Kinda Funny Gamescast: Video Game Podcast - Official Game Awards 2018 Predictions and Bets - Kinda Funny Gamescast Ep. 196

Episode Date: November 19, 2018

Get 15% off today at http://mvmt.com/kinda RED DEAD REDEMPTION 2 SPOILERS FROM 39:31 TO 49:11 We give our thoughts on Pokemon Let's Go, Fallout 76, and our 2018 Game Awards predictions. (Released first to http://www.Patreon.com/KindaFunnyGames Supporters on 11.16.18) Thanks for the support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What's up guys, welcome to the first ever episode 196 of the kind of funny games cast. As always, I'm Tim Geddes joined by one of the coolest dudes of video games, Greg Miller. Bonjour! And once again, the Reverend, Jared Petty. Now with Torin. Damn, yeah, a lot of it. Yeah, I got to have the Torrean right now. It's Torin, I don't know what Torin is.

It's the mysterious name for, like, whatever they get from... The non-sugar sugar for sugar-free Red Bull. The bull testicles that they put in this or whatever. Is that what they call it Red Bull? Huh? Is that what they call it? Because the Tori has a... Like Toros?

Toros. That's my guess. It's cold in here. There must be some Toros in the atmosphere. I say it burn! Ladies and gentlemen, this is Kind of Funny Gamescast each and every week right here on YouTube.com slash Kind of Funny Games. We get together talking about video games, all the ones that we've been playing, all the things that we love about them.

Today's a very special episode. We're going to do a little bit of that, but then we're also going to get into our Game Awards predictions for 2018. Jeff Keely, get out of here. Jeff Keillie. He didn't come. Not today. Too bad. Shout out to Patreon producers Matthew Fellier and Travis Barrett.

And all of you beautiful people whose names are right here, you have been a nice Patreon supporter for the month of October. So thank you for that. We had an amazing pre-show. So a lot of people got to see that. And if you're watching this at the $10 or above level on Patreon.com slash kind of funny games, you get to watch our riveting discussion. 35 minutes about PlayStation pulling out of E3.

Yeah, which was breaking news. the morning of the day that we're recording this. So yeah, that's a good stuff. What do you have to me? You look like you have something. What you got? I was looking through the Game Awards categories. I'm getting ready.

I'm getting briefed. I'm getting ready. I'm getting rock hard. Get in there. Oh, my. And rub the soap on the stomach. That is the Game Awards. Toy,

18, Andy. Yeah, we got Andy on the shock mic. Yeah. We're going to talk about a little bit of a Red Dead Redemption. Two. Number one game journalist. Mm-hmm. Number one game journalist.

It is in fact. It is in fact. It is in fact true. It's a smoke. I'm telling you, You can't breathe. It makes you sleepy. It's bad.

It's bad. Greg. Yeah. Let's get right. What are we getting into, doggy dog? Fallout 76. Fallout 76. The divisive online RPG from one Bethesda Studios.

Greg Miller, I love Fallout. I'm trying to decide whether I want to play this game or not because it's so very different. I can't cheat. Sure. It's an multiplayer online experience. Cheats are a big deal for me. I know. You told me about this last time we played or talked about Fallout.

So what I want to know is this is this the one? Is it good? Is it legit? Is this the one? Is it legit? Here's what I'll tell you, Jared, and I'll set the stage for everybody out there. Everybody knows I like Fallout. Since Fallout 3, right?

Fallout 3, I think it's the one. Most people jumped down on. I love Fallout 3. Played it backwards and forwards. Fallow New Vegas didn't connect as well for me for some reason at the time. I don't remember. I played it, though, for a little bit. And then Fallout 4 platinum, big Fallout 4 fan.

When E3 was on the horizon and Bethesis started teasing they were to do a fallout game, right? and a fall announcement there and it was like oh what is fallout 70s oh my god I was like yeah all right cool I'm interested I'm excited I kind of had a bad taste in my mouth from fallout four which I enjoyed in platinum obviously right but I remember being disappointed in the story they were building oh a fallout three

story was so good even though I didn't get super far in New Vegas's it was good you know what I mean uh fallout four was more of like oh we always go back to that games cast right Tim where you were sitting there with me and calling you're like you guys are excited for this what's like what's your fear and I was like my fear is they just do it's just a better looking

fallout three right they don't really push it anywhere and that's what i thought fall four was they really didn't push it uh sidebar play far harbor that's the best fallout four store was that PS3 no i'm sorry uh fall out three or fallout four four dLC yeah see the problem with that one as i started that one and it was i remember being excited to get back to it yeah jumped in there and i jumped in before they put out their whatever patch so it was like oh no the run through the fog and i was like you know what i can't that's still good the robot murder mystery on the little island you should really play that you enjoy it You're going to enjoy where I'm taking you.

Okay. I'm taking you on a walk, but we're going to get somewhere. You're going to have some fun. So, all right, cool. And then, of course, Jason Trier, number two, games journalist, no offense, Andy.

You know what I mean? You're number one. He's number two. I don't want to offend the God over here. I feel it at any other day, like, you know, it could be... Oh, you trade the title back and forth? Yeah.

Okay. Then on this day. Any given day. On this day. On this day. The news. Jason Trier, number one, games,

journalists. And he breaks the news, right? I'm a fall of 76 multiplayer game. You're all in the online world. Everybody loses their fucking shit. Game gets revealed. Todd Howard comes out of D3 during Bethesda tells me all about it. Waits to the end gives us long presentation trying to explain fallout 7060.

I watch it. All these vault dwellers are running around. They all got their names on the side of the screen. They're all shooting a thing. And I'm like, man, that's not how I play fallout. I don't run and gunned fallout. I don't shoot things like this guy. The vats aren't vats.

It's not freezing time. I'm like, I don't know what that. You know what I mean? and as time goes on, you don't know about this. I see more and more from it. I'm just like,

I want to be excited. It's Fallout. I don't know. Best Buy hires me to do that Twitter party where it's like, come ask questions about Fallout and talk to Falafan. Oh yeah, sure, of course.

So I asked a whole bunch of questions about Fallout. And what I thought was interesting when I got hired for that from Best Buy. I thought they were hiring me to go ask Bethesda questions. In reality, we were just having a conversation with the fans of Fallout.

And so many of them had already played so much of the beta. Like, you know, I think, you know, the alpha even, not even the beta.

and they were talking to me like, oh, no, it's like this. And I was like, oh, that actually sounds kind of cool. Okay, all right, you're piquing my interest. A couple weeks ago. We get the beta finally on PS4. I want the ability to save my, or bring my character over,

which of course turned out to be a giant waste of my time because, hey, I only got two hours to play. Fuck it, random, generate the character. I don't care. Let's run through the world. Ah, run through like a crazy person. I'm not even listening. And we did the games cast,

and I was like, I don't know. I don't know what I felt. I want to play more, but I can't say if I'm enjoying it or not or anything like that. Last night, come home, sit there, spend all the time I want building a Greg Miller character, which I don't do in a fall at RPG. Shocking.

I know, right? It's usually Taylor Swift, but I was like, if it's me playing with other people online, I'd like it to kind of look like me. American as fuck. Put out the photo, yeah, then I find the American flag out, or the Uncle Sam outfit, put that out.

If you ever wanted to get, you know, knock down, not only, get cut down to size on not only your character creation, but how generic you are, Put out a character you think looks like you. And they have everybody go, oh, it's Bernie Burns. Oh, it's Colin Moriarty. Oh, my God.

It's Dan Reichert. Oh, my God. I was like, right? No, everyone in this industry kind of looks the same when we're wearing a hat. All right, well, that sucks. Anyways, played four to five hours of it last night. Shut it off, went to bed,

woke up this morning, and I can't stop thinking about this game. Ah. I fucking hated it. It's divisive. Yeah. I feel like you're the only one that I've seen like it. Oh, no.

There's, There's dozens of us. No. It's, this is the problem, of course, with a divisive video game. A video game that from its launch was, hey,

this isn't what you wanted. And everybody was like, even me originally. I don't know. It's not my fucking fallout. If I can't play a single player, if it doesn't have NPCs, if it doesn't blah blah blah.

So many people have been mad about that that it's so hard to separate the wheat from the shaft, right? I'm like, wait, wait, wait. So are you playing it in math? Are you watching it and being mad? And this, that, and the other end, da-da-da-da-da. A really good, yeah, connected it all.

Today, I retweeted a Patricia Hernandez article. I don't know if you saw this from earlier. I did not. Article she wrote about how, since there's no NPCs in the game, right? Which isn't exactly true. But it is true, but whatever, I'll get to it. There are players who played a lot in the beta who are going through in being NPCs.

Okay. So there's a YouTuber who basically played a ton of the... the beta and now he sets up a camp outside of vault 76. So when new people come out, he's immediately like, hello, welcome to, you know, the capital or the way, not the capital wasteland, West Virginia Wasteland. Here's, here's this, here's ammo, here's a gun. Like, he has all this stuff he's building at his camp and giving out to people for free. That's so cool. And then she was talking about hers that, you know, she went around and just giving people beers last night and talking to people. And that it's night one, obviously. But this community is so nice right now and is so helpful. And even me.

It happened last night. I hit level five and it's like, all right, cool. Now you can fight each other if you really want. I'm like, fuck, here we go. It's going to be griefing left and right. You know what I mean? And nope, ran past all sorts of people. Didn't, it was, they didn't interact with me.

Or there was this one time I was out on a mission killing all these scorched people. And this guy's next to me. I'm like, oh, he's clearly doing the same thing I am. Stop, drop him in an invite. He instantaneously joined my party. We ran around, shot the things, collected the things. I ran off to the next objective. He ran off to his and left the party.

And I was like, huh, fuck. that's fucking work the way it was supposed to you, right? And like, Patricia's article is the fact that, all right, this community right now, obviously night one, is great and it's not horrible and they aren't griefing. They're working together and doing stupid little things and playing roles in it and really role playing, right? And Jesse Cox, a friend of the show,

quote tweeted me where I was like, this is awesome. And he's like, it's interesting. I think he had a podcast where he talked about it of, I wonder if the bad, you know, juju around this, the vibes that people weren't enjoying it, scared off the audience brought the audience down to such a close-knit group that is pointing it for the right reasons that they're not being assholes to each other right and i'm sure griefers are there and going to continue to be there and in per other afraid but that wasn't what

they were seeing so yeah it's i definitely you are 100% correct that i've seen i have seen plenty of people being positive and they're like oh yeah well-law overwhelming though it is people like oh my god dead in the water i'll tweet anything about it just like it looks horrible and it's like are you playing and then there are people who are like oh i played all this stuff i saw today on reset era. I think it was. Some guy said, you know, I'm level 57. Here's a screenshot to prove it. I'm pretty much done with this game. It's, you know, not a lot of content at the end, or not a lot of content period. And he's like, he put in whatever it was, you know, 30 hours in the beta. Now he's like 55 or whatever, which is always interesting when you put in 55 hours in

a game. You're like, wow, there's just not a lot to do here. I'm like, man, what are you doing? Like, what are you doing? Like, I'm five hours in in level six or seven. And I'm like, I'm having a great time. You know what I mean? Like, maybe you didn't just, I don't know. I'm not going to judge how you play games. But I saw Jeff Gersman in front of the show be like, hey man, I totally skipped the beta of this and fall, it's kind of bad. Like, I don't like this. And he's not wrong.

