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What's

0:35

Up everybody welcome to IGN Gamescoop. I'm

0:37

your host David Hatfield and joining me this week

0:39

are Sam Clayborn. I salute you Damon

0:42

saluted back at you Justin Davis

0:44

is here who and Seth

0:47

Macy is here who can show us how a

0:49

salutes really done. Ooh, very

0:51

sharp. Very sharp at ease

0:53

soldier We've got a great show for this week. We got

0:55

shows from both Nintendo and Sony We

0:57

can share highlights from I definitely want to get Justin

1:00

and Seth's thoughts on Starfield

1:02

Which we talked about a lot last week, but these

1:05

two gentlemen were not in attendance But first

1:07

let's begin with the Nintendo Direct this week Seth boy.

1:10

We've got you here I saw I saw mixed reactions

1:12

to the direct this week Some people thought it was lame

1:15

and some people thought there were just a lot of fun-looking games that

1:18

actually got release dates So, how'd you feel about

1:20

the Nintendo Direct this week?

1:21

Yeah, I thought it was full of a lot

1:23

of fun-looking games that actually have release

1:26

dates was it lame

1:29

There was probably a little hint of lameness there hmm, but

1:32

it was also very cute games that look wonderful

1:35

and it's also very much a Direct

1:38

at the end of the Nintendo switches lifecycle.

1:40

So I Wonder what

1:42

it tells us about the Nintendo switches

1:45

Lifecycle because we get you know got release dates

1:47

into 2024 and then Luigi's Mansion 2 HD

1:50

They said summer. Yeah, so

1:52

It's the switch

1:54

to whatever it's called. It's not coming

1:56

out in the first half of 2024. No That's

2:00

what I've talked about this on scoop before is I

2:03

my like head cannon is totally

2:05

that the The switch to

2:07

was maybe either originally or they were flirting

2:09

with it coming out in the spring And then something's

2:12

happened over the last four or five months They're like nah,

2:14

it's coming out in the fall instead and so then

2:16

they had to like well Okay, I think we got a year

2:18

to fill like, you know And they're rummaging

2:21

around in the closet and they're like, oh, yeah,

2:23

you know pay for Mario like That

2:26

feels like what's going on here to me, which You

2:29

know, I thought the direct was lame. I mean,

2:31

I really like the Mario thousand you know, they

2:34

Nintendo for years has been really careful

2:36

about Doling out they didn't want the switch

2:38

to get a reputation as a remake and port

2:41

console, right? So it's like they'd give us

2:43

a couple of them a year and now they just like

2:45

not screw it Just put everything over who cares. Yeah,

2:47

that's yeah We've got

2:50

well, I mean they but they've had such a great year already

2:53

like with fire them engage Tears of the kingdom

2:55

Pikmin for some my brother's wonders coming

2:57

up I I I'm willing to forgive

2:59

them for all the remasters and remakes Another

3:03

way to play like super fun games that look great

3:06

like no DK 64 remaster,

3:08

but that's okay. I'll look past Oh, we are getting

3:10

a remake of Mario versus Donkey Kong, which

3:12

is an awesome great game It's

3:16

so random though, yeah Well,

3:18

yeah, it is it is random, but I'm

3:21

I'm not gonna complain about its existence

3:23

I might I raised an eyebrow at its $50 price

3:25

tag because this is a Game Boy Advance

3:28

game If you're gonna build a game from the ground

3:30

up, I'm just surprised. They're like, here's what

3:32

weird Mario versus Donkey Kong a hundred new puzzles

3:35

Like just do new ones like it's funny to

3:37

port the puzzles now. I believe

3:39

me. I've forgotten them in 22 years or whatever So

3:42

it's gonna be fine. Like I do wish

3:44

there were new ones and I like this. I prefer this to the

3:46

minis Yeah,

3:48

this precedes the minis this kind of follows. It's very

3:50

much like Donkey Kong 94

3:54

it's just a puzzle puzzle platformer

3:56

has a lot of gun music in it. It

3:58

has some dunking music music Yeah Except

4:02

this time you don't you're not just like making it to

4:04

the end of the level you have to collect through like three

4:06

toys Me so I think but it's

4:08

a great game. It's always It's

4:11

no longer pixel art So I think it

4:13

peach left and the construction site her purse

4:15

her hat and something else they're

4:17

Paris all right She's

4:20

you know the game is expensive and I think it's uglier

4:22

than the original like look look

4:25

I really like I really like Paper Mario. I

4:27

really like Mario over stock You only these are great games

4:29

if you never played them like you know happy

4:31

to have new takes on them on the switch But it

4:34

definitely feels like Nintendo

4:36

just biting their time like oh, yeah,

4:38

it's padding out their release calendar And

4:41

a lot of these also like

4:42

it's super great fun games It's

4:45

not like they're just throwing you know garbage

4:47

as Mario trash collection or something

4:49

or yeah Mario takes a nap

4:51

They

4:54

threw a Contra game in there somewhere What's

4:57

it called Contra operation Galuga not

4:59

operation Galaga operation Galoo

5:04

Around in a model T and you fight it it

5:07

looks like a remake of the the first game

5:09

with some extra stuff and some new stuff and right

5:12

it's by a Yeah

5:15

Speaking of Contra 4 right speaking

5:17

of abandoning pixel art for something that looks uglier.

5:19

Yeah 100% agree

5:22

It's not too bad. I mean it looks like

5:24

I had a rearmed But it's from

5:26

way forward which has done great pick

5:28

for work in the past They did my did it

5:31

with Contra in the past they did Contra 4 on the DS.

5:33

I'm sure for ruled Yeah, and

5:35

it looks great So I don't know and then

5:38

way forward is the same studio that did this year's

5:40

advanced for is one and two boot camp Which we also

5:42

had issues with the looks of there.

