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Questionable Cable Workers, Zombies, Dinosaurs and a Power Struggle Between Co-Hosts??? - Add to Party 03.19.2023
5 Plays1 year ago
This week we cover Andy's questionably racist cable person, Resident Evil 4, the Exoprimal Open Beta, Steam Deck's 1-year anniversary, and what video game we could live in as background characters. All under the not-so-subtle power struggle between co-hosts.
Hear the tension on this week's episode for Add to Party!
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Transcript
Introduction and Banter
00:00:14
Speaker
All right, well, welcome to another episode to Add to Party, a friendship simulator masquerading as a new show. I am your all powerful host, Charles Jamot, and I've been joined by. We are being joined by.
00:00:29
Speaker
your deposed host and exile, James Hartwell. And you've been joined by Andy Kay. There you go. Present tense, not past. This podcast is falling apart without me.
00:00:45
Speaker
These rules. You've been usurped and banished to Japan. I've been banished to the the island nation of Nepal. Listen, your beautiful voice is being carried under the ocean to us here. Actually, that is true. Well, no, it's probably not subtle. It should be it should be under the ocean. Yeah, it should be under the ocean. Yeah, that's the power of the speed of light, you guys. It's crazy.
Fiber Internet and Spider-Man Discussion
00:01:11
Speaker
And I just got the power of the speed of light to my apartment.
00:01:14
Speaker
Oh, did you get new internet finally? Yeah. I got Fiverr now, so I've got a gig down and a gig up. When they came to install the Fiverr, they go, oh yeah, rats have been just chewing through these lines.
00:01:28
Speaker
Um, no, they were, they showed me the box and it looked like rats had gone at it. And actually my line was clipped. So they had to send out another guy to fix it or whatever. And then he started telling me about his figurines. So I got really excited. Um, but then he kept telling me about his figurines and then I got, you're just like, we're here. Watch like that's super interesting. Yeah. And then he said he likes Spider-Man, but he doesn't like Miles Morales.
00:02:03
Speaker
I mean, why do you gotta change it? Huh? Why do you gotta change it? Why is every character gay now? What's that? I just like the originals. Oh yeah. Just something so pure, so clean about that person.
00:02:22
Speaker
It was, uh, it was interesting, but basically I learned that, and I guess I kind of knew that there's a bunch of different universes. Thanks to the spider verse. I know that arm or that movie spider verse into the spider verse. Um, and he really doesn't like that in all these different universes, the characters are different or they like or love different people or,
00:02:44
Speaker
different values, skin pigmentation, worship different gods. It was really strange. And then he walked into my apartment and oh my god, he complimented me on my typing. It was weird, you guys. Andy, I think he wanted to, you know what, you gotta watch out sometimes those conservative folks because they're
00:03:10
Speaker
Well, I thought this was interesting. He was completely fine with them being by. He's like, I'm fine with them being by. That's great. Why was that the line? Yeah, it doesn't go. They don't bring that up.
00:03:34
Speaker
Let me be honest with you, I've had cable workers in my house many times because I've moved a lot over the course of my adulthood. I don't think sexuality has ever quite come into play every now and then. It was because he saw my PS5 and he was like, oh, you play? And I was like, yeah. He's like, I just got one. And I was like, cool. Did you play Spider-Man? He was like, yeah. And I was like, did you play Miles Morales? He's like, oh.
00:03:59
Speaker
I don't like Miles Morales. And then we went, I was like, oh, OK, let's dive into that. And then you're like, oh, man, you know what? I had a heavy lunch. I'm going to be in the bathroom for the next how long you need to be? 45 minutes? Yeah, I'll be in there 45 minutes.
00:04:12
Speaker
Yeah, it kept going. And then he got I don't know how Miles Morales went into the spider or to the all the universes, but then he got mad about the universes and that characters are gay. And then but that's completely. He had a lot to say. OK. And because you're white, he thought that it'd be fine to show them something with you. Maybe you talk to him about Harriet Tubman 20s, Andy. No, I don't. OK, shut up, James.
00:04:43
Speaker
Hey, that got reconfirmed. It's still... Yeah, have to say, did you see that same thing I saw Charles? No, I didn't!
00:04:51
Speaker
We don't have to rehash a story where something was horribly misinterpreted. Horribly misinterpreted. Horribly misinterpreted. I'm not racist. I defended Miles Morales. I'm the good guy. But you look forward to Harriet Tubman being on your $20 bills. I'm ecstatic. For seven years. In seven, really?
00:05:19
Speaker
That's, yeah, something like that. I mean, I don't know how that machine moves, right? Who knows how much? Hey,
Cultural Experiences in Japan
00:05:24
Speaker
you know, I got here, I got my yen, and I was like, there's a lady on the, uh, oh, is it 5,000 yen? Yeah. 5,000 yen, Bill. I was like, look at Japan. They're light years ahead of us. I know. In some way.
00:05:44
Speaker
At least they have a woman on there. Well, no, we have Sacagawea on the- On the dollar coin. The coins that nobody uses. Literally no one uses, so that worked out. Man, I wish we were allowed to experiment more with our money. It's really- Let's have fun. Like, catch is dying. Have fun with it. Yes and no. The dollar is the reserve country of the world. Part of the reason this trip has been so great for me.
00:06:11
Speaker
Oh, because isn't it the value under the dollar right now? Yeah, it's like about 30 percent. Yeah, that much. Yes, it's so like the way I always describe it is for like 100 bucks in Japan is 70 bucks in America. Whoa, I did not know that does.
00:06:31
Speaker
James, you need to come home with three suitcases of figurines. Okay. I mean, literally, I mean, I'm going to that, that store today to buy that second man blade figurine. Oh, cool. Cool. Well, it's just everything's cheaper. They're gompless. So much cheaper there. Oh my God. It's comparable. I don't know. I mean, I was looking at some of the prices yesterday and I was like,
00:06:58
Speaker
Yeah, well, for the try hard stuff that I want. I remember showing I was in a used game store and I was sending Andy photos. Oh, yeah. Yep. It's so much cheaper over there. I was like, yeah. Our friends asked me to look for Zoid stuff and there's actually like it's the 20th or 30th anniversary of Zoid, some bullshit.
00:07:20
Speaker
So they're re-releasing the Liger Zero from Zoids. I was like, oh, that's cool, I can get that from Mike. And I looked at it, it's like, hmm, hmm, 35,000 yen. I don't like Mike that much. Oh my God, that much? Wait, was it a model kit?
00:07:34
Speaker
Yeah, it's a very nice. It's a very nice like your zero model kit. Wow. That's better of lit up and everything and been made a metal and listeners. That's a quick trans quick maths is about 300 bucks. Yeah. And model kids don't normally go for that much.
00:07:53
Speaker
Like ever. That was the thing. I saw a lot of model kits that were like, like in comparison between like 100 and 150. Granted, I probably was just looking at the nice ones because those are the ones that catch your eye. But of course, yeah. Well, James, Phyllis in on the ground. How has it been? Oh, you've been doing some hard hitting reporting, right? Interviewing all the biggest names.
00:08:20
Speaker
I mean, I am across the street
Resident Evil 4 Remake Reviews
00:08:22
Speaker
from the common rider offices, which I did not expect. I was like, oh, look at that. They're in there. It's Monday morning. So they're in there right now coming up with new ways to sell plastic to young children. God bless them. Yeah. Yeah. God bless them indeed.