Playing it, it is definitely a game. I see all the problems in. I'm not sitting here telling you this is a flawless game. What are those problems? It looks like shit at times. It chugs at times, right? It's not the fallout necessarily. You remember?

It's weird, not freezing time. It's weird going into my, item management and then here like going into a terminal and hearing fucking things approach. I'm like oh fuck right. You know what I mean? Like the world is still moving without me. And I've seen people say, and I didn't run into it to my knowledge, but people say that like, oh man, I went in to do this thing, but it was already looted.

And I was like, is that a problem? I didn't see that problem last night, but I don't know yet. Okay. You know, IGN put up a piece from a reporter I don't remember. And it was an editorial talking about how playing alone is a lonely experience. in that he was finding the world empty and missing certain, you know, uh, interactions you would have again. Like the NPCs aren't there in the way of the usual deal.

Right of like, Oh, hello, welcome. Here's this thing. I run around the world. I see tons of people. There's, you know, there's people running around, you know, doing other vault dwellers doing all sorts of stuff around me.

Um, you know, we're using the same camps. We're running out and doing the same missions. Personally, last night in five hours of play, I didn't feel alone. I felt like,

man, this is a fallout game. And I appreciated to an extent like, fallout for a story of I was a mother who was after my son right yeah it was good but it kind of went on a long time and then eventually there'd be like peaks to it right

and then there was a lot of valleys and then you'd forget right because it's fallout well I'm gonna fuck around and make this crazy suit or this thing I'm gonna build my stupid shanty house and whatever like Jen this morning and this is I think a testament to the fact that I really like it is that you know Jen this morning did the same thing she did

with Assassin's Creed was like so what did you think and I started telling her anecdotes from the game yeah right of like like, oh, and then this happened, and then I heard this, I heard the mayor say he needed help, and I ran over there, and this is what the mayor, and it's, I was telling her stories that didn't make the world seem empty, and maybe that's just how I like to play for a lot, but last night I had, you know, the moment of like, all right, cool, you're out of the vault. The story is simple. Hey, it's, you know, you're the, we finally open the vault doors, you guys have to

repopulate the earth and refix, and see what's out there, right? So literally, like, your orders are, here's your portable campside, here's all this other stuff you get, you're going out there to help other people and build up a community. Like, right? Like, it's not, this has happened. They stole this thing, blah, blah, blah. It's fallout story light, which I can understand turning certain people off.

I think on paper it should turn me off. I like a narrative to my adventure, right? But it is now a narrative that I'm building with my, I'm actually building with whoever I'm playing with or myself. And so last night it was very interesting of getting out. And I want to say, I could be wrong, but for the first time ever I got out, it's the world.

I'm just exploring. Open up. the pit boy, what radio station do I like? I like this radio station and then just and then listen to the radio while I wandered off and found stuff. And then I'm finding the hollow tapes, which I talked about before, they don't pause, you know, when you pause the screen,

they keep going, say magnificent key. The hollow tapes I'm finding are actually really interesting. Okay. And it is that thing for me of, cool, I don't feel alone. Even though, like, no spoilers or anything, but like you leave and your first mission is really to try to track down the overseer from your vault. She's going out.

There's some clues. Go find her. And so you keep finding her tapes and she keeps talking. And her story is riveting, I feel, is like she's finding these things and what she's dealing with and how she's processing it. And then to find other people and like,

you know, this person here that ran away from her abusive husband and you put that and I'm like, cool. Like I don't feel like I'm empty. I actually feel like I'm getting the story at the clip I want where I'm not like, you know,

how I, you know, I guess it's open to interpretation. But when you sit there and talk to a fallout character and they're just like totally look like shit. They're talking to you. It's like, this isn't really sucking me in, right? Like, I do like hearing it while I craft a weapon and I do something. Okay. And so what it's nailing for me, and it could just be scratching the itch right now and giving me the hook I want, is cool.

It's exploration and it's looting where I'm going through. And I think the portable campsite is a brilliant idea this time around, right? Because before we had our bases in Fallout 4 where you'd go there and that's where you have your work benches and your armor benches and all that jazz. And there were enough of those around the map that eventually. you've had one just about everyone. Exactly. The way they do it this time is you run into those things all the time. Like you're running into armor benches and other benches.

And like, you know, I went perfect, I think example of like, man, this is this feels like a real fallout game. Is that, all right, cool. I was off to hit up this airport mission. And then even further north of that was this mayor thing I wanted to do, right? So I'm just walking, walking, walk and walking. And as I'm walking, I see like, that's a mine over there. Oh, neat. Oh, cool.

I'm going to go inside. Oh, I'm going to go deeper. You know what I mean? I'm deeper and deeper and deeper and deeper, deeper. and at some point I find my first shotgun and shotgun shells and I'm doing all the stuff and it's like oh you're over encumbered I'm like oh yeah of course am

what do I want to drop oh you know it's only gonna eat I can still move it's just gonna eat away my hell alright I go a little bit further oh here's the bench all right break down all my all my junk give me the thing okay great that was just a bench that was there fucking fantastic just very well designed exactly you knew that I would run into this spot

and I'd have too much shit thank you very much yeah do that you know come out go back to the real mission um it's not Yeah, it's hard to describe, I guess, and it's weird of, like, last night, you know, I wanted to get my sea legs before I really teamed up with anybody. And a great example, Tim, is that I'm running down the street last night, off to my next objective. I'm a level two or whatever.

I only played for 45 minutes. And I pass a dude who runs by me in this astronaut. Or no, he was in the full on power armor. And I just hear, hey, hey, man. And I just kept going. And then I went and I could hear him still running behind me. And I was like, is this a best friend or am I going to get grief? Turn around?

It's Grimecraft. Greg, what up, man. And I didn't wear a headset. I was talking to Jenner or whatever. So I just did like, I did the emotes and stuff. And he was like, oh, yeah, and then I just ran away. Because I was like, all right, cool. I don't know what the fuck I'm doing yet.

I don't want, I wanted to be able to talk at length about this game or have, like, real thought out opinions, right? So I wanted to ease myself into it before I teamed up. But like I said, then I ran into the guy doing a mission and joined up with him, no problem. I'm just liking the idea of, like, walking across a post-pocalyptic real wasteland in Brimecraft running out of the words and saying high. Yeah, he would be there. Exactly.

Yeah, exactly. No, so it's, it's, I get why it's turning people off 100%. I get that like, oh, there's no story. Oh, it's empty. Granted, it's a wasteland. It's nuclear wasteland. I don't expect it to be, but it's the normal thing of just, yeah, like, okay, you know, things don't look that great.

It's all the Bethesda is, right? But that's how Bethesda has always been. I figured out, I figured out in quotes because I'm an idiot vats. You know, I talked about that before. Like, it doesn't freeze time, but I wasn't really using it. You know, this time around, like, in the beta, I just found the stupid pipe guns that are like held together. you know, by wood and glue and suck.

I was lucky enough this time, you know, to loot when I was, because now I was actually taking my time, looting everything. Find a really nice handgun, right, souped up the barrel. And like, first encounter, I'm, you know, free hand aiming or whatever and shoot. And it's like, oh, man, it actually fires a bunch in rapid succession. It's got a good rate of fire. Somebody came up to me, you know, eventually in, I hit up, I finally hit a vats for the first time.

And it was like, oh, cool. Like, this percentage shows how locked on I am pretty much, right? So, like, once I wrap my head around it, actually became easier to use. that and great because the other thing that I found in like you know I've I've done my best to for the most part stay at arm's length from this of like yeah I want to play it I need to know I need to figure out on my own last night you know I'm running through and like you're in one of the first areas I come into there's these things the characters like scorched wanderers right like scorched there's this whole scorch play going on that I learned it more as I played but I'm in there I'm

like oh okay cool they're ghouls or whatever and I you know a machete you the first couple or whatever and then one comes around and start shooting a gun at me and I'm like wait what the And like, oh, they're not ghouls. They're actually their own new thing. The scorched wanderer that is losing their humanity and super full of regression, but can kind to talk and can kind of use tools. And it's like, wow, this is a new fucking way to do it. But then in the flip of what we're talking about of it, not being a traditional fall game

and maybe you can turn off, it's like right now in these early levels, I noticed I was taking a lot of damage without really having it hurt me. Because it is like, okay, cool. Like, how do you, obviously, Bethes is not great at first person shooting, right? And then that's why they always had vats and all these different things. trying to figure out the weaknesses and strengths of each one of the systems I guess right and so

by the end of it I was like oh man that was actually rewarding and oh man I actually fought all those things and usually in a fallout game right like I'm gonna conserve all my ammo and not do it but this one I'm already collecting so much stuff I'm already having the benches to make gunpowder I find myself super

excited to go home tonight in play to unlock the blueprints to make my camp better and I fucking hated making my base in fallout but the fact that the camp isn't beating me over the head with the, hey, make a really nice base. It is just like, once I put down the thing, I can place my workbenchers anywhere I want. And you shouldn't sleep on the floor because he'll be more prone to disease. And there's little stuff like that.

They're doing a great job of easing me into these systems that I thought were going to be so off-putting. Of like, even talking to some of the IGN people at the Halloween party, they were like, oh, man, you got to eat and drink every five seconds. And I was like, I've never really been a fan of that in games. Like Red Dead. I was like, oh, that really reminds me. I'm in a video game world here. I didn't find it to be a detriment yesterday, right? Like, it's one of those things it went slow enough

But by the time they even said something I was like, oh, I've been eating because of I needed health and doesn't it right So it ended up be happening or and I think the most interesting Like, you know, people are saying a game looks like shit and all this stuff I'm like, are you playing it? And I'm not even trying to be an asshole about it you can play it You can think it's ass or it's ass I told to get it But like playing it last night and just running around doing it Jen was watching and she's like So we play this together right? I was like yeah, do you want to play this together? And she's like yeah can we get a? Can we get a?

copy for me. I'm like, fuck yes, we can't. You know what I mean? Like, there's something about it. And I think it's just at its most base level, it's got that fallout formula. I'm like, cool, what's over that hill? What is that thing? You hear a strange radio request, right? Or radio signal, and you go investigate it and you find it. And so I'm finding these holo tapes that are making me care about the world. I'm exploring it at my own pace. It was easy to jump and join. Like, you know, right now, I think what we're doing is we have to work tonight for the showcase. Tomorrow, for Friday, it would be the last night I can really play it for a while. And so it's going to be, I think Jen and me

running out into the wasteland. And I think Grimecraft wants to join up and Gary Widow wants to join up at certain times. And it's just like, I can see certain games, right, like even division. When we're playing the division, there's that moment of like, oh man, we're talking over something important, aren't we? You know what to me? Like, well, I mean, we're really like, what is Joe Farrow

saying to us right now about all this shit? Whereas in Fallout where, yeah, that can be, and I'm putting words in people's mouths here, that can be lonely. You know what I mean? I guess? Maybe there is more dead air than you're used to. Or maybe there is that thing.

For me, it was almost peaceful. Like, that's how I usually play Fallout to begin with is running around just doing shit in the quiet and figuring it out. So, like, why not fill that with a conversation? I like quiet exploring. That's one of the most intriguing things about what you're saying here. I mean, I think about that Metroid formula of a lonely quiet place that you're exploring. And I always kind of like that. And Fallout does lean into the spooky.

And I tend to play single player a lot like you. I think about what you're describing here. I think I could play that fallout game this winter or Wasteland two directors cut just came out on Switch. Yeah. I could go to, you know, I could go look at Wasteland again, which is going to be the better fallout game to play this winter? Vastly different experiences. Well, I mean, from what I understand, Wasteland. Yeah.

