Kinda Funny Gamescast: Video Game Podcast - Ghost of Yotei's Erika Ishii Interview - Kinda Funny Gamescast

Episode Date: August 26, 2025

Go to Kindafunny.com/XREAL, Amazon, or Best Buy to grab yours now!Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FDPGHVCB?maas=maas_adg_94D809319DE2358E49DA54BC8B880A40_afap_abs&ref_=aa_maas&tag=maas Best Buy: https://www.bestbuy.com/product/xreal-one-pro-ar-glasses-w-x1-chip-171-fhd-120hz-display-w-sound-by-bose-for-iphone16-15-steam-rog-mac-pc-android-ios-57-66mm-ipd/CZTVG22GYF Thank you for the support! Run of Show - - Start - Housekeeping - Erika Ishii’s story - Ads - Becoming the ghost - What do you want gamers to know when they play Ghost of Yotei - we talk about worlds beyond numbers Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What's up, everybody? Welcome to a very special Kind of Funny Gamescast afternoon stream here on Twitch.tv.tv slash kind of funny games. YouTube.com slash kind of funny games and podcast services maybe around the globe. I'm your host Greg Miller alongside the ghost of Yote herself. Erica Ishi. Hello, Erica. Hi, Greg. How are you? Thanks so much for having me. Thank you for making time. You know, PlayStation came through the inbox. Do you want to talk to Erica? And I'm like, you know what? I do. I do want to talk to Erica. I haven't talked to Erica in what feels like a lifetime. We really truly were different, completely different humans.

Our lives were different. Our careers were different. But yeah, they said, oh, I think you might know Greg. Like, have you, have you, do you know about kind of funny?

And Greg and I was like, ha, ha, ha, ha, I know Greg. Erica, when did we meet for the first time? I want to say it was 2015. That sounds about right, right. At an E3.

That was the first E3. that I had ever gotten in with a badge that was legit. Now that E3 is gone, I can say it. Yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I touched into my first E3. It was on, I think it was on a date. But, like, you had to check Twitter to make sure that certain that, like, the,

the doors that weren't being guarded, where they weren't checking IDs. Yep. Yep. And then you get in. But this year, that year, I was hosting for Indycade with Geekin Sundry. Yep. Kevin, do we have this photo, I believe? this is you sent this right before we went live Erica it's you and me on a couch

2015 children children at this evening god what a different time nobody knew what was ahead of us nobody knew what was coming up next I could have never and that's us with if he and Wadiwe of dropout fame of course

yeah yeah you know he never just gone nobody knows what happened to him didn't also become extremely popular it's that and also you know he and I got to announce on the same day that we were working at respawn. He wrote on Apex Legends around at the same time I got to announce Valkyrie, which is insane.

Neither of us could have ever guessed. We'd hoped. Erica, there is about a lifetime or two of things to cover. All right. Obviously, we're going to talk about ghost and what it's like to be the star of the PlayStation first party game of the year.

I want to talk a little bit of how we got here, because your, you know what, your rise has been incredible, well-deserved, but insane. Before all that, I'll remind you, of course, that this is a kind of funny games cast special each and every weekday for sometimes two. Best friends gather on this table coming to talk about whatever the biggest topics in games are, whether they be reviews, previews, or conversations like this. If you like that, pick up a kind of funny membership, YouTube.com slash kind of funny games. Of course, you can get on Apple, you could get on Spotify. You could get it over on Patreon.com slash kind of funny to get all of our shows. ad-free. Of course, get your daily dose of me in a podcast series we call Greg Way,

and of course, get good karma for supporting a small independent business. You already got games daily today. That was about PlayStation making big changes. Of course, after that was another games cast, which was the Sonic Racing Crossworld's preview. You're getting your stream right now because that's how we do it. And if you're a Patreon supporter at the $25 or up level, this afternoon is our happy hour where you can hang out with us. You're kind of funny, Greg Way, of course, is live as well. it's me ranting and raving about Nintendo and third party support. Thank you to our Patreon producers Carl Jacobs,

Omega Buster, and Delaney the Somme Twining. Today we're brought to you by X-Reel, but we'll talk about that later. For now, we're back to Erica. See, I just plowed through the housekeeping for you, Erica. Just get to it so we can keep talking. That's impressive. Thank you. Wow, that was some fast housekeeping.

Yeah, no, it's just all white noise to folks in the chat, like Alex and Alex and J-Man and J-Man and J-guns over there. I don't know. I don't like that name. Of course, there's a lot going on. Erica, we start with this photo from 2015. We start with you sneaking into the industry. Obviously, we jump to you being the ghost of Yote.

What the fuck happened in this career? Because you were just a normal person. You were just a normal talk to the camera, make a YouTube person like us. And I remember when it was like 2017, I think, when you're like, oh, I'm going to do some voice acting. I'm in crypt of the necro dance. We're like, oh, cool, whatever.

And then here you are starting. in a PlayStation game, not even a decade later. Something happened here and I don't understand. Yeah, truly, Greg, what the fuck, indeed. It's wild because even before I was talking to the screen and trying to keep up with my housekeeping, I was just a huge gamer nerd. I, you know, and it's truly wild. It's like, I feel like I got to do the whole Cinderella story of,

I started out, yeah, I was sneaking into E3. I remember I went and I bought my own sort of ticket out to the first PSX, which I believe you were presenting. Oh, of course, of course. Yeah, yeah, we were big deal with PSX. You interviewed for Uncharted 4. It was all the way back at Uncharted 4. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, and so, you know, I've always been a huge fan of games. And I think it was, you know, I think you and I think you and I, We've always had a special sort of, we loved a lot of PlayStation games, a lot of the narrative-based games. For sure. And playing The Last of Us was sort of the last straw to where I said, okay, I have to get into voice acting for video games specifically. Because I did a whole child actor thing. You know, I was on an episode of Full House and I did some commercials. I stopped to be at UCLA and, you know, get a degree.

