Video Gamers Podcast - [Deep Dive] – Wolverine & Onimusha: Way Of The Sword – Gaming Podcast

Episode Date: September 29, 2026

Gaming hosts Josh, Ryan, and Ace are pulling double duty with a Double Dive into two of the hottest new video games! Ryan takes on the controversial Wolverine and finds out if the internet outrage is ...justified, while Josh and Ace unsheathe their blades for Onimusha: Way of the Sword. From brutal combat to big opinions, we’re breaking down what works, what doesn’t, and which game delivers where it counts. Two video games, three hosts, and plenty of gaming debate packed into one episode. Fire up the gaming arguments and join us for another gaming packed episode of the Video Gamers Podcast!   Thanks to our MYTHIC Supporters: Redletter, Disratory, Ol’ Jake, Gaius, Jigglepuf, Phelps, Bobby S, NorwegianGreaser, Dettmarp, DingusKhaaan and NightWizard63   Thanks to our Legendary Supporters: Milkman, Drewsky, Jigglepuf and BadGam3rDad   Connect with the show: Support us on Patreon: ⁠patreon.com/videogamerspod⁠ Join our Gaming Community: https://discord.gg/h2cHKAvSmu Follow us on Instagram:⁠ https://www.instagram.com/videogamerspod/⁠  Follow us on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@videogamerspod Follow us on X:⁠ https://twitter.com/VideoGamersPod⁠  Subscribe to us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@VideoGamersPod     Visit us on the web:⁠https://videogamerspod.com/⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Starting point is 00:00:56 Find your advisor at ID PrivateWealth.com. and welcome to the video gamers podcast. Wolverine was the latest game to divide the internet. Was it the, this game plays itself, slop that people would have you believe, or was it really as good as those who were championing it said? Quietly, in the background, Onamusha released to some pretty stellar reviews and very little conversation.
Starting point is 00:01:35 Did Capcom truly revive a franchise from 20 years ago? Are the reviews to be believed? Well, today's episode is going to be one heck of a look at both of these games as we deep dive both of them. Before we get to the real answers on Wolverine and Onamusha, some introductions are in order. I am your host Josh. And joining me, he's the same height as Wolverine, about the same stature too, and has that touch of rugged good looks. But his bones are made of paper instead of adamantium. It's Ryan.
Starting point is 00:02:11 Dang it. There was like that was the perfect mix of like compliment and then like just like destroying me. It's a compliment sandwich, man. Yeah, it's a compliment sandwich. You just hit me with the compliment sandwich. I don't know where to go with this. My bones are made a paper unfortunately.
Starting point is 00:02:28 I'm not as extreme as I thought is all. Yeah. Yeah, there you go. And joining us. He took a break from playing Onomusha to play real life PC building simulation. on hard mode, but no amount of technical issues could keep him from becoming a master samurai. It's ace. I got the platinum trophy and I saw the end of owning mushroom baby.
Starting point is 00:02:54 Yeah. PC building simulator did not beat me. Oh, it almost beat us Ace. It almost beat us. And if people want to hear the story to the adventure that you and I went on together with your stupid PC and trying to upgrade your graphic. card. That's what the pre-show is for. This game sucks. I want a refund.
Starting point is 00:03:16 Yeah, that game did suck. And it was very hard. That was hard mode PC building simulator right there. Yeah. But Ace is back and up and running with some new hardware. So life is looking peachy again, fellas. Man, I am excited
Starting point is 00:03:33 for this episode. I, like everybody else out there, am dying to know what Ryan thought of Wolverine. You know, the internet can be a stupid, stupid place sometimes. You don't say. Yeah. And we've seen this time and time again with certain games where, you know, Highguard.
Starting point is 00:03:53 You know, the internet decided everybody hated Highguard and that was that. And it was this massive campaign to do this. We saw it with mixtape a little bit. Yep. Yeah. Where it's, you know, hey, there's people that said, this isn't even a video game, man. Like anybody that likes this game is stupid and the game plays itself and blah, blah, blah. And unfortunately, we're seeing this trend in gaming.
Starting point is 00:04:14 And it's dumb. Honestly, it's a dumb trend. Like, everybody is entitled to an opinion. We have always said that. And listen, not everybody agrees with our opinions. And we're okay with that. There's a reason that we have three of us on here. We don't agree with each other half the time, man.
Starting point is 00:04:28 You know, so it's okay to have an opinion, but it's not okay to absolutely try to eviscerate somebody for having an opinion, whether you agree with it or not. And with Wolverine, most recently, this. divided the internet because there were people that were coming out and saying, hey, I'm playing this game and I think it's a ton of fun. And then there were people that would literally attack that person
Starting point is 00:04:50 and say, oh, you're a paid chill. You don't know anything about video games. I've seen all the videos where the game plays itself, blah, blah, blah, blah. And then you had people showing these, you know, videos of like the game playing itself and you can't fail this quick time event. And look, this one
Starting point is 00:05:06 guard doesn't take damage and this is a trash game. And so, So, you know, as gamers, what are we supposed to do? Well, the only thing we can really do is have, either play the game yourself and risk dropping $70 on a game. Or you have somebody that you trust play that game and then give you their honest opinion on it. And in this case, that was Ryan. It's me, baby. The couch bound.
Starting point is 00:05:31 Yeah, the couch bound. Because Ryan broke his ankle, uh, ice skating. Uh, and, you know, he just went, hey, this is the perfect time for me to do this. PC gaming is a little bit harder when you need to put your foot up and elevated, especially after a long day's work. So Ryan went, I got Wolverine. Ace, you and I, at that point, I'll be honest, I would have had to have borrowed a PS5. Now, I will not sit here and lie to anybody and say that the hate for Wolverine didn't
Starting point is 00:05:57 affect me a little bit and some of the reviews that we saw because we're gamers first and foremost. We're not industry experts. A little bit, dude. tabloid people. Don't even. Don't, don't even. You immediately were like a medium amount. I told you. I told you. Look, look at what we're, look at this. Guys, I told you. See? You see all this?
Starting point is 00:06:18 I can't troll Ryan in the intros if I can't take him trolling me for the Josh boys, which honestly I'm kind of digging now. You know, yes. So I will say personally, I would have had to borrow a PS5. I started calling it ahead of time that I think Wolverine is going to disappoint. some people. You did. Whether that take is right or not, I don't know because I didn't play the game. But Ryan did, and he did beat the game.
Starting point is 00:06:42 At the same time, there was Onamusha that came out and was making waves for people that were watching, that were actually paying attention. All of a sudden, people like, Onamusha is fantastic. Did you see it got a 10 out of a 10? And somebody else gave it a 10 out of a 10? And this and that. And then we went, should we, should we do both? and we actually pulled our community.
Starting point is 00:07:05 We said, hey, what game would you like us to cover? And we did not give the option for both. We just said, what game do you want to hear? And I think it was like 75% to 25% that said, Onomusha, please. It was overwhelming how many people wanted to hear about Onomusha. Yeah. So we did what any good podcast would do. And we said, freak, let's just do both of them, man.
