Loop Hero

Luke and Alex dive into the infinity loop of "Loop Hero," a uniquely designed endless RPG by the ingenious minds at Russian studio Four Quarters, and brought to life by Devolver Digital.

Set in a post-apocalyptic world that's been wiped out by an evil lich, you, the hero, are on a mission to reconstruct your reality. You're not alone though – you'll encounter survivors who'll either aid your world-building efforts or, in despair, attack you for their own survival.

But the plot thickens. The evil lich is merely a puppet. The real villain? None other than God himself, Omega, on a twisted quest for self-destruction. Can you defeat Omega and keep rebuilding in his absence? With a little help from the Goddess of Probability, you might just stand a chance.

Gameplay is where "Loop Hero" truly shines. Each expedition is a new journey on a pre-generated path, where you fight slimes, collect landscape cards, and alter the terrain around you. Equip your hero with the spoils of battle, construct new structures back at your base, and choose your path strategically to survive increasingly difficult enemies.

The game's development story is a testament to creative ingenuity, born from an idea during a game jam and polished into a gem that caught Devolver Digital's eye. Not without its challenges, the team at Four Quarters focused heavily on game balance to ensure a seamless, engaging experience for players.

Critics have showered "Loop Hero" with praise for its unique gameplay, 80's aesthetic, and deck-building mechanics, earning it an impressive score of 82 on Metacritic. It's even been nominated for awards like "Best Independent Game" and "Strategy/Simulation Game of the Year."

Join us as we delve into the endless looping adventure of "Loop Hero" – a game that takes you on a hero's journey where the power to shape the world is literally in your hands.

Alex primarily played "Loop Hero" on his Xbox Series X and Steam Deck via Game Pass. He also played a little on the PC as well. Luke played the game on his Series Neither host finished the game. The Loop continues!

This episode is unofficially brought to you in part by 1) Moms, and 2) Gas stations that *don't* have those annoying ass monitors that are there to scream shitty advertisements at you.

Sidequestin':

Alex: The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Tetris (movie), Inscryption, NBA 2K, Metroid Prime, The Machine

Luke: The Show, Skyrim, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

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Episode Transcript

Luke (00:22):
Hey everybody, welcome to Low Five Gaming.
My name is Luke, and this is mybrother Alex.
Yo, whatever, whatever.
Say some words.
There we go.
And uh this is our podcast onLoop Hero.
Welcome.
Yes, sir.
Come on in.

Alex (00:34):
Episode 23.
Welcome back.

Luke (00:36):
Excellent on the Michael Jordan of our podcast.
Let's go.

Alex (00:40):
I was thinking about that too when I wrote it down.
I was like 23, Michael Jordan.
I got MBA in the mind, though.
We're in the midst of playoffsright now.
Overrated, am I right?
The playoffs?
Are you talking about MichaelJordan?
Oh, get out.

Luke (00:53):
As a certified late 90s baby, like I was born early 90s,
so like I was, you know, stillbasically learning how to poop
when Jordan was doing all thecool stuff.
Uh overrated.
Whatever.
I don't care.
I've seen his propaganda film.
Are you joking me?
The last dance.
He must have flown.
They must have flown to NorthKorea to learn under Kim Jong-un
as to how to make a properpropaganda film before they made

(01:14):
The Last Dance.
But anyway, he was average.
He was pretty good.
Get out of here.
Are you?

Alex (01:18):
I can't even tell if you're playing or not.
Jordan's the best.

Luke (01:22):
I love to piss off people whose formative years were the
90s.
Whatever, bro.
It's just Biggie and Tupacmid-rappers, and uh Michael
Jordan was decent at basketball.
Anyway, moving forward.

Alex (01:34):
Getting me ornery at the start.

Luke (01:39):
But yeah, we did loop hero and it's it's a fun time.
Do you want to do the longthing?
And I'll promise to notinterrupt you this time around
with stupid comments.
We get cut for sure.

Alex (02:19):
Yeah, there's not much going around with the story.
I mean, it definitely throwsyou into some dialogue when you
first start this game.
Devolver Digital's got a TDTLDR on their loop hero official
website, which reads, The Lichhas thrown the world into a
timeless loop and plunged itsinhabitants into a never-ending
chaos.
Wield an expanding deck ofmystical cards to place enemies,

(02:40):
buildings, and terrain alongeach unique expedition loop for
the brave hero.

Luke (02:44):
So, yes, there's a story.
I'm pretty sure I read some ofthe things.
I'm like, uh-huh, uh-huh.
Gotta save the world, got it.
Video game stuff.
And it definitely feels likefeels like they definitely cared
about the story and peopleprobably like it, but it's not
really that type of game for me.
I don't know.
Do you agree or were you reallyinto the lore, my guy?

Alex (03:01):
No, it doesn't matter.
It's it doesn't really matterat all.
At first I thought maybe itdoes, because like I said, they
do like kick you off with alittle bit of a story, like they
set the scene for you, butpretty immediately you find out
that that doesn't you just likeare just gonna dance jam to some
like crunchy tunes and do theloot, my man.

Luke (03:19):
When you run into new enemies, they basically have
this thing of like, yeah, well,this is the way it's gotta be,
man, and then you fight.
So once again, very videogamey.
And then when you unlock newareas of your town, which we'll
get into in a second, they alsogive you some bit of lore where
you're just like, uh-huh, cool.
Um, so now I get to do this onmy next run, and they're like,
uh-huh.
And then I move on.
The game self-describes itselfas an endless RPG, so it's a

(03:42):
roguelite.
Because you have the I thinkit's a roguelike man.
Or is it a roguelike?
We're not gonna be able to dothat.
We have to do it in every show.
Every show we relearn what thedifference is, so it doesn't
matter.
Uh you carry and you progressand go further and further.
It's definitely a strategygame.
I think it's technically a deckbuilding game, yeah.
I would say so, yep.
You're feels together in thosecards.

(04:02):
It feels to me, and this is asilly difference, but it feels
to me more like a tile than acard.
It feels like you're playing alittle bit of an interactive
board game, right?
And you're laying down tilesand not playing cards, but
that's who cares, right?

Alex (04:16):
Uh, you start to get under the layers of this game,
though, those cards come intoplay pre-run, right?
So you do get these cards andthey matter what but what you're
right in the sense that duringthe actual gameplay of it, they
feel more like tiles, or you'relaying down the cards to that
become like an interactive tilealmost.

Luke (04:32):
Well, it's like it matters where you lay them on the
board.
So it feels like you're layinga tile on the board.
But essentially there is a arandomly generated loop.
And the initial gameplay loopis I love how you have all these
like super sick craftedsprites, or so to speak, of like
the different people andcharacters in the game.
But then when your hero's goingaround the loop, you're just
this little white block thinggoing like swinging its arms up

(04:54):
and down.
Yeah.
Uh, but anyway, crunchygraphics for sure, man.
Yeah, it's like early SNES era.
There we go.
And you go in this loop andthen you fight some enemies, and
then you get some cards ortiles, whatever you want to say
it.
The game would say cards, Iwould say tiles from the
encounter.
And they are either weapons andarmor for your character that
you're constantly equipping orunequipping, or it's like these

(05:16):
different cards or tiles thatyou play on the map.
And then from those, it's likeit's like things that have like
benefits like it boosts your HPor it declines the HP of your
enemy, or it's like differentthings where you actually lay
down in in almost like theopposite of tower defense,
instead of laying down thedefenses coming around as
enemies keep pouring in, it'slike you go around the loop and

(05:39):
you actually place where yourenemies are gonna be.
So it's kind of an interestingdifference, right?
You're kind of setting you'resetting up your own challenge
and you're trying to balance itbetween being difficult enough
to progress, but not toodifficult where you die too
quickly.
So that's actually a pretty,pretty interesting balance that
they strike there.
And I think they do that prettywell.
As you lay more cards down onthe map, you have this

(06:02):
progression bar, and when thatbar finally fills, you face off
against a boss.
Um and then Alex and I just gotour ass whooped by Sedball.

Alex (06:10):
Oh man, so many times.
I was like, I always getworried, man.
I always get worried when I'mreally bad at these games.
I'm like, how can I even host apodcast about video games so I
can't even play?

Luke (06:19):
Dude, I think it's actually a pretty common
circumstance where people Iremember some other pods that
talked about this game, andthey're like, I think they
talked about the same type ofrut that the game got us into,
but we'll get that down theline.
But it's got it kind of funnyhow like I'm like, no, it's
gonna be a different experiencefor me.
And then I was like, man, theygot me.
They were right.
Uh but anyway, so that's thethat's if you beat the boss, or

(06:40):
if you um there's three optionsactually.
You beat the boss, you lose tothe boss, or you leave right
before the boss, and you cancarry back all your loop to the
villages, which sets up oursecond loop of gameplay.
You like how I'm using loops alot, dude?
This is like my 23rd podcast.
You're a loop hero, my man.
I'm a loop hero.
This is my 23rd podcast.
I'm the LeBron James inCleveland of uh of podcasting,

(07:03):
because he's the greatest number23 of all time.

Alex (07:06):
But anyway.

