Marvel Rivals

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Buckle up, gamers! We’re  discussing in our 111th episode by diving deep into the colorful chaos of Marvel Rivals. This episode is packed with insights as we explore the intriguing similarities and stark differences between Marvel Rivals and the well-known Overwatch franchise. Our hosts share their experiences navigating the gameplay, revealing character favorites, and discussing the community's engaging dynamics that bring excitement to every match. 

Join us as we navigate the rising popularity of Marvel Rivals, tackling its approach to character selection and gameplay mechanics. Along the way, we delve into the critical role that community interaction plays in shaping player experiences, illustrating how teamwork can elevate the gaming journey. Moreover, we also dissect the challenges players face with interface design, speculating about how these factors can influence future game development as competition heats up in the gaming world. 

Whether you’re a die-hard Marvel fan or just love a good gaming discussion, this episode is a must-listen. Join our conversation and don’t forget to leave us a five-star review - possibly with a Slim Jim in hand! Tune in to get your dose of gaming insight, laughter, and a glimpse into what's on the horizon for our podcast and the Marvel gaming universe.

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https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBwciIqOoHwIx_uXtYTSEbA

Twitch (Anthony):
https://www.twitch.tv/odysseywow

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
All right guys, welcome back to another episode
of Project Geekology.
This is episode 111.
It's our 111th birthday.
No, we're not Bilbo, we're notthat old.
But yeah, 111 episodes.
I can't believe Anthony and Iand you know Rich, for the past
couple have made it this far.
This is actually like prettyawesome.

(00:20):
You know, I think what we saidoriginally, like when we first
started the show Pretty awesome,you know, we, I think what we
said originally, like when wefirst started the show, was that
seven episodes is the cutoffpoint for most podcasts.
If you don't make it past sevenepisodes, or if you make it
past seven episodes, you're inthe clear, Like you.
Just, you found your groove.
If you haven't made it pastseven episodes, then most likely
you just stop right there.

(00:41):
Rich, you have, you have beenon more episodes than seven
episodes, so congratulations toyou.
I mean, it's been quite a fewmore than seven, I think, at
this point, but welcome, welcometo the team uh much appreciated
.

Speaker 2 (00:53):
I'm happy to be here with you guys celebrate our
111th.
You know, uh, I like uh half ofyou as much as I should and uh,
you know, mostly use half asmuch as I should.
So uh, much of you deserve.
I can't remember his line, it'simpossible.

Speaker 1 (01:07):
He's so smart, he's too witty for his own good.
But yeah, you heard from Rich.
My name is Dakota and I'mjoined, as always, with Anthony.
And today we have a fun showbecause I think we both we all
have different opinions aboutthe title that we're covering
today.
It's a video game.
You guys have probably heardabout it.

(01:27):
It's been, uh making the rounds, um, it's been very popular on
streaming sites, uh, over thepast couple months.
We're, of course, talking aboutoverwatch 2.
Uh, I mean, uh sorry, um,marvel rivals.
I don't know if that waspurposeful or by accident, but
nonetheless, that was awesome.

(01:52):
No, it was purposeful.
I mean to say that whenever Iplay Marvel Rivals, it just
makes me want to play Overwatchagain.

Speaker 3 (01:58):
Oh, wow.

Speaker 1 (01:59):
But yeah, yeah, so we're going to be talking about
Marvel Rivals for our main topicof discussion this evening.
We record it at night,obviously, or you actually
probably don't know that, soit's not obvious to you, but
it's obvious to us.
But anyway, what have playingit in preparation for this
episode?

Speaker 3 (02:18):
you know, it was just like a natural thing.
I've been back on a like I'mnow on like a watch cycle of One

(02:38):
Piece now.
So like now, like I'll takelike a little bit of a break and
then, like I'll get back ontoit.

Speaker 1 (02:44):
Oh, you've jumped back in like.

Speaker 3 (02:45):
I'll take like a little bit of a break and then
like I'll get back onto it.
Oh, you've jumped back in, sonow, yeah, now now I'm back like
in the cycle, like I'm, youknow, like I'm kind of like full
steam kind of been.
I'll watch like a handful ofepisodes, well, I mean like

(03:09):
during like every like day.
Like I'll watch one like duringlunch, and then, like in the
evening, I'll watch like maybe afew more.
Right, like maybe three, four.
I honestly like kind of likethe dragon prince, like how
you're able to like get throughthe episodes like pretty quick.
Honestly, one piece is the sameway, especially when you're
you're skipping the intro andthe outro, like, when you like,
cut out that fluff the episodes,just they're easy to get
through.

Speaker 1 (03:23):
What episode are you on now?

Speaker 3 (03:25):
I'm up in I'm past Thriller Bark.

Speaker 1 (03:34):
So I want to say Give us a range of episodes, you
don't have to go as far as 500.

Speaker 3 (03:38):
Like past 500.

Speaker 1 (03:40):
Oh snap, so you're probably about halfway through
then.

Speaker 3 (03:42):
Well, maybe just under halfway, they're at like
100.
No, they're at like 1,100 plusepisodes now Okay.

Speaker 1 (03:55):
It's such a crazy show Well.

Speaker 3 (03:56):
I mean right now is like a good time.
Well, I mean the past fewmonths is a good time because
it's been on a hiatus.

Speaker 1 (04:04):
It starts back up in april yeah, um, I think this is
like the most substantial hiatusthat one piece has ever had.

Speaker 3 (04:10):
Actually, it's been.

Speaker 1 (04:11):
Yeah, it's large, it's pretty large I I guess uh
oda needed a vacation uh, yeah,I guess so, and yeah, the the
anime has been they're.

Speaker 3 (04:22):
They're on the egghead arc right now, so that's
been on hiatus since like aboutfive months now, so so we got
like that's a yeah, yeah, good,good, catching up time yeah,
yeah, that absolutely so.
So, yeah, I've been on that fullsteam ahead.
Uh, I went to oh um on saturdayI went to a little event.

(04:45):
So I have a friend that I thinkI had told you guys that he
owns a um, him and his wife,they, they own a, an anime shop,
and they had this event down bywhere I live.
You know.
It was really fun.
They had like a bunch of likevendors there.
They had uh, uh, there was a, aboba like business that had,

(05:07):
like you know, they, theybrought some stuff over and they
had, uh, korean corn dogs andthere was food trucks and stuff
and they had a, a cosplaycontest and and I won third
place who did you play as orwho'd you go as?
girl, my, my classic man, myclassic Obi-Wan, Obi-Wan.
Yeah, I want to add more to mycosplaying resume Repertoire.

(05:33):
Yeah, yeah, exactly, I want toadd to it, but I just don't.
Well, right now, gathering andputting together a cosplay is
not, it's not on on my horizon.
I'm I'm trying to work ongetting you know, building up
another pc and stuff, so.
But I mean, that was coolthough, because I I got a gift
card to the shop and I won aticket to otaku fest, so nice

(05:59):
hey hey man representing yourfavorite disney show, like
that's.

Speaker 2 (06:04):
That's pretty cool actually.
You know, I'm I'm going.

Speaker 3 (06:07):
It's revenge of the sith.
Okay, revenge of the sith okay,I'm not that old yet, but um
would it and so speaking of oldrevenge of the sith turned 20
yesterday um, it's coming backto theaters also, so man I'm
definitely.
I I'm going to go and see that.
Oh, I'm not too sure.

(06:28):
So there was some news thatdropped today.
I'm not too sure if you watchedanything with her in it, but
there's an actress namedMichelle Trachtenberg that, like
she passed away very young, 39years old, for a lot of the like
you know, if you were growingup or you know like old enough
to like remember in like the 90sand like the, the, the early

(06:52):
2000s.
Uh, she was in buffy, she wasin some some disney stuff also.
I don't know if she did anynickelodeon, but she was like
really well known, like kind ofaround that time, especially, uh
, you know, and people in thosekind of realms, and so that that
was some like pretty crazy news, especially like with her being
only 39.

(07:13):
Uh, you know, like dakota youand I aren't that far from that
age and riches is about a decadeabove that oh man I was just
kidding, but don't worry, I gotthat wolverine healing factor.
So I'm basically seven years oldno, but yeah that that that was

(07:35):
some crazy news and that wassad yeah she, it was like a
failed liver transplant orsomething was that, like I, I
don't, I don't know exactly whatit was, but they she was just.
She was found, like you know,unresponsive and and whatnot.
So I didn't, I didn't get catcha cause of death yeah, it's sad
um I.

