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99: It Won't Be as Dark as We Could Possibly Make It
168 Plays4 days ago
Wait, it’s all actually about card games? 🌏 🧑🚀🔫🧑🚀 Always has been
For our esteemed listeners’ consideration:
- 🫰 Weeks in Snap!! 🫰
- Secret Homework 🤫: Inscryption 💾⚖️
Rie's Game
- Rue Mer Trailer (give it all the love!)
- Rue Mer on Google Play
Follow us on Twitter/Bluesky:
Check out the other great shows in the Snap Judgments Network:
- Snap Decisions
- Snap Judgments
Join us on Discord! 👾
- Join the server
- Head into the channel "welcome-rules-and-tickets"
- Find the "SJPN Podcast Fans" message, and press the button for Snap On This!!
Featured decks:
Credits:
- Cover art by Lauren
- Snap On This!! Theme by Ben
- YouTube thumbnail by Lauren’s kid, Reggi
- Thumbnail portraits by Adam Star
Timestamps:
- 0:00:00 Intro / Our Week in Snap
- 0:25:44 Rie's Extremely Dark Hildibrand Week in Snap
- 0:50:06 Secret Homework: Inscryption
- 1:15:23 Next Week's Secret Homework
- 1:17:20 Housekeeping / Closing Remarks
Recommended
Transcript
Childhood Curiosities & Attachments
00:00:01
Speaker
my niece my grandma no my mom got a pack of pokemon little shitty plastic pokemon for my niece she's grandma for my niece that's where that came from understand and there were a bunch of them that were really really poorly colored and and she was just like there's just like a third of them she's like i just don't want these was like what you don't anyway i have clefairy and clefable at my desk now and they're like they're not poorly colored oh they're not even bad ones there were some that were really bad like just straight up like imagine like blue cliff label like there were some and not like the shiny versions they were just the wrong plastic bad paint job like they were just cheap how old is this child who decided there were things they didn't need yeah like eight i don't know it's weird that's pretty good to be like yeah i actually don't want this crap
00:00:53
Speaker
Especially because this is a child who loves stuff. She always asks me if I bring over something or whatever. She's like, can I take that home? Can I have that? No, it's fine. like She'll even see like a cool like wrapper or a cool cup. She's like, can I keep this? Can I keep this garbage? I want to make art with it. And she is a great artist. But it is, i don't know. i She's got some harder tendencies I think are pretty good. Well, yeah yeah well ah apparently not like 100% through and through. it really surprised me.
00:01:23
Speaker
Well, that' that shows like ah that's that's a person on on the on the journey of like self-understanding and stuff. Like I'm impressed.
00:01:35
Speaker
Maybe it was character growth. I think so. I can't see how it wouldn't be. Could also just be, I don't know, like being picky. Like if it's if it's not right, I don't want it. i don't I don't want a fake Pokemon. I don't want a poorly colored Pokemon. Well, what is being picky if not the antidote to hoarding?
00:01:55
Speaker
o o Yes. I'm just saying. I could use more pickiness in my life. I i am picky about new things, but i am very I have a hard time getting rid of old things.
00:02:16
Speaker
Mmm, yes. Yes. I can... I feel both of those in my own life. I'm still using my Link car air freshener that I've had for over a decade.
Youthful Recklessness
00:02:30
Speaker
It's like Ghost Link now. It's so faded out from the sun. To what extent is it even freshening the air? is it Oh, like 0%. That's not the point. It looks cool.
00:02:42
Speaker
It's dangerous to go alone. That's you hear. In high school, I used to draw Portal Guardians for my friends, which were just random characters that, yeah, it would it would help you drive safe.
00:02:55
Speaker
yeah
00:02:58
Speaker
That's silly. Somebody would get in a crash be like, did you have your Portal Guardian?
00:03:05
Speaker
um I say that like we just got in crashes all the time, which honestly, kind of. I was sort of wondering.
Podcast Logistics & Dark Stories
00:03:13
Speaker
teenagers being stupid um yep absolutely there was there was one sleepover this is middle of winter if this is michigan in winter and on the way home from the sleepover this is happening in two separate cars they both try separately from each other not on the road at the same time not within vision of each other they both tried doing fishtails for fun lost control slid into a snowbank and one of them slid into a tree I was in the tree car I wasn't driving um just like wow yeah teenage boys uh that's oh that's silly that's a silly story Lauren congratulations you you got a that's silly out of me that's the ultimate prize all right well you know it's our 99th episode it's crazy um welcome welcome
00:04:07
Speaker
Who's it's free. It's free. It's odd numbers. i I know I've got, I've got a handle on this. How was your weekend? feel like the reason you always think it's me is because you can sense my dread that it might be me who has to go first and we can You subconsciously will me into it.
00:04:22
Speaker
Um, ah Funnily enough, I'm wondering if we should... Okay, you know how it's common in card games? Literally, this just came in my head. saying like Where you get an ability where it's like, look at the top three cards of the deck.
00:04:35
Speaker
You can draw one place one on the top of the deck, and one of the bottom of the deck. And I'm wondering if my weekend snob should be the one that goes to the bottom of the deck? Because... This week?
00:04:46
Speaker
This week. Because... ah as you know As previously warned, I've decided to heal the brand with my remaining weeks in Snap. And um this week it was pretty wild because it was going get a little dark.
00:05:01
Speaker
And I totally understand if it's like not the day or week or year for someone to want to hear anything dark.
Gaming Weekend Recap
00:05:12
Speaker
So i would like it to be easily skippable in case anyone wants to.
00:05:17
Speaker
Isn't it easier to skip if it's at the beginning are you saying at the very end of the podcast? and Well, at the end of Weekend Snap, then skip to the next time stamp. If you want, I can timestamp your Weekend Snap specifically. Usually I just do our Weekend Snap as like one chapter, but like, yes. Whatever you want to do it. Ree's extremely dark Weekend Snap can be its own little... Please label it that way. Um...
00:05:42
Speaker
Listener, if you don't know, Ben laboriously, that may not be true, I don't know. It's not that laborious. Laboriously his heart and soul into getting timestamps every single week. They're in your podcast notes or video description. You can jump around between the chapters.
00:06:00
Speaker
Yeah, do it. if you If you need to, skip past Ree's very dark weekend can snap. Ben, how is your weekend snap? And keep it snappy. Oh, well, I am going first then. I see. it was yeah all a ruse. Okay. Well, my weekend snap, endeavoring to keep it snappy, as I so often do.
00:06:22
Speaker
I've been playing a little bit of snap. I think last week I was at like 77 something. with with Aunt May and small, silly, movable cards and stuff. And i I've still been playing that deck a little bit. But, like, I knew last week it was not good, and i ah that's still my opinion. um But I did start sprinkling in a little bit more of a good deck. I just dusted off Supergiant Surfer, and that's been doing well for me. I don't know.
00:06:57
Speaker
It's just the one that I felt like playing and it seemed right. You know, I've been catching some people with some super giant stuff. Been cannonballing some things as I, as I love to do. I live, I live to cannonball some things. Um, so now I'm up in the eighties, pretty exciting. And there's a team clash going on. ah none of my friends made decks for this one.
00:07:25
Speaker
i had to you know had to get into the grand arena, of course, when that was recently here because Lauren had a deck and safety a deck. Obligation. But no, as far as I know, none of my friends built the team clash decks. So I just bought the event pass, got tarantula and was on my way. Haven't played the tarantula yet. I've been pretty busy. a you know, a lot of life things, more moving stuff, even though the worst part of it was done, the the packing things up.
00:08:00
Speaker
The unpacking will be fine, but, you know, there are lots of in-between things, making sure you've got your renter's insurance and this, that, and the other thing, and emailing people about stuff and utilities and blah, blah, blah, blah. blah blah blah um And also other family obligations that I need not bore you with. But anywho, there have been some games other than Snap.
00:08:24
Speaker
um i We're doing the final Montabi playtest. I think technically it's over, but the the build is still available to me. So I might do a little more of that. I've seen my name in the credits. It's pretty exciting. I hope I can just close um but that's does final mean that it's public soon or early access soon i believe the release date is august 6th i can probably double check that very quickly also one thing that was announced i believe just today is that it is coming to nintendo switch so um oh also xbox but come on nintendo switch people And I think that's Switch 1, not Switch 2. So, I don't know. I mean, I know a lot of people have Switch 2s, but I think even more people have Switch 1s. That's what I think. and it
00:09:18
Speaker
Switch 2 will play anything Switch 1 plays. so Exactly. That's what they should be targeting if Switch 1 can handle it. So it's that's that's pretty cool and exciting. I mean, like I wish I had more time to test things and type up my notes. and I don't know. I'm like, I wish I could have done more, but you know I'm not getting paid for it, and it's just like a thing I'm doing for whatever reasons.
