Kinda Funny Gamescast: Video Game Podcast - The Last of Us Battle Royale Dreams - Kinda Funny Gamescast

Episode Date: December 1, 2021

Go to http://razer.com to give the gift of gaming! Visit http://joinhoney.com/KINDA to get Honey for free. Blessing gives his review of Solar Ash and Sancho West joins us to talk about the state of esports, Battle Royales, Halo Infinite, and what he would want from a new The Last of Us Factions. Follow Sancho at https://twitter.com/SanchoWest Epic Creator Code: KindaFunny Time Stamps: 00:00:00 - Start 00:01:20 - Housekeeping & TikTok Talk 00:07:50 - Solar Ash Review 00:29:05 - Breaking Down Halo’s Popularity w/ SanchoWest 00:54:05 - A Last of Us Battle Royale Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What's up and welcome back to the Kind of Funny Games cast as always. I'm Tim Geddes joined by the new face of video games blessing at a yoie junior. What's up, Tim? And joining us for the first time on this show. I can't believe it's the very first time I am doing a show with this man. It is the one, the only Patreon producer extraordinaire of kind of funny for for many, many months over the last couple of years. We love him so much, Sancho West. Oh, gentlemen, Tim, blessing.

Barrett, it's good to be here and all kind of funny people out there. I'm very much excited to be on this show. I can't believe that it's been a such a long time, but like I was saying, right before sending us all up, I mean, we got to get the boys together for fun, you know? Exactly, exactly. Of course, he's been on Games Daily before. This is not his first kind of funny appearance, but it is his first time doing a show with me, which I'm excited about.

We were supposed to have Andy here as well, but there was some unfortunate news. His grandpa passed away. So everybody, please go send some sweet, nasty love to. at the Andy Cortez on Twitter. He needs it now. He was going to give his solar ash review on this, but that will have to wait for later. Blessing, of course, we'll be stepping up

and giving his thoughts on the game instead. But please go send that sweet, nasty love. But having said all that, let's get into the show because, of course, this is the Kind of Funny Games cast. We each and every week, we get together to talk about video games and all the things that we love about them. Of course, you can get it on YouTube.com slash kind of funny games or roosterteeth.com.

If you wanted to get it as a podcast, just search your favorite podcast service for Kind of Funny Gamescast and we'll be right there for you. A quick shout out to Screen Rants for making a list. And bless, I'm not even going to call this a shit list, putting the kind of funny games cast is one of the top 10 video game podcast, which is very, very cool. Thank you so much for that. A ton of awesome people. PSLW was definitely snubbed. But yeah. Forza also somehow snubbed for this one too.

Exactly. A lot of snubs around. And Returnals. Yeah, so many snubs. But if you want to not snub us, you can go to patreon.com slash kind of funny games, just like our Patreon producers, Pranksy, Tyler Ross, Delaney 20, Julian the Gluten Free Gamer, Alex Jay Sandoval, Techie Haas, James Hastings, Casey Andrew, and Pranksy have all done. We appreciate you so much.

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like when you're buying stuff in Rocket League or Fortnite to help support Kind of Funny and the big, beautiful kids. We're the kids in this case. Have you been seeing the Rocket League stuff on TikTok? No, I haven't. I don't know what's up my algorithm, but I swear, you know how, like, when you're scrolling through, they'll show you the live streams that people are doing.

And I've hit the point in my algorithm where it's turned into a lot of people like video game streaming through TikTok. and like they're doing it in really cool ways because there's not like an OBS for TikTok necessarily and so like they'll put a camera in like a weird angle and they'll show themselves in the mirror and that's how they do like the picture and picture. My algorithm is taking the next step

into just showing me Rocket League lives. Like people playing Rocket League and doing these really cool Rocket League modes that I don't know if they're like mods or whatever but like it's really cool stuff and I didn't know if this is just a me thing. It's got a lot of cool modes. It's got a lot of cool modes. But like not just like the basketball stuff

or like the mode where like the floor falls away. I was watching earlier today somebody play Rocket League, and it was 2D Rocket League. And it was like, rock, like the same mechanics, it was the same game, but it was Rocket League on a two, on a two D plane where it was like 2 v2. And they just had to like worry about getting like the right height on the floats and like, you know, getting the right angles on the balls. And I have to worry about that in 3D. Like that's one thing I'm just saying a lot. And then also like Rock League obstacle courses and a bunch of like really interesting Rocket League shit that is populated my TikTok. What was it that when you say 2D is it like the same engine as?

Yes. I'm pretty sure it is like the exact same game, but either modded or I don't know if this is just a rock. This sounds vaguely familiar. I'm going to look it up. Rocket League TV. It might be official Rockab league stuff or something like that. I thought. It might be, but it looks exactly like Rocket League. And it's just 2D. It's very fascinating. That I think like the obstacle court stuff is really is really fascinating. I want to know more about this guy using the mirror of her picture and picture. Do you? I can tell people, content's content, dude. You don't need the fanciest gear. You just got to make content, right?

Blessing. It's very, I mean, it's very fascinating on TikTok. I just, I want a whole tangent. I apologize. But like, it's been a whole thing where it's really impressive because, yeah, people do things like, you know, use a mirror for the picture and picture. Or they'll just have the camera pointed at their TV. But at the same time, they're Twitch streaming.

But the cool thing about the way that TikTok works and, like, people building audiences on TikTok is that on the TikTok side, they'll have like 7.6K viewers. Meanwhile, on Twitch, they'll have a few hundred. And so, like, really where it's at for them is TikTok and converting the TikTok audience into a Twitch audience. But, like, on, like, there was a TikToker I was watching who had, like, a thousand-something viewers on TikTok. And they were talking to their Twitch audience, and they're like, man, oh, man, I have 100 people on Twitch right now. This is so cool. And I'm like, yeah, but you have a thousand people on TikTok.

Like, you're not, like, what, like, I don't know, like, it's such a cool, interesting thing. And, like, I'm into it. Like, I've been really into it lately. I found it. I mean, it's Rocket League side swipe. which is a rocket mobile game. It's a mobile game. Okay, that actually makes way more sense.

It looks fascinating. I want to try this out. I can literally talk days on this whole thing about streamer audience, TikTok. It's like TikTok, I mean, the way and gold, dude, Twitch is a hundred.

There's a difference in there, man. TikTok is just a flimsy kind of follower account. I mean, you can't really mobilize them so much, but like I said, that's a whole other cast like you go on there. Yeah, absolutely do.

No, it is a very fascinating thing of like what content creation has done to way games like Rocket League are developed. But on top of that, like when there are these up and coming platforms, like, like TikTok even did to vertical video, right? Like they were kind of the first ones to really kind of understand that, hey, people have phones, smartphones, which are recording vertically,

which means we should like kind of turn that into a content platform. And then everyone copies it and goes from there. It is a, it's a scary place. I know a lot of people don't like vertical video. But I mean, look, it's here to stay. And like that's where I think the the live streaming specifically on TikTok, that's the thing that I'm leased into when it comes to being on TikTok. I think the algorithm is fantastic and it serves me everything I want in all of my interests. And that algorithm is insane.

It is insane. And I mean, talking about the vertical stuff, right? Like most of the stuff I see are people who are also co-streaming to Twitch, which is why they do like the janky set up on TikTok. They double dip. Yeah, like they double dip because you don't want to have to figure. out how to do, you know, run two different OBSs or whatever and have two different, like, layouts for vertical and then another one for horizontal and, like, figuring out what all that looks like. And so they just set up, set up a phone just to capture whatever's happening in the

room. And then they actually have their Twitch thing. But I mean, I had a whole probably like three months of all the live content being people doing like the impossible, like throws. Like they'll throw like a ping pong ball. Trick shots. Yeah. Like them just doing the trick shot, trick shot stuff, and that populated my timeline for what felt like forever, but I couldn't get enough of it. Like, anytime I'll come across it, I'd be like, ah, shit, it's this guy again. And I watch it for maybe a good four minutes, and I'm like, fuck, they got me. And then I keep going and I see it again.

