Video Gamers Podcast - Shoulda, Woulda, Coulda Games - Gaming Podcast

Episode Date: September 24, 2026

Gaming hosts Josh, Ryan, and Ace are putting video games on trial and deciding what they SHOULD—or absolutely should NOT—have done. Which games never should’ve been made? Which needed six more months in development? Which deserved GOTY, and which should be way more popular? From questionable gaming decisions to overlooked gems, we’re handing out praise, punishment, and plenty of hot takes. If you love gaming, debating video games, and arguing over what could’ve been, this gaming episode of the Video Gamers Podcast is for you!   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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What's a game that should have had a sequel or a game that should have spent a few more months in development before release? As gamers, we've got all sorts of opinions on what games should have done or not done. And on today's episode, we're covering a whole slew of shouldas. Before we get to that, some introductions are in order. I am your host, Josh. and joining me he should definitely remember

he's old now and can't do things like skateboarding and ice skating because every time he does he breaks a bone it's Ryan those were seven years apart and also I shoulda

not join this podcast apparently he's like oh I can't take all this hate I'm just like Ryan we love you and we care about you and like it's time for you to

realize that you're not as young as you used to be, man. I've played hockey for 25 years, dude. What do you mean? I don't know. Go on to the next one. You got to go, hey, I'm, I have to think about the risk of breaking a bone now. That's all I'm saying, you know, and you might be at that age now.

That's it. That's it. You know, that's just, you know, it's, it's tough love, Ryan. It's because we. I don't want to hear anymore. And joining us. He should definitely spend more time. healing me in Overwatch, but as we'll find out

today, there's a lot of time something should happen and doesn't. It's Ace. Hey, who's the one who makes me Q for for dual DPS and support, buddy? Ain't me. I do love, I do love like the other day.

We put like, especially a community. We had a fantastic community. That was awesome. Wonderful time. We had 18 to 20 people for like three hours, dude. It was playing together. It was, it was.

it was so much fun. If you have never made one of our community nights, you guys set aside. We announce it usually a week ahead of time. We understand that not everybody loves Overwatch or whatever, but we try to play games that are free to play and crossplay so that as many people can join as possible. But yeah, just make sure you try to join one of those

because these are the glory days of gaming. You know, gaming with your friends, 20 people strong, laughing, having a good time. That is what gaming is about. And every time we do one of these, we just we walk away from it going like that that's what gaming's about man that was so much fun um but i do laugh because ace is quite good with wuyang but also every time ace plays wuyang it's like 4,000 damage 4,000 healing i'm equal parts baby you know balanced as all things should be and then when

i play when i play support and i have you know 4,000 damage 4,000 healing i get you're dpsing too much josh you're not healing because you're not playing i'm like a wiyon doesn't catch a flag for this. Because we trust Ace to do the right thing. We know your bloodthirsty, dude. But we're doing the same thing. There's levels, there's difference. The numbers hide the truth for sure sometimes.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, listen, welcome it, everybody. We've got a fun episode. We have a list of games that should. Like I said in the intro, games that should have had a sequel. games that should have spent longer in development. We have a long list of topics that we're going to talk about, but these are things that should have happened or shouldn't have happened in this case.

And we each have answers for each one of these questions. So this is going to be a lot of fun to get to. So let's just get to it, boys, because we've got a long list here. And let's just start tackling these. All right, we're just going to start off with this one because this one's a little trolley as well. but a game games that should have never been made. Ooh. You got time for a whole other episode.

I know right. We can do a whole episode on this one, man. Ace Lits, I'm going to toss it to you first. What's a game that never should have been made in your opinion? First one that comes to mind, skull and bones. Never should have been made. the moment that they change developers between the ones

who are working on Rainbow Six and Assassin's Creed, maybe you should have just stopped there. I get like that certain studios have a wheelhouse. You know, like this studio is really good at making shooters, right?

Or this studio is really good at telling an incredible story. Like, guys, you can't have studios that are good at shooters like trying to make like a pirate game or something like that at the same time. Well,

that's the thing. What we talked about, if they wanted to make like a pirate ship arena shooter. Yeah. Like a battle royale. That actually sounds kind of sweet. I'd actually. Why did they just do that?

I'd just be the guy that's hiding in a cove until the match is almost over, though. And then you just come right. Yeah, that sounds about right. Yeah, he's the bush camper. Actually, to be fair. He's a bush camper. I don't, like a good, good old, like he's, you know, he doesn't live in Arizona anymore. But Ryan, you know, McKney.

