June 26, 2025 • 55 mins
Breaking free from the constraints of desk-bound gaming, this episode explores how the Steam Deck is revolutionizing gaming accessibility for busy adults. Marcus details his journey selecting the perfect portable gaming device, ultimately choosing the Steam Deck for its impressive library compatibility and performance. The freedom to play Elden Ring in short, guilt-free sessions between life's responsibilities has transformed his gaming experience completely.
The conversation takes a sharp turn when discussing Nightreign, the Elden Ring multiplayer spinoff that promised much but delivered frustration. Doc and Marcus break down why this cash-grab fails its player base through poor communication systems, inadequate tutorials, and a troubling tendency for teammates to abandon matches. In a rare moment of consumer activism, Doc processes a Steam refund during the podcast – his first-ever game return – highlighting just how disappointing the experience truly was.
Not all gaming experiences disappoint, however. Doc celebrates completing Expedition 33, albeit with the "bad ending" and significantly under-leveled at 35 hours instead of the recommended 50. This sparks a fascinating discussion about different gaming approaches – racing through main storylines versus thorough exploration – and how these choices shape our experiences with games we love.
The episode culminates in a thought-provoking question that reveals the hosts' gaming souls: "If you could play any game again for the first time, what would it be?" Doc's choice of Catherine Classic and Marcus's selection of Star Wars: The Old Republic unveil how deeply games have impacted their lives beyond mere entertainment. Their answers demonstrate how certain gaming experiences become formative moments that shape who we are as players and people.
Have you experienced a game that changed how you think about gaming? Or have you been disappointed by a title that seemed promising but failed to deliver? Share your gaming journey with us and let us know which game you'd choose to experience again for the first time!
If you would like to support the show and help us unlock additional possibilities for future episodes and projects, this can now be done through Patreon!
You can watch us play games LIVE and join our communities to get more connection from every episode:
- DrGameology on Twitch - Continue the Journey LIVE in 2025!!
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Thanks for Listening, and Continue The Journey!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Gaming Persona Podcast.
I'm MarcusB814.
I'm joined by my esteemed bestfriend, dr Gameology, and we're
here to talk about video gamesand sidebars.
Why?
Because that's what I do I'mhere for the sidebar, he's here
to drop psychology on you, andthis is our show.
Right now, man, there's so muchto talk about.
(00:26):
Can we first talk about howmuch Comcast sucks?
Speaker 2 (00:31):
We can actually, Marcus, because I broke up with
them yesterday.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Oh, because last week's episode it cut out
mid-show.
You were just gone and thenthey said the outage was until 2
30 in the morning yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
So, marcus, my streaming life just went from
720p 30 frames per second to1080p 60 frames per second,
because I have formed analliance with at&t and their
fiber optic internet.
Well done, well done.
Yes, well done.
It saves me $20 a month.
It's cheaper to multiply myupload speed by 40 times.
(01:12):
Isn't that insane?
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Just like Captain Insano.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
Well, I you know I was devastated, because usually
it's my internet, because I'm inthe Northeast that sucks ass.
It seems like Florida'sinternet is bulletproof, and
last week your internet saidnope.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Yeah, I had an outage Wednesday night.
No, sorry wrong, I had anoutage on Thursday night and
Friday night and it's becausethe main road, the major road
that's next to my neighborhood,it had all the way up at the
three miles next to myneighborhood they just had truck
(01:58):
after truck after truck workingon the power lines, working on
the lines that are under theground, and just there they were
nicking the Spectrum stuff.
Spectrum that's it Yep.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Yeah, spectrum, yep.
Yep yep, yep.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
I get it.
It's really frustrating becausethey're just like oh well,
you're expected to have internetback in the next seven hours.
It's like but every singlething in my house is connected
by wifi.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
Like but it was kind of nice, cause it was 10 o'clock
at night.
So most, most people are donewith the internet stuff, except
you.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
The Friday stuff happened at 4 30 PM.
I was still working.
Oh, ripper Roni, yeah, like itit was.
It was aggravating enough thatit prompted me to be like I am a
free agent here.
I'm not.
I'm not married to thisinternet, like I can watch
(02:57):
smackdown on hulu with anyinternet connection.
So watch this, watch this,watch me, watch me um, all right
topic time multiple choice.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
Do you want to talk about topic d, e or f first?
Speaker 2 (03:17):
if these are letter coded, it's really hard because
I can think of a descriptiveword for the things going on in
my life for each of thoseletters.
Let's just go with topic D.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
Okay, I got a steam, deck.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
Oh, nice that is a much better D than what I was
expecting to talk about.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
Yes.
So I, as you guys know, I'vebeen kind of going back and
forth on all of the ideas of howto be able to play games more
but not be tied down to myoffice.
So over the course of the lastfew weeks I've been looking at
the ROG Ally this is before theyannounced the Xbox one the MSI
(04:02):
Claw, the Steam Deck.
There was another one too, theLenoenovo one, and then there's,
of course, the switch too, andI was kind of I was going back
and forth, back and forth, and Iwatched so many youtube videos
like I'm gonna shout out to allthe youtube creators that take
the time, because there's somany people like me on what
(04:26):
handheld console to buy and I Iwas stuck like I didn't know.
And you spoke highly of thesteam deck, like rave reviews
and you know.
But you have a switch and aSwitch 2.
But the big thing for me was Ihad to decide.
(04:47):
I knew I wasn't going to buythe Switch 2 right away because
the Nintendo games are not meLike.
I play some of them, but it'snot Like I have to force myself
to play it.
You know what I mean.
They don't have native gamesthat I want to play.
You know what I mean.
They don't have native gamesthat I want to play.
So I settled on the Steam Deckand it came down to two reasons.
(05:10):
The first reason was becauseit's Steam and I'm a PC gamer.
Okay, part two of that is thatI have an entire library of
games.
Is that I have an entirelibrary of games and like 65 or
70% of them are all Steam Deckverified?
(05:30):
Yeah, so it was a no-brainer,like a lot of people were like,
hey, the Steam Deck is kind oflike old technology.
You know, definitely buy it,but know you're buying something
that's like two years oldbecause they haven't set up an
updated one yet.
Blah, blah, blah.
But they completely modernizethis thing.
(05:51):
There's constant updates for it.
It's a good system.
And I said to myself the gamesI'm playing, if they're Steam
Deck verified, they're going toplay.
Great, you're right, you know.
And what sold me on the SteamDeck beyond your recommendation
was when I went.
(06:12):
They have a button oh, steamDeck.
Whenever we record, I have theSteam page up at all times, like
the store, and at the topleft-hand corner or middle
left-hand, it's Steam Deck.
Your game's everywhere.
And I clicked on it and it saidcheck out all the most played
games.
The top left-hand corner or amiddle left-hand.
It's steam deck, your gameseverywhere.
And I clicked on it and it saidcheck out all the most played
games.
And elden ring is always in thetop five games.
(06:32):
And then I would watch.
And then I watched a video onhow's elden ring on the steam
deck and yes, it's not 4k, 60,60 frames I get on my computer
but it plays great.
It plays absolutely great.
Yeah, it's only in 720p, butthe screen's only 7.4 inches.
(06:52):
It's great.
Like I have had no issueplaying it and enjoying it.
But the other thing is is I havefound time to play it for 10
minutes, like I might just gofrom grace to grace, kill some
things and sit like, stop at agrace and shut it off and it's.
(07:14):
I have found that it isfulfilled my gaming needs
without having to like feel likeI have to sit down in front of
my computer for a session.
You know what I mean.
And this will bring us into E,which I played Elden Ring on the
Steam Deck and I've been on amission to kill dragons.
(07:39):
Yeah, because I only killed theone in Limgrave grave and I
might have killed another one,so I'm just going through and
killing them.
I think I killed the one inlernia too, because when I went
to where he was supposed to behe was not there.
So I'm like, all right, Ialready killed him so and
there's no way to check and seeif you kill them.
(08:01):
You know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
I don't think there's two dragons in liurnia.
One is next to the academiccity, the other you fight at the
the three towers.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
It flies away and you have to kill it when you
complete the ronnie questcorrect after you killed mad
blithe, yeah, um, anyway.
So I played elden ring on thesteam deck.
It's fantastic.
I am so thrilled about it.
I have my like brand newalienware laptop.
(08:38):
I'm gonna sell it.
Oh wow, I I don't need it.
You know, I use my laptop forwhen I go away.
I don't need it.
What do I need a laptop for?
I don't type anything.
You know what I mean.
I literally just play videogames on it, and now that I have
that, it's the greatest machineever yeah because and here's
(09:01):
the here's the third reason whyI bought it is I already own the
games.
So if I bought a switch or a rogally or whatever, I would have
to purchase games in order toplay it, all of the games.
I have a library of games thatI'm can play.
I'm gonna say for free, butI've already bought them.
Yeah, but it syncs perfect.
(09:23):
So I just got rid of D&E Bam.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
Yeah, also, if you ever learn how to play Final
Fantasy XIV on a controller, youcan play that on your Steam
Deck as well, and it isbeautiful and runs perfect Just
the same as your rundown ofElden Ring Like.
But it's not just about FinalFantasy 14.
There are so many really goodgames that you already love,
(09:52):
that you already own, and youdon't have to build your library
up Like.
I have the Switch 2 right now.
My son is playing it a ton.
We have Mario Kart World.
I haven't played it yet and hekeeps pointing out that I keep
dodging the chance to play it.
I just keep saying that it's agrind that I don't have time for
right now.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
So you can't just do a race and be happy with that.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
I am capable of playing a race and doing my best
to be happy with that.
I don't feel the need to play anew mario kart, right, like I.
I don't know I, something'sbroken inside of me.
Marcus, like I, I bought theconsole for him.
(10:39):
Uh, his birthday is just alittle bit before mine, so you
know, the switch 2 came out onmy birthday.
We, we picked it up, but it'sreally for him, sure, and I just
don't feel any need or desireto be a cow in a mario kart and
(11:00):
throw any shells at things likeI.
I just don't have it.
I don't have the thing thatdraws me towards new games.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
Listen, I get it Time , just like me.
I'm going to play Final FantasyXIV.
That is the next game I play.
I played Night Rain.
I played Night Rain, but youknow I'm so wrapped up in Elden
Ring Like I want to get all ofthe stuff before I go to the DLC
(11:37):
.
You were away so Final FantasyXIV hadn't happened, but there's
really no other game I want toplay.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
I have some games that I'm still excited for.
Just on the topic of bridgingoff of that switch to point, I
started night rain.
I bought it on steam but it'svery hard for me to run the pc
version and still stream it.
My computer's doing too muchand even wait, I gotta stop.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
What graphics card do you have?
Speaker 2 (12:14):
I do not know, but even on medium settings for the
graphics it was just making.
Everything in obs was jittery.
Nothing looks smooth.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
You must have your okay.
