Love a Live!

Welcomember one, episode one eighty of the JASP Gains Cast. I am your host, Rob Aksen joining me is the one and only Drew Roberts. How are you, sir? I'm live live Alive. Is it live alive or live alive or Live a Live? Actually, how do you pronounce it? My phone keeps out of correcting it to love Alive and actually contact. I used to think that it was a love Live game for like the longest time, did you Yes, that's incredibly funny, despite it pre dating Love Live

by like twenty fucking years. I just thought a Love Live was really, really fucking old. Oh my god, I can't believe Live a Live is just an idol RPG. Amazing fantastic. It is just us today. Ryan is busy with work stuff, and you know, I finished Octopath Traveler two and I was like, you know what, we have kind of a lull

week. Why not just it be you and me and we probably send a majority of time talking about Octopath, But also, I mean we can we can talk about some of the other stuff that we've played before we get into that. So warning to anybody listening, this is going to be like a pretty much a spoiler cast for for Octopath Traveler two. So there's we can talk about anything and everything. Everything is fair game, hold nothing back.

So if you're sensitive to talk to Pat Traveler too spoilers, definitely, uh, turn away, Like we'll get to it later and I'll re announce this so you can at least listen to like the first part of this recording and you'll you'll have some heads up to win to tune out. But just just to let you guys know ahead of time, that's what's gonna go down here. Uh, some small housekeeping things. I know, the schedule has been kind of weird, right, like we haven't done a show and what feels

like three weeks it's been. It's been a little bit, I know, like Drew you was that evo and uh, there's a whole lot of other stuff that has happened in between. Phil Yeah, true, true, he's out gathering the content in the casinos of Vegas. Uh. And then also like on the animated of things, we've had a couple of delays as well due to schedules and conflict and stuff. So it's been kind of a drought. But stuff is getting back to normal. So by the time you listen

by the time you listened to this, UH. The following Sunday, they and a Castle me back and we'll be talking about Charlotte, So definitely take stay tuned for that. That is my second time watching that anime and I have some feelings, some updated feelings, I should say, so stay tuned for that. So let's get into this show, this shindig Drew Stapher, It's been a while since we chatted about video games. What have you been

up to aside from the optopaths? So we will talk about first thing, I'll break into my usual fighting game thing as Street Utter six is a big part of my life. So a couple of things on that front. One, I went to EVO this past year after not having been since twenty eighteen, so we took five years off and this is my first time backter EVO at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, Nevada. And let me tell you that tournament is on like anything else I have ever been to in my life.

It is uh and it's probably my favorite tournament to go to as an event because it's less of a tournament and more of a convention. I know a lot of people when they go to EVO for the first time, it's not what they expect because they're used to other major Like EVO is not the kind of tournament that you're going to to grind and get better. Like now,

EVO is the final boss. It's like you, you come, you you you play your game, and you see how far you get, and then if you don't make it, you kind of just watch the rest of the spectacle and you enjoy like being in Vegas and like this grand production of fighting games, right, Like that's what EVO is, and like EVO always delivers on that. It helps that you're in Vegas. I personally love Vegas. I think Vegas is the coolest thing ever. Despite never really doing well

on the gambling side of things, I still really love Vegas. I did really well in blackjack this year until like the very last day. Damn. Yeah, Like I was because like I was teetering back and forth, like I took a grand with me as like money, and like I was teetering back and forth, and like sometimes I would end up down like two hundred bucks and then like I'd go and sit down at a black jack table and

like I'd win at back. I'm like so I kind of teetered like back and forth for a while, and then like close to the end of the week or like the end of our stay, like I had this really good run and a table where like I just was up like three hundred bucks and I'm like fuck yeah, feeling it. And then like I went to bed welcome the next day started playing went down here I just kept going down and

I'm like, ah, I see this is other game. I mean, granted I stopped well before I ran out of money, but I definitely was not ahead like I was. But I mean that's how it goes. The house always wins. This is my first year playing craps, which Ron taught me how to play craps this year, and every time I sat down to play craps. I don't know if you're familiar with craps barely, but it's kind of like Roulette, but instead of like a wheel, you have dice.

And basically how it works he is like, when you make your initial bets, somebody rolls the dice and whatever number it lands on your bet transfers to that number. But if it lands on a seven or an eleven,

you immediately win. Like the amount that you like you win one for one the amount that you bet, and then but if it doesn't roll a seven or eleven, it rolls a number, your bet is now transferred to that number, and now you are betting that that number lands before a seven is rolled, and if a seven before that number lands, you lose your beat, okay, and so and so. Basically the idea is is that like you you try to get like a bunch of numbers, so like as the

dice is rolling, you basically like make small winnings to up your bets. So you're basically betting with free money, and then you just run it out until a seven's landed and then you just take your winnings from that, right, Okay, Yeah, it's kind of like an auto grind here, like if I had to liken it like a mobile game, Like you're just minding money at that point, like once you get just now, when I signed down to a craps table, like there was a seven being thrown, like

every fucking four rolls and I'm like I can't get started. There are bets, like you can actually make bets to like bet against like the numbers getting rolled in seven actually landing, but like that's all. I'm not here to

talk about the metal craps. My point was if I learned how to play craps this year and I got bodied, that was mostly where I lost my money, and then I went back to a blackjack table and want to back that you will see yourself like playing more of like did you enjoy playing craps or do I think it's I think it's fun. I unfortunately didn't get to play at an actual craps table. I only play it on like digital ones,

because so it has gotten very expensive to gamble in Vegas. What used to be is you could walk up to a table and like bets were minimum like five ten dollars. They are now much much higher. Used to be like Thursday and Friday night bets were minimum twenty five dollars. But if you go to like the digital ones or like the machine operated ones, those still

have much lower bets. So I kind of straight away from like I wanted to bet at an actual physical craps table, but like my luck on traps was so bad that I'm just like, I don't know if I want to bet that much money on traps, right, right, right, So I just hung around the blackjack tables, and I just played the math, and like I really enjoy black jacks. So even when you're losing, it's just

like there's an energy. Like a lot of people say that if you're trying, if you're quote unquote trying to make money off of blackjack, which by the way, I never tried to make money by gambling. This is not a real thing unless you're like counting cards and that's when you get throw an

energy. People say to go to an empty table, so you're just playing heads up with the dealer, right, But like what I really enjoy is going to a full table, and like there's like a certain sense of camaraderie because it's like the table versus the dealer, and like if everybody at the table, it's like playing the math correctly, you can actually get it to where like the entire table wins and like the dealer loses, and like everybody

gets hype and it's real fun and like these are people you never met, but like there's just this energy there that I really enjoy. And like that's why I didn't really enjoy sitting in like a virtual black jack like thing or anything like that, because like half the fun is like everybody popping off when like they win big because like they split aces and like they got a pretty big bet up there. Anyway, this is nothing to do with video games. This is just the same game. I mean, you're really at a

digital machine, so that that is by nature a video game. That's true. That's true. To get back on track, let's let's talk about EVO. This EVO is definitely the biggest EVO I've ever been to. It's probably the biggest EVO ever. I think there were over eleven thousand people in attendance, over nine thousand unique competitors. It was a lot. There was a lot there. When I say like it felt like a convention, it really did, because like so you go into the event haul and it's like all

something the size of a x ROM. Yeah, and then like it's split down the middle and on the left half is just nothing but tournament sent ups. I've seen the videos of block throughs of this year's EVE. Yeah, and then all the right is like all the convention stuff, like you had Crunchy Roll and like all the Arcade shock junk food just not Vulix. I can't remember the company, but like all the arcades to companies, was there, Combo was there everywhere. I don't sponsored this event, and I could

not buy Chipotle at this event. You would think they would have a shot there, right, Like I really wanted a Brito bowl while I was there and I could not get one. It was very obnoxious. What is the deal with Chipotle? Like just sponsoring a bunch of these FCC events these days. It's very kind of about of nowhere, it is. I mean we come from uh like the FDC is no stranger to like women sponsors. You remember, you need to remember like twenty four twenty fifteen where we're sponsored by

X videos and bait pens. Oh, that is true. So like Chipole being the sponsor, it's more Chipotle is the most normal sponsor I've seen. It's fair and that's what's so weird about it. But I mean it's cool, Like I'm glad there's more visibility on the FGC and FGC, Like I

got two free meals out of Ebo, Like I can't knock that. Yeah, that's it's pretty all right by my book, Like I got a free burrito bowl for making it out of my pool and I got a free burrito bowl for watching the stream, like I am not complaining, I will take that all thing. And there there was like a whole bunch of like other events demo stations, like you can try on Project l you can try it

two. Uh. They had street funder dual demo stations there, which I don't understand the point of that when you can just download it for free on your phone and try it out that way. But that's besides the point.

If I had, they probably gave something away from playing it both, maybe maybe a really cool a really cool booth where they had a line where like you just proved that you registered that you were a registered user coruntry roll and they let you play this frame game for free and you can get back in line as anytimes as you want and try to win this prize. And they

were like a couple of cool prizes. There was a few nandos. I definitely tried for like an hour and a half to try and get the crunchy Roll Tannnderoid and I just could not get it, and I eventually gave up because somebody beat me to it. So I was like, all right, was there only one? There were two and the other one was impossible to get like it was just buried down in there, and I'm like, I want to go do something else. I've been here for an hour and a

half. Yeah, but like there there was plenty of stuff to do while you were at the event, And like I said, EVO is a spectacle. EVO is a convention. It's not just a tournament. It's you don't go there to grind. You're you're there for like the super Bowl of Fighting Games. One of my favorite moments actually is around like top ninety six, Top twenty four. I was actually in the EVENTU you try to get some casuals while I was there because I'm like, all right, it's really hard

to get casuals. But the brackets winding down to the point where there should be like a lot of open stations. Then people were playing, so I should be able to do that, and like there were, but it was also when staff was like trying to pack stuff up, So like I understand like why they had to start packing stuff up then, because like they were out of that event hall that Saturday, right because finals was all in the arena. So like I managed to get some games, but like it got

to the point where like I really just wanted to watch the matches. And it was really funny because in by the Street Fighter stations, there were two streams showing off like Top twenty four matches, and they were like directly across from each other and this giant event hall, and like it got to the

point where like the streams were playing matches like offset from each other. Like one match would be over here and then that would finished, then another match would be over there, and so like you had this group of people shuffling from like one side of the event haul to the other as each match was finishing, because everybody's just watching matches, so like they go and watch this match, and then like that match would finish, everybody would turn it around

and go to the other screen and start watching the other watch and I'm like, this is really funny. But it was really cool and like Street Fighters six, Top eight or Top six, I really hope they do away with that. It was really fun to watch. I unfortunately did not get to see it in the arena because I think the arena tickets had told out before we got a chance to buy them. I also personally have an issue with

that being a separate part of the ticket. I understand that that arena is probably expensive, but the trip itself was expensive from like five hundred dollars for the flight and then the hotel and then registration was almost two hundred dollars for me. Like, even it's not cheap. I'm surprised that fucking eleven thousand people winto this because it's not a cheap trip at all. It's it's not.

But they also give you the spectacle, right, so the bug will Okay, yeah, that's very true all in all, the fun event, I look forward to going again next year, and now that EVO is done with, I can continue furthering my Street Better sixth career. I managed to land five hundred and thirteenth out of seven thousand something or other people. Uh so not bad. I've hit it out of my first round pools, lost in my second round pools. But honestly, for a game only being out

two months, I can't complain that's pretty decent. Good thank you. But now that EVO is over and I don't have any like big majors coming out CEO Taku, the Street Better Stick's going to be at that for some reason. But so now I'm kind of exploring other avenues for Street Fighter six.

