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Episode 3 - Monster Hunter. Mario, and tasteful discussion of Subverse
10 Plays4 years ago
Recorded live on twitch originally on 3/30/2021 @ twitch.tv/addtoparty
The boys discuss Monster hunter, Cyberpunk2077, the death of Mario, Conventions, and a subtle, tasteful discussion of Subverse; a game for adults.
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Transcript
Introduction and Friendship Simulator
00:00:14
Speaker
Hello and welcome to add to party a friendship simulator masquerading as new show I'm your host James Hartwell joined by Charles your spot and Andy K. How we doing gentlemen?
00:00:28
Speaker
I'm doing great. Life is difficult. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Andy, are you having a renaissance right now? I am, because I really got this mix right. You know, I haphazardly threw together this drink, all right, under a time constraint, but it came out really well. What is it? Just a gin and tonic, but I got that gin and tonic perfect. Whew. Not too better, but I got the one. What's that?
00:00:56
Speaker
You save those settings? If that measurement is just right. To be fair, I use the glass I don't normally use. So yeah, it's a bit taller. OK. And I think I made it work. I think I made it work. So that's the space I am. How about you guys?
Outdoor Activities and Vaccine Hopes
00:01:16
Speaker
How about you, Charles? How are you doing? I'm doing OK. You know, trying to live life. Went for a walk today.
00:01:24
Speaker
Cause I was like, you know, I should go back to seeing the outdoors, get ready to it. Considering I'm gonna get ready to phrase two for that vaccine in a week or so. So I was like, you know what? Get to being normal outside again with these walking legs toned. It is weird when suddenly you remember there's a ball of fire orbiting us, burning down. You know what? Something someone brought up to me
00:01:54
Speaker
Oh, God, I didn't think about this, but they were like, Andy, do you remember what it was like to walk around without a mask on and how nice that is? And I forgot because I don't think I've ever done it. And by that, you mean walk, right? OK, shut up. Well, I do walk, but I just wanted that. That made me really think. And I was like, have I forgotten the feeling? To be fair, I was trying to put on a spare tire and I had to pull down my mask.
00:02:24
Speaker
And that felt uncomfortable and was not an enjoyable breeze. But I think that's the only time I've had a mask down well outside. Just, you know, make this really topical enough for the time.
Monster Hunter Rise: Success and Changes
00:02:34
Speaker
Well, I mean, you know, speaking of chores that are difficult and could be easier to do, Monster Hunter Rise came out last week. Right? I like Monster Hunter Rise, actually. And so does Charles, I think, is safe to say.
00:02:53
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, I like the game. Yeah. I've been playing it in my off time. Well, it's it's actually shipped four million units already globally due to as as related from a press release from Capcom. Monster Hunter has shipped four
00:03:12
Speaker
cumulative sales exceeding 66 million units shipped as of December 31st 2020 and the newest edition monster hunter rise has shipped 4 million units as of I don't have it as update. That's okay. I'll believe them I'll assume as of March 29th when they sent out this release date People like Monster Hunter. It's turned the tide is turning now. I wonder how many of those are
00:03:38
Speaker
are converts, right? How many of them started playing with World and then tried Rise? Wait, are both of you converts? Yeah, World was my first one. What about you, Charles? I've been agreeing this entire time with James. Oh, well then what do you think now moving to Rise? So one, I definitely think it's because of Monster Hunter World. The graphic right now I agree with, which was
00:04:07
Speaker
overseas a lot of people finally got to play Monster Hunter because guess what? There's also a giant audience in PlayStation.
00:04:20
Speaker
Luckily, you get that giant audience that ended up liking world. They had a big audience. And I think right there it's showing about 15 million people played Monster Hunter World. Yeah. So just for the audio listeners, we're looking at a graph that charts Monster Hunter sales over the course of the franchise with basically Japan versus everywhere else.
00:04:45
Speaker
Where Japan is the biggest slice of the pie, except until you get to world where, uh, overseas dominates Japan sales by like, I want to say 90%. Yeah. Yeah. Like it's out of the Japan accounts for probably only 2 million out of the 15 million of sales for Monster Hunter. Yeah. I definitely think that's because it was on PlayStation and on PC. So.
00:05:12
Speaker
With that, they're releasing another one. Wouldn't you know it? There's been a lot of quality of life improvements between World and Rise, and suddenly it's like, oh, perfect. They didn't get everything right, but it definitely made things a noticeable improvement to play in, and it's fun.
00:05:32
Speaker
I was definitely scared they were going to go back backwards like they're like listen that monster hunter world thing was great but we have to get back to our roots of making people hate their lives while they play this game um which frankly there was a plenty of in world but
00:05:49
Speaker
No, they really kind of took everything they did. Right. And World did a bunch of things better. And frankly, the game is better for it, too. They added mounts, essentially. They had the ability to be Spider-Man and. Yeah. And they made it a lot easier to play with friends instead of going. All right. I saw the monster quit now join.
00:06:11
Speaker
Oh, how does online system work? That's a big deal, because that was miserable. Yeah. You joined a friend lobby. Mm-hmm. And they separate now. There are village and hub quests. So village quests are just single player. And hub quests are designed for multiplayer. So there's no confusion. You just do all your hub quests with friends. You do all your village quests by yourself. Do you share a hub together?
00:06:37
Speaker
like a little world you can run around in. Oh, no, I think in World 2, you guys didn't share the same town. Well, in World...
00:06:47
Speaker
In Mozzarella world, there was a gathering hub, which is what we're talking about here too. There's another gathering hub where you will appear in the same spot with your friends. I guess the differences in world. The map was unnecessarily large wire in rise. It's almost too small, but just, just big enough that you don't feel cramped. Yeah, they make up for it in the verticality.
