Kinda Funny Gamescast: Video Game Podcast - Lumines Arise, Possessors Reviews - Kinda Funny Gamescast

Episode Date: November 11, 2025

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Starting point is 00:00:00 This episode's brought to you by ORAFrames and Shady Rays, but we'll tell you about that later. What's up and welcome back to the Kind of Funny Games cast for Tuesday, November 11th, 2025. Of course, I'm your host Tim Geddes. I am joined today by blessing at E.O.EA. Jr. Good day, Tim. Greg Miller. Hello, Timothy. And Andy Cortez.
Starting point is 00:00:27 Hey, Tim. Man, this is a little Asus R-O-G Xbox ally putting out some heat, warming my tendrils. Yeah, yeah. You have cold little tendies right now? Yeah, right now. A little bit chilly in here. This is really hit the spot right now. The Y button still gets stuck?
Starting point is 00:00:42 No, it just, it's, well, the way you do it. Only when you do it. Look, fine, fine, fine, fine. Then you do, you come in here with your mountain do feet. I have strong fingers, man. You're doing something weird. You're doing some kind of snake push on it. That's what you're doing. It's doing a snake push, everybody. Remember, this is the kind of funny games cast each and every weekday.
Starting point is 00:00:57 We get together to talk about the biggest reviews, previews, and topics in video games live on YouTube, Twitch, and podcast services around the globe. If you love what we do, please support. us with the kind of funny membership on Patreon, YouTube, Spotify, or Apple podcast to get all of our shows ad free and get a daily exclusive show. For a chance to be part of this show, YouTube Super Chat in, and we'll get to it as we go, except we won't because this is pre-recorded.
Starting point is 00:01:23 We're pre-recordinging this one. Ben's got the day off school and I got to be here to talk about Lumeness or I's. Then PlayStation saying, hey, we're going to do this state of play. That sucks. What the hell? I'm excited. Why are they doing it on a day where I got to stay home with my kid? Who was on Games Daily? It wasn't you.
Starting point is 00:01:36 No, it was Roger. Roger. Yeah, me and Rutch. Yeah. Predictions. Let me see. We talked about possible hints of Stellar Blade 2, maybe like Final Fantasy Part 3, right? We talked about, like, Kingdom Hearts 4 probably not going to be there.
Starting point is 00:01:57 Night Rain D.C. Night Rain D.L.C. And Fancy Blade Zero released year. Release year. Yeah. They told us they're going to tell us this year. One year it'll release. Well, I haven't gotten it.
Starting point is 00:02:06 I was listening. to the KHD, my favorite was Roger bringing up Deca Police. And I was like, wow, what did like a deep pole? I'm not heard Deca Police in like years. That's crazy that Roger is able to remember that. And then like 30 minutes later while I'm at my desk, I look to the left and I see Rogers monitor and there's like a game rant article of like
Starting point is 00:02:21 top 10 upcoming Japanese games and Deca Police was on his screen. I was like, this motherfucker. That's what you got to do. It's no like Mike during fantasy critic typing in Hello Games. Everything game. No Man Sky game. Oh, man, a little housekeeping for you.
Starting point is 00:02:39 We're an 11-person business, all about live talk shows. Of course, you already got an episode of Kind of Funning Games Daily, talking about all the biggest stories in video games. After this, we're doing a sponsored Good Night Universe stream. Then we're live reacting and reviewing the PlayStation State of Play, which I'm very excited about. I'm not expecting Final Fantasy here, only because I'm convinced it's at game awards.
Starting point is 00:03:00 But, hey, I'll be pleasantly surprised if it's there tomorrow, you know? Or today, if you're watching. Yeah, we were mentioning it's not, it will always be weird until it happens. And this being like the first time this has happened, there's no precedent set. We have no idea. Why would they do this if not to announce some cool bangers? It is weird too that, not to go too far into this, because that was what Games Daily yesterday was about. But they're calling it, say to play Japan, but then in the description they're like,
Starting point is 00:03:30 but we're also covering a lot of other Asian territories. So it's like, I wonder is the focus? I don't know. Something about that's just... Well, that's why I'm assuming Phantom Blade Zero and a lot of the Project China Hero or whatever... Yeah, China Hero Project.
Starting point is 00:03:42 I got to assume there's going to be some announcements around there as well. Asia. Yeah. Why focus on... Why call it Japan? Yeah, you're right. I don't know.
Starting point is 00:03:50 You're not wrong. Anyways, if you're kind of funny member, today's Gregway, is a Roger Joint, so you can check that out. Thank you to our Patreon producers. Carl Jacobs, Omega Buster, and Delaney, the Somme Twining. For now, we'll start with the topic of the show.
Starting point is 00:04:05 Luminese, R.E's... Tull. That's a brand new way to say Lumines, Luminous, Luminous. You're doing your best Nick's Garpeno impression. Luminous Arise is a video game that you all know about, and if you don't, you better find out because the steam description is as follows. A mind-blowing fiendishly addictive reinvention of the puzzle classic luminous from the creators of Tetris Effect connected,
Starting point is 00:04:30 where sound pulses through your body, mind in every block you place, triggering dazzling visuals synced to the driving beat of an infectious, eclectic soundtrack. The developer and publisher is enhanced and it is out today. Greg Miller. Hi. I got to start with you. No, but I want to start with Bless. Okay. Everyone hears me yell about Luminous all the time. I just did my top 10, or the games that
Starting point is 00:04:52 define me. Luminous is on there. Luminous is in my gamer DNA. Guess what? I don't know much about this one. I want to, I don't know about it. He has talked to me about it. I want to know about Blass. Andy, you didn't touch this one, right? Yeah, I played a little bit of it. Yeah. We'll get to you at the end. We'll get to you at the end. Bless then. What are your thoughts on Luminous I adore this video game.
Starting point is 00:05:10 I've played through the entire thing. I'm not beaten the last level because the last level is pretty tough. So I'm still working my way through that. But I would say this experience has been even better than Tetris Effect. And I love Tetris Effect. That's my guy.
Starting point is 00:05:25 But Luminous arise, I think, as a video game, as an experience is better than Tetris Effect. Even though I would still say that, well, don't clap yet. Because I would still say Tetris overall better than Luminous. All right. Still, Tetris is a better puzzle game. But Luminous. Ulyness Arise is better than Tetris over effect.
Starting point is 00:05:40 Arise over effect. And I'll take it. I'll take the W. The reason I say that is because... That's not like a cool album. Like a Lingen Park. This feels like an enhanced studio learning everything they learned or they learning everything that they could have from making Tetris effect and applying it
Starting point is 00:05:55 and even a greater degree in luminesse arise. Everything is enhanced from music to visuals and all the above. And so I really enjoyed this one. I'll give it a 9 out of 10 on the kind of funny scale. Wow. Amazing. Yeah. On the kind of fucking scale.
Starting point is 00:06:06 I love that. Greg. What are your top level thoughts on luminous or rise? As I've already said, I've been with luminous as long as anybody could be with luminous. I love this franchise, this game, this IP. To start and make it clear, luminous, period. The game of, hey, we're taking these blocks of four dropping down and trying to make two by twos of the same color, is a 10 out of 10 game in experience, unlike anything else.
Starting point is 00:06:31 Again, when it comes, I love Tetris. I love luminous more just as a base game. This is what you're doing. So when you get into, hey, there's a new luminous come out. For me, it comes down to a bunch of different stuff, and it's all really wrapped up in presentation. For me, I think this is an 8.5. I think this is great. I think they have, and will probably always continue to struggle with making luminous cool outside of the game, if that makes sense.
