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Palword is the Pokemon game we've been waiting for & Inifinite Wealth and Tekken 8 reviews! - Add to Party 01.24.2024
4 Plays10 months ago
This week we discuss Palworld, Like A Dragon 8: Infinite Wealth, and Tekken 8.
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Transcript
Introduction and Hosts
00:00:14
Speaker
Welcome to Add to Party, the friendship simulator masquerading as a new show. I'm your host, James Hartwell, and I'm joined by Andy K. And I'm joined by Derek Kostiho.
00:00:27
Speaker
Good evening, gentlemen. Good evening.
Food Aroma and Neighborly Observations
00:00:30
Speaker
You know, we were just talking about food and now I smell food. I think we manifested food. But the problem is that the only wall I share here is someone's bathroom, so maybe they just have...
00:00:44
Speaker
I don't know. Delicious byproducts. I don't know, but I figured I'd share that. Actually, speaking of my neighbor, hopefully he can't hear me. Question for you guys. A scenario of what would you do? I was doing laundry.
00:01:01
Speaker
And I'm still not at my every week schedule, but every other week I'm starting to get better at. And I was doing my laundry and as a single man, I think every other week is perfectly fine. I thought you were saying you and Charles do your laundry every week.
00:01:19
Speaker
Yeah, but that's there's nothing wrong with doing it every other week. Oh, well, I was pushing it way further than that. Let's let's say I prepared myself for longer. But now I'm trying every other week. But regardless, as I was walking, as I was putting in the washer, I noticed my neighbor's door was slightly ajar. And the thing about the doors around me is that if you close it, it can lock. And so I didn't want to lock someone out of their apartment and close it. But I was like, maybe they'll be back. Maybe they're doing their laundry, whatever.
00:01:49
Speaker
I come back up and then I go down to get or move it to the dryer. It's still open. I come back up. I go to grab it from the dryer and I come back and it's still open. So I think to myself, well, either they're in there and they're dead.
00:02:04
Speaker
Or they're like gone. I don't know. Maybe they left and they forgot to shut it. But I didn't want to keep
Building Security Concerns
00:02:10
Speaker
it open. Who knows? There might be some people wandering around, getting into apartments. Someone knocked on my door at two in the morning and told me they knew I was in there. And that was weird. When was that?
00:02:22
Speaker
Oh, it was many years ago. Oh, OK. It was many. It was like I was joking around with a friend. It was like two in the morning. We were laughing. And then we heard some guy moving down the hallway knocking on doors. And then we thought, oh, we'll be quiet and then I'll leave. But of course he didn't.
00:02:37
Speaker
And then he's locked in our door. Is your building such that anybody can just walk into it or do they have to have like a key to access the apartments? You need a key to access, but at that time you could buzz people in. And I ran into a thing where for some reason, and it's not like even my apart number is all the same number, but I would get so many drunk people calling my apartment to get in.
00:03:05
Speaker
that I'm wondering and sometimes I let them in. I'm not gonna lie. That's when I had a crisis of consciousness that if it was a girl, I let them in. I was like, Andy, that's sexist.
00:03:17
Speaker
And then one time after I let them in, they came up and knocked on my door and then I opened my door. It was a series of bad decisions. Someone drunk thanking me for letting them in. So I'm guessing that's how this guy got in. I don't know. But anyways, he knocked on my door. So that went through my mind. So blah, blah, blah. So anyways, this door is open and I knock.
00:03:38
Speaker
I ring his doorbell and I knock to see if he's there. And then after like 30 seconds, he shows up and he's like, hey, and I'm like, hey, I just want to let you know your door is open. He's like, oh, yeah, I just noticed. And then that was it.
00:03:49
Speaker
Was I a creep for knocking or would you walk by and leave it open? I think you're a creep for not knocking as soon as you notice it. I don't know. I think I think his book. Oh, go ahead, Derek. You're openly inviting anyone who just walks by and sees an open door to go and perform his deeds when you could have invented it. Like he could have just gotten his TV stolen.
00:04:14
Speaker
Well, you know, it wasn't like wide open to be fair. It was just a little bit. It was as if you like kicked the door with your foot and you expected it to close, but it didn't like that little bit open. But you're not wrong. I didn't act immediately, but I didn't want to bother them. And I thought they might've been doing their laundry or something. But James, are you also saying I'm a creep? I'm saying that's between him and God. Oh.
00:04:39
Speaker
Wait, between me and God or the person? The person. So think about it from his point of view. He comes, you say, oh, I just want to let you know. And then he's like, oh, I noticed. Thank you. Goodbye. Or he the house is empty. That's and then you hear no response and then you go in. You could have been a potential criminal. But it's Marlin.
00:05:03
Speaker
What am I supposed to do then? What am I supposed to do? You do nothing. It's not your business. I don't leave it open, but it might lock them out. Well, first off, just knock. And if no one's there, don't rob them.
00:05:15
Speaker
But do I go in or don't do anything? Just pass that buck to someone else's problem. No, no, no, no, no, no. We're neighbors. Everybody's supposed to take care of each other. This isn't this. Listen, there are certain things that yes, if you think direct eye contact with somebody who's a neighbor who needs help. Yeah, that's definitely. But if but if they're not around and you see something that's like that's weird, you know what you say, you say that's not my business is living. They're living their life.
00:05:46
Speaker
Maybe, I don't know, that just, that would keep me up wondering, what if someone broke in? What if it was two in the morning? There was once where the apartment across from me had the door open and like the light was on and I think I knocked and no one answered and I think I peeked in, I didn't see anything, but then it was left open for like a week. And so I went to my landlord and I was like, I don't know why this is open. I wanted to let you know, maybe someone's dead.
00:06:14
Speaker
And he's like, oh no, Andy, that's just an apartment I have to poop in. He forgot to close the door. So maybe it was... There's a podcast about this with my brother and my brother and me about a landlord who has a special toilet.
00:06:33
Speaker
I now wonder if maybe it was about your landlord. It might have been, but this place was decked out. And by decked out, I mean, I saw like an air bed just because I opened the door a little bit more to look in. But I didn't search the whole thing, so they could have been done. But after about a week, I went, I found out it was a poop apartment.
00:06:51
Speaker
My landlord offered me the poop apartment if I ever needed it. But what if you're using his poop apartment and then he walks in to use the poop apartment? That's too much. That's too much.