Starting point is 00:07:27 And so here we are people. We're going to do both of them. We're going to do Wolverine first because, like I said, Ace and I are dying to know. But before we do that, we do have, I would say a couple people. We got a lot of people to thank everybody. So, as always, anybody that signs up to support this podcast over on Patreon, one of the ways that we say thank you is to say thank you on the show because it really does mean
Starting point is 00:07:51 the world to us and it makes a difference for us being able to put out this content. So a huge shout out to Jules Alexander for signing up for rare status. Jules has been in the Discord being active there, which we've. We absolutely love to see. Chill Breeze signing up for rare status as well. Chill Breeze, been in the Discord server as well, which we love to see. And then we got Poutine QC98. Now, Poutine is delicious.
Starting point is 00:08:18 It is. Poutine I have not seen in the Discord, but listen, Putin's fantastic people. So, you know, we like you already, Poutine. And then another longtime Discord member that finally made the leap to sign up and support the show, but has been around for a long time. A huge shout out to unshaven monkey as well before signing up for rare status.
Starting point is 00:08:38 So thank you to everybody. Signing up and supporting this podcast. You really do. It does. It does. And we could not do this show without the support of our listeners. All right.
Starting point is 00:08:50 Let's get into this, guys. We were going to read a review, but I can't wait. I got to know. I got to know. I do got to know. So, Ryan? I got to set the stage.
Starting point is 00:09:03 I got to set the stage just a smidge. Let's hear. Let's hear. Set it up. We set it a little bit. But, you know, if you are, if you were on social media, social media would have you believe that this game played itself, that the combat was boring or got boring after a while.
Starting point is 00:09:17 And some of this, let's be honest, some of this was founded by very popular and known reviewers, whether that's a YouTube or gaming websites that played this game and then went, it's pretty mid. Like, it's not bad. but it's not good and it gets repetitive and for what should be a triple a title from Insomniac games I felt this was very lackluster
Starting point is 00:09:38 so Ryan my question for you is I know you were excited for Wolverine but did any of the internet hate or the low scores like rattle you even the slightest um
Starting point is 00:09:52 gosh I would say before that I just want to also kind of set the stage oh no Oh, no. Oh, no. I know where this is going. So Ryan has turned us for our audio listeners.
Starting point is 00:10:07 Ryan has turned his camera off, which can only mean one thing. I think we might be getting a visit from Logan here. I do believe the Wolverine is about to visit us. Hey, bud. Oh, it's Wolverine. Welcome to the podcast. I heard you guys were talking about me. That's not what Wolverine sounds like.
Starting point is 00:10:28 Wolverine sounds like John Cena. Why do you sound like Batman? Yeah, Wolfrey sounds like Joe Sita. They're very similar. It's kind of a similar voice, really, if you're honest with it, you know, if you really, if you really want to look into it, it's pretty close. But, you know, I do have claws. Batman doesn't have claws. Kind of got this sweet mask.
Starting point is 00:10:46 Batman's mask, not as sweet. He wears eye black. I don't have to wear that crap. You know, I'm a man. Does that mask actually fit? It does look like a fit. I mean, I got a pretty big nose and it's over my nose, so I would say it kind of fits, you know. Okay.
Starting point is 00:10:58 All right. Well, Wolverine, welcome to the podcast. Great to have you, man. You know, I was right. You and Ryan are the same height, which if anybody wants to verify, I did double check Wolverine is 5 foot three, by the way. Here we go.
Starting point is 00:11:12 This is a little more accurate. Listen, listen. If you're not watching video, check it out. You're missing out some prime podcast content if you're not watching the video. All our episodes are published on YouTube. if you listen on Spotify, the video component plays right there inside Spotify for you.
Starting point is 00:11:31 But head over to YouTube. Take a look at this. I'm still here. Can you see me? Wait, barely. There's a big microphone in the way. There you go. I can see you.
Starting point is 00:11:45 All right. Well, Wolverine, welcome to the show. How did you feel about people kind of slandering your game ahead of time and like, you know, saying that you were a mid-game? Like, did that affect your outlook?
Starting point is 00:11:55 What did you call me? What did you call me? Mid. What? Mid, what? I got to tell you, Bob. I didn't like it. I didn't like it, Bob.
Starting point is 00:12:05 Wait, who's Bob? I thought it was Bob. Oh, that's trademarked, right? Yeah, yeah. We don't want, we don't want to use that. You know, the Marvel will come after you big time. Trust me, I know. I know.
Starting point is 00:12:16 I know. He's so short on the screen. It's killing me. The truck. Okay, all right. So I'll hold on. Let me get back on. I'm going to keep this on for a minute.
Starting point is 00:12:30 So I have learned over the years. I want those claws when you're done with those, by the way. Those things are sweet. You're going to have to fight Jackson for him because he was pretty stoked about it. Like, I had to fight him just to get him. I was like, dude, I got to record with these. Like, you can have them later. He's like, fine.
Starting point is 00:12:49 What was the question? Internet hates. Yes. Does it affect you before you even start playing the game? I have learned in the last few years to very much disregard what all of the internet people and the streamers and the content creators and the reviewers have to say about pretty much anything on any subject, but especially video games. It did not deter me in any way. I've always loved Insomniac. I love the Spider-Man games.
Starting point is 00:13:23 I've loved everything I've played. I've loved the world that they create. and I hoped that this was going to be kind of the Wolverine like more gritty hardcore version as is like Deadpool to like the you know kind of can't be Marvel movies
Starting point is 00:13:39 like it's the hardcore version of that you know and that's what I was hoping for you know with this and so I wasn't deterred by it and I was I was hoping for the best Was it pretty hardcore? Super hardcore Super hardcore super hardcore. All right. So I want to, I want to tease this like for a long time, but I mean, let's be honest. The people want to know. So Ryan, was the internet right or is the internet stupid? Oh, man. So, um, or is there a shade of gray between somewhere? Yeah, is there an in between? I, I would say that, uh, basically this. Um, the internet is, is, is, is, is,
Starting point is 00:14:26 extremely stupid. Can we stop pretending that Wolverine is some sort of like disaster, some horrible, horrible tragedy? I played it. It was fun. You guys remember fun?
Starting point is 00:14:43 Do you remember when we used to have fun and when you played a game and you had fun? Half of the internet decided, you know, before they'd even touched the game that, you know, it was just, it was horrible. It was bad. It was, you could play itself. You know, nobody, nobody would enjoy it.
Starting point is 00:14:59 You know, now everybody's just repeating this just manufactured hate over and over and over. And it's just, it's an outrage that, you know, it was like a flock of angry sheep, just running around, just always following this path that everyone's set for them. Play, play the damn game. Just play it. If you're unsure, freaking play the game. You know, it's, it's, you know, form your own a problem. opinion. Don't follow what all these influencers have to say. Stop letting the internet tell you what to think. Try it out for yourself and see what you think. That's what I have to say about. The fart trail.
Starting point is 00:15:37 The fart trail. Yeah. No, don't. Okay. I have a motorcycle scene. Are we going to build up to that? Because I have a lot of comments on that immediately. All right. Let's do this first. I want to know because like I said, I can't wait and I'm being patient. what is your what is your rating for this game? Oh, we're going straight to the rating. Yeah, we're going straight for it. We're going to talk about it.
Starting point is 00:15:59 Don't get me wrong. We're going to break it down. But people are dying to know and I don't want to tease this too too long because we still have to get to Odebush. We do have two games to cover. Yeah, yeah. And so two things I want is number one is,
Starting point is 00:16:10 is what is your rating of the game and is it worth the $70 price tag? Because you said something and I agree with you 100% but at the same time, there's a reason that we do what we do. and that is the, you know, it's a $70 game, man. And so to tell people, hey, play it if you want to play it, yes, there is something to that. But at the same time, especially with the price of games nowadays, I think people want that kind of assurance from people they trust like us, hopefully, to go, it's worth the money or it's not worth the money.
