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On this episode of Your Friendly Neighborhood Gamers, Andrew and Dylan discuss their favorite announcements from the recent gaming events including PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Showcases. They cover a variety of topics such as their excitement for Dragon's Dogma 2, a new Nintendo 2D Mario platformer, a new entry in the Prince of Persia series, Spider-Man 2 gameplay, and more! They also express their thoughts on Disney's involvement in video games and the saturation of news and announcements in the gaming industry.
Time Stamps
PlayStation Showcase - 5:15
Summer Game Fest - 27:07
Nintendo Direct - 45:40
Xbox/Starfield Showcase - 54:51
What's up everybody, welcome back to the neighborhood. This week we're talking about our favorite announcements and moments from the past month or so of digital events and showcases. Welcome to the podcast, with two longtime friends, and sometimes a guest, talk about their favorite games from the perspective of an average player. My name is Andrew Kimball and I'm Dylan Ren and we are your friendly neighborhood gamers. E3 might be dead, but that didn't stop June from being packed full of gaming events, full of updates and announcements on games. Rather than trying to keep up with all of the events individually, we're going to talk about some of our favorite games from all of the announcements here. So, dylan, we waited until the end and then. And then Nintendo did a direct today. But, yeah, pretty much they they did do that.
Speaker 2:Aren't you relieved to know that Just Dance 2024 is coming to switch?
Speaker 1:Yeah, Batman.
Speaker 2:Orchim games. Yes, i'm so glad games from the 360 era have finally made it to. Uh, if, if, somehow you haven't played them before, i'm sure this will be a mediocre way to play them on your switch.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it'll be like if you have no other option, sure, they're good games, but yeah. if you can play them anywhere else, please do Yeah, but yeah, that's not really how I expected this episode to start, with the Arkham trilogy on switch. But what we're doing is we're going to go through I think we decided we'll go through kind of showcase by showcase, just to try to keep this organized a little bit. Uh, we'll do them in the order that they happened, just again for organization purposes. But it's not going to be a lot of additional segments or fluff or anything else around this conversation, because I have a feeling that we're going to have to like stop ourselves and keep things moving in order for this to already not grow into a big episode. So, yeah, that's what you're getting on this one. You're going to get our, our opinions and our thoughts on some of the stuff that happened over the month of June. It's an exciting time to be a gamer, but it's also kind of overwhelming, like the saturation of news and announcements and games. Like. I found myself less engaged like hardcore this year. I watched the Xbox live and then I watched the Xbox showcase live, but most of these events I just went back and like looked at recaps or I got the news from my podcasts or I watched, like some of the trailers that interested me and I thought that that was a little bit more manageable and a little bit more healthy. And then things that I heard in conversation or from other people, when that would come up and be like oh, that sounds cool, i'll go check that out. It wasn't. I didn't like drown myself in it like I did in the LPF days.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, i definitely. I didn't even watch the Xbox one live, mostly because I forgot what time it was on.
Speaker 1:I watched it like an hour later.
Speaker 2:But the I think it's kind of like a two fold thing. Like I definitely feel like there are way more games now than there used to be in in E3's past. But then also, yeah, like there's so many different shit, like we're going to cover PlayStation summer games fast, xbox, ubisoft, capcom and Nintendo, because those are the big ones that we remembered. But I'm sure there's like indie showcase or I don't think Devolver's gone yet, because I'll watch them, because they're insane. But like, yeah, there I'm sure there are a bunch of things that are that like we're missing. There are a ton of trailers that weren't at these, ton of games that weren't at these that are at something else. So if we don't cover your favorite game or a game that you're super excited about, jumping our discord and let us know, because we probably have just missed it And there's a lot of cool stuff out there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and, that being said, where it's possible for us to have missed games this list in this doc is still ridiculously long like I think is a pretty good, like E3 season, summer game fest season. I think we got a lot, of, a lot of cool stuff to talk about. Yeah, and the back half of the years looking pretty stacked.
Speaker 2:Yeah, like if September, if everything holds its date, september is going to be crazy, because every like three days there's something huge coming out like Armored Core, lies of P, others that I'm forgetting is a is Assassin's Creed in in Starfield is in September. So, yeah, just a ton of stuff.
Speaker 1:Well, what do you say? we start with PlayStation. Who kicked this off like pretty early. It was a good couple weeks before.
Speaker 2:Yeah, game fest. Yeah, there's was like a showcase Yeah.
Speaker 1:And overall I was pretty meh on it. You could really see their push to kind of live service multiplayer stuff in this showcase. For me, really, the only big thing that got me excited was seeing Spider-Man 2 gameplay. That was. I mean. I was already all in on that game, but it looks. It looks amazing. It looks really good. It looks like it's iterating on on the last couple games that insomniac's done the. They showed off the symbiote suit. They gave the the Spider-Man wingsuits to like kind of fly through the city. You get to tag team as the Spider-Man, yeah. And it seems pretty obvious to me that at some point Miles is going to have to like realign Peter when he's gone too far wearing the symbiote suit, and I think that's going to be. It's going to be really cool to kind of see that unfold.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Do you think he's going to be walking down the streets of New York hip thrusting and that'll be like when, when we have to make the course correction, or will it go further?
Speaker 1:I could I actually could see them like making some sort of a joke to that in the same way that, like they did in Spider-Verse, which I'm pretty sure you still haven't seen.
Speaker 2:so No I have not.
Speaker 1:So I could definitely see people, because that has become such a such a meme and, like the superhero, spider-man community, i could see there being some nod to that.
Speaker 2:but Yeah it's, it's one that I look at and I'm like, okay, spider-man two, like Spider-Man two, for me was one of the few things at the PlayStation conference that I was like, oh man, like that's, that's a reason to buy a PlayStation. You know, like if you're a big fan of Spider-Man, i was like that's, i think probably maybe the one thing that they showed where I was like that'll sell consoles because Spider-Man is huge. It looks like a really fun game. I have been playing off and on some of the original Marvel. Spider-man or whatever its actual title is the one they did before this And it's a lot of fun. Like they, they did a lot of things right with that game and so for them to have taken everything that they learned from that and from Miles Morales and to be making a new game seems like it'll be a lot of fun. Was there anything else out of PlayStation's conference that got you super interested?
Speaker 1:So Assassin's Creed was shown off here, right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think they showed like a cinematic trailer for Mirage.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so that didn't really do much for me at the time, but then that is a game that, as I've seen more as these showcases have gone on, that's one that I'm very excited for. It looks like a, like a good, but it looks like what they've been promising kind of a return to form, kind of a very more stealth focused. There's less, you're not getting into brawls with people and and doing the kind of quick dodge type of combat or whatever it's, but it looks much more you're picking your tools from your, your tool wheel. You're trying to stay out of combat as much as possible. If you get into it, it's probably pretty counter based, like the original games were. Looks like they've added a few new, few new tweaks to like assassinations being able to do like chain assassin assassinations. That looks really cool. Looks like they're keeping some of the elements from the modern games, like you still get to use your bird to scout the area, but now they've they've added where the bird can like be noticed, which is cool, like the people can shoe the bird away or whatever, and then just some kind of like world building, contextual type things. That I thought looked really cool when we saw the gameplay showcase that Ubisoft did, like you know, weeks later, yeah, was actually seeing Bazem, like walking through a crowd and trying to blend in and then like verbally telling the people to like stay calm, like act natural, you know, just things like that that make it feel more immersive and more like a, you know, like a real, lived in world. It's cool to go back to like a Middle Eastern setting. The city looks cool. I'm just, i'm just really excited to see how this game does and to see how true they are to their promise. Like, obviously, everything you're showing looks really good. Right now, hopefully, you know, turns out that the city is actually massive and the game takes 60 hours to beat. Like, yeah, i doubt that's going to happen. So I'm kind of excited. I'm hoping it does well for Ubisoft so that, even if we get these type of games as like a side series, you know, then we at least have that option alongside the like bigger RPG style games.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because the I know the first Assassin's Creed was like three, maybe four like different cities that you could go to, similar to like Assassin's Creed 2, i think, where it had like a couple of different like cities, but not like massive cities necessarily and not like a huge sprawling, like open world situation. And so that's what this one is. It have they said whether it's a single city or multiple cities.
