there's there's after
00:38:28
Speaker
ah you know, some of the the other games was this before or after? Let's see. Did this come out before or after? ah Yeah, secret Monkey Island in Loom are after their 90. Yes. So this is this is after Zach McCracken. This is the next game after Zach McCracken. And there I mean, I would say that this is I would say this is better than Zach McCracken. Sorry, Germany. um Absolutely. 1000%. It is. It definitely has the
00:38:59
Speaker
the feel of a licensed game in that it feels like it's a mad dash through um like ah like set pieces that are in the movie.
00:39:14
Speaker
and not like kind of a game. You're checking off a lot of boxes on this one. Like I feel like there are things like we have to have the library scene where he breaks through the floor. So let's ride around that we have to have, you know, all of these scenes one after another that are just part of this film. And yeah, it doesn't always sync up quite as well as it maybe it does in the movie, but I will say, you i mean you mentioned how rushed they were. They're also putting out the arcade game version of this at the same time. So they're like developing two of these in parallel with each other, the arcade version that almost nobody's played, and then the beloved point-click adventure version. and i still As a kid, I loved this. like I was just like, feed me that slop. Give me exactly what was in the film that I already love. I want to just see that all over again. It was it was very exciting as a kid to to play this and then and be like wow I remember like it did and I think it being an adventure game ah like actually helped with the feeling of it's like wow I'm really in the game you know yeah I think it was the first in the movie movie or media adaptation I'd ever played that
00:40:28
Speaker
Was capable in any way of like recreating the thing it was based on you know it's like we'd reached a point where it was the rat. Technology and you know rat storytelling tools and everything else that you could approximate something.
00:40:44
Speaker
you know, pretty similar to big chunks of the film rather than something that felt completely divorced from it. yeah Because there isn't a lot of Raiders of the Lost Ark DNA in that Atari 2600 version. It's it's the, you know, it's a mess, like most ambitious Atari 2600 games. ah But no, I mean, and I played the 16 color version, Ben, did you start out with that one? Did you have the 256? The pack that I purchased, or was gifted rather, that had the VGA version.
00:41:14
Speaker
i I think ah looks extremely inferior to ah the original 16-color EGA version. um Yeah, you can look online and find like a website that ah like has side-by-side comparisons. And like those those early conversions ah from the 16 to the 256, they're not great.
00:41:42
Speaker
um and And, uh, so like, I think loom and like the, the three, I mean, I guess you could say Zach McCracken's one too, but, uh, the, the three are loom, um, indie and the secret of monkey Island. And, uh, the secret of monkey Island one is, is the best one, but I still kind of prefer the 16 color original.
00:42:10
Speaker
yeah there's so much more moody with their use of the sixteen color palette there's a lot more blacks and blues I feel like yeah that that that are really give some vibes and all three of those games that you're placed especially in Indy with a lot of dithering by the time you got to two and fifty six I think of the three Loom, Secret of Monkey Island, and Last Crusade. I think Last Crusade probably is the one that dips into the the dithering to the greatest detriment. There's this effect in some of the rooms of this, like they use like this stretch effect, like this stretch texture effect that looks awful.
00:42:48
Speaker
Though one of the the major problems with ah ah Last Crusade ah the game is that ah it and this is probably a result I would guess ah of like the compressed nature of its development is that there's mazes in it multiple. girls Oh, yeah. And they're unforgiving.
00:43:10
Speaker
And, and I think there's dead at like, I think there's, there's like, Oh, you didn't pick up this thing. Dead ends. And there's pixel. It's very antithetical to you kind of the whole Lucas film game, like ethos. ah That was like in the game manuals. It's like, we won't do this. We won't do this. We won't do this. You can even die in it. Yeah, you there's fat. There's fighting scenes. You have to fight Nazis. And now I'm gonna argue eventually that punching Nazis is an essential element of a good Indiana Jones game.
00:43:40
Speaker
You can punch Hitler in it, which is great. Yes, absolutely. it's very That's a good feature that more games should have. yeah like you know like Instead of asking, can we pet the dog? ah We should be asking, can you punch Hitler? like and it I don't care if it's Stardew Valley.
