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Friendship Ending (Death Stranding Vol. 2 - Part 3
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Sam finds the TRUE MEANING of friendship and unborn babies. And also his touching phobia is cured.
Games Mentioned during What Are Ya Playin?
- The Incident at Galley House
- The Root Trees Are Dead (referenced for comparison)
- Shroom and Gloom
- Slotbound
- Stardew Valley
- Warhammer 40k: Dark Heresy
https://nogamesforgenocide.com
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Transcript
00:00:00
Speaker
rings yeah um and some really intricate Lord of the Rings sets. Oh, yeah. yeah It's fucking cool. The intersection between Lord of the Rings nerds and Lego people is it's it probably is it's just a circle. It's a circle. It's just a uncut circle. That's it. ah ah Yeah. You know what else is an uncut circle? Yeah.
00:00:28
Speaker
What's that? Hey there everybody, my name's Kevin.
00:00:35
Speaker
It just doesn't sound good. It doesn't sound good. Hey everybody, welcome back to Pixlin. My name is Kevin, with me as always is Phil. And on today's show, we're talking about uncut.
00:00:48
Speaker
circle death dreading Circles. Do you think Sam is circumcised? i Probably not. um No, not in that age. you know i feel like I feel like you're asking for a whole lot of trouble if ah if you do that kind of thing.
00:01:03
Speaker
Yeah, we'll find out. Maybe the bullet took it off. um there There are lots of things that could have taken it off. Yeah, yeah. um ah But if you would like to know more about why we're talking about uncut circles, ah you can go to patreon.com slash pixel at pod and ah sign up for our Patreon. You could do it for free, but that wouldn't get you access. One dollar gets you in the door and gets you access to Phil's blog where he ah reviews all the horror books that he can get his little gnomish hands on. It's true. Yeah.
00:01:40
Speaker
It's true. That's a lot. As it turns out, there's a lot. There's so many horror books. Oh, yeah. Don't let the ah the horror section at your local library or at Barnes and Noble fool you.
00:01:53
Speaker
There are so many horror books out there. Yeah. ah So one of these days, ah Barnes and Noble at a third a shelf yeah for for horror. It's every now and then I'll, you know, and you definitely don't have have to hand it to Barnes and Noble. ah No.
00:02:12
Speaker
Every now and then I'll see two shelves like you just and and and I'll be like, oh, well, it's not bad. You know, it's bad. But yeah, but it's it's still pretty sad because like it's 25 to 30 percent of it is Stephen King.
00:02:27
Speaker
ah Oh, yeah. It's mostly Stephen King or it's like there is like, oh, there's the Stephen King sick section. Right. And there's there's your Grady Hendrix section. Right. Paul Tremblay. And there's nothing wrong with those folks. There's nothing wrong with Uncle Steve. It's just. ah Yeah, it's just it's just there. I want to read other things. damn it Yeah, it was like, and it's like, oh, okay.
00:02:49
Speaker
There's Joe Hill. And be like, okay, some of these books aren't even horror. They're his YA work, but right good. Yeah. ah Okay.
00:03:01
Speaker
He's like, just because he's Stephen King's son doesn't mean to split his stuff. That's automatically. He's a good writer, though. I will say he sees, you know, he yeah, he he holds his own.
00:03:12
Speaker
ah The nepotism in that situation is is kept to a small gurgle as opposed to i yeah screaming torrent.
00:03:23
Speaker
The nepotism in that situation is that he yeah he obviously had was able to just walk right in and throw down a manuscript whenever he needed to. Right. ah But the fact he he wrote it like he still did the work, yeah which is, yeah you know, ah more than I can say for some other Nepotesies. Oh, big time. Absolutely. Absolutely.
00:03:48
Speaker
But $5 gets you access to the pre-show bonus pod. And $10 gets your name shouted out in every episode. that and And I want to thank And You Are Hiding, Song 85, Jesus Loves You, Ruthless Mudder, Middle Things, Sigma Sal, s Sanguine, Flatulence, Shilud, Chak, Beaks, Dumbeth, Thick, and Friendly Friend. Thank you so much for being a friend. Patreon.com slash PixelitPod. Do it today. Woo woo!
00:04:13
Speaker
um Yeah, but i've been on a I've been on a kick reading book. I started a book club as I- i Yes, you did. A local book club and ah we did Angel Down last month and we're doing incidents around the house ah this month. I got to stop reading the book as soon as I set the date for the book club because it's still it's still like a month away. And i i read the book, I set the date and then i was like, all right. And I read the book in like two days. yeah it's that one uh incidents around the house is a uh is a page turner uh it's it's it's only half as long as it looks just based on how they format it right uh yeah that wouldn't that one that was good though it's good and uh for those of you who are unaware incidents around the house is going to be coming out as a movie this october starring jessica chastain ah called other mommy hashtag not an ad um
00:05:14
Speaker
Looks good. It looks, it looks pretty good. Uh, it looks good. Yeah. yeah Yeah. That was, that was a book that came out last year and kind of blew up. It was like all over book talk and everything else. And I, I wouldn't have read it except for the fact that I, I really like, uh, that writer.
00:05:34
Speaker
Um, and, uh, And I read it, i was like, okay, you know what? Actually, this is this one is kind of worth the hype. What's the other book Josh Mallerman has written? Well, Bird Box was his big one. Bird Box was the Bird was the big one. That was a big pandemic thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I read Pearl and fucking- Oh, I've also read Pearl. Okay. Now I'm remembering. Pearl, that was with the pig, right? The pig. I fucking loved that book. I thought that was- It was, it's really fucking weird. Yeah, it really was.
00:06:12
Speaker
You know what the only thing that I've noticed that feels off, ah my only critique for Josh Mallerman's books, the two that I've written so far, is that it feels like the characters that are in ah that are in the pages that are existing within the story somehow feel like they're the only characters that exist in the world.
