Triple Click - GTA VI Delay and More Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Episode Date: May 8, 2025

Grand Theft Auto VI is delayed to 2026... but Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is not! This week, the gang talks about both games, starting with some thoughts on the new GTA trailer before moving into some takes on Act 1 of Clair Obscur. One More Thing:Kirk: Blue PrinceMaddy: Consume MeJason: Yellowface (RF Kuang)LINKS:Excerpts from the Clair Obscur soundtrack composed by Lorien TestardTriple Click LIVE in Portland, July 11: https://albertarosetheatre.com/event/triple-click-live/alberta-rose-theatre/portland-oregon/Support Triple Click: http://maximumfun.org/joinBuy Triple Click Merch: https://maxfunstore.com/search?q=triple+click&options%5Bprefix%5D=lastJoin the Triple Click Discord: http://discord.gg/tripleclickpodTriple Click Ethics Policy: https://maximumfun.org/triple-click-ethics-policy/ Happy MaxFunDrive! Right now is the best time to start a membership to support your favorite shows. Learn more and join at https://maximumfun.org/jointripleclick 🚀  SUPPORT TRIPLE CLICK:Join Maximum Fun | Buy TC Merch💬 JOIN THE TRIPLE CLICK DISCORD🎮 Triple Click Ethics Policy📱 SOCIALS | @tripleclickpodInstagram | YouTube | TikTok | Twitch

This week we're talking Claire Obscure Expedition 33, although thanks to Trump's 20% tariff, it's now Expedition 39.6. Welcome to Triple Click where we bring the games to you. This week, we're getting into the hot new RPG from France that everyone just can't seem to stop discussing. That's right, GTA6. I'm Jason Shrier. I'm Kirk Hamilton. And I'm Maddie Myers. Hello.

Hello. Welcome to. Hello. friends. We're here. Another episode of our little old show. Little old triple click. Still going.

Little five year old triple click. It's so little. It's a toddler, I guess. It's toddling around. It knows enough to say things that could qualify as jokes at this point. Right. It's developing a stronger sense of self. I feel like you guys have your ages all funky here.

Five is way more than a toddler. I'm only basing it. on my niece who doesn't look like a toddler at all, but she's very tall for her age, so I really never know. Five is like a proper kid. Five is like a kid. Five is like asking questions. Five is like having feelings. Five is a legitimate child. Triple click is now a legitimate child. Whereas toddlers aren't legitimate children. You heard it here first. They're not legitimate. Triplicle just asked what happened to our dog when it died. That's like that's right. Asking the big question. And what happened to Mario when he died.

Right, which we still have an answer. We haven't and we never will. And hey, people out there, if you would like to see Triple Click make it all the way through puberty and into old age, then you have to help us make it happen. You can do that by going to maximum button.org slash join and becoming a member of our podcast network. We are entirely listener supported, so we very much appreciate anyone who makes this show possible. And to show our appreciation, we record a bonus episode for subscribers. every single month, including one we just did on Severance. And when we are doing this month on a new video game called Blue Prince, we will be talking

spoilers, we've been getting it into the story and the puzzles and going all the way in depth on that game. So look out for that later this month if you are a maximum fun member, maximumfund.org slash join become a member today. Yeah. A few things we should talk about before we get into the meat of this week's episode. First of all, we should just real quick address the Polygon situation. As people might have seen last week, Polygon was sold to a new corporate owner.

And most of the staff were laid off. Maddie as the person on this show who works for Polygon. I mean, do you want to add anything? Sure. I mean, I still work there. That seems relevant to say. I still have a job at Polygon.com, and I still have several coworkers that are remaining there, but not nearly as many as I used to have. From what I understand, it was Fox Media that did the layoff officially, at least in terms of which of the two sides claims credit for it.

It's Vox that laid off the old boss laid off the entirety of the union. and then some folks who weren't in the union were also not brought over to the new version of Polygon. But since coming there, I have spoken to Valnet, my new owner, a few times, been trying to get back some of the people that they originally didn't bring over and have managed to get at least one person back. It's work in progress right now. The site's very small at this time, but I'm hoping that it will get bigger again soon. and all I can really say to the listeners is it's me. I'm still going to keep doing the same thing I always did a polygon before unless somebody tries to stop me.

And then who knows what would happen if they dared to try. It sucks, though, of course. It sucks. I really miss a huge percentage of people I used to work with. And it's really lonely right now, really weirdly empty slack. Very strange. I think we'll probably, maybe there will be room in the future for us to get into this and kind of media a little bit more.

But now I think it's safe to say that things are still actively happening. And there's still a lot of balls in the air. So I think the three of us will probably avoid just kind of like prognosticating too much. Because who knows, I mean, a lot of things could be different. Like we have no idea what's going to happen in the coming days and weeks. Things can be different by the time this airs. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. I certainly have very strong feelings about this based on what has happened. And they're all positive. right? Yeah. Yeah. No, they're very negative. Oh, interesting. Interesting. You should say that. Okay. But, you know, this directly affects you in a way that it doesn't, me and Jason. And also, yeah, like you said, Jason, it's, it's ongoing. And we'll, we'll see when it's time to really talk about it. But I wanted to at least say that, yeah, this is a real shame. And I'm, I'm just really bummed out, both because of all the people who lost their jobs and because I really like Polygon and I liked reading the version of it that

existed until last week. In other news, before we get to the meet of the show, GTA6, kind of industry shaking news happened, so we should address it real quick. Two things have happened since last week. One is that GTA 6 is delayed on Friday morning, kind of unceremoniously at 7.30 in the morning. Rockstar said, hey, we're moving to May of 2026 from its previous date of fall 2025. And the second thing that happened is they released a hot new trailer and a ton of other info about the game this week on Tuesday morning. So that was fun to see as well.

Going to be a big old video game. Going to be a pretty monumental release. I think we all enjoyed the trailer. What did you guys think of the delay and the trailer news? The delay is unsurprising. The trailer was out of control. man, I just love to hear the Pointer Sisters anywhere I can hear them.

I've had so much Pointer Sisters in my life lately. I did an episode of Strong Songs about Muppets music and talked about that Sesame Street pinball number count song that they sang. And then I've just been listening to a lot of the pointers. They're so freaking good. That song is so good. That trailer was so good. That trailer was so hot. I think that's the best

thing about it. It was true to the Pointer Sisters song. It was probably the hottest GTA has ever been for a series that has had a lot of sexual scandals and includes a lot of sexual content. it has maybe never been actually sexy to me, and that trailer was quite sexy. So I thought that was a remarkable thing about it. Yeah, that's striking that it's like not, GTA has always been associated with like beating up hookers and strip clubs and stuff.

