Game Scoop! 849: Look How They Massacred My Girl

(upbeat music) - What's up everybody, welcome to Ijane Game Scoop. I'm your host, Damon Hatfield. Joining me this week here in studio is Bear Schneider. - Bear Scoop. - We're also joined by Sam Claiborne. - Hey, happy California's suburb to people that celebrate. - Exactly, it is hot as heck in LA today. Mark Medina is also here. - Scoop, there it is! (laughing) - There is a, I a little bit of a difference in excitement and tone in the introduction and the acceptance. That was the number one comment on the last podcast. I mean, this is an honor of that. - Okay. - Here's my catchphrase for one episode. - All right. - Okay. Temporary catchphrase, I love it. Well, we got a great show for this week. I finished Resident Evil Rockwim and Pear started Resident Evil Rockwim. - Because Damon asked me to. - Yeah, I politely suggested that he have something about it to say for this episode. - Specifically, Damon also started Resident Evil Rockwim again this week. - That's true, that's true. I did start my second playthrough immediately. - Very nice. - And Mark started playing, so this is part two and Crimson Desert is out now. So there's all this stuff we can talk about. But first, let's talk about DLSS5, from Nvidia, which has made some headlines this week. This is not- - No, I haven't heard. What went wrong? - Surely, for this by now, they have a sort of a trailer showing off the latest tech. This is the AI tech that is forthcoming later this year. Apparently, we'll give your video game characters completely new faces. - Well, I don't know. - Yeah. - I don't know that. - Hold on, we have four fans. - Here it is, here it is. - You need to eat it. - Here's your new grace claimer. (laughing) - That we are using DLSS5 on our faces this week. - Yes. - That's why we all look so vibrant. - No, look at this guy. - You're just, you're aware, like, yeah, see this guy. - No, no, no. - Joey, you had to do the wipe. You had to do the wipe. - Oh man. - Oh yeah, oh boy. - And then I just become grace. - Look at Sam's, look at Sam's edge lighting. It's great, but it's not accurate. - This one. - It's not, he should be lit by the machines. You can tell it. - But I'm not wearing mascara, but you can see the mascara just, you know, come across. - It's the mascara that the developers originally intended. - That's right. - Yeah. - It's very great. - What do you put on before going to your mom's murder site? (laughing) - I like how Sam goes, don't let Pear talk, 'cause he knew I was gonna say something nice. - Oh, you see, if all I have to say is jokes about DLSS. So let's have Pear say all the serious stuff, and then I'll get back to my joke. I mean, the way old Grace, first of all, the reactions are of an early demo implemented on games that are familiar to us. And like, yes, Grace, Grace with the power of a green wipe turns into Jack Powers' daughter. Like, there's a, there's a definite difference in the face and what it looks like. And yes, you can complain that the artist's vision is being altered by this tool. But like, it is also, it is a tool. And when I look at the background in this game, it does create a more realistically lit scene from like a first impression, right? And so, when I'm thinking about this tech, I've played games, I'm a big Formula One fan. I've played Formula One games, and they always, they still look very artificial, and I crave realism in the visuals for my F1 racers. And if they are able to come up with new lighting techniques, whether AI driven or not, that makes the track look more real, I'm all for it. Now, the way they demonstrate cars, they just look a little tired today. - That's right, they will apply, mascara to the race cars as well. But they demoed it like this, and people obviously had a lot of reactions because yeah, the characters look different from perhaps what is intended. Like, the big one in Hogwarts Legacy, there's a shot of, it's clearly maxed from IGN in Hogwarts Legacy, and then they apply the filter, and it looks like a completely different person, right? So, to somebody returning to the game, it looks very, very different. But like, if this is a tool set that developers can use, and the artists have control over and can say, this is what I want my game to look like, and they're striving to make a realistically looking- - This is the one. - They always max, look, that's max, watch. - Magic, max gone. - That is the face of a man who is pushing his mobile gotcha game. (laughing) - Of course. - Like, that's what that looks like. - There's a bit of that, dude. - Don't you think it's weird that they add that same cigarette stand to the back of the Hogwarts Village there, too, that they did in the Resident Evil? - Yeah, no, that's true. But anyway, my viewpoint is, it's technology that allows us, that may, I don't know if it is gone, all right? Like, we're seeing marketing stuff. (laughing) - Look at this. - This is with DLSS6, so this is way more realistic. Anyway, it's a tool set. It's gonna get tweaked. It's going to, if it could be a really impressive tool set for developers to use when they're striving for realism. Do you guys remember that GTA footage that somebody created an engine that just sort of changed the lighting to be more realistic? Like, it was a mod and people went gaga over it. Like, I feel like it's got that sort of look to it as well. It's not the perfect solution for every video game. I think the developers are gonna have to make the decision whether they wanna enable the feature or whether they wanna leverage it or not. But like, from a technical perspective, getting more advanced lighting for games without the cost of bigger beefier hardware could be a good thing. - Yeah, I think the technology is interesting. I don't really have a problem with using AI to give video game characters more realistic lighting. I don't know why it would give grace a completely different face. And why that face is very clearly the AI face, the mid-journey face we've been seeing for two years. - Yeah, no, I'm totally with you on that. - Yeah. They're all gonna just end up looking the same. - Yeah. - But, you know, some, some video game artists have come out and said that they did not know that this is what was happening. So, we're gonna see if it's actually like- - Well, everybody that participated in this are on the record saying they participated with the Nvidia upgrades. - Yeah, but maybe the- - But they didn't know what changed the faces is what their issue is. We just put out an article about it today. - Yeah. - You know, I think that backlash has been really interesting because the same, you know, like 4chan in cells that that add mods to add big boobs to every single character in every game we're out here being like, "You changed the face!" (laughs) - Well, I mean, the Starfield ones look okay 'cause every NPC in that game is a charm. - I was gonna say, like, I get the argument that it introduces- - The Starfield ones aren't bad. - Dead eye with some of them, but like I thought the Starfield ones looked good. I think FIFA's backgrounds look better. Like that, I think that looks better. There's going to be a little bit more of an uncanny valley problem, right? When things, when the lighting is so realistic looking and they have that dead eye stare without a spark in the eyes. But, look, it's- - Bethesda Games already have that. I mean, you know what I mean? Like, there's already these games that have these dead stairs that are already looking terrible. - It's a- - Tech demo. Let's see where it goes. - Mark, wait till they come for your girl and stellar blade. I know. And that's kind of what I'm saying is like, no, she's already perfect. No DLSS can fix her. She doesn't need to be fixed. I'm down with the like- - You want to keep all of this? - Then there's, yeah. There she is. But yeah, I don't know. I don't know about main characters. - Mark, what if you could use DLSS-5 to add this character to every character in every- So, what's this character's name? - Eve. - Eve. - What if you could just make Grace Eve? Wouldn't you be happy about that? - No, that's a mod. I don't mod games. - Okay. - No, we're not going to get anything fun out of Mark. - It would be- - You're not going to get anything fun out of me. I'm too serious. - Oh, yes we are. Because we're talking about Crimson Desert. (laughing) We got Mark's own third rail coming right now. - Dang it. - You just switch at the station. - I don't have any opinions on Crimson Desert. - I would not play it. - I would like to see DLSS-5 what it does for something like Forza. Like, a racing. - No, that's not like a thing. - That's exactly it. - That was my point. By the way, if developers are creating the characters with that sort of engine, with that lighting in mind, it is expressing their artistic vision, right? But also, it doesn't mean that suddenly a cel-shaded game should be rendered with realistic lighting and all of that, right? - I also wonder, could it be used on older games? - It'll look really funny. - Like what? - Yeah, you're right. - The games are like metal gear solid where they just have kind of like very plain faces. Like, what could it do for that? - I mean, in theory, it's not supposed to change the geometry, right? It is supposed to calculate lighting differently. And by the way, there may be inaccuracies, right? Maybe the direction of the light source is actually not correct. But, and when you're viewing like a one second scene like that, you're like, oh yeah, it looks more realistic. But when you're playing the game, you're like, wait, why isn't the sun coming from behind now, right? Like, there's all these things we just don't know from this short demo, but my point was like, I get why people are worried about, you know, it's a verding artistic vision. And I think that's a real thing and we need to care about it. But at the same time, I don't know why everybody's so pissed about this. - I think they're pissed about it because faces look stupid. - Yeah. - Yeah, but that looks hard. Do you think that looks bad? Like, if, you know, if you didn't personally know this lizard's am, that was so much cuter. - It's just the AI-ification of everything. - Yeah, yeah, yeah. - It's just worry some that the artists are, they're gonna be like, well, we need less, we need fewer artists because, you know, you can just make whatever and then we'll just use AI and they'll all just end up looking the same. - Yeah, but this, I don't see how this replaces people. - No, but like, people don't want generative AI in their games and this grace looks like they put an AI filter. - Yeah, that's it. - And Vita says, no, that's not what we did. But it looks like they did. So that's the problem. - I think the lesson in marketing for Nvidia is like, don't change grace. man. Yeah. Grace. Grace and I have been through hell and back together. Yeah. She is my home girl. Yeah. Yeah. Leaver alone. You got. Yep. There you go. R. P. You know, almost as much blood as Lara Croft and Tomb Raider that first remake. Yeah. For that first. Oh, yeah. Okay, well, speaking of grace, uh, pair has started Resident