Landlord Antics
00:07:02
Speaker
That's some eye contact. I don't want that. I mean, I feel like it's not so much a poop apartment as you upset the missus and the air mattress is better than the couch. What's that? That could be like, although I know much about their single life. What's that? Well, he has access to all those empty rooms.
00:07:20
Speaker
So having one little hideout when it's available seems nice. I think he has a poop apartment on every floor. God bless him.
00:07:31
Speaker
I'm pretty sure he does. But anyway, so there is a time. And so maybe I carry that guilt that someone could have been dead for a week across the hall for me. And I just didn't want someone dead that night. Andy, let me tell you something. And I think I've told you this story before, but I never told it on the podcast, which is when I was living in a less than savory part of the town of town. I hear this banging, banging, banging. What the fuck is the sound?
00:07:59
Speaker
And I go, finally, I go, I look out my window and I lived in kind of one of those buildings where I lived on the first floor and I had a door that entered my way. And then the second and third floor had a door right next to mine that goes to their apartments. So I look out my window and on the patio, I see a man with a crowbar hopping open the door to the second floor. I look through the window as he gets it open and goes inside.
00:08:24
Speaker
And I just went, motherfucker, now I gotta do something. That's the level of like, this is where I probably wouldn't have done anything, but I saw that and I went, alright, well now I have to.
00:08:40
Speaker
And let's also be clear when I, even the police, I called 911 and the police were like, by the way, if you want to pretend you didn't call us, you do that. And I'm like, well, I know trust me. You don't snitch. You don't snitch. I came out and I was like, Oh, what's all this about?
00:08:58
Speaker
Well, I'm glad you called then. But only so if you only heard it, you wouldn't granted if I hear something, I just ignore it. And I'm like, oh, it must be a car. Oh, it was really close. It was just like a large, large, loud banging. What the fuck is going on? Oh, my God. I just saw someone pop the door over the crowbar. I couldn't have timed it better that I looked out the window as he popped the door open and walked inside.
Witnessing a Robbery
00:09:23
Speaker
It's like, motherfucker. You know what happened?
00:09:27
Speaker
I don't know. He stole. I think he said he stole like a jar of change or something. Oh, it was just a robbery. Yeah. Oh, OK. I was worried it was something worse. I mean, if they only took a jar of change alone. But I mean, it is what I'm trying to tell you. That's the level of worry. I think, right. That's where you need to get involved. What I didn't describe. Adorable jar. No, that's you don't need to get involved with that.
00:09:56
Speaker
Well, I felt better after I told him, Derek, what's your what's your level of tolerance for good Samaritan? What kicks in? When does it kick in?
Neighborly Relationships
00:10:06
Speaker
If I can help and it's not in convenience, then why not? So I eat Mr. Angel on Earth. You've probably gained a lot of points, though. Points. Do you think being nice is a game? Yes, it's a zero sum game.
00:10:25
Speaker
Listen, the universe is listening and the universe is keeping track. But so you would have helped on the first pass, Derek, whereas I waited for a couple. And I would have never helped at all. I would have been like, well, those doors open weird. I don't know, James, after the third pass. Are you that I would have not. No, absolutely not. They're your neighbor, though. I had never met them before, but they're your neighbor. I'll be very clear. I've never liked any of my neighbors. That's not true. You just didn't get to know them.
00:10:53
Speaker
I know my neighbors right now. They're perfectly nice. I don't like them. Why don't you like them? Because I would prefer to have no neighbors. Oh my God. Look, Andy, you have to understand. He thinks they're nice. He might know their names and what they look like, what cars they drive, their habits, but he doesn't want to know anything that he doesn't just pick up peripherally.
00:11:13
Speaker
I need to step over their dead body. You know, like I can't form attachments. No, maybe if they bring over a cake Christmas like day before Christmas Eve, then you're like, OK, fine, we'll exchange desserts. But I don't think James would do anything past that. Would you take alerts from your neighbor, James? I take what? Desserts from your neighbor. I have. Oh, did you reciprocate?
00:11:40
Speaker
No, I give people tomatoes in the summer. OK, you've got a beautiful community. Yeah, but I I'd step over their dead body and I'm. I'm glad that we understand. OK, I don't want to clear up any misconceptions, though. I don't know my neighbors. I never see my neighbors, except maybe when they take their dog out. It's the best kind. Like never said word to him. Do you at least wave or if I see something
00:12:11
Speaker
Miss, like if I see a package on my door and it's for like a neighbor, a few buildings over, I'll go deliver it to them. Do you knock on their door first or you just leave it in front of it? I just leave it in front. I'm very antisocial. That's fair. That's fair. I don't normally knock either. And there was one time when it was when we were all using mail-in ballots, I made sure that I knocked and that I handed it to the person and I told them to vote. I told them we can't lose. And then they gave me a nod in solidarity.
00:12:39
Speaker
But that's the only time I've hand delivered mail. This is interesting. We have all these neighbors and we're not connecting with them. Well, I think this is also very much a Midwest. And so this is a Midwest attitude. And what do you can what is Texas? Is Texas just Texas or like the Southwest?
00:12:58
Speaker
So it depends. I've lived in the suburbs where we exchange desserts every Christmas. No, no, no. But I mean, like Andy lives in the Midwest. You live in Texas, which that's the south, right? I get. Well, I attribute the south to being like this, which is like Alabama, Louisiana. I think Texas is the border between south and southwest.
00:13:22
Speaker
Yeah, right. It's, it's, it's its own thing. I guess. Yeah. That's what I was just thinking about that. There's no way. Yeah. It was just difference of opinions in these regions. I come from the cold barren Northeast where, listen, we're all in this together, but it's also a zero sum game. You have to be willing, you have to be willing to burn the dead bodies of your neighbors for war. No, we need to move through the world with kindness.
00:13:48
Speaker
No one said, Andy, you, you ever heard the thing too, right? Like East coast people are nice, but not kind. And West coast people are kind, but not nice. Oh, no, I don't know if I've heard that. East coast people will just wordlessly help you as, as much as just as much as we, I would spit on your grave. I would also help you without a word and expect nothing in return. Sure.
00:14:14
Speaker
West Coast people be like, oh, I wish, you know, I could, oh, what a shame. I wish I could. Thoughts and prayers. Just a lot of, a lot of performative kindness. I hear that. I hear that.