Yeah. For the worst. Yeah. It was, but those were always so like, uh, child. Childers. Pureile is the word that I was about to say. Yeah, they were all felt or they all felt very sterile also. It's like, yes, this is a hooker who has like plastic tits and stuff. Whereas, this feels like, whoa, this is like a heat story. This is like a Michael man, like a steamy romance. And it's also, I appreciate it when a game has sexy characters of every gender, not just like hot women in skippy clothing, but also hot men in skimpy clothing. I think it's good to be inclusive in that way. Yeah, equal opportunity sexiness is on display. One is an important thing about sexiness. This is like, it's actually similar to

playing in the pocket, when you're playing in the pocket in music, you have to do it with other people. Pocket is something you do with other people. Sexiness is, it is as well. And like, I remember the original trailer for GTA6. There was this, like, beautiful woman in a bikini, and she wound up being kind of the top image for a lot of articles about that trailer, because people will click on an image with a hot lady in it. Sure. But, like, watching these two characters together in this clearly affectionate relationship, where they seem to really be into each other,

and they're doing all this high adrenaline, exciting stuff together, and it just seems really steamy. That was a new energy for GTA, and I really appreciated it. Yeah, and you really want to root for them, which I think was something that's kind of different, because I talked about this on the show many months ago when I was replaying GTA 5, and I was like, these three protagonists,

they're sort of noted for being three guys you don't care for, but they're fun to play as because you're embracing your id and you're just like, I'm going to be an unlikable guy for the next several hours tonight. And that's just the vibe of GTA sometimes. But this really feels like a game where I'm going to actually like these characters and root for them. And that was just a different, nice feeling to have watching this trailer where I'm like, I actually want to get to know these two and play as them and find out what their situation is and run from the cops as these two. I really dug it.

I thought the trailer did a great job of capturing those vibes. and I mean the first trailer was fun. Don't get me wrong. It had a lot of like kind of comedy beats and like it had all the social media videos in the first trailer if you two remember that. This trailer was like, no, we're doing character drama.

We're introducing you to Jason and Lucia and that's it. We're just going to let you get to know this couple and kind of fall in love with them along with them. It was cool. Yeah, likable characters. It's important. Nico Bellic, right? I feel like Nico, especially the first part of GTA4,

Nico is a very relatable and likable character. And that's why. why he's always been one of my favorites. For a mass murderer, yeah. Well, I mean, these two are probably going to do their share of mass murder. No, I know. It's going to be interesting. You see them robbing banks and stealing for people from the gecko.

Yeah, I'm excited. I think that, so I've said before, I think all of us have agreed that we want to see more Red Dead 2 and less GTA 5 because Red Dead 2 was such an evolution in the way that Rockstar tells stories and it really just had so much weight. and gravitas to it. And very optimistic from what I'm seeing in this trailer. Like, it's still GTA. It's still got, like, all the gags and, like, billboards in the background with

stupid jokes and stuff like that. But it feels like it's got an emotional core to the story. I reported back in 2022 for Bloomberg that this is going to be a Bonnie and Clyde story, and we're seeing a lot of that kind of unfold in these trailers. And hopefully not with a Bonnie and Clyde ending, though. Well, I mean, it's a rock star game. Like how many rock star games have happy endings. Yeah.

Yeah, I'm very jazzed on it. And yeah, this delay was inevitable. The delay, the GTA 5 slipping, or sorry, GTA 6 slipping was so inevitable that like, none of us even made it a prediction for this year. Yeah, that's not even. It would be too easy. It would have been unfair. And it's boring. It's interesting how big of a hole it leaves and how GTA6 has kind of become the,

video game industry. That's not exactly what I mean. But do you know what I'm saying? It's so important and so many hopes hang on it that with it gone from this year. It's like the sun, everything's revolving around or something. Yeah. It kind of brings into relief just how weird and kind of broken the video game industry seems right now. It's okay. So I'm going to talk a little bit about this in my newsletter at Bloomberg this week. Oh, give us a preview. It's so interesting. Well, it has all these ripple effects.

I've loved your newsletter lately, by the way. Oh, thank you. I appreciate that. It has all these ripple effects, right? So there are some games that I know of that actually move from this fall, partially because all games need extra time, but also to try to avoid GTA. And now suddenly GTA is right next to where they would land. Whoops.

So what happens to those games? And it's like, it's such a, you really have to play this 4D chess with your release date because you also don't know if it's going to slip again. So if you're Sony or whatever and you have a game planned for spring of next year, nobody at this point knows if GTA is really going to make it in May of next year or if it's going to fall. And then if you're a fall 26th game, are you like, oh shit? Like, what's going to happen here?

It's really, it's going to be interesting to watch. And yeah, that's just the kind of like everyone wants to stay away because it's going to vacuum all the attention angle of it. The angle of it just kind of like being the the, the, the, buoy for the rest of the industry and causing growth across the entire industry, that's a whole another conversation. And I think some industry analysts and watchers are looking at the combination of that and the tariffs and potentially a recession and X-Bass going to $80 and being like, man, none of these

trends are looking good for just kind of overall industry growth this year. Right. Any time that many different factors are arrayed against the games. industry doing well, it feels increasingly specious, I guess, to pin all your hopes to one thing. Oh, well, but GTA6 is going to come out and save everything. I mean, really? I don't know. All those things you just listed are pretty significant issues.

Yeah, well, nobody could have known about the tariffs. I mean, the motto for a while last year was survived till 25, a motto both in Hollywood and in the video game industry, but the video game industry's logic was like Switch 2 is coming, GTA is coming. There's going to be this like surge of renewed interest in gaming from, investors from fans, the console market will grow more in a way it hasn't before, but nobody could have expected the damage Trump would do to the economy when they were talking about that.

It's kind of the thing about operating unsustainably that you plan for the things you can anticipate, but then you get waylaid by things that you didn't see coming. And because you were operating in the red and running so unsustainably as the games industry has been doing for so long, you're completely unable to deal with that unexperienced. factor and that's kind of what we're seeing right now. Right. Terrifying. Bad times.

Bad times. Yeah, bad times. Pretty bad times, guys. Yeah. I can't make a good. Not good. Just in general. Nope.

One other thing I'll say is that like there is a world. So GTA, one of the reasons that this is going to be such a ridiculous, like, explosion of a launch is because GTA 5 is such a success. It's now sold 210 million copies. And the main reason of GTA 5 is such a success. is because of the online mode. So there's certainly a world in which a company like Rockstar or Take 2, its parent company is like,

why are we bothering with all this single player shit where you can make an online game that just sells a bazillion copies and makes all this money? And so it's heartening to see all this focus on a single player story that we're all just going to get to sink our teeth into without having to worry about shark cards and like online ice and stuff like that. Yeah. Love a good single player story. Is that a good transition?

I think it is. Yeah. Yeah. Well, so yeah, speaking of games that are single player and also surprise hits that kind of like maybe show that not all is dire for the video game industry. There are still some games that can break out. Maddie, what are we talking about today? Well, we are doing a triple play of a little game called Clare Obscure Expedition 33. And you know, back when we did our names episode and we talked about this game, we had a rule the top of that episode. And it was the game's title can break every rule if it's really good. And that is what I would say, at least for me, I mean, I guess I'll hear from the two of you what you think. But this game, I've said the title so many times by now, I don't care about it anymore. It doesn't matter to me.

