Video Gamers Podcast - Oblivion Remaster, Expedition 33 Predictions and Bye Bye Baldur's Gate 3 - Gaming Podcast

Episode Date: April 24, 2025

Gaming hosts Josh, Ryan and John are back this week to chat the incredible week of video game releases and shadow drops. From the release of the Oblivion Remaster to the release of Expedition 33, it's a fantastic week for video games, and an even better time to be a gamer! Baldur's Gate 3 is done, and Larian studios are now moving on to another gaming venture. Nintendo reveals the price of the Switch 2 Joycons, and Arc Raiders might have us more excited for it than Marathon. All the gaming news you need each and every week from the Video Gamers Podcast! Thanks to our MYTHIC Supporters: Redletter, Ol’ Jake, and Gaius Connect with the show: Support us on Patreon: patreon.com/videogamerspod Join our Gaming Community: https://discord.gg/Dsx2rgEEbz Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/videogamerspod/  Follow us on X: https://twitter.com/VideoGamersPod  Subscribe to us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@VideoGamersPod?sub_confirmation=1   Visit us on the web: https://videogamerspod.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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But is it also Oblivion Remake launch week? Rumors are flying and we've got a lot to talk about on today's episode, but first some introductions are in order. I am your host Josh and joining me, he dumped Expedition 33 before they even went on a first date for his old crusty girlfriend who got some new makeup. It's Ryan. Dang baby, you look so good right now with that remaster.

Come on, come to papa. I'm going to buy eight copies of you. Oh man. Oh boy. I love it though. I'm excited. Okay, all right. We're going to talk love it. I'm excited We're gonna talk about it and joining us he's committed to expedition 33

But sadly his ice-cold take on doom the dark ages counters any street cred he might have built up John I may be making room for both, buddy This may be moving Johnny for both, buddy. Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! This may be moving Johnny into polygamy territory here. Yes! Huh? Huh? Huh?

There's room for both. There's room for both. There's room for both. Yeah. Oh, man. All right, so listen, guys. All right, we're just gonna start off because we broke out into a heated debate

before we actually started this episode. And we just said, you know what? We're saving it for the show. We're airing our dirty laundry, like live to everybody else. Yep. And so Ryan, you started this. So I'm going to let you just start it off, buddy. So what do you got behind you Josh there? The lesser, the lesser blades of chaos. Leviathan Axe is far superior to the blades of chaos. Oh, that's the take. There's nothing special It's an axe. It's it's an axe like any other axe and the blades open it. Well, it's are so I cut the blades of chaos Made Kratos they made god of war man. They are one of the most iconic weapons in all of game done

Yes, see John you're so wise John of game done. Yes. See, John, you're so wise, John. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know.

I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know.

I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. Like literally okay. Well alright, so that's a little crazy cuz I the axe the axe has its place that's so good Dude, we'll take it from Kratos himself guy. I had a long conversation one day. Okay, and he said listen Blades of Chaos aoe damage when you're fighting six enemies You need those blades when you're fighting one dude that needs to get hit really hard in the face

The Leviathan axe is where it's at. So, yes, there's a place for both, but if we're talking which ones are the better weapons, Blades of Chaos, hands down, dude. You know what they didn't do in God of War 2018, Ryan? They didn't have one of the most epic game moments that exists in any video game ever where Kratos is slowly uncovering the blades of chaos again and the music lifts

up and you start just getting chill bumps on your arms because you're like, Oh my gosh, he's doing it. And then he slowly starts wrapping them around his forearms again. They don't do that with the Leviathan acts. Dang it. I'm getting goosebumps now. I know I have to like just thinking about it. Oh man. I mean, don't get me wrong the Leviathan axis Freaking sweet. It's just a personal preference. I I prefer the frost and Leviathan over the blades of chaos I just liked you know with my play style, but you know they're both amazing for sure Can we admit and I'm gonna leave this spoiler free for anybody that hasn't played Ragnarok yet But also if you haven't played Ragnarok. Do we have to do a spoiler warning for a game that's at a halt?

I try to, I try to, but can we, can we admit that the Leviathan Axe and the Blades of Chaos are better and cooler than the other weapon that you get in Ragnarok? Yes. Yeah. Yes. I thought that weapon was going to be so much cooler. Not to scale. Not to scale.

Not to scale. Not to scale, everybody. Not to scale. Do we also have to do a spoiler warning that when you beat Mario Brothers level one that Koopa, the princess, is in another castle? John. La la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la It's like, it's... John, would you kindly stop giving spoilers to iconic games? Sorry. Yeah. We'll move on to movies. Sorry, everybody.

Yeah. Titanic. There's a few MioShock fans out there that were like, I caught that, would you kindly, by the way? Yeah. Well, welcome into the Video Gamers Podcast, everybody, where this is what we do, man. We're friends.