Evil Requiem. Yes. Because you made me. And just to be clear, I actually, I downloaded it. I pre-loaded it. You don't want to do play it, huh? Play on switch on PlayStation 5 pro. I had it all queued up and then something else came out, um, which was a fireman game. And, you know, that was that was way more game. It was just way more important for me to tackle. No. And I'm Pocopia came out and I was, I was actually on vacation. So I couldn't play. No, I'm, I like Resident Evil games. I've played every game in the series. I think as far as not maybe the gun survivor stuff. I never touched that. Uh, I am as, I will say as I'm getting older, look at Maddie Moody. Um, as I'm getting older, I, I have to say I don't love games that put me on the back feet foot and have me running away. And of course, Damon, this game immediately does it. But only half the game does that. Yeah. Yeah. So I, I played and I'm like, oh, this is like the Indiana Jones game. I just played where you get to explore an area. I was like, ah, giant monster girl. Um, yeah. It is just, just that opening section. It's really, it's really nicely made. Uh, you know, I love Resident Evil 4 when it first came out. I remember playing it pre-release. And so it's great to have Leon back. Um, I will, I will definitely finish this. It is as weird as every Resident Evil game, like the, the care, the way the characters interact with each other. And I love it. Yeah. I love it. I finished it. I love, I actually love the whole thing. I don't agree with those. Uh, so the part that you're in now, like the hospital, the care center. Yeah. Oh, some, that's kind of like the first half of the game. And some people think that's the good half and the back half is, uh, is boring or something. Yeah. I don't feel that way. I like the whole thing. I thought people would be more upset at the first person sequences that you are underpowered and just running away. And like, and obviously that's been a part of many Resident Evil games for a while where you have, you have this sort of unkillable enemy that, that stalks you. Yeah. I thought people wouldn't, wouldn't like the first person view on that. I think you can change it. Yeah. I thought I did not change it. And like when you're running away from the girl, it's so creepy that you can't see behind and can't see how those years. It's, it's really effectively made. And you can tell like how good and deliberate that choice of viewpoint was in those sequences. Yeah. Sam and Mark, you remember like the, the scene that they introduce the girl. Yeah. I started my second playthrough. I just re-experienced it. It's so good because that you open the door, dead guy falls in front of me and you're staring at it at down him and then it beats it. Yeah. This giant hand just sort of comes out in front of you and takes him up and eats his head. It's so good. Anyway. So I finished it. Sam and Mark, we still need to do a spoiler cast at some point, not today with the payer, but yeah, I immediately started by saying, we just do it right now. I immediately started my second playthrough, which I never do, but I really want it to do get the unlimited ammo, the infinite ammo. You're in the rogue like mode now where you're just your farming challenge points. Yeah. You got to farm challenge points. You need 50,000 to unlock infinite ammo. The visuals are really nice. I do wish Grace had worn a little bit more makeup. Well, maybe wait and play it again. It's coming. It's coming. It's coming. Yeah. What was I saying? Apparently interrupted me. Oh yeah. So there's kind of two ways to do it. You can either beat the game under four hours or you can beat it without healing. So it took me 17 hours to be the first time. So I wasn't really sure how feasible it would be for me to do four hours. So I'm trying to do the no healing room. You bump it down to casual. It's totally possible. Well, you're also doing the no crafting. That's the other thing you have to do. I kind of think I have. I think you have to do either or how can I not craft and not heal? Well, there are only worth 25 K. So you have to do both of them. Okay. Well, well, I haven't crafted or do casual. Yeah. It's easy. It's easy. Damn it. It's really on easy. It's not. It changes the game. It makes it into an arcade game. Yeah. You will be fine with the amount. You just use your your if you got that. You don't need that. Yeah. With that, it's pretty helpful. You just go up to anything. You just slash him over and over again. Yeah. What about the blister heads? Yeah. You can just by the time that happens you're running. Okay. You're just running from them. Okay. All right. Well, anyway, I'm back in. Yeah. You won't have a hemolytic ejector the whole time, which is kind of. Yeah. But that's like one of the most fun parts of the game. I know. But think about how great it will be with him. When you get that, this is so fun because the you just boom. You can pop them with one hit. All right. So David, you I will tell you that you are the cause of my dog running away too. She was. She was on the couch next to me when I started playing and after like five minutes, she noped out. Okay. She left the room. Too scared. Too scary for the dog. She was like looking at it like this. Yeah. Are really messed up. Like a lot of the noises. I feel like you have to play with headphones for this game. Also. Yeah. But like the spatial, you can tell exactly where zombies and and the girl are walking. Also the blood splatter when you attack zombies is so good. It splatters on the walls. It splatters on the floor and then when when you walk through it, you'll leave blood prints. Yeah. It's awesome. It's crazy. It's crazy. Yeah. So in my second playthrough, I'm back in the care center. I just did my first loop through the west ring. When you go through the kitchen and then upstairs and then pass the singing girl and then you get the the gym that gets one of the parlor and then the first of the three, what it courts to actually get out of the hospital. That's that's what I just did by sighting them. That's right. But it's filling the basement on my playthrough too right now. Okay. Cool. Wait. So you haven't finished it the second time, Sam? Mm-hmm. Okay. But the hardest part is the second time. Where I'm past the hardest part because after that, you're a lot of the times you're playing as Leon and you just have so much. It's easy. So it's like you can you can just kill the joy easily and you doesn't matter for crafting for Leon. The grace not crafting is a little bit weird. You have to get used to it. You have to get used to using your pistol a lot and and and you're nice. But it totally is fine on easy because you you regenerate your health and you don't need to use health items anyway. Yeah. I remember you really regenerated your health and then when you when it's a chapter break, like if I go to Leon when I come back to Grace, is she fully healed? I think I believe so. Okay. Cool. But even then like half health is fine. Like you're going to it's just fine. Like it's it's kind of a breeze. All right. That's where I am with my second play through Resident Evil Requiem. And Mark, you started playing Slay the Spire 2. I talked about I guess how much I like it last week. How are you funny? Yeah. So who's who's the one with the orbs? Is that the evoker? I don't really know their names, but I know the one you mean. I think I think it's him. Man, he has so much fun. I'm really, really enjoying the game. Yeah. I it was like 30 minutes before bad and I'm like, I didn't know what to do. And I was like, you know what? Let me just finally get the Slay inspired game a try and just like Nick, I you know, they make you start as what's his name, the iron clatter, whatever. Yeah. And instantly I was like, oh, yeah, this is great. This is super good. And every time you do a run, you unlock a new character for the most part. There's five things that you got. Yep. And they all play pretty different. Like the cards you get are, you know, the cards you could end up getting served are mostly the same, but they all have like different, well, like perks and stuff like that. Well, the cards, the cards are like you'll get your strikes and you'll get your blocks and stuff like that. And then the cards are tailored towards that character's moves at, right? So it's like the iron clatter. He's like, he's like a warrior, right? Nothing special about him, except for that he gets healed after every battle. He's the only character that that happens for. But then it's like, you'll go to like this guy, he's being carried on with the region until like that sword. Yeah, the region. So that sword is something that you're constantly powering up and then can use against enemies. The evoker has these orbs that go off every time you finish a turn and you can do all these different crazy things with the orbs and make it where you're never even attacking because the orbs just do all the work for you. It's really, really fun. And then there's like a lady with like two daggers that's more about poisoning enemies. The poison builds, right? Yeah. Right now, like before yesterday, I was just in the phase of like learning the characters, seeing which one I like playing as whatever. Now I'm in the phase of actually trying to make builds, like actually recognizing, okay, the game is pushing because, you know, you start with just a very basic deck. And then it's like, okay, the game is actually pushing for me to, you know, do this like just like a regular, right? And so then it's like you start building cards towards that thing. And man, yeah, I'm having a lot of fun. I installed it on my Legion Go S. It is perfect for that. And I just sit on the couch and I just place a slay the spire. Are you writing the guy? Are you writing the guide, Mark? No, no. Luckily, I employ a freelancer named Lynette who has played 1,000 hours of the first game. Okay. So she's just kind of solo doing the guide for the second game. And she has already played like 15 plus hours of this one. So I'm super tempted. Yeah, it's great. Did you play the original? I played the first one. Yeah, I liked it. My son's like completely. He's got over 100 hours already too. I'm sure. It's just, you know, this other brand new a game called Pokemon Geal of Darkness. Yeah, yeah, tough to find time when these brand new game like Nintendo switch online is number one customer. Honestly, I think there are games on there that only I have played. Maybe. Yeah, they're like one person. This game's also super early access. So it's fine to wait. Like there's still a ton of content there. There's a ton of content there. But you'll unlock, yeah, you'll unlock these, they're called epochs where it's like, it's basically a milestone. And most of them are drawn, like I would say 70% of them, the art is just MS paint because they're just all placeholders right now. So you're gonna lock them, but like very much still an act of development. And also, I don't know how to unlock the last character. So maybe he's not in the game yet. Avoker was the last character I've unlocked. I think that's all there is for right now. That's