Kinda Funny Gamescast: Video Game Podcast - Trek To Yomi Review - Kinda Funny Gamescast

Episode Date: May 5, 2022

Andy and Greg review Trek to Yomi and Bless gives his thoughts on Rogue Legacy 2 and his first day with the Steamdeck. Time Stamps - 00:00:00 - Start 00:02:45 - Housekeeping 00:05:00 - Trek to Yomi ...Review 00:35:22 - Ads 00:41:23 - Rogue Legacy 2 00:57:41 - Steam Deck Impressions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript
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Starting point is 00:00:07 Welcome back to the kind of funny games cast. Of course, I'm Tim Geddes, and I'm joined by the new face of video games. Blessing Adioia, Jr. Tim, I needed to alter my intro to the man that now has a steam deck. Whoa. How does it feel good? Does it feel good, bless? Like, it feels better than I even thought it was going to feel.
Starting point is 00:00:25 I'll get into impressions later on, but like, it feels magical. I'm so excited because I haven't actually talked to anybody that has one. I've seen people give impressions online and stuff, but I got some questions, and I will ask you them later, but I don't want to do that quite yet. I want to introduce the nitro rifle, Andy Cortez. I'm looking for words that rhyme with, like, wrecking or decking.
Starting point is 00:00:51 There's something we could do here where we say, like, what's up, Greg? Checking. Yeah, we could say something like the steam decking, steam decking, something wrecking or like neck. Okay. Neck and. Tekken.
Starting point is 00:01:05 Tekin. Oh, that was pretty great. Think about that, chat. Think about that. Think about that. Think about it. Mm-hmm. Nobody's listening.
Starting point is 00:01:15 Rounded out the crew. We have the big daddy himself, Greg Miller. Well, I gotta get a screenshot to make fun of Paris Lily, all right. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Is that your mobile phone? Yeah. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:01:27 What the fuck? Is that your mobile phone? Who the fuck are you, bless? Get that up. Is that a cellular device that I see? The size that screen is very small, Greg. You know what? Bless, not all of us were blessed.
Starting point is 00:01:41 Like you in Paris, Lily, with getting your team back. You know what I mean? God damn. After everything I've done for PC gaming, this is how they're treating me. It's ridiculous. Well deserved. God, there's so much to talk about here. Including, also, I just got this in the mail.
Starting point is 00:01:56 Really excited. I'm actually going to read a book, everybody. Like a real physical book. Like that's unheard of. Can you hold it over your face to make it look like? his shoulders and head or your head no no closer to the camera yeah yeah we can line this up we this is gonna be tough it's really tough closer oh man you're terrible no i meant closer oh man you're terrible there it is there it is oh my lord he's back two weeks in a row
Starting point is 00:02:22 everyone to be reggie don't clip that out please but yeah it's always one of those hard things where it's like when you're working with mirrors or cameras and stuff where it's like you know what you're trying to do but it takes the second to understand the direction of like what's what then you're weatherman all it all clicks whatever the weather be we're advancing steadily of course this is the kind of funny games cast where every single week we get together to talk about video games and all the things that we love about them it usually happens once a week but on these rare beautiful occurrences we get two of them including times that reggie fezumay decides to drop by for an interview like he did earlier this week so you can go check that out it's live now
Starting point is 00:03:01 on youtube dot com slash kind of funny or rooster teeth dot com and also pot you podcast services around the globe. You just got to search for the Kind of Funny Games cast, and we'll be right there for you. If you want to get the show ad-free, if you want to watch live as it's being recorded, and most importantly, if you want the exclusive post show,
Starting point is 00:03:17 where we play a thrilling game show called Bless Who, you've got to go to Patreon.com slash Kind of Funny, just like Kind of For the Games. Kind of Games, that's what it is. Just like our Patreon producers, Anonymous, Fargo Brady, Tyler Ross, Delaney, Twining, First Responder, ND, Julian the Gluten Free Gamer, Alex Jay Sandoval,
Starting point is 00:03:34 James Hastings and Casey Andrew have all done. Thank you so very, very much for your support. If you do not have bucks to toss our way on Patreon, that's totally cool. When you're out there buying video games on the Epic Game Store, make sure you're using our Epic Creator Code kind of funny and it super helps us out. Even if it's just in-game purchases on Epic Games on your consoles like Greg Miller would try to get you to do, use the code. And it helps us out there as well. A little housekeeping for you.
Starting point is 00:04:02 Kind of funny's new merch line is now live. Kind of Funny.com slash store. Our new t-serd design has been revealed for the Patreon platinum members as well. A lot of really, really cool stuff. So over on Kind of Funny.com slash store, you can get the brand new shirt and hat from Campfire Design Studio that features Portillo the Wheater Dog,
Starting point is 00:04:18 snug in a bun. Nick from Campfire finished this last year. It was always on the schedule for this month. Now, part of the proceeds will go to the Central Missouri Humane Society as a way to honor our fallen king. What a great way to put that, Greg. I know you wrote that, but I love it. I love it so much.
Starting point is 00:04:34 Well, yeah, I mean, well, that's why you tell me it's a great way put it because I wrote it. Everybody in a pretty good writer. Don't forget, remember that blessed. Remember when he's right? This guy writes. That right. God damn it, dude. I don't like this new character.
Starting point is 00:04:45 This Steam Deck changed you, all right? I'm not a fan of it. You can also check out the platinum rewards over on patreon.com slash kind of funny or slash kind of funny games. Today we're about to you by ExpressVPN, chime, and babble. I'll tell you all about that later. I want to get right into it, a game that I was fiercely anticipating an indie. game called Trek Tejomi. Andy, you've
Starting point is 00:05:07 beaten it. Greg, you've beaten it. I've played a little bit of it. Andy Cortez, I want to start with you. What did you think of Trek to Yomi? It's not that it's bad. It's just that I'm disappointed. Trex to Yomi
Starting point is 00:05:23 Trek to Yomi had so much potential. I think when you reveal a game with such a really cool art style, right, you see this gorgeous art style with incredible visuals and you pair it with the publishing of devolver it just seems kind of like a guaranteed hit right it's going to be a guaranteed kind of must-play indie and trek to yomi unfortunately is not a must-play game by any stretch of the imagination
Starting point is 00:05:55 pretty disappointing honestly i think it's i haven't really played a game i don't think in a long time where I've seen such a gulf in between art direction and aesthetic and visuals. And on the other side, combat mechanics, game design. It's pretty disappointing, unfortunately, Tim. Are you beat the game? Are you prepared to render a verdict on the kind of funny scale? Yes. I am giving it a three out of five okay.
Starting point is 00:06:30 And it's kind of close to being a two. a five bad, right? Like, I think, I think there's been a lot of different games that have their saving graces, whether you say, man, the graphics in that game are terrible, but it had a fun gameplay loop. But this game, I think, is like, you kind of want to be a little bit extra tough on it because of the devolver digital sort of label on it, right? You expect a really, really great game to come out. And unfortunately, it's just, it's kind of a, it's a pretty big miss and,
Starting point is 00:07:03 unfortunately. I just did not have a lot of fun with it. Right off the bat, you were introduced with a training session where you are training with your sensei and immediately things just don't feel right combat wise. And I feel like this game could have been a really standout indie game seven, eight years ago. But in the time since then, indie studios have been able to show off that they know that they've got what it takes, right? It's like, so many indie studios have put out incredible games and yeah i think this game is like visually stunning and anytime you'd enter a new frame for people wondering it's a black and white game if you're an audio listener only it's black and white um it's you know inspired by kurosawa films and every scene is kind of like i'd say like an old school it's not all side scrolling like you may have seen some of the trailers some of it's some of it acts like tank controls would in a old Resident Evil game or something
Starting point is 00:08:07 like that. Each new scene kind of has you walking in from a different perspective and it is like fucking jaw-droppingly gorgeous. Every scene in this game looks like a painting, it looks like a movie, the depth of field is fantastic.
Starting point is 00:08:23 They have like such a perfect art design and that's why I'm so let down by playing the game. Yeah Andy I jumping off what you said of almost immediately it kind of just doesn't feel right. I played about two and a half hours of it. And eventually I was like,
Starting point is 00:08:39 it's just, it isn't for me. I'm having more fun watching it than I am actually playing it. I think that that was immediately clear with the first kind of like combat scenarios you're in, where as beautiful as it is, when you're in control of it, it feels less like their people and more like their puppets that you're controlling. And I feel like that is something that I just couldn't really get over this like mental block of it feeling right.
