TGI 692 - JRPG Corner with Firebyrd

Welcome to the Gamers Inn. Come on in. Pull up a chair next to the fire. It looks like you've had a long journey. I'm your host, Ryan, this evening. Jocelyn is uh is not here tonight. Uh her little one's not feeling well. other projects, so she is uh gonna be out this week. Uh but I have returning guest co-host Firebird. How's it going, Firebird? Hello Ryan, I'm doing well, how are you?

I'm doing good. It is June. Uh the year is flying by now that we're out of winter, I'd have to say, but oh my gosh. I'm surprised. Winter we didn't have winter here, so it's felt like the years felt both forever and short to me. I always wonder how people feel it's it's foreign to me as a you know, living in a location where we have four seasons. I wonder what it would be like to experience A place that has two Yeah. Or three. I don't know. How many seasons do you have?

Normally we have four. Just this year decided to get no snow whatsoever. I'm in the western United States, so uh, you know, the whole area in the inner mountain west is going to be on fire this summer because we got no snow. No snow. Uh yeah, we got a lot of snow. And I mean, you know, as an adult, sometimes like look, uh creating chaos in the next, you know, six months later.

You know, that that is unfortunate. That's gonna be rough. I know fire season has been a real problem uh across North America. But something about not having to shovel sounds pretty good. Yeah, you know, when I was a kid, we had lots of snow. Yeah. As an adult, it's been a lot less. There's been a lot more just in the mountains with it just more raining down in the valleys. That's been nice. But We'd rather shovel than you know burn up.

That's true. No, of course. Look, if if we could go back to even Two decades ago when when weather was like you know, it's funny'cause like I think our parents would say, like, oh, when I was a kid it was this and and now we we are also doing that to our kids. Uh saying that well when we were kids it was it was this and and now weather's even more change.

Um and we're at the point in sort of Canadian season, like late spring, where everyone's saying, like, oh, it's so it's so cold, and like I wish it would warm up. And then it warms up. It's like, oh my gosh, it's so hot. And I always say like You know, and then they complain, Oh, it's raining too much. It's like, yeah, but in like two months it's gonna be super hot, there's gonna be no rain, and you're gonna be asking for the opposite of what you have now, just enjoy it while you got it.

And uh before you know it, it'll be Star Fox time and we'll all be enjoying Ha ha ha. the second or third or whatever fourth remake of Star Fox on our Uh not so expensive switch two, but if you wait until It'll be Pricier. Well at least we got warning with this one. Yeah, yeah. We've got a we've got a I think people know we've we've got a news story in here that is uh there was no warning. It's very shocking.

Uh, so we'll we'll talk about that in the news. But as always, when we have a guest, I like to start with the guest of what they're playing, try to get some new stuff. onto the show and I see we have a few titles that we have not spoken about. So let's kick things off with Ball X Pit. Uh I I understand this is taking over your life.

It did over the weekend. It was uh on the Nintendo Switch online trial. I'd heard people talk about it last year, and so I went ahead and pulled it up and it's it's Definitely inspired by s uh vampire survivors and similarly it is very addictive and fun.

Uh different from vampire survivors is to get your additional powers as you continue to build up in between your runs. You have to build a little base and and have have different shapes of the buildings and you have to you can upgrade them and get different things that way and you have to consider tips and how to to lay them out in order to optimize things. So that was a little different from vampire survivors.

I think I played the demo for this one after all the hype and I think it was on sale. I'm like, okay, I'm gonna try the demo and see if I like this. And the side of it. Not well not pinball, sorry. It was uh like breakout side of it, right? That's the right Sort of Well it's it's you're on a track rather than having a map that you decide where you're going on and it it's a track that just keeps rolling down. I didn't play breakout, so I don't know how that compares.

So that's that's a little different, but it's like vampire survivors in that you get different power ups and different abilities that then come off of you automatically and you're trying to keep the enemies from overwhelming you. Yeah, and it's a as you said, it's a track. So sim so breakout, if I'm remembering the game correctly, uh, is like an old arcade game where there's like a bunch of bars above you and you're also a bar and you're shooting a ball and you're c trying to

uh bounce it back and forth instead of losing it. And I think in ball X Pit you got bonuses for sort of keeping your ball active, doing damage. And it was a big deal to like try not to let them overwhelm you, focusing on enemies that were getting closer. Uh and yeah, I just couldn't get I couldn't quite get into and I know I'm wrong here because a lot of people are like this game's amazing but I couldn't quite get into that side of the gameplay uh I struggled with.

it. I will say this the opening was really slow. I was about to give up because I I wasn't getting very far. I was getting like two minutes in and I was like, this is so stupid. I don't know. I I c what can I do better? I don't have any other characters. I'm not getting anything to upgrade.

What am I supposed to do better here other than just level up this character? This is boring. But I gave it like I was gonna give it one or two more runs and then suddenly I broke through. I got enough power to actually start killing things and then I got

threw a mini boss and got a blueprint that gave me some an ad additional character and then it opened up and it got really fun. So I can understand that. I was getting close to giving up. The f the opening was not quite as snappy as it should have been. Okay.

Specifically the demo as well. Uh I didn't realize it was on the Nintendo Switch online trial or else I would have Well, I probably wouldn't have giv uh I I I really did bounce off of it, but it's good to know that maybe if I had if I had the ability to push a little further,'cause again the demo was probably limited. Right. Uh I sh I I might not have gotten to that point, but it's good to know I'm not crazy that the beginning was a little slow uh

No, I don't think you were. I think it did start out just a little slower. It wasn't quite I I was close. And then I just managed to break through to where things started opening up right before I gave up. And then it got really fun. Okay, cool. So is this one that you you played the trial for the Nintendo Switch online, you have access to the full title. Did you end up picking it up after uh or before the trial?

Haven't yet. Um, I went a little overboard buying games last year, so I'm trying not to buy anything this year. This was The first time I've been very, very torn with that though. So I it's on my wish list. I will be picking it up eventually.

Yeah, yeah. No, that's cool. I have heard really good things and it's it's interesting. I feel like uh I feel like Every not everybody, but I think a lot of the folks in our Discord, in the community, they're the type of gamer to buy stuff that interests them when it when the it you know it it And you you always have a collection. You always have a backlog. Like it's I don't think there's

many folks who we chat about chat with that are like, Oh yeah, I bought I'm this year I'm buying this game and that's it. It's you we have a We have a very uh collector focused community. Uh maybe not as as collectibles as like getting all the you know, statues and swords and maps and amiibos, but i I I do kind of envy some folks that are like, Yeah, I'm buying the Call of Duty and I'm good. Like, uh this is my game for it's my career game or or Fortnite or you know, whatever. Um

Well, I have such a my problem is I have such a huge backlog. I feel like I need to try to get through some of it. It's not that I don't want to buy stuff. It's that I'm going, Okay, I need to get through some of the stuff that I've built up here. It it's tempting. I've looked at and I think I started this year with like a okay, I'm going to

Play a new game, then I'm gonna bounce back to the some s like and not even finish, but just like, you know, cross them off the list. Uh like find something that okay, this one I've had on my list for a while, let's give it another shot. Not to finish it, but even just to like

Put it to bed, you know, be done with it, uh put it back in the in the shelf or whatever. But I've now since uh kind of fallen off that where I went from Resident Evil to Seros to uh to another game I just bought, although it was an older game.

Not that old. That came out in what, September? That's true. Yeah. So I've been uh I've I've I will this won't be a long sort of segment because um I haven't gotten very far. I haven't even gotten past the point where I was when I was playing um anyways, I was playing I'm playing Trails in the Sky first chapter, which has been foretold mainly by me saying that I would play it. Uh, and I d I did it. I I said after Saros, I'm like, you know what?

Um and I I I specifically reached out to Babylon Redeemer who himself and Jim are big trails fans and I've always had a I always find Whenever whenever you have folks that are like super into something, it's like, oh man, I wanna I wanna try that. That sounds

fun. Like it sounds like it would be fun to get in there and have a great time and and uh I get that way with a lot of stuff. Even like even with Fortnite, I think before we started playing it, I was like, you know what, it would be interesting. To to really give that one a shot. Uh and and when we did, I really enjoyed it. So with Trails, I was like, okay, I just played Resident Evil Nine, which was pretty uh I don't wanna say sad, but it wasn't like cheerful, you know. Right.

And then I played Saros, which, you know, was also not very cheerful. Not cracking a lot of jokes in that one either. Uh and I'm like, I could really use something that was just Happy. And colorful and just uh even bubbly, uh, to a certain degree. And I checked in with Babylon. It's like, this is on sale. I know I said I would play it, but I really think it would fit to like shake things up because

The next game I was looking at was the 007 one, which was getting stellar reviews. Mm-hmm. And that felt like, you know, a step in the right direction, but still very much like an action shooter stealth. You know, take a bunch of people out, serious story type thing. Cracking jokes, but Still pretty Serious and Yeah, and maybe a little dark in tone and yeah, whatever. When you're going around killing people in Hitman style and whatnot.

Yes. So Trails in the Sky first chapter is is has certainly been a nice change of pace. It is Um it's it's very anime, like it's very over the top, it's very cheerful, it's very colorful. Um I had tried to play, speaking of jumping into fandoms, like I tried to play the first game, Trails in the Sky.

uh the two thousand four version. I got it on Steam and I was doing like a check in on uh we used to have the Patreon mini here where I would do like a small recording of just updating where we're at and what's going on. And then I would do a uh a Trails in the Sky uh sort of update. Previous to that I think I did Tales of a Rise. Um and I got I got I got about three or four hours in and then they announced the remake and I'm like, wow, guys, like Ha ha ha. Ha ha.

