Get Played - Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree with Jordan Morris

Episode Date: July 15, 2024

Jordan Morris joins Matt, Heather and Nick to discuss the Elden Ring DLC Shadow of the Erdtree. They break down the new mechanics, what they're liking in the DLC, how it stacks up with the base game and more. No major plot spoilers discussed. Check out Jordan's new graphic novel Youth Group available now at your bookstore of choice. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram @getplayedpod. Music by Ben Prunty benpruntymusic.com. Art by Duck Brigade duckbrigade.com. Check out our Anime watch-along podcast Get Anime'd and our complete Get Played, How Did This Get Played? and Premium DLC back catalogue only on patreon.com/getplayed. Join us on our Discord server here: https://discord.gg/getplayed Wanna leave us a voicemail? Call 616-2-PLAYED (616-275-2933) or write us an email at [e-mail] Advertise on Get Played via Gumball.fmSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This is a HeadGum Podcast. After two years of slumber, awaken once more, my hideous guardian. Bowels of despair, heathen of massmers intent, and bring death to the gods who besmirch the name of the chosen unrisen. Once more to the urn tree tarnished!" Okay, how do I...I don't remember how to...which one is sword? Which one...okay, okay no how do I drink jug no okay that's spell that's jump where is drink jug mount your spectral

steed tarnished and ride ride to the earth tree okay I put my sword I put my sword away on accident how do I take out sword how do I say okay that's jump where is horse bow tarnish the land of shadow requires that you proceed and take down all you who are you how do you know how I drink jug I don't know how to drink jug Okay, that's please Tarnish. You're the only one that can save the land of shadow Fuck I just rolled Okay, how do I drink?

That thing died oh No, that guy died Can I give you how do I give you jug? How do I give jug? Okay, that guy died. Can I give you, how do I give you jug? How do I give jug? Okay, that's horse. Okay, I'm on horse. How do I, oh God, I just walked over that guy. How do I get off horse? Great enemy fell.

What? Okay, I beat that guy, I don't. Well done, Tarnished. I don't have any idea what I'm doing. You have redeemed your soul. It's been way too long. I don't know where I am. I don't know what this armor is.

How do I drink jug? Drink jug! Costume Tarnished! Wait, why is it an option for poor jug on lap? We collect shadow tree fragments and traverse the land of shadow as we discuss the Elden Ring DLC Shadow of the Urd Tree this week on Get Played, your one-stop show for what? Sorry, I almost just... God damn it!

I had to get some of tea and it was so hot. I'm really sorry got me off guard we're two seconds into this No, we're keeping it I'm back to pretty on-the-nose reaction I'm gonna take a sip of my hot tea real quick. Liquid in mouth. Liquid in mouth. Fuck. All right, let's try again.

Okay. Welcome to Get Played, your one stop show for good games, bad games, and every game in between. It's time to get played. I'm your host, Heather Ann Campbell, along with my fellow host, Fuck!

Hot! Nick Weiger. I'm Nick host Heather and Campbell along with my fellow host fuck I'm Nick Weiger along with their third host, Matt. I'm a doctor. Hello everyone. Hello everyone and welcome back to the premiere video game and hot tea drinking podcast Look I took this is this may result in disaster Yeti because it was too hot this tea needs to cool down more I have been cooling for like ten full minutes, and it's still so fucking hot I can't I can't even is it possible that it's still so hot because you put it in a fucking yeti container Put it in a cup a regular cup, but then it's gonna be not stay warm over the course of the record

I wanna be sippin' this bad boy So you're gonna wait until it achieves a certain temperature and then put the lid back on Yeah, that's the idea And then just like seal it in there I unfortunately have the solution And you're not gonna like it This mug that I have that has an app I wanna get a smart mug

And download a software. But you can control the temperature. Wait, the amber? Yeah, it's good. I got one from my mom, she loves it. It's a hit with people of a certain age and then I got one and I was like, wait, this is really good.

Look, I love the Yeti. This is not branded content, not a sponsor. I do really like the Yeti. It works great for me. It's not a smart device. It's dishwasher safe. It's like exactly what I need. This tea was just a little bit too hot.

So I just should have let it cool off more. It's gonna be fine. No, I think you should drink it in the middle of an intro. Yeah, yeah. I was thinking a quick sip, cause I was a little parched. It seemed like you were like, you gulped it. Like you were.

No, I just took a little, I took the littlest sip. I took the tiniest sip and then I heard, I just felt like liquid like like lava hitting my tongue You okay? That was a little seared cold. It's my diet coke All right, they were all back in studio Two weeks where Heather was out of town in Japan and then we had a week where we would, we couldn't record because Heather and I separately both got COVID,

and so there was just no way for us all to get together. But we're, and honestly, we weren't even in- I got COVID and I'm here. Come on, guys. Keep to a schedule. You say you're gonna be somewhere. That's a good point. That's right, that's fair.

Jordan is sweating visibly. You say you're gonna be somewhere. That's a good point. That's true, that's fair. That's true, that's fair. Dirt is sweating visibly. Dirt is sweating visibly. Dirt is sweating visibly. Well, we were really in a state where we could even record remotely was the thing. Yeah. And so we just kind of gave ourselves a week off. But great to be back with everyone.

It was my first bout with it, and I hear that your first bout is your toughest bout. It was not easy. Yeah. But we're back We're back. So now that you get what the hype's about you're not gonna be a bug chaser anymore. Are you Heather? Japanese variant sleek I'm very lucky. I got it on the way home So yeah, it didn't ruin my trip because that would have ruined my trip Oh my god, what a bummer that would have ruined it. Yeah

Ranch you got in COVID? I've never technically tested positive. Wow, okay, but I have been sick Around people who have had COVID. Okay. Okay. So were you just not testing? No, I was testing, yeah. Okay. Wow. Whatever your, what's the term, your viral load which may not have hit the threshold?

We gotta come up with another word for it, right? Can't be viral load. Isn't that what it is? Yeah, that is what it is. It's like, it should be something else, that sucks. I think it makes it a little bit sexy. I gotta get rid of this viral load. Oh, it's huge.

I got so much. I got so many viruses. I'm so fucking sick. I'm deleting my search history so my wife doesn't find out about my viral load. Look we got some business to get to and we have a fantastic guest with us today from Jordan Jesse Goh and Free With Ads. You can also order his new graphic novel Youth Group out July 16th. Our good friend Jordan Morris.

Hi Jordan. Hi Jordan. Hi guys. Thanks for having me back. This is so much fun. What a treat. One of our favorite guests, our original guest of the podcast, episode one of our original format.

Jordan Morris was in the studio. It was the four of us. So it's great to have the whole crew together. Everyone is here. Isn't this the first time we've had you on where you haven't suffered through a Sonic game? Mostly I suffer through terrible, unplayable Sonic games. I see Shadow. Bell in Wonderworld, not technically a sonic game. That's true.

You got me. Balan Wonderworld, technically not a sonic game. So glad that guy went to fucking jail. Oh my god. Balan Wonderworld. Yeah, no, you've been nice enough to have me on. I mean, every invitation is a nice one, and I'm happy to play the bad unplayable Sonic games But but it's also great to be here talking about one of my favorite games of all time

We had you we had you on when we talked about the base game Elden. Yes We did we did allow you It's extremes with y'all Play alike fine farming You're never gonna have me on to just play a fine farming scene. Nope. Have you? I can't remember if we've discussed this previously with you. Did you mess with Sonic Frontiers at all?

I did, yeah. So I think I played it on the show and I think I, and I messed around with it a little bit afterwards. It's a tough game for many reasons, but it's a really compelling game and it has a lot of cool stuff in it, and it's full of good ideas. I think it's like, you know, hardness to play kept me from completing it, but it was like,

yeah, I was like, I respect Sonic Frontiers. I really came around on it, I'm remembering this now, but I really came around on it after our episode, and I was just like playing it, I was like, I think this is pretty damn good, it's really playable it's really the best 3d one they've done that's yes well said that's basically it it's just like it's the it captures the feeling of 2d sonic in three dimensions the best of any of these why isn't he kissing humans guys I mean maybe I just didn't get there

human kissing star if you beat the game you're rewarded with like a 35 minute fuck scene. Oh, I'm like, I gotta go! Play Sonic Frontiers so I can see that scene. Is that clear enough? It's got like a codec in it so it's never been uploaded to YouTube. But like there's like grainy like signs style footage of like people trying to Right, filming on the TV It's like the ring if you see it It's like a walk while like that all scary and weird

It's like the end of the Blair Witch Sonic Jack off in a quarter How unhinged would it be if you were like, why does this game have an M rating? I played most of it What it be if you're like why does this game have an M rating? Beat dr. Robotnik and it's just like knuckles getting railed by big My fanfiction came to life Supervising producer I'm better getting paid for this. Directed by Nick Weigand. Supervising producer Nick Weigand. Nick didn't tell us anything about that.

Someone had to take over for Eugene Aka. So that's where he went for two years. Yeah, I mean, it's a, I don't know, the Sonic franchise is so fraught, but that was one where I was like, I feel like they're kind of, they kind of figured something out here, and I don't know, the Sonic franchise is so fraught, but that was one where I was like, I feel like they're kind of, they kind of figured something out here. And I don't know if there's, I should have looked up if there's a Frontier sequel planned, but it feels like something they could iterate on

and figure out. If there is a Sonic Frontier sequel, can we vow to not do it on the show? Because I didn't like it that much. You didn't like it. I said it back. I will promise you we will do it. We'll definitely do it. I'm hearing you.

I'd rather do the Sonic and Shadow 2D game that's coming out. That looks like it's going to be fun. Yeah, yeah. No, we'll do both. Just like you're asking. I felt like we did all the Sonic experiences I've had have been like joke experiences kind of, but then we did Sonic 2 on the show and I was like, okay I get Sonic this is good

And then we did frontiers and I it just I it just didn't connect with me at all And I was just like I can't I he's now he's back. We should have done mania. I'd be I play Mania I would like to have another good Sonic experience. You would love mania. You would love it I thought you had played it Why am I maybe played like a couple of levels love it. I thought you had played it. Why have I always remembered? I maybe played like a couple of levels of it and just like bounced off of it. But like it seemed like it's cool.

I think I'd own it on multiple platforms cause it's always like $5. What was the one that came out the same week as Mario Wonder that I was going for a while? Sonic Colors. Oh yeah. No it wasn't Colors, it was something else. Yeah.

But Colors was something else. You were playing a different. I was playing, I was playing playing the week Mario wonder came out There was also a sonic release and I played that and I was like what the why would you drop this the same week? Yeah, it's terrible timing extremely Heather moved to be playing the Sonic game Fucking Sonic is good It is. No, it is. Fucking Sonic is good.

It might've been Sonic Colors. I don't, I'm just trying to remember what the chronology is. Sonic kinda had a big year this year. There was like a couple of Sonic games actually. I think that's maybe kind of like part of why we haven't gotten a great one in a while. It's like, just crank them out.

