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29. Drafting Our Dream Publishers!
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This week, join us as we draft our favorite studios to build our own dream publisher! Also, have any games ever made us cry? What games have we been playing? Tune in and find out!
00:00:00- Show Start
00:03:50- Trails Through Daybreak II
00:07:55- Pikmin 2
00:12:20- DK Country 1-3
00:15:50- Walkabout Golf
00:17:56- Split Fiction
00:22:07- Avowed
00:31:20- Control
00:37:30- What Games Have Made You Cry?
00:45:00- Studio Draft Rules
00:48:00- Hodge’s Number 1
00:49:30- Sean’s Number 1
00:52:45- Midnight’s Number 1
00:53:50- Hodge’s Number 2
00:55:00- Sean’s Number 2
00:59:00- Midnight’s Number 2
01:01:10- Hodge’s Number 3
01:02:45- Sean’s Number 3
01:05:30- Midnight’s Number 3
01:07:00- Hodge’s Number 4
01:08:40- Sean’s Number 4
01:10:50- Midnight’s Number 4
01:14:30- Hodge’s Number 5
01:17:30- Sean’s Number 5
01:20:30: Midnight’s Number 5
01:22:35- Hodge’s Number 6
01:24:50- Sean’s Number 6
01:27:30- Midnight’s Number 6
01:30:00- Hodge’s Number 7
01:32:00- Sean’s Number 7
01:35:00- Midnight’s Number 7
01:36:00- Hodge’s Number 8
01:37:15- Sean’s Number 8
01:38:40- Midnight’s Number 8
Follow us on X/Twitter
Podcast - http://www.x.com/gameoverplastic
Midnight- http://www.x.com/midnightdt
Sean- http://www.x.com/seanlikestobake
Hodge- http://www.x.com/hodgebaba57
Video and Audio edited by: Hodge
Intro and Graphics by: Hodge
Intro music credits:
Epic Cinematic Trailer | ELITE by Alex-Productions | https://onsound.eu/
Music promoted by https://www.chosic.com/free-music/all/
Creative Commons CC BY 3.0
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
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Transcript
Introduction and Co-hosts
00:00:29
Speaker
Welcome everybody! This is Games Over Plastic, episode number 29. I am Midnight, joined as always by the two most amazing co-hosts in the industry. We have, first of all, the man, the myth, the legend...
00:00:43
Speaker
Mr. Roboto, Sean Mason. How you doing, sir? I'm doing great. Yeah. Domo regato. Mr. Roboto over here. ah Yeah. Just hanging in there. Really happy to be here. Really excited for this episode. going to good time.
00:00:57
Speaker
Can't wait. Let's go. Oh, yeah. And then last but not least, we have the master of graphics, Hodge. How you doing, sir?
00:01:08
Speaker
Oh, I can't complain. i I had a really long week at work this week. i Thursday, i was I had to change a sump pump, and i as I was changing it, a different sump pump turned on and started spraying down the hose and just shot sewer water all over me, so that was a lot of fun. And then yesterday, I had to deal with a client who wasn't being very nice to me, so I went out for Mexican food with my buddies, and I drank like basically a pitcher margaritas by myself, so That was delicious. But now I am here and ready to do some video game talk because it's the weekend and I'm happy that it's the weekend.
00:01:43
Speaker
Oh, yeah. Thank God it's the weekend. Yeah. these These work weeks have been rough. But yeah. Yeah. and All right. great and Glad to have you guys.
Podcast Schedule and Platforms
00:01:53
Speaker
All right guys. So this is Games Over Plastic, the podcast for the agnostic gamers coming to you every other Monday at 7 a.m. Eastern Standard Time.
00:02:03
Speaker
um We are available on all audio services, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Pocket Cast, Everycast. Also available in full video glory and 4K with graphics and cameras and everything.
00:02:15
Speaker
at youtube.com slash at games over plastic. So check us out there. Leave us likes, leave us comments, subscribe on YouTube if you're not already. And if you like enjoyed the show, please drop a sub.
00:02:28
Speaker
You know, all that good stuff. Leave us five star ratings on Apple and Spotify on the podcast. That would help us out, too. We appreciate you.
Fantasy-Themed Segment and Audience Engagement
00:02:35
Speaker
In this episode, we are going to be doing our studio draft. This is something that I wanted to do for a really long time.
00:02:42
Speaker
So it's going to be kind of like a fantasy episode, if you will. We're basically going to be drafting our favorite studios and the best studios, whatever. um The order is going to go Hodge, Sean, Midnight, and then no snake for this time. So then it'll go back Hodge, Sean, Midnight, and so on and so forth.
00:02:59
Speaker
um It's going to be a lot of fun. We basically reversed the order from our first fantasy episode in which it was me, Sean, Hodge. So we just flipped it. um And we decided not to snake this time. We snaked last time. So we're just flipping it, flipping the script.
00:03:12
Speaker
It's going lot of fun. um It'll be up to you. Who wins? We don't know. It's going to be up to you guys. So you guys in the comments, leave a comment when we're all done and you let us know who has the best studio, the best ah publisher, if you will.
00:03:24
Speaker
ah You see our teams. Who do you think has the strongest lineup? All right. Let us know who wins. We're just doing it for fun. And that's about that. So ah let's go ahead and get into some gaming. Shall we, guys?
00:03:37
Speaker
yeah Let's go ahead and start with what we have been playing.
Gaming Experiences and Reviews
00:03:42
Speaker
And Sean, you want to go ahead and start us off this time? Sure. Since you're in the middle coming up, we'll let you start here.
00:03:48
Speaker
Alright, I'm going to start off. I've been playing, well finished Trails Through Daybreak 2, one of my amazing Trails games. I finished it last night, clocking in at 53 hours.
00:04:01
Speaker
53 hours. um I'm not done with the game yet though, like I'm still going to go going to play through my nightmare mode and get my platinum trophy for it because I can't get enough of this series. um But I really enjoyed um Daybreak 2. The end game is absolutely bonkers. It is crazy. There is a mechanic in this game that I don't want to spoil for anyone.
00:04:23
Speaker
But when it comes up, it completely changes the way you look at the story and your expectations of what's going to happen. It really is something spectacular. I really enjoyed this as overall. this is my I'd say this is a top five Trails game for me.
00:04:44
Speaker
um Just with the characters, the combat system, the overall stories. is Some of the side quests were really good too. um I loved exploring calver the Calvert Republic again. Overall, I really enjoyed my time with it.
00:05:01
Speaker
um and in terms of the like i said the combat it's probably the best combat in any trails game because you have that real-time action but then you can also go into the um you know turn-based combat which is awesome which is like i love having the the mix of both um Some of the stuff they do when you get to like the mid game is where the game really, really starts getting really dark.
00:05:24
Speaker
You learn so many things about um previous factions in the game that you reveal like a lot of their motivations about why they did certain things. And it's so dark and so like, oh my gosh, like.
00:05:37
Speaker
really hits at your heart and you you really feel bad for some of the characters that had to go through some like absolute trauma. Like not going to spoil anything, but like there's a group of like, there's one organization. i'm not going to say who they are, but they they basically abduct children from when they're kids and they basically raise them to be just like basically mercenary killers.
00:05:58
Speaker
and you just like you get a lot more of like the backstory about why they're doing it and it is it's it's pretty crazy it's really insane to think about it's really upsetting to see the effects it's had on some people and some of the enemies that you have to fight and like you almost feel sympathy for them but like it at the same time it's like well they're they're evil but they were raised this way because they were abducted as children so uh overall though really enjoyed my time with it it was a great game any trails fans gonna like it i think or if you maybe not if you if you don't like it you're gonna enjoy it the trails games are awesome keep it all nice all right good stuff good stuff um yeah that so sounds a lot like thrown a a little bit you know oh yeah of course yeah that is very similar to that um
00:06:51
Speaker
that whole concept of like from octopath and yeah from octopath to like the um yeah it's very similar to that this is like think of that but like on like the to the nth degree it's like insane and then oh it's like app yeah oh it's actually now that you bring up thrown it i can make another i'll make another connection to something that i'm in my brain i'm not going to say what it is because spoils both games but i mean it's made a connection between the two okay all right Good stuff. So that's Trails Through Daybreak 2. Okay.
00:07:21
Speaker
and Maybe one day I'll get to those games. We'll see. Maybe it's the 12th game in the series. You'll be there in 30 years. I'll be dead before I get there, probably. Dead. Dead. Dead. dead Hodge will get there, I'm sure.
00:07:35
Speaker
Oh, yeah. Of course. I'm going to play all of them this weekend. This weekend, yeah. That's what figured. The infinite amount of hours. play them all at once. He's going to get 12 PlayStations going. I'm going to go on the Hyperbolic Time Chain.
00:07:47
Speaker
just to play video games. Oh, yeah. That's what need. I've rolled a time chamber.
00:07:53
Speaker
What else you've been playing, Sean? All right. started Pikmin 2. I'm going through my Pikmin playthrough here. As we know, like about a month ago, I played through Pikmin 1. Pikmin 2, if you like Pikmin 1, you're probably go to like Pikmin 2. It's a little bit more of the same.
00:08:06
Speaker
They introduced some new Pikmin, some new colors, and they all have different abilities. um They've kind of expanded the role of the older Pikmin 2, the red, yellow, blue Pikmin. They gave them kind of They um expanded like more of their abilities and more of what they can do.
00:08:23
Speaker
Overall, the environment is still pretty cool. you know You're these little mini Pikmin running through like a basically real world. It's still so bonkers when you're in the world and you go past a telephone. It's like huge and you're like, what is going on here?
00:08:38
Speaker
Are you passed through a raw? What? yes Nothing, nothing. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry, thought something came up. um And you pass through like a rock, and like the rock is huge. and it's it's It's so cool, though.
00:08:51
Speaker
ah They got rid of the... One thing I do not like about Pikmin 2 that I loved about Pikmin 1 is they got rid of the time. It was like a time mechanic. So like you only had a certain amount of days in Pikmin 1 to beat the game, or else you lost.
00:09:05
Speaker
In this game, they don't do that. So you have kind of unlimited time to kind of do anything you want. You can you can essentially get everything. And like, there's no time constraint. It's kind of a bummer. i like But I i heard, i read that a lot of people complained about that in Pikmin 1, so they're probably just responding to the audience.
00:09:22
Speaker
i'll be but yeah I'll be honest, I'm the opposite. i'm I would be happy that they got rid that. It was the same reason I'd never finished Dead Rising. I can't couldn't stand the time limit thing. ah And Majora's Mask. Like, I was like, I couldn't.
00:09:34
Speaker
I don't like the... I love that. It's like one of my favorite things. I love being like... It's like, oh my gosh, we have to do this. We have to do this now. It's not like it's like in you know the 100-hour Final Fantasy XVI. It's like, oh, the world's going to end. But hang on, let's go do this. so Let's go help this guy make a cake.
00:09:50
Speaker
Yeah. Let's go pick up some rocks. Or Dragon Ball Z when Frieza blows up Namek and says it's going to blow up in five minutes and it takes seven episodes. Dude, Namek time. Namek time.
00:10:01
Speaker
Yeah, I know. But yeah, overall, enjoying Pikmin 2. um Like I said, if you like Pikmin 1, you'll probably enjoy Pikmin 2. um That's about it for Pikmin 2. Okay. ah I have nothing to add. Never played a Pikmin, sadly.
00:10:15
Speaker
Yeah, this is actually one. i think I might have said this last time when you were when you talked about or not like last episode, but when you were talking about Pikmin one back and whenever you talked about that. And i do really want to play these games at some point. Like I would love to play these because as as everyone knows, I love the game Tinykin, which is the exact same thing. You have the different colored Tinykin, which help you do certain tasks. And that would be I just know I will love Pikmin. I just never got around. I never owned a GameCube, so I just never.
00:10:43
Speaker
never played them. and so i if do Are these on Switch or are you playing them on your game? yeah Yeah, they're on Switch. I'm playing them on Switch right now. okay then yeah I'm planning to play them all.
00:10:54
Speaker
yeah Yeah, I need to hop into these because like yeah everyone knows who knows me. as Tinykin was one of my favorite games the year it came out, so I know I would love these games. So I really need to need to play these at some point.
00:11:07
Speaker
Switch 2. yeah And the music. The music's pretty awesome in the game, too. like They have really cool music. And it's so cool because have these cartoon like characters. like they they They look like cartoons.
00:11:19
Speaker
basically. yeah Then, as you're going around, it's like you're in a real-world environment, so it's so cool. And it's an it's like an RTS, like the combat. It's like RTS, kind of. Like, you're controlling the whole group.
00:11:30
Speaker
But at the same time, it's like it's very chill, very lo-fi. It's awesome. yeah it's It's fun. yeah that's Yeah, that sounds awesome. I'll put it on my maybe list when the Switch 2 is here, but it'll be couple games deep.
00:11:43
Speaker
Yeah. I don't blame you. Yeah, you have a lot you have a lot to catch up on the Switch, so I would not prioritize it over some of the absolute bangers that are on Switch. Yeah, yeah, yeah It'll yeah be down the line.
00:11:55
Speaker
and ah Yeah, like Arms and 1-2 Switch. was that Was that boxing game? Was that Arms? Yeah. That's super boxing. Yeah, you got to play that first. No doubt. Yeah, exactly. Sean, you and I can square up.
00:12:06
Speaker
Yeah, we can. Okay, I call Min Min. and All right. All right. I'll take the other guy. I'll take the red one.
00:12:14
Speaker
You playing one more game, I think. Yeah. Well, it was like a conglomerate of games. So I played, um, Donkey Kong countries one through three, the original SNES games. I ran through them, played them.
00:12:28
Speaker
These games are f freaking awesome. Like I love his favorite games of all time. Other than Ocarina of Time. But yeah, I was his favorite. Yeah. I was so late to Donkey Kong Country. Like, I didn't play a Donkey Kong Country game until Tropical Freeze in 2014. And that made me a believer, though. I played Tropical Freeze and said, this game is a banger. I gotta go back. So I went back and booted up the old SNES from, you know... I i think it was like... it was right after my freshman year college, the summer between freshman and sophomore year, I, when I was home, I just booted up the old SNES.