five characters. There's a slot for another one. So. No, that slot is to pick one at random. Oh, interesting. Got it. Okay. I didn't know that. Sam Damon is on the guide now, yeah. He noticed this one thing. Get him on the guide. But yeah, I love it. It's very, very fun. Give it a shot if you are, if you are a fan of the first one. Or like card building prod likes. It's very cool. I'm not saying Sam would like this one, but he did like, he did it in an up like in Blotchro. And there's so many similarities just being a deck building roguelike where, you know, you're constantly adding cards to your deck. But you need to build it. So you only have like you have access to your best cards. You want to flush out your less powerful cards as you go along. And you know how in Blotchro, before you play a blind, you can choose to skip it for like a reward. Right. But then you're missing the rewards. It would get at the end of the blind. It's the exact same thing here as you're planning your route up the spire. You can go to an event room, which is in a battle. You might get something good there, but then you don't get the rewards it would get for the battles. It's all like that. You could choose to not fight regular enemies and go after a boss enemy. Yep. It may mesh out, but you'll get better rewards. It's just so cool, man, because it's like, so you can't really see it on the screen because our portraits are covering the bottom left layer. But when you're when you're in the battle, you'll see on the bottom right, see right there that little book that says a one that's your discard pile. And so you only have like, I don't know, like 15 cards at the start. And so you're just constantly cycling through the deck. And those cards will those cards can dictate what gets put in one deck. But eventually it's like, you want a lot of like a really good card, right? Because once you go through all those cards, which is usually two or three turns, those I'll get put back into your draw pile. And so it's all about maximizing the chance of getting cards that play to your build. Yeah. And it just gets really, really addicting. Yeah, but once you get once your deck gets to about 20 cards, you want to start getting rid of your starting cards. Anyway, I don't know why we're giving a live game help right now. It's like, oh, Mark, I also think that's all the art right there. I think the visuals are just massively improved over the first game. You get you're giving live game help is three out of four people on the show today out from game. Yeah, this is the game help. That's true. Well, I know I would say probably three out of the four people listening probably are playing this game, because there's 600,000 people playing on steam, yeah, it's up to 600 K now. Wow. Insane. Or it was. I think that's where I've about where I've been. Oh, David, you know what I barely figured out last night? And maybe this was the first game, but I just completely forgot, Joe, Rick, can you pause the video right now? Okay. I didn't know this, but you see the symbols over the snake, the little sword and the, you know, that says eight. And then the five times two, I did not know that that means that that's what they're going to do next. What? I'm an idiot. That's the whole thing. I would sit here. How would you play the game without knowing that? I would like, I would like put all, like, I'd be like, oh, man, I low on health. And so I'd like spend a bunch of cards defending myself, like to raise my armor. And then it's like, ah, they did, uh, they just did a lower strength move. I didn't know. And then I was like, wait, hold on. Thank goodness you're next. What are you going to do next? And then you mouse over them. And it's like this character is intending to hit you with a. Yeah. That's how you know how much you need to block it. And I was like, what? I don't know. I think we're going to do this. I don't. Yeah. So then it becomes a math game. Yeah. I think Godland that's on this because man, I would be like, guys, the things it doesn't tell you. So then it becomes all about math. I'm like, okay, I'm going to take this hit, but like, can I minimize it? Can I kill him before he does this? So then like, do nope. And like, all of a sudden, you got the notebook out. You're like, yes. Yes. Okay, twenty nineteen. Slay the spire. Hello. Yes. Oh, man. Well, what a video game. Tell us about another game that you're an expert in mark crimson desert. Oh boy. Crimson desert. I didn't know that. Very well. It's damaged. Dude. Dude, you can walk in the game. I didn't know that. They don't tell you. But how do you run? Red, like red dead style, baby, you got a tap button, right? You got a tap a button. Uh, yeah. So crimson desert is a video game that I like quite a bit. Uh, yeah, I like it. I like a lot. I think it's very addicting. I think it's very fun. Um, the story is, I'm not even going to say the story's bad. The story is nothing. There is no story in this game. Okay. There are things in this game that just never get explained. It doesn't matter. Spoiler for the first five seconds of the game. Your character dies and he just comes back to life. Okay. It is never exciting. It doesn't matter. Who cares? Your goal in this game is to get the gray mains into a camp with you, right? Like that shit, like your main goal. Cliff is, he's basically a witcher who will just do anything for free. Anything you need, he will just do it. He is more than happy to take on any many, menial tasks that you give him. Um, which is like very MMO-like, right? Like he's just, what are you needed to do? What will you give me for doing it? I have no qualms about anything you ask of me. Uh, that said, the combat is very fun. I think exploring the world is super fun. There is something around every corner. You cannot walk more than CD Projekt Red has a 45-second rule where you have to find something interesting in your game every 45 seconds. This game is like the 10-second rule. There is something to do around every corner, which is great, but it makes it where you never progress. Um, I think the powers are very Zelda-like. Uh, tears of the kingdom specifically. You get moves ripped directly from that game, which is, uh, the ultra-hand and stuff like that. And they control almost identically. Like they do in tears of the kingdom where you can use the D-bad to kind of like move the object around and push and pull stuff like that. I love those kind of puzzles. They're not as clearly. They don't really explain how to do them. Like things aren't as easy to figure out as like tears in the kingdom. Mostly because of just how the world is, you know, ultra realistic. So things are just like you're like whatever. I don't know. I really like the game. I think it's super fun. But what I'll say is if you play the game and you don't like it, that's completely valid. And I get it. And I agree with every point you'll make about why you don't like it. Like what would you say? Is it some people are hoping it's something like Dragon's Dogma? Is there anything like that? Uh, no, kind of maybe not really. Because a lot of the a lot of I'm going to go with no a lot of the stuff you fight. You're just so so what this game does is when you get new a fight like he's in right there. What the game will do very, very early is it will just throw waves and waves of enemies at you. It is it is not uncommon for you to be fighting 20 to 30 people at once. That is just how the game works because the combat's very easy. Um, something else to note about the something else to note about the game in general is cliff does not control how you think. Um, he looks like an Assassin's Creed character. He's not. He moves much more closer to an Arthur Morgan. He's very heavy. Uh, he, uh, you have to like tap X to run. Uh, he, he has a, uh, a weightiness to him. That is, uh, that is that it's not how it appears on screen. Seems appropriate given that he's just heavily armored. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Um, and so, yeah, you're not just like sprinting around and doing so because you'll like run out of stamina super quick. Um, you, you were very heavy character. Uh, the combat's also a little strange. Six a little bit of getting used to you, you, you have a light attack and a heavy attack. You're not mashing those buttons. You're just holding them. So if you hold our one, that's, you know, those are the combos you're seeing is this person is likely just pushing one button. So is that the, the MMO routes? I mean, like when I first saw it, I put it high up on my wish list because it looked the trailers and what I saw at Gamescom looked like a combo between Witcher 3 and maybe Breath of the Wild, right? Like there's a lot of high flying traversal stuff, but the game is much closer to an MMO in single player, right? It's super like you could tell this started as an MMO from the creators of Black Desert Online. You could tell that this began and then they were like, nah, because you'll unlock a second character very, like very early, like chapter three. Uh, her name's Damien and I'm sorry is Damien Hatton field is Damien. Damien Hfield. Um, and she is useless. Bye! like she's cool to play as, but she's cool to play as, but like she does not talk. Most of the main missions, you cannot do with her. They say these are Cliff's missions, she's useless. Why is she even in the game? I don't know, maybe I'll find out later, but when you get her, there's no point to play as her. And in my opinion, that's like MMO holdover of like different courses, 'cause she's a little different like. - Or like they looked at Assassin's Creed shadows and they're like, they tried to go into like one of the dungeons and got the message that, you know, now we can't play here or something. And they're like, we gotta do that too. - So is it accurate to say the moment to moment combat is Dynasty Warriors and the boss fights are Elginring? - Kind of, that's what it looks like to me. - No, no, no, no, yeah, kind of. I wouldn't say Dynasty Warriors in the sense of like, your Dynasty Warriors, you know, you're swinging and you're hitting five, six enemies at once. That's not really how this plays. When you are engaging with an enemy, you're typically engaging with that one enemy. So if you're holding R1 and you're doing your light attacks, you are hyper focused on one enemy and you're going towards him. Now, if somebody runs up behind you and starts to swing their sword at you and you push L1, which is the block slash Perry, your character almost like Assassin's Creed or Batman Arkham, like will turn and Perry their attack. And now you're engaging with them. So almost more closer to an Arkham, but not white like that. - The boss fight took place. - The bosses are like Elginring in the sense of like, they have patterns and stuff like that. The bosses are not fun in this game. - Look at the talus fight. - They're not cool to play. - Yeah, this is Dragon's Dogman. Now, so here's another thing I'm going to pivot to really quick. Stuff like this, this is not one of those games that gets fun after 10 hours, 20 hours, 30 hours. There's videos going around on