00:09:45
Speaker
I don't know. I don't know, but that's been taking up a lot of my my idle time that could otherwise be going to other games. Another game I played this week, Inscription. Ooh.
00:09:56
Speaker
we're going to talk about it later. i didn't get to play as much inscription as I would have liked either. i did. Um, I wasn't sure why, like, I remembered, I don't know. Point is, I, I really authentically got the experience by fully resetting my, my save data for inscription, which I didn't realize would lock me out of Casey's mod, which, uh,
00:10:22
Speaker
is a thing that if you know what that is, then you know what that is. And if you don't, then I don't know. It doesn't matter. i believe there is a cheat code you can use to unlock it instantly. That would not surprise me one bit.
00:10:34
Speaker
It's not that important to me. I'm, I'm just having fun with the experience. We'll talk about it later, but like, gosh, having having the familiarity sure, sure makes me feel, I don't know. And we'll talk about inscription when we talk about inscription. But yeah, yeah.
00:10:52
Speaker
ah ah Other games. I wish I'd had time for eugenics. I'm still on the precipice of like fully 100%ing things. Hitler's going to show up at the house tomorrow. I'll i'll get him.
00:11:08
Speaker
i'll I'll punch him harder than Captain America, I tell you. um Anywho, don't know. i'm I'm a little worried that i've I've lost track of some of my My interwoven bloodlines and things. Oh my gosh. So many genealogies must be run before these cats can be cleared to to breed and stuff. Oh, geez. The admin. It really is just... It's a lot. And like once once you get into like 100 plus cats territory, it's it's wild. I mean, like you start playing the game and for the first however many hours, you'll you'll probably be thinking like, what was Ben talking about the admin? How does this become unmanageable? And I don't know. You probably have like 20 cats. You probably know them all by name and like sister son of Théoden and all that shit. You know, like I i don't know. Are saying you don't know your cats names?
00:12:01
Speaker
I'm saying there have been so many cats that like I'm starting to see repeats of names. Like I'm like, oh, this Bobumbo 2, not related to Bobumbo 1. Bobumbo 1 was identified by the the intelligence icon. that That was his family crest, so to speak. But Bobumbo 2 has a plain circle insignia. that's You don't name the cats?
00:12:28
Speaker
You can't name the cats. Wow. part of That's a yeah bold choice. you just you i If you could name them, oh my gosh. its Things would take even longer. Yeah. ah and And like mostly they just have random names, but every once in a while I think I've only identified like two of these.
00:12:51
Speaker
Cats will show up at your house, you get one stray a day, and like one stray was named beaver and it had mutations that made it look exactly like a beaver.
00:13:02
Speaker
And usually these things are completely random. So like, I was like, was this just extremely unlikely, but like, no, it had to have been. Cause like it had buck teeth and a beaver tail and it was named beaver.
00:13:15
Speaker
And then most recently that was like the only one I'd ever seen. And it was so weird. But then, ah i don't know, sometime in the past week during one of my rare play sessions, I haven't had time for eugenics, as I mentioned. But anywho, I was playing a little bit and I got one that was named Fiji Mermaid and it was a spooky mermaid that had it.
00:13:36
Speaker
it definitely had like a mermaid tail and stuff. And it had a big fangs that make it's, uh, attacks do bleed damage. So yeah, it had mouth mutation, tail mutation, and had fins and stuff. And I was like, okay, this one was definitely on theme on purpose, but like only two, only two times have I seen this in an ungodly amount of play time.
00:14:00
Speaker
Um, anywho. yeah, That's just the sort of stuff. there There's always more to see with that game. It's pretty cool. And it's and yeah, just just the scope and and the the detail. It ah just it It is really ah impressive. Anywho, other than that, I'm excited for Snapcards coming out.
00:14:24
Speaker
And, well, I say that. I'm not sure I actually am. I'm excited to play more Snap in a a snappier chapter of my life. i'm I'm getting infinite this month. I was chilling in the 90s last month. But this month, um'm I'm going all the way just because...
00:14:42
Speaker
You know, i'm i long for that credibility. that The listeners got to know that we're serious card gamers or whatever. I don't know. and oh also played some Magic the Gathering this past week. I looked for Hildebrand.
00:14:57
Speaker
My friends with the Final Fantasy Magic cards said they don't have Hildebrand. And I... That was sad. Searching for Hildebrand is a common like plotline, though, so, you know, it's still be a boy. Okay.
00:15:15
Speaker
Well, maybe someday we'll we'll find him. I don't know. They got some cards in the mail while I was there. bullshit Exodia shit. You need like multiple cards to make one big card. i was like, what even are we doing, Magic the Gathering? Get out of here, Asbro. What is this? I don't know. Anywho, I'm just around.
00:15:38
Speaker
Always finding time for some games. Never as much time as I would like for all the games, but what what are you going to do? Cards. And video games. I don't want to make it sound like I only strictly play games.
00:15:51
Speaker
video games and regular games with cards in them. Ooh, I played some Azul with my family. That's a board game. i like Azul. Yeah, that doesn't surprise me at all. It seemed like some, some Lauren ass shit. Um, that was pretty fun.
00:16:07
Speaker
um Oh, recently this wasn't in the past week, but, um, before that I played, is it centuries? I don't know. I played another game with my, that one had cards. So I guess that one doesn't prove my point that I play games that don't have cards. But anywho, yeah, this has been a ah lengthy weekend snap, i so I suspect. But sometimes you just got to let it let it lose, let it fly, you know? That's right. These are the things that happen to me. That's what we say.
00:16:36
Speaker
as we As we frequently say in the podcast. All right, Ree, did you want to go last with your weekend snap? Okay, Lauren, tell us about it. We
Revisiting Classic Games
00:16:48
Speaker
must go. guess ah I revisited Portal 2 for the first time since it came out.
00:16:54
Speaker
That was fun. And now she only wants you gone. i I only know about the songs. Oh, you got to play the games. They're great.
00:17:04
Speaker
um I played it with my child. and That's how we we spent mommy kid night on Tuesday. We played the co-op, which is great. and And yeah, it's really fun and really silly. We had a great time. um Thumbs up for, ah i don't know how old it is at this point, 15 year old game. I've been chasing a really tough clip.
00:17:29
Speaker
one the hardest ones in a while. I didn't even post. I I've been trying to post a new clip every Monday. i didn't even know. them no Snap. I watched some people play portal two and co-op and it did look like fun.
00:17:41
Speaker
It is. I thought maybe you wanted to make a clip cause you know, goofy things happen there. I'm okay with keeping creation to a single game. Uh, and just, you know, and enjoy living in the moment on my other games.
00:17:55
Speaker
Um, I say that like I've never you know created spreadsheets for the community of another game, which would be a lie. Anyway, um this clip, I am sending my opponent a Venom and then stealing it back with Man Spider, and it's really cool. And I've pulled it off a few times, but everybody who who does it to me, or the times I've i've done it successfully...
00:18:17
Speaker
have been ruined by various tribunals and fastball specials. And the one time I truly pulled it off, it was an opponent with like 350 CL. And I was like, I can't, I can't post this. I can't post myself beating somebody using multiple man without an enabler and Jessica Jones. This is unacceptable.
00:18:37
Speaker
Um, so yeah, I, I'm chasing that one and it's, uh, It's worth it, I hope. So, spoilers spoilers for my next clip, which I will get eventually. um Yeah, mostly just been playing Team Clash, which I like less every time it runs. It is so demanding on my time. What the heck? And I hate...
00:19:03
Speaker
Hate how aggressive the missions are. I appreciate that the missions, which mostly ask you to play teams, right? I like that they don't ask you to win. That's nice. but and And I like that...
00:19:17
Speaker
They make the meta more diverse, right? You run into people playing maybe decks that aren't as good because because they got the mission to if you ran into me playing Spider-Verse, I was suffering. had to get through six matches. so't real. I didn't want to. And even when I beat you, I didn't enjoy it The six is so big. You only get four tickets every eight hours. like Six is so many to ask for, and i they they need to dial that back. I just want to play the deck that's fun for me. And if you want to give me a few missions to make me shake it up, fine. But let me mostly play for fun. Dang it. um
00:19:57
Speaker
Honestly, though, it's it's just... I don't know. that's I don't think it's a very interesting game mode. It's... I don't know. I should be more introspective about like, what doesn't click for me? um Definitely a big part of it is that they're forcing me to play things I don't necessarily want to be playing.