So we'll have to go into yourOBS and change your uh graphic
settings, because you got to putit on N Vink for your it is on
N Vink Marcus.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
Ooh yeah.
So I bought the PS five version.
I've been playing it.
It's perfect.
So that's the moral of thestory.
I own two versions of EldenRing Night Rain.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
You can.
How many hours of wait?
How many hours of Night Rain?
Did you play on PC?
Speaker 2 (12:52):
I bought it with a code from G2Acom, so if I want
to do a refund, I have to do itthrough them.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
You can, as long as I think it's three hours or less
why, would you have no?
Speaker 2 (13:07):
friends on the playstation, and it's a
multiplayer game right, uh, yeah, yeah like I'm in.
I'm in a tough spot like Iliterally have nobody to play
with because of what time Istream, also like.
So the only success I going tohave in the game is if I get
(13:29):
lucky and get amazing angels onmy team.
But what I'm learning is EldenRing players stuck at teamwork.
Right, like all of you, I'mcalling you out.
You are the most selfishbastards in the universe.
You're terrible human beings.
You're terrible human beings.
Every single expedition I didon one of my streams this week
(13:53):
had people bailing on me.
Marcus, yeah, like leaving theinstance.
And so now.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
I'm alone.
That's interesting, because Inever had that happen.
I've never had somebody leave,but you know what it is.
It's's probably so.
That's the toxicity part of thecommunity.
So now that it's been aroundfor long enough, if you go in
and you don't know what you'redoing, they're probably like
we're not winning.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
I'm out it was my second match ever yeah, but I'm
not talking about you alsothere's no built in chat, so
there's no way for yeah, likethis is the problem, this game
should not be released right now.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
Ooh, let's get into this.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
Yeah, unpopular opinion.
I came in ready for this andit's my time.
My time is now.
This game should not beinstalled on anyone's devices
right now.
There's no way to communicatewith the complete selfish
bastards that you get paired upwith and they leave you and then
(14:59):
, because it started out as athree-person thing, you are now
a one person with thethree-person rules and then if
you leave, you get penalized forexiting too, even if you're
alone.
Marcus, right like fromsoftware does just fundamentally
does not understand what amultiplayer game is, and they're
(15:23):
showing it obnoxiously withconfidence that is undeserved.
The entire process of havingyour characters and you carry no
runes or levels with you intothe next thing, every single
thing you do.
You start at level one and whenyou open the game, you only
(15:44):
have one instance you can enterand you have to be lucky enough
to get two people that are goingto play well and stick with you
for the whole 45 minutes so youcan unlock other stages.
It's brutal and I I enjoy it.
I understand it now.
(16:04):
Also playing the recluse, whichis the magic-based witch class.
There is no clear descriptionof how to refill your magic
points.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
You gotta get that tree.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
No, no, she has a secondary magic spell where you
hold down triangle and hit L1,and it sucks the magic out of
whatever the last character youhit with the magic spell is out
of.
Whatever the last character youhit with a magic spell is.
It's really fun.
It reminds me a lot of BlackMage in Final Fantasy XIV.
It's so technical.
You feel smart when you play it.
(16:38):
Well, and I like that.
But there is nothing in the gamethat clearly explains that
mechanic unless you already knowthe mechanic.
And then when you read the oneplace where it says how to do
that, it's like oh, that makesperfect sense, but the
description is filled withjargon words, and so in my field
(17:00):
counseling, psychology, mentalhealth profession it is
unethical for me to describesomething to my clients with
words that they do notunderstand, and so this is a
cardinal sin to me that EldenRing describes how to refill
your magic when your only weaponthat that class has is a magic
staff right Like five attacks,and you cannot do attacks
(17:24):
anymore unless you know how todo this.
My first night streaming thegame was a disaster and I
learned.
My second one was good.
My third one was good.
Ps5 was a good change for me.
But just I played Final Fantasy14 as my stream game today and
on my tweet I was like I want toplay with people who actually
(17:46):
understand teamwork.
So Elden Ring Fortnite is notlike my favorite to play.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
Okay, can I rebuttal what you're talking about?
Speaker 2 (18:01):
You can say whatever you want.
You're not going to change mymind.
Good luck.
It's worse to be with you.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
No, no, no.
I'm going to give you my reviewbecause I've played Hold on.
I will tell you.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
I have played like 12 hours so far oh, you probably
played more than me.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
Yeah, I've played three and a half hours of it,
okay, okay.
So my view on the game is Iagree, I think this was a cash
grab from Soft.
Bandai probably said, hey, makea game, let's make some money
(18:37):
and let's produce the game inElden Ring Because it's all
redone assets.
There's nothing new in the game.
Everything in the game is aredone asset.
The world itself is snippets ofdifferent parts of Elden Ring.
Right, you go into caves.
(18:58):
It's the same layout.
It's the same art assets.
It's a $40 game which shouldhave been a $20 expansion for
Elden Ring, that you can clickinto Elden Ring and click in
Night Rain.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
Battle Royale Right.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
Yeah, it was a cash grab.
So it took me probably twoinstances for me to understand a
little bit the tutorial.
I think this game with notutorial is terrible, like the
(19:35):
tutorial they give you was awful.
And they can say it's aFromSoft game, and that's what
they do.
But this isn't a FromSoft game,but it's not.
It's a multiplayer game andthey're trying to cash in on the
Fortnite success.
I'm going to use Fortnitebecause it's the biggest battle
royale out there.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
Well, it's also like Blue Circle closing you in.
Yes, no, no.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
It's a Fortnite clone with Elden Ring.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
It's a Fortnite clone .
Yes, right.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
Yeah, Instead of just running around and shooting
people, you can go undergroundand do dungeons right people.
You can go underground and dodungeons right the the boss.
Unless you learn the meta onhow to play it, you're not
killing regular.
You can kill your regularenemies.
But like I found a treesentinel, I hit him, I literally
(20:24):
was doing 98 damage to him andI had a level two or three
weapon right and I'm.
This is fucking stupid.
And then I'm watching theseother people who have already
played 50 hours and they'reannihilating them because they
understand the builds of thegame.
Again, they've made.
(20:44):
They've made this game for thelet me solo him Elden Ring pros.
This game, I say, is for me, isfor the top 1% of Elden Ring
players that can just go in andannihilate shit, right.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
Well, there is something neat that I'm seeing
on Twitch.
When I do raids and I have beentrying to raid into the same
game meet new people, give thema follow, you know, spread that
positivity to new people.
Sure, and what I'm seeing isthree person co streams where
they have a shared chat.
(21:25):
All three of the communitiesare there.
They're all on the screen withtheir little green screens, so
they're like all in a row.
You know, they're shrunk downto the same size so that they
look like they're sitting on acouch.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
Yeah, they're a team.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
Yeah, they're a team and so they're able to talk,
they're able to communicate.
They're like oh, I found a newweapon, sweet, oh, I found some
items, oh, I items, oh, I candrop that you can.
You can carry this one, blah,blah.
It's like that's what thisgame's all about, right, the yes
problem is I'm playing in themorning.
You know that my whole streamis built around.
(22:00):
Get your coffee, uh, turn on mystream.
Let's start the work daytogether.
Let's have fun with games, talkabout psychology, do the d20
topic for mental health, andthere are no people that are in
my current list my, my friendgroup that can play with me from
9 am to 11 on two or threeweekdays or even one weekday,
(22:24):
right, like, and that's, that'smy choice.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
I don't stream at night, so well, we've talked
about that, but I agree 100% andI didn't even get into that
part, I'm just talking about theactual gameplay of the game.
Then you throw in three randompeople and if you don't just
(22:47):
pick one person to followbecause most of the time if two
people are following, the thirdperson will follow them, but
they'll just leave you.
And the only way to communicatein that game is by a ping Drop
a pin, like this green pin.
Hey, go here, like what thefuck?
Then on top of it and this is aget good mentality and I get it
(23:11):
but the game does not show youhow to do anything.
If you're going to besuccessful in that game, you
legit have to go watch somevideos or get two randoms who
have already beat bosses.
I haven't beaten the first bossyet.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
The three wolves Wait , wait, already beat bosses.
I haven't beaten the first boss, yet the three wolves wait,
wait.
So you haven't gotten to thenight three boss, or you haven't
beaten the boss of night one no, I haven't beat the night.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
Three boss, the first one, the three, the three, uh
wolves that I've only made itthat far one time okay, so we're
in the same boat and but then,uh, I have, uh, oh, then he
played in, another one of ourfriends played and them two,
communicating, were good enoughto be able to beat a bunch of
(24:02):
bosses because they'recommunicating.
But again, from soft doesn'twant the toxicity, so they're
like we're not putting in voicechat because it let's face it
Elden Ring and Souls gamescreate toxicity.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
Abandoning brand new players is still toxicity.
Speaker 1 (24:21):
I understand that and I don't disagree, but I have
chosen to not play it ratherthan play it alone, have chosen
to not play it rather than playit alone.
So basically, I I think I'm uh,I'm point six, like 40 minutes
over my return window on steam,right, I'm sure I could appeal
(24:43):
to return it because, honestly,I don't really have a desire to
play it.
I should.
How do you do a refund?
How do you do?
Speaker 2 (24:54):
that you just go into customer support and you click
the different options Until youpick the oh support.
What problem are you having?
Speaker 1 (25:06):
I'm having trouble.
Speaker 2 (25:08):
There's tons of different.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
I want you to permanently remove this game
from my account.
I'm having trouble.
Speaker 2 (25:12):
It's not what I expected.
Speaker 1 (25:12):
There's tons of different.
I want to permanently removethis game from my account.
It's not what I expected.
I'd like to request a refundFor Outweight Refund, may 29th.
(25:35):
This refund will remove thefollowing products for receiving
our four hours of playtime dlc,two of three achievements total
4249 will be returned to mypaypal.
Speaker 2 (25:44):
Yeah so does that mean?
Speaker 1 (25:45):
again.
Yeah, it's not fun.
Speaker 2 (25:52):
They're asking the reasons.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
Submit request.
Perfect, your help request hasbeen submitted to Steam support.
Reference code is this Once asupport agent has responded to
your request, you will receive anotification.
Perfect, boom, how's that.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
Well.
Now I have even fewer friendsthat can group up with me.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
Well, but you know what?
This is the first time ever inmy life I've returned a game,
but it's not for me and I'm inas an adult.
Instead of wasting 42, 49, justreturn.
I returned it, it's just notfor me.
Yeah, and you know what?
Maybe I'll get it for theplaystation so you and I can
(26:43):
play it on the playstation oh,that would be so nice.
Marcus, you know what I'm saying, but like I would have more fun
playing with you than nobodyand I'm not saying Venmo
wouldn't play with me or Carmen,I'm not saying they wouldn't
right but yeah, I mean I'mhaving more fun playing a single
player game and wanting to playFinal Fantasy 14 than I will in
(27:05):
Night Rain and being refunded42 bucks.