Luke (07:10):
But anyway, the second loop is it's like this.
Oh man, what's I was gonna saycommunity building, but that's
that's some teacher speak there.
It's like village building,base building.
There we go.
It's some base building.
Um resettling this town.
Entirely figured that part outyet, either, dude.
Like, we're gonna get rid ofthe grievances, Michael.

Alex (07:31):
Because you're placing your your cards or your tiles.
I feel like that's even morelike tiles because they're not
actual cards.
You're like placing these, youknow, you grow your, like you
said, your base building, andyou're having all there's a tree
there too, right?
Where you can like you bringback enough resources to build
out a uh, I don't know, like ablacksmith and like a farm and
like other things, right?
Correct.
And that plays into your loops.

(07:52):
Right, but like the placement.

Luke (07:55):
Is they try their darndest to like explain to me what I
should do, but not really atall.
No, man, they're just like, andthen you can do these things,
and I'm like, wait, what?
And then like I felt like theinterface was kind of whack, and
I have never had an idea whatI'm doing with the and then
there's like some items you canequip or craft or disassemble,
and I'm like, this is this isgetting a lot.
And then they're like, You'veunlocked the encyclopedia.

(08:17):
And I'm like, you should nothave to unlock basic knowledge
on how the game is played, but Idigress.
So that's the game.
That's what we'd be playing.
Keeping the knowledge of thegame from us.
So that's the game.
This is this is the loop hero.
Uh so now um the audience loop,though, man.
Like it is, you know, you justgotta keep going for it.
But now that we've looped inthe audience and got them in the

(08:38):
loop as to what we're doinghere.
I know.
So why this game was chosen,why it's the pod.
Does Luke regret making it thegame?
No, but um it wasn't as fun asthe first five hours, I tell you
what.
The game's been talked about.
It's definitely it was aheralded game that came out last
year.
It is very unique, it is verycool.

(08:59):
I have become recently a verystrong convert to not just
roguelights, and that genre Ithink is like probably the
coolest growth in all of videogames in the last handful of
years.
Um if we want to get into somemeta conversations, like there's
the after Redfall release,there's the crashing of AAA
games, and does Xbox have it?
Do they have any exclusives?

(09:20):
What's the deal?
Dude, I can't handle thediscourse.
I know we can maybe get intothat later.
Uh, but anyway, the gamesmaking the most interesting
progressions in the space arelike roguelights, and I really
like deck building ones likeSlay the Spire and things.
So, like, yeah, I didn't usedto be a deck builder, but yeah,
especially when I first startedplaying, I was like, I found my

(09:42):
deck building game.
Especially with a conscription.
I was like, I'm so here for it.
So that's why the game wasplayed, and then it was uh it
was dropped on Game Pass.
So you have this unique artstyle, some really cool music,
great word of mouth and buzz onthe game, and it's coming from
uh a publisher that we reallyadmire.
Um, kind of the gold standardin this space, yes, sir.

(10:03):
I don't recall the developer ofthe actual game, would that be
four quarters?
Yes, you've got that at the topthere, so they would be the
ones actually making the game.
Um, and then one last time, youknow, it dropped on Game Pass,
and like uh I'm they're not ourunsanctioned sponsor, but like
Game Pass, good time, all right?

Alex (10:22):
Uh so best dealing gaming, bro.
Best dealing gaming, dude.
Um I could put it out there.
That's how I got it into it uhthe first time around before you
made a game for the pod.
I dabbled a little bit.
Yeah, yeah.
So Epic always does their freegame of the week, and during the
holiday season, they droppedlike one a day.
This is one of their biggerones about a year and a half
ago, I would say, which uh I wasstoked to pick up.

(10:44):
And then uh happy, happy thison Game Pass.
So I actually started on forthis playthrough, I played on on
Game Pass, and I I abandoned myEpic, my Epic Save file and
started over.
Had you had any meaningfulprogression?
Not really.
I was only like had probablyput maybe two hours into it and
like was just starting to learnthe game.

(11:04):
So I had to redo that, but itwasn't that big of a deal
because this game is just thesame loop, basically, only more
intricate each time.

Luke (11:11):
Sure.
You want to talk for a secondabout just the differences
between playing it on the PC andplaying it on the box?
Because all I know is playingon the box and it feels pretty
smooth.
I can see it being really dopewith a two-monitor setup.
But let me I and I mean thatfor not the playability of the
game, but passively playing thegame while I watched or did

(11:31):
something else.

Alex (11:32):
Uh sure, okay.
Yeah, it's an interesting gamelike that, man.
I know that you've mentioned acouple times that it's a
perfect, and it is like theperfect game for listening to a
podcast to or doing somemultitasking.
But like I was like themajority of the time I played
this game, I was honed in on it.
Like it's got some crunchymusic that I enjoyed, and uh,
you know, it pulls you right in.
Nonetheless, the you asked thethe differences between PC and

(11:55):
Xbox.
So when I was playing Epic,that was fully PC, and you know,
the the point and click withthe mouse and everything, and I
think you had spacebar to maybepause it or something like that.
Uh, but it was really smooth,man.
I couldn't imagine playing thisgame with a controller.
Yet, the majority of the time Iwas playing with the Xbox
controller via Game Pass thistime around, and it's so smooth,
man.
They like really figured outthat controller scheme to make

(12:15):
it work.

Luke (12:16):
Yeah, when you said that you could never imagine playing
it on PC, I actually thought itwould sound kind of tedious in
the sense where I'd be likelocating things where I got
pretty quick with thecontroller, so I can only
imagine.
So the game, it actually feelsfeels like grown-up tower
defense.

Alex (12:32):
Yeah, I did like your I liked your when a little minute
or two ago when you compared itto like the anti-tower defense,
like the opposite of like you'rebecause you are, you're setting
up the bad guys instead ofsetting up your defense.

Luke (12:43):
Yeah, well, it's interesting because it's like an
anti-tower defense, it's almostlike if you're sending waves at
something, but instead justlike placing your enemies where
you're gonna run into them, andthere's different like cards or
tiles that are like that arelike I don't know, just like
buildings or what would you liketo do?

Alex (13:02):
Well, you get your towns and then like certain cards,
it's kind of depends.
You have different ones.
So you have cards that arestraight up, not they're not any
enemy specific, but they'rethey have to do with either a
town, a swamp, a graveyard.
What else?

Luke (13:14):
Well, those all set up different enemies, and sometimes
like if you go through ruins,you get different artifacts.
But I'm talking about like thetiles that are neutral and they
like have a status effect.
So, for example, there's likethose lightning tiles.
Like the lighthouses, yes.
So, like there's differentthings that affect.

Alex (13:30):
So, one thing I would lighthouses make you go quicker
through traverse quicker throughan area or whatever.

Luke (13:35):
Yeah, I think it might actually make your enemies
faster too.
So I was always like, is thateven a benefit?
But I could be wrong onceagain.
This game isn't alwaysstraightforward with its
information.
Uh, one thing I would always dothough is you unlock what's
called the blood grove.
So I'd set up a grove and I'dmake in it, then you would
attach the blood grove to it,which is a card, and then if
your enemy got to like 20 or 15%of its health, it would finish

(13:58):
them off for you.
Right.
So I would always I wouldalways strategically place my
like tougher enemies in thatarea, which just got to be hell
later on.
There's like a there's abalance, it's a it's a
well-balanced game.
That's definitely a qualitythat's uh admirable.
But it is the ultimate podcastgame.
It does not take it is verycomplex, and you could get
better than I am and think awhole lot about it, or you could

(14:21):
mindlessly enter the loop andjust take the highest
color-coded armor and weaponsets, because that's what I
would do.

Alex (14:29):
I rarely stop reading the stats, but it pays off to read
the stats, typically.

Luke (14:35):
It does, but it's color-coded like a lot of games
do with like the rarity of theloot.
So I'll take like a lower, alower overall, like if it's a
five orange, I would take thatmore than a seven blue.
You know what I mean?
I see what you're saying, yeah.
That's really easy once youknow what you're doing to just
kind of mindlessly go about it.
So listening to pods, reallynice.
I also call it a rotation game.

(14:56):
Because Game Pass shout out,you just do a few loops, it
takes a decent amount of time.
Then you take a few games andMLB the show, and then you just
start scrimming, and then youjust get burnt out from
scrimming and you do some loops.

Alex (15:10):
Like some other solid, like some other solid
roguelikes, dude, like Enter theGungeon, Hades, all those games
where you one loop maybe tookmaybe five, ten, fifteen minutes
at the start, and all of asudden you're putting in 45
minutes in each loop.
That's kind of like loop heroesthe same way, man.
Like you you all of a sudden,you know, all of a sudden 45
minutes have passed, you'relike, oh dang.
Uh, but you always feel prettygood and strong at the end of

(15:30):
that run, too.
Uh you started to mention someof the other tiles that so you
the types of tiles you can playon your map.
And I think it's anotherinteresting layer of this game
that you can only do well, youcan be to you can do seven
between seven and thirteen ofthem, right?
And you get to go in that samearea where you're where you're
doing the base building.
You can flip over to look at,or I think it's actually when

(15:52):
you go to start your run, you'rein your planning your run, you
can go and choose which of theseenemy like cards or tiles
you're placing, and you have todo a mix of between seven and
thirteen, which is another likeinteresting, flavorful way of
getting you to think about whatyour run's gonna look like
because you're kind of like, Imean, you're cooking, man.
You're like you decide what iswhat you're uh throwing in the
kitchen, and then you get towatch what happens.