Starting point is 00:16:41 So those are the two questions that I want to pose to you right now because no people are dying to know, especially me, nice. Okay, so for me, this game, it did not meet the peak levels of Spider-Man that I enjoyed. I love open worlds. I love the ability to experience just traversing through things. Obviously, with Spider-Man, you have the advantage of web slinging through New York City, you know, or their New York City. This didn't have that. It's a much more linear experience. it's much more on the path,
Starting point is 00:17:17 but it's not a bad thing. Sometimes it's good to have, you know, it was probably 15, 17, 18 hours or so of straight gameplay. If you want to go through some of the challenges or do some extra things, it's probably you can add some time in for sure. For me, this game was, I'm going to give you two words, okay? Awesome.
Starting point is 00:17:43 Oh. All right. That's one word. That was a nod to Michael there. I know, I know. Well done. Fantastic.
Starting point is 00:17:51 Fantastic. I had an absolute blast playing this game. What happened to just, just enjoying a good time and having fun? Not everything has to be some narrative masterpiece or some cinematic, you know, great thing. It's a, it's a game that you play, you enjoy, you have fun. and when it's done you're like man that was a really good time i found myself smiling repeatedly i found myself um uh just laughing you know when you know when you have a really good kill attack or or some cool cinematic and you go oh oh yeah oh yeah i did that so much so much it was an
Starting point is 00:18:34 action movie the whole thing was a a crazy gory action movie did i give the score by yet by the way i don't think i no no yeah you just said it was awesome but you haven't got to the score yet 8.5. Really? 8.5. I had a blast playing this game. It was so good. And it made me almost angry at all the, all the hate that it got.
Starting point is 00:18:58 It was so frustrating to hear all these people talk about it. And Ace, you mentioned it with the stupid scent trail. The thing that I thought this game did so well was it leaned so much into Wolverine and his animalistic nature. He's just like, he's a ferocious, like, beast. And the hardest part for him is to rein that in and control himself. And so it leaned into that, like using the scent and using his ability to have all these extra things. It's not just his healing and his claws.
Starting point is 00:19:31 There's a lot more to it. And so it was, yeah, it was a little bright in the beginning. And once they kind of doled it down a hair, that was a little bit better. But you're following a scent trail, and that was very minimal in the game. Like, it was not, there was not a ton of it at all. So, like, him following that wasn't, wasn't even that big of a deal. Wasn't in there a lot. It's just, it's people just being grumpy, grumpy gamers, man.
Starting point is 00:19:55 So do you think it's worth $70 for only like 15 hours with the gameplay? Oh, man. Is it all really good gameplay that's worth the money? 15 hours is not a lot for 70 hours or $70. See, see, here's the deal with those. That was with me not doing a lot. There, you get these things where there's like these night. nightmare challenges where Logan's trying to find out who he is and you get to explore more and
Starting point is 00:20:17 you have to like do these things to unlock other stuff and you can fight these waves or you can traverse through these areas and it's like a time trial kind of like in the spider man. It's not the campaign, but it's additional. Exactly. There's so much more that you can do. You could probably, if you had to do all of that, you could probably stretch it to 20 to 25 hours, I would think. And then obviously there's new game plus and you can keep going even further if you wanted to
Starting point is 00:20:41 try to platy it and stuff like that. But I would say I'm not a fan of $70 games in general. But when you look at the price of this, I think $55, $60 would have been a little more palatable. $70 starts to get to like, man, that's almost $100. It's like close to $80 and 80's close to 90. And it keeps going up from there. I think, and part of that is our expectation for $70 games nowadays is that the game needs to excel. Like it needs to stand out in the gaming industry.
Starting point is 00:21:13 And we saw this with like Lego Batman. And Don Walker too. With the Dark Night. And Don Walker where there are plenty fine video games. Like honestly, you're hard pressed to say like there's there's this glaring issue with this game. But at the same time, $70 for that premium experience, it better be premium. And I think as gamers we tend to go, it better be memorable. And I better feel like this is a cream of the crop type game for me if you're asking me to pay cream of the crop.
Starting point is 00:21:40 type prices for it as well. Ryan, what I want to do is I want to do some quick hitters with you for Wolverine to kind of address because here's the thing. Now, I know there's, we have listeners out there that aren't part of our Discord server that are on social media. And, you know, I will say that the people that we have in our community on our Discord server, now we have 1,400 plus gamers in there and people talk a lot. And we encourage people to share their opinions on games because it is a place where you can
Starting point is 00:22:10 do that without getting eviscerated. And so people feel comfortable to share an honest opinion at that point. If somebody doesn't like a game, they're welcome to say, hey, I don't like this game. And if somebody does enjoy a game, they're welcome to say that too. And I will say that overwhelmingly, when it comes to Wolverine from actual people playing it, that they have the same opinion that I have seen Ryan Express is that, bro, this game is just fun. The combat's fast-paced. It's enjoyable. Yes, it's linear. But we have complained multiple times. every game needs to be an open world game nowadays. So a linear experience is fine.
Starting point is 00:22:45 You know, my concern that, again, is, you know, did the combat get stale? Did you feel like the combat got stale after the first 10 hours? Or did it kind of keep that charm throughout the whole game? I think for someone, it's hard to say because for someone like you, Josh, because I know you didn't like the Spider-Man combat, it was very much the same. You had your abilities, your techniques, you would level up, and you could only unlock certain things and unlock new abilities, which I thought they were awesome. And I just found different ways to use them.
Starting point is 00:23:18 But you love Eldon Ring and all you do is dodge and slash, you know. And so there's like where do you go with what makes combat boring? Because then again, that's just subjective. And it's what people kind of decide is that. Was it easy? Was the combat easy? I would say the general combat was easy. but some of those bosses,
Starting point is 00:23:41 I played on the second to the highest difficulty. The hardest one probably would have been really freaking hard because the bosses is where you really like, you know, that's paid dirt, man. It's hard. Like, you have to time all your parries. You have, you have, and there is like a decent little ability tree
Starting point is 00:24:01 that you can unlock and you can unlock these other techniques and abilities and things you can use. And there you can only use four, kind of like the Spider-Man games as well. And so I think they did a really good job on stacking the way the combat is to make it fluid, but also you can kind of customize it to the way you want it. It did not feel super older-born because every time they kept introducing new combatants, new enemies, new styles. You had the Revers and then you had the Sentinels and you had, it was just a lot of times you'd use some of the same moves,
Starting point is 00:24:37 but it was new enemies that had different sequences and stuff like that. So it did keep it fresh and it was in a new setting every time. So I think it was really cool the way they set it up and you could charge up your rage, which allowed you to unlock things. And then just the core, dude, the kill sequences were so freaking cool. Like you're literally, like, and I'm not even kidding, you're shoving Wolverines Clause through the head of another guy.
Starting point is 00:25:06 And the guys was like, and then he pulls it out. Or he like, we'll go and he'll rip a dude in half. And the blood like pours over him. And he's just covered in blood. Ironically, in a couple scenes later, then he's just like totally clean again, which is kind of funny. He's got a good dry clean. He's got a good dry cleaner.