I'm not doing this anymore. I'm waiting for the remake because it it's a big jump. We're talking like Windows 2004 and I think it was also a PSP game. So Yeah. Though as I recall, it had kind of reached the I'll get back to it stage even before the remake was announced. I yeah, it was getting there and I think the remake was my off ramp of like, Oh guys, look I'm totally not abandoning it. I'm just gonna wait for the remake.

And as you joke, the the remake came out in September and I d and I I always had an excuse. Uh but it you know, we're here, it's happening the second chapter's coming out in the fall, in September, which I gotta say It's a choice. Everybody else choosing September and second chapter's already there. I mean Weren't they there first? Get out of the way, Wolverine, I guess, but uh We'll see how that goes. Uh for me specifically.

I kinda wanna play both, so I'll have to pick. And then Fire Emblem, the new Fire Emblem game, that could also be September. Well who knows? Who knows? It's true. It's true. Oh man, Nintendo. When are you gonna when are you gonna tell us things? Uh so yeah, I I I got the remake. Um I'm I'm not quite as far as I got in the first one. Uh the or the first the original that I was playing, but I gotta say that uh I'm really enjoying it. The combat is really interesting.

Um the combat specifically it's like you're you're running around, you have full control of your character. There's the attack button you can use and a special meter that builds up. to so you can take on enemies without entering sort of like a turn based mode. And then once you've done like enough stagger damage or you've caught them off guard, you can hit the tactics mode.

Which gives you advantage in tactics mode and then it starts to be not turn it's turn based, but it's timeline turn based. So you have a timeline along the side and your characters and the enemies are present and you can kind of see where everybody lands. And then you have the option to basic attack use an art. uh or use magic and then it's and then you can also impact the t turn order by using delay tactics and and affecting that and So arts and magic are different things.

Yeah, like the arts are more like physical combat based and then the arts are the magic is magic spells like firebolt and all that fun stuff. And uh yeah, it I think early on it was like really a little slower, but with the combat, but then as I was continuing doing some side quests, you really got into the groove of like, okay, like doing your out of your active combat, getting the advantage, hitting the tactics

and basically like blowing everybody up and then moving on. Like it was it was and it very satisfying, very fun. Uh, and of course all the characters are Happy to be there. It's very over the top. I did say when I was asking Babylon, like look, I'm sure there's gonna be a moment where the story gets serious. It's not gonna be all like people yelling about

eggs and uh there's a lot of cooking, like a lot of fascination with how bad Estelle is at cooking. So And then they're surprised when she makes eggs that are edible. So it's it's such a different game from Sarah's. Like no one's Think so. Yeah, no one's upset to be there. Like everyone's super happy and all the problems in the world are like, Can you go change this light bulb or can you go collect this thing in the sewers? And look, this early days RPG stuff. I know

There's a s there's a a grander story that is going to kick off an adventure. I have not gotten there yet. I just met the uh uh I'm just going to the tower and that's where I left off. In my previous playthrough where you're going up with the journalists.

But it's so over the top and like everybody's everyone's giving everybody a hard time. Like the ed and again, super anime, like the photographer like falls asleep because she's a She's sort of a and she's also a klutz, like she's getting the camera fixed and then the the the journalist who's like the old guy in the room, uh, is like giving them heck and then and then they're calling him old and he's like, I'm only twenty something, and I'm like, oh.

I was gonna say the old guy's probably like thirty. Yeah. He's like, I'm in my twenties and it's like, Well, he's the only guy in in the room who has stubble, so you know he's in his twenties, right? That's how it works in anime. So Uh it it's been it's been a a breath of fresh air and I'm s I'm gonna keep going and I'm sure there'll be a point where I'm like, Okay, we're into the story and things are getting serious, but right now it's it's it's such a nice change of pace.

Uh I will probably get back to double or get to 007. I haven't picked it up yet. Uh someone had said it's they said it's like uncharted and and then I just stopped listening. It's like perfect. Naughty Dog isn't gonna do it. Somebody else might as well. Let's let's play some uncharted games. So I'm excited for that. Sounds great.

And you played speaking of uh uh JRPGs, you've got a couple here. colorful remakes of JRPGs even. Yes, I have started Dragon Quest VII Reimagined. I know I said I wasn't buying things this year, but I pre-ordered it before I decided that. So I it escaped that. Yes. Yes, exactly. I paid for it last year. Exactly. That's how it works. You can see why it is I need to to go on a bit of a spending halt for a little while because I do stuff like that. But

A very colorful, full-fledged remake of Dragon Quest VII, which frankly needed it for a number of reasons. It came out very, very late in the PS. one life cycle. Uh it came out in two thousand one over here. And um so you know, the PS2 was already out. So it looked dated. Even in Japan it had come out after the PS2 came out. And so it looked really dated in the first place. And because it didn't get the kind of graphic. like you saw in like Final Fantasy Eight, for example.

And then it was a huge game. Huge game. I think I spent a hundred and fifty hours on it. Um, the world is is gone other than this one little island. and your your party is discovering what happened to it and is trying to bring it back and you you gather bits of these these map fragrant fragments that you put together bits A bit at a time. Bring the world back.

through your your actions because you go back in time to these places and solve problems there that helps remove them from the world in the first And so there were so many little places you had to go find these fragments and it was difficult. You had to do a lot of backtracking. It was a very long game and it had it had some issues because of that. And the opening is so long. Spe I mean if you think ball X Pit takes a little while to get going, this one it took it was like hours.

of just wandering around on this island where y there were no monsters, everything's peaceful, you don't know what's going on, and you're doing stupid things like taking sandwiches to people. Uh that early JRPG stuff, but even without any danger whatsoever, except going, what is going on here?

So they've remade it twice now. They remade it on the 3DS and they cut some of the stuff down with that one. And now they've remade it again here on more the modern systems with on full-fledged console home consoles. And they did it just absolutely gorgeous. It's got this this really interesting it honestly kind of makes me think of the Link's Awakening remake in that they did a very specific

style that's a little and it's a little bit dreamy where it fades out around the edges and all that. It it it kinda gives me that feeling, but it's a much more detailed. The the the characters look like little dolls, the the Landscape looks like dioramas. It's actually really quite gorgeous, except when the the people are like moving their mouths along with dialogue and stuff. It looks awful for some reason. But mostly it's very pretty.

Yeah. No, the the look and feel, I think this one has always weirded me out a little bit. And as you say, like when you I haven't seen any v I haven't watched video where they're speaking, but like But I get it. Looking at the artwork, like I saw I was just looking at the three D S sort of artwork of the the game art and it it seems like that was just the style that they that they had for the game. So this is this is very faithful to what came before, right? Like uh

It is very faithful. It's you know, it's taking Toriyama's art but then putting it into this three D style that's with uh it's not like the cell shading look that like say eight and eleven had. It's a different it's taking th that artwork, but they look like dolls. Like they look like they're little figures that are on this diorama. It's it's interesting. It's different, especially'cause

There's this one care the character design in this one was especially weird for some reason. I don't know why. There's always weird care-looking characters with Toriyama. I think these characters in general were not well done. And one of them looks Like J Leno. It's so weird. Does he sound like Chaylano? No, he doesn't thankfully. Good, good. Hey guys, we need to go get the sword. Oh, I got one. It's okay. That's not what J Leno sounds like.

But i he doesn't sound like that either in the game, which is which is probably good. But I just looking at the environments, the the The comparison to Link's Awakening, uh uh, that was remade on Switch is very is very it's very good comparison because like it just looks You know, it kinda also reminds me of like a mixture of the Link's Awakening remake and then the The it was an Apple App Store exclusive for a while. Uh fan Fantasian, wasn't it? Yes. I think that's it.

Yeah, that was... using like literal dioramas that that they photographed and uh Sakaguchi the Final Fantasy creator was involved in that Yeah. Kinda looks like a mixture of that. Like they've gone for this sort of cartoony realistic style with like like using and and you're they're using modern hardware so they're able to like really develop Bye. and make these things look look really pop. But yeah, the the taking the concept art and making it three D and trying to be as faithful as possible.

Does like what else what other look and feel would you get? Like this is this is concept art brought to life in 3D and it's It's very look, it's very cool. It it's a little Off-putting it first, but then I think it I I need to see it in motion with with the people talking. I can just imagine how weird that is. Yeah, their their their mouths are kinda stiff and don't move very well and the Jay Leno guy especially looks really weird with his mouth just moving up and down. It's kinda weird.

But it's fun though, right? Like you're enjoying it. Yeah, uh the it gets going faster. It's still a slow start, but it does get going faster. There are it's Again, it looks gorgeous. Uh there are some strange quality of life lacks that is just very puzzling. Like there's only three safety.

slots, which was traditional in Dragon Quest at one time, but even with the original seven, with you know, the PlayStation memory cards, you weren't restricted to three saves. It was more about how much space you had. Um, you can't change the speed of the text, which is very strange. Like I don't remember the last time that wasn't available on Dragon Quest. I'm pretty sure like the remakes of four through six.

on the DS had that. So it's been a really long time since that's not been available, but for some reason it's not. Just some weird little things like that that you kinda scratch your head over,'cause that's just not normally what these Dragon Quest games have, but It looks really good. That's cool. No, I'm glad. I'm early enough. I don't I don't know how much has been cut off, but it's supposedly, you know, fifty five ish hours now. So that is a significant decrease over where it was before.

They do mark where you need to go to go find those fragments so you're not completely lost. Like they've got once you get to the point where you're trying to find some of them, they had different parts on the map that You need to go into this town and you need to go to this cave kind of thing. So that was I think that probably is very helpful once you get later on and get into where there's a lot more Paths available.

