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0:58

You hear that sounds like pirates are in the room.

1:00

Ooh, pirates.

1:02

I love pirate music.

1:03

I wonder what that's about.

1:06

Well, we might be talking about pirates today then in a way that you'll all like, trust me to stick around for a second.

1:11

I want to thank some patrons first before we do anything else.

1:14

And of course welcome everybody around the table.

1:16

I'm Scott Johnson, Garrett wines are all over there.

1:19

Hi Garrett.

1:21

I am huffing the sweet odor of chlorine to make me feel like I'm going on pirates of the care.

1:27

Fantastic. Oh yeah. It is very chlorinated in that and it really stinks in there.

1:31

I don't like it. Yeah, Please.

1:33

Like on my death bed, I just want to smell the water from pirates back.

1:37

One more time. One more time, please.

1:39

Also back with us.

1:41

Jocelyn Kearney. Welcome back Jocelyn.

1:43

And we missed you. Hope you had a, a good week last week and welcome back.

1:46

How are you? I'm Doing

1:48

okay. I'm I'm really, really glad To be back.

1:51

Good. It's nice to hear your voice. Good to get all three of us in here.

1:53

I'm excited about pirates.

1:55

We're going to talk about that in a minute, but a couple of people who are not pirates are some of our newest patrons at patrion.com/instance.

2:01

And I want to thank everybody for jumping on board in the last couple of weeks.

2:06

Since we launched this thing, it means a lot to us.

2:08

For example, OBA who jumped into the common level Meggie who jumped in at the war forge level and Dr.

2:15

Jerry Tolbert at the war level as well, grateful for all of them and all of you and everybody who has supported us so far at patrion.com/instance, that's patrion.com/instance.

2:26

Let's

2:26

get

2:26

to

2:26

our

2:26

big

2:26

topic

2:26

of

2:26

the

2:30

day.

2:30

All

2:30

right,

2:30

mother

2:30

scratchers

2:30

gather

2:30

around

2:30

the

2:30

fire

2:30

and

2:30

let's

2:30

talk

2:30

about

2:39

piracy. No, not the kind where you steal software or whatever, and really not even the kind that means you use steel booty, except in video game form, sea of thieves, maybe the best game nobody's playing, or I shouldn't say that a lot of people are playing back.

2:55

A lot of people playing Z Scott, It's

2:59

very popular. Just how many people are Still

3:01

playing. That's right. I'm about to find out via email.

3:04

How many of you hated? But I just said, but here's the deal.

3:06

I actually have some stats on this.

3:07

According to this is based mostly on achievement data and a few other factors that go into this.

3:14

And I found this on a website called dot com slash stats, a site dedicated all things rolls off the tongue.

3:21

It does, isn't it you'll never forget it estimated 26 million, 287,259 players currently playing that game were having that game players on steam play a peak around 66,000 simultaneous when things are hot, depending on the night of the week, that sort of thing.

3:39

That's a lot of people on just the steam version of the Well

3:42

and the steam. The steam version only just came out within the past.

3:47

Like I think year, year and a half, like it very much was built on Xbox game pass.

3:52

It was like the first title that released exclusively on game pass, like with the release of game pass.

3:58

So I think there's a lot more people that actually play on the Xbox platform as opposed to on steam, whether that's like on PC or the actual console.

4:07

But I think a lot of people use game pass to play C I

4:10

agree. Like if they're playing. Yeah. Cause the PC version of game pass, of course supports it.

4:14

And you know, X-Box series, SNX now have optimized versions of the game to run on there.

4:19

Anybody with an old X-Box one is still playing it there, I suppose.

4:22

So we don't know what those daily numbers are because for whatever reason, this is just steam peak players, but that's pretty impressive for being, you know, new to the platform.

4:33

And this is all also right around the time a year or so ago where Microsoft suddenly said, we're putting all our shit everywhere.

4:40

You can get it on game pass. If you want, you can get it on game, pass PC, if you want get on console if you want.

4:45

But it also, Hey, if you just want to straight up by sea of thieves or you just want to buy a halo, infinite, when it comes out or, or gears five, here they are.

4:53

They're just here on steam for your normal price that you pay for video games and also over on epic.

4:59

And guess what? You can also get a here and here and here.

5:01

Like they just seem to have this moment of like, yeah, we'll just everybody play wherever the hell you want to play it.

5:06

And when that happened, I think that was probably a bump for sea of thieves, at least, you know, at least on the PC side, given the size and coverage of steam, but yeah, 66,000 simultaneous players, not a slouchy number.

5:20

That's up there in some of the higher numbers and another interesting stat, 3 million cracking kills in that game.

5:28

Have you ever killed a cracking?

5:29

Jocelyn, you ever a cracking?

5:33

Yeah. How did that go? Was it difficult? Is it like the ultimate in the game or we'll get more into what this game is today, but all I hear about is cracking, so is the crack and worth it.

5:44

So the cracking is elusive, I think, which is why people kind of talk about it a lot is because, I mean, I don't think I saw a crack in for three or four months.

5:54

Like they are there kind of rare.

5:57

And I think they only spawn when a ship is actually nearby.

6:03

So like, cause the servers kind of like cycle through events.

6:07

And so if like the cracking is going to spawn in one spot and nobody sells by it, it'll go to the next event after like a D spot and timers sort of thing.

6:14

So yeah, it's a, it's probably the most elusive of the events.

6:21

Cause it also doesn't have like a lot of the things like the, the skeleton Fords, the skeleton ship fights, some of the newer events, like the flame heart event and stuff all have like indicators up in the sky.

6:32

Like the clouds changed shape and color, but the crackin doesn't have that.

6:36

So it, it doesn't get activated.

6:38

I think as much as, as the other events do, did a Hard

6:41

fight, I assume it is.

6:43

It's not really hard. It's more tedious.

6:46

Like once you've done it, once that's enough, Seven,

6:50

the jazz says he's been killed by the crack and about 3 million times.

6:53

So there's a good stat for you. Yeah. But then he said it was actually megs, which makes spawn all the time.

6:58

So those are the giant.

7:00

Oh the Megalodon. I didn't know the game had though.

7:03

Okay. So this brings us to the important part of all this, the game launched kind of in an okay state when it first happened and people were really excited about it.

7:12

This is rare, you know, or a Microsoft acquired company.

7:15

They used to do all Nintendo titles back in the day and everyone has high anticipation.

7:20

Anytime rare makes something, by the way that transition happened right before the 360.

7:24

So, you know, rare has been with Microsoft for a long time, make another penny, yada you cowards.

7:30

No kidding.

7:32

Dammit. Yadda skin for your ship.

7:35

And sea of thieves is not the same, But

7:37

I didn't know that actually. I'm really excited about it.

7:39

Yeah, dude, that game, I love that game.

7:43

That game was awesome.

7:44

They are cowards for not making any one of those anyway, so that game launched in pretty decent shape.

7:50

But I remember the time people are like, oh, I don't know.

7:53

It's not, it's got these problems in this problem.

7:55

And you know, it's a little empty right now and you know, there wasn't there wasn't like universal praise for the game from either players or, or critics at the time, but you're telling us, or you've told me offline.

8:06

And we'll probably tell us again here.

8:08

That game is very, very, very different.

8:10

Now tell me why what's good.

8:14

Now. Why, why in Jocelyn's opinion, should we all be flocking to the, to the game and playing it?

8:21

See if these, when it launched, like it very much went the same sort of way as no man's sky.

8:26

It's the comparisons between see of these and no man's sky happened all the time.

8:30

And for good reason, it did it launched in a way that rares vision was very much like pirate sandbox.

8:38

Like we're going to build you this world.

8:40

There's going to be islands on it and you're going to go find the fun.

8:44

And I think a lot of people were expecting a little bit more guidance in as opposed to just going in and creating fun out of nothing.

8:54

And so I think a lot of people got in there and said, oh man, this is just a huge grind.

8:59

And they kind of like, they made the mistake of assuming it would take people four to six months to reach pirate legend, which was supposed to give them enough time to put a bunch of content behind that title.

9:13

However, in the world of streaming, the longest I think, or the first pirate legend, it happened in like the first week and a half.

9:22

And there was literally nothing there.

9:24

So once the player base had confirmation that there was like, you got to pirate legend, and then there was nothing.

9:31

Then everybody kind of went well, then what's the point of the grind.

9:35

And a lot of people bounced off at that point in time.

9:38

So since then, one thing that I absolutely love about rare is not only do they absolutely freaking love their game, like maybe more than any dev team I've ever seen.

9:50

Like they just love it.

9:52

They love being in it. They love making it.

9:54

And because they're so engaged, they listened to the community like crazy sea of thieves has so much to do.

10:03

Now. They have like daily event quests.

10:06

You can do, they have like a, a seasoned battle pass.

10:09

And the way you earn points for the battle pass is by completing what are called deeds.

10:13

They have a whole like voyage system where you can go and buy different kinds of voyages in the voyages.

10:20

It was, have also changed since the beginning because they heard the feedback that some of the, some of the factions you could grind out rep for weren't as fun as others.

10:30

So they've made a lot of changes. I particularly like the changes they've made to the merchants.

10:34

Now it used to be that you would like get things from one outpost and have to take them to the other outpost.

10:40

And that was just boring. Now you have to go search for lost merchant ships.

10:44

So you have to like try to chart their path and look for shipwrecks and like recover the manifest of everything that was there and then take the cargo where it was supposed to go.

10:54

If you can recover it, like they're really interactive and interesting now.

10:57

So I think that there was just, there was a lot less guidance, but now you can go in to see if the thieves and say, okay, I can either go play in a sandbox and find my own fun, or let me, you know, do this tall tale, which are like a series of quests, which you would probably be used to for many other kind of game.

11:23

And it tells a story and they've built out the lore a lot.

11:26

And then this year, you guys were kind of talking about the pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disney.

11:32

They actually had a free for everyone higher it's of the Caribbean DLC content release.

11:40

And it was about 10 hours of unique pirates of the Caribbean story that was like merged into the lore of sea of thieves.

11:50

And it is like the piece of content I've played in anything this year.

11:55

Like it was so much fun and I did it also low.

11:59

So that's hilarious because my impression would be knowing, you know, everyone's kind of down or not down.

12:05

Nobody, nobody talks lovingly about the series of pirates of the Caribbean movies.

12:10

Everyone loves the first movie and then things go off the rails and then it starts to feel like, oh boy, they're cramming another thing into my game.

12:17

And it's not really related.

12:20

Sure. They're pirate related. But I don't know if that was my impression of it when I heard it announced, but everybody I've talked to now, you included have raved about it and said it was extremely well implemented.

12:31

And even if you're not a fan of those movies, you might become one because you really liked the way this was put in here.

12:38

Like that sort of thing. That's, that's a tall order.

12:41

That's hard to do. They didn't really.

12:43

So essentially the way that rare tells it anyways is that Disney approached them and said, Hey, we were going to make a pirates of the Caribbean game.

12:51

But we were like, why build a pirate game when the best pirate game already exists?

12:55

Can we make pirates of the Caribbean in sea of thieves?

12:58

And Ray was like, yes, That's kind of why we built this game.

13:04

So, Oh,

13:06

that's cool. So yeah, they're like everyone likes a little bit of money.

13:11

Never hurts. Okay. So you mentioned solo.

13:13

I do want to get to this either now or later or again, but I want to at least ask that question.

13:19

My concern early on was it didn't seem like it was very solo friendly.

13:23

And we talked before the show briefly about how, I don't know, the older you get the less, the less fluid schedule you have to make sure all your friends are on at the same time.

13:32

And you know, everybody can kind of get in and do a, do a run.

13:35

It

13:35

seems

13:35

like

13:35

they've

13:35

gone

13:35

to

13:35

some

13:35

length

13:35

anyway,

13:35

to

13:35

make

13:35

the

13:35

game

13:35

pretty

13:35

fun

13:35

in

13:35

a

13:35

solo

13:42

way. And would you, you know, your ex you've had a bunch of solo experience, would you agree?

13:45

And when am I going to have a good time? That way?

13:47

I, I do think that see if the leaves, it is really, really fun with friends.

13:51

I think that if you're looking to like play more in the original way that the devs intended, which is like, go find your own fun, then that's kind of where playing with friends comes.

14:03

Because I mean, I've had tons and tons of nights with friends where, you know, we just goof off and do stupid stuff and don't really get any progress on anything.

14:12

Don't really get anything done, but we have a lot of fun.

14:14

And I think that that's what that part of the game is, is really made for.

14:18

But myself personally, I play solo quite a lot, just like when I have goals, like when I wanted to do the pirates content or when I, you know, want to grind out a specific faction or something like, or I want to do a specific tall tale, like those, I actually find a lot easier to do solo.

14:37

Cause you're only managing yourself.

14:38

You don't have to kind of like herd the cats to get to all the same place and do the thing.

14:43

So yeah, when I, when I have a specific goal that I want to do, I like playing solo.

14:49

The one thing that you do have to remember, and I think that this was also a bit of a turnoff to everybody at the beginning to maybe, well, not everybody, but some people is that there are no PVE servers.

14:59

Every single server technically is PVP.

15:03

Now that can be a little daunting as a solo player, but I have found that the vast majority of the time, if I see anybody else, they don't bother me.

15:15

Like sometimes you get a jerk, that'll chase you down for just the sake of chasing you down.

15:20

But it's, it's not, it's not really the end of the world anymore because rare also heard those concerns and put a lot of like progress checks and like save points into their content.

15:33

So it used to be, if somebody sunk you in the middle of a tall tale, which is that big, long quest line I was talking about, then you would just lose all your progress and have to start again.

15:41

But now they have Checkpoint.

15:45

Yeah. They have checkpoints at the end of every chapter now.

15:47

So even if you do get sunk, you can just go like restart and you've only lost maybe 10, 15 minutes of progress.

15:53

So it's, it's a lot better.

15:55

And they also changed it. So that like a lot of the things that you're working towards get recorded when you get the treasure on the ship, including like, if you're doing a voyage, your progress on the voyage is when you like dig up or, or put the treasurer on the ship as opposed to having to take it to an outpost.

16:11

So again, if you get sunk and your treasures stolen, you've lost the like turn in value, like the gold value, but not the progress on some of the other stuff you might've been working on.

16:21

So Interesting. So I actually, that brings a big question in my head.

16:25

Most of the games we talk about on the show, and certainly back when it was dedicated to world of Warcraft, the entirety of this show has always been about games where progression is represented in kind of traditional RPG, elements, levels, and skills unlocked at certain levels and max level.

