[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Okay, right, yeaah, cause I was just, so obviously it was in someone's mind that there should be a Steam Deck and, uh, that's been bouncing around for quite a while and, uh, like with the controller and whatever else, technology held you back until AMD were like, hey, actually we can make this happen. And you're like, yeah, let's do that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Were any, at the same time, it's a really big risk to launch into that handheld market because there were lots of cautionary tales in the past with even most recently Sony when their plays. Was there ever that kind of hesitancy at that phase of the project to be like, ah, I don't know about this. This sounds like maybe it could go belly up.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah. Well, I guess that drilling into that, like, I think one of the define, I think perhaps the defining characteristic of the steam deck is that it is an unwalled garden, which is


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The first time that has ever happened in the history of consoles, as far as I'm at scale at least, I'm sure they're like independent little consoles, whatever, that let you do things, whatever, but at scale from a major manufacturer.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So I mean, obviously we're, I think we're at the point in the Steve's life cycle where it's like, all right.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We have the technology that can make this happen and you want to make it happen. Could you talk us through what the design process was like? I mean, obviously you joined about two years into it. Um, so if you could go back a little bit beyond that, that'd be great. But obviously also from when you joined, what was it like to actually construct the steam deck? What were the broad strokes for that, for that process?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Um, yeah, right. So what, and what, and I mean, obviously there's a huge amount of, so what was, how long, what was the timeline for that kind of iterative process? Like what was the period from when you started? We're like, we are building a steam deck to, uh, like we have locked down the design and this is what it's going to look like. How long was that period?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, I mean personally, I think the ergonomics of it are my favorite thing because I have like fairly big hands.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And the switch, when I hold the switch, I'm just like, oh, this is painful. It's so awful. Like I can't do it. And I have to buy this special grips for the switch that are like different, you know, those Hori grips. Have you guys seen those ones? Yeah. Yeah. Oh, oh my God. That's so good. If you haven't got on them, they're the best thing ever. But the steam deck, the huge size of it is awesome for me.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It is, it is for sure. Yep. Absolutely. So yeah. Were there any, um, key roadblocks that you, you and your team overcame during that design phase that you really stuck on and that eventually there was some kind of breakthrough. They're like, Oh, finally we fixed that problem. That was a pain in the ass.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] In terms of, sorry Ralph, go ahead.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Very quickly, the pace of updates from you guys is really crazy.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah. It's been, yeah, nuts. Hey, uh, question, uh, the launch, were you surprised by the demand or was it like, yeah, we, we knew that everyone and their dog would want five of these. Of course we knew it would be sold out for three years. Like, how did that go?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Okay, so, uh, obviously that launch happened. I think I obviously was very close to the, I was watching all the reviews when the thing hit and I think the general sentiment that sort of


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That landed was that this thing is cool. It's a great version 1.0, but it's unfinished. That was the vibe at that launch window. Do you agree with, did you agree with that at the time? And do you agree with that now that you're a few months in and you've made further changes to the device?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, I guess actually that's one question that I was gonna ask. The pace of, uh, updates that you guys have been putting out has been crazy. I mean, other consoles...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] How have you been maintaining that cadence? Uh, have you just been like crushing yourself in terms of work? Like that, there's a lot there. How's that been going?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, yeaah, but it has been, as I said, pretty amazing to see that and it really sets apart this console from others.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Um, which I think overall fold into that overall design philosophy of like, yeah, this is a very different type of platform, even in the way that you have been personally communicating with people during that launch period. Um, you've been very front facing, like just out there on Twitter, answering questions, whatever else, how have you found that process of.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, being the face of the Steam Deck, how's that gone for you personally?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, it's been awesome to see. I mean, question, uhm, uh, have you seen people using the Steam Deck in unexpected ways during this period? Has anything popped up and really surprised you? Like, huh?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So in terms of, uh, the future of the deck, so, uh, this is like, obviously,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, you, you've launched a new product. Uh, well actually that's not quite true because it's launched, but only in select territories. And I guess one question I had was as an Australian, when do we get in Steam Deck, man? What is the rollout strategy and timeline for down under and related areas or the world really?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And is there, there's no, is there a date that you guys have in your mind where like Steam Deck will be available everywhere or basically everywhere by X date? Is there anything like that in your mind at the moment?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I guess one really big question is what is the philosophy underpinning the approach to hardware updates? So is this going to be the case of like, okay, we've got a steam deck, see you in five or six years where we have the steam deck too. Or is it going to be like a cell phone where it's like, Hey, it's.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The next year and we've made some minor improvements to it, here's the next version, or is it something completely different to that? Like what is the approach that you guys have to that or the philosophy underpinning that at least?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Right. Okay. So no, from the sounds of things that it doesn't sound like we can expect an update to the Steam Deck anytime soon. It sounds like that would be something a bit further away. Is that, would that be a fair thing to say?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah. Right. Okay. Yeah. Cool. Cause obviously, yeah, people wonder like, Hey, is this, cause with the way that you guys approach your, your, um, your software,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And, uh, I guess related to this, like, you know, this has been, Valve now has, or has had a controller. It's got a headset, which I actually don't know if you guys are working on index two. I feel like there was something around that, but I'm not sure if that's official or whatever. Is there another headset coming?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Haven't announced anything. Okay, cool. So now you've obviously got a handheld as well. Does Valve, is Valve thinking about other hardware stuff in the background? I mean, you don't have to be specific, but is it like, eh, we're always thinking about things. Like, what's that like?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah. I mean, just to sort of cap things off, unless anyone else has any other questions, uhm, I'd be really interested to know what are you personally most proud about with this product? So obviously a huge amount of work's gone into it from a lot of people. What do you personally take away and be like, yeah, I'm glad we really nailed that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That is awesome. Well, it definitely makes all of us very happy. Right, Lucy?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Even other Steam decks make people happy. That's how good they are. That's how wholesome they are as a product. Uh, but Laurence, I want to thank you on behalf of everyone for joining us today. Um, really fantastic to have, uh, to have you make the time and to share.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Your insight and everything else. Um, congratulations on an amazing product and really hope we can have you back someday to talk about Steam Deck 2 when that eventually arrives. Cause we will be excited about that too. All right, man. Thank you again. Thank you. Thank you.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Big time. In fact, when I booted it up, after five minutes, I was like, damn.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, really blown away by how much I enjoyed this. I really, I did see the trailers and I'm like, Hey, that looks like cool fun. But I really did think it would be kind of gimmicky, not gimmicky is not the right word, but just kind of one dimensional and it would


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, exactly. Like, oh, I'm on roller skates and I get to shoot things. That's fun. And it's an indie game and maybe it has some challenges in there and you go through the levels and that's it. I was never expecting anything this mechanically polished. It feels extraordinary. It's a fusion of, uh, trick based sys of trick based plus combat.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And the skill ceiling for that is, oh man, just the ability to be creative through your mastery is the core of this. And I think it's also the core of Tony Hawk.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The ability just to be like, I have all this knowledge of how to play this game properly and the things you can make happen in this beautiful free flowing aerial like acrobatics kind of sandbox is amazing to watch. Like it's, it's, I go back and watch footage of myself playing it and