And it's like, you know, you hate to compare it to Nintendo, but it begs the comparison. It's like, Nintendo takes so long with those Mario games. And yes, you wish there was more of them, and you wish there was more content for the Switch, but when they come out, they're fucking pristine. And yeah, it seems like they just kind of like crank out a Sonic game a year, and kids buy it

because they like Sonic and they like the movies, and that's fine for them. Do they? I don't know, I think so. I think they do. But great question, I have never talked to you nor seen a child. It was Sonic Superstars.

Sonic Superstars. That's right, that's right. It was so much better than it needed to be given that it was absolutely fucking buried by Sega by releasing it that same week. Yeah, it released three days before Super Mario Wonder. An insane choice. Really, really, I don't know what they were thinking.

Yeah. All right, Jordan, I feel like we've got a lot to talk about with our topic, with our main topic today. So I'll just get to the question we ask every episode, which is, what are you playing? What are you playing? Hey! Wow. That's an evil merchant. I haven't seen you in a while, buddy. Oh my God. I've been meaning to text, but I'm so busy.

It's all right. It's okay. I'm here asking my favorite people on earth. What are you playing? And I'm Nick Weigar So I do want to point out That was a fun pronunciation of Nick Weigar We were off for two weeks Yeah And you know Heather was out of state, out of country

Yeah Resident Evil Merchant Yeah You abandoned your post for two weeks and that's not cool I thought you all were on break out of state, out of country. Yeah. Resident Evil Merchant. Yeah? You abandoned your post for two weeks, and that's not cool, just because Heather's off. I know you were on break. No, no, just Heather. No, we weren't all on break.

It was just Heather was out of here, although, you know, it was, I will say, it was a little bit more manageable. The show was a little less unwieldy without you. So I don't mean that, I guess I don't mean that as a, I guess that just sounds insulting. But I just- The episodes were 20 minutes long.

They had no sauce. I was under the impression that I did a good job when I co-hosted. You don't, look, you do, you're- I'm hurt. You're good at what you do. I'm just saying like we have a tendency to derail the show a little bit.

Not my fault. I came in, I asked a question, you want to strike up a conversation. So what are your questions? What do you want a recipe? Well, where have you? Actually, I do want a recipe. All right, what do you want to know how to make?

You know what I've been like- Kentucky Fried Chicken it is! So a proprietary recipe? You know the secret recipe? Famously secret recipe. You know? Yeah, the first thing you need is chicken. Okay. Easy mistake for other birds. But you want chicken, you roll it in egg yolk. Okay.

And then flour to make that nice, that crisp. You gotta crisp it up. Sure. But then you gotta roll it in the spices. Yeah, this is the secret blend. Yeah. This is where the prepared onion go. Oh, right, you know?

Cayenne pepper, a little bit of garlic powder. Onion powder. Turmeric. You wanna put in a little regular black pepper. Salt. Can't forget the salt. Why are you Googling? No, I'm just keep going. I'm not binging anything. Keep going.

You're doing something. You're not gonna turn the Resident Evil merchant into the KFC police are you? I'm the LAPD's website. You're doing something. You're not gonna turn the Resident Evil Merchant into the KFC police, are you? No. Hahahaha. On the LAPD's website. I'm stopping, because I'm... this is sus. I'm just saying this is you... you... Nick, do you have an iMessage with the Colonel? Hahahaha.

Uh, you've... you kind of went down the line pretty well. I mean, I feel like you maybe just actually have this in your brain. Why do you doubt me? I don't know. It just seems like a pretty- Do you remember my quiz? I do remember your quiz. It just seems like a pretty random bit of information for you, the Resident Evil merchant. Do you know how hard it is to run a store out of your jacket? I couldn't do it. Tougher job than mine.

It's a tough job. You gotta have inventory on the top of your tongue, on top of your head. Yes. And so sometimes you gotta... I'm not gonna tell you the rest of them. Okay, I'll try to make it on tape. They can remain secret. It can't be easy to wear a big coat in these summer months either. It sucks! Though I do have a beach body.

Oh, that's fun. Nick Weiger! What have you been? Thank you so much for asking, Resident Evil Evil Merchant and great to have you back So I you know we're gonna be talking about the shadow of the urn tree a little bit which I have not gotten into but I have been playing the other base game of Elden Ring. I started a new character been playing a wretch on PC I will say that there there have been some I previously played on PlayStation 5. Yeah, but what are you playing in the game? All right. Hey! You piece of shit. She's back!

I will say it was fun to me, like, because I don't usually... Nick, there's no cuck class. What are you saying every time? I don't usually play, like, make me always with character generation sometimes, but this time I decided to make me but like super old So I just look like me, but if I'm written I was like a retired cop Really grim vision of my future so when you say you don't usually make you this time that you just click the parser like One to the right. And just go with default.

So the wretch is the character who starts with all stats at 10 and just a club as equipment. And it's really fun to have a tabula rasa of a character on a second playthrough. I will say I've heard some complaints about the performance on PC. It's mostly been pretty good for me, although there are things where it's like there are times when it hitches a

little bit and I got a pretty capable gaming PC and this is a the base game is a few years old at this point so it's kind of a bummer the performance isn't quite up to snuff and I understand that's an issue with third tree as well. But also just traveling in like a completely anarchic order is just really super fun just like I like I'll go to K-Lid super early or whatever and just sort of, just experiencing the game in a different sequence than I did with my first playthrough. But it also just kind of gives you a little bit of respect

for extra respect, I should say, on how elegant the onboarding is without telling you what to do over and over again. Just how you're kind of elegantly directed towards like, oh, here's the, I just sort of naturally found my way over to get the whetstone knife, this key item, you know? Like nothing explicitly gave me an objective to go get it. I just sort of was guided there and ended up with,

you know, like all that shit is fun. It's also like when you know, the stuff is in your muscle memory a little bit and and anyone who those of you who've replayed the game, I think I've experienced the same sort of thing replaying any game where it's just kind of like, oh, I can, I remember how to fight this boss and like I take, you know, take out this tree sentinel on my first try or taking it taking out like a Leon I misbegotten these early

game game bosses and just a couple tries. That's all very, very satisfying. Incredible game, obviously a masterpiece. I won't go on about it because that's old news. What I am gonna talk about a little bit more is Playnice. This is Jason Schreier's upcoming book. This releases in October and I got an advanced copy of it sent to me, the publisher was very, very nice over there to provide this for me.

It is an awesome read. It is called Playnice, the full title, The Rise, Fall, very nice over there. To provide this for me, it is an awesome read. It is called Play Nice, the full title, The Rise, Fall, and Future of Blizzard Entertainment. I really enjoyed Jason, friend of the show, been on the podcast, obviously a host of the great TripleClick podcast, and I really enjoyed his other books, Press Reset and Blood, Sweat, and Pixels,

which are very well written, but they're more fragmented and episodic. They talk about a bunch of different games a bunch of different studios This one is a deep dive on one topic and what a topic what a company to profile when you know What are the totemic iconic? American video game studios and publishers He'd actually had written about the failed Diablo 3 launch Speaking of blizzard and its path to redemption in a previous book, and that's a really engaging read.

I mean, he's just like, he's a great journalist, but he's also just a really compelling writer, especially conveying the human side of this, of the is a pre-release and also I imagine that Jason and the publisher doesn't want any like juicy goss or a great anecdote spoiled in advance, but it is really, really cool. And it's an awesome read if you're interested in Blizzard at all. I'm very much in the first third, which is like the rise portion of the book.

And that's all like the inspired, the inspiration of these young creative people who are are you know Other games like kind of give them the idea for like how could I improve upon this and iterate upon it and Create a better version of it and that's how they land on some of their their best designs like the original Warcraft What I haven't gotten to yet is the turn where it goes into the fall section, which is the merger with Activision and that makes it and the company obviously became Activision Blizzard and its public perception completely shifted in the aftermath.

So anyway, just wanted to on a day when we're talking, we have our buddy Jordan here, who has a great book that everyone should pre-order, Youth Group. Also people should check out Jason Schreier's book, Play Nice, pre-order that at your bookstore of choice, because I think it's gonna be awesome when the final version comes out. So yeah, that's what I've been playing. Wow, I can't wait to read that, yeah, really exciting.

Um, I'll say, because I've been playing so much Shadow of the Earth Tree, I've been eating something to like Or just take the edge off a little bit something that I know it's gonna be so I don't I don't I want to I'm sure I can only monologue for a while there and I feel like there was a point where you know I'm again, it's been a few weeks since Resident Evil merchants been here But I feel like Resident Evil merchant could have been like yeah, what are you playing? Yeah, you know I didn't want to you know, you know the guy to death. I'm just I think he does a great job

I'm just like I don't I Can't thread the needle with you You don't want me to out to sea We don't want me too close to shore either yeah Yeah that's a that's a tightrope walk. I know you have the capability to pull it off. Alright. Because when you do pull it off it's like a delicate beautiful dance. Thank you Matt. Matt knows how to compliment a person and do a good performance. Well you're a star and I know where the money's at and it's like we got to just keep you know.

Abedaki do you want me to tee you up? Please all right matter of a dog Thanks Resident Evil Merchant So yeah, I've been I've been playing obviously a lot of shadow your tree but In when I'm not playing that what I've been frustrated to the point where I'm like There are a couple times playing this game where I was like I feel like what it must feel like to want to snap a controller

In half I was like, but I don't want to do that So I'm just gonna put this down and do something else, but nothing was really satisfying Or scratching scratching the itch as it were but I remembered I have all these devices I have all these games on these devices What am I gonna? What am I gonna play right now for some reason? I've been playing and I'm almost done with the original ratchet and clank on Vita And another another Heather ass move Like I was in my Heather bag for sure and let me tell you something about the Vita

I know I talked about the Vita when I got my Vita. I'm playing Golden Sun on the Game Boy Micro. Hey, that sounds like fun. It does, it does. It sounds fun. I was actually thinking about doing that. That's why I was off the dome. I've been pricing Game Boy Micro's

and they're very expensive right now. Are they? I always wanted one. I never got one at the time. Anyway, I think about the Game Boy Micro often. If I may, if I may, the Micro is too small. It's too small. Oh, is it?

