[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I was like, I've had enough. Uh, this is, this is my jam. I'm, I'm going to pick this up.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I go on waves, I, I play for two or three months, get really into it, then walk away for two or three years, come back, get into it for like a month or two, walk away from it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] This week in the way back, ladies and gents, it is the week of, uh, what is it? April 14th, April 13th. And this comes out, which means we've got a lot of interesting titles. I will go first because it's one of my favorite games of all time. And I think you all will agree. It's one of the best, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It was like, I remember the feeling of opening up my Christmas gift and it was a super Nintendo with super Mario world and links to the past. It had a cool carrying case that came with it, but I would take it to like my cousin's house or whatever. It was the coolest thing ever. Uh, links to the past is in my top 10 games of all time.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, so glad that we've got it. Link Between Worlds on the 3DS is phenomenal. If you have got a chance to play that, it's a very faithful, I don't want to say reboot or remake, but it takes a lot of liberties to retell the same story in the same universe, but with the whole different mechanics.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Hell yeaah. Lucy, take us home. What do you got?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, I am that one video gamer on YouTube or you can just search the completionist.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, I'm on Twitter and Instagram as AtCompletionist slash TheCompletionist, Twitch, TheCompletionist, and one last pimp for me. Uh, I have a new style of video that I made on the complete history of E3 that's coming out today. So if you want to know every aspect of E3 from inception to its deletion,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'm down for that. Come check it out. I've made one video like this before called the complete legacy of Mega Man X which logged all of the X games. This is the same thing but for the history of E3. So come on by and watch it and tell me why it sucks because I'm learning. It's a learning thing.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He just walked around in his house in a cardboard box. And his missus is like, Stop doing that, okay? I've told you so many times that's not healthy. And you're like, what, you can see me? What? I'm just a cardboard box.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If you haven't, we don't know what we're talking about, I reviewed Power Watch Simulator and, uh, it, it, it spoke to me on a certain level, so I made, I communicated that in my video, so it's, it's the intro block. If you only have to watch the first 30 seconds, you get the gist of the whole video, okay? That's the point. But we'll definitely come back to Power Watch Simulator, because it's actually pretty top tier amazing. It really is.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And Gerard, my man, my dude, he's uh, obviously, you know him, he's the completionist, he completes all the video games, where, where game journalists not dare tread, getting platinum trophies for every game that he plays. It sounds like utter madness, I would never do it, you couldn't pay me 5 million dollars a year to do that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, but he does it every week, and he also hosts on G4, and uh, he's just an awesome rad dude, and how you been man?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yours is not the finish line, yours is like the finish line and then it's, and then it's like the, you're going around and running a second lap and then, you know, you're like hosing down the car afterwards. Like that's you, you know? So that's all, that's, that's another thing, but yeah.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well it's like in Australia by the way, because we call McDonald's Maccas over here.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You can. KFC, KFC in Australia is famous for its chips, fries, I don't know what you guys call them, but like in Australia, the chips, the KFC fries are God tier legendary, incredible. Oh my God. You just, they just douse them in chicken salt and they're just amazing. And sometimes you go to KFC and you order like a meal and they don't put chicken salt on the chips and you're like,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And, uh, Ghost Recon Future Soldier. But in doing so, they also would remove DLC that you had purchased for those games, even if it was single-player DLC. Okay? So, stuff like items that you have purchased.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, like character packs, missions or maps, all that sort of stuff. You would lose access to that because the online, the way that DLC was integrated required a kind of online authentication. So instead of Ubisoft kind of patching it to like make it available to everyone, they're just like, well, we know you bought it, but now it's gone.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Bad luck. And everyone was like, well, that sucks. But anyway, we can, it kind of just was a small story. But then what happened the following week was that on Steam, two games, Silent Hunter 5 and Assassin's Creed Liberation HD got these warnings saying, hey, listen, first of all, they were delisted so you couldn't purchase them. Then there was a warning saying, um, that,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] From September onwards, these games would no longer be accessible. Okay, that was the word.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And so that wording has not appeared on any other Ubisoft title. It was specific to that. And so at that point, everyone's like, well, obviously that means that we are not going to be able to access these games. There was a warning saying that these games would be delisted and they were, and then there was a warning to say they would not be accessible.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So at that point, everyone's like, well, hang on. There's a single player game that I purchased years ago or whenever. And in fact, some people purchased it as recently as the steam sale. It was like 75% off, right? You could have bought it the week before. And then Ubisoft were now saying that come September, they would no longer be available on steam. So everyone erupted.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And, uh, everyone's like, this is bullshit. And after that, Ubisoft issued a clarification to say, oh, actually you still will be able to access it. And it's like, well, okay. Fine. Why?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Have you said it would be inaccessible then? And in fact, why are you delisting it at all? If it's still going to be accessible on Steam, why are you delisting it, right?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So, uh, it just sounds like a lot of bullshit. It doesn't sound like that was a clarification at all. It sounds like a backtrack and they were panicking because everyone was like, Hey, guess it's time to pirate Ubisoft games because now they're just gonna straight up, you know, take them out of our libraries after we bought them.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And uhm, I think it's a fair point and it's a funny point at this point as well because Skull and Bones is doing their like, their promo right now and the motto for that game is long live piracy. They couldn't be anymore.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That's right. Uhm, so yeaah, that is the background to uhm, how all of this unfolded.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They're an NFT market now. It was the most, like, it was a, it was almost a parody of that commercial. Like the way it spun at the end, I was like, oh, is this hard drive mag? Is this, is this the hard times? Like, please, it has to be, let it be a joke. But yeah, that's very sad.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Emulation, well actually emulation on 4 is like not great, but yeaah. But I think it really definitely, it definitely throws open that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The discussion about the nature of piracy and whatever else, which I know is a very like awkward.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The reality is that more and more publishers are going to create these online only experiences.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Video games that are entirely, that exist entirely in online ecosystems.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Any work that the modding community, the emulation community,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I really, I'm definitely not a fan of people stealing games, that very strict sense of piracy. There's lots of economic factors to unpack in that as well in terms of regional pricing, stuff we won't even talk about now. But in a broad sense, if you can afford to pay for a game, right? And then I think you should pay for it. And that's always been my philosophy.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But I've definitely come to appreciate the work of the emulation and piracy community more and more.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Because I think preserving video games and preserving our long term access to them and also guaranteeing our ownership, I think that is, um, very important work, you know, and, um, I, I'm definitely going to be paying more attention to that scene because I think that this is,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Part of it, I imagine, is like regulation, for example. Okay, so there's, you know, different nations have laws in relation to their libraries, where, you know, Library of Congress or what have you, where you need to submit like four copies of every book published in the United States, and that's a thing. And it's like, cool, that's great. That preserves that book forever.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And there's no equivalent for that in the world of video games.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Similarly, there's not nothing that mandates that a developer should make their game available offline by some means because


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That's, and I don't know that they necessarily should be that kind of mandate because that is extra.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Would I want that? Sure. Great. I think that would be fantastic. But I'm also, we live in the real world and maybe the way this game is being built, and I've definitely heard this from some developers, that if you try and create an offline version of that, it's a lot of extra stuff. I'm also sensitive to that. I hear that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But the way that things are going right now, I don't think that we're on the right trajectory at all. And so I do think we should open up that conversation about, well,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] What are we preserving and how are we making it available offline? Because yea, the division will eventually at some point be completely inaccessible because Ubisoft will take the servers offline. There's no offline game equivalent.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That's it, right? And this is something we live with right now in the world of Destiny, which, you know, is a whole thing, but for anyone unfamiliar with that, Destiny has a concept called content vaulting, where after roughly three years,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Of content being released, like an expansion that you purchased, Bungie will essentially decommission it and it becomes completely inaccessible. You cannot replay it. All that, those PvP maps and the campaign that you played through and the whatever, all of that is just taken out of the main game.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And so you're kind of on a three year rotation with Destiny's content.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] What I've said there isn't a thousand percent accurate, but it's the broad strokes, right? And, uh, it, it fucking sucks. Like did Bungie say that they do it because it gives them agility and it allows them to focus on