I keep watching it again. Yeah. Fascinating. Well, moving on to more video game stuff in particular, Solar Ash. Blessing, you beat the game. I did. I want to start with your review, your thoughts on Solar Ash. Solar Ash is good.

It's a game that, so to take people back, right? It's a game that was announced, I believe, during the PlayStation 5, like that original showcase, is the follow up to Hyperlight Drifter from those same developers. It is not a sequel. It is a different type of game. Instead of being this 2D pixel art Zelda-like game, it is more so a 3D. I would categorize it as a puzzle platformer with like action elements. It is very pathless.

and that is the thing that I had realized when Andy gave his preview Solar Ash on an episode of PS Love You a couple months ago, the more he described in the world, I was like, this sounds exactly like the Pathless. And now having played it and having beat it, it is exactly the pathless to a fault.

Like, to the point where I'm like, oh, this is doing all the same things that the Pathless did, but I wouldn't say there's much that this game does that is as good as the way the Pathless does it. So to put the setup of the game in a context, right? I'd say both this game and the pathless take a lot of influence from Shadow Colossus

where they put you in a world that is basically an open, ruined world, right? Like the world has been destroyed, your post-apocalypse, and there's not really any life or anything left in the world. And you go through, you explore, and you are looking for these big boss-like creatures to essentially take out, right? It has that very Shadow Colossus thing where the narrative is minimal. They gave you the setup. In Solar Ash, the setup is you want to bring life into the world,

which is actually the same setup that the Pathless had as well. You're playing as Ray. You want to bring life into the world because, yeah, it is post-apocalypse, and you want to reverse what happened. And it has that same shadow colossacy thing where it's like, all right, is what I'm doing good, is what I'm doing bad, do these creatures deserve what I'm doing to them, all that same sort of stuff.

And the thing that Solar Ash does that I'd say is unique to Solar Ash is it's movement. The way you get around mostly is by skating. You hold one of the triggers and you do like kind of a smooth movement that'll take you faster. And then if you press the other trigger, it'll boost you forward and you get like a quick boost momentum, which is a little similar to how Pathless moves as well. Pathless is another game that is very much all about the momentum.

But in Pathless, if you remember, you're shooting arrows at these talismans that are floating in the air and that'll be the thing that will take you forward. Solar Ash is a bit more, I think, approachable from that aspect in terms of, you know, anybody can skate around, anybody can get into it. It's like playing something like JetSet Radio Future, where you're skating, you're boosting, and it's kind of fun to move around and jump around. But, like, you're doing all that stuff. You are, when you're introduced to a new environment in the game, you are tasked with using your scanner to scan the world. You'll see, like, a few waypoints, and you can take waypoints in any order that you want. But those waypoints will then take you to these quick like puzzle platforming obstacles that when you solve them, you then like, you partly unlock the boss, right?

You essentially are trying to like stab a thing. And once you stab the thing, I feel like a madman talking about it. Once you stab a thing, you then open one of the eyes of the boss. And once you stab all the things in the area, that's when the boss fight opens and you go and you fight the boss. And the bosses are usually these bigger shadow colossus-like creatures that you are getting on top of and skating through. It's less like Shadow Colossus in the way that Shadow Colossus is all about climbing and holding on and then like trying to get to that right spot to stab it. Solar Ash is more so you are on top of these bosses and you're skating through them and you are doing these kind of the same obstacle challenges that you were during the puzzle platforming sections in the open world environment. But now you're doing those on top of a bigger boss.

And the bosses, again, they are very Shadow Colossusy. You'll have like a flying boss that looks a lot like the flying snake feed from Shadow. This is crazy. Like looking at this B-Royer right now, which is the boss that you're talking about, like it, this looks like if hyperlight drifters art style had a baby with Shadow of the Colossus boss bites

and 3D Sonic games. Yeah. Like there's a lot of 3D Sonic stuff there, whether it's the grinding or just like the kind of boost mechanics, even like the skating looks very shadow-like. More so even than a jet set radio, I think. Yeah, I think that is actually a really good poll for the shadow headshot because it does feel like that at certain points, right?

It's not as fast necessarily. Like when you're trying to get from point A to point B in the open world, sometimes it can feel like you're going a bit slow, but the momentum is there. That feels good, especially when you hit the boost and you hit a jump and you get like that momentum in the air. That actually does feel pretty good.

But yeah, there are a few bosses in here where I was like, dude, that's straight up taken out of Shadow the Colossus. Like you'll have a boss that looks exactly like the, I think it's like boss number three in Shadow Colossus that has like the big like staff thing that'll hit down and like that you have to break and then climb up. there's a boss that looks almost one for one for that um and like you know it's a fun game like i i

throughout my time playing this game even though i couldn't i couldn't stop making those connections and comparisons to things that obviously influenced it like shadow colossus and i think to some extent the path list even though the pathless only came out a year ago i feel like both them probably took a lot of the same inspiration and had a lot of the same ideas which is funny because that is also an anna perna game like i'm surprised that at no point somebody stepped in and were like hey should be like I don't know, delay this to make it different or whatever, but I think it being different developers, they just landed on this path.

So it is what it is. Turns out they weren't pathless. Yeah, turns out they had a very set path. But yeah, like, I think the thing for me with this game, and having beaten it and my takeaway from it is that it is good, but nothing in this game necessarily stands out as amazing. The puzzles, the platforming puzzles are good and adequate, it and I think they are fun to do.

But it's hard for me to go. It's hard for me to look at this game, go to somebody and go, you need to play Solar Ash. Because from a, from like a story level, there's not really much that is interesting there. Like they set up the world and they have like, they have a lot of dialogue, more dialogue than I think you typically get in this type of game specifically. But none of it really sets up as interesting until the very end of the game. I think the way the game ends is pretty satisfying. It reminds me of something, again, like Shadow, where you. I was like, shit, like they, they're, they're going for something here.

Like, this, this has meaning behind it. But throughout the whole journey there, you were getting to dialogue sequences with, with another character named Sid, who is essentially, who is essentially like a vendor in the world. And it's like the one other character that you're really interacting with in this world. They're a vendor and they're kind of like you're, uh, the person that you're interfacing with. And like, they do, they give like a lot of dialogue dumps.

And again, none of them are really particularly interesting because this world doesn't feel like a world that is deep with lore. I think it tries to have the illusion that it is deep with lore, and that is the same thing. I would say that Shadow and the Pathless both do, and a lot of games like these do, where it is, hey, let's show, don't tell. And I think oftentimes that works. Like when I think of something like Eco or Shadow, I think putting you into that world and having you just deal with this small story that is happening in this world that gives you

the illusion that it is bigger and greater and, like, there's something grand happening here. I think there's a lot of potential for that to work. But I think Solar Ash does the opposite, and it does too much tell, right? It's not like filled with dialogue by any means, but it has way more dialogue than it needs to. And it has enough dialogue that breaks the illusion for me and makes me go, okay, you guys want there to be a world here. But I don't know if I necessarily believe in this world. This doesn't feel big anymore. This feels like something that is now narrowed down to the situation I'm in.