I've actually started playing Ken just to take from DJ, and I've been focusing on getting better with Ken simply for the fact that, like, there are certain aspects of DJ that really frustrate me, and it's part of the meta of Street Fighter six, where like DJ has, DJ has strengths and flaws, and he's a really strong character, don't get me wrong, but there are certain aspects that really annoy me, particularly his his inefficient I'm not going

to call it bad because it's not bad because he has a flash kick, but his inefficient anti air game where DJ is designed as this like pseudo rushdown character game, but when it comes to defense, his anti airs are really lackluster, Like they don't stop a lot of the really good jumpings in this game, except for his jack knife Magnum, which is his his flash kick. Move his hold down for two seconds or not two seconds, hold down for like thirty frames, and then hold up and then he does like the

upticks. The problem with that is, like when DJ's playing neutral, all of his really amazing buttons force him to not be charging, so that makes him really weak on a sort of antire game because his normal anti airs are just not good. They often get stuffed or lose or they're too slow, and so he pretty much just has to hold jump ins a lot of the time, which is can be really frustrating from a neutral aspect, especially when

you're playing against more wild players. Anyway, I really wish I could stop this guy from jumping in, but like, I'm just never in a situation where I can do that, because like I'm trying to play this ground game and I'm trying to get him to stop jumping at me, but it's getting

like it's difficult. So like I wanted to explore other avenues of like character, Like anti airs are very important in Street Fighter, and they're very important to me, Like I like having a good antire coming from Street Fighter four where Dudley had Sam Medium, which was probably one of the best antiars of the game, or like bb Tag or Blazement Proper, where my had this

giant freaking swite that said you're not going to be in the air. So like having good anti airs and being able to stop my opponent from comming is really important. So like Ken offers that because he has a sure Hugan. Shureugans are really good like they have head and vulnerability, they're just really good at stopping people from jumping. In the other aspect is I think DJ's low

game is particularly weak compared to the rest of the cast. So his crouching medium kick is a sweep, which is traditionally just a normal pope for most characters, and they're sweeping is usually delegated to their roundhouse. Well, DJ has two sweeps, And where this is a problem is is it allows people to sort of walk out out of his pressure or play a like utual based game against him with far less risk than other characters, particularly because of the

drive Rush system. So the drive Rush stem you're able to drive rush cancel any special cancelabowl normals. And this is also contains a lot of crouch median kicks from really good characters that pretty much just go half screen. So the threat of their low game is so much stronger than DJ's in this game. So like playing the neutral game them versus DJ, or even just like trying to walk out of like throws and tick throws or whatnot, the risk is

so much greater versus like Ken or Luke or jury versus DJ. Where like okay, if you try to walk out of his pressure or try to walk away from his throw and he hits you with his crash medium kick, You're just gonna get swept for five hundred damage, get up, and then you're in the same situation again, meaning DJ is going to have to make you guess like forty more times, whereas a luker can can like laying one crashing medium kick on you and lead into like a fifty percent combo, right,

And that sort of as like I played a really long set versus a luke and like that kept coming up to the point that it was like frustrating me. Like the matchup felt so bad because this sort of like aspect of the neutral was so skewed against me. It is, it's a very strong option. And again I'm not saying DJ's a bad character, far from but like I think that's one of the things that keeps him from being like one of the best characters in the game personally. But be that as it may.

That and just wanting to play a new character has lent me just starting playing Ken the Street Lighter six and That's where I'm going to go forward. And I'm not saying I'm roping DJ. I'm just right now, I'm just playing Kenre you're exploring here, you're playing around. I'm playing with Ken. You play them in the beta, right, so it's a character you are familiar with, and he just kind of I love it, yeah, pretty much. I also think he has like the coolest level three in the game.

Oh let's sit down, the shut up. Yeah no, it's it's actually like two of the coolest characters that I would eventually hope to like to play someday is like JP and Seun. I love watching them, Like I hate fighting those characters, but I love watching people play those characters. I think those characters are super cool and they're very unique in this game. They just have like so many different options, and the combo routes are so cool.

Like I watched Cockero play JP and he's just doing like these five hundred Galaxy Brain combos, and I'm like, this is the sickest shit ever. I would be molding if this was happening to me, but this is tight, and you know, hopefully, one day, you know, I'll try and force myself to check out one of those characters, because I do eventually want to get proficient with at least half if not all of the caster Street Fighter six just in sort of my sort of my journey at getting very good at

that game. Yeah, I appreciate knowledge about the characters that are playing exactly, and I think one aspect playing Ken is supposed to help me deal with is I feel like up to this point, when I play fighting games, there's a part of me that doesn't necessarily learn the game, but simply learns

the character that I'm playing. And that's why when I play a new character or play like something like that, I feel so lost when I really shouldn't be, because the rules that I have learned and applied from the character that I was already playing should apply to the new character and the transition should be faster, right, So, like I'm hoping that playing other characters is going

to help me understand the game better and not just the characters. Yeah, I mean it gives you more perspective of different aspects of the game in theory that should uh just help you, you know. Yeah, that's that's my hope. But that's that's uh, that's the Street Better six front that I'm sure I'll be bringing every recording at this point just because I love that game.

The game is real cool, they'd say, funny. Before you continue on, I want to take a quick break because there's like some feedback coming through on your end and it's driving me nuts. So let's fix that real quick. Oh okay, all right, look up, I'll just stitch these things back together. Boom, all right, and we are back from that. Technical difficulties have been fixed. This is what happens when I'm in charge of recording. Everything breaks naturally, drew you. That's finishing up freet Fighter.

H yeah, sorry, so the stream Fighter six. And also while I was traveling and I was gone for about a week, so I wanted to have a game that I could play that was going to be too much of an investment but would also like me substantial enough to like keep me distracted for like a week. And what I decided to play was a game from Team Osano. Because I'm just fresh off that Octopath. Kick is the remake of Livillage, Live Alive or Live Alive, Potato Potato Live Alive, Love

Live, Love School, Idol Festival, carry on. But so I decided to check this game out because you know, it's been it's been sitting in my back long since last year. It came out last year surprisingly like out of nowhere. It was a really cool announcement. I was really happy to see that because I've always heard like good things about well, excuse me,

Live Alive, and so I finally sat down and checked it out. And so basically what Live Live is is it gives you seven characters to where you They all take place like, they have unique stories and chapters and you can pretty much pick any character that you want and you'll just start out in their chapter and you'll play out their story. And the best way I can describe it this is like this game is an RPG, but also it's not an

RPG. It's a lot of different things than the ones, right, It's it's definitely like got hints of Earthbound and Near Like as I'm playing these games, I definitely get like Earthbound vibes and Near vibes like these very like, hey, I'm an RPG, but also I'm not an RPG and like a genre switch a little bit here and there. Yeah, like that's why.

Yeah, Yeah, that's what made me like really make that near comparison where I'm just like, this game reminds me a lot of Near where like you're you're playing an near as an action RPG, but like, over the course of near you've played like five different genres of games yeh, and like livill If is no different. I don't want to talk about it too much because I really want Rob to play it, because I think the game is very ripcorp and like I am currently sitting at like the door to the final boss.

I have not beaten the game, but like I've put all the time, I've gotten all the way there, and like I'm kind of just blown away by what this game is. The best way I can sum up this game is like as I was playing it there there are definitely some aspects that made me like, go, man, I forgot this is a thirty year old game. Yeah, but then that's immediately followed by I can't believe that

this is a thirty year old. Like there's so many aspects of this game that feel like so fresh and unique and unlike anything I've ever played in any other game, let alone RPG before. It is fredibly ambitious. I can't believe the Super Nintendo was able to like run this game. It's wild to me. It's it's great us I'm counting that yes, I understand that this was a remake done in HD two D, and the game does looked that

pretty on Super Nintendo. But I'm sure it looks just live. It looks good, and I mean mechanically it's still there, like everything is still like it's just not in HD two D, right, right, So everything that's blowing your mind is still going to blow your mind originally, and it is one of those like legendary games that people talk about, and it's just like you're not going to experience a game like this for at least for a very long time, right until some of the games like Near comes out that like

subverts like expectations and genres or you see you kind of see like, uh where where octopath kind of comes from? Right in a sense of like, yeah, definitely see like a lot of Octopaths sort of DNA or vice versa. Right, you see Live lives DNA inside of uxor path. Right. But but yeah, there's a lot of games that like draw direct inspiration from Live a live and one of my one of my friends has stated that a guy that made Undertail, Toby Toby Fox. Yeah, Toby Toby Fox.

It's very clear that he played Live Live all Along. Yes, yes, absolutely that that that is like one of the big inspirations there. And like, I just I don't know what I expected going in, to be honest, because like one of the main reasons I checked it out was like I needed a short game. That's another plus for Live Live, by the way,

is at max you're putting like maybe thirty person it's relatively short. It's and like even then like you can stop for a bit, like you can do a story and then like stop a bit and then like come back. So like it's it's fairly noncommittal, and I like that. But the main reason I checked it out is like I wanted to play more Team Asano projects because I really wanted to, uh just feed off that optopath high that I've

been having. And like it's it's a Team Asano game in that they did the remake, but it's not a Team Assano game either, right it is. It is not their title, it is not, but they definitely drew a lot of inspiration from that game. And again, like this game, like where I am not right now, this game is definitely like way up there with the greats for me at this one, I cannot believe that this

was a Super Nintendo title. I cannot. It's it's so good. And I mean also it's scored by a soundtrack from Yokoshi Mamura, who if you have played Kingdom Harts, if you've played Super Mario RPG, Radiant Historia, like you understand like that is kreme de la kreme when it comes to soundtrack composers, and Goole Live is no different. It is so good. So like you, you have like very interesting storytelling, like really unique gameplay mechanics,

a very compelling soundtrack like live a Live is the whole package. And I can't wait to do a spoiler cast with you, Rob, like once we're gonna get Lewis on here, because like I was screaming with Lewis about it earlier, We're gonna get Lewis on there. We're gonna get you and we're gonna do a spoiler cast about it, just so I can gush about the game and like what it so well sounds good to me. I mean,

I am forcing it up my my cueue. It was a game of I was going to get to anyway, like that was on the docket of my games to play this year, but it has moved up the list. Once I clear out one game on my tip on my cueue, it goes right in there. So I will have it beat by this time next month and we'll we'll schedule that for sure. It is it is in scene to me what that game is, like, ah's so good, so funny, like it goes, it goes in directions that you really don't expect it to

and like you can definitely see like we're off the path like pulls. It's sort of like ideas from in sort of like taking these characters who seemingly have nothing to do with each other and like weaving some sort of tail between them all mm hmm, and oh it's it's wow, like did you did your headphone that? No, it just got disconnected because I think it just reconnected. Hey he's bad. That's weird. Well it is because you're you're producer. It's because of me. Yeah, yeah, this is all blame any

issues on me. It's I am bad with the just hit the start button everything. I don't want to say games. I would compare it too, because I don't want to give anything. Like the near comparison is there, but that's pretty obvious from like the surface level of like what you're looking at and what you probably already know from like watching a trailer or something. You're

like, Okay, this is definitely something. It's different than your average RPG near but like there are things that, like it hit me in ways that certain other games did that I'm just like if I say that, I'd be giving things away, right, very cool, Like it's it's amazing that like I haven't been totally spoiled on that game, considering like how often it comes up more often than not in like conversations over the over the years, because