It is too small. Especially, you're mentioning Golden Sun, JRPG, a lot of text, you don't wanna be reading that. Yeah. It is a conceptually wonderful unit that in execution, you're like, ugh. Okay. It's like the screen is super sharp,

but it's like if you took the Gameboy resolution and used modern pixel density, right? So you're like this is a little bit like playing on a postage stamp. It's not quite the thing that you want All right. I think I can maybe move on from coveting it now It's nice to know that I should get one of these modern ones. Yeah. Yeah that are built for it anyway, I will say there the the second revision of the Advance SP, the Game Boy Advance SP, which had, I think it had, I can't remember if it had a front light originally and then it had the backlight

on the revision or vice versa, but that's what I have and that's what I use if I wanna do any GBA gaming. And yeah, that's a great display. I'd also pitch an analog pocket. I'd also pitch a Gameboy Advance classic Like the the single plant not the clamshell but the other one What do you call it a tablet the long boy the long boy with an IPS screen? Okay? Oh, this is great great tips

Thank you. Um Let me tell you something about ratcheting clink. All right, this This is the, on the Vita they released the trilogy, right? Yes. This is a compilation of the first three games. Yes, exactly. So I'm playing through the first one. It's just a good game. It's really, really fun. I love those games. They're all really, really fun. I haven't, I don't think I, I played through the first three

and then missed some of the other like PS3 sequels and stuff like that. But those first three were, playing this again was like a nice, like visiting an old friend. Just felt like very nice, very like, oh I know exactly what I'm supposed to be doing, I know exactly how to play this thing. But on the Vita,

I don't think we talked about how good the battery life on the Vita is. The fucking Vita. Vita rules, It is so unbelievable I've had it on sleep. I just I haven't I haven't plugged it in I haven't like turned it all the way off It's been on like sleep when I've been not playing it like over the last week. That's 77% right now Unbelievable the Vita the Vita is is baffling

Yeah, it's like on on paper the Vita versus the PSP versus the DS The PSP should have won mm-hmm It was a gorgeous adult device that you could load music and videos on like it could do stuff The DS couldn't do and was graphically superior, so you can watch Shrek on that fucking thing Yeah, by the time you can watch Shrek on the Gameboy Advance Let's let's that was that came later They live figure down in a compressive that compress it a shit and put it on a cart look UMDs was a huge advantage if you can watch Shrek on something. I'm aware of it You must be so excited for sure. Oh yeah, I don't want to die. 5 announced. I cannot speak about this. What are three?

He took off his shirt. At my work, we have an intern who's quite young and posted it in our work slack that he was very excited about this. And I had to get in there and say, this is not your culture, this is ours. Wow. What are three things you hope happen in Shrek 5? I mean, one, I hope he shows whole. Two, yeah. Jesus.

I mean, here's the thing. And that's pretty quick. It's been at the top of my list since Shrek one Mid-credit scene in his puss and boots sequel yeah, I hope there's a trailer with a somber version of all-star And you know I hope they bring the ginger man man back. He's funny. He's very fun. He's very funny. All the characters in Shrek are funny. But anyway, the Vita is incredible. I've been loving Ratchet and Clank. I don't know if I'll get to the other two in the trilogy,

because honestly, right now, I feel like I'm kind of burnt out on games right now, if I'm being honest. Wow. And we'll get to why later, but that's it for me. Yeah. All right. Jordan, what are you playing? Yeah, so I...

Oh! So now it's okay. No, I mean, like, it's, I just saw there was a window to pass the ball, and like, you know, again, someone could step in. Jordan, what are you playing? Now I will answer the question. God damn it. I was going to remain mum before. But now I will answer that.

I've been asked properly. So Shroud of the Irritery, yes, I play it till my head hurts. I love it. I love it. But, Matt, I think you mentioned, like, kind of wanting something to, like, come down with. Yes. Because I, you know, I get so amped up when I play those FromSoft games. And it affects my sleep. Like I play them, I start when I get done with work and I stop when I'm too tired. And it, you know, it fucks with my sleep and stuff like that.

So I thought a come down game would be kind of nice, something a little, you know, less punishing, something kind of fun and light. Illusion Island is the Mickey platformer. Ooh. It is so cute. It is so fun. something kind of fun and light. Illusion Island, it's the Mickey platformer. Ooh. It is so cute, it is so fun, it is gentle. I don't think I've died once playing it.

It's got gorgeous animation, it's the writing's kind of funny. It's just a blast, it's very, yeah, it's like the closest thing I've ever enjoyed to like a cozy game. Okay. Not usually a genre I'm into, but I like the closest thing I've ever enjoyed to like a cozy game. Okay. Not usually a genre I'm into, but I think this, and I don't think this is it technically. It's a platformer, but I think for me,

it is doing some of the things that like Animal Crossing does for people. Sure. Right. There's one thing about it that kind of bugs me, and I think I might be uptight. So, you can play Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy. Yeah. Everybody's pretty much the same. Cosmetic differences. They're, you know, you don Minnie, Donald, Goofy. Everybody's pretty much the same, cosmetic differences. You don't do a lot in the game.

You jump, you double jump, that's pretty much it. So you pick whoever you want to play as. Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy. There's a mechanic in it where if you're playing two players, if you hug each other, you get life back. Cute. It's weird to see Minnie hugging people that aren't Mickey. Mm.

Because they're married, right, Mickey and Minnie? Yeah. It's a hug, though. But it's kind of a long hug. They make noise. And they give each other little noises. Yikes. Oh, I don't know.

Maybe I'm uptight, but I'm like, you can't hug another band's wife. You're trying to escape Illusion Island. Maybe Mickey's into it. I don't know. It's funny. Illusion Island is clearly in the same vein as Castle of Illusion, which was like an early Genesis Mickey platformer that was also on the Game Gear. And it's not a franchise that you would think of as having

a franchise. You wouldn't be like, oh, Mickey Mouse games, AKA the Illusion series. But there it is in 2024. I mean, it's part of why I took notice. I love that Genesis game. It's so much fun. It's gorgeous. I mean, those Disney Genesis games looked amazing. The Aladdin game, the Lion King game, they all looked so cool on Genesis. Yeah, so I mean, it was a thing that got me,

a guy in his 40s to pick up a child game, because I recognize the naming convention. So I think it's like, kids are gonna just buy this because it's Mickey, but also olds will remember their youth and buy it. So kind of a crafty call with the name, I think. If you like Mickey and a video game, there's a whole franchise I could sell you on

if you're interested in maybe the power of friendship and keys and- Matt, I'm gonna stop you right there. I'm not. The art style in this is really, it's very, it's like a bold stroke, it feels like, especially for Disney. It feels like there are depictions of Mickey here. It's almost like, kind of looks like a, you know, I haven't seen it in motion. I'm just looking at screenshots, but but it almost kind of has like a, almost looks like a flash game, like that kind of level of stylization.

It does a little bit, yeah, and it is in the style of these new Mickey cartoons that are on Disney Plus right now, which are great. If you ever have said to yourself, Mickey isn't funny, why do we care about Mickey, these cartoons fix that, because they're hilarious. They're such great classic cartooning. And I think this is meant to be like a game in that world. And in the cartoons, Minnie is hugging the appropriate care.

No, she'll hug anybody. You know, you got to be sex positive these days. They woke everything up. They have a non-traditional view of marriage. It isn't so patriarchal. Folks, we're gonna make Minnie hug Mickey again. Yeah! Drop, drop, drop!

Fuck Joe Biden! She's out there hugging Goofy. It's not right. God. Oh no! Unbelievable. Oh no. Unbelievable. What's he talking about? And then Pluto sits there like a dog. Well, I mean, he is the more coherent of the two of them.

So he's the choice. Jesus Christ. Biden's talking about yogi and boo boo. So he knows them? laughter He fought them in high school? laughter laughter

This game looks rad and this looks like my kind of thing I also love hard platforms but I love an easy breezy platformer too I'm gonna check this out. Yeah, it's a treat, not for everybody, but I'm really liking it.

And I always, yeah, I love a classic platformer, and this really scratches that itch. All right, that brings us to Heather Ann Campbell, our correspondent in Japan. Heather, what have you been playing? Japan! Well, so, here's the thing. USSR.

U-G-U-S-A. Japan! Well, so, here's the thing. USSR! USA! Rise from your grave! Technica! Well... Let's save stuff for video games. I mean, I've been playing Shadow of the Earth Tree.

But I also... I've been playing something else that I think I'm gonna talk about next week. Okay. Instead, I'd like to take this opportunity to talk about some of the game-related stuff that happened in my life over the last couple of weeks when I was in Japan. And the first thing I'd like to do

is start us off with a little World Warrior segment. Okay. From Japan. Wow. Or Japan! segment from Japan. There's a place in Japan, a sort of wonderland for the technologically inclined, where every dream gadget, every whimsical desire, finds a home under one roof. Imagine a sprawling maze of aisles each packed the brim with electronics, cameras, home appliances, and even toys. This place, get played fam, battle buds, if you will,

is the Yodobashi store. Yodobashi stores, which first opened in 1960, are not just shops, they're experiences. Picture this, you step off the bustling streets of Tokyo, sometimes you don't even have to leave the train station. Your senses already overwhelmed by the city's vibrant energy and you walk into the towering haven of Yodobashi Camera. Nine stories tall, imagine a deck of full-sized target stores stacked on top of one another.

Immediately the hum of the outside world is replaced by the symphony of technology, the whirring of camera lenses, the chime of customer service bells, and the soft murmur of excited conversations. In Yodobashi, time seems to stretch and bend. Hours melt away as you wander from section to section. You start with the latest cameras, marveling at their precision, their clarity, each more advanced than the last. And Yodobashi has every single camera. You move on to smartphones, where endless rows of sleek devices beckon with promises of better connectivity,

better pictures, better everything. But then things get weird. Imagine every ballpoint pen on earth. Imagine every ballpoint pen on earth. Every curling iron, every regular iron. If you're looking for camping goods, Yorubashi has them. If you're looking for a Nintendo Switch carrying case, you have your pick of 50 unique cases. But it's not just the products, it's the atmosphere. The feeling that you've entered a world where every technological innovation is celebrated.

The staff impeccably dressed in their uniforms glide efficiently through the aisles, always ready to assist with a polite bow and a wealth of knowledge. It's also the brightest store you have ever been inside. Which is why when my TimeShifter app told me that in order to beat jet lag, I needed to see the brightest light possible, it was where I went on my first night in Tokyo. Yodobashi, the light of a thousand suns. And then there's the sound.

A Yodobashi store is never quiet. It's a blend of electronic beeps, promotional jingles, and the constant background noise of excited chatter. A song plays over and over and over again. A corporate reskinning, re-lyriced version of my eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord. Oh my God.

Let me play a little bit for you. That would be playing faintly in the background of a trailer for an A24 horror movie. It plays on loop constantly in the store. Yodobashi Cameron. It's a cacophony, but one that somehow feels comforting like the heartbeat of a place that's alive with possibility. In Yodobashi, I saw a section called simply all the films of James Cameron. Which I took a photo of if you guys want to see. Here's the the films of James Cameron section

which is just a whole section soundtracks and movies of James Cameron. I saw a model kit called one to one scale full action plastic model kit, Chaos and Pretty Grandma. I'll show you a photo of that, which is here. Chaos and Pretty Grandma. Wow. Don't know what the series is or what it is referenced. I love it. And I also saw a Nintendo game called Garden Life

that I would like to immediately look up upon remembering. The online shopping platform for Yodobashi has been developed to become the second largest in Japan, only behind Amazon. Yodobashi stores are more than just retail spaces. They're a microcosm of modern Japan, a testament to the country's dedication to innovation and customer service.

They remind us that in a world where technology often feels isolating, there are places designed to bring us together, to spark our curiosity, and to make us feel, even for just a little moment, kids in a candy store a candy store constantly playing the same song This is Japan through the lens of yodabashi and that's yodabashi camera Wow. That was awesome. Thank you How long did you spend in a yodabashi?

