Kinda Funny Gamescast: Video Game Podcast - Ben Starr Interview: That Guy's In Everything - Kinda Funny Gamescast

Episode Date: June 30, 2025

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What's up everybody? Welcome to the Kind of Funny Games cast for Monday, June 30th, 2025. I'm one of your host, Greg Miller, alongside the voice of everything. Ben Star. Hello. Hello, Ben. How are you? I'm really good. Thank you. Is this the most comfortable gaming chair you've ever said? Yeah, it is. And it makes me feel like I'm outside, even though I'm not outside. Oh, 100%. It does feel like we're camping out for something or we're gathered around a fire. It makes you sit in a weird way there because, like, the ass is always further down than the front.

You've got to be constantly readjusting. Have you ever played video games in a chair like this in a camping chair? Oh, yeah, yeah, of course. All the time, yeah, yeah. Well, not all the time, but I've done it before. Yeah, it's... Especially camping out for stuff. Yeah.

It came out for a PS2 or something like that. Yeah, it feels nice. It does feel nice. Of course, if you're an audio listening, you might not understand what's happening. The boys are freaking it. Roger, Mike, have been streaming for how many hours now? Oh, fuck, 48. No, you're over 48.

7. 10. That's 58. They're counting. I don't know if their mics are. About 65 hours, they've been streaming straight of Death Stranding 2. They are freaking it, as they say, if you have missed it. They are going as long as you pay them to go.

They still have at least five hours on the clock, and it's getting crazier. Correct me if I'm wrong, all the super chats and all that jazz is going into the till as well today, right? Because this is a minute. Oh, so why did Tim say the other thing on Games Daily? I don't know. You know, Roger asked him, he's busy. It's his birthday. It's his birthday.

So anyways. Big dad. You can switch page. You can Twitch sub there. If you do that, it fills the till. They go longer and longer. They're trying to go even through tonight, which would be far and away

the longest marathon stream you've ever done here. As they walk, they run, they bike. But mainly they eat. Every time I tuned in this weekend, Ben, they were eating. He's like so much food.

Food was delivered to him. And I don't think that's how energy works. You can't just like, I was like, this isn't science. This is mad. He's like food go in, power, come out.

Yeah. That's just not how you're not filling up a car. It's not how that works. Yeah. It's just, I don't think it's good food as well. It's like when I, like, I'm playing Switch and I see that battery start dropping

and I want to plug it in right away. Yeah. No, no, no, that's not, you don't just fill the gut. Yeah, I said on Games Day later, it's not little and often, not lots and often. Yeah. It was just, I just saw him being just, like, refueled, like a Formula One word

where they just, like, shove it in and do the wheels on at the same time. See, I thought of it more of, like, a plane in the air. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Roger's feeding him donuts while off and walks. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It is, it is like with that surgical exercise where they come over the top of the plane. Exactly, right.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't think they've got planes right if you keep having to refill them in the air. I mean, they just never want to land, you know what I mean? Never one land. That's pretty cool. Gotta come down sometime, though. Do you?

This man's career is in, we're going to talk with it. I don't know where this camera angle just came from. Is that just a zoom? What happened, Kevin? Do I just, you freak me out, Kevin? I wasn't prepared for that. We're streaming from the lab, of course. Everybody where this streamathon marathon has been going.

We will, of course, stop talking about that to a degree. I'm sure it'll come up again. And it reminds you that this is the kind of funny games cast each and every weekday we talk about the biggest topics in gaming. Whether it be reviews, previews or things we need to talk about, we discuss them here. Of course, you should subscribe YouTube.com slash kind of funny games, Twitch.com slash kind of funny games, and of course podcast services around the globe. If you really like what we do here and like shenanigans like this, of course, support them by going over and give them a Twitch sub.

But of course, you can be part of this show with YouTube super chats. If you have a question for the one, the only Ben Star, go to YouTube.com slash kind of funny games while we're live here. chat and your question, be part of the show. If you really like what we do here, pick up a Kind of Funny membership. Of course, $10 gets you each and every episode of Kind of Funny. Anything ad free.

That's more than 80 episodes a month. It would get your daily dose of me, Greg Miller, in a 15 to 20 minute podcast we call Greg Way. And, of course, you'd get good karma for supporting a small, independent 11-person business. You can pick up your membership at patreon.com.com. com slash Kind of Funny, YouTube.

com slash Kind of Funny Games, Apple and Spotify. Housekeeping for you, of course, we're an 11-person small business all about live talk shows. Kind of Funny Games Daily was asking if Xbox hardware is dead with Ben Star. Yeah. And I said, yep, it's dumb. That's not what we said.

You should still go watch. That was new ones. Go watch the episode still. There was new ones. After this, of course, it's a two-fer for the day. You can go to YouTube.com slash Kind of Funny Games and watch the live premiere of Tim and Gia's wedding. The video is finally edited and ready here on their one year anniversary and, of course,

Tim's birthday. Or you can stick around here. as the Death Stranding 2 marathon rolls on. Again, how are you trying to go for, boys? As long as the timer goes, the timer goes. As people in the chat keep reminding us, there is, right now, there are some people who are actually in the audience of the Death Stranding 2,

like, concert tour or whatever thing that's happening right now. If you are in the audience of the tour right now, make sure they're airing this video. Someone show it to Kajima. Oh, he's seen it. Yeah, he has. He has to know. Yeah, he has to know everyone's talking about it.

But like literally interrupt the whole thing and goes, Guys, this is the most important thing happening right now. This is how you know he knows, is that his people politely turned me down for giving them an encouragement video. Wow. You know what I mean? Because I tried to get any. I got you guys. I got you Troy.

Kajima's people were like, he's too busy. And then I was like, hey, Caroline Pauzek, you got nothing going on. And she was like, no. And so you got Troy. Yeah. I've always said that Troy is a poor man's Hideo, Kajima. You know, we're going to get into your thoughts about Troy Baker in just one second. Of course. Remember, like I said, that's all that.

You're kind of funny member. You're Greg Wait Today's 20 minutes of me celebrating Tim's birthday. No fooling. Come hear me. Talk about how much I love Tim Getty's on his birthday. Thank you to our Patreon producer, Carl Jacobs. Omega Buster and Delaney Twining. Today, we're brought to you by Cash App and Mood. We'll tell you about that later. For now, let's start with topic of the show.

Ben, Star, the topic is you. Yeah. Of course, we shocked the world. You and I went to Pax East. We did the keynote. We had a great time. You were nice enough to come out. and interview me.

Yes. We had a ball. We had some laughs. Some great photos of us. Yeah. The photographer's name's slip in my mind right now. I can't. The great, great photos.

Yeah, we photograph really well together. We do photograph really. We work really well together. It's kind of a great couple. That's pretty much all it comes down to. Yeah, you can do that. You can do anything, like you said. I figured it was time to return the favor and interview you.

Thank you. Okay. Because here's the thing about Ben Starr. The list of work speaks for itself. All right. We're talking about Final Fantasy. Yeah. 16 Clive.

We're talking about Hades 2 Prometheus Yeah The first berserker Kazan Yeah Kazan We're talking about Expedition 33

Which I feel like You're big The one everybody's Talking about Nowadays Yeah, it really is Yeah It's everso

Date everything Then you got this thing called Natural 6 Which has to be copyright infringement With Critical Role But we'll talk about that later

Yeah Yeah Yeah When Did or do You feel like You became

synonymous With video games I I genuinely don't know but I feel that there we go, just straight out to my MDB I want, it's, it wasn't like this isn't accidental.

Me being here and me being in as many games as possible isn't just like, oh it's really, I'm really lucky, I wanted this, I ran at it with, you even even remarked on it when, you know, I first kind of like came onto the scene, I came on like a loaded gun. I wanted to do everything. I wanted to meet everyone.