Starting point is 00:09:02 And I feel like when you're not in control of it and you're just kind of watching it, it actually is a little bit more enjoyable. And that's not necessarily a good thing when we're talking about video games. It reminds me a lot of Cuphead is a little too difficult for a lot of people. But it's fun for them to just watch because the animation's so beautiful. And kind of like the storytelling going on graphically is great. But it's backed up with such quality gameplay, obviously, for the people that want that type of challenge, it's there. But with this, the gameplay that I've experienced doesn't really seem like it's doing anything interesting that I haven't seen before. And it reminds me more of like flash games from back in the day than it does some of the more standout indie games that we've had now time and time again.
Starting point is 00:09:46 Greg, being another person that beat the game, what score would you give it and where are your thoughts at? I couldn't agree with Andy Moore. I think I'm right there with him. You know, what I love about, if we talked about on a review thing, is that the three out of five okay is either, It's okay. It's good. You should play it. Or it's okay. It's fine. It is what it is. And this for me is, it's fine. It's fine. It's a game that I did not want to finish. I did not enjoy finishing. I would have tapped out earlier, but I know it's a shorter game. But at some point you're invested. And I was looking through trophies, so I knew how many chapters I had in front of me and stuff. But everything you guys are saying, I echo. For me, the easiest synopsis of this is that tractiomi is all style and no substance. And I, feel it is so gorgeous and they do such great stuff with the camera right they talk about you know and andy brought this up it's not always side scrolling it'll get behind you you get to explain basically it'll go to that mainly that 2d side scrolling when you're in combat otherwise you can kind of free roam areas
Starting point is 00:10:44 there's always like you know if you go off the beaten path and go through a doorway that you could run by there'll be something in there they'll be an upgrade to health to stamina one of the collectibles in the game stuff like that but all of it and i think honestly combat included is is just not there. I don't want to say uninspired. Clearly, the game's inspired by the movies that came before these samurai
Starting point is 00:11:07 films in black and white Japanese pictures. And it has that there, but there's just, I feel like, in Andy, correct me if I'm wrong, I really never felt the carrot
Starting point is 00:11:18 on the end of the stick for it. Like the way they do upgrades, if you will, in quotes, is like, as you go, you learn new combos that you can use in the game. However, and granted,
Starting point is 00:11:28 said, I was playing on medium difficulty. There's hard difficulty above that. There's easy below it. There's hard above it. And then once you unlock it, there's like, what do they call it? I had it open over here. Kensei, which is the one where it's one hit, one kill. Like you have to be flawless. So I would assume as you went higher, those things would matter more.
Starting point is 00:11:50 But for playing on medium, I never was inclined to use the different combos. So it really was like, oh, this is a guy I know is only weak. to heavy attacks. Oh, this is the guy that I get a few square light attacks in with. Then he teleports over there, but leaves his ghost. Don't hit his ghost. But like, you learn the playbook pretty quick, I feel, for where I was playing. And then the game was just like, okay, cool. And there, you know, again, I didn't go up to hard because there were points where I was annoyed, where it was like, here's a whole bunch of do. There's a save spots in between the game, these little shrines you pray at that refill your health and save your game. And so it's, you know,
Starting point is 00:12:24 constantly, all right, you go in there. I'm pretty liberal with them too. It's nice to always. see kind of a safe spot on fire if you will. Agreed. But there will be those sections where there are eight guys on a long bridge or whatever and you have to do it flawlessly or, you know, at least better than I was doing it. And I would be annoyed with it to where it was like, okay, cool. Like I don't feel like I need to use the rest of the combos to beat these guys. I know what I need to do.
Starting point is 00:12:48 I'm just messing up a timing or doing something at that. So going harder doesn't make it better for me. And then also playing it on medium, I'm not inspired to keep going and doing it this way. And so there was at the very, very end, like, I was like done where I was like, all right, cool, whatever. And so like the final chapter and a half I was playing yesterday during my block of time. And I was just like, you know what? I normally I would just stop the game here. But I'm this close to the end.
Starting point is 00:13:10 I just went to story mode and went through and got done with it to be done with it. But it would have been a game I would have put down. But again, to Andy's point, it's not bad. It's just a game I wouldn't recommend to anybody. I don't think it's providing the challenge in the way people want it. And granted, as I just heard, not my type of game in general. Andy, am I wrong about that? Where was the challenge for you?
Starting point is 00:13:30 I think it'll be a different strokes or different folks sort of thing where to bring up a very, very popular title of Marvel's Avengers, Greg. Yes, finally. I bet somebody said it. I was, I think one of the bigger criticisms around launch time was like, the combat is so basic. Button mashing. It's button mashing.
Starting point is 00:13:51 But when I wanted to have fun and feel flashy and, and cool, I could. I could figure out really cool combos to feel awesome. And I would say that like the combat in this game almost brings it down to like a two out of five for me. Where like it is that unenjoyable for me. I found one sort of, I got to the kind of the point where Greg was where it's like, I found this one move that could take out anybody and I use that the whole way.
Starting point is 00:14:26 because I just didn't care to learn the rest of it. And I would, I unlocked a buttload of combos. And none of them really seemed engaging enough for me to want to try it out. It, uh, it, it takes a little bit getting used to where you have to hit the A button to spin around. You don't just turn the other way. You have to hit the A button to do a 180 to face the other way. Or as you keep on playing, you can unlock sort of turn around moves. And yeah, you also learn how to, if you, you eventually learn when you're blocking, right?
Starting point is 00:14:55 that if you block it, you'll turn to automatically block whoever's swinging at you. Well, there's a move that you will learn along the way that you turn around light attack, heavy attack, and then you can go for the finisher. And I did that on everybody for about 60% of the weight of the playthrough because I just, it just wasn't fun. I had zero amounts of fun in this game. and the later on down the line
Starting point is 00:15:26 they sprinkle in some puzzles that are just super useless and the puzzles kind of seem like they are there are so stupid literally you step on a thing three different symbols light up in the world and then you go into the thing and match those symbols.
Starting point is 00:15:42 This isn't like God of war where you look for the urns around and you're like oh I got to shoot that oh I got to do this while the timing's down to get the other one. there's just three symbols that pop up and you have to match them and it seems like the puzzles are there
Starting point is 00:15:56 in order to break up the monotony of the combat but if your combat's good and shouldn't feel monotonous right same thing with the environmental kills where you'll walk in and there'll be like ways of like okay cool you walk in and there's this giant thing of logs and if you cut it down it'll crush all the guys or drop an elevator kind of thing but none of this is hey did you get them into the right place
Starting point is 00:16:16 or lure them into the right place they start in the right place Did you come in the right way? And if not, you can maybe early enough, double back and do it. It's just like, okay. Did you take the right path? Yeah. I mean, those sections I kind of appreciated because to me, that's an extra level of effort. And I'm not saying that the combat designers didn't try.
Starting point is 00:16:35 Like, I'm not trying to say it's an effort thing. I really just think it's like they, this game got put out the same year as Sifu, another independent title. And Sifu doesn't need to break up its combat. with little kind of puzzly things to kind of give you a respite from the combat. Like when you're playing Spider-Man and you have your Miles Morales Sneaking stuff or your Mary Jane sneaking stuff, like this game doesn't need to do that. Seifu didn't need to do that because I think the combat was that damn good.
Starting point is 00:17:06 And in this game, it just, it feels like it's there to have like an intermission from the combat. And it really just doesn't feel like it serves any. purpose other than to well we can't just have you doing the same shit all over the time you know all you know every room is five more dudes that you got to take on and then the next room is five more dudes and six more dudes blessing how long is the game about seven hours i believe in about seven a half hours did it feel like it overstayed it's welcome because like as i'm watching as i as bear is pulling up gameplay like in the way that you're talking about combat not feeling that satisfying it seems like the thing that the game really has going for it is the art and in watching the art right
Starting point is 00:17:47 it reminds me a little bit of a game like Inside, where Inside did have the content to back it up, right? Like those puzzles are 10 out of 10. But even if it didn't have that, it still had the world and the environment and the atmosphere and like stuff that you can interpret, write a story that was there. And for me, after playing Inside for about two to three hours and beating it in that time, I was like, oh man, I got so much out of this. For you, like, after the seven hours, like, how done were you? And was there anything like outside of the combat in terms of like story, atmosphere itself that you took away from it that felt like it was worth it? I didn't take much from this game at all, blessing. I think the story is another kind of revenge tale.