Starting point is 00:06:59 When you're doing what you just saw in that game, fantastic, great. How do you make player progression in that matter? How do you? Why are we're making these new characters called loomies and we're unlocking things for their bellies and their faces and like bunny ears and shit. It's like, I don't care about any of that. And I don't need to care. As you see, the little guy who is block over there that there's that loomy. But it's one of those of like, okay, this is weird and ethereal. When you step onto the main menu, very empty and ethereal, but they're still trying to do stuff and have this.
Starting point is 00:07:30 When you go through when you unlock new names and new monikers, you go into a sign. them and they're not all the new ones you've unlocked are at the top. They're just spread out between the hundred. So you're scrolling, scrolling, scrolling, looking for gamer. But there it is gamer. It's like these are all considerable nickpicks. The game of Luminous is awesome. One of my complaints playing it.
Starting point is 00:07:51 I, you know, you're playing, you're thinking about what you're going to review the game. I was like, goddamn, screens busier than ever. Like, to the point of like, there's one level in this,
Starting point is 00:08:01 right, of the broccoli and the tomatoes. All right, I'm matching broccoli and tomatoes, Tim, and you're chopping them up in there. exploding and they're they I was missing blocks because the effects were covering the thing and I was like I started getting all I'm like maybe it'll just be an eight then and then of course
Starting point is 00:08:13 you can go into the accessibility settings turn all that shit off we'd like just have it just be gameplay if you want to be a weird cycle like me and just be gameplay and do that like it's an incredible game I think if you like luminous or have never played it you're in for a treat it's just like beyond beyond the main course of playing the game we get into the accoutrements because we know luminous is a 10 out of 10 what does it do around that to package it, it does a great job doing that, I think. Could be better. I think they could streamline a bunch of things, but they have a vision of they want you to be these bunny characters or whatever you want to put on your loomie and go out and do it. That's so interesting because
Starting point is 00:08:47 I never even thought about the loomies. Like for me, they're just there. They're never a feature that I interacted with. And for me, this is also my first Luminous game. And so maybe because I'm coming to it fresher, it's hitting a lot harder for me. I think one of the things about Luminous in particular is when you talk to people about Luminous, you are going to find a varied answer as what is Luminous? What does? What you play luminous for, right? They have online. They have local multiplayer. They have online head-to-head multiplayer in burst mode. You have your little red face there on your avatar or on your little banner that tells you like what your battle rank is. I'm never going to care about that. I'll go in and do the
Starting point is 00:09:21 community thing. They do these weekend events where we all like play and like your progress unlocks a fucking astronaut projection. I don't know. That's what it was this weekend. You know what I mean? Like again, weird stuff to give you another reason to play in another thing. But like you're talking about like, you know, the journey mode, right, of going through and playing the whole story. For me, I was like, all, let's get it done. Let's get it's done. Let's get it's done. Because, of course, luminous is all about how long can you go.
Starting point is 00:09:44 It's the marathon mode. That's what, that's what luminous is, limitless for me. So, like, when I got through what I consider the tutorial of the actual, like, hey, here all the things go. Then it's like, cool. Now there's the new mode of just play. How long can you stay alive? Because for me, that was the game.
Starting point is 00:09:57 Like, well, you're calling the tutorial. For me, that was the experience. But again, like, and I think there's so many people who will go at it and just, I'm here for a battling and head-to-head in the online thing, which is never going to be what I want to touch, right? So for me, it is that thing of like, what am I doing as a single-player marathon mode going through and playing that? What is it rewarding myth? What does it challenge me? What's it keeping
Starting point is 00:10:14 coming back for? I want to circle back to this, Greg, talking about the multiplayer stuff. But first, I want to get Andy's thoughts on this from your limited experience. I've only played two hours. I'm glad that I remembered that I that we got codes for this one. I knew I wasn't really assigned to review
Starting point is 00:10:30 it, but it's one that I, thoroughly enjoyed the demo of during Steam Next Fest. I happen to pop into that. It's somebody who never, you know, I don't really play a whole lot of Tetris. Even when Tetris Effect was all the rage, it's something I never really sought out to go get. And I've played it here and there,
Starting point is 00:10:46 but it just doesn't hit for me the way it does for everybody else. But yeah, this game is awesome. You know, while I was streaming that demo, I had to remind myself that I was trying to be entertaining and try to make content because I would just go at, so laser-focused and in the best ways. And not in a way that it's like, oh, I would just like lose myself in like how awesome this experiences and how it just kind of takes over all of your senses.
Starting point is 00:11:14 The soundtrack is fantastic. The way the things, the way all the visuals evolve, I love their different interpretations for like, all right, this new level, here's what we're doing with the shapes now. And maybe it's different color schemes. And it's just a totally different theme. in total. I really, really enjoy what little life played of it. Again, I'm glad that I remember that I had a code for it because I think I've heard Blessen and Greg talk about it. I was like, oh, shit, I, oh my God, we have those. Let me, I definitely got to like start that up. And
Starting point is 00:11:47 I was reviewing possessors at the time. So I decided to kind of like take a break from that, play a bit of Luminous and really, really enjoy my time with it. And it's something I want to get back to. I keep on thinking the last name Maness and the first name, Louis. And it's like, hey, my name's Louie Maness. Louis Maness.
Starting point is 00:12:05 That's all I like you right now. But yeah, super enjoyed my time with it. Along with Tim, I wanted to get back to like, what would Greg improve on this to kind of make the whole experience a better package?
Starting point is 00:12:18 For me personally, I would either, I would go one of two ways. And that would be to either strip out all the stuff surrounding it, the Loomies, what I'm unlocking here. Let's just make it a high scoring
Starting point is 00:12:28 affair, which I think does alienate than maybe competitive people. But again, for me with Luminous, I think you're always going to be competing. Whether it is, hey, I'm competing head-to-head with somebody locally, head-to-head with somebody online. I'm just trying to beat my own high score. I'm just trying to last as long as you can playing it. I think that's what the meat and potatoes of Luminus is. And granted, this is all parsley in set dressing. I admit that, right? But as somebody who's played every Luminous, I was excited to jump in here after, you know, it's been how many years, 20 years since I, oh, Jesus, 20 years since I played it on PSP, right? Like, I'm hoping, I would want a better reward structure, a more interesting, what am I doing, what ladder
Starting point is 00:13:07 am I chasing, what skills am I filling in, what that kind of stuff? What, what set dressing am I really doing here? Then what you get here, what I think is a very bare bones main menu, right, of playlist, your Lumie Pond, multiplayer missions or this. And the missions are... It looks like the Vita home screen. That's what it reminded me of. Sure. I can see that. It's like so Sony coded like old school Sony Japan 100% and that's a great way putting it it is old school Sony Japan coded so yeah I either rip it away and make it just menus
Starting point is 00:13:34 and text and I'm going straight to the next thing to go into it rather than feel like I have to drift my kid and again this is nitpicky shit the game's fucking awesome go by it I love luminous float over my loomy pond to go do this so what I'm caught up on is the multiplayer side that you sound not interested in one side but interested just in the events and stuff
Starting point is 00:13:52 but like this is the one game I know Greg Miller's good at right yeah well yeah Yes, I am. Yeah. But I mean, like, you have to understand, too, like, this is Rocky 5. I haven't boxed in a while. So I come back and it's like, I feel really good. No, I was just checking.
