Kinda Funny Gamescast: Video Game Podcast - LEGO Horizon Adventures, Fallout 76 Expansion Impressions - Kinda Funny Gamescast

Episode Date: June 12, 2024

Parris joins the team to talk LEGO Horizon Adventures, Fallout 76 Skyline Valley, and Astro Bot! Run of Show - - Start - Housekeeping - LEGO Horizon Adventures - Ads - Fallout 76: Skyline Valley - Astro Bot Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What's up everybody? Welcome to the kind of funny games cast for Wednesday, June 12, 20, 24. I'm one of your host, Greg Miller, alongside the best voice in the business, Paris Lily. What is up, everybody? There it is. What's your shirt? You got to smash him shirt? What's your shirt?

Oh, yeah. You know, I'm on my villain arc, so I got to have travel chief. Yeah, you got to acknowledge him. Acknowledge him, everybody. Throw him up, Tim. Thank you, Tim. Thank you very much. Of course, he's Forbes 30 under 30.

AKA the second best baby blues, aka the engaged one for a mere few weeks more at Tim Gettys. That's Tim Host. It's going to be weird. What are we going to call you? I don't know. I guess. Yeah, I don't like that, though.

Yeah. She's like, I'm going to annoy you with how much I call you husband. I'm like, I'm already. I don't like it. No, I'm definitely going to be. G. His husband, aka G. G.

Gotcha. Gotcha. Yeah. Maybe I get her Twitter handle in there, too. You know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

And of course, the master of hype. Wearing the shirt he made famous at Summer Game Fest at Snowbike, Mike. I mean, I got a bunch of good t-shirts, Tim. I'll tell you what. But Tim, make sure to acknowledge him. That's Paris, Lily. Acknowledge Paris one more time. Just Paris.

He's the best. He's not until Roman comes back, he has the one. The one means Paris. Of course, ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining us. We are kind of funny games cast. We went to Summer Game Fest in L.A. We saw all sorts of games. Paris actually went all the way over to the UK and London and all that jazz.

But we'll talk about that. second because on the games cast each and every weekday, we talk to you about the coolest reviews, previews, and biggest topics in the video game industry. If you like that, of course, watch us live, Twitch, YouTube podcast services around the globe. Be part of the show since we're previewing games today, but you're probably going to have questions. You're going to want thoughts. You're going to say, I could ask better questions than that, Greg. Well, use the YouTube superchats on YouTube.com slash kind of funny games to ask your question to be part of the conversation. then of course if you love this

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It gets you all of our shows ad-free. It gets the ability to watch us record the podcast live in the afternoon as we record them. And of course, it gets you the multimedia daily exclusive experience known as Greg Way. Some housekeeping for you and our 11-person small business today. That's all about those live talk shows. You've already gotten an Astrobot preview roundup on Kind of Funny Games Daily. We're still going to talk a little bit about that today because I got to know what We're not going to shut up about it.

Is that good? Oh my God. It's amazing, Greg. Okay. Up next, you're going to have me, Mike, and Joey play a little bit of WW2K-24 because we got to unlock my manager card that's in there right now, shirtless. And then, of course, that's so cool. I keep saying it, but like, come the fuck on.

Greg Miller is in WWWE 2K-21. You've all got to go get the card so we can lean on them to put me in the actual game. Because that would be great even for my haters, that they could go smash the shit out of me with chairs and throw me off the. sell and all that jazz. And that's the goal for WW2K25. All right. Of course, there it is. You can get it right now. Free in my faction. Don't worry about it.

And then after that, it's time for Fallout 76. Skyline Valley. I have stayed away from most footage of most things about it. But I'm going to hear Paris talk all about it. I got questions. You got questions. Somebody's played a lot too. I hear there's some wild turkeys out there. I can't wait

to go find them. If you're a kind of funny member right now, you can get to get the Greg away. It's going to be actually you can't get it. I haven't uploaded it yet. but the idea is that I talk out of my ass about the screencast and how many eggs I could eat. Thank you for making our dreams of reality, Patreon producers, Kieran Hovesapien, Carl Jacobs, Fargo Brady, Delaney, DeLaney, Twining. Today were brought to you by better help, but we'll tell you about that later. For now, let's start with topic of the show. I feel like I've been waiting to talk about Fallout 76, Skyland Valley for so long that I'm going to wait a bit longer.

Yeah, there we go. Paris, Timothy, you went and saw Lego Horizon Adventures. at the one, the only SGF behind closed doors. I am a benevolent god and gave up all of my PlayStation appointments to Tim. I appreciate it. So he could play Astrobot

because he of course is the platformer, but I have to ask, I know you're excited about Astrobot. Tim, did Lego exceed your expectations? So here's what I want to do. I just want to say one quick thing and then I want to let Paris go on. I want to get all of his in-depth thoughts on this.

Okay. Yeah. My top level, I'm incredibly surprised. surprised at Lego Horizon Adventures. I went in kind of being like, it is what it is. And it's more than that. It's more than that, Greg. Okay. Very surprised by this. But Paris, what did you think about it? It's so funny. You're saying that because I had the same mentality. I was just thinking, okay, Horizon, Lego, whatever. When I sat down and started playing that, I just had a stupid grin on my face the entire time. It was a lot of fun playing that. And I look at it from the perspective,

of always with these type of games, what would my kids think? Yeah. My kids would eat this up. Kids are going to love this. I get why it's on the switch. It takes the horizon world and it simplifies it down into that Lego universe. And just even the banter that Alloy and some of the other side characters, your companions that you'll have during the time I played, hilarious. Just hilarious in that Lego style.