You know, Andrew McKinney, right? So it's like, we used to play PubG. He was playing with us all. And Andrew McI. Like, he was the guy that was like, hide in the grass. Don't shoot. Don't shoot. And I'm like, but if we shoot him, we get their loot.

And then it's the last people, he's like, don't shoot. Don't shoot. I'm like, we're just going to hide. And we'd say, like, all he wanted to do was just snake his way to the end of every match of PubG. And then I'm like, but that's so boring. And then I'd start popping shots at somebody running by. He'd be like, what are you doing? I'm like, this is the point of the game, man.

Like, I can't just rat the whole time. Like, come on, man. That's probably how I'd play Fortnite now since I don't know how anything works. Yeah, yeah. I mean, there is a strategy in saying, let me let these two teams take each other out, but till just never want to fire a shot until like you're the last five people in a match.

Like, what, that's not fun, man? Like, why would you want to do that? No, it's, yeah, that's rough. Speaking of Fortnite, though, I do, I will go, I'll kill a few bots and then go find a bush and then just like be center mapped. And then let it go until like 20. And then I'm like, all right, let's go.

And then I cook. And I'll kill a couple, because they have good stuff, but most time they're not that good, and then you can get their loot and then kind of win from there. But yeah, there's some strategy to some of that. I think Ubisoft is with you, Ace, that they wish that skull and bones had never been made. That game costs them so much money. It flopped.

It was not received well. I don't know that I heard a single person talk about skull and bones. And you know how like most games you have the people that are slamming the game, but then you have the people that feel like they need to lift the game. Oh, yeah. That was good. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, nobody came back like six months later.

It was like, we judged golden bones too harshly. No, that didn't happen. Yeah. I agree. So, okay. Ryan, what's a game for you that should never have been made? There's a bazillion of them, but I'm going with one of my favorite franchises. And I'm going to go with Battlefield 2042.

Oh. The love letter. The love letter, baby. The wounds are still fresh. I have never played a game that I, you know, after playing so many iterations of like Battlefield over 15 plus years and you get 2042 and you're like, what is this? Like this, this isn't the game. Like, what is happening?

It felt it felt wrong. It played horribly. It wasn't the game that anyone. expected it to be. Everything about it was just bad. So that's like should a, if I could And they promised the world.

Yeah, they promised the world. It was a love letter. Yeah, it was a love letter. You got tornadoes. Yeah. That's what you do. Oh no. Tornado. That was in Battlefield 4. The revolution, they called it. You know, and it was cool. Like being able to blow up the skyscraper, the storms that would roll through the ocean level.

Like, some of those are, pretty cool, but man, they botched 2042 so bad. Didn't they get rid of all the classes? Yeah, yeah, they just made too many wrong decisions. Yeah, they really screwed that one. Battlefield 6 was a lot better. I just, I can't, we did not put nearly

the time in a Battlefield 6 that I thought we would. Too many games, dude. That's because we're a gaming podcast and we move on too many. All right, my answer and I know this is going to upset a few people, but listen, I'm a huge fan, like Ryan, I'm a huge fan of this series. it was one of the best series, in my opinion.

And then they released a game that absolutely just completely ruined all Goodwill that this series had. That is Dragon Age Vailgard. Dragon Age Vailgard is an abomination. And look, I know we have people in our community that are like, I played it. I thought it was fun. And it's like, it is a video game. And it does play. But if you're a fan of the Dragon Age series like I was, and you know, even Dragon Age 2 catches some flack,

but it's like I liked Dragon Age 2 but Vailgard was the like just the grossest abomination of a video game in my opinion to what they did to my beloved series like that's the problem and I just checked and before anybody's like well you probably didn't play

I put 13.2 hours to be exact into Dragon Age Vailgard so I played it a decent bit and I wish I could have that time in my life back at this point you know like because it is just it was so disappointing to me whoever made this game completely missed the mark on what made Dragon Age as a series,

just one of the most epic RPGs in existence between Inquisition, Dragon Age 2 and origins. Those games were awesome. I was so hyped for Veilgard and then to have what we got come out. And if you don't think, if you think I'm being harsh, like, they can't everybody. Oh, all of them are fired. You know what I mean? Like they all just went, yeah, you're done. This didn't work out at all.

Script writer, director, voice actors, all of them got fucking... Rightfully so, too, for sure. Yeah, I mean, so Dragon Age Velgaard never, ever, ever should have been made, in my opinion. So... Yeah, that's fair. All right. Next up, a game that should have spent six more months in development. So a game that came out and, man, you should have just let this cook a little bit longer people.

