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24. Year End Award Celebration! Game of The Year and much more!! The First Annual GOPPIES! | Games Over Plastic
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Join us for our first ever year end celebration event!! Hosted by the one and only Sean Mason we have the Goppies! The Games Over Plastic awards. We award the game of the year, character of the year, song of the year, best game we played that wasn't a 2024 game, and so much more!! It was a blast please enjoy!
Video version with graphics and art available at: http://www.youtube.com/@gamesoverplastic
Timestamps:
00:00:00 show starts
00:01:10 intros
00:04:29 tech difficulties
00:05:30 Awards start. SMH Award- Spent so much time playing this game
00:14:33 I can believe its not butter award - Game that feels like another game
00:20:51 The Elvis - Song of the year award
00:28:35 The Dad - Proudest video game moment award
00:35:25 The Stan - Character of the year
00:45:30 the OMG award - Surprise of the year
00:53:05 The always next year award - games from 2024 you'll play next year
01:00:18 Is it Friday yet award - Most anticipated 2025 release
01:08:10 The classic - GOTY that wasn't from a 2024 game
01:14:57 The Brady!! - Game Of the Year 2024!
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Transcript
Introduction to Award Show Episode
00:01:10
Speaker
Good morning, sweet world. Welcome to Games Over Plastic, a very special episode of Games Over Plastic. This is our award show. And you know as you can tell, I'm a little dressed up. ah My co-hosts did dress up as well, just in their usual attire. But hey, it's the reverse of the last Christmas episode, where they dressed up, and I didn't. I dressed up this time. They didn't. It's OK.
00:01:37
Speaker
It's very early for Minded. This is probably the earliest he's ever recorded an episode. um Earliest overall was probably me when I was in Hawaii when I was recording at like 6 a.m. That was awesome.
Discussing Video Games Without Console Wars
00:01:49
Speaker
But but um as you all know, this is Games Over Plastic, a podcast about video games. No console warring here. We just talk about our love of the game. This is great stuff. I'm joined as always by my wonderful co-host. First up, we have Hodge. Hodge with his many different backgrounds. I think Hodge is recorded in the most different places compared to anyone. Midnight is always recorded there. I've recorded in two different places. So Hodge, how you doing, bud? I'm doing good. I hope everyone had a great Christmas. I'm ah rocking my quarters of my parents got me from the Blackhawks who are terrible right now, but it's okay.
00:02:26
Speaker
Um, actually I am technically in the same spot I used to record. I'm just in a different room because I'm at my parents house, but, uh, I don't have my microphone. So if I sound a little off, it's because I'm talking through headphones, but I hope it's not okay for everyone, but yeah, I'm happy to be here. I hope everyone had a great Christmas and let's do some fun awards.
00:02:46
Speaker
Well, we're so glad you're here. You sound like crap though, so now I'm kidding. Thank you. I'm just messing with you. You sound great. I'm also sick, so it's double bad. but You sound great. I love it. um Thank you for being here.
Award Show Format and Audience Interaction
00:02:59
Speaker
I'm really happy to have you. Next up, we have my usual, our usual co-host, the usual host of the show, the one, the only, the opposite of the sun, Midnight.
00:03:09
Speaker
Yes, and the opposite yeah, the darkness. I'm happy to be here, of course. Really excited about this episode. This was Sean's baby. He wanted to have this award show and we've been looking forward to doing this for months now and I'm so excited that it's here. We're going to talk about all these great games and characters and moments and it's going to be so fun.
00:03:27
Speaker
um And I just want to mention real quick, um the way we're going to do this, listeners, is, you know, we're going to give our three winners or whatever. But ultimately, who is the winner is for you to decide. So leave a comment in this in the comments, let us know who you think actually which game really is the game of the year.
00:03:43
Speaker
which really is the character of the year. And feel free to leave your own pics and have some fun with it. But yeah, this is super early for me. and um I hope you guys appreciate my dedication. You know, I had to wake up at 730 in the morning, ah which is early for me. I know some people wake up way earlier than that, but I do not. um This is earlier than I wake up for work. um So I do it for the love and for the podcast. And I'm i'm happy to be here, though. I'm excited.
00:04:07
Speaker
a The record for everyone knowing it's not it's my fault that Minnan has to wake up this early because I am moving tomorrow and Saturday So we're recording actually early. It's day after Christmas, but yeah, he's gonna have another background Yeah, I'll have it. Yeah, but hopefully the final one for a couple of years so You keep doing this and keep doing this hodge people are gonna catch on to the fact that you're actually in the CIA and you're moving around That's true That's his real job. He works for the CIA. He's in a black side every week. this is like Either works for the CIA or he's in witness protection. This is a gun.
00:04:43
Speaker
I can't believe the CIA just took us out. That is true. No, we just had some technical difficulties there. It's funny. We're talking about the CIA and then also had to abort But our intros are done um Before we get into our actual awards though. I want to thank all of our listeners for a great year ah This is our final episode of 2024. And honestly, this was like one of the best decisions we ever made was doing this podcast. I've enjoyed it. We haven't missed an episode. It's been great. Even if one of us can't be here, we just continue on. um Yeah, overall, I'm really happy and pleased. um You can listen to us on any podcast feed if you
00:05:22
Speaker
If you're watching the video version, obviously you're watching on YouTube. We'd really appreciate it if you like. Hit that subscribe button, comment, share it out, do whatever. Give us five stars on the podcast services. Maybe if you start leaving reviews, we'll start reading them. Maybe like, you know, every couple
'Shaking My Head' Award Discussion
00:05:36
Speaker
episodes we'll read some reviews. That'll be a good idea.
00:05:39
Speaker
Um, but yeah, um, thanks for, thanks for tuning in and we are ready to go with our award show. So we have 10 awards, everybody 10 awards. And we are, we kind of, uh, thanks to Hodge, he ordered the awards. I came up with them, but he ordered them in the most logical way possible.
00:05:58
Speaker
Um, so we're gonna start with the SMH for these older listeners. That's you, dad. That it means shaking my head. The Shaking My Head Award, which I have a little preface for each one. This is the, I can't believe I spent this many hours in this game award. And we're gonna start off, I'm gonna kick it to Hodge. Hodge, what is your SMH award winner? Or honorable mentions first, however you wanna take it.
00:06:25
Speaker
So yeah, I was, my I only had one honorable mention for this one. I was almost going to go with Rebirth just because I'm not, as you guys know, and everyone who listens knows, I'm not the kind of guy who plays like hundred hour RPGs. And so the fact that I put like 75 hours into this game before I beat it, I did not platinum it because S ranking the songs was never going to happen. So yeah, Sean is the king of that. So.
00:06:52
Speaker
I didn't go to Rebirth, I went with Fortnite just because I can't believe I'm still playing it as much as I am. So that's my... name yeah So I can't believe I'm still putting that much hours into Fortnite, even though I haven't in recent weeks, but still, that's my SMH award, Fortnite. Do you know how many hours you've put in this year? Oh, this year? Oh, it was on my Xbox... ah Like wrap-up thing, but I forgot it was it was in the tens of it was like 40 something hour or no There's probably a couple days. I can't remember it was a lot I think it was 96 hours actually now that I'm thinking about I think that's how much time I put into it So I didn't put as much time as others. I think I have like 90 days overall in the last seven years So I put way too many hours into it. But yeah, I can't remember. It's too much though It's all right. I had one of my students showed me their PlayStation wrapped like right before we left for vacation. Fortnite. Two thousand two hundred and twenty six hours. OK, I'm not that bad. I was like, Jesus, I'm like, where are we? dry He's like, where are we dropping boys? And that exact voice, even though he's 17 years old.
00:08:05
Speaker
Exactly. But yeah, Fortnite. waste of time and I've spent a lot of time wasting on that, so yeah. Hey, well, as long as you enjoy it, that's all that matters. All right, Midnight, you're up. What is your SMH award?
00:08:19
Speaker
All right. So the game that I can't believe that I played so many hours is actually X defiant. The Ubisoft shooter. Um, I put in 165 plus hours on that game, just gunning people down, having a good time. Lots of fun. Still installed on my console, going to go back and play it at some point here because we want to experience all the, they dropped all of the final content for it.
00:08:44
Speaker
they were apparently sitting on a ton of content and I don't know why they were drip feeding it they should have did bigger updates and maybe it would have survived more um but like they launched three factions like the assassins are in the game now like some Tom Clancy stuff some other crap I forget so like all these new characters with abilities They dropped all these new skins, all these new maps. They made everything free in the store now, so you can just go in and buy all the skins and stuff for free and it's cool. um But yeah, it's crazy. So, Extafiant is my, I can't believe I spent so long, 165 hours on a now dead game that ah very few people, besides myself, ah ah liked it. Very sad, very sad. But shout out to that game.
00:09:24
Speaker
That actually makes me sad because like I said, I did really like it when it launched. it's just once like I think what happened is once it got into the out of the welcome playlist, so many people dropped off because it instantly got sweaty.
00:09:37
Speaker
So the big, the big claim to fame for this game was that it had no skill based matchmaking. And I think what we learned from this experiment is that even though we say we don't want any skill based matchmaking, like the cod hardcore people don't like it. um What we really mean is that we just want less skill based matchmaking. There has to be some skill based matchmaking You can't have your casual players um who just like work a long time and then get on and play for a couple hours getting stomped out by these uber sweats. Like that's not a fun experience. um So I think you have to have some level of skill based matchmaking and protection for people in the lower rackets if you will. yeah But just have it a lot looser so that there is more variety of gameplay. Like maybe you get stomped out every fourth game but not every game. You know what I mean? That would be ah acceptable you
Games Resembling Other IPs
00:10:23
Speaker
know.
00:10:23
Speaker
yeah that's what i assaulted i get stomped ah four every four yeah yeah so yeah so so when i know it's fine When I saw that they were shutting down X to find, I was like, I started, you still got me thinking like, this has been the year where so many live service games and just ended and died very quickly. Obviously not as fast as Concorde. Concorde. Yeah. That game. Man. Yeah. We we hardly knew you. Yeah. So what about you, Sean?