We argue over things like the Blades of Chaos versus the Levi the Leviathan axe two out of the three of us are smart the other one stupid But no matter what we love talking video games and boy do we have John's like wait is it me is it right? No, you voted with me John. So you're the smart one. I just I'm the FNG. I figured I was the stupid one I just I'm the FNG. I figured I was the stupid one. Oh Love when these episodes just start off so stupid We do have a lot of video game news to talk about today. There is some this is a big week for gaming Even if some of the rumors aren't true that something huge might drop this week. So we're going to get into

it. But you know, we do have some reviews to read. We're going to do that at the end of the show for people because we really want to just jump right into the gaming news. But if you want to stick around, so for some pretty awesome reviews that have gotten left for us, make sure you hang out till the end. All right, Ryan, you know, I thought about talking about Expedition 33, because I mean, it does release the day this episode comes out, but you know what? We're a generous bunch around here. And we wanna give you the spotlight, Ryan,

so that you can talk about the game that I know you're more excited about. So why don't you go ahead and lend Credence to the rumor mill. Now, I will say this this one thing We're recording this on Monday the 21st. So this news will have released by the time people are listening to this episode, but it's fun to kind of Yes, you know speculate a little bit and then listen on Thursday and go my goodness

We're a bunch of idiots. We didn't get anything right. Well, that's the usual. So we can just expect that for sure. But man, Elder Scrolls, Oblivion, Remastered, not just a little kind of reskin or anything crazy, this is like a full on Shadow Drop remaster. The announcement is going to be a remake. Yeah, not remastered, remake, sorry. Total remake, it's going to be in, I Yeah. Yeah. Not remastered remake. Sorry. Total remake it's going to be an, I think, uh, uh, unreal engine five, right? It's not going to be in this government. Yeah, I believe so. So, so it's going to be hardcore. Everything's

going to be absolutely fantastic. I mean, closing those gates again, dude, closing those gates again. It's like, it's, it's just, to me, oblivion is one of the best. gates again, it's like, it's just, to me, Oblivion is one of the best, it's one of the best games ever made. It's way, way up there. It's just so dated. It came out, I think, in 2006, something like that. So it's been a long time. It's crazy we're getting that as a remake before Elder Scrolls 6, but here we are.

I'll take it. That's fine. Tuesday, the 22nd, 11 PM Eastern, I think is when they're saying the announcement's going to be 11 AM. Let's or a really late. Yeah, that's really late. So AM Eastern, that's going to be the announcement. It's happened before where Bethesda is kind of shadow drop some stuff.

So maybe they just come out and say, Hey, we're releasing this by the way. You can play right now. Like that, that would be so awesome. So hopefully by the time you're listening to this, you can go into steam and download, uh, elder scrolls oblivion. Like that would be the sickest thing ever. So I Ryan straight up. Yeah. Expedition 33 comes out Thursday. Oh, I know. Oblivion remake comes out Thursday. Which one are you loading up first? Well, I kind of have to play, uh, expedition 33. There was a trap and you stepped right over it. You were like, Oh, I see this trip wire. I know I'm kind of forced to, but that doesn't mean I can't do both. You know, I can't do both, you know, so I just I we've already prepped our children. We've told them

Sorry little ones you're gonna have to fend for yourselves this weekend Daddy's playing all kinds of video games So I may have to bounce back and forth between the two But if I was not forced to play by our good third host John many moons ago not forced to play by our good third host, John, many moons ago, uh, with to a game that I didn't even know what it was when it free. He's first like, yeah, you're going to play this game. I'm like, what expedition 33? What are you talking about? And then we got all the info. It does look really cool. Um, I am excited for both, but man, I'm an elder scrolls fan boy, so, uh, it's going to be a hard weekend for me.

John, you were kind of looking up in the air while Ryan was giggling and drooling over this possible announcement and release. What are your thoughts? Have you now you've played oblivion, right? I haven't played oblivion. So here's my I when we talk about the age-old debate Sci-Fi or fantasy I love both, but I definitely lean fantasy. I was in the military when Morrowind came out and it was a breakthrough title and everybody was talking about it.

And for me, I was like, oh my gosh, finally a game that I can like lose my reality in. I was in the Navy and so I was underway for months at a time without pulling into ports. It was a perfect opportunity to literally dive into something like this. And I played it and there's just something about it that that didn't resonate. Something about that first person melee perspective, I don't know, there was just something about it where it didn't click initially. Now that being said, something about it where it didn't click initially. Now that being said, if we're talking about a honest-to-goodness remake where it's on an updated gaming engine and they worked out some of the kinks and dated gaming mechanics, I really want to like it. I really, really, really want to like it.

I want to take that dive and again lose myself myself in an alternate reality competing with Clarib Scare man there's just a lot of games to play I'm gonna I'm gonna try and make time for it but I'm glad it's coming out for friend so Marowind was the last Elder Scrolls game that you played yeah which I think was like So you didn't you did not play? Skyrim either no no there are certain games There's certain games that put me off of a genre like that that put me off of a whole genre I've never played any of the fallout games for the same you should absolutely

Give it a try dude now. I the reason I say that is a Mara win Brutally hard no compass no map you could you didn't yes quest markers You just had to remember that so and so what town did that guy mention? He told me to talk to some dude. What building was it the the hotel? I think is and then you're wandering on this giant hotel looking for some random dude with no quest marker You finally find him and you're like is it you and he's like, oh, yeah, I've been waiting for you Mara wind insane issues with quality life stuff. Oblivion was the true evolution of the Elder Scrolls games.

