What Is The Value Of A Video Game In 2024? | House Of Wolves Podcast - House Of Wolves Podcast

Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Let them come.

(00:03):
This is their fate.
All right.
All right.
I mean, my hands in there.
All right.
All right.
Welcome back to the House of Wolves podcast.
I am your host, Deontay.
Here are my near and dear friends, Shailen and Josh.
Today we got some stuff to talk about, but we might be just going along with the flow.

(00:28):
We got a few things we want to touch on, a few things going on, some weird and random
Pokemon lore that got leaked, some other stuff that's going on.
But we got some topics, not too many, but we're going to still be here to talk and you'll
see them as we kind of get to them on the timestamps.

(00:49):
So don't worry.
You could be able to still see what we're going to be talking about.
But before we get started, per usual, Shailen, Josh, tell the people how you've been, what
you've been up to, what you've been doing, how's life going, what games you've been playing
and overall how you're feeling.
Talk to the people.

(01:14):
So yeah, it's good to catch up with y'all.
I talked to y'all in about a week since last time we did the podcast.
But for me, same as usual, busy at work, just wrapped up a project that I was working on
for like three months and the game is trash, but it just came out.

(01:40):
Yeah, I mean, I still got some like post-launch stuff to do, but I'm glad to be moving on
to a different project because I'm tired of seeing that game.
Otherwise myself, I've been playing, so I only played a little bit of metaphor, just
like the, I haven't bought it yet, but the demo is like 10 hours.

(02:02):
So I figured I might as well play that.
And when I actually do buy it, maybe it'll be on sale by that point.
But I don't know.
I'm enjoying it.
I might keep going past the demo and just buy it right now.
It's just, you know, with time constraints.
I don't know if I got 100 hours to drop in October on it, but I'm still liking the game
so far.

(02:22):
And like y'all said, I didn't actually catch that they have a voice protagonist in this
game.
You know, every now and then he'll say something which is appreciated.
Otherwise, not too much to say about it.
I mean, I've looked at all the previews and reviews and stuff, so I see that people are

(02:44):
pretty positive about it, but I'm interested to hear what y'all think, since this, I guess,
incident persona, y'all haven't played any other Atlas game or did you play, what's the
game, Catherine J.
Ler?
Yeah, I played it.
I played a tad bit of Catherine.
Okay.

(03:05):
So yeah, but usually I'll play the persona games and their other stuff.
So I'm interested to hear what y'all think, how it's compared to persona.
As far as other games.
I didn't even know Catherine was one.
I played and beat that one.
I didn't know that was, I didn't know that was.
Oh yeah, that was them.
Because usually, I mean, I guess not all the personas have like a lot of anime cutscenes,

(03:29):
but usually Atlas do like the anime cutscenes that you get a lot of, especially like in
Catherine and stuff.
Yeah, it was good.
I liked the Catherine.
Yeah, not too much going on with me.
I had like, I got a new Android device a couple of weeks ago and I'm enjoying that a lot.

(03:49):
I've got all my games up and running and I ended up selling it to get a different color.
So I had to go through the whole setup process again, because I was hoping I'd be able to
just drag and drop all my folders after it was all organized.
Some stuff worked, but most stuff I still got to go back through and do the setup process

(04:12):
again, which was annoying.
But anyways, yeah, it's nice to have a device that I'm happy with, it's small, and I play
most of the games I want to play.
As far as PC stuff, I've just noticed that at least when I play it, I'm usually at home
when I got a PC game that I'm going to play and I might as well just stream it, you know,

(04:35):
I don't need like a big old Windows device to play these PC games.
That being said, everybody's good and healthy.
The little one's been going to daycare every day for the last few weeks.
I am loving it.
Don't ever want to come home.
She always want to be at school.
Oh, wow.

(04:56):
Yeah, I mean, we've taken her every day.
She's only cried like one day and that was because she had took like a extra day or two
off because she was had a fever.
And so I guess I kind of forgot like where she was going when we came to drop her off.
But yeah, she cried for a little bit after we left but the teachers like she she just

(05:20):
started playing with her friends.
So I mean, that's that's good because that's always a challenge when you a new parent got
to take your kids to school.
But she's happy.
So that's good for us.
And yeah, I'm doing great.
How about y'all guys?

(05:43):
Yeah, I was just streaming it.
Yeah.
Okay.
My bad.
I mean, no, you're good.
You're good.
It was on you anyway.
I'm just just going to intro you with Jalen.

(06:05):
Go ahead.
Yeah, so with me, not a whole lot this past weekend, I had went to DC's frantically I
was supposed to go to Detroit, but I had cancer.
I was like, we hit that drive, right?
I really didn't want to go.
So I had already booked Airbnb.
I told them I was like, look, I'll pay my portion of Airbnb still.

(06:26):
I'll just go have fun.
So instead, I'm just went to DC because I had nothing better to do.
So did that that was smooth.
I think your headphones just cut off.
Oh shoot.
All right.

(06:46):
My bad.
Yeah, no, I just want to I just went to DC for a little bit.
Other than that, I just been telling my mom she had visited real real briefly.
So he's able to hang out a little bit for like a day.
My family said I was a good time.
So I was good to see family.
Right.
Appreciate him while they're here.

(07:09):
But they're not that's really about it.
I did part of my weekend consists consisted of chilling and playing metaphors.
So I'm like, Josh, I was playing it 100 hours.
So I'm kind of crazy.
I'm gonna see what I can do.
But I got it on my Steam Deck.
So that's what I've been playing it on.
I've been making it a little bit easier to play.

(07:30):
That's about it.
For sure.
For sure.
That's good.
I really been doing much.
Well, I have been doing a lot.
I just always downplay what I'll be doing.
I've been finishing up my basement.
So I finally got the the trim in for the flooring and waiting on my carpet still built my sofa.

(07:59):
I brought down my TV.
I set up my system and I have brought down my PC and my set up my vinyl record player.
I said I've been just doing stuff in my room.
So at this point, it's pretty much fleshed out how I want it set up outside of bringing

(08:22):
my other main desk down.
I have two desks now.
So I'm about to make a mega desk.
So that way one is set up for my work and other is set up for my gaming.
So but yeah, I've tried to figure I'm trying to determine whether or not I should should

(08:43):
downsize and lot.
Like I have three, three monitors for my PC set up and then I have two monitors for my
work set up.
And I'm just like, that's a lot of monitors.
So I might just end up because I have a 42 inch OLED that I use as my main PC screen.

(09:11):
And then I have a 32 and a 24 as my secondaries.
I might just end up just using a G O lit as my main gaming PC monitor and not have the
secondary because I feel like I can get all my stuff done with that one big screen.

(09:32):
I just don't want to most of the time.
I just feel like it's more easier for me to have multiple screens full screened up and
it's not really necessary.
Like the screen is big enough for me to be able to do anything and everything I needed
to do without having to have multiple screens.
So I'm going to try to make it really, really clean.

(09:55):
And of course, this whole basement transformation, I will be having a dedicated video for anybody
that actually follows me to watch.
So if you want to see my transformation and all that good jazz and everything I did because
it was a freaking lot.
I started this and I started this in September, like 15th, and it probably will be done.

(10:19):
It should have been done sooner, but unfortunately the carpet was special order, so it takes
forever.
So that had come in on the 29th.
And at that point it should be at least finalized to the point where you'll see a video in

(10:39):
November, mid November after editing and putting everything together, you will see a video
mid November.
But yeah, I've been finishing up the finishing touches and all that good jazz.
I was able to take a little time and just chill.
And that's where you saw me pop on multi versus and I've been playing Evil West and then took

(11:04):
the kids for the holiday because we got like, you know, those those weird holidays that
most only certain people get Columbus Day or was indigenous people day.
Now, we took the kids and they went to a park and pretty new park and it was pretty nice

(11:24):
at a bunch of amenities, a lot of things that they could do.
One of my children was very courageous jumping down this big slide and pushing bigger kids
out the way because they were scared to go down.
And this guy was just amazing.
I'm talking to Mir because the mirror used to be a scary cat and Aiden wasn't.
And now it's a mirror.
It's got all the courage and Aiden just does not do that stuff anymore.

(11:47):
So it's funny.
I have flip flops, but they have fun.
But you know, I think once I'm done with this project, I'm going to have a lot more time
to really truly actually enjoy my space versus what I'm doing now is just working on that,
working my regular job and taking, you know, trying to spend time with the family.

(12:11):
I just ain't really got no time in between.
And the little time I do got is like an hour.
It's not really enough.
So but yeah, I've been working.
I've been busy, but I've been enjoying it.
And y'all will be able to see it soon enough.

(12:32):
What have I been playing?
What have I been playing?
Evil West.
I play a little bit of metaphor.
Evil West is interesting because I'm only playing it because my Xbox is the only system
I have and I was just playing stuff on it.
And I was like, man, let me just play Evil West.
The reason why is because it's on Game Pass, of course.
And I wanted to play it on my PC and I just don't have.

(12:57):
There's something still in me that just it's just easier to sit on a couch and play a game
when the setup is optimal.
Like this isn't the optimal setup if I want my kids and I'm doing something, but it is
optimal when I'm by myself in a in like my area and I'm just chilling.