If I decide to buy it later,maybe I'll buy it when it's on
sale next month for $20.
So Whew, okay, remember I saidthe choices of D, e and F.
(27:25):
Yeah, so we talked about D, theSteam Deck.
E was Elden Ring.
Now it's time for the F.
F is for Fail.
I was let down big time thisweek.
Like I don't want to say theword devastated, because I
wasn't devastated, but like youknow, when you're really looking
(27:46):
forward to something, you'relike looking forward to doing
something all week long and thenwhen it's time to do that, you
get the sad trombone want, want,want yeah, that's pretty
relatable, but what are youtalking about?
so I was supposed to recordworking class nerds last night.
(28:07):
Oh, and I looked forward to itall.
Like for three days I wastexting nick all day, every day
for three days and then,wednesday, during the work day,
I texted him.
I was like, dude, I can't waitfor tonight.
I'm so excited to say hey, I'mmarcus.
Like, I'm so excited to like doa real final episode of the
(28:31):
close it out, because they, thecommunity, followed with me
through my Elden Ring rage,quits and journey and all of
this shit, and I feel likethat's the perfect end to a show
.
Right, my completion of beatingMelania and all that.
Yeah, I got a text about 6 pmthat says I'm running errands,
probably won't be back before845, 9 pm and I stopped and said
(28:57):
to myself most stores areclosed at 9 pm.
Yes, in the Northeast at 9 pm.
So two options happened.
He got wrapped up with hisfuture wife and whatever Good
times, or yeah, or you know he,or he's just blowing me off
(29:21):
because he doesn't want to do it, Right, and either way I'm
calling him out, but I'm notreally calling him out.
And he said, hey, can we do itanother day?
And I just, you know I, mydisappointed response is
probably the most toxic responseever.
I said, it's okay, dude, it'sno problem, I'll probably just
record it by myself Talk soon.
(29:43):
And I didn't end up doing it,cause I ended up doing a bunch
of stuff with the kids, which isfine, but my point to you is
the fail was I was disappointedand I allowed myself to be super
disappointed.
Speaker 2 (29:59):
Yeah, you're allowed to be disappointed there, Marcus
.
Speaker 1 (30:01):
Oh, of course, oh no, no, there's no apology needed.
I needed to vent it because Iwas that excited for something
it's like how excited I was fornight rain and then I booted it
up and was like, wow, this sucksass and I'm going to go back to
night rain.
You know, what also sucks is itforces you to use weapons that
(30:23):
you don't want to use.
So I switched to the magiccharacter, and even the magic
character isn't great for me.
Like I like a katana, there isa katana character.
Well, yes, but like the best runthat I had was when I got the
Uji katana with the blood theblood like loss on it.
(30:45):
It was nasty and that's wherewe made it to the final boss.
It it was nasty and that's whenwe made it to the final boss.
Every other time I'm using somestupid fucking stick or a
trident or a great sword, likeI'm not a great sword player
yeah, your mediocre sword atbest exactly and that's.
And then I switched to the magiccharacter and it went a little
(31:07):
bit better, but still, and thegame?
You start off with no fuckinghealth, no fp, and your stamina
bar sucks ass, I don't knowwhatever yeah, it's it.
Speaker 2 (31:22):
That's another fortnight mechanic, though.
You start with the lamest gun.
You gotta find stuff.
Wait, do you even start with agun in fortnite?
You just start with the axe man?
I don't even remember.
Yeah, it's tough.
You gotta find better weapons,you gotta level up it's.
But I enjoy it the times whereI've gotten a chance to
(31:45):
legitimately play a run.
But the problem is, 50 of myruns have been people abandoning
me for whatever reason, becauseI'll never know, because you
can't chat, or if they don'tabandon me, they just are dying
(32:05):
so fast that there's not enoughtalent in the squad to make it
to the end.
Speaker 1 (32:14):
Yeah, and Doc, I think that if I get Night Rain
on the PlayStation and you and Ican play, I think I'll actually
have more fun.
And I did have fun with then.
But it was day one.
I was so excited for therelease, I pre-downloaded it and
everything and I'm butthurtyeah, but I do have a gaming
(32:40):
achievement that I could stab uh, not sabotage.
Speaker 2 (32:44):
I could like shift us into it if we, if we want to
get away from those butthurtfeelings from Elden Ring.
No, it's fine.
I finished Expedition 33.
Speaker 1 (32:56):
Oh shit, so fun fact.
I came into your stream I wasworking, I think, and I or it
was on a weekend, I can'tremember but I was like I was
being super goofy and you'relike Marcus, I'm fighting the
final boss, not right now, andyou didn't say it like that, but
it was like that was the.
Everybody in chat was like, oh,doc, just burned you.
(33:20):
He doesn't have time for yourshit right now.
And then you died like a secondlater and I was like, ha ha, ha
f you, doc.
My man upstairs punished youthat was on Sunday, yeah.
Yes.
Speaker 2 (33:36):
You were not being your normal self.
You were like unleashed,intoxicated Marcus or something
yes.
Yes, and I was just like Marcus.
I'm having real feelings,fighting for my life in this
epic battle.
That's going to mean somethingto me for 20 years and here I am
(33:58):
.
We're not doing fart jokes inthe twitch chat oh, dude, it was
so funny yeah, it was fun.
Um, I did pick the bad ending,though and yeah, so um yeah.
So two characters from yourparty the whole game have a
difference of opinion at the endabout what the right way to
(34:20):
treat the paintings would be,and I chose the character that I
liked the most, despite sort ofunderstanding that her point of
view on the thing is not inline with my values, that her
point of view on the thing isnot in line with my values, and
so the ending for that characteris the tragic one, where life
(34:42):
is not actually okay and we'resupposed to ignore that, and so
everybody doesn't live past 33at the end of your game.
I don't want to spoil what theending is.
Maybe in a future episode wecan go really into detail on it.
But that's so um I haven't seen.
I haven't seen the good ending.
(35:02):
I'm not going on youtube.
Um, I did try to go back intothe final area but I beat the
game severely under leveledmarcus.
So the amount of ill, even onthe easiest difficulty, that I
had to have to pull those fightsoff.
I'm proud of myself.
I'm proud of you going in to doit again.
(35:23):
Thank you.
Going in to do it again Underleveled is not something I'm
interested in doing.
I would like to go back and dosome of the leveling grinding
areas.
I didn't know there were extraareas in the game.
I just went from story point tostory point to story point and,
as a result, I found no extracostumes other than like a few
(35:44):
that were on the main path, andI didn't even know there were
side quests in the game at all.
Like, literally like when I goon the internet and look up the
trophy list for this game.
It's stuff that I did not eveninteract with at all.
Like, literally like when I goon the internet and look up the
trophy list for this game.
It's stuff that I did not eveninteract with at all.
So I was level 50 when Ifinished.
I probably should have been 65or 70, oh, okay yeah, all right,
(36:07):
so you didn't do that.
Speaker 1 (36:08):
You did not do the japanese jrpg grind.
You didn't grind, no levels.
Speaker 2 (36:14):
I made my own hard mode that's what I did.
Speaker 1 (36:17):
Yeah, like you played it on story, but it was extra
hard, I got it yeah, because I Iwas under leveled the entire
time I understand thatcompletely, man yeah well, so a
couple questions.
So first thing I'm going to sayis every time we've talked about
a game, I've gone to steam likebecause I keep the steam store
up.
Steam deck compatibility isplayable.
(36:37):
This game's launcher setup toolmay require the touch screen or
virtual keyboard or havedifficult to read text.
Some in-game text is small andmay be difficult to read, so for
that game I feel like you needthe screen to be able to read
all the moves that you're doing,so I probably won't play it on
the Steam Deck.
Speaker 2 (36:56):
I've played so many games that have that designation
on the Steam Deck and they'rereally just, they're covering
their own behind.
In case someone that yeah, likein case someone is visually
impaired buys it and they'relike this is too small.
It's like well, you need amagnifying glass.
Speaker 1 (37:13):
We told you that so hot takes on this game better
than final fantasy.
7 not yet okay, okay, moresatisfying than most games
(37:38):
you've played absolutely, it'sone of the best games I've ever
played really okay.
How many hours did you put intoit?
Like 35 okay, yeah, youdefinitely didn't grind enough
the reviews.
I watch the non-spoiler reviews.
They're like oh yeah, like 35?
Okay, yeah, you definitelydidn't grind enough.
Yeah, no, like the reviews.
I watched the non-spoilerreviews.
They're like oh yeah, you need50 hours in order to beat this
(38:00):
in a way, so like you just werelike I beat it in 35.
Yeah, you did A.
You went from A to B to C to Dto E.
No exploration.
Speaker 2 (38:08):
The story was just so compelling.
Speaker 1 (38:15):
I didn't realize there were other places I could
go.
I understand that, okay.
Third, can you see me playingit?
Speaker 2 (38:21):
yes, I think that if you were ever going to play a
turn-based game and I knowyou've played some, a lot, just
just different ones than me Ithink you'd like it a lot.
Speaker 1 (38:33):
So I really like Octopath.
Yeah, I had to restart it once.
I think I was like eight or tenhours in and I messed some
stuff up and I was just dyingand dying, and dying and dying
Because I didn't have enough ofx item to like, which unlocked a
(38:57):
move that I needed to progressin the game, so I just restarted
.
My concern with a turn-basedgame and this is going to sound
really funny is I'm an idiotlike I have great common sense
but I do not have great tacticalskills okay, I'm not in like a
shooter game, for anybody thatdoes may not understand what I'm
(39:19):
trying to say.
In a shooter game, I use asubmachine gun because I can't
use a sniper rifle.
I basically said the same thingin two different ways I love
sniper rifle exactly, yeah, butthat's not me.
I exactly get what you'resaying you're the person in
pokemon.
That's like I love sniper rifle.
Speaker 2 (39:35):
Exactly, yeah, but that's not me.
I exactly get what you'resaying.
You're the person in Pokemonthat's like oh, this move
doesn't do damage, get rid of it.
Speaker 1 (39:41):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (39:42):
Yeah, you can win on the easiest difficulty for sure
in Expedition 33.
With that mindset, you'll feellike some fights are incredibly
hard.
Hard but it's doable and it'ssuper fun because it all comes
(40:02):
down to dodges and parries.
Anyway, my strategy the wholegame was to put burn on
everybody and get as many burnstacks on them so that every
time they get a turn they getanother big tick of damage.
And that took me all the waythrough the game, marcus.
Speaker 1 (40:17):
So even if you don't, even if you don't get more
elaborate than that, it worksyeah, it's gotta burn it down my
kid would just start screamingwhoa, anyway, yeah but, with the
, with expedition 33, I feellike it could be.
