Get Played - Tri-Force of Trilogies

Episode Date: May 6, 2024

Matt, Heather and Nick talk about wrapping up Super Mario Bros. Wonder, Stellar Blade, and Manor Lords before they construct their tri-forces of video game trilogies! Follow us on Twitte...r 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 getplayedpod@gmail.com 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.

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Starting point is 00:00:50 Hey, so we're talking about our favorite video game trilogies today, and I thought just before we start recording, we should just make sure, you know, we don't have any overlap because we have some of the same taste and we just don't want to be one of us to be, you know, back on our heels because someone else picked what we're going to say. Can I say like, I just didn't want to be this person on the podcast, but between the three of us, like I really wanted to put Mother 1, 2, and 3 on my list. Yeah. You know, but I don't want to be, like, I want to engage with the listeners, but I think I don't have anything else that might overlap.
Starting point is 00:01:22 What do you? Yeah, be on the obvious ones, you know. Matt, how about yourself? Anything you were considering? I mean, I'm gonna put Kingdom Hearts 1, Kingdom Hearts 2, and Kingdom Hearts 3 as at least part of one of the parts of the Triforce. Yeah, that makes sense.
Starting point is 00:01:36 Yeah, that's great. Sure, that's all you. Yeah, cool, cool. I wasn't sure, but you know, I had to pick it. Yeah. Yeah, you got it. Yeah, of course, no problem. That's like your thing. I think I'm gonna for the second part of the triforce to
Starting point is 00:01:49 I'm gonna do Kingdom Hearts chain of memories Kingdom Hearts 358 over two days and Kingdom Hearts birth by sleep Okay, is that like it is that a cohesive trilogy? I mean, I guess you can you can pick I mean It's certainly the it's three more games in the Kingdom Hearts franchise Got it. Uh okay sure more game. I maybe will it should set down rules at the top or something so that's clear Yeah, it might be just helpful in terms of the discussion You know it's cuz I'm less familiar with a franchise if you just had a different okay
Starting point is 00:02:23 Then do in that case Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 Remix, Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 Remix, and Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue as my games. I mean, it's your list. Yeah. I think it just maybe gets a little confusing. If you don't like it, I can do something else. Especially if you... I can do Kingdom Hearts Coded, Kingdom Hearts Mobile, and Kingdom Hearts X.
Starting point is 00:02:44 Right. X. Mobile games, yeah. I can do Kingdom Hearts coded Kingdom Hearts mobile and Kingdom Hearts X the mobile games yeah So you'll do a trilogy of Kingdom Hearts mobile games as your Kingdom Hearts entry I mean if I have to give a problem with my other place. No, I don't have a problem with it. I just don't Are these trilogies I'm confused is it isn't one of those like a was a exclusive to PC browsers Isn't wasn't that one of them? Yeah, but it was eventually because a web game Android and iOS Okay, I
Starting point is 00:03:13 Mean that's yeah again. It's your list I just thought we'd all kind of like pick from different buckets and maybe have like you know maybe you pick Maybe we could pick three Tony Hawk games or something or I don't know okay Yeah, I pick three Tony Hawk games or something or I don't know. OK, yeah, I'll do Tony Hawk Pro Skater one, Pro Skater two, Pro Skater three for one of them. And then for another part of Triforce, I'll do four, five and Underground. And then for the other one, I'll do Underground two American Wasteland and Tony Hawk's Project Eight for the other one. I think that's going to make I think that's just the same problem there.
Starting point is 00:03:46 Yeah. I would say maybe probably. It sounds to me like it's my list. Yeah, but you know, it seems to me like there's not been a lot of clarity on what a trilogy is or how this game works, which is trilogy means three, Heather. I don't know what's so hard about this. Well, yeah, no, you don't have to. I know what I know what trilogy means, but like. So I feel like the fun of this segment is, oh, for wisdom, I choose this for power.
Starting point is 00:04:14 I choose this and for courage, I choose that. OK, yeah, OK, I got you. You're just dumping all the Kingdom Hearts or Tony Hawk games onto a triangle shape. Why don't I just just say some of mine, and maybe this will help Matt, you know, just guide what our thinking is a little bit. So, you know, one I was considering, I don't know if I'm gonna pick it for sure,
Starting point is 00:04:36 but is like the Super, or the Super Mario Brothers trilogy for NES, Super Mario Brothers, Super Mario Brothers 2, and Super Mario Brothers 3. So that's like one I was considering. Great, reconsidering. for NES, Super Mario Brothers, Super Mario Brothers 2, and Super Mario Brothers 3. So that's like one I was considering. Great, reconsidering. Another one I was thinking about doing
Starting point is 00:04:51 was like Mass Effect 1, Mass Effect 2, Mass Effect 3. So, you know, three Mass Effect games, they're kind of one story. But one that I'm definitely though, gonna put on my list is Kingdom Hearts Magical Puzzle Clash, Kingdom Hearts Re-Coded Gummy Ship Studio, and of course, Kingdom Hearts Point 2 Birth by Sleep, a fragmentary passage.
Starting point is 00:05:11 Okay, so I thought we weren't trying to overlap with each other. Now I feel like I don't understand the assignment. Cause I was gonna do, we fit, we fit when I put on five more pounds, and we fit when I put on five more pounds and we fit when I put on five more pounds. So overall, that's three different game experiences. I don't know where I'm going to slot in Kingdom Hearts melody of memory yet. So I'm going
Starting point is 00:05:37 to need some time before we get started. I'm going to need like three days. Okay. All right. We'll reconvene. All right, we're back. I'm still not ready, okay? I don't know where this actually fits. Okay, fine. We'll take three more days. We list a group of three of a group of three and do it three times as the Triforce of Friendship names our Triforce of Video Game Trilogies, this week on Get Played, your one-stop show for good games, bad games, and all the games
Starting point is 00:06:31 in between. It's time to get played. I'm your host, Heather Ann Campbell, along with my fellow host, Nick Weiger. That's me, Nick Weiger, and I'm here with our third host, Matt Apodaca. Hello everyone. Hello everyone. Hello, everyone. And welcome back to the Premiere Video Game Podcast, where I've heard some grumblings.
Starting point is 00:06:51 Who's grumbling? Shut up. I'll tell you, there's people grumblings. And they're grumblings that we aren't miserable. But you know what? We're not gonna let it happen. Guess what, bitch? I am miserable
Starting point is 00:07:15 There's there's grumblings about wow why don't they do this format? Why don't they do that format? Well, you know what the format here is we talk about games. It's right there in the intro. Yeah I don't look at any of that stuff. You don't look at it. I don't I don't concern myself with what they're saying What do I care? I have it. I Just like this he gives me big Ozzy Mendea's vibes, and it scares me They will look up to ask me to help them and I will look down and say no see that's that's Rorschach That's Rorschach, but it's the same But it's probably the same might be kind of Andy is is the one who's like I did it 15 minutes ago
Starting point is 00:07:50 Yeah, yeah, I also get self-conscious about how to pronounce that Ozzy Madias. Yeah Just like I got a I gotta put my dick in it. Yeah night owl. He's horny. He's horny. Everyone's horny I saw that movie in it. Yeah, Night Owl, he's horny. He's horny. Everyone's horny. I saw that movie in theaters at midnight. Yeah, he's an incel. But I saw it at midnight with my friends from high school and my mom. And guess who was seated right next to my mom during that long sex scene?
Starting point is 00:08:18 Ear boy nightmare, an absolute nightmare. I have a story like that, which is that I've always. The way you told that was very strange. I'm just. Yeah. Okay, I was gonna, I was gonna highway past it, but you know, I'll give, I'll give. I was creating the sense of intrigue. I was like, oh, it could be anyway.
Starting point is 00:08:37 Who, was it Matt's friend Jeff? Was he sitting next to your mom, to Matt's mom? No, it was me actually, and it sucked. Yes, it was you all along. No, that was me actually. And it was you all along. No, that is bad. It's very uncomfortable. When I was a kid up through now in my life. I have always really been into vampires, right? love vampires. Think vampires are pretty fucking cool. So when Dracula came out, you know, had
Starting point is 00:09:02 to see it. Bram Stoker's Dracula, the Gary Oldman. I was a child. And so for my birthday party, my mom and all my female friends went to see Dracula. And that movie is, I mean, there's like fucking a dog in that movie. It's not. My mom was like, oh no, I'm gonna get in trouble with all these parents. These little girls are gonna go home and they'll be like,
Starting point is 00:09:30 I saw a woman have sex with a wolf. Guess what I saw at the movies today, Mother. Yeah, that's like the sometimes you see that you don't realize that the R-rated movie you're seeing a little bit too young is like a hard R. It's just like oh boy
Starting point is 00:09:45 Okay, this is really really not meant for me. You know what I'm a little scarred as a result. I was not scarred I think you turned out okay Nick Yeah, I'm fine. I'm doing great. I'm thriving What's going on? Rocking and rolling I think we should give a we should give a quick shout out to our producer Rochelle Chen her birthday was yesterday as of this record. HBD Ranch. Happy birthday, Ranch.
Starting point is 00:10:10 Happy birthday to Ranch. And I'll say, and many more as well. And many more. Wow, thank you. Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you. What was your birthday wish?
Starting point is 00:10:22 World peace. Oh wow. That's pretty good. Oh boy. Yeah, sorry sorry didn't work out sorry you're gonna have the worst birthday of your life I guess should hey speaking of birthdays and there's a big anniversary edition coming out the braid anniversary edition it's coming out this month and I had an idea one second hang on one second we're all in the presence of a goat. Did you just see what he just did?
Starting point is 00:10:48 That was amazing. And I know it's not, it's maybe uncouth to point out the strings, to point out the mechanics of podcasting while it's happening. But goddamn, that was Santana smooth, baby. That was good shit. That was really good. I brought that up.
Starting point is 00:11:06 I feel like I'd find a way to crash it or fall off of it, despite them being famously stable. I brought up the anniversary edition of Braid because I think it would be an interesting thing for us to do a WePlay, YouPlay About. It's a game that I remember and that I played back in the day. Heather, I believe you played it back in the day. This new anniversary edition, I remember and that I played back in the day. Heather, I
Starting point is 00:11:25 believe you played it back in the day. This new anniversary edition, I think, will have a bunch of other content. And it's like a game that has, that gives a lot to discuss. So I'm just going to propose schedule permitting, time permitting, and hey, maybe this is something that makes one of us miserable, which is something that apparently our listeners are demanding. I'm proposing a WePlay YouPlay for Braid Anniversary Edition, which I believe is out this month. I am okay with it. So Braid came out when I still would,
Starting point is 00:11:55 and I guess I could speak to this during the episode, but Braid came out when I was still like, I should like puzzles. Yes. It's me. I'm the problem. As opposed was still like, I should like puzzles. It's me, I'm the problem. As opposed to being like, it's okay not to like puzzles. So I did finish Braid back in the day. I don't know that I have the patience in me to rem,
Starting point is 00:12:17 the other thing is solving a puzzle once and then 10, 15, whatever years later, trying to solve a puzzle that you know you've solved before and being like, what the fuck was the solution to this, is like doubly frustrating. But I will give it a fair shake. I will give it a fair jump. I think here's the thing.