(13:19):
So for that reason alone, I've been playing.
I put like three hours into Evil West and it's not a bad game at all.
But I'm pretty sure I could have been playing something a little bit more interesting, but
I have such a backlog of games that I wanted to try that it's easier to just focus my brain

(13:42):
on something that can probably get through quickly in 20 hours versus trying to jump
into a game like metaphor today.
So yeah, I've been at least having some form of gaming and I guess we can talk about some
of that other stuff as we continue on.

(14:04):
But especially metaphor.
So I got some some things to say about it at least.
But OK.
Anything else before we move into our first topic?
No, let's get to it.
All right.
Well, I guess the first thing we should just talk about since we've been mentioning a few

(14:27):
times is is metaphor.
Is there anything that?
Is there anything negative?
Because I really got that many before we get into all the positive about the game.
I really got it's not objectively negative or anything.

(14:50):
It's not even much of a negative.
I had talked to you a little bit on the phone.
I think it was what Friday I called you.
Yep.
So I have a small scope of what at was does.
I played a little bit of Catherine.
I think I played a little bit of another game or look into another game before.
I'm not entirely sure.

(15:10):
And I played persona.
So basically my premise is persona like this is what I understand about Atlas.
Josh, you probably play more games got a better scope.
I'm like so first things first music.
I'm thinking music today.
You know, I'm saying go crazy with the James.
I'm not saying metaphor music is bad.
It's just not what I thought it would be, I guess.

(15:30):
But at the same time, it is a different time period.
It's more medieval esque.
So I can't put those same expectations on there.
The other thing is I understand it's supposed to be similar to persona or what you say
last week Josh like both the branch off from persona kind of be as all but a type of game

(15:51):
similar house.
Shime Gami Tensei is the persona.
I'm thinking like, all right, so it's very well, you can keep some of the same aspects,
but I want to see some like some little bit more varying, I guess, if you will.
So later to say this foil over when a game start off or whatever, you know, you get your

(16:12):
little archetype.
It felt real similar to like, you know, they had this emotional response and then they
did something crazy.
I hate when they do something crazy like they, you know, shoot they cells or pull their head
off or that, you know, they just do something crazy.
Give me blood or you.
I was like, bro, what is going on?
Like, you know, I said, but they activated the same way.
So sometimes it would be like, all right, I mean, I seen this in persona, like for I'm

(16:37):
missing the five, three, nothing to see it in this game.
And it just kind of, it's cool for what it is.
It ain't necessarily a bad thing.
It's just kind of like, all right, I know how to spend a panel.
For example, I like to like I'm a compared to Pokemon.
Generally start off Pokemon, you know, you're gonna get your first Pokemon.
Sometimes they had you going to the wild.

(16:57):
You're gonna get a new Pokemon.
Sometimes you just go straight up to the dude.
Be like, all right, get your first Pokemon.
Sometimes they bought a young in the first Pokemon because like, I got to do this and
a third.
So you just got to wait.
I ain't here yet.
And so it would be like different things that you know how it's for, you know, what's going
to pan out, but they, the way they go about doing it is different versus like with these
games, it's like some sort of super big emotional response.

(17:21):
And then you are here with your persona.
Yeah, yeah.
I mean, there's similarities there that, um, that could, you know, have you that feeling
of familiarity, but I think that's just more sort of the site.
That's like the, I contribute that to the from software touch.
Like yes, that girl has some similarities to, um, uh, bloodborne and bloodborne has similarities

(17:46):
with dark souls, but there's like, there's a different experience in each that I wouldn't
want to negate them from being able to explore, but also using their tried and true, um, experience
to kind of build up off of.
So that's what I kind of attribute it to.
I don't really, I don't really hold it against them, but I don't think you're doing it either,

(18:07):
but, um, yeah, they have their tools that they do for the different games.
Like, like you said, persona, something happened in the persona jump out to save you.
And the Shimagami Tensei games usually just die.
And then like, you got to make a pact with like, um, the spirit to like come back or

(18:29):
save your friends or something like that.
So yeah, they, they always have their setup that they, that they do.
Um, but I mean, I think that part is usually minor and you know, it's just a set up for
the beginning.
Yeah, it is minor.
I just was, I'm, I'm, I'm looking for things to be separate for, for, from persona.
And I'm like, all right, y'all got the spelled names.

(18:50):
They different, but Danny Blyke the attack power up when that's the same name.
I'm like, all right.
And then it's just like, you, the person, you know, it's just stuff like that.
So I'm like, all right.
Um, yeah, try not to, I don't want it to feel like I'm playing persona too, too much.
Like it's cool.
But, you know, but the speaking protagonist, I'm like, right.
Right.
You know what I'm saying?

(19:11):
I'm like, I need that bro.
Yeah.
And then there's, there's some, um, there's definitely room for improvement, I suppose.
Um, but overall I can say that, uh, there's, there's not much here that I'm seeing that's
as deterring me from the experience.

(19:32):
I just know that there's other ones that may be cheaper.
Like right now I've seen unicorn overlord for 25 bucks.
I was like, I know I wanted to play that for a while and I can easily cop that for cheaper
and have an experience that's probably comparable or even, you know, maybe even better.

(19:55):
It doesn't know.
I don't know, but it has some type of, you know, that RPG element, but it also has a
good story behind it.
Probably that I would probably still have fun with.
And there's another Atlas game.
So it's not like I'm driving too far off the wagon for it, but this one's, you know, they
want that $70 upfront.
So it's kind of like, do I even have the time and do I feel like I'm going to have the enjoyment

(20:19):
I could right now from it?
And I don't want to do the price comparison, but it is important to, to know that, um,
there's other games out there that we, I haven't played that could have my time that I own
today versus, you know, playing metaphor that doesn't take away anything from the game.
It is my own, um, thought process.

(20:40):
So yeah.
Did you have any, um, what'd you think about Jalen's negatives?
Did you have any thoughts on the music or anything like that?
Uh, definitely the music I don't, I haven't liked it right now.
I don't, I don't find it that great.
Um, I don't, I don't hold it against them because honestly, I don't, I'm not the type

(21:06):
of person that really pays that all that much attention to music.
And that's, that's just me.
Honestly.
Um, there's not like a time where I felt like, ah, this game sucks because the music sucked.
And if it was, it was only because someone else brought it up to me like Jalen when he
was talking about momentals.
Like I hadn't, I had no mind.

(21:27):
I didn't mind it because it's background noise to me.
It's like, I zone it out.
But when he kept saying it and I hear it, I'm like, okay, now, now, now it sucks to
me.
And it only, it only becomes like super bad when someone else acknowledges like it to
me.
I'm like, I just don't, I don't know.
I don't, I really, I ain't really listening for it, but immediately that like this one

(21:50):
was different immediately when I heard that, I said, oh no, this ain't going to be it.
This is the one that's going to be using the whole time.
I'll just say Nick.
Um, so I did, cause I know that how persona is set up sometimes they usually use a sound
for a certain particular either area or it's going to be the main music every time you
go into battle.
And if that's the main music, every time you go into battle, I ain't gonna like it, but

(22:13):
it ain't gonna, it ain't gonna stop me from playing it.
I'll say that.
Okay.
No, it's interesting.
Cause I think that, um, I mean, people always praise Atlas music and I think, uh, this game
is still getting praise for its music, but it's always different.

(22:34):
Like persona five was jazz.
And so like, obviously it sounds very good, like well done jazz, but jazz has its own
style.
So it's doing that well.
If I say jazz is easy to vibe to and it was done well.
So it was easily like universally praised.

(22:55):
Uh, all their other games have different style of music, like persona forest pop music.
And if you like pop music, you know, I think it sounds good, but if you don't like pop
music, it's annoying.
The same thing with persona three, it was more like rap inspired stuff and it's not
good rap, but it's still catchy.

(23:16):
And so that's the thing is that they're always going to do their own style in a different
genre.
So none of their games are ever going to sound like persona five, like going forward, even
persona six is not going to sound like it.
They're going to pick a different genre.
It's going to be rock or it's going to be, uh, something else.
And then they're going to do their own style on it.
So that, I think that expectation that is going to sound like persona five is, is always

(23:42):
going to set you up for disappointment.
Uh, but it's always catchy.
And it, like you say, if you listen to it in the background, you might find a couple
of tracks that you like or don't mind.
Uh, but I think overall the music sounds good.
Like I don't have a problem with, I don't hate any of the songs.
Um, uh, and I'll probably end up finding songs that I like about in there as well.

(24:07):
But yeah, that just saying that, um, always expect really, really different music from,
from them.
Yeah.
And since this is like a fantasy setting, it's going to be like, yeah, orchestra music
or something like that, but like a different spin on it.
Yep.
That's fine.
I can say I'm not, it's not going to turn me from it.
I just, I can tell you right now it's not like, uh, the best sounding to me in regards

(24:34):
to how, I don't know something about it.
It sounds off beat, but maybe it's just me.
Um, and I don't know if, if there is a beat that I should be listening for, but something
about it just seems wrong.
And uh, so I, no, no, I'm not.