00:20:16
Speaker
But if you haven't played it yet, Venus with the Guardians of the Galaxy is pretty fun. that's That's like new. I've been enjoying the most a very greedy Man Spider Thunderbolts deck because you can do Man Spider and then Abs Man and that gets huge. And then Taskmaster will just copy the Abs Man, which is really cool.
00:20:36
Speaker
um Yep. So that's that's that. I haven't played Rancho or Tombstone yet. Wasn't particularly excited about Rancho. Are you him Rancho?
00:20:47
Speaker
Why not? Okay. All right. I've time for four syllables.
00:20:55
Speaker
Tombstone looks fun and I haven't i haven't played him yet. Probably because I've been stuck on this clip that I've been really wanting to pull off. Yeah. um yeah Anyway, I worry... This conversation would be better saved for when they actually announce Draft and tell us anything about it, but I don't i don't know if we're going to be recording when they do that. um You know, hopefully. There's been whiffs of Draft in the data mine, so hopefully it's coming soon, but I think there's a lot riding on it. Like, this is something they've been talking about for years, and it'll be the first new game mode in a while, and...
00:21:31
Speaker
I'm really worried it's not going to be fun.
Perils of Everest
00:21:33
Speaker
Like, I'm sure it'll be fun the first few times, but I'm really worried it's going to have the team clash problem where it gets more boring every time it runs. And it's only fun because it's novel. and Oh, is it a limited time one?
00:21:45
Speaker
We don't know. But, um, if it were me, that's what I would do. I would start limited time, get some feedback from the community, see what they think. And if they like it, promote it to permanent and kill conquest. Yeah.
00:22:01
Speaker
that's what That's what I would I don't think Conquest be cool, though. It's the genuine competitive mode like between two players. like Right? It needs it to be a series. I guess there's a friendly battle, but I really do just think they need to like shorten it up quite a bit. Conquest needs some love. and i i feel like they've said before that like they know Conquest needs love, but like it's the oldest game mode. They've been saying that it's just thought It's not built to be
00:22:32
Speaker
Some of the newer modes, they've they've built them to be modular. like Like, I think it's... Is it this month we're getting a... need us what did we We just got um Sanctum High Voltage, right? Like, they did the both of them together at the same time.
00:22:49
Speaker
Yeah. So they're they're making these more modular so you can be like, oh, it's high voltage, but it uses Sanctum scoring or whatever. um I feel like they announced another one, but I don't want to...
00:23:02
Speaker
Might have been a dream. No, this month, they're doing Grand Arena Showdown, which is ah which is Grand Arena with Sanctum scoring. That's the next event after Team Clash. That's, wow, okay, yeah.
00:23:13
Speaker
i don't I don't know, but my point is they're making these these newer ones modular so they can just take the pieces. they considered that neither of these flavors is chocolate nor peanut butter? like We're not mixing two winners.
00:23:26
Speaker
It's like to how Taco Bell is, like we put our ingredients together in a slightly different fashion. Now it's a new thing, you know? But those ingredients go together. Yeah. It works for T-Belt. don't think it's going to work for MSnap.
00:23:41
Speaker
So anyway, that's where I am with Draft. i'm just like I have no idea what it what it looks like, what it's going to play like, except for even the little tiny snippets that we have in the data mines. But I just like...
00:23:54
Speaker
I worry that it would, it's a good thing they've said so little about it because there's no expectations, right? Totally different from character mastery. When they first introduced character mastery, they told us like, if there's going to be missions for each character. and and there's like all these expectations. And then when they said like, no, we couldn't figure it out. We had technical issues. It was like a huge disappointment for everybody. And then there was so much outroar eventually uproar. We eventually got mastery in its current state, but it's totally different from what was promised. Yeah.
00:24:24
Speaker
I think that even though there haven't been as many specific promises regarding draft mode, I do think that expectations will be pretty high because they really took so long about it. And like admitting that they wanted to do it. And like all all this of this development. yeah And like, yeah, I mean, my I I'm I'm holding them to a certain standard. I also I'll say i would like it to be good.
00:24:53
Speaker
So I think we all deserve for it to be good. That's that's what I think. Yeah, I hope so too. I really do. And like if it is it's going to be a great opportunity to bring new and returning players to Snap. like It's going to be a great way to like rejuvenate it.
00:25:09
Speaker
not that it's Not that I think it's dying. I think it's the kind of game that has a long tail. But it would be... i don't know. It's just like it's a really good opportunity. But I do worry that it's just going to be like, oh, you spent two years to to come up with that when you could have just copied the Chinese client and their solution for for draft, which was pretty fun, if not perfect.
00:25:31
Speaker
I don't know. that's That's it. My hopes and dreams. um i hope I hope draft is good, but that seems like very big shoes to fill. phil I don't know whose shoes they're filling, but somebody's. Okay.
00:25:45
Speaker
Rhi, we're ready for your darkest hour. I'm raised. Okay, it won't be as dark as we could possibly make it. We'll refrain. Okay. oh
00:25:58
Speaker
of it being Okay, this is going to be as dark as I can possibly make it. I just wanted to, I don't want anyone to feel unwarned, you know? So I tried to i tried to over, you know, over-emphasize. Skip ahead if you need to.
00:26:13
Speaker
Yeah, okay. um So I have been, because I've been, you know, as it's just been where I've been lately, mildly, in in a dark place, metaphorically. It's been very sunny, actually, heat wave. And remember how I was, I don't know if it was last week or weeks ago, because what is time, but I was like, like, yeah.
00:26:36
Speaker
i Sometimes I look up, when I want to scare myself, I look up pictures of megalodons. You know, recreations. There are no photos. Yeah. Okay. I did happen to find a new way to scare myself. And part of the reason is this is necessary. It's like, you know, i when we're teenagers, like, like we have...
00:26:57
Speaker
you're, you're wired for risks, right? Like scientifically studied it as a teenager, right? You're more of a risk taker. It's actually kind of interesting. They think, you know, theories, right? Is that it, it was developed because like, you know, in cavemen, homo sapien days, ah they needed young people to go out and adventure and find different tribes.
00:27:22
Speaker
So didn't get little too inbred. Honestly, this is one of the reasons among what they assume is many reasons why the Neanderthals like, you know, faded out was they actually stayed in much smaller social groups, leading to like more inbraining problems. Whereas Homo sapiens were in much larger groups. This isn't actually relevant to anything. we're talk I just think it's interesting.
00:27:48
Speaker
I just think it's neat. You're right. Um, Right. And I certainly was. i was a little daredevil, right? Because you get this mixed sense of like false sense of immortality mixed with like edgy teenage depression, all kinds of risk taken. Anyway, then, right, you settle into the like safer stuff of like roller coasters and stuff where it's like, well, you know.
00:28:12
Speaker
you don't If you don't learn about, you know, the deregulations of things, then you're like, ah, it's been made safe for me, but I can still get a thrill. And then, like, you know, you get old enough it's like, I can't do rollercoaster. like, hurts my body to be, like, jolted around. I couldn't even enjoy the Star Wars ride.
00:28:30
Speaker
And I was going to get – I had the best. I was going to get to be, like, the pilot. I was in the very front, and I know everyone was jealous, and the whole time i was oh, not a pilot. Like, ah, it hurts. Why are they moving me like this?
00:28:44
Speaker
It was just, like, all I could do to i hold on and not, like, die in the ride. Okay. it' like Anyway, so, like, I can't do that anymore. But, like, I also have a very firm sense of my own mortality. I'm not, like, no longer interested in bungee jumping or parachuting out of the plane. But, okay, I did find another...
00:29:05
Speaker
Another thing that is ah terrifying, and that is ah Mount Everest. And more broadly, Lake. Yeah, summits, right? And at first you may think that like Everest is um because it's it's sometimes in the climbing community, it's considered kind of old hat because it's like, okay, it's been summited a million times. been very commercialized because it's the one thing people are like, i want to summit the highest mountain in the world. So like it's a whole industry now, right? There's been problems that they've had where it's like because, you know, it's it's such a narrow, like a set pathway with ropes put in by ice doctors. That's what they're called, the like bravest people in the entire world who like go up and put the lines for all the tourists to be able to hold to, right?
00:30:02
Speaker
But like there there could be this line, this bottleneck. In the bottleneck. A lot of times there are places on mountain climbs called bottlenecks um where, you know, you get you get stuck and you're just waiting summit. And it's like, well, this isn't the tourist experience you want.