Starting point is 00:12:39 Anytime I encounter that in a game, and yeah, I'm sure there's a lot of braid I don't remember, is if I've already played through it, I don't give a shit about using a guide. Because I'm like, I figured this out before. I don't need to like, whatever. I guess I can see how much I remember. But if I reach a stopping point, I'm fine going to looking for a hint to progress.
Starting point is 00:13:01 Although I guess this is a game that loses a lot of its charm by looking up solutions. I don't know. I think it would be an interesting one to discuss, because it is like also Jonathan Blow is an interesting figure. And also just something that's trying very hard to be like the highfalutin sort of games as art sort of thing, I think gives us some discussion points.
Starting point is 00:13:20 My only experience with Braid is when we watched Indie Game the movie for an old DLC Premium DLC in the old format. Oh, that's right. Yes So I'd be interested in giving this a try And and I think I think it'd be fun. I think I say why not that's the one That's it's super meat boy Fez and Braid are the three games they focus on right? That's what I remember from that documentary. Maybe I'm misremembering Braid as Fez actually. Maybe Braid's not in it, but I feel like it is.
Starting point is 00:13:52 They're similar, they're doing similar things. But they have pretty different aesthetics. Yeah, Braid is the one where Soulja Boy is playing it at a certain point in the documentary. But Braid is in there, that's right. And Soulja Boy is playing it at a certain point in the documentary. But Braid is in there, that's right. And Soulja Boy is just kind of roasting it. And then so much of it is, so much of the documentary is John then Blow just being upset that like, first off, he's just like completely going nuclear
Starting point is 00:14:14 and people adding him, which is, you know, it's its own thing. But then it also just like, it's just always like, people didn't understand what I was going for, you know, like just even the people who liked it, he's like, no, it went over their heads. It's an interesting figure. We'll figure that out, but that's a proposition, that's something I'm putting on the table,
Starting point is 00:14:31 and I feel like we'd like to hash these things out on the air, so, you know. I think we should see if we do do it, and I think we should. Yeah. We should see if we can get Soldier Boy on the show. That'd be an interesting booking, you know of us know him no connection to it all no He does love video games. Yeah, did have his he did have his own console. He was making it a certain point
Starting point is 00:14:52 That's right. What are they happening with that? I think it seems fine. It worked Yeah, yeah turns out. It's harder than you expect to make your own console. That's it like that was what happened I'd be good if the Soulja Boy console like turned into the Steam Deck. I was like, oh wow, okay. We're all playing the Soulja Boy game, how about that? Good for him. ["Soulja Boy Theme"]
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Starting point is 00:17:39 and donate today. You can find the link to donate to Al Ocho Lotto in the description of this episode, or go to gum.fm slash charity and donate today. You can find the link to donate to Al Ocho Lado in the description of this episode or go to gum.fm Charity and donate today. You can also consider volunteering with the organization which offers opportunities that are both in person and virtual The best way to get involved is by filling out an application on their website at al Ocho Lado org slash volunteer All right, let's uh, let's talk about some video games we're playing right now. It's time for what are you playing? Huh. Huh. Strange. That is weird. Yeah, usually when I say what are you playing the Resident Evil merchant kind of barges in here and kind of takes control.
Starting point is 00:18:22 and kind of barges in here and kind of takes control. Radio silence so far. Interesting. We we had to reschedule a record. Do you think he got confused? It could have been because Matt got sick and so we ended up. Yeah, we ended up moving this to we we we rescheduled it and then we ended up moving it to remote just to be cautious. So maybe he's still at the studio right now.
Starting point is 00:18:44 Because I would he may have gotten there yesterday and just still be hanging out. Yeah, you know, it's interesting. I know that Chef Kevin was at the studio today and I haven't heard from him in a few hours. I think maybe it's possible that the the merchant is holding court. He just got like roped into a really long conversation with the Resident Evil merchant and Adam Conover. Yeah Yeah, they're just sort of swapping stories. Yeah, I could see that happening
Starting point is 00:19:10 merchants trying to sell him some You know some product for that pompadour of his yeah Well, I mean I just it's always it's always a pain in the ass when he shows up So I guess that's a good thing that he's not here for this record, although... You don't think we should continue to speculate what he's doing? He could be taking a nap in the men's room, I don't know. I don't know what he's doing over there. I think I could just, you know, toss it over to you, Nick. You know, what have you been playing? Uh, yeah, I mean, I guess I'll just get into it then. I have been playing Manor Lords,
Starting point is 00:19:45 which entered Steam early access in April 26th. Have you been playing this? Or have you been tracking this? No, but I'm so excited to hear about it. So this is a game that kind of exploded on Steam. There was a lot of hype behind it. It is from a developer Slavic Magic, which is actually a solo dev, Greg Stezin.
Starting point is 00:20:03 I don't know exactly how to pronounce their name. But it is a medieval city building and tactical combat game, RTS game, that is striving for exacting historical accuracy. And first off, for something from a solo dev. And it's still in early access. So it's got some times when a UI element will be a variable instead of text or whatever, or, you know, so it's got some, some sort of like,
Starting point is 00:20:30 rough around the edges elements as to be expected remaining in early access. But the overall presentation is really, really impressive. The the art direction is great. It's got some a lot of, you know, granular detail with like individual peasants and oxen who have all these distinct animations moving throughout the city. The thing is, this game is immediately overwhelming. There are factors like soil fertility and crop rotation and there's no real tutorial for it.
Starting point is 00:21:05 So I tried to play it on my own a little bit and I was just messing around with it and I was just like, I'm just completely lost. I'm trying my best, there's some tool tips or whatever, but just simple elements like, for instance, you can completely fuck yourself because you need to build a certain structure. I believe it's a logging camp, although there's like four wood related structures. It's like that level of detail. And and so I believe it's a logging camp that you need to build. And if you don't build one and then just exhaust your starting supply of wood,
Starting point is 00:21:39 you can just not build anything. And then your entire civilization will it will die out because you just can't get any more wood. So like you have to like, there are ways that you can come, you can put yourself into a corner if you're not just sequencing things correctly. And that stuff you either learn through failing or you just have to do what I did, which is watch a bunch of YouTube tutorials of how to play this from people who have already got, you know, dozens of hours into it. That said, once you sort of wrap your head around these systems to some degree, it becomes
Starting point is 00:22:13 really, really engaging. And just, it's one of those things where like, I love this sort of city building thing, you know, like a civilization 4X game, but also games that are a little bit more like this on a smaller, more civic level as opposed to a global scale. And the thing that I really like is that you are not stuck on a grid for building placement. So you have these things that are called burgage plots, which is not a vocabulary term that I was super familiar with or really had he ever heard Before I started playing this game, but that's like where your
Starting point is 00:22:50 Where your citizens live where the people were the peasants in your your city live You don't have to build those as a square or as a set plot of land You can like create like in a weird sort of oblong sort of polygon You can you can really, you know, have it follow like the curve of a road. You can have it be long and skinny or short and fat. You can have multiple families live on one plot. Like there's all this flexibility and extensibility
Starting point is 00:23:15 you can do in terms of how you build it. And as such, again, you're not beholden to just like building as like a checkerboard, like a lot of city building games, you can have, for instance, a radial city design, like have all your buildings kind of going around in concentric circles, and that sort of shit is really cool. And I think some of the people who spent some more time in this game have some really, really awesome civic design.
Starting point is 00:23:38 So that's really fun from just ways you can experiment with the game and make what you're building your own, which is the fun of any sort of building game. The economy is so, so complicated. And I have barely wrapped my head around it. Because again, there's so many different buildings. You have to assign a family, which is one of the represents some of these citizens who
Starting point is 00:24:02 live in your city, to that building. But that leads, there's also a marketplace where there are market stalls. So for instance, if you have like a berry, like if you have a foraging hut, which lets peasants collect berries from the woods, then you can have a separate building, which is a Dyers, D-Y-E-R's hut or whatever it's called, and that's where you can create dyes from berries. Then if someone is assigned Dyers, D-Y-E-Rs, a hut or whatever it's called. And that's where you can create dyes from berries. Then if someone is assigned to that, they might have their own stall in a marketplace, which it's like, and that's just one of many, many things. There's also like tanning for hides and such. There's ore you can mine and stones you can gather. There's just so much, there's so many
Starting point is 00:24:44 resources and so many ways that they can be used. And. There's just so much, there's so many resources and so many ways that they can be used. And then that's just one element of the economy, which also ties into this ornate system of taxation. So there's just so much going on, but it's kind of amazing that this one developer had this level of, again, just precision in terms of recreating what it actually was like not as an abstraction
Starting point is 00:25:06 I mean I'm abstracted to some degree because it's a it's a fucking video game But like not as an abstraction but like like hey This is actually how complicated all of this shit was in a pre-capitalist economy. So yeah, I really am enjoying it I'm not sure how much more time I'm going to put into it in early access I'm gonna I'm definitely a messer I say that but I'm gonna load it up again and play some more for sure And it's one of those things. I'm gonna want how much more time I'm going to put into it in early access. I'm definitely going to mess her. I say that, but I'm going to load it up again and play some more for sure. And it's one of those things I'm going to want to load it up. I'm just going to play it for several hours because that's how these sorts of games work for me.
Starting point is 00:25:32 But I am really excited to see what the final game is like and if there is a little bit more onboarding, because I think that would probably be one of those things that would come in in the final stages of development again, because it's just so fucking complicated. But really, really, really cool, extremely impressive design. And that's Manor Lords. Heather, what are you playing? Oh, well, I achieved
Starting point is 00:25:59 Elite rank in Fortnite this week. Wow. Thanks in no small part to listener Topocito. But also I crossed that threshold in a solo match so I wanna give myself a little bit of credit. Yeah, I think that's fair. Hell yeah. A huge achievement for me.
Starting point is 00:26:22 Now there's only two more ranks left to achieve. I'm not going to do it by the end of the season. But now that I know this is a thing that I enjoy in Fortnite, I think next season I'm going to or next chapter, I'm going to start right away doing ranks. So you're devoting right here on the podcast to like Fortnite more. Yes. The other thing, though, is that I decided to join the discourse. I purchased Stellar Blade.
Starting point is 00:26:52 Oh, I love it. I've been playing Stellar Blade because it's like an action game version of Dark Souls is what people have been like comparing it to. It's got like similar save systems and mechanics and like, it's not as brutally difficult so far. But when you say action game, you mean like it's like a little bit kinetic, a little bit more active, a little faster paced. Yeah, it's, it's a lot less.
Starting point is 00:27:19 I'm worried about this thing. I'm the skeleton I'm fighting, turning into a dog and biting my head off. Like I'm not, like it's like, and it's very clearly cobbled together from a bunch of different ideas that the developer liked, which is that like there's a scanning system that maps out the world a la Death Stranding and shows you sort of like a stripped down wireframe version
Starting point is 00:27:48 of the landscape to give you a better idea of like what parts of the topography are interactable. Like it'll be like, is there anything to climb here? And you tap that thing and this little Metal Gear guy, some Metal Gear, like Metal Gear, like that little guy who's talking to you the entire time, his name is Adam. And I don't know how present he is. I've just started this game.