Now, I think the easy answer for this one is cyberpunk. Can I all agree that that's the easy answer? Cyberpunk is not my answer on this one, but I think most people would go, oh, yeah, cyberpunk. And to be fair, six months would have alleviated most of the bad press that they got with that. Oh, yeah. It would not have that stain on its reputation. Yeah. So, Ryan, what's your answer for this one?

What's a game that you think should have spent about six more months in development before they released it? So another easy answer for me, I don't know if this is one of your, as is um no man sky uh was was a big one i was there day one on launch physical copy we said six months right not six years right well yeah so that's i mean that's one that that that needed a little more time in the oven man that thing was uh interesting when we first got it right now it's really good. I think they got a recent update that's like even better.

It's a lot of people are talking about it. I've seen people in Discord saying some cool stuff is going on. So yeah, there's a lot there. But man, on launch,

it could have used a little more time for sure. Yeah, that's one of those like iconic. You really should have just spent the time to develop this further and not made so many huge promises on that one either. Yeah. What about you?

Yeah, they did learn their lesson. And honestly, I think we're going to reap the benefit of that because like a fire, I have a feeling is going to be just groundbreakingly good. What's your answer on this one, Ace? Yeah. Well, back to the Ubisoft well, unfortunately. But Assassin's Creed Unity could have absolutely used

that extra six months in the oven. You had glitches where people's faces were disappearing and all you could see was their eyeballs and teeth. That's creepy. That's creepy right there. It has some of the best parkour in the entire franchise and it's totally overrun with bugs.

Like they went back and fixed it. But they, they hurt their reputation so bad with that one. Just take the extra time, people. Take the extra time. I know you wanted Assassin's Creed to be a yearly release, but like,

you're killing us. I was explaining to my wife what, like, the internet did to gaming, like, the ability to do patches, like day one patches. They really took advantage to that. like production and the ability to like finish a game before it launches like and yeah it's it's been brutal man we and we all you know every time all day one patches are that's the normal thing

now it's common now yeah it is almost the norm versus the norm oh yeah we're not done we're going to finish a few more things you know and then patch it up but yeah it's we got a quality of life update coming soon it's like what do you mean all right you sold it to me i i try to go a little on mine. I don't, I can't remember if you guys, neither one of you played this game, I don't think,

but Atomic Heart. Now, this was a game that released, the Atomic Heart released, it was fine. Like, it wasn't super buggy. It wasn't needed a day one.

I mean, maybe it needed a day one patch. Yeah, they didn't need a day one patch. Atomic Heart was a game that we were very, very excited for. And Ryan,

I think this was right before you joined, right? Because you didn't play Atomic Heart. I didn't, I did not, but I remember the game. Okay. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. So, Atomic Heart had grand, grand ideas, and they just ran out of time. And when you played the game, this was not a game where it's like, oh, it's broken and it's janky and all that. Like, it actually was a decent game. But you could see that the world they built was not fully fleshed out and you could feel.

Like, you could legitimately feel like, oh, if they had more time on this, this would have been amazing. This is also why I'm so excited for Atomic Heart too, because we've seen trailers for it. And it looks amazing. Yeah. And there was a certain magic with Atomic Heart, you know, where you would get glimpses of it and just go, dude, if we could have just let them cook a little bit longer. Like, I think this game really could have truly been something special because some of the boss fights in Atomic Heart 2 were insane, dude. Like, go watch a trailer.

They showcased all this stuff. So if you're not familiar with Atomic Heart, go take a look. But that is a game where I went, man, if we would have just given them another half year, I think, think they could have actually realized the ideas and the designs they had with this game. And it would have truly been something special versus like, hey, there's some really good parts of this game, but it kind of fell short just a little bit. And there's not a better example that I can think of where it's just like, if you're just given them more time, they could have done what they, because the other parts of the game were great. Like, you could see it. And they just

didn't have enough time to flesh everything out at that point. And it was sad. So Atomic cart's my answer for that one. I mean, with their DLCs, the release later, they were a much higher quality. So they definitely just needed that extra time. A big one, too, for like a really good game was Star Wars Jedi Survivor. Remember, oh, that's a great answer, you. Oh, my gosh. Remember all the ones?

That's a great answer right. With Paul? Like, Paul with the birds, like the bird issue and everything. He couldn't stop crashing. Yeah, he just kept crashing, like performance issues off the bat. And like, that's a big developer with a big game. And it's overall, like, I had no issues. but Paul couldn't even play it.