Starting point is 00:25:23 Like instant, all his clothes are clean and no problem at all. But, but yeah, there was, um, I thoroughly enjoyed the combat. I had a ton of fun. And some of the bosses were, I mean, the last boss, and I think, uh, I forget who mentioned it. in our Discord. It was Bobby or somebody, but it was like a two-hour fight. Like, it was just over and oh, you just kept going
Starting point is 00:25:42 through different sequences and, and there was different patterns. You had to learn, like, you were not going to get this in one run. Like, to do this with like a no-hit challenge or like a one-run challenge or anything like that, you're not going to get it. It was tough. So it never got dull or uninteresting.
Starting point is 00:25:59 It was always kind of evolving. Yeah. No, yeah. I thought I thought it just kept going. The story the story followed in suit. So like as you progress, like things kept advancing, you kept unlocking things and you kept continuing on. And it did not get a point where it was stagnant or stale because it is a short game. It's 15 plus hours or so.
Starting point is 00:26:21 They have to keep it moving. And they did. I think they did a good job at that to make it continuing enough to where it didn't get stale, but not too much to where you just didn't really use the stuff you learned. So they did a good job on kind of making that like kind of flow. All right, listen, I'm going to ask you a couple rapid fire questions. Just give me a very short answer on these. Was this game too dumped down?
Starting point is 00:26:45 A lot of the complaints were that between the yellow paint and the cent trail, this game was made for people that don't have a brain and that ruin the game for them. Was that the case for you at all? No. That was the, that was what people who didn't have a brain said. Okay. Perfect. Story-wise, I did see some people say, hey, there's actually a pretty touching story here between the characters. Did you feel like the story was a
Starting point is 00:27:08 like a highlight of the game or did it feel like it was like a secondary aspect to the game? No, I absolutely love the story. It was not to me as good as some of the Spider-Man ones with what's the Insomniaks made, but it was a very, very good story. And it, I think, sets up some stuff for future Wolverine games, which I'm very excited for.
Starting point is 00:27:29 But I think the story was really stellar, very touching. You grew a connection to the characters. You grew hate for other characters. It was good. Okay. Did the game ever feel like it was playing itself? Because this is the big thing on the internet.
Starting point is 00:27:45 So no. Like I did that, that thing was so stupid. There's like what, like how just brain dead do you have to be to just hate fun? Like you're driving on a motorcycle and you're like weaving between cars and why would you just set down your controller and be like, oh, I wonder if I won't die? Like, what's the point in that? Like, just in. enjoy it. And by the way, you can die. Your character, if he runs into a car, he'll fly off and he'll die. So it's not, it doesn't play itself. But if you don't hit anything, yeah, it'll go through to the cutscene. But that's like, that's with a lot of games. They use that to set up. But you're not supposed to do that. That's not supposed to be like a super challenging part of the game. That's there to just have the cinematics, the enjoyment, and have fun. Right. And I will say this because we have to take a break and then we're going to move on to Onomusha here. the people that, you know, saw these moments because they were all over the internet, a lot of
Starting point is 00:28:41 these were manufactured for rage bait. There was a lot, a lot that came out after the fact that showed that these scenes on the motorcycle where he could not die, like, yes, those did exist, but that was on the easiest difficulty settings to where you have to physically say, I want this game to be easy, and then it made the game easy. Shocker, I know. There was another one where it was, you know, a video of Wolverine just pummeling a guard and the guard just wouldn't die and he was getting hit markers right and it's like right and that was a straight up
Starting point is 00:29:12 lie that was mystique in the game disguised as a guard and yes you could hit her and she would react but she's your freaking ally like you're not gonna kill her and so just be aware people that there is a lot of manufactured rage out there because it gets people clicks you know what I mean and it's
Starting point is 00:29:28 you know yes to a degree we're all susceptible to that you know a little bit but you have to understand that what you see on the internet is not real life a lot of times. And this stuff is manufactured to try to prove a point that is not reality at that point. So Ryan, just to summarize before we go, someone say rage. Uh, so Ryan, 8.5, very enjoyable. Awesome is what I'm hearing. And maybe we're $70, but would, would have been a no brainer if it was $60. I would say if you're on the fence and you're not a big Wolverine fan
Starting point is 00:30:03 or you don't want to play this style of game or you're not a big fan of the Spider-Man games. Wait for a sale. 50 bucks, like it's more than worth $50. It's a, it's a genuinely, it's a solid game. It was a lot of fun.
Starting point is 00:30:17 And like I said, they really leaned in who's a different side of Wolverine that I haven't seen in like the films. He's like a ferocious, animalistic beast. And like, you could even see it. Like throughout the game, he's like, you can see his like nose moves.
Starting point is 00:30:31 in his mouth. Like he's always, you could tell it's like in inside him, which was so cool. And there's a lot of little subtle things like that that they did within this game. And I think it was, I think it was really well done. So, uh, yeah, get it. Awesome. All right. Listen, we're going to take a quick break.
Starting point is 00:30:48 And then we're going to come back. We're going to talk onomusha. And I'm going to preface this by saying that there's going to be a very bold take with Onomusha that people need to hear. And we'll, we'll reveal that after the break. We'll be right back. New from Nespresso. Blend wellness into your coffee routine with a coffee plus range infused with functional benefits.
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Starting point is 00:32:07 We are back. It is time to talk Onamusha, our special guest Wolverine. Ryan, welcome back to the pod. Hey guys, I'm back. Sorry, I didn't go to the bathroom. Oh, you guys kept recording? Filled in for you.
Starting point is 00:32:19 You guys recorded the whole time? What the heck? Dude, you were, also, you need to eat more fiber, Ryan, because you were in there for a long time. Those trucks stop Mexican tacos are they'll do some work. Yeah. Ace.
Starting point is 00:32:37 We pivoted to Onamusha. At the request of our, I won't say the request, but we did pull the audience, our listeners, our community, and they said overwhelmingly we would like to hear about Onamusha. We've heard enough about Wolverine and what's going on. They wanted answers, which we just got. But, you know, this was something that I think a lot of people were curious about. have you ever played anything in the Onomusha franchise?
Starting point is 00:33:01 No. In a franchise that has got a game in 20 years? No, I have not. That was not an exaggeration in the intro of people. Isn't that how old he is? Yes. That's basically Aces lifetime. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:33:16 I had not either. I have heard of the game. Onomusha is, you know, I've heard of it. No clue what this game was. No clue what this franchise was. All I knew was that this game was. release that I had zero interest in. Like, let's be honest.
Starting point is 00:33:30 You know, we always talk about this. I had zero interest in Onomusha. I don't know what it's about. All I know was that it came out and quietly it was getting amazing reviews. But there was no conversation online or in our community or anything about this game. I think one person like one day was like, hey, is anybody playing Onomusha? And that was it. That was it.
Starting point is 00:33:52 Yeah. Yeah. So, like, I'm telling people I had zero hype and zero. zero knowledge of this game. I went into Onomusha completely blind as to what this game was, which is rare in today's day and age, especially for being a gaming podcast. How did you go into this? Did you know anything about it? Were you excited? Where were you at? I had no idea what I was getting into. I knew it was going to be high quality because Capcom's on a role this year, for one thing. And this is a Capcom game. This is a Capcom property. Capcom's kicking butt this year.