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'm just like, God, that was bad ass. Look at me, man. Look, look, look at how cool I am. I'm not even that good at the game, right? But it just, everything that you do looks so awesome.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, and then when you do eventually start getting good at it, it just feels so satisfying. Cause at the beginning, when you start playing, you really do get dumpstered by these levels. Like they're pretty tough. There's quite a few enemies on screen and they're all tracking you all the time. You're always under pressure and you're like, oh, this is so much. But then when you go back to a level,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] After awhile, if you've had some practice, you just completely truck it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And it's just, it's gone, and that feeling that you have of mastery over the battlefield, while still being able to look like a fucking badass, is just, a few games can match that, so uhm. It's deceptively simple.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It does. I think as well, I think one thing that sets it apart from Tony Hawk is that Tony Hawk's very much about what you want to make happen versus roller dromies.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There's nothing really reactive about Tony Hawk, but because you have all of this sort of like, gunfire coming at you at any point in time, you are, yeaah, constantly forced to react to what's going on around screen, on screen.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Um, and for some reason, it really also made me think of like, well, what if you made this like a rhythm game? You know, like, because I think part of it is also that where you've got these, like the snipers, they train on you and then the line turns white and you're like, that's it. And I reckon the next evolution, the next evolution for something that this kind of formula is to set this whole thing to music.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And you can like do certain things on the beat or off the beat and like, oh, that would be amazing.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] BPM slash metal health singer slash crypto, like crypto, the necro dancer combined with roller drone. Oh my God, please make it happen. Team seven. What's the name of the studio behind this? Roll seven. That's right.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I liked it too. I think it was lightweight, but well written.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, it was just nice sort of terse dialogue, um, that didn't overstay its welcome, but I did want a bit more of it because I reckon there was a, it didn't really stick the landing on the ending.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, everyone's sort of singing its praises, which is really fantastic to see. But this is also in my, I'd be very surprised if this isn't top five game of the year list for me because it just, just really nails. Again, as you say, Jake, like video game ass video game so playable and it doesn't, it's just,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's just so confident in its own playability as a video game that it doesn't need to worry about.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Bullshit progression systems and like unlocks and whatever. It's like fuck that noise. We have something that is so fun to play. We don't need any of that other stuff. And I just think I love that because they were so right. That was such a, that was such a


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, yeah, which is, you know, obviously indie titles, they struggle to get that kind of cut through, but I do feel as though Cursed at Golf has found it. It has found that cut through. It is definitely being talked about and covered by major outlets and getting great scores. And, uh, that's just, that's awesome to see. I always love when indies are able to achieve that kind of thing.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Only a little bit. I played probably the first hour or so. Um, yeaah, I liked it. I think it was simple but enjoyable. Um, and yeaah, the story stuff was the part that I was like, eeeeh, it didn't feel particularly well written? Like it was kind of like, I dunno, this isn't really clicking. But, um, but yeaah, no, I liked what I played, but I just haven't had time to play more of it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I do think it's missing that kind of X factory quality that really


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yes, and I think that narrative, it was trying, that could have been its opportunity to create a unique hook narratively or in terms of just


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Bit of zhuzh, you know, like it's missing some zhuzh. And, uh, that was what stopped me from being like, Oh, I really have to play more of this right now.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I've never finished Saints Row game. I played like a few hours of two and three. That was it. I never had any, not that I disliked the series. It's just that I just was playing a lot of World of Warcraft back then, I think. So yeah, I'm not at all connected to the series like other people are.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Bugs are out of control. They really were. This needed like at least another six months to... The number of game breaking bugs that I had, I'm not sure if you guys have watched my video. I watched the ending thing.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Basically my ending glitched, like the pivotal final showdown, uh, moment in the game glitched out in the most hilarious fashion. And it's, anyway, it's been clipped and shared everywhere all over. It's been nuts.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Look, I, I feel, like I really, I think this is the thing, right?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I really don't like making those sorts of videos because like, cause everyone's like, okay, the fact of the matter is.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Those videos get a lot of views. Like real videos where you really go to town on a game. Okay? Uh, and that's true. Like with this video, it's, it's gone crazy. But I, yeah, exactly. Right. But I don't like that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I don't like doing that because I really feel bad for volition, you know?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Like this is a group of people that just tried to make a game, they were not-


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] In unvarnished, honest, unfiltered criticism and critiquing of video games. I really respect this art form deeply and I really believe that, you know, and I love talking about it and


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That's, that's it. So, I, I don't like putting out a video. Like, again, with Diablo Immortal, like, I didn't even bother to put out a video game, uh, video, a video for that, cause like, fuck that game, right? But I have no problem dumping on that product, because genuinely, fuck Blizzard for what they've done with that. I don't care.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Whatever, you know, it's fine. You don't have any bad feelings by saying Diablo a motherfucking sucks. But I do feel bad saying that, you know, Saints Row sucks because


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Again, I don't think this was a cynically motivated dodgy product designed to pull the wool over our eyes. It's just a video game that is not a good video game.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And yeah, look, it is very bad. I had an awful time with it in every aspect.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The bugs were the biggest, most immediate issue, uh, ruined my playthrough multiple times. I almost quit the game because I was like, I can't push through these bugs anymore. I have to stop. I had multiple reviewers reach out to me throughout the process and be like, Hey man, is this also really buggy for you? And yeah, it definitely was.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The game design, like the core gameplay is so one dimensional. It's like, there's this one mission where you have to, you're doing like team building. Did you guys do this team building mission? Where it's like, hey guys, we're going to do team building today and we're going to go out and do some fun activities. First, we're going to go do some graffiti. It's like, oh, okay. All right. That sounds interesting. Maybe there's going to be some funny.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Graffiti mini game. Sure enough, you drive up to a wall and then all of a sudden some goons pull up and you have to shoot everyone. Oh, okay, cool. Then that's it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Later on, they're like, let's go do karaoke. And I'm like, oh cool, a music mini game. This is going to be fun. Let's do it. And then you go to the bar and you're like, oh, Hey barkeep, I'd like a drink. And then all of a sudden, Hey, there's guards here. And you have to shoot people again. It's just like this game only has one trick over and over again. Shoot everyone.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Cause I mean, I went back and I just, cause in this whole process I was like, I'll go back and watch some clips of Saints Row or whatever. It gets really fucking dark.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It gets really edgy. It gets really funny sometimes. Like I was watching some clips. I'm like, this is funny shit. And I was laughing along. I did not laugh a single, I didn't, there was not even like a slight amused half raising of the mouth when I was playing through this game because of how you got one.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That's pretty good. Not gonna lie, not gonna lie. But, but clearly they have, I mean, I think the developers said that they're, they were trying to move beyond the tone of the previous game.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I, having not played through all of them, I can't say whether or not they were, they were the kind of tone that you should move beyond. People speak fondly of them. I mean, this is just the most bland, insipid, ridiculous, like nothingness, just, just.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Bad SNL skit, first draft SNL sketch, you know? Uhm, the, the writing in this game, I just... It's so...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I can't think of a worse written game that I've played except for maybe Borderlands 3, and I actually, I really do think Borderlands 3 was better written than this.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, look, I'm sure they tried, but like this, it was, they really just needed some other people to do this because this is so far short of the mark with regards to basic narrative structure, characters, moment to moment dialogue, humor. It is so spectacularly far from the mark that it is, it's, it's, it's terrible. So uhm.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There's no way these characters come back. And in fact, I think this is such a bad release. Cause that's not, on open critic right now, it's sitting at like 62 or 63 for a AAA game.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That is disastrous. I can't remember the last time a AAA game hit that lower Metacritic score. I really can't. Um, I really can't say it again, sorry. Cyberpunk had a higher Metacritic score. It reviewed well in that opening window because most people were playing it on


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, most people playing it on PCs and they wouldn't let people, you know, fucking see the console code and all that shit. That's a whole, that's a whole podcast in itself. Anyway.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah. My question is like, is this series franchise dead? I think so. I don't see how they make a Saints, another Saints Rafter. I don't know what you guys think.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Catastrophically bad. Again, just like I can't remember playing a game as badly written as this, I actually can't remember playing a game that has its audio mix so off-kilter. Sounds are not properly leveled, some of them are way too quiet, some of them too loud, just the whole thing does not click together and I just wonder what went wrong on the sound side of things because it's also very, very bad.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Okay, this is true and you can't judge me, okay? My first celebrity crush was...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The later women in my life are like, why do you want me to call you that? Uh, yes, so that's that. Also Cammy from Street Fighter, but I think that's probably less controversial. I mean, that's just, there's a lot of skin going on with that, with that, with that outfit. So it's hard to, you know, that's it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I am Shalup, you'll find me on this YouTube channel or...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Wait, if you're not, if you're on Listen to the Podcast, you'll find me on Skill Up on the YouTubes. That's it. Lucy?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] What's your uh, what's your reservation window look like?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Okay, well, for that specific thing.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] No one was actually pushed from Q3 to Q4, uh, but there was some poor wording on the website where we said after Q3 and then when we updated