00:14:30
Speaker
Well, us in the Midwest. All right, we're doing both. OK, we're letting neighbors know that their doors are open. I don't want to be friends with my neighbors. Maybe that's just because of my age. I don't know. It's one of those things, too, where you see it on like television shows where it's or, you know, it's like, oh, the neighbors are coming over. We're going to play games and stuff like that. I'm like, what a weird relationship. I used to have that in my building. Actually, friends with people in my building before. Until you left you.
00:15:00
Speaker
Yeah, well, all of them have left now. But I had different and it was wonderful. It was actually kind of the best because you get to hang out and then you get to go home. It's it's the best of everything. But I've often had a thought where I could potentially have a neighbor who would be my best friend and I would never know it because I would never engage.
00:15:26
Speaker
What a haunting. Is that haunting? Is that the right word? But you're right. You could be living next to your best friend. I mean, my current neighbors, no. No? No. I know enough about them to know no.
00:15:41
Speaker
But I mean, just in general, the idea of like, oh, what if, you know, it's like, just has all the same taste, same humor, you know, all that. And then I would just be like, yeah, but I would never, I would never risk that really. Cause what if it goes south? What if that relationship goes south? It's better to keep them at an arms distance. You know, and it's not easy making friends as an adult. NPR had a whole thing on it.
00:16:08
Speaker
That's for us. We did it. That's true. That's true. But we met in our 20s. Now we're in our 30s. That's right. And I don't need to make friends anymore. That's fair. Or you could make some more. That's not true. There's more friends out there for you. I have enough. What's that? I kind of feel that, actually. I kind of feel that. But, um. What are you, Derek? Do you have enough friends?
00:16:36
Speaker
Uh, it depends. Like it depends on how many weekly events I've got going. Some weeks I've got too many, some weeks just enough. So yeah, I think I've got enough friends. Beautiful. That's, that's what you want. We're living full actualized lives, Andy. We are. And honestly, there's an epidemic. I think it's been declared an epidemic that people don't have enough friends.
00:17:03
Speaker
It's a real thing. Oh, yeah, for sure. It's I shouldn't laugh at it. I mean, we need more. No, it is a real thing where it's like people don't because it is hard to make friends as adults. And even though you say like we did in our 20s, I think even people in their 20s still struggle to make friends. Oh, absolutely. We're lucky as nerds that we get to have different hobbies to share and bond over.
Is Watching Netflix a Hobby?
00:17:27
Speaker
Imagine if your only hobby was Netflix.
00:17:29
Speaker
Yeah. First off, Netflix is not a hobby. Netflix is not a hobby. I agree. You know about that. Being a cinephile is a hobby. Is rewatching the office a cinephile? Listen, they're levels.
00:17:49
Speaker
If all you're watching are current new releases or the last few years, I don't consider that a hobby. I don't think you get to be the arbiter of what is a hobby and what isn't. Because you're taking the face value, what is created just to get views in the current year.
00:18:07
Speaker
while compared to that was the exact same intention back in the previous decades. But there was a higher instance of creators truly having a passion and a vision and wanting to share with others. Hmm. Like compare it. Let's compare it. John Carpenter is the thing with the post 2000, the thing. Would you consider them equal? I've never seen the new one. I'm not. I haven't seen both. Well, for someone, it was their first movie there was the first movie.
00:18:37
Speaker
Oh, I don't know. But I can respect someone who respects the lineage of current cinema, like how it progressed and what would they did lacked back then and what we've lost since. We only have three stories this week, so I'm going to vamp for a little while. What do we say? That just made me realize something. What's the first movie you can consciously remember seeing?
00:19:06
Speaker
This might be tough. For me, it's Pinocchio. Is it really? I think they re-released Pinocchio into theaters at one point, and my babysitter tucked me and her kids. Aw, that's so sweet. That's the first movie I can consciously remember. So in the movie theater. In the movie theater. OK. I didn't watch a lot of movies in the theaters as a child, but there's two that I can't say for sure which one was first. It was either Gremlins or Chucky.
00:19:35
Speaker
Jesus Christ, Derek. Yeah. How old were you? I was like four. Jesus Christ, Derek. You're like my cousin whose father took him to see Alien when he was like four. No, my mother loves those horror movies. So some of my first movies were Chucky, Grinlands, Bride of Chucky, Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Oh, my God, dude! Like just a bunch of 80s. That's a step on your answer, Andy. Derek, do you know that I have a crippling fear of Chucky?
00:20:05
Speaker
Really? Yeah, I know. Yeah, I have a crippling fear. Now, when you say crippling, walk me through that. What happens? I cannot watch anything that contains him. Even the goofy ones. There's no absolute terror. He terrifies me even to this day. Wow. Do you know why? I don't know.
00:20:29
Speaker
I mean, I think the whole idea of, like, ventriloquist dummies coming alive has always been kind of like like something that's upset me conceptually. Chucky is like it take it to its logical extreme. Sure. Oh, oh, no, no. Hold on. Not to detract. I have I have the same issue because it was one of the first ones. I now remember the very first one, Pet Sematary. Oh, you said Pet Sematary. Wait, I don't know that one. What is that? It's a Stephen King book. It's also pretty grim.
00:20:59
Speaker
Yeah. They tried to fuck you up proper, didn't they? Or maybe that's the only ones that stuck. Oh, that's also true. Yeah. For me, I have the delightful member who's seen Pinocchio. Darius like remembers fucking undead animals attacking. Well, those are all good. Mine is, I think it was Beauty and the Beast that I remember seeing that in an empty theater. That's all I remember. But.
00:21:27
Speaker
And I really like Beauty and the Beast. It was one of the VHS tapes we owned. I also have a memory though, very young. I remember there was a movie we were watching in the living room and it was about, I think it was aliens or like clowns from outer space or something. Killer clowns from outer space. It might've been. All I remember is there was like popcorn that spilled over and like the popcorn turned into scary clowns. I don't even know if this happened, but I remember that haunted me.
00:21:56
Speaker
That haunted me. And I'm not really scared of clowns, but that stuck with me. I got to figure out if this scene was real because the Mendelica effect ever since my cornucopia crisis. I don't know what to believe anymore. Oh, by the way, I saw. Yeah, I was going to say someone found the logo with a cornucopia on it. No. Yeah, they did. But I don't even care because I remember it.