00:07:16
Speaker
of the map. So it's like smaller, but because you're basically Spider-Man, you could just like, you could climb over things. And by climb over things, you could climb real tall things. It's really fun.
00:07:28
Speaker
Yeah, they added wall running, which essentially amounts to you running vertical on two feet up walls. And it's pretty great. That's interesting that they reduce the world. You know, I found with age, I think I like smaller cities in video games than bigger cities, right? I don't want a sprawling Final Fantasy 12 city. I want a small, you know, Final Fantasy 8 city.
00:07:57
Speaker
Because there's just two. Who has the time to explore all that in the old. I was running everywhere. Teenagers. Oh, that's right. College students. Let's say we're moving away. Our our demographic is becoming less and less the targeted group. That's right. But big cities.
00:08:18
Speaker
Oh, you know, Nino Kuni had good cities. I loved how I love the size of Nino Kuni says cities in the world, though. You also have to remember that in Japan, Monster Hunter is basically tremendous to the point that a lot of companies gave the day off for Monster Hunter. I think that's wonderful.
00:08:39
Speaker
But, and I think it's wonderful though that they reduce the size of the world. That actually makes it a little bit more appealing to me. World, the things you went to were just way too big, too much running around, too much chasing. I'll be honest with you, Andy. The addition amounts, like any one of these would have helped the entire game, but the addition amounts makes every, like, that's like the most, the biggest game changer this entire thing. Cause you're just like,
00:09:06
Speaker
You know what? I had to chase after this monster. And then we ride my mount. And then he was just flying through the map. But it's not just a mount, Andy. You don't have to dismount. That's true, too. But it's not just a mount. It's your dog companion, Andy. Basically, you make your dog. Do you get to dress them up like the cats? Yes. Oh, that's good. That's good. And single player, you get both your cat and your dog. And your dog.
00:09:35
Speaker
Yeah, and you're out, there's multiple pets in here. You know what? Good on them. And I'm curious too, because World had a much more Western aesthetic, right? They cut a lot of that weed crap out of it. It still had the absurdity, right? You know, cats cooking your food and all that kind of stuff. There's still some charm there, but they cut that out.
00:09:57
Speaker
and rise is much more from the outside, looks like a return to form. I wonder how this is a step towards World Two. What will World Two be? It's much more Japanese. I could say that much. This game, everything that has to do with this game is Japanese. Right. And I thought the other ones were, well, I mean, in the very literal aesthetic of it, too, right? Yes.
00:10:23
Speaker
But yeah, I'm just kind of curious how this acts as a stepping stone and will it bring all the we be curious from world into this.
00:10:32
Speaker
I don't know. I don't know. It made it more appealing to me. Maybe I'll play it.
Cyberpunk 2077 Patch and Quality Debate
00:10:36
Speaker
It's Switch exclusive for probably a year, and then next year I'll come out on PC. I'm curious if World is just when it's multi-gen, right? And then if it's locked to a single system, it doesn't get the World moniker, I bet. Sure. I think that's fair. Yeah, that makes sense.
00:10:59
Speaker
I'm glad you approve of the plan, Andy. I do. They made a lot of money. God bless. 15 million copies sold to world. That's wild. Yep. That is just wild. I think that's just wonderful. And how long did it take?
00:11:15
Speaker
When did Monster Hunter come out? Well, Monster Hunter World? $15 million? No, no, no, no. The original Monster Hunter. Oh, the original Monster Hunter? Oh, man. Oh, yeah. Monster Hunter. It's been a journey. That came out 2004 on the PlayStation 2. Took this long to catch up. Took this long to catch up.
00:11:40
Speaker
Oh, speaking of a game, speaking of games that released on PlayStation, but may no longer be there. Oh, Cyberpunk. Oh, dead, but not dead. So Cyberpunk today announced their one point two patch, which has
00:11:59
Speaker
just a insane amount of changes. I'm scrolling through it right now on this on the video. I did see I should go. I should have found that video. Bad video producer James. Someone had taken all of these patch notes and put it into the format of a Star Wars opening scroll. Oh, my God. I might go find that while we talk. Oh, my goodness.
00:12:28
Speaker
But a lot of it is visual bugs with quests, performance updates. They kind of fixed a little bit of big driving, a little less floaty. Police don't spawn right behind you the second you commit a crime.
00:12:51
Speaker
They added a new a second new unstuck feature if your car gets stuck first They just added one that kind of just teleported you now. There's like rocking they added. Oh Yeah, they're adjusting the steering Whole bunch of stuff. Oh, yes
00:13:08
Speaker
But I think what really is interesting about this, there's also a ton of like updates to like weapons, like certain like the the melee arms do more damage. But also very interesting, right? Still not on the PlayStation Store. Yeah. Yeah. When is it going to be good enough? I mean, what is good enough? What is going to be good enough? Now, both of you have played it. What is good enough for you? None of it.
00:13:39
Speaker
I'm honest to say that it's not even just about the bugs. There's gameplay. There's actual gameplay stuff, game systems that I want changed, which I don't think they would. They're too busy fixing this. There's laundry lists of bugs to do anything. And it's like this thing where I have a bad taste in my mouth.
00:14:05
Speaker
And I know that they're not going to really fix the major stuff I want. So I'm just like, you know, I don't care. My attention span is too busy for anything else. And I have to run around. I did find the Star Wars thing. That's fantastic.
00:14:25
Speaker
I here's the thing, right? And I'm I am the 1% of the 1% because I played this game. Well, no, I mean, I mean, honestly, I played this game on a 90, right? It's the amount of people who own a 30 90 is very small.