Camera like total would you think so I because because I got to Japan and I was like, I have to stay awake, I have to stay awake, all my body wants to do is sleep. So I was in there for two hours, nine floors divided over two hours. It is, I'm not exaggerating, it is brighter than daylight. It is so bright and there are no windows, so you feel the same sort of like disorientation

you feel in a casino. Except a casino isn't lit like a hospital. Like it's really, really, really bright, really, really, really loud. I have some other audio clips that we, I think, are going to feed back into the segment. Like here's, I'll play one right now. Here's the sound of just

constant like Talking Still hear the song under there still there Are those like PA announcements or they're just pre-recorded? They're just pre-recorded chatter. It's a pre-recorded chatter that is constantly playing, like just blasting out of the speakers while the song also continues on loop over and over again.

It's the ingredients to Kentucky Fried Chicken. Yeah. I went with my wife, Mary, on our honeymoon when we went to Japan. Cause I was like, there's a place you got to see called Yorobashi. I went with my wife, Mary, on our honeymoon when we went to Japan. Cause I was like, there's a place you gotta see called Yodobashi. You're gonna hate it more than any other place in Japan, but I have to show you because it's crazy to be in there.

And she went in and she was in there for about a half hour and she's like, I gotta get out. I gotta get out. I gotta get out of my panic attack. But there was a moment before that she crossed that threshold where she's like, I gotta get out, I gotta get out, I gotta get out, I'm gonna have a panic attack. But there was a moment before that she crossed that threshold where she was like, what do you mean by every curling iron? And I was like, every curling iron.

And we went to the floor that was all like hair and face goods. And it was like, as if you were looking at a catalog, but in real physical space, like I know less than 300 curling irons from all these different brands. And you're you're like overwhelmed by capitalism, but you're also in you marvel at it, because it does feel like, oh, I really want this pen that I saw at a store. I don't remember what shop that was,

but I know where they'll have it, and it's Yodobashi Camera. Wow. Yeah. So cool. It's wild. Did you buy anything on this trip specifically? Like, what did you walk away with? At Yodobashi? Yeah.

No, I didn't buy anything. I was just there to stay awake. Yeah. There's also an entire floor that's food. At the Yodobashi Akiba store. The eighth floor is just restaurants. So that you can go to one floor, get a cell phone, go to another floor, get a curling iron, get a vacuum cleaner, buy a television, and then take a food break.

And have a full-blown sit-down meal and then continue to shop at Yodobashi. Wow. Yeah. So that was what I did on my first day. But on my, I believe, fourth day, before I left for Japan, I was like, Hideo Kojima follows me on Twitter and he's followed me for a while. And I talked to my wife and I was like,

should I DM him, should I just like ask if he's around and wants me to stop in at Kojima Productions? And she's like, what do you have to lose? And I was like, I guess nothing, but it makes me weirdly nervous, like a cold call. Right. But I had-

Do you like have maybe like a guess as to like when he started following you? Is he like a Rick and Morty fan? He followed me on Christmas day. Okay. But I don't remember what year. I just remember waking up, checking my phone and seeing Kojima had followed me for Christmas.

And I was like, what the, what? But I don't remember how long ago that was. And I don't know why either. Okay. He, obviously Rick and Morty did a Death Stranding ad, but this was after that ad, like this was years after, I think it was two years, must've been 2021, right? After the Death Stranding ad came out,

and it was out of the blue. Like I hadn't been like interacting with him in any way. And so I, the only other time I had DM'd him was when Blue Sky was invite only, I DM'd him and I was like, hey, here's an invite so that you can get your name on Blue Sky before somebody else takes it. And he was like,, here's an invite so that you can get your name on blue sky before somebody else takes it And he was like thanks

But I he needs to be on all social media Yeah, so I so I DM him and I was like hey, I'm in Tokyo Let me know if you want me to come by the office and meet up. And he wrote back within the hour and was like, absolutely. Here are my assistance emails and my personal email. Why don't we all get on a chain together? And I was like, great. So then I put down the phone and was like,

Jesus Christ. It's happening. Fuck, okay. So- Now you have to do it. Now I have to do it. What's funny is that I had not brought any makeup to Japan because I was just going to just like straight up like I don't give a fuck about anything. First thing I did I was like I gotta go get makeup so I went and bought some makeup. But the things a girl has to do. But then I emailed, I had my agent email

with his assistance and then when it was clear that the time zones were just like too hard to negotiate those emails, then we just got on a chain and it was like, yeah, can you come in today? And I was like, sure. So I went to Kojima productions and I met up with his

His translator was this guy named Aki who was really cool This other woman Mickey who was also extremely cool were sort of like both handlers and negotiators of like the the time But it was not like I thought I thought it was going to be, he comes out of a room, we shake hands, I tell him I really like Snatcher, and then that would be it. And then he'd probably be too busy and he'd go on his, we hung out for an hour. Wow. Like he was like, let me, you know,

his translator was speaking the entire time. So he was speaking Japanese I did my best to convey a couple of like very clumsy Japanese phrases of like gratitude And then he was like, let's let's go through the offices So we walk into the like it's the fanciest offices I've ever been in like Felt like a movie set like it like the movie set of 2001 It's the fanciest offices I've ever been in, felt like a movie set, like the movie set of 2001. It's not just the white room with the Luden statue that is designed like that. Their cafeteria is also extremely sleek and futuristic.

Their offices are all behind like white glass. You know, so it feels like you're inside of a Kojima game. So they walked me through the studio. They walked me of course through the white room and we all took pictures. There was also a group of photographers with us the entire time documenting everything. So there were like three photographers taking photos the entire time documenting everything. So there were like three photographers

taking photos the entire time while we were talking. And he also, he asked me to sign the wall before we went on the tour. And I was like, okay. And I signed the wall and people are snapping photos the entire time. This is a nightmare to try and write your own name while somebody's taking constant pictures of you.

And then I got to see like the place where they 3D scan everybody. I got to see their sound recording booths. He talked to me about like how they really wanted a Foley room, but they couldn't justify the cost, but he really likes Foley in games. And then they brought me to their mixing studio. And boy, oh boy, I'll tell you guys,

in order to make myself feel more comfortable, my comedian brain was firing the entire time. Every room we walked into, I had a joke about the room, which I couldn't tell if that was making people comfortable or uncomfortable everybody's laughing There was a point at which It was one moment where I'll get to it at the end where the comedy did not work There was one moment where I'll get to it at the end where the comedy did not work

But then they showed me the trailers for for death stranding which we'd all seen but it was also like watching it because they Had just been THX certified. So it was like watching it in the best sound system I'd ever heard and then they showed me the trailer for OD Which is a project that he's also doing with Jordan Peele. And Jordan and I are friends. And then we talked about OD for probably 30 minutes. Wow. Where he told me about the game and then I got to ask questions. And then we sort of just got mutually excited about the game. At the end of this conversation, he had to go meet with Nick Ruffin.

And as soon as he left the room, lawyers came in with documents and they were like, you cannot, you have to sign these. You're not supposed to know any of that stuff. And I was like, oh. I don't know if you caught it, but he read you his checking account. Yeah. I was like, oh. And I was like, so I shouldn't have been live streaming that.

And that was the joke where I felt like I had just shot somebody in the room because the lawyer went, what? And then another guy goes, comedy, comedian, comedian. Oh my god. Oh my god. It was a joke, it was a joke. I'm not live streaming, I'm not live streaming. They're like, oh thank god.

You were this close to being stuffed in that statue. Yeah. I had never heard from a guy. Just dragged underground by a black goo. Thank God you were this close to being stuffed in that Drag underground I could see like the the stock prices the everything like drain out of this person's face Was there also a language barrier here? I mean there was a there was a language barrier. Yeah, like yeah So that joke was translated in it. Yeah. like yeah, um so that joke was translated in it

Yeah, yeah, it was it was full panic But then somebody just said comedian comedian But it was uh it was I don't know is it was of course a fantastic experience Like what did he say though? It's also weird no, it's a Shrek game It's weird it's weird knowing the things and not like literally not I'm not wanting to talk about yeah, but they're excited about the thing It was yeah, it was just it was a it was a fantastic experience and they gave me a gift bag at the end

which had a t-shirt and Some I had remarked that I really liked the death stranding tape that they had used to like tape down all of their like loose Wires, so they gave me a roll of death stranding tape And then they gave me two Dishes like like porcelain dishes. Wow. And something else, maybe it was stickers, but it was like a really nice bag of stuff. Oh, and a rubber duck, a Kojima duck.

But yeah, I mean, like, he is as excited about his projects as you want him to be. That rules. Like he talks, he's so animated and so excited to talk about the potential of a thing. And it was not one of those, like they say, you know, don't meet your heroes. This wasn't one of those, like they say, don't meet your heroes. This wasn't one of those times.

It wasn't like I walked up and he was like a jerk. Like he was exactly the guy. And that was extremely satisfying and also made me hopeful. You know, that there are still people out there who aren't just a facade, but are the thing that you hope that they are? It makes you want to be like I left wanting to be creative because I was like, oh man, he's real Like he's actually that guy. It's not like he's putting on a show for cameras or for interviews

He's actually that guy and he's really excited about the stuff that he's working on. So, it was awesome. Did you notice at all during your conversation that there was like a monitor behind you showing a movie? He's always just like watching. He's just like watching.

Watching Herbie the Love Bug in 4K? Yeah. That's so cool. I loved it. Yeah, that's awesome. When you texted us that this was a possibility and that it was like looking like it was gonna happen, that alone was very exciting. Yeah.

And then to see the pictures, I was like, this is like better than if she had met God or something. This is way cooler. I also viscerally remember just seeing the photos on social media and I'm like, anything is possible. Like I could lose my virginity someday. It was amazing. I'm so, that's so cool that that happened.

I can't believe it. It's really cool. It would be awesome to be able to collaborate with him on something in the future. Not that that was something that we talked about at all. But it was just like, it felt like, oh this is a place where creative, like where these things are indulged and like,

digested and talked about, instead of it being like, if I go to my, and this isn't even the case at Rick and Morty, but I've had bosses in the past where if you go to them with like a crazy idea, and this isn't even the case at Rick and Morty, but I've had bosses in the past where if you go to them with a crazy idea, they'll laugh at you. And you feel like you did when you were a kid and you had an imagination and you tried to share it with an adult.

And an adult would be like, yeah, but that can't happen. You know, like, erosion of potential, didn't, like, when we were talking about stuff, it didn't feel like that was something that would happen there. And it was really, I don't know, of course, because he's the guy who tried to get a disc to smell like blood.

Yes. Yes. Yeah, made a solar-powered Game Boy game. Yeah. Yeah. That made a solar powered Game Boy game. Yeah. Yeah. That was, so you'd obviously been texting with me and Matt and we heard about this in advance and then as it was happening,

but like you had not given us the full download of your experience yet. This was the first we'd heard of like the rundown. That was riveting. That was an amazing, amazing story. Yeah. Oh, thanks. There was one detail you shared with us and if you don't want it in the podcast, we can edit it out. That was an amazing, amazing story. Oh, thanks. There was one detail you shared with us, and if you don't want it in the podcast,

we can edit it out, but I figured I'd bring it up, which is that Kojima said he was a fan of your wife, Mary's work. Yes, so Kojima is, he really likes Nick Ruffin movies, and my wife, Mary, wrote The Neon Demon. And so when... I didn't, really? Yeah.