Obviously, the Lego mechanics that you've seen in some of these other games, they're being a play. lied here into the Horizon world just works and it was fun the co-op part that we did as well loved it oh you guys actually do the couch co-op yep did the couch co-op as well yeah it was it was great i had a blast like if anything when we completed it because i played it about 45 minutes to an hour however long it was and um when we did the boss at the end i was like man i want to play some more of this so yeah they did a great job and we played it on playstation five it's great look look great played great had a lot of fun. So,

Paris, I think I'm aware, Tim, you've never connected with Horizon all the ways. You've played them. Yeah, yeah. Did you finish them both?

Yeah, finished both. I didn't do the D.C. Didn't do Burning Shores. Sure, sure, yeah, yeah.

And, you know, I enjoy it. I think it's beautiful and gorgeous. There's just something about the, like, overall narrative and the main adventure

that just doesn't stand out to me, even though there's a lot of highlight moments that I love a lot. Okay, okay. And then Paris, what's your history with Horizon? Oh,

now I'm a huge Horizon fan. through Forbidden West, obviously everything, Burning Shores, all of that. Yeah, I love it. And that was kind of my thing knowing there is a slight difficulty layer to play in Horizon games. And this makes it very accessible to kids to want to jump in. It's very pick up and play. Playing this game, really, really liked it. So my question then is, where did they start you, Tim?

Was it the beginning of the game? And was it the pretty much pitch-perfect retelling? of it? Or like, how much were you bored? Are you entertained? Where were you, Tim? So, so starting place with this, I feel it plays very differently than the other Lego games, like any other Lego game that I've played. And worth pointing out,

of course, this is Gorilla teaming up with Studio Gobo? Is that how we're saying? Yes. That's what they're saying. So yeah, it's... T.T. Games. Nope. Not TT games. If you're thinking of most Legos, Indiana Jones, Star Wars, Marvel, that was TT games. That is not these... The person that I demoed it with was from Guerrilla. And

I was, like, questioning. So, like, so Gorilla is working on this. He's like, yeah, this is, it's very much a partnership with Gobo, but like, there are our guerrilla team members that are actively involved in the production and development of this. Um, and so that alone, it's like, you hear Lego, you kind of like put into a bucket of what this is going to be. Uh, it, when you look at it, you can tell something's different than the other Lego games. And I, I couldn't place what it was until they, they told me. Every single thing on screen. Every single thing is a real Lego piece. Like other Lego games, it's like, all right, cool, you're a Lego, but the world.

isn't or part of the world's not the sand is sand but then the buildings Lego or whatever totally totally sand is Lego here water is Lego here fire is Lego every single thing can be recreated with real actual Lego pieces that alone to me I was like wow

that's what sets this apart visually and that's how the movies function right the Lego movies this looks like you're playing a Lego movie I've noticed I noticed that with the animation right the way ALO is bounding around It was like, oh, that's exactly the movie.

It's incredibly impressive. It is very, very kind of like mind-blowingly beautiful. And I think it really suits the gameplay well of the, it surprisingly plays like Hades, you know? What? I think of that. What? You know what? You're kind of right, yeah.

And just in the sense that like you're, you can control the camera. You're very much in like the camera is set to, the, the camera is set to, the, way that it moves and the way that you're doing the different attacks, it's very kind of like grid based and like the way you're shooting your arrow. It's, uh, and I'm, you know, I'm saying Hades because I've been playing a lot of Hades. Sure. There's a lot of other games to do that, too. But, um, yeah, just in terms of the basic combat, it really feels like the basic combat of Hades. Okay. A lot more simple. Sure. Like, not the most simple, not the most dumb down. Like, this is very much a kid experience, but like, there is something here for us too. I don't think

that it's necessarily like, oh man, this is going to be the best game you ever play. But like, course. There's fun here. And now to answer your question, the game, what we got to do did start at the very beginning of Horizon. And it does a Lego retelling of the beginning of Horizon. And it seems like the developers tell me this is going to be a semi-retelling of the first game. But in classic Lego fashions, they're saying that, of course, Horizon 20 to 30-hour game, this is not necessarily going to be that. So things will be cut. It is, they're going to speed through some stuff and maybe take a couple different story directions and he's being vague about some of the other details there. But what we played is straight out of Horizon.

It is very much just the beginning of the game. And to the point of a pair of saying that it's very funny and like to what I'm saying about it being more similar to the Lego movie than to previous Lego games, there were multiple times that I actually laughed. Not just like a, huh, whatever. And that's a great one to pull over real quick. And I know we're watching the trailer sound down. I forgive me if you know it.

audience and I've forgotten from the reaction. Are there voices? Are there grunts? Oh, right, there was. I remember hearing actually, but she actually had like personality. Unlike A-O in the first game. And they were saying that like it's

it's the voice cast from the original game. He said something that made it sound like maybe it's not all of them. We can wiggle a little bit on this. Like it, the core people are. But one line that I wrote down that like, I think is a good example of the level of comedy that this game hits. A bunch of the villagers get taken or whatever.

and the warrior one, I forget her name. She's just like, how many people did they take? And she goes, I don't know. You know how hard it is to count without fingers. And they're just something about the delivery of it was so good. And it's like, they just get it. They get what they're doing. They get who they're making this game for.

And I just think it's a really smart retelling of a story to a new audience like kids that might not have played Horizon, but even for people that have played it, getting these like little bits like that that like it's like oh that's clever that's funny and like for a Lego humor that we've now had for at least a decade like I feel like the Lego games have always

had it the Lego side movies and like animated things have always kind of had that vibe too but the Lego movie instilled a different style of comedy that more Lord and Miller type vibe I'm getting that from this so yeah very very impressed

okay Michael Howard, what do they got to do to get you to pick up the controller for this one? I guess co-op, how easy is it? Is it a drop-in, drop-out? Is it the whole experience? I want to know about cope, and then I have another follow-up one as well. It's a co-op, two-player co-op. You can play online. It is not cross-platform with Switch, and it is drop-in, drop-out. Nice. And then the customization, we saw a really cool little base building mechanic, not as in-depth as a survival game, but there was some customization of making it fun. What is that?

