February 17, 2023 • 44 mins
On this week's episode of Level Select, Mike and Fred are back in the saddle to talk about the best games of 2022, the shuddering of so many live service games, and their excitement for the future.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:11):
Welcome to Level Select, a showabout games and game development. I'm your
host Mike Devar, and I'm yourhost Fred Wood. I would ask how
you're doing, Fred, but Ithink we both know how we've both been
doing. Yeah, it's just feellike I've been totally on top of it
and everything's been great all the time. Yea very solid ground underneath our feet.
The world ahead of us is veryknown. Well, I feel like
(00:33):
the world ahead of us is Idon't know. I feel like I know
exactly what I'm doing for a goodlong time. But yeah, no,
I don't want to. We canmaybe get like a real sad about life
at the end of the pod.Maybe not at the beginning though, No,
not at the beginning. So Ifigured this time we just talk about
like video games and pop culture.Yeah, yeah, yeah, video games
(00:55):
are pretty neat. Pop culture isa thing that you pay attention to sometimes
that Yeah, I went and sawthe new ant Man movie last night.
How is that? By the way? Really fun and really good? That's
you know what good? Okay,So I guess have you enjoyed have you
enjoyed any of the ant Man films? So I'm going to expose myself haven't
seen any of the ant Man films. Haven't watched a Marvel movie since Black
(01:19):
Panther One. Um, I don'tthink I've consumed superhero media since Black Panther
One. Haven't seen any of thethe last like recent Avengers films, haven't
seen anything. I've just been likecompletely gone from that space. So um
Elevator pitch beyond ant Man quantum ManiaA Man quantum Mania. They get real
(01:44):
small day, they get so smallit's ridiculous. It's like the one thing
that for me I've got like interestin is Jonathan Majors playing King. So
if you enjoy like Jonathan Major's playingKing, you should watch the Loki series,
which I think is the best thingto come out of the MCU so
(02:07):
far, the Loki TV series.I just like Jonathan Majors. I think
he's like one of the best actorsworking right now. Zero. Yeah,
without getting into spoilers, you're gonnareally enjoy Jonathan Majors. If you like
Jonathan Majors. There's so much JonathanMajors, you know, like good and
around the MCUH. It's Jona Chocolateblock top to bottom, Jonathan Majors all
(02:29):
the way down. It's great,Okay, you know what I like.
Legitimately, it might get me backinto watching superhero movies just because I'm like,
oh, man, everything that Jonathanmajorson is great. I watched like
some some four minute breakdowns of eachmovie just because you know, I've I've
been thirteen different people, I feellike since the last aunt Man movie came
out thirty years ago. And soI watched like replays of one and two,
(02:57):
and then I rewatched like a thingabout Endgame. And so I would
say, if you were interested inthe ant Man milieu, I would watch
ant Man one because it's really fun, and then I'd watch Civil War because
most of that movie is really fun. And then I guess you'd watch ant
Man two, where he's in jailagain. He's in home prison again in
(03:22):
that one, and then watch AvengersInfinity War and Endgame, the like biggest
blockbuster film in a very long time. It looks expensive and feels it what
a great pitch watch this movie.It looks expensive. It does. It
looks very expensive. That's that wasmy takeaway when playing last year's Call of
(03:44):
Duty was I kept playing and I'mlike, man, this looks expensive.
Yeah. The debris looks great.That's been that's been me watching the new
Trygun adaptation. No spoilers please,because I'm not want to watch it.
I just have not only a voicespoilers, I will avoid my spicy hot
take. Um, but there arereceiverss where I'm watching it. I'm like,
(04:08):
oh, wow, that's all.That's a whole lot of money.
Yeah, I yeah, I ampumped for watching that eventually. UM yeah,
I'm curious. Yeah, it's goingto turn out as a full series.
That's that's a discussion for after you'vealso seen it, and then we
can come come together and you'll havea much more measured and nuanced opinion than
(04:29):
I. WOA. That would definitelybe good. I was also one of
the casualties of doing this live isI was looking at the chat trying to
figure out how to ban a botthat just showed up. So yeah,
yeah, I yes, I wantto consume the try again and then talk
to you about it because as weboth know about each other, big fans,
Yeah, of the Pacifist and Red, Yes, that is what he's
(04:53):
known as. It's a gun todand pacifist and Red definitely doesn't have a
different title that he's very famous foror being called by a sixty billion double
dollar man. I was going withthe humanoid typhoon. Yeah, I know
that one too. So you haveyou been watching anything else before we dive
into a game of the years,And my very predictable answer for a game
(05:15):
of the Year, I have Ihave consumed so much garbage anime recently,
like stuff that I'm only embarrassed totalk about. So let's just not like
you got to give us one,because I've been watching a lot of like
older animey and being like, ohman, this is actually better. Like
I feel like I'm on the oppositeend of the spectrum where I'm like,
oh, I'm watching like cinema here. I. So the thing is that
(05:35):
I've been enjoying like one episode ofanime a night with my wife where where
it's like, you know what,I want something where I'm going to just
turn my brain off and consume Thisthe one really good one that I can't
recommend to anybody because it's the leastinteresting plot is uh gosh, I don't
even know the name of it becauseit's so weird. Um, but it's
(05:58):
like farming in another world? IsI think the English released name of it,
it's anisakai. Stop me if you'veheard this one before. Yea,
God dies. Guy dies and getsteleported to another world. But the log
line of like what they did differentlywith this one is like he suffered really
bad throughout his life and was inthe hospital for a long time, and
so when he dies, God findshis soul and is like, hey,
(06:20):
listen, I made a whoopsie yourYour life wasn't supposed to be that hard.
Uh so what would you like todo in like the next life?
And the Guy's like, I watcheda bunch of TV shows about idols farming
and that seems pretty cool. Andso God was like God was like,
all right, cool, here's avery special tool that will do anything you
(06:42):
need, and I'll make sure yourbody's like real healthy. And so the
guy gets planted in this like deathforest and just starts building a little farm
and there and then people move intothe farm and it unfortunately does get horny
because all things. But but it'slike so far in the first six episodes
(07:02):
and I'm like on chapter ninety orsomething in the manga, but like episode
six, still no conflict. Imean sometimes it's what you need though,
Yeah, right, that's Kate.Kate had referred to it as the animal
crossing of Esa guys, because sure, just nothing happens, and I was
gonna say, it's like, it'slike what you were describing. I was
like, this sounds very fantasy life. Yeah, yeah, you know,
(07:24):
which is like sometimes that's the kindof game that you need. Yeah,
it's the Bocano Nazi asam of ESAA. Yeah. God, speaking of cinema,
really, I guess since the lasttime we did a level select there
was a whole ass Tim Rogers videoand it's like all of them, it's
incredible. Yeah. Yeah, becauseI like I'm telling like new stuff I've
(07:45):
been watching, Like I did checkout the chantsaw Man anime. Like everyone
pretty good U. So, Iam famously going on record on a couple
of occasions, I do not likethe chantsaw Man Mango. Oh It's okay
to be wrong, it's to haveand I'm willing. I'm willing to take
the all that right. I lovethat anime. Yeah, I think it's
(08:05):
definitely like more approachable as an animebecause the manga, like shit would just
happen and I'd have to like flipback a couple of pages and be like,
wait a second, did this majorcharacter just kind of die in the
corner of a panel two characters aftergetting introduced. Yes, So that's something
that I That's my main gripe withthe manga, right, and that always
(08:26):
was my main grape with the manga, is that it feels like it introduces
a concept, gets bored of thatconcept, and dismisses that concept without ever
really letting really letting the weight ofit settle and be explored. I appreciate
that cynical take on it, whichis my opinion on that was they really
like messing with the viewers expectations.Sure, sure, but I think I
(08:52):
think the realistic take might be,Yeah, they just got kind of bored
of that character after they introduced him, right, And it might be that
it's that's that, But it's likeI've also I've read a lot of sanan,
I've read a lot of stuff thatthis maga is clearly drawing inspiration from.
So it's hard for me to approachit as the thing that it is,
which is like shown in doesn't dothis very often when all I'm seeing
(09:13):
is the things it's pulling off ofwhat I love about the anime is that
the anime just slows it down andit just here's a three minute, unbroken
sequence of the character going through theirmorning routine, including like twenty seconds unbroken
of them just pulling a cigarette outand lighting it and just like, let
you soak in the vibes of whothese people? Full ten minutes of Dengi
(09:35):
adding more and more jelly to hisbread. Yeah, like it's you know.
And so the fact that the animejust takes that those extra minutes like
it's only like five or ten minutesevery so often and just slowing it down,
it did it so much for me. Alongside, the dub cast for
this series is incredible. Oh yeah, specifically the voice actors for Dengi and
(09:58):
Power are both just phenomenal man anddo so much. I should I should
give it a second. I wouldabsolutely watch watch through the dub. It's
a delight. So yeah, that'swhat I've been watching. And then I've
been watching a lot of like oldfantasy anemies, like I rewatched visions of
escaflone record of Lotos whore Slayers andRude Soldier Louis. This ova called the
(10:22):
weathering continent that I would probably havemade you watch Once Upon a Dream and
then you would go totally crap.That was the most boring thing I've ever
seen in my life. I don'tknow what was the one about the big
egg Angel's Egg. Yeah, it'snot quite as weird as that one.
I also rewatched that movie. Guesswhat. Still love it. The artwork
and that is great. And ifyou feel like watching Molasses, it's pretty
(10:43):
awesome, but there's just no,there's nothing in it. Yeah. Yeah.