Luke (16:13):
Yeah, it's that's a playful way to describe it for
sure.
I know that I dropped on theDiscord, I'm like, yeah, I uh as
I continued to do some loops, Iwas like, turns out I should
pay a little bit more attentionto what cards I'm throwing in my
deck because I didn't havehelpful things coming up when I
defeated enemies, and it wasjust more crap, and I'm like, I
don't need this many enemies.
And then what is it?

(16:33):
Uh battlefields will droptreasure chests or whatever
every couple loops or somethinglike that, which is nice.
Yeah, those are cool, but andthen but if enemies spawn in
there and then then you fightthe enemy in that territory, it
turns into a ghost, so you gottafight it twice.
That's that's an interestinglittle thing.

Alex (16:47):
Yeah, which you get a little later in the game, too.
I I forget it's the ruins whenyou start playing those ruin
tiles, and it's funny becauseyou're placing these cards that
are like it's weird because youstart to build this excitement
for like a card that's you'replacing enemies, so you don't
actually want to run it becauseit's like a pain in the ass to
fight them, and you're not doinganything, it just fights by
itself.
It's like an auto thing.
But it's funny because you likestart getting like you're
saying, and you get strategicabout it, right?

(17:08):
So you're placing this stuff,and you're like, or at least I
was like, you know, you get kindof excited, like, oh, if I put
the ruins here, like you know,maybe it'll make it so I can,
and then but and then I startedgetting kind of aesthetic about
it too on my map where I'mbuilding stuff out, and like I'm
getting symmetrical and tryingto make things look cool.
But then I was like, shit, man,maybe I shouldn't be doing that
because I've got four ruinsstacked up right in a row,

(17:28):
right?
And the ruins like spawn thesesnakes, and the snakes have an
ability where if they're next toanother ruin tile, they'll also
attack you with the otherfuckers that you're trying to
fight, dude.
And you're like, which is likecool when you beat them because
you feel beastie and shit.
And it's like I never knewthat's what that was.

Luke (17:43):
I was like, what's going on with this?

Alex (17:45):
Uh I just figured it out after repetition.
I was like, okay, I'm prettysure this is why this is
happening.
But it's like that kind ofstuff, just by playing with the
game, you start to uncover someof this, you know, cool stuff.
You start to see it, but it'sinteresting because it's cool
because it's like difficult in anew layer, but then it also
that that also means that itmakes it harder for you, you
know?
It's like a weird balance.

Luke (18:05):
Yeah, I don't I should have been smarter the whole
time.
And then you lay like you laythe mountains and the groves, or
not the groves, but the meadowsand the desert tiles and those
things off to the side.
The first time I played, Ididn't know that they were just
like lay them anywhere and theyhave basically the same effects
other than they stack.
So I was like putting all mymountains in the middle, and

(18:26):
that did not lead out well.
You notice when you stack uhall six mountains, you get or
box mountains and rockstogether.

Alex (18:33):
It's nine.

Luke (18:33):
Yeah, nine in total.
Yeah, and you get the megamountain.
Yeah, I tried to like set thatup multiple times and it turns
out you look so cool.
That's what I'm saying.
Like as you start to rebuildyour town, yeah.

Alex (18:42):
Yeah, as you start to rebuild your, you know, every
time you go out on the sameloop, you're like rebuilding the
structures and like this likeworld or whatever.
And uh yeah, it's fun, man.
And when you place like ameadow next to a rock, it'll
make it so flowers grow on themeadow as opposed to a meadow
next to a meadow.
So it's like the playful, yeah.
It's like a playful, like it'sjust you just like, I don't
know, dude.
It's like a weird thing that'sjust like a fun, fun part of

(19:03):
this game.

Luke (19:04):
That's another reason I say they're tiles or resources
cards.
Yeah, that's another reason Isay tiles instead of cards,
because it reminds me of gameslike Carcassonne or whatever,
where like they have like bonusbuffs and whatever.
So I digress.
The game's really cool, youknow.
It's got that sick art thatwe're talking about where they
like they show I I joked earlierabout how stupid your dude is

(19:25):
when he looks like he's justthis tiny little thing going up
around.
Everything else looks superrad, the still shots or
whatever, like when they'retalking to each other.
I don't know how to quitedescribe that, but like all the
art around it looks really cool.
The music's a ton of fun.

Alex (19:42):
Yeah, um it's a I I think they have a name for it now.
I don't I'm not even gonnapretend to remember what it is,
but it's essentially you know,it's that 16-bit era, but they
brought, you know, but it'sbeing made today.
So it's like it's not like it'slike an homage to that like
Super Nintendo era of of youknow games where we had those
graphics and the same overlaysand stuff like that, where you
know, your chat boxes and stuff.
But uh but it's a little bitpolished, you know, so it's not

(20:05):
it's not just like that, it'slike polished for the you know,
because it's a fucking game.

Luke (20:09):
And you can have like you can have like a picture, right?
So it's just like ahand-painted or hand-drawn
picture there that's there for asecond, but it's not animated
necessarily.
Uh that looks really cool.
And I'll just use my word thatmeans nothing, but everything,
it's just so crunchy.
It's just such a crunchy goodtime.
The loot is fun.
That game, that like thatgameplay loot of getting your

(20:30):
different equipment, like it isaddicting.
It's like it's not it's not anintense like a Destiny 2 or like
the or an Assassin's Creed,it's not like obsessive like
those modern games, but likeit's nice, it's got a nice
feedback loop to it.
It's layered, it's awell-balanced game, and it's low
impact.

Alex (20:49):
Is it well balanced though?

Luke (20:51):
Is it well balanced, dude?

Alex (20:52):
Like, I don't know, man.

Luke (20:55):
Okay, so if we want to jump right into what kind of
sucks, it's grindy as hell.

Alex (21:00):
It's so grindy, and that's just it takes way longer than
it's meant to be.
And that's what I was trying tolike figure out as I played
this game because it did it tookme a long time to feel like I
was getting good at this game ofdoing the same loop, and it's
an addicting loop, and it'scool.
Like, we've been talking abouthow like cool it looks and how
addicting that loop is and howintricate it is, at the same
time, also not like you can bereally loose with it.

(21:21):
But like I had to do it so manytimes before I was actually
finally able to fight that firstboss and and have any
meaningful impact, you know,against him.
And then like it took me a lot,like it started to break open
as I was able to build out my myhome base a little bit more.
But even as I've done that, youstill have to do so much
resource collection and some ofthat placement of the tiles

(21:42):
we're talking about with themeadows and the rocks and all
that stuff.
Like, if you do that in certainways, it will boost the amount
of resources you get from thosetiles.
So you start to like game thesystem, or you start to learn
how to farm better, but evenstill, I'm like, I'm even still
like I've only beat that bossonce.
I can't beat the second boss.
I don't remember how manybosses are in total because I
haven't seen them all.

(22:02):
And like, I've put a good chunkof time in this game, bro.
And like that's the thing.
Yeah, I haven't bounced off it.
I like this game, but I'm like,I think this game is making me
grind.
I think that's what it is.
I think it's like that you hadto grind.
This is a grinder game, and Ithink people really love that.
Like a lot of people like youknow, a lot of people miss like
some of that, like the old FinalFantasy VII grind, you know,
the new remakes have likechanged that gameplay a lot.

(22:24):
And I think, you know, there'sa there's a certain there's a
certain uh, you know, it's cool,but it's also super
frustrating.

Luke (22:32):
I find the game uh like addictive and compelling for
five to fifteen minutes.
That's why I said I like it ina rotation, I like it for a
podcast because something elseis capturing me.
But I found it really hard toplay more than one or two loops
in a day.
That's fair.
So that grind over a longperiod of time could be really

(22:53):
cool.
I can see myself getting backinto it or never leaving it, but
like for this pod, I have done10 to 12 hours total.
Yeah, I have to check my time,but I would say I'm at least
there uh for sure.
I have not run into the secondboss ever, I don't think I've
made it that far.
The first boss I lost to ahandful of times, and then the

(23:14):
one time I beat him, I fuckedthe shit out of him.
So I was like really confused.
Uh, which leads me intosomething I forgot that is
really pretty cool.
Is there's different playtypes, so there's different
classes.
There's your warrior, there's arogue, and there's the
necromancer.
Is there another one I justdon't know about yet?
Dude, I don't know.
I didn't research it, and I'veonly locked those three.
Sure.
Nah, research would make thisprofessional, and I ain't about

(23:36):
that.
No, we're just letting her rip,dog.
It's our experience, bro.
Backlog buttons.
Spoiler.
Yeah, spoiler.
But yeah, I just I had no I hadno desire when it would just
get ridiculous on me.
I wasn't just like, there'sstuff at that base building.
The base building is so obtuseand just like I have no idea

(23:56):
what I'm supposed to be doing.
And there's like resources thatI'm trying to farm, and I'm
like, what am I how do I getthis?
Like, I want to get how do Ilike I don't even know what I
need to run into to get this.
Like, what's going on?
I don't want to look it up.