And then Skyrim, I think, took one step forward and also kind of a step back for a lot of people. But you talk about an immersive fantasy world, dude. The Elder Scrolls games are fantastic. And if this one, like you said, improves the quality of life stuff for Oblivion, you know, the leveling system was really wonky in Oblivion. There was just some quality of life stuff. You know, the graphics are at this point are really dated. So if it's Unreal Engine 5 and we've got some nice spiffy graphics to go with it, and just some other current upgrades, oh my goodness, dude.

You are in for... You are in for... I'm going to the arena, baby. I didn't realize that you hadn't played these. I'm going to the arena. So now I'm kind of hyped. Like, I'm kind of with Ryan where I'm like, John, you don't... You might be missing something that you didn't know what you were missing, buddy. Okay, so there's another big game that's still on my backlog.

Do I play Oblivion or RDR2? Oh, RDR2. OK, well. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, Oblivion, fantastic game. Red Dead Redemption 2, quite possibly best video game ever made. So yeah, that one's not really that much of a choice.

So anyway, just to get to the rumors, we will know a lot more information literally tomorrow from the day that we're recording this. I think that they are not going to shadow drop it this week. So if we're making predictions, I think that they are going to announce it, and then I think they're gonna say, hey, this is coming out like May 1st,

to give it a little bit of breathing room and also to not conflict with Expedition 33. Even though I know Expedition 33 is an indie title, the amount of hype behind that game, not just from us, but a lot of people that I have seen online is through the roof. And I think Bethesda's not stupid. And so I think they're gonna wanna say,

let's just, let's split Expedition 33 and doom the Dark Ages and let's put it square at the start of May. Bro, if they do that, they're freaking cowards, bro. It's Elder Scrolls. Yeah, but so, okay, so here's the thinking though, right? Because a lot of people have said that we're getting this remake to tide everybody over until the Elder Scrolls 6, right?

Starfield, I don't want to say that Starfield was a flop because I wouldn't consider it a flop, but I don't think Starfield did for Bethesda what they were hoping Starfield would do for Bethesda. So I think this is their stopgap to say, listen, we need something to make fans happy. But I think in that, that they are going to do it in a smart way to say, hey, as cool and fun as it would be to shadow drop this, we don't want to shadow drop this

a day or two before Expedition 33 comes out. Let's just split it. I mean, you're talking a week. I mean, legitimately, May 1st is only a week away. And so that to me makes more sense if I was Bethesda, but then again, I'm not. So chances are this thing's already out and people can play it and we'll see what happens.

Fingers crossed. Come on, baby. Come on, one time dealer. I know there's so many. I'm actually really excited. I'm just more excited for Expedition 33 personally, what happens. Well, fingers crossed. Come on, baby. Come on. One time dealer. I know there's so many. I'm actually really excited. I'm just more excited for Expedition 30 personally, but I will absolutely be diving into the oblivion remake.

Dude, like there are no qualms about that whatsoever. And then we're going to have to convince John, but I don't think it would take very much because it's a fantastic game, dude. Probably not. All right. I mean, we've already been talking about Expedition 33, guys. Like I said, it released today, the day that people are listening to this episode. I'm looking into my crystal ball.

I'm at work right now. I'm supposedly supposed to be focusing on work, but I'm not. I am just imagining myself at home playing Expedition 33, saying hi to my wife and kids as I bolt through the door, you know, and just run to my computer to start loading this thing up. Yeah, high buy is basically it. So I thought it would be fun because listen, at this point, people understand how I feel about the game.

They should understand how John feels about the game and Ryan, they should understand your terrible take on this also. But I thought it would be fun to say, hey, let's put our money where our mouth is. Let's make a prediction for the score on this game. Like we can do the steam rating if you wanna do it out of the zero to 100.

We can do Metacritic if you wanna do that scale. But I think that this game is going to be very, very well received. I am saying it's going to put, it's going to be a 93% on Steam, dude. I think it's going to be that good. Bro, that's a big score. I think it's going to be that good. I was thinking 92, Josh. So I think you and I are aligned on this. Yeah. You guys are right. I don't think you realize Ryan, I don't think you realize because you're not a fan of this genre so much. So I think this, I've been describing it to people as a mix of like persona meets final fantasy. Yeah. But like with just, just super incredible art style and-the-top like combat animations and graphics and stuff like that

I think you're sleeping on this a little bit, dude. I Don't know man. That's that's a high score. Uh Gosh, I was thinking somewhere in like the mid 80s like 84 85 something like that So I think it's than blueprints? I think it's, I don't know, like I think it'll still be a good game, but I think everybody that's hyped up about it is just like blindly running into the light,

like, oh, give us the good turn-based game, you know, and they just run into it, you know, looking for happiness, which you can't find in a turn-based game, you know? So. So. You're spending all these times sitting around thinking. All right. Let me ask you a question, Ryan. All right. Lay it on me. If this was action combat, you just click your buttons as fast as your little brain wants to click them. Would that change your outlook on this? Is it literally just that it's the turn-based combat? With the story, the way it looks in the story and the cinematics, if it was more of an action RPG style, where I am in real-time combat and I'm, and I'm fluid and I'm moving, that would totally change my thought.