Starting point is 00:14:06 I mean, this is, you know, whatever. It's pre-rank, right? And like, right now, what? Thank you. It took me in a second. You figure for the survival marathon game right now, I'm seventh in the world. Not bad. Now that's, you know, with a limited number of rep, pets reviewers.
Starting point is 00:14:21 I have to stop the podcast just full on right now. Did you hear what Andy just did? You know what that you made a Rocky 5 reference. Well, it was Rocky 4 reference, but do you know what that was? I know, I think I know around it. You probably know what you believe that it's a. Oh, it's the robot. It's the robot. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Starting point is 00:14:40 There's a robot in Rocky. Yeah. Happy where they finally. What's funny is the same voice I imagine you use when you're trying to do the, um, I'm telling friends character. Oh, Alan? Yeah, Alan. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Starting point is 00:14:54 Anyway. So anyways. Yeah. Again, to your point, like the multiplayer, like, we're board's and stuff. Yeah, like, that matters to me in terms of what I play it for. And again, breaking it up, right? So the journey survival, which is the marathon mode, right?
Starting point is 00:15:06 Right now, number seven, not, I, I can be better than that. I need to practice. Look at there. Who's that? Godfrey, number five. Danny Payne, right in front of me. And then look at Jesus. Wario 64, number three. Jesus Christ, Wario 64, post a deal. Don't be playing video games. You know what I mean?
Starting point is 00:15:23 So anyways, like, that's drawing to be, yeah, but I don't, For me, I don't, I've never had a competition aspect. Everything you ever see me get competitive about, I'm faking it because I'm just doing a character when I yell at Tim on showdown. Tim's way better than me at showdown and I don't like losing, but I lose all the time. So like in this, it's like, okay, cool. Like, I don't go to the rankings, but I am very much like shit. I only lasted in survival. Like, this is how you know I'm out of practice.
Starting point is 00:15:46 My first survival run, I finally lock it. I jump in there. I only made like an hour and a half. I should be doing two and a half hours of luminous right there. All right. That's a fucking jump change. That's bullshit right there. I got to get back in the gym
Starting point is 00:15:58 but there's so many goddamn redacteds we have to do So many things for you You know what I mean But that's the that's The excitement for me of it Of like luminous Is a game arise Is a game that will never leave my Steam deck
Starting point is 00:16:11 My I have it on PlayStation as well My laptop out there whatever Like that's always going to be a thing of All right cool Like I'm doing whatever And I'm bored with it on the plane And then it's like wait What if I just did a run a luminous right now
Starting point is 00:16:22 I try to go back and reset my high scores Because in journey there's the survival and then yeah there's these like pods of four as you go like broken up things and you get rankings on those two and it's like for those like I said I beat them and I think for most of them like seed them
Starting point is 00:16:37 you know what I mean maybe you got to be or whatever and it's like it was just to get to here's journey mode of survival let's go so I do need to go back to those and get those to S rank because that's kind of psycho I am of like how I is but here's something else I like to bring up in terms of psychosis something I roll my eyes at a lot is the one and only Forbes
Starting point is 00:16:53 30 under 30 aka second the best baby lose in San Francisco, aka expectant father at Tim Gettys. Because he's always so particular by his d-pads. This D-pad on the rock, just not getting it done for luminous. You know what I mean? I miss my fucking Vita.
Starting point is 00:17:07 I miss my fucking PSP. I miss that's attached to those buttons there. You know, it's a heartbreaker out there. It is. I'm sorry. It's okay. I make do. I make do.
Starting point is 00:17:14 It's the dual sense. I had a question that may not apply as much to blessing, seeing as, like, luminous hasn't always been his sort of jam. And it may be more of a, Greg question, but you're saying that, like, this luminous arise will never
Starting point is 00:17:29 leave your devices, right? Are we kind of in Mario Kart 8th deluxe versus Mario KartRold territory where it's like, this is the new jam, Mario Kart World is going to be the thing, but when Mario Kart World came out, there were still people going, well, 8 Deluxe is still going to be
Starting point is 00:17:45 like the one that I go to for that experience. Do you see this version taken over any other luminous for you? Yes. Yeah, I do. I think. And that's how it really is. You know, when we did the 10 games that define you, I picked Electronic Symphony from the PlayStation Vitas catalog.
Starting point is 00:18:01 Okay. I like the back touch mechanic they had there for increasing your bolt type. I was actually trying to Google it because I'm so rusty on it. You'd have to look it up because I'm talking. But you tapped and I forget what it did to up your score or whatever. I liked that back in the day. And I don't love burst mode. How do you feel about burst?
Starting point is 00:18:17 This is a mechanic. Oh, burst isn't like the mechanic. Yeah. So there's this new mechanic inside of it, right? As you match your blocks and do it, your burst meter is filling in up. at the top. Yeah, you play it. If you don't know everybody,
Starting point is 00:18:28 you're filling in this meter, you see a thing going across and it's like, you know, 5%, 10%, blah, blah. When it gets to 50, you can do a short one, but they want you to get to 100, where basically then the line keeps going,
Starting point is 00:18:38 but nothing has to fall. You make it fall. It's like touch the effect has the same thing. Exactly. And so you're trying to match all the colored bricks into one giant thing to really go crazy and burst it out.
Starting point is 00:18:49 I got in there and I was like, I don't fully get it okay. And then like on my first play-through second world. I hit a, I pop the Steam achievement for hitting 100. And I'm like, I got this shit. And I've not been able to get back to 100. It's so long. You know what I mean? Where I'm doing like fucking 28th, 308s. This isn't going to get it done, Tim. You know what I mean? I'm so bad at this game. So it's like really cool to me. I want to jump in and a second bad free point. Because like this very much feels like I'm reviewing a different game in the way you are. And it reminds me of
Starting point is 00:19:17 like when you see people who are like, I guess the fighting game analogy for me, when I see a fighting game professional talk about the latest street fighter and how they're all like they have nip picks on all these other things where I'm like oh man I liked how the game looked and like how the game plays and I'm not thinking about it on that level. Here when you talk about all this shit where I'm like
Starting point is 00:19:36 oh damn I like the burst mechanic because it makes the game easy for a second because I am like I'm hanging in there. Oh yeah yeah yeah totally yeah I get that and I for the record I love that and that's why I wanted you to go first because I know I'm going to have such a weird old head take on the whole fucking thing versus like you in it and really enjoying it and there was I knew I
Starting point is 00:19:52 almost had, but I didn't want to say it. So when you're tapping, one of the different avatars in Electronic Symphony had different abilities. And so when we were tapping the back touch, you were powering them up to then unleash them. I thought that was a really cool thing. I figured it all my piggy guy had, but I use the piggy guy a lot.
Starting point is 00:20:06 I want to go back to, like, talking about the actual core game, because we have, there's Tetris, we all understand what Tetris is. And then Tetris effect, what is the difference there? It's the crazy visuals. It is the music, and it's kind of the tying those things together with the gameplay to create this, like, emotional
Starting point is 00:20:22 sensation, right? Luminous already kind of had some of those parts, right? Because if you like Tetris effect, you better fucking kiss the ring of Luminous. It was there first for a reason. Where it is, you know, combining gameplay with music in a literal way because of the way that the line moves to the speed of the BPM and all that, right? So that was there in the PSP one, PSVita one, and obviously now. So this just kind of seems like taking two great ideas and meshing them together in a way that Luminous always had cool visual effects, but this is a completely different level. Great, You seem to not necessarily think that's the right move, though. You want to, wanting to turn that off.
