Reflections & Predictions of Gaming's Next Big Hits

Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Music.

(00:43):
Hello, everyone, and welcome to another episode of Epic Loot Radio.
Brian and Kirk here bringing in a roundtable. We got Mark joining us again.
And for the first time on the show, Kenneth Fox, welcome.
And we're going to go around, let everybody give kind of some promotions and some plugs.
But first, Kirk, what are we talking about today? Because we got a jam-packed show.
Yeah, man. It's like Game Armageddon on Friday.

(01:06):
We got three games releasing, Dragon's Dogma 2, Rise of the Ronin.
And the one that really matters right mark
princess peach showtime those are
three games we're getting on friday we're not talking about
alone in the dark but that's also this week we got a jam
pack week and uh we're gonna talk about a little little little card roguelike
that ken and i can't put down called balatro maybe we can get one of you two

(01:31):
hooked on it probably not with your dad life and everything and yeah we're gonna
go over some some of what we've been playing but mainly going over those three games.
And Ken has been hands-on with Rise of the Ronin, so you can get your hands-on
impressions here first, ladies and gentlemen.
And that's going to be our show. All right. Stick around.
Stick around. We've got a big one for you, and it's starting right now.

(01:52):
Kenneth, so obviously you've had hands-on with Rise of the Ronin,
so I'd like it if you could take a moment, especially your first appearance on the podcast.
Who are you? What do you do? And then if we can just jump right into the Rise
of the Ronin impressions.
Cool. Yeah. So as you said, my name is Kenna Fox. I'm a journalist here in Ireland.
So I write for a website called BreakingNews.ie. So you might be wondering what

(02:16):
does that have to do with games?
So yeah, it's just a general, you know, current affairs, news and entertainment.
But it's past kind of two, three years, I've started to cover the gaming industry
in Ireland itself, because it's kind of a unique industry.
There's like EA here and Riot, but also some indie studios as well.
And then more recently i've started doing about two three years
started to do kind of game reviews as well

(02:36):
because i kind of you know got onto different contacts about game
reviews so yeah i've been going really well really enjoying it and kind of like
it's great to be able to cover the biggest releases of the year and i think
in general like the us is probably ahead in terms of ireland in terms of perception
of video games and gaming media you know it's a much much smaller pool here
in terms of who's covering games so it's kind of trying to make it a bit of

(02:58):
a niche if you know what I mean.
So yeah, my latest review was Rebirths.
He's out recently and don't spoil brian he's trying to avoid the work i am four
years behind i'm the same i'm the same rebert i i like i got a certain way true,
and rise of ronin came so i had to you know uh put it to a side put it aside

(03:20):
for a moment but yeah i don't want anything spoiled the people man people someone
was given out of at the ending the other day thankfully i didn't see what the
detail was but it's like guys the game just came out like like at the end of last month.
Well, they think it's fine because Final Fantasy VII is so old. How do you not know?
It's been out for like, you know. The remake, I was like, this is different.

(03:40):
Like, wait, what's going on here? Like, all right. You know,
so, you know, being that that game is four years old, like I think the most
surprising thing was like, there's these weird Spectre ghost things.
And what does this seem like?
And people can see them, you know, like, okay. So I'm curious about that overall mystery.
So I'm catching back up. Anyway, Kenneth, please continue. so i
had as i said i got the rise of roman code so i

(04:01):
kind of had to leave rebirth to one side for the
moment so yeah so in turn i did kind of
a there was a preview embargo was it
like the 11th of march or something like that and so
that's kind of still up in terms of what i can
talk about like story story wise because there's a certain mission
you can't talk beyond what everything else there

(04:21):
was no real restrictions because you could do side missions and you
could you know do do all the open world activities so i've been
playing i was looking at it there my piece five about 26
hours in now probably something like that and so
yeah like i can start just giving my thoughts on
that if you want to have well what else what else have you been playing
first ken because we can all kind of go through what we've been playing and

(04:42):
yeah so as i said trying to get back into rebirth uh
when i can i gotta shout out a game that
i really i've i haven't really heard anyone
really talk about it i suppose you do have to have a piece of your
two are a meta request or whatever it is it's called
puzzling places so it's basically a puzzle game but it's
a 3d puzzle game and so what this company did was they like took 3d scans of

(05:04):
real life locations and basically you put the puzzle together like a 3d space
so you know you think of a 2d puzzle it's just like well this matches up with
this but now you have to think of it in a 3d sense where or if it's a round area.
So it's really relaxing, a lot of fun. And what's really cool is that.
Say if you're like 60% of the way, the more you get into the actual putting

(05:25):
the puzzle together, the sound start.
So for example, I did one where it was like the South of France,
someplace in the South of France.
And as I got closer to finishing it, you start hearing more sound of the Eagles
and the waves crashing up against the coast.
And, you know, people chatter like, so it's such a cool, like audio experience
along with, you know, what you're doing with the puzzle.
So that's, that's really cool game. I recommend buzzing places.

(05:46):
And then of course, I suppose, will we talk about Bellator now,
Kirk? Yeah, go for it. Go for it. Yeah. Go ahead.
Addiction so i heard of this game from blessing adione
jr from kind of funny he just kind of said it offhand
like oh yeah i've been playing lotro you know this really cool
fun card game and i think he
was kind of downplaying he you know he didn't really sell it so it's basically

(06:08):
this it's poker roguelite and essentially
as you can see i think it's better to explain with the video that
you can see here so you have you have a small
blind a big blind and then a boss so there's three different kind
of stages that you have and so as you
see the score might be 300 to start so based
on the cards you know if it's a two pair or if it's like a

(06:29):
flush like all hearts you basically
get points for that and so you basically have to
try and reach that in the amount of hands that you have so you start with like
four or three hands so it can be pretty tough at the start
but eventually you get these joker cards that like would
give you buffs for like a two pair or flush and you can
really start stacking it up and it gets it's so addictive because

(06:50):
you're like you might lose in the first boss fight because the
boss fight has different like you might be able to play diamond cards or hard
cards and you're like this card two random cards per hand is exactly and so
you're like at first i was like this is actually quite hard but when you get
the joker cards and there's also these planet cards which gives you which means
your multiplier for say a two pair is like.

(07:12):
Multiplied by five instead of just the base and so
you can really start stacking it up and it just gets really fun
to even if you do lose like later on and around you want
to go when you when you lose and it's like the literally like
one of the joker cards like laughs at you and like makes fun
of you and like it's so abrupt when you lose like
yes you're trying to beat the score in the top left there so

(07:34):
it would be like 800 here so if you get like 715 or
whatever and you barely lose it just immediately takes you
to a game over screen like it's the fastest game over screen
i've ever seen like it's not it's not like the dark souls like
you died and it like hangs on it's just like boom you freaking
lost and like the like oh i gotta play again like i gotta go one more run like

(07:56):
feeling of this game is like so much harder than like any other game that i've
ever like it's like no i can't end on that bro like i'm not going out like this
like you and And you have to go back in and play.
And then the flip side, this is like the satisfaction of like seeing these like
pop off like ding, ding, ding, ding, ding.
That's another thing to the sound design of this game is phenomenal.

(08:19):
Like there's this soothing kind of lo-fi kind of music like playing in the background
the whole time. Like that's very relaxing.
And then like the the the pings of like the cards counting is like ding,
ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding.
And then like shoots up and like you get
like all the points and everything and you're like yes like you get like when
you one shot it in in one hand it feels amazing but i think the real hook of

(08:44):
this is like it's that feeling of i feel like hades is probably the roguelike
that like the most people have played it's that feelings of like doing a hades
run and then you just pick up a modifier,
randomly like from one of the stages that's like yeah all your hits give you
health back now or or whatever, and you're just like, oh, I'm just going to beat the game this run.
That's what these Joker cards feel like, because it's completely random,

(09:07):
the ones that you encounter.
There's this shop where you can buy them, and sometimes you'll get one that's just like...
You know three of a kind gets a three times multiplier and like the the times
multipliers are insane because like most of it like increases it like it just
like takes it up like plus two
but like when you get like a times two it doubles your your like your total

(09:28):
points which is crazy so at that point like when you get one of those you're
like oh let's go like we're going to the end baby and then of course you inevitably
lose on like the second to last level or whatever and And you're like, oh, I got to go again.
So that's why I think I was messaging Brian and Mark about this privately over the weekend.
And I was like, I would 100% recommend this game to you guys.

(09:49):
It's only $15 and it's amazing for like Switch or Steam Deck.
But like, it's not like with you guys being dads and like with the like,
it's not a game where like you play a run and you're like, okay, I'm done now.
Like it has grippingly addictive
potential of like i just gotta do one more run that's my

(10:11):
one and only issue with hell divers too is that like
i'm having so much fun and then we're like hey we completed the mission and
i'm like i you know like let's go extract right away and everybody wants to
do the optional objectives and i'm like i don't know if i'll be able to stick
around for yes the entire run and so i run into this like where it's like i
literally have to block off time to say like, alright, if they want to go do optional objectives,

(10:34):
I'm not going to have to drop out of the party, which always never feels any fun.
Yeah but it's it's like it's really hard to explain yeah
why and also so i think in terms of satisfaction that
even the cards if you look at the packs that you open it's like pokemon cards
back in the day or if you know collected you know mlb or nfi it has that feeling
oh what am i going to get you know they replicate that so well that you're like

(10:57):
because as you said it could be a joke with that you know maybe buffs something
of a bit or it could be like a huge improvement and And you can also see,
you see the way there's five cards up at the top?
You can also, if something you don't like is a bit underpowered,
you can sell it and you can put up another Joker card that's better.
So you kind of have to allocate the space as well. So you can't just keep putting up Joker cards.

(11:19):
So yeah, it's very addictive. But I kind of think it's almost perfect for a dad or something.
I'm sold. I legit sold based off of what you guys have already said.
If you like playing cards at all or like poker, oh my god. The only thing that
would make this better if it ran on GeForce Now.
That would be the only thing that would take this to the ultimate level.

(11:41):
It doesn't need it visually, but just that flexibility.
Steam Deck ends up meaning it's an easy buy for me. If it's Steam Deck compatible, we're good.
I just saw it's coming out on iOS and Android too. Oh, God! That is perfect.
Dude, it's going to take over. This is going to be like Wordle or whatever.
Like oh my god this is like one of those games i

(12:03):
mean like i have a dentist appointment this week like imagine i had about your
phone you're just like oh yeah one sec i'm just finishing around to the dentist
you know like it's that addictive marvel snap was that game yeah and it's like
this is like this might be better like this might be this might be better like
it's just it doesn't it's not.
Frustrating in a way that once you

(12:26):
understand it i will say i didn't quite get it
i had to look up like a couple of videos it was really only one
or two videos and then i understood because something we're
not talking about is like right here where it shows like you you
can like move the jokers and stuff so you can like move them
left to right and like rearrange them and replace them and say he just
did it you can rearrange them and so like it's

(12:46):
important that like the ones that add to the the total
come first because it goes left to right so
the ones that add to the total need to come first and the
ones that multiply it need to come after so you're
multiplying that higher total and i didn't
know that i needed to move them around so i kept losing once i
knew that i needed to move around i started beating the game a lot because it's

(13:08):
just like ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding and it like that was
so satisfying it was frustrating when i didn't understand because i kept losing
like how am i supposed to beat this game but now that i get it like it's so
satisfying like doing these runs and i almost kind of like it when i get garbage,
because hey what's up babe i almost kind of like it when i get garbage because like.

(13:28):
It's like okay can i make this work you know like it's
fun to get like the ultimate joker card like there's ones
that are like they're like holographic or like they're like they look like they're
like they've been like coated in like oil or something like they're rainbow
kind of like like it shimmers or whatever like when it when it flexes and stuff
like that like foil that's another one and they have like crazy modifiers and

(13:49):
when you get those in your shop and and and they're like a good,
effect you're like oh like let's go and it completely changes the game and like
that feels really cool too but sometimes i like where the game's just like giving
me nothing and i'm like yeah i bet i can i bet i can beat it still like i bet
i can still beat it that's what's the name of the game again though because
like y'all make sure you're right how do you spell that b-a-l,

(14:12):
Oh, God. B-A-L-A-T-R-O. I can't misspell it for the dyslexic guy.
That's what I was like. Oh, my goodness. Yeah.
And even if you see down the bottom, it says anti.
So that's basically one run. So every round that you beat, it ups the anti.
So you start on one, and then it goes to two and three and four.