00:22:22
Speaker
And I do, too, as does all listeners of this podcast. We all went on this journey together. Yeah, someone found the logo. I do. I did it look like we all thought. Yeah. Well, then what's going on? The company denies it. Is this a marketing ploy? I don't know. It was it was in their trademark from like 1977 to like 1988. I think like something or that like that. I don't know. It's weird. I think they found the legal filing.
00:22:51
Speaker
I think they officially say, though, that it never existed. Well, they're officially wrong. So they didn't officially list that it was never existed. They had an official timeline of their logo that omitted it.
00:23:04
Speaker
So they were lying. Better they forgot, which is also entirely possible. That is not granted. No, the people who run all these things are dumb. I just don't think Fruit of the Loom is that clever. Like viral marketing means nothing to them. Or maybe it does. I don't know. I was reading about all that Stanley Cup stuff going on. Oh, the you know, the boom and bust of viral marketing. It's a big thing and you can make a lot of money.
00:23:32
Speaker
The guy who did Stanley stuff did Crocs. He made Crocs popular. Oh, really? Yeah. I didn't know that. He was the crocs like the resurgence of Crocs and then Stanley bought him. And then. Oh, OK. I would say I was like he he founded Crocs and Stanley. I don't know. OK, I was supposed to be like, whatever this guy does next, I'm going to invest in it. So he's he's the guy behind this croc headlights and snowplows. Oh, OK. Oh, oh. Yeah, I don't know.
00:24:03
Speaker
He knows what he's doing. I'm trying to find this popcorn. I don't know if it exists. Well, speaking of viral marketing. Yeah. Let's talk about the most viral property on the Internet. And that's Power World, baby. Yeah, it is. So we talked about Power World forever ago. This is the Pokemon with Guns trailer that got released, I don't know, a year ago at this point. A long time ago, yeah.
Palworld Game Discussion
00:24:28
Speaker
Yeah.
00:24:28
Speaker
And it came out in early access this past Friday. It is free on Game Pass. It is $30 on Steam. And it is now basically the biggest game in the world. Power World has sold in its first five days. Power World has sold seventy six, not seventy, seven million copies, seven. And this is in pass. So yes.
00:24:57
Speaker
So yes, this is only for steam. This does not include any additional sales on Xbox or game pass. And that roughly translates to about $189 million in steam sales. Man.
00:25:10
Speaker
from a small indie studio? I don't actually know if they're a small indie studio. Um, they have a decent amount of money. I think they invested about 10, uh, $10 million into power world. Are they backed by like some Chinese investment firm? They might be. Or is this a scrap scrap roots kind of thing?
00:25:30
Speaker
I don't know. I think we talked about that before, like with like Dave the Diver or whatever. Yeah. Look at this indie studio. I don't think anyone's necessarily calling them an indie studio. Second, we're second to just about Power World taking over the world. Power World also broke Counter-Strike's all time concurrent players peak at one point eight million and is now the number two most played game on Steam ever behind only PUBG, which holds the record at three point two million, which is wild.
00:25:59
Speaker
Yeah, I don't think may never get broken, honestly. Now, when you said Counter Strike, was that Counter Strike 1? Counter Strike 2. Okay. And just looking at it right now as a time of recording, let's see. There are currently 1.09 million people playing it.
00:26:18
Speaker
That's crazy. That's crazy. Actually, it's all time peak has actually got even higher than that. Now that I look at the Steam TV, it peaked at two point one, two point zero one million people playing 13 hours ago. So it's it's still number two, but it's even more firmly secured that number two spot. And it hasn't even been a week. Yeah.
00:26:52
Speaker
Well, let's talk about Power World 2, I guess.
00:26:56
Speaker
So we Pokemon with guns, right? That's what we said. But what it is is it's really an arc or a rust or a Minecraft sort of or seven days to die. It is a survival game where you acquire, you acquire resources, use those resources to build new technologies. And then those new technologies allow you to acquire other resources, which then allow you to build another new technologies and so forth and so forth.
00:27:25
Speaker
And you're omitting the slavery though.
00:27:28
Speaker
Well, that I was about to get into it. What makes power all different than those other ones that I mentioned is that they contain pals legally distinct Pokemon in some case not so legally distinct. Oh, there's like there's a couple that are like fucking rip straight from Pokemon. Oh, wow. But yeah, you can capture pals in these little pal sphere balls, which are not Pokeballs, they're pal spheres.
00:27:56
Speaker
And once you capture them, you can kind of put them to work on your base and they will do things like chop wood, gather materials, mine, craft arrows and other things. They will guard your base because occasionally there will be raids that attack your base.
00:28:17
Speaker
And you have a fairly infinite amount. The only thing that limits the amount of pals you can capture is the amount of pal spheres you can create. So again, that's part of that cycle of gathering resources so you can make more pal spheres, which will then allow you to capture more pals and the more pals you get, the more you can automate things at your base, which allows you to get more resources. You can make stronger pal spheres, which allows you to catch bigger pals who can do more things. It's pretty fun. Honestly, I played I played for it for about like
00:28:47
Speaker
I don't know. I want to say 10 hours. Oh, nice. Yeah. I'm getting a little burned out in the survival genre. So I will say one nice thing is they give you access to the server controls right off the drop. So if you want to go be like XP to three times item drop level to three times, you can adjust that to like really take a lot of the grind out of it. And I did.
00:29:10
Speaker
The only thing they don't have an option for is to like increase crafting speed. If they did that, I would, I think I would have played that game a lot more. Cause the craft, the crafting speeds a little low, but it's a stat on your character, which is why I think you can't just server wide and make it go fast. Yeah. But isn't there like an end?
00:29:29
Speaker
goal for a play through like you go, uh, I mean, it is in early access, but currently the tutorial quest line has you going to fight a raid boss essentially. And, uh, they're very strong. Like I think you probably need to be level 40 or 50 in the game. Yeah. There's also RPG mechanics with you leveling your carry weight, your attack power, things like that. Um, so it's a, it's a good mishmash of systems.
00:29:59
Speaker
Oh, well, how neat. I got to play it for a little bit in a base that was like already developed. So I didn't get to see a lot of the mechanics, but I was playing it. What's that? Where'd you put it? I played it over this weekend or a little bit. Oh, did you buy it?
00:30:17
Speaker
Yes, yes. Yeah, I'm one of those Steam scum people without Game Pass. OK, I'm just supporting the developers more directly. But it was on someone's server where they had already done a bunch of stuff, so I just got to like just fart around and.