Twitter of Cliff doing these insane things, insane moves. You are not seeing any of that until you are 80 or 90 hours in. None of that is unlocked early. Mitchell, one of my coworkers has played the game 75 hours and he has not seen a single magic spell in this game. - Yeah. - And now the game still mostly plays as it did when he first started. And our reviewer Travis has 110 hours plus now. 110 hours when he wrote this sort of review and progress and he says, I don't think I can issue my final review because like there's too much I have an experience that I want to get more clarity on. I want to see what the end game is like. I mean, his point was that the boss battles are just not that fun. Like they feel out of sync and out of balance. - They're not fun. - With a combat, yeah. - 'Cause this looks cool to me. - I've got to say, this does look cool. I don't know when this happens, but this does look pretty cool. No, they just like, it's just, you know what Stark souls without any of that kind of like dark solely polish, right? Like you're just kind of like mashing the dodge button and trying to like see if you can kind of read the tells of what they're doing. They've also nerfed a lot of the bosses. So it's tough from a standpoint of like how much we've played. This game is still very much an active development as well. They are changing things constantly. When we were playing the game, when we were first handed the game, key items took inventory space. You had 20 spaces of inventory. There's no storage in this game. And they went back and right before launch made it where key items no longer take inventory space and they added 30 more slots of inventory. They are very much, I think this game is good now. I think it's going to be pretty good in a month. And I think in a year it'll probably be great. So they're going to know how to think. I think that they are still very much an active development with this game. I think it's enough for them to sell it. I think they're going to keep changing things because they have made four, I'm not talking about day one patch. I'm talking about there have been four major updates since we got code two weeks ago. That have drastically changed things about the game. Made it easier. And there's a lot of conspiracy theorizing that people that don't like this game are people that are bad at it. And that's just it's irrelevant. It's like they're playing a different game than you will ever play. And this is not the first time this is happening. This also happened with Elden Ring. Mitchell played a much more difficult version of Elden Ring to write a strategy guide for Elden. And anybody here will ever see. So they nerfed to read on. But you're saying journalists are very interesting. You're saying journalists mode is the hard mode? It's generally hard mode. Yes. And then another thing that you should be aware about. Now, the very best beta test of the game, the normal people can play it. Yeah. Another thing you should be wary about is that we said, hey, we can't fully score this game. We're 120 hours in. There's clearly so much more to see. Plenty of people just slapped a score in this game without saying anything like that. And there's no way that they beat it. Just we know what the limitations on those people were. And it just seems, you know, like extremely unlikely that people would have got past the points that a lot of the people we were playing with got to. So it's kind of weird right now. To be honest, it's not even theorizing. A lot of them say in their reviews that they haven't beat yet, or that. Yeah, so that's unfortunate. I-- there's a funny anecdote. So we had a-- so we make these big interact maps for games. And one way that you can make a big map is you can make the game easier by turning on sheets and then run around the map. So we had a coworker doing that. And again, not for review or anything critical or anything like that. They're like doing a job, which involves running around in a game. And that-- that had got much further than most people, probably on Earth, have gotten. And would have to fight these late game bosses with cheats on and with infinite health, and they would take 40 minutes. Yeah, he would just prop up his controller, holding against the R1 button, and he would just walk away. Because your character engages. And so as you slash, they'll kind of move forward. And that's all it took. But he was cheating. He had cheats on. Yeah, but that's just showing you-- and you can't do much. It's just showing there's probably some major balancing issues with the game right now. Because once people get to that, they will probably bounce off of that. It's not like Silk's song where they're like, well, clearly somebody handcrafted this to make this perfect boss fight that you're going to want to try a million times. It's more like, can you make enough hamburgers to grind out this boss that has no obvious cool strategy? Or you think you just have to outlast it? That ain't great news. And our reviewer will definitely be reporting more on that. Yeah, a big narrative right now. I'm not very much into discourse for social media when it comes to stuff like this. Because people will-- the game releases-- and at the time of this recording releases in two minutes, they will figure it out for themselves. But what I will say is there's a lot of like, oh, journalists scored it low because they didn't-- the game doesn't hold your hand. It's not about that. It's not about holding-- we gave Elden Ring a 10. That game does not hold your hand at all. It's not about a game holding your hand. It's about a game breaking its own rules constantly. And that happens. You have a Zelda-like glider. It works almost identical to the glider in this game where you kind of turn into a crow. It's a very short glider that you run out of stamina very quickly on. And chapter four, you fight a boss. There's no tool tips or anything. The boss is flying around. Game does not tell you that suddenly your glide is a fly. You push it and all of a sudden you can fly. The game doesn't tell you that. So it's not about-- like, oh, it doesn't hold your hand. It's about-- it literally breaks its own rules. And then just doesn't tell you. And then you're like, what am I supposed to be doing here? And then you're like, oh, what the heck? It's very, very, very strange. I don't think it's going to be for everybody. But if you like open-world games where you can just run around and do a million different things, I think you're going to love this game. I just love the-- That is what I like doing. I love the look and I love the creatures. I mean, that's what attracts me to it. And I can handle a little bit of junk. Honestly, if you go back to the earlier Witcher games, they didn't feel great. Even Witcher 3's combat doesn't feel amazing. But that game sold me because of the world, the immersion, the monsters, and the side stories. Every side quest is like a freaking chapter from a book and it's self-enclosed in many ways. Those-- that's what sold that game. And I'm going to get that here. But the combat is much better in a game like freaking tears of the Kingdom or something. So if this is-- if it's more about immersion in the world, I'll probably have a good time with this. I'm worried about-- like, I want the immersion in the world. But I am worried about getting gated every once in a while by like something that has nothing to do with what I've been doing. Like, I've not been working on beefing up my character for a boss fight. I've been working down another path. But it sounds like you're still gated by those boss fights. Oh, my phone just lit up. Crimson Desert ready to play. Sorry, boys. Goodbye. Yeah, that does happen. This is-- it's also another weird thing that a Pearl Abyss has said this is not an RPG. This is the most RPG game I've ever played. They're trying to distance themselves from it being a memo RPG. Yeah, this is an RPG. Stop listening to what PR people do. I actually have an issue with that, right? Like, we run the IGN games database, and we assign drummers to games. And we often make changes over what-- People list on Steam. On Steam, sometimes people will genre spam their games so that they show up for many, many searches, right? And like, famously in Nintendo, when it had no role-playing games on the N64, kept calling Ocarina of Time and RPG, at least in the West. That's an action adventure. There's one RPG in the Zelda franchise early on that was Zelda, too. So it's like, yeah, like, sometimes it doesn't, it's not the developer speaks the truth and some people say like, they would know. It's like, no, they don't. No. Like, you don't level up. Okay. Like, there's no like, oh, my cliff is level 14. That's not how it works. Your gear, your weapons, they all have numbers, they all have upgrading, you know, you upgrade your sword, it did 14 damage. Now it does 16 damage. That's an RPG. When you do level up, you basically just get what's called an abyss core. And that you, those are your skill points. Putting things and skills to raise your stamina. Now my stamina, it was 180. Now it's 220. That's an RPG. Yes. Cliff himself is not level 20, level 30, like an Assassin's Creed. But everything else is RPG. But it, it's an RPG. I don't know why the game's that so mixed up all the like nowadays. It's like there are games with RPG elements and like, you just got to, you just got to make this is an open world RPG action RPG in every sense. Well, it's half fishing, right? So it's half of the fish with it with it with a dash of fishing in this footage. They're in this, you know, the battle is having having over this puddle. The reflection is amazing in the puzzle. In the puddle, dude. So graphically, all right. One of the prettiest games you'll ever play. I'm fully smokes. This game is gorgeous. So I'm playing an incredibly well optimized screw Unreal Engine 5. Stop making your game an Unreal Engine file. Okay. This game is not Unreal Engine 5. Oh, I say it every episode. This game on my 50 70 Ti. No DLSS. None of that. I'm getting native 65 frames, 4K, everything set to cinematic with full ray tracing, everything. It's gorgeous. It runs so well and looks so good. The reflections are incredible. The foliage is insane. All of those trees can be cut down. Cool. It's nuts. How much like it can be interacted with. You could cut down that tree, pick it up, use your ultra hand to throw, you knew whatever you want. So that we were unable to play this game on console, by the way. So like, I'm really interested in seeing how that turned out. I have not heard negative stuff about it. I think somebody got it exclusively for PS5 Pro and tested it. That's the only indication I have that it even exists for those consoles. See, that stuff makes me nervous, whatever. But yeah. I don't know. Yeah. Well, this game is optimized for the new PSS R2 if you're playing on PS5 Pro. So it should and Digital Foundry did do their full breakdown for this running on PS5 Pro and they said it runs great. Sure. There's going to be frame dips, but that's console. I may have to play it. It looks really incredible. It's really fun. I'd