That's amazing. Mary is so cool. I didn't know that. I've casually said hello to the person who wrote The Neon Demon? Jesus, all right, cool. That's a wild movie. That's a fantastic, oh my God. Okay, all right. Well, no, she's fucking brilliant as right, cool. That's a wild movie, that's a fantastic, oh my God.

Well no, she's fucking brilliant as shit, man. Every day I'm like holding onto her like, don't go! So wait, the person who wrote the Neon Demon is married to the person who wrote the spaghetti episode of Rick and Morty? Why? That's wild. I mean, that's not a why would,

I meant that as a compliment. I can't believe those two people are married anyway. Thank you. I meant it the other way. Yeah. It's a great episode of TV. It's a truly great episode. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Yeah, so I knew that he was so at the top of our meeting Before he comes into the room I was talking to Aki and I was like he was like oh, he's got to go at three because he's got a meeting with Nick Ruffin and I went oh my wife wrote the neon demon and and then there's like Confusion like like as they're trying to wrap their heads around the information that I've just passed on because it's it doesn't make like it's not that's not what you expect me to

Say after the that sentence and so the first thing that they say to Kojima when he comes in is, you know, this is Heather, she's Rick and Morty in some movies that have not been announced in the One Punch Man movie. And he's like, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And then he's like, and her wife wrote The Neon Demon. And Kojima goes, really? I know how he feels. I know how he feels.

I know how he feels. And it was like, yeah, yeah. And it was like, oh, do you want to say hi to Nick? And I was like, no, I didn't write it. My wife did. And he's like, no, no, no. Do you want to say hi to Nick though? And I'm like, Nick doesn't know me.

I come after that story. So like, he doesn't know me. I come after that story. So like, he doesn't, like it won't, it would be two strangers waving, not like, not any sort of like, oh, how have you been? And he's like, oh, okay, okay, okay. But I do know that the next time I'm in Tokyo with Mary, I'm definitely going to introduce them. Oh yeah.

Because he'll be so thrilled but yeah, he He's he's great. He's she's also Mary's great. It's what a great. What a great time Wow Yeah, must be nice to know that everybody you know is great Everyone I know sucks Matt I know you Actually, wait a second that's nice to me, but then I was accidentally mean to my friend Wow well that delivered Thank you for sharing all that they have they have a cool room that I didn't talk about which is like a they're like

Museum of their stuff so like they have like the Awards room, but they also have like hey we tried to make They have like the awards room, but they also have like hey we tried to make Fragiles fabric so that we could get like a physical version of the fabric so that we would have like reference material Or we have like wow what the spikes coming out. Yeah, we have like two-dimensional sketches of The of the characters that are then eventually rendered in 3d so that we could like get out like an emotive experience And that was a really cool like it felt like the Academy Museum, like every lit case full of all their cool shit. ["Shadow of the Erd Tree"] Well, hey, let's get into Shadow of the Erd Tree.

All right, so this came out just, what, last month at this point. It came out on the 20th of June. June 20th, if you can believe it. And I'll say, just from the jump, I think I'm the only one. Have you finished it, Jordan? No, I have not. I think I can kind of like see the end on the horizon. Okay, so I finished it, and that's the biggest shock of my life.

Amazing. It's unbelievable to me. It's so hard. I don't think we'll dip too much into like story spoilers, but also I was saying in our group chat earlier that I was like, I finished it and I'm reading story stuff and I'm going, huh. That's what was going on. How do you spoil any of these games? Yeah, I don't know.

They're completely inscrutable. Cause yeah, the way I started, the way I started. Which is great. Well, that's part of what's good about it. Yeah, with a game like this, even in the base game, my thing was just find a direction and fight. Right. And just go until you're done.

Yeah. The fact that there's a story I think is a is a bonus in these games, but it is just like can I do this and then it's either Yes, you can or not yet But you know the so the shadow of the earth tree expansion Mizaki's a fucking liar this guy because he goes out and he says oh, yeah It's as big as Limb Grave, like the starting area in the base game.

And it's just, it's decidedly not. It's just, it's absolutely not. Everything is tall. And I think it's maybe width wise, the width of Limb Grave. Possibly, yes. But everything has four or five or six levels. There's so much to do.

And like I- Yeah, you're not saying this is a negative, like they under delivered. You're saying like there's so much more than you expected. He's so much to do. And like I... Yeah, you're not saying this is a negative, like they under-delivered. You're saying like there's so much more than you expected. He's a liar in the other way. It's the opposite of those fable games. Like, you'll be on a cliff in Erd Tree and you'll look down and you'll be like, okay, there's a layer clearly that I can get down to.

And then you'll see like way off in the foggy distance another layer and you're like can I also get there? Yeah, and then when you get down to the second layer that foggy layer is clear and you're like Jesus Christ and then The like the cliffs edge of those layers what you'll also see are blood stains of people thinking they can just jump down Yeah, you just can't know you just can't. You have to find a way, find a way down. There are some parts you can cheese your way down, but, like, for the most part, you have to find another way to get down there.

So I wanted to speak to that real quick, which is that I followed signs, like, signs written in the ground. I don't know what you call them. Like, the signs. Like, the ones that people leave? Yeah, yeah. That was like, you know, this what you call them, like the signs. Like the ones that people leave for you? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

That was like, you know, this way, you know, for jump. Yeah. And I was like, oh shit, there's gotta be a place where I can jump here to get down to another layer. And I'm pretty sure I did accidentally cheese my way down to another layer, cause it's also, it's impossible to know what it is you're supposed to be doing in these games.

So I jumped on a cliff and jumped to another cliff where there's a sign, and then end up on a roof of a castle where I'm like, oh, all the enemies are facing the other direction. So I was not supposed to come this way. Yeah, they want to see you coming the other way so they can be really mad at you. Yeah. It's gonna really mad at you I

Will say to for the most part for some reason I forgot this experience of playing Elden Ring I was scared every time I was playing I was just scared Yeah, like it just an overwhelming sense of fear throughout throughout my playthrough Even though that I knew I was strong enough for the most part That's part of why it is kind of an exhausting game to play is because you are just clinched up all the time. You're like, what fucking freak is gonna jump out and one shot me?

When I have trouble beating a boss, I just turn off the sound. Oh, interesting. The sound design of these games is so good that it makes you upset to be hearing the sounds that they make, that the enemies make, the sound of roaring fire, the thunder of this music that they're playing the entire time. So if I'm like on my second or third round try of a boss, I'll just mute the screen and it becomes so much easier to play. Raffi. Speaking of sound design. Ring, ring, ring, ring, ring, ring, ring,

banana phone. It's not Raffi. The sound design, which is obviously. Is that not Raffi? No, what I was singing wasn't Raffi. Oh right, that's Bobby McFerrin. Bobby McFerrin, anyway. What is awesome about the sound design,

but also makes it jarring, I feel like the impact sounds in particular make so loud. Like they're like, this is like a punishing thud to a thumping sort of cadence to it. And so yeah, it does make those moments of, you know, impact those, just feel all that more perilous and that much more high stakes. I briefly was playing this game with headphones on

and I quickly learned that that's not how I like to play this game You just have a hundred person choir screaming at you You're bad As soon as something, yeah I'm not actually saying that man But let me just read this little blurb real quick about what the story of the DLC even is Like, and this is just like setting up what it is This will mean something to some people and might not mean anything to anyone What the story of the DLC even is. And this is just like setting up what it is.

This will mean something to some people and might not mean anything to anyone. It barely means something to me, and I did finish it. Guided by Empyrean Mickela, players are beckoned to the Land of Shadow, a place obscured by the Urn Tree where the goddess Merica first set foot. In these strange new lands, players discover the dark secrets of the world

as they meet others who follow in Mikala's footsteps with ulterior motives. Every NPC I have talked to in the game has said things to me that are clearly important and I don't know what they're talking about. They'll be like, Kindly, Mikala came this way only four nights earlier And if we do not wait are you tarnished ring the bell ring the bell? Am I say bad that I'm tarnished is it good I have no idea is it have you we gotten to the

Egon the guy who hates bail yeah, we met that guy I've met that guy that guy Nick all met that guy? That guy. Nick hasn't. No. There's a guy who hates Baal. Baal is a dragon. Yeah, Baal's a dragon. And this guy has become a little bit of a meme.

The character's name is Egon. I forget the name of the actor, but he's just like a working ass actor who had no idea what Elden Ring was. He talks about his recording session in an interview. He has seven lines. He was there for six hours. Screaming about a dragon, he had no idea what it was. Yeah, this guy and those Elden Ring NPCs just like,

they all talk like this. We have the scarlet rot and no one will save us. It's all over. And this guy is just, Bail! Oh, yeah. No! It's so weird to hear an emotion out of one of these things. And it's become a little bit of a meme and it's so shocking and funny when it happens.

I think we, like, I think with a light spoiler warning right here, we should be able to play a little bit of Egon's dialogue on the show. Yeah, you have to hear it. Curse you, Bail! dialogue on the show. like warrior Egon your fears That energy was like my reaction after they closed the Hollywood Arby's You run into him a couple times before you fight Bael and he is that intense even when he's like lying on the ground. Right.

Wow. Yeah. Yeah. And it's so, the NPCs have such a house style and it's sad and on the verge of death and to have this guy emoting like this, it's wild. Yeah. And so Jordan, I think when we did the Elden Ring episode last time,

I don't think any of us had finished the game. I'd assume you had finished it at some point after that. Yeah, I eventually beat it, took me a while. And yeah, I mean, I loved it. And I usually don't play DLC for anything, no matter how much I love the game. I always like, I feel like when I'm done with a game, I'm done with it

You know your old credits. It's fun. You know DLC is sometimes fun, but sometimes a little bit of a letdown But this is you know the one of maybe the best video game of all time So I decided to try it and I'm just oh fucking in yeah, it's great I even kind of thought I forgot how to play I'm like what left hand right hand Huh, but it all came flooding back, and flooding back and I'm just all about it now. It did not for me. Oh yeah, I mean, you really realize how weird a control scheme it is

when you don't play it for a while. Yeah, like when I booted up the game again, I was at the location where I had burned just invading and murdering. Cause like after I beat the game, that's all I wanted to do was ruin other people's attempt at playing Elden Ring. Um, and I also was- You should, because fuck them, right?

Yeah, yeah. Well, it's part of the- it's part of the joy of the game. It is, it's awesome. Like, part of the design. Um, I was stunned at my level. Uh, which was 194. Hell yeah. So I had just been on this platform murdering people for I for I don't even remember when I got tired

What are you doing them with? I use Rodin's swords and the star scourge Like built-in ability, and I'm dressed as the dung eater Was it was wait, and I guess we could just go down the line here But what was everyone's class and and kind of what build were you doing? I don't know what my class was, but I am a strength build and yeah, aforementioned 194 levels of it. Yeah, I also forget my class, but I was strength faith.