00:10:52
Speaker
All right, so I had a couple of honorable mentions for this. First off, I want to say one honorable mention was Granblue Fantasy Relink because this game I really did enjoy. I loved my time, but this is one of the first games I talked about on this podcast. I didn't think I was going to get addicted to it and put as many hours as I did. I ended up playing over 100 hours and 106.
00:11:13
Speaker
um which is very bizarre because I had talked about how like the story is not deep and I'm a big story guy and it's more of just like the loot and the grind of going on these missions and you know doing things over and over again so that's just one honorable mention. A second honorable mention I have is a game that um if I were to If this award war had had ah had existed in years past, like the last like four years, it probably would have won. And that is Dr. Mario for the Nintendo Switch Online, because I put so many hours into Dr. Mario every year. So notice I haven't put as many this year, only 86 this year. That was my my Nintendo wrap. But I love Dr. Mario so much that when the Nintendo Switch Online thing first came out. I played so much Dr. Mario that when I shut my eyes, I saw the pills falling.
00:12:03
Speaker
Like in like, you know how they always talk about how people who got addicted to Tetris back when it first came out had the Tetris eyes. I had the Dr. Mario eyes and it was really bad. um Yeah. um But my number, my shaking my head award is going to go to which I am that I am surprised that it's this award, but at the same time I am not. It is Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth because I put um 170 hours into this and mainly chasing the platinum and that 170 hours, like 45 of it were spent on like, just like the, the, like the extreme missions and like the super hard, like, um, Chad Lee missions that you have to do like the combat simulator.
00:12:52
Speaker
And I spent like 24 hours doing that. And I had like weeks. I remember I talked about it. I had spent like days just like grinding out some of these missions. And like, just like I'd stick to like one combat trial and do it and do it over and over again. Get to the end and just get my butt kicked and just feel so disappointed. I remember talking about that and being like, I might give up. I don't know. I don't know if I can do it. But then, you know, I would go on. And then I remember it was right after we got off a recording. I like messages like, guys, I just beat the one that I've been struggling on for like two weeks. And like, I like reached out.
00:13:22
Speaker
and then I get to like the next one it's even harder and I'm like alright so it's definitely Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth but my honorable mentions there Dr. Mario because that's the one of the greatest puzzle games ever and Granblue Fantasy Relink so Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth you are my SMH award winner Nice stuff. Yeah, Sean, I thought about going back to ah playing or not going back, but playing final or Grand Blue Fantasy. um But I'm not sure if it's worth me going to play that game now, because as I understand it, a lot of the the perk of that game was the end game co-op. And yeah, now most of the people have moved on. So it'd be harder to find co-op.
00:14:02
Speaker
So the community is still pretty active. um There's a discord that I'm like a part of. like i don't I never like talk on that discord, but there are probably 500 or 600 members who are routinely playing every night. um I do want to go back and get the platinum. There's like one thing I have to do left, but it requires like doing this mission. like There's a lot of RNG. You have to like get a certain reward, and the reward only like hits like every 1% of the time it hits. And it's this in the the mission is like ridiculous that you have to do. So I'm like,
00:14:31
Speaker
I really want to do it. I don't know. We'll see. um All right. Next up, we are we satisfied with the SMH award?
Favorite Video Game Music
00:14:41
Speaker
Yeah. All right. We are. Next up, we have the, I can't believe it's not Butter Award, our favorite game that felt so much like another IP. This is a very interesting topic. So this is a game that we played that felt so much like another IP. um Hodge, you're up, bud. I have one honorable mention for this one before I get into my winner. Just because I would have chosen this as my winner, but I haven't beaten it yet, so I don't want to include it in my awards as a winner, is Indiana Jones and the Great Circle feels like dishonored. It is so cool how you're able to
00:15:25
Speaker
pick your path, basically, on how to beat a mission. It's just kind of a semi-open world where you have your ways of sneaking around guards or disguising yourself. It's such a great game, and I just felt like I was playing Dishonored halftime, other than not having teleporting powers and stuff like that. So that felt like that. But the one I went with instead is Astrobot, which just feels like a Nintendo platformer. It perfected the formula of just being a great ah Platform with different worlds and powers and stuff like it was just I mean obviously I love Astro bot on it in its own merit But it it felt like Mario Odyssey at times like I just remember how much fun I had with all the different powers the hat gave you and all this stuff and so Astro bot it definitely felt Like it definitely didn't feel like a Sony game because obviously Sony's not really a platformer studio anymore or a maker anymore are they because we don't do that we don't get Jack and Daxter or anything like that so I
00:16:25
Speaker
Yeah, Astrobot, it felt like Nintendo. And so that is my winner for the, I cannot believe it's not the Butter Award. um I love that pick, ho Hodge. Hodge, that's a really good pick. um We had talked about in the spoiler cast how much Astrobot, how much we just saw a Nintendo spewing out of it. And we even saw that yeah at the ah the fake game award show hosted by Jeff Kelly, because we all know The copies, as we're going to call this, we guys, I forgot to mention this is called the copies. Listeners, the game over plastic, the copies. This is a real award show. But um Hodge, we talked about our forecast, how much like it just spews Nintendo. And at that fake go award show, the developers even made nods to Nintendo. like they They didn't name Nintendo, but they were alluding to it so vastly that they took inspiration and how much they appreciated Nintendo games. So Hodge is a great pick. No. Great pick. Great pick.
00:17:18
Speaker
All right. So I'm up now. So the, I can't believe it's not butter award for me. Uh, obvious, the obvious choice, and this will be my honorable mention is X defiant because the game feels like call of duty. um yeah It's designed that way. So, but the one that I went with, and this is kind of obvious, I guess, because they make similar style games, but Hey, they make similar style games. That's the point. So I went with the quarry. I did the quarry for Halloween. Remember, I think it was super massive, right? You know, It's it's the narrative linear choice based game stuff like that. And obviously that is super similar to Quantic Dream games like Heavy Rain, ah Detroit Become Human, etc. You're playing different characters with the interwoven story and you're making choices and stuff. So that's what I went with the Quarry ah good game. But yeah, also shout out to X to find which is like a better version of Call of Duty and sadly. Yeah. Yeah. RIP.
00:18:14
Speaker
i agree That's a great, that's and another really good pick. The Quarry, I definitely remember you talking about that and that's going to be on my Halloween list to play next year. yeah Great picture. All right. So for my, I can't believe it's not Butter Award. I have a couple honorable men. Well, I have one real honorable mention. That honorable mention is Astrobot. Because I had a feeling Hodge was going to pick it. So I'm like, I'm not picking Astrobot. But as I've said, it spews Nintendo. It reminds me so much of Mario. It was specifically 3D Mario World, very much. Like Super Mario 3D World, not 3D Mario World.
00:18:46
Speaker
That's like any 3D Mario game. um But yeah, Super Mario 3D World. ah For me, my winner is a game that I played in April that I talked about a lot and that was Terra Memorial. And that was um that turn based RPG where you're playing as like animals and you're running around. and I talked about how there's a deep story. If you really, really, really want to get into my like really deep thoughts about that game, go back to an episode in April. I can't remember the exact episode, but I really enjoyed it. And this reminded me so much of Paper Mario, just the turn based combat, the the way that the battle system works, the button-based combat, the time-based combat. Sorry, I couldn't think of it. The time-based buttoning mechanics. It reminded me so much of Paper Mario.
00:19:31
Speaker
um Most of our listeners know how much I adore Paper Mario. Shout out to of another podcast that I would guest it on, um Backlog Brainrot. They're going to be having an episode coming out soon all about all the Mario RPG games where I spew emphatically about my deep love for all things Mario RPG games.
00:19:52
Speaker
I gotta say, that's an awesome name for a podcast. Oh my god, it is a great name. And it's a really it's a really good show. um It's a phenomenal show. But yeah, Backlog Brainrot. There's gonna be an episode coming out, and you can hear all my thoughts spewing about the Mario RPGs. But yes, Terra memoria, that is my winner for I Can't Believe It's Not Butter um Award. And yes, you did spell that correctly. That is a very good spell in there.
00:20:17
Speaker
A plus backlog brain rot. That sounds like the story of my life. I'm constantly living in my backlog. So before we move on, just one real quick. They have a great they do like an episode. They do like ah their shows biweekly and um every on their every other episode is just like a monthly update. And during their monthly update, they have a they go. All right. You get a minute. Everyone gets like a minute of just the brain rot section where they just s spew about like a game that is that they consider brain rot that they played. And it's like a minute. And then once that minute hits, it's like, nope, can't talk about it anymore.
00:20:46
Speaker
It's great. That's funny. That's awesome. I'll have to check that one out. Sounds good. Yeah, it's good.
Reflections on Gaming and Podcast Journey
00:20:53
Speaker
um All right, next up, our third award is The Elvis. This is the video game song of the year. I didn't know what else to call this, so I just went with The Elvis. um Fun fact, I am not a fan of Elvis. It's kind of weird. I do not like Elvis. um He's fine. It's fine. i Whatever. The most things Elvis I like is in Fallout New Vegas. And for those who've played that, you know what I'm talking about.
00:21:20
Speaker
you Don't like a little Elvis come on man. Oh, and I like stitch falling in love I don't think I can name an Elvis song to be honest. I just did for you. There you go. I don't even know what to do it all No ah oh my god why i don't know hound right hound yeah Yeah, ain't nothing but a hound oh yeah Hey man, you got to respect. He's one of the goats, but ah yeah obviously well before our time. So yeah, that's why I have it here in the copy. So video game song of the year, Hodge, you're up. Um, honestly, I could have picked anything from rebirth basically because final fantasy seven is notorious for having an amazing soundtrack.