love to know other people's opinions of it. I want to know people's opinions on it that aren't working on it for game help because for game help, this game has been miserable. So I'd love to know what people that are just playing the game for fun think because I think it's really fun. Spoilers, I haven't really been playing it for game help. All right. Let's check in with the listeners. Hey, how do listeners? Listeners remember you can always reach us at the email address GameScoop at IGN.com, just like Roe in Ottawa, Canada did. Roe says, "I just started playing Mio Memories in Orbit on Game Pass. It is a beautiful game with awesome music, traversal and platforming and combat." Anyone played Mio? Great boss fights. I would call it silk song, "Light." Over the years, Metroidvania and Roguelikes have become my favorite genres, wondering what each one of you would pick as your favorite modern Metroidvania say 2010 and beyond. We're doing this with Mark. Oof. You know I'm on the show, right? No, I would say for me, it's Metroid Dread. For me, it's Metroid Dread. I mean, I think that's a copper. I really like Prince of Persia too. I thought that was fantastic. Yep. Prince of Persia's mind. Easily. Easily. No contest. What about the the Dung beetle one? Well, how modern are we going? That's like 10 years ago. You said 2010? This is Roe just had 2010 and beyond, and after that. What was the name of the pinball Metroidvania? Yo, Fuz Island. Yo, Fuz Island Express. Yeah, yeah. I like that game a lot, but it wasn't like I ran into areas where it wasn't fun. Like I got a little frustrated in that one. And it wasn't because of like Dread, I got frustrated with some of the difficulty of the bosses, but this one, I just sort of got lost sometimes a little bit in that world, so I didn't think it was that. Like it could have gotten a little bit more tweaked, but you know, like if you happen to be into Metroid- Other games and not as much as other games. If you did better than Axiom Verge. Yeah, I did too. If you happen to be into pinball and Metroidvania's, I don't know anybody like that. It would probably be your- Yeah, yeah. Besides the pinball stuff, it's really cute and charming. Yeah. The way that they integrate the pinball stuff into it is really funny and the dog beat is funny. He's a mailman, right? He has to like deliver mail. No, it's a good game. I like that one. Yeah, that was one. I would say the Ori games, like they're pretty. Yeah, they have really good music. Sam, did you pick it? I just looked at at a list. I just looked at a list of the top 25 Metroidvania's, and I have not played any of those games. What? That's not a shonte on there, which is weird because shonte is not a Metroidvania. No, some of them are. Some really. Well, they had half genie hero, and I don't think half genie hero is a Metroidvania. I'm sure that one is. I think they're all Metroidvania's actually. Yeah. I love those games. This is great. Shonte is really good. Yeah, no, I famously do not really play Metroidvania. Hey, we're only missing. Let's say IGN's top five. Well, it wasn't from IGN, that's from another website. That doesn't even exist. I didn't know. Yeah, I shut out bloodstained. Yeah, I never beat bloodstained. You reviewed it, right? Yeah, bloodstained. It was really fun. About eight out 10. Yeah. The new Castlevania might be the best Metroidvania. Yeah, hopefully, that's out this year. But speaking of that one, hold on. Sorry. Can I answer Sam's question really quick? So we did have a best Metroidvania's list. Yeah. So number one. Hollow night. Hollow night. Number two. Well, the wisps. Number three. Silk song. Number four. Animal well. Number five. Gwakamelee, too. I actually really like Gwakamelee. I really liked animal well. I thought it was really cool. Keep going. What's what's six set? What's six seven? I wasn't. You didn't play any of these. Mark. Mark, you seriously? I'm not playing any of those. I'm too old. Wait a second. Do you looking at me? You were saying you're too old. He's the youngest one here. But he's too old for Metroidvania's. Too old. Patriot failures. All right, bloodstained ritual. The night steamroll dig two. Oh, I love them. That was a version of Lost Crown. Axiom Verge cave story. Number 11. We're including. I'm not a cave story guy. But out of those, I think we picked out the right ones. Some of those I wouldn't, I wouldn't recommend at this point. Even Axiom Verge 2, I think it was better than Axiom Verge. I think that's an popular opinion, but I still wouldn't recommend it. There's a lot of these games go way too Metroid by the books. If you do that, it's a little obvious, and I don't think it's books as well. Bloodstained is awesome. The NES version of Bloodstained is really, really fun too. That's not a Metroidvania. Steamroll dig two, though. That's probably my favorite traditional Metroidvania game of this time period. I forgot about that one. That's definitely in my top. The digging mechanic, it's like, what if Mr. Driller fun for more than two minutes? And it's a crazy evolution. The first game had randomized environments. The second one is a true Metroidvania with, like, handcrafted levels. It's so good. Wonderful. They make all these other steamroll games, but let's maybe bring the focus back. That was fun. But how about steamroll dig three? How about that? They're doing it. The other one I would throw on there, if the panel will allow, it would be Dead Cells, which is not a traditional Metroidvania. Yeah, that's interesting. I do. Two Rogue Dead Cells. I mean, I love two Rogue to be castled. I mean, it's procedurally generated, but you do find there are items you find that will unlock areas in future runs. So, I don't know. Yeah. Good mix up. Well, then I'm going to put many sheet adventures in there, because it is, I know it's supposed to be a Zelda, but you know, as in terms of a 2D game that you find new areas and have to go back to other areas to open them up, it is structured the same as Metroid and Zelda were the same type of game, but they were one of the sideways and one of the top. Yeah, that was the distinction at the time. So, where we go from there is a little bit messed up, because we started, we just decided that Castlevania matters more. Many shooters on Switch now. Yep. You can play there. Yeah. I played it on Steam Deck. I mean, it's linked to the past with a little Twin B ship, basically. Oh, I love Twin B. Okay, what's our call for your Stinger, right? Stinger. Yeah, wow. This is Parker from Seattle. I am currently watching an old Game Scoop episode on YouTube, which I know the panel has a crazy thing to do. Justin told me that's not a lie. Not just Justin. Not correct. He was just Justin. I think he's been. Just Justin. Correct. It is there is nothing's ever said that watching old games the episodes on episode 410 from October 21st 2016 Damon Jared Sam and Justin were reacting to the announcement. Ooh, the announcement trailer for the original Nintendo switch and making some predictions for Nintendo's next console at the five and have minute mark Sam said the following You know, it's really exciting. Oh, I have a I should have had a clip You know, it's really exciting about it is that you could potentially couch it in some sort of cardboard-like thing and play virtual boy games on it That's kind of predicting so that was what Sam said Predicting both labbo and the newly released virtual boy accessory Pretty insane protection to stumble upon from almost 10 years ago. That's that's amazing But to be fair, I think when Sam said it, he said there's no way in hell like I don't think Anybody would have predicted predicted an intended would acknowledge the existence of virtual boy let alone make a hundred dollar accessory to play it I think we can all accept that Sam talks enough that a broken clock is Miyamoto watches scoop. That's that's what I'm taking. I've a better I've a better rate than then the broken clock and please I once again somebody tell my wife that many years ago. I said something and it was totally right and came true Have you been enjoying your your new virtual boy accessory playing it every night? Well, it's one of those things where like I really like it But I just can't play it for a long time because it's like it's so uncomfortable I'm marks I have to like nail it to the wall so that I can stand up right That was the problem the virtual boy. You shouldn't they shouldn't have been a wall accessory that you stand and You lean into just put it in the corner. I should be you know at That toys are us they made kiosk that you would walk up and kind of like kind of nestle into like that It should have been a virtual wall. Yeah, not not a not a boy for the tabletop. You're just describing a TV The thing about this thing is like the games are actually better than you think they Yeah, yeah, and like Wario especially it's like that. That's a really good game Yeah, they're they're releasing some of the cool other ones to Mario clash is coming That's a cool Mario Brothers game. It's it's good stuff. Yeah. Yeah, but uh, yeah I take this everywhere I go and we have played eights in the in the in the loris park here in in the mission Everybody comes over and says I got next game for teller O boxer. Yeah, so is it a cultural moment? Like it takes the eyeballs and like it's actually 3d when you play is it 3d? I do have to mark on this. I'm just asking. I've not played it. Oh my god. It's a virtual boy I just I would hit know if it was like actual like if they are What do you mean the whole gimmick was 3d? I'm playing I'm playing the I played the role of the audience No, no, the audience is more informed The audience has played a Metroidvania mark. I guarantee you everyone in the audience who's played satisfy our knew what those numbers were Above the enemies mark. Tell us more about it. Tell us more about the godfather to tell us more about the godfather I'm starting. I'm starting to learn. I might not be a gamer Just to get mark out of the I found from under the bus Going back to what the reader was saying and by the way, people are posting videos of us a long time ago And that's really funny, but there's a at the time in the office before Oculus Or kind of like right around that time. They would issue cell phone Cardboard boxes that you can wear in your face, right? And that's exactly where I got that idea from Is that we had one of those like floating around and what it does is it bisex the phone you each your your eye sees the different screen And that's exactly how the virtual boy Accomplishes 3d in this form the new virtual bisex thing in the old one did it through a a mirror that flicks back and forth 120 times a second and bounces a single dot of light on it instead of it's just absolutely It is the most technologically advanced way to give your headache like it is really impressive technology. Yep Okay, Mark, I heard you mentioned paradise season two so we can do extracurricular activities. I was just trying to get out of that But Now you start those spoilers now hold on Marcus paradise season two a TV show Technically, it's streaming on hulu. Does