Hmm. Wasn't there something with this one where I I think I remember when it was announced there was specific talk about like what what is in the game and what's not in the game, but wasn't there some DLC re-adding some of the stuff they cut? From the main game. There's something with the DLC that stuck stuck out in my head. Sure, because I don't remember there being any deals.

I can't remember now. Like I think people or maybe it was the reaction to the announcement that they were specifically leaving stuff out. I think it was probably that because I believe they have cut some of the fragments out to try to bring that runtime down because again it was It was so long. And you know, they've done different things like

I know that they they cut out some of the early story with the 3DS remake just at the very start to try to bring down the runtime before you actually get going. And they did it a little more even here to to

to make it go a little faster. So uh you know I think there's just little bits here and there probably somewhat similar to what they did with Final Fantasy 14 to try to bring down some of the How fast and Or how long rather things take in a realm reborn where they would do things like make fewer things where you have to go back and forth to talk to people instead just let you talk to the person you come back to and get that information or like I had to go talk to the king.

And I once I went up the stairs, I was right there at him and it turned out it was several floors up in the castle. So you know, rather than making me wander way through trying to find my way up to the throne room, they just took me right there. I think there's probably a lot of little things like that where they have cut some time down.

Cool. Oh that I mean that makes sense. I mean you wanna if you're gonna remake this, you want it to be look, it doesn't replace the original. Uh but you want it to be a little more approachable for either fans that hadn't jumped in previous to Sort of a more recent dragon quest. Like I know eleven was a big deal. A lot of people played that one. Yeah. And seven was was always had kind of a mixed reception. I think some of it was not fair. The visuals were

were what they were because it was on the PlayStation and it had been in development for a while by the time it released. But um There was just the the length of it and fa some people found it very confusing and just a m bit too much of a slog. Some people really loved it exactly how it was, but that controversy I think is what they were looking to to try to thread the needle between, to try to make it better for both audience.

Now are you playing this one on PS five or did you pick it up on Switch? I am playing it on PS five and uh which I believe was the right decision. I imagine the load times are quite long and it would not be nearly as pretty on the Switch.

Yeah. That's always a struggle I'm finding with the Switch to uh is you're getting you're You're getting closer to what you can get on the PS5 and the Xbox Series X, but I think there was news Today, speaking to a new game that was announced uh during the PlayStation state of play that we're gonna talk about, uh that they were saying that the Switch 2 is kind of

At the series S level. So if you own a PS5, like this was kind of the conversation I had with Trails, is like, okay, I have a Switch 2 that is I'm not gonna say collecting dust, it's just waiting for more games. But I also have a PS5 and I could play Trails in the Sky And both would be on the TV, not handheld, if it were if that were a concern for me, like if I was gonna play a bunch of handheld.

Obviously the Switch too. But it's i like if you're solely looking at the T V docked experience, it's like well, you know, makes sense to get it on the PS five to have the the the best sort of um version of it, but uh I am feeling that sort of uh they know that guilt of like, oh man, I know the Switch to is Uh you know, my plan to buy it at launch because it would go up in price has so far proven correct across the board for every platform I've purchased. Ha ha.

And, uh, And look, I I I just I'm just feeling that itch of like, I really should really would like to boot this up to the point where I'm like, Star Fox might might be the new and shiny, uh, by default.'Cause I'm not I'm not too keen on the Splatoon game. But I do I do want Fire Emblem, so and I'm just Yeah, well hopefully hopefully we'll get some word soon. Someday. Nintendo, direct us please. Yes.

Oh we were looking at it pre show. The last one the last real direct was September of last year, which is I don't know, that just seems like so far away. We just don't have information about what's coming out this year and when from Nintendo. There were more Kirby Air Riders directs than there were Nintendo directs. And longer than all the Nintendo Directs put together from last year, including the the Switch 2 one.

Look, I know they need to, like, give Sakurai whatever he wants in his time so that he'll come back and make Smash for the rest of his life, but It's gotta be That was pretty silly. That was pretty silly. Two what forty five or an hour long directs? That was that was a bit much. Yeah. And he's allowed to make the most expensive amiibos ever. I mean, no one says no to that guy. Because they want him to come back to

What bases? Oh that that's worth what? 50 USD and however probably seventy for you guys. I think I saw we were at Best Buy and I saw them for fifty five. Um I finally took the the Super Mario Galaxy ones out of the box.

And put them up on the shelf and Ashley walked in and it's like first of all she's like, Where did those come from? And I'm like, Oh, I've had them for a while. They were just sitting over here and I just unboxed them. And she's like, Why are they so big?'Cause she knows she knows amiibos and they're usually these little uh Thank you. I'm like, honestly, I don't know why they're so big. They're beautiful. They're amazing. I like I don't know. I don't know what the reason is.

The Rosalinda one looked amazing. And but yeah, the price was a bit much for my desire for amiibos. Yeah, uh Izzy's jealous'cause she's super into uh Rosalina and and Princess Peach and and Daisy as well. She's she uh She loves all those and when she saw the Rosalina one I I knew I had to like

It's like you c y I'll put it in a place where we can all see it. It's in the living room. It's gonna be great. And if mom asks you why it's here, you just say it's because you wanna see the Rosalina amiibo and you don't wanna have to go into dad's office. And it hasn't moved since, so uh my amiibos are spreading a little bit. I ran out of room. Ha. So Well if they're gonna if they're gonna make a bunch of big ones, that's just gonna happen.

Yeah. Yeah, the big ones won't fit on my shelf because they were made for the original sized uh little little figurines, but um yeah, I'm uh every time Nintendo announces a new game I kinda win some like uh don't don't uh don't make you know make make video games of characters I like but like

Don't make them too often'cause then you'll you you keep doing these amiibos. So I'm not I don't I don't have an interest in the Splatoon amiibos that I think they've already announced for Splatoon Raiders, but uh and th I think the Star Fox characters are too creepy. Don't I don't necessarily want uh want the photorealistic Star Fox characters hanging around. I don't know how I feel about that that particular visual style. Yeah. The game looks fantastic though, so

I I'm more worried about the depth. Uh Because Star Fox isn't really known for its um Well, it's an on rails shooter, largely, so Yeah. That's the struggle.

Uh, but yeah, uh Dragon Quest Seven reimagined. Sounds like it's uh it's a hit. It's gonna keep you busy for a bit. And uh but not so busy that you haven't started another Seven remake. Yes, yes. Well, not the remake. I am Oh, you're playing the original. I am playing the original Final Fantasy VII. I have not played it in a quarter of a century'cause uh

I'm a living out in the west. I didn't think I was affected by nine eleven, but I tried to play Final Fantasy VII again about a year after nine eleven and I found I could not. bring myself to help these eco-terrorists blow up a building. I was like, oh, apparently I was a little more traumatized than I thought. So I haven't touched again since then for so long. But I want to play remake and rebirth.

And it's been long enough and I remember the wide story beats, but I'm sure there's all kinds of stuff I don't remember and given the nature of the what they're doing, I would like to know what I'm coming from. So I have started Final Fantasy VII again. I'm playing it on the Switch because I've got a nice little boot, speed boost. to speed up like the battles and stuff, which with that very long battle intro from how they were loading on the CD is very nice to have.

I've never this is one of those games That is on this list of like if someone were to say, like, oh, what's a game that you have never played but is like a classic, this has gotta be top of the list for me. Uh I I never I never had a PlayStation. My first PlayStation was the PS3. I had a friend who had the PS1 and I remember seeing the like triple disc or was it a double disc? I can't remember. मैंने में I think it I think it's three. I think seven is three and eight is four.

Yeah. I remember seeing it and being an N sixty four Kid you just put the card in and you play Donkey Kong And then hope you have the expansion pack and can actually save. Yeah. True. Yeah. I think it well, I I think Donkey Kong did, but there there was something my One of those came with it. One of those Nintendo games came with the expansion pack. But there was a game my brother rented for the N64 at one point.

It might have been Quest 64. And so he went to try to play it. And then he didn't have the memory card. And so he couldn't save. Oh brutal. And that game's is notorious for all the collectibles, so Oh, that game was just not good. This is actually why I had a PlayStation is I'd already been, you know, I played Dragon Warrior at the time. I played Final Fantasy. So I was way into the Squaresoft and Enix JRPGs through the SNES.

generation. And then Square announced that they were going to be going onto the PlayStation rather than Nintendo. And I couldn't believe it. I was so mad. But then I'm like, okay, guess I'm getting a PlayStation. My family got the N sixty four, but once I got a summer job, I bought myself a PlayStation and that's where I was primarily playing.

Yeah. No, so this is one that I've I've thought of replaying. I especially after finishing rebirth, or not replaying, but playing. I've I've played played a little bit on the Ambernik when I got that.

uh a couple years ago and I got I uh I didn't get very far, so not surprising anybody, but it's been on the list of like, oh I I should really try to play it Uh and it's sort of the opposite effect where I don't feel like I shouldn't play it because it was remade, because the remakes, my understanding, are remakes, but like More like remixes, yeah.

Yeah, like there's differences in it. And uh my under from what I've heard, you know, I've tried to avoid spoilers, but from what I've heard, remake has more differences than rebirth did, but there are still, you know There's a it's not a direct remake even before accounting for the the much greater additional content that they've they've stretched it out to. Because like for example Midgar, which is what the area that Rebirth covers, is like four hours worth of stuff in Final Fantasy VII.

Yeah, all of remake is Midgar. Uh and then rebirth. Kind of expands I think rebirth is largely like disc two of Final Fantasy VII. Yeah. Just from what I've picked up. But it's like I I knew that People kept talking about Jesse this, Jesse that. And that was one of the reasons I'm like, I don't even remember who this Jesse is. I'm clearly missing a bunch from my memory. And then I've I'm here I am, I've played it.