Starting point is 00:34:22 Yeah, they are. So far. But now I was going in blind. I expected kind of a Sekiro devil may cry as game because of what I just, you know, could see from trailers and figure out from there because like you said,
Starting point is 00:34:34 nobody was talking about this game. I don't think I've seen people talking about this game till today. I saw it on like X for the very first time. To this day,
Starting point is 00:34:41 I still haven't seen much chatter. Yeah, I really haven't seen much shatter about this at all. Which is shocking. But then I saw, you know, IGN gave it a 10 out of 10.
Starting point is 00:34:48 I was like, okay, there's got to be something here. Like, there's got to be something. Something. And, you know, I know IGN catches a lot of flack
Starting point is 00:34:56 and we are, as gamers, we are very skeptical of IGN as well. It's, you know, 10 out of tens get your attention. I don't care who you are. If somebody, whether it's your genre or not, if you start seeing 10 out of 10, say, this game's a masterpiece, it will get your attention. Now, you can write it off at that point and say, well, I don't trust those guys or something. But it at least kind of makes you raise your eyebrows and go like, oh.
Starting point is 00:35:18 Especially because they're stingy. Yeah. I mean, fairly, yeah, everything's a 7 out of 10. Everything's 7 or 8. If you see a 10 or a 9, you're like, what? Yeah. So, you know, basically how would you describe what Onamusha is to somebody? Like, you know, you start playing it because I went into this completely blind. Give people the 60 second, like, what is Onamusha? What kind of game is it? Onamusha is the ultimate samurai simulator. Like, this is what it should feel like to play a samurai character in a video game. You've got your blocks. You've got your deflect. You've got your ESN, which is where you counterattack just before you're hit. to land a devastating blow on a character.
Starting point is 00:35:58 It's all about breaking the, you know, stamina and landing that fatal attack to deal massive damage. Like, we've got a hot take. I don't know about this game. But like, oh my gosh, this game is just what it should feel like to play, like a samurai. It does everything right. It's also aura farming simulator.
Starting point is 00:36:18 It is aura farming simulator. I will say this. Okay. Since, you know, since we made Ryan kind of give away his thoughts early on, I'm going to tease a thought here. I'm just going to jump right into it, people. I think Onamusha might have some of the best combat I have ever seen in a video game. Like, I know Ryan's waking up now because he's like, wait a minute.
Starting point is 00:36:44 I don't say this lightly, and I did not know what to expect. Understand, I went into this game completely blind with zero hype. So this was all just through experiencing this game. and I mean, I like, dude, it's hard to quantify this, but the best way I can quantify it is literally like, I love Eldon Ring. I love Dark Souls. I love Sekaro. But dude, I don't know that there is a game that does samurai combat, like better than Onamusha. The combat system in this game is unbelievably good in so many different ways, dude, that it's like,
Starting point is 00:37:23 I was flabbergasted as I'm, you know, getting further and further into this, and the combat system just keeps layering itself and layering itself and you get this new technique and you get this new technique. But guess what? You got to use all the techniques that this game throws at you or you will get your butt just kicked into oblivion. You cannot ignore anything in this game. You need to use your entire arsenal to your advantage at all times.
Starting point is 00:37:50 Like I said, you know that ESIN? It's really hard to nail. but if you get really good at it, you're going to basically rely on it like a crutch. I was able to like parry arrows with that. You would do like a reflex dodge where if you dodge the last second, you can go in and hit a massive counterattack. You can just shove a cart down the street at a group full of enemies just because they're there. There's so much variety in the combat and the way you interact with the environments.
Starting point is 00:38:16 It is absurdly good. So from someone who has not played this game, and I love, the samurai genre and those styles of games and like that. I mean, I loved ghosts and all those iterations like around that. Where would you compare this as far as combat to like Eldon Ring? This is Securo's combat, but it gives up some difficult.
Starting point is 00:38:42 Josh has said that like off the bat. Yeah, it is telling you. It's better. It is better. It is better. Wow. It gives up the difficulty and the realism that Sekiro goes for for just good feeling in combat that makes you feel like you are a well-trained samurai.
Starting point is 00:38:57 So it's punishing, but it's, you know, quote-unquote, it feels good. Like it's, it's, okay, that's, man, that's cool. So your mistakes are yours. Yeah. It is very skill-based. So, you know, here's what I'll say, dude, because again, this was all just through natural discovery of this game because I didn't watch reviews. I didn't watch guides.
Starting point is 00:39:16 I didn't, I went in this game completely blind. I had no freaking idea what to expect, man. And, I mean, it does come across a little bit. with the Capcom. Like, you can feel the Capcom DNA with, like, when you're running around the world and the way the characters are and a couple of the menus and stuff like that. So it's like, it is very Capcom-esque. But like, as I'm playing this game, you know, the main character, I'll say he's very
Starting point is 00:39:38 likable. You know, like, Musashi Miyamoto is a very likable dude, number one, which helps immensely, especially when you're playing it. He's this kind of snarky, arrogance kind of guy. Who is it? But, like, Musashi Miyamoto. Yeah, bless you. Yeah, mehamoto, which was a real samurai.
Starting point is 00:39:56 Yeah. Oh, really? Yeah, based on a real life samurai. He was undefeated in 76 battles to the death and retired and became a philosopher and a poet. Yeah. Yeah. And you are, you know, you think you were just God's gift as the samurai world. Oh, yeah.
Starting point is 00:40:08 You are arrogant. You are confident. You are just, but he's like, he's so likable at the same time and that's hard to quantify. That's weird. Play the game. Yeah, yeah. You know what I mean? But like, so there is this, you're in key.
Starting point is 00:40:22 So there is like some open world running around and just kind of helping villagers and the story is like, you know, you're in Onimusha, so you fight demons. You know, there's this demon invasion that's happening and you get this gauntlet that makes you stronger than you are as a human, which is kind of disheartening to him because he prided himself on being the best samurai and he doesn't need this extra power. Right. And then he gets this extra power and then he's like, well, I don't want this. Right. Like this is, I don't want it. I'm, I'm bad enough as it is. And then he finds out that he's not. And he's not. And he's. And then he finds out that he's not. but like you're fighting these fantastical demons and these bosses and your city is overrun and there's this whole story that goes along with it which we won't spoil for anybody but when we talk about the combat like it is samurai combat you are you know you're not doing these super duper flashy combos you're not doing 40 hit combos and juggling people up in the air you are slashing people with a light attack or a heavy attack but you have to pay attention it's skill-based. If somebody starts attacking you and you don't parry it or you don't dodge out of the way,
Starting point is 00:41:27 even trash moms will start to wreck you. You know, if you get surrounded by guys, you better be careful and you better watch out. You better listen for audio cues and indicators and you better prioritize. This guy will die quickly. This guy's going to take me. I got to focus on this guy and he's tough. So I have to be able to face off against him and pay attention to his attacks and parry and dodge those because you can then punish somebody
Starting point is 00:41:50 when you parry and dodge attacks. But if you don't, this guy's gonna freaking wreck you, man. You know, but then it's like if you focus on the tough guy, then the little trash guys will will whittle you down very quickly. And you get things like Ace was talking about this,
Starting point is 00:42:07 Eason, right? Which is a counterattack, right? So instead of dodging, pairing, which anybody who's played Dark Souls understands, now you have this thing where if you're willing to risk it for the biscuit, you can try to nail a counterfeit, attack in this very tight window where you just attack back.