And then as far as like movies, I watched skinnemer Rink. I've
heard that's good. I so Ialmost like the first half hour of that
movie. I am not the biggestfan of the last hour any minutes.
Very great avant garde horror horror cinema. However, I feel like that is
(11:05):
a movie where viewers are going toget out of it what they put in.
Yeah, right, Like, whatyou're bringing with you to that film,
I think is going to really influencehow you interact with it. Which
sounds so pretentious, but given thatthe film is about two children alone in
a house, your feelings on beinga child alone in a house are going
(11:28):
to naturally influence. Yeah, it'snot experiences. Hard not to bring a
lot with you on that, right, So, but I would definitely check
it out. Yeah, it's good. Good. We have talked a lot
about things that are not video games. Yeah, so our podcast about listen,
I'm gonna make a dramatic statement,like I always do, if you
(11:50):
want to make good, good thingsin your field, you've got to explore
outside of your field and get someculture. Sure, are you playing any
video games right now, Mike,I'm playing. Yeah, I'm playing a
few video games though. Okay,So I was gonna ask, like,
are you getting real outside of youryour field because you've not been playing anything
in your field, um for videogames? No video games. I am
(12:11):
eternally in my weird little niches,uh, because I explore everything else outside
of those. But like, dowe want to do Game of the year
now or are we just doing whatare we playing? Yeah? Sure,
I feel like we've already both saidwhat our game of the year is during
the middle of twenty in March.Yeah. For me, Surprise and for
(12:33):
me it's Tunic because that game.No, no game has made me feel
like that outside of like I mean, no game has made me feel as
smart for figuring out how to playthat game, No, for sure,
And I can say right now mygame of the Year twenty twenty three is
a Hi Fi Rush. Still haven'tplayed it. I've heard it's great.
It's exactly what it's supposed to be. It's perfect, Like it's I don't
(12:58):
you know, I wish I couldsave more. It's a big spiel about
it, but it's just like Ibooted the game up and it was like,
we're a rhythm character action game.I was like, okay, cool,
how dedicated to that premise? Areyou entirely literally everything? And I
was like, okay, cool,that's all I need. Perfect ten out
of ten, No notes, greatmusic, great original soundtrack, um really
(13:22):
funny, like genuinely slapstick hilarious atpoints. I'm really looking forward to dipping
into that just every time I geta chance, and I look at my
installed games and like, yeah,but Destiny two's ending like this week,
like this right right, this yearis ending. What do I need to
get done? Yeah, I'm aslave to that. And then I'm also
(13:45):
a slave to like Fortnite's Battle Pass, so right right, But no,
when you get the time, Iwould really check it out, like especially
gug you'll appreciate the humor. There'slike the big character wants to be a
rock star. One of the firstbig gaps of the game is that some
calls him out and like, hey, do you even know how to play
guitar? And he's just like,I can learn, great, and it's
(14:09):
it's yeah, it's one of thoseit's it's great. Um, and it's
just like, yeah, I don'tknow, it's gonna be hard for another
game to just enchant me the waythat that game has. And then yeah,
elden Ring game that you're twenty twentytwo, I don't know you if
if you pay attention to video games, there's nothing I'm gonna say that's gonna
be new, Like yeah, I, um, yeah, I looked at
(14:31):
my games finished in twenty twenty threelist and it's the words the name Super
Mario sixty four written six times.So yeah, that's like. I was
hanging out with a friend in uhin Japan during my Japan trip and they're
like, you know how to speedrun Mari sixty four, right, And
I was like yeah, sure,and I did. And that's that's what
(14:52):
I've played so far. I've playedlike a bunch of games, but I
haven't finished anything, so I don'thave anything coaching to say on anything except
I want to complain about like chaosHead, Yeah, chaos Head Noah,
which is like the first game inthe like science adventure series, which is
the stock skate series. Yes.Um, I've now done two of the
(15:16):
endings, neither of which were good, and this third ending, this is
not safe for work, y'all.Is seems like he's about to try to
sleep with his sister. And I'mjust really trying to get past it because
people keep telling me it gets goodand you've beaten this game twice. No,
no, no, Well, okay, so you know. But it's
(15:37):
a visual novel where things get dramaticallydifferent by the end of it rum and
like this one, like in thisvery terrible route, like chapter seven is
a completely different story now like they'rethey've gone way off the deep end,
but also like gone in a differentdirection. And so I'm really hoping that
by ending eight one of them isgood. But so far doesn't seem like
(16:02):
this is gonna be a good videogame. I've only put like forty something
hours into it. It's fine,Oh, only only a full work week.
Yeah, it's the game that Iplay on my switch as I'm going
to bed, that's fair. Yeah, and you've been doing it for forty
hours, so ostensibly for the pastmonth. It's been for a very long
time. I put it down afterthe first ending because it's like, this
(16:22):
is such dogshit, I don't wantto keep playing it, and playing it
is putting it like pretty charitably anyways, because I'm just pressing the X button
over and over again, right right, right, Yeah, I'm trying to
think, like what has really struckme other than like Desney Too, Like
I know you could not care,but I mean I care because like you
(16:42):
and people I know that I careabout play the game. Okay, I
know that people listening can't possibly careabout what I have to say on Desney
Too. It's just the story's gottenreally fucking good. Like there's there's giant
events happening in the game that arelike changing the definition of like relationships between
(17:03):
characters and between species and between everything. Like they've they've completely shifted the balance
of it to where like two ofthe races that you fight against throughout all
of Destiny over the last nine yearsare now your companions, and uh,
they're introducing the like they've had darknessand gigantic quotations as like the Big Bad
(17:29):
and now they've like physically shown thedarkness and like it has a face,
and so that's cool. In relationto that, where in the Kingdom Hearts
Timeline does Destiny fitted I'm listen,it's still a lot more cogent than than
anything Kingdom Hearts is doing. Imean that's fair. But if they are
(17:52):
fighting darkness, yeah, but that'snot darkness in your heart, it's actual
darkness. It's like it's like,because everybody, this is so, where
in the Darkest Dungeon Timeline then doesthis? I have spent so little time
with Darkest Dungeon and I cannot engage. It's an even flimsier goof than the
first one was. So yeah,you're you're good, But like next week,
(18:14):
next week, the new yakas account, the new old Yakasa comes out
and oh my god, and thenew Destiny comes out, So you got
a full week ahead. Yakaza shouldn'tso far reviews coming out or like seven
ish, and I'm like that's fine, that's okay. That means for Yakaza
fans it's a nine out of ten. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. It's
(18:34):
also one of those things where itcomes to like when I see a review
for a Yaka is a game,I'm like, I don't I've already bought
the game. I don't care.Yeah, yeah, like I only saw
review numbers because they came out.I'm this is the first time I've been
bummed to not buy a digital editionof a game for ten dollars more or
(18:55):
whatever, because I'd be able toplay it this weekend when I have some
time to play it, and becausethey're doing that early access thing, and
instead I have to wait till Tuesday, which is fine, but it's like,
oh, you know, I didpay for it, but if I
decided to pirate this game, Icould play it right now. And that
sucks. Like that doesn't feel good. No, it doesn't that. Yeah,
(19:17):
let's see. So actually speak ondestiny and live service games. Do
you want to talk about what Iguess the hot trend is at the moment,
Yeah, right now. I wasabout to bull does and do a
different spiel entirely, but no,there's a lot of games right now that
are just going to be lost tohistory, which is a huge bummer for
(19:42):
the reason why I think Fred andI are weirdly uniquely quipped to talk about
this is one of our favorite games. Radical Heights is another victim of this.
It's just a completely lost to historygame. Yeah. Where this game
comes out, it's a live service. You know, I'd be popular,
it might not be popular, butit's a flash in the pan, and
(20:02):
then six months later the game isgone and it's gone forever with no way
to play it or experience it.For example, and just as a lark,
I got a new computer when Igot my current job, and I
just installed Radical Heights as tradition,just so that way I can have this
little line memory of its existence.Yeah, but for games like I'm just
(20:26):
gonna go down the list, Ijust want to point out when I got
my Steam Deck, I did thesame thing. It was one of the
first games I installed. I'm going, Yeah, it boots up, you
just can't play. But yeah,so like this list of games over the
past couple of weeks, it reallyjust feels like, almost like the past
two weeks have just all announced thatthey will be shutting down services, and
(20:47):
that includes Iron Galaxies, Rumble Verse, Knockout City, Apex Legends Mobile,
Marvel's Avengers, Babylon's Fall, whichI will be frank, I thought I
had shut down already. I wasbummed, okay, sorry. When I
was in Japan, I found acopy of it for five hundred yen and
I was like, oh, thiswould be funny to buy, right,
But then I didn't. And thenlater I got home and I realized the
(21:07):
game is actually still going, soI would have had a chance to try
it. I really would like toplay. I think it might be gone
now, but I would really liketo play Babbylon's Fall just to see,
because like there's some passion behind thatgame. Well, let's keep going on
the list. Sorry. Yeah.And then finally was Crossfire. As all
of these games are again multiplayer lifeservice games that do not really have a
(21:32):
single player component or a way toowell no, Marvel's Avengers totally say campaign
and that will continue to exist,so exist, so that one's all right,
But like for the major Crossfire hasa single player campaign as well.