00:30:35
Speaker
play around but I only mean to say is I was really surprised that it's early access but it felt so polished and like there was so much game. I don't know I was just really blown away that and I'm not surprised that it had its success because it feels like you were given a game but now I had like two hours if that just running around. James after 10 hours what's the longevity on it?
00:31:01
Speaker
Well, like I said, I think I'm a little burnt out on the survival genre, but I can definitely see the legs of like, you know, building your base, getting it. You can actually build multiple bases at a certain point too, which is important because eventually you need to build bases where you can focus on certain resources. Like this is my wood cutting base and this is my iron farming base and stuff like that.
00:31:23
Speaker
And honestly, the pals are pretty fun in terms of their varied ability. They do have the classic Pokemon kind of rock, paper, scissor, like, Hey, you know, this is a fire type and it's strong against grass types. And this is a water type and strong against fire types and so forth.
00:31:41
Speaker
And that that's all in there. It's not turn. There is no turn based RPG mode for it that I found. Your pals are attack automatically. You have some level of control where you'd be like aggressive attack everything or attack my target or something like that. But also, you can keep one pal out with you at any time. And so you have a party of six. You have a party of six pals and then so one out five in the balls and you can switch between them pretty easy.
00:32:11
Speaker
I just know the ones I had were super cute. Yeah, they're pretty cute. And you know what? And you can kill them.
00:32:18
Speaker
Wait, like, yes, you can slaughter and eat them. Yeah. Yeah. Power also kind of links into the weird slave, like Derek was alluding the weird slavery aspect of what a Pokemon really took a Pokemon world really gets into where you have these semi sapient creatures and you're capturing them balls and making them do your you're willing. I mean, even in the Pokemon world, they talk about like.
00:32:43
Speaker
people eating slow, uh, slow pokes, tails and other stuff like that. So like eating Pokemon is not that weird a concept, but in power world, you can craft a butcher snake to butcher excess pals and then use them and cook their feet and feed it to your other. Yeah. Oh yeah. A hundred percent.
00:33:04
Speaker
Andy, can I make this even weirder for you? There are humans in the game. You can capture humans in your pal spheres and put them to work on your base. And they also, at the same time, can be butchered and ate. No. Wow. Are they like a special kind of meat too?
00:33:30
Speaker
Uh, I don't know. Because gosh, even oh my goodness, I did capture someone, but I didn't get to the point where I made the butcher knife. So that's brutal. But hey, you know what? They're leaning in. OK, they're pushing boundaries. But and I'm happy for their success. God, seven million in like four or five days. Yeah. People want this game. Well, I think people. Yeah, there's a lot of talk of like,
00:33:59
Speaker
This is the adult Pokemon that people have been waiting for. Right. I'm going to disagree hard with that. Oh, go ahead. People want an adult or even a good Pokemon game and they've been wanting it for like the last five years. And as much as this feels full.
00:34:18
Speaker
Andy thinks it feels polished, but when I see it's very unpolished, but it's early access. Yeah, it's early access game, but people are coming in droves because they've wanted a good Pokemon game. And this is the closest they've seen in almost a decade to a good Pokemon game. Derek, are you saying Pokemon isn't good? I'm saying that they've... We talked about that, Andy. They've sort of been...
00:34:42
Speaker
uh, creatively bankrupt for the past, resting on their laurels is the nice way of saying it. That's true. I'm just trying to remember. I know the last one was like a glitchy mess, wasn't it? And like, one was like a motorcycle or something. That's right. Your motorcycle legendary Pokemon. Yeah. So this hits a lot of those same notes, not in small part, because
00:35:06
Speaker
It appears unconfirmed there. This is speculation, but that they take 3D models from Pokemon games, edit them slightly and then use them in their game. So none of the pictures circulating online saying, oh, look, they'd stole models are showing mesh next to mesh. So they're not proving anything, but just the models side by side. There's enough simulators that I can see copy. They're real close in some of the.
00:35:35
Speaker
Like, hold on, let me see, Andy, I'm gonna see if I can find the one. There's a Pokemon called Salazzle that looks incredibly like one in Power Worlds.
00:35:44
Speaker
Love it. I haven't seen many of the Pokemon. Oh, sorry. What are they called? Pals? They're called pals. I haven't seen many of the pals. I've seen a cat doing calisthenics. I saw a lamb just being cute. And then I'm sure I saw other ones. I saw like a really big strong one. I like there was a dragon.
00:36:08
Speaker
I don't know. I was just so impressed. Maybe I'm just impressed with the graphics. I don't know. It's it's an impressive game. It's I mean, I've definitely seen survival games launching in early access that are not that good. Oh, also to just just as an aside to evolution is in the game. It's it's much further down. Yeah, because you you will find actually the evolved version of pals just exploring the world.
00:36:34
Speaker
But it's like it's it's much more complicated where it's almost kind of like gotcha like where you have to use multiple of a single pal to then evolve that pal so like Feed them more or less. Yeah, you're like distill their essences down into a goop that you use to empower one man
00:36:58
Speaker
I just, well, discussing all of this though, why did we get an email calling this game controversial? What's controversial about panel world? That it just looks like Pokemon?
00:37:08
Speaker
Well, I think there's that and what Derek and I were talking about where it kind of leans into the forced labor aspect of the Pokemon world where you can slaughter them and capture humans and all that. Like they're kind of not pulling the punches of being like and use guns, too. Right. That's where you have you can have them using like machine guns. There's a turtle Pokemon that you can load into a pal. Excuse me, a pal into a bazooka and fire.
00:37:38
Speaker
What? Yeah.
00:37:41
Speaker
Oh, they're having fun. They're having fun. We have fun here. Yeah. Now, so this was going through my brain. This is eerily similar to Pokemon, the designs or whatever. And all I could think of is like, why is Nintendo not suing? Why is Nintendo not suing? I mean, I don't even know if they have a base for it. So, oh, go ahead. Heard me. I just yawned on a podcast. What a incredibly... Stop it. You make me yawn. Go on you.
00:38:09
Speaker
What an incredibly rude thing to do. There's two distinct levels for copyright in trademark infringement. Copyright is a little more murky, but I would say Power World doesn't really pass any of the bar for copyright because
00:38:27
Speaker
This doesn't, it's not a turn based RPG. This is also like, it's not using any of the intellectual designs of Pokemon or the, the language of Pokemon. So there's, it's all legally distinct.