Starting point is 00:28:11 You know, I beat like the first two levels or whatever a level is in these games. But that little guy's like, hey, you should scan the environment and then you can find places to climb and you climb those places. And I like that anytime I'm rewarded by trying to get my character off of the map,
Starting point is 00:28:33 which is my favorite thing to do in a video game is, how quickly can I break it? And then being rewarded with a treasure chest. And I'm like, oh, okay, so it's this kind of game where a place that looks like you shouldn't be able to access it is accessible and has a reward for getting there, even though I don't know like what to spend the chits or the little,
Starting point is 00:28:55 it's like you receive 15.1 E class. And I'm like, oh, all right, great. And then of course there is the, the reason that everybody's talking about the game is the, just 2007 design concept of the main female character Eve. Yeah. She is right out of a game of Dead or Alive, or any of the, that like, it feels like an old game
Starting point is 00:29:34 that's got fancy new graphics. That's what it feels like. Right. Because she is so ridiculously like over the top sexualized, that it doesn't even, she doesn't even seem like a person to me she seems like Almost like a Picasso painting of what a woman looks like if your eyes are moving too quickly like it's like She's got legs
Starting point is 00:29:59 But her legs are like the length of like a regular person. They're not Human dimensions on her legs. Does that, do you understand? Like- I think so. Well, like if you stood her next to me, her legs would come up to my shoulders. And then her-
Starting point is 00:30:18 Oh, I get it. And then her torso would be like crushed to the size of my head, but her boobs would each be the size of my head. So she's got like two. I'm sure you're telling us right, but I am gonna Google it just to make sure. Like what she's, she's not, she's like an impressionist painting of sexiness.
Starting point is 00:30:38 Like it's like, oh, I saw sexiness once and this is what it looked like and it's legs and boobs and butt. Right. And of course I think the other difference between like Dark Souls and this game is that typically when you move the camera in a Dark Souls game to like get better oriented
Starting point is 00:30:58 around an enemy, you aren't also given the option to drive the camera straight into a butthole which is like part of the, like the design of this is like, I never need the camera to swing directly underneath my player character so that I am staring up at their now 80 inch vagina. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:31:22 Like, it's not, I don't need that, but this camera is designed to. I don't need that, but this camera is designed to. You don't need it, but if that camera was in a Dark Souls game, it would like lead into like a new biome where you would fight like some eldritch horror inside your own body. So anyway, I'm sure it makes me a bad person to take no issue with this game and just be having a good time, but I sure am. And the music is kind of reminds me of like Final Fantasy XIII. Like it feels like a game from 2007 to 2010. Like the music is this sort of like poppy, whispery pop music. And then the way you know that you're in combat is the lyrics get louder. They don't get any more decipherable
Starting point is 00:32:14 to me. Like it'll be like you're playing a game and you're kind of investigating like the landscapes. Oh, you open a chest and like Adam characters like, well, these are leftover from the Legion forces. And I'm like, okay great but then all of a sudden this music that's like Like suddenly that will become like and I'm Like oh I'm fighting something now, okay, we can't play more of it we're gonna get in trouble But yeah enjoying stellar blade I bounced off of
Starting point is 00:32:50 Dragon's dogma 2 for a little while. I think I'm gonna go back to it, but I'm I'm just I Want there to be more in Dragon's dogma and so far there isn't it's just kind of like running around Which is great for like a cup of coffee, but not, it doesn't give me a video game feeling after a while, whereas this, yeah, this feels very much like a video game. It is what we remember on the Xbox 360 as video games. Matt. Well, I'll say, just to talk Stellar Blade for a second,
Starting point is 00:33:24 I did download the demo when the demo was fresh and I played it a little bit and was like, oh, this seems cool. I don't know if I'll like, I probably won't get this. This is not, this doesn't seem like I'll be playing this, but it seems cool. But I guess there is like a larger conversation about it that I don't think I'm equipped to have. But it seems if you're like enjoying it, I think that's good. I think that's that seems fine. I don't think there is made with like any mal intent or anything like that.
Starting point is 00:33:53 But I am I did. I did roll credits on a game that I had put down. I was wow. I was away over the weekend. And I was texting you guys that I was agonizing on what to bring for the plane and like for my time my little brief windows of time in a hotel and I knew that the PlayStation portal was out because I couldn't play that on an airplane and I couldn't really reliably play that on hotel Wi-Fi Because it's a it's a an incredibly stupid device. Yes. Yeah That somehow two of the three of us own
Starting point is 00:34:26 It's stupid It's limited utility You have to be physically next to your existing PlayStation In order to be able to use it Well, it's more that you need to be on Wi-Fi That doesn't require a browser to agree to terms and conditions on Because it does have a built-in browser that you can't use Which is which is also great? But and we talked about this a little bit
Starting point is 00:34:50 I was like I guess the switch is the way to go because Steam Deck you're not gonna get that much battery life Battery life you're it's gonna be kind of chugging along For the flight wasn't a long flight, so I didn't need anything that long, but I I brought my switch I double dipped on Bellatro got Bellatro on my switch. I was playing on Steam Deck okay, okay? Happy to double dip on a game like that a game that is yes to me is like it's perfect like it's just like a perfect Game, it's just a wonderful game Love that, but I had a delay. I had a delay in the airport, about a two hour delay. Kind of annoying.
Starting point is 00:35:28 I'm like, okay, what do I do, what do I do? I boot up Super Mario Bros. Wonder. Bros. A game that I hadn't finished, Bros. You can say Super Mario Bros. Yeah, no, I'm in. I'm not stylized. I was doing it like a poetic echo.
Starting point is 00:35:44 Yes. Super Mario Bros. In Mario Mario is saying let's a fucking go Dog and the crushing beers. That's a yes, right? That's a the bro culture Mario kind of like a more look at that He's his little red hat is backwards. Well, it's a different kind of red hat as well. Oh, yeah his this Mario Let's say he's you don't want him to vote how he's voting. And you know what? The real Mario also might be doing that. That's true. We don't know.
Starting point is 00:36:12 But anyway, I guess I was closer to being done with it than I had realized. But while I was experiencing the delay at the lovely Burbank Airport, I crushed an entire area. Like the fifth. I think there's six areas or something. I can't remember what they're called in there, but I was in the fungus one, the fungus biome. Okay. And I-
Starting point is 00:36:35 Is that the underground one I'm trying to remember? That one is underground, but there is also a magma one that is underground also. Oh, okay, okay, yeah, right, right. But I did the fungus one just while I was waiting, just knocked that out completely. Yeah. And I was like, I'm going to fucking finish this thing. I'm so like the whole weekend, I just like chipped away at the rest of it. And Nick had an interesting observation about
Starting point is 00:37:00 Mario Wonder that we texted about that you liked it and that it was good and a fun game, but none of it really sticks with you. Yeah, I mean, like, and I want to, I'll adjust that a little bit just to say that like, there are certain set pieces, like certainly like when the perspective changes and we're going top down or whatever, or we're inverting the gravity,
Starting point is 00:37:25 you know, like, or when you're writing like a dragon or whatever, there's certain times when you're getting that, you know, the wonder flower and it's completely deforming the stage. Like some of those things stuck with me, but like thinking of the game overall, it was more of just like a breezy, fun, throwback Mario experience
Starting point is 00:37:41 that's really aesthetically pleasing. Yes. And so well done. The game I really like a fantastic Mario game. I don't know where it ranks in my in my Mario rankings. Remember, we did a Mario ranking. We was around the time Wonder was new. We couldn't rank it. I'd be interested to see where it slots in there. Is an eight year. It's probably a right.
Starting point is 00:38:03 It's pretty good. But I there's a couple of secret areas that I didn't find or secret stages that I didn't find. And I think I will go back to get those at some point because it is just like a fun game to pop in and pop out of. But I was happy to roll credits on that. The final final Bowser area I found to be easy. It is, yes. I had almost no chance, even though some of the difficulty stars were higher than some of the other stages,
Starting point is 00:38:40 I didn't have any problem with the end at all. But that's the modern Mario philosophy, I feel like, I didn't have any problem with the end at all. But that's the modern Mario philosophy, I feel like. The main game is designed to be, you can just finish basically at any skill level, right? You can just kind of plow through the end, but then they have all these secret stages that are in fact punishingly difficult, but it's also completely optional for main path.
Starting point is 00:39:01 I really loved it. I'll still remember my time in that one stage that is you have to jump with the timed blocks. Oh yeah. I can't remember what it was called now, but that was, that's the stage I'll think of when I think of this game in retrospect. But I really loved it.
Starting point is 00:39:21 I did put, I took it out of my Switch and I put in Super Mario RPG, a game that I bought and have not touched since I got it. Hoping to maybe try to start and finish that before the Thousand Year Door comes out, but I'm still playing Rebirth for crying out loud. Who knows what I'm gonna do. But that's it for me.
Starting point is 00:39:42 Hey, you're the finisher. Good on you for going back to that game and taking it over the finish line. Slow numbers so far, but it's only May. You're gonna be crushing us all by the end of the year. I'm very much impressed with you, Matt. Very much impressed. Thank you, thank you.
Starting point is 00:39:58 I gotta give it up to Mario, because games are good. Yeah. Yeah, they are. Games are good. Rach. Yeah, they are. Games are good. Rachelle, are you around? Hey, Ranch, I know you binged the Knuckles show. I wanted to see if you want to talk about that at all. No, it wasn't the Knuckles show, it was Fallout. Oh. Oh, nevermind.
Starting point is 00:40:17 Wow. No, I thought it was Knuckles, it was Fallout that you binged. Yeah. What did you think of Fallout? I loved it, I thought it was really fun. I had a great time, I like to finish it in like two days. And I had I honestly had never heard of fallout before. Oh, wow. The show. But I did end up downloading fallout for. I think a lot of people are doing that. Yeah. And spent a really long time on the
Starting point is 00:40:42 character creation trying to make me and Mark like as close as possible to our real selves. And then he ended up just dying in the first five minutes. And I spent like an hour on it. I have to play that. I'm seeing my confusion in the in the text thread because both the Knuckles series and Fallout franchise were brought up in quick succession and the ranch said, man, it's so fun.
Starting point is 00:41:08 I watched it in two days. I thought you met Knuckles. But I'm glad you enjoyed Fallout. Everything I've heard about it is that it's a lot of fun. I gotta check it out. My wife and I also finished Fallout this week. And she absolutely fucking loves it. She loves it.
Starting point is 00:41:24 And I also love it. But I would say, of the two of us, Mary likes it more. Which, it's got all the stuff that I like. It's got like, you know, violence and like, fucking bad guy and I love, that's it. Those are the two things I need. Violence and bad guy?
Starting point is 00:41:43 We're watching it in my household now. That's the those are the two things I mean. I was in bad guy. We're we're watching it in my household now. We're about we watch three episodes. And as I mentioned last week on the show, my fiance, Isabelle, saw the billboard and saw it moving and was like, that's really cool. I want to watch the show. And so we put it on and she's really, really been enjoying it. But she's when things are super violent like that, it like really like makes her like freak out, like not like freak out, but she hates seeing stuff like that.
