March 5, 2025 • 41 mins
In this episode of the Soul Of A Gamer Podcast, Scott and Stephen dive into a light-hearted discussion about personal experiences, the video game worlds they would love to inhabit, and the side characters that have left a lasting impression on them. They explore the nuances of side characters, share anecdotes about their favorite gaming moments, and analyze the depth of various characters from popular games. The conversation is filled with humor, nostalgia, and insights into the gaming community.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
We are a weekly podcast, soul of a gamer.
(00:03):
Hey, I'm smart this time!
I did this time!
Let's not go that far, okay?
I will fuck it up again!
I love pressing that button. That was my favorite one.
Yes.
This game gets really fucking weird.
Um, yeah, so you do acid and then you go into the hamster soup.
(00:24):
And this week is...
Night Trap! Night Trap!
They're right behind you, Night Trap!
10 year old birthday party.
Next scene, kill the kid.
You got to kill the kid.
Sha la la la la la car is coming.
Throw your body into the car and die.
(00:47):
All I could do every time I was playing Ethan was just start walking around and go, Jason!
Oh god!
Oh god, yes.
Shorty had them apple bottom jeans and the boots with the fur?
With the fur.
And the whole club was looking at her?
Yes.
Whoa.
(01:09):
Welcome back everybody to another Soul of a Gamer.
I'm Scott.
And I'm Steven.
And we are doing another Hot Takes.
Yes.
And today is, uh, what, what, uh, what volcano would I throw Steven into if I had the opportunity?
So this is actually a good one.
(01:31):
And it's a lot of them.
There's about 237 of them and not all of them are on this planet.
I'm no longer a virgin though, so you won't get any special magical powers for sacrificing me in a volcano.
Yeah, it's been like, he unfortunately two weeks ago lost his V-card.
Oh yeah, two weeks.
So many years now.
Yeah, I know, we've been bugging you about it for years.
(01:53):
Like, what the fuck are you doing, dude?
I guess, yeah, yeah, yeah.
You know, I was just waiting for the right moment, you know.
Really building to it.
If you guys don't know this and if you're a woman listener you probably don't know this either.
But like, for guys it's funny because we bag on each other for like,
Ah, you don't have sex, you're a loser!
And it's so funny because Steven back then, we had this friend who was just a complete jackass.
(02:17):
And he would come up to Steven all the time and just be like,
Ha ha ha, you don't have sex, ha ha ha!
And Steven would go, ha ha ha, you have sex with ugly women, ha ha ha!
It's just like, it's the dumbest thing guys do, but it's so fucking funny when you're like on the outside looking in.
Oh, I mean, it's one of those things where you look at it and you're like,
Oh my god, are you guys really just like, doing that shit to each other?
(02:39):
And it's just shit talk to shit talk.
I mean, I was a virgin until I was 20, 21, I can't even fucking remember.
What a piece of shit.
What a piece of shit.
I know, I was waiting till marriage, I was trying to be a good Christian boy.
I think a lot of people do that, honestly.
That's maybe a hot take we do sometimes.
We talk about like, why people decide to wait till marriage.
(03:01):
Because that's an interesting, that is interesting because I have like, at least 90% of my friends said,
I think I'm gonna wait till marriage and then none of them fucking did that.
Yeah, I mean, I waited till I was engaged, but I pretty much got engaged as a precursor of,
I want to have sex sooner rather than later.
That's how it is.
(03:22):
Maybe one day we jump into that and we talk about some of our experiences with people who said those things.
I mean, it could be fun just to do non-video game related bullshit.
Yeah, but today we are talking about video game related bullshit.
Oh yeah.
What are we doing today, Stephen?
Today we are talking about the video game worlds we would love to live in
(03:43):
and the best video game side characters and what that entails.
Yeah, we had a caveat of side characters.
We try to pick characters that weren't like, super integral to the plot,
but not also like, completely apart from it.
It's hard, there's a blurred line between a side character and a main character
(04:04):
and the main character, usually you just consider it as the character you play,
but I almost consider it as like, in a movie the lead actor is usually the people who are on screen the most.
So if two people have the same amount of screen time, aren't they both the main actor?
Well, they're co-stars, yeah.
In that instance they're co-stars.
(04:24):
I argued that a side character isn't a playable character.
I kind of said that they can be played, but if they're not exactly there all the time it should be fine.
Yeah, so my caveat for that, I stuck to myself, was these are characters you don't play as,
at least in the main title games.
There's one character that you get the spin-off game himself.
(04:46):
Yeah, and I chose, there is a character you play as, but I don't think you play as him in the first game actually.
And you don't play as the other two at all, but they're funny and I love them.
Okay.
So you want to start with characters?
Sure, we can do that since we're talking about it.
Let's jump right in. I'm going to just jump right in here before you because fuck you.
I'm going to start with Locke.
Locke.
Locke. Do you remember Locke?
(05:08):
Locke.
This is one of my favorite, favorite actors of all time plays this guy.
Guy.
Guy?
Guy, he's Joe Swanson, he's a...
Oh, um.
Oh, God.
Isn't his name...
Nick Offerman.
No, not Nick Offerman.
(05:29):
Ron Swanson?
Isn't his name Guy?
You mean Guy Fieri?
No, no, Joe Swanson from Family Guy.
Joe Swanson.
Oh, Joe Swanson.
The Tick.
No.
God, why am I drawing it?
Patrick Warburton.
Patrick Warburton, sorry, he's Guy in Ted.
Yes.
(05:50):
That's right, he's Guy in Ted.
Patrick Warburton, he's just such a fucking phenomenal actor and I love the way he fucking talks.
And same voice in everything he does.
But it's always good.
Like that's the cra...
It's always fucking good.
Ah, the poison for Cusco.
Cusco's poison.
Yeah, see like it's a line that people have said a million times and they still love it today.
(06:12):
So Locke is a character from Tack and the Power of Juju.
Yes.
Oh my God, I forgot about that.
He's the dumb character who just does some really stupid shit.
And he is the funniest fucking character in the world.
He plays Crunk again.
Yes, like there's a great...
No, this is actually pre-Bruce New Groove, I think.
I know it is, yeah.
I think this is what inspired Crunk.
(06:33):
So there's a point in the second game where he's trying to jump a chasm with a pole vault.
So he's trying to pole vault.
And the little mental Juju comes out that can read minds and he goes,
Oh, if you're so smart, what am I thinking right now?
You are thinking, can I jump this chasm?
Now you are thinking, I don't think I have enough speed to jump this chasm.
(06:58):
And now you are thinking, I'm going to fall.
Just like...
The character is just so good.
He comes in at weird times.
He's just a comic relief character and he works out so well for what he was.
Like he's not important whatsoever, but he's the original...
He was supposed to be the tribe's leader.
And then Tak was the one who ended up with the power of Juju and Locke didn't get it.
(07:22):
And Locke is still upset about it, so he goes on adventures with Tak.
It's just so good.
Patrick Corbin is one of those people that is just like...
They just play themselves and they are that role in everything they do.
But they do it so well that it always elevates whatever they're in.
Yeah.
I have to agree, he's a great one.
(07:43):
And every single thing he's in, I love.
Oh yeah, for sure.
There's nothing that he's ever been in that I've said, okay, this is shit.
And he does actually a pretty good job playing a more serious role.
Well, even in Ted, I love his role.
In Ted, when he's at Comic Con, he's like, I love fucking with nerds.
Shit.
Shit on my hand.
(08:05):
When he's in the Limit E Snicket, the series of unfortunate events,
honestly, he did fucking phenomenal in that role.
That was so good.
I love him in Rules of Engagement.
That's one of my favorite shows with David Spade.
That fits more of his character.
Plus, it was a reunion of Crunk and Cusco again.
(08:26):
Yeah.
And it lasted seven or eight seasons.
Something like that, like in the mid-2000s.
Yeah.
I own it also.
Late 90s.
That's after David Spade took on...
What was that role he did?
I know we're getting a little off topic, but remember where he's like
(08:47):
helping the mayor or is the mayor of New York City?
He took over for Michael J. Fox.
Oh, Spin City.
Spin City, yeah.
That was way after that.
That's after that role, I want to say.
Not way after.
It was at least 10 years after that.
10 years?
Didn't that end in the early 2000s?
(09:08):
Didn't that end in 2002 or 2003?
Spin City.
Spin City, I'm going to guess 2002 or 2003,
and then I'm going to guess Rules of Engagement started around that time.
Spin City was 96 to 2002.
Oh, man, I'm good.
Okay.
And Rules of Engagement was 2007 to 2013.
So five years after.
That was way later than I thought you were going to say, like 2004.
(09:30):
No, I thought it was later 2000s.
Okay, well, yeah, nice.
But yeah, I knew Spin City early, like 2002 or 2003.
Within like a season of two or David Spade coming in,
and it was gone because he's a great, I love David Spade, but he is not.
Oh, he's great.
That is not the role for David Spade, not a take over Michael J. Fox.
There's a lot of roles that aren't the greatest for David Spade,
(09:51):
but you know, he David Spades it.
He's good as is.
Yes.
Watch your side character, Steven.
All right, so the first one I'm going to bring up,
one I didn't realize was actually going to be kind of controversial,
but the more I was looking into the character,
the more like I saw everyone arguing about this character,
whether he's a good character or a shit character.