00:06:34
Speaker
Interesting. I don't know what it is about the way he writes it. as like I don't feel like there's a world that exists beyond. this beyond it's there's There's something about it. and I felt it with Pearl, and I also felt it with this. and Maybe it's a me thing, but there's just something. The way the world feels is like I don't i can't i don't imagine a world...
00:06:57
Speaker
beyond these four walls and maybe that doesn't matter. But also, I don't know why I felt that way twice with this writing. You know what? Looking back at it, i i see what you mean. i i I totally get what you're saying there. I think it and I think that might be a situation where it's just like ah your your interest in something like that may vary. You know, it's like whether or not you're willing to because they're all very they're very. proud Well, that's the thing. I haven't read Bird Box. ah Sure.
00:07:27
Speaker
the The two I have read are very private, personal stories. So I wonder if that's just how he writes or if like those are just kind of small yeah audience books or something. i don't know.
00:07:39
Speaker
Right. um Yeah. and And Bird Box, for those of you who don't remember, was on Netflix. with It was a Netflix movie, right? Yeah. Sandra Bullock. With Sandra Bullock around, i think it happened, it was around COVID it came out. Yeah, it was great timing, honestly. Great timing. Everybody was indoors. And ah it's basically a a quiet place, except instead of not talking, it's not seeing.
00:08:06
Speaker
Yeah, I didn't like it. I like watched it i like never watched it. I it. It was one of those horror things that it like the opening, we're setting everything up and I'm like, okay, okay, we're, that's pretty cool. um And then by the final third of it, it just becomes any goddamn horror flick you've ever seen. ah Yeah. And it's, it's, it was really disappointing for how cool the setup was. So I really should read. yeah I've got a copy of I need less horror films to end with the characters or the final girl just running from the monster. Sure. Yeah. Yeah. It's like, look, Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a miracle. And and and we're going to let and they did that before that was the thing. So the rest of you got no excuse.
00:08:54
Speaker
just ah Just don't devolve into a chase scene, um which is ah why I appreciated Obsession. Anyway, um let's put the body in the marsh. Oh, let's do.
00:09:09
Speaker
Somebody walking a fucking dog in three feet a month. What kind of fucking size a dog is that? Let's do ah we're in episode 12. ah Clifford Unger is the subtitle.
00:09:21
Speaker
ah So in the last ah chapter slash episode, ah ah Sam got swallowed up by a super cell a storm ah that Cliff had sent for him. So Sam wakes up and they aren't on Amelie's beach. They're somewhere more deadly. It's basically a recreation of the Vietnam War. It seems like yeah it's it's basically every, every, everything you heard about the Vietnam War without ever saying it.
00:09:51
Speaker
Yeah. a ah ah Credence would be playing in the background yeah if if this was yeah a movie. We've got some CCR in the background. Yeah.
00:10:04
Speaker
Oh, that red, white, and blue. Right. Exactly. That's, that's like the scene starts in Danny. Danny. That's it. That's, that's Credence, right? Yeah. Oh yeah. That's okay. Yeah. Okay. Oh yeah.
00:10:19
Speaker
Um, Meanwhile, ah Cliff is also arriving on the battlefield with intestine like webbing coming out of him and he's on a helicopter while he's dropping his Skellyman soldiers onto the ground. And then he follows them by jumping off the helicopter and superhero landing. um Sam just keeps moving. He's running through the jungle and then he arrives in a village with a bunch of dead babies.
00:10:43
Speaker
American soldiers are attacking resistance fighters and burning villages. Sam follows the direction of the Odra deck that the Odra deck is pointing through the jungle and he keeps hearing Cliff's voice in his head as he runs.
00:10:55
Speaker
They have a confusingly described fight before Cliff somehow becomes more lucid and it seems like Cliff is reliving an old memory of being shot. Question mark. ah Sam is found out. I'm really losing track of.
00:11:12
Speaker
where we are and what's happening and what's real and what isn't at this point, which might have been the point. I don't know. Might have been the point. I feel like the the writing in this section, that the not the writing, but the ah the placement and the where our objects are in the world in relation to each other and people's interaction, it felt a little bit loosey-goosey. The description of Cliff's fight ah with Sam was like, hey, and he pulls him down and he's like pulls him down like from what? was I thought he was off the helicopter and now he's above him. And and I was like, oh, OK. Anyway, Sam got the upper hand. yeah That's what's important.
00:11:59
Speaker
Damn it. Sam is found found outside of Port Knot City by Victor, who was the brother of the guy from the beginning, Igor. um Deadman calls him to ask about where he was taken and Sam says he believes that Cliff isn't necessarily the enemy. Deadman begins to play a video that is left behind by Die Hardman.
00:12:19
Speaker
Die Hardman. Die Hardman. Die Hardman. It means the The. The.
00:12:32
Speaker
ah He begins explaining why he was at the beach and how he used the doll to get there. Die Hardman ah is saying that Amelie has never existed and that he's only ever interacted with holograms. Sam ah kind of like aside to Deadman is like, that's bullshit. Deadman's like,
00:12:50
Speaker
But he might be right. ah Then Sam has a bit of an existential breakdown, realizing he's never met Amelie outside the beach, which I and I put in parentheses. I thought we knew all this already. Yeah, um it didn't come as a surprise to me. I was like, I some there's there's some like bombshells that get dropped in the final few chapters so like.
00:13:13
Speaker
I thought we knew these. Yeah. Or maybe we just we've just been we had so much exposition and information over the rest of the book that our brains just like went, yeah, that's it.
00:13:26
Speaker
I'm running into issues because I was watch. I've been watching videos to keep myself up to date on this. And so I'm like, wait, was that in the video I watched or is that actually? I so i i i'm I'm completely ruined at this point. I've ruined it for myself and for others.
00:13:42
Speaker
for For everybody on um that is currently listening. Do we apologize? No, no, i don no, no, no. Just know no, no. Yeah. So Amelie was apparently born with locked in syndrome, which is my nightmare.