Starting point is 00:20:57 Is that there was a percentage of the time you want to turn it off? Or overall, is it just too much? No, no, no. Well, first off, I didn't even bother diving into accessibility until about 10 minutes ago, where I was like, until I read, I was looking through the reviewers guide and they had a thing call out of like, hey, by the way, I was like, oh, shit. So no, it's not like it was so detrimental to the experience. But in terms of trying to figure out how do you critique something that's 20 years old and hasn't,
Starting point is 00:21:21 don't get offended change that much right if you if you played a lot of a luminouser i and then you jumped back into luminous PSP don't get me wrong there'd be a big step up in visuals and yeah but like you know what you're doing pretty quickly in terms of what it's so okay then let me sorry put this in a more positive way does it add to it does this make this a more definitive luminous experience adding all of this stuff i mean definitive i don't like using definitive here because i feel i don't think there's been, there's been Luminuses I've been disappointed in. I remember I don't, I didn't think Luminous too really pushed that far. I remember when they finally brought Luminous one to PS3 on the PSN. It was, it was a very basic port of what it was like that. So it's like, I don't,
Starting point is 00:22:05 I don't know if we've ever searched for, and this is back to like different kind of gamers. I've never been the gamer to sit there and be like, this was the definitive Madden. You know what I mean? I've played a lot of Maddens and there's always something I like or don't like about them, and not recently, but you know, it's the idea of like, but you talk to Mike and Mike's like, no, Matt and blah, 0, 2007 or whatever is like, okay, shit, I don't even remember what the fuck that was. It's a similar thing here where it's always learning,
Starting point is 00:22:29 luminous is always learning from each other, and that's because Enhance has done it for so long and loves it so much. The fact that this game still exists is incredible, because again, it wasn't moving millions of units anytime it's come out. So to get here, like, is it definitive? Yeah, probably. The music's fucking awesome. The visuals, I think, get in the way of the gameplay,
Starting point is 00:22:47 but I think that's when you're talking to somebody like me, who's like, I want to make sure I'm doing everything perfectly right. And I'm, you know, I'm following my block mentality here. I have a game plan, Andy. You know what I mean? You got block fundamentals you need to be using out there. So I know what I'm dropping? I'm putting there. And if something gets covered up by a piece of goddamn
Starting point is 00:23:03 broccoli, you know what I mean? The lizards tail or whatever. But broccoli turns out of the cabbage later on. It does. I'll think what I fucking hate, man. I hate like the the A-B-B-A-B-A-B-A-B-A-B-A-B-A-B-A-B-A-B-A-B-A-B-A-B-A-B-A-B-W-E. Because to... To Greg's block knowledge thing, That's a big part, the blockage.
Starting point is 00:23:22 That's a big part of my evolution with the game to where, like, halfway through, I'm starting to see the matrix in a way where I couldn't tell you what the strategy is with words. All I know is that if you sit me down in front of the blocks, I can tell you exactly how they need to shift and, like, turn at the last second and, like, the way to organize them. It's the Tetris effect thing where you just start to see the matrix all of a sudden. I got, I like started to scratch the matrix a little bit in this game, which is super sad. Have you done the tutorials? Are the challenges? I started doing the tutorials, but I was like, this kind of lasting too long.
Starting point is 00:23:52 Because they'll get you in there and they're like, drop it down. And I'm like, all right, cool, I dropped it. And they're like, now match two blocks of two blocks. And I'm like, I'm not doing all this shit. Back that as up. Tim talking about definitive additions for me. I think, if anything, this just feels like
Starting point is 00:24:06 the modern way to play. This feels like the thing to show people who never played luminous in their life, but want to be wowed and mesmer. by a cool sonic and visual experience, this is the thing that like, well, yeah, don't play the one on PSP or whatever console we're talking about. Play the one that just came out because it's going to kind of be a lot more visually stimulating
Starting point is 00:24:33 and, you know, kind of wow you and you're going to be tapping your head to be going like, holy shit, this is really good right now. With the music, obviously, being such a huge part of this, like, do you think, Greg? I know. Plus come back watching Lumines's gameplay for the PSP because I need to understand You know what I mean?
Starting point is 00:24:51 For me I'm like this This is such a mind-blowing experience With a game for me As far as like what it brings to the table Visually and musically In a way I mean so I kind of want to go back And see what you want to throw it to assets
Starting point is 00:25:00 So they can throw it up or whatever Like let's have a real conversation Because I want to make sure I'm being clear And I don't think I'm being negative Nor am I being a super fan I guess I don't know Like clearly this game Luminous arrives looks way better
Starting point is 00:25:13 than the PSP version In terms of visual quality fidelity I have different goals. Yeah, but you also look at the PSP one and you're like, I get it. I see, you see the same game you just saw. You know what I mean? That's how long I've been playing this game. It's Tetris versus Tetris Effect.
Starting point is 00:25:25 The difference is the music. So do you think that this is the best music in Luminous? Is this fit the gameplay better than the other ones? Or is it even different? No, it's not that different. This is luminous. This is what it's always been, right? Where it's like, I, yeah, right now you, I couldn't say it or put it into words because
Starting point is 00:25:43 I'm not you, Tim. You are so musically talented in terms of being able to hear things and talk about music in a way. I'm just not educated enough. But like, you know, the standout track for me here is, I'm facing my fears. Not back in the way. And I'm rising. And it's like that you could tell me.
Starting point is 00:26:00 Oh, that's from Luminous one. And I'd be like, oh, man, I remember shake you about it. Shake you about it. Shake you about it down to the ground. Like, you know what I mean? Like I have the track. But like this sounds just like the games I remember. Nothing here sounds like, oh my God.
Starting point is 00:26:12 This is so outside outside of what it should have been. blah blah. Like this is it. And I think again, as we watch the PSP gameplay, like, granted their effects are just pulsating things right around the fucking UI, but you can see the DNA that becomes crazy as shit happening on the screen. And again, works for it, I think. I'm about to ask you a question, Greg, that I almost don't know if I want the answer to, but I'm prepared. How much are you playing this game without any audio? Oh, no, no, no, Tim, no, no, no, thank God. I am a complete psychopath. everyone knows that and I am a weirdo
Starting point is 00:26:44 and we will come, there will come a day with Luminous arise where yes I need to do something or I'm whatever and I don't have and I just do it but no no Luminous is destination viewing. That is destination listening. You know what I mean? This is earbuds and I'm gone. I respect Luminous so much as you know
Starting point is 00:27:02 like I've been playing a lot of redacted games on the couch next to Jen while she watches stuff. Can't do Luminous and in the same way can't do Luminous in the bedroom either because that fucking goddamn buttons of this thing are so fucking loud I'm hitting my buttons
Starting point is 00:27:15 way too much Clacking in a storm away So no no no Like this has been No destination viewing all And like you know I get excited Like oh man I'm gonna get on the Peloton tonight
Starting point is 00:27:23 I'm gonna play some luminous Hell yeah I I'm gonna be done Crazy I As somebody who never Played the old luminous
Starting point is 00:27:30 Yeah For me it's like Tim talking about How much does that audio Really change the experience And to me it's like If I can get to where The song opens up more
Starting point is 00:27:40 I know I'm making a lot of progress And not only is it a progress marker But it sounds and looks awesome And the visuals change And now it's like Oh shit now these instruments have joined Along with you know Now there's vocals and now there's like a
Starting point is 00:27:53 A guitar to go along with that beat Whatever it may be That's like a really awesome feeling to hit I really wish that I could Did you could like maybe Select different color schemes I kind of hope that maybe that's something They experiment with
Starting point is 00:28:10 because, you know, one of the levels I love the most is, like, where the orbs are white and purple, like, oh, it'd be cool if you could, once you hit a progress marker, those colors completely changed to something else visually. And maybe that's just more of a customization thing, but I would love to see different kind of color schemes, mainly just from, from an, you know, like a visual appealing point. Blass, any closing words here on luminous arise. Yeah, I mean, you know, for me, this was such an audiovisual experience. It's so fascinating hearing Greg talk about it
Starting point is 00:28:41 because I think I had such the opposite thing where I busted out my PlayStation VR2 to play this game. I brought it to the office and played probably most of this game in PlayStation VR2. How long to take you, by the way, to do the journey mode?