5:45

Yes. Yes. It's not on board with their current

5:47

art department I guess Konami makes

5:49

games though. It's crazy Well,

5:51

they don't make them themselves. I don't have Yes,

5:54

that's true they somebody from another

5:56

studio drops by the office and then

5:58

they get a copy of the logo They glue

6:00

on the box and then they send it out. Yeah

6:04

Yeah, and then speaking of boxes a lot of

6:06

these games that we got released it for and we can

6:08

pre-order now Or do not have boxes. They're digital

6:10

only Mario vs. Donkey Kong princess

6:13

peach showtime are both digital only games

6:16

Oh that has anything to do with what the

6:18

spinning of the wheels that Justin was a princess peach showtime

6:21

looks insane It looks

6:23

it does look really cool. That was a pleasant surprise for

6:25

me You know the last game

6:28

that started princess peach was actually a really

6:30

embarrassing low point for Nintendo I think

6:33

it's like the very first time they've had pre each Star

6:35

again her own game and all of her powers

6:38

were Emotion-based like she

6:40

gets sad and then has a power and then gets

6:43

angry and has a power and I'm like guys It's

6:45

just not Not this is

6:47

not good You know, but this is such

6:49

a clever sort of Just

6:52

the stage play nature of it and all the

6:54

different costumes that peach gets to wear like Like

6:58

this game. It was the bright spot

7:00

of the direct to me for sure

7:03

It's they call them transformations so you

7:05

get these different outfits and gets new abilities But it seems

7:07

like there's just maybe one outfit

7:09

per level, right? Yeah,

7:12

it's like scenarios It's almost like a different

7:14

mini games like Kirby Superstar or something. Yeah

7:17

So it's not like there's all stuck together It's

7:20

not like she like she has these different transformations

7:22

and the player gets to you know Play

7:24

the game the way they want to it's just that

7:26

there's like a different mechanic for every level. Yeah,

7:28

that's what it seems like It's

7:33

just so charming like I really like it and it seems

7:35

like and who knows how much that we're watching if you're

7:37

watching scoop You're watching the the B-roll that Nintendo

7:39

showed right now Like it's hard to

7:41

know how much of this was just a very carefully

7:44

crafted presentation for the direct But

7:46

the gameplay seems really different in

7:49

each world Like, you know

7:51

It's a hack and flash in one world and you're sort of solving

7:53

mysteries and puzzles in another world And so I

7:56

hope that that's actually true and like it feels kind of

7:58

meaningfully different level to level Really

8:00

like I really like the martial arts transformation. Yeah

8:05

It's also the direct sequel to Super Mario Brothers 3

8:08

which is another stage play based Yeah,

8:10

I was gonna say that too how how you

8:12

know if I had a nickel every time Nintendo had done

8:14

that I'd have 10 cents, but that's still

8:17

a lot like it's weird, but it's happened twice

8:20

It's also interesting whenever Nintendo introduces a new

8:22

villain. Yeah. Yeah the sour

8:25

sour grape bunch Yeah, and

8:27

then it's like it's 5050, you know the

8:30

same with like what's his name Vati and Zelda

8:32

or whatever It's like, you know is is Bowser

8:35

like is this just Bowser again behind

8:37

the scenes or they're actually gonna be somebody

8:39

new Yeah, yeah, we'll see Character

8:43

you're like this isn't even that great of a character like

8:45

nab it and now now Nab It's in every single

8:47

game like a yeah, like Yoshi level

8:50

of you know recognition. It makes no

8:52

sense I mean, I think Nintendo

8:55

makes the best video games in the world I think they're the best video

8:57

game developer, but they still do this weird and

9:00

explicable stuff sometimes So like no

9:02

no one's asking for nab it, you

9:04

know, but but he's still you

9:06

know, there he is He's back sound off in the

9:08

comments nab it heads Princess

9:13

the Showtime is out March 22nd. It's digital

9:15

only and it's 60 bucks Mario vs. Donkey

9:18

Kong is out What is

9:20

it the 16th of February I believe

9:22

that's digital only it's $50 then

9:24

another very cool and welcome

9:27

surprised for me Was the original

9:29

Tomb Raider trilogy? Yeah And

9:32

this is these are coming to everything not just Nintendo switch, but

9:34

I haven't played these games since they were originally released

9:38

I think it'll be cool to revisit them. They are

9:40

very clunky but it sounds like they're they've

9:42

redone the the whole control scheme and Included

9:45

a bunch of quality of life improvements including camera

9:47

lock-on and added achievements and all that So I

9:50

totally look forward to playing these games again Yeah,

9:53

I've never played any of them. Oh really?

9:56

Yes, I've only played the PlayStation demo

9:58

disc Tomb Raider first level I was

10:00

like when I was you know a teenager.

10:02

I was like this is so much worse than Mario 64. I will

10:05

never know No way

10:07

that is wonderful. I never

10:09

played the third one. I played the first and the second one

10:11

There's one part of this if railer

10:14

they show it can They

10:16

show Lara Croft like doing a dive into a pool

10:18

and in the real game you do that

10:20

dive But you miss whatever you're

10:23

trying to end so you break your neck a lot of times So

10:25

she has this beautiful swan dive, but yeah

10:30

Just how you feel about the revisiting the original

10:33

Tomb Raider trilogy? Um, I think

10:35

those games have aged pretty poorly I mean,

10:37

you know They're important and influential and

10:39

and they're actually like if you haven't played them before I think

10:41

people will be surprised at how kind of puzzle E

10:44

they are like the tombs are Largely

10:47

puzzle-based right like you're pushing blocks around

10:49

and solving puzzles But I think we've talked

10:51

about this on game skip before but everything

10:54

is grid based So if you

10:56

want to make a jump you have to be like lined

10:58

up on the right grid and lara has to

11:00

jump on The right grid. Otherwise you won't you're

11:03

not it doesn't have that modern sense

11:05

of like you make a leaf And then your character is kind of sucked

11:07

onto Whatever they're trying to

11:09

ledge they're trying to grab onto like you'll

11:12

just fall and die And so I I don't think

11:14

you know, like I like the games at the time.

11:17

Um, I don't I don't think they're worth revisiting

11:20

and going back to I

11:22

really like them at the time as well. Um, I do and

11:24

I am looking forward to revisiting them, but you're right like There's

11:27

they're very rigid and when when lara is

11:29

making her jumps and leaves There's

11:32

no wiggle room like you have to get the timing up for

11:34

steps. Absolutely perfect or you're you're

11:36

just gonna miss I love I

11:38

I can't remember if it's two or three. I don't

11:40

think the first one had it but exploring craft manner

11:43

That was in two. Yeah, and

11:45

it's just it's such a it's the first

11:48

time maybe ever like mario 64 and and You

11:51

know if it was two Tomb Raider 2 Like

11:53

a hub world in games like a home that

11:56

you can go back to and explore and like peel

11:58

back parts of over time like It's

12:00

such a strong part of the game and like if

12:02

I were to revisit it for nostalgia sake that's what I would

12:04

be in it for. Very

12:07

good memories. This is a college game for

12:09

me. The original Tomb Raider

12:12

and in my dorm, Hashing your hall at

12:14

the University of Kansas. I was the only person

12:16

that had a PlayStation at least on my floor. So

12:19

people would come in and hang out in my room and we just take turns,

12:21

you know, passing the quote control around playing Tomb

12:24

Raider. If you died, you had to pass the controller. That's

12:26

great memories of playing Tomb Raider that way. Nice.

12:29

Although it is coming from Aspire. This is the

12:31

studio that is supposedly making that Kotor remake.

12:35

Maybe this is a little bit. So that's what's slowing them down.

12:38

That's what's slowing them down. Tomb

12:41

Raider 1, 2 and 3 remasters are coming February

12:44

14th to everything. And then another

12:46

one that looks really cool to me is Unicorn Overlord.

12:48

Yeah. And Vanillaware. Great. Which

12:50

they claim is the rebirth of tactical

12:53

fantasy RPGs. Yeah, it's the whole

12:55

statement, right? Yeah, exactly. It's so

12:57

funny. It looks so good. Obviously

12:59

Vanillaware is known for their art style. This

13:02

game looks great and it seems it gives me vibes

13:04

of both tactics ogre and even shining

13:07

force a little bit in the way that the when you actually

13:09

attack someone the camera zooms in on the action.

13:11

Cool. It looks awesome. Yeah. Who

13:15

else is with me? Yeah, I'm with you 100%. I'm

13:18

loving just the art style. My only problem

13:20

is every time I play like a tactical or strategy

13:23

RPG, I like

13:24

lose interest pretty quickly because

13:26

I just I prefer turn based traditional

13:28

RPGs, but like, yeah, it looks so beautiful and it's

13:31

so fun. And during the direct yesterday, there are

13:33

a live watch part like pair was like freaking out the whole

13:35

time. Well, because you love tactics ogre. Yes, he

13:37

was really excited.

13:39

Sam, go ahead. Thank you. No,

13:41

that was it. Just like the tactics ogre is the comparison,

13:44

right? Cool. You

13:46

don't usually like tactics games unless

13:48

they have the words fire or emblem in the title. I

13:51

don't like card games. I've not played a lot of

13:53

tactics games. This is not a card game. I know that's what I'm

13:55

saying, but I'm just specifying that I

13:57

don't like card games, but like the I like.

14:00

tactics games. I like Fire Emblem. I've

14:02

never played Final Fantasy tactics, but it looks so

14:04

fun and cool. And that Metal Slug tactics

14:06

games looks great too. I would play any of this. And

14:08

every comes out. This looks better than Triangle

14:10

Strategy to me. I mean, I know there's different types of

14:13

tactical RPGs, but and

14:15

one's a turn based, right? And this one's not. I played

14:17

I played Ogre Battle for the Super Nintendo.

14:20

And I was like, this game's really fun. Like I couldn't

14:22

believe how cool it was set up and how neat it was.

14:24

And to be on the 16 bit system too,

14:26

like, it's

14:27

impressive.

14:28

It's ugly, but it's fun. Unicorn

14:31

Overlord. I don't think I saw a single unicorn in that

14:33

trailer. Yeah, that's what I was wondering about. Maybe all

14:35

the horns are unicorns, but they cut off their horns.

14:38

It's the final boss. It's Overlord. Now, if you cut

14:40

off their horn, that's how you call Satan

14:42

back, like in the hit movie Legend. Oh,

14:45

man, Tom Cruise. Yeah, you've got

14:48

never seen Legend. Good. Is Julia Roberts

14:50

in that one?

14:51

Uh,

14:52

no, no, isn't that like a like

14:54

a fairy character?

14:55

Yes, and I'm completely blanking on who it

14:57

is. It's a crazy good fantasy

15:00

80s movie. Super cool. Love it. It's the

15:02

best like devil.