People love Wasteland. Well, Wasteland's incredible. I try. I play that. I was like, oh, okay. I see what you're doing, not for me. I don't see it's a little too nerdy for me. Is it?

Yeah. I wondered about that. But I look at how there's effectively, I mean, Wasteland came out a long time ago, or Wastline 2 did. But now it's on Switch. Yeah. And I'm like, I could take another peek at that. Yeah. And I'd take it with me everywhere.

Or I could jump into 76. I'm not sure which way to go. I mean, here's my thing. If you like Fallout games, I would say at least try it. And like it sucks that like the beta's come and gone, right? Because I feel like that would have been helpful. I, you know, I went over to the reset era thread today on the ride in. I'm like, what is everybody else saying?

Because again, I just like, I can't stop thinking about this game. What's everybody else thinking about it? And the era thread was like back and forth of people who are really. having a great time with it, this guy who's played a lot who didn't like it. Some people talking about the fact of, I don't, it just doesn't, look at how Guild Wars does group events, right? There's nothing like that in this game. Because even last night when I got, but it was like early on, I got to a city and

was like, hey, there's an event going on, do all this stuff. And I was like, no, I'm not, I'm definitely not ready to tackle that. I want to understand my world before I do that. How long is Fallout 76 going to keep its hooks in me? I, you know, I said to Jen today over coffee when we're talking about. I'm like, I really want to go home and play it, but like we're going away this weekend. And it's not a game. I'm like, oh, man, I should really pack the piece four or four.

But then again, I am really excited to finish this fucking meeting with you tonight and go home and play a little bit, right? That had been my hope in between this show and games daily that I could have done something like that. But it's just interesting. I didn't expect to like it as much as I like it. Yeah, I mean, that's huge. And it is, again, like I'm saying, I totally get white people don't like it. I can see what they're saying. And, of course, it crashed on me last night where I was just doing something and everything was fine and it wasn't.

I was back out of the main screen. Again, I'll give the Bethesda shrug for the rest of my life. I like their games enough that I don't care that they break all the time. And it's exciting to see them dipping this toe. I guess they already did it with all their scrolls online, but into the fallout universe being online and where this is going to go and what it's going to evolve into. And that's another part of this that's interesting because I hated ESO. I really actively hated ESO.

And I thought I was going to love it. I really wanted to love it because I love Skyrim so much. And when I came, if you remember, it was going to be day and date, PC and PS4. got booted from the console. So I actually played it on PC for a couple hours. And I was like, you know what? I'm interested enough and I like this enough to try when it comes to place.

And then something else had come to PlayStation 4 and I never ever went back. Yeah. So I'm hoping that I enjoy this one. Also, now I'm speaking out of turn because I just glanced. Seems like a very attainable platinum. Just putting that out there.

Seems like a very obtainable platinum if that's something you're interested in. That's the hard. Like, generally you and I tend to agree on most games. Yeah. And so I'm really interested in this. But yet when I think about, I'm like, well, he's describing a group,

combat exploration-oriented fallout, and that's exactly what ESO was to elder scrolls, and I hated it. So I'm like, but I love fault so much. Here's the thing that's interesting

after one night of play-thew, which I obviously could change in morph into a million things as I put more hours into it. I'd be happy to keep playing it by myself. It's a world I want to keep seeing, and I really don't, I don't expect it to be that

every time I turn it on, I'm going to be grouping up with people. But then, you know, reading the Patricia article today, and thinking about Friday, it is that thing of like, I think I will always keep a mic on me, just in case, right? Like, it was a pain, like, last night when I ran into Grimey, like, the main reason I didn't say anything is because I don't want to,

the headphones are over there and the thing. I'm just talking to Jen, like, I don't want to, but there's something cool about it. There's something to it. Again, like, I'm not, this isn't me coming out and being like, man, 8.5. You know what I mean? Like, it's still, it's a janky-ass game and it's a fun experience. No, I think I had to go in and give it a few hours, but I also need to finish Odyssey.

or at least get far as. And I mean, that's another one for me, right? It's like I'm on platinum, platinum pace for Odyssey right now, where I was really starting to put it in. Today, as we record, this is the day they dropped the patch to do the visual swaps and they put out a new giant boss to fight or whatever, right? This is going to keep me from that. Yeah.

I really thought there was a high chance of me jumping into fallout last night and be like, cool, get it. I'm fine. And bouncing out back to Odyssey tonight. Yeah. And when we're done. But in reality, what it is, like, we really want to get back up there and just Wander around more and see more stuff.

So we'll see. It's very interesting that, yeah, I'd love to know in the comments and in the post show, people who are playing it, what they think of it. I've been playing a very different game, Greg. What do you've been playing? Whoa! That's a Pokemon! Andy, get your camera!

Pokemon, let's go, Pikachu and Evie. Of course, I've been playing the Evie version because Team Evie all the way. Let's start with this thing. Okay, sure. I love this thing. All right. Now, if you're an audio listener, this is the weird Pokemon thing. The Pokemon ball go plus.

I don't know. I don't remember what the actual name was. Pokemon plus go. No, I know it's a Pokemon. I know that. For ignoramus is like me that don't know or right you from a Pikachu, what is that thing and what does it do? So this is a controller to be able to play the game. It's an analog stick here and you can click in, there's another button on the top.

That's very cute. And then when you want to catch the Pokemon and Pokemon Go or Pokemon Let's go, you go like that and whatever. Okay. And it's, it makes me feel like that. like a nine year old. Yeah. It's awesome. There is a joy to it where I'm just like,

I didn't, I thought I was like this dumb and gimmicky and I don't like it at all, super into it. This entire game built around being able to play with one hand where it's just moving around. So one button is yes,

one button is no. Are you holding the switch and playing like this? Nope. It's well, where's the switch? On the TV or tabletop or whatever. And you can just play

and that's it and it's fucking super awesome. I love how easy and simple the controls are where it literally is just like move like for what attack you want select it or go back in menu by clicking this guy okay it's super great but you can also use it with just a joycon and it's the same experience

without this this is it worth the money not necessarily how much is it but I don't I don't even remember but Kevin I got a price point on the Pokemon $19 US dollars yeah it comes with Mew and all that stuff but the game itself I turned it on I'm sorry

yeah so there's Pokemon in it and they're okay Like, Pikachu, can you hear me? Pikachu doesn't go in his ball, great. Come on. You should fucking know that. How would I fucking know that? That's just one thing. No, electricity is this one thing, jackass.

I hate you. Ketchup. This is one thing. No, it's not. That's one of his many things. Nice. On the Pokemon go side of this, not the let's go side. It's like, when you have it around, if you just walk down the street and stuff, random, it'll just vibrate randomly. And it's like you can catch Pokemon that way.

That's fun. Whatever. Pokemon, let's go. It's so funny how similar it is to Fallout 76 because it was a game that was announced that everyone was like, this isn't what we want from this. We expect something and this looks wrong. We expected Gen 8 of Pokemon or a remake in the style of a proper Pokemon generation and instead we're getting Pokemon Go fused into a core Pokemon title.

And that's exactly what this is and I think it's a success. And what surprises me is I'm not alone. The reviews for this game is currently at 81 on Metacritic and everybody seems to agree. This is good. Yeah. And the Go mechanics work. I will say I play the game. I prefer to play the game in handheld mode because the gyro is awesome.

It always has been on the switch where it's like that stuff actually works. That type of motion control actually works. The flinging, when I have to fling the JoyCon or the Pokemon stuff, it is so... What? miss where it's like that's not what I meant to do oh it caught him though cool good whatever but it's like there is a it feels really good with the gyro and just hidden the buttons to to go man let me ask you this as a non-pokomong guy yes so the the medicritic score is good people acting surprised I remember there being a lot of

frustration in the Pokemon community when this was first announced yep cat Bailey tweeted something recently I'm paraphrasing here where she said you know me back like in in May when this is you know like oh it says watered down Pokemon you know me now like Oh, oh, oh, you know, can't play. Why were people so concerned? Pokemon Go on the list of IGN's top 100 games of all time. Pokemon. Thanks, Cole Farb.

One of the all-time great JRP's. Why was there so much skepticism about a union between these two extraordinarily innovative and successful games? Because you're taking a baby game and making it even more baby game. And I think that's the problem is that Pokemon has always had a depth if you look for it. Uh-huh. Oh, sure, yeah. And if you didn't, there's not much there. Okay.

And I feel like taking the original Pokemon games, specifically yellow, remaking that and dumbing it down further is like, who is this for? Because the original yellow was played by children. So take that and tell me how they dodge that bullet. I don't think that they completely dodge the bullet. But I think that they made it an enjoyable enough experience that it's fun and worth playing. It's definitely not my favorite Pokemon game. Not by far.

But I do think that the Go elements, that they added, don't get in the way of the game in terms of gameplay. I actually think that it fixes a lot of things. The random battles in Pokemon games are grindy. And at some point, they're not fun. It's just a thing that you're doing that's holding you back from getting to the next storybeat, right? And I feel like this game does a great job of seeing the Pokemon in the world makes it the visuals of this game mixed with seeing the Pokemon before you fight them. Because it's not random anymore, right?

You see somebody. You need them on the world map. Yeah. It's the closest we've got to playing through the Pokemon cartoon. Okay. And this is, I think, like, I dreamed of this game when I was younger. Didn't think it would have, like, the catchy mechanics and stuff. But I think that there's enough trainer battles in this game.

Because that was the big issue, is wild Pokemon encounters in this one. You can only use Go mechanics or gyro to catch them. There's no fight. It's just throw the ball at them. It's Pokemon Go. Throw the berries, throw the ball, that's it. Whereas trainer battles are traditional Pokemon, trainer fights. And again, for my ignorance to say, this is the first main-ish, it's not a mainline

Pokemon game, but this is the first console-esque Pokemon game, Pan-held-esque Pokemon game, high-profile, sore domain to feature non-random battles? Yeah. Wow. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Chrono Trigger, Earthbound, Dragon Quest 11, but not. That's amazing. Yeah, yeah, no, no.

It's always. A game about collection. And that was the thing. It was like you walk in tall grass and they're going to pop up. And it's like, I feel like Pokemon has handled that very well. But I do feel like from a gameplay mechanic, it slowed things down. Yeah. And being able to run around them and not fight the ones you don't want to.

But sorry. I took you off a track. There is the big worry was there's not going to be enough traditional Pokemon battles. That is not the case. There are so many trainers in this game. There's just the right amount of, I'm a little over halfway done now. Okay. And I'm taking my time and I'm enjoying.

in it. But there's enough trainer battles that I'm like, oh yeah, this is this is Pokemon. It definitely is easy mode like all your Pokemon get shared experience. So everyone's leveling up really fast. And there's a lot of that. But it's like that's all stuff that is tedious as fuck. So it's like on one quality of life fixes soon as It's quality of life stuff, but it it's not a perfect game for a hardcore gamer because they want a bit more to do and a bit more to work on to feel like they accomplish something. This game is like it's the chill, you're just going through, man, you're just having a good time. Like it's it's coming at you and being given to you at your pace of moving forward, but it's not something that you're like, I need to use strategy to win. I've only died once and it was because I was being extremely careless.

Okay. But that's always kind of been what Pokemon is. The biggest issue I have with the game is because it's one for one, based off Pokemon Yellow's original map. Yeah. We're talking about a Game Boy screen that was 4x3, right? Actually not entirely. Or whatever.