Starting point is 00:18:29 Family member things happen. Bad shit happens. You got to go get your revenge. And there is like an interesting kind of twist that I won't spoil here, but it, I don't know, it didn't really add any extra level of special. a special feeling for me to go, oh, wow, this game's going there. It's just kind of another element of story that. And that is where I thought mostly with that twist, Andy,
Starting point is 00:18:57 is where it overstayed it's welcome. Like, it's like a weird thing to toss in this twist that they do and then have you stay there as long as you do. Because I think it actually is a detriment to them trying to tell a story, which again, I don't think they effectively do. It's revenge like Andy pointed out. There's one point in there where, well, I guess two points technically, but one final point, right, where you make a choice as to like,
Starting point is 00:19:16 just declaring what you. your reason for fighting is kind of thing. And there's trophies tied to each one of them, but I don't imagine that it drastically changes anything. It's, I assume, lines of dialogue based on how my game done. And then, of course, the end cutscene you get. But yeah, it's the story's all super surface level. I never felt super connected to the characters.
Starting point is 00:19:36 I think, you know, it's another one where you're playing through this. And for, for combat, I'm not trying to compare visuals or whatever. But in terms of combat, you know, you can't help but think of, especially just the sword combat, Ghost of Sushima, right? But especially story. And I mean, yes, that's a AAA game. Yes, that's a Sony exclusive comparing it to an independent game
Starting point is 00:19:55 might be a bit unfair. But I just mean in the way characters hit and relationships hit, where that just didn't happen here. And I'm with Andy of like, I think the reason I think this is a, it's a fine, it's an okay game is that, you know, people are going to play it and they might enjoy it or they might not or whatever.
Starting point is 00:20:12 But I just think it's going to be one that at the end of the year, you won't think of this game. Like it's one of those games where you're not going to have really positive or negative thoughts about it. You play it, you experience it, you move on. But I don't think we're going to sit here and be a talking about how it did this really well or this really wrong later on. Tim, your hand, one of it? Yeah, I have two questions kind of in the same vein of this. One of them being, obviously, it seems like the visuals of the game are the thing that are really kind of pushing this to that three level above like a two, like the difference between it being bad or okay.
Starting point is 00:20:43 Do you think that the visuals alone are varied enough and kind of keep your interest through that seven hours that makes that a defining thing? And then the second part of the question is, what are the other things that bring it to a three as opposed to a two? I mean, I really just, I think it is the visuals and the production value and sort of like that presentation. Because it's not always, that's not only the same camera angle you're always seeing. Um, as you journey through this game, you're going to see a lot different settings than you may have expected. And it's all, it's still black and white. Like nothing crazy there happens. But there's just a lot of cool things happening environmentally.
Starting point is 00:21:23 A lot of cool stuff happening with the camera. They play with a lot of stuff happening in the foreground. That's really dope as hell. There's a sequence early on where you're just kind of running through a village. And you are trying to go. like see what's happening there's danger out in the distance and in the foreground you see like a very very blurred out a couple of people like kind of peeking over really scared of of something that's kind of they're scared of this danger out there and they just play with depth of field and um and foreground
Starting point is 00:21:59 and background stuff in a really cool clever way and that's the stuff that I really appreciate because that's like, I feel like if anything, if you are super into, if you're just into art in games, this is like, I think a must play. And you may be able to completely forgive the gameplay sins that I think it has. Or you may not necessarily care a whole lot about the combat. And maybe you just, if you're not like me and you haven't played seafood this year and you didn't play Sekiro last year and you haven't seen what like this is what a Perry should feel like. And this is what a correct dodge should feel like. Let me stop you there, right? Because that's the thing, right, is I still haven't played seafood.
Starting point is 00:22:41 It's all my backlog thing. And they just put out the new difficulty patches and all the stuff I've been waiting for. But even listening, right? I think if you're this far into a games cast, you listen to you guys talk about seafood, right? You know what seafood did. And even me, not having played seafood, just seen demos, seeing you guys do the four-player thing and listen to review. I was like, man, this is trying to do what Cifu does, but it doesn't. Like, this doesn't feel good that way.
Starting point is 00:23:03 And that's my thing, Tim, where you know, you're, and I appreciate the red team on this, right, of the double check, discount double check on what we're doing of coming through and being like, well, what makes it a three rather than a two? For me, what makes it a three rather than a two is that it's not bad. Like, I know this is all eye of the beholder shit and that's what I love about our review scale. But for me, nothing in this game when I look at and go, man, it's bad. Like I gave Martha is dead a two out of five. I was like, that game is bad. Like, I do not like that game. That game has a whole bunch of this crashes.
Starting point is 00:23:31 That doesn't make sense what you're doing gameplay. here it all makes sense. I just don't think it's necessarily fun all the way through. And I think to Blessings question earlier on, right? Like, if this game was paired down to two or three hours, if it was, it didn't overstates welcome, it didn't become, oh, here comes that one guy that I got to do this certain move to to get through this certain thing to.
Starting point is 00:23:50 Or even if Andy learned the combo, that's like the unblockable finisher, right? If he didn't do that for 60% of seven hours, maybe it would have been fine and being a different thing. I think that there's stuff here too like. And I do wonder, again, you know, it's the games cast and you're a kind of funny best friend if you're listening this far into it, right? Like, you know that I'm just not the, I want to slam my head into the wall over and over again, challenge guy. If you are maybe that last, that difficulty you unlock after beating it, the one hit kill thing really does speak to you where you need to be flawless. Like that's not why I like to play games though. So it's like for me, like this was a stretch in the same way I haven't played Seifu, right? Like this one I totally came into because I love the style, because I loved, you know, the samurai game that was Ghost of Sushimo, which is open. open me up to reading different stuff and watching different stuff. Like, I was interested because of that.
Starting point is 00:24:36 And I just don't think it had that experience the way I wanted it. My question is then, who would you say this game is for? Because, like, as I'm, like, looking around the table, right? Like, I see Andy is, like, the dude who loves the Dodges and the Perrys. And it seems like this game is that kind of game. It's not living up to that standard, right? Like, I see Greg is somebody who loves, like, narrative and world building and indie games and different stuff, right?
Starting point is 00:24:55 And, like, it seems like it's not living up to that standard. Even for me, seeing this game at presentations, I was like, damn, I love Ghost of Sushima. oh man this looks like a side-scrolling goes to shima and i want dope combat like i want you know grueling punishing combat and i want to like live in a world that has this cool art style and as you guys are selling it right now like it seems like something that i'm probably going to skip like i've not touched it uh so far having the code uh and like right now i don't think i'm going to touch it like who do you think if there's somebody listening in our audience right like that might have interest in it do you think it's going to hit for a specific type of person
Starting point is 00:25:28 if we're looking for a specific type of game there might be some people out there who just maybe don't have who aren't such sticklers for combat and maybe they want to play it on easy anyway because in that sense I feel like it could be a bit of a longer version like the of the Artful Escape Tim loves the Arful Escape
Starting point is 00:25:48 he mentioned it's pretty much gameplay minimal right like there's not a whole lot to do gameplay wise it's more of an experience this game isn't necessarily that but it is if you do play it on novice difficulty it'll probably be around six-ish hours, and it's gorgeous as hell,
Starting point is 00:26:07 and you're going to see all sorts of awesome scenery with really creative things that they're doing visually, and I think it could hit that level, and it's 20 bucks, and it's on Game Pass. Game pass, yeah, that's the thing about it. So that's massive. Like, that's where it could get a decent amount of an audience.
Starting point is 00:26:25 Yeah, I'm not trying to, I know a lot of people got kind of angry at Tam during his seafood review because all of it was like, this isn't like Sekiro, therefore it is not good. And to me, it's like, well, this isn't just like, this isn't very fun to play at all for me. So therefore, I don't think it's like a very good game.
Starting point is 00:26:45 Yeah, I mean, back to, you know, where I started, right? Like, for me being, it's okay, it's fine. It's a game I wouldn't recommend anybody. And I think that there can exist a game that's fine and not bad that I would say that about. Where I do think it just misses the mark for what it is. the best I could do is if you are that person who wants to have the flawless, grueling, I need to be perfect.