15:04

And who it's Tim Curry. It's the

15:06

devil. Curry is great.

15:09

You guys are telling me hard on this. That's

15:11

that's like Tim Curry is the devil is the only

15:13

thing I can actually remember about that movie.

15:17

I remember very young Tom Cruise as well.

15:20

I got to look up who that plays the fairy in that

15:22

movie. Unicorn Overlord

15:24

is out March 8th that we've covered Contra.

15:27

I think I'll just probably just stick to Blazing Chrome,

15:29

which is a more recent Contra like that has

15:31

great pixel art. Those are the highlights

15:34

to me. Any other highlights from the Nintendo Direct

15:36

for anyone? I

15:39

mean, I've already forgot it was yesterday. I've

15:41

already like forgotten. It's the one that

15:43

our audience was really excited about is Paper

15:45

Mario with a Thousand Year Door. I just never played that

15:47

game. It is the best Paper Mario game, you

15:50

know, but it's just tough to get. Like,

15:52

again, if you haven't played it before, it's awesome. Like,

15:55

enjoy it. Play it. You'll love it. But like,

15:57

you know, I still have the GameCube game. Like, I don't I don't

15:59

need this.

16:02

Is it better than Super Paper Mario in

16:04

your opinion? Oh, yeah. Yeah,

16:07

I don't think that's like a controversial take I think no

16:10

Yeah, I've never played it but everyone

16:12

says that this is the best one. So I'm not well

16:14

housing your door is really funny

16:17

and it's in and kind of like like

16:20

There's these two strains of Mario RPGs There's

16:22

Mario and Luigi which tends to be a little bit more

16:24

zany and gaga and just out there and

16:27

then Paper Mario Normally kind of plays it more straight

16:29

except for this one except for thousand year door

16:31

is like a little bit more Just

16:34

sort of gonzo and it's writing in a good way I

16:39

yeah, I love it. Maybe I will replay it. I'm watching

16:41

this B roll and I'm like, okay games

16:43

really great Those

16:46

all right the overall I give this Nintendo direct

16:49

a star field out of 10. Oh Yeah,

16:52

I think that's a fair fair rating We'll

16:56

get to start feeling just a little bit

17:00

Be it by land air see

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or an ever-changing digital landscape Our

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will win it The kids will

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18:42

Let's turn our attention to the PlayStation State of

18:44

Play. This one, it was shorter. It's

18:47

a little bit, it was a little, actually, there was definitely

18:49

more that I wanted to play coming out of the Nintendo Direct

18:51

than the PlayStation State

18:54

of Play, but Sam, Resident

18:56

Evil 4 is getting the Separate Ways. I

18:59

love it. I'm so excited because

19:01

Separate Ways is already super cool

19:04

as a, it's like on the GameCube disc

19:07

as like an extra, or maybe it was Wii. I can't remember.

19:09

It was an extra thing you could play. Was it Wii only?

19:11

I don't think it was on the GameCube original. Think

19:13

it was PlayStation 2. Yeah. Well,

19:16

but then they poured it to Wii where I played. I never played the PS2 version,

19:18

but I definitely played Separate Ways, and it's really,

19:20

the Ada missions are really neat.

19:22

A lot of it's on the island, which is cool,

19:25

but Resident Evil 4 is,

19:28

the remake is so different. So they

19:30

must have really padded

19:32

this out and stretched it in a good way like

19:34

they did with Resident Evil 4. So I think it's,

19:36

it can be longer than Resident Evil 3

19:39

remake, basically, the way that these

19:42

things come about. It's super cool that they're doing it.

19:44

So excited.

19:45

Ada's a neat character to play as too. She plays differently.

19:48

She forces you, me,

19:50

to use TMP

19:53

or assault rifle type weapons, which

19:55

I never used those in Leon playthroughs, ever.

19:57

I'm like shotgun, handgun. You

20:00

get like power weapons at the end, so I really like that about

20:02

her, too Yeah,

20:04

I when I saw this I couldn't remember I didn't

20:06

know if this is new content or a remake

20:09

of older content But it's because I played already for on the gamecube

20:11

only so I didn't ever played this content,

20:14

so that's cool That is coming. I don't know is it is it

20:16

free or is it a paid expansion do we know I? Didn't

20:19

see the press release Just

20:21

in the just in the state of place I don't

20:24

know about that, but it is coming and they tack it on

20:26

the end of the VR segment Everybody's like is this a VR

20:28

game only that's not it's just yeah

20:32

That's out soon. It's September 21st. I think there's

20:34

gonna be another trailer coming for it on weather

20:36

the 18th Which I believe is Monday. Yeah,

20:39

I mean it's out in less than a week. It's crazy. Yeah

20:43

Sony unveiled red and blue PlayStation 5

20:46

Finally I like I like the blue one.

20:49

I would rock the blue one Yeah,

20:52

yeah, you know if I

20:54

I think

20:56

the PlayStation 5 console is pretty ugly to

20:58

begin with and then I think the colors are a kid

21:01

even worse So

21:05

I like my PlayStation 5 like I'm not like mad that I

21:07

own one But I just I think it's a misfire from

21:09

like it just like a industrial design standpoint

21:12

Yeah, yeah I mean that we talked about that a lot

21:14

when it was first unveiled well And I don't

21:16

think the colors like they don't they just

21:18

like they don't they don't like fix that

21:20

problem They just kind of exacerbated. Hmm.

21:23

You gotta remember when you take it out of the package You're supposed

21:25

to snap the fins off the outside or

21:27

it looks stupid. You got to snap those off. I Don't

21:31

think I've ever seen what it looks like without the fins Would

21:35

take some snapping And

21:38

we got a release date for Final Fantasy 7 rebirth That

21:40

was kind of like the biggest thing out of there and

21:42

it's coming soonish February 29th.

21:45

That's how I learned that next year's

21:47

leap Oh

21:49

funny here's coming up My

21:51

most is my that's my most anticipated

21:53

game at this point Well, I gotta say this

21:55

this trailer is what finally got

21:57

me really excited about it. They showed a lot of Gameplay,

22:00

I showed a lot of combat and I'm like, okay

22:02

now I'm on board I've been a little bit you

22:04

see the details they released about how it has like

22:07

a hundred hours if you want to be a completionist Now

22:09

huge open world and stuff like oh, yeah Yeah,

22:13

I love all the stuff with Sephiroth that we're seeing there

22:15

and then I mean they the square

22:17

Enix was very upfront They you know, this is this

22:19

being the middle part of the trilogy. They said it ends

22:21

with the thing happening Oh

22:27

What like what a way to end it They

22:29

it's it's a three-month exclusive on the PS5,

22:32

which I think is interesting like it says it's coming

22:34

to other stuff on I think May 29th. Yeah,

22:36

this isn't very long, but I assume it would

22:38

just be PC Well in Sam and I were

22:40

talking about this briefly yesterday like the

22:43

original remake Sam you said so that was a

22:45

piece That was a PlayStation exclusive Yeah,

22:48

well, I'm gonna keep it later Did

22:50

to PC but then like so this is coming the

22:52

sequel it is it coming to Xbox

22:54

like do we know? I don't I don't even know what's been announced

22:57

there exactly I mean, I I don't think

22:59

they'd bring the sequel without bringing the first one to Xbox

23:02

right in the hole So I'm interested in like digging

23:04

into that a little bit more. I think

23:06

we were just talking about this and I team slack today Like

23:09

the Final Fantasy 7 remake, I don't

23:11

know that I want to spoil it for people But it does such something

23:14

so interesting from a narrative standpoint It

23:17

really caught me off guard and surprised me that

23:19

like it just completely won me over

23:21

on like I don't think this game needs a remake and

23:23

then when I found out what the remake was doing with

23:26

the story in the Narrative it just like now

23:28

now I couldn't be more excited to dig into the sequel

23:33

This is your most anticipated game right now Sam I

23:36

Yeah, I was like trying to think of one that I'm like looking

23:38

forward to more. I mean we haven't seen any of Metroid

23:40

Prime There's no no

23:43

Zelda's or 3d Mario's on the horizon

23:45

like this is this game looks fantastic

23:48

It just looks good. Like I I

23:50

cannot wait to have it a Final Fantasy

23:52

RPG that makes sense for me I played a little

23:54

bit of 16 and it didn't

23:57

work for me the same way that seven

23:59

it even though there's a lot of similarities. I just like

24:01

I like the remake of Seven. I just think it's a really

24:04

really cool world and it's very Final

24:06

Fantasy feeling you know, it's like goofy at times

24:08

and Chocobos like one of the characters like

24:10

a cat writing a

24:11

Google bear or something like it's just crazy.