So big sword in one hand, talisman with incantations on the other. So yeah, I was an astrologer with a high intelligence build and then I respect to a strength faith build in the DLC because I found some incantations. Incantations are really good. They're really, really fun. There's one that I got that I was just getting griefed by until I got it and it was this like, these like bugs fucking shoot like webs at you or whatever And I was like I want that and I found I found the thing for it And I was doing it and it's with the with high strength. It's very powerful really really good I've never heard of that that bug shooting thing. I'm like I would love that

What it's called it's called like the it's like pests something, but it's really really good I love it. He's like it's it looks kind of fucking gross too cuz you it's it's great but then also like I have the some incantations that like offer like boons or like you know like Minimal healing throughout a fight or whatever cuz sometimes I need it cuz I'm bad at bad at the game You beat the fuck yeah, I didn't beat it, but I will say not without help You know like I did like for the for the the very final boss which I will not spoil I I did require Some summon multiplayer, and I'll say we barely we barely did it

But we there was something going on where I felt I kind of felt in sync with these guys that we did it with There was something going on where I felt in sync with these guys that we did it with. Because I had done it a few times with other people. Like, just anybody that I could get help from. And we'd all die pretty quickly. But something about the last run felt like we were going to do it. And it was because we sort of had a triangle of aggro going. Where one of us would draw aggro, and then the other two would flank him.

And then he would just You know pick who he was Focusing on and we would change it was great. It was a really really loved. I love the summoning It's so much it really makes the game like feel like I don't know. I don't play multiplayer games I don't play like I know Heather plays fortnight And I have on occasion too, but I don't really play games with other people But like in that scenario it really felt like we were like doing something. It felt amazing. It felt really, really great. And I switched my weapons up quite a bit too. I found some new DLC weapons. I found, I had not really experimented with this before with Ashes of War. Those were, I mean, that's like, it's a big part of the game because the one of the swords that I had that I kept actually was Nick's build

I Did look I did spill a little bit, but this is mostly condensation from the can Unbelievable What is what is it's not even that hot drink no it's a different drink I fit the tea settled down in a reasonable temperature I finished the tea and yeah I'm always two-handed it Is that you were you kept that drink in your pocket open? Matt's got two drinks. I got yeah, but notice that there's not a all the all the liquid is in the cans

This game is stuffed with a bunch of stuff. There's over 70 new weapons, 10 new shields, 39 new talismans, all sorts of crazy new stuff. Are you, because you mentioned you switched up your weapons. Heather, Jordan, are you using any new gear from the DLC? You're still kind of rolling with what you had in the base game? Yeah, I'm still mainly doing my original character.

My sword, the Blasphemous Blade, and I also have the Bloodhound Blade if I need to put effects on something, holy damage for instance. But yeah, I've messed around with some new, the Rinala swords are great. They're a kind of a twin sword. One has fire, one has like enchantment damage. People love in M'lady. M'lady is like a swift broadsword. It's nice because that's always what I comment

on every woman's Instagram post. So I put a little ash of war on that and I have a cold Malady if I'm fighting something that's not a week too cold. So yeah, I have a couple that I've thrown into the mix, but mostly the old Blasphemous Blade. So the thing that I've run into is, because I switched out my head gear

because I found a better helmet that makes my character look even more disgusting. Mm-hmm. But I have been having trouble with the other weapons because of timing. Like I've become so accustomed to the delay and swing Like swing style of those two swords that like even if I switch out to a different great sword I'm like the timing isn't like it feels like I'm playing a rhythm game when I'm playing with the two swords that I was used

To in the in the in the base game. Yeah So I have not yet switched up and And I feel a little shitty about it. Because I feel like, oh, I'm not getting the real DLC experience, but I'm still mashing my way through these bosses, so I'm not missing out on fighting. Right. Yeah. So I guess I want to talk about what the main thing you're doing in this game is.

I mean, in the way that, In the base game, there are certain sites of grace that are pointing you in the direction of where you're supposed to go. In this game, you follow these Mikulos crosses, and that's basically if you want to mainline the story, you can just go in those directions and experience the game that way. But obviously, there's plenty to do. I found myself getting to like sort of the major story parts pretty quickly and feeling like I wasn't engaging with the DLC like all that much. It was like there's like stuff that I want to go do.

So I would just sort of put a pin in that and then go pick a direction and explore. There's a lot of interesting new areas in here. Does anybody have a favorite new area? I really liked the Cerulean Coast. Cerulean Coast is beautiful. If you're a finger freak, there's a whole land of fucking nasty ass fingers creeping around. Nasty, and then I will say one of the optional bosses,

I think is the grossest boss in the entire game, is I think pronounced Meter, the mother of fingers, and it's fucking disgusting. It is gross. It's not even what you think it looks like. It's like all thumbs. It's fucking nasty. Oh God, I hate that.

Horrid, I hate that. Horrid, absolutely horrid. I don't know where I am in the game. Yeah. It's impossible for me to know, because I beat that one dude who I screenshotted and sent to you. So I've beaten that guy who's the snake, right?

Oh sure, you're talking about Mesmer the Impaler. Yeah, Mesmer. But then I was like, I feel like I didn't do anything before Snake Guy. So I went back into the main area and went down different branching paths and killed a bunch of fucking, I guess, mini bosses or whatever. Let's say like, Enemyfeld or Legendfeld. I don't know the language. But I have no idea where I am

or what I'm supposed to be doing. I get the sense that if you just wanted to beat the main bosses, you could probably have this thing over pretty quick. Like if you wanted to just like see the end and say you beat it, obviously that last boss, probably very, very hard, I have not been there yet. But I think the like mandatory boss is,

I think you could probably do it kind of quick if you wanted to, but who wants to? You know? Yeah. It's fun to see all the freaks. Well, the, there are, the main legacy dungeons that you have to do, there's only three of them really, like that you have to do to experience the story three of them really, like that you have to do to experience

the story. But they're massive. They're huge. And you can spend a lot of time in there. I will say that for me, the bosses were challenging, of course, but they're fun. Like they're always like pretty fun. Even when I was losing, I lost a lot to Mesmer and I was just like, you know, a lot to Mesmer and I was just like, you know, just really, really focused on beating him. But there was an area in like the last main legacy dungeon that was giving me, it wasn't even a boss. It was a stretch between Sites of Grace that was giving me so much trouble. Because they had these enemies that had like, multiple enemies with multi-attacks that were just fucking me up.

And I could not, I could not do it. It was impossible. And I was, that was the least fun section for me in the game and there were bosses that I lost to more. Cause I was like, you're impeding my progress. The boss is inevitable. You'll eventually beat a boss. I was like, but I have to get through this.

And Nick very nicely calmed me down by text. Said, you only have to do it one time. And I was like, that is true. And so, and that was the time. And I did it one more time and then I was able to do it. But it was just, I also find that complaining while playing this game makes me able to do things. Sure, it's part of the experience.

Because I'll complain and then I'll do it. And I'm like, oh, I did it. My strategy for playing was always do one thing and then sign off. Yeah. Because I- That's great and healthy. Yeah, my time is at a premium.

I don't have a ton of it, but I'd go like, oh, I'm gonna, the first thing I do is like, oh, I'm gonna, like the first thing I do is like, oh, there's that fire guy walking around. I'll go kill that fire guy. I kill the fire guy, I save and leave. Like, I feel like that has kept me from getting, all this game is is a test of patience. And it has made me a better Fortnite player again because I'll be like,

there's no point in going after a boss until you see your opening. Yeah. Like you just wait and dodge and wait and dodge. Hit him once. You hit him once. Don't try and hit him twice. You hit him. You're fucked. Like I sent you a screenshot of the time that I got Mesmer all the way down to less than a tenth of a hit. And I was like, if I had just listened to my fucking self and just wait for your one hit, and that's made me better at Fortnite, because I'll see people and I'm like,

nope, not yet, not yet, not yet, not yet. Those moments where I get killed when a boss has such little percentage left, in the past maybe would have frustrated me, but that to me is like evidence that I could do it. I was like, oh, like you can, I was like, you're almost there. Like you're getting better each time you're trying.

So just like figure out like what you're supposed to do to get to that final stretch. But I don't know, the bosses didn't frustrate me in this in the same way that that one section of this one area of a map. But you're what you're talking about it and Jordan I want to hear your point as well. But like what you're talking about is like that that that that realization that clarifying moment. I feel like you have with FromSoft games of like that, you know, failure is growth and you learn through, you know, repeating these tasks and you're improving when you're losing. Like it's, it's a yeah, I mean, I think that's a big part of why they're so satisfying. To just to go off of Heather's point real quick, what you were talking about with like, because it's a very common experience.

You get towards the very end, you think you got something beat and then you get like getting a little too aggressive, you get greedy and then that's it. Like I, for me, there was something about, and I felt this with Sekiro too of just like, I understand how teams as a sports fan, as a sport who watches the NBA a lot,

I understand how teams can choke away a big lead. I understand how a team could be like, they've won the game. All they have to do is like execute for the final 30 seconds and then they're up by eight and then they somehow completely blow it and they give the game away. Because it's like when you're on the threshold,

you're on the cusp of victory, it's like somehow becomes even tougher to seal the deal. But sorry, Jordan, you're about to say something. Oh, yeah, sorry. Yeah, that thing that happens when the boss has the sliver of health and you die, I'm a big rot guy. Love putting rot on somebody. It's a spell.

If somebody, if you rot them, they have a, you know, it's like a poison that slowly slaps their, slowly saps their health. There's been a couple times when I've been playing where I've died and then they've died and it counts. You will come back to life and they'll be dead. Wow! So you can get the you died thing

and then if you hear them die from the rot, it'll count it. Anyway, it's always really fun when it happens. It's happened like three times. That really satisfying sword slash sound. Yeah. That's like a, like. And the little tinkles.

Yes, when you've defeated a boss. Yeah. Well, that canonically makes sense, also because you're Tarnished. Sure, right. Yes. So, they are fucked. That's great.

It's fun. That's cool. I did not know that. And it has a kind of, yeah, and it has that kind of fun story link too So it all kind of like makes sense in the weirdo logic they have in this world You die like god damn it, and then you hear And then of course level scaling in the DLC is only in the DLC area, not in the main game.

And the way that you do that is they have these fragments that myself included, everybody thought that they were Skadu trees, but then I guess that was an old English pronunciation of shadow. Yeah, it's like Gaelic or Celtic or something. So, which makes sense. It spells S-C-A-D-U, but without shadow. Yeah. Which I love that. I, it's a Gaelic or Celtic or something. So, and which makes sense. It's spelled S-C-A-D-U, but without shadow. Yeah. Which I love that. I love it too. So you get some of those and those give you some boons in defense and in strength. And then I think the other one is, what is the other one called? It's they're called revered spirit ashes and they are used, um, to, uh, boost summoned

spirits and spectral speed abilities. Uh, and they also deal in the gate damage as well. What is spectral speed abilities? Like with when you're on, um, torrent. Oh, how much damage torn can take. Cause sometimes if you get hit by a boss, it can one-shot Torrent and that feels bad. Yeah, poor Torrent.