00:22:01
Speaker
The Astrobod themes are all joyful, but the song I'm going to go with, it's going to be a very out of just left park or left field, sorry, ah is just straight up the hell divers theme that plays when you're dropping from the ship.
00:22:17
Speaker
the dun du du um da It's the most epic I've played I've put hundreds of hours into that game already even more it's I think it was fortnight was the only game that beat it in terms of how much I played a game this year and Every single time you drop from that ship and that theme plays it gets you hyped Every single time there is never you never get used to it. It's awesome So I just got to go with yeah that hell divers drop theme of when you're dropping from the ship to start your mission It is so epic. I love it
00:22:49
Speaker
And yep, that is my winner. I love that. That's awesome. I never played Helldivers, but I do know this. I do know what you're talking about because I remember back in when we were in New York, back in March, when we had a big meetup at the the arcade that um the arcade that we held the big meetup at. I remember people talked, you know, obviously that was right when Helldivers came out. People were talking about that and I heard people like were humming it. It was like stuck in their head. So I looked at it. So someone showed it. I'm like, oh, I want to listen to it. if Someone showed it to me. and I was like, that is an absolute banger.
00:23:21
Speaker
Oh, it's so good. Dude, they actually, the soundtrack is coming out on vinyl soon, and I'm very tempted to buy it. I love it. it's I love that game, though. so Yeah, what about ah Midnight?
00:23:34
Speaker
What are you thinking for your favorite song? but yeah So this one was a little difficult for me because I'm not a huge music guy. Don't get me wrong. I mean, I love music. Music is good, but I don't really pay as much attention to the music as I do the other elements of the gameplay and the story. It's just it's just background and ambiance for me usually. um So like while I do recognize and enjoy it, I'm not like thinking about it after the fact. um But there was one that definitely came to mind, and that was because I did play this game this year.
00:24:03
Speaker
Oh crap, it wasn't from this year. Oh, okay. Don't worry. I already, I already thought of it. So it is going to be down by the river in from Baldur's gate three, uh, which is like the theme
Favorite Game Characters of the Year
00:24:14
Speaker
song. When you open up the game, it's like down, down, down, down the river. Yeah, it's great. Uh, so that that great song shout out to Baldur's gate three, great music. ah Final fantasy also had amazing music. I just can't remember like what they were, you know, so that's what I went with Baldur's Gate three yeah down by the river. Shout out to that song and that awesome game. Nice. What about you, Sean? All right. So for I am the opposite of and I love the video game music. Like this is what I absolutely just I listen to this so much like during any every single marathon I've run. So I've run six now because I just ran my last one on this past Sunday. um Every single marathon is just listen to video game music the entire time.
00:24:57
Speaker
And it just like drives me. It's so good. I love it. This past one, I listened to specifically ah Trails. So the Trails series, Legend of Heroes Trails. I listened to that music the entire time I ran. It was great. um Unfortunately, though, only one Trails game came out this year, and that was Trails through Daybreak. um And I absolutely adored that game. As you guys know, I freaking love that game. It made me cry. The music, though, is not one of its high points, especially for the trick compared to other Trails games. So Trails through Daybreak, I have no honorable mentions from that.
00:25:27
Speaker
ah One honorable mention I do have, though, I want to give a shout out to Animal Well. The music is fits the tone of that game so much because Animal Well is so creepy and just like the ambiance like that.
00:25:41
Speaker
the um like When you run into like an area that's like kind of like that's like really dangerous, like the music just like gets really dark and it gets really like loud. It makes you like creepy. You get the creepy feels. It's great. I absolutely love it. um there's not like They don't have like names for songs in it. It's just like the you know that this blank area of the game. I don't want to say what the area is because it kind of spoils it.
00:26:04
Speaker
um But it's really good. And I do listen. I've listened to that before, like on um just on YouTube. Someone has a playlist of all the songs. It's really creepy and it's really fun to just like put it on his background music. um But my song of the year is from Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. And it is Tifa's theme specifically when you play it on the piano, though. So like the piano version. um I absolutely.
00:26:31
Speaker
like loved it and anytime I hear it I'm like instantly filled with just like warmness in my body I don't even know how to explain it it just makes me feel so like alive and I absolutely love it and to the point where um I play it so much that I have like it like almost memorized in my head like what like the part like the sounds and like the keys on the piano and I'm not like musical but I know the different keys on the piano and what they sound like So I love it. And to the point, my students know what it is because I oftentimes when they're doing like a group for a group work in the classroom and they're collaborating, I'll put background music on. And I have a I have a piano version of like a bunch of Final Fantasy Seven songs on one of my playlists. And everyone knows when that one comes on, they have the everyone stays really quiet because Mr. Mason loves it. So, yeah, Tifa's theme on the piano specifically, it's great.
00:27:30
Speaker
I will say I love those. Even though I was bad at those, I loved them. ah But e the heiress theme has always been my favorite from those. But yeah, that's ah that's a great choice. I love the piano. Very often, if I'm going to bed, I'll just pull up YouTube and I'll throw on like a piano collection of songs from video games and stuff. And so obviously, Final Fantasy is always a huge one in that in that genre. And yeah, I love it. It's great. I absolutely love it.
00:27:58
Speaker
If I would have played Persona this year, I wanted to play Persona 3 Reload. I probably would have had a Persona game in there because they always have such good music, but I didn't listen to this stuff. Yeah, I was thinking the same thing for me with Persona 3 because I know the original Persona 3 soundtrack is really good and I figured the remake is probably even better. And same thing with Metaphor. I haven't played Metaphor yet, which I will be getting to soon. Metaphor Retard Aussie Ho. Oh my god.
00:28:23
Speaker
So many people call it that now. It's like alarming. Good job, Dustin, for introducing that. Shout out to Dustin. We love him. Yeah, funny. But yeah, video game music, absolutely love. All right. um Next up.
00:28:39
Speaker
Here we go. We have the DAD award.
Surprises of the Year in Gaming
00:28:42
Speaker
This is the the proudest video game moment of the year for you. Doesn't have to be like a specific like a game or it doesn't have to be a specific like, Oh, this game came out in 2024. What's the proudest you felt when you played a video game for doing something in the game? Hajira. Um, yeah, I.
00:29:01
Speaker
Honestly, I was trying to think of like, oh, is there a trophy I got? Or is there just a game I beat? But honestly, I kind of went a different route with this. And my proudest moment was just going back and finally playing Dead Space. Dead Space 1 and 2. Because I just missed out on those games. I've i probably said this on the podcast. But when the first Dead Space came out, there was a demo for it on Xbox 360. And I played it. And it's not that I don't like horror games. It's just that one felt so It just felt so weird to me and I just didn't, wasn't a really big fan of it. So I was just like, I guess the dead space isn't for me. But then I just heard how much people loved the remake. So when the remake came to Game Pass this year, I fired it up and I love it. It is an amazing game. And so and then I went to play two, which was also great, even though obviously that one's a little more dated, it's not remade. And then three, I actually did give up during because I just
00:29:53
Speaker
It just didn't land the way one and two do. ah But just going back and replaying those games and going into a very deep backlog that's literally years old i felt good. And I like kind of finally finally get letting myself into that world. And I love it. And I'm angry just recently they said they turned down a um pitch for Dead Space 4. And that made me sad. so And they canceled Dead Space 2 Remake. So all those things make me sad. And I feel like I joined at the wrong time. but I'm happy I finally played those. So those are my, that's, I think my proudest moment of the year is playing some dead space. I go on. No, go ahead. i was just like I love the way that you took it that way because this was a very, I tried to make these very open ended and that's a really good thing. Like you, you, ah you found out that you just proud of yourself for, you know, doing something. I love it. Yeah. Yeah.
00:30:46
Speaker
My is actually very similar. My proudest moment, first of all, honorable mention, but really the real winner, is starting this podcast with you two amazing gentlemen. That's my proudest moment, although this is going to be the honorable mention. But I'm just so glad that we decided to do this podcast. I'm so glad that I chose you guys to join me, because there could not be a better trio. um You two are the best, and I'm just here for the ride.
00:31:13
Speaker
You guys make the show go um but I appreciate it. It's awesome. It's been a great year and we got many more coming We're not quitting anytime soon if ever so you're stuck with us bitches um All right. So my winner though for the dad very similar hodge we you and I Birds of a Feather. I also picked games that I crossed off the backlog, the deep backlog. I'm proud of myself for finally beating two of the goats of gaming that I had never played before. First off, shout out Final Fantasy 7, the original, the OG. I went back and played it. um Finally crossed that off the bucket list, if you will. And what a great game it was. And check out our spoiler cast, people. If you haven't seen it, we did it.
00:31:55
Speaker
yeah um And also the Witcher 3, one of the goats, no doubt. um The undisputed game of the year from 2015, almost nobody disputes it. it's so It's such a masterpiece. Finally played that too for the first time. So I'm proud of myself for going back into the backlog and playing some goats. That's mine. Nice. All right. I love that. So um as many of you know, I love hunting trophies, but I did not put a trophy as my dad moment of the year. I do want to give an honorable an honorable mention to getting that Platinum and Final Fantasy VII rebirth though. that was
00:32:30
Speaker
That was fun, um a lot of fun, pretty ridiculous. um But um I am, my dad award goes to the fact that I really didn't rush out to buy, just buy a game just to have or a new game came out and it wasn't like, oh, I need to get it right away just because I need to have it. um That used to be a big problem for me. I would oftentimes buy games right when they came out and be like, all right, I'm going to get to it.
00:32:59
Speaker
ah But i I'm so glad I bought it. I didn't do that this year. um So, for example, um like when Metaphor came out, I didn't rush and buy it. Like, I need it right now. I need it. I still haven't bought it yet because I don't, I didn't plan on playing it for a while. I'm going to buy it when I'm going to play it. But that was a big thing for me because I, not that it was like a couple, not like I'm like, you know,
00:33:20
Speaker
living paycheck to paycheck you know scrounging for money between my cushions but you know it adds up when um you know you're just buying games just to buy because they came out and it makes you really think about like what do i actually want to play right now rather than just i bought this game so i feel like i need to play it so um that is what the proudest moment for me is the fact that i kind of hunkered down and was like i'm not just gonna buy the game just to buy i'm gonna buy the game when i'm ready to play it
00:33:50
Speaker
Right on.
