We pulled this episode directly from our livestream! Come check us out in YouTube!
Ever wondered how Disney's Haunted Mansion movie stands up against the original ride? Curious about the astonishing advancements in CGI and visual effects over the years? Join us as we unravel these fascinating aspects. From an intriguing discussion about the soulful narrative of the Haunted Mansion movie to heartwarming stories about the unexpected tear-jerker moments, we get into the nitty-gritty of this iconic Disney movie.
Swinging from the reel to reel, we share an in-depth conversation on the mesmerizing world of visual effects in film. Think Toy Story's first movie in 1995 versus Toy Story 4; we explore the dramatic shift in CGI quality and its impact on storytelling. And, of course, how could we not talk about video games? Our 3 different perspectives as gamers offers us a unique convos on player customization, rewards, and the challenges developers face in creating captivating gaming experiences.
Ever thought about what happens behind the curtains of game development? Our discussion unveils how passionate studios like Larian Studios make all the difference in creating spectacular games like Baldur's Gate 3. We end our episode with an exciting chat about the upcoming PS5 launch, potential for cross-play, and the competition for the game of the year. Buckle up for an enlightening and engaging ride into the world of movies and games with the KD Ratio!
If you enjoy our episode's content, come check us out on twitter @KDratiopodcast, YouTube as The KD Ratio Podcast! or on Instagram KDratiopodcast
We pulled this episode directly from our livestream! Come check us out in YouTube!
Ever wondered how Disney's Haunted Mansion movie stands up against the original ride? Curious about the astonishing advancements in CGI and visual effects over the years? Join us as we unravel these fascinating aspects. From an intriguing discussion about the soulful narrative of the Haunted Mansion movie to heartwarming stories about the unexpected tear-jerker moments, we get into the nitty-gritty of this iconic Disney movie.
Swinging from the reel to reel, we share an in-depth conversation on the mesmerizing world of visual effects in film. Think Toy Story's first movie in 1995 versus Toy Story 4; we explore the dramatic shift in CGI quality and its impact on storytelling. And, of course, how could we not talk about video games? Our 3 different perspectives as gamers offers us a unique convos on player customization, rewards, and the challenges developers face in creating captivating gaming experiences.
Ever thought about what happens behind the curtains of game development? Our discussion unveils how passionate studios like Larian Studios make all the difference in creating spectacular games like Baldur's Gate 3. We end our episode with an exciting chat about the upcoming PS5 launch, potential for cross-play, and the competition for the game of the year. Buckle up for an enlightening and engaging ride into the world of movies and games with the KD Ratio!
If you enjoy our episode's content, come check us out on twitter @KDratiopodcast, YouTube as The KD Ratio Podcast! or on Instagram KDratiopodcast
SmashDepartحWong. I you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you. Hello and welcome to the KD ratio podcast, your place for all things nerd. Tonight I'm joined by Dylan Kyle. Wow, how we doing, gentlemen doing great.
Speaker 2:It's so hard for me to meet like that level you're Come on. It feels unnatural.
Speaker 1:We have so much fun to stuff to talk about. All right, I miss you guys during the week, you know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I miss you too, yeah. I don't miss you. I think about well, now I'm pissed I dread this. I was about to say, I think about you guys all the time I Missed same.
Speaker 1:I well, I think about you. Well, I act on it, which is message you guys and discord.
Speaker 2:I. What did we talking about half the time? I say something you don't even realize. You like I didn't see that.
Speaker 1:But it comes from a place of I am horrible sometimes.
Speaker 3:We've all we're all came, we will be, we'll talk about something and then you'll like, completely miss it and you'll forget to go back and Look, and so you'll mention that same thing that we just talked about, like a few minutes ago.
Speaker 2:You don't tell me. You remember this, this time where I showed you guys a song and I was like I'm digging this song. Like a week later, billy was like tell me, you've heard this and he played the song. And I was like I showed you this and he was like no, no way.
Speaker 3:No, there was even like a game reveal I don't remember which one, but in discord mean you were hyped about it. And then Billy comes in. He's like did you guys see that reveal? And it's like, if you scroll back a little bit, billy, you can see that we did.
Speaker 1:You have caught yourself before doing that, yeah okay, so here's, here's the issue, big issue with it and I noticed it a lot, especially the other night. So when I'm on my computer and if I have discord up, the notifications won't trigger on my phone and so they just make a noise in the background and there's. So I never get them mine does that too. It could go like a day or two before I check it and then it's again. If it's not what I'm talking about, that I don't care and it's not important to Billy?
Speaker 2:Just there are times where, like you guys will be like messaging each other all day and I'm at work and then by the time I get home I'll read through everything and I'm like I Don't think I can contribute anything five hours later. I'll just let this one.
Speaker 3:That was great.
Speaker 2:Great, have you seen this yeah?
Speaker 3:let's talk about me. Well, that's the most important subject right?
Speaker 1:Yeah Well, let's talk about me then. No kidding.
Speaker 2:Well, I think you're a strong man.
Speaker 1:Brave foreheads, looking real shiny extrovert. Yeah, buddy cute, that's cute, that's it's now on the internet.
Speaker 3:So it's true, mm-hmm. So we?
Speaker 1:got a couple topics that we want to dive in tonight. Do you want to start with your Disney's haunted mansion?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so I went and saw Disney's haunted mansion, the one with Eddie Murphy, finally saw that. I finally saw the Eddie Murphy on a mansion. I'm doing a review Instant class.