(24:55):
So I wanted to validate your statements that, uh, I don't actually know if this beat sounds
weird in the song, cause I haven't listened to a whole bunch of songs.
Uh, but in the past for some of the Shimogami Tensei games, they do some very weird stuff
to make the music fit the setting.
So like in that game, it was, it was also orchestra music and, uh, sorry, it was a game

(25:19):
called Strange Journey.
It was also orchestra music, but you know, orchestra and opera, you got like a lady singing
and stuff like that.
But then in that game, it just got like random drums and humming to make it sound like somebody's
like chanting like a weird like a spell or something on top of the singing.

(25:41):
And so it was meant to make it feel weird, like I'm supposed to be in this fantasy setting,
but I also feel like somebody is trying to cast a spell on me or like a voodoo spell
on me or something.
So anyways, they, they do different stuff to maybe make the music fit the setting.
Okay.
Yeah.
So maybe it's more trying to fit the setting or the vibe and not let, let's say, this

(26:06):
is a song that you listen to, to relax to or something.
Right.
Okay.
That makes sense.
Um, well, there's more praise than, um, cons for me, more, more pros.
I really do like the ability to see into the future of what you're going to be unlocking,
what you're going to be able to, um, uh, which you'll be able to, uh, it's unlocking, it's,

(26:34):
um, your bonds, um, how to level them up, what, what you get for doing so.
Um, I think they kind of just streamlined a lot of that.
I like the fact that you can kill enemies without, and, and, you know, grind without
having to go into battles all the time.
If you go to a lesser area, um, there's a lot of things that I've seen and just from

(26:58):
watching videos that seem like this more streamlined approach.
So I feel like it's going to have just 80 hours of fun and enjoyment, not like trying
to grind stuff and things like that too.
So, um, outside of, you know, mechanics, um, is there anything that you guys have stood

(27:19):
out to you?
Uh, well, I guess any, everything included, I'm sorry.
I didn't mean to minimize what y'all can talk about.
Anything in there that y'all saw that was like, okay, this is, this is pretty cool too,
or anything that you, um, thought was a good idea because I think there was a few that

(27:40):
I've seen that was like pretty good ideas, but, um, I think I mentioned them.
Um, I, I'm most interested in seeing how they do the different classes or what do they call
them aspects, uh, because you can switch them around.
Uh, yeah.

(28:01):
So you can switch them around and experiment with different, um, different types, you know,
uh, mixed skills and stuff like that, but they have many different ones, you know, I
don't know their names, but like, you know, a mage, you do your magic and you switch to
a different one, like a night, but then they also have some inspired by like their other

(28:23):
games like there's, I don't know if it's called a fiend or demi fiend or something like that.
That one's inspired by one of the Shimugami Tensei games.
And so you have abilities that are like from that game.
Here's another one that's inspired by, uh, like a persona character.
So you will summon like a persona to do an attack or something.

(28:44):
Um, uh, anyways, I'm interested to seeing all of the different, uh, classes because
they use all your characters and your party used to be tied to like their own, like the
main character.
Like if you have, um, uh, she wanted their names, uh, queen in persona five, then her
persona is always set to her.

(29:06):
And so she can't switch, but being able to switch the party around to have different
abilities is going to make it more interesting where I like this character, but I don't like
their play style.
So let me just change it up to something I do like.
So I guess the class flexibility is, is what I'm liking.
Okay.

(29:26):
That's cool.
That's cool.
What about you, uh, Jalen anything?
Yeah.
So I'm, I'm curious about, uh, wait, what was the question again?
Just anything that you thought was cool, unique or I know you already kind of mentioned a
little bit of that, but anything that you stood out.
Yeah, I, I'll be honest again, I want like a different experience.

(29:50):
I'm in a plant like RPG, so I don't want some of the same things.
Cause my biggest, sometimes I feel like the biggest gripe I have with Atlas, I'm not saying
that they're bad company.
I feel like they reuse a lot of the same things and themes.
So it doesn't, it, it, it limits how diverse it can be, I guess.
Um, and again, it's coming from somebody that played Pokemon, you know, I played Pokemon,

(30:14):
but you see new Pokemon, you know what I'm saying?
I see anything.
So with that being said, I think that the archetype thing is cool and I'm curious to
see, you know, how they evolve and how many will be in a game and just how much variation
they have.
Because when I play persona, I already know about the same personas I'm going to see.

(30:35):
Obviously they add a couple more in and things like that, but this is a whole new scape and
it limits them, limits their ability to give me the same exact like personas, like those
sorts of things.
So I'm kind of interested in that.
And I thought that was kind of cool.
And I was excited to see like all the little slots and then a different archetypes and

(30:55):
people, it don't seem like your pigeon holes for you.
You don't want archetypes, you can kind of like switch them up with the side characters.
So all the pressure isn't always on the main character to be able to switch those up.
So it gives a little bit more diversity when battle, I think at least, um, again, I'm
only a couple hours in, so I don't have like as much say so or seen all those aspects of

(31:16):
it.
But again, from the basis, it seemed to be some form of distinction, even if it is just
like, cause I mean at the end of the day, you still got the same stats, right?
Yeah.
So obviously some of those archetypes could fit the same, you know, role or archetype,
I'm going to use that word again, archetype that a certain persona was.

(31:37):
But it gives a different feel.
It makes it seem better and it's not just a like a shadow that they summon and they
actually like transform into this thing, which make it even cooler.
So I'm just kind of curious how that would like grow in pan out.
So I'm interested in that.
That's a good thing.
I actually was happy about seeing that.

(31:58):
I guess real quick, how do y'all feel about the few main characters that you've met as
far as their design is, you know, is different than what you get in persona?
Nobody's annoying.
There is, there is the, you know, the tropey trope guy on that's just, you know, courage

(32:21):
and bravery and strength.
So we always get that guy first.
But I haven't seen too many variation in like the characters yet because I just haven't
played enough.
But I like the, I like the, is she a pixie?
I don't know if she's a pixie or not.
I think they said fairy.

(32:42):
Yeah I think she, the fairy, I like the fairy.
I like the older gentleman, a little bit more stern.
I gonna be our educator on a lot of pieces.
And then we got the people, the people that were meeting like that's the overseer of the
world basically, Igor, I would call him false Igor.

(33:04):
I forget his name.
More.
Yeah, more.
Yeah, I think that's his name.
It's not a real name is more as a word.
But he's, he seems pretty interesting too.
So I'm interested in that the whole setup of persona or for metaphor because I like

(33:28):
how they do persona.
So I'm already like intrigued by a lot of stuff and then just understanding their world
better and what type of races are out there and what that means to be at a certain races.
So I would say, I know you just asked about the characters, but I feel like there's a

(33:49):
combination of the characters plus the world that's helping make these characters more
interesting because the world is telling me that they are supposed to be looked at or
depicted in this way.
And, you know, you're getting the stark difference of what that is with the characters you're
seeing.
So that helps.

(34:12):
Yeah, I know, at least say I'm, I don't hate these very character.
I hate those type of characters, so that's I don't know why I don't hate her yet.
So let's go in there.
Yeah, yeah, I'm screaming.
I thought she she don't seem annoying.

(34:33):
Like she seemed more.
I think the writing, I think I had a rightener because she doesn't seem like she's determined
yet to just be, you know, does out to what the player wants and like this, you know how

(34:58):
they do the guys because she's a guide.
She's literally the guide character.
But it's like, you know, when you have a non speaking protagonist, it's kind of like they
have to write her more to talk when you don't need her to talk.
Where we got a speaking character now, so she doesn't need to talk when we're talking.

(35:19):
So I feel like she has the ability to be written differently.
That's all.
I think so, too.
So she doesn't just feel like a dedicated to you constantly.
And it just felt like she's attached detached from just being your super, super guy.

(35:41):
I mean, she does have that still in it, but it's a little bit different.
I think that's simply due to him being able to talk.
So.
But yeah, metaphor, it looks good.
I do want to piggyback this conversation with just my overall thoughts right now.
And hopefully I'll be interested in this type of conversation.

(36:04):
But basically, I want to talk to why.
Why even now, metaphor has been proven to be a great game.
Why?
Why?
Why?
Why am I still hesitant to purchase?

(36:26):
I don't know.
I feel like it's a combination of three things, time, price.
And well, I guess it's just really time and price.
But I want to throw in that.
That third is the worth to me because I still.

(36:55):
Don't feel like it's worth.
And maybe it's just me.
I can understand.
There's a point of me where I'm saying time wise, I got the time.
I can't play that game anyway if I wanted to.
But slowly but surely, I feel like no game is worth seventy dollars and I just don't
want to buy at that price point.

(37:18):
Now we're near close to it.
And I understand there's ways for me to get it for cheaper.
But it just doesn't feel like.
I can justify this price point right now.
And I'm just trying to see how do you all feel about.

(37:38):
The prices of games, even if they're ten, not tens.
I don't know.
Maybe because I'm now looking at it from a different perspective.
Like if I was a developer, I would think my product is worth this amount.
But now I'm thinking about it.
I just economically, I just feel like this is a.

(38:01):
Poor entry point.
For gaming in general.
And I really don't know how to combat it to make my mind feel like it's justified.
Like hype FOMO is really the only driver.
And that should be that that's not sufficient enough to.