00:13:58
Speaker
but ah Yeah, that sounds that sounds like something that would make you lose your fucking mind. Yeah. i i looked I learned about locked in syndrome and i was like, I wish I just didn't know that that existed. Yeah. Yeah. There's no.
00:14:15
Speaker
Now, to be fair, I don't think there's a single person alive who wouldn't ah be be fucking horrified at the prospect of locked in syndrome. But I i think you specifically should not have learned about that. If if if ah if the world were kind, they would have kept that information from you.
00:14:31
Speaker
They would have kept that from old Kevo. But locked in syndrome, for those of you who are unaware, is your body is utterly and completely paralyzed.
00:14:45
Speaker
ah There is no signs of movement. Sometimes people with locked in syndrome are confused for being brain dead, ah but they do have brain activity. They are there.
00:14:59
Speaker
They're very much there. And I remember when I first heard about it was it was a This American Life episode. oh God. Come on. This American Life. Jesus.
00:15:10
Speaker
um You know, Ira Glass with his, you know, little. Act one, we're all going to die. Act one. Act two, everyone's going to die but you and you won't be able to move.
00:15:25
Speaker
Act three, there's no one coming for you. First off, essay from David Sedaris.
00:15:32
Speaker
x Act four, ah Mike Birbiglia talks about puppies. Yeah, exactly. I just figured you guys would need something like that. You're welcome. um An essay written by David Sedaris, read by Amy Sedaris. Yeah.
00:15:52
Speaker
yeah ah um But yeah, locked in syndrome. um Yeah, i heard about it first. it was like is it It was either This American Life or one of the other, like Moth Radio Hour or one of those ah one of those NPR style storytelling shows. Sure.
00:16:09
Speaker
And it was about a guy who was basically, they thought that he wasn't able to hear or see anything. They they thought he was just in a regular situation. Regular coma. And no, he was awake the entire time. and he they figured out a way of communicating with him involving like the slightest twitch of his eye. And now he's like able to, you know, express all sorts of things through these the very minute movements. um
00:16:44
Speaker
But yeah, it was terrifying. And the guy basically we hear stuff from the guy's point of view of like, it he was like, i was it basically felt like I was sitting in a, I'm sitting in a chair in a dark room looking out a window and seeing, you know, just like the clock on the wall.
00:17:03
Speaker
And i was like,
00:17:07
Speaker
Fuck. Nope. Just just no. No, Matt. o I'm going to go get a Big Mac because yeah ah yeah I earned it. I'm going to get something that'll kill me sooner than ah than that.
00:17:25
Speaker
Because that's what I'd prefer. Good Lord. Good Lord.
00:17:31
Speaker
So anyway, i Die Hardman continues that Amelie can't be Bridget's biological daughter because Bridget had uterine cancer. And that's what Die Hardman. ah That's why Die Hardman is questioning who Amelie actually is.
00:17:48
Speaker
Uh, then DH admits that he doesn't have dooms and isn't a repatriate like Sam, like we all thought he was, and he's never died. Then he, uh, he goes off and into the, onto the beach. Uh, dead man then assures Sam that Amelie and her beach do exist.
00:18:06
Speaker
Fragile then comes on the call and says what Higgs told her before she had the option of shooting him or letting him sit there for all eternity. That Amelie has been behind it all, the terrorism, etc. And how they they don't use BBs, but they use a special doll in their pods that are connected back to Amelie.
00:18:27
Speaker
ah We get some flashbacks from Di Hardman's point of view, and he was a spec ops guy that ended up answering to President Bridget Strand and his eventual eventual involvement being in the BB program. ah The first BB came from a mother who was brain dead, and we find out that the father was Cliff and c Cliff didn't know that they were extracting the BB for testing. ah bbe Bridget is being absolutely awful about it.
00:18:54
Speaker
And Die Hardman, who ah worked for Cliff while he was in special ops, decides to tell him everything he knows as the BBs are going to be used for communications networks. Die Hardman then tells Cliff how exactly to get through security and rescue his his son and the whole background about how the experiments have been canceled publicly, in private ah but in private they continued.
00:19:18
Speaker
ah They were started under the previous president, ah Donald J. Trump. Naturally. That would make naturally would make a lot that would make sense. yeah Days later, Cliff asks Die Hardman why he's helping. And ah Die Hardman says because he saved his life over and over again. and then Die Hardman gives Cliff a gun. We cut to moments later and everything has gotten all foobar. ah Cliff had been shot. Die Hardman tries to save him by putting him in another room. But the special forces security team forced the room open under Bridget's command.
00:19:55
Speaker
Cliff shoots the pot, it seems like, and they surround him and then Bridget orders Die Hardman to kill Cliff, but he hesitates. Then she pulls the trigger for him killing Cliff. And then the that the chapter ends with America had killed Cliff.
00:20:10
Speaker
Yeah, I was like, oh, subtle. Good. Subtle. Good. I know authors use subtext and they're all cowards. Yeah, that was that was the most that of maybe any book we've read. That's saying something.
00:20:30
Speaker
um Chapter 13 episode 13, as they're called in the book, Bridges. Sam makes his way to Capital Knot City, haunted by nightmares and existential questions of whether he is actually awake or is all a dream of a child from his mother's womb.
00:20:47
Speaker
um Sam arrives and goes down to the basement and is startled by Loch Nuh, who may restart the stupid camera. Loch Nuh, who jumps out of the ah one of the rooms.
00:21:04
Speaker
ah The whole team is together. Loch Nuh and Mama. Of course, they live in one body. Dead man, heart man in the middle of a middle of a cardiac arrest and fragile is nearby in a hospital bed. a Dead man explains fragile state and then Hartman over explains it with a lot more sci-fi battle. battle Yeah. It's like it literally the scene is dead man going, yeah, her cells are all out of whack because of whatever. And Hartman is like wakes up from his heart attack and he goes, no, you see. and then it's just at two pages of like. Her all of her cells are in different timelines and we have to reset and I can just imagine ah Sam as played by Norman Reedus like his eyes just slowly glazing over.