I know. My Torrent went through a lot, unfortunately. And I also, I guess I hadn't said this either, the Land of Shadow basically exists in like a pocket dimension in the Lands Between, because it sort of sits on top of the map, but it's a separate map. And there are people, or, you know, I don't want to spoil too much story stuff, but it exists within the Lands Between, but it's not in the Lands Between,

if that makes any sense. And I know that it doesn't. No, I get what you're saying. It's kind of an unlimited space. It all makes as much sense as everything else. It all makes an equal amount of sense. Well, it sounds like you're kind of, like, what you're kind of describing is and that what the way the way in like Phantom Liberty It's like a new section of the city, but it's also kind of just walled off from everything else

Yeah, yeah sort of biome, you know Well, and it's like a crazy thing that you do because you have to and this is not a spoiler but like you you have to beat Radon and and Moog to even experience the DLC. And Moog's... Which, by the way, as a side note, is an insane barrier of entry. Oh yeah, oh no. Like you have to be good enough to get into the DLC.

Yeah, it's also like 100 hours of progression. It's very deep in the game. And it's like, it's interesting because we had a thing earlier this year with the Final Fantasy VII Rebirth where that game did not sell nearly as well because people were like, well, I didn't finish remake. I don't want to commit to full price of the game.

But it feels like this thing is selling like fucking crazy. Like one to one, yeah. And people are just willing to get past that barrier to entry. Yeah, I mean, I started a new game plus and it's thus far my single biggest regret of playing the game Because I finished it but it made it it made it like point zero zero like something percent harder, right? It was a little bit more challenging and I did

Add 50 hours to my overall playtime my my playtime Before was like a hundred and eighty three hours and I ended it like two hundred and some odd hours 230 hours or something. Yeah, so this is DLC that like this is like a full game. Yes. Yeah as DLC Yeah, and you know it and It's not even like it's like that different than the base game, it's just kind of more of it and that's good, cause Elden Ring is good. Like I wasn't expecting it to like reinvent the wheel or anything like that.

I know that there's like some new abilities and new, well not abilities, but like new fighting styles that you can do. I didn't mess with the hand to hand combat type thing. That looked really cool. But I was like- It is so funny just to see those characters punching the giant hand monsters. Punching.

And it's wild that it works. I didn't really mess with any of that type of stuff, but I honestly feel in my heart that I probably won't, because I think as much as I love this game, I think I have to be done with this. I don't have a second new game plus in me I don't have any desire to go through the rest of my new game plus and like do it again You know so like and that's I feel

Burnt out a little bit on games because it was just so much game Over a I guess like over a month. You know like it was a good period of time that I was playing it. But it was just a lot that I'm gonna need to calm down with some Mickey games or something. Island of Illusion. Yeah, obviously. Listen, if you don't mind hugging, that makes you feel weird.

But maybe it doesn't make you feel weird. Maybe you're not as uptight as I am. But Matt, you also like, like it's, obviously you're exhausted. You ran the marathon and we're all very proud of you because that rocks. Thank you so much. But like, you still are overall like love this thing, right?

Like you have kind of like euphoric like sort of feeling towards this. I thought it was gonna burst into tears when I finished it. Like I was like, and it was so funny. My fiance was out and I was at home and I finished this and I like walked to go pick her up and she's like what have you been up to? And I was like well I did finish Shatter the Urchery and she gave me a hug and was like congratulations. I know it was really you were really working on it. It was very very sweet.

It was very very sweet my Mensa meeting It was like like I think she was just happy that I'm not gonna be hogging the TV so much to you. Yeah That or my attention won't be as diverted But it was it was a great experience. I did I did love it. I think it's an amazing game. I think, you know, we did our, earlier this year we did our lists of like our top games. I think if we did that again, I'd have a revision. Like I would have like Elden Ring would be

on the list somewhere. I don't know what it would knock out. Certainly not Kingdom Hearts 2. Maybe 2.8 remix Dream drop distance 365 the Nokia exclusive Matt's top 10 is all engaged Engage so bad like it seemed like such a good idea

But then it's it sucks But I know I never tried it again nobody ever really I mean Game phones have games now But not buttons not buttons I kind of wish buttons would come back on phones if I'm being honest if if Sony wants My my money if they want me to walk away from an iPhone all they have to do is release the portal but small Yeah, like just put the buttons on the phone

Permanently right and I will be done hmm make make a Vita that can make phone calls Just put the Vita back out Release like a white Vita I'm in um I mean is there anything else that do we I mean there's so much to talk about But it also feels like you can't really like talk about all of it because it's so big The only you know like meme stuff associated with it. I've seen has been the guy who hates bail. Yeah are Are people simping for someone because that was big in the last one you had blade Ronnie I don't know. Is there any simping going on?

There's some new characters that I could see that it could be possible. I will say I'm interested in watching, I know that you talked about the Vati Video lore videos last time. My favorite guy. And I've been watching some of them a little bit. There is interesting lore throughout obviously this game. There was stuff in this DLC that I was like, oh, this is actually new, interesting information with the jars, for example. Yeah, you learn a lot about the jars.

The jars are fucked. The jars are more fucked than you thought, actually. Very, very interesting stuff. So I guess my diet of Elden Ring will be watching these lore videos because I feel like for something that I spent 230 hours on, I don't understand it all that much and I feel like for something that I spent 230 hours on I don't understand it all that much and I'd like to I'd like to know more so

I'll be watching those videos. Yeah when I when I kill a boss and he's like he's like oh massmer if only you had known the story of America and And I'm like, I don't know who either of those fucking people. Yeah. There's, was that you? Yeah. You? Talking about yourself? There's a, there's a Simpsons where Homer is watching Twin Peaks and he goes,

brilliant, I have no idea what went on. That is me when anything happens. I just assume that it's brilliant. Yes, yeah, 100%. Yeah, it's brilliant. Yes. Yeah, 100%. Yeah, it's tough because you want, like you also, you want to know, like I know who everyone in a Zelda game is. Like I'm like, I'm following the story in Portal, you know, but like I don't, because I'm dumb, because also, I feel like you have to pay such close attention to even what the NPCs are

wearing to be like, oh, you are from the village that that character started, which was an attempt to undermine this other character's ability to become a god. And I know that because of the stitching on your sleeves. Yes. And I don't, I can't, I'm never in that, like, mental space when playing Elden Ring. I'm like, what do you want? Like, who are you? Am I ever gonna see you again? That is what the YouTubers are for.

There are people who look at the crests on the capes and they can tell you the story of the... Also, also this time I read, every time I get like a document, I've been reading the document. Yeah. It's not illuminating. No, not helpful. I thought this would help.

This actually, it hurts more. I will just say one thing that I will add, which is just a friend of the show, great podcaster in his own right, Stephen Ray Morris, has been texting me because the DLC, he'd finished Tears of the the show great podcaster in his own right Stephen Ray Morris has been texting me because the DLC He'd finished years of the kingdom But had not played Elden Ring and the DLC just made it made it like him in his consciousness And so he's playing Elden Ring for the first time now

So I think that's that's one of the part of the genius of this What the full game sized expansion is that it puts this you know back in the zeitgeist again and now people who have maybe Missed this game originally or like okay? Let me see what all the fuss is about. Oh, yeah. I hope Stephen Ray's having fun out there Oh, we're having a blast out there my guy No, hey that was shadow of the urn tree hearing y'all talk about it Get them give me even more jazz to get into it myself eventually Hey, it's time for another character before you get about 100% Hearing you all talk about it get them give me even more jazz to get into it myself eventually hey

It's time for another character before you get about 100% Well, we saw there was that reddit post about the guy who like he put 800 hours into the game Just starting new characters not getting out of limb grave Is just like yeah, it is how I play a lot of games I love just like start like replaying the early game and restarting and rerolling characters endlessly before you settle on something I'm gonna fit. I'm gonna take this wrench to the end. I'm having a blast. Oh, yeah. All right. Hey, we got a new segment We're gonna taste test something. This is game gruel and Today's taste test is of McDonald's jujutsu kaisen special grade garlic sauce

tie in with the very popular and Very good anime that Jordan. I believe you are a fan of oh, the very popular and a very good anime that Jordan I believe you are a fan of oh, I love it not a huge anime guy I kind of like sample the big animes and they a lot of them bounce off me But I was all in on jujitsu kaisen. I call it JJK Wow. I love that fan. Yeah, it's such a good show I'll read the copy from the McDonald's website inspired by the iconic black garlic sauce from McDonald's Japan The special grade garlic sauce introduces a new arc into our sauce lineup.

Now there are eight different, there's, oh, notes of garlic and soy sauce balanced with its slight tangy sweetness. There are eight unique designs. We had a little bit of a, Matt, this was a little bit of a to-do, and I don't wanna make everyone sit here with their nuggets for too long before we eat them.

It was a whole thing. We had to mission impossible this thing because all of the McDonald's near the studio, this is an app only thing, all the McDonald's near the studio were sold out of the sauce. And so I found a McDonald's near where I lived, it's on the complete opposite side of town that had the sauce.

So I got the sauce from that McDonald's, brought it to studio and then while we were talking about shadow of the urn tree Matt Ordered some fresh nugs for us to taste test and it was it was honestly it worked out perfectly Yeah, I was like a fucking heist Beach somewhere with a new identity and five million dollars I have not had a chicken nugget from McDonald's in at least 10 years. Wow. So this is going to be a double taste for me. I think Nick had some earlier today.

So I went to McDonald's yesterday. I did not get the sauce. I was like, I'm going back today. Anyway, let me just let me distro these. So yeah, we got Nobara here. We got Megumi. Jordan, you wanted Sato Rugoto, is that correct? Gojo freak.

Has that one over? Thank you. Gojo rather, sorry. And then we got Yuji here. I'm being character, I'll send that over to you, Matt. And then Sukuna, who is voiced by a friend of the show Ray Chase, how cool is that? Ranch, I'll hand that one over to you. Very fragrant, I've already opened mine and the smell really hit me.

It smells really good. I have high hopes for this. Are we, so how do we just go? Yeah, go for it. Just go, feel free to dip away. We all have four nuggets. Yeah, we all have four nuggets. I had to, the way I did the order earlier is I got four nuggets with five extra sauces.

So the way these things, like the way these promotions work, I'm part of the problem. Like the reason these things are in scarce supply, I was like, I was one of the people who got too many sauces But we're all trying them so whatever it's fine. You're like. Do you have the special sauce like no ten other podcasters came Ten other guys in Hawaiian shirts I made some phone calls. They didn't have the sauce there. I was like don't you know I have a podcast to record later

Oh, sorry, sir. I'm going to try it with a little hot mustard just to kind of compare. Oh, yeah. Post-COVID, I have almost zero sense of smell. Okay. Still. And I would say 20% taste. What I am experiencing is 0% taste of nugget

And a slight Tangy spiciness from the salt mm-hmm, and that is all I'm getting flavor from the flavor profile I Like it okay. It's tasty, it's fun. It tastes just like, you know, ooh, excuse me, wow. Wrong pipe. Oh my gosh. Sorry.