You know, I remembered Biggs and Wedge because Biggs and Wedge are recurring small NPCs throughout Final Fantasy, referring back to Biggs and Wedge from Star Wars. But I thought, who's this Jesse? There's a good reason I didn't remember Jessie. She did almost nothing. She had like four lines. Yeah. Yeah. Four lines and then that was it.

Yep. Yeah. She's sort of a uh well, yeah, she's I remember a lot of folks when remake came out speaking to how they've really expanded some of the side characters because they took a four hour segment and turned it into a twenty, thirty hour. Yeah, so for people who have been talking about Jesse and even knowing who she is, they've clearly expanded things a bunch. At least I'm glad I I was not not remembering a major character, which is what I had started to think I was doing.

Yeah. So how far have you gotten into this the original on Switch? I have gotten to Fort Condor and now I need to apparently make a little bit more money before I can start doing the little mini game and trying to decide if I want to bother. I probably need to look up. I don't remember what you get out of it. need to decide if I want to bother with it or not or if I need to because I don't remember if it's required or not.

I remember yeah, I I didn't get uh Fort Condor just reminds me like that's uh So that's a location but it's also like a mini game I think in Yes, like there there is this fort that's ha it that's got a makeup reactor where this giant condor has nested on top and has an egg. And Shinro wants to remove the the condor and the egg. I assume it's probably affecting the Mako reactors.

function in some way. And so this group of of activists have taken over and made a fort around it and they're trying to protect the condor so that the egg can hatch. Because they say this kind of condor only lays an egg every few years. So then you have to do this mini-game where you protect the fort to to keep Shinra from coming and getting rid of the condor.

Oh, interesting. Yeah. So you're balancing all these so it's ball expit obviously was the trial, but are you are you how do you sort of balance Dragon Quest Seven Reimagined and Final Fantasy Seven, are you kinda like bouncing back and forth or are you you know, making progress to get to a chapter point and then and then jumping over? Like I'm bouncing back and forth, uh

Final Fantasy not Final Fantasy Dragon Quest Seven is on the PlayStation Five. My my daughter is home for the summer, school o off and everything. My youngest has decided to start playing Metaphor Refantasio. So she needs the PS5 for that. So it's it's balancing based off of what she's doing, what I'm doing. And then I'm playing since I'm playing Final Fantasy VII on Switch.

I'm using my Switch too, but uh it's on Switch and that way I can play that if she's she's doing her thing and I can Go based off of whatever's going on. Yeah. I'm I'm not uh so school's still in here until the end of June. Uh, but Caden's been into the portal games and he keeps asking to play Portal 2 and I have to set up the Steam Deck and get it all running for him, uh, put it in docked mode and and stuff. But he's also been using

uh portal as sort of his catalyst for learning piano. So his teacher likes to have him pick something that is Watch. Every morning and every evening. It's just him playing still alive on the piano and learning it. He's d doing a great job, but he's also singing. And then I'm like making my morning coffee and then I find I'm also singing still alive. And I'm like

I'm not sick of it yet. It's still good. It's still fine. It's been a couple of weeks, but it's like every morning just singing the still alive song as he plays it on piano and uh that's how he he is sort of driven himself to to learn and I'm I I am experiencing the uh like the kids getting into video games that I'm playing or have played, but also getting into games that I have but just never touched, and one of those was Goat Simulator.

Oh yeah, Naomi loves Ghost Simulator, my youngest. She is obsessed with that and Ghost Simulator three. I've and like it's funny'cause He they love so him and Abby will play Goat Simulator on the Steam Deck, uh on the T V. And I'm looking at it, it's like I remember playing a little bit, it's like this is This is just a nonsense game. It's a sandbox, but it is it is a game that is just like is perfect for kids because it is Nonsense! Yeah.

Mm-hmm. It's just wacky. It's very silly. Yeah. And some of the expansions are hilarious. In Goat Simulator, there's an uh there's a MMO expansion. Yeah. And it's got so many little Easter eggs that are making fun of MMOs, especially wow. It is So funny. Yeah, we uh we accidentally went into that and I was like, What is this? Like a character creator or something? I thought it was the multiplayer because Abby also wanted to play and I'm like, Well, we have to go to the

The MMO. I was totally old man murfing it there, just thinking like, Well, MMO means multiple people. Let's go in there and Now like what is this? Like a character creator and armor and Okay.

Well, it's so funny. Like there are these fish people going around that are clearly a reference to murlocks and there's just like they've got a UI that goes up that looks a lot that's very similar to, you know, the heads up display that Of an MMO has with a mini map and duh and a text and they they've got a chat box and they've got people saying dumb things like they say in Barron's chat and it's so funny.

I will curse Coffee Stain though because when I told them, Oh, uh I don't have the sequel, Goat Simulator Three and then they say like, Well maybe we can get Goat Simulator two and I'm like Naomi wanted to do that too. I I I was like, no, sweetie, the joke is there is no ghost simulator too. But for a minute in my brain I'm like, I thought there was a goat simulator too. And then I remembered. Yeah. Perfect. It's such a great Oh it it fits in with the whole

thing of it. Like Naomi will turn into a whale with her goat. It's a goat whale and then just flop around on the ground and do or she'll grow outless long m giraffe neck and then put a duck head on the edit. It's just the this cup weird stuff and she just loves to do just the weird as crap and then run around and lick people and drag'em around to their death. It's very funny. There was a lot of DLC for There's like a zombie.

Yeah, there's a ton of it. The the switch version thankfully comes with all of it. Oh interesting. I think I got it for free on Steam. I don't think I bought it. It might have been either Humble or just like one of those. Those giveaways. So I d I don't know, but it's been interesting to uh to to sort of experience that and uh haven't been able to get into like the rpg side of it so No I I've just seen the ridiculousness.

Though it's funny that you bring up the whole portal thing because my older daughter, B, is a piano player. And she did in fact learn still alive at one point. So I have been there. I have been there with the constant hearing of still alive over and over and over. Yeah. Well it's my fault'cause I had it on my'cause I had the soundtrack from the game and I was pl I was I was playing it on the radio and the kids were in the car.

And they were just fascinated by this song. They had no context as to what it was. So they listened to the song, which is kind of unfortunate because that's the whole fun of the ending. No, B didn't has n I don't think B's ever played Portal either, but she knew. a little bit enough uh you know,'cause we we joke about the cake being a lie and everything. So she was way excited to to play this. I don't even know if she came up with it or her piano teacher did'cause her piano teacher is

like my parents' age. I don't think she knows Portal, but somehow it came up in piano and B was so happy to learn that. Yeah. I I think I found the sheet music just like a Google image search and I could only find like the first page. And then the piano teacher was like, Oh, well this is also a very difficult version and she actually composed it like it wrote the sheet music herself and it's like Wow. And I was like, Like This is uh this is awesome. So

I'm pretty sure you could have found a simpler version pretty easily, but that's awesome that she did that one meant for his level specifically. That's that's really cool. It was really neat. So I mean, I'm we'll check in next week on whether still alive has driven me crazy, but I don't think so. Ha ha I was a huge Well, then it does. GLaDOS will be thrilled. That's true. That's kind of her it's kind of her her whole uh her whole thing, you know. So we'll see.

You want a game to play with him though, what you need to do is play split fiction with him. I've been playing that with Naomi on and off and Just loves it. And it's it's a great game. So my big question with any of these titles, like the specifically the co-op stuff, I tried to play it takes to with Ashley and it's it's that camera control and and the coordination of the platforming that It didn't work.

But and I think Caden is getting there, but he's not he's not quite there yet. But I think Minecraft has really helped him I was gonna say my if he can do Minecraft, I don't see why he wouldn't be able to do this. There isn't mostly there's not a lot of camera control that you do, it's uh fairly on rails and a lot of it places that are more uh where it really matters, you mostly don't have a lot of can camera control. It's it's fairly limited

I I do wanna try it. I I remember being sort of fascinated by it when it was announced. I'm trying to see like uh Yeah, sometimes there are to points where when you're playing with a kid, uh things get a little frustrating because you have to time some stuff pretty.

pretty well. But it's mostly been really great to play with her. Actually she was playing it with my oldest Enoch um for a while there too and till they got too mad at each other about it. But they were You know, he didn't want to play it with her, but then he ended up playing with her for hours because he was having so much fun.

They so the kids have started to'cause they we have the original switch downstairs and when they get home from school I have to do a little bit more work. So I'd say, like, hey, like you've had a long day, you're at school, go Go go do. Go have fun. You want to watch TV? You want to go play video games? And I've been trying to encourage them because sometimes they'll be like, oh, I'm just gonna watch.

YouTube kids or watch Netflix and and I'm like, you know, you guys like I would let you just play video games. Like, go play video games. That's what I did when I was a kid. It's super fun. And they're like, Yeah, but I just want to watch this one Minecraft video and then it's like Ts it's like a rabbit hole thing. Yes, and then they have to watch the next and the next.

And but now the like the last couple of weeks, and look, I'm not gonna say it's better for me, but they've gotten to play Mario Wonder. And just the sounds you hear coming from downstairs.'Cause that game is notorious for like if you are the leader, you will instantly kill your y the co op players just by walking. Ha ha ha!

And man, it's like, You're killing me, you're killing me. And I'm like, Okay, guys, like get along trying to work. Thankfully I'm not in like meetings or anything'cause it's the end of the day, but The sounds and the s the yelling. So they've gotten better though because I think it they just needed to get on the same level of of of players player playability and they're there now, which is good, but Ooh, I thought there was gonna be throne controllers and fisticass. Ha ha ha.