Starting point is 00:27:06 And yeah, I mean, Ronin's the difficulty that's hard. And then again, they unlock the Kensea one when you beat it. So, like, you could try it on GamePast. You could go in on Ronan and really have to learn those moves, really have to learn the right combos and stuff. That's a turnoff for me. So I can't speak to if that actually is the gamer. I know that's honestly more of Andy.
Starting point is 00:27:22 And the fact that Andy didn't deal with it or want it, like, I don't know, man. I think it's kind of easy to tell how I'm feeling with a game. when when I sort of gauge how quickly I'm getting angry with it where there's some challenging parts towards the end of this game
Starting point is 00:27:39 on like the normal difficulty for sure and if it were seafood or any other sort of challenging game where you have a parry and you're fighting and hacking and slash
Starting point is 00:27:50 and whatever around attempt 15 I'm going fuck god damn it around attempt three I'm like fuck this game dude like I'm not
Starting point is 00:27:58 not having fun right now. You know, and like the, when you hit that level of frustration that quickly, I just kind of told me how quickly I wanted the game to be over, you know. Yeah, that reminds me. Like even like if I'm enjoying a game and I get to a section that is like, okay, cool, I have to try, I have to be perfect. I have to do that. I will sit there.
Starting point is 00:28:18 I will have fun with that. You know, we're going to talk about Rogue Legacy in a second, right? Which I adore it on PSP and I'm, spoilers. I'm sorry, in spoilers. I'm enjoying it now on Xbox, the Rogue Legacy 2. And those are the things that when I die or what I'm sorry, what was it? Not on Steam.
Starting point is 00:28:33 No, not on Steamback. I don't have a Steamback yet. Oh, man. Oh, man. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know how much earlier you pre-order yours than mine, but like it seems like it's agisist, but we'll get back to the later. Looks like Gabe Newell got my email then.
Starting point is 00:28:43 You're your person. Really 50. Anyways, though, I, even like, if a game difficulty spikes in the game that I'm enjoying, I will sit there and I will take it and I will like, yeah, let's get through it. But I was the same way, right? Where I was like, I'm just, there were multiple, like, most of my nights of the game stop with like I'm kind of annoyed with this I want to play something I wanted to get some w-db-e and I want to do something else in whatever and then I'd come back to it until yeah yesterday
Starting point is 00:29:03 where I was just like I just don't want to do this anymore and so let's turn it down and go if but playing on any other difficulty then it's just brain dead because it is like I don't have to worry about anything if it were any other game there were two moments where I would have just kept on playing because I'm having fun and I like the challenge and there were two moments where I was like I'm done for the night I don't need to do this anymore it's not even that hard I'm just like not having fun with this, you know. Yeah, Ryan saved like the difference between like, you know, playing Eldon Ring versus when I played,
Starting point is 00:29:31 or when we played, um, Cana Bridges Spirits back in the fall. Was it this fall or the fall before? Times of Last fall. It was it last fall. It feels so much longer. But like playing that game, I remember getting to one of the final boss fights and getting to attempt number 10 and being like, endurance match.
Starting point is 00:29:46 Yeah, and being like, how in the world have I not like finished this and being frustrated? But like, I was enjoying it by try five, right? I was enjoying it by try eight. And that's to the credit of, I think the combat in Canada is great, not amazing. Whereas like playing elder ring, I think the combat is amazing. And so finding millennia and getting to try number 20, I am like still in it, right? I'm fully invested. I'm fully going.
Starting point is 00:30:07 And that is the stark contrast to other games where I might get to try number two or three where I'm like, ah, shit. Okay, no, I'll try tomorrow. I'd rather just watch TV. Yeah. Yeah. Tim, you were going to ask something? Yeah, just, so what I was saying is like it just kind of felt wrong to me and it kind of felt more like puppet like controlling a puppet as opposed to controlling a person and uh you bringing up the the
Starting point is 00:30:29 isometric cameras that we see a lot um in in some of it the more resident evil style tank controls that we know from that so that's a an apt comparison to make where i've never played a game that has this much two d traversal that feels like it has a two-d version of resident evil tank controls where it just doesn't quite feel right and it until you wrap your head around how it's supposed to play and move it just never feels right. Did the game seven hours in ever hit a point for you where you're like, okay, I feel good about how this feels? Traversal-wise?
Starting point is 00:31:05 Traversal with the combat, like all of it kind of together, just like in terms of like actually controlling the character. Yeah, I'd say so. It got to a point where I just got kind of used to it. But there were several moments where it's like, what plane of, what plane of movement am I on? Am I? Oh, I can't go that.
Starting point is 00:31:22 far. I'm rocking the wrong direction. I'm too far back there. I need to be closer here so that I could walk on this platform that I, I guess my character was just kind of wasn't, it was colliding with a certain polygon or whatever. It does eventually feel right. And I had mentioned in the gameplay preview that I did for it, which will be available on YouTube.com slash kind of funny games. It'll be up in a couple hours. But if you're listening to this a couple hours from now, it's up now in that case. If you're listening to this in 2024, last year. Still there. Or two years ago.
Starting point is 00:31:58 Um, fuck. Um, I mentioned that the, the animation of the dude reminds me of that game, that PC game quop. QWOP. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Where you kind of like,
Starting point is 00:32:09 try to make the dude walk with your buttons. And it's really like, initially, like, just the way my character was kind of moving. It felt, yeah, like Tim was mentioning puppet-like. And then when you get a parry, the, there's like a slowdown animation that just never ever once fell right there's there's quap
Starting point is 00:32:29 there's quap see real quick while you're looking at quab one of my first and i don't think you're wrong at all like there is a unique animation style to it and what it struck me as was like oh and this isn't an insult depending i guess how you take it but oh this reminds me a lot of things i've played in dreams like both the visuals and the way that you animated it i was like this feels like a dream like a dreams creation a lot of ways which isn't a bad thing it's just what it reminded me of Um, yeah, and then so the, the, the, the parry just, the pair mechanic never quite felt right. It just, the slowdown feels odd and I feel like maybe paring was a bit too easy at times. I don't know.
Starting point is 00:33:08 It just never felt satisfying to hit a parry. It just felt like there was not a whole lot of reward to it other than just slashing down the guy. Like the, the reward was just getting through this wave of people instead of like, wow, I'm getting better at this combat. that. The role I never really used because I feel like it wasn't super responsive either. So I just would tank hits. And luckily, the game is pretty rewarding in terms of getting health back whenever you would get a successful parian hit. You would get a little health, a little tick back. And you can, I don't know how if it was for you, Andy. One of the things I would like, I did like about it was the exploration was like going in and be like, oh, wait, does it
Starting point is 00:33:49 want me to go right? Then I should go left. Or there's light over there. So let's go to darkness and it would be, I would find lots of collectibles, whatever, that you had to go into a different menu to look at. But there were, my health bar was super far out. My stamina was super far out. So yeah, and again, this is playing on medium. So even me, somebody who's not good at the, you know, pairing and the dodging and all that jazz, I felt like I was in the fights lots of times and it wasn't like grueling on that level. And I did appreciate that it wasn't anything crazy exploration wise. I feel like maybe some people might take that as a knock that you really just kind going off the beaten path.
Starting point is 00:34:22 It's just, here's the main thing. Oh, but I could walk right here. And then there's a different camera angle. And you see there's a couple of items for ammo because you pick up different projectile weapons. You have like a bow and arrow. You have your Kunei sort of little, you know what I mean? The little fucking.
Starting point is 00:34:41 Yeah, like the, I don't have the name in front of me, but basically the, like, the spear tip that's on the end of like the chain for Scorpion. The Koonai. Yeah. I believe it's Kuhi. You got a gun. You got a weird shotgun too. So you end up kind of finding little items here and there.
Starting point is 00:34:56 And I, again, I do, I did enjoy that bit of exploration, Greg. I think that those little moments were cool, especially seeing the area from a different angle. That's kind of, that was almost worth the reward of going the extra way because you get to see a cool different perspective, camera perspective. Before you get to your final thoughts on Trek to Yomi, let me tell you back. our sponsors. Shout it to Chime for sponsoring this episode. No one likes waiting on a paycheck, especially when you've got bills due. Good thing there's Chime. Now you can get your paycheck up to two days early with direct deposit. That's up to two more days to save pay bills and generally just feel good about your money situation. But Chime is more than just about getting paid early.