Starting point is 00:42:12 So like there's a thing where it's not really a spoiler, but there's like a guy. One of the Brotherhood of Steel guys crushes a guy's head in his hand. And it's really funny and fucking gross and nasty. And there was a point where she was like, I don't know if I can watch this anymore. She was like, this fucking, that's so gross. But the story is keeping us invested. But if there's more violent stuff like that,
Starting point is 00:42:41 which I'm assuming there will be, we're gonna have a tougher time. But we're really enjoying it. Before we move on from this segment about like watching stuff and everything, I'm surprised that resident Kingdom Hearts man, Matt Apodaca, has brought it up that there was a huge rumor drop of a live action CG Kingdom Hearts movie that is currently being ushered towards
Starting point is 00:43:11 production. Well, it's interesting that you bring this up because before we started recording, before you got before you hopped in the in the stream yard here, I was I did say I can't get my hopes up until I have like basically a ticket in hand for this, because I heard about a TV show that they were making. They were supposedly making a couple of years ago. Now I'm hearing about this movie. How about you show me a damn something? Show me something. And then I'll. Me?
Starting point is 00:43:46 Yeah, you Heather. Why don't you. I don't have access to whatever it is. Why don't you get this movie made and then show it to me and then I'll tell you if I'm excited or not. No, I, look, I want there to be Kingdom Hearts stuff. To me, it is not a movie.
Starting point is 00:43:59 It can't be a movie to me. It's like, there's too much going on for it to be a movie. It has to be a movie to me. It's like, there's too much going on for it to be a movie. It has to be a series, I think. Because they gotta spend time in each new world or whatever, however they're choosing to do it. I'm gonna guess they won't do the Disney stuff.
Starting point is 00:44:19 It's gonna be primarily. Whoa, that is a, Why would it be a live action CG hybrid? If I would be Disney plus to Disney plus. Yeah, that's the real thing. It will be it will be Disney then. But if I just think it's like it's
Starting point is 00:44:36 just too much. There's too much to do. But I could see Disney getting their their, you know, multiverse beak wet, even wetter. They're like, oh, we can get all these Disney IP in one thing, let's do it. But I think a series would serve it better for the story. Here's what the source is disinsider.com, the Skyler Shuler, it's like a mailbag.
Starting point is 00:45:04 And I don't know If this this source is someone who is reliably breaking news or if this is just a rumor mill I'll read the entire thing that has led to all these news stories Well to get one thing out of the way Disney is developing an animated Kingdom Hearts movie Well years back I had heard the idea was to do something on Disney Plus more recently I've heard the goal would be a big screen adaptation But as of now, these are just rumblings and nothing has been green lit. So it's pretty, you know, pretty vague.
Starting point is 00:45:30 But- They're making a movie about me too, I heard. Yeah, I mean, there's something to it. I wouldn't be shocked. I mean, look, look, again, this is the thing that we've seen with these video game adaptations. First off, audiences love them. Secondly, they lead to increased sales of back catalogs on the gaming side.
Starting point is 00:45:48 So, you know, all of a sudden, we already talked about this last week and we're talking about on this episode of just like how many more people are playing Fallout 4 and Fallout's all the way back to Fallout 1 and 2, just based on the series. And the same thing happened with The Last of Us. So I'm sure it's,
Starting point is 00:46:04 there's just more and more incentive for studios same thing happened with The Last of Us. You know, so I'm sure it's, there's just more and more incentive for studios and game developers, and game publishers to collaborate on this sort of thing. Mostly, I fear the person I will become if the movie is bad, and I fear the person I will become if the movie is good. Like, there's, I stand to lose either way. I think I'm very excited
Starting point is 00:46:26 I would be very excited to see my favorite Video game franchise come to the big screen of course I Could see that going either way with Kingdom Hearts fans either They would not they will not allow it regardless of its quality level to be good Or they will not allow it regardless of its quality level to be bad You know what I mean? Yeah. Like they'll either like no matter what no matter what level it is, they'll either like
Starting point is 00:46:47 rebel against it or say it is it is a perfect masterpiece. It'll be no matter what no matter what quality it is, it will be a Kingdom Hearts movie. Like in terms of like yeah, the way people you know, not me, of course, I think it's all good. But some of the maybe the little bit of irony some people have with the franchise. I want to I want to know what it would be like getting story notes from Tetsuo Nomura. Like, I'd want to know, like, if if if that guy would come in and be like, no, no, no. That's the shadow of the unbroken version
Starting point is 00:47:26 of his, like that, I wanna know if that guy has massive cannon in his head, and it's just like everything is clear to him, and so he'd have to, he'd be like, no, that character's name is spelled like that for reasons I can't get into, but you can't change it, and they have to pronounce it with a silent E. I'll take those notes over Bob Iger's notes, probably. Fair. Hey, the Kingdom Hearts games, you know, there's many of them, but really, a canonical trilogy of titles.
Starting point is 00:48:01 He's doing it again. trilogy of titles. And that leads us to our topic this week, another Triforce of this week, the Triforce of Trilogies, a three of threes. We are going to each decide our Triforces of wisdom, power, and courage of video game trilogies. Now, before we get into this exercise, I want to see if anyone has any rules they would like to propose. I- Or guidelines. This is not necessarily a rule or a guideline.
Starting point is 00:48:40 It's more of a thought. Obviously, the numbers one, two, and three can factor into this exercise. Sure. In sequence, in order. I don't think a trilogy in this case necessarily needs to be three, like one, two, and three. I think if there's a lot of games from this series, it could be any three. Well, let's say there's nine games. Yes. And the ones people really like are two, three and four.
Starting point is 00:49:13 For some reason, those are the one you can pick those and that's allowed. Yeah. OK. There's a there was a time when people would have said that, for instance, about the Resident Evil series, maybe. Sure. Or or, you know silent Hell and that's I wasn't the best I go we say there are yeah There are games where there's like Street Fighter's you know what a much better example I was I was going to say something similar Which is just if a series is longer than three entries you need a justification for why the three you picked comprise a trilogy
Starting point is 00:49:42 Like you know like which I think is akin to what you were saying. That's better and cleaner than how I said it, so I think that's good. Okay. Who wants to go first? I'll go first. Wow. Wow.
Starting point is 00:49:56 Out of the gate. Wow. With power. Oh, shit. Because there's nothing more powerful than being able to go fast. She's doing it. And there's nothing more powerful than being able to go fast. She's doing it. And there is nothing more powerful than a single game,
Starting point is 00:50:09 a single game challenging the ubiquitousness, the hegemony of Nintendo. And one small blue hedgehog almost did it. He almost upended the righteous order. He almost said, you know what? The NES, the super NES, they've got nothing on me. That's power. Sonic 1 is one of the best debut albums
Starting point is 00:50:43 in game concepts of all time. Sonic 2 is fucking perfect. And Sonic 3 is an enjoyable masterpiece. The only reason there are movies being made still with fucking attached with like Idris Elba, Keanu Reeves, Jim Carrey, is because of Sonic 1, 2, and 3. It's true.
Starting point is 00:51:12 No, you're absolutely right. It's not Sonic Adventure. It's not Shadow the Hedgehog. Shadow the Hedgehog. It's not Sonic the Werehog. It's not Sonic 06. It's because those first three games were so fucking powerful, so fucking good, and so close to changing history.
Starting point is 00:51:31 Yeah. That the echoes, the ripples, the tidal wave of their presence is still being felt today. Why are you giving me that face? Matt Apodaca. Who's giving you a face? Oh, Matt. Oh, I just like when you talk passionately about your blue boy.
Starting point is 00:51:46 I fucking love Sonic and and but mostly I just like those three. Those three games, Sonic one, two and three. Fucking I love Sonic. And that's your pick for Triforce of Power. Power. Power power. We'll start with power. Is this a power power?
Starting point is 00:52:02 I'm the kind that doesn't flush turds. Is this a? Power! Power! I'm the kind that doesn't flush turds! Is this a good, could this be a good painting? You know, are y'all familiar with the painting of Blue Boy? Yeah, of course. Love that painting. It's a great painting. It's Blue Boy, but it's Sonic instead. Sure.
Starting point is 00:52:20 Yeah, sure, why not? Somebody do that, I think it's good. I think put Sonic in the, like, make him the girl with the pearl earring. Put him in all of them. Sure. Yeah, put Sonic in every painting. Yeah. What if somebody redid the night watch
Starting point is 00:52:34 with all the Sonic characters? What an incredible waste of a life that would be to spend your time doing like a masterpiece, a masterwork Dutch yes painting like stroke for stroke except replacing all those characters with Anyway, that's my first pick for power sonic one two and three Wow. I love it Matt you can go next okay unless you want me to go no no no this is this is interesting There's a lot on the table.
Starting point is 00:53:05 Yep. A surprising number, a shocking number of video game trilogies when you think about it, because a lot of games are not often divided in, not always divided into clean trilogies, clean one, two, threes, as we were saying earlier. It's it's it's it's more of a you see them more likely with with films, obviously. But if you look if you look at the landscape, there are a lot of trilogies, a lot of good trilogies. And, you know, I think there's a I feel like there's stuff that I want to take that is obvious. But then there's other stuff that I feel like I don't get to talk about as much. That would be more interesting to take.
Starting point is 00:53:40 Go with your heart. Well, for power, I'm going gonna go with maybe an unconventional trilogy, but I think we'll all agree that it's a trilogy. Starting with Grand Theft Auto 3, Grand Theft Auto Vice City, and Grand Theft Auto San Andreas. Wow, what a great, that's a good, that's good. That's good. Those games just remind me of being 13 years old.
Starting point is 00:54:05 And they rock. They're so fucking good. San Andreas is, I mean, I'm not saying anything new, is like, I think, one of the best video games. It's just fucking amazing. And the fact that they, you know, they did put out the, they put all three of them, they packaged all three of those games together and have many times and recently ported them to modern consoles and did a bad job. But those games, that's Grand Theft Auto. Grand Theft Auto V is great.
Starting point is 00:54:38 Right, that's what defines the series. That's what set the template for what Grand Theft Auto is. It's not the first two, and though the games that followed it refined it, it ultimately template for what Grand Theft Auto is it's not the first two and though the games that followed it Were refined it it's ultimately comes down to Grand Theft Auto 3 and it's two follow-ups in that console generation and like Grand Theft Auto 3 is is just like an amazing game and then Vice City comes along you're like oh shit It's like this. It's as good as that one, but there's more talking in it the and now yours like and it's you know It's set in Miami in the 80s. That's like fun
Starting point is 00:55:08 Motorcycles that was a big thing motorcycles boats are there boats in three I can't remember, but I think there are boats in Vice City and sounds right Then just the characters of San Andreas like CJ is just like an amazing character And it's just you know it's been memed to death. Ah, shit, here we go again. That's good stuff. It is good stuff. And I think this is an incredible pick, Appadaka.