(14:32):
And so if you get to eight, essentially eight out of eight anti,
that's when you've completed a run, if that makes sense. But yeah.
And it goes forever after that. it's really really hard but
it can go for it like i have not gotten past nine just
bought it we're good to go there we
go nice i'm getting this one yeah and i mean

(14:54):
like people in the industry have been just all over twitter like i
have no life now i only play balatro like it could
be balatro also i've seen people yeah i don't know
what it comes from what's your word what's it in relation to it must
be so i don't know i just like saying balatro you know
like it sounds better than Balotro yeah um yeah
this game's sick and I think the thing that really sells it is like there have

(15:17):
been plenty of card games like there has been Hearthstone there has been Gwent
there has been you know Queen's Blood obviously is taking off with Rebirth and
people like those games people like Marvel Snap like they like those card games
Slay the Spire is another great example.
Even neon white like neon white as well that's yes
but the fact that this uses like

(15:39):
the traditional card deck that
like people know so well i think gives it just
that little edge where it's like so cool that the
jokers then take the mundane hand of
cards that you're that you're used to playing and it's like
yeah but it like multiplies it by 1500 and and
this one's rainbow and it does crazy stuff

(16:00):
to it and it gives me a bunch of money and like whatever like i don't know
it's just like cool that it takes like the the very
traditional very mundane cards that like your grandma uses to
play solitaire or whatever and you're getting like
these crazy multipliers it's like plus 1500 you know on fire on the lambs or
whatever it's really great so yeah me and me and ken really wanted to talk about

(16:22):
it on the show because it's it's such a such a fun time that's great mark you
said you look like you're gonna jump in there a little bit ago i'd like to see No,
it's so I was just looking into it. It's by, I think, one guy. So any developer.
Awesome. And it seems like it's a story I like to see. Right.
He was a developer doing traditional software development and then kind of released
this game and it took off. So I always like to hear those stories. Right.

(16:43):
It warms my heart as an indie developer as well. I gosh, I'm very cautious whenever
since this game is really addicting. Right.
Because I have such limited time to play a game right now that it's all at night.
And you know i don't want to be sitting here like honey i can't change the diaper
right now i got another round to go and it's a poker game so i'm probably this
might be a game i honestly pick up on my phone just because if i pick up my

(17:06):
switch i feel like i'm even more engaged with my phone i could just put it down
real quick so that's awesome i i like marvel snap i like card games.
So yeah i'll check this out once this is gonna be an ace in the hole for for
mobile pun intended Oh, absolutely.
This is going to someone also actually put the meaning of Bellatro was a Twitch
or something. It's like a jester or a fool.

(17:28):
You know which makes sense because the joker card is like such an
important the joker packs that you open are called buffoon
packs so yeah and they also have that whole play
on that yeah there's one one of the packs that has like a
stand-up comedian or something on it as well they get they
get so cool with the little designs yeah the art is amazing i
don't know if that guy did the art too or if he commissioned it or
whatever but the art is incredible so yeah it's it's.

(17:50):
Just it's got so much personality and it's just.
A fun time like it's just a well-designed game everything thing
i do want to shout out recommends god i do
want to shout out one more game because i was
able to get a code for it i was really excited about that so
i i am a big fan of the
original outlast it's sort of i know brian's not

(18:11):
like a big big horror guy because he's got the kids and you
don't want like an outlast is like one of the
one of the most gruesome i've specifically picked this this footage
because i'm hoping it shouldn't have anything gruesome in
it it's going to go into to sort of the more fun kind of
goofy aspects of it but so this franchise
is one that i really love because it sort of sparked my whole

(18:32):
my whole enjoyment of horror games
in that it created the the tension
and the sort of psychological thriller i
feel like of the modern horror genre like this
game was the first game i feel like that was like
you're in it alone in this asylum in this
space face things are out to get you you've got to run and

(18:53):
hide you're not just leon kennedy or whatever with a with a
gun and shooting things in the face we're really going to
mess with your head and and the only thing that you really can
do is feel that fight or flight and and you're not going
to be able to fight you're gonna have to have to run and alien isolation took
that and run with ran with it and then games like like the resident evil series
and like the evil within series sort of took that and we're like well let's

(19:15):
apply those psychological elements that psychological horror to our that's It's funny to our Yeah.
This is a super Cali eight, I should say because this is well edited.
So I'm using his footage.
To our games. And so the Outlast sort of started all that. And so I really liked the first one.
And what you're seeing now with the footage is they've taken it and they've,

(19:36):
they've added these like progression systems in with like these loadouts that
none of this was in the first game. It was just a cinematic linear story experience.
They've added these loadouts and you can customize your, like your,
your loony bin room, you know, like with, you know, that you're in with your
straight jacket or whatever.
You can like put posters on the wall and like like cool

(19:57):
sort of knickknacks and stuff everywhere so you've got that progression element
there's there's all sorts of cosmetics and costumes this is christmas theme
that's awesome um and it's completely multiplayer like the the co-op is really
awesome it's four-player co-op and i think this was really ambitious for them
to do like with them being traditionally a strictly.
Single-player franchise they said you know we're gonna

(20:18):
go out and we're gonna do we're gonna do sort of the the
dead by daylight or the texas chainsaw massacre thing that's
like sort of hot right now but we're going to do it our way like we're still
going to be faithful to what this franchise is
and i think that they really sort of nailed it there's frustrations
that come with that because outlast has always been frustrating there's
you know there's enemies in your way that are going to kind of be be saying

(20:40):
f you basically like they're they're they're
in your way and they're where you need to be and sometimes they're going to be a pain
in the butt but that's sort of what you're getting with these games
and i will say like i've had both
experiences i've been by myself in a group
where nobody's talking and i don't know anybody and it's
really scary and i'm hiding and i'm running for my life and

(21:01):
everything and that's super intense and exhilarating
and then i've also had the experiences with like the guys are
like oh yeah we we've run this one like five times like just
follow us and we're just gonna go oh bump bonk him on the
head oh he's knocked out like you know whatever it's like like we're
just right around goofing off we're like that guy didn't see.
That coming like it's so goofy and like we're basically

(21:21):
running circles around the bad lady or like whatever it's
both like sometimes you're laughing your butts off with your
buddies and you can't stop laughing and it's a goofy time you're
just making fun of the guys chasing you and other times
like you're really up against it and you're like this guy's
editing's great you're up against you're like i'm not having such a good time
like i'm really in trouble here and the fact that this game can like provide

(21:44):
both of those experiences i think makes it something special and i think the
fact that they were able to make this a good multiplayer experience when when
it's historically been a single-player franchise, is something of an achievement.
So I do think that it's a good game, and I'm happy with what they were able to do with it.
All right. All right. Shall we talk about some rise of the Ronin?

(22:05):
Cause yeah, man, I think that's, that's something that I was very interested
about the conversation you were having with, uh, with Lono about that specifically.
Cause there's, you know, like I, I agree with what you said,
Kirk, but do we want to just let Kenneth take charge?
Charge ken's the hands-on and and he's gonna
be doing a review but obviously so ken can you go over real quick
for anybody who's new to the to the to the live

(22:27):
what what exactly the the embargo is for you
and what you're able to talk about and then you can sort of give us your full full
unbridled impressions in that regard we'll just let you run with it
man so in the preview the preview embargo was
up like march 11th march 13th and it's
basically said you can't talk about the the game anywhere beyond this particular
mission but like the rest of the open world was was free to explore you could

(22:51):
do side missions so you know i was allowed to talk about the combat and kind
of different systems in the game so yeah as i said i've been playing it for about like 26 30 hours,
you kind of start off in the yokohama area and it's it's a pretty massive game
and you know this This is kind of, I suppose, Team Ninja's real first kind of

(23:11):
open world game in that sense.
And so I think the immediate thing that you notice is the combat.
And it's definitely trying to appeal to a wide audience. And I think...
From that point of view i think they do a really great job because it can be
challenging definitely
moments where just particular mini boss that you're fighting and
you're like no no it's similar to it's kind

(23:32):
of a smaller version of the nemesis and they have
a vendetta thing where if you get killed by a mini boss or even
just a character basically you have a vendetta against
them and instead of say having to kill
them to regain your karma which is what you call this game
karma is what you you're kind of you level up with so as
karma goes up you get skill point stuff when you
get i think it's about halfway of their health down you regain

(23:55):
that karma and so as i said
every single time i died i was like i gotta get that ass so
i'm gonna get like you know i had that compulsion to
go back and and sometimes i died two or three times
like god damn this guy is tough yeah like there was one guy
he's like some you know american general or
whatever and he was whooping my ass and i was like
and and even again this was something something i just i

(24:18):
encountered i didn't it wasn't like a marker in the map i
was just going around the world there was these two smaller enemies that
i killed and then this guy came out and i was like ah i'll have no
problem with him then he whooped my ass and so i went back
two or three times eventually i got him and i was
like oh that's that was very satisfying so i think the combat
is very good parry is a big part of it so

(24:38):
you usually the way it works is
they usually have have a combo and so it
saves like three hits if you can parry those
combos at the correct timing they kind of.
Get staggered or whatever it is and basically leaves them open for you
know a shot to you know you can get a combo in or whatever it is and sometimes
it can be difficult because they could like do two fast fast you know swipe

(25:01):
to the blade and then one that's a bit staggered so it can be tough to get the
the actual timing but once you get it it's pretty powerful like if you You can
actually get the parrying down. It's pretty good.
So yeah, I think just even going around, each area in the map has...
Like public order where essentially there's like a group
of bandits who are have taken over the area and once you

(25:23):
restore order you know like like the witcher you
know when you do like a village or something and that's taken over by bandits
once you complete that you see all the people flock back
to this town because the bandits are gone you know that so it just
loads that loads of that around the map but once you restore order
an area that then opens up like those different side
missions or you know different side activities you can do in the

(25:44):
game but in terms of what you're actually doing this
at the start of the game you have your kind
of blade twin that they call it which essentially someone who you
were trained with by this old black blacksmith woman
who basically she trained both of you and so you kind of have you're like connected
you're like a kindred spirit and essentially you taught she uh she died but

(26:04):
she actually goes off and you're kind of on this quest to find her so that's
the the loose tread of the game is like you're trying to find her and you find
more information about her but beyond that there's lots of different side side
mission, side activity.
So there's one that's been talked about a lot that Destin LeGarry actually talked
about, which is you do the side mission where you basically find that this ruffian
is, you know, he's like, he's causing havoc in a particular area and you take

(26:27):
down his gang and you can also take him down.
And his name is Gonzo. He's a bit of a character, you know, and he's saying.
Once you get him down, he's basically like, no, listen, you know.
Listen, I can help you out because
you're actually trying to find his storehouse to get into Yokohama.
You need this permit to get into Yokohama and essentially you
find out that you can decide to kill him or you

(26:48):
can listen to more of what he's saying they'll give you more info about well
they also have guns and you know money and ammo if you want that as well
so I said you know let's not kill this guy and let's see
what happens so then I continue on the
game and then about like an hour later I see a
little icon that appears this is outside the city now outside
of Yokohama and again this guy is like saying this this
gang has come into the town and is wrecking havoc and you

(27:11):
know we really need your help i guess it is it's gonzo
and again i could have killed him straight up
and he would have been completely gone from the game but instead
this time we decided to we had a bit of a heart to heart and i
said listen i was kind of you know it was
kind of the way i was looking at it is you know you have those friends who's
you know maybe gone down the wrong path or has lost their way it's
like listen man i see where you're coming from but you

(27:33):
know i'll give you a second chance you know so i gave him a second chance and he
becomes an ally so then what what happens is when
you're doing the main missions you can that's the point where
you can do co-op and so you can invite people to your game and
you can play together but if you don't if you're just playing single player
you have two allies that you can choose from so gonzo is now an ally that i
can call on when they're doing the main mission so i think that was very cool

(27:54):
and a nice little wrinkle to the story in terms of the choices you make and
everything yeah but i think the combat is definitely the big part of this in
terms of the open world it's.
I would say it is fairly formulaic in terms of what you're doing.
Like when I started out, it was like, oh, I think it's actually quite reserved
and they don't populate the map with like so many question marks like a Ubisoft game.

