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Episode 19.5 - THERE IS NO EPISODE
1.8k Plays8 months ago
Hey everyone, we're not doing an episode this week, so we just thought we'd throw you a quick episode to tell you how we're not doing an episode. So, sorry there is no episode, but here's an episode about that.
And, while we were here, we thought, to apologize for not having an episode, we'd answer a few listener questions.
In conclusion, there is no episode. So here is your episode about how there is, in fact, not an episode this week.
Episode.
Recommended
Transcript
Quirky X-Men Trivia
00:00:18
Speaker
Everyone pushing up roses here. I am here with my special boy. Best jumper. Best comic book reader. Knowledgeable about every single X-Men trivia. Matt Aucamp. Hey Matt. Hey, I wanna say that, I just wanna say Longshot is a clone of Shatterstar, who is technically his own father from the future, but transported to the past. So there's a little X-Men trivia for you. Thank you, Matt. I knew none of those words, but I'm sure it was very ah interesting to two people.
00:01:01
Speaker
Yeah, that's what you get. That's when you have an X-Men expert, an expert as a co-host. Sometimes they just have to slip in the most bizarre thing you've ever heard and then no one understands what they are talking about. That's just my life with adventure games. That's true too. That's just me trying desperately to talk about Laura Bowe and getting shut down. Oh, that reminds me, we did get Sorry, this is I'm breaking the format of what this episode, this non-episode was supposed to be, but we got an email from somebody last time I said that they've never done a good X-Men game and somebody emailed and said, what about X-Men Legends? You're kind of right. Like X-Men Legends was kind of okay. I'm gonna take back the word okay. It was kind of good.
00:01:55
Speaker
Okay, well that's good. da that That fits the parameter of there is a good X-Men game if you're saying it is good.
Podcast Format Break Announcement
00:02:03
Speaker
I'm gonna say it's kind of good but I didn't love it and I feel like X-Men are still an incredibly untapped resource for video games. Anyway, ah what are we here to tell people today, Roses? So, hi everyone. We're tired. We're very tired. So we are going to skip this week, which I know is very sad for a group of you who love hearing my voice.
00:02:33
Speaker
and maybe love hearing man's voice. Ouch. No, they love us. They love us. They wouldn't be here if they didn't love us. But we've had a lot going on. So we are not going to do our traditional podcast this week, but we did want to hop on here and you know, just announce something, especially since we do a weekly show, you guys are used to to to something. So we are here to satiate that. And since we're here, we're just going to give you a few updates on what we'll be doing in the future. And we're going to answer a couple questions. You know, it's the least we could do. Just a couple quick questions. First one, X-Men Legends. Was it good? ah Kind of.
00:03:13
Speaker
That's a good answer. um But, yeah, ah what what are we doing in the up in the near future?
Upcoming Game Plans
00:03:21
Speaker
Well, in the very near future, we are going to be talk talking about ah audience recommendations. We actually were one of those were one of those podcasts or content creators that actually looks at our suggestions. and does them and I and i do that I've alwaysve always done that on the channel in fact all of my videos are from suggestions in case y'all didn't know we got some really great suggestions that we wrote down for adventure games and we've got four of them I will be playing two Matt will be playing two my two are the cat lady and a space for the unbound so those are the suggestions that I will be taking and Matt I will be playing the invincible
00:04:04
Speaker
And I am also playing the Cat Lady, but I'm going to be focusing on the, we got recommended the Journeyman Project Three, but because I'm such a weird nerd completionist. Oh boy. I was like, I can't play the Journeyman Project Three without playing Journeyman Projects One and Two, so I'm playing Journeyman Project One, which wasn't the suggestion, but um but you know, it's close enough. Yeah, it's real close though. We'll work, I'll work my way up to it. Eventually. Keep listening to this podcast for all 30 years that we're going to do it. And we'll be doing it till I'm 80. Matt, I played dagger again and I found something new. Oh my God. Can you imagine the era when we forgot, we're so old, we forgotten everything in the, air like the adventure, like how to play the games.
00:04:59
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, yeah. We've forgotten all the puzzle solutions, and so then it's like all new for us. It's just like, oh my goodness. Oh, I can't wait. Did you solve this puzzle in Sam and Max, where you, where did you open up the snow globe in the vortex room? Oh, that's some bullshit, Matt. That was crazy. This game is way harder than people said. I'm just still very salty in my 80s. The thing I'm most looking forward to that with is like Return of the Obra Dinn. That is the game that I want to wipe my memory and just start over. And I'll still be frustrated because you're you're still going to be talking about it in your 80s. I'll be like, Matt, there's been other games since Obra Dinn.
00:05:47
Speaker
Yeah, that's a sneak peek of what we will be like in our 80s. You're welcome. No one has done at the deduction level like the Obra did. President Lucas Pope but fact when he was like back when he was a game designer.