(40:42):
Uh, it could be a good game forme, but then I think about all
the other games that I reallywant to try.
Speaker 2 (40:50):
Yeah, like final fantasy 14 with your good friend
dr gamology.
Speaker 1 (40:54):
We're doing it, we're gonna we're gonna set up a day
and see.
The problem is, is the perfectnight for us to play?
There's wrestling on, becausewe're both available, but we're
both busy watching wrestling.
For me, I could skip SmackDownon Friday night and watch it
(41:16):
Saturday morning instead.
That's just me.
But you won't do that becausethat's father son time and I get
it.
Yeah, your son, and it's likemy me too.
Speaker 2 (41:24):
Both my kids now love wrestling and wrestling is
giving us so much good right now, oh my gosh.
I know that we're not really awrestling podcast, but I had a
lot of fun watching Money in theBank over the weekend.
Speaker 1 (41:39):
Me too.
Speaker 2 (41:40):
I think this show has evolved into just two dudes,
adults talking about real lifedude, we talked about this on my
stream today and would you liketo know what my good friends
doritos and tilap told me?
Oh sure, I want to hear this.
They said and I'm gonna makethis sound as mean as I can- to
(42:04):
me because it'll be more funnyfor the show.
They said, doc, your show isgone, you're just a co-host on
working class nerds.
Now you don't even talk aboutpsychology research anymore.
You just show up and you talkabout the same things you talk
(42:26):
about on the stream, but it'sworking class nerds.
And I was just like, well, damn, like let's, let's just take
the whole thing off the internet, rebrand it and like, redo the
intros on the 15 episodes and wecan just be working class nerds
(42:49):
2.0.
So basically what I got fromthat and I talked to my sister
about this today at lunch too um, like she said, she really
misses the idea of having somesegments.
But she listed some of thesegments we used to do that were
like, yeah, you didn't needthat one.
(43:09):
And I was like, yeah, that'sexactly why we don't do it
anymore.
But I think that we should havea personal challenge to have a
little bit more of a topic thatwe're gonna hit, so that way I
can find the good psychologyresearch and show off exactly
the expert that's changing theworld that I actually am today
(43:32):
listen, I have no problem beingpinky.
Yeah, so everybody like this isvery tongue-in-cheek, really.
The reason the format of theshow is the way it is is kind of
a function of me being superbusy, but I still really want
the show to exist.
So we're here and this is whatit is now.
(43:52):
So, marcuscus, instead oftaking that as a dig, I listen
listen, man.
Speaker 1 (43:57):
You asked me to come here.
Wait, no, no, no, no, I'm goinginto this.
You asked me to join this.
You know what I bring.
I am.
I am me, like I'm going to talk.
I'm going to talk whatever thecomes out of my mouth.
You've gotten me to be morepg-13 than I ever have in my
(44:17):
life didn't you just say whatthe fuck?
Speaker 2 (44:21):
no, five seconds ago.
No, I said f I.
I left it blank, so oh, that'sso nice of you, so thoughtful.
Speaker 1 (44:28):
Sorry, everyone no, they don't want to hear it, but
my point.
Speaker 2 (44:31):
No, I said it.
I said it when I was accusingyou, I know.
That's our PG-13 F-bomb,everybody.
Speaker 1 (44:39):
Well, so a couple things I'm going to say, and we
are such good friends that ourconversation.
I look at this show as youalways bring some kind of
psychology into it.
If you want to bring more intoit, it's all power to you.
Like, I'm never going to say no, because I think it's
fascinating to listen to.
Sometimes it's a little muchand I might like fall asleep
(44:59):
because that's not my area ofexpertise.
But I also will put it on youbecause, like on Monday, you
should make a note that at 6 amyou're going to come pick a
topic that we have to touch onand text me topic Capero.
(45:20):
I can do that.
Speaker 2 (45:22):
Well, so then, do it, do it, yeah, like suck less.
I would love to be Gunther andyou can be Jey Uso, and I just
put you to sleep with myresearch.
Sleeper hold every single week.
Speaker 1 (45:35):
I feel like I am the balance to where, when you
really get into a tangent andyou, because you can talk
forever.
Speaker 2 (45:44):
I can, but you can too, so don't point that finger
at me, sir.
Speaker 1 (45:48):
No, no, no.
But you interjected when I wasgoing to say is you talks?
You can speak so long becauseyou do presentations, you do
have done research papers, youcounsel people like you.
Your job is to talk.
I just like to talk, right, butwhen there's a topic that has a
psychology something involvedwith it, you can go on and on,
(46:11):
and I'm the type of guy I'd belike, okay, we've said enough
let's, and I can like insertmyself.
But for me, on the topic, oh mygosh, go ahead.
No, the final part of this isI've always been the type of
person with a podcast that whensomebody listens to us talk, I
want them to feel like they'resitting down with us at a table
(46:34):
and we're just having aconversation.
Because if they ever hang outwith you for three hours, like
if you sit with Doc and you'rehanging out with them at some
point in that three-hour block,there's going to be like, oh my
God, I did a research study on X, y or Z at some point and it's
going to come out out anyways.
(46:54):
So it's just natural.
Anyways, what were you gonnasay?
Speaker 2 (47:00):
oh, on the topic of me having tons of words, like a
hundred thousand of them, Iwrote a book called the gamer's
journey right, marcus, and Iactually got something in the
mail related to that book today.
Oh, I don't know.
This is from the Book Awards,where I won in the psychology
(47:22):
category.
It is a roll of stickers withthe logo of the Book Award that
says winner that I can put onthe covers of all the books that
I sell from my shopify store.
So, um, if you anyone listening, uh, that wants to buy a copy,
(47:43):
if you buy it from me and notother places, you'll have a
special winner sticker from theimpact book Awards.
I will also be doing my firstgiveaway for my community on
Sunday.
We're going to be doing onebook going out to someone.
We hit our subscriber goal forthe month of June Just the
(48:07):
strongest community support I'veever had.
On Twitch and the peoplewatching me right now.
It's been so much fun and Ican't even express how grateful
I am for everyone who's showingup.
But Twitch has been a blast.
Marcus and I've been hangingabout five days a week outside
of my vacation week like for asolid month because of
(48:29):
Expedition 33.
But I continued it even thoughI beat that game because of
Expedition 33, but I continuedit even though I beat that game,
and I'm actually just playingwhatever game feels right, based
on either how I feel in themorning or based on what's hot
on Twitch and whether I want tobe a part of that.
And so that's why I gave NightRing so many extra shots,
because I was like it's good forme to be playing this game even
(48:53):
if it ends in tragedy, and alot of people like watching the
tragedy, so I'm happy to givethat to you.
Speaker 1 (49:02):
Go ahead.
Speaker 2 (49:04):
This week was just Expedition 33, then Night Reign
and then Final Fantasy XIV today, and that is so awesome.
Speaker 1 (49:12):
How much?
Okay, first thing, this ismaybe a community question for
me.
I wouldn't want that stickerstuck to the front cover because
the cover is so beautiful, andthe back?
I'd want it like you open it up.
That's where I would put thesticker, because I wouldn't want
to, like ruin the cover of thebook, because if I want to peel
(49:33):
it off and then you rip thecover, I'd cry on the inside.
Speaker 2 (49:39):
Yeah, that's a really good point.
So whenever I have signed booksat conventions, I usually sign
on this page, yeah, um.
Or or this page where my nameis like right there Pretty big,
so I could put the sticker onthere.
Speaker 1 (49:53):
Yeah, that's a good point, I wouldn't want to ruin
it, um I need to buy one of yourbooks because I want to do a
giveaway on the podcast.
I want to test the community.
Speaker 2 (50:12):
That is something that we could do.
A lot of the podcasts that Ilisten to do it with um.
Speaker 1 (50:18):
Every time you leave a a review yeah get entered into
the drawing yes, we couldtotally do that.
Yeah, yeah, we can do like amonth-long campaign and then
whoever in a month does leaves areview, they'll go into the
thing and they can win a book.
I'll purchase the book and I'll.
I will sponsor this oh, that'sso nice.
Speaker 2 (50:41):
but also the way I look at it too is when I set a
subscriber goal on twitch, ifit's supporting me to that
extent we actually hit it.
Then it's like I've alreadysold many copies of the book.
So I just like giving back tothe people.
You know, I think it is a realpoint in commerce where if you
(51:06):
have goods, somebody has to havebought it before it's leaving
your inventory.
But it's still a really goodfeeling to be able to say like
hey, everyone, thank you.
Oh, I agree.
Yep, so that was a big thingthis morning.
I was not expecting that to bein my mailbox, I didn't even
know that was a thing.
(51:27):
So seeing those stickers andbeing like what did they send me
this for?
So that was cool.
Speaker 1 (51:34):
That is radical.
Speaker 2 (51:40):
What's the matter?
I'm just trying to think.
What are we doing now?
Speaker 1 (51:45):
Well, it's funny.
You should say that I have aquestion for you.
Okay, let's do it.
If you could go back in timeand play a game again for the
first time, what would it be?
I feel like we should have theJeopardy music going.
Speaker 2 (52:10):
Yeah, no, there are super serious answers and then
there's quirky ones and I feellike do you know the game,
katherine?
No, oh my gosh, so it's.
It's an anime game by Atlusthey're the same company that
(52:32):
makes Persona but it's actuallyabout a guy who is dating a
woman named Catherine, but hecheats on her with a woman named
Catherine with a C, so hisBeyonce is with a K.
Speaker 1 (52:50):
Is it Catherine Classic?
Yep, I'm looking at it rightnow.
Speaker 2 (52:53):
Yeah, Beyonce is with a K, is it Catherine Classic?
Yep, I'm looking at it rightnow.
Yeah, so the whole gameplay iswhen you're in your dreams.
You have to climb blocks beforethey fall and get away from the
demonic monsters that aretrying to kill you.
But it's very Jungian dreamanalysis kind of stuff, like all
the monsters represent thingsthat you're afraid of in the
story of the game.
In your real life, yep,monsters represent things that
(53:13):
you're afraid of in the story ofthe game in your real life.
Yep and I Platinum Trophied thatgame on its original version
and I just think it would be sofun to play it again without all
those memories.
Speaker 1 (53:26):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (53:37):
But also runners-up would be things like Heavy Rain
or Persona 5 or Person orbioshock infinite or kingdom
hearts sure what?
What kinds of games would hityour list?
Speaker 1 (53:40):
for something like that.
If I had to pick one, it wouldbe star wars, the old republic.
Okay, like if I had to stop.
You know, I thought about thisall week because I like throwing
things at you, because if youhave a lot of time to think
about it, you go crazy in depthfor the reason.
But for me, I thought about itand I went very in depth and I
(54:05):
thought about, like your FinalFantasy seven or Mass Effect two
or Mass Effect 2.