00:30:19
Speaker
Wrong. It's worse than that. It's way worse than that. Never go to Everest. It's not for you. I mean, maybe one person listening. Like never is. yeah items Exactly. Okay.
00:30:32
Speaker
Because here's the problem with Everest, right? So my let's start with like, okay, no, let's start with, you know, you start at base camp, right? And it all seems okay. And maybe you're someone who was trained with like a backpack. do you ever see people out training with like backpacks? like I think so. On walks.
00:30:56
Speaker
For backpacking. I see it sometimes on one. Yeah. Okay. Well, you know, they're training like for treks. Okay. So you go up, go up there. Right. And it's like, so you not only need to know like climbing and mountaineering and everything, but um when you get up there, not just a little cold, it's not just a little to get to the summit, to get to the summit of Everest, which is like over, there's like,
00:31:24
Speaker
ah I think it's called the Seven Summits. It's like all the mountains that are over, that are like 7,000 feet, like are over, here okay? And um the problem is once you get above, I believe it's 6,000 feet, it's called the Death Zone.
00:31:41
Speaker
Like, and it's not being cute. You know it's called the Death Zone? Because that's the level that you get above where there's there's just not enough oxygen in in the air, right?
00:31:52
Speaker
Every moment you are in the death zone, you are dying. Your brain is dying. Your body is literally breaking down and dying. And if you spend long enough in the death zone, you will die. Like of all kinds of nasty things and, and you know, of lack of oxygen. students Some people happen sooner ah because, you know.
00:32:14
Speaker
people react to things differently. So like, this is, this is a real, ah real danger. This why everyone takes supplemental oxygen up to the, ah up to the summit. And it's actually even a problem is that like,
00:32:31
Speaker
the people who are her really good mountaineers and stuff like that, right? It's like, they're those teenagers that never lost, you know, that happens to some people. They never lose that that sense that need to get adventure, right? And with adventure, there's always danger. And I think for a lot of us, like a little bit of danger, even if it's a little bit of social danger, like you just might be embarrassed, make something like trying a yoga class in adventure, right? But for some people, it's like not enough. And they they they get obsessed with wanting to be a first or something. And once things got summited once, right, then the race becomes like summiting without supplemental oxygen. So trying to get up to the peak in the back while your body is dying, not only is like your body dying, this impairs your judgment, right? You no longer like can think clearly. You start hallucinating,
00:33:25
Speaker
Um, like all kinds of bad stuff. So the race is to be, hope you can like fortitude it up enough and get, get up to the top and down before you've been in the long enough in the death zone to, to succumb, right? It's literally a video game timer and we're counting down on you. Um, and you don't know how long that number is for you.
00:33:47
Speaker
Okay. and And that's the problem. So they get there. There's also like speed climbs. It's just gotten more and more dangerous as people find more ways to like top the last people. But that's just like, right, that's the day that's the people who are the best at this, who have planned the hardest, who have made successful things, right? None of them are just like tourists. Right.
00:34:09
Speaker
But OK, so the death zone is one thing that will kill you. Right. Just be in there long enough. You don't get enough oxygen and you're not having a good time. Like, right. This is a struggle the whole time you're fighting your way up and back. Second, like, you know, it the cold, the cold, the cold will kill you.
00:34:27
Speaker
Right. And and. Not only will it just like, it's like, that is also a timer on you. Because of your oxygen deprivation, a lot of times you can't eat while you're in the day. Your body will stop letting you process food. Without hot food, that makes you get cold faster. And you can literally, like, you take a glove off and your hand will freeze. Like, you know, if in in some of the colder moments. Like... Um, frostbite is very, a lot of people survive really bad frostbite. And when you get cold, when you, when you get cold enough, like any way that you're dying of freezing, you can do something. And because you're right, you're mentally not there. It's called unparadoxical dressing.
00:35:16
Speaker
It's where your blood capillaries are so fucked up, you think you're burning. And people who are literally freezing to death, they will find people like with clothes taken off. with people People start taking off gloves and so and just like freezing themselves because they think they're on fire. So it's just like...
00:35:35
Speaker
All kinds of ways. And this is like, this is to to do any of these mountains, including Everest. You have to wait for a, ah like and a window to clear of good weather. Because the everything I've just described is the best conditions you can find. in one of these mountains because if a storm is happening, storm is happening like the winds could be so fast and freezing that it would just freeze you solid as it's going by. It could knock you off the mountain, right? It's whiteout where you can't see where you're going, what you're doing in um these very tight conditions. And this isn't even mentioning like right avalanches, Serax. Serax are where those little peaks that just get up snow and just anytime they're gonna slide down, just, you know, take out a bunch of people. They have to, in fact, I think like this season or massachusetts they've had problems where it's like, well, we can't navigate around these Serax so we don't know when we'll fall. We can't find a path around them.
00:36:38
Speaker
So like, you know, if you if you are mountaineering around one of these, you are just literally in danger. you just Sometimes it's nothing. you can do. Right. And then that's where the, the, the commercialism of this gets in trouble because to go up the mountain, you need Sherpas, right? They're the, they're not local in that no one fucking lives in the death zone. That's why it's called a death zone. Right. But these are people who live in the countries around these mountains, um, who like,
00:37:07
Speaker
aren't getting paid nearly enough, but it's like often vastly better pay than they can get elsewhere. To four tourists, four climbers, you know, they're supposed they're guides. They train to like take people up and down to carry all of their equipment, to carry extra supplemental oxygen, all of that. a lot of them die and it's kind of like – That's not awesome. You know? um No. So there's all kinds of – in fact, they had a huge – sometimes they just – once they just shut down a whole season um demanding, you know, better pay and like more – safety it's stuff requirements um and uh you know supposedly they got they got a deal but like have things really changed that much when you're looking at it now and most people would say they haven't changed enough for the better um that they need to okay
00:38:06
Speaker
So, but there's the flip side of that too, where the commercialization, as I've described, is not mentioning to every, to like people coming, you know, who are like, it's like, this is the death zone. has not been Disney-fied for you. And they're not telling that to people who are like, you don't just go climb Everest for like your first mountain, you know what mean? Or summit it or any of these, right? But like, it's so much money. Sometimes they just like,
00:38:34
Speaker
You know, there's just there's all kinds of negative things to that. OK, so because this gets into the. um The darkest part of all of this, right, is that ah when someone dies on Everest, it is extremely dangerous to get their bodies to try and bring their bodies back down. If it's even in a recoverable position. um Because some people some people just will freeze on a line holding on to mountains. You know, some people who didn't fall into a crevasse or something will find laying to the side. But it's like a body frozen solid
00:39:12
Speaker
uh, it's both immovable and can be like four, hundred three to 400 pounds. Right. And it's already hard enough to just get up the mountain and down. People have, it's to to take a body down is to risk a bunch of rescuers lives and multiple people have died just trying to bring down bodies, but they do keep trying because, you know, you ah sometimes the wind eventually pushes them off or away, but, you know, eventually, like, you you don't want everyone seeing all these bodies. A lot of people might have heard of the the the most famous case was called Green Boots, ah was a, um was one of the men who died in the 1996 Mount disaster, and his his body came to rest on occasion in these really bright green boots.
00:40:08
Speaker
And um yeah, like somebody stick around so long, they become kind of landmarks like Green Boots. that he They did finally ah find his name.
00:40:20
Speaker
um He's been now he's not actually visible. What they'll do sometimes when they can't bring a body home is they'll put like a like they'll find this. They have this like cloth, ah you know, tarp. They'll kind of put over it. That'll be white. That'll blend into the mountain and weight it down so that it's not, you know.
00:40:38
Speaker
bright parkas and stuff out there. um But yeah, there's a lot of ah there's a lot of stories about just bodies that have have stayed on Everest because they couldn't be brought down that you would just see as you go up. If someone dies while climbing, even if it's in the way and they're going to remove it, like it can't always happen right then. So sometimes people are summiting and literally climbing over dead bodies ah to, you know, to to summit. And and then it's been a known case where there's a worry about like, I think they call summit blindness, where people have have gone by dying people.
00:41:21
Speaker
just like just like climbed over people, they were literally dying, because they're so focused on getting on getting to the summit. But also it's like, there's not there's not so much, like there's only so much you can do, right? This is the problem, there's not rescue.
00:41:38
Speaker
available It's too dangerous. So there's not so much someone can do to save you. And like most of the way that ah that people pass a lot of times is on the way back. They're so focused, right? They're so driven to get to that like summit that they do it.