I remember he's like, I can't, I can't play the game. Oh, that's a great answer, dude. Yeah. And honestly, still to this day, still to this day, sours my opinion on Jedi Survivor a little bit. Yeah.

You know, because when people ask, and I say, Jedi Fallen Order, amazing Jedi Survivor, eh, you know, and people are like, what do you mean?

And I'm like, if you played that game on launch, yeah, that's why. Yeah, so. That's fair. All right. We'll do one more,

and then we'll take a break here. This is, this is going to be a little bit of a controversy as well. So we'll do this and then we'll give people a pause. Ferts and feelings. Games that should have won game of the year. I know Ryan's answer for this one. Oh, don't even.

I know your answer, Ryan. Go ahead and tell people what you think, Ryan. All right. Well, we're going to start off with the one, the only the most 100% true answer is that, hey, Josh, can you do me a favor? Can you tell me what year? 2018, Ryan. Yeah.

2018, where the real game won, the game that won should have won, but I knew your answer on this one before I even So, okay, Red Day Red Day Redemption 2, the greatest game ever made, should have won game of the year in 2018.

Unfortunately, or fortunately, for us as gamers, God of War also came out that year, amazing. It is like top, top, top tier gaming. It is 1A, 1B. It is one of the, Greatest games ever made.

It is so unfortunate for both of these games that, like, they came out within each other, like in that same year. But, man, do I wish Red Dead got it? Because in my opinion, it should have. In my humble opinion, it is the greatest game ever made. I can understand why people would feel differently. And I understand why people would say, God of War gets that nod and should win the game of the year as well.

that year, but man, for me, that's the one that should have took it. I knew, I knew it. I know, I know, I wasn't even going to hide it. I wasn't even going to, I wasn't even going to be fancy or try to do anything different. You know what it is. This is one of my biggest issues is that it didn't win, but I'll take it. Uh, all right, Ace, what's your answer for this one? All right.

I got an obvious one with 2021. It takes two one game of the year. Oh. I'm giving that to Resident Evil Village for sure. Yeah. I could see that for sure. That, that I think is the easy,

like it takes to. It was fine. It was fine. Now, I do say, I think split fiction was way better than Oh, yeah,

split fiction was awesome. Now, my controversial one. 2015, one of my favorite games of all time came out. I think Bloodborn should have beat the witch's

three. Oh. What? Yeah. That is. Yeah. Yes, I am. Bloodbord. What are talking about me? This guy. What? What? Explain yourself. Who let this guy in here? What he's trying to explain? Bloodboard framed in the Witcher 3. Ooh. What? What? All right. Well, yeah, we're just going to move on from that one. Anyway, moving on. Yeah. Although I don't know how in 20.

2014 Dark Souls 2 got nominated for Game with you. I hate that game. I hate that game. Did you beat, did you beat Witcher 3 Ace? No. I got like, I got like 15 hours in each time. That explains everything. And I quit, you know.

Okay, that says all I need to know. All right. My answer for a game that should have won game of the year. And I'll give you the game that did win. And the game that did win was Tears of the Kingdom. And the game that should have won was Disco Elysium. Because Disco Elysium is an insanely good game. It's memorable.

Are you kidding me, dude? Over Tears of the Kingdom. Yeah. I'm sorry? Breath of the Wild 1.5? Like, come on. Okay. You're the one that didn't like.

So much so that here's the other games because I actually made a list here. And I went, you know, I pick any three of these games that should have won. Jedi Fallen Order. was better than Tears of the Kingdom. The Outer Wilds, which everybody knows is near and dear to my heart, should have won over Tears of the Kingdom. The fact that this was just glazing Nintendo

and going like, oh, we finally got a new Zelda. Of course we have to give a game of the year. When did Tears of the Kingdom win game of the year? Didn't it win game of the year? No. Wait, what one game of the year that year? I was hoping somebody got one wrong. Baldur's game three one game of the year that year.

Wait, did I get the wrong? wrong year? Yeah. Are you thinking about Zelda, Breath of the Wild? Well, that's, Oh, Breath of the Wild. That's embarrassing.

That's embarrassing. I said, Cheers of the King's Breath of the Wild. That's embarrassing. I had the wrong name. Whatever. Well, they're basically the same game. Okay, well, now I got a... They're basically the same game.

They are the same game. That's my problem with them. I was like, you think Balders game. But for us who didn't play Breath of the Wild, tears of the kingdom was pretty freaking sweet. apparently I screwed this all up because these are different years at this point. So Disco Elysium should have won everybody.