00:14:42
Speaker
Mm hmm. And not a humble brag, just the truth. But and it played fine for me. I had no issue. I mean, I had some bugs here and there, visual glitches. My V would stand naked on a motorcycle when I was driving around. It is a it was a fundamentally unfinished game, even to like the idea of early access rate.
00:15:11
Speaker
But it was still fun to me. And the moment to moment gameplay of it was great. It's just I think what a lot of people are mad about is that there is so, so much potential and so much what they told you could do when really what you got kind of was just a linear Western RPG with fun mechanics.
00:15:34
Speaker
when they were promising like a transcendent, you know, experience where, you know, I, I bumped the civilian on a street and five quests later, he comes back and kills me, you know, that kind of. Yeah. Mm hmm.
00:15:47
Speaker
And I don't know if it'll ever get there. Right. The game is always we can add more content. You can fix things. You know, you can re you can rehash like the the weapon systems and the item systems and all that. But you can't make the game what people expected it to be. And I don't know. I don't know at what point Sony will be like, OK, this is good enough to go back on the store.
00:16:14
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know. I am so curious what their quality standard is. Cause I'm assuming they let it on to begin with because they trusted them, right? They're a big enough name that they figured, oh, they wouldn't screw this up. But now that they've screwed over Sony, I don't know what it'll take.
00:16:32
Speaker
I'm fascinated. I loved seeing the downfall of this game. Not necessarily with the motivation, just because it's fascinating to watch something burn. But I don't know where it will go. But I do know that I had some interest, but now I have no interest in playing it. I don't know.
00:16:51
Speaker
I'm also the No Man's Sky apologist, right? I remember when that game came out and everyone was like, this is hot trash and we want to burn Sean Murray. And I sat here and went, no, this is a good game. Come back in a year and it will be exactly what you expect it to be. And I think it took about a year and a half. And the game had multiplayer and had and then they continued updating it right to the point where it's frankly almost a completely different game.
00:17:19
Speaker
But it wasn't broken on launch. No, but I think it had that same kind of high expectations thing. That's true. It was overhyped. And I read that they're changing. You know, they always say they're going to change, right? They're like, oh, we're going to we're going to make games differently now. You know, we're not going to crunch our employees, even though we promised that last time. But they also said they're going to change their marketing strategy to not talk about a game too early.
00:17:47
Speaker
and not overhyped. They did announce this game in like 2012 or something like that. Yeah, and they overhyped it. So really, they did part of this to themselves. It was a cool concept to begin with, right? Even just talking about it is something to be excited about. But now they kind of did this to themselves and they say a little change, but they won't because they're a business. But I just worry about the employees. Hopefully they're OK.
00:18:15
Speaker
By the way, the Star Wars opening scroll is still going. It's still going. There's a lot of backstory.
Nintendo's Controversial Decisions
00:18:22
Speaker
Always still has a while to go. Yeah, we just got to UI.
00:18:26
Speaker
Well, if it's not good enough for Sony, is it good enough for anyone? I think Sony was just mad at them, really. I don't blame them either. It's just, it's also you just think it'd be interesting, right, that you would hear more people complaining. I want to buy Cyberpunk and I can't get it on PlayStation, ostensibly the biggest console in the world at the moment, right? Switch may have some kind of fights with that, but
00:18:50
Speaker
the
00:19:08
Speaker
It's embarrassing, like truly embarrassing. I read an interesting comment that said, that was challenging that people said that this game was a failure at launch, right? Really because of how it was presented and how it disappointed. But they said, well, listen, okay, they sold over 10 million copies or whatever. But then one person replied, but how many of those were returned? And I, and that
00:19:36
Speaker
blew my mind because here I am sitting, I was like, well, I mean, you know, even if they returned a bunch, they still made a bunch of money. But how many people returned this game? How much money? What's that? We'll never know that. We'll never know that. But I bet it was a lot. I hope they're embarrassed. I mean, based on the fact that lawsuits were filed against them, I'm sure there probably were. But speaking of companies that have no shame.
00:20:05
Speaker
Nintendo is walking Mario to the guillotine ahead of his March 31st deadline. So broadly speaking, the story is about the fact that Nintendo has taken down Super Mario Maker's bookmark website. So not two, but one, which is Wii U exclusive. And I think the question most people ask is, well, what's the big deal with that? Two exist.
00:20:33
Speaker
The physics between one and two are slightly different, so you couldn't just import Mario Maker 1 levels to two. So it is kind of losing these Mario Maker levels that weren't ported. Which is sad, right? It's kind of just another piece of like... It's a weird kind of... Mario Maker 1 was the thing that almost saved the Wii U.
00:20:59
Speaker
yeah yeah like it it had such it had such power that it just it made everyone think about it again um also i'm noticing uh updates as the website appears to be restored for the moment but it's probably going to get shut down again uh soon most likely because there is a set date
00:21:20
Speaker
They they they were shutting down the website early. Yeah. Which was the why the news article came up. Yep. Yeah. So yeah. March 31st, which is also the last day to buy Super Mario 3D all stars on the switch. So tomorrow is the last day. If you haven't bought it yet, you should. Three three all stars. Three D all stars. Yeah. Yeah. The 64 sunshine galaxy bundle.
00:21:46
Speaker
Oh, yeah. Yeah. And just in its final week, sales have risen two hundred and seventy six percent, according to U.J. UK box chart list. That's wild. Yeah. We still don't know what's going to happen to these games starting April 1st. I kind of think the bundle bundle 60, 60. Yeah, I think they'll just piecemeal it. I mean, that's it. Right. But how much will they piecemeal it for? Will they piecemeal it for 30 each?