24:14

Well, it's funny you

24:16

should mention Final Fantasy 16 because

24:19

since that game's launch

24:21

Square Enix has lost nearly two billion dollars

24:23

in value. Shares

24:26

in the company have plummeted nearly 30% since

24:28

Final Fantasy 16 came out on June 22nd. And

24:33

we know that it sold 3 million copies right

24:35

at launch. But even

24:38

that sparked debate about whether it had

24:40

met Square Enix's, you know, internal

24:42

sales targets. IGN sources

24:45

familiar with the performance of Final Fantasy 16 have

24:47

confirmed that sales have slowed considerably

24:49

since launch. But that the game was

24:51

not yet considered a disaster and a new report

24:53

from Bloomberg paints a bleak picture of Square

24:55

Enix, which reported a sharp profit

24:58

decline in August. Analysts

25:00

told the publication that Final Fantasy 16 failed

25:02

to make up for the poor performance of previous

25:04

Square Enix flops, such as Marvel's Avengers

25:06

and Force spoken and mobile games

25:08

that were shut down soon after launch. So maybe

25:11

it sounds like Final Fantasy 16 did

25:14

well considering it's an exclusive on one

25:16

platform. But maybe not quite

25:19

as well as Square Enix had hoped. Anyway, they

25:21

were also hoping that it would sort of offset what

25:23

they had lost with Force spoken and Marvel's Avengers. Yeah,

25:26

Marvel's Avengers on sale for 3.39 today. No way. Yeah,

25:33

there's a I this sale might have expired.

25:35

It was a PC codes of it. Yeah, $3.39. Isn't

25:38

that kind of mean though? Because even for that they're gonna like turn

25:41

off the servers probably in like five

25:43

weeks or something. That's why it's so cheap

25:45

now. That's five weeks worth of play

25:47

right there. Um, the

25:50

they maybe they shouldn't make these big flops. They

25:52

put a bunch of money in if they don't want to make their

25:54

money back. They should just make make games that are

25:56

hits instead. Yeah,

25:59

I mean, you know. Lots of copies. A

26:01

company that size can weather like

26:03

Final Fantasy 16 underperforming, it's bad news.

26:06

It's very bad news for them, right? They want to hit. But

26:08

like once you start to have two or three flops in

26:10

a row, that's when it's kind of like, like,

26:13

guys, like we need a big one. But like, obviously Final

26:16

Fantasy 7 remake is going to be. Oh, yeah.

26:19

Yeah, that was a gigantic project. They can

26:21

make a Chrono Trigger same sequel

26:23

and make $60 million in one

26:26

week. I don't know what they've taken. If

26:28

you could just play, let us play Chrono Trigger.

26:31

That's $2 billion right there. Chrono Trigger.

26:33

Put it out. And do nothing with it.

26:35

Or just Parasite Eve. What about that one?

26:38

What about that one? Yeah. Dino

26:41

Crisis. People lose their minds. That's a new Dino

26:43

Crisis. Not Square Enix, but that was Capcom. Oh, that's Capcom.

26:45

I'm sorry. I was about to shout. But

26:47

they should make it anyway. They make a lot of money. There

26:50

you go. They should make it. I mean,

26:52

like, I'm not, the disclaimer, I don't

26:54

know what I'm talking about when it comes to the stock market.

26:57

But like, but it just, it feels

27:00

very like, oh, like Zelda's a big hit by

27:02

Nintendo stock or like Final Fantasy 16

27:04

bomb sell Square Enix stock. And I'm like, that seems

27:06

like a little bit of like a myopic

27:09

view of like, you

27:11

know, I did read some investor commentary on Square

27:14

Enix and it was a little bit less

27:16

about like Final Fantasy 16 underperforming

27:18

and a little bit more focused on like, this

27:20

company has to figure out how to make games in like

27:22

a modern context. Like it feels

27:24

really, really hard for Square Enix. Like

27:27

it just feels like a struggle for them to

27:29

release things like Final

27:31

Fantasy 15 took like a decade to

27:34

make. And it's like, you know, they need

27:36

to just adopt, you know, Unreal Engine

27:38

or some other engine and just just

27:41

tamp down on this sort of, you

27:44

know, protracted development cycles.

27:47

And that like, you know, again, with the caveat

27:49

that I, you know, I'm not an expert, like that

27:52

really could sink the company if they can't like streamline

27:54

their production. They have like a crazy

27:56

popular MMO. It's like kind of, you know, like

27:58

usually that's just the thing that prints money. So you can put

28:00

out anything else. This is kind of crazy. A

28:02

big, the company is not to be making the money

28:04

that they want, but they also put a lot of money into these

28:06

games that were like

28:08

probably identifiable flops from the start.

28:10

So, you know, that's a problem, right? Um,

28:13

I think that, uh, Square Enix is also

28:15

like a company that could easily be purchased

28:18

by a bigger company right now. This puts them

28:20

in a, in a really precarious spot because it makes

28:23

them less valuable and easier to acquire

28:25

perhaps with, uh, you know, a few,

28:27

uh, less stock share value

28:30

also makes them a really good investment target,

28:32

right? Because if you, uh, invest

28:35

in this company now, when it's really cheap and

28:37

they, you know, get purchased and you

28:39

get a payout. So it's, it's a pretty interesting

28:41

story from that perspective, but I

28:44

wouldn't bet against Square Enix, they own some of

28:46

the most important franchises in

28:49

the history of video games. Yeah.

28:51

If Google, I mean, making the market game once

28:53

a year, Google claims that Square

28:55

Enix's market cap is $4.25

28:58

billion right now, which

29:00

it's crazy after, like after after

29:04

you know, it's like, I hear the number of $4 billion in

29:06

my thought. It's like, that doesn't seem like that much. It

29:11

could be gobbled up by anybody.

29:13

I mean, Microsoft paid a guy that

29:16

much money for his game, Minecraft.

29:18

Yeah. Oh my God. Well, if you guys

29:21

want to pull your savings accounts and purchase

29:23

Square Enix, let me know. I'm in. Yeah. I want Muhammad

29:25

to come to the,

29:28

is that actually a, was that a square

29:30

soft game? It is. It's a, it's a super

29:32

family comp game. It's a tactical RPG.

29:35

It's very charming. It's wonderful.

29:37

I'll have to check that out. Um,

29:40

who do we think heads a better show this week, Nintendo or

29:42

Sony? That's a rude question,

29:44

Damon. Is it? There

29:47

was totally tied for me. Or maybe

29:49

they're both, maybe they're both just fine. You

29:51

know what? And if you include the Spider-Man stuff

29:53

that we had on IGN today, then I think it's an even

29:56

Steven split.

29:58

Yeah.