00:06:05
Speaker
Oh my god, that'd be amazing. I can't wait. I can't wait to forget how to play these games so I can play them again. Okay, so that's what we'll be that's what we'll be doing next episode. Space for the Unbound, Cat Lady, Invincible, and Journeyman Project. yeah What are we doing after that? If somebody wants to like get ahead of us oh and play a, you know, be prepared. Well, Matt, we will be discussing one of my favorite games and things in general of all time. Doom. We're playing. No, but it does start with a D, so I'll give you one point. It is the dagger of Amon Ra. Yeah. I'm finally going to play it, everyone.
00:06:57
Speaker
He's never, Matt's never played it, and I thought that was weird. Yeah, I mean, it is, it is weird. It is weird to be this deep into adventure games in my life and still have never played Dagger of Hamanrau, but we're gonna rectify that. I'm going to play it. We are going to talk about it. We're going to dedicate an episode to it, so. I am so excited. I have been looking for new ways to talk about the dagger of honor. So this is perfect for me. ah So if you guys want to prepare for that, if you want to play it, it's on GOG. I don't know if it's on Steam, but it is. like You can download this game and play it easily.
00:07:37
Speaker
If you have an old copy, it's playable on SCUMVM, so. That's true. Or you can check out my Let's Play on Dagger of Amun-Ra, which is on my YouTube channel.
00:07:49
Speaker
Yeah. But not Matt. Matt's not allowed. He has to play the game. No, I got to actually play it. Don't get any funny ideas. Yeah, that's why I got silent. I was like, hm, should I? He's like thinking about, like, whoa, OK. And she has a review and a stream and a Let's Play. I love this game, truly. All right, so do we wanna quick, you know, since they're not getting a full episode here, we why don't we give give them a little taste and let's answer some of our recent
Adventure Game Puzzles Discussion
00:08:17
Speaker
emails. Oh, a little tease. ah Hell yeah. Yeah, I like that. Okay, which question would you like to, we're gonna answer two questions. Which question would you like to answer first? Let's just, let I think let's go backwards from most recent.
00:08:32
Speaker
Okay. So if we're going to do that, uh, let's see, what are your choices for the best puzzles from adventure games? Uh, the listener gives an example. They like the serpent Rouge puzzle from Gabriel night three. He says thanks and signs it. Brian. Hi, Brian. Hey, Brian. ah He says he came here from escape this podcast. If you guys don't know, you were episode of escape this podcast. Remember what episode that was? Nope. Okay, well. But if i car of it's the carnival one. It's like Trouble Under the Big Top. So if you see Trouble Under the Big Top, that's us. um Yeah, and i what are some of your favorite puzzles from Adventure Games?
00:09:14
Speaker
I honestly do have an answer for this. I know it is difficult for gamers to pinpoint certain things, especially if you're looking at an adventure game as a whole experience. But there is a puzzle that I think about when I'm not even playing this game. And that is the it's the bubble gum puzzle from Monkey Island 3, Curse of Monkey Island. You have to get this insane character. His name is Captain Blondbeard. He's very excited. I love him. This is only in the the difficult version of the game. Like you can play yeah a simple version where this is so much simpler. but Where it's easier. Yeah, that's true. This is from Mega Monkey. That's a good... ah that's That's a good thing to point out. ah You have to get Blondebeard's gold tooth because you're a pirate, you want gold. The way you do this is you have to give him a jawbreaker first and he like loosens the tooth. And then you have to give him some gum.
00:10:12
Speaker
And as he's he's like, Oh, yeah, gum. Heck yeah. He's blowing a bubble with the gum and his tooth is in it. And then from there, you have to get this, this bubble with a gold tooth in it. And it it's got some I won't spoil it. It's got some very funny visuals in it. And I think my other answer would be, some of the magical some of the magic spell puzzles from King's Quest VI. I was mentioning to Matt that in King's Quest III you have magic spell puzzles, you have a book, but that is for copyright reasons. Believe believe it or not, that tedious section is more for like copy production. So ah they kind of redid it in King's Quest VI. They have a new spell book
00:10:56
Speaker
And it's easier to manage. And it's just, it's very magical. I always felt, I always felt very accomplished when I did the spells in King's class six. Like there's a spell where you can paint a door anywhere and a door will appear. You know, there's a spell that causes ah like a thunderstorm rain. And I just loved, I loved it. I loved the spell, the spell casting puzzles in King's class six. And I think those are my answers. That's awesome. Oh, so the the part of the um bubblegum puzzle that you describe is that is in both versions. It is in both but versions, but one is sick there is significantly more difficult. Yes, because there it's what happens right after that that I think is so like is just so wild. Yes, it's very funny.
