November 12, 2024 • 46 mins
In this episode of the Pixelated Realms podcast, hosts Tyler Salerno and Dustin discuss their recent gaming experiences, including Minecraft with kids, the psychology of gaming and parenting, their adventures in Call of Duty Zombies, and the new Pokemon Pocket TCG mobile game. They explore the balance between gaming and real life, the importance of creativity in children, and the excitement of collecting cards in a digital format.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:01):
Hello and welcome to the Pixelated Realms podcast, your guide through the digitallandscapes, the unlocking.
said it again, I'll take like the latest and greatest in video game fun.
I'm going to just switch it to unlocking from now on.
I like it.
Yeah.
So I'm your host, Tyler Salerno and alongside me is my friend Dustin.
Once again, Alex is not joining us this week, but we're going to move right along.
(00:25):
Anyway.
We have some exciting things to talk about this week.
We're excited to be here as always.
I've been playing a lot of games, which you know was always a good thing.
Keeps me promoted.
Keeps me, you know, keeps me motivated, not promoted, keeps me motivated and and I knowwe've been also having some fun with a mobile game that recently came out, but I think a
(00:46):
lot of you have probably seen or played yourself as well.
So we're going to talk about that.
Dustin, how are you doing man?
What have you been up to?
Good man, good.
Excited to chat this week.
Mitz and Alex, know, I guess it takes, I mean, it does take multiple weeks to like getyour house in order after you move.
you know, looking forward to see his new setup when next week.
(01:09):
that Alex has been moving, yes.
Yeah, so, you know, we'll see, hopefully he's back next week.
But yeah, for me, just playing a lot of Minecraft still with Arthur, you know, weactually, because he's only four, most of us just probably know that by now.
But, you know, he's got to a point right now a little bit where he'll just have me buildwhat he wants.
(01:36):
Okay.
like we started building like a whole neighborhood on this island.
So like my house, like mine and his house, you know, our house.
And then my parents have a house next to it.
And then we built like a big courtyard.
And it's like my my two cousins have kids that he plays with.
And then we have like a door there and then it goes out.
And then it's like some of our friends that have kids or that are some of his friends.
(02:01):
most of these people, everyone's on the same server is what, or, is this just pretend.
it's just his house.
it's just like, no one's playing with him.
He's just building like a...
Yeah, you know, maybe one day, but right now, it's just him building like these.
So, you know, we're right now, like he just also finding out the gold sword, we found onein a treasure chest on the ocean, which was cool.
(02:26):
Although I didn't realize it has diminishing returns.
Or like, it's like Zelda, or like, you use it, it breaks.
all of the things break, yeah.
Yeah, I didn't know that.
I was like, because he's like, I don't know what happened to my gold sword.
And I was like, I don't know.
And then I built him a new one.
And I started using it as shit has a life bar.
So yeah, so yeah, well, we're on a super easy mode.
(02:52):
So none of the NPCs even attack or anything, you know, and he likes to run around.
I don't know why, but he just like loves to go kill like the animals.
And then he'll just like sit there.
He likes to eat the watermelon and eat the meat.
And he'll just keep eating and eating and eating out.
He's like Luffy, just like fucking packing it down.
it's kind of like an anime character, right?
(03:14):
He's going, he's adventuring, he's conquering the battle, and then he's coming back andhe's eating like an anime character, you know?
Yeah, totally.
That's great.
I'm a little bit more invested in it with him, I want to like go, there's like thismassive cave that I'm sure has different like minerals or rocks and stuff you can start
mining.
I'm sure there's gold down there.
(03:35):
But yeah, I'm just kind of like still scratching like the very top surface of the depth ofMinecraft.
But no, it's been fun.
It's been fun.
that's really cool, man.
I, know, and I think you were probably in this generation, I guess, maybe not ageneration, but group as well.
Like I was just like a little bit too old to like really dive into Minecraft.
(03:57):
Like not that people my age haven't played like a lot of Minecraft.
There definitely is.
But like personally, I just never.
group of gamers after me for sure.
I look at Minecraft like I look at Roblox.
Right, like Roblox, I never even opened Roblox because it was just way past my age group,right?
I was already in college or at least late high school when Roblox was a thing.
(04:19):
So it was like, it's funny when it comes to Minecraft where it was like, I've played acouple dozen, okay, Sophie, okay.
I've played a couple dozen hours of Minecraft, don't get me wrong.
I have a basic understanding, but like.
I think anyone who plays Minecraft would probably say a couple dozen hours is nothing inMinecraft, right?
It's like it's one of those games where you easily put in a thousand hours and you likeblink and you're like, crap, you know, like that was a thousand hours.
(04:45):
So, you know, I kind of feel like I'm not going to say robbed, but like I do, I'm a littlesad that like I didn't like pick it up at the time and like really kind of I'm not saying
you can't still.
It's one of those games you can always go back to.
And I'm sure today is just as good as it was.
You know, it's
Today's a better time to go into it than ever, but it's just funny because like, yeah, Ijust never had that initial push as a kid or like, I was already basically an adult by the
(05:13):
time that was really, really popular.
So yeah, it looks fun.
as like a kids game, right?
Like I've always had Minecraft, Roblox.
It's like, it's for like, you know, 12 year olds.
Yeah, you know, it's one funny, I saw like one of these, I don't if you ever go on, am Ithe asshole on Reddit?
(05:34):
And there's like this story.
viewers.
Yeah, like there's this story of this, and I don't go on it either.
It just popped up on my Twitter feed.
It's like a parenting one.
And the dad, his son built like this massive Minecraft server, you know, and then.
(05:56):
like all this stuff like thousand hours, whatever.
And then like he was super proud of it, like showed his dad.
So now his dad realized that that's like very important to him.
So he was like, you better do your homework or I'm going to delete your Minecraft thing.
And the kid didn't do it.
And then the dad actually deleted this Minecraft stuff.
(06:17):
And he was like, I didn't realize like how devastated my son was going to be from what Ijust did.
Was that wrong of me?
Well, like, I liked what people said and it was like, be prepared for your kid to nownever want to share things that he really enjoys with you because he's going to always
(06:43):
fear that you're going to destroy it.
You know, I'm even realizing that Arthur a little bit right now because like, we, youknow,
It's very difficult as a parent to recycle toys.
know, like, like you get bring more toys in, they never want to get rid of old toys.
So every great once in a while, I'll just go on like a rampage and just start throwing outold toys.
(07:03):
And so now like some of his toys, like his Hot Wheels and that he wants to keep them at myparents house because he's worried that I'm going to throw them out.
So.
is funny.
I mean, yeah, a little bit, even at four years old, he's like, man, dad might get mad andlike, like want to start cleaning out some toys and like throw away some toys that I don't
(07:23):
want to get rid of.
yeah, it's just, you don't really realize until you have kids, like it's already like youhear stories like this, like the damage you could do to your kid's psyche by like trying
to punish them, you know.
With things they've expressed that they've spent time and yeah, I mean, it's it's I thinkthat's a simple psychology and not that I'm, you know, simple in the sense that like.
(07:52):
It's easy to forget that like at the when when you're that age, right?
And you've built anything right?
The little house or the things that your son has helped you build in Minecraft or builthimself.
Like that is something you've created just like how we kind of, you know, I think Legoswas definitely more what I think about where it's like, I created this thing.
(08:13):
you feel like beholden to it, like you put some of yourself into it.
So yeah, like, like you said in your story there, if that dad then uses that to hold itover his head, you know, it's like,
you basically just destroyed his art and you're saying his creativity like was not worthit, you know, so yeah, that's that's a bummer.
But like also like, you know, I I'm sure you can understand on the other end.
(08:37):
It's like you also want your children to focus and get an education, you know, and like Ikind of, know, I guess it's it's complicated.
Parent parenting is complicated, right?
line because it's like, you know, if one day we get to the point with Arthur where he'sjust like, doesn't want to do homework ever, doesn't want to like listen, and he's just
(09:00):
like sucked into the PlayStation all the fucking time, then I might get psycho dad andjust be like, look it, PlayStation is going to go out there.
I'm going fucking sledgehammer the shit out of it if you don't start doing something else,you know?
yeah, mean, balance is important, you know?
you know, but, you know, I mean, I played a shit ton of games, like video games literallyruined my first, like, to really the first, like attempt at college.
(09:30):
Like I was just sucked in a World of Warcraft so bad, I just failed out of my firstcollege experience.
And I'm watching like...
people who've had that, yeah.
My nephews right now, they're so sucked into games too.
They have been like, since they were teenagers that, you know, they're like in theirmid-twenties, they haven't gone to college.
One of them doesn't have a job and, you know, trying to get them motivated to do anythingelse is like very difficult because they just want to stay in their room and play video
(09:58):
games.
it's like, yeah, guess if it gets to that, then I will go like psycho dad and just belike, we're at no technology household.
We're going almost up in this motherfucker.
I mean, I think it's a good time to mention like...
Nowadays, we spend so much time, like we spend so much, like we invest so much of ourthought process and focus and like improving ourselves and things, right?
(10:25):
This could, and I think like a lot of us do get tricked into like thinking like, basicallytreating video games more as a job than as a piece of entertainment and fun, you know?
And I think a lot of teenagers and younger guys like are.
Definitely falling into that where it's like, yeah, you know, might have 10,000 hours ofleague in the last month.
(10:45):
And I'm like, like, that's great.
I'm glad you're enjoying yourself, but like, what's the end goal, right?