Speaker 1:I've heard in like podcasts and stuff it referenced, that it's going to all kind of take place in this one city. I think it's Baghdad. OK, but I haven't actually like I don't remember. I don't know if I've seen that directly from Ubisoft. I've just heard people mention that it's going to take place kind of within this one city, but yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and are they? this is set Well, the, i guess the characters set prior to Valhalla. But have they talked much about how like it ties into the like overarching Assassin's Creed real world story, or is it? is it kind of like Black Flag?
Speaker 1:I don't know if like I don't know how it's going to like is somebody in an animus controlling Bazom, that kind of thing. Yeah, They haven't said much about that. I do know how he ends up, connecting to the larger plot at the end of Valhalla, obviously, But as far as he is concerned, this is like his origin story. So he's going to be like a young assassin, kind of learning the ropes in this game. So I am kind of curious about that to see, based on playing Valhalla and seeing where he ends up. Like I guess maybe spoilers, but like he could be controlling himself in the animus. Yeah, So it gets kind of weird and sci-fi at the end of Valhalla. So yeah. A game I'm curious to hear your thoughts on is Marathon, as a longtime Bungie fan and Destiny superfan currently.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:What do you think about this one?
Speaker 2:I don't know yet, so I didn't play the older Marathon games. Really, i think there was one that was maybe released on like the 360, like a remake of, maybe the original game, but it was like it was very much of sort of the like original Doom, wolfenstein, like Quake era of things, like not quite that old but not like Half-Life new, like it was in. It was pre-Half-Life, i want to say.
Speaker 1:And Half-Life, Yeah to like compete with the dooms and stuff on PCs.
Speaker 2:I think so. I'm not like super up on all the like Marathon, like development lore, right, a British man has not explained that part to me, but on YouTube. But yeah it's. I know that, like it's, bungie and their games all have this kind of like weird sort of overarching lore. That sort of Easter egg ties them all together. From what I know about the like Marathon series, it seems cool. It seems like there's a you know there's a lot of themes similar to Halo, where it's like an AI has gone, sort of rogue and you know, now there's this big war and there are aliens and blah, blah, blah. So it seems cool. My understanding of what this is is an extraction shooter, though Like a multiplayer only extraction shooter, which to me doesn't do a whole lot, just because that sounds like the kind of game that would be much more fun to play with other people And realistically will I probably not.
Speaker 1:Like now, what if it's a unique take on that genre? you know it's coming from the people that kind of pioneered live service games. You're a big fan of Hunt Showdown, which is kind of like a twist on the extraction shooter, so I could see there being a universe where you do end up getting into this, but yeah yeah, i mean it's.
Speaker 2:It's one that's definitely on my radar. It's definitely one that, as more comes, because essentially this was a teaser, like it wasn't even a trailer trailer. It was just kind of like teasing, like, hey, this exists, this exists, yeah, exactly. So as more comes out about it, as I see more of it, i definitely could get into it. It's one that I could definitely see myself playing, especially if it's either free to play or like given away for free or is on sale, like jumping in and just messing around Because you know like you can play some extraction shooters solo and have a fun time. So, like I'm not saying I don't see myself getting into it, but it's also one that I'm sort of I haven't really played a bunch of extraction shooters. I think the dark zone and division two was maybe the closest we've ever gotten to an extraction shooter. I haven't really tried the one that's in Call of Duty or like any of the other, like Tarkov or Russ or you know, or whatever those ones are, so like it's definitely interesting because it's Bungie. But I'm kind of like I'm not like super hyped about it and the name Marathon doesn't hold any nostalgia for me. So I'm just kind of like will it be good? Probably It's Bungie. Will it be something I get into? We'll see.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that makes sense. So I think the other game that was kind of talked about here and then got a bit more of a deep dive later that I would want to touch on is Dragon's Dogma 2, which we've talked about before. I think Dragon's Dogma is a game that I'm like. It's a game that I've almost bought like basically every time it's on sale. But then I think, realistically, am I going to sit here and play this long old RPG when such and such game is right around the corner or whatever, and so I never quite commit to it And but it seems like it would be right up my alley. And so seeing the gameplay and stuff for the sequel, it really kind of just looks like Dragon's Dogma, but like prettier, more modern, and I'm like that for someone that wants to get into this series, that seems perfect to me, like it's kind of an iteration and like a modern interpretation of the of the first game, at least stylistically and kind of they're still doing the pawn system. The world looks very similar, it all just looks better. I'm like this looks cool. I will play this one pretty close to release, because I've always been kind of right on the edge of playing the first one, just haven't fully committed to it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, it's. I have owned the first one a couple of different times. I think I have it on like the 360. Like I think I have the 360 version and the like Xbox one re-release or something I might have it on Switch. I doubt it, though. It's one that I've gotten into and then fallen off of multiple times just because it is an older game. Like there's a bit of of jank, much like most of like. What excites me about it is that Capcom has been doing a fantastic job of like just making their their sort of niche games just so much better, or even just coming in and like updating their old games. So like Monster Hunter, for example, used to be a very niche game and they release Monster Hunter World and Monster Hunter Rise and like those are huge now. The old, like Resident Evil's, felt bad to play if you hadn't like played them before and had nostalgia for them. Some of the just mechanics and stuff felt clunky because games have come a long way, and so to me that's always kind of what Dragon's Dogma has felt like, where it's like there are so many awesome ideas here. It's a big, sprawling RPG world. You've got like little AI followers that you can like recruit and like make your own and send them off into other people. It's kind of got like the summon system from Dark Souls, but like the summons are people, little AI people you've created that are like leveling up by helping other people. It's cool. Yeah like you're hunting these big monsters and stuff. You can like sort of shadow of Colossus them and like jump on them and like climb around and attack them. There's like you can like. The combat system always seemed very cool, like it was a very complicated seeming game, like the original one, and it didn't explain things super well. But again, that's like kind of old Capcom to me is like some of their stuff was just like that and they've done a fantastic job of updating it. And so I'm excited about this game because I kind of expect that from it of like they're going to come in and they're going to like still have what made the original a very special game, but have it sort of updated for modern sensibilities, have it streamlined, have it explain things a little bit better for someone who doesn't want to sit down and like figure out all of the little intricacies. Plus, it had a lot of loading screens because it was a 360 game And so like now that they could make it like a big open zone, i think that'll be a lot better.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's definitely what I'm keeping my eye on for sure. I think that's pretty much it from the showcase. For me Was this when Lies of P was was talked about and the demo was released. I've already kind of talked about that game on on content, but yeah, I don't remember. If so, that was one that I was excited for. I played the demo, really enjoyed it, and I'm still excited for but outside of that, was there anything else at the PlayStation showcase that you were into?
Speaker 2:I'll shout out Lies of P if it was there, if it wasn't. Ignore that, yeah, phantom Blade Zero looked pretty cool to me.
Speaker 1:I've heard people talk about this, but I haven't watched the trailer yet.
Speaker 2:Yeah it looks. It's like a kind of steampunky hack and slash RPG that it reminded me, kind of like a Sekiro or what's the other one, neo.
Speaker 1:Neo yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, where it seems like it's got like sort of the fast paced, like hack and slash against some bosses and around the world, and so it looked really cool. I don't think it's one that's set to come to like Xbox, so I kind of just ignored everything after that, but the trailer looks really cool And so it seems interesting. It's not something that I would say is like oh, i got to go rush out and buy a PlayStation for it.
Speaker 1:You know like it's there.
Speaker 2:There's probably other games that do similar enough things to be cool, but it kind of seemed what was that Woe long fallen dynasty? It kind of seemed like if that was more like a like Sekiro or something versus how it was which will only make sense to people that played it. But right. It was a kind of rogue or a kind of souls like, but also not at the same time, Whereas Phantom Blade Zero looks way more like a souls like to me. Gotcha Also shout out Final Fantasy 16, sadly, which I will likely never play until I get a PlayStation. They haven't said it's not coming to Xbox, but also it's kind of like the Final Fantasy 7 remake where it was only a one year like exclusivity deal with PlayStation but it still hasn't shown up on Xbox yet.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and when, like it was originally announced, they said it was coming to PC as well, but then they've even kind of like walked that back to where. Now that's going to be like six months later or something. So yeah, but at the time you're hearing this, i hopefully will be hours and hours into that game because it comes out this weekend. I am super stoked and I have a PS5.