29:59

There's another look at spider-man and we've got

30:02

a big preview on spider-man today It seems like they're

30:04

the big push towards the release of spider-man is

30:06

now finally starting and Things

30:08

are really but the hype is starting to really

30:10

build second that game watch it would be

30:13

Huge it is watch Justin's

30:15

preview to he or that really shows how the venom

30:17

switches happen Like it just

30:20

looks exactly like I like that's like my ideal

30:22

spider-man game from 1992. Oh, yeah It's

30:24

like like so fun to see

30:26

I kind of like wish that they didn't change up

30:28

the character Like I like that they include Miles

30:31

Morales, but the basic venom

30:34

spider-man changes Like I'm not super into

30:36

those but I think you'll to handle them really well Like

30:39

I don't I don't distrust the company that's making this

30:41

game to write a cool story I mean, it's

30:43

interesting that it's a sequel to you know,

30:45

the original spider-man and the standalone,

30:49

you know I don't know what we call miles from Alice

30:51

and I almost called it standalone DLC Whatever it is

30:53

Like the sort of premium side story and

30:55

like pulling that back into the main

30:57

game and making it a sequel to both I think it's really cool

31:01

Man, I like I give the edge to Sony

31:03

overall for their presentation only because I

31:05

thought spider-man like it's coming out in a couple Months, it

31:07

looks incredible You know,

31:10

I don't I think I'm skeptical that it's gonna

31:12

be better than Baldur's Gate or Zelda when it comes

31:14

to the game of The year hunt but I think it's like a credible

31:16

candidate to be nominated Like I think you know

31:18

insomniac like they're just going from strength to

31:20

strength and their their their output is that

31:22

high and that good these days I've

31:26

talked about this a little bit on scoop before like five

31:28

years ago when spider-man came out Every

31:30

game was spider-man right these open world

31:32

games with you know I tons on the map

31:34

and combat scenarios and non combat scenarios

31:37

and like it's kind of gone away

31:39

a little like it's gone out of fashion a little

31:41

bit where like there's actually not that many

31:43

games at least this holiday that look and feel

31:46

like that kind of like Open world go

31:48

around a map and do stuff There's

31:51

not it's just it's not nearly

31:53

as crowded as it used to be and so You

31:55

kind of need to be in the right mood for that kind of game,

31:57

but I definitely am like I think it looks so fun

32:01

That looks great. And speaking of previews, we also

32:03

put up a positive preview of Assassin's

32:05

Creed Mirage this week. Yeah. And

32:08

I want to point out that I actually played a couple

32:10

hours of that game this week as well for an upcoming Let's

32:12

Play. Oh, nice. And I had a lot of fun. So

32:15

I'm looking forward to that game. Oh, that's so cool.

32:17

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it. Okay,

32:48

so with all these new release dates, let's turn

32:50

to the release calendar. Everyone

32:52

get out your calendars. Get your

32:54

pens ready to start marking dates when these games

32:56

are coming out. I have my Far Side Desktop calendar

32:58

right here. Oh, my gosh. That's

33:01

so good. You have a 2023 Far Side Desktop calendar.

33:04

Yeah, you know what? They just reprinted the 1995 one. All

33:08

right. Confirmed? Yeah,

33:10

no, that was part of the advertising on Amazon. I was

33:12

like, oh, that's so cool. Another

33:15

leap year. That's so good. On January

33:17

18th, we get Prince of Persia, The Lost Crown, which

33:20

was also in the Nintendo Direct

33:21

this week, but I mainly

33:22

focused on stuff that was new announcements.

33:25

I still think that game is looking cool. I

33:27

know some people are maybe not crazy about the art style or something,

33:30

but I think they could, especially coming

33:32

off of, Sam, Tony, if you agree, especially coming off of

33:34

the making of Karateka and The Legend of Zelda, I

33:38

think they could do a lot better. I think

33:40

they could do a lot better. Sam, do you agree, especially coming off of

33:42

the making of Karateka and learning more about

33:45

Jordan Mechner, I'm excited to play a

33:47

new Prince of Persia. I think it's the only

33:49

Metroidvania really out this fall, right? So why not? Well,

33:52

this is January. Yeah. Oh,

33:54

it's January. I thought it was coming out this fall. January

33:58

18th is that. January 22nd is that. A

34:00

Day of Kings is Tekken 8 and

34:02

then going into February 2nd,

34:05

it's Persona 3 Reloaded and Suicide

34:07

Squad killed the Justice League. Remember, at some

34:09

point, Warner Brothers is going to have to start

34:11

promoting that game again and

34:13

that will be a lot of fun.

34:14

Is it going to come out? Is

34:17

it finally going to come out? We will see. It

34:19

could be canceled, could also be moved to the fall

34:21

with a giant single player mode that's just Batman

34:24

that you just play as Batman in a Gotham City. Suicide

34:28

Squad killed the Justice League starring Batman.

34:32

Subra 8 to Tell Diverse 2 from Sony.

34:35

It's just not my kind of game.

34:37

That was also in the state of play. You

34:40

know, if Batman had to kill the Justice

34:42

League, it would be an amazing game. That would be

34:44

an amazing game. Also, there's a comic out right now,

34:46

The Justice League Meet Godzilla and King

34:48

Kong. So can we just make that game? Yeah,

34:51

hell yeah. Cool. Wow.

34:54

That's insane. They

34:56

just meet him for coffee?

34:58

Yeah.

34:59

Did it go well? Are they going to have another date? February

35:02

14th, Valentine's Day is Tomb Raider 1, 2, and 3

35:04

remastered. And

35:07

then Mario vs Donkey Kong is February 16th.

35:10

And February 29th is Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth.

35:14

Everyone get excited. March 8th is Unicorn Overlord.

35:17

March 22nd is Princess Peach Showtime.

35:20

I think those are all the big ones

35:22

so far. Yeah? It's already

35:24

looking good for the winter and spring.

35:27

Yeah, that's a stacked Q1. You

35:30

know what we don't know still is when

35:32

the heck Elden Ring DLC is going to be out. That's

35:35

crazy. Yeah. I would imagine

35:37

that be in that window. And then also here's another one. One

35:39

of the most wish-listed games on Steam, Hollow

35:42

Knight, Silksong. Still no new state. Yeah,

35:44

yeah. That's

35:45

true. You think that's a never? It was supposed to be out

35:48

according to Xbox's press conference last year. All

35:50

these games would be out before summer.

35:53

It wasn't worth it out this

35:55

fall. Yeah. I don't know what's going on

35:57

but it's just every time.

35:59

Direct comes on everyone's like what do you think

36:02

is coming?

36:03

This is the one where we get

36:05

silk song and then we never did We

36:07

had so many technical problems

36:09

before the start of this that my stage light just ran out of

36:11

batteries So it'll be dark in this arcade

36:13

for a little while doesn't look that bad. No

36:15

look at that. You turn on my purple one February

36:20

will be two years since the launch

36:22

of Elden ring Wow, wow,

36:25

that sounds like a long time. However We're

36:28

about to get phantom Liberty for cyberpunk and that's

36:30

just about three years since the launch

36:32

of that basically And

36:35

I hope we get another cyberpunk That's

36:38

what they're doing after this. They're focusing on what codename

36:41

Orion cyberpunk 2

36:44

Wait what is that true?

36:46

Yep, I Thought they

36:48

were making another Witcher game. Well, they're making a

36:50

lot of games, but they're not after

36:53

after Phantom Liberty Cyberpunk is gonna be

36:55

done and they're gonna start project

36:57

Orion several I get you're just casually

37:00

dropping bombs on me that they're like, oh, yeah, we're making

37:02

another one Is that really is that a thing it

37:04

came with the earlier this year? They shared

37:06

their roadmap for everything that they have in the pipeline. It's

37:09

like five Witcher games and project

37:11

Orion that we're not

37:14

That's

37:14

so cool, that's such good news I'm

37:19

glad I made your day. Yeah,

37:20

I'm reading the IGN article about it. There

37:22

it is. Oh Apparently we talked

37:24

about it on game scoop October 10th 2022 it

37:28

think how far we'll all be into paying

37:30

off mortgages by the time that games out It's

37:32

so exciting to think about it that way. Yeah Okay

37:44

Starfield I'm still

37:46

playing starfield. It's the only game I'm playing

37:49

and I feel my feelings have not changed since

37:51

last week Justin and Seth by

37:54

Me Sam and Mark Medina

37:56

Nick Lamone. We're all pretty much in agreement. It

37:59

feels like I like

38:01

the game.

38:02

I like it.