(28:15):
But then the longer you play, you realize, okay, this is just the same thing,
but on a much larger scale because it's like there's a fog of war on the map.
So you don't see every area. But as you progress, you actually see that this
is a much bigger map than you initially expected.
So it's not going to, you know, win any points for like incredible open world
design doing anything new.
But overall i think it's a really fun game the combat

(28:36):
is very engaging and i think i think this setting
is quite cool and obviously the the comparison that
everyone is going to bring up is ghost of shima right but i
think this is going for a different approach but i think
the setting is actually really cool because it's like you're seeing
japan changing it's like around 1856 around
that time you know 1850s and you're basically seeing japan

(28:58):
open up to the world so you see these american ships that
you know are kind of outside on the japanese coast and
so it's like are they going to sign a trade deal with the us and
open themselves up and so you're kind of seeing this way of life kind of basically
disappearing or like again are they going to evolve so you have pro shogunate
and you have anti-shogunate so people who want things to stay the same kind

(29:20):
of want people japan to be closed off or they want people to actually embrace
the new world embrace brace these new technologies.
And so what's cool is you do certain missions. And for example, I did a mission where.
I think it was like, there was this particular letter where it was like,
again, surrounding what was going to happen with the fate of Japan.
And I had the choice once I kind of infiltrated this area with the letter,

(29:41):
I'm going to give it to the pro shogunate or the anti shogunate.
And so again, you have that choice of like, what's, which side do you want to,
you know, do you want to kind of favor?
So it was really interesting in that sense that it kind of splits out into these two different camps.
So from what I've seen, I think I really enjoyed the camp characters here.
And a lot of them are based on real world characters from that time, you know,
different different samurais and obviously macho perry he's

(30:03):
kind of uh i got a question in here cursor kind
of has paid goes which game does he like more and why what does
the game yeah so i'll be huge fan of ghost of shima
i was a bit of an evangelist for that game if you want to call it i i
got this friend to play it and like he was
a bit like oh it's just an open another open war game it's like no no
man this is excellent combat the story is

(30:24):
really cool it's like i would say
ghost is an overall better game but that i don't
i think it's what rise running is trying to do is
like in its own merits it does a really good job
what it's trying to do and i think there's space for both because the idea that
you can't have like more than one really awesome open world samurai game is

(30:44):
a bit stupid if you know and so i think this setting does a great job of setting
it apart because again you like here you have a flamethrower and you have you
you have bayonets, you have pistols.
So it's, again, these meldings of these two worlds, the old world with samurais
and their traditions and way of life.
But then you also have these new technologies that you can, you have this guy

(31:05):
who's like Tinker, you know, he's
kind of a bit of an inventor and he can basically give you new weapons.
So it's these two worlds colliding. And I think that's what sets it apart from Ghost of Shima.
I would say overall, Ghost of Shima is probably a better game just from what
it played because, again, Sucker Punch did an incredible job.
But this is i think a really really very
good game but i just think team ninja on the open world side is probably what

(31:28):
lets it down a bit because it is it does kind of get repetitive in terms of
the tasks that you do but i think it's no fair with side missions and main story
that uh people will really enjoy it yeah every everything that you're saying
it it makes me think of like.
Japan ito period assassin's creed brotherhood basically like going into the
regions and like like freeing it from the Templar control and you've got a guy

(31:51):
that makes you a, a flying contraption and like other gadgets and stuff.
And like you're like the leader of, of this sort of rebellion force and everything.
And like you're, you're recruiting followers to your, to your cause or it like.
I don't know, like this one could be sneaky, like this could be a sneaky good
game, like in terms of like the vibe of it and everything.

(32:13):
I really, really like those games. And there's a reason that like everybody fell in love with Ezio.
And it's like because of what the premise of those games was and like the impact
you were having on that world on Renaissance Italy.
And so I was wondering if you could speak a little bit more. you sort of
alluded to the companion system and
sort of how your your choices can maybe

(32:36):
unlock you know various companions that you
maybe wouldn't have had or so can you speak i guess
twofold one to like how what does that
companion system look like is there any sort of a
relationship type of system like like
i don't know if i want to invoke like a persona or something but but
a lighter version of something like that like a relationship with your

(32:56):
companions to like strengthen them or you or both
and then in reference to those companions and
then otherwise how do you feel like the game allows you
to make choices that you feel are impactful
and can actually change or affect your
experience when you're playing the game yeah so
firstly i think like i think there's been a lot

(33:18):
of discussion about you know the performance mode maybe
not being that you know not being able to have a solid
60 fps and that kind of stuff well someone asked
how simple the frame rate is yeah so we can talk about that first so
yeah there's performance mode which is 60 fps there's quality mode 30 fps and
then there's a ray tracing mode which as i said before i don't really understand

(33:39):
why they have it because there's not really much opportunities at ray tracing
like well that would be like water and things like that right yeah but even
again i I did it and it's not even that noticeable.
But performance mode, it definitely is quite choppy at times.
Again, the comparison I was saying, it's not as bad as something in Survivor
where that could barely hold the frame rate for most of the game.

(34:01):
Yeah yeah so i think
it's it depends on like how much
that that kind of stuff affects you like if you're
like somebody who is like i can't play it is like it's not
going to ground to a halt in terms of the frame rate but you're
going to notice some dips here and there and there's also pop
in as well so especially when you're on the horse because you can't

(34:21):
go quite fast you do see in the distance the quality of
some of the buildings is not there but the closer you get it it kind of of the
detail gets better as you go so again i i don't think it's something that's
like gonna destroy the experience because it's in the combat and story is really
interesting it's a lot of fun to play but it's just based on if you're someone
who is really sensitive that kind of stuff.

(34:42):
You know maybe you might play it on quality mode so you don't
see that dip as much and you just can kind of see what that
is i saw that eric said that they they did play it
on quality and then
it's like you don't even really get the option to to play
it that way and have have a consistent frame rate so
there does seem to be i think that's what the

(35:04):
most negative discourse about the game is is
sort of the the lack of optimization with the game
design and i think that maybe they've just been a little bit ambitious
with the all the systems that you're talking about with the
open world and things like that that do evolve sort of
their formula that they've done with their last three games to a
large extent it seems like maybe they you know

(35:26):
overshot a little bit in terms of what the performance is going
to be on the hardware with a game like
that even if it's not you know blowing everybody
away with the visuals they they are sort of reaching a little bit for what they've
done in the past like again this is not sucker punch this is not sony santa
monica so you know koei tecmo and team ninja are are doing what they can do

(35:48):
they're making the game that they can make and it seems like you know with this one it.
It really is impressive in a lot
of ways, but the performance is kind of suffering to some extent for that.
But you're saying it wasn't game breaking for you. Like it, it didn't ruin your
enjoyment in any regard.
Definitely not. No. Like, and again, it's one of those things,
I suppose you just kind of get used to, especially with the pop in and that kind of stuff.

(36:11):
You kind of just like, okay, but I, I don't think it's like there was one particular area.
I was saying that it was kind of up on the mountains and you got a good kind of view of Yokohama.
And for some reason there was a lot more dip than Yokohama.
Most areas but again i think it's probably
like again sometimes it can run really smooth like
when you're just running around you're like oh that's nice and then other times it

(36:32):
can dip but it's it's not like one of those things where it's
like so jarring where it's like this is just dropping
all the time this is ridiculous you know it's one of those more nuanced things
that you're like yeah it's a perfect no but it's not an absolute disaster you
know and it's it's more noticeable like now that we have games that are consistently
60 exactly like before sekiro was It was just 40, 45, and that's just what it was.

(36:55):
And now it's like, well, we've kind of been spoiled to a degree.
And so it's hard to go back, I think.
But yeah, can you elaborate a little bit on that companion system?
And then I don't think that a lot of people were, myself included,
were expecting this to be like a make choices, see consequences game.
But it sounds like there's some elements of that here. So I'd love to hear more

(37:18):
about that from your experience.
Yeah, so the companion system is called the bond system in this game.
So it's essentially you meet characters
as is a similar like historical characters, you know, from the past.
And essentially you kind of do a mission with them. And there's actually bond
missions, particularly that will actually increase the bond you have with someone.
And the way that works is actually you learn different combat styles and stances

(37:42):
from these different people.
So you basically also have this whole area in Yokohama, which is like a long house.
And so you can change your appearance there you know
you can put new armor on you can you have a little area
you can decorate and put up you know different paintings and stuff but
you also get an opportunity to talk to your allies and if your bond grows with

(38:02):
them you you can unlock you know new weapons or learn new fighting styles or
something like that and so yeah i was definitely surprised with that element
just how deep that is the bond system and as you can kind of especially especially for certain missions,
maybe someone has like better, like I just did a stealth mission.
And so maybe you want to pick a companion that is better for stealth.

(38:24):
So they have bonuses towards that.
So you can bring two, but you can choose from the ones you already have.
So again, it's like, which one is best for this particular mission?
If it's going to be all guns blazing, you're going to be, you know,
maybe you want somebody who has, you know, who's really skilled with the blade,
or maybe you want somebody who's a bit, maybe has ninja stars or,
you know, has stuff geared towards stealth.
So it is really cool system and like it's fun just like they're very centric these characters.

(38:50):
I like them as well. Like for example, this is actually, you know,
I can't really say it because I think it's the main mission,
but yeah, I'll just say that you have a fight with a drunk guy and it's quite funny.
And, you know, so there's a bit of humor there as well. And like,
again, he becomes an ally later on.
And so you get to kind of learn more about him. And then he even says himself,
yeah, I should probably cut down the drinking, but, you know,

(39:11):
I wouldn't be as fun or whatever.
So it's kind of, you know, there's a lot of good characters and it is fun to spend time with them.
And as you said, the more time you spend with them, the more,
you know, different abilities you can get and different stances.
So, yeah, I think it's a really well done system. them and i
think from that point of view i think the combat i
think the upgrades are really good in this game in terms of actually meaningful

(39:33):
there is some that are like you know you're 10 to stagger
and 10 you know but there is other ones that are
like really cool like moves maybe like a mid-air execution
or like you can there was
one that i unlocked which was like when you're doing when you
get their stamina which is called key in this game when you get
their stamina bar down you can put in a critical hit they don't

(39:54):
always die because maybe they have a bigger health virus so you but you
put get a good portion of their health down but there's one
upgrade you can unlock which is when you do a critical hit your ally also does
critical hit on them at the same time so maybe that's the extra hit you need
to actually kill them instead of you know just getting a good bit of their health
down so i think the upgrade system is really meaningful and i think people are
going to really enjoy that you know i look you can see it here you can also upgrade your.

(40:18):
Grapple to you can basically if they're
again when their stamina is completely defeated you can grapple them
and swing them around and like throw them at enemies and stuff as
well so I think this isn't Ghost of Shima in
terms of like it's all about the weight of the sword and like it's
very much methodical this is all about action focused and
like flying around like some of the combos that they have are like not physically

(40:40):
possible because they're so fast you know really really fast but I think they
really just nailed that kind of fun action you know very fast fast paced combat
that they're going for so I think that's it's not Ghost of Shima as in being
more methodical. So I think they do a good job of that.
Well, and again, those those choices, you don't get that with Ghost and you
don't get that with Sekiro.
So I know that you were not able to and are not able to talk about the rest

(41:05):
of the main missions and the narrative, the main narrative through line after a certain point.
But as far as you said, you did a bunch of side content with some goofy and
and fulfilling sort of storylines and stuff there.
Did you notice like that you were getting asked to make certain decisions like
you talked about the guy that can be one of your companions?
But yeah do you see a lot of instances of that where you're you're

(41:27):
having choices put in front of you and then you're seeing some sort of effect
of that like in the actual game that you
play after that yeah so it's it
i would say it's kind of patchy in that sense in
terms of like some some side missions it's like i
did one where it was this guy lost his clothes and you have to get his
clothes back and like is that gonna have a big impact
on the game later on probably not he obviously becomes an ally

(41:50):
he becomes you get a bond with him but you know it's not
going to be like a huge turning point but as i said
that gonzo mission was was really you know
that that was a big turning point i could just kill them from the very start never
hear from them again but as i said in the main missions what
they're doing now it's like pro shogunate anti-shogunate so you can choose who
you want to side with is that for every mission i don't know on a larger scale

(42:13):
does that you know is it like you know something you know what bethesda game
or like follow new vegas where where it's like every single mission has this huge consequence.
Probably not, but I think there's enough fear from what I played that it's definitely,
as you said, you can probably replay the game and there's going to be a different
outcome depending on who you side with. Wasn't there a similar thing?