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Starting point is 00:36:05 NA, members FDIC, early access to direct deposit funds depends on payer. Shout out to Babel for sponsoring this episode. For most of us, learning a second language in high school or college wasn't exactly a high point in our academic careers. Definitely not me. I took Spanish,
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Starting point is 00:37:28 It's better to be careful, especially when it's as simple as using ExpressVPN. We've been using ExpressVPN here at Kind of Funny for years now. Me personally, I've been using it and I know that my internet browsing is secure. It just gives me that peace of mind that I need. Every time you connect to an unencrypted network in cafes, hotels, airports, your online data is not secure. But ExpressVPN creates a secure encrypted tunnel between your device and the internet so they can't. And it's great. I use it on my desktop. I use it on my phone. I use it everywhere that I use the internet. It would take a hacker with a supercomputer over a billion years to get past ExpressVPN's encryption.
Starting point is 00:38:02 You can get an extra three months of ExpressVPN at ExpressVPN.com slash Kind of Funny. That's ExpressVPN.com slash Kind of Funny. EXPR.E SVP-V-P-N.com. slash kind of funny. Back to you, Andy. I don't really know where I was going, honestly. Well, what are your final thoughts on track to you on me? Just talking to talk, you know? Just talking out of podcast.
Starting point is 00:38:31 Just go until Tim says the show's over. Final thoughts. Yeah, this is not a must play by any means. It's on Game Pass. So if you have Game Pass, download it and see how it looks on a TV. Because that might be a cool experience. Again, the game is.
Starting point is 00:38:47 Oh, it is. The OLED, dude, this game, the blacks, man, they sing. Perfect. Like, it is, it's beautiful. I played it a little bit on my TV, and I also played it on my Ultra Wide. And I do want to give the game a shout out for its tech options. Like, there's a ton of stuff in the back end that you can turn on or change the levels of. And it looks great either on an Ultra Ride or in OLED.
Starting point is 00:39:09 Yeah, I need to check it out on console then, because I played on PC. So I will definitely give that a shot because, yeah, the game is. is like one of the prettiest best presented art directed games. I've played in a long time. And it's like up there with the seafoods, in my opinion, especially with how I'd say diverse the environments get. I thought it was, I thought I knew what I was getting environment-wise. I thought I knew what I was getting into, rather.
Starting point is 00:39:39 And it kind of takes you for some twists and turns that are really cool to experience and look at. But other than that, I would say this is a miss for me. Greg, any final thoughts? I mean, yeah, I echo everything Andy said, and I like that there's two perspectives on it from different people who play different kinds of games, right? That for me, it's, you know, just one of those middle-of-the-road mediocre games. It's fine.
Starting point is 00:40:04 Yeah, I do think that if you have game pass and you want to just look at it and try it out, obviously no harm in it. I'm sure people will find fun with it, but I'm with Andy of like, it's just not something I would recommend and I don't think it's a must play like I don't think there's going to be a lot of conversations about this going forward with so many other amazing games happening this year
Starting point is 00:40:20 and I realize I'm probably way harder on it but I think that is because it's like again this devolver game with this gorgeous art direction and I feel like that comes with some sort of expectation oh man it came with hype right like everything we saw the reason we're you know I played it and the reason
Starting point is 00:40:36 Tim got it and the reason blessing was into it is because the hype looked great like oh this is going to be a great game and so And it's like to be there at the end of the year, game of the year. 100%. You can easily see that where that would happen, right? Like when I think of the devolver indie games that I've fallen for in the last few years, right? Like I think of ape out.
Starting point is 00:40:52 I think of Katana Zero. Like the list goes on. Like, you know, Hotline Miami like a decade ago, I feel like very much set the tone for. Death Store. Yeah, death door. Like we, when devolver is on the box or I guess like just on the publisher page, that comes to a certain expectation of, oh, this game is going to be rocking. Like this game is going to be hype is going to have the energy.
Starting point is 00:41:09 It's going to have maybe a unique art style and the gameplay is going to back it up. And so, like, I feel like your expectations aren't, like, out of whack in terms of wanting this thing to deliver when it's coming from a pub that has delivered traditionally. Well, Blessing, you've been playing Rogue Legacy, too. I have been. Not quite as much as Greg, but I want to know from your perspective. Is it delivering? I'm going to surpass Greg, trust me. I got the Steam deck so I can play the same.
Starting point is 00:41:32 Everybody who gets a Steam deck gets the Steam deck and then just takes photos of loading screen, game main menus on their Steam deck. Play something with it. They gave it. You have it? Yeah, I just got it yesterday. What do you want for me? God gave you this to play games. Paris, Lily, not to take fucking beauty shots.
Starting point is 00:41:49 I've literally had it for 25 hours. The Instagram guy, Greg Miller, you know? Yeah, at first of all, Greg Miller are multi-talented, Barrett. You know what I mean? You and me, multi-talented. Andy, one-trick pony. Also, it's also great for pictures. Rogue legacy, too, is dope as hell.
Starting point is 00:42:06 Like, I'm like Greg, where I played Rogue Legacy back in the day and absolutely adored it. if you somehow, if you somehow don't know what rogue legacy is, it is a rogue light, right? And like, it is, you know, like dead cells, it is like pretty much any other traditional rogue light you play where it is 2D action, you are dungeon crawling through a castle and through other environments. It starts off in a castle and then like it grows into outdoors and other places. And you're playing until you die and you lose virtually all your progress, even though some things carry over. There's like very light progression. And so as you're going through the dungeon, you're collecting
Starting point is 00:42:36 coins. You then die and then you spend coins on upgrades, which might be a different class, might be better health, might be more attack damage, might be abilities, might be an assortment of things. And Rogue Legacy 2 has an assortment of things, especially compared to Rogue Legacy 1, where, you know, Rogue Legacy 1, you had the castle that you were building, that would then get you more abilities and more upgrades and unlockables. And then once you exit the castle, you had like two different people you can talk to you. That would give you, like, ruins or would give you other things. Rogue Lexi 2 from the get-go, I'm only about two hours in, but I am overwhelmed with the amount of things that I can spend coins on.
Starting point is 00:43:08 And from the get-go, I am very excited for making progression and figuring out how I want to build my character and build tour progression because it is, you know, they have the castle thing again so I can build the castle to get all these different unlockables and in classes and all these things. And then also I can buy runes. I can buy like a whole bunch of shit, it feels like. And they are front-loading a lot of the things that I think while playing Rogue Legacy 1, you probably grew in accustomed to you.
Starting point is 00:43:34 one of my first questions when I booted up the game was, all right, where is my air dodge? Like, I need an air dodge. I need to be able to, like, be limber as possible. And like, within the first- Perfectly good question to ask blessing, yeah. Yeah, like, especially for Roagel legacy, it was the most obvious question.
Starting point is 00:43:49 And went into the first hour, that's like the first unlockable that you find. It is the air dodge. And I was like, thank God. And so they front-load a lot of that stuff to kind of get you into the game quicker. And then what I'm met with now is just a lot of stuff that feels way fresh,
Starting point is 00:44:02 way more new, and way more exciting than I even thought this game was going to be. Because, like, seeing the trailers coming off for Rogue Legacy 1, I thought this is just going to be purely more Rogue Legacy. From the debut trailer, I was like, oh, this looks just like the Rogue Legacy. I'm down to play more of that. I'm sure it would be more content, but I didn't expect much. From the get-go, the game has, like, a brand new art style.
Starting point is 00:44:22 Like, it still looks similar, but it is, like, more polished. It is more animation-like. It reminds me, not in the bad way, because I feel like we make this comparison a lot in the bad way, but it reminds me of like the Newgrounds flashy. Like this is cartoony but very polished and very clean in a way that reminds me a flash game. But I do think the actual art style and direction backs up, backs that up. And like once you get lost to it, you really do get lost in it where it is like you are discovering new enemies, you're exploring the castle. And for me, every single round I've gone through, which has been like, I want to say I've done like 11 or 12 runs where I've gone through and I've died.