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But at the same time, I don't believe it's acceptable that Destiny's history is lost in that way because...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, Forsaken, for example, an absolutely extraordinary campaign that really resurrected that game. And it's unplayable. Nobody can experience it. New players that want to join the Destiny universe cannot experience it. Uh, and that is not good enough in my book. And I don't think that, um, and you talk about like, oh, it only takes one publisher.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Destiny right now is that one publisher and I guarantee you other publishers will continue to follow their lead on this because uhm, I just think it's kind of too attractive not to.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, and I think that's the other thing as well, like the legal frameworks for this, I think really do need to be updated because, I mean, I do think there should be some kind of guidance around, because obviously there's also that the IP challenge where, you know, these things are created and then rights holders


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Like sort of hoard them like, you know, stuff goblins, like dragons on big mounds of dead IP and dead unplayable games. And they kind of snap at anyone that dares try and make them playable. And it's like, well, that fucking sucks. Like that shouldn't be the way of it. So no, there needs to be some.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Way to address that, I saw an interesting, uhm, you know,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But I reckon that fight should be had and I think Nintendo should lose because ultimately like this is an art form and you know, if you wanted, if, if like Paramount wanted to


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Sure. I charted one too. Yeah, they were really bad.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And also has already been updated once before, don't forget, cause they had the PS4 version. Yeah, it ran pretty well. Uh, and, and that was like, it runs beautifully, 60 FPS, they touched up some textures and whatever else, so. Yeah, I mean, I think, I mean, I think.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Personally, I mean, naughty dog aren't liars, you know, like they don't overhype stuff. And so when they say that like this is a really massively ambitious project and you know, it's, it's, it's totally worth it. It's not a cash grab. I am inclined to believe them, especially given the fact that, you know, I don't love the last of us gameplay.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But a lot of people do. A lot of people are like, I can't get enough of this. It's the most realistic feeling, sort of stealth plus CQC kind of experience that I can


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The promise of the remake is essentially to bring that gameplay into The Last of Us Part 1, right, with that incredible story and characters and also make it look incredible and all the work that they've done on facial animations and like actual faces, faces, they've changed them.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There's a lot there. You know, this is not just, hey, we've made it a higher frame rate and resolution and, and, you know, call it a day. Like there's, there's genuine work that's there.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, but, yeaah, I don't know, like, it would have been great if there was some kind of upgrade path, because we've, I've bought that game now, twice, and to buy it a third time, I don't know, it would have been great if I could pay, you know, 30 bucks to go from the PS4 version to the upgrade version, that'd be nice.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, but that is not obviously Sony's play on this, but also I do think comparatively about how I.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Why are we asked these questions about this medium versus others? So example, for example, Robocop 4k. I just bought that for, I don't know. It was like.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That's the best 50 bucks I ever spent because now I get to watch Robocop in 4K and it looks incredible, right? And so I don't, I don't bat an eyelid at that. I think with films we're like, yeah, sure. I'll, I'll pay the same price for the new whatever with the new features. So the directors cut whatever.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But with video games, we really agonize over this question. We're like, oh, is it worth that? Is it? I don't know, you know? We have different, different metrics for how we evaluate video game stuff versus pretty much any other medium.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But like, that's the other thing though, this game has gone gold. It's out in September, which is not far from now.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Oh man, wouldn't that be the best thing about E3s in Vegas? Oh my god. Just put it in Vegas. Put it in Vegas. No one's rocking up to any of their appointments though, that's the thing, right? It would be the least productive E3 of all time.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Is Digital Foundry part of that network or are they just partner with them? Cause I know the digital, a Eurogamer always do an article on Digital Foundry's content. I'm not sure if that's because they own them or if they just like have a partnership agreement.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There's actually a third lane, and it's the kind of genesis of E3, which is a trade show, right? And that's, I think...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, you hang around there and the person next to you is just an average punter, the person to your right is a journalist and the person in front of you is a buyer for like, best buyer or whatever and they're like going into a booth to figure out how many copies of, you know, Klonoa remake they're gonna buy. I'll commit to a million units. Deal.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Even when E3 was beginning to splinter, you still had a kind of calendar of events around that time, right?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So you still had EA Play for example, which wasn't at E3, it was a separate venue, but they were doing it in the same window. And then you had Devolver Digital who always sit up in the car park across the street because they're cheeky bastards and they get away with it, right?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, and you'd have other stuff, the PC game show was, I'm trying to think if that was officially branded as part of E3 or not.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But yeah, it was Sony that pulled out and Activision that pulled out and then EA were doing something else on this separate thing.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But the industry is still so gigantic, and I think we're so often fixated on those massive players that we think that, oh, that's it, that's all there is. But they just, they represent just a portion of it, right? And if you were to host an E3


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And Embracer Group, for example, were to go really large in their investment with their massive portfolio of studios that's coming along. And I'm sure Square Enix would be keen on that. And Xbox has always, and Phil Spencer seems very committed to E3, like you said this on record many times. I think Nintendo would probably continue to have a presence there.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So I think that you could do it. And I think the publishers would be up for it. Not all of them. Some of them would want to do it on their own terms and whatever. But I think there's more than enough there to make a really cool show.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Is that when he was gonna meet Kojima? Was that when he was like, I must meet Kojima. That was me. That's me anytime I go to a gaming event.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] No, I was going to say, I just, I think, um, one question I would definitely have is whether or not you guys want it to have, want it to be more of that community thing. Cause like PAX, for example, is all about those community events. Like they have a whole hall devoted to tabletop and like whatever, you know, um,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Board games, that sort of shit. Do you reckon E3 needs that? Like is that something? Cause that's definitely not what it is now. It's two big trade halls with lots of like the hands on demo units and that's it. Do you think it needs to go in that PAX direction or should it stay kind of like...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The other thing as well, and I think it's, I would also sort of just to blow it out a little bit is like, right now we think of E3 as just this physical event.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But I think that these online festivals that we're having like Steam Next Fest for example, we're like, Oh, well that's a totally different thing. Well, I think I don't think they should be a totally different thing. I know Geoff Keighley has spoken in the past about blurring these lines and I think that we should look to create


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] An online space for E3 that is as interesting as the physical space. So if you're going to have panels and keynotes, then make sure they're being live streamed and you know, and that's not just to Twitch, obviously to Twitch, but to other platforms as well. And demos, man, like, okay, why is it that only game journalists and people who line up for four hours