00:41:59
Speaker
And then they do it too late in the day or they just push. They should have turned back. They push their body toward and it's the way back down. It's the way back down that that like that gets them that they that's, you know, where they go. So they achieve their goal, but not.
00:42:14
Speaker
to get back down again. And um even to experts, right? This is the big worry when climbing these really dangerous things. It's like this is is getting the extra blinds. We've done something so many times, even though this is a life saving thing, you know, the way we sometimes drive sometimes, but like just on pilot mode. But it's like these are life saving things you have to put that focus into. every single time or you can do something like repel off the end of your – make a, you know, ah a mistake and a routine thing. Okay.
00:42:47
Speaker
So um Everest is horrific. ah Like probably don't go there or like, you know, try to summon. I'm convinced. But it's like if you want to – you know, but the conditions are like – it's like I feel – It's less scary because the odds that I will get stuck on Everest close to the summit are pretty, pretty low. Cause you know, don't see why someone would do that to me. Sounds difficult.
00:43:17
Speaker
Um, But I wanted to end, okay, but this is where i have I have, I could talk for like hours, everything I've learned about mountaineering and cave diving. Okay, but I wanted to end on a, ah you know, on a, something less dark. Kind of, it's still kind of dark, but it's like a more interesting mystery of Everett. And this is the story of the most excited anyone ever was to find a foot.
00:43:48
Speaker
um of corpse. Sorry. Okay. It is, okay. Someone found a foot on Everest. And people are finding bodies all the time in these mountains. It's usually not like, yay! Okay, but they found this foot and they looked, you know, they looked at the, they pulled up, it it was just the foot. I'm sorry. And they looked at the label ah You know, on because it was still it still had socks and shoes. and And that label said AC Irvine, Sandy Irvine. OK, so the the one of the early expeditions and one of the great mysteries of Everest is that George Mallory and Sandy Irvine were part of an expedition.
00:44:34
Speaker
um i should have looked up the year. 1930s, want to say. like way too early for everything I described for it's like it's you know you want to go back and be like bro it's 1930 you can't try this you don't have the equipment like you gotta level you gotta your civilization has to like advance several research stages you know before you there but yeah no they wanted because even back then people are like yeah they see a mountain they're like I'm gonna get to top of that mountain And that was George Mallory, right? And so he's up there, and Sandy Irving is along Andrew. His first name, AC. I don't know where Sandy comes from. That was his nickname. um He was along because he was an experience in this newfangled technology, carrying these really heavy tanks on your back to get oxygen ah to, you know, to to help you survive the death zone.
00:45:32
Speaker
And um they they tried we know that they tried to summit. There are surviving members from the expedition who didn't try ah to summit. And actually, the Irvine foot and also toward George Mallory's, but more more of his body was found. it doesn't it didn't It's not good iga state But it was found also by other researchers who were really excited when they found George Mallory, right?
00:46:02
Speaker
Because the big question is, did were they actually the first to ever summit it? I'm sorry, i should have looked at the people. There's two people credited with being the first to summit it. um But this is the intriguing mystery. Were they actually, in the 1930s, the first? And it's like, okay, they were found close to the summit. And a lot of people trying, maybe not this early, get to some, right? It's on the way back down that a lot of people get taken. So maybe they got there. Now, George Mallory, ah his his poor wife, who who didn't see ah as much of him as I'm sure he did. He did this very, like, have you seen A Knight's Tale?
00:46:45
Speaker
Do you know you know what A Knight's Tale is? It's been way too long. but Okay, there's in the Knight's Tale, he's, you know, he's doing these tournaments for glory. And he tells the woman he loves, I'm going to win this tournament for you. And she, well, she's just, she's she's got nothing going on. She's a noble lady. She's not allowed to have anything going on. And she's like, that's a bullshit. you went You're not winning this tournament for me.
00:47:08
Speaker
Like, you're winning you winning it for yourself. Don't say it's for me. And um this that's the attitude. I feel like this isn't romantic, what George... Because he's like left his wife and who and children alone for so long being like, i I'm off to find glory in and adventure. And she's like, great, great. I'd love to have help so help with the kids, but you have fun with that. Okay. But he said he had a picture of her and he said, if he got to the top of Everest, he was going to leave.
00:47:40
Speaker
he was going to leave this photo of her on the summit. Now, when they found, that photo's never been found. I don't know, you're going find a tiny 1930 photo on the top. You ever saw it? Maybe, because everything freezes.
00:47:55
Speaker
When they found the remains of ah Mallory's body, which I think got lost again now, ah but you know, it's the mountain things move. ah They didn't find, and it's not to say they found everything, as they didn't find the photograph of his wife and his wife. So it's like, is there somewhere up there buried in the snow, photo of a lady who's probably unhappy with her husband's choices?
00:48:22
Speaker
But like, you know, but like meaning they were actually the first to summon and it's like likely we'll probably never know at this point, but we know they got close. Yes. I have a question. How well documented is it that is his name George Mallory? Is that it? Yes.
00:48:42
Speaker
How well documented is it that he definitely remembered to bring the photograph? Because I sometimes get to bring things. pretty well i mean reverend's pretty sure pretty sure had it on him pretty big deal but um yeah so uh you know so sometimes uh when a body has been there long enough it's less horrible to find that's not the lesson i should have thought ahead of time with a good ending lesson lesson is that's don't push so hard don't push so hard for the summit
00:49:19
Speaker
that Then you die. You know, whatever that is. some for the return trip. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. There and back again, you know? There wasn't a back again. don't know. Was there a back again? for Frodo.
00:49:34
Speaker
not Okay, anyway. um Cool. what I've been learning a lot about this stuff. ah absolutely well about that stuff Awesome. well why ah Because it's interesting. Why are you trying to scare yourself with these things?
00:49:54
Speaker
Um, yeah don't don't ask me why i do all those things I do.
00:50:01
Speaker
I'm not trying to self-reflect on that right now. yeah Fair enough. On to our side quest first up, and only this week,
Exploring Inscription
00:50:11
Speaker
secret your homework. This week's secret homework was assigned by then My assignment was that, hey, wouldn't it be fun if we all played Inscription?
00:50:22
Speaker
And then we did. What's up? ah um So I'm curious to know how much Inscription we all played.
00:50:36
Speaker
What was that you said? Let's play up to what? And now I have the knowledge to know where you would want me to play up to. to To beat Leshy or to make it to the second phase. The second phase. You can beat Leshy before making it to the second phase.
00:50:51
Speaker
Oh, really? Okay. Oh, yeah. I'm pretty sure I beat Leshy, but I missed the um but i miss their actual boss name. But I'm pretty sure that's who I beat. So I think I got there. I unlocked a bunch of videos. The you play in the cabin. Yeah. You watched a bunch of videos. Yeah, beat the person in the cabin. you're still in the cabin, right?
00:51:09
Speaker
No, I don't think you... Oh, I didn't think you could see the videos until after you... I've seen the videos. I've beaten Leshy. He was impressed. I'm a post-it note on the door now. you got it You got a champion card. Yeah, yeah. Sweet.
00:51:26
Speaker
I... it's That's about how much I played. I didn't beat him except for the like the the one time. i didn't beat him early. I didn't even know that was a thing you could... I mean, of course it's a thing you could do, but I guess I didn't realize that... I guess if you...
00:51:41
Speaker
First up, we're going to be full spoilers on the first section the game. Yeah. so so So skip over this, too. yeah If you ever want to play Inscription, it's better going in with the the least amount of knowledge.
00:51:56
Speaker
Okay. Having said that, I guess now it makes sense. Like, if you didn't have the camera or whatever. Like, if you didn't get the quest items you get the first time you beat it, then you don't make it into the second phase. That makes sense.
00:52:08
Speaker
Okay, so what do you get? you get You get a champion card instead of a death card? Is it kind of the same thing? do you ah Well, my death card, i've I've finished two runs so far. My death card, I named Snap on this for the first death. Also, there's a slowdown mechanic on your first run. If you make it to the angler, if you make it past the first phase of the angler, floods the board with grizzlies.
00:52:32
Speaker
Yes, I had that happen to me. Yeah, and then here's here's a fun fact. On the second run, if you die to the flood of grizzlies and you get to the trapper, then there'll be a flood of grizzlies there. It'll say you're going too fast.