And I don't know if that's enough to actually carry this from a narrative perspective. And so, like, you know, that was, that was a little bit of a letdown for me and then also on the gameplay side of things. Like the platforming never felt clean and perfect, you know, like not that it needs to be perfect. Like, again, it's fun and good, but there are plenty of moments where I would be in a boss fight. And I, one of the main mechanics is, like, striking these staffs that are placed down in the world. And, like, once you strike one, the next one will unlock and you want to go from one to the the other in a in a lot of amount of time before like they disable right it's about speed and it's about like hitting them precisely at times if you fail or if you take too long the game will reset

you or if you like land in the wrong place like if you land in like we'll say a damage spot the game will will reset you there are plenty of times where I feel I'd feel like I'm in the flow and I'm getting it and I'm having a good time with one of those obstacles and then I'd land in a spot where the game doesn't want me to land, it'll reset me. And I'm like, okay, cool. Like, that was my mistake. Let me try this again. Let me see what I can tweak. And there are plenty of moments where I'll do it the third time, fourth time, fifth time. And I'm like, like, this game, like, some of these obstacles feel like they aren't as intuitive as they could be in order to build the flow. Like, the momentum is stopped less so because I'm not identifying what I need to do

next. It's more so the game lands me in places that it doesn't, that in places that don't set me up for where I need to go next. And so I would hit one bar and then land on like a damage spot or hit one bar and then the game would bug out and like I would get floated way far from what I, where I wanted to be, right? Things like that happened enough to where I never felt like, I never felt like it was as polished as it needed to be. But like, yeah, like taking all that into account and like taking into account like the

puzzle design and like the world, world itself and all that stuff. it's a fun game that I'm glad I played, but at the same time, I don't think it's one that's going to stick with me. It's not what I'm going to think about. And it's a bit upsetting because I was really looking forward to this one. How long is it? I beat it in eight hours.

Go ahead, Sancho. Not bad. Not bad. My question, the whole thing I was listening to is like in looking at the B-roll, of course, I know once to get into this free flow, but is it mindless?

It feels like at a certain point, you're just, like you mentioned that you do the things in the level and then the same kind of obstacles appear in the ball, boss is it all of a sudden blend into one i think that's why there's not a lot of sticky factors to have just based on what you're telling me yeah it's it's fairly mindless this this is the definition of a podcast game or a game that you play and then play your own music over it um like oh no wait that sucks because this you think that this has a killer soundtrack it does not and that is one of my

biggest complaints with this game is that like this is this is it like the game that should have a fucking dope soundtrack for the type of game that it is and the soundtrack is so forget getable. And like, yeah, like, at a certain point, I was just like, well, I guess I'll just play my own music or play my podcast because it's not really, it wasn't doing anything for me in that regard also. But yeah, like, it is very mindless and it's repetitive, not in a bad way. I think it is repetitive in kind of a relaxing way of the game is not never asking too much of you. It is asking you to do the same thing over and over again. And it does the thing where it introduces new mechanics, which with each new area. And those puzzle mechanics will define like the puzzles that you're solving in that

area. Like, they'll give you a, hey, here's a thing that if you, if you hit these generators, it'll unlock a boost that'll carry you up. That is a mechanic for this area and all the puzzles are based around that mechanic. And I think that stuff is fine and well and it's well done. But at no point is it like super like at no point did I finish a puzzle and went, fuck yeah. Like I feel like the smartest person in the world. Usually I would finish a puzzle and go, all right, cool. Like on to the next one. Like I figured that thing out. All right, cool. Like there are a couple puzzles I got stuck on for a while, and not even puzzles, actually. The moments where I got stuck in the game were more so the moments where either I get into

a loop of like dying at a boss and being frustrated with the way that the game would place me like in that boss, like it, during that fight, or I would get stuck because like I said, the game would put you in environments and then you would scan and then you're just going to the different waypoints in the world. I would narrow it down to the last waypoint and I wouldn't be able to figure out like how I'd get there. And eventually I would. And again, it would never feel like a thing where I was like, oh, I figured it out. It was more so, oh, you had to go, you had to backtrack and then go down a tunnel as opposed to like trying to get to that location in the overworld. It's stuff like that,

that never truly felt like they were revolutionary or like I felt like I had some kind of revolution and that made me feel super good doing this. It always just felt like, cool, this is a means to get to the next step of the game. And yeah, like, I don't know. Like, it, I think for the people that are, that I've seen trailers of Solar Ash or have interest in playing Solar Ash, I'll definitely say, check it out, but it's not when I'm like,

oh, you've got to play this in the way that I would do for something like the Pathless. Like, the Pathless for me I came and when I was like, you got to play this. Like, this is dope as hell. But Solar Ash Free doesn't do any one thing that is great.

Like, everything it does is like adequate to good, but nothing really pushes it over the top for me. So it looks like it's $40 and it's available on PS4, PS5, at the game store. Yeah, Bless, what do you feel about the $40 price tag? $40, I wouldn't pay $40 for Solar Ash. Like, for me, it would be more of the probably $20 to $30 range in terms of, like, how I place value and what I feel comfortable paying for it. And like the time, the amount of content that's in there, it feels, it feels quicker. But, and there's another thing

I'll say to, too, is because you mentioned it's on PS4, PS5 and stuff. And, you know, this was revealed during that PlayStation 5 presentation. Playing this game on PS5, I was surprised about how it ran some of the time. Like, this is the first game in a negative way. Yeah. Like this is the first game I've played on PS5 in a while, at least that I've had this amount of anticipation for where throughout the whole experience, I was like, oh, this is a, this is getting framey in weird ways. Like I couldn't find a performance versus fidelity option. It doesn't seem, it doesn't seem like that's available. At least during pre-launch, maybe that's a day one launch thing. I can't confirm that. But that wasn't there. And then also, as I was playing, there would just be quite a few

moments where I'll see a frame stutter while I'm in an open environment. And I'm like, this game, it's a pretty game because of the art style, but it's not so pretty that I expect it to technically be held back because of how much he's doing. Like a lot of the art style is fairly, like, non, like, super detailed in that way that you would think, like, oh, this is pushing the PS5 in some way. It doesn't really feel like it's doing that either. And so I was pretty surprised at some of the frame drops I got. The biggest thing in terms of performance is when I beat the game, I got to the final cutscene, right?

Beat the big boss, got to the final cutscene. And my cutscene froze up at like a white screen. And, you know, at first I was like, oh, maybe it's like doing a thing because this is that kind of game, it's atmospheric, it's doing a lot of weird stuff with art. Cool, let me wait for a second. And then I realized, no, my game is frozen. My game is straight up frozen because I gave it a while.

So I was like, no biggie. I'll just redo it. Like the final boss fight took me a little bit, but I'll just redo the final boss fight. Close my game, opened it back up, went to reload my game. Load is gone.

My save is gone. It just, it deleted everything. And so I couldn't go back and actually finish that last cutscene. The entire game? Like your entire playthrough? My playthrough was gone.

Yeah. Jesus. Yeah, which was upsetting. And again, this is pre-launch. And so, like, maybe there's day-one patch that fixes this all and isn't like that,

maybe that isn't going to be an issue. for like by the time you're playing this game i hope that's bad yeah that was it was pretty bad like that was that was kind of the final one where i was like god damn like why like this is it's a good game like this is a good game but it just falls in specific places where i'm like why you didn't need to do this like why is this case i'm sure that's probably like a one and a hundred thing too of the game crashing on me like that but still it was it was it was a bummer like i'm way i had to wait for the game to come out so i can actually watch the final cut scene because i am not going to replay the whole thing again uh like i didn't get to see the end credits for it which was

bit of a bummer, but yeah. I mean, I mean, really feels like to me, because like these kind of games, as me as a gamer, you know, I'm mostly multiplayer guy, but when a game comes like a hyperlight driftry, like everyone gets excited, it's recommended, it's game of the year, everyone's talking about, you got to play it. But for you not to give that stamp of a game or like, you know, we wait to see what other reviewers have to say about this whole thing, but I think this kind of game needs that.

It needs that kind of a push because if not, if you don't get it from the fans itself of the developers, I don't think it's. it's going to attract anybody else and considering that it doesn't have any kind of stickiness factor to it, Blessing. Yeah. And I think like it's, this is one that I would say is for fans of the genre, but the genre is so niche in terms of the type of game that it, that this is that like, again, if you watch the trailer and you're like, that looks really cool.

I want to play that. I would say play it. Like it is a fun game and you're going to get satisfaction out of it. I think the thing that, that, the thing that'll bring it down for a lot of people is that this is from the Hyperlight Drifter Studio. And with that comes expectation. And with like how it was revealed, right, comes, comes expectation. And I don't think that hits that expectation.