Really, really fun, actually. There's another thing that surprised me. So there's this, your little base, like you kind of upgraded it over time, and it seems pretty simple, but it seems like all it really needs to be for what they're doing here. But the cool thing is, you upgrade it,

and they'll be like the store or, like, the little training grounds or, like, all the different buildings. You can then go in and just change the style of those buildings. So it's like, you can change it to, so the entire world is Njago style, or the entire world,

is Lego City style or classic Lego style. And then you unlock some of the more iconic Lego figures, like the Spaceman or the skeleton or, you know, like one that I saw like the little Indiana Jones rip off kind of like Tomb Raider type character. Like I was very interested. Oh man, they're doing this right. Paris.

What do you think about that? Yeah, I loved it because like I took the one building and I made it a tall neck. And then to your point, you can go in and unlock some of the classic Lego. you know, characters or suits or however you want to describe it as well, which is funny. I mean, they're not taking themselves too seriously in this game. And that's what I like the most about it. Like you even were mentioning before with the joke about not having fingers, even when Aloy gets her scanner for the first time.

I forget the exact dialogue to it, but the way she's just like, whoa, you know, so excited about it. It was just very funny, laugh out loud kind of stuff. I think they're doing this right. They're doing it really good. I think, again, Mike, to your point, this is very accessible that to go pick up, whether you do it co-op or just want to do it on your own. They make it very easy to jump in and play. And, you know, the dialogue's very, you know, lighthearted.

And even though it's kind of retailing zero done, they're doing it in a smart way. I think the guerrilla rep, I was playing what he said, probably about eight hours. You could complete this, you know, in a sitting. So, yeah, it's fun. Looks good. My next question would be, as a long time. fan of Lego games and a fan of Horizon, how are they doing mission structure open world, right?

In the old days, we'd seen Lego games like the old Star Wars. You were very specifically picking what you're going to go do. And then, of course, it evolves into things like the Lego Batman series where it was. You're an open world, Metropolis, open world, Gotham, go find the thing. What does this look like in terms of connective tissue? We didn't get to play too much. Like he said, it was about 45 minutes. So the first mission that you play by yourself is kind of just like the open.

And then they jump you ahead just a little bit like not much like still opening hours of the original game and we did some co-op there It does not seem open at all like it seems it seems very linear seems very Yeah, it's very linear chapter mission based but then in between the missions there is your kind of like home base that you're adding to and like changing up the The aesthetics of but yeah it's not open world at all. Okay, fair enough Where are you expecting to come down on price Tim? do we not already know no right now if you went to at least and please correct me if I'm wrong

the PlayStation page just has a wishless button not a pre-order button not an actual thing yeah I don't know I feel like it's tough to say because I do think this feels budget but I do think just in the sense Not a dirty way No yeah no no no like a purposeful way Like Ratchett and Clank 2016

Like I feel like budget you know I take that back I shouldn't have even said that word I feel like this this seems like a smaller title that I feel like will be priced to reflect that. But I don't think in terms of budget, this game looks high budget. I can't stress enough how impressed I am with the visuals of the game. You feel like you're playing a Lego movie. That's so impressive.

So yeah, I think that there's a lot there. But I don't know, with modern pricing, it gets a little bit weird. But like, I think 50 bucks would be like a great, great price for this. Okay. and they're saying holiday 2024? Yeah. Barrett Courtney from the peanut gallery.

Actually, you know what I was going to, I was thinking this the other day, or in the shower today. We should start calling when you pop up. Oh, we have a question from the BCC, the Barrett Courtney Corner. I like that. They get a little graphic put around you,

the BCC. The Boss Baby's Book Corner, remember that. I do remember that. I put this question in chat. I'm just wondering from y'all on the panel. Do we think this was the rumored Zero Dawn remake that like, Remember it was rumored like a year or two ago and then we never really heard anything about because I was thinking of like how weird shots not leak for that?

No Maybe I don't think so remember that but like I just think it would be such a weird play to like do a retelling of the first game but then also remake the first game So I think I think that's a good call the fact that gorilla was heavily involved in this you know from a resource standpoint. How are they doing this and doing a real you know remake of zero done at the same time? So this is this. is probably it. It's in Unreal 5, too. So I don't know. I bet that they're still doing that. I bet they're still doing it.

Because again, I think now more than ever, you can see they clearly think Horizon is a pillar franchise of PlayStation. So again, when you get closer to, they're the Amazon show or the Netflix show. There's a God of War show and then there's the Horizon show. Pretty sure God of War is Amazon.

Okay. Yeah. So when they get close to that Netflix show, is it going to be the same thing as last. us where they want. You buy a PS5 and there's the white and blue box that is. One thing I want to point out and this might have just been

a demo, a preview issue is it had that weird there's no sound effects problem. Like there was a lot of things where the characters would be talking to each other and the VO was great and the music's great but like clearly there was supposed to be sound effects and they weren't happening. It reminded me of like a kingdom hearts trailer.