00:22:16
Speaker
Well, they piece me out for 60 each. Nintendo Nintendo being Nintendo. Nintendo doesn't know what a sale means. So that's yeah. Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze is still like fifty five dollars. I want to play that game. I don't want to play it for fifty five. Honestly, I'm glad you said that because that's always kind of been the one to me. Right.
00:22:42
Speaker
It's just like Tropical Freeze just won't go down. And I heard it's a fantastic game. I think it's the Metroid Prime people, right? What's their name? Retro? I think Retro made the Donkey Kong reboots. Tropical Freeze and whatever the other one was.
00:23:06
Speaker
But that one just won't go down. But the problem is Nintendo games, I think for the most part, are always still worth it. Right. Yeah. They are an evergreen company. It is made by retro studios who did make the Metroid part of the trilogy. Yeah. They just decided to stop making Metroid and make excellent Donkey Kong games. They're just good at what they do. Well, also make Metroid for until Nintendo said no. And then they restarted.
00:23:35
Speaker
Oh, wait, what? Yeah. Don't you remember? I did not know about that. Wasn't it like two or three years ago at this point? They restarted it. Yeah. Nintendo said, hey, we know you're excited about Metroid 4, but the development hasn't been going as much as we would have liked. So we're going to roll. We're starting from scratch. Charles, you know, I'm not crazy. No, I don't remember this. Oh, oh, hold on. Hold on.
00:23:59
Speaker
I'm not doubting you. As you say it, it sounds kind of familiar, but I could also be making that up. I just know the meme is that they revealed the logo and that's all they do now, right?
Challenges in Game Development
00:24:10
Speaker
They revealed the logo, Bayonetta.
00:24:13
Speaker
This guy's trying to make me feel like I'm crazy. Mashable. Oh, no. Metroid 4 goes back into the drawing board two years into development. This was posted January 15, 2019. So two years. Is this retro? Yeah, this was retro. Yeah. Development of Metroid 4 for Nintendo Switch has been restarted about a year and a half after the game was first revealed by Nintendo. Nintendo's had a development announced in a video Friday. Again, this happened a year and a half ago.
00:24:41
Speaker
Yeah. So that's why everyone's kind of like, hey, how's it going this time? Oh, hey, you know what, though? Catch it when it's catch it when it's bad. Yeah. Like, what's that game that I wanted to like? What's that? That just came out cyberpunk. No, who cares about cyberpunk? Oh, the Nights into Dreams one. Oh, Bailin Wonderland. Yeah, I wanted that to be good, but it's terrible. It is terrible.
00:25:11
Speaker
They should have had someone come in and say it's a year and a half in. Throw it away. Throw it away. They should have done that. But no one at Square had the right mind to do that. What a shame. I guess they gave it to pedigree people and then they still screwed it up. That's too bad. I don't know the behind the scenes, but it's just a shame. But that had it on my mind. It could have been good, but it's not. What a shame. Me speaking as I haven't played a second of it, but I know it's bad.
00:25:40
Speaker
uh what was it the the we've tangented so far away from mario but it's still a platformer so i'll call it um bay i again i said this last week i think but the fact that bail in wonderland every button every face button is jump
00:25:57
Speaker
Kind of said to me, oh, guys, you needed to really think more about this game. It was I was reading an interview with them because I'm just so amazed by all this. And they were just like, well, we wanted to make it accessible. And no, no, it just looks bad. It's a shame. I think that really could have been special.
00:26:18
Speaker
Uh, especially because I had square money, but speaking, speaking of things that are a shame, uh, Sega, Sega GP apparently doesn't understand what the, uh, steam DB website is. Uh, so Sega, uh, has filed a takedown notice to steam DB, which is a website that basically just indexes the steam database of all games. Um.
00:26:47
Speaker
and basically saying please take down yakuza like a track and claiming they intend to distribute the game when all it is is a page that just says it exists on steam now i'm not gonna lie to you i didn't know what steam db was
00:27:04
Speaker
Well, Andy, it's not really something you go to every day. Right, but because I don't know what it is, I would figure out what it is. And Sega knows better. Sega knows better. Well, Sega GP, right? Most of the time, PMCAs are handed out. It's not because of a manual person. It's an automated thing that a bot
00:27:29
Speaker
which actually was the official response was they were like, we have an automated system to, uh, which is true for like a lot of major platforms. Anyways, like, you know, YouTube's infamous DMCA strike thing is automated. So it's, so is on Twitch and all those other stuff. So the real problem is how unresponsive people are.
00:27:59
Speaker
when their bots are wrong. Yeah. They're like, for this one, they had to tweet about it. Yeah. It's one of those things where it's like, well, you're just obviously trying to get away with something. It's like, no, no, no, no.
00:28:16
Speaker
Yeah, it's it's kind of guilty until proven innocent with these bot claims, which is unfortunate a lot of the time. Also, yeah. Good. Good. No, no, no. Well, I was just saying that this is just another example of like how awful the state of the DMCA claims are for the majority of like most businesses. I want to say US only, but
00:28:43
Speaker
you know, I don't know how international copyright law, you know, affects all this properly. And it's probably all shitty. Because, like, you know, again, because this is the internet and people are, it's slow to adapt to new things and get better. It's kind of like, you know, everything is, they're like, they knew enough to automate processes and then,
00:29:08
Speaker
They didn't think to themselves, maybe we should change some of our culture and how we review this. But, you know, that's just a general problem with a lot of things.