It's square-esque, yeah. 4x4 then? Yeah. When you take that, that grid-based system where exploring, and they moved so slow because there was no running in that game, it was just you move, you move, you move, and as you go, every dungeon, every city, every area was built around what you couldn't see right off screen.

Not knowing that there's a wall there, not knowing that the right way to go is down. You know what I mean? When you're in Mount Moon, it was like this labyrinth that you had to figure out the puzzle of. In this game, because it's the same maps and because it's widescreen and because you can dodge all the, there's no random battles and you can just dodge the Pokemon, Mount Moon used to be the first dungeon in the game. Yeah. And used to take you 30 minutes to an hour, especially if it was your first time.

Now it's like, it's a three-minute jaunt. You're in, you're out. Oh, you can see exactly where to go. Because you see so much, you know what ladders to avoid. You know, like, where's the dead end? You know, there's just an item. So they don't do any dungeon, like, screen blocking or anything like that. No, like, mist comes in from the sides.

Wow. Interesting choice. It's weird. There's, like, just a lot of quality of life things. Like, there's no more HMs, thank God. And there's, like, you don't need to go to a Pokemon center to mess with your Pokemon box of dropping Pokemon off. If you want to switch a minute out of your party, you can do that live.

wherever you are on the map, which is super great. But all this stuff just makes it even easier and easier and easier and easier. So at some point, it's just like this is Pokemon, everyone always used to say is Baby's first RPG. Like this really is in a lot of ways Baby's first video game. Okay. But that doesn't mean that it's not really great. Like it's still Pokemon.

There's still such a cool world that they've built and going and seeing all the gym trainers and seeing the way that they've kind of re-emmed. imagine this world with the modern graphics and look and the music and everything It's so awesome to me because it's such a nostalgia trip, but another thing that I'm like I like on one hand, but I don't on the other and I wish they went a little further with at least so far is they've added in Characters from the original Pokemon games that like are making appearances like it's not spoilers to say that like red and blue are in the game. Okay Pikachu Pikachu is in the game as well but the way that they show up is unexpected.

Okay. They're not where you would imagine them to be. Missing people posters. And the newspaper. And you'd expect them in there. But yeah, no, it's cool seeing them come through, but I wish there was more of that. There's certain elements that, like, they dive a little deeper into the elite four and who they are. And I'm like, this is cool.

But then there's, you expect more of it and then it doesn't happen. So it's like, I don't know. There's, I'm definitely loving this game. I'm loving playing through it. And I'm shocked that everyone else is enjoying it as much as they are because there was so much naysayers Like so many naysayers of people being like this isn't the Pokemon game that we want this Pokemon game is gonna sell a bazillion copies So you don't have children, but if you did would this be how you'd introduce them to Pokemon? So that's my problem

I do have a Gia and here's the thing I've been looking at this game as this is gonna be her gateway drug to Pokemon This is gonna be the time that I can explain to her did you just compare your girlfriend to a child? In terms of the video games She doesn't play video games. Okay. And she doesn't play games at all. Okay,

I'm just trying to get you in trouble. Also size, she's tiny. She's a lot of comparisons that you could make between them. She loves crayons. She does love crayons. Does she really love crayons? But I was excited for this game,

mostly because I wanted her to experience Pokemon for the first time. As I was playing through it, I'm like, I'm enjoying this myself a lot more than I expected to, but also it lacks a lot of the magic that I associate with Pokemon that I'm like, I don't know that I want her to have this as her first experience.

Why wouldn't Pokemon Go be the gateway drug for her to Pokemon? Because Pokemon Go is, I mean, that's cool and it's cute and fine, but it's like, that's not why I love Pokemon. I love Pokemon for the story and the characters and the world that they built and this kind of like epic journey

to be the very best, you know? What's up, yeah? Why not start with the Omega Red? On the DS. With Fire Red? On Game Boy Advance? No, on the DS. Is that Omega Red?

Omega Ruby on the 3DS? Because those games suck. Whoa! Yeah, and like, I'm not... The third gen of Pokemon is not going to be what I want to introduce her to. What about the ones where it's Aloha, Pikachu, and Aloha Charmalard? Yeah, yeah. They were fun and Aloha Pokemon.

No. Aloling. I don't know. It's interesting that these games are being as well-received as they are. I think that's a good sign. We got Gen 8 next year, and I'm very excited for that. But I am having a great time with this one. I think I'm going to end up

once I'm done with it, giving it to give a shot and just see what she has to say about it. But yeah, it's a weird one, but it's weird to me that the fall of 76 conversation is so similar, but I feel like the end result is so different. Oh, sure, yeah.

Yours is way more positively received. I haven't seen many negative people for Pokemon. For Pokemon. For Pokemon. Yeah, and supposedly everyone's telling me the post game gets a bit more challenging, and I expect that.

Mm-hmm. Yeah. So we're going to say, the Red Dead talk for next week. Because we're running a little long on this. The Game Awards. I won't be here.

Just FY. Did you like the end of Red Dead? No. Oh. Main story loved it. Epilogue just went too long. And give your thoughts. I'm going to go up you.

I just, I mean, it's really... See it's gone. It's incredibly hard. Come to the main chair, Andy Cortez. Number one games journal. Sorry, Jason Dreyer. It's incredibly hard to talk about it without spoiling it.

Sure. It is. It's impossible. I agree with it. So what are we going to do about that? I don't know. I just, I mean,

so you can't say why you didn't like it in any. It would be extremely difficult to talk about the end of this game. In any critical terms of that, spoiler. Is it a total turn? Is that the problem? No, there's a very, so I love the end.

I thought it was great. Andy has a very different opinion. And for us to express how those are different will require spoiltly. Yeah. Kevin, just put up spoilers, bro. Everybody mute your, mute your stuff. right now. Also, this will take like 20 minutes. Are you sure you want to do this?

I can do it really quick. Andy can do it really quick. Well, then you'll just have to wait until next week then. But then he's just going to say they didn't like it and then that won't be good. Then you'll say you did like it. Yeah, that's simple. I don't know. Spoilers bros is up. I don't have spoiler.

All right, it's not up. If you are YouTubeing or watching or listening, this is your chance to mute it. How will you know when Andy leaves? It's when Andy leaves. It's when Andy leaves. Okay. When number one game shows, Andy, if you're an audio listener, people might have trouble. All right. All right.

Andy, just say, oh, you're right, yeah, I see what you're doing there. I think the whole lead up towards the end of the game, the core story, is so fucking well done. It's beautiful, it's heartbreaking, you see all the sort of gears in motion, and you know that this isn't going to end well for a lot of people. Yeah. And not everybody is going to get out of this, either alive or just in a positive way. And it's fucking so great. It's so cinematic and it feels like just a really well-written movie. And it ends not with a bang but a whimper.

Like you watch it just unravel. Instead of it being like, here's a big climate. No, it's just like. And it leads up after time. Like you know, you just see everything happening. And it's beautiful. It's fantastic. The game ends.

Arthur dies. And in the game, it turns out he has tuberculosis. Tuberculosis. and is dying and dying as a game goes on. Does that start to affect gameplay? You can't run as fast. Your food doesn't benefit you as much anymore. Yeah, he starts to waste away in front of your eyes.

Your eyes are like always red and stuff. He's always coughing. It's really heartbreaking and the game ends with him dying, right? And I think it's beautiful. I think it's like super well done. Dutch has turned his back on you, blah, blah, blah, right? Yeah. And not just you, also on John.

Sure. Yeah. So yeah. John is left behind and Dutch says, we couldn't save him. Arthur, we couldn't save him, Arthur. Thank you. I was waiting for the impressions. We couldn't save him, Arthur. And so the game's done. It's very, very, very sad. All of this wonderfully woven in to this incredible story about a Native American tribe, desperately trying to deal with what's happening to them at that moment and Dutch manipulating their difficulties for his benefit. Acting as if he is on their side. Of course. Really, it's a distraction. so they can piece the fuck out and leave because the laws on them, right? And Arthur just finally being like, no. No.

We can't do this. We have to help this people. This is just too far. Moment at the end where steam hits Arthur's eyes and they're trying to get away from a thing. And he's like, and he sees Dutch and Dutch just walks away. And it's like, oh, fuck.

Luckily, you get saved by one of the Native Americans and it's just really, really cool. Anyway, so why I don't like the epilogue. Sure. Epilogue, you start off and you're playing as John Marston. I'm sorry, who? John Marston. Thank you.

Very good. Oh, we're a Dutch somewhere out there. Anyway, so John Marston. He's good. I, the epilogue is way too long, I think. I think it drags on for, it's essentially setting up Red Dead Red Dead Redemption 1. Sure. Getting Beecher's Hope, the farm that Abigail is always wanted.

Abigail is like, get your shit straight or I'm out or whatever. Yeah, because it starts with like you in a wagon with Abigail in a town homeless, having been driven out after shooting somebody. Sure. And ends with you. I'm just looking for some honest work, Abigail. Yeah. So you get that honest work.

You work on a farm and eventually you start making money. And then she's like, you got to quit doing all this bullshit or whatever or else I'm going to leave you. She eventually leaves. You go to Beecher's Hope. You buy a farm. You start setting everything up. You meet up with uncle and I forgot. Sadie Adler, Uncle, Charles.

But one by one. It's not like, oh, we're getting a gang back together. And everybody's been separated for a long time. And Sadie's had this incredible story. going on off in the corner of all this. Anyway, please continue. I think it just leads up. I think it goes on way too long.

And it also, in my opinion, does a disservice to Arthur's story. Because it feels like as you're scooping up fucking horse shit in a barn, it's like, Arthur just died and that's really what I cared about. And now I'm kind of doing these tasks that are supposed to feel very, you know, like chores. mundane. And I just, I feel like it takes away, as I was doing this, I'm like, oh yeah, Arthur died. And that was like a really big moment. And now I kind of wish it ended there.

It is setting it up so that post-game, you do have Beatrice Hope. And Abigail eventually comes back and you get a close relationship with your son. You finally go and kill Micah. And you go to look for Micah and Sadie Adler's like, he's up here. And then Dutch comes out and Dutch shoots Micah. And it's really cool. You have a moment that completely recontextualizes John. and Dutch's encounters in the first game.

It's like it's one of those things where everything that happened in Red Dead One gets refraint. A new lens, yeah. Yeah, and it's really well done with that. And you are right about, there's a lot going on in the pacing around the farm and things like that. But please continue. I do just feel like it did a disservice to the end of Arthur's story, which I cared

about more. I like Arthur more than John Marston. Wow. Not only as I think just his whole redemption arc is just so great. beautiful storytelling but yeah I just I feel like it went on way too long they could have certainly

like compressed the shit out of it because you beat the story about 75% done with the main story is done at 75% and the rest of it is like a lot of other stuff with John Marston doing chores trying to build your house I just think it dragged on way too long

counterpoint you're wrong no the counterpoint on that for me would be that in last you've been especially exploratory. About half the map opens up at precisely the moment that you move into Beecher's Hope and all that. You suddenly discover the entire Red Dead Redemption

One map is also there in the world. There have been rumors about that, right? Yeah, I remember if you were talking about that. So this whole other world has opened up to you to explore there. I mean, you could go there ahead of time, but you were strongly discouraged from heading that way and there's not a lot to do there at that point.

You head into Beecher's Hope, you begin to build this, and the pacing of that story, that second act story, is precisely made so that you're like, wow, I have like half this game to go discover now. And so you're coming back to these moments, the same way you did with Arthur's story.