Alex (24:07):
And the piece of that that like was frustrating for me is
that I started to learn how thelike the main gameplay loop map
worked and how the resources,like I was talking about a
little bit earlier, like if youplace certain tiles next to each
other, they do certain things,get you more resources.
Uh I gotta throw out there too.
Another fun one is when you putthe a vampire mansion next to
uh to a um to a town or whateverit is, uh, there's a chance

(24:32):
that the vampire like itdepends, like either like it's a
percentage thing, but sometimesthe vampire sometimes the
villagers like will succumb tothe vampire, and other times
like they have a symbioticrelationship.
It's it's kind of fun, man.
You know, like change your loopor whatever.
It's just one of those littlethings.
But that's just getting intothe weed getting into the weeds
on on that.
And that's but that like bringsit back to this, like when

(24:53):
you're doing the when you'redoing the base building, those
same like I wanted those samemechanics to apply.
Does that make sense?
No, I'm not sure what you'retalking about.
So like, okay, so I'm liketalking about like in the main
game loop, how there's like youstart to learn how the different
tiles or cards next to eachother like will benefit in like
you're able to like gain thesystem, you know, you're able to

(25:16):
figure out how the system worksto bring in more resources.
So like when I go back to whichis another grid system and the
the base building, and I place aand I know that like placing
farms next to certain things isgonna like do something.
I just don't know what it is.
Like, I do know that likebecause you start to it gives
you an option of where you placeyour new buildings as you
unlock the tree.

Luke (25:35):
I was hoping that didn't matter.

Alex (25:36):
That really I think it does though, and that's the
thing.
I think it benefits you to likeactually have good placement
there, but I can't I haven'tfigured out what that is yet,
and I haven't looked it up.
No, I was hoping it didn't,other than the farm, because I
know the farm it's just like themore blank design port farm
side because it'll show like howit'll when you like place
something, it'll show like acertain amount of green spaces
or whatever, maybe some oranges,I can't remember the exact

(25:58):
color, but it's like it's likeuh when we did um skylines or
whatever, you know, cityskylines.
Yeah, so like certain you know,when you place certain things
next to each other, everythinghas an impact.
And I I and like some of thosethings will often be um
signposted with like a differentshading or whatever.
And this might just meinterjecting that and wanting it
to happen that way.
I can't confirm.

Luke (26:18):
I hope it doesn't, man, because I have no idea.
I just place the shit and Imove on.

Alex (26:23):
And you can also blow up your your whole uh base, and
that's another thing that makesme worry about that because it
lets you uh delete things.
I can't remember if you canrecollect resources from that or
not, but you can like deletestuff to replay do replacement.

Luke (26:37):
Uh yeah, man.
So like all of that is veryconfusing unless you're just
really looking into how it'sdone, which I I mean, good for
you, I guess, if you're reallyinto it.
I just think it would beintuitive.
If it was more intuitive, Ithink that would be cool.
It's not.

Alex (26:54):
Well, you're teasing it, man.
I think this is a backburnergame, like like keep on the back
burner similar, simmering forlike forever, ever.
I think that's how this gameshould be approached.

Luke (27:02):
Yeah, I mean, I I understand how people get hot
and heavy in the beginning,because it's like really fun in
the beginning and it's veryunique and it's very cool.
And then I understand how youget to that immediate burnout,
but I can kind of see how thatitch will build back up.
Oh, yeah.
That being said, like I didhave mild regrets of picking
this game for the game of themonth.
Uh, should have just gone withToad Treasure Tracker, my guy.

(27:23):
Like, what am I doing?
Should have done a realAmerican inspiration.
Uh but like I don't hate it,but like even uh what's the
ridiculous bloodstained game weplayed?
Uh at the end of the day.
I think that game was tight.
I think about the game still.
I know.
I do too.
It's probably the game I playedleast for the pod for various
reasons, and mostly because Isucked at it.

(27:44):
But like I think about it morethan some other ones.
This one, it was hard to reallyget into.
I played probably the sameamount due to ease as I did
inscription, but inscription,like even though I still have to
go back, uh, that'll stick wayharder with me than this one.
Different vibes.
Um different vibes, but alsolike it's way the gameplay

(28:07):
itself.

Alex (28:08):
Like that's a good that's a really good deck builder,
dude.
Like, I don't think I've everplayed a deck builder that's
well, I mean, they're alldifferent, I guess.

Luke (28:14):
The deck builder, the story, the intrigue, all of it
was just way cooler.
Heavy bottom.
So like, yeah, this game was uhthis game was really cool and
it's awesome Game Pass game.
And it's a back burner, it's asimmer, it's a it's a crock pot,
just let it keep going overtime.
But uh it's frustrating as fuckas well.

Alex (28:35):
It can be that can be for sure.
I figured out how to uh getcloud gaming to work on my or
for Xbox's Game Pass or CloudGaming.
I've I found out how to getthat to work on my Steam Deck,
bro.
So I've been able to play LoopHero on the Steam Deck, which is
really nice.
That's gotta be that's gotta benice.
I can see it as a cool handheldgame.
Yes, totally.

(28:55):
So I think that's uh it justgoes back to that whole like
backburner game and like thehandheld, like being able to set
it down, that kind of thing isreally nice.
But I I did I've always likeeven on playing on the PC,
playing on the Xbox, like beingable to do you know, being able
to do that handheld andpassively is is great.

Luke (29:12):
Yeah, dude.
So honestly, that's just kindof my thoughts on loop hero.
It's not Deathloop.
So if you got kind of far onour last spot and you're super
pumped for Deathloop, and thenyou we use, but if you didn't
stick around to hear me realizewe were being fucking morons,
I'm just gonna do thehometroidal or whatever in the
Discord.
He was like he's like, boys,I'm so excited.

(29:32):
It's like sorry, dude.
You don't you don't want to seethis JV team play Deathloop, we
would suck so hard.
But uh yeah, it's it's tight.
I recommend it to a veryspecific audience, mostly if you
want to get through some oldseasons of television and you
want to really binge something,and you've already watched that

(29:53):
show before, like I were gonnarewatch Futurama, I would want
this on the side right on sothere.
There we are.
Any any parting thoughts withthe game?
Anything you want to defend ormaybe drag or bring back up, or
is it pretty much pretty muchcovered?

Alex (30:08):
I mean, there's more to say.
I did enjoy this game a lot.
I think like as a straight onrecommendation, like a straight
on recommendation.
Like I think it's like a verysolid, like, hmm, sure.
I won't stop you.
No, not gonna stop you.
It's tight.
Uh at this time, but I'm notgonna be out on the street like
spinning my loop hero sign.
I'll tell you what.

Luke (30:31):
I don't think I'd buy some stickers on Redbubble.
All right.

Alex (30:34):
But here's the deal, bro.
This thing is on Game Pass.
I also got it for free fromEpic, and I bought it on Steam
because I couldn't figure like Ithought before I figured out
how to do the uh Xbox like cloudgaming that I would long story
short, like it was like two, Idon't know, three bucks or
something.
It's always on sale, and it islike you said you put at least
10 to 15 hours in there orwhatever you said earlier.

(30:56):
Yeah, and for that price, andget out of here.
Like, you know, that's like asolid send it.
But you know, whatever.

Luke (31:03):
Yeah, I'm just not gonna give it like a full throated you
gotta play, bro.
But if someone was like, I wasthinking about loop here, I'm
like, dude, it's a good time.
Enjoy the first five hours, uh,struggle through the next five,
and then slowly play it andmaybe add to it over time.
I don't know.

Alex (31:17):
As you're trying to outro your fucking game of the month
sad story, uh, I will say thisone banger part of it, dude, is
the song or the track thatstarts playing right as you get
to that first boss, or like whenno, when the first boss appears
on your map as you're goingthrough the loop, like often
that music track will change.
I don't remember the trackname, dude, but it slaps, man.

Luke (32:12):
All the music was hard as well.
There's a reason I wanted toplay it.
It looked cool as shit.
And I at first I was like, thiswas the right choice, bro.
And then I was like, ah, butno, I mean I had fun.
It's just uh just I've saidwhat I need to say about the
loop here.
I don't know.

(32:33):
For now, we'll see if it evershows up back in side questing.
And with that, let's take alittle break here from our
unsatiened sponsor.
I got two in this one.

Alex (32:51):
Oh, you wait, you're gonna slang two?
You gotta come in with numberone, two sponsors?
Unsigned sponsors.
One of them's one of them'sserious, the other one's not.
As in like giving us serious,like not money at all, and the
other one also not giving us anymoney at all to hawk their yes,
whatever this may be.

Luke (33:09):
I should say I have an earnest one and I have a rant.
All right.

Alex (33:12):
There we go.