You know, when you get just like a you know, a bag of like frozen dumplings at the supermarket you'll get a little packet of sauce with it. This kind of is that that it's kind of a Pack in sauce. It's fun. It's tasty. I'm not blown away so far I'll tell you what's not bad. I kind of love it Wow um The tang is really working for me. It's not super. You know it doesn't really have any spice to it

but it's like it's got a little bit of You know what a little bit of sizzle and It's not overly sweet. I totally get what you're saying. It absolutely feels like something that you get in like, you know some some BB go pot stickers you'd get from Costco or whatever But I think this is a well executed version of this and of this, and I think it accompanies the nuggets nicely. And here's the other thing I like about this. It's a new sauce. They could have just done the thing

where this is the Jujutsu Kaisen, you know, whatever barbecue sauce. They don't, they like, they do so many of these branded tie-ins these days where it's just a reskinned existing menu item. That was a whole thing with the IHOP Sonic the Hedgehog menu. And so it's great to have something new. No, it is.

They got in the lab for this and that's pretty exciting actually. Cause I think, I mean, I think a lot of the McDonald's sauces are pretty good. I like quite a few of them. Oh my God, of course. In this, I love a McNugget. I'm loving the sauce. I think it's really good. I kind of want this sauce like coated on a like a wing. I think it'd be yeah That might work

Yeah, I thought that's a great idea. Yeah, I would I would get an order of these from Wingstop for sure I truly cannot speak to any of this experience. I thought I thought Hmm, I'd be able to taste more of it. Yeah. Because there have been, like, I can taste citrus again. So I'm pretty sure that whatever the tangy taste I'm tasting is whatever citrus is in that sauce. The nuggets were so completely flavorless

that they were just texture. And it felt like I was eating like a very dense styrofoam packing, like a warm styrofoam packing cube. That's the appeal. That's why I like them. You're like, yeah. Ranch, how you feeling over there?

I don't love it. Okay. I feel myself wanting... Sour sauce. Sure. Well I got one right there. Let me toss it over to you. Are you a Nuggets fan in general? Wow, I can't believe that worked.

I can't believe it either. I softball tossed it to Rochelle and she caught it. Yeah, I wasn't ever doubting Rochelle's ability. No, I thought it was was gonna throw it over her head and hit the headgum logo on the back wall. Marty comes in here and kicks your ass. I wanted it. Hits a sparkless bottle, spills it all over the place.

How did that happen? I will say my pickup for this was a little bit insane. So the way it timed out, we were out and about and we were like, Matt and I were texting about this, like, I actually just do this for the show. And so I was like, okay, I can go get the sauces there near me. So I put the, you know, I get the order in,

I arrive at the McDonald's, but the timing was I was getting there during the lunch rush. I was there at like noon sharp. There were so many people queued up waiting to order in store and then people just like hovering around the pickup zone. Yeah. So I get up there and basically just as I arrive,

like seconds after I arrive, one of the workers is like, Nick and holds up a bag. I was like, okay, here we go. This worked out beautifully. Sets it down, an older lady in front of me up a bag, I was like, okay, here we go. This worked out beautifully. Sets it down, an older lady in front of me picks up that same bag, opens it up and immediately just starts rifling through it.

Oh my God. Now here's the thing, like people have- You set her down, right? Hold on. Hold on. So, you know, maybe she's hard of hearing, people have the same names, who know? I'm getting to the bit of the doubt. I say to her firmly, but politely, you know, maybe she's hard of hearing, people have the same names, who know, I'm getting to the bit of the doubt.

I say to her firmly but politely, I say, are you Nick? And then she- The rudest option. No. I don't think it was that rude. That's insane. But guess what, bitch, I'm Nick. Because you could have led with, excuse me, I'm Nick,

and I believe that's my bag. Well, I feel like this was a nice way to ask. Not, are you Nick? Okay, well, perhaps that might explain her reaction because I said, are you Nick? She's looking through the bag, she puts it down, she looks at me and says, this isn't my Dr. Pepper. I ordered a bag of cola

Have you never been to a restaurant before? You thought your fountain drink was gonna come in a brown paper bag? Oh my god, that's perfect. That's so, god bless her. I want to say real quick about the ordering experience on the app It was, the McDonald's app is maybe in the top five apps period. It's a great app. It's a good app. I like the Taco Bell app more, but it's a good app. The Taco Bell app is king of the apps. As far as like ordering for delivery, it was pretty seamless. My one complaint is you can't schedule an order. Yes. That you should be

able to schedule an order. It feels like they could sort that out pretty easily. But otherwise it came here. I want McDonald's at 11, 13 p.m. Not a moment sooner, not a moment later. I must eat McDonald's during a prime number. All will die. It came pretty quickly. It came nice and sealed in a bag.

And to my surprise, warm enough. Yeah. Good serviceable. I'd say the app. The app's pretty good. Yeah, I know. The app's definitely not crap. It's a good app. It's I'm very I'm bullish on the sauce. I think it's a good sauce. It seems like we kind of have a split verdict here, but you know, I think there's an effective tie-in

I'm glad because I know that like and I know that you covered this on your other show But on at KFC they have saucy nugs I think Wendy's has a saucy nugs thing is it's just a flawed concept I did the Wendy saucy nugs recently and was like why are these so saucy? They should not be doing it. The fun of the nugget is that you get to dip it yourself. Exactly. Yeah, that's what's fun about it. I don't need this pre-sauced, it's gonna mess up the texture. Not pre-dipped by a man I've never met. Exactly.

I heard a story in the writer's room this week about a dog that was like 15 years old and was on its way out. And so they brought the dog to Wendy's and let it have Wendy's because like, what a fun thing for a dog. But the dog did not pass away after this meal. And so now they've fed the dog Wendy's every day for a year.

And the dog is morbidly obese and has like a belly that drags on the ground. Did Wendy's save it? It keeps getting stronger. Oh, his tumors are gone. Reverse Spurlock. That's why Trump is so healthy. Yeah, truly. Wow, that's crazy.

I kind of wish we had ordered some fries. I do. You do want fries. You have the nuggets alone, four nuggets. It's like, I want to get some fries. I would at least want a bag of drink. Yeah. Or a handful of shake.

Yeah. The hardest temptation while I was in Japan was not going to McDonald's because they were doing a Kiki's Delivery Service burger. Oh, that's awesome. And they had like five different burgers that were all, was not going to McDonald's because they were doing a Kiki's Delivery Service burger. And they had like five different burgers that were all, they all got their own original animation Kiki's Delivery Service commercial.

So they're like five commercials and five burgers or something like that. Maybe this was your most recent trip? Yeah, my most, just like a couple of weeks ago. And I was like, I don't want to go to McDonald's for one of the, I don't want to do it. I can't, I can't, like I'm here, I'm going to go get soba. I'm here, I'll go get sushi.

I'm not going to McDonald's. I would have went every single day. I would have gone all five. Well, my friend, Albro, who's been on the show. Yes. Albro was also in Tokyo at the same time and he got the Shrimp Burger. And he was like, you know, very lukewarm on its appeal.

But yeah, they're running, also the commercials are gorgeous. They're so well animated. You're like, if they showed this here, I'd fucking get McDonald's here. How amazing is it that Jujutsu Kaisen, or anime, I guess, at large has now become such a part of the overculture in America, going from a thing that had a small section of a blockbuster in the 90s to now it's like McDonald's has a tie-in with Jujutsu Kaisen.

It's incredible. It's kind of wild to watch that art. Not their first anime tie-in of the year. They had the Wickdonalds as well. Right. Yeah, I love the sauce. And hey, we talked about Jujutsu Kaisen Zero over on Get Animated, if anyone wants to listen to that episode. Hey, that's this week's Get Played.

Our producer is Rachelle Chen. Ranch! Yord underscore underscore sard. Our music is by Ben Prunty, benpruntymusic.com. Our art is by Duck Brigade Design, duckbrigade.com. And hey, check out our Patreon, patreon.com slash get art is by Duck Brigade Design, duckbrigade.com, and hey, check out our Patreon, patreon.com slash get played, where you can find our entire pre headgum back catalog, plus ad free main feed episodes, and also our Patreon exclusive

show, Get Animated, where you can listen to us talk about Did You Do Kyson Zero, and also Mobile Suit Gundam right now. That's right, Mobile Suit Gundam, the eighth MS team. We're back on it after a couple weeks off, and we're loving it. It's such a good show. It's such a good show. And if you like video games, and you're like,

ah, you thumb your nose at anime, at least give eighth MS team a try, because it's such a fucking good show. It transcends the medium to just be awesome. Yeah, it's great. Incredibly well animated, really well plotted, and super compelling. Great, lots of beams. Lots of beams. Jordan and Moritz. Do the beams hit each other,

and then the beams have to decide which is the most powerful beam? Well, maybe, maybe next week. No spoilers, Jordan. Sorry, cut this out. I didn maybe next week. No spoilers, Jordan. Sorry. Cut this out. I didn't mean to suggest the themes would touch. Jordan Morris, the book is Youth Group.

Tell everyone about it. Yeah, oh my gosh. So it is a YA horror comedy graphic novel. The art is by a great artist named Bowen Bones McGurdy. Kind of sounds like an Elden Ring character. Yeah, Bowen drew the fuck out of the book as such a talented artist. And yeah, so it's a YA horror comedy about teenage exorcists.

So they're all part of a goofy Bible study group that sings parody songs and talks about abstinence and then they have to actually go and fight demons. And yeah, I'm really proud of how it turned out. It's, yeah, I think if you like a Buffy the Vampire Slayer, if you like a Shaun of the Dead, that's kind of the tone. And yeah, and if you're an occasional comics reader, you don't have to know anything going into it.

It's got a beginning, middle, and an end. And yeah, so I think hopefully comics folks and comics occasionals will both check it out. Yeah, there it is. It's Youth Group. Anywhere you get a book. Amazon, Barnes & Noble, better yet, your local indie bookstore.

I'm doing signed copies through a great bookstore in LA called Book Soup. So if you want a signed copy, booksoup.com. But if you don't care about the signature, anywhere else, anywhere you get a book, Youth Group. I really enjoyed Bubble, your last book, and I'm really looking forward to this. I have a Youth Group pre-ordered at my local bookstore,

Indie Bookstore, and it's out everywhere July 16th, but if you're listening to this day and date, you can still put in a pre-order for it, which is always great for book sales. But everyone should check it out. One of the funniest guys around and a great writer, and I'm really, really looking forward to this. An excellent taste in Sonic games.

Ah, well, the ultimate compliment. And I'm really really looking forward to this excellent taste in Sonic games The ultimate compliment Well I Guess this is the part of the show where Jordan. I know we're sitting on the same couch right now Nick got played shit, okay, while you've been spared you're about to get played But I guess Nick got played this week. I spilled You spilled right now? Right now? Are you fucking kidding me?

End of show.