Starting point is 00:28:53 Oh, that's a good question. I kind of lost track. I want to say maybe five to six hours, like maybe more because I was doing, I was failing a lot too. Like, this is also a learning experience of, you know, how am I supposed to play Luminous? It doesn't come as naturally as Tetris
Starting point is 00:29:06 because Tetris is like, all right, just got to make a line. But to Andy's point, You got the ABBA blocks, and it's like, what the fuck am I supposed to do with this, right? Like, that was me for maybe the first couple of levels of journey until I started to figure out how to, like, stack those on top of the thing so it can drop down and match perfectly, you know? I almost hit you with what you hit cool Greg with at one time that he was playing a VR game when you looked at him and you said, whoa, he's in VR. It's like, we're like, oh, shit, bless him right now. And there's a big up for this one and like a slight down here where the up is that.
Starting point is 00:29:39 that I do think in our, I think VR enhances the experience, right? I think VR, you get some extra effects there. You get fully submerged into the game in a way that like for this kind of thing that is doing so much on the audio visual side, I think is additive in this pre-release review version that we have that I, I'm pretty sure they're fixing. They send like a list of bug fixes that they're doing. And one of the bullet points they had seemed like it was around this issue. I would have an issue where sometimes if I'd fail, if I hit like,
Starting point is 00:30:09 pause on the game and to look at my phone or whatever because you have like these levels last a little bit long, right? Like I'll look at my phone between anything before I jump back in. When I jump back in, the UI just locks and like doesn't work.
Starting point is 00:30:20 And it's a very obvious bug where it's like I have to restart the game every single time. So I stopped playing the game in VR after a while because of that. Again, I'm pretty sure they're fixing this in the patch notes. But like outside of that, right? Like I just had such a good time
Starting point is 00:30:34 playing this game from just the experience perspective, right? I love the journey mode. And I don't know if I'm going to go back to this thing for the highest score chasing, but also, you know, between this and Texas effect, like, I do like the idea of being able to hop in for one session, be like, all right, let's drop some blocks and then get out. You know, for me, I'm not going to uninstall it for that similar reason.
Starting point is 00:30:54 You've said a lot, but any closing words, Greg? Great game. And again, I think that's, I'm looking back right now. I'm rereading my luminous electronic symphony review from IG, which I gave a nine. So we're right there. You can see how much I respect. That's my favorite luminous at all the time to be here talking about this. I just, yeah, again, the nitpicks right are just like, I don't love the presentation of anything outside of it.
Starting point is 00:31:14 I don't love what I'm grinding for when you look back at electronic symphony. You're talking about unlocking different avatar things or whatever like that. Again, nitpicky for sure, but I think it's what makes this a weaker version in terms of a gameplay. But again, Luminous period is a 10 out of 10 game of what you're doing. So if you've never played a Luminous or you're like, I've played, I haven't played one in a long time. There's enough to come back for here with the new skins, the new song. I haven't played since BSP. So this is definitely a winter break game for sure.
Starting point is 00:31:40 Yeah, for sure. Yeah. I mean, Luminous is, Luminous 10 out of 10 masterpiece kind of gameplay. I think this version, Luminous arises and 8.5, great. We will be right back talking about another game, right after a quick word from our sponsor.
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Starting point is 00:33:59 Shadyrays.com, use code funny. And we're back, everybody, with the second game. game to talk about possessors. Possessors is a fast-paced action side-scroller with combat inspired by platform fighters. A story told
Starting point is 00:34:12 through dangerous characters set in a deep, interconnected world, ready for exploration. The developer's Heart Machine, the publisher's Devolver Digital. It is out today. I played about an hour of it. Bless played about an hour of it. Andy Cortez has played a lot more. I want to hear your thoughts.
Starting point is 00:34:29 I have played close to 12 hours of possessors. only because I kept pushing myself through. But you love Hart Machine. I do. And I even really like Hyperlight Breaker, even though that largely was not reviewed very well. A lot of people had plenty of issues with it.
Starting point is 00:34:48 But this is one that I was really, really looking forward to and have been severely let down by. Played the Steam Next Fest demo whenever that was, probably several months ago, and immediately saw the, vision saw some cool moments of art direction there's a spot where you are playing this young girl who has who's partnered up with a demon who's sort of like half kind of possessing her and the shot zooms out and it's a beautiful cool looking landscape with
Starting point is 00:35:20 awesome color schemes and visuals and you're like whoa man they're cooking with this one and the combat is is definitely fun enough um i'm going to introduce this little segment called Here are the enjoy cons. What I enjoyed, and the cons. I like this. Art design. I think the visual sort of identity of this game is very, very appealing. I think it has a neat kind of menu system.
Starting point is 00:35:50 I like the character art, the splash art, whenever you talk to characters and NPCs. Very kind of Hades inspired with, you know, here's the way the characters look, but we're also going to add little cool color highlights on everybody. I really, I also really enjoy that the main characters have a lot of different sort of, like, emotive looks to them whenever they are feeling a certain way. You're not just seeing the same character grinning or whatever. It's like, here's the angry version of her. Here's the version of her who's like more kind of, you know, smiling and cute or whatever.
Starting point is 00:36:24 And this one, she's pissed off right now. I think the art design is awesome. I think the combat, you mentioning that it's, you know, supposed to be reminiscent of like platform fighters. I really enjoy the sort of combo nature of it when they put out a tweet a couple weeks ago saying this combat's supposed to feel like smash bros. That's what we were inspired by.
Starting point is 00:36:47 And yeah, I would kind of agree with that. The way that, you know, juggling enemies works when you hit somebody up against the ceiling of something, they bounce right off and you can keep on, you know, juggling them in the air, keep on attacking, keep that chain going. and it's super satisfying to do once you start unlocking a lot of these moves.
Starting point is 00:37:05 And that's kind of unfortunately where all of where the things that I enjoyed are. That's all that there really is. Because for the rest of the experience, for this being a Metroidvania that requires a whole lot of backtracking, I don't know if I've experienced a Metroidvania that you have been more frustrated
Starting point is 00:37:28 with the direction, and with the navigation for and... Because you're lost? Because you're lost and then you finally find a room and it's just some extra bullshit that you don't need. Like the amount that has happened in this video game compared to other Metroidvania is like, it's insane to me.