So did you grow up in L.A.? Was it always like you were surrounded by Hollywood and stuff? Yeah. My parents were both below the line workers. My mom was an editor and my dad pulled focus as a camera assistant. And so they didn't, they couldn't like open doors. They couldn't like open doors for me, but they knew which doors to knock on. They were like, oh, this is, you have to like audition and you have to get, try to get an agent.

And I was just like a really gregarious child. So they're like, you know. No way. No way. I can't picture. Me. Yeah. It's true. And yeah, I just, I always loved it. And I always grew up loving games and loving cartoons. But it's games is a very different discipline than on-camera acting. Sure.

And I think, and it requires, honestly, a huge buy-in sometimes. At the time that I was doing it, demo reels cost about $1,000 to produce. And you'd have to get Mike a quick. which was like this was before podcasting so you could you'd easily spend a couple hundred dollars on a basic mic and i was just really really fortunate that i got into it at a time where i mean i i wanted to be part of this new storytelling medium playing the last of us playing things like mass effect and and these narrative driven games where there were these really juicy roles was so exciting to me and and so I resolved to do it and somehow less than a decade later I I did it I did it so when you're going to UCLA are you going for acting or were you doing something different no I did mass media communications which is wild because like in in a lot of ways I used that so much in my entry way because there's none nobody gets into voice acting

and especially video games the same way yeah I think a lot of people a generation ahead of me were acting on camera or, you know, voiceovers for cartoons and accidentally fell into games and sometimes fell in love with them. But for me, I was specifically interested in being in games. So, I mean, UCLA was getting a, getting a practical college degree. The fallback plan, in case it all goes to hell. You know, it's, it was, it was just kind of in the thing to do. I think we, they valued education and my family, despite the fact that neither of my parents ended up finishing, they had both dropped out to be in the show business as well. So, you know, I got my degree and then, you know, sort of acting school and classes.

I just knew I want to perform, but I didn't, it wasn't until I latched on to video games as even a possibility that things really started clicking for me. So give me the breakdown then. So you graduate UCLA, but there's this geek and sundry section where you're doing the internet, YouTubey thing. Did you think that was going to lead you to voice acting,

or was that like the path for a while? That was, I always knew I wanted to do, like to perform, to play characters, to tell stories. But while I was in, you know, post-graduation, bombing around in L.A., stealing food for,

from the catering company that I was working at. Nobody tell. Nobody, nobody tell. Now they'd be proud. Now they put it on their desk, their billboards that you stole food from them. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, that's right.

You see my catering. Shout out. Yeah, shout out. I, you know, I was doing, you know, the serious method school. I was taking classes at Strasbourg and also at UCB, Upprette Citizens Brigade, which I think if you talk to any comedian that comes out of L.A.,

we've all gone through the program and sort of like been... I was in something called Tournament of the Nerves, which is like still to this day of midnight nerdy show where you sort of comedy debate. It's like, who would win in a fight between these nerdy characters? Sure. I did that. I was in like a Harry Potter themed improv group, which is, you know, obviously long since disbanded. but my coach through there was trying to start up some geeky nerdist-like news channel.

And so they needed, like, they were like, oh, you like nerdy stuff and you are a woman and can talk on camera. Why don't you do that? And so I was like, okay, sure. Like, I didn't have any hosting experience, but I loved games and I was keeping up with all the news anyway. And so I started writing, producing, and then directing and hosting this small channel, which eventually in the sort of LA nerdy networks, you know, we all kind of went to the same parties and we all like would work out of a lot of the same studios. The showrunner for Geek and Sundry ended up saying, oh, I remember we used to work out of that same little studio in the valley. And then I ended up joining at Geek and Sundry. And then I ended up getting my own show there.

And then I became, I worked really hard. I ended up sort of producing and hosting that show for no money for a while just to sort of have a platform to get into, like, to get into E3, legit. And to be able to talk to developers and to other voice actors and to sort of like, because, you know, I mean, it's so funny. you've been in this industry and I remember you I remember kind of funny always being just this like trusted institution and and also straddling that line between fandom and journalism and just like knowing all of the developers and and so it was this heady time we were talking about you know yeah for sure so all that's going on and then you say the last of us is what finally is the last straw like Yeah.

When you make that decree, what happens next? I sprang for a demo, a voiceover demo. Did you feel you already had the classes and the chops, and you knew at least from a green way that you do it? I had the classes and chops from, you know, improv acting. Those were all great groundwork. A lot of the sort of technical skills you end up picking up on the job. or like I had tutors and you know Sissy Jones

Bath to Winter Sissy Jones. I'm well aware. Of course, the love of my life in Starfield and Raja. She is a god and she and you know a lot of the incredible famous women of voiceover kind of, you know, they had a workout group and so we would get together, you know, like a voiceover workout group and we'd bring an odd. or just sides and sort of critique each other's performances and provide support.

And just in that way, it was so instrumental in even the sort of like, how far away do I get from the mic? What do I, like, how do you do an A, B, give an A, B, and C. How do you, you know, just all the technical skills. And so I really feel like I had the benefit of being around some of the most talented people in the industry on my come up, which was. both incredibly fortunate and also terrifying. I would have to think a little bit intimidating, right?

Like I've done a bunch of stupid VO roles here and like I'm always embarrassed to be in the booth. And I'm just a moron. But I couldn't imagine if I was also then, like tomorrow I decided I want to do this. I'm going to go be a voice actor to like talk to Troy about it. Talk to Laura about it. I'd be like, oh, like talking about Michael Jordan. I barely know how to shoot a basket. Yeah, it's terrifying.

And also, I think a lot of times, I'm sure it is something that they get a lot. And, you know, I've had some people say, like, well, I've heard that a lot of like, I want to be a voice actor. And they go, cool. Check out these links. Check out these teachers. You cut a demo. And then you can start looking for agents. And I hope to see you.