00:08:39
Speaker
No, I mean, I'll tell you the most shocking thing to me. Yes. I think we as Americans, right? We're conditioned to think that public Wi-Fi sucks. Oh, you ever use public? You ever use public Wi-Fi that's good? No.
00:08:53
Speaker
Yeah. All public Wi-Fi in Japan is fantastic. Oh, wow. Yeah. I'll save that data. I'm climbing fucking mountains in Nijima and it's like, connect to Wi-Fi. And it's like 100 down. I'm like, what the fuck? Where? What?
00:09:10
Speaker
Oh my God. Well, I'm glad you get a strong signal while appreciating God's creation. Okay. That's where it belongs. I've been listening to this and I just, I kind of, I walk, I put on a D and D podcast and I just walk there. That's basically what I do. It's been a great time. I've only gotten turned out of like three restaurants. Three? Yeah. What did you do? I don't blame them.
00:09:34
Speaker
I walked in and expressed that I had little to no understanding of the language of Japanese. They looked at all the empty seats. They looked at me. They'd rather not have your money. I love it. I was really disappointed because one of them too was the restaurant where you catch your own fish. They were like, we don't want you.
00:10:01
Speaker
Interesting. You catch it? Mm-hmm. Or do you like pick it out of a tank? Well, it's in a tank, right? But they give you fishing nets.
00:10:09
Speaker
Oh my God. I watched some streamers do it. And I'd heard some of the actual like background, like how it works is you're catching like older fish, like older seafood. That's easy. But then when they go to the back, they actually just use fresh actuals. Oh, do they really? When they catch. OK, cool. We'll just use we'll get the actual good stuff out to cook from. Oh, I mean, honestly, that's a step up above what they would do in America. So.
00:10:37
Speaker
Yeah, that's true. They will give you the old fish. Listen, they take pride, okay? And that's why they kicked you out. That's true. I didn't know they needed a reservation, although it was shockingly empty. No, that's just an easy way to turn people. What has been their experience that they wouldn't allow in? I don't know.
00:11:04
Speaker
Let's not be around the bush The slightly zen the incredibly xenophobic practices Was the other the other standout thing is I went on drinking the other night and I hung out with a guy from the UK we both agreed Russia was the best thing that ever happened to both of us and
00:11:28
Speaker
What? Just wipes clean all the historical problems of America and the UK. Okay, I got it. We can't focus on our historical wrongs.
00:11:44
Speaker
everyone look over there. They're doing terrible things. We're okay, right? That's right. There's actually a surprise. I mean, not surprising, but a very decent amount of we support Ukraine flags around here. So I was like, Oh, that's very nice. Oh, that's nice. That's nice. Well, good. There's no Russia flags. Thank you. How did you get on that topic, James? Oh, well, you're drunk. Fair.
00:12:10
Speaker
You know, I was at, I didn't know this. Um, so I was at my game store and I was looking at the tabletop games with my friend and they
Exoprimal Game Insights
00:12:21
Speaker
have world war two ones, right? Um, and you can play Germany.
00:12:41
Speaker
Um, no swastikas for the Germans, but what's that? No, no, no, no. I think it's just like, it was just like the German flag, but I think Finland it was or something. They had swastikas that you could buy as details.
00:12:51
Speaker
in World War II.
00:13:01
Speaker
And we were wondering, is this how you get around it? People who play tabletop World War II that want to play Nazis, is this company just selling swastikas under Finland so you can put it on your German soldiers? I mean, here's the sad state of affairs, Andy. If you want a swastika sticker, it's not that hard to get. But how are you going to support your local game store? Based on your earlier.
00:13:33
Speaker
Bro, you can buy full-on swastikas though. It was wild.
00:13:40
Speaker
So, yeah, that's floating around there. Take a look next time you're at your game store. You could be Nazis. Does your local game store sell swastika stickers? You might be surprised. Oh, do be fair. To their culture or whatever, it is a reasonable symbol for them, but it's like, I know what you're doing. I know what you're doing. Well, I mean, to a lot of cultures, swastika, a manji symbol is a reasonable thing. I haven't run into any manji yet.
00:14:09
Speaker
Yeah, so don't worry, you'll probably see them closer every once in a while in older temples. Yeah, I want this pretty evil temples. But I bought a knife from a, let's see, from a shop that's been in operation three times longer than America's existed. Whoa.
00:14:31
Speaker
So did it just mean really old? That's a lot of places outside of the US, Andy. Don't worry. Yeah. I know. That's pretty clear. That's true. I've never been outside. So I don't know. I guess I don't have that history. What's up? The 1300s is when that shop would have become incorporated. Did they only take cash? No, I paid with card. I feel like when you're that old, you can't take card.
00:15:00
Speaker
I mean, there wasn't a man in the back over a forge beating up. There wasn't? No, that happens somewhere else. Oh, he didn't. That's what I picture. He didn't grave my family name on the plate. He did. Well, James, let me tell you, I'm really glad that you were able to go overseas, go to distant lands and, you know, turn out all right.
00:15:28
Speaker
Well, let me tell you about this other white man that's gone to a European country and things didn't go so well. Resident Evil 4 Remake is now out. Yeah. Oh, generally trended in really good reviews. Yeah, James, catch up to me on my end. I don't
Epic Games FTC Fine Discussion
00:15:51
Speaker
think of Leon as being white.
00:15:53
Speaker
Oh, really? He's a weird thing. I don't know. He's the white. He is blonde haired blue. I agree. I 100 percent agree. But I see him as a Japanese protagonist. Interesting. What about Jim? And wait, that's something for me to work on on my on my on my journey. There you go.
00:16:20
Speaker
But anyway, yeah, it's revealing super good. I'm so glad I picked that and someone didn't counter pick it too. That's going to fucking bury you.
00:16:36
Speaker
Yeah. Oh, it's it's a crazy time in the fantasy draft listeners because, you know, James and Andy haven't James is fighting to get to second place. And I think I'll get we'll level the score. I'm currently leading by a lot, but we'll level the score because I counter pick Diablo four.
00:16:53
Speaker
I think we could talk about that a little later, but Resident Evil 4 being reviewed incredibly well right now. The remake. It's a low 90s, right? Yep. Except for Destructoid. Yes. They gave it a 7.5. Basically saying it's okay. It's fine.
00:17:16
Speaker
So, was there argument that it didn't improve a lot, or that just Resident Evil 4 as a game is not that great? It was, and like, I agree with her, and it was kind of my impression of when I played it. She was like, it was fine when I first played it, and she was like, and it's the game again. And she pointed out that it's missing a lot of the stuff. Like, I guess it doesn't have mercenaries mode, and it doesn't have like another thing.
00:17:39
Speaker
What's that? It may not it may not be there in release, but it's definitely coming. Oh, yeah, it'll probably show up eventually. But she was just like, if you loved the first one, you're going to love this. If you were fine with the first one, you're going to be fine with this, which is valid. Again, four never captured me. I played it for like a little bit, but I don't really consider that I played it all that much. It just didn't grab me. But it's important to a lot of people. And I get that.