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] All of that stuff, you know what I mean? I just think the idea that E3 should only exist for those there in person or those just watching a livestream, I just don't think that's quite right. I think that it would be great to see the concept of video game festivals and events kind of blow out to really incorporate virtual space and virtual hands-on a lot more than it currently does.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] January was not much, it was pretty chill, but then February was the most insane February I've ever experienced in ever really. Cause we had.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Seifu, Dying Light, uh, Horizon, Elden Ring, and probably some other stuff that I just totally forgot about because it all just kinda got swept under the tsunami of those four games. But that was, uh, crazy.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And since then, yeaah, not a lot in terms of really big things that have really stood out and...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, I just, I've been slowly chilling out and going through things bit by bit. Like I played with Wes, for example, which I was kind of looking forward to, but then ended up being a bit of a bummer. Um, there was Tiny Tina's Wonderlands, which was a nice surprise. Yeah. So that was actually surprisingly good. Yep.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, I, and then for example, like Ghost by Tokyo, I missed that last year, cause it was last year it was released, right? That was this year.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I feel like usually in our job we kind of, or at least certainly the way that I do it is like, I'm just a slave to the release schedule. I'm like, what's next? What's next? What's next? But because it's been quite light on, it's given me a little bit of breathing room to play some other things. And I mean, for example, I went back and played Subnautica Below Zero recently. I'm not sure if any of you guys have played that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, not great, unfortunately. I'll probably talk more about that in a dedicated video later, but yeah, bit of a, bit of a letdown versus the original.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] As I said, a nice relaxed period post February to just sort of enjoy video games versus, um, feeling like, oh, there's too many video games and I'm never going to be able to cover them all. But I've actually had a really nice couple of months actually. So yeah, it's been, it's been great.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I think we should sell short September, because September kicks off with Catoon 3, Warhammer Darktide, Metal Hellsinger, that rhythm game, which is pretty cool actually, Evil West, and then Grounded 1.0 and Deo Field Chronicle. That's just September. That's just September.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The only confirmed first party Xbox stuff coming this September grounded 1.0 and Pentament, which is scheduled for November, I believe. Oh, I'm stoked for Pentament.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, but then that's it. And I think that was the narrative when Starfield got the bump. Everyone was like, oh, Xbox has no games this year. It's like, well, yeah, it's kind of true actually, but that's okay. They'll have lots of games next year, so that's fine, you know.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The Saints Row as well is in August, but I think, I feel like, yeah, I think the only massive, massive like takeover kind of title that's coming between now and the end of the year is God of War Ragnarok. Correct me if I'm wrong. I mean Bayonetta just got announced, but even then Bayonetta is fantastic, but it's not going to take over like that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Oh man. Good luck with that Ubisoft. Good luck with that. Have you guys seen that gameplay by the way? Just as a side, have you guys seen the Skeleton Modes gameplay?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'm like, this was years ago, it was playable. And they're like, what'd you think? And I'm like, that was shit.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, yeah, but then like that game had like another three years of development. It's already just been released in free to play, by the way. That was like two months ago. Have you heard about that game since then? Nope. Nope. You haven't. I didn't even know it came out. I'm sorry. So, yeah, that was, that's. There's that other one coming out.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] What, a roller derby game? Oh, you mean roller drone? Yeah, that's the one where you do jumps and flips and guns. That looks nice. That looks nice. That's pretty soon as well, so.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It was like that, um, that Elden Ring meme with the Ubisoft UI. And they're like, that's what Skull and Bones actually is. It's that unironically.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, that's gonna be too, cause Coaster Protocol on December 2nd is the last release that I have in my schedule, so yeaah. I think that's it for the year.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] A Gotham Knights as well is in October. There's definitely stuff, and Mario Rabbids by the way, I'm actually very looking forward to. Mario Rabbids! That's gonna be so good!


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So there's, look, there's lots of stuff, but as I said, none of it, except for maybe Cluster Protocol, Call of Duty, and uh, God of War, I think are those three big ones that are really gonna seize the zeitgeist. Everything else is kind of stuff to look forward to, I'm really keen on, but uhm, it's that sort of like, you know, second tier offering


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Because I was like, oh, Peppa Pig rules, man, it's a gay post, let's go. But everyone's like, nah, dude, the power wash. I'm like, oh, okay, that's weird. I thought you guys would be, were joking, but you were being serious. And so I was like, I'll give it a crack. And I learned that Square Enix are publishing it, which is super weird by the way. I'm not sure how that fits, but okay.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And yeah, I dumped a good sort of 15 hours into it over the last few days. And it's so unbelievably


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Satisfying, like I just can't describe to you how, like the feeling that you get when you look back


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] On the like the results of your labors, you know, you just feel like, Oh, I've accomplished something here. And it's just, it's just, it's deep, man. It's just like, it just gets you. And, um, I loved it. I really did. I listened to an audio book while I was playing it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I was just sitting there chilling out. I made myself a drink at one point, like a nice paper plane. If anyone knows what that is, a fancy little cocktail. I mixed myself up.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And man, I was just living the dream. And, um, I'm, I think I'm becoming increasingly interested in these kind of chilled out Zen games because I also am playing recently this game called Dorf Romantic. Have you guys heard of this? Oh yeah. Oh, it's so chill.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So, Dolphimantic is actually the second highest rated game of the year on Steam, right, according to Steam 250.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It is a little indie title that is basically about building, um, villages and you get re- you get randomly handed tiles and then you just kind of drop them down. And over time you build out a landscape with a village and a fields and a windmill and a lake and all this stuff. It's almost like a game of Tetris.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Except there are no, there's no failure state really. Well there kind of is, but not really.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] For real though, people would, so many people when that came out was like, dude, this is the best thing ever you have to look at. I'm like, that sounds terrible, not interested. But I'm beginning to understand as a result of Power Wash, which really showed me that kind of like, promised land of what those games could be.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I sort of said that it's like a colouring book for adults because you basically have these really dark environments and you trace the lines and when you're done, you have this beautiful colourful thing that's in front of you and you're like, that's great.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That's the other thing you can actually pause or like stop doing that clean partway through. If you just quit, it actually saves you progress and you can go to your in-progress jobs and it lets you just come back to it. So you feel like I'm bored of this playground. I'm going to go and like, you know, do a house now and you just press escape, go to the menu, go to the house there in three seconds. Boom. It's a different location. You're doing the same thing.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, but I also found as well, I just, my, I don't know how your brains work, but like,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I would be like, Oh, I'm doing one part of one surface. And then I would look to the right and I'd be like, I'm going to go do that part of that surface now. And so like, rather than doing this methodical kind of like section by section thing, I'd have this like, I don't have ADHD, but I imagine this is probably like ADHD adjacent where I would have all these half finished panels, you know, because I keep getting distracted by, by, by, you know, all this stuff. That's how, how I did it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It would be an interesting completionist playthrough because the game in itself is about completing, obviously all games are about completing things in some way shape or form, but this one is very much about completing something. It's about completing each panel, completing the level.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Early access. It's out, by the time this podcast is out, it's out. Yes. So it's out today though, or your tomorrow actually. You're watching this podcast.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I really want the, I really want the brands to get in on this by the way. Like I really want to be able to, you know, like power wash. I said in my review, like a KFC store or like.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, like, like a Disneyland ride, you can like, you know, go at, or like the new- Five Nights at Freddy's DLC. All that sort of shit, do you know what I mean? Uh, just bring it on. I, I reckon it'd be so sick. Like, yeah, I would like, or other video games, like you could, yeah, like, like a Power Washer Pelican from Halo, do you know what I mean? Yeah, like Square Enix does well.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So yea, Dolphin Manning I mentioned before, and uhm, I just did my preview for 40k Darktide as well, which I, we covered briefly when I, uh, when we were in LA, I think I spoke about it in our first episode, but I finally managed to do the preview for that. And uhm, yea man, the more I, the more I looked at that in detail and really worked through that preview and,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, I just, I'm really thinking that's looking fantastic. I've also started reading 40k books, like my first book. I know it's very dangerous. Everyone's warned me about it, but it's happening. Um, are you guys ever, are you guys into this at all? Are you guys into 40k? No, no, no.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] This, um, you know, this first book I read is called like First and Only. It's very like, uh, how would I describe it? Like continental warfare, like Napoleonic Wars meets Dune, like, you know, Dune, Dune, sci-fi.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, and it's just cool. So I'm just keen for more of that and also the person who's kind of the most prolific author in the 40k, 40k space.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Is actually writing the lore for that game. And before I was like, oh, that's a neat bullet point. I'll mention that. But now having read this book and looking at how much this guy's contributed to that universe and seeing how well he writes, I'm like, hey, that's actually really cool that this guy is doing that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Um, yeah, really very excited for that. Um, that's like out of September times. It's kind of soon-ish.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And uhm, also Destiny 2, it's, it's a season wrapped up. It's like all, cause Destiny 2 has seasons that run for a few, three or four months. And uhm, but it kind of ends about after month two with like their major story beat stuff and whatever. And so that just wrapped up this last week.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And, uh, I really think that was a fantastic season for reasons that I won't bore you with. And also the Destiny community does not agree. They think it was a really shit season. Uhm, but I really liked it and I'm really impressed with what it did in a very small, subtle way. It's got its problems obviously as Destiny always does.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, yeah, yeah. What is it about this particular season that makes it stand out versus the rest? Very briefly, I think that, well, does it hold any appeal to anyone not already playing Destiny? Absolutely not. No. So if you're like, Hey, is this the time to jump in? I'd be like, absolutely no. Hell no. Hell no.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's very much servicing those that are already in, but uhm, for those that are in, I think it gave a lot of very satisfying story beats for characters that you've known for a while and showed another side of them that I thought was really interesting, dealing with their personal shame and trauma. Destiny oscillates wildly between like,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Picking up G.I. Joe action figures and smashing them together, pew pew, versus a more sort of like thoughtful, uhm, approach to its narrative that can be very, uhm, I don't know, quite