I wanted to say hi to everyone because this is like a fan being given the key to the key to the in Charlie Keith's the Chocolate Factory. I get to go and I get to talk to people that I really, really like. Yeah. And I also didn't want to be a person who was, and I will be just known

for Clive to some people, but I didn't want just that to be it. See, I don't think, I'll give you the honest God's truth. I thought that might be the case when you first came around. Yeah. Because it was that you came up,

you're very sweet, you got these big eyes, you know, these little dough eyes, just looking, you know what I mean? And it was, you know, this innocent young man. Yeah. And it was that I caught it,

and I've told you this in private, I think we might have talked about it the Pax stage because I said it before Pax, but it was that idea that, like, you came on, like, a hurricane of, like, every opportunity that was presented yourself. I think it's funny. So many people think of you as, oh, he's been star. He's so tight with kind of funny. When, if you went to Giant Bomb, if you went to, like, any other organization you go to, they have a Ben Star store store that he's been on the show and done that thing. And I remember when that was happening around Final Fantasy 16 and you would introduce yourself

to us and, like, oh, he's a big fan of kind of funny. That's awesome. And then I saw you doing it everywhere, Minmax. I was like, oh, he's taking advantage of every opportunity can. That's so cool, but I didn't know if it would pay off. And here you are now, still doing so many amazing things. Again, Expedition 33, so many people are going to know you from that. But they're going to know you from Hades and they're going to know you from Hades and they're going to know you from the thing that's getting announced tomorrow. I'll keep checking my email to see if PR says I can tell you. Yeah. Yeah, there's something being announced tomorrow, which is fun. It's intentional. It was intentional because I wanted to let everyone know. Actors often come.

and do video games and they have a nice time and they go off and go back to film and TV or theater or whatever. I did Charlie Cox guy. Charlie Cox. Charlie Cox. I did four hours of work. It means nothing to me. I'm going to correct that. Jennifer Svedbergh Yan has come out and said Charlie actually did eight hours in the booth and he was amazing and incredibly professional. So that has already been debunked in that way. But Charlie is a sensational actor, incredible career, comes in, does an amazing job as Gustav. And then, you know, he has this, this career outside of it. very much wanted to exist in a space that I understand and I love

and I really, really appreciate. And very rarely does your greatest hobby and love get to go and coincide with your job. And that's a very weird thing for me. And I didn't want to let it go and I didn't want to just be a person who was just one character and known for one character forever. I wanted you to know me as Ben Starr, a person who loves video games. You can talk about video games who can contribute actively to the community and also be a person who can speak on it

and be a vector of joy for people in that space and I will continue to do it and it's been amazing that actually as a result of that more and more great opportunities have come along sure and I didn't know that I was going to get to be in Hades too I didn't know that Expedition 33 was going to kick off I just chose stuff that I loved and it's just kind of paid off in that way I didn't know that Trappdorian here literally was going to be become like this breakout star of TikTok I just pick stuff

that I really liked. So then rewind for me and talk about how you made this happen. You said this wasn't by accident. Yes. I don't know the Ben Star. He was a young lad in Liverpool working in the coal factory.

That's what they do there. They're still making big ships, I think. And I wanted to be a ballet dancer and all that stuff. I was a young kid. I always wanted to be an actor. I did the I did my first professional job as an actor.

I was 11 years old, and I played Gavroche in Les Miserables. Oh, okay. And I knew I wanted to do that from a young age. That's it. That's me. I'm good. And I did so much youth theatre. I did so many plays.

I wanted to become a professional actor. I wanted to be at the RSC, the Royal Shakespeare Company. I wanted to be in the National Theatre. That's what I wanted to do. I went to university, did Loza Theatre. Went to drama school, Lambda, this amazing school. And then I went, right, now you're an actor. And then I became severely depressed.

for like three years. Oh man. Because you do everything and you're the greatest person at what you do and you excel in every single way until the moment when you don't excel because people stop telling you that you're excellent and they start telling you that you're as average as everyone else. Sure. Because everyone in that industry is excellent and brilliant and you have to figure out a way of seizing upon those opportunities.

And I, and it wasn't this kind of like stardom story. I existed in film and TV and I loved it. My God, I was able to get to do some amazing amazing TV shows. I got to meet some amazing people. You're on Jamestown for a long time. Yeah, three years. I met my fiancé there. Oh, congratulations. I met some of my, thank you so much. I met some of my closest friends there.

And we lived there for three years. It was like a second university or second college. Like six months of the year, we're living in Hungary. We're filming this amazing TV show. But, and I thought that that's what my life would be, like doing good roles, in good shows. Yeah. And that would be it. And then in 2019, six Final Fantasy 16, this opportunity can. game around. How does that opportunity come around? I get a 15-minute audition slot for a video game that was code-worded at the time, Hope.

And I went, yeah, sure, I'll do this thing at 5pm on a Friday. I'm tired, I don't want to. I've never really been successful at video games before. Like, in context, not long, sometime before that, I'd auditioned for a game that I did know what it was. It was Cyberpunk 2077. play the lead. Yeah.

And I really wanted it. And I thought, this is going to change my life. Yeah. And again, it's the story of opportunity of, if had I got that, which I didn't,

sure. I would never have done Clive in Final Fantasy 16 and my life would never have, you know, spiraled in that way. There's me as Christopher Priestley. James, Doctor. James, Dr. Christopher Priestley. I love that show.

But this, when this game came around and I figured out that it was Final Fantasy 16, it changed everything. I went, well, this is cool, this is cool, I want this. How did you figure out it's Final Fantasy 60? Because I'm a massive Final Fantasy fan.

So even when you code word something, pretty much any game that you code word, I can figure out what it is, because I'm just so dialed in to the industry. Like, I think it was, I saw the words Crystal and Sid, and I knew that it was Final Fantasy. That's a pretty good giveaway. Yeah, that's a pretty good giveaway.

I'm not like a detective on that. I just figured that out, but I didn't know that it was going to be 16 because I thought they've never recorded Final Fantasy in the UK before. Oh, yeah, yeah. And then I just couldn't believe that I'd be the least. lead. I couldn't believe that this would be a thing for me. And then it's four years of silence.

Four years of me just like existing in the space. COVID happened, not telling any, be like, I play this character in this game. I can't tell you what it is. Waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting. So the moment that I'm able to talk about the game, I came out like a loaded gun, because I was ready. Yeah. Hell yeah. And I wanted this. And I wanted to celebrate my contribution to the industry and my love of this franchise. Final Fantasy fans are amazing. but they're also very vigilant about impostors, very protective. And I needed people to know that I love this franchise in the way that they love it. I am one of them.

And so I very much told everyone, don't worry, I'm going to be a responsible custodian of your franchise. Do not worry. And that was my main aim was to go, whatever you think about the game, please think of me as a person who is responsible enough to not fuck up your franchise. And that was my thing to do that was my thing to do that.

my thinking behind the whole thing. Are you saying that to the folks at Square? Yes. I was dogged at Square. I met every single person I could and said, I can be a voice for you on this franchise. I can speak to this franchise. I can speak to my contribution to it.

And I really would like the opportunity to do that. And I came over for the launch event in L.A. And I said, I really want to go to Kind of funny. So I specifically flew over to that time with you. Because I thought I'm here. I may as well. do that because I love you guys. I'd watched you guys every

single day for four years. At Games Daily was the thing that I would listen to at the gym every time I was there. It was just, it was a part of my daily routine, so I was really nervous but I also knew that you guys are I think responsible enough with this sort of thing to be respectful

of whatever it is that comes your way. I thought it would be a great platform to do so I said I spoke to you guys and said I'd like to come out and they were very kind to fly me from L.A. to San Francisco and come and do that. And it's kind of everything snowballed from there. I was fortunate to go on Friends per Second. I was fortunate to go and do stuff with MinMas.