Luke (33:14):
Some fucking housekeeping for you, Al.
Uh, you know, our earnest oneis like, you know, moms, you
know, wife to you by moms, justbrought to you by moms.
Literally.
Dude, literally, dude, it'sMother's Day, you know.
By the time you're listening tothis, you got a mother.
Hopefully, you called her.
If you're married and you havea child, you know, be nice to

(33:36):
your wife.
She's probably a good mom.
I have a great wife.
She's a wonderful mom.
It's her first Mother's Day.
I love her.
And I wanted to say that realloud so she heard it and thinks
I'm awesome.
But yeah, dude, moms are thebest.
Our moms is awesome.
She's a great grandma, too.
Wait.
And uh it's so it's for realmoms?
Yeah, it's my earnest one, moms.
Oh, right.
It's Mother's Day.
I can't just not shout out momson the eve of Mother's Day.

(33:59):
How does that work with that uhunofficially brought to you in
part by my moms, but alsoofficially, technically, we're
the we're the what's the cereal,that garbage cereal that's sort
of good, kid tested, momapproved.
So we're yeah, that's ourpodcast is kicks.
But anyway, love, love my wife,my baby.

Alex (34:22):
Bring it on the podcast.

Luke (34:23):
I love my baby mama, and I love my mama mama, and my she's
a great grandma too.
And uh, I love my mother-in-lawas well.
I shouldn't leave out any moms.
You got anyone, any momshout-outs you want to make,
doc?
Two dogs.
Mom loves me more than to thegood moms, the bad moms.
This is why mom, this is whyI'm mom's favorite.
This is why you suck.
To the hot moms.

(34:46):
I already shouted out my babymama.
She hot mom.
There we go.
Yes, got a MILF in the house.
Let's go.
And then my other unsanctionedsponsor is every fucking gas
station that doesn't have agoddamn TV at the pump.
All right.
There's just things, there'sjust things when you get older
where you're like back in myday, and you just you know, you

(35:07):
you bring the kids and you putthem on your lap and you go,
There's this wonderful time whenuh at a gas station you didn't
have a fucking lagging screengiving you a choppy commercial
at full volume for no goodreason.
So loud.

Alex (35:21):
I did see I did see a um oh shit, what's that game that I
love?

Luke (35:27):
Tetris?

Alex (35:28):
Fucking mouth breather.
No.
Oh Dead Cells, dude.
It's I did see I did see a DeadCells advertisement on one of
those gas station TVs once,though.
That was kind of tight.

Luke (35:41):
That's obscure as fuck.
All I ever get it really waslike all I ever get is just a
laggy ass commercial justblaring at me.
It's like I'm late for work, Ididn't remember I needed gas,
and all of a sudden I'm justsitting there at the pump.
It's cold, you know, becausethis maybe it's not, but
sometimes it's cold and it'sjust blaring some crap at me.
It's like the word of the day.
And I'm like, dude, I just wantto pump gas.

(36:02):
Like, can my life be quiet forthree minutes ever?

Alex (36:05):
And I don't think I've ever been influenced by one of
those.
I don't know why they're doingthem.

Luke (36:09):
Dude, and it's just like there's no period of my life
that can be withoutadvertisements now.
And it's not like you can tellme it makes the gas cheaper
because gas is really expensive.

Alex (36:18):
No, it doesn't at all, it's just an opportunity for
them to make more money.

Luke (36:22):
So, uh, you know, brought to you by loving mothers and
eternal angst over shittycommercials at gas stations.

Alex (36:29):
Luke's like, I just wish you someone would go and pump
their gas for me, like the olddays.

Luke (36:35):
No, that sounds uncomfortable.
And then I gotta tip them, andI'm like, no, like I'll pump my
own gas.
That's fine.
True.

Alex (36:42):
But like I don't think those existed.
We used to have one in the TwinCities for a while when I was
there.

Luke (36:51):
Yeah, and it's like I think it's illegal in some
states.
Uh we're getting into someuncharted territory here, but I
think it's literally illegal insome states to pump your own
gas.
So like it might just be one.
But um, you know, hit theDiscord if you know.
I ain't gonna research it.
But all I know is that send usan email too.

Alex (37:10):
Hello at low5gaming.com.

Luke (37:12):
We read those.
If there's a guy out therethat's still pumping gas and uh
they put those TVs in there, hemight go insane.
If you own a gas station andyou're like, should I put them
shitty TVs out there?
Please don't.
Please don't.
Make your money.
Fuck it.
Fuck whatever, you know.
No, everybody gotta make theirmoney.
I'll go to a gas station thatdoesn't do that to me, and I'm
dead ass serious.

Alex (37:32):
I'm just playing.
I don't like my stuff.
Quick trip doesn't do that shitto me.
Wait, wait, wait.
So we're brought to youunofficially in part by gas
stations that do not have theTV.
I do not.

Luke (37:42):
And loving mothers.
And loving mothers.

Alex (37:44):
And moms.

Luke (37:46):
And baby mothers, just moms, you know.

Alex (37:47):
Baby mothers.
Moms, moms, moms in general,and gas stations that don't have
to be.
And your baby mamas.
And your baby's mamas.
You fill up your tank andyou're on the way to work and
it's early and you're late andit's cold outside.
Not those ones.

Luke (38:02):
Not those ones.

Alex (38:04):
From the holidays.

Luke (38:05):
Holidays bug his ass.
They got them all the time.

Alex (38:08):
Or Speedway, whatever the fuck.
That's gonna be hard to includeour unsignation sponsored.
My next unsexual sponsoredtweet.

Luke (38:15):
I'll run out of gas.
You'll figure it out.
And a continuation, just sortof psychotic thread of just my
rant.

Alex (38:22):
Dude, as long as we're rented gas stations, do you who
was your allegiance to?
You uh they change not superAmerican, like you go B.

Luke (38:31):
First of all, BP, BP is literally toppled governments
and is the shittiest corporationof all time.
Destroyed oceans, made us payfor it, toppled governments.
Fuck BP.
It's quick trip.
It's gotta be quick trip.

Alex (38:45):
Quick trip is fair, dude.
That is a good one.

Luke (38:47):
I wish I had a quick trip next to me.
They're building slowly,they're taking over for good
reason.
They do things right, theydon't have TVs, they're fucking
pumped.
Most of the time.

Alex (38:57):
I had to say that I probably buy my most gas from
holiday.
Gross.
Yeah, they got the TVs, butthey also give you a discount if
you shop at Cub Foods.
Saving money.
That's true.
That's true.
Fuck Cub Foods.
You don't always shop at CubFoods, though.
That's the thing.
Yeah.
That's the tricky part.

Luke (39:16):
I shop at both those places.
This is hyper local.
Fuck both of them.
Anyway, moving on.
Shout out to all the moms.
Thanks, moms.
Thanks, moms.
Love you, moms.

Alex (39:25):
Thanks, guys.
The good ones.

Luke (39:29):
Thanks, guys.

Alex (39:38):
Yeah, welcome back, everybody, for some side quests.
You know I got side quests,dude.
I always got side quests,especially when we got a game
like Loop Hero.
I'm gonna be playing some othergames.
But I actually played like, youknow, a decent amount of Loop
Hero.
I saw some movies, dude.
I saw some cool game-relatedmovies.
You go see the Super Mariomovie yet?

Luke (39:55):
No, but I think I could rent it soon.
I'll be doing that.
Right on.
It's good, dude.
It's fun.
Dope.
You want to say anything moreabout it?
I haven't seen it.

Alex (40:06):
I want to talk more, but I want to give you a chance to
watch it first.
But then I also saw the Tetrismovie, which is also dope, dude.
You watch that one yet?

Luke (40:16):
Apple TV.
I'll wait until another freetrial of Apple TV rolls around.
I heard the season three of TedLasso sucks.
Doug, it's good.
I was about to say from groundzero of Ted Lasso Thurston.
Oh, it's great, man.
I don't know.
It's great.

Alex (40:31):
You talking about that Atlantic article?
Are you talking about someother?

Luke (40:35):
I've seen a bunch of thought pieces that are just
like it's all over the place,and people are just kind of
butthurt about its direction andsuch.

Alex (40:41):
So as someone who's married to a woman that is
obsessed with this show, I justdon't think they did their
research, man.
I just don't think they didtheir research.
This uh Ted Lasso is alwaysmeant to be three seasons long.
They wrote the end before thestart, and they're like working
their way through it, or theyhave that everything in mind.
And see, the thing is, is it'sit came out the door as like a

(41:03):
funny sitcom, and all thesepeople are like, oh, so funny
and fun.
Uh, and now people are upsetthat there's like, I don't know,
it's not slapstick like theoffice the whole time.
Like they want they want thethey want like a stereotypical
office series, and that's notwhat this is, man.
There's gonna be their storyarcs.

Luke (41:18):
Critiques I've read is mostly just that the story arcs
feel separate, so separate fromeach other that they're
basically separate shows, and itfeels kind of forced and weird.
But I'm not gonna take youropinion either, because once
again, this is ground zero forlike Jason Sidakis thirsting.

Alex (41:33):
No, that's just it, man.
If we've seen if I have tosell, I've seen uh season one
and two multiple times, and I'mnot like someone that watches
series over again, but my wifeloves this shit, and it's a good
series.

Luke (41:44):
Some comfort food series Sedakus' bathwater, so I'm not
gonna pay attention.

Alex (41:49):
Yes, my wife would, and I would be like that nasty.
But what's up, Jason?