This is Jonah from Tomb Raider.
(10:15):
I was just talking about my love for what?
Jonah Hill?
No, not Jonah Hill, just Jonah.
What do you mean not Jonah?
Ask me about my wiener.
What about your wiener?
I'm not going to answer.
But I was just talking about how much I love Tomb Raider in our last episode,
and Jonah is honestly, he's the most down to earth, just like cool dude ever.
(10:41):
Like in both the trilogy of the new games and in the TV show that Netflix just did as well,
the animated series, I love his character.
He's just such a genuine dude and cares so much about Laura and his friends and family,
and he's always willing to do whatever it takes to be there to support a person,
no matter how much it hurts himself.
(11:02):
And I just see a lot of myself in that with the character, and I just, I don't know,
he's just like the most genuine person and someone I feel like I'd be best friends with in life.
You're so lame.
Dude, I am.
I don't know.
He's not even like, he don't even...
It's been too long since I played with Jonah, the...
He's the big Hawaiian dude.
(11:23):
Okay, yeah. Yes, I know what you're talking about now. Yes.
Okay.
Yeah.
Now I see it.
For some reason, I'm picturing like this skinny white guy who's like on the phone
and fucking her hack shit.
Oh, fuck no.
No, no.
And I'm like, no, no, no, that's not right.
Yeah, yeah. Big Hawaiian dude.
This guy is a lovable bear.
Every bit of like, that like Maui vibe or whatever.
(11:44):
Yeah.
Yeah.
All right, all right. I like it. I like it. I can dig it.
What else you got? What else you got?
Of course we got to mention one of my favorite games of all time.
We're going to bring up Tails.
I expect.
Oh.
Of course Tails is coming in here.
You know what I wish they would have done with Tails originally?
You know in Mario Kart when you fall off
and like the thing that comes and gets you is the little guy?
(12:07):
Have Tails do that for Sonic in the first game.
I think he does it in the second game for Sonic.
I think so.
Second or third game.
But in the first game he does it, which is unfortunate.
Tails is like the most epitomeed best friend character of all time.
This guy goes to the ends of the earth for Sonic all the fucking time.
And he's ready to save the world.
(12:28):
He can take on the power of the Chaos Emeralds.
Like he can fucking fly with his goddamn tails
and he's a fucking fox, not a bird.
That's cool as shit.
Well, and he's got the fucking gadgetry and ship and pilot knowledge of pro.
He's like a combination of Chip and Dale from Rescue Rangers,
(12:50):
not like the dancers.
Not the dancing, not the strippers.
But no, no, no, no, the Rescue Rangers.
He's like you throw all of the Rescue Rangers in together
and he epitomes every single one of them.
That's the crazy part.
Especially Gadget.
Yes, Gadget, but like he's adventurous.
Like the two, or Hedgehogs, like the two, what are they?
(13:13):
What?
Chip and Dale, what are they again?
Oh, they're Chipmunks.
Chipmunks, that's right.
I guess, are they?
Yeah.
You sure?
Aren't they?
I think Alvin and the Chipmunks are Chipmunks.
Well, they are definitely Chipmunks, but I think Chip and Dale are Chipmunks too.
Maybe they are, but yeah, maybe Chipmunks.
But then like the big guy, the fat dude.
Google break.
(13:34):
What's the fat dude's name?
Oh, dude, I can't remember the fat dude.
It was Baloo, wasn't it?
No, Baloo is from, what are you talking about?
That's the bear, you son of a bitch.
Oh, the fat mouse.
You're talking about the fat mouse.
Yeah, yeah, Baloo's the, it's the bear necessity.
He was in a cartoon with him, Tailspin.
(13:56):
Oh, yeah, yeah, Tailspin.
No, that's the different characters you're thinking of.
Yeah.
I don't, was Chip and Dale in Tailspin?
I don't think they were in, maybe they were.
I don't remember.
I think they were in Tailspin.
I'm pretty sure they were in Tailspin.
There's a lot of old cartoons.
Yeah, they're in Tailspin.
Anyway, anyway, like if you combine all the characters
from Rescue Rangers, you get Tails,
and that's the coolest fucking thing in the world to me.
(14:19):
True.
I know, if you guys have never seen Rescue Rangers,
I'm sorry your life is so sad.
Chip and Dale are anthropomorphic chipmunks.
Boom.
Okay, they are chipmunks.
Yeah.
I thought I was right.
I can't believe they chose chipmunks.
I would have chosen squirrels.
Actually, the new Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers movie
(14:41):
that came out in 2022 is pretty solid.
Is it?
I haven't seen it yet.
It's a lot of meta humor.
They actually have ugly Sonic in the movie.
Okay.
Remember when the Sonic
They actually have ugly Sonic as a character.
(15:02):
Did they say Sony?
Or did Sony make the movie?
I think it was Sony, wasn't it?
Maybe, I don't know.
Whoever did it, I don't know.
They were bullied as they should have been.
They were bullied the hell out of them as they should
because the new Sonic look is way better.
Yeah, it's way better.
But ugly Sonic is there, and he's at a Comic Con
signing stuff as ugly Sonic.
I'm like, yeah, I got fired.
(15:25):
It's so fucking funny, dude.
Oh my God.
All right, what's your next character?
My next character is someone that during both mine
and my wife's playthrough of this game,
one of my favorite franchises, Far Cry 6.
Of course it is.
We fell in love with this character,
and this is Mercedes Janrahn Martin.
(15:47):
Martin.
Or Martin.
I think it's Martin.
It's probably Martin.
She is phenomenal, fiery redhead.
She is just super strong.
Her first introduction to you, she comes out.
She's talking about how you took down a base camp,
(16:09):
and she's just talking about who she is
and what part of the group she's in.
And she just pulls out a grenade, unhinges the grenade.
She is like, hi, I'm Janrahn.
And then chucks a grenade at a guy that's over all
up in the distance and just blows them up.
And she's like, oh my God.
Yeah, she's like, oh shit, you're a badass.
That sounds like a Far Cry game.
Oh, it is.
It's Far Cry through and through.
(16:30):
That's every Far Cry ever.
Oh, yeah.
I mean, they went into the corniness
and the ridiculousness of it,
especially with their drug trips and shit.
That became a huge staple of the whole franchise.
But Janrahn's one of the most lovable characters in that.
She's just awesome.
She's probably the coolest vegan I've ever met.
(16:52):
Did you just say the coolest vegan I've ever met?
This fake character you've never met before.
Is that what you're trying to say?
Hey, that's a lot less weird than saying I fell in love with this person.
I guess.
I mean, both are equally strange in my opinion.
I've met some pretty cool vegans, so I don't know.
I don't know.
(17:13):
She's just really awesome about just everything
and the way that she celebrates life.
And you talk to her a lot, especially when you're celebrating your victory
on this island and you get to have a long walk with her.
She tells you about where she came from and who her brothers were
and why she joined the rebellion and all this other stuff.
You just have a lot of really cool heart-to-heart moments.
She's every character in every Far Cry game.
(17:35):
Yeah, but better and attractive.
So why did you join the rebellion?
Well, in Far Cry 1, I joined because of this reason,
but in Far Cry 2, I joined because of this reason.
Well, actually, the good guy at Far Cry 1 becomes the bad guy in Far Cry 2.
Yeah, I remember.
I remember.
So yeah, that's not the other pick.
What else do you got?
(17:56):
All right, my last pick.
This is one of my favorite characters.
And you know what's crazy is this character came out of a side game.
Okay.
And that side game developed into a full-on cool own-story game.
This character really sold the community on this game,
and I think it sold us on the game because we had so much fun
with this character when we played this game.
(18:18):
This is Steph Gingrich.
Steph Gingrich.
Do you remember Steph Gingrich?
Sounds familiar, but I'm drawing a blank.
She created a D&D game we played in Before the Storm.
Oh.
Yep, Steph Gingrich.
She's in Life is Strange Before the Storm.
(18:40):
She is a hoodie-wearing, not hoodie-wearing,
beanie-wearing woman who loves D&D and just loves being her best self.
She's kind of like a little melodramatic.
She's a little bit like goth girl, kind of.
She's got that goth girl attitude, at least.
And then in True Colors, when they give her more of a role in that game,
(19:01):
it is just so incredible how cool she is.
Okay, now I'm way more interested in True Colors,
so I didn't realize she was in True Colors.
True Colors was so fucking good, guys.
I cannot give it enough praise.
I had so much fun playing True Colors.
I haven't played Life is Strange, the new one, the three, essentially.
Yeah, I haven't played it yet.
I haven't followed down on Max Caulfield's story at all, but I will eventually.
(19:24):
I did buy it.
I will see you.
I just have not played it.
But this character really sold these games for me.
She was just so cool.
My buddy is one of the guys who came up with the idea of this character,
and he's like, yeah, you know, when we were thinking about her,
who is a person we'd love to know?
Like, who's someone who would be really cool to just have a chat with?
And that was like the original idea of her,
(19:45):
which I think is really fucking cool.
That's really awesome.
Yeah.
Yeah, they had a lot of fun coming up with this character,
and they even told me, like, everybody who's played the game said
that is their favorite character in the entire game.
Yeah, for sure.
Oh, yeah, that's a great choice.