Games Missed in 2024
00:33:51
Speaker
ah you know Maybe I should do your discipline. But I don't buy them brand new, though. I'm a um' a sales hunter. i got I got my watch list set up for all these games that I want to eventually get ah by wish list set up on Xbox, PlayStation, and Steam. And any time I see a deep sale, like a good really good sale, I just go in there and buy that thing. And I put it on the backlog. And then I'll probably play it sometime in like two years. um That's me. I have a problem, so.
00:34:17
Speaker
You know, I was the opposite. Like a game would come out and I would just be like, Oh, I need it right now. And I would just buy it. And that that led me to buy games. I still haven't played like since I bought them. Yeah. Like God of War Ragnarok for me. I bought it and never played it. Yeah. The only only games I've bought and not played are on Black Friday, I always buy the heavily discounted games, and there's a couple that I've bought that I still, to this day, have yet to play, but I bought them because it's like, wow, this normally $50 game is only 15 bucks? Bye. So that, yeah, that's that's me. I only bought like three games on Black Friday this year, though, so I was proud of myself.
00:34:58
Speaker
Yeah, I just really enjoy like the sales hunting. Like I almost every day, almost every day I check my wish list to see what's on sale today and see if there is something that's a great buy. But yeah, back to you, Sean. Yeah, like when I bought Gollum day one and I still haven't played it, I'm like, come on, guys, you're missing. That's going to be my game of the year. Oh, it should be because we all know that's the greatest game ever. Yeah, exactly. All right. Are we satisfied with the dad award?
00:35:27
Speaker
Oh, yeah. All right. Next up, we have shout out to Eminem on this one. We have the stand, the character of the year, the character that you stand. You made that you made standing a verb. I'm going to stand something, which um is funny because kids still are obsessed with Eminem to this day. I love it. um So the stand, the character of the year award, Hodge, we're going to throw to you. So my honorable mentions for this one are I didn't pick them because they're not really characters. They don't have like their own arc kind of thing. I was going to do Astrobot just because I just love that game and having all the little Astrobots run around is awesome and I love them. I was also going to pick just like
00:36:12
Speaker
It's not really a character, but like the the democracy people from Helldivers, they're just such a great satire on like the fascistic ah democracy kind of people. And there are just lines in the game that are so funny. like If you if uh, if your teammate is not talking about democracy, please report them to your closest democracy center and stuff like that like Basically trying to make it seem like you're all patriotic but in reality yours play living in a fascist world but uh, so my favorite character is from A great game that everyone has played called the final fantasy rebirth and i'm going with t filet cards big old cans or I mean chief of law card um, she
00:36:56
Speaker
I've always liked the character of Tifa. I liked her in Remake. I liked her in Seven. um But it was this game where they really expanded who she is. And I just loved her story arc. And also, as I talked about on the spoiler cast, I'm an idiot. and I always thought her and Barrett were married.
00:37:14
Speaker
And so the fact that she's actually single and and loves Cloud, I was like, oh, that makes her character actually better because she's like kind of the friend-zoned friend who's in love with Cloud. And it just makes her character more interesting now that I see her through that light. And so I loved Tifa throughout the entire game. Even though I didn't play with her that much because I'm not big on her close range combat compared to other people's combat. But ah yeah, i Tifa was, she just stuck out to me this year. And I and i just loved her. So ah yeah. My character of the year is Tifa Lockhart.
00:37:46
Speaker
It's a great pick. Great pick, great pick. And funny enough, I realize I updated the wrong thing. So I put your character down for the next award. My bad, anyway. Funny enough, my character of the year is also from the same game. But first of all, I'm going to do an honorable mention. So my honorable mention goes to a character that might have been my winner, but it was not from a game that released this year.
00:38:14
Speaker
But it is Lay-Zell from Baldur's Gate 3. Bay-Zell. Love Lay-Zell. She's awesome. um You know, she's some people don't like her because she's kind of cold at first. She's kind of a cunt, if you will. Excuse my language. I know some people hate that word. ah But shout out to Chris. But she's awesome. sour not motly aggreg here or lost there No doubt. But yeah, so that's my honorable mention is Lazell from Baldur's Gate 3. But my actual winner, because this game came out this year, is also from Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. um Now, I have to give a little bit of disclaimer here. I mentioned that I was a little bit nervous about this pick, because I don't want to get put on a watch list, and I don't want people to to misconstrue it, okay? There's nothing sexual about this, okay? oh my god are yeah I just like this character a lot, okay?
00:39:01
Speaker
ah my I've said time and time again that the best girl and the best waifu, if you will, from Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is Aerith. And that's facts. But I can't pick Aerith as the best character because she's kind of boring, right? She's just like that boring older sister. um Oh, my God.
00:39:17
Speaker
so Alright, so my winner is actually Yuffie. Yuffie Kisarage or whatever from Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth and I'll tell you why.
Anticipated Games for 2025
00:39:27
Speaker
Okay, I absolutely had a blast playing as Yuffie. Her combat is so fun. yeah It is so fun and so addicting and I don't want to pat myself on the back.
00:39:38
Speaker
too much. I don't really give myself the Obama award too hard, but I got really good with her combat. I was messing these bosses up and I was, jo I was air juggling. I was air juggling them. I was teleporting. I was switching up the elements and hitting those weak spots and breaking them left and right. And Yuffie was so fun. And I also really enjoyed her fun, bubbly,
00:39:57
Speaker
uh, innocent personality. She brought a lot of fun to the cast and levity, if you will. I like Yuffie a lot. Um, Yuffie is my favorite character of the year. Shout out to her. Uh, I mean, obviously the best babe of the game is Tifa, no doubt, but Yuffie is the best character in my opinion. So shout out to her.
00:40:15
Speaker
No, I won't put me on the list, please. I said this on the on the spoiler cash. She's basically she's kind of like a goofy little sister character. And she's adorable for that. And like her and Barrett's like older brother, younger sister kind of back and forth was so funny. And so yeah, I completely smart. And yeah, she is fun as hell to play as I love playing as you. so best you Yeah, but yeah, she's just a goofy, adorable character. And so yeah, that's a great pick. I agree.
00:40:41
Speaker
I think I've made it pretty clear what I think of Yuffie. Yeah, he's not a fan. Not a fan. Not a big fan of her. Those are great picks, though, guys. To be different, I decided I didn't want to harp on Final Fantasy VII Rebirth so much because I already love that game so much. And Cloud is one of my favorite protagonists of all time. I do have some honorable mentions. I'm going to just say, Barrett from Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, his quest line when you learn so much about his backstory. Oh, my gosh.
00:41:09
Speaker
Heartbreaking. Yeah, so good. Absolutely gut wrenching. um So Barrett, Tifa again um made me I love Tifa and it made me love her even more. Aerith, I liked a lot more in Rebirth. She has just the ending of that game with Aerith. It's heart. It's yeah so emotional. That whole game, just the cast. I shot at the Hojo. to No, I hate Hojo. He's a jerk. Yeah, screw Hojo.
00:41:35
Speaker
a Couple more honorable mentions. I have still the Fox from Terra memoria. There's a part in that game um She's an orphan in that game um not an orphan, but she She doesn't know her parents, and there's a part in the game that is extremely emotional. It's near the end, and it brought tears to my eyes. So ahy she's great, and she's so much fun to play with. She's like a sorcerer, and her moves are just ridiculous. And she's hilarious. like Her lines of dialogue, I'm constantly laughing. um Another honorable mention I have. Sorry, I have a lot of honorable mentions for this category. I love characters.
00:42:12
Speaker
how How dare you enjoy video games, Sean? I know. is ah This game came out back in 2004, but they did the remake or the remaster. It's kind of a remake remaster for the Switch this year. It's Paper Mario the Thousand Year Door. My favorite partner, I've loved almost all the characters in the game. My favorite partner is Vivian. She's a ghost. ah She has a really crazy story too, like extremely like... She's originally a villain and then she becomes your partner because ah she realized she's being treated basically like crap by everyone that she's aligned with. um I love her and she's so much. She's so broken in combat. Like when you like learn how to use her and being someone who former like a former speedrunner of that, I used to speedrun the game. um You realize just how broken she is and it's great. She's awesome. um And she's a really over a really cool overworld ability. I really like her.
00:43:01
Speaker
um another honorable mention I have is um just like the main this game didn't come out in 2024 but the main protagonist from the two South Park games I just love playing as my character how he doesn't speak until there's a point in the game where you have speak and it's hilarious absolutely funny um but my final winner is from visions of mana a game that I just recently finished and that is yo No, it's not Karina. It's not Karina. know I do like Karina, but it's not her. um She can get a little annoying. It's Morley who is like a beast man. He's like a cat man.
00:43:42
Speaker
um I promise I'm not afraid of you guys, but he's a cat man. He is also a swordsman and he comes from a city of Aetiran and it is pretty brutal what happened to that city. He's one of the only survivors. This is not a spoiler. It's like right at the beginning of the game. He's one of the only survivors from the destruction of the city.
00:44:03
Speaker
Um, and it turns out that he was pretty much the cause of the destruction where everyone dies and his mother dies right in front of him, like in his arms basically. And it is so sad, but you see him grow like throughout the game. He he is so depressed and like so serious. But as you go on this journey with your entire party, you see Morley come to, um,
00:44:26
Speaker
kind of forgive himself and you learn more about him. And there is, if you do his side quests, which I tell you, you need to do with side quests when you play Visions of Mana, because you get so much out of it. Oh, my gosh, there is a part that I broke down crying. Like I couldn't, like I couldn't handle it. And Claire was making fun of me the entire time because he is a Batman. But and just as combat is ridiculous, he has one of his classes that he has. It's called the um It's called the weapon weapon master class. um One of his attacks is just a critical attack. It is like a really high critical attack rate. And if you equip these ability seeds that increase critical attack like damage and rate, it's like every hits a critical rate. And you're just like going like back and forth, like few spewing from enemy to enemy. And it's it's awesome. It's kind of it's so good. And it really helps you on one of the optional bosses for one of the hardest trophies in the game. So my winner is Morley, the beast man.