Luke (41:54):
Hey Jason.
Uh moving on.

Alex (41:57):
But I know all the characters is my point.
It's like I know all thecharacters, so like the whole
like fractured storylines, it'snot fractured to me.
I understand everybody.

Luke (42:05):
I think the critics that are saying this have also
watched it.
I just think that I I'll watchit and form my own opinion as
one does, but we'll get back toyou on that one.
Anyway, the Tetris movie.
I'd like to see it.
That's what I was saying.
I was like, you tried to try tonot talk about red Tetris?
I'll actually watch it.
I hate the games, but I'llwatch the movie.
It's got some Russian intrigue.
It's gotta, so I'll watch it.

Alex (42:25):
It does.
Dude, my boy Taryn Eagerton'sin it too.
He's so fun in this dude.
He's he's great.

Luke (42:30):
I just want to be in the room when they greenlit some of
these movies.
Like they're making a what'sthe PlayStation 1 like cart
twisted metal?

Alex (42:38):
Who yeah, twisted metal's coming out there coming out with
Twisted Metal?
I don't know, but I'm here forit, dude.
I think that shit's on Peacock.

Luke (42:48):
Peacock were like good ideas.

Alex (42:49):
Dude, they're coming out with a Grand Charisma movie as
well.
Like, I don't know.
Like Arsenal is like, let'sjust make dude, but that one,
like, I'll watch like I don'tknow what, man.
If they come to a streamingservice that I have, I'll watch.

Luke (43:00):
You probably didn't watch Halo, and I heard that was
cheeks, but well, I'm not reallya Halo guy though.
Nah, that's fair.
Shouts out to land parties.
Uh I mean, those were tight,but like some Mario movie,
Tetris movie, what else we got?

Alex (43:14):
Yes, dude.
But Tetris movie, plug thatshit.
Like, it's it's cool, man.
It's like very spy over thetop.
Like, it's fun.

Luke (43:22):
All right.

Alex (43:22):
I'll allow.
Continue.
Uh well, we did an inscriptionpodcast last month, man.
And I've continued.
I've finished act two, and I'mprobably midway through act
three, so I still love the game.
I definitely do think that actone is the best act.
I can you know, I'm not donewith three, but like, you know,
act one was just phenomenal.
Uh so three, three, and I'm notgoing to talk too much about it

(43:43):
because I don't think thatyou're like, I still I know you
still want to plug through, so Idon't want to like spoil it for
you.
But we will we'll return tothis conversation on an
inscription because I'vecontinued to play it.
It's like a cool vibe game, anduh, I do like the the gameplay
of it and the story and thevibes and everything.
So it's it's still there, butin the rotation.
Earlier, when we were talkingabout the best basketball player
to live, Michael Jordan, uh,I've also been playing some NBA

(44:04):
2K.
Oh, nice.
Uh yeah, dude.
I always like I love playing2K.
Like I like to when I play 2K,I like to get a solid season in
with the T Pups.
Uh, you know, and I get kind ofburnt out on it after playing
however X many amount of gamesthat is.
But then I always like to comeback during the playoffs and do
like if I'm if I'm like lookingfor something to play on today,

(44:25):
uh playing whatever the game ofthe day is for the NBA playoffs,
because they do that in thisgame.
That's always kind of funbecause like by that time you
you're playing as some good assteams.
That's right.
So it's like it's fun, fun tolike pick up the stakes and uh
and play a little bit.
That said, you're also playingagainst a good ass team.
It's playoff basketball, bro.

Luke (44:42):
Sure.

Alex (44:43):
Get that sphere.
Lakers Warriors, who you got?

Luke (44:47):
Uh, that series is over with, you know that, right?
Yeah no casual.
Uh Lakers won last night.
And uh I would have told youthat like um I'm a bitter small
market sports fan, so like Ishould want like as a teacher,
I'm just gonna say like there'stwo types of bandwagon fans.
There's the this team has won abunch, so the Warriors, tons of

(45:09):
kids love Warriors, and it'sjust really annoying because I'm
a loyal guy, you know, TimRolls, let's go, down years and
everything.
Uh and then there's the othertype, which is just like it's
very popular these days.
There's kids are less uhcommitted to a team now.
It's very much a continuingcultural trend to follow a
player.
And the NBA, no one has playermovement like the NBA.

(45:31):
So let's say that you're aKevin Durant Stan, you were a
Brooklyn fan, now you're aPhoenix fan.
Sure.
Uh so long story short, fuckthe world.
And we're tired of the fancy.
And we're Lakers fans becauseof D'Angelo Russell.
Is that what you're saying?
That's the reason I can'tactually like be down with the
Lakers is because D'AngeloRussell uh has been traded like

(45:53):
five times in eight years.
Uh and then he's like, the TimRules are holding me back, man.
I'm like, hey dog, it's beeneight years and you've been on
five teams.
I think it's you.
I think it's you.
And then guess what?
No showed the very next gameafter he said all that shit.
The same shit he did with theWolves.
He has the same stats, the sameshootings.
But this is too this this isn'tthis type of podcast.

(46:14):
You just got me on a rant, dog.
But the homie Vando is on theteam.
I love Vando.
He never should have beentraded.
It's a longer story there.
And uh, I want LeBron to win,maybe, because then it's gonna
get harder for the Jordan headsto say Jordan was the best ever.

Alex (46:30):
Dog.

Luke (46:31):
A dude who's been playing for 20 years straight.

Alex (46:33):
I was in the talk about Steph Curry.
Uh, what's his name?
Elementary.

Luke (46:36):
I'm 30 years old.
I was in elementary when thatdude was drafted in the league.
That's fucking wild.
Yeah, I remember it.

Alex (46:42):
All on his side, he's good, like for sure.

Luke (46:44):
But Jordan better, but for a shorter peek for sure.

Alex (46:48):
Dude, who's uh who's the homie?
Who's the the broadcaster?
Who's the broadcaster that wassaid that if Steph Curry wins,
or wait, so you're saying theylost, so this would have been
the other day.
Yeah, I'm not I had to worklast night, so I hadn't checked
the news.

Luke (47:00):
Uh he works at a bar restaurant where there's
definitely that game on the TVthroughout the night, but
whatever.

Alex (47:05):
Yeah, but I'm working, dog.

Luke (47:09):
That's cloud.

Alex (47:10):
Uh anyways, dude.
Fucking uh somebody was talkingabout how they if the Warriors
would have won, the discoursewould have had a shift to taking
LeBron off the the MountRushmore and putting Steph Curry
up there.
Uh because of the amount ofrings, man.
That would have assuming thatthey won the next game or the
series rather.

Luke (47:27):
Yeah, no, I love Steph, even though I hate honest team.

Alex (47:30):
I love a bunch of the individual players, but dude, I
hit you up.
I hit you up earlier this monthbecause I was playing Metroid
Prime.
That's another side quest.

Luke (47:39):
Yeah, how's it been?

Alex (47:42):
Uh controls are great, dude.
I wish it's one of thosethings, man.
We just have too many games,and I really want to tear
through that game and like givea solid time to it, but I
haven't yet.
And it's just like I willbecause it's dope.
I really enjoyed it, but um,yeah, I don't know.
I like played like a solid weekor two and and then I moved off

(48:05):
of it like I did when I waslike a teenager.
Only I got way further thistime because I understand
Metroid better.
I love like 2D Metroid andstuff.
Uh so the the 3D one, like onceyou start to figure it out and
everything, it is great, andit's like actually a really
super awesome game.
I just had other games that Iwas playing.
Yeah, but I definitely want togo there.
I'll definitely talk about itwhen you do, and I'm excited to

(48:28):
return to it because it is I amreally liking it.
But the game that I really wantto mention for my biggest side
quest is this Game Boy game,Game Boy Color game, that was
actually made in 2000, 2001,maybe.
I want to say it came aboutthree years ago, dude, by uh and
it's called The Machine.
Uh super fun game, dude.

Luke (48:50):
I thought this was like as Al watching Burt Kreiser
stand-ups now.
What are you talking about?
He's the guy who I did notpronounce his last name
correctly, but he's the guy thatuh calls himself the machine,
that's his nickname, and he doeshis stand-up shirtless.
Oh, nice.

Alex (49:06):
I know what you're talking about.
Yeah, yeah.
Uh so the machine is made bythis indie developer main name
Ben.
Let me pop my shirt off foryou.
Yeah, please.
Uh pretty sure his name's BenJelter or something like that.
Uh, but then it's distributedby Incubate Games, which is this
cool distribution company thatlike hat does a whole bunch of
like old uh that's not even old,it's new Game Boy games.