00:21:51
Speaker
Yeah. it's It's like. it It's just cuts to, it's like the Simpsons where it like cuts to his inner monologue. He's like, dad and at that and yeah like just like the moment. it's like Or it's just like the, the, the Oregon grinder monkey. And yeah yeah. Just, just the moment, the moment someone's trying to teach me how to play Twilight Imperium. And it's just like, no, no,
00:22:23
Speaker
ah In theory, I would enjoy this. Yeah. was like, Twilight Imperium. it's I look at that and I was like, that seems like a pretty badass game. and Yeah. takes yeah it It takes what? Like six hours to play? ah More from what I've i've heard people play for days. those are Those are the kinds of board games that I do collect occasionally in the naive hope that That one day you and I will be men of leisure ah yeah and live close enough to each other that we'll say, well, in the morning, we're going to have our coffee and then we're going to begin the third chapter of this heavily, heavily, heavily involved board game.
00:23:04
Speaker
And we'll be back in time for supper. We'll be back in time. Ring the bell for supper. We'll return. That's it. In our, in our, uh, I imagine robes just like wearing. Oh yes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Comfy. Smoking jackets. Yeah. Yeah. yes Yeah. The velour kind of thing. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's what we deserve. Monogrammed. That's what we deserve. We deserve it. We deserve that. We, we, you know, the thing about you and me, Kevin, we dream big.
00:23:34
Speaker
We dream big. i want to play board games with my friend forever. Like, that's it. That's all I ask. it's it's It's, you know, rich people, man, fucking, they can, they're like, just like, oh like fucking Elon Musk. He doesn't, he's, he how is he this?
00:23:56
Speaker
hate him. I hate him. You ever, it's like, my the met my my words, Burning on the sides of my face. Right.
00:24:11
Speaker
Keeping, keeping, keeping.
00:24:15
Speaker
Oh, that's, that's, that's how it is. I, that's, if I, if I focus too much on, on shit like that, that's exactly where my brain goes. I become, I become Mrs. White. That's just. I become, yeah, Mrs. White. And and my words become like that episode of The Simpsons where they're talking about why Mr. Burns isn't dead. And it's because he has so many diseases. Right. yes He has three stooges syndrome. And he just they just take all the diseases and they put a door down and they try to force them all through and they can't go.
00:24:47
Speaker
You're saying I'm invincible. No, no. In fact, any slight invincible.
00:24:57
Speaker
Oh, God, I should watch seasons one through eight again. i just need to read. i need to watch more Simpsons. I feel like that would be good for my mental health. I think it would be good for your mental health. Yeah. Anyway, ah so fragile then wakes up and mentions that she didn't leave Amelie's Beach intentionally. She was forced out. Then the team lays the stakes. We lay out some pipe. We lay the rail. ah we're we're We're doing the thing. ah Doc Brown comes in and explains. Yeah.
00:25:33
Speaker
Explains that we need to get to the clock tower. Yeah, pretty much. ah um Basically, Sam has to go to the beach and talk either talk Amelie out of doing the last stranding or kill her. But if he kills her, he'll be stranded on her beach forever.
00:25:48
Speaker
ah Sam understands that he would only be delaying the inevitable. But it's worth for the sake of humanity, give them as much chance to make things better. And then he gives a little speech and dead man asks, even if you don't come back.
00:26:01
Speaker
ah And Sam says, fucked if I do, fucked if I don't. Then fragile hugs him and they to teleport him there and they vanish. Chapter episode 14. Sam is on the beach and everything is red. There's a planet in the sky that looks like Earth, but the continents are all wrong.
00:26:19
Speaker
Amelie is standing there, but her voice is Bridget's. And then Amelie Bridget thing says that Amelie doesn't exist in Sam's world and that Amelie and Bridget are just names for what she is, the extinction entity.
00:26:33
Speaker
We get a flashback to Bridget and her father looking at Madonna and the of the Yarnwinder and discussing the imagery of Mary holding Jesus, knowing he will have to sacrifice himself to save mankind, knowing a holy sacrifice must be made so that humanity can keep living. It's like, was like, Jesus Christ, I actually looked up the painting. i was like, oh, OK, yeah. yes Yeah, yeah, me too. It's like, yeah, you know what? Yeah. OK.
00:27:02
Speaker
Now it's attributed to Michelangelo. It's not 100% sure it's Michelangelo. ah It's like Michelangelo might have done the sketch and then another painter finished it.
00:27:14
Speaker
ah That's all kind of like it. That's it's one of those dealies. Yeah. yeah ah Bridget, when she was younger, would have dreams of the beach. And at first she welcomed them, but soon they became horrific as she realized that the beach was filled with corpses. Then she finds a cross with a doll.
00:27:32
Speaker
it was like, and then she finds Evangelion. I mean, yeah, kind of. it gets It gets real Eva right here. She finds a cross with a doll nailed to it of a baby angel ah with its wings plucked away.
00:27:48
Speaker
um I was like, is this this isn' did this happening? Is this for real? OK, this happened in even didn't it? it like It's like, isn't that Adam? Isn't that at the Adam thing from Evangelion? It sounds like it. It's been years since I watched it, but it sounds right.
00:28:07
Speaker
People always ask me or always talking in some discord chats about what's the best way to watch ah ah Neon Genesis Evangelion. And I said the best way to watch it was 20 years ago on bootleg VHS tapes. God damn right.
00:28:24
Speaker
Half of it were half of which were subs and half of which were dubs. And you didn't know what you were getting until you it in. You fucking kids. You don't. You don't get it. With your fucking crutchy roll. With your fucking crutchy roll.
00:28:38
Speaker
It was 2003.