Sorry, you had to work with Lucy. Yeah, it's horrible. The worst. Horrible. Lucy James. You know what I mean? Nasty woman. And I, that was the start of going, don't worry, I'm not going to screw you over.

And it was to speak to the Final Fantasy, like, hardcore initially. Because I wanted them to feel like I could be a person that they could rely on. We're putting a pin in that now. Because there's so much more I want to go forward with and hear more about. But I want to go forward with and hear more about. backwards as well. So take me all the way back. Because in your talk here, okay, we're a Shakespeare

Company, you know, you're a child, you're going to go be in this late-miss thing. When are video games put into your life? I had a Game Boy since I was 7. So I had a Game Boy, yeah, from

7. How were you brought into that? Was that a hand-me-down? Was that something you wanted? I got given it. Yeah, I got given it. My sister had one but I was the one who kind of really took it and ran I'd spend all my pocket money on or allowance on buying games for it. And then all I ever wanted, all I ever wanted was a PlayStation. I wanted it more than anything. I would watch, there was a show in the UK called Movies, Games and Videos, and

they'd have a phone-in competition every Saturday, and I would phone in because I really wanted to win a PlayStation. Yeah. And the moment where I finally got one, I got Grand Tourism and Resident Evil 2 were my first games on there. Good picks? Yeah, I mean, Resident Evil 2, that is a scary game for a young kid. And from that moment on, it was all of my money that I would get would be spent on PlayStation games.

When did you figure out that the acting bug would apply to this as well? Never. Never. Never. I never thought that those two things would cross over. I thought it was a completely impenetrable thing for me. I would preach from the rooftops about how video game performances are the ones that would influence a lot of the things that I did. And so I would talk about, you know, the Nolans, the Troyes, the Loras, like, these experiences, like, are so influential in my life as a performer.

For sure. And I would say to people, this is a valid medium for performance. And even before I was a part of it, I would be, you know, my hobby has always been video games. What do you do in your spare time? Play video games. And then I would have to just, felt like I'd have to justify it. And I go, no, it is, I fundamentally believe, to be the most advanced medium for which we can experience. in whatever capacity you want.

And they go on these big tirades. But also just then saying, also through performance, we are getting high fidelity games, high fidelity performances. I mean, look, you're playing Death Stranding. Like, the ability... Yeah, for once on the stream.

They're not just eating or ordering food, you know what I mean? Or lunch. Yeah, let's get some lunch. Here we go. Here we go. Look at it. It's what you can. Look at it right now.

This is the V-Tuber one. This is, this is art. This is art. This is what you want. Somebody appreciate the art. Yes, but also cool. You can have what you want in it. It's amazing.

And what Hideo Kajima has achieved is remarkable. For sure. And also the rest of the team. Did your parents understand acting? Did they understand video games? Yeah, my mom did yours of amateur theater, so she was massively supportive. My dad was an accountant, but he was incredibly supportive of everything that I wanted to do.

You know, they drive me to. to my various youth theatres that I do. And also my, yeah, my dad and I bonded so massively over video games. Grand Tourismo, Grand Tourismo, 3 in particular, A-Spec, was a game that we built together. So we would, like, tune up cars. I remember, like, waking up one time in the middle of the night, and he's doing a 24-hour Le Mans race. Oh, that's amazing. And he would talk about what we're going to do with our cars, how we're going to spend our money.

And it was a way of bonding. They loved that I played Final Fantasy games. Like, they were like, you need, these games are so long and so intricate, and I described the stories to them. They understood my passion for it because I spoke so much on it about how important it was to me. Yeah. And they loved it.

And this was something that I didn't stop as a kid. I took my PlayStation to university. I remember playing the Red Dead Redemption 2 for the first, the Red Dead Redemption, too, for the first one for the first time, and thinking this is just, this is insane what we can do. Yeah. And it's always been a love, and it's always been the first thing that I bring with Whenever I travel to America, I bring my PlayStation 5 with me. Very cool.

Because I pack it first. Yeah, I do. But I now have my Steam deck that I don't need to do as much so I can have, you know. But video games are the first thing that I focus on, more than anything. Your fiancé play? No. Okay. No.

I mean, she'll play overcooked with me. We have to call each other chef. Sure, of course. Yeah, chef. And we have to, yeah. And then we have to, we played It Takes Two together. Okay, cool. She is amazingly supportive of all the stuff that I do.

she's an actress as well, but doesn't play games, but understands once again my love for it. And again, me wanting to jump into here, into this industry, is because this is for the first time I have a group of friends who also understand it and appreciate it in the way that I do. They say, why I'm over here all the time, because I get to hang out with people that like games as much as I do.

It's why I jump on other people's streams who are playing stuff. Because I just like having friends who like the thing that I do. It's not just a private hobby that I should kind of be ashamed of. It's something that I, like, I've come out and be like, hey guys, I'm a weird, I'm a weird fucking nerd. I mean, that's the power where we're at right now, right? I think that's what makes this all so cool

is that I think for oldies like me and a little bit about you. But you remember growing up where you had to justify talking to somebody that you played video games, or you were the only kid in your friend group that played games the way we played games and cared about games the way we cared about games. And now, yeah, you turn it on Twitch or anything,

you're going to see some jabrony walking, but you're also going to find people who really care about games. Yeah, and people who are analyzing it and critiquing it in a way that I don't think you get in film and seizure because there's a level of passion. Expedition 33 is a great example of a community that has been born out of a love,

like an overwhelming love for this piece of art that's been created, and so they are inspired to create art on top of it. You see the people who are doing all the fan fiction, which again, I read it. I tell you I read the fan fiction. I've seen what you write.

Is it cheeky? It's great. It's great. I love it. The Gustav Verso stuff is really kicking off. It is, but they're so the people that do the compositions. They take the music and they make it themselves. They make it heavy metal rock. Yeah.

And then the fan art is amazing and the cosplay. We turn up to IGN Live dressed up in the baguette. Cosplay, the baguette outfits, because it's fun and engaging and playful. And it's art is inspiring art that inspires art. And I just love it. I feel very, very fortunate. take me back to you graduate people are done telling you you're awesome you have three years of depression yes what does that look like what does that actually mean how do we get out of it

um the best way i would describe what it is that i went through is i went from everything to nothing i went from an intense theatrical um training which is 12 to 40 hours a day every single day for two years um and then you go and now go and be an act how quickly can you memorize something something yeah like a line of monologue how long do you think I'm pretty good at it. Yeah. That is a really cool skill. But I'm probably not that great at the moment,

but it got to a point where I could do stuff very quickly because you just had to. And your brain can do it. I measure learning stuff in sleeps as well. So actually, it depends how long I want something to be embedded in my brain. Sure. You can learn something in a day and then forget it by 6pm. Go to bed, wake up, and you'll know the whole thing

because your brain rests and you just kind of sits in there. It's an amazing thing. Try it back to it. But yeah, I then I go and do some really cool jobs that I enjoyed but weren't acting. But it's the structure. I go from everything to nothing. And the depression comes from, I need to create my own sleep cycle. I need to create a healthy work environment.

I need to do one thing a day that means that I'm fundamentally improving myself because otherwise I'm just doing nothing. And also, my years as an actor before this is a lot of sitting around and waiting for someone to give you something. You are owed nothing. in this industry. Even with the launch of Final Fantasy 16, I was like, no one owes me anything. No one owes me another role.

No one owes me to cast me in anything. Great, you were good in one game. Fine, what have you done for me lately? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so this kind of almost like feverish work ethic that I have at the moment is because I recognize that no one owes me anything and no one is going to advocate for me other than myself.