(38:21):
What to get me entice me to buy a game now, because I have the price point is substantially
combating FOMO, in my opinion.
I used to be one that was like, oh, I got to play a day one.
I don't want nobody else to spoil it for me.
Now it's becoming a I don't really care.
I can wait on it.

(38:42):
And time is of essence.
And right now I don't have the time to play it, but even if I do have the time, which
I could probably try to make it, I don't want to because I don't think it's worth it.
So I guess where are you now?
Which are gaming journey and what do you feel is the.

(39:03):
The biggest factor when it comes to that choice for purchase versus wait versus don't care.
That's changing our tunes when it comes to video games at this point in time.

(39:25):
So I got I guess questions first, because my.
I guess I don't have a strong feeling on it or as strong because when I see a game that
I want, like let's say it's metaphor and look at the price of it, the prices in Japan are

(39:45):
different.
So it's like a hundred dollars here.
But if I if I like the game and I want to really want to play it, like you said, FOMO
or whatever.
So people don't spoil it.
Then I'll buy it day one and I'll play it.
If I only reason I wouldn't buy it is because I literally look at my schedule and for the
next three, four weeks, I may have like two hours on the weekend to maybe play it.

(40:11):
So and I know the game is 100 hours.
I might as well just save that money.
Like I'm not going to spend it on anything else, but just leave that money in my bank
account and just buy it when I actually have time to sit down and enjoy the game.
That would be my only hold up.
And as far as after I bought the game, if I liked it.

(40:33):
I don't ever think of the price of it again.
And that's partly because I buy most of my games digital.
So it's not like I could resell anyways.
But when I buy a physical game and I really like the game, I don't usually jump to thinking
about, oh, what can I sell this for?

(40:53):
What is it worth now on the resale market?
Because I enjoy the game and it's just in my collection now.
So that's my view on it.
So I want to ask, like if there's a game that you play and you really liked it, like let's
say it's a Resident Evil 4 or something and you bought it on PlayStation, do you feel

(41:15):
like you immediately are think like regretting the price tag if it was your game of the year?
No.
I'm more so speaking to the trying aspect of Josh versus the guaranteed purchase.

(41:37):
Like there's always a guaranteed purchase for me.
God of War, Grand Theft Auto, those are guaranteed purchases.
I'm talking about the ability to try games that you may or may not enjoy that you probably
could find an experience similar elsewhere for cheaper.
That's when I start to question the worth of a game.

(41:58):
I don't really question it when I know that that experience is been been crafted for me
and I know the product.
I don't really question it.
I know the product of metaphor, but it becomes a question of my thought of worth of that

(42:25):
product versus, yeah, I enjoyed their previous work.
Yeah, I thought that was fun.
But do I want to pay this price tag for it?
And do I have the time to put into it?
Because yes, I enjoyed it.
I didn't thoroughly enjoy it.
I didn't put the I don't I don't have a like persona three would not be my game of the

(42:47):
year, but it's definitely a game that I really enjoyed playing.
I wouldn't play it again, but I enjoyed playing it.
I played it technically for the game pass subscription price, so I felt comfortable
with the purchase right now.
I am jumping into a brand new game that has intrigued me and has provided at least some

(43:10):
value add that makes sense.
But if it falls into the realm of more of the same, I could see myself being like, oh,
well, it was cool, but I'm probably shouldn't pay 74.

(43:31):
Even though there's a lot going on now that shows me that that might not be the case.
So I guess I'm speaking to the to the to the questionable, not the guarantee.
If I if I have.
And to be fair, that list is growing ever smaller.

(43:53):
It's not that many games that could say that our companies that will like respawn as a
company, even though I hate them, their guts, if they put out another game, I'm still going
to buy it because I know what type of product they choose to make.
And it's most of the time quality, but they might have some weird, you know, stuff on

(44:16):
the back end.
So let's a single player, you know, CD Projekt, Greg.
I don't care if they fumbled the bag a lot, but I know what type of product they're willing
to make in the value that brings, you know, then there's Santa Monica.
Probably I don't have any one for HALO.

(44:36):
I mean, anyone for Xbox right now probably would be fabled, but it's not.
It's like literally.
That list is growing smaller, and I don't know if it's contributing to just me changing
my dynamic with gaming or if it's generally just this oversaturated overpriced market.

(45:00):
And I'm just trying to get your thoughts on it.
Yeah, I'll let Jaylen go real quick, but I was just going to quickly say I understand
not like you say you trying to new a new game.
You don't know if it's worth playing full price for this new experience that you don't
know that much about.
And you know, part of that is just marketing, they got to sell you to let you know what's

(45:24):
in the game and the price that they're accessing.
But as far as like this game, and just I feel like there are enough game studios that have
been around for a long time that have a reputation or a pedigree that kind of for me, I guess,

(45:47):
helps alleviate some of that.
And it's not always true, you know, anybody can put out a especially like a big name,
you know, XO.
Yeah.
You know, like Capcom's and stuff like that.
But like if I'm following the game, and it seems decent from the or good from the previews,

(46:10):
and the developer has a reputation that I trust, then I'm okay with buying in if I'm
interested in the game versus Oh, I'm not interested in, you know, this this game, I'm
not interested in Fatal was what is it called?
Final Fight?

(46:30):
No, not Final Fight.
What's that fighting game that's coming out?
Fighting game?
Spark and Zero?
City of the Wolves or something like that.
Yeah.
It is by SNK.
And they and they do King of Fighters and stuff like that.
I'm not that interested in this game, but I trust the developer might wait for a sale

(46:50):
in that situation.
I'm not that interested, but I trust the developer or vice versa.
I'm interested in the game, but I don't trust the developer that's like wait for a sale.
But for Atlas for me, I feel like it's kind of proven that they they always make good
games.
They have a reputation, they're not going the game not going to be garbage.

(47:14):
And I've liked a lot of their past stuff and I'm interested in this one.
So I'm happy to buy into it.
And maybe that happens to be a disappointment.
And then that that's just unfortunately unavoidable because you could have never known that unless
you like, you know, just watching all the reviews and watching all the play footage
and then you find something that you don't like.
But yeah, I don't I don't see I know that there are other JRPGs, but there's no alternative

(47:43):
to Persona.
Nobody's putting out RPGs that are as good as Persona.
So even if you Persona 3 is OK to you, then that means what the next Tales game is like
a four out of 10 because their games are just usually way better than most JRPGs.
So yeah, it really just depends for me, I guess.

(48:05):
But that that's how I look at it.
What about you, Jalen?
I mean, I think a lot of my thoughts, my sentiments is similar to yours.
I don't but I'm probably a little bit my threshold, probably just a little bit higher.

(48:26):
I'm not y'all know I'll be trying games, just buying games and stuff like that.
So as far as like getting a game for like full price won't be doing that, especially
if I don't really see it, but I have the time to play it.
But my willingness to try the games is going to largely be based on like the reviews.
So like the day ones, the missing out the FOMO, all that type of stuff.

(48:48):
I don't really have that idea.
I'm not gonna lie, Sparking Zero was kind of like, not good, you know what I'm saying?
It's bad dynamic, but I mean, you know, I don't really, but I'm thinking that, like
Josh said, the developer who made it and I'm looking at like the reviews, if they review
decent and I get if it's like a seven out of seven or above, I look at the game and

(49:09):
be like, well, I'm thinking about getting a game, but I don't got nothing to push me
over the fence.
Let me go ahead and look a little bit more into it and buy, Hey, well, this looks fun.
I enjoy this aspect of it.
Maybe I will go pay quote unquote full price, right?
So but I just feel like it's a hard sell for me.
I don't, I don't really have like a strong bond or pact or anything with some of the

(49:34):
way any of the companies throw to be like, Hey, this is the day one by even metaphor.
I still didn't buy the game.
I was like, I'm gonna go ahead and play the demo, see if they're going to sell stuff.
So it just feels like there's a lot of great games coming out that I'm not buying.
And I feel like there's a difference in how I used to act versus now.
And I don't know if it's just me, but like a lot lies.

(49:56):
The P was another game that I wanted to play day one and I just didn't purchase it one
due to time to do not it be a newer IP.
And then, you know, lords of the fallen was another one where definitely had a lot of
my interests had done all the right things.
I still didn't buy it.
And I, all these games are great because they're on game paths now, but it just felt like the

(50:23):
backlog that I was building up, uh, has become more significant than the games that I'm actually
interested in playing today and, um, purchasing today.
So I, I, I, I just feel like, um, there's a lot less of wiggle room in regards to what

(50:50):
I contribute a valuable game.
Like I was playing, um, like y'all remember when I bought riders Republic from Ubisoft
full price, like I used to do that all the time.
If I saw a game, I thought would be cool.
I will buy it and see.

(51:10):
If it wasn't, I'm like, all right, well, I mean, I tried, I just feel like there's a,
I don't know what shifting, um, and maybe a subscription services.
Maybe it's just me not devaluing the gaming in general.
Um, but there is like, uh, where I'm not pulling the trigger on certain things.