If this is a game that was this developer's first game that like wasn't like came out of nowhere and I played it, I'd be like, oh shit, you guys should check out Solar Ash. Like this game is pretty cool. Like there's something there. Like this developer is going to do something cool one day. But playing it within the, within this context, I am like, man, I wish this is more. But, you know. And I mean, to your point of like talking about like top 10 or game of the year conversations,

I would be very surprised if like this game is in those conversations. And that is a bummer. Like I, I really wanted this game to be my shit. And in some places it is my shit because this is just a genre I really like and I really adore. But it doesn't, it just doesn't reach the heights that I think it could and it should sadly. Well, before we move on. Oh, actually before we move on. Oh, go forward to us.

Go for it. We've been doing the review scale. I've been introducing this into a lot of our game shows. Okay, okay. And so I'll just intro for myself, right? It is a four-point scale at the bottom is, don't bother. Above that is worth trying out. Above that is recommended, and then above that is Game of the Year contender.

And if I had put a number on this, I would put it at that. I'll put it at the worth trying out. Like, I wouldn't say this is a don't bother. I think, again, in terms of the fans of the genre thing, if this is a game that you see and you're like, I want to check that out. I'm not one to speak to value as much. Like $40 means something different to anybody.

If you see this, to see the trailer and you're like, that looks fun and you have the money or you want to catch it on sale or whatever, I would say it is one that is worth checking out because I think at the end of the day, the puzzles are good. The gameplay and the momentum,

I think is fun. And I don't think it's like, I don't think it's eight hours wasted by any means. I think it's a good time, but it's not one that would, necessarily say that you have to play by any means. Well, with that, let me tell you about our sponsors. This episode is brought to you by Razor.

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All right. We're back. Sancho. You are one of the first people I think about when I think about e-sports, when I think about these multiplayer games. And when I think about a little game called Halo Infinite that I'm sure we're going to be talking about a whole lot. in the coming weeks and probably in the coming months as well.

And bless, I know you've been playing a lot of the multiplayer too, which I'm excited to hear about. But Sandra, what's your experience been like with Halo Infinite so far? And as somebody that I think takes this stuff a little bit more seriously even than we do with the exception to maybe like Andy, how are you feeling Halo's going to perform as an e-sport?

Oh, Halo is back. Halo is back in all facets. Like, that is, it is such a time machine because it's taking us all way back. to its glory days, but anyone who had a concern or a worry that Halo Infinite was not going to be the best, it is certainly the best thing right now. I'm blessing on your scale.

It is Game of the Year contender. Totally. Just the multiplayer itself is that strong. And I've been saying this for the longest time. Microsoft is so smart in putting so much of this, like, power behind Halo in its franchise that I wish PlayStation would do the same thing. I've said this multiple times on all kind of funny podcasts that I appear on, that PlayStation needs a multiplayer to champion,

and it does not have anything close to what Halo has to offer in Microsoft. And the best thing about Halo is that you could, the Xbox GamePass is by far the coolest thing that's ever existed in this generation of video games. As a father, when I could play on my PC, I could play on my laptop, and I could play on my console whenever it's convenient.

We're talking about that in itself is awesome. And on an esport front, they just recently had the Halo Championship series, which I know Mike was running some watch. parties for, which Mike, if you ever listen to this podcast, which I hope you do, you should do more of those because watch parties are the future when it comes to e-sports and tournaments. But Tim, I'm telling you, they had 40,000 the first week of open qualifiers. They had over 400 teams playing in the Halo Open Qualifier truck, which means that anybody

could play and compete against the big dogs, the actual pro teams. And then the second week, they come back and they have 50,000 for the grand finals. and we see Optic beating Cloud 9 again. Like those are really big numbers. And to just put in perspective, I'm a caster for Fortnite in their Fortnite championship series. And the FNCS, we kind of blew up huge because the World Cup,

we had the hugest biggest price pulls and gaming for one player winning over a million dollars in Buga. And so for the FNCS, you know, we're, you know, everything's going online, remote, and the audience is there. And it's kind of like, it's not the same as Lans for Fortnite,

But for Halo to have such a very popular onset of viewership in the early phrases with limited kind of promotion, not a lot of buzz around it when it comes to the e-sports, and then just after one week to get 10 more thousand viewers, that means war is getting around and Halo Championship Series is here to stay. And it's just such a good game to watch as well. I'm telling you, it has that carrot or that cyclot where you want to watch it because you want to see what their pros are doing to get better. and then you go to your console, literally right after the tournament's over, and then you play yourself, and then it just rinse and repeat, and stars are being born,

and I just, I just can't believe it. I mean, Halo did it. I mean, considering to come from a Craig meme, and everybody was like, no, Halo's done, this is washed, it's rinse, it's the veteran game, the franchise that would never do it,

considering that Bungi, you know, stop making it, now three, four, three steps in, and for me, they haven't had the great Halo, lore or the comeback in terms of it deserves. And then for it to hit hard this way,

I said prize 20th anniversary launch, working really well. Battle past aside, but it is back, man. And the e-sports scene is stronger than ever. And I can't wait for that thing to get the land. Once it gets to land, it's going to get crazy. Yeah. Once it gets to what?

Land. Like, in a tournament, like, in an arena with like everyone's fans, it's going to be nuts. It's going to be crazy. It is prime for that. What is it like mechanically about this Halo that you think is speaking to so many people in this way? Is it the fact that they're going back to the roots or is it something special about Halo Infinite that is speaking to people in a new way? I think the biggest thing is that we've been in a gaming drought for such a long time. Like to be real, as someone who's a content creator who's a streamer, it's been like battle reailes or bust, which we'll get more on that later. But it just feels like everyone's been wendom, something to enjoy that is not a battle royale because battle royals are kind of waning a lot of the I guess the zeitgeist of when it comes to gaming but to mention what's making halo infinite so good is that it is halo to the core like there is not a lot of gimmicky things to it but it still is modernized it just a touch to polish it up just to make it more accessible like adding the slide the slide's so good but there is ways that you could slide around the map to increase your mobility and there is a skill

little gap to it. And I think what works as well is the map designs are so good and they're so phenomenal. They flow really nice. And it's nice to enjoy to watch as well. You could keep up with the action and that the spectator needs some work in terms of the esports scenes. But the commentary that they did and the broadcast they did it really shines and you could really watch what's happening because it's objective base, you know, 4B4. And then you play it, you know, I know you play before before and you know what to feel that it's a plane ranked and it just gets elevated so much for on a grand scale when it comes to e-sports but i think what it plays well on controller which is a great plus and it plays well a mouse and keyboard which is a great plus they separate their player pools so

if you're just like i don't want to do with aim assist on mouse and uh for a controller you can play your own mouse and keyboard lobby so you could get that vibe and i i just think the best thing about it is that it was built within mind of e-sports like literally within the couple weeks blessing you have sick pro outfits like the cloud nine skin is amazing Tim have you seen this outfit I've seen I've seen all the outfits

I'm very jealous and I want a kind of funny outfit really bad I know that right now it's just actual like teams and shit but I'm like at some points they're gonna get desperate at some point they'll be like I guess we'll fucking give you it dude but it's like sick as it's all black and it has that light teal the kind of funny teal so nice dude so clean but to uh to kind of put a cherry on that your question blessing

It's just that it's just it's HALO without the gimmicks in a sense of like there's pickups for the boost. There's pickups for power pickups. It's that classic arena style where the power pickups matter. You understanding positioning matters the most. There is gun skill involved. There is grenade skill involved as well. But I think it's just very digestible. It's very digestible.

And it really champions the nostalgia factor of Halo. And it reminds people like, hey, this is Halo for all the older gamers. But for the new gamers, you're understanding, like, there is a world that you have yet to explore because you've been playing Fortnite or Warzone. And welcome back to what was gaming back in the day, which is the arena-style shooter, which is about positioning, which is about slower pace.

It's not about overpower blowouts. Right. It's about power weapons. It's about understanding, like, what, you know, snipers on the board, go get it. Oversield, go get it. Like, call-outs. Like, all that kind of stuff is just really well done.