Speaker 1 (07:55):
I wasn't hugely familiar with her but obviously,
like you know you, you've seenher in something oh, yeah,
absolutely so, um, yeah, thatwas really sad, especially
because she was so young.

Speaker 3 (08:06):
So absolutely, but yeah.
So how about you, dakota?
What have you been up to?

Speaker 1 (08:11):
what have I been up to?
Um, a lot of working on thebathroom, getting the tiles in
place for the shower, yeah, likeliteral physical stuff.
I also started going to the gymthis past week.
Like I got a, I got amembership.
I haven't been like a regulargym goer for a couple of years,
so, and I want to change that.
Um, so I've been going to thegym pretty regularly.

(08:32):
Uh, just, you know, just tryingto get back into the rhythm of
things in that respect and, justyou know, trying to enjoy it.
So that's been good.
It's been giving me, I think, alittle bit more energy
throughout my day, and, you know, when I have free time going to
the gym, it does feel good, soI'm excited about that.
Funny enough, yesterday a newvideo game just downloaded

(08:56):
itself to my phone that I don'teven remember signing up for,
but I must have signing up for,but I must have.
So.
Back when, like godzilla x,kong the new empire came out
godzilla kong the new empirethere was a video game that was
like supposed to be coming outaround that time called, uh,
godzilla kong titan hunters.
And hold on, hold on my cat'slike going crazy.

(09:20):
Let me let her be right back.

Speaker 2 (09:25):
Do you think he went?
He went to globo gym or joe'sglobo.
Definitely, definitely.
He's definitely a globo gymkind of guy.
He's like michelle, bring me mypancakes, yeah sorry about that
.

Speaker 1 (09:39):
Welcome back yeah, so I I a game downloaded itself to
my phone, uh, that I guess Ipre-ordered.
I didn't really pre-ordered it,but I like signed up for it
like a long time ago on the appstore.
It was over a year ago at thispoint, because it was when I was
working on my godzilla likemonsterverse timeline video,

(10:00):
that like I was interested inthis, but anyway, I started
playing this.
You know how I'm like a suckerfor just like stupid mobile
games.
Well, this one's pretty stupidand it's definitely a mobile
game.
So, um, I've been dabbling inthat so, naturally, you've been
enjoying it I enjoy aspects ofit.

(10:21):
I I do, and I'm a sucker forgames where I can level up a
character you know like, yougain experience points and you
allocate different likeabilities or skills or you know
experience to differentcharacters that, uh, you've
collected through.
So it plays similarly to, uh,star wars, galaxy of heroes

(10:44):
where you, you, you do certainmissions and you get shards of
characters that unlock higherranks of those characters.
They're completely uniquecharacters to the game.
They've created their ownmythology within the
Monsterverse, basically.
So in this universe or in thisgame which I'm not really sure

(11:06):
if it's canon or not or if I'msupposed to treat it as such,
but for the sake of the game, Idid basically like a new land
mass, like an archipelago formedin the ocean called the siren
isles, and it kind of likemimics the hollow earth and like
skull island, uh like in termsof like the monsters that show
up.

(11:26):
So a new type of like career hasopened up called titan hunters,
where basic or titan chasers Iforget what it's called but um,
yeah, so so you develop a, ateam of titan chasers on your
specific plot of land, and it'skind of cool because you see the
entire map and you get to likechoose where you want to build

(11:50):
your base, but then there's likethousands of other people like
who are also building around you.
So it's kind of like.
I'm sure there's differentservers and stuff, but you can
kind of see like how the entireecosystem of the game has like
developed in just a single day,um.
So you build your base, kind oflike clash of clans maybe.
I think that's probably theokay the closest.

(12:13):
it's like a base builder, slash,galaxy of heroes, shard
character collector, um, andlike mission allocator.
So it kind of has that like Idon't know.
Like I'm thinking about likeFinal Fantasy tactics, where you
like send a group ofindividuals on a mission and
they come back either successfulor not.
Anyway, long story short.
I think it's too much going onat the same time and it's really

(12:38):
it's.
It's it's so much stuff tofocus on, it's so much stuff to
focus on and I would ratherfocus on just the story mode and
the character shard aspect ofit.
Like the Galaxy of Heroes.
I don't really care about basebuilding, I don't really care
about expeditions, but anyway,I'll play it for a little bit

(12:58):
more and if I like it I'llcontinue, if I don't, I'll drop
it.

Speaker 3 (13:02):
Who's playing these base building games?
I'll drop it.
Who's playing these basebuilding games?
Because, dude, they're like.
I've played a handful of themand they get so.
Literally every single one ofthem are all the same.
It's like the aspects that theaspects that change are like
maybe some of the other stuffthat you can do, but the base
building stuff is literally allthe same and it's boring.

(13:25):
It's extra boring.
Even the clash of clans.
One is a bit different thanlike the other ones.
These other ones are like, youknow, you build a base and then
there's like this like massiveworld that you can move things
around and resource gather andit's just yes, that's exactly
what it is, and tedious and I'mlike who is playing these games?

(13:46):
who is asking for these games?
Who asked for them?
I, I like, I I don't knowanybody who's asking for these
games, but yet they keep makingthem.
It must be the philippines, itmust be china.

Speaker 1 (13:58):
They must love them over there, because I know over
here we cannot stand them well,that seems like unnecessarily
harsh for like the philippines,like why did you, why'd you
single out the philippines?

Speaker 3 (14:11):
because, because the philip, because, the, the
philippines, when it comes tolike mobile gaming, like they're
like really like into it and solike over there and like the,
you know, like singapore and allthat stuff they love, like
their mobile legends and a lotof like the mobile games yeah,
absolutely.
I mean you know, not not to saythat they don't play regular

(14:33):
games either.
I mean they're like really biginto you know other stuff like
dota, league of legends andstuff.
But like you know, like mobilegaming isn't really like widely
talked about here.
Like you, you know, yeah,people might play bubble, which
saga or whatever here.
You know, maybe we might messaround with you know I mess
around with you know games on onthe phone, you know here and

(14:54):
there too, but like, if I had apreference, it's always going to
be PC or even a console.

Speaker 1 (14:59):
You know mm-hmm, yeah , yeah.
So I, I, uh, I I'm, I'm feelingthat, um, I'll play, I'll give
it a couple more, maybe giveanother day, uh see if I'm like
feeling it at all.
Um, but I'm, I think that I'mprobably gonna drop it, just
because it's just way too muchgoing on in the game and the

(15:19):
actual aspects that I enjoyaren't like, they don't seem
like the forefront of what I'mgoing to be experiencing long
term in the game.
Um, because the story room, thestory mode, does seem short and
I feel like I'm almost halfwayafter a day of play.
Um, so, yeah, I don't know.
Uh, I I still am playing thatone game called the tower.

(15:42):
Like I I've it's like reallyaddicting, like I I'm always
playing it.
It's just it's an idle gamewhere, like you, eventually like
, just continue to increase thepower and uh economy of your,
your tower, so you continuallyupgrade and yeah, um, yeah it's,
it's a, it's really well done,but anyway, that's um.

(16:03):
I think that's all that.
I've been up to nothing crazy.
Watched a little bit moredragon prince today.
I'm up in season five, but yeah, otherwise I've just been like
playing uh marvel rivals haveyou?

Speaker 3 (16:18):
have you read any more?
One piece, one?

Speaker 1 (16:21):
Piece, Not lately.
I have read, I think, 21volumes and I have the 22nd, but
I have not picked it up yet.
Gotta get on it, Dakota.
I know, I know I thinkepisode-wise that would be
somewhere in 250 to 300 episodes.

(16:43):
But yeah, I really enjoyreading the manga, I think when
I'm watching the.
No, I'm still in Alabasta, so Idon't.

Speaker 3 (16:53):
Oh yeah, Alabasta is like way back there.

Speaker 1 (16:56):
So then, yeah, maybe I'm like in the 100s, but anyway
I enjoy it.
That's cool.
I'm going to cede my time andgive it to Rich.

Speaker 2 (17:07):
Well, I've been, let's see.
Well, you know, it's actuallyinteresting because Charlie
wants to watch One Piece afterthey finish their rewatch of
Naruto, before they have to getto episode 500 before May 11th
when they go to see the narutoorchestra performance at the

(17:31):
king's theater.

Speaker 1 (17:31):
so so that's a goal they need to watch 500 episodes
before may 11th yeah, well they.