00:43:57
Speaker
like trademark trademark. I mean, that's going to be an easier to maintain like, you know, meme account. I feel like two because really you're right. But then, you know, people start making Hitler punching games just to get on the the account and it'll get out of control. um You know what? I'm fine with that. um ah But ah but yeah, like there's mazes, there's like some dead end stuff and there's tons of the arcade fighting. Yes. It's not good. It's not good arcade fighting.
00:44:26
Speaker
But yeah yeah, like yeah, you're game rises above it. I feel like in a lot of ways. I know you find this a little, a little frustrating. You're making the face. I'm making a face because I i disagree. I don't think it's a good game. I don't like it. i was a good game It wasn't an Indiana Jones game. What would you think?
00:44:47
Speaker
if this was Zach McCracken too. This was Zach McCracken too. If it was Zach McCracken as to get the Holy Grail. Yes, which I think was exactly the same. yeah And it was exactly the same in every other one respect. I mean, a lot of people don't realize this, but actually the Last Crusade script started out as a pitch for Zach McCracken too. so yeah yeah yeah Yeah, you have to go deep on IMDB to find that. Spielberg was playing with his kid Zach McCracken. He was like, Oh, you know, this might be fun. And then, ah and then ah George was like, Oh, wonderful. Instead, we made Indiana Jones. And Spielberg was like, All right.
00:45:23
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Like, unfortunately, you know, we were so close to a Zach McCracken game, uh, by silver. Uh, but, uh, George went and fucked it up again. All right. now In all fairness, we don't mean George went. Um, when you say that and nothing but love to, uh, to norm from cheers. But no, I mean, yeah, I don't mind that. I mean, I think part of it too. Yeah. I just, as my first Lucas arts game, I have a lot of nostalgia for it. Also, you know, I think for me, the fact that, uh, Oh man, the grill diary that comes packaged with it, which is essentially, um, you know, just, just copy protection, but man, what a good Philly. Again, as a kid who loved the movie, having my own copy of the grill diary, it's one of the few Phillies that.
00:46:10
Speaker
as I foolishly threw away a bunch of my adventure gaming boxes and stuff years ago when my parents said they wouldn't store it at their houses anymore. I held on to the grail diary from last crusade because I just love that thing. There there there are very few manuals I still have and the only like ah one of the few that I still have is the pharmacology manual from pretty focus.
00:46:34
Speaker
that's one of the others that kept because that is funny pretty funny manual that's a good book is there is there anything else there is there anything else ah one thing I'll say about ah last crusade is that has a very like so we just said that last crusade the but movie is uh pretty funny um the game also has like a couple running jokes but they're obviously they feel very if not ron gilberty like kind of like lucas arts house style or lucas film games yes i'll jokes uh like there's like this this running like there's there's a couple cute little running gags i think it's like indy just keeps saying because
00:47:19
Speaker
Uh, the game kind of sprints ah through the movie, as I said, like it's just kind of hits, uh, set piece to set piece. And so there's stuff that it misses, like, including like the, the, the boat race in Venice or not the race, but like the boat chase and in Venice. And like, so there's just little moments where, uh, I think it's like, in like somebody walks in and they just went through a whole thing. Like, and indie or Marcus or whoever says it's like, don't, it wasn't like, don't ask.
00:47:47
Speaker
and Something like that. Yeah, but they some they're dripping water. They're like all bloodied up or something and it's like what happened You don't ask and it's just like it's a little bit I think the game ends on that joke. I think the yeah something like that ah So yeah, I mean I think it's Charming and I love how it looks. I think Steve Purcell ah did a lot of the art for it. ah And it does. It gets a certain amount of extra oomph from being Indiana Jones. Absolutely. like yeah you know Just playing as a kid and ah you just tolerate all the mazes and all the other. There's also multiple routes through it kind of. when I'm a bigger thing in the next game.
00:48:29
Speaker
um Yeah, I mean actually that's a good segue because I think it's safe to say nearly everyone listening will probably agree when we say LucasArts follow up to this.
Fate of Atlantis and Replayability
00:48:42
Speaker
Indiana Jones, the fave, Atlantis. Superior in just about every way, right? I mean, are there people out there? You're pitching up. It is superior in every way. That's right. There is not part of it where it is not better.