00:18:07
Speaker
And then the comments attacked her for giving it a 7.5, saying that she's terrible. She reviewed a beloved game decently, and she's a woman. Are there two greater sins that you can commit in the gaming community, Andy?
00:18:24
Speaker
Well, what's so interesting is that so she opens it with a joke. She talks about it's like about a man who lost his jacket and he has to like go find his jacket or something. I don't know. That is fair. Like a reference to something in the game. I didn't know.
00:18:40
Speaker
He wears his jacket for like the first third of the game. Okay, I thought it was funny, though, the way she said it. And so she opens with that and then she goes on and she talks about a bunch of different stuff. So anyways, you get to the comments, and people are like, Oh, excuse me, this barely talked about the game, you really should have written this as an opinion piece. And then everybody comes into dunk on those people that reviews our opinion pieces.
00:19:05
Speaker
And then it's just like, okay, how serious do reviews need to be? Can't you joke around about stuff? Or like, do you need a rigid metric? And then just everybody's yelling at everybody. And you could tell a bunch of people who weren't like regular
Tribute to Lance Reddick
00:19:19
Speaker
detoyers were coming in to attack her. And then the normal community is just dunking on them. And it was a whole huge thing of basically 7.5 means you have a garbage game, you guys. Did you know that? 7.5? You're terrible. It means it's an adequate game.
00:19:35
Speaker
Yeah, well, even on them, like they're for them a seven point five means good. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And that's good. That's great. Yeah. And that's honestly how I thought it was going to review with everyone that this was just going to be a good game. But.
00:19:52
Speaker
But anyway, so Detroit was swamped with it, but she's like one of the lowest giving scores, and it's a seven point five, which probably means your game is going to be fantastic if that's the lowest you can score. Well, you know, it's probably a pretty good game. I don't know if I'll play it, but are you guys going to play it? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Well, for James, how far are you going to be playing it? Are you going to play it like?
00:20:18
Speaker
I know you did you what you replayed. Let's say village a lot like. Oh, I mean, I don't know. It's a game where you think you're going to rerun it and replay it a bunch of times. That entirely depends on how they they set it up because like village and RE2 remake three kind of less so they were really set up to be like easy jump in and replay this game. And especially the way the maps and layers are laid out. It's like, hey, if you know what you're doing, you can just fly through this fucking map.
00:20:48
Speaker
Because there's not a lot of weight cutscene things except at the beginning of the game. So, I don't know. I mean, 4 is very narrative. So I don't know if 4 is going to lend a lot to replayability. Because there's not parts where you're kind of exploring an open map and almost Metra-vania kind of getting pieces and opening keys and doors, right?
00:21:09
Speaker
It's more narratively pushing you in a linear path, which is one of the I think the big complaints
Steam Deck Anniversary
00:21:13
Speaker
about Resident before we came out. It was just so such a good fucking game that people got over it. But I mean, my plan is to play it on a plane. So yeah, I mean, that that can knock out almost all of that flight. That'd be great for me. It's a long game, though, isn't it?
00:21:34
Speaker
I don't remember. I mean they added stuff. I think when it originally came out it would be like in the 15 to 20 hour range. Okay. Well I hope, well it is good. Everybody's loving it. Do you watch anybody play the chainsaw demo?
00:21:52
Speaker
I watched a couple people play it. It looks so good. It does look very good. I would say that I think it captures the same feeling as before. One thing I'd like to give is some background to the listeners. First off, Resident Evil 4 follows Leon S. Kennedy, who was first introduced in Resident Evil 2.
00:22:17
Speaker
Yeah. And the events take place six years after Resident Evil 2 for him. And he's gone from being rookie beat cop. Yes, he's gone away from being a, let's say, a rookie cop into becoming a U.S. special agent. And he is sent into a remote village in Europe to retrieve the president's daughter. And then guess what?
00:22:45
Speaker
This remote village infected by a virus. It's not zombies, but it's like zombies. It's the best T virus variant name that they've ever come up with is.
00:23:02
Speaker
Oh, that's right. Yes. I remember like because, yeah, like it starts in like a village or something, right? Yes. Yeah. And I like the opening of the game is basically Leon and a couple of cops driving a couple of miles away from the, you know, to the village.
00:23:22
Speaker
Leon walks the rest of the way there. And meanwhile, the cops get ambushed and they die. But when he gets there, he basically gets attacked by the entire village. And it's this like one man versus a hundred as he's barricading and running around and shooting people and trying to survive. And just before you die, you get saved. And it is a very pulse, like heart pounding demo, like an intro because you're just like, oh my God.
00:23:52
Speaker
It felt
Japanese Video Game Industry
00:23:53
Speaker
like exactly what they recreated for Resident Evil 8.
00:23:57
Speaker
Oh, really? Oh, cool. Yeah. The whole opening scene of Resident Evil 8 is homage to the opening scene in Resident Evil 4. I remember when I saw that. Charles, did you notice that, like, it was just me. It seemed a lot scarier. Like, they really played up the horror elements now. Oh, yeah. Yeah. They definitely made it scarier. Although, you know, they still have the goofy one-liners. Yeah. Yeah, they do. From the original game, which is kind of fun.
00:24:26
Speaker
Leon famously says, where's everybody going? Bingo? After surviving this life-threatening, watching a man being burned alive at the stake.
00:24:41
Speaker
Yeah, you're just missing him saying, after he initially kicks somebody in the head and breaks their neck, and you just miss him saying, he's not going to be in Rush Hour 3. It's fun. It looks very good. I think I'll get it so that I could play it in VR, because they'll be giving the VR version for free. OK, I didn't hear about it. So they are giving. And is it the same one that's on the quest currently?
00:25:09
Speaker
I don't know. Because here's what I would say, right? The quest is a remake of the original. I don't know if the VR one they're giving you with this is that version or it's a VR version of the remake. I would rather the latter.
00:25:27
Speaker
Yeah, I agree. I thought it was going to be the VR version of the remake because it was supposed to be a specific different version, like the VR for PS5, if I recall. You know if that's coming to PC as well or no? I don't know. It was so far that I was just like, I'm not thinking about it. But yeah, so Resident Evil 4 looking good.
00:25:57
Speaker
And you know, it's a very fun game. I'm not going to say it's bad or anything, but let me tell you about something else that came out that Capcom worked on that I am all about right now. The Exo Primal game, Open Beta, came out this weekend. It's only, it ends today, unfortunately. It started on Friday. But here's the premise.
00:26:22
Speaker
It's like Overwatch where there's multiple classes and you could select multiple characters and you just fight dinosaurs. And there's supposed to be, you're slated to have a lot of game modes, but the game mode you can play is basically a, it's a five V five race where you fight through
Living in a Video Game World
00:26:43
Speaker
waves of dinosaurs and at the very end you fight against the players and the dinosaurs. And it is so fun. It is so stupid.
00:26:51
Speaker
How fun it is. Did you play it or did you just watch people play it? No, we played it. So D.J., another friend, all played it. And it is very fun. It is so silly. Like, you know, you're the classes are broken down into the three traditional roles now, I guess, in in RPG terms of DPS tank and support. But.
00:27:15
Speaker
You know, there's all these cool robotic suit designs that you have, you know, and everyone looks pretty sweet. They have like special moves where to balance out the game modes. So like if you're losing and you're behind on beating the waves and your opponents are good.