I was a little worried. I'd always say like, You know how expensive those controllers are, don't throw them Oh and yeah, it doesn't matter. I remember one time I had gotten them to Wii sports to play. They didn't remember it and I'd pulled it out for'em. But when we pulled out the Wiimote, Yeah. For some reason, somebody at some point had clipped off the wrist strap of one of them.

So I gave it to my oldest, figuring he'd be the most responsible, but most able to handle himself. And I said, you have got to be careful with this. You have got to make sure you hold on to it and you do not throw it because you don't have this restrap. Yeah, uh you can guess how that went. A new T V is how that went. No, thankfully not. When he flung it, he actually hit our switch, knocked it out of the dock, knocked the the Joy Cons off, and I am convinced that

at least half the the the drift out there is due to mishandling because the the one that got knocked off was drifting immediately afterwards. So Ha ha ha. Thank goodness for the free repairs. Yeah. Well I'm glad that got sorted, but uh but yeah, it's it's interesting. Um and and again with everything costing s so much, it's like oh my Oh for sure. Like do not break one of the consoles because I just do not want to have to report. No, no. At this point. Oh yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. So I say you use the switch. Like it's it's been replaced. It's good. That one has been handed down. It's yours. Uh Caden's been playing a lot of Mario Maker too. Uh that's been his his Big jam and and involving uh his sisters to to build and play levels. So Uh it's been somewhat peaceful, which is which is nice. So uh but that being said, we should get to the news because we've got some good stuff.

To chat about. Uh but I wanna thank the patrons at patreon.com slash the gamers in. Uh you can go there to support the show directly. Uh Jocelyn's special for May will be posted pretty soon for patrons. I know it's June, but uh busy times and I am also starting to work on my June special and I've I've done a couple of scripted ones previously and I'm gonna go back to my sort of original idea of doing some like

look back so I think I'm gonna do summer gaming. So we're gonna talk about summer Summer experiences, uh, summer video games, and uh if you have any ideas at home and you want to share them with me to sort of incorporate, let me know in the Discord. Reach out directly or just toss it into the into the chat, whatever works best.

And I also wanted to note, I know it's only June, but Extra Life. We have our team online. Uh, I don't have any fancy URLs to send you to, but Travis is gonna be playing directive eighty twenty for Extra Life and he's gonna be streaming co op with a buddy. on Friday, June fifth and Sunday, June seventh, starting at seven PM Eastern. And you can tune in to that at twitch.tv slash Pixel Mountain Gaming.

And I mentioned the Discord a couple times, tiny.cc slash tgi discord. So definitely check that out. Now for the news. This is a quick follow-up from last week because we spoke to the idea of this stream from CD Project Red about the Witcher 3 and the the before I posted it, literally the next day, which was a day before the stream was supposed to happen, they had leaked it accidentally and then announced it.

To get ahead of uh you know, the oh, I don't know what you're talking about. We'll have more to say on Thursday. So Cats out of the bag. They're doing an expansion for The Witcher 3. It's called Songs of the Past. The surprise, though, is that it's not coming until 2027.

That was a big surprise since the rumors were even saying it might just shadow drop, but this is not just DLC. They're saying they have made it been very clear this is not DLC, this is an expansion, which for a game that came out in twenty fifteen is pretty surprising. Yeah. Yeah. So this is uh Man, I'd almost say this is kind of unheard of.

You know, it really is for an for a single player story driven game that's not a live service kind of thing. I mean, when does a game get an expansion twelve years later? I I can't think of any. Yeah, I mean, like... Yeah it it's an important caveat as you said, that it's a single player game. Like obviously WoW is you know, MMOs in general. Right, right. that aside, but yeah, like a single player game is usually well Let's face it, there's usually a sequel by now.

True, true. But they got so caught up with Cyberpunk and then they're they've got somebody remaking Witcher One, though I think they're not doing it themselves I think it was another studio they tapped to do it. Yeah. And Apparently they're already working on the Cyberpunk sequel though, so that seems like maybe they could have Uh set things up a little better. Yeah, so this is being made uh in conjunction with Fool's Theory, which are also working on uh you mentioned the Witcher One remake.

Uh, their recent title that came out I think last year was the I'm gonna butcher the name, but it was like Therma thermitage, I think or something. Um and it was sort of in the same vein of like a dark fantasy style video game. But uh

Yeah, this is uh we'll we'll have more to sort of talk about in the summer. We really just From my understanding we got some key art and some basic details, but they did say it would be an expansion and would be sort of in the vein of um Blood and Wine, which was the expansion that came up previously.

Yeah. So it's though I have to say, on the one hand it's great that they're they're bringing out more content for this game that's so beloved, but on the other hand Honestly, makes it sound like we might still be a ways off from the Witcher Force. Oh yeah. I think we get the Witcher 1 remake before the Witcher 5.

for. Oh I I think that that's certain. I think they probably want to to to do that, especially given that everybody who tries to go back and play it says that it's that's not a good experience. No. I have not tried yet. I played it when it came out and it was rough then. Uh by by my standards of like being mostly a console gamer, playing a very PC game, like computer game, it was uh was was a tough uh tough move for me.

I I really enjoyed The Witcher 3. I played all of the Witcher 2 as well. So I'm excited that we'll get a remake of one. It's it's it needs one. As you said, not only is it not playable, but it's also of its time. So to kind of bring it up to the standards of even the Witcher Two and Three, like I I I think is w will will be a big big leap. And I I think folks will be excited by that.

But um yeah, and uh I w I never really thought about it, but I wonder I don't think I don't think they're targeting twenty twenty seven because of GTA six, but it's another game that we thought was coming out this year that is coming out next year. Yeah. Which maybe we should talk about one of those games right now that we've just recently had get delayed. Yeah, yeah, that's uh Fable is not going to be coming in autumn, even though they said it would.

It's been delayed to twenty twenty seven for reasons. They said it was for us players, but uh given that it was when its time frame was, it's pretty obvious it's getting out of the way of GTA six.

Yeah, I we spoke a bit about this before we started recording and and like to me now I'm kinda worried I'm not gonna have anything to play in the fall because I I di wasn't planning on playing GT GTA six, so I mean, Nintendo will have something, hopefully,'cause they don't they don't care about other competitors.

No, no they don't. They're just gonna release what they want when they want to and not pay any attention to what's going on around them as long as there's not monster catching mechanics. Yeah. And then they they don't really, you know, care about the release date. They just more care about how many lawyers they have. And how many dolls you're throwing. Ha ha ha.

Yeah, exactly. But I think Fable getting delayed to twenty twenty seven. Like I'm I'm fine. Look, there's always there's always so many games to play. Oh. Especially these days. Yeah, like the fact that it's getting delayed, uh I think at this rate they are I don't think yeah, February twenty twenty seven was their updated It's a busy time. Uh but I think I'm fine to wait. Like I don't need it's been so long since we've had a fable that another six months is I is fine. I I feel it.

Hopefully they'll take that time to polish it and make it all that much better. Yeah. Yeah, they're not gonna pull a Nintendo and put it on the shelf and it's like I'll remember to come back to you later and then we never Metroid press. to rematch. Yes. Really too bad. Yes, of course. Uh so yeah, Fable's been delayed. Um some other shocking news and I Do say shocking is the Steam Deck is going to be well is more expensive now that it's back in stock. I don't know if it's in stock now or

It got back in stock I think yesterday. I don't know if it still is though right now. Yeah, and it's been the price increase in the states. You're looking at$789 US for the$512 and$950 for the 1 terabyte. Which is like a three hundred dollar increase I think they were saying. Yes.

It averages out to a approximately forty-five percent on both. One was like forty-four percent, one was forty-six, something like that. It was a forty-five percent increase essentially. Looks like they are both in stock right now in the US with a Estimated delivery date of three to five business days. The price increase was, of course, shocking. And then what was also shocking was that people, of course, had it sold out within hours. Even at this increased price.

Yeah, it's available right now in here in Canada and I'm just looking at the price and like look, I remember when I bought the Steam Deck at launch. It was pricey. I think it w or worked out to be Uh after taxes and uh yeah, after taxes about a thousand just under a thousand dollars Canadian, which is It it it's that's expensive. Probably the most I'd spent on hardware outside of a computer. Which one did you get? Did you get? Obviously you didn't get the sixty four gigabyte model. Did you get

Uh I got the terabyte one. Uh but this this was the L C Well there wasn't it was Oh there wasn't? It was five twelve. It was five t five twelve was the biggest one, yeah. Yeah. It uh it was the the the L C D five twelve, yeah you're right. That was Okay. the higher tier. So I guess if you look at that like, you know, if you look at it that way, the five twelve now is only like another but still two hundred dollars more. Honestly, this is the first time I've felt

And I know we've had price increases at the PS5, the Xbox series consoles, the Switch 2 now. This one feels Such a crazy amount. Like it's so Yeah, it's so so much all at once. Yeah. It's the RAM Pocalypse hitting everything,'cause of course the problem is not RAM specifically, it's memory controllers, which affects at the very least.

RAM, storage, and graphics cards, because all of those have memory cards on memory controllers on them. There might be other parts too. I'm not sure. I'm not an expert, but So the price increases on everything. And really, I mean the the Xbox has Gotten what? I think it's up to 150 from off of launch the launch prices now. So it's not that far behind the slower price increase, but it they did it over two or three jumps. And this was all at once.

With no warning after it had been out of stock for months. Right. So it was very shocking. S Valve, of course, you know, despite what some of the the Steam fanatics think is not a major player in the hardware space. It's the Steam Deck is estimated to have sold between three to five million units, which is a nothing. So they don't they do not have the the buying power to try to bring down

prices to wholesale numbers very much. You know, they probably don't get much better prices than just, you know, a me like a a larger computer repair store does. So not much better than what we consumers. So when we're looking at everything having increased so much, like I looked at the other day, I looked at the DDR4 RAM I bought for my husband's computer, a 32 gig set two years ago. It was in January of 2024.