I didn't even think about that one.
All right.
I kind of, my next one is probably going to be a little basic,
(20:09):
but I still think...
Basic bitch, deep in...
I was kind of between two.
I was between Elizabeth from BioShock Infinite and Serena from Skyrim.
Boo, boo, both suck.
Boo, get out of here.
Boo.
I don't know who Serena is.
Who do you?
Who do you?
I wanted to say Daxter, but then I was like, you kind of,
he's still a main character.
(20:30):
Yeah, I'd say, because especially with like Jack and Daxter.
Yeah, I mean, the titles even, both their names.
I wanted to say Kazooie, but it's Banjo and Kazooie.
That was actually on a lot of lists that I saw,
and I was like, that doesn't count.
Like, fuck you guys.
No, I can't get that.
It's like, Diddy Kong is a side character,
(20:51):
except in certain games, because in like Donkey Kong 64,
Diddy Kong is a main character you can play as.
Yeah.
Diddy Kong Racing, you get the option to play it.
Like, I don't know.
But even on the Donkey Kong Country games,
you can play as Diddy Kong as long as you have him in your party.
You can just switch them any time you want.
Yeah, so like, he is technically a side character,
(21:13):
but again, it's just the amount of times you can play as them is insane.
Yeah, I mean, a lot of people said Clank,
and I was like, no, Clank doesn't count either.
Ratchet and Clank fuckers.
Can't be a title character.
Fuck you, assholes.
You go fuck yourselves.
I hope you die.
I never hoped that far, but you know.
I hope you get a hang toenail, and that leads to sepsis.
(21:37):
Oh, man.
That's even worse, actually.
But yeah, no, I think I will just go with Elizabeth.
I think Elizabeth from Bioshock, I think the Bioshock game,
those are all great games, especially for me, the first and the third.
I didn't vibe with the second one as much.
I know that's a hot take as well.
(21:58):
I've heard the second game is not the best one,
so I've never played the second or the third Bioshock,
but I have heard the second one's not the best.
I don't like the second one as much.
It's way harder, which it's already a difficult game.
Yeah.
The whole big sister thing is crazy, and she is a bitch of a fight.
(22:19):
Anytime you run into her, it's ridiculous.
Playing as a big daddy, it's just big, lumpy, and clunky.
So it's just different.
But Bioshock 3, I know it got a lot of hate, but also a lot of praise.
I still think it's a really great game with a really great twist.
I think the twist is something a lot of people will kind of catch on to,
(22:43):
but I think Elizabeth is a character.
She's constantly tossing you ammo.
She's constantly tossing things you might need.
She's constantly tossing you mana and health bots.
There is a little bit of times where she can be slightly annoying,
but which video game characters aren't annoying at times.
Right.
Hey, listen.
Exactly.
She's not like that at the very least.
(23:05):
Booker, here's some ammo.
Booker, here's some mana.
Booker, here's some help.
And then you punch her in the face, and you're like,
here's some fucking fist.
But she can also open up portals and stuff like that,
and she just has a lot of really cool things,
and she's really integral to the story.
So it's kind of like where I didn't want to say that she was a side character
(23:27):
because her character really is kind of the main focus in a way,
but you don't ever play as her.
So that's why I still kind of caveated it.
All right.
All right.
I like it.
Yeah.
Okay.
Well, let's move on to our favorite worlds.
Yes.
What were our favorite worlds?
Worlds we would live in.
Yes.
(23:48):
It's a little bit different than I would say favorite worlds
because there's some of my favorite worlds I would never want to fucking live in.
Oh, yeah.
Like Elden Ring is a beautiful, beautiful world.
Or even Shadow of the Colossus.
Beautiful world.
But I don't know if I'd want to live in the Shadow of the Colossus world.
Yeah.
We're going to avoid that as much as we can.
So I definitely went with...
And I wanted to stay away from games that are too much like my own reality.
(24:11):
I did put the caveat, even though TCG Simulator or Mass Effect,
living on the Citadel would be cool, it's still too much like my normal life.
Yeah, I'd be in space, but I'd still be doing the same shit I'm doing now.
Yeah.
And we're not saying we're out there fighting aliens.
No, we're saying if it's too close to reality, we did not include it.
(24:34):
Yeah.
Well, because I wouldn't be probably the one facing aliens.
And that's why I'm not going to say...
If it's reality adjacent, we tried to keep it out of here.
So my first choice...
I do have three picks for this.
My first choice was actually Cassette Beast.
I thought about Pokemon, but I think that one's one that everyone says all the time.
(24:55):
I was trying to just avoid it.
Oh, I didn't even think about Pokemon.
I should have said Digimon.
There you go.
But I was trying to avoid things that didn't start as games, but Pokemon did.
But Digimon did not, I don't think.
Oh, that's fair.
But I do really like the world of Cassette Beast.
I like the whole idea that you were kind of just like removed from Earth randomly.
Yeah, any Earth.
(25:18):
Yeah, any Earth.
From any dimension or whatever, too.
There were a bunch of different ones.
And you're all just plucked there and put in the world together, and everyone kind of helps each other out.
And everyone goes out and just becomes like a Pokemon trainer, basically, but with these cassette tapes.
And falls in love.
Yeah, and you have lots of romance options, and you can romance them all.
Get some awesome orgees.
(25:42):
Or have a huge orgy.
Yeah, you could do some really cool shit with that, and videotape it or sound tape it with all your videotapes.
Sound tape it?
Yeah, you know, sound tapes.
Sound tapes.
You gotta sound, not record the audio, but you sound tape it.
I sound tapes, okay?
That's what we're doing right now, sound taping.
(26:04):
We're sound taping this recording.
Yes.
But I just think that, of all the kind of Pokemon-esque worlds, I do think that one's kind of the most fun and the most interesting.
And it has taken me from my reality, so I get to still have my own experiences, my own life that I had.
But now I just get to top on top of that, a whole new world.
(26:25):
Yeah.
Yeah, I basically, it's an isekai.
Pokemon's not an isekai, but this one literally would be ripping me from my life here and bringing me into a new world.
So basically, I get to turn into an anime character and be living my life as an isekai character.
That's pretty sweet.
Okay, I like it. I like the idea.
Alright, I'm gonna come at you, of course, with Skies of Arcadia, because why the hell wouldn't I?
(26:47):
Of course, you bring this game up.
This world is so fucking cool.
Again, air pirates, everything's kind of like floating islands.
It's just such an interesting world that has such a huge dynamic to it.
And the fact that it's still kind of undiscovered, things are still out there in secret, you still have something to find.
I think this would be a really sweet world to live in.
(27:10):
And just becoming either a pirate or a sailor or anything like that sounds pretty cool, especially when you're in the sky and not on the sea.
Sounds way more dangerous.
Equally dangerous, I would say, actually.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. It sounds equally dangerous, but it's pretty, I don't know, it's pretty fucking cool.
I like the idea of this world.
And especially the fact that there's floating islands, you can literally just find an island and take it over.
(27:35):
Sounds like, so it's a treasure planet mixed with Avatar?
Yeah, with a little bit.
Yes, with a little less of a giant scope. There's not that big of an area, right?
You're on one single planet at one single time.
You're not space traveling anywhere. You are just there.
I think it's a cool, it's a cool world and I'd love to be able to live on it.
(27:58):
Nice.
Okay.
My next pick, I kind of went with a horny pick, I'm not going to lie.
Horny pick.
I've been talking about this game with a couple of my friends recently. I introduced them to this game.
This is all of our favorite porn game now.
One of my friends 100% of the game and even got his wife into the game and she's played it two or three times all the way through.
(28:23):
Okay.
New season's coming out soon. It's called Being a Dick.
And the game is one of the highest rated porn games I've ever seen.
I've ever seen. Out of the 20 porn games, this is on top.
Yes. This game is phenomenal, honestly, with its storytelling.
(28:46):
It's got some beautiful moments. It's got some sad moments.
It's got some moments that will touch your heart.
But then also there's moments where you're just going to be playing one handed.
To say it grossly.
But this game world is just really fun.
It's kind of just that American Pie college movie.
(29:12):
The Naked Mile or College Rules or Beta House Rules or whatever movies in that franchise.
It's basically those as a college experience.
It's just the most ridiculous college experience from every movie you've ever seen.
It's just that college experience where everyone's partying all the time.
Everyone's doing pranks all the time.
Everyone's having sex with each other.
Everyone's having sex with each other. Everyone.
(29:35):
You're going to fuck every girl you meet. Grandma.
Grandpa. Fido. Everyone.
You can fuck your teachers. You can fuck your friends.
You can fuck your friends' friends.
You can fuck your friends' mom figures basically.
But what about your friends' grandma?
Sure. You can fuck your friends' sister.
You keep naming the lame ones. I want grandma action.
(29:58):
I didn't see any grandma action but season 3 is coming out so maybe we'll see some grandma action there.
Being a dick, you failed me. Bring some grandmas in there.
I want to live in fucking, what's that movie? Grandma's Boy.
Let's get it going.
I'd rather live in Euro Trip.
Hell no.
(30:19):
She invented putting the finger in the ass during a blow job or a hand job or something.
Okay. Fuck you, Steven.
Have some appreciation for the OGs.
I just think this like, I never got to have that college partying experience or anything like that.