00:28:42
Speaker
But you bought this, VHS is of anime based on what your friends said was good because it wasn't at Blockbuster. You couldn't rent it. So you're like, okay, I should watch fist to the North star. Okay. I'll, I'll get fists to the North star. And you watch fists to the North star and you're like, oh dear God, I can't, I I'll never be the same ever again.
00:29:03
Speaker
i don't know if that's a good thing or not yet. Uh, that guy's head exploded and then that guy's head exploded that that happens a lot in fist of the north star yeah oh god really leaned into the the trope of of uh what what's the guy's name in fist of a north star uh forget but yeah he would like punch people and then it would wouldn't seem like anything happened and they would be like ah ah and then like their shoulder would blow up. yeah And then they're like, what?
00:29:36
Speaker
And, and yeah. And it never, it never gets less upsetting. It just keeps happening and it happens like a lot. Yeah. But anyway, yeah. Or you, or you,
00:29:48
Speaker
Traded with a friend. You're like, hey, i'll I'll let you. I got the first few episodes of Slayers and ah you you give me that thing. Or you're like me, you live in Pittsburgh and you live next to a Japanese fella who teaches you about anime and sits with you while you watch Azumanga Dayo from start to finish. and And translates it live for you? i beat he kind Yeah. He like he explained like localization to me. like He explained, like like I remember, i may have talked about this on the show before. I remember in Azamanga Dayo, there's a girl, I think she's from Okinawa.
00:30:26
Speaker
and And so they kind of treat her like a hick or something like that. and But for the English dub, they make her from like Texas.
00:30:38
Speaker
ah to get the same thing across. and and like And he's explaining that to me. He's like, oh, yeah. and in In the original Japanese version, and if you it would be she's from this region that's seen as a. And and so, yeah, he actually did. get at it That's funny. Context for that.
00:30:55
Speaker
So what's funny, what's weird, though, is I probably would have gone with North Carolina. um Oh, sure. Or West Virginia. West Virginia, I think I would have gone with West Virginia. Yeah, yeah. ah and All the love to West Virginia. But, you know, you can't really beat Appalachia for... for for that kind of... You cannot. And I love Appalachia, but you've you got you got the best people to make fun of as well. Hell, they could have done Central Pennsylvania. um Central Pennsylvania would have been very good. and And it's like, that would have been a truly, if you know, you know, kind of situation where it's like... Ah, Pennsylvania. Got it. Got it. Pennsylvania.
00:31:39
Speaker
You got Philadelphia on one end, and Pittsburgh on the other, and and Mississippi in between. Yeah. Yeah. That is all there is to it. God, I love that state.
00:31:50
Speaker
God, I miss Pennsylvania. love Pennsylvania. ah Anyway, ah it did to Madonna of the Yarnwinder, which, by the way, ah some of those painting names are just like, i was like, why didn't we get this this boss in Blasphemous? Yeah. Yeah.
00:32:12
Speaker
Uh, Bridget, uh, when she was, okay, that did that she learns to live with them. Okay. And, uh, she sees the things that are the source of her sadness and in parentheses, as wrote BTs, uh, she learns to live with her nightmares of extinction and she learned everything she could about the universe, people, everything. And by extension, got into politics.
00:32:33
Speaker
ah We get a flashback of our cancer diagnosis and surgery, and during the surgery, she ends up on her beach. Her ha and ka end up split into two locations in the living world as Bridget and then in the beach as Amelie because Amé is the French word for soul.
00:32:51
Speaker
Amelie would sometimes appear in the real world through dreams. And although they were the same person, Amelie never aged because she was Bridget when she was 20. But Bridget would get older.
00:33:03
Speaker
Bridget then made up a lie about how Amelie was born with locked in syndrome, that after the death strandings, Amelie's soul was now linked back to her body.
00:33:13
Speaker
That's what she told Die Hardman anyway, and he believed it. He swore to follow a Bridget. Bridget and Amelie didn't want to be an extinction entity and they didn't want to end humanity, but they needed to know more. So they had Sam reconnect the chiral network so they could find out. She says the Big Bang was a fluke because matter and antimatter should have canceled each other out and that extinction events are the universes the universe trying to write the record.
00:33:41
Speaker
And then we get more about Cliff. Cliff's wife had tried to commit suicide. And after she was rushed to the hospital, the fetus was then used in the bridge baby experiments. Bridget admits that she was the one who pulled the trigger and Sam ah ah and Sam and Sam was the child in the experiment. So Bridget wandered the beach looking for Sam's soul, and that's when repatriation was born. And that upset the fundamental balance of life and death before the void outs effect before void outs affected all creatures. But then it became only humans were affected.
00:34:13
Speaker
ah She avoided the extinction of the universe, but the ex extensionction extinction of humans was set in stone. um By the way, this actually gave me an interesting idea for like a sci-fi story of like this, like shit like this is happening on some random planet.
00:34:33
Speaker
hmm. You the people on that planet just have to deal with it because the story that is central to the events that are causing this thing to happen are just elsewhere in the galaxy.
00:34:51
Speaker
Yeah. yes Yeah. Yeah. um Amelie says there's only two options, either fight against eventual extinction or let it all burn burn right now. Sam hugs her and he thinks about the time that she gave him a dream catcher. He realizes that the dreams and nightmares that doom sufferers have are basically Amelie's way of processing all the outcomes and futures because she has no perception of time. She had ah she had given him a gun, but it won't help him here. Yet it's still important.
00:35:22
Speaker
Amelie decides that if she and Sam disconnect, then she will forego extinction happening tomorrow. They choose that and Sam is dragged away. And that's the end of the book. But then they're like they have two epilogues. And then after after reading the epilogues, it's like these aren't epilogues.