00:38:43
Speaker
But can't we confuse it for Pokemon? That's the thing. And from a trademark perspective, that's where it's like, no, no, no, it's fine. And from a trademark perspective, that's where it's like, are you trying to confuse the consumer into thinking your product is the other company's product?
00:39:03
Speaker
But in that arena, Power World is still very different than Pokemon. Like, I don't think you could play the two games and say, this is Pokemon. Yeah. But if grandma goes to the store to buy their kid a Christmas Pokemon, they're going to pick up Power World. Well, I guess in the same way of like, is Digimon a trademark infringement of Pokemon? No. It looks so aggressive though. Well, so does Power World. The Pals are cute. They are cute.
00:39:33
Speaker
But yeah, so right now, I mean, they even confirmed that we have not received any legal action from Nintendo since launching. I'm sure it would be a PR nightmare for them if they did that. Someone did mod in Pokemon 2 Power World and they have already gotten a cease and desist from Nintendo. So it's not like Nintendo is not watching. Yeah. Oh, I'm sure. Well, that's where my brain went also is, is Nintendo right now working on a survival game?
00:40:03
Speaker
in a Pokemon world. Like they might be now after pal world. Yeah, like they'd be sort of stupid not to consider like look at how successful this game is. I'm like I'm sure the numbers are not as good as the Pokemon games on their own. Like this isn't real competition for Pokemon or the Pokemon company. But this should tell them, hey, you're sitting on money. Stupid. Go make that money.
00:40:28
Speaker
Well, I would say the, uh, the legend series of pork and Pokemon's legends. Arceus had a similar kind of vibe of like crafting this, the, the Pokeballs and capturing them. And yeah, but it didn't have like, it wasn't a survival game, but it was like kind of as close as Pokemon has come to changing up the formula. Sure.
00:40:50
Speaker
They included a lot of that in Scarlet and Violet, but Arceus is kind of the closest analog, I think, to Power World, and even then, it's not that close.
00:41:01
Speaker
Okay, I think that could be a good fun time because I don't care about Pokemon all that much, but enjoying it with other people and I like survival games. I think those are fun co-op experiences. They are. I would 10,000% hop into a Pokemon survival game.
00:41:22
Speaker
with other people. I think that could be fun. I hope they're working on it. But you know what? It's probably gonna be a big buggy mess. Like, I still don't understand how that company can have infinite money and still put out just, just amateur looking stuff. Andy, this is gonna be a controversial take. Go in. But they do it because they get paid, hand over fist to do it.
00:41:47
Speaker
Yeah, I think, I can't remember what Scarlet and Vile was. I think Scarlet and Vile is something like 12 million copies in the first 24 hours or something. No. I mean, I'll believe it. It's just like, but, and we have to remember too, this isn't Nintendo making the game, right? This is whoever they're called, Pokemon company.
00:42:07
Speaker
Aren't they called Game Freak? Are they still involved? Yeah, Game Freak owns Pokรฉmon. OK, so it's Game Freak making it. And Nintendo has such insanely high standards for their games. They're all bangers. What's that? Pokรฉmon Scarra and Violet sold 10 million copies in three days. I mean, sure. But like, why doesn't Nintendo put its expectations on Game Freak? I don't get it. I don't get it. Any Pokรฉmon fans?
00:42:36
Speaker
by Pokemon products. That's the end of it. And that's, you know, they have their quality because they believe in putting out a good product and selling their consoles from it. If only you could have seen the fervor of the people at the Pokemon centers in Japan. Oh, just just the raw capitalism I saw in their eyes. I think that's beautiful.
00:43:03
Speaker
Listen, I'm a sucker for Final Fantasy seven. All right. Although I'm a big fake fan and not getting that rebirth ultra edition. So maybe I don't understand anymore. Maybe it's just the light has left my eyes for Eric. Do you have anything else you want to add about power? Derek, give your hot take. So I'm going to give two things, one positive, one negative. Okay. Negative. It's a uses Epic game services, so I'm never going to buy it.
00:43:34
Speaker
But there is a lot of false allegations that they're utilizing AI generated art. None of it's founded. If there's proof, I'll change my mind. But while their CEO is pro AI use in video game development, they're very open on it from their past projects. So like, until I see proof, I'm not believing anything. It's a bunch of people who are just angry.
00:43:58
Speaker
that this game is successful, and it potentially did steal out a system buckle, and I would believe that. But I don't think it's ad-generated. Yeah, I don't think it is either. It definitely feels like they copied their homework. Like, some of that stuff. Like, I'm not, I'm not surprised, but Derek, you're holding back on your biggest hot take. What's that? That, that pal words popularity is owed to Vtubers exclusively.
00:44:27
Speaker
We brought this up before we started But there was at one point in time 16 different Vtubers streaming at the same time to a very large audience and actually currently Vtubers are streaming to out of like was it one Vtubers streaming to a lot so you know that big that high number that we saw just today of that what 2.1 million it's gonna go up after today and
00:44:55
Speaker
Oh, yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah. A crony wasn't one of them, by the way. Shame, shame. I see this. I see this weekend. I'm very curious if they will hit a higher if they'll hit a higher concurrent this weekend. Oh, I imagine with the fervor it's had this week. I just by the way, learn about it. By the way, too. Remember, we were all like ballers gate three breaking all these concurrent records. It was doing seven hundred. I think its concurrent peak was like seven hundred thousand.
00:45:22
Speaker
I mean, yes. Which is still good. Which is still good. Yeah, let's be clear. Nerd. Yeah. Like this is something that like your parents could like a kid could play and then just not show their parents when the guns show up, right? But when you're looking at the box art, actually the box art has the lambs holding the gun. So what do I know? But.
00:45:45
Speaker
It definitely seems like it could it has a broader audience. I don't know. I think it's cool. I think it's great that it's being successful. We'll see where it goes. Power World isn't the only big game coming out this past week. That's right. That's right. We got two bangers coming out tomorrow and Friday. Let's start with Tekken 8. Yeah.