Like, like it's fine to enjoy yourself guys, but like also like if it is 100 % of yourlife, you're, you're at a balance and balance is like super important.
you know, going outside, going for walks, getting exercise, talking to people like, andthat when you do those other things, this is the
(11:09):
most important part, most important thing I've ever said in this podcast.
When you do the other things that are not gaming, it makes gaming more enjoyable becausethat contrast is what life is all about.
Okay.
So like, it's just like, stopped overloading your own dopamine and go take a break becausethe break is what makes it even fun in the first place.
(11:36):
So, you know, if you, if you listen to anything we ever said, it's that.
you know, take a break and come back later and reset your dopamine.
Anyway, great talk on, Minecraft and kids and the psychology of gaming.
I, on the other hand have been doing something very unproductive and that is just playingcall of duty six zombies.
(12:00):
And as I've mentioned before, I never like got super into zombies in any of the pastrenditions.
I knew it was like a pretty like in-depth thing and people played it, like I didn't, youknow, I didn't research it or like grind it out myself.
This time around, I'm starting to like, I've played Liberty Falls map, which is, one ofthe two maps, know, over probably a dozen times.
(12:24):
So I feel like I understand like a good chunk of like what's going on.
and I've also now looked up some videos of like Easter eggs and how like things kind ofwork.
Now for our viewers out there, this is more of a me saying I didn't know this, but ifanyone else who also joined me in not knowing might like to learn this.
(12:47):
So in face value, Call of Duty Zombies is just like you're dropped in, you solo or youwith a squad of four, and you have guns and there's things all around the map.
can buy like vending machines to increase your
know, health or increase your ammo capacity or whatnot.
And that's just really simple.
Like you just run around this map, you kill zombies, you clear the wave, next wave comes,you go as far as you can.
(13:13):
But as soon as you like sink a little bit deeper into the iceberg, like the game actuallyis all about Easter eggs.
like the store, there's actually like a really like complicated story that has beenprogressing throughout all of the games.
And those are all discovered through Easter eggs.
So like, although at face value, just seems like this round bay zombie killing game, it'sactually like you're surrounded by hundreds of Easter eggs.
(13:38):
And I'm not really sure how anyone's supposed to figure any of these things out.
Like, I mean, yeah, I can go to YouTube, but I have no effing idea how someone figuredthis out in the first place.
I'd love to show you some of these sometimes, Dustin.
It'll be like, shoot this symbol with a sniper.
in a far off place looking southwest from this angle.
(14:01):
And I'm like, how would anyone find that?
Like, I don't understand.
It's I guess it's fun.
Like it is fun.
But like, I'm just like amazed that anyone was able to be like, yeah, here's the 64 Eastereggs I found.
And like, that is just incredible because it's like most of the game.
Have you ever played zombies?
(14:22):
Now, I've never been a big cod person.
I did play Modern Warfare, the last one, and then I've played Warzone.
yeah, never been a...
Grew up as a battlefield guy, right?
And there's just always like that rivalry between the two.
I was like, fuck Call of Duty, go battlefield.
So, yeah.
(14:43):
admit I was more on the color-dirty side of that argument.
Although I liked both.
Like, I mean, they were just so different, you know?
They were just, we talked about this a bit last time.
Yeah.
growing up too, so that was also like my vice over Call of Duty.
I was definitely one of the Counter-Strike people who, like, I remember hearing about itand downloading it and getting into a game and then everyone like yelling at me
(15:06):
immediately.
And I'm just like, you know, and I'm like, I don't even, I thought this was Call of Duty.
I don't know what's going on, you know, and I thought it was a Call of Duty.
And that was the experience of so many people at the time, right?
Like I didn't know about buying equipment.
I didn't know about the maps.
So I immediately was just like, I don't know what this game is.
I'm scared.
And I ran away, you know, which was really sad.
I wish I had learned.
(15:27):
But there was no YouTube, you couldn't, you know.
like we talked about last week, people also try to bring like a Call of Duty like heromentality to a game like Counter-Strike and it just doesn't work.
Like you can't just rush in and like kill everyone on your own and shit like it's verydifficult.
this is just the perspective at the time.
(15:48):
I didn't even know a game like that existed.
You know, it was like, I jumped in and I'm like, great, this is, this is call of duty.
This is what all shooters are at, you know, and you're like, no, it's not.
You find out quickly.
It's not, you know, but yeah, yeah.
I've been having a lot of fun with zombies.
Maybe we'll, we'll try to stream some of these in the near future if we can find some timehere because it's, it's, it's a lot of fun.
(16:11):
But
I'm down to, it's installed, so we can definitely play it.
good.
All right.
I'm going to stall for a second while I bring up our questions.
stall stall.
I'm looking at photos.
So I've never watched Evangelion, but Loki Geeks, the shirt brand I like, they have beencoming out Evangelion shirts the last two weeks.
(16:33):
And then I was just on Mercari looking at statues and anime statues and then Mari Makinamipopped up and I was like, who is this person?
And so now I'm like, reading into this character from Evangelion.
Interesting.
I watch it.
It's not even a long...
I don't even think...
(16:54):
I it's only one season.
man, so Evangelion is one season and a movie?
Mostly.
So it goes from episode correct, but you have to watch it.
You have to watch the whole thing.
(17:15):
And then you have to watch end of Evangelion, which is technically in between episodes 22and 23.
we lost your camera, Dustin.
you disappear?
He's gone.
Goodbye, Dustin.
We knew him well.
(17:41):
All right, we'll see if we can get Dustin back here in a second.
In the meantime, I think I'm just gonna go ahead and move forward into some questions.
I asked myself some questions.
I think this is gonna be from our main man, Sam, although for some reason it didn't put inthe name.
So Sam, how's it going, man?
(18:03):
Good to hear from you.
I hope you've been well and I hope everything's been working itself out after thehurricanes.
do we got Dustin again?
Can you hear me?
I can hear you.
Sort of.
Sort of.
I don't know what the fuck just happened.
I literally just plugged my phone in, which isn't at all attached to my computer.
has its own plug in the wall.
(18:24):
And then my camera and microphone just shut off.
I'm just like, what the fuck just happened?
So now I'm trying to fix it.
right, well, you fix that.
I'm gonna finish reading our question here from Sam.
Sup dudes, being that it's October and spooky season, are any of y'all in the horrorgenre?
What's your favorite horror game?
Do you have any regular ones you play each year?
(18:46):
I start with Resident Evil on PS1, but currently enjoying the Silent Hill 2 remake.
I want to get some VR and do Resident Evil 7.
Also dressing up as any video game characters this year.
Great question, Sam, and we appreciate you asking them.
I'm just gonna, I'm not gonna lie, Alex is gonna be so sad he wasn't here for thisquestion, but we can save it for him next time because he is our resident horror game
(19:12):
expert.
I am too much of a chicken to play horror games most of the time.
be totally honest.
So even like Resident Evil, I like to have a really hard time getting through because Ijust like I'm just too spooked.
Like my adrenaline is too spiked to like make good decisions.
hey, let's go.
Let's go.
(19:32):
All right.
So
I don't play horror games, so that question doesn't resonate for me.
Yeah, I mean, it's hard for me to we almost need Alex for this one.
I think so.
That's probably a good one.
Just trying to think of any like horror game like Alien Isolation is probably like myfavorite horror game of all time.
I don't not that I'm an expert, but Alien Isolation is just like.
(19:57):
The AI for the alien, the ambiance, like the way it encapsulates like the alien aestheticand like the like just the general vibe is.
It's just like unmatched, in my opinion.
I'm also a huge aliens and like sci fi fan, so maybe that's biased.
But yeah, Alien Isolation to me is like definitely one of the greatest horror games of alltime, without a doubt.
(20:21):
Yeah.
So but but we will we'll have to hold that one off until Alex is able to join us nexttime.
Dressing up as any video game characters this year.
Unfortunately not.
I'm always a little.
late on the costume game so I didn't get a dress up this year very much.
But yeah, great.
Well, thank you, Sam.
(20:41):
I appreciate your questions.
And once again, I hope everything's well with you.
With that being said, this is a great time just to say, we really appreciate everyoneliking, commenting, and subscribing to our episodes here.
It means a lot to us.
And if you would like to ask a question where we read in the middle of the show, you cango ahead and do that at pixelatedrealms.org slash ask.
(21:01):
and we will go ahead and address it.
We really appreciate your questions.
So moving on to our main topic today.
Now I mentioned earlier, our main topic is evolving a phone app today.
If you've been following gaming news, you're probably aware of the new Pokemon Pocket TCGgame that has come out for mobile, the PokeMans, my favorite PokeMans.
(21:27):
And...
It has been a blast.
for those of you who don't know, they Pokemon Pocket TCG, which just means Pokemon, thecard game pocket.
It is a mobile application that you can just play the Pokemon card game on.
And I'm not going to lie, most of us and Justin and I assume you're the same, haven'ttouched the Pokemon card game in 20 years.
(21:50):
Yeah.
So a lot of us like, I have no idea what we were coming into, but
Well, you know why it's a free app.
Why am I not going to download it?
And as you might expect, you download the app.
It gives you access to opening packs virtually, and it is a lot more fun than you wouldexpect.
It is definitely a lot more fun than you would expect.
(22:11):
And they did a really good job.
They give you tons of free packs.
I haven't spent any money yet.
in the packs too.