Music and DMCA Issues on Streaming Platforms
00:29:17
Speaker
Like Twitch is, you know, infamous music DMCA thing is also stupid. Yeah. Like out of nowhere, almost every user, almost every streamer on Twitch got DMCA notices on all their stuff for containing copy written music in their vods, right?
00:29:38
Speaker
And then when they were like, which vods?
00:29:41
Speaker
No one could tell them. So do you want to know the conspiracy theory on that? Oh, I want to know. Like all things, it comes back to Covid, which is recording record labels aren't getting their cut of profits and licensing fees that would come from live events. And so they're looking for ways to make up those earnings. And it's like, hey, let's fucking crack down on DMCAs.
00:30:11
Speaker
OK, I can buy it. It's not unreasonable. Yeah. Like most conspiracy theories. There there is there is some interesting things, though. So I feel like I bring it up almost every week at this point. But TikTok gets around it. They pay all of those, right? If you use that audio on TikTok, they pay for it for you. I don't know. This is one of those venture capitalist things where it's like, yeah, we're spending VC money. Who cares? We don't have to make a profit.
00:30:41
Speaker
I think monetization on it is very bad as well, though. They have. Creators don't make a lot of money. Creators. Yeah, they don't make a lot of money. There's a lot of sponsored ads. I mean, I'm sure that I'm sure they make stuff, but they make more than zero. Yeah. There is a rumor that YouTube will soon be doing something similar to that as well.
00:31:01
Speaker
Well, it's been showing up on mine. They have a tick tock like. Well, not even tick tock like, but just that if you use copyrighted music. Oh, sorry. No, no, no, that's fine. Oh, if you use copyrighted music, YouTube will just foot the bill for that. I assume if you're a part of their partner program or something.
00:31:19
Speaker
Interesting. Because they have in this they have music. They have a music system. Right. And so in the same everyone kind of goes, it's like, you know, you already have license to stream music like Amazon via their Amazon music platform, Google from YouTube, Google Play Music, which is now YouTube music. So obviously they're different licenses, but the relationship is there. So people are kind of like, you just don't have you just don't want to spend the money to make it happen.
00:31:49
Speaker
Mm hmm. Oh, what's the cap on a tick tock? What's the time tock? I don't know. Because I imagine they can make that cheap if you're only allowing 30 seconds of a song. Right. I want to see two minutes, maybe. Oh, I didn't know tik toks are that long. They generally aren't, but I have seen long. Oh, OK. I don't know. I was wondering if that's a way you can make the licensing cheap.
00:32:15
Speaker
But can we just go on our tiktok accounts and check? Yeah, let's all hop on our tiktoks. I don't I don't I have never seen the creator screen because I don't give tiktok permission to see my camera. So. Oh.
00:32:31
Speaker
You there, young man. What's it like to TikTok? Let me see here. TikTok had a 15 second limit, but then TikTok allowed people to extend that by streaming segments together.
00:32:49
Speaker
Oh, interesting. I will say I have noticed there's a lot more old people on TikTok now. In fact, one of my favorite people on TikTok is basically he's like a construction site manager who just talks shit about people. I love it. I love it. Listen, I I want to connect with TikTok. Maybe I will one day. I don't know.
00:33:14
Speaker
But, or all the old people will join and then it's Facebook again. That's right. So it's just going to be a cesspool of conspiracy theories and Trumpers. So Andy, did you say cesspool? Yes. Then it's time to talk about our convention roundup. Cesspool of disease and corporate greed. Um, at least. Con flu is going to mean something entirely different now.
00:33:39
Speaker
Well, not only for one. Uh, so Pax East unsurprisingly canceled. Uh, they were scheduled to be, when was that again? I think it was going to be June, right? Yeah. Anyway. Yeah. Pax East was, uh, going to be in June in Boston. The West still remains for Labor Day weekend in Seattle.
00:33:59
Speaker
We will see about that, however. We all kind of figured the PAX East one was a little overly optimistic when they announced it. Also. I think 2021 is optimistic.
00:34:15
Speaker
Well, that's the, I mean, so what we're, we're three months out from June. So we're six months out from the Labor Day weekend. So I guess we can, we'll revisit this conversation in three months for West. That's fair.
00:34:30
Speaker
Uh, also SGDQ has, uh, Dane to go online again this year. So this, uh, fourth of July week, uh, they will be streaming online, which is sad for me. I do love the GDQs. Um, the online's have been great for what they are. Um, I still like the live versions better. There's something, there's something about the crowds. There's something about a crowd of people watching a person play a game.
00:34:58
Speaker
That I I don't know what it is, but it fascinates me now isn't that a reflection? Right watching something online of people in person watching someone play something There's an energy right not only for the people there, but for the people playing the games. Yeah,
COVID-19's Impact on Conventions
00:35:17
Speaker
right. It's just a different energy It's the best the best comparison I can make it is live sports. Oh
00:35:24
Speaker
Mm. Mm. Which is it's it's almost interesting to watch the crowds at a life sports game. Yeah. And they affect the game. Right. In the same way. So they affect the runners play to the crowd in the room. So it's. Yes. Yeah. And it's just something else to look at. We'll get there. But we'll get there. I know who hasn't gone online. Oh, wait, that's the wrong article.
00:35:52
Speaker
You know, who hasn't gone online? No, I don't. San Diego Comic Con will be having a in person event. I bet you can't guess when Thanksgiving Day weekend. Oh, no. Oh, no. That's right. I mean, I mean, sure. I have a place for those lonely, lonely
00:36:19
Speaker
people have a place for all these people to meet up and then go see their families. Well, if it's if it's during Thanksgiving weekend, it's after. Yeah. So it's a Friday, the Friday after Thanksgiving. There are there are multiple sides to this discussion. One of which is there are some people who don't really like their family or don't have family to celebrate Thanksgiving with. So this is nice. Oh, I'm not for grudging that.