So if I want something, I will just say I want it. And I can say, you can tell me I'm not worth it, but I really want to place myself out there and do stuff that. betters me, makes me feel happy, and also is just, is cool, because I spent years sitting back and waiting to be given things that I didn't deserve. And I didn't want to think that, oh, I sat there thinking, oh, this other person's got this role or whatever, and I feel really salty about it. I'm like, we'll just do something about it. How did you get over that? You say, you know,

years of soaking over stuff you didn't deserve. Yeah. How did you eventually change that mindset? Oh, my God. So the life, the life of an actor is you hate yourself for a long period of time, then you get given a role and suddenly you get validated in your time. That's it. We are really, we are really kind of flimsy, flimsy emotional beings. Life is terrible, I hate it, and then suddenly you can get an audition and you're fine. Time of the world. I'm the best.

Because advice that you are given, but you have to experience is do not define yourself by your job, have other things that are not your job that define you. And actually, I'd say, one of the most difficult things at the launch of 16 and then the past couple of years, I've been quite open about this is actually I felt pretty down after that came out. This, because I no longer had an outlet, I was literally defined. My passion became my job and therefore there was no escape. I didn't have video games to escape because video games were my job.

So actually I then had to pivot and figure out what did define me. You know, I didn't, I couldn't, yeah, and so I hit hardcore drugs. And I had to struggle with that and I fell out of love with video. video games quite a bit. And then obviously took a step back and went, check yourself, took some time away, and then came back and went, actually video games are great. Yeah, yeah. But that was difficult not having that refuge from it.

Sure, sure. Did you not have the refuge because you feel like you're coming into it and you're trending to that, I deserve more thing? Or because you saw how, at least you see the Matrix, you see how this got made? Yep, pretty much. Yeah, pretty much. And also I'm analyzing it in a way that I never analyzed it before. I'm looking at certain things that are just kind of ruining it for me a little bit.

I saw how the sausage was made. I was thinking unhealthfully about the whole experience when in fact the pure joy of video games is that level of escapism that you just get, that we sit. Video games have the power to re-contextualize, allow us to re-contextualize the world around us. When my dad passed away,

I went to Death Store, I went to Life is Strange, I went to games that unintentionally I didn't mean to, but they were both escapes and they were able kind of like understood stuff. Like I played, oh God, what's the game? where you play the guitar, that's basically all you do, and you, like, slide along. Grateful, artful escape. Artful escape. Some people love it. Some people, not massive fans in it. My dad was a huge fan of electric guitar. So I named a character after my dad and just played that for three hours, and it was a really therapeutic experience to experience.

And they have that power to do that. And maybe somewhere along the way, when it became my job, I lost sight of that. And I still battle with it. I still battle with it. I get in the weeds about certain things. And I'm not perfect and I'm not happy all the time And I'm quite you know I can get salty about stuff But I try and be as positive as possible Because I recognize that there are so many people Who would kill literally to be where I am where you are But I also try and say to people my experiences

It's okay to be bad, it's okay to feel like shit To be human yeah yeah yeah You gotta be human otherwise you can't be strong all the time Was dad's passing sudden It was the most sudden it could possibly be. Yeah. I mean...

And obviously, feel free to show it. No, I think... Yeah, I think it's... I think it's fine to talk about. It was... My granddad was passing... My dad... My dad was dying of old age.

My dad's dad. And he was very unwell. And he passed in his sleep on the... I think the Thursday night. And my dad wasn't well in the lead up to it. He just was kind of feeling a bit bad. We thought he had new moments.

And then, because granddad's passing was so imminent, that's what we were focusing on. And he went, I'm going to go and get checked up after his, after he's kind of gone. And as we all do, we go, I need to get through this. I'll push on, I'll push on. We don't care about our own health. And then, so yeah, on the Thursday he passed. On the Friday I spoke to him, he got a check up. It was fine on the Saturday morning.

He died in his sleep of a heart attack. Oh, my God. So we ended up having to, ironically, he planned his own. funeral because we had a double funeral of my granddad and I of my granddad and my dad and so I then stopped working on Final Fantasy 16 I went home I looked after my family we kind of regrouped and we planned my dad and my granddad's funeral at the same time nothing nothing can prepare you for death even if you if even if you know mother wrong way in the world yeah and my experience is entirely my own as exemplified by the fact that my sister and my mom reacted differently to it as well

it's horrific the worst thing the worst thing that could ever happen to me, happen to me. That is it. Nothing, like, nothing worse could happen than that. For me, as a kid, the thought of losing my dad was unbearable. And that it happened, and it happened in such a horrible, horrific way. It's the overwhelming denial, the refusal to accept the truth in front of you, and then the anger that the world continues on.

I remember someone made a joke trying to cheer me up on the day that he died, and I was so angry at them. I was so angry at anyone trying to make light of the situation. I was so angry that people would deviant. shopping. I was furious that people weren't stopping and the world wasn't going. This monumental human in my life is gone. And you have the audacity to keep living your life. How fucking dare you? And that is something that you kind of have to get over in the realization that, you know, you can't really do anything about that. That's a work you have to do on yourself. I went to

therapy. I threw myself into Final Fantasy. And a lot of people have said, oh, you can really tell that Ben lost his father in the making of the game. And I'm like, well, I hope not. Because my doing, I'm pleased that you saw a nuance and certainly there was understanding and there was vulnerability in the performance. But a large portion of the game was me escaping

the reality of what my life was at the time. It was allowing me to get on with the work and have that structure that otherwise I would have had just collapsed and fallen apart. Did he get to see anything for Final Fantasy? Yeah, he did. He was incredibly proud because he knew that Final Fantasy

was my favorite franchise. So that's cool. But it's just difficult. Like, again, it's very hard when the person that you do, you should always do stuff for yourself, but it's always like to get outside validation. I did stuff for my dad. I did stuff to make my dad proud.

So it's very difficult to achieve success on something and not have that immediate validation from that person because I'm like, who am I doing this for? And I had to relearn to do things maybe for myself. And I just fell off a cliff. I was so, like, I would, I would drink a huge amount of alcohol and keep it quiet from people,

I would, I think I drank consistently for a year every single day and I was very, very good at hiding it. But it's what you do to medicate. And it's like, I needed to get through this, this is how I get through it. And many parts of my life collapsed. I felt incredibly nihilistic.

But at the same time, one of the greatest things in my life was Final Fantasy 16 was taking off and my career was taking off. So why did I throw myself into all of this? Probably, probably because I wanted to make something of this, I didn't want to be left with nothing at the end of it. What would I have,

like, a half-ass career and a dead dad? And that is being very reductive. But I refused to accept that that is, that's what I was going to be left with. I'm like, no, I want this to be a success for me. Obviously, it grew into other things. That was a huge, like, driving factor. Did you recognize being on the other side or coming out? I know grief is always with us, but I mean the idea that you were drinking every day, that you had this nihilistic view, right? That's not the Ben Star. I know, because I know you after all this.

And also, when does this happen in the timeline around COVID? This, no, this happens. This happens towards the launch of 16 and beyond. Like, I was great. When I saw you, I was still absolutely medicated. I wasn't an alcoholic, but I was absolutely alcohol dependent. Yeah. I also would just, I would just push myself a little bit further.

If I was, it's the, it's the not drinking with other people. It's the drinking by yourself. Yeah. That's the hard part. That's when you're like, you know what, I am going to have another three gin and tonics. Because why the fuck not? You feel happy. You feel happier.

You feel balmed in that way. But I was also aware whilst I was doing it that I had the capacity to stop. And I did. And I still enjoy alcohol. I love it. It's really fun. But I also have that self-control to know you don't need to do that. And I certainly don't drink alone as much as I used to.

Did you lose the nihilism? No, I think the nihilism is still there. I think that I sometimes feel I get a call of the void sometimes. I think that's, but that's humanity. I don't say everybody to some extent. But yeah, I feel that way. But I think it's also pushed me to, there's a positive to that, which is, fuck it, what they're going to do, say no.