(49:26):
So it's like new games for oldhardware, which I think is super
dope, dude.
You know me.
I'm a I'm gonna know I likelove my toys, I love Game Boy,
got a special spot in my heartfor Game Boy.
So being able to play a newgame on the Game Boy in 2023,
dude, is dope.
And the machine is super fun.
It says open adventure game.
You play as this weird dudenamed Gert, and Gert is like

(49:47):
dude the best way to describehis sprite.
He looks like this weird, likesad potato.
And like makes sense with thename Gert.
And like, so it starts.
This is this like supposed tobe this is this triangular
machine that's on wheels, it'skind of like a sand crawler, and
it opens up and then Gert's inthis, like, and it's it's
basically that's just how itstarts, and it's like supposed

(50:08):
to be this ancient machinethat's just like moving on
capitalism, dude.
It's it's fucking weird, man.
It's such a weird game.
Uh yeah, it's a Game Boy game.
I mean, you could probably playthe ROM.
Like, no, no, it's like it'sfor the Game Boy.
Uh so it's like not on Switchor anything like that.
It's a Game Boy game.
But but dude, so there's 25different endings, and this

(50:30):
game, like it's like so.
Basically, you start, you takethis test, and it's all this
information that kind of gets uhfed to you as you play a game
loop.
And the game loops take abouttwo hours, so it takes to start
to finish is a roughly two-hourgame.
Uh, but there's 25 endings, solike the repayability is huge.
Because so, like, you can doall these different paths, and
if you don't do well on thistest at the beginning, and

(50:52):
you're not going to, uh, youdon't get to go to the job fair.
So you end up having to workfor the police or for for the
factory.
And dude, I was like, and thenmy first playthrough, I was
like, Well, I don't want to fuckwith oh, and your uncle's a cop
and he tries to recruit you,and then you talk to this other
guy, and it's like, you want tobe a cop, they suck.
Like, work for the factory.
So I would like work with thefactory the first time through,

(51:12):
and like, dude, you're poor andit fucking sucks.
And like the minigame part ofit's like kind of like it's
silly, dude.
You have to like sort theseboxes or whatever.
Uh, but then like you're dude,and uh out of you, I gotta let
you borrow this game, man.
So funny.
And so it's all dialogue-based,right?
And there's these little minigames that are involved with it
or whatever, but then like asyou talk to people, you make all

(51:33):
these decisions, so they'relike, everybody's pissed off
because a factory sucks to workat, so they start a union, and
then like they're like, You wantto help us start a union?
You can choose not to if youwant, and I'm sure that that
forks off into a differentstoryline or whatever.
Um, so I'm like, Yeah, I'mpro-union, let's go.
So Gurt like starts trying tosign up as co-workers for the
union, and like you talk tothem, and like they so they

(51:56):
basically at the end of the day,like you, if you like talk
enough people into it, like theunion ends up um you know,
forming or whatever.
But then there's like, and eachtime you go out, like if
there's a day cycle.
So you go out and you do allyour shit and you talk to
people, you traverse to themachine in this particular
playthrough.
I was you know, working for thefactory.

(52:16):
You can go back home where thisyour roommate named Toe is
hanging out, and Toe's gross andyour apartment's like nasty.
I'm like, I won't so I'm givingyou all these details, but you
like then you go to sleep, youwake up, you watch the news, it
gives you the political climatebecause there's all this like
shit going on with an election.
Uh dude, this game is like it'sit's really cool, and and it's

(52:37):
like all these weird layers toit.
But then you go out, um, and uhthey asked me to be a uh the
union president, which Iaccepted that deal, but then
there was an assassination onthe uh on the oh, and at the
same time I was stumping for thepolitical candidate that I
preferred, but there was anassassination against them, and
then the people were reallyimpressed by our union work, so

(53:00):
they wanted the union to putsomeone forward, and I suggested
myself, and they're like, thatseems pretty greedy, Gert.
Like, well, that's kind ofweird.

Luke (53:08):
I just I'm not even mad, but I expected you to be done
like three minutes ago, and I'mlike, damn, this is really
sticking with them.

Alex (53:15):
This is raw to you.
This is dude.
Yeah, I know this is why I'vebeen playing a lot the last
couple weeks here.
You must have I just wanted togive you like I just wanted to
give you some flavor of likethis ridiculous game.
And I'm just gonna put one morelittle piece of seasoning on
there, dude.
In between at the end of eachday, as my playthrough as a
factory worker, I would take thetwo dollars that I earned at
the factory that day, and I goto the racetrack and I bet on

(53:37):
the horses, and I never wononce.
It was the saddest life ever.
And the story like continuesand it like just more and more
ridiculous, dude.
But uh, and then you can playagain.
It starts over after that.
You know, it says the machinekeeps on turning.
Uh, and you can start over andyou do something completely
different, man.
That's something else, man.
Major side quest.

Luke (53:59):
That's uh with a man known for particularly niche tastes.
This is the most niche nicheever.

Alex (54:06):
So flat, you gotta you gotta check out.

Luke (54:09):
I can't believe something so like I can't even believe
that exists.

Alex (54:14):
That's that's that's why I'm like it's not on Steam.
No, no, it's it's for the GameBoy.
You can check it out.
Maybe it is.
I don't think it is, though.
I think it's just straight forGame Boy.
You can but the thing is, isyou can pay, like you can buy
the I have the physical cart andI play it on my my pocket or
whatever.
Um, but you can also buy theROM for pretty cheap, five bucks
or something like that.
Yep, so you can buy the ROM andyou can play it on uh any Game

(54:39):
Boy emulator that you might getfor free off the internet
because emulation that's how itworks or whatever.
It's but uh but you can obtainthe ROM legally, five, three
bucks, whatever it is.
Uh play it on your computer,playing it on your phone.
But uh yeah, Game Boy.

Luke (54:52):
Eddie'd play it while you're uh trying to not trying
to get by at the gas pump andit's just blaring over you, just
trying to just try to try toplay there.

Alex (55:00):
Dude, and just a testament to like how ridiculous the
story was, like, I was obviouslygiving you some some strong
flavor of it or whatever.
But I was playing I played alot of this game, and Anna would
look over my shoulder and belike, what's going on with this?
And then she would like readthe dialogue like as I was
traversing the machine orwhatever, and she got super into
it.
She was like, This game is likereally cool.
I was like, I know, right?

Luke (55:20):
Like it's kind of funny.
Uh I can't beat that, but I'llstill talk about my games.
I've been playing notinteresting.
Everybody knows it.
Uh, just an absurd amount ofSkyrim.
I I shouldn't say absurd, butjust like deeper than I thought
it was gonna go.
Um, goddamn, it's just comfortfood.

Alex (55:39):
You gotta be because there you saw your that was your
major side quest last month,dude.
So you probably got anotherdude.

Luke (55:44):
I was throwing it in the rotation, and it's just like,
especially on weekends when I'dhave big chunks and like the
baby was sleeping or being cool,babies, I would just, you know,
I'll just be bashing thingsaround.
And it's funny how like youplay the game for long enough
and like you pick a specificpath to go down.
Like, I'm gonna specialize inthis, but then once you get to a
high enough level, I'm not sureif like you got into these

(56:07):
levels, but like once you getinto like the 40s, 50s, and 60s,
I think I'm like on the edge ofbeing like a level 50 overall.
You can start to get likepretty damn good at almost
everything.
So like it kind of loses someof that specialization feel, and
also you get to the point whereyou got the full six set of
armor, six weapons.
Lots of lots of sneaking, don'tworry.

(56:28):
Uh doing all the stuff, andlike double-handed sneak artist.
Uh and then you get to thepoint where you you lose the you
get to that point where youlose the scariness.
Each encounter you can bullshityour way out of.
You don't have to cheeseanything, you don't have to save
scum the same amount.
Like sometimes you die, and itfeels good to like actually get

(56:49):
bested.
You're like, oh shit, I can'tjust run into every situation
just bashing heads and being abig dumb thumb out there.
But it's way less and less eachtime.
Like I just fucked up to Dragonthe other day where I just like
knocked it out of the sky.
I don't even have the shoutthat knocks it out of the sky,
but I just like got it on theground, did my fucking orc
berserk and just bashed its headin a few times and it was dead.
And I was like, this is gettinga little too easy.

(57:11):
But yeah, that's Skyrim, man.
I mean, everyone's played itand should.
You should scrim once again,dude, because it's I will have
to pick it back up, man.
Like I I definitely was lovingloving it, and I know that
there's so much more to explore.
It's so great on Game Pass,dude, just because on the
controller, I don't know, onyour couch, but I didn't do like
I did some missions onaccident, but I really just like

(57:31):
went and just hit up caves anddifferent things, and I would
just run into whatever trouble Icould.
And it's like kind of a weirdway to play to have no
structure, but just like begooning around and buying
property and building things.
So it's been really cool.
MLB the show, still awesome.
Remember my second year.
We lost it.
I was the rookie of the year.

(57:52):
It's hard, man.
I had to turn down thedifficulty to the base one, not
like the absolute low one, butwhat the game defaults at
against veteran.
Uh I played at the higher one.
I pitch at the higher one whenI'm a pitcher, but it's just too
much, man.
I strike out all the time.
It's like it's not fun.
I don't actually strike out allthe time, but like you have to
move the thing around.
And like I only have the reflexto go like, oh, the pitch is

(58:12):
up.
But like what they want you todo is like slightly move the
joystick, like a little bit.
And I'm like, I can't make adecision on a 90 mile, like 99
mile per hour fastball to justbe like, oh, that's a little bit
more.
That's why you'll never make itto the big show, bud.
God damn right.
So I turned it down and it'sbeen more fun.
Uh, I was rookie of the year,which is tight, always fun.
Uh, I would love to just get acall and just let them help just

(58:35):
be an advisor to make anultimate baseball RPG with like
silly storyline stuff and likeways you can actually spend your
money.
Um it's a story for anotherday, man.
Uh, the show.
I love that it's on Game Pass.
Um, that is dope.
Because I would have had tobeen like waiting for a sale or
like, do I actually want it thisyear?