Starting point is 00:37:47 And a lot of it is, you know, there... I think there are just so many more interesting titles to be playing right now. And that's, like, what I would tell, anybody who is interested in possessors is, like, to me, there's, there are too many good titles to settle for something this underwhelming. Like, this is such a, I'm not going to put a score in it, but I'd be like around five out of
Starting point is 00:38:14 10 right now if I were to give it a score. But again, I have, I've played like maybe a fourth or a third or a third of it. But you're not coming back. I, dude, like, I stopped around eight hours and I was like, I'm so done with this. And then I came back and played about an hour and a half more. I'm so don't and I kept on doing that like there has to be some silver lining that I'm missing here
Starting point is 00:38:34 and it could be that these reviews come out and it's like oh shit I must have missed something really amazing I can't damn maybe I got to get back to this but like I cannot see where this game is hiding any positives I think it starts off with a really cool appealing story at first
Starting point is 00:38:53 of your character immediately this world is being invaded by demons and stuff and she gets her legs blown off and she's like crawling and it's like this really really kind of fucked up scene and she sees a demon sitting there
Starting point is 00:39:07 also hurt and the demon's like hey I can get you your legs back if you help me get back home and you're like oh cool we're kind of I guess I'm going to team up with you even though you're kind of one of the bad guys
Starting point is 00:39:17 and he starts to kind of unlock you know fairly interesting character arcs between both of this young girl that you play and the sexy demon dude that you unlock. Yeah, super sexy looking.
Starting point is 00:39:33 And again, I think the game starts off super interesting and it just continues to get more and more disappointing. I also think that the animations feel like very rushed. This feels like a game that needed a lot more time. And they definitely didn't have a whole lot more time because as you all know, Heart Machine had a lot of layoffs many months ago. And then a couple weeks ago, they had even more layoffs.
Starting point is 00:39:56 And I think whether it's their social person or their PR person, I forget, but them mentioning on Blue Sky, like, I don't know if any of the, I don't know if the whole possessor's team will be around by the time this game comes out. Because they just laid off a lot of the possessors team, which is super, super unfortunate. But, yeah, so a lot of this game outside of those first couple hours,
Starting point is 00:40:18 feels very, very rushed. And I'm trying not to be too doom and gloom and, like, overly mean-spirited about this, but this has the most worst, this has the worst progression I've ever experienced in a game like it the things that you are unlocking
Starting point is 00:40:35 you are unlocking these attacks and each attack you can eventually use your souls or whatever your currency is to affix an item to it so the weapons you're unlocking
Starting point is 00:40:50 are kind of everyday items you're is that why she had a hockey stick yeah your melee weapons are like kitchen eyes Got it. And then I put my special weapon on a computer mouse. And you kind of use it to like whip up.
Starting point is 00:41:04 And it does a lot of damage and it like shoots enemies up into the air. And it's really kind of cool to get that rhythm down. And then you could upgrade those weapons to add little affixes to that. You could affix little items to them. And it's your Eldon Ring talents a bit of bliss. It's now I'm going to regenerate health slowly or now I will do more damage or I will get more health back whenever I dodge at right time. And the way
Starting point is 00:41:31 in which that you unlock these things has got to be the most frustrating thing I've ever experienced where there's these little like rat dudes that are like possessed by a spirit I guess, but they're the ones that help you unlock these items.
Starting point is 00:41:48 But not all of them they're all different shops, not all of them sell the same thing and not all of them do the same thing. And like one of them allows you to get more health back whenever you use your heels
Starting point is 00:42:04 and I must have found that guy a while back I don't know where that guy is anymore and I just like desperately looking for it I have gone to every vendor and every vendor like you know navigation isn't great you're early in the Metroidvania you're not going to have fast travel I understand that
Starting point is 00:42:21 but it still does kind of suck to kind of use this subway system And it's, I think the game does its hardest to be original with its systems and say like, well, that metroponia does this. Our metropania, we're going to do this with progression. And I think, I don't even know if that's what the direction they were wanting, but I think trying to be original, like, just copy what the other people are doing and make that. It works for a reason. Yeah, exactly. make those systems a lot more appealing because
Starting point is 00:42:54 thinking about this game reminds me a lot of when I got to check out Phantom Blade Zero and how the devs were talking about how when you're not Hidataka Miyazaki and From Software, you don't have the leeway that other devs have.
Starting point is 00:43:13 And if you frustrate your player base, they will say this isn't a FromSoft game, I'm done. Like I, you know, you kind of lose, you have a lot less of a leash. And I, this game for me, it's like, in a year where we, we have Silk Song and Hades 2 and past years of Metroidvania is thinking of how immaculately designed Prince of Persia lost crown is. It's like, also a platform fighter.
Starting point is 00:43:39 Yes. Like this game isn't doing enough to be as frustrating as it is. Like, it's too frustrating for me to want to keep going for a game that I've started up so many times to go like, no, there has to be something there. I have to find the fun here. The fun must be here. I just like, I don't, I think some of the boss fights can be fun with how the combat is generated and you have a pairing. It does feel cool to nail that every once in a while, but man, like I have, I have, I feel like I have wasted, and it could just be the way that I've gone about this game in terms of how I have found every path that is not critical path
Starting point is 00:44:19 that has led to like, I was telling 10 the other day. I went about three hours without ever talking to the co-star of the game. Because I feel like I was just finding every path. And I talked about my experience with Dragon Age Vale Guard and how I feel like I had the best possible experience and other people who also played the game who chose different dialogue. And it's like, oh, that's a worst choice of dialogue.
Starting point is 00:44:43 And hearing that now, I could see why you wouldn't like this game. But the stuff that I chose worked out great for me. There may be a chance of you play this and you happen to go all the right paths and it leads you, like, and you are finding the progression hooks really, really good and, you know,
Starting point is 00:44:59 satisfying in that way, but for me, it's like, I feel like I have played this game in the exact wrong way they don't want you to play it. And because of that, it has just led to me being... They shouldn't let you play it that way. You know what I mean? That's the thing. You review, even if it is,
Starting point is 00:45:13 somebody out there has this perfect run and does everything or does, like, you play it the way you played it. That's the way the games let you play it. And there's two, Again, the problem is there's too many good things out right now that. Yeah. Arc Raiders had just come out.
Starting point is 00:45:25 It's like, I don't want to fucking play possessors right now. Like, I want to. And when I remembered the Lumen, we had the Luminus kid, I was like, oh, thank fucking God I can play Luminous and just like stop playing this game that is frustrating this shit out of me right now. Yeah, I do not recommend this game right now. And I don't, unfortunately, see a whole lot of good for this game, seeing how most of the team has been laid off.
Starting point is 00:45:47 Yeah. You described my personal hell, by the way. Like for me, it's somebody who talks about Metravenia is now like, obviously there's some Metravenia's I really love, but Metraedvania as a keyword doesn't necessarily make me go, oh, I got to play that, you know, play that game. I think I get more frustrated with some of the
Starting point is 00:46:02 not great elements of Metravenia's, mainly being lost and hitting like, you know, dead ends and finding a new thing being like, oh, this is the way and finding a dead end. You describing that in Possessors, like, it did something to me emotionally, where I'm like, oh, man, I can't do that. What was your time like, though, with it blast? I know it was limited, but.