I know a lot of people that that love that game. Right, So anytime like you talk about the quote unquote golden era of RPGs and like ness, rpds and stuff like that, like Live Alive comes up a lot in discussions, and I've heard a lot about Live alf Live Alive, Live Alive, and it's it's one that's like I'm eventually going to get to it, I promise, uh, and I just don't. But like, surprisingly I have been spoiled all that much on it, and like I know, if

you don't know anything about it, I'm not gonna say anything. But I mean nothing like to the point where I can be like, oh, yeah, let's let's talk about this central point, you know what I mean. It's just like small little bullets here or there. And if anybody wants like a deeper breakdown of some of Live Live, I mean, Lewis has been on here to talk about it before, where he's talked about his journey through some of those chapters and gives you a pretty good feel of like how different

each one is. So you can probably find that episode that, like I wrote from now the fuck out of Lewis like holding this in and not streaming about this like once he beat the game, because I'm like, I like, I just got here and I want to fucking go to the mountain tops stream about this game. Man. And I understand I have a tendency to like wear my passion on my shirt sleeve. But it's a good game. It's a good game, and it's it's great that it like even within the

context of twenty twenty three, it is still an amazing game. Like that's the cool part, right, Like it is a remaking game that was not

thirty years game is thirty years old. I cannot believe it and it still hits like that, and that's how you know it's quality, because like there's some games that maybe like gets remade and it's like, oh, this is a classic, but then it comes from like caveats of like justest remember that this was a game from X time period, and it's like put yourself back in like that mind space and it's like, Okay, this is cool,

this is great. But like this, this game clearly feels modern in a way that like it could come out this year and you never would have guessed that it was a thirty year old video game, and that's very cool. There are there are very few games that I feel can really stand that test of time. The ones that come to mind are like SuperM RPG, Coroner Trigger. I feel like those are other games that also sort of stand that

test of time. Absolutely agree. I mean, RPG is coming out this year as a remake, but like that game, just it has always felt right to me, and so I fully expected the remake, like even if it's just a complete graphical overhaul, and everything is best saying, fine a game, if you asked me, it's perfect as it is. And you can anecdotally talk about like Chrono Trigger where Sky just played through it literally a

couple of months ago for the first time ever. Really yes, yes, And the one thing that he really mentioned to me when I was asking about, like, hey, what games set out to you this year? And it didn't have to be of this year, just like what games have you played? And he was just like, I played through Cronic Trigger for the first time, not really knowing much about chron Trigger, just hearing about it, and he's just like, I understand, I get it in that.

You know, that is a game that was like my live a live for the longest time, because like I played it for a little bit when I was like in high school, right, but I it was on an emulator and I never got to finish it. And then like I got to college and I've gotten to a group of friends and like they were I was like, like, younlay, I've actually got spoiled for me, unfortunately by someone who just wasn't thinking. They're like, oh, it's a twenty year old

game. You assume everybody has play you just got But like even with that, that game still hit me. Like when I finally sat down and played it and they beat it, that game just hit me on such an emotional level. Even knowing what happens, Yeah, because like it's more that game is more than just the story. That game is, like it has some gorgeous set pieces, It has a beautiful sound, right, it has an

amazing battle system. Like someone once told me that if a game, if a story is spoiled for you, and like that was the only way you're going to enjoy it, is inherently not good because that means that every every following like play through or watch or whatever, is just not going to be as good as the first one. So when you know that, like you can go into a game, whether it's been spoiled or not, and like it just hits you, right, that's when you know that you have something

special. And I think that's what Chrono Trigger is and that's what RPG is. And again I think like if I played through Live a Live again, like after I beat it, I would just be like, man, the section is so tight, Like it's just truly is something special. That's fucking awesome. I love that. But because I don't want to go into detail until the spoiler guests, I will leave it at that. Of course, of course we'll we'll get that planned and hammered out by the end the next

month. I promised that that is a rib promise, and I don't break my promises. Easily understood, understood. Other than that, I think that's it. I also played a lot of theaterrysm like while I was traveling, because the Octopath songs finally game and I think I mentioned that last recording. But also I was able to play the Liver Live songs as well because they finally listen to. But man, that's the best theater Rhythm I've ever played,

and I really liked that game. I think getting it on a handheld console is the way to go. So get on your Steam deck or your Switch. I actually don't I thought it would Switch only for right now how much check? Well, no, because it's on PlayStation as well. But I don't think if you get it I would. I would get it for Switch because it is. It is the perfect handheld game. In fact, I hate playing it on TV. Yeah, that would. That's a game

that I would just play in bed before sleeping. If anything. Theater Rhythm is not on Steam okay, yeah, Switch sale man m hm oh wait no, no, no, no, it is? Oh it is? It is. This is so weird. Why is it so hard to confirm this. It is not, it is not. It's weird because there was this like this like an uh an event article thing on Steam that points to the demo. But that's like pointing to a console demo that's not on Steam and it's not on same Like, this is weird. Yeah, that's very

awkward, very awkward. So other consoles only, Well, yeah, I definitely grab it on a switch tail if you can't. Hopefully it goes on sell at some point. But that's that's where I'm at in games right now. A copy Trails from Reverie came in, so that's the next thing on the docket. I would like to start getting my Game of the Year stuff in a row. I have several games I don't like. I still want to put some time in Cheers of the Kingdom, Like I really want to

sit down and grind that out. I have to. Oh, we didn't even talk about in New You that's also coming out of this year a couple of weeks. No, it's September. Oh that isn't a couple of couple of weeks. Wow, I can't do this, Yeah, and then you will. Did you read the book I'm about to No, not that I know when I'm starting. I read it the other night. These things very

curious. It's your thoughts. I'm very curious. It's your thoughts. I mean, it isn't a thing where like I'm probably gonna need a refri so both other things. No, No, I just very curious of your thoughts of the book itself. Okay, okay, all right, I'm very bad just from a just just from a storytelling perspective, like we can just chat about it after you finished reading it and be like okay, cool, okay, all right, definitely read it before you start playing it, though I

will read it before I start playing. It's gonna happen. I got you, I got you. But that's where I'm addling game Front. There's like seven games coming out in the next like three weeks that I want to play, So that's gonna be fun, good luck, good look. Uh. On my end of things, I almost like forgot what I was gonna talk

about. Funny enough, I was very prepared. I was like, oh, I got a lot of things to say today, and then as we started recording, it just like left my brain and I was just like, oh, so I obviously I finished talking about Traveler too, right, We're gonna get into that in a little bit. But also upon finishing that, I was able to return to U Yakasa Ishan like a Dragon Asian, So that that is a game that is now going to be a main focus for

me, alongside a couple of other things. That is a series I really want to sa tell them to stop, tell them just do it. Just start playing it. Job everything else and play it. Actually, I'll make it easier for you. Just start with judgment. There's only two of those. I've actually been eyes to not do that. Why because there were things I will apparently appreciate more heaving prior to Yaka. It goes both ways.

It goes both ways, like you can start at first and do judgment, or you can do judgment and then go to Yakasa goes I'll also say it is the Yakasa games are already on judgment games or not? This this is fair start start yakas is zero. Like right now, I'm looking at it as a fucking turn it on. Tell me to start right now and then tell me to start. I will do that. No, I will tell

you whether or not you do it or not. It's another thing. Uh, I am telling you to go put that disk in your console right from now. Anyway, I finished the first chapter of Oian. This is the game that takes place in like the single kup era of Japan, right, and that games grabbed me by the balls. Man. It starts incredibly strong,

uh. In In so for a lot of these games, they almost have like the the initial chapter it is like a little bit of a like they talk you into a crazy scenario and then it's like a low burn until it like leads up into like what the story is going to be? Right, this one just like goes and like in a way it escalates in a way that I have not seen in like a little while. It is just like here's the first hour of the game and you're like, oh shit,

uh and now I'm just like I need to play this game. I'm thinking about this game a lot. Uh. It's fucking fantastic. Yeah. The only thing my my issue and this is also my issue of like judgment and stuff after playing Ya Kasa seven, is that like I don't really care from

the beatum up system and that's no different here. It's it's clunky in a way that like it just It reminds me of like a PS two three D beat them up right and in both like the fun goofy ways, but also in like some frustrating ways in terms of like fackle and isn't like particularly great in in some other instances. But it's like it's fine, you know, it's not it's whatever. I kind of wish they went all the way in with their RPG system because I find that to be so interesting. From Yakasa

seven that was like a really fun battle system. But but the beat them up is is okay. The gun is like, so you have four different stances. You have you just have like your brawler, your fists if you just want to punch due to just toss them, toss them around. Uh, you have a sword, you have a gun stance, and then you have sword pluck on right. Uh, let me tell you that gunstance. This is the jankie. This game is guns dance. There. There there

is no reloading in this game. It is just like rapid fire pistol shots. So like, oh so it's kind of just a John Woo game. I'm just like bashing the fucking fut and it's just like kid you or or what's his name Sakama Toyoma. I think, uh, it's just like standing there and just like and the enemies can't touch me. I'm just like, oh this this is extreme cheese. And I find this hilarious. Uh they

did not think this through. Maybe they did think this through and they just didn't care, uh, which is also a very like yeah because the thing, Uh, just break the game in any ways you want the the sword pluss gun is a fun style that that's like equivalent to like a break dancing style. It is very flashy, a lot of like quick slashes and like three sixty gunshots and the least stuff like that. So it's so it's gun kata right. Uh, It's it's fun, It's it's goofy. It's fine

for what it is. It's a game that like I'm not gonna turn like the difficulty up on or anything like that because I don't care about the combat that much, but like mashing through it is it's fine. But the story

is like some good, good shit. Uh. And then it also has like the Yakauza staple of like having very goofy side quests as well to like balance out the main scenario that is like very very serious, and that's very interesting, just like juxtaposition with the series, right, just like here's these goofy, quirky side quests and then like, but I need to get back to this like murder Mystery though, And it's a line that like only this

series can like walk so finely. It's very weird. I can't wait for you to one day like play through these uh in in really come to understand like what that means. But yeah, I'm gonna keep going through. I'm in it. I'm probably gonna try to beat it within like two weeks. We'll see these games are. They can be very long, but usually the critical path is like probably twenty to thirty ish hours, which isn't like the

worst thing in the world. It just depends on whether or not, like I do end up getting caught up inside quests, or if it has fun mini games. Because I don't know what mini games are in this game, I assume there are some. I don't expect to find a virtual fighter cabinet here like in the other games, but that would also be very funny. If there's just like an arcade machine in Feudal Japan, why not, I wouldn't put it past them to just like play it off as some weird contraption.

So here's my question, which will de turn on whether I get to the Aircus games anytimes Fantasy said Rebirth come out this year, next year, Winter twenty twenty three. Take that as you will, So anytime anytime between, like what December in March twenty twenty four. Yeah, I think it will probably be early next year. Yeah, I'm pecking. I would say February. I think I would play bench the game on play Crisis Score, a short game. You should play Crisis Score before Rebirth. I'm aware.

I'm barely just saying Chi to stop making video games. Robs. They don't listen to me. I've not missed the video game. They don't listen to me. But yeah, this continues the line of just really good, good games out of the studio. They know what they're doing. I mean, it is the remake of of a p S three game, so like I do think that they they added a few things here or there, but largely

the story is intact right. So it is a case of like level where this game was out before, but we're finally getting a chance to play in the West for the first time. Officially and oh okay, it was never released here. It was never released over here, right, but it's fantastic. It's top tier storytelling out of this team that knows how to do it. The other game I've been sinking my teeth into after tossing and turning for probably two days on whether or not I should buy Balder's Gate three and then

getting peer pressured by Twitter to buy Balderskate three. I have successfully bought Balder's Kate three. I tried, and then like, but what if everybody is playing it? And I'm like yeah, And then like what if I also if almost a bit, and then like what if Humble Bundle is like deal? And I'm like hmmm mmmm. Anyway, I ended up with Skate three.

Uh. I want to start with this game. I want to make it clear that, like, I am not a D and D person, I am not a CRPG person, I am not a tabletop RPGs a person. I for the first time this year, actually have played a tabletop RPG campaign with Asher called frost Haven that we have been playing like every couple books will sit down and play. That was my first experience with one of those.