And it's still a much shorter story than Arthur's story. And I think told it about the right pace to get the point across. And it is in some very interesting parallel ways, a sort of a cloudy mirror of what happens to Arthur. You see a lot of Arthur in John. It's Arthur's wedding ring that goes on to Abigail's finger When you propose in game to her there

The one that the lady you met in the first game Sent back to you Sure The one she refused is the one that ends up putting that part of the story together You end up effectively on the same date That Arthur and Mary ended up on in New Orleans But this one ends happily Which makes it all the worst when you're watching it all

Unravel in front of you I feel like it Great post credits though Post credits are going through And they show you what other characters That got away safely From all the madness are up to it's really cool seeing them

seeing them thrive and be okay I forgot the guys named the the Leatherman slash cook what's it? Pearson Pearson is like in his own shop now and he's like working his thing it's like oh cool it's it's great seeing these people thrive and be happy and not be

you know downtrodden dead some of them are and it's different for all of them it's creepy there's a shot in the credit sequence where you see Ross and the other guy looking down the hill at the farm. And you've just worked so hard.

Unlike Andy, I felt very invested in what was happening to John. And so I'm like, I finally built all this. Oh my God, this is all going to be taken away from me. And I felt like I liked John less at the beginning of this game than I did. This game makes you see what a jerk John is a lot. Yeah, sure. But by the end of the game, he's a very different man. And that makes Arthur's story all the more meaningful to me.

And made me like Red Dead won more. Because John Red Dead One seems kind of listless And just like, are you fucking kidding me? And now I understand why. Just tighten it up, Brockstar. Just tighten it up. I know. I liked it.

I thought they... I would die in random moments, killing games. It's like, just the end. I wanted you to end already. You know, like fucking... Oh, go to bed? Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

Thank you, Andy. Number one games journalist. That's the end of Red Dead spoilers. No more Red Dead. Spoilers. Andy, can I ask a favor? Can you fill this with water for me, please? I'm sorry.

I love you. You want to be part of the Game Awards. A lot heavier. Oh, it's because it's got... I thought it was like a rubber or silipa. No, it's a lost control. Do you want to do Game Awards stuff, Andy? Awesome.

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by going to NVMT.com slash Kinda. Movements launching new styles on their site all the time. Check out their latest at MVMT.com slash kinda. That's mvmt.com slash kinda. Join the movement. And now it's time. Ladies and gentlemen, we're going to do our Game Awards,

2018. Good, Game Awards. We'll change. Will you? That's the tagline. Oh, I knew the worlds will change.

I didn't know the will you. I've seen the will you. I'm probably going to stay the same. If I'm being honest, I'm going to watch Game Awards, enjoy it. I'm going down to L.A. to be there. I'm probably going to enjoy it.

I'm not going to change, I bet. I fully intend to change as much as possible. Change. You know what they say about caterpillars? They can't change their spots. That is not what they say about caterpillars. Is this noise they make? They're so small you can't hear it.

You need really good microphones. So I want to start by going through all of the nominees. Got it. And what we're going to do is predict who we think is going to win. Oh, okay. Not who we think should win. We should say what we would vote for. Yeah, yeah.

We're going to talk about that. really the focus of this is predicting who we think is going to win. That's a tough one. Right. You sure you want to hear that, Andy? Because a lot of this stuff, we're going to have a lot of conversations towards the end of the year about our game of the year. The real game awards, they call them. Yeah.

Yeah. That is what they call them. Kind of like the real Ghostbusters. Well, actually, in that scenario, Jeff is definitely the real Ghostbusters. And we are definitely the Ghostbusters with the monkey. The foundation one. Yeah. All right.

Monkey and a hat, though. Yeah. Oh, yeah. It's a good hat. So it's going to be... So are we starting at the back where you're starting? Let's start a game of the year. Let's start big.

Oh, you want to start big and bore everybody out. Okay. The reason I want to do that is I feel like when we vote on the game awards, when we talk about the game wars, when other people are deciding what they think should win. Yeah. They keep the whole thing in mind, right? Right. Right. Because this is where we go of, okay, if I'm giving game of the year to this, then I try to give best direction nod to this.

And that's how Horizon got fucked last year. Whoa. You know? When it didn't win any. anything because I think everybody was trying to play this game and then it got all messed up. So I just want us to keep all that stuff in mind. Okay. All right.

I'm with you. So game of the year. Game of the year. Recognizing a game that delivers the absolute best experience across all creative and technical fields. Okay. Assassin's Creed Odyssey. Celeste.

God of war. Spider-Man. Monster Hunter World. Red Dead Red Dead Redemption. Two. I got two. I was like, oh wait. All these games are great.

Yeah. Yeah. More nominees than ever before in this category. By one. And yet not enough. And yet not enough. It has been a great year. Yeah.

I don't know what do you guys think. Because for me, it's obvious. It's got a war. That's what you would vote. Or is that what you're saying. That is what I would vote. It's also what I think is going to win. Really?

Yeah. My prediction will be Red Dead 2. My vote I can't make yet. I have been thinking about this all day. And I'm trapped between three games right now. I'm locked in an internal power struggle. And I hope it's okay that I'm not saying exactly what I think. You're not to do it as well.

No one's going to get you. What are the three games you're locked in between? I'm torn between Celeste, God of War, and Red Dead for me. A Red Dead is a game that was made for me. It's like they reached into my mind. It made the video game I wanted. Celeste is a game I never knew I needed. That's one of my favorite things ever.

And God of War is the greatest single player focus story of its generation. Andy, what would you do that? be? I think God of War is going to win and it would also be my pick. Excellent. I just think it hit on every level. God of War to me, I keep saying this, but when Celeste

happened, I was like, I can't imagine a game beating it. And then God of War happened. I'm like, it does. It just simply does. And that's crazy. But recognizing a game that delivers the absolute best experience across all creative and technical fields, it's God of War, man. Right. I mean, that's my thing. I've said it, you know, since finishing

God of War, that God of War is my game of the year. I've said I think it might be my new favorite game of all time because I've just never had a game that is so perfect stem to stern and perfect obviously being a loose term. But I mean, what I keep saying and what I keep hanging my hat, I want to talk about this game is that there's never a wasted moment. Every moment in that game is designed to be a certain thing and do a certain thing and had me enraptured the entire time to the point that I'm on the boat and someone's telling me a story and I stop at the shore. The mission is over there. This is a story that has nothing to do with the real story.

It has something tangentially to do, but not crucial information, but the story is so great and so well performed that that's what I'm going to do. My counterpoint to that, and you're right about everything you're saying, the counterthought to that

is that in something like Red Dead 2, you have, I think, the most perfectly realized junction of open world emergent storytelling and straightforward cast-based storytelling that I've ever encountered in a video game, which is a very, very different kind of game.

than Corey made and is also equally impressive. And it's hard for me to look at those two very different creative visions, very different kinds of games, both of which succeed beyond anything I've ever seen anyone who tried to do those things do. That's really hard for it. And then in the middle of that, the little game of the heart, Celeste, that moved me the way few things have. I do think that predicting the winner here, I think it's going to be a split between God of War and Red Dead. and I think that Celeste is going to take votes away one way or the other from those. I just think that that's going. I think that the people that are voting for Red Dead,

more of those people are going to vote for Celeste than the side of God of war, if that makes sense in terms of like how they're splitting the vote. Yeah, I'm not a voter, so I don't have to worry about that. And thank goodness. Yeah, well, this is the fun part of it. I mean, we are voters for full transparency, of course. But I think that's, yeah, I think, I don't even think, I think Celeste, was the movement to get it nominated.

Cool, it's been nominated. It's recognized his game of the year. For real, what's game of the year? It's in the same way, like, you know, Kevin, you know, shouted out Odyssey. I love Odyssey, right? It's a game I can't wait to get back to right now. A fantastic game.

I'm on my way to platinum, and I've beaten all the storylines of it now. Like, it's just, it can't hold a candle to God of War, I feel in terms of just not a wasted moment. Yeah. And that's the thing of what's been... You really think there's not... Now, they're in Celeste,

when it talks to not a wasted moment, but I'd actually think that that accomplishes that as well as God a war does. Interesting. I can't think of a moment. No, you're right. No, how fast is to restart levels is less. But it's what you were saying of like,

okay, it got nominated. But like, let's really. And I mean, that's what I'm hanging my hat on, but I think it's also then the story of God of War, the technical prowess of God of War,

the acting of God of War. Like, there's more I can add on to the cake to tell you why. But I think it's most stunning achievement is the fact that I think it's just so tight. No, God of War is hairy shape in the video game. And that's, that's hard to fight with.

Yeah. I mean, it really is. So, yeah, it's going to be interesting. You know, in terms of a prediction, right? Like, I think I'm saying I would vote out of war. In terms of a prediction, though, if it can beat Red Dead is a big question. And it's going to be interesting. I just, I don't know because it is that thing of putting on your reviewers had or whatever you want to do it.

Like, sure, like, you know, a lot of people Red Dead didn't click with or they thought it started slow or they don't like the, like there's, I feel like more criticisms lobbed at a game that's trying to be, as we keep saying, right, something very. something very definitive. It's making decided choices there to be a very specific kind of game, which even as someone who didn't want to finish it, I respect the hell off. And I see people like Rami Ismail, right, tweeting about like, I can't get over this game. I don't enjoy it, but I can't get over what they're doing with it. Like, you know, he sees it for what it is as a work of art. And I think there's a big part of that that will come down of. Cool, we all loved God of War and it changed this, but then Red Dead is doing something we haven't seen before. And even But if it didn't click with you, how much does that matter when you vote?

Both of these games changed the state of the art in vastly different ways. And that's the hard part of it. But Red Dead, I do think, is a bona fide masterwork of the generation. And it'll be hard for it not to win. We all worked at IGN. Yeah. We all know how they review games. All three Celeste, Red Dead, and God of War all got tens.

Oh, wow. I didn't know God, I got a 10. Got a 10 for my Jan. And those are rare. They are. Then they're more rare. But not this year. Well,

this year's been crazy. What a weird name. And Undertale as well. It's like Paul Hollywood handshake. Yeah, well, Undertale was last year they gave it that. I think of two years ago.

I get it. Well, under jail. Yeah, I guess now on console. Yeah, yeah, that was an older. But yeah, they gave those three tents this year and those are my three favorite.

Oh, the messenger's way up there for me. Florence is great for me. You'll get your chance for all this. Settle down, Jared. Best ongoing game. Awarded to a game for outstanding development of ongoing content

that evolves the player experience over time. Destiny 2 Foraken, Fortnite, No Man Sky, Overwatch, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege. I mean, is there any way Fortnite doesn't win this? I don't think so. I think Fortnite wins for sure. Yeah. I don't really have a horse in the race. I would rather play No Man Sky than any of these.

Here's my thing, right? I think, yeah, I think it's Fortnite and I would vote Fortnite on this topic. Destiny 2 Forsaken, right? hey man they listen to the community at launch and they built something that's great right i think that you can't negate the the packs that came before that were like hey we're working on what you want but this is what we can do right now the great that they got it to forsaken i know that like fran and so many people are in love with it i just think not that it's too little too late but it's not it doesn't stack up to fortnight week after week month after month season after season coming out and literally

changing the game and making these giant events and doing all these different things and actually i i i disagree I think it is too little too late on destiny too. I really do. Well, I guess, yeah, technically, when you spell it out what I just said it is. Yeah, but I'm just, I'm not saying in terms of getting a fan base excited to being there, but in terms of the award, right?