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Destiny hasn't always got that right. Destiny has sometimes had some really cool shit that you might want, but not always. But this season, there's a few carefully placed items in a few places that...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Really have sort of like made me very hungry to keep playing more Destiny. So again, plenty of problems with the season, but on balance, I think it was really strong and I really loved it and I'm keen to talk about it more in a dedicated video so that I don't have to bore non-Destiny people with talking about it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] On balance, I don't recommend new players join Destiny, except in major expansions and only with a lot of caveats, because uhm, the way that they've vaulted their content and the way they approach content these days, it's so hostile to new players and there's no reform coming for


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Likely years. I think it's gonna be this way for at least another two years. So uhm, after that time, it might be a good time to jump into Destiny. Right now though, it's doing a really great job of servicing those that are already playing.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah. They just announced they shipped a million copies.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Master's right here. The SEO works for us now. The taste makers. Um, yeah. No, but I mean, I remember playing that obviously back at launch. I don't even know how I came to it. Like, I'm not sure. I think I saw a trailer or whatever. I was like, oh, that looks cool. You know? And, um, it's from Focus Home Interactive. I think they published it. Just, uh, just, yeah, like totally exactly what you said. It, um,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It knows exactly what it wants to be. It doesn't overreach in any aspect. It has a really beautifully written sort of tender story. Like they really nailed that sibling thing quite well, I thought. Um, yeah, some of the puzzles were so inventive.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The visuals though, I just really like was punching so high above its weight above like back then, you know.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That was from Asobo Interactive, and before then these guys had mainly focused on making Disney licensed games, like a warly game and shit, right?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] This thing, and no disrespect to the Wall-E game by the way, but this thing just sort of came out of nowhere from these guys and it's like, what the hell? How did you do this? Because it was.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's a, it's a double A game so to speak.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But it really feels as polished and it looks as good as a AAA game, but it's this very linear, narrow, short form experience that most AAA studios just wouldn't touch these days, that they wouldn't make a game like this. So it feels quite special and unique in terms of what it is as a value proposition.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Because it is this beautifully polished, linear, single-player game, uhm,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That I just think we don't see much of these days. You know, they're usually.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Totally. It would be cool if we started answering some of y'all questions. Y'all, y'all. I'm trying that out. Is it working? Is it sticking? Is it not? Should I keep going?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, y'all seems much more charming. Uhm, anyway, email, yes, it is contact at friendspersecond.com. I'll leave it below in the description as well.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Fire off some questions. Doesn't necessarily need to be gaming related. If it's just whatever, ehh, it's fine. If it's safe to put in the video and will not result in us being demonetized, then it's fine. Interesting topics, yea, if you want to start.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Whatever man, we're just happy to shoot the shit and uh, so please reach out to us. We'd love to hear from you.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I am okay, uh, I am doing well, thank you, uh, I still have not received a God of War code, uhm, I haven't received a Gotham Knights code, uh, I haven't received any codes, uh, so, except for one. It just makes you the renegade. So, it's cool.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I, look, you know how you had that friend that, uh, is like, always plays the games like three months after they came out, when you were growing up? That's me. Uh, and-


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Jake, that is the most New York ass thing I've ever heard. Running on Dunkin' with a cigarette.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I also just want to throw out there, and I don't know if this matters all that much, but I think it does kind of matter a smidge. Uhm, from the data that I just looked up,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] About 5 million PSVR ones sold, right? Versus the 180 million player base that the PS4 currently is. 180 million plus, give or take, right? I don't- no.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And this thing is more expensive than a PS5. So, like, I don't know who this is for just yet. Like, if it's for the loyalist of the PSVR fandom, great. Which does exist. There's some people that'll ride or die.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Great. I'm s- I'm stoked for them. So happy that they can do that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I just think that if you are going to venture into anything like a sequel to your previous VR thing, probably should have the console more available first before you start pulling the ropes. Don't count the chickens before they're in the cart.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If they do it, if they do that, I will, I will take the L on that statement and everyone can make fun of me.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I have a buddy who legally and safely is not modding a console. There are ways to get PSVR games to run on a PS5.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's mostly, it's mostly a hardware issue, not a software issue. It's like, the way that the PS, the PSVR interacts with the PS4 versus the PS5. You need a couple of adapters and things like that, but it is possible. I have seen it, my buddy has played it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But yea, I think that's also a very weird thing. If, if, if I were Sony, I'd be like, hey, loyal PSVR customers, you're gonna be buying a PSVR 2, and games that were on PSVR 1 can work on PSVR 2.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Absolutely. I just feel like if, if that is the case, then you know, like when we all bought PS5s, right?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You can buy a PS5 with zero games, and out the box with PlayStation Plus, you've got PS4 game libraries at the wazoo that are PS5 ready to go, some with PS5 patches. Sick, right?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Great. What does that look like for PSVR2 users who are about to spend up to what? Didn't you say, Ralph, for you it's $850 American because you're in Australia?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, like that's a lot of money to then be like, and then I'm gonna buy a game that's just as much, or whatever the full price of a PlayStation VR game is, right?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If you can find a way to reward your, your, your consistent fan base every single time along the way, I think that's how you can justify those costs. But if you're not going to do that, then that's just a big bummer to me.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Have you guys played blasters of the universe?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You guys didn't ask, but my experience of VR was, uh, Oculus came to me and cause I was


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Openly against VR for many years and then Oculus came to me and said, we want to pay you a bunch of money to change your mind.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I eventually just started playing a bunch of VR games and the one that I played and fell in love with was Blasters of the Universe. You go inside of an arcade machine.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, to like fight this game master who set the high score. And it's like, it's like in-person asteroids, like you are a floating head, your hitbox is your head, and it's just constant 3D polygons shooting stuff at you, and you gotta...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, uh, wave, synth wave music going the whole time. Highly recommend it. Uh, it did come out on PSVR, but uh, if you got it, if you got a current VR, don't sleep on it. It's a great game.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I think this is just a portion of the statement, right? This is not the whole thing. This is nothing on Patreon.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, today I will move on from both Twitter and Patreon. There won't be any games coverage from me on either platform.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I've learned a lot in a short period of time. Unfortunately, I was not able to create an interesting and sustainable Patreon, which is evident in the number of patrons stagnating during the first weekend and the first of many pledges being deleted during the first week.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I have miscalculated the value of my Twitter activity and realized that it is nothing worth supporting by itself. For the mass majority of the people, it is not me who is popular but it is the work that is useful. It is not valuable by itself.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But a comfortable time saver and I get that now. I was unable to create a reliable revenue stream, but I'm still happy I gave it a shot. And I want to say thank you to everybody on here who gave me a shot as well. I'll look into refunds for recent payments. I've already deactivated the billing and will likely close this page, uh, this week.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I think that's, that's, uh, reading this statement, this, this is, there's so much going on in it, but I think the thing I, I can see them feeling, possibly, if I can speculate a little bit, is that this is someone who loved what they,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They really enjoyed what they did. And they loved that everyone loved that they did the thing that they did.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That's kind of where like the, the fine line of what an influencer is or a content creator is versus what a brand is, right? Like, not to say that Nibel isn't, isn't an influencer or a content creator.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But because the general populace doesn't know them, or Wario64, or whatever it may be,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There isn't a personal connection to that person outside of the work that they do, and I think that's kind of where this...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The Patreon reception and, and this statement kind of sits for them, which sucks because like you said, Ralph,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, Nibel put so much great work out there. And it's a shame because if the, eh, to me, I blame the platform. If Twitter had a way for all of us to monetize safely and not in a gross, manipulative way, you know, Nibel could still be here.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It, it was Wario64 for me until Wario64 told me two weeks ago that my job was gone. So now I have a, I have a bit of a harder...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'm, I'm the exact same way, played a lot during the early access, didn't really touch it ever since. I really want to, but I need, I feel like it's