I'm getting like nothing good.
paid any money yet and I have like most of the cards and we've just been playing for a fewweeks.
But yeah, there's a really strong focus on the collecting of the cards.
There's lots of like promotional cards and shiny cards and immersive cards.
(22:33):
There's a ton of different types to collect.
And I think they made a really smart decision, like focusing on like, hey, these aren'tjust digital pieces of nothing like this is a card that you own.
And they're trying to kind of like make it feel significant.
Well, we'll see once the trading happens.
yeah, trading doesn't exist yet, but it's coming.
(22:56):
But yeah, you actually have to level up a little bit, collect some cards, and then youunlock the ability to battle.
And that's kind of where the fun begins.
You start making your own decks, you start battling opponents, and the game just has areally smooth experience as far as teaching you the game and helping you collect decks and
understand the concepts.
Yeah, what has your experience been so far, Dustin?
(23:19):
So I used to like one of the like my best memories as a kid is My dad is a big like cardcollector of like sports cards so as a kid we used to always go to card shows and He'd buy
me like a pack every week and so I love opening up packs of cards So for this is likereally exciting for me because I'm just like
(23:48):
and try to fill out my Pokedex.
So yeah, that's been really fun.
You get two packs a day for free.
If you're a premium member, which costs $10 a month, you can get a third pack every day,as well as access to be able to purchase the premium items, get premium currency.
So there's like five different mission tabs.
(24:10):
There's like dailies, there's decks, and that's like...
you know, how much of the different characters you fill out.
There's events, there's premium, and then there's, I think, dailies.
If I didn't say dailies already.
So all these different things give you different currencies that you can use in the game.
Whether it's to buy emblems, or there's to buy card covers, or playmats, or special promocards, which has been really cool.
(24:38):
But...
I'm pleasantly surprised with how generous they've been with the currency, like all thecurrencies, both packs and
slow down.
I'm level 12 and like, it's definitely slowed down.
Yeah.
know, it definitely slows down.
But regardless, there's been events, there's been like they're constantly introducing newthings so far.
(25:01):
So like the pacing has felt really good.
You know, I there's a free trial for the premium pass, which I've been using, you know,which is great.
Another feature that's really cool is this thing called Wonder Picks.
So as your friends and others open packs, you can spend this other type of currency tobasically have a chance.
of picking out one of the five cards.
(25:22):
Yeah, as you can kind of see on the screen here, if you're looking at it, you have achance of picking one of the cards that someone else picked.
say they got like, your friend got a Charizard and you're like, man, so you spend yourcurrency to, you know, try to have a chance of one in five chance of picking the
Charizard.
It's really nice.
(25:42):
Yeah, I mean, we can't really see it very well, but you know, yeah.
So it's been really fun.
Excuse me.
know, I've.
you know, it's just been really accessible.
They give you a lot of currency.
I don't feel like it's like being greedy and trying to like suck money away from meconstantly.
(26:04):
Maybe that's to come.
But, you know, at the moment, it feels good.
Additionally, my fiance, Katie, has been really into it.
So we've literally just been sitting on the couch, like trying to build decks, likefighting each other.
Like, it's just been so fun to have it all in our pocket.
at the at the at our fingertips.
And I will say I even was tempted to like buy some physical cards again.
(26:25):
And I was like looking into it.
And then yesterday I was just like, why would I do this?
Like, I don't need a bucket of cards.
I really don't.
But like we're having so much fun just playing it on our phones and paying no money.
Like, why would I even play the card game in this case, so I decided against it.
Yeah, I I bought some, I buy Pokemon cards every great once in a while.
(26:48):
And like, I bought a box of like 151, I think it was.
And it is so fucking difficult to get your money back.
Like for how much a box cost, because you gotta get like the, like nobody wants thisCharizard anymore.
(27:09):
Blastoise.
You have to get the alternate art version of those cards and there's certain alternate artcards in each set that are more expensive like Jars, Art and Blastoise and the 151 or
both, but they're only like 35-40 bucks.
So and you probably get like two maybe three alt art cards a box.
(27:32):
Unless you're really lucky.
but like, yeah, but like every box cannot be worth more than its price, right?
Like that's impossible.
They would go out of business.
sure.
Well, I mean, that's not necessarily true.
mean, you're...
I'm just saying, like, I feel like people buy cards thinking, you know, like the humanmentality of like, I'm buying $100 worth of Pokemon cards or $300.
(27:56):
I've got to have something in here that's worth something.
And it's like, no.
Yeah.
One Piece trading card game, every box there's like a rare anime version of a card andthat card sells for like over $1,000.
(28:16):
Most of the other cards sell for like, like the leader art sell for probably like 75 to100 bucks each.
And then after that, it starts dipping down to like 50s, 40.
But people are spending $200 a box because there's that chance to get in that thousanddollar card.
So I totally get that, but.
(28:37):
It's nice with this, you know, with the, can go into like physical trading.
The only thing great about physical trading card games is like at least your cards do havemonetary value.
If you're spending money, like that was always my biggest fucking pet peeve aboutHearthstone is that you're spending $60 for 50 packs.
You're going to get two to three gold cards or whatever they are.
I forgot they're fucking cold now.
(28:58):
And if they're not even the ones you want, they only disenchant for, think, half of whatthe value is.
So you can walk away spending 60 bucks and only get one and a half of the rare card youactually need for the deck that you're trying to build.
And that feels bad.
And then there's no value attached to that, right?
You can't trade your cards in Hearthstone.
(29:21):
if they shut down Hearthstone one day, whatever that happens, all that just goes into thenether.
But at least with physical cards games, like you have the card, like you can sell it, youcan trade it, whatever you want.
So I've always appreciated that.
With this, it's great because yeah, you don't spend a fucking dime.
Like the packs are free.
And it's going to get people to get into the card game for them, right?
(29:43):
Like they just, they just benefit because now tons of people not, it's, I saw a statisticsset, like made 42 million in the first like three days or something.
So they're already making bank with this.
Even with the amount of people who are playing it for free, you know.
some Pokemon Gold.
I mean, they have a special right now on it because they just launched.
(30:04):
It's like a couple of different options where it's like 40 % of what it would normallycost you.
So, you know, but like that's me, like wanting to just open more packs, right?
And that's what they're going off of any good pay to win game.
And this is a pay to win game, frankly.
It's like, you know, you don't have to pay, but if you pay, you're going to be able tofill it.
to win.
(30:25):
you're going to fill in your deck faster more than likely should be opening up more packs.
You're to have more money to spend and buy cards.
You're going to more money to spend and do wonder picks.
So if you want to invest money, like you're going to have a better chance of being morecompetitive faster.
But you don't have to.
Yeah, you don't need to.
(30:45):
we've been having plenty of fun without spending a dollar, you know?
So.
definitely, 100%.
I would say like the biggest thing for me.
So I have like all my badges somewhere.
I used to go to Toys R Us when I was like 10 years old and play in the official PokemonLeague that they had a partnership with Nintendo or the Pokemon company where you could
actually earn badges.
(31:07):
I went to some tournaments as a kid.
So I was like really into the card game as a kid and
Now getting to play it digitally is ton of fun.
And I didn't realize back then, like, or maybe I realized it, but the amount of RNG inPokemon is like fucking insane.
(31:30):
Like, there's so many cards that have like flip a coin mechanics to it.
I mean, like the most frustrating card right now, I think for me that I'm using.
because it's been devastating against me at times.
And I feel like it's impossible to run a water deck without it because it can just bringtoo much value.
(31:53):
If it hits is Misty Misty, you flip a coin for every hedge you get in a row should be atleast one.
Yeah.
But I mean, like I could sit there and play
Gyarados on turn two or my turn three if I'm first right throw misty down Have crazy RNGand I throw on hyper beam on turn three my second my first opportunity to attack because
(32:18):
I'd be first I can't get out of energy in turn one.
So then that's like Devastatingly good, right?
even with the ex Lapras if you can just pull one out of that and then you get the oneenergy like you are only two turns from having three but any
Any those attack, any of those cards that basically add energy are just so fucking good.
(32:41):
And then like, I'm running into some of these psychic decks that have the fucking, thePokemon looks like a, yeah.
With the fucking ability dude, it's like this bitch is using, goddamn, Mewtwo's using hisfour point attack after two turns.
(33:01):
And it's like, goddamn dude, it's rough but.
Yeah, just like playing that and like seeing the different things like I'll use King ofSkhan and like, you know, I'll flip it in those times.
I've got two turns in a row.
I all tell so it's zero damage and like, you know, or so yeah, the RNG I don't know if itwas if I noticed it as much as a kid, but
(33:26):
It's extremely frustrating now as an adult and it's way more baked into this game thanlike a Hearthstone, which I feel like Hearthstone, there are certain decks in Meta's and
like as long as you're doing misplays, you can consistently win.
But in a game like Pokemon, where deck build obviously matters, I feel like it's verybalanced.
(33:47):
not like there's only limited cards right now, too.
So like having all of the support cards is like crucial.
And every deck I have has draw two cards and the basic Pokemon summon thing, because youjust need those cards.
Yeah, you just need them.
And you're right, though.
And, you know, I don't know.
That's to me.
I would chalk that up just to like typical card game RNG.
(34:11):
And you just do what you can, you know.
But like the one thing that does still drive me a little bit nuts is like for the mostpart, your deck is going to be like one or two elements maximum.
As far as I know, no one does anything more than that.
So as someone who really likes to play a water deck, like what do I do against an electricdeck?