00:27:33
Speaker
They give you an item where you could take control of a dinosaur and you go and harass the enemy team. So you're just running around as a T-Rex or a Triceratops and just killing the opposing team on their end to buy you time. It's so fun. It's so fun. I was amazed by how much fun I had. How did it play?
00:27:53
Speaker
Easily. Yeah. And he had some screen tearing. Yeah. And I I think it's because I had like variable refresh rate on because nobody else.
Closing Thoughts and Future Stories
00:28:05
Speaker
Were you playing on the PS5? Yeah.
00:28:08
Speaker
I had like my TV can do that crap with it or whatever. And I don't know, maybe it was spiraling. Who the heck knows? But I did have some screen tearing, but when it wasn't tearing, the frame rate was really high. But I loved it. Every class I played, I had fun with. How many classes were there? Four, four, four? 12? And then there's- Four of each type.
00:28:35
Speaker
Yeah. But what a good time it was. It comes out June 18th and it's cross-platform matchmaking across every platform, except Nintendo Switch. But let's be honest, we don't count Nintendo Switch. And Charles, day one Game Pass, the best deal in gaming. Are you kidding me? You could be. That's it. It's on Game Pass? Yeah, it is, baby. I'm not paying for that fucking game, but I'll pay for you. I'll play with you.
00:29:05
Speaker
Oh, that's fine handy. Why, why would you, why would you get in the way of being sad about this incredibly fun dinosaur adventure? I don't know. Cause he doesn't want to pay $70 for it and I'm going to pay zero.
00:29:22
Speaker
I have no problem paying 70 for this. I was hoping that it came out in a couple of weeks because. Yeah, that it comes out in June is sad. Like that was. I mean, but that's a good that's a good time for it to come out because we're we're we're barreling towards the week after week of fucking and must play games. When does. Don't tell me that Zelda comes out that comes out in May. In May. OK. Yeah, this is very soon after. Just no game should release that one.
00:29:52
Speaker
You have like three, you have two or three weeks between the release of Exo Primal and Tears of the Kingdom. Okay, okay. Super impressed. I didn't expect it to be that good. Yeah, it's unusually, it was a blast. Like there are times that we lost and we had no clue what we were supposed to be doing, but it was just fun to run around, kill Dinosaur. The scale that they do it is really fun where it's like,
00:30:20
Speaker
portals open up and dinosaurs come out. But it's not like...
00:30:25
Speaker
It's not five dinosaurs. It's not 10. It's 50. It's 100. And there's a really cool scene where you're just before the final stage where a giant portal opens in the sky and 500 dinosaurs fall down from it. You just fall and land on the ground, and then they start chasing you. And you're like, this is awesome. And there was no slow down. And there was no slow down. And there was no slow down. And there was no slow down. And there was no slow down. And there was no slow down. And there was no slow down. And there was no slow down. And there was no slow down. And there was no slow down. And there was no slow down. And there was no slow down. And there was no slow down. And there was no slow down. And there was no slow down. And there was no slow down. And there was no slow down. And there was no slow down. And there was no slow down. And there was no slow down. And there was no slow down. And there
00:30:52
Speaker
Yeah. No, it's hinted that the AI might be a bad AI. Oh, was it? Oh, I didn't pick up on that. Well, you know, the screen turns red and you know, little, you just like fight for my enjoyment. You know, there's certain lines that are really, I'm evil. I want to die. It's all about combat data.
00:31:16
Speaker
Anyways, I love it. I wish it wasn't, I didn't have to wait so long because I'm afraid I'll forget about it. But, no, I'll remind you.
00:31:24
Speaker
that I'm paying for free. Why do I hate Game Pass? That's just so dumb. You get it on your PC, right? Well, I think that's maybe the biggest reason I don't like Game Pass is I don't like playing games on my PC and I don't want to. I told you how to set this up so you can play PC games. That's that's no. I just wanted to work on my PS5. Yeah, that's it. That's all good. That's but yeah, it should be good either way. It'll be fun.
00:31:54
Speaker
Yeah, but you know, we talked about actual good games. Let's talk about some good ruling legal rulings. Because the FTC has also finalized ordering epic games to pay back $245 million for tricking users into making unwanted charges. And it's not like the idea of like,
00:32:22
Speaker
Um, saying like, Oh, there's hidden costs to games. That's not necessarily what the FTC is finding them over there. They're finding them in the sense of there are certain mechanisms in the games that trick people into spending more money. Hmm. So like that mechanism having John wick is a skin. Yeah.
00:32:45
Speaker
Basically, they're caught like the FTC is calling them like dark patterns, which are just certain UI things that make you go like you're likely to pay for something. Which is weird. I wonder how that's really going to work. But let's see if you want. Yeah.
00:33:06
Speaker
like I don't like I can't think granted I don't play these kind of games so I don't know I think the idea I mean usually it's kind of related to the battle pass and the timing of it which is like hey you know what it's like this is never coming back unless you get it right now yeah I mean fair and also this is children right yeah yeah like
00:33:26
Speaker
Maybe they make it too easy for children to buy it. Right. Like, I bet it's things like, like James said, battle passes. But in the way of like, hey, this battle passes. I mean, do you want to buy the other one? And you could just pray and press yes or something. Oh, OK. Sure. Sure.
00:33:43
Speaker
I want to read all that. I've become one of those people where I can't read all the text. Even when there's an error, I can't be bothered. I can't read all that. So now I just click through things and I get screwed over and it's my fault. I know. But I just don't have the dollar charge. I can't. Like I was doing my taxes yesterday and today. I don't want to read all that. I don't want to think about all that. That reminds me, I have to do my taxes.
00:34:10
Speaker
It was, I have never been more mad doing my taxes than this year. And I don't know if it's because I'm just an old man now, but like the fact that I just had to think that much and read all of it. And then, oh God, I just, anyways, I'm a boomer now. I just click through everything. So I was exploited by these dark patterns. Epic. Give me my money.
00:34:35
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, it seems like a bigger tie here is the theme of like, getting children to accidentally click things to pay, you know, without the parents. Yeah, mine is my fault. Yeah. But like, um,
00:34:51
Speaker
I think this is going to be interesting in the sense of like how this will affect future development, game development on their UIs. There's a lot of people that still try to do games as a service, Suicide Squad being our example.
00:35:09
Speaker
And I wonder if the FTC, traditionally FTC can't really do much. They really don't have too much respect for them, but they do have certain responsibilities. And I think it would be very interesting if they can increase their fines and rates, especially with a precedent like this one, to try to discourage these patterns that are increasing the likelihood of people just buying things without them noticing.
00:35:38
Speaker
I think it's so difficult as an idea because you're it is gonna sound incredibly like not draconian but just like future speak kind of shit which is like you're trying to you're trying to legislate human experiences which is not easy which is not to say I don't disagree with this because they hundred percent do take advantage of human psychology but it's one of those things where it's
00:36:07
Speaker
It's almost like you have to legislate the intent versus the effect because it's very hard to know exactly the effect your things are going to have on you unless you're doing it with the intent to have those effects. Which, to be clear, a lot of these companies have people, they have psychologists on payroll to help them elicit these effects. Oh, sure, yeah.
00:36:31
Speaker
And in those cases, yes, they should be fine. But you also have to be like, you know, it's like, oh, we just set this up because it felt right. You know what I mean? And there's a difference there. And I don't know how you necessarily legislate that.