00:48:58
Speaker
um I don't know like unless like you're a huge 16 color ah art yeah which in which case sure but like even I would say the the art in Fate of Atlantis is excellent like it is in in many ways like it has its flaws i i and which we'll we'll get into but like fave atlantis Now, now gear shifting over. like Yeah, ah as like to to compare the two. I think it gets away with being so much a better game, because it doesn't have to worry about being faithful to a movie. Right? 100% I would agree with that.
00:49:44
Speaker
And you know what, I just said this whole thing that about like how much I prefer the the the like kind of the Christian mysticism. but And this doesn't have any of it, but it does because it's about like these fake...
00:49:55
Speaker
Uh, like Atlanta, like this, right. I guess I like Greek gods and and stuff like that. Like it has all this, you know, like, so it has the Christian God. Yeah. Um, the but, but, but yeah, so, so fave Atlanta, it's just a very quick, if for some reason haven't played this and you're listening to this podcast that's baffling. Um, but, uh, what it is, is that, uh, Indiana Jones, do you know when it, like, if it's set, like, is it set last crusade? Like what year probably said after last crusade, um,
00:50:37
Speaker
but in her ninetyties like Nazis are a huge part of it. Um, Like, so what the the the plot is, is that, ah you know, the once again, the Nazis are trying to get some sort of super powerful, ah supernatural ah thing. And so they are, instead of looking for the Ark of the Covenant or the Holy Grail, this time they're looking for Atlantis because Atlantis ah created so many uh incredible uh machines of unimaginable power that could turn men into gods and create bombs that would you know destroy anything and this that and the other and so now you're trying like uh you indy are trying to to uncover the mysteries of atlantis uh and you are uh paired ah depending on which path but like uh
00:51:34
Speaker
Someone that you used to do archaeology with Sofia Hapgood. Is that what they're calling it these days? ah A fellow archaeologist. I don't know. I don't know. No, I mean someone you used to but but she's not an archaeologist anymore. She is no.
00:51:55
Speaker
of Like this woman, Sofia Hapgood, didn't she train under him or something? like I thought they had a mentor or mentee relationship, but maybe I'm misremembering. ah But by the time, yeah, we found her in this game, she's now a spiritualist, a medium, um and which is a perfect pairing for Indiana Jones. We talked before about this idea of Indiana Jones' is sort of skepticism toward the supernatural, despite encountering it over and over again. So presenting Sophia here as a spiritualist, who at some level seems to be like a scam artist, but on the other hand seems to have some sort of powerful connection to this ancient God, yeah is I think a really good person to bounce
00:52:42
Speaker
you know, Indiana Jones off of I think she I mean, in a lot of ways, to me, she's the highlight of this game because she brings out good stuff in Indiana Jones, which when Indiana Jones is working well, you know, I think that having good sidekicks around him is a big part of that he needs someone to bounce off of. She's like a very good foil because they're both very mean to each other. And it's never in a way where you're like,
00:53:10
Speaker
Uh, Oh, like one or the other is being unfair or cruel. It's, it's more like one thing I really like about, uh, the writing in fate of Atlantis is that it does have like this kind of like thirties screwball energy. Like there's a nice rat attack.
00:53:29
Speaker
the the back and forth between India. She gives as good as she gets. yeah it's yeah i mean that It's definitely got that going for it. And I think it's helped by the fact that she isn't played as being terribly smitten with Indiana Jones. you know That's not the the story they're telling here necessarily, which I think is to its benefit really.
00:53:50
Speaker
And it's also, it's like, she's both like a a competent archeologist, but she's a little, she's a little, senate like she is, oh, it got like a bit of a sinister element because she took these, uh, archeology, like these, these things. And instead of doing the right thing, which is of course placing them in a museum, uh, far away from their point of origin. Yeah. As is this famous catchphrase, this should be placed in a museum. This.
00:54:18
Speaker
This should be placed in a museum. Uh, uh, instead, uh, she crassly uses them for commercial ah for commercial game. Uh, uh, so the boo his that's bad. She's the bad is right. grave Robber. Uh, yeah, she only, yeah, she does grave robbery for, for evil and he does it for, for the most bringing back relics to the Western world for display. The right reason. That's right.