(34:35):
I don't, I just lose or like, so when you're.
you have to have that crazy RNG moment where you like put a lot of energy on a card orsomething like that to overcome.
where like, I was like, I might win against this electric deck and then, you know, theyjust eventually take me out.
So to me, it's like, if I'm in a tournament, that's my question, right?
It's like, I can bring in multiple decks, right?
(34:56):
Because that, the whole like picking weaknesses and advantage seems like the one thingthat's hard to control, you know?
So in like a Pokemon game, it makes sense.
Because you can just switch out your Charizard for a Blastoise or whatever.
But in this game you have to stick with one type.
But that being said that doesn't remind me of one positive I really do like about the cardgame that I kind of forgot about.
(35:20):
And that's just like getting to evolve your Pokemon every time you play is really fun.
You're just like, you know in the game, right, you just like slowly develop your team.
But in the card game I'm like Blastoise!
Or sorry Squirtle, know a War Tortle.
Blastoise!
Yeah, you know, every time you get an upgrade of like, it just kind of feels satisfying.
(35:40):
Yeah, definitely.
You know, it's funny, like, before the podcast started, we were talking about this alittle bit and you mentioned like, you know, having 10 support and 10 Pokemon.
And it really makes sense in a lot of ways, because if you think about it, and how quicklythose gatelease get, like, I almost never run out of cards, right?
Like, I used the whole deck, the game was over before then.
(36:03):
Yeah, there's only two, I think there was 30 in the physical card game, I think, becauseyou have energy cards.
40, I thought.
Anyway.
whatever it is.
But the thing is like you rarely actually use more than like two or three Pokemon thewhole game.
You know, like if you're winning probably two, if you're losing three, you know, maybefour if you're backing somebody out.
(36:26):
But you also can't pick a card back up and put it in your hand.
So it gets really limited.
So if your deck has like 14 Pokemon cards, by the end, like by the time you get to likeyour fifth turn, you're sitting there with all these cards in your hand that you're not
using.
(36:46):
it's like I built like a grass deck yesterday that had a lot of like three evolutions, youknow, so there was a lot of Pokemon and the just the chances of me.
Like it took me too long to evolve everyone by the time I had evolved everyone, I wasalready doomed, you know, so it was like you have to like there's certain cards that
(37:08):
clearly are just better than others.
And it's like, well, this one is a one energy 60 damage.
This one's one energy 40 damage.
Yeah, you got like fucking Eevee, it's got like a 10 attack Gnaw.
You know, it's like, it's garbage.
Yeah, so but but then when you evolve the EV, you know, so I actually like the strategy,though one of my favorite parts of the game is this whole like putting a Pokemon in,
(37:31):
retreating him with another Pokemon, you know, like that switching actually feels good tome because I can kind of be like, hey, you got down 90 % of his health, but I switched him
out at the last second.
but my opponent actually has a guy who can hit someone on the bench.
So he actually did kill him.
Like there's a lot of dynamic there that actually does work for me.
So
It's definitely given me hope for the card game, Pokemon card game, and I think this app'sactually gonna continue to be pretty strong, you know?
(37:58):
Yeah, now I agree.
There's definitely some cards that like stand out like Alec and Sam super strong.
He just does like a dick nasty amount of damage.
Cron engine's really good, whatever.
whatever Ralts's fully evolved form is, especially if you couple it with like a Mewtwo,because Mewtwo's 150 damage attack.
(38:22):
takes four energy, but, it discards two.
But if you have the fully evolved faults out there, then you're doing her, her ability,which you don't have to have her as an active Pokemon to do.
And then you just give your turn energy.
So basically every fucking turn, you're able to do this 150 damage, which is devastating,devastating amount of fucking damage.
(38:45):
Almost no Pokemon has more health than that.
So
there's a couple, but yeah, it's it's not a lot.
who you put out there.
You're pretty much fucked.
But then I'm like using there's, I can't remember the name of the Pokemon, but there'slike sleeping Pokemon.
So I've been trying to just like sleep their Pokemon and like there's certain strategies,like I can sleep their Pokemon and then attack them with Greninja from the bench, you
(39:09):
know?
So there's like a lot of really cool subtle strategies I've been finding.
And, although there's only like 300, 400 cards out right now, it's going to grow.
So yeah, I mean, I think I'm probably going to like keep this on my phone and keep playingit because it's just been a lot of fun.
We'll see for me, like, I'm kind of at a point with it where, like, the packs are slowingdown and I'm getting really frustrated with my packs because I haven't really gotten very-
(39:33):
I think I only have two EX cards total which is, like, pretty shitty.
Yeah, I only have like two.
Venus or EXs yesterday.
Yeah, so I rarely have any EX cards.
I have quite a bit of like the alt art cards, but which is cool, but I need the EXs to forbattling to make a competitive deck.
(39:54):
Like I could really use Blastoise, really use Starman, I could really use Articuno.
You know, huh?
You can reset your account, get all your free decks back.
If you have no EXs.
I have the Lapras, two Lapras from the promo packs.
And then I have a Executor, a Charizard, and I have
(40:20):
from, wow.
So I was like, fuck dude.
it's yeah, it's good.
Like I opened 10 packs.
When I hit level 10, you get like 320 things.
I got literally not one rare card and no EX, no all arts out of all 10 packs.
I was like.
reset.
Reset your account.
(40:40):
I know, tempted, but I've already got like 17 or 18 wins on my versus and I'm gettingclose to getting into 25 and get my second emblem.
But what I'm doing is I'm probably just gonna start an account for my son and just, my dadhas one too.
Yeah, I'm just gonna fucking start trading when trading becomes popular.
(41:01):
So I'm really curious to see how trading will work and like what the.
Equal like a you got to trade an ex to get a ex you got to trade a rare card.
I'm curious to see how they do it
be cool if you could put up offers, like I want to trade this card for this card and seeif people like accept it.
You know, if they have that card, that'd be convenient.
know, right?
It's a free game.
(41:22):
So if they start having trading, like someone could have three accounts and just like makeone like super powerful deck or like account by trading, like, I'm gonna give you a
needle, you know?
Maybe not.
They might not.
would be interesting is if they do like, cause in Pokemon Go, you want to trade like a,something you don't have for another one.
(41:50):
have to, you know, that's probably what they're going to do.
I bet you they're going to make a trading currency that says like, to trade this, it costslike 40,000 Stardust because you've never, you don't have this in your deck yet.
Or, you're trading a shiny.
So it costs X amount.
Yeah.
It's a currency that recharges just like all the other ones.
(42:12):
the same thing on their friends where the more you start engaging with your friends, youcan send them a gift every day and then you'll be more power, more one, two, three, four
star friends.
And then as you build up, it's less.
So I wouldn't actually even be shocked if they do like, you get one free trade a day andthen after that it costs like five Poke Gold, a way to attach it to the currency you can
(42:38):
buy.
Don't take any these ideas, Nintendo, fuck you.
Don't do that.
Let me make a super powerful deck.
I need my dad's Charizard alt-art EX version for nothing, for a Squirtle.
of the gold, the golden Charizard, that's the point like 1, 3 % chance.
(42:59):
Those are point 2, 2.
Katie got the Charizard a couple days ago, yeah.
Either way, we're gonna continue having fun playing that, but yeah, any other thoughts or,all right, I think we're gonna go ahead and start winding down to close this out.
Yeah, no, you know, it's a fun game.
(43:20):
I'm enjoying it.
I do think like for your normal, like Clash of Clans is kind of like the king ofmicrotransactions, right?
And then they came out with Clash Royale.
And in Clash Royale, you get to about level 10, and that's when that really starts to slowdown and you feel like, man, I should start, I need to start spending money to keep going
(43:45):
at the rate I've been going.
And I feel like Pokemon, this game is about the same.
Level 10, you start feeling like,
Starting to slow down a little bit.
Maybe I want to start buying some currency.
So I think they've built it in a very smart way to make money where like you get sucked inand then right where you're like really hooked.
It's like, I want to keep going.
(44:06):
I need more more.
You know, that's where I am.
I'm like, I've been very tempted to spend some money on Pokegold, but I'm gonna try tohold off.
Just enjoy my two packs a day.
And
you know, have fun battling people.
Yeah, so, but I like it.
It's fun.
I'm a huge Pokemon fan.
(44:26):
I got my little sleeping Pikachu here on my desk, you know.
my god, my favorite thing ever is the fat Pikachu card.
The original art for Pikachu is just my favorite.
He's so chunky.
He's so chunky.
absolutely.
He just, it just makes me smile.
Just a chunky Pikachu.
(44:47):
Yeah.
Well, you got to post yours and Katie's friend ID in here so I can add you and then I wastax I was texting with Jimmy and Alex, I mean like a group text.
So I'll have to add you to it so that we can talk pokemans.
(45:09):
I get that big dick be
know.
Really, there's this video where this guy, this lady, this girl's like, there's this guyplaying Pokemon and he's calling them all the wrong names.
And she's like, what's this one?
And it's like beach roll.
And he's like, that's Big Dig B.
And he's like giving them, he's like, that's floor shit for, that's three floor shits fora Doug Trio.
(45:36):
And that's, it's just really funny.
And she's like having a meltdown over it.
So yeah, Big Dig B.
Well, on that note, we will go ahead and end this episode.
Thank you very much for watching.
Once again, please like, comment, and subscribe, as always, the typical gist.