(51:35):
And I was used to that.
I used to do normally in a thought, I give it a shot.
Did I see it up?
His impulse is leaving.
I know he got called now.
My impulses are weakening for sure.
Yeah.
I think that is fair for me.

(51:56):
I would say maybe it's two things, uh, cause I used to buy more games as well, but you
know, uh, game prices are rising.
Plus DLC plus subscriptions to like game pass and stuff like that.
So the, the dollar is stretched thin for one.
And then two, I think, yeah, in general, especially for Western companies, the trust is down.

(52:21):
Like they put out less games per year.
The games that they put out are usually more expensive and they're full of micro transactions
and maybe it comes out in a weird or broken state.
And so like, yeah, especially with Ubisoft, I, you know, PS3 even PS4 generation, I used

(52:41):
to buy three, four games from them per year.
Now it's like barely even one.
And I think that's just because Ubisoft in 2024 is different than 20 Ubisoft in 2014.
Um, they're just a different company to stuff that they put out as different.

(53:03):
Their price and structure is different.
So I treat them differently, but I would still say I still buy the same number of games that
I used to buy 10 years ago.
It's just, it's not necessarily all AAA companies.
I mean, smaller games, I feel like have gotten better.
You know, maybe if I buy something like a Hades, then it's like, yeah, I can spend a

(53:26):
hundred hours playing this game.
I really like the developer, it's a worthwhile product and it's like $25.
So I think that that's where my mindset has gone.
I personally don't feel bad that I don't buy EA and Ubisoft games that often is just maybe
AAA games are not worth it or are most AAA games that they're trying to compete with

(53:52):
each other.
So I think they're just eating each other's lunch and that just makes it, I'm only going
to buy one of y'all this year or this quarter.
And unfortunately it's not a Ubisoft or EA game.
You know?
Yeah.
I think that that is kind of like, um, I understand that.

(54:13):
Like I lost a lot of trust in Ubisoft over the years.
But I guess I was just, you know, using that as an example.
But yeah, AAA definitely is on a decline, especially when it comes to these bigger companies
where I trust them.
I don't trust them enough to feel like they're going to do the right thing.

(54:40):
And it's coming down to like studios versus the actual company.
And even then it's like, it's tough because it kind of, like I said, respawn.
That's a guarantee for me, but it's like trusting them to create a game worth playing is like,
I don't know.

(55:00):
Now it's kind of skeptical.
Whenever before it was a no brainer.
So I guess that is a level of trust that you fail to contribute to.
But I just feel like there's so many games out right now that I'm not even like, that
I feel the same way I felt about writers Republic.
I'm not even thinking about, and I don't know if it's over saturation, devaluing just because

(55:23):
of the subscription services or what I think my mindset has shifted to, um, just think
more of what is worth the attempt.
I think that that they can combat that a lot with demos.

(55:44):
Like I don't even think I would even pass the other blade on my radar at all.
If they didn't have a demo option and it may be something I pick up later down the line.
And I was one of those games where I was like, okay, this fits the bills of what I want to
play.
And I'm still didn't attempt to play it yet.
So it just, it's just a lot of those situations that are coming up to me that makes me feel

(56:08):
like, um, there's something changed, but I don't know what it is.
So but I think you're right in regards to the, um, devaluing the triple a games and
like how we feel like they're copying and paste, refill books and just devaluing them

(56:28):
to this point, to the point where I don't feel comfortable spending that much money.
Um, uh, same thing with, uh, even though metaphor is great, there is some technological issues
where it's not running the best and it's at this weird anti-aliasing and, um, it is like
PS three graphics, but it's kind of, I don't care about that part of the game, to be honest,

(56:53):
um, to be like, Oh, this is why I don't want to buy.
It's not that it's literally just, you know, um, maybe I'm just not finding, I am, I am
being too critical of video games to the point where the only the top notch will get my dollar.

(57:14):
And I don't know if it's a shift in just my mindset there, or if it's a shift in a lot
of different things that just coming to a head.
So I don't know.
That would be cool to talk through.
I think a lot of people think this way.
So video games, I told you, it's funny that you said that I was talking to my brother
this past weekend and you know, it's like, man, you actually game his game, his little

(57:38):
game is I was like, man, the value of video games started to shift when I bought my own
game, bro.
When I started buying my own games, like in seventh eighth grade, that value started
to change.
I'm like, man, this game ain't even that fun.
I got game bro.
I should be having more than $30 a phone.
I got a game.
They got me.
I'm just trying to go a little bit more conscious conscious about, you know, my spending.

(57:59):
I do want to ask you, this probably hard to quantify, but do y'all think I spend more
time on your games per day, per hour, per year, per week or whatever, spend more hours
on a game now or before?
If that makes sense.
I don't have a reference to like, you know, because simply we we don't play a Destiny

(58:26):
level game anymore.
It's like definitely before.
If you're talking before 2011, definitely I have more game time.
So there's that I guess I break it up in blocks from high school graduation up into a college

(58:48):
graduation and then from college graduation to now.
So between when I was in college in high school, that was probably my peak time of playing
video games.
Heavenly after college, it started to be lessened.
But obviously you kind of as you grow, you just kind of get different things that kind

(59:11):
of come into play that have to you have to shift your mindset anyway.
So obviously big factors are kids, marriage, wives, stuff like that.
So that stuff did shift my focus.
So regardless of who you are, I'm almost certain that every man or woman has changed, has lowered

(59:34):
their intake of video games.
But after, unless you're just some weirdo that don't really do enough debt.
After my kids, you kind of have to adjust.
So I don't think anybody could say, oh, I started playing more.
I mean, that was all right.
You 30 you play mobile games.
How that makes sense.

(59:54):
That makes sense.
That's me.
You don't play more video games now.
Yeah, I do.
How I got the game on our board again.
Oh my goodness.
This guy is.
You don't play destiny no more.
What are you talking about?
I'd be on multi-versus.
I got 200 hours logged on that game.

(01:00:18):
200 hours on multi-versus.
Not just playing on how many I got on this man be capping, dude.
I want to play more.
I just always, always act on my head to be like, you're like, I think you're going to
stop playing video games altogether.
You might.

(01:00:38):
It's fine.
I guess you can have different outcomes of it, but I think it's so ingrained in my reality,
my makeup, how I was raised that I can never just not play a game.
Maybe to the point where it's like super minimized or like, but this is going to be something

(01:00:59):
I pass on to the kids and having them being able to share games with them.
When it becomes fun again, you start playing different games and you can like recreate
re re re experience some of the older stuff that you probably already played with in a

(01:01:21):
different way.
So definitely not going to ever change for me for sure.
I could say the same thing.
I don't think I ever not have a video game console at this rate.
Okay.
Well, another time.
No, I'll go ahead.
No, I was going to say, I think that you hit the point.

(01:01:44):
Just getting older is just literally impossible to play games as much because when you're
in college, you don't have a full time job.
Even classes, you can skip classes or your classes don't take up the whole every day
of your week.
Most people I know have to fit everything on two days of the week so they can just do
classes.
And so what that leaves like four or five days of like a lot of free time.

(01:02:07):
So of course, yeah, I spent most of the time playing Destiny, but now I got a kid, I'm
married and I got a full time job.
So I got three debuffs so I can't play video games as much.
I feel like what's the fat man in Halo, Halo 3 walking slow trying to try to catch everybody.

(01:02:32):
Yeah, I got three debuffs.
I can't play games as much, but I still feel like games are my hobby and I don't spend
a lot of time doing other stuff like reading books or golfing or things like that.
It's fine to replace video games with other hobbies.

(01:02:55):
Like you get older, you get different interests.
But me, I don't have a lot of other hobbies like I don't really watch TV or watch anime.
So I still play games, I say a lot.
Like most of my free time is video games.
It's just I don't have a lot of free time.
That's why I guess I play more, I'm more interested in free to play games now because they kind

(01:03:21):
of like pick up for five minutes here and there.
I'm on my lunch break and I can boot it up, do something and then turn it off.
Versus metaphor, even if I have like literally five minutes, I never would boot up metaphor
for five minutes, do one battle and then turn it off.

(01:03:42):
It feels like more of a hassle than what it's worth.
So I'd rather play that game when I have at least two hours to sit down for myself.
And I guess that's the rarity nowadays where I don't have two hours straight to just sit
down and play.
Yeah, I think that that is the rare, a lot of these extra systems that we buy come in

(01:04:06):
a handy where you can like sit around and like this been this Steam Deck has been sitting
on metaphor for the last three days.
And I just keep it charged because as soon as I pop it up, I know exactly where I'm at.
And it's not going to stop me from being able to continue forward later.

(01:04:29):
So that is why you have certain type of dedicated devices for certain things, because those
longer form games that you just don't have time to sit on in front of is probably those
ones you don't want to get interrupted.
It's a lot of dialogue.
You can't really sit there and try to have another conversation while they try to have
a conversation.
It's taking you out the game.
The Evil West, somebody's if I pause in the middle of that, it's not like the plot is

(01:04:53):
so heavy or if it's not like, you know, those types of games where it just doesn't matter.
So 100 percent.
And that's probably a bigger contributor to my change in purchase.
Because I still allocate myself like fifty four dollars a month for a game, I just don't

(01:05:19):
use it.
It's not like I don't have the money.
I just don't want to buy them.
That's weird because it never used to be like that.
I'd be like, oh, no thanks.
I just sent it.
I'd be like, oh, I could have bought it.
It's not like it's a problem.