00:54:46
Speaker
And i ah like, but but but my point is, is like, that she's not like, you know, just some sort of like, oh, she's great at everything. It's that like, they're both like, they're, they're both flawed jerks. Yes. Yeah. Because Indiana Jones is kind of a jerk. I mean, that's, that's, that's part of a, that's part of the Indiana Jones soup.
00:55:11
Speaker
i think and and i I think, so we're talking essential parts of Indiana Jones. I think an essential part of Indiana Jones is that he he's got to get his shit kicked in early.
00:55:24
Speaker
Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, you've got to see him getting his shit kicked in early. youre I literally thought, how can I improve on your phrasing of that? But you you've nailed it. That is that is like part. I mean, Indiana Jones should struggle through every fight he has to be involved in. Like there should never be an easy one. It's it's very funny because it's like Harrison Ford is such a like a handsome.
00:55:52
Speaker
Like an athletic actor that none of us could really like, you know, I schlubs hosting or listening to podcasts could ever hope to be, because he's just, you know, he's just a guy you look at him and you're like, wow, what a guy, but then he has this quality.
00:56:07
Speaker
that when he taught like he has ah like this this quality where like when he plays he's like this kind of schlubby every man he that's exactly yeah he's the least every man that's ever every man but yet somehow he can pull that off you know he's yeah you look at him on solo yeah And you're like, wow, what a handsome, like this, this debonair guy, but also like he's a bit of a, like, you know, uh, like he, he, he doesn't have his shit together, which is very funny. And in Indiana Jones, all the, the movies and like, and at the beginning of fave Atlantis, uh, like that, um, that, that Nazi, uh, like beats him up in his office. Yes.
00:56:52
Speaker
ah I can ask you an important question, Ben. Do you think Harrison Ford has ever listened to a podcast? No. 0% right now I mean no no like no and like obviously he's been on at least a few because I think he was on ah the the the Conan ah yeah yes I think he was because that's why he's least least likely to have listened to his one that he himself is on oh yeah ah know no Harrison Ford is busy ah ah flying planes and then occasionally crashing them
00:57:27
Speaker
Like, that's right. Yeah, there's zero chances. So, yeah, I mean, I would say, you know, shout out to Harrison, but I bet he's not out there. Yeah. but yeah Yeah. Like he maybe maybe he name searches, though. And when we post this episode, i I don't think he gives a shit. I don't think he I I don't think Eric's in word. Do you think he carried on his person or do you think an assistant has to hand him a phone when he needs it?
00:57:55
Speaker
Well, I mean, like he has a family, so it's like they might, uh, you know, like he might have, uh, like his kids might, you know, like, I assume he has kids. I don't know. Um, yeah, I'm sure he has a phone, but he's not going to answer it unless it's, you know, a family member.
00:58:16
Speaker
Okay, good. I just want to nail some of that down before we go any further on this. But yeah, I mean, I love fave Atlanta's. I mean, and honestly, I was late to this one. I didn't play fave Atlanta's until like a year and a half ago for the first time. I don't know how I missed it.
00:58:32
Speaker
Um, I mean, it was never one that was avoiding. I mean, as I said, I was an Indiana Jones fan, but it was never one I saw in a store. It never came any of the cop compilations. And then I bought it on GOG and it joined the long list of games I've bought on GOG and steam that I haven't played. And coming to it as someone, you know, playing it for the first time, like in 2023, um,
00:58:56
Speaker
I mean, it's obvious why people love this one so much. I mean, it's a it's a solidly designed game. I've only taken the one path through it, which I think. believe Yeah, I've only played the one path. Oh, you should go back. like um So, yeah, that's so one. One thing about favorite land is again, if you haven't played it ah ah is that the beginning and the end of the game are essentially the same.
00:59:22
Speaker
ah There are some kind of randomized elements in them, which I think we should get back to. ah But the center of the game can go on three different paths.
00:59:34
Speaker
ah Which you can select like the game will nudge you towards one based on how you play the beginning of the game. But essentially, ah it's based on ah three paths, fists, wits, and team and fists is a more action oriented path.