00:36:49
Speaker
All right. No, no one is right. Um, but, uh, as you may recall, Thanksgiving was canceled last year. Yeah. So I think everyone is kind of looking forward to people who enjoy Thanksgiving, right? Are looking forward to spending Thanksgiving at home, probably a little more than usual this year.
00:37:11
Speaker
And then also there are people who don't have a choice that live and work in this industry, like Marvel, DC event staff, you know, people who work at the convention, security, things like that, who don't really get the option to say no, they have to report to work, which...
00:37:28
Speaker
It's the same kind of thing of where it's like Black Friday sales, right? Where it's like, I really wish people didn't have to come in to work on Black Friday or fucking Gray Thursday or whatever it is they call it too. Where it's like, you know, we open up 8 p.m. on Thursday. That one drives me insane. I never heard of it called Gray Thursday. I don't know what it's called. Did that disappear with COVID?
00:37:50
Speaker
,
00:38:09
Speaker
hey we need money otherwise i don't know if we can put on a 2022 event or even there might be a like contractual agreement with the convention center in san diego where they have to put on some kind of event in 2021 or that is their spot in 2022 a very good point yeah because they want that guaranteed income too right there's an expectation of yeah
00:38:33
Speaker
Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. All these logistics, I didn't think about this. That's why being empathetic, Andy, when you think just beyond your own personal perspective, impossible when you're a woke individual like myself, you know, you learn to sympathize with the faceless. I feel out woke. I'm going to have to go think about this, but that's interesting, though, right? 2020 gave us a pause, but now that 2021 is here,
00:39:03
Speaker
people are getting anxious again. And I'm wondering how many people are jumping ahead too quickly. I mean, I can tell you that like cruises for this summer, like starting like June are already like booked out.
00:39:22
Speaker
Mm hmm. Yeah, I anecdotally, I have heard that like cruise lines are like just booked to the like people are dying to spend money and go somewhere else. Yeah, I don't blame them. And on the other hand, too, it's like these businesses need money, right? It's they can't subsist on nothing. It's all a very difficult situation, but we'll see how it goes. Regardless, I'm hosting anything in 2021. Sounds like a bad idea.
00:39:51
Speaker
Charles, would you like to take the opposite the opposite position and just slam San Diego Comic Con? Oh, I mean, it's whatever. It's San Diego Comic Con is just like it is definitely a major event for pop culture enthusiasts. You know, if you're into Charles. No. You got to you got to understand there are people that love other pop culture things.
00:40:19
Speaker
as much as we love video games. Somebody was bullied for their love of X-Men not too long ago, and this is where they go, to get some limited edition merch they could flip on eBay. Including magic cards. Including magic cards. Hey, I was a comic book boy for a long time. Yeah, I remember James getting excited sometimes to bring that up.
00:40:49
Speaker
So, you know, I, I get, I get the whole thing about San Diego comic-con is just also like, so, you know, concerning COVID and everything else, uh, you're seeing more and more news outlets as vaccines are starting to open up to even more people. I think it's like, even Milwaukee has a like 16 and up eligibility now for starting next week. Um, I know another city, I think Seattle is also doing something similar, uh, in April.
00:41:19
Speaker
Uh, and so they're like, vaccines are starting to roll out, uh, you know, in a much more rapid manner and still going to be a while before we get like everybody, everybody, but it's starting to be this thing where suddenly almost everyone's eligible. You just need to go. Yeah. Like by the time things, you know, Thanksgiving rolls around, that's probably going to be mostly okay. Cause if you go by Thanksgiving and don't have, you know, at least an appointment by then,
00:41:48
Speaker
That was you willfully not wanting to get the next thing. So who, you know, whatever. So I'm not going to be mad at San Diego account for that. It is just a weird fucking week to just use Thanksgiving. Do it at the beginning of the week.
Subverse Kickstarter Success
00:42:06
Speaker
doing it like the following week after, whatever. That way the vacation could roll a little bit easier. It's just weird. I imagine this was the only weekend they could find is a problem. What? Would the other canceled events all over the place? There's got to be more class adjustments. This is probably the cheapest I could find. Yeah. That's also probably true.
00:42:35
Speaker
I wonder how much planning goes in between DC and Marvel and them as well, too. Right. I imagine like the studios were like, we won't commit to this until this date. I don't know. Sure. I know that's a very good because the whole big point of this is the panels, right? Yeah.
00:42:52
Speaker
And I don't know if the panels I don't know if the panels are going to be that big. I don't think like, you know, what's Tom Hall. Well, I guess Tom Owen doesn't really celebrate Thanksgiving. Now they think about it. I mean, he could. He's he's from he's from the UK, man. Yeah, that's right. He doesn't. Well, does he care? It's just another weekend. Wait, is that Spiderman? Yeah. Yeah. He's from the UK. Yeah. Yeah.
00:43:20
Speaker
Oh, I didn't know that. OK. He doesn't sound. He has a good American answer. Right. He's a good answer. Handy, handy. Let me blow your mind. Benedict Cumberbatch, Dr. Strange, also British. That I knew because he looks it. But Tom Harlan. He looks it. He looks it. He looks it. He looks it. He has like a more discerning face, right?
00:43:49
Speaker
It's like that's pretty big equals equals UK. Yeah. Just something about the discernment. He seems like that, but turn on. Yeah. You know, there are people that are, that came over from there and then grew up here. Not quickly changing topics.
00:44:15
Speaker
So the only thing I could probably show without getting in trouble, let's talk about subverse. Oh, the wiki page. Yeah, I'm too scared to show anything else.