And I really thought about itand I'm like man, when I booted
up Star Wars, the Old Republic,when Julia was born, and I
actually gave it a chancebecause I played it when it
(54:26):
first came out and I played itfor two weeks and I was like,
okay, I'm going back to Call ofDuty and I got immersed in the
story because it was star warsand like I was a jedi and, oh,
like I was lost in it.
Or maybe I was a sith, maybe Iwas a marauder and darth barris
(54:46):
was a jerk.
Either way, whatever that storywas, I was like blown away that
a game could do this and thatit didn't.
I'm gonna do my quotation marks.
It wasn't gonna end, just blewme away, and if I could have
that feeling again, that's whatI would do, you know yeah, I was
(55:11):
thinking to myself while youwere describing that why didn't
I say that?
Speaker 2 (55:15):
and then I was thinking, why didn't I say
journey?
And then I I think that thosetwo games have given me so much
that I would be afraid to messwith it in time travel and risk
ending up being an entirelydifferent person.
Speaker 1 (55:35):
I don't think you have it in you to be a different
person.
Continue the journey.
Welcome to the Gaming Persona Podcast.
I'm MarcusB814.
I'm joined by my esteemed bestfriend, dr Gameology, and we're
here to talk about video gamesand sidebars.
Why?
Because that's what I do I'mhere for the sidebar, he's here
to drop psychology on you, andthis is our show.
Right now, man, there's so muchto talk about.
(00:26):
Can we first talk about howmuch Comcast sucks?
Speaker 2 (00:31):
We can actually, Marcus, because I broke up with
them yesterday.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Oh, because last week's episode it cut out
mid-show.
You were just gone and thenthey said the outage was until 2
30 in the morning yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
So, marcus, my streaming life just went from
720p 30 frames per second to1080p 60 frames per second,
because I have formed analliance with at&t and their
fiber optic internet.
Well done, well done.
Yes, well done.
It saves me $20 a month.
It's cheaper to multiply myupload speed by 40 times.
(01:12):
Isn't that insane?
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Just like Captain Insano.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
Well, I you know I was devastated, because usually
it's my internet, because I'm inthe Northeast that sucks ass.
It seems like Florida'sinternet is bulletproof, and
last week your internet saidnope.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Yeah, I had an outage Wednesday night.
No, sorry wrong, I had anoutage on Thursday night and
Friday night and it's becausethe main road, the major road
that's next to my neighborhood,it had all the way up at the
three miles next to myneighborhood they just had truck
(01:58):
after truck after truck workingon the power lines, working on
the lines that are under theground, and just there they were
nicking the Spectrum stuff.
Spectrum that's it Yep.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Yeah, spectrum, yep.
Yep yep, yep.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
I get it.
It's really frustrating becausethey're just like oh well,
you're expected to have internetback in the next seven hours.
It's like but every singlething in my house is connected
by wifi.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
Like but it was kind of nice, cause it was 10 o'clock
at night.
So most, most people are donewith the internet stuff, except
you.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
The Friday stuff happened at 4 30 PM.
I was still working.
Oh, ripper Roni, yeah, like itit was.
It was aggravating enough thatit prompted me to be like I am a
free agent here.
I'm not.
I'm not married to thisinternet, like I can watch
(02:57):
smackdown on hulu with anyinternet connection.
So watch this, watch this,watch me, watch me um, all right
topic time multiple choice.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
Do you want to talk about topic d, e or f first?
Speaker 2 (03:17):
if these are letter coded, it's really hard because
I can think of a descriptiveword for the things going on in
my life for each of thoseletters.
Let's just go with topic D.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
Okay, I got a steam, deck.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
Oh, nice that is a much better D than what I was
expecting to talk about.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
Yes.
So I, as you guys know, I'vebeen kind of going back and
forth on all of the ideas of howto be able to play games more
but not be tied down to myoffice.
So over the course of the lastfew weeks I've been looking at
the ROG Ally this is before theyannounced the Xbox one the MSI
(04:02):
Claw, the Steam Deck.
There was another one too, theLenoenovo one, and then there's,
of course, the switch too, andI was kind of I was going back
and forth, back and forth, and Iwatched so many youtube videos
like I'm gonna shout out to allthe youtube creators that take
the time, because there's somany people like me on what
(04:26):
handheld console to buy and I Iwas stuck like I didn't know.
And you spoke highly of thesteam deck, like rave reviews
and you know.
But you have a switch and aSwitch 2.
But the big thing for me was Ihad to decide.
(04:47):
I knew I wasn't going to buythe Switch 2 right away because
the Nintendo games are not meLike.
I play some of them, but it'snot Like I have to force myself
to play it.
You know what I mean.
They don't have native gamesthat I want to play.
You know what I mean.
They don't have native gamesthat I want to play.
So I settled on the Steam Deckand it came down to two reasons.
(05:10):
The first reason was becauseit's Steam and I'm a PC gamer.
Okay, part two of that is thatI have an entire library of
games.
Is that I have an entirelibrary of games and like 65 or
70% of them are all Steam Deckverified?
(05:30):
Yeah, so it was a no-brainer,like a lot of people were like,
hey, the Steam Deck is kind oflike old technology.
You know, definitely buy it,but know you're buying something
that's like two years oldbecause they haven't set up an
updated one yet.
Blah, blah, blah.
But they completely modernizethis thing.
(05:51):
There's constant updates for it.
It's a good system.
And I said to myself the gamesI'm playing, if they're Steam
Deck verified, they're going toplay.
Great, you're right, you know.
And what sold me on the SteamDeck beyond your recommendation
was when I went.
(06:12):
They have a button oh, steamDeck.
Whenever we record, I have theSteam page up at all times, like
the store, and at the topleft-hand corner or middle
left-hand, it's Steam Deck.
Your game's everywhere.
And I clicked on it and it saidcheck out all the most played
games.
The top left-hand corner or amiddle left-hand.
It's steam deck, your gameseverywhere.
And I clicked on it and it saidcheck out all the most played
games.
And elden ring is always in thetop five games.
(06:32):
And then I would watch.
And then I watched a video onhow's elden ring on the steam
deck and yes, it's not 4k, 60,60 frames I get on my computer
but it plays great.
It plays absolutely great.
Yeah, it's only in 720p, butthe screen's only 7.4 inches.
(06:52):
It's great.
Like I have had no issueplaying it and enjoying it.
But the other thing is is I havefound time to play it for 10
minutes, like I might just gofrom grace to grace, kill some
things and sit like, stop at agrace and shut it off and it's.
(07:14):
I have found that it isfulfilled my gaming needs
without having to like feel likeI have to sit down in front of
my computer for a session.
You know what I mean.
And this will bring us into E,which I played Elden Ring on the
Steam Deck and I've been on amission to kill dragons.
(07:39):
Yeah, because I only killed theone in Limgrave grave and I
might have killed another one,so I'm just going through and
killing them.
I think I killed the one inlernia too, because when I went
to where he was supposed to behe was not there.
So I'm like, all right, Ialready killed him so and
there's no way to check and seeif you kill them.
(08:01):
You know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
I don't think there's two dragons in liurnia.
One is next to the academiccity, the other you fight at the
the three towers.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
It flies away and you have to kill it when you
complete the ronnie questcorrect after you killed mad
blithe, yeah, um, anyway.
So I played elden ring on thesteam deck.
It's fantastic.
I am so thrilled about it.
I have my like brand newalienware laptop.
(08:38):
I'm gonna sell it.
Oh wow, I I don't need it.
You know, I use my laptop forwhen I go away.
I don't need it.
What do I need a laptop for?
I don't type anything.
You know what I mean.
I literally just play videogames on it, and now that I have
that, it's the greatest machineever yeah because and here's
(09:01):
the here's the third reason whyI bought it is I already own the
games.
So if I bought a switch or a rogally or whatever, I would have
to purchase games in order toplay it, all of the games.
I have a library of games thatI'm can play.
I'm gonna say for free, butI've already bought them.
Yeah, but it syncs perfect.
(09:23):
So I just got rid of D&E Bam.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
Yeah, also, if you ever learn how to play Final
Fantasy XIV on a controller, youcan play that on your Steam
Deck as well, and it isbeautiful and runs perfect Just
the same as your rundown ofElden Ring Like.
But it's not just about FinalFantasy 14.
There are so many really goodgames that you already love,
(09:52):
that you already own, and youdon't have to build your library
up Like.
I have the Switch 2 right now.
My son is playing it a ton.
We have Mario Kart World.
I haven't played it yet and hekeeps pointing out that I keep
dodging the chance to play it.
I just keep saying that it's agrind that I don't have time for
right now.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
So you can't just do a race and be happy with that.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
I am capable of playing a race and doing my best
to be happy with that.
I don't feel the need to play anew mario kart, right, like I.
I don't know I, something'sbroken inside of me.
Marcus, like I, I bought theconsole for him.
(10:39):
Uh, his birthday is just alittle bit before mine, so you
know, the switch 2 came out onmy birthday.
We, we picked it up, but it'sreally for him, sure, and I just
don't feel any need or desireto be a cow in a mario kart and
(11:00):
throw any shells at things likeI.
I just don't have it.
I don't have the thing thatdraws me towards new games.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
Listen, I get it Time , just like me.
I'm going to play Final FantasyXIV.
That is the next game I play.
I played Night Rain.
I played Night Rain, but youknow I'm so wrapped up in Elden
Ring Like I want to get all ofthe stuff before I go to the DLC
(11:37):
.
You were away so Final FantasyXIV hadn't happened, but there's
really no other game I want toplay.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
I have some games that I'm still excited for.
Just on the topic of bridgingoff of that switch to point, I
started night rain.
I bought it on steam but it'svery hard for me to run the pc
version and still stream it.
My computer's doing too muchand even wait, I gotta stop.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
What graphics card do you have?
Speaker 2 (12:14):
I do not know, but even on medium settings for the
graphics it was just making.
Everything in obs was jittery.
Nothing looks smooth.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
You must have your okay.
So we'll have to go into yourOBS and change your uh graphic
settings, because you got to putit on N Vink for your it is on
N Vink Marcus.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
Ooh yeah.
So I bought the PS five version.
I've been playing it.
It's perfect.
So that's the moral of thestory.
I own two versions of EldenRing Night Rain.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
You can.
How many hours of wait?
How many hours of Night Rain?
Did you play on PC?
Speaker 2 (12:52):
I bought it with a code from G2Acom, so if I want
to do a refund, I have to do itthrough them.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
You can, as long as I think it's three hours or less
why, would you have no?
Speaker 2 (13:07):
friends on the playstation, and it's a
multiplayer game right, uh, yeah, yeah like I'm in.
I'm in a tough spot like Iliterally have nobody to play
with because of what time Istream, also like.
So the only success I going tohave in the game is if I get
(13:29):
lucky and get amazing angels onmy team.
But what I'm learning is EldenRing players stuck at teamwork.
Right, like all of you, I'mcalling you out.