See okay, I did not evenknow about so Crossfires like the bag game
in the world, but like notin America, So it was like a
(21:56):
big deal when that one came outin the West because Microsoft was did a
big deal with an Asian company tomake it happen in the West. It
was the same weekend that they werelike, Yeah, also Fantasy Star Online
too. We we bankrolled that oneto be English. Now you're welcome,
which that's still going somehow. Yeah, going strong, going, going strong
too. Yeah, But like allof these games are shutting down. And
(22:18):
I guess the point that I wasI was getting too originally is that like
that leads to a problem of bothpreservation and accessibility. Obviously, server space
and that sort of things is expensiveor can be expensive to maintain. You
know, It's like I'm running aValheim server right now. For some folks
(22:38):
it's not that expensive, but onlyten people can be on the server at
any one time. If you're doinglike a thirty six person or a greater
multile you know, multiplayer Battle Royale, you need you need more than talks
to me after this, because I'vegot a Valheim server running in my closet
and i could just spin up anotherinstance for if you want. Oh hey,
let's not but you know, it'sit's these games are going to be
(23:03):
lost, and they're going to begone and for some of them, you
know, that have the single playercomponents, yes, you can still access
them. If the ones that aremultiplayer only or are multiplayer dominant and focused,
you're just out of luck. Andthat ties back into a greater thing
that I know you and I haveboth talked about and are both passionate about
regarding games preservation, where video gameshave the unique issue of once they're gone
(23:30):
or they're removed, or they're nolonger available if they're multiplayer, you're just
soo yeah and that and now it'sit's become common practice to just be like,
well, yeah, it was aproduct and it's not there anymore,
so right, you know, andyou are just you know, unable to
(23:51):
check it out, you know,and in some cases, you know,
it might not be a game thatmany people want to go check it out.
But I think we're both in agreementthat, like, that's not the
point. It's not the point.Yeah, yeah, The point is that
this this piece of art, thiscreation, this thing that dozens, hundreds,
or depending on the size of thegame, thousands of people poured themselves
(24:11):
into. It's not both both onthe player end and the developer. And
like the idea that there are peoplewho get into the industry work on a
game, like put hundreds of thousandsof hours into the development of game,
and maybe that's the only game thatthey release, and then that game just
disappears. That's wild. Yeah,I mean it's it's awful. Yeah,
(24:33):
Radical Heights is the subject I keepgoing back to. But like I know,
most of those people found work elsewhere, but like Boski doesn't exist anymore,
and so if if other people,like if those people didn't find a
new job in the industry, thenthe one they've released two games through Bosky,
Right, it was the ultimately forgettableLawbreakers, I think, and uh,
(24:57):
the unforgettable Radical Heights, the completelyunderappreciated Radical I hate that. Like
anybody who like knows that Radical Heightsas they hear us say that, and
they think we're joking. But likeI loved that game. Yeah, I
cannot stress enough, like I will. I've said it again. I've said
it to colleagues at game studios.I have talked about that game with like
(25:18):
major industry players that I've had conversationswith. I loved that game. I
think Radical Heights was a completely misunderstoodand completely underappreciated third person Action Battle Royale
that it had it had just alittle bit more time to cook in the
oven, had it just had alittle bit more support behind, it could
(25:38):
have been really really fun even ifit only lasted another year. We can't
just sit here and talk about thisgame. But if they had just left
it running, if they just leftit running, I would have started putting
money into it just to like keepthe server on. Like, I know
people who hold the rights to thatgame now, and I frequently message them
(26:02):
to tell them that they need toturn the server back on it. That's
all you need to do. Theywill never respond to any message about Radical
Heights. I talk to them allthe time, but they won't respond to
their But you can keep trying thefight. Yeah. Still of course,
got to keep that that burning heartalive. Um Yeah. Rumble Versus I
(26:22):
think the most interesting one on thisuh this list, because Rumble Verse was
a really beloved game last year thatseemed like it was doing well, and
it they keep saying it's not theend. Like if you read any of
their their press releases and stuff,it's like we hope that this isn't the
end of the game, and like, which makes me think that maybe they're
(26:42):
getting the rights back from Epic andthen they're going to try and launch on
Steam and maybe on consoles and stuffwhere and like not to speak ill of
Epic, because I honestly like thatcompany a lot. These days, I
think the player base isn't there forfor Rumble Verse for a game like this.
Yeah, yeah, no, II completely agree, and I'm hoping
(27:04):
is that way. I mean,Iron Galaxy is one of those companies where
they just they find a way.Yeah. The thing that it gets complicated
is that, like this game wasco published I think by Epic. Ah,
so like that's why it was exclusive, was because right right, right
right right, But there opened alittle Harry, Yeah, fingers crusted.
I would really because like I Iwill admit, I didn't really have the
(27:26):
opportunity to play Rumbo Verse, butman, it was so increasing. It
was so extremely your shit, dude, Like no, it would not esthetically,
but like gameplay wise mechanically, itabsolutely was. And it was on
those lists. It's like on thislist of games that I'm working through to
check out, but I just hadn'tone, right, So I think I
(27:48):
need to bump it up so thatway I can at least be like,
ah, so that way in twoyears or three years or oh my god,
like five was when Radical Heights cameout. I can come back on
to a podcast and go man RumbleVerse though, that Rumble Verse and Radical
Heights. I think in five yearswe'll see Rumble Verse again. I don't
think we'll see Radical Heights again.Well, I don't know about one hundred
(28:11):
percent. Somebody spent money to likebuy the rights to it, so that
tells me that like it's not deaddead, that's just it's just most like
it's just dead, one single dead, just one dead. I say that
you have here written. Valheim ispretty Nato. Yeah. So Valheim was
a game I checked out when itcame out in twenty twenty one, and
(28:33):
it recently released a huge update forlike a different biome, zone, new
items, monsters, and a bunchof other stuff. Uh. And I
had played that game for a littlebit over the course of the pandemic and
was just really enchanted by it,just because even in early access from day
one, the game was just funand its systems as a survival exploration game
(28:57):
didn't feel quite as like Overwing andDraconian as they kind of tend to do
in those in those games, andthen I fell off playing it and I
wasn't doing anything with it for awhile, and then I saw this update
and I saw a bunch of peopleon like Twitter talking about it, and
I was like, oh, Isugg, I should check that out.
But I don't have anyone to playwith. So I mentioned it to some
(29:18):
folks. I'm like, oh,we'll check it out. And so now,
well, I think I've put sixtyhours into that game in the past
two weeks. It's bad. It'sa very good video game. It's a
very good video That game was sowe were playing D and D every Saturday
night throughout the pandemic, and thenone of our friends was less available,
so we were like, oh,let's check out this Valheim thing. And
from that on, I was like, we're not playing D and D anymore.
(29:41):
We're playing Vali because we have touncover this whole map. And so
we we beat what was there,and then I guess the like miss Lands
came out, and then more stuffsince then miss Lands and then Hearth and
Home I think is the Soart andHome was the last one that we did.
Yeah, okay, yeah, soHearth and Home then miss Lands are
the two major updates. I hadn'tchecked out either of them, so like
(30:03):
I came back into the game andthere was just all this new stuff right
now. You know. For thefirst part of the game, I was
like shepherding my friends along because forpeople that aren't familiar, you can bring
your character between servers with all oftheir equipment. So, you know,
I rocked up into this new serverwith like armor from the like all the
gear that we got from the Planes, which was like the last complete biome
(30:25):
at the time, you know,so I'm just dusting everything. But we're
now at a point in the gamewhere like there's all this new stuff in
the Mountain biome that I've never seenbefore. There's all this stuff in the
Planes that's like new or vaguely familiar. So we didn't do that much there,
and it's just like this that gamedoes a weird thing where no matter
what you're what you and your friendswant to do, the game kind of
(30:48):
supports it. Like we have acouple of friends that log on and play,
and they don't want to go outand do like the fighting of the
adventuring and the fighting bosses. Theyjust want to like farm and raise animals
and build stuff and chop trees downfor wood. And that's fine, right
because for me, I like,I will do that stuff because you have
to. But that's not like thejuice. For me, the juice is
(31:08):
you know, running around and gettingin over my head and freaking out and
running away from eight hundred horrible littlegoblins as they try to steal my bones,
and you know, rinsing and repeatingthat process as we as we stumble
our way through the world. Andthe game just such an excellent job and
allowing you to do those things andfill those niches and have that join it
(31:32):
while never really like coddling you orinsulting your intelligence as a player, Like
the game is ridiculously punishing, Iwould say coddling like it is. It
is wildly punishing. Yeah, Likebecause if you die, you don't just
lose your gear, you lose skillpoints and things. That's right, right,
(31:55):
And if you like just are havinga bad time of a situation.
I've had this happened to me.You know. It's like, oh,
okay, you know I started offmy source skills at like sixty one and
then by the end of the placeat session. I've died and failed and
stumbled so many times that source skillsnow forty five jeez. Yeah, right,
you know, and like that gameis so punishing and so wonderful,
Like the stories of failure are someof the most fun. It's like,
(32:21):
we took a boat out the oceanto like discover the next land looking for
the final boss at the time,and we've got like a pretty good ass
boat and we've only got one ofthem, and then all of a sudden,
a hydra that we've literally never seenbefore it comes out of the ocean
and kills all of us. Yeah, it's like, well, all our
ship is there, and we don'thave enough stuff for a boat because we
(32:44):
just weren't able to find like ironfor a while, Like there just was
none on any of the islands thatwe were going to, and so it's
like we kept like putting together rafts. Yeah, and just like picking away
at the hydra's health. Hydra's notthe word. It's like the sea,
yea, the sea serpent. Uh, And so we're like picking away at
(33:06):
it until we kill it. Thenwe get all our ship back and all
of our levels have gone way thehell down, but we have finally felt
this beast and gotten our ship backand yep, coasted back to coasted,
back home with with what we startedwith, but a little bit less.