I hope to see you in the booth. And a lot of times people don't follow up either because they, you know, they don't realize that there is that huge sort of barrier to entry or because. or because they don't have, you know, the time and money. It's like I was fortunate in my really most pivotal year before I was booking anything while I was really kind of struggling in hosting and going paycheck to paycheck, I got to live rent free with a partner with my partner at the time. And I think that's a thing that sometimes people leave out of, you know, like, your family stable.

You don't have to like book every single gig. Because like when you're a little more relaxed and you're like, okay, at least I'll have a roof over my head and I'll have my stolen meal from catering. You know, like, you're not as like, they don't, they don't hear the desperation in your voice while you're auditioning. So it was all those combination of factors

and truly being at Geekin Sundry and being in proximity to the industry, I ended up getting started in indie games. You know, I would go to GDC and, you know, hand up my card or, you know, say like, hey, would you come and be on my show or could I demo your game or, you know, and then it would, of course, come up that I do voice acting and I have a demo and they could put me in the pile of people to audition. It was, I think with very few exceptions, it was, I still auditioned for roles, but it would kind of be like, oh, we need a femme voice or like a tough chick. why don't we call Erica

see if Eric can do this role and like by the time that I was booking you know there was Dream Daddy and there was Crypt of the Necro dancer and all these indie titles and I was booking a lot of my own before I got an agent for voice acting and is that when it

for you when does it become real this is my job this is what I'm doing this is all I do And I guess even that's insulting because you still do so much more. I apologize. But you know what I mean. Yeah. No, it's wild.

I don't know that it's ever. I still feel like at the end of the day, I'm just a little guy on the internet. You know? Yeah. Because I still kept, it's weird. I feel like my skill. Let's look at it like a skill tree, if you will. Sounds great.

I know those well. And I feel like sort of hosting ended up sort of splitting off into, you know, voice acting and then also tabletop and sometimes even still hosting you know i ended up doing some marble red carpets and you know i did uh like a couple of video games shows um and but yeah the the i really i i love hosting because i get to talk to the most interesting people and and get to try like see you get to see and try so much in a thing that you're passionate about for sure um but But then the tabletop, because that was definitely not a thing when we first met in the same way to scale. Doing D&D on an internet show.

Good luck, Travis. See you later. Yeah, I think. And they all fell into it too because that was just their home game that Felicia was like, oh, this would be a good show. And it's, and so tabletop and D&D. And then on voice acting and most. capture even.

You know, it's the dream of getting to tell these stories with incredibly talented people and getting to just kind of play. But it's been a weird circuitous journey. And I really truly think that being a fan and loving the people that make games has been so instrumental in me being here. Oh, I mean, I have to imagine, right? I think that's always so cool about meeting people who are. are primarily voice actors in our space and how much they care about it and how much they know

and to see people like yourself now who have grown up as fans up with it, right, and have seen the change and the respect we have for your Nolan North's, right, for your commander shepherds. These people who mean so much to us far beyond just their voice, but their performance and their character and what they do, let alone what they are when you talk to Jennifer Hale and how great a person she is like the way that's reverberated out and to see that bring in so many great people i have to imagine that works for you the same way yeah it's it's truly been wild because i think you know like any newer art form i think there is uh you know a level of people that sort of are cross-discipline trained right you know that that have that sort of traditional acting background and then they come

into it and they can bring that incredible skill set to this new medium and help define it. And then another generation comes up and they're like, oh, well, I was a fan of these people. And the trick is to not try and copy their performances and emulate them, right? But like to sort of learn from their skill set and to look at your love of this game and what are the things that I love about video games and video game performances. and, you know, like coming into an audition, even understanding, like having them not have to explain, you know, what, what, you know, what Halo is, like the all the backstory of Halo, I was able to just, like, come in and do it. I got it, I got it. No.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And callouts. Yeah, I know. I know the callouts. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I know what, you know, like a, I know what all these different things are. and to just sort of be like, well, what would I, what would I enjoy as a player?

It's been wild. I bet. I mean, I think that's been the fun thing from my side of the screen is knowing you as one of us, you know, just a YouTuber, a host, all these different things. Yeah, okay, yeah, you know, this game, these independent roles, da, da, da, da, da. And then there was that moment when you got announced as Rook

in Dragon Age the Veil Guard. in that we did a clip of it where me and Andy flip out that it's you. We couldn't believe it was you because like Andy and I anticipating that game so much. And then to find out it was someone we knew so well, it was so incredible, let alone the performance you gave in that game. Like you were my rook and you were fucking awesome in it. And I tell everybody all the time how much I adored that performance, how great it was, the scale, the scope, everything you brought to it. Like that was for me, that was my very personal moment of like, oh, Erica's, no longer one of us. She is a voice

actor. This is what she does. This is her thing. But that's the thing is I'm always going to be like part of the crew Of course. Because I mean like You know it's it's funny Like that all these years later That you and I like 10 years later

You and I are talking about this and are both Professional like we were both on Sony's list Of like hey you two should talk like we trust you guys to talk about, you know, in a professional manner about our video game. I think that there is always going to be a part of me that is, feels weird about answering the questions as opposed to asking them. Oh, that's good. Yeah.

And, you know, it's being a professional fan, I think is something, it's, I mean, because you are too. Like that's you came from it and and and you made that it's just in different aspects of this industry. And you know, I think someone, uh, Proz-D, and I have talked about that as well, about what it's like coming from sort of YouTube land and then being part of the content creators and how suddenly there's stuff that you wouldn't, that you don't necessarily say. And it's not because you're censoring yourself but because kind of you're actually in that world and you know these people in real life and you're like wow making games is hard I shouldn't be such a little shit the amount of times I remember being at IGN in those first few years and be like how what a lazy decision

not realizing you know however bad this video game was people took years and years of their life trying really really hard and this is what happened like ooh I don't like that one bit uh of course you are here to talk about Ghost of Yote. I want to get to those questions, but I want to remind everybody that they can write in to be part of the show right now with YouTube.com slash kind of funny games, super chats to ask you questions or just say things like this.