And I'm even kind of into it now. I'm like, this is this game. I'm so into it. But let me just explain what it is for the folks just now tuning in. Maybe this is your first ever triple cloak episode. I don't know. Welcome. Welcome.

Welcome to the show. What is Clear Obscure Expedition 33? It is an RPG made by a brand new studio called Sandfall Interactive. It's got some ex-UBesoft people there. It's got this guy, Guillaume Bruch, who came up with this idea during lockdown when he was still working at Uvysoft, just had a weird, cool idea for a video game, ended up leaving, took some of his pals, some of his coworkers with him. There's allegedly like 30-something people there. now, but they also hired a bunch of contractors.

Yeah, 32, 33, who can say? Expedition something, something. But yeah, relatively small team plus contractors, and they put out a really, really cool, story-heavy RPG with combat that's influenced by Sekiro, of all things. It's got turn-based combat, RPG combat, except there's real-time parrying, dodging, jumping. There's like a sort of more complex version of the parry

that gets introduced midway through. through like the first third of the game. I'm trying to remember when they introduced the gradient. Like an act two. There's like a, there's multiple ways to execute real time parrying mechanics in this game. And the story is really the thing that's keeping me going. I talked about loving the combat the last time we talked about this game and I do.

But I also am really curious where this story is going to go. It's got great characters and I'm digging it. So I want to hear from you to. I'm 20 hours in, firmly in Act 2 by this point, and wondering when that Act 3 title card is going to come up for me. Kirk, how far are you in the game, and what do you think about it at this point? Well,

I'll first just say that I'm really loving this game, especially the last couple of sessions that I've played. So I am very on board. And yeah, the name has grown on me as well. I'm very invested in the fate of Expedition 33. I'm about 12 or 13 hours in, maybe something like that. I'm into Act 2. There are some big narrative twists.

And maybe at the end of this conversation, we can give a little spoiler warning and I can give a timestamp. And we can just briefly talk about, you know, one of them. Just since I think a lot of people listening to this will have played past that point. but we'll keep it pretty spoiler-free here. And yeah, I'm really enjoying it.

I'm so impressed with so many things about this game. I binged into last week's episode to talk about Lorien Tester, the composer. And I am just, like, blown away by the music to this game. I know I'm not alone in this. There's so much of it. You can stream the whole soundtrack online. There's something seven or eight hours of music. He composed so much, and he's not an established video game composer.

I believe he, I think I've seen this anyways, that he was just making music. and putting it on SoundCloud. That's right. He's kind of just a guitarist composer who got this shot and was just super up for it and created an incredible amount of unbelievably beautiful music. And the music for me, just throughout, is the whole experience is just encapsulated and held by this music. The music is so, so beautiful. So I'm really impressed with that part of it.

I think it's gorgeous looking. I am really enjoying the combat. I just fought a boss called, I believe, the due least. And it was, it kicked so much ass. It was the first time in the game. Not only have I gotten my head around all the different combat systems, but it was the first fight that I got really pumped up in the middle of, a combination of the narrative beats, the cutscenes that would play during the fight. Just the whole experience of it got me really excited. By the end of it, I was like, what?

Like I was visibly agitated and animated during the fight, which doesn't happen that often in games. So I'm having a great time with the combat. And then I'm finding the story to just be absolutely terrific. I think these performances are remarkable. The technology that they're using, the facial animations, their performance capture, and also the script and the moments that they've chosen to highlight are just beautiful. So we can talk some more about those later. But anyways, those are some general thoughts.

I think this game is phenomenal. Jason, what about you? Yeah, I just finished up Act 1. so I guess almost caught up to you guys. I'm just starting Act 2. And yeah, I like it. I wouldn't say I love it or I'm as enamored as you two are because there are some things about it that are annoying me

that I'll get into in a sec. But I do really enjoy it. I mean, I really enjoyed the combat. I really enjoyed this boss I just fought at the end of Act 1 where you have to like follow his lantern patterns. and shoot them out in order. Yeah, that is a goal boss fight. I am enjoying how overpowered some of the characters are,

although it makes me beg some questions about the balance of this game. Mail does not fuck around. Well, it's like some of my characters will be doing like a tiny sliver of the health bar of a boss. And then SCL will come in and just destroy them in two hits. It's very, very, which actually, I mean, I think is one of the flaws in this game, is that is the balance of it all. Just feels pretty off to me. And yeah, I mean, I like it. I don't love it.

I'm not sure if I'm going to finish it is what I would say. The story, I think is interesting. It's very Final Fantasy 10, as I said last week. It's definitely well done. I agree with you, Kirk, that the performances and the writing and the music, obviously, are all well done. They're just so many, like, kind of little bits of friction that are making me feel like, man, this is kind of feeling like a chore to play. And I'll give you guys a couple of examples just to be specific about what I'm talking about. One is the PICTO and skill and stat management, which never doesn't feel like a chore.

It's like, oh, no, I keep getting this feeling like, oh, no, I found a new PICTO. I have to go through the inventory and figure out, sort through these dozens, of stat modifying pictos, try to like wrap my head around the incremental changes that they're all going to make like plus 25% to whatever, try to figure out where like which ones I've learned and which ones I haven't and just do this kind of like inventory organizing that just feels to me like a chore and it feels like if I don't do it, I'm too far behind. Like my characters are too weak because it's a noticeable difference if you don't do all this stuff. And then on top of that, you're doing the skill management and you're doing the, you're adding points to stats for no.

reason, which like there's, there's really no reason, like, that that needed to be a system in this game that you needed to be able to modify stats. Yeah, we talked about that last week, and my opinion hasn't really changed. Yeah, same. It's really, it's just such a clutter, just kind of tedious thing. And it really, it's kind of that combined with the fact that I find maneuvering and exploring in this game to be so unpleasant that it really just kind of drags it for me. Like, a large part of me is wishing that it was just boss fight, boss fight story, boss fight, boss fight, boss fight story without having to move around the world. And there are a couple reasons for that. One is that I find the kind of overall aesthetic to be a little flat and boring. It all feels

very slick and kind of generic. I can't really tell much of a difference between a lot of these different places. There's some cool art in the backgrounds, but it's not like visually arresting enough. They're all very similar to me. And I was dazzled at first, but it's gone kind of seemy. I would not be able to tell you the differences between any of these different locations between the cave location and the like the other cave location. But more importantly, the level design is not good enough to justify not having a mini map. And there are way too many times when I've been roaming around an area and just trying to poke through every crevasse or like a side path and then found myself like accidentally going back the way I can. game because there's just no, like, you don't have any bearings when you're walking around and everything kind of looks the same. So there's no real landmarks for you to be like, oh, okay,

I came from over here the way you would in another game. And a lot of other games without minimaps, like a Souls game or something where it's very easy to just kind of remember, oh, I fought this guy over here. Oh, this is the shortcut I unlocked earlier. Oh, this is a location that I remember from earlier. In this game, it doesn't have any of that. And so while in general, I am not opposed to ditching mini maps and kind of letting you explore and see things for yourself, the level design is just not good enough in this game for me to feel like that was a smart decision. I just feel like I several times. I just felt like my time was wasted because I was walking in a certain direction and then accidentally turned myself around and did not notice that I was going back the way I came because

it all just kind of looks the same to me. So yeah, it's those combinations of things that are just like making me feel like it's wasting my time a lot, which is making me kind of, again, like it, but not love it. That's so funny. I don't disagree with anything that you said, but I love this game. Like, none of those things have cooled me on it at all. I agree that the exploration is the weakest point of the game. The level design is circular and confusing.