00:44:26
Speaker
yeah do you want to give the background yeah sure so subverse uh of kickstarter fame came out this week uh if you don't recall subverse was a porn game uh created by fow interactive uh purveyors of rule 34 uh
00:44:45
Speaker
Rule 34 pornographic, uh, motion graphics and basically said, Hey, I bet we can make a game. And a lot of people gave them like, it's probably in here. I don't know. It was a couple of million pounds. Oh, there it is. 1.6 billion or billion, million pounds, uh, within one month on their Kickstarter. Uh, and they turned that into a pretty reasonable game with pretty good writing. I want to say, uh,
00:45:14
Speaker
Uh, it's a twin stick shooter, also kind of a broken down XCOM, uh, turn based ground based combat. It's got funny writing. I've only played, I put about three hours into it so far. Charles, I don't know how far you've gotten. Uh, so I've recruited the three people that you could recruit. Um, and, uh, I started just doing all the missions that are available to me before continuing on the story.
00:45:43
Speaker
But I'll be honest with you, I think I played about four hours of it and it was all a great time. Surprisingly, I was just like, you know what? Well, okay, here's the other thing. Yeah, they sold a porn game and there are porn scenes, they're okay. It's one of those things where maybe as you get older, maybe if you're a certain person, you could acknowledge, yeah, there's porn.
00:46:11
Speaker
I'm also here for Dean. And they did a reasonable job. And then suddenly, you know, the initial writing, the intro writing probably isn't that funny. It probably gets a little bit repetitive. Then after that, and then you finally understand like the story and some of the world building, you're like,
00:46:29
Speaker
Oh, I wonder what's going to happen with the empress. Yeah, I see that. I say one of the first first kind of cut scenes you get to is like this almost space operatic conversation between two people. And it is just like, wow, they really thought out this whole world. Like it's not just what is it is plot for is a plot P4P plot for porn.
00:46:58
Speaker
So, I mean, I liken it to perhaps one of my favorite porn games that I play for the gameplay, honey pop, which is frankly the best match three games since bejeweled. It is. I mean, there's really no way about it even better. Our friends told us about that when honey pop came out, too. They were just like.
00:47:20
Speaker
They were a little embarrassed the first time they talked about it, but they were like, it's actually a really great mastery game. And I was like, OK. I don't know. It's just it's very interesting. We've talked a lot about Kickstarters and games not meeting expectations. And then we have Subverse kind of coming out here with, I want to say, fairly low expectations, right? I don't know. I think we all kind of went, it'll be something, right? Well, I'll just be like, hey, we bought it. It's funny, right?
00:47:50
Speaker
There's something here, you know, like, I just, I would be funny. Why not? It was like almost to the point where I could foresee, like, I feel like they have a good enough base to the point where I could see a subverse too. Cool. I need to play it. That's it's not ridiculous. Yeah. Yeah. That's what I'm thinking too. Right. I think this is, this is actually, they could make a completely reasonable franchise. Like the game is in early access. So this is like.
00:48:17
Speaker
maybe 40% of the game right now that they have. But that 40%, pretty fun. And I can't wait to see the full game because then I was like, oh, give me those new ship upgrades and give me these new units I could have for my grid compasses. I really enjoy it, I gotta say.
00:48:39
Speaker
and they still have like the uh yeah i would say it's like they're like hey have this new sex scenes like hey that's great upgrades upgrades upgrades
00:48:48
Speaker
Well, the other thing is, I'm not sure if you got this far, but they do unlock a mode for giving gifts to your partners. Whoa. My honey pop senses are triggering. Yeah, exactly. So I'm like, what do I do with this complicated science book? Do I give it to the space pirate or to doctor?
00:49:15
Speaker
doctor oh the devotion went up by a hundred percent this is good but honestly yeah it's it's it's surprisingly like it surprisingly draws you in very well and it's honestly a fun time and if you're if you're gonna look past the game just because it has porn in it you're uh
00:49:37
Speaker
You got to just open up your mind a little bit more, man. There's some fun stuff you can enjoy. I think there's a lot more games that, frankly, were porn that weren't upfront about it. My favorite always being that Dante's Inferno game that came out. Oh, yeah. Yeah.
00:49:58
Speaker
It was just there. Listen, if you haven't seen it, look up Dante's Inferno, Satan's penis, which is a fun search. But let me tell you, it's worth looking at at least once. No, I just it's I mean, I now thinking about it, when did Boyfriend Dungeon get kickstarted and it's still not out? I think it was before Subverse, wasn't it? Yeah, it was before Subverse. Yeah, it's still not out. What are they doing?
00:50:29
Speaker
And Boyfriend Dungeon isn't even supposed to be an erotic game. It's basically like a visual dating sim with dungeons.
Kingdom Hearts PC Release Speculation
00:50:39
Speaker
When did Boyfriend Dungeon kickstart, if this will ever load? But yeah, I just want to say, I think it was overall a smart decision by the people from Subverse to just say, look, we should release something. Because right now, it does feel like it is 40% of the game.
00:50:58
Speaker
If it's good, they'll lose steam if they just don't release anything. Yeah. Plus, they get to be on the news again. Surprisingly good gameplay for the intimacy. And it sounds like they're getting good feedback. Listen, all I want in my heart of hearts is it to be released on Switch. What?