I do have a question for you. Okay. I'm an idiot now. But let me take the heat off of me and put it back on you guys. Okay. Do it. Should Hades have beaten the last of us two? Yes.

Easily. Yes. No, no. Hold on. Not easily. Hades like defiant. Don't even. I don't want to hear it.

You're an indie guy. I don't want to hear it. I will respect that. And I will say, probably. Ghost of Sushima also came out in 2020 though. That's not, I love Ghost of Sushima,

but like I don't know if it's a game. It is really good, but I don't know. This is the one that's like really hard for me because Hades was incredible and it was new. Like we hadn't seen it before. and then Last of Us too You guys know I mean I'm a huge fan of Last of Us 2

It played it recently and it's like That game was fantastic But if I had to go which one do I think should have gotten game of the year I think it's Hades Yeah I would agree You know? And that's not trying to slander Last of Us 2 It's just trying to like give Hades

Like it's kudos To being Hayes its flowers there Right to saying hey this was such a unique Well done game That was one where that one's tough I think last of us too just try to do too much. I feel, guys, I

even looked into these game of the year things, and I don't know where I came up with, yeah, we don't want to hear it. Maybe you should try the fandom wiki next time. Maybe, maybe, yeah. So, all right, well, there you go. But Disco Elysium should have won. That game was honestly an all-timer

in my opinion. Actually, I think it should be a persona-5, but whatever. See, I saw a persona five in there, but then I was like, I like it. I know people would think that that's the one that should have won. And then he realized he It wasn't stupid. And, uh, maybe. All right, listen, we're going to take a quick break and then we've got a lot more.

So we're going to, we're going to pick these up a little bit here. Uh, and we're going to come back with a game that we all think should have been more popular. We'll be right back after this break. New from Nespresso. Blend wellness into your coffee routine with a coffee plus range infused with functional benefits. Choose the coffee you love with added B vitamins, like coffee plus B12 to help support immune function. and coffee plus B6 to keep your day moving. Or go with the flow and choose ginseng delight.

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Ryan, what's a game that should have been more popular? Tears of the kingdom. Is this where I say like, the wrong game again? Wait a minute. I got the wrong question here. Wait, I thought it was.

Oh, wait. Let me check my notes. I thought it was this other game. I am going to go with one that I genuinely think there's so much to this game. And that may have deterred people. But kingdom come deliverance to should have sold way more copies and should have been way more popular than it is. Like it is such a good game.

The combat is awesome. It's challenging. It's amazing. It's beautiful. The world is awesome. The story building. Everything about it is just absolutely great. The developers are awesome when we talk to them.

They're fantastic too. Everything about it, top notch, top tier. I think that it needs to be way, way up there. That's fair. I mean, I think, I mean, they did get nominated for Game of the Year. So they did get a good bit of attention, but clearly not enough. Yeah, no, not in my opinion. I will say in our community of 1,400 gamers, there's a lot of people that have never played Kingdom Come Deliveries to.

And then anytime somebody's like, you should play it and they pick it up, then they come back and they're like, oh my gosh, this game's amazing. You know, and I think part of it is it's a sequel and a lot of people think they had to have played the first. And the first is a big, big epic RPG. And it doesn't hold your hand necessarily. So I think, but you don't need to play the first one to appreciate the second. I never played the first. Neither did I. But I'm with you, Ryan.

And for a game that is as good as Kingdom Come Deliverance too, I do feel like it should be more popular. Yes, it's just like why. Yeah, it's like wise. Yeah. Yeah. All right, I'm going to give mine for this one. I've talked about this game before, but Witchfire.

This game is not fully released. So I think that might be why it's not. It's coming. I think it's coming out this year, actually. That's what you keep saying. It's been in development forever. It's in this fifth year of early access. Calm down, calm down.

Listen, I think it actually is like four years No way. Oh my God. It's like four years. But like, but in all honesty, and this is why I'm mentioning this game again, this game is fantastic, guys. Like on, like,

if you want a Dark Souls-ish shooter that is a kind of rogue-like shooter at the same time that's just feels incredible, has amazing progression, awesome freaking weapons. Like, it's beautiful. The soundtrack.

the sound like this is a full package kind of game and I never hear anybody like anybody talk about witchfire dude and this is like when this game actually does fully release I think it's actually going to make waves because people are going to be like holy crap dude this game's fantastic and it really does deserve it and it's like I feel like I'm one of the only gamers out there that sings the praises of witch fire it's so good man like I'm glad that they're taking their time to let this thing cook in the oven because I want them to be on release, just people going like, where has this game been? Now, part of the issue was they were Epic Store exclusive for a while.