Trevor says, Samma, ding-dong, hype for Yote. So there you go. You could do that. Then I have questions stacking up here from Brian from Super Tyler. We will get to those. But first I'll remind everybody that this is a special

kind of funny games cast stream. Remember, of course, you can support this show and all of our shows by becoming a Kind of Funny member. Go to YouTube.com slash Kind of Funny Games, Patreon.com slash Kind of Funny. Apple or Spotify, and of course you can pick up your membership to get all of our shows. That's more than 80 a month, ad free. And of course, get your daily dose of me, Greg Miller in a 15 to 20 minute podcast series. That adds up to more than four hours of podcasting each every month.

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I can't wait, of course, huge fan of Ghost of Sushima. Erica, talk to me about your history with ghosts, because you're talking about last of us lighting this fire. I assume Ghost of Sushima has to be somewhere in there as well. Yes. Yes. So I am a huge Kurosawa fan. My parents were huge Kurosawa fans. My mom paid a hundred dollars, I think, in the 80s to shake, to like go to a screening of, I think, Kage Musha and shake his hand. Oh, wow. So, like, this game, Tsushima was huge, you know, because I was also, I played so many hours and I did so much of Witcher 3. And I was like, if I could.

could have a samurai game that's like Witcher 3 and I roll around hitting things with my sword, that would be great and I got it. And I, yeah, 2020 was a rough time for all of us. But I, you know, and so I played the game. I played, I loved it. I sort of, like, during different moves, I had like a, I ended up moving and like not, picking up my PlayStation for a couple years and then I finally like picked it

up and I would just love running through the fields and the story was incredible and I mean if you haven't played it, no spoilers but there was a really devastating moment in that game that really haunted me that I got to confront to the developers

about and that's the beauty of being a fan of a thing before you get to be part of it is you can actually take it up with the creators. But We've all known Nate Fox is a dirt bag for a long time, and I'm glad you got to call him out on it. Listen, listen.

I can, I'm not a coward. I never go on the internet and say something mean to somebody. Never. Because I will say it to their face instead. And so I did, I did chastise him roundly for what he did in that first game. But I was a huge fan, and I could have never dreamed that it. it would end up this way. So how does it end up this way?

Is it an open casting call? Is it a conversation somewhere? It was it was an open casting call. Okay. No, I auditioned with a lot of other people, I assume. Did the sides tell you it was ghost or? No. Okay.

No. For most video games, when you get the sides, they are all codenamed. It's like sometimes you don't even know the company. Like you don't like they're very, very vague. but another bonus of being a fan of something is that you can figure it out if you're you think about it's saying i got to chop through these bamboo reeds to up my levels like what do you mean foxes and like what do you mean yeah it's it was and it was and it was they were sides that never ended you know of the frequently sides that never end up being

scenes in the game. But, like, they were good sides. The writing was great. And it was set in that period. And it was a video game that was a franchise. And so I figured it out from there. And I think, yeah, I think, I mean, knowing the more that you know as an actor, the better it helps inform your performance.

And so I was lucky that I knew. And then I was lucky that, but it also at the same time, did give me a little bit of the yipsed because, you know, I mean, auditioning to be in something that you love is a lot of pressure. And you, there's the, there's the, there's the temptation to be precious with it, I think. How do you get over that? I, I, I just sort of did, I mean, it was nice to, because this character, I didn't know this character. I didn't, there was nothing for me to go off of other than I love

what they've written, this little glimpse into her and into her life is just really resonated with me. And the way she was described was like a character, like nothing, no other character that I've

definitely no main character that I've ever read before. Sure. And you know, it was, I just really kind of fell in love with it. And when you're excited and really love and passionate about a character. It really kind of comes through, I think. And at the callback, you know, I straight up asked to them,

and they had a hurried, whispered discussion, I think about whether or not to tell me what it was. But, yeah, I think just, it was, it felt like there's very few roles that I auditioned for, and I'm like, I need this. I need this. I feel like I could do this. Because, you know, I'm always, I'm an actor.

I've got imposter syndrome. I'm cowardly and superstitious. And yet I, this one just felt so right. And I'm so grateful that they felt the same way too. How long do they leave you on the hook for? You audition, then there's a callback and then when do you find out? Like, what's going on with that? Oh, it's a couple of months, you know, usually because,

Because there was audition and then you wait. And then there's a callback and then you wait. And then you get the role and there's like contracts that need to be signed and negotiations that have to happen. And you don't even, even once the contract is signed, you don't know if they might recast you. They might recast. They might decide like, well, maybe it's not the right fit or, oh, there's some sort of higher up executive decision that that needs to be made and and you're not a part of it and and so you know

you kind of remained clenched for a little bit like until you're in the ping pong ball suit until something's going on yeah i truly was you know convinced that they'd like drag me off the sony lot you know like even months into actually shooting it um but but yeah Yeah, it was such an incredible. That team is singular. And I don't know, if I, if I ever gave a talk at GDC, I feel like, one thing I would want to talk about on my, on my big list of things that I would want to say in front of a bunch of developers, one of them is, is just how vital their communication to me was during the whole process.

Like I, you don't, a lot of times, as you know, since you have done some video game voice, over roles. Sometimes you just walk in and they give you a spreadsheet of lines and that's all you get. Like as you walk in and you just sort of read it cold. But they gave me scripts. They had writers

like be able to discuss the story with me. I had a dialect coach. I felt so supported in this in a way that I think a lot of studios haven't been able to for actors just because

you know, this is still a new young medium, and also that kind of thing is expensive and requires a difficult pipeline. And so, you know, but I remember in seeing behind the scenes for the last of us and other, like, very actor-forward games about how they were sort of a part of the process

and much in the way that an actor would be in an on-camera role. And this was sort of like, that. It was incredible to see the team and to see how they worked and how all the pieces seemed to really fit together. And there was a distinct pipeline in this dev cycle, which as you know is not always the case. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, something's getting away. Not at sucker punch. Not with a PlayStation title, please. Now with this team. They're incredible over there, except for Nate and Jason. Don't worry about that. Billy Harper. though. You know what you did. Billy Harper

from Sucker Punch texts me because I was bugging him for questions about you and he says tell her I said hi and she's the best super stoked she's getting the spotlight today. So there you go. Sucker Punch happy to see you out here reprimed the game. Billy was incredible and I yeah again that that

team I holy cow I've never gotten to feel that in the game before because you know a lot of times for voice acting you're in you're out and then a couple years later you see a game come out And you're like, oh, I think I have a voice in that. Yeah, because sometimes for some jobs, you don't even know what the game is even after you've recorded it.