And I think the esports scenes, it just shows you, like, that jump from 40,000 to 50,000. And all that happened on a Sunday, it's really hard to get an audience on any platform on a Sunday, considering that the NFL. And for them to get that audience on two Sundays in a row, very impressive. Another thing I want to say is just from a player perspective, into somebody that is not good, but has a lot of fun with it. I love the variety of all this stuff and being able to just pop and get a match in here, get a match in there. but the Fiesta thing they've had going on recently. I'm having a fucking blast with this. Did you play any Fiesta stuff plus?

Dude, I played so much Fiesta. And I think Fiesta is maybe the most fun I've had in Halo so far. Can you explain for the people that might not know what it is? Yeah, so Fiesta is a mode. It is a 4B4 mode that is Slayer, which is just like a regular team. Della mode. And the way it's structured is basically every time you respawn, you have a different loadout. And so you have a different primary, secondary,

and equipment that you have and it rotates randomly whenever you die and come back. And so basically it's everything everything is just out on the field, right? You don't know what weapon the person you're facing has. You don't know what weapon you're going to have

and like when you kill somebody obviously they drop their stuff and so you can pick it up. And so there's, it's this balance and rotation of like, all right, cool, I got this pistol that I don't really like. But I do have this, the skier which only has a limited number of ammo in it.

All right, let me find somebody who has a fucking like energy sword. or just find somebody who has like a sender shot or a gun that I like take him out and then steal their weapons and like you know try to have this rotation of of weapons that I love it's yeah the reason I've been loving that so much is because I think it's twofold fiesta's opened me up to guns that I wasn't using before and making me really use stuff and making me understand like how to actually get good at stuff like I've been posting a lot of clips uh by halo gameplay on my Twitter at Blessing Jr. Uh and one of the clips I posted recently was me just using. the grappling hook because the grappling hook was a weapon or was a piece of equipment that I would see videos of and I'd go man if only I could use it that good but I'd stay away from it because you know like I'm how often do I have a grappling hook that's the thing that in a regular match you have to go and find out in the map but in Fiesta I would spot with it enough because it's like one of what like six or seven pieces of equipment and you know I would have enough

that like I'd feel comfortable being like cool I'm going to try this thing out or use it And within only a few matches of going back and trying to find the grappling hook over and over again because I got more addicted to it, I've fallen in love with that thing. To the point where I'm like, can we just have a mode that just lets you just have the grappling hook automatically and infinitely? Because it is such a fantastic piece of equipment in the way that, you know, like I'll see somebody run a certain direction, get a grappling hook in an angle, swing around and get behind them before they even get there and be able to take them out in that way. right and that combining that with other pieces of other weapons or other pieces of equipment that you know i i wouldn't know how to use or i didn't know how to use prior and learning that oh shit the grappling hook and the the hammer is a dope-ass combination or the grappling hook and the shotgun which i didn't like the shotgun until i started using it with the grappling hook sick combination

like it fiesta has opened up my game and has been some of the most fun i've had in halo thus far blessing that's what the forge is for man just wait for the forge oh i can't wait comes out man you're going to see so much creativity and I think it's Halo is smart and the developers are smart because they understand that people want the, like when it comes to free to play, the only thing that will entice people

to do anything is outfits and custom items because that's the only thing you can do. So when they introduced the Tenry Samurai outfit or the whatever the event is, granted, that thing is hard. Like to grind that event, it was insane. I remember

staying up at two in a more trying to get five killing sprees in a row in Fiesta, in that one in itself, I was gonna, I was, there were times where you're frustrated, but when you actually got the, the challenge done, you're like, oh, yeah, I'm really, yeah.

Yeah, yeah, oh yeah. There's nothing like a grappler and energy sword to help you get that killing spree. You're just unstoppable. You're like a killer Batman. But no, dude, I think what you're describing is what Halo works and what video games nowadays actually work the most

is that water cooler moment. You're just breaking down in your favorite play that happened before. You're telling your boys, you're telling your friends, you're tweeting it out. Like, that virality was something

that I always consider when it comes to a video game, is something that Halo is going to champion, and there's different levels of it. There's a casual level, like for us, in a sense of like playing fiesta, big team battle,

TikTok, man. Halo TikTok just loves big team battle. You see nothing but these big team battles are capturing the flag, these chaotic plays. And then on an escalated level, you have the virality of the, Esports scenes where they're pumping out these big events and they're pumping out these high-value

broadcasts. And so it's just going to, that ecosystem of Halo is strong. And to have it without the game's single player is amazing. And that's the whole thing I'm trying to say, Tim, is that if PlayStation would just understand, if you could understand, you could build an ecosystem off a multiplayer and it could just boost everything and it could keep a game in the new cycle, right? All of a sudden, hey, you know, hey, this new tournament came out. Oh, this new outfit came out. This new event came out.

This new collaboration came out. Like, all those things. You're one of the biggest fans I know of LastVus Factions, right? And, like, me and you both stand over and, like, are super anticipating. I'm a simple over, bro. I'm a simple word. Yeah, like, both was simple over LastFuss Factions and we can't wait for the next one. And, you know, like, think about the dream if Las Fis Faction was treated the same way that

Halo Infant is being treated right now, right? Where it came out, if it was free to play, if it was, hey, we, like, you know, you can play as create your own character or like you know you choose between the fireflies or like the like whatever fact that you want to be right right right yeah the wolves like whoever and be able to like build that character and then like have those cosmetic unlockables but then also have the freedom and like the dynamic gameplay of last part too right because i think that's what works about halo infinite so well is the fact that it feels so dynamic in the way that anything can kind of happen right like you like you're grabbing whatever's at your disposal oh should i see a hammer let me grab that real quick turn

around, get this guy, use my grappling hook, swing around, get this other guy. What if you can translate that to something like Lasfaxons? Where it is, I'm going to hide under this car. I'm going to listen for a little bit. Okay, there's this guy over there. I have two bullets in this gun. I have three bullets in this gun. How do I balance that? Like, there's so much that you can do there. And if you're able to support it and give it, if you're able to support it and actually treat it in a way where you are going for building and community around this one game, as opposed to having like a lot of the one and done stuff that we traditionally have with PlayStation, which is dope and awesome, right?

Because we look forward to the horizons and like all these games that are single player come, we play, have fun together, and then we move on to the next one. If you can have an ongoing game like that, that is all about, hey, keeping people in for the next year or two years or three years or whatever the life cycle of that game is, there is so much potential there that, you know, you can build an audience for that thing that end up getting obsessed with it over time. So I want to take that and throw this at you, Sancho. We've talked a lot on this show and a bunch of shows about does Halo need a battle

royale and this whole kind of concept. I want to twist that just a little bit. You have been in the battle royale scene for a long time. You do Fortnite casting. Like you're very ingrained in this in the ecosystem. So from Fortnite to Apex to Warzone, what could Halo do with the battle royale at whatever point? Like what do you think would make the Halo battle royal? stand out.

Do you think it's going to happen anytime soon? Where's your head at? There's this whole notion about the big three, which I like to call the war zone, apex and Fortnite, right?

The impenetrable, like battle royale, anyone that comes out to contest them, they just get shot down. Fortnite comes out with a new mode, new season,

all of a sudden everyone stops playing the new battle real. Halo, the reason why everyone's pining for a Halo battle real out, and I think what this whole

this new audience kind of mantra is, Tim, is like, Halo doesn't need a battle reaout, but Battle Reel genre needs a Halo, which I agree with that notion. As someone that's been playing the battle reels for such a long time, there's really cool niche battle royals, but for the big dog Halo, to have a battle reall, it's, it will bring an element to battle royals that it's like missing. What's really working in the arena style right now is those moments where you see someone and it's at 1V1 in your 50-50s, and all of a sudden you outplay them

and then you beat them. But imagine that on a grander scale where there's a hundred players. It doesn't need to be 100 players, but 32, 64 players, and you have to be the last one standing. And what works for Halo is that there's a lot of components that a lot of people were turned off from battle reels

where, like, you get seen and you die instantly and it's over. Like no one likes that feeling in battle royals. Yeah, that adds to intensity, but no one likes to die in a blink of an eye. Like in war zone, you get melted. In Fortnite, you get melted. Granted, you could build the stop-de-death in Fortnite,

but it doesn't compare to anything when it has hail. You have a system already in play where you have a shield already built in. So if someone surprises you, you could turn and fight them for a brief second. That, in a sense, is exciting to me. Not only that, you have the lore, you have the map designs are phenomenal.