Sure. And it was off because it didn't match the production and I asked the dev. I'm like, is there supposed to be sound effects here and he goes oh yeah yeah definitely and I was like well there's not and he goes oh that might be a demo problem so that's just a weird thing I didn't get like he said that they're supposed to be sound effects there definitely were not sound effects I don't know I didn't notice that okay so I think that might have just just been your I there was like a crash one time when I play but again demo whatever totally just want to point that out because it is something

I flagged of like oh this is not up to snuff if this is the the plan for this but um they told me it wasn't so I got one topic but two super chats that I think pertain to it. All right. I'll read them both and we'll go from there. Mello Fellow gives a super chat on YouTube.com slash kind of funny games, just like you can be part of the show and says,

dumb reasons aside, will Lego Aloid be the best Aloy? And then C.J. falls up and says, what if Aloy acts more like Lego Aloy in part three? I find that an interesting one. Of course, who knows how far along they are on part three. But I think as somebody who loves the Horizon games,

I do agree with the criticism that AOLO is pretty bland in them. And I think they did a good job with Burning Shores of giving her more to work with emotionally and having her actually talk through what her emotions are. And so it's kind of a sliding scale of, I think they recognized there was an issue, or at least feedback, started to address it in Burning Shores,

and I would expect Part 3 to tackle it more. But I do wonder if the amount of fun this voice cast had making this game will somehow lead to fun over that. I don't think so. I think that there's a middle ground that they're going to want to hit, and I think that, like it sounds like you're saying, and Bernie Shores, they even start going more in that direction. I think they'll find.

Like, I very much enjoyed this. I think it's funny. I think that there's a lot of, a lot to love in the, in Ashley versus performance here. It's an annoying character. It's a Lego game. You know what I mean? It's like, this character ramped up to like, be very quippy and be very like,

ah, ah, ah, ah, like, this is not like a good, strong. Oh, we wanted to be more like that. It's just, oh, it's maybe she cracks a joke or two. Yeah, yeah, but like, this is definitely, I think, ratchet up in a way of, like, this is not the direction for the main character. but I think it's a great take on a character for this Lego world that they're building but like I do for my experience

with this it is not the answer to just take this character and be like yeah and three she's gonna be more like that like I think that's way too far do you agree I agree this is the most personality that Aloys had in a Horizon game but this is not the alloy that you would want in part three

no Paris my question again is from the Lego camp of my head you know because I got the Lego camp I got the Horizon camp again the TTIE games I would love as a trophy hunter because they were collectathons. They were sure, do the story, but then you're doubling back to unlock new characters to try to get Master Jedi or whatever it is, you know, true hero, true believer in Marvel, like get all the studs, pick up all this stuff.

Paris were there hints at that when you were playing it? I understand, I can visualize the combat because I'm seeing it. What was the moment to moment outside of that looking like? I don't think so. I mean, I don't know what Tim thinks on that, but it didn't, seem like it to me. No. I would say no.

Nothing that stands out to me that it would be that way. Like it was a collectathon at all. No. It was interesting where it's definitely like what we saw is not the traditional Lego. There's things everywhere to get because again it is. Smash and break into pieces.

It's so linear and like you can't move the camera. So it's like the map is what it is. So it's like there's not really like a ton of hidden areas. Having said that, um, there's a, the gameplay is very simple. I think overall it's very simple,

but I don't think it's like so simple that there's like nothing to do. Like I think an example is, so it's one stick controls, right? Like you're not using the second stick at all. Like it's designed to the camera. Little kids can play it and all that stuff. But there's a lot of like fun things that like,

even though it's only one button to like shoot your arrow, right? There's fun strategy where it's like if you shoot your arrow through a, a burning, a campfire. The arrow lights on fire and then it can like hit a bush. and it burns the bush. And if you burn the bush, there might be a secret behind the bush.

You know? So there's like different setups, like even in what I played where it's like there's, there was two, it's one path, but there was the main path forward that you definitely have to do

the arrow thing to get through and to progress. But then if you look, it's like, oh, there's a challenge version of this of like there's two bushes next to each other.

Okay. If I shoot the arrow through that, it'll burn that, which will lead to burning that. And then once that happened, I unlocked like a, some secret collectible, something, but like, it wasn't like there's things

everywhere. It's like, it just seems like there are kind of like, ratchet up challenges to get stuff, which I thought was like pretty, pretty cool. Yeah. And again, it just, it adds to the, it doesn't just feel like break a chest, get a thing. It feels like part of the reward is

the animations that are happening of seeing the bushlight on fire and like it all being actual Lego pieces. Like, it's very cool. And like, there was a waterfall and you go behind the waterfall. It's better be a chest back. Totally. It's. Like there is things to get, but I don't feel like that's necessarily the, the point's not collected thought.

I think the point is experience. Yeah. You just reminded me, Tim, of one one fun gameplay mechanic. I guess it was towards the end when you fought the boss and there's the human enemies that you fight as well. You can pick them up and you can throw them and there was like that thorn area and you can throw them into the thorns as well. And that provides damage.

Then you can pick up those barrels. They're like bombs and you can throw them at the boss as well. So it's a little, little fun. stuff like that you can do as well, you know, from the traditional gameplay that you would see in Horizon. What I thought you were going to say is, uh, the, the boss fight that we did, uh, towards the end was really cool because yeah, there's these little bombs you can kind of pick up like barrels, you throw them and then they explode on the grass and they let the grass on fire.

And the effect of it looks so cool about Lego flying on fire. Like is like it's like literally every single thing in the game's like, like every yeah, uh, which is so impressive in the Lego grass as well like you went to Horizon. Yep. But what I thought was really cool, this is basic stuff, but I feel like an example of the game not being like

the most simple. It's for four year olds type stuff is in the boss fight, you can shoot off different pieces of the armor of the character and it's literally shooting the Lego pieces off of it. Oh, nice.

And you don't need to. You could just keep attacking, attacking, attacking, and it'll eventually kill the thing. But if you wanted to have a bit more strategy and you wanted to play this like a bit more of a quote unquote grown up game, it's there.