So I feel very, very fortunate that they really kind of did their best to give everybody the tools for success. When was this audition callback process in terms of years? And then how long did you work on it? And like, when was rap on it and stuff for this? Oh, my goodness. I know that's a, I'm asking you to lay out of timeline and emails. Yeah, full disclosure, I'm bad at timelines, me, myself. I think of it in landmark times.

Sure. Let's see. Like audition process was before I had even launched my, I have, I'm in a podcast with my dear friends, Abrea, Iengar, Brennan, LeMolligan, and Lou Wilson, and we were just starting. No, no, what's the podcast name? You got to promote it. You got to promote it. The podcast name is Worlds Beyond Number.

We are a improvised storytelling podcast, and it can be found where all fine podcasts are listened to. It truly is that's another story that I'm incredibly proud to be part of, but we hadn't even started the campaign. We hadn't announced the company yet, and I remember we were at sort of a getaway retreat. So that might have been two years ago, three years ago. And I said, hey, I just got cast in something. And I think this is, I don't believe that this is real. And I kept saying that, I think up until, you know, around the podcast launch and then a couple of months into podcast launch, I remember we were, I was also filming it at the time. And, you know, I think pickups, pickups happened sometime this past year.

But it's like everything out. Like, the thing is, is, and this is the crazy part again, because. in a normal development cycle, it's like it all kind of happens and then you are a piece of the machine that gets sort of slotted in a lot of times, you know, like early on and then, you know,

you don't know anything about it until later. But being part of this from, like being the first actor hired and then sort of one of the last actors out of the booth has just been, I've gotten to see so much progress of it. I've gotten to talk with all of the developers.

And who boy, Greg, who boy. I, it feels like magic. It feels like watching magic. And it is a jump scare seeing my face every time. I mean, that's a big. Your face is all over the PlayStation Network right now. Everywhere I look. And it still hits.

It's still wild to me. still don't believe it, you know, because I, you know, when you, when you go to the studios to Santa Monica, you know, you see the big murals of all of the care, you know, there's, there's, there's, there's all these big murals of all these iconic characters. Here's Ratchet, here's Clank, and here's Cratos, and then here's Erica. What? I'm not right. And then, you know, I went and visited Sucker Punch, and there's.

a life-sized gene statue, which is incredibly photorealistic. The pores, the hairs on his face, like, stunningly, uncomfortably real. And it looks exactly, I've gotten to meet Dice, Dice Gay, who is a phenomenal actor. I got to see him live on stage here in L.A., but it looks exactly like him. And they're like, ha, ha, we're going to do one of you. And I'm like, ha ha, what? Here's the question I have when we're talking about Atsu and your performance in the story. And I know this is one you're going to have to do gymnastics on because I don't want you to spoil the story for me.

But when we see the trailers during the PlayStation directs, right? And they come out and they're like, here's the state of play. Here's the thing. The one, I don't want to say knock, but the thing I see is like, oh, well, the story looks pretty. standard, a revenge tale, a samurai revenge tale. And you had just said when you were a while back now,

but when you were talking about getting this role and what you read, you had never read a character story like this. Do you think that's, is that on, what are we missing without spoiling it, I guess, in terms of people who are like,

oh, this is a samurai revenge story, whatever. It's all the movies your mom went and saw. Right. Well, first of all, she's not a samurai. And second of all, it was not as much the story

because they really give you very little. with the story, you know, especially in the sides because sometimes they don't even have it, you know, and they definitely don't want it to get out to leak. What I got was a character who was really complex and just really different than I've gotten to see a lot of main female characters, you know, in games or movies or, you know,

there's, I think definitely the whole thing of like the hot, assassin, you know, I think it's like you're an assassin and a lot of films. It's like, you're cool and you're pristine and like you have crisp suits, you know? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I think it, this didn't feel like that. Um, yeah, without, without spoilers, it's just this sort of like really grounded feeling of a character. I mean, obviously it's based upon sort of like a heightened and Jidaekeki samurai films, which is these archetypes and these sort of tales, almost mythic tales. That's why, like, oh, that was one thing I loved from the first game was these mythic tales were a lot of them very similar to traditional Japanese folklore and to these stories from Kurosawa

and the legacy of samurai films. but there's something so visceral about them and about the characters and the way that they were portrayed and the way that you get to be in them when you're playing. And that was something that I was so fascinated by

because, yes, like, stories, there's oldies, but goodies for a reason, you know? I mean, like, I also, I love Lady Snowblood, you know? But I also loved Kill Bill. And, you know, I think, that I will never get tired of a really well-told classic story. Yeah.

Yeah, it's funny. You talk about that and, you know, the pristine movie you'd see versus what we've even gotten a taste of here with the broken mask and mud on the outfits and just... We've got a Mika mode, which is like extra blood and guts and mud. I didn't even know about the modes. I'm freaking out about those. Because, yeah, like, both of those filmmakers are huge, I'm a huge fan of them, you know, and just the fact that we can incorporate their visions into this.

Because that's the thing about good classic stories is that I want to hear every great artist's take on it. Well said. So what does it feel like right now? I mean, we are basically a month from launch. no, October 2nd coming up really, really quickly. Like, is it an ever-present thing in your life where you're like, oh, this is happening? Are you so busy on other projects in your day-to-day that you're not even thinking about it? Like, where are we at with any of that?