And if Apex Legends could create multiple maps that are built for battle reels, they're not like these hodgeposh of big areas altogether, you could have a phenomenal experience, but to go back to my point, Battle Real does need a Halo because the big three are waning in terms of their popularity

in terms of their their long, like it's just the, you're just missing like a sci-fi battle real, right? And that's why I'm thinking that Halo could definitely feel that void. And what's interesting is like, it won't affect what's happening on multiplayer. It won't affect what's happening in single player.

Granted, I know maybe the developers need to pull some assets and there's a whole team. Who knows, maybe they already have it. You ask me, Tim, are they going to do it? I think it would be a missed opportunity if they don't do a battle real. Because what's worked really well for Warzone is that they have the ability, they have this vicious cycle, what I like to call for Warzone, is that you grind the multiplayer so you could get better weapons to play in the Battle Real. So you just end up in this cycle loop because you want to unlock things. But imagine if Halo had the same kind of loop where you play the multiplayer, player with your friends and then all of a sudden you play a battle reaile for a special event

to unlock a special outfit or cosmetic that you could only get in the battle real and then you play that for a bit and then oh the new playlist is out and you just keep that cycle going i think it's just it just makes sense i mean battle reall to me is not a fad it's not a popular thing it's a mode and i and i know maybe mike has said it or maybe andy has said it but it's just narratively narratively it's its own story. Every battle real journey is different and you would have that in a halo world and that

in itself sounds amazing. That's what I mean? It's like it's its own experience. I'm really hopeful that they focus on what they have right now specifically figuring out the whole progression model stuff and like kind of fine tuning all that. But going back to what Bless was saying earlier about Fiesta mode

and how brilliant it is to introduce it so early in people playing this game where it's introducing people to the weapons. It's introducing this kind of chaotic fun. It reminds me less of playing Smash Bros. and turning all the items on. And it's more like playing Smash Brothers and turning on just the final smashes, where it's still the same gameplay. It's still the same skill of one-on-one or whatever you're doing. But there is this one element of like, oh, crap, there's something extra here that can totally turn the tides. And there's a chaos to it, right? But it's more of a controlled

chaos. And I love that about Halo. And I love that it feels like 343 to have totally nailed what they were going for with this. And I want to see how they're going to progress it because I like the idea of them slowly introducing different modes and like they know what the fan favorite mode. Sorry, you know what I mean? Like, we know we got SWAT. We know we got the shoddy snipers. We know we have all this stuff. But I feel like if they do a good job right now of breadcrumbing it and kind of keeping people coming back and really building a foundational core of like what the Halo multiplayer experience is and will continue to always be, they can kind of eventually, monthly, down the line, bring back some classic maps, right?

And have this big drop moment of like, cool, we're on hang them high again or we're on lockout or whatever it is. But then keep going and eventually add this battle royale mode, like maybe even a year from now. You know what I mean? I don't think there's any rush to get this done because what they have right now is so great.

And I don't want it to be, what have you done for me lately? They're doing it right now. Like they're doing it lately, and it looks like they're going to continue to do it with the way this season one battle pass is working. So I'm really, really hopeful for, for where we're at earlier. You mentioned this being a game of the year contender

from multiplayer alone. And I totally agree. And it really, I think, is telling that every single person I know that has played Infinite multiplayer is in that same kind of conversation. There's no one's like, eh, it's fine. Right. Well, I mean, there's two things, though. I really want to harp on that I feel like there's just a couple of things missing.

So when Halo Infinite, yeah, we're going to talk about the progression. But I feel like once the weekly challenges is over, I feel like there was really nothing else to do casually, right? With rank, I understand, like, right now, if people are interested in my, I hit Diamond in the controller solo-duro lobbies and solo duos, I'm in platinum in controller and crossplay. So I put a lot of hours in the bad boy, right? And so if I'm not grinding rank and I want to play casually,

and I'm not progressing for each match for XP, which I know they're looking into, and I've already unlocked all my weekly challenges, what else is there to do, right? I want to still be in this Halo world. Sure, when the single player comes out, maybe I dip in a single player and check it out a mission or two.

But keep me in the universe. You know, like, keep me locked in. We always talk about what, click your rates when it comes to content grade. Keep me clicking here. Let me stay in this world. And I think that's what Battle Royale will definitely add to that.

Well, we'll kind of be a good sample bit to that. And I agree with you, Tim. Like, why not have it at the next game awards? Ladies and gentlemen, we have Battle Royale, have the whole, you know, 100 Spartans coming in and you're flying in, on a drop show, like, whatever.

That Pelican, like, whatever. You know, do all those kinds of things. Like, why not? Make it happen, Microsoft. But I still think, like, the story here is that they have a strong core, and they could really build off the core, and they could just fix the core, like, just a little bit of adjustments here and there. There's nothing too crazy, but I just feel like Halo,

for a game that literally came out the last minute in terms of game in the air, to be a contender for me. It's just a statement in itself. Yeah, I think Halo, if I had a problem, predict, I would predict that Halo's going to get a battle way out at some point in the next couple of years, because it being built as more of a platform this time around that people can jump into it, being free to play, and it trying to go for that longevity factor over the premium drop of a game, I think that gives it more of an open space to be like, cool,

how do we, what do we want to put in this thing, right? Like, how do we drop content updates? Like, what else can we do with Halo? And I think, I mean, I think you're absolutely right. in terms of Battle Reaal needing a halo because that's been the, I think that's been the arc for me that I think I've talked about on a previous games cast of, I've played so much Apex, right?

I was super into Fortnite in like 2018. I played PubG a little bit before that. Apex came out, and Apex was my obsession when it came to Battle Royale, and that was my favorite shooter I played in years. But even Apex, I've waned on quite a bit, especially since they've dropped arenas.

And I think them adding arenas into Apex was the thing that made me realize that, oh, shoot, now I'm in the mood for an arena's type mode. Like I want to go back to something that is more 3B3-based or like team versus team as opposed to being a big battle royale. But having those options bundled together, I think gives good choice in terms of hopping into Apex for people that are Apex devotees to go in and go, what am I in the mood

for today? What am I feeling today? And have that choice of friends of, oh, yeah, let's go to Battle Royale, fuck around. Or like, let's try hard in arenas. I think Halo would benefit from that. And Halo also is kind of needed in the space because I think there is that, I think, general feeling of, I don't think there's a looming game

that is going to break in to that top three of Battle Royale, right? Because right now it is Fortnite, it is Warzone, and it is Apex. And for any of the games that we've seen either announced or games that have tried, they've faded away pretty quickly. Like the previous one I can think of was HyperScape, which, you know, I don't even think it was hot for a week. I think that came out and people immediately were like, no, we're going back. It was a good game though, man.

Like I grinded that game too. It was a good game, man. Yeah. But like I think I think Halo could be what HyperScape was trying to be in like a 10 times more type of way where, you know, HyperScape was about, you know, focusing in on the arena style gameplay. It was you picking up the weapons that were available. It was you going fast pace.

It was you picking up the equipment and the abilities. And Halo kind of has all that stuff, right? Halo has the over-the-top weapons. the sci-fi weapons, Halo has the equipment. Like, imagine dropping down and finding a grappling hook is like your first thing going, oh, let's fucking go. I got my favorite thing. Like, there is so much there that they can do,

and I think they can do in a way that would actually stand up against all the big battle royals. And at the same time, it's like, it has that notion where... The thing is the thing about the battle royale genre, a blessing is that every time a AAA studio does something, it moves it just a little bit. I keep saying this in everything that I do.