You are the most selfishbastards in the universe.
You're terrible human beings.
You're terrible human beings.
Every single expedition I didon one of my streams this week
(13:53):
had people bailing on me.
Marcus, yeah, like leaving theinstance.
And so now.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
I'm alone.
That's interesting, because Inever had that happen.
I've never had somebody leave,but you know what it is.
It's's probably so.
That's the toxicity part of thecommunity.
So now that it's been aroundfor long enough, if you go in
and you don't know what you'redoing, they're probably like
we're not winning.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
I'm out it was my second match ever yeah, but I'm
not talking about you alsothere's no built in chat, so
there's no way for yeah, likethis is the problem, this game
should not be released right now.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
Ooh, let's get into this.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
Yeah, unpopular opinion.
I came in ready for this andit's my time.
My time is now.
This game should not beinstalled on anyone's devices
right now.
There's no way to communicatewith the complete selfish
bastards that you get paired upwith and they leave you and then
(14:59):
, because it started out as athree-person thing, you are now
a one person with thethree-person rules and then if
you leave, you get penalized forexiting too, even if you're
alone.
Marcus, right like fromsoftware does just fundamentally
does not understand what amultiplayer game is, and they're
(15:23):
showing it obnoxiously withconfidence that is undeserved.
The entire process of havingyour characters and you carry no
runes or levels with you intothe next thing, every single
thing you do.
You start at level one and whenyou open the game, you only
(15:44):
have one instance you can enterand you have to be lucky enough
to get two people that are goingto play well and stick with you
for the whole 45 minutes so youcan unlock other stages.
It's brutal and I I enjoy it.
I understand it now.
(16:04):
Also playing the recluse, whichis the magic-based witch class.
There is no clear descriptionof how to refill your magic
points.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
You gotta get that tree.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
No, no, she has a secondary magic spell where you
hold down triangle and hit L1,and it sucks the magic out of
whatever the last character youhit with the magic spell is out
of.
Whatever the last character youhit with a magic spell is.
It's really fun.
It reminds me a lot of BlackMage in Final Fantasy XIV.
It's so technical.
You feel smart when you play it.
(16:38):
Well, and I like that.
But there is nothing in the gamethat clearly explains that
mechanic unless you already knowthe mechanic.
And then when you read the oneplace where it says how to do
that, it's like oh, that makesperfect sense, but the
description is filled withjargon words, and so in my field
(17:00):
counseling, psychology, mentalhealth profession it is
unethical for me to describesomething to my clients with
words that they do notunderstand, and so this is a
cardinal sin to me that EldenRing describes how to refill
your magic when your only weaponthat that class has is a magic
staff right Like five attacks,and you cannot do attacks
(17:24):
anymore unless you know how todo this.
My first night streaming thegame was a disaster and I
learned.
My second one was good.
My third one was good.
Ps5 was a good change for me.
But just I played Final Fantasy14 as my stream game today and
on my tweet I was like I want toplay with people who actually
(17:46):
understand teamwork.
So Elden Ring Fortnite is notlike my favorite to play.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
Okay, can I rebuttal what you're talking about?
Speaker 2 (18:01):
You can say whatever you want.
You're not going to change mymind.
Good luck.
It's worse to be with you.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
No, no, no.
I'm going to give you my reviewbecause I've played Hold on.
I will tell you.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
I have played like 12 hours so far oh, you probably
played more than me.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
Yeah, I've played three and a half hours of it,
okay, okay.
So my view on the game is Iagree, I think this was a cash
grab from Soft.
Bandai probably said, hey, makea game, let's make some money
(18:37):
and let's produce the game inElden Ring Because it's all
redone assets.
There's nothing new in the game.
Everything in the game is aredone asset.
The world itself is snippets ofdifferent parts of Elden Ring.
Right, you go into caves.
(18:58):
It's the same layout.
It's the same art assets.
It's a $40 game which shouldhave been a $20 expansion for
Elden Ring, that you can clickinto Elden Ring and click in
Night Rain.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
Battle Royale Right.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
Yeah, it was a cash grab.
So it took me probably twoinstances for me to understand a
little bit the tutorial.
I think this game with notutorial is terrible, like the
(19:35):
tutorial they give you was awful.
And they can say it's aFromSoft game, and that's what
they do.
But this isn't a FromSoft game,but it's not.
It's a multiplayer game andthey're trying to cash in on the
Fortnite success.
I'm going to use Fortnitebecause it's the biggest battle
royale out there.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
Well, it's also like Blue Circle closing you in.
Yes, no, no.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
It's a Fortnite clone with Elden Ring.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
It's a Fortnite clone .
Yes, right.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
Yeah, Instead of just running around and shooting
people, you can go undergroundand do dungeons right people.
You can go underground and dodungeons right the the boss.
Unless you learn the meta onhow to play it, you're not
killing regular.
You can kill your regularenemies.
But like I found a treesentinel, I hit him, I literally
(20:24):
was doing 98 damage to him andI had a level two or three
weapon right and I'm.
This is fucking stupid.
And then I'm watching theseother people who have already
played 50 hours and they'reannihilating them because they
understand the builds of thegame.
Again, they've made.
(20:44):
They've made this game for thelet me solo him Elden Ring pros.
This game, I say, is for me, isfor the top 1% of Elden Ring
players that can just go in andannihilate shit, right.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
Well, there is something neat that I'm seeing
on Twitch.
When I do raids and I have beentrying to raid into the same
game meet new people, give thema follow, you know, spread that
positivity to new people.
Sure, and what I'm seeing isthree person co streams where
they have a shared chat.
(21:25):
All three of the communitiesare there.
They're all on the screen withtheir little green screens, so
they're like all in a row.
You know, they're shrunk downto the same size so that they
look like they're sitting on acouch.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
Yeah, they're a team.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
Yeah, they're a team and so they're able to talk,
they're able to communicate.
They're like oh, I found a newweapon, sweet, oh, I found some
items, oh, I items, oh, I candrop that you can.
You can carry this one, blah,blah.
It's like that's what thisgame's all about, right, the yes
problem is I'm playing in themorning.
You know that my whole streamis built around.
(22:00):
Get your coffee, uh, turn on mystream.
Let's start the work daytogether.
Let's have fun with games, talkabout psychology, do the d20
topic for mental health, andthere are no people that are in
my current list my, my friendgroup that can play with me from
9 am to 11 on two or threeweekdays or even one weekday,
(22:24):
right, like, and that's, that'smy choice.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
I don't stream at night, so well, we've talked
about that, but I agree 100% andI didn't even get into that
part, I'm just talking about theactual gameplay of the game.
Then you throw in three randompeople and if you don't just
(22:47):
pick one person to followbecause most of the time if two
people are following, the thirdperson will follow them, but
they'll just leave you.
And the only way to communicatein that game is by a ping Drop
a pin, like this green pin.
Hey, go here, like what thefuck?
Then on top of it and this is aget good mentality and I get it
(23:11):
but the game does not show youhow to do anything.
If you're going to besuccessful in that game, you
legit have to go watch somevideos or get two randoms who
have already beat bosses.
I haven't beaten the first bossyet.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
The three wolves Wait , wait, already beat bosses.
I haven't beaten the first boss, yet the three wolves wait,
wait.
So you haven't gotten to thenight three boss, or you haven't
beaten the boss of night one no, I haven't beat the night.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
Three boss, the first one, the three, the three, uh
wolves that I've only made itthat far one time okay, so we're
in the same boat and but then,uh, I have, uh, oh, then he
played in, another one of ourfriends played and them two,
communicating, were good enoughto be able to beat a bunch of
(24:02):
bosses because they'recommunicating.
But again, from soft doesn'twant the toxicity, so they're
like we're not putting in voicechat because it let's face it
Elden Ring and Souls gamescreate toxicity.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
Abandoning brand new players is still toxicity.
Speaker 1 (24:21):
I understand that and I don't disagree, but I have
chosen to not play it ratherthan play it alone, have chosen
to not play it rather than playit alone.
So basically, I I think I'm uh,I'm point six, like 40 minutes
over my return window on steam,right, I'm sure I could appeal
(24:43):
to return it because, honestly,I don't really have a desire to
play it.
I should.
How do you do a refund?
How do you do?
Speaker 2 (24:54):
that you just go into customer support and you click
the different options Until youpick the oh support.
What problem are you having?
Speaker 1 (25:06):
I'm having trouble.
Speaker 2 (25:08):
There's tons of different.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
I want you to permanently remove this game
from my account.
I'm having trouble.
Speaker 2 (25:12):
It's not what I expected.
Speaker 1 (25:12):
There's tons of different.
I want to permanently removethis game from my account.
It's not what I expected.
I'd like to request a refundFor Outweight Refund, may 29th.
(25:35):
This refund will remove thefollowing products for receiving
our four hours of playtime dlc,two of three achievements total
4249 will be returned to mypaypal.
Speaker 2 (25:44):
Yeah so does that mean?
Speaker 1 (25:45):
again.
Yeah, it's not fun.
Speaker 2 (25:52):
They're asking the reasons.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
Submit request.
Perfect, your help request hasbeen submitted to Steam support.
Reference code is this Once asupport agent has responded to
your request, you will receive anotification.
Perfect, boom, how's that.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
Well.
Now I have even fewer friendsthat can group up with me.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
Well, but you know what?
This is the first time ever inmy life I've returned a game,
but it's not for me and I'm inas an adult.
Instead of wasting 42, 49, justreturn.
I returned it, it's just notfor me.
Yeah, and you know what?
Maybe I'll get it for theplaystation so you and I can
(26:43):
play it on the playstation oh,that would be so nice.
Marcus, you know what I'm saying, but like I would have more fun
playing with you than nobodyand I'm not saying Venmo
wouldn't play with me or Carmen,I'm not saying they wouldn't
right but yeah, I mean I'mhaving more fun playing a single
player game and wanting to playFinal Fantasy 14 than I will in
(27:05):
Night Rain and being refunded42 bucks.
If I decide to buy it later,maybe I'll buy it when it's on
sale next month for $20.
So Whew, okay, remember I saidthe choices of D, e and F.
(27:25):
Yeah, so we talked about D, theSteam Deck.
E was Elden Ring.
Now it's time for the F.
F is for Fail.
I was let down big time thisweek.
Like I don't want to say theword devastated, because I
wasn't devastated, but like youknow, when you're really looking
(27:46):
forward to something, you'relike looking forward to doing
something all week long and thenwhen it's time to do that, you
get the sad trombone want, want,want yeah, that's pretty
relatable, but what are youtalking about?
so I was supposed to recordworking class nerds last night.
(28:07):
Oh, and I looked forward to itall.
Like for three days I wastexting nick all day, every day
for three days and then,wednesday, during the work day,
I texted him.
I was like, dude, I can't waitfor tonight.
I'm so excited to say hey, I'mmarcus.