Yeah. Yeah, It's it's beena while since I've played a game where
(33:28):
that punishment in that level of failureand felt like it wasn't completely overwhelming and
uh setting me back to a pointof non enjoyment. Uh yeah, because
usually, at least for me,every time I've had those moments happened,
it's because it's like, oh,here's this new thing and it's cool and
terrifying and weird, and you've gotto learn how to respect this. Uh
(33:52):
So yeah, Valheim, Oh god, I just I love that game.
Valheim is really good, really reallygood. Um yeah, I'm trying to
think of there's anything else we shouldmake sure to hit before kind of wrapping
this one up. I know it'sbeen kind of short. Just yeah.
The nature of like my work atthe moment has me bouncing between things,
(34:15):
so like I'm I'm working full timeon the job and then I've also got
like four different side projects that arerequiring my time too. Um but just
trying to think, uh oh thatMetroid Primarymaster is amazing. Yeah, I
completely Yeah, it's so incredibly good. Like how's the twin stick movement feel?
(34:38):
It's so much better. And Iwould have thought that a lock on
system with the twins stick system controlswouldn't be good. It fits in so
well nice, It's like it's reallyreally solid. Um It's it's also unforgiving
because the save files are still thesame or safe locations are still where they
(34:59):
were. There's no auto save,and so if you die and you have
already beaten a boss, guess whatyou're gonna go fight that boss? Fight
it again. Yeah, that's II like that though. Also the graphics
on that game are really quite incredible. Like I'd put out a tweet and
I've seen other people say, let'ssay it since then, but like that
(35:19):
game looks how you remember it,and then when you go back and look
at how it did look, itis night and day. Like they captured
the vibe of it in a waythat like Demon Souls kind of failed to
and shout out the class has certainlyfailed to. Yeah, like, like
it looks like you remember it,not like a prettier version of the game.
Yeah, no, I I'm gladto hear that because it because it
(35:42):
ties in with like the what isit the Resident Evil to remake how it's
like that game plays how you rememberResidue Evil too, But then if you
go back and play Residue nothing likeit completely different experiences. So it's like
it's it's always nice when they managedto capture the vibe while still you know,
tinkering with those things too, tooupdated. So that's awesome. I
need to dust off my switch.Um yeah, okay, so I do
(36:06):
want to wrap it up, butI so we're at the beginning of twenty
twenty three, and there are ofcourse a bunch of video games coming out
this year that that are exciting andall that. Let's not talk about those.
What I want to talk about iswhat's a game that you've been telling
yourself that you're gonna get around too, that you're actually going to get around
too in twenty twenty three. Ohfor me, the two games that I
(36:31):
have to play this year, Ineed to finish Mother three, which I've
gotten less than a third of theway through. It turns out it's a
longer game than i'd realize, andI'm finally going to crack the seal for
real. On Final Fantasy fourteen.Oh nice. Um, So for me,
I've got a couple of games.One is a more modern game.
(36:52):
I think I've mentioned the game Fearand Hunger before, really brutal just grind
grim dark RPG that I played mit's Equel came out. I've just kind
of been like staring at it andlooking at it and being like, okay
one day. The other ones arethe Highlights Games Highlights and the Highlights two,
(37:15):
which are just these really weird,surreal role playing games that I everyone
I know that has recommended them tome are people who's takes and opinions I
trust in respect. So it's alsolike three bucks. I think the first
game. The first game is literallythree dollars. It's not expensive at all
(37:36):
to get into. Um, andI'm going through my own list right now.
Just make sure there's nothing else I'mforgetting. Before I mentioned my last
game. Yeah, and my lastone is I made the realization I have
never beaten Fallout Too. I haveplayed Fallout too. I have played a
(37:59):
lot to Fallout too. Never beFallout Too. That doesn't seem like something
like if you've you've spent a lotof time in that game. The end
of Fallout games never feels like themost satisfying part of the journey, but
the end of Fallout one is though, Like, I would completely disagree with
you on that the nfl Out oneis one of the best video game endings
(38:21):
because it is an ending of thevideo game where if you want, you
can engage in a philosophical discussion asyour boss fight and you have to make
cogent salient points to change this thing'smind and get it to stand down.
And it's one of the most narrativelysatisfying, well written things in video games.
I feel like those first two followutgames in Playscape, Torment are why
(38:44):
I am very critical of writing invideo games, because those three games do
so much heavy lifting. Yea.And also those those ten guys that want
on to make follow in Vegas andnow Our Worlds and you know piment Pen
Oh my god, oh geez,I just started that game. I didn't
want to talk about it until likefurther in, but oh yeah, Like
(39:06):
they're the people that are just consistentlywriting the best games ever and not getting
the shine they deserve. Yeah,so that's why I want to be followed
too, Okay, I hope thatit's as satisfying as the ending to follow
one was for you, and I'msure it will be. Yeah. Yeah.
The only like particularly old game thatI've I've touched recently was Dave's X,
(39:32):
just because I had watched H Bomber. I was introduced to H Bomber
Guy at the end of last yearand have been I've been consuming everything of
his lately because he's hilarious and fantasticand smart and great. Um. Yeah,
and yeah, that game is hardto go back to. It turns
out, Yeah, I haven't touchedit in even even with the community mods.
(39:54):
Like that game's rough unless you ifyou're coming at it with a lot
of necess solige and a lot oflove and prior knowledge, then it's probably
really good. Sure, kind ofsuper hard to to really get into.
Now. I was gonna say,it's like if you're new to it or
don't have the yeah, the mentalityto it, because it's like I've been
(40:15):
thinking about going back to day Sexbecause I'm actually about to start a massive
project of I'm gonna try to playevery Fantasy from Software game from Kingsfield four
up through Modern Age this year.Yeah, I gotta get ready for Get
Ready for Armory Course six. Baby, let's go. Um, I'm gonna
be a nuisance when that game comesout. I'm so sorry to you and
(40:35):
everyone. Well, I mean that'swhy, that's why we're doing this again,
right, It's just so that wayyou can be the most obnoxious Armored
Corps fan. Yeah, listen,let me have this. It's been so
long. Yeah, if what isfor answer is the last like really good
one. Oh no, never mind, let's not get into this. I
(40:57):
don't Yeah, it's it's a differentyeah before answer is good. I really
like it has a great soundtrack.Um one of the most heartwrenching theme songs
in video games for me. Umlove Giant Robots. But it's also like
I used to have this ritual thatwhere I would play like Demon Souls through
whatever from software games have been releasedthat year, and I haven't done that
(41:19):
in a few years. So I'mlike, okay, I want to do
that. But like, man,I really loved Kingsfield four, so I
want to start back there and justKingsfield four, Shadow Tower, Abyss,
Demon Souls, Darsuls Worn, Darcelstwo, Blood Born Darcels three, Secular
Elden Ring, Okay, I don'tknow why. I guess I know brain
worms, but that's what I'm goingto be up to. It's probably better
(41:40):
for off the show. But didyou get that copy of Kingsfield two?
Essentially? I did? Okay,good sitting pleasantly on my shelf next to
the other copy of Kingsfield too thatI was gonna say, damn it.
I didn't think if you don't knowwhat you're looking for, there's no way
you can know. Like the packagingis so subtle. I talked to somebody
who played that game, and Iwas like, oh, I didn't even
notice that the supposed to be thetwo, Like, yeah, fucking ah,
(42:06):
whatever, five dollars, five dollarswasted, whatever, whatever, whatever.
We're in Japan next, I willget you a five dollars video game
to make up for it. Allright, um, so I think that'll
wrap it up, wrap it upfor us. If you ever have anything
you want to send it into theshow, you can do it by sending
(42:28):
it into mail at level select thatcool, or by joining the discord where
we hang out and talk about allsorts of stuff all the time. Well
I do. Mike's always busy.Yeah, I'm so sorry. I know
there's a couple of people from thediscord listening. I'm so sorry that I
am. Like, I come inlike some weird Eldar's gobble in it and
I'm like, here's the thing I'vebeen working on, and then I disappear
for three weeks. I'm gonna tryto be better. A thought that this
(42:51):
year. The keyword there is try. It's okay, we'll also I'll try
to spend a little less time talkingabout delter in so you know, we'll
try. Good luck um and youcan find that at levels like that cool,
as well as links to everything elsewe do. So, um,
listen, We're gonna just do thispodcast for us, so I like,
(43:13):
go ahead doing it for anyone else? Yeah, really like leave the leave
reviews if you want. I don'tcare. I'm just happy to be talking
into a microphone about things I'm excitedabout. Same. I didn't even talk
about Warhammer this week. Look atme. I can see it in the
background of your camera. Don't lookat that. Don't look at that,
(43:34):
don't look at the box for spraypainting, don't look at anything. It's
so bad in here right now.Yeah, yeah, your office looks like
a total mess, and yours isthe picture of put together, totally clean.
Whatever the heck that is in thatchair. Yeah yeah, lead your
head at the chair. I'm definitelyright. Yeah. That's that's my VR
headset and a NERF halo. It'sault rifle. I don't know that's what
(44:00):
that is. Okay, okay,listen, we all owe and a shelf.
There's just a shelf sitting on therethat I haven't put up. Listen.