And if you'd like to ask a question, that's going to be at pixelatedrealms.org slash ask.
(46:00):
We post every Tuesday.
And we hope you enjoyed listening.
So thanks for watching, and we'll catch you next time.
Later all.
Bye bye.
Hello and welcome to the Pixelated Realms podcast, your guide through the digitallandscapes, the unlocking.
said it again, I'll take like the latest and greatest in video game fun.
I'm going to just switch it to unlocking from now on.
I like it.
Yeah.
So I'm your host, Tyler Salerno and alongside me is my friend Dustin.
Once again, Alex is not joining us this week, but we're going to move right along.
(00:25):
Anyway.
We have some exciting things to talk about this week.
We're excited to be here as always.
I've been playing a lot of games, which you know was always a good thing.
Keeps me promoted.
Keeps me, you know, keeps me motivated, not promoted, keeps me motivated and and I knowwe've been also having some fun with a mobile game that recently came out, but I think a
(00:46):
lot of you have probably seen or played yourself as well.
So we're going to talk about that.
Dustin, how are you doing man?
What have you been up to?
Good man, good.
Excited to chat this week.
Mitz and Alex, know, I guess it takes, I mean, it does take multiple weeks to like getyour house in order after you move.
you know, looking forward to see his new setup when next week.
(01:09):
that Alex has been moving, yes.
Yeah, so, you know, we'll see, hopefully he's back next week.
But yeah, for me, just playing a lot of Minecraft still with Arthur, you know, weactually, because he's only four, most of us just probably know that by now.
But, you know, he's got to a point right now a little bit where he'll just have me buildwhat he wants.
(01:36):
Okay.
like we started building like a whole neighborhood on this island.
So like my house, like mine and his house, you know, our house.
And then my parents have a house next to it.
And then we built like a big courtyard.
And it's like my my two cousins have kids that he plays with.
And then we have like a door there and then it goes out.
And then it's like some of our friends that have kids or that are some of his friends.
(02:01):
most of these people, everyone's on the same server is what, or, is this just pretend.
it's just his house.
it's just like, no one's playing with him.
He's just building like a...
Yeah, you know, maybe one day, but right now, it's just him building like these.
So, you know, we're right now, like he just also finding out the gold sword, we found onein a treasure chest on the ocean, which was cool.
(02:26):
Although I didn't realize it has diminishing returns.
Or like, it's like Zelda, or like, you use it, it breaks.
all of the things break, yeah.
Yeah, I didn't know that.
I was like, because he's like, I don't know what happened to my gold sword.
And I was like, I don't know.
And then I built him a new one.
And I started using it as shit has a life bar.
So yeah, so yeah, well, we're on a super easy mode.
(02:52):
So none of the NPCs even attack or anything, you know, and he likes to run around.
I don't know why, but he just like loves to go kill like the animals.
And then he'll just like sit there.
He likes to eat the watermelon and eat the meat.
And he'll just keep eating and eating and eating out.
He's like Luffy, just like fucking packing it down.
it's kind of like an anime character, right?
(03:14):
He's going, he's adventuring, he's conquering the battle, and then he's coming back andhe's eating like an anime character, you know?
Yeah, totally.
That's great.
I'm a little bit more invested in it with him, I want to like go, there's like thismassive cave that I'm sure has different like minerals or rocks and stuff you can start
mining.
I'm sure there's gold down there.
(03:35):
But yeah, I'm just kind of like still scratching like the very top surface of the depth ofMinecraft.
But no, it's been fun.
It's been fun.
that's really cool, man.
I, know, and I think you were probably in this generation, I guess, maybe not ageneration, but group as well.
Like I was just like a little bit too old to like really dive into Minecraft.
(03:57):
Like not that people my age haven't played like a lot of Minecraft.
There definitely is.
But like personally, I just never.
group of gamers after me for sure.
I look at Minecraft like I look at Roblox.
Right, like Roblox, I never even opened Roblox because it was just way past my age group,right?
I was already in college or at least late high school when Roblox was a thing.
(04:19):
So it was like, it's funny when it comes to Minecraft where it was like, I've played acouple dozen, okay, Sophie, okay.
I've played a couple dozen hours of Minecraft, don't get me wrong.
I have a basic understanding, but like.
I think anyone who plays Minecraft would probably say a couple dozen hours is nothing inMinecraft, right?
It's like it's one of those games where you easily put in a thousand hours and you likeblink and you're like, crap, you know, like that was a thousand hours.
(04:45):
So, you know, I kind of feel like I'm not going to say robbed, but like I do, I'm a littlesad that like I didn't like pick it up at the time and like really kind of I'm not saying
you can't still.
It's one of those games you can always go back to.
And I'm sure today is just as good as it was.
You know, it's
Today's a better time to go into it than ever, but it's just funny because like, yeah, Ijust never had that initial push as a kid or like, I was already basically an adult by the
(05:13):
time that was really, really popular.
So yeah, it looks fun.
as like a kids game, right?
Like I've always had Minecraft, Roblox.
It's like, it's for like, you know, 12 year olds.
Yeah, you know, it's one funny, I saw like one of these, I don't if you ever go on, am Ithe asshole on Reddit?
(05:34):
And there's like this story.
viewers.
Yeah, like there's this story of this, and I don't go on it either.
It just popped up on my Twitter feed.
It's like a parenting one.
And the dad, his son built like this massive Minecraft server, you know, and then.
(05:56):
like all this stuff like thousand hours, whatever.
And then like he was super proud of it, like showed his dad.
So now his dad realized that that's like very important to him.
So he was like, you better do your homework or I'm going to delete your Minecraft thing.
And the kid didn't do it.
And then the dad actually deleted this Minecraft stuff.
(06:17):
And he was like, I didn't realize like how devastated my son was going to be from what Ijust did.
Was that wrong of me?
Well, like, I liked what people said and it was like, be prepared for your kid to nownever want to share things that he really enjoys with you because he's going to always
(06:43):
fear that you're going to destroy it.
You know, I'm even realizing that Arthur a little bit right now because like, we, youknow,
It's very difficult as a parent to recycle toys.
know, like, like you get bring more toys in, they never want to get rid of old toys.
So every great once in a while, I'll just go on like a rampage and just start throwing outold toys.
(07:03):
And so now like some of his toys, like his Hot Wheels and that he wants to keep them at myparents house because he's worried that I'm going to throw them out.
So.
is funny.
I mean, yeah, a little bit, even at four years old, he's like, man, dad might get mad andlike, like want to start cleaning out some toys and like throw away some toys that I don't
(07:23):
want to get rid of.
yeah, it's just, you don't really realize until you have kids, like it's already like youhear stories like this, like the damage you could do to your kid's psyche by like trying
to punish them, you know.
With things they've expressed that they've spent time and yeah, I mean, it's it's I thinkthat's a simple psychology and not that I'm, you know, simple in the sense that like.
(07:52):
It's easy to forget that like at the when when you're that age, right?
And you've built anything right?
The little house or the things that your son has helped you build in Minecraft or builthimself.
Like that is something you've created just like how we kind of, you know, I think Legoswas definitely more what I think about where it's like, I created this thing.
(08:13):
you feel like beholden to it, like you put some of yourself into it.
So yeah, like, like you said in your story there, if that dad then uses that to hold itover his head, you know, it's like,
you basically just destroyed his art and you're saying his creativity like was not worthit, you know, so yeah, that's that's a bummer.
But like also like, you know, I I'm sure you can understand on the other end.
(08:37):
It's like you also want your children to focus and get an education, you know, and like Ikind of, know, I guess it's it's complicated.
Parent parenting is complicated, right?
line because it's like, you know, if one day we get to the point with Arthur where he'sjust like, doesn't want to do homework ever, doesn't want to like listen, and he's just
(09:00):
like sucked into the PlayStation all the fucking time, then I might get psycho dad andjust be like, look it, PlayStation is going to go out there.
I'm going fucking sledgehammer the shit out of it if you don't start doing something else,you know?
yeah, mean, balance is important, you know?
you know, but, you know, I mean, I played a shit ton of games, like video games literallyruined my first, like, to really the first, like attempt at college.
(09:30):
Like I was just sucked in a World of Warcraft so bad, I just failed out of my firstcollege experience.
And I'm watching like...
people who've had that, yeah.
My nephews right now, they're so sucked into games too.
They have been like, since they were teenagers that, you know, they're like in theirmid-twenties, they haven't gone to college.
One of them doesn't have a job and, you know, trying to get them motivated to do anythingelse is like very difficult because they just want to stay in their room and play video
(09:58):
games.
it's like, yeah, guess if it gets to that, then I will go like psycho dad and just belike, we're at no technology household.
We're going almost up in this motherfucker.
I mean, I think it's a good time to mention like...
Nowadays, we spend so much time, like we spend so much, like we invest so much of ourthought process and focus and like improving ourselves and things, right?
(10:25):
This could, and I think like a lot of us do get tricked into like thinking like, basicallytreating video games more as a job than as a piece of entertainment and fun, you know?
And I think a lot of teenagers and younger guys like are.
Definitely falling into that where it's like, yeah, you know, might have 10,000 hours ofleague in the last month.
(10:45):
And I'm like, like, that's great.
I'm glad you're enjoying yourself, but like, what's the end goal, right?
Like, like it's fine to enjoy yourself guys, but like also like if it is 100 % of yourlife, you're, you're at a balance and balance is like super important.
you know, going outside, going for walks, getting exercise, talking to people like, andthat when you do those other things, this is the
(11:09):
most important part, most important thing I've ever said in this podcast.