(42:34):
It wasn't that deep, but in Assassin's Creed Odyssey, wasn't there like you
could side with the Athenians or the Spartans kind of thing?
Something like that, yeah.
Do you think there's going to be like world state effects or
like changes based on the which side you're supporting
and or do you think it's just going to be like a at the very end you
might get a different ending or something like that yeah it's probably

(42:56):
going to be a more ending thing because okay what's interesting at
this point is like even though there's still kind of these two factions of like
should they you know side more at the west or you know stay close to japanese
culture you're still already seeing the huge influence that the western culture
has had in terms of the buildings and in the cities and stuff like that it's
It's definitely still like they've kind of already opened up, if you know what I mean.

(43:17):
But it's more, do they want to continue on that path or do they want to pull
back and decide to be more on their own?
So, yeah, again, it's kind of hard to tell where it's going to lead.
But there's definitely enough here that at different points in the story,
based on what you do, it's probably going to be like, because what's cool is
they also have like a timeline.
Say if you just forget what happened again before last time playing,

(43:38):
there's a timeline of the major events. And again, what's cool is like, it's.
Historical like in terms of based on what
happens if you decide on one faction history is
going to happen either way you know so something and that will on
that timeline yeah like on that
timeline you can go back and see oh yeah so that's what happened when i made

(43:59):
that decision what one of the first characters you meet right is
like a a really significant historical figure in
yes japan i think it's like ryusei sakamoto or
something like that he was a well-known you know ronin or a
ninja or kind of samurai at the time and he
obviously i just looked up the picture of him he looks nothing like the
real guy because yeah he's very fun boy and he has like long hair and he's a

(44:22):
bit of a character you know he's like oh hey man we're on the same side you
know let's let's go to yokohama together you know so yeah and just definitely
again with the american side of things there's a guy who has something harris
that you meet who is like a diplomat a u.s diplomat and And again,
you can, how do you want to kind of interact with him?
How's that going to turn out? There's an element to it as well.

(44:43):
So yeah, I think they do a good job of like having these historical characters,
but also make them larger in life.
There's no point to having these be, you know, be very banal and boring characters
that you're like, you know, just give you exposition for 20 minutes.
You're like, okay, this is just boring me to tears.
They're very, you know, funny and peculiar characters.
So like the guy who does all these inventions is like, you know,

(45:04):
he's kind of what you expect.
He's like oh i guess it's great idea for like this new you
know this new you know he's very you know he's like okay calm
down calm down you know he's very eccentric and you
know you kind of want to come back to him to see what he's what he's
going to whip up next so yeah i think for me that hook is really
cool oh so with the with the combat
with the the storytelling you're talking about with all the

(45:25):
characters and the the developments there the companions
the personality functionality do dave asked
you know do you think this is a step up or step down from the
neo games i think i know what your answer is going to be but yeah
what what do you feel like comparatively to those
since it's the same studio i think and and and
do you recommend the game you know at at full price yeah so

(45:47):
if anyone is expecting neo going into this game
this is not neo tree or neo four or whatever it's a
very different game there's definitely elements that they that
they kind of bring with it in terms of like like the
the combat is fairly fast paced and definitely like
you do have to concentrate you can't just like hack and slash and hope
for the best you do have to concentrate and look look at

(46:09):
the way they're attacking you and there's obviously like a red flashing attack
you can't parry but you can dodge but it's definitely a more you know it's definitely
a more kind of accessible combat system here where it's not going for this souls
like where you're going to spend two hours just to beat one boss.

(46:30):
It's definitely trying to be more accessible. And I think as someone who...
I wouldn't be a huge Souls fan in general in that sense.
So for someone from that point of view, I think it's nice that they've been
able to kind of still have a challenge to the difficulty.
And obviously you can put it on a hard mode if you really want to.
There's an easy mode. Yeah, I don't know why I wouldn't know that.
They call it like Dusk and Dawn.

(46:50):
It's basically easy and normal hard. I'm playing in normal mode.
But if you want, I suppose you want more of a challenge. Baby mode.
Yeah, exactly. Baby mode. So you can play on that, whatever you want.
But it's definitely not like trying to replicate Nioh here at all.
You know there is a similarity in terms of you get the
amount of like swords you get in this game and
equipment is like it's hilarious like again

(47:14):
i like when i was doing a preview i think i had played maybe
10 hours and i counted and i had 35 weapons
you know and some of them are like just
you know 79 version of a katana
and it's the same katana but you have like a 90 it's the
power of of it is 90 so it's the same weapon but just
one is a bit better but then you just get all these

(47:35):
different pikes and you get bayonettas and
like all these different weapons so i after a
while i was just like you know i think this is cool because at least there's
variety to it and i can mix them at you know because obviously some
games maybe they make you work harder for it and it's like
oh you know when you able to grind
out and get that particular weapon that you want it's really satisfying but

(47:56):
the approach they're going for here is just like we're just going to throw all
this crap at you and same with armor as well there's so many of
an armor sets and you know there's so there's what you're
wearing here and the armor so you can also do transmog as well
so in terms of you can have you
have your look but you can also change your armor if you
want to upgrade it like or have a more heavy armor that's
going to get a get you a better protection but it's not going to change your

(48:18):
look so you know you can keep the look but also have the upgraded armor that
you want as well so yeah there's it's it's not neo if you're thinking it's going
to be neo tree but i I think what they do here I think is a really good job.
Especially with the combat and the upgrade system that.
You know maybe you might be pleasantly surprised here that okay fine i'm disappointed

(48:39):
it's not neo but i actually am really enjoying the combat because there's still
a challenge here it's different but it's still really fun to play so you know
that's what i'd say it's not neo,
and comparing it to like which is a better game again i think they're serving
two different sets of people you know seems like you really enjoyed the story
and and those sort of elements and all the characters and personality as well
exactly yeah yeah and i think that's like again it's It's not flawless,

(49:01):
not like, you know, it's not like the characters you get in Rebirth or something like that.
But again, for, I suppose, for their first real try at kind of trying to have
those really interesting, engaging characters that you want to see more of,
I think they did a good job. So, yeah.
All right. I think we got that one in the bag. All right. Let's move on to our
second video game that we really want to cover. That's a part of the title.

(49:23):
That would be Dragons Dogma 2, which is set
to release as a part of March Arma Game
game and game done or what i forgot what
a chat how they kind of broke it up arma game done there it
is the it's set to release here
on on friday this is something that i'm really excited about as as we were talking
and i was just chatting in the reforged gaming stream with kirk and lono i was

(49:48):
like yeah like for me like you know when we look at rise of the ronin like my
aesthetic my my preference is typically high fan, like fantasy RPG.
And that's exactly what Dragon's Dogma 2 looks to be delivering as well as just a massive open world.
And so I thought we'd kind of go around, give our thoughts on what we're expecting
with the game. Obviously, we have not played it yet.

(50:11):
It is coming out this Friday. And I'd love to kind of get y'all's thoughts on,
are you excited about Dragon's Dogma 2?
Where do you generally fall? Is this going to be a game that you pick up?
But as it relates to our previous topic, like.
So many games coming out like where does this fall
are you going to be picking it up soon are you going to wait for a discount in terms
of the price let's start with mark we haven't heard from you in a while i i'm

(50:32):
the guy that's buying all the three games on friday
you know again that may change once baby two
three four come around but for now i'm excited about all these
games this game really intrigues me because i've never played the first
one but when i re-released it on the switch
there were a lot of people kind of in the journalism specters saying
like this is a game a a lot of people missed out on it was ahead of its time in

(50:53):
a lot of ways and you know some people kind of said it
was ahead of its time really before like the souls type games took
off i know this isn't necessarily that but when
i see the previews without really getting too much in
the details it has a lot of things that i i'm really intrigued by like i was
a big fan of monster hunter right and it seems like that's kind of an aspect
to the game in a lot of ways so yeah i'm looking forward to it i was surprised

(51:16):
to know that there isn't any co-op right but that's also Also sticking with the first game as well.
So there's some like you can kind of create an icon in your own game and send
them to a friend's game or something like that.
So I'm looking forward to it. I'll try it this weekend. I don't know how much
time I'm going to get into it. But yeah, I'm with you, Brian.
I love Japanese history. So to me, Rise of Ronin looks really intriguing because

(51:40):
it's the end of the Shogunate period, which I find fascinating.
But like high fantasy speaks to me in a very, very deep, deep level. Mm-hmm.
Absolutely. The combat in this looks great, and it brings out 10 new vocations.
So for those of you who don't know what a vocation is, it's your class,
or if you're from Final Fantasy, it's your job.

(52:01):
You make your character, and then you get to make a pawn.
And with that, then you can also recruit up to two other pawns,
which can be pulled out from the internet. We've even seen like an asthma gold
pawn and so many other different ones that they're kind of promoting and creating.
But what is interesting, and I'd love to get your guys' thoughts,
because I think there's going to be a conversation around this game talking about quality of life.

(52:26):
I don't know, because the game traditionally offers multiple difficulties,
but there are no quest markers.
There's no symbols over people's heads saying, I got a quest for you.
But if you have a pawn that has completed the quest, let's say your friend has,
and and you recruited his pawn, he knows where that quest needs to go.
So he could actually take you then to it directly as opposed to like,

(52:49):
hey, here's this way marker.
And we've talked about Ghost of Shasima on this podcast already.
And one of the things I find beautiful about that game is that it uses the game,
the world, the wind in this case, to direct where you need to be headed so you
don't end up having this like, you know, arbitrary, we were all used to it, like little way point.
And so I think what that does for me personally is that in a lot of these games,

(53:13):
I start turning off mini maps.
I start turning off some of these helpful things. And I find that I'm way more
immersed in the game and the world because I'm not now essentially running it
as an efficiency simulator of, wait, where do I need to go?
Oh, I'm not even going to pay attention to what this character is saying to
me because I just want to get to the next thing so I can, you know,

(53:33):
I guess achieve, you know, the fastest clear time.
I don't truly know. But what do you guys think about that in terms of,
you know, just being able to use the UI and kind of directing where players
should go and then how the pawn system interacts with one another,
especially with the online asynchronous,
because it's not a multiplayer game at all.
I mean, I'll chime in. Yeah, we haven't let you talk at all. No, that's fine.

(53:58):
I mean, sometimes I have something good to say. Sometimes I don't.
It's fine. Now, that could be done in good or bad, right? Yeah.
To your point about Ghost again, I really love how there is that natural exploration
where the world unveils things. There's conversations that direct you places.
And eventually, as you get further in, it gets pretty icon heavy, too.
But this game isn't including fast travel, right? There's no.

(54:18):
There is fast travel, but there's a trade off.
So there's a couple different things. So you have a fairy stone,
which is incredibly rare and expensive, and that will let you fast travel like
we all know and love, right?
Sure. But then you also have like various different ox carts,
which are on a predestined path, and you can ride on the ox cart from point
A to point B. You don't have any control over that.

(54:40):
You literally have to go to the new town and figure out what's going where.
And then the third option is hoofing it on foot, baby.
So yes, there is fast travel, but it's I wonder if it's going to be one of those
things like Like if anybody here is a Final Fantasy fan,
like I would generally sleep on my elixirs and I would have so many of them
by the final fight that I never really ever needed them. Right.

(55:04):
So there's just some things where I'm like, is that going to be me with the
fairy stone system where I'm so conservative about using them or,
you know, I don't, I don't truly know yet.
Yeah. I mean, I'd have to see, right. I mean, you could do this in a way that's
brilliant where you enjoy the world so much.
The sense of discovery and experience has done so well where all
that you know not being there to your point the

(55:25):
efficiency system makes this a better game i'm gonna
lean towards that's probably going to be the execution right because i trust
capcom i trust the development team and a lot of i've read a little bit about
why they made the world this way so yeah i'm i'm excited i think you could do
it badly right we again not this necessarily but you can make it so where it's
It's such almost so sim-heavy to where it avoids the fun out of the game.