00:52:48
Speaker
But here's the thing. On my second run, while I beat the flood of grizzlies. whoa that's well here's the thing it's cheater shit because i've played this game before and it really is just all about understanding the rules and the systems and stuff but i was i was sure i remembered it took a lot more than two runs that's pretty cool the bosses you have to learn what they're gonna do when they're halfway so you can plan for it. Understand what the fish hook thing is going to be. Understand that there's gold in them. There are cards. ah You know, the the the pack mules, Kroosh. You know, you just gotta... And the trap is pretty rough with the with the traps and things. like You gotta understand what that's going to be. and they are nice about explaining what all the little sigils mean on the cards, but like yeah you still kind of have to like understand. and you know that i don't know.
00:53:43
Speaker
The experience was invaluable and like it would be weird if I had done that without prior knowledge. Okay, we're getting very specific. Can I pull back, though, and and say how bonkers awesome? i love this game. I'm glad I got pushed to play it because, like, this is such, this is like, yeah like I want to hang out with the people who made this game. This is such a re-scope creep game. It's like, I want to make Slay the Spire, but what if also there's this whole meta story on it of where you're trying to, it's like, and then you, I'm glad they don't have a lot of movement. The 3D movement is exactly the kind that makes me very nauseated. I'm always like, ah So like I'm pretty limited But it's And like what if some of the cards talk to you And they're like they're meta And it's just I'm like They're transforming slowly gonna love where this goes You you would like yeah you are gonna love there there' is more There's more you're It's gonna blow your mind
00:54:43
Speaker
This is a game I would have made. Like, this is a game that, like, just creeped out the way my brain does, so I love it i Whoever made this, they're amazing. and Yeah, they are. Except for I wouldn't have, because I did not talk about me getting, like, dark earlier. i did not think a card game could ever get dark in this way.
00:55:01
Speaker
oh my gosh. When the mycologist is, like, sawing the card comes back together. You may want look away. blood all over it. I'm just like...
00:55:12
Speaker
I didn't think I could feel body horror about a card game. What the fuck? Who thought of this? Who thought of it? No, that's fucked. I thought it would be like Frankenstein together. That's the most disturbing.
00:55:25
Speaker
ah and and plus, like and right as someone who like who has a whole bunch of physical cards, to see... you like I was playing... Okay, I'm playing... Here's my shout out to... like I played... um I got it back ah back on my birthdays. I got myself Everdell Silverfrost.
00:55:47
Speaker
Everdell is like Woodland Critters board game. I love i love cute Woodland Critters. Okay. and and But it's like survive the harsh winter. They are relevant, actually. Man, there's been a theme going on. Okay. So, um but, wait, how did this relate?
00:56:04
Speaker
Where was I going? got distracted by my own ah Uh, cards. Cards. Um. Oh, yes! My friend! My friend looked me dead in the eyes. He had he had brought along his his daughter who's, like, getting into boys. She's, um, uh, right in front of her. Sorry, didn't mean to call out specifics here. But, like, he looked me dead the eyes and was like, can I riffle shuffle your cards?
00:56:32
Speaker
If you're not familiar with board gaming, that means as opposed to like, my preferred method is to lay them out into a pile of seven, right? And then pick up this, like do a proper seating of the deck, you know? Make sure you really like got things well shuffled so you can feel confident in the nature of your shuffle. But like Riffle Shuffle is the classic, which I can do. I'll do it with like, like for like, if remember doing like regular cards. Also bridge shuffle, am i right Yeah, probably. Or the bridge is what you do afterwards to bend them back the other way.
00:57:03
Speaker
Yeah, right. You riffle and then you bridge. It's fun to do what feels good, but like not not unlike you know precious. like yeah woodling Especially in card games where it's like you can't... you know They'll get dog-eared on the edges and that everyone's the integrity of the game. and That's what I'll say, but also a lot of it's just the validity of... like You know, i don't I don't like when people are like, it's a well-loved book. Look how eaten up it is. It's been read so many times. I'm like, I can read a book that many times. and It would never look like that. I would not do that. Okay, anyway. This is like a total sidebar. Some people try to read the book without cracking the spines. am not precious about my games at all.
00:57:45
Speaker
um And some of them are well-loved. know, Seven Wonders. Oh, I let them riffle shuffle. I did. So i don't I don't want to act like I'm stuck up. Okay, good. Like, nasty around the edges and... Yeah, ah you can tell like some games you can see which colors we play with more because those tokens are worn down more. It's great.
00:58:02
Speaker
um Shit. I had another way another direction, but yeah, I lost it. i don't know. Whatever. Say, splitting do. That's cool. Right? Like, isn't that, like, the horror of, This is so... Oh, and the sacrificing nature of the cards. Okay, sorry. Go ahead, Lauren. Thank you. I was going to ask if you've ever played one of the Legacy games, because, like, that was one of the things that they introduced is, like... you're going to rip components. And I remember in the board game forums, like some people really struggled with that, but um, a lot people don't, so they can repackage it and then sell it later. Right. And it's like, sorry, this is a game where you, you have to destroy components. You have to write on them. You have to tear them. You're going to have to break seals. And like, let me tell you something about respecting authority and how often it's required.
00:58:50
Speaker
No, I just be like, you can, you can not though. Right. No, the game requires it. In order to get to the pieces, you have to destroy something. okay. Like when they wrap it in something? Or if they're like, yes, that's what I'm thinking of. But if if they... I guess if you want to be precious, if they say destroy a card, and you're just like I'm just going to put it in a Ziploc baggie, and then it's destroyed and out of the game. No, that's against the spirit of the game.
00:59:17
Speaker
Oh, come on! I'm serious. Don't you ever want to be just a little bit precious? You lose the emotional weight of doing it
00:59:26
Speaker
Oh, wow. I like this. I like that I am like, it hurts me to see my beloved cards get dogged and you're like, not at all. And then you're like, the spirit of the game must be maintained.
00:59:41
Speaker
I'm like, No, don't tell me what to do! you really like watching perfect, the pristine things get mangled and broken and um you keep playing, you're going love Mugenics whenever you finally get around to it. You're going to love it.
00:59:58
Speaker
That is not what I'm saying. We like to falsely paint Lauren out of context for everything she's saying. She's a destroyer of games. She relishes in the burninating. You know, like, sometimes, guess that cat was supposed to get rabies, you know? Like, don't know. don't know. it was destiny. Maybe you can handle it better than I can. It's rough. It's rough.
01:00:20
Speaker
Okay, did either of you struggle with, like, the sacrificing cards at first? That was hard for me. I mean, now it's second nature, but at the beginning I was like, oh, I don't... Is there a pathway? like because if they if they'd given you an option of a deck type where sacrifices were not required, I would have gone there. Rhi, do you... Have you gravitated towards cards like... um whatever experiment 13 or like things that can be sacrificed multiple times, even the humble cockroach or something. Like if you get like the, the, you know, the thing that makes it go back to your hand,
01:00:58
Speaker
Also, yeah do you like do you like um the the beehive that makes bees that can then be sacrificed? um Do you like you like the gack the geck that can be played out of hand and then sacrificed? Okay, initially I did.
01:01:14
Speaker
Initially, this was my growth through playing. Because I actually, I'm like happy I got as far as I did. Because I kind of just like forgot for a few days that I was supposed to be playing Inscription. And then, ah you know, luckily I played card games. So, you know, I got pretty far. I don't die.
01:01:29
Speaker
so ah is it
01:01:33
Speaker
yes i like the cat you know like infinite yeah yeah the ga i picked those immediately because it's it's that snap thing energy is always good right so initially yes so much but then as you keep playing Two facts become clear. One is that you can only have four cards on the board, right? And something that can be permanently sacrificed and stays there, you know, that like, ah one, you usually want to place it so it doesn't get murdered, you know, by the opposing side so that can continue to be useful. But then, yeah, you cannot.
01:02:10
Speaker
You cannot. And what if, you know, and it's like the the great white, I think, has been favorite. great white i my enjoy The Great White is what rode me past Feleshi into more murderings. Okay.
01:02:24
Speaker
But, like, so that's one thing, right? So eventually I was like, oh, I don't, like, I want that space on the board. The second thing is You have to draw the cat and the yak, right? Those are things you have to draw out of your deck. Out of your deck. You're not drawing a card. Yeah. mean and Unless you're starting it, which means yeah like you're not drawing the big money cards, right? the big blood The big blood cards, the big bones cards. Sorry, it's all darkness today. Okay. Okay. So, like, you're not drawing those.
01:03:00
Speaker
And when you're looking, when they give this dual system where you can always draw the squirrel resource, which I've seen in, like, multiplayer card games, it's interesting. um Less than this, I guess...