And the same thing with No Man Sky. No Man Sky, what a redemption tale. I'm so happy for them that they did this. They turned this around and got to this point. But again, it was getting to this point. You had a great drop and that's awesome. I think that may be like the most competitive field,

I think, where like every game in that category is doing incredible things and releasing new content and new characters to play as. I think Overwatch does a great job of getting hype for new characters and releasing new worlds or new levels to play in. But Fortnite just brought it up to 11. In terms of like, you know, the meteorite crashing and then this new thing that happened recently

where suddenly you get warped to a different dimension and there's a white butterfly. And then suddenly there's a whole. world changes. I think it's like they are doing what everybody else did and with just a little bit more resources it feels. And let's not forget that they're taking a step beyond every other

competitor on here by saying, oh and by the way, we're putting on everything on the planet Earth this year. It all works with each other instantly. You can play it on a phone. You can play it on a PSPOL. Yeah, that's a fantastic point. And it's free. So, you know what? Outside of the content itself, it's the way they're pushing the industry. They're just like they are pushing. It's

Fortnite deserves a thousand votes. in this category. Kevin, write to Jeff Keely and give Fortnite 1,000 votes. 1,000 votes for Fortnite! One thousand votes! Best Game Direction awarded to a game studio for outstanding creative vision and innovation in game design and direction. This is fucking torture. A way out.

Detroit become human. God of War, Marvel Spider-Man, Red Dead Red Dead Redemption, too. Yeah. Red Dead Redemption 2's director is halfway them and halfway you. That's the creative vision on their end. Half of that game is the parts they're taking you through. And the other half is what you end up creating for yourself in that amazing cinematic mode, in the way you engage the world. So you were given great license to be a director in Red Dead. On the other hand, what Corey did with God of War is an incredible, focused creative vision.

And yet again, we have two of the most perfectly realized creative vision. side by side. But here's my thing. Can you read the description again? Man, Spider-Man's gonna be Horizon this year, huh? Award it, yeah. Awarded to a game studio

for outstanding, creative, vision, and innovative and innovation in game direction and design. I mean, what you just described to me is Red Dead a redemption too. Yeah. God of War is my game

in the year. Maybe I'm a favorite game all the time. Red Dead is what encapsulates that statement to me in terms of like, hey, again, it's a work of art. You may love it, you may hate it. It's going to make you feel something.

Mm-hmm. I predict Red Dead's going to win. To me, it's God of War. And the reason for that is in game direction and design, the way that that game is designed, the fact that the camera doesn't cut, that that changes video games to me. That changes, no longer does a cinematic experience need to be a cinematic. It is something that you get to play through and seamlessly between cut scenes and gameplay and all of that. So for game direction, in addition to an amazing story, the amazing direction of acting and all of that, that would be mine.

But I predict Red Dead. And yet in Red Dead, too, which I don't think you've played much of, right? That ability is dynamically built in as well in a very strange way. And that's the other end of it is that they haven't hyped this as much. But there's not that many cutscenes in Red Dead. And yet there's a ton of conversation and you're in control of how that's unfolding. It's very strange. And they give you the ability to cinematize it.

And they have like pre-baked camera angles for things in the woods and for it's weird and wonderful. But my thing is it's, It's not that just making it cinematic is the fact that it's all one take. There's something that feels beautifully real about it all just being one smooth. Oh, no, it's like this incredible like Paul Thomas Anderson, like moment happening. Can you slack me what you're reading that has the descriptions on it? You know what I mean? That way I can have it up and two.

It's the game awards.com slash awards. Excuse me. I said slack it to me. Andy, what is your pick? What happened to your neck first of all? I went to say, I was like, Andy, what's your pick? And then I got hung up and I was like, oh, and then I went back and my neck like jammed. You ever get like a neck pain?

Yeah. One of them neck pains. I do think the voters will split the vote here where whatever wins game of the year will win or will not win this award. You know what I mean? I do think they'll try to split it up that way. So I'll vote for Red Dead Red Dead Red Dead Redemption. But I do agree with Tim about the no cutting camera. It's like revolutionary.

It never felt like you were. All right. to play time to watch time to play time to watch it just it was always sort of around you yeah yeah i mean i'm with you on it and i don't again i love god of war i don't sit here but i just feel like a word to a game studio for outstanding creative vision and innovation in game direction and design i think i just feel like direction and design is red dead i i predict that red dead will win both game of the year and best game i think i think with all NPCs you know the interacting uh I think all that stuff sort of goes into what they're talking about here.

Sort of like innovative design, yeah. Best narrative for outstanding storytelling and narrative development in a game. Geez, not again. Detroit become human, God of War, Life is Strange 2, Episode 1, Spider-Man, Red Dead Redemption 2. Florence should be on this list. Florence should be on this list. My vote goes to God of War. God.

I predict God of War. I almost want my votes to go to something. Spider-Man. Wow. I feel like Spider-Man told such a great Spider-Man story. It did. That's not, yes, you're not wrong.

And it's like that is such an accomplishment because it could have been totally phoned in. And it, it should have been. Like, they could have took an easy way out. I would never do that. And they didn't. They really gave us a great Spider-Man story.

At the end of the day, it didn't have as many twists and turns as it could have. But to be fair, no, that it got a war. It has a couple big moments, but so does Spider-Man. But there is more than twist.

in turns, right? Yeah, it is. If you put a gun to my head, I'm going to say Red Dead 2 is my choice because of the open world storytelling and how ridiculously difficult that is to do with a very laid out story and how well that progresses itself.

But I think the winner in the category will end up being God of War. Yeah, I really think the winner is, I predict God of War, but for me, Spider-Man, it just, narrative also includes not just twist and turns but it's the world and to be hey this is spider-man eight years in the making and we're going to reveal that world to you reveal your relationship with

mary jane and and auto octavius and like all the norman osborne like all these characters you know like that is it was such a refreshing uh take for me and i thought they did such a great job i vote and predict god of war best art direction for outstanding creative and or technical achievement in artistic design and animation. Assassin's Creed Odyssey God of War. Octopath Traveler Red Dead Redemption 2. Return of the Oberdeen.

This one's fun. Best art direction. I think that one's probably going to go again. That's going to be Red Dead for me. Because that, I mean, the snow melt on the rocks. I think that's where it finally got me. It's just like, wow, this sure does look like

the world. And the fact that I travel 100 yards in a new direction and the train changes and the color still pop and it's completely different plants and completely different animals and completely different terrain and it's still beautiful and it just sort of flows into each other for miles in every direction. That's probably

going to be it for me. Also the people look great. Has anybody played Oberiden? No, neither. It looks dope as fog. We watched a trailer of it. That's a Beatles song. Great Oberden, Oprah Die, Life goes on. That's exactly what it is, Jerry. I'd vote for God of War only because of the variety and worlds that you're in

and how different... camera thing again this fits there right true god this one this is hard yeah especially because i want to give a shadow to oxopath traveler that game the moment everyone saw it was just like holy shit this is doing something so different and it's beautiful it is like revolutionizing what a 2d jrpg could look like you know i don't think it's gonna win i do think i do think another thing that gives it a god of war for me is i mean it's it's art direction so it's like animation and stuff like that? Yeah, I do think the variety of combat in God of

War you know, comboing with different enemies and throwing them up into the air. You know, I think that I'm surprised, is Spider-Man there? No. No. Wow. Spider-Man was great animation. Red Dead had me, I think, the first time

a really horrible thunderstorm rolled through and then the cloud started to break. Like that effect. Have you been through a Red Dead thunderstorm, Andy? You know. It's just like... I haven't been in one. I've been in rain.

It's unreal. I saw a clip of a guy getting struck by lightning. Yeah. And his character died, you know, Arthur died. No,

it's one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen in the game. I predict Red Dead. Yeah, is that what you would vote to? I would vote either... Or do you abstaining? I would vote either God of War

or Octopat Traveler. Yeah, I think I would... I predict and vote Red Dead. That's one of my favorite categories. I predict and vote God of War. Yeah. I think it's a good point you're making about the animation.

Yeah. Best score slash music presented by Spotify. I mean like, nothing. I think it's just, you know, for outstanding creative and or technical achievement, artistic design and animation,

right? Like I think technical achievement is where red did, I think, for me, surges ahead in terms of why I'm there and because of the tech of that world, the dynamic thunderstorms. I'm not even making a joke,

the horse testicles, right? Like a detail that's a visual artistic thing to that level, right, that then moves out. and then the way he closed the God rays The God rays and fucking

Oh yeah yeah yeah Coming through the trees Just every time you see that I'm like let me take a screenshot You know Best score slash music Presented by Spotify Spotify

Broutstanding music Inclusive of Score Original song and slash or licensed soundtrack Yeah Celeste God of War Spider Man

Ni No Kuni 2 Octopath Traveler Red Dead 2 I'm gonna say Celeste because it's extremely difficult to write a memorable soundtrack about in a game that you die a hundred times on the same screen that you don't get tired of the music. You're just playing that same stage over and over and over and over and over and over with the same music and you don't get tired of hearing it. Is that your prediction or your that is my vote? My prediction is Reddive

Redemption, which has a kind of bodacious soundtrack. Man. This one's real hard. Yeah, I think my vote's going to be for Celeste, but I think Red Dead will win, and I think it'll win for reasons why I don't love the soundtrack, because at times they will introduce songs with vocals, and not all of them I dig. And I think it sounds, it seems kind of cheesy and corny sometimes, and that kind of just turns me off.

But that, there's, yeah, that's a spoiler moment for me. But one of my, the last thing I expected was that sudden optimistic, musical turn that takes place at one point. For me, I predict it's going to be Celeste. I personally would vote Octopath Traffler. Because Octopath Travel was the first game in a long time where I like the music so much that I'd be playing it on planes. I'm like, I need to take a nap.

It brings the beat. Hard save and then just leave it on the menu and sit there listening to it. That's a great point. Yeah. Oh my God. Octavis travel has great music. Yeah. I think this is a chance to, I'm sorry, going.

Go forward. I think this is a chance where in terms of predictions where I think Celeste is going to get the votes. I also feel like it's wrong that the messenger is not. nominated for this. Well, you can take it up with the judging advisory board. Messenger does have a dope senator. Messenger has a great soundtrack. My thing is I love Celeste soundtrack so much, but even then.

And at God of War, I feel like it has a great theme that fit the game very well, but it's not super memorable. And I don't think it did anything extremely unique. Spider-Man is where I would put my vote probably. Spider-Man swells, right? That was the thing of swinging through. We talked about this all the time. You get off a call, you jump off a building. The music would go as swell as you crested over the thing.

And I just feel like the music was built into the gameplay. And like that is an achievement. But this doesn't mention anything about achievement. I'm looking at the voting here. And I think you are right about Spider-Man. Spider-Man is going to end up being like the most eight game possible in a year of nines in terms of a lot of this voting categorized. I would vote for Spider-Man.

I predict. What do you predict him? It's between Celeste and Redded. I'm going to give it to Celeste. Okay. Best audio design Presented by Dolby. Recognize the best in-game audio and sound design.