(58:55):
But the fact that it just dropsday one the last few years has
been really sick.
So I've been loving it.
Uh there's obviously some flawsand some things I don't love,
but like it's just been awesometo have in the rotation.
And then uh we both got Tearsof the Kingdom.
Yes, do you plan on keeping ourconversation at the top?
Do you plan on keeping that upat the top, or are you gonna

(59:16):
like put it down here?
So you can put it down here.
But early impressions, probablya few hours.

Alex (59:21):
I'm not gonna like puzzle it in, but uh I might put it at
the end.
Who knows?
Yeah, that would be literallywhat I just said, you dickbag.
Um I mean, post our post ouroutro music, man.
When I put a little when I puta little Easter egg.

Luke (59:35):
Sure.
I mean, there's so many gemsfrom the beginning you could put
at the Easter egg.
But yeah, Tears of the Kingdomhas been really cool.
I've been afraid that I playedso much of Breath of the Wild
that it would be too familiar,but I'm in the, you know, I'm in
their tutorial area and it'snew enough, and it's it's never
gonna capture the same magic ofdiscovering that game the first

(59:57):
time.
Dude, the building's prettycool.
No, the building's sick, butlike Dog Breath of the Wild was
wild.
It was like the music, thesound effects.
It's like it's fun to hear allthose familiar things and be in
that world.
It is fun.
You feel welcomed back in andit all comes right back to you
to some degree.
So we'll see.

Alex (01:00:17):
Even uh cooking and stuff, I noticed he does like he does
like a little whistle and stufflike that, and just a little
something.
I'm I feel you, man.
Like it is uh you're right.
Like you I think quality oflife stuff too.
It's cool.
I think but I think that youknow it's a sequel, so keep that
in mind, obviously.
And it is uh so far, and I'monly maybe an hour in myself,
maybe a little more, definitelystill in that same area, but

(01:00:39):
it's like it seems like a reallynice continuation of Breath of
the Wild.

Luke (01:00:44):
Yeah, I mean, I think that like some people, some reviews
I was reading were like it'sbetter.
And I'm like, I don't think youcan be better than something
that broke so much ground, butlike you can be a refined,
awesome version of it, right?
So like technically, yes, it'sbetter, but like out of context.
But once you put all thecontext in it, needless to say
though, I mean it's gonna it'sgonna get like 75 to 125 hours.

(01:01:06):
Totally, totally, yeah.
And like Nintendo, way torelease a finished game.

Alex (01:01:12):
Oh man, I know.
Like I didn't notice there wasa day one down though, though.
Okay, they patched it withsomething.
I know, but like it's ready togo, you know what I mean?
Totally, totally.
It's like I and it wasn't along download, it was it was a
short one.
I didn't I like blinked and itwas done.

Luke (01:01:25):
So Nintendo does a bunch of crummy things to like people,
the internet, but like you knowwhat they do, you know what
they do that's really dope,release finished games other
than Mario Golf.
You want to talk about MarioGolf?
Dude, did you do Redfall?
Did you try Redfall at all?
No, but I think that I loadedit on the ear to the ground on

(01:01:48):
it as far as um if it getsactively fixed, like some other
games.
But I was never the targetaudience, like I'm not a leap
shooter, like I I don't know whythey made that game.
They wanted to maybe, or maybethey were shoehorned into doing
some different things, but thatwas never my genre.
But I I do occasionally like topick up a shooter on Game Pass.

(01:02:08):
So if they like really actuallywork on it and put meaningful
improvements to the game overthe next year, like I won't pick
it up now, but I'm not gonnasell the Series X.
So if it's to open like a year,I wonder if it's like got so
much salt on the wound that likethey don't be dead.
Um they do, but they might not.
I don't know.
It'll see people's appetite forit, but I think that uh it's a

(01:02:32):
shame.
But also as games these days,man, they gotta I it like so the
Xbox stuff is super stupidbecause they're like, oh, Xbox
losing to PlayStation.
PlayStation has like three goodexclusive games, and like I'm
not dying to play any of them.
God of War, people loved it,but like also was the same as
the first one, as far as like acultural impact, from what I can
tell.
Sure.

Alex (01:02:52):
You guys uh are you you don't have a PlayStation new
PlayStation anymore?
They are giving away the prethey're doing like a little
teaser Spider-Man for free,which is kind of tight.
I do that, I do wish I couldplay with my Spider-Man on
PlayStation.

Luke (01:03:03):
Yeah, when Spider-Man 2 comes out, that'll be like the
first game I'm jealous of,right?
Right.
But as far as another Ghost,like I never played Ghost Shima,
but okay.
I'm not like a big fanboy, butI'm just like, dude, the Xbox
has been it's been a good devicefor me.
Oh Game Pass machine, it workssick, but the exclusives, so
dude.

Alex (01:03:20):
Now that I know how to do the cloud gaming on on the on
the Steam Deck with that too,and you can do it, dude.
You can do that on your phone,or I was doing it on my tablet
as well.
Like, dude.

Luke (01:03:30):
I think I did it for Vampire Survivors once upon a
time.

Alex (01:03:33):
But um but Tears of the Kingdom, though.
Oh, Starfield.

Luke (01:03:36):
Starfield, when that comes out, I really hope it slaps and
it's ready to go, or else,like, oh my god, it's the
discourse is gonna be gross.

Alex (01:03:43):
Oh man, but like you know, I just don't understand that,
man.
There's so many games, like,why people get us so upset about
delays?
It's like play one of the likethere's thousands of top tier
games to play.

Luke (01:03:55):
They want exclusives, and like I think that it's
forgiving.

Alex (01:03:58):
I know that, but I just mean in general, like fanboys
need to settle the settle downand be like, who cares if it
comes up?

Luke (01:04:04):
Fanboys should settle down, but that's true, you know.
But all right, tears though,man.
Tears is sick.
You'll uh don't play anything.
We're gonna be talking moreabout that for sure.

Alex (01:04:16):
Yeah, but that's side quest in dude.
Side quest, more tears.
Let's go.
Thanks for uh tuning in,everybody.
Number 23, Michael Jordan ofthe podcast, Low Five Gaming.

Luke (01:04:31):
Two Tom Googliadas out here.
That's what we are of podcasts.

Alex (01:04:38):
Yes, sir.
Man, I remember Gooks.
Googs are good shit.
All right.
Until next time, everybodycheck us out at
lowfivegaming.com.
Hit us up with an email.
Hello at lowfivegaming.com.
We'll hit you back.
We'll read it.
We'll hit you back.
Join the Discord if you will.
It's always fun to have youjump in there for the uh game of
the month discussion.
Just chat about video games,life, etc.
Post pictures of your puppies,whatever.

(01:05:00):
If you want our ear, that'swhere it is.
It's in the Discord.
Until next time, y'all.
Peace.
Peace.
Yeah, dog.

(01:05:29):
I also am being pulled awayfrom Tears of the Kingdom.
I was getting kind of angrythough.
I kept dying against a couplethings that shouldn't be that
hard, I don't think.
And I was like, fuck.
Maybe for a break.

Luke (01:05:39):
I haven't died in a normal way yet.
I've like just fallen off ofthings derpy as shit.
Yeah.
I spent like you not 20 minutesbuilding a giant ladder.
And then I ran into somethingwhen I was doing the tractor and
it dropped and fell into thechasm.
And I'm like, I just murdered atown, but also I'm really mad.

Alex (01:05:58):
Yeah.
Dude, I'm kind of impressed withthe uh the sky islands or
whatever.
It's like kind of cool.

Luke (01:06:05):
Uh yeah.
It's really confusing to lookat things on the map, but the
sky islands are.
I haven't made it down to theto the mainland yet.
I don't know how far you are.
No, I just I have to find likethe last shrine, because you
find the shrines and they'relike one more shrine.
Yeah.
And uh I beat this giantRoblox, or not Roblox, but this

(01:06:26):
giant Minecraft monster.
Yeah, I think we're about thesame spot.
I didn't have anything cool toattach its part or fuse its part
to, so that was a pretty waybig waste of resources for me.
I was pretty butthurt.
What'd you fuse it to?
Anything?
I didn't have anything, andthen I tried to fuse it to my
glider that I got there on, andthen I jumped to the pond below,
but I missed it by like a foot.

(01:06:47):
You didn't get a glider afterthat last shrine?

Alex (01:06:51):
I think we're probably doing the shrines in a different
order.
I don't think I haven't gottento the last s oh I haven't
gotten to the last shrine, but Ifought him before that, I
guess.
He must have.
Yeah, because there's three ofthem.

Luke (01:07:02):
There's three, and then there's a fourth you gotta get
to.
But the uh still working on mythird, I think.
It's it's more linear than theGreat Plateau in the first one.
Um but anyway, we're here forfor Death Loop, otherwise to
everybody else known as thisloop hero.
What's up?