When you do the other things that are not gaming, it makes gaming more enjoyable becausethat contrast is what life is all about.
Okay.
So like, it's just like, stopped overloading your own dopamine and go take a break becausethe break is what makes it even fun in the first place.
(11:36):
So, you know, if you, if you listen to anything we ever said, it's that.
you know, take a break and come back later and reset your dopamine.
Anyway, great talk on, Minecraft and kids and the psychology of gaming.
I, on the other hand have been doing something very unproductive and that is just playingcall of duty six zombies.
(12:00):
And as I've mentioned before, I never like got super into zombies in any of the pastrenditions.
I knew it was like a pretty like in-depth thing and people played it, like I didn't, youknow, I didn't research it or like grind it out myself.
This time around, I'm starting to like, I've played Liberty Falls map, which is, one ofthe two maps, know, over probably a dozen times.
(12:24):
So I feel like I understand like a good chunk of like what's going on.
and I've also now looked up some videos of like Easter eggs and how like things kind ofwork.
Now for our viewers out there, this is more of a me saying I didn't know this, but ifanyone else who also joined me in not knowing might like to learn this.
(12:47):
So in face value, Call of Duty Zombies is just like you're dropped in, you solo or youwith a squad of four, and you have guns and there's things all around the map.
can buy like vending machines to increase your
know, health or increase your ammo capacity or whatnot.
And that's just really simple.
Like you just run around this map, you kill zombies, you clear the wave, next wave comes,you go as far as you can.
(13:13):
But as soon as you like sink a little bit deeper into the iceberg, like the game actuallyis all about Easter eggs.
like the store, there's actually like a really like complicated story that has beenprogressing throughout all of the games.
And those are all discovered through Easter eggs.
So like, although at face value, just seems like this round bay zombie killing game, it'sactually like you're surrounded by hundreds of Easter eggs.
(13:38):
And I'm not really sure how anyone's supposed to figure any of these things out.
Like, I mean, yeah, I can go to YouTube, but I have no effing idea how someone figuredthis out in the first place.
I'd love to show you some of these sometimes, Dustin.
It'll be like, shoot this symbol with a sniper.
in a far off place looking southwest from this angle.
(14:01):
And I'm like, how would anyone find that?
Like, I don't understand.
It's I guess it's fun.
Like it is fun.
But like, I'm just like amazed that anyone was able to be like, yeah, here's the 64 Eastereggs I found.
And like, that is just incredible because it's like most of the game.
Have you ever played zombies?
(14:22):
Now, I've never been a big cod person.
I did play Modern Warfare, the last one, and then I've played Warzone.
yeah, never been a...
Grew up as a battlefield guy, right?
And there's just always like that rivalry between the two.
I was like, fuck Call of Duty, go battlefield.
So, yeah.
(14:43):
admit I was more on the color-dirty side of that argument.
Although I liked both.
Like, I mean, they were just so different, you know?
They were just, we talked about this a bit last time.
Yeah.
growing up too, so that was also like my vice over Call of Duty.
I was definitely one of the Counter-Strike people who, like, I remember hearing about itand downloading it and getting into a game and then everyone like yelling at me
(15:06):
immediately.
And I'm just like, you know, and I'm like, I don't even, I thought this was Call of Duty.
I don't know what's going on, you know, and I thought it was a Call of Duty.
And that was the experience of so many people at the time, right?
Like I didn't know about buying equipment.
I didn't know about the maps.
So I immediately was just like, I don't know what this game is.
I'm scared.
And I ran away, you know, which was really sad.
I wish I had learned.
(15:27):
But there was no YouTube, you couldn't, you know.
like we talked about last week, people also try to bring like a Call of Duty like heromentality to a game like Counter-Strike and it just doesn't work.
Like you can't just rush in and like kill everyone on your own and shit like it's verydifficult.
this is just the perspective at the time.
(15:48):
I didn't even know a game like that existed.
You know, it was like, I jumped in and I'm like, great, this is, this is call of duty.
This is what all shooters are at, you know, and you're like, no, it's not.
You find out quickly.
It's not, you know, but yeah, yeah.
I've been having a lot of fun with zombies.
Maybe we'll, we'll try to stream some of these in the near future if we can find some timehere because it's, it's, it's a lot of fun.
(16:11):
But
I'm down to, it's installed, so we can definitely play it.
good.
All right.
I'm going to stall for a second while I bring up our questions.
stall stall.
I'm looking at photos.
So I've never watched Evangelion, but Loki Geeks, the shirt brand I like, they have beencoming out Evangelion shirts the last two weeks.
(16:33):
And then I was just on Mercari looking at statues and anime statues and then Mari Makinamipopped up and I was like, who is this person?
And so now I'm like, reading into this character from Evangelion.
Interesting.
I watch it.
It's not even a long...
I don't even think...
(16:54):
I it's only one season.
man, so Evangelion is one season and a movie?
Mostly.
So it goes from episode correct, but you have to watch it.
You have to watch the whole thing.
(17:15):
And then you have to watch end of Evangelion, which is technically in between episodes 22and 23.
we lost your camera, Dustin.
you disappear?
He's gone.
Goodbye, Dustin.
We knew him well.
(17:41):
All right, we'll see if we can get Dustin back here in a second.
In the meantime, I think I'm just gonna go ahead and move forward into some questions.
I asked myself some questions.
I think this is gonna be from our main man, Sam, although for some reason it didn't put inthe name.
So Sam, how's it going, man?
(18:03):
Good to hear from you.
I hope you've been well and I hope everything's been working itself out after thehurricanes.
do we got Dustin again?
Can you hear me?
I can hear you.
Sort of.
Sort of.
I don't know what the fuck just happened.
I literally just plugged my phone in, which isn't at all attached to my computer.
has its own plug in the wall.
(18:24):
And then my camera and microphone just shut off.
I'm just like, what the fuck just happened?
So now I'm trying to fix it.
right, well, you fix that.
I'm gonna finish reading our question here from Sam.
Sup dudes, being that it's October and spooky season, are any of y'all in the horrorgenre?
What's your favorite horror game?
Do you have any regular ones you play each year?
(18:46):
I start with Resident Evil on PS1, but currently enjoying the Silent Hill 2 remake.
I want to get some VR and do Resident Evil 7.
Also dressing up as any video game characters this year.
Great question, Sam, and we appreciate you asking them.
I'm just gonna, I'm not gonna lie, Alex is gonna be so sad he wasn't here for thisquestion, but we can save it for him next time because he is our resident horror game
(19:12):
expert.
I am too much of a chicken to play horror games most of the time.
be totally honest.
So even like Resident Evil, I like to have a really hard time getting through because Ijust like I'm just too spooked.
Like my adrenaline is too spiked to like make good decisions.
hey, let's go.
Let's go.
(19:32):
All right.
So
I don't play horror games, so that question doesn't resonate for me.
Yeah, I mean, it's hard for me to we almost need Alex for this one.
I think so.
That's probably a good one.
Just trying to think of any like horror game like Alien Isolation is probably like myfavorite horror game of all time.
I don't not that I'm an expert, but Alien Isolation is just like.
(19:57):
The AI for the alien, the ambiance, like the way it encapsulates like the alien aestheticand like the like just the general vibe is.
It's just like unmatched, in my opinion.
I'm also a huge aliens and like sci fi fan, so maybe that's biased.
But yeah, Alien Isolation to me is like definitely one of the greatest horror games of alltime, without a doubt.
(20:21):
Yeah.
So but but we will we'll have to hold that one off until Alex is able to join us nexttime.
Dressing up as any video game characters this year.
Unfortunately not.
I'm always a little.
late on the costume game so I didn't get a dress up this year very much.
But yeah, great.
Well, thank you, Sam.
(20:41):
I appreciate your questions.
And once again, I hope everything's well with you.
With that being said, this is a great time just to say, we really appreciate everyoneliking, commenting, and subscribing to our episodes here.
It means a lot to us.
And if you would like to ask a question where we read in the middle of the show, you cango ahead and do that at pixelatedrealms.org slash ask.
(21:01):
and we will go ahead and address it.
We really appreciate your questions.
So moving on to our main topic today.
Now I mentioned earlier, our main topic is evolving a phone app today.
If you've been following gaming news, you're probably aware of the new Pokemon Pocket TCGgame that has come out for mobile, the PokeMans, my favorite PokeMans.
(21:27):
And...
It has been a blast.
for those of you who don't know, they Pokemon Pocket TCG, which just means Pokemon, thecard game pocket.
It is a mobile application that you can just play the Pokemon card game on.
And I'm not going to lie, most of us and Justin and I assume you're the same, haven'ttouched the Pokemon card game in 20 years.
(21:50):
Yeah.
So a lot of us like, I have no idea what we were coming into, but
Well, you know why it's a free app.
Why am I not going to download it?
And as you might expect, you download the app.
It gives you access to opening packs virtually, and it is a lot more fun than you wouldexpect.
It is definitely a lot more fun than you would expect.
(22:11):
And they did a really good job.
They give you tons of free packs.
I haven't spent any money yet.
in the packs too.
I'm getting like nothing good.
paid any money yet and I have like most of the cards and we've just been playing for a fewweeks.
But yeah, there's a really strong focus on the collecting of the cards.
There's lots of like promotional cards and shiny cards and immersive cards.