Speaker 2 (17:37):
It's been a long slog , so it's something we've been
doing for a while, so I thinkthey're in like the 300s right
now.
Uh, and then he's got plans.
I mean, he's a devious, deviousman.
He's got plans for one pieceafter this.

Speaker 1 (17:50):
So all right, I mean he made show.
I feel like it's a step up,then, from from naruto
personally.
Um, although naruto is cool,did he ever watch the others
like the, the follow-up show?
Uh, naruto shippuden yeah, yeah, yeah, he watched shippuden and
I think that's-up show uh,naruto shippuden.

Speaker 2 (18:05):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, he watched shippuden, and I think
that's actually what he'swatching is shippuden that's a
step up.

Speaker 3 (18:11):
That's a step up of yeah, they're the original.

Speaker 2 (18:14):
Yeah, he watches that , and then um, and then there's
boruto.
I think that's uh naruto right,that's naruto.

Speaker 3 (18:22):
Naruto's song yeah, you got that right, boruto.
Yeah, no, it's.

Speaker 2 (18:30):
Yeah.
So while they're doing that,I'm still in here going really
kind of focusing on a Star Warskick.
I'm not even sure if it's justa kick anymore.
I think it's just my life.
I finished Fallen, no, Ifinished Rising Storm.

Speaker 1 (18:48):
My life I uh finished fallen, not I finished rising
storm, so I just need to jumpinto the fallen star for the
final part of the trilogy.

Speaker 2 (18:53):
Yeah, so I'm, I'm that, and then I, I tend to do
this stuff, so I tend to do onething and then kind of surround
it, you know.

Speaker 1 (18:59):
So let's say oh yeah, that's 100.
What I do like if I'm, if I'mgetting into like a, like a
universe that I haven't likeexperienced in a while, like
that's all I'll like watch andconsume, because I I have a hard
time separating my mind intoanother idea or something.

Speaker 2 (19:16):
Yeah, so I I feel that so I'm in, I'm playing,
then I'm playing outlaws.
Uh, I've been trying, I've been.
I I do this weird thing where Iuh I don't know if I ever
shared this on the show I I puta small star wars ship in all of
my cars.
Uh, it's just this no little.
Yeah, it's, it's a, it's a new,that's new laura that we've just

(19:37):
so like I like I was reallyupset when disney, you know,
said legends because I drove a1997 Lincoln Town Car that was
in pristine condition, all right.
When I drove it, I believe you,it was like a creamsicle color
and I decided that the Lady Luck, lando Calrissian's luxury all

(19:59):
right, luxury ship would be theperfect ship to get in there and
somehow Hasbro did make it.
So I actually somebody got me astudent uh, purchased a uh.
Then I think it's the naboo n1starfighter and I was playing
around with getting that in thecar, but this one is a little
larger and I, I, uh, I may have,uh, may have, had a little bit

(20:21):
of a, a weird moment where Iflew off the stand that I had
put it on right at me as I wasdriving.
Oh no, you know, pod racing isdangerous, as Anakin did tell us
.

Speaker 1 (20:35):
So I will be happy to inform you that Lady Luck does
make an appearance in canon.
Shut up, yes, dude, that's likeoh, lady Luck does make an
appearance in canon.

Speaker 2 (20:45):
Shut up.
No, it does.
Yes, dude, that's like oh, I amlegitimately so happy right now
.

Speaker 1 (20:50):
All right, yeah, they have re-canonized Lady Luck.
The first time that theybrought it back was the Lando
and Han.
I think it was a junior novelcalled Last Shot.
No, I think it was just like anovel.
It was called Last Shot byDaniel Jose Older.
It wasn't my favorite book, butit's also featured pretty

(21:12):
heavily in Shadow of the Sith,which is one of my favorite Star
Wars books period.
It does a really good job ofbridging the original trilogy
and the events of the Rise ofSkywalker the original trilogy
and the events of the Rise ofSkywalker and Lando is a huge
part.
It's a Lando and Luke adventure, basically Nice.

(21:34):
Basically, they're trying tohelp this family who has this
young daughter named Rey who'sbeing chased across the galaxy
by Sith Lords.
Oh, named ray um, who's beingchased across the galaxy by, uh,
sith lords, oh, uh.
It's amazing.
It's one of the best star warsbooks out there shadow of the
sith.
you gotta, you gotta check itout and yeah, lady luck makes a

(21:56):
makes a great appearance in that, and there's actually there's
in my head canon.
I think Lando isForce-sensitive and I think they
teased that in Shadow of theSith.
There's a line in there wherethey're trying to figure out

(22:19):
what galaxy or star system to goto and I think they got like 30
or 32 different options tochoose from and Lando just uses
luck, know like he's just likewell, if luck's on my side, this
is the one you know.
And so I think that in starwars, luck is an aspect of the
force in a way, even thoughthat's never really been

(22:39):
developed, and I think that iskind of like the first instance
of that, like being showcased,and I thought that was pretty
cool oh man, that's justdomino's father I mean, that
would be amazing um, but yeah,yeah, uh, I'm sorry I cut you
off and went on a lady lucktangent.

(23:02):
Yeah, I that.
That is definitely new lore, uhthat we've picked up, uh from
you rich, so glad to hear yeahI've just been enjoying like I
just really, uh, just you justbeing in the universe.

Speaker 2 (23:14):
I'm always having a good time and, uh, I'm really
loving out was like I.
I was hesitant at first, Ididn't like the stealth act, the
full stealth, but now I've kindof powered up to the point
where I just don't care about it.
I figured I had a game systemwhere I just don't care.
I just don't care about thestealth, and I've been doing a

(23:36):
lot of contracts and trying toraise my reputation with all the
factions so I can just brazenlygo into their areas and do
whatever the hell I want.
So now that I really understandit, I think I'm getting close
to the.
I'm getting somewhere close.
They don't have any levels init, so you just kind of get all
those upgrades I do.
I am usually a sucker for likelevels.

(23:56):
I like to know like okay, I'mlevel 47 and 50.

Speaker 1 (23:59):
Yeah, yeah, I know that numerical value really does
do like it clicks something inmy brain.

Speaker 3 (24:05):
that's just like good this is good I mean if that
happened every day at work, ifthat happened every day at work.

Speaker 1 (24:12):
I think that's why I don't like Monster Hunter.
Actually, could you guysimagine?

Speaker 2 (24:16):
if, like you, did a good job at work and then they
were just like alright, you'relevel 17 now, like like that
would be dope, and then you getlike a new shirt, I'd be like it
took me two years to get from16 to 17.
And then eventually, if you getup to like level 81, the Black
Knight comes after you andchallenges you like in Skyrim.

Speaker 1 (24:37):
That would be interesting, Very interesting
Guys.
Should we jump into our topicof discussion for today?

Speaker 3 (24:43):
Let us do it.
I want to hear from both of you.
I want to hear from both of youfirst, because a lot of people
have heard me talk about MarvelRivals a lot you know, so I want
to hear from you guys.

Speaker 1 (24:57):
Before we talk about like opinions and everything,
let's talk about like what thegame is actually about, or like
you know, like what you'regetting into for people who
haven't played it or, um, don'treally understand what overwatch
is and how this is kind of aripoff of overwatch I mean you
know honestly, if you know it'shard to say that because, like I

(25:21):
mean, you could technically saythat overwatch rips stuff,
stuff off of from other gamestoo.

Speaker 3 (25:28):
You know like, sure it's it's tough to say that I
mean, but, but it is definitelyI would.

Speaker 1 (25:34):
This game exists without overwatch.

Speaker 3 (25:36):
Right, right, right, like it would be tough because
there's there there's a lot ofgames that existed and tried to
fight against Overwatch, butthey failed and it's going to be
hard to talk about this gamewithout talking about Overwatch,
because there's a lot ofinfluence that both games have

(25:57):
on each other, you know.

Speaker 1 (25:58):
Yeah, so Marvel Rivals is a new game that's come
out.
I think it's from a Chinesecompany.

Speaker 3 (26:06):
NetEase.