Totally, you know wrong and I hope I am that that these people have created a game that is amazing and I'm I'm proven a fool and I absolutely love it and it's a good game because you know what I have to play it Either way, so I hope it's good and I Want it to be that I just these turn-based games just seem so monotonous and boring to me I get their strategy I get there's a, but I just hate the stop in combat. So I hope, I hope that it's great. I hope that it's amazing.

I think that the active combat stuff is going to satisfy that little part that you hate. I think so too. I think it will be an active. If there's enough of it, it will. Cause like, you know, I can take that. You know, it's just, it's the, you know, when I think of a turn-based,

I just think of the old school Final Fantasies, where you're just sitting in waiting for your attack. I get that. That's a fair. I mean, honestly, I like to pick on you, because I'm super excited about it. But that is a very fair take, dude. As much as I think that Expedition 33 is

going to be great for the people that are hoping it's going to be great, we can say this about any game, but it's not going to be for everybody, plain and simple. I think that there's going to be people that are hoping it's gonna be great. I mean, we can say this about any game, but it's not gonna be for everybody, plain and simple. I think that there's gonna be people just go like- Yeah, if it was more of an action RPG, I wouldn't be excited about it. I will say, I think I would not be as hyped, John. I'm with you on that.

As cool as it looks, I think I'm in the mood. Another one of these. Yeah. So, all right, so we'll leave that because I'm sure we're gonna be deep diving Expedition 33 as well. So we'll just leave that one there. We're gonna take a quick break, know, we're gonna be deep diving expedition 33 as well So we'll just leave that one there We're gonna take a quick break and then we're gonna come back and talk about another game that we have not talked about in A while that is also very high up my I'm excited for this game list and that's a game called arc Raiders

So we'll be right back to talk about that one Yeah, all right guys we're back now All right, guys, we're back. Now, listen, we just got done talking about Marathon and I may have gone on a small little rant. I think is Tyrade is what some people said about Marathon and how it is not doing anything new. And I'm a little disappointed in that one. And then, you know, we're talking about this

extraction shooter genre, right? This PV EVP extraction shooter genre. And here is this game called Arc Raiders that we have covered on the show a few times, but it's been a while. And what's funny is even John, who, you know, before joining us was a huge fan of the show, said, dude, I don't remember hearing about this game. And so he said, well, dude, check out some of the gameplay. I think Ark Raiders looks fantastic,

dude, where I think Marathon does not look fantastic. I think Ark Raiders does look fantastic. Ryan, we were talking a little bit before we started recording. You kind of said, Hey, dude, this game kind of looks a little bit like the division. Yeah, I said, dude, I'm kind of hoping it's got a little bit of that Outriders DNA in it. John said, cool, this game looks pretty good. It does look it does look really cool. And I don't know why it stood out to me, but like the plants, the rendering of like the plants and the foliage look like exceptionally good.

But now that I've had a few minutes to reflect. Uh-oh. Uh-oh. It doesn't, I mean, it looks like the division, it kind of gives me like Starship Troopers meets Horizon, a little bit vibes or whatever. Yeah, the Horizon vibe, I get that. Like Marathon looks unique to me, man.

I mean, there's... Box of Kranz does look pretty unique. You know? I think it's not gonna be for everybody, but at least I think they're doing something different. Uh, in the art style? Yeah. I think so. It's more the gameplay. I don't know.

Listen, as much as I trolled Marathon and I said, listen, you know, Bungie, I expected more from you, I don't even know who's making Arc Raiders at this point. Uh, it's, listen, you know, Bungie, I expected more from you. I don't even know who's making Arc Raiders at this point. Uh, it's, oh, it's the studio that made the finals, which is a free to play shooter, which is actually a really good game. Um, I have higher hopes for Arc Raiders than I do for Marathon. And now they, to be fair, because I know there's people right now that are saying, wait a minute,

they're kind of different games. And yes, I get it Marathon is escaped from Tarkov. Ark Raiders is more Division-esque I would say where you know, maybe it's just like playing the division but being in the dark zone the whole time It is a PvEvP game, but I would not qualify them as being like the exact same in this case, but for me What I have seen from Ark Raiders and having a couple buddies to jump into that game with vastly interests me more than Marathon does and having a couple buddies to jump into Marathon. Maybe it's the sweaty aspect. I

mean, you can lose your gear in both games. It's just, I don't know what it is. Maybe it's the art style. Maybe I like the Horizon, you know, high-end graphics with good lighting versus the plasticky crayon looking marathon. I don't know. I don't know. But all I know is that if you put these two games side by side and said, Josh, pick one,

for some reason I'm picking Arc Raiders, man. I think too, the graphics are superior, but they also are kind of- Well, they're not superior, they're different. No, they're superior, but they also are kind of... Whoa, they're not superior, they're different. No, they're superior, but they're bland. No, they're not superior, man. But they're bland is what it is. Is there very much...