So that a lot, a lot of, what do I have to lose? What do I have to lose? 100%. So a lot of, a lot of that, a lot of that, well, you know, things don't really matter is I have the confidence to go up and say, I really want to do this because I don't want to let this thing go. Yeah. And I feel like in this conversation that it's been driven to,

um, there maybe it's making this sound a lot more dark than it actually is. But there are obviously layers to humanity and complexities to the human condition. But this is, this is a truth for me. You know, this is, I can be both the fun silly Ben and I can also be the Ben is sad and fundamentally misses his dad every single day.

Yeah. And that's, that's a hard thing to reconcile, but when someone told me that you're always going to miss him, I went, okay, that's cool, I don't feel ashamed. Yeah, yeah, for sure, for sure, for sure.

And I, like, for anyone else who's missed people, like, I still dream about him. I have dreams where he's still alive or that he's done the soap thing of... It's all a dream. He's fucked off, and he's like, sorry, I was trying to escape from the law, and I pretended to be dead.

I'm like, that makes sense, because you wouldn't, you wouldn't just die on me in the middle of the night, but they're the hardest. ones because you wake up and then you've like lived a moment with him and then you wake up and you're like oh fuck you're still here you're like you're gone again um and that's the hardest that's the hardest thing where do we come down as ben star on spirituality um i um oh my god it's a weird one i was raised i was raised as a uh within the church i went like my um my grandmother was very very

Catholic. I was not. I was not baptized. My dad was an atheist. I like the idea sometimes that I can ask the universe, whatever that might be, whether that might be a being for something, because it kind of says that maybe I don't have to be in control. It's like sometimes saying, I don't have to be the thing. There is some fortune and fate to it. Yeah. I think, yeah, I would say that I'm, I've got some spirit. Do you ever allow yourself the happy thing? thought that the dreams of your father are him visiting you or something to that effect? Yeah, maybe. Because I feel like there's comfort in that then of the waking up and yes, he's gone,

but you got to see him. Yeah, yeah, it's really hard. It's really, really hard. Especially because of the broken pieces of our lives that you have to, like, it's, when someone who is that pivotal to your life disappears, it's absolutely devastating. Yeah, the world shifts. World shifts just in every single way. And I don't miss him every day, but he is on my phone screen.

Like that, and he'll never not be on my phone screen. Yeah. So, you know, it's just, and also I think it's tough is I think I'm older now than he was when I was first born. Oh, wow, yeah, when you start catching up. Yeah. So I was, you know, that picture is a picture of him on my phone, and it's him holding me on the first day that I went back to the house. And I'm older than him now. Yeah.

that thing and that's kind of strange. Yeah, for sure. And also, I'm getting married next month and I'm getting married on his birthday. I specifically picked it because of that day. But at the same time, even though I'm talking about him quite freely on here, I feel this reticence is the one to talk about him on the day.

I don't want to have to speak about him on the day. It's a lot to intertwine the happiest day of your life and then this bittersweet memory, this thing that's going to be. We're still kind of like tackling whether that's the thing we want to do because ultimately he's going to be there because it's his birthday. And I wanted to kind of reframe it

so that our, you know, my... Take the day back. Yeah, reclaim it a little bit. Yeah. Christmas has been ruined. By the way, he died over Christmas, so that's just kind of shit. Yeah. You know, that's a rough one.

It's a rough one because also Christmas goes B with loved ones. And I'm like, yeah, kind of that ruined it. Death is terrible at any time. It ruins any part of it. Top tip. Death's going to ruin any day And it will, yeah, yeah.

Justin every day kind of like, yeah, no discrimination kind of ruin them. But it really, especially when the entire world is trying to tell you that now is the time to be the loved ones. Let's be happy and together with family. Let's make some cherish family memories. Oh my God, yeah. And it's hard.

And you feel really resentful. I was super. I bet, yeah, yeah, yeah. I was super angry about people making his death about themselves. I was kind of numb to it. I was not good. I would put on a fantastic face because I had to. And I'm very, very good at projecting certain versions of myself that I think to be kind of acceptable for people because I don't want to, I don't want to burden them with it. Yeah.

You know, even now I'm going to look back on this stream and go, why did I decide to dedicate a large portion of this to talking about ultimately my sadness, the loss of my dad, all of this stuff? but actually I feel that if it's an exercise for me and hopefully it allows other people to look into it and see that you know Scoopy Scoopy!

Super Chats, I'm sorry you went through this but I'm glad to hear your journey. I eventually accepted I need the help and today marks five months sober for me people should know that they aren't alone and help available. So no, that's the power of it of talking about and sharing your story

and again for people to know you and know you as the DV Milatro guy. You know what I mean? Like, you're so many things. I think giving them a human look and this and the creation of Final Fantasy and all these other things of like,

who makes it, what makes up in Star. Also, the fool, the fool I love I get to play, again, I'm so lucky that because I play such serious characters in, you know, Prometheus Clive, so they're very, they have fun to them, but they're serious. I as a person can be very unserious. Of course.

And growing up, I was always the clown. Yeah, yeah. I was always the idiot. I was always that. So like the Ben Star that you see, who is the, the Balatro clown, who is the idiot online who does the silly publisher's hell stuff. That is me.

I love that version of me because it is such an expression of who I enjoy being. And I feel like I have permission to do that because I play such serious roles. You don't have to take me seriously as a person, which I really like. I take you seriously as a person. Yeah, yeah, you should do. I wish you're right here. You could get me out. It's scary.

I want to talk more about Final Fantasy and then this push, the explosion of Ben's star everywhere. But first, I'll remind you about the explosion of Kind of Funny. We would explode if it wasn't for you. We need your help. All right. Patreon.com slash Kind of Funny. YouTube. com slash Kind of Funny games. Apple and Spotify is where you can go to get your Kind of Funny membership to hear each and every episode ad free. Get your daily dose of me, Greg Miller, in a 15 to 20 minute series. We call Greg Way. And of course, get good karma for supporting an 11-person business. So I'm going to have Kevin, number one, kick it over to ads so you can do that. But number two, Kevin, and can you go through my mail?

Ben's weddings next month, but I haven't seen my invite. Yeah. This episode's brought to you by Cash App. We've all had those moments getting meals out with people that always end in some kind of awkward experience of having to figure out the least complicated way

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Yeah. But we touched a bit on you talking about, fuck it, what do I have to lose? Is that what fuels the push at Final Fantasy and beyond? Because I talk about it, and I've talked with you privately about it, right? Of like, this is how, obviously, I feel like I've treated my entire career, but a very specific thing of like when they were like, oh, you can host this WWE show? And I was like, well, can I get on the website?

Can I get in the video game? Can I do this? You know what I mean? Like, they didn't ask me to do any of that stuff. I just wanted to go do it so I made it happen. Yes. Is that fueled then by coming out of this thing with your dad? Yeah, it's fueled by that and wanting to stay around

and making make something of myself. And I've always been a very ambitious person, but I think sometimes I felt quite nervous to put that ambition forward for fear that it might come across as selfish or arrogant. But this, I know this world. So I was like, yeah, of course. And I'm very similar to you.

Like, you give me a little... I've often said it's like looking in a mirror. It is, we're the same. It's like twins. Except I'm Danny DeVito in this. I don't know if that's true, buddy. I don't know That's how the internet would say it

But like it is Yeah And I want to And if you give me the opportunity To do something I will take it And so I will burn myself out a little bit But also I'm very good at taking breaks

And relaxing in between that So I don't like literally burn out Yeah But I like Pax East I was doing I did the thing with you I did the magic the gathering thing I did my live shows With my D&D group

Yeah Like that isn't healthy That isn't healthy But it's healthy But it was It wasn't because I was just really really tired but also why not I'm there. Yeah, that's the convention life.