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] No, I think it's just because for me personally, I'm a little burnt out on, okay, I've never seen gameplay of State of Decay, but if I had to guess, just throwing it out there, is it a zombie game? Yes. No, it's actually...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, that's right. Understood. Yeah, uh, I think it's just that, that I, at the time that they released those games, I've just been like, I've had enough of...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Zombos and, and, and that kind of stuff. And I feel like at this point, if it's not Resident Evil or Dead Rising,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Rest in peace. Uh, I, uh, I just don't really get into it. Dead Island 2 might be the first.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So coming back to the post interview approach to this, uh, something that I, I kind of picked up from, from Matt, and I don't know if you guys did too, but, and it's kind of a weird phrase that I'm kind of coming to my mind.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It seems like, uh, Xbox Game Pass is kind of is in the way that's positioned at Microsoft.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Is not just about getting subscribers, but it's more like financial accessibility. It's really about letting the gambit of anyone out of their customer market pool afford the ability to play games, whether it's you're buying it on day one to support the developer you love, whether you're waiting for sales.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Whether you're going through Game Pass, uhm, or you're trying it out through demos, like, it seems like they're really trying to make sure that Game Pass is not just the end all be all option, but it's, it's multiple options out of


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, what theoretically could be financial, the financial success for Microsoft. I don't know. What do you guys think about that if you're going to add to that at all?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I do want to add to the list real quick just before everyone forgets. Vampire Survivors is coming to Xbox and Xbox Game Pass.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You have no reason to, to ignore this game now. I believe it's coming out on the 10th of November. Right around the corner.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I played the Rose portion. I did not get a chance to play the Ethan Winters Over the Shoulder third person one. I just did the Rose DLC.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The Rose DLC was nice. It was a fun time. I think it, uh, it fills in some of the gaps between the relationship of, of, of Ethan Winters and the, the people that he kind of encountered, uhm, throughout the experience of, of, uh, Village.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It, you do go to the same places as, as you do in, in, um, uh, village, but the enemy types are different. It's not just the same, you know, uh, werewolves and, and that kind of stuff.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And the villain is Pseudo, the merchant from Village. He's kind of the overarching villain throughout the experience.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And yeaah, you know, it's a fun way to kind of put a button on the winter's tale. It does feel like we get a little bit of closure, uh, we do get a little bit of father, daughter,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They're bonding in general, yeaah, cause, cause you know, uh, I think she's 16 in the game, 17, then she's lived her whole life without her father, so like, this is like her going back to...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Gameplay, the gameplay is jarring, I will say, because it is that over-the-shoulder third-person perspective we're used to. Uh, it doesn't feel as snappy, I feel, as it should've with, with, um,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, RE2 Remaker, RE3 Remaker. It's a little off. Can't explain it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's a little off. It feels like, it feels like they, they didn't just copy and paste the, the way that the camera and the engine behaved. It just kinda felt like, alright, let's move the camera back, move it onto the shoulder.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And then get rid of the FPS mechanics and it's fine. So it's a little, a little weird. I don't know, Jake, did you feel that way too? Just like, it just feels kind of slow sometimes as you're aiming and shooting. Yeah.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yes, there's a lot of moments where like, uh, she'll go down the ladder in a corridor that was first person and then you get to the bottom of the ladder and the camera is just right up against her hoodie and you can't see anything else because that's how it was designed because you're going first person


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, and it did follow the through line of, like, the first game is, the first one is, like, it's in the castle with Amy and Dimitrescu, and the second's a little bit like the dollhouse, but both elements are very different. Very, very different from each other, which is nice.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that they were not planning to do any DLC for Village.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And that when they announced the DLC, it was because Village sold so many copies. Like I think they just kinda were like, we're gonna set it and forget it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And then when they saw the smashing success of Village, they said, oh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We should probably do some DLC. And that's why we're only getting one pack that has everything in it. Whereas with RE7, there was like four or five packs and...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And they were scattered throughout every, every few months or, or a year or so. So by the time you were done with, with RE7 Village, uh, RE7 Gold,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You had a whole robust, almost second game ready to go in the, in the base of the game. Whereas with this, they were very much like, and this is all it's going to be. It's going to be the third person, Ethan mode, Rose's DLC, and you can play as the, the four lords, which I think is pretty cool. That's actually really rad.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I think they said that they wanted to go with her, with Rose, because it was kind of like subverting the expectations of what people could expect from Village. Uhm, and I kind of agree they did that, but I don't know...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They did the 180 of making it about her and her father the whole time, which is nice, but we still don't know who her father was despite how many hours we've played with them. We still don't really care about their relationship all too much outside of the fact that, oh, this is a woman who doesn't have a father. Like, which is a very relatable thing for sure, but it's almost like the Resident Evil


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, you know, horror aspect and the fact that it's in the village and the castle of Demetresque, none of that mattered for the essence of this story, right? Like the, not the Las Plagas, but the mold.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Really? Well, okay. She plays, she plays Elizabeth, uh, from Human Re- er, not Elizabeth. Yea, she plays Elizabeth. She's the main character in God of Work. Oh my god. Okay, right.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I do not like card games. They're just not for me. I've tried Hearthstone. I've tried...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Gwent, I've tried, I just, I just can't connect with them, uh, and I'm not the biggest Marvel guy in that way that everyone else is, so I'm...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'm happy that everyone else is happy and obsessed with it. I'm glad that it's not too crazy on the monetization side for people to just enjoy the game. I just, I feel like


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But, uh, I, I, I, I, I do like watching people play it, because I like seeing high level play, and I, I've been, there's some folks who've been streaming it, it's been really interesting to watch.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They don't necessarily have, the developer may not have thought about everything they want the player to see, right? A lot of trophies out there that are just bloat, bloat, bloat, bloat, bloat to get you to keep playing their game. But.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Or you could just let the player fondly remember their completion experience and recommend that completion experience because of that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well look, it, it feels good to, to check off the boxes to get the trophy, sure, but when you're like, this game has a hundred plus trophies dead by daylight.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Like what are you doing? Like you just let people enjoy the game. But the other fans, they love that, that like micro hit of like, oh man, if I just kill, if I get a thousand kills and rank every killer up and do all this stuff, I'm just going to get Platinum's and whatnot. And it's like, just, just.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Cool, just shave it, make it fun, let everyone enjoy the game.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So as a reminder, going forward, uh, Fortnite and games is now a group thing where we get to decide as a, individually, what are games that we, we get to enjoy. Uh, you know, I'll go first. The game that came out, uh, that I want to highlight to make you all feel old, 20, 21 years ago, SSX Tricky.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Every single level had a SSX Tricky Remix version of Tricky. Just so good. So good.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We got one more question on the list here, right? Yes, yeaah. Do you want to read it? Sure. Uh, Malik S. asks, What are some of the moments you've experienced while playing a game that have elicited a genuine emotional reaction from you, i.e. joy, tears, fear, etc.?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, I think I told you, we, I think I told you guys this one during one of our mock podcasts. For those of you who don't know, we, we practiced doing this podcast for many, many months before we debuted our first episode with y'all. So, uhm, lost chapters that no one will hear are secrets. Uhm, the game that,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yes, yes, uh, have you guys played this game? Know anything about it at all?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's... I can't. I can't then. I can't tell you why it's incredible, but, uh...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, just the theme of the game and being a hero and doing the right thing in the face of adversity and evil and like what evil is, is a consistent change that happens throughout the game.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And the main character refuses to change his principles and believes in being the ultimate hero. And the last scene of the game is like, the culmination of that theme.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, leading into the events of Final Fantasy VII. And so the whole time you're just sitting there watching this thing unfold and mechanically the game is forcing you to see the events play out. Like it's reminding you, this is the journey you went on and we're just gonna, it's like peeling a banana slowly. Like you're just gonna see it happen in real time.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And it just, every time I play it, it just hits me in the heart.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And, uh, which is why Final Fantasy VII Remake is so fascinating, because...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It alludes to things that, that, that evolved and, and maybe different and straying from the path. So the fact that Crisis Core is getting a remaster and that the fact that everyone's going to play it for the first time is something I'm so excited.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] For people to play, hashtag Zack Fair is better than Cloud, fight me, I don't care. Zack Fair is the best character in Final Fantasy VII.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I-I-I cannot wa-I-I don't care if you make a video on it, I'd love to just talk to you about it, cause I'd love to get your insight.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'm GerardTheCompletionist, you can find me at completionist on Twitter, that one video gamer on YouTube, or just search TheCompletionist, you'll see my dumb, bearded face, and... Thank you, thank you.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] With the braid. I'm trying the bearded look. Thank you. The braided look. I'm giving it a shot. I'm sure a lot of you in the comments are going to comment on it, but hey, that's okay. I appreciate any thoughts.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] At all. Thank you. Thank you, Jake, for hosting. You did a great job today. Thank you, man. Thank you.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yes, I could, I could use the positive press for once. Thank you to all those out there.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Right? Or, you know, I had this mix of, I was the editor for comic books for CDPR for eight years and I love comic books, you know, for again, 20 plus years. And then like, yeah, I can write a comic book. How hard can it be? Right? And it's like, and the show came, came about very similarly because.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, I asked Adam Badowski, who's the chief creative officer of the studio,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Can we do an anime for Cyberpunk? Because there's like three distinct, uhm, kind of, uh, influences of the genre specifically, right? There's the slice of like Blade Runner and everything that kind of encompasses that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, and yeah, we went out to Japan, uh, we met a bunch of studios and all of them were kind of set the goal, uh, because the pitch wasn't really there. We had, we had one, but it wasn't really like, it was, let's make an anime and that was it. There was no particular.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So the two and a half years were mostly this back and forth of like rewriting for several months, sending them the scripts that were like, mm, not sure.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That before we started production, everybody knew that this still is that. And that still was David, I think it was David near his apartment in Megablock.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And all of that goes through all those processes where