Starting point is 00:42:23 And if you nail the timing, your guy will dodge their attack and wreck them. It's a super strong attack, does a ton of damage. And you can chain it. But it's very risky. Yeah. And then you can chain it later on because you get an upgrade that lets you do that. And then you get a parry ability where it's like, okay, well, I can parry people. And then that does a little bit of stamina damage to them.
Starting point is 00:42:44 But then you get this thing called a deflect parry, right? where it's like if you parry them and press A at the same time right when the parry impact happens, you do a mega deflect which takes a huge chunk of their stamina off. And it's staggered them usually. It dude, like, it just builds.
Starting point is 00:43:02 It builds and it builds and it builds. And before you know it, you are playing the piano like you are a maestro of like samurai death, dude. And it is the most satisfying combat. I legitimately think I've ever seen, dude. And I know that sounds great. crazy to people, but it's really that good.
Starting point is 00:43:21 Ace, am I crazy? No, you are right on the ball, man. Like, it is like a dance of death. Like, you feel so good when you do a fight hitless. Like, any kind of boss you get into where all you're doing, you may think, like, oh, all you do is deflect and parry a whole time. That's boring. No, it is not boring.
Starting point is 00:43:40 It is terrifying. And it is awesome. I, the pacing of this game is all. also incredibly pace, dude. Like, incredibly pace. I cannot, dude, like, you know, there's boss fights. There's, and they, there, you get maybe what, like 30 minutes of like running around the city doing maybe some side quests and stuff like that before.
Starting point is 00:44:02 The game is throwing another boss at you. It's like, hey, go to this temple. There's something here. It's something bad happening. Yeah, there's something bad happening. You go to the temple. You fight your way there. You kill a few trash guys along the way.
Starting point is 00:44:12 You get distracted because there's something shiny over there that you need to do or some villager that's screaming for help or something like that. And you can absolutely focus on that stuff, you know, as much as you want because there is a plethora of side quests. And all the side quests in this game give you upgrades, right? Whether it's like crafting materials or upgrade materials or like points that you can spend to upgrade your skills and your character and your combat and your quality of life, for instance. You know, like the game gives you all these options to say, do you want more quality of life? Here you go. Spend a couple of these points that you earn by doing side quest.
Starting point is 00:44:46 and now you have more quality of life stuff. Or you want to just be the most badass samurai you've ever seen? Okay, well, you get these points for doing side quests, and now you can spend those to upgrade your deflect damage or your parry damage or the ability to parry a ranged attack, like you said, A's, or something like that, to where you then start to customize the combat in kind of your play style at that point.
Starting point is 00:45:08 But nothing you get trivializes this game ever. Like, ever. It just gives you more options. But you also say, still can get absolutely wrecked. Like, yeah. If you lose that, like, state of mind that you have while you're playing this game, like something takes you out of the zone and you try to hop back in,
Starting point is 00:45:26 like, you will lose that rhythm and you'll be like, oh, no, wait, no. My hoszik pouch, my hosuke. You have more tools in the toolbox, but you just, like, if you don't know how to use them or if you're not good at it, like, it doesn't matter. Exactly. It doesn't matter. I haven't even mentioned that you have these things called demon arms, which are insanely good.
Starting point is 00:45:47 They are, kind of like an ultimate ability almost. It's not really an ultimate ability, but like you do get these demon armaments
Starting point is 00:45:53 that you find whether killing bosses or going through these special portals or whatever. Yeah. And they do a wide variety of things. Like one of them you do,
Starting point is 00:46:04 it's like dual blades and you pull them out and you slash a bunch of people but it generates yellow orbs which heal you so then you can then, so big part of the game is the orbs that you generate, right?
Starting point is 00:46:13 There's red orbs, there's blue orbs and there's yellow orbs. and all of these orbs you absorb into your gauntlet. They're basically the souls of your enemies, the demon souls. Ha. But like yellow orbs heal you. Blue orbs generate your only power.
Starting point is 00:46:30 Yeah. And then red orbs are basically like currency that you spend for upgrades and things like that. Right. So it's like maybe one of these demon armaments makes the enemies generate a whole bunch of yellow orbs so that you can use those to heal. Maybe one of them does an absolute but ton of stamina. damage. When you deplete stamina
Starting point is 00:46:47 on an enemy, you get to do like a finisher that will, for trash mobs just ends them, but for boss fights does a ton of health damage to them at that point. So there's the balance in this dance of like, can I deplete their stamina so that I can then do a massive amount of damage
Starting point is 00:47:03 or do I just chip away at this boss? Focus on defense and then ultimately you will wear down their stamina and their health, but it's up to you. You know what I mean at that point? The builds are nice. Yeah, I mean, they really are. And then you get one that's like a sweeping AOE attacked where it's like, okay,
Starting point is 00:47:19 I'm fighting a lot of trash moms right now and I want to trivialize this part of it. So you can do that. There's one that gives you like ranged attacks where it's like it staggers enemies. So you can interrupt their attacks like at any moment, which is really cool because some bosses have these attacks that will absolutely wreck you. And if you can just, oh, nope, I don't think so. I'm going to use this one. And then it staggers them and it knocks them out of their attack. Right. And then it's like, oh, okay, well, that's pretty cool. But it doesn't do any damage really. So there's all these tradeoffs in how do you want to approach combat. You can switch them on the fly too. You're not stuck with like one thing. You have a number pad that you can just swap around anything you have at any
Starting point is 00:47:56 moment during the fight. Like you could use one and then before your orbs fill back up, you swap to a different weapon and now you could do something completely different. So then you guys would say that overall like the combat was it was never stale. It was always the progression was great and there was always options to do a million different things for every situation. I never avoided combat in this game. Yeah. When you, okay,
Starting point is 00:48:19 well, yeah, when you have to like seek it out or you're excited to fight, like that's, that's a good sign. Dude, the pacing in this game is unlike, it's masterful.
Starting point is 00:48:28 Like, you know, this is one of the things we were talking about Wolverine, right? Like, how's the pacing? Does it get old? How's the combat? That kind of thing,
Starting point is 00:48:33 right? Even Eldon Ring, right? like, Eldon Ring, I think is paced wonderfully, but you can go away long time before you have like a big boss fight or something like that right yeah like dude i can't tell you it's it's like it's not a boss rush simulator by any means
Starting point is 00:48:47 and it's definitely not a hey i'm just running around doing like cheesy little sidequest and helping villagers but the fact that i can go you know what i'm in the mood for a boss fight let me go to this area and i know there's going to be a fantastic boss fight dude these bosses are incredible the the like the way that they attack and the like what you have to pay attention to is incredible and the whole time you are balancing the do I parry this attack and try to do a bunch of stamina damage do I try to deflect parry which is harder timing and much more punishable if you whiff it but then you do a massive I mean with a deflect parry you can do a quarter of their stamina bar in like in one deflect parry right do I try to easen this thing which is what we talked about
Starting point is 00:49:32 with the counter attack but that's like a that's like a millisecond window sometimes but if you pull it off It is the most like, you were like, oh, baby. And it does a bunch, it does a bunch of health damage and stamina damage at that point. Bosses sometimes have multiple phases where they then come back and they're like, oh, okay, you thought you were done with me, buddy. And now they have all new moves. And again, in this evolution of combat, you can't, this is not a button spammy game at all. But then certain bosses start to do this thing where they try to parry you. And if you're not paying attention and you attack them while they're in this guard state, they will
Starting point is 00:50:08 wreck you as punishment. However, if you notice that they're in the guard state, you get this power in the game that lets you break through defenses. So if you're fighting a shielded guy, you can break his shield. And if you're in a boss fight where he's waiting for you to attack so that he can counterattack, you can
Starting point is 00:50:24 then break through his defenses only during that time, which then you do a ton of stuff. You know, like, dude, it's a freaking master. There's so much. Josh's style game is cracking me up. It really is, dude. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:50:37 Like, it really is. I have a hot take about O'Neusha. Oh, here we go. Way of the sword. I think Onimusha is better than Sekiro Shadows Die Twice. I think it is a better game in general. That is an insane statement, Ace. Okay.