(01:05:40):
I mean, 12 games a year is not like.
I mean, obviously, fifty four is not seventy and how much they cost.
But I have ways to get it to cheaper base.
I mean, to get it cheaper.
But we know we know methods.
We know methods.

(01:06:01):
But you know, I just don't choose to.
Like, I mean, Street Fighter, I bought Tekken.
There's games that I know that are just guaranteed buys.
And then there's the ones that you can gamble on.
I just choose not to.
I don't know if it's like so.
I think it's a combination of everything we just spoke about.

(01:06:22):
You know, it's the fact that we don't like our time is valuable.
We have less of it.
The games that we are purchasing has been devalued simply due to the fact that the gaming
industry today and how they try to price guide you and they don't really give you a beneficial

(01:06:43):
game.
And then there is just the value of FOMO just being devalued for myself as well, where I'm
not really worried about FOMO anymore.
I don't have the ability to go see movies when they come out.
I don't have the ability to do a lot when it first come out anyway.
So I've been what I've been I've been I've become accustomed to waiting.

(01:07:05):
And I think a lot of that just contributes to my thought when a game drops and I have
some interest in it.
So I don't know.
Yeah, that's I think a lot of people are going through that.
I think that that's still a good topic to kind of bring up very not again, because the
state of gaming is kind of trash right now.

(01:07:28):
It's not like it's not good games.
I think it's just a lot of over saturation.
There's a lot of games that are coming out that just the people our minds are so scattered
that it's not really it's hard to focus up sometimes on what's truly good and what's
not.
So a lot of people don't even know about games.

(01:07:49):
Sometimes it'd be crazy to me how I'd be talking to my brothers and they don't even know a
game came out and they'd be anticipating.
I know this game came out.
I think it's just a lot of that.
You know, just people's minds are elsewhere.
It is not in your hobbies right now.
And I think the economy is to blame for that, really.

(01:08:13):
And it is survival mode out here for a little bit.
But OK, let's move into my next thing I want to talk about, because I don't know if it
was anything that I really had interest in talking about unless I bring it up to me if
I forgot.
But I did want to talk to you all about the whole console space versus PC space because

(01:08:41):
I'm shifting again, as usual.
I'm always shifting.
But I remember when we spoke last week and we talked about, you know, the PS5 Pro and
how like.
For me, I'm giving it arbitrary selling.

(01:09:04):
I'm saying 4K 60 is where I value it the most.
I don't really I don't really do the ray tracing a lot to the point where I'm feeling like,
oh, that's something that's super, super needed.
I just want a stable 4K 60 output and a pretty stable image.
So as we grow closer and closer to that.

(01:09:27):
Jaylen, I know you got a PC.
Don't use it, Josh.
I know you have a PC.
I know you use theirs.
Tell me about your use cases and why you still.
Hold on to councils if you still hold on to.
I don't know if you don't even know what councils you own currently.

(01:09:52):
I guess give people a refresher.
What councils you are early you own today and why you feel like.
They are still around.
Let's start there.
Yeah, you know, he's.
I just.

(01:10:14):
Before and in his living room.
Not the 64.
You play.
I'm all night.
Yeah, you play.
Go.
I got my PS1 with the.
What they say you can was a multi-tie where you can play with different people or four

(01:10:35):
players.
Oh, yeah.
More controllers.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But not just back to the question.
I mean, I got a PS5, a 360 or death box.
That's what he said.
Disrespectful.
I was.
Disrespectful.
He passed up another generation.
He said, skip that M.O.O.

(01:10:58):
When it was time was good.
360.
Good times.
I was reflecting on the good times.
I was looking out the window as I speak.
You better talk about that PS2 then.
Talk about that PS2.
But I guess it was good times.
Go ahead.
Yeah, I was going to say that was straight.
But and then, I mean, I got a PC in all honesty.

(01:11:22):
I don't really care about playing games on my PC.
My PC heavy.
I mean, it's portable and stuff.
It's a laptop, but I don't really care about doing that.
The screen's smaller.
I got the technology and stuff to like stream it onto my TV.
Of course, I could always put like the HDMI core and stuff in there, but I just never.
It just seemed like a lot of work to do to PC be trying to die.

(01:11:44):
I got to have a cord across the room like it's just don't the battery life.
Not that great on it.
So PlayStation, Xbox, all that stuff.
I can just put it in real quick.
Put the game in the simple stream line process.
I got to reconfigure nothing going to settings, any of those sorts of things.
Same thing on my Steam Deck.
For the most part, I don't have to change them.

(01:12:06):
I changed a little bit of settings on metaphor, but I don't really like to tamper with those things.
So I just like to console give me a more optimized experience.
And for what I'm looking for, I don't need the latest or the greatest.
I just need to optimize experience.
I mean, I'm playing Final Fantasy on performance mode and that my 60 frames.
I know I talked about the graphics with him and stuff, but I'm like, I'm asking it a little bit, but it ain't that serious.

(01:12:31):
So it's a stream line process with the console and then the community.
I'm involved myself with their own consoles.
Like not every game is cross platform.
So make it a little bit more simple when I do want to tap into like playing with my friends.
OK, well, good reasons to all for sure.
What about you, Josh?

(01:12:53):
Yeah, I got no consoles.
I don't have PlayStation.
I don't have Xbox.
I don't have a Nintendo Switch.
Oh, wow. I thought you still had the thing.
Got the same thing where they sat on the shelf for three to six months, not being touched and then got sold

(01:13:16):
because I do 90 percent of my gaming on my desktop PC because it has the best like performance or most stable performance that of all of them.
So if I, you know, I buy a Dragon's Dog more, it's even with the issues, I kind of can tweak it to I get to a point where I'm happy with just playing it on the PC or on the console.

(01:13:42):
I have no real options to tweak it. And even if it's like, oh, I got a performance more or quality mode, both of those are have gone are going to have pretty big drawbacks where at least on my PC, I can go to like the Nexus and download like a DLSS mod
and just throw it in the game and it'll just run better because I have the flexibility of overcoming the limitations that the consoles don't have.

(01:14:12):
So that's one reason. So I do most of my games on PC to, you know, sales or things like that are accessible.
And then three, it's kind of I stream a lot of my games to different handhelds or stuff like that. So if I buy it on Steam, I know that I'm going to have a pretty streamlined way to play the game.

(01:14:36):
I can stream it through Moonlight or I can stream it through Steam Link and it's just going to work. The controller is going to work. No issues.
With consoles, at least like I want to play Stellar Blade, I also could stream it. But then I was having issues with like the streaming software is not as robust as like

(01:14:57):
as I would want. Or I also have to have a PlayStation Plus subscription for certain things like
what game did I download? I think I downloaded one of the Dark Souls games that I had bought digitally. It was like, oh, I don't have my save because I need to subscribe to PlayStation Plus to download my save.
Like, OK, I don't know if I want to do all that. I'm going to just play Final Fantasy instead. So I start playing Final Fantasy Rebirth, the second one, Rebirth.

(01:15:24):
It's like, oh, import your save from Final Fantasy 7. It's like, I can't do that either because I have to play for PlayStation Plus to download my save so I can transfer it over to the new games.
No, I don't care. So yeah, it was a lot of hassle. So performance and then all the extra barriers that you have to worry about with consoles that you just don't have to worry about with PC.

(01:15:47):
That being said, I got rid of my Switch, got rid of my Xbox, got rid of my PlayStation.
The only thing that I'm considering now is I want or I do see value in having a cheap
Series S as just like a dedicated backwards compatibility for Xbox games and Game Pass device because I have a lot of digital Xbox games that I would still go back and play or just having the device just for my Game Pass games.

(01:16:28):
I can set it up on its own monitor. I kind of want to do because not everything is available through Xcloud for like streaming.
And but you can stream everything from your Xbox, if you have one at home.
So that that would be a way for me to play a lot of games that I don't want to, you know, I don't want to download.

(01:16:51):
What's like Diablo 4, 100 gigabytes or something. I want to put 100 gigabytes of Diablo 4 on my PC. So I might as well put it on the Series S, download it, I can stream it every now and then and play it, but it's just its own dedicated device.
So that's what I'm thinking about. Having said, I don't think Series S are cheap in Japan because you got to import them. So I don't need it right now. But yeah, dedicated Xbox, just like backwards compatibility system is the only other thing that I'm kind of considering.

(01:17:26):
Yeah.
Yeah. And so I guess where I was going was where Josh is and where I'm now going and revolting or like I'm changing course a little bit.
Not a little bit, a lot of it. And it's simply because, yeah, I love the option of the PC. I love the fact that it gives me a lot more.

(01:18:01):
One bang for my buck, but it also just gives me this level of backwards compatibility and security I never felt with any of the other consoles. It just feels like the proper evolution of any console gamer PC wise.
It's just that they're not.