Starting point is 00:55:34 I think this is a, it's not on my list. It's, look, there's a lot of stuff that is on my list that we're not gonna get to, unfortunately. But that's my power pick, Grand Theft Auto. I love it. So it falls to me, my Triforce of power, and I've thought about this a bit. I have a few different options,
Starting point is 00:55:56 but I think what I'm ultimately going to land on, there's a genre of games, the Metroidvania. Wow. That is defined by the Metroid franchise beginning with the first game and perfected with Super Metroid and the Castlevania franchise, though not beginning with the first game, which was very much a linear platformer and that was the way the series progressed until the PlayStation 1 and Castlevania Symphony of the Night, a totemic game was released and again you know further iterated on perhaps perfected the formula. But there were three games that were released for the Game Boy Advance that were all Metroidvanias in the Castlevania
Starting point is 00:56:40 series. Castlevania Circle of the Moon, Castlevania Harmony of Dispense, and Castlevania Aria of Sorrow. And these games aren't all equally good, but it is awesome that there are three of them and that they are just further exploring this formula and, again, just setting the guidelines for what this genre is. And I think it is a powerful pack of games that have been collected as the Castlevania Advanced Collection, which you can now play on any modern platform. So I am going to pick the Castlevania Advanced Trilogy, three games, Circle of the Moon, Harmony of Dissonance,
Starting point is 00:57:18 Aria of Sorrow for my Triforce of Power and the Triforce of Trilogies. Those games got me through a time when, I mean that like Game Boy Advance is the portable system of that era until the PSP comes out, right? And those games were robust portable games. They took a long fucking time. And when you have a limited budget,
Starting point is 00:57:46 you really need a long time to come out of a video game. And that's not often a thing that you get in a portable game. So to be able to be like, I'm getting Aria of Sorrow and I know it's gonna take me a very long time to beat it. That's a rewarding experience for a youth. Good pick, Weiger. Thank you. It's also like a, you know,
Starting point is 00:58:10 it should be said that these games also just have like, you know, awesome art and incredible music as the franchise is famed for. So yeah, that's my pick for the Triforce of Power. We'll send it back to Heather, which, no, go for whatever you want to pick. Well, it's weird that you guys brought this up because I was going to ask a question about it and then the question was answered by our pre-conversation about the thing.
Starting point is 00:58:37 So I'm going with wisdom and I'm not going with games one, two, and three in a trilogy, but rather games two, three, and four in a trilogy. Wow. And those games are Street Fighter. Wow. And Street Fighter II, fucking iconic. Yes. Undefeatable, like a permanent fixture
Starting point is 00:58:57 in every barcade in the United States and abroad. Street Fighter II, it's been more than 30 years since that game came out. And I know this because I know how old Matt Appadocka is. Street Fighter 2 flawless. But Street Fighter 3. That's my spaghetti. That's that's my that's my home classic phrase. That's my, that's my home. The classic phrase. That's my spaghetti. That's my, that's my delicious taste. Yeah. Street Fighter III also, as I've argued on this very show, I think is responsible for the existence
Starting point is 00:59:35 of the modern E tournament scene. The E gaming, all of that shit comes down to like one moment between Justin Wong and Daigo in a Street Fighter 3 tournament that became viral and then people were like, holy shit, it's so much fun to watch video games. And Street Fighter 4, in terms of addictiveness, dominated my own ability to play video games. If we'd had this podcast back when, the fucking game I would have talked about every week would have been Street Fighter 4.
Starting point is 01:00:04 That would have been the Fortnite 4 that would have been Fortnite. Yeah It's so fucking good and It had my favorite version of Akuma that has ever existed, which is not Akuma, but Oni Just that ugly Like not it's a broken character really easy to like take down by a lot of other characters on that roster, but man it is fun to drag and punch somebody into the sky and then punch them again when you're like follow them up and like fucking knock them back down. Such a great anime move. So my wisdom Street Fighter 2, 3, and 4, not a fan of 5, played played very little of VI,
Starting point is 01:00:46 to be honest. And I don't even know how it exists. Two, three, and four, great trilogy. Wow, great pick. Matt, it's your turn. Okay. Trade Force of Wisdom. This exercise is tough because I'm already mourning the fallen soldiers, right?
Starting point is 01:01:06 Like I there are games that I want to pick that I know that I'm not going to. But wisdom, it was an interesting is an interesting section of the Triforce. Because not every game, I think, fits into into there. Because not every game I think fits into into there, but in times of combat in times of war I think it is wise to not only fight but also to hide Okay
Starting point is 01:01:40 Okay my pick for the wisdom trilogy OK, my pick for the wisdom trilogy. Metal Gear Solid, Metal Gear Solid 2, Sons of Liberty and Metal Gear Solid 3, Snake Eater, Snake Eater. What a pick. Great trilogy. A great. I mean, what can even be said about it that hasn't been said. Those games fucking rock. They're just so they're so good.
Starting point is 01:02:03 Yeah, they're so, so good yeah they're so so good they're also all distinct and the first one was so seismic as you know that the kind of the 3d stealth you know the the the the prototype for what that genre would become to obviously ahead of its time prescient in its in its themes and its narrative. And then three, just a perfection of the gameplay. That's a great pick. And I'm just looking at the ones that I have as options because I was certain it was going to get taken at some point.
Starting point is 01:02:38 But I salute I salute the ones that were not selected. That's it for me. Nick, you're up. Goodbye England's rose. That one? Yeah, that's good. You know what you need? What?
Starting point is 01:02:56 Unique New York. Well, no, I was halfway through my sentence. Oh, okay. You know what you need wisdom for? What? What? A big, meaty, sprawling, dense, dialogue-driven RPG franchise.
Starting point is 01:03:13 I know where he's going, and I'm not afraid to follow him down the road. That's what's happening right now. Country road, take me home to a place. There were two I was waiting for this slot. And people who have played the more The Witcher franchise than I have might also include The Witcher among this, although, you know, the first couple games are completely, you know, I haven't touched.
Starting point is 01:03:38 I've only watched videos about the the other one I'm waiting for this slot. The other one I was considering my this slot, the other one I was considering, my runner-up, is the Mass Effect trilogy. But, I discovered Mass Effect as part of the Legendary Edition. I'd never originally played it. And, I didn't get around to going through Mass Effect 3. So it feels like a bit of a cheat to claim that when I don't have the entire trilogy, you know, knowledge of all of that. Although those games, very cohesive, following Commander Shepard narratively throughout all of it, all the NPCs, you know, are retained and evolve throughout the different games in the series.
Starting point is 01:04:19 And they're also just really, really awesome stories with really fun gameplay. But I'm instead pivoting to the Baldur's Gate trilogy. Baldur's Gate 1, 2, and 3, the first two games, isometric, infinity engine games developed by BioWare from over 20 years ago. But they are remarkable works. And Baldur's Gate III updates the formula, obviously gives it a modern presentation from Larian and a turn-based gameplay as opposed to the real-time
Starting point is 01:04:54 with pause gameplay, a tactical gameplay of the original couple of games, but retains its spirit and does things like carrying over Jahira and Minsc as NPCs from the original trilogy to make it feel like it's a part of this larger world. It definitely feels like not just a spiritual successor, but an actual proper sequel to those first couple games. And I think you can view them all as a trilogy.
Starting point is 01:05:20 And now also, considering that Larian is not making any follow-ups to Baldur's Gate 3, I think that's a kind of a good place to close the book on the canonical Baldur's Gate. We'll see maybe we'll be handed off to another developer who will do an awesome job with a Baldur's Gate 4 but I think as it exists Baldur's Gate 1, 2, and 3 games that I played back in the day and a game that I'm still playing these days are my trilogy I'm sorry my Triforce of Trilogies of power Triforce of power of trilogies that's what I meant to say that's what I'm trying to say wisdom
Starting point is 01:05:55 Triforce of power of trilogies see it takes wisdom Triforce of wisdom of power. What? Triforce of wisdom of trilogies. What the fuck is happening? My wisdom is drained after trying to get through that. I forgot to preface my why I picked Street Fighter for wisdom, but I think that's because it's obvious that it's a wise choice. Yeah, yeah. You have chosen wisely. We don't want what happened to Nick just now
Starting point is 01:06:25 to happen to you. We've gotta go back. Power of trilogies of wisdom. Guys. Brain is oatmeal. That's, here's the thing, I loved it. Yeah. What is courage?
Starting point is 01:06:41 Good question. That's a question we have to ask ourselves. Yeah. So that we can answer have to ask ourselves. Yeah. So that we can answer it with what trilogy represents courage. Courage is high, is you know that there is something lurking in the darkness and yet you force yourself to take steps forward, to confront the unknown. To challenge yourself. Though you have shaking hands. Though you have nerves shattered by fear.
Starting point is 01:07:14 And what greater fear can there be than losing all your souls? Wow. Dark Souls 1. Dark Souls 2. Dark Souls 1. Wow. Dark Souls 2. Dark Souls 3. The only FromSoft trilogy that exists, though I would argue that Demon's Souls, Dark Souls, and Elden Ring are a trilogy. I don't know that there is a game more important to modern game design than Dark Souls 1, except for Demon's Souls, but Demon's Souls is like,
Starting point is 01:07:51 it's like having access to the Oasis demo tape. Yeah. You know, if you've heard it, you're like, holy shit, this band's gonna be big. But it's not until definitely maybe that you're like, oh, this band is big. Same way, Demon's Souls, you hear it, and you're like, Oh, this band is big. Same way, Demon's Souls, you hear it and you're like, fuck, this is incredible. Are people playing this?
Starting point is 01:08:10 Nobody's playing it. Then Dark Souls one rolls around and suddenly here in the year 2024, I'm using save points in stellar blade, which respawn all the enemies. Who, who gave us that courage from soft? What courage do we have to exchange for it? Our own. To walk down hallways where any regular mob can fucking wipe us out. Dark Souls one, two, and three.
Starting point is 01:08:38 That's courage. Wow. And that's America. Matt? Oh, it's also America? Yeah, it's also America. Okay, okay, I didn't realize. Matt?'s America. Matt. Oh, it's also America. Yeah, it's also America. OK, I didn't realize.
Starting point is 01:08:47 OK, I followed. Yeah, that makes sense. I wanted to make sure I heard it. What is courage? You know, when you really stop and think about it, what is courage? What is it? Is it going through a platforming puzzle one time
Starting point is 01:09:02 making a mistake and dying and having to start the main menu again? No, no, no, it's not. Perhaps it's going through a platforming puzzle one time, making a mistake, and dying and having to start at the main menu again? No, no, no, no, it's not. Perhaps it's going through a platforming puzzle, making a mistake, and reversing your mistake by rewinding time. Wow. Oh. Should have seen this one coming from you. And learning from your mistake.
Starting point is 01:09:22 It takes courage to learn. It takes courage to fail, and courage to learn from your mistakes. I agree. It takes courage to learn. It takes courage to fail and courage to learn from your mistakes. I agree. True. My final pick of the Triforce for the courage part of the Triforce. Prince of Persia, the Sands of Time, Prince of Persia, Warrior Within, and Prince of Persia, the Two Thrones. Three games that I absolutely loved. Memories of them being fantastic. Haven't revisited them in a long time. Would like to, to see if they hold up.
Starting point is 01:09:55 But those games to me, the prince is such a good, courageous character. And I would be hard pressed to think of a character that is as courageous as him, as he. It also takes courage to opportunistically pivot to like a new metal slash Zack Snyder aesthetic for the second entry. And then for the third one, be like, we should not have done that. And go back to the storybook look of the original. We'll go back to that and we'll get the voice actor from the first one Again, and it was not mention this sorry. We're sorry. He's not emo anymore That takes courage to it to admit your mistake and to to go in a different direction
Starting point is 01:10:34 I remember playing the first the second game Prince of Persia warrior within for some reason I was on a family vacation brought my PlayStation 2 We stopped at a Target and I had a Target gift card. I bought Prince of Persia warrior with an on vacation Played it and the second I knew it was different was at in the beginning There's this fight with this lady and she likes slashes his face with us with her knife or something and he goes you bitch You bitch. And I was like, whoa, this is crazy. Great games. I love them.