It's like, there's a baby steps in the genre. So for Hyperscape, I think the notion of them having the souls or whatever the ghost person and you just run up another downbody was phenomenal. I thought that in itself made the game play fast pace and it made everybody coming back again to keep playing. The thing about Hyperscape is though is that I was quite surprised. The reason why it went away so fast is that Ubisoft when it's behind something, it does not let things die so quickly. Rainbow 6 was dead on the door not dead on the doorstop a long time ago, but then it resurrected itself and Ubisoft got behind that monster. But I think you're right about definitely about Battle Royals. And I think the thing about it is, though, is if Microsoft or 343 wants to do a battle

rail, they have to commit. They cannot do what Dice does when it comes to Battlefield. I love Battlefield's Hazard Zone. It's really good. I think it adds another baby step to that battle royale genre, and it's different. But you cannot be like, this is not a battle rea out. It's our own Hazard Zone. It's one life to live, but just commit to it.

and really make it something special. If you want to do objective-based battle rail, that's cool, but call it a battle real. Like, don't be afraid of that term. And that's the same thing just to circle it all back to Last of Us and Nottie Dog. Listen, I know people don't want Nottie Dog battle rail. I've seen the comments everywhere, everywhere. Like, no, we don't want Battle Rail.

We don't want Nottie. But I keep telling people forever until I'm blue in the face until I see it on the game awards this week. Who knows? Who knows? Noddy Dog's Immersiveness could add another immersion to Battle Real

that's never been done before. Never been done before. I'm 100% with you. I've thought about this for years in terms of like what the title like playing factions and looking at how good that game is at the survival aspect,

at the looting, at the crafting, at the listen mode, and like all the stuff that last was does well. The way that that will translate into a dope-ass battle real game, I'm all about it. I think they'd be dope. And do you not forget that that Last of Us factions had a last man standing?

Like that in itself is like the most is the most intense feeling in an arena shooter ever. You have one life to live. You're playing against 10 other people, 10 other, four other players, but they have 10 lives. And you could whittle them down and you could win it all. Like that in itself is just a notion of it. But I know that's a different cast. It's a different different. It could be this one, man.

So, you're your guys' mind. What is the pitch for? a Last of His Factions battle royale here. Like, how many players? Make it intimate. Make it 32. Don't go too crazy. Keep it intimate. Keep it to where your map is a really, like, decently sized map.

But make it to the biggest kind of, I would say penalty in battle reals is they never give you the reason why you need to win. They never give you a reason why to keep playing. You can win, cool, make a highlight, cool. But Nuddy Dog has the ability to give you that reason why to win. They could add story elements. Maybe you unlock a cut. scene. Maybe you get whatever

materials you win with you could take back to your home base. You could build out a base. There's like so many different... I mean, the Laseless Factions 1 had the thing that I think is the first step of what you're talking about, where it was the overarching thing of, hey, you have a camp, and based on the

way you perform in each match, you are bringing food back to your camp to feed the people or you're losing people at your camp, and you would see those numbers rise and dip. The pizza. Yeah. Yeah. Like, I think you could do that exact same thing and expand. it and making more interesting in the way that Sancho was talking about where it is maybe instead of it being just like a narrative like texting you have like when you boot up

factions you are placed in an actual physical location like a camp in the way that you do in back for blood but you can do in a Lasasas way that is way cooler and way more detailed. Yeah and the thing is people like it's not this like I don't want a plane to jump in and you drop off and you pick a spot no but battle rails can be different. I think a blood hunt which is a vampire battle royale Tim like how awesome you. is that. It's a vampire battle real, right? You literally spawn into the map. So you spawn in and you know exactly where everything is. You know if I go this way, I can find this. If I go that way, I can find armor. And the way they themed that battle rea out around vampires, to get your health back,

you suck the blood of your enemies and other people. Like, like, and that in itself is just smart and it's clever. And it doesn't feel, it doesn't feel generic. And that's what I'm talking about. Nottie Doug's never generic. When Nadiog does something, when they have a studio behind it, when Neil Druckman's like, hey, we have a multiplayer. Words that I never thought Neil Druckman would say, but he's like, we have a multiplayer and we're working on it. So who knows what they have and what they've been working on?

But I just, it's just like your favorite movie director, Tim, and you know, like, they could knock a genre out of the park. So, like, I'm sitting here waiting for Wes Anderson to make an action movie. Like, that's what I want to see. It's like Edgar Wright saying he's going to make a Marvel movie, right? It's like, oh shit, I want to see that. And then you're right and making a horror movie like he did this year. Yeah, like, like, give me, give me that sauce.

Like, this is what I want. I know you have the possible. And more an overarching thing, PlayStation, you need a vehicle to drive multiplayer. Like, I know you make phenomenal single players, but you need to have that. And there's probably someone out there's like, oh, here we go, Asancho again talking about a place of multiplayer. But I mean, they're thinking about it, right? Because they've, I mean, they've done the thing now where they've been partnering with studios

in announcing those studio partnerships for PlayStation Studios earlier in the year. And they talked about how Jade Raymond's making a game. And they've talked about like deviation studios, which was real that, or during E3 at Jeff Keely's thing. And then there was the other studio, Firewalk Studio, I believe is what it's called.

That said they are working on a shooter, right? So they have this in mind. I think it is the, all right, so, but what does it look like? Because they've not announced it. Yeah, like, I mean, dude, you have resistance for all of man. You have Killzone.

You have some of the greatest franchises that's ever, you have Twisted Metal, the OG of Battle Real is when it comes to one life. That's so funny, yeah. You have all this great stuff, and I know Battleston Metal is coming back. But, you know, it's just a thing, like, at the end of the day, Battle Real is, it works as a viewer on, like on live streams, because it's a narrative that people see. And with Nottie Dogs' narrative, storytelling, immersion, music. I mean, when you talk about that, I mean, you hit the nail on the head in terms of battle

Real each match kind of being its own story. And that was the thing that I think brought a lot of people into PubG. And like, PubG is when I didn't necessarily feel the magic yet about a real. But toward the transition of me playing PubG and then getting more into Fortnite, I was having the moments where, you know, I would land getting a car with friends. Oh, shit, let's go hide in this bathtub or whatever for a minute because we hear footsteps and we don't have weapons. Like, you know, that is the story, right?

That is the narrative. The thing I love about playing last disfactions back in the day was, okay, cool, started the round, and I'll do like the last man standing. So it is if you take out the four other players on the team, like they're done in like a battle. Survivors, right. Survivors, yeah. That's the mode I love to play because it was mono-e-mono.

Like, you know, there's reason to finish people, like you got to finish people off so that they don't be revived, all that stuff. But it was at the beginning of a round, all right, do I want to put money into making my gun more powerful? or do I want to make this attachment for my melee weapon because I know if I get two hits or one hit off with my melee weapon that's going to end them, I'll do that instead and getting into those fights where it is.

All right, 1 v2, okay, I see them, I can hear them walking because they're running and they don't know I'm here. I'm going to crouch out, use my silence, my silencer, crap, my silencer broke. Cool, run up, use the melee, melee broke, and like, now it's down to the wire. And in that game mode, they already had that happening.

I can easily, easily, easily imagine that being translated. into a battle reall sense and having those stories exist throughout a like a 10 minute 20 minute match of me exploring through that that's all it needs and that that's all it needs and i think there is a violence and aggression that is present in last of us that would make that really intense like more intense than maybe any other battle royale i played like i think they have that in them and i would love to see them give it a try i don't know that's what last this faction's the next one is going to be i have a feeling that they're just going to do the 4b4 stuff and like just have it be evolution but i would want them to like really expand out and like go for it because I think they will be able to have a big

foot prey in terms of what that what the space is doing I mean I got to be honest like I I struggle to see I love what you guys are saying but I struggle to see how you can apply the naughty dog type of storytelling to a multiplayer game specifically a battle royale type of game like I a little bit more intimate not too many characters shorter matches all that that's fantastic but the idea of rewarding people with a cutscene like that that would get old fast, wouldn't it? No, no, I just more than me, like, there's different, I won battery out developers to think of beyond the win, right?