00:35:39
Speaker
Yeah. I don't know what the fuck they were. um So epilogue one ah is Die Hardman is the president now. He's giving a presidential address ah with the ceremony being the metal level law that Hartman was going on and on about. ah During the speech, Sam looks at the photo from early on in the story, revealing that the photo is actually it's not a you assume that it's a picture of him, Bridget and Amelie earlier on. It's actually a picture of him, Bridget and deceased wife, Lucy. um we get a flashback to sam being separated from amelie and ending up on his own beach it was the first time he had been there it was clean and calm and this is where he found the photo fully reconstructed and then he also finds one of the dolls that have been used earlier as bb's he marks the days that he spends there on his kipu tying a knot each morning eventually once it filled with knots it reset um he then finds the revolver and he tries shooting himself with it but it's empty
00:36:39
Speaker
Back in the present, Deadman offers to tell Sam how they brought him back from the beach. They had run into a number of dead ends looking for a way to find him. ah Hartman and Mama kept looking for him on different beaches.
00:36:51
Speaker
Eventually, it was Die Hardman reminding them of the revolver, and that eventually led them to Sam's beach. Mama found him first, and she told Lockney, who told Hartman. Fragile then used her abilities ah to slingshot Lou and Deadman to Sam's location, and they used Bridget Strand's umbilical cord to weave kipus for them all to stay connected.
00:37:12
Speaker
Then Deadman grabbed him in a big hug and brought him back. Deadman also confirms that John is Die Hardman and is listed as being responsible for the killing of Cliff. Then Die Hardman appears and begs for Sam's forgiveness. And Sam tells him it's not time to be Die Hardman anymore. And no one wants a president who doesn't fear death.
00:37:31
Speaker
Sam leaves and Deadman gives him Lou back. Deadman says decommission the decommissioning order has come through and Deadman couldn't do it himself. Sam says he'll take Lou to the incinerator as Deadman wipes tears from his face.
00:37:45
Speaker
Then Deadman disconnects Sam's cuff link so he can't be tracked and gives him the idea of possibly taking Lou out of the pod. uh he runs into fragile on the way out uh she is starting her own company ah restarting her company now has a peripheral official approval from the uca which is the new country united cities of america and she's also wearing one of the kipus now she admits to letting higgs live eternally alone on his beach and they say goodbye with a hug they also at the at point this point they uh fragile says
00:38:18
Speaker
Just remember, I'm fragile. And then they both look at each other and say it at the time at same time, but not that fragile. And then the studio audience just goes bananas. Oh, God. They lose their fucking shit. It's amazing.
00:38:35
Speaker
God. Boy. then how Johnny Carson walks out and. Yes. and we're Standing ovation. He hasn't even told a joke yet. That's just how. God damn.
00:38:47
Speaker
He's just going, you know, he's just, you know, vamping and. oh yeah. Yeah. And Ed McMahon is there and he's wild stuff. It's Wild Very good, Johnny.
00:38:59
Speaker
Yes.
00:39:02
Speaker
very good johnny yes this we've just We've alienated 90% of our listeners. We're barely old enough for that.
00:39:14
Speaker
We're barely old enough for ah Johnny Carson's time. I mean, i was, was it 1991 that he stopped? Was it that late? Yeah, gosh, I guess it was. Wow. um And then we got Jay.
00:39:30
Speaker
Jay, I know. Hey, guys, I'm a terrible human being. Hey guys, you hear about this? Sam goes, so there's a second epilogue where Sam goes, the incinerator, ah spends a lot of time thinking about things and stuff.
00:39:48
Speaker
I read my favorite note. ah He finds a bone on the way, which is weird, and he throws it away. He cries as he gets the incinerator while there. He has a dream and it's Cliff's death from ah Sam's perspective inside the BB incubation pod.
00:40:03
Speaker
ah He sees him. ah Cliff put his wife out of his misery. ah And then Sam takes Lou Lou out of his pod. We get a bunch of metaphysical stuff. ah ah But Lou is ah able to be successfully removed from the pod.
00:40:19
Speaker
And Sam and Lou, who is actually a girl, ah go off into the sunset. And that is the end of Death of death Stranding Volume 2 and Death Stranding 1, the video game. Phil.
00:40:38
Speaker
phil What do you think? Okay. So this is this is very competently written as far as um the usual fare that we read. Like it's it's it's ah the writing is decent. um I went into this knowing nothing really about the Death Stranding. I just it just wasn't something I was ever terribly. I'm not a Kojima guy. It didn't it didn't really interest me all that much. um
00:41:11
Speaker
So I go into it knowing nothing. Now, after watching a couple of videos about it and reading through volume one and two of the first novelization, I feel like I know less. I. It's so much more complex and windy than I thought i it was. It's one of those things that you see something from the outside and you go, well, it's it it I just need to sit down and and get into it and I'll understand it just like anybody else. I'm not sure that's true.
00:41:45
Speaker
i It's good. It's definitely far from the worst thing we've ever read, but um it's requiring more of my brain than I'm used to with our assignments on this show, Kevin. Yeah, it requires a lot. And even I feel like the more things get explained, there's these really long sequences of explanation.
00:42:09
Speaker
ah The less I understand it. Yeah. Yeah. it It just becomes obfuscated almost be like what? Well, it's like you were describing the one scene where it's like, OK, we get a brief little kind of blip of like, oh, OK, that's that's basically what this is. Oh, no. Hold on.
00:42:27
Speaker
Let me give you the advanced version. Deadman gives you the the intro course. And then Hartman wakes up from his current heart but cardiac arrest. Right. With, oh, here's the the doctoral thesis on the subject. Right. you're like, no, no, no. i I was kind of on track. And now I've i've lost everything that was in my brain.
00:42:48
Speaker
ah Just like that. I spent the last year in the beach, which is only three minutes for you guys writing an advanced explanation. ah The PowerPoint was made out of sand, though, and I couldn't bring it with me. Sure. That's natural. That's how that works. ah Phil, how?
00:43:09
Speaker
Guess how many words long my notes for volumes one and two combined are. Volumes one and two combined? Yeah.