Favorite Non-2024 Releases
00:45:25
Speaker
mortally All right All right, and that was our stan our character of the year. Oh, yeah All right Next up we have the oh my god award Shout out to Jose Iglesias, New York Mets player, who was saying that song. um This is our Surprise of the Year award. Surprise of the Year award. We're going to try to not spoil anything so we can kind of just mention what the like are we were shocked at a certain part of a game or a certain scene or just anything really, you know, take it the way you take it. ah The surprise of the year, the oh my God. Oh my God.
00:46:09
Speaker
All right. ah Yeah, none of mine are going to mean anything spoiler related us or story related in general. My honorable mentions first, I wanted to kind of in the same vein as midnight before. my so I did not expect to be going back to podcasting this year. So big surprise was starting a podcast again. I haven't done podcasting regularly since 2018. So it was fun to really get back on that horse and just be doing this again. So that was a lot of fun. So there's my little Obama's giving his himself a medal kind of thing.
00:46:37
Speaker
um But the other the honorable mentions is first I gotta grab it right here was the Sony 30th anniversary drops and The fact that I ended up loving buying this portal. I've been playing it a lot We didn't do what we've been playing but I've been playing a lot of this this week and I'll talk about those games that we play on the next episode but I Yeah, just getting this all of a sudden this 30th drop where everything is the PS1 brand and it looks beautiful. That was a huge surprise and getting the PlayStation and the Portal. i just It was such a cool ah celebration of PlayStation and I really loved that they released all that stuff. Sadly, didn't get the 30th Pro. but
00:47:21
Speaker
whatever, I got the 30th normal console and it's just as beautiful. So that's another honorable mention. And then my other honorable mention before I get to my winner is the Alan Wake 2 DLC is just stealth dropping through the year. The first one just dropped her during the award show. He's like, it's out today. And then during another conference, they said coming in October, which I think the show was in September. So it was like, it's coming next month. And so being able to play the two Alan Wake DLCs this year out of nowhere was a whole lot of fun.
00:47:52
Speaker
But my winner for Surprise of the Year is actually the game Helldivers 2. This is a game that when they showed it off, I was like, eh, it looks like a kind of a Gears of War or third person shooter. It looks and looks fine. like I thought it was going to be kind of one of those games that came and went. No one gave a shit about it. But then it came out. And me and my younger brother were just kind of like, this game, I don't know. It looks kind of fun. Let's give it a try. And then you know months later, we're obsessed with it. and we put i think I think on my thing it said I put 150 hours into it or something this year. But yeah, Helldivers 2 was such an out of nowhere surprise. I did not expect to fall in love with this game. Literally, I got my friend to buy a PS5 just to buy the game. like we be We turned him into a PlayStation console gamer just so he could play Helldivers with us.
00:48:42
Speaker
And then my my cousin who never turns on his PS5, he's primarily Xbox like ah most of my friends. He bought it to and so he plays his PS5 just as much as he plays his Xbox now. and yeah So Helldivers 2, it was such a huge surprise. It's such an amazing game. um So it was a big surprise that it took up as much of my time this year as as it did. So yeah, Helldivers 2 is my surprise of the year, my OMG moment.
00:49:09
Speaker
All right. Good stuff. Good stuff. All right. So for me, my surprise of the year, the OMG is Dragons Dogma 2 I can't believe how bad and trash this game was I really can't like this game was so bad like it was horrible I don't get it like I really thought I was gonna love this game. I thought this game was gonna be great I was like, this is such a midnight game. This game was was horrible. Like I swear to God I was so happy when I finally quit this game Sean was begging me to drop the game. He's like midnight, please just drop the game, dude i could I could see how much you're suffering. And I was like, no, John, no, it's going to get good. Trust me, it's going to get good. I just got to play another 15 more hours. It's going to, it it didn't get good. The game sucks. Screw you, dragons dog. That's my, uh, that's my OMG award honorable mention real quick, though.
00:50:03
Speaker
is that I was really surprised that two very small games that I played, Thronebreaker, The Witcher Tales, which is the Gwent-based game, um and also Eternites, that little indie r JRPG, I was surprised that those were both so good for how small they were. um But yeah, no. Dragon's Dogma 2, boo.
00:50:24
Speaker
I just, I was laughing because I like how my surprise was like, Oh my gosh, I couldn't believe how good hell divers was. and You're surprised. I couldn't believe how bad. Screw that game, but shout out to DJ for gifting it to me. I do appreciate that. Yeah. John, what's your surprise of the year?
00:50:41
Speaker
My surprise of the year is that Midnight actually dropped Dragon's Dog. No, I'm kidding. I have a couple honorable mentions. One honorable mention is my OMG moment of the year goes to, well, one of my honorable mentions for it is the fact that Concord died in two weeks. I was like, I cannot believe that they actually had the guts to actually say, you know, we're just going to pull the plug and then just give everyone a refund. We don't care. yeah We're just going to just do it. We're going to act like it didn't happen. That was absolutely wild. But that's an honorable mention for me. um Another honorable mention that I have is um for my OMG moment of the year. Yep. Can I just I just say Concord is probably better than Dragon's Dogma too. But carry on. Gosh, that's ah it's the whole statement there, Connie. That's funny.
00:51:35
Speaker
Uh, my other honorable mention is the fact that they, uh, Nintendo randomly announced, um, the legend of Zelda echoes of wisdom. Like they showed that and said, Oh yeah, it's coming this year. Oh yeah. And it was a fricking fantastic game and it was gorgeous in that it started Zelda and people were like,
00:51:53
Speaker
didn't lose their minds over the fact that Zelda was a playable character. like Usually people would be like, oh my gosh, we're playing in Zelda. She's a female. And people didn't lose their minds over it. We had some vocal you know small people, but it wasn't like an overwhelming, like this is crazy. um So shout out to that. But my winner for my oh my god moment goes to the fact that they remade Croc the Legend of the Gabos and that it came out in December and like nobody is talking about it.
00:52:22
Speaker
and fair. I have not played it yet, but I forgot to rock. I could not believe it. Like we've gotten some obscure remakes just like weird PS one games. but When they announced Croc, I was like, it's happening. This is great. And I will be playing it. It came out December 10th, but I love Croc.
00:52:44
Speaker
even though the game was like broken back on PS1, like the the weird tech controls, but I will be playing it. So that's my OMG mode, like goes to the remake of k Croc or the remaster, or whatever it even is. But yeah, Croc. Croc before Crocs were cool. Yeah. Yeah. Cool. All right. Now, what's next, Sean?
00:53:10
Speaker
All right. Award number seven, the there's always next year award, the game from 2024 you missed, but are planning on playing in 2025.
00:53:21
Speaker
All right. My, so this was a tough one. Cause I was like, let me throw the list. And I was like, Oh, I missed, I missed a lot that, uh, came out this year. So.
00:53:32
Speaker
I'm going to go, i have I'm not going to explain each one because I have actually a lot of honorable mentions, so I'm just going to kind of go through them quickly. I want to play Stars Outlaws when it kind of, i probably it'll come to Game Pass because most Ubi games do eventually come to Game Pass, so I'll probably just play it then. Stellar Blade I missed out on, I do want to play that one. ah Persona 3, I'm very back and forth, I don't want to promise that I'll play it in 2025 because I don't know if I will.
00:53:59
Speaker
But I've always wanted to play a Persona game, but obviously the length of those games just always turned me off from playing it. But also, having this bad boy might make it a little more of a... of well Yeah, it'll make me want to play it a little more because it does those games do seem like a cool handheld type game. For listeners, I was holding up my portal, but what's up? and i know Play played it on easy too. Oh, yeah. Make it much more digestible.
00:54:23
Speaker
I play basically anything on story mode nowadays, journalism mode, because I just don't have the time to keep dying and struggle with stuff. So I'm just like, I just want to get through the game, and enjoy it, and move on. But I want to play Animal Well. It looks, I've heard it was awesome. i so yeah And it's on the PS ah Plus catalog, so I do have access to it without having to buy it, which is nice. it would be ah That would be a great portal game.
00:54:46
Speaker
Yeah, I'm sure. I want to play the Crocker Master. You actually just made me think of that. It's a game i'm definitely I definitely want to play because I did love that game as a kid. And then Silent Hill 2 is the other one I really want to play that came out this year.
00:54:58
Speaker
But what I'm going to go with for my winner of the, there's always next year is echoes of wisdom. I'm, I didn't get around to it, but I did play, um, links awakening this year for the first time. And I adored it. And since this is basically the, basically an ex just direct SQL has the same art style, same everything. I think that when they do announce the switch to or the super switch or whatever they're going to call it, I think that might be a launch day. Cause I remember how much the frames were dropping in Link's Awakening on the normal switch. So when we get a little more powerful one, I think I will want to hop into this and let it run a little better. And I'm excited because this game does look fun. It is a puzzler platformer, which is or looks kind of like that genre. And I love that kind of game. And I did love Link's Awakening, as I've said, so I'm very excited to play Echoes of Wisdom. And I will definitely get around to that next year. So looking forward to that.
00:55:56
Speaker
Okay, some great picks I I think you should because you had you had problems with uh winks awakening with that frame rate. It's even worse with echoes of wisdom because there's more going on. Yeah, I figured as much. hey Yeah. midnight what's What about you? All right. I was trying to think what even is echoes of wisdom, but that's the Zelda right? Yeah.