(30:40):
So of the experiences that I never got to try or do, this would be an experience that I never got to fully fulfill.
That if I got a chance to live in that world for a little bit of time, I think it would be a blast to just kind of let everything loose.
And just see how crazy things could go.
And see what that feels like.
That's a little crazy but okay.
(31:01):
I know it's a little out there, it's a little crazy but I want you to make this a actual.
I try to pick things that could never happen and you're right, that could never happen to you.
I couldn't do that. I really couldn't be this way.
I like playing this character but I could never be this character.
Honestly, as forward as this character is, I could never be this guy.
But I do like the idea of it and I've never got to experience that.
(31:24):
So living in a world where I would get to experience that or it just would almost happen naturally to me.
Like I wouldn't even need to seek it out. It would just fall on my lap.
Yeah.
Alright, alright.
Alright, I'm gonna come at you with a counterpoint.
A little bit less of a sleazy fucking horseshit game you little, you sick son of a bitch.
Hey, you know, it's hot takes. I threw out a hot takes.
(31:47):
Hot takes.
I took that way too literally.
I'm coming at you with Overcooked 2.
Ooh. Why the mayhem?
I love cooking. Like cooking is just so much fucking fun.
And having access to the ingredients that you have access to in Overcooked 2 and trying all these new meals and everything.
That would be fucking sweet.
(32:08):
That would be such a cool world to live in where you're just traveling and cooking for people.
Like honestly, that sounds like so much fucking fun.
I mean, I don't know if I want to cook like on an 18 wheeler on the highway across two different...
I mean, as long as I get to respawn after it's fine.
Just the chaos that happens in those games for me.
(32:31):
I agree with you on the food and the...
Yeah, but the chaos makes it kind of fun.
And the kitchen is full.
Oh, it makes it insane.
Like again, like everything is so cool about that world.
Like I live in a world where literally it's life or death with cooking.
That's all it is all the time.
I love a lot of those TV shows kind of like Jury Duty that just came out not too long ago.
(32:54):
Where this guy thought he actually was on a jury duty, but it was a fully fake show.
Every 30 was actors except for him.
And I like the idea of like all these like hidden cam shows and stuff like that that have all these things.
It would be like a really funny experience to put like me and our friend, us and our friend group in a kitchen.
(33:15):
Like a super busy kitchen and just like have at it.
Here's all the ingredients.
You guys would suck so hard.
I would be fine.
Fuck you.
Paul's so hard to deal with you guys.
We would be hard to deal with.
I'm not discerning that, but I would be a good cook for you.
You did it wrong, you idiot.
I'm gonna enter Gordon Ramsay, although I don't think he's a good chef would come out.
(33:40):
I watched him do his little grilled cheese where he's fucking up a grilled cheese sandwich real hard.
Can't respect him anymore.
Everyone has their own ways to do things.
No, he put a grilled cheese over a live fire.
Okay.
I don't see the problem with that.
And then he cut into it and it's not melted at all.
And he's like, oh, that's the problem.
(34:01):
And it's like beautifully melted.
He said that when he had trouble cutting it.
He said beautifully melted because he's a piece of shit.
Oh, God.
I would be, you know, if it were me, I'd be like, man, I really fucked this up bad, didn't I?
All right.
What do you got?
My last pick.
(34:22):
This one kind of, I guess, this is kind of a cheating based on what you said earlier.
This is one that was a...
Boo.
It was an anime first.
Cheat, cheat, cheat, but it's got a whole video game franchise.
So I'm still, I'm still accepting it.
Sword Art Online.
Nope.
I'm taking it away.
Boo.
Fuck you.
(34:43):
Boo.
Hi.
Especially for me, Aincrad, Elphine would be okay too.
I would not want to live in Gungale.
I would love Gungale.
Or, actually, civilization, I can't even fucking ever pronounce that.
That would be a cool one too, because you're like...
That would be a cool one too, but it would be way more dangerous.
Time is insane on that one.
(35:04):
That would be so fucking cool.
Yeah, it is.
Aincrad, though, and Elphine are two of the best worlds.
I don't care, even, if I'm trapped in the game in Aincrad.
Honestly, even their life that they had on Flir 65 or whatever, where they had that lake house,
that cabin lake house, and they're just living their life like a normal life,
that's such an awesome moment.
(35:26):
And honestly, living in a video game world where you can level up your skills
sounds like the coolest thing ever.
I'd love to be able to look at my stats and know what the fuck's wrong with me.
Just be like, oh, my beauty stats way down.
Yeah, and then I could just practice being beautiful and get more beautiful.
Honestly, living in a video game world with video game stats,
and this is why I wanted to pick this one mainly,
(35:48):
is just because that whole premise to me sounds so intriguing
of being able to actually just improve whatever I wanted to improve.
And I know I can do that in the real world a little bit, but like...
You can. You can.
It's easier.
It doesn't take as much effort.
That's true. That's true.
And I don't lose the stats for not doing them anymore.
(36:09):
But what about the part where you die? If you die, you die.
If I get really ripped right now and then I stop working out for six months,
I'll get a little fatter again.
But if I was in the video game world, I would never get fat again.
I would just be that rip always.
All the time.
Unless you're in GTA, then you wouldn't.
You lose that after a little while not working out.
Yes, yes, in GTA, yes.
(36:30):
But this is sort of a line where you keep all your stats. So, boom.
All right, so of course you have to go to this last world, Stephen.
I can't believe you didn't say it.
Of course we're going to Minecraft.
I thought it, but I also didn't.
Like, there's so much danger.
There's so much danger, but the exploration in this game is so insane.
(36:52):
The building in this game, like it takes out the need to be an expert at anything, right?
You don't have to be an expert explorer to find shit.
You don't have to be an expert builder to build shit.
Like, it just makes everything so easy.
The Jack Black movie is coming out.
I'm sure they're going to really like exemplify that fact that anyone can do it.
Honestly, the new trailer looks really good for it.
It looks kind of fun.
I think this game would be an interesting world to live in.
(37:15):
Although I would miss, like, the curvatures of the world,
I would be okay with it because of the amount of cool shit that's in it.
The fact that you can build shit that's, like, not realistic in our society today.
Elevators of water, breathing underwater, making potions,
like going to the nether and having exploration bouts there,
fighting the Ender Dragon, going to the end.
(37:37):
Like, the entirety of that game is just one giant adventure,
and living in that world would be really cool.
Even if you just make a farm on a fucking...
in a perfectly safe area, put a bunch of lights up,
then you don't have to worry about zombies and shit.
Yeah, I mean, that's what I would have to do in this game.
I'd have to just create, like, a very secluded, very walled-off city, basically,
(37:59):
with everything I need in it.
That's what I do in the game all the time.
Honestly, like, I did think about that, but...
And I know, like, in one of those worlds, I might be more adventurous,
because, like, when I'm playing, I'm more adventurous.
But, like, me, as I am, I'm not that exploratory.
I'm not that adventurous.
I very much avoid danger and harm.
(38:22):
So I could never go cave diving in a Minecraft world.
I could never ever be mining if I knew there's a chance I could run into lava.
Like, there's just so many things that I couldn't do because of...
Like, I won't go skydiving because of the chance.
And I know it's the most minuscule chance of dying ever.
(38:46):
But I probably won't do it because it just terrifies me.
You wouldn't jump from, like, the upper atmosphere?
No.
Like, that one Red Bull person did?
I don't, I don't, no. Fuck that.
Oh, God, definitely not that. That was fucking wild, dude.
God, that was wild. He passed out for 60 seconds or something.
I was like, eh, no, no, no.
No, dude. Not my life.
(39:07):
I've seen videos of people, like, parachuting, and their parachute gets all wound up,
and they try to untangle themselves, and they barely get the second parachute off,
and they land real hard and, like, break their leg, and they're like,
huh, man, can't wait till I heal and I go back up there.
I'm like, you're a fucking moron, dude.
You already escaped death one. Don't try it again.
No, try it seven more times.
No, no. I don't get that mentality. I never have. I avoid danger.
(39:30):
Well, I mean, and that's the nice part about the Minecraft world.
You don't have to do the danger stuff. You could just...
At the beginning, you do.
Now you just collect wood.
You have 20 minutes to build yourself a house, or it turns nightfall instantly,
so you have to get all the things...
But you bury yourself in the ground, and you're fine.
(39:51):
I don't want to do that either. I'm afraid of the dark.
Well, build a torch.
I mean, sure, but also, giant-ass spiders, you can suck off with that noise right fucking now.
Luckily, they only come out at night.
Yeah, but they stay around in the daytime.
But they don't attack you. They're cool in the daytime.
(40:12):
They're friendly. They don't care.
I don't want to see a spider that's half the size of me.
That is terrifying.
They just want to be pet.
I don't want to.
All right, guys. Well, that was our Hot Takes episode today.
We hope you enjoyed it.
If you have any suggestions for Hot Takes, reach out.
(40:34):
TheSoulOfTheGamerPodcast.gmail.com.
Check us out at any platforms.
We are back on TikTok, I believe.
Yes, we are.
Okay, we are back on TikTok.
Since the whole thing, we're not going to get into it.
I don't like making this about politics, but it's all bullshit.
It's not bad.