(22:33):
There's a ton of different types to collect.
And I think they made a really smart decision, like focusing on like, hey, these aren'tjust digital pieces of nothing like this is a card that you own.
And they're trying to kind of like make it feel significant.
Well, we'll see once the trading happens.
yeah, trading doesn't exist yet, but it's coming.
(22:56):
But yeah, you actually have to level up a little bit, collect some cards, and then youunlock the ability to battle.
And that's kind of where the fun begins.
You start making your own decks, you start battling opponents, and the game just has areally smooth experience as far as teaching you the game and helping you collect decks and
understand the concepts.
Yeah, what has your experience been so far, Dustin?
(23:19):
So I used to like one of the like my best memories as a kid is My dad is a big like cardcollector of like sports cards so as a kid we used to always go to card shows and He'd buy
me like a pack every week and so I love opening up packs of cards So for this is likereally exciting for me because I'm just like
(23:48):
and try to fill out my Pokedex.
So yeah, that's been really fun.
You get two packs a day for free.
If you're a premium member, which costs $10 a month, you can get a third pack every day,as well as access to be able to purchase the premium items, get premium currency.
So there's like five different mission tabs.
(24:10):
There's like dailies, there's decks, and that's like...
you know, how much of the different characters you fill out.
There's events, there's premium, and then there's, I think, dailies.
If I didn't say dailies already.
So all these different things give you different currencies that you can use in the game.
Whether it's to buy emblems, or there's to buy card covers, or playmats, or special promocards, which has been really cool.
(24:38):
But...
I'm pleasantly surprised with how generous they've been with the currency, like all thecurrencies, both packs and
slow down.
I'm level 12 and like, it's definitely slowed down.
Yeah.
know, it definitely slows down.
But regardless, there's been events, there's been like they're constantly introducing newthings so far.
(25:01):
So like the pacing has felt really good.
You know, I there's a free trial for the premium pass, which I've been using, you know,which is great.
Another feature that's really cool is this thing called Wonder Picks.
So as your friends and others open packs, you can spend this other type of currency tobasically have a chance.
of picking out one of the five cards.
(25:22):
Yeah, as you can kind of see on the screen here, if you're looking at it, you have achance of picking one of the cards that someone else picked.
say they got like, your friend got a Charizard and you're like, man, so you spend yourcurrency to, you know, try to have a chance of one in five chance of picking the
Charizard.
It's really nice.
(25:42):
Yeah, I mean, we can't really see it very well, but you know, yeah.
So it's been really fun.
Excuse me.
know, I've.
you know, it's just been really accessible.
They give you a lot of currency.
I don't feel like it's like being greedy and trying to like suck money away from meconstantly.
(26:04):
Maybe that's to come.
But, you know, at the moment, it feels good.
Additionally, my fiance, Katie, has been really into it.
So we've literally just been sitting on the couch, like trying to build decks, likefighting each other.
Like, it's just been so fun to have it all in our pocket.
at the at the at our fingertips.
And I will say I even was tempted to like buy some physical cards again.
(26:25):
And I was like looking into it.
And then yesterday I was just like, why would I do this?
Like, I don't need a bucket of cards.
I really don't.
But like we're having so much fun just playing it on our phones and paying no money.
Like, why would I even play the card game in this case, so I decided against it.
Yeah, I I bought some, I buy Pokemon cards every great once in a while.
(26:48):
And like, I bought a box of like 151, I think it was.
And it is so fucking difficult to get your money back.
Like for how much a box cost, because you gotta get like the, like nobody wants thisCharizard anymore.
(27:09):
Blastoise.
You have to get the alternate art version of those cards and there's certain alternate artcards in each set that are more expensive like Jars, Art and Blastoise and the 151 or
both, but they're only like 35-40 bucks.
So and you probably get like two maybe three alt art cards a box.
(27:32):
Unless you're really lucky.
but like, yeah, but like every box cannot be worth more than its price, right?
Like that's impossible.
They would go out of business.
sure.
Well, I mean, that's not necessarily true.
mean, you're...
I'm just saying, like, I feel like people buy cards thinking, you know, like the humanmentality of like, I'm buying $100 worth of Pokemon cards or $300.
(27:56):
I've got to have something in here that's worth something.
And it's like, no.
Yeah.
One Piece trading card game, every box there's like a rare anime version of a card andthat card sells for like over $1,000.
(28:16):
Most of the other cards sell for like, like the leader art sell for probably like 75 to100 bucks each.
And then after that, it starts dipping down to like 50s, 40.
But people are spending $200 a box because there's that chance to get in that thousanddollar card.
So I totally get that, but.
(28:37):
It's nice with this, you know, with the, can go into like physical trading.
The only thing great about physical trading card games is like at least your cards do havemonetary value.
If you're spending money, like that was always my biggest fucking pet peeve aboutHearthstone is that you're spending $60 for 50 packs.
You're going to get two to three gold cards or whatever they are.
I forgot they're fucking cold now.
(28:58):
And if they're not even the ones you want, they only disenchant for, think, half of whatthe value is.
So you can walk away spending 60 bucks and only get one and a half of the rare card youactually need for the deck that you're trying to build.
And that feels bad.
And then there's no value attached to that, right?
You can't trade your cards in Hearthstone.
(29:21):
if they shut down Hearthstone one day, whatever that happens, all that just goes into thenether.
But at least with physical cards games, like you have the card, like you can sell it, youcan trade it, whatever you want.
So I've always appreciated that.
With this, it's great because yeah, you don't spend a fucking dime.
Like the packs are free.
And it's going to get people to get into the card game for them, right?
(29:43):
Like they just, they just benefit because now tons of people not, it's, I saw a statisticsset, like made 42 million in the first like three days or something.
So they're already making bank with this.
Even with the amount of people who are playing it for free, you know.
some Pokemon Gold.
I mean, they have a special right now on it because they just launched.
(30:04):
It's like a couple of different options where it's like 40 % of what it would normallycost you.
So, you know, but like that's me, like wanting to just open more packs, right?
And that's what they're going off of any good pay to win game.
And this is a pay to win game, frankly.
It's like, you know, you don't have to pay, but if you pay, you're going to be able tofill it.
to win.
(30:25):
you're going to fill in your deck faster more than likely should be opening up more packs.
You're to have more money to spend and buy cards.
You're going to more money to spend and do wonder picks.
So if you want to invest money, like you're going to have a better chance of being morecompetitive faster.
But you don't have to.
Yeah, you don't need to.
(30:45):
we've been having plenty of fun without spending a dollar, you know?
So.
definitely, 100%.
I would say like the biggest thing for me.
So I have like all my badges somewhere.
I used to go to Toys R Us when I was like 10 years old and play in the official PokemonLeague that they had a partnership with Nintendo or the Pokemon company where you could
actually earn badges.
(31:07):
I went to some tournaments as a kid.
So I was like really into the card game as a kid and
Now getting to play it digitally is ton of fun.
And I didn't realize back then, like, or maybe I realized it, but the amount of RNG inPokemon is like fucking insane.
(31:30):
Like, there's so many cards that have like flip a coin mechanics to it.
I mean, like the most frustrating card right now, I think for me that I'm using.
because it's been devastating against me at times.
And I feel like it's impossible to run a water deck without it because it can just bringtoo much value.
(31:53):
If it hits is Misty Misty, you flip a coin for every hedge you get in a row should be atleast one.
Yeah.
But I mean, like I could sit there and play
Gyarados on turn two or my turn three if I'm first right throw misty down Have crazy RNGand I throw on hyper beam on turn three my second my first opportunity to attack because
(32:18):
I'd be first I can't get out of energy in turn one.
So then that's like Devastatingly good, right?
even with the ex Lapras if you can just pull one out of that and then you get the oneenergy like you are only two turns from having three but any
Any those attack, any of those cards that basically add energy are just so fucking good.
(32:41):
And then like, I'm running into some of these psychic decks that have the fucking, thePokemon looks like a, yeah.
With the fucking ability dude, it's like this bitch is using, goddamn, Mewtwo's using hisfour point attack after two turns.
(33:01):
And it's like, goddamn dude, it's rough but.
Yeah, just like playing that and like seeing the different things like I'll use King ofSkhan and like, you know, I'll flip it in those times.
I've got two turns in a row.
I all tell so it's zero damage and like, you know, or so yeah, the RNG I don't know if itwas if I noticed it as much as a kid, but
(33:26):
It's extremely frustrating now as an adult and it's way more baked into this game thanlike a Hearthstone, which I feel like Hearthstone, there are certain decks in Meta's and
like as long as you're doing misplays, you can consistently win.
But in a game like Pokemon, where deck build obviously matters, I feel like it's verybalanced.
(33:47):
not like there's only limited cards right now, too.
So like having all of the support cards is like crucial.
And every deck I have has draw two cards and the basic Pokemon summon thing, because youjust need those cards.
Yeah, you just need them.
And you're right, though.
And, you know, I don't know.
That's to me.
I would chalk that up just to like typical card game RNG.
(34:11):
And you just do what you can, you know.
But like the one thing that does still drive me a little bit nuts is like for the mostpart, your deck is going to be like one or two elements maximum.
As far as I know, no one does anything more than that.
So as someone who really likes to play a water deck, like what do I do against an electricdeck?
(34:35):
I don't, I just lose or like, so when you're.
you have to have that crazy RNG moment where you like put a lot of energy on a card orsomething like that to overcome.
where like, I was like, I might win against this electric deck and then, you know, theyjust eventually take me out.