No, they're not... Dude, they are superior. It's superior graphics. It's not superior. You can't just make a bunch of funky colors and say like, oh no, this is the same as that. It's like, no, this is just abstract, you know, it's abstract art. One was made by sixth graders,

the other one was made by college graduates. You guys, get out of here, man. You know? Oh, I love it. I can't believe, Josh made a comment earlier about what a big fan I was before the show, and I think you're certainly overselling that a bit. My little fandom is shrinking by the moment. How dare you're certainly overselling that a bit

Dispute my claims for you. Your fandom will not be challenged ever. I Think I think that this um Man if it's like the division in the dark zone, it was pretty fun I mean the division had its issues for sure, but I very much enjoyed that game It's hard to say man I I am up in the air on both of these it's you it's one of those where We've been burned so many times on a lot of these games where we think are great and they are bad and we think are bad And then they turn out to be great and so it's it's hard to know what we're going to get out of these styles of games. I just, I do like the look of our creators more than marathon. And I'm a bungee fan boy, man. I've been, I've been a bungee guy for a long time. So it's, you know, that's hard for me to say, but, um,

Well, we'll know a little bit more about our creators. The whole point of this conversation before, you know, like we do, we got way off the rails here is that they are having a network, a public network play test at the end of April. So April 30th through May 4th, you can probably sign up to get in to do this technical test. Now, anybody that's done a technical test,

you know you're getting dropped, you're getting kicked, you're gonna crash, you're gonna do all this stuff, but you do get to get a snippet of the gameplay because they actually want you in there trying to play the game as well I'm gonna sign up for this and hope that I get in because I really want to see what this game feels like and what It's about but if you're so inclined to to give it a shot That is the the kind of the takeaway here is that they are doing a public play test April 30th through May 4th. So, uh, yeah. Arc Raiders is, is up there for me, man. I just want another Outriders dude. And I know Outriders like flies under the radar for a lot of people, but my goodness, dude, a good shooter looter type experience with your buddies is some

of the most fun you can have in gaming in my opinion. So, all right, guys, let's move on to this one because I, if, if, if I, this is a question to our listeners who are listening right now and to you both name a developer that is held in the highest regards by gamers. Blizzard. Okay. You're off. You're out. I'm muting your microphone. I'm kidding, I'm kidding, I'm kidding. He's at me. He's at me. Oh, gosh. No, I'm all right, all right, all right. I'm gonna step out.

Yeah, so. I would say Nintendo or Larian. Larian Studios for me. Yeah, Larian. CD Projekt Red after they fixed Cyberpunk, I think is another one where, you know, they lost a lot of cred. Rockstar is up there, you know, can do not a whole lot of wrong naughty dog The the point being is that there's really not a lot that gamers go. I freaking love this developer, dude

I'm gonna buy their games I trust that they're gonna make fun games and For me and a lot of gamers Larry and studios with their success with Baldur's Gate 3 and how they approach making games I mean if you remember when Baldur's Gate 3 and how they approach making games. I mean, if you remember when Baldur's Gate 3 came out, this is the game that the gaming industry went, you don't expect this kind of game, guys. That's not good for gamers when people have this high of expectations for games.

And Larian went, why don't you just make a really good video game and then everybody will be happy and you'll make a ton of money. And then everybody else went, well, that's not realistic. Yeah. And it's like, but why can't be done? So Larian bids farewell to Baldur's Gate three. What a catchy, what a catchy headline there. Larian is saying goodbye.

Goodbye. Our beloved Baldur's Gate three. Goodbye to one of the best role playing games ever made. Goodbye all of you phenomenal characters and your turn-based combat that was amazing and a true adaptation of the Dungeons and Dragons rule set that made it into PC gaming. Goodbye.

Just goodbye. You know, yeah, just goodbye. Goodbye and good riddance. How dare you? How dare you, John, in your crazy Baldur's Gate 3 take? So, but here's the thing. Larian, the gigantic Patch 8 released, it came with 45 pages of patch notes, and Larian said, guys, this is the final patch. We are not making any additional content We are not doing any further patching to this game that brings new content now if there's bugs that need to be fixed They'll still take care of that. But the the creation of content for Baldur's Gate 3 is over and You kind of go wait what? Like what what do you mean? What?

A developer, they had like an awesome game and they're not just gonna try to milk it dry for every single ounce of money that they could. What about the DLCs? Yeah. Don't you want DLCs, guys? And skins and everything you could possibly imagine. John, you played Baldur's Gate 3?