01:03:12
Speaker
some air ah Okay. So when you can always draw it, right? Then you know whether you're drawing a resource card or, you know, like a fight card. But when you put a bunch of resource cards in your deck, you know, then you don't have that knowledge to make that decision. Right. And maybe what you, you had enough resources in your truck. So I actually ended up gravitating away from those because I even found,
01:03:41
Speaker
Because It's a neat mechanic that they have with the weights where your goal isn't to hit just a certain number. It's to leap them by a certain amount. It's like, isn't that how like tennis works or something? Some sport.
01:03:58
Speaker
I mean, tennis is a win by two. So kind of. okay But you're trying to score overkill for the teeth, is what you're trying to say? No, no, I mean, but like how the system works. You're not getting, it's not like deal 10 damage. It's like you have deal an X-10. Or plus So it is like you can actually...
01:04:18
Speaker
You can have a big back and forth, you know, and you can take a lot of damage as long as you are also giving. It's a whole different, like, tactical. I found that really interesting when I got there. And it did start changing um some of my gameplay because sometimes I realize I'm used to, like, setting up my board, setting up my, you know.
01:04:37
Speaker
But sometimes... just playing a squirrel as a defense instead of leaving it the board so that next turn I could play a wolf with another squirrel. Instead, I just put on the board to defend because I'm... Sometimes I'd even do that multiple times in a row because I am getting ahead of them in damage while I'm blocking theirs. And yeah, and their Loki card blocks that spot, right? So there's not... So it's I this game...
01:05:03
Speaker
this scheme quite indifferent, interesting tensions for me so that it wasn't just, well, it's a ah you know, it's the Slay the Spire type, which is, you know, a whole genre. It's fun. um They put some neat things on it that, like, evolved my gameplay over time. it is It is mechanically good on top of, like, there's these layers of exploration, there's these layers of story, there's discovering mechanics, there's a bunch of stuff you haven't learned about yet. Yeah.
01:05:34
Speaker
I assume, Rhi, that you left, like, I mean, he makes you, right? You left the board and you explored around the room and there's nothing. I found, I found, I just found the wolf was the last thing I did. Okay, you found the wolf, the the caged wolf, the the one that needs to be freed.
01:05:51
Speaker
Well, okay, he was the card in the bottom left drawer. yeah and then And I'm like, oh, this is the guy they were talking about. You know, the bug and the stoat. I never risk them as a campfire. I maybe put them up once. Because they ask you not to? What? I didn't go through the stove for a long time. The bugs like do whatever you want because I'm like, oh, I wouldn't. you know I'm not going to freeze. The bug's pretty cool. well but Once I had firmly established the rule that the first one is free, like, no, get in there, buddy. I'm much stronger. like I promise I won't let harm come to you and i never gamble on them.
01:06:26
Speaker
Or any valuable cards. that's I have a preference. I mean, like the campfire is good and stuff, but like the other like most common node, it seems to me, is like the the sacrificial altar node. where like I love that. yeah Yeah. And I like that because it lets me keep the deck a little more manageable and stuff.
01:06:45
Speaker
it makes yeah It takes lots of cards and gives you a narrower deck, which you already want, and then those cards are better because you combine them. What's not to love about that?
01:06:55
Speaker
some of those cards with the most desirable sigils have like garbo stat lines. Yeah. You know, like you get the pack rat costs two blood. It's too two, two. And like, it's got a great sigil that gives you a free item.
01:07:09
Speaker
So just like throw that on somebody else, somebody a little more manageable. I mean, you could put it on your stink bug stink bug. So easy to cast again. And well, it's easy to cast again. And again, if you give it the the thing where it goes back to your hand, for instance, I don't know. Anywho, also, do you have the totems yet?
01:07:28
Speaker
ah The woodcarver will make you a thing that gives all of your minions of one type a sigil. I mean, that's just one of the nodes you can get to. is there something...
01:07:40
Speaker
Have you been able to make totems like you've used for that on a basis? Yeah, yeah. Because Leshy starts with them at first, and like he'll he'll be doing that with his stuff. but Oh, yeah, yeah. No, like that unlocks really early. the My problem with the wood cover, it's kind of it's such a powerful ability, you want to do it, but the random nature of it might work against your deck. It's random, yeah. Yeah, so sometimes I'm kind of like, ah, like, you know, when you're choosing notes.
01:08:08
Speaker
hang yeah I think if you keep visiting, you can get more options. like You can get different heads to screw on and different bodies with the sigils and stuff. But that's more nodes that you're taking. for like true It's true. It's really fun how much you can customize your cards, customize your strategy.
01:08:24
Speaker
i like that. the The sigils and the items they carry with you from match to match. I mean, not if you spent the items, but... oh um It's like you can tell a story about it, right? Like one of my best runs, I had a squirrel totem that generated ants every time I played a squirrel. So it was just like so easy to overrun with ants.
01:08:40
Speaker
Yep, that's that's a great thing to get on your totem. What I've got right now on my third run that I'm in progress on that I was playing right before we started recording, I've got insects and the the sigil that I'm giving all of them is the sacrifice for three blood thing.
01:08:56
Speaker
And I've got in my deck... Yeah, exactly. I've got two Uriulis. ah That's the big four blood seven seven guy And I could have fused him at the mycologist, but I just want to have two copies so that I can draw it um But I mean, it would be fun to have a 1414. Sure. Yeah. sure yeah But but wow. And like they all have like bone costs and stuff. And like, you know, there's the the guy who comes out of your hand when something else dies. And like, I'm just I'm playing the biggest things for free. And I'm I i can tell this run's going to go super great. I really wanted to finish it, but you know the the record time was the record time. I'm not i'm not going to... ah but ah them Tonight, I'm going to finish that run. It's going to feel good. Oh my gosh, I'm so glad we're playing Inscription. We got to talk about it once
01:09:48
Speaker
we've gotten further in. You're going to finish it, right, Rhi? Yeah, I'll keep playing. I'm really enjoying it. I i have a question. where Do you guys remember your first death card? Because mine was amazing and I want to tell you about it. Okay, let let us all let us all tell. Mine free...
01:10:04
Speaker
mine was a free a free uh four two with flying it was so amazing and I got to have that my second run of the game ever oh so good okay I haven't had any good death cards on my second playthrough of the game Yeah.
01:10:24
Speaker
my My first death card was the second one. gave me an incorrect view of like what the death cards would be. I'm like, this is amazing! Oh, no, no, no. have the correct view. You should be shooting for that like every time. like Something like that that is free and has huge stats and great sigils. ah i i'm I'm sorry to inform you that my first death card was named Snap on This. And it's not very good.
01:10:49
Speaker
It's two blood for like two four with mighty leap, which means it can block flying. um Yeah. I mean, like that's an important ability. That's fine. cool That's a fine card.
01:11:00
Speaker
And my second, right the champion card is named. Zomb rich reads. And cause there aren't enough characters to make zombie Richard reads. And ah his ability is something better.
01:11:14
Speaker
But I haven't drawn him yet, so I don't remember. But once I add him to the team, it'll nice. I think one element of the game, and I don't know if I like it or not, is that you can really do an aggro strategy.
01:11:28
Speaker
like oh yeah. my So my two big the two big runs that I've had in my second playthrough, my first playthrough is way too far back to remember, but the other one... you know there was the squirrel ants and then there was i just heavily invested into a single mantis god and this thing attacks three lanes at once and by the time it has a bunch of power you just literally you can take things out in a single you can beat an enemy and in a single turn yeah they don't even get to play the game and you can wipe them out and like it feels really cool the first time you do it but then when you're doing that like over and over again even on bosses you're just like taking them to the second phase on the first turn okay feeling feeling pretty powerful over here
01:12:06
Speaker
but and That was my first, that was my win. I put the Mantis God ability on a great white. So I was doing like four in three directions. I was like, oh, riding the shark all the way to the end.
01:12:19
Speaker
Yeah. Oh, man. Okay, randomly though, this is this the least? I actively detest using the health potion, like the pliers. It's such a painful animation. Because it's gross.
01:12:33
Speaker
Yeah. Because your planet's like, meow, and it gets red. And the sound. And I'm like, oh, I'm usually like someone that loves to do health stuff, like in games, like stuff thing.
01:12:45
Speaker
Heels you, buffs out. I usually love investing. And this is the one. I i never picked the pliers. I'm like, I will pick bottled squirrels all day. i hate using those pliers. I think it's no coincidence that like the pliers are like right there at the start.