Speaker 3:I know it's a little weird that I'm pulling a movie that was released in like the early 2003, I think. Yeah, yeah, but I decided to. You know, I want to review it. No, they released a new one totally unrelated to that previous one, and this one, I feel like, is more Following the footsteps of, like the jungle cruise movie with the rock, like maybe Disney's going through, wow, okay, making movies on their rides again.
Speaker 2:So what do you mean by that? Like it follows the footsteps of the jungle cruise, like, like it? I mean it just feels.
Speaker 3:Kind of in the same vein as that. Oh, like same quality level.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, exactly, um, but I really enjoyed it. I thought it was a really good movie. I loved all the the ensemble. They had Danny DeVito, they had Owen Wilson, they had I Hate that I don't know the main guy's name. Look that up for me, cowboy. They did. They all did an amazing job. And To me, I haven't seen the Eddie Murphy one in a long time, but I would say this one I do like a little bit more Than that one, or from what I can remember of that one, and I did not expect going to Disney's haunted mansion to tear up. But there's this part at the ending that that it really it got me, it got me and I was like, oh man, he's talking about so there's a le quay Stanfield.
Speaker 3:He might be the main guy Ben.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Ben.
Speaker 3:Okay, and Rosario Dawson yeah, Ben is the main guy. He did an amazing job carrying the movie. I and and there was actually a few like I mean, it's a Disney movie, it's for kids, of course, but there was a few scares in there that were legit, legit like jump scares and like Creepy stuff like they had. It never got too creepy, but just enough to be like a little spooky like the kids kid creepy.
Speaker 1:Yeah, kid, creepy like the original haunted mansion. Yeah, yeah, I think I had a nice perfect blend from what I remember, though.
Speaker 3:So and you guys can correct me on this I the one thing I really liked about this one over that one is this one follows the ride almost Are really really well like interesting there's the extending room with the paintings, there's the candle floating in the hallway, there's the expanding hallways, there's the doors that like move and it like has a bunch of stuff from the actual ride, like there's the ghost that's on top the chandelier.
Speaker 2:Does it look like. What do they call that? The White House with the pillars and like. Does it look like the ride? Yeah, looks like, yeah.
Speaker 3:Looks like like a plantation, I guess like southern southern style Yep, they're in. New Orleans in this movie and yeah, so like they have the ghost who's hanging on the chandelier, they have, they work it into the film. You know how, in the ride, like they say, you know the ghosts like to go with you when you leave or whatever. Yeah, they have that. So like the ghosts when they try to leave the ghost go with them, and so I. I thought this was closer to the ride than the original, but I don't really. I.
Speaker 2:Honestly, haven't seen the original like the Eddie Murphy one Since it came out and I was same, maybe ten like I. That came out 2000, like 2003, four or five, one of those years.
Speaker 3:So yeah, I would recommend, if you, you know, if you like Disney movies, if you like Jungle Cruise, you're gonna like this one. I am a little weirded out that they chose to release it now and not Halloween. That is like the perfect Halloween movie, but I really enjoyed it and I would recommend people go see it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I wonder if they in two years update the ride to be, you know, like to fit it was, it was exactly the ride, so they don't need to they don't need to save some money. Yeah, but there's still things that they could do right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, to make it. Do you see? Owen Wilson? And on, wilson, and what's that ladies? Real name Laurie Strode from scream are from Halloween. Oh, freaky Friday. Oh, what is her name?
Speaker 1:I just had two lies. Just naming movies she's in she's got three names right Julie the Activia yeah. Julie.
Speaker 3:It's not. No, you're thinking it's not Julie, it's not Julie.
Speaker 1:We strike this no. I know she does have three names, though let's see Jamie.
Speaker 2:Jamie Lee Curtis and Owen Wilson actually went to the haunted mansion in Disneyland, and we're like. Wow, that's cool. They were part of the ride and they were like the ones talking to the guests on the elevator part you know that's cool.
Speaker 1:That's cool. They did it for 45 minutes and the audience was staged members only and they filmed the hell apparently I. Don't know if this is true.
Speaker 2:Apparently it was Unsuspected people that, like we're just regular park goers, that'd be. Whether or not they did it for very long is another like if they only Did enough to get some footage, but still, if you just happen to be that group with them, oh yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and I. Own Wilson did an amazing job. So did Jamie Lee Curtis, danny to veto. I mean, he's Danny to veto, he's perfect. But hang on, own Wilson, I really enjoyed and I and it made me realize like he hasn't been in a lot besides Loki, like recently. I guess he was in own Wilson Astro City maybe, but yeah, I don't. I.
Speaker 2:Don't know what he's been in used to be while where he was in quite a bit now.
Speaker 3:He's kind of slowed down, but I miss him, I mean so wow, wow, wow.
Speaker 1:His best role.
Speaker 2:His Armageddon. What are you plays? Just some random cowboy. No, I'm just kidding, it's not his best role.
Speaker 3:Best role ever Not lightning At all.
Speaker 2:I like the first cars. I really do. I haven't seen the second one.