16:42

And then what do you do at end game? And that sort of thing, this game doesn't have levels.

16:47

It doesn't differently.

16:49

So explain to me how do they do, how do they give you your sense of progression without that usual skeletal structure we're used to, It's

16:58

all about the cosmetics.

16:59

I

16:59

mean,

16:59

that's,

16:59

that's

16:59

progression

16:59

for

16:59

a

16:59

pirate

16:59

while

16:59

you're

16:59

real

17:04

pirate. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.

17:06

And you know how big your head is?

17:08

Oh, there are some big hats, but yeah, there's a, there are ship cosmetics.

17:14

There are like pirate cosmetics, there's weapon, cosmetics, there's cosmetics for anything you can carry and show to somebody else in the game.

17:22

So like your compass, your bucket, your shovel, your telescope, all of it.

17:27

There's tons of cosmetics. And that really is, oh, and player titles as well.

17:32

So like when you complete some of these quests and things, they'll give you titles.

17:35

There's also now what they call player curses, which actually change like your, your skin.

17:42

So I think they just released one that was like the skin of rage or something that makes it look like you're like internally on fire.

17:50

There's also one that's called the gold curse, which like half of your face and stuff is all gold.

17:56

Like they've, they've done like a lot of like literal skins like that.

18:01

So yeah. See if these is all about cosmetics, which actually I really love because it never really feels like I'm behind and I can play with whoever I want.

18:12

So even if I have like a friend who only plays CFE thieves, I can jump in and play with them.

18:19

Like Scott, you not playing since launch can jump in and play with me and you won't be any less powerful than I am.

18:26

You might have a little bit less skill because you haven't like practiced using the sniper rifle.

18:30

But you know, like you, don't your gear, isn't holding you back.

18:35

Some people might laugh at you because you're in like a basic pirate outfit, but Is

18:40

there somebody held if somebody held a gun to my head and you know, and said, Hey quick, tell me what.

18:46

See if these progression system is, I go, ah, there are RPG elements with levels and probably some kind of level cap in the try and try to save my life.

18:53

Right. That just seems normal.

18:54

But this game somehow figured out a way to, to traverse the, I don't know, the progression thing in such a way that it's, you, you are making progress and you are accumulating wealth.

19:07

I assume you're getting a ton of gold, right?

19:10

Like that's the idea is you're trying to get gold and keep it and then spend it on, you know, cool end game items or, you know, quest rewards or whatever.

19:19

That's That seems crazy to me that they pulled that off.

19:23

I don't know why I'm so impressed with that, but I am because most games feel like they have to do the other thing to feel like you're making progress.

19:31

And this game somehow said, no, you know, you can, you can just get in and an adventure and do some cool shit.

19:37

And you'll still feel like you accomplished a bunch of things, but you don't have to, you know, oh, I got a power level of 50 or my friends are all there or yeah.

19:46

They can play with me when it scales the Dungeons back or you know, all this kind of talk.

19:49

And I don't know why I find that.

19:51

So refreshing, it's super refreshing to me for some reason.

19:54

I don't know why. Yeah, there are technically levels, but the levels are your reputation with the various factions in the game.

20:03

So when the game came out, there were three, there were the order of souls, which is like the spooky skeleton hunting ones.

20:10

There's the gold hoarders, which are the ones who are only interested in like treasures.

20:14

And then there's the merchants.

20:15

And so they've since added a couple more, they added like a PVP arena.

20:21

So that has a faction attached to it.

20:24

And they added the reapers, which is basically like a PVP faction.

20:29

So you get rewarded for like stealing sinking and stealing other people's stuff.

20:33

So,

20:33

but

20:33

the

20:33

good

20:33

thing

20:33

about

20:33

that

20:33

is

20:33

as

20:33

soon

20:33

as

20:33

somebody

20:33

like

20:33

allies

20:33

themselves

20:33

with

20:33

the

20:33

reapers,

20:33

everyone

20:33

on

20:33

the

20:33

map

20:33

can

20:33

see

20:42

them. So you can decide if you want to stay on that server or wrap up what you're doing and go, That's

20:47

like sprinting with a flag and halo Garrett.

20:49

And to get you seen every time I know this is a dumb thing and I just want to at least bring it up, but I can never get over how good the water looks in this game.

21:01

You know, the game itself has very stylized cartoony, but gosh, dang it.

21:07

That water did. I haven't played since the first week this game was out.

21:11

And that's, that's still what I remember from it, which is also like what I remember from like black flag, the only other pirate game that, you know, ever actually fricking released.

21:21

And yeah, I live in Florida.

21:23

I've been on boats a lot. Like boy does fricking sea of thieves, like get it, like they really get that experience and they've captured it really well.

21:32

That's fair. Yeah, I agree. But I just, I just think there's a lesson in water tech here that I don't know anything about, but someone needs to teach it.

21:39

Like, it's just insane. And we're talking about overall kind of last gen tech, you know, the game has been updated for taking advantage of newer, newer consoles and of course PCs, but something about that water, it makes me feel afraid to go in it.

21:54

Like it looks incredibly, Yeah.

21:59

Season four actually added.

22:01

So we're in season five now.

22:02

I think I mentioned earlier, they have battle passes and every season they like bring out a new set of stuff to do.

22:08

And new Boston defeat, like new PVE things, new grinds to do.

22:13

And last season was the siren trines.

22:17

And they were on the bottom of the ocean in the middle of nothing.

22:21

And you literally, the only way to get to them was just swim straight down.

22:25

So you get that like crushing, like terrifying water experience.

22:31

And then you get down to the bottom and they have like air bubbles and stuff you can find to, to stay down there and search for treasure and stuff.

22:38

But yeah, that was, that was the one thing they added last season was these siren shrines.

22:42

And they're so scary.

22:45

I'm going to say a hundred percent be playing this later.

22:47

I didn't expect to quite feel this way, but you've, you've, you've kind of sold me on a Garrett.

22:51

I'm wondering what you would want out of this experience.

22:55

Like, is there anything about, see if these, other than your initial experience with it?

22:58

We were like, boy, I sure wish they do this. And you know, like what would drive you to play this more An

23:04

eighth day of the week? Really?

23:05

Like, I just need more time.

23:08

I don't really have anything against it.

23:10

When they initially came out, I was really excited.

23:11

And like, after like three days, I felt like I had done everything there was to do in the game while having made no progression.

23:18

Like

23:18

not

23:18

that

23:18

it

23:18

ever

23:18

really

23:18

had

23:18

it,

23:18

a

23:18

traditional

23:18

progression

23:25

system. It's not like I got anything particularly cool.

23:27

I didn't really get much in the way of gear, but like, you know, I just went around and like found treasure shot things and got owned by other players.

23:33

And I was like, eh, okay. It kind of seems like this is it.

23:35

I'm just in slightly different locations of beautiful beaches and stuff.

23:41

And I guess it was kind of it then Right

23:43

at the time, for sure.

23:45

Yeah. Yeah. And so now I mean, here in that it has all this stuff, like one of these days, I'm definitely going to go play through the parts of the Caribbean Stuff.

23:53

I'm going to install today.

23:55

Really it's really worth playing. Honestly, they did a really good job of like you feel if you've been on the ride in Disneyland, that's what this content feels like.

24:06

Except for, instead of like, they even have like, you know, the crackly voice on the Intercom, that's your narrator.

24:15

Oh God bless you.

24:18

Stop moving. Is it like the ride has broken down, keep your peg legs and arms inside the vessel at all times, Don't

24:26

lean that far into it, but it's kind of like, it does have aspects of the ride.

24:32

Like you get to actually get out and explore like that Bayou area where the restaurant is.

24:37

That's like a part of the DLC.

24:39

That's one of the tails takes place there.

24:42

And then there's a, another part that takes place.

24:45

And you know, that Fort with the battle that you, that you ride through, you actually get to participate in that battle.

24:51

So yeah. There's, if you like the ride and you've been on the ride, there are a lot of like Easter Reggie kind of things.

24:58

What would you compare the combat to? If you had to like, what, what does it, is it like Skyrim me?

25:03

Cause it is first-person right. And that's the main mode.

25:06

Yes, it is. Yeah. It is first person.

25:07

I

25:07

mean,

25:07

it's,

25:07

it's

25:07

kind

25:07

of

25:07

hard

25:07

to

25:13

say. I mean, you, you have your choice of two weapons.

25:16

So the two out of four, so there's a sniper rifle, a pistol, a shotgun, or a blunderbuss and a sword.

25:25

And

25:25

so

25:25

you

25:25

have

25:25

to

25:25

choose

25:25

to,

25:25

you

25:25

can

25:25

only

25:25

carry

25:30

two. And so there are kind of different strategies based on whether you're double gunning or, you know, if you're bringing a sword and, and how that kind of plays out.

25:40

And so, I mean, combat white, like I haven't ever really played anything else like it because it's very simplistic And

25:51

it's not Modified. Like we talked about earlier, it's not modified by anything.

25:54

That's not modified by gear, not modified by skills or any other RPG elements.

25:58

So it's just kind of like very bare bones, relying on player skill.

26:05

That's interesting. Cause so that tells me the probably there's no gated weapons either.

26:09

I mean, you may have skins or something. No.

26:11

Yeah, no. Nothing's getting to you just as soon as you log in as a level, one player, you have access to all four weapons, go for it, have fun.

26:17

And all four weapons are just as powerful as someone who's been playing since day one Finding

26:21

the so refreshing.

26:22

Like I I'm I'm as much as I love, you know, we all, we're all MMO players here.

26:27

We love, we love starting at one and working our way up and unlocking things.

26:31

And there's something to be said for all of that. But you know, as somebody who's been surrounded by those kinds of mechanics, not just here, but in shooters and you know, everything that, that has these kinds of progression mechanics are always based on levels.

26:42

Unlocking gated things that I can't get to it.

26:45

Cause I'm not there yet or whatever this sounds refreshing or at least it sounds like they nailed, they finally nailed the right tenor here because obviously struggled in the beginning.

26:58

I like your comparison to no man's sky.

27:01

That's a game that, you know, launched very disappointingly for almost everybody involved.

27:04

And those guys just put their heads down and said, well, we're still making our game.

27:08

So here comes our game here comes in and updates.

27:10

You're going to be, you know, you'll show like this update.

27:12

You might like this update. And now I feel like we owe them an apology for being so mean to them on launch day.

27:18

Even though, even though it launched bad, right.

27:20

It did. And, And it had a bad lunch, but they did something that I don't think I've ever seen.

27:25

Another game dev do is they said, okay, we've heard your feedback.

27:28

We launched pretty empty. We get it.

27:30

Here was our plan for the content for the next year.

27:34

We're going to release it in the next six months.

27:35

And they just smooshed their entire timeline down and said, okay, here, you're going to get a new update every month.

27:41

Let's go. Yeah.

27:43

See, that's insane to me that they've been able to do that.

27:45

And that they keep doing it like a no man's sky case.

27:47

They keep doing it.

27:49

And I feel like saying to them, you know, I will I'll buy some DLC or something.

27:52

Like, do you have like a, you know, you can do a little package Free.

27:56

I haven't put any more money into it outside of buying cosmetics because obviously they have like a cosmetic store.

28:02

They have a battle pass where if you buy it, then you get, you know, extra cosmetics.

28:06

So yeah, they, they have ways to pay, but you don't have to, all of the updates, all the content is free.

28:14

Okay. It looks like it's a good way to do a game as a service.

28:16

Hey, Hey, here, here, it all is.

28:18

You like it. We have a battle pass. We're not going to force you into it.

28:21

But Yeah, I feel like maybe that's the right balance.

28:25

And I know some, you know, many companies are trying to find that balance still, but it feels pretty good to me, at least on paper.

28:31

And again, you know, I haven't tried it since launch, but now I'm all sorts of excited to play the game.

28:37

And there are multiple people in my life who play it.

28:39

You play it. Bo Schwartz plays it with his friends all the time.

28:41

They're always like, Hey, we got a slot you want to get in?

28:43

I'm like, oh, I don't know. See if these really, I dunno.

28:45

And then, and then I, you know, and then I'm like, oh boy, Joshua loves that game.

28:50

I, I just need to give, in fact he had for a while there, he had like a little podcast about it.

28:54

Right. And that was in the early days of this thing.

28:57

And that really fell off because literally like we, we covered, I actually did it with SIM who's in the title right now, but it was, it was really, really fun.

29:05

But there wasn't a whole lot to talk about in the first like month of the games, we kind of went, ah, we'll go on hiatus.

29:10

And honestly, I've, I've wanted to, I've talked to save.

29:14

I'm like, can I just bring it back as like a solo show or something?

29:17

Like, I just want to talk about this game.

29:19

People need to know about this game, but I just, I haven't had the time, but yeah.

29:25

Like I, I really truly love it.

29:28

And I would side of dead by daylight and Hearthstone.

29:31

It's the only other game I watch on Twitch.

29:34

Oh, wow. Okay. I was going to ask what the health of the game is on, on Twitch.

29:38

I guess there's probably some pretty dedicated community streamers and stuff for the game.

29:41

There definitely are. Yeah. I mean, it's, it's not, it's, it's usually up there in terms of viewership.

29:46

Like it's in the first couple of rows of games if you browse by game.

29:50

So, and there's some, yeah, there's some streamers they get, you know, like a few thousand at a time and stuff.

29:55

It's, it's no like disguised toast levels of viewership, but you know, they're they do well, Well,

30:03

it makes me so after seeing how many websites are dedicated to it, how many fan sites, how many, you know, different things that are going on YouTube channels that are focused on and that sort of thing, it made me realize that a I'd been sort of missing out on, you know, the potential of this game and playing it and all of that.

30:18

But what it tells me is that there's a long life ahead of it.

30:24

It sounds like this thing has got some, some legs and they're not slowing down in terms of development.

30:28

I honestly, from everything that I've learned, it feels like this might be the reason that we've never seen hide nor hair of who'd be soft skull and bones pirate game.

30:36

I think they thought they could own that space, given their Assassin's creed, black flag history and just sort of, you know, all of that stuff was, was great at the time.

30:47

So maybe they'll be the ones to bring it.

30:49

And then that thing went on like, Hey, what about skull and bones?

30:53

And it's been like, you know, forever, but it is right.

30:57

Yeah. So excited for that damn game to, I was to blast Assassin's creed.

31:02

I liked, yeah. I, I mean, I loved black flag, loved it.