Speaker 2:So yeah, it looks. It looks very good. I've been interested in Final Fantasy's before, but this one is one that I'm like. I this feels like a Game of Thrones, like Godzilla mashup, and I'm all for that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they. They have gone on record saying that they want to try to bring new people into the franchise with this one. So that's why they're they're changing things up so significantly And I they released a demo for this game as well And I played through that and it ends on a cliffhanger, and it was it's. It's the opening hours of the game. So it's a lot of menus and cutscenes and tutorials. But even with that being said, by the time it was over, i was like I wish I didn't play that, because I just want to keep going, which the progress does carry over, which is nice. So it is like I won't have to replay all those like menus and cutscenes and tutorials, so I'll be able to just pick up right where I right, where that ended.
Speaker 2:Yeah, nice, the last one I'll shout out Well, not shout out Alan Wake to. I'm very excited for Alan Wake to not a have not finished the first Alan Wake game. I do intend to finish that before Alan Wake to comes out. But you love control, but I like control is amazing. That's one of my favorite games and remedy has learned a lot since the like the original Alan Wake was on, like the 360 or something like that. Like early 360 to. I feel like could be wrong on that, but it had enough time for a sequel to come out on the 360. So like it couldn't have been that late in the cycle. I very much like the world and the story that they've set up. The gameplay is a little wonky, but Alan Wake to like just the trailers and what I've heard about the gameplay is very exciting. It seems like it's it's a mystery style game where you're actually like going in and like you're playing as an FBI agent that's looking into what is going on in this town And they know that like an FBI agent that was killed, he was looking at Alan along the way. They find like these pages, kind of like you would find in the first game, where it's like you would find pages that were basically written about like those events that were happening, as they were happening, and they were written by Alan Wake, and so like the FBI agents are like, oh, this guy's like a serial killer, he's like taunting us or whatever, and you're also, i think, playing as Alan in it trying to escape the dark realm or something like that. So it seems really cool. It seems seems very like ex files, sort of vibes, and so I'm really excited about it, plus, like just getting to see Remedy take everything that they learned from control and put it into this game, i think will make it so much better because the combat like I think the combat was like the main thing people didn't vibe with in the first game And the combat was one of the best parts in control, so like it felt really good in control to me. So I think that could be really cool. And they're not releasing this episodically, which will be nice as far as I know. So yeah, because I know that was another. That was the first game came out during like the peak of like the telltale, like put out a one hour chunk of the game at a time over like eight months or something like that. So, but I'm excited. It's a game that we saw multiple times throughout other conferences too, but I think they first showed it during PlayStation.
Speaker 1:Yeah, i haven't watched anything on this game because I probably won't play it. I mean, it's possible, but I never played the first one And from what I've heard, this one is more spookier, so looks like it's gonna be a little bit more survival horror inspired, so cool. So do we want to move on to Summer Game Fest?
Speaker 2:Yes, let's move on.
Speaker 1:So Summer Games Fest was. It's a bit of a blur now. Is this where we saw more armored core?
Speaker 2:I think we can talk about arm. I think the armored core trailer was just released, wholly separate from everything.
Speaker 1:So they just dropped it.
Speaker 2:It might. It might have been released under the umbrella of Summer Games Fest, but it wasn't at the like opening night event. That was like the big Keely showcase.
Speaker 1:So yeah, armored core looks, cool looks like a souls like it's so it's so funny. It's so funny how like the Internet is, because probably my two biggest souls, content creators that I watch Vaati, vigia, fightin Cowboy, and they are both on opposite sides of the fence with this game And so I'm like at this point I can see some stuff. That's definitely like they learned this making the souls games and, you know, make sense in this game. We haven't seen the HUD. Fightin cowboy drew a. He is best like memory of the HUD in his video. Yeah, i think Vaati did too. And then we haven't seen like a full that you start here, then you launch into the mission by this method And then when you're in the mission, are there bonfire equivalents in here, like we haven't seen those kind of things, but definitely like there's lock on the combat, like some of the bosses very much. You know telegraphed attacks. You can. You can see these souls inspirations and learnings being applied to this game. Yeah, and we'll see when it comes out. You know how, how heavily it sticks to the like moment to moment formula of like level structure and stuff. But Either way, like our bet aside, i'm kind of excited to play it, just because I think the last mech game I played that wasn't. Titanfall was Probably some mech warrior game on my dad's laptop or something like yeah, it's just a genre that's been kind of dormant for a long time and so, this being a real big kind of triple, a push in that genre and The, what they showed off was giving me kind of like near-automata vibes in Environment and tone and stuff, so I'm excited for it. I'm mostly out of curiosity, but it's. It's probably one I'll pick up at launch and and give a give a give a try.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, it's, it's one. I don't know that I'll get it at launch, just because I don't know that I'll vibe with. For me, i think my enjoyment of the game will definitely be heavily based on like How much like a souls like it ends up being. Yeah, so I'm not like until we, like you said, we haven't seen Exactly, like we've seen gameplay now, but we haven't seen exactly like what it'll be like. So you know, if, if it turns out that like your ship is kind of like the, the central hub and And like you go to a thing to launch the mission and like you teleport and there are checkpoints in the mission, however they decide to do that and you can like you know like That could be cool and then also just kind of like It seemed very much like you could strafe around like kind of a dark souls but with like ranged weapons being a way more viable build and So like in theory that seems like it could be cool. But then also, like you said, a lot of the met games I've played have been like the What was it? the mech warrior or I think I rented like chrome hounds or something for like the 360 And they just feel so slow and so like clunky to control and I didn't get the impression that This game was gonna be that from the trailer. But at the same time It's like I'm not necessarily an armored core fan, i'm a from soft fan And so I'm. I've got some interest in the game because of a from soft game but yeah, it's not one that I feel like is Like really pulling me to. It is one that'll play, i'm sure, eventually. I just don't know that I'll play it at launch. I am excited to see how the internet internet shakes out. I expect that there's going to be a lot of just like fighting over it, even when release happens, where people are like it's the souls like, it's not a souls like. So I'm excited to just kind of see that discourse, but at the same time It's it's been fun to To hassle you about it every time, because yeah, the, the bet, the gift that just keeps on giving, yes, yes, so, um, what else did we see at summer games fest?
Speaker 1:because I feel like this one is The biggest blur to me. I didn't watch it, i watched some trailers. I'm trying to think back.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they showed the Prince of Persia game here.
Speaker 1:Okay, that was, that was a good one.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so they are making like a 2d, 2.5, like it's, it's 3d, but side scrolling, i guess, like Prince of Persia game, which is not what I wanted.
Speaker 1:It's 2d perspective, but it's like you know, 3d graphics or whatever. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:It's not what I wanted but it does look cool. I Usually don't get like super into like 2d side-scrolling games that much, just because it's not a A style that I have a lot of nostalgia for, it's not a style that I particularly like vibe with. There are the occasional Like 2d side-scrolling games that I can get into, kind of like a dead cells or a hollow night, like I've enjoyed those. So like I'm tentatively excited about the Prince of Persia game And I hope it does well enough to show them that there's still interest in Prince of Persia, but not so well that they decide to only ever make 2d side scrollers for the rest of eternity. Like I'd really love them to Eventually finish up that remake of the original like Sam's time, or just scrap that and Hire some higher blue point to remake the Sansa time trilogy. That would be fantastic.
Speaker 1:You play it on PlayStation Oh?
Speaker 2:Blue point got bought in. That's unfortunate, But yeah.
Speaker 1:I'm looking at a list now. I pulled up a list for the and it's coming back to me. It's like there's probably one really big one, that other than Prince of Persia, that I was into it. Look, we got updates on like Mortal Kombat.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:This was where Liza P was, so that's where they announced the demo and everything. So, okay, just pretend I mentioned that now This and then there was a lot of kind of like niche stuff that I think like there was a new yeah anime game from the guy that like Designs Dragon Ball characters and stuff like that. Yeah, are you gonna play that Lord of the Rings Minds of Moria game?