00:11:45
Speaker
and there is
00:11:49
Speaker
because you have to- And that is the one I'm thinking of. You can do it in both, you need the gold tooth in both, but the mega monkey difficult one is the one in my brain that I think is where it is. Right, if you try to walk out the door with the gold tooth, somehow- Just knows. Blondebeard is like... Hey, give me my tooth back. But if you manage to know. Yeah, exactly. So then you have to have something else in your inventory and more gum. And it's just it's it's a crazy and awesome puzzle. And it's funny. It's the visual is very hilarious. Eight steps to it.
00:12:30
Speaker
Yeah, I actually mentioned this puzzle in a video that I did. I think it was called like the funniest puzzles in or the wildest puzzles. And I do mention this one. I call it out specifically. And I can't even say that I can't even read my script without laughing. It's just so silly. So I don't know that I have a puzzle off hand. Like i I have a trouble remembering individual puzzles. Yeah. um But my favorite I'll talk about two of my favorite types of puzzles. First is the, ah we we all know how much I love deduction, but let's talk about a specific kind, which is where you're collecting information and then you're just using it to like do something simple or identify something, right? Like yeah the ultimate the solution to the puzzle is pretty easy and you could have done it at any time, and but you won't,
00:13:21
Speaker
realize you can do it until you gather a bunch of information and put those pieces together. And oftentimes it's like the thing you have to do is simple, but you like the settings on the machine you use are very complex and you have to like cross reference both a chart and some like letter about that has like a clue about like what, Botany Manor was very good for this. I had my, some small criticisms about Botany Manor in this way, ah because there were certain things that it's like, since you're only working on one, you're usually only working on like one or two puzzles at a time, you basically always know what the clues are for. um Would you say that you like, because you're kind of, would you say that you like,
00:14:11
Speaker
like research-style puzzles, like kind of a la Gabriel Knight English Haunting, you know, things that you have to research in, like cross-reference research in-game. Yeah, I really, really like that stuff. I mean, that was why, you know, that's why investigation games, even like her story, were so, are so cool to me. Yeah. I really like investigating. My other favorite type of puzzle is the um time loop puzzle. and you do You do like those time loop puzzles, that's true. Right, where the same things happening in a world every single day, or, you know, a part of a world every single day, and you have to re-enter that time stream several times to, like, one run, you'll...
00:14:58
Speaker
you're just getting information and the next run, you're setting something up and then the third run, you're solving the puzzle. Like for me, that third run is so fucking satisfying. yeah yeah like yeah it may all the like tedium of having to repeat the day over and over worth it. So Majora's Mask, Zelda Majora's Mask, or the Forgotten City are two examples of this that I loved. An example that I fucking hated though was, um oh god, what was that game? It was in the year of time loop games, 12 minutes.
00:15:34
Speaker
was really bad about this, because every loop was tedious. Every loop yeah made you feel bad. It stresses me out. Like, I've played, you know, Sexy Brutal, and that has that that has to do with a yeah specific type of time loop. And I just get so stressed. I get so stressed out. i It's strange, but I am less stressed from the time the triggered time events in, like, kernels or dagger, which is ah opposite of what you're saying. That stresses me out more. Yeah, it's it is stressful. I find it stressful, but I find the relief so. So to be like the relief at the end to be so good, it just like wipes away any stress that I built up and I just feel like the coolest guy. That's cool. Well, you you are the coolest guy, Matt. Well, yeah, I know. But this new title evidence of it. Coolest guy.
00:16:34
Speaker
um Okay, so let's read, I'm gonna read a second question and then we'll get out of here. We've already been, this short episode's a little longer than we expected it to because it's asked. That's okay. Okay. It's a mini app.
Digital vs Physical Game Copies
00:16:49
Speaker
Henry or Henri, I don't know which which pronunciation um pronouns they them, is from Germany and they ask, how do you feel about downloading a game or playing online versus a physical copy that sits on your shelf? What do you think? Well, i I am a very, I've always been a very big proponent of accessibility and being able to play games without too much ah inconvenience, I guess.