(55:50):
And you have to balance that, right? Even if you are intentionally going for
more of a realistic experience in that sense, you still have to balance it.
So yeah, I think if they do it right, this has a lot of potential.
I just want to kill a giant ogre.
I'm just watching this video right now going, this looks great.
I know a lot of people are saying Rise of Ronin is not the greatest looking game.
That stuff doesn't really push me. Gameplay is what pushed me.

(56:13):
Story was what pushed me, but this game, you're just putting daggers in that
thing's head. It looks pretty fantastic.
In terms of, like, I'm definitely a big high fantasy guy as well.
I love The Witcher. It's a fantastic game. And, like, so when I saw the kind
of reveal trailer and all that kind of stuff, I was definitely very intrigued.

(56:34):
For some reason, I don't know, I have this feeling that maybe this could be
this year's, like, Baldur's Gate 3 in a way that it surprises people and people
are like, oh, this is like, you know, this is the game, people are sleeping on it.
I think everybody wants it to be. I don't think
that it it will be i think everybody wants it to
be and i think there's a difference but yeah yeah
well one of the things about that to jump in on that point

(56:57):
though is that boulders gate 3 there are still people who didn't enjoy the game
because they don't like turn-based combat and even if this doesn't have that
level of depth in terms of the story and all the knock-on effects of boulders
gate 3 like this does give you that action combat fix and so there could definitely
be somebody who who was like,
oh, this is my Baldur's Gate 3 moment because I was wanting more out of that game.

(57:22):
Obviously, I really enjoy Baldur's Gate 3. But anyway, Kenneth,
I didn't mean to cut you off. Go ahead.
Yeah, so it's one of those things where there's so many games at the moment.
As I said, I still have to finish Rebirth and Like a Dragon,
Infinite Wealth. I've been playing that for quite a while.
I'm furthering that game. I want to finish that. So it's definitely one where

(57:42):
I'm going to wait and see what the reviews say.
And like if it's one of those things where it's like you kind of need
to get this now maybe i'll pull the trigger on it but yeah
it look it's definitely looks really intriguing and i did
play the the first one was like last year yeah it doesn't hold up at all because
you know like you know in terms of what was it like a ps3 game like a date but

(58:02):
yeah no just in terms of purely graphically nothing to do with the gameplay
or anything it was just like yeah this looks quite quite out of date and all.
So again, if it's like that kind of gameplay, like it looks like here in kind
of updated, like 30 FPS is a bit of a bummer.
That's quite a pity. I know it's not a little bit of drama and that's generally on consoles.

(58:23):
But what's interesting about that to kind of highlight it, because as a content
creator, I get a lot of different perspectives and I've seen people coming out
of the woodwork insisting that the PS5 and Xbox Series X are going to run it at 60 frames a second.
And I go, I don't think so.
And I give them links to the articles that are saying that if that happened to be the case.

(58:44):
Awesome. But I just can't expect it. It does have 120 frames a second option,
and it is currently rumored to be coming to GeForce now.
We have not gotten an official confirmation on that announcement,
but that's where essentially you're going to see the frame increase being touted in this case.
Yeah, I thought John Linneman of Digital Foundry already went hands-on with

(59:06):
this. They did. People are coping hard.
Yeah, it's been confirmed, hasn't it? Because not only is it 30 frames, it's not capped.
And so John Lineman was saying that this basically has the Elden Ring problem,
at least Elden Ring on Xbox consoles, because it ran considerably better on PlayStation.
But it has the Elden Ring problem of being around that 35, like 31 to 37 type of frame rate range.

(59:32):
And it's like at that point just cap your
frame rate at 30 because the the variance
along those tiers from like 30 to almost
40 is is more jarring than
it just being a steady 30 and so he was very very hopeful that there will just
be a 30 i mean that's why games were capped at 30 on previous generations for

(59:56):
a long time and and and so even on with back compat you know on on consoles
like like the Xbox Series X, unfortunately,
without stuff like FPS boost that Xbox is sort of leading the way on,
some games are just stuck, locked at 30 frames per second, even if they have
the capacity on new hardware to run at a 60 frames because they're uncapped.

(01:00:18):
So it's kind of twofold there in that...
For me personally, I think that if they don't do a 30 FPS cap for this,
then it will be to the detriment, if that's not an option at least,
it will be to the detriment of the gameplay experience.
Because I actually played Elden Ring on both consoles, PlayStation and Xbox,

(01:00:43):
because I had friends that had the game in both places, and Elden Ring was just
an insane cultural moment. So I was like, yeah, I'm going to buy it on both, screw it.
Play with everybody and i was like whatever i don't care about the frame rate because this is.
One of the games of the generation i still stand by that that's
what it was that's what it is that's why people are hyped about urtree and
yeah it was rough on xbox elder elder ring was rough

(01:01:06):
on xbox at at 30 35 frames
with no cap and and from software has notoriously bad
frame pacing as well in their games and this
game threatens to have some similar issues so
hopefully they will have a 30 frames
per second cap it sort of opens up that sort of
whole discourse about you know why doesn't console have at least

(01:01:28):
somewhat parity in terms
of the options that pc has in terms of being able to adjust what your what your
settings are what your frame rate and your graphic settings are like some some
games don't offer a bespoke performance performance mode and fidelity mode or
or they only have certain options that maybe aren't ideal but also at the same
time for me Me personally,

(01:01:49):
if the game is uncapped, this is a PS6 game because as we saw with games in
the past on previous generations,
now on the Series X or on the PS5, you know, Sekiro on the PS5, 60 FPS, baby, locked.
PS4 Pro is 40, 45. So it's the perfect...
Ps5 game sekiro now even though it's a ps4 game

(01:02:11):
and so with this if they're gonna leave it uncapped or
if it's gonna be an option of whether you want it uncapped or not and
they're not gonna lock it that to me is like great awesome
i'll wait to play this on better hardware and this
is only because i'm not a pc guy i think you
and i would both agree brian that the best way to play this game is going
to be geforce now presuming that it comes to geforce now

(01:02:32):
yeah that's becoming more and more and obviously
like i continue to to just absolutely love
it i'm not sponsored by them in any way that the service is
so good that we need to fix that there has been
a phone call so we will see if give this man money i don't need it's not the
their affiliate or like their ambassador program is no but you genuinely love

(01:02:55):
them so much you love that service so yeah so it's like it would actually give
me an additional license to connect and i was like i'm gonna get my wife a the Logitech G cloud.
If they, if they accept me and we're going to run her on like,
I'm going to use this for hers so we can play these games together in the living
room because we thankfully have the internet that can handle it.

(01:03:16):
And I get that that's still going to be a, uh, an issue, but I would recommend
for anybody who's just curious and you want something,
uh, because I think the kind of callback one thought I want to add is that I
think it's the word uncapped that has confused some of these gamers that I'm
talking to in the comments thinking like,
Oh, it's going gonna go to 60 and then it's gonna dip down
and it's like no they're like they're saying

(01:03:38):
they're gonna hopefully get 30 and it's gonna dip down just
like will it will on next gen though that's that's
the good part about uncapped and that's
it that's why i love xbox for doing fps boost playstation not so much because
a lot of games are like i just found out in the wake of suicide squad i was
like oh man i really i want to go back and experience some of the old arkham

(01:04:01):
games because maybe I didn't really appreciate them for as good as they were.
I'm going to go back and revisit those. And so I'm going to play Arkham City
again on my PS5 now because I've got the new hardware, but I figured out I can't
patch it. I can't download the update.
I've got to be offline and install the disc on the PS5 to get 60 frames because the patch caps it.
So if they're going to do uncapped, it's going to hurt people this gen as far

(01:04:25):
as the experience that they're going to have.
But it's the same thing with Elden Ring. Elden Ring is 60 on PS5.
If you're playing the PS4 disc. And so, like.
I'm i'm stoked if it's gonna be uncapped because i'm
just gonna wait and i'm gonna play and again that's that's
for me i'm like a stubborn console only guy
so like you know and but there's other people like me there are there's people

(01:04:48):
that just don't game on pc at all and so like let's i see chat you know i'm
talking about pc master race i do want to say that like if you're worried about
latency as people tend to bring up like you can try geforce now for free they
have a free version version that you can play.
There are some downsides in terms of like, you might have to wait longer and
you have lesser sessions, but try it out.

(01:05:10):
But try it out because latency isn't a problem.
Like I'm playing first person shooters, I'm playing Call of Duty and I'm doing
just fine having a good time.
And I don't have to then, you know, so like, I don't think latency is going
to be, I think that's a problem that's solved for some people, but you never know.
So try it out. see what you think because pc master race
like pc master race gaming is awesome

(01:05:33):
and i'm glad it exists but they aren't mass market
like something that the console is and so when
it's all said and done like what you know geforce now
gives me it gives me the convenience that kirk likes in consoles
i don't have to worry about drivers i don't have to worry about things i know
the game will run maybe it's not going to be locked at
30 frames a second but i know that the game has been

(01:05:54):
you know certified there's a level of just like i just want
to play my game but it gives me then
the power of that 4080 it then gives me
the power of the thing so it's like i do wonder if we're going to see a big
shift in terms of that when we talk about ps6 i'm betting there's just going
to be a ps6 cloud version like it just like yeah you can just stream it we're
good you know like that's what i just sony moving to not even not even just

(01:06:17):
for like i think you're talking about just like the ease of use on the lower tiers,
but if you want to get that more expensive premium tier or whatever.
If you're somebody that's like, oh, I don't necessarily want to pick this up
on PS5 because it's got that wonky frame rate,
but you don't have a super tricked out PC or whatever with the 4090 or 3090 or whatever it is.

(01:06:43):
You've got a normal rig over there, a normie rig.
Yeah like you can you can subscribe to that premium
tier temporarily and and get the bells and whistles and
i would assume this game is going to pretty much run at 60 frames like
pretty consistently i think you're using that if you're using that service yeah
so it's like yeah i mean i didn't want to over oversell but like i don't think

(01:07:06):
you're going to be having any issues on that premium tier with the the souped
up rig that geforce now offers right
you know with with with with the game running at 60 at the very least.
So if you're worried about console and you're somebody unlike me,
who's willing to play on PC, but you don't have a super, a super nice,
you know, newfangled bells and whistles PC.

(01:07:28):
Right. I would say like, this is, this is a great time to try out GeForce.
Now as a service for this game in particular, this game seems like,
and again, it's not confirmed, but they've got the original on there.
So it's kind of like stands to reason type of deal. Oh yeah.
There's, there's been some real strong suggestion.
Yeah. like a little tease a bunch of it's like why did
why did the first one come to d-force now like only eight

(01:07:49):
months ago like it wasn't on there before and then
it just came like this past year i wonder
why they did that you know like now dragons and dog you
know are you for real that's great uh but
yeah this seems like the perfect game to to use
that service for and maybe that'll be more of a trend now because we're
seeing these games they're not really having the the frame rate

(01:08:10):
that we might like on on our consoles you know rise of ronin
is is an example of that so but for
me i i as somebody who's you know firmly entrenched
stubborn console gamer i i'm gonna wait for the digital foundry and then if
digital foundry tells me it's uncapped which again uncapped is bad for people
that want to play this on ps5 right now they should not do that they should

(01:08:32):
have a capped option because that variance is very jarring to the eye it doesn't feel good,
having it at 30 is much, much better.
Even though it's a lower frame rate, the variance can be very disruptive of
it jumping up and down. But if.
30 cap is only just an option you can
implement or if they for whatever reason just keep it

(01:08:53):
uncapped that's just the way that it is that's great
for me because that means this will be a great ps6 game
because it can jump all the way up once it's got better hardware so i think
i think this is just a wait for me probably because i think this is going to
be as far as the experience this is going to be a legendary experience like
there's no way this game doesn't become you know a hallmark in terms of people

(01:09:14):
that that really enjoy this genre and this type of adventure type game like skyrim
like elden ring so it's just a question of like
i mean i did the same thing with cyberpunk like i'm willing to wait on these
games being that i'm just a console person i know what that means if i only
am going to play on console to where i get the better experience and i did that
with xbox games you know waiting to get the series x and i'll probably do that

(01:09:35):
here with dragon stagma 2 but i think everybody that plays it is going to have
a tremendous time as long as they're getting the performance that they want out of it.
Just looking at the footage and stuff, it's quite weird that this isn't a co-op game.
Like, I suppose when you think about it, if they're having issues...
Well, like, just you can see the amount of different pawns and allies you have.