38:03

I'm I'm enjoying it I but I don't think

38:05

it's up on the same level as Skyrim or Fallout

38:07

and there's a lot of it That's just kind of clunky and

38:10

outdated. I think I spend like I'm

38:12

not exaggerating I think I spend almost as much

38:14

time in menus as I do playing

38:16

the game But

38:19

let's start with Justin how do you feel about star field you're

38:21

wearing a starfield hoodie I am

38:23

so yeah I do

38:26

have a couple of items. Oh,

38:28

I'm glad you asked that you can buy this at

38:30

the IGN store So if you go to store dot

38:32

IGN comm we do have starfield merch available

38:34

now No, and

38:37

I do really like this hoodie, too. Um, I Agree,

38:40

I think the game is a seven. I It's

38:44

the maybe one of the only video games in my life

38:46

that I literally fell asleep playing

38:49

Come on, I was doing a Ryujin

38:52

quest line, which is like this version's game of the

38:54

thieves guild And yeah, it's actually pretty

38:56

well done It's all about like corporate espionage

38:58

and like, you know backstabbing in the in the corporate

39:01

world Which is a good fit for like, you know, he's good

39:03

pet stuff But it's not it's a non

39:05

combat quest path right and like I

39:08

fell asleep like turning in some mission and

39:10

doing some dialogue tree

39:12

um, I

39:14

Actually think I am done

39:16

with starfield Like I

39:19

thought in your source of like actual good

39:21

side quests you've been finding good side quests for us We

39:23

need you to be playing no I mean the thing

39:25

with these Bethesda games is they're not they're not really

39:27

games that are meant to be like beaten and completed

39:29

They're games who you play it until you have your fill

39:32

of it And the game will continue giving you more

39:34

and more and more if you want to play more and more but then eventually

39:36

you just decide No, I'm good. I've had enough

39:39

and like I'm at what 30 some hours

39:41

and I think that I've had my fill of stars You

39:43

might be able to beat it real quick. Yeah, that's

39:45

why I'd recommend beating it Right to the

39:47

end. Yeah, I may just main line the main quest

39:49

and I think I probably only have about two three hours left

39:52

If I were to guess um, I

39:54

don't I don't I don't think it's bad. I think it's good

39:56

I don't think it's exceptional. I I think

39:59

that Bethesda's been making steadily worse

40:01

and worse games since, well, maybe

40:03

kind of forever. Maybe it's just like Morrowind.

40:06

It's like, you know, it's like Oblivion was a

40:08

small step down. And then I actually,

40:10

maybe this makes me a casual, but I think actually

40:12

Skyrim is probably my favorite Bethesda

40:15

game. But like, I think I agree. Yeah,

40:17

like, I mean,

40:19

the sort of hip choice is Morrowind.

40:22

But for me, Skyrim is the one that really sticks

40:24

with me. But then Fallout 4 was a step

40:26

down. Fallout 76 was a step

40:28

down. I wouldn't, you know, I would

40:29

call stuff. Never mind. I guess,

40:32

I mean, stop rambling.

40:35

To bring this back around to a point, the

40:39

game has some of the best verisimilitude

40:44

I've ever played in a video game, where like, everything

40:46

feels like it exists in the world, and like,

40:48

you have these realistic conversations with everybody.

40:51

I land on a planet, and it's like, you

40:53

know, like, here's what we do here. We used to make mining

40:56

equipment, and now we make this. And these corporations

40:58

are moving in. Like, the lore of

41:00

the world feels so good and feels so thought

41:02

out. But it's just not interesting.

41:05

I'm just not meeting interesting people and

41:07

doing interesting things. I agree.

41:10

The moment where I'm like, I think I might be done

41:12

with this game, is again, the Ryujin quest line,

41:15

you can have a kind of long conversation with

41:17

the secretary of that office. And

41:19

it's like, do you like working here? And she's like,

41:21

yeah, it's OK. And then it's like,

41:23

do you like living in the city of Neon? There's

41:26

a lot of vice and crime here. And she's like,

41:28

no. But like, why

41:32

is that dialogue in the game? Yes,

41:34

it makes it more realistic. And yes, like, everyone

41:37

in the world that has a name, you can talk to and

41:39

learn a little bit about them. But like, it's pointless. It's

41:42

pointless, and it's not very interesting.

41:44

And it's a waste of my time. So

41:46

are 115 planets. Yeah.

41:50

So that's where like, I think that the game,

41:53

I think that Bethesda stuck in a little

41:55

bit of a rock and a hard place where they want

41:57

to have this huge world that has a billion people to talk

41:59

to.

41:59

But

42:01

it would be exhausting if every single one

42:04

of them was kooky and had something crazy

42:06

and wild going on with their life. They

42:08

need to just be normal people, but

42:11

then it's just boring. Talking to these people is

42:13

boring. Yeah,

42:16

I agree that the stories that

42:18

you encounter in general are just not

42:20

as interesting as Fallout or Starfield. I

42:23

want to be meeting weird aliens and stuff. I

42:26

know. I think it was

42:28

a disappointment that there are no sentient aliens in

42:30

it. It just makes it feel like

42:32

a bargain bin mass effect. And

42:36

once again, I like the game. I'm enjoying it. I

42:38

also think it's not as open as it

42:40

should be. There's a side quest where

42:43

you get a quest from this slimy corporate

42:45

CEO. And I go off and do it for him,

42:48

and I come back, and he's like, thanks.

42:50

I broke the law, so he's not going to pay me. He's

42:53

going to be like, what are you going to do? I'm going

42:55

to complain that I didn't pay you for this illegal job.

42:57

So this guy's a slime bag. So I just pulled out my gun,

42:59

and I shot him in the head. I

43:02

was immediately attacked by guards, but that guy

43:04

didn't die. You can't kill him. He

43:06

just bends over for a few moments, and the end

43:08

gets back up. And he's fine. You

43:10

can't kill him. Why won't the game have those

43:13

restrictions set in place? Oh,

43:17

that's so strange. He's got

43:19

an invisible wall, but only in his forehead. I

43:23

think that Baldur's Gate 3 runs absolute

43:25

laps around Skyrim, around

43:27

Starfield. And I think I would

43:29

have really, really liked Starfield a lot

43:32

more if I hadn't. I didn't get a chance

43:34

to talk about it on Scoop yet, because we had so much other

43:36

stuff going on. I'm obsessed with

43:38

Baldur's Gate 3, and I think it might be the best role-playing

43:41

game ever made. I can't

43:43

stop thinking about it. And

43:45

I think it makes Starfield

43:47

look worse in comparison, because

43:50

it railroads you. They couldn't

43:53

have more opposite philosophies of

43:55

Baldur's Gate 3 respects your choice

43:57

and responds to it, no matter what

43:59

you try. to do? Like, you want to be

44:01

evil or you want to be evil and then betray

44:03

the evil guys? Or do you just want to ignore? Like,

44:06

you can just ignore stuff. Like, now

44:08

I'm not going to talk to either of you. Like, there's

44:11

a dozen different ways to do everything in this

44:13

unique dialogue for it. And the game respects

44:15

your play state and your journal updates. Like, it

44:18

doesn't tell you go here, go do this. It

44:20

just your journal just says, you know, here's

44:22

a situation for you to resolve. Like,

44:24

no figure it out. And like, my

44:27

heart sunk when I started starfield.

44:30

And then, you know, you join

44:32

constellation immediately with no,

44:34

like, you cannot play the game

44:36

unless you do that. I

44:38

think the opening is written so lazily. We

44:41

talked about this last week, Justin, but you're just you're just a minor.

44:44

And so and they'll just they just send you

44:46

to get this artifact. Like, just any

44:48

person could go in and get this ancient alien artifact.

44:51

All right. Well, then that guy shows up and he's like,

44:53

here, take my ship. Yeah, it's

44:55

so lazy. Yeah, yeah.

44:58

The game's better. The game gets better as it goes.

45:00

I will say that. I mean, I agree with that. I'm about 20

45:02

hours in now. And I think I like it more

45:04

and more as far as I play it. But I still sit stand

45:07

by my belief that the game should just be super

45:09

fun. Right from the beginning. Seth, what

45:11

do you think? Starfield?

45:13

I, I really love it

45:15

a lot, actually. I like it probably more

45:17

than anybody else. Wow. And

45:19

I think one of the things that helped me was when I was asking

45:23

on the IJN deals Twitter, like who's who's

45:25

playing it early? And what are they thinking?

45:27

And everyone was like, Oh, you know, one person

45:29

in particular said, it's not Skyrim

45:32

in space, it's oblivion in space. And I love

45:34

the oblivion. And I think that is the perfect description

45:38

of this game, because it's like a little slower,

45:40

a little jankier than Skyrim. And

45:42

you know, but it appeals to me, I've done

45:45

like one story mission. And I'm just

45:47

like, I'm gonna get in my spaceship and fly over here. And I'm gonna fly

45:50

over there. And that's all you're actually like flying instead

45:52

of fast driving places. Well, no, no, no,

45:54

I am fast traveling. But I mean, I'm just going to different planets

45:57

and then stopping and like I met some grandma

45:59

she she invited me.

45:59

invited me into a ship and made me food.

46:02

And then I just go to, you know, like

46:04

a

46:05

abandoned mining outpost and clear it out of all

46:07

the people or the little beasts

46:09

that live in there.