Like, I'm so excited to like doa real final episode of the
(28:31):
close it out, because they, thecommunity, followed with me
through my Elden Ring rage,quits and journey and all of
this shit, and I feel likethat's the perfect end to a show
.
Right, my completion of beatingMelania and all that.
Yeah, I got a text about 6 pmthat says I'm running errands,
probably won't be back before845, 9 pm and I stopped and said
(28:57):
to myself most stores areclosed at 9 pm.
Yes, in the Northeast at 9 pm.
So two options happened.
He got wrapped up with hisfuture wife and whatever Good
times, or yeah, or you know he,or he's just blowing me off
(29:21):
because he doesn't want to do it, Right, and either way I'm
calling him out, but I'm notreally calling him out.
And he said, hey, can we do itanother day?
And I just, you know I, mydisappointed response is
probably the most toxic responseever.
I said, it's okay, dude, it'sno problem, I'll probably just
record it by myself Talk soon.
(29:43):
And I didn't end up doing it,cause I ended up doing a bunch
of stuff with the kids, which isfine, but my point to you is
the fail was I was disappointedand I allowed myself to be super
disappointed.
Speaker 2 (29:59):
Yeah, you're allowed to be disappointed there, Marcus
.
Speaker 1 (30:01):
Oh, of course, oh no, no, there's no apology needed.
I needed to vent it because Iwas that excited for something
it's like how excited I was fornight rain and then I booted it
up and was like, wow, this sucksass and I'm going to go back to
night rain.
You know, what also sucks is itforces you to use weapons that
(30:23):
you don't want to use.
So I switched to the magiccharacter, and even the magic
character isn't great for me.
Like I like a katana, there isa katana character.
Well, yes, but like the best runthat I had was when I got the
Uji katana with the blood theblood like loss on it.
(30:45):
It was nasty and that's wherewe made it to the final boss.
It it was nasty and that's whenwe made it to the final boss.
Every other time I'm using somestupid fucking stick or a
trident or a great sword, likeI'm not a great sword player
yeah, your mediocre sword atbest exactly and that's.
And then I switched to the magiccharacter and it went a little
(31:07):
bit better, but still, and thegame?
You start off with no fuckinghealth, no fp, and your stamina
bar sucks ass, I don't knowwhatever yeah, it's it.
Speaker 2 (31:22):
That's another fortnight mechanic, though.
You start with the lamest gun.
You gotta find stuff.
Wait, do you even start with agun in fortnite?
You just start with the axe man?
I don't even remember.
Yeah, it's tough.
You gotta find better weapons,you gotta level up it's.
But I enjoy it the times whereI've gotten a chance to
(31:45):
legitimately play a run.
But the problem is, 50 of myruns have been people abandoning
me for whatever reason, becauseI'll never know, because you
can't chat, or if they don'tabandon me, they just are dying
(32:05):
so fast that there's not enoughtalent in the squad to make it
to the end.
Speaker 1 (32:14):
Yeah, and Doc, I think that if I get Night Rain
on the PlayStation and you and Ican play, I think I'll actually
have more fun.
And I did have fun with then.
But it was day one.
I was so excited for therelease, I pre-downloaded it and
everything and I'm butthurtyeah, but I do have a gaming
(32:40):
achievement that I could stab uh, not sabotage.
Speaker 2 (32:44):
I could like shift us into it if we, if we want to
get away from those butthurtfeelings from Elden Ring.
No, it's fine.
I finished Expedition 33.
Speaker 1 (32:56):
Oh shit, so fun fact.
I came into your stream I wasworking, I think, and I or it
was on a weekend, I can'tremember but I was like I was
being super goofy and you'relike Marcus, I'm fighting the
final boss, not right now, andyou didn't say it like that, but
it was like that was the.
Everybody in chat was like, oh,doc, just burned you.
(33:20):
He doesn't have time for yourshit right now.
And then you died like a secondlater and I was like, ha ha, ha
f you, doc.
My man upstairs punished youthat was on Sunday, yeah.
Yes.
Speaker 2 (33:36):
You were not being your normal self.
You were like unleashed,intoxicated Marcus or something
yes.
Yes, and I was just like Marcus.
I'm having real feelings,fighting for my life in this
epic battle.
That's going to mean somethingto me for 20 years and here I am
(33:58):
.
We're not doing fart jokes inthe twitch chat oh, dude, it was
so funny yeah, it was fun.
Um, I did pick the bad ending,though and yeah, so um yeah.
So two characters from yourparty the whole game have a
difference of opinion at the endabout what the right way to
(34:20):
treat the paintings would be,and I chose the character that I
liked the most, despite sort ofunderstanding that her point of
view on the thing is not inline with my values, that her
point of view on the thing isnot in line with my values, and
so the ending for that characteris the tragic one, where life
(34:42):
is not actually okay and we'resupposed to ignore that, and so
everybody doesn't live past 33at the end of your game.
I don't want to spoil what theending is.
Maybe in a future episode wecan go really into detail on it.
But that's so um I haven't seen.
I haven't seen the good ending.
(35:02):
I'm not going on youtube.
Um, I did try to go back intothe final area but I beat the
game severely under leveledmarcus.
So the amount of ill, even onthe easiest difficulty, that I
had to have to pull those fightsoff.
I'm proud of myself.
I'm proud of you going in to doit again.
(35:23):
Thank you.
Going in to do it again Underleveled is not something I'm
interested in doing.
I would like to go back and dosome of the leveling grinding
areas.
I didn't know there were extraareas in the game.
I just went from story point tostory point to story point and,
as a result, I found no extracostumes other than like a few
(35:44):
that were on the main path, andI didn't even know there were
side quests in the game at all.
Like, literally like when I goon the internet and look up the
trophy list for this game.
It's stuff that I did not eveninteract with at all.
Like, literally like when I goon the internet and look up the
trophy list for this game.
It's stuff that I did not eveninteract with at all.
So I was level 50 when Ifinished.
I probably should have been 65or 70, oh, okay yeah, all right,
(36:07):
so you didn't do that.
Speaker 1 (36:08):
You did not do the japanese jrpg grind.
You didn't grind, no levels.
Speaker 2 (36:14):
I made my own hard mode that's what I did.
Speaker 1 (36:17):
Yeah, like you played it on story, but it was extra
hard, I got it yeah, because I Iwas under leveled the entire
time I understand thatcompletely, man yeah well, so a
couple questions.
So first thing I'm going to sayis every time we've talked about
a game, I've gone to steam likebecause I keep the steam store
up.
Steam deck compatibility isplayable.
(36:37):
This game's launcher setup toolmay require the touch screen or
virtual keyboard or havedifficult to read text.
Some in-game text is small andmay be difficult to read, so for
that game I feel like you needthe screen to be able to read
all the moves that you're doing,so I probably won't play it on
the Steam Deck.
Speaker 2 (36:56):
I've played so many games that have that designation
on the Steam Deck and they'rereally just, they're covering
their own behind.
In case someone that yeah, likein case someone is visually
impaired buys it and they'relike this is too small.
It's like well, you need amagnifying glass.
Speaker 1 (37:13):
We told you that so hot takes on this game better
than final fantasy.
7 not yet okay, okay, moresatisfying than most games
(37:38):
you've played absolutely, it'sone of the best games I've ever
played really okay.
How many hours did you put intoit?
Like 35 okay, yeah, youdefinitely didn't grind enough
the reviews.
I watch the non-spoiler reviews.
They're like oh yeah, like 35?
Okay, yeah, you definitelydidn't grind enough.
Yeah, no, like the reviews.
I watched the non-spoilerreviews.
They're like oh yeah, you need50 hours in order to beat this
(38:00):
in a way, so like you just werelike I beat it in 35.
Yeah, you did A.
You went from A to B to C to Dto E.
No exploration.
Speaker 2 (38:08):
The story was just so compelling.
Speaker 1 (38:15):
I didn't realize there were other places I could
go.
I understand that, okay.
Third, can you see me playingit?
Speaker 2 (38:21):
yes, I think that if you were ever going to play a
turn-based game and I knowyou've played some, a lot, just
just different ones than me Ithink you'd like it a lot.
Speaker 1 (38:33):
So I really like Octopath.
Yeah, I had to restart it once.
I think I was like eight or tenhours in and I messed some
stuff up and I was just dyingand dying, and dying and dying
Because I didn't have enough ofx item to like, which unlocked a
(38:57):
move that I needed to progressin the game, so I just restarted
.
My concern with a turn-basedgame and this is going to sound
really funny is I'm an idiotlike I have great common sense
but I do not have great tacticalskills okay, I'm not in like a
shooter game, for anybody thatdoes may not understand what I'm
(39:19):
trying to say.
In a shooter game, I use asubmachine gun because I can't
use a sniper rifle.
I basically said the same thingin two different ways I love
sniper rifle exactly, yeah, butthat's not me.
I exactly get what you'resaying you're the person in
pokemon.
That's like I love sniper rifle.
Speaker 2 (39:35):
Exactly, yeah, but that's not me.
I exactly get what you'resaying.
You're the person in Pokemonthat's like oh, this move
doesn't do damage, get rid of it.
Speaker 1 (39:41):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (39:42):
Yeah, you can win on the easiest difficulty for sure
in Expedition 33.
With that mindset, you'll feellike some fights are incredibly
hard.
Hard but it's doable and it'ssuper fun because it all comes
(40:02):
down to dodges and parries.
Anyway, my strategy the wholegame was to put burn on
everybody and get as many burnstacks on them so that every
time they get a turn they getanother big tick of damage.
And that took me all the waythrough the game, marcus.
Speaker 1 (40:17):
So even if you don't, even if you don't get more
elaborate than that, it worksyeah, it's gotta burn it down my
kid would just start screamingwhoa, anyway, yeah but, with the
, with expedition 33, I feellike it could be.
(40:42):
Uh, it could be a good game forme, but then I think about all
the other games that I reallywant to try.
Speaker 2 (40:50):
Yeah, like final fantasy 14 with your good friend
dr gamology.
Speaker 1 (40:54):
We're doing it, we're gonna we're gonna set up a day
and see.
The problem is, is the perfectnight for us to play?
There's wrestling on, becausewe're both available, but we're
both busy watching wrestling.
For me, I could skip SmackDownon Friday night and watch it
(41:16):
Saturday morning instead.
That's just me.
But you won't do that becausethat's father son time and I get
it.
Yeah, your son, and it's likemy me too.
Speaker 2 (41:24):
Both my kids now love wrestling and wrestling is
giving us so much good right now, oh my gosh.
I know that we're not really awrestling podcast, but I had a
lot of fun watching Money in theBank over the weekend.
Speaker 1 (41:39):
Me too.
Speaker 2 (41:40):
I think this show has evolved into just two dudes,
adults talking about real lifedude, we talked about this on my
stream today and would you liketo know what my good friends
doritos and tilap told me?