31:06

And I loved this is why I'm mad at myself.

31:08

Cause it feels like I've always wanted a good playground of piracy.

31:13

Like the pirate playground, the ultimate video game pirate playground has been under my nose the entire time.

31:19

It's just called sea of thieves and I haven't been playing it.

31:22

And that annoys me as a gamer.

31:24

So I'm going to fix that and play it.

31:27

It'll be interesting to see though, like speaking of co-op games, this has been kind of a big year for that back for blood.

31:34

I did play a bit of that alien strike team game or strike team elite force, whatever the hell it is.

31:40

Anyway, it's, it's basically left for dead, but with aliens from the alien franchise.

31:44

And it kinda like some of the stuff they're doing in there, but it's, you know, whatever, it's one of those games like deep rock galactic, I'm a big fan of that game.

31:52

These, these three to four player games where you're cooperative, cooperatively doing a thing, earning either levels or equipment or gear or whatever it does seem like that, that genre, that sub genres having a bit of a moment.

32:08

I wonder how this compares to that.

32:10

Like I assume there's a lot of similarities because if you're playing with four of you, you got dude bailing out water in the bottom of the ship, you've got somebody up top, you know, trying to snipe your enemy.

32:19

You got somebody else running cannons, I guess, or whatever.

32:22

Like how did those compare Jocelyn to these games I've mentioned like say left for dead as an example, would you, would you compare this positively to that kind of cooperation in a game?

32:34

I would say. Yeah. I think like a lot of things in see if the eaves is a little bit more kind of like flexible, like it is, it is very sandboxy in that you can kind of like create your own strategies in a lot of ways, for whatever kind of content that you're doing.

32:54

And I think that there's a lot of 'cause again, you're, you're talking about a game that does do a mix of PVE and PVP, which means you're also going to change what you're doing and your strategies quite often.

33:08

So it's not like anybody gets like penned into one specific role.

33:13

Like it's very much like you might be the person steering the ship, but then, oh my God, the person that was doing the bailing got killed.

33:20

So now you have to leave that role and you have to go and do something else.

33:23

Or, you know, you have to man, the Canon, someone else has to steer when they respond or, you know, like it's a lot more fluid than a lot of co-op games.

33:30

Like you're not, you're not picking a role.

33:32

You're not stuck in a, in a space.

33:34

You can kind of just do whatever needs doing at the time.

33:39

It needs to happen. Because again, everybody has the same kit.

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37:45

So if you were going to recommend, I don't know, let's say streamers that I could go find and watch.

37:51

And like, who do you have? Somebody you follow a lot and would recommend a listeners.

37:54

Do I have to actually they stream together quite often.

37:58

And I think they're really entertaining.

38:01

And the thing that I like even more than the fact that I just think they're so hilarious is that they kind of have like a code that when they're playing sea of thieves.

38:11

So is it more like guidelines really is more like guidelines.

38:22

We've got to set a guidelines here we like to adhere to.

38:25

Yeah. So they pretty much, most of the time, big old asterix here don't shoot.

38:32

First PVP is basically the only thing they have left in the game because they both play like all day, every day.

38:40

So they don't have a lot of PVE content left to do so.

38:44

PVP is where they find their fun.

38:45

So they will go and try to find other players and they will talk to other players and say like, Hey, how's it going?

38:54

And if the other ship shoots at them, oh, we saw, and so is a welcome for grade, but we'll murder you if they, if you try to murder them very much.

39:07

That's, That's a, that's a hell of a welcome to the neighborhood.

39:10

Yes. So the, the first one I'm going to, I'm going to mention is his name is beer to gettin and he is just so good.

39:18

He plays sometimes he'll do do owes with the other streamer, boxy fresh, but he also often plays solo.

39:26

So if you are interested in, in what a solo pirate can do, I mean, he's an absolute God.

39:32

Like, I mean, I cannot like actually shoot a cannon anywhere near as well as he can, like, he'll be an island away and be able to hit another ship moving.

39:45

And I'm just like, I can't, I don't understand Because

39:49

he's on right. He's on right now playing this guy clearly playing a lot, literally on right now in the morning.

39:55

Well, I guess it's afternoon now in some parts of the country, but that's pretty impressive.

39:59

All right, cool.

40:01

And you mentioned the other one boxy fresh he's they they'll affect, I think he might be on the boat with him at the moment, I

40:08

think. Yeah. I think beard and box. Yeah. I think this might be a co-op day for them.

40:13

All right. Well, I'll definitely check those guys out.

40:15

If you at home, have thoughts, questions, feelings about that game, or you played a ton and you think we got something wrong or, or right.

40:21

Or whatever we'd love to hear from you.

40:23

Oh, I was going to ask you this, obviously this is on PC and console.

40:26

Do you have a preference?

40:27

Like, is it better on your butt?

40:29

Is it better on a PC? What do you, what do you like?

40:33

I do play both because game pass is on Xbox and PC.

40:36

So it's great. Cause I have one account that I can just play on PC or go sit on my couch.

40:41

And the other great thing is that it has full cross place.

40:43

So if you have friends on any platform, you can just lay with them.

40:48

So, and everybody who you're actually going to come into contact with is also on any platform, like all the servers or everybody's mixing.

40:57

I do like that. All right. Very nice.

40:59

Let us know what you think at home.

41:01

Our email address is the [email protected].

41:03

Let's

41:03

get

41:03

to

41:03

some

41:03

of

41:03

these

41:03

games

41:03

we're

41:03

playing

41:03

this

41:08

week. So I got it's it's my final fantasies fault, but I got completely hooked on the old Republic.

41:14

Again, I'm playing through the entirety of the freaking scythe inquisitor storyline, and I can't help it.

41:21

And that's just how it is. So sorry.

41:23

Look, if you've got a bunch of cues and I can never get into your game, I have no other choice, but to go scratch my age somewhere else.

41:28

And then that other place might, might hook me in and it did.

41:31

So I'm good for now.

41:33

Thanks for the 21 days of a bonus time, final fantasy.

41:37

And I'm sure I'll get to it eventually, but I never did play that storyline for the Sith inquisitor.

41:42

And I literally subbed to the game because I liked what I was doing so much.

41:47

I was like, well, wait a minute, let me get all these benefits and bonuses from subbing to freaking old Republic, which is now old In

41:54

the year 2021 to the old Republic.

41:59

I know dude. And this is, you know, I mean famous, I don't know famously, but way back in the day, there was a spinoff of this show called the instance, the old Republic and 2011

42:08

is when tour originally released 10

42:12

years game is really good.

42:16

It's very good.

42:17

And I'm really Aware

42:21

of before they stopped making good games.

42:23

Yeah. It's by some of the best BioWare writing period, I've played all their games.

42:27

And I think some of that writing is I think it's some of the best stuff I've ever I've ever seen.

42:32

I think you can make a movie out of this inquisitor line or TV show or something.

42:35

That's The original Sith warrior quest line is some of the most fun I've ever had an RPG.

42:39

I got to be the biggest, most evil bastard I've ever been in a Yeah.

42:44

Yeah. I mean, and I'm going that's, what's great is I'm going Sith, inquisitor, but I'm going light picks every time just to piss off Kim, whatever his name is, the big hulking thing that your first companion, that guy's pissed at me all the time.

42:57

He was very dissatisfied with what you just said.

42:59

He does not approve and like constantly pissed at what I'm doing, but I'm gone.

43:03

I've gone like full light side SIF and it's, and it's kind of pissing everybody off in the game.

43:07

And the game's really good at that stuff.

43:09

The stories are great. The voice acting's insane.

43:11

I just think the gameplay holds up. It's fine.

43:13

It's just like any other tab target MMO.

43:15

And they put a lot of quality of life things in there.

43:19

Super hooked on the old Republic.

43:21

I don't know what's going on. Ah, don't worry.

43:23

Final fantasy. I'll get back to you. Okay. I will.

43:25

But your servers have to let me in to that for that to happen.

43:28

Okay. And I play at times where everyone's on.

43:31

I can't help it. I don't, I can't play in the morning.

43:33

I can't play weird off hours.

43:35

I have to play when I can play.

43:37

And when I do, it's like 5,000 people.

43:39

So Hey, So

43:42

Scott planet, how long is your queue?

43:48

Is it two hours log in two hours before you planned to play?

43:51

Oh, I've done that. But then I get that two oh 2000 to air off tomorrow.

43:56

Yeah. Way more often than not.

43:58

Well, it didn't work for me two days ago, so maybe, I

44:02

don't know if the David there's quite a few are errors and they're really good about giving granular updates on all of them.

44:10

So I don't know, off the top of my head of which areas have been fixed in which one.

44:13

Yeah. And they, to their credit, I, you know, to make things really clear here, even though I subbed to the game and you know, it's a service I can't get into when I want to get into it.

44:21

I'm not, I am not, I have no grudges for them.

44:24

I think they're working as hard and best they can.

44:26

I think that there's so many factors going into this.

44:29

A it's a good MMO that people were already playing, be a gigantic expansion that ends the current storyline of the entirety of that game.

44:38

So far is a big deal for, for new and returning players and, and dedicated players.

44:44

And thirdly, there's an exit is happening right now.

44:48

And a lot of those people are going to final fantasy from things like, wow, and it's just congestion after congestion and they can't buy server stuff fast enough because of the chip shortage.

44:58

It's like, they'll all this stuff kind of combining to be a perfect storm of both good and bad for them.

45:03

And I don't hold, I hold no ill will I, this, I can't imagine what all this is like to deal with in some ways it's a great problem to have.

45:10

You're the hot thing right now.

45:13

Congratulations. Well done. You're having your moment, but it's I haven't been able to get in and this other game, oh, by the way, tons of people and star wars, they're all over the place in that game.

45:21

That seems to be like Garrett said last week, it's a healthy game.

45:24

People are playing it and I have no problem grouping or finding people or people are asking me to be in their guilds and all this kind of stuff.

45:32

It's, it's insane.

45:33

So anyway, I get my fill of that and then I'll come back when the cues are a little lower and you know, it'll all be fine.

45:39

All right. So everybody, would you Look

45:41

forward to seeing your hot bunny girl now That

45:45

that will never happen? You know, there's two things. I'll never be hot bunny girl, and I'll never be one of those little, I call them potato head people, but the little Nomi, what are they called?

45:53

LA? I have no idea.

45:55

I just called them nouns, The little LA Leuner's or LA Lolo Lolo's or whatever they are the shitty little animated, little shitty things.

46:03

I hate them.

46:03

I

46:03

don't

46:03

like

46:03

them

46:03

can

46:03

not

46:03

deal

46:03

with

46:03

those

46:03

characters,

46:10

All this stuff in, in old bores, me senseless.

46:12

But I do love the combo of leaders of their, that Jack shirtless dude and the tiny little Sultana.

46:19

I find that that makes That's

46:21

hilarious. Oh yeah. The combo is pretty funny, but oh, Lala fell.

46:24

There it is. Thank you. And chat.

46:25

That's just about as dumb as I was saying.

46:28

So there you go. All right.

46:29

I also, I also played a ton of halo.

46:33

I'm going to hold that thought until we talked to Garrett because he played a lot of halo.

46:36

I opened up, I popped up, I played a game called the gunk, which just launched yesterday.

46:45

Sorry. Yeah. Yes. I think yesterday or Wednesday, maybe on game pass, but it's also available on steam and other places.

46:51

The developers nice enough to send me a code for the series X, even though I could play it on the series X just part of game pass was kind of weird, but, but anyway, it's the developers who make the steam world game or steam world dig, dig to steam world heist, they'll steam, world games, 2d kind of robot games that are very well thought of Gilgamesh.

47:12

Also another good one there, this is their first 3d game.

47:17

Very next gen, lots of cool features.

47:20

Generation-wise as, you know, 120 frames per second.

47:24

Beautiful. You know, graphically really nice.

47:27

All that stuff. All I'd say gorgeous.

47:29

Yeah. It's really pretty. Basically. I'm about, only about two hours in, in some ways it's a simple game.

47:34

It's like a Zelda environment puzzles mixed with a little bit of, and I don't mean this in a bad ways.

47:43

I know some people don't like it, but super Mario sunshine had the like spray everything down and clean it mechanic this I did too.

47:50

I like sunshine. I just know a lot of people are real sensitive about sunshine for some reason, but sunshine, I had the, you know, the backpack and the clean, the goop, and then you'd unlock stuff.

47:59

And all that this game has that except you're sucking stuff in.

48:02

It's like a great big that it's the gunk, it's this gelatinous goo that's like obscuring places.

48:08

You need to go or covering something important or whatever.

48:11

And your job is to take this robot hand and, and like vacuum it up to, to clear certain areas out.

48:17

And the act of doing that is actually kind of really fun in itself.

48:20

And so I'm finding that really compelling mechanically, a lot of platform puzzles, like, how am I going to get there from here?

48:28

Oh right. I got to do this, which grows a mushroom, which does this thing, the planet you're on looks like a no man's sky planet biome just really crazy and pretty lots of colors.

48:38

And the story so far is interesting.

48:41

The voice acting is kind of terrible, but the character is growing on me.

48:45

It's their first game. I'd set this on courts, their first game with voice acting.

48:48

Cause all those steamroll games are like Rivera and then text, right.

48:53

Kind of your animal crossing style of communication.

48:55

And this is their first one with an actual cast.

48:59

And it's a little jarring that it's not great.

49:02

But like I say, it's actually, it's actually gotten better as I've gone along, but mechanically in some ways it's simple, but I'm, I'm liking that about it.

49:11

I like that. I'm just sort of all right, I got to solve this and now I'm past that.

49:15

Now I'm in a new place. I've got to solve that and pass that.

49:17

And I think the art style is really neat.

49:19

It's cool. It's called the gunk it's available and you guys should play it.

49:23

I like it a lot. Jocelyn, you played a game.

49:25

I had to fall off of it because it scared me so bad.

49:27

Tell me about it.

49:29

It scared you Alan

49:32

wake. I can't well, no, I'm sorry.

49:34

Sorry. Sorry. You play control of the Alan wake DLC.

49:36

Alan wake scared me control made me feel nervous.

49:42

I don't know how to explain this.

49:44

It's the first game where I felt lots of games make you feel lots of different ways.

49:48

Control made me feel like I was going to die any second all the time.

49:51

And I couldn't play it very long because of that.

49:53

It was weird. Not me, but my character.

49:55

I don't mean, I felt like, Sure

49:57

answer to when I'll play at thieves, when I finally be controlled.