Starting point is 01:11:09 And I miss the prince. And I hope he comes back in some way soon. I hope so, too. What a truly stupid, stupid era of gaming when everyone just took the wrong lessons from the success of God of War. And we're like, you know what? Our game will sell better if it's just like bloody
Starting point is 01:11:24 and has cussing in it. Yeah, yeah. But then Jack and Daxter did a similar pivot. They did, they also, they had like the dark Jack and Daxter era. But then it was just Jack. Jack, yeah. Yeah, they got rid of Daxter for that.
Starting point is 01:11:39 He's in the games, but they shot Parker the titles. But then they also were like, let's make these more like Grand Theft Auto kind of. Right, that's the other thing. Which did work for them. I thought those games were really good. Also on my list but didn't make the cut unfortunately. Nick, you're up. So it falls to me to ask the question, what is courage?
Starting point is 01:12:05 Some might say courage is in fact wisdom. Others might say Triforce is in fact power. Okay, what the hell? What I am here to say. That what makes a good trilogy, a courageous trilogy, can be a number of factors. It can be some of my runners up, which are platform games that are challenging,
Starting point is 01:12:34 or like Donkey Kong Country, or a game where you are isolated and alone and have to explore all on your lonesome, like the Metroid Prime trilogy, or even one where you have to battle all on your lonesome, like the Metroid Prime trilogy, or even one where you have to battle Lucifer himself, the Diablo trilogy, although I've disqualified that because Diablo four very much is part of the whole. So I don't think I can pick that.
Starting point is 01:12:56 What I am going to pick comes with a different sort of courage. The courage to believe, the courage that a long anticipated sequel will in fact someday actually be made. Two of the greatest games of all time, the most influential games of all time. Fans have been anticipating a follow-up for decades and I am choosing to believe that Valve will stop just reaping profits from Counter-Strike, from the Steam store, from the Steam Deck, and will in fact commit some development resources towards making the final entry of the Half-Life trilogy.
Starting point is 01:13:37 My Triforce of Courage is Half-Life 1, Half-Life 2, and I'm choosing to believe that Half-Life 3 will in fact be released someday maybe 25 years from now But someday it will come out this Half-Life trilogy is my Triforce of Courage Nick asked if there anybody had any rules or anything didn't say anything that could even hint at this I also didn't assume that one of the rules we should specify is that there need to be three games. Okay, yeah, you're right. Well, look, I could have said Half-Life 1,
Starting point is 01:14:10 Half-Life 2, and Half-Life Alex, or Half-Life 2, Episode 1, 2, and 3, or something like that, but I don't think that's courageous. I think it's courageous to pick a game that may never come out, but I think will come out. Half-Life 1, 2, and 3, the Half-Life trilogy, is my triforce of courage.
Starting point is 01:14:26 How many, like, non-Half-Life? I'll accept it. Look, what can we do? Are we gonna not say he can't do it? I can have an alt. Do you want me to pivot to an alt? No, no, no. I mean, he's gonna say Pac-Man,
Starting point is 01:14:40 and we'll be like, that's one game. Yeah. How many Half-Life games are there past two that aren't technically Half-Life 3, right? There's Half-Life Episode 1 and 2 and Alex, is that it? The Steam Deck game that was set in that world, kind of. I don't know if that counts. Yeah, I mean, some of those were like, I guess it's like,
Starting point is 01:15:04 oh yeah, I forgot about Lost Coast There's also the there was a Half-Life 1 expansion that I think was made by gearbox. Oh, yeah, I'm not sure how Canonical that one is considered Yeah, Lost Coast episode 1 episode 2 and Half-Life Alex but yeah episode 3 didn't come out and I mean you could say maybe the Portal games are also in that universe, but they're not canonical Half-Life games.
Starting point is 01:15:34 Hey, you know, I also could have said Portal one, two, and three, anticipating a Portal three someday. Okay, well, the more that you do it to some other games, you can't do that. It would be cool. Hey, I'll take more Portal. You kidding me? Yeah.
Starting point is 01:15:49 All right, let's recap our Triforce of Trilogies. I'll go first. Triforce of Power, Castlevania Advanced Trilogy, Triforce of Wisdom, Baldur's Gate Trilogy, Triforce of Courage, my belief that someday there will be a Half-Life Trilogy. Heather, how about yourself? Sonic 1, 2, and 3 is the Triforce of Power.
Starting point is 01:16:08 Street Fighter 2, 3, and 4, the Triforce of Wisdom. And Dark Souls 1, 2, and 3 is Courage. Matt. Wow. Triforce of Power, Grand Theft Auto 3, Grand Theft Auto Vice City, and Grand Theft Auto San Andreas. Wisdom, Metal Gear Solid, Metal gear metal gear solid two sons of Liberty and Metal Gear Solid 3 snake eater and then finally courage Prince of Persia the sands of time Prince of Persia the warrior within and
Starting point is 01:16:35 Prince of Persia the two Thrones. I also have the Ones with the most titles, I think I like I didn't I didn't go through all the subtitles for everything. Okay. Yeah. Yeah I think I like I didn't I didn't go through all the subtitles for everything. Okay. Yeah, yeah No, I didn't say Street Fighter 3 third strike Oh, yeah, there is a trilogy of Street Fighters threes which is kind of Street Fighter 3 Street Fighter 3 second impact and Street Fighter 3 third strike would have been a funny trilogy too. Yeah, that's funny Games are complicated. They are there's so many of them. There's so many of them. Do you remember, I was, Matt, picking the Metal Gear Solid trilogy had me, do you remember this Heather, when someone on NeoGAF, this was like 15 years ago, just made a fake press
Starting point is 01:17:17 release that Konami was developing, a game, Metal Gear Solid colon triology that was a collection of like all the you know of You know the Metal Gear Solid 1 2 & 3 like remastered and then IGN just picked it up as a news story But just I remember the the subtitle Triology, I guess just sounded so perfectly plausibly stupid that that's like the kind of thing that you know Kojima would would would would run with instead of trilogy I don't remember it but I just reminded of that yeah yeah all right that was our Triforce of trilogies hey it's time for a segment now. What are you praying? Oh, God. Oh, my God. Oh, Jesus Christ. You're one. You're so late.
Starting point is 01:18:09 You are insanely late. You're like an hour and a half. Scared Rochelle because you're supposed to be here before we start recording. Yeah. Ranch put in the chat. That scared me. It was just her birthday. Say sorry to Ranch. I don't mean to be, I'm sorry.
Starting point is 01:18:29 I don't mean to be upsetting anybody, but I do have one question for you, Ranch. Yeah. What are you playing? We already did, we did this already. Okay, we already covered this. What do you mean? In fact, Ranch already, Ranch in fact did do the segment, which she doesn't always do, and talked about the Fallout series.
Starting point is 01:18:46 Wow, I missed it. Yeah, you were just, you're insanely late. All right. Like you were supposed to be here before we started recording even, and now we've been recording for well over an hour. What day is it? What day is it?
Starting point is 01:18:58 Like what day of the week? Is it Monday canonically or is it Wednesday? Well, we're recording this on a Wednesday. We can say that much. We're recording this on the Wednesday. This episode will be out on the subsequent Monday. Is it always Wednesday when we record? That's not anybody's business.
Starting point is 01:19:13 Not always. It changes things up and again, the schedule shuffled a little bit because Matt was under the weather and we went remote. Well, I've been to three buildings. You're blaming me a lot for this. No one's blaming you. I'm just saying the circumstances that exist.
Starting point is 01:19:26 I don't need to make excuses to the fucking Resident Evil merchant. I've been to three buildings looking for you guys. Three buildings? Yeah. OK. There's like a building where you guys used to record. Wow, a lot of security there.
Starting point is 01:19:43 Yeah, that's kind of like visiting the Death Star. Yeah, tried to of security there. Yeah, that's yeah, that's kind of like visiting the Death Star. Yeah, tried to get in there. They I had a came to fisticuffs with a security guard on the bottom floor. Oh, and I was like, all right, right, right. They moved. So I went to that place on Sunset across from where I sleep. And yes, and and you guys weren't there. And yeah, we're remote. where I sleep and you guys weren't there. And then I drove to Santa Monica and I was yelling
Starting point is 01:20:11 up and down the streets for Nick. Right. Nobody replied. Yeah, I don't live there anymore. I'm not gonna dox myself anymore specifically because I don't want you to try to find me where I now live. So now you can see that I'm at a... Not a single Nick in Santa Monica.
Starting point is 01:20:25 Not a single one. What? There's probably some Nicks out there. I'm sure there are. They didn't want to say... Yeah. They didn't want to say anything. They didn't want to engage with the shrouded yelling person.
Starting point is 01:20:35 Yeah. Yeah, that's fair. The seven four... Yeah. Now you can see that I'm at a Starbucks, and this lady, this kind lady, has allowed me to zoom into your call Yes, which is why it took me a while. She looks petrified. So I mean allowed maybe
Starting point is 01:20:52 You know, she may be fearing for her life. I don't I've told her that I would not harm her and Uh-huh, and then didn't like I said it, huh? Why? Telling someone you will not harm them seems kind of like a threat. Like so like it was on the table, you know, I would like I would assume like, hey, you're not going to harm me just because I'm just living my life in a Starbucks. All right. Well, yeah, since you guys have already done the segment, I guess my work here is done. I just wanted to make sure I got I, you know, it's contractual
Starting point is 01:21:22 that I got to show up in order to get paid. So I don't know. Yeah, we got to pay you now. Hey, I actually, Resident Evil Merchant, we never ask you this. What are you playing? What? Nick. Why don't I want to know? That's sweet. But you're here. I'm playing. So this is a bar in Los Angeles called the Cat and Fiddle.
Starting point is 01:21:44 I've been playing darts there. Okay. Sure. I like that place. Yeah, it's pretty good. I like the original location better. I like the original more. It's kind of a bummer.
Starting point is 01:21:56 It had to move. The food is good at the new location. Yeah. Beans. Then beans. Yeah. Cat and fiddle. Beans beans that's what you get off the menu beside a bean you just order beans i want to bring up the cat and fiddle menu because i don't remember this specifically maybe it's on there i feel like i got like a steak sandwich there or
Starting point is 01:22:17 something i think i definitely don't like fish and chips all right so hold on i'm playing that are you looking at the menu of course yeah you know they got like a veggie sausage roll Kitty salad sticky toffee pudding. It's kind of like you know it's kind of like upscale gastropub food They get some savory pies some sandwiches A little bit English in it I was doing an accent just kind of like a... What? Sometimes... people from different places sound different, but that's the only one I'll do.
Starting point is 01:22:57 I have no experience of that. So yeah, blend darts at Cat and Fiddle. Are you not English? The only thing I can figure is that they have a cat and fiddle breakfast which comes with eggs, beans, something or bacon Yeah, yeah, yeah, that one So you just got a side of beans off of the breakfast platter Yeah, yes What is the clarification? Did you think I was lying?
Starting point is 01:23:22 No, that's reasonable No, I just was like not sure if they actually had beans But yes, it is an English sort of pub concept So naturally they would have a proper English breakfast good beans on the side tomato sauce excellent. Yeah, they look good. They're delicious So yeah darts We want to do is load up on baked beans before playing around at darts. That's that's just a fun night out Yeah, I love I at darts. That's just a fun night out. Darts and farts. Yeah, I love darts and I've recently rescued a dog.