that make it a TV show? I don't know the only good the only good TV news out there is that Tokyo diner after hiatus of like almost a decade is returning with new episodes. Thank you very much The best TV show Netflix produced a season it was Japanese TV before nobody who listens to this show has ever heard of it And it's fantastic. No, what about the wine one so what the wine one? Drops of God the manga manga adaptation. It's it's very good. It's got a second season on Apple TV You guys are not gonna like it because it's for cultured people Wow It's good that one. It's in French English and Japanese. So good luck Okay, Mark, I said you have you didn't say anything about paradise. Yeah, yeah paradise season two possibly better than season What I think it is insanely good. It is so good. I can't believe it But it doesn't have the gimmick feel is it is it okay. Don't say anything. Don't say anything But it still follows the format of every episode is like 60% flashback. It still does that every episode. All right. Yeah, it's still it still does that every episode So wait except for the first episode the first episode is like introducing a character. So it's just oh no That one's still flashbacky too But yeah, there's there's there's that and then from then on then the rest of the show like when you watch the first episode You won't see a recap of the first season. Don't be alarmed as because the first episode has nothing to do With anything that happened in season one. It's very lost right? Yeah, it's very just like watching episode about this character Yeah, yeah, yeah Think of it as episode three from last of us season one where they had that like Which one that is I know it's it's the The Nick offerman. Oh, yeah, yeah, the best episode. Okay. Yeah, that was yeah, that is basically this It's like it has a lot to do with the world But like it is it is does not address anything that's actually happened in paradise then in episode two Then it's like, okay, here's recap of episode one Also that guy that they just showed his name is Link and he is named after the video game character excellent Well, that's the second big reference in paradise to Nintendo. Yeah. Oh, is there not we are not done I'm not gonna spoil anything, but they are not done with the Nintendo references Crux of the final events of that season all are about a video game system. Yeah And they are My how far will you through the second season when you realize that twist for the first season Wait, they're in Oh god, okay. I will say I got one question So I got halfway through Night of the seven kingdom and I was like, wait, yes, he's a guitar Gary. Yes I was like, duh Let's do let's do let's get a third big spoiler in here just to make sure Mark's week goes great What do you know? I'm also watching the pit in the pit. It's fantastic. Okay. The pit I is good, but I can't watch it There's nothing to spoil about the pit. It's very good and it's just Isn't there a video game thing in that you got no Do you guys watching Steve Correll the rooster? Yeah, I know. I've heard good things. But no, it's pretty good It's great. It's only two episodes in I've watched them both twice because I made other people watch it So then I got to see why it's great. It was a great rewatch already. Yeah, it's the it's the it's the really the production and it grew behind Ted Lasso plus Steve Correll and and absolutely and then a little bit of an HBO Gloss gloss over it right amazing cast the cast is so funny There's so great his daughter's great in it and yeah, it's just it has Jamie Tart Oh cool, dude, dude, dude, dude Jamie Tart. Oh, yeah, there is there is. Oh, there is. Yeah, there is And he plays killer. Yeah, yeah, he's great Yeah, I can't wait for you all to watch it and we'll talk about next week. All right. I'll watch this tonight Yeah, and then Sammy you also saw project Hail Mary. Oh, I'm so jealous. Is it out now? It's one of my favorite action movies ever Do you see an early screen or is it early screening right? Yeah, yeah, it's out It's out for everybody listening though. They can go see it right now because it's out of when this episode comes out It's dude. It's so I love the book actually pair mentioned because like I was a little burnt on The author's second novel, which I believe is called Artemis Artemis. Yeah, I like the Martian And then and then and then pairs like actually the third book is really good like like the week it came out I think you told me about it. Yeah, red it couldn't put it down loved it And I thought this would be the worst thing ever to adapt to a movie and it's so good. I thought there was Find the right people and you find the right CG and they needed to do it all right. They cast Rocky great and they cast Grace great. They're just amazing Oh, yeah, I thought they would screw this up just with the CG stuff What this movie is is is it's a you know a big series of things that I don't want to give away because the plot is great But it's a space movie about humanity going to the stars for the first time and A bunch of like scary great thrilling action things happen and there's also just like like very unexpected twists and then Throughout the whole thing is this emphasis on like humanity can solve problems like Star Trek has which like feels especially um, I think hopeful and unusual for this time that we're in right now But then also things go really wrong with those plans and it's it's great It's like it's like Armageddon if Armageddon wasn't dumb. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Is it the same author as the Martian or is it? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, any weird and yeah, Andy Weir and who do you know the Martian Artemis? Which is the second we've got a on our YouTube channel. We have an interview with him. He used to work for Blizzard I did not know you got fired from Blizzard actually and then pursued his his writing career Um, yeah, he's just knows technology really well and is is really tuned in with pop culture and video games But not so ready player one. I got to mention everything kind of way. Yeah Well, he what he did come from a background of that being the ready player one of science though, right? Yeah, you know, this plant is mainly made out of carbon so I need to make a high nitrogen soil It's I'm gonna make that like that was like the whole like conceit of that and there's a little bit of that and a lot of that in this book very moderated for the movie and in great kind of Kind of you know scenes with the character thinking except it doesn't explain it Yeah, you know, and then you see the results and so smart so the other thing this movie does is that they did a bunch with practical sets in this movie And like the anti grab and stuff is like really amazing and Ryan Gosling by the way Unbelievably funny. He's just funny and he's good at delivering lines in every joke fall So it's like one of those Indiana Jones type action movies where you your central lead is so charismatic That the everybody's smiling the whole time until it's scary for a little bit and then smiling and it's like a Disney live ride But what I was gonna say real quick is that this game they're it's gave this movie has a bunch of space scenes in it Where they do the full silence so the theater was Dead I want that. Oh, that's excellent. Yeah, some of the the most absolutely tense Messed up things that could possibly happen Well a person that has no idea how to navigate a spaceship Especially do a spacewalk is doing and and I You know everybody was just like holding their breath and just watching and it was like it was a theater experience That's great. We are keeps remaking this old story called Robinson Cruze on Mars basically where it's like you need you know Lone lone guy needs to figure out how to solve all these big big problems And then he's got this sort of like James Bond level threat above it to in this movie Yeah, like in in in the book at least I've got tickets for iMacs for this weekend. Oh cool. Yeah And so this has another like set of flashbacks in it and I'm just gonna say that then say my next thing, which is that it also has a lot of like really interesting Like buddy comedy stuff in it and like things that you would not expect by the way That's a great character from the bear that shows up, which is just really interesting. Oh cool. Um, but yeah It's really really good an actor. I mean cool. I'll see that for sure Yeah, all right. Can't wait for y'all to see it All right, that brings us to video game 20 questions are suggested this week comes from Cory L from herndon virginia Who says hi Damon Games give us my favorite podcast And I've been slowly working my way through all the episodes and chronological order over the last couple of years And now I'm only about one year behind Every game skip episode is evergreen That's that's just that's what it is Nobody does this for any other podcast. What's all I'm gonna say? One of the reasons I love the show is that you and I have a lot in common We both have young gamer children running around my oldest daughters about to turn six Artasing games almost always lines up and most importantly for both big horror film fans I'd like to make a guess the game is art type three That last one is why I got one abadox Abadox Well, I was surprised to hear an episode from last year that you've never seen any of the soft films. What? Imagine my shock. I'm writing to ask if that is still true to this day And if so how do we go about fixing it? Well, I'm no mind reader I feel fairly confident that you'd love the series It certainly has its highs and lows, but the first several films are fantastic and the original is damn near a masterpiece I suspect those that haven't seen it imagined something comparable to terrifying But I think it's much more like it's contemporaries hostile and wolf Creek because it does not skimp on the suspense dread or atmosphere And the way arts outings do anyway Please give an update on game scoop if and when you check the series out assuming you haven't already in an episode I haven't gotten to yet. Thank you and pass my gratitude to the rest of the omega cops for all the years of entertainment So he's not even listening to contemporary episodes. He's but he's born with what we have to say now And he's gonna hear my answer in a year or so. No, I A lot of great email. I've never seen I've never seen any of the soft films. They're not out of that very Very so in the hostile. I don't want to make the listener sad, but I just don't like them I'm like I was there like the first three or worth it. Don't go anymore after. Yeah, I get I get what people like about them. They're really suspenseful, but they're like at a level that I'm like About but I like terrifying so I might my but it's It's more about sauce is more about the mystery of it all It's like figuring out who did what and getting hit at the end with this like It's kind of it's kind of a little torture porn angle to it. Yeah. Yeah, it's like hostile and that's it But like hostile is just torture porn. Yeah, we're saw as like there's actually but after three then it just goes