It's so funny because, yeah, I'm very, very fortunate to have a lot of other things in my life. Like the skill tree went crazy over on the Dungeons and Dragons side. Yeah. Much to my shock. So there's projects going on and then other voiceover projects. But at the same time, you know, the thing that I do right now, my pool down activity is I, Greg, I am obsessed with blueprints. Oh my God.

Of course you are. I have a journal. Like it's for my friends at the Help Network. Thank you, Julia. I gave me like a notebook and it's presumably for like putting your notes in as an actor. But it is filled. Filled with like a fountain pen scribbles and tabs. And like it looks like a string board, like a conspiracy string board.

But I'm playing it on my PlayStation. And every time I turn it on, my friend while he was visiting had turned it to the bat. My PlayStation background is, is me in Ghost of Yote. Sure your friend turned it. Yeah, I'm sure. my friend while we were playing split fiction yeah it was and and it's every time I turn it on it is like I kid you not

a jump scare and a reminder and you know I was working on this very closely for almost for about three years and so it's I've never had a lead up like this before because usually again like you go in the booth you do your thing and you walk away from it for a while and this has been ever present in my life, both, you know, online now that it's been announced.

And, you know, in terms of emailing, of, you know, getting to set up opportunities like this. And then also just, it really has informed so much of my other storytelling. Oh, wow. The feeling of just honesty and vulnerability in this character that I've never, gotten, been given the tools before, I feel like, to really spread my wings and fly. And so, yeah, it's, it's been there, whether it's, you know, just up here in my head or on my dang PlayStation background, again, crazy. That your friend put up, of course, of course. That my friend put up.

What do you want? gamers to know or be in the headspace of when they sit down and hit the options button to start this game. Well, first of all, know about what your gamma adjustment should be like on your TV.

Very, very important. This is a highly contested topic and I'm going to say, yes, it does matter. But second of all, I think this has been such a land year for incredible games.

And it's an honor to be in, like, such, it is an honor to be in this game, in this time. And I really want people to know how much love was put into this. I got to see all of the developers during my whole journey with them for almost three years now, and how much they care about it, how much they care about telling a moving powerful story, how much they care about making something fun, and how much I care about this story

and about the ghost of stories. This has been the greatest honor of my life. I feel like Cinderella, you know? I was just a little guy, and I got chosen to be part of this incredible narrative in this industry that I specifically wanted to be a part of. So I think I want people to know how much care went into this and to know that, and for hopefully to empower them

to be able to tell the kind of stories that they want to see in the world. Fuck yeah. Erica, you're awesome. You deserve it. I hope you know that. that doesn't get lost on you. How much you deserve is how good you like this. A better interview would end the podcast there,

but I still have super chats to get through. So we're going to make sure we pay the bills around here. A lot of people have a lot of people have written in. And I'll let you know if you are not a Worlds Beyond Number fan, there will be references that are lost on you. But they're here and that's what we're doing. All right. Let's get on their subreddit.

Hold on number or drop out. Brian Murphy immediately starts a hoo-hoo crackle, crackle, Erica, you're one of the best voice actors out there and the best witch of the world's heart. Pitch your D&D video game and the character you would be in it. Like, I wonder if it means, oh, thank you so much. Oh, hoo-hoo, crackle, crackle. This is the call, the shout out or the, what is it,

call and response of our podcast talk back. You know, it's so interesting. I think for a long time, I wanted there to be like a D&D movie where you know like Jumanji style right where where you know they're the you know you have the players and they are playing the game and so you get you get back and forth I had a whole pitch for like a D&D movie that I would want I saw the actual D&D movie and it's great you know I I saw it twice in theaters I really enjoyed it but I think that I would want a video game d&D game to all to be that where you know like I guess sort of elements of

you know, early Assassin's Creed, but probably less on the normal side. I think on the mundane side, I want there to be, okay, so open, interior, a parent's basement. You know, we're all sitting there and, you know, you get to create your character as these characters, and you understand what these characters mean to the players that are playing them. and I would want to play a character that is, I think, probably, you know, like my first D&D character, which is who's making like a cool grim, dark assassin guy who's got knives and a tragic backstory and then sort of like have that character develop and start to mean something to this player. And like they get to work things out through that because like playing D&D and playing games is,

You work out so much of your stuff and play out so many scenarios that you wish you could play out in real life. But you have a reset button for. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It reminds me so much of Life is Strange True Colors. Remember, there's that whole section where you come in and you do the role-playing game through the... But you already are the character you were. And so it's fun. I like that one.

Yeah. You got something there. I appreciate that. Yeah, yeah. Super Tyler, Super Chats. And says, congrats on wrapping the wizard, the witch and the wild one book one. Can't wait to see you be kind, question mark, in parentheses, and cunning in Yote. How kind is Atsu?

I don't think, I'm not expecting a kind person here. Not. I mean, I don't know. I probably, you know, no spoilers. Exactly. But Atsu is, I think in some way, it was very funny because I think we just finished the, we call it book one, the first sort of book of this one campaign run by Brennan Lee Mulligan. And this character that I play is, you know, sort of she's a witch and she's very kind and she has a Fox familiar, which was, you know, sort of like a happy, weird happenstance because as we know, foxes make an appearance in Tsushima.

But it draws from a lot of the same shared mythology. There's like a lot of sort of Shinto influence, Jibli and Japanese folkloric storytelling influence. but these characters could not be more fundamentally different. So, yeah, yeah, it's, yeah, and both of the, both of these projects started around the same time and then now have sort of concluded. My work on them has been concluded at the same time. Look at that. It's been a weird point for me as a storyteller where it's like, well, this incredibly fruitful and satisfying storytelling art in my life has come to a close right now, like, what do I get to do next?

Yeah. Is it all excitement or is it like a little bit bitters? Is it bittersweet to say goodbye? It's very, it's very bittersweet, especially because, you know, at least knowing that it's like an anthology, there's no guarantee that I'll ever see Atsu again, you know, but also at the same time, the Japanese have a saying, uh, monono no a lote, which means literally it means things end, but it is sort of the connotation. that things are beautiful because they end.