00:13:00
Speaker
We had all three cartridges. I never, just never played them as a kid. Um, and went right through DK country one, two, and three. And, um, playing them now, like brought back so many good memories. like the music in the game is so like the music of Duncan country is amazing. Like,
00:13:14
Speaker
The underwater theme, like when you're swimming through and like there's underwater levels and you're swimming, the music just is like so somber and it's like so relaxing and it makes you think like, this feels so aquatic.
00:13:27
Speaker
And I love it. um I love the different animals you can ride in the game. um they make the they make ah levels like different. like If you are on a Rhino, you might unlock so a certain pathway that you couldn't unlock without it.
00:13:42
Speaker
um The overworld maps are really cool, really cool really strongly designed. um And just the graphics, it's amazing to me that this game was running on the SNES compared to like...
00:13:53
Speaker
Like if you look at it compared to like Super Mario World, it's like insane. I can't believe this is running. And then um obviously it inspired my favorite ah TV adaptation, the Donkey Kong Country TV show that I talked about.
00:14:07
Speaker
So we all know I love that. Yeah. But I love the fact that can play as Donkey Kong, you can play as Diddy. That's something that the newer Donkey Kong Country games took away from you. If you're playing single player, you can only play as Donkey Kong, which is kind of disappointing.
00:14:21
Speaker
Like you have your partners, but like you can't swap to them and play as them. Whereas in the old games, I can play as Donkey Kong, I can play as Diddy, I can play as Dixie Kong. um It's just so much fun. And the levels, there's a lot of variety. And you can see how they've improved each game.
00:14:37
Speaker
And I'm a Donkey Kong Country 3 player. Fan. I love Donkey Kong Country 3. um That's the game where you only you play as Dixie. and I cannot remember the other Kong's name right now off the top of my head. but It's like not like a well-known Kong.
00:14:50
Speaker
It's like one-off Kong. Frankie Kong? No, it's not. Hang on. Let me look it up. great Great podcast. It's Steve. It's me.
00:15:01
Speaker
I'm just a big monkey man. ah You play as Dixie and...
00:15:12
Speaker
Kitty Kong. You play as Kitty Kong, which is like ah not a Kong like that's well-known. I think this is the only game he's ever been in. I've never seen him before that or after that. So i know. I really enjoy it. I love the overall aspects of the game. So yeah, Donkey Kong Country 1 through 3, great games.
00:15:29
Speaker
Nice. All right. Good stuff. Good stuff, Sean. Some good games. I have nothing to add on like any of them, but that's great. um hodge why don't we go ahead and go with your games next and if if you will go ahead and end on the one that we have in common and yeah i i saw that you switched it up uh but i'm gonna start with walkabout golf because i think i talked about it last week uh i've been playing i've been getting really into my vr2 which for everyone listening it dropped to 400 and honestly i mean i love vr so i think it's worth it at that price especially
00:16:00
Speaker
Since, like I've been saying, we've been playing Walkabout
PSVR2 and Social Gaming
00:16:03
Speaker
Golf. So me and a bunch of guys in Discord, we get together. um We've had four or five guys at a time before just going through and golfing together. it's just a really fun way to be social and enjoy you know each other's company, but having fun competing at the same time. And ah they just put out a new level, a Mountain Olympus level. And each hole is basically like a different god, like a Greek god-themed hole. And it's it's just insanely fun.
00:16:25
Speaker
um I think, yeah, if you have a PSVR 2, I would definitely suggest downloading and playing this game because it's I mean it's even fun by yourself I'll hop in and do a you know a quick 18 by myself but it's really fun to play with friends and so ah yeah I've just been having an absolute blast with this game but I don't have much else to add because I know I've talked about it ah previously but I don't know if you if you guys have anything to say about it otherwise I can just keep it rolling No, I wish i had a wish I had the VR so I could join, but I don't.
00:16:57
Speaker
So, sad. Yeah, I'm happy. I mean, yeah, I'm sure it'll go on sale even more eventually. But, yeah, the fact that they permanently dropped the price by, I think, $200 is pretty freaking sweet. So, yeah, now it's down to $400.
00:17:10
Speaker
They do have an adapter. ah My brother plays, he's a PC gamer, but they do have an adapter where you're allowed, you can use it on your PC now. So ah he's probably going to get one to do that because then he can join us. I know our buddy Meatball, who writes in a lot, ah he, he, I think he plays it via his PC. I could be wrong. He might be on his PlayStation, but I know he has a PC and he's PC gamer. So I think he's, he might've just used it on his PC if I'm, I'm not sure, but Yeah, so I know you can do that, and it's cross-compat because ah it's also available on Quest, like I talked about with when Ben was on the other week. So, yeah, it's it's awesome. But um I'm also, I hopped into briefly, I think I've played about three hours on Thursday with my brother, ah started Split Fiction, the new Hazelite game ah from, what's his name, Joseph Ferris, I believe. Joseph Ferris, yeah.
00:18:00
Speaker
Yeah, and... It's genius. Yeah, I've i've actually, i only played A Way Out ah with my brother also. That game was a fantastic story. The gameplay was fine, but the story of that one was awesome. This one is the exact opposite. The story is whatever, ah but the gameplay is so much fun. Like, every level, because...
00:18:20
Speaker
So the plot of the game is these writers ah get an invite to come to some business and they get put in these suits and ah one girl who's really annoying decides she doesn't want to be there anymore. So she tries running away, but she falls into the...
00:18:35
Speaker
ah the like the pod that the other girl is in. And so they mix their, uh, minds together. So they're kind of going. So as you, as you can see in the, you know, the trails is splits between sci-fi and fantasy. Like you're going back and forth between their ideas and each level is different because it's, they're just in their mind. So it's all the ideas they've ever had.
00:18:56
Speaker
And so each story is different. Each, uh, um like power you have is different. Like in this one sci-fi, you have a whip, but in another one, you're just jumping around and parkouring and stuff like that. And in fantasy, you have like a fireball. And then in another one, you're just like,
00:19:12
Speaker
They're all different, you know, ah gameplay mechanics. But so it's insanely fun, which I understand now why this has like a 90 on Metacritic or whatever, because the gameplay is just so good.
00:19:24
Speaker
But the story, the story actually I like, but the characters are two of the most annoying fucking people I've ever played in a video game. And they talk, you know, very...
00:19:36
Speaker
like 4chan fan fictiony where they're just really cringy about everything they say. They complain about stupid shit. Like they're, oh, they're so annoying. So it's like the, the story beats the cut scenes. I'm like, can we just get this over so i can get back to the gameplay? Because the gameplay is an 11 out of 10. The story, the story is like an eight out of 10, but the characters are a two.
00:19:56
Speaker
I cannot stand them, but but the game is so much fun that I don't even care. Like, I'll put up with their annoyingness to play this game because it's so good. And so, yeah, I'm about a quarter of the way through it with my brother, and we're going to hopefully play some more tomorrow. I got stuff to do today, so i'm not going to be able to game today, but ah hopefully tomorrow we'll keep it going. And yeah, this game, insanely fun. I'm loving it.
00:20:19
Speaker
Yeah, i'm I'm really glad you're liking it because ah just he makes great games. like um if you really If you like the gameplay of this, you'll love the gameplay that takes two. I know. I really want to play it. I never had anyone to play it with. oh It's so good.
00:20:33
Speaker
Yeah, so I'm going to get my brother to play it with me after this. But yeah, Sean, if you don't have anyone to play Split Fiction with, I will happily play this game again because it is so good. I'm going to play it, yeah. Are you going to play it with Claire? I agree.
00:20:47
Speaker
No, she won't play. She doesn't play platformers. She won't play the platformers. Oh, it's a, yeah yeah you can play a couch co-op, which is nice. Baby games to her. She says platformers are baby games. That's now she's hardcore, man.
00:20:58
Speaker
She plays the hardcore games. She's wrong. um no, I know that. I've tried to get her to play many, many platformers and she's like, no, I mean, a way i no the yadaform yeah, that's just, yeah, that's true. I did play that.
00:21:12
Speaker
I played that. Um, But yeah, no, I think every game he's made has like improved upon the previous one. And they're all so unique and so different. So yeah this is really cool to hear. I'm i'm glad you're enjoying it.
00:21:25
Speaker
Yeah, I love this game. But you have anything to say minute for Midnight Report? ah did Who picked this in fantasy? Did any any of us get this game in fantasy? I think Sean sure i did. Sean, that's like a 90 there for you, buddy. yeah so we we yeah We're going to have to do an update soon to our fantasy.
00:21:40
Speaker
Yeah, I was thinking either like we'll do like every quarter for this year, so like at the end of this month we can we'll do like ah you know third a quarter way through the year, how we look kind of thing. I figure that's what we... Rather than every month, i there's no point because we only picked a certain amount of games, so I don't think it needs a monthly update, but yeah.
00:21:58
Speaker
I was thinking of that too. End of the month. We should do a little relook into it, but, um, yeah, so I'm also playing a vow. I haven't got to play it too much. I've been busy golfing and, you know, just doing other shit. So, uh, I'm only, I'm still only probably 10 hours or so in, I'm still in the first area. Like i'm I've,
00:22:17
Speaker
really been taking my time with it, but this game is such a delight every time I do hop in. I'm loving the gameplay. It is
Early Impressions of New Games
00:22:24
Speaker
so fun. It's a beautiful game. The story, I still don't really know what's happening, and i' not I'm not really huge into fantasy lore kind of stuff, so it's i I have no problem with it. I just... not.
00:22:37
Speaker
it's not really the top of the list for me of why I'm enjoying this game. So I just, I'm really enjoying just the open world and the powers and just fighting stuff. It's, it's just a, it's a delightful game to play. So I don't have too much to add. I know you'll have obviously way more to say than me, but, ah but yeah, I'm, I'm enjoying it overall. And I think it's, it's probably like, you know, kind of a seven to eight out of 10 kind of game. It's not,
00:23:00
Speaker
perfect by any means but i'm enjoying it a lot especially for someone who is a rpg especially fantasy rpg casual i do not i know a lot of people who are more hardcore in this scene have a lot more critiques with it but for me as someone who just wanted to hop in and try it i'm really really enjoying it Okay.
00:23:19
Speaker
Yeah. So I'll go ahead and jump into mine then because I also have played avowed and I have actually beaten avowed. I beat the game. ah It took me 50 hours, basically exactly. It was like 50.1 hours.
00:23:34
Speaker
Now that is the completionist playthrough, if you will. I did like all the side stuff, all the bounties. I did like everything. Although you wouldn't know it from looking at my achievements because I didn't get that many achievements. I don't know why.
00:23:45
Speaker
i didn't really look into like what you exactly have to do to get the achievements. Probably some small stuff I missed, but, uh, But yeah, like you can beat like just the story probably, Hodge. Like if you focus mainly on the story, you can probably beat it in like 17 to 20 hours. Like it's not insanely long.
00:23:59
Speaker
um But if you take your time and really do all the stuff, then, you know, you're probably looking at like more like 40, maybe 50 hours. um But yeah, I really enjoyed this game. It's awesome. um If I, you know, I like to rate my games on a scale. um I was thinking about this. I think this game for me is about an 88.
00:24:15
Speaker
about an 8.88 is what I would give it. um I think it's really solid. um It's a great game. It's a really good role-playing game. This is a great RPG. um The game gives you a lot of choices, lots of choice and consequence.
00:24:29
Speaker
um I really like that the game lets you parlay with the enemies many, many times. So when you go in, like you're trying to take down an enemy, um you don't just have to kill them. Like you can talk to them first.
00:24:40
Speaker
um And then you have the option many times to either, you can agree with them and like help them and side with them. You can kill them. You can set them free after you defeat them, like, you know, all kinds of stuff. um And then at the end of the game, it does the whole epilogue thing where it shows you the outcome of your choices. Like it says, you know, yeah this, this person went on to do this. And because you spared this guy, he spent the rest of his life repenting and helping these people and doing this and blah, blah, blah. and um You know, it's pretty cool.
00:25:05
Speaker
um But the graphics are beautiful. The combat is great. um The story, the side stories, like the side quests were really strong. Many of them were, had really good stories. um The main story, I would say this is the biggest gripe that a lot of people have is the main story of the game.
00:25:20
Speaker
I think it's pretty solid. Like when you actually take a step back after you've beaten the game and you think about like what the story was and what all happened, it's actually like a a pretty strong narrative.
00:25:31
Speaker
I think the issue with the game, though, because I do agree, um it's it's an obtuse, like it's a very obtuse concept to begin with. I mean, we're talking about a dream scourge. So it's like a dream plague um that is brought on minor spoilers, not much of a spoilers because you learn this right away. But I mean, there's like there's a voice in your head like you find that out right at the start.
00:25:52
Speaker
um So you have like a voice of a head. I'm not going to, I don't want to spoil anything. so I'm not going to say anymore, but it's an obtuse thing. Okay. It's not like, it's not something that you can quickly grasp like, oh, this dude over here is evil and we have to beat his ass.
00:26:04
Speaker
It's more of like a supernatural, like kind of thing going on, you know, with spirits and dream stuff. um And it is a little bit slow building. So I will agree. that the main story is not bad. It's actually good when you finish it, I would say, but it's slow building and it's a bit obtuse and it's not something that is going to instantly grab you.
00:26:23
Speaker
um You know what I mean? So, It's not like Skyrim. Skyrim has an awesome story. You guys wouldn't know, but it has an awesome story where like you know you're almost killed at the start, and then there's freaking dragons, and then you have a civil war going on, and it's freaking awesome. um But yeah, overall, like I said, I would give this game about an 88 is what I would say.