off the rails You should watch one. Let us know what you think. I will What's closer the pit or saw saw Really the pits pretty gross. Yeah, it's got to do. There's a part where Chester Bennington is like glued to a car seat and he has to like Reach for something and like rips his back off Yeah, all right. I will I'll just start with the first one. Yeah, just watch the first one. Very old Corey L also included his game for 20 questions. So with that Let the question him again You might be able to use you might be able to use that that that not what you we've just learned from him to help And like when you're a kid do you get it like I was I grew up in Arizona you like getting in a car and you said Yeah, the hot the car seat and like that's where you get the idea for that movie because you're like Yeah, yeah, it's that. I hope there's not a fair idea option of Of 20 questions. That was tough. It's not there. I feel really dumb for for not ending up Damon let me ask you let me start off with this question. If I took this game To a game stop or any game where I can trade in games and get money would anybody get excited over this one? I would okay But I'm like am I would would it would I get some cash cash for it or I don't know the actual value? Oh, okay All right, okay fair if you want I can look it up and then you can ask me please figure it out that there's a box copy of this game So it's not all digital Okay, well, uh, is this is this pre 2010? Yes All right A lot of years in there Do we ask if you can make RPGs in it because if we've done that last Okay, the one question do forgot to ask do you play as a humanoid character? Yes, okay Did we get that wait? Do we we have an era at all? We don't before 2010 uh before 20 to pre 2010 era Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, uh, is it book is it from last century? Yes. Oh, okay, so oh wow So uh The Nintendo PlayStation super Nintendo backwards Saturn not manhunt Not manhunt. Oh, I see you were thinking of the saw stuff. Okay. This is like you I feel like we've had like splatter house and stuff like that, right? Have you guys this a spooky game? Not a spooky game. That's fine. Oh, okay All right Boy, yeah, yeah, did this game come out in the era of the ESRB rating? No Okay, so before was this originally an arcade game? Yes Did it did it originally was it originally controlled by a joystick in the arcade? Yes But I mean my mind was going to like any of this sort of Friday 13th inspired horror stuff, but like if you sing like not a spooky game Spooky means like not horror at all. It's not just no no ghost like it's Casper a spooky game. This is not a question not a question Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's Casper a spooky game. It's just from before 1983 the video game crash. No What's the mansion game maniac mansion the arcade game? No, no, that's a that's a point and click adventure Was this developed in Japan? No, and that is 10 wow. Okay, arcade game And it was not before 1980 what It's between 1983 and the ESRB rating, so it's 1994 83 and 90 to old for Metroid veneas too young for this game so There's not a lot of companies that made arcade games in America. So it's NES to early Super NES age Genesis master system had to be a boy But also arcade all All those are Japanese. Did this have an NES version? Yes. There you go. Okay. Is it that scary game on the Magnavox Odyssey? Greatly narrowed down. Yeah, and it's not chiller because that used a light gun. It's also spooky. Yeah. Well, with that deck, I guess we technically haven't, you know, asked that. We asked if it was like scary. No spooky. Oh, we did ask if it was spooky. Are you kidding? I said he won some spooky. Yeah. Yeah. Well, like, yeah, that could be, that could, you know, anything, like, it could be Castlevania, but it's not, you know, Castlevania, it was just, I think that's spooky. Ex City. It would not be. Anyway, is it just developed by Atari? No. And it's not Japanese, you said. Not Japanese. Yeah. Okay. Is that, be like Midway during that age? Williams Midway game? No. God damn it. Whoa. Atari, Midway, Valley Williams. That's Midway, but he wouldn't, I don't think he would count that. He would know. He's the smart boy. Maybe it's Sinistar. What about American Sinistar is very spooky. American Sinistar. No, that's true. And I also didn't come back to that, to the NES. Um, I'm thinking like, you know, Ghostbusters. Yeah. It could be based on a license. That's spooky. Why are you picking spooky stuff? But, but because it is spooky. It is not spooky. No, it's not spooky. It's not spooky. Or you're trying to just question a third time. Mark. Not spooky. I keep, yeah. I keep getting a lot. Mark, I want you to take out a pen and write not. Not spooky. What does the numbers mean? Yeah. The numbers, Mason. My brain is melted, bro. This has been a week. It's all good. Should we narrow it down to genre, maybe? It's spooky. Yeah. Right. I mean, like NES is either, I mean, most of it is, most of it is shooting or platformer. Licenses, I think, would be likely, but that would be like LJN or something. Yeah. LJN. To get ported though and be an American company is very, very unusual. Very unusual. Yeah. I'm just not familiar with what would have been in arcades around that time. Yeah. The 80s? Williams. I mean, we're at the tail end though. What about Dragon Slayer? Dragon Slayer? Yeah. Very different game from the arcade to NES. And that is not spooky. That's it for the skeleton. It has a layer. When you die, when you died, you became a skeleton. Yeah. It does have spooky parts. Yeah. There's dot, which one that's Atari though. Yeah. No, everything I keep thinking of. I keep going through all the games in my head and everything is either Atari or it's midway at least. How many questions do we have left? Oh. Did this game have it? No. Did this game have two player? Yes. Gone like could be gone. Was it co-op? Yes. That's 15. Oh, conjurer. So, that's economy game. That's economy game. Yeah. Yeah. I think there's like that sunsoft to go, "Oh, gosh, it's happening." It could be later. No, I know. So, I'm trying to think of like the companies that would make this stuff like gun. Oh. The light gun games? Capcom crap. No, it's not light gun. It could be like a licensed game, like an alien or Terminator or Revolution X or something like that. There are all those. Oh, you mean all those, those are actual gun games, the sit down ones? Yeah. I'm just trying to think what would have gotten a poor like Punisher or something. Yeah. Like something that would have been. But most of them are from Japan that I can think of as well. Yeah. A lot of them are. Yeah. Is this a licensed game? No. Yeah. And it is, you play as a humanoid character. Two player co-op. Two player co-op. And yeah, I mean, can't be like the berserk. We don't even know if it's violent. Battle Toads? You might just be pushing. Who made Battle Toads? Trade West. Trade West. But yeah. Yeah, rare. Yeah, that's right. That could be rare. That's a battle toads ever in the. Or double dragon, yeah. But that's Japanese. That's Japanese. But Battle Toads is not. That's a good one. A brawl. Or would you pause the game? Does it go. Shhh. Shhh. Shhh. Was that a real question? I don't know. I think I want you to open up every round of 20 questions with that question. Shhh. Shhh. Hey, you always start the show with a song. How many questions do you have? You're welcome, buddy. We have like six left or something, right? Six questions. Three questions and a guess. Oh, sorry. Oh, that's a good one. Oh, god, we forgot the answer. Rare. Rare game. Huh? Rare. Rare game. Well, the arcade version. Oh, this is the. And we're guessing the NES version? I mean. We're guessing whatever. There you go. There you go. Okay, versions of Battle Toads. All right. Is this a rare game? Meaning, was it made by Rare? Yeah. Yeah. One version was. Oh. That is Battle Toads said. No. It is Battle Toads. Shhh. All right. Because you play as a humanoid character. Yeah. Right. You don't play as a toad in a pimple, zit, and war. Well, he's humanoid. No. Yeah. They're. Yeah. Two legs. Two legs. Humans. They walk up, right? I think that qualifies as humanoid. Yeah. So. If it's not Battle Toads, rare. For the NES. I mean, they made. They made 60 games. Yeah. Man. They made all sorts of. What else is there? And this would have been a port that they. Nuclear instinct is not that old, right? That's 90s. But it could be that because we. We stretched. No, I mean. That's not any. You know, it's an NES game. But it could be a game that had a pretty bad NES port. Yeah. Just total. I'm not that familiar with NES era stuff. And then. I know a rare after that. You could ask if it came out in Super Nintendo also. One of the games it did. That's. But that's not going to help us with narrowing it down with. with. with rare. I was made by rare. Should we ask if it's a battle towards game in the series? I mean. No? I. I feel like the humanoid question eliminated. And. Eliminates battle too. To me, that's what that did. When I ask humanoid. Like. Like. Isn't ET a humanoid? You have feet in hands and a head. ET's got. Like, he's got a little belly. He's got a little. Petty, patty feet. A little belly. That's right. He's got a long neck, but he's a humanoid. I'm calling it a rule. Like, Java is not humanoid. He's slugged. Well. But in the new movie, you've got Jeremy Allen White, a bunch of people. Yeah. Yeah. Um. All right. Well, I think only Sam knows the NES are really well from us. Yeah. I mean, if you want to think. If you think it's a battle towards game. To me, it sounds like. Like, I can't think of anything where. Rare made one version. Other than battle. Yeah. And for like, Digg or T. Rock and like. What the hell is that? All the stuff. That's made up, Sam. It's just stuff that they did. They did. They got. They might have even made like the port to. PC or something. Wait, did they make. Um. Oh, god. All right. They made games, or something. There's. Oh, there's a. There's a. Remember. It's killing me. Have we mentioned this game series in any way yet? No. Oh, it's not. No! That brings you to one question and one guess. Oh, no. No. We're doomed. Um. Like. Yes. I hate causing dead air here while thinking. But there was. I recently looked at a rare game. Where they made an adaptation. Pirates. One of the versions. And I think it was L-J-N. I would think that. That rare handled. Well, a version of this would be news to everyone. So I don't think that's the rare part is not going to. Well, I was working on like obscure games database stuff. I mean, I think just like a co-op game coming to the NES from Arcade. Is the. Is the crucial thing here? It's just hard for me to come up with a game that's not made by the companies we've mentioned already. So I think it's like some kind of like. Rambo thing or something like that. Yeah. James is giving a lot of. We are. It's such a losing streak. I don't know, man. Co-op. I mean, usually in co-op games, you're running around shooting with your buddy, right? Yeah. Mm-hmm. Did they make Rambo? Oh. Like a. That's my sense. But so. Okay, so