So I'll have a lot of experience in this space. But what I do have experience with and what I really fell in love with, despite like not really caring about the genre as a whole, was Divinity Original Sin too.

That was one of my favorite games for how insanely open ended. Uh the storytelling in the Narration was for that game as well, like a really cool tactics combat system in it's just like a really fun playground of an RPG that that for the first time, I think in probably my entire gaming career, as it were, I felt like I played through a story that like you know that that thing, like the marketing will say, is like you play through this game and this is your story. You know. That's how

I felt playing that game for the very first time. That that I for the first time ever, that is the feeling I got out of a video game where like, this is my story. In the way that the Narration like allowed me to do the things that I wanted to do and like carve

the story out to allow me to do those things right. I could kill mainline MPCs through just like either a mis click maybe it was an accident, or maybe just like I had a side quest that told me to give in too, like some dark side to kill this MPC, and the game is like, well that happened, Switch the narration around a little bit, go

do this instead to carry forward through the main path. So how how I end up through that game it is very different than how I actually played that game, or how my old housemate Paul, how he played through it.

And then that doubles doubles up when you're playing multiplayer, uh, and like everybody can do their own actions independent of each other, right, So like Asher could pick up a quest that in fault was killing an NPC that maybe I need for my quest, and maybe we're deep into role play that like he's not like telling me what he needs to do, you know what I mean. And then all of a sudden, I go up to this NPC

and they're dead, and I'm like, what the fuck happened here? And He's like, I don't know, I just saw him there, and I'm like, shit, what am I supposed to do with this item? Now you have instances like that that just kind of like naturally occur. That is just very funny to play off of. So even like the multiplayer experience is very much like you're creating your own story through this game, and the game

will account for any of the actions that you do. That game was designed by Larry and Studios, and I hold them in very very high regard just off of that one game. That is the only game I have played of them, and I hold them in insanely high regard. So they got the license to do Bolder Skate and they have come back to do Boulder Skate three, which has been in early access for a very very long time. I completely paid no attention to it. I was just like, when the game

comes out, I'll check it out. And these motherfuckers they did it again. But more I saw somebody us about this game. It is. It's right now one of the highest rat rated games of all time in terms of PC like and I think it's like number two, like right behind something else in terms of all games period. It's insane what they have packed into this game. It's it's wild because, like we're so used to these days, games coming out like either being like unfinished or broken or DLC. It's just

the star feeling. You know, we already know that's gonna be a mess. Games come out with battle passes and cash shops, for like seventy dollars games, and you know there's always a stigma around like new games, and you kind of feeling like jipped in some ways, you know what I mean?

That just comes from like every Triple A title these days, save for a few, Like there's some kinds what's out there, but this is one that comes out that's like, here's a sixty dollars complete package, Like this is worth way more than what we're asking you to charge that we're charging you

for. Honestly, it's it's fucking phenomenal. Just like the way the game begins, it's just very very interesting where you're you're on this ship and you've been hijacked by a mind flare, and it's just like what the fuck is going on? It immediately throws you into like a fascinating scenario that like within the first thirty minutes of the game, you come to know like at least some characters that you could recruit for your party. They could end up dying

in those thirty minutes. Like it's very you could end up not rescuing them, you could just end up just organically going through and being like I feel like I missed somebody or not even know that you missed somebody. Right, It's just like it's kind of crazy. Micro management in this game would murder me. It's it's not bad actually, because like you don't know what you're missing. You're just making decisions as you go through it, right, You're

just like, oh, this seems like interesting choice to make. Here, I feel paralysis because they'll be like, what'll happen? You're gonna pick one, but you're going to pick one. One is going to speak out, that's gonna be like, this is a very Drew answer, And I'm going to just be Drew here, and I'm going to see where Drew leads me being Drew. What happens if it Drew gets Kid into this smaldest Gate world?

One of the choices will Drew make. But it's it's really cool how many options that they do give you, and they are very interesting choices when it comes to like the multiple choice sections of the dialogue, and it does get There's another layer to it too, in terms of like creating your character, so like you have different like race responses, right, So like I created a t flang, which feels the closest to like being a black person's

honestly, like, there's a lot of racism around around this this race that I'm like, m I feel a spiritual connection here. And there's been some really good choices that are just based off of me playing as a t fling that like Chase or Ashure wouldn't get because they're playing some other race. And that leads us down like a completely different conversation path that again doesn't really feel

canned. It just it feels organic as I'm like talking through these these characters, and I wouldn't even think twice that there was another option for me to pick as we go down these choices. It's like I never I never really find myself thinking about like what if I picked this. I'm just like, this is my answer. They gave me a satisfying as to my to my answer, uh, and we're carrying on. And then and then when I talked about the scenario with like Chaser Ashton, they tell me what they did,

I'm like, oh, that's interesting, that's completely different. Huh. It's it's crazy. See, I might have a lack of commitment to be able to be okay with that. I don't know, man, I think you would be okay because again, strangely, like as you're playing it, Yeah, it's it's it sounds weird, but like, I don't think you'll get hung up on it in the way that you think you will. I really doubt but I mean you would have to try it and see at the

end of the day. Right, It's been a really fun experience. I'm only like maybe three or four shours into like my campaign, but I did start two of them, so I have a I have a solo campaign, and then I've started like a multiplayer one with with Chase and Asher that we're gonna try to at least play a few times a week to get through it.

And it's already it's wildly different than than me being on on my own, like some of the shenanigans that you get it too, Like there's there's two things that like I want to I want to talk about and give an example of that gives you a sense of like how crazy this game can get

or how fascinating this game can get. I mentioned earlier that like when you're playing multiplayer in these games, you are entirely independent, right, you guys are working together for a common goal, But like I really can't control what Chase does. I can't control with Asher does all this jass there. There's there's a moment where we came up to like this abandoned it almost seems like an abandoned temple, right and there are these uh, these bandits that are

there. Uh. I didn't realize Chase started talking to to any of them. So I walk up and I'm like, oh, what's going on here? Uh? It Chases apparently trying a diplomacy and that fucking fails. So I just walk in and in a battle immediately starts. So I'm like, what the fuck happened? He was like, I don't know, man, they just started attacking me. I'm like, mm. So we we cleared the stage and there is a locked door. So I go up to locked door and one of the NPC is behind it is like asking about one of

his friends that we literally just murdered. Uh, And I'm just like, hmmm, what if I can deceive this guy and just tell him and get him to open up the door. So I'm trying to negotiate with this guy on the door and all I hear is is is Ashure and Chase in the background. There they're just talking. They're just like, Hey, what's this hole in the ground? Do you do you think you can break it? And I'm like, what is happening? I can't I can't see what they're

doing because I'm in conversation, but like I just hear them. And then all of a sudden, I hear an explosion and I'm like, oh, we made the whole bigger. You want to jump on it? And I'm like, what are they doing? So they jump down this hole. I finished negotiating, dude opens up the door. I walk in. I end up murdering this dude, and I just want to loot what's in the area.

Meanwhile, while I'm over here, Jason Asher are like getting getting ganged up on and by like five bandits because they just drop down in the middle of like this encampment, and I just hear them. I just hear them

like trying to survive, like they're they are literally going through it. And I'm just like over here, like a couple of rooms over because because this door leads to like eventually where they are, I'm just a couple of rooms over just like loot in the place, just like chilling doing my own thing, grabbing everything I want and I walk through one door, and it's like that one gift of like the guy with the pizza box runt coming into the

Yeah, that's literally what it feels like. I open up the door and like the fog of war opens, and like I see, like Chase is like three HP left. Actually is a bar that's just like singing in the corner of this like small room that they're trapped in, and our NPC companion is like fucking useless. I'm like, what's going on here? So it becomes a case of like I'm trying to rescue these guys before they fucking die.

And it's just like a funny, silly scenario that like none of us really expected was going to happen, right, And it's just these things like happen in this game in a way that's just very fun and silly and gofe. And then like the other scenario that I think about is after all of that, we get to like our first main town of the game, which involves like this small druid village basically being overrun by goblins, and we have to like kill the goblins so that it's safe to go into the village.

So we have to save them one of the NPC's. Unfortunately, if we didn't save them, all one ends up dying. So they died. Everybody's like, man, that sucks, he got killed. We're gonna open up the gates everybody can walk through. So Jason Asher walked through. I go up to the dead body. I'm just like, but what do you got? Though? It's not good? No, it is not good to loot the body of like Allied people. Right, Wow, they're not using it. They don't, That's what I's saying. They're not using it, right,

but you know, desecrate the dead or something like that. Whatever. I don't know U, but this guy has some good ship. So I was like, I'm gonna take a ship. No one's gonna know. That's fine. I'm just gonna take it. So I take it. Ashler comes back out. He does something with the MPC nearby or whatever, and as he's starting to walk back in, this MPC like walks over it to me. It's just like, hey, did you touch that body? And I'm

like, what are you talking about? So I do? I do some of the deception choices and unfortunately, like I failed the the role check that that occurs there Meanwhile, as I'm like trying to avoid any sort of uh, you know, punishment for this crime. Uh, Chason actually get into like a side quest where they end up starting like some fight that is occurring inside of the village. I don't know what the fuck they're doing, but

again I hear them communicating they're fighting something. Meanwhile, my ass literally gets like thrown in jail. Like it goes to a long screen and all of a sudden, I'm just like, uh, all my shit is gone. I am behind bars and I'm like, guys, I'm in fucking jail, and they're like, what is it. It's just like this whole it's almost like a rib side quest, just like, h I'm not gonna break out

of jail. Meanwhile, I'm hearing them again like trying to survive your Sunds very much like having your own D D. It is one hundred percent having your own D and D scenario, and the game is like the perfect DM to allow all of this ship to occur and still push forward like a narrative. It is incredible. This game is simply incredible. How they made it, I don't know, but I highly, highly highly recommend anybody give it a chance. Even if you're not like into D and D or Tabletop Proper

or in anything like that. It's just it's an amazingly well done game. The combat is great. Is pretty much like a term based style or like a tactic style game. A lot of people like liking it to xcom in some ways. If you've played like Velcire Chronicles or anything like that, like it. It feels a long a similar line in some ways, and just

like fantastic vo work, good writing. It's I love this game to death and I'm nowhere near beating it, but every time I pick it up, I am just like blown away by what it is allowing me to do. Somebody made the comparison of like, uh, this is like the Tears of the Kingdom of the genre, and like, I understand what that means. If you think it, this game will let you do it. It gave

you a huge fucking toolbox. And I'm small brained, but they give you a huge fucking toolbox of just like, hey, we gave you a shove command. Do what do with it as you will? And you're like, can I just I will push somebody off the cliff? You will? Absolutely, you will, absolutely do. What if you just push them in? What if you just push them into the into the ocean, just drown them? Yeah? Yeah, it's like you have a throw command. You can just throw a random shit. Uh, potions are only made for you.