Life gets in the way. Solife is like a hurricane here in
Duckburg. This has been Fred.Thanks for listening. See it week
Welcome to Level Select, a showabout games and game development. I'm your
host Mike Devar, and I'm yourhost Fred Wood. I would ask how
you're doing, Fred, but Ithink we both know how we've both been
doing. Yeah, it's just feellike I've been totally on top of it
and everything's been great all the time. Yea very solid ground underneath our feet.
The world ahead of us is veryknown. Well, I feel like
(00:33):
the world ahead of us is Idon't know. I feel like I know
exactly what I'm doing for a goodlong time. But yeah, no,
I don't want to. We canmaybe get like a real sad about life
at the end of the pod.Maybe not at the beginning though, No,
not at the beginning. So Ifigured this time we just talk about
like video games and pop culture.Yeah, yeah, yeah, video games
(00:55):
are pretty neat. Pop culture isa thing that you pay attention to sometimes
that Yeah, I went and sawthe new ant Man movie last night.
How is that? By the way? Really fun and really good? That's
you know what good? Okay,So I guess have you enjoyed have you
enjoyed any of the ant Man films? So I'm going to expose myself haven't
seen any of the ant Man films. Haven't watched a Marvel movie since Black
(01:19):
Panther One. Um, I don'tthink I've consumed superhero media since Black Panther
One. Haven't seen any of thethe last like recent Avengers films, haven't
seen anything. I've just been likecompletely gone from that space. So um
Elevator pitch beyond ant Man quantum ManiaA Man quantum Mania. They get real
(01:44):
small day, they get so smallit's ridiculous. It's like the one thing
that for me I've got like interestin is Jonathan Majors playing King. So
if you enjoy like Jonathan Major's playingKing, you should watch the Loki series,
which I think is the best thingto come out of the MCU so
(02:07):
far, the Loki TV series.I just like Jonathan Majors. I think
he's like one of the best actorsworking right now. Zero. Yeah,
without getting into spoilers, you're gonnareally enjoy Jonathan Majors. If you like
Jonathan Majors. There's so much JonathanMajors, you know, like good and
around the MCUH. It's Jona Chocolateblock top to bottom, Jonathan Majors all
(02:29):
the way down. It's great,Okay, you know what I like.
Legitimately, it might get me backinto watching superhero movies just because I'm like,
oh, man, everything that Jonathanmajorson is great. I watched like
some some four minute breakdowns of eachmovie just because you know, I've I've
been thirteen different people, I feellike since the last aunt Man movie came
out thirty years ago. And soI watched like replays of one and two,
(02:57):
and then I rewatched like a thingabout Endgame. And so I would
say, if you were interested inthe ant Man milieu, I would watch
ant Man one because it's really fun, and then I'd watch Civil War because
most of that movie is really fun. And then I guess you'd watch ant
Man two, where he's in jailagain. He's in home prison again in
(03:22):
that one, and then watch AvengersInfinity War and Endgame, the like biggest
blockbuster film in a very long time. It looks expensive and feels it what
a great pitch watch this movie.It looks expensive. It does. It
looks very expensive. That's that wasmy takeaway when playing last year's Call of
(03:44):
Duty was I kept playing and I'mlike, man, this looks expensive.
Yeah. The debris looks great.That's been that's been me watching the new
Trygun adaptation. No spoilers please,because I'm not want to watch it.
I just have not only a voicespoilers, I will avoid my spicy hot
take. Um, but there arereceiverss where I'm watching it. I'm like,
(04:08):
oh, wow, that's all.That's a whole lot of money.
Yeah, I yeah, I ampumped for watching that eventually. UM yeah,
I'm curious. Yeah, it's goingto turn out as a full series.
That's that's a discussion for after you'vealso seen it, and then we
can come come together and you'll havea much more measured and nuanced opinion than
(04:29):
I. WOA. That would definitelybe good. I was also one of
the casualties of doing this live isI was looking at the chat trying to
figure out how to ban a botthat just showed up. So yeah,
yeah, I yes, I wantto consume the try again and then talk
to you about it because as weboth know about each other, big fans,
Yeah, of the Pacifist and Red, Yes, that is what he's
(04:53):
known as. It's a gun todand pacifist and Red definitely doesn't have a
different title that he's very famous foror being called by a sixty billion double
dollar man. I was going withthe humanoid typhoon. Yeah, I know
that one too. So you haveyou been watching anything else before we dive
into a game of the years,And my very predictable answer for a game
(05:15):
of the Year, I have Ihave consumed so much garbage anime recently,
like stuff that I'm only embarrassed totalk about. So let's just not like
you got to give us one,because I've been watching a lot of like
older animey and being like, ohman, this is actually better. Like
I feel like I'm on the oppositeend of the spectrum where I'm like,
oh, I'm watching like cinema here. I. So the thing is that
(05:35):
I've been enjoying like one episode ofanime a night with my wife where where
it's like, you know what,I want something where I'm going to just
turn my brain off and consume Thisthe one really good one that I can't
recommend to anybody because it's the leastinteresting plot is uh gosh, I don't
even know the name of it becauseit's so weird. Um, but it's
(05:58):
like farming in another world? IsI think the English released name of it,
it's anisakai. Stop me if you'veheard this one before. Yea,
God dies. Guy dies and getsteleported to another world. But the log
line of like what they did differentlywith this one is like he suffered really
bad throughout his life and was inthe hospital for a long time, and
so when he dies, God findshis soul and is like, hey,
(06:20):
listen, I made a whoopsie yourYour life wasn't supposed to be that hard.
Uh so what would you like todo in like the next life?
And the Guy's like, I watcheda bunch of TV shows about idols farming
and that seems pretty cool. Andso God was like God was like,
all right, cool, here's avery special tool that will do anything you
(06:42):
need, and I'll make sure yourbody's like real healthy. And so the
guy gets planted in this like deathforest and just starts building a little farm
and there and then people move intothe farm and it unfortunately does get horny
because all things. But but it'slike so far in the first six episodes
(07:02):
and I'm like on chapter ninety orsomething in the manga, but like episode
six, still no conflict. Imean sometimes it's what you need though,
Yeah, right, that's Kate.Kate had referred to it as the animal
crossing of Esa guys, because sure, just nothing happens, and I was
gonna say, it's like, it'slike what you were describing. I was
like, this sounds very fantasy life. Yeah, yeah, you know,
(07:24):
which is like sometimes that's the kindof game that you need. Yeah,
it's the Bocano Nazi asam of ESAA. Yeah. God, speaking of cinema,
really, I guess since the lasttime we did a level select there
was a whole ass Tim Rogers videoand it's like all of them, it's
incredible. Yeah. Yeah, becauseI like I'm telling like new stuff I've
(07:45):
been watching, Like I did checkout the chantsaw Man anime. Like everyone
pretty good U. So, Iam famously going on record on a couple
of occasions, I do not likethe chantsaw Man Mango. Oh It's okay
to be wrong, it's to haveand I'm willing. I'm willing to take
the all that right. I lovethat anime. Yeah, I think it's
(08:05):
definitely like more approachable as an animebecause the manga, like shit would just
happen and I'd have to like flipback a couple of pages and be like,
wait a second, did this majorcharacter just kind of die in the
corner of a panel two characters aftergetting introduced. Yes, So that's something
that I That's my main gripe withthe manga, right, and that always
(08:26):
was my main grape with the manga, is that it feels like it introduces
a concept, gets bored of thatconcept, and dismisses that concept without ever
really letting really letting the weight ofit settle and be explored. I appreciate
that cynical take on it, whichis my opinion on that was they really
like messing with the viewers expectations.Sure, sure, but I think I
(08:52):
think the realistic take might be,Yeah, they just got kind of bored
of that character after they introduced him, right, And it might be that
it's that's that, But it's likeI've also I've read a lot of sanan,
I've read a lot of stuff thatthis maga is clearly drawing inspiration from.
So it's hard for me to approachit as the thing that it is,
which is like shown in doesn't dothis very often when all I'm seeing
(09:13):
is the things it's pulling off ofwhat I love about the anime is that
the anime just slows it down andit just here's a three minute, unbroken
sequence of the character going through theirmorning routine, including like twenty seconds unbroken
of them just pulling a cigarette outand lighting it and just like, let
you soak in the vibes of whothese people? Full ten minutes of Dengi
(09:35):
adding more and more jelly to hisbread. Yeah, like it's you know.
And so the fact that the animejust takes that those extra minutes like
it's only like five or ten minutesevery so often and just slowing it down,
it did it so much for me. Alongside, the dub cast for
this series is incredible. Oh yeah, specifically the voice actors for Dengi and
(09:58):
Power are both just phenomenal man anddo so much. I should I should
give it a second. I wouldabsolutely watch watch through the dub. It's
a delight. So yeah, that'swhat I've been watching. And then I've
been watching a lot of like oldfantasy anemies, like I rewatched visions of
escaflone record of Lotos whore Slayers andRude Soldier Louis. This ova called the
(10:22):
weathering continent that I would probably havemade you watch Once Upon a Dream and
then you would go totally crap.That was the most boring thing I've ever
seen in my life. I don'tknow what was the one about the big
egg Angel's Egg. Yeah, it'snot quite as weird as that one.
I also rewatched that movie. Guesswhat. Still love it. The artwork
and that is great. And ifyou feel like watching Molasses, it's pretty
(10:43):
awesome, but there's just no,there's nothing in it. Yeah. Yeah.