It was seventy-seven dollars. It's now the exact same memory. And it's DDR4, not five, it's two hundred and seventy dollars now. Yeah. I was in Best Buy and I was I was looking at the aisle where they don't have the memory, but they have the cards to show you the memory and the price tag. And I I didn't look too much into it, but I was looking at one was like fifteen hundred dollars. And it was like a four terabyte uh I it might have been like a like a like a M dot two stick or what.

It probably was, but that's still

Outrageous. I got a a two terabyte one from my PS5 a couple years ago. And it was, I think, a little over a hundred bucks or something. And the same thing now is like 300 or 400 something. It's just 'Cause I was looking to'cause I'm like, I'm running out of space and I like to keep my games so that I can just have'em there and not have to download stuff and everything and um So I went to look at what the four terabytes were and it was like, nope, nope, oh no, nope.

Yeah. Your wallet was also saying that Oh yeah. Yeah. Like, okay, I guess I can reinstall games. I I can live with reinstalling games. I may be lazy, but but when I'm looking at these kind of prices, I'm not that lazy. Yeah. Well even with the Switch too, uh they have the um the price your S D cards you have to buy. The SA Express. Yeah, I remember saying like, you know what? I might just buy physical carts you know, on purpose instead of like Just on a whim buying uh physical games, but I

I just um I want and I know we will eventually. Well this will be done. What's happening hopefully will will be behind us and we'll get back to a uh I don't want to say a sense of normalcy, but But but hopefully a new crazy that affects other things like that. I don't know. Maybe throw fridges under the bus for a little bit. Like like you know, let's not let's not do video games.

Don't'cause fridges are my last fridge broke over only after five years. It was like two months after its warranty was up and it broke. So we don't need fridges to do that. What can we throw under the bus? Like printers? Nobody likes printers. So like yeah. Printing. Already ruined and wanting to buy subscriptions to even print anything and whatever. I mean, how much worse can it get? I don't know, knock on wood.

Yeah. I'm just trying to think of something else that can take its place'cause it's always It's always computer per And I remember graphics cards when it was the Bitcoin craze. Uh not Bitcoin like mine yeah, mining it for Bitcoin. It was mine. It was mining. Yeah. And that was like and and we were in that moment and we're like, Oh man, video cards are so expensive, I can't wait'til we get to the other end and prices did come down. So I am hopeful that once we get through this A little. A little

The problem was was that NVIDIA saw how much people were willing to pay to the scalpers and they're like, Why aren't we getting this? So they just raised the prices so that they're getting that money up front. Well, I'm just hoping that uh like if I look at the companies I think Valve is is one that would would would reduce prices. Nintendo would be one to reduce prices. Maybe. Maybe not down to the launch prices. But if they have to increase again, I could see them going back down.

Xbox definitely not. They're waiting for project. to set a new bar for for uh for pricing. But I think Playstation would extend an olive branch, but not go back to launch price. I think given how long this is estimated to last, I think probably what will there's no chance for the series. They've just given up on it. But I think it's possible that we may see a PS5 price drop if. Stuff has lowered enough that they once they've brought out the PS6 that they might drop the PS5 price in response.

I honestly expected to see Nintendo do that with the Switch to try to take that number one spot. They instead raised the price. I believe that was an attempt to keep the switch to price as low as possible with the tariffs and all that. But um I think Nintendo's already going as close to the the line as they're willing to go since

aside from the Japanese version of the Switch 2 that's Japanese only, they don't like to take a loss on their hardware. They don't have to take a lot of profit, but they want a little Yeah. So I don't it'll just depend. It's so hard to know. I do think the calls that personal computing is at its end and that we're not gonna be able to do this stuff ourselves anymore is

I think that's overblown. I do think that some companies are going to step up if this market remains untapped because Nvidia and AMD have decided they only care to send stuff to

the AI data centers. I think somebody's gonna step it up and say, well, we can sell stuff to this consumer market that's not being met, that wants to. Problem is is I think it's likely to be Chinese companies which are You know, of course they m the Chinese companies make stuff already, but if it's the Chinese companies that are designing it, there may be some back doors or other things designed in there from the start that we don't necessarily want at our houses.

Yeah, for sure. And I think that There I think you're right. Like if it goes on long enough you will start to see people step in and but it's gonna take time. It is. to set up the to spin up the manufacturing side of it. Um It takes years to make these foundries. I mean it was how many years for Intel to get that factory built down in Arizona? And then by the time they did, now they're already like, Oh, we don't want to make discrete graphics cards anymore. Ha ha ha.

Oh my gosh. What is happening right now? But I look, I think what what we're gonna see is we're gonna see current hardware sort of stretch out even further. Nintendo has like they've they bit the bullet, they've got their new console that were good on that front for at least the next. seven, eight years. Um, I think where you're really gonna see a struggle is the launch of the next consoles from PlayStation and Xbox. They Yeah.

As long as they can to avoid what's Valve is going through with the steam machine like I think the steam machine won't get canceled but probably will that price I just at this stage the price is gonna be. gonna be bad. It is gonna be so bad. I just

If it's not at least 1500 Canadian, I'm gonna be surprised. I don't know where it will be for US, at least a thousand. I again I like you say, I think it's gonna be more than the OLED Steam Deck because the the one terabyte because it's newer hardware. 'Cause that's the thing, is these prices part of what's so absurd is given the quality of the hardware that's in the steam. It's not worth a thousand dollars USD. It's just not. I I love my Steam Deck. It's great. It's not worth that.

Yeah. And honestly the Steam Deck is one of those with this price increase, like I'd be devastated if something happened to my Steam Deck, but I wouldn't replace it. I couldn't. I just it's I can't just At that these prices, no. I mean And then what we're gonna see is we're going to see um i fix it run out of their parts that you can buy to do repairs on the Steam Deck. Oh.

Yeah, I am a little worried about that uh as well. I uh look, I these price increases, this one really really shocked me. Um but $300. I'm still I'm reeling myself. It's just again. It's not worth it. And it's wild that people bought them enough that they put them out of stock again, even if briefly. Yeah. So we'll uh We'll see how this shakes out and I think like the next sort of sticker shock will be whatever Valve decides to release. And it looks like you know there was

I saw somebody post something about some backend change in the Steam database related to the Steam machine. So it's probably coming up. We're probab they're probably gonna give up and release it regardless pretty soon. 'Cause I mean, th they've been delaying. Like that's why we finally got they finally gave up and sent out the controller.'Cause I think otherwise they would have released that at the same time. I think that was the plan.

But they're gonna have to because presumably they have units that have been per that have been made. At some point they're gonna have to sell them. Yep. And they will have to decide whether Yeah,'cause they they've obviously paid money to make them. So they have to they have to find a way to like h price'em so they don't lose money and

And then once it's out there they gotta determine like, okay, then what then now what do we have to price them at as we m as we continue to manufacture them. So I don't I don't envy their position, but I have No It sucks. They just they just had the worst timing possible. And then then, you know, it also was like what's the helix gonna cost? I think Sony's gonna try to hold out till things start getting better.

I think that they were already probably leaning at least eight years because the if you look at the the time, the the time between generations has been getting longer over time anyway, because of the death of Moore's Law, everything's getting better. There's, you know Yes, there's a difference in the visuals between the PS4 and the PS5, but it's nothing like it used to be, like going from the PlayStation to the PlayStation 2.

So I think they probably would have leaned towards an eight-year generation anyway, it fits the pattern, because they did two six-year ones, then they've had two seven-year ones. I think it was likely, but given all this, I think that's undoubtedly they're gonna they are gonna wait. Yeah, for sure. Uh well, speaking of await, uh it sounds like we're gonna have to wait a little bit for Dragon Quest Twelve that's been re revealed.

Yeah. Yes. So I'm curious they announced when did they announce the original Dragon Quest Twelve? Uh they have a Dragon Quest day on May 27th every year. It is to commemorate that's the the day that Dragon Quest, the first one released in Japan back in like eighty five or eighty six, whatever it was. So back in twenty twenty one, you know, so in the middle of the pandemic, we all understood oh that's gonna delay things a little bit, they announced Dragon Quest Twelve with uh a logo and uh

Something to do with the flame as a subtitle and everything. And so we're like, okay, let's let's wait and see what we get because Dragon Quest XI was so great. And we've waited and we've waited and we've waited and we've heard nothing other than in interviews related to things like the HD Two D remakes and of one one through three, various spin-offs and whatever, they just say we're still working. And we hadn't heard anything until Dragon Quest Day this year, last week with 2026.

where they once again announced Dragon Quest twelve and they admitted in this they had a little they had a little presentation, ten, twelve minutes, that had had a a little bit of a gameplay, little bit of a trailer. It's not much, you see, mostly mostly uh landscape. It actually looks gorgeous what they what they did show. Yeah. They show the protagonist and whatever, the who the guys who who's going to be the hero. And they have a new subtitle, Beyond Dream.

and no release date and they admitted during this live stream that they had restarted production, that there had been reshuffling of teams, that there had been a a restart, and so we were gonna have to wait a while longer. They did get throw us a bone, say we're getting other Dragon Quest monsters that is suggested soonish. We didn't get a date on that either, but they suggested that's going to be sooner. But twelve, we're probably at least several years off now.