But what if you throw it at your ally? Will that work? What? It works? You threw it at them, the bottle breaks on them and they get healed. Sure, you throw a pot at an undead enemy, you could. I don't know what happens, but I'll let you know next time I play. Yeah, I'm gonna need you to test that formal. Sure? Why not? It's incredible that the toolbox that they give you and you could just like fuck around anyway, and then I guess accounts for

it. It's ten out of ten. I love this game. Stay tuned for more bald scation against So let's get the meat of this discussion Traveler too, all right, final spoiler warning if you do not want spoilers Traveler to leave now, or don't bitch at us because we gave you a chance. That's it. Count down from five, five, four, three two one. If you're still listening to this, you have accepted the terms that you were okay, hearing Acabad driver, wou choose spoilers that will not be held

responsible or anything that gets spoiled. So I'm gonna just jump straight to the fucking end the how do how do you say it? Vibe feed Fight Day fay Uh? I think I agree with you that VDA is like one of the cool boss fights on a China based r J. That boss fight is so fucking sick. I think I was stringing at the top of my lungs. It's really fucking cool from a lot of different standpoints. Mechanically, it's it's super cool, even though that fight is insanely anti RIB. Oh yeah,

no, I knew you were gonna it is anti RIB. But what what saves? So what saves from like me hating it? Because I did enjoy it that that fight put me through the ringer in a way that I'm just like, That's why I was like asking you questions, right, because I really didn't want to like die and start over, and I was just like, I need to so at least fundamentally how a few of these things

work so I can devise a plan. Because uh, if in case you guys listening don't know, I am not tourists for like not leveling characters. I stick with like the characters I like and use them throughout the entire entirety of the game. And this boss fight has you used all the characters. Right, so half of my party is literally under leveled, Like three of them, Well, what's up, I'll poorly equipped as well? Oh they have nothing. They are not equipped well at all. Three of them are

like under forty. One of them is like at forty exactly like and I think the boss fight is recommended like fifty five or something like that. Something like that. So like I was like, Drew, I need to know a few things how this works so I can like plan over and like there are turns where I'm sitting there for like five to ten minutes just like how do I do this? How do I but that? But that's cool. And one of my favorite things about Optipeth Traveler, just like as a as

a series at this point is its battle system. Uh. It is one of my favorite time based vile systems, like of all time, right up there with like S and T games and stuff like that, because of the

break system. Right, So, like even though all under leveled, I can play around the break mechanics to like get through fights, you know what I mean, Like I can properly strategize on how to survive this encounter despite being massively under leveled, and I did it without Like at the end of that fight, everybody was alive and I think only two people actually died throughout the course of that fight, which was very very like surprising to me.

And yeah, it was just it was just super cool. Like I like the idea of like having eight party members and like you're having to switch between them. The only thing that I wished was that maybe I got a chance to like set the the party order beforehands, because like how it works is like when when one of your characters and one party slot is it's their turn, then the person that's in that slot in the back row is also on

that turn, you can swap between them. I wish I could have like changed who was in what slot, right, because there was some some parts where I was just like, man, this is this is overlapping in a way that I will never use like thrown for example, and maybe there's like a turn where I really needed her, but like I'm prioritizing Osfald and I'm like I can't justify swopping right now, but that that's like that ultimately that's

kind of whatever. That's like a small thing, but mechanically how that fight goes down, it's really fucking cool. And and just like design is really cool, Like the music is really fucking good. Like was that SHI was tight? Like I was typing throughout that entire fucking encounter. It's it's really

just like really tight experience. And for me because I used all eight travels constantly travelers throughout the game, like being able to swap like I never felt bad like using one traveler over another because I'm like, well, I need to use thrown A because thrown these subclasses Hunter and I need her to like delay d day. So like I won't use Partisio for like this turn and

then like maybe next turn I'll use Partie. Oh that's I want to those I was gonna say, I want to give a special shout out to your son Partisio. Uh, he got the final hit. He killed it at the end, And I was like, Drew, you told me to fucking go all in and be aggressive at the very end, and your son dealt the final blow. Thank you. True. I love PARTI is so good. Yeah, no, that that final bass sequence is one of the coals

final law sequences I've ever played any turn based rpg. I've already had some pretty high expectations going from the first one because I thought Galdera from the first fight it was probably one of my favorite boss fights in an RPG because like it really challenged you to like be knowledgeable of how to like break the game. So like going into that, I'm like, I really can't wait to see like what they bring to the table for like this final boss right,

And like my first attempt, I got wrecked pretty fast. But then like once I started getting into the groove and like it swapped your party and I'm like, oh, this is exactly like Galdera. And I'm like, okay, so I guess the first party's done, which sucked because like my best my best party members were definitely on my first squad. Yeah, and then they fucking hit you and everybody just shows up and I'm like, bro,

this sister tight. Bro, So that's what I'm messaging you. And I was fucking streaming because I will, like, rob, this game is the best fucking game ever. I understand uh that that first phase funny enough.

So when it swapped the party, I was I was literally prepared to just fucking drop dead, and I was like, fuck, I'm going to lose, and then I'm gonna have to like spend the next couple of hours grinding because like, if if I lose, so how I played time based sarparties, if I end up losing a fight due to like being under leveled, I will, like out of spite over fucking level like that just like pumps me up to where like I'm not going to re engage from this fight until

everybody's at fucking seventy because fuck this ship, I will kill him. And I really didn't want to go through that. So when he swapped the party to me to to party Bat, I was like, Oh, I'm so fucking dead. This is this is so over And the only reason I won is because of Partico. He is the fucking lifesaver of that party because of hired help. That is the only fucking reason. A pretty fucking good skill.

It's so fucking good. So it's like full boost hired help thirty K. I'm glad I have like on me, just like throw the fucking money. It saved me something I have definitely abused some Particio hired help. I'm going to assume you did not attempt the Caldera Superboss fight. I have not attempt any any super Boss fight anything anything of that nature. Okay, I will go. I will probably go watch it. I don't know if i'll attempt it. I don't know if I would be able to. Okay,

so do you want me to just break down? Of course? Okay, everything's on the table. The Superboss fight is is it's Caldera again from the first game, except they super charged it. Of course fight it's fucking bullshit. So I mean this gets you going like a couple of days like you were going through it if I remember Crust. Oh yeah, no it was.

It was rough, like I was having to like reclass everybody, and I figure out just like the perfect way to like cheese this fight, but not cheese like you cheessee it in the way that the fight's cheesing you. You have to cheessee it back because the way the fight works is like you start up the normal like gold Era and like phase one and throws out like the three arms and the three arms protect the eye. And so here's the thing. It's like they all have like quadruple times the HP that they had

for the first game US Christ. And here is the best part. The appendage is that you have to like destroy to get to the eye. If you don't hit them with a weak point, they counterattack you. Do they all have different weak points? Yes, okay, there is one common week point shared across all three arms, and that was a wind interesting which is a very uncommon yeah, like attack to have like they're doing, like what is the dancer has the wind stuff? I think dancer has to win.

But like if you have like another idea, like ideas one of your like support classes, so like do you sacrifice all your support just to like break this and and so like like I immediately think of like I would just have a chet, uh have a monster that has a win. Well that's what I had to do, Like I went, uh captured a death wing, which death wing was a wind attack that also had a chance to like inscu yeah oh okay uh, And so basically like I would try to start the

fight. I think my my round on one party was like oh Chet, it was ochet Oswald. I think Casty and Partisio or knows Cassie and throne A And basically what I would do is I would like start out the turn have CASTI like just use her her apothecary stuff and give everybody like max VP and then I'd be like, oh, chet, take it away. And then like basically what that boss fight turned into is like you try to blitz it down, but that first phase will like gate keep used to where like

you can't blitz it down as much as you want. Yeah, And so like you get the second phase, so like when the arms respond, it changes all their weaknesses and then it locks their weaknesses and they still counter etective. You don't hit a weakness and because so like it locks their weaknesses for

one and every time you hit that week it changes the weakness. And like they're all offset, they're all offset and so like, but they change in order, so like you have to like single target certain ones so they're like they're all on the same one and then just like them all yeah, no that so like you get phase one down to like a system, and like then you go up to phase two, which is like the big one and like there's no like fair way to beat this boss like it has it also

has four arms, like you have like the head and the two appendages, and then like the Guldera Soul, and so like when you you can't to beat the boss, you have to defeat the Caldera Soul, but you can't really damage Gouldera soul until you beat like the three appendages like the head and the two arms. But when you do that, Guldera Soul gets four fucking turns. Oh no, and they're all like super like AoE like fucking meatier

storm, Like you're not living, They're just not. So basically what I basically what I had to do is like I had to do the strategy with Tenemos, Like one of his ex skills is Tenemos gets fucking self destruct where it drains all of his MP and it does damage based on his MP. So like, and there's there's an accessory that you can get that increases your

damage bait approportionately to how few HP you have. So basically I set up Temenos to like have like no HP and max MP, and I'm just like we're gonna and you're gonna fucking blow up, yeah yeah, and we're gonna hope that this works. And eventually I got to the point where, like I had to decide on like do I rush him or do I do I try to play defensively, and I'm just like, fuck it, we just gotta rush. The name is read, the name is red, like that

go in. That's that moment you see the name is red and you're just like all in, We're putting all on black baby, let's go. Uh. And like I was so relieved after I beat, like like that was the final trophy that I had to get to play that game. Yeah, that boss fight was rough. It really challenged like pretty much everything I needed to know about the game. I definitely look some stuff up where I was like, how did people actually do this? Because I don't know. But

that that that's those aspects of the game. I do want to talk about, like Octopath as a whole, and like just how much better of a games is than Octopath One? Is there all the say? Is there lot more than what we've covered before in that regard? Uh? I mean I we can talk about the final chapter, which is where I feel like the

game really shines, which I wasn't able to really talk about. Yeah, so the last game, like or the first game, what it does is like after you beat all the Travelers stories, and like you you finish a certain amount of side quests, you unlock the gate of Finnish in a path one which leads which has like a boss rush and then like a exposition dump between on these stones labs, and like you find out like how everything was connected. I don't feel like it's done very organically, and then you fight

called in an It's that, it's really not. It's actually like very disappointing. Honestly, you know, on top of like I don't I didn't care for like the boss Russ mechanic of that either, right, so if the

loss versus cald Era, you had to do it. Yeah, So that that literally led me to the point where like I just looked up like the end, like I've never actually finished it personally, I've looked that up because really it's it's one of those things again where like I don't want to really spend the time to love up a bunch of characters, and then you're asking me to commit to this boss rush that where if I fuck up once, I have to do it. Like that to me is like not a fun

experience. And I was like, Okay, I'm just gonna look this up I'm just I understand that if yeah, if there was literally if that game had like achievements or something, right, uh, I probably would have went through it, but like I don't feel compelled to do it when like something

like that is not there. I guess it's how I put it. But yeah, but so so this final chapter, like not only have you like by this point, by your fishing the final chapters, you can start to see like the little connections, especially like with the shadow aspect of like you mainly see it in like Ochet and Oswald's story, where like you see this enemy of the Shadow, right, like the Shadow is the one true magic

or like it's the Shadow that's coming to attack oh Chet's island. And then like you can take the connections between like well, that looks like the thing that's possessing Hikari, or that looks like the thing that is you know, possessing casties like Apprentice or whatever, and like, oh, so you can kind of see how these all are connected, and like I think the ones that are not very connected are Agnea and Partisio. They're kind of just there.

Yeah, Like I like I like their arts, Like I think they're solid stories and they're really like Partisio just always put a smile on my face, and so did Agnea. And I think Agnea is like final chapter is really sick, like the whole dance off at the end, and like she has the unique she has the unique version of like not the final bass theme but like the journey's end thing. Yeah, it's really cool. Yeah, and I really enjoyed that. But like their stories feel so disjointed compared to

everybody else's because like the shadow doesn't really their stories. They they could actually just be like their own stories. Yeah, because like with with like Partisio, right, it's more like the it's more or right, and it's like this character of that, yeah it doesn't show up every time, but like she's not really like deep deeply connected to Partisio in it anyway, right, And we'll get to we'll get to or because I do want to talk about

that. It's really fun because like I was in my mind which when she first appeared, like we can come back around to her. But like when she first appeared, I was like, dang, I was ory was playable? Boy? Did I learned later was? But like Agneas is probably like the least just jointed, but like Agnea, Like especially the way the ending plays out, Agnea is kind of like she's the storyteller. Yes, almost yes, she's like the record keeper as it or yeah kind of so.