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You might still get it in Q3. We are actually, uhm, we're updating the reservation window, so, uh, you might get pulled in.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah. Right. Yeah. I was there for eight years. Um, how far back do you want to go?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Starting out in high school, I was a web and flash developer back when all you needed to know was a little HTML and you could call yourself a web designer.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I, uh, I got an internship and they're like, Hey kid, here's this new thing called flash. You should learn it. And then I became the only person at that agency who knew how to, who knew how to make flash websites. So.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Based on that, I continued to freelance all the way through college, but it was my portfolio that I was.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Building freelancing on the side that actually got my first job. So I grew up in Chicago area. I moved to San Francisco.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I said, I'm gonna, I'm gonna work here now. I got a job at an agency. And then after a little while, I got a job at Apple, um, starting out in the marketing group.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And after a few years, I joined the human interface team, which is on the product side.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And, uh, that was really cool. So I was there for a few years, um, and that team is responsible for.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, iPhone, iPad, watch, AirPods, et cetera. Uh, which was very cool. And uhm, yeaah. After that, I, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It was a interesting decision because I was really happy and fulfilled at Apple. But at the same time Valve presented this really cool opportunity to do something new. They were starting VR at the time and it was kind of cool to be able to


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, get on, on the ground floor before anything's really determined or solidified yet and figure out, hey, what's this new interaction modality going to look like for the future? So I joined Valve, worked on, um, VR stuff and, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Then worked on some game stuff, I shipped the Valve Index, working on the Knuckles, the controller project, and then, uh, and then onto the Steam Deck team. So.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That's crazy. It was cool. A lot of people thought it was crazy to leave Apple. And it was a little nuts. It was a really big bet on myself to do that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, but I mean, at that time I was more friends with a lot of designers and they're like, wait, you're leaving Johnny Ive's team.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, uhm, so when I first started working on VRN, it was a partnership with HTC Vive where Valve had made a lot of, uhm,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We designed and invented a bunch of technology. The base station tracking technology that VR is based on, a lot of it came out of Valve.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And uh, so we worked with them and they said, we're going to make a product.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And we said, we'll give you the technology. We'll work with you and create SteamVR. So that'll be kind of the system and the UI, uh, behind the, uh, behind VR. And so I helped work on designing a lot of.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Those interfaces and that UI and a lot of the user experience flow. And after we shipped the HTC Vive it was.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It was cool and we thought it was a really neat product. Uhm, and we're also like, I think we could.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Add something ourselves to the mix. So we invested in figuring out how would we design our own, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Our own headset and then we can control the hardware, the firmware, the software.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And there wouldn't be as much of this wall to go back and forth over to make decisions. And, uh, yeaah, I was, uhm, I was asked to help lead the, uhm, the Knuckles team. It's the Valve Index Controllers, but we all call it Knuckles.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, it was, it was really cool. It was really fun. It was my first time ever working on hardware. Um, that was one of the main reasons I was excited to work at Bell because it's this really weird place where you can just do whatever you want to if you're willing to apply yourself and add value.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Whereas at Apple, I was doing amazing things, but I was sort of only doing it in one, in one route and user experience.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You probably won't continue to work at Valve for very long.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, so it's sort of like we trust, uh, our colleagues, uh, to, you know, figure out how they can best add value and make customers happy, whether that's working on software or design or features or


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Leading teams or building tools, whatever, whatever your belly like is.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Or even if you have an interest. So we have a lot of people who started out as like, I'm a concept artist.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] To be honest, not really. I think that one of the...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Biggest things and hardest things we do, uh, is recruiting, is hiring, and it's really important that we find really, uhm,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Really strong people who are also a good fit for Valve and the way that we work. Uh, and it's, it's interesting because a lot of times we'll have to make a decision where, oh, this person's a rock star. Um, but they're used to being told what to do.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, and that, that doesn't really work very well at Valve where you're expected to be able to figure out what you should spend your time on.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And there are other people who are like, this person's a rock star, but they haven't done actual work in such a long time because they're a manager that we're like, ah, that, that wouldn't work very well here either. So.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So finding those people is like, is hard.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But we do spend a lot of time trying to make sure we find people who will succeed here. Uh, and if we're right, then...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You don't have to worry about a lot of those decisions. People will just work on things and you trust them to do things like.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Someone will show up and be like, hey, I'm going to take on this feature. And I was like, cool. I'm glad you got that. Uh, let's talk one about when we want to integrate it or if.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I mean, it's always an iterative process. Like everything is always changing and we're always trying to be better at it. Um, but there's, you know, it's an interview loop where we work with people, different people from the team. Like we don't have, um,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, we don't have recruiters, like we don't have someone whose job title is recruiter. We have people who will either go through the resume queue.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Not a waste of their time or our time to continue talking to them. We'll, we'll bring them in for a loop.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Half of us are out, half of us are in, and then every time there's like an exposure, then more people are out.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, challenges when making product, especially hardware, but we've, we've managed


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Probably a decade ago, uhm, and I wasn't at Valve at that time, but the team working on the Steam Controller, uh, when they were


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And everyone's like, yeah, that's cool. That's impossible right now. We can't do it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] A lot of stuff happened. I think that I do want to call out that, uh, Pure Lube Graffé.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, is, I would say, one of the chief people who has really pushed on and made Steam Deck possible. Unfortunately, he can't join today.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He was on it from the beginning, from the beginning working on SteamOS and Proton and a lot of the systems that make Steam Deck possible. Uhm, and he's actually on a business trip now like related to Steam Deck.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So, uh, it's too bad he can't make it, but he was there from the beginning and, uhm, I guess I would say three or four years ago, uhm, the idea of Steam Deck came back up again because


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, something changed, technology changed, and suddenly it became possible that something like this would be viable. Uhm, and really, I think it centered around the APU. Uh, we worked with AMD to design a semi-custom APU.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, but not draw enough power that the battery life would be abysmal.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So once we had this chip, we could build a system around it. And then that's how everything started.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So they worked on prototypes and hardware and a lot of things. Um, I joined about two years into it, I guess two years ago.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, after I, after my second child was born, I came back and I was like, Hey, where, where do you folks need help? They're like, Oh, we're getting to a point where we should start thinking about.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, so that's, that's when I linked up and then working on the interface and the system kind of led to


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Like helping people make decisions and just that kind of stuff. We don't have bosses or managers at Valve, but there are people who tend to be like,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So, the way I understand it, and, uh, Pierlu would have the...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Specific details of it is that it's it's an APU that AMD has and we work with them to to make it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I think 15, and that's sort of what we're aiming Zimdak at, which means we can get squeeze basically every bit of power out of it, uh, per watt.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, and that's kind of crucial for a device like this, like doing, doing something off the shelf, there would be, uh, you'd be.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Leaving a lot of potential performance on the table.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, there's always risks. There's never no risk. Yeah. But with this one, especially we were all, everyone on the team was so in love with the thing that we were making.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Or like, there have to be other people out there that will like it too. So, we felt comfortable shipping it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, I mean, there's something really interesting about that because the limitations of the device would be much lower. Like we could create a cheaper device that was targeted specifically for streaming.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Um, but the drawback is if you're in a place without any wifi, uh, you're sunk. So, uh, we, we did, we did.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I always have it as part of the product definition that it would have local storage and you would be able to do offline play.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Of course they exist. A lot of us, so talking about the Switch specifically, we all like Switch. A lot of us have the Switch. Uhm, when people ask whether it's a competitor or