00:36:47
Speaker
Maybe it just has to start somewhere, right? I agree. Oh, great. That's what I mean. Nobody's saying that we shouldn't go after these big companies that are fucking raking in money. Especially Epic. This is pennies to them. Yeah, exactly. Although I would say Epic probably, I don't know. I mean, compared to some mobile companies, I'm sure Epic makes peanuts, but I'm sure they're still up there probably. Yeah.
00:37:12
Speaker
Well, good. Let's get these things under control. I can understand slipping into purchasing stuff. But isn't it like when you purchase, you have to hit like a confirmation, right? Although when you're a kid, like what does any of that mean, right? I mean, there's that too. It's less about the confirmation and more about the presentation of the purchases.
00:37:33
Speaker
Yes. And it's like, you know, again, right, intent versus effect. But it's like, you know, we know that if we present this language, if we make the animations like this way, like, you know, you play like Charles and I know because we will play gacha games like you can definitely feel like some of those gacha games really milking out the excitement from you in every second. Oh, really? Yeah.
00:38:01
Speaker
Oh, wow. I started playing a free to play game that keeps asking my money. Is this a thing they do? Where if you want to do something, they make you watch an ad? Yep. Like just literally, like, so I've been playing a game, it's called like cat cafe or something. I don't know. But it's just it's just a bunch of fat cats. And then like you like, like, I don't know, you build a cafe. I don't frickin know. But um,
00:38:26
Speaker
But if you want to get more money, you have to watch an ad. If you want a multiplier, you have to watch an ad. If you want to make something on sale, you have to watch an ad. It's insane, and everything I'm doing, they're always popping up stuff for me to buy.
00:38:44
Speaker
they're trying to trick my finger into things. So okay, maybe these are the dark patterns. This is my experience with the fat cats. They're trying to take my money. Yeah, let's say there's a lot of bad mobile design, you know, where that it is very common for that and it tends to be free to play games, mobile games.
00:39:05
Speaker
So yes, Andy, those are the ads are so bad. The ads don't even let you know how to like close it. They will give you false. Like I'll click on an X and it'll want to install the game.
00:39:20
Speaker
Yeah. Do you get the ads where someone's playing a game badly? Because you're like, just play it right. And that's a trick to make you download it. Oh, no, I've been getting a lot of ones where it seems like English might be their second language.
00:39:35
Speaker
Or maybe they're just like speaking differently to make it. I don't know, but anyways, they'll just like shout at each other and they're like, what game are you playing? I am playing this. I heard that's a bad game. No, it's not a bad game. Look at this. No, that has to be fake. Like it's, I'm watching skits and it's like, I hate it. So I stopped playing the game. I can't play these games. Is that with real life people, Andy? Yeah.
00:40:00
Speaker
Oh, I love those. That's my new favorite thing, that mobile companies have gone out to LA and been like, just find work for hire actors. Just be like, film this first real quick. Those are my new favorite ads. That's literally what it looks like. Just do your one take. Get in there and go out and say your lines. Yes. Who are you playing? Well, I'm playing Raid Shadow Legends. I just got a level five. It was like the incredibly beautiful people who would never come out.
00:40:31
Speaker
That's true. They're all attractive. Yeah. The current ads that are playing the War of the Visions Final Fantasy game is one for I think it's State of Survival or something else is a game, but like it's just like
00:40:48
Speaker
Hey, I download, it's like two people complaining. One guy goes, just goes up to the other and it's just like, Hey, I downloaded this game and I don't have any type of presence or blah, blah, blah. It's like, and they're like, that's dumb because you didn't go to this link and download it to get 777 free wishes.
00:41:12
Speaker
And they keep repeating it, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's how they, and that's what, that's what they're trying to do. That's ads. But their inflections are always off in these ads. Like, well, that's because they weren't written by people who like they're done by American actors.
00:41:30
Speaker
But it's like charles says it's one take the given the script and they get out in the in the fifty dollars. Maybe that's it it's just it just it seems like they're manipulating even the way they say things to make it annoying so it's more memorable. I don't know it all seems manipulative i'm not having fat cats anymore in my cafe i had to stop playing cuz i just couldn't do with the ads anymore.
00:41:56
Speaker
Well, you know what, though, I'm going to go. I'm going to breeze by this real quick, but in no means is this a take away from them themselves. But there was some sad news, unfortunately, Lance Reddick, the actor famed actor from The Wire and many, many video games passed away unexpectedly a few days ago.
00:42:24
Speaker
Yeah, you know, some other things you might notice from John Wick. He was the concierge at the Continental Hotel. He was he is silence in Horizon Zero Dawn and he is also commander Zavala in Destiny.
00:42:42
Speaker
Also, he was Albert Wesker in the very bad Netflix series, but you know what? We're doing him a solid. It wasn't his fault. Not at all. He had the best acting in that one. That takes away a lot of my enjoyment of what Horizon 3 is going to be. I forgot he was silent. Oh, no.
00:43:02
Speaker
I know it's going to be real interesting. I think they're, you know what, they'll probably they'll probably keep his likeness if they're, you know, if they're able to sign that and, you know, make that agreement beforehand. But they might have to just come up with a voice. The voice is so good. It is a good voice. He has a really good voice of being either a villain or like a benefactor. It fits either one. Did you did you hear that he was literally playing Destiny the day before he died?
00:43:30
Speaker
Oh, I know. It's very sad. People, they've been holding people have been holding vigils in destiny around his character that he voiced commanders of all. Do we know what he passed of yet? I haven't heard. I don't think they've said officially. OK, OK. But apparently it was it was sudden. He was also 60.
00:43:52
Speaker
Which isn't old necessarily, but he was just older. Yeah. I wonder if it was like a stroke or something. Yeah. Well, let's pivot away from such a disheartening news to celebrate some other opposite thing, which is that the Steam Deck has also hit its one-year anniversary.
00:44:16
Speaker
already. Yeah, which is crazy. And in celebration, because it's been a very successful piece of hardware, the steam deck is 10% off right now. I'm not sure how long that is going to be, but 10% off from a hundreds of dollars piece of hardware. That's a small chunk of change. Yeah. No, I have no interest.
00:44:44
Speaker
But Andy, it solves so many problems. Then you can play your PC games on the couch. You can plug it into your TV. Andy, this solves every problem you have. I famously hate handheld consoles, but... But you know, it doesn't matter. I could plug it into my TV. That's right. And then you know what? Maybe you want to play five more minutes before bed. And he's like, you're not playing the whole game. Just play it a little bit right before you fall asleep. Just play it a little bit. Then they got you.
00:45:13
Speaker
I'm happy that it is a good solution for other people. Well, now that I don't have mobile games anymore, I don't know. Also, Charles, something else people pointed out, which is the Steam Deck has released a price cut one year. It's a life span. The index has yet to receive a price cut ever. Oh. That's the correct thing. The idea being, I think, that the Steam Deck is produced with
00:45:41
Speaker
much more like standard parts and the index is a much more custom manufacturing. Yeah, that would make sense. Yeah, there's no cost cutting available to it. James, you know, for you and me, let's talk about our favorite thing we've been able to do with our Steam decks. Right now it's a podcast in Japan. Exactly. Right. Something that your iPad could not do.