But but as these stories are coming together, and like you you get to like the final chapter, like actually all four chapters, and like I had my own theories about like where the story was going, and like my own suspicions on like certain characters, like in in uh Temino's a story, like when you get to his chapter two and he goes to like the fell Sun

ruins and like everybody has that. I was like waiting pendant, and that made me think back to like like I had to go back, like thank god the game lets you rewatch every cut scene in the game, and I went back and I watched like the intro cut scene to like this chapter one where like one of the orphans mentioned like Mint's hairpin, and I'm like, Okay, that's not apendent, but I've got my eye on something. Something's

not right. And there's so many like subtle indications, like especially in I really like Temnos's story because like there's a lot of subtlety in his chapters and like the very beginning where he's talking with the Pope and Mint comes out and he and she like you jokingly says, hey, you're keeping secrets from me, and the pope kind of response funnily, he's like, oh, yes, gray secrets, and like if you don't think about it, if you

don't think about it, it's just like a funny like sort of interjection because like you know that Temnos is involved in something greater, and like they probably just don't want to worry his friend Mint, when in reality, maybe the Pope was already on to Mints, because as it's revealed in the final chapter, we'll get there and then like there's other aspects and like, uh, I would go and I would read some of the journal summaries just to get

like a refresher on certain things. And like as hit Caaria was my main character, and as I was going through Hitari's like the way he would talk about Kazan, I was like, this, dude's definitely up to something. Dude, I was sess of Kazan immediately, Like characters like that are always fucking schaming. Like I didn't have like the evdence behind it because I didn't like I wasn't like snooping that hard, right, but like him as a character is just putting in a way. M I didn't like peg him as

like final boss sort of material. But I was like team's up to something and I'm not sure what, and like what killed me is I finished Hikari's like final chapter first, so like because like I wanted to get him out of my party because he was already like super Highland okay, So like I went and I did his chapter first, and like there's that scene where he goes into the throne room and because I's like, go and greet you, know, your your your people and all that, and I'm like, is

he alone with the sword? Still? There? Is still there? Bro? I saw that as soon as he said, why don't you go out there? I was like, yeah, I see you, I see you, and so like as like things are coming out, it's funny. So like one of the big indications is like when you get into the final chapter, you have this mission to like relight the four lanterns of the church,

and one of them takes you back through the fells and ruins. So what's funny is ARTI Traveler too has like a lot of like really small easter eggs.

I do want to talk about thrown as chapter in a minute. But so there's like so many like small easter eggs and like little cool things, like, for example, in the I think it's gravel, where like I don't know how much you interacted with like sealing items or buying items or like reading character descriptions and all that, But there's a kid and I think it's in gravel that has a stuffed toy, which is like an item that you

see around everywhere, but like his stuffed toy is just like displayed very weirdly, like it's in caps and underscore letters everywhere, and something is weird with it. Yeah, it's like a creepy stuff there, and like you actually

there's no way for you to get this in. And like the character description is like the boy can't sleep, he always has nightmares, and like his only solace is like this bay that he talks to that helps him finally calm down, and like the idea is that this bear is like feeding off his fears and his soul. And so like there's a small little hint where if you go outside the town at night, that kid walks out completely possessed and then you fight like a ghost and then you get like the best weapon.

Oh interesting, I didn't know that. So I was always on the lookout for stuff like that because there are like small things like that here and there, and like there's a lot of there's a lot of subtlety in MT PAT Travelers, like world building and like storytelling. And there's there's an MPC that actually nobody knows and I've looked this up. Nobody knows what the purpose is. But in the town next to the fell Sun Ruins, I can't remember the name of the town, there is an MPC. There's a girl,

like a little girl. Yeah that is just like standing by the end, and if you go and talk to her, all she does is walk off. Yes, yeah, yeah, I know the guy who's talking about Nobody knows what that NPC is for. I have no idea what. I was very curious about that the first time I interacted with her, and I mean

I didn't think about it again until you just brought this up. Actually, but like when I first interacted with I was like, this is very weird, and like I met around like a little bit, just like see if I could trigger something and I was like, huh, I wonder what that's about. And then like I proceeded to not think about it until now.

But that's very funny that no one knows what that character is for. Well what's funny is I actually chased after her to like see if they were Like I went all the way to the Fells, and this is before I started the final chapter. But it was after I had already finished some of like the Travelers final chapters, right, And so I went into the Fell Sun Ruins and that's when I found all the journal pages. Yeah, this is before I even started the final chapter. I'm like, where did all these

journal pages come from? And that maybe thing. I'm like, wonder if

that's why that NPC is there pages? And I'm like, oh my god, are you it's I don't know if I'm supposed to know this, but this is crazy, uh, And like that's when you find out about like Oory and like how she was in on it, and like she got the job as a reporter to like kind of keep an eye on like all these goings ons in the world and like help her brother who was Kazan with his plan, right, and then like how you see her have this change of

part because of PARTIIO like, ah, I understand that, like the journal pages are still an exposition. I was very worried that every single temple or every single light to flame location was going to be journal pages. I was very very word because that was the first place I went to and I saw the job pages littered every fuckingwhere, and I was like, oh, this is very annoying, Like I like, I like this that are being told

of course, right, like like that's it is very interesting. But I'm like, please don't let every single location be this, because this this there's too many of me. It could have just been one journal. It could have been one, it could have been five, like the audacity to have like fucking twenty of them. Yeah, and like there are other journals for the for like these, but they're all like one yeah. Yeah, so I don't know why, and like they put them all in the same place.

It's not like something that you pick up over the course of the game, right, but like as I'm reading those, because I don't know if you remember when you do hit Cary's chapter one. Yeah, and like this was something I remember from the demo and I remember talking about it the very first time or like a very first recording. I was talking about Alcapet dram would you where I was like they start talking about an overarching plot very early

and hit Cary's chapter. You find Oberro's journal of Oberro's talking about like this plan for revenge and like this thing to end the world, and like that's when you find Aori's journal pieces and you start to like, oh shit, she's talking about her brother, who's Obro, who might because on and then like that's all when it all comes together, You're like, oh, it's

so good. The storytelling feels so much more organic this time around. I this is why I feel like you can definitely see like Live A Live in this game, like having played through Live A Live, because like I can definitely see where they drew inspiration and like it's still not perfect. For example, I don't really understand throne A's story much. It's kind of like it's connected. It's more connected than Partisio and Igneas. I mean, it's really

just like her dad right being the vampire. Good thing. Yeah, I understand. I understand the story of like wanting to know like where you're throne and like feeling a sense of self. Yeah, but I just don't think that throne A's story was told particularly well. I think it's what, yeah, we could start, Yeah, I would probably be inclined to agree. It's a story that, like you would think would be super fascinating, and it really isn't and never really quite. I finds behind that story so fascinating.

Like that, going through her final chapter and going through that town, I was like, what the fuck is this on paper? It should be really fucking good, right, but just like in execution, be it like maybe throwing herself as character, Just like the way she sort of responds to a lot of this stuff is very dry, despite like having moments with like other characters, where like she can be a little witty at times, right, like like her actions with everybody else. Yeah, like her crawl pass

with Tim, I actually really it's great. I love their back and forth. It's really really good. And I'm like, I wish this was shown more in her own personal story, Like I need more out of her for the story to be like worth more to me, because the whole setting around it is very fascinating. And then like as you said, walking through like that town, that part is like so creepy and like the thing with like the baby and like go kill my baby, and I'm just like, what

the fuck is happening right now? Really fucking cool stuff, Like there's so much promising stuff there, but it just falls a bit, just shorts fall short. Yeah, yeah, because like I do think and I remember mentioning this to you for that octopads who does like some of it's like sound design

really well in bits and pieces like that. Yeah, kind of like Zero, like it hit me, like there's a part of the story that hit me in the same way that like when you find out about wisdom and nosis in uh Trails from Zero where like particularly the oh Chet and Castie cross path. Yeah, like the second one, yes, where they're going through the forest and like casting Oh my god, that was so good and like that's salt, Like that's all that plays. It's the song that plays in the

final chapter. But that's the first time you hear it, you're just like, yo, what the fuck is going on? I immediately thought when I started playing, I was like, ah, I see, it's so good like that because it's it sounds so different from everything that you've heard before.

It just strikes a chord with you and you're like shit speaking of Actually, I thought it was fucking chets kiss for like a large portion of the final chapter to just be silent, just be eerie and just like not really have sound at all, right, like the night coming through you feel it,

you hear it. And the fact that like it is silent now there there's no birds chirping, there's there's nothing, and that just adds to the atmosphere of like that, like even the battle encounters you run in yea, they have no nothing, there's no music, or you have is these creepy shadow enemies that just pop up as you're traveling through trying to light the flames.

That I thought that was brilliant, Like absolutely seller. That whole final chapter is just so well done in like you really see that chemistry all eight of

the travelers that I really wish you saw that. I wish you Like when you get to the site to start that and everybody just like shows up and they're interacting with each other, I'm like, I want more of this, right, Like like I appreciate the small like one on ones here or there, or even like the three person conversations that've happened here or there, but like I want more pieces of like all eight of them doing something, yeah know, because that stuff was really sweet, right, and even like the

final moments of like the final time they're at the camp side or whatever after everything, and like they're saying they're goodbyes, and I'm like, this feels emotional, but I feel like it could have felt more emotional had like we've seen more of this, right, yeah, And like even then, like the tavern talks weren't perfect because like during the chapters, the characters had to be in your party, Like I don't think we need to relegate only having

four to party members, like might as well at a and like you might as well just have all that way you organically, like get these tavern talk talks. The fact that like the three and four person taver talks don't show up until you've finished a Travelers story, right, it's really silly. I don't understand that as yeah, because like I started getting them after I beat Hit Cars, like chapter and I'm like, where the fuck were these all games? Exactly right, like I had more of these, And I do

I agree with you. I do wish they were boys. I think there would be a lot more impactful they were boys thinks, so like I can there are conversations that happened. I'm like, I can hear Otete saying this, and I wish that like she was actually saying this and that goes for everybody, right or I would love to hear you know, throwing it actually make these quips right in her cold voice like that. This would have been cool, you know. So I hope that is as feedback for whatever next

game that they do. I'm really excited to see what Octopath three turns out to be. Like I think they're moving in a great direction, and like that final chapter is like it's a chef's kiss, like it is. That whole thing hadn't make so high from start to finish. Final boss fight fantastic. There are some aspects that I wish, like so we can talk about

how I was right about Mint the entire time. I like that reveal, although that part I wish I hadn't found aries journal pages early because that's pretty much confirmed because like they start talking about this character like the mistress ark in Air or whatever, not my female character that's gotta be Mint, gotta be.

Yeah, there's there's some light structural like uh, I don't want to say like grievance, but like there's some things around the structure of this game where it's just like they're there are deals or things that can happen a little too early because you went to a thing first, you know what I mean. And I'm like, exactly exactly, and I'm like, some of those could have hit harder. Mmmmm. I think you. I think you can find a way to weave it in there. You just gotta be like smart

about what's being revealed and when you know. Maybe, but but but I agree that like there needs to be a change to the formula, Like you

can be like close it a little bit. It doesn't have to be super open, like you could have some linearity in here, you know, for the benefit of like the storytelling, because because I do think like, uh, getting those pages tells a lot, like I would feel like if you're lighting those torches, like when you're supposed to find those pages, or I feel like when you're supposed to find those pages at least, uh, that should be like the last one that you do, and then it all like

really comes together in that way, you know what I mean? That should have been like the final spot and then it's like, oh, as like the last last one, right, yeah, because that was the first one that I did, and then it's like okay, I see uh, and then I went into the other and like I found that before I even started the final chapter, right, was wild, Like it was kind of cool the way I found it, in like an open world way, like in aspect. I was like, oh, I see how things are starting to

come together. But I wonder when did they spawn there? That's a good question. I have no idea because like I thought the actually that way, right, because I thought that that just happened after you start the final chapter, right, But clearly they spawned in before then. So I wonder exactly what point can you find those and then all will be revealed. It might be after you finished Partisio's chapter. I can't remember exactly like or I was when I found those, Yeah, I know, I just know I had

the start of the final chapter yet right the look up later. I do find it weird that like they spend all of the Chet's story talking about this dark hunter and then you never interact with her. Yeah, yeah, to the point where like like once like it's very very little to where like when you when you do see them, like wait towards the end, right, it's just like I kind of forgot who this Hunter person was, Like they're evil. I wish they did like more with that character. I do points,

you know. Oh, that's how Agnea's story was connected, the lady from the producer from the Truth. Yeah, and that was another thing that I didn't really yet. She she fell in love with Mint and Mint used her to spy basically. Yeah. She she was like a follower of the church, and like she I forgot what happened. I think she lost like her significant other or something like that, and ends up really falling for Mints.