The flexibility's there. and like they are designing this around knowing that there are probably going to be a lot of parents playing with their kids and co-op and being able to make it a fun experience for both of them equally in different ways. Yeah, I really think this is one to keep your eyes on and to not write off as just another Lego thing.

Okay. Okay, Mike, are you to keep your eye on it? Yeah, I actually am. This really sold me and got me excited, especially the idea of online co-op is a big thing for me. I'm in. Well, I mean, there's a super chat. hear from Joey Burns, not our Joey.

Joey Burns. I think it points out pretty clear. You're going to be excited for couch co-op, too, because Mike's kids will love Lego Horizon. Me and Andy are going to play it too. You and your best friend. And then also a super chat from kebabs who will never give up his your wrong credentials, pointing out that, of course, it makes sense.

TT Games is Lego movie game also had everything as Lego too, which would be obviously. You're correct in terms of like the Lego Batman's and all that. They used things that weren't Lego. But yeah, obviously, like a movie, which everything was Lego and the, body's being inspired by that. It makes perfect sense. Just like you supporting kind of funny makes perfect sense, ladies and gentlemen with the kind of funny membership, you help our 11 person, small business. That's all about live talk shows. Keep the mics and lights on. It's not, though. 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. I'm just looking at now. He's on fire and that's fire. Like in the

Lego game. Yeah, Lego movie game. Cababs, you have now, you now owe me a $10 super chat to apologize to Tim. All right. That's what it's got to be, kebabs. Thank you, we're sorry. We apologize about that.

Kabbbs, but those are the rules. You gambled with your wrong, and now you pay the price. But of course, it's never a gamble. These are kind of funny membership. You get good karma. All of our shows ad free.

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Paris went and saw it, but I don't want to hear from Paris. I want to talk to Snowbike, Mike. My companion in the wasteland, what do you need to know right now about Skyline Valley, Mike? I need to know a lot, Greg. I want to know a lot because I'm very excited about this. It's not a new expedition. It's we're adding onto the map. First time.

That map is very special to me. It's actually one of my, if not my favorite fallout map. And I have a lot of ties to it. I love the beauty of it. I love how scenic it is. And I'm a little worried, Paris, because there's a big thunderstorm coming. And it kind of looks a little wonky to me, and I don't like the look. So I have some questions about the map.

I also have some questions about the missions. And I want to know a little bit more about fall or vault 63. That's right. So Paris, let's start us off. Of course, what are some of your initial thoughts of jumping into Skyline Valley? So I got a chance to play about a couple hours of it when I went out to Xenamax, London, a couple weeks ago. And they drop you right into it. I believe you need to at least be level 25.

I'm pretty sure I remember that correctly. But you need to at least be level 25 to take the mission that starts off that quest that will take you to Vault 63, which opens up Skyline Valley. So to your point, Skyline Valley is an actual expansion. to the map that you see in Fallout 76, to Appalachia. You don't have to hop on a plane or anything or do an expedition to be able to go to this. It is a part of the map. You'll see it when you jump in and play and then you can go visit it. The opening mission is pretty cool to be able to get into Vault 63.

There's a couple different. And I don't want to spoil anything, but there's a couple different things you have to do. You're introduced to some of the new enemies, which I believe are called the lost. And once you get to Vault 63, that opens up a whole bunch of different other quests and missions that you'll be able to do for various characters inside of Vault 63. But that new area of Skyline Valley is really cool. Like you're mentioning the lightning and everything and just that that look that it has that dark. What's the word? I'm looking for?

Overcast look that that is Skyline Valley compared to the rest of the map, you know, in Fallout 76. and there's some cool things that are going to happen as we progress through through this new expansion that's coming in there. I had a chance to sit down with Jonathan Rush, the creative director for Fallout 76, and he just kind of did an overview of their future plans. We obviously saw something that's going to come in 2025 where the ghoul is going to be playable. I'll put a pin in next. I'm sure you'll have questions about that. You know it. Put into detail as well.

But overall, it's solid. Like it's like I even mentioned to him like I was not playing Fallout 76 until the television show. The television show is what got me into Fallout 76. But since I've been playing it, I've really loved this this style of playing Fallout and the cooperative aspects that you can have in and just how friendly the community is and all the public events that you can do, the side missions. Obviously the main missions, expeditions. and they're bringing all that here into Skyline Valley. It's almost the way he described it is a culmination. He showed a graphic of since the game started

all the additional things that they've added into the game and it's really impressive. But this right now, Skyline Valley's kind of culmination of all of that. Really quick for everyone listening out there, of course. Remember, if you jump into Fallout 76, you can get the instant boosts to 20. So when you hear at 25, it's like, oh, no, that's a long grind at all. we jumped in right at 20 which is really awesome. I didn't.

Your level, I know you did. Come on now, Greg Miller earned it. And so you will level quite quickly for that. Parrish, you said you jumped right in, but I guess I would write to rewind just a moment. What is that initial acceptance mission in? How will we see it? Did they talk about how we on the outside will go down to it? Or should I just walk down there?

So you can walk down there, but you won't be able to get into Vault 63. That's kind of the point. It's purses like, you know, you know how in other missions. It's like, there's a radio signal. Yeah. Let's go investigate. And it's not, it's not taking you to Skyline Valley. You actually have to go north of it to find this.

And then you traverse back. Because when I initially start playing, I'm like, well, where the hell is this thing? And the person helping me was like, well, if you scroll up on the map, you'll see it. I'm like, okay, I'm an idiot. And then then that kicks it off. And then, you know, there's, like I said, there's a few different things that'll happen. but eventually you will get down in the skyline valley that will then take you into a redacted area.