You didn't finish it just like I didn't finish it, but I think we have very different takes on the game because I think it's one of the best role-playing games ever made. And John is like, yeah, I played it because my friends were playing it. I can. Yeah, I can respect it for what it was. And clearly a lot of people liked it. And honestly, the thing that I like the most about it is that it duped a lot of people into playing and enjoying Dungeons and Dragons that they might not have otherwise. And I love that. But the thing that I really have a challenge with is as beautiful and

well thought out of the game as the game is, is that it is a game that relied so much on narrative exposition, where they're telling you things that are happening without showing you these things. And that drives me freaking nuts. So Larian, I know, listens to the show quite often for my notes specifically, more cinematics show me these things and get off the stupid characters face, wincing for 20 minutes gratuitously. I hated that. I absolutely hated it. And I'm sorry to all the fans out there, man.

I feel pretty strongly about this one. It's a very dialogue heavy game. You're not the only person that I've heard this complaint from, John. So again, this is why we love games, because everybody is entitled to terrible opinions. You know? I'm striking out, yeah.

Right? I mean, but here's the crazy thing to me, right? The reason that we wanted to talk about this story, number one, Larian, one of the best studios in my opinion, Divinity Original Sin 2, one of my favorite games. Then they follow it up with Baldur's Gate 3, which is fantastic. I mean, these guys have done no wrong in my eyes, and I love their mindset. Now the fact, this is the crazy part because every

other game developer in the world would be going, we have our DLC one plan for 2026. We have DLC two plan for late 2026. We have DLC three plan for 2027 and we're going to charge 30 bucks for each one because we know people will pay it because it's Baldur's Gate three. Larry and when we're done, we made the game. The game is great. Everybody loves it. And now we want to go make something else because we want the freedom to not be tied down to this IP. We want the freedom to follow our passion and Baldur's Gate 3 was our passion for many many years It's no longer our passion

I mean they've said that and so we're not gonna we're not gonna keep working on it because we have something else we're super passionate about and I Freaking love that dude. They will not get into this money at all costs mindset. They will not milk Baldur's Gate dry. They want to make a game that they want to make and I freaking love them for it. I will buy whatever game they make because this is what we want developers to be. We say it all the time. We don't want them just digging as deep into our pockets as they can. And Larian is actually doing it. They are actually saying we made the game that we wanted to make. You all loved it. We love that for you. Now we're going to do what we want to do and make something different. And I could not support that

more. I would agree with that. Again, despite my very strongly cited opinion on Baldur's Gate 3, I love and respect the studio, whatever they come out with next, we'll at least get a try for sure. Yeah. There's just something to be said about recognizing what you've created and then there being a finalized chapter to it and accepting that and not just trying to milk people for more money and making a million. All these different, you see it with movies, like, oh cool, this hit, let's make five sequels, you know, they're going to be trash and garbage, and it just, it destroys the series. So like, leave Baldur's Gate alone. They made an amazing game.

It has its purpose and its time, and then we'll go do something else. You know, I did not play the game. I've heard amazing things and not so amazing things from John, but I recognize and I love what they're doing with this, so that's a thumbs up in my book for sure. Yeah. All right. Let's talk about a developer that a lot of people love. John, you actually mentioned this.

You mentioned Nintendo. Now, there's been a lot of Nintendo news and we've had some strong opinions on Nintendo stuff lately. I mean, the Switch 2 has caused a lot of controversy in the gaming world with the price of the Switch 2 and the price of the games and all that stuff. So, you know, this is something that we don't, we try not to beat a dead horse,

but if there's valid news that needs to be talked about, there's valid news that needs to be talked about. And I think this one is another chance for me to kick this dead horse. Man, I can't wait to hear that they lowered prices and then they fixed the controls. And I think this one is another chance for me to kick this dead horse Man I can't wait to hear that they lowered prices and then they Of course they lowered prices Ryan because they fixed the controllers everything's good They heard the gamer outcry they listened to our episode where we talked about the Hall effect And how they could have used that on their joy cons

But instead Nintendo loves stick drift so that you know they they want more stick drift so that you have to buy more joy cons, but instead Nintendo loves stick drift so that, you know, they, they want more stick drift so that you have to buy more joy cons guys. Everybody knows this. And so what did Nintendo do? They said, guys, listen, we heard your episode. We love the video gamers podcast. We love what you guys are about. We know that you're honest gamers and you always speak the truth. And so we went to our executive board and we talked to them about it. And here's what we're gonna do guys We're gonna raise the price of the joy cons everybody, you know What if you're burning through like crazy cuz the stick drift why not get more money out of you? Guys

John shaking his head. The corporate finance side of John is just squirming right now. You don't understand. It just makes sense, guys. It's just such an unfair position, you guys. I would like to be in an unfair position where I made billions of dollars. I'll tell you that much. Yeah.