Speaker 1 (26:07):
NetEase, yes and yeah .
It basically like instead ofOverwatch, which has a
completely unique IP with theirown characters, with their own
lore.
You know, some of thecharacters even have like
cinematic intros that like kindof tell you about their past.
This game is circumventing thatlearning curve in terms of,

(26:33):
like, what the lore is, becauseeveryone already kind of knows
what marvel is.
You know, at least if you'veseen the movies or watched a
couple cartoons, you'll know whomost of these characters are,
right, what I like, about what Ilike about.
What I like about marvel rivalsis that they don't stick to just
the high like the extremelypopular characters.
I think that that's a reallycool aspect of the game that I

(26:55):
guess hasn't talked.
I don't know if it's not talkedabout enough, because I don't
really I don't follow any marvelrivals discussions, but I think
that that is a highlight for mebecause that just kind of goes
to show that there's nocharacter that's off the table.

Speaker 3 (27:11):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (27:11):
You know if they can do Jeff the Landshark.

Speaker 3 (27:14):
You have Luna Snow.

Speaker 1 (27:18):
Yeah, there's a bunch of characters that are D tier,
f tier characters in terms ofpopularity but are extremely
playable with some of the greats, like the hulk and iron man and
captain america and so forth.
So I think that that's.
That's a a really cool thing tomake mention of.
Uh, first things first.

(27:38):
Anthony, when did you startplaying rivals?

Speaker 3 (27:42):
I played dirt.
I played during their firstbeta, one of the that's right,
you mentioned it yeah, yeah,like way back, like when one of
the the closed betas I didn'tplay the alpha, I played one of
the the closed betas that youhad to like sign up for and, uh,

(28:02):
I ended up getting in and I wasable to play and, yeah, man,
like so I've been kind ofplaying, not on and off like
I've been playing regularly, buthow has it changed since um
that beta like significantly ornot, it's not that much so the,
the core gameplay pretty muchstayed the same and we had like

(28:25):
a very small pool of charactersto to play with.
Like some of the characters, alot of the characters that came
out on launch weren't there Likethey're they're I don't think
Wolverine was there.
There was a huge pool ofcharacters that we didn't get.
That for the most part, that wegot, but they made some tweaks.

(28:52):
There's definitely someoptimization that they worked on
.
They still need to work on, seewhat Netties.
Netties is a really well knownfor their mobile games, so like.
That's why sometimes it mayfeel a little bit like a, an
upscaled mobile game, but I meanthat it it has to say a lot

(29:16):
though with their, with theirsuccess though, because, like I
mean, they're doing pretty welland I get that it's marvel, but
it's not just marvel, it's whatthey're doing with the ip, it's
the, the team ups, it's the, the, the fact that you you're
seeing your character in thirdperson, which you know there's a
place for both first person andthird person.

(29:38):
But one of the biggest likecomplaints about overwatch is
that, like you know, people arespending money on all these
skins but and they can't seethem.
You know oh actually, yeah, Inever really considered that, so
so you know that that's likeone of the things which they're.
They're changing that a littlebit.
There's a game mode that allowsyou to play third person.

(29:58):
That's coming out next seasonin overwatch, but it's you know
what with a lot of of what'sgoing on with with, uh, marvel
rivals.
It has directly and like I meanyou know people may say I'm
wrong, but like dude, I see thewriting on the wall it has
directly influenced overwatch.

(30:19):
It sent blizzard, reeling,andeling and, while I know that
a lot of these things thatOverwatch has been coming out
with, like this whole perksystem and you know the Marvel
or the Overwatch Stadium modethat they're coming out with.
You know I know that this issome stuff that was probably on

(30:40):
the drawing board.
A lot of these perks probablyexisted back when they were
trying to do the PvE stuff, butI think that they just like
canned it all and just opted tostick with the whole
overbalancing thing.
But like that's what MarvelRivals is doing, that is that
has people enjoying it is thatthey're not trying to overly

(31:01):
fine-tune the game.
Every character is unique andevery character has some sort of
broken ability that it can useto fight against the the others,
and I think that like it alsoleaves a lot of unpredictability
in the in play.
So, like you don't have toworry too much about like

(31:23):
counter swapping and people likefiguring out, oh, this, this
person's playing this character,so I have to swap to this
character to to combat thischaracter, you know, to counter
them, and so that that's whatmarvel rivals has like been
doing a lot to, like you know,bring that that unpredictability
and I think that like that'swhat overwatch is trying to do

(31:45):
now is that they're trying toadd the perks to kind of change
up.
You know how characters play alittle bit, and so okay, yeah,
yeah all right.

Speaker 1 (31:54):
So overwatch blizzard has been, uh, shaken by the
popularity of Marvel Rivals.
I think Marvel Rivals doesimprove on Overwatch in some
areas, in some respects.
I think, like what you justmentioned the fact that you can
have a third-person point ofview which you know that's the

(32:15):
standard and also be able tolook at the skin that your
character's wearing, becausethere's some pretty cool skins
out there for some of the Marvelcharacters, at the skin that
your character's wearing,because there's some pretty cool
skins out there for some of themarvel characters.
Uh, some of them even get into,like almost like world of
warcraft, armor type, likelevels of craziness, but I think
that that's kind of cool yeahum, you know, just to see on
like random characters like lokior whatever.

(32:35):
But uh, let's, let's jump overto rich.
Um, rich if Rich.
If you were asked by one ofyour students to explain what
Marvel Rivals is, how would youexplain it to a high schooler
Without all the skibbity-riz,anything like that?

Speaker 2 (32:57):
I would say, if you enjoy experiencing failure 17
times in five minutes, this isthe game for you and it's not,
and I and I and I and I think II spoke about this briefly
before we started I, I don'tknow if it's it's my age, I, I
can't completely blame that, youknow, but I did.

(33:19):
I've never truly enjoyedplaying like an overwatch style
game, you know, like I mean, theclosest I ever came to
something like this that Ireally truly enjoyed was what's
it called golden eye for n64.
I mean, I think quite afterthat there were which was the
90s, you know?

Speaker 1 (33:39):
yeah, it's the 90s man, it was a different time.

Speaker 2 (33:41):
So, yeah, things were different.
You know, just, you could picka short guy in the game and just
chop people from behind, useproximity.
I've never really been a guythat I A gamer that enjoys the
Like as I'm playing Outlaws.
There are intense moments, andthen there's these nice lulls
where I'm just playing a sabaccgame.

(34:02):
Sure, yeah.
My family makes fun of me allthe time because I'll play Gwent
in Witcher 3 for a godly amountof time.
I've been known to playthree-hour Texas Hold'em games
in Red Dead Redemption, I think.
As much as I like charactersand and and playing, I also like

(34:26):
just kind of like being in thatimmersive world.
So for me rivals.
So you know it's, you get yourfive minute increments and at
first obviously I was completelylost.
I, I should have probablyjumped on the tutorial, but I, I
just kind of jumped into amatch right away.

Speaker 3 (34:42):
I was a little overwhelmed by the UI.

Speaker 1 (34:45):
I don't like the UI.
I'll be the first to say it.
I mean, you were technicallythe first to say it, you were
overwhelmed.
But I don't like the UI on it.
I don't like games where youkind of have to hover like a
cursor over the screen.
I'm playing on playstation likeyeah if, if I had a mouse, this
would make sense, but like I'mjust trying to like left up,

(35:09):
yeah, you know like I just wantto click what I want to click,
um.
But yeah, I didn't really likethat part uh per se and also
like when you're, when you'reactually like looking for which
character you want to play, it'slike small and in the
right-hand corner and on a wheelof some sort, and it's like
what's going on here, why do Ihave to?

(35:33):
I feel like I'm spinning a wheeland maybe picking the character
that I think I'm picking,because the characters all kind
of look a little different fromtheir comic book characters.
So, um, yeah, it's I.
That's something that I reallydislike, but anyway, I'm sorry I
I I took away from your time.
No, go ahead.

Speaker 2 (35:53):
I was definitely.
I was just like a littleoverwhelmed.
You know, when I first, likenormally, and I play, like I
want to be clear, this is notlike somebody who doesn't play
video games.
I'm playing video games waymore than I'm probably doing
anything else.
Like I play video games morethan I watch TV.
The only thing you couldprobably put it up there with is

(36:13):
like how many Met games I watcha season.
It's the only thing that mightbe even close, and you know.
So I will say that like I gotinto it and I just I didn't find
it super.
You know, I like when I turnthe game on and it's just like
press start, you know, or x, andthen you just resume game or
you know load game from last,save, whatever it is, and then
you just kind of hop in.