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Draw comparisons. We don't really look at it that way. It's, it's such a different product.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, console, it is a handheld PC and it does so much more than, um, than the description of what a console does. So that's, that's sort of how we've been talking about that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, I mean, you know, we are where we are today because, you know, PC isn't open.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's an open ecosystem, like there are no walled gardens, or we don't believe there should be any. Uhm, without Steam and without PC gaming, uhm, being an open


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It would, it would have to embody all of those things and we think that that makes it uhm, more unique, more powerful, uh, and just will make our customers happy. Uh, we don't think, I guess


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Or saying, man, I would be really happy if this was locked out. I would be much happier if I could only play Steam games on this.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Whereas when other people say, man, it's really cool and makes me happy that I can install other game stores on it or install windows or go to desktop mode and just install random shit, whatever I want to do.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, that's cool. We want people to do that. That's, that's success for us.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Hades. Hades is a game where it's like a perfect example of a game where I was like, this game is awesome. I played it for a while on PC and it bounced off because like, you know, I'm not a controller player before Steam Deck. So I was like,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Once I started working on Steam, I got loaded up and I was like, and then I beat it. You know, I actually.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Played the whole game through and then it played, played it after I beat it, you know, all the extra shit after that. And I was like, wow, this is actually so fun, uh, as a handheld game.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, something that happened for us while we were working on Simdac is that we realized, especially during a pandemic,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] One of the last things we wanted to do was to continue sitting at the same desk and the same chair staring at the same screen to do fun things afterwards.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And, uh, this Steam Deck allows you to take your PC games and go somewhere else. Like even if you're sitting on a couch next to your desk, it's a different place and it's more comfortable. It's a contact switch. So that was huge. And, uh.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And yeaah, so I discovered a lot of my back catalogue, rediscovered it. Uhm, I'm playing through Spider-Man right now, uh, horribly.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Ergonomics. So a lot of the time was actually spent on figuring out what the thing should look like and how it should feel. We have a whole bunch of


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, during pandemic especially, this was really hard, because normally the, uhm,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And then they would have basically rods that you could shove.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] External things into it, and they would print these sections, multiple versions of it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Box them up and ship them to everyone's house. And then everyone would get on a Zoom call.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Plug it in and like everyone plug in 3A and like, hold it and give feedback. Like, oh, the grip is a little high here. I can't, my thumbs can't reach here. And then that's how they gave feedback. And then after a few days or a week, they would do another round of that. I mean, like, okay, based on the feedback here is a new set and, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, that's how, that's how the team got around a lot of the COVID stuff.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, I would guess probably a couple years.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] From my understanding, I would know exactly. But yeah, like by the time I joined the team, the project had been going out for a couple of years and they were already on, uh, one of the, one of the first like semi, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So yea, a lot of, yea, I mean, just to talk a little bit more about process, like a lot of times spent on figuring out like how big the screen should be. Like we had a version of it with a bigger screen, but that made the device even more big.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And also it would drain the, drain the battery way faster. Uh, and then like a lot of time was spent figuring out like,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Like all of these inputs, you know, your standard trigger, oops, trigger bumper, thumbstick.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We knew we wanted trackpads, but we spent a lot of time figuring out what they should look like and where they should be, like squares, circles, rectangles, and then, you know, the back buttons of course, so.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, a lot of iteration on that and looking at ergonomic studies of how big people's hands are and all that kind of stuff.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Those, those controllers are strapped to your hand, so there are a lot less, uh, there's, it's way less forgiving.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So we could have made a smaller, we could have made it a flat slab. Cause like, you know, there's space in here to take stuff up, but then.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So we didn't want to compromise on comfort or performance. So, you know, everything's a trade off. I meant that it was a little bigger.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The biggest and most obvious ones were, were COVID, right? So like, COVID had a lot of like,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There's a waterfall of effects from that. Not only was working from home a pain in the ass.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But the whole world was suffering and the supply chain was all fucked and it wasn't just like, um, oh, like this, this, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Our, our supply, our supply teams was amazing and they worked so hard to get multiple sources for parts of that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, and I think that the fact we were able to ship when we did is kind of a testament to all of their artwork.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Customer facing one other than like we, we do wish we could have gotten them out faster than we did. Um, but I think we're, we're finally hitting our stride.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We're going to be updating reservation windows very soon, in the next day or two. Uh, there will be a lot more people in Q3. So Lucy, you'll probably get yours.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] With Wrangling just making, making interface for Steam Deck or?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, well what's good is, uhm, so just talking about the interface specifically, we, I mean we started with Steam, which is...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Very, very full feature and a lot of the designers like myself included were really excited to take this as an opportunity, uh, to simplify and make, um,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, kind of going back to what we talked about, it's really open and, um,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] As polished as we can make it, as simple as we can make it, so that if you are coming to Steam Deck from a console, which we hope people are doing, uhm, it isn't a scary thing.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So, a lot of that was trying to pair things back, uhm, just trying to make it really simple and really clear, like, what are the most important things to people, how do we make it accessible, uh, how do we, you know, as players of games ourselves, uhm,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We, we know what we want to see when we open Steam Deck or turn it on. We want to see our recent game. So we knew that there's going to be some sort of landing screen with all the games you're playing right now. We know you want your library and we know you want to get to the store.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, dread at the same time because we knew we wouldn't be able to fulfill every one.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] For a while. Right. And uhm, so we're excited that there was still so much.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, so yeaah, we're all, we're all really, we were really pleased with the launch. Really happy with how it went.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So yeaah, I think that I would sort of agree with that. I think that uhm, the product


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That we launched with that first got to customer's hands. There were still a lot of things on the.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Things we want to do before we ship list that we hadn't gotten to yet, uh, which we have since then shipped.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, but the other thing is like, what was hard for press, and this is like,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, Valve is a place where we ship product and we iterate and especially where we can iterate on software.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We iterate like crazy and like not only were there things on the list that we wanted to do,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, after we had already launched, but there were things that we learned once it was out in the wild. And so it's.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, like Steam itself, there's always new features, there's always updates, there's always bug fixes, uhm, and it's, it's never done. It's always getting better.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] After this upcoming Japan trip, I'll take a holiday. Nice.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We're definitely not crushing or crunching or anything. It was a little hairy around the time of launch and directly afterwards, but right now we have a pretty good cadence. As for the pace, I mean,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We're used to shipping bits and our customers are used to shipping bits.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Why, why consoles would take longer to update? It could just be that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, when you're at a normal company, there's a lot more layers of things to get through. You know, when I worked at Apple, I would work on a thing and be like,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's been interesting. It's not what I thought I would be doing, but it does seem, I think it's providing a valuable role.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Like we do want to make sure people know that we are listening and that we're responding to feedback and we understand. And I think it's just like, Steam Deck is new enough and there's some.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Like, it's easy for there to be confusion around certain things, especially when a lot of people are, uhm,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So that's kind of when I started saying more things online. It's like, Hey, it's okay. Like, look, we just shipped another batch of emails. Here's the pace that we're going at. Here's an update on the production situation.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Here's the con or here's the command line. Here's how you, how to get pseudo commands. If you really want to get in there.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The PC-ness of it. Some people are saying like it's replaced my PC or it is my first PC.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So nothing to share yet, but we would really like to ship in Australia. So we're looking into things. It's just.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, Australia is one of those countries where, like, as a foreign company,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, shipping product is, is pretty difficult. Like we just have to make sure that, you know, we're crossing all our T's and dotting all our I's, et cetera. So, uhm, hoping to say something soon, but nothing new enough today.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Nothing as specific as a date, but like we're always working on making it more available in more places. So obviously Japan and South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong is the next, is the first.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Okay, we don't, we don't have a philosophy around it, but we do want to make sure that if we make, when we make another version that it's, that it's meaningful. Uhm, so.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I don't think we're, we're not going to tie ourselves to any sort of cadence or like expect or, um, what's the word? Some sort of expected. Yeah. Some sort of cycle. So I mean, like we're not just to go back to like valve as a weird company, we're not tied to like.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, I mean, hardware is, like, we've learned a lot over the years about building hardware in.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Me seeing a buddy at work and saying like, oh, did you see that bug? Let's fix it. And then a couple hours later, we shift the fix.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, this hardware is like, hey, did you see that? We should fix that. And they're like, oh fuck. And then six months later.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I would probably be Hades, like 60 some hours. And that was like, that's like the most by far. It's hard cause uhm, cause I have two very young children.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Exactly, exactly. Love it. So probably Hades because I really got sucked into it and it's like perfect for Steam Deck because you could just do a run and like, okay, I did a run in like 25 minutes. I'll put it down. I'll go hang out with the kids. And then I'll do another run before bed and then like, you know, unlock more shit and it's fun. So.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'm a dad and, you know, this has changed my life. I thought I would never get to game again.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'm in the middle of nowhere and I'm really bored. I'm at the DMV and I can play my game and like the Steam Deck is amazing. Just like people discovering it, people understanding what it's for and why it's great. Like it's...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And they recently just won, two people recently just won a gift prize. $1,000.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He has already answered the question, but I'm still going to put it down.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Like, I just want to make sure I understand properly. For you to- for you to-