50:00

Cause that game impressed the pants out of me and I still haven't beaten it just because of Time.

50:04

Yeah. That game was really cool. But how's the Allen wake DLC.

50:08

Is it, does it make it scary?

50:10

Cause Alan wake scared me pretty bad.

50:13

Yeah. So if you guys aren't familiar with control control kind of brings together the remedy universe.

50:20

And so I fell off of control originally.

50:25

I

50:25

just

50:25

like,

50:25

I

50:25

couldn't

50:25

really

50:25

get

50:25

into

50:30

it. I couldn't really get into the combat. I didn't like it all that much.

50:33

I just kind of like, I played a couple of hours and I was like, eh, but then with the Alan wake remaster coming out, I played, I hadn't played Alan wake originally and I loved it.

50:43

Loved it, loved it, loved it. It was like the perfect Joss game.

50:46

So then when I found out control had an Allen wake DLC, I was like, okay, you know what this is enough of a reason for me to kind of push through.

50:54

And I do think control's a little bit hard to get into because story-wise, they just kind of throw you off the deep end.

51:00

It's basically like if X-Files had a full like, department of the government, so they just like, it's way out there.

51:09

It's all like multi-dimensional crazy universe stuff.

51:13

And it is very hard to wrap your head around in some cases.

51:17

And they also start you with a very basic set of combat powers.

51:22

But as soon as you start to unlock some of the later things and that, like, it really makes the combat super fun.

51:30

As soon as you can kind of start like flying in the air.

51:33

That's when it really started to and flying in the air and telekinetic throwing things powers, then I was like, okay, now I see the fun in this game.

51:41

Yeah. It's really impressive. Visually.

51:43

It's really impressive. But I remember it being the first game I'd ever seen Ray tracing in that was like my first exposure to, to that tech.

51:51

I went over to my buddies. He had just gotten a, a card that could do it and he had a loaded up and he was like, yo Yeah,

51:57

look at this shit. Yeah, it was, it was impressive.

51:59

I remember thinking, oh man, this is really cool.

52:01

And I don't know why I fell off of it. Other than there was a feeling of like, it just made me feel anxious that game.

52:07

And I don't know why there's A real sense of dread in that game.

52:09

Part of what I like About

52:11

it. Yeah. It's

52:13

very atmospheric.

52:15

Yeah. And then, so when you go into the Allen wake DLC portion, it's basically like they took everything that went wonky and Alan wake and then kind of put it into the building, into this investigations wing and expanded on the story and the idea and what happened to one of the major characters from Alan wake and you get the actual Alan wake voice actor doing like voiceover stuff.

52:44

Like Alan wakes, like talking to you, which is really cool.

52:47

And like, like from another dimension sort of thing.

52:50

And then you also get to like, they play on those themes of the darkness, which was like the big, bad in Alan wake.

52:59

And they use it in really, really cool ways.

53:03

And there's so much content.

53:05

I think it costs me like $12 Canadian, but there's so much content that it took me about like seven hours to play through, I think, and my entire control play through with the DLC.

53:15

Cause you can play it like in line with the regular control story.

53:19

Yeah. So my whole campaign was about 20 hours and the Alan wake DLC took up seven that like the investigations wing is huge and, and it was a really good story and a very difficult boss and yeah, I like, I just absolutely loved it.

53:35

It was amazing. So I think if you, if you haven't played the Alan wake DLC or if you hadn't, haven't made it all the way through control, it's worth doing both those things.

53:44

But the, so I found the campaign enemies kind of maxed out around like five or six, the Alan wake DLC though.

53:52

You can play it in line with the campaign.

53:53

Their enemies are like levels seven and eight.

53:56

So it is a little bit harder combat wise, but, but still really, really rewarding.

54:02

Hmm. That's interesting. So did, did does, how do I put this?

54:06

Do you play as Alan wake or is it just her the whole time?

54:08

No, You play with her the whole time. Okay.

54:11

Okay. So he's not, he's not playable character in the way that he is The

54:14

playable character. Now he's just kind of like, you're learning more about the events that cauldron lake and they, cause they have all the case files and stuff that you can find as collectibles all the way through the game.

54:24

They have all of those case files, but for like culture and lake and Alan wake and, and the guy that came before him whose name I'm totally blanking on now, but the other writer guy and like those brothers that were the rock stars and like all of that, like they just like flesh out all that backstory and stuff.

54:40

It's really cool.

54:42

So, well, all right. So confirmed. We, everyone thought it was true already, but the two worlds are con they're they're related they're they're in the same universe.

54:49

Yeah, Yeah. A hundred percent. And it actually, it ends with a tease of Alan wake two.

54:54

That was just announced it officially at the game.

54:57

You probably got excited about that as my guess.

54:59

I

54:59

know

54:59

you're

54:59

a

54:59

big

55:02

fan. Alan wake scared the shit out of me. I don't know if I can do it.

55:04

We'll see.

55:05

All right. Garrett halo, halo all the time.

55:08

Halo halo is great. What do you think of halo?

55:10

How's it going? I at a very, at a very busy week.

55:12

So the only thing I really touched on that, isn't like, you know, some, I usually play as halo.

55:16

Yeah. Yeah. was a, I had, I really liked this man.

55:21

This, this is definitely the best 3, 4, 3 halo by like a landslide freaking victory.

55:25

This puts four and five to shame. Oh Yeah.

55:28

I mean, if I'm to compare it to anything.

55:30

So the bungee halos three was the high was the watermark for me.

55:34

Or maybe reach, I don't know, but Little

55:37

stint of three ODS T into reach was just like, wow, you can't F up a game.

55:43

Yeah. They killed it during that whole stretch. And I think this, I'm putting this on par with that experience for me, certainly in multiplayer.

55:49

And that's still being improved in terms of PR you know, progress in your progression.

55:54

But I think that the gameplay, the rock paper scissors that is halo has never felt better.

56:00

It feels so good. It's so freaking good.

56:03

And, and, and the open world ish really works.

56:10

Like it really, really works.

56:12

I've

56:12

heard

56:12

a

56:12

lot

56:12

of

56:12

similar

56:12

kind

56:12

of,

56:12

you

56:12

know,

56:12

critiques

56:12

of

56:12

it

56:12

saying

56:12

they

56:12

needed

56:12

like

56:12

different

56:20

biomes. And I agree with that, but for, for the first time to really kind of like add an open world aspect of a halo game, like, dammit, it really fits, it feels like a missing piece of the puzzle that you didn't realize was there.

56:32

Like, you're like, ah, puzzle's done. We understand halo.

56:34

Halo is this. And they're like, well, what if it's this and that?

56:38

And you're like, oh, I like that.

56:40

That's good. More of that please.

56:43

And just hearing that theme in his voice, master chief sands shit.

56:47

It's all I needed. That's what I wanted.

56:50

I just, I just got to a scene where he's talking to someone who's having like a nervous breakdown and I'm like, master chief is having a human moment.

57:01

Yeah. And it works.

57:02

Some, it doesn't feel, it doesn't feel forced like who I'm, I'm impressed with the writing.

57:08

Like I know I'm still kind of confused as to what the hell's going on art wise, but the, the moment, moment to moment, like scenes, like, eh, it's really impressive.

57:19

They've really got good characters in this one.

57:23

Darren DePaul go off as the main batty and that's it's, it's got it's There's

57:28

one thing I would like to say, and I tweeted this yesterday. I meant it it's that elites are always infinitely cooler than broods.

57:33

I don't know who decided bruits are better.

57:35

They're not, they're the most generic, bad guys ever has just space orcs.

57:40

Again, I missed the Leitz big time.

57:45

Yeah. I kind of need Darren DePaul breathing in my face anymore.

57:48

I feel like I could smell his breath.

57:51

He's got a, he's got a very, he's really good at that guttural deep thing.

57:55

I mean, it's basically, It is extremely well done.

57:58

Yeah. I just I'm just like, man, like you went to bruits and two, and we haven't been back to a league since one, like, please, I miss a leap.

58:05

Let's go back a while. Let's make a leap to the bad guys again.

58:09

Well, yeah.

58:10

Is great.

58:11

I think it's a fitting proper, you know, flagship title for my, for Microsoft.

58:18

I think this is a really good thing for them to have and plays great on PC it's cross play across all the platforms everybody's playing it everywhere.

58:25

And it's nice to see the big boy back in the big chair.

58:29

All right, let's get to an email and then we'll get outta here today.

58:34

Check this out. You guys, it's an email.

58:35

The instance gmail.com is the email address.

58:39

This comes from Eric. It's very short and sweet.

58:41

He says, Hey, how come you guys haven't talked about that new Silvana in game cinematic.

58:45

Just wondering Eric, I have a simple answer for this, but I want to put it around the table real quick, Garrett.

58:51

Any reason why you're not super, you know, it's all I can think about is that Silvana is trailer.

58:56

I don't care anymore. They've made me bored with my favorite character.

59:02

I was going to say your favorite character of all time in the world of Warcraft lore.

59:06

It's better if this is dead now.

59:09

Yeah. So it was Savannah's and I'm just sick of her.

59:12

I don't want any more Silvana is I don't like what you did with their, Yeah.

59:17

You, this is like, this is like a Snyder movies.

59:23

I don't care anymore. I'm done.

59:25

I mean, we like it. We like our Superman, you know, we, we, we like our Batman, whatever, but we don't want any more Snyder business at all.

59:33

I, I think there's a way to maybe make her interesting again, but this, this turn of events and where they've taken her over the last couple of expansions, I just could not be bothered at the moment in terms of interest.

59:45

I just can't. I let's let's go to the death realm and make it boring.

59:49

Yeah. I don't, I don't love it.

59:51

So that's why Eric Jocelyn, do you, what's your level of, of care for such things.

59:59

So I still am Roque rating.

1:00:00

And so I'm assuming w new Silvana cinematic, he's talking about the cinematic at the end of the raid, because one thing I have definitely stopped paying attention to is like PTR news and data mining.

1:00:13

I've decided that ruins everything.

1:00:15

And I hate it. So like, I very much enjoyed like, seeing things in the context of the game, but I completely agree with you guys.

1:00:25

The last two expansions have had terrible story and they seemed like they were going to do something super cool at the beginning of Shadowlands.

1:00:32

And that questing experience was really fun, but man, did it fall off the cliff?

1:00:36

But

1:00:36

yeah,

1:00:36

in

1:00:36

terms

1:00:36

of

1:00:36

Solanis

1:00:36

and

1:00:36

her

1:00:36

storyline,

1:00:36

I

1:00:36

think

1:00:36

that

1:00:36

there's

1:00:36

potential

1:00:36

for

1:00:36

her

1:00:36

to

1:00:36

go

1:00:36

in

1:00:36

interesting

1:00:36

ways,

1:00:36

but

1:00:36

I

1:00:36

don't

1:00:36

know

1:00:36

if

1:00:36

I

1:00:36

have

1:00:36

faith

1:00:36

in

1:00:36

the

1:00:36

wow

1:00:36

writers

1:00:36

at

1:00:36

this

1:00:36

point

1:00:36

to

1:00:36

write

1:00:36

her

1:00:36

in

1:00:36

an

1:00:36

interesting

1:00:36

way,

1:00:36

which

1:00:36

is

1:00:55

frustrating.

1:00:55

So

1:00:55

I

1:00:55

don't

1:00:58

know. I think that they're also kind of glossing over some of the more horrible things she's done by saying like, oh, but it's cool.

1:01:06

It's got her soul back now. So redemption.

1:01:10

Woo. I'm like, oh, she killed a lot of people.

1:01:15

She did she's she's she's trouble.

1:01:17

I will say this to their credit.

1:01:19

This is one of the best looking in game cinematics.

1:01:23

It is the best looking in game cinematic.

1:01:24

I've seen out of that company and they've done a lot of them and they've been pretty great since miss really up the game for these.

1:01:33

And they've, you know, built better tools and better whatever, but I it's never looked this good, like on a technical level, it's freaking gorgeous.

1:01:42

And when you do see it, Jocelyn, I think you'll be blown away by it.

1:01:45

It's very, very, well-made Taryn Gregory and his team are killing it.

1:01:49

I just can't be bothered with this, the arc.

1:01:53

It's just not interesting to me anymore.

1:01:55

I, The chat room, like I literally just said, I don't know anything about PTR data mining.

1:02:01

So if this cinematic you're talking about is the end of raid.

1:02:04

That's the impressions I have from the end of raid.

1:02:07

I don't know where they're taking it.

1:02:10

I just know what they left me with at the end of the most current raid.

1:02:14

So Yeah,

1:02:17

I want, I want to, I loved that.

1:02:21

I love that character. I'm with Garrett, like one of my favorite characters of all time.

1:02:24

I just don't like where it's at.

1:02:26

So that's why we didn't bring it up.

1:02:28

Sorry, Eric. But don't worry if they can, if they can fix all that.

1:02:32

Hey, I bet we'll talk about it again. And you know what Josh, when you do get to it, tell us what you think, because maybe we're wrong.

1:02:38

Maybe, maybe I will. For sure. Like I say, I am still playing.

1:02:41

I'm still writing. So I'm, I'm sure I'll get to it.

1:02:44

Like eventually when they release it, which might be next summer at this current pace that they're going.

1:02:50

But yeah, I'm sure I'll get through.

1:02:55

I will argue that the latest, this, this latest animatic is so technically proficient, I'd watch an entire 12 episode series of something made in this engine, whatever This

1:03:05

blizzard make TV And

1:03:09

why. Yeah. We're back to that whole thing.

1:03:11

Like why did you guys let arcane beat you to the freaking punch?

1:03:15

Cause there's so much here.

1:03:16

It's really nice.

1:03:17

I'm looking at it now and I'm trying not to show it because it spoil people, but it's really pretty.

1:03:22

I really killed it with that.

1:03:23

All right. That's it for your emails, if you would like to answer, you know, talk about that or anything else you want to bring up, let us know the [email protected], quick reminder, patrion.com/instances where you can support the show.

1:03:35

We mentioned some names at the top of the show. If you want to get mentioned, it's a very good way of doing it.

1:03:39

Go over there and sign up today for all kinds of great benefits.

1:03:42

Weekly bonus shows, content sent in the mail, like literally mailing you cool things.

1:03:47

Where else are you going to get that? Well, probably a few places, but Hey, you get it here.

1:03:50

So go check it out. patrion.com/instance.