00:56:17
Speaker
All right, so for me, I have a couple honorable mentions. ah Number one is going to be Persona 3 reload Aegis edition. um it's ah It's on Game Pass. It came with the DLC, too, the Aegis Pack. So I'm going to play all of that. It's going to be awesome next year. Another honorable mention is going to be Stalker 2. I want to finally play this game. I've never played a Stalker game. A friend of the show, Lockmort, really loves this game. It's almost his game of the year. It's up there. And you know he's been trying to get me to play it, but I'm waiting for some patches in time to play it. So um that's going to be played next year, I'm sure. But my winner, for there's always next year,
00:56:54
Speaker
is going to be like a dragon, infinite wealth, like a dragon eight. I have to earn this game. I would have already played this game, but I'm doing my Yakuza playthrough. I am on Yakuza four playing it right now. And so I got to do five, six. And then I have to do guide in the man who erased his name because I already did seven, which was the original like a dragon because it was like.
00:57:16
Speaker
It was like a new protagonist, new story. So I just played it. Um, but anyways, that's what will be mine. Like a dragon, infinite wealth. It's going to be a lot of fun. Can't wait to weave games and one Western great game.
00:57:30
Speaker
ah yeah You know, you complain about so many games in the Trails series, but you're playing like four games to catch up just so you can play some other game. Come on. um'm I'm just messing with you. They're a lot shorter, though. Yaka's a game for like 20 hours. All right. All right. For my there's always next year award. I have so many honorable mentions, ah too many of the names, um but I will name a couple.
00:57:51
Speaker
um One of them is Dragon Quest III HD. I have not played it yet. I do plan on playing it very, very shortly. um The reason why it's just an honorable mention is because it's a remake um and I've already i played the original Dragon Quest III many times so I'm not gonna be like, oh my gosh, this is my winner. um Another um honorable mention is Metaphor Rifantazio only because I may or may not start it before 2025 depending on um depending on what I ultimately decide. um But it will be played very shortly. um Another honorable mention is Stellar Blade. I do want to play Stellar Blade. yeah That game looks sick. And the combat looks awesome. Infinite Wealth, I have to play the first Like a Dragon game first. So that is also an honorable mention. But my ultimate winner is this is way different than what I normally play. But this is, well, not way different, but this is Indica. Have either of you ever heard of Indica? Is that the non-game?
00:58:49
Speaker
Yeah, the none. It does look a game where you play as a nun and I've heard the story is absolutely insane with a lot of twists and turns and I'm so looking forward to it um just because anything anytime I've heard the premise of the game, I'm so interested and I've skipped over any small, small spoiler. So I'm really looking forward to see what happens and it's out on it's out on um PS5 and Xbox ah came out in May. So I do want to play. it It's not a long game either. So I'm sure looking can forward to it. This could be a hodge game. It's a shorter. Yeah, I've never even heard. I'm looking at it now. I've never heard of this. So cool. I think you play as a nun. Oh, sorry. so Yeah, you play as a nun who heard like demon voices. So if she's starting to like question like. Yeah, yeah question. Yeah, it looks. And I heard some some of our some of our friends have played it.
00:59:45
Speaker
And they have spoken very highly of it. Huh? I've never even heard of this. That's crazy. It looks sick. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Put that on your list. The only reason I heard of it is because um Oh, I heard of it back in May, but I kind of was like, yeah, whatever. And then I was listening to a podcast probably like three months ago and someone brought it up as like what they were playing. And I was like, that sounds absolutely insane. And then after that, I started noticing like more and more people talking about it. And I'm like, oh, I have to play this.
01:00:18
Speaker
no Nice. What's next, Sean? All right. Getting down to the nitty gritty, the ah real hard hitters here. This is the, is it Friday yet? I hear this. I hear that way too much when i and I'm working. But the is it Friday yet award, the you're most anticipated 2025 release. Doo, doo, doo. All right. Yeah. This is, um, no honorable mentions for this. No, I'm kidding. Okay. Yeah.
01:00:48
Speaker
This was a tough one because I was typing the wrong thing. right um Where my list go damn it there was typeping and after? No, you're good. I was I was typing the wrong in the wrong box. Um, so this is a tough one. I was I didn't know these are gonna be honorable mentions because I don't know what is and what isn't coming out next year. So it's kind of tough is first one is Judas. I'm obviously insanely hyped for this. It doesn't have a release date. I i can't remember. Did they say 2025? I don't even remember but I don't think I don't 2025.
01:01:21
Speaker
yeah I don't trust any dates anyway so ah Judas and Honorable mention Hades 2 I know that one will be released into early access or if it are I think it already has been actually but so hopefully that one will come out um Ghost of Yotei if it meets its deadline ah but I'm gonna go with and There's others that I'm not thinking right now, but I'm gonna go with this is my number one by far because it's gonna be the one that might get me to buy a PS5 Pro just to enjoy it and all its beauty is Death Stranding 2. I am More than excited for this game. I've been still playing I haven't got to play it in a few days mostly because I've also been playing indie a lot but I've been playing it on Xbox and I just
01:02:03
Speaker
Forgot how much I love this game just this just like i've I've described it this way before it's just therapeutic just driving around delivering packages just doing the puzzle of how am I gonna get to A to B? ah Who am I gonna have to fight to get there? What am I gonna have to go through? And it's and the story is just, in it's batshit crazy, but it's awesome. ah So I'm just so excited to see how Kojima pulls off the sequel. What is he gonna do to improve on it? Obviously other than the graphics, because those look amazing so far from what we've seen, and which again is why I might straight up buy a PS5 Pro just to play that game. I mean, obviously I'll play other games on it, but yeah.
01:02:42
Speaker
That's like the number one reason I want a PS5 Pro at this point. And hopefully it'll be on sale by then because I don't want to spend $700 on console. But ah yeah, so Death Stranding 2, super stoked for this game. I cannot wait. Hopefully it does land next year. Kojima, I don't know how he is about hitting due dates. I don't feel i feel like everyone doubted Death Stranding 1's release date and it came out when it came out. So ah yeah, Death Stranding 2.
01:03:08
Speaker
That's mine. from From my knowledge, Kojima's been pretty spot on with his games. like I remember Metal Gear Solid 5 was not delayed. Death Stranding came out super quick, and they like you had said. um Metal Gear Solid 4 had that strict June 2008 release date, and they absolutely hit that. And he announced that. He said, we're going to anunce we're gonna release Metal Gear Solid 4 June 2008. He announced that in 2005. Yeah. So he's he's done he's done some pretty good work on ah getting those out. So yeah, I'm just kind of looking at the list of other... Oh, and South of Midnight's the other honorable mention of mine. I'm excited for South of Midnight. So yeah, those are those are my picks. So what about you, Midnight?
01:03:48
Speaker
Is it Friday? yet Great picks, great picks. All right. So there's a lot of great games coming out next year that you guys know that I'm a big fan of. We got the we got the Outer Worlds, too. We got a vow, Death Stranding, too. You know, there's other games, too. Sean, um do you have a guess? What do you think my most anticipated game is? I'm going to guess your 2025 most anticipated game is Hmm, I'm gonna guess it probably is Squeaking in ream remaster ah Good guess though, so that we also had to actually i have one more I'm gonna get one more one more gas before you okay. Okay. Go ahead. I'm gonna guess You're out of last of art so yes, so
01:04:44
Speaker
ah Some honorable mentions for me are gonna be the ones I already mentioned death stranding to Gonna be awesome. I hope I am a little nervous about that game I'm like, I hope that he can hit it again and make it awesome again um But I'm sure he will Also avowed is gonna be incredible from obsidian blackrock the outer worlds to if it hits next year is gonna be incredible Sean You know this and of course ghost of Yotei is gonna be amazing. But those are just honorable mentions so And I told you I told you that I had one game that I think was really going to surprise you, and this is it. My most anticipated game of 2025 is... da da
01:05:25
Speaker
Trails in the Sky first chapter remake, The Legend of Heroes. That's right, Sean. You've been wanting me to play this series. You've been wanting me to play this game forever. I have been interested in playing this game because it looks awesome, but there's like 38 games to play. And the first one was old and dusty. But guess what?
01:05:44
Speaker
It's not going to be old and dusty anymore. They're remaking it. It looks incredible. The graphics look awesome. I am ready to embrace Weebri. New year, new me, and why not fill it up with Weebri? That's going to be my motto for 2025. There's going to be a lot of Weebri. I hope Logmore doesn't listen to this because he's going to court-martial me if he does.
01:06:06
Speaker
But there's going to be a lot of weebery in 2025 for midnight, because I have all these JRPGs on my backlog that I've been putting off and putting off and putting off and never playing ever. Well, the time is coming. And Trails, that's my pick, Sean. I love that pick. The time is now.
01:06:25
Speaker
That actually, that's an honorable mention on mine only because I've played Trails in the Sky many times. I have a prediction that I'm gonna prefer the older one just because I love, like as much as I love Trails so much. I love the 3D games. I love the top-down 2D ones. But to me, that game...
01:06:42
Speaker
I don't know, the something about like the art style, those top-down 2D RPG Super Nintendo-esque games. like I just really, really... It brings me back, but I'm so looking forward to that. A couple more. 2025 looks freaking banger. Banging for games. A couple honorable mentions for me. Outer Worlds 2, that blew me away. That that should have been my... own my you know what That probably could have been my own my OMG award that they announced that. Well, not announced. They said 2025 release date. Avowed looks so sick. It looks so cool.
01:07:12
Speaker
Um, grants have thought of five. Like I, I am dead set. It's coming out in 2025. I know it is. I know it is. Oh, grant the thought of six. My bad. Uh, the five, the five, I mean, they will release, they will re-release five too. So they've already released six times confirmed. But yeah, there are so many, this way too many to name for 2025, but, um, my most anticipated 2025 game.
01:07:42
Speaker
This is also a Trails game, and this is Trails Through Daybreak 2. It's coming over to the west, February 16th, 2025. I spewed endless praise for Trails Through Daybreak 1, which I fell in love with and I played so much of it, and I absolutely adored it back in July.