Starting point is 00:44:56 With every run, I feel like I am discovering something new and hyped and exciting in terms of either a new, room or a new type of room where it is choose which which upgrade you want kind of thing or finding a new ability or getting further than I was before like that loop is still there that I think was there in the in the original game but here I feel like it's even more like I feel like there's so much different stuff to discover and I'm having an absolute blast with it like Greg you're probably a few more hours in than I am are you feeling the same thing oh my god like yeah I'm more hours in than you but like not by a you know a wide margin and oh shit. As somebody who like, like, if you remember the stories, like, Rogue Legacy on Vita for me was such a
Starting point is 00:45:37 special game, such an important game. And really was my first roguelike game, right? Where I, like, fell in love with one of those. And honestly, it ruined so many rogue likes that would come after it. Because it was the fact that I thought Rogue Legacy did such a great job of, you were, you were, rewarded for every run you did. And you had objectives in terms of before you go in, you know, you see what you can spend your gold on. And so you know, man, I really want that power up. I need to make, this is how I play at least. I need to get that much gold and I'll come back and buy it or whatever.
Starting point is 00:46:06 And so that is something I've thought is for me personally sorely lacking a lot of the ones that have been popular since then. And they haven't hit the same way. So getting into Rogue Legacy 2, yeah, it's the same idea of you go through and you have the gold. I think, yeah, the upgrade tree is expanding way quicker. I feel like everything's happening faster this time around. And I have not played Rogue Legacy since I played Rogue Legacy.
Starting point is 00:46:28 on Vita and beat it there. So this is, you know, rose tinted glasses and I'm not, this may not be the most accurate scientific comparison. But in this one, I feel like I'm becoming stronger faster. I remember Rogue Legacy one really being, I'm going to get my, I got my teeth kicked in for a lot of hours before I turned a corner. It felt like I was making real damage.
Starting point is 00:46:48 Now I'm feeling that faster. I'm way more into the new classes I'm unlocking. I thought in Rogue Legacy, I really stuck with being a knight. That was what I did. And so in Rogue Legacy, too, I was doing that from the jump here, but I unlocked Mage, and I'm playing through Mage, and I really like the range combat that they've got, the spells they're able to cast
Starting point is 00:47:06 there. What is it? The, not barbarian, the, uh, Valkyrie. I didn't think I would like Valkyrie. I really like Valkyrie, of course. Uh, she's got way more range on her staff than other people you're able to get in there. And so as you keep going through, you keep unlocking these different classes, which you get to purchase and see.
Starting point is 00:47:24 I'm fascinated, right? As I look right here, like, you know, the, uh, at level 36. I'm level 30 right now. Like, I'm anxious to get up there and see what that's all about because the other classes have been so rewarding and fulfilling. In Rug Legacy 1, there were classes right that I, the way it works right, it's your legacy. You play, you die, you then get to pick from three of your heirs, your bloodlines. And so those are randomly pulled from the classes you've unlocked. And then, of course, the big thing is that they have different traits for them and that can be, you know, color blindness and all the different things you've seen before this time
Starting point is 00:47:56 around like the blessing i tweeted about ibs where you fart randomly that's in there i had the one where the you're a puritan where you don't all enemies are pixelated because you think they're uh like pornographic or whatever uh but anyways you pick who you want and you pick from the classes that are available you don't get to choose like it's like three random classes of people are there with their own randomly generated traits uh randomly generated spells and stuff like that and in rogue legacy one there were definitely i was like i only want to be night so something would pop up no night. All right, I'm just going to do a gold run. Like, this is just to get gold. I'm not trying to actually advance and see if I can beat it. So far, granted, early, I am, everybody I've got,
Starting point is 00:48:34 I've got a fighting chance with. I feel like, okay, cool, there's something here and I like this ability like that. Part of that comes down to, again, the skill tree, I think opening up way quicker and, like, I'm, you know, putting gold into leveling up my health. I'm putting it into my ability to carry more, having, you know, the blacksmith out there who's giving, you know, right now I'm working on my entire leather armor set that then gives me more health, obviously, takes off a few other things, but then also adds to the weight of the character. Like, as usual, like, to a blessing's point, there's so much going on in this game. But I think as was Rogue Legacy 1 with Rogue Legacy 2, you can just get in and you know you're not going to beat it in the first X amount of hours.
Starting point is 00:49:12 So it is about just running through having fun, learning the enemy, learning the thing, you know, like there are these, I want to say new, but again, I just don't remember before. But like the challenges where you flip a switch now and it is, all right, hit all the targets in this room and the amount of time. but don't jump or beat every, you know, defeat every enemy in this. You had those in the original game, but I think this time around, they feel a little bit more thought out. And like, I have not gotten one of them done yet. You know what I mean? Like I fuck something up and I'm like, damn, or the, you know, when there's a treasure chest in the top of the room. And there's the one hit things where you have to use your down or your, for me, a L1 attack, right?
Starting point is 00:49:46 That gives you like a downward swipe that you can bounce off of. And you have to do it the exact right way to get up there. Like I finally got one of those after fucking up three of them. And I was like, ah, because, you know, you do it enough and you come into that room. me like, okay, cool, don't use them all up. You do it this way and get up there and do that thing. It just feels fucking great. It does like the excellent rogue light thing where you're getting better every single run.
Starting point is 00:50:05 And it's not purely just the upgrades. Like you are learning the rooms and figuring out like, okay, cool, there's going to be these recurring rooms. There's going to be that room that has the treasure chest all the way up. And next time I enter, I got to remember not to immediately hit the lanterns because I'm trained to hit every single thing. So I can get the coins. Andy, you have your hand up? I heard that those rooms are easier, Greg, on a steam deck. They are.
Starting point is 00:50:24 Yeah, they are. Yeah, that's what I figured. For us. Again, I'm playing on my, if we can drop the joke for one second, I can't get over how gorgeous the game is. Again, if somebody who only played Rogue Legacy on his Vita, to have Rogue Legacy 2, which obviously is going to look better, you know, this many years later, but to have it on a giant TV and be watching it, it's just gorgeous.
Starting point is 00:50:43 It's just a piece for the eyes. But it probably is easier on the Steam deck, you know, because you have a bigger screen than when I'm remote playing. Eternomically, it just feels good. That I don't know, that I don't believe for a fucking second, but I'm excited to hear you talking. After holding my Switch for the longest time, holding the Steam deck feels like holding like, holding like an actual piece technology.
Starting point is 00:50:57 No offense to the Switch, but... When Greg asks, can we drop the joke? I was going to say, no, we can't. We can't. Now it's back on. I feel like the closest analog, and I've always mentioned this on a lot of other games as we've done, but I feel like Hades is kind of the big roguelight that hit that a lot of mass audience
Starting point is 00:51:15 sort of dove into and it kind of became a lot of people's first roguelites. What would you say it does better, similarly, worse than Hades? I think the difference between Rogue Legacy and Hades and the reason why Rogue Legacy probably won't hit as much as Hades did is because Hades had the characters in the story in the narrative. Yeah, Rogue Legacy does not have any of the horniness that Hades had.
Starting point is 00:51:37 But it has farts. It has farts. It has humor, right? And it has the system. Because the borderline's crowd. Yeah, the borderline's crowd is going to love that. But also, it has the charm, right? Like, it doesn't take itself too seriously whatsoever. You know, Greg mentioned that I got the IBS in the game, which is like the random farts. I have also gotten like, you know, I got a character who's nostalgic, which basically meant that I was playing my game in like a sepia tone kind of thing with like old timey. Yeah, old time.