(36:33):
So I just found like that was alittle different.
Uh, you know, I started playingand obviously I didn't listen
to anything Anthony said.
So I picked the main, wolverine, and I don't think I got one
kill or like really any damageon anybody in the first.
Like the first game I playedwas like if we weren't doing the

(36:55):
podcast, I would have been likeI don't like feeling this way
and turn the game off Right.
But I was like, ok, I obviouslyjust need to kind of get into
the thick of it.
Then I then I started to likenotice players targeting me a
couple of times and that's whenI was like, ah man, I must be
like, they must see it.
Like, what is this guy doing?
Like he's just like speedjumping past me and hawkeye, I

(37:17):
mean he.
I could picture him salivatingevery time he saw me coming to
the screen like, oh boy, look,there he is again.
There's our short king.
Like he found so many ways tojust like off me so I knew I had
to change characters.
Uh, I couldn't, I couldn'tcontinue with wolverine.
Uh, so I start, I went to starlord for a second and I I kind

(37:42):
of liked him and liked it alittle better and I I did better
in those rounds.
I got my first kills and thenfinally, I just uh, I jumped
over a rocket and that that'skind of the guy that I felt like
I I was enjoying the most.
I I also I wish, is there a wayto shut off the?
Uh, you Died replay, becausethat is a game feature that I

(38:05):
don't enjoy.

Speaker 3 (38:05):
I just want to get back in.
I have to look into it becauseI know that Overwatch allows you
to turn off the kill cam.
I'm not too sure if Rivalsallows you to, they might allow
you to.
I have to look into thesettings a little bit more.
But yeah, no, I feel that too.
It's like you know.
I'm just, I'm kind of like,yeah, dude, I know I died.

(38:28):
I don't need to see how I died.
You know, if I wanted to dothat, then I'd play call of duty
.
But uh, yeah, no, no, I feelthat, yeah, see, see, when it
comes to so there is notcurrently an option to disable
kill cam and rep.
No, okay, hopefully they theyallow it in the future you can.

Speaker 1 (38:47):
You can skip it like you can just press x and it'll
go to just like some randomcharacter, but yeah, most of the
time I yeah, I just skip it,but yeah sometimes I'm curious
about who killed me and like howthey did it yeah because I'm
like, I just died randomly, likewhat, what?

Speaker 3 (39:01):
just yeah, in those instances I'm like I've done
that too every time.

Speaker 2 (39:06):
Every time it's hawkeye like he crept around the
corner.
I just caught you right thereyou're right yeah, that's nice.

Speaker 3 (39:21):
Uh, you know, I I'm convinced that when you play
hawkeye like, or at least whenthe enemy plays hawkeye, the all
everybody's head like hitboxlike just becomes like a
minecraft, like hitbox orsomething because like it, like
I'll get shot, and it looks likethe arrow like hit me like all
the way over here and somehow Idied, you know.

(39:43):
So yeah, yeah, some Hawkeyesare like crazy good.

Speaker 2 (39:49):
Never the ones on my team, though, but when I started
, I will say like that, when Istarted to kind of get the flow
and I think what happened was Iseemed to play in a squad where
somebody was very diligent aboutquick healing or something, or
reviving people right away,because I knew that I should

(40:12):
have been dead a bunch more andI just kept getting like oh yeah
, you feel invincible when youhave a good healer on your team.

Speaker 1 (40:19):
Yeah, and you're just taking people off.
It feels, you just feel more,you just feel powerful.
Yeah, you're just like you canjust run in there.

Speaker 2 (40:26):
Like having the healer.
So I won't lie, that made meenjoy it more.
I really, I know nobody likeshaving to re-spawn.
I understand that.
You know I'm new to the mapsand everything I mean if I have
to be like fair to the game.
But I thought graphics reallygood and I thought that, you
know, yeah, I guess I had torespawn.

(40:47):
But I remember thinking acouple times like, oh man, we
moved on from that respawn partbecause there was like a dragon
moving or something through acity and I was scared they were
going to respawn me all the wayat the first point and they
didn't.
They respawned you actuallyfairly close.
I think that the map or whateverthe, the indicator, is easy
enough to find out and I do like, uh, the I thought it was.

(41:09):
At first I was overwhelmed byall the colors and everything,
but I I finally started to beable to zero in and figure out.
Like you know, my team's, theblue team, all right.
Now I see the red and that'sthe, that's the opponent guys
and and you know it took me acouple matches, I'd say by like
I was definitely like.

Speaker 1 (41:25):
He was definitely like attacking his teammates as
wolverine for sure, oh I got aberserker barrage, berserker
barrage is there friendly fireby the?

Speaker 2 (41:35):
way is that?
Can you hurt your teammates?
No, no, no, there's no friendlyfire yeah, but I definitely, I
was definitely attacking myteammates like so you know, like
that, they're like who's thisidiot?
yeah, that's you know what andlike I'll be honest with you,
what are the reasons why?
I don't, you know.
If it were a four player gamewhere we were all taking on the

(41:57):
computer and I was just like aweak member of the team, that
would be one thing right.
But when it's like squad tosquad, this like, there's this
intense pressure that obviouslyI'm only putting on myself.
But, anthony, you've confirmedthat I don't put it on myself,
that there are people sittingthere going.
What is this?
Noob 69 over here doing.

Speaker 1 (42:19):
Uh, well, I mean, you know I think you need to be
particularly bad for that.
Or just like standing around,you know like I usually give a
like for me.

Speaker 3 (42:27):
I give more grace to like you know, if I'm playing
quick play, I'm like okay, youknow it's people figuring stuff
out.
But like, if you're going intocompetitive and you're playing a
character you have absolutelyno idea how to play, I'm like
dude, then what are you doing?
No I did.
I'm trying to win and you'retrying to throw right now um no,

(42:47):
I will say that always yeahthat bothers me, but you know,
it's just like.
But but if it's like a thingwhere, like you could tell, both
teams are like kind of like thesame and like the other one
edges you out just by a littlebit, it's like, okay, well, we
fought hard, we tried our best,but but yeah, no, no, I, I, I
totally get it like.
I, I can imagine it beingjarring, for for somebody who

(43:11):
doesn't really play games likethese, um, I, I spent so many
years playing overwatch so likeI slotted into this like very
easily like it the the thingthat I had to get used to was
like you know, just the gameplays out a little bit
differently than overwatchbecause it is third person and
that like it is a little wild atsome times.

(43:33):
But like that's almost like,kind of like how overwatch was
when it first came out.
When overwatch came out, likefirst came out, it was like wild
, like the characters were likekind of slow but like kind of
unpredictable and you know theythey felt they played a whole
lot different than they do nowlike, but then again, like

(43:54):
overwatch is a completelydifferent game now than what it
was when it first came out,before they were trying to go
for like the whole, liketeam-based first-person shooter
kind of moba gameplay, whereas,like now, it's like you know, an
individual character can kindof, or a person can kind of take
over a match and marvel rivalskind of allows you to do that.

(44:16):
Like there's been times where,like I completed an ace, I've
wiped the whole team, and thatnot trying to toot my own horn
or anything, oh, just a littlehumble brag.

Speaker 1 (44:30):
Just a little humble brag.

Speaker 3 (44:31):
No, no, no, but this game is definitely obviously
team-based, but if you'replaying against a team, that's
not really like firing allcylinders.

Speaker 1 (44:43):
You can, you can like easily destroy them, but that's
what I, that's, that's what Ilike kind of figured out.
Like you know, I I would golike into one game and I would
just be absolutely obliterated,like no matter what I did, I
would just be obliterated likefrom above, from behind, from
the side.
Uh, iron fist came out ofnowhere, just like oh yeah, it's

(45:06):
always the iron fist and and,but then, like the next game, we
would be like I think it's justbecause of the healer or
whatever, but like we would bemowing them down and they just
like would not be able to getout of the spawn point.
You know, like it was one ofthose like and I realize it's
entirely dependent on how goodyour team is also, and how bad

(45:26):
their team is also.

Speaker 3 (45:27):
If you're running into a match with like six dps,
then like you're probably notgonna win what do you?

Speaker 1 (45:34):
what do you?

Speaker 3 (45:34):
oh yeah, six yeah yeah, because, like I'll hop
into a match and like instantly,four, four people will DPS.
I'm like here we go.

Speaker 2 (45:43):
This will be fun.
I feel very out of the loop.

Speaker 1 (45:48):
Explain the acronyms.
Okay, so DPS is short fordamage per second.

Speaker 3 (45:56):
But we use that for the damage heroes.
You played Wolverine, that isthe damage heroes.
You played Wolverine.
That is a damage hero.
Hawkeye is damage hero, rocketis a support healer.
So when we say healer, that'sthe healer Tank is like the Hulk

(46:19):
, the Thing, penny.