Yeah. Oh man, the art style just looks it it looks amazing. Like this It really did. Yeah, they've taken so I again playing Trails the Trails Remake, it looks like they have I it's that style, but it's been amped up and um the

It's not again, it's not the cell shading, but it's different than what Dragon Quest Seven Reimagined has. It's not it doesn't have that doll like look. It just looks really good. Yeah. And I there was some controversy over the what the hero looks like. I thought it looked awesome. He he he looks like look I uh when I w watched it I was like that looks like uh Dragon Quest hero. Um is that why they were upset? Because he he looks kind of

I d I I didn't really understand the the they were saying he has broccoli hair like a Gen Zier, but that's not broccoli hair. So I don't know what they're talking about. Okay. I mean like if you put him side by side with the other characters they revealed, you have this sort of mechanic

girl who's wearing uh uh gloves and has a scarf. Like, she's much more unique and then you have the the lizard guy who's ob uh uh also unique. Like, if you put them side by side, like, I think he stands out as like the He looks like a Toriyama character. He just does. Yeah, but he he's very in comparison to the other characters, he's kind of generic, but still within the style. Yeah, yeah. And I you know, I would take how he looks over the hero in Dragon Quest Seven any day.

Well the hero in Drag Quest Seven looks like a weird little L. Yeah. Yeah. So I mean we'll probably have to wait a bit, but it's good that they uh they've announced uh that that Dragon Quest twelve is still happening. No one no Yeah, I mean it was How could they not? Especially given that Dragon Quest XI has done significantly better than any of the recent Final Fantasies. Their last announcement, and it was like a year ago, was that they were up to eight and a half million copies.

Did it live up to expectations then? Is that what you're saying? Amazingly enough, I I know who would have thought that a square Enix game could live up to expectations. But not only that, but the spin offs have been doing better than expected. They've um like Dragon Quest Monsters Three, the the Dark Prince that came out a couple of years ago. Um, they sold out of the physical copies all over. Like they were like, Oh, sorry, uh buy it digitally please while we produce some more.

It sold way more than they were expecting, which I think is why we're getting another one. They hadn't made a new monsters game in quite a while and the last two or three had only been in Japan. Yeah. Yeah, well I I've not heard of the monsters one. Is that like a Pokemon style? Yeah, it's it's a monster catching game for sure. Don't tell Nintendo. Oh Ha ha ha. Nintendo Dolls It's on the suite.

I think I think well, not only that, I'm pretty sure Nintendo might have published the first couple games on the Game Boy. Ah they got their cut. They got their cut. Yeah, they know. They they know about Dragon Quest monsters. Very good. Well, uh, we've saved the the beefiest for last because we have an hour long state of play to discuss. This just happened shortly before our recording.

And they had uh updates for games we already knew about. They had new games to show off, uh a lot of first party stuff. Some some surprise sequels and spin-offs. So I mean we can we can kind of start at the top where it started with a seven minute demo slash uh uh look at um Marvel's Wolverine from Insomniac. And Look, I will play anything Insomniac puts out there. Uh I don't wanna but I will say that

And look, it's a guy with claws. He's got he's got he's got c he's got claws on his hands. So we we experienced this when they made the Wolverine game for X-Men Origins, the movie we don't talk about, but the video game we do talk about. And they they went they went v super violent. And it makes sense. It's a dude. So He's he's a dude with claws that is named after uh an animal that is notorious for its viciousness. Exactly. So that all being said, that game looks incredibly violent and Yeah.

And that's what they're showing in a trailer as opposed to where, you know, they usually clean things up a little. You know, they're doing they make them a little more general audience oriented. Yeah. And like Wolverine in Midnight Suns. It's still a dude with claws, but he does it's all cartoony, right? There's no blood, there's no nothing. It's and

We thought when they originally showed it off it's like, Oh, he's gonna be fighting robots and it's all gonna be and then you have an excuse to like tear people apart. No. These are cyborgs and uh d that doesn't matter. Lots of blood. Ha ha Uh so I mean look, I'm um they they did say that you can turn off the vi like turn off the gore, I guess. You can't turn off the violence, but you can turn off the gore so it's not as it's not as uh grotesque. But I I love a good

Insomnia game. I do love Marvel. I don't have as big of uh a an affinity to Wolverine and the X Men as I do for Spider Man, but I'm willing to I really did like that Wolverine game that came out. Um Back on the PS two Xbox. Three sixty yeah. Has it really been that long since that movie? I don't know. Uh Origins game. I gotta look it up. Cause I always mix up that generation. I always mix up so yeah, it was 360 PS3. So Okay. Yeah, it wasn't that long ago. But uh but but still long enough and I

Uh this one's out in September. September is packed. We were kind of joking that Stuff is either releasing up to September and then skipping to February. And there's that like GTA six black hole there. So this one's coming out in September. It does look like a lot of fun. They're gonna have other Marvel characters in there, uh specifically X-Men. They revealed uh Gene Gray is uh in this sequence. We'd previously seen mystique. Yep. Yeah. So I'm looking forward to it. Uh I think that.

This is PlayStation's big release. Last year was Ghost of Yote. This is gonna be their big sort of first party title. Um and uh yeah, it's uh It's gonna be bloody. Ha ha ha. Keep that in mind. That's for sure. Yeah, yeah, for sure. Um this uh this Rayman Legends retold. D did you ever play the Rayman Legends games? I did not. We played Raven Rabbids, but we did not play Ray Man. Yeah, so Rayman had a bit of a

A tough resurgence. Like it w it to me it was always this weird, wonky three D platformer Competing with Mario and and stuff. And then and I know there was stuff before that, it started out as a two D game. And then they had the Legends series after the whole Rabbits thing. And it was a return to the two D side scrolling and it was like a fun, colorful, musical, sort of two D experience. And I'm watching this trailer for this retold game, and it is a remake

Slash I would kind of put it as a reimagining of Legends, because Legends is a 2D art. This is 3D. It's like they've redone the whole thing in 3D, which is kinda wild. Like they've changed their medium. Not medium, but their their I don't know, like going from two DR to three DR is a big jump. Especially weird with with the platformer since there's usually such a difference between, you know, 2D and 3D.

Yeah. And they do they do take advantage of the fact that they are three D now and they do have some perspective shifts that they've applied with some of the levels. So this is a this is a remake uh similar to I guess Final Fantasy VII remake where they're taking the original and and rethinking some things. So It's nice to see that Ubisoft remembers they have IPs other than Assassin's Creed. Yeah. I mean Rayman's kind of been sitting on the sidelines for a while like that. Uh-huh.

I can't remember. I mean they had the uh the DLC for Mario plus Rabbit. Well and they had a sequel to that one as well. Yeah, I think he was... Yeah, apparently didn't do very well though, so Or at least didn't meet expectations. So who knows if that's square Enix expectations or regular people expectations. I don't know. Shareholder expectations. It's a tough tough to please those folks.

Um they have uh Dave the Diver is getting a spin-off. This is not DLC. This is a sort of restaurant prequel, yeah, restaurant management slash cooking sim with Bancho the Chef. So I mean this looks it looks really cool. Like I I do like the the cooking mini you know what it reminds me of when I watched this trailer? It reminded me of uh Cook Serve Delicious.

Where you're making the food and serving it, and then you know you're getting bonuses based on that. I'm kind I'm kind of excited for this one. I'm sure we're gonna ha get to have the fun conversation about what is an Ind with it too. I can't my favorite discourse. What is an indie? This podcast is indie, you know. So hey, maybe we can. Oh, just as long as you don't use AI to to do generate any background images that you accidentally leave them. No. Yeah. This is audio only, it's fine.

I can't be held responsible for the podcast app you're using'cause a lot of podcast apps use uh transcribe with AI but That's not on me. That's uh that's on And and uh also can't be held responsible for what it thinks I said. So or thinks what fired me. Ha ha ha. Uh we so I'm uh I'm excited about this one. Um Tomb Raider. This is another one that decided like uh we're gonna go to twenty twenty seven.

Uh this was originally supposed to come out this year but has been delayed for reasons. Uh Tomb Raider Legacy of Atlantis is uh a remake of the original nineteen ninety six Tomb Raider. And I'm excited for this one. I love what Crystal Dynamics has done with with the franchise and I'm excited to see them Sort of step out of the Survivor series which was more like a little bit of a little bit of a little bit Right. Not grounded but more

focused on like a like a less experienced Lara Croft. This is a much more confident Lara Croft. Like she is The one that we think of when we think of Warcraft. Exactly. My only worry is isn't it owned isn't Crystal Dynamics owned by Amazon now? That's the one that makes me a little trepidatious with now having a pushback on the date given how much game cancellations they've been doing.

Yeah, yeah, this so this is uh they actually it's weird they had the Amazon game studios in the trailer uh flash uh up before anything. And they don't have a great track record, although No! No, they don't! This isn't an MmO. This is a single player experience and I I I don't know if that helps them or not, but I I do I don't know. I just I really hope that it goes well, especially after Crystal Dynamics was previously owned by our good friends at Square Enix and there didn't meet expectations.

Yeah. But, you know, this is actually so this is being made by Crystal Dynamics as well as Wildhog Studios and uh obviously under Amazon uh game studios. But um but this is our one of two Tomb Raider games that's coming out. We also have Catalyst, which was originally supposed to be coming out in twenty twenty seven, and I wonder if they will push that I would be surprised if they didn't with this one getting pushed. Yeah. Better to, you know.

Keep the momentum going rather than release two games in a year and then have a big batch and nothing. Now I've uh I've I've selected a few games here. Was there anything that standed out to you that we haven't discussed yet? The God of War game. That looked amazing.

Yeah, I mean that was uh that closed the show. There were rumors of what God of War would be doing next, and a lot of people like, oh, it's gonna be Atreus. And I think recently there was some rumors that it would be focused on uh Fay and her And it would be a prequel. And I'm like, Yeah, that makes sense'cause you know sport Yeah, you'd think'cause she is she's dead. She dies, like right. Spoiler alert for the first thirty seconds of God of War twenty eighteen.