And then as far as like movies, I watched skinnemer Rink. I've
heard that's good. I so Ialmost like the first half hour of that
movie. I am not the biggestfan of the last hour any minutes.
Very great avant garde horror horror cinema. However, I feel like that is
(11:05):
a movie where viewers are going toget out of it what they put in.
Yeah, right, Like, whatyou're bringing with you to that film,
I think is going to really influencehow you interact with it. Which
sounds so pretentious, but given thatthe film is about two children alone in
a house, your feelings on beinga child alone in a house are going
(11:28):
to naturally influence. Yeah, it'snot experiences. Hard not to bring a
lot with you on that, right, So, but I would definitely check
it out. Yeah, it's good. Good. We have talked a lot
about things that are not video games. Yeah, so our podcast about listen,
I'm gonna make a dramatic statement,like I always do, if you
(11:50):
want to make good, good thingsin your field, you've got to explore
outside of your field and get someculture. Sure, are you playing any
video games right now, Mike,I'm playing. Yeah, I'm playing a
few video games though. Okay,So I was gonna ask, like,
are you getting real outside of youryour field because you've not been playing anything
in your field, um for videogames? No video games. I am
(12:11):
eternally in my weird little niches,uh, because I explore everything else outside
of those. But like, dowe want to do Game of the year
now or are we just doing whatare we playing? Yeah? Sure,
I feel like we've already both saidwhat our game of the year is during
the middle of twenty in March.Yeah. For me, Surprise and for
(12:33):
me it's Tunic because that game.No, no game has made me feel
like that outside of like I mean, no game has made me feel as
smart for figuring out how to playthat game, No, for sure,
And I can say right now mygame of the Year twenty twenty three is
a Hi Fi Rush. Still haven'tplayed it. I've heard it's great.
It's exactly what it's supposed to be. It's perfect, Like it's I don't
(12:58):
you know, I wish I couldsave more. It's a big spiel about
it, but it's just like Ibooted the game up and it was like,
we're a rhythm character action game.I was like, okay, cool,
how dedicated to that premise? Areyou entirely literally everything? And I
was like, okay, cool,that's all I need. Perfect ten out
of ten, No notes, greatmusic, great original soundtrack, um really
(13:22):
funny, like genuinely slapstick hilarious atpoints. I'm really looking forward to dipping
into that just every time I geta chance, and I look at my
installed games and like, yeah,but Destiny two's ending like this week,
like this right right, this yearis ending. What do I need to
get done? Yeah, I'm aslave to that. And then I'm also
(13:45):
a slave to like Fortnite's Battle Pass, so right right, But no,
when you get the time, Iwould really check it out, like especially
gug you'll appreciate the humor. There'slike the big character wants to be a
rock star. One of the firstbig gaps of the game is that some
calls him out and like, hey, do you even know how to play
guitar? And he's just like,I can learn, great, and it's
(14:09):
it's yeah, it's one of thoseit's it's great. Um, and it's
just like, yeah, I don'tknow, it's gonna be hard for another
game to just enchant me the waythat that game has. And then yeah,
elden Ring game that you're twenty twentytwo, I don't know you if
if you pay attention to video games, there's nothing I'm gonna say that's gonna
be new, Like yeah, I, um, yeah, I looked at
(14:31):
my games finished in twenty twenty threelist and it's the words the name Super
Mario sixty four written six times.So yeah, that's like. I was
hanging out with a friend in uhin Japan during my Japan trip and they're
like, you know how to speedrun Mari sixty four, right, And
I was like yeah, sure,and I did. And that's that's what
(14:52):
I've played so far. I've playedlike a bunch of games, but I
haven't finished anything, so I don'thave anything coaching to say on anything except
I want to complain about like chaosHead, Yeah, chaos Head Noah,
which is like the first game inthe like science adventure series, which is
the stock skate series. Yes.Um, I've now done two of the
(15:16):
endings, neither of which were good, and this third ending, this is
not safe for work, y'all.Is seems like he's about to try to
sleep with his sister. And I'mjust really trying to get past it because
people keep telling me it gets goodand you've beaten this game twice. No,
no, no, Well, okay, so you know. But it's
(15:37):
a visual novel where things get dramaticallydifferent by the end of it rum and
like this one, like in thisvery terrible route, like chapter seven is
a completely different story now like they'rethey've gone way off the deep end,
but also like gone in a differentdirection. And so I'm really hoping that
by ending eight one of them isgood. But so far doesn't seem like
(16:02):
this is gonna be a good videogame. I've only put like forty something
hours into it. It's fine,Oh, only only a full work week.
Yeah, it's the game that Iplay on my switch as I'm going
to bed, that's fair. Yeah, and you've been doing it for forty
hours, so ostensibly for the pastmonth. It's been for a very long
time. I put it down afterthe first ending because it's like, this
(16:22):
is such dogshit, I don't wantto keep playing it, and playing it
is putting it like pretty charitably anyways, because I'm just pressing the X button
over and over again, right right, right, Yeah, I'm trying to
think, like what has really struckme other than like Desney Too, Like
I know you could not care,but I mean I care because like you
(16:42):
and people I know that I careabout play the game. Okay, I
know that people listening can't possibly careabout what I have to say on Desney
Too. It's just the story's gottenreally fucking good. Like there's there's giant
events happening in the game that arelike changing the definition of like relationships between
(17:03):
characters and between species and between everything. Like they've they've completely shifted the balance
of it to where like two ofthe races that you fight against throughout all
of Destiny over the last nine yearsare now your companions, and uh,
they're introducing the like they've had darknessand gigantic quotations as like the Big Bad
(17:29):
and now they've like physically shown thedarkness and like it has a face,
and so that's cool. In relationto that, where in the Kingdom Hearts
Timeline does Destiny fitted I'm listen,it's still a lot more cogent than than
anything Kingdom Hearts is doing. Imean that's fair. But if they are
(17:52):
fighting darkness, yeah, but that'snot darkness in your heart, it's actual
darkness. It's like it's like,because everybody, this is so, where
in the Darkest Dungeon Timeline then doesthis? I have spent so little time
with Darkest Dungeon and I cannot engage. It's an even flimsier goof than the
first one was. So yeah,you're you're good, But like next week,
(18:14):
next week, the new yakas account, the new old Yakasa comes out
and oh my god, and thenew Destiny comes out, So you got
a full week ahead. Yakaza shouldn'tso far reviews coming out or like seven
ish, and I'm like that's fine, that's okay. That means for Yakaza
fans it's a nine out of ten. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. It's
(18:34):
also one of those things where itcomes to like when I see a review
for a Yaka is a game,I'm like, I don't I've already bought
the game. I don't care.Yeah, yeah, like I only saw
review numbers because they came out.I'm this is the first time I've been
bummed to not buy a digital editionof a game for ten dollars more or
(18:55):
whatever, because I'd be able toplay it this weekend when I have some
time to play it, and becausethey're doing that early access thing, and
instead I have to wait till Tuesday, which is fine, but it's like,
oh, you know, I didpay for it, but if I
decided to pirate this game, Icould play it right now. And that
sucks. Like that doesn't feel good. No, it doesn't that. Yeah,
(19:17):
let's see. So actually speak ondestiny and live service games. Do
you want to talk about what Iguess the hot trend is at the moment,
Yeah, right now. I wasabout to bull does and do a
different spiel entirely, but no,there's a lot of games right now that
are just going to be lost tohistory, which is a huge bummer for
(19:42):
the reason why I think Fred andI are weirdly uniquely quipped to talk about
this is one of our favorite games. Radical Heights is another victim of this.
It's just a completely lost to historygame. Yeah. Where this game
comes out, it's a live service. You know, I'd be popular,
it might not be popular, butit's a flash in the pan, and
(20:02):
then six months later the game isgone and it's gone forever with no way
to play it or experience it.For example, and just as a lark,
I got a new computer when Igot my current job, and I
just installed Radical Heights as tradition,just so that way I can have this
little line memory of its existence.Yeah, but for games like I'm just
(20:26):
gonna go down the list, Ijust want to point out when I got
my Steam Deck, I did thesame thing. It was one of the
first games I installed. I'm going, Yeah, it boots up, you
just can't play. But yeah,so like this list of games over the
past couple of weeks, it reallyjust feels like, almost like the past
two weeks have just all announced thatthey will be shutting down services, and
(20:47):
that includes Iron Galaxies, Rumble Verse, Knockout City, Apex Legends Mobile,
Marvel's Avengers, Babylon's Fall, whichI will be frank, I thought I
had shut down already. I wasbummed, okay, sorry. When I
was in Japan, I found acopy of it for five hundred yen and
I was like, oh, thiswould be funny to buy, right,
But then I didn't. And thenlater I got home and I realized the
(21:07):
game is actually still going, soI would have had a chance to try
it. I really would like toplay. I think it might be gone
now, but I would really liketo play Babbylon's Fall just to see,
because like there's some passion behind thatgame. Well, let's keep going on
the list. Sorry. Yeah.And then finally was Crossfire. As all
of these games are again multiplayer lifeservice games that do not really have a
(21:32):
single player component or a way toowell no, Marvel's Avengers totally say campaign
and that will continue to exist,so exist, so that one's all right,
But like for the major Crossfire hasa single player campaign as well.