You're there to do the thing. You've got to... Just graft and you grind and I want to do more stuff. And I was given this amazing opportunity to host the Golden Joystick Awards. Like, is it daunting? Yes, but am I going to do it?

Of course. What am I going to do? Like, fall on my ass, fine. These opportunities don't come around that often, right? And I'm not going to say, I'm not going to say no to them because I feel like I can do that. Yeah.

Actually, I like speaking to the community, for the community, for the people that I like and it's what a wonderful thing to be an ambassador not just for like a franchise but also for an industry yeah that's cool yeah and i think that's what when you host an award show that's what you're saying you're going this is the state of the industry yeah and so yeah i but also like you ask me to do something i'm going to ask to write it that's the thing that i specifically ask for

because i really think that there is a brand is a brand is a weird and maybe capitalist way of looking at it, but there is a version of me that I think is fun and it's silly. And I think that some people find that hard to write for because it's authentically me. Sure. But that's why it resonates, right? That's why you keep getting these opportunities, the weird commercial, the balochrome, like the hosting the joystick, golden joysticks. Because I fundamentally want, I spent the first two minutes of the golden joysticks asking my famous friends to tell me why I'd be terrible at the job. Yeah. So, because I think that would be a silly, stupid thing to do. Because I have only been around for five minutes. I've been around for two and a half years.

maybe it would be three years now. But that's it. That's all I've been in the industry for. Have you surprised even yourself then by the amount of opportunity you found in these three years? I've actually been surprised by how willing people have been to engage in it. Yeah. I still feel like a massive imposter, hugely. Because the people that I'm getting to hang out with and spend time with have been around in the industry and have paid their Jews.

And they paid their Jews quite rightly by doing incredible work. Sure. And as great as lucky as I've been, I still feel unworthy by comparison to the Jews. these people. So that's what drives me to do more and more and more. I see myself in 10 years time being in the positions of the people I get to hang out with now. I don't want to go anywhere. And I want to have that great legacy of work. You know, I don't want you to know me just from one character. I want you to know me from 100 or 10 characters. Sure. And so I feel a little bit, a little bit unworthy. And that's what drives me. It's going, I want to feel like...

You do's right now, right? Completely. Yeah. Completely. And I'm happy and I'm happy to start at the bottom. I'm not expecting to kind of like do, I'm really like, I will do stuff to prove to you that I can do this and build a legacy that feels authentically me and not, I'm saying no to a lot of things because great opportunities are coming through, but they don't feel right and they certainly don't feel authentic to what I want to do. I can do a cash grab. People say, do you want to do this? Do you want to say this? This. I'm like, yeah, great. After I accepted this award at the BAFTA's dressed as a clown, I got so many offers to do stuff. Huge amounts of money. like we're gone, Ben, do you want to do this? And I went, nope, because I didn't do that for money. I did it because it was stupid. It's funny. Yeah. It's silly.

And I do it because it feels right, not because I have a financial investment in the thing that I want to do. Yeah, the one thing. One of the many things I've heard about you from the other side is like, yeah, it's not about a paycheck with you in terms of the size. Like, if the project's cool, if this is a good fit, you're going to go do it. You don't care about that part. No, because also it's worth so much more doing some.

that you believe in and you love, than taking the easy road and taking the short buck. Yeah. And that isn't always, I think also some actors should absolutely do that. I think actors should be rightfully compensated for their time, and if they have,

you know, if they have something to give and they want to do it for the money, absolutely. But for me, I am so fortunate with so many fingers and so many pies that I don't... So many pies. So many fingers. Imagine AI, you're an AI drawing. But all the fingers are pies.

Yeah, yeah. I just can, I have the opportunity to do stuff maybe that I wouldn't otherwise say yes to because, yeah. So here's a question for you then. And it's an interesting one because your partner, your fiancé here is an actor as well. Yes. Has she always gotten it? The, hey, I'm leaving again to, I'm going back to America. We were talking today like, I'm used to the 11-hour flight now.

It's no big deal. Like, you come over to America a lot. Yeah. You know what I mean? You're doing all these conventions now. You're obviously not only doing work, you're then going and being on podcast, you're running the D&D,

you're with the D&D group, helping run it, that stuff. Like you're so busy, does she understand that? I mean, she's marrying, she does. Did she always understand it? That can be a hard pill to swallow. Like, cool, I'm with you, but I gotta go do XYZ. Top line, yes. Yeah.

And then under that is the complex. Of course. This is still fundamentally frustrating. She is a working actor as well. Yeah. At a baseline. And I have to imagine that gets rough of like, She's gone for three months, but you're here, not this weekend, but that.

Yeah, but because we know what that's like, we are able to understand that that is also something that is the case, even if it's annoying. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It would be so much easier if we could do stuff together. We can't. But, you know, it's, it's a very complex issue that she understands and I understand. Would we like to spend more time together? Absolutely. Of course.

Can we know? Because actually she understands that this is something that, that we, I have to run at and I would never, in the same situation, I'd go, whatever it is that you need to do professionally, you've got to do it. Because that is also important. So we're very good at supporting each other.

It isn't as easy as that. Of course. Because it's still very difficult because you'd like to spend more time and actually you're away from someone. You can get quite annoyed that they're not doing this or this, that and the other. That's just the complexities of a relationship.

Yeah. But she's great. And I'm very, very lucky to have someone that supports me in that way. And you made a comment about it a couple seconds ago, but to catch up, I think if people missed it in this context, right, it's the idea that this isn't forever.

Yeah. This is how I, you know, I've talked to Jen about, you know, the WWE thing or even early days of kind of funny of like, this won't be this way forever. But like while these opportunities are coming, I got to jump on them.

I got to go, I got to do the thing. You have to because also you know it's not going to be forever because you create, you create this foundation that you kind of then generates itself. You can then have the opportunity to pick the things, But when you're accelerating at this speed, you kind of need the fuel to do it. But once you're in space, you're kind of fine.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So it's, that's the way I see it. And it will take a couple more years. I'm not done here. I will keep pushing and doing interesting things and interesting ways. But I'm eventually going to get to a point where I sit and I, and I go, yeah.

Exactly. You look at you, if you look at your, feel like, I've done it. I've accomplished this point, yeah. And it's weird that we both, we both, you know, associate with a villain, but also, it's the moment. He nailed it.

And was he really the villain? He was trying. He was right. They're reading up all the resources. This could have fixed it. I'm glad Spider-Man was dead. So, right now, we know you're announcing a project tomorrow. Yes. I keep saying that, by the way. You're not in trouble with him to get maddy.

No. They still have an email. Oh, I got two emails. Let me see you. No, neither of them. Great. This is a tough question, I know, but how many things are you sitting on? Like how many other projects, games, or whatever? And then I do that part, and then we'll get the next part.

A few? Yeah, yeah. But it's really great that I don't have to feel the pressure to say that I'm sitting on them because there are so many things at present to be able to talk about. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, when a game comes out, after the game comes out, is when sometimes you have to double down more.

Expedition 33 is something that I will probably continue to talk about for years and years and years. Of course. So many people are now just finishing the game. So they really want to have that discourse. so many people want to kind of get in the weeds with it and explore the possibilities of the life afterwards so I don't need to do that and I think people enjoy me talking about games

like there'll be people in your chat that will know me from Day Everything or, you know, Cades or Final Fantasy or whatever it is that I'm doing. Warframe is like there are some people that only know me from Warframe that I love and I love it when Warframe fans come up to me like you're up a Nightingale and yeah I love those projects there are so many things that I can't talk about

and I feel so lucky that I have that that and I'm really excited to speak about them when they come out but also I don't want to spoil the surprise oh of course of course of course but yeah it's a weird it's a weird thing it's a weird thing so for you to accomplish as much as you already have and I know you feel like you're still a little spring chicken and all this stuff yeah yeah yeah what is bucketless you've done a final fantasy game but I mean, like, what else is on the list of, like,

this is what I'd love to add to the IMDB page, the resume? There is, I mean, I joke about wanting to be in love and deep space, which is so silly. I'd love to be, I'd love to do that, but I mean, kind of in a, you know, a love and deep space adjacent, day everything. I want to do more stuff that, like Expedition 33, is new IP, new properties,

really deep characters. And I'd like to be seen as a person in this industry who continues to show how as a performer, we can take the medium forward in the next five, ten years, whatever that means.