Yeah, that usually hurts your visibility. Yeah. Which absolutely will hurt visibility. But people, Witchfire is fantastic. This is a game that when it does fully release, y'all need to check this out because it is a really fun, really well done, addictive, just enjoyable game. if you like shooters and you like difficulty and like rogue like aspects

of it at the same time. Nice. All right. This one's going to be fun, boys. Oh, wait, Ace, we got yours. Yeah. It's like, wherever. Roll the dice, and I can tell you what games I think should be more popular than aren't. I mean, Abysis, for one, one of our favorite FPS. I agree with that.

That's a good one. Yep. Cairn came out really early this year. It has not gotten near as much attention as I think it should for how good a game it is. Yeah. Honestly. And of course, as always, Ender Lies and her magnolia

overshadowed by other indie Metroid Vanias. Every person that plays those A's incredible. Every single one. That game's incredible. Every single one. I have not seen a single person

that went A's talked to me into playing this and that it was okay. Like everybody comes back and they're like, bro, I see why you love this game so much. Yeah. So yeah, I, take your pick.

Take your pick. Those are all good ones for sure. All those need more attention. All right. What's a game? that should or would have been better if they just fix this one major flaw. Oh, let me go.

Oh, here we go. Oh, all right, let's turn it loose, Ace. Everyone's favorite Metroidvania, darling, Silk Song would have been so much better without the runbacks. Yeah. You just don't like hard games, Ease. No, I don't like waiting 10 minutes

to get back to a boss to get a Nile. I just get good, man. No, there is no get good. There's no good good. And I lose two hearts on my way there and I don't have enough silk to yield before the boss fight. I just don't understand like the defense of that.

You know, like what? All that is is just a, you're literally just, you've already been there. So you've made that, that trek. What is the point of putting you back here to just have to do it again? Like, you're just wasting time. you've already done it, you're there to beat the boss. So beat the boss.

The game knows that too. The game knows that because other boss fights, it gives you little shortcuts. Yeah. It knows you don't want to be running back 10 minutes every time. It's just, it's to make things, I don't know, it's, I don't get that strat of trying to make things seem more,

I don't know, like impactful or, or. There's no reason. for it. There's honestly no reason for it. I'm trying to come up with one right now. Like nostalgia is the only reason to go, well, we wanted to capture, right? Like this is, and I'm not trying to call out, but like with like me to the hollower, right? With like Yacht Club games, we sit, like, why do you make your graphics way you look? And it's like, well, it's a throwback to the Game Boy color. And it's like, but we're in 2026. It's just because they want to do it. And like with Silk Song, it's the, well, it's a throwback to the old days. But it's like, dude,

we're past the old days now. Like, here's a perfect example. And I'm with you 100% on this Ace. And Ryan, to answer your question, currently playing Onamusha, right? Boss fights. The boss fights are tough. If you die I, you know, I die five, six, seven times fighting these bosses, but they start you, you click the retry button and it literally starts you're facing the boss. Facing, you know, why that's okay? Because if your boss fight is fun, the game is fun. If I have to fight that boss eight times, it doesn't matter because the boss fight

is fun, right? But with Silk Song, it's like, if the boss fight was fun, then you would just put me right at the boss fight. I don't need the run back. I don't need the starting with half health or they get good and trying to memorize every pattern on this freaking four minute run back. Like I'm with you 100%. I think that one flaw absolutely ruined Silk Song for me. It really soured it for us. It's trying to be the smartest guy of the room and doing too much. And then and then it just like it backfires. Like because there's no need for it. It's like we're going to make this extra. And that extra made everybody not want.

to do that. Like I don't want to run back all that time over and over and over. Like if I can fight a boss and especially if the boss fight is is enjoyable, like even still like I don't want to run four minutes back back to do it again and die. Like it, you know, it's just crazy. It's just frustration at that point. It's not challenge. It's not exploration. There's no benefit to it at all other than just, hey, we want to artificially introduce frustration to people. It's frustration. That's what we called it and people were like, no, you're dumb. You could. Nerd.

Scrub. All right, Ryan, what's a game for you that has one major flaw? This is one that is from one of my favorite developers, quickly becoming one of my least favorite developers. Bethesda, I'm going with Starfield. I feel like if their exploration and the world was a little bit better, that game would have a lot more. What case you run around the whole planet, Ryan?