Oh sure, I want to hear this.
They said and I'm gonna makethis sound as mean as I can- to
(42:04):
me because it'll be more funnyfor the show.
They said, doc, your show isgone, you're just a co-host on
working class nerds.
Now you don't even talk aboutpsychology research anymore.
You just show up and you talkabout the same things you talk
(42:26):
about on the stream, but it'sworking class nerds.
And I was just like, well, damn, like let's, let's just take
the whole thing off the internet, rebrand it and like, redo the
intros on the 15 episodes and wecan just be working class nerds
(42:49):
2.0.
So basically what I got fromthat and I talked to my sister
about this today at lunch too um, like she said, she really
misses the idea of having somesegments.
But she listed some of thesegments we used to do that were
like, yeah, you didn't needthat one.
(43:09):
And I was like, yeah, that'sexactly why we don't do it
anymore.
But I think that we should havea personal challenge to have a
little bit more of a topic thatwe're gonna hit, so that way I
can find the good psychologyresearch and show off exactly
the expert that's changing theworld that I actually am today
(43:32):
listen, I have no problem beingpinky.
Yeah, so everybody like this isvery tongue-in-cheek, really.
The reason the format of theshow is the way it is is kind of
a function of me being superbusy, but I still really want
the show to exist.
So we're here and this is whatit is now.
(43:52):
So, marcuscus, instead oftaking that as a dig, I listen
listen, man.
Speaker 1 (43:57):
You asked me to come here.
Wait, no, no, no, no, I'm goinginto this.
You asked me to join this.
You know what I bring.
I am.
I am me, like I'm going to talk.
I'm going to talk whatever thecomes out of my mouth.
You've gotten me to be morepg-13 than I ever have in my
(44:17):
life didn't you just say whatthe fuck?
Speaker 2 (44:21):
no, five seconds ago.
No, I said f I.
I left it blank, so oh, that'sso nice of you, so thoughtful.
Speaker 1 (44:28):
Sorry, everyone no, they don't want to hear it, but
my point.
Speaker 2 (44:31):
No, I said it.
I said it when I was accusingyou, I know.
That's our PG-13 F-bomb,everybody.
Speaker 1 (44:39):
Well, so a couple things I'm going to say, and we
are such good friends that ourconversation.
I look at this show as youalways bring some kind of
psychology into it.
If you want to bring more intoit, it's all power to you.
Like, I'm never going to say no, because I think it's
fascinating to listen to.
Sometimes it's a little muchand I might like fall asleep
(44:59):
because that's not my area ofexpertise.
But I also will put it on youbecause, like on Monday, you
should make a note that at 6 amyou're going to come pick a
topic that we have to touch onand text me topic Capero.
(45:20):
I can do that.
Speaker 2 (45:22):
Well, so then, do it, do it, yeah, like suck less.
I would love to be Gunther andyou can be Jey Uso, and I just
put you to sleep with myresearch.
Sleeper hold every single week.
Speaker 1 (45:35):
I feel like I am the balance to where, when you
really get into a tangent andyou, because you can talk
forever.
Speaker 2 (45:44):
I can, but you can too, so don't point that finger
at me, sir.
Speaker 1 (45:48):
No, no, no.
But you interjected when I wasgoing to say is you talks?
You can speak so long becauseyou do presentations, you do
have done research papers, youcounsel people like you.
Your job is to talk.
I just like to talk, right, butwhen there's a topic that has a
psychology something involvedwith it, you can go on and on,
(46:11):
and I'm the type of guy I'd belike, okay, we've said enough
let's, and I can like insertmyself.
But for me, on the topic, oh mygosh, go ahead.
No, the final part of this isI've always been the type of
person with a podcast that whensomebody listens to us talk, I
want them to feel like they'resitting down with us at a table
(46:34):
and we're just having aconversation.
Because if they ever hang outwith you for three hours, like
if you sit with Doc and you'rehanging out with them at some
point in that three-hour block,there's going to be like, oh my
God, I did a research study on X, y or Z at some point and it's
going to come out out anyways.
(46:54):
So it's just natural.
Anyways, what were you gonnasay?
Speaker 2 (47:00):
oh, on the topic of me having tons of words, like a
hundred thousand of them, Iwrote a book called the gamer's
journey right, marcus, and Iactually got something in the
mail related to that book today.
Oh, I don't know.
This is from the Book Awards,where I won in the psychology
(47:22):
category.
It is a roll of stickers withthe logo of the Book Award that
says winner that I can put onthe covers of all the books that
I sell from my shopify store.
So, um, if you anyone listening, uh, that wants to buy a copy,
(47:43):
if you buy it from me and notother places, you'll have a
special winner sticker from theimpact book Awards.
I will also be doing my firstgiveaway for my community on
Sunday.
We're going to be doing onebook going out to someone.
We hit our subscriber goal forthe month of June Just the
(48:07):
strongest community support I'veever had.
On Twitch and the peoplewatching me right now.
It's been so much fun and Ican't even express how grateful
I am for everyone who's showingup.
But Twitch has been a blast.
Marcus and I've been hangingabout five days a week outside
of my vacation week like for asolid month because of
(48:29):
Expedition 33.
But I continued it even thoughI beat that game because of
Expedition 33, but I continuedit even though I beat that game,
and I'm actually just playingwhatever game feels right, based
on either how I feel in themorning or based on what's hot
on Twitch and whether I want tobe a part of that.
And so that's why I gave NightRing so many extra shots,
because I was like it's good forme to be playing this game even
(48:53):
if it ends in tragedy, and alot of people like watching the
tragedy, so I'm happy to givethat to you.
Speaker 1 (49:02):
Go ahead.
Speaker 2 (49:04):
This week was just Expedition 33, then Night Reign
and then Final Fantasy XIV today, and that is so awesome.
Speaker 1 (49:12):
How much?
Okay, first thing, this ismaybe a community question for
me.
I wouldn't want that stickerstuck to the front cover because
the cover is so beautiful, andthe back?
I'd want it like you open it up.
That's where I would put thesticker, because I wouldn't want
to, like ruin the cover of thebook, because if I want to peel
(49:33):
it off and then you rip thecover, I'd cry on the inside.
Speaker 2 (49:39):
Yeah, that's a really good point.
So whenever I have signed booksat conventions, I usually sign
on this page, yeah, um.
Or or this page where my nameis like right there Pretty big,
so I could put the sticker onthere.
Speaker 1 (49:53):
Yeah, that's a good point, I wouldn't want to ruin
it, um I need to buy one of yourbooks because I want to do a
giveaway on the podcast.
I want to test the community.
Speaker 2 (50:12):
That is something that we could do.
A lot of the podcasts that Ilisten to do it with um.
Speaker 1 (50:18):
Every time you leave a a review yeah get entered into
the drawing yes, we couldtotally do that.
Yeah, yeah, we can do like amonth-long campaign and then
whoever in a month does leaves areview, they'll go into the
thing and they can win a book.
I'll purchase the book and I'll.
I will sponsor this oh, that'sso nice.
Speaker 2 (50:41):
but also the way I look at it too is when I set a
subscriber goal on twitch, ifit's supporting me to that
extent we actually hit it.
Then it's like I've alreadysold many copies of the book.
So I just like giving back tothe people.
You know, I think it is a realpoint in commerce where if you
(51:06):
have goods, somebody has to havebought it before it's leaving
your inventory.
But it's still a really goodfeeling to be able to say like
hey, everyone, thank you.
Oh, I agree.
Yep, so that was a big thingthis morning.
I was not expecting that to bein my mailbox, I didn't even
know that was a thing.
(51:27):
So seeing those stickers andbeing like what did they send me
this for?
So that was cool.
Speaker 1 (51:34):
That is radical.
Speaker 2 (51:40):
What's the matter?
I'm just trying to think.
What are we doing now?
Speaker 1 (51:45):
Well, it's funny.
You should say that I have aquestion for you.
Okay, let's do it.
If you could go back in timeand play a game again for the
first time, what would it be?
I feel like we should have theJeopardy music going.
Speaker 2 (52:10):
Yeah, no, there are super serious answers and then
there's quirky ones and I feellike do you know the game,
katherine?
No, oh my gosh, so it's.
It's an anime game by Atlusthey're the same company that
(52:32):
makes Persona but it's actuallyabout a guy who is dating a
woman named Catherine, but hecheats on her with a woman named
Catherine with a C, so hisBeyonce is with a K.
Speaker 1 (52:50):
Is it Catherine Classic?
Yep, I'm looking at it rightnow.
Speaker 2 (52:53):
Yeah, Beyonce is with a K, is it Catherine Classic?
Yep, I'm looking at it rightnow.
Yeah, so the whole gameplay iswhen you're in your dreams.
You have to climb blocks beforethey fall and get away from the
demonic monsters that aretrying to kill you.
But it's very Jungian dreamanalysis kind of stuff, like all
the monsters represent thingsthat you're afraid of in the
story of the game.
In your real life, yep,monsters represent things that
(53:13):
you're afraid of in the story ofthe game in your real life.
Yep and I Platinum Trophied thatgame on its original version
and I just think it would be sofun to play it again without all
those memories.
Speaker 1 (53:26):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (53:37):
But also runners-up would be things like Heavy Rain
or Persona 5 or Person orbioshock infinite or kingdom
hearts sure what?
What kinds of games would hityour list?
Speaker 1 (53:40):
for something like that.
If I had to pick one, it wouldbe star wars, the old republic.
Okay, like if I had to stop.
You know, I thought about thisall week because I like throwing
things at you, because if youhave a lot of time to think
about it, you go crazy in depthfor the reason.
But for me, I thought about itand I went very in depth and I
(54:05):
thought about, like your FinalFantasy seven or Mass Effect two
or Mass Effect 2.
And I really thought about itand I'm like man, when I booted
up Star Wars, the Old Republic,when Julia was born, and I
actually gave it a chancebecause I played it when it
(54:26):
first came out and I played itfor two weeks and I was like,
okay, I'm going back to Call ofDuty and I got immersed in the
story because it was star warsand like I was a jedi and, oh,
like I was lost in it.
Or maybe I was a sith, maybe Iwas a marauder and darth barris
(54:46):
was a jerk.
Either way, whatever that storywas, I was like blown away that
a game could do this and thatit didn't.
I'm gonna do my quotation marks.
It wasn't gonna end, just blewme away, and if I could have
that feeling again, that's whatI would do, you know yeah, I was
(55:11):
thinking to myself while youwere describing that why didn't
I say that?
Speaker 2 (55:15):
and then I was thinking, why didn't I say
journey?
And then I I think that thosetwo games have given me so much
that I would be afraid to messwith it in time travel and risk
ending up being an entirelydifferent person.
Speaker 1 (55:35):
I don't think you have it in you to be a different
person.
Continue the journey.
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