00:59:55
Speaker
ah Which has more of the the fighting in it, which is, you know, why would you do that? and say You can cheat out of it. And there is one fight in it you can't cheat out of, but even then there's a puzzle solution ah to to beating that fight. ah Then wits is just more kind of puzzle oriented and then team.
01:00:15
Speaker
Which is like the canonical one. I think everybody agrees. Yeah, I think I said wits earlier about playing teams team. Yeah, I was like, yeah, no, wait, wait a minute. Team, but team is you and Sophia on it together. And then the game, all of these paths converge.
01:00:33
Speaker
at Atlantis and the interesting thing about the paths is also it's like the story itself is kind of different like some of the characters might have like different motivations and like there's not a level of consistency it's just like yeah it's like just a ah little bit and then as I said the beginning and especially the end have like this kind of randomization ah in in them and to me when ah Like when I play it it really feels like them trying to find a way to to make this game more replayable um because that was like ah You know, that's that's that's the major problem with a lot of adventure games is that it's like you play it once and that's that and Uh, where you, you play it once and you talk about it forever on a podcast. Uh, the next 40 years talking about it. Uh, and, and so like, you know, and there, this game, fave Atlantis isn't alone in trying to solve.
01:01:39
Speaker
This problem is there's also the great game, uh, uh, legend of Kyra India three Malcolm's revenge, which also tries to solve this problem. And I don't think any game unfortunately quite squared the circle. Um, and great circle, the, uh, very good. And the, the, the problem with the randomization in favor of Atlantis is that the three paths are a lot of fun.
01:02:04
Speaker
Uh, but I think that the, the last, so the, the game loses me with the last segment in, um, uh, in Atlantis, uh, because like, it's a lot of very dry puzzles.
01:02:20
Speaker
Yes, that are very puzzley puzzles. And like, i it's very fiddly. Yeah. And I get a real like sense, especially since it's the end of the game. There's part of me that's kind of like pushing that. All right. like i'm Let's get get this over with. Like, I just want to get to the climax of the game by now. Like, and because there are these fiddly and random puzzles,
01:02:44
Speaker
you can't like easily ah like walk through them you have to it's like and they're all the same the solution is the same it's just that it's like oh this inventory item in one playthrough might be in this room and in another playthrough it might be in a room all the way in the other side of the map and you only know by going to every single room like it's not fun No, it doesn't make you be like, I would love to go back and play this game to see if that iron bar was in a different room. yeah I mean, honestly, I don't think any game ever quite got this right. I mean, this challenge of how do you deal with replayability? I mean, what changed ultimately was just the industry itself with digital distribution, the rise of the rise of these sorts of indie developers that are able to release shorter games with less filler
01:03:35
Speaker
at a price point that makes sense. That just wasn't possible back in the 90s, where if you're going to sell a game on a shelf in a box, it had to be a certain length to be considered a good value. And yeah, I mean, this is an admirable attempt at that. Probably doesn't quite get it, though. Yeah. Like overall, the game is good. Like it it checks off. Like yeah we actually talked about this a little bit ah with Richard. It's like. It does lean into him being an archaeologist.
01:04:05
Speaker
a lot. ah Like that's, that's part of, uh, like the, the game, like, you know, I, I teased because I think this, the puzzle is kind of ah fiddly and boring, but it is like, there is, uh, like when you do this surveying, uh, like you use like as a surveying tripod, uh, to, uh, at the entrance of, uh, the, uh, Crete labyrinth But it like a really great thing about the Fave Atlantis is that it leans into the action part. It leans into ah like the romance. It lean like it has like these these puzzles that are like ah like appropriate to what he is. i and And yeah, like it's just really fun. And then you punch a bunch of Nazis in it.
01:05:01
Speaker
Yeah, which again is essential. It's essential that that's in there. ah But no yeah, this this one's fantastic. I mean, if there's. You know, an Indiana Jones game that like draws me back to want to play it again. I mean, I've already dunked on the idea that they didn't quite get the replayability element. Other two paths are fun. It's as close as anybody has gotten on this. Then are there other Indiana Jones games along the way that I mean, these are like the classic point and clicks.