01:08:01
Speaker
So I cannot wait for the sequel. It's gonna be awesome. I cannot wait to see where the story goes. I've heard crazy things from those who've already played the Japanese version. So Trails Through Daybreak 2 coming out in February. I cannot wait. Nice. Awesome. All right. Next award, Sean. All right. The next up, next award we have The Classic. The game of the year that didn't release in 2024. So your favorite game that didn't release this year.
01:08:31
Speaker
Odd you're up. Yeah, this was a tough one um because I played a lot of games that didn't come out this year. ah So my honorable mentions are Tinykin. It was the first game I actually played this year. I played it because it was like eight bucks on PlayStation. So I played it again, which is kind of why it's not going to win because I've already played it before. I was just replaying it, which is actually the same with a couple of these. Sackboy played for the first time, loved it.
01:08:59
Speaker
I played, replayed Sly Cooper. I've obviously, I played that back on PS2. I replayed Alan Wake 2. I loved it. And the DLC that is from this year, but spoiler is not my, because I don't believe DLC should win Game of the Year. And then I'm replaying Death Stranding, which I obviously love. And then I played for the first time Crisis Core. I loved that game. It was fantastic. But my Game of the Year that didn't release in 2024, the classic I'm going to go Dead Space Remake. As I talked about earlier, I was proud that I finally came to the series, but I played through it. I obsessively tried finding everything. I think you have to play through it twice to 100% it. So I haven't replayed it yet, but I definitely am going to go through and replay it because I loved it that much. It is such an amazing game. i I hate myself for sleeping on it for so long, but the remake did fix
01:09:55
Speaker
what was still lingering in the second one, though I heard the second one did improve from the first one of the OGs. ah the set The remake improved everything, and it's way better than how it runs in the second. So, yeah, Dead Space 1 remake, I adored this game. It is by far my favorite, not 2024 game release that I played this year. Or play for the first time.
Classic Game of the Year Debate
01:10:21
Speaker
excellent excellent pick all right so for me i have um i think yeah so this was tough because i played two of the greatest games ever made this year in my opinion both of these games are in my top five to eight top eight maybe of all time and those are the witcher three and balder's gate three i mean these two are just absolute behemoth goat rpgs um and i had to pick one and it's basically a coin flip like honestly i really went back and forth on this a lot so i'm gonna say my honorable mention is going to be the witcher three from cd project red is my honorable mention i have to give the actual winner
01:11:00
Speaker
to Baldur's Gate 3. Shout out to Larian. What a masterpiece that they wove with this. Just amazing storytelling. Over like 200 hours of cut scenes that they did. So much choice and consequence. Like you can just twist the narrative as much as you want. ah Save and kill people however you want. Get different reactions from people based on your race, based on your actions, all kinds of stuff. Tons of of awesome characters, romance. It's got everything. Violence.
01:11:29
Speaker
It's just it's just amazing. First time I've ever played a true CRPG like this, and it was great. um I'm really looking forward to so playing more games in this type of genre and style, like the Salasta 2 or whatever that was at the game awards that we saw. That actually looks pretty cool. Very similar. um But yeah, that's my pick. Baldur's Gate 3 is my the classic award winner.
01:11:53
Speaker
That's is such a good pick. Very similar to you. I had never played like a CRPG before and that like got me hooked and it was so good. Just like the amount of like different things you can do. This is a reason why it's because it's considered one of the greatest games ever. um All right, for my classic, I have... A couple honorable mentions. I played a lot of new games this year, but I also played some oldies for the first time. I'm just gonna strictly mention um first time games. First, I want to mention the Stick of Truth. Absolutely phenomenal. Phenomenal. yeah I still cannot believe that I played these games without watching South Park first, and I still found them hilarious. like Such a good idea. such so That was a great game to just play when I got back from Hawaii. because like
01:12:37
Speaker
I like hated leaving Hawaii and that just brought me so much joy playing the stick of truth. Like a little cure for the post Hawaii depression. yeah Oh, of course. um Definitely, definitely. um Another you know, what I don't even remember what my other honorable mention I was going to name was. I had it. I don't remember. I'm sorry. It's all don't apologize. You never never apologize. All right. So my winner, very similar to South Park, stick of truth. It's South Park.
01:13:07
Speaker
Fractured the fractured butthole I Loved this game. Like I loved it more than stick of truth I found the combat it was just funny because sticker truth is much more of like a traditional like ah Turn-based combat where this is like a grid based combat, but I loved the story of the fractured butthole I love the whole I like the whole superhero Aspect they got even more like zany and crazy with this South Park like stuff that happens in the game um Cartman is I hate Cartman, but he was hilarious with, uh, something that happens in this game with his, um, the main villain. Well, the king kind of villain antagonist dish kind of, um, I love just running around with all the different powers. Um, this game was fantastic. I found myself laughing so much during both, basically both games. I can give the award to stick a truth to, but I liked the fractured butthole better. Um,
01:14:02
Speaker
It was so much fun going around on cool Instagram and friending people. And I love just like the random backstories you would get at your hero. You just imagine this, you wake up, you see your parents, you hear something coming from your parents' room. I just love that. And you just go out and it's like changing the backstory every time. And it's it's great.
01:14:23
Speaker
um Shout out to all the characters of South Park. It's so good. And it made me watch South Park. So um yeah, that's my classic. South Park, The Fractured Butthole. Nice. Love it. I love it. I'm so glad you played these games. We recommended it heavily to you. um We knew you would love them. I'm glad. Yeah, definitely. I love South Park. So those games hold a very special place in my heart. I've been watching South Park since I was like eight years old, which is way too young to be watching South Park. but I've been, I've loved that show. It's it basically formed my very stupid humor. So I love it. Those are great choices. All right. Are we ready for our next award? Our final award? Yeah, buddy. I'm excited. Here we go.
Game of the Year 2024 Discussion
01:15:11
Speaker
The final award is called The Brady. Man, I love Tom Brady. All right, shut up. Anyone who gets that reference will laugh. And I know someone who listens to this will get that reference. All right, this is The Brady. This is our game of the year, game that released in 2024, our favorite game from the year. Hodge, what is your Brady?
01:15:34
Speaker
So I'm going to go a little more in depth into my honorable mentions just because this is the big award. This is the one we definitely want to talk about a little more. first My first honorable mention, this is definitely the weakest of the honorable mentions just because, not because of the quality of the game, but because I have been beaten, like I've already said, is Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. I love this game i cannot express how much i love this game if i had beaten it before we recorded this episode it would have won by far but i haven't beaten it so i don't know all the plot points i don't know all the you know it could fall off in a second i'm probably about halfway through the game um but i'm loving it i love it's insanely good um but obviously like i said didn't beat it so it's not going to win
01:16:18
Speaker
Uh, my next honorable mention is Hellblade 2. I actually really liked this game. Uh, I know it's basically just a playable movie, but it was Oled porn. It looked beautiful. It was amazingly acted, uh, what I can't remember her name, but the lady who plays the main person, she deserved winning like actress of the year or whatever at the game awards. Like she is phenomenal in this role. It's just a very cool setting, very cool story. I, I loved it, but obviously I don't think it's good enough to win game of the year.
01:16:47
Speaker
um Space Marine 2 is another one that I really loved. It was another one. I was also debating making that the the OMG because it did surprise me. I did not expect to ever play Warhammer game because I don't care about tabletop games at all. So when this came out i was I was shocked that it was as fun as it is.
01:17:05
Speaker
ah And then Helldivers 2, I almost went with this game as my game of the year because it was so good. But I did fall off of it for a while and they did kind of, since it's a live service, they did kind of ruin the game for a little bit by nerfing all the fun guns and all like, they, they unnerved everything, they buffed everything again to make it fun so everyone could enjoy it. But So it's it's amazing again, but I didn't go with it also because it's just kind of a it's just one of those multiplayer games that I like playing with friends. I don't ever hop into Helldivers by myself. I'm always playing with people. So I don't really consider multiplayer games game of the year. Not that anyone who votes for a multiplayer game of the year are good on them, but because I consider kind of friend multiplayer games different from single player story games. So I love Helldivers, but it's not my winner.
01:17:58
Speaker
So my game of the year is going to come down between two of these games, Astrobot or Final Fantasy Rebirth. And this was the toughest choice I've had to make. And my game of the year is Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. ah This game, yeah, i was it was impossible to pick between it because Astrobot, it's a fun platformer.
01:18:22
Speaker
I had a dumb grin on my face the entire time because of how much fun it is. Finding all the little PlayStation, little bot guys and saving them. and and every This game was a perfection when it comes to gameplay. Obviously, the story is not there. It's just find parts of a PlayStation 5 and rebuild it. it's really There's no plot to this game, ah but it's an insanely fun game. so I went with Rebirth because it was fun.
01:18:47
Speaker
beautiful and the story was amazing i put this game came out when i had just quit my job i was kind of in a bit of a funk because i it was just not a healthy workplace and i was out of work for about a month and a half before i move down to texas uh for my job and then um you know everything happened after that but ah So I was just kind of living at home trying to find a job for about a month and a half. So I played Rebirth every single day. I put i beat that game in about three weeks, if not shorter. And i it took me 75 hours. So I played that game from basically waking up to going to bed many days. And I loved every single moment of it. I explored everything. Like I said, I didn't plan on it because I'm not good enough to S-rank the songs and I'm not going to play out harder difficulties and all that kind of stuff. so
01:19:33
Speaker
I didn't platinum it, but I did everything I could on the difficulty I had and just tried completing it. I found you know all the the the the summon spots and all that and like i i did everything you could in that open world because i loved finding it we talked about how it was a little bloated the game but i still loved exploring every region and doing every little thing i loved all the characters like i said the story seeing how they kind of remixed the og plot to be more of a sequel than really a remake kind of thing it's
01:20:04
Speaker
a really cool concept. And I just loved every moment I had with this game. So it barely edges out Astrobot to be my game of the year for this year. So yeah, that's my rebirth. Love it. Fabulous, pick fabulous, fabulous text. All right, Midnight, you're up.