See okay, I did not evenknow about so Crossfires like the bag game
in the world, but like notin America, So it was like a
(21:56):
big deal when that one came outin the West because Microsoft was did a
big deal with an Asian company tomake it happen in the West. It
was the same weekend that they werelike, Yeah, also Fantasy Star Online
too. We we bankrolled that oneto be English. Now you're welcome,
which that's still going somehow. Yeah, going strong, going, going strong
too. Yeah, But like allof these games are shutting down. And
(22:18):
I guess the point that I wasI was getting too originally is that like
that leads to a problem of bothpreservation and accessibility. Obviously, server space
and that sort of things is expensiveor can be expensive to maintain. You
know, It's like I'm running aValheim server right now. For some folks
(22:38):
it's not that expensive, but onlyten people can be on the server at
any one time. If you're doinglike a thirty six person or a greater
multile you know, multiplayer Battle Royale, you need you need more than talks
to me after this, because I'vegot a Valheim server running in my closet
and i could just spin up anotherinstance for if you want. Oh hey,
let's not but you know, it'sit's these games are going to be
(23:03):
lost, and they're going to begone and for some of them, you
know, that have the single playercomponents, yes, you can still access
them. If the ones that aremultiplayer only or are multiplayer dominant and focused,
you're just out of luck. Andthat ties back into a greater thing
that I know you and I haveboth talked about and are both passionate about
regarding games preservation, where video gameshave the unique issue of once they're gone
(23:30):
or they're removed, or they're nolonger available if they're multiplayer, you're just
soo yeah and that and now it'sit's become common practice to just be like,
well, yeah, it was aproduct and it's not there anymore,
so right, you know, andyou are just you know, unable to
(23:51):
check it out, you know,and in some cases, you know,
it might not be a game thatmany people want to go check it out.
But I think we're both in agreementthat, like, that's not the
point. It's not the point.Yeah, yeah, The point is that
this this piece of art, thiscreation, this thing that dozens, hundreds,
or depending on the size of thegame, thousands of people poured themselves
(24:11):
into. It's not both both onthe player end and the developer. And
like the idea that there are peoplewho get into the industry work on a
game, like put hundreds of thousandsof hours into the development of game,
and maybe that's the only game thatthey release, and then that game just
disappears. That's wild. Yeah,I mean it's it's awful. Yeah,
(24:33):
Radical Heights is the subject I keepgoing back to. But like I know,
most of those people found work elsewhere, but like Boski doesn't exist anymore,
and so if if other people,like if those people didn't find a
new job in the industry, thenthe one they've released two games through Bosky,
Right, it was the ultimately forgettableLawbreakers, I think, and uh,
(24:57):
the unforgettable Radical Heights, the completelyunderappreciated Radical I hate that. Like
anybody who like knows that Radical Heightsas they hear us say that, and
they think we're joking. But likeI loved that game. Yeah, I
cannot stress enough, like I will. I've said it again. I've said
it to colleagues at game studios.I have talked about that game with like
(25:18):
major industry players that I've had conversationswith. I loved that game. I
think Radical Heights was a completely misunderstoodand completely underappreciated third person Action Battle Royale
that it had it had just alittle bit more time to cook in the
oven, had it just had alittle bit more support behind, it could
(25:38):
have been really really fun even ifit only lasted another year. We can't
just sit here and talk about thisgame. But if they had just left
it running, if they just leftit running, I would have started putting
money into it just to like keepthe server on. Like, I know
people who hold the rights to thatgame now, and I frequently message them
(26:02):
to tell them that they need toturn the server back on it. That's
all you need to do. Theywill never respond to any message about Radical
Heights. I talk to them allthe time, but they won't respond to
their But you can keep trying thefight. Yeah. Still of course,
got to keep that that burning heartalive. Um Yeah. Rumble Versus I
(26:22):
think the most interesting one on thisuh this list, because Rumble Verse was
a really beloved game last year thatseemed like it was doing well, and
it they keep saying it's not theend. Like if you read any of
their their press releases and stuff,it's like we hope that this isn't the
end of the game, and like, which makes me think that maybe they're
(26:42):
getting the rights back from Epic andthen they're going to try and launch on
Steam and maybe on consoles and stuffwhere and like not to speak ill of
Epic, because I honestly like thatcompany a lot. These days, I
think the player base isn't there forfor Rumble Verse for a game like this.
Yeah, yeah, no, II completely agree, and I'm hoping
(27:04):
is that way. I mean,Iron Galaxy is one of those companies where
they just they find a way.Yeah. The thing that it gets complicated
is that, like this game wasco published I think by Epic. Ah,
so like that's why it was exclusive, was because right right, right
right right, But there opened alittle Harry, Yeah, fingers crusted.
I would really because like I Iwill admit, I didn't really have the
(27:26):
opportunity to play Rumbo Verse, butman, it was so increasing. It
was so extremely your shit, dude, Like no, it would not esthetically,
but like gameplay wise mechanically, itabsolutely was. And it was on
those lists. It's like on thislist of games that I'm working through to
check out, but I just hadn'tone, right, So I think I
(27:48):
need to bump it up so thatway I can at least be like,
ah, so that way in twoyears or three years or oh my god,
like five was when Radical Heights cameout. I can come back on
to a podcast and go man RumbleVerse though, that Rumble Verse and Radical
Heights. I think in five yearswe'll see Rumble Verse again. I don't
think we'll see Radical Heights again.Well, I don't know about one hundred
(28:11):
percent. Somebody spent money to likebuy the rights to it, so that
tells me that like it's not deaddead, that's just it's just most like
it's just dead, one single dead, just one dead. I say that
you have here written. Valheim ispretty Nato. Yeah. So Valheim was
a game I checked out when itcame out in twenty twenty one, and
(28:33):
it recently released a huge update forlike a different biome, zone, new
items, monsters, and a bunchof other stuff. Uh. And I
had played that game for a littlebit over the course of the pandemic and
was just really enchanted by it,just because even in early access from day
one, the game was just funand its systems as a survival exploration game
(28:57):
didn't feel quite as like Overwing andDraconian as they kind of tend to do
in those in those games, andthen I fell off playing it and I
wasn't doing anything with it for awhile, and then I saw this update
and I saw a bunch of peopleon like Twitter talking about it, and
I was like, oh, Isugg, I should check that out.
But I don't have anyone to playwith. So I mentioned it to some
(29:18):
folks. I'm like, oh,we'll check it out. And so now,
well, I think I've put sixtyhours into that game in the past
two weeks. It's bad. It'sa very good video game. It's a
very good video That game was sowe were playing D and D every Saturday
night throughout the pandemic, and thenone of our friends was less available,
so we were like, oh,let's check out this Valheim thing. And
from that on, I was like, we're not playing D and D anymore.
(29:41):
We're playing Vali because we have touncover this whole map. And so
we we beat what was there,and then I guess the like miss Lands
came out, and then more stuffsince then miss Lands and then Hearth and
Home I think is the Soart andHome was the last one that we did.
Yeah, okay, yeah, soHearth and Home then miss Lands are
the two major updates. I hadn'tchecked out either of them, so like
(30:03):
I came back into the game andthere was just all this new stuff right
now. You know. For thefirst part of the game, I was
like shepherding my friends along because forpeople that aren't familiar, you can bring
your character between servers with all oftheir equipment. So, you know,
I rocked up into this new serverwith like armor from the like all the
gear that we got from the Planes, which was like the last complete biome
(30:25):
at the time, you know,so I'm just dusting everything. But we're
now at a point in the gamewhere like there's all this new stuff in
the Mountain biome that I've never seenbefore. There's all this stuff in the
Planes that's like new or vaguely familiar. So we didn't do that much there,
and it's just like this that gamedoes a weird thing where no matter
what you're what you and your friendswant to do, the game kind of
(30:48):
supports it. Like we have acouple of friends that log on and play,
and they don't want to go outand do like the fighting of the
adventuring and the fighting bosses. Theyjust want to like farm and raise animals
and build stuff and chop trees downfor wood. And that's fine, right
because for me, I like,I will do that stuff because you have
to. But that's not like thejuice. For me, the juice is
(31:08):
you know, running around and gettingin over my head and freaking out and
running away from eight hundred horrible littlegoblins as they try to steal my bones,
and you know, rinsing and repeatingthat process as we as we stumble
our way through the world. Andthe game just such an excellent job and
allowing you to do those things andfill those niches and have that join it
(31:32):
while never really like coddling you orinsulting your intelligence as a player, Like
the game is ridiculously punishing, Iwould say coddling like it is. It
is wildly punishing. Yeah, Likebecause if you die, you don't just
lose your gear, you lose skillpoints and things. That's right, right,
(31:55):
And if you like just are havinga bad time of a situation.
I've had this happened to me.You know. It's like, oh,
okay, you know I started offmy source skills at like sixty one and
then by the end of the placeat session. I've died and failed and
stumbled so many times that source skillsnow forty five jeez. Yeah, right,
you know, and like that gameis so punishing and so wonderful,
Like the stories of failure are someof the most fun. It's like,
(32:21):
we took a boat out the oceanto like discover the next land looking for
the final boss at the time,and we've got like a pretty good ass
boat and we've only got one ofthem, and then all of a sudden,
a hydra that we've literally never seenbefore it comes out of the ocean
and kills all of us. Yeah, it's like, well, all our
ship is there, and we don'thave enough stuff for a boat because we
(32:44):
just weren't able to find like ironfor a while, Like there just was
none on any of the islands thatwe were going to, and so it's
like we kept like putting together rafts. Yeah, and just like picking away
at the hydra's health. Hydra's notthe word. It's like the sea,
yea, the sea serpent. Uh, And so we're like picking away at
(33:06):
it until we kill it. Thenwe get all our ship back and all
of our levels have gone way thehell down, but we have finally felt
this beast and gotten our ship backand yep, coasted back to coasted,
back home with with what we startedwith, but a little bit less.