Yeah, it's all bullshit, so don't worry. It's just all fake anyway.
Fake news.
(40:55):
But if you want us to do anything, please reach out and let us know.
And we hope you enjoyed it, and we'll catch you next week.
Bye.
Bye.
We are a weekly podcast, soul of a gamer.
(00:03):
Hey, I'm smart this time!
I did this time!
Let's not go that far, okay?
I will fuck it up again!
I love pressing that button. That was my favorite one.
Yes.
This game gets really fucking weird.
Um, yeah, so you do acid and then you go into the hamster soup.
(00:24):
And this week is...
Night Trap! Night Trap!
They're right behind you, Night Trap!
10 year old birthday party.
Next scene, kill the kid.
You got to kill the kid.
Sha la la la la la car is coming.
Throw your body into the car and die.
(00:47):
All I could do every time I was playing Ethan was just start walking around and go, Jason!
Oh god!
Oh god, yes.
Shorty had them apple bottom jeans and the boots with the fur?
With the fur.
And the whole club was looking at her?
Yes.
Whoa.
(01:09):
Welcome back everybody to another Soul of a Gamer.
I'm Scott.
And I'm Steven.
And we are doing another Hot Takes.
Yes.
And today is, uh, what, what, uh, what volcano would I throw Steven into if I had the opportunity?
So this is actually a good one.
(01:31):
And it's a lot of them.
There's about 237 of them and not all of them are on this planet.
I'm no longer a virgin though, so you won't get any special magical powers for sacrificing me in a volcano.
Yeah, it's been like, he unfortunately two weeks ago lost his V-card.
Oh yeah, two weeks.
So many years now.
Yeah, I know, we've been bugging you about it for years.
(01:53):
Like, what the fuck are you doing, dude?
I guess, yeah, yeah, yeah.
You know, I was just waiting for the right moment, you know.
Really building to it.
If you guys don't know this and if you're a woman listener you probably don't know this either.
But like, for guys it's funny because we bag on each other for like,
Ah, you don't have sex, you're a loser!
And it's so funny because Steven back then, we had this friend who was just a complete jackass.
(02:17):
And he would come up to Steven all the time and just be like,
Ha ha ha, you don't have sex, ha ha ha!
And Steven would go, ha ha ha, you have sex with ugly women, ha ha ha!
It's just like, it's the dumbest thing guys do, but it's so fucking funny when you're like on the outside looking in.
Oh, I mean, it's one of those things where you look at it and you're like,
Oh my god, are you guys really just like, doing that shit to each other?
(02:39):
And it's just shit talk to shit talk.
I mean, I was a virgin until I was 20, 21, I can't even fucking remember.
What a piece of shit.
What a piece of shit.
I know, I was waiting till marriage, I was trying to be a good Christian boy.
I think a lot of people do that, honestly.
That's maybe a hot take we do sometimes.
We talk about like, why people decide to wait till marriage.
(03:01):
Because that's an interesting, that is interesting because I have like, at least 90% of my friends said,
I think I'm gonna wait till marriage and then none of them fucking did that.
Yeah, I mean, I waited till I was engaged, but I pretty much got engaged as a precursor of,
I want to have sex sooner rather than later.
That's how it is.
(03:22):
Maybe one day we jump into that and we talk about some of our experiences with people who said those things.
I mean, it could be fun just to do non-video game related bullshit.
Yeah, but today we are talking about video game related bullshit.
Oh yeah.
What are we doing today, Stephen?
Today we are talking about the video game worlds we would love to live in
(03:43):
and the best video game side characters and what that entails.
Yeah, we had a caveat of side characters.
We try to pick characters that weren't like, super integral to the plot,
but not also like, completely apart from it.
It's hard, there's a blurred line between a side character and a main character
(04:04):
and the main character, usually you just consider it as the character you play,
but I almost consider it as like, in a movie the lead actor is usually the people who are on screen the most.
So if two people have the same amount of screen time, aren't they both the main actor?
Well, they're co-stars, yeah.
In that instance they're co-stars.
(04:24):
I argued that a side character isn't a playable character.
I kind of said that they can be played, but if they're not exactly there all the time it should be fine.
Yeah, so my caveat for that, I stuck to myself, was these are characters you don't play as,
at least in the main title games.
There's one character that you get the spin-off game himself.
(04:46):
Yeah, and I chose, there is a character you play as, but I don't think you play as him in the first game actually.
And you don't play as the other two at all, but they're funny and I love them.
Okay.
So you want to start with characters?
Sure, we can do that since we're talking about it.
Let's jump right in. I'm going to just jump right in here before you because fuck you.
I'm going to start with Locke.
Locke.
Locke. Do you remember Locke?
(05:08):
Locke.
This is one of my favorite, favorite actors of all time plays this guy.
Guy.
Guy?
Guy, he's Joe Swanson, he's a...
Oh, um.
Oh, God.
Isn't his name...
Nick Offerman.
No, not Nick Offerman.
(05:29):
Ron Swanson?
Isn't his name Guy?
You mean Guy Fieri?
No, no, Joe Swanson from Family Guy.
Joe Swanson.
Oh, Joe Swanson.
The Tick.
No.
God, why am I drawing it?
Patrick Warburton.
Patrick Warburton, sorry, he's Guy in Ted.
Yes.
(05:50):
That's right, he's Guy in Ted.
Patrick Warburton, he's just such a fucking phenomenal actor and I love the way he fucking talks.
And same voice in everything he does.
But it's always good.
Like that's the cra...
It's always fucking good.
Ah, the poison for Cusco.
Cusco's poison.
Yeah, see like it's a line that people have said a million times and they still love it today.
(06:12):
So Locke is a character from Tack and the Power of Juju.
Yes.
Oh my God, I forgot about that.
He's the dumb character who just does some really stupid shit.
And he is the funniest fucking character in the world.
He plays Crunk again.
Yes, like there's a great...
No, this is actually pre-Bruce New Groove, I think.
I know it is, yeah.
I think this is what inspired Crunk.
(06:33):
So there's a point in the second game where he's trying to jump a chasm with a pole vault.
So he's trying to pole vault.
And the little mental Juju comes out that can read minds and he goes,
Oh, if you're so smart, what am I thinking right now?
You are thinking, can I jump this chasm?
Now you are thinking, I don't think I have enough speed to jump this chasm.
(06:58):
And now you are thinking, I'm going to fall.
Just like...
The character is just so good.
He comes in at weird times.
He's just a comic relief character and he works out so well for what he was.
Like he's not important whatsoever, but he's the original...
He was supposed to be the tribe's leader.
And then Tak was the one who ended up with the power of Juju and Locke didn't get it.
(07:22):
And Locke is still upset about it, so he goes on adventures with Tak.
It's just so good.
Patrick Corbin is one of those people that is just like...
They just play themselves and they are that role in everything they do.
But they do it so well that it always elevates whatever they're in.
Yeah.
I have to agree, he's a great one.
(07:43):
And every single thing he's in, I love.
Oh yeah, for sure.
There's nothing that he's ever been in that I've said, okay, this is shit.
And he does actually a pretty good job playing a more serious role.
Well, even in Ted, I love his role.
In Ted, when he's at Comic Con, he's like, I love fucking with nerds.
Shit.
Shit on my hand.
(08:05):
When he's in the Limit E Snicket, the series of unfortunate events,
honestly, he did fucking phenomenal in that role.
That was so good.
I love him in Rules of Engagement.
That's one of my favorite shows with David Spade.
That fits more of his character.
Plus, it was a reunion of Crunk and Cusco again.
(08:26):
Yeah.
And it lasted seven or eight seasons.
Something like that, like in the mid-2000s.
Yeah.
I own it also.
Late 90s.
That's after David Spade took on...
What was that role he did?
I know we're getting a little off topic, but remember where he's like
(08:47):
helping the mayor or is the mayor of New York City?
He took over for Michael J. Fox.
Oh, Spin City.
Spin City, yeah.
That was way after that.
That's after that role, I want to say.
Not way after.
It was at least 10 years after that.
10 years?
Didn't that end in the early 2000s?
(09:08):
Didn't that end in 2002 or 2003?
Spin City.
Spin City, I'm going to guess 2002 or 2003,
and then I'm going to guess Rules of Engagement started around that time.
Spin City was 96 to 2002.
Oh, man, I'm good.
Okay.
And Rules of Engagement was 2007 to 2013.
So five years after.
That was way later than I thought you were going to say, like 2004.
(09:30):
No, I thought it was later 2000s.
Okay, well, yeah, nice.
But yeah, I knew Spin City early, like 2002 or 2003.
Within like a season of two or David Spade coming in,
and it was gone because he's a great, I love David Spade, but he is not.
Oh, he's great.
That is not the role for David Spade, not a take over Michael J. Fox.
There's a lot of roles that aren't the greatest for David Spade,
(09:51):
but you know, he David Spades it.
He's good as is.
Yes.
Watch your side character, Steven.
All right, so the first one I'm going to bring up,
one I didn't realize was actually going to be kind of controversial,
but the more I was looking into the character,
the more like I saw everyone arguing about this character,
whether he's a good character or a shit character.
This is Jonah from Tomb Raider.
(10:15):
I was just talking about my love for what?
Jonah Hill?
No, not Jonah Hill, just Jonah.