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Meet your end goal in life literally. You won't care about most people around you. You just have to be focused. Whether they are offended or not, you just have to keep going right?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Okay, so it's quite obvious that we have to...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] What about the people that do not understand their predicaments?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Like, you try to put them towards the right path. Let's say now we're married- I'm not yet married, but like, let's say now we're married, uhm,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, I really do know how to put this, but I believe you are intelligent enough to help me put it together. Yes ma'am.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Amongst everything you've been saying, I feel there's something missing and that is balance. Like everything we have to do, there should be balance. When you're telling, when you're saying that, uhm,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Sometimes you have to just be on your own to achieve some things. Like I'm picking an example. You know, there has to be balance to everything. Because if you overdo it, you might lose yourself at a point. So how do you...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I think it should be enough for yourself. You should know when it's enough for yourself, not for other people.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of the Friends Per Second Podcast. This is the fourth


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Episode, believe it or not, and it's the last week of July, 2022. We got a lot of video game stuff to talk about.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Three members of the commonwealth and three fans of epic games.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Alright, well, we got a lot of stuff to talk about this week, so we might as well just kick it off. Uh, the first thing is Ubisoft's big wild ride. Had a hell of a week. Uh, so this week in Ubisoft's earnings call, we learned that a number of Ubisoft titles have been cancelled or delayed. Splinter Cell VR, cancelled. Ghost Recon Frontline, cancelled.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I forgot what that was, but that's Battle Royale. Everybody was like, no thank you. Uh, they also, uh, had two unannounced games that are also canceled. So I'm sure we'll find out what those are four or five years from now. Thanks to some weird leaks or a YouTuber. Uh, and the avatar game was delayed till spring.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] 2023. And I'm sad. I wanted to play that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The last avatar game was good, but I've also.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] For some people, it's fun. It's incredible. I love watching those guys cause it's like they have a trip down, down like the well of insanity where it's like all the time like, Hey guys, grind it out. Halo videos for you. Hey, grinding out fortnight, how to get these achievements. And then it's like, I'm going to Hannah Montana.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The list of delays does continue. Uh, the only other thing that was delayed is apparently the Assassin's Creed Rift game. This was the rumored one that you would play as Basim from Valhalla that takes place in the Middle East. I think it was rumored to take place in Iraq.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, so of these games, uh, are you guys, like, I heard the Splinter Cell VR being cancelled and I personally was very upset, but Ralph, what about you?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'm kind of wondering like, is it also like, is it like, you know when you like bands and then like you start getting older and the bands keep making music, but it's not the type of music you wanted them to make? Not every band, but some bands that happens too.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The previous ghost recon games where I just like games that are third person shooters where you can like crouch, go prone, you know, there's some precision. So like, it's a bummer that we're losing that, but it's just a mountain of.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] With this, with this stuff they currently have on their lineup, is this going to save them? I, I don't really know because I see it as essentially


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I really liked, uh, Immortals Phoenix Rising. And it's the same type of formula, but it just felt like it was just made by some fun loving people that just wanted to do something cool. And it managed to feel like an accident. Like it felt like this happy accident. They were like, oh yeah, we have this game.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, the only other news bite this week involving Ubisoft is Assassin's Creed Japan, uh, popped up back in the news. I don't know if you guys saw this, but good old Jeff Grubb reported that the


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The first entry in Assassin's Creed Infinite is going to be set in Japan. It's currently known as Project Red, which lends credibility to the reporting. Basically, the big question here is, after Ghosts of Tsushima, is it too late for Assassin's Creed to tackle Japan? Lucy, what do you think?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I would as well. And if I had a little bit of assassinating to it and like a cool backpack and a, and a hood, that's, that's cool. I just still want a modern thing.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Everything is permitted. No weapons are true. Everything is permitted. Brief technical difficulties aside there. Ralph, do you think it's too late for this Assassin's Creed Japan type of thing?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I look at it just like, alright, so if one of their first things is a Japan and it's not great, then what do you do? Just wait for the next expansion or the next update? Like, oh, maybe they'll get me next time. I'm curious to see how that pans out, but I'm not like falling over myself. Lucy, what about you?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Let's do it. Okay. Anyway, next up, let's move on to the big topic of the hour. Uh, if a lot of you guys have seen the title or thumbnail of this video, the hot story is NFTs, baby Minecraft this time around. So it was, it was a fairly big week or so for NFTs with Square Enix announcing


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] 25th anniversary NFTs for Final Fantasy VII. I didn't even know this because I think I have the word muted at this point.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So with the Square Enix thing, the bigger thing was Minecraft taking an official strong... You always said Minesweeper, don't deny it. Minesweeper.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Each of these uses of NFTs and other blockchain technologies creates digital ownership based on scarcity and exclusion which does not align with Minecraft values of creative inclusion and playing together. NFTs are not inclusive of all of our community and create a scenario of the haves


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The speculative pricing and investment mentality around NFTs takes the focus away from playing the game and encourages profiteering, which we think is inconsistent with the long-term joy and success of our players.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So for me personally, that's like the thing on the wall that you just go, you tap the sign like the whole statement, which you should look it up, just Google it. It is, it is very well worded.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And uh, beyond how I can explain them. And I think they did a really good job of like.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Because, you know, some of these, some of these projects won't immediately surface and the games that we have seen that are like NFT or blockchain focused are like the worst things I've ever seen. Like the most like no thank you type games. One might even say no fucking thanks type games.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I feel like the waters get muddied in terms of like the real conversations we've been having now about like digital ownership and stuff and like gamers are getting very concerned of those things. Uh, but to, to flock to something like this.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Like, I'm concerned if more people will flock to something like this with those concerns, but


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, a lot of it, at least from what I know, the limited, it's like profiteering and it's more exactly what their statement said. It's, it's more of a haves and have nots thing. And it's like a members only elements that I don't think really belong. The other, the other thing too, that I wanted to pose is that like,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Are we winning? Because it feels like we're pushing back against these things, these NFTs and stuff, but new stuff keeps coming.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I just wish I believed in anything like these folks believe in this. I want to find some of that juice. Yeah.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] At least, at the very least, uh, shout out to Minecraft.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, at the end of the day. And again, a great statement. Go look it up. It's definitely, it's definitely well said, well articulated. And I think we'd all, we're all in agreement. We'd like to see other, uh, publishers make that type of statement or game developers, at least individually. Uh, moving on.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Let's talk about Knights of the Old Republic. Uh, this actually broke right before we started recording this. Uh, Jason Schreier of Bloomberg is reporting that the Knights of the Old Republic remake is facing some issues. Uh, they apparently just laid off two