Speaker 2 (46:21):
Parker.

Speaker 3 (46:23):
Yeah, Rocket's a healer.

Speaker 2 (46:24):
So wait what.

Speaker 3 (46:28):
Did you shoot?

Speaker 2 (46:29):
those orbs out.

Speaker 3 (46:30):
Yes, those orbs are heal people.

Speaker 2 (46:34):
So wait, I was healing, you were shooting them
at enemies Was.

Speaker 3 (46:38):
I doing the healing, you were healing.
He was shooting the orbs at theenemies.
Hey, did you throw?
But I don't think you, I don'tthink you can heal no no, no,
you can't, did you?
No did you um?
Did you put down that?
Did you put down that thing,that like?

Speaker 2 (46:59):
yeah, yeah, yeah, that like little thing.

Speaker 3 (47:01):
So, so that little, that little thing that that puts
out like armor and stuff, itactually res is people.
It res is one person when theydie oh yeah, that's actually,
it's actually helped yeah, yeah,yeah, it's really cool and so.
So in this game they don't callthey actually don't call them
dpa, or they don't call themdamage, uh, support or tanks

(47:22):
they call them.
So the damage heroes are calledduelists, the support is called
strategist and the tanks arecalled vanguard all right yeah
all right, that makes more sense, so they gave them a little bit
.
Yeah, they gave them differentnames, but but yeah, no, it it's
it definitely.

Speaker 1 (47:41):
You could still, you could still, you could still do
damage with rocket oh yeah, youweren't just you weren't just
healing, no, I was like I wasusing.

Speaker 2 (47:48):
I was.
I was mashing on my r2 buttonand I'm pretty sure I was uh, or
maybe it was r1, I can'tremember now, but I was
definitely healing people I wellhe's tiny now you know, listen,
I'm the worst like.
So I got to the point where myego was bruised and I would just
like hide somewhere and thenpop out out of nowhere and just
try to kill one person and runaway.
Uh, I, I won't lie.
I was like I, I need some kills, uh.

(48:10):
So I stooped pretty low, likemy team was probably like where
is this guy?
I went back to like the respawnpoint, like healed.
Like I was like smoking acigarette.
I read a magazine, like it was,it was you know.
I was like I guess I should getback to the battle because I
was sick of dying.
So I just was like was it thoseorbs also?
heal yourself too yeah, no,that's what I'm trying.

(48:30):
I'm starting to figure out thatwhat was happening was I was
shooting the the machine gun onone hand on the r trigger, and
then I must have been justalternating, so I was just
healing my, I was was justhealing myself.
I was shooting and healingmyself, shooting and healing
myself and going man, I reallylike this partner and it was
just me doing it the entire time, that's possible.

Speaker 1 (48:50):
I mean, you probably did get another healer on your
team.

Speaker 3 (48:53):
Yeah, yeah, no, absolutely.
There are definitely somehealers that can like throw down
and damage Cloak, and Dagger isone.
I've done a lot of damage withinvisible woman, especially like
her.
Her attack is like it shootsthese, like I don't like these
orbs, that kind of likeboomerang back to you a little

(49:16):
bit, or or like they yo-yo backto you and then she like throws
out this um, like orb thing thatdoes damage like a force field,
yeah, like a, yeah, a forcefield.
And then there's that like wholeforce field that she puts up.
That heals you and it makes youinvisible to like enemies
outside of it yeah, no, she's,she's actually op oh heck, yeah,

(49:37):
she's op dude if you if youhave a, if you have a sue storm
on your team, like you're gonna,it's a huge boon but I've
gotten mvp a few times with heractually and and one time I got
like and it was like a longer,like it was a longer, uh,
competitive match, but like themost that I've gotten with her

(50:00):
was like almost 70k in healing.
Dude, I was going crazy.
I think I did 20k in damage.
And then that little shieldthat she puts up, it makes a
difference, it heals and itblocks up to 300 worth of damage
.
I've put that shield in frontof the Punisher when he's in the

(50:22):
turret form.

Speaker 1 (50:22):
It's like putting a shield on bastion so, um, I I
did not get the opportunity toplay all the characters.
I don't.
I don't even think I playedlike a third of them, but I did
try to play at least two matcheswith each of the characters
that I did do.
So I liked hulk.
That was the first one I chose.

(50:43):
I think that's like the firstone on the wheel and I just kind
of like let me just pick themand yeah.
So I went down the wheel until Ifound hawkeye and that was my
main.
At that point I was just likeman, this feels so much like
hanzo from overwatch and um, Iwas like getting like 25 kills a
game with hanzo or Hawkeye.
So I was just like, yeah, whywould I switch?

(51:05):
This is working for me.

Speaker 3 (51:09):
Speaking of Hanzo, right now is the perfect time to
get back into Overwatch becauseof the perks.
Now there's a perk that giveshim back his scatter arrow.

Speaker 1 (51:20):
Oh, that's the best Dude.
I loved watching people go likehide in in rooms and I just use
a scatter shot and just likeinstant everybody, everybody had
hated that.

Speaker 3 (51:32):
But like I mean that was the thing is, is that like
that was like kind of part ofthat character, you know, like
that was like part of that chaos?
I feel like instead of gettingrid of that character all right,
getting rid of that maybe theycould have added a little bit
more time on to the, to thecooldown, so he's like not
spamming it like crazy.

Speaker 1 (51:53):
But or at least just nerfed it.
You know, if they just likedecrease the damage by half of
the scattershot, you know allright depending on, like, the
distance it travels, maybe, andall that stuff.

Speaker 3 (52:05):
Because, like, one of the things that I always
thought was insane with withhanzo was that with widow maker,
you have to charge the shot,but with hanzo, like you, just
it's a full damage.
You, you don't even have tocharge the the the arrow, it
just if you just spam arrow.
It's like full damage everytime, dude oh, that's true.

Speaker 1 (52:26):
I mean, it goes further, if you like hold right,
right, right, exactly fulldamage.
Yeah, that is weird.
Um, anyway, back back to backto the game I had.
I I liked hulk.
I think like I would go back toplay more of the hulk.
I really enjoyed Groot.
I thought Groot's gameplay wasreally fun.
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (52:44):
Groot is fun.

Speaker 1 (52:46):
He's one of those tank characters that will last a
long time and you actually geta lot of damage out of him as
well.

Speaker 3 (52:51):
So something really smart to do with Groot is that
you know how he has two sets ofwalls that he can put up.
One is a little bit strongerthan the other ones it up, one
is like a little bit strongerthan the other ones.
So the the weaker ones arereally good to put, like maybe
above, like doorways, like achoke doorways, because these
vines come out.

(53:11):
There's vines that come out ofthose walls and they do damage.
So like yeah, so like you know,if they're coming through and
you're hitting them, you know,with your thing you'll see vines
come out.
And there's been times where,like you know, even though
there's no doorways, I'll putthose like walls behind the
people and I'll start like justhitting them.
The vines are behind them,hitting them, I'm like yeah,

(53:32):
yeah, and then throwing thatlike that pod thing that he
throws.
Yeah, I've gone crazy withGroot a couple times.

Speaker 1 (53:43):
I like the thing I was having such a hard time with
, the thing I could not get ahold of him.
I tried him a couple times.
I had a hard time.

Speaker 3 (53:51):
I did too.
Initially.
At first it was a little weird.
I was like I don't know.
Then I decided to hop back onhim.
I kind of figured out hisgameplay a little bit.
He fights like a boxer dude,like you see.
Like the way he fights, yeahyeah um a lot different than the
hulk.
I like when he does like the,the pullback punch, and like

(54:13):
when he, when he hits the target, it has like a metal sound,
like a ting oh yeah yeah, that'spretty cool um, and he has like
that charge ability that that,like you know, he he can like
knock people up into the air anduh that was cool yeah yeah,
yeah, that that's I.

Speaker 1 (54:30):
I had a hard time with doctor strange as well.
I feel like the first game Iplayed, doctor strange I was
doing really good, or at leastsemi good.
Um, and then the, the secondgame, I couldn't land anything
with Doctor Strange, so I feellike it's one of those you need
to kind of be a decent skilllevel or have a good team with

(54:51):
that character.