I frequently find myself wanting to find a map. I like what they're doing with the world map, where the game zooms out for the world map and shows you this kind of diorama, which is neat, especially now that I have S-EA in my party, whose side note is the best, and I love him. He is adorable. But now that I have him in my party, he's kind of the airship of this game and that you're kind of upgrading him. He's a living airship. Yeah, he's a kind of ancestral, mischievous, unknowable god that also is helping you out. And you ride around on his back, but he can be a boat. And I'm assuming at some point maybe he'll be able to fly or go underwater or he'll get various stones that upgrade him. But now that I have him, it's easier to

get around. I'm finding myself going back to collect, you know, little, some of the pictos that I missed earlier, because I'll look at a guide just, oh, where can I get one that gives me more AP or whatever, and then just go find it. I find that to be pleasant enough, but once I'm in one of the regions in the game, I totally agree I get lost. I find that just some of the animations and the locomotion, like the animations for moving around are just not. great. It just doesn't feel really good. Like running doesn't quite feel great. Especially considering how snappy and well-made the combat is, the exploration is weak. But the thing is, this game just lives on its combat and on its story. And the story is so well told, these cutscenes

I was referring to, when you're in camp, and these characters just get moments together that are so well-written and so well-acted. Every one of them so far has been great. And I love that as kind of downtime in between, either walking around and just grinding, fighting regular their enemies and getting really good at recognizing their patterns and nailing my counters and dodges, or these incredibly exciting boss fights, like the one I was just talking about against the due least that was the most fun I've had in a boss fight in a video game in a long time and was exhilarating. And so that's been more than enough for me. Yeah, I don't disagree. And to just kind of shine light on something I really enjoyed in the game, I really enjoyed getting to the

gestural village and doing the combat arena and everyone's just hilarious. Yeah, they're hilarious. I mean, there's so many, like, creative ideas in this game that I really love. The gesturals as a concept are just so fun. And what a good idea for, like, these characters that just, like, have brushes for heads and are cute, but love to fight and get really loud and angry about things. It's brilliant idea. Yeah, yeah. That juxtaposition never stops being funny for the entire game. Like, or at least as far as I've gotten, maybe act three, they just get rid of all the gestriels.

But so far, I'm like, every time I run into one of these guys, I'm thrilled that he's there. And I'm like, yeah, good. Comic relief. Comic relief. But yeah, I agree, Jason. I just feel like I've gotten used to the stuff I don't like about the game. I feel like I'm notorious for getting lost in games. I do all the time.

And that was something I hated about the game early on was the fact that there's no mimeap. I kept getting turned around. There's kind of like a maze-like part of the gestural section where I feel like you're almost intentionally supposed to get lost. And that part was very frustrating for me. It just, it wasn't fun, but I've just kind of gotten used to it. And one of the ways I've gotten used to it is there's no stamina bar in this game.

You can just run forever. And some of the characters, you can't actually. Or you just run. Where you just run all the time. And that I think helps kind of solve for this problem. It doesn't fix it. It's just kind of a way to bandate it, if you will, where it's like, okay, maybe you got turned around. You can get back where you were really quickly.

And some of the characters run faster than others, and you can just toggle between whatever character you like their run speed the best or feels the best to you and just go with them and run all the way back to wherever you were trying to get. And I've done that more than a few times and it's kind of helped me forgive the fact that there's no mini map. But there should be. It would help so much if they just had a map in the game. You can imagine a version of this game where the level design is, if not on par with the Souls? game, at least closer. I mean, we compared this in terms of vibe to Lies of P. Lies of P does not match

from Soft's level design, but it does have some pretty cool, twisty, interesting, and memorable levels. If this game had had that, it would just be yet another point in its favor. So it's maybe a missed opportunity, but the other two things, the things that it does well are so good that it certainly outweighs it for me. Like you're saying, Maddie, I just kind of got used to and don't really mind those downsides. Can I call out two specific things that I really like, one about the story and one about the combat? Yes. So a thing that I really like about the combat is that combat is generally quite difficult in that if you take a hit, you take a lot of damage. It's possible to level yourself up to where that becomes less of an issue. I'm finding myself less

challenged by it now than I was earlier on. But against bosses, I still have to be really careful. And I really like what that does narratively because a fight in this game isn't like a fight in a lot of other turn-based RPGs where you're kind of just absorbing damage and healing yourself, it kind of reinforces the stakes of each fight that your characters, who are so vulnerable, and that's such a big part of the narrative, that these characters are all doomed, right? The gomage comes and kills everybody, they've lost so many along the way, you're constantly walking past the discarded corpses of previous expeditions, and so you feel your mortality at every turn.

And in every fight, you're fighting some giant hulking thing with swords that are made out of flame and it's smashing you. And if it hits you, it does a ton of damage. And so you're empowered to dodge and parry those attacks rather than just absorbing them in healing, like in another turn-based game. And I think that I've never quite played a game that does this outside of Mario and Luigi or Mario RPG,

which isn't really going for the same thing, totally. And I think that that is really cool because it reinforces how dramatic and dangerous this world is in a way that I hadn't expected and have been finding really neat. Yeah, totally agree. And I really love the themes of the game. I mean, I guess maybe you're going to get into that when you highlight whatever story piece you like.

But I kind of talked about it last week with the idea of playing a rogue-like game, except it's the story version of that, where now the characters, you're just getting to know them on one of the runs, as it were. And the more the story goes on, the more I really feel that. And I love that the combat also leans into that sense,

where it's like every moment, everybody's really working hard. And even in those moments where they're overpowered, sometimes the characters after the fight will talk to each other about it and be like, that one was pretty easy. And I appreciate that too. And I'm like, that's cool. Like the characters are sort of acknowledging the reality that we're all living in, but also like they're repeating these kind of dire mantras to each other. Like, we continue as like one of their things that they say. And I really, I dig the vibe.

I dig the doomed vibe. Yeah, I do like the way that the game incorporates. the language of the expeditions into the game. I mentioned last week that when you press an X button to keep going after a fight, just the sort of onto the next thing, the prompt says we continue, which is cute. But I also like if three of your party go down in a fight, you can call in their reserves, so any additional party members come in. And this dialogue box comes up that says, the final stand of Expedition 33.

And it's so dramatic. And it's, you know, it's reinforcing what is happening in this story in this moment. Of course, if they die, somehow time just rewinds and you, They all come back to life and you try again. But in that moment, it does feel like... Linda passed her revive spell afterwards, and it's all fine. And we don't talk too much about revival shards and how those work. Why we can't use them on all the bodies we found.