00:26:44
Speaker
I really did enjoy it. I love choice and consequence. um i Like I said, I love that this game made you make a lot of choices and then paid them off at the end showing you what the outcomes was. for for even small choices. Like ah they had one or two scenes at the end, you know, like little screenshots with the narrator overwards for a side quest that I did in the first chapter, like in the first area.
00:27:05
Speaker
So that's cool. Also, this game is quite big in scope. I was surprised. There is, let me see, there's like five full fledged areas that are quite big for you to explore in.
00:27:15
Speaker
So it's not like a huge open world. It's open zone, but the open zones are big, like they're big zones and there's like five of them. um And they're very varied, um you know, in like the topography and like the climate and stuff that you got different looks.
00:27:28
Speaker
So it's pretty cool. um Overall, I did enjoy it. The, the characters, like the companions that you're with were kind of mid. They're like, yeah, they're okay. um I did like ah Kai. which is voiced by our boy Garrus from Mass Effect. So that's cool, hanging out with Garrus again.
00:27:45
Speaker
um And I did like Giada, which is ah the black chick. She's like an animancer, like a mage. And I liked her a lot. She was pretty cool. um Good character. Well written. So the other two were kind of whatever. Like I wasn't a huge fan of Marius and the freaking furry girl. They were okay, but like...
00:28:04
Speaker
Nothing crazy, but overall I do recommend about, if you're a fan of RPGs, if you're a fan of obsidian games, um, this is not, um, this is not a triple a masterpiece. This is not Skyrim. Okay.
00:28:16
Speaker
Um, it is smaller scale that they told you that they said they said it was going to be smaller scale. Um, But it is a good game with a pretty decent story, really good side stories, awesome combat, great graphics, and a lot of choice and consequence that you can see where it ends up. Like you got like three or four factions that you get to choose from.
00:28:33
Speaker
You got three different outcomes at the end where you can choose kind of like the fate of the island. Like you get to pick like what happens to them. um And it's cool. So I'll leave it there. I don't want to spoil anything.
00:28:44
Speaker
That is avowed. um You guys have any, Sean, you have any thoughts of this before I move on? um Not really. I'm glad you guys enjoyed it. Again, I've heard mixed things about the writing. Some people are... I've heard more people come around to it now about the writing of the game.
00:28:59
Speaker
um Originally, it was like, oh my gosh, this writing is horrendous. like What is going on? like What is going on with Obsidian? Why did they do this? They ruined it! They ruined it! But now I'm hearing people go, oh, the writing's not that bad.
00:29:11
Speaker
Um, so I'm going in with an open mind, ah excited to play it, but again, I'm going to play some other things first and then I will get to it. Yes, sir. You can get it on the PlayStation probably, right?
00:29:22
Speaker
Uh, it'll come there eventually. I'm sure. I'll probably play it before then. I'll play it before then. Okay. Yeah, i think I think you'll like it. um Like I said, it it actually is a good plot once you beat it and you actually think about everything that happened.
00:29:35
Speaker
Like, it's a good plot, but like I said, it is obtuse um and it's a little slow building, so yeah I understand. And I mean, really, the writing complaints were more about, like, it's not really about the plot writing, it's more of, like, the dialogue writing. that That some of the dialogue, you can tell the writers that they had do that part were just not as good as the people who wrote, like, the lore kind of writing. Like,
00:29:58
Speaker
It's more of like that kind of thing. and It's not really like it's ah a bad story. It's just some of the dialogue. It's like, i woo what like kind of thing? So, yeah. Yeah, I thought the dialogue was decent. it was better The dialogue's better than Valeguard.
00:30:13
Speaker
Valeguard had some pretty cringe writing. Yeah, there were just some people. Yeah, there were just some people. like and this is um It's not like a spoiler by any means, but like when you first get to the first area after everything, and there's the lady on the dock who doesn't know who you are, and she's just like, oh, ah wait, ah oops. It's like, oh my god, stop.
00:30:34
Speaker
Oh my god. Yeah, but yeah. Alright, so that's what I've been playing. A Vowed Was Beaten. As you guys can see in the doc, that's what I have written down, right? But I got a surprise for you guys. oh i told you i had a surprise.
00:30:48
Speaker
There's another game that I've been playing, boys, and I didn't write it down, and I made sure to keep this a secret. um I actually hid my status on the PlayStation so that you guys couldn't see what I was playing when I was in Discord.
00:31:01
Speaker
This is a surprise, and this is a surprise for you, Hodge. Guess what I've been playing, sir?
00:31:08
Speaker
I don't know. like What game did you give to me to play in the in the Christmas giveaway? Oh, Control? Yeah. I'm playing Control. Hell yeah. Just for you, my friend, I am playing Control.
Unexpected Game Reviews
00:31:21
Speaker
i am five hours deep. According to the PlayStation counter, I'm playing it on the PlayStation pro right there. Um, it shout out to PlayStation plus premium for giving me the game for free.
00:31:32
Speaker
Um, so I got the, the deluxe edition or whatever for free and quotes, you know, yeah I pay for my subscription, but. um This game is quite awesome so far. i have beaten five chapters. i think they I'm guessing there's like 10 chapters based on what I'm seeing because it says I'm 50% done with the story.
00:31:48
Speaker
Five hours in, five chapters beaten. so um But I am going to be a bit more completionist than that because there's a lot of side missions and side objectives, which I haven't really done. I haven't really done hardly any of them yet, but I will. like Later in the game, I'm going to do cleanup and like do a bunch of those. It's my plan.
00:32:04
Speaker
But yeah, I'm enjoying this game. This game has really cool, really fun combat. um I'm really liking the gunplay. I love the throw ability. I'm spamming that throw ability. you Just putting up objects and just throwing it at people and it does a lot of damage and it's fun.
00:32:19
Speaker
You can even pick up the enemies and throw them at other enemies, which is sweet. um don't There's a lot of the abilities I don't have yet. like I don't have the shield and the other abilities just yet. All I have basically is the gun and I have like couple different forms of the gun um like i got pierce and shatter and stuff like that um and then i have the throw ability and that's and melee of course and that's mainly it um but i'm really enjoying the combat is fun um the voice acting is great i really like the voice actor that does the main girl um jesse she did a great job like she's awesome she sounds great and she's doing a good job voicing the character she also uh she also stars in quantum break
00:32:54
Speaker
She's the main and lead one of the main leads in Quantum Break, too. Yeah, she's awesome. Awesome. Shout out to Remedy, keeping ah the Remedyverse going. um Is Quantum Break part of the official Remedyverse?
00:33:08
Speaker
Yes and no. They've said it wasn't, but in Quantum Break, there's an Alan Wake book on someone's desk. So it's like it's part of it, technically, but I think they don't like officially say anything about it in any of the games because...
00:33:22
Speaker
of ah Microsoft owning the rights to Quantum Break. So I don't think they can like legally say stuff in the other games, but this isn't really any sort of spoiler. In Alan Wake 2, there's a DLC part where ah Sean Astin, not Sean Sean...
00:33:39
Speaker
Ashmore, I believe is his name, who plays he's the lead in Quantum Break ah in the Alan Wake DLC. There's one time where he says in an alternate universe, I can time travel or something like that. Like it's he says it like it's a very offhand comment, but that's basically a reference to Quantum Break. And so it it kind of is, but it isn't. So I think like control is very a part of Alan Wake. like especially in Allowick 2.
00:34:05
Speaker
So those are definitely together, but Quantum Break is kind of like it is, but legally it's not kind of thing. Because Microsoft owns the IP, I guess. Yeah. Okay. All right. So they're like wink, wink, nudge, nudge. It's out there, you know, but we can't. Pretty much. Okay.
00:34:19
Speaker
ah But yeah, this this game kind of reminds me of Quantum Break, but like a better Quantum Break with the combat. It's it's like more fluid and better developed combat. um I'm excited to get further and unlock some of the abilities.
00:34:31
Speaker
My only complaint really with the control so far as a complaint that I have often, maybe I had this with East too, is sometimes I feel like i'm lost, like trying to figure out exactly where to go, um but it's not too bad. I'm getting better at it. Like as you, as you learn the game design and the game flow and what they want you to interact with and what they want to do, it but gets, it gets easier to understand and go.
00:34:50
Speaker
Yeah. Um, But yeah, no, this game is great so far. Like I said, I just finished i finished chapter five on Thursday. i didn't play yesterday because yesterday I played X Defiant with my boy DLB.
00:35:02
Speaker
um Quick side note, I guess we got on there. First time we played in months, we were like, yo, let's get on one more time before they shut it down. And run it back and had a lot of fun with that. But ah yeah, Control, great game so far. I'm interested in like this whole little sci-fi mystery horror thing that they got going on. I want to find out why and what's going on with her. with her The next mission I'm about to do has to do with her brother.
00:35:25
Speaker
um So that's cool. That'll be where I'm at. So yeah, that's what I'm playing. Avowed was beaten and and thoroughly enjoyed. And Control... has been started and I'm very much enjoying it. And like i said, I kept that a secret from you, Hodge. That's just for you.
00:35:40
Speaker
Your game is being played. um So you're the last one. You're going have to get to that. ah The game that Sean gave you, was it Chris tails or Chris something? I actually, I actually, yeah, I actually downloaded. it I just haven't, I haven't sort hopped into it yet, but I'm very excited to play it, but yeah, I have bought it and it is downloaded on my PlayStation. I just have not started yet.
00:35:59
Speaker
That's right. You have all year. It's only March. So we're not, we're not really rushing you, but, ah but just saying, you know, we're playing ours. So, but do you though? We know you're busy. You're playing like four games right now. So yeah. All right. So that's what I've been playing, guys, Avowed. And shout out to Control.
00:36:15
Speaker
and If I love Control like I will, maybe I'll get into Alan Wake soon. We'll see. Alan Wake is definitely more story than gameplay, especially the first game. It's very 360 game. The second game, I think, is awesome. They're doing construction right below me, apparently. That's fine. love doing but ah Yeah, so Alan Wake, you'll definitely expect. oh i wouldn't expect the amazing gameplay that because Control, the gameplay, it's the best ah remedy gameplay for sure, especially once you get the flight ability. That is awesome.
00:36:47
Speaker
It's awesome. All right. Very cool. Very cool. All right. So that is what we've been playing. Let's go ahead and keep it moving here. We do have a write-in, boys. ah We got a write-in from our friend Dan XL from ah the Spank Bank.
00:37:01
Speaker
And his question is, Sean, it's short, but why don't you read his write-in? We like
Emotional Impact of Games
00:37:06
Speaker
doing that. All right. I will read the write-in. This write-in is, hey, guys. What games have made you cry?
00:37:14
Speaker
Very short and to the point. Can you think of any, Sean? Take it away. i Yeah, I mean, ah some of the Trails games have made me cry. but but tea i mean, I'm not bawling my eyes out like, oh my god, but you know, they bring a little bring little tears to the eyes.
00:37:30
Speaker
I'd say some of the tales some of the Trails games. um I mean, i did, you know, I teared up a little bit of Kingdom Hearts 3, but that was more for like, I cannot believe I'm actually playing this right now. Like,
00:37:40
Speaker
not Not anything because of the story, but it's like, oh my gosh, like I'm actually playing this. um Some of the Final Fantasy games, um it's more of like the the games that I have more of like a a really deep personal connection with where I'm like, I'm so glad I'm playing this. I can't believe it.
00:37:59
Speaker
um And I'm not, again, I'm not bawling my eyes out. It's more of just like, wow, this is like, I'm getting a little watery here. Can't believe it. Getting a little moist. I mean, you can say that. I won't say that. In the eyes. Yeah, I got you. Yeah. um Yeah, how about you?
00:38:16
Speaker
Yeah, so I'm an alpha male, so I don't cry when I'm playing games. But ah no, honestly, I can't think of very many games that have forced me to cry. But there was one game that did immediately come to my mind.
00:38:29
Speaker
And that's Mass Effect 3, which is like my favorite game of all time or in the top two for sure. um There were a couple moments in Mass Effect 3 that were very emotionally powerful where you got like ah a beloved character maybe dies or or something sad happens. um And like like i said, I'm not like literally bawling out ah my eyes or anything. like're o But, you know, your your eye does get a little bit wet. You know, you get a little bit emotional. Yeah.
00:38:52
Speaker
um Definitely had a couple moments in Mass Effect 3 that made me emotional. um I'm also like, I don't really get emotional at like the sad stuff. Usually the thing that gets me emotional is more like the power of friendship type moments ah where like somebody like people get together after like a, maybe they like makeup or something after like a bad ah falling out, like that type of stuff when they finally get back together and hug or something, that stuff will get me slightly emotional, but not so much like someone dies.
00:39:17
Speaker
Maybe because i have a cold heart. No, I want to add on to that. For me, it's like things that make me emotional. It's like seeing like tragedy. I don't know I get really ah emotional when see tragedy, especially when I see it happening. Like you can like kind of like picture it in your head. Like, oh my God, I already know what's going to happen and I know what's going to happen. And then it happens you're like, my God, just like harping. Like i like i remember as a little kid, um not as a little kid, but like this always makes me emotional. But you know, the Rugrats movie, Hodge, you've seen the Rugrats movie, right?
00:39:49
Speaker
Right? i have viewed it yes i Yes, I do. okay so you know the part where like they kind of ditch Dill and like it's Tommy and Dill are in the woods and it's downpouring out.
00:39:59
Speaker
they're in like the like the woods and it's like downpoing out yeah yeah yeah like i always he sees his brother as his brother kind of thing yeah yeah i always get emotional around that time like i and it still happens and then and the movie tarzan when tarzan is fighting fighting clayton and uh clayton dies and then kerjack dies and he says family i i get a little emotional with that too yeah all right how about you hodge No, there's never been a game that's ever made me cry. Only three movies have ever made me... like Obviously, there's plenty of emotional moments in movies where I kind of you know well up a little bit, but only three movies have legitimately made me cry, and that's everything, everything everywhere, all at once. The ending is insanely sad.