Dude, if only, if only I could. If only I could. And even, I don't even really give two turds about like, uninterrupted access and this and that and like loading screens or whatever. But the world of Skyrim was, was explorative. You could,

you could just advance and you'd find a cave. And it would lead to great, great things. and a cool story and characters and you would have a fight and then you would unlock something cool and you just never got that with Starfield or at least I didn't when I played so I just I wish they did a lot more

with just the exploration in the world and I think that would have changed all the issues with people oh we can only run this far well they're running that far because there's nothing to see like there's nothing to explore. And you also told them,

you also promised them that they could. Exactly. And that was the thing is that people then tested in it. Well, you can't really. They're like, well, yeah, no, we can't, we can't keep going. And there's, and then even where the area is where we're at is just all the same kind of reproduction of everything else.

And there's just not a lot there. So that one really let me down. And I think if they, if they had changed that prior, I think it would have made a big difference. All right. The one that comes to mind for me is forespoken. I know that I ripped this game apart, but. I ripped this game apart for one very, very particular reason.

And that was the stupid dialogue and cutscenes. You know, the locking the player out, making everything stop. You can't move. You can't skip. You can't do anything was about the worst thing I can imagine. The combat in forspoken was fine. Like, honestly, it was good, flashy combat. The world, the traversal, you know, there's a couple arguments that the world was this open world that wasn't fully fleshed out.

But that wasn't like a like a glaring issue. to the game for me. It was the dialogue in the cut scenes and how just intrusive they were, how they would lock you out of playing the game, and there was no way to skip them. They were annoying. It just, that was to me, it was like, this is

the critical, critical flaw. And what I think could have been a pretty decent game. And we were pretty dang excited for Forspoken when it was, you know, being touted to the world. And then when we were playing it, it was like, oh, my gosh, like, this is terrible. And we were

And it was terribly because of that one reason. And so that's one that instantly came to mind for me. All right, we're going to speed up a little bit here, boys. What is a new IP, a game? I don't know this is, this is, Ace, you wanted to throw this one in here. And I don't hate it, but I don't know how it fits into the games that should have a new IP that won us over. Well, easy answer here, Exposition 33 won me over. That is the easy answer.

I actually have that as this is the easy answer. Do you have another answer or is that that's your answer? I have one I had one more answer oh Red Dead Red Dead won me over as an IP Oh I love it I love it okay That was a new IP for me

That won me over like instantly Because I'd never interacted with any rock star games Did you go back to play the first one? For sure I guess I was just gonna jump in here My answer is Absalom Brand new IP Absolutely caught us off guard

I mean we love the heck out of that game Had never seen it before for. I, you know, but Absalom just hit all the right notes. All three of us absolutely adore that game. And so that was when I'm thinking of like a new IP that really, really won us over. Absalom was that for, for me at least. Ryan, what's yours? Mine's going to be our creators. Oh, yeah. That one came out. I mean, it not only us, but like it took everybody by storm. That took the world. Yeah, it just went nonstop with all the streamers and everybody else. That went next level. They're a little bit of an issue with like everything,

but, uh, but I have, I have faith for, for our graders. That's fair. I would also throw dispatch on that pile. Oh, dispatch was great. Dispatch won me over very quickly. Like, I really enjoyed dispatch. Ryan, I think arc raiders is going to fade into obscurity in all honesty. You don't think they're not going to make an arc Raiders too. They're going to not do any of this. It's like you got your IP, but I have a very strong feeling that like, Arc Raiders will just cease to exist. Well, the good news is there's going to be a dispatch season two. Yeah.

Yeah. Honestly, that's kind of what we go for, right? Yeah, yeah. All right. We'll do one more and then we'll get out of here. I like this one. What is a game that should have been shorter? Oh, I have an easy answer. Easy, easy answer.

207 first light. Way too long. I think it's trying to see that a. It dragged out way to every time I thought the game. game was ending, they were like, and then this happens. Yeah. I kind of see that, you know? I can see that.

That's a weird game, dude. That's like, like, a 007 is a game that when you're playing it, you're like, wow, this is really well done. I'm really enjoying this. And then once it's over, it's like, I'm not, I'm not thinking about 007 anymore. I don't think about it at all. But then I was thinking about how frustrated I was with thinking the game was over every time I sat down to play it.

And then it would go on for another four hours. I'm probably close. I'm almost there. I agree with that. I think they did stretch that out a little. bit too long on that one. Yeah, that's a good call. Ryan, what's one for you that overstayed it's welcome?