Speaker 2:The third one was Is the spy one, the third one, that's the second one. I haven't seen the second one but, like the first cars movie, that's one of my favorite Pixar films. Good job Kind of went under the radar a little bit. But you think it went under the radar Compared to other Pixar films. Yeah, I think it was immensely. It was immensely popular. But, like what I mean, ok, under the radar is definitely not the right, because it, you're right, it had two sequels. What I mean was, when you stack it up to like the true Pixar classics, people don't think it can hold a candle.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know, hey, man, I, yeah, I guess my impression is totally different because, like I have a, a godson, who just is like lightning the Queen through and through.
Speaker 2:I guess it depends, maybe because we weren't kids when that came out. Yeah maybe that's why I'm like toy story.
Speaker 1:You know what I just monsters Inc.
Speaker 2:Those are on another level.
Speaker 1:Both this, both movies, two movies. I just watched this last week story one and two, and I watched that and I'm like bangers. Bangers. It is funny because when you see it on like a 4K TV. So I always had, I always had it in VHS and I was playing it on the tube TV and I was like I wore the tape out 12 inches yeah. And seeing it in 4K. You're you're still like this came out in the early 90s, like our mid 90s. You know, you're like this is so impressive.
Speaker 3:I know.
Speaker 1:The first toy story was 95.
Speaker 3:95. Right.
Speaker 1:So you're just like Steve Jobs.
Speaker 2:Wow, I'm serious. That's what he was in charge of Pixar at that time. Really, it was before he. I did not even know.
Speaker 2:It was before he went back to Apple, because he got outed from Apple by the former CEO. There's this huge drama because Steve Jobs really wanted to push for innovation and the CEO was a businessman and he was like no, we need to keep selling the Apple too, because that's what makes money, and he got the board to push Steve Jobs out. So Steve Jobs is actually a founding member of Pixar and he didn't come back to Apple till like the late 90s.
Speaker 2:I have no clue so he was responsible for like toy story and like some other, like shorts that Pixar did and, I think, bugs Life. Like not the story writing and all that, but like the technology behind it. That's pretty cool, steve Jobs.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean I watched that there's obvious things where there's not so many artifacts on screen or they just use like a gradient for like a whole wall. That they definitely wouldn't do in today's world. But like when you look at the actual character models you're like I mean 28 years ago?
Speaker 2:Yeah, 20 years ago 90.
Speaker 1:Windows 95 hadn't come out by the time Toy Story One was developed, and you got to think the technology hitting me was probably based on like 93, 94.
Speaker 3:Like it's not, like it was in development way before.
Speaker 2:I did see this video, though, where they showcased the like how far they've come. They showed like the dog from Spike from.
Speaker 3:Toy.
Speaker 2:Story One they showed the animation quality of that compared to this cat from Toy Story Four and that when you see side to side comparisons you're like holy shit, like the cat is almost indistinguishable from like a real cat. And then you look at the dog and it like has no animated hairs and you're like, ok, yeah well that's that point of like diminishing returns.
Speaker 1:It's like, ok, all of the development you know for the last two years has gone into like the fur how fur in Iraq's and moves like yeah and and it like when you watch it and you see a side by side, you're like you can appreciate Wow, that that can only imagine how much effort went into that. But then when you see it on screen, you go back and you look at watch this mid 90s and you're like that's amazing too.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's just, it's, it really is great. Or, like you know, the Balrog from Order the Rings, that, honestly, that's still holds up though. The Order of the Rings. First one came in 2001, which means they probably were working on this in 99.
Speaker 2:I mean that's crazy to think about. If I still to this day like there's not a lot of things that have aged poorly. In Lord of the Rings I would say the third movie there's some scenes where you're like, ok, that didn't age as well. But like the Balrog yeah, the Balrog in Fellowship of the Ring Dude, when he's attacking Gandalf on that bridge like he looks legit still Like it doesn't look like fake at all. I don't know how they do.
Speaker 2:I don't know it's it was like mostly practical and then they animated. It was also the lighting. It was very dark, so there's a lot of things you could hide. Did they use miniatures at?
Speaker 3:all.
Speaker 2:I believe that there was miniatures involved and they a lot of. Where the animation came from was like fires and shapes, but it wasn't like the creature itself. And so like they just did such a good job on that that now like it almost is like looks worse now than it did back then because they rely too much on the CD.
Speaker 3:Well, so I just saw this documentary the other night Really good. It's called Icons. It was on Spike TV but they had they were doing Captain America and they were shown that like you know how skinny Steve from the first Captain America.
Speaker 3:So that how they did that was they shot the same scene twice, once with Chris Evans, once with the skinny body double and then, like the, the, the visual effects, people went in and like superimposed every scene superimposed head, like manually, and if you look at that it does look weird because his head is big, but compared to now, like with the Deepfake, that it does kind of look better Like it doesn't look uncanny valley. The uncanny part is his head is huge.
Speaker 2:It's not that and I think it's more us knowing that Chris Evans doesn't really look like that. I think that's more of the like that's weird looking rather than it actually not looking good.
Speaker 3:Yeah, but I mean, if you look at it, it looks really good.
Speaker 2:That's what I'm saying. Like it. Yeah, that that's really good.
Speaker 1:I wonder if it has to do with, because you know, obviously with these big production films they plan everything. I mean the directors have to have seen by scene, second by second, detailed out before they ever actually go to shoot. Right, and I'm wondering if in the 90s, right, you go, ok, I want to have this Balrog scene where you know Gandalf is going to be fighting on this bridge and you know this is the interaction. And then they set a budget for that scene and they know it's going to be require a lot of practical effects, a lot of CGI efforts. So they set this, you know multi-million dollar budget just for that 30 second scene and say, hey, we got to kill it.