00:40:45
Speaker
And then two other movies, is Sound of Freedom made me openly weep at the end, and The Unbreakable Boy, which I actually saw it just a couple weeks ago. That one made me openly weep at the end of the movie, but...
00:40:56
Speaker
um Yeah, so I've never... I'm not a huge crier, but ah there have been plenty of games where something tragic happens and I've just been left stunned. Like, you know, it kind of happens, fades to black and goes to the next scene. You're sitting there with your controller just like,
00:41:11
Speaker
Like, they have nothing, you just nothing to say, which yeah obviously the big one everyone would probably say is The Last of Us. The beginning when he loses his daughter is so tragic. And it's so, like, the acting in those games is so under, like, appreciated. That's, I always say, i know i' not going to get into a big Last of Us 2 argument or anything, but i always said that it was a mediocre script that was brilliantly acted, which is why I think so many people love it, because all the acting in Last of Us Part 2 is...
00:41:39
Speaker
Oscar worthy performance. the It is so well done. i just don't think the game's very good. But so that's the same with The Last of Us, except I think that game's fantastic. So it's just how well acted that that was. Then obviously, like there's some moments in the Bioshock games that are like that leave you just dumbfounded.
00:41:57
Speaker
But and then um the ending of the Telltale's Walking Dead, the first season is so tragic, but so good. Like, I understand a lot of people don't like Yeah, I understand a lot of people don't like the Telltale games, which I agree with for the most part. But the first season of The Walking Dead is such a good story.
00:42:14
Speaker
And the ending is so sad. But yeah, none none of them have ever like made me cry. It's just that there have been many games that have left me just stunned silent because of just like, what just happened? Like...
00:42:27
Speaker
How did that what? And like, oh this, I don't want to spoil it, but anyone who's played the game will know exactly what i'm talking about. a moment in Gears of War 2 that is just so insanely tragic that you're sitting there watching just like, oh my God, because this person's world has just crumbled before him and it is a devastating moment.
00:42:48
Speaker
um So yeah, it's yeah, I guess. So again, like I said, none of them have made me cry, but there have been moments where I'm just sitting there stunned, silent, like holy shit, I can't believe this happened.
00:43:00
Speaker
Yeah, usually when something like really tragic and terrible happens, the main thing that pops into my mind is Did Sephiroth do that?
00:43:12
Speaker
Shout out Final Fantasy 7. All right. But yeah, no. Yeah, for me, usually it's it's more like the happy stuff, like the really happy, like reunions and stuff that makes me well up a little bit. um Not so much like the tragic stuff. But yeah, for me, like I said, Mass Effect 3.
00:43:25
Speaker
And you brought up two awesome ones that you reminded me of. um The intro of Last of Us 1, like you said, super powerful. The ending of Walking Dead, super powerful. So good stuff. Dan XL, shout out to you. Thank you for your write-in.
00:43:38
Speaker
ah Listeners, if you guys have a write-in on YouTube, put a comment down there with your write-in. Go ahead, Hodge. I also forgot the most tragic moment video game history, Goofy dying in Kingdom Hearts 2. Bro, why'd you s spoil it for me? What the hell?
00:43:52
Speaker
He doesn't actually die, but it's just a moment that's supposed to be emotional and you're just like, it's fucking Goofy. that i gotta I remember that. As a kid, I was like, what? they're gonna As a kid, it went through my mind. I'm like, oh, that means Mickey's going to join the party now.
00:44:08
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. How about the face Mickey makes when that happens? Yeah. It's supposed to be tragic, but they're these Disney cartoon characters. And you're like, what? Great game, though. Love it.
00:44:23
Speaker
Oh, I actually just bought, I was ah looking on the PlayStation store. They had a sale going on. I bought the kingdom hearts complete collection, even though I own all the games on Xbox, I bought them all on PlayStation. Cause I want to replay them and they just feel like perfect portal games for when I'm relaxing and just want to play some kingdom hearts. So i'm excited. I want to replay through the series soon. So hell yeah. Love it.
00:44:43
Speaker
Yeah. Love them. Yeah. 40 bucks for every single kingdom hearts game. So i was like, all right, let's do it. Good stuff. Good deal. All right, guys. let With that said, it's been a good episode so far. Let's go ahead and get into the main event of this morning on the podcast here.
Fantasy Studio Draft Introduction
00:45:00
Speaker
We are going to be doing our studio draft. We are going to be assembling our dream publisher. um So we have the order, as mentioned previously, we are going to have Hodge with his publisher.
00:45:12
Speaker
What is the name of your publisher, Hodge? Mike Rintandoni. Because I couldn't, I was actually going to do, ah HodgePodge Publishing makes more sense, but I did HodgePodge Studios for our draft, so I didn't want to copy it. But my studios are going to be a HodgePodge of genre, so I was like, it actually fits this time, but I didn't want to do that again. So I just combined Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony, because I'm going have all this all of the ah the consoles in my publishing if I get my draft picks.
00:45:39
Speaker
So I'm Mike Rintendoni. Mike Rintendoni-e-me. It's team in there. Oh, yeah yeah yeah. That's good, though. That's good. I like that. um Sean Mason will have the number two pick, the sandwich pick in the middle. Very nice.
00:45:54
Speaker
What is your team name, sir? Melonhead Productions. Melonhead Productions. Is that from something? Am I supposed to? I like it. It's from Backyard Football. He plays the Melonheads.
00:46:06
Speaker
Oh, that's fantastic. Yep. Melonhead Productions. All right. I like it. And then me, of course, similar to my studio name. I forget what I did there, but it's similar.
00:46:18
Speaker
I went with Midnight's RPG Palace ah because we're going to be assembling an RPG juggernaut because that's what I love. Probably. We'll see. I'm going to grab some of those studios right before you do. You better not. I'm taking, i told you, I'm going to take ah your Chales company.
00:46:36
Speaker
Before he, it's trails. Trails, sorry. Trails and tails are different. You're right, my bad. Different depth. um Before we begin, I want to just, I do want to say something for the rules aspect here.
00:46:47
Speaker
I, like Midnight, did break it down. So like, we're not drafting Nintendo. I have a studio. We have individual studios from Nintendo. Same thing with Square Enix. There's individual studios within Square Enix.
00:46:59
Speaker
Right. Yeah, you don't you don't pick a whole publisher and be like, I get all of their games. No, you got pick the developer. Question. ah Are we doing it? and Not that it really matters. Are we doing it based on where they are today or historically?
00:47:13
Speaker
Or can we do studios that no longer exist? You can do what you want. I did mostly studios that still exist now because I want them to be making games for me in the future. But you can do what you want.
00:47:25
Speaker
That's fine. hodge one yeah I actually thought of Neversoft. You can do what you want. If you want to take the whole team so that you have the IP and you can re-release it, go for it, man. It's all you. It's all you. Live your dream. Live your best life.
00:47:37
Speaker
right what we yeah We don't get the IP. The parent company owns the IP. Well, who knows? You can do what you want in your fantasy world here. It don't matter. We're going to be kicking it.
00:47:50
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Right. Well, no, we're, we're focusing on the developers. We're drafting our favorite developers. So focus on that more than anything, but, um, so we're going to do eight, eight different, uh, picks guys, and we're going to go ahead and start this off. Let's get it started. So you are up first on the clock.
00:48:04
Speaker
Hodge, Mike Rintendoni, what is your number one studio draft pick? I still have 15 minutes to go, so I'm on the clock. No, kidding. ah but Yeah, take your time. Go ahead. I'm going to go with the obvious number one overall pick that I'm sure anyone would choose, and that is Rockstar.
Draft Picks and Strategies
00:48:22
Speaker
Because even though – Which one? Rockstar. Rockstar Games is its own thing. Yeah, I was go say the ones that make GTA and Grand Theft Auto or Red Dead shit.
00:48:34
Speaker
Nope. Those are two different teams. Rockstar North does GTA and then Rockstar Studios does Red Dead. Which one do you want? GTA or Red Dead? GTA. Oh my god. It's all the same to me.
00:48:45
Speaker
um But I am, yeah, so this is an obvious, I'm doing my picks because in the future, not anytime soon, but in the future we will do doing an episode where we just talk about our favorite studio. So I'm going based off of what is going to get me the most money, what is going to get me the highest Metacritics.
00:49:03
Speaker
And so I'm going right out the gate with Microsoft or Microsoft, Rockstar, GTA studio, baby. That's a strong pick. you can't You can't knock that. That was definitely in my top five as well.
00:49:17
Speaker
um So Rockstar North, the GTA games. I decided to split it up because there are you know the Red Dead team's different, I'm pretty sure. And also excellent. I'm sure we'll be drafted here soon.
00:49:28
Speaker
um All right, good stuff. Any thoughts on that? Otherwise, Sean, take it away. I'm surprised that if you're going for highest Metacritic scores and highest you know grossing, you know making a lot of money, I'm surprised you wouldn't pick this studio right here that I'm going to pick first.
00:49:45
Speaker
And that is... Nintendo EAD. I knew it. Yep. That's the one that I have. Let's a look it. It comes with Mario, Zelda, um Animal Crossing, basically almost the big Nintendo publishers. And I love these games, so I'm going to get some pretty awesome games.
00:50:05
Speaker
ile I'll be completely honest. I wrote down Nintendo, but I don't know that much about Nintendo, know who makes what. So i was just like, I'm just... I got everything down. Trust me. I got a lot of Nintendo Studios down No, but I love this. I love the games that Nintendo EAD makes.
00:50:21
Speaker
um I mean, some of the games are insane. I mean, yeah, and I got Miyamoto on my team. There you go. Yeah, that's a strong pick.
00:50:32
Speaker
um Nintendo EAD, shout out to them. one of the One of, if not the most iconic game studio of all time. what They've made they've made like all the great 3D Mario games of the Mario games.
00:50:43
Speaker
All the great Zelda games like Miyamoto. They are literal goats. And they are now known as... know I don't know. They are known as EAD. They used to not be known as EAD.
00:50:54
Speaker
They're EPD now, I think. They they rebranded. No, there's they're EAD now. They used to be something else. They formerly, Nintendo Research and Development, they used to be called Nintendo R&D4. Now they're Nintendo EAD.
00:51:11
Speaker
Wrong. They are um Nintendo Entertainment Analysis and Development EAD was a division of Nintendo that focused on video game development. it was They're now known as Nintendo EPD. They rebranded.
00:51:24
Speaker
I don't know why. you sure Nintendo EPD. Okay. Entertainment, planning, and development. It doesn't matter. I get it all. It doesn't matter. I still get them. Yeah, it's the same team. It's the same team. They just change names.
00:51:35
Speaker
I will always refer to them as EAD because that's what the classic. but I'm just going to refer to them as Nintendo, but that's just me. Yeah. i didn't even know they were called that. I just thought they were just called Nintendo. So that shows what I know. they're so They're so great that I definitely knew that name.
00:51:50
Speaker
There you go. All right. Good stuff, Sean. Great pick. I'm mad because I was going to take them. That was going my pick. You don't even like Nintendo. You don't even like Nintendo. I mean, I've played a lot of those games. What do you mean I love those games.
00:52:02
Speaker
They've made the best games of all time. How could you not draft them? Have you played Mario Galaxy? No. So um mean it doesn't matter. He doesn't like – Hodge doesn't like GTA.
00:52:14
Speaker
We're forming a ah dream publisher. doesn't necessarily mean what you play. going win it, baby. Yeah, and it's a win it, even though we have no real winning. Yeah, yeah the thing we have to determine who won is you in the comments. So please leave a comment and let us know who has the best team. All right.
00:52:28
Speaker
We need you. yeah All right. Let me go and get on to my pick. And I'm just going to go ahead and pick this. I don't know if I need to pick this right away um because I don't know if you guys would take it, but I'm going to take this as my number one pick because it's it's my favorite studio.
00:52:42
Speaker
I'm just going to and take CD project red CD project red. Amazing studio. The witcher one, two, and three cyberpunk 2077. They're working on the witcher for they're working on a new cyberpunk game.
00:52:54
Speaker
They're fucking awesome. They make some of the best games of all time and they will continue to do so. I love them. That's a strong pick. In my opinion, that's who I'm taking CD project red. Can't wait for your future games.
00:53:07
Speaker
Yeah. Smart, strong, strong. More even on my list. That's your loss. Yeah, that's a ah very obvious, strong pick. they They've made critical darlings pretty much nonstop. So that's, yeah.
00:53:23
Speaker
Well, other than the launch of Cyberpunk. Two of the best RPGs of all time in The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk. Although the launch was horrible, but it's so great now if you play it's amazing. Yeah.
00:53:35
Speaker
All right. Hodge, you are up next, sir. All right. um Let's see. This time I'm going to go with um let's go with just some quality storytelling. going to go a Naughty Dog because ah his i mean, this one is for historic and present because obviously The Last of Us and Uncharted are just absolute yeah just amazing. But You go back to even just you have Crash Bandicoot, have Jack and Daxter. You got just everything amazing with gaming. They've been historic for, you know, they've been just on fire since the 90s. So Naughty Dog is, they are, you know, obviously mostly a critical darling other than the the defiiveness divisiveness of Last of Us Part II. But yeah, they're 99% quality. So Naughty Dog is my number two pick.
00:54:33
Speaker
It's great pick. It's really good pick. It's a really good pick. That was in my top five or six as well. I would have probably taken them soon. So great choice. You can't go wrong. I mean, they've made some like similar to CD project reds. They've made some of the, the most beloved best games of all time. So strong pick.
00:54:50
Speaker
Yeah. Sean Mason. And if you have thoughts, go ahead and you are next on the clock, my friend. No, that is a great pick. They were on my list. not I wouldn't have picked them here, but definitely definitely a great list right there.
00:55:02
Speaker
all right. My number two pick is Square Enix Creative but Business Unit 1. um This is... Yeah, I know. It figures Square Enix has these crazy names for their crazy titled games.