Starting point is 00:50:55 Do you know how many people love Sekiro? I know how many people. All right, Onamush is better than Sekiro. I'm sorry, it is. It's just more fun. I will take the fun and the smoothness of the combat you get from Onamusha over the punishment that you get from Sekiro any day of the week. Ace, that is a crazy statement, and I agree with you 100%, dude.
Starting point is 00:51:18 And I have, and listen, we are both Dark Souls fans. We are. We are very souls fans. And I mean, Sekaro is an incredible game. And I'm telling people, I agree with you 100% that Onamusha, way of the sword, is better than Sekaro. Like, and I know that that is going to be a wild take to a lot of people. But if you have played this game, you understand.
Starting point is 00:51:40 I will say, I was chatting with our good boy Panzer who was playing it while we were playing it. And Panzer basically just DM me one day. And he said, are you playing? I said, yeah. And he said, you know, what do you think? And I said, I think that the combat in this game is absolutely spectacular. And I cannot get enough of it. And I think that this might ruin me on every other game's combat at this point.
Starting point is 00:52:03 And he was like, bro, I cannot agree with you more. I'm so worried for Phantom Blade Zero now. Yeah. I mean, honestly, I'm thankful that that's a different pacing type game. Yeah, but why? Because that is much more of a button masher, I think. I hope. I hope so.
Starting point is 00:52:18 So would you, hold on. Would you say that this is the best combat you've ever played? Yes. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. It's really good. I know that sounds insane, dude.
Starting point is 00:52:31 I know that sounds insane. I am over the moon that we didn't skip this game. then that me and Josh got to experience this. Like, genuinely. Like, I know that's crazy talk. I know that's crazy talk. But trust me, it is, it's skill-based number one, which again, now, personal preference, right? Like, it is 100% skill-based.
Starting point is 00:52:48 If you whiff a Perry, if you whiff a Dodge, if you're not in the flow state, you're going to get wrecked. It's your fault. You know what I mean? Like, plain and simple, you know, but like, A-S who talked about it in this game. There are some boss fights where I am so in the zone and I am watching and I'm, in that and I you know this term gets used up but you're in that flow state and you are like bro I am going to wreck you I am going to ruin your day boss fight like boss fight and it's a freaking boss fight it's not meant to be easy and I have died multiple times this is not an easy game people like
Starting point is 00:53:21 that just because we're saying the combat is this good doesn't mean this is easy at all because I die a lot but there are moments where you were like just in it and you're like parried deflect parried dodged, punished, counterbreak. And then even when you break their stamina, now you get this choice of like, what are you going to attack? What are you going to punish?
Starting point is 00:53:40 Like, you can stab them in the head and massive damage. Or you can stab them in their weapon or their weird arm thing that they have, which will release a ton of orbs, but will also cripple the boss from doing special moves against you. So it's like this, like, which one do you want?
Starting point is 00:53:55 Because some boss's special moves will almost one shot you. But if you take that away, now they're not as scary. anymore. You know, so it's like, and it just, it puts the combat and the options in your hands and says, here you go. I hope you know what to do with it. And when you know what to do with it, it is unlike anything I have played, dude. Guys, I don't have time for another game. I don't, I'm just telling you, like, it is, it is. And I know the Sekaro take is crazy, but dude,
Starting point is 00:54:25 if you play this game, you will understand. Like, you will understand this. So, listen, Ace, we got to rate it. Yeah, it's a downsides real quick. Any downsides, just off the top of your head. Just quick fire. Man, I mean, the world Kyoto that you're in is very repetitive. Like, the one zone to the other zone, I can't tell the difference on kind of thing. Like, you know, I do help the villagers.
Starting point is 00:54:49 I like getting the upgrades, but because this game is so skill-based, like, Ace, I guess this is a really good time to talk about that you and I didn't upgrade our characters for like two-thirds of the game. We had no idea. You got to go. to these Oney Well things to like upgrade the only gontlet so you can keep doing your like your weapon upgrades. The game will only say like a little bit of dialogue about that after the first one. It will not like ever set it as a marker or set it as a quest for you to go complete. So if you just like never you could go to the whole game like we did.
Starting point is 00:55:21 Yeah. If you could go the whole game without ever upgrading the only gauntlet. And I love watching. I watch you guys this conversation like in real time because I obviously I didn't play the game. I was playing Wolverine. So watching you guys talk about it and he's like, hey, did you ever do this? And Josh was like, no. And he's like, oh, you should definitely do this.
Starting point is 00:55:39 Yeah, because I was like, I have like a midair recovery now. It's great. I'm like so much stronger all of a sudden. Dude, but like so for somebody like me where I love just getting my butt kicked sometimes, I love difficulty, right? Like I just thought the game was getting really hard. And I'll say this. And talking to Panzer, and I will say this to people because this is a worry that I had in
Starting point is 00:55:59 the beginning. The game starts off very easy. Like very easy. The combat for the first probably two to three hours is super easy. Like you're just wrecking all these little minor demons. And the first boss fight you come across is like nothing. And I remember talking to Panzer about it. And I said, hey, one of my concerns is, is this a little easy?
Starting point is 00:56:18 Right. And he said the exact same thing to me. And then I made it ahead of him a good bit by like a few hours. Never mind. And then I went, and then I went, oh, okay, this is perfect because it's ramping up the difficulty at a perfect pace. And then he came to me and we were chatting again and I was like, don't worry about it.
Starting point is 00:56:35 The game absolutely does. It gets a lot harder. Now, part of that was and then it got even harder, right? And I'm fighting a boss where I'm like, bro, I don't know if I can kill this boss. Do I have to go grind? Like, what do I need to do here? And that's when in hindsight, we realized that we weren't going to do these things that were optional, that were getting your character, these upgrades that actually improved
Starting point is 00:56:55 your combat ability. So that's in essence, playing this game on hard mode with AIDS. who also was playing it on hard mode, but because it's skill-based, it was like, you don't have to do any of that. You can just try to go by your own merit. You can do it. It's not impossible.
Starting point is 00:57:11 If you can parry and you can dodge and you can counter Perry and you can counter Perry and Ethan attack and all that stuff, you can absolutely do the entire game without ever getting an upgrade. Now, it would be super-duper hard at that point, but it's doable. So that's an amazing combat system to me
Starting point is 00:57:23 where it puts everything into your hands and your skill and says have at it, and then it just is a masterclass in combat at that point, dude. Yeah, I see. My only complaint was Kyoto is a little repetitive. And like the same stuff happens a lot. But and then like it's, it gets a little grindy with the materials.