Speaker 2:I'm gonna play it when it eventually comes to like game pass or something Like I'm not gonna go buy it. Right, it looked like of the more recent Lord of the I mean, i guess that's really just golem and Shadow of Mordor and war. But it is interesting, like I do generally like sort of the like base building, survival games And so being dwarves, retaking Moria seems like a cool idea And I've heard that like it feels good to play. But it's not one that I'm like oh man, i gotta go buy this day one and put a bunch of hours into it. It's like, yeah, i'll play that eventually for free.
Speaker 1:So what else stood out to you? There's a couple that I'll mention if you don't. But what? where do you want to go next?
Speaker 2:They showed some Alan weight gameplay here, so I already talked about that. I'll also shout out like a dragon Gaiden, which is like about. I forget his name.
Speaker 1:Curio, maybe is that the man who changed his name, or whatever. Is that the subtitle for that one? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:And so I really enjoyed like a dragon. So I don't know, i'm not gonna go buy this game when it comes out. But also all of the other ones are on Xbox game pass So I'm hoping maybe this one comes to it. Who knows? Warhammer 40k space marine 2 was shown here. I'm excited about that game. I like the Warhammer 40k universe. It's just got a lot of ridiculous lore.
Speaker 1:Yeah, this looked pretty cool.
Speaker 2:It was like the third person shooter Yeah it's like a. It's a third person shooter Where you play as this big like space marine Dude with like a chainsaw sword.
Speaker 1:I was gonna say it was giving me like if Gears of War was silly vibes.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, it's very overdramatic. It's very like there's a lot in Gears of War that they Took and made serious. That was 40k And so I'm excited about it. It's co-op, which is cool too. I think it'll be a fun little co-op game to play through if we both end up picking it up Or it comes to game pass. Yeah, but I never played the original One because it came out on like 360 and I just never got around to getting it and I don't think it's backwards compatible. But, like I said, i like sort of the the Warhammer universe, so I'm excited for that one speaking of co-op games, they gave a release date for remnant to showed some game play and stuff for that.
Speaker 1:That looked, that looks good. That looks like it's gonna be a lot of fun. Yeah, coming out pretty soon, july.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, i'm interested in it. I don't know that I'll pick it up when it comes out, just because it's There's just a lot of stuff coming out.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know it does look like a step up from the first one. So I'm curious to like check out some reviews and stuff and then Eventually I I definitely think you and I are gonna play it at some point. It's just a matter of On sale game pass. Whatever this gear is, so stacked, like you said I it'll probably slip through the cracks initially, but it's definitely I think it's. I could see remnant to becoming You know if it, if it's as fun as I hope it is yeah becoming like getting added to that list of games that were like You've never heard of this, but you should check it out, you know.
Speaker 2:Well, cuz that's what the first one was. The first one came out in like a summer sometime, probably about like a July, like this one is and Then, like the end of that year, people started playing it for like review season or for like game of the year lists, and so, like they started playing it when they were like, actually, this game is really good And it's yeah like I played it too late to put it on a game of the year list somewhere, but like you guys should check this out. It's actually a really fun game And I feel like it's gonna do it to itself again By coming out in July. I don't know exactly what else is coming out in July, but also it's kind of just like I don't know that I have the like So much is coming out in September. On that, it's kind of just like I don't know that I want to like get into a big game Again. That game.
Speaker 1:That game looks pretty good. There's One more like big one that I'm excited about, but then there's just a lot of like goofy stuff. We had Nick Cage.
Speaker 2:Yeah, coming to dead by daylight.
Speaker 1:That was at this event. So weird. We had a Witcher season 3 trailer, cuz I guess you know that's a. It's related to a video game, yeah, yeah. And then, yeah, the. The last one that I that really kind of spoke to me was they showed us the sequel for the Final Fantasy 7 remake. So We got to see it looks Very similar to the first game. As somebody that has not played the original Like I don't have I'm not sitting there comparing like oh, they're doing, they're doing this here and doing this there I'm just more excited to kind of see how the story from the first one progresses and all the weird timeline stuff and The gameplay looked great. It's cool to see the characters from the end of the game and the characters from like the DLC finally kind of meeting up and Being one cohesive unit. So, yeah, that one, that one, i'm excited about it. I think they said it was coming like first half of next year, so that's pretty cool.
Speaker 2:Yeah it. It seemed like a Like I've heard such good things about the first game and that, like C7 remake, it's all my list of stuff to play because I have it on PlayStation. I just haven't gotten around to it, but yeah, it looks. I mean, their games By and large look fantastic.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Cannot disagree with you there. I'll shout out the Star Trek infinite Like grand strategy game. I'm not like the biggest Star Trek fan So I'm not like super into it. But I do like most of what Paradox makes and so I'm vaguely interested in it. And I also am interested in that banishers Like ghosts of new Eden game. It's done by the people that made vampire.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, that's, don't nod right, or yeah?
Speaker 2:and the life is strange. Games, yeah, and so It seems like a very like. I played a little bit of life is strange. I played some of Vampire. I just fell off of them. I think I got distracted by something else. They're games that I keep meaning to get back to and play, but it seems like a very cool ghosts, werewolf looking, things like magical fantasy situation and With a heavy emphasis on like story and like the choices you're making in the game affecting the story So like yeah, that seems very cool. I Don't know a ton more about it. They also this is where they announced the competitive mode and Marvel snap, which is out.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we've been give them a shout out for that.
Speaker 2:Have you been enjoying it? I have not really, because all of my decks are bad, so So I played competitive for like a day or two.
Speaker 1:It's called conquest mode. So basically they took the kind of head-to-head battles you could do with your friends and they turn that into a game mode And they added like rewards you can unlock or currency you can lock and then you can buy like specific rewards with them, and so that's cool. I Was I've only lost once, but I've only gotten up to like gold once as well, because I'm in the 90s right now on, yeah, the ladder to try to get infinite. So I'm like I want to hit infinite and then, once I do that, then I'll play a lot more conquest. Conquest also It's like if I have a few minutes at work, i can do a Marvel snap match, whatever. Conquest is a bit more of a commitment, like you're committing to a. It could go five or six rounds, depending on, like, yeah, how timid people are playing and stuff. So I have liked that because my decks are good. In In the kind of lower tiers you have no idea who you're gonna get matched up against. You could get matched up against somebody that just Started playing the game theoretically, or you could get matched up against like an infinite player or a content creator or a Streamer or somebody that plays it all the time and has put a ton of money into it. You just don't know, because it's not based on the tier, like rank system.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So that's been kind of fun. There were definitely a couple matches I played where I felt a little bad Because I could tell whoever I was playing on the other end just did not understand the game to the level that I did. So it's pretty easy to to take the take the win, but it's been cool. Yeah, i still think the game could use some just core Features like friends lists and stuff like that, but it is cool to see them kind of adding to it and iterating on it as it, as it goes on keeping it fresh.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the last game that I want to just throw out here, because neither of us have talked about it and it's been at two of the like. It was at PlayStation and summer games fest. I Guess we just don't care about this. Immortals of ABM game. Huh, it has a bad name.
Speaker 1:That's true, but it kind of looks like they've described it as like Call of Duty with magic, and it looks like they started developing it after they watched the Doctor Strange movies.
Speaker 2:That's kind of the vibe.
Speaker 1:I get from like very like hand motiony, kind of, yeah, magic, and I think on paper that sounds really cool or like it could be really cool. It's a game that I want to play, but I'm not gonna pay money for it.
Speaker 2:No, yeah, i'm in the same boat where it's like, if it's on game pass or something, i Can see myself checking it out, but it's one that I'm just like I look at and I'm just like I Mean it's like a first-person shooter, which I'm already not. I'm very particular about like playing a first person shooter anyway, because most of the very story based first person shooters just don't do it for me. It's basically just Halo and Destiny 2, both bunchy games. So like, if I'm not, if it's not that, i'm kind of just like I don't know that I care about this game, you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So it could be cool. If it comes out and it's getting like rave reviews or something, i'd be more inclined to check it out. But yeah, i don't see myself paying money for this.