So to me, it's like, if I'm in a tournament, that's my question, right?
It's like, I can bring in multiple decks, right?
(34:56):
Because that, the whole like picking weaknesses and advantage seems like the one thingthat's hard to control, you know?
So in like a Pokemon game, it makes sense.
Because you can just switch out your Charizard for a Blastoise or whatever.
But in this game you have to stick with one type.
But that being said that doesn't remind me of one positive I really do like about the cardgame that I kind of forgot about.
(35:20):
And that's just like getting to evolve your Pokemon every time you play is really fun.
You're just like, you know in the game, right, you just like slowly develop your team.
But in the card game I'm like Blastoise!
Or sorry Squirtle, know a War Tortle.
Blastoise!
Yeah, you know, every time you get an upgrade of like, it just kind of feels satisfying.
(35:40):
Yeah, definitely.
You know, it's funny, like, before the podcast started, we were talking about this alittle bit and you mentioned like, you know, having 10 support and 10 Pokemon.
And it really makes sense in a lot of ways, because if you think about it, and how quicklythose gatelease get, like, I almost never run out of cards, right?
Like, I used the whole deck, the game was over before then.
(36:03):
Yeah, there's only two, I think there was 30 in the physical card game, I think, becauseyou have energy cards.
40, I thought.
Anyway.
whatever it is.
But the thing is like you rarely actually use more than like two or three Pokemon thewhole game.
You know, like if you're winning probably two, if you're losing three, you know, maybefour if you're backing somebody out.
(36:26):
But you also can't pick a card back up and put it in your hand.
So it gets really limited.
So if your deck has like 14 Pokemon cards, by the end, like by the time you get to likeyour fifth turn, you're sitting there with all these cards in your hand that you're not
using.
(36:46):
it's like I built like a grass deck yesterday that had a lot of like three evolutions, youknow, so there was a lot of Pokemon and the just the chances of me.
Like it took me too long to evolve everyone by the time I had evolved everyone, I wasalready doomed, you know, so it was like you have to like there's certain cards that
(37:08):
clearly are just better than others.
And it's like, well, this one is a one energy 60 damage.
This one's one energy 40 damage.
Yeah, you got like fucking Eevee, it's got like a 10 attack Gnaw.
You know, it's like, it's garbage.
Yeah, so but but then when you evolve the EV, you know, so I actually like the strategy,though one of my favorite parts of the game is this whole like putting a Pokemon in,
(37:31):
retreating him with another Pokemon, you know, like that switching actually feels good tome because I can kind of be like, hey, you got down 90 % of his health, but I switched him
out at the last second.
but my opponent actually has a guy who can hit someone on the bench.
So he actually did kill him.
Like there's a lot of dynamic there that actually does work for me.
So
It's definitely given me hope for the card game, Pokemon card game, and I think this app'sactually gonna continue to be pretty strong, you know?
(37:58):
Yeah, now I agree.
There's definitely some cards that like stand out like Alec and Sam super strong.
He just does like a dick nasty amount of damage.
Cron engine's really good, whatever.
whatever Ralts's fully evolved form is, especially if you couple it with like a Mewtwo,because Mewtwo's 150 damage attack.
(38:22):
takes four energy, but, it discards two.
But if you have the fully evolved faults out there, then you're doing her, her ability,which you don't have to have her as an active Pokemon to do.
And then you just give your turn energy.
So basically every fucking turn, you're able to do this 150 damage, which is devastating,devastating amount of fucking damage.
(38:45):
Almost no Pokemon has more health than that.
So
there's a couple, but yeah, it's it's not a lot.
who you put out there.
You're pretty much fucked.
But then I'm like using there's, I can't remember the name of the Pokemon, but there'slike sleeping Pokemon.
So I've been trying to just like sleep their Pokemon and like there's certain strategies,like I can sleep their Pokemon and then attack them with Greninja from the bench, you
(39:09):
know?
So there's like a lot of really cool subtle strategies I've been finding.
And, although there's only like 300, 400 cards out right now, it's going to grow.
So yeah, I mean, I think I'm probably going to like keep this on my phone and keep playingit because it's just been a lot of fun.
We'll see for me, like, I'm kind of at a point with it where, like, the packs are slowingdown and I'm getting really frustrated with my packs because I haven't really gotten very-
(39:33):
I think I only have two EX cards total which is, like, pretty shitty.
Yeah, I only have like two.
Venus or EXs yesterday.
Yeah, so I rarely have any EX cards.
I have quite a bit of like the alt art cards, but which is cool, but I need the EXs to forbattling to make a competitive deck.
(39:54):
Like I could really use Blastoise, really use Starman, I could really use Articuno.
You know, huh?
You can reset your account, get all your free decks back.
If you have no EXs.
I have the Lapras, two Lapras from the promo packs.
And then I have a Executor, a Charizard, and I have
(40:20):
from, wow.
So I was like, fuck dude.
it's yeah, it's good.
Like I opened 10 packs.
When I hit level 10, you get like 320 things.
I got literally not one rare card and no EX, no all arts out of all 10 packs.
I was like.
reset.
Reset your account.
(40:40):
I know, tempted, but I've already got like 17 or 18 wins on my versus and I'm gettingclose to getting into 25 and get my second emblem.
But what I'm doing is I'm probably just gonna start an account for my son and just, my dadhas one too.
Yeah, I'm just gonna fucking start trading when trading becomes popular.
(41:01):
So I'm really curious to see how trading will work and like what the.
Equal like a you got to trade an ex to get a ex you got to trade a rare card.
I'm curious to see how they do it
be cool if you could put up offers, like I want to trade this card for this card and seeif people like accept it.
You know, if they have that card, that'd be convenient.
know, right?
It's a free game.
(41:22):
So if they start having trading, like someone could have three accounts and just like makeone like super powerful deck or like account by trading, like, I'm gonna give you a
needle, you know?
Maybe not.
They might not.
would be interesting is if they do like, cause in Pokemon Go, you want to trade like a,something you don't have for another one.
(41:50):
have to, you know, that's probably what they're going to do.
I bet you they're going to make a trading currency that says like, to trade this, it costslike 40,000 Stardust because you've never, you don't have this in your deck yet.
Or, you're trading a shiny.
So it costs X amount.
Yeah.
It's a currency that recharges just like all the other ones.
(42:12):
the same thing on their friends where the more you start engaging with your friends, youcan send them a gift every day and then you'll be more power, more one, two, three, four
star friends.
And then as you build up, it's less.
So I wouldn't actually even be shocked if they do like, you get one free trade a day andthen after that it costs like five Poke Gold, a way to attach it to the currency you can
(42:38):
buy.
Don't take any these ideas, Nintendo, fuck you.
Don't do that.
Let me make a super powerful deck.
I need my dad's Charizard alt-art EX version for nothing, for a Squirtle.
of the gold, the golden Charizard, that's the point like 1, 3 % chance.
(42:59):
Those are point 2, 2.
Katie got the Charizard a couple days ago, yeah.
Either way, we're gonna continue having fun playing that, but yeah, any other thoughts or,all right, I think we're gonna go ahead and start winding down to close this out.
Yeah, no, you know, it's a fun game.
(43:20):
I'm enjoying it.
I do think like for your normal, like Clash of Clans is kind of like the king ofmicrotransactions, right?
And then they came out with Clash Royale.
And in Clash Royale, you get to about level 10, and that's when that really starts to slowdown and you feel like, man, I should start, I need to start spending money to keep going
(43:45):
at the rate I've been going.
And I feel like Pokemon, this game is about the same.
Level 10, you start feeling like,
Starting to slow down a little bit.
Maybe I want to start buying some currency.
So I think they've built it in a very smart way to make money where like you get sucked inand then right where you're like really hooked.
It's like, I want to keep going.
(44:06):
I need more more.
You know, that's where I am.
I'm like, I've been very tempted to spend some money on Pokegold, but I'm gonna try tohold off.
Just enjoy my two packs a day.
And
you know, have fun battling people.
Yeah, so, but I like it.
It's fun.
I'm a huge Pokemon fan.
(44:26):
I got my little sleeping Pikachu here on my desk, you know.
my god, my favorite thing ever is the fat Pikachu card.
The original art for Pikachu is just my favorite.
He's so chunky.
He's so chunky.
absolutely.
He just, it just makes me smile.
Just a chunky Pikachu.
(44:47):
Yeah.
Well, you got to post yours and Katie's friend ID in here so I can add you and then I wastax I was texting with Jimmy and Alex, I mean like a group text.
So I'll have to add you to it so that we can talk pokemans.
(45:09):
I get that big dick be
know.
Really, there's this video where this guy, this lady, this girl's like, there's this guyplaying Pokemon and he's calling them all the wrong names.
And she's like, what's this one?
And it's like beach roll.
And he's like, that's Big Dig B.
And he's like giving them, he's like, that's floor shit for, that's three floor shits fora Doug Trio.
(45:36):
And that's, it's just really funny.
And she's like having a meltdown over it.
So yeah, Big Dig B.
Well, on that note, we will go ahead and end this episode.
Thank you very much for watching.
Once again, please like, comment, and subscribe, as always, the typical gist.
And if you'd like to ask a question, that's going to be at pixelatedrealms.org slash ask.
(46:00):
We post every Tuesday.
And we hope you enjoyed listening.
So thanks for watching, and we'll catch you next time.
Later all.
Bye bye.
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