Speaker 1:Versus today, where they think of like, ok, we're going to have an explosion here, there's going to be fire, tornado here, and then there's going to be a car scene that you know comes out, whatever it is. And then they don't really, it's just really no more thought than that. They just it's just kind of it doesn't have like its own special budget. So when the CGI creator or the editing team goes to actually implement that into the film, they don't, they're not really specializing or spending any focus or effort to really nail the visual effects or the fidelity of that scene. It's just thought of as like a part of the whole.
Speaker 2:Right, I think that's a huge part of it. Yeah, also, special effects teams are they're not given to the early the well they're not given nearly the budget. They used to be back in the day Like special effects teams. Back in like the 70s, 80s and 90s was like a huge part of a film. And now it's like they're just because technology is like getting better. They're not like spending as much time on that and they're not.
Speaker 1:Yeah, focusing more on CG versus like and I wonder if they have lost something in the sense of like, creating an art piece of like flame. You know like versus. If you base it in realism, you're going to be like OK, we need to mimic this shape or whatever. Versus. If you're a video editor, just clicking buttons, you just think bigger, better, more flame, Change of color.
Speaker 3:With that I would. I would disagree flame and water physics, because I watch. I watch a ton of quarter digital visual effects. Artists react.
Speaker 2:And they sponsor this show. Yeah, they do.
Speaker 1:OK, they definitely were part of their network You're like let's be clear, Make that very clear.
Speaker 3:But a big part of what they talk about always is like the, the leaps and bounds that are being made in like smoke, fire and water physics, and how that is a huge focus of ILM or like the major visual effects studios, is to make those even better in CG and more realistic acting. So I don't, I think, if anything, it's just going to keep getting better with CG, water and all and like fire. I don't think you'd lose. I think it will get better, because back in the old day if you had fire and you needed to like superimpose it, it was really hard, because if you took a small fire and you made it bigger, it acts different based on how big it is and you could tell watching on the screen. Now, if they, if they're able to get CG to realistically and you act like fire does, they can increase the size and it'll stay. It'll actually physics?
Speaker 1:Yeah, because if you watch older movies.
Speaker 3:Where they do that, you can tell the like that fire looks weird or it's miniaturized and they just scale it up. Explosion of the desktop. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So yeah, I think that'll improve. I do think they do lose certain things.
Speaker 1:So with that that comment, though, like that, their toolkit is always getting better, there's no doubt about that. But I think to my point is that you know, if a 30 second you know clip in a movie costs two million dollars to make I'm just starting to number out there and then they have like a scene where that they're going to be requiring water physics, and then what I'm saying is the editing team or the special it's not special effects, it's just the editing team has enough two million dollars to do that that 30 second too. They don't really necessarily making like a special case or thinking like, hey, we have to nail that because it's like and it's going to be good enough because the tools that we have to play with just in and of themselves are good enough.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So it's not going to be like this passion project where somebody spends a year of their life trying to fucking nail, which if you watch any of like the behind the scenes like Lord of the Rings extended edition they have like this really, the Blu-ray copy that I have has an amazing like documentary of all the stuff that happened behind the scenes and you could see like stuff that you just didn't even think about watching. The film had people dedicated and like pouring their passion into for months to nail. I don't know if that happens in an editing studio. Yeah.
Speaker 1:And if they're just like, maybe change this. You know you perfect example.
Speaker 3:So from that same documentary. In Captain America the visual effects guy was talking about how there's this one scene in the beginning where they drill down the ice to get Captain America out of the ice and the director was like I want the light to be like a perfect cylinder coming down. And the visual effects guy is like that isn't really how light works, but I'll figure it out. And so he spent like he had to really work out how he can make the light come and it looks beautiful. But now you could probably just, you know, make it in a real engine.
Speaker 2:five and you know to your point, billy, they. I was like, if you look at like any documentaries and like how movies are made and stuff, they used to make movies around a set piece where they're like this is the selling point, they would spend like their whole budget on something and then they would present it and be like this is the movie you're getting, and then they might get enough to finish it Like they would like what's that movie? Oh God, I'm forgetting what that, but it's about, you know, moses, the original one, where he parts to see Ten Commandments.
Speaker 2:Maybe it's Ten Commandments, maybe, yeah, maybe. Maybe, Moses's story is called a Ten Commandments. Who would have thought Imagine that? I almost said Ben Hurb. I was like that's not right.
Speaker 3:Lawrence of Arabia, but you're one with Jack what they did.
Speaker 2:They did the parting the Red Sea like thing, like that was their set piece, and then they made the movie around that. And so like there's like these whole things where, like this is the one we have to nail, this is what's going to sell this movie, and then the rest just can be OK yeah.
Speaker 1:You know it's interesting because there's pros and cons, as what there is, as there is with anything you know of moving off of this model and more. You know more editing heavy production studio you know it makes it so where smaller guys can compete and create something that's visually on the same level as a big budget studio that can actually do stunts and stuff. So there's benefits, but you know, with how studios are funding these projects these days, where everything is risk reward, what's the return on?
Speaker 3:this project.