00:43:22
Speaker
My notes for one and two combined come out to 15,000 words. Jesus Christ. i wrote This is 15,000 words. got a novella.
00:43:35
Speaker
A novella worth of notes. And these are just notes. These are not even like thoughts on what's happening. This is just my notes on what's like. Here's the stuff. Yeah.
00:43:46
Speaker
Here's the beats. So good Lord. That was lot. That is a lot. My God.
00:43:58
Speaker
ah good Lord. um Yeah. I mean, i liked it for the most part. I think it's, it but it's just like, I feel like it could be better in terms of, i think, i think all the same things could happen. Mm-hmm.
00:44:15
Speaker
And it could be like the it's like 99% there and 1% is just like pew streamline in that that bitch. And and and turning like you could get there and I think you could make it work.
00:44:37
Speaker
um So i don't know. But whether or not it was worth it is the question. ah Was is it worth it? yeah i don't know. Ask us when we read Death Stranding 2, Volume 1. um Coming your way, 2027.
00:44:50
Speaker
Probably. Coming your way, 2027. No, it it act it it might be. i i feel like i I feel like I have to at this point. Yeah. we get we I mean, you guys know. we we get...
00:45:03
Speaker
You know, we get into a series and we don't feel good about it until it's like complete. Yeah. so we got to do the thing. It's we got to do the thing. It wasn't. Here's the thing is like if this was a heaping pile of garbage, I would have easily been able able to say, no, we're not doing the next. Sure. Sure. ah But it wasn't. It was like it's just good enough to warrant continuing. Yeah, it did I didn't want to pull my hair out while reading it or anything like that. It was like, yeah, it is this easy enough to read. It's not easy to talk about because that requires remembering a lot. So many fucking details. 15,000 words. It requires you remembering 15,000 words. That's and I've already read.
00:45:46
Speaker
I've already seen like some of the plot points and I know some of the stuff that happens in Death Stranding too. yeah. so All right, ah Phil, with all that being said, sure, have a question for you. ah What are you playing? Oh, ah well, I've i've played a ah ah quite a few demos. um But first, I want to say i I finish I'm finishing up the incident at Galley House, ah which I started ah done by the same people who ah did. What is it called?
00:46:20
Speaker
um that other, the the one that I really liked last year, um the root trees are dead done by the same people. I am not, I have not enjoyed it as much as the root trees are dead. um It's a fun idea. And, uh,
00:46:39
Speaker
It's ah it's an interesting kind of twist on these deduction detective puzzle games and that kind of thing. um But I just I just it didn't keep my attention. I didn't care. i felt bad. Like the storyline just didn't interest me on the same level that the root trees are dead did. um But yeah, you know, I'm in the minority there.
00:47:01
Speaker
so i'm in the i'm I'm playing it also. i'm i' i feel like I'm about halfway through. i'm kind of like i'm at that point where i've filled out I have a scene or a location in every timeline moment from beginning to end. I don't have them all, but like, like, okay, I kind of understand. I understand the conceit of what's happening to people ah as they ah spoilers. there well I'm just, we're going to do a little bit of spoiling here for for incident at Galley House. So if you don't want to hear, you can click off now. But yeah, Incident at Galley House ah spoilers. And now, ah like how they are um it's like, oh, every time, every time somebody dies and it was like they are wiped from everybody's memory ah as soon as they die. And also it coincides with a lightning strike every time. And it doesn't seem like they're being murdered and there's spooky stuff happening. But, ah and I haven't gotten to like,
00:48:08
Speaker
I haven't gotten to the what the fuck is actually happening half of it. Yeah. More in the like, okay, so they all died. ah Yeah. Yeah. It's like ive I have now figured out that they all died and they seemingly coincidentally all died in backwards count countdown order on the who guess who board.
00:48:28
Speaker
Right. Yeah. Yeah. It really is. I mean, it really is the cast. a guest who i Guess who? Guess who? So I like I like it, but I agree. I don't like it as much as root trees are dead because root trees are dead also had more ah variety in methods. Yes. if it's superficial, the fact that it's like, okay, go go, go do search the library for this thing and then do a Google search and then go through the newspaper clippings and then all the, and the, you have the, the string board of, of all the stuff. Yeah. Like presentation wise. And just like, was like, I'd rather they do that again. Like, it's kind of cool. Like the idea of like, you're summoning up a recording of from the past using this device.
00:49:19
Speaker
um but it yeah at all it also I see what i understand what you mean it doesn't ning The only way you can figure things, like you said, yeah you can you can Google, you can do this, you can do that. And you're right. It's all set dressing with Ruth Trees are Dead. But it psychologically keeps you going, okay, well, I didn't try this. Let's try this. um And with this, like basically the only thing you can do, or at least 95% of the only thing you can do is reread the same transcript over and over and over again and go, how what did I miss? Like, what is what? What is the next step here? um This is one of those deduction adventure games. I try really hard normally with these to ah avoid using hints and that kind of thing because I really want to get it on my own. I i abused ah the hint system to get to where I am. I just want to be done with it at this point. There's so many times where was like, I would do it and be like, what the fuck? Why isn't this working? I'm pretty, I'm a hundred percent sure. And then I hit the hints and it would be like, ah did you see who was left in the room? And I was like, yeah, that's what I'm fucking doing. And it'd be like, blah, blah, blah. And was like, yeah, I'm doing it. yeah And then I'm like, oh, I didn't turn the fucking dial to the right. that Yeah, exactly. i'm I'm on the wrong scene. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's that.
00:50:43
Speaker
It's true. that is That is half of it. um Yeah. So ah ah it's it i i in the minority here, it's doing very, very well ah in terms of. Yeah, and I hope it continues to do well because I am like the, I like root trees are dead. So just keep. Yeah, keep making. I like the developer. I would like to see them continuing to make games. This one just missed me. This is just not my thing. Yeah. And I don't I don't hate it. I'm just like, yeah, it's fine. I'm just kind of done with it. um Yeah. ah Let's see. I played ah the demo for a game called Truman Gloom.