Okay, okay. How many multi-billion dollar companies go bankrupt all the time, Ryan? It happens all the time. It doesn't matter if your profits have a T in front of them or an M in front of them or a B in front of them. Business is volatile and companies charge what they need to do to stay in business with a reasonable threat level. And even then

they go, I don't know about that, man. Guys, the problem is you're a businessman. That's a got a good heart. Not everybody's got a good heart. So I'm, I'm a businessman. Yeah. Period. Yeah. And I also happen to have a good heart, but the businesses, in my opinion, live and die based on their merit. Most things in my life live and die based on their merit. For sure. So I think that Nintendo happened to time this poorly so that they are the, time this poorly so that they are the They are the phalanx they are the they are the what do you call it when you Vanguard Vanguard? Thank you. They are the vanguard of this unknown future for the gaming industry They just happen to time this at a time where there's gonna be great economic uncertainty for everybody for everybody

what you're seeing from Nintendo you you're going to see from everybody else. And is it because they need it? Yes, of course they need to make some profit. They need to make some profit. I mean, that is a fact of the matter. But a company can't absorb 49% tariffs. You can't, you have to pass that on. They had no way of knowing that. You have to pass it on or you die. That is the way that works. And it is unfortunate that Nintendo is in this position and they are a hardware heavy company.

And I hope it works for a man, but I don't believe this is all corporate greed beyond what would be normal for a company to expect I think John let me ask you a question This is this is a serious question if you were to if you were to make a product and sell a product What is a good like profit margin? So let's say that I make you know a glob, right? And I say hey this glob cost me five dollars to make what I sell it What's a good margin

for me to sell that glob at? Here's, I wanna give you a little bit of introspection into this actually, cause I, Sarah and I go on a walk every morning. There's a little tangent here, but I promise this is relevant. Sarah and I go for a four mile walk every morning and halfway through we stop for my second or third coffee

of the day, depending on how early I woke up. But we stop in, grab a coffee, grab a pastry. Today we did the same thing. We've got this great little pastry shop called Prep and Pastry in Gilbert, Arizona. And we were talking to the store manager of Liz. We say hi whenever we go in there. We go, hey Liz, how was your Easter?

And she goes, you know, it was really slow. And we go, why do you think that is? And she was like, well, as near as I can tell, Easter business was down 30 to 40% year over year, not just in restaurants, but across the board. And I was like, that's interesting. Sarah and I went to go see this great movie Sinners yesterday. Easter is usually a pretty heavy cinema day and it was pretty empty. And we go, okay, that's interesting.

There's clearly some pervasive and widespread economic concern that is driving consumer behavior. So what I would say is, is that it really depends on the industry. It depends on what your threat tolerance is. But for a comparison, pastry industries, restaurant industries charge a 90% gross margin on their products.

When you buy a cheeseburger for five bucks, say, which I know cheeseburgers don't cost five bucks, they have to be able to make that cheeseburger for 50 cents Yeah, so I think people you know, we don't have all of the I've never seen Nintendo's profit and loss statement I think that they are charging what they need to do to stay in business Food spoils food goes bad. They have to have a high profit margin to counteract like their spoilage and other things like that. You can have a game and it can sit on the shelf for, for two and a half years and it's still good in two and a half years. Oh, and that's not true at all. Well, Nintendo still charges $60 for the games that are four years old. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Yeah. But what we're talking about, this is another great comparison. Tesla's high starting price, low reval because they lose,

people don't want that to have the hassle of changing the batteries. It's value decreases, new Corvette Corvettes from five years ago, sell for their sticker price or more. And it's because people recognize the value in it. Nintendo does an exceptional job of retaining the integrity of their IP and that costs money, baby. That costs money. Or manipulation. My whole point was the Joy-Cons. The Nintendo has not certified this, but there's been many what they call like tear down firms

and they say the cost to manufacture a Joy-Con is about $45. So Nintendo is charging, I'm assuming this is a hundred percent profit because they're selling them for $90. So, again, I don't know what that's. That's I mean, that that if it's 45 to manufacturer, that's honestly is kind of low. You always want to try to be three times cost like at all possible. Like, Like again, it depends it depends greatly on the on the on the industry But like if what we're saying is is that it costs $45 to make a $90 controller that imputes a fifth. Sorry. Yes 50% gross margin But then you have to talk about administrative costs. You have to talk about advertising costs You have to talk about liability costs insurance But you have to talk about you have to talk about research and the big bogey in the room that we talked about boom class action lawsuits guys

That is a big problem like yeah Fix the problem then that problem The controllers just worked It would be last year, weird. Oh, I love, I love, poor John. John's gonna like start smoking after this. He's like, I need a break. John's having to listen to Ryan and I, just trash a business, you know what I mean? To like, to be like, hey man.

And then John's like, no guys, this all makes sense. This makes sense. And then like, Ryan and I are like, so? When NES came out, I had to do abominable things to those cartridges to make them work. There was blowing and spitting and lots of other things that I will not acknowledge on this podcast to make those things work. And it was terrible. Could Nintendo have retained that terrible obsolescence because they sell more cartridges that way? No, they improved it. The

SNES was much better. Xbox, the Xbox 360, that had tons and tons of hours of R&D that went behind it. And backed by what at the time was the biggest company in the world, Microsoft. And they released it. And what did we start seeing? We started seeing the Red Ring of Death, which was a critical hardware failure. And they literally had to replace the whole thing. That was the worst feeling in the world. Yeah. Yeah, but then their next iteration, we didn't understand how they literally had to replace the worst feeling in the world

Yeah, but then their next iteration they didn't we didn't understand how they were gonna fix it, but they fixed it They didn't have the same hardware problem This is a you just mentioned something fantastic When Xbox 360 released in the Red Ring of Death, they had to fix those. I had to fix them. I had two red. Yeah. And so that I had one. So but you said they fixed it in the next iteration of the console. So you're saying that the switch has joy con drift issues and Nintendo had the chance to fix it in the next iteration of the console. And they didn't fix it.