Speaker 1:It is kind of interesting that, like I'm not, I'm not sure there's a lot of like films being created, like I wonder you know we just watched Oppenheimer, right I wonder, like when those, when that old crew of directors sort of retire out and stop making films like who's a young and upcoming director?
Speaker 3:that's really sort of that, denny Villanueva.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he's, what's one of his?
Speaker 3:I can't remember Blade Runner 24-9.
Speaker 1:That was pretty good. Okay, visually I like Dune. I thought it was still a half of a movie and I can't wait to see the other half, but regardless.
Speaker 2:He's definitely old school in the way Christopher Nolan is, but he's also very comfortable mixing in CGI Christopher Nolan's very like.
Speaker 1:No, CGI. Yeah, we will do this practically.
Speaker 2:True artists, but that's why his films? Will never age. Yeah, any film that he have it can be watched at any time, because the technology he used is not going to be any more advanced 20, 30 years from now than it is right now.
Speaker 3:Yeah Well, if he does use any CG, it's very minimal, Very, very minimal.
Speaker 1:And I'm not even saying that that's the real, that's like the right way to do it. I just think that a younger director that can come up and appropriately use these tools.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Of hey, yes, we can do this for X amount of dollars, but it would be way better if we and I'm sure that they have these conversations but someone who really believed like, hey, let's push CGI to the next level in this film and not just leverage the basic tool kit that everybody else has access to, but let's really nail this scene. I'm not saying that we're going to be able to nail this scene.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Maybe it's even. That's the thing too. Maybe that's tough in a film, because we've all seen films where there is one or two scenes of CGI where you're like that looks amazing, and then there's like three or four others where you're like what the fuck were they doing there? It's kind of jarring versus if you do things in a practical, you just built a set. You can't really redo that with CGI right. So again, pros and cons, but it is kind of interesting.
Speaker 2:It's moving from special effects people to you know neck beards who are video editing this thing. I'm like Chris Vernal was talking about the nuke for Oppenheimer. He was talking about how he did it and stuff and he's like I've done a nuke in film before, but it was the only thing I've ever done CG, so I've always wanted to do it for real, because he's talking about the Dark Knight Rises. That nuke in the Dark Knight Rises was CG and he had never liked that.
Speaker 1:Do you think he put in a formal request to use a nuke? I don't. That's pretty wild. Like who do you make that call to?
Speaker 2:He's like Tom Cruise of Special Effects, like he's best to do it. I need a nuke. I mean I told you guys.
Speaker 3:After we saw it I was convinced. I was like give this man a nuke, just let him set it off so we can see it.
Speaker 1:What a terrible precedent that would set if they were like this guy's really cool in Hollywood. He wants to make a film. Let's detonate a nuke, let's have access to a nuke or something.
Speaker 2:How could you I mean you'd have to get permission from like like global sanctions.
Speaker 1:Like the UN and like I mean, you can't just. Like hey, we're doing this for a film.
Speaker 2:You can't just launch a nuke for a movie and be like all right, we're good. And then like how. You're like. You know what? I didn't like the angle. Let's do it again. We need to launch another one. Shit, we didn't get it Dude?
Speaker 1:that would be, that would be crazy, oh man. I wonder that had to have been a serious conversation at some point, like jokingly serious, I bet you somebody was like hey would it be crazy, would it be?
Speaker 3:Would, it be they call the president.
Speaker 1:Crazy or what you tell me, is it crazy?
Speaker 2:No, we definitely can't do that I think the extent of the conversation probably went along the lines of how big can we go before it becomes a problem. Probably, I bet you, they had that conversation for sure.
Speaker 1:Yeah, probably. How big of a bomb can we Legally detonate for it was?
Speaker 2:mostly it was all TNT, right yeah. Then they created this prop where it looked. It made it climb, and it made it climb in a way that looked like a nuke, and then this kind of thing caught it, so it formed above the top Looks like a mushroom.
Speaker 1:Even that's crazy. Like hey, we're going to blow up a big-ass flame. That's going to.
Speaker 2:They use force perspective. I think it was something only 20 feet tall or something like that, which is still like a two-story home.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I don't know, I just think it's got to be. Mr President, so I'm making a film.
Speaker 3:Hear me out. He has the President's direct number.
Speaker 2:Hey, christopher, Making another movie.
Speaker 1:All right.
Speaker 2:Anything you need.
Speaker 3:I'm here Anything for entertainment. Oh, you need a nuke Hmm.
Speaker 2:I'll see what I can do. Let me talk to the UN. Like what if?
Speaker 1:Let me alert Putin yeah, what if Russia sold him the nuke? Could he use it?
Speaker 2:What if he dropped it. I'm pretty sure to. I'm pretty sure. I think there's some live news broken here.
Speaker 1:One or two, I think.
Speaker 2:You're going to the dark web by a nuke. That's going to be a big hit oh.
Speaker 1:God.
Speaker 2:I don't know why, but when he said from Russia, I pictured a nuke that had Russia written on it and it made me think of Captain America, that one part where he has all the bombs New York and once says New York and once in. English and they're German. That's the only part that I'm like.
Speaker 3:okay, that's a little cheesy, but he's a comic book villain.
Speaker 2:He's not a trophy. He lives on being a trophy.
Speaker 1:So I want to dive into our next topic here.