1:03:52

All

1:03:52

right,

1:03:52

let's

1:03:52

throw

1:03:52

it

1:03:52

around

1:03:52

the

1:03:56

table. Anybody got anything cool. Going on, Garrett.

1:03:58

What's going on in your world? What's happening?

1:04:00

I don't know if you can hear that squeal, but my battery backup is clearly malfunctioning.

1:04:03

And then the only way to turn this off is to power off my computer.

1:04:06

So please go to youtube.com/eight movie TV and watch my new final fantasy 14 content before my head can explode.

1:04:13

Yes. All right. Well done. That's a bummer.

1:04:15

I have that happen right in the middle of a or at the, I guess the better at the end of the show that earlier on in the show, I'm looking to flip it off.

1:04:21

Hey Jocelyn, are you doing anything fun?

1:04:24

What's going on?

1:04:24

I

1:04:24

get

1:04:24

my

1:04:27

Garrett.

1:04:31

I'm actually going to be streaming tonight.

1:04:33

It's our final stream of extra life.

1:04:36

This is the last time you hear me mention it.

1:04:38

But yeah, tonight is the final event of our extra life, a fundraiser and a, yeah.

1:04:44

So if you guys want to come and hang out, we're gonna play Kiwi and then we're going to play some dead by daylight.

1:04:50

So I knew there'd be dead by daylight in there again.

1:04:54

Yeah, there always is. And Ryan is hooked on it now.

1:04:56

So I've done my duty.

1:04:59

That's good to know. Ryan Murphy.

1:05:00

Finally, not finally seeing the light or he'll be dead by the day light.

1:05:05

I tried to come up with something good there, but I couldn't think of it.

1:05:08

Hey, if you like what you're listening to here, you might like something else over the frog pants, network, frog pants.com for all those details.

1:05:16

We're on Twitter as well, at instance show.

1:05:19

And if you're looking to contact us once again, the [email protected], we will not be here next week because it's freaking Christmas Eve.

1:05:27

You guys, nobody does Christmas Eve shows.

1:05:30

That's ridiculous.

1:05:31

So don't come here next week for that, but don't worry.

1:05:35

Plenty of content coming. We look forward to seeing you guys in the new year and talking to you then, or no, not new year.

1:05:40

We'll still have another show before the new year. I think it will be new year's Eve, new year's Eve.

1:05:45

And that we can do. I think we can up one of those out in the morning.

1:05:47

Nobody's drunk by then. We'll be fine.

1:05:49

Can I be drunk by that?

1:05:51

Can totally be drunk by then. It's entirely up to you.

1:05:53

Let me just don't break any Twitch rules.

1:05:55

I think we're safe. All right, that's going to do it for us.

1:05:58

Thank you all for listening.

1:05:59

We'll be back next time.

1:06:01

Certainly with more. And I felt like something else was supposed to say, go play sea of thieves.

1:06:07

That's what I was going to say. Go do that.

1:06:08

That game's great. And I'm going to play it today.

1:06:11

I installed it. All right. We'll see you soon.

1:06:13

Love you all. Bye.

1:06:21

This show is boat of the frog bands network.

1:06:24

Here. Get [email protected].