00:46:10
Speaker
So we talked about our Tekken 8 experience from PAX West, where we had a great fucking time playing it. Sounds like everyone else has, currently sitting at a 90 on open critic, with 97% of critics recommending it. Lewis Parker at Eurogamer gave it a 5 out of 5. Tekken 8 is a marked improvement over Tekken 7 and a perfectly executed balancing act, keeping older players happy while revealing its trademark freedom to newcomers.
00:46:36
Speaker
Ronnie barrier at IGN, given nine out of 10 tech and eight is an incredible evolution for the series with tons of single player content and excellent suite of training tools, a great online experience and exciting new mechanics that make tech and more dynamic than ever. Yes.
00:46:52
Speaker
OK, so I was listening to a couple of reviews of Tekken 8. So we, you know, obviously we only played like a demo where we could just fight each other. Some other things I've heard reviewers talk about is they have like these training modes where they'll actually show you fights. They'll they'll show you fights that you did. Like they'll capture like a match or something like that. And it will actually be like, oh, hey, you could have punished this right here. Like you could have.
00:47:20
Speaker
you could have executed this combo, and you would have actually really taken over the match. And on top of that, you can jump into that stored match at that point and try to do the thing it's telling you to do. That's crazy. Yeah, which I'm like, what an amazing ability to learn the system. Oh, yeah.
00:47:43
Speaker
they really want to hit the competitive market. I think they're trying to just expand the market in general. So maybe repeating what y'all said on the post packs review, but the they have two general input settings, one classic, which is where you do your quarter circle button press, etc. And then they've got a more simplified modern one, which gives no advantage. It just makes the inputs a little bit easier. And
00:48:11
Speaker
You know, I'm not a fighting game player, but I smoked the one fighting game player in our group. Okay. So using baby mode. So don't call it baby mode, but you sound like an old classic fighting game player who's upset about it. It lowers the barrier of entry. There's advantages to using either one, like
00:48:36
Speaker
But I mean, I'll probably I'll probably use baby mode when I play it. But it makes it a lot more approachable. So this is coming from a man who owns a fight stick.
00:48:47
Speaker
When I first started playing fighting games, it was like Dead or Alive 4 and that era, I struggled to even perform combos and I had to practice and that wasn't fun. I had a long period of not having fun before I could have fun with my friends. I feel with this game, your friends can call you, you can play a few rounds and then you can have fun.
00:49:13
Speaker
Yeah, that's a good way to put it because you got to work. You got to work. Well, good on it. Good on it. I think that I'm looking forward to playing it like I do really want to play Tekken 8 again. Tekken person.
00:49:30
Speaker
Honestly, I was never a Tekken. Tekken, I would play when I wanted to mix it up when I got tired of Marvel versus Capcom 2 at the arcade. I would go play Tekken for a little while because the line wasn't as long. But I never was quite good at it. Fighting in a 3D space was always a lot more difficult than it was fighting 2D.
00:49:53
Speaker
I don't know. I've always had kind of a soft spot for Tekken and it's weird ass story. Sure. Where people just be throwing people off mountains and volcanoes left and right. And there's a bear. I just remember the bear. Andy, the bear was trained by the ultimate bad guy.
00:50:11
Speaker
Oh, really? Yeah. And actually, you know, what's funny is apparently in this current version of his name is Kuma, you know, his version, this current version, he's doing even more of the old guy's training moves because he's not in the game because he died in seven and he might actually not be coming back this time. Oh, so they just brought over his moveset. So they brought up like a version of his moveset. I love it. Wasn't there like a dinosaur, too? I think in one of them.
00:50:41
Speaker
Oh, there's the lizard man who had like some kind of semi-stealth. Yeah, I vaguely remember that. Oh, wacky Tekken. Oh, there's like Tekken 7. Fine.
00:50:57
Speaker
Well, the game that's going to keep me from playing Tekken 8 is the other game that's getting released this week. And that's like a dragon infinite wealth currently sitting at again, 90 on a 90 critic average on open critic with 100% recommending it.
00:51:17
Speaker
Tristan. Oh, I can never say his last name. Tristan Ogilvy at IGN, give it nine out of 10 sprawling enthralling and packed with dynamic brawling. Oh, Tristan, like, like a dragon infinite wall. This isn't just the best turn based like a dragon game. It's one of the greatest games in the entire series. Dominic terrace and a PC gamer, give it an 80 out of 100 stuff with content and pathos. Infinite wealth delivers a near excessive amount of urban crime drama adventure.
00:51:45
Speaker
And Eric Van Allen at Destructoid gave it an 8 out of 10. Among the wealth of Like a Dragon games we've had over the last year or so, Like a Dragon Infinite Wealth is easily the standout for me. Man. Yeah, there's a lot of talk about this being perhaps the best Like a Dragon slash Yakuza game since Like a Dragon Zero. Wow. Which everyone kind of holds up as the best one, I think. Yeah, that's what I always hear. It's the place to start. Which, fair. Zero. But...
00:52:14
Speaker
Oh, and this one is the one with Kiryu in it. Yes, this by all means, this is Kiryu's swan song. Kiryu was the main character of zero through six and like had three swan songs. Yeah, he he he survived a bomb two feet away from him at the end of two. I don't know how he's.
00:52:37
Speaker
Just kept coming back, baby. This time, you might not be coming back, Andy. Again, I have no emotional attachment to Kiryu. I have every emotional attachment to Ichiban and all those other characters. It is destroying everything inside me that I want to wait until beating Rebirth to start this game.
00:52:59
Speaker
Andy, if you play on Steam, you can start playing 10 a.m. tomorrow. I'm just not going to be able to beat it before Rebirth. Yeah, people are. I am hearing it is about a 60 hour game. Oh, and for me, add 40 hours because I take forever to do anything. Yeah. And then, you know, that's not including doing all the side content.
00:53:19
Speaker
And speaking, speaking of adult Pokemon, they added Pokemon to
Anticipation for 'Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth'
00:53:23
Speaker
this game. And from what I've heard from reviews, it is surprisingly deep. Of course it is. Yeah.
00:53:31
Speaker
like there is like they call it Suijiman, I think. It's capturing all basically it kind of has almost Dragon Quest monsters thing about it, where you're capturing the versions of the enemies that you're fighting and using those as Pokemon, more or less, which is again what Dragon Quest monsters was.
00:53:53
Speaker
One of your favorite Game Boy games. Yeah, exactly. I just thought about that because, you know, right, Andy, like this is all big reference to Dragon Quest, like a Dragon 7. The game opens with a Dragon Quest mission. Yep.