Like Mint comes and guides her or whatever, and like she like falls madly in love, like I'll do anything for you Mint, and then Mint sends her to like do some reconnaissance basically and keep tabs on what's going on over there. That's basically her whole deal. And then she obviously she comes back to Mint and it's just like I did everything you wanted. I love you. And then like Mints like banish the shadow of Rome be gone, thought, the flame goes away. That's how it happened in rent vision.

That's fair, That's fair. But I definitely feel like you could walk away from this game and like either oh Chet, Kari or Temenos or the main character because I feel like their stories had the strongest ties. Yeah, I agree with that. I think you could you could rotate any of those three.

I I'm almost leaning towards like I feel like he caught You would probably be like the strongest in terms of like a traditional protag but I think but I think he'll Chet also be a really fun one too, right exactly, Like I could definitely see him by the end of its definitely see him being

like the primary protagonist. But I also see a world where like, oh Chet is the main character here, yeah, and like oh Chet has that almost von vibe to degree where like this is very her coming of age story, right, and like her like finding out about the world and like meeting these friends and yeah, growing on this journey to where like she feels ready to bear that burden as total Haha's guardian exactly, and like that's what makes

her like a really strong candidate for like pro tag And then like Taminosis is like another story that really like I really liked the detective like sort of route they went with him where like solving bro that junk was cool. Even then, I was like, I like this character alone. I need it. He was going to be my least favorite character, and he turns out to

be like one of my favorites. He's fantastic. I need he wanted to do a gift of him just putting on like the Horatio Shades from CSI Miami and he finds a crime scene and then the music starts playing like that goes in my head every time. Nuts He's great. And again I like all the Travelers. Again, I do think Thron's the weakest, but like all the stories were really compelling for the most part, again except Throwners. And

I understand like Particios was kind of whatever for you. Yeah, like Partsio's is just it's it's just commerce. At the end of the day, he is just going around and just like I'm going to Yeah, I'm just gonna invest in the people, and I'm like, all right, let's go. Bernie Sanders. Uh, he's he But like you mentioned earlier, like anytime he's on the screen, you have a smile on your face. Right,

he is a lovable google at the end of the day. Right, So, like I have fun watching Poticio, right, even though I don't particularly I'm not really invested in his story arc, but he's a fun character to watch on the screen and interact with people and just like have his his mind is blown. Anytime he sees anything, He's like, whoa, Yes, that's so cool, and I'm like, bro, it's just a fishing rod and he's just like whoa, uh you know at anything. But yeah,

he's a fun character. I think, Uh, what's the Casti story was one that like we we've we've had our back and forth on that one, right, but but we can can air it out here. Even though like I like her story a lot, right, Like her reveal with Malaia is one of the coolest moments in that game show, and it's it's so good. I was just like, slowly that gets revealed, and like the realization dawns upon you as like they're they're getting to that reveal and you're just like

that sill around. How is she still around? Right? Like, how is she sacrificing herself in this scenario? How did she live? How did she get to the to the island before Casty did like there are things that are not adding up, and then like you land on, is she dead? And then they pull it off and it's just like you motherfuckers, oh good, And like the way she fades out. I stopped and I clapped. I was like, you motherfuckers, y'all, y'all did it that?

That's a fucking good right there. That Yeah, it's it's great. It's, like I said, one of my favorite moments of the entire game, Like it's it's It's one of those moments that it will stand out for me, h for a very long time, Like when someone says pat Travelers too, I think that would be one of the first things that comes to my mind. It's like, Yo, that moment with cast Meliah, like that shit was fucking sick. Her as a character, I'm like, not that,

like I hate her or anything like that. Like base level, I like every character in this game, you know what I mean. But it was a sense of like that the Amnesia plotline I didn't find particularly as interesting as I wanted it to be, right because I thought there was a lot of cool things you could have done with this character coming from a group that seemingly has a really bad stigma behind it, And I'm like, what if they play at like two different versions of Casty happening right now, Like what

if she was actually leading this terrible crusade and now she's sort of enter torn model as she's trying to be a good person, right, and then like I feel like the final moments of her of her character arc where where she's she's helping somebody and she's like where the air Apothecary's, Like she's kind of like spreading the name of the Apothecary's again and like trying to like rebuild it.

I was like, that could have been a way stronger like declaration if she's trying to reverse the awful stigma of like who she was previously, you know what I mean. So like there are things that could have done with

that that I think would have been way more interesting than what unfolded. But I do like the story she's ends up in like the other characters around her a lot, right, So, like the storyline with the mansion, with with the woman and her daughter, I thought was like an incredible story that like even with Cassy not being there, you can replace Cassy with any other doctor. Like that storyline is really really strong. You know, I really

like that story. It's great. I kind of like, was if you on like the passage of time that was happening there in terms of like we're waiting until the girl's birthday. I was like, this is kind of weird in this scenario, but sure, but I think that was really cool.

I almost thought in the moment where I was like, what if this was a storyline that like played over through like the course of the game instead of like immediately fast forwarding to her birthday, that would have been right, Like that was one of the first things I thought of when they did that time scipe. I was like, oh, this would have been cooler if we like dragged this out a little bit every so often we check in to see

what's going on. But regardless like that, that whole thing was was very very good and and I was hitting one percent is just a good boy, Yeah, just a good boy. Like but this was fantastic storytelling around around her. What did you think of Ryme? I love Ryme Now I did Hit Cars chapter four. I was like, Rob, this rime is the fucking best. Give me a Ryme a game. One percent rib core character character Friday is the best unplayable character in the game. She is the best

nonplayable character in the game. Her story arc, like I thought she was the main character. I was heavily invested in her entire storyline. I really like that they didn't commit to her just being like, yeah, we're friends again. Yea was a really good take on that story. I was. I really like, I was very much prepared for her to be like, let's go fucking do the thing, and she she was like, nah, nah, I can't, like I need you to die for my people.

And then like that struggle, you have that struggle, and then you have like the thing with like her brother, and like that whole scenario that like it complicates it even further. So it's not just like okay, Mugan, it's kind of threatening her entire clan. It's like this goes another lair deeper in terms of like there is like a guilt feeling of betrayal that like we

killed your mother as well, you know what I mean. Like there there's a lot to unpack it in the whole Ryme clan storyline she has to like go through and even towards like the end of like that chapter and you do the duel with her, and he caught it and he's just She's like, just kill me now whatever. He's like, no, fantastic, and he's like, no, I believe that you will be there when I need to

write. And it still leaves you with like some uncertainty, right. I think we all know deep down like she's probably going to come through in the

end. But I'm glad that it wasn't just resolved immediately right there, and they let it sit for a while even after, like the the invasion for the final chapter is like she is not there second until last second when like he remembers to like ring the bell for reinforcements, and like he hits it, and then like she shows up out the cut and it's just like I got you, fam and it's like, all right, Rame, you are

a fucking ten out of ten. I love you. I Also, in terms of Hikari's story, I like that they committed to Hikari's best friend's betrayal very to the very end. He is better that. I really appreciate that we committed. There was no like power of fucking friendship to fucking save this ship. He was committed to his ideals, he stood strong and he fucking died for it, and he I fucking love that. Yeah, I think he CARDI has the best storyline. I think I think his whole story I

think that you were going to say that. I don't think I could in good faith argue against it, right, Like I could. I could joke around and be like, yeah, I do think CHET is the best story, and I hold Jet's like in Steer story, like I love her fucking

story. But I cannot in good faith be like TI wasn't the best, Like I could have a whole game based off of he storyline and that ship would be so engaging from beginning to end, like I felt like it was an entirely different game period, Like I don't know, he has the most mombastic chapter one. He has. It's a bombast chapter one. The cinematography around hit chapters are so insanely well done, right, like the flashback sequences.

Everything in his chapter is like so overly produced in a way that I'm like, this is just a separate fucking video game. Like I'm so invested in this fucking kid's story to the point where, like I wanted to save his story for last I was like I'm going, I like, I know this is going to hit strong, Like I don't know where it's going to

go, but I'm like, this shit is going to be good. So, like I saved his chapter four for last, which is the Ryme story, So I got Ryme and Go immediately into the final chapter, and I was just like, this is the best way I could have fucking ended this entire experience, because I was writing a fucking high throughout his entire those entire chapters. It's like this is great, this is video games, Like,

oh, it's so good. And like even even though like I finished his, like his was the final chapter I did first, I don't feel like any loss for that because, like I feel like having him as a main character, like I really felt like I had that main character like story and like that really delivered. And like the only other like chapter that got me super invested from the get go, like that was Oswald's because olds it's pretty hard hitting out the gate two because like it's very different, like you do

two chapters at once instead of just one. Yeah, and like you you're in an area that you can't access for like a majority of the game until the very end, where you can finally go back to it, like it's it's just so different and like, oh, like everything is just so much better than Octopath one. Like someone told me that they liked the story, is an Octopath one better? I'm like, what are you talking about? Can you even tell me what they were? Because I can't tell you what

they were. I can't like Tressa was trying to go to like some giant market, like uh, Virus was on sabbatical. I remember prim because she has a really cool chapter one, which I like, Oh, this is dark in a way I was not expecting from the video game. Uh. And then I, Honey, that's about it. That's all. And that's

just because I love say. I don't even remember much of Honey, But like all of Octopath two feels like Prince chapter one, where like it really delivered on like that sort of setup and like there are commitments and story beans that Octopath two does that just feels impactful. Uh, like for example, Oswald's chapter three where you discover oh god, what's his name Harvey's secret lab? Yeah, and like we go full full metal alchemist on this ship,

much like that ship was good. I was like, no fucking way we're doing this, we're killing people off, we're holding friends to fucking betrayals, like everything. Just they committed to things, and I really appreciated that. It was very like cool. It's I love the Oswald story from pretty much

from beginning to end. Like the when when you get the cut scene with Harvey, it's like when when he's spreading on or he's showing off the monster basically on the table or whatever, like at that moment, I was like, Oh, we're about to go full metal on this ship. I already see it. This is about to bust out the fucking kaimeras and everything.