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I don't want to, I don't have the word right in front of me, uh, but seemingly delayed indefinitely, the project kind of paused it, halted it, if you will. Uh, and this apparently caught a lot of the team by surprise. They didn't see that coming. And now they're saying at the very least, maybe we'll see the game by 2025.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I, it, it seemed like, it seemed huge for, it's, it's Kotor. It's such a hard one to remake. And it would, it was being remade by a smaller team, a team that has a Spire or a Spear, A-S-P-Y-R, uh, who has experienced.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They've, they've ported the KOTOR games. They've ported a bunch of games. Uh, they've worked with a lot of Star Wars properties. So, uh, but you know, I don't, I don't know. It, it seemed like a lot.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, so, you know, uh, too many cooks in the kitchen in terms of like Disney and different canons and everyone really putting Night's Yield of Republic on such a pedestal. Uhm, and I, I was worried about it from the beginning. Now at the very least.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I think, uh, I think Embrace Your Group, uh, because they are the, the publishers. I think they would be willing because I think they, they've, they've been very busy gobbling things up and I think they would very much like to be like, we have a Star War. You know? Yeah.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Like I said at the start, like I'm kind of all over the place because on the one hand, I'm like, ah, that's such a wild game to remake. I don't even know if like what that would be like, but.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The story it told, I think is like pretty, like speaking as a, I'm wearing a Star Wars shirt, but like speaking as a Star Wars person, like the story's a big deal. And especially with how the new canon is and everything, it could be,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Even more of a big deal, especially with modern presentation. They can tell...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] A really compelling thing. I think even with the big twist being known now, like me being like totally in the zeitgeist, there's still so much around it that can still really compel like a new younger Star Wars audience.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Video games. So, uh, major game releases, uh, at the time you guys are listening or watching this podcast. We have Escape Academy, we have As Dusk Falls, we have Stray, the cat game, Forza Hot Wheels, and Live Alive? Live Alive?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] While I have the platform, I wanted to clarify, like I dubbed the game, like lo-fi beats the game. And I, I meant that in like the relaxed chill play vibe, not at all the music. The music is its own thing and it's very cool.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, especially like a couple songs, give me like Big Shell, Metal Gear Solid 2 vibes, like some good. Yeah.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But I, uh, I just found myself a little bit wanting more at the end. Not necessarily because of the short length. I love short games, if anything, like I'm a prime candidate for them sometimes. But I, I just, I don't know, I'm curious to see if you guys, like,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I f- I, by the end I was like, oh okay, this is how it's wrapping up.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Alright, and it did like one thing to like tug at the heartstrings and I was like, oh you're doing this? This is a little sudden. Okay.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And then it ended, and like, it didn't feel, I don't want to feel like it felt unearned, it just felt like it, it could've...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] affected me a little more. If it had a little bit more room or a little extra something to it that I can't quite put my finger on. Maybe I'm just a Debbie Downer.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Something to it and a couple of more minutes to let it breathe.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, that, that would have really, that would have really done it for me. You know, an interesting thing I wanted to ask you guys, I saw a lot of people in my comment sections that said the game is not good or the game is lesser because you can't pick the cat's colors and give it a name and shoot. Yeah. Do you guys agree with that?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Here's the deal. I respect the developer's vision. They wanted to tell a story about this cat. That's the cat. We can't make our own. This is, this is the cat. There are so many, if you made your own cat in the game, the cat would be dumb and wouldn't be able to talk to robots. This is the story of this cat, you know?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] What would you guys like to see for another one? I would like to see more interactions with other cats. Yeah. The first game it was very cool to be alone, but I would like to see a little bit of a cat story. Here's what I'm saying. Co-op, two cats. Yeah, two cats. Guns? You think guns or no? No guns?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, Ralph, you've been playing Forza Hot Wheels.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'm gonna bounce around with you guys. Uh, Lucy and Tam, you guys have both played a game called Bear and Breakfast. Lucy, you were the one who first brought, I didn't even know what it was until you started talking about it. What, what's the elevator pitch?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Tam, the other thing you played is Resident Evil 3, the remake, so I'd love to hear your perspective on this one.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Oh shit, he busts through another wall and he's running towards you. Yeah, then this, there was more opportunities where he would just bust through a wall and then he's like, it's time to fight. And it's like, okay.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's almost like they were aware of how it was then, cause how it was then, like I thought it was cool, but I always considered it like the weird one.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Where it almost felt like it was like the experimental weird spin off one where it's like, oh, you have like, uh, ammo percentage counter and assault rifles and you just, you just focus on this one bad guy. And even the box art is like weird and different. So it's almost like they just treated it the same way where it's like, this is the weird one. We'll just put it out.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] In other news, Ralph, I would like to know what the deal is with Saints Row. You put out a preview video, you got your hands on that, and your video was titled something like Saints Row is okay, I guess, maybe, sure.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's almost like, puzzling that, and maybe this is the clash that some people are hitting, where they see this new one and it has none of that, like.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Zaniness where I, I, once they started to figure it out with three, I was like, this isn't really a GTA clone. This is just like an escalating zany type of fun game where it's a little crass. It's a little gross, but it's just like right there where they, they pull a lot of it off.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'm curious. I'm curious to see how it goes. Thank you for sharing. I mean, that's out soon. That's, that's out towards the end of August.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So uh, check back in for that. Folks, I think that about wraps it up for us.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, it's pretty cool. It's one where I don't know how, you know, I play a lot of games. I don't know how much it's going to stick with me throughout the year because it's probably like the least playable of any of these types of story based


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Choose your own, choose your own angle of the story adventure type thing. Uh, but I thought as Duskfall told a pretty cool little story. It's like because they weren't focused on gameplay.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They were really hash out a story with, uh, you know, some, some interesting characters and just like a story that isn't really told.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] In video games that often it felt very much like an FX television show or like a Breaking Bad like it would have a couple of weird unconventional things to it and I really like that. The voice acting wasn't always there and that was an issue but the art and presentation actually worked for me.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's even fun to play solo, but you have someone else just kicking it with you in the room because the game does do a good job at the very least. While it's very serious stuff, it does do a good job of kind of getting, getting a little bit of a rise out of you.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Where there were a couple of times where I presented two options with me, like in a character, like a character argument and it presents two options and I'm like, no.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I don't want to say like it's barely a game, but like, because it's so simple play wise, it's one of those games where you can jump back into after a couple of weeks and you don't go, wait, what's my inventory? Wait, how do I, you know, it's just like, you remember like, okay, I'm, I kind of remember where I am on the story. Let's keep going.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That is as dusk falls, but ultimately I think that's the end of this podcast now. Ralph, thanks for saving me and getting me to talk about that. I wasn't sure if you guys would find it interesting.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Speaking of videos, uh, Tam, dude, thank you for joining us. Of course. It's always so good to have you and I'd like to know where people can find you and what you're, what you're cooking up.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] No, questions are key. Yeaah. What the hell is that email? Damn.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, definitely do that. Send us what you got. I'm Jake Baldino. You can find me on the internet as well. Thank you guys for listening, watching, choosing. You have a lot of choices, so thanks for picking us. We very much appreciate it. Hope you have a good time. Up until next time we see you, which will be fortnightly every other week.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, so probably the favorite faction of a lot of people listening to this potentially, right? And, and one of the fondest ones.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's the Edgelord faction, and I have a lot of fond memories of this faction, especially starting out with that questline back in Oblivion, and of course going through Skyrim and other Elder Scrolls games. It's a guild that obviously, as we know in the lore, has started to die out, but I can't really see it not being in Elder Scrolls 6.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, but yeah, so look, they, they may have something, like, say it said in Hammerfell, you could really see some, like, specifically, like, Hammerfell deity-themed assassin group. 100%, you could see that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That all sounds, that all sounds great. I'm just saying, based on what we've seen, like chucking the Brotherhood of Steel into Fallout 76, you better believe the Dark Brotherhood is gonna be in Elder Scrolls 6. I just can't see them not doing it, it's such a fan. It's kinda cringe, man.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, I mean, you look at, you look at how you join in, uh, Oblivion for example. You just kill someone, kill anyone and you get visited in the night, you know, you're hardly gonna become a devout worshipper of Scythus or the Night Mother, you know, in a day.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, that's why in Elder Scrolls 6 they really could just do anything with the new Assassin's Guild, have all the same cool type of quests, have a really cool bunch of characters, and I don't think anyone can really complain. Get some cool outfits.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I was going to say there's some things you could start with that I don't think it is. Like, you know, you could kind of remove some of the theories. So there's one where it's a, eh, there's a story about it kind of being an offshoot from the thieves guild where a bunch of thieves realized it was just easier to steal from their targets if they were allowed to kill them.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And it kinda went from there. It's like, wow, this is way easier when we just murder our targets and then steal from them.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] To be honest, what's kind of weird, like I agree with what you're saying, but it's kind of weird because