00:55:17
Speaker
358 over 2 Square Yeah, this is the this is the team that's in charge of the mainline Final Fantasy games, ah the mainline Kingdom Hearts, well, all of the Kingdom Hearts games, and the Saga games.
00:55:31
Speaker
So I get our favorite Nomura in all his craziness with Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy VII Remake. And his crazy storytelling chops. So yeah, this is what I would pick.
00:55:43
Speaker
Creative Business Unit 1, Square Enix. Great pick. Great pick. They were also on my list, Sean. ah They are the team who has made the amazing Final Fantasy VII remake as well.
00:55:55
Speaker
And I think Rebirth 2, I think. Yeah, they made any mainline Final Fantasy game they've made. Except for XVI. No, XVI was made by them. They got help from and the other team. the other Oh, i thought I thought Business Unit 3 made XVI.
00:56:10
Speaker
No, they got help from Unit 3. Okay, alright. Well, awesome pick. You can't go wrong with that. You can't beat it. Alright, they were on my list, so good job. um I'm up next.
00:56:23
Speaker
Wait, speaking of a Square Enix, this is just a little side tangent. The other thing is once they go on sale, I'm getting at the Pixel ah remat or collection. Yes, you should. Because yeah i want I've always wanted... I've never played the original six, so um I've figured those are also perfect Portal games. So for those who those who don't know, I've started my transition over to PlayStation as my primary. I love my Xbox still, but with Xbox basically throwing in the towel for first party, there's no point in me kind of...
00:56:50
Speaker
being a that is my primary. So I'm going over to PlayStation as my primary. And so I was like, now that I have the portal, those pixel games were like beautiful playing that on the portal. So we welcome you with open arms. I don't get wrong. Still love my Xbox, but yeah, I think going back, i haven't been PS main since PS two. So I'm excited to be back.
00:57:12
Speaker
We welcome you with open arms and the PlayStation cult. There you go. All right. Sorry to side tangent. Midnight. No, no. We love we love the side tangents. Please keep doing it. We're here to discuss games and have fun, so I love it. Hell yeah. um Yeah, I have a portal, and I've only used it like one time, so I need something to use the portal for. I don't know, because like I'm not playing a lot of turn-based games, and if I'm playing like a real narrative-based game, I'd rather play that on the on the old the big OLED.
00:57:38
Speaker
not on a small screen. So, but I think something like the pixel remasters would be amazing for the portal. Yeah. I think it's so funny. The one who's considered the Sony pony of this podcast, Sean Mason is the only one who doesn't have a portal.
00:57:52
Speaker
Dude. I mean, I trash talked it for so long, but when the 30th anniversary of one came out, it was just so beautiful. I couldn't resist it. And then i I fall in love with that thing. It's so, it's, it's so convenient to use. I love it, man.
00:58:05
Speaker
Oh, yeah, wait. I just got the regular one. I don't have the 30th edition, sadly. Make it known. Sony Pony's Sean Mason does not have a portal, but my two XBot hosts have portals. Former XBots. We are trans now.
00:58:17
Speaker
We are trans. um'm actually I've never been an XBot. I've always been console agnostic, which is why we do this podcast. We're just messing around. I know. I i got like was an XBot in the 360 era. I got my... well The 360 is the greatest console all time. So there's there's that part of it. But yeah. Sorry, Sean, go ahead. The Atari Jaguar is the greatest console of all time.
00:58:39
Speaker
Dude, that controller had like 30 buttons on it. What the hell were they doing? It's like a phone. it's's No, you know what it looked like? It looked like a children's toy, like that like a late 90s children's toy when they're practicing like math or one of those giant calculators. That's what it looked like.
00:58:53
Speaker
Yep. All right boys, let's get back on track. yeah Back on track. Midnight's RPG Palace is on the clock with my number two pick. And, you know I was thinking what I want to go here. You know, there's a lot of there's so many great studios. There's so many choices.
00:59:08
Speaker
But I'm and I think I probably might be able to get this one a little bit later, but they're so good that I'm just going to take them right now. Why wait? And I will be taking peace Studio from Atlas, the Persona team. This is the team that does all of the mainline Persona games.
00:59:23
Speaker
um I don't know if they did the Shin Megami Tensei games, though. Let's see. Because if so, that's even more value. I actually had them pretty high on my list. i Obviously, I've never played an Atlas game, but I know how well regarded they are, so I was going to steal that as my JRPG studio, so good pick there. Yeah, they did Shin Megami Tensei.
00:59:44
Speaker
All right. So that's an amazing pick for me then. I'm getting all the mainline Persona games and a lot of the Shin Megami Tensei games. They did not do Metaphor though. That was a different team. So that's what I'm taking. P-Studio is going to be my pick and I think that's a very strong one. Really good. That's an excellent pick with the Persona games plus you get the Shin Megami Tensei games. Some of the best just classic turn-based combat.
01:00:08
Speaker
Yeah. Fantastic. What do they call it? Like the the press press one or whatever combat. don't Yeah. Like where would you when you crit them, then you get to go again. Yeah, it's pretty cool. um And I want to play Shin Megami Tensei five at some point. The vengeance. Did you ever play that? sea You're not into that. or did I talked about it last last year.
01:00:26
Speaker
My memory is horrible. I'm sorry. um You liked it though? Yeah, I loved it. I thought it was great. um Really cool. ah The stuff they added was awesome too compared to the original Shin Megami Tensei. if you want to, you don't want it digital and you want to play on PlayStation, I can send you my copy.
01:00:41
Speaker
What? I'll send you my copy. Oh, i have I have a pro. There's no disk drive. So, sorry. oh But thank you. That's really nice of you. um i Well, I still have my old PS5. I think I'm going to give it to my brother. It's in my closet.
01:00:54
Speaker
I should do something with all right, so that's my pick, P-Studio. I think that's... i have Man, my i pick is great. Let me give a pat myself on the back. Obama medals all around. I got CD Projekt Red and P-Studio. Of course, you guys have amazing studios too, so... Hodge, you're up next with your third pick.
01:01:11
Speaker
oh All right. There's so many great ones still on the board. I have a third-person sandbox and third-person narrative slash platformer studio, so I need to switch up genres a little bit.
01:01:23
Speaker
I'm going to go... Hmm. Let's go get into the FPS realm. And I'm to though with respawn because i was debating infinity ward, but cause we're doing kind of historic as well as just, a but respawn is built of the, the goats of infinity ward and they, and apex legends and Titanfall are two of the best FPS is ever made. i don't care what anyone says. i think those games are perfect.
01:01:52
Speaker
Um, And so I'm going to go with Respawn because and obviously they make Jedi Survivor, which is a fantastic kind of Souls like ish third person action adventure game. So I think Respawn is is one of the best developers out there. So I am taking them.
01:02:11
Speaker
Good stuff. They were on my list too. Yeah, i was going to say, yeah, don't forget about the Star Wars Jedi games. Yeah. Good pick. So that's, I mean, that's two Titan Falls, Apex, and two Star Wars Jedi games. That's five ah great games, and they're making more. So, strong pick.
01:02:25
Speaker
I think you probably could have got them quite a bit later, but, yeah I mean, you can't argue you can't argue with the talent and the quality. So, sometimes you just got to lock them down. Yeah, it's a good one. Sean Mason.
01:02:37
Speaker
a good pick, Hodge. I like that pick. But, It's going little different than my pick. I got to go with it. I have to go with it now. I think Midnight, I think you can guess what I'm picking right here. Neon Falcom.
01:02:47
Speaker
I'm going with my trails. I get my trails. I get my East games. Give it to me. i don't i don't care. you spell it. Yeah, I got it. Let me click here. um Yeah, I'm going with them. I get my trails. Get my East games.
01:03:01
Speaker
I'll be in heaven. Thank you. Ah, you nailed it. There we go. There you go. At first I thought you were saying Neon, Falcom. And then I remember Nihon or whatever is is Japan.
01:03:14
Speaker
So I was like, I bet that's what it is, yeah. yeah cool Yeah, I would have gone Neon. they Yeah, we have a repeat of Ball in Wonderland. Ball in Wonderland, yeah. and what thought like Unironically, probably would have been a better game if that one existed.
01:03:33
Speaker
Hey, speaking of, oh, I do have to mention in Trails Through Daybreak 2, there is a basketball minigame you can play. ah there you go. And I did play a lot of it. I did play, it's, it's, no, it's not.
01:03:43
Speaker
It is like, it is like the most bare bones minigame I've probably ever played in a game. But it was fun. I played it for a little bit. Yeah, yeah. All right. So Nihon, Falcon, whatever, is Sean's pick. Great pick.
01:03:58
Speaker
um You could have got that way later because it wasn't on my list and it wasn't on his list. I got scared. I got scared. Yeah, I kind of mind-effed you there a little bit because I joked that I was going to steal it from you, but I wasn't going to.
01:04:12
Speaker
But like we said before, I mean – You just traded up to draft Mitch Trubisky. Good choice. Yeah, instead of Patrick Mahomes. Like we said, though, even though you pro even though you could have got them later, they are an amazing developer. They've made 12 freaking Trails games that are all great, and they've made other games too, I'm sure, like the East games, right?
01:04:29
Speaker
Yeah. And and like the the storytelling, like the way they can maintain a narrative for 12 games and keep people like enthralled and into it, that's pretty that's pretty insane.
01:04:40
Speaker
Yeah. So there's nothing wrong with locking down these amazing teams, even if you could have gotten them later. Who knows? Who knows who cares? um Great choice. They make great games. I'm excited to play Tits first chapter this year, Sean.
01:04:52
Speaker
It's going to be awesome, I hope. Although you said I might not like it. You said it might be too easy for me. I don't think you're going to like it. I hope I'm wrong, but I don't think you're going to like But was this a bigger reach than taking my third pick? Are you taking that with your first pick?
01:05:07
Speaker
Wait, what did I take? That wasn't my first pick. Yeah, it was. No, it wasn't. I'm pretty sure it was. It wasn't. Hodge, can you pull up at some point the our fantasy picks? When did I take Trails in the Sky? It was like my third or fourth pick, I think.
01:05:23
Speaker
But anyway, while he's looking, I am going to go ahead and make my pick. And I'm sitting here thinking like, ah I don't know, I could probably get this later. But I don't know, you guys are you guys are kind of shysty. You guys are devious.
01:05:36
Speaker
I can't trust you guys to not steal this from me because you know I want it. So I'm to go ahead and take it right now. And it's going to be my second favorite developer, currently not of all time but currently and that is larian i'm gonna go ahead and take larian the developers of balder's gate 3 the game of the year from 2023 or whatever the hell it was i think so yeah and also divinity divinity original sin 2 and stuff just really their future is so bright like they really they really shined like a diamond uh
01:06:08
Speaker
With Baldur's Gate 3. They did. They did. So they balled out so hard on Baldur's Gate 3 and like they have so much talent and the future is so bright. Like their next game is going to be an amazing game.
01:06:19
Speaker
I have no doubt. um And the one after it and the one after it. So Larian is going to be my pick for Midnight's RPG Palace. We got the greatest ah CRPG developer currently doing it.
01:06:32
Speaker
There we go. Thoughts and you're up next, Hodge. I actually was going to take that next because I knew how well regarded they were, ah even though I have no desire to ever play Baldur's Gate 3.
01:06:46
Speaker
But yeah, that was a good pick. I was going to steal it. um Were you able to find out when I picked Trails in the Sky out of curiosity?
01:06:58
Speaker
Trails in the Sky was your third overall pick. Okay, good. You picked ah Ghost of Yote and Doom before that. Okay, cool. It was a huge reach, though, honestly. I could have got that like with like my eighth pick.
01:07:09
Speaker
Yeah. ninth yeah yeah yeah oh So it was a reach. like i Honestly, I don't blame you at all, Sean, for picking Nihon Falcon. ah With the third pick, I mean, they're awesome. I mean, we're talking about like 20 games they've made or something.
01:07:21
Speaker
yeah Great games. More than that, even. And there's so many there's so many good developers. there's You know, it's whatever. yeah um My next pick, Mike Rintendoni, is going to choose...
01:07:32
Speaker
I'm going to, again, this is another genre I don't really care about, but they're so well regarded I got to, and that is from software, um because every single game is just beloved by their fans.
01:07:45
Speaker
There's not a, I mean, i guess we'll figure out if if that continues with Night Rain or whatever it's called coming out, but, um or did it already come out? don't even know. But ah yeah, so so Oh, okay.
01:07:57
Speaker
Yes, but obviously Elden Ring was the game just hurt, you hurt around the world. That game, everyone was in love with that game, and Sekiro, and all the Dark Souls, Demon's Souls. So yeah, this is ah but Even that Armored Core game, I remember everyone was... Tales of Rubicon or whatever...
01:08:15
Speaker
uh so yeah from software that is uh that is my pick it is a beloved series and now i got me a souls like uh well guess i kind of had one with respawn but now i got me a souls like uh studio under my belt it's a good pick all right great pick great pick they were on my list Further down, but on my list.
01:08:36
Speaker
Great developer. Sean Mason, you're on the clock. I actually completely like forgot about them. I was not going to pick them. I didn't even think about them, but that's a really good pick. ah Next up, I'm going with the one, the only, Game Freak.
01:08:53
Speaker
I'm getting these for Pokemon. I was going to get them next. yeah I'm going Game Freak. um I think that without if they were not locked to like the Pokemon company and having to make Pokemon RPGs like constantly, I think if you gave them some time, they could make a killer, an absolute killer RPG.
01:09:15
Speaker
in that And they can go back to that 16-bit art style from the GBA or the DS art style. They can go back to one of those two. Give me a game like that. Boom. Let's go. i don't even need the pi I don't need the Pokemon license.
01:09:27
Speaker
Just make me a game. Didn't they just make a not Pokemon game? They made a couple non-Pokemon games. little um Little Town Hero. That's the one. It came out in 2019.