What do you mean not Jonah?
Ask me about my wiener.
What about your wiener?
I'm not going to answer.
But I was just talking about how much I love Tomb Raider in our last episode,
and Jonah is honestly, he's the most down to earth, just like cool dude ever.
(10:41):
Like in both the trilogy of the new games and in the TV show that Netflix just did as well,
the animated series, I love his character.
He's just such a genuine dude and cares so much about Laura and his friends and family,
and he's always willing to do whatever it takes to be there to support a person,
no matter how much it hurts himself.
(11:02):
And I just see a lot of myself in that with the character, and I just, I don't know,
he's just like the most genuine person and someone I feel like I'd be best friends with in life.
You're so lame.
Dude, I am.
I don't know.
He's not even like, he don't even...
It's been too long since I played with Jonah, the...
He's the big Hawaiian dude.
(11:23):
Okay, yeah. Yes, I know what you're talking about now. Yes.
Okay.
Yeah.
Now I see it.
For some reason, I'm picturing like this skinny white guy who's like on the phone
and fucking her hack shit.
Oh, fuck no.
No, no.
And I'm like, no, no, no, that's not right.
Yeah, yeah. Big Hawaiian dude.
This guy is a lovable bear.
Every bit of like, that like Maui vibe or whatever.
(11:44):
Yeah.
Yeah.
All right, all right. I like it. I like it. I can dig it.
What else you got? What else you got?
Of course we got to mention one of my favorite games of all time.
We're going to bring up Tails.
I expect.
Oh.
Of course Tails is coming in here.
You know what I wish they would have done with Tails originally?
You know in Mario Kart when you fall off
and like the thing that comes and gets you is the little guy?
(12:07):
Have Tails do that for Sonic in the first game.
I think he does it in the second game for Sonic.
I think so.
Second or third game.
But in the first game he does it, which is unfortunate.
Tails is like the most epitomeed best friend character of all time.
This guy goes to the ends of the earth for Sonic all the fucking time.
And he's ready to save the world.
(12:28):
He can take on the power of the Chaos Emeralds.
Like he can fucking fly with his goddamn tails
and he's a fucking fox, not a bird.
That's cool as shit.
Well, and he's got the fucking gadgetry and ship and pilot knowledge of pro.
He's like a combination of Chip and Dale from Rescue Rangers,
(12:50):
not like the dancers.
Not the dancing, not the strippers.
But no, no, no, no, the Rescue Rangers.
He's like you throw all of the Rescue Rangers in together
and he epitomes every single one of them.
That's the crazy part.
Especially Gadget.
Yes, Gadget, but like he's adventurous.
Like the two, or Hedgehogs, like the two, what are they?
(13:13):
What?
Chip and Dale, what are they again?
Oh, they're Chipmunks.
Chipmunks, that's right.
I guess, are they?
Yeah.
You sure?
Aren't they?
I think Alvin and the Chipmunks are Chipmunks.
Well, they are definitely Chipmunks, but I think Chip and Dale are Chipmunks too.
Maybe they are, but yeah, maybe Chipmunks.
But then like the big guy, the fat dude.
Google break.
(13:34):
What's the fat dude's name?
Oh, dude, I can't remember the fat dude.
It was Baloo, wasn't it?
No, Baloo is from, what are you talking about?
That's the bear, you son of a bitch.
Oh, the fat mouse.
You're talking about the fat mouse.
Yeah, yeah, Baloo's the, it's the bear necessity.
He was in a cartoon with him, Tailspin.
(13:56):
Oh, yeah, yeah, Tailspin.
No, that's the different characters you're thinking of.
Yeah.
I don't, was Chip and Dale in Tailspin?
I don't think they were in, maybe they were.
I don't remember.
I think they were in Tailspin.
I'm pretty sure they were in Tailspin.
There's a lot of old cartoons.
Yeah, they're in Tailspin.
Anyway, anyway, like if you combine all the characters
from Rescue Rangers, you get Tails,
and that's the coolest fucking thing in the world to me.
(14:19):
True.
I know, if you guys have never seen Rescue Rangers,
I'm sorry your life is so sad.
Chip and Dale are anthropomorphic chipmunks.
Boom.
Okay, they are chipmunks.
Yeah.
I thought I was right.
I can't believe they chose chipmunks.
I would have chosen squirrels.
Actually, the new Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers movie
(14:41):
that came out in 2022 is pretty solid.
Is it?
I haven't seen it yet.
It's a lot of meta humor.
They actually have ugly Sonic in the movie.
Okay.
Remember when the Sonic
They actually have ugly Sonic as a character.
(15:02):
Did they say Sony?
Or did Sony make the movie?
I think it was Sony, wasn't it?
Maybe, I don't know.
Whoever did it, I don't know.
They were bullied as they should have been.
They were bullied the hell out of them as they should
because the new Sonic look is way better.
Yeah, it's way better.
But ugly Sonic is there, and he's at a Comic Con
signing stuff as ugly Sonic.
I'm like, yeah, I got fired.
(15:25):
It's so fucking funny, dude.
Oh my God.
All right, what's your next character?
My next character is someone that during both mine
and my wife's playthrough of this game,
one of my favorite franchises, Far Cry 6.
Of course it is.
We fell in love with this character,
and this is Mercedes Janrahn Martin.
(15:47):
Martin.
Or Martin.
I think it's Martin.
It's probably Martin.
She is phenomenal, fiery redhead.
She is just super strong.
Her first introduction to you, she comes out.
She's talking about how you took down a base camp,
(16:09):
and she's just talking about who she is
and what part of the group she's in.
And she just pulls out a grenade, unhinges the grenade.
She is like, hi, I'm Janrahn.
And then chucks a grenade at a guy that's over all
up in the distance and just blows them up.
And she's like, oh my God.
Yeah, she's like, oh shit, you're a badass.
That sounds like a Far Cry game.
Oh, it is.
It's Far Cry through and through.
(16:30):
That's every Far Cry ever.
Oh, yeah.
I mean, they went into the corniness
and the ridiculousness of it,
especially with their drug trips and shit.
That became a huge staple of the whole franchise.
But Janrahn's one of the most lovable characters in that.
She's just awesome.
She's probably the coolest vegan I've ever met.
(16:52):
Did you just say the coolest vegan I've ever met?
This fake character you've never met before.
Is that what you're trying to say?
Hey, that's a lot less weird than saying I fell in love with this person.
I guess.
I mean, both are equally strange in my opinion.
I've met some pretty cool vegans, so I don't know.
I don't know.
(17:13):
She's just really awesome about just everything
and the way that she celebrates life.
And you talk to her a lot, especially when you're celebrating your victory
on this island and you get to have a long walk with her.
She tells you about where she came from and who her brothers were
and why she joined the rebellion and all this other stuff.
You just have a lot of really cool heart-to-heart moments.
She's every character in every Far Cry game.
(17:35):
Yeah, but better and attractive.
So why did you join the rebellion?
Well, in Far Cry 1, I joined because of this reason,
but in Far Cry 2, I joined because of this reason.
Well, actually, the good guy at Far Cry 1 becomes the bad guy in Far Cry 2.
Yeah, I remember.
I remember.
So yeah, that's not the other pick.
What else do you got?
(17:56):
All right, my last pick.
This is one of my favorite characters.
And you know what's crazy is this character came out of a side game.
Okay.
And that side game developed into a full-on cool own-story game.
This character really sold the community on this game,
and I think it sold us on the game because we had so much fun
with this character when we played this game.
(18:18):
This is Steph Gingrich.
Steph Gingrich.
Do you remember Steph Gingrich?
Sounds familiar, but I'm drawing a blank.
She created a D&D game we played in Before the Storm.
Oh.
Yep, Steph Gingrich.
She's in Life is Strange Before the Storm.
(18:40):
She is a hoodie-wearing, not hoodie-wearing,
beanie-wearing woman who loves D&D and just loves being her best self.
She's kind of like a little melodramatic.
She's a little bit like goth girl, kind of.
She's got that goth girl attitude, at least.
And then in True Colors, when they give her more of a role in that game,
(19:01):
it is just so incredible how cool she is.
Okay, now I'm way more interested in True Colors,
so I didn't realize she was in True Colors.
True Colors was so fucking good, guys.
I cannot give it enough praise.
I had so much fun playing True Colors.
I haven't played Life is Strange, the new one, the three, essentially.
Yeah, I haven't played it yet.
I haven't followed down on Max Caulfield's story at all, but I will eventually.
(19:24):
I did buy it.
I will see you.
I just have not played it.
But this character really sold these games for me.
She was just so cool.
My buddy is one of the guys who came up with the idea of this character,
and he's like, yeah, you know, when we were thinking about her,
who is a person we'd love to know?
Like, who's someone who would be really cool to just have a chat with?
And that was like the original idea of her,
(19:45):
which I think is really fucking cool.
That's really awesome.
Yeah.
Yeah, they had a lot of fun coming up with this character,
and they even told me, like, everybody who's played the game said
that is their favorite character in the entire game.
Yeah, for sure.
Oh, yeah, that's a great choice.
I didn't even think about that one.
All right.
I kind of, my next one is probably going to be a little basic,
(20:09):
but I still think...
Basic bitch, deep in...
I was kind of between two.