Starting point is 00:52:03 Yeah, that was the first one I got. And I was like, oh, I hate this because I'm going through this game for the first time. It's like there was like enough obscuring like the visuals that I needed to actually play the game well. But then also like I got, oh, I forget what the actual trait was called. But it's basically like my character is the star of the show. Damn, I had like a head on the tip of my brain. but I don't have it. Um, but basically what that trait did was give me a spotlight. And everything, everything in the game is darkened except for that spotlight. So it is like, I'm walking into
Starting point is 00:52:32 the rooms and I can't see shit. But then every now and then when I would get a kill, roses would get thrown onto the stage kind of thing. Like, you know, the game has so much stuff like that. It's so funny, dude. It's still brilliant what they do. I have clumsy, right? Where it's like anything I touch immediately breaks. Like, there's like that kind of stuff. Uh, that, you know, I love that one of the traits for your characters right is pacifist, where you do no damage. You just have a sign with the peace symbol on it that you run around and bash and usually they have like 250% up on gold or whatever i think and you blessing feel free to correct me if i'm wrong like for me with this compared to hadies like this is the more
Starting point is 00:53:04 haines i felt like when i'd play it and die early it would be like oh man i didn't really make any progress i didn't get something done there i felt like whereas this one again like all right cool it's a new class i'm just going to run around fuck around i die right away it's no big deal like i feel like this is so quick because it is there is no story to it it is just like cool new air let's go okay died let's get in there okay like school run kind of yeah exactly right where this is the more for me the more immediate thing which again is why i know it's on steamsac i know it's on a remote play but it's like why i feel like it is it blends itself so well to those mobile like experiences because it is you can if you put in
Starting point is 00:53:39 five minutes with it you're going to have a good time and you're going to learn something new and get something done or if you can put in you know an hour and half of it you're going to you know get even further and have more happen yeah and i think the game does a really good job of you mentioned while talking about trek to yomi you don't really feel like you have a carrot on the stick this game at all points at all times you feel like you have 10 different carrots on a stick that you want to work towards like right now there's carrots everywhere right i feel like i'm just like i'm the best horse right now right i'm just i have all my carrots uh but like i there's there's a trait that i was trying to get that was uh my character is i think it's my character is a b positive which means that once i get kills i then get a little bit of health back um because i'm basically like a blood sucker kind of thing um that would that cost me 800 coins and for the first like hour that is that was the thing that i was fighting for but as i was fighting for it oftentimes i'll die before getting to 800 coins, which meant that, cool, I'm going to take all these coins,
Starting point is 00:54:25 I'm going to focus them in on health and other things. Like, you never feel like you've wasted your time. I think that's a huge thing that makes the gameplay loop keep going. But then also, at all times, it is cool. I want that AB positive thing. I also want to unlock this new class. I also want to increase my damage because I need to be doing more damage. I also want to increase my health. Like, you have so many different things to work for, work toward at any given time. And I think where Hades kind of leans into being, like, narrative. And after any run, you then talk to the people that are back at the home base and you are building relationships and maybe you're romancing and maybe you're doing all these things and you're building this narrative.
Starting point is 00:54:59 Rogue legacy is purely about the systems and, you know, partly about the goofs, but it is like, cool, how do I do more damage? What are the other classes I can get? And I think the carrot on the stick is so magnificent. I think the better comparison for Rogue legacy would be dead cells, though, because I think those are way more closer in terms of genre because it is 2D action. Both of them take big influence from Castlevania, right? like they're trying to be that game.
Starting point is 00:55:22 And I think with that, right, like, Deadcells, I still think is, in terms of, like, you know, art style and presentation, dead cells is still my favorite in terms of that. But, like, I think the gameplay loop in Rogue Legacy 2 is just so addicting and so fun. And it's punishing as well. But it rewards you so much with how much you learn every single run because it is you are learning the rooms.
Starting point is 00:55:41 You're learning how to use your abilities. Rogue Legacy 2 this time around has a few more mechanical changes where it is. Greg mentioned, like, the down hit where you can kind of get some some air by pressing the left bumper or the right bumper and that'll give you like a boost so you can climb things that way there's also to unlock these big new abilities that the game didn't really have before in Rogue LXVu1 it's Metroidvania like where the dash I was talking about before
Starting point is 00:56:06 the Air Dash you unlock that by getting to a room where like Metroid actually there's like a big statue that's like offering you a thing and you talk to that statue and they're like cool you're going to do a challenge And the challenge is basically like a Celeste speed run, where it's, okay, here's the ability that we want to give you. You're now transported to the Twilight Zone. And it's like Celeste kind of music. And then like even the filter that they put over the thing feels like Celeste.
Starting point is 00:56:31 And you're going through these quick like platforming challenges to unlock the move. Stuff like that, I feel like really makes the game stand out from the first game. It actually makes it feel like something that's taking it a step above. And that's just what that has me in right now. Like I want to continue to do the Metroidvania style unlocking the new ability so I can get to the new areas. I want to continue to upgrade my character, level up, upgrade the castle, get all the abilities. Like, the carrots on all the different sticks are really strong right now,
Starting point is 00:56:56 and that's what's keeping me gone. Yeah, it's, it's, no, these are real carrots. These are big ass, weird ass, baby carrots. Why would I mean we put those in the south? Those get dipped in hummets. And he was sold. No, you're unsold. Get a fucking steam deck, dude, Jesus.
Starting point is 00:57:09 Yeah. But no, it's the idea that, like, yeah, like, busing nail that are out of, like, anything. You're always being rewarded, even if you didn't get the reward you want. Sorry, Tim. Yeah. No, that's great. I was going to ask you, Greg, but I, you know, it'd be silly to ask you what you think of the steam deck.
Starting point is 00:57:23 Because you don't have one. But, uh, bless, what are your impressions of it so far? I don't have many impressions because I've honestly only played it for like 30 minutes. I spent like a lot of, and I've taken photos of it, right? Like I got it delivered during yesterday's stream. And then like I had to carry through the finish of the stream and then immediately I had shit to do. And like, I after, fuck, after today I got D&D. I like have to find time to really hang out my steam deck because I've been playing Rogue
Starting point is 00:57:46 Legacy, mainly on PC because I was streaming it yesterday and I played 30 minutes on my Steam deck. And so I played a bit of that and I've also played a bit of a game called Coramon, which is a generic Pokemon game that is like trying to be Pokemon for the hardcores, but that's a different story. It's really awesome. And what does that mean? If you want to learn what that means, look up Coramon.
Starting point is 00:58:06 It will tell you on the Steam page. Pokemon for the Hardcores. It's like trying to fix everything that people are to play about. Yeah, more focus on the combat, more focused on like the mechanics. Like the IV and all that sort of stuff. Yeah, and then like I'll say a quick tangent, right? Like I started up Coramon and I was immediately like, oh shit, character customization. Like I can like change all these things to my character.
Starting point is 00:58:26 This is already great. But I thought you're going to say like you have like a work life balance. You're like, yeah, you're catching monsters, but also, you know, you got to do your taxes tonight. I go back to the office. I got to front of numbers. The steam deck is awesome. So the one I got was the second tier of Steam deck, which I believe is the $529 one. It has 256 gigabytes of SSD storage.
Starting point is 00:58:50 And from just holding it, because that's really the only impression I can give, this thing feels awesome to hold. So many buttons, this is a nerdy-ass machine that feels like it can be capable of anything. Like, once I got this delivered yesterday and I picked it up and I was messing around with it while the guys were playing Halo on stream, I all of a sudden was overcome with the feeling of getting a new console. And I did not think I would have that feeling while getting the Steam deck. Like it reminded me of day one getting my switch in the mail and getting so excited to sit down and play breath of the wild on it. Granted, I don't have a breath of a while on this thing to play. What I am playing is Rogue Legacy 2, which is awesome.
Starting point is 00:59:25 But like it just feels great. Like when they first announced it, I remember seeing the images and making fun of like how it looked like the buttons were trying to escape from the device. Because like they're like so high up and so they're like look like they're about to fall off. It actually feels so perfect. actually having it in your hand. Like it's like ergonomic if that makes sense. Like this is a thick boy like way thicker than a Nintendo Switch. And with that like they shaped it out.
Starting point is 00:59:51 So it does feel like I'm not getting like the hand cramps that I would holding my switch. And I don't want to use this as like my time to just, you know, shit on the switch because the switch is awesome as well. But it does feel like they've put in thought that way. The screen is awesome. Like Greg mentioned Rogue Legacy 2 being gorgeous on TV. It is gorgeous on here as well.
Starting point is 01:00:08 And even Coramon when I booted it up, I was like, damn, this is a good looking game. And that game is just like, it's GBA style pixel art. But even with that, I was like, damn, this looks really good. The fan is not loud, but like, if you're, if you listen for it, like, it is noticeable. Like, this thing is working over time to make the shit run on the device. All you done is hold it, though. How do you know?
Starting point is 01:00:29 Oh, I had it all. Like, I had it on like yesterday during the stream and I was fucking around with it. And I was like downloading God of War and shit. Um, which is his feet were. Yeah, his feet were getting cold in that. So he'd like, he just, he turned on near all. I'm gonna put it in your feet. And it turn on the steam deck.