Sure. But that being said, I did have a good sort of champagne cry, you know, when both projects were done. I was just like, what if I never make anything that's spiritually satisfying again? What if everyone hates all my work forever? Now you're just doing McDonald's commercials. Get to it. Listen, I wish I could.

I was going to say, no shade. I'm just, you know, the Brian, the lead guy from Ciccession. He does the commercials. I like him a lot. When you mentioned it earlier, I hit up the one, the only Cissy Jones,

and I said, Eric is talking about you on a podcast. What questions do you have for her? Cissy responded, ooh, ask her when she knew she was a witch. So interesting that, like, again, yeah, I chose to play a witch and we made a whole custom character,

which you can find on the World's Bound number of Patreon. But Cissy, I think was one of the earliest people to sort of introduce that whole, you know, the, that witching, that witchy coven of like talented, powerful and and righteously angry women into my life. And it's, it's powerful, I got to say, you know, that energy. Like, I am a very sort of, I'm an atheist, agnostic, skeptical person, but also I cannot deny the power in a room when a group of incredible women gets witchy. I, Greg, have you ever been. When they get witchy, there's nothing better.

There's nothing better. Have you been proximal to that scenario? Greg, it is frightening, frightening in the best way for me. But, you know, yeah. I think honestly having cool, amazing women around me and supporting me and leading me has, like, it's made all the difference in the world. While we're here, talk to me a second about Worlds Beyond Number. When did you realize, oh, holy shit, this is going to be a big deal? Because, like, there are, you know, there's a lot of D&D campaigns.

There's so many things, blah, blah, blah. But like, you guys crush it on Patreon. I'm on your page right now. You have nearly 72,000 members, like outrageous. Congratulations. When did you realize, oh, this is a big deal? Not a big deal. That's not the right.

But you're doing better than you thought you were. Yeah, actually, it's very funny because in the abstract, we knew that it would be some amount of successful. Sure. Because, you know, all of us have sort of, this is kind of like one of those music supergroups were different people from like known people from different projects all come together and make something that they love. But I did not know.

I think it was literally 24, within 24 hours, we had something like 14,000 patrons. Yeah. And I, I, you know, was talking to somebody and they were like, that's a big deal. And I was like, yeah, that's a lot of people, right? And they were like, have you done the math on that? I was like, yeah, I've done them. Oh. Oh, no, I didn't do the right.

I'm bad at math. So suddenly, you know, they literally had to napkin math it for me. At which point I was like, oh, oh, my God. Like, it is, it is life changing, like, honestly to get to have. And, you know, I mean, like, you're on Patreon. Oh, yeah. And suddenly it means that you have so many, you can make the things that you want to make. Patreon has changed our lives.

We wouldn't be here without them. The sad and crass truth about making art in capitalism is that you need somebody to pay you for it. And if you don't have somebody paying for it or like a reliable source of somebody paying for it, then you have to make a lot of compromises. And the fact that, yeah, it was so, it was popular. It was it was commercially viable so fast. Yeah. was number one a surprise and number two not something I planned on and number three it did it changed my life you know because I had been fortunate enough to I think it had been a lot of you know goodwill and and you know uh sort of being known in this space had built up over the years but this was the first time that I actually got to benefit from it and sort of seize the means of production if you build it.

Yeah. Because most of the time you're going in and you are, and don't get me wrong, a lot of the jobs that I have pay very well. But they're not steady. Sure. And they are, you know, and if there's like record profits or something, you don't tend to see any of that. Except for at Dropout, which is insane. They do profit sharing and that's crazy. But yeah, this was the first time where I was like, oh, there's a direct correlation between people wanting to hear the art that I do.

and me being able to support myself in just like a really reliable way. And that still actually hasn't kicked in. It's still kind of percolating there. But we've had to sort of realize that this was our passion project, but now also maybe it can be something that we, you know, expand upon and dedicate more of our time to you. because everybody involved is also, like Brennan runs things at dropout, and Lou is the on-camera announcer for Kimmel, and Abria has an empire, like, is the DM.

And so everybody has these other jobs, but that Worlds Beyond Number is the thing that we want to do together for the rest of our life. So we got business married about it. I love that. I love that. It's like you're the Justice League. You all have your own little adventures,

but then you come together, do this thing. Yeah. Oh, God. If sucker punch wouldn't have started making these goofy ass ghost games, maybe there could have been like an infamous Justice League, but Nate left me in the dust on that one, didn't they? CJ splits on super chats and says, would Erica be offended if I did my first play through in Japanese?

They have lip-sinking, no. I wouldn't be offended. No, she'll be offended. That's all being offended face. That's an I'll be offended. It's funny because I, the voice actress who's doing my dubbing, is such a, I'm a fan of her work, and she does such a phenomenal job,

and yeah, they have, like, the lip sync is wild in a way that I don't think any game has ever been able to be before, because, you know, it was important to them to have that full Kurosawa experience. It's still going to be my face and my performance, which hers is based on, So I'm not going to be insulted.

And also, you know, I definitely want to do a play-through with her because, again, I grew up with Kurosawa and also I've been learning Japanese and you learn through immersion. And it's crazy because watching the trailer in Japanese was the first time I saw the dubbing and it just looks like I'm speaking fluent. Japanese, which is messed with my head so.

You're like, when did I? Oh, no, I saw it. Yeah, no, no. And it's also fascinating, too, because now that I understand so much more Japanese, seeing how they translated it and seeing how she interpreted certain choices, is, is, yeah, I will definitely be playing it through in Japanese at some point. but it is that always that question of dub versus sub only i think this time people don't always realize that i am the sub and he's the dub um so yeah not not i'm not at all uh offended because uh it's

it's a different situation and not a repudiation of my performance fair enough all right everybody's free to do what they want. You can play the game exactly the way that you want to. Use the filter you want. Do the thing. You put it in black and white. Let's have some fun. Let's go have some.