I was between Elizabeth from BioShock Infinite and Serena from Skyrim.
Boo, boo, both suck.
Boo, get out of here.
Boo.
I don't know who Serena is.
Who do you?
Who do you?
I wanted to say Daxter, but then I was like, you kind of,
he's still a main character.
(20:30):
Yeah, I'd say, because especially with like Jack and Daxter.
Yeah, I mean, the titles even, both their names.
I wanted to say Kazooie, but it's Banjo and Kazooie.
That was actually on a lot of lists that I saw,
and I was like, that doesn't count.
Like, fuck you guys.
No, I can't get that.
It's like, Diddy Kong is a side character,
(20:51):
except in certain games, because in like Donkey Kong 64,
Diddy Kong is a main character you can play as.
Yeah.
Diddy Kong Racing, you get the option to play it.
Like, I don't know.
But even on the Donkey Kong Country games,
you can play as Diddy Kong as long as you have him in your party.
You can just switch them any time you want.
Yeah, so like, he is technically a side character,
(21:13):
but again, it's just the amount of times you can play as them is insane.
Yeah, I mean, a lot of people said Clank,
and I was like, no, Clank doesn't count either.
Ratchet and Clank fuckers.
Can't be a title character.
Fuck you, assholes.
You go fuck yourselves.
I hope you die.
I never hoped that far, but you know.
I hope you get a hang toenail, and that leads to sepsis.
(21:37):
Oh, man.
That's even worse, actually.
But yeah, no, I think I will just go with Elizabeth.
I think Elizabeth from Bioshock, I think the Bioshock game,
those are all great games, especially for me, the first and the third.
I didn't vibe with the second one as much.
I know that's a hot take as well.
(21:58):
I've heard the second game is not the best one,
so I've never played the second or the third Bioshock,
but I have heard the second one's not the best.
I don't like the second one as much.
It's way harder, which it's already a difficult game.
Yeah.
The whole big sister thing is crazy, and she is a bitch of a fight.
(22:19):
Anytime you run into her, it's ridiculous.
Playing as a big daddy, it's just big, lumpy, and clunky.
So it's just different.
But Bioshock 3, I know it got a lot of hate, but also a lot of praise.
I still think it's a really great game with a really great twist.
I think the twist is something a lot of people will kind of catch on to,
(22:43):
but I think Elizabeth is a character.
She's constantly tossing you ammo.
She's constantly tossing things you might need.
She's constantly tossing you mana and health bots.
There is a little bit of times where she can be slightly annoying,
but which video game characters aren't annoying at times.
Right.
Hey, listen.
Exactly.
She's not like that at the very least.
(23:05):
Booker, here's some ammo.
Booker, here's some mana.
Booker, here's some help.
And then you punch her in the face, and you're like,
here's some fucking fist.
But she can also open up portals and stuff like that,
and she just has a lot of really cool things,
and she's really integral to the story.
So it's kind of like where I didn't want to say that she was a side character
(23:27):
because her character really is kind of the main focus in a way,
but you don't ever play as her.
So that's why I still kind of caveated it.
All right.
All right.
I like it.
Yeah.
Okay.
Well, let's move on to our favorite worlds.
Yes.
What were our favorite worlds?
Worlds we would live in.
Yes.
(23:48):
It's a little bit different than I would say favorite worlds
because there's some of my favorite worlds I would never want to fucking live in.
Oh, yeah.
Like Elden Ring is a beautiful, beautiful world.
Or even Shadow of the Colossus.
Beautiful world.
But I don't know if I'd want to live in the Shadow of the Colossus world.
Yeah.
We're going to avoid that as much as we can.
So I definitely went with...
And I wanted to stay away from games that are too much like my own reality.
(24:11):
I did put the caveat, even though TCG Simulator or Mass Effect,
living on the Citadel would be cool, it's still too much like my normal life.
Yeah, I'd be in space, but I'd still be doing the same shit I'm doing now.
Yeah.
And we're not saying we're out there fighting aliens.
No, we're saying if it's too close to reality, we did not include it.
(24:34):
Yeah.
Well, because I wouldn't be probably the one facing aliens.
And that's why I'm not going to say...
If it's reality adjacent, we tried to keep it out of here.
So my first choice...
I do have three picks for this.
My first choice was actually Cassette Beast.
I thought about Pokemon, but I think that one's one that everyone says all the time.
(24:55):
I was trying to just avoid it.
Oh, I didn't even think about Pokemon.
I should have said Digimon.
There you go.
But I was trying to avoid things that didn't start as games, but Pokemon did.
But Digimon did not, I don't think.
Oh, that's fair.
But I do really like the world of Cassette Beast.
I like the whole idea that you were kind of just like removed from Earth randomly.
Yeah, any Earth.
(25:18):
Yeah, any Earth.
From any dimension or whatever, too.
There were a bunch of different ones.
And you're all just plucked there and put in the world together, and everyone kind of helps each other out.
And everyone goes out and just becomes like a Pokemon trainer, basically, but with these cassette tapes.
And falls in love.
Yeah, and you have lots of romance options, and you can romance them all.
Get some awesome orgees.
(25:42):
Or have a huge orgy.
Yeah, you could do some really cool shit with that, and videotape it or sound tape it with all your videotapes.
Sound tape it?
Yeah, you know, sound tapes.
Sound tapes.
You gotta sound, not record the audio, but you sound tape it.
I sound tapes, okay?
That's what we're doing right now, sound taping.
(26:04):
We're sound taping this recording.
Yes.
But I just think that, of all the kind of Pokemon-esque worlds, I do think that one's kind of the most fun and the most interesting.
And it has taken me from my reality, so I get to still have my own experiences, my own life that I had.
But now I just get to top on top of that, a whole new world.
(26:25):
Yeah.
Yeah, I basically, it's an isekai.
Pokemon's not an isekai, but this one literally would be ripping me from my life here and bringing me into a new world.
So basically, I get to turn into an anime character and be living my life as an isekai character.
That's pretty sweet.
Okay, I like it. I like the idea.
Alright, I'm gonna come at you, of course, with Skies of Arcadia, because why the hell wouldn't I?
(26:47):
Of course, you bring this game up.
This world is so fucking cool.
Again, air pirates, everything's kind of like floating islands.
It's just such an interesting world that has such a huge dynamic to it.
And the fact that it's still kind of undiscovered, things are still out there in secret, you still have something to find.
I think this would be a really sweet world to live in.
(27:10):
And just becoming either a pirate or a sailor or anything like that sounds pretty cool, especially when you're in the sky and not on the sea.
Sounds way more dangerous.
Equally dangerous, I would say, actually.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. It sounds equally dangerous, but it's pretty, I don't know, it's pretty fucking cool.
I like the idea of this world.
And especially the fact that there's floating islands, you can literally just find an island and take it over.
(27:35):
Sounds like, so it's a treasure planet mixed with Avatar?
Yeah, with a little bit.
Yes, with a little less of a giant scope. There's not that big of an area, right?
You're on one single planet at one single time.
You're not space traveling anywhere. You are just there.
I think it's a cool, it's a cool world and I'd love to be able to live on it.
(27:58):
Nice.
Okay.
My next pick, I kind of went with a horny pick, I'm not going to lie.
Horny pick.
I've been talking about this game with a couple of my friends recently. I introduced them to this game.
This is all of our favorite porn game now.
One of my friends 100% of the game and even got his wife into the game and she's played it two or three times all the way through.
(28:23):
Okay.
New season's coming out soon. It's called Being a Dick.
And the game is one of the highest rated porn games I've ever seen.
I've ever seen. Out of the 20 porn games, this is on top.
Yes. This game is phenomenal, honestly, with its storytelling.
(28:46):
It's got some beautiful moments. It's got some sad moments.
It's got some moments that will touch your heart.
But then also there's moments where you're just going to be playing one handed.
To say it grossly.
But this game world is just really fun.
It's kind of just that American Pie college movie.
(29:12):
The Naked Mile or College Rules or Beta House Rules or whatever movies in that franchise.
It's basically those as a college experience.
It's just the most ridiculous college experience from every movie you've ever seen.
It's just that college experience where everyone's partying all the time.
Everyone's doing pranks all the time.
Everyone's having sex with each other.
Everyone's having sex with each other. Everyone.
(29:35):
You're going to fuck every girl you meet. Grandma.
Grandpa. Fido. Everyone.
You can fuck your teachers. You can fuck your friends.
You can fuck your friends' friends.
You can fuck your friends' mom figures basically.
But what about your friends' grandma?
Sure. You can fuck your friends' sister.
You keep naming the lame ones. I want grandma action.
(29:58):
I didn't see any grandma action but season 3 is coming out so maybe we'll see some grandma action there.
Being a dick, you failed me. Bring some grandmas in there.
I want to live in fucking, what's that movie? Grandma's Boy.
Let's get it going.
I'd rather live in Euro Trip.
Hell no.
(30:19):
She invented putting the finger in the ass during a blow job or a hand job or something.
Okay. Fuck you, Steven.
Have some appreciation for the OGs.
I just think this like, I never got to have that college partying experience or anything like that.
(30:40):
So of the experiences that I never got to try or do, this would be an experience that I never got to fully fulfill.
That if I got a chance to live in that world for a little bit of time, I think it would be a blast to just kind of let everything loose.