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And from that point, this is what trigger took. Yeah, right.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, I think we knew from the start that we have to make it more about, less about the power of fantasy and more about how it's lived in. Because the one thing that didn't change in all the iterations was the Night City was the hero of the show.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, from the game, because in the game, like, you want to have all the cool, uh, cyberware, right? That's, you know, you want to be chromed up to your eyeballs and that's it, literally. But in the show, I think it's also, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It makes it really difficult to showcase, like those are not Marvel heroes, those are humans and they have emotions attached to it. There's phantom pain and there's like things that really are there when you, when you think about it, like from the perspective of like a linear medium, uh, and like,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So that was a really big process to just produce that one song to this quality. But I'm telling this story because


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] People that were deeply involved in the IP were in charge of, or at least were heard in the creative process. And because of that, those are good things rather than, yeah, you know, let's take the, the, the coating of an IP and make sure that it's, it's sound. But other than that, the soul isn't there.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You come into the door and said, I need your money to make my dream come true. And it was the exact opposite because we're financing ourselves, like we don't need your money, it's fine. But we really want you as a partner to reach as many people as we want, as we can.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We eat the equivalent, they serve the equivalent of McRib at like school lunches in the cafeteria. Like I ate basically a McRib in third grade and then McDonald's had it and I was like, oh wow.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Hi, hi everybody, I've been, uh, spending a lot of time


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, working on, uh, and really thinking about how


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] In the beginning of the original legacy of Kayn Blood Omen, human Kayn looks like Lord Farquad. I gotta look like him. Think about it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'm just glad it wasn't me that came up with that, cause that would be really, really broken brain of me. I dunno.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I think, uh, the thing that always jams people up and what I can agree with is that, uh, more genre variety. Uh, I think there's always those certain couple of games that people, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There's a certain, there's always a certain group of games that always end up in these awards considerations. The big bang, cinematic, spectacle, massive budget games where some people out there are just playing weird little fun things and they'd want them to see them represented a little more. So I totally understand that sentiment.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Now you're gonna tell me Star Wars kid is like a neo-nazi or something.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I think the magic, what I think is good about the game awards is that a lot of times,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There's a game that pops up in a lot of categories or wins a lot of things that people don't expect that a lot of people didn't know about and then get like exposed to. I mean, me, like when going along with the game award stuff, I didn't know what immortality was initially. Just totally missed my radar and I know that definitely happens for other people.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, so I just always hope that there's room for those weird games to squeak in, you know?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Am I too relaxed about all of this? Cause my, like, answer to all these debates were like, Elden Ring shouldn't be considered for a story. I'm like, I don't know man, it's cool. Like, did you feel a story? If you felt a story, then you win, kid. I don't know.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I think if anything, it was the most, uh, at least for me.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] As someone who kind of just blows off from software narratives and then reads up on it later and goes, oh yeah, that was cool. Um, Elden Ring was the one at least that I was able to grip with the most throughout while I was playing it. I picked up on a lot and I said, okay, cool. And I was able to like remember that as I went forward and I thought it was, it was pretty good at being cohesive.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I don't have anything about any of these games in particular, but I would love to see the game awards double down more on saying, Next up, Best Art Direction.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Here is what the hell that is. They have, you know, they have like their statement that they make, you know, for excellence and blah blah blah, but I wish-


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They could do like some sort of like breakouts to show like a couple of people working in an office and being like, I'm an art director, this is what I do all day. Now you know, pick your favorite, you know?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, it can help the conversation too. Uh, you know, so many developers take issue with players who are like, well, why can't you just put multiplayer in it? It's easy, right? Just flip a switch. Like, you know, there's a little bit more to it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Or you just lose your own. Yeah, you completely come up with your own.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Essentially yes, uh, journalists from all different countries and stuff.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The only counterpoint to that is, and it's not, I'm not defending the game by any means, uh, but the, the fact that there are a ton of different countries in this pool, it's not just IGN journalists and you know.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I thought it was fairly fresh. I, I, I love seeing on this category though, a lot of Japanese influence. Very cool. Like they just dominated it dude.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, Sifu is interesting because, uh, there's the whole thing of where it's like, it's single player. Like you are fighting men in the game, but it's a, it's a third person adventure game.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Action adventure game, like are you, is it fighting? I mean like mates?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, Lego Star Wars being a nominee is very cool. Uh, I don't know if a Lego Star Wars game has ever, or a Lego game has ever reached such heights before. Such prestige. I don't know, I can't think off the top of my head. So good for them.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Best gamer tweet. Best heated gaming moment.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The category is even described as contributions to the gaming community. Interesting. Some of the big streamers are streamers who, you know, a significant portion of the time play games.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, and I'm not gonna single anyone out, but not always as like in the trenches, you know what I mean? Where, uh, Nebelian being nominated, as much as people are debating whether or not he creates content just because he's a


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So what I will say is that this is a new category, I believe, uh, and I think they picked a really good year to start it as a new category because there's so many good entries.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] MaximillianPain, that's not his real name. He phoned it in as MaxPain. He phoned it in as Sully.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I mean, the fact that they just announced the Gears of War thing too, I'm really looking forward to seeing what else they do.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Feedback in person is always so much more effective than feedback in co- I appreciate feedback in comments, but I always make sure if I've ever met anyone ask them for feedback, uh, it goes a long way. So give your local content creator real feedback.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I just really enjoyed seeing them figure things out from a gameplay perspective. Even if it didn't all work, I think the fact that like they kind of figured out what Sonic can do in an open world and how he would do it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Gave him a combat system, like I like seeing that stuff.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That was my big issue, like, was that with every good there was kind of a bad- Yeah, exactly, exactly.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You're our question for you, man. Um, as, as the sonic person. So Ralph and I are both very much like, oh.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That being said, like they've been a little inconsistent. Every game kind of jumps around and it's different. Do you think they'll actually stick to this formula and improve upon it for the next game? Do you really see that or feel that?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I think there's so much potential for another one, even just in terms of, for me, it was just like, I wish it almost had a little bit more care and time to it, cause it just felt a little...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The book system is like one of my favorite elements of the game to be able to like back out and essentially get caught up on some info and stuff. Was that part of the early design process? Was that, was that hard to implement? Because it seems so daunting just as like a newbie looking at all that text, all that information that's that easily accessible, you know?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Don't say. So I was kind of like this in between of like party guy, but also like pensive observational person.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Andreas is definitely like a malleable character from the amount of choices, but even still, was there some, uh, inspiration behind him, uh, some influence to who he is?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You cover so much, like the peasant revolt, art, religion. Was there a pillar or a concept in this time period that you wanted to cover that had to fall onto the cutting room floor?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] No, I mean, I was just going to gush about Pentament. I really, really like it. Oh, thank you. Thank you for it. Thank you for the team. You guys should be very proud of how it tows the line of being accessible, educational, but not like boring and weird, uh, and just really, really entertaining. Um, I, I'm just glad it exists. So thanks.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] No, this is my first test drive. This is a huge upgrade for me specifically because, like, I'm broke, so I was using some, like, weird blood-borne hedge clipper device, uh, and the-