46:10

So I haven't actually done anything in

46:13

the story past like the first things

46:15

that you absolutely have to do. And that's just how I play

46:17

open world games. I like to be distracted.

46:19

Yeah. No sort of agenda

46:22

going in. So for me, a person

46:25

who just can't pay attention very well,

46:27

I think it's a very great game.

46:29

It does seem to be kind of a common refrain

46:31

among the people that really like Starfield. They

46:34

tend to be the people that are just aren't focusing

46:36

on the story. They're just doing

46:38

other stuff.

46:39

I think I started playing

46:42

No Man's Sky when it came to

46:44

Game Pass and I hadn't played it since launch when

46:46

like the only thing you could do was just like shoot rocks

46:49

and fly around. And

46:52

I think that's probably more

46:55

fun to me because there isn't really a

46:57

story. I'm just sort of making it up as I go along.

47:00

I found like an abandoned freighter

47:02

one time and I was like, what happened here? And it just

47:04

got my imagination charged up and Starfield does

47:06

that too, but to a little bit lesser extent

47:08

because there is a narrative involved

47:10

and there are tons of like micro narratives

47:13

like the side quests, the stories and stuff. If

47:15

you like to just wander around aimlessly

47:18

and find guns in lockers,

47:22

it's a great game.

47:23

I've just stopped

47:25

like picking up any loot because the encumbered

47:28

thing and just dealing with the menus and trying to move

47:30

stuff around between me and my companion and then trying to get

47:32

to a store to sell the stuff. It's too much of a nuisance.

47:36

Plus I just I have plenty of money just by doing quest

47:38

anyway. I you know, I have I'm like early

47:40

in the game and I have so much money. Yeah, I

47:43

think I had to bribe somebody and they're like, that'll be 3000 credits. And

47:46

I was like, okay, okay. That's

47:48

easy. I have like 18,000 credits now. I

47:51

mean, I've got over well over 100,000 now. Sam,

47:54

what have you been playing this week? Um,

47:57

let's see. I

48:01

can't talk about some stuff

48:03

so I guess

48:05

just starfield still. I mean like

48:08

I it's really difficult because now I have this

48:10

like forked game where I'm playing in the new game

48:12

plus and I'm also playing the character

48:14

before I went to the new game plus because the character

48:16

before I went to new game plus is like a

48:19

whole different set of like qualities that

48:21

like make it possible for me to make side quests which I'm

48:23

like doing a little bit of writing about right now and

48:25

so like it's that's just what I've been

48:27

in. And

48:29

yeah

48:31

I don't want to play it though I'm

48:33

playing it for work. Can

48:35

you explain it's like I'm the type of person I don't I don't

48:38

know I ever what's that yeah

48:40

go ahead no go. I don't normally play new

48:42

game plus modes just because I'm usually just on

48:44

to the next game without spoiling

48:47

anything can you explain why starfield's

48:49

new game plus is particularly cool or interesting.

48:51

Well basically like it offers

48:54

a new game plus that that works with the

48:56

story so it reflects aspects

48:59

of the story and then it allows

49:01

you to contract the new game plus is

49:04

store like game so

49:06

you can loop it really fast and

49:09

when you loop it really fast it can

49:11

it can but doesn't

49:13

guarantee

49:14

bring up permutations in the story

49:17

that you might not have seen before.

49:18

That's basically the non-spoiler version

49:21

of it. Okay. Don't let people

49:23

tell you that the whole purpose of this game is to get

49:25

to the new game plus and loop the game and that's

49:27

what makes it more special than any game on earth. That

49:29

is absolute nonsense. I've done it more than

49:31

you people that are saying that and

49:35

the fact that it's random randomized is kind of

49:37

annoying because you're like it'd be kind of cool if you're like whoa

49:39

what the first time I looped this it was this and then

49:41

the second time I was like oh my gosh but

49:44

not how it works. You want to read how it works read

49:46

Simon Carty's write up and video on

49:48

it. However I am

49:51

working on a best side quest piece right

49:53

now including one that Justin submitted that's a really cool

49:55

one.

49:56

It's interesting

49:58

and you can't.

49:59

It's let let me

50:02

You know, this is an interesting aspect of star field that

50:04

is also I guess a bad thing But i'm

50:06

just going to say it as if it's not a bad thing Is

50:09

that you will absolutely miss a lot of these

50:11

because a lot of them are like It's

50:13

not like you're walking past a character in neon. They shout

50:15

that it's on your menu. That is not these Sometimes

50:18

it's like you do have to jump into a system

50:21

and get lucky that that system triggers

50:23

this and it's not always that system So

50:26

I think that's a big problem, right because that's not

50:28

like

50:29

There's a there's did you see that castle

50:31

on the edge of the peninsula in the southern,

50:34

you know Eastern corner of you

50:36

know, the witcher or skyrim whatever If

50:39

you go there, there's a really cool ghost story Like

50:41

that's that's a really interesting way

50:43

to put together a game because people discover it

50:45

and they talk about it Just like this in this game. You could absolutely

50:48

play this and never have the thing trigger. That's really

50:50

cool So like kind of limits the content that you're

50:52

seeing and then I also wanted to make

50:54

one clarification And I do like the side

50:57

quest article. I hope you all check it out One

50:59

clarification that I keep

51:01

on seeing Especially from our game

51:03

scoop people arguing about starfield where

51:06

a person comes on and they keep saying I

51:08

don't know what so and so is talking about

51:10

on game scoop. I think the exploration this

51:13

game is great And what we're

51:15

specifically talking about is that in

51:17

other Bethesda games, which are really

51:19

good exploration They show on

51:21

a map some mysteries that you can visibly

51:24

see in the distance like a weird spire

51:27

or a building Or something

51:29

and you're like, well, let me go see what that is And then

51:31

it shows up as a little question mark on your map and then you

51:33

go there And you know that question mark is going to have

51:35

a bobblehead or a really

51:38

powerful weapon in it or like something cool

51:40

And then it might have a storyline with it. That

51:42

is a mode of exploration that star.

51:45

Oh, did we lose damage? That's

51:47

my camera Okay. Well, I

51:50

don't know what to do about that What

51:52

a cursed episode You

51:54

can switch to your laptop ken Yes,

51:57

I mean, yeah, but I mean I

51:59

don't have enough

51:59

Another camera.

52:01

What, but we are a bit, you know what, we

52:03

are a bit, all we have left is video game 20 questions.

52:06

I'm just gonna put up a picture of myself.

52:09

Okay. Yeah,

52:11

I don't think we have another option at this moment. We

52:14

can't see your hands though. I know. I'll,

52:17

maybe I'll, I'll take 20 different pictures

52:19

of my hands. I

52:21

mean, we, like, I think my closing

52:24

thought on Skyrim is like, I can't believe, they cannot.

52:26

Starfield. They, it's like, I keep doing that, sorry.

52:29

Starfield. They cannot,

52:31

in Elder Scrolls 6, do the dialogue

52:33

where like, you get sucked into someone's face and

52:35

then they stand there like a mannequin and you talk

52:38

to them, like, they can't, they can't

52:40

do it anymore. But the crazy thing is that the

52:42

facial animation is much, much

52:44

better, but they still look dead

52:47

inside because they lock eye

52:49

contact with you and never break it. Like,

52:52

that's just not how human beings interact. I

52:54

mean, we, and again, I don't, I'm not trying

52:56

to like, pit gamers against each other,

52:58

like coming off of like the game that I played before this

53:01

for like 80 hours is Baldur's Gate. And that

53:03

game was fully mocapped. And like, it's a night

53:05

and day difference. Like it's a new standard that

53:08

like, that unfortunately if you're in like the

53:10

business of making a triple ARPG, that like, that's

53:13

the standard that you have to meet now.

53:15

Okay, so I didn't finish my, sorry, sorry,

53:17

sorry about that. So, so what

53:19

my point, and I think it was a point that a lot of people

53:22

are making is not that it doesn't have the ability

53:24

to just jump to a star system and find something

53:26

cool. It absolutely has that. But

53:29

that's boring because it's a fast travel

53:31

thing. It's not a walk across this continent

53:33

and can be distracted left and right.