00:46:09
Speaker
Excuse me, it was a fire tablet. I was gonna say, did we establish James has an iPad? I read tablet and my mind went to I Oh, no. No, no, apples got you. My partner does have an iPad. What's that? My partner does have an iPad, but that's her. Okay. No, I don't think I was thinking of that. I read tablet and thought iPad.
00:46:35
Speaker
Oh well. Well, screw you, Fire Tablet. Any other good memories? Do you have one loaded up, Charles? Let me think about this. Yeah, let's see. My favorite thing about the Steam Deck was just being able to get Final Fantasy XIV working on it, not yet running.
00:46:53
Speaker
There's this weird thing with Final Fantasy 14. It's not Steam's fault necessarily. But if you buy the game through Steam, that is a very specific account you have with Final Fantasy 14. If you download it separately from Steam, it is considered a separate account and there's no merging.
00:47:14
Speaker
So my account originally was not from Steam, and therefore I had to come up with a different way to download the game onto the Steam Deck, which is very easy to do because the Steam Deck is so customizable. But I was able to get it running using some tutorial, and I was able to play Final Fantasy XIV with
00:47:42
Speaker
I had a choice of playing it without a mouse and keyboard, but I prefer it that way. And it's a lot more easier for me. I was able to just play even when I travel, which is something I really cared about. And that was really fun. That and customize a startup video. So mine plays it, boots up like a PlayStation one with all the right audio and music. And it's very fun for me.
00:48:08
Speaker
Did they release some custom videos for the one-year anniversary? They did. They released some additional ones if you were so inclined. James, you come up with one? Yeah, I have a couple. There's two very interesting ones, at least mine. One is that it finally allowed me to beat Hollow Knight.
00:48:29
Speaker
I could never commit to sitting down and playing Hollow Knight, but being able to just kind of play it at night allowed me to really get through it, which is a great game. It's just like the coldest it takes. Hollow Knight is good. For some reason, it never clicked with me, and this team deck allowed me to just kind of
00:48:53
Speaker
you know experience it on my own terms which is something that I don't know I just couldn't do before it seems weird to say that this console has made that that different but it does um and then I would say also um just being able to go back and re-experience a lot of games from my back catalog you know because emulation used to exist exclusively in the pc space where it's like
00:49:17
Speaker
I don't want to sit at my desk and play Castlevania RE of Sorrow. I think that was a game I played on my... What was it? That would have been my gameplay. I thought it was the Advance, right? Yeah, yeah. But playing it on the Steam Deck felt perfectly right and I think I knocked that game out in like six hours. I was like, I don't have a great experience. Yeah.
00:49:40
Speaker
It allows you to get a better emulation for a lot of those retro games and a closer experience to what you had when you played them the first time than playing them on your PC with an Xbox 360 controller.
00:49:58
Speaker
ready to go like I what is it on my trip here I played I almost finished Yakuza Ishin like a Dragon Nation on the way here but then I fell asleep and then you know I'll probably finish that and then I'll start boot up Resident Evil 4 Remake on the way back and that's having a console that can do that that carry around your luggage is incredibly powerful yeah
00:50:25
Speaker
Yeah, that's a very fun, very good. Yeah. Hopefully steam deck keeps going. Keep going. Yeah. Yeah. So the people, people were not to interrupt you, Charles, but just one thing, like people are already starting to talk to Gabe about. So what about steam deck two?
00:50:42
Speaker
It's been a year. What about Steam Deck? Yeah. What about Steam Deck, too? That's something I definitely don't want them to talk about yet. I want to still feel like I'm on the cutting edge. I don't want to have to make this a... Oh, yeah, no. But I do think at this point that they've done such a good job with it is that when a Steam Deck 2 does come around, as long as it's not like a worthless upgrade, I think I would get it.
00:51:08
Speaker
Well, here's my thing. If they make a Steam Deck 2, which I think they will, I think I would hope that they make it and they make it hardware customizable. Oh, interesting.
00:51:23
Speaker
Yes, in that way, I think it would be like, cause the Seamdag is very open. It's very easy to customize on the software side. I think if they made us like a true, a true modder's dream of like, here's what it is, it's good. But if you wanted to, here's this other way you could also keep it up with any future stuff. I think that would be a crazy groundbreaking thing for a console.
00:51:51
Speaker
I mean, I would say with the aftermarket experience, people are selling kits now that are very easy for you to go in and change the internal SSD. And the size of the SSD is even better. I know people are putting in two terabyte hard drives now in a year. I wouldn't be surprised to see four or sixes going in there. Yeah. Yeah.
00:52:14
Speaker
All right, so one other thing that's come up and I thought it was just interesting as like respected creators in the Japanese industry. But at a convention, the original creators of Final Fantasy and Castlevania were talking about how there was the original rise of Japanese video games and then a decline and then another revival of Japanese video games over the coming years.
00:52:42
Speaker
And the reason why I find this particularly interesting is that Japanese game makers are infamous for not changing. There's a certain level of non-innovation that they kind of lean towards that is evident in quite a few games. There's a lot of things that just don't change in systems.
00:53:11
Speaker
that is very different and evident in the West as well. And I'm not going to say that it's always a problem, but you definitely want to hear the opinions from respected creators as well on where they think, you know, what's a problem, what's not a problem. And just to get down into it, I think one of the interesting parts that I thought was, let's see here, I'm just going through the article a little bit.
00:53:38
Speaker
Like, one of the problems they thought was, like, Hironobu Sakaguchi thought that after making the first Final Fantasy, Westerners didn't like the subsequent games because they saw the pixel art and saw their characters and thought it was just for kids. They did not think of these as serious stories. Monsters.
00:53:58
Speaker
Yeah, so, you know, up to Final Fantasy 6. And then they said that they really, they got more respect again when they switched to CG for Final Fantasy 7, which is also groundbreaking. And I think a lot of the games industry agree that Final Fantasy 7 was groundbreaking for switching to CG. And they're like, that is an adult story. And that's what they felt.
00:54:20
Speaker
But it's interesting because I agree other, the subsequent Final Fantasies, you know, Six being one of them was a very adult story and people weren't taking it seriously because apparently their opinion was it was the pixel art.
00:54:36
Speaker
And then in addition, there was this another line expert that was just like, in the earlier generations up to PlayStation, Japanese developers knew the hardware really well. And so they thought it was easier to develop for and the quality of their games were much better because they knew the hardware. But as technology got higher, a lot of things moved over to the West and the West was able to adapt much better. And so they caught up.
00:55:06
Speaker
Yeah, I think that would make sense because I remember when I was younger, like in all my video game magazines, everything pretty much was a Japanese company. Almost everything. And I remember thinking like just Japan knows how to do it. Nobody can beat Japan. But now Japan, you know, it's a joke that if a Japanese game comes out, it's going to suck on PC.
00:55:31
Speaker
because they just don't know what to do, which isn't fair. But, you know, or you look at like when Capcom tries to do multiplayer, it's like, oh, buddy, what are you doing? Although multiplayer and exo primal was good. But in Monster Hunter and stuff, it was a disaster. What are they doing? So I mean, it was good for Monster Hunter. True, true. But like trying to join someone's party or whatever was yeah.