Mine's death loop. Yeah. I have an issue with that one. Yeah, and we have our issues and we rated it accordingly. But it's just like, additionally, like just from like what the game is, but you're repeating the same areas and the sections. Like, it's just, it's too much. It's over and over and over again.

Too long. Yeah. Stated overstated's welcome for sure. I know there's a lot of fans of this series, but Final Fantasy 16 drastically overstayed it's welcome for me. That's a good one. It was the icon fights, incredible, dude. The combat, you know, was one of my criticisms is it took way too long.

Every enemy had too much health and every fight seemed like it was just, you know, 50 hits beforehand and all that. But like ultimately, I think that they tried to make this a final fantasy game and they felt like it needed to be 60 hours long. And that was one where I think this game would have been infinitely better if they had just cut it in half and said, look, 30 hour experience, you know, we're going to really trim this thing down. And I just remember playing Final Fantasy 16 and just being like,

there's so much fluff in this game, dude, that doesn't need to be here. They're trying to like, like, taper on like maybe some of the MMO components and some of the world stuff and go. out and do this and the side quest and these things that really didn't matter at all. And that's a game that I just was like, this game's way too long. And it doesn't need to be this way. I remember feeling it, dude. I remember playing it.

And then I'm like, oh, yeah, I'm close to the end. And it'd be like, you know, somehow Palpatine survived. Like, it was like the next section. I'm like, wait, we're like starting a whole new world, like a whole new. Oh, I'm at another stronghold. And like, we're going to have to fight everybody again. and you have to do it over and over. Come on, man.

I totally get that one. That was a good one for sure. That game got like two paid DLCs too. So it's even long. That's crazy because that game's way longer than it should have been in the first place, man. And I get it. It's Final Fantasy.

That's why I say, like, I understand it. But that's one that came to mind for me right away was just like this would be so much better if they just took out all the fluff on this game, man. Absolutely. Hold on. I'm going to hijack. I want to do one more.

and I want to do the should not have had a sequel. Oh, okay. So I'm gonna, because I got one, I got one that I really wanna do. And I'm sure you probably know, and it's probably one of yours too. I'm gonna go, Overwatch.

Overwatch shouldn't have a sequel. Overwatch two was so bad. And then when they went back, Josh is like, hey guys, you gotta complete Overwatch. And he, like, invited us in. And you're welcome.

Yeah. You're welcome. Now I'm stuck playing the stupid game. It's stupid game that I love that I play every night. You love it so much. I know. I love to hit people with rocks. All right.

Well, Ace, what's the game that shouldn't have had a sequel? And why is it every Ubisoft game ever? I say every freaking Ubisoft game ever, for one thing. Like, every far cry after three, honestly. There you go. Yep. But I kind of have an oddball one here. Banjo Cizui had a sequel.

called nuts and bolts. Nuts and bolts. Nuts and bolts. Yeah. Okay. That's what I thought about. Banjo Kizui. Nuts and bolts is so bad.

It's so bad. Yeah. I mean, there's a lot of these like really common like Dead Space 3, right? Dead Space 1 and 2 were great. That is like the horror, you know, atmospheric genre and then Dead Space 3 that's kind of made like a loiter. Yeah.

Mine is a little bit out of left field and it's not necessarily a sequel, but it's like it is. And that's Saints Row. Oh, The 2022 reboot? Yep. That never, that's, I almost put that for my games that never should have been made because I was like, bro, just let it die.

Like, just let it die. You know, but because I literally could have, so I swapped it because I made Dragon Age Vail Guard like the game that never should have been made. But like, because Dragon Age, I think a lot of people wanted a sequel, but not what Vailgard was. Yeah. So the Saints Row reboot was like, guys, what are we doing? What are we doing?

I have a funny little addendum and then we'll finish here with the Saints Row. when you guys were deep diving this I wasn't on the podcast yet I messaged Paul and I asked him if it was worth the money he messaged me back so fast that it went. No! No, don't do it. Save your money. Don't do it. Save your money, Ace.

Oh, dude, that game was not good. Dying laughing. Yeah. So, yeah, that's one that just shouldn't have been a sequel. Like, honestly, some of these, and Ubisoft's super guilty of this. Just, it's okay.

go make a new IP, guys. Quit driving things into the ground. You know? Far Christ's like. It didn't need to happen. It's okay. What? Be creative.

I know. Stop soaking this for every last drop of blood. What? What? All right. Well, there you go, everybody. We hope you enjoyed this episode. You know what you should do as listeners of this podcast is you should follow this podcast.

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