00:54:06
Speaker
Don't they like, like, I didn't remember there was some guy selling porn and like, Dragon Quest was involved in them. I think Ichi's, um, Ichi's cell phone ring is the Dragon Quest, like, uh, yeah, Chime or whatever. God, I'm so excited. Oh, I want to play in my bones. I'm electrified. I want to play this game so bad. I loved like a dragon seven so much.
00:54:31
Speaker
Holy crap. So Andy, do you really need all that time sleeping and working when you could be playing like a dragon? Dude, that's just the best life. If I could just play this game. But it's okay. I think I'm still going to stick to it. I'm going to wait until beating Rebirth because there's no way I can put off playing Rebirth.
00:54:52
Speaker
Like I read it's also going to have like weird spoilers that you're going to have to find out immediately. Yeah, that's I'm I'm worried more about rebirth story and being at the cutting edge of it than I am with like a dragon. Plus, I think like a dragon, I'll be able to avoid spoilers more easily.
00:55:09
Speaker
Um, but I'm thrilled this game is good for me. I'm going to tell you everything about you. Don't you dare. Don't you dare. Oh, just, you know, at one point I'm just going to come crying to you and be like, Andy, the pathos, no, no, no. I will, I will push you away. It's, it's like, it's like when you find out about the coin lockers in seven, you're like, Oh my God. Wait, the coin lockers.
00:55:35
Speaker
Remember how the two babies... Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's right. It's just you're like, he's like, oh no, oh no.
00:55:44
Speaker
Oh, that's absolutely right. Man, anyways, I can't believe the seventh one was made. I'm just thrilled that the eighth one is. Thank God for this company. In terms of improvements from seven to eight, not just to gush about how Andy and I love the series, but it also talks about they kind of smoothed over the grind. You're not, they don't, the reviewers didn't seem like they hit that wall like they had in seven where they're like, hey, go grind now. Yup, that one.
00:56:12
Speaker
It also sounds like they added a new feature called smackdown mode, where if you're a certain level above the random encounters, you can just initiate a smackdown and it'll instantly win the encounter. You get less XP, but it makes speeds things up. Um, also they've improved the dungeons. They're not as plain as they were last time. If you remember the dungeons were like the weird underground area of Yokohama.
00:56:37
Speaker
Uh, they, uh, they have improved those as well. So I can't even stop smiling right now. I'm just so thrilled for this game. I also, I also, I hear too, like the, the animal crossing, um, was it, I think it's Dokoban Island or something like that, or, uh, is actually, again, also much like the Pokemon part of it. Pretty well fleshed out. So between that, I mean, there's like three games in this game. Did they say the dubbing's back?
00:57:07
Speaker
The dubbing is back. Also, I noticed the opening movie was not leaked, but like released a couple of days ago, which it's not a spoiler, Andy. Honestly, if you want to watch it, it's just kind of fun. Like it's like Ichiban walking home from work. Oh, it's pretty sweet. Yeah. But they show the English and Japanese dub voices like in the credits of the opening movie. And Danny Trejo and Daniel Dae Kim are voicing characters the dub.
00:57:37
Speaker
Who's that second person? Uh, Daniel Dae Kim was, uh, Jin. I'm lost. Uh, he's done a lot of other things. Hmm. I guess, unfortunately, I don't know him, but I just know I love, you know, Andy, you know him. Yeah. I loved the English voice cast in like a dragon seven. I thought they were fantastic here.
00:57:56
Speaker
I'm here. You'll when you see his face, you'll recognize him. I just put it in Slack. But you know, James, you've made me for a second consider doing an English dub playthrough after doing the dub or the JP one.
00:58:09
Speaker
I'm just used to the Japanese voices. I can't switch at this point. Yeah. If when I hear their voices, I immediately remember all the memories of playing the games.
Preference for English Dubs in Video Games
00:58:19
Speaker
Oh, yeah. Then, yeah, I guess there would be no reason for you to do English, but I have no attachment. But Jesus, did I love that English dub. And yes, I didn't realize you played it with the English dub. What's that? I didn't realize you played it with the English dub. Yeah. So here's a dirty little secret. Okay. Anime.
00:58:37
Speaker
I will never watch dubbed a game. I'll even switch it from Japanese to English. Well, I don't know what it is, but like the well, the yaka or like a dragon seven convinced me the 13 Sentinels English dub. Fantastic. Persona dubs. Fantastic. Like I just have never had a bad experience with dubs. I don't remember if I played Persona five dub. I think I played it dubbed. I played it dubbed.
00:59:05
Speaker
I I've just been so thrilled with the quality of game dubs. I don't know what it is. But yeah, I will even switch it to English. And so yeah, and Ichiban's character in it. Oh, his voice is great. Everybody else. He is. I've heard his voice. It is very good.
00:59:20
Speaker
He I just couldn't believe this was a game, just like how high quality everything was. And that was actually one thing I was really worried with with the new one is that there must have been so much money dumped into the dub. And you've got all these weebs playing it. Is anybody even listening to the dub? Right. I think a lot of people did. And I also think, too, maybe that's why it did so well. Could be because the other ones weren't dubbed or they stopped dubbing after a certain time. I don't think you can attribute the dub quality of the overall game with sales.
00:59:50
Speaker
Like they have to have already bought the game before they get to see what is offered with that outside the cast. But maybe it made it more accessible. I mean, voice acting cast. I can't think of any video game voice actors specifically like Fred Devrems, too. Fantastic voice acting. I don't know a single person who voice acted in that.
01:00:12
Speaker
No, neither do I. Nor do I know in this. So I think it was just a good investment because you got them to play a good game and you gave them an overall good elevated experience with good voice acting. Well, we'll have to talk about that on another episode of Add to Party, a friendship simulator masquerading as a new show. I've been your host, James. I'm going to spoil the living shit out of Infinite Wealth to Andy Hartwell, and I've been joined by
01:00:41
Speaker
Andy, I'm not talking to you for like the next five months. Okay. And I've been joined by. Derek, slavery is bad, but is it as bad as Brexit? Cost you, huh? Man. And you know what? We didn't say it, Andy. So then therefore we must be forced. That's right. Oh no. He got us. Our podcast has gone woke.
01:01:09
Speaker
fucking were canceled. Have a good night, everyone. Have a good day. Anyone in the flight. Bye. Bye bye.