I feel like we've had such great ambassadors for that who have kind of led the way and I would like to continue to be one of those people that you go, or Ben Starr's in this game, hopefully he's contributed to it in a meaningful way.

And whatever that means, whether it is, you know, being in an amazing epic PlayStation first party game that you spend 60 hours or 20 hours doing. Love that. Or, Rahul. Steal on the breath from your mouth. He's, oh my God, I'm so excited.

I'm so excited for that game. I freaked out when I saw him as well. Of course, yeah. That was so cool. But yeah, whether it's that or whether it's something completely different, I don't mind. But I've done a lot in a short space of time. Yeah. I'm looking forward to doing a lot.

Continue to do a lot. and stuff that excites me that I'm proud of. I don't want to be one of these people that's kind of just doing stuff and you're like, oh, okay, right, it's more of the same. I want to do stuff that's a little bit different

and maybe... Nolan North and Dark Void, am I right? Oh, my God. No, no. You know, I'm not. No, I won't be drawn in. You want to call him? Usually when I mention Dark Void,

I call Noah, but I won't do that. He, God, man, that guy, that guy, what a career, what a career he had. Has. Like, I feel, yeah. No, he's dead, no. No, he's blazed in the monster machines. That's all he does now.

When I turned that on, when Ben wanted to watch Blaze in the Monster Machine is the first time I turned on and fucking Blazzes Nolan, I look, aw. I text him, like, I'm going to have to listen to you forever now. He's so, so everywhere in that period.

Like, Desmond Miles. Nathan Drake. Nathan Drake. But like, Specops the line. We don't talk about Speck O'Lops of Line enough. Man, what a game. Walt Williams, writer. Just incredible, incredible video game.

Yeah. He did the future game show and a line was written for him that I was the substance version of him and Jen English, he plays Miel in Expedition 33, said, yeah, he had no idea what that meant.

And I was like, yeah, it's really good. You're like very on brand for the substance version of me? Yeah. I think they have paved the way in how performers can interact with communities. Oh my God, of course. Yeah, yeah. That's it really.

Yeah, I was doing a Greg way last week, right? Because it's Monday, yeah, about best interview ever. And I was talking about this, like, very special moment where up at noon at IGN for me in 2012, 2012, 2013, 2014, was just perfectly intersected with the rise of the audience, understanding

voice actors mattered. And bringing in Travis and Laura, and Troy and Ashley and Nolan, and like, Jennifer, and, like, all these people who were there, like, who were like, this is weird to be treated like a celebrity when it's like, you are, like, so celebrity to us, and now that's ubiquitous. and everybody gets it, you see them embracing that.

Because they are the ones that forged the path, really, of... There were so many celebrated actors before then. You know, you can talk about, like, Metal Gear Solid and David Hayther, and, you know, all the team from Soul Reaver. And, like, there are iconic performances that we value, but there was just something about that period of time where they felt tangible. They felt touchable. Yeah.

They felt like people who were willing to speak on the projects they were a part of. Yeah. Just be a part of it. And educatedly speak on them, right? They mattered to them. him. It's not what you're talking about. Oh, we brought in a Hollywood actor and they recorded a bunch of lines and they walked away and they have no idea what this was.

It wasn't Bruce Willis in Apocalypse, which is a great PS1 game. You haven't played it. But it didn't feel like cash grabs. They felt like ours. They felt like our celebrities and people that were kind of we owned. And again, it's weird that I got to meet Laura Bailey and Travis for the first time at just over Summer Game Fest recently. And it was just so strange that I have a very big.

such a huge amount of fondness for their work and just suddenly like they're they're in my face. And I feel really starstruck for people whose work that I just, I don't think they're just great people. I think they're just great like performers and just technicians of their craft. Like when you met Jack Wade on the Gamescast last week. Can I just say? I commented on you. I'd prefer if you didn't. You can.

You can take pictures in Expedition 33. There just isn't a photo mode. And that's what we're talking about. They're not a photo. I know. I know. You want a photo. Yeah.

But listen, notice me, notice me, senpai. Mike Hello Before we went live You had a conversation With Ben out there About his future in video games

You want to tell him what you said Because I like that a lot Or do you want to keep it Is he mic or does he need to yell keff? I had a vision that I read it Hold on hold on hold on all I did We're going to get mic up so that we can hear you That way because I don't wait soon

No you're doing great Kevin Roger how many donuts for Mike is that Second? Second donut Yeah yeah Second sausage McMuffin as well Oh second sausage McMuffin Two two two sauce

Domit juice. Can I say that isn't how food works? This is really unhealthy. He's doing great. He's doing great. Yeah, it only fuels me. It's not. No, it doesn't. Here I was walking.

He's burning. But think about how many calories he's burning by walking. Exactly. Just think about that. What do we get it for lunch? Can't wait. You know I had a salad. Two of them.

Farmer and sweet greens or whatever. Yeah, Roger called that a salad. That sucked. I'm mad at him about that one. Anyways, Ben Star prediction. So, I was thinking about Ben Star. I'm like, man, this guy is so amazing. He's doing it all.

And I said, I bet you that when this older cast moves out, Ben Starr will be in Call of Duty. He will be part of the team. He'll be the Soapitavish of the world. He will be the Frank Woods. I can't wait. So Ben, if you ever get in Call of Duty, just know that Big Mike is going to be smiling big, man. Thank you so much. I'll do it for you.

You'll hear me whisper under my breath if I ever get to do it. This is for Mike. Every time I shoot someone in the head, it'll be, this is for Mike. Hold on. You know my wife, right? Yeah. She's calling me. Hold on. Okay. I think it's fun stuff, but you never know it with her. Yeah. You know what I mean? You get to talk to her too.

Hello. Hi, you're on the Gamescast with Ben Star. How are you, Jen? Hi, I'm good. How are you? Hi, Ben. Hi, how are you? I'm great. I'm shopping for a slutty little shorts for Greg, and I need to know his size. Extra small. I think I'm a 38. Ben, look at my tag. I'm my pants. I'm really got to get in there

Yeah, I know He's in there Oh wait, you have to go inside the pants There should be on the little belt buckle On the belt buckle? Isn't there like a Levi's thing? Is there like a thing? I just looked directly at your ass

I just like just looks your ass right I don't know but I'm just gonna touch him I'm gonna say that's a 38 We're in 30s we're gonna say 30 yet And how short am I allowed to go? As short as you want You're the one I'm trying to impress Hell yeah brother

Okay cool All right thanks. Bye. I just look directly at your ass. How'd it look? Like a 38. I like this guy. I like this guy.

That's the ass of a man who's a 38. Ben, we're whining down. Yeah. I want to give you some super chats in here. A lot of supportive ones, of course. Nicholas Chambers says, Lost my best friend about four years ago, unexpectedly.

Grief doesn't get smaller. You grow around it. No one's a lone heart. Yeah, thanks for that. Tim C. says, my mom died on Christmas 12 years ago. I totally feel you, Ben. It kind of makes the holiday going forward, dot, dot, dot, dot, I'm sorry, going forward not, dot, dot, dot, great. Because that's what it, it kind of feels like, it's just, it's just not great anymore.