Starting point is 01:23:51 Oh, that's very sweet. Who said who, am I right? Yeah. Am you? Yes. I don't know. You don't know? Yeah, but who? Never mind, we can't-
Starting point is 01:24:03 I'm following that you took that at face value. We can't follow up. We can't follow this up. Every single thing you say with a question version of what you just said. Well. Well. Well.
Starting point is 01:24:18 Cause we. Hey, the thing that you said that didn't make sense, can you make it make sense? Yeah, we can't do this for everything. We can't keep doing that. Cause then we got Nick looking up beans I'm telling you I'm hiding this cat and fiddle breakfast. It looks good. Oh, it's fantastic Especially the beans part You can ask do you know they'll that leg at a restaurant you could ask for almost any any cook of your egg
Starting point is 01:24:40 Yeah, I think that's part of the fun of ordering eggs. You know I usually default to Yeah, fried or scrambled, but I don't over easy guy Yeah, like I like I go like an over medium these days. I like over easy I like a wet egg all the way through wet Okay, so darts dog right I was telling you I had rescued a dog And I'm playing a little game of fetch with that little guy Those are the two games I'm playing. Darts and fetch.
Starting point is 01:25:10 Wow, you're kind of just living life and that's that's really the ultimate game. I turned over a new leaf like two years ago, remember? Yeah, that's true. Good for you. Good for you. I'm glad to hear that. I'll try to be on time next week Okay, it's Glad to hear that. I try to be on time next week. Okay. It's good Yeah, don't let this happen again. Don't change where you're doing whatever on a day in a place Nick's gonna throw me under the bus. So I'll just go ahead and say it. I'm sick. We updated We updated the Google Calendar. The what? Is all I'm gonna say is if this is the thing. No. You just gotta get it I know you look there's like a Google Doc that you look at that Matt writes you messages in Maybe we could have put something in there.
Starting point is 01:25:46 But I just, if you can't get with a modern calendar that like everyone has this on their phones these days. Okay. So just please try to set that up. Can I expense a phone to the business account? You can use the money we pay you to buy your own phone. Oh, what am I buying? You didn't know you could spend your money on whatever you want
Starting point is 01:26:11 Aren't you a merchant do you understand the basics of the economy? This is this I'm gonna go to the Apple Store you guys This is great What am I buying? All right? When I get an iPhone, this is all right. I'm going to get an iPhone. This is... All right, I'll see you guys next week and I promise I'll be on time. Maybe need a clarification on the calendar and how to set that up.
Starting point is 01:26:35 We'll get that going. Matt, I'll put some copy paste, some instructions in that Google doc for you. But it's great to see a resident evil merchant. Take care of that dog and make sure it's well fed. And yeah, have fun out there. Yeah, and God bless you. God bless you. God bless you guys.
Starting point is 01:26:52 Oh, means a lot coming from you. Okay, you can have this back. You can take, no, just log out of the Zoom. I don't, no, just log out of it. What, is that coffee? It's late to be. That woman was trembling. Was my English accent so bad that the merchant
Starting point is 01:27:11 didn't recognize it as English? Like, cause isn't he English? I don't think you can like ascribe any particular national identity to the Resident Evil merchant. That he kind of exists outside of time and place. Some of the words are like an Australian accent that he says. I see. Like it's kind of all over the map. Well yeah anyway I have a well that was fun. I haven't yeah it was fun. It was. It's nice. Nice to evacuate him from his segment. We give him grief, but he's like a fun guy that we know.
Starting point is 01:27:46 It's fun when he's here. I missed him when he wasn't here earlier. It's one of these things you take for granted. We know a lot of interesting people. He's a cool guy. I think we should give him his flowers every now and then. He's really great. I have a new segment that doesn't have a title at the moment, but why don't I give you the basic premise of the segment. Okay. I have some video games. As we know that sometimes they have three of them in a series, but sometimes there are many. In this segment, I'm going to challenge both of you.
Starting point is 01:28:17 I'm going to name a video game series, tell you how many titles there are in a series. You're going to tell me how many titles you think you can name and then give me the names of the games. So is this like a, if I'm like, is this one of those barter sort of things where I'm like, I could name three and then there's like, I could name four and then like, I could name five and then Heather can be like, name five. You know, is that how it's going to kind of work? Yeah, baby.
Starting point is 01:28:42 Like we're one up in each other. Exactly. Got it. Got it. This seems challenging, but we'll figure it out. I think it's gonna kind of work? Yeah, baby. Like where we keep one-upping each other? That's exactly it. Okay, got it. Got it. This seems challenging, but we'll figure it out. Yeah, I think it's gonna be fun. I don't have, I have, there are three games, okay? Okay, got it. Three franchises.
Starting point is 01:28:54 Three franchises, so. Got it. Let's start with the first one. This one has been- Wait, what's the name of the segment? It doesn't have a name yet. Hmm, all right, we'll maybe think of a name. We'll think of something.
Starting point is 01:29:03 But the vibe is established and the rules are set. Do we all understand? I got a name for the segment. Nick's got it. What do we got? How many? I mean, here's the thing. That is better than nothing. I came in with nothing. You just came up with how many that's pretty good. Yeah. Yeah, how many? How many how many? How many? So this is a segment called how many and this is how this works. I Have some video game franchises here in front of me
Starting point is 01:29:38 And I'm gonna tell you how many titles there are in the franchise And you guys are gonna barter back and forth between telling me how many that you can name and Challenge each other to then name however many they say does that make sense sure? Here we go this first the first franchise Castlevania there are 23 titles in the mainline Castlevania franchise How many do you think you can name? They said they're 22 23 23 I'll start I'll start the bidding at 12 12 Nick says he can do 12
Starting point is 01:30:15 I can name two okay well then I think Heather you should challenge Nick to name 12. Oh, I challenge you to name to name 12. Oh, it's okay. You should like if you can name 13, you could say I can name 13. I can name 13. I saw the inverse of this game show that was on Game Show Network back in the day called Name That Tune. And it was like I can name a song in two notes.
Starting point is 01:30:44 Oh, I can name it in one and then they'd be like go ahead and it would just be like boop. The person would be like I don't know what song that is. All right so yeah I call Nick at 12. I call him. Okay Castlevania, Castlevania 2, Simon's Quest, Castlevania 3, Super Castlevania 4, Castlevania Rondo of Blood, Castlevania Symphony of the Night, Castlevania, the three I mentioned, Circle of the Moon, Aria of Sorrow, Harmony of Dissonance, what are we at? We're at nine. Fuck, okay, three more. Castlevania X, is that one of them or is that Castlevania X Rondo of Blood? Is it the same title?
Starting point is 01:31:30 There's maybe a famous vampire's name in there as well. Oh, yeah. Ah, fuck. Like the most famous vampire? Yeah, it's not. But Castlevania III, Dracula's Curse was Castlevania 3 with Dracula's curse was Castlevania 3 right? It's Castlevania X. Is it just X O X Dracula? Is that all? Dracula X. I'll give it to you.
Starting point is 01:31:51 Dracula X. Yeah, sorry. 10. 10. Two more. What are the modern Castlevania's that I'm not thinking of? Why did my brain oh Castlevania it's the DS one is like something like a divinity of shadows or darkness of shadows something like that but it's not that it's maybe it's certainly blank of blank dissonance of it's in that DS first word dissonance a synonym for morning. Hmm. Oh, dirge. Not dirge. I can't remember this. I know something.
Starting point is 01:32:30 It's a new. Death. No, maybe it's the type of soap as well. Dial. I'm giving you bad clues. Is it dial? Is it dial? Oh, but it could. The thing is, it could be a dial of soap. Is it dial? Is it dial? No, but it could be. The thing is it could be dial. Castlevania dial of soap? Is it dial of soap? It's dial of soap.
Starting point is 01:32:50 No, it's um, we got you at ten. Help me. Okay, so what platforms am I missing? Are there any on the... There's a couple for the PlayStation 2, there's one for the WiiWare. There's several for the DS. You got all the Gameboy Advance ones There's a couple of DS ones I missed. Are any of these compilations or collections? No, they're not no, and I didn't do the ones that Ryo Kojima did Those are different. That's a different thing to me. Hmm Yeah, the fucking the the PS2 ones are tripping me up Um yeah, the fucking the the ps2 ones are tripping me up
Starting point is 01:33:28 And then are there any Sega Genesis that you missed do oh What's the Genesis one? I meant I said rondo of blood right it's the Blood is a part of it. I can't remember what the subtitle is it's like blood in regards to families perhaps It's like blood in regards to families, perhaps. Oh, Castlevania bloodlines. Okay, 11. Yeah, okay. And then if I could get the fucking DS one, I'd be golden. The PS2 ones-
Starting point is 01:33:53 There are three DS ones. What are the other DS ones I'm forgetting? Were they also Metroidvanias? Dicks of suckage. It's probably Dicks of suckage. They don't follow the same DS subtitle unfortunately. Right. But are they like, do you know the style of game? I believe they are.
Starting point is 01:34:14 Okay. I'm blanking on them. I guess I tap out at 11. At 11. You're looking for Castlevania, Dawn of Sorrow was the one. Dawn of Sorrow! Oh, that's what the I wasn't a D The D wasn't the morning the S was the morning dawn of sorrow you're thinking of morning As in the the feeling I was to yes. Yeah time of day mo you are I yeah Yeah, okay, and I NG okay, but that was fun. I liked hearing you do that
Starting point is 01:34:43 What are they what are the other ones? I miss what it was a ps2 or Heather. Do you know any of missed no? We have no any of them the ones for the the Gameboy of course we have Did you say I don't remember if you said Belmont's revenge you might have oh no yeah Well, I said Simon's quest but not Belmont's Revenge Castlevania the adventure for Game Boy Castlevania to Belmont's revenge. There's Castlevania Chronicles for the the sharp X six eight zero zero zero
Starting point is 01:35:17 and the PlayStation later released for the PlayStation. You did Rondo of Blood, Bloodlines, Dracula X, Symphony of the Night. There was Legends, Castlevania Legends for the Game Boy and simply Castlevania for Nintendo 64, which was colloquially called Castlevania 64. Then there's also Legacy of Darkness for the N64 for the PlayStation 2, Lament of Innocence. I should have gotten Castlevania 64. That's the one that was a gimm innocence. I should have gotten Castlevania 64
Starting point is 01:35:45 That's the one that was a gimme that I should have remembered I feel like some of these like Castlevania technically say it but you were thinking of the NES one Yeah, no, I if I didn't say Castlevania 64 but like like Castlevania the adventure rebirth. I have no memory of this was like this was a WiiWare game I guess yeah adventure rebirth for the for the we wear then there's Lament of innocence I said for ps2 Curse of darkness curse of darkness to okay portrait of ruin for DS in order of ecclesia for DS Wow, let's get Castlevania back out there. I'd be interested in a new Castlevania. Why not?
Starting point is 01:36:23 Yeah, I mean Konami just they're gonna Konami or rudderless ship. Let's go on to the next the next series. I started too high though I started the bidding too high I should have started earlier. That's kind of the fun of the exercise you know. Heather gets a point there. I got a point? That seems unfair but okay. That's how it works right? That's how these things work? Yeah. Yeah, it's like you like you challenge me If I get if I get it, then I get the point, but if I don't get it, then you get the point. Okay So Heather's I think that's how it works. That's how it works There are 22 titles in the Donkey Kong series. Oh fuck
Starting point is 01:36:59 How many can you know are we sorry? Sorry? Are we including? I'm not including are these all mainline Donkey Kongs? Are we including other other games that are like peripheral, like, you know, spinoff games? Hmm. I'm not including. Mario and Donkey Kong. OK, but based on the Wikipedia entry, OK, there are a lot of Donkey Kong games listed there.