Starting point is 00:57:44 And that's about it. Yeah, I agree with you 100%. Like I did not grind for materials. I'd rather just beat boss fights on my own merit at that point. And you can. So that, I mean, like, why not? Right. And for me,
Starting point is 00:57:53 as somebody, it's like, well, I'll just, I don't want to spend the time grinding this stuff. So I'm just going to fight this boss 10 times. times instead, you know, until I finally beat him kind of thing. So what do you guys, what do you guys think? Like, this was a $70, right? This is a $70 game. $70 game.
Starting point is 00:58:08 So what do you guys think of the price? Absolutely worth $70. Yeah? Absolutely worth $70. Plain and simple. Play this game. Play this game. Worth every penny.
Starting point is 00:58:18 With every penny. With every penny of $70. What was your play time through? Like what? I got 25 hours in and I unlocked the hard mode and I want to play again. Okay. I am 27 hours in to this game.
Starting point is 00:58:31 So 25 to 30 hours depending on how long it takes you to be And there is a new game plus Yeah, if you beat the game plus that makes it even harder to where you're now you, you better be a master of this combat system at that point.
Starting point is 00:58:44 And I know again, shout out to Panzer because he's playing New Game Plus and he's like, bro, if you whiff, like you get one maybe two hits before a boss just kills you. He's a mass kiss though. That's rough.
Starting point is 00:58:53 You know, yeah. All right, Ace, what is your rating on? Onomusha. I, okay, I started off, like, really pensive about Onomusha because it was so, like, different. Like, I loved Musashi, but he was also a very weird character at first. He's very expressive. He's incredibly expressive.
Starting point is 00:59:12 I love his facial animation. I love his facial animations are top notch. They're so good. And, you know, the story and the characters weren't, you know, clicking for me for a little bit. But then it all kind of locks into place for me where I actually really started to enjoy these story and the characters. and the antagonist is great in this game, I got to say. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:59:32 Both the secondary and the main antagonist. Like you said, the combat's unmatched. This is easily the best combat in the game we've played thus far. This is a 10 out of 10 for me. This is my game of the year right now. Oh, 10 out of 10. This is my game of the year right now. Wow.
Starting point is 00:59:48 This is game of year for me right here. You heard it here, folk. I, wow. I mean, I, I'll be honest, Ace, I understand, and I don't disagree with you. I'm giving it a nine and a half. That's fair. You know, there was like a killer score still.
Starting point is 01:00:06 Yeah. Like, legitimately, you know, there are a few little things. Like, again, the story is kind of eh. I mean, you know, the whole premise of the game is you're trying to stop the gates of hell from opening kind of thing. You know. Get to the end. You'll feel different. Yeah, I have.
Starting point is 01:00:19 And to be, in all fairness, I think I have more hours in this than you do, but I have not rolled credits on it, but I'm like, I'm two hours from the end of this game. Yeah. Yeah. And I will, and I'm telling people right now, this is how you know, because I am absolutely going to roll credits on this game, even after this episode. Because usually once we record, I'm kind of like, okay, I'm done with that game. Yeah, yeah, I've said that before too. I'm not done. I've said that before.
Starting point is 01:00:40 I'm going to post the credit scene. He has to get to the final loss. I'm going to post the credits show because that's how good this game is. It is a 9-5 for me. There are a couple, and the only reason for the half point other than Ace is just like I said, Kyoto's kind of boring. You know, the villagers are kind of eh, whatever. The crafting system slash upgrade system is kind of, whatever. But they're all such minor complaints.
Starting point is 01:01:09 You know what I mean? Like, honestly, like, they're minimal. Dude, it's so good to me. It's just, it's a nine and a half. It is a nine and a half with the caveat that this is the best combat I have ever experienced in a video game people. the story is probably what holds it back. I love the main character,
Starting point is 01:01:28 but the story is just whatever. Like, let me just go kill more stuff, dude. Just throw more enemies at me. Let me be this badass samurai. Give me more boss fights. Give me more enemies. You know, that kind of thing. This story is kind of whatever.
Starting point is 01:01:39 Who cares kind of thing. And that's probably why it's not a 10 out of 10 for me. But I also fully understand why Ace would say 10 out of 10. And I'll say this, Ace, I think I'm with you. I think this might be the front runner for game of the year for me. This is front year for game of the year. You know what I mean? Like, honestly, dude, it's that good, people.
Starting point is 01:01:57 It is that good. We don't glaze games this hard very often. Especially for a game that I knew nothing about going into it. I knew nothing about this game. A game we had no hype for? Yeah, exactly. I thought you guys were going to like it, but I'm actually surprised that it's this much. Like, it's, this is impressive.
Starting point is 01:02:14 I love this game, dude. Love this game. In fact, like, my daughter's been asking, like, Dad, are we going to play Overwatch? I'm kind of like, I kind of want to go and play some more out of Musha. like, yes, because I want to be a good dad. But at the same time, like, I really just need to kill more stuff. And I'm also right on this boss fight that is all amazing right now. And I need to beat it.
Starting point is 01:02:32 And it's very tough. But it's like the Josh side of me is like, I got to kill this. I got to beat this boss. You got to lock in. Yeah. Yeah, I got to lock in. Oh, dude. Oh, anyway.
Starting point is 01:02:41 All right. Well, there you go, people. Onamusha for Ace 10 out of 10. 9.5 out of 10 for me. Wolverine for Ryan, eight and a half. Don't believe the internet hate. There is an incredible video game there for people. And again, it don't take our word for it.
Starting point is 01:02:55 Come to our community. I think we have eight to 10 people playing Wolverine right now. And nobody has said anything bad about it. I will say one person said, hey, I do feel like this game's a seven, but it's still really enjoyable. You know, like, I think that's the worst we've heard about Wolverine at that point is like, yeah, this is a lot of fun. But I get that it's a seven. I think that's spot on kind of thing for people. So it's like, okay, that's still a decent video game at that point.
Starting point is 01:03:19 That's still greatly above the average. Yeah. So, all right. Well, there you go. A double deep dive episode. And now you know, now you know. Now you got your answers, people, to what these games are all about. I will say this.
Starting point is 01:03:34 Onomusha, as good as this game is, it is a crime. A crime in gaming that more people are not talking about this game and experiencing this game. Plain and simple. Plain and simple. It's one of the best games I've played in a very long time. Like, like, like, Mortal Shell 2. caught me off guard. I said to most people, this is like the game that caught me by surprise.
Starting point is 01:03:55 This game blows Mortal Shell 2 out of water, people. And I love Mortal Shelter. Like I love Mortal Shel 2. That caught me off guard. And Onamusha, like, I'm sorry, Mortal Shell 2. I love you. But like, you are no Onamusha. I mean, oh my goodness, man. So all right. Listen, if you want to be like the amazing supporters that we thanked at the beginning of the episode, Jules, Alexander, Chillbreeze, Poutine, QC98, and Unshavened Monkey, you can head over to Patreon to support what we do.
Starting point is 01:04:24 You can, it's, it's Patreon at video gamers pod or there's a link in the episode description. If you love what we do, please follow the show. Hit that plus button, that follow button. It really does help other gamers find us. It bumps us up the algorithm for the podcast world, which is insane to even be a part of. And it really, and that way you get all our episodes the day that they release, you know, which is Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Starting point is 01:04:46 But they'll be waiting for you on your drive to work or your gym session or your, your chores or whatever you got going on there. That's going to do it for this episode, everybody. Until next time, happy gaming. See you, Bob. Peace out.

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