Gary, the third changes the topic here and goes, thanks for being a joy to talk to at Magic Con and working through that line. I finally pulled the Clive card. Much love and congrats on your success. Yeah, thank you to everyone that waited for me at Magic Con. We haven't talked about Magic. Talk to me about Magic. Yeah, what a, what a cool thing. Final Fantasy collaboration. Wizzers were really kind to bring me in and kind of help, like, host a lot of their events. I did a really silly commercial with Jack Septukeye that I wrote. Go check it out. It's on my Twitter. It's very stupid. Love it. And I love the magic of the gathering community. Like, Final Fantasy has brought in so many new people into this card game. And it's made a lot of

people feel like it's accessible for the first time. And it's a hell of a lot of fun. And the pre-existing community has been built over the past kind of 30 years or whatever. Feel welcoming. Oh my God. They're so nice. Yeah, when we started playing here, they were all so great about it. They want people to play their game because they recognize how cool it is. It's a great game. They kind of don't care how you get into it.

So yeah, shout out to everyone I've met. Thank you for being so kind. Riesar says, thanks for sharing the context, Ben. I have chronic anxiety and use games as a way to center myself, especially at times of grief. You rule hard. Thanks. Jay Barrel, or maybe Jay Barry.

The first berserker-cazahn and Claire Obscure Expedition 33 are both my favorite games this year so far. leaning towards Expedition 33 is my game of the year. Congrats, Ben, and your success, and I'm looking forward to your future endeavors. Beyond! Thank you very much. Can I just also say, I don't think Expedition 33 needs to be a game of the year

in order for it to be a great game. No, no, I don't think anybody's saying that. But I really love how many people have taken it, and it's really changed them. It's a cool game, so thank you for everyone who's played it and supports it, and I hope that it allows you to make your life a little bit easier, or worse, depending on how you feel about the game.

But yeah, thank you. for everyone's support on that game, it means the world. Ty Wilkins' VO says as a voice actor at this point after five years, what advice would Ben give to an actor at the weird time frame of having agents, but being in that in-between space slash lull of larger online indie and early mainstream pro work to move forward? Yeah, you just got to stick with it, man. Yeah.

That's it. Like, my career is a testament to perseverance more than it is talent, and it's a right place, right time. You've just got to be nimble, you've got to be ready. And by the sounds of it, he's already got all the stuff in place. And it's just mine is luck, mine is right place, right time, right attitude. And just keep doing it, man. If you're good at your job, which you clearly are, then you've got this.

Hell yeah. Mount Dinello says, does Andy's voice acting career threaten you at all? Yeah, it does, yeah. That's why I spend so much time trying to bring him down because he's too good. Somebody has to, you know what I mean? Recon, awesome. Shout out to First Beserker Kazan. were awesome in that game.

There's an amazing Kazan community. That game is hard, hard as nails. But if you get into it, it's a super, super rewarding game. And I had such a great time talking about it, promoting it, being a part of it. So thank you to everyone who continues to play it and support it. JBC says, quote, I don't want this life, end quote,

was peak voice acting, Ben. Thank you very much. No more comments or spoilers. Patrick Perez says, Ben, what are three of your favorite Final Fantasy Edition magic cards. Oh, this is a fantastic question. You lit up in that magic question.

Yeah. What my three favorite cards? So I'm naturally an eight fan, so I love the fact that they've shoved triple triad in there. I think it's really sick. I adore the Ayrth card that they've added. And then if I'm going to say the most exciting one for me is the combined vanilla and fan cards that when you meld them together, they become

Ragnarok and you turn them around and it becomes one giant Ragnar rock card because I just think that is the amazing way of like making a story beat into a mechanical thing I think is so neat What's your favorite Ghostbuster Magic together? I don't know I'll get you, I'll get them for you

What's your favorite one? Man the Ecto 1 That's my favorite one, it's one of the ones you can play and it changes the game radically. They got a good slimer one as well. This is my whole problem. Have you got it in foil? Of course I do. I'm Greg. Yeah, sorry. I'm Greg. It's more offensive though that you guys got an entire set and I just had to settle

for like the Secret Layers drops. With Secret Layer. But, I mean, Secret Layer is cool as hell. It's very cool. Because they become really rare. I know. Just saying, I could go for the entire set, but whatever. Hassan says, Ben, what character would you like to voice in Final Fantasy 7?

In Seven? Yeah. Oh, man. In Seven? I think I... That's a really good question. I think I'd like to... I mean, I'm in kind of a villain era, so I'd love to have a go.

But by the way, everyone in the seven remake is amazing. Any villa, like Rufus Shinerer is kind of like a delectable piece of shit. I mean, Final Fantasy Tactics coming out, and I play a delectable piece of shit in that as well. So it's fun to do. Okay. Two more. Parks News says, Ben, compared to how bad the UK heat is at the moment, how is it to be in San Francisco? Oh, my God, it's so nice.

The wind is actually lovely. the UK is now it's close in the UK like you can't really move in the night otherwise you'll just sweat it's horrible like that I don't like that at all and final question comes from Mr. Hawks who says Ben what Expedition 33

tattoo should I get the most popular one right now is an Eskia tattoo they're really cute as hell I like people really like Gustav's arm that's beautiful with a rose in it I've seen I want to get

an Expedition Zero tattoo for those who know know. Yeah. Or if you want to be a real one, get an Expedition 60. Strongest Expedition 20. Nice. Why don't just go for those who come after?

Yeah. Yeah. That's cool. There's so much like the art in that game is so iconic that you can pretty much get anything in it's a painting. Get that warped Eiffel Tower. Yeah, you do that.

Yeah. Ben, thanks for hanging out. Thanks for having me. You need Games Daily. Go watch Games Daily if you missed that. Of course, Ben's in everything. But Ben, would you like to promote that you can promote?

I say stay tuned tomorrow. There's a fun little announcement we're going to make. But then also, Natural Six, right? There's a YouTube channel. Go get that. Oh, my God. I play D&D with five of my closest friends. We're really fun.

We're really silly. If you've never played D&D before, neither had some of us. So we got into it. I'm really good at it now. I'm great. We're like 34 episodes in. That's awesome.

But yeah, it's really fun. And we get to travel the world. Thank you for everyone who supports Natural Six. There is. There we go. We recently did a tie-in with the altars, which is fun as hell. Alter is an amazing game which Alex Jordan plays 11 different characters in

and we all play different versions. He created an entire TTRP system for us to play. But yeah, we love it and we get to do it for a job. It's cool. Okay. Well, everybody, Ben Starr will be in other video games. He'll be coming to a convention near you and, of course, he'll be getting married. Next month, congratulations.

For now, of course, we'll remind you that this has been kind of funny games cast each and every week for sometimes two best friends gather on this table to come talk about the biggest topics in video games, whether they be reviews, previews, or just things we need to talk about. If you like that, pick up a Kind of Funny membership, YouTube.com slash Kind of Funny Games, Patreon.com slash Kind of Funny, Apple or Spotify. $10 a month gets you 80 episodes of content, ad-free,

gets you four hours of exclusive podcasts from me, and of course it gets you good karma supporting an 11-person small business that is still Marathon Streaming, Death Stranding 2. We might be on YouTube going into the live familiar of Tim's web, But on Twitch.tv.tv slash Kind of Funny Games, the marathon walk-a-thon stream for Death Strandi 2 continues. Mike, how are we feeling? How's the bubble? The fun don't stop. I got a bubble in my leg and I got a bubble on my belly.

Andy says that I should get the doctor to look at my belly, but I said it's fine. We'll get doctor feel good in here. No look at your belly. Don't worry about it. That's going to keep going right there. Ben's going to say goodbye, but maybe hang out. I don't know. Yeah, I'll be around. That's fine. Whatever.

Whatever. Until next time. It's been our pleasure to serve.