Speaker 1:So I think that was about it for this one. Mortal Kombat, i think we mentioned it was there. That's a game that I probably will play a little bit of at some point, but I barely played the last one. It's not my fighting game of choice. But then let's go ahead and jump ahead a little bit because I feel like Xbox is going to have kind of like the bulk of what we really care about. Yeah, like we referenced earlier, nintendo did a direct. Today They did, and for me, like really all that there was there was like some kind of cool stuff or whatever. Like Dylan mentioned, there's a lot of older games kind of getting ported. There's some new Pokemon stuff, new Dragon Age Pokemon game. There's not Dragon Age, dragon Quest, dragon Quest Pokemon game. But they ended the show with well, they showed a remake of Luigi's Mansion from I think they said the like 3DS or DS is being made. They're doing a game based on Princess Peach and they're remaking Super Mario RPG. All three of those sound cool to me. I'll probably. Luigi's Mansion 3 that's on the Switch is one that's like man, if Switch games ever went on sale, if Nintendo games ever went on sale, it's one I want to play. I could see myself picking up the Peach game, for my daughter Seems like it'd be right up her alley. And then the Mario RPG. I've heard such great things about it and it getting kind of like this fresh coat of paint. I'm down to try that one. Basically, all the Mario games were the ones that spoke to me, and then they close the show with a new 2D Mario platformer And at first I was like man, this looks exactly like every other, like the last probably 10 years of Mario games, like they need to do something. But then, as the trailer went on, there's so much more personality and expression that it looks like they've added to this. And then they started showing some of the like effects with the level that you can mess with. And then like how now the Piranha Plants are like getting out of the pipe and then like the one of the football guys can't remember their name, i play as him in Mario Golf, but anyways, he's like pushing something towards Daisy and then Daisy starts pushing it back, and so it seems like they're kind of adding some, maybe some abilities and things like that to the characters. So at first, visually, i was kind of disappointed. But then, as the trailer went on and the more they showed, i was like this This looks like it could be a ton of fun. I haven't really played a 2D Mario game since Mario Maker 2, which isn't like a true Nintendo, designed from start to finish like set of levels. They had like their little teach you how to play campaign thing And then it's user created content. So I this one. This one seems very exciting and it's coming out this year, which is nuts. Yeah it makes sense because Zelda was kind of their big first half of the year game, so it makes sense for them to have something around the holidays to try to, you know, keep that money rolling in. But I was a little bit shocked that they is the first we've seen or heard of it And then it's coming in like I don't know four months or something. It's coming in like October.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, it's a I don't know. I watched this and the only thing that even interested me a little bit, basically was Pikmin 4. And even then, i'm not like rushing out to buy Pikmin 4. I'm not a huge Pikmin fan, it's just a cool like little game that I had fun with way back in the day on the GameCube. Do you feel like? I don't know the discussion I've heard around this? I was watching like kind of funny react to it And they were basically like, based on what they showed here, this means there's this is like the final year of the Switch, like there's a new like Switch 2 coming. Basically because they were like, if this is what they've got following Zelda, like they don't, they're not developing for a Switch anymore, like they're developing for a newer console, hmm. So I don't know how true that is. I don't like they're definitely a lot more tuned into the industry than I am. But yeah, it was very much just kind of like. Yeah, i watched this and I was kind of like I mean, this was the one that like, granted, i threw it on while I was grinding some Diablo, so like it wasn't a big deal, but this one was very much like why did you have this? Like there was some cool Pokemon stuff, i guess, but I haven't played the new Pokemon game So I'm not that concerned about DLC for it.
Speaker 1:I haven't seen any of the like reactions or anything from people, but I would imagine if you're a fan of like the Mario franchise or a fan of kind of like just Nintendo classics, This is a really big deal. This, the way the just the basically the Mario stuff that they've had in this direct seem really cool on that front. As far as new hardware thing, I yeah that kind of funny and especially Tim exist on hype And so I take that with a grain of salt. But also I do think that where it were due for a new something and. Nintendo likes to go left when everyone thinks they're going to go right, and so it could be a completely different thing, but I kind of get the vibe that they're going to just keep iterating on the switch, at least for another generation.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, like I don't, I don't see the switch going away.
Speaker 1:I just think they're maybe getting to like the switch to you know right which I would imagine, that most switch one games will probably still play on switch to Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I see it being like a DS 3DS situation or like where it's yeah, or even everything that in cube, like you could play your game cube games on the Wii. Yeah.
Speaker 1:But so to me I wouldn't say that these games are making me think that we've got some like that they're holding back, unless they want to show stuff with the for, with new hardware. For me it feels more like this was tears of the kingdom's year And now they have like a, like a 2D Mario is still going to probably make them a ton of money, But I mean they did do Breath of the Wild and Super Mario Odyssey in the same year. So I mean I find it basically impossible to predict a Nintendo. Yeah, So yeah like, the more I'm talking, i'm like maybe I'll just cut all this from the episode because I'm just like I'm just thinking out loud here, So yeah yeah, it's, they march to the beat of their drum, so yeah, I would say that, like some of it might be nostalgia and like whatever, but they know how to kind, they know how to just capture fun and bottle it into a game in a way that I think a lot of other companies don't. And so I know I'm going to play this 2D Mario. I'm going to spend 60 or $70 on it but I'm going to have a lot of fun And it's also, you know, for me it's going to be a good kind of bridge, probably for bringing the kid up to speed with video games. So I think I think that the Mario games were. that was about it for me in this one. But I am looking forward to those.
Speaker 2:Yeah, i'd be a lot more interested in a lot of what Nintendo did if I felt that their games were priced appropriately. Like there are so many fantastic 2D side scrolling, like things that aren't Mario that are $30, you know, and like in this day and age, like I don't feel like there's probably enough content in that game for it to be worth 60 or $70. And I know that that's what they're going to charge. Like they're not going to not charge $60 for it.
Speaker 1:You know? I mean I could argue that you could. Some people can and will either get the amount of hours or just the amount of enjoyment out of the game to justify that cost. I think the problem is that they just never go on sale.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, because that's I don't know. But, like I said, I'm not the biggest fan of like the 2D side scrolling stuff anyway. So, like for me personally, if I have one side scrolling Mario game, i don't personally see there being enough iteration for me to be like you know what, let me spend $60 on another.
Speaker 1:Yeah, But it's just like we were talking about that Immortals of Avium game. It's like we know that we probably will be able to play that game at some point for cheap or free or whatever And it's like with Nintendo you know you have to commit to that high dollar unless you can get it from a friend or get it like second hand or something like that. If you're buying it through like legal means, you're going to pay the Nintendo tax, which is you know not really what this episode is about, but it is an issue. It is an unfortunate part.
Speaker 2:Nintendo yeah, they could be like the Disney Plus or the HBO Max of like video game streaming, like subscriptions. if they would just do that, you know they would be one that a lot of people would be like. yeah, i'm going to get this versus like Game Pass and whatever PlayStation is doing Like it's not as necessary.
Speaker 1:So Well, let's roll into the big one. I feel like we probably have a decent list of games to chat about here with Xbox.
Speaker 2:Let's start with the ones that, like, we don't really know a ton about. So, like Fable, we'll start with Fable. Yeah, fable, fable's still a thing.
Speaker 1:Exactly.
Speaker 2:They showed a funny little trailer for it. I thought it was cool. Still didn't really show a whole lot about the game.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we still don't even know if that's like the main character or if that's the created character. We don't know if, yeah, they claim there was going to be a bunch of gameplay, or there was going to be gameplay And it was like, yeah, there's some kind of cuts of in engine stuff here, but we didn't see how the game plays.
Speaker 2:So yeah, yeah, it's still still like. Have they said what that if that one's coming in 2024? or they just said it is coming? I think they just said it is coming.
Speaker 1:I don't think they put a window or anything on that one.