Call of Duty, Black Ops 4, Forza Horizon 4, God of War, Spider-Man, Red Dead Red Dead Redemption 2. Man, this is Spider-Man or Red Dead. Yeah. The different soundtracks for Peter Parker having effort sounds when swinging and stuff, I think is really cool. But they do that in Red Dead as well, where when an NPC gets far away,

your character starts shouting his lines. And I think that's really cool. But I do think the I think it'll go to Red Dead Red Dead Redemption only because of all of the I remember Jared talking about this on a prior games cast where Every place in the world has its own vibe and its own sound palette Every city sounds different The swamps the towns the

The plains I really believe at this point I could close my eyes you could put earphones on me and I could tell you where we were in the world So that's my pick and prediction. I'd vote for Spider-Man, based on everything I just said, but I predict Red Dead. So wait, Andy, what did you vote and predict? I vote and predict Red Dead Red Dead Red Dead Red Dead Red Dead Redemption, too.

But what about boy? What about that? That was great, but that brings us into Best Performance. Oh, nice segue. Awarded to an individual for voice overacting, Motion and slash or performance capture. Brian Decker as Connor, Detroit become human.

Christopher Judge is Kratos, God of War. Boy. My name is Connor. Not what I imagine him looking like. It's my impersonation of him. Hank, I don't understand why you're doing this. Melissa, Malasanti, Mahout as Cassandra,

Assassin's Creed Odyssey. Roger Clark as Arthur Morgan, Red Dead 2. Yuri Lowenthal as Peter Parker, Marvel Spider-Man. Got you, Yuri. That's my Yuri. low and tall impersonation.

It's good. Obviously, these are all superb. But I fell in love with Arthur, and a lot of it was that voice. And especially the fact that for reasons we don't want to spoil, that voice changes so much over the course of the game and is still Arthur. Gets kicked in the balls once. And I think that that's what the dynamism that he has to go through in that role, that makes it a truly great performance.

Is that who your prediction, too? Yeah, I predict Hill one. For that precise reason. I would like Yuri Lowenthal to win it, but I think it's going to go to the person who voices Arthur? Who voices Arthur? I forgot. Roger Clark. I think it'll go to Roger Clark, but my vote goes to Yuri Lowenthal.

Honestly, I think this is the most competitive category we've had so far. Yeah. In terms of just like every one of these people I could see winning because they're all amazing and they all did his stuff. Christopher Judge made me cry so many times. Right? Yeah, and I mean, that's the thing. Do you want to talk about Christopher Judge coming in and breathing life and depth

into a character that up until this point has had none and making me care about Cretos after years of shit talking Cretos and giving him a range and giving him a performance, right? And that's the thing is, I like it's best performance. It's not best V-O. Yeah. And that's so much of that is communicated through not touching

him, right? Shying away. The fucking line of, I know where there's such a weapon, right? And like going out and arguing. I just got goosebumps right there. It's one of those things I, Cassandra is one of my favorite video game characters of all time. But I think in terms of a performance, you stack that up against Kratos.

And I think I would vote Christopher Judge just in terms of what he did there. Again, though, this sucks because Yuri was amazing. Arthur is amazing. Brian is amazing. Like, all these people are fucking incredible. And you spent so much time with Cassandra. I mean, she's been your... Yeah.

I just think Yuri brought so much joy to the gameplay experience. The thing I go back to all the time is, like, I've been lucky enough to know Yuri a while. And like I don't when I play And I'm not trying to insult anybody But like when I play a game and Nolan pops up I'm like oh it's Nolan You know what I mean? Like when I'm playing Spider-Man

That is Peter Parker I do not hear Yuri's voice I do not hear Yuri in that And that's what I would vote for Yuri because he turned to me around He's crying He reinvented He was Peter Parker to me

And like that's something that we've We already are familiar with Peter Parker's For him to be this new Peter Parker And they not feel weird And not feel weird That's a great fucking point. I just feel like as cool as his performance is, what's demanded of Clark in that role is significantly more difficult.

He's so much range over such a relatively medium-length campaign, and yet he's forced to alter himself on several occasions radically and always still sound like the same guy. And it's shocking how well he does it. I predict Christopher Judge, though. Yeah, do you? Yeah. I think Clark.

Uri Lorenthal's crying scene, though. Got me. Real good. Real good, guys. I changed my vote to Yuri. You raise a great point. Vote or a prediction? Vote.

I never predicted anything. I'll give them all awards, though. Thank you, Andy. That's good. I love that. Can I have an indie? You can have one, sure. Thank you.

I'll get one of myself, too, because I think I did a great job this here, just doing voices. You did a great. You're always good. I'll predict crates. Yeah. But yeah, I would vote.

Uri good calls great good calls what I do Christopher judge is a cool name by the way games for impact can we define this he's about to oh I said we define this oh can we find this can we find no can you define games for impact for a thought provoking game with a profound pro social meaning or message but Laurence 11 11 memories retold Celeste Florence life is strange to episode one The missing JJ Mcfield and the island of memories. I vote for Florence. I think Celeste went.

I vote and predict Celeste. I only played Celeste out of this list, so that they get both of mine. Florence is fantastic. I loved it. Great, great experience. Super worth playing for everybody. Celeste changed the damn game when it comes to this stuff.

When you're talking to a profound pro-social meaning or message, like that is pro-something. Florence was just a fun narrative. I actually would prefer that narrative. than this category. I think Celeste obviously does it with, there's more involvement in the parallels of the story

and the difficulty of the experience. But Florence in many ways encapsulated the same kind of mechanical storytelling bridge that Celeste pulls off and it didn't in a 45-minute experience that's extremely accessible whereupon many people

never even reach that point in Celeste. And ding, ding, ding, that's the problem in terms of making a prediction right, for who's going to win. How many people are voting and I would and I don't know how many you know whatever, but in terms of made it to the jump in Celeste, right? It's similar to the messenger where I did and I guess I didn't. No, it's similar to messenger where I know there's a boom. This thing goes off in a different direction, but I never made it there.

I'm sure a lot of people played that game and didn't make it there to where the story goes in a different direction. I would argue two levels of Celeste is and that's why I cut myself off like I've been there. I know what you're saying. Yeah. I mean, even even one level is I would share like once if you. get to the end of the first stage of Celeste, it still, I think, has more of a profound social meaning or message than

Florence does. And I loved Florence. It's just, to me, Florence is a story about a relationship. What do you got against relationships, Tim? Nothing. I just think that Celeste, like... No, I mean, Celeste is... I don't think, I think, what is the... I mean, you've had a chance to play this, and you've had to go play Celeste and pause

right now, but what is the pro-social message of Celeste? It is being able to look into yourself and trying to try to try to find the light that's still there when you're depressed, when they're dealing with anxiety. And I feel like when you add that to gameplay, that's what makes it less special to me is the story is deep and meaningful, but every single thing about it is tied to actual gameplay that is tight 2D platforming at its best.

Okay, now you've got something here. There's the Greek word Hamartia is used in scripture. It means sin, but it literally means missing the mark. like you're shooting an arrow and you miss the bull's eye. It's the same word that actually appears as sin in the Bible. I think that Celeste is an expression of that. It's like every time I miss the mark, I feel ashamed. Every time I miss the mark, I'm not making it, but I keep going.

Her self-loathing is, yeah, change my vote. Me too. You did it. He's right. You're a great thing of it. I was no excited to see Florence. I got distracted, but you're right. Yeah, what is the pro meaning of Florence is,

relationships end sometimes and you'll be okay which is a good message but like not the same message yeah you're right it's it's transcendental you should play Florence Andy it's an iOS game right

45 minute iOS game I don't have anything I might be it might be Android 2 but I think it's on Switch or just get announced for Switch Oh really? I didn't hear that

maybe I made it a whole everybody Yeah it's absolutely worth playing Yep it's like really short too right 45 minutes yeah Thank you for swaying me Tim yeah I'm a swear dude great games though Is it out?

Yeah, it's on droid because that's where I played it. Best Independent game. Oh, Lord. Before we read the nominee. Messenger, baby. That's Messenger. Best independent game for outstanding creative and technical achievements in a game made outside the traditional publisher system.

Okay, first off, Minutes should be on here. No, that's a note. That game, you talk about outstanding, creative, technical achievement? Freaking amazing. Do you ever beat it? Oh, yeah, a minute? it takes like two hours

Celeste 120 minutes huh yeah oh nice well done Celeste it's like I was wrong about Florence on Switch I'm confused my apologies Celeste

dead cells Into the breach Return of the Oberdeen The messenger Okay so Celeste amazing Into the breach We never gave the love It really deserved here

That's true That game's unreal Like that is that is just about That is just about the perfect strategy video game It's incredible And those are games that just do not buy with me, which is why I never ever gave it a shot. Yeah, it's so minimal.

Like it takes, it strips, it's like Chrono Trigger. It strips all the crap out you hate and just leaves the absolute bare minimum that you need to get what's fun about those games. It takes everything else out. When I saw like graphics of like, oh, it's a meca game. Holy shit. Let me get it. And it's like, uh, never mind. Did you even try it?

I didn't try it. Andy, I, even if you don't like. I can't do those games. It's different than those. I don't try try once I'll buy you a copy Do or do not there is no try Yeah give it a shot I'm sorry I got a lot across the board for me

Vote for Celeste and I predict Celeste My thing is so many of these games I love and enjoy So much dead cells if it was tighter If it wasn't a 25 hour game And instead was a 10 hour game It'd be there'd be a question actually even that's hard Because Celeste is fucking so damn good But shout out of

to dead cells and shout out to the messenger. I had such a great time with the messenger. I love the messenger. I just feel it does so much perfectly that when it does some things okay, I'm like, I want it a little bit more. Oh, okay. The big twist of the game, I don't like it.

Oh, see, I love it. I think the, why I would vote the messenger over Celeste is I just had more joy playing it. Whether it's the platforming, the writing is hilarious. It is. And I enjoy the writing more than Celeste. Now, Celeste is obviously a more serious game.

It's supposed to make you feel more things. But that's not the type of game that I would necessarily enjoy. The humor, the same reason, sort of like going back to MCU and review, why I have Ragnarock over Infinity War. Like, I loved the jokes and the goofs in Messenger. I love the self-awareness. But also, on top of that, if the gameplay wasn't good, then, you know, what do you really have?

But I thought the gameplay was incredible, along with sort of that open, world thing that sort of twists and turns. And I thought I think it's just great. I love the messenger. I'm abstaining from voting. I didn't beat enough of these games. I mean, I've played a lot of them. I've played Celeste.

I've played some Dead Cells. I've played the Messenger. But none of those games I finished. My wife did a brand management for the Messenger. So obviously, I don't feel ready to say anything about that. But like, Messenger, I play. I was like, I get it. And stop playing.

Celeste, I played for a long time. I really enjoyed. And then something came out and distracted me and I never went back. Dead Cells, I played a few runs. I get it. cool. And then yeah, Into the Breach didn't seem like my type of game. Anyways, predicting, you know, as I predict Celeste. I could see you getting sucked into Into the breach, by the way.

Yeah. I guess it's just been a while since I've played like a 2D platformer and had so many moments were like, holy shit, whoa. And this is Celestrian. It's a messenger. Okay. Celeste was just kind of like a gradual thing. And Dead cells on the other hand, while I love the hook, again, I agree with Tim. It's like, shorten it, keep it tighter.

I felt more frustrated playing it. And it could be just a get good thing or whatever, but... Are you predicting Messenger as well? I am predicting Celeste, but I vote for the Messenger. Gotcha. Jared, what were your predictions and votes? My, as much as I love the Messenger, it's on my all-time favorites list now, I think. I both have to choose and predict Celeste.