But, you know, it works sort of along with that kind of doomed tone of the game. The other thing I was going to say that I like, it's a little thing. It's more of an art character design element. But I really like how these characters are just covered in mud and blood the entire game. And it makes it... It's such a little thing. It's kind of like battle damage. You know, it's John McLean cutting his feet in Die Hard.

It's the thing that ties you into the world and reminds you that the story that you're watching is one contiguous story. And that all of these characters have headed to the continent on this doomed pilgrimage and that they've just been going through it this whole time. And so much of the story is focused on that. It's focused on their journey and the damage they're taking and the trauma they're leaving behind and how they're trying to get through it. together and it really just underlines it when you have these scenes playing out where they're like horribly splattered in blood and like, you know, just gore and it's, and then mud is all over and like they all like exhausted and so beaten down. And it's, it seems obvious, I guess, but so many games just don't do this. They don't do persistent effects on the character's actual bodies in this

way. And I find it to be a very effective storytelling technique. It's subtle. Some people might not even think about it. But when you're watching it, it really reminds you that this all happening in real time. It reminds me of Baldur's Gate 3, which was hilarious in how you were constantly covered in blood. Yeah. Right. Well, and in a lot of games, or in Dragon Age, right, where you'd be covered, like, splattered

in blood and then having a, like, a normal conversation with a friend. Where it's more procedural in other games, because this game is so much more linear and the story is so much more controlled, it more just fits. It never really feels out of place. And also, as much as there are some funny moments, like with gesturals, most of the time, these characters are pretty downtrodden and sad. And so it kind of keeps the tone consistent. Yeah, I also really, I mean, we kind of talked about this last week, too, but I've continued to like how little characters explain what's going on.

And I think it's continued to really work for me. There's at least like the moment and the changeover from Act 1 to Act 2 where a couple key things get explained to you that hitherto hadn't been. And I was relieved for them because I was like, okay, great. Now I understand two things. But they take hours to get you there. And even after that, there's still a lot that I'm like, I don't really know what's going on. And like, you would think that would be a complaint that I was having about the game. But I'm really appreciating that I'm just picking things up almost from conversations that it feels like I'm overhearing, where the characters don't define proper nouns to you.

You just hear them have a conversation about something. And you're like, okay, from context clues, I'm now understanding that that's what they meant by this. this and why it matters to them or why it's funny to them or doesn't matter to them. And I just can't emphasize enough, I don't play games that do this enough. I don't know why, but it's like this is a gift to just have the characters not stop and explain things to you. It's nice. And it's not even just lore stuff.

I don't know. In a recent conversation, Ciel was made reference to her husband in the past tense. And I actually don't remember if I was explained what that means, if she did explain what that means, but I didn't really need her to explain it. I understood from context. There's a few things this could mean. Each of them is probably fairly sad. I'll probably learn more. But it was just a nice little character note that spoke volumes without over-explaining itself. I just want to chime in, Kirk. I was meaning to respond to this a little bit earlier, but you were talking a little bit about the rhythm of combat and how it kind of redirects the focus from absorbing healing to like

paring, dodging, and that becomes your kind of your lynch point for the combat. That's what you want to focus on. because as the one among us who has played and enjoyed the most turn-based RPGs, there's kind of, I think, a few different ways in which a turn-based RPG can approach combat and tell you as a player what to focus on. One of them, the kind of the most old-school way, was resource management. And that's why healing and absorbing became a certain kind of, that's why it became a mechanic. It's not because you were just meant to sit there passively and just kind of like on autopilot heal your characters,

but you're meant to think, oh, okay, like, do I have enough healing potions here? Do I have enough, should I use my magic now or should I save it for like a boss down the road? Do I have enough resources to make it through the end of the dungeon or do I have to bail and go back to town and then come back later? And those were kind of the decisions you had to make. As the edges got sanded off on a lot of JRPs and Terms RPGs

and Terms RPGs, a lot of that resource management got done away with then you were kind of given ample healing potions and healing resources, and it became more of a matter of vibes. Like, you're just kind of viving through this dungeon and just fighting enemies, and you're not really thinking too much about it. Maybe the boss you have to think about because it has some unique mechanic, but really you're just chilling to the music and enjoying the characters, and you're just kind of going on autopilot the whole time. It was, yeah, Mario RPG and then Super Mario RPG on the Super Nintendo, and then the games that kind of were offshoots from it, Mario Luigi and then Paper Mario, those two series that introduced this idea of, like,

rhythm-based combat, which this is a direct descendant of. And those games all, even though, to your point, yes, they had a different five and they were easier, they all required you to master the rhythm. Like, you could not beat those games if you weren't getting the timed attacks just right. So this is very much in that lineage of like if you, if you want to master this term-based combat, you have to learn how the pairing and dodging work. And if you, you don't, you will be bad at it, like straight up. I think there's a toggle in the game, like you can set it easier for yourself or even do away with it, but like that's the way it's meant to be played is by using that, and that is kind of a direct descendant of that, like,

offshoot of turn-based combat, which, yes, I think is really exciting and fun because it adds a lot of just kind of interesting tactile excitement to each combat, each battle. It makes it lot more fun to fight random battles when you are actively engaged in it and trying to learn something new each time. Yeah, it's what I love about it. Rather than just mashing buttons, yeah. Yeah. And to build on that just a little bit, I think it also takes some lessons from demon souls and dark souls, which were a shot in the arm to action RPGs, in that the enemies did so much damage and the attacks were so dangerous. The bosses were so huge. And for the first time in a while, after years of Devil May Cry and and character action games where you were performing these unbelievable feats, you know,

fighting a bayonetta boss where you're literally killing a building-sized creature just by kind of flying around and kicking it in the face. Now you're fighting a giant knight that towers above you, and it feels like you're fighting a giant knight that's, you know, weighs 7,000 tons, and each hit could just totally kill you. And that excitement, I think, was kind of a shot in the arm to a lot of combat game designers, and Claire Obscure has some elements of that. It does also have that feeling of this huge enemy that will just wreck your shit if it hits you and you have to pull this dodge off, especially, you know, if you're down to low health and they're down to low health and you've only got, you're out of revives and you've only got mail left. And, you know, I've had some fights like this. And they're thrilling in that same way that, you know, by the skin of your teeth, Dark Souls victory feels thrilling.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I complain about turn-based games on this podcast sometimes and this one I love because it has these elements where I'm like this. It's exciting and I'm like really engaged with every single moment. But I do feel like we should take a little pause here and talk about some of the story stuff that happens right at the end of Act 1. Okay. So here's what we're going to do. I'm going to leave a spot and then I'm going to remember to go back and I'm going to say a timestamp. If you don't want to hear what happens at the end of Act 1, you can skip to this timestamp to get to one more thing. So here is the timestamp. 51 minutes and 25 seconds. Skip to 51 minutes. and 25 seconds.