We don't have that information. We are extrapolating way too much from the news. What we know is they do not have the hall effect controllers, which would be a way to solve this. Now, again, I will absolutely eat my words. If what happens is Nintendo Switch 2 comes out and they still have beyond what is the industry norm for drift issues in their thumb sticks and in the joy cons, I will eat my words. I'm just saying right now, we cannot

shoot this horse. That's all I'm saying. Oh, I've already shot it. John clearly has. John's always so reasonable, man. He buried that poor guy alive. John makes his opinions, but he's so dang reasonable all the time, I hate it. That's why I love, John's using logic and business sense. I know logic and reason. And all this against Ryan and I, who are just like, no man, we just wanna trash this. No, make it work.

And he's like, what am I supposed to do with these two idiots that will listen to anything? If I can be wrong about Baldur's Gate, you guys can be wrong about this. Okay, that's fair. I will concede. That is fair. All right. Well, listen, everybody, man, I freaking love just talking video games with you guys, man.

This is so much fun. But we are out of time for this episode. So we're going to end it there. Everybody remember John said he'd eat his words. Ryan and I did not agree to that, but happily with extra mustard. So listen, we hope that you all are diving into expedition 33 tonight We hope that you are enjoying the oblivion remake if it actually did drop in between this episode being recorded and airing Whatever the case man. It's a good freaking time to be a gamer

Did you you were muted, John. No, I'm not muted. I'm not muted. We just have something very, very important to cover. Very exciting. That we were gonna read at the end. Oh, the reviews! Yeah, the reviews!

Well, yeah, I mean, that was just to see if everybody was paying attention. There we go. Because we've got some reviews to read. Good quality check, host. Oh my gosh, see, see, We don't want to. Yeah. You know, I'm an old dog, man. You can't teach me new tricks.

We always say we're not professionals. You can't teach me new tricks and then expect me to remember to read reviews at the end of the episode. Josh, in fairness, I totally forgot, too. I know, too. Hey, a promise is a promise. I remembered. I remembered.

Good joke. GG, GG, Ryan. All right. Well, I will start off with this review, because it literally is titled Josh read this this one comes in from super cool and I love pyro and it says Twas a time that this audio masterpiece granted in its infancy was known by lesser name the multiplayer gaming Podcast over the years the hosts have changed and the format ripped twig, but it has grown tenfold

in listeners and quality. It is now the top podcast for games and I'm pretty sure most of the one star reviews are accidental. The hosts are beautiful human beings and have one of the best communities ever in games. It is truly amazing. PS, please review the finals. Thank you for your time and attention. Yours truly, Muzz.

Moose? Muzz. I'm gonna say Muzz. Also Twigs back, baby. What do you think we're doing right now? Yeah. You can tell how far behind we are. Yeah.

And the finals, fantastic game by the way. Pyro. Pyro's a great guy, man. I love whenever that guy's on a voice chat or the community game nights, man. I love talking to that guy I think that's a different pyro. There's a lot of pyros in this world apparently Well, I love them all I love them. Yeah. All right, John, and then you've got one for yeah I've got one from one of the best named people in our discord community is Kwan Dale Dingle and his Review is titled awesome podcast with not one not two, but three exclamation points and he says

This is a great podcast to listen to if you're a bored teenager like me I usually listen to this when I'm going to bed not saying you guys are boring kind of think you saying we're boring But every episode I learn about a new game Thank you guys I'm now obsessed with Red Dead Redemption 2 and I've already given up on Dutch if you ask crying face crying face crying face Way to go quantity at Quondale. Thanks for the review, buddy But Arthur we have a plan. Kwandale's instincts are spot on, by the way.

Spot on. Spotting a scoundrel. Yeah. All right. Now, now we're at the end of the episode, boys. But this is a good time to remind people to, if you haven't, please rate the show five stars. Please leave us a review.

It really does help people. And we're going to continue to read these on the show as a thank you to the people that take the time to do that. If you haven't done so already, make sure you follow us in your podcast app, click that follow button, that plus button, so you get all of our episodes the day that they release. And if you are so inclined, you can help support this podcast. There is a link in the episode description where you can sign up to support the show. We're going to give you some awesome perks. We're going to give you a shout out on top of that, just as another way of saying thank you. That's going to do it for this one, everybody. This was a fun one, boys. So I, I, yeah, this,

this is always a good time. So thank you everybody for joining us and until next time, happy gaming. To the gates of oblivion. See ya! Toodaloo!