01:13:00
Speaker
Like they they want you to know like what what the deal is. Like Leshy's very excited for you to have the pliers, I think. Yeah. um What kind of game is this? Yeah. ah But like I tend to, if I have the pliers, I kind of want to use them right away to make room for other items because like they're not that great in the grand scheme, it seems to me. And mostly what I use them for is i mean like sometimes they are get out of trouble like you know it is a ripcord you can pull under certain circumstances but like i find those circumstances to be relatively rare so i mostly use it to increase overkill and i'm just like oh i just get an extra tooth this time that makes sense a lot because one tooth like you know non-impactful it's a good use of it
01:13:49
Speaker
Although, like I don't know, I sometimes go back and forth and like do I even want those pelts cluttering up my deck? And like mostly I just take the gold ones. i i yeah i'm very i' i get angry that the Trapper gives you the shitty one for free. Yes! I'm like, actually, you can keep that, pal.
01:14:08
Speaker
they so I agree they suck, but once I got like, ah I got three of the golden ones and that's how I got the great white, like, and a bunch of other cards. And that was my winning run.
01:14:21
Speaker
But they do! While you're carrying them, they're detrimental, you know? for the most part Although they are, like you mentioned, like drawing squirrels just to like block a lane for a turn. like they They are, although they come out of your real deck, so there is that like element of uncertainty. that like They're not good to have around, no doubt, but like at least you can do something with them.
01:14:44
Speaker
But they can't be sacrificed, which is frustrating. Oh my gosh, Rhi, I'm so excited for you to find out which things are coming next. This is all... ah Yeah, I feel like I missed something. Like, I should have gotten out of the camp.
01:14:59
Speaker
Did not do that. You'll know when you finish the first phase and, like, you'll see what will where the game is going. Things will very different. yeah But everything you've learned in the first phase will still be good knowledge. Yeah, which is really cool. Really cool how they did that.
01:15:16
Speaker
um Okay. Awesome. Well, people, check it out if you haven't yet. I'm immediately realizing that I am on Next Homework.
01:15:29
Speaker
Even though I reminded two about it like what a day or two ago. And and I don't have i'm any ready. thats ah Can it be play more inscription so we can talk more about inscription please?
01:15:39
Speaker
I mean it could be. Does that help you be more likely to play it Rhi? and don't know how much we can talk about it again next week. Oh there's more to talk about inscription. Like, there's so much more to talk about. It's been painful to only talk about the the very narrow like band of the game that we have shared. There will be more
Podcast Future & Community Engagement
01:16:03
Speaker
to talk about. I'm sure of it.
01:16:06
Speaker
Rhi's going to have some thoughts, and I must know what they are. I must know Rhi's thoughts. If Rhi's okay with that. Yeah, we can do it. Yeah, I mean, I'm happy to play more. Okay, Inscription sequel.
01:16:18
Speaker
play Play even more Inscription. You don't know how much you're going to able to play? No, i just am like, I guess I don't know how much farther I'll get. You'll get farther. would be surprised if you don't make it to the second phase pretty soon.
01:16:31
Speaker
and I think it'll you'll you'll wonder what's after that. And there will be after that. yeah you're yeah Oh my gosh, free I'm so excited you're playing this game.
01:16:43
Speaker
It's so good. It is very good. It is very much something I would want to make. I really want to talk about like the ending of the game because there's stuff in the ending where I'm like, I wish I could ah wish i could have basked in that a little longer. ah i don't think we're going to make it there in in one more week.
01:17:03
Speaker
Maybe not. But even even even in the second phase, there's there's a lot of stuff to talk about. There are new things. All right. old things. Well, that was a, that was an easy pull that this homework that i totally prepared myself inscription again.
01:17:21
Speaker
All right, listeners, ah next week we will talk about inscription again. The following week, we're going to skip an episode um for reasons. So not not related to the upcoming hiatus. just Just not an easy week to schedule around. um If you like what you heard and you haven't already, you can like and subscribe.
01:17:39
Speaker
that i There's a bit of a timer on that, but we intend to do... intermittent episodes every now and then. And, and that's how you'll make sure you don't miss those. um Come hang out with us in the speakeasy. We'll still be there. It's our little corner of discord and the instructions to get there are in the show notes or video description. We're probably part of the snap judgments network where you can listen to other great shows like snap judgments by pulse glazer and Nick the Greek geek on Saturdays.
01:18:09
Speaker
check it out if you haven't already which would surprise me but you know those crazier things have happened it stopped showing up in my podcast app oh maybe it's youtube only nowadays on youtube um i don't know this was a while ago i meant to complain about it on on the air what was that have you looked to see if they started a new feed it could be that they just moved it to a different platform or something i think i did look for a new feed and didn't see it yeah and i don't know couldn't tell you look again um When i when i listen, i listen on YouTube. Even though I am like an aggressive podcaster, or at least I have been in a past life, for some reason, Snap content I prefer on on YouTube.
01:18:51
Speaker
I don't know. I don't know either. Yeah, that's weird. Maybe just because I'm used to seeing these people. Anyway, tune in next week. Same Snap time, same Snap channel.
01:19:08
Speaker
Sweet. Oh my gosh. I forgot to mention during my weekend snap, claiming that I do more than play card games. I play games that don't have cards.
01:19:20
Speaker
It's a lie. i played a little bit of Slay the Spire, the original Slay Spire, not Slay the Spire 2, and now I've finally finished all my Ascension 20s. Although, unlike Rhi, who I think we learned in an earlier episode, always challenges the heart like a boss. Yeah.
01:19:35
Speaker
filling out the the triforce thingy and beating the the final real boss i have only you not supposed to do that no you are supposed to do that if you have the heart of a champion but me having the heart of a coward uh and yeah ah you know i i've been doing the bare minimum and they let they let you count it as a win if you don't do that but like i should do that so like i finished all my ascensions but like i need to step my game up like you need to do the heart on all the ascension 20s yeah i haven't done a single ascension it's just like it's a it's a weird little side quest that i've been talking about throughout the entire life of our podcast and like i think i think it is fitting as we approach the hiatus that finally i did the dang thing yeah it's awesome
01:20:23
Speaker
Well, so are you, are you going to chase it the heart? Are you going to chase that? Are you going to go for the heart on what is it? Ascension 20 for each character? Is that how that works? Yep. Four more, yeah four more little victories.
01:20:35
Speaker
Is there any indication on the Ascension 20 if you did it with the heart or without it? i mean, you can go back through your run history. That's, that's a cool thing that, uh, Slay the Spire has, um,
01:20:46
Speaker
But I don't know. I don't know. There's a whole second Slay the Spire now. It's had updates that I haven't even played because I've been so busy. And like, I'm excited. They cut they cut one of the final bosses in Slay the Spire 2. And I guess there's a new final boss in Slay the Spire 2 that I haven't even met yet.
01:21:02
Speaker
But did anyone else have any interesting post-show chattery to to... I don't even know. I'm still thinking about a card-building game, right? Like, we we have all these deck-building games, which I've played plenty of deck-building games in person. I've never played a card-building game tabletop. Even though I know they exist, they have, like, transparent cards and stuff, right? Like, you can...
01:21:23
Speaker
There's this like Druid game I saw once. I never played it. And probably somebody's done something with stickers. I guess I have done it in the sense of like a legacy game where there are pieces that develop over the course of multiple games and and that that way your copy of the legacy game is different from everybody else's.
01:21:40
Speaker
Oh, like an Apples to Apples or a Cards Against Humanity that might have a blank card. but Kind of like that. Yeah, that's an idea too.
01:21:51
Speaker
Also, I think they had, I mean, not that these are really, I believe they had cards to, like, cards to deface and include Magic the Gathering expansion. Not that those cards were ever, like, legal for proper play or anything, but I think they had some that you were supposed to draw on or scribble on.
01:22:11
Speaker
Some games come with those, and i wonder, like, is this for a replacement? Like, if I lose a card, and this is just, like, I can write whatever card I lost on this, or is it like so I can make my own card? don't know. Either or.
01:22:22
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, they have blank tiles in Scrabble, but like, those are different. I'm just like, maybe they should come with some replacement for each letter.
01:22:36
Speaker
That's what I think. But then you'd have to remember to take them out before you started playing and like, man, it would be, I don't know. I don't know. I'm just, I'm just speaking as a person who has occasionally lost a Scrabble tile.
01:22:51
Speaker
the entire this grandlin die competitive experience or something I don't know if I've lost a Bananagrams tile on that game's a lot crazier. I mean, it's right there in the name. It's Bananagrams.