Speaker 3:Yeah, this is a good diving point. It is, although I did just want to add the one thing that really excites me about moving from practical effects to CG. I still love practical and I think they should be used as much as they can, but CG allows us to have some crazy stuff that is closer to like. That's why I love animation so much is you can get stuff that you can't film, you can't have, like Goku. They tried to make a movie.
Speaker 3:It was horrible, but you wouldn't be able to make a movie with him flying around and doing all that stuff. But with CG you can have Godzilla a whole movie about him.
Speaker 1:That's so true. There's so many benefits. Think of the quality of content on YouTube alone. Less this channel.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:But you go and you watch any of these. There's some content creators. It is like a film. The way it's edited, the way it's cut, and it's just. It's because those tools have gone from the enterprise level to just like any other product. There's a product cycle. They've just gone and fizzled their way into mainstream, where you can buy it for a couple hundred bucks and all of a sudden you have access to a studio. That's pretty amazing.
Speaker 2:I'll do respect to Chris Rennold. Obviously, we gush about him all the time on the show, but he could not make a movie like Avatar. He could not even make a movie like Avengers.
Speaker 1:Endgame.
Speaker 2:He's completely different skill sets he's it wouldn't be the same movie, he wouldn't be able to do it, or Godzilla vs.
Speaker 3:Kong.
Speaker 2:He wouldn't be able to make that movie as principles.
Speaker 3:It would be the Japanese Godzilla films where there's a dude in a costume.
Speaker 2:Honestly, it's if Christopher Nolan made a Godzilla vs Kong? I can tell you right now it would be probably one of the best written films of all time. But, it wouldn't be the Kaiju fight, it would be like obscure hard to see. It would be everything would be much more of a thriller. It would be that one movie where you never actually see the B-String, it wouldn't be Godzilla vs Kong throwing back a Godzilla through a skyscraper Do it wrestling moves Kong, ripping his head off and screaming.
Speaker 2:It wouldn't be that For sure. I was thinking even simple things. I don't know why, when you brought up anime and they went to edge runners, every time he uses the San Divisthen and he has that trail behind him. What would that look like?
Speaker 1:Not, animated, that was a fog machine?
Speaker 2:That would be not as cool, just a human trail.
Speaker 1:The flash.
Speaker 2:I don't know if you had a chance to see the flash running and see the way flash runs in the new flash movie.
Speaker 1:It's really bad.
Speaker 2:I've seen all the memes come from it. That's coming from a guy that thought the movie was pretty decent. The CG was really bad. I don't know why Ezra Miller decided to run the way he decided to run.
Speaker 3:Everyone encouraged him to do it. He said he was inspired by speed ice skaters.
Speaker 2:He doesn't look like he's speed skating. I know, just look at Apollo Antono. He looks cool. He's always kind of I loved Jackseid just as, but he kind of ran like that in that movie too. I don't know what it is.
Speaker 3:That has the best flash scene in a movie by far 100%. Anyways, let's dive into Live Service Games.
Speaker 2:I can talk now you can Hold on.
Speaker 3:I want to talk about Spider-Man real quick.
Speaker 2:I'm just thinking the same thing. Please, can we please get Spider-Man another movie?
Speaker 3:Yes, he needs another movie Tom Holland and Toby and Andrew. Let's get three new movies.
Speaker 1:You guys are making a joke, but yet you're still finding a way to fill up some serious time here I'm 100% not joking. Yeah, I'm serious Alright Something new Every other month, man.
Speaker 2:Your pipeline is thick Across. Every other week would be better.
Speaker 3:The new Spider-Verse just got delayed indefinitely. Okay, Billy.
Speaker 1:Good. I'm sad what does that mean to me? I'm sad.
Speaker 2:Maybe nothing to you. New Spider-Verse indefinitely. But to everyone who cares, I'm in the minority, everyone who means something.
Speaker 1:Yes, it's been delayed indefinitely.
Speaker 3:Is that?
Speaker 1:serious.
Speaker 2:Oh, okay, as soon as that gets resolved.
Speaker 1:There's so much shit that's been delayed because of that.
Speaker 2:They'll be back.
Speaker 1:We talked about that and what's going on?
Speaker 2:there.
Speaker 1:We did Live service games. What experience do you guys have as a live service game?
Speaker 3:Destiny Diablo. Destiny is probably the biggest one I have.
Speaker 2:Yes, that's the one I have the most experience in is Destiny.
Speaker 1:So in general are you just neutral? I am. I know you guys are obviously have a single player tilt.
Speaker 3:I would say I'm neutral. I think they can be done really well and I would even say Destiny probably isn't my most exposure. I get a lot of exposure on mobile games.
Speaker 1:I play this one Dragon.
Speaker 3:Ball Z game. They're on their 8th anniversary right now and they're killing it, so I know they can be done well, and so I would say I'm in the middle because I know there's for everyone that does it well. There's like 12. That just suck.
Speaker 1:And neutral as well. I'm neutral.
Speaker 2:My only real complaint with live service games, because I don't hate it for the same reasons that some people do. But my only real complaint is I feel like live service games the storytelling gets sacrificed a lot.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And I think that's why I'm in live service games Because they're constantly like, rather than trying to think about what makes a good story, they're trying to think about what makes this, what gives this longevity, what keeps you engaged, so that you want to come back, yeah, and that you know, for a gamer like you that's kind of like on the back burner, as long as it's fun.