(01:18:23):
I think the same problem I had with PC before is still lingering. There's a lot of tinkering that I do and my mind is built in a way where I have to have optimal performance or I can't sit out and just enjoy my game.
And I can't say that I can't fault the PC for allowing me options. I can fault. I only can fault myself for constantly playing around with them and like not just sitting there and enjoying the game.

(01:18:56):
The only game that I ever not touched was Hailblade. And that's because I was like this looks perfect right now. I don't need to touch nothing. I never touched nothing.
And I feel like I don't that's not an that's not enough justification for me to keep this like this thing updated to latest and greatest.

(01:19:20):
I honestly don't need a latest and greatest but it's just what I have in it now is pretty cutting edge and I see zero to little value in it or difference in what I play regularly versus what this thing is capable of.

(01:19:42):
And that's simply due to the type of games I play. I'm not pushing like super strong game most of the time. Any of the games that I'm really one interested in that may have these graphical leaps.
They technically coming from the other publishers like Xbox or Microsoft, Xbox or Microsoft or Sony and then the games that are third party maybe like Monster Hunter.

(01:20:12):
That's another one of those games I'm really interested in but I'm probably not going to buy it simply due to the fact that I just don't care to buy it. And it's not as far as the next category.
And it's like looks like it's worthy acts like is worthy. It should be worthy yet. I feel like it's not. So I'm not going to be playing those games anytime soon. And the difference in like optimization and being able to like make games run well on certain things.

(01:20:50):
It just doesn't feel like I'm getting the value out of this today. I feel like I'm waiting for you.
Yes, three years to get the value out of the PC. And I think that that's shifting more to my Steam Deck and everything else like yesterday years games runs amazing on a Steam Deck. So optimized performance optimized situation is great. It looks good. I'm having a blast. But the games I'm playing today, the strong games, the hard games, the ones that might kick the system.

(01:21:23):
I'm either skipping or I'm playing the ones that don't really need that much power. So what is the real value of me owning the latest and greatest of a graphics card. So I'm questioning it because simply because of my mindset and how I'm changing it.
I feel like when the Steam Deck 2 comes out, I'm going to be having another generation to play along with with my backlog that I'm playing and buying for yesterday or anyway, like I'm buying games for $10, $20, $11 because I'm buying games to build a backlog and not buying games to play the games for today.

(01:22:00):
So as I use my Steam Deck and I use my consoles and things that everything is starting to become far in between of me actually purchasing anything that's like latest and greatest.
It tells me my optimal experience is to hold on to these devices, keep my Steam Deck, probably let go of my Legion Go, keep my PC and buy anything that can ever entice me to buy a game for a price again.

(01:22:32):
All my consoles and just let my Steam Deck and my PC be my backlog generator and that works out for me because I'm totally fine playing buying a game twice.
If that found that game worthy.
That might sound crazy, but buying a game for 60 bucks and then buying it again for 20 or 10 is super easy for me, especially when I know it comes to the PC and it's going to be the complete edition.

(01:23:05):
I may not have my saves.
Obviously, that's a big component of a lot of that stuff.
But honestly, when I start to play those games on Steam again, I'm not looking to continue my experience. I'm looking to start over or I'm looking to enjoy it in a different way.
So I'm flip flopping.
I'm not flip flopping that much.
I just know that I guess I'm just afforded the ability to do that because there's like I've accumulated so much junk that I can determine now what makes the most sense for my setup.

(01:23:44):
And, you know, some people just got to work with it. God. And I think that that is not my case.
I think my case is simply determining now what's best for me.
And I do think having that separation will allow me to finish games faster, at least the games that I'm actually truly interested in. But the Steam Deck is still going to be my like.

(01:24:18):
It's going to be utilized as that system that continues to hold my backlog.
There's really no other way to say it. I really don't feel like building out a library on these consoles anymore.
Only one I may do is Xbox, and that's very rare. I may. I don't even know if I want to.

(01:24:39):
But the one thing I do know is that owning the Steam Deck will allow me to buy Riders Republic $15. I bought it for $60.
And I actually may enjoy it with the complete stuff and everything in it versus what I got at the day one.
So that Steam Deck is not for formal purposes.

(01:25:04):
It is literally for all the stuff that I'm going to try to play on it that could push the envelope, maybe at a Steam Deck at the time later down, like I said, yesterday versus.
Versus what I'm going to be playing today, like a GTA 6. So that would be consoles.
So, yeah.

(01:25:29):
Any thoughts? I know I've been talking a lot.
But anything, any thoughts on that?
No, I was going to just say that people got different needs or different values. And so you all go end up in a different place.
But I think we're just leaning to having our dedicated devices to do their job.

(01:25:56):
Because I kind of feel like I used to want one device that can do everything.
But now I do see value in just having this is my backwards compatibility. This is my streaming device. This is this and that.
That way, I don't have to spend a lot of time just like reconfiguring settings or just even thinking about how the setup works, usually. Just turn it on and let it do its thing.

(01:26:26):
And that being said, for me, I've also noticed for PC stuff that I would rather that I also pay a lot more attention to the performance.
And like I said, 55. And I got to do everything I can to get it to 60. But it's at 60. But it looks bad with FSR 2. And I got to tweak it and blah, blah, blah.

(01:26:47):
So that that ended up happening with PC.
But now when I switch the console, I'm mad that it's like this is supposedly the best place to play the game, but it's not in a lot of cases.
So that's why I'm sticking with PC, even though it has the hassle. It feels worth it for me.

(01:27:10):
I'm just waiting on Jaylen to start playing PC stuff. My bad. I was just going to ask you about Nvidia's upcoming 5090 and all that good jazz.
Like, are you are you do you feel like they're pushing the wrong things or do you feel like there's their technology today or the technology they're coming out with makes sense?

(01:27:43):
I just feel like this another contributor to my not pushing the next new new gen and the next age is that it only becomes valuable when the councils get it.
So what do you feel about right now about the 5090 and like the 4090 and the 4080 and they're, you know, retracing.

(01:28:10):
Honestly, nothing at all, because I'm super happy with my 3080 and like it does retracing.
It can't do like the super max retracing, but even then it's not like it will look better, but it's not worth it because of all of the other things that have to come with it.

(01:28:31):
I was looking at digital foundry when I was talking about Star Wars and Star Wars has really good retracing as like new retracing features that's like debuting with this game, but you do need the like the newest graphics card to use those features.
And still you're going to have to crank up the upscale into like a super high amount that is also introducing artifacts in bunch of other stuff. So it's diminishing returns at that point.

(01:29:01):
So, retracing is cool. But I think right now it only for me it only makes sense for certain aspects of the game. You want to do retrace global illumination, cool.
You want to do retrace shadows, cool. Or you want to do retrace reflections.

(01:29:22):
But those games I want to do all of those plus, plus new retracing features it for me it doesn't make sense.
Because it's not there yet, unless you got like like you said a 50 series card. But for me I don't need that, like, I'll turn on cyberpunk, turn on my retrace reflections. It looks amazing.

(01:29:45):
And that's it. And it runs at 60. And that's kind of all I need.
Okay.
Were we, were we wrong about the PlayStation portal?
Which one is the portal?
The one that only does the, the only, the one that only streams remote play. And just is a controller with a tab with a tab with a screen on it.

(01:30:14):
I say that.
I say that because that is the only device I've seen that has consistently showcase good performance with remote play.
And I don't know why.
Like there's you can, yes you can do it with your phone.
Yes you can do it with Tiaqui.

(01:30:35):
This is the only place I've seen it where it had like a really really good showing of remote play.
And I'm not sure, I'm not talking latency. I know latency is decent.
I guess I'm just talking more so just consistent remote play accessibility and working, working well. I have no idea why, but a lot of people are just super happy about their PlayStation portals.

(01:31:01):
And I guess having a dedicated device to provide you a way from console experience like a Steam Deck.
As value. I don't know if it's worth $200.
So that's where I am.
Any more than that? Any like close to $300?

(01:31:22):
No it's $199.
Yeah PlayStation Portal for each door is $199.
Yeah $200.
Okay.
Well, I guess I'm curious about what you mean as far as good performance because for me Tiaqui works well.

(01:31:50):
Like I play all of Final Fantasy, not all of it, but half of Final Fantasy 7 I play on Tiaqui.
And I play some of Stellar Blade on there as well.
The only thing that I wouldn't do on Tiaqui is like those some boss fights.
But as far as the experience I would say is worth it for free.

(01:32:13):
You know for what I'm getting for free is definitely my go to device versus $200 to get slightly better performance is the way that I would view it.
So I would say so no I don't I don't feel bad about missing out on that device.

(01:32:34):
I wouldn't say missing out. I think it was harsh on it. The reasoning of it being existing.
I think I was at least I was saying that it didn't need to exist because there's plenty of other ways to do it.
I feel like having the only reason the justification for this is if there is a limitation on the free experience versus the premium experience.

(01:32:56):
That is what I'm valuing. I'm valuing the premium experience over the free experience.
So what is the premium experience offering that you can't get with the free one?
Is it like the away from home play?
You can do that with free. You can do that with the free one too. It just has to take a little more setup.

(01:33:19):
But yes the way from home is probably the easily the most valuable portion of it because it's not it's not that much additional setup.
And to your utilizing a different type of setup compared to what Chiaki is doing.