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There's this idea that you can read about where somebody, can't remember who, but they're saying like, oh, the dark brotherhood would never kill an emperor because then they'd have the whole empire on them and it would be catastrophic for them and they wouldn't be tolerated anymore because they are kind of tolerated as much as they're illegal. Like they're, they're not a super, super high priority.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] For the Empire and other provinces to deal with, for example.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But, the empire, sorry, but emperors have been killed before. So, Plagueis was killed, Plagueis the first, right? Praying, while praying in the temple.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] As we know in Skyrim, we don't know what the canon is, but if we assume that the canon is all of the faction questlines get done by somebody, whether it's the dragonborn or just, you know, the listener or whoever, uhm, the emperor gets killed there again.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So, it's kind of weird to think that the Morag Tong, even though that's kind of the story, were looked at in a bad way after killing a potentate, when really the Dark Brotherhood have done similar stuff.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, the other thing that's worth pointing out is how the Night Mother was actually just the leader of the Dark Brotherhood, like an actual person. So it's kinda like this matriarchal group where the leader is the Night Mother and you see it in Morrowind, it's a Dunmer lady you can speak to.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And in. I think it's Imperial. Is it Imperial? Maybe the screenshot was just, look, they're Morrowind graphics. I just looked at the picture.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Just to clarify, it is, it is an imperial. It is an imperial. It's just god.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I feel like I'll become way more open to any suggestions like that once Elder Scrolls 6 is already out. But until then, every time I hear it, I'm just like-


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I want Elder Scrolls 6. But anyway, back to Mephala, I can definitely see it being the kind of religious schism, especially when you consider like Mephala wouldn't care.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] She wouldn't care, she's still getting kind of worship and reverence from both guilds. People are still killing, like, you know, if she's the Daedra of, what, murder and sex and lies and, you know.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, exactly, exactly. It suits her perfectly well. You know, to kind of be in control of both.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Without Dark Brotherhood at least fully realizing, or at least most of the members, like a lot of the members, it's kind of like the companions. A lot of the members aren't really in it for like the higher, more metaphysical aspects of the guild. It's just like, oh yeah, I like fighting, or I like being an assassin.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They've got some wild armor as well. Some of the pictures, they look like they need to be protecting Snoke as the Praetorian god. Seriously. Or you could chuck a lightsaber in their hand and throw them in Knights of the Old Republic and they'd fit right in on the deck of a ship.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, it depends, it depends on which assassin. Some of them look more, uh, standard, whereas others look a bit over the top, as is often the case in the Elder Scrolls Online with their armor designs. Yeah. Yeah.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's a cool assassination as well. To me it has these real Assassin's Creed vibes. Like the fact that he was assassinated while praying in some temple alone and like he gets killed. You can imagine the blood on the temple floor and some shadowy figure fleeing away and maybe there's some pigeons going around. You know?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The thing that I don't like about it, obviously it's a powerful dagger, but if we're going off the game mechanics, it's this really small chance to instantly kill, so it's kinda like,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yay, if I do 50 assassin contracts, one of them will be an instant kill. And it's kind of like, if you're an assassin, pretty much, uh, obviously in game there's things like damage and whatever, but the idea is that if you stab someone in the throat in the Elder Scrolls, even if they have 10,000 health, like they die.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, so as an assassin it seems, I don't know why they would want it so badly.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Exactly, and you can also imagine actually there's a reason they would like the Razor if they are going after some high profile targets that kind of have more strength than your typical mortal. For example, the Dragonborn. If they wanted to kill a Dragonborn, you'd feel a lot better about it with a Daedric artifact in your hands. Or going, yeah.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, and it kind of, as it talks about in some of the texts, and I think in his journal, that it reduces the legitimacy of the Dark Brotherhood. Because if they, if they're, cause obviously they're going through a pretty heavy downfall.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, if they're not fulfilling their contracts, you know, the Black Sacrament almost becomes myth. It's like, oh, maybe it works.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So that's why when they're talking about, you know, there was this argument.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] As the Dark Brotherhood was facing troubles in the fourth era of kind of like, should we expand or should we consolidate? And I would be in favor of the expansion, to be honest. As much as they were facing troubles, there's no point in even having the guild if you're not fulfilling contracts in different places.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, like, it's like, oh, the Dark Brotherhood, the Black Sacrament only works in Cyrodiil. Like, it's like...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I like the idea as well that the whodunit quest, which comes not too long before, uh, was actually you being prepared to do the purification.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That they put you in this party house to kill off everyone without the people inside knowing that you're the one killing everyone.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So that Lucy and Luchance can kind of say, okay, he's ready to do the purification. It's like training. I think that's such a cool theory. I'd love to make a video on it, but I don't know how to say more than just that. You know, it's kind of like, I'm sure I could make a video about the quest because I just love it so much.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's such an effort. It is such an effort. And his diary is so creepy. Although in parts of his diary, it just feels like the writers were like, oh, what can we do that's like creepy? Oh, let's write backwards.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Lucy and Lachance must die, but, but there is some things in there. Anytime the, the, the word mummy is used in a creepy text. It's just, it's just like.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, the idea is that the laughter of the jester fills the void and that Cicero is constantly listening to this silence, but then instead...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] His silence gets replaced by the laughter of this, this jester, which is kind of, you can imagine him obsessing over being an assassin because he talks about how, you know, that's why he joined. He wanted to kill. And then they basically like give him the job where it's like, oh, there's so much honor to this job, but it's like the most boring one. Like,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Clearing out insects and rodents from the night mother's corpse and oiling it up and, and all this kind of like. To an extent.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I, I calculated as well, it takes, it seems to take Cicero, uh, about three to four months to go insane. Like when, when you read his, not insane, but when it, there's this big skip in his, um,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] In his diary entries where he kind of goes from like, kind of teetering on the edge and then it's like, okay, now he's just nuts.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I just found the, I just found the quote. So he's going crazy with the laughter in his, in his head and stuff. Not like crazy, kind of crazy. But then there's the one entry is like, it's not safe to leave the sanctuary. We'll stay here. All is well.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And then the next entry is just like, Garnag is gone, gone, gone, gone, gone, gone, left to get food, but he'll be back. It's only been three months, three months, three months, 12 moths, four slots. And you're just like, okay. All right. Cool meme entry.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I am willing to make a video as well. You know how I made one comparing the Thieves Guild of Skyrim and Oblivion? I would love to go back and do a Dark Brotherhood one, just to see if Oblivion lives up to the hype and the nostalgia in my brain. I know it's good, but I just, people will say it's so much better than Skyrim's.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] A lot of the quests are these contracts that you get from Nazir.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And they can be interesting, but what they did in Oblivion was they kind of characterized the contracts a lot more by making them main quests, you know, like killing, um, I think he's called Balin.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] In Bruma, the Bosma guy with the big Nord guard.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That's not a crazy quest. If you think about it, you sneak into a house, go upstairs and loosen the fastenings of a thing and then leave. Like it's a, it's a pretty simple murder. And you know, I'm sure being sent to a farm in Skyrim to kill some farmer who's actually like a vampire.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Who failed is upset and you find him in the bar later drinking his sorrows away and stuff