I don't want to spoil it. And then from there, that gained you access into Vault 63. Does this expansion feel not like a new game, I guess, but does it feel unique in terms of like this is a big moment in the game? Good question. To me, it felt like a natural extension of things that you've already. been doing, but skyline Valley itself, just the aesthetic look of it is very unique from other

places that you have, you know, in the current map. Yeah, that's my thought is, does it always have that ominous lightning storm overhead? Because like I brought up, I really enjoyed the original map of how beautiful it is. You have this kind of fall setting with the leaves changing and you'll get the sun in the night. So it's always going to be like that red skyline. Exactly. You're going to have that look the entire time. And then there's like, environmental hazards, I believe, like lightning strikes, things like that that can happen in there. There's specific type of public events that happen down there compared to other places on the map as well. So it gives you a unique field. Like you will definitely know when you're in Skyline Valley

when you're doing anything in that area. Speaking of public events, there is a new public event down there, which is dangerous pastimes. You become a storm chaser. Me and Greg last week for Joey, we got to see a bunch of the public events that have happened over the years. What is this new? one like what will we be doing did you get to try it I did not because I was so damn focused on getting the vault 63 that it's like the time just flies by so fast I'm like just feeling like I was just getting into some really cool shit and they're like okay no you need to stop Paris I'm like oh great so I didn't get to experience it so to your point I just got the briefing on it as well but I

haven't done it myself so my question then becomes something that I think is probably hard to quantify but I wonder if they said anything in the demo or the presentation. How long is this? And I know that's such an open-ended question because we're talking about events. We're talking about dailies. We're talking about adding on to this whole thing. Did they try to quantify how big the map was or how much stuff there is or anything like that? He didn't. And it's funny because because it was a group of like myself and like other fallout creators and some media that that were there. And when he was talking to us about it, he didn't want to put a number on it for almost the exact reasons that you're saying because there's so many other

side activities and public event activities that, sure, you could just mainline the stuff that you would do in that, but you're constantly going to be doing this and that, that he didn't want to put a number other than to say it wouldn't be anything out of the ordinary of other type of main mission things that you already had been doing in fallout 76. So my next question then, Paris, is I have the polder question, but about quality, where you and I have a very similar story in terms of I've come back hard to fallout 76, since the show. And I had done it at beta.

I had done it at launch a little bit. Me and Blessing had done the Wastlander's NPC drop for a weekend. But this is the one where suddenly I looked down to the PlayStation and the clocks at 70 hours. And I'm like, oh, I've put a lot of time into fall at 76. I find myself at times like,

oh my God, this is such a cool quest and I'm so into it. And then at other times like, this is nonsense where they're saying whatever and I run to do the thing and I come do the thing and I'm just done with it. I'm not. Did you feel,

with this being the culmination of all these additions and things they've added and expansions and expeditions, did this feel like, man, this feels more like fallout storytelling than ever? Yes. Okay. Yes, 100%. And that was something that we talked about as well

because they've clearly been listening to the community and things that they want to see. So like when you do some of these missions out of Vault 63, the MPC characters in there, remind you of MPC characters that you would see in the mainline fallout games. just the way the dialogue's happening, things that you'll have to go do, et cetera.

So definitely a step up in quality as far as that goes. Yeah, I was getting everything in order last night and I was running around doing some of the Brotherhood stuff I have. I'm like, this is lame. You guys are lame, but I got to do it, but I don't like anything you're saying.

I'm just talking to some other raider. I'm like, this feels weak sauce. So I'm hoping that this is not a kick in the ass because I'm still obsessed, but more of a like, oh, I want to see all of these new threads through. Yeah. And then there's also the Goliaths that are in, in Skyline Valley as well.

Again, timing-wise, I didn't get to actually experience it myself, but they got to show us that during the briefing as well. So that's kind of the region boss. And you can team up with people and go fight them and do all that stuff too. And then like I said, you have the loss,

which are like the new enemies that are in the Skyline Valley area, and you'll encounter them pretty early on as you're going into Vault 63. Yeah, I'm really looking forward to the Goliath. It looks like there's three giant Goliaths that you'll fight in the, crazy arena altogether. I'm also looking forward to more base building.

I think a thing that I've always loved about Fall at 76 is seeing my friends and their cool, unique encampments that they build out there. I think of Kevin A. Sacks and what he built, Mr. Hawks, we've seen. We've seen yours as well, Greg. Did they touch on any new items being added into the game? I know right now they're promoting a fun like Pioneer Scouts type vibe, which I'm sure is like a Cub Scouts aesthetic, but did you see any cool new additions? Um, nothing that I can remember.

I didn't take any notes on the new. There are going to be new items that you're going to be able to get out of the atomic shop and obviously build out because, you know, that's what Fallout 76 does. But nothing I specifically remember other than I just, I do remember him talking about, obviously, you've already done some collaborative stuff, you know, with show and all that. And they're planning to do, you know, more, more fun camp item things that you'll see throughout the season. One of those things, yeah, I, I, you're talking about the baseballing and I get it. for me, it's this new power armor looks sick.

Have you seen this? No, I haven't. Barrett, I dropped a link in here. You could buy it. Obviously, I saw it this morning when I went to update my, uh, Fallout 76. I didn't start it. Okay. But I, I opened it up of like, they got a bundle package there on PlayStation.

I think it's 30 bucks, $2,99. I sent a link in the document, Barrett, uh, under Fallout 76. Yeah, I got to reopen it. No problem. No, that's fine. It's from some Nuka Knights guy put his logo on it, but it's still what it is. I swear. And the power armor looks six fuck.

And so it's like, do I want to spend 30 bucks to get this and all the other crap that I want to actually use. 100%. That's how they get you. Yeah, yeah, it's 100%. Good looking. And then a jet pack and then a little guy. And then I was sad for the marshal.