Okay. And we're not going to say it immediately because we've also gotten in trouble for that. We're not going to vamp for a second here. We're going to, we still haven't spoiled it. We're going to talk about a big thing that happens. I have a story to tell. Okay.

So I wanted to. Helping us vamp. Yeah, I wanted to finish up Act 1 before we had this conversation because I felt like a good, like, all right, I've played a good chunk of the game. And so I went on the IG. guide for Claire

Obscure Expedition 33, which by the way, I disagree with you guys. It's still a mouthful. They should have just called it Claire Obscure. It would have been great. Well, you don't like the game as much as we do. So I get it.

So I went to the IGN walkthrough for Claire Obscure. And now this is your last chance to avoid spoilers. So turn it on, like skip ahead. Turn it off now. They've had enough time. They've had enough time. And also don't read the IGN guide according to Jason. Don't read the IGN guide because the IGN

guide, I was looking, I was going to be a guide just to see like how many areas I had left. So I just wanted to look at like the sub headlines. And I see Act 1 dash Gustav. And I was like, why would it be called Act 1 Gustav? Is it saying that Gustav is going to die at the end of Act 1 and then you play with someone else? And then of course that's what happened. It's quite a deduction by you. Yeah, I thought this was a pretty wild deduction. Incidentally. I don't know. You could just mean here's an act guide for Gustav builds for Act 1. I've seen a lot of them. No, my, my gut was that like, oh, well, if act one is just named after a character, then act two must be named after another character that you then switch to. I don't know, maybe part of it is just me just like having played so many RPGs that.

Like, hmm, Gustav's kind of mopey and doesn't seem like he has a lot going on. Male keeps saying, Gustav, don't die in combat. That's true. Well, I thought she was just imitating you during Destiny Kirk. But no, I knew that you would enjoy that because she stole my line. I actually, I was thinking, and also Charlie Cox is probably expensive to get for an entire game as the lead role. Like, that seems unlikely. And I knew that Ben Starr was in there somewhere.

So I was like, is he going to take over? Yeah, you're waiting for him. I was interviews with Ben Starr. And I kept wondering where he was. Initially, I thought that maybe he was Gustav. And then I realized that it was Charlie Cox. But yeah, clearly they decided, you know what? Charlie Cox, you got a lot of shit to do.

You're really expensive. You got to go be Daredevil. All right. We're bailing. Goodbye, Gustav. Yeah, that was an interesting plot twist. I'm sorry you were spoiled, though, on it, Jason. I mean, whatever, it's not a big deal.

I'm used to, like... Can I say, I think this is a fantastic decision. Yeah. I really found it remarkable. Same. I wasn't spoiled on it at all. It's still surprising and unusual for a game like this to kill a major party member. Gustav, of course, was introduced as if he was the main character.

And they didn't really, you know, what's the word? they didn't hold anything back. They made him an appealing protagonist. They gave him this, you know, older brother relationship with Mayo. They gave him a dead girlfriend that dies. They gave him a girlfriend who dies. He's got real main characters. He's supposed to be a video game protagonist.

Come on. So he was, I really thought he was going to be the main character. By killing him, I think they've, they really shift the narrative in a number of positive directions. For starters, his death underlines the themes of the game. It just wouldn't be that believable for these survivors of that initial doomed beach landing to just make it all the way to the end, the way that video game protagonists usually do. And I appreciate that I don't feel like I wasted time leveling up Gustav since, of course, they introduce, you know, a new character, Verso. And he kind of, they're like, hey, can you just like use Gustav's sword and a lot of these abilities?

Maybe we'll just call you Gustav sometimes. He just look a little more like Robert Pattinson and kind of make sense. Can I just say that's like, okay, so there's a game, there's an old school PS1 game called Legend of Dragoon. And early in the game, one of the characters dies and then like his son or bodyguard or someone comes in and has literally the exact same abilities and takes up. Actually, no wait. This goes way back to Final Fantasy 5 where an old dude dies and then his granddaughter comes in and has all of his powers and jobs and classes and abilities. So this is an RPG trope. that has been around for many years.

And a soap opera trope as well, right? You know, it's my twin brother and now we want to get rid of this actor. So he's here. Well, really, it all comes down to beer fest. It's really the beer fest of it all where, what's his name, dies and then his twin brother comes in. And it's like, now we'll never talk about this again. So the other thing I like about Verso,

the last thing I want to mention, is just that I think he adds a really nice element to the narrative and to the party because he is an outsider. Yes. He knows the continent. He knows what's going on. He is clearly mysterious. But yeah, it's just really great that now suddenly he doesn't have any history with these characters, and he has to get to know them.

And this is where the game introduces its social links as well, which so far I've thought are wonderfully handled, that you control him in camp and then you get to go talk to different characters. One thing I like is that you don't have to pick one. You can just talk to everybody, at least so far, which is just nice. But also, he is getting to know each of these characters. This is where that conversation with Ciel, where she referenced her husband, and talked about her backstory.

That's where that took place. And I really like the way it's a mix of specific written lines of dialogue that then transitions into a persona style. You know, Ciel and Verso talked a little bit about their backstories. You know, she asked him some questions. He was evasive. It made her mad. This is very funny to be the little write-ups, yeah.

So anyways, I really like that he is coming from the outside, and it adds a really nice dynamic to the group. Yeah, I also like the roguelike thing I mentioned earlier, which I think Verso super works with because he's like the guy who's almost beaten Hades or whatever. And he's like, okay, so I made it all the way to here. And then we need to get this object. And like, all the other characters are like, we're still shell shocked from Gestop dying. Like, what is happening right now? And like, he's in such gamer mode that I like was very charmed by it.

But he's like, I've already done this with like a million other expeditions guys. Like, we just need to get it together. and I was like, this guy's energy is actually unintentionally hilarious, but also he has done it with a billion expeditions, and that's very fond. I literally just stopped after Act 1 ended, so I haven't even seen the Social League stuff. But yeah, looking forward to it. I'll definitely play more. He's great.

And he also, I think, further solidifies Mayo as the game's protagonist. She seemed already like the main character of the game. And what's her name, Jennifer English? Is that the voice actor who plays here? I think that's it. I'll bang in if I'm wrong. I think she's wonderful. She played Shadow Heart in Baldr's Gate 3.

She's really, really good here. And Mayle is a great protagonist for this game in a lot of ways. And I actually think it's refreshing just to have a gender swap on what would happen in 9 out of 10 games before this one, where Gustav would say the main character and Mayel would die at the end of Act 1. So even that is just cool that she's younger than he is, that she has to accept losing this father-brother figure, as she describes him. I think that's just really cool. and I'm really looking forward to Mayle's journey through the rest of this game. Yeah, I've really enjoyed it thus far through Act 2.

Just having her be the character that you kind of look to in cut scenes, whose reactions are the ones that you as the audience member are kind of like, okay, this is clearly the protagonist now. And that adjustment has worked a lot better than I thought it would. She fights like a protagonist, too. Yeah, she's very fun to play us. She's just bodying everyone that they put up against her. Yeah, absolutely.