(01:09:59):
It kind of feels like it would lend itself to playing co-op together.
You know, you're taking down trolls and bosses and stuff.
I don't know. I just think it's weird, but like, yeah, I suppose if they're
having trouble with a non co-op element, then if they have to add online to
it and playing co-op, maybe that's a bridge too far, you know,
in terms of development of it.
So just a thought, every game can be Baldur's Gate three, I guess. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

(01:10:24):
Exactly. That has, I agree with you.
It looks like to me, like it perfectly led itself to being
a co-op game and it doesn't mean that in the
future there might not be a mode released or something like that like
i think a legends mode with shishima like that surprised a
bunch of people that wasn't talked about it's different in ways but it's still that
game and co-op but i'm with you kirk i'm

(01:10:44):
weird i have a nice pc with a 3090 and
i do buy and play games here but like when i play
pc games i'm like man i feel like i should be working because i'm at
my desk and so often i buy games for my
playstation like you gotta buy this on pc like well i
do not buy this for playstation don't do it it's too
don't do it refund your pre-order mark what are

(01:11:04):
you doing i'm offering perspective that's needed is it
worth it right i'm gonna sit down with a 77 inch oled
and i'm gonna say how does this game play and i'm
sensitive to frame rate but it never really drives me
like gosh i just played princess p showtime on that on that
giant tv and i was like whoa this is not like ghost of
shishima in terms of fps it to your

(01:11:25):
your point about it being uncapped though that's that's really the issue right like
when some people get upset which only at 30 i'm like listen if
they design the game around that and it's optimized for that and it's a good
game then you're gonna have a good experience right games just gotta be fun
yeah gameplay's king typically i think we we just have to hope that that was
just that was an earlier preview build and that they will put some sort of on it i mean i would hate.

(01:11:50):
Personally if it's in a patch i guess i'd
be better because then i can play i can play it on the disc so that'd be fine i
just want i want them to do it where i can play it
uncapped at some point but i also
want them to cap it for the people that are going to play it
now because it's going to be a worse experience if they don't cap it at
all so sure do it in a patch and i'll just not download the

(01:12:10):
patch and play it offline on my ps6 or
whatever i don't know but yeah i'll play this eventually it looks too
good not to from from a devops perspective you got
to be thinking this is a game releasing everywhere so that means one
they they can't specifically optimize it just for one
system so there are going to be these questions they have to
ask internally like hey this isn't perfect quite yet

(01:12:30):
but it's good enough if not great enough to where
people are going to enjoy it do we release that patch a
couple months down the road and allow us to
get it out the door timing wise calendar wise that you see
that all the time right right do you do you don't
want to of set this game up to compete against the elden ring
you know expansion exactly for example like we
already talked about like how march feels like you know i'm

(01:12:53):
a game done but june also is feeling.
Pretty stacked you know and.
So it's like yeah you want to sit down and say especially with the
theme because i mark i agree with you 100 because with the
theme you know that's another fantasy kind of
rpg in that regards action combat and so
it's like you don't you want to oversaturate the

(01:13:13):
market like what they did with titanfall 2 sandwiching it between battlefield
and call of duty and everybody's like all right like i'm gonna
play the one that i'm used to and and then now you're seeing
so much praise and adulation for titanfall 2 which
is great i'm curious if there will be like a weird this
will be like a weird situation where they like
do some type of cap or something for the series s

(01:13:34):
and then the series s ends up being the smoothest
way to play this game i could totally
love that drama online because
that would be that that would be some sweet elden ring
got so close to that like digital foundry was
trying to find a way to play the old
like xbox one version of it on series x to

(01:13:56):
like get it to run well because it ran so bad on xbox the
best way to play ended up being the ps4 version on ps5
so i wouldn't be surprised if something something weird
ends up happening with this game where it's like it runs the best on.
Series s or something because i i could see them because like why
would they not cap it for that early build so it's like what if they cap it
for series s because it's series s and then it ends up being the i i'm like

(01:14:20):
i'm not really calling it but like if that if something like that happens i'm
gonna i'm gonna claim it you know like i could see something interesting there so keep your eyes peeled.
All right, guys, I think that's what we want to cover, especially for Dragon's Dogma 2.
And I know you guys want to talk
about some Princess Peach, but unfortunately, I need to kind of debat.
So I'm going to let Kirk run the show from here, and I'm going to be listening

(01:14:41):
in while you guys talk about this incredible game that I can't seem to, you know, hear.
I hear nothing but praise from you guys. The game of the week,
the game of the month, some might say.
Here's the question. Do you think out of all these games, which one will sell more?
I wouldn't be surprised if this one does simply because it's Nintendo.
Nintendo but yeah yeah yeah all right guys y'all

(01:15:02):
have a good rest of your show and i will i'll be lurking so
i'll see you guys a little bit see ya so yeah i'm
i shoot i forget whose footage i'm using i would really
like to credit them but yeah this this game is uh some might say unfortunate
timing others might say nintendo does what nintendo wants and they will not

(01:15:22):
be denied by any sort of competition so yeah i this is one that in spite of
everything else that's coming out.
Mark you said you're going to be getting it as well along with
the other two and i think this is the only one that i'm really
considering purchasing and that
is about that but it sounds like you might be more sure than when you were messaging
me this weekend right yeah i i so and that's that's a weird thing that i don't

(01:15:47):
necessarily want to get into on the show but i i do think this This is one that
might end up getting DLC because of the nature of it is that she she has the
various sort of for people who don't know,
it's like a play or theatrical theme.
That's hence Princess Peach Showtime.
Like Puppeteer or something. Do you remember that game Puppeteer?
She has sort of these these personas that she she becomes.

(01:16:09):
One of them is like a Zorro type of character.
And then another one is a I think she's going to transform right now.
Yeah, there you go. this is like the sword sword fighter character and
then there's like a pastry chef one we've seen like an elsa frozen
looking figure ice figure satyr one there's
a cow girl there's a a kung fu and

(01:16:30):
a ninja one a superhero one so there's
a lot of different personas or or characters that she
becomes and and gets various abilities whether
it's combat or literally baking cakes it's a
lot of variety here in this game which i think is one of its strong suits but
i could definitely see some some dlc coming down the line there
being like a a full package type of edition later and

(01:16:51):
i that's one thing that really irks me is like when i buy a game and then i
find out later like oh i don't have the full game you know because there's more
there's more to it and that's probably like a dumb thing to to be bothered about
but it it does i i like to i like to sit down and play a game and when i play
it i played the whole thing so it's like if there's gonna be more coming.

(01:17:11):
You know, it's like, oh, well, I don't know if I'm necessarily going to go back at that point.
So I'm doing the same thing for Final Fantasy 16. I'm waiting for the DLC for
that game to go in and enjoy the whole thing.
And there's been no rumors or anything of there being any type of DLC for this.
So that's completely just because of the type of game it is in the premise.
So I may be, you know, anticipating a big fat bowl of nothing here.

(01:17:36):
But I will say, even in spite of
that i really am considering picking this one up um not
only because i might end up doing a review for this i think i
alluded to it on lono stream that there's only like a 15 chance of
that because there's probably going to be outlets like ign and
everybody else they're going to jump on this way earlier in the week than
friday which would be the soonest that i get my hands on this because there's no

(01:17:56):
shot that nintendo's giving me a code for anything as long
as i live because that's just nintendo but not
only that that there's slight review potential here but also when i say that
from playing the demo i think that this game has the potential to be and and
and i'm serious about this mark this game has the potential to be my favorite.

(01:18:22):
Nintendo first party ip game of all
time whoa and and and i have not
played the two zeldas i've not played the
two zeldas whoa but whoa those aside
hey man those are those you gotta have some time to play
those games like let's be serious those aside mario 2d

(01:18:42):
especially has never really spoken to me
so i haven't played wonder i would love if wonder sort
of changed my mind about that but i played a lot of
the other ones and and like i
played odyssey what
never really got me the same thing with sunshine like

(01:19:03):
i i these are games the personality of them
the charm the attention to detail
like they really win me over i love these worlds
i love these characters i really want to enjoy the
games i bought them all god knows i bought
them all and and played them all for you know five to eight hours to maybe even

(01:19:23):
10 hours sometimes times and i'm just like i just i don't know if i don't get
it or if i just don't like it or if it's just hard or i'm also like mario challenge
like like i like my ex-girlfriend when i when the like the last mario.
The deluxe or whatever the one with nabbit and whatever
it came out there was like a wii port yeah wii u port she

(01:19:44):
was like destroying me in co-op you know
because like as a in her childhood she played these
games right and i don't have that like i
did i didn't really grow up with these type of games and i
didn't i didn't grow up with a gamecube i bought one during the pandemic
because i again nintendo's always
been something that i've sort of admired from afar i haven't

(01:20:05):
had one since a 64 and i really love the 64 i
had a bunch of mario games for 64 but i've always
sort of admired mario and nintendo from
afar since then but i haven't really had like a
hands-on sort of nostalgia for it in any
regard so you know i missed a bunch of stuff you know.
In the gamecube era with sunshine and and luigi's mansion

(01:20:26):
and all those type of games that i didn't i didn't get to play galaxy
or galaxy 2 on the wii and so
i played a lot of those games in retrospect kind of
you know in the last five or so years and like
they're not really hitting for me i don't think the way that
they hit for people at the time that those came out and also i
don't really know that those games are like made for

(01:20:47):
me i think i really really struggle with like the platforming and
like those type of aspects of of those games that like
the core mario game is founded upon and
a lot of of other games like kirby and other franchises that nintendo
makes even like yoshi's crafted world borrow a
lot from those mario franchises mario games and
the thing that i really really love about this game first of all it's it's wholesome

(01:21:11):
it's all hell like i don't think you can find a more wholesome game even even
on a nintendo platform like this thing is just like you did it and like good
job and like what are we gonna do peach save us exactly it's like my My mic's
probably coming out because I'm like trying to do a high pitch,
but you got like the the little the little dudes here I don't even know what
they are. They're not Koopas. They're not toads, but they're.

(01:21:34):
Like they're cheering you on at every turn It's like this game is gonna be so
encouraging for your kids If you have kids like it's telling you can do it and
all you did it like whatever and just like it's goofy It's fun like the gameplay
here like you literally just like putting icy on cakes and stuff and the The
contrast from that to, like, the hack and slash combat,
like, there's so much variety here, but it's just, like, a wholesome, charming vibe,

(01:21:57):
that I've always loved from Nintendo, that I've always wanted to get into,
but then there's some sort of barrier for me of not having that sort of, like...
Muscle memory and understanding of like being able to do the mario backflip
and the platforming and the slides and the run and you
jump and you hit the pole at the top and when i've never been
good at any of that stuff and like so there's always

(01:22:17):
been sort of a barrier for me and this game
is like doing its own thing and it's like different gameplay
like it's not your stereotypical mario platformer
gameplay and it's like dude it's like is
this the one like is this the one that i can can
enjoy as not having that background like not
being somebody that really can play a 3d

(01:22:38):
world or the new super mario games or you
know i'm worried that that wonder is not even going to hit for me because that
side scroller traditional mario game i just
never had the aptitude or the history with
it and this one is like capitalizing on
all that charm all that nintendo magic but it's
giving me like type more like very basic like

(01:23:00):
traditional action type of gameplay and
i it feels like it could be something special for me so i and i think that that's
gonna go for a lot of like young kids as well especially like little girls like
little girls are gonna play this and they're gonna be like oh this is this is
peach like it's not mario center stage it's it's it's a young woman a young young lady,

(01:23:22):
you know, that, that, that little girls will be able to, or,
or even, you know, grown women will be able to sort of see themselves represented here.
And I think them putting the entire spotlight on peach with no reference to
Mario or having to say Mario or Mario being another castle or any jokes like
that is, is a really good move here.
And I, I think that this one is, is going to knock it out of the park. I really do.