00:56:00
Speaker
I just remember getting frustrated. But anyway. I mean, in general, too, you think of like from soft and how they handle multiplayer. Mm hmm. Yeah, Japan got called out. Yeah. But I guess I don't know. I think it's interesting, too. It's like, oh, pixel art is children's games. Well, nowadays, pixel art is exclusively the domain of old men. Yeah.
00:56:29
Speaker
Pretty much listen, every every indie game. All right. It's going to be pixel. Yeah, it's it's much easier to develop for. You know, you don't have to worry about art as much. It looks great. Yeah.
00:56:42
Speaker
But yeah, no, I just thought it was an interesting read between two people. I think one of the other notable quotes is Koji Igarashi, the creator of Castlevania was talking about like, hey, can everyone else get out of my genre already?
00:56:59
Speaker
I would like to start telling everyone to please leave my field, Higurashi said jokingly. But he was just talking about how on his side, Castlevania and Metroidvania games as a whole, they all kind of feed on each other.
00:57:16
Speaker
You know, they have very similar style, you know, systems in place, but like people, you know, take what's good and they just keep iterating on it. And it's very like crowded, but he doesn't, you know, it's pretty good in that way because everyone just loves it so much.
00:57:33
Speaker
Charles, could you look this up for me? I heard the non-branded name for Metroidvania games. And I think it's like, I think it was called like progressive action adventure or something like that. Oh. Like what's what's the platform adventure games is. I mean, I mean, I guess that makes sense. I heard I heard a different one the other day and I'm like, man, you're really reaching for that.
00:58:03
Speaker
I think progressive adventure makes more sense than platform adventure. Well, maybe. And there's a lot of platforms. There are a lot of platforms. But there's like something to... I don't know. I don't know. Yeah. As someone who's been playing a lot of Dead Cells lately, there's a lot of platforms. That's fair. That's fair. Yeah. Okay. Well, you know, I'd like to leave us with another question I think I was having fun with last time.
00:58:31
Speaker
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Two things, two things. I'm in Japan and I know these things. First of all, what about Suicide Squad? What about? Oh, that is delayed. Got delayed. That's the least I've mentioned. No, it's not. You don't choose. Get the fuck out of here.
00:58:52
Speaker
Well, you think it's going to happen. Is it going to change anything? No, it's still going to be a bad. No. Well, no, I don't think it's going to change, but I do like the interpretation that they're moving it to get it out of the crowded spring early summer window. Oh, is that what it was? I heard that it was like it was in response to Andy. Andy. What? Let's let's not talk about suicide squad. Let's talk about this roundtable question. OK. Well, two. Andy.
00:59:18
Speaker
That's it. Actually, I did. You know what? I thought I'd put this in here.
00:59:23
Speaker
That's it. I don't know enough for it. I have not watched it. I've watched a couple of people play it. I mean, I can give. I mean, maybe we could talk about it more next week. No, we're just going to have to wait. We're running out of time. You know, I'm sorry. All I say is in engine cut scenes in my Diablo game, what's happening? Oh, that's fair. And so they definitely changed it. It's a shame we can't play it because it's still Activision Blizzard. Oh, well.
00:59:51
Speaker
Listen, I'm sacrificing my morals for this one. Continue. Yeah, I know. I know you are. It's fine. Let's talk about this roundtable question a little bit. You are made to live in the world of one video game as a background character. Background character, you don't get to be the main character. Which world would you pick to play to be in? As a background, do you get to participate in the adventure of the world?
01:00:18
Speaker
Like if you lived in a Pokemon world, could you be a Pokemon trainer? Oh, okay. Yes. You're just not like, you're not part of like the main party. Like if there's friends of the main character, you're not one of their friends. Right. But a 12 year old is going to come and beat you up with his level 100 Mewtwo and like 50 bucks from you. Um,
01:00:40
Speaker
Well, in all these video games, the world is ending. I don't want to live in a world that's ending. I can think of at least 10 where they're not, Andy, but go ahead. No, they're all ending. I mean, Pokemon's a good one, Andy. That's a good one. Yeah. Yeah, but I don't want to. OK. You can live in 10-10, Andy, the Pokemon knockoff world. 10-10. Why does that sound familiar? It's a Pokemon knockoff.
01:01:11
Speaker
No, no, unfortunately, it was the one that released is the problem. Yeah. That knockoff one is the one that hasn't released yet. Yeah. Um, to, you know, to give other people more time, I guess if I had to live as a background character of a world, I would prefer one that has magic in it. Um, cause just one that's like,
01:01:35
Speaker
all normal-like is just disappointing. I want to live in a slightly better modern society. Screw that. We're going to make something with more possibilities in it. But I also wanted to be chill. So I actually think I would prefer to live in the world of Stardew Valley. Damn it. That was mine.
01:01:58
Speaker
Yeah. Listen, we could have this world. Andy, there's wizards and monsters and you could raise. Yeah, you go cave diving and kill monsters. Oh, are they a real wizard? There is a real wizard. Yeah. Oh, I thought he was like, you know.
01:02:15
Speaker
druggie or something who had like he just had uh he had just interesting ideas i didn't i didn't know dammit charles you could pick the same thing this isn't a anyone andy or james why would you pick sardine valley farmer at heart uh i just want to be a subsistence farmer and be left alone because that's so much the call to agriculture is strong um uh i'm just trying to think of more recent games i've played
01:02:47
Speaker
I mean, yeah, I like Stardew. I like Stardew because it's a chill world where, you know, like there's adventure, but there's also not death. I think Pokemon's also just a fantastic world to pick. I mean, you do get some mild ethical issues there. Right. Like, you know, you're you're trapping these creatures in tiny balls and forcing them to fight for amusement, but they like it.
01:03:14
Speaker
I can't think of another one, at least off the top, man. I locked in on Stardew. I did not think you were going to pick Stardew, Charles. I'm impressed. Impressed. I didn't think you played Stardew. Let's say I played a lot of it. Oh, did you? Okay. Yeah. I was thinking, I don't know if I want... I kind of want to do Metabots, because that's something I've always wanted to be. Metabots would be good.
01:03:42
Speaker
But is that the one where they have the the emblems in their heads? Yes. Yeah. On their backs. You get to like customize. Oh, you know what? Oh, not meta bots. Oh, I think there's a game of it. There's a Gundam Builders game, right? Yes. Yeah. Yeah. I want to live in Gundam Builders. That's a terrible universe to live in. I want to be honest with you. What's that?
01:04:06
Speaker
The Gundam universe is a terrible universe. He says he's talking about the Gundam builders. You know, the one where the kids build Gundams and then they fight them in 3D arenas. Oh, that's right. That would be like, that would be so cool. That would be so cool. Yeah, that would be pretty cool. Normal world.
01:04:28
Speaker
It's just the normal world with technology that can project a model into a real life setting, and you can write it and pilot it. Which, who knows? That's probably going to be the world in 10 years anyways. I don't know. I guess I can't think of one at all. What a wonder. The world of Yu-Gi-Oh! would be fairly similar in that arrangement. Yeah.
01:04:55
Speaker
I want to live in a fantasy world like a fun, light hearted. It's hard to pick a fantasy world that isn't going to kill you instantly, isn't it? Yeah, that's that's the real problem. You know, because all those games, someone needs to save the world. And I want to be the hero. Oh, I know. Oh, no, I'm always happy to be the manager. Yeah, the answer is the way to go.