01:09:37
Speaker
yeah They've made a couple non-Pokemon games, but like they're bread and butter as a Pokemon. Yeah. Give me Game Freak. Yeah, that that was when i was going at the mind I was going to pick them purely because every game they make sells 50 million freaking copies because it's times two.
01:09:53
Speaker
Yeah, because they don't have to try and they don't try because most of their games are extremely mid and dated, but people love them. So I was going to pick it for that reason.
01:10:06
Speaker
All right. Excellent. Excellent stuff. Wasn't on my list, obviously, but can't go wrong with some Pokemon. And ah maybe you could actually crack the whip, Sean, and get them to make better games than what they're showing off now.
01:10:18
Speaker
Higher quality. Yeah. Please. All right. So I'm going to go ahead and with my number four overall pick, I'm just going to go ahead and take ah one of my favorite developers of all time. Bethesda Game Studios, BGS, is going to be my pick. So why not?
01:10:32
Speaker
One of the greatest developers of all time. ah Some say that they've fallen off a little bit. They didn't like Starfield as much. I love Starfield. I thought Starfield was great. and um I think they're goingnna get they're going to get back to their roots with Elder Scrolls VI, and it's going to be even better than Starfield was.
01:10:46
Speaker
And people are going to love it. I mean, you can't beat a studio that made freaking... Elder Scrolls 3, Morrowind, Elder Scrolls 4, Oblivion, Elder Scrolls 5, Skyrim, Fallout 3, and then to a lesser extent Fallout 4, and then Starfield. I mean, these are bangers, especially the first three or four that I said. Certified, like, all-time great bangers.
01:11:09
Speaker
um Todd Howard, the whole team, amazing. BGS, welcome to Midnight's RPG Palace. Any thoughts, Willis? Really good pick.
01:11:20
Speaker
You can tell them. Just go make the next Elder Scrolls or the next Fallout. You don't even have to call it that. Just make it something. Make something that's single player, please. but's not like and let's Let's actually get it out within 17 years. yeah Yes, sir.
01:11:35
Speaker
Yes, sir.
Scoring and Draft Strategies
01:11:36
Speaker
um Now, Sean, you wanted to do a rundown. So why don't you go ahead and take it away, sir? All right. just going to do a rundown quick of each of our teams. So for ah Hodge, what how do you even pronounce your team name?
01:11:46
Speaker
Micrantendoni. Micrantendoni. Okay, Mike Rotendoni. just want make sure it didn't get incorrect. You have, so far, he has Rockstar North, Naughty Dog, Respawn Entertainment, and From Software.
01:11:59
Speaker
All right. Very good. For Melonhead Productions, that is me. I have Nintendo EPD, Square Enix Creative Business Unit 1, Neon Falcom, and Game Freak. A lot of RPGs in there, plus some great platformers.
01:12:14
Speaker
100% Weebery, let me point out, by the way. All Japanese studios right here. All Japanese studios. um Very Japanese studios, by the way. ah For Midnight's RPG Palace, Midnight, you should have an apostrophe after... if You should have an apostrophe.
01:12:33
Speaker
For the Midnight's? Yeah, Midnight's RPG Palace. yeah Thank you, English Major Sean. Let me fix that. Please, thank you. There we go. Appreciate it. i'll so you um He has... He has... ah Oh, i didn't o yes, he did.
01:12:46
Speaker
Oh. He has CD Projekt Red, P-Studio, Larian, and Bethesda Game Studios. Strong. These some good publishers, man.
01:13:00
Speaker
Yeah, man. Listeners, let us know in the comment who has the best. Because we have no way of actually scoring this because these studios are not all releasing games right away. So ah we need to add up.
01:13:12
Speaker
What if we just take the average Metacritic score of each of these studios history? And then some of these have like 20 games. It'd be so hard. If somebody listening wants to do that, let us know. I was thinking, actually, what if we just actually make this like our studios that we have full time as we do the show? And every time a game comes out, we just add it to our score and just see how our publisher does.
01:13:36
Speaker
Let's do it. I like that. Yeah. Hodge, do you want to be in charge of the scorekeeping on that? Since you already have the graphics. you like right it's It's starting from this day forward. So we don't get anything from that. We don't get any past scores. Yeah. Well, we can do like a history of 1 of C where we are up to now, but that won't be included in our score. How about from 2025 on?
01:13:55
Speaker
Yeah, let's do that. If we did from like when it started, dude, you'd have to go so many Nintendo games developed by that. Oh, yeah. all the original Oh, my gosh. that there So many of them are like nines and tens. Yeah. yeah um So how about from 2025 on any he games 2025 on? All right. Yeah, well, let's do that for fun.
01:14:13
Speaker
ah Hodge, you will be the official scorekeeper and graphics master as you do, as you are. know All right. Great recap. Great recap. I am currently winning in my opinion, but Hodge with the number five pick for you. You're up. hey Let's do.
01:14:31
Speaker
um um myma ma oh man. Oh, here's a moneymaker. This one isn't going to be. i don't know how much it's going help my score, but it's a moneymaker. And that is actually not going to my score at all because they don't really make new things anymore. might want to consider that because we just said that we're going to start scoring stuff. It's true. you, though? Do you?
01:14:52
Speaker
You know what? Yes. Actually, I'm not going to pick them because. All right. so i'll I'll spoil what it was just because I don't know if anyone's going to pick it. I was going to do Epic Games because they made Gears War and they're making Fortnite. It just prints money. So um but instead of that, I'm going to go.
01:15:08
Speaker
oh Alright, screw it. We're going Insomniac. Obviously, historically, i love them for Spyro because, as everyone everyone knows, it's my favorite platformer of all time, that that OG trilogy.
01:15:19
Speaker
But, obviously, they've made Ghost of Tsushima, and we got Ghost of Yotei coming out, and i Insomniac don't miss. And Ratchet and Clank. are ah ah I was thinking. Sorry. Sucker Punch did Ghost of Yotem. Insomniac is Ratchet and Clank and Spider-Man and all that. So yeah. My bad. I missed out i've messed up with that one. But anyway.
01:15:41
Speaker
They did make Spyro. I'm not lying about that one. But yes. Ratchet and Clank. Awesome platforming games. I love love those games. I like 16 better than Rift Apart. But Rift Apart is still a fantastic game. Love it.
01:15:55
Speaker
And then, um obviously, the Spider-Man games are bangers. I still haven't played the second one. I still really need to, but I loved the first one, Miles Morales. So, yeah, I'll get around to it eventually. It's definitely going to be added to the PlayStation Plus eventually, and I think at that point is i'll when I'll finally hop into it. so um But, yeah, Insomniac Games, they make amazing games. Hopefully, that Wolverine game coming out is good. From what I've seen, i don't know what leaks are real and what's not. Apparently, it's a little...
01:16:21
Speaker
off but uh i have faith in them that the that the game will be polished and beautiful when it does come out so yeah insomniac baby my guess is that the game went through a complete reshift restart i guess yeah i think when it leaked i think they they saw the perception of it and i think i think they want to change up a lot of things and i think if they had to i mean they announced it back in 2020 Yeah, wow. 2021. No, 2021 is when it got announced.
01:16:50
Speaker
And we haven't heard anything from it since. And I don't think we're going to get it this year. i would love, I mean, I trust Insomniac with like, you know, they they they can constantly just bang out great games. So yeah, it's a great pick.
01:17:03
Speaker
It is a great pick, and i really hope that Wolverine comes out this year because I drafted them in our other draft in the Discord one that we did. ah that's site one ah and But yeah, it's probably not coming out this year.
01:17:14
Speaker
But great pick. I mean, they make awesome games. um Melonhead Productions, you are on the clock, my friend. All right. Next up for me, I am going with Guerrilla Games.
01:17:27
Speaker
Give me Horizon. it. I'm so glad you did that. I didn't have them on my list. I i didn't i don't know why I didn't think Gorilla. I was really worried that you were about to steal my but next pick, but you didn't, so I'm happy.
01:17:39
Speaker
I have a feeling I know who you're going to pick. Yeah, I went with Gorilla Games. i Like I said, I'm a huge, huge... I spelled that wrong. You know, yeah. I'm a huge Uncharted. im unared I'm a huge Horizon fan. Really like where they're where they're going with franchise. I cannot wait for the third game. Like, I am seething for that third game.
01:17:58
Speaker
um They need to slow down the other content, though. They're kind of watering it down little. Let's slow it down with that content. But I am really excited for the third game. I'm so excited to see where the story goes.
01:18:09
Speaker
Gameplay wise, these games play oh my god they're so much fun to play. Just like going up to a monster and just taking off like monster, going up to these robot dinosaurs and just taking off these parts of them.
01:18:20
Speaker
I think they're, they do an incredible job with the lore of the whole Horizon universe with all of the different documents you can read. They like, they you You know, there's someone there who knows every single thing about this universe. and they're oh, yeah, I have this. Yeah. Oh, yeah, this happened in this year. And like they have like a whole like timeline.
01:18:38
Speaker
I love it. I love that stuff. My first non-Japanese studio. Guerrilla Games. Give me that. Oh, plus, you know what else? There's first-person shooting shops in there, too, with Killzone, which I've never ever played.
01:18:50
Speaker
probably never will. Horizon is way better than Killzone. That is for sure. Yeah. I had the first Killzone on PS2, and actually i had the adapter where you could plug it into the internet. So actually, it was like the first game I ever played online but on PlayStation, and it was super fun. That game was awesome. Apparently, it doesn't hold up very well, which isn't surprising that a PlayStation 2 FPS wouldn't hold up very well.
01:19:13
Speaker
But ah yeah, that game those games were cool, but by the I tried playing the later on Killzones, and I don't think they're... like gameplay wise are good, but I don't think the story is that great. People who want Killzone to come back, I think they're just huffing a little bit of copium that they want a PlayStation FPS because they're... Give me resistance! that's that They don't need it.
01:19:34
Speaker
yeah Xbox is going to bring it to you. Don't worry. Xbox is going to bring Halo, Gears, Doom, all that stuff. and They're bringing it to you. yeah clair used to call but ah Claire told me that when they were growing up, they used to call Killzone Watered Down or um Poor Man's Halo.
01:19:50
Speaker
yeah It looked like it's it's pretty accurate. I mean, I never played it. I had I had zero interest in it, too. Like, I'm like, I'm good. I have zero interest. Oh, just as a kid, I thought the basically the hell gas looked so cool. The glowing red eyes and stuff. I just thought they looked awesome, which is like the main reason I liked it.
01:20:07
Speaker
Only time I played as a hell gas PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale. There you go. I play as Helldivers. I played as them because they ah they brought a hell up they did a crossover, so they had Killzone skins in Helldivers.
01:20:25
Speaker
All right. Good pick. Good pick. um um'm I'm so glad that you didn't steal the one that I'm about to pick, Sean. I want you to think in your head the studio that I'm about to pick, but not say it don't say it out loud, though, because you might spoil a ah future pick for someone.
01:20:39
Speaker
um It's going to be Obsidian Entertainment. Yep. Yep. Is that it? knew it. Yep. I was worried that you were going to take it. i would take it going back and I was going back and forth between the two. Yep. Obsidian Entertainment, the Black Rock, baby.
01:20:53
Speaker
um Avowed. Awesome game, in my opinion. And of course, the one that I'm even more excited about, and I know you are too, Sean. The Outer Worlds 2 coming out, allegedly, later this year, which is crazy. It's coming out. I could do that i will.
01:21:07
Speaker
it It is coming out. It's going to come out. It's going freaking amazing. It is. It's going to be so good. You're going to get a 90 plus from this game. i I doubt that, but I hope so. That'd be awesome.
01:21:18
Speaker
um I don't think Obsidian's ever had a 90 or even really close, but they're usually like 84 and under, but I love them though. All right. Yeah. So Obsidian Entertainment, one of my favorite developers of all time.
01:21:30
Speaker
um can't wait for the Outer Worlds 2. It looks like the first Outer Worlds, but like way better, the gameplay. um yeah You can throw grenades, you can shoot grenades in the air. It just looks like just vastly improved, and I can't wait, and it's going to be great, and it's going better than Avowed even, which I loved.
01:21:45
Speaker
I loved Avowed. Avowed was at an 81 on the Open Critics, and an 80 on Metacritic, which is solid. I think Outer Worlds 2 will be even better. It's going to be insane. I cannot wait for it.
01:21:57
Speaker
Yes, sir. So that is my number five pick Obsidian Entertainment. Hodge, are you going to play the Outer Worlds too when it comes out, my friend? I'm hoping to. I never finished the first one. be I just fell off of it. I had other stuff going on or whatever. But I really loved what I played of it. And I actually do. I'm hoping to i want to get back to it. I don't know if I'll time. I might just have to jump right into two. But I do definitely plan on playing the second one.
01:22:20
Speaker
It's really just a question of if I get back and play the first one again or not before it. Yeah, because these are smaller scale, kind of shorter digestible RPGs for you. yeah You could probably beat it. And I don't it's obviously it's not even out yet, but um I would guess probably about 30 hours or so. You'd be able to beat it.
01:22:35
Speaker
No doubt. In my opinion. And you are up, Hodge. All right. Um, is i I have to ask you guys, I don't know if this one has like, if it's an overall thing with subdivisions or if it's a, it's own developer. So I'm going to ask you about this. Uh, if, if it's not, I'll pick a different one, but I wanted to go with Capcom. Does that have smaller studios?
01:22:57
Speaker
but That has smaller studios. which Which games, which games are you targeting from them? Um, let's go with monster Hunter. I was, cause I didn't know if they did monster Hunter and resident evil. Um, But I'll go with Monster Hunter then because just didn't know what... That's that's Division 2.
01:23:14
Speaker
Division 2. You get Monster Hunter. You get Street Fighter. You get Marvel vs. Capcom. You got Lost Planet. That's solid. Honey Muxia. That's a really good... That's freaking awesome. All right. I'm going with that one then. Division 2.