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, and like the scales of pitiless justice, the deceivers finery, um,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There is, there are, there are still bonuses in, uh, Skyrim. I believe they're just more monetary.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I just, I can remember the dialogue about bonuses.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It was all a Morag Tong ploy. Let's erupt Red Mountain so we can send Dark Elves across the land and have an excuse to get our assassins in places. I don't think so.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The other thing as well is whatever gets worshipped gets more powerful.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, so it's kind of, it's kind of like the Argoni, the ancient Argonians worshipping Scythus as a destroyer and then the modern ones worshipping him as a destroyer and a creator. If you have an assassin's guild that perceives Scythus to be super destructive, then that kind of part of him I could imagine can be present or at least feel real to them.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But it's not, it's not like strong. Like, I mean, I'm pretty sure the Crimson Scars character thought that Scythus told them to get rid of all the non-vampires and then, like, nah.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, not really in terms of like theory crafting type of stuff. I mean, I'm always down to talk about the actual characters and the quests and things like that, but uhm.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, yeah, it comes to visit you. You kill it, but obviously you can't join. It's kind of like three strikes and you're out. But as we see in Skyrim, they kind of stopped following the five tenants anyway. Like Astrid's just a very business oriented, doesn't care type person, you know? It really feels like a big gang of mercenaries in a way.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The other thing that you're talking about, Scythus, there is the artifact, the Fangs of Scythus, which is like a tool used in Black Marsh of like great power from long ago and it could like destroy the crops of enemies and do all other kinds of things.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, there's talks in Cicero's journal of, uhm, wanting it, uh, two members wanting to fund it, but they didn't have the resources at the time, so they decided not to.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, for sure, although I do, I think I'm, I think I will end up making this video on the Dark Brotherhood, Skyrim vs Oblivion.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, I'm just vibing it. I didn't get to talk about all the quests that I wanted to, so I'm gonna make a video about it instead. Yeah.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So you had so many people come into Lagos and contribute to its development. We have been exposed, we are dealing with people, we have gone past tribe.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You'll find a, a driver, a, a house help is trying her hardest to find the way to send her child to private school.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So now, let us start again in the collective interest.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] What is up ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to Fudge Muppet, I'm Scott and I'm here with Michael and Drew as always, and today's Elder Scrolls podcast is all about Nocturnal. So, Resident Daedrologist Drew, take it


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, well I guess we can start, like you were bringing up with her being transactional and she's popular, I mean there's lots of thieves, so there's lots of people that would benefit from like that sort of transactional use of like luck or power or whatever, because it's kind of,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The power can be vague. It doesn't have to be a sort of like, here's a Daedric artifact or a specific blessing in the same way that the Thieves Guild in Skyrim was flourishing when Nocturnal Luck was sort of affecting the guild as a whole. Uhm, but then obviously that went away.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] For reasons we can get into later, but uhm, a big distinguishing thing I think is important, like he was sort of saying with the darkness and void and her not being


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The literal, like, nothingness void, so on. The darkness. A way to sort of think about it too, and I wonder if we could kind of connect it to shadow magic, but how shadow magic is like, uhm,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's kind of the idea that shadows appear in conflict. So you've got like the light and a physical object or something, but it's not just in that conflict. There's a shadow of all conflict, whether that be like wars or even plots and stuff like that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Whether she might, uhm, so you can kind of expand that sort of shadows into a lot of things and like even like conspiracy sort of stuff. It doesn't have to be just quite literally, you know, shade from the sun kind of thing encapsulated within a sphere and that ties in.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Also to plots that she's, uh, gone ahead and with the, uh, clockwork city and the crystal tower, which we can go more into, but she, um,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] What she wants, she doesn't cooperate well with others. And uhm, or at least she pretends to and then, and then betrays them. But that sort of transactional mindset.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Some people, I don't know, at least I got the oppression earlier in like Skyrim and stuff, you kind of go like, oh, you know, Azura, as long as we're like good to her and like I'm night and gay or like, you know, she's good, she's good after all, but she's not, she's like...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] She's very bad. She tried to like, you know, rewrite reality with a heart of transparent lore and then make it, make herself infinite. She's very self-involved.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's interesting too that Nocturnal, in a lot of her actions, she kinda does embody the sort of...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The thief dynamic because she is a thief in certain mythologies, quite literally like in Khajiit mythology, it's implied that the skeleton key once belonged to Azura and that Nocturnal came along and she stole that and ran away and took it off back into the void.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And like, it's just, and then also, I mean, all of the kind of backstabbing and stealing she does with a triad. Like, do you want to, let's, I'll bring that up. Let's talk about what exactly she did. So in the second era, this is the ESO, um, uh, events.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, of the Morrowind expansion, sorry, the Clockwork City.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's kind of connected to the Morrowind DLC as well, but it feeds into the Clockwork City and then into the Somerset Isles. It's sort of like a continuing sort of storyline that there's a triad of Nocturnal, Clavicus Violens, Mafala, and they decided to get together and they're going to hatch a little master plan here. And then, so Nocturnal, uh, creates a shadow of


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Of Sotha Sil and, and manipulates things and tries to get the, get your hands on the skeleton key.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, and using, or using all of that, it was basically she's trying to get to, uhm, ultimately this plot, she ends up betraying Clavicus and Mephila in the Somerset Isle stuff, and she's using the secret she stole from Sotha Sil, this is from memory, so hold on, the secret she stole from Sotha Sil,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And she's going to use that to affect the heart of transparent law, which is the heart of the crystal tower. And she wants to use that to reshape reality and make herself an infinite being.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, and then obviously she, you know, she, she betrays Mephiler and Clavicus Vile to do that. And then you sort of help Mephiler a bit and Clavicus Vile to sort of get back at her and stop her. And obviously it doesn't happen, but Nocturnal's intention there is.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's kinda like a, kinda weird, eh, not, not, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Kim kind of thing, but it kind of seems like a, like becoming infinite, but like consuming everything within the Godhead kind of, kind of thing.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, it's a good story, but I do like how it expands on her a bit more and makes her less of a, um, just, oh, I'm a thief god, but she's way more malevolent. I don't think she's a, I wouldn't worship her.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We can kind of talk about that a bit more too. We can kind of go into the nightingales and, uhm, and their purpose and everything, which we can then segue further. So I guess the nightingales are...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Basically, uh, th-thieves who have entered a pact with Nocturnal to basically forever and eternally guard the gate, uhm, the, what is it called, the Ebon Mere, which is the gate to the Everglom. So you can get, get in there. And, and they're also supposed to guard the Skeleton Key as well. Uhm.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And even in death, they'll, they'll remain as nine gales guarding that. So that, there's a little, uh, little interesting pact there, but it's very, I feel like it favors Nocturnal more. I mean, look, the thieves get some luck and they get there to go and like, you know, steal heaps of riches and stuff like that, but,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I don't know, to me that sounds like a kind of a bad deal because then I just have to be stuck in the Twilight Sepulchre or whatever it was called and then be like a ghost nightingale guarding it for all of time.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, I mean at least you might go to some form of heaven or whatever or you could pursue some other, you know.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So he's not, so originally in arena lore he was called Nightingale or so on.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I mean, he was supposedly that Nightingale that basically, uh, seduces Barenzire and knocks her up, but more current lore is it was Draven, I think it was Draven, Indoril, who was doing it for Jaygothan, um, so he, um,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And then he knocked up Aranzar and then that's why generations down you've got Carlisle.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And that was like to do with the arena plot because he was getting the business staff of chaos or something.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But, uhm, since we're on the topic of Nightingales anyway, and they're guarding the Ebon Mere, which is the portal to, uhm, the Everglow, let's, uh, let's talk about the Everglow.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Do we even have, is there even a description of...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The Everglow. Because there's more, I feel like there's more on the, uhm, the pocket realms of the Everglow than there actually is on the Everglow.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Hmm, that's pretty cool. But still, there's nothing much going on on it. Cause I think we've only ever seen, there's this place called the Shadow Cleft. Yeah. Which is like,