(01:23:47):
Yeah this is this is only the second game i'm
pretty sure it was just exclusively for princess peach right
they did super princess peach back in the ds for two yeah and
i heard that was like a little bit problematic maybe like in hindsight i
don't know if we want to yeah i don't even know but it was a fine game but
i think this one is is is doing leaps and bounds better
than that one in terms of both gameplay and sort of

(01:24:07):
the the premise and then in the narrative of like what's going on sure
um and and just yeah it just seems so so charming
like like in the in the pastry chef thing in the
demo like the like ratatouille style like music is
playing and everything like the vibe of this is so spot on
like it's impossible not to have fun and feel good
and smile when you're playing this game yeah it it surprised

(01:24:29):
me because again i knew it was announced and i got the general idea like
oh you're going to go through different stages and you'll get different abilities per
stage but like that demo the first one's hack
and slash and i was cracking up when you do that parry dodge
it's like a slow motion like i'm like that's like their attempt at doing like
a bayonetta or 516 slow mo dodge i was like oh that's cool but then yeah you
go to the the baking level next like there's no combat here at all like you're

(01:24:53):
just doing these almost like mini games and stuff like that which that one cake
design where it was like a star that went in that frustrated me my My brain, like, broke.
I hear what you're saying, Kirk. The only reason why I say, like,
wait is because we don't know if there's going to be a mode where it is more platform heavy.
And that's where you get to that point where, like, oh, this level is the one.

(01:25:15):
I see it as, like, Nintendo has their core first party, right? 2D or 3D Mario.
And then they do, you know, there's Kirby, which is more of the all in all younger
generation. I need to play Forgotten Land.
I might I might really like. I think you'd like that a lot, too.
Yeah, that and I got to finish that game.
But that's kind of how I came in looking at this. It's like,
oh, this is going to be, you know, a first party more Nintendo game.

(01:25:38):
That's not a part of their core lineup.
It's probably going to be somewhere in between like Kirby Star Allies and Yoshi's Crafted World.
And I'm getting the sense because
it's different in ways people are going to be more receptive to it.
It like yoshi's crafted world is is very much like
a it's just like an easier mario game right it's.
In that art style yeah but even still like

(01:26:00):
i think the gameplay of that was was so
mario adjacent that it didn't really get me yeah
and something that like really kind of showed me like
maybe i really love mario i just
don't love mario games is when i played
that not sparks of hope mario rabbits oh
rabbits yeah from from ubisoft and i

(01:26:21):
was like i was like dude i love this like
like that thing was like that thing was like drugs dude
like i was like i freaking love this game man like
it like because it was the world and the
and the charm of mario but it was like given
to me in a way that was so much more palatable when it
just it's so strange right like i can beat lies

(01:26:42):
eyes of p every way to sunday and and and and sekiro
and dark souls 3 and all those other difficult games
right but then you know put put a mario platformer in
front of me and i'm like it's more than i'm just like not having fun
like it like i don't have i'm having
fun in the world but i'm not having fun with
the gameplay that that i'm engaging with and

(01:27:04):
and i've beaten the original mario i i
got a considerable away through
the the 3d world and you
know so i i i know what they are and like they're
cool i just wish i liked them more like i
i like them like as games like i really like.
Engaging with the characters in the

(01:27:25):
world but playing it just doesn't feel so so
fun and fulfilling in the way that people really seem to
look at these games and so i was planning on
wonder kind of being the one where i'm like no i'm gonna make it
work like i'm gonna love it i'm gonna love mario and it's
like now that this game is coming out i'm like maybe i don't have
to do that like maybe this is like an

(01:27:46):
alternative experience i'm excited for rpg as well
i need to go and play that one and and kirby and
the forgotten land i think maybe those are like gonna
be the nintendo games that i'm really gonna love i like the pikmin
games you know because that's different that's doing its own thing
so yeah i this one it's like
it's it's hard for me with it being only 60 bucks you know in a world where

(01:28:07):
everything is is 70 now i think if this was 50 it'd be no question i'd go pick
this up but i think the only thing that is like hindering me is like that it
is that it is 60 which is good it's not 70 but like.
Like baby game is baby game you know like it's like
but it's so fun like it's it really is fun i just
feel weird it's like a 30 year old adult like making cakes like

(01:28:30):
pastries and stuff it's but it's fun it's
so charming and like the the music and everything is so good like i said this
whole this whole level with the the baking and everything feels like you're
in like ratatouille or something like with the the music playing and and everybody's
dancing and everything i mean i don't know it's just like goofy and wholesome
and it it speaks to your inner child i think and and And, you know,

(01:28:51):
if you have kids or if you are a kid, you know, it's going to going to speak to you.
It's going to be a wholesome game for younger folks.
And I just think, like, how could you not like this game?
Basically, this is the cake that gave me trouble, by the way,
right here. I was like, wait, what? What's the design I got to do? Yeah, more complex.
Yeah. To your point about price, I feel like Nintendo's what charge $70 for Tears of the Kingdom.

(01:29:15):
And they were very adamant, like, we're going to charge you $70 for a game when
we feel like there's $70 worth of a game. And I feel like for the most part,
you know, people can get on Nintendo for their premium, you know,
they don't devalue their games, which is good business.
But at the other hand of it, they typically give you good games.
And I see why it's probably priced that way.

(01:29:36):
It probably could be a steep thing, but I do think this game's going to do really well.
So here's like, I think currently the switch right now in 2024,
we have this, we have that Thousand Year Door remake, which is I think May or June.
When did they finally give us the announcement for that?
Because Luigi's Mansion 2

(01:29:57):
remake is in June. So I think Thousand Year Door is sometime before that.
We're dealing with a lot of re-releases. And I'm just so curious about like,
because what are they going to do end of year to also booster the library?
Is there going to be any new original content?
You know, is this stuff really going to move more units? This game?
Maybe not, but it's still going to sell.

(01:30:18):
Well, I guess my whole thing is, is like, I'm glad Princess Peach is getting a game.
I just want another Wario game, like another mainline Wario land or like Wario
speaks to me as an Italian.
I love Mario, but as an Italian who loves garlic and struggles with gluttony,
Wario is just like, Hey, I'm representative. The real Italian. Yeah.

(01:30:41):
He probably gambles. He smokes. He might be involved in organized crime.
We don't know. He's like the, he's like the Tony Soprano of the Mario universe.
Yeah. He's yeah. So, I mean, I just think that's an IP there.
They're missing out on Wario and Waluigi Brothers or something like that because
people really want a Waluigi game. I'm like, you pair them up.
You got something special there, too.
But, yeah, I mean, this is going to be a fun game.

(01:31:03):
It's not going to be a game changer, but you're going to have a lot of fun.
There's probably going to be replayability, like the collectible things you get.
Like if you do every activity you can in each level was kind of fun.
It got me engaged right away.
So, yeah, I'm curious about it. I'll play through it.
Kirk, you'll have to get back to me after you beat the game if you stand by what you say.
Like this is the best yeah the best nintendo yeah

(01:31:25):
and i think i think that's in large part just you know
because of because i just it's tough to have time
to to play nintendo games in a
world where you know i have the two other consoles and i have game game pass
i have been on more of a nintendo switch kick recently with with prince of persia
coming out and and i was getting codes for that thank thank you to ubisoft and

(01:31:47):
getting the code for inculinati and then bellatro obviously Obviously I had
to pick that up on switch cause I'm not a steam deck guy.
So that's, that's where I was going to play it. So yeah, I've been,
been kind of getting real, real comfortable with the switch.
I just got the, the cracked nitro deck thing.
Great. That makes it really great to play.
Yeah. So I, I'm, I'm very high on, on playing switch games right now.

(01:32:10):
So I, I think like if I, if it just feels like if I was, if I was going to do
it, like now would be the time to really start playing some of these games.
And this one's coming out like right now.
But yeah i i i don't know i mean i definitely
need to go and play uh forgotten land i don't
know if i own forgotten land actually if it's ever been on sale

(01:32:30):
on the e-shop i've definitely bought it but i need to play does
any nintendo first party game go on sale yes very yeah they do really yeah and
yeah superstars is on sale like right now i think today's the last day mario
party superstars but yeah no the the crafted world's on sale right now too they
They got to be out there for a little bit.

(01:32:51):
Like I grabbed the breath of the wild for, for 40, but that was like,
you know, three or four years on.
So most people get physical. I have my whole, whole switch collection digital
because I figured with the portable thing, like I just want it on the thing,
you know, that I'm carrying around.
I don't want to carry around a bunch of little cartridges. Like if I go on a flight or something.
So yeah, yeah, it's tough. It's tough finding deals on, on the e-shop for first

(01:33:14):
party games, but I'm pretty vigilant in that regard.
But yeah, that, that sort of, that's, that's another thing too is like rise
of the ronin will be 30 eventually princess digitally.
Will never be 30 so yeah yeah
yeah what what are
your thoughts can are you are you picking this one up yeah so
like it it kind of feels like i don't know why it like there hasn't been a full-blown

(01:33:38):
princess peach game to this point i know you said there was a one earlier on
it seems weird that she's always been kind of as you said like the basically
the premise of every mario game somehow how Bowser gets her again.
You know, Jesus, maybe she needs to be locked up or something.
Or, you know, I guess they do a pretty bad job of keeping her safe.
But yeah, like I think, as you said, this is like the charm and the gameplay.

(01:34:02):
Like, because a lot of the Mario games, especially the party ones,
kind of have all these mini games.
So it's kind of like, what if we had that but Princess Peach,
you kind of put them into a Princess Peach game as well. So yeah,
I think this looks really good.
And I feel that, I just feel that with.
The kind of life cycle of the switch coming to an end and a switch to room to
be next year this feels like the the last big game in terms of like they're

(01:34:25):
as you said there's going to be kind of remasters or re-releases but this feels
like the kind of one big one for this year that they're like well you know at
least we have this kind of you know first party in the mario universe,
and that they'll just hang their hat on you know other stuff in terms
of its remasters of all their games you know the end
of the year but yeah like again i i got

(01:34:46):
odyssey last year such a good game it's a
really it's a really fun game really enjoyed it i didn't get the game
of the year hype from my point of view i thought it was cool but i felt
the going up against zelda in particular is that what you mean no
just in general like compared to the so many
great games that last year i just i felt that the wonder seed
got a bit gimmicky after a while where it's

(01:35:08):
like oh what's are going to do now the map is going to turn
upside down like like the first few times like oh
this is cool oh you're talking about wonder i thought you said odyssey yeah
did i say odyssey yeah you're talking
about you're talking about wonder yeah i wonder like i enjoyed but i felt that
wonder was as i said that got a bit gimmicky after a while with the flower or

(01:35:29):
whatever it is where it kind of changes up the level and it was still a good
game you know but a lot of people but I suppose like the direction they're going
with 2D Mario and stuff like that.
This looks like, as you said, a bit more of an accessible game.
That's why I'm surprised. There's actually a huge part of the Switch.
People have Switches like female contingents. A lot of people played Animal

(01:35:51):
Crossing when that was huge.
That got in people all different ages, demographics.
It's okay if you're a guy and you play Animal Crossing. I'm just saying.
Nothing wrong with that. I've played quite a few hours myself.
But everyone was paying on the crossing when it came out and you know obviously
it was cold and everything but this seems like a no-brainer to get into more

(01:36:11):
female audience as you said you don't even have to be.
A kid to be like oh well it's cool to play as badass you
know as you see here with her saber so i think
it's it's in that point of view i think it's a
smart move because it's kind of almost an untapped female
player base that they haven't really touched you touched on nintendo so well
peach like like like uh mark said peach had her last game like back in the ds

(01:36:34):
era and that's the only one you know she's only been a guest character like
a co-op character in in other mario games so So, I mean,
it's about damn time, right? For her to get her game.
I love that they gave it sort of the treatment of like, it's not just a Mario
game, but it's Peach, you know?
Exactly. And it's completely different. And it's also not like,
it doesn't feel like just like a little spinoff.

(01:36:56):
Like it feels like, no, this is like a first party Peach game,
a first party Nintendo Peach game that they're going to put in all the bells
and whistles that we know and kind of the, as you said, the charm and all the
different kind of mini games that you expect.
It's not just like a little DLC or spinoff or something else.
It's like her own game which means it's going
to have like her own kind of like as you're you're used

(01:37:16):
to the different what what a mario 3d
game is what a mario 2d game is and same way we just mentioned this is
going to be her own style of game as well which is cool so yeah
it looks really good i love how much effort they put into that
of like giving it its totally own thing of
like it is the whole theater thing and and all
these different like the very the variants too like the a

(01:37:37):
variety of like you are doing this this action combat
that's almost like you know baby version of Bayonetta or Devil May Cry or something
if you can even really call it that like it's pretty bare bones and then like
all of a sudden you're like baking cakes and like you know squirting icing out
onto the top yeah and like you know the other stuff looks very cool too like
you're almost like a Phantom Thief.