01:20:23
Speaker
Good stuff. Yes, I was looking through my list here and I only played like two or three games from 2024. I was really living in the backlog, living in the backlog, playing some great games from older. um But.
01:20:36
Speaker
I do have a very strong pick here. No no regrets. This probably would have won anyway. um So honorable mention, first of all, honorable mention, first of all, is to Dragon Age, the Woke Guard. Shout out to Dragon Age. Shout out to Dragon Age, the Vale Guard. Underrated game.
01:20:54
Speaker
underrated game over hated game um Despite the hate campaign against this game for reasons which are somewhat understandable, but also not um This game has good reviews if you look at the reviews if you look at steam the ratings are mostly positive people like this game It's a good game. So shout out to Dragon Age and the veil guard Sean. let but Let me interject for a second um This is the this is coming from the man who?
01:21:17
Speaker
was on the mountaintop yelling and screaming for months on months the game of the year of hail guard this is the game of the year this is gonna be the game of the year and me and hodge would sit here and listen and smile and nod and nod and nod he was convinced but ultimately it takes a real man to admit when they were wrong so midnight i applaud you thank you thank you it it is my honorable mention It is my second favorite game that I played, although admittedly didn't play a lot of games this year that were brand new. But my game of the year, and this is going to be no surprise. It's the same as Hodge Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. This game is almost a masterpiece. so If this game wasn't so damn bloated in certain areas, it would be a masterpiece.
01:22:00
Speaker
But what a great game. I absolutely love the graphics of the world. The combat. Shout out to Yuffie with the combat with the juggling and abilities. So fun. Dude, the characters are amazing. The story is amazing. Super powerful, emotional, sad. um You know, my girl.
01:22:21
Speaker
You know, but ah it's a shame oh yeah what happens. You know, you know, everyone knows, but yeah, this game is just incredible and I cannot wait for part three. Is that going to be the final, right? They're only doing three games, I think. Okay, good. very good they don't They don't need to keep dragging it out. I'm ready for the final finale. It's going to be great, but final fantasy seven rebirth, my game of the year for 2024 or the Brady, as Sean would say. What say you, Sean?
01:22:50
Speaker
so fantastic pick um Much like Hodge, i have some i have I have a couple honorable mentions I definitely want to mention. I made the cut i made a little like top five, so um I'll give my honorable mentions. Honorable Mention, Astrobot, this game was awesome. Hodge and I, like we had mentioned, we absolutely gushed about it for about an hour and a half on our DLC episode, so I really encourage you to go listen to that, guys. This is the game that keeps the gift, the game that keeps on giving, much like the gift that keeps on giving.
01:23:20
Speaker
um They add, um they've added in speedrun levels, they've added in though that Christmas drop, it was out of nowhere, it was awesome. We randomly talked about what we think they're gonna add next, and I definitely think they're going just gonna keep adding things. This game's gonna be on my PSN, my PlayStation 5 forever. I'm not gonna delete it. It's so much fun to just jump in and play through.
01:23:42
Speaker
um So that was another honorable mention. Another honorable mention I have is Visions of Mana. I adored this game with my first ever Mana game. And um as I talked about with Morley, Morley is just one example of the character's amazing just like stories and narrative arc. As someone who really appreciates um The plot pyramid is like, a you know, for those who don't know, I'm not going to get into all English teacher on you guys, but the traditional plot pyramid, if you know what that is, it has like, you know, the exposition, the rising action, the climax, the following action and then the resolution.
01:24:18
Speaker
um All five characters follow their own individual plot pyramid and it's great. And I really, it really just speaks to me and Morley just spoke to me the most. So my visions of mana. Number three honorable mention is Terra memoria. This game, that little indie game that I just talked about that reminded me of Paper Mario.
01:24:38
Speaker
I was blown away by this game. Much like Visions of Mana, the characters are very memorable. ah The story's awesome, combat's great, art style is just chef's kiss. um Final honorable mention for me. Trails Through Daybreak. It came so close to being my game of the year. So, so close. um I loved this game so much.
01:25:02
Speaker
um just the story was outstanding the characters spoke to me the world it's such a different trails game than any other trails game I played it's it takes place after the great war it takes place in a time period where you can see like They're getting more technology. The game is just awesome. I've spoken about this game too many times. I don't want to get more into it. But my game of the year, oh, I think it's Rebirth there. Update in the doc a little early. That's what it is. It is Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. We have a consensus game of the year. We have a consensus breakdown. Yeah. The Queen's Suite. Yep, the Queen's Suite. Queen's Blood Rebirth game.
01:25:53
Speaker
is my game of the year. I love Final Fantasy 7, it's my favorite game of all time. Rebirth, I came in with super high expectations and I was absolutely blown away. um I don't, I understand people think it's like complain about the bloat. I enjoyed every single second I spent in this game. I spent 175 hours. I got the platinum. I did every single little thing you could possibly do. From the minigames to running around the world to just hunting down enemies to riding chocobos to just talking to random NPCs to Queensblood. We haven't even mentioned Queensblood. I loved everything about this game. um I am so stoked for part three.
01:26:37
Speaker
I cannot wait to see what they do and how the story unfolds. If you want to hear our full spoilery thoughts where we just spoil the crap out of this game and really theorize what's going to happen, please, I encourage you to listen to our DLC on this on this game. um But yeah, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is my Brady.
01:27:01
Speaker
Great. Nice. Yeah. Listeners, let us know in the comments, uh, which game is the true game of the year that we picked? Was it final fantasy seven rebirth or was it rebirth or maybe final fantasy seven rebirth? Let us know. yeah Or if there's another game you guys enjoyed, what was your favorite of the year? What was yours? Yeah. All right. Yeah.
01:27:22
Speaker
Well, guys, we did it. We got through our goppies, our awards show for 2024. I had such a blast hosting this. I hope you guys had fun doing this. Yeah. I hope the audience writes in with their winners of each individual award. um It was great. Absolutely had a blast. um Yeah, till and next episode. Oh, what's up? I thought of two. Oh, sorry. I thought of two awards that we'll have to add for next year on top of these 10.
01:27:52
Speaker
We can always do that. while We're always room for improvement. Audience, if you have an award you wanna to throw in there, or like a topic you wanna throw in there, please let us know. um I will try to come up with some crazy name. um Okay, that's not bad, not bad.
01:28:07
Speaker
little behind the scenes action here, you're getting our initial thoughts. um But yeah, guys, this was a wonderful time. um Please give us leave us a like, leave us a comment on YouTube, subscribe to us, get leave us five stars, leave us a review. Do really just talk about it. Let us know how we're doing. um Hodge, final thoughts?
Podcast Journey Reflections and Future Plans
01:28:28
Speaker
um Yeah, this was a lot of fun. ah Great. I definitely was happy we started this podcast this year. As I said before, it was a Fun year, obviously excited to ah continue this on into next year and talk about our games that we love. I mean, that's the best part about this show is obviously we've done episodes where we kind of troll on bad stuff, but it's mostly about just the love of the game and playing games with everyone. And I love doing this. And I hope again, everyone had a Merry Christmas, has a great new year. I hope you got what you wanted from Santa.
01:29:03
Speaker
uh I got what I wanted and that's a day off and uh yeah I just I'm happy we were able to do this the bears are gonna get their ass kicked next year because or uh tonight because they suck and they're playing the seahawk so yeah it's but I'm gonna spend time with the family today so I'm excited for that but I was happy to find the time to do this episode because I was not about to miss it
01:29:28
Speaker
Right on, right on. Uh, Hodge real quick. Did you see the rumors about the bears maybe getting Pete Carroll coming back to coach? What do you think about that? Uh, I think he's a little old, but he is an insanely good coach. So I wouldn't be too upset with it. It's just how long would he want to be with the team or when the hell is he going to retire? So I like, yeah I'm not against it at all, but for in terms of long-term, like I'd rather have a Mike Tomlin who acted out for 20 years and be a good coach, not someone who's going to be there for I'm just saying in terms of someone who can have a long who has a long tenure, I'm saying. I i would like a Belichick, a Tomlin, a Carroll, someone who's been there forever. I don't want a guy who's going to come in, and in three years, we're trying to get a new fucking coach again. So ah i would I want Vrabel. That's my choice. But ah yeah. But yeah, bear suck. So I have no optimism anyway. so All right. Yeah. What about you, Midnight?
Closing Remarks and Goodbyes
01:30:26
Speaker
Uh, yeah. So I guess my final thoughts. Okay. So my final thoughts are just, again, I just want to thank everybody for listening to our awesome ah podcast. Well, I think it's awesome. You know, shout out to us, you know, but, uh, we really appreciate you guys. This po as I've mentioned before, this podcast is not monetized. We do it for the love of the game. and If you want to help us out, besides listening, which we really appreciate, just leave us likes, leave us comments, leave us five star reviews on Spotify. Apple, if they have, I think they have reviews, leave us there. ah We appreciate it and I'm just so happy. ah Sean, this was an awesome episode you did. You thought of this. This was your baby. ah What a great end of year celebration. Well hosted, well dressed, my friend. And yes, thank you. That's my final thought. Just just appreciation. Yeah.
01:31:14
Speaker
Well guys, I love, i will I echo everything you've said. i've I've had so much fun doing this podcast with you guys. It's been an absolute blast. I look forward to it every single time. I i love talking to you guys. I love talking to our doc and just planning things out. It's so much fun. we have We have so much more content coming to you in 2025. It's going to be a great 2025. I cannot wait. um But yeah, that's been the gopis. That's been games over plastic. Alright guys, time to say bye.
01:31:44
Speaker
Bye. Bye. Thanks for riding with us into the forest of the light and gods. That should do it. Man, I love Tom Brady.