The season, like I didn't like the season theme last time around. This last season with the surfboards and shit, no thank you. This season is, Tim, this season is hosted by a marshmallow. All right, I'm in. Let's get some, I'm going to get the score. I'm going to get everything. I got to go. What did you have to say?

I was just going to say, I don't know if in your brief. did they talk about the caravans? Yes, they did. And I think honestly, what's funny is the briefing I saw was the recorded one you were at. Oh, okay. So I didn't get to play, obviously, but I wanted to go. But please explain the caravans. So they're going to be adding caravans in there.

So I'm blanking on the name right now. But you know, you know, the two-headed bulls. Yeah, the Brahmaman. Yeah, Bramas. Thank you. Yes. So you'll have caravans where they'll have scripted routes that they're going through the map. And then you can basically take on assignment.

to protect them from Raiders along the way. And there will obviously be experienced points and some cool items and things that you'll be able to get doing that. So this is another nice new feature that's going to be added into the game to give people more things to do. Yeah, that's what I'm stoked about.

Even though I feel like only scratched the surface, right, of what I'm doing in Fallout 76, where it got its hooks in me were the fact that it finally feels like a Fallout game. Where it is, I run to, towards whatever objective I'm going towards, but then something over there does distract me. Before I know it, I'm three missions away from whatever I was trying to do originally, and I have to think back to get there.

But what I really connect with will fall at 76, and I do want to at some point do a fall at 76 review 2024, right? But what works so well for me with fall at 76 is that everlasting gobstopper of content that is dropping and how much do I want to commit tonight? Do I actually want to do a main story? Do I want to do some quest to try to get my badge? Do I want to go over here, just do it daily? Mr. Hawks from our community,

always popping in to talk to me and drop something or say something. Like, there's always something to do there and how much do you want to commit with it? And like last night, I was, it was very comical, you know. Jen likes me to hang out with her.

Partners, spouses, you know what I mean? This wasn't in the marriage contract. But what that means is I stay on the couch and I play out my portal, right? And so last night, I was doing that.

One of your phony and watching some show with her talking to her. And she's like, I'm sorry that I've, you haven't been downstairs. And it feels like forever with SGF and everything else. And I'm like, no problem.

When it matters, and I need to, I'll be down there. I was like, that's tomorrow, by the way. Tomorrow I want the new content on the biggest screen running through and doing it. Tonight, just horsing around, you know, tweaking my things, making sure my ammo's in order at the ammo recycling machine, trying to get the stuff for my machine gun. I'm like, this I can do here, I don't mind. But when I actually want to be in it and I really want to be in it, I'm excited for this one. Paris, what about iconic locations?

You know, you think of all the fallout maps. there's always some touchstone, some special POIs. What does it look like here? I mean, they of course have some real life, real world different spots on the map. But were there any that you were like, oh, I'm in awe of looking at this? No, nothing that stands out to me. I will say that when you see vault 76, vault 63, that is cool. Okay.

That is cool. But there isn't, wasn't anything real world that I was like, oh, man, that, you know, kind of awesome. But again, I will just say the environment aesthetic of Skyline Valley itself is pretty cool. Just to be in that area at all times is something. Again, it definitely stands out from the rest of everywhere else that you're in 76. I really hope that wins me over because this is my biggest hang up with this DLC right now is I don't want to go back to a big doom and gloom. Look at that guy.

That's going to be my guy, Tim. Put them on anything. I'll buy it. I don't decorate my shitty fucking house, my shitty fucking house. my shitty fucking vault. You give me a plushy of him, I'm decorating. With the second you give him a surfboard, though, you're out. No, I don't do that shit. Only can't. You know it for him, maybe.

If he wants it. Yeah. Did you run into any wild turkeys? Of course, the people want to know what are the wild turkey's all about? Yeah, I'm pretty sure I did, and they were paying the ass. Yes. Oh, okay. Uh-huh. Yeah. Let's talk about the ghoul. Yes.

2025, the ghoul is coming. The community incredibly excited about this. But they were kind of, other than he's coming, mum's the word. Did they give you more? Do they talk about him? Yeah. Jonathan talked about that somewhat.

Yeah, it's not coming this year. It'll be 2025. But he kind of elaborated on why you would want to play as a ghoul. Like as an example, they're immune to radiation. And if anything, it's almost like a health buff when you're exposed to radiation as a ghoul. But then there,

and then he wouldn't elaborate on this, but there will be minuses to being a ghoul as well to obviously give you incentive to want to play as a normal human character as well. So I mean, obviously more information to come on that. But it's, again, feedback from the TV show. People obviously excited about ghouls, things like that. So that's going to be a cool alternative now. When you're in 76 to want to play as a ghoul, you're going to have pluses and minuses, you know, to try and balance it out. Yeah, I think that'll be cool.

I would be so reluctant to roll a new character. and I know there's plenty of other people who, again, Tim, I know you don't play. But I'm in there and I'm seeing, oh, I'm level about to be 50, right? And then somebody rolls by me at 468, somebody rolls by me at 1,300. You're like, Jesus Christ, you know what I mean? There's people playing this as a job, Mike. Yeah, that's what I was going to ask is, did they talk about the idea of not having to re-roll?

Maybe I do something where I take in too many chemicals. I get over-radiated and I can just instantly switch into a ghoul and I remake my character but still stay at the same level, staying personal. No, I think they're keeping that close to the vest. I think they gotta do that. I don't think they'll look at people and say you gotta re-roll and start from zero. I think they'll have something fun with it's like step into that radiation pond and then you come out. You remake your character.