Speaker 3 (54:52):
Doctor Strange is good, and especially if you have
a Hulk kind of backing you upbecause he has that gamma thing
that he inf infuses.
I don't know if you notice that, like, when you do uh damage
with dr strange, there's thatmeter that goes up to like 100.
Then there's like that kind oflike like that like release

(55:12):
ability that he has that doesdamage.
So you want to try to get getthat meter up to like 100 before
using that release and thenwith the hulk it gives him like
a gamma infused version of thatthat does a bit more damage and
yeah, I noticed that was thewhole um, and then the hulk with
iron man too, because he has aguy, uh, this gamma infused like

(55:33):
and it just the beam, just likethe obliterates people.
Yeah, man, it, it.
This this game is is really fun.
It does take a little bitgetting used to.

Speaker 1 (55:44):
I mean, now that you've actually kind of sat down
and played, you can tell, youcan see the similarities between
it and overwatch, but you cantell that it's a very different
game from overwatch also yeah, I, what I will say is um, there
are certain aspects of it that Ifeel like aren't very polished,
like some of the charactersdon't feel as versatile as they

(56:10):
otherwise could be, if thatmakes sense, or like I don't
know how to explain it like itdoesn't feel as refined as you
know characters that you wouldplay in Overwatch, but that
could come with time.
You know, like buffing wouldplay in overwatch, but, um, I, I
that could come with time.
You know like, and you knowbuffing and debuffing it could.

Speaker 3 (56:26):
Uh, also, I think that what they're not.
I also think that what the whatnetties is not trying to do.
And before you played, beforethe perks came out with
overwatch, a lot of thesecharacters felt like watered
down versions of their previousselves, like a lot they would

(56:47):
still do damage, but like whenyou think in hindsight of how
crazy some of these charactersused to be.
It's like dude, like you know,you guys like ruin these
characters and so like I thinkthat, because you know, we know
that that blizzard is so used tobeing on top, you know they,
they've had their their handsand they've dipped their toe in

(57:09):
everything rpgs, arpgs, rts, fps, um, diablo, starcraft,
warcraft, even, uh, heroes ofthe storm.
That's a moba.
There's hearthstone there.
There's, there's a lot thatthey've, like you know, dipped
their toes in and with them,pretty much like I don't think
that there's been an mmo that'sreally been able to topple them

(57:33):
as king.
As far as world of warcraft,final fantasy 14 is maybe the
closest, but they kind of livein harmony rather than like in
war, because they're verydifferent games yeah, but like
with marvel rivals, it wasliterally like right fire nation
attacked, you know, like firenation came and took out the

(57:53):
seriously overwatch but but thething is, is that, like it kind
of shows you how importantcompetition is, like you need
competition, because then, likeyou know, when you're on, when
you're on the top for for solong, then, like you kind of
don't, if you don't haveanything to push you, then, like

(58:13):
you, why push what?
Like?
Why, why, like you know, go anyfurther unless you have like a
self-motivation, but like, ifyou're successful, why, right,
well, my rivals is like that'snot gonna work any longer and so
, like now I think it's gonna belike a back and forth punch.
You know, like I think that youknow, I I still think that

(58:34):
overwatch don't get me wrong, Iwill always love over, I will
always love over, but likethere's definitely like change
that needed to be done, likethey needed to change.
It was getting boring, dude,like I was like come on man, and
so like, oh, marvel Rivals,like coming in with this, like
fresh take was like reallyreally good.

(58:56):
And like I'm still going toplay Marvel Rivals, even with,
you know, even if like Overwatch, if like overwatch like makes
all these like changes, I stillthink that there's room for both
like to be able to play becausethey are, while they're very
similar, they're also verydifferent I like that, but uh,
so so, which I know rich.

Speaker 1 (59:14):
You said that your favorite character to play was
rocket.
Was there any other charactersthat, like you, would hold up
there as like, either charactersthat, um, you would like to
play again, or characters thatyou haven't checked out, that
you feel like would be fun toplay?

Speaker 2 (59:28):
I still want to, I want to give you.
I tried to stay away.
I mean I picked wolverinebecause you know I can't resist,
uh, but then I, you know I thenI started to think about kind
of my own play style and how Iwas feeling a bit skittish
because when I played somethinglike I can't remember, like the
marvel superhero games or theeven older than those, those

(59:50):
x-men games where you had likefour different heroes and you
could swap between them andstuff like that, like I love
playing as the tank kind ofwolverine and just going
straight up to the the guys andripping them a new one.
But but obviously I need alittle bit more nuance.
So I think that for this, gameand practice too.

Speaker 1 (01:00:07):
You're not just going to get it the first time you
try it.
Yeah, it's one of those.
That was my thing.
You're going to have to playaround.

Speaker 2 (01:00:12):
So I needed somebody.
I feel like I'm at a pointright now where I enjoy more
anybody who could kind of flyaway and and shoot so strut, I
mean.
So I, you know, like the rocketmodel I liked, uh, star lord,
uh, I want to try iron man.
I'm assuming that his playallows for repulsors and and

(01:00:34):
beams from far away.
You know who you would likeactually who venom?

Speaker 1 (01:00:39):
really, venom is fun, yeah, you would love venom,
because that that your gameplaystyle, where, like you, you can
go in there, punch a bunch andyou know, as soon as you start
getting attacked you swing away.

Speaker 3 (01:00:48):
Yeah yeah that's the best yeah, and it's, it's a
really easy it's.

Speaker 1 (01:00:53):
I think he's like really easy, although I think
his ultimate is difficult.
To catch someone like um, likehis ultimate attack is like you
basically go underground andlike you have to like consume
the, the people from underneath,but you have to like time it
right and all that.
But yeah, it's, it's.
It's a little difficult, butsometimes it feels a little

(01:01:14):
underpowered to me too I thinkso, yeah, uh but but no, no, I,
I totally.

Speaker 3 (01:01:20):
I haven't played Venom in a while, but like the
way with like Venom is, is that,like you can kind of like swing
up, he has this ability wherehe can like slam into the ground
, damage people.
He has this ability that, likethat, you know people within
range, kind of latches onto them, and then, like you can attack.

(01:01:41):
You know, once you're kind oflatches onto them and then, like
you, you can attack.
You know, once you're kind oftaking a lot of damage, he has
this like kind of ability thatgives him like armor so he can
last longer and then you cankind of get out.
You can.
You can uh get out, like whenyou start receiving a lot of
damage from that, and so, likeI've done it a lot yeah, I've
played I feel like venom has alot of like survivability.

(01:02:02):
It's just like you know.
Maybe sometimes he fit, he canfeel a little underpowered, but
right.

Speaker 1 (01:02:08):
Yeah, you're not gonna like one one shot.
Kill people right with venom,but that's not really the point
of because he's a tank, you know.

Speaker 3 (01:02:15):
So really his is really his like job is to really
like disrupt and kind of like,you know, mess around with the
team while everybody kind offinishes them off, you know yeah
, I, I think my favoritecharacter is definitely hawkeye.

Speaker 1 (01:02:28):
I just love archer characters.
In every game I've ever playedwhere there's an archer
character, I'm always that guy,but I I actually do find him.
It said that he was four starsin terms of like difficulty, but
for me it was like secondnature because I played so much
of hanzo back in my overwatchtime.

Speaker 3 (01:02:48):
So right, right, maybe make of that what you
would well well, maybe, maybelike for like the average person
, because a lot of people aren'treally that good with like
ranged characters in that kindof way, like, um, black widow or
hawkeye, but like I mean dude,penny, penny parker, like she
has four stars and like to me itfeels sick second nature and

(01:03:09):
she has a lot of utility, likeshe's got the spider minds that
she could throw down the spidervest, uh, the, the spider nest
and um, just like a lot of likestuff that she can do.

Speaker 1 (01:03:21):
The spider vest.

Speaker 3 (01:03:24):
Yeah, I guess in a way technically, when she webs
people up, that could be thespider vest.

Speaker 1 (01:03:28):
I like it, I like it.
So, anthony, if you could pickone favorite character from each
division tank or vanguard, whatdo they call them?

Speaker 3 (01:03:40):
Duelists for the vanguard duel.
They call them duelists for thevanguard duelists and
strategists okay.

Speaker 1 (01:03:43):
So if you could pick one from each uh as as your
go-to, what would it be?

Speaker 3 (01:03:49):
so for vanguard, definitely penny parker.
Like I just, I throw down withpenny parker I like I like when
I say I throw down, like I.
Sometimes I'm like first optionDPS Penny Parker.
I do a lot of damage with her.
As far as I'm going to go toStrategist Because I play

(01:04:12):
Duelist but not as much, butStrategist I really really like
I want to say Cloak and Dagger,but I've been playing a lot of
invisible woman and I feel likeI do really well with her.
She's like really good atescaping because she has that
double jump where she can likego invisible and run away.