Speaker 2:But yeah, i'm excited Like I played all of Fable 3. I've played a little bit of Fable 1 and a little bit of Fable 2. They're fun. They're old now, so I'm looking forward to seeing a new Fable game, especially with kind of that like dry sort of British sense of humor that they've always had, so that could be cool.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and another game that we know is coming and exists is Hellblade, and I'm like good lord this game is it's got to be such a big step up from the first game, or they've just had a lot of trouble with it. What they showed I was I was watching this while I was working out and the TV I was watching it on, like in our garage where all the equipment is had two separate speakers, like on opposite sides of the room. So, I was getting the like voices bouncing from like either side of the room and so I'm like, yeah, they're doing a lot of cool stuff with, with, especially, audio technology, and it looks crazy at least the stuff we've seen so far But I'm like man, to still not be coming out this game is, yeah, it's crazy.
Speaker 2:Because that one they just had to have, like announced it way too early.
Speaker 1:Yeah you know because we've been talking about it since we've been podcasting pretty much.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah it's. It's been years and years and like it seems cool, like I haven't played the original, i will play the original before this one comes out.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you'll play this one probably.
Speaker 2:But yeah it's. It's one that's just kind of like. I'm kind of like overseeing it at shows until it's like actually going to come out.
Speaker 1:They did put 2024 on it, so we have a window now.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and they've been doing decently aside from Starfield at actually like it seems like now they're kind of like much more confident about when their games are actually coming out. I mean kind of rapid fire through a few. Yeah, we're like announced that. So south of midnight Is a cool sort of like it's compulsion studios. Who did we?
Speaker 1:happy few we happy few.
Speaker 2:It's got a very cool art style. It looked like it was like in the bayou's of like Louisiana and stuff.
Speaker 1:Exactly.
Speaker 2:And some girl is like hunting monsters or whatever, so that seemed cool. I thought that was interesting. Clockwork Revolution seemed really cool. Bioshock, did you say by a? Yeah, it did look a lot like Bioshock Infinite, if that game does what it claims it can do.
Speaker 1:If it's, if it's fulfilling the promise the video games have been making for years and never living up to, of you make this choice and it's going to, it's going to affect the entire world on this grand scale, then it's going to be really cool. But we'll have to wait and see if that actually pans out.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, i definitely won't do that, but I am interested to see how many things that they like put to get, like how many variations on the world that they come up with, and like the things that you need to do in order to make them happen.
Speaker 1:I think it's going to be like a timeline thing of like there's, you'll potentially be bouncing back and forth between, like two different timelines is kind of what I'm envisioning it ultimately being.
Speaker 2:But yeah, i'm kind of picturing it like a death loop situation where, like based on the, there were like four, there were like four sections almost, and like based on you know where you went at what time of day, like different things were available and you could affect the world in different ways that way. Yeah, but it was also a very limited like. This is what is available.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:It wasn't this broad, like oh, you picked up this like pack of playing cards in this. You know one room and that had this grand sweeping butterfly effect or whatever. I don't, i'm not expecting that, but I am interested to see What they do with it, because that's sort of time-jumping thing. Looked cool. Metaphor refentagio Looks interesting.
Speaker 1:That was a mess. By trailer was all over the place.
Speaker 2:Yeah, basically all of the persona stuff looked kind of cool right to me. I still need to finish persona five And then play four, because apparently four is like the best, but they all interested me, but I'm, you know, not gonna park on them because, yeah, it's that, that is what the game is. Now you put, can you it's, can you tsugami? Yeah, on your list. Are you actually interested or was that sarcastic?
Speaker 1:No, i'm actually interested because it's okay, capcom And it looks it was giving me aesthetically, it was giving me a neraka vibes. Okay, and then I'm Gameplay wise. It was giving me kind of again like I Neo, but not. It seemed way more stylish and probably a little bit less punishing, so it seemed like a really cool very visually. I liked the visuals a lot and the, the aesthetic of it, and then the action and the combat and stuff looked Looked pretty cool too. So I'm I'm curious to like learn more about that one. Yeah, again, not one that I'm like Dying to play in the same way that like I am for, like you know, spider-man 2 or something, but it was one that kind of stood out to me in the showcase.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it's. it's one that I looked at and I was like capcom, okay, yeah, this seems cool, but I still kind of want to know a little bit more about it before I Make my final call here. right, and I think that's all the like rapid-fire ones Before we jump in like a vowed is kind of a rapid-fire one because, like, we saw way more of it But also it's not coming out anytime soon.
Speaker 1:I think they said next year, for that one didn't they?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah, i mean it's next year, yeah, yeah so that one.
Speaker 1:I heard a really Interesting comparison I was on the friends per second podcast where they said it kind of looks like obsidian's elder scrolls if Outer worlds was their fallout. So yeah, maybe not quite like as big or or whatever as a skyrim, but maybe having a little bit more like tighter story, tighter, more Impactful choices, things like like just kind of being on a in a smaller, tighter package But being in that kind of fantasy world which sounds cool to me.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, it definitely Looked very interesting. We got to see a lot more of it than we have so far, and I'd happily take a a more. Can there a more confined but richer world? Yeah, then a, a big open world with not much in it you know, yeah, for sure. And so so I'm definitely down to check out about it. It's like that was. That was the thing I liked the most about this showcase is it was basically almost everything was coming to game Pass, like day and date not everything for sure, but like a lot of the stuff was coming to game pass. I don't even have to think about like oh, am I gonna pick this up, am I not? like it's like yeah, i, i will have access to this and I will play.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know, i can at least give it a shot. Another one that is Kind of in shout-out territory, but we might park on for a minute. Is that 33 Immortals game? Yeah, that's coming from the Spiritfarer studio, but it's more like like a Hades style roguelike, except There's 33 players on the map. Yeah, so I watched Phil Spencer play it for that little. Yeah, they're like extended or whatever extended thing. They did and I'm not sure if they put a date or a window in this game. Yeah, it looked like what they were playing was just like, maybe like the first little zone. It looked very chaotic. I'm not. It seems like a game you have to really play to kind of appreciate. But it's essentially like 33 people spawning into this world. Who you're? you're, you have a goal or a boss that you're trying to get to and defeat at the end. But like there's Stuff, you have to do first whatever. So like groups will split off, you don't all spawn in the same area. You can revive each other. So it looks. It's very interesting and, especially knowing the studio that it's coming from, seems like a kind of cool Departure from their last game. So I'm keeping an eye on that one.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's definitely one to keep an eye on. Another that I'll shout out Phasmophobia is coming to consoles. Just wanted to shout that out. That was it. I'm excited. Did they show that at the Xbox showcase?
Speaker 1:They showed it in the extended Okay thing that they did like after that one after that.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, phasmophobia is coming to. I forget if it's game pass or not, but yeah it's, it is coming. I don't see it being game pass, but it will be on consoles in August.
Speaker 1:So So you want to go, you want to tackle some of these bigger ones now. You want.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, I think we should just end the show here and just stop right here.
Speaker 1:We can't stop without talking about Your dad if he was a famous actor taking the stage On a re-honor rave. Keanu, what do I do with?
Speaker 2:my hands reeves.
Speaker 1:He's like hey, it's like he's such a weird energy.
Speaker 2:I'm like this guy, so pure of hearts Yeah but we did get to see more cyberpunk.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and more of the Phantom Liberty expansion, which looks like it's gonna be pretty, pretty cool, pretty extensive. But a lot of what I've been hearing after the fact from like hands-on stuff is what's gotten me excited, where it sounds like CDPR has done a lot of work under the hood to like redo the talent trees and redo enemy AI, yeah, cops, and just kind of reworked the whole game, which they did for the Witcher 3 at 1.2. Witcher 3 got a massive update where they kind of The menus that are in that game now are not the menus that it launched with. Like they're similar, yeah, but they they really overhauled a lot of stuff as that game Went on. So this doesn't necessarily surprise me, especially with, you know, cyberpunk having the the kind of history It did with its launch. But yeah, apparently the DLC is gonna be be pretty substantial.