Starting point is 01:00:44 It does get hot, but not in the places where you're holding it. It like gets hot in the middle center part of it. And like you won't notice that unless you like actually feel for it. And then I also think similarly about the fan where you can hear the fan, but most likely if you're playing on the seam deck, you're probably going to be wearing headphones or you're probably going to be so engrossed in the game that you're probably not going to notice. I could see it maybe in like two years.
Starting point is 01:01:04 This thing is going to sound like a seven-year-old PS4. Maybe that's the case. But for now it's not that annoying. Andy Cortez. Can I just say that Greg, this isn't me making funny. But I feel like we're on the precipice of getting a brand new version of Greg Miller once he gets his hand on this device. Like, it's exciting in a way. Like, I feel like Tiger Woods is getting a new set of golf clubs that are going to enhance.
Starting point is 01:01:35 Like, he's going to be able to play so many new games that don't release on major consoles. He just doesn't like playing on PC and they're gonna be there in his hand, which he loves playing handheld anyway. This is like genuinely really exciting, I think, for us as a company. So I think we should all give us a round of applause right now, like all of us right here. Thank you. Because I can expense my Steam deck? I mean, can I expense my Steam deck? No.
Starting point is 01:02:02 I didn't realize we're going to be showing out all this for Speed deck. This is like it, Andy. Like you're 100% right. If this can't me, if this can't get me into PC gaming. Like nothing will. And I understand, of course, that not every game works on it. And yeah, yeah, there's a million other caveats. Yeah, I'm sorry, plus.
Starting point is 01:02:16 I will say this is going to get me way more into PC gaming. Because, like, I'm similar to Greg. I'm not as extreme as Greg, but I am somebody who, you know, we get hit up for codes for certain games. And, like, usually PC codes are the most available. Yeah, there's plenty of, like, I forget what it was recently, but it was, I think even Yomi might have been, right? We had steam codes way early or way, or maybe, whatever, PC codes. I figured if they're steamer epic.
Starting point is 01:02:38 But, like, we had codes way before we had console. Yeah, and usually my go-to is like, no, I'm not going to play on PC. I'll wait the amount of days it'll take for me to get a PlayStation code or a switch code depending on the game. Like even Eldon Ring, we had, like, for PC earlier than we got console codes. And like, even for that game, that was one of my most anticipated games of the year. I was like, no, man, I'll wait two days so I can play it on PlayStation. Now having the Steam deck, I can't wait to play games on this thing.
Starting point is 01:03:03 And to Andy's point, it is opening me up to new games where there's a, Barrett can probably figure out the game I'm thinking of. game that's like Undertail that has like a similarish sort of earthbound kind of style to it that was recently announced for switch but has been on PC for a while i feel like it starts with the oh or a you it has like a T in it what is that is that the one where it's like almost like a rhythm dance thing as well no no that's the different one that's the one edron con loves i'm thinking of a different one that's like really popular for like a certain sect of pc undertale dorks um that would that i would go crazy about delta rune is is where i'm
Starting point is 01:03:40 No, no, that's a different game. I do think the thing I'm looking forward to most, though, and I hope that it kind of becomes more regular thing, is that I feel like this whole Steam Deck approved thing, moniker and sort of sticker that they're putting on these games, I hope it doesn't become that hard to attain for these smaller pubs and these smaller devs, because so far, like, yeah, sure, you can play Jedi Fallen Order
Starting point is 01:04:09 or a game that came out three or four years ago on this device. But I really hope that we get to a point, and this device becomes really popular enough to where devs are going to say, yeah, we have to have a day one Steam Deck approved. Because I think that'll like, that's so exciting, blessing, if you eventually do ever pick up this RTX 3080, which, by the way, it's been here for a long time, really dusty. I mean, I don't need it anymore.
Starting point is 01:04:34 I mean, I'm going to, I'm going to, I'm going to be a Steam deck. I'm morey is the game I'm thinking about, by the way. You're in the restroom. You're cranking it. you're playing a game, you get that cloud save going, and then you're like, oh, let me go. I mean, dude, that's what I was Rogue Legacy 2 yesterday, and it felt great to close the game on my PC, immediately pick up my Steam deck, and it was right there. And I was like, this is magical.
Starting point is 01:04:53 This is exactly what I need, right? To go back to the point I was making, yeah, applause. To go back to the point I was making earlier, right? Like, I'm going to check out this Amori game that is a game that sounds like it's going to be completely for me, but I was waiting for it to come to a switch or to an actual console, right? Like, I'm going to pick up, like, there's a list of games that I'm planning on picking up. Coramon, you know,
Starting point is 01:05:11 Coramon, I didn't realize wasn't on Switch, but I was like waiting on getting a switch code. And then once I got my Steam Deck, I was like, oh shit, I can just pick this up on a Steam Deck and play it there. And now I'm playing it. Like, the list is going to go on. Also, right now, on the Steam
Starting point is 01:05:25 Going Rogue, a festival of persistence, May 2nd through May 9th. They are highlighting Metroidvania's Soulslikes, rogue likes, rogue lights, and Hollow Knights. and Hollow Knight is $6, dude. $6 on Steam.
Starting point is 01:05:45 Get your life right. I mean, I did start it on Switch, but maybe I will switch. Because I just love holding this thing. And part of it's probably just because it's new, but I do think it's just such a great device to have in your hands. I'm sad that Greg Miller isn't able to do that.
Starting point is 01:05:59 Until we hang him on a plane. In Canada, I would like this fucking thing. It does have paddles. Yeah, and that's the thing is I try to map Rogue Legacy 2 to some of the paddles because of the dash mechanic and also like the downhit mechanic. I couldn't actually figure out how to do it.
Starting point is 01:06:11 I'm going to take time to figure that out because it just wasn't in the regular menus. But, um, I was going to say. But yeah, I'm enjoying you since then. Bless I have a question for you. What's up, Greg? Can you forward me your email? That way I can make sure I, I, I, I have it like set up to make sure I don't miss that, you know, like who it's coming from or whatever because, you know, it's this whole thing.
Starting point is 01:06:30 And then my question was, what was the shipping time like? They hit you up on what, a Monday or Thursday. Those are the days they do this, right? You gave them your money. You said, yes, I want it, gave me your money, and then how many days until you got it? Ooh, okay, let me, let me check my... I'm running out of time here. I take off on a plane a week from Monday.
Starting point is 01:06:47 You know what I mean? This is... A week from Monday? Oh, I'll be damned if I'm on this plane I'm going to fucking hold my kid, all right. I'm going to hold the steam deck, God willing, you know? Gabe Newell delivered it. The thing I was going to say that I forgot was, um, this is the most time I spent in the steam store in a long time.
Starting point is 01:07:03 Like, usually I don't fucking else, like, hang out there. That's the best kind of time, bless. It's like, where you're scrolling. through Netflix of like, what do I not want to watch tonight, but what do I want to watch in like a week or so, you know? And you just kind of scroll through and bear it. It's always like, oh shit, that's 11 bucks. Fuck it. Like, yeah, dude.
Starting point is 01:07:21 We'll buy that right now. This team deck is going to make that even worse. And I can't wait. Greg, so I got my email to purchase it on April 21st. So that was about 13 days ago. And then they shipped it the week after. And then I received it yesterday. And so it's like a two-week process.
Starting point is 01:07:39 Oh, my. Yeah, you're going to have to hold this fucking baby, Greg. You know, like, you're going to have to hold this kid for this entire flight and not have your steam deck hold. I mean, you got a phone, you know? You can play Marvel's Strike Force, whatever game you play a puzzle match. I can play on my phone on them upstairs. You know what I mean?
Starting point is 01:07:58 So it's like I'm safe. If you're connecting the internet. Yeah, exactly what I'm saying. I do know that puzzle quest three works on planes via plane Wi-Fi because I'm still playing that shit. Don't you worry? Don't you dare worry. Don't you fucking worry about it, Tim.
Starting point is 01:08:10 Not planning on it, not planning on it. You know what I am planning on doing, though? Ending the show right here. So we can get to the exclusive post show with an episode of Bless Who featuring Kind of Feudy. I'm very excited about it. Tim, let me tell you, I think this might be the best one. Okay, that is fantastic stuff.
Starting point is 01:08:28 Everyone, let us know in the comments below if you are still interested in trying out Trek to Yomi or if you have been playing Rogue Legacy 2. Until next time, I love you all. Goodbye. I dominated last week, kind of feeding.

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