01:23:24
Speaker
Capcom Division 2. its So not Resident Evil though. Division 2. No. Okay. But still alive some great games. No Mega Man. No Mega Man either. All right. That's a really good pick. Not on my list, but I mean...
01:23:37
Speaker
amazing games i mean shit uh this monster hunter already sold eight million copies and it's like a 90 isn't it 90 on medicare might have dropped 89 but yeah it's up there so good stuff and if we're if we're giving you 2025 then you already have that score too if we're gonna do it that way or unless we're gonna start from today i don't really care honestly um whatever we'll do it what do you think so that's what we do <unk> we'll still We'll start from 2025. That's fine.
01:24:02
Speaker
twenty four hours So you already got that in the bag then. That's solid. I think that's... Audrey, are you disappointed though? You don't get Dead Rising? Dude, i I liked Dead Rising. Like I said, I just didn't like the timer aspect of it. ah I never played Dead Rising 4, though, or the the remaster one that they just came out with. I should at some point, but those games were fun. And I remember that what I always remember at Dead Rising is them using Dead Rising 3 to show the power of the Xbox One because of how many zombies could be on the screen at one time.
01:24:31
Speaker
And it was like so mind-blowing at the time. But yeah, it was. Did you also get Ace Attorney? You get Ace Attorney as well. ah Objection. ah it Hey, before, um I will go through later on, and I will list all the IP these teams make, our individual developers make, and I will put it in a huge document.
01:24:51
Speaker
oh Okay, cool. yeah Good stuff, good stuff. r And that'll be helpful for Hodge as he's keeping score, um because he's not he's not as into the studio lore as we are.
01:25:02
Speaker
um He's more about the games themselves, not the studios, but... All right. Melonhead, you're up, sir. What's your pick? All right. This is our number, my number six pick, correct? Yes. My number six pick.
01:25:14
Speaker
Yeah. Yes. All right. My number six pick is going to be, I need a platform. I need some, I, you know what? No. Hmm. I know what I need.
01:25:24
Speaker
I know what I need. I'm going to go back, go back to the well. Let's go back to Japan. Give me Monolith Soft. Monolith Soft. Okay.
01:25:35
Speaker
they They created Xenoblade. Yeah, they made the Xenoblade games. um Nintendo actually just fully acquired them. They were just like a... It was similar to like you know when Naughty Dog was making games for PlayStation, but they weren't actually A second party or whatever.
01:25:49
Speaker
Yeah, like whatever they call it. um But yeah, they just acquired them in December 2024. um they're making They're making a new game. They're they're they're moving on from Xenoblade, but they're still going to be making some big open-world RPG.
01:26:02
Speaker
um Xenoblade games look absolutely gorgeous. It makes me like wish that they would make a Pokemon game, to be honest, because like the way they do it and the way they can get it to run on the Switch, it's pretty awesome. they make these Some of these games are freaking amazing.
01:26:14
Speaker
Oh, I should have mentioned that. Yeah. Speaking of games that brought me to tears earlier, Xenoblade Chronicles 3, the DLC, um kind of ties all the three main Xenoblade games together. i got a little teary for that game.
01:26:29
Speaker
Yeah. I haven't played any of those games, but I know they're they're supposed to be incredible. So... Yeah. Aren't they all like really big though? Like yeah they they you dare they are like a hundred hour games. Like all like in the, when I say like a hundred hours, it's like a hundred hours to do like none of them minimum, minimum.
01:26:44
Speaker
Like I spent, I have over 400 and something hours in Xenoblade two and I played through it twice and I did like everything in one of my playthroughs only in one of them.
01:26:58
Speaker
All right. Yeah. Good stuff. Good pick. um All right. So um I want to propose a question here. um Do we want to be I'm thinking I want to be benevolent. I want to be nice. I want to be really, really nice and friendly to my friend Hodge here.
01:27:13
Speaker
So I'm going to propose this to you, Sean. You're going to have the yes or no. um Do we want to go ahead and just give he had the first pick overall. Right. And with that should come some some clout. Do we want to give him all of Rockstar with his pick?
01:27:26
Speaker
We want to give him Red Dead and GTA. I would. I would do it. He gets all of Rockstar. Congrats. um ah Congrats. You have Red Dead and GTA now. sea i was I was thinking if ah like, say if I didn't pick or so if someone doesn't pick Capcom division, whatever, should we just combine everyone, like everyone who has like, no, no, no, no. okay no But we are, we will for rockstar though.
01:27:50
Speaker
Um, Since they're like they're so entwined. Well, because I was going to say, like, instead of P-Studio, you could have Atlus. Because I don't... Is anyone going to pick the metaphor studio? But I guess it doesn't really matter. Not how we're doing it. Nope.
01:28:02
Speaker
Nope. Not doing it. But we're giving you Rockstar, so congrats. you You now have Red Dead and GTA. And that is very powerful. Sweet. Can't wait for the next Red Dead to out in 2042.
01:28:12
Speaker
You also have Midnight Club and Smuggler's Run, if those ever come back. And Bully. And Bully, yeah. Yeah. All right. Midnight's RPG Palace is next on the clock.
01:28:23
Speaker
And what do I want to pick? I don't know. I'm thinking. Let me see here. Let me look at my list. ah Okay. You know what? Let's do... I only have three picks left, so I want to try to make sure i get the the best ones.
01:28:36
Speaker
um God damn it.
01:28:39
Speaker
All right. I will go ahead and take Fuck it. I mean, I probably could get this later, but I'm just going to take because they're one of my favorite developers of all time and I want them on my list. I'll just take Sucker Punch. I love Sucker Punch.
01:28:52
Speaker
Ghost of Tsushima, Ghost of Yote, Infamous, etc., etc. um i You know... and I'm getting to the point where I have like four or five studios that I really want, but i only have three picks left. So it kind of sucks, but that's what it it is. What it is. Maybe we'll add more picks. Who knows?
01:29:07
Speaker
But Sucker Punch is going to be my pick. I love them. Ghost of Yote is going to be freaking incredible. I cannot wait for that game. That's the real Assassin's Creed shadows right there, baby.
01:29:19
Speaker
Sucker Punch. Welcome to Midnight's RPG Palace. What do you guys think? Any thoughts? Sucker Punch has always been an underrated studio. Obviously, now with Ghost of Tsushima, they were put right back on the map. but like Infamous, I loved that first one. I never played two or the other one.
01:29:37
Speaker
Second one's freaking awesome. i know i just I can't remember why I never played the second one. And then Second Son, I just i didn't care once they got rid of Cole. ah yeah that I loved that first one. It was such a fun freaking game. that Sucker Punch was awesome.
01:29:53
Speaker
Hell yeah. All right. Good stuff. Mike Rintendoni, you are up next with your number seven pick, my friend. Yeah, I'm in the same boat where I have like four studios I can't i want to pick from. Maybe we should add another game. We'll see.
01:30:09
Speaker
i don't want to have to change the graphics. Oh, you're on the graphics? All right. No, but the last time I did it, I kept adding the boxes as it went because we started off with a certain amount and just to...
01:30:20
Speaker
Yeah, because it wouldn't make sense to already have like 10 boxes when we said eight an hour ago. But I'm going to go with.
01:30:30
Speaker
<unk>tata You know what? I'm going to get me a pure platformer brand on here. even though i had Naughty Dog, which used to be, ah and I guess Insomniac.
01:30:42
Speaker
But I'm to go Team Asobi because Astro Bot has been so good, and you know they're going to just keep making these games, and they're such a delight. So I just, yeah, Team Asobi, I love love what they've made so far. So I want more of what they're doing.
01:30:59
Speaker
And so, yeah, Team Asobi. and Okay. All right. Great pick. Great pick. I knew, I knew as soon as you said platformer, I knew you were going pick them because of, uh, Astro bot and stuff. I was yeah very talented.
01:31:12
Speaker
I was torn between them and toys for Bob, but I don't, Toys for Bob got like shut down and they went independent. so I don't know what the hell they're doing. so i didn' they They have that game supposedly in development for Xbox. It's supposed to come out in 2026, but who who the heck knows? yeah so I love Toys for Bob, what they did with that remake and the Crash, obviously crash war which I haven't played yet, but I do need to. so Obviously, they've done some great work. and I love that studio, but yeah I have no idea what they're doing anymore. so so I didn't want to risk it.
01:31:43
Speaker
All right. I think that's a great pick. Sean, you're up next. If you have thoughts, also feel free. No, it's a great, great pick. They were on my list. I don't know if i would have picked them, but they were definitely on my list.
01:31:54
Speaker
um But what the heck was that? Did anyone say that? Dude, it's aliens. They're coming for you. um All right. My pick is going to be Intelligent systems. intelligent systems fucker You son of a bitch.
01:32:11
Speaker
so they have fight they they did They do all the Paper Mario games. They do Fire Emblem. They do WarioWare. um These games, this team is so I think this team is severely underrated for their writing. I've never even heard of them.
01:32:25
Speaker
Fire Emblem. Fire Emblem. I've heard the games. I've just never heard of the studio. Their writing in the Paper Mario games is downright hilarious. they They do such a good job with the dialogue, but then they they can tone it down and make it so much more serious for Fire Emblem.
01:32:42
Speaker
um So I get that incredible writing, plus the awesome gameplay. they're It's so funny that they do Paper Mario, which is like... that It used to be a turn-based RPG. Now it's more of like a More of just like an action game with turn-based mechanics.
01:32:58
Speaker
Then they have Fire Emblem, which is strategy RPG. Then they have WarioWare. A, you know, a hodgepodge, homage to you, Hodge, of mini-games that are just wacky and wicked fun to play.
01:33:09
Speaker
Very, very talented studio. They've been around for so long, dude. They've been around since the early They're the original developers of the original Mario Bros. And Duck Hunt. And Metroid.
01:33:21
Speaker
Um... So pretty cool. um Yeah. Oh, they did Super Metroid as well. Interesting. um I'm legitimately so mad. Like, I'm really, like, actually, I'm not joking. I'm upset that he stole this from me because it was on my list.
01:33:37
Speaker
um Although I'm not going to lie, I wasn't going to take it next. I was going to try to get it with my last pick because I didn't think that anyone would take this. um But I was 100% going to take it. I didn't know. Honestly, I didn't know that they did Paper Mario and this other shit. yeah I just knew them for Fire Emblem.
01:33:52
Speaker
And I'm like, fire I want them for Fire Emblem because I love Fire Emblem. And I can't wait to play more Fire Emblem on the Switch, too. um Great pick. And i'm I'm legitimately mad. So screw you, Sean.
01:34:04
Speaker
i get Even if they didn't have Fire Emblem, I would have picked them anyway, just because they made one of my favorite games of all time in Paper Mario the Thousand Year Door. And they are milking that Paper Mario franchise.
01:34:15
Speaker
And supposedly they're going to make a true sequel to a thousand year door so that's they need to stop making that stuff and make more fire emblem for me baby oh i think we're listen we're due for a new fire emblem game they they come out every like couple years so yeah and it needs used to be more like three houses not like the freaking aqua quest haircut one aqua fresh or whatever you know what was that like red and blue hair what are they doing But anyway, great pick. I hate you, but I love you.
01:34:42
Speaker
All right. So I'm up next with my number seven pick, and I'm going to take I'm going to take who I was going to take. um Now, this there is more critical darlings out there. Like there's another team that I think Hodge might take soon. We'll see um that I that I'm thinking of that's really strong critically. But I'm just going to take this because they are a workhorse. They put out so many games and I love these games and it's going to be RGG.
01:35:06
Speaker
rio ga gotaku studio of course i'm talking about the yakuza games i'm talking about judgment and lost judgment um they just man they are workhorse they're putting out games non-stop they kind of remind me of uh nihon falcon you they're just always putting out games um so that's who uh that's who i'm taking rgg rio ga gotaku studios uh yakuza Amazing games.
01:35:32
Speaker
Playing through em all. Love them. I'm excited about, I want to get to that spinoff that they just launched this year, the Pirate Yakuza, or it's coming soon. and I don't know. That's so that's some Square Enix naming right there. It's it's like Yakuza, like a dragon, something in Hawaii.
01:35:46
Speaker
pi Yeah, Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii. Yeah, yeah something like that. It's kind of like a spinoff game, but it looks really fun and cool. People are raving about it. Yeah. Yeah, so there's my number seven pick.
01:35:59
Speaker
My second Weebery one. My second Japanese studio. There we go. Hodge, you're up. i' am so tor final pick I am so torn between three studios. I don't know which one to pick.
01:36:13
Speaker
um We can do honorable mentions at the end. Yeah. um I'm just... Screw it. I'm going to take it. It's my last pick. Kojima Productions.
01:36:26
Speaker
i uh yeah he's one for one right now death stranding 2 looks amazing i'm excited to see what he does with the fucking what weird one he's doing for microsoft or whatever all the other crap he's doing so uh i just yeah this one's yeah i don't know i just going in with this one it just he seems like he knows what he's doing and i love the weirdness of it and One day I will hopefully get back and try the Metal Gear games when I can get over how just horrible the controls are in the original one.
01:36:59
Speaker
So, yeah. i Yeah, Kojima.
01:37:04
Speaker
great Great pick. Great pick. That was one that I was talking about that I thought you might take. so Yeah. The critical darling one. Good stuff. All right. Sean, what's up with you, sir?
01:37:15
Speaker
All right. My next pick. I'm going with Sonic Team. No, i'm not going with Sonic Team. through that they they do produce a lot of games but i'm not i'm not going with them yeah a lot of games in the um low 70s on metacritic yes um i'm going back and forth between a couple here um do i want to take an indie studio hmm that's very risky it's very very noticed that hodge did not take the hades team surprisingly oh yeah thought might i didn't think about i didn't think about that
01:37:47
Speaker
Screw it. I know who I'm picking. I'm going with Yacht Club Games. Yacht Club Games. Give me Yacht Club. They got Shovel Knight. They're making Mina the Hollower right now. And they have that root they have that new Shovel Knight game also in production, supposedly.