Starting point is 01:37:26 That's where I sourced this from. And I will. Got it. Got it. Keep going. There is. There's maybe one in there that is that seems like a spinoff, but it's in the main entry. Okay. I'll I'll I'll start the bidding at seven. I can do seven Donkey Kong games. Twenty two total. I'll go a little lower this time. What about you, Heather? I can do seven Donkey Kong games. 22 total. I'll go a little lower this time. What about you Heather? I can do one. Heather? So I challenge Nick to seven. Nick has to name seven. Okay, Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr., Donkey Kong 3. There were the Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr., Donkey Kong 3. There were the Donkey Kong games for the Game Boy, but I can't remember the subtitle.
Starting point is 01:38:12 I'll go to Donkey Kong Country, Donkey Kong Country 2, Donkey Kong Country 3, and then I can say Donkey Kong 64. That brings me to seven, right? That does bring me to seven, that's right. Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on. Some of those weren't names. You brings me to seven, right? That does bring me to seven, that's right. Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on. Some of those weren't names. You want me to get subtitles?
Starting point is 01:38:28 I mean, I could have just named Donkey Kong over and over again. Yeah, but I mean, if I said Donkey Kong 4, that's not a game, so that one doesn't count. Donkey Kong, okay, so Donkey Kong, well, Donkey Kong 64 doesn't have a subtitle. Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr., Donkey Kong 3, all don't have subtitles, correct? Donkey Kong Country doesn't have a subtitle. Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr., Donkey Kong 3 all don't have subtitles, correct?
Starting point is 01:38:47 Donkey Kong Country does not have a subtitle. So we're just talking about Donkey Kong Country 2 and Donkey Kong Country 3. That's right. One of them is Dixie's, is Donkey Kong Country 2 just Dixie Kong Country? No. Or is that three? That's, yeah, that's three. Well, and there's more of a subtitle to it as well. Is Donkey Kong Country 2 just Dixie Kong Country? No.
Starting point is 01:39:05 Or is that three? That's, yeah, that's three. Well, and there's more of a subtitle to it as well. It's Dixie's something. And then Donkey Kong Country 2, I don't remember the subtitle. But anyway, I can keep going. If you wanna swap them out with two different ones. Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze,
Starting point is 01:39:25 Donkey Kong Country Returns, Donkey Kong tropical freeze Donkey Kong Country Returns Donkey Konga Donkey Konga 2 Donkey Kong jungle beat or DK jungle beat I think is the title Donkey Kong King of swing okay, it gets the point. He's named way more than seven. It's a point I Just what was the Donkey Kong Country to? Quest Diddy's Kong that one was diddy Kong's quest yeah diddy's Kong and then Donkey Kong Country 3 is Dixie Kong's double trouble Dixie Kong's double trouble should gun is diddy Kong racing on the on this one racing is on the list Okay, got it. What are we at? How many how many more do we have left? of the Donkey Kong games
Starting point is 01:40:01 There's there's there's quite a few more. There's Donkey Kong, Jr. Math. There's oh, yeah I should have gotten Donkey Kong, Jr. Donkey you said you named Donkey Kong Donkey Kong to Donkey Kong jungle beat there's Donkey Kong barrel blast for the Wii. Oh, right I forgot about that game and then I I was struggling whether or not to include these because Donkey Kong There's Donkey Kong one, 2, and 3 for the Game & Watch. I didn't do repeat titles. Sure, yeah.
Starting point is 01:40:30 There is Donkey Kong Circus and Donkey Kong Hockey for Game & Watch. Those would sort of be like, if you got those. Those would be bonus. That's kind of bonus. And then there's Donkey Kong for the Game Boy, Donkey Kong Land, Donkey Kong Land 2. That's what I was looking for. Donkey Kong Land. It's Donkey Kong Land the Game Boy, Donkey Kong Land, Donkey Kong Land 2, and Donkey Kong Land 3.
Starting point is 01:40:45 That's what it was! Donkey Kong Land. It's Donkey Kong Land. Do those have subtitles? Just the numbers. And then you mentioned King of Swing, and there's also DK Jungle Climber for the DS. Okay. I can't remember which is which.
Starting point is 01:40:58 And finally. Alright, it's tied up. It's tied up. Is anybody's game? I've done so much. Diddy's Kong Quest, that's tied up tied up. There's anybody's game. I've done so much Did he's conquest that's one of these there are 20 titles 20 titles in the Legend of Zelda series Heather you want to start the bidding this time I
Starting point is 01:41:19 Can do five I? Can definitely do six I can do seven. I can do eight. Oh. Are we including, is our remasters or re-releases separate? They're not included. Okay. What are we at, eight?
Starting point is 01:41:36 Nick's at eight, holding strong at eight. Heather, you could either name nine or make him name. Oh. I'll go up to ten oh okay 11 guys the game is good this I'm so excited this is this is what I said it's tense 11 because the the spin-offs is where it gets challenging um I would say this one has more main lines.
Starting point is 01:42:05 Heather name 11 Zelda's. Alright. Wow. Legend of Zelda. I think you're gonna get it. Legend of Zelda, Link's Awakening. Legend of Zelda, Link to the Past. Legend of Zelda, Wind Waker.
Starting point is 01:42:18 Legend of Zelda, Phantom Hourglass. Legend of Zelda, Spirit Tracks. Legend of Zelda, Ocarina of Time, Legend of Zelda, Tears of the Kingdom, Legend of Zelda, oh, the one before Tears of the Kingdom, which is called, oh fuck, what's the one before Tears of the Kingdom called? You know. You know it, you know it. It's uh, I'm about to lose my...
Starting point is 01:42:46 Mind? No, well that wasn't helpful I guess. I'm out of... Time. No. Once you get it, you'll be like, those were good clues actually. What's the count at right now? We're at eight.
Starting point is 01:43:06 I had to look at my hands. Oh, Link's Adventure. Great. Well, it's not called that, so no. It's not Legend of Zelda, Link's Adventure. It's called something else. It's close. I would maybe change the order. The Adventures of Link? I'll give it to you. The Adventure of Link.
Starting point is 01:43:24 The Gameboy games is called the Adventures of Link? I'll give it to you. The Adventures of Link. Wait, the Game Boy games is called the Adventures of Link? It's not Link's Adventure? Oh well, doesn't matter. The second game in the, hmm, I don't have that Game Boy game. Zelda II, The Adventures of Link. Are you complaining with Link's Awakening?
Starting point is 01:43:37 Which I think you already said. I already said that one. Yeah. All right, so I'm at eight. You're at nine now. That was nine. What's the fucking one with the fucking octopus robots? What is that game called?
Starting point is 01:43:50 The one that came out on Switch. It's got the Sheikah Slate. I don't know. Legend of Zelda, Twilight Princess, Legend of Zelda. Hmm. Skyward Sword. Heather? That's without whatever that one was that I can't remember.
Starting point is 01:44:10 You're the winner. Wow. Of the very first How Many. That was fun. How many? What is it? What's a, yeah, wait, wait, wait, what do we, so she had 11, what do we have left? We have 11 more? Yeah. So, wait, can we try to, like, there's, let's see,
Starting point is 01:44:26 the Minish Cap was that said? Minish Cap is on there. Four Swords Adventures wasn't said? Four Swords Adventures. I also have Four Swords standalone as well. Majora's Mask. Majora's Mask not said. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:44:40 Skyward Sword, I think you got. I said it. Yeah, that was the last one. What is the fucking switch one? Breath of the Wild. you got. I said it. Yeah, that's the last one. What is the fucking Switch one? Breath of the Wild. But dead, god damn it. There's the Rhythm Game, the Hyrule, it's not Hyrule Symphony, but it's something like that.
Starting point is 01:44:56 Not on the list, unfortunately. Hyrule Tingles Timer, or whatever. Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, tingle, freshly're missing here. Freshly touched tingles. And then there is crossbow training on there? Crossbow training not on here. We are missing the Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages.
Starting point is 01:45:12 Oh, of course, of course. And then a link between worlds. Yeah, that's right. And then Triforce Heroes was on the list as well. Triforce Heroes? Wow. Yeah. It was on the... What about Wand of Gamelon wow. Yeah, it was on the it was on it was.
Starting point is 01:45:27 What about Wand of Gamelan? Wand of Gamelan not on there. Excuse me, Princess. Excuse me. That was it for that's a fun game. How many that's mentally taxing? Because if you feel confident and then you're like you're quickly your brain runs out of gas. I didn't think of Breath of the Fucking Wild. I was like, oh no
Starting point is 01:45:53 And I think we could do this a million times. It's it's it that's that's a good that's I like that It worked out great. I'm happy with your performance That was fun Matt. Good job That was how many and that's this week's get play our producers for shell Chan Ranch yard underscore underscore sard. Our music is by Ben Prenty, benprentymusic.com. Our art is by Duck Brigade Design Duck Brigade.com. Check out our Patreon, patreon.com slash get played where you can find our entire pre headgun back catalog plus ad free main free episodes and also our Patreon exclusive show get animated. Matt, where we are in the thick of anima ham.
Starting point is 01:46:22 We're in the thick of it. all right, with two Cs. And it's getting crazy over there. It's, if you don't know, we're watching a random anime all month long and doing it as a watch along. So you'll hear our live reactions to it. Two different live reactions. One to the discovery of what the anime is and two, us watching the show. And
Starting point is 01:46:49 so far, it's been a blast. It's been the most fun I have all week, is doing anime. There's an element of like, podcasting is tough. It is like a one and a half hour, two hour performance of like trying to stay engaged and like, also talking is hard for me as a person. This is not natural. So, so like there's always like, oh, I gotta, I gotta gear up to podcast.
Starting point is 01:47:24 But Anna Mayhem, I was like, fuck, I can't wait to podcast, but to but anime him. I was like, fuck, I can't wait to see what we're watching. And I can't wait to see what it is, whether it's good or bad. And this is not a spoiler, but one of these things that we've watched has already changed my life. Yes.
Starting point is 01:47:47 Two for two, I would say, on the series that we've pulled, but that may not be the case all month long. But check that out over at Patreon.com slash get played. Wow. One episode. What an episode. And you know what? I don't think anybody got I don't think anybody got played. I think the merchant got played by showing up at the wrong time. I think so, yeah, he played himself.
Starting point is 01:48:13 Damn, well, you guys have to tell him. I'm out, I don't want to. I'm not telling him. I'm 100% not gonna tell him. Ranch will tell him. Sorry, Ranch. Okay. Happy birthday. Hahaha.
Starting point is 01:48:25 Hahaha. Hahaha. Hahaha. Hahaha. Hahaha. Hahaha. Hahaha. Hahaha.
Starting point is 01:48:33 Hahaha. Hahaha. Hahaha. Hahaha. Hahaha. Hahaha. Hahaha. Hahaha.
Starting point is 01:48:41 Hahaha. Hahaha. Hahaha. Hahaha. Hahaha. Hahaha. Hahaha. Hahaha.

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