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So the Lawn Mower 4.0, uh, has definitely been a huge upgrade. This thing is pretty premium.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] In terms of safety too, the, the trimmer itself has an LED light on it, which is


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You think that wouldn't like, you're like, you're not doing it in the dark, but natural lighting in the average bathroom is bad. So to have a little light to really show, uh, the age of the crevices and endless valleys of wrinkles, uh, is pretty, pretty good. It's a way to dodge any nasty whoopsies.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, I just like video games. That's why I rub my hands together. Uh, yeah, yeah, I'll rattle these off. So, uh, for you folks listening out there, uh, for I guess a span of two weeks or so, we got a bunch. Sonic Frontiers on all platforms, of course, that released on the 8th.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] God of War Ragnarok on PlayStation on the 9th. Tactics Ogre Reborn on Everything But Xbox on the 11th.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That's interesting, uh, because those types of games, I love those types of games. It's like my favorite little sub-genre. Uh, they shouldn't have that type of hurdle or frustration or roadblock.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, it's a, it's a nice, uh, cool little game. Uh, I, I, you know, the, the pitch is essentially if you're into an oxen free, uh, a night in the woods, a, uh, insert another type of game like that, that I can't think of. Uh, if you're into that type of experience.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That's what this is, but it also has the added, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Great thing of having Obsidian DNA to it, uh, where it has some really cool dialogue and a little bit of like a RPG dialogue type system that, you know, we touched on.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, a little bit in the interview, but uh, it is just such a unique thing for the time period it covers. It's uh, you know, 16th century, uh, Bavaria. Uh, so it's, it's covering so many things like


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And the amount of references it throws out, the amount of things it's based on is just so


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Cool, as someone who half paid attention in college to this stuff, it was the only stuff that kind of interested me. Uhm, just kind of having that revived through this has been, has been really nice, but it's not, uhm, inaccessible.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That shit is awesome, I think just for making it really easy. And on top of that, I'm sorry I just keep rambling, uh, but on top of that in terms of accessibility, it's also the fact that the story and the language is very


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, normal and real, you know, not everybody's like, oh, doth thou, you know, like it's very, the language is understandable. The people come off.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You don't feel disconnected from them because it's like so far


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, so in a different time period, it tells a real ass story that has a lot of, you know, like the socioeconomic factors and how everything is like a gray area and there's nuance to everything and there's no perfect


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Wrap up to a lot of angles or elements of the decision making in the story. And I like that. It's just really, really creative.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Did you find yourself really struggling to choose certain things where it's almost like for my character, I don't know if it was just mine specifically, but there were so many points where I had to stop and choose what to say because I was like, wait, am I a douche bag? Like, do I sound like a douche bag? Like there's so much of that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That one is a perfect example of what he was saying with compelling choices, because like, in most video games in that situation, right? I feel like, just because of how games are. It'd be swinging punches. You'd be throwing it and you'd stand up and be like, don't talk to her that way. I will fight you. But the way the game presents it all and the choices you get, it's so much more...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'm just gonna do one first, uh, November 13th, my birthday, uh, 2007.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] 15 years ago, the original Assassin's Creed, that whisked me away, where I know it wasn't that great, but I thought the graphics were so cool, and the settings so unique, I stand for that game so hard. And I'm glad that they stuck with it, and they made a second one, because the rest is history.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I don't, I'm on the spot. I get nervous. My favorite is Metal Gear Solid 1. Yeah, me too, me too. Real gamer stuff.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, you can find me on game rank sometimes, but you can also find me everywhere else on the internet as Jake Baldino, B as in boy, A, L, D as in dog, I, N, O.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Pan, explain that. Okay, so pansexual, basically, you're attracted to both woman, man, trans, everything.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Okay, quick one sir. Uhm, I have a few questions to ask here. Uhm, when, you said something right now, you said something along the way about when you were taking care of your parents, you were happy.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Okay, so during that moment while taking care of them, did you look at them and you were like,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I wish I was closer to them. I wish I spent more time with them.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Younger people that are younger generations are definitely going to watch this and I don't want them to mix a particular message. So you already have what you already knew what you wanted to be. You already had your main goal. You already knew how to do your things. That was why you insisted on leaving the house because you knew what you wanted.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So for the younger ones that they don't really have any commission right now, and any commitment right now, and they just want to, they just feel like eh, they don't want to be a lawyer, they don't want to be a doctor, what will you say to them, they don't have anything?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Tell me now, why was I not arrested?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Okay, so I have some questions to ask you, right? Yes, please go ahead. Okay, so, uhm.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The people that Generation Z right now, they are between the age of, they should be from 26 downwards now. So I believe the people from 997 to 2005 should know you like very, very well. Me, I do know your songs. Now, this new generation of music, of artists,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] How would you love for, no, not even the artists, everyone, this new generation in total, how would you love for them to remember you?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Because right now, we all know Idris, we all know your songs, but right now, there are lots of, like, there are new artists that are the ones popping. Not like you have forgotten, you have forgotten, no, not at all. But how will you love them to remember you?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That is conscious.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You said that? Uh-uh. Ehhm.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I got a question and maybe this was just because I'm an idiot and I missed the boat on this, but I remember there being a huge thing.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Where they went, if you have Overwatch 1, Overwatch 1 players can play with Overwatch 2. And then fast forward to the day before Overwatch 2 launches and everyone's like Overwatch 1 is officially a dead game and they shut it off.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I hadn't a brain aneurysm because I remember specifically they were saying, Hey, if you have Overwatch one, don't worry. Your content is still intact. Did they just migrate all your content from Overwatch one into Overwatch two instead of trying to let players have the best of both worlds?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If it was a PC only game, I would be fine with it, but it is a multi-console game with PS4 and Xbox here or Xbox one, which has achievements and trophies. And that is going to be an instant down for me because immediately.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If you buy this game used, if you get it from a friend or anything like that, you cannot experience the game.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I gotta go with Ralph on this one. I think you're-


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You're a company like Activision Blizzard where your entire reputation right now