01:38:01
Speaker
That's going to take it to a new dimension. Obviously, Shovel Knight. absolutely adore this game. it's one of my favorite games of all time. So give me Yacht Club Games. Cannot wait. Okay. Great stuff. Great stuff.
01:38:15
Speaker
um All right. All right. Now it's me for my final pick. um And, you know, my arguably my favorite developer of all time is still out there and I haven't taken them.
01:38:27
Speaker
But when I'm looking to the future, don't know that the future is going to come from them at all. I don't think I'm going to take Bioware. i don't think i'm going to take bioware um That is gonna be an honorable mention for me um because the future is so uncertain and I just can't trust them.
01:38:42
Speaker
um And I want to have the future in there. So for the sake of the future, i am going to go. a what It would have been intelligent systems right here, but Sean is a bastard and he's and he stole it from me. So I am going to go ahead and take the next best thing, if you will.
01:38:56
Speaker
Let's go with Playground Games. Playground Games, the developer of Forza Horizon 4, 5, 6, eventually. And also Fable, a little game called Fable they are making right now, which is going to be awesome. I know it.
01:39:10
Speaker
So I'll have Fable. I'll have the next Forza Horizon. Forza Horizon 5 is coming to PlayStation. I wonder if I'll get that score. I don't know. I should. But that's what I'm taking. Playground Games, baby.
01:39:21
Speaker
I think that rounds me out very nice. A
Draft Recap and Conclusion
01:39:23
Speaker
racing studio plus some RPG on the side from them. What do you guys think about that? huh Good pick. he thoughts I mean, Horizon is too beloved. so And you'll get the you'll get the Metacritic score for Horizon 5 soon, which is also going to be in the 90s because obviously it was on Xbox. so it's going to be unpled yeah if If we give that to me, I don't know. but yeah That's going to be big on PlayStation.
01:39:47
Speaker
It's crazy. We both have games titled Horizon. Yeah, but mine's better. The Forza Horizon games are better. I mean, they're more critically well regarded.
01:39:58
Speaker
More critically, yeah. But yeah, no, awesome. So let's go ahead and do a recap and then we can do some honorable mentions for fun. Who else we wanted? ah So go ahead and micro Mike Rintendo. Sir, why don't you go ahead and read off your list of awesome game studios? First overall i'll pick Rockstar because, you know, everyone loves them games. They be doing goods. um After that, Naughty Dog, one of my favorite studios of all time, even if their last two games have been huge misses for me.
01:40:25
Speaker
Respawn Entertainment. Obviously great FPS slash souls like type games. Speaking of souls, like got from software, the Kings of that genre, the inventors of that genre, basically insomniac games, platformer slash just awesome. ah Capcom division two, they got monster hunter, which is beloved and God reached like 2 million peak concurrent or something on steam. Some insane number like that. And absolute and insane insanity.
01:40:51
Speaker
um Street fighter. Yeah, and Street Fighter. Team Asobi, just a delightful platformer, kind of new to the scene. They've only made, I think, five games, and three of them have Astro Bot games. And then ah Kojima, he's just a weirdo, and I love his shit, so I'm happy with that. right here Team Asobi. Yeah, there you go. And then, um should i do Honor of Munchens, or we to go through it first? Then we'll do Honor of Munchens last. Okay.
01:41:15
Speaker
We're going to go through right now. Melonhead, recap your awesome studios for the listeners, audio especially. right, Melonhead Productions, we got Nintendo EPD. You're thinking of a Nintendo game? You're thinking of one of those main big three Nintendo games?
01:41:28
Speaker
They probably made it. We got Square Enix Creative Business Unit 1. Weird name? Pretty fitting for the games they make. Final Fantasy games? Kingdom Hearts games and Saga games.
01:41:40
Speaker
There you go. ah We have Neon Falcom. The greatest developer, at the greatest team at making a coherent story over the course of almost 20 years.
01:41:53
Speaker
um We have Game Freak. Yes, we have Game Freak. Pokemon. Woo! but Love it. um We have Guerrilla Games. Some of the best gameplay out there. Also Horizon. More Horizon. Horizon. Horizon. We all want it.
01:42:06
Speaker
um We have Modelist Soft, Xenoblade Chronicles, what more can I say? Proves that a Switch can run games better than Potato. Somehow. Then we have Intelligent Systems. Yes, I took this.
01:42:19
Speaker
Midnight is upset that I took it, but I get Paper Mario, I get Fire Emblem, and I get WarioWare. um One of those is not like the other. yeah and i have yacht And I have Yacht Club Games.
01:42:30
Speaker
um Pretty amazing studio. Shovel Knight. looks like it runner Looks like it can run on an any NES, but it is an amazing game. Plus, they're making me to the Hollower. ah Hopefully that comes out soon. I played the demo at PAX East 2023, and we have not heard anything since.
01:42:44
Speaker
Supposed to come out that year. It's been almost two years now. I agree. Hope that does come out soon because I also pick that in the fantasy that we have from the Discord, the web-based one. Yeah, game looks so good.
01:42:58
Speaker
All right. Great stuff. Great stuff. Midnight's RPG Palace. That's me. I have CD Projekt Red, Witcher, Cyberpunk. What more do you need to say? um They also did that card-based game that I loved as well, um the Gwent one.
01:43:13
Speaker
P-Studio, the Persona team, and Shin Megami Tensei. Amazing. Japanese greatness. larian baldur's gate 3 divinity original sin and all the great crpgs that they are let to you know come out with in the future bgs bethesda game studios needs no introduction todd howard god howard elder scrolls fallout starfield etc obsidian entertainment the black rock just dropped a vow that's an 80 for me 80 81 um The Outer Worlds 2 is going to be even gooder.
01:43:46
Speaker
Even gooder. Yes, that's a real word. It's not. um can't Love Obsidian. Then I got Sucker Punch, Ghost of Yotei, Ghost of Tsushima, Infamous. Love them. Ryu, Ga, Gotaku, RGG Studio with the Yakuza games and then their spinoff games such as Judgment and Lost Judgment, etc.
01:44:04
Speaker
And then last but not least, we have Playground Games, Forza Horizon Series plus Fable coming soon. Coming next year, not this year. um And they're awesome. So that is my team.
01:44:17
Speaker
Listeners, watchers, leave a comment, please. Let us know who has the best so the best publisher here. Which team is better? They're all good. They're all really strong.
01:44:29
Speaker
But which is the best? It's up to you. And we're also going to keep scoring in the future just for the fun of it. All right, guys, we want to do some honorable mentions real quick. um Hodge, go ahead and give us two or three honorable mentions, and then we'll let Sean do the same, and then me, and then we'll keep cycling.
01:44:43
Speaker
right, so the most obvious one that I didn't pick, I was so torn. Honestly, I probably should have taken over Team Asobi, but whatever, ah is Remedy. Obviously, they're one of my favorites. They make Every game I've ever played by them, I have loved. I'm excited to play the Max Payne remasters when those come out because I've actually never played Max Payne. It's the only ah series from them I've never played.
01:45:03
Speaker
And then I also was debating Sony Santa Monica because the God of War games are fantastic. I just don't really know what they're doing or when they're going to be putting out anything else. Who knows what's going on over there?
01:45:15
Speaker
And then ah finally is Double Fine, another great platforming studio. Psychonauts 2 is one of the most underrated games that's come out in the last few years. It is fantastic.
01:45:26
Speaker
um The original is also great ah on the OG Xbox. But yeah, Psychonauts 2 is fantastic. I'm very excited to see what they come out with next. Now, especially um the Microsoft bottom during Psychonauts 2's production, they gave them the budget to add boss fights and stuff like that to basically complete complete their game. So having a Microsoft budget from the get go with their next game, I'm very excited to see what they put out for everyone.
01:45:51
Speaker
All right, we will get back to you if you have more later on, but I just want to do two or three right now. That way we don't. Yeah. you know You know, that way we can all have our share. Melonhead, give us two or three honorable mentions if you want, if you got them.
01:46:02
Speaker
I got Level 5. Level 5, they made Ni No Kuni. They make Professor Layton. they make that They made those Yo-Kai Watch games, too. Not that I ever played them, but I really like Ni No Kuni and Professor Layton.
01:46:13
Speaker
Really underrated. Kind of adjacent to the... um for um What did I just... but Ace Attorney games. Very adjacent to the Ace Attorney game. So level five right there.
01:46:24
Speaker
Yes. um Hodge, you said it earlier, but Toys for Bob. I'm a Crash Bandicoot fanatic. Absolutely love the Crash 4 is one of my favorite games of all time. They did a tremendous job with the Insane Trilogy and i just basically...
01:46:38
Speaker
I'm just scared of they're going to next. i was I was just going to say, I love the name that for it's about time. Like it's just such a great title for a game. Like it's about time. They came out with a new one, but also it's about time. Like the game is about time. So I will end the fact that they undid all the other games. Like, no, this is the fourth after that trilogy, which is what I want that. What what I wanted them to do is Spyro is screw the rest of those games. Just make it a sequel to the original trilogy.
01:47:02
Speaker
But yeah, yeah definitely. Any more or? um yeah Give us one more if you want. That's about it for right now. yeah All right. i have I have quite a few, but I'm going to limit it to two or three for now, like I said, because I don't want to step on people's toes if they wanted to mention it.
01:47:17
Speaker
ah So I'm going to say Bioware, of course. Bioware is probably maybe my favorite studio of all time based on the pedigree, Mass Effect, Dragon Age, etc. um Freaking KOTOR, Knights of the Old Republic. So good.
01:47:29
Speaker
But I didn't draft them just because the future is so uncertain. Like, I don't even know if if they're going to release Mass Effect 4. I think they will, though, and I think it'll be good. But... But definitely an honorable mention. um Also, I had Ubisoft Quebec, Assassin's Creed Odyssey, Assassin's Creed Shadows. I love them.
01:47:47
Speaker
Odyssey, I love. um In Exile Entertainment. They did the Wasteland games, Wasteland 1, 2, 3, and they're working on Clockwork Revolution, which looks insane. So Yeah. And I have more, but I'll stop there. um Hodge, do you have any more you want to get to?
01:48:03
Speaker
um really I don't really get into any of them, but I had id on there just because obviously everyone loves the Doom games that they play so great. Hazel Light, like I said, I'm loving split fiction, so Joseph Ferris ain't missing.
01:48:14
Speaker
And then ah like Blizzard, just because, you know, it's the online games that nerds like. So that was the other one I was going to pick. But yeah, that's really all I had other than that. Oh, and Bungie.
01:48:26
Speaker
Yeah. Did you have any more you want to mention? I don't think so, but go ahead if you do. No, that's about it um for right now. Yeah, yeah i'm not I'm good. I'm good. Okay. I'll just go through the last of the ones that I had on my list, and I'll keep this brief. but I had Team Asano, Octopath Traveler, right?
01:48:42
Speaker
um I had Phyraxis Games, XCOM, Marvel's Midnight Suns, also Civilization, so that's strong. I had Blizzard, which Haji just mentioned. WoW, Diablo, etc. Can't go wrong with that.
01:48:53
Speaker
I had Ubisoft Montreal, Far Cry, Far Cry 3 especially. I had Vanillaware, 13 Sentinels, Unicorn, Overlord. And last but not least, I also had Studio Zero, which was the team behind Metaphor, Retard Ozio.
01:49:06
Speaker
um So... re-fantasio um but that's that's all i had um great studios awesome lot of fun i'm glad we did this episode this was one that i was really pushing for um i really wanted to do a draft i thought it would be fun in the future maybe later this year we will also just have an episode where we just talk about our favorite studios and not like draft it um but yeah i thought this was really fun and thank you guys for doing it with me um let's go ahead and do our final thoughts and get out of here shall we are we satisfied with the draft and everything let's move on
01:49:38
Speaker
All right. So final thoughts for episode number 29 of Games Over Plastic. I'll start it off here ah this time. I'll just say, like I always say, I just want to thank you guys for your love and support.
01:49:48
Speaker
Leave us comments, leave us subscriptions, leave us likes, leave us write-ins. And especially for this episode in particular, if you guys can, if you're listening to this, if you could leave a comment and let us know who you think had the best ah team here.
01:50:02
Speaker
You know, we got three awesome ah productions here. Three awesome. ah What's the word I'm looking for? ah Publishers. Three awesome publishers. But who do you think is the number one? Who's the best?
01:50:13
Speaker
um That's my final thoughts. um Sean Mason. Final thoughts, sir. Yeah, this is a great episode. I had it will be a lot of fun doing this. um You could tell how much we enjoyed each other's company. You know, and this is a great this is a great idea. I really, really loved it.
01:50:28
Speaker
Have fun always talking games to you guys. Can't wait to see how my melonheads do. Yeah. And then, of course, last but not least, by any stretch, Hodge, final thoughts for episode 29. This was tougher than I thought it was going to be. i thought it would be like, yeah, I can find eight teams and put them together. But once I got my list of like all the studios, i was like oh, shit, there's a lot of studios that make great games out there. And we definitely do not have a shortage of video games to play. I wish some teams would stop making so many games so I could catch up on my infinite but backlog. But that'll never happen, so...
01:51:03
Speaker
So I guess that's a good problem to have and to never run out of video games to play. So, yeah. but Yeah. Love. Obviously, as I've always said, love doing the show. Loved every week or every other week talking, talking some video games. And now that we have ah the last of a show coming out soon, we're going even more content for people. It's going to be whole lot of fun.
01:51:25
Speaker
All right. Love the melon heads there. Hodge, maybe you incorporate that baseball one into his graphics. That's up to you. No, anyway. Good stuff. Good stuff. All right, guys. um Shame on you, Sean, for stealing intelligent systems from me.
01:51:39
Speaker
That was the biggest robbery of this draft. I'm mad. But we're going to go and get on out of here. This has been Games Over Plastic, episode number 29. Goodbye, everyone. Bye. Where's Harvey Dent?