1:06:25

Thanks to Mack Weldon for supporting the to MacWeldon for supporting the instance. Mack Weldon is a premium men's essentials brand that believes in smart design and high quality fabrics for 20% off your first MacWeldon is a premium men's essentials brand that believes in smart design and high quality 659. For twenty percent off your first order, visit mack weldin dot com slash instant and enter the promo code instant and by better help for 10% off your first [email protected] go to better help.com/instance, and start living a better life by better help. 659 ten percent off your first month at better help dot com. Go to better help dot com slash instant and start living a better life today. And by Canva pro for supporting the instance for pro is the design platform that empowers you to create and share stunning content in just a few by Canvas Pro for supporting the instance. Canvas Pro is a design platform that empowers you to create and share stunning content in just a few clicks. Get a free 45 day extended trial by going to a free forty five day extended trial by going to canva dot me slash instant. My instincts. Yer hear that? Sounds like pirates are in the room. Oh, pirates I love pirate music. I wonder what that's what that's about when we might be talking about pirates today than in a way that you'll all like. Trust me. Stick around for a second. I want to thank some patrons first before we do anything else and of course welcome everybody around the table. I'm Scott Johnson. Garrett Weins are all over there. Hi Garrett. I am huffing the sweet odor of chlorine to make me feel like I'm going on pilots of the Caribbean. Fantastic. Oh, yeah. It is very chlorinated in that, and it really stinks in there. I don't like it. But yeah. Please, like, on my deathbed, I just wanna smell the water from pirates spend more time. One more time, please. Also, back with us, Jocelyn, Curry. Welcome back, Jocelyn. We missed you. Hope you had a a good week last week, and welcome back. How are you? I'm doing okay. I'm I'm really, really glad to be back. Good. It's nice to hear your voice. Good to get all three of us in here. I'm excited about pirates. We're gonna talk about that in a minute, but a couple of people who are not pirates are some of our newest patrons at dot com slash instant. I wanna thank everybody for jumping on board in the last couple of weeks since we launched this thing. It means a lot to us. For example, Oba, who jumped in at the common level, Meggy, who jumped in at the war 659 level and doctor Jerry Tolbert at the war forged level as well. 659 for all of them and all of you and everybody. Who has supported us so far at patreon dot com slash instant. That's patreon dot com slash instant. Let's get to our big topic of the day. Alright. Mother scratchers gather around the 659, let's talk about piracy. No. Not the kind where you have steel software or whatever. And really not even a kind that means you you steal booty, except in video game 659, see if thieves Maybe the best game nobody's playing, or I shouldn't say that. A lot of people are playing in fact. Yeah. There's just a lot of people playing, so you're thinking No, Scott. You're what? It's very it's very popular. Find out just how many people are still playing this game. That's right. I'm about to find out via email. How many of you hated what I just said. But here's the deal. I actually have some stats on this. According to this is based mostly on achievement data and a few other factors that go into this. And I found this on a website called Yer lullaby dot com slash stats. It's a site dedicated all things. Rolls off the tongue. It does isn't it. You'll never forget it. Estimated twenty six million two hundred and eighty seven thousand two hundred and fifty nine players currently playing that game. We're having that game. Players on steam peak around sixty six thousand simultaneous when things are hot depending on the night night of the week, that sort of thing. That's a lot of people on just the steam version of the game. Well, and the steam the steam version only just came out within the past like, I think, Yer, year and a 659. Like, it very much was built on Xbox Game Pass. It was, like, the first title that released exclusively on Game Pass, like, with the release of Game Pass. So I think there's a lot more people that actually play on Xbox platform as opposed to on steam. Are you supporting that? Like on PC or the actual console, but I think a lot of people use Game Pass to probably see. I I agree. Like, if they're playing yeah. Because the PC version of Game Pass, of course, supports it. And -- Yeah. -- you know, Xbox series s and x now have optimized versions of the game to run on there anybody with an old Xbox. One is still playing it there, I suppose. So we don't know what those daily numbers are because 659 whatever reason, this is just steam peak players. But that's pretty impressive for being you know, new to the 659. And this is all also right around the time a year or so ago where Microsoft suddenly said, we're putting all our shit everywhere. Yer can get it on Game Pass if you want. You can get it on Game Pass PC if you want. Get it on console if you want. But it also hey. If you just wanna straight up by Sea of 659 or you just wanna buy Halo infinite when it comes out or or gears 659. Here they are. They're just here on steam for your normal price that you pay for video games. And also over on Epic. And guess what? You can also get it here and here and here. Like, they just seem to have this moment of, like, Yer, I would just everybody play wherever the hell you wanna play it. And when that happened, I think that was probably a bump for CFBs, at least, you know, at least on the PC side, given the size and and coverage of steam. But, Yer know, sixty six thousand simultaneous players not a slouchy number. That's up there in some of the higher numbers. And another interesting stat, three million Kraken kills in that game. 659 you ever killed Kraken? Jocelyn, you ever I have killed the Kraken. Yer. Yeah. Did that go? Was it difficult? Is it like the ultimate in the game? Or, wait, we'll get more into what this game is today, but all I hear about is Kraken. So is the Kraken worth it? So the Kraken is elusive, I think, which is why people kind of talk about it a lot is because, I mean, I don't think I saw a Kraken for three or four months. So, like, they are they're kind of rare and I think they only spawn when a ship is actually nearby. So, like, because the servers kind of, like, cycle through events. And so if, like, the Kacken's gonna spawn in one spot and nobody sells buy it, it'll go to the next event 659, like, a d spawn timer sort thing. Oh. So Yeah. It's it's probably the most, like, elusive of the events because it also doesn't have, like, a lot of the things, like, the the skeleton forts, the skeleton ship fights, some of the newer events, like the flame hard event and stuff, all have, like, indicators up in the sky, like, the clouds change shape and color. Mhmm. But the Kraken doesn't have that. So it it doesn't get activated, I think, as much as as the other events do. Did a hard 659, I assume it is. It's like It's not really hard. It's more tedious. Like, once you've done it once, that's enough. Seven, the jazz says he's been killed by the crack and about 3 million the Jan says he's been killed by the crack in about three million times. So there's a good stat for you. Yeah. But then he said it was actually megs, which megs spawn all the time. So those are the giant shark. Oh, the Megalodon. I get all the game had though. Okay. So this this brings us to the important part of all this. The game launched kind of in an okay state when it first happened. And people are really excited about it. This is rare, you know, or a Microsoft acquired company. They used to do all Nintendo titles back in the day. And everyone has high anticipation anytime rare make something. By the way, that transition happened right before the three sixty So, you know, rare has been with Microsoft for a long time. Make another Vivint pinata. You cowards. No Damn it. There's a Vivint Yadda skin for your skin for your ship in 659. Is that Not the same, but I didn't know that. Actually, I'm really excited about it. Yeah. Dude, that's actually great. I loved that game. That game was awesome. They are cowards for not making a new one of those. Anyway, so that game launched in pretty decent shape, but I remember the time people were like, oh, don't know. It's not it's got these problems and this problem, and, you know, it's little empty right now. And, you know, there wasn't there wasn't like universal praise for the game. From either players or or critics at the time. But you're telling us or you've told me offline and will probably tell us again here. That game is very, very, very different now. Tell me why. What what's good now? Why why in Jocelyn's opinion, should we all be flocking to the to the game and playing it. So see if these weren't launched. Like, it it very much went the same sort of way as no man's sky It's the comparisons between 659 these and No Man Sky happen all the time. Mhmm. And for good reason, it did it launched in a way that rare's vision was very much like pirate sandbox. Like, we're gonna build you this world. There's gonna be islands on it. And you're gonna go find the fun. And I think a lot of people were expecting a little bit more guidance in as opposed to just going in and and creating fun out of nothing. And so I think a lot of people got in there and said, oh, man, this just a huge grind and they kind of like they made the mistake of assuming it would take people four to six months to reach Pirate Legend, which was supposed to give them enough time to put a bunch of content behind that title. However, in the world of streaming, the longest I think it or the first pirate legend would it happened in, like, the first week and a half, and there was literally nothing there. So once the player base had confirmation that there was like and you got to Pirate Legend and then there was nothing. Then everybody kinda went, well then, what the point of the grind. Yeah. And a lot of people bounced off at that point in time. So since then, one thing that I have love about rare is not only do they absolutely freaking love their game, like, maybe more than any dev team I've ever seen. Like, they just love it. They love being in it. They love making it. And because they're so engaged, they listen to the community like crazy. See if thieves has so much to do now. They have, like, daily event quest you can do. They have, like, like, a a seasons battle pass and you the way you earn points for the battle pass is by completing what are called deeds. They have a a whole, like, voyage system where you can go and buy different kinds of voyages. And the voyages have also changed since the beginning because they heard the feedback that some of the Some of the factions you could grind out rep 659 weren't as fun as others, so they've made a lot of changes. I particularly like the changes they've made to the merchants now. It used to be that you would like get things from one outpost and have to take them to the other outpost and that was just boring. Now you have to go search for lost merchant ships So you have to, like, try to chart their path and look for shipwrecks and, like, recover the manifest of everything that was there and then take the cargo where it was post to go 659 you can recover it. Like, they're really interactive and interesting now. So I think that there was just there was a lot less guidance, but now Yer can go into sea of thieves and say, okay, I can either go play in a sandbox and find my own fun or let me, you know, do this tall tail, which are, like, a series of quest which you would probably be used to from any other kind of game, and it tells a story, and they've built out the lore a lot. And then this year, Yer guys were were kinda talking about the the pirates of Caribbean ride at Disney. Mhmm. They actually had a free for everyone pirates of the Caribbean DLC content release. Mhmm. And it was about ten hours of unique pirates of the Caribbean story that was, like, merged into the lore of sea of thieves. And it is, like, the best piece of content I've played in anything this Like, it was so much fun and I did it all solo. So that's hilarious because my impression would be no one you know, everyone's kinda down or not down. Nobody nobody talks lovingly about these series of pirates of the Caribbean movies. Everyone loves the first movie and then things go off the rails. And then it starts to feel like, oh, boy, they're cramming another thing into my game and it's Yer know, not really related. Sure. They're pirate sure they're power related, but I don't know if they like, they that was my impression of it when I heard it announced. But everybody I've talked to now included have raved about it and said it was extremely well implemented. And even if you're not a fan of those movies, you might become one because you really liked the way this was put in here, like that sort of thing. That's a that's a tall Yer. That's hard to do. They didn't They didn't really so essentially, the way that rare tells it anyways is that Disney approached them and said, hey, we were gonna make a pirate to the Caribbean game, but we were like, why build pirate game when the best pirate game already exists. Can we make pirates of the Caribbean in sea of thieves? And where I was like, Yes. Yeah. We'll do that. Sure. That's kind of why we built this game. So Yeah. And Oh, that's cool. So yeah, they're like everyone likes a little bit of So money. Yeah. They're like, money. You. Right? A little bit of money never hurts. Okay. So you mentioned Solo. I do wanna get to this either now or later or again, but III wanna at least asked that question. My concern early on was it didn't seem like it was very solo 659, and we talked before the show briefly about how I don't know, the older you get the less the less fluid schedule you have to make sure all your friends are on at the same time and, you know, everybody can kinda get in and do a do a run. It seemed like they've gone to Sunlight anyway to make the game pretty fun in a solo way. And would you you know, your you've had a bunch of solo experience. Would you agree? And am I gonna have a good time way? So I I do think that sea of thieves, it is really, really fun with friends. I think that if you're looking to, like, play more in the original way that the devs intended, which is, like, go find your own fun, then that's kind of where playing with friends comes? Because, I mean, I've had tons and tons of nights with friends where, you know, we just goof off and do stupid stuff and don't really get any progress on anything. Don't really get anything done, but we have a lot of 659. And I think that that's what that part of game is is really made for. But myself 659, I play solo quite a lot just like when I have goals, like, when I wanted to do the pirate's content or when I, you know, want to grind out a specific faction or something, like or I wanna do a specific telltale. Like, those I 659 a lot easier to do solo because you're only managing yourself. You don't have to kinda like Yer the cats to get to all the same place and do the thing. So Sure. Yeah. When I when I have a specific goal that I wanna do, I like playing solo. The one thing that you do have to remember, and I think that this was also a bit of a turn off to everybody at the beginning Maybe we'll not everybody, but some people is that there are no PVE servers. Every single server, technically, is PVP. Now that can be a little daunting as a solo player, but I have found that the vast majority of the time 659 I see anybody else, they don't bother me. Like, sometimes Yer get a jerk that'll chase you down for just the sake of chasing you down. But it's it's not it's not really the end of the world anymore because rare also heard those concerns and put a lot of, like, progress checks and, like, save points into their content. So it used to be if somebody sunk you in the middle of a tall tail, which is that big long quest line I was talking about, then you would just lose all your progress and have to start again. Oh. But now they like, quite horrible. Yeah. Yeah. They have checkpoints at the end of every chapter now. So Even if you do get some, you can just go, like, restart and you've only lost maybe ten, fifteen minutes progress. Mhmm. So it's it's a lot better and they all so changed it so that, like, a lot of the things that you're working towards get recorded when you get the treasure on the ship, including, like, if you're doing a voyage, you're progress on the voyage is when like, dig up or or put the treasure on the ship as opposed to having to take it to an outpost. So again, if you get sunk in your treasure stolen, you've lost the, like, turn in value, like, the gold value, but not the progress on some of the other stuff you might have been working on. So Interesting. So I actually brings a big question in my head. Most of the games we talk about on the show and and certainly back when it was dedicated to World of 659, The entirety of this show has always been about games where progression is represented in kind of traditional RPG elements, levels. And skills unlocked at certain levels and max level. And then what do you do at end And then what do you do at end game and that sort of thing? This game doesn't have levels. It doesn't Absolutely none of it. So explain to me, how do they do how do they give you your sense of progression without that usual skeletal structure we're used to? Bling bling man. It's all about the cosmetics. I mean, so it's I mean, that's that's that's progression for a pirate, like a real pirate. Yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely. And -- Just kidding. -- how big your hat is. Oh, there are some big hats. But, yeah, there's there's ship cosmetics. There are like pirate cosmetics, there's weapon, cosmetics, there's cosmetics for anything you can carry and show to somebody else in the There are like pirate cosmetics, there's weapon cosmetics, there's cosmetics for anything you can carry and show to somebody else in game. So, like, your compass, your bucket, your shovel, your telescope, all of it. There's tons of There's tons of cosmetics, and that really is oh, and player titles as well. So, like, when you complete some of these quests and things, they'll give you titles. There's also now what they call player curses, which actually change, like, your your skin. So I think they just released one that was, like, the skin of rage or something that makes it look like you're, like, internally on fire. There's also one that's called the gold curse, which, like, half of your face and stuff is all gold. Like, they've they've done, like, a lot of, like, literal skins like that. So, yeah. See if these is all about cosmetics, which actually I really love because it never really feels like I'm behind and I can play with whoever I see if these is all about cosmetics, which actually I really love because it never really feels like I'm behind and I can play with whoever I want. Right. So even if I have like a friend who only plays Sea of thieves, I can jump in and play with them. Like, is Scott you not playing since launch can jump in and play with me? And you won't be any less powerful than I am. You might have a little bit less skill because you haven't, like, practiced using the sniper rifle. Sure. But you know, like, you don't your gear isn't holding you back. You know, those people might laugh at you because you're in, like, a basic pirate 659, but And if somebody held somebody held a gun in my head and a, you know, and said, hey, quick. Tell me what. See if these progression system is, I go, ah, there are RPG elements with levels and probably some kind of level cap in the try and try to save my see if these progression system is. I go, RPG elements with levels and probably some kind of level champion that try try to save my life. Right? That just seems normal. But this game somehow figured out a way to to traverse the, I don't know, the progression thing in such a way that it's Yer you are making progress and you are accumulating wealth, I assume. You're getting a like, you have a ton of gold. right? Like that's the idea is you're trying to get gold and keep it and then spend it on, you know, cool end game items or, you know, quest rewards or that's the idea as you're trying to get gold and keep it. And then spend it on you know, cool in game items or, you know, quest rewards or whatever. That's Or pets. They have pets now. That seems crazy to me that they pulled that off. I don't know why I'm so impressed with that, but I am. Because most games feel like they have to do the other thing to feel like you're making progress. And this game somehow said, no, you don't. You can Yer can just get in at an adventure and do some cool shit and you'll still feel like you accomplished a bunch of things. But you don't have to, you know, oh, I got a power level to fifty or my friends are all there. Or, yeah, they can play with me when it scales the dungeons back or, you know, all this kind of talk and I don't know why I find it so refreshing. It's super refreshing to me for some reason. I don't know why. Yeah. There are technically levels but the levels are your reputation with the various factions in the game. So when the game came out, there were three There were the order of souls which is like the the spooky skeleton hunting ones. There's the gold hoarders which are the ones who are only interested in like treasures. And then there's the merchants. And so they've since added a couple more. They added, like, a PVP arena, so that has a faction attached to it, and they added the reapers, which is basically like a PVP faction. So you get rewarded for, like, stealing a sinking and stealing other people's stuff. So but the good thing about that is as soon as somebody, like, allies themselves with the reapers, everyone on the map can see them So you can decide if you wanna stay on that server or wrap up what you're doing and go. Oh. That's like sprinting with a flag and halo Garrett. It sounds like it's just seen every time. I I know this is a dumb thing and I just wanna at least bring it up, but I can never get over how good the water looks in this game. Yer the game itself is very stylized in the cartoony, but So gosh. Dang at that water, dude. Look at it. I haven't played since the first week this game was out. Yeah. And that's that's still what I remember from it. Which is also, like, what I remember from, like, Blackflag, the only other pirate game that, you know, ever actually freaking released and I, like, I live in Florida. I've been on boats a lot. Like, boy does 659 see a thieves, like, get it. Like, they really