But yeah, I wouldn't do that. In the chat here, Mr. Hawks, uh, fall 76 expert who helps me all the time. Thank you. He says as a ghoul, you won't be able to play as a bloody build and you might have issues working with existing factions. Brotherhood of Steel, Raiders, etc. So we'll see more, I'm sure, as we get close on that. But again, that's one of the things that, like, I'm so stoked about being back for Fallout 76

is first off there's so much stuff to do again whenever I want to I can go have a fallout like experience a Fallout quest or whatever but then their commitment and clarity on what they're doing Barrett I put it on Lincoln ride of just like them running through the next four months of content and what they're doing and how they're keeping you engaged and July 4th double XP you know I'll be there Mike

I'll be tearing that place up that team's got to be so happy to hear you and so many others saying that right after the start of what this was with Fallout 76 and it shows you that it does take a lot of time to get these live service games really rolling and finding a good cadence, right? It's always going to be difficult to find your footing and come out and give enough to people like Greg

who are constantly playing it and then find that rhythm of, okay, now we're not overstressing the team, we're giving the community what they want, we feel like we're in a good place, we're seeing it live with a lot of these games and how much it takes to get to that point. Yeah, and he did talk about the fact

that they're obviously aware of how, you're going to get an influx of new players now, you know, people like myself or, you know, returning players like Greg. So making this new content as accessible as possible to get people ramped up as quick as possible to jump in, but also respecting the time of the veteran players who have been playing this, you know, for years. So they got it, they're balancing that out too. And obviously, you know, this, the content is coming out. It should be out now. I guess you can play it right now.

But as they're continuing to add new content, you know, as the various seasons, as they're, rolling to 2025, you know, they're being very mindful of that. And Jonathan was was very adamant that 76 is not stopping anytime soon. This, this community, this world that they're building, they're going to continue to iterate. They're going to continue to listen to the community, you know, and add content, you know, 2025 and beyond. Yeah, they figured it out. I mean, with expeditions, where you could go anywhere and take it to a new little slice of the world, or you could add on to the map, which I hope to see more of. I think that's a really cool idea of hey we're already having an established map what if we add a new region down below it or above

it will be cool to see in the future i'm chasing one that went through the chat there a little bit more ghoul information than i'm trying to i'm not going to probably nail by the time we did but it is the fact that i can find igN confirming that the ghoul has a level 50 plus requirement and so it's that that part is true and that was it was mentioned in one of the comments and the comments said that you could switch back and forth which would be dope which would be cool but i can't fully confirm that that's not mentioned in igon's already that I can find. Yeah, I read that, I read that comment too.

They said that somewhere on Twitch, it was confirmed that level 50. There's a main quest that turns you into a ghoul and then you can like turn back. That's cool. That's cool. Wow. That's a fun thing to do out there. Tim, what's it going to take? Oh, I'm not a chance in hell.

I'm so happy you're having to find. This is great. I'm very happy for you. Very, very happy. I think. I don't know. But sounds like good stuff overall. It sounds like great stuff overall.

Of course, Mike, Joey and I are streaming it right after this episode of the gamescast. before we get out of here, I have to say, Paris, I heard Tim yak all about it on Kind of Funny Games Daily today. How was Astrobot? Dude, this is, this is PlayStation's 3D Mario moment, I think. It's, it was so freaking good. That's what I want to hear. It's so good.

You know, I love Playroom already. So to then pick up the sticks and seeing how they're expanding upon that idea until this full-blown game, the platforming in and the, missions, the font, I just, the way they're using the dual sense in this, it's fantastic, man. It really is. I don't, I don't see how this is not a hit for them. I just, I just don't see it. I was listening to Tim when you were talking about it on KFGD and you were mentioning like, like the ratchet characters or God of War, stuff like that weren't necessarily doing classic things, you know, when you're rescuing them. I guess it didn't bother me in the moment. I was just so

excited playing the game but but i get what you mean and it seems like you know getting towards the end in the demo obviously with the crados part maybe they will do some of that with some of the characters but um overall this was just strong to me because i'm a huge Mario fan i love the galaxy you know the odyssey type games and that's what this felt like to me so i'm i'm all in day one it's it's one of the most glowing previews i ever yeah yeah real talk it this demo was fantastic yeah Mike hey talk shit about the dual sense now Mike hey as long as I can talk to you via the dual sense then I'm on a positive start it don't start it of course now I will say I will say and shout out to PlayStation for for getting me in I tell the story super quick I missed my original

appointment because a certain company was having all their events across town and I could not get my Uber to get over there in time but uh they did get me in on the last day so so I could play it But even when I was playing Astrobot, the PlayStation REP that was there, I did get slightly stuck on one part. And she was openly mocking me and laughing at me. And I remember that. So get his ass PlayStation. Get these X-Cast fuckos. They can't play games.

They don't know what they're doing. You can hear all. It's so good, man. You can hear all of Tim's thoughts on Astrobot on Kind of Funny Games Daily. And you can hear all of Paris's thoughts on Astrobot over on his own YouTube channel. Isn't that right, Paris? That's right. You sure can.

Paris Lilly find them on YouTube. Killing it, dude. Great job over there. Oh, thank you. And thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for watching another episode of the Kind of Funny Games cast. Of course, we'll be back tomorrow with more embargoed previews from SGF, just like we are each and every weekday to talk to you about the coolest reviews, previews, and topics in the video game industry. Of course, we are Kind of Funny Games.

We are an 11-person business all about live talk shows. You get games daily at 10 a.m. you get the games cast at 11 a.m. And then at noon you get game streaming. Mike, Joey, and myself are about to head to the stream room. Unlock my manager card in WW2K24 and then promptly get into Fallout 76 to get lost in Skyline Valley. If you like all of that or any of the stuff you've seen this SGF week, please support us with the Kind of Funny membership on patreon.com.

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