01:05:37
Speaker
Emperor's tomb or ah like the the other like Indiana Jones is not as gamed a franchise it feels like right like I mean there are And and it it feels also, and I mean, this isn't ah an original thought. I am. I'm repeating what other people have said. It's like Indiana Jones, like after fave Atlantis is they, uh, uh, they lost the race to make Indiana Jones games to other franchises. Like it's like tomb raider. Like you play that and you're like, Oh,
01:06:14
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, this is it. This is what like, you know, Emperor's tomb to my understanding. I've not played it. I think you played it, right? I played a little bit of Emperor's Tomb, a little bit of it's a little Tomb Raider-y, right? Am I am I wrong? Yeah. Infernal Machine and Emperor's Tomb are both very Tomb Raider-y. Staff of Kings, which came out in the half of King's 2009. I played the PlayStation Portable version of that for some reason. I've it's not bad. I mean, it's less Tomb Raider-y, but it's, you know, sort of a standard because like Uncharted is the other like franchise. It's like Tomb Raider and Uncharted are like the two.
01:06:49
Speaker
where you play them and you're like, especially on charted. Have you played on charted games? I've not played on charted. That's that's on my list of huge franchises that I've never touched and really no know nothing about other than just like literally the name Nathan Drake and that it's big set pieces, right? like yeah like it's but Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
01:07:10
Speaker
like in at the time like I remember like playing Uncharted 2 on on my PlayStation and just being like oh I see you know I see what they're doing like this guy's obviously an Indiana Jones like and he you know it's a similar type of like he's a handsome doofus and he's traipsing another thing about uh like an essential part of an Indiana Jones game is like it has to be globe trotting it has to be Or at least it has to start in like the Northeast United States and then comes around Europe for a bit and then end somewhere in like the cradle of civilization, like somewhere like Greece or like somewhere in the Middle East or like somewhere like around the Mediterranean. ah Like, you know, that that's, you know, in broken sword is kind of like has a little bit of ah the the Indiana Jones ah to it, right? Yeah, absolutely.
01:08:03
Speaker
Yeah, I think that's part of the DNA there as as well. Like it's an ugly American doofus solving old Europe mysteries. like
01:08:14
Speaker
Have you played the Lego Indiana Jones games? I've not. I've never played any Lego franchise game. They're exactly like every other Lego game. I think the thing that I remember most about them, I played those because I get my hands on Indiana Jones games. Why not? um What I love most about it is ah that Willie from ah from Temple of Doom, ah your sidekick slash love interest, her power in the game is she can shatter glass by screaming because she spent so much of Temple of Doom screaming in terror at things. In the game, they have gamified that into special. Wait, which one is this again?
01:08:57
Speaker
Willie from no no no don't like what game? Sorry, Lego, uh, okay. Yeah. Yeah. You can recruit her as a sidekick or a second player and she can access secret areas with her ability to shatter glass by screaming, which I love as a game mechanic. That's pretty funny. Um, Ben, let me then drop what I think I've been taking notes along the way. Tell me if these are the essential elements that define a great India Jones game.
Elements of a Great Indiana Jones Game
01:09:26
Speaker
I have adventure and exploration, uh, whether or not we're talking about the adventure genre, there has to be some degree of that exploration adventure element in there great to be an Indiana Jones game, uh, puzzle solving. I think that even when you're dealing with.
01:09:43
Speaker
You know, Tomb Raider esque platformers like the infernal machine. Uh, even if you're dealing with some of the more basic, uh, you know, just straight up platformer type games, some element of puzzle solving needs to be there for an Indiana Jones game to work. It doesn't have to be all point and click adventures. Uh, but there needs to be some puzzle solving. There should probably be some sort of my third item item on the list, some sort of actual archaeological adjacent activities, right? Ideally it doesn't forget who he is.
01:10:12
Speaker
that's right yeah you can't just make him action guy uh there needs to be some of that i have definitely got in here uh your suggestion indy gets his shit kicked in early i think this is important it's in the great circle like her off the bat your first scene and that was i was i was i was leading into that like yeah yeah like in the great circle like it it opens uh after a wonderful tutorial Uh, uh, it opens with indie getting like, there's a big guy and there's a fight. And I, and I was, I was thinking. I was like, man, this would be great if this is one of those like fights that you have to lose. Uh, there's no winning this fight. and Yeah. when And it definitely was.