Yeah. Like it starts with her being deceased and they're they're doing a a funeral pyre. So When the trailer started I was like, Oh, what are they is this gonna be is this like a uh a flash forward and then we're like, I remember before I was dead and then if it's it's an entire flashback video game? But uh no, that's not the case. Uh gods live on and They she should have gone to Valhalla, isn't that like sort of the Norse sort of heaven thing?

Well, I mean Valhalla is the Norse heaven for people, but we don't know that that's where sh where the gods went because as she ended up, this is what we know. It's where the gods go when they're deceived. So I don't know if if they knew that that that's what happens, if if they had that and I'm sure we're gonna find out a lot more, but it looks like the game is actually happening simultaneously with at least twenty eighteen.

Maybe Ragnarok as well. I don't know, you know, who who can say since of course there will be a lot more to the game than what we saw in their gameplay reveal. Yeah, so we got uh first look at gameplay and our main character who you have uh the actress who played

Fay in Ragnarok coming back as the main character here. Um We do see that there are multiple um pantheons being involved because I c did not catch the name of the fire dude, but the other one that seems to be uh one of the big antagonists is Sekmet, which is an Egyptian god. Yeah. I like the idea that like a lot of people are like, Oh, where are they gonna go next? Are they gonna go to Egypt? And the fact that they've decided like, you know what?

let's set up a scenario where we can just pick and choose our favorites and you don't get a there's mystery in the trailer that you don't get an idea as like as to why they're all here, but this is the sort of the heaven of the gods, the afterlife of the gods, and you have different, as you said, pantheons present, and this Egyptian goddess appears to be controlling things. Um but there's no like context given. It's and and even our main character is like, what what is what is happening?

Clearly like the trailer opens up and it's not even really a trailer'cause it opens up the game, like w clearly how we're going to do it'cause it had a it showed a little

intro that was some of the stuff from God of War twenty eighteen and then it popped up with with like her funeral pyre and everything in a start game. And then you start and it and then it clearly moves into this immediate um intro sequence where you're immediately doing stuff and traversing the environment and learning some of the very basic controls with combat and traversal and whatnot.

But even aside from it being multiple pantheons, it looks like they are choosing to go really waters of creation where anything can happen because Uh one of somebody that comes along with you on your quest is a gelatinous cube with a sword in it. Ha ha. I saw some of the behind the scenes in and the gelatinous cube who who perfectly fine being a gelatinous cube is And being named Frank.

Yeah, yeah, name I forgot about that. Yeah, it's uh played by Jack Quaid and I saw some behind the scenes where he's doing mocap and I thought it was a joke, but it's literally him with a uh P V C pipe around him. Just sitting there quivering. Oh my word. Oh that's hilarious. Yes. Behind the scenes.

Yeah, it's uh i this is this is kind of the reveal that you look for with these events. Um, the the big sort of like the what's next sort of experience and um I think this is what I've I like it doesn't need to be a sequel, it doesn't need to be a spin off, but this is kind of what I'm what I'm looking for with these

um announcements. A lot of other stuff to get excited about, like Control Resident also September looks great. Um you know, we got uh they announced Until Dawn sequel. That's exciting. Um but like the closing with the God of War stuff, like that's what I was like, it kinda harkens back to the E3s of old a little bit.

Yes, and having it actually be a big deal and actually making it make sense that they even had this plane in Alamo draft houses as as a thing for people to go to the theater and see'cause I mean, not to to diminish some of you know the previous stuff, but a lot of that we knew about. A lot of that had been previously announced. We'd seen trailers or even gameplay bits, so on and so forth. This was not at all what we really expected. Certainly not in the way

it is with her being in the land of the gods of the dead. Of course, we would have all assumed it was a prequel. Given that, you know, we've only known her as dead. Yeah. So that was that was an exciting closing that that is Makes me think about, say, back in the the heyday of Blizzard where they'd end the opening ceremony of BlizzCon with a really big announcement, not, you know, a Diablo.

mobile game, but with a really big announcement and it was so exciting, whatever this this has that kind of energy. I think it's um It it goes back to the way video game companies used to sort of space out their announcements where they weren't Opposed to announcing things early. There's no date attached to this. It's likely twenty twenty eight, if I had to guess. Um it could be late twenty twenty this could be their twenty twenty seven title. Uh it could be.

I I'm thinking probably later. I could be wrong. Depends on how long they've been working on it. Yeah. I mean, I don't think it's there's no sign of Naughty Dog here with their uh heretic Is it a heretic? That was interstellar or Your galactic, something like that. Enter something to do with space. Yeah.

And religion, I think, as well. Uh I think it I think it inter Intergalactic sounds right. I'm I'm gonna look it up because it's been so long since we've seen it. I think it was like Two game awards before we see like two game awards ago. Yeah. Hey we were both right, Intergalactic the Heretic Prophet There we go. Yeah. So that one was announced

I think in uh February so they trademarked it in February twenty twenty four and then they revealed it in December twenty twenty four. So so a year and a half ago. Um no sign of it here. But this is kinda how Sony works. They'll they They've been sort of on a trend where they'll like reveal something and then that's kind of like their big tentpole game for for down the shortly down the road.

And um but it but it did feel like it it felt like a E three of old where it's like, we don't have a date for this, we're ready to show you this big piece. We saw it with God of War twenty eighteen. and Spider-Man when that was revealed in that epic sort of E3 presentation. But um this This felt closer to what we've had previously uh from Sony. Uh so it's uh I'm glad that Sony is like sticking to the June time frame their Right. They're sort of developing like a E three style direct.

Nintendo does not seem keen on doing that. Um We'd sure like to hear from you Nintendo. We wanna know what we want to give you money for. And not just for a Switch two. Like we actually want to buy games. That would be Yes, we want games for the Switch too, not just for it to l sit there and look pretty. Donkey Kong was great, but come on.

Yeah. Yeah. So we'll w Nintendo has obviously not announced anything. We we and we will be covering more Ghost of E three stuff because we have Summer games fast. Later this week, isn't it very? Yes, yes. There's stuff on Friday. Yeah, so that's Friday, and then Xbox is Sunday. So next episode we'll have those two showcases to uh discuss. And then once everybody's done announcing things

Nintendo will uh come out of their their their borough and be like, oh, I'm ready to talk. Like they won't see their shadow, they won't go back away and then no direct for six more months. They'll they'll give us a five minute warning to give us another one hour uh Kirby air roll. Could you imagine? Ha ha ha. We're excited to announce Kirby Air Riders DLC and we have a new direct. Okay. Don't you I should not have introduced that idea into the universe.

I'll edit this out and and Nintendo won't hear it. It won't see the light of day. This is uh Ha ha ha. I'm kidding. That sounds like work. Um, but you know, we're we're excited for more announcements. We're excited to to see what uh Jeff Keeley has been hiding on his thumb drives, and uh what Xbox has been thinking of not canceling. So we'll we'll see what is

But we don't want to hear what Jeff thinks is gonna be the best new game that's coming out. We don't wanna hear that part. Just just let the rest of them announce, Jeff, and be quiet. Yeah. Yeah, that It's been a long year. For a video game. Really has. Ha ha. I can't believe that was January. Uh, well, um, with that note, I'm excited and you know the best place to discuss all these announcements.

There was a thread that was created for the state of play. That's usually our trend is we'll start a uh a sort of a thread discussion in the general chat. of the Discord, tiny dot cc slash TGI Discord. It is the best place for us to discuss this stuff. Social media, no. And n no more uh live tweeting, no more blue sky threading and

God forbid you use Facebook still. Discord is the best place for connecting with us. And uh speaking of Witch Firebird, where can people find you other than the Discord? Nowhere else. You can find me on the Discord. That's the right that's the right call. That is the best place for uh folks to to interact with the community and discuss these

Great announcements as the Ghost of E3 continues over the next week. That is gonna do it for this episode. I wanna thank Firebird for joining me tonight to discuss all the great video game announcements and JRPGs and ball X pits. It's kind of the outlier there. Yeah, yeah, well I I kind of am mostly a one note pony. I what can I say?

That's totally fine. Nothing wrong with uh having a a good JRPG to play. So uh I will be doing that. I'll be going not right now, uh but I will be going back to play trails very soon and I'll have more thoughts on that. Well you know what if you really feel bored during September, you'll be able to follow that up with the next one. I know. September now has Trails, Wolverine and Resonant, uh control Resonant competing for my top. Ha ha ha. Who will win?

Probably Wolverine, he's pretty violent. He w he seems like he could take the crowd, but I don't know. I don't know. I hear stuff about Estelle. She sounds like she's kinda scary. Oh my gosh, yeah. In the first hour she drop kicks a kid. So maybe you're right. I'm not joking. Oh I believe it. I've just tried to picture that versus Wolverine and I I'm not entirely sure how uh you know. Maybe she'll she'll cook something and and kill him accidentally with it.

I have like I have two two of my favorite gifts to post in the Discord uh is is uh the uh Yakuza kicking the door open and then and then Estelle drop kicking somebody. So that I just I just shared that with you so It's one of my faves. Uh but yes, uh visit us on the web at gamersinpodcast.com. You can follow us on Blue Sky. You can find Jocelyn at josplays.com and myself at ryanmurphy.ca.

Also be sure to check out our TGI Community Starter Pack at tiny.cc slash TGI Starter Pack. Thanks for staying at the Gamers Inn. Remember tune in next week. Catch all those great announcements at the Ghost of E3 this weekend, and we will chat more soon. Goodbye everyone.