(01:33:42):
They create a dedicated port that they push they tap into at your home software at your home network that allows them to signal out that system out that signal out versus whatever place you do it.
It has to be working better because it's led a better latency and there is better performance in regards to the image.

(01:34:04):
I don't know what they're doing to be honest.
I just know that the people that are buying these things are saying that they are about and the people that are saying that they're valuable are people that are trying to trust in regards to their opinion.
So I'm just trying to figure out.
I just got posed that question is as in

(01:34:29):
the dedicated streaming device does that have value especially if it provides a better experience because if I guess I can't I can't justify if it's free and free if one's free and one's not and then there's the justification that this is that a tablet and a controller dedicated to it.
That's not that's not that's not valuable to me.

(01:34:52):
I think the value I'm adding is just just the ability to kind of do these things seamlessly without issue.
Yeah, I would say it's definitely value to have the dedicated streaming device, but I'm.
I don't think it's the PlayStation portal.
I think for a certain group of people who have several different devices.

(01:35:13):
So, you know, I got eight different gaming devices, and now the PlayStation portal is joining the group.
And it's going to service on niche and I definitely see it serving as that for that person.
But for somebody, let's say you're a 15 year old.
And, you know, you want a Christmas gift. I would never recommend the PlayStation portal as the Christmas gift for that 15 year old because of the lack of things that it can't do.

(01:35:42):
But yes, it can stream PlayStation very well, but it can't stream Steam, it can't stream Xbox, it can't stream these other stuff. So that that would be a negative for me that it's it's a streaming device, but it can't stream everything.
I only can stream one thing.
And then to like it. I don't know if they changed it in the firmware, but when it came out, you can't use Bluetooth with the device you headphones, you got to use the PlayStation headphones, which are another hundred dollars or more.

(01:36:15):
The asset price tag. And so like, yeah, I wouldn't. I would never recommend this to like.
As your first or like your main gaming device to somebody. There's so many other options that are offered so much more for $200. Even if you got like a $200 Android device, you kind of you're getting a full suite of gaming features like emulation and apps and also streaming for the same price.

(01:36:46):
So, I still think the PlayStation portal is a wasted product. That being said, it probably is still a premium
you know, hardware like the hardware I think is probably pretty good and it does his job well.

(01:37:08):
But for the 1% of people that serves.
It's probably good. Yeah. Okay.
No, I mean, you make it make sense. I just I guess I was just wondering, like,
I guess I do value that premium experience a little bit more than I thought. I don't think that this be something that I would necessarily need if I'm going to be playing a PlayStation I want right in front of me anyway.

(01:37:38):
And probably getting the full experience due to the fact that the games I'm going to be playing on it probably wouldn't be small games probably wouldn't be games that weren't flagships. So,
it doesn't still doesn't fit my niche, but I guess people that have this is that their dedicated device in the home for gaming.
I could see the benefit of having a premium experience away from the console.

(01:38:03):
So I ain't gonna hate on as much as I used to. But I still think it's worth $200.
Maybe 100. Maybe.
But not too.
Okay, I mean, sorry I did not talk about anything that we were supposed to talk about. But we did talk through a lot of different topics today just some things that I kind of had on my mind just based around what was kind of happening out there I've been

(01:38:38):
feeling about the gaming industry and gaming as a whole. But is there anything else that you guys want to talk about or add to today's conversation.
Well, I was gonna say check on your Pokemon friend fan friends, make sure they are right.

(01:39:03):
Because that community is in shambles.
Talk to me talk to me what what is the biggest, what's the biggest one is that isn't the one I was talking about with them having.
I think we do stuff about human Pokemon relationships that that's out of pocket in a shit shouldn't be there.

(01:39:37):
We have pets and friends. And so when we see a game like Power World, it's like, surprising because it's like, oh, well, I thought of this Pikachu looking thing as my pet, or you know, my part of my family that I love like a pet.
And now I'm shooting it with a K 47. So that's why Power World was kind of, you know, not took off but it was surprising when it first showed up.

(01:40:06):
So, yeah, I don't think of Pokemon is like Yo Kai, they're, like I said, they're, they're cats and dogs to me.
That being said, the other leaks like a whole, whole bunch of stuff I guess somebody got access to a game freaks employees, like, login and they, they literally downloaded everything that they could.

(01:40:28):
And so they're going back generations there's art, there's emails there's like scripts. There's demos for certain old games, and then they're also saying that there's also like a demo or playable version of a unreleased Pokemon game.
So, it is a really bad leak for game freak.

(01:40:53):
And that's unfortunate because I know that I mean people already like to do Pokemon romhacks and stuff but they're going, they're going to put out some work with like actual Pokemon code being accessible.
Oh man. Yeah.
That is unfortunate.

(01:41:14):
Like I said I only got the headlines of certain things I didn't really read into everything that occurred, but it's definitely impactful if you can, like when that stuff happens it's just, you know, unfortunate for a lot of people because it's like, you kind of get this on.
You're not supposed to see this stuff anyway. And so you're getting a little bit of access that probably shouldn't have been there and it is providing them more perspective on what the developers didn't intend for you to see.

(01:41:47):
And it's like okay but this isn't this didn't hit the code so why are we talking about anyway. So it's just, it's just unnecessary highlighting of things that that probably would never should have seen light a day.
But now that it has is, is a little creepy. I go out to you.

(01:42:08):
I don't even know if this is like it was chopping block stuff or if this is simply just someone creating the thought.
Yeah, I don't know the whole ins and outs of the, the writing stuff but it for Pokemon, they have like the Pokedex and it's like some stories about the Pokemon you know the this Pikachu is a mouse type Pokemon and it has electric powers, whatever, whatever

(01:42:37):
it does. But then some of them have lore like this one.
It lived in the mountain for 1000 years sleeping and then somebody came and woke it up and it destroyed the town. It's like okay that's like the lore thing for like a legendary Pokemon.
Some of them are more weird, like the ghost type Pokemon, like this Pokemon was a Pokemon that died. And then it saw the state of the world, and then it came back to life to like change it or it would be something weird like that was like, well this

(01:43:08):
is now super magical and like something that's not like just is more than just like the fantasy of like the Pokemon world now it's going into like a magical realm.
But I guess at some point in the lore, they start writing some lore that's more inspired by like storybooks that we have in like the real world where it's like, oh, little red riding hood.

(01:43:33):
Oh no, Hansel and Gretel like witch kidnapped them and tried to cook them so she can eat them.
Oh no, try to fatten them up so she can eat them.
And those folklore stories are always like weird and like have bad endings or they're trying to teach you some weird moral by telling you these like terrible stories.

(01:43:57):
So, somebody had that similar writing style they wrote a bunch of stuff about Pokemon that all had weird, or like disgusting events to teach some sort of moral, maybe.
I don't know if it was a fetish thing but like it was one where like a woman used to kill Pokemon and then one of those Pokemon kidnapped her, and then got her pregnant, and she had the baby.

(01:44:27):
And then somebody killed the baby. And that was the moral of the story. And so it's like yeah this is supposed to be something weird to teach you some sort of moral, but I think in the context of Pokemon is what makes it extra weird, where I don't think
Man. Yeah.
That's pretty interesting.

(01:44:50):
Honestly, it seems as if those.
It doesn't seem like this was something that obviously would have made the last day so I'm glad on that. I just feel like now we have to kind of deal with the.
I don't think it should. I don't think it should go further than what it would it would it what the internet makes it out to be but I feel like I just feel like it's as tainted a little bit of how people will view Pokemon, and especially in the gaming

(01:45:22):
industry because most people that aren't following this stuff they don't really understand it don't really care you to still think Pokemon is the greatest. He is they gonna be looking down the internet seeing this stuff anyway, it's just more so the people that probably
cherished it when they were growing up, and they might have a diminished look on certain things and this lore. And it makes sense why I never met the other day, like never got out because this is weird. So it just, it's one of those things man.

(01:45:50):
You can always think.
Everybody had the greatest intentions with a character that you below but sometimes they just do stupid stuff so.
I actually never have a stepdad, because Mr. Mine was at home. Oh my god.

(01:46:15):
Anything else that we wanted to talk about.
I think we had a good pot, a lot of discussions, and it's an Xbox showcase later this week so probably have a lot more gaming news for next week. But, yeah, it's time for us to go play metaphor.

(01:46:38):
And actually have more impressions next week. Yeah.
That's the hope.
Well, all right guys thank you if you got to this point, you're the real OG I want to thank you as always you can always check us out wherever you get your podcast. Apple and Spotify being the biggest.
You can also check us out on YouTube at BCD universe again that is BCD universe. If you want to check out the pod on there. We also publish on YouTube. So, appreciate y'all as always thank you again.

(01:47:15):
We will be talking to you next week. Hopefully Xbox partners show something magnificent, and not just launching day one on game pass I guess that's always nice to hope that hopefully we see something new.
But thanks again, and we will talk to you next week.

(01:47:36):
Bye.

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What Is The Value Of A Video Game In 2024? | House Of Wolves Podcast

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}What Is The Value Of A Video Game In 2024? | House Of Wolves Podcast