53:36

Yeah. It's like just jump to a literal

53:38

white dot on a map that is not different than

53:40

any other white dot. And then you get a bunch

53:43

of planets that look just like any other planets. Then

53:45

you zoom in on those planets. And yes, there might

53:47

be a random encounter there. And it might be really

53:50

fun. But if you land on that planet and like,

53:52

and there's none of that before you get to the planet, you

53:55

are not finding anything on that planet. You will land

53:57

and there'll be either a ship flyover. There'll

53:59

be a geological. feature like it's just it's

54:01

just not it's a different

54:03

yes that is a type of exploration but what

54:06

we're trying to say or what I'm trying to say specifically

54:08

is that it's not the thing that Bethesda is

54:10

famous for that I want to play in a Bethesda game which

54:13

is like this like really cool distract

54:15

me in a million different ways while

54:17

I'm

54:18

discovering a world it just doesn't have

54:20

that they can there is the contiguous

54:23

unbroken unbroken nature of the

54:25

continent is like uh

54:27

oh there he is finally

54:30

all

54:31

right

54:37

that brings us to video game 20

54:40

questions our suggestion this week comes from

54:42

Sam from Minnesota oh

54:45

okay and Sam has a hint Sam says

54:47

this game will forever be one of

54:49

my favorite video games oh

54:52

I thought you were going to react that friends

54:55

of Sam are just chomping

54:57

at the bit right now because they already know the

55:00

giant head of Damon says let the questioning

55:03

begin I'm I'm leaning

55:06

hard towards Busta Move 2 what do

55:08

you guys think I want Damon's

55:11

head to be zoomed out a little stupid

55:14

um favorite

55:16

video games did this game

55:19

come out that

55:26

was during the heat wave last summer when I had to shave

55:28

my head that's good timing um

55:31

timing did this game come out in the 70s 80s or 90s no okay

55:40

who even likes games after the 90s it doesn't make sense uh

55:42

it's this game multi-platform

55:44

yes

55:51

Seth is that f01 or 99 or

55:53

anything in between uh that is the

55:56

og super nintendo uh f0 behind

55:58

me yes

55:59

Well, you found your you

56:02

found your cable it was it

56:04

was right next to the super Excellent

56:07

that's that's that's what a clutter desk is like for me

56:09

to my AC it was you

56:12

Is this a console exclusive? No,

56:15

we already asked if it was multi-platform. Oh wait,

56:18

so Multi-platform

56:21

yes. Okay. Well, is this

56:23

a it was this game made in Japan?

56:26

No

56:29

All right,

56:30

Western

56:32

is this game available on the Nintendo

56:35

switch

56:36

yes, hey, oh

56:40

Did it come to the switch after it came to

56:42

other systems yes, and that is

56:44

five Must

56:47

move to you guys. I think Skyrim

56:50

It

56:54

Could be I'm saying right that's one of the best is an open-world

56:56

game

56:57

Yes

56:59

Wow, we're getting there real quick. Oh, is

57:01

this a first person game?

57:04

It can be Did

57:07

this game come to switch within the

57:09

last year No,

57:12

oh shit.

57:12

I thought it was red dead.

57:14

I mean it could be Skyrim. I

57:16

think it's scarred How does Skyrim

57:18

switch perspective? I mean, I believe it does.

57:20

I just don't remember I I

57:22

think I mean I you know it has

57:24

a third person though But it's not nearly as kind

57:27

of like supported as like third person

57:29

in in starfield. They might actually only be mods I

57:31

can't even remember. No, there's a third person view That's

57:33

what there has been since at least since oblivion

57:36

because that's a good way to know if you're sneaking Other

57:39

than you know, I think I mean

57:41

pro tip.

57:42

I mean, okay, is this a is this

57:44

a fantasy role-playing game? Yes

57:48

Is it made by Bethesda? Yes, that's

57:50

ten You got this

57:52

in five y'all. Yes, that that would have been like a record.

57:54

Ah Man, you know

57:56

duty honest is this game

57:59

Skyrim? Yes it is. 11 questions.

58:01

Yeah. Nice job. What?

58:07

This isn't Skyrim. Look how janky this looks. How

58:11

cool would it be if you landed on a planet in Starfield

58:13

and then you were Justin Skyrim? See,

58:16

it's stuff like that that they could have pulled off in this game,

58:18

right? Like there's like there's, it doesn't

58:21

have that goopiness of Fallout

58:23

where like suddenly you're in a vault and everybody is... Although

58:25

you did play that one crazy side quest, Justin,

58:28

that you recognize. There is a really, there

58:30

is a really, like I think that the highs of Starfield

58:32

are pretty high. Like it's, you know, I've been a little

58:34

mean. I've been, the criticisms

58:37

that I've voiced in Game Scoop are out of whack

58:39

with like overall I enjoyed my time with

58:41

the game. I don't think it's bad at all. It's more

58:43

just like I wanted and hoped for more

58:46

from it for sure. So it

58:48

didn't meet my expectations and then again,

58:50

it's a totally unfair standard to hold

58:52

it to. But I just, I really genuinely

58:54

think that Baldur's Gate is like that good and that special.

58:58

So like playing the two back to back, I don't think does it.

59:01

You just gave the most dad answer ever. Like

59:03

I'm not mad. I'm just disappointed. That's

59:06

true. That's very accurate.

59:09

And Starfield actually gives me really,

59:11

really high hopes for Elder Scrolls

59:14

VI because of that. Like

59:16

because of the unbroken sort of, anytime

59:18

you're getting into a groove in Starfield, it's

59:21

like, well, okay, leave the planet now. And you know,

59:23

watch, you know, go through this bullshit. So it's

59:25

like being back in a space where like

59:27

everything is just in one land, you

59:30

know, in a decade when that game comes out. It's just going to

59:32

feel great. What if they randomly generate

59:34

for you all the land between every castle?

59:37

Oh my God. Don't, don't even, don't

59:40

even. You know,

59:42

here's what they forget about that eye muscle again. Here's

59:45

what's special about Elder Scrolls VI. Everyone will

59:47

have a different quest in this castle. It's

59:49

like, no, don't. Everyone should have

59:51

the same haunted house. I

59:54

want the same kajit, kajit, merchant.

59:57

You're also right that the

1:00:00

permutations matter that there should be

1:00:02

like that's what Bethesda's bread and butter

1:00:04

should be is like whoa by the time I got to the

1:00:06

end of this game it's different than all my friends right that's

1:00:08

kind of the dream they set forth they did

1:00:10

it Mass Effect did too but they never really pulled it off. They did

1:00:12

a really clever thing with Starfield actually

1:00:14

where how do we have a game with a thousand planets and

1:00:17

there's always interesting stuff to find it's like well

1:00:19

if you land on a planet pick you know we have

1:00:21

these 50 caves that we made like pick one

1:00:23

of them to be there and it's different for everybody

1:00:26

but that's very clever but then

1:00:28

it makes it impossible to talk about the game with your

1:00:30

friends because you can't tell them go

1:00:32

here and find this cool thing because it won't be there you

1:00:35

know what's really crazy is that there's the

1:00:38

copy-paste

1:00:39

lab that goes into a mine that

1:00:41

I've played several times and no joke

1:00:43

it's used twice in the main freaking quests

1:00:46

yep you go to the same mine in the main quest

1:00:48

they copy-pasted mine oh I

1:00:51

hadn't heard that well how is that even like

1:00:54

it's just shameful shameful

1:00:59

seven out of ten well nicely job on Skyrim

1:01:01

getting there thank you for the suggestion Sam from Minnesota

1:01:04

forever one of his favorite video games viewers

1:01:07

listeners if you have your own suggestions

1:01:09

for 20 questions email them to me at the email address

1:01:11

gamescoop at IGN.com and that is all

1:01:13

the scoops that we have for you this week apologies I

1:01:15

sorry I could not be with you in live action at

1:01:17

the end of the show but the giant the

1:01:20

giant head of Damon is not not

1:01:22

nodding but looking in approval yes

1:01:24

a good moment when people who

1:01:33

listen to the show might want to tip over their YouTube

1:01:35

to see just the final five minutes of this episode

1:01:38

pretty good thank you Sam

1:01:40

thank you Justin thank you Seth thank you to Tom

1:01:42

working behind the scenes to make this episode very

1:01:45

possible and making me very large

1:01:48

my name is Damon this is IGN Gamescoop and we're

1:01:50

out

1:01:52

and he was out yeah

1:02:01

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