Starting point is 00:46:18 Honestly, I'm actually surprised to hear Andy's review because we haven't really talked about it. I feel like the last time maybe we had checked in about it was like the day we got the code or whatever. And I think it sounded like we all were kind of like, oh, this seems really cool. You know, because like it was you get the first item, which is the mouse pad or whatever. And then starting to get the feel of, oh, okay, it's called possessors because you're fighting all these items that essentially got possessed or whatever. I thought that was a cool premise. I thought visually the game is doing cool things. And then, yeah, like control-wise, it having like these platform fighting controls also seemed cool.
Starting point is 00:46:48 But then, yeah, I played one session, got into exploration. I was kind of like, I'm waiting to see what people say about this, because I'm not automatically viking with the exploration and gameplay flow of it. But I also know how much of that is usually a me thing when it comes to Metrovenius versus the actual quality of the game. And so, yeah, like, I was very fascinated to hear what Andy and other people had to say about it. Yeah, I kind of bounced off of this. There's another big problem with us.
Starting point is 00:47:14 I'm also playing a really good Metro Winne called Metroid Prime Remastered. And that's a real good, Mediterranean. Don't get you started. And so I'm playing that for the first time and getting even more frustrated at the lack of progress that and, and just like the lack of appeal to make me want to come back to something. It's just, it's not doing enough for me to want to like follow the carrot at the end of the stick in the way that whenever you'd be stuck in something like, I mean, I mentioned great Metroidvania's a little while ago, but like. Something like Animal Well, a game with no combat was so fascinating and interesting. And you want to keep on figuring out what these puzzles are.
Starting point is 00:47:57 And something even like, I mean, Silk Song, again, talking about how awesome Silk Song is, even when you would be stuck, you were still finding things that would take you to new discoveries. And, you know, again, I said the most basic take ever was like, this is the Eldon Ring of Metroidvania's. and how you kept on uncovering new things and it always felt like there was something new there. Here I just like, it's just frustration for me at every turn. It's funny how you mentioned Metroid Prime
Starting point is 00:48:28 and I have like the opposite emotional feeling where I just get happy inside. When you mentioned Metroid Prime and like even when you said animal well, right? Like this is what I want to do. In 2013 I want to do the Metroidvania. Well, it's because my years are folks out. He keeps booking all the years.
Starting point is 00:48:44 It's tactical 2026. but also yakuza maybe i forget no i never said yakuza people keep trying to put words in my 2028 is something else i want i want the year of metroidvania brainwashing for me where i just play all of the best of the best metroids back to back to back until i came i come out of the other side of it where i'm like best genre ever got you because i feel like you know between the ones that i're there love i need to play prince of persia lost time you do you do you're so that's all i got to do you're so close because like i get what you're saying yeah but i'm also like you're wrong.
Starting point is 00:49:16 Like, you love Metroidvania. You just don't like the ones that you don't like. And I think that like, unfortunately, I think there's been a couple of those that have soured your taste on it. I think that's what it is. When I'm playing a Metroidvania that I'm not all the way into, I hate the experience. When I'm playing a Metrovania that I love, I'm like, oh,
Starting point is 00:49:31 greatest thing of all time. Even talking about the inconveniences that Metroid Prime Master has hit me with, where it being an older game and not having these modern quality of life improvements, where I am adventuring and I die fully and then I have to restart at my last save and that was an hour and a half ago because I decided not to save and there was no auto save so it's I lost the progress
Starting point is 00:49:57 including the last tool that I had just gotten and it's like oh fuck that's like such an old school thing but I realize like okay that's an old school thing that you know modern games will likely kind of fix and even that not being enough to make me want to stop that experience because the game is so solid and so well crafted. Yeah, this is, this goes down as like one of the bigger disappointments for me.
Starting point is 00:50:25 It'd be one thing if I came into this, not really with a lot of high hopes, but the demos felt so good to play. And to me, man, like, talk about disappointment. Like, you put me out of this game, like many months ago. I don't remember when it was, but you see this and it's like, holy shit. Like, I don't think there can be anything.
Starting point is 00:50:42 I think that looks cooler than this game. Like everything that I enjoy, it's there. And then you're telling me it's a Metroidvania that plays like Smash Brothers. I'm like, holy crap, this sounds like a dream. You get the Haiti style art and story stuff. It's like every single thing was just adding up to like, this is probably going to be a game that I'm annoying about for the rest of my life. And a little over an hour in, I'm like, oh, man, like, it's just, it's just a little too slow.
Starting point is 00:51:06 And it just doesn't feel as good as it looks to me. And it's, that's something that I also said about Prince of Persia lost crown. Like the first hour is, I think, the worst part of that game. And a lot of it is just because I'm not getting abilities fast enough. Like, this isn't, like, I'm not able to kind of move around and get around the way I want to. Like, and even if I know where I'm trying to go on the map, like getting there was kind of getting in the way. I'm feeling that a lot here. But I was hoping that there'd be Prince of Persia moment for me where it's like, oh, it's clicking.
Starting point is 00:51:34 I was fucking wrong. This is great. And when I came into work and you told me like, oh, man, I'm 12 hours in and I'm not. It's not. I'm like, oh, what? Like I just, there's nothing I could have expected less from you, but it did reaffirm to me. I'm like, like, I even after that conversation, I booted it up again, tried to get a little farther. And I was like, I don't, I don't think this one has this stuff.
Starting point is 00:51:52 Man, I hope we're all wrong because I do have it on my fan of secret. And it's one of like my last hopes of my fancy critic. Dude, there may be there, I mean, there may be a reality where everybody just played it in the right way where they're getting all the unlocks at the right times. They didn't, like, I don't know, man. I just, I mean, it really bums me out. And I, I legitimately hope I'm wrong in, you know, to, that people go, no, no, no, there is, dude, just wait until this story turned to that story beat. Like, oh, shit, okay, yeah, let me go revisit that.
Starting point is 00:52:25 But for right now, it's like, I've never wanted to uninstall something faster. Yeah, this is the last one I'm betting on indie games for my fan's critic, you know? Oh, you man. Like, fuck me this year. It's fucking indie devs. Make a game look cool on the box and put it out. Man, yeah I need mixtape to come out this year
Starting point is 00:52:43 Not looking good I'm giving it up Yeah I need Luminesta review Amazing I don't think you're gonna be okay Yeah, you'll be a 86 for you
Starting point is 00:52:55 I think I need more than that I need like an 89 Like it's gonna be one of those Fantasy Critic races Where it's like every point counts now Do you think it reviews This is the fun of us Of like we're recording this before
Starting point is 00:53:05 Other reviews Time Capsule Do you think this reviews worse than Tester's effect, which has a 90, I think, on Open Critic? Well, after Greg talked about it, because for me, I'm like, oh, this shit is like a masterpiece, but then, like, hearing Greg's thoughts, and then also I looked up Luminesse or Electric Symphony or whatever the fuck's called. Oh, was that it?
Starting point is 00:53:23 Electronic Symphony? Electronic Symphony. Oh, you're saying Electric, sorry. Yeah, I looked up with that, and I didn't realize how much that does look like Luminosa Rise. Like, I guess for me, luminous has always looked like the PSP version. But it's also that weird thing of, like, I don't, I, I don't mean to throw the baby out with the bathwater here, but I mean, I think there's going to be so many people reviewing this as their first
Starting point is 00:53:41 luminous game. Yeah, a majority of people. And again, not to mention, yeah, I like the, again, I've played them all. And I like, I gave it an eight five, right? Because I just think it's like, oh, I've been here done that. I, you know, I like the accruralments of other games better. Yeah. Any tens, though.