Yeah. Yeah, It's it's beena while since I've played a game where
(33:28):
that punishment in that level of failureand felt like it wasn't completely overwhelming and
uh setting me back to a pointof non enjoyment. Uh yeah, because
usually, at least for me,every time I've had those moments happened,
it's because it's like, oh,here's this new thing and it's cool and
terrifying and weird, and you've gotto learn how to respect this. Uh
(33:52):
So yeah, Valheim, Oh god, I just I love that game.
Valheim is really good, really reallygood. Um yeah, I'm trying to
think of there's anything else we shouldmake sure to hit before kind of wrapping
this one up. I know it'sbeen kind of short. Just yeah.
The nature of like my work atthe moment has me bouncing between things,
(34:15):
so like I'm I'm working full timeon the job and then I've also got
like four different side projects that arerequiring my time too. Um but just
trying to think, uh oh thatMetroid Primarymaster is amazing. Yeah, I
completely Yeah, it's so incredibly good. Like how's the twin stick movement feel?
(34:38):
It's so much better. And Iwould have thought that a lock on
system with the twins stick system controlswouldn't be good. It fits in so
well nice, It's like it's reallyreally solid. Um It's it's also unforgiving
because the save files are still thesame or safe locations are still where they
(34:59):
were. There's no auto save,and so if you die and you have
already beaten a boss, guess whatyou're gonna go fight that boss? Fight
it again. Yeah, that's II like that though. Also the graphics
on that game are really quite incredible. Like I'd put out a tweet and
I've seen other people say, let'ssay it since then, but like that
(35:19):
game looks how you remember it,and then when you go back and look
at how it did look, itis night and day. Like they captured
the vibe of it in a waythat like Demon Souls kind of failed to
and shout out the class has certainlyfailed to. Yeah, like, like
it looks like you remember it,not like a prettier version of the game.
Yeah, no, I I'm gladto hear that because it because it
(35:42):
ties in with like the what isit the Resident Evil to remake how it's
like that game plays how you rememberResidue Evil too, But then if you
go back and play Residue nothing likeit completely different experiences. So it's like
it's it's always nice when they managedto capture the vibe while still you know,
tinkering with those things too, tooupdated. So that's awesome. I
need to dust off my switch.Um yeah, okay, so I do
(36:06):
want to wrap it up, butI so we're at the beginning of twenty
twenty three, and there are ofcourse a bunch of video games coming out
this year that that are exciting andall that. Let's not talk about those.
What I want to talk about iswhat's a game that you've been telling
yourself that you're gonna get around too, that you're actually going to get around
too in twenty twenty three. Ohfor me, the two games that I
(36:31):
have to play this year, Ineed to finish Mother three, which I've
gotten less than a third of theway through. It turns out it's a
longer game than i'd realize, andI'm finally going to crack the seal for
real. On Final Fantasy fourteen.Oh nice. Um, So for me,
I've got a couple of games.One is a more modern game.
(36:52):
I think I've mentioned the game Fearand Hunger before, really brutal just grind
grim dark RPG that I played mit's Equel came out. I've just kind
of been like staring at it andlooking at it and being like, okay
one day. The other ones arethe Highlights Games Highlights and the Highlights two,
(37:15):
which are just these really weird,surreal role playing games that I everyone
I know that has recommended them tome are people who's takes and opinions I
trust in respect. So it's alsolike three bucks. I think the first
game. The first game is literallythree dollars. It's not expensive at all
(37:36):
to get into. Um, andI'm going through my own list right now.
Just make sure there's nothing else I'mforgetting. Before I mentioned my last
game. Yeah, and my lastone is I made the realization I have
never beaten Fallout Too. I haveplayed Fallout too. I have played a
(37:59):
lot to Fallout too. Never beFallout Too. That doesn't seem like something
like if you've you've spent a lotof time in that game. The end
of Fallout games never feels like themost satisfying part of the journey, but
the end of Fallout one is though, Like, I would completely disagree with
you on that the nfl Out oneis one of the best video game endings
(38:21):
because it is an ending of thevideo game where if you want, you
can engage in a philosophical discussion asyour boss fight and you have to make
cogent salient points to change this thing'smind and get it to stand down.
And it's one of the most narrativelysatisfying, well written things in video games.
I feel like those first two followutgames in Playscape, Torment are why
(38:44):
I am very critical of writing invideo games, because those three games do
so much heavy lifting. Yea.And also those those ten guys that want
on to make follow in Vegas andnow Our Worlds and you know piment Pen
Oh my god, oh geez,I just started that game. I didn't
want to talk about it until likefurther in, but oh yeah, Like
(39:06):
they're the people that are just consistentlywriting the best games ever and not getting
the shine they deserve. Yeah,so that's why I want to be followed
too, Okay, I hope thatit's as satisfying as the ending to follow
one was for you, and I'msure it will be. Yeah. Yeah.
The only like particularly old game thatI've I've touched recently was Dave's X,
(39:32):
just because I had watched H Bomber. I was introduced to H Bomber
Guy at the end of last yearand have been I've been consuming everything of
his lately because he's hilarious and fantasticand smart and great. Um. Yeah,
and yeah, that game is hardto go back to. It turns
out, Yeah, I haven't touchedit in even even with the community mods.
(39:54):
Like that game's rough unless you ifyou're coming at it with a lot
of necess solige and a lot oflove and prior knowledge, then it's probably
really good. Sure, kind ofsuper hard to to really get into.
Now. I was gonna say,it's like if you're new to it or
don't have the yeah, the mentalityto it, because it's like I've been
(40:15):
thinking about going back to day Sexbecause I'm actually about to start a massive
project of I'm gonna try to playevery Fantasy from Software game from Kingsfield four
up through Modern Age this year.Yeah, I gotta get ready for Get
Ready for Armory Course six. Baby, let's go. Um, I'm gonna
be a nuisance when that game comesout. I'm so sorry to you and
(40:35):
everyone. Well, I mean that'swhy, that's why we're doing this again,
right, It's just so that wayyou can be the most obnoxious Armored
Corps fan. Yeah, listen,let me have this. It's been so
long. Yeah, if what isfor answer is the last like really good
one. Oh no, never mind, let's not get into this. I
(40:57):
don't Yeah, it's it's a differentyeah before answer is good. I really
like it has a great soundtrack.Um one of the most heartwrenching theme songs
in video games for me. Umlove Giant Robots. But it's also like
I used to have this ritual thatwhere I would play like Demon Souls through
whatever from software games have been releasedthat year, and I haven't done that
(41:19):
in a few years. So I'mlike, okay, I want to do
that. But like, man,I really loved Kingsfield four, so I
want to start back there and justKingsfield four, Shadow Tower, Abyss,
Demon Souls, Darsuls Worn, Darcelstwo, Blood Born Darcels three, Secular
Elden Ring, Okay, I don'tknow why. I guess I know brain
worms, but that's what I'm goingto be up to. It's probably better
(41:40):
for off the show. But didyou get that copy of Kingsfield two?
Essentially? I did? Okay,good sitting pleasantly on my shelf next to
the other copy of Kingsfield too thatI was gonna say, damn it.
I didn't think if you don't knowwhat you're looking for, there's no way
you can know. Like the packagingis so subtle. I talked to somebody
who played that game, and Iwas like, oh, I didn't even
notice that the supposed to be thetwo, Like, yeah, fucking ah,
(42:06):
whatever, five dollars, five dollarswasted, whatever, whatever, whatever.
We're in Japan next, I willget you a five dollars video game
to make up for it. Allright, um, so I think that'll
wrap it up, wrap it upfor us. If you ever have anything
you want to send it into theshow, you can do it by sending
(42:28):
it into mail at level select thatcool, or by joining the discord where
we hang out and talk about allsorts of stuff all the time. Well
I do. Mike's always busy.Yeah, I'm so sorry. I know
there's a couple of people from thediscord listening. I'm so sorry that I
am. Like, I come inlike some weird Eldar's gobble in it and
I'm like, here's the thing I'vebeen working on, and then I disappear
for three weeks. I'm gonna tryto be better. A thought that this
(42:51):
year. The keyword there is try. It's okay, we'll also I'll try
to spend a little less time talkingabout delter in so you know, we'll
try. Good luck um and youcan find that at levels like that cool,
as well as links to everything elsewe do. So, um,
listen, We're gonna just do thispodcast for us, so I like,
(43:13):
go ahead doing it for anyone else? Yeah, really like leave the leave
reviews if you want. I don'tcare. I'm just happy to be talking
into a microphone about things I'm excitedabout. Same. I didn't even talk
about Warhammer this week. Look atme. I can see it in the
background of your camera. Don't lookat that. Don't look at that,
(43:34):
don't look at the box for spraypainting, don't look at anything. It's
so bad in here right now.Yeah, yeah, your office looks like
a total mess, and yours isthe picture of put together, totally clean.
Whatever the heck that is in thatchair. Yeah yeah, lead your
head at the chair. I'm definitelyright. Yeah. That's that's my VR
headset and a NERF halo. It'sault rifle. I don't know that's what
(44:00):
that is. Okay, okay,listen, we all owe and a shelf.
There's just a shelf sitting on therethat I haven't put up. Listen.
Life gets in the way. Solife is like a hurricane here in
Duckburg. This has been Fred.Thanks for listening. See it week
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