And just see how crazy things could go.
And see what that feels like.
That's a little crazy but okay.
(31:01):
I know it's a little out there, it's a little crazy but I want you to make this a actual.
I try to pick things that could never happen and you're right, that could never happen to you.
I couldn't do that. I really couldn't be this way.
I like playing this character but I could never be this character.
Honestly, as forward as this character is, I could never be this guy.
But I do like the idea of it and I've never got to experience that.
(31:24):
So living in a world where I would get to experience that or it just would almost happen naturally to me.
Like I wouldn't even need to seek it out. It would just fall on my lap.
Yeah.
Alright, alright.
Alright, I'm gonna come at you with a counterpoint.
A little bit less of a sleazy fucking horseshit game you little, you sick son of a bitch.
Hey, you know, it's hot takes. I threw out a hot takes.
(31:47):
Hot takes.
I took that way too literally.
I'm coming at you with Overcooked 2.
Ooh. Why the mayhem?
I love cooking. Like cooking is just so much fucking fun.
And having access to the ingredients that you have access to in Overcooked 2 and trying all these new meals and everything.
That would be fucking sweet.
(32:08):
That would be such a cool world to live in where you're just traveling and cooking for people.
Like honestly, that sounds like so much fucking fun.
I mean, I don't know if I want to cook like on an 18 wheeler on the highway across two different...
I mean, as long as I get to respawn after it's fine.
Just the chaos that happens in those games for me.
(32:31):
I agree with you on the food and the...
Yeah, but the chaos makes it kind of fun.
And the kitchen is full.
Oh, it makes it insane.
Like again, like everything is so cool about that world.
Like I live in a world where literally it's life or death with cooking.
That's all it is all the time.
I love a lot of those TV shows kind of like Jury Duty that just came out not too long ago.
(32:54):
Where this guy thought he actually was on a jury duty, but it was a fully fake show.
Every 30 was actors except for him.
And I like the idea of like all these like hidden cam shows and stuff like that that have all these things.
It would be like a really funny experience to put like me and our friend, us and our friend group in a kitchen.
(33:15):
Like a super busy kitchen and just like have at it.
Here's all the ingredients.
You guys would suck so hard.
I would be fine.
Fuck you.
Paul's so hard to deal with you guys.
We would be hard to deal with.
I'm not discerning that, but I would be a good cook for you.
You did it wrong, you idiot.
I'm gonna enter Gordon Ramsay, although I don't think he's a good chef would come out.
(33:40):
I watched him do his little grilled cheese where he's fucking up a grilled cheese sandwich real hard.
Can't respect him anymore.
Everyone has their own ways to do things.
No, he put a grilled cheese over a live fire.
Okay.
I don't see the problem with that.
And then he cut into it and it's not melted at all.
And he's like, oh, that's the problem.
(34:01):
And it's like beautifully melted.
He said that when he had trouble cutting it.
He said beautifully melted because he's a piece of shit.
Oh, God.
I would be, you know, if it were me, I'd be like, man, I really fucked this up bad, didn't I?
All right.
What do you got?
My last pick.
(34:22):
This one kind of, I guess, this is kind of a cheating based on what you said earlier.
This is one that was a...
Boo.
It was an anime first.
Cheat, cheat, cheat, but it's got a whole video game franchise.
So I'm still, I'm still accepting it.
Sword Art Online.
Nope.
I'm taking it away.
Boo.
Fuck you.
(34:43):
Boo.
Hi.
Especially for me, Aincrad, Elphine would be okay too.
I would not want to live in Gungale.
I would love Gungale.
Or, actually, civilization, I can't even fucking ever pronounce that.
That would be a cool one too, because you're like...
That would be a cool one too, but it would be way more dangerous.
Time is insane on that one.
(35:04):
That would be so fucking cool.
Yeah, it is.
Aincrad, though, and Elphine are two of the best worlds.
I don't care, even, if I'm trapped in the game in Aincrad.
Honestly, even their life that they had on Flir 65 or whatever, where they had that lake house,
that cabin lake house, and they're just living their life like a normal life,
that's such an awesome moment.
(35:26):
And honestly, living in a video game world where you can level up your skills
sounds like the coolest thing ever.
I'd love to be able to look at my stats and know what the fuck's wrong with me.
Just be like, oh, my beauty stats way down.
Yeah, and then I could just practice being beautiful and get more beautiful.
Honestly, living in a video game world with video game stats,
and this is why I wanted to pick this one mainly,
(35:48):
is just because that whole premise to me sounds so intriguing
of being able to actually just improve whatever I wanted to improve.
And I know I can do that in the real world a little bit, but like...
You can. You can.
It's easier.
It doesn't take as much effort.
That's true. That's true.
And I don't lose the stats for not doing them anymore.
(36:09):
But what about the part where you die? If you die, you die.
If I get really ripped right now and then I stop working out for six months,
I'll get a little fatter again.
But if I was in the video game world, I would never get fat again.
I would just be that rip always.
All the time.
Unless you're in GTA, then you wouldn't.
You lose that after a little while not working out.
Yes, yes, in GTA, yes.
(36:30):
But this is sort of a line where you keep all your stats. So, boom.
All right, so of course you have to go to this last world, Stephen.
I can't believe you didn't say it.
Of course we're going to Minecraft.
I thought it, but I also didn't.
Like, there's so much danger.
There's so much danger, but the exploration in this game is so insane.
(36:52):
The building in this game, like it takes out the need to be an expert at anything, right?
You don't have to be an expert explorer to find shit.
You don't have to be an expert builder to build shit.
Like, it just makes everything so easy.
The Jack Black movie is coming out.
I'm sure they're going to really like exemplify that fact that anyone can do it.
Honestly, the new trailer looks really good for it.
It looks kind of fun.
I think this game would be an interesting world to live in.
(37:15):
Although I would miss, like, the curvatures of the world,
I would be okay with it because of the amount of cool shit that's in it.
The fact that you can build shit that's, like, not realistic in our society today.
Elevators of water, breathing underwater, making potions,
like going to the nether and having exploration bouts there,
fighting the Ender Dragon, going to the end.
(37:37):
Like, the entirety of that game is just one giant adventure,
and living in that world would be really cool.
Even if you just make a farm on a fucking...
in a perfectly safe area, put a bunch of lights up,
then you don't have to worry about zombies and shit.
Yeah, I mean, that's what I would have to do in this game.
I'd have to just create, like, a very secluded, very walled-off city, basically,
(37:59):
with everything I need in it.
That's what I do in the game all the time.
Honestly, like, I did think about that, but...
And I know, like, in one of those worlds, I might be more adventurous,
because, like, when I'm playing, I'm more adventurous.
But, like, me, as I am, I'm not that exploratory.
I'm not that adventurous.
I very much avoid danger and harm.
(38:22):
So I could never go cave diving in a Minecraft world.
I could never ever be mining if I knew there's a chance I could run into lava.
Like, there's just so many things that I couldn't do because of...
Like, I won't go skydiving because of the chance.
And I know it's the most minuscule chance of dying ever.
(38:46):
But I probably won't do it because it just terrifies me.
You wouldn't jump from, like, the upper atmosphere?
No.
Like, that one Red Bull person did?
I don't, I don't, no. Fuck that.
Oh, God, definitely not that. That was fucking wild, dude.
God, that was wild. He passed out for 60 seconds or something.
I was like, eh, no, no, no.
No, dude. Not my life.
(39:07):
I've seen videos of people, like, parachuting, and their parachute gets all wound up,
and they try to untangle themselves, and they barely get the second parachute off,
and they land real hard and, like, break their leg, and they're like,
huh, man, can't wait till I heal and I go back up there.
I'm like, you're a fucking moron, dude.
You already escaped death one. Don't try it again.
No, try it seven more times.
No, no. I don't get that mentality. I never have. I avoid danger.
(39:30):
Well, I mean, and that's the nice part about the Minecraft world.
You don't have to do the danger stuff. You could just...
At the beginning, you do.
Now you just collect wood.
You have 20 minutes to build yourself a house, or it turns nightfall instantly,
so you have to get all the things...
But you bury yourself in the ground, and you're fine.
(39:51):
I don't want to do that either. I'm afraid of the dark.
Well, build a torch.
I mean, sure, but also, giant-ass spiders, you can suck off with that noise right fucking now.
Luckily, they only come out at night.
Yeah, but they stay around in the daytime.
But they don't attack you. They're cool in the daytime.
(40:12):
They're friendly. They don't care.
I don't want to see a spider that's half the size of me.
That is terrifying.
They just want to be pet.
I don't want to.
All right, guys. Well, that was our Hot Takes episode today.
We hope you enjoyed it.
If you have any suggestions for Hot Takes, reach out.
(40:34):
TheSoulOfTheGamerPodcast.gmail.com.
Check us out at any platforms.
We are back on TikTok, I believe.
Yes, we are.
Okay, we are back on TikTok.
Since the whole thing, we're not going to get into it.
I don't like making this about politics, but it's all bullshit.
It's not bad.
Yeah, it's all bullshit, so don't worry. It's just all fake anyway.
Fake news.
(40:55):
But if you want us to do anything, please reach out and let us know.
And we hope you enjoyed it, and we'll catch you next week.
Bye.
Bye.
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