00:51:23
Speaker
ah This is an interesting one. It is a dungeon crawler, ah deck battler kind of thing, but the deck is used for more than just battling. It's used for interacting with the world, ah which is interesting. um But I think the the most impressive thing about it is the art style. It's it's all done in literal stacks of 2D art. So you're walking through this dungeon, through this tunnel, and you can literally see as the cards that represent that level of roots or cave pass. And you and it's it's it's really very clever. It's a really interesting art style ah that in and of itself um
00:52:06
Speaker
makes it worth a look. um The gameplay is fine. It's it's interesting enough, um but it's, ah you know, roguelike and you go as far as you can and and learn stuff, earn some stuff, die, repeat. um And it's shroom and gloom, shroom and gloom.
00:52:24
Speaker
ah You're under your underground in this kind of fungus infested world. um The art style is a above and beyond the best thing about it. ah That's not just the gameplay isn't fun. It's just to suggest that the art style is fucking nuts and it's all hand drawn from what I can see, ah which when you get a glimpse of this,
00:52:49
Speaker
That's impressive shit. um So they worked ah this team. Who are they? ah Team Laserbeam worked their asses off on this ah clearly. And it's a true labor of love. And I think a lot of people will get something out of it. It's coming out in Q3 of this year.
00:53:11
Speaker
And finally, I played the demo for Slotbound. ah This is another um game where the mechanic, it's a role playing game and the mechanics are based on a slot machine.
00:53:24
Speaker
ah Based on the threes in a row you get, ah you you can you can turn the slot machine on you can pull the handle a certain amount of times per battle. And every time you win something, you get a different kind of hero and you can combine the heroes and level them up essentially and all that stuff. ah And it's fun, but I found myself just it's it's I'm I'm getting really wary of these games ah where it's like i I sound like an old lady, but I'm like playing this and I'm like, am I enjoying this or yeah
00:54:04
Speaker
Is it just tapping into that addictive part of your mind where you're just like, oh, it's bright and it's colorful and I want to keep going? ah New toy, new toy, new toy. Yeah, yeah. um And I think, i I don't know. I just, it makes me nervous, you know? Yeah, enjoyed it. I i played. ah Yeah, I played almost three hours on that demo because it's super easy to do that with a game like this. um I would love to hear from ah other people, ah anybody, any of our listeners. I'd love to hear ah from you about your experience with this game. Do you think this is an actual good game or is it tapping into something in your brain? Something primal. Right, right. Something something addictive. ah
00:54:54
Speaker
I don't I don't theoretically hate that. It's just it feels weird sometimes. I don't know. um So, ah ah Kevin, what do you plan? Well, ah we actually talked about the thing that I've been playing.
00:55:12
Speaker
um So, you know, it's ah ah aside from that, I mean, i I've been playing. i played a little bit of Stardew Valley with Cam. um Yeah, that's it. that i i can't wait for you to be able to play with graham man mean i that sounds like a lot of fun that sounds great yeah you the you two are just gonna be sold up in the and playing the games in the basement yeah little little kid um yeah and uh also i've been playing ah what's it the um
00:55:50
Speaker
Oh, what else? Oh, a little bit of the dark heresy play test. Oh, sure. Because I'm um i'm me, ah you know what I did?
00:56:03
Speaker
started from the beginning? I started from the beginning. Well, because I was like, okay, well, I'm having a hard time. And also I got, I got two psychers on the team right now. I want to actually see if there's, I can have somebody that's more useful. Sure. So I built myself a sniper. Nice.
00:56:27
Speaker
And ah we'll see how that works out. ah But yeah, I would i would say a good 10 to 15 hours in any massive RPG. Your rogue traders, your Baldur's Gate three s or just me playing the first five hours over and over again until I get into a rhythm that I really like. Yeah. um Yeah.
00:56:49
Speaker
So we'll ah we'll see how that how that goes. um Thank you all so much for listening. It's been wonderful to to cover Death Stranding for you all. ah What do we got coming up? na We have the Witcher Sword of Destiny.
00:57:11
Speaker
Ooh, really, really enjoyed reading the first Witcher book last year. So that was a no brainer continuing that along this year. So I'm i'm looking forward to this.
00:57:22
Speaker
we got a We got a pretty interesting ah run up going here. You know, Witcher sort of destiny. ah para ah ah Roadside Picnic. Yep. And then Parasite Eve. Yeah. um We got two. We we have two ah games that were based on novels in a row.
00:57:44
Speaker
You know, row people. Yeah. So that's that's actually holy shit. We have three. We have three. is is The Witcher, Roadside Picnic and Parasite Eve were books before they were video games.
00:57:58
Speaker
Interesting. So, okay. That's, that's fascinating. That was not even on purpose. That's interesting. Yeah. And then, uh, road, what, what game is, uh, is, uh, the roadside picnic come, uh, stalker stalker. Okay. Okay.
00:58:17
Speaker
Got it. Yep. yep Yep. Yep. Okay. Um, yeah, this is, This is exciting. i actually part of me wants to watch ah the movie, um the the movie Stalker, um because it was there's like there's Roadside Picnic. There's a 70s movie that it's based up that ah is based on the book. And then I've played the game a little bit.
00:58:43
Speaker
um But yeah, I think I think that could be we might have to do a stream where we watch the movie or something like that. That could be fun. Yeah. Another English translation was published in 2012 with a forward by ah Ursula K. Le Guin. wow.
00:59:01
Speaker
Yeah. And the movie right there. Yeah. The ah film Stalker is directed by Andrei Darkovsky, loosely based on the novel. um Yeah.
00:59:15
Speaker
ah all right. Well, we'll nice we'll ah well We'll get on that. Thank you all so much for listening. And remember, Jonesy lives. Jonesy lives.