But make sure your brightness is all set. Your HDR. But make sure that your gamma settings. Yeah, yeah. One last compliment and then one last question. Mad Rock's Super Chats and says, Oh, crackle, crackle. Amy and Kay have been two of my favorite characters in media.

Cannot wait to play Ghost of Yote with Erica as the main character. and then a bunch of party emojis. Have you gotten used to that yet? People coming to you and talking about how the performances have touched them, the favorite character in media, et cetera, et cetera. It's not, I don't think I'll ever be able to take it for granted, you know? Yeah. Because I got into this.

I became a performer because I wanted to tell stories that affected people. in the way that I was affected, so deeply affected by these things that I was a fan of first. And having people say that I affected them is always going to be a surprise and truly an honor, you know? Love that.

And then our final super chat comes from the one, the only, Ty Wilkins' VO. Ty Wilkins, VO, of course, a kind of funny best friend who's been around for a long time and is breaking into the video game industry or VO industry as well.

Currently Jake on Paw Patrol to the rescue. Ty says, just got out of Vio session early. I thought I was going to miss Erica live. As someone who was a quote unquote tiny tato, Erica, you've always been an inspiration. Thank you for always being a light to look at when chasing the dream. Oh my gosh.

Thank you so much. Yeah, back in my, when I had time to Twitch stream, my chat was the tiny potatoes because like me, they believed in you. You can do the thing. and God, we had some golden times. It's so wild to think about that. I remember, you know, our Christine and Aram, who connected us, I had, I looked back in my emails

and I had an email from like 2014, I want to say, of me asking them to connect me with a developer or a voice actor or something or permission to stream uncharted, you know, for my Twitter. stream and and you know it's it's so wild to be on the other side of that now and i mean as somebody who was part of the tiny potatoes they saw that journey they saw me get my side shave live on geek and sundry and and when i said i want to i want to do voiceover for video games um and i feel like a lot of voice actors i see now like get into streaming after they They are, you know, become huge in voice acting. And, you know, there's, I mean, I really wish I could go back to doing that, you know, to just like, but the thought of playing me on a live stream is still, I don't know that I've, I haven't done that yet.

And that feels. You got to do it, though. Come here and do it. Come here and do it. You don't have to do it on your own channel. Come do us. Give us the revenue. Come here.

Come on. I mean, listen, I'm up in the bay a little bit sometimes. My sister is the mayor of Berkeley. I'm well aware because when you Instagram that a few years ago, I followed her and I see her do stuff in Berkeley. I'm like, awesome. I'm glad she's holding it down. But yeah, I'm up there.

I might. It's whole, that's such a weird thought, especially because like if it was Dragon Age, it'd be one thing, you know? Because like, unless we made a character. That looked exactly like. Thank you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Then, like, that's different, but playing Yote, I just cannot imagine, like, every time we get to a cinematic, not being like, oh.

Ha! It's me. Ha! So, but, yeah, yeah, we should play sometime. Come up, Erica. Oh, my God. You have a heart rate monitor on me. You can see me.

I don't know if we can do it without the treadmill, but we do have a heart rate monitor out there, I know, for stream. So, yeah, we could easily do that for you. wanted it. If that's what it takes that and a, you know, coach ticket on United Airlines, we'll get you up here. We'll make it happen. Don't worry about it. A free trip to come see your sister in Berkeley. Deal. Deal. Erica, thank you so much for spending the afternoon with us. Thank you so much, Greg. This is an absolute treat. And, and you're, I mean, again, like, I looked up to you in this space. And I used to see people wearing your shirts at all of the cons, you know, that we, that we had the.

time to go to. Back in the day, yeah. So, you know, getting to talk to you like this is, is, I never would have been my wildest dreams imagined. Well, don't be a stranger. Come back more. Like I said, come up for this, come up for anything, whenever you just want to shoot the shit, come up. We want to, we want to have you around. We love having you around. Oh, thanks guys. And thanks, thanks for holding it down. Um, yeah, I love games. And I, and I love that other people who love games are able to make, you know, make cool stuff in this industry. So, still. Yeah, 100%. Everybody remember Erica's cool stuff,

Ghost of Yote, is coming out on October 2nd, PlayStation 5, of course. Remember, World's Beyond Number continues to be a juggernaut success. Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform. Go to Patreon. While you're there, subscribe to kind of funny. Patreon.com slash kind of funny, YouTube.com slash kind of funny games. Apple, Spotify, to keep

our lights and mics on. Remember, we're an 11 person, small business making the dream come true in San Francisco. Erica, beyond getting your video game, beyond World's Beyond Number, where should people keep up with you? I am on Blue Sky and on Instagram at Erica Ishii. And also you can see me on Dropout.

If you don't have a subscription to drop out, you can definitely borrow a friend's password. That is encouraged. Yeah, I hope to see you. Oh, also I'll be in Chicago on the end. 8th doing a live Dungeons and Dragons the 20-sided tavern show

which is like a choose-your-own adventure. It's so much fun. It's crazy. And yeah, I hope to be back to play and get jump-scared with Greg. I would love to have you up here. We'd love to do D&D with you when you're up here. There's a whole bunch of cool stuff.

We'll talk offline. We'll figure it out. We'll get a good crossover. Oh, yeah. We did a D&D campaign in the last. last three years. They did one that was all Fast and Furious themed. And then like in 2015, we did one with Critical Role in the apartment. So we like D&D. We just don't do it enough. Let's figure that out. We'll figure that out. We'll get you up here for that. We'll get you up to place in that. Everybody, this has been another episode of the kind of funny games cast.

Remember each and every weekday, we run you through the biggest topics in video games, whether they be reviews, previews or interviews or just things we need to talk about. Like, subscribe, share, ring the bell. If you're a Twitch person, use Twitch Prime, Amazon Prime. You know all the different ways to support. We are taking a break in our live programming day because in just about less than two hours, we'll be back with a kind of funny happy hour for our patrons at the $25 and up level where you can call in and be part of the live podcast with us. But for now, until next time, it's been our pleasure to serve you.