So I'm going to keep playing this game, and sounds like we all are, at least for now. But, hey, maybe we'll talk about it in the future. For now, though, let's take a break and then come back with one more thing. Hey, we're the Eurovangelists, and it's the most wonderful time of the year because the Eurovision song contest is next week. 37 countries will face off in Basel, Switzerland, to determine who has the best song in Europe. On our show, we've argued about all the songs, and we are heading to Europe to bring you

our reactions straight from Switzerland. And on our next episode, we're going to predict who's going to survive the semifinals, compete in the grand final and ultimately win Eurovision 2025. Albania, baby. It's Malta. Alapia. But we won't be alone. Glenn Weldon of NPR's pop culture happy art will be with us, sharing his own predictions and

telling us why we're wrong. So make sure you're ready for Eurovision by listening to Your Evangelists on Maximum Fun, available everywhere you get podcasts. You never know what you'll learn more about on the Celebrity Trivia show. Go fact to yourself. For over 150 episodes, we've welcomed guests like DJ Jazzy Jeff, Audie Cornish, and Andy Richter to tell us why they love what they love, and then get quizzed on it. And past quizzes have included some pretty unexpected topics like reverse painting.

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with one more thing. I'm going to go first. I played a video game called Consume Me. And I debated not talking about this because this game's not out yet. It's not under embargo or anything. But I decided I wanted to because I think people should wish listed on Steam and it's a little indie game and I feel like it's probably not going to get as much heat as it deserves otherwise, even though it really should because it just won a bunch of awards. Yeah, I'm giving it the triple click bump, okay, I just want people to pay attention of this game. Yeah, I saw this at IGF at GV at GVC. It won a bunch of awards

at the IGF Awards and it's really, really good and if you're a reporter, you could get a code for it, but if you're not, then you're going to have to wait until they put it out. I emailed. Wait, so Maddie, well, to ground us here, so on Steam it just says coming soon, but

you have a final code, but there's no release date? Yeah, so here's the situation there. So it's made by a really small team and I emailed a little bit with the kind of lead director of the game, Jenny Zhao Hesia. And the game is done. She's just kind of polishing it for now. And I asked her, like, hey, when are you going to put this out?

I really want to write about it. And she basically was like, soon, I'm still deciding. And so I just kind of want to make sure people know about it. But it's small enough that it doesn't have a core release date yet. She made this as part of a college project. And it's the main character's name is Jenny. It's definitely semi-autobiagraph. but it's also about disordered eating.

And I feel like I really got to warn the listeners about this because that is the plot of the game. If that's something that you don't feel like you can handle, consume me, not the game for you. But if you think you can handle it and you want to engage with a game that I think is doing something really interesting with that subject matter, I recommend it for sure. So it's kind of, it's Jenny as like a much younger teen girl. And there's like this Tetris style way that you play. with picking out your meals every day, but like actually getting it correct becomes increasingly almost impossible. So it's kind of like a warrior wear style eating game where you're like trying to pick your meals, but you're getting punished by the game if you do it incorrectly. And you have

these things where you also have to get your homework done. You have to exercise enough times. You unlock different kinds of exercise to do. And she has a crush on a boy. And eventually that like becomes a relationship and she has to deal with like going on dates and trying to eat while on dates. And those have warrior wear Mario party style almost unwinnable games as well. So there's a lot of like dark comedy on top of the idea of like the larger themes of the game that I think is really effective and cool. And I like the writing. I like the idea of like just being able to have like a dark comedic lens into something that is upsetting as a topic because that's how. I cope with trauma in my own life so I could like really connect with the way that Jenny was

portrayed and like just the idea of being like these are some bad things that I went through but I'm going to try to make a game that's weirdly funny about it. So I just wanted to let people know this game exists. I know sometimes indie games fall under the radar but as soon as Jenny puts it out I think people should really check it out. So wishlisted on Steam it's called consume me and it's worth it. It's really, really good. Maddie, give it a shout out when it comes out I will. I'll re-up it when it actually has a real release date for sure. Jason, why don't you go next? My one more thing is a book called Yellowface by R.F. Kwong, which I read a couple of weeks ago. And it's a really interesting book. So R.F. Kwong, you guys might remember. I've talked about her books in the past. Babel was the most recent one I read, but also the Poppy War, which was a really interesting series. I think I only read the first one I don't remember. But yeah, she's a really good writer. And this book is really interesting.

Kirk, this plot is going to sound familiar to you when I explain it, because it's one that has been done before. I've heard about it in this context, but go ahead. Okay, it's funny. So there's this girl named June Hayward is a main character of our book, and she is this aspiring author, kind of unsuccessful. And she is this friend named Athena Lou, a Chinese American woman, who is very successful. And one day they're hanging out, and Athena unexpectedly dies. She, like, chokes on something and dies. And June decides to take her manuscript and slap her own name on it.

And it turns out this manuscript is about, like, Chinese labors in World War I. And so in order to make her self seem a little bit more racially ambiguous, she uses her first and middle name. She goes, Juniper Song, which is her first and middle name, which makes her seem kind of, vaguely Asian in some way or another, which is becomes a plot point. It is called Yellowface the book after all. And then a lot of things happen from there. She gets called out for cultural appropriation. She becomes haunted by a Twitter account claiming to be Athena's ghost and saying that she knew, she knows what Juniper did, and so on and so on. And we see a whole Juniper gets kind of like has to navigate the publishing industry and all the ups and downs along the way.

Juniper is a very unlikable protagonist, and she makes worse and worse decisions as the novel goes on. It's really interesting book, and the story is very similar, ironically, to a book called The Plot, which came out in 2021. And it's all about, yeah, and all about, it's been a one more thing for both me and Kirk before, and it's all about someone who steals his dead students. students manuscript and puts his own name on it. I read an article, I think it's in the New York Times, about the rise of the plagiarism plot,

and it was about these two books, and I think maybe even another couple. This is definitely something that is percolating among authors today. It's in the air, yes. And that's not to say that this book is plagiarizing at all. It's exploring completely different feelings from the first book. But the beats are very similar. It's like the manuscript is stolen by the dead person, like the alive person steals it from the dead person. someone else starts calling them out. They're like, how could anyone possibly know? And then kind of

shit unfolds from there. And eventually, of course, they get called out in some way or another. And yeah, it's an interesting book. I wouldn't say I loved it to death, but I enjoyed it. It was a fun read. The end gets a little bit silly. But I, just as someone who has published three books in the traditional publishing world, I always enjoy reading books that are like going in depth on publishing. And I'm sure anyone who reads books enjoys the kind of inside baseball, I've had all, in the same way that we all enjoy, like, reading and watching things about video game development. It's always fun to see that kind of, like, insiders look at how the sausage is made. So that part of it was really fun.

And, yeah, it's a fun book to read and explore some interesting things. There's some stuff that is pretty heavy-handed and feels like it's the author trying to kind of get some thoughts down about Twitter. and people teteting on it and all that other stuff. But yeah, it was interesting. It's a fun read. I recommend it just because it's so fun to read. And it was just very entertaining and enjoyable. And R.F. Kwong, I really enjoy her work overall.