01:10:57
Speaker
globe trotting I think the setting is huge a decent McGuffin yeah I think that Indiana Jones games you know and films very in quality in terms of what it is that he's chasing after what relic he's trying to to uncover That's a big one. Nazi punching. We've talked a lot about that. i Ideally Hitler, if not Hitler, one of his many evil minions, not the literal minions. In great circles so far, and I don't know what the waiter game has, and nor do you, I assume. Right now it's Italian fascists. Which are pretty fun to punch. We didn't have Italian fascists in any of the other ones, so that's great. all right yeah
01:11:38
Speaker
And then my last one is you've got to have that humor that charm indie skepticism and sarcasm and all that sort of stuff. I think is as part of this do as well. I'll add something and maybe like ah because ah Great Circle has a little bit of like Marian drama in it, which I'm interested. in Yeah, what direction they take that. um But ah yeah, I do feel that a romance is is pretty crucial to it too because I think that's part of what makes Fade of Atlanta like, you know,
01:12:13
Speaker
I would Fade of Atlantis be quite as great if it didn't have a character as strong as Sofia and like I would say no. Absolutely. Yeah, I think that's huge too. And we haven't gotten to it yet, but I understand that's a big part of the great circle too. So I'm looking forward to seeing where it goes with that. So yeah, I mean, I feel is there anything else we need to add to that list? Have we covered it definitively forever? well We solved it.
01:12:43
Speaker
Okay, well that's why I've been playing this week. Ben, what's our topic for Quest Quest this week?
01:12:51
Speaker
How long have you been sitting on that? King's Quest, right? How long have you been sitting on that? I'd say about 45 minutes.
01:13:01
Speaker
ah Great. You can probably see the look on my face when I'm sitting on something like that. Like most of the time when I get to that point, like I can't even get my words out because I'm so excited to say this thing I've been wanting to say. Great.
01:13:16
Speaker
Well, there you have it. All right. Well, I got I got to get a great circle. ah I have to to beat a checkbox survey scramble before I Uh, get to that, but beat it. You're going to beat survey scramble. You're just going to like, I'm going to solve yeah all the answers on every survey. yeah but 100%ing that will be impressive. But I think that wraps us ah for for today's episode. Would you say so? Is there anything else? I'm wrapped. I'm wrapped. You're wrapped. R-A-P-T-N-W-R-A-P-P-E-D. And we will be. I mean, this will probably debut in January, I think. But yeah we will be releasing the Quest Quest wrapped yearly recap on everyone's phones soon so you can like look at what episodes you listen to most and you know what but words you heard most frequently. The world that we live in that now like everything has to have that because it's like it was kind of it was it was a lot of fun when Spotify started it. And I don't mind it on Steam. I think it's fun on Steam. Yeah, but then like, yeah like I saw someone sharing that they got it like from their bank. Yeah, I'll be my chiropractor telling me about you know, interesting things that my vertebrae did this year. Yeah. Anyway, so cut it out.
01:14:31
Speaker
Uh, uh, well folks, thank you for joining us for quest, quest adventure game podcast. You can send us an email at quest, quest podcast to gmail dot.com. Uh, and you can also, and please do we we invite you to rate and review us, please. That helps people find.
01:14:51
Speaker
uh this show and that's great you know don't don't you want to to to share the the the wonder of this ah podcast with your friends aren't you glad you found it yeah how did you find it yeah uh you could uh watch us on uh twitch uh ps underscore garrick and uh decaf jedi we're also both on youtube under those those names as well maybe you even listen to uh this podcast on on youtube in which case then ah follow me on YouTube because you probably already followed Jess. But ah any anything else? No, I think that's it. ah So then join us next week.
01:15:30
Speaker
for This is really exciting for the adventure game. We're going to discuss it's coming out It's a Kickstarter and it is wings meets wings. It is the the cast of wings ah meets ah Paul McCartney's wings and It all takes place on that that little ah island It's that that Paul flies in ah to that airport and all sorts of crazy things happen. So we can't wait until we talk about it and we can't wait until you listen to it. Bye bye.