I think that's what I'm asking for. It's like, it could it be like we're all working towards a lore or story, we have a piece as a community, you know, maybe if we've stretched him. But in terms of why are we winning, why the why, I think you're not going to answer. And like, picture this. So you spawn in and maybe it's an objective battery out where you know you need supplies from this area that has clickers. that has bloaters.

But like Hunt Showdown, there's a monster in the level, but there's 32 actual players running around as well. So you understand that if you see a real person out in the map towards that objective, that's a real person, that they're on the same kind of beat as you are. They need supplies for their encampment, and you need to kill them. If not, you're killed, and that's it. You lose that opportunity for those materials. Maybe there's a game called, oh, there's another game called that's on the PlayStation.

bigger. Vigar is like that. Vigar is like that too, where everyone's working together to try to get supplies and get out of the map and extract, kind of like Tarkoff as well.

So you could add that element to it. So I just think that it's, Nadi Dogg just would add a little bit more substance to the genre that I think that's battle real is lacking because even in Fortnite

you win, but that's it. Like there's, I got XP. You know what I mean? I want more than just XP. I want, more than just the vibe of the win,

I want, like, I want the juice. Yeah, and I think there's probably something there, too, in terms of seasonal content where, you know, like, Apex every season, there's a new character that's added, and that character has a backstory and cut scenes and all this stuff. I don't, depending on what factions is, they maybe will do something like that,

maybe not because I don't think that's going to be, like, a hero shooter by any means, but maybe they find their own way to do it, where it is, hey, we are adding in this new area, and this new area is, is, like, belongs to this new faction that we're adding in and like this faction is known for x y and z thing right like they only use hatchets as weapons or like some like some kind of backstory that like yeah yeah i'll fill out the world

of the last list and like i wouldn't like i think from the narrative perspective it becomes hard because we know noddy dog as being these folks that specialize in like the single player cutscene to cut scene like building character all this stuff and i think the way you would have to use multiplayer and like the way you would have to use that sort of thing is to just build out the world as opposed to like focusing in on it right like battle royale or last suspection and multiplayer wouldn't be able to have a joel and ellie or an abbey or like a lef or any any specific character that

is like spawned from that and that people become fans of that people like connect themselves to maybe but i don't think that's i don't think that would be the vision i think the vision would be how do we how do we expand the lore of the last less in a way that you know maybe like we introduced like this faction we introduced this area of the game in the multiplayer and then like people don't expect it to like appear in the single player but then years down the line and the last is part three they give a tease to it or like you know you actually go there and it is oh shit like i know this this uh faction was

introduced here like i think there are ways that you connected that way that could be cool and could feel more deeper and more meaningful than we often get from other most player games which feels like this is servicing the most player story but not necessarily something that i am invested in. There is Lauren Fortnite, if you look for it. It's there. It's true. It's in the cut scenes and everything and their events, which is happening soon.

But I just, I agree. Like, give me, give me, give me that naughty dog spice. And then at the same time, like, if you induce, introduce a whole new faction or maybe more of the factions that we already love, more the fireflies. Rattlers. You know what I mean? Like that kind of, oh, man, like, imagine if you're like a community of rattlers and you have like these number of wins that and because your rattler has so much the number of wins that

maybe you get special access to something like there's stuff like that i remember mortal combat doing that one point where they had like you pick a faction and the wins and losses mattered for something but i i just think that it's just it just be one of those it's just be one of those things like just like a battle royale for halo it just be a missed opportunity to see what they can do and i know naughty dog's fan of the battle rail genre themselves so i just want to know like what can they do with it and do you really think they're they're going to be a game awards dude i think they will be because i'm bad luck when it comes to you say this every single show and i love you for you like we're going to see factions here but to be fair at some point we got to see factions yes we have to see factions

but like for me i'm working that day something else so i know because i'm working that day they will do something and i'll be like well there goes my reaction to it but no i i i really feel like they have to be here. Like, when else? Blessing? When, bro? Like, when else? I mean, Greg Miller, Greg Miller said on the game is ready. Like, a year and a half ago that, like, oh, it's probably getting it canceled. And like, when he said that, I was like, now you said it's going to be true.

Because it happens every single time. You say persona five is going to get delayed and it gets delayed. It happens every single time. I just, I just hope that exists. Like, that's where I'm at right now. And, like, I think we've had recent, like, job postings from Nottie Dog in terms of that is, like, them still hiring for multiplayer stuff. And so, like, at this point, I believe it still exists.

and like I hope for it. But like, I mean, it's been what? A year and a half since last this part two. How long do you want to work on lastless factions before you get into your, whatever your next project is at Nottie Dog? I would hope that maybe factions is around is the corner. Like maybe it is a 2020, 2020,

thing. And that would maybe make sense to announce it. It could, I mean, here's the thing. For multiplayer, I think it could also make sense to announce and then drop it. Like,

have it be like a same day kind of thing. But I just want to say. see it. And so I hope they announced it earlier just so I can like get hype over it. The Last of Us One was announced at the game awards. And that was a very different game awards with a very different sized audience and, you know, type of understanding of even what that show is. So with this, it's like, I mean, hey, that would be a huge stage for them. And, you know, just been talking about two and a half years. That's around the time when Last of Us factions was first kind of talked about is not being part of the Last of Us Two package. We took that hard, man.

The community took it heart, multiple community, because I, you know, I'm part of that community. I foster it. And we took that hard because it was just like, there was lots of us too, you know, that type of beat. It's funny because I think I was similarly bummed. And I forget what a podcast I was on. It might have been like a kind of funny podcast. This was before I actually worked at kind of funny. But I think I was here during the, like my opencomers week.

And so I think I had many on content. I was like, damn, like factions is like, oh, man, this hurts. And I think everybody else was like, Really? Like, you care not much about factions, but like, yeah, like, factions is a really, really fun, uh, uh, uh, mode in that game. And for me, it was, like, maybe the most hours I put into last plus was was in factions, right? Like, I played more factions. It's naturally more than the single player. Like, that is half of my experience of the last plus. And it was so good that, like, it goes hand in hand with why I love the last was so much. Because the multiplayer was so good. I, I, I, I, I hate to say this, but I'll, I'll say it. I've only played the last of us once the story once play hours and hours and hours of the multiplayer only play the last of us part two once and it pains me that we had two and a half years of not playing factions so game awards please please please we're helpful man hey next week of the game awards we will be

reacting live right here or not here but you know there on twitch dot tv slash kind of funny games and then here on youtube dot com slash kind of funny games it will be uploaded as a vodd i don't know why i got so missed up there in my mind. Tim, it's like the... You motherfuckers know what we're talking about. Okay, there's some shit. You can find it in places on the internet. There you fucking go. Just type kind of funny into Google and see what happens. It's only Tuesday this week, Tim. It is only Tuesday.

I need Greg Miller back in my life. God damn it. But Central, where could people find you? You can find me at Sancha West on all social medias at Twitter, Instagram, and on Twitch and on TikTok as well. And if you love podcasts, you can check out my 10-minute checkpoint podcast. Very

short, 10 minutes, in and out. Get you up to date on these kind of rantings that I have when it comes to multiplayer and video games and movies and all this other kinds of stuff. Have you ever thought about streaming the last West factions on TikTok? Oh, dude, I need with a mirror. I need more mirrors. I need to be a broken, derelict mirror

though to feel the vibe. Oh yeah, that's a good call. Yeah, and then a window in the background, just randomly blowing in the lean. Yeah, that's what I mean. That's good. That's damn good. Everyone, go follow him, Sancho West. What an amazing human being. Love to have him. Love finally doing a show with you, man. This has been a blast.

We're about to do the post show. So patreon.com slash kind of funny games. Remember, so you know what to do. Just stay here. And everyone else, you know what to do. Go to patreon.com slash kind of funny games and sign up. But until next time, I love you all. Goodbye.