I've really enjoyed pretty much everything I've read from her, which is now, I believe, three books, three or four that I've read from her. So, yeah, really great author. And, yeah, Yellowface is this book. It's pretty cool. All right. Sounds cool. Kirk, your last.

Take it away. All right, my one more thing is blueprints. Just to give a kind of brief update on where I'm at, since I've played so much since the last time we talked about it. And I know we are soon to record

a spoiler cast about this game where we will talk about the many, many, many discoveries that this game has hidden with no heed for spoiling anything for anyone. And I won't do that here. But I just wanted to say, I have gone really far into this game

I'm at 120 hours or so, significantly under Jason Schreier's playtime, but that is only because Jason Schreier's playtime was kind of bankrolling me in a way because I could rely on him to give me nudges. Which I would say is a terrific way to work through the end game of Blueprints. We have talked so much about this game. I don't need to get into too many particulars, I don't think, but this is a game that you roll credits on after somewhere between 10 and 20 hours, and then it really kind of begins.

Unless you're Maddie, then it's 60 hours. Unless you're very unlucky, but I am a far out liar. No, I think your count is inflated by I don't playtime because I don't really think you, I don't believe that you played 60 hours. I made it all the way to day 89. There's no disputing that. Yes, everyone will have a different experience and that is important to acknowledge. But in general, on average, I think you roll credits kind of early on.

And then the real work begins. and this game continues and continues and continues and continues as it unfolds and expands and grows deeper and ever more complex. After the credits, there are kind of three or four, I haven't done a count, major milestones, kind of targets that you're shooting for, different collections of puzzles that you're trying to solve that feel like really tangible goals that you have. There's kind of one big one that becomes very clear once you reach room 46. there's also another fairly clear big one that appears earlyish, but then there are some that are hidden. And that's really, that's kind of the interesting thing about this game,

is that two or three of the biggest goals, the most surprising and exciting things, are hidden incredibly well to the point that you could just finish. You could get to one of those other, you know, complete one of those other collections of puzzles and just decide, all right, I'm done. I saw it was, I think it was Chris Kohler who tweeted, most people are very excited to roll credits because the real game begins.

And when I rolled credits, I said, I'm free. I think it's cool how the game gives you these off-ramps. It gives you these points at which if you have had enough blueprints, you can decide to get off. However, I will say it is a very cool thing to work through those final few puzzles with someone who knows what to do, giving you guidance. I've seen a lot of this happening in the triple-click Discord. I think that's actually a really great place to get little nudges along the way. And, of course, being able to text with Jason Shire is a rare luxury. But that was also really fun.

So if anyone wants to do that, my number is... So who's Jason's phone number? Only about blueprints, though. That's the only thing he'll get texts about these days. And the reason that I mentioned that is there were a couple points. In particular, there was one point where I finished and I was done. I would say that a critique I have of this game or a criticism is that a couple too many times in the end, you will solve a really major puzzle that you've been working on for dozens of hours,

and you won't really get a reward that quite feels as satisfying as it could. Or at the very least for me, I felt like I wanted something a little bit more, and instead I was given clues for an additional puzzle. And so that reward, hey, you get more puzzles. It's not a bad thing. This is a puzzle game. If you're that deep in the game, you're probably psyched to get more puzzles to solve. There were a couple points where I felt a little like, wow, I did all of that, only to reach a closed door that I can't open without solving a bunch more puzzles.

And I found that a little bit frustrating and I could see someone getting dispirited. However, our friend Jason Schreier here talked me into sticking with it because, as he said, there are things that you are going to want to see. And he was right. There are some truly mind-blowing things in this game very, very deep, especially the very last one that you find, which is the one that the fewest people will find, and perhaps that makes it the most mind-blowing. So I want to mention that to anyone who's at this point in the game where they've lost momentum,

they've maybe been frustrated by a couple of those instances of the game rewarding you with more puzzles where you're just like, can you please just give me a new book or something cool, like some revelation instead of just a clue? If you've had that feeling, if you can find someone who can give you advice or if you can pop into the triple click Discord, there are people in there who will be glad to give you advice, I do recommend making your way to those final puzzles, at least the final puzzles that people have discovered. because they are very, very neat, as we will discuss in our beans cast when we record that, I think, just in a week or so. So, yeah, that's my blueprints update for everyone.

Yeah, a really exceptional game with some pretty wild stuff buried very, very deep within it. Yeah, cool. I'm excited to talk about it more. And, you know, I agree with the recommendation for the triple click Discord. Not all of us have, you know, friends who are guides, writers, or Jason Trier in our lives to ask for help with things. We're really the poorer for it. Well, I think anyone who listens to Triple Click does have Jason Dreyer in their lives. That's true.

Whether they want it or not. And in a way you will, if you join the Discord, in an important way, you still will. And with that, we come to a close on yet another Triple Click episode. We are five years old and another day, another day down. I was trying to go back to the age thing. Didn't really work. Couldn't figure it out. Podcasts kind of age, like dog years or something.

I don't know if we're really. It feels more like we're like 15, maybe one year or three years for, yeah, we're kind of adolescence. Another day older, another Epp older. And of course, my daughter is five years old. And every morning she's like, I'm really feeling my age this morning. She like, she like cracks her back. She wakes up stretches.

Yeah, that's what happens when you're five. I really want to make another episode about blueprints. So maybe we have more in kind of a trend. And then she's like, no, we did too many of those. We can't do another one. Maybe a beans. I actually, you guys will get a kick out of this. We actually have been playing Mario Party with her and my son.

She loves it. She's so entertained. But she gets so upset whenever something bad happens to her in the game. Like if she runs into Bowser or something. Tilted. You get tilted like a five-year-old. She gets on tilt. She gets very upset. She gets very tilted.

Okay. And so the past couple times, my wife keeps glaring of me because I'm like actually trying to win instead of letting my five-year-old win. Wow. So she'll learn. Exactly. She has to learn. I mean, I feel like that is an inherent tension.

I, like, remember my dad doing that when I was learning how to play chess as a child and, like, kind of him still not letting me win for an extremely long time. But, hey, that's what part of what being a parent is. Can't let him win. That's how they learn. That's how they learn. Anyway, I don't have a way to end this show. We'll be back again next week, though, because it's triple click and that's what we do. Yeah.

See you both next week. See you. next week. Bye. Triple Click is produced by Jason Schreier, Maddie Myers, and me, Kirk Hamilton. I edit and mix the show and also wrote our theme music. Our show art is by Tom DJ. Some of the games and products we talked about on this episode

may have been sent to us for free for review consideration. You can find a link to our ethics policy in the show notes. Triple Click is a proud member of the Maximum Fun Podcast Network, and if you like our show, we hope you'll consider supporting us by becoming a member at Maximumfund.org slash join. Find us on Twitter at Triple ClickPod. email the triple click at maximum fun.org and find a link to our discord in the show notes. Thanks for listening. See you next time.

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