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Has been on the brink for the last 10 months since January, right? Since the announcement of, of their acquisition from Microsoft. We've all just been wondering what the hell is going to happen with Overwatch? What the hell is going to happen with Diablo 4? Diablo immortal was such a shit storm. Like this company is, is.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And then I also went to the one where they announced Diablo Immortal and you could feel...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But, that's the thing, that's the issue, right? It's like, it's going to be hard for fans, right? Like, okay, prime example. I love Diablo 2. It's my favorite Blizzard game of all time. Diablo 2 as directed came out. It's incredible. I love it. I still play it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I found that beat throughout, from last September until now, where no one would want to play an Activision Blizzard game with me.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And so when you have a multiplayer shooter like Overwatch 2 that's predicated on the fan base that has been creating fan art and, and fantasizing about what the second one can be and has been memeing and beloved things like Jeff Kaplan, right? Like.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Take that and put it in today. It's a whole different product and it's such a bummer. Like when you told me there's three new heroes, first off, I didn't know there was three new heroes. I thought it was the same cast. More importantly, only three, only three new heroes.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Out of the entire cast of Overwatch, you, you, they didn't think to go, Hey, maybe we should like not retire them, but like almost treated like street fighter six, right? Where it's like, of course you got your, your mainstay tracers and Winston's and whatnot, but look at all this new crew and new art style and new thing. Like, I dunno, I feel like I'm just an old man ranting now, but it, they, they had it in the palm of their hands.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And they messed it up and it's such a disappointment. It really feels like that. And that's saying as someone who put in thousands of hours into Overwatch 1 and has put about 10 hours in the Overwatch 2 loading screen waiting to play the game.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We've already had this conversation, I think three podcasts ago, Jake, but I also agree with you in that way. And I think.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] For me, and maybe, um, Ralph, I'd love to hear your take on it. Can't there be a world where we have both?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And, and there's, you know, free passive patches and updates or the game is free, but you have to buy a battle pass or earn free currency. And if you have the game, like you guys think there's a world where, where you could do both and, and still the free to play audience gets their cake and, and, and.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I think it was a couple of nails and coffins. I think the biggest...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Biggest thing to me was that, and maybe, and you guys can agree to disagree with me, I'd love to hear your thoughts.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] This Stadia to me always felt like big dick energy move from Google.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That they teased about, about how content creators could monetize with Stadia and have the ability to, you could be, when, uh, Ralph, you said this in your, one of your most recent, uh, this week in video games.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The feature of being able to, as you're watching someone's review, well, let's say, you know, if, if I'm watching Ralph's review of Overwatch two, I can click the stadia button and jump in and start playing the game. Yeah. What a cool thing. What a cool thing that never showed up. Yep.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Never a discussion about whether or not that feature was getting canceled or in development or anything like that. Um, I think, I think the biggest thing was, and it's a huge difference in my mind.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Telling the consumer we're competing with a console manufacturer versus we're an alternative.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There are two different aspects, two different products and two different marketing strategies. Jeff Keeley promoted the shit out of Stadia in the 2019 game awards. The same awful commercials that we kept watching on loop for four and a half hours.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We learned nothing about those commercials. And so to me,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There's two instances, just as we kind of wrap things up, there's two things that I have to laugh at personally. Cause I think I just, if you are a YouTuber or a content creator or in the digital space at all, this is funny to you. The first thing is that, uh, and I told the story to Ralph and Jake before we started filming that, uh, in 2019, Jake and I got to go to this like Google YouTube gaming summit. That's where we fell in love.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's where we met for the first time and where friendships were formed and, uh, Phil Harrison spoke.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, I think, I think at the end of the day, them refunding everyone isn't just a good move for Google, but I think it's a good move for cloud gaming in general because cloud gaming is the essence of I don't own a product. I am using a service that lets me stream a product that I theoretically would own the license for.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And this is a prime example of what happens when you take away the product as a live service to be able to use. So you know, like imagine if you were playing something like World of Warcraft and the service shut down and


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Refunds, but that does tell us one thing, right? It could tell us to speculate.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, mostly because, uh, I am not the target demo for inscription. I am not a card game guy. I don't like Hearthstone. I don't like Gwent. I don't even like Pokemon cards. Like I, I, I've tried my whole life.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] To get in the card building games, it's just not for me. It's a genre I don't dig, but I love watching people play inscription because I love seeing the thought process. I, I, I get a joy out of watching people play the game, uh, versus versus me playing it. Um, but I will say Daniel Mullins who developed the game.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Have you played pony island? I've not played it, but I've had people tell me that I should play that game. It's one of those games that like kicks you out into your windows desktop and has you go back in and things change. It's like one of those like that's cool as it's a creepy messed up experience that


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Pulls you in and pulls you out back and forth and it's he. So when I saw that he was making inscription, I was like, not the game for me, but I'm so pumped for him because he's a hardworking guy and, and, and Daniel Mons is just a all round genius. So I'm, I'm stoked that everyone loves the game.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I, to your point, Ralph, I don't own inscription on Steam, but I have bought inscription on Steam several times to gift to friends, because I know that they love it, and like, spreading the word is the vibe that I go for.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, but it came out officially this year in April. It's available on Steam and Switch. Um, the unfortunate thing is you, you know how popular the game is because if you search, uh, Revita at Google, uh, the, the first hit is the, uh, Steam page. And the second is.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The website, the third is the Nintendo switch store. Then the rest is a bunch of hair products, uh, for Revita hair. So that's how you.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] In order to find out the mystery of what happened to his memory and all of the bosses and themes of like, of each area is themed after an emotion in life. So it's like you fight depression, you fight anger, you fight anxiety. Um, and the whole entire conceit of it is that, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Your health bar is like Zelda, so you got like three or four heart containers. And it's, it's a, it's a platformer, but it's, it's also a shoot them up. So like.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You can get a pistol, you can get a rocket launcher, you can get, uh, like, uh, a laser gun, uhm, and, uh, as you kill enemies, they drop soul, like soul meter, and you accumulate it, and you use the soul meter to either replenish health or build up a new heart container for yourself.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And in between runs and rooms, there's like secrets, you can go to chests and stuff. And, but the thing is that the currency in the game that you use while you're doing a run is your health meter.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's a game that I feel like a ton of people slept on. Uhm, it's made by Benstar and, and, and the dev who made it. It's just nicest dude on planet earth. Uhm, I, I booted it up this weekend cause I, I, I thought it was nearly access still.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But I just went ahead and picked it up. Uh, I blanked this weekend and I've put it in about 40 hours.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, it's one of those. Yeah. And, uh, and of course, because it's a rogue, like the, it's one of those stories that like one run is not enough. You beat the game and it's like, Hey, congratulations. Uh, but you lost because you didn't find the true ending. You didn't find the true path. Play the game again and find the true path. And as you progress, there's like,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There's round modifiers, like you get curses. So it takes items away from you. It gives you items that hurt you. And there's, you know, it's, it's, it's all about that beautiful rogue-like progression style. Um, and yeah, it's, it's catchphrases literally defeat, heal, sacrifice. And that's kind of.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, it's, it's very chaotic and like kind of like meat boy, you feel responsible for when you mess up. So it's not quite like.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, it's, it's, it's got the themes of like Celeste kind of mixed in with that, with that Hades roguelike, you're in a room, have to survive kind of atmosphere. But yeah, let me know what you think, Blessing. I'm so curious to, to, to hear what you think of the game. Hell yeah.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Not, not to interject, but, uh, a little bit of breaking news, I guess a little breaking news. Activation Blizzard announced to just now that, um,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, they, they have made the decision to remove the phone number requirements for a majority of the existing Overwatch players. Any Overwatch player with a connected battle net account, which includes all players who have played since June 9th, 2021 will not have to provide a phone number to play. We are working to make this change and expected to go live on Friday, October 7th. Okay.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I am not a sports guy at all blessing and you made me want to go try FIFA. Yeah, you're good at this. Damn.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] First and foremost, uh, I will steal the term shill up and add it to shill pletionist because, uh, I am not only am I a massive shovel knight fan, uh, I got to play the nineties live action version of shovel knight.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And it's officially on the Nintendo YouTube channel and that's really rad. Thank you. That's awesome. Really? Yeah. It's really cool to be a part of that. The art club guys really trusted me with it. Um, and my video completionist wise on it comes out this weekend on shovel night dig. It's actually out now by the time this air. So you'll be able to see it, but, um,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I love my boys and my girls over at Yacht Club Games.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] This is the weakest entry in the shovel knight series hands down. And that's not a bad thing because the quality and caliber of shovel knight and pocket dungeon are so large that this is not like bad by any means, but


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] This game came out too early. There, there, there, you could, you could beat the game pretty quickly. You can complete it pretty quickly. Um, and there's just not enough.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's supposed to be a roguelike, right? It's roguelike about digging down and it's a prequel to the Shovel Knight story. So it's really endearing and fun and cohesive to the, to the lore. It's supposed to be more 16-bit Sega Genesis as opposed to 8-bit NES. And the music is very reflective of that and same as the art style.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I just ran into tons and tons and tons of bugs.