00:17:21
Speaker
So I am all for downloading a game, playing a game. ah A lot of my games now are digital, right? it It's so very rare. Even on Switch, even with consoles that still offer physical copies, I would these days, I would much rather have a digital game. that I also have a big box PC game collection. So they do hold a special place in my heart, but I reserve that space. Like, li like literal physical space for these games ah for my favorites. So I do have a copy of diagram on my raw when limited run games when they do their things, I will also buy buy those. um I think Matt and I we both have the limited run
00:18:04
Speaker
Monkey Island box, which is a huge just box. Oh stuff yeah Did you get the did you get the update? when the when ah Return to Monkey Island came out I Don't I don't know it's like me. It's it's like a ah heavy cardstock ah Hollow box that you put over the box that has ah that has return to monkey island on it and then it has return to monkey island on like a a ah flash drive and then it has one of the keys
00:18:40
Speaker
that you collect in the game and has like a little um ah replica of that. It was actually, it was not worth the 90 some dollars. by way But it is, it is cool. If you, if money is not an object for you, it was, it is worth getting. Money is a bit of an object for me. And so I did feel a little ah ripped off. yeah understand Understand, I understand. But, you know, whatever, I have it now and I'm and it's cool to have. I love the box that we both have, the Monkey Island with the candle holder and the little mini guybrush statue guybrush. I love that. I keep I keep that one on display. But yeah, too long didn't read. I want everybody to be able to play games. Yeah.
00:19:30
Speaker
I want everybody to be able to afford games. And if it's better to and easier to download it for people, then I'm all for it, you know? Yeah. yeah You know, I agree. It took me a little bit to get over this idea that we're moving to a digital ownership for everything. Yeah. It felt at first kind of like a scam, but you know, I'm a person who really likes stuff that is.
00:20:03
Speaker
for better or worse collectible, right? So I am a big comic book fan and those things take up a lot of room in a house and I read a lot of books. So, ah you know, books take up a ton of room in a house. I'm a big video game player and physical copies of video games take up. So in the past, say 10 years and also I'm a big fan of all comic books, but superhero comics are what I grew up on. And I actually, you know, I still like them quite a bit. So I was, I would often get like toys and statues and stuff. And I just, anytime I move, I'm like, I have way too much shit. This sucks. I hate this. it's So. It's rough. It's even rougher with, I think video games a lot of the time. yeah They just really, really build up.
00:20:54
Speaker
And now having been in like the video game criticism and fan communities for five years or so, I have, you know, over 600 games on Steam. and There's no way I could fit 600 games into my house. So, you know, collecting things digitally just makes more sense for me and I've grown to love it. um even Even with comic books, like I've grown to, ah give away, you know, sell or trade in all of my floppy single issues for trade paperbacks, because it'd take up less room. you know um yeah And the other thing about having ah digital games is this new concept of updates, right? Yes, that's a big one.
00:21:47
Speaker
the idea that, you know, you you can buy a game and then over time you'll just end up having more content or yeah fixes to things that are broken or um sometimes people will just like put in an entirely like almost a sequel length. Like if you bought Shovel Knight back in the day, You just keep getting more Shovel Knight. Yeah, that's true. The first Shovel Knight that you bought and I think a couple, most of these are um ah paid DLC, but pretty cheap. And it's like the Shovel Knight that you bought the first time you bought Shovel Knight is one fifth of the game now. Yeah.
00:22:36
Speaker
It's and so like, you know, digital releases have given us that. And I think that's really cool. Yeah. And it, you know, it also saves on, um, Oh, what's the word I want to use here? Supplies. It saves on supplies, saves on plastic, you know, oh not just simple stuff like that. very good point. Yeah. um And yeah again, it's it to me, it's about accessibility. And ah you should hear me talk about emulation because I have a lot of thoughts about emulation. I'm very pro emulation. So, so yeah, I am all for it. But I do have a soft spot for some of my
00:23:15
Speaker
my older collection, I would say. Yeah, I really have to limit that because I could i could go i could go nuts with it. yeah have to I just have to like keep reminding myself, you do not want to move all these things. Yeah, no. I think about that all the time now. Yeah. Yeah. My big box PC game collection, when I had to move it, I was like, oh, God, what have I done? I have no more big box PC games. All the ones that I have, you know, I have I have sold because, again, it's just so much room. You want some? I got some. Yeah. you Give one to me. I'll cherish it for like four weeks and then I'll say. You were fired. I was going to sign it and everything.
00:24:07
Speaker
All right. If you sign it, then I'll then I'll keep it forever. Thank you. Thank you. Until you're at least 80 and you can't remember whose signature it is. And then I'll sell it on eBay.
00:24:18
Speaker
ah Mind eBay, which we will all have in the future. yeah
00:24:25
Speaker
All right, well, that has been our non episode. Twenty five minutes of ah not having an episode. I hope you guys enjoyed the little teaser you got. And um yeah, be sure to come back next week and we're going to have a lot of games to talk about. Yep. And then after that. it's gonna be happy roses for five hours. It's the first time you'll be truly happy in your life. Yes. I've been waiting for this moment to tell Matt Aucamp about the attacker of Balmond Rods. That's what's missing. You used to say that as like a little kid and everyone was like, what the fuck are you talking about?
00:25:10
Speaker
All right. Well, ah you does this still I think this still deserves our send off, don't you? I think so. Yeah, I think so. So podcasts is art? And art is suffer.