01:05:23
Speaker
I'd say I prefer to be Shikamaru and Naruto, but the problem is Shikamaru actually has to do stuff, which is a problem. But his mental area of just he wants to just sleep and be in the background is a good admirable quality, but he gets pulled in. So can't be that world. Can't be him.
01:05:43
Speaker
Andy, you have 10 seconds. Follow your heart. I'm, like, looking at all my games right now. I can't figure out. Andy, you are so far from my point. I went to go look at my game. He's facing around his apartment. I am! Um... Um... Oh, no. All right, Charles, I got it. Oh, you know what? I'll go ahead. That's how you get them. That's it. But go ahead, James.
01:06:27
Speaker
Yeah, they're normal. This is like New Donk City implies that Mario isn't a human. Yeah, this is weird. Yeah, that's great. Yeah, but yeah, I agree. Odyssey, Mario Odyssey definitely establishes a realm of magic and lots of different ideas. There is space travel readily available. You can't get taken over by a man with a hat, which is challenging. But there's only one of them. So you know what? It's low risk. Yeah.
01:06:39
Speaker
Mario Odyssey.
01:06:57
Speaker
Yeah, that's a good one. It's fairly safe. No one dies in that game. Yeah. Seems like everybody's got what they need. No political problems. There's really only one person. There's only one person starting shit and that's Bowser, but there you have Mario for him. So he's good. Yeah. Things are fine. Yeah. Andy, you've made yours. Well, I was thinking like, I kind of want to be in the Mega Man Legends world just because it's so bright and fun. James.
01:07:27
Speaker
Mega Man Legends is a post-apocalyptic world. I'm pretty sure it is. It is, actually. There's like heavy themes that like, yeah. That like, it's, yeah, the world before was very bad. But after though, they're good. And like, even Tron Bon, like, it's just so, even the enemy. I want to be very clear, I wouldn't want to live in any Mega Man world. Yeah. Mega Man is a weird hellscape.
01:07:56
Speaker
I was also thinking, like, I don't know why. I just, like, Brave Fencer Musashi, every time I think about it, I'm just happy. But it's like, do I want to live in the Brave Fencer Musashi world? No. Mega Man, you're either a human who's getting wiped out, you're a robot who's getting taken over, or you're a maverick who is either a villain or being killed by other mavericks.
01:08:21
Speaker
What was my original name? I'm just gonna go with Gundam Builders. It's a cop out. It's still a good choice. A place where you could do all your stuff and then still have high technology. Everyone in that show is a child. And then I'm gonna show up the 30 something to like all these tournaments with children.
01:08:44
Speaker
That's, there's older guys there, but they're all just child sized for some weird reason. They're okay. That's fair. That's fair. Um, and I mean, yeah, go ahead. Now, you'd be the short, grumpy old man who teaches them how to dare. Okay. Okay.
01:09:02
Speaker
Yeah, I am. I mean, like at the Gumbla club I went to a couple of weeks ago, there was barely any kids. There was all grown men. So like, if this was a real thing, you knew it would be just a bunch of sweaty dudes just like showing up with their gunplas. But I have to make one twist, though. They allow robots that aren't just gundams.
01:09:28
Speaker
That's, uh, this world has, um, code of OKEA in this world. Okay. Not just Bandai. So, um, there we go. Yeah. Have you ever heard the, uh, the, the apocalypse theory of Pokemon? No. That is like the world ended from the great Pokemon war. And then everything built up is afterwards and people are against the war. But so now they're just kind of living.
01:09:53
Speaker
yeah that's why there's no like there's only it's sexist but there's only adult women old men and children oh wait are there because all the men all the men died in the pokemon war how old is brack
01:10:13
Speaker
Brock is like 16. Really? Yeah. The only one that's different is a Lieutenant Serge, which is also where it kind of the joke. But he's a soldier who could have lived. Oh, a soldier who survived. Yeah.
01:10:27
Speaker
Interesting. I had not heard of that. That's interesting. Yeah. So let's see. Also, also black and white. Is it black and white or X and Y? One of those two goes into it, too, about how there was a Pokemon war. So it's kind of. Yeah, it's X and Y. You're right. I think it is X and Y. It's the one with the tall guy. Yeah, exactly. That's why that's why I was thinking X and Y, because it's the tall guy I was there. Yeah, he talks about some ancient war or something like that.
01:10:58
Speaker
But, come on, it's weird. It's a weird universe. Yeah. So, you know, to summarize, I would like to live in a chill environment that does have magic and monsters, but the monsters aren't really threatening. James would have chose that same one, but in lieu of being different, decided to live in Mario Odyssey, which is good. I think it's also a good choice. And Andy,
01:11:24
Speaker
for paralyzed with choice has chosen Gunpla builders, which is fun, which is basically the normal world, but we have technology to project our model kits into living into real holographic projections. And based on how good they're built. That's the thing. And so I want to have the finest model kit, and then it will be the finest warrior. Okay, all that zooming and judging, it was worth it. Okay.
01:11:55
Speaker
Pay forward in this world, but I wish I came up with a fantasy world though But I guess that just makes it reflect is that like all these games suck to live in yeah
01:12:05
Speaker
Like, yeah, the stories are about conflict and the loss of conflict is really bad. They also take place usually in like authoritative society. You're not great to live in unless you yourself are royalty. Wow. I guess I haven't really thought about it like that. It would be a world suck. Yeah. Listen, there's, there's apparently not many stories people want if, uh, if you're not already in a bad spot.
01:12:35
Speaker
I thought for a moment about the Space Channel 5 world, because just everybody is- That's stocked with eldritch horror, Andy. Space Channel 5? Yeah. Oh. All these aliens coming to take you over via dance. With dancing!
01:12:53
Speaker
Listen, if you're going to have a problem with your world, it might as well be dancing and trying to create the dance dimension. All right. Well, dance dimension X, I think it was. I don't know. I feel like that's like saying I want to live in the Katamari world. I was actually thinking about the Katamari world, but I was like, oh, wait, no, you're just going to be wrapped up and turned into a star. Yeah, like maybe that's not good either. Yeah. Well, everybody.
01:13:22
Speaker
That's all we have for today. It's a little extra long episode because we will be for the next couple of weeks recording on Sundays because it's a better time for us to record while James is away. But, you know, he'll, we'll tell more stories. James have some more stories from the pone. He says you're kicked out of. Yeah. Let's say for your thinly veiled because of the thinly veiled racism of the country. I mean, you know what? It's I can't blame.
01:13:54
Speaker
Yeah, Japan gets a pass, that's what they're saying. But everybody, you all have a good rest of your week, and we'll join you on another episode of Add to Party, a friendship simulator masquerading as a new show. I'm your host, Charles Blizzard still has done something wrong, so I'm not covering it. Jamaat, I'm not joined by. James Diablo Four is just so close to my heart.
01:14:20
Speaker
I forgive you, baby. Andy, I don't care about Diablo. I don't care about Steam decks. What do I care about? Okay, here we go. What do I care about? Question mark, Andy stares off.
01:14:44
Speaker
We'll just have to find out next week. Everybody have a good night. Have a good night. Have a good morning. Ohio. Ohio. Konbanwa. That's the widest way to say it.