Speaker 1 (01:04:30):
I hate that from the other side yeah, dude, I've
escaped a lot with that and thenI would say duelist.

Speaker 3 (01:04:38):
I like, I like Squirrel Girl.

Speaker 1 (01:04:40):
Okay.

Speaker 3 (01:04:43):
Throwing those acorns at people.
I don't know if you've evergotten hit with a Squirrel Girl,
that thing that gets you stuck.
She has a CC ability I have.
You can charge it, you canthrow it just regularly where it
rolls on the ground or you canliterally beam it at them.
I'll just toss it like it'll bea hallway and I'll just like

(01:05:07):
throw it down the hallway andI'm I always catch somebody with
it, uh, but yeah, like no, no,I have, I've fun with squirrel
girl.
She's really, really fun nice,cool man rich.

Speaker 1 (01:05:17):
You got anything else you want to say before we close
this discussion?

Speaker 2 (01:05:21):
out.
I I really feel like it's oneof those games that reminded me
of the Avengers game slightly.
I mean because like that'sUltimate Alliance or, oh no, the
terrible Avengers game.
It was just called.

Speaker 1 (01:05:34):
Oh, like literally the Square Enix Avengers game.

Speaker 2 (01:05:37):
Yeah the huge disappointment that I hyped up
my son for months and months andmonths and then, as we played
it and played it, and played it,we finally admitted to each
other that we found it boring solike I liked that kind of
meetup game.
You know I don't particularlylike the squad, the squad of our
squad, and I think that youknow, obviously, mars my my time

(01:06:00):
with it.
You know, as I got, as Istarted playing it, I I do think
that there is a little bit of alearning curve, but I think
once you figure it out it getsdefinitely more fun.
It's just not a game that Iwant to.
It's not the style of game thatI like playing for two hours
straight.

Speaker 1 (01:06:15):
I could do it for like a half hour 45 minutes and
then I need to do something,yeah, for a couple rounds, and
then you're just kind of likeall right, I need a slim gym or
something.
Yeah, what's going on?

Speaker 2 (01:06:24):
here.

Speaker 3 (01:06:25):
Oh yeah, unbelievable don't, don't, don't look at me,
don't look at me where I'mgoing.

Speaker 1 (01:06:31):
Hours at it oh man, I can't like I.

Speaker 3 (01:06:34):
I start getting like uh restless, um, especially
after I lose, but uh oh if I goon a losing streak, like it kind
of puts me out of the mood, butlike if I'm winning a couple,
then losing, or even if I'm likewinning the losing, winning the
losing, that's fine.

Speaker 1 (01:06:51):
But like when it's just like losing straight, I'm
like, yeah, I'm playing withsome ducks right now yeah, uh,
going back about a minute, Ihave no idea why I said I gotta
grab a slim jim.
I've.
I haven't grabbed a slim jim inliterally years, so I I have no
idea where that came from.

Speaker 3 (01:07:06):
I I have no idea why I said that um, but I'm gonna
trying to dakota's, trying toget us endorsed by slim jim,
because when you listen toproject geekology, I want you to
thank slim jim, and when youlisten to Project Geekology, I
want you to thank Slim Jim andwhen you leave that 5 star
review later on, make sure youdo it like you're snapping into

(01:07:27):
a juicy Slim Jim yeah, not a drySlim, jim, it has to be a juicy
one.

Speaker 1 (01:07:33):
You have to hear that crack, you have to.
You know experience a meat twigthat's what it is.
One last thing I want to mentionI really did appreciate the
attention to details on on themaps.
Um, I feel like there's so muchto explore in the maps that I

(01:07:54):
just haven't had the opportunityto do so yet, because it feels
like there's a ton of maps.
I don't think I've evenexperienced all of them at this
point.
And while the game modes areagain very similar to Overwatch
and the design of the maps isvery similar, I do think that
there's enough variation thereto make it really just enjoyable

(01:08:16):
new locations to play in thistype of game.
But one thing that I will say Ikind of disliked is that
sometimes, when there's too muchgoing on on the screen, it's
very difficult to make out whatwhat you're shooting at.
Sometimes, like there'll belike three or four different
force fields, like from likeboth sides, so there'll be like

(01:08:38):
blue, blue walls on top of redwalls and you're just shooting
randomly into the abyss, justlike what's going on.

Speaker 3 (01:08:46):
Hey, just when in doubt, just like spam into a
direction.

Speaker 1 (01:08:51):
That's what you got to do.
But yeah, that was somethingthat like.
Occasionally I felt kind ofannoyed by Just like or like if
there was like four enemies ontop of me, I don't, obviously,
you're dead at that point butlike sometimes.
I think I think their animationfor their attacks became so
overwhelming that it kind ofjust not glitched or anything,

(01:09:13):
but it just like I don't knowhow to express what I'm trying
to say it just was too much onthe screen at that given moment
and it was just, it was ugly tolook at in those brief moments.

Speaker 3 (01:09:24):
Dakota, just just say it.
You know you were tired ofseeing the, the rapid iron fist
punching.

Speaker 1 (01:09:32):
Oh man, tell you what , though?
When, when you got, when, when,when an iron fist would like
pop up on like from behind, andthen I would swing around with
hawkeye and, just like one, shothim.

Speaker 3 (01:09:45):
I felt so good, oh yeah, I can imagine.
I can imagine.
Yeah, um, iron fist, I feellike isn't as annoying anymore
like at first, like he wasreally annoying, but I feel like
people are starting to kind oflike figure out how to deal with
them.
Same thing with like spider-manunless you get like that,
really like cracked spider-man,that just wouldn't won't bother.

(01:10:07):
They won't stop bothering you,especially if you're like a
healer.
They'll just dive the butt,they'll just dive the back line
the whole time, dang yeah, Imean, that's very peter parker,
um, but anyway, guys, I thinkthat's.

Speaker 1 (01:10:21):
I think that's our show for for today.
That's our 111th episode.
You already heard it here.
Uh, you got to give us a fivestar juicy review like a slim
jim like a slim jim.

Speaker 3 (01:10:32):
This is gonna think of something dry definitely was
not planned at all.

Speaker 1 (01:10:37):
I have no idea why, I the word slim jim I.
I don't think I've said that ina very long time.
Yeah, no, that was completelysubconscious.
Anyway, guys, if you want tocheck out any of our socials, be
sure to click down into theshow notes below.
You can find us on Twitter, onInstagram and other places.

(01:10:59):
And yeah, what are we doingnext week, guys?
What's going on?

Speaker 3 (01:11:05):
That's a good question.

Speaker 1 (01:11:07):
Marvel Rivals, round 2?
.

Speaker 3 (01:11:08):
Marvel Rivals, episode 2.

Speaker 2 (01:11:12):
I don't know if you guys saw there's a new Witcher
animated movie on Netflix.
I don't know if you guys areWitcher fans A new one, or it's
just released.
It's called like sirens ofsomething I started watching
sirens last night and sadly, uh,that's the deep yeah was there.

Speaker 1 (01:11:32):
I feel like there was a witcher animated uh movie not
too long ago as well, or isthis?
Is this?

Speaker 2 (01:11:39):
it.
This one, uh, this one saysreleased 2025.
No, it came out, uh it.
It was released on uh february11th of 2025 oh, there was.

Speaker 3 (01:11:48):
There was, uh, the witcher nightmare of the wolf.

Speaker 1 (01:11:52):
Yes, okay, I watched that a while back.
Okay, all right, all right,rich, did you want to try this?
Uh, sirens of the deep, yeah,as our it's.
Uh, next, our next show, Ithink it's.
I think it's a doable hour, 31minutes, not bad, anthony, you
down yeah, we could do that yeah, just do something a little bit
different.
All right, I'm down guys.

Speaker 3 (01:12:13):
So I'm curious what the sirens of the deep are yes,
but yeah already y'all, don'tforget to grab a Slim Jim and
play the Wolverine or you know,if you're rich, probably don't
play the Wolverine play Rocketand spam a bunch of healing orbs

(01:12:36):
and not know, that they'rehealing you.

Speaker 1 (01:12:39):
I love it.
Alright, guys, have a good one.
You already said the Wolverine,so I'm not gonna.