Speaker 2:Well, they have a like. That studio has a history of Like. When they charge for a DLC like, it is a pretty expensive. Yeah, piece of content, the, the DLC for the Witcher 3, it was like Hearts of Stone, which is like another massive section of the map, this big, sprawling, very cool story. And then Blood and Wine, which is like, hey, it's another like map as big as a huge zone in, like in the Witcher, it's as big as some games are, you know, like yeah, I think they claimed it was as big as the Witcher 2. Yeah, so So I'm, i'm expecting phantom liberty to not be skimpy.
Speaker 1:You know, i think it'll, yeah, i think I think it's gonna be that level of quality when compared to the main game. Obviously I don't. I don't think it's gonna be as big or as long as like the Witcher stuff, because the main game wasn't as big or as long as The Witcher. But I think, you know, when comparing them to their base games, i think it will be comparable. Yeah, my question for you, because it's something I've been kind of kicking around in my head Are you gonna replay the game?
Speaker 2:Yeah, i knew that question was coming, because that's that's what I've been kicking around to. I'm like do I want to replay the game or do I want to just pick it up? because, like, part of me Wants to experience the main game with, like, because I haven't really gone back and played it since 2020 or whenever it came yeah, same here.
Speaker 1:I haven't played it since launch.
Speaker 2:And so like there's been some like smaller, like free LCS that have come out, nothing substantial but like the occasional quest here there I think they threw in some of the like anime, cyberpunk guns or stuff you know and so like. So there's some of that plus, like if they, like you said, they're overhauling a lot of the systems And I think that's supposed to be game-wide, it's not just like limited to the DLC part. Yeah, they've reworked the base game Substantially so yeah, and so like there's a lot of like cool stuff that could you know, that I would love to Experience there, and like we didn't we didn't you and I didn't run into like a lot of just like game-breaking stuff, but there was some like weird jank that we you know, and so it'd be kind of cool to like go back and play it three years after the fact.
Speaker 1:You know and it was also the Xbox one version Running on series X we were playing like we didn't have I don't think it had like HDR and all those kind of like visual perks that it should have had. So, yeah, just it, the fact that it's not as big as the witchers, why I'm like you know, maybe I could replay it because it was, you know, potentially like 25 hours or something like that and I'd never played as female V so I never saw the like Judy romance and stuff. So it's like there's enough content in there that I didn't see for myself that I'm like I could probably Justify just replaying the whole game.
Speaker 2:Yeah, cuz it's one of those things where it's like, if I replayed it, i would want to do it differently. But when I do fancy because, like they've said, that you're like Love interest comes back and so I'm like, well, oh, and so I'm kind of just like, well, i don't want. Like so, if I am going to replay it, i either have to like have a separate save that I'm playing just to like re-experience the story and then like my main save where, like, my V can be with what was her name?
Speaker 1:Pan.
Speaker 2:Am, pan am and just kind of like okay, because I got what I consider my canon ending and so I would either have to like make all of the same decisions again which why replay it at that point other than just to re-experience it or Or have two saves. So that's kind of kind of where I'm at. But I'm pumped for this because, Like, the original game was so good. I know at the time it was like The fun thing to dog pile on by the industry, but I had a lot of fun with it Yeah we've.
Speaker 1:We've been on record since, yeah, and saying that the game is good.
Speaker 2:I enjoy playing games.
Speaker 1:I don't necessarily need to dog, pile and stuff, so Yeah, i think you know the only the main reason I would replay it outside from Seeing the female V side or making some different choices is Just because if they have like reworked systems, yeah, it feels like it could be pretty daunting to jump in and be like, okay, did all my talents, like reset, do I? I don't remember what build I was even doing. Like Feels like starting out gradually and, like you know, doing the power climb again would would be more enjoyable than trying to like figure out where you're at in an in-game file and then go play the DLC.
Speaker 2:But yeah, exactly Joy close out with Star Wars or Starfield.
Speaker 1:I'm more interested in Star Wars probably as a game.
Speaker 2:So let's talk about Starfield then. Okay, so to two Star games, yeah, but Starfield Got showed off. I look, i'm an Xbox fan and I play it up for this show because that's more fun. But Even I was just kind of like this is the most important game ever. This is the most important game of our generation. Let's calm it down, xbox. Like we are making some bold claims. I don't think this game is That Level. But then they showed trailers for it and I mean like it looks cool. You know, like I'm still we've talked about before, but I'm still not like super hype for this game. I'm excited to play it. It's on game pass day one so. I will definitely Clear out something on my hard drive and install it on day one.
Speaker 1:Would you pay for it If it wasn't on game pass? because I don't think I would buy this one until it was like on sale or something.
Speaker 2:I would probably wait until it was on sale. But also, like I'm not a huge Bethesda fan, like I liked Skyrim. Right that's basically the only game that they've released that I've been a huge fan of. Oblivion was good, but like that, that's about all that I've played and been able to get into. Like I've picked up a fallout Game or two and gotten some time into it, but it was kind of just like I'm just not vibing with this world. I do think that this game has the potential to be, like the, the world that I've Get the most into post Skyrim. Yeah you know, post elder scrolls, i definitely think I'm gonna be way more interested in this than fallout. Yeah, but just like the all of the things that they are saying you can do which at this point, i don't think this is going to be a no man sky situation like I it does seem Like you can do all the things that they're saying you can do.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, and they're being very upfront with the planets that are like More just for resource gathering and stuff like you know, it'll be pretty obvious. Which planets have like life and are more about story and character moments and stuff like that, and which ones are more about like gathering resources.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so it looks very cool and it looks like there's a ton of cool stuff to do and, like I've gotten into, like elite, dangerous and no man sky and like games That kind of have like a similar vibe to this one. My main thing is just gonna be like the Does it feel fun to explore things? if it does, then I'm gonna get super into this game. Because That is the thing that I like the most about Skyrim is it did such a good job of like you play through the short little like Oh, you're finally awake a little intro and then it basically is just like and here's Skyrim, go have fun. And like you wander off and most of the time maybe you make it to the first town, but like Sometimes you get distracted by a random thing happening and you follow some like Deer off into the woods and discover it, you know, and so like that's. If this game captures that, but just in space, i think I could get really into it. I'm not like Jonesing for it.
Speaker 1:I'm not like I need September, whatever to come so that I can play this game, but I am excited to play it for me, all of the system stuff is cool and all the stuff they're doing under the hood and like with the character creator, with Just all the the kind of nerdy system stuff and what they're doing tech wise I like I just don't care about this setting or aesthetic at all. Yeah so I'll probably try it, cuz it's game pass and cuz it's a big RPG and I'll I'll probably fall off of it, but we'll see yeah and I think a lot of it too for me has depends on the lore.
Speaker 2:You know, like I'm, i love Star Wars. I got super into Mass Effect because like just the story in that world and like the just the Expansive like background to that world made it feel real. And Star Wars, you know it, just has kind of that same vibe of like you know, here's Granted it's it's much less explained than Mass Effect was it's. It's much more just kind of like and this exists because it does. But if, if they can kind of like make me care about that universe, i think it'll be good, like if I, if I get to the point where I'm like okay, i want to like have some. You know Smooth voice to British man explained to me a four hour lore video on like Starfield, you know, or this faction in Starfield, like that's, that's when I'll know it's hit, versus you know a Like fallout where I just can't care about the overarching story in world.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the stuff that was so cool about Skyrim wasn't the overarching story. For me, though, it was like Discovering a weird town full of vampires or discovering the thieves guild for the first time or the Dark brotherhood or like those kind of which, again, is like more lore and just like world stuff, and it felt so At the time, so kind of lived in organic and like part of the world and everything. I never really felt that. And fallout although people claim there are really cool things with the factions and fallout and stuff like that. So like if that stuff is in this game which I assume it is that would be really cool, maybe could pull me in. But if I never got there with fallout and yeah, it was mostly because I didn't vibe with the like aesthetic and the shooting and stuff. We'll just see how this one is I'm mostly excited that it's finally coming out. So now we're only like six years away from Elder Scrolls 6 or something.
Speaker 2:So right, yeah, yeah, we'll see. Yeah, howard has said that Elder Scrolls 6 is maybe the last thing he's doing, so Hopefully it. The man wants to retire, so Maybe you'll get it out a little bit quicker.