get that experience and they've captured it really well. That that That's fair. Yeah, I Yer. I I agree. But I I just I just think there's a lesson in water tech here that I don't know anything about, but someone needs to teach it. Like, it's just insane. And we're talking about overall kind of last gen tech even you know, the game has been updated for taking advantage of newer newer consoles and of course PCs, but something about that water makes me feel afraid to go in it. I'm like, It looks incredibly decent. Yeah. Yeah. Season four actually added. So we're in season five now. I think I mentioned earlier they have battle passes in every season, they, like, bring out a new set of stuff to do, a new boss to defeat, like, new PBE things, new grinds to do. And last season, was the siren trines, and they were on the bottom of the ocean in the middle of nothing. And you literally, the only way to get to them was to swim straight down. Yer get that, like, crushing, like, terrifying water experience. And then you get down to the bottom and they have, like, air bubbles and stuff you can find to to stay down there and search for treasure and stuff. But Yer, that was that was the one thing they added last season was these siren shrines and they're so scary. Enough to get to. I'm gonna a hundred percent be playing this later. I didn't expect to quite feel this way, but you've you've you've kinda sold me on a Garrett. I'm wondering what you would want out of this experience? Like, is there anything about see 659 these other than your initial experience, whether we were like, boys or wish they do this? And Yer know, like, what would drive you to play this more? On An eighth day of the eighth day of the week, really. Like, I just need more time. Don't really have anything against it. When they initially came out, I was really excited and, like, after, like, three days, I felt like I'd done everything there was to do in the game. While having made no progression, like, not that it ever really had it. A traditional progression system. It's not like I got anything particularly cool. I didn't really get much the way geared. But, like, I you know, just went around and, like, found Treasurer. Shot things and got owned by other players. And I was like, okay. It kind of seems like this is It kinda seems like this is it. Mhmm. Just in slightly different locations of beautiful beaches and stuff. And I guess it was kind of it then. Right? You know what? Yeah. At the time 659 sure. Yeah. Yeah. And so now, I mean, hearing that it has all this 659, like, one of these days, I'm definitely gonna go play through the parts of the Caribbean stuff and install today. It's Really it's really worth it's really worth playing honestly. They did a really good job of, like, you feel if you've been on the ride in Disneyland, that's what this content feels like. Except for, instead of like, they even have like, you know, the crackly voice on the Intercom, that's your Except for instead of like, they even have, like, you know, the crackly voice on the intercom, that's your narrator. Like, it's actually -- Really? -- got glass. Yeah. If she's not moving. Is it like the ride has broken down, keep your peg legs and arms inside the vessel at all times, is it, like, the Rhine has broken down. Please remain Please keep your your pig legs and arms inside the vessel at all times. Yeah. They don't lean that far into it, but it's kind of like It does have aspects of the ride like you get to actually get out and explore like that Bayou area where the rest front is that's like a a part of the DLC. That's one of the tails takes place there. And then there's another part that takes place. And you know that a fort with the battle that you that you ride through, you actually get to participate in that battle. Mhmm. So, yeah, there's a if you like the ride and you've been on the ride, there are a lot of, like, Easter egg y kind of things. What would you compare the combat to 659 you had to? Like, what what does it is it, like, Sky Ringy? Because it is first person. Right? That's the main mode. Yes. It is yeah. It is first person. I mean, it's it's kind of hard to say. I mean, you you have your choice of two weapons, so the the two out of 659. So there's a sniper rifle, a pistol, a shotgun, or a blunderbust, and a sword. And so Yer have to choose to. You can only carry to. And so there are kind of different strategies based on whether you're double gunning or, you know, if you're bringing a sword and and how that kind of plays out. And so I mean, combat light. Like, I haven't ever really played anything else like it because it's very simplistic. But don't And it's not don't mean not the negative? Like we talked about earlier, it's not modified by anything that's not modified by gear, not modified by skills, or any other RPG elements. So it's just kind of like very bare bones, relying on player So it's just kind of like very bare bones relying on player skill. That's interesting because so that tells me that probably there's no gated weapons either. I mean, you may have skins or something like that? Yer. No. Nothing's gay. You just as soon as you log in as a level one player, you have access to all four weapons. Go for it. Okay. One. And all four weapons are just as powerful as someone who's been playing since day one. I know why I'm finding this so refreshing. Like, I I'm I'm as as I'd love, you know, we all we're all MMO players here. We love we love starting at one and working our way up and unlocking things and there's something to be said for all of that. But know, somebody who's been surrounded by those kinds of mechanics, not just here but in shooters and, you know, everything that that has these kind of progression mechanics are always based on levels, unlocking, gated things that I can't get to in it because I'm not there yet or whatever. This sounds 659, or at least it sounds like they nailed they finally nailed the the right tenor here. Because obviously struggled in the beginning. I like your comparison to No Man Skye. That's a game that, you know, launched very disappointingly for almost everybody involved. And those guys just put their heads down and said, well, we're still making our game. So here comes our game, here comes an update. You're gonna Yer, you know, you'll sure like this update. You might like this update. And now I feel like we owe them an apology for being so mean to them on launch day even though even though it launched bad. Right? It did. And and It did. It had a bad launch, but they did something that I don't think I've ever seen another GameDev do is they said, okay, we've heard your feedback. We launched pretty empty. We get it. Here was our plan for the content for the next year. We're gonna release it in the next six months, and they just smoosh their entire timeline down and said, okay, here you're gonna get a new date every month, let's go. Yeah. See, that's insane to me that they've been able to do that and that they keep doing Like in no man's sky case, they keep doing it. And I feel like saying to them, you know, I will I'll buy some DLC or something. Like, do you have, like, a, you know, you can do little package? Yer all the updates are free. I haven't put any more money into it. Outside of buying cosmetics, because obviously, they have like a cosmetic store, they have a battle pass, where if you buy it, then you get you know, extra cosmetics. Sure. So, yeah, they they have ways to pay, but you don't have to. All of the updates, all of the content is free. Looks like it's a good way to do a game as a service. Yeah. Hey. Hey. Here it here it all is. You like it. We have a battle We have a battle pass. We're not gonna force you into it, but here it is. Yeah. I feel like maybe that's the right balance. And I know some, you know, many companies are trying to find that balance still, but 659 pretty good to me, at least on paper. And again, you know, haven't tried this since launch, but now I'm all sorts excited to to play the game. And there are multiple people in my life play it. You play You play it. Beau Schwartz plays it with his friends all the time. They're always like, hey, we got a slot. You wanna get in. I'm like, oh, I don't know. See if there's really I don't know. And then And then I you know, and then I'm, like, oh, boy, Joshua loves that game. I I just need to give it 659 to Yer. For while, you had, like, a little podcast about it. Right? And that was in the early days. Of this thing. Yeah. And that really fell off because literally, like, we we covered I actually did it with Sam who's in the chat room right now, but it was it was really really fun, but there wasn't a whole lot to talk about in the first, like, month of the game. So we kinda went, oh, we'll go on hiatus. And Honestly, I've I've wanted to I've talked to Steve. I'm like, can I just bring it back as like a solo show or something? Like, I just want to talk about this Like, I just wanna talk about this game. People need to know about this game. But I I just I haven't had the time. But yeah. And, like, I I really and truly love it. And outside of dead by daylight, and Hearthstone, it's the only other game I watch on twitch. Oh, wow. Okay. I was gonna ask what the health of the game is on on twitch, I guess, probably some pretty dedicated community streamers and stuff for the game. There definitely are. Yeah. I mean, it's it's not it's it's usually up there in terms of viewership like it's in the first couple of rows of games if you browse by games. So and there's some yeah. There's some streamers that get, you know, like, a few thousand at a time and stuff. It's it's no, like, disguise toast levels of viewership, but, you know, they're they do well. Well, it makes me so after seeing how many websites dedicated to it, how many fan sites, how many, you know, different things that are going on, YouTube channels that are focused on, that sort of thing. It made me realized that, hey, I'd been sort missing out you know, the potential of this game and playing it and all of that. But what it tells me is that there's a long life ahead of it. It sounds like this thing has got some some legs and they're not slowing down in terms of development. Honestly, 659 everything I've learned, it feels like this might be the reason that we've never seen hide in Yer hair of Ubisoft skull and bones pirate game. I think they thought they could own that space given their assassin's creed black flag history and just sort of, you know, all of that stuff was was great at the time, so maybe they'll be the ones to bring it. And then that thing went on, like, hey, what what about skull and bones? And it's been like, you know, forever, but it is it's been, like, you know, for So technically under development. It is. Right? Yeah. I'm so excited for that damn game too. But I was too. The last assassin's creed I liked yeah. I, I mean, I loved black flag, loved I I mean, I loved 659. Loved it. And I loved This is why I'm mad at myself because it feels like I've always wanted a good playground of piracy, like the pirate playground, the ultimate video game pirate put playground, has been under my nose the entire time. It's just called see 659 thieves and I haven't been playing it. And that annoys me as a gamer, so I'm 659 fix that and play it. It'll be interesting to see though, like, Speaking of co op games, this has been kind of a big year for that, back for blood. I did play a bit of that alien strike team game or strike team. Elite force, whatever the hell it is. Anyway, it's it's basically left for dead, but with aliens 659 the alien franchise, and it kinda like some of the stuff they're doing in there. But it's, you know, whatever. It's one of those games like DeepRock Galactic. I'm a big fan of that game. These these three to four player games where your cooperative cooperatively doing a thing, earning either levels or equipment or gear or whatever, it does seem like that that genre that subgenre's having a bit of a moment. I wonder how this compares to that. Like I assume there's a lot of similarities because if you're playing with four of you, You got dude bailing out water in the bottom of the ship. You got somebody up top, you know, trying to snipe your enemy. You got somebody else running cannons, I guess, or whatever. Like, how did those compare Jocelyn to to these games I've mentioned? Like, say 659 for dead as an example. Would you would you compare this positively to that kind of cooperation in a game? I would I would say, Yer, I think like a lot of things and see if thieves is a little bit more kind of like, 659. Like it is it is very sandbox y and that you can kind of, like, create your own strategies in a lot of ways for whatever kind of content that you're doing. And I think that There's a lot of because, again, you're you're talking about a game that does do a mix of PBE and PBP. Which means you're also going to change what you're doing and your strategies quite often. So it's not like anybody gets, like, penned into one specific role. Like, it's very much like Yer might be the person steering the ship, but then, oh my god, the the person that was doing the bailing got killed. So now Yer have to leave that role and you have to go and do something else or, you know, you have to man the cannon, someone else has to steer when they respawn or, you know, like it's a lot more fluid than a lot of co op games. Like, you're not you're not picking a role. You're not stuck in a in space. You can kind of just do whatever needs doing at the time it needs happen because again, everybody has the same kit. Hey, Hey, everybody quick conversations about some of my favorite brands like Canver pro it's a design platform that empowers you to create and share stunning content in just a few clicks of your Quick conversations about some of my favorite brands like Canvas Pro. It's a design platform that empowers you to create and share stunning content in just few clicks of your mouse. Designing with Camper Pro's fast, super fun to use, and really easy. You can choose from thousands of professionally made You can choose from thousands of professionally made templates. Those are super easy to customize as well. You can do like drag and drop can do, like, drag and drop stuff. Really 659. Really easy. Start from Start from scratch 659 you wanna, comes with endless premium fonts, videos, photos, and more elements that give your stuff the style and personality you're trying to achieve. 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Get 10% off your first month at better help.com/instance, join over 1 million Get ten percent off your first month at better help dot com slash instant doing over million people who've taken charge of their mental health. That's better help.com/instance for 10% off your first That's better help dot com slash instant for ten percent off Yer first month. So if you were gonna recommend I don't know. Let's say streamers that I you'll find and watch. And, like, do do Yer have somebody you follow a lot and would recommend the listeners? I do. I have two actually. They string together quite 659, and I think they're really entertaining. And the thing that I like even more than the fact that I just think they're so hilarious, is that they kind of have, like, a code that when they're playing z of these. So I'm like, in mode. A pilot code. Here we go. Okay. Alright. Okay. So is it more, like, guidelines? But we really is more, like, guidelines. We've got We've got to set a guidelines here we like to adhere to set a guidelines here we like to adhere to. Yeah. So they pretty much most of the time, big old asterisk here, don't shoot first. PVP is based basically the only thing they have left in the game because they both play like all day every day. So they don't have a lot of PVE content left to do, so PVP is where they find their fun. So they will go and try to find other players, and they will talk to other players and say, like, hey, how's it going? And if the other ship shoots at them, always on. Yeah. So so your weapon is welcome that will murder you if they if you try to murder them. Right? Very much. Okay. I love that. Cool. That's That's a, that's a hell of a welcome to the that's a hell of a welcome to the neighborhood. Yeah. Yes. So the the first one I'm gonna I'm gonna mention is his name is Beard De Gedden, and he is just so good. He plays sometimes he'll do doos with the other streamer boxy fresh. Mhmm. But he also often plays solo. So if you are interested in, in what a solo pirate can do, I mean, he's an absolute So if you are interested in in what a solo pirate can do, I mean, he's an absolute god. Like, I mean, I cannot, like, actually shoot a cannon anywhere near as well as he can. Like, he'll be an island away and be able to hit another ship moving. And I'm just like, I I can't. I don't understand. He's still too many physics. He's on right he's on right now playing this guy clearly playing a lot, but literally gone right now in the morning. Well, I guess it's afternoon now in some parts of the country, but that's pretty impressive. Alright. Cool. And you mentioned the other one, boxy 659, he's they they'll in fact, I think he might be on the boat with him at the moment. I think Yeah. I think beard and I think beard and and boxy. think this might be a coop day for them. That's hilarious. Alright. Well, I'll definitely check those guys out. If you at home have thoughts questions 659 things about that game or you played a ton and you think we got something wrong or or right or whatever we'd love to hear from you. Oh, I was gonna ask you this. Obviously, this is on PC and console. Do you have a preference? Like, is it better on your butt? Is it better on a PCE? What do you what do like? I do play both because game pass is on Xbox and I do play both because Game Pass is on Xbox and PC. So it's great because I have one account that I can just play on PC or go sit on my couch. And the other great thing is it has full cross play. So if you have friends on any platform, you can just play with them. Right. And everybody who you're actually going to come into contact with is also on any platform like all the servers or everybody's mix. I do like do like that. Alright. Very nice. Let us know what you think at home. Our email address is the instance at gmail dot com. Let's get to some of these games we're playing this week. So I got it's it's my final fantasy's fault, but I got completely hooked on the old Republic again. I'm playing through the entirety of the freaking Sith Inquizitor storyline and I can't help it and that's just how it is. So sorry, look, if you got bunch of queues and I can never get into your game, I have no other choice but to go scratch my edge somewhere else. And then that other place might might hook me in and it did. So I'm good for now. Thanks for the twenty one days of a bonus time final fantasy, and I'm sure I'll get to it eventually. But I never did play that story line. For the Sith Inquisitor, and I literally subbed to the game because I liked what I was doing so much. I was like, well, wait a minute. Let me get all these benefits and bonuses from subbing to freaking old Republic which is now old. And the year twenty twenty one, here's Yeah. Subbing to the old Republic. I know, dude. And this is, you know, I mean, 659, I don't know, famously. But way back in the day, there was a spin off of this show called the Instance, the Old Republic. Ten years ago. Twenty eleven is one tour originally released. I did really. Oh my god. It's ten years. Game is really good. It's very good. And I'm -- It's -- It's -- -- bioware before they stopped making good games. Yeah. It's it's some of the best bioware writing period, I played all their games. And I think some of that writing is I think it's some of best stuff I've ever I've ever seen. I think you can make a movie out of this inquisitor or TV show or something. The original Sith Warrior quest line is some of the most fun I've ever had in the RPG. I got to be the biggest, most evil bastard I've ever been in a game. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, and I'm going that's what's great is I'm going 659 and Quiztor, but I'm going light picks every time just to piss off Kim whatever's name is, the big hulking thing, that your first companion, that guy's pissed at me all the time. He was very dissatisfied with what you what you said, he does not approve. He's like constantly pissed at what I'm doing. But I've gone I've gone like full light side Sith and it's and it's kinda pissing everybody off in the game. And the game's really good at that stuff. The stories are great. The voice acting is insane. I just think the gameplay holds up. It's fine. It's just like any other tab target MMO. And they put a lot of quality of life things in there. Super hooked on the old Republic. I don't know what's going 659. I don't know what's going on. Don't worry. Final 659 fantasy. I'll get back to I'll get back to you. Okay? will. But your servers have to let me in for that for that to happen. Okay? And I play at times where everyone's on. I can't help it. I don't, I can't play in the I don't I can't play in the morning. I can't play weird off hours. I have to play when I can play. And when I do, it's like five thousand people. So hey. Sis Sis Scott, Planet. Long is your queue? Is it two hours? Log in two hours before you plan to play? Oh, I've done that, but then I get that 202 thousand two error. 