Uh. And and towards the end of that scene, he talks about I have to go see my daughter, and I immediately like was like, oh, oh yes, Like oh nope, but oh yes, because I was like this, motherfucker, I bet he doesn't have a daughter. I know where the ship, I know where this is going. I know where this

is going. Uh. It's it's even better than like thinking they were initially killed off, Like yeah, it's that much harder, yeah, because like give you that like little twinge of hope and then you're like noah, motherfucker, wife's still fucking dead. The only the only thing I wish that they pushed harder on. Maybe it would have been too much, Maybe it will enough. I don't know. Uh, but but he did say that like

the the one uh creature, I'm just gonna call a camera. Uh. That was like his wife wasn't fully his wife, it was just using her blood. And I was like, mm, but what if it was just his wife? Though? That was that went through my head and I was like, I mean in my in my head and it was just his wife. I wanted it to be. But I was like, we're just gonna dock minus point five points here. But but it's fine, It's fine. I understand that that that chapter, those chapters, particularly for me, was

was a very fun treat because of the Japanese voices. And this is a very personal thing to me, uh in anybody else out there that that has an affinity towards like a lot of the JP voice acting. In that hard All is played by like a very popular voice actor that does like a lot of villains, particularly Key Day from from the Fate series. He's a very very distinct voice. So the very first time I heard Oswald, I was like, oh, We're in for some shit. He never plays a role

that is just like very straight laced. It is always some shit. So I heard his voice immediately and I'm just like, oh, key day, this is gonna be fucking great. And then you get to you know, to that point, to that point, I want to say, like that that really helped Oswald's character because he was a man desperate and was willing to do whatever he was It is the perfect Yeah, yeah, it is the

perfect role for him. And then when you get to Harvey, which is how he says Harvey and I cannot say it might say Harvey when he when he gets to him, you realize that Harvey is played by the VA that does Dio from JoJo's which is a very very popular villainy character also on the on the extreme end of that shit in saying and plays wild characters. So when you have this show down between Oswald and Hovey, it is just these

two prolific vas yelling at each other. Both are just like fucked up in their own ways, and it's just like this wonderful headcannon of just like Key and A versus Dio in my head of just like some anime bullshit, and

I'm like, I am here for this. I had the biggest grin on my face throughout that entire exchange, both because of what's happening in the story, because obviously the stuff with his daughter on the table and like that, that whole situation, but also because of the voices that are being played. And I'm like, you could not have picked like any better vas for this exchange another insane highlight for me, and that that's a very like personal thing, but it just added to it. For me. I was like,

Oh, this is chef's kiss head out of his head. I cannot ask for anything more. And for those of you who interested in the English vas, I can speak to the English vas. We're also toms. Like both Harvey and Oswald still had like those menacing sort of like voiceovers that felt like impactful and like I can agree, like those scenes still hit pretty hard because like especially when you have those moments where Oswald's like, I know I shouldn't,

but I am incredibly fascinated by Harvey's work. Yes, yes, yes, like he's still hit it. He's still hit it. The only slight downside is the power of love and friendship. So I get the Light magic, and I'm like, Okay, I mean, Troupe's gonna be Troupe's gonna be true. It's gonna be Trupe. We got the one true magic. It's it's it's love. I understand. It's the Light to count of the Dark. Okay, sure it is a fantasy JRPG. At the end of the day, I do need to remind you of that, I understand.

But all in all, like we probably should start wrapping up here. It's three in the morning. I gotta work in five hours. All in all, I have to say, Octopath To really just delivered all. I'm trying to think if there's anything else I want to talk about. As far as a spoiler casto, it was like, oh, the expanded overworld was just

so cool. The fucking like I when you get the ship because like Partisio has like those like little extra side quests where they sort of expand the game's lore and whatnot, Like you get the library that's sort of this world building for you, and then you get the ship, and that's that's when you realize, oh, this game is a lot bigger than I fucking realized. Like they they spared no expense I don't understand the record player thing, but all right, that was that was there. It's there, it's there.

It was a trophy. I also expected them to create a portable record player and just have you play music all over the place. That would have been tired. I would have had the battle the ball scene going like give me entire time. But oh, I just there's so much in that game. Did you mess around with like the unique job classes at all? Not one of them? I got them all? Well, you did? I did. I made sure to like look up how to get them, because like

I didn't want to finish the game without getting all the jobs. So like I did get them, I did not experiment with them as much as I probably should have, only only because like the requirements around really unlocking them it was like tedious in a way that I didn't feel like doing when I wanted

to like finish this game in a timely manner, you know. So like when you get Tinkerer, it's like, Okay, I have to find all of these items to unlock the rest of the skills, and I'm like I don't quite want to go through this right now, but the job seems kind of cool, Okay, I did land on what's what's the black magi one? Arcadis Arcadis? Yes, yeah, I do love Arcadis Is broken oswald on fucking Arcanus. I was just like, this is everything I need in life. I love I love the way it looks. What's up? He

was my first Arcanus bro. I think that's just like a cannon event. See to Artissio Arcadis is canon Guys, I say, I don't know, Laura says otherwise. Uh, that class is really cool. It's it's very cool. I love the sprite for it. Also, on that note, I love the sprite for Tinker as well. I think those are like two of my favorite looking classes. But yeah, I didn't play with the advanced jobs as much as I probably should have outside of Arcanus because that was just

mean in my party. Oh man, that's fair. Yeah, Conjurers really cool. It's definitely like a watered down room Blade from the first game. That boss fight to get was rough. Yeah, I had a tough time with that bass fight. I kind of just cleaned it. Oh wow, I was severely under leveled when I had to do that boss fight. But like I turned like Hikari into like a spell sword for a while, and

that was really cool until Boss told me I couldn't do that. So but like I do wish and again, I wish they threw these advanced jobs at you a bit faster, because like they give you Inventor like right away, like within the first round, but like Inventors locked behind you finding these items, so you're like you don't really get to do much with it for a majority of the game, and like you can get Arcanus after you unlocked the ship. Uh, and then what is it not war Master or whatever it's

called. It is war Master, but it's called something else in this game. But like that one and Conjurer are pretty much locked into any game.

Like, I really wish you just got to experiment with these a bit more, because then you might have felt like you had a reason to actually experiment, because by the time you get them, you might be at a point where you're like, I'm kind of trying to wrap up this game like that, that's kind of the point right where I'm just like I'm kind of at the end stage, not like fully at the end stage, but like enough to where like I got a good thing going right now. I don't really

need to experiment with this stuff. I'm good, you know. Like that, that's kind of the vibe, even though like it's cool, don't get me wrong, but it's just like that's the vibe I was kind of going with one thing. I do want to wrap back real quick, real quick? Uh in that, Like, I really do love the end of o

Chet story. No, I know, we touched like one. It is one of my favorite moments where she is she is talking to the Guardian and they have that conversation of like, I know when you left you said that the weight is heavy on your shoulders. Is like do you still feel that now? Is Like she takes a second and she's just like, no, it's not heavy anymore. That sticks out to me really hard and maybe like

it's just a meat thing. I don't know, but like I think about like her as a character, her place in this world, and like everything she experienced, like leaving her island and learning more about the world around her, like that just hit in a way that like almost no other line in this game did for me. And she's just like I'm good, I'm ready, you know, And I'm like, yeah you are, Yeah, you

fucking are like I definitely agree. She has like one of the more like impactful stories are like tales that are told in the game, and like you really feel that character growth at the end of her story. Yeah, and like she's a goofy character that's just like I like meat. Everything's about meat.

What if you just had jerky that'll make everything better. Like she's a very very goofy character, but there are moments throughout her story or like she she's goofy, but she takes in everything around her, like she understands what's going on. She's not dumb quote unquote really like he's a joke. Visually

she's goofy, but she's not dumb, but she's not dumb. So like there are moments where like there's clearly some racism she had happening, where like people don't like beastlings, and I forget what it was, but there was one moment where like, whichever partner character you choose, I chose the Fox, But like they're definitely a little like awesome show like this is why we don't trust humans and shit like that, and it's just like let's just go

right, Like she says it in a way that it's like she understands what's happening, and she's willingly not to engage in it, and she's like, I got better things to do, right. It's like those moments where she like snaps back into reality outside of her meat dimension, like just hits in a way that like I know, I've been there, I know this exact moment she is going through, and it's just like I just have to continue on with my day. That shit is just really good, man. I

fucking love that character to death. She's such as she's in my top three. I think, Yeah, it's hard because like like I can tell you that like throwing at the bottom, but like it's just crazy because like at the top, when I told you I'm Rob, I encountered this character that's very one hundred percent you, And like that was at the beginning, Rob's gonna love this character, and then I was playing it more like I don't know Rob's gonna love this character. Yeah, yeah, that's kind of where

it went. But gun to your head, Top three, Gun in my head. Top three. Hecarty cast a chet Okay, Okay, I think I land on uh he caught e a chet uh uh Oswald. That's fair. I mean, Oswald's up there too, so is Agny, and so it is protein. They're they're all up there, like like I said, it's it's like S plus tier is everybody and then S tier is thrown. Yeah, basically like I said, coming coming from Octopath one, everything is

just not great. Everything like the stories better, the characters are better. I don't know how Nishiki did it, but soundtracks fucking better. Like, oh, that's not so good. I could gosh about this game for like ever and ever and ever, I won't. I do want to mention one more thing. Shout outs to them throwing in fucking genocide as a story point. I appreciate it absolutely. Uh huh, Well, like I really appreciate

to them sticking to the darker tones of the storytelling. And then like especially like the roy thing that I told you earlier, where like you start to see the subtleties of like the first boss you fight as oh Chet is a mutilated, warped version of Terminos's like uh mentor or whatnot, And I'm like, that's so fucking cool, and like if it's something you only notice the like you're really paying attention. And they didn't have to throw in that detail,

but they did appreciate that they did. Yeah, and I'm I'm very curious to to see, like eventually someone's gonna do like the big like fifteen things do they know about larrepout Traveler table, like the Laura videos at some point. I'm very curious whenever those started dropping, because I would love to see like all of the fucking small stuff it's like presented to me on a nice platter, you know, because that game has a lot, right,

there's a lot in there. It's very easy to stuff some stuff that you need to like really look in too. But that reminds you. That just reminds me one more thing that I want to mention. I know, how we keep doing this. You didn't get to think there are a lot of post story uh side quests involving like major MPCs from each character's stories that I really appreciate that they added in because it just adds more flavor and more world

building to these character stories and like what happens to them afterwards. Like in he after you beat Hikari's story, you have like the sister of like Hikari's best friend, like she has like a small little arc and then like uh, the NPC of like Hikari's friend who gets murdered in her chapter one, like she has a twin sister, and then like she has her own story, and there's like these small little things that just add to a greater whole, and like they might not seem like a lot at like at first,

but like as you build it more, Like I don't want to say like it's it's a trail style, living breathing world because that feels almost like it's a Souls game. But like the world building in this game is really phenomenal, and like what they do with like the NPC descriptions and all that, Like I think even those were an upgrade from the first game. Like just ah again, I can keep fucking going, so you gotta cut me off. I'm cutting you off here. You've had it. You've had too much

Octopath to drink. The tap is empty, the bar is closed. Get out of the tavern. Take this music box with you. Fantastic video game. I'm glad I got a chance to play through it. It is a strong contender for my Game of the Year. And it's it's up there, man, Uh, it's it's It's another one of those games on on my ever growing list of amazing fucking games that came out in twenty twenty three that if someone said this is my game of the year, I would not batt

and I would be like, yep, I understand. I would need more time to figure out what my game of the year looks like. But it is a very crowded space for them. But it's it's very stacked. But this is one that again, on any any day, someone can say this is my game of the year, I will one hundred percent back them up and agree, like, yes, this this is an incredible one of the best JRPGs I've played in quite some time. It's it's I up on my personal list. Love it. Uh So, that's that's that. Let's get

out of it. We've we've been doing this for like two and a half hours. Uh So, let's let's let's wrap it up here, Drew, Where can people find you all that jazz? Oh you find me on Twitter at jf me totally Drew posting about video games, fighting games, all that gym. Hell yeah, you can find me on Twitter. Ats was kazy and it's uk E where I just retweet mussum artwork as well as fung Fence to sixteen artwork. Man, the artists are really fucking good. One day

I'll do that spoiler cast. One day I'll have the the crew to make it happen, hopefully soon as soon as people finish it up. So stay tuned for that coming up with the anime cast. Make sure you can check that out. We that should go up on this Sunday. I believe we are covering Charlotte, So if you've seen that anime, definitely give us a watch. If you haven't, go watch it and then go give us a watch. And with that, we're out of here. Bye guys. Later