there's a bunch of these. What's. It's like. It's a. It's a. It's a. It's a. It's a. It's a. It's a. I don't know what they're all called. Gun smoke. It's probably a cary warrior. Lock it in. I don't know who made a cary warrior. Let's pack it up. Rare made one of them. I don't know. Is this a game where you're running around shooting stuff? Oh, yeah. And that. That might be a cary warrior. It brings us to the last question. Which has me a cary. Yeah, I think it's a. All right. Is it a cary warrior? That was developed in Japan. No, not a cary warrior. Wow. - Yeah. - This is the 1988 arrest him up. - Nark. - Oh, Nark. (laughing) - Oh, look at that. - So personal, not even his hand. - Joe, we gotta show the arcade version. - This is the NES version, which was handled by Rare. - Oh, yeah, yeah. - Wow. - The arcade version was great. - But I thought we eliminated Nark because we asked if it was Midweds. - It's not Midweds, Williams. - Oh, you were a Sly-Fuck. - I told you. - I'm not Sly-Fuck Williams. (laughing) - I would've got this instantly. - Yeah, I think. - I convinced myself it was that Midweds. - Oh, it looks so good. - Oh, it looks so much better. - Yeah, it's a letter. - Wait, hold on. What was that animation? I'm getting in the car. - It's a letter-all, isn't it? - This is the same photo digitization tech that would end up in Mortal Kombat. - Yeah. - Like this, me, 10 year old me, walking by this in the arcade. This blue eye, heck in mind. - Yeah. - Heck yeah. - Yeah. - And the fact that. - You look good. - This is to the Shree. (laughing) - Not the best gameplay, but it looks fun. This is to constantly drive into the dumpsters. - Dude, you got a rocket launcher. - You shoot enemies to the rocket launcher and their body parts just fly over the screen. - Nah, this is crack for me. - We should have gotten this. - This looks like the i5. - But yeah. - I think it's pretty accurate. - For those not familiar with the arcade days, but Williams, it was Bally Williams before that became Williams, became Midway, became Atari Games. So that is the same development house out of what are their Milpitas? - Are those protestors? - Yes, Milpitas. (laughing) - This is, I do not remember. - Atari is a Milpitas midway, isn't your boss? - Yeah, that's right. It wasn't Chicago first. - Anyway, look at that. - This came to the NES from, by way of a claim, and they were apparently very worried about this hyper-violent game coming to NES. I've got the instruction manual here. So the first page says, "Dear gamers, we had a claim, our police are pleased to present "Nark, the first video game for the Nintendo Entertainment "system with a strong anti-drug message." (laughing) "Nark takes gamers through the supreme, "larger than life war on drugs, "with exciting colorful characters such as Max Force, "who wages justice against a number of sorted enemies." And although the fast-paced action in "Nark" is sometimes extreme, it conveys what may often be the harsh realities of the drug environment. - Yes, it's a documentary. - Nevertheless, it is a fictitious representation of how the battle against drugs may be won. Yes, a killing machine, walking around two machine guns in a rocket launcher, mowing down every drug dealer they see on-site is one way the war on drugs might end. - That's right. - It is actually close to reality now. (laughing) - It's minus the clown, minus the clown. - He's just an ice age. - Yeah, scar. - They definitely, the enemies are throwing needles at you. - Yeah, they throw, they throw needles at you. - That's what they do in real life too. - Trying to turn you into zombies. - I like how our Nark just picks up all the money too. - It says all nude. This is just an arcade game. Any kid can walk by all nude. - Well, this is way too complicated. - This is way too complicated though. - Damon, that's because it's a documentary. Yeah, the clowns. - Oh yeah, you can burn the bodies. They burn the bones. - Oh, put that lady down. - This game is so many. - Is this a kinky-pinky? - Maybe. - Designed by Eugene Jarvis. - Hold it. - Oh, man. - It's not our defender and robotron. - And all sorts of llama-related software. - Watch out for those street walkers. - Anyway, Nark, nicely attempt. Thank you for the suggestion. - We're on like a four week losing streak. - Yeah, we should have had this one. - Yes, it's bad. - We should have had this one. - Damon, we do like Mario 64 next week. - Cory L. from Herndon, Virginia. Mario 64? - Yeah, that's me. - I feel like this was still a very day often. - Soon. - This is not Verde. - This is very mild. - This is mild. - No, we learn that Verde means it's not a game. - Sam will appreciate that you don't kill the dogs. - No, you just shoot them small. - You just return them to their puppy form. - You give them more, like a new lease on life. - They're all they all drugged up and then you shoot the drugs right out of them. - It's a vision of what could happen if you shoot up a dog. - Yeah, okay. Hey, listen, it's time for a brand new month of gaming. Jump into the humble March choice bundle and score an amazing lineup of titles. Right now you can grab, tempest rising, chance of Sonar, sworn, etcherin Odyssey 3HD, bread and bread, zero hour, small land, survive the wild and hard west two. This all supports the Moale Fund, an organization working for a world where every girl can learn and lead by breaking down the barriers that hold back the more than 130 million girls out of school today. Head to humblebundle.com through April 7th to start playing now. And that is all the scoops that we have for you this week. Thank you, Pear. Thank you, Sam. Thank you, Mark. - Thank you. - Thank you to Jobert, working behind the scenes to make this episode possible. My name is Damon. This is Ijane Game Scoop. And we're out. (gunfire) (gunfire) (gunfire) (gunfire) Attention, turn one. Oh no, the last man. Five, one, one, in darkness. Let's go. (gunfire) (gunfire) (gunfire) (gunfire) (gunfire) You're your busted. (gunfire) (gunfire) You're your busted. (gunfire) Hopefully. (gunfire) (gunfire) (gunfire) You're your busted. (gunfire) Oh no, the last man. Oh no, no, no, no, the last man. In the comment section of Game Scoop, we've been hyping Jobert up quite a bit. So, yeah. I'd love to do a IGN live, Jobert Reveal. Oh yeah. It could be really fun. (upbeat music) (gunfire) (gunfire) Oh yeah. I was thinking maybe he's using AI filters on his face. It was out of focus last week. It's just DLSS-5. Yeah, it's DLSS-5. Yeah. Let me add some eye shadow. Sam all of a sudden just has a Fabio hair. Very nice. This is Fabio. (laughing) So, Sam, the thumbnail's gonna be sloppy grace. With the headline, "Look how they masquerade my girl." (laughing) It should be, "Look how they masquerade my girl." That's good. Oh my god, it's so good. Oh, shit. Yes. (laughing) This is why you crowd source. This is why you crowd source. Fuck, that's good. That's so good. I don't think people actually get that, but it's fun. Oh, they would. Maybe a. How's the face? Except too far. Did you hear the title of "Nection Council" watch I came up with this week? No. I remember it. I believe it would. DLSS-5, our face is fixed or fucked. (laughing) Yeah, I did see that. (laughing) Sam, yeah. So, you tell it's a wasted on game help, man. Someone on YouTube said he thinks. Well, I insert myself. Someone on YouTube thinks he genuinely thinks Sam is one of the funniest people on the internet. I think Sam is pretty funny too. Is that someone said that? Well, more people would take my legit opinions as jokes than I would get away with a lot. My favorite is like how mad people get when they're like. Did you see the game scoop trend? The troll board comes out. Huh? I just. I forget what it was. There was like a 60 comment thread on the Game scoop, Facebook group that was like, "Sam thinks this different thing about this thing this week." And everybody's like, "Please stop posting this stuff." (laughing) I can't remember what we talked about last weekend, but we didn't see that controversy all at the time. Are we dunking on hate again? Oh, I said I liked Picopia a lot, but I thought Slay the Spire was. Oh, you grew up. No, man. No, no, no, no. I said I thought it. First of all, I said I'm never gonna play this game and it looks boring. I didn't say anything about the quality of the game or about it being boring. I just said, you know, I'm not playing it that way. I have since sunk about 10 hours into Slay the Spire and it has taken over my life. All right, I'm adding it to the run of show. No good. It's so fucking good. So, there's that. You played what? I played Bologna. Finely? First time? It was great. Yeah, it was awesome. Fantastic. It was in November. Oh, I see, okay. Well, that's hardly. It's such a good game. Hardly news. Yeah, I was thinking of this at the time. I was late on Bologna and then completely loved it. I was like, should have listened. It's so good. Yeah. But would Bologna fans like Slay the Spire to you? I'm a Bologna fan and I love Slay the Spire too. I like the first one. Bologna is better. Bologna is probably better, but not by me. Now he's speaking without playing the game. I believe the game that I played is better than the game I have not played. I mean, like, I've seen that take a lot from Crimson Desert fans. Yes. Oh, my God. We still haven't played the game. Someone was like, this game's clearly a nine. I'm like. It's out. It's out in 40 minutes. 40 minutes. What a weird time to release of a game. What a trouble that it's a little bit weird. It's a little bit weird. I think it's a world wide launch. I think based on Korea time, Mark. The second biggest mistake in his entire life mentioned that he thinks that much Ravanias are not for him in a really new way. And the first biggest mistake he made in his entire life is being on this show today to say what he really thinks about Crimson Desert. Saying final fantasies are not sequels got me in some pretty hot water as well. Oh, God. I just say bullshit, man. Because sequentially numbered it have nothing to do with each other. Yeah, they are not sequels. Seven is not a sequel to six. It doesn't make sense. Just a Davis. Wait, what series? He's saying final fantasy. Final fantasy. But then people swoop in with ten two and that sids and everything. That's, yeah, there's a couple of sequels. That's a sequel. Okay. I'm with Medina on this one. This is a rare moment. 13, 2. - And Lightning Returns. are sequels, but a leaven is not a sequel to 10. You're right. Well, it's not a sequel to 11. The first final fantasy ever is a sequel because clearly there's supposed to be a game called fantasy out there. Oh god. This is, yeah. Lay out. Okay. Switch. Damon, you got to start the show or I can't. This is the show until Joe returns the show. I'm going to leave. I know it happens. What happens is that Joeber waits and waits for us to get all the jokes out of our system. Yeah. Yes, so Damon can edit this into the end of that episode. Yep. I know. I see. I see I see what's happening here. Joeber just sitting back there. We just have to we just have to stop being hilarious. Watch it as Flugtug.