Speaker 1:So I'm going to pick on Diablo 4 here because it's kind of the most recent game that we all played. That is a live service game and I think it's also just an easy point to meme on.
Speaker 3:Real quick. I mean add on another game that does live service.
Speaker 1:So Spider-Man.
Speaker 3:Fortnite yes, does live service amazing, and I mean, it might not be for everyone, but you can't knock them for their live service.
Speaker 1:They are. They've maintained an audience for a very long time. We were playing the no Build and it was like at a random Wednesday it was hundreds of thousands of people in one game mode. Yeah, so I'm going to talk about live service games and I'm going to talk about what I need from them. So I don't take a neutral pro con. I don't take any stance I want. The game has to prove it to me. I won't judge it on a surface, based on any model or genre.
Speaker 3:The game has to be fun for me to engage with it.
Speaker 1:That's bottom line, but I'm making a call out to live service games to be fucking better, because if you expect me or you're demanding time and money two of the most valuable currencies in existence time and money you have to provide more than what they are, and Diablo 4, I think, is a great example of almost being there but just totally whiffing on a lot of the quality of life stuff that makes me want to play a game. I am sick and fucking tired of having a game designer come down and have this opinion of how they want their game to play and function and sort of live and die on that. Implement things that are fucking fun. That is what I want. Thank you for watching. I hope you enjoyed this video. I will see you in the next video. Bye you, you, you, you, hello, hello. Yeah, we're on line again. You can test it. Can you hear us? Yeah, okay, I don't know when it went back, when it went out.
Speaker 2:That's a huge bummer Dang. How long were we gone you?
Speaker 3:were getting so tired.
Speaker 1:I feel like I was on a roll. Maybe maybe one of you wants to go back and see when it went out. Maybe my whole life service. Is there a timestamp on the Well? Just go back on there. Oh, 841, so two minutes ago, okay. So Okay, where do I? I don't know? Yeah, you want to just scroll and maybe find it, but basically I'll just reset it up.
Speaker 1:Basically, what I'm saying is quality life needs to be in the forefront of how you think about. Look, I appreciate I definitely was very passionate. It was, I was getting on a heater, okay. So quality life has to be foremost and forefront in a game that is entirely based around the end game experience. Right like, yes, you could replay the campaign again. That's only gonna be once or twice, yeah, where you're not interested in that content.
Speaker 1:So I need quality of life improvements on these games to keep me interested and I, time and time again, I see these games fail this and I feel like I Feel like their metrics are off, or or maybe it's a design choice difference, or Maybe the bar is so low right now for collecting because the audiences are so large that they would just rather appeal. They don't feel like that's important, but it's. It's little things like being able to respect your build on a whim, that I can save all my stats and there's no risk. I can one click a button and shift back into those stats and test something out and experience something new.
Speaker 3:Destiny has loadouts for you. I mean as much as it's. You know it has loadouts for the, the classes. So you could do that. You could save it and then go.
Speaker 1:I want to try something new there are games that do live service very, very well. I will say MMOs, which destiny is an MMO light, if you want to call it that we don't need to have this debate.
Speaker 2:Um they, they've nailed it.
Speaker 1:And they've kept an audience for years, but because of it.
Speaker 3:I would. I would say no, they have not nailed it and especially at the beginning, I don't. Maybe now they're better. We played it for a little bit and stopped again because we kind of went through all the content.
Speaker 1:They're formula. The proof is in the pudding. For me, their formula works right because they still have hundreds of thousands of players.
Speaker 3:True, every update but they and I think Diablo I'm I'll ask you this but they fall in the same Barrel of nerfing anything that's fun. I don't know if they do it anymore, but destiny won anything that was fun Nerfed instantly and it was like, so you could never have fun in the game. So, and I feel like, isn't that going in Diablo?
Speaker 1:That's exactly how Diablo and again, that is bad and game design Because they hurt player. They're looking at the wrong things, they, they oftentimes this is this was actually a point that I was gonna get to later on but oftentimes the development studios will look at the four or five fucking idiots that are exploiting the game and Breaking the game and the the one build that's, and then they totally kill a class or they totally just like reduce Things that don't matter To like bring it in in line and they kill the player experience.
Speaker 2:I think you hit the nail in the head earlier when you said you said something beautiful. You said maybe they just don't care. I think that's actually like if they're making money, Honestly don't you guys have phones. I don't think they give a fuck.
Speaker 3:That's the same company.
Speaker 2:That's why, when you look at these indie games that blow up like battle bit you know, and that kind of thing. The part of the reason why their communities are so huge is because they're still. They are still like in that phase of we care about the player because they're still in D.
Speaker 3:They're still and they're passionate about the game. They're passionate about the game. They're not doing it for money, they're doing it yeah because they want to play something that they love.
Speaker 2:You look at, I mean Diablo. As much as we love that game, I mean, blizzard isn't exactly known for putting the player first.
Speaker 1:Oh, yeah, but isn't the hard thing. Creating the game, like making the fucking game, and then the systems are like ancillary pieces that they just can easy wins.
Speaker 3:But I think at that level an amazing experience.
Speaker 1:A fun game to interact with.
Speaker 3:At that level they have a whole nother department probably. That's all about monetization. Oh, absolutely about player engagement.