659 more often than happens sometimes. Yeah. Yeah. Way more 659. heard you fix that. Well, it didn't work for me two days ago. So maybe It's based on I don't know if the days there's quite a few errors and they're really good about giving granular updates on all of them. So I don't know off the top of my head which areas have been fixed and which ones haven't. Yeah. And they to their credit, you know, to make you things really clear here, even though I subbed the game and, you know, it's a service I can't get into when I wanna get into it. I'm not I am not I have no grudges for them. I think they're working as hard and best they can. I think that there's so many factors going into this. A, it's a good MMO that people were already playing. Be a gigantic expansion that ends the current storyline of the entirety of that game so far is a big deal for for new and returning players and and dedicated players. And thirdly, there's an exit that's happening right now. And a lot of those people are going to final fantasy from things like wow. And it's just congestion after congestion and they can't buy server stuff fast enough because of the chip shortage. It's like all all this stuff kind of combining to be a perfect storm of both good and bad for them. And I don't hold I hold no ill will. I this I can't imagine what all this is like to deal with. In some ways, it's a great problem to have. You're the hot thing right now. Congratulations. Well done. You're having your moment. But it's I haven't been able to get in. And this other game, oh, by the way, tons of people in Star Wars. They're all over the place of That seems to be like Garrett said last week. It's a it's a healthy game. People are playing it. And I have no problem grouping or finding people or people are asking me to be in their gilts and all this kind of stuff. It's it's insane. So anyway, I'll get my 659 of that, and then I'll come back when the queues are a little lower. And, you know, it'll all be fine. Alright? Everybody I Look forward to seeing your hot bunny girl now forward to seeing your hot bunny girl, man. That that will never happen. You know, there's two things I'll never be. Hot bunny girl and I'll never one of those little I call the potato head people, but the little know me what do they called? La la I have no idea. I just called them nouns, I'd call the gnomes. The little LA Leuner's or LA Lolo Lolo's or whatever they are the shitty little animated, little shitty la la looners or la la low low low lows or whatever they are. The shitty little anime, little shitty things. I hate them. I don't like them can not deal with those characters, don't like them. Cannot deal with those characters. And and All those stuff in Innoda bores me senseless, but I do love the the combo of leaders of their that Jack shirtless dude and the tiny little Soltana, I find that that mix hilarious. Oh, yeah. The combo's pretty 659, but Oh la la 659. There it is. Thank you, Chad. It's just about as dumb as I was saying. So there you go. Alright. I also have options Scott. I also played a ton of halo. I'm gonna hold that thought until we talked to Garrett because he played a lot of halo. I opened up I I 659 a lot. I played a game called The Gunk, which just launched yesterday. Sorry. Yeah. Yer. think yesterday or Wednesday maybe. On Game Pass, but it's also available on Steam and other places. The developer is nice enough send me a code for the series x. Even though I could play it on the series x. Just part of Game Pass is kinda weird. But but, anyway, it's the developers who make the steam world game or steam world dig dig two, steam world heist, those steam world games, two d kind of robot games that are very well thought of. Gilgamesh is also another good one. Their this is their first three d game. Very next gen, lots of cool 659, generation wise, you know, hundred twenty frames per second, beautiful, you know, graphically really nice, all that stuff. They all like to say is gorgeous. Yeah. It's really pretty. Basically, I'm about only about two hours in. In some ways, it's a simple game. It's like Zelda environment puzzles mixed with a little bit of and I don't mean this in a bad ways. I know some people don't like it, but Super Mario Sunshine had to, like, spray everything down and clean it, mechanic. This is both sunshine. I did too. I like sunshine. I just know a lot of people are real sensitive about sunshine for some reason. But sunshine had that, you know, the backpack and the clean mean the goop and then you unlock stuff and all that. This game has that except you're sucking stuff in. It's like a great big that it's the gunk. It's this jelateness goo that's, like, obscuring places you need to go or covering something important or whatever, and your job is to take this robot hand and and, like, vacuum it up to to clear certain areas out. And the act of doing that is actually kinda really fun in itself. And so I'm finding that really compelling mechanically. Lot of platform puzzles like how am I gonna get there 659 here? Oh, right. I gotta do this, which grows a mushroom, which does this thing. The planet you're on looks like a no man sky planet biome, just really crazy and pretty. Lots of colors. And the story so far is interesting. The voice acting is kind of terrible, but the character is growing on me. It's their first game. I'd said this on chords. Their first game with voice acting. Because all those steamrolled games are, like, and then text. Right? Kinda your animal crossing style of communication. And this is their first with the with the actual cast and it's a little jarring that it's not great. But like I say, it's actually it's actually gotten better as I've gone along. But mechanically, in some ways, it's simple, but I'm I'm liking that about it. I like that I'm just sort of, alright, I'm gonna solve this. And now I'm past that. Now I'm in a new place. I gotta solve that and pass that. And I think the art style is really neat. It's cool. It's called the gunk. It's available, and I think I should play it. I like it lot. Johnson, you played game I had to fall off out because it scared me so bad. Tell me about it. It scared you It scared you. Yeah. Oh, really? Alan Wake, I can't Well no. Alan Wake I'm sorry. Sorry. You play control of the Alan wake You play control of the Alan Wake DLC. Alan Wake scared me. Control made me feel nervous. I don't know how to explain this. It's the first game where I felt. Lots of games make you feel lots different ways. Control made me feel like I was gonna die any second all the time, and I couldn't play it very long because of that. It was weird. Not me but my care I don't mean I feel like that's my true answer to when I'll play Yer 659 thieves when I finally be control because that game impressed the pants out of me and I still haven't beaten it just because of time. Yeah. That game is really cool, but how's the Allan Wake DLC? Is it does it make it scary? Because Allan Wake scared me pretty much. Yeah. So 659 you guys aren't familiar with control, control kind of brings together the remedy universe. And so I fell off of control originally because I just, like, I couldn't really get into it. I couldn't really get into combat. I didn't like it all that much. I just kinda like, I played a couple hours and I was like, but then with the Allan Wake remaster coming out, I played. I hadn't played Allan Wake originally, and I loved it. I loved it, loved it, loved it. It was like the perfect Joss game. Mhmm. So then when I found out control, had an Allen Wade DLC, I was like, okay, you know what? This is enough of reason for me to kind of push through. And I do think control is a little bit hard to get into because story wise, they just kind of throw you off the deep end. It's basically like 659 x files had a full, like, department of the government, So they just, like, it's way out there. It's all, like, multidimensional, crazy universe 659, and it is very hard to wrap your head around in some cases, and they also start you with a very basic set of combat powers. But as soon as you start to unlock some of the later things and, like, it really makes the combat super fun. As soon as you can kind of start like, flying in the air. That's when it really started to flying in the air and telekinetic throwing things powers, then I was like, okay. Now I see the fun in this game. Yeah. It's really impressive. Visually, it's really impressive. But remember I remember it being the first game I'd ever seen Ray tracing in. That was like my first exposure to to that tech on me too. I I went over to my went over to my buddies. He had just gotten a a card that could do it, and he had to load it up. And he was like, Yer, Look at this shit. Yer. It was it was impressive. I remember thinking, oh, man, this is really cool. And I don't know why I fell off of it. Other than there was a feeling of like, it just made me feel anxious that other than there was a feeling of, like, it just made me feel anxious that game. And I don't know why it's got there's a real sense of dread in that game. You know? Yeah. It's part of what I like about it. Yeah. Yeah. And very atmospheric. Yeah. Mhmm. Yeah. And then so when you go into the Allan Week DLC portion, it's basically like they took everything that went wonky and Allan wake and then kind of put it into the building, into this investigations wing. And expanded on the story and the idea and what happened to one of the major characters from Alan Wake. And Yer get the actual Allan Wake voice actor doing, like, voice Yer 659, like Allan Wakes, like talking to you, which is really cool. And, like, like, from another dimension sort of thing. And then you also get to like, they play on those themes of the darkness which was like the the big bad in Allen Wake. And they use it in really, really cool ways, and they're so much content. I think it cost me like twelve dollars Canadian, but there's so much content that it took me about like seven hours to play through, I think, and my entire control play through with the DLC because you can play it, like, in line with the regular control story. So my whole campaign was about twenty hours, and the Allan Wake DLC took up seven of that. Like, the investigations wing is Yer. That's a lot. And and it was a really good story and a very difficult boss. And yeah. I like, I just absolutely loved it. It was amazing. So -- Okay. -- I think if you if you haven't played the Allan Wake DLC or if you hadn't haven't made it all the way through control, it's worth doing both those things. But the so I found the campaign enemies kind of maxed out around, like, five or six. The Alan Wake DLC though. You can play it in line with the Yer can play it in line with the campaign. Their enemies are like levels seven and eight, so it is a little bit harder combat wise. But but still really, really rewarding. That's interesting. So did did does how do I put this? Do you play as Alan wake or is it just her the whole Yer play as Allen Wake or is it just her the whole time? No. You play with her the whole time. Yeah. Okay. So he's not he's not playable character in the way that he No. He's not a playable character. No. He's just kind of, like, you're learning more about the events at Calderon Lake and they because they have all the case files and stuff that you can find as collectibles all the way through the game. They have all of those case files but for, like, cauldron lake and Allan wake and and the guy that came before him whose name I'm totally blanking on now, but the other writer guy and, like, those brothers that were the rock stars and, like, all of that. Like, they just, like, flesh out all that backstory and 659. It's really cool. Okay. So well alright. So confirmed that we everyone thought it was true already, but the two worlds are com they're they're related. They're they're in the same universe. Okay. Yeah. A hundred percent. And it actually, it ends with a tease of Allan Wake two that was just announced officially at the game awards. You probably got excited about that, as my guess. So excited. I know you're a big fan. I just don't wake scared the shit out of me. I don't know if I can do it. We'll see. Alright. Garrett, halo. Halo. All the time. Halo. Halo is great. What do you think of Halo? How's it going? At a very busy week. So the only thing I really touched on that, isn't like, you know, some, I usually play as So the only thing I really touched on that isn't like, you know, somebody usually plays Halo. Yeah. Yeah. Send your attention to my campaign. I hit the I'd really like this, man. This this is definitely the best 343 halo by, like, a landslide freaking victory. This puts four and five to shame. Oh, totally agree. Yer. I mean, if I had to compare it to anything so so the Bungie Halo three was the high was the watermark for me or maybe reach I don't know. But that whole stint of three ODST into reach was just like, wow, you can't f up a game. Yeah. They killed it during that whole killed it during that whole stretch. And I think this I'm putting this on par with that experience for me. Certainly in multiplayer and and that's still being improved in terms of, you know, progress in your -- Yeah. -- your progression. But I think that the gameplay the rock paper scissors that is halo has never felt better. It feels so good. It's so freaking good and and and the open world ish really works. Like, it really, really works. I've heard a lot of the similar kind of, you know, critiques of it saying they needed, like, different biomes than I agree with that. You know? But 659 for the first time to really kinda like add an open world aspect to a Halo game like Dan, it it really fits. It feels like a missing piece of the puzzle that you didn't realize was there. Like, you're like, oh, the puzzle is done. We understand Halo. Halo is this. Yeah. And they're like, but what if it's this and that? Yeah. And you're like, oh, I like that. That's good. Yer. More of that please. And just hearing that theme and his voice, master chief sands shit, it's all I needed. It's what I wanted. I I just I just got to a scene where he's talking to someone who's having, like, a nervous breakdown, and I'm, like, Master chief is having a human moment. Yeah. And it works. It doesn't it doesn't feel it doesn't feel forced. Yeah. Like who like, that I'm I'm impressed with the writing. Like, I know I'm still kinda confused as to what the hell's going on, art wise -- Yeah. -- but the the moment moment to moment, like, scenes like, it's really impressive. They've really got good characters in this one. Yer like Karen Darren and Paul go off as the main baddy, and and so it's it's it's kinda it's because there's there's one thing I would like to say, and I tweet this yesterday and I meant it, is that elites are always infinitely cool with them. Bruce, I don't know who decided Bruce are better. They're not. They're the most generic bad guys ever. It's just Space Orcs again. Yeah. I missed Elite's big time. Yeah. I kinda I wouldn't need Darren DePaul breathing in my face to Paul breathing in my face anymore. I feel like I could smell his breath. He's got a very he's really good at that guttural deep thing. I mean, it's basically right. It's extremely well done. Yeah. I just I'm just like, man, like, you went to Britzen too, and we haven't been back to Elite since one. Like, please, I miss Elite. Let's go back in a while. Let's make a leap to the bat guys again. Well, Yer. Halo's great. I I think it's a a fitting proper, you know, flagship title for my for Microsoft. I think this is really good thing for them to have and plays great on PCs. Cross play across all the 659. Everybody's playing it everywhere, and it's nice to see the the big boy back in the big chair. Alright. Let's get to an email. Then we'll get out of here today. Check this out. You guys, it's an email. Hello there. The instance at gmail dot com is the email address. This comes from eric It's very short and sweet. He says, hey, how come you guys haven't talked about that new Sylvanas in game cinematic? Just wondering, Eric. I have a simple answer for this, but I wanna put it around the table real quick. Garrett, any reason why you're not super you know, oh, it's all I can think about is that Sylvanas trailer? I don't care anymore. They've made me bored with my favorite They've made me bored with my favorite character. Yeah. Your 659, I was gonna say, your favorite character of all time in the world of Warcraft lore. It's better if this is dead Arthas is dead. Yeah. Yeah. Now it yeah. So it was Sylvanas, and I'm just sick of her. Yeah. I don't want any more Sylvanas. Yer I don't like what you did with her. I'm out. Yeah. You You're out. This is like this this is like a a snider movies. I don't care anymore. I'm done. Yeah. I mean, we like it. We like our Superman, you know. We we we like our Batman, whatever. We don't want anymore snider business at all. I I think there's a way to maybe make her interesting again, but this this turn of events and where they've taken her over the last couple of expansions, I just could not be bothered at the moment in terms of interest. I just can't. I Let's let's go to the death realm and make it boring. Yeah. I don't yeah. I don't love it. So that's why Eric Jocelyn, do you, what's your level of, of care for such So that's why Eric, Jocelyn, do you what what's your level of of care for such things. So I still am Roque I still am real rating. And so I'm assuming new Sylvanas cinematic. He's talking about the cinematic at the end of the raid because one thing I have definitely stopped paying attention to is, like, PTR news and data mining. Mhmm. I've decided that ruins everything and I hate it. So, like, I very much enjoyed, like, seeing things in the context of the game, but I completely agree with you guys. The last two expansions have had terrible story. And they seemed like they were gonna do something super cool at the beginning of Shadowlands and that questing experience was really 659, but man did it fall off a cliff. Yeah. But Yer, in terms of 659 and her storyline, I think that there's potential for her to go in interesting ways, but I don't know if I have faith in the WOW writers at this point to write her in an interesting way. Which is frustrating. So I I don't know. I think that they're also kind of glossing over some of the more horrible things she's done by saying, like, oh, but it's cool. She's got her soul back now. So does it go along the long redemption? Woo. I'm like, oh, she killed a lot of like, she killed a lot of people. Yeah. She did. She's she's she's she's trouble. I will say this to their credit. This is one of the best looking in game cinematics. It is the best looking in game cinematic I've seen out of that company. And they've done a lot of them, and they've been pretty great since miss really, miss a panda area really up the game for these. And they've, you know, built better tools and better whatever. But It's never looked as good. Like, on a technical level, it's freaking gorgeous. And when you do see it, Jocelyn, I think you'll be blown away by it. It's very, very well made. Taren Gregory and his team are killing it. I just can't be bothered with this. The arc. It's just not interesting to me anymore. I I yeah. Room like I literally just said, I don't know anything about PTR data mining. So if this cinematic you're talking about is the end of raid. That's the impressions I have from the end of raid. I don't know where they're taking it. I just know what they left me with at the end of the most current I just know what they left me with at the end of the most current raid. So Yeah. I want I want to be I loved that I love that character. I love Garrett, like one of my favorite characters of all time. I just don't like where it's at, so that's why we didn't bring it up. Sorry, Eric, but don't worry. 659 they can if they can fix all that. Hey, I bet we'll talk about it I bet we'll talk about it again. And you know what? Josh, when you do get to it, tell us what you think. Because maybe we're wrong. Maybe maybe will. For sure. Like I say, I am still playing, I am still rating, so I'm sure I'll get to it, like, eventually when they release it, which might be next summer at them's current pace that they're going. Yeah. But, yeah, I'm sure I'll get there eventually. I will argue that the latest This this latest cinematic is so technically proficient. I'd watch an entire twelve episode series of something made in this engine. Whatever this And we're back to why doesn't Blizzard make TV. Yeah. And why yeah. Why we're back to that whole thing. Yeah. Why did you guys let Arcade beat you as a freaking punch? Because there's so much here. It's really nice. I'm looking at it now and I'm trying not to show it because it's spoiled people that It's really pretty. They really killed it with that. Alright. That's it for your emails. If you would like to answer, you know, about that or anything else you wanna bring up, let us know. The instance at gmail dot com quick reminder patreon dot com slash instant is where you can support the show. We mentioned some names the top of the show 659 you wanna get mentioned. It's a very good way of doing it. Go over there and sign up today for all kinds of great 659, weekly bonus shows, content sent in the mail, like literally mailing you cool things. Where else you're gonna get that? Probably a few places. But, hey, you get here. So go check it out. Patreon dot com slash instant. Alright. Let's throw it around the table. Anybody got anything cool going on? Garrett, what's going on in your world? What's happening? Don't know if you can hear that squeal, but my battery backup is clearly 659. And then the only way to turn this 659 is to power off my computer. So please go to youtube dot com slash amove TV and watch my new Final Fantasy fourteen content before my head fucking explodes. Yes. Alright. Well done. That's a a bummer. I have that happen right in the middle of a or at the, I guess the better at the end of the show that earlier on in the show, I'm looking to flip it that happen right in the middle of a or at the is better at the end of the show than earlier on of the show. We're gonna flip it off. Hey, Jocelyn. You do anything fun? What's going on? Yeah. I'm I'm gonna buy it by Garrett. Yeah. I'm actually gonna be streaming tonight. It's our final stream of extra 659. So this is the last time you learned we mentioned it. But, yeah, tonight is is the final event of our extra life fundraiser. And, Yer, so if you guys want to come and hang out, we're gonna play Kiwi, and then we're gonna play some dead by day light. So I knew there'd be dead by daylight in there again because Oh, yeah. There always is. And Ryan is hooked on it now, so I've done my duty. No. Well done. That's good to know. Ryan Murphy finally not finally seeing the light or he'll be dead by the day, light. Yeah. I I tried to come up with some good there, but I can think it. Hey, if you like what you're listening to here, you might like something else over the frog pants network, frog pants dot com for all those details. We're on Twitter as well at instant show. And if you're looking to contact us once again, the instant at gmail dot com, We will not be here next week because it's freaking Christmas Eve, you guys? Nobody does Christmas Eve shows. That's ridiculous. So don't come here next week for that. But don't worry, plenty of content coming. We look forward to seeing you guys in the New Year and talking to you then. Or no. Not New Year. We'll still have another show before the New Year, I think. Yeah. It'll it'll be New Year's Eve. Yeah. New Year's Eve. And that we can do, I think. We can keep one of those out in the morning. Nobody's drunk by then. We'll be fine. Can I be drunk by that? can totally be drunk by that. It's entirely up to you. Look, we don't break any twitch rules. I think we're safe. Alright. That's that's gonna do for us. Thank you all for listening. We'll be back next time certainly with more. And I 659 like I was something else I was supposed to say. Go play 659 fees. That's I was gonna say, go do that. That game's great, and I'm gonna play it. Today, I installed it. Alright. We'll see you soon. Love you all. Bye. This show is about of the 659 network. Yes. Get more at frogbands dot gov.