Starting point is 00:53:55 Sure. We do have just a couple more minutes. So I really thought you're about to say we have a super chat. I was like, how? I do just want to slide in. I beat Hades too this week. Hey. Roll credits.
Starting point is 00:54:07 Got it all. and like my god what a video game i don't want to get in it too much really didn't like the ending and that seems to kind of be a common consensus after i looked online um it doesn't affect my like thoughts on the game overall like it definitely is sad to like leave on such a like yeah no just because everything else is like so incredible but to me the story of this game it's the characters and the journey and all of that stuff which i do think is immaculate and the end wrap-up stuff take it or leave it i'll leave it, but I don't think that really
Starting point is 00:54:39 changes the fact that having to play the game through as many times as you did was just beautiful. I couldn't believe how many times I'd beat Kronos or whatever you're doing without spoiling stuff, and be like I, man, I have to do that again. I don't know that I really want to, and I'd start the run, totally
Starting point is 00:54:59 different load out, and be like, God, I love this. Am I going to be able to accomplish what I'm trying to do with this totally different loadout? Yes, I am. And then, you just keep going back and like maybe you fail one of them and you're like how did I lose I've been destroying this time and time again and like I was hoping for pizza but now they're telling me I got to like eat a dish with shrimp in it I'm like shit all right cool let's get some shrimp linguine you love shrimp and it's that from just pure gameplay man it's like literally just such a gameplay focused experience and when there's so many variations that make you love the
Starting point is 00:55:30 gameplay even more where at the end of it I'm like I don't have a favorite loadout like I feel like I just enjoyed all of them so much. And that's so special to me because it's the definition of all right, one more match type thing. And when you're talking about 30, 40 minute runs for these things, it's like, it can kind of like, be like, oh man, am I really about to do this again? And this weekend I was like, I'm trying to plan out the rest of my year.
Starting point is 00:55:53 I'm trying to like just check these things off. And I was like, all right, I got to do some damage on Hades 2 this weekend or else I'm not going to be able to. So I had planned to get like two more, three more max victory. I didn't play for like 12 hours and like getting it all done And that was like in like two sittings essentially Which is very uncommon for me
Starting point is 00:56:11 But I really was like I gotta go again I gotta get I got it man And they just kept adding the little story beats And new things that I'm like How am like this many runs into the game And still getting some brand new character And brand new like room that gives you an upgrade Then I'm like god damn man
Starting point is 00:56:27 80s 2 game of the generation Game of the ever It's the flexibility of like the builds that they give you and also how there are so many different builds that feel that feel op right like every run i'm getting a new thing where i'm like that seems really strong all right let me go all the way here and it's to your point that yeah i don't i don't have a favorite build either like i you know i have like strategies that i implement based off of what uh what talisman that i want to be or keep sake that i want to begin with
Starting point is 00:56:53 right but like even with that there are times where i'm kind of like all right this small thing kind of went off as far as where i was headed so let me just shift my place style and then i discover something completely new that I absolutely loves. And so, yeah, dude. Hades two is a, I know we're, I know when we're barelying towards game of the year right now. It feels like clear obscure is the, that's the contender. I feel like that's the talk of the town as far as what's probably going to, you know, take it away. But I can see Hades too, at least for us for the kind of funny conversation being a very big contender as far as that game of the year.
Starting point is 00:57:24 What about dispatch? I mean, that, what about that too, though? Anything? I mean, I feel like me and Tim are on the Don Kong train. I love Donkey Kong. Oh, yeah? How much you love Don Kong? I love it a lot.
Starting point is 00:57:33 I think it's really, okay. Tim, please mark some time on the calendar free for yourself in the next couple weeks before we eventually hit breaks. For you, me and blessing to do a kind of funny stream for Windblown. Yes. Is that out now? No, but it's just had like its third major massive update with like all sorts of big shit that they're adding by new worlds, new all sorts of stuff. So that's one that I have not hopped into since I played with Bless and Mike on stream
Starting point is 00:58:04 and that was like forever ago in in terms of early access time. Yeah. There's been a lot of cool additions. Barrett, I saw you pop up there. I was just talking about Donkey Kong Bonanza. And it probably being the rationing clank for this year.
Starting point is 00:58:21 Or we'll be on all of our lists, maybe some higher than others. See, that's how I feel about clear. That should be on my list. What? That's apace. I would stand for it. DK, really? You weren't feeling it? I mean, like, not enough to, it just didn't pull me back to it.
Starting point is 00:58:39 And I think this year's just way too loaded. That's fair. Here, you put it in at 5 and I'll put the all 3rd at 10. Gregi, where are you at? I saw you post this when you were doing your travels. And I'm just, I'm wondering this as we wrap up the show. You posted Blueprint starting it up. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:58:57 were you at with that in terms of interest going that morning i played the uh two or three hours at the coffee shop with my notebook out i gave it it's not even that i gave it the college try i love blueprints that's a great thing it's just it doesn't have the hooks in me that i'm like i got to come back i got to find that term i got to finish the thing it's just not the mini puzzles on the way there they aren't at nearly as engaging as escape academy you know oh no come on oh okay okay that's crazy that's crazy that's a but yeah it's like say that as a joke the puzzles I had a great time making my notes and then, you know, an hour later
Starting point is 00:59:32 I was like, oh, double back to that no and get that code that I'd seen on that day. But it's like, I really enjoyed that morning with it and put it down and it's like not, it hasn't called me back and that's what I got to do. But again, it's because that's the experience of that game. It's why telling lies works so well for me back in the day, the San Barlow game.
Starting point is 00:59:47 It was like, I had a Saturday afternoon with a cup of coffee and just sat and played the entire thing. I wouldn't brush off blueprints getting onto our list blessing because there have been so many games that have gotten on to our list. It'll be on our list for sure. It won't be high. I'm just talking about our number one spot.
Starting point is 01:00:01 Oh, yeah. Let's not count out dispatch. I know you mentioned it, but like, that's going to be the rationing. Wednesday, you me and Barrett,
Starting point is 01:00:07 we're playing all day, talking all day in the afternoon. Late Games cat's going to be great. I can't wait. I love. Also, I put it in assets, a new runner up. You all want to go play these weird games.
Starting point is 01:00:16 Here's a better game, but we'll talk about when we get there. Bless calling out Greg right there. Like, you can't even joke about that. Reminding me of when that one dude in the Twitch chat told Mike, that NBA 2K was trash. You can't say that. You can't be saying that.
Starting point is 01:00:31 Why? The weirdest take ever. Over on Steam, there's an animal sale and somebody on our subreddit put up my little puppy. There's a saying that when you depart this world, the dog who went ahead will warmly welcome you. While spending time in dog heaven, Bongu,
Starting point is 01:00:48 the Welsh corgi suddenly catches his dad's scent. Now he embarks on a journey to meet his dad. Will Bongu be able, I'm going to play the shit of this. Oh, man. at my seat. I know. Just weep at my rock ally.
Starting point is 01:00:58 Jen, watch whatever garbage Netflix show. I'm just sobbing over this dog. Never. It wasn't as good as my little puppy. All right, everybody. Let us know in the comments below.
Starting point is 01:01:12 What you were thinking about luminous arise and possessors. And stay tuned for a jam-packed day of super fun, kind of funny content. Until next time, love you all. Goodbye. Never.

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