00:51:19
Speaker
and play that play that. I think that would be hilarious. I support it. Speaking of games being on platforms that they shouldn't be. Oh, no, I lost my I lost the show notes. Oh, no. Oh, no. Kingdom Hearts now on PC. First time ever. I'll be honest with you. I suggest everybody
00:51:45
Speaker
who still hasn't played it, do not play it. Just go for it. Save yourself. Go ahead. Just watch the YouTube video and you'll be done. You got it. Like, don't waste your time. Like, Kingdom Hearts 3 did such a bad job. And Kingdom Hearts... Yeah. Kingdom Hearts 1 just didn't age well. It was fun. Like, Kingdom Hearts 2 is really where it was at. It was, I think,
00:52:14
Speaker
It had such a great time in Kingdom Hearts 2. And all the other spin-off games are fun, but boy, is it worth it to get to Kingdom Hearts 3. And see Donald Duck cast Zeta Flare, a spell so powerful, even Bahamut couldn't cast it. Hey, Donald Duck is more powerful than Bahamut. Yes. No. Yeah. Donald Duck is the greatest wizard in the Final Fantasy universe, Andy.
00:52:44
Speaker
And if you can't accept that, then maybe you're not a real fan. You know what, he's too busy not directing the remake for which I'm happy.
00:53:02
Speaker
entire series. Exactly. I feel like Kingdom Hearts is something that was to be experienced as it released. I do not think it is something we need to go back and experience. Like who needs to play the first one anymore? I loved the first one. 20 years ago? How long was it to go now?
00:53:24
Speaker
Oh, yeah, something like that. I mean, I think you're all thinking just a little too straightforward. Well, one of which, if you purchase Kingdom Hearts 3 plus Remind DLC, you will receive a Disney Plus offer code good for three months. Oh, OK. Look at that value add. But also, but also what this does much in the same way of the creators of Subverse, it allows all the assets of Kingdom Hearts to be dumped.
00:53:53
Speaker
Like, oh, I didn't get born of it. Oh, no. Yeah, I mean, yeah, that's a lot of Disney porn. I guess a lot more Disney porn. Yeah, that's and that's what I exactly what I'm saying. I repeat this. There's a reason it was never on PC. And now it is is now all these assets can be dumped and are a 3D rendered models of a lot of Disney characters that are just out in the wild.
00:54:21
Speaker
I think Square has done the best job of any studio, even Disney Studios, on game studios, of 3D modeling their characters. They did an absolutely wonderful job. And it's not all just porn, just to be clear. There's also things like Gary's Mod and stuff like that. And porn. And porn.
00:54:42
Speaker
Yeah, all that overwatch porn. Yeah. But oh my God, I just it'll be interesting to see what happens because I think to my knowledge, right, I'm trying to think of it. This is probably the first time these kinds of assets have been exposed to the Internet in a easily digestible way. I can't think of any 3D Disney games that had this kind of level of fidelity. I don't think there's any. Yeah.
00:55:08
Speaker
Wow. I did not think of the possibility for porn of a game coming to PC. It's not just porn. I mean, it's mostly porn. But now, I'm always, you have, you have corrupted how I think of ports now. Oh. Every PC port is for porn.
00:55:28
Speaker
All of them. I mean, most major technological answers were because of porn, so. Yeah. Well, I guess I mean, and you know why we chose VHS instead of Betamax? The answer may surprise you. I do. But that's why I'm wondering, but is that what is it? Just horny producers who want their games ported to PC just for the porn? I mean, who's directing your automata? He really likes PC ports.
00:55:58
Speaker
I mean, he freaking loves it. So that's what PC ports are for. Now I know. Well, thank you. Thanks for corrupting that. That's what I'm here for.
00:56:12
Speaker
We'll see what happens, though. I don't know. It's sad that Kingdom Hearts has become a meme. Hey, hey, hey. I'm still waiting to see what Kingdom Hearts 4 upside down colon, um, lot. You know, Sora's Revenge is going to be, you know, I don't know. It's I was reading. Oh, no, go ahead.
00:56:35
Speaker
Well, it is. We are at the hour. So I was going to say, what do we what do we what are we playing? What are we doing? Charles and I, I know we're playing Monster Hunter Rise, but anything else or something is to, of course. Yeah, that's right. Rise subverse. What a time to be alive. True. I have nothing new. And yeah, I mean, and now I'm trying to find time to play Final Fantasy 14 because
00:57:03
Speaker
I'll be honest with you, I do, I still enjoy it. I still talk with my free company about it, but there's currently an event before the final major patch of the Shadowbringers expansion comes out in middle of April. And right now you could get certain drops by completing dungeons to get like special mounts and stuff. This is sort of like little celebration before the final big major content update. And then you'll get new raids and all that. That's going to be fun.
00:57:33
Speaker
but I'm just playing all these games.
00:57:35
Speaker
What is James? James. Falcon and Winter Soldier is out now. And surprisingly, Disney has not shied away from tackling race issues in their superhero in their superhero shows. Oh, absolutely. It's it's it's a it is a great show that does not pull any punches, which is very surprising to say for a giant company like Disney. Interesting.
00:58:04
Speaker
Um, also Kong versus Godzilla, I think comes out this weekend on HBO max. And Hey, if you want to just see some CGI monsters slam into each other Pacific rim style, I'm all about it.
Entertainment Recommendations
00:58:15
Speaker
I heard good things about that. I, they're okay. Godzilla king of monsters was not great. King Kong's King Kong school island was good. Godzilla 2014 was all right. I just, I just like seeing Godzilla.
00:58:32
Speaker
I support it. I don't know anything about Godzilla, but I heard good things. Well, I think that's another episode in the books. This has been Add to Party, a friendship simulator masquerading as a new show. I'm your host, James Hartwell, joined by Charles and Andy King. And it's going to be hell to figure out how to title this episode without talking about porn. Good night, everyone. Good night.