(01:37:58):
Like persona, like Sly Cooper type character, like swinging through the rooftops,
like in the night or whatever, I guess you're going to like steal something
or whatever. Like, it just looks very cool.
Did any of you play Puppeteer? It was a PlayStation game.
I heard you say that at the beginning, but I looked it up. I never played it though.
It's really good. And you can definitely see they took a lot of influence from that game.

(01:38:21):
Because again, that game is set on a stage and the same thing,
the spotlight follows the character around and you're basically you're
you have the scissors and so as you cut stuff
kind of changes the world in the game so i think it's
they it's a smart way to set up the game because again
it's a bit different and you know you can kind of
you can probably do smart things with with it being like you

(01:38:42):
know play as such you know you can kind of play play on
that element so uh yeah it's good to kind of because puppeteer
was a very unique game and it's kind of interesting that we
there was no other game that really took that same influence so it's
good to see that nintendo how about we set it
on the stage as well because it's a cool dynamic for a game it
reminds me of like i'm sure many know this but like super mario

(01:39:02):
brothers 3 a lot of the times people were wondering like is
this supposed to be like a stage play and i feel like there's been confirmation
later on that like that is actually supposed to be a stage play because if you
think about even the beginning of that game there's like people talking then
they hush the curtain pulls up and all that too yeah so there and i think all
the characters bow at the end as well so like there's there is a a tradition

(01:39:23):
of Nintendo playing with that.
But this is different, right?
They're really taking advantage of it and giving you different game formats.
And I imagine we'll see more of these, right? Just because...
They're using i mean they already announced the next
mario movie peach was much more of a prominent stronger character
in that um they're gonna do a

(01:39:43):
lot of they're gonna take advantage of that as much as possible as that ip oh
and people love toad you know they love keegan yes he voicing toad and yeah
i was not like toad let's face it yeah and there's people that love wario i'm
in that camp as well so we'd love to see more use of those those characters
i mean I mean, even a Yoshi game that isn't just like,
you know, in the crafted or wooly world model would be very cool.

(01:40:06):
Yeah. So they've shown they could do it like with Kirby, you know,
completely evolving what they what type of game they're going to do with that character.
That was really cool to see. And it'll be interesting to see what they do with
with with their first party IP characters.
But yeah, I think people are kind of sleeping on, you know, every everybody
sort of gushed over how last year was like the perfect send off,

(01:40:26):
like the best the best last year that the switch could have had.
Like they're not done like that
i mean it's it's been a good year for for switch so far
like we're getting thousand year door we're getting this game
you know obviously prince of persia is not you know
a switch only game by any means but like it it's perfect
it's a switch game like it's a switch game
it's 60 fps on switch that's that's all you

(01:40:49):
need to know they optimized that thing for switch they knew where they
were selling that thing yep that's that game came
out when it did made the first like three weeks of
the newborns so nice because like i'm like all right
i could do very little i have to be here is he breathing is everything
okay but i could just have my prince of persia on my switch whenever
he took a nap and i was just like this is perfect i was speaking of which to

(01:41:10):
to round out well it's glitched to round out our second hour oh is it glitching
it does it when it's 4k yeah oh no and we'll do it it won't do it when it's
4k So Tales of Kinzara Zao,
which is sort of the next big game that's coming, the next big blockbuster game.

(01:41:30):
That is coming after this sort of Arma game then that we have.
It's coming on April 23rd. It very much looks like it's in the same vein as
Prince of Persia, The Lost Crown.
And everything that we've seen of it looks really, really cool.
We saw some of it at the Xbox Partner Preview. I wish I could show gameplay

(01:41:52):
of it. All we got is screenshots here, unfortunately.
But yeah, this looks like it's... it's again it's it's not that these games
aren't our first party switch but it's like,
they're gonna sell a lot on switch so it's gonna be it's
gonna be a real big year for switch in terms of of
send off are you guys excited for this game especially coming out after lost

(01:42:13):
crown sort of sort of showed us like yeah baby like metroid dread style side
scroller metroidvanias that are triple a in 2024 are where it's at and we're
gonna bring the thunder with those Is this one that you guys are excited for and are going to pick up?
It's my favorite genre. Metroidvania is my favorite genre. So absolutely.
I'll probably not right away. I'll wait on it. But if you tell me it's a Metroidvania

(01:42:38):
game, my interest has already peaked for sure.
Mm-hmm uh yeah i like so what's interesting is
the guy who i suppose the head of the studio who make this game voices
bayek in yeah great origins so i
was a huge fan of bayek's character i thought he's great and what
i really liked about this is you know he
was talking about that he lost his father not too long ago and

(01:42:59):
even the the way they presented it they had like these
kind of sculpted sculpt sculptures and
they had like kind of tears like like a waterfall while i was coming out
of these sculptures and like i hope in a way it kind
of it's a metro venue but that has like a
real heart and story to maybe something like celeste in
that sense where celeste was like a platformer but it definitely

(01:43:19):
had like a message to it and had a kind of.
Very important story to tell so i hope in a way it's like.
Through this journey you go on that it kind of
touches on grief in a way that is i'm sure that is meaningful impactful
because i'm you know i love when a
game has a great story or like kind of even touches on topics
that are maybe not taboo but like aren't you know are difficult subjects

(01:43:40):
to kind of touch on or address so i if that's
channeled through this game with the metroidvania style i think
it's it's going to be an absolute winner so yeah this is on my wish
list because just even it looks so good like i love
that yeah dude like the visual style these games
are pushing from metroid dread to to lost crown
to this now like they're just they're showing like

(01:44:01):
a new evolution of this genre that that where the
heights it can hit like it's even bringing me in
a guy that you know really really doesn't
love 2d side scrollers the way that some people really just
adore them and like it's showing me
like hey you can have a triple a experience with this type
of game um yeah don't don't turn your nose up at it

(01:44:21):
not not all of them are pixel indies you know so yes
that's true not that not i mean like a game like black blasphemous i
think that's you know beautiful in its own in its own right and and
what indie devs have been able to do with like those type of games but
yeah like the stuff that's coming
out man now in in this particular genre i mean it's it's got me wanting to switch
oled real bad so uh it's nice it's nice i don't want to like make you spend

(01:44:47):
money but it's nice and it looks great in that that crack case too i'm just
saying you already got i'll get it i'll get an an OLED.
I'll get an OLED before I get a PS5 Pro. That's for sure.
Yeah, I think I'm waiting on the Switch 2 Hullabaloo, and people are going to
be trying to offload their OLEDs.
That's what I did with the Steam Deck, actually, because remember Steam Deck

(01:45:08):
got the OLED, which reduced the price of the base model?
That's when I swooped in and got the Steam Deck, so I was like,
aha, now is the time to get in.
Steam Deck's great. Steam Deck OLED is also very great, too. Yes. But anyway.
I'll have OLED. it hate to wrap it up here with our all all all day maybe all

(01:45:29):
time peak of of 140 viewers here thank you guys so much for being here in in
the chat and in in the in the viewer group hopefully we put on a great show
for you guys we tried to cover,
all the games that everybody's talking about today. And certainly with Kenneth
being here, giving you so much information on rise of the Ronin and help you

(01:45:49):
decide, you know, if that's a game for you, I I'm certainly more intrigued just
about the game in general,
like whether I pick it up anytime soon or not,
like I really enjoyed listening to you talk about it and like all the,
the thoughts and impressions that you had to share. So that was really cool.
If you didn't catch that, make sure you go check out the video on the channel
of us discussing that. Because that was probably one of the the best discussions

(01:46:11):
that we had through the whole show and it was great to hear you guys You know
be super hyped for for dragons dogma 2 as well.
And of course everybody knows princess peach Showtime Best game coming out this
week, you know, it's a game of the year.
Not quite if it if it it wealth might get that one but I see your shadow the

(01:46:31):
earth tree like let's be honest If that one count, well, can I DLC?
No, I don't I don't think it is. Hey, hey, Phantom Liberty got nominated for
stuff at the Game Awards, so if they don't nominate Shadow of the Earth 3,
if they don't nominate Shadow of the Earth 3, it's a little bit of favoritism
double standard stuff going on.
Well, it could win Best Ongoing Game, but it didn't get, Cyberpunk didn't get

(01:46:53):
nominated for, like, Game of the Year.
I thought it got nominated for other stuff, like Action or something. Okay. Okay.
Huh interesting interesting yeah i
think well i think persona 5 royal got nominated for rpg
one year so we'll see we'll see
if we'll see if elden ring can win game of the year twice it'd
be insane can it tell people where they can find you and uh where your your

(01:47:17):
rise of ronin review is going to be when the bar goes up sweet yeah so the review
is will be out on the 21st so i think it's like 3 p.m my time but you know it's
early enough over in the states so So yeah, breakingnews.es is where it'll be.
I'll put it up on my Twitter. So you can follow me on Twitter.
I'll just get the proper name. So it's at KennyBoyFox92.

(01:47:38):
So yeah, I'll have my review up there. And as I kind of have a little pinned
tweet, which is my kind of preview impressions, if you're kind of wondering
what the game's all about.
So I'll have my full thoughts then on the 21st. So yeah, look out for my review.
Thanks for letting me on today, guys. Thanks.
Absolutely. You were amazing, man. All right, Mark, tell everybody where they can find you.
How you're yeah so recurringly late

(01:48:00):
to the game yeah yeah so that's uh
right you hear i'm a busy guy right got uh multiple jobs
family all that stuff so you can find me on late to
the game at youtube the whole idea there is i'm playing games that
came out a year or more right i just did a
video on final fantasy 7 remake kind of a retrospective asking
you know is this game worth playing still right obviously

(01:48:21):
should you play it before rebirth yes but talking to you
about like again i'm partially game dev so getting
into their design mindset getting into the development history and
the execution of that currently working on a retrospective for
ghost of shishima ironically i thought now was the perfect time so easy ports
coming out and i'm i'm loving it it's just such a gorgeous gorgeous game but

(01:48:44):
to your comments ken on this rise of the ronin like there's enough you've said
about it to where i'm like these are different games too in a a lot of ways
as well, which has me excited.
So you could find me at late to the game on YouTube or Twitch,
or just my full name on Twitter, Mark Liberto, which I gave you a follow Ken just now as well.
Yeah. So hope to see you people there. Thanks for tuning in.

(01:49:06):
It's nice to always nice to be here kirk you know that it's always
nice to have you mark and yeah my my twitter at's
been on the screen like pretty much the whole time so yeah
follow me on twitter at warmer gray that's how kenneth and i connected so who
knows yeah some of you guys are like creators or whatever out there i'd love
to connect with you guys but yeah just follow me for you know terrible takes

(01:49:26):
or i talk about games that nobody cares about occasionally so that's a good
time i I stay defending Skull and Bones, so that's pretty hilarious.
Reforge gives me a pretty hard time about that, as do the guys on here.
But yeah, and the YouTube channel is What's New Video Games,
where I try to give my audience timely reviews of games that are coming out
that people might be interested in.

(01:49:47):
Haven't had the opportunity to review a game in a little bit because it's tough
out here with the review game, trying to get codes.
Kenneth is a little more established than me, so he has the end this time,
which is why we wanted to have him on. But yeah, make sure you subscribe to
me over there because there will be a review video that I publish at some point
that I put a lot of time and effort and work into.
And people seem to like it when I do that. So make sure you're subscribed over

(01:50:10):
there so you don't miss that.
But that's going to do it for us today on Epic Loot Radio.
Thank you guys so much for joining us. And we really appreciate the turnout.
Like, this is crazy to get this many people live. I don't know if these are
all your fellows, Kenny.
It seemed to be. thanks lads for joining
us we really appreciate it give us a sub give me

(01:50:32):
a mark of sub we'd love to have you you seem like good blokes over there so
but yes thank you so much for joining us and we really hope you enjoyed the
show we hope we gave you some good entertainment today and yeah anything else
you guys want to say or are we gonna play the outro boys I'm all good play that outro baby,

(01:50:52):
oh god music.
Music.

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