Speaker 1:Yeah, maybe so, and then maybe when he's gone they'll make games out like a little smaller and a little faster Maybe maybe.
Speaker 2:Well, let's close it out with Star Wars outlaws A surprise another ambitious game. Yes. But in different ways yeah, I did not expect. Like when this came on an Xbox's showcase I was just like holy crap. Like really we're gonna show a Star Wars game off here.
Speaker 1:That's awesome and then when they, when we got to see the like Quote-unquote gameplay snippet at the Ubisoft thing which you know I say quote-unquote because Ubisoft has they did the whole watchdogs thing back in the day. You know we have gotten Misled by them before because this game it looks like you can just basically do whatever you want and then it has like the GTA wanted system and then you can you just like you leave the the place and Hopping your ship and you just seamlessly fly out into space and get into a dogfight and it's like man, if this game It's not my favorite side of Star Wars, you know, i like the Jedi stuff, i like the lightsaber stuff, i like the Force stuff. This is more of like the Han Solo stuff. But if it can actually do the stuff that it showed in this trailer and maintain that for a full game Like this is gonna be pretty, pretty cool.
Speaker 2:Yeah, cuz it. It was not like super. It didn't Remind me a ton of Red Dead, necessarily, but like this. This felt more like it, like the Red Dead version of Star Wars, you know Right where it's kind of like you're. You're kind of a, an outlaw, as the name would imply. Yeah going through your town like you've got your gun, you've got like cover, you've got your little speeder bike that you can go on to, you can fly around and like they were making a lot of bold claims, making a lot of big promises of, like you can just follow this, like you see this cruiser over here, you can just follow it and see where it lands and blah, blah, blah, and it's like okay, but really like can you, can you seamlessly take on off and you like fly around, like that would be awesome Games can do it. You know, like I think Starfield is doing that, no man sky does it. So like it's possible to like lift off and you know, and I think they hot, like I know at least No man sky hides the load screen and plenty of time to hide a loading screen.
Speaker 1:Yeah, But.
Speaker 2:But yeah, it's it's kind of like if this lives up to what they're claiming it will like, that's, that's super cool and it's massive right, massive entertainment. That's doing it.
Speaker 1:It's the division, people, isn't it?
Speaker 2:Yeah, isn't that massive.
Speaker 1:I think so.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Yeah okay. And so like that's kind of cool, like they, they can make good games Like I really like the, the feel of the division to like. I kind of fell off of it because Destiny 2 is my Sort of games as a service of choice, but but like playing through the division to is a lot of fun and I enjoyed the like story and and the feel of that game And so like they've got the cover shooter system down from that game, so I can see this being a very cool Game that feels a lot of. It feels good to play, you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I like your kind of comparison to Red Dead Because, based on what we saw in this gameplay, it looked a bit more just kind of like open-world explore, planet-to-planet, like Versus the, like avatar game that they showed. That just looked like Far Cry.
Speaker 2:Yeah, speaking of a game I'm zero interested Yeah.
Speaker 1:I couldn't care less about that game. But, yeah, hope like it seems from what we saw of the Star Wars game that they're not just taking their Ubisoft Formula and slapping Star Wars on top of it. It seems like they're trying to be a bit more Creative and original and I like that. I just I really hope that this game I hope they didn't like over commit and then underperform. You know, yeah, i really hope that they are Not letting their ambitions like get the best of them. I want this game to to be good and it, even if it's not as good as what they claim like. I Would have been happy if they claimed a little bit less than what they're claiming like. It still would have been a good game.
Speaker 2:But yeah, like if it comes out and it's like the if it's like fall in order levels of like good, where it's like, yeah, like this wasn't the best game ever, but it was fun to play and I can't wait to see what they do with, like, star Wars outlast 2. Like I'll be happy right, You know yeah, but yeah, and it's coming next year, which supposedly like there's still a lot of time for it to get delayed. But yeah, and this is Ubisoft we're talking about. We did get a chance to see Skull and Bones, a game that has been in development since Black Flag came out. Yeah so it is not unheard of for them to massively delay games.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so that's why there's a bit of a yeah Trepidation in our voice, a little grain of salt here because of the company we're dealing with, who, yeah, they can put out really good games and do good work, but they can also over promise. They could straight up lie in their yeah.
Speaker 2:Three gameplay reveals well, and I wonder to like how much This is. I have no Knowledge of any of this, but like I wonder how involved Disney is in like the oversight of these games. You know, like I know they were definitely involved in Jedi survivor because there was stuff in Jedi survivor that was like they were programming in during, like when it was happening in the Obi-Wan show. You know, so, like I, i guess I I wonder how much oversight they have, how much like they're like this game Needs to meet these standards and be at least this good before it comes out, etc. You know, but again, the fact that it's massive, that's putting it out or like developing it gives me some hope too, because it's not just like a little studio that we've heard basically nothing from and then Ubisoft is publishing it. It's like No, they made the Division one and two. I'm sure they've made other games and like those have been good. So I like the ship. Though the ship, i hope that you can get a different ship. Customize it or your customize it like the ship was very boring to me, granted. I mean, like a lot of ships in Star Wars are more utilitarian, like the Millennium Falcon is iconic looking, but also it's just like a freighter, like it's. It's not a Sleek combat looking ship, you know but this one just kind of looked like a box to me.
Speaker 1:Yeah, maybe, maybe you'll get a better ship as as things progress. Yeah, so yeah, that's pretty much it. Is there anything else to you that we missed?
Speaker 2:Not that I can. There was stuff that I didn't care about.
Speaker 1:Right, but like, like the Avatar game.
Speaker 2:Yeah, like the Avatar game, the, the VR and mobile versions of the Assassin's Creed games that are coming out. Yeah but Yeah, there was a lot of stuff and I'm sure there's stuff we missed. I'm sure there's stuff that will still be coming out, like I think. Like I said, i think devolver digital still gonna like do something sometime this summer. There's probably some like smaller indie showcases that are going on or will go on, but all of the like big, big people have Have gone.
Speaker 1:Yep. So if we missed anything or if you just want to Talk about with some of your favorite games you're excited about are, you can definitely jump into our discord And we will. We'll chat with you there. As far as Housekeeping goes for the podcast, you know, if you enjoy these episodes, leave us a 5 star review if your Podcasting platform of choice allows it. We appreciate everybody that has done that so far. It means a lot to us. What about on the YouTube side of things, dylan?
Speaker 2:Yeah, we're doing. We're trying out some new things this summer, kind of breaking out of our our Comfortable format that we've been doing and trying to do a couple of other things. So go check out the YouTube. If you haven't, maybe watch some stuff, see if there's anything that interests you, if you do like stuff on there, if you don't mind Liking it or leaving a comment or whatever. That helps throw it into the algorithm and keep it going, where We're constantly growing in subscriber numbers and Hours watched. So we're Excited to see that. But let us know you know like, let us know the content you like so that we can make more of it. But also, if you let us know that kind of stuff, it throws it into that algorithm and helps it grow even more so that we can continue to kind of make that YouTube channel expand absolutely, and For the for the future.
Speaker 1:I mean we've, for the podcast, like we talked about a bunch of big games on this episode Final Fantasy 16 being out at the time this releases We're gonna have episodes coming up here and the not so distant future on some of these big games like tears of the kingdom and Diablo and Final Fantasy, games that we've Kind of intentionally avoided diving too deep in so we could save it for a big episode. So be looking forward to that stuff on the horizon. But as far as if this episode goes, that's all we've got. And Yeah, we appreciate everybody for listening and we will catch you on the next episode. We hope you enjoyed listening to this episode of the friendly neighborhood gamers podcast. If so, we would greatly appreciate your help in growing the show and the community by giving us a five-star rating and review on Apple Podcasts, spotify and any other podcasting app that allows it.
Speaker 2:We also have some great videos on our YouTube channel, including reviews, rankings and other topics. We would really appreciate you checking it out And, if you want to keep up with everything going on in the neighborhood, follow us on Instagram and Twitter and feel free to jump in our discord server.
Speaker 1:We hope to see you there. Links for everything are in the podcast description. Thanks again for listening and remember.
Speaker 2:Stay friendly gamers.