Celeste is deeply impacting at a level that I think that transcends just a game. It's art in a very beautiful way. Also, how in the world does bloodstain not on here? Because it's not the real one. The real one didn't come out. The fake one, the fake one. The fake one creates one where Matt worked all on it. Yeah, that quote unquote, fake bloodstain game is amazing.

That's a great game. Let me call up Jeff Keely ring a ding ding name. He says a fake bloodstang. I also think that Celeste is a shoe in here because it got nominated for a game here. And with all the respect, it's not going to win game in the year. Or will it. We'll see. The biggest upset of all time.

Fucking Corey Barlog walks over and punches fucking Dan Houser in the face. And everyone's like, what's happening? Best mobile game. For the best game playable on a dedicated mobile device. Lawrence. Things get interesting here. Donut County. Great game.

Florence. Fantastic. Fortnite. Good game. PubG Mobile. Rains Game of Thrones. Where is part-time UFO? Where's part-time UFO? Where's part-time UFO?

I am voting and predicting Florence. Wow. I have no vote. I am voting and predicting Florence. Yeah, that's my man. I am voting Florence. I'm predicting Fortnite. And honestly, here's the thing, dude.

Arguments you made, I said this on Games Daily a couple days ago. Fortnite is a fucking accomplishment on mobile. Oh, my God. I will never forget being on Gamescast and you guys pulling out and me seeing it be like, this, this is the game. Game changer. The concessions made are graphical. They're not gameplay.

They're not what the game is. The full fucking Fortnite game is playable there. What's really impressive is watching really good players play Fortnite mobile. Yeah. And it's just, like, there's that audience where you wonder, like, where are the hardcores for these games? Like, is there a hardcore dedicated audience that plays this over console or over PC? And they exist.

And it's really fucking impressive. It's really cool to see how. that how Fortnite Mobile and even PubG Mobile too has sort of like garnered its own little fan base and it has super hardcore people playing it. My favorite thing about Fortnite mobile is that it puts

good games in the hands of kids again. I like that. I like when it makes more kids able to play good games together. I think that's great. I think that I agree that don't mean wrong. I just feel like this is going to get one in like everybody's going to and kind of give like the eye roll. I'm like Fortnite, yes, it

is on mobile, it plays on mobile, it's not a mobile, it's not a mobile game. You know what I mean? It's Florence. That's a mobile game. That's fair. And you're right. There's going to be a lot of people that don't vote for Fortnite just because of that. But this is another weird one where I even would predict Donut County potentially over Florence because I feel like more people played it. I think a lot of people, it's a numbers game. I feel like a lot of people will get their survey, figure out that Florence is 45 minutes long and play it before they vote. Donut County is super short too. Yeah. That's true. Donut County is amazing. Yeah, I love Dona County. Have a garbage day. Yeah, have a garbage day indeed.

But I just, yeah, I think this is where you're going to give the nods to Florence. Get out, you know what I mean? Yeah. Also, seriously, it's a crime against, it's just a crime that part-time UFO is not on here. Best VR slash AR game for the best game experience playable in virtual or augmented reality. What a fucking category PlayStation VR fans? It's our year. Astrobot rescue mission.

Boop Boop. Beat Sabre. Fuck yeah. Firewall Zero hour. Moss. My main. Tetris Effect. Let's go.

Woo. Woo. Dude. I love you. Can't go wrong. You can't go wrong here. Yeah. Here's what I want you all to do.

Trade in your PlayStation 4 and buy PlayStation VR. Because these are the games. Dude, I want to play Astrobot now. I have to see all these reviews. Dude, Asherbot's so much fun. People talk about Astrobat is like one of the best platformers like ever. They ain't wrong.

You need to play it, Tim. I need to play it. All these games are so, well, not all of them. So many of them are so up my alley. I need to play Teser's Effect. Okay. Yeah, I feel like there's going to be a recency bias thing with votes for this. And I think that Testors Effect.

I agree. You say they're going to be a regency bias? Recency. Oh, okay. I mean, no, Astrobot was right there. Yeah. Here's what I'm going to say. Here's, if you don't mind me taking the pulpit for a second.

I think Tetris Effect is going to win. It has such a groundswell movement behind it. What may, the only thing that might hurt it is I imagine most people are playing it, not in VR. The people who do play in VR, I know what's the thing. but they're just excited to see Tetris Effect on the ballot, right? Yeah. I wouldn't give it to Beat Saber, just, I want to give it to Beat Sabre, which I love and can't wait for on PlayStation VR.

It's right now out on regular VR and has a whole storeful of awesome songs to download. I think the fact that it's there, it's not on the most popular VR right now. Is it going to hurt it in terms of, oh, I've seen it's cool with Slidesaber's. I personally don't even know all about the downloadable songs and all the stuff you can get and all the mod community, all the jazz and the Darth Mall. You know, there's so many cool things happening with it. Firewall Zero Hour. So great, right, Kev?

I mean, you want to talk about really like, holy shit, I'm playing a, I'm playing with seven other people and it's all working and it's all fantastic and it's great. It's still not light years above it. Moss is a game that I love and got super overlooked. Everybody who's like in love with Astrobot, which again is a fantastic game needs to fucking play Moss, which is also now out, not, debuted on PSVR, and now out on everything else. That little mouse is so cute. Quill, amazing character. But I think Tetris Effect is what takes it. And honestly, it's tough.

This is really where it gets in the head of like what I would vote for versus what do I think would win versus what is my favorite. Like that's so fucking tough right there. But I'd probably end up giving it to Tetris Effect too. I would rather play Tetris Effect than Astrobot. But Astrobot is probably the greater achievement for the art form this year. Somebody managed to break through and make us go, oh, wow, look what VR can do. And that's the thing. And maybe what a whole whole thing.

back Tetris Effect is it's fucking insane and amazing and there's all this hyperbole on it about like can Tetris win game of the year and it's like well yeah but it is just Tetris. Now granted Tetris is one of the greatest games of all time. I think Tetris Effect wins it. I think you narrowly I think I'm probably

to say Astrobot edges it out for me even though I'm more likely to play Tetris Effect like that's the game I'm going to go home and play. Yeah, yeah. But Astrobot may very well be the greater achievement of the two. Tim, what are you abstaining but what are you abstaining? but what are you predicting? I'm abstaining.

I haven't played enough of these. I will say, though, Beat Sabre is, it's just, it's old. That's the problem it has going for it. Because Beat Sabre is one of those games

where, like, anytime, even whether or not you know and I've played with VR or anything, those videos go viral. Of people being like, what the fuck is this game? It looks awesome.

It's definitely one of my games of the year from what I've played. It is fantastic. It's such a great time. And it shows how cool VR can be. It kind of is the promise of VR achieved. It's the sort of Wii sports thing

where you show your, when you got your Wii and you just had people come over and play Mario 10 as like if you have a vibe or an Oculus, it's like come look at this game that is available. It's everything fucking cool. Kevin, I'd like your input. This is a category built for you as well. As the VR boys, we call

each other. I feel like he's walking upstairs. I feel like Firewall was like the biggest surprise. I think Tetris will win. And I even think it deserves it because it's It's a phenomenal thing, but I love Tetris. That just transports you another world. Absolutely.

That really takes you. But Firewall works so well. Firewall is like the promise of like, hey, these people are figuring it out. And you guys are going to have games. What's going to hurt firewall is just not enough people playing it. Yeah. I think Tetris is so much more accessible. I predict Astrobot wins.

Oh! And I'm saying that because I think that the vote's going to be split between Astrobot, Beat Sabre and Tetris Effect. And I think the Beat Sabre and Tetris effect are going to pull from each other. And I think that people are going to rally and fight for and try to flush Astrobot. Okay. Best action game. For the best game in the action genre focused on combat. Call of Duty Black Ops 4.

Dead cells. Destiny 2 forsaken, Far Cry 5, Mega Man 11. Speaking of where the fuck is God of War? Yeah, where is God of War? Action Adventure. It's the next category. Okay, that's cool. Okay.

So where is the messenger? dead yeah and where again is bloodstained again it's not out yet no no the one that already came out yet the one that already can you read them again with me Tim sorry about that uh call duty black ops

four dead cells destiny two forsaken far cry five make a man alive I mean I don't know I don't know I don't know I'd say probably call duty four black ops because it brought you're getting you're getting a

really good battle royale experience when people feel like they may have been burned by PubG on console. You're getting that and it runs super well. Well, not for us yesterday, but I don't really know. That wasn't on. That's not on the game. Yeah. Yeah, I think the game works incredibly well and the fact that most consoles have that

experience now that isn't Fortnite, that is a more sort of serious shooter, even though those perks and zombies or whatever, I'd give it to Black Ops. I think for me on this one, I would vote for Mega Man 11. And I think Dead Cell is a win because it's critical darling. And this is the place people are going to get a chance to vote for. That's a good point. Yeah. I predict Dead Cells.

I also vote Dead Cells. But that's just because I like that game. Yeah, Dead Cells had that sort of a little wave of craziness where everybody was tweeting about it. And it was sort of how far have you gotten? But I think people missed out a Mega Man 11, which is a superb action game. I didn't try I need to I love Mega Man

it's really really good I didn't need to because you love Mega Man I really need to no I really need to I mean what do you think Big Greg

I don't feel like I'm versed enough I didn't you know I haven't played Forcaken I didn't play Mega Man 11 Far Cry 5 I didn't enjoy I think that's just on here because they needed to fill out the categories

well hold on let me take that back I enjoyed Far Cry 5 but not enough that I would have ever put it on and on maybe this for anything Dan that was his here Yeah.

Jesus. That was the beginning. Not even the beats. Anyways. Oh, shit. Man, you make a good case for dead cells, I guess. Can you just read the description again for action game for me? Game and action genre focused on combat.

That's Mega Man. You know, I'm going to predict Call of Duty. I think it's a safe prediction. I think it's between that and Dead Cells. It just depends on. I do think that people will want to reward Destiny for doing the right thing and listening to the fans. and I loved what I played at Destiny 2. I played the main story,

and I didn't do a lot of post-game, like I didn't do the raid or anything, but I think everything in the main campaign was super well done and fun and had the same hooks that we were all used to. In the same vein, though, do you think they're going to want a reward Call of Duty? People love Blackout, right?

That seems like it's super popular, and they're happy with zombies. Like, Call of Duty is one of those ones, people are like, what the fuck? And then they played it. Oh, actually, everyone's into it. It seems like, and it sold really, really well, obviously. Yeah, I'm tempted to go with Black,

blackout for my prediction, but I do think people are going to look and see, oh, here's the place I get to vote for dead cells and people that do what we do for a living love dead cells. Yep. Are we going through all of them? Are we breaking? I'm in. I'm not stopping you. I'm just saying you got enough for another game's cast, I feel like.

Do we? Don't you think? We're halfway through now? I mean, but a lot of the stuff is like, okay. I was just putting out there. I was giving you an out if you wanted. You know what? You're right. Yeah, I have a deal to go to. He's got things. It's 5.20 Yeah, yeah, because now we also have our predictions for like announcements and stuff that I feel like a little bit more time for us to like see what starts shaking in the bushes.

You know what I mean? I understood. Shake the bush. Shaking in the bushes. I know. The whole rumors, you know what I mean? Okay. Like leaks and like a little bit of things.

All right. Ladies and gentlemen, this has been the kind of funny games cast. We will return next week with more of our predictions, including our predictions of game announcements. the return of mobile game or bullshit. You want to tease the people of what next week will be? Do your research on development studios because next week it's mobile game or dev studio.

Wow. That's right. Until then. I love you.