Speaker 2:Everything they do has to go through a focus group.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they're valuing the wrong thing, but what I'm saying is, if you want to have like these Diablo, it's Diablo right. So they, they know they're gonna have 10 years of success with this thing because that's just how Diablo's, that's how they've gone right, but they're not that far from making it an incredible experience. The build templates that's one of the pieces. Respecking, why it does it cost money to respect in a game that I want to try out and just kill monsters like Okay, it's a gold sink, find a better way to make a gold sink.
Speaker 3:Why does there need?
Speaker 2:to be a gold sink.
Speaker 1:No, well, yeah, yeah, I agree with that. There, there, there's, there's like an entire science of like maintaining economies in these games and you do need some. But Absolutely, totally agree Like rethink. It shouldn't hurt you From playing the. The gold sink shouldn't hurt you, shouldn't be a tax on you trying to find better engagement with the exact.
Speaker 3:One of my favorite gold sinks in games is Upgradable settlements. Or, like your house home instance, like Witcher 3, wow, blood and wine. Corvo Bianco love it. I know it's a gold sink because that's all you just.
Speaker 1:you're wasting money on cosmetics, but that is one of my favorite things Give me that, but let me play around with the five basic skills that I want to try out and Test.
Speaker 2:I just want romance options, Diablo yeah.
Speaker 1:So I'm on a roll because I want to keep on this topic.
Speaker 2:So pinnacle farms he's like stop making jokes, Dude.
Speaker 1:I'm I'm an unstoppable force right now. Pinnacle farms. If I have reached the apex of this game, okay, and I'm farming Lilith on repeat, okay it is. There's only a couple classes that all classes have been at this point, but there's only a handful of builds that have done it. If I'm able to accomplish that content, reward me for it. The rewards are like no different than if you killed a, a dungeon boss. I think you maybe get one legendary item guaranteed, but it's, it's not, it's random or whatever.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's still they have these uber uber rare Uniques.
Speaker 1:I unique items in the game that are basically like, mathematically, you're never going to get one. I think like two people have gotten a shake-o out of the 30.
Speaker 2:And then I was like I don't think anyone in the US this mantle has one and you think of like the millions of hours that have already been accumulated on this game.
Speaker 1:It's just, it's unfathomable. If you're farming the pinnacle content on repeat and this is done poorly in almost every game and I never understood it. Why can't, if I am achieving the highest level in this game? And it's an, it's incentivizing and all that shit is a Countbound anyway. What is the impact negative impact to letting me Min max, gear my character so that I can continue that grind to have fun. Give me the best gear. I should be getting like 30 Legendary items that I can maybe stat select and and or items that I can use to infuse and make even better. Like I beat the game, there's nothing left for me.
Speaker 3:Yeah, on that character, I beat the hardest content, I would argue that's one of the reasons I like single-player games because you can get the best. You can find the best armor and loot, and you can. You know, usually there's system built to upgrade it and it's.
Speaker 2:It's achievable, it's very clear when you've capped, yeah, you know, but then you're losing what that game is.
Speaker 1:but in a, in a live service game, I understand why you might not do that in, like an MMO, where there's a tradable economy. But in a Diablo game where you, when you reach that point, there is no trade market for these items because they're all a count down. What is the negative piece? So that's my, that's my one piece. I want to see more like editable you eyes. This has bothered me Since the dawn of time and I brought this up constantly. How can I not play around with the shit that I see on my screen? If I want my fucking mini map to be half of my screen, why can't I do that? All right, it's play your preference. Give me options.
Speaker 2:This is coming from your experience with Guild Wars, guild.
Speaker 1:Wars.
Speaker 2:One Guild Wars one had had the greatest user interface, customizable hood, you know, and so you're. You're kind of stacking everything.
Speaker 1:You've ever played against that for good reason, absolutely, but I just feel like, if I want, if again, if you're gonna demand that I play or not demand, but offer a Product better play a product to me that Basically, I'm.
Speaker 1:I'm going to be expected to play hundreds of hours in. I should be able to Stupid fucking things like have a health bar above my character head. Why can't I do that? I have this thing down in the left corner, but I'm not. I don't want to look at my skill bar, I don't want to look at my health, I want to look at what's happening on the screen. I want to be able to dynamically shift how I'm playing. Oh, my stun lock. Okay, I need to get out of this. Oh, I have an elite charging. Oh, what affects does he have, you know? So I gotta play the situation differently. That's what I want to do.
Speaker 1:Things like debuff bars these don't exist in games anymore and I don't understand it how you could be stunned, but there's like no indicator of what's stunning you. Are you crippled, are you stun locked, are you frozen? It's not blatantly obvious? There's no debuff bar of what's affecting you and you should be able to hover over it and it gives you a tooltip of like hey, you are, you're affected by Vulnerability, you take 25% more damage. It should all be spelled out to you, because that's what's gonna make you play the game more. If you understand the core systems more. You shouldn't have to go and find some nerd on YouTube. That's back of the napkin, figured out like what these modifiers are. I have the key. Yeah, it's, it blows my mind. They should lift that skirt up and share that with the community. I like that. And now lift that skirt up. Absolutely, man.
Speaker 1:Show me the goods baby and then other like like fun little like you this. We live in a world where we share content. Right every not everybody is, you know, live streaming or recording or you know has that set up on their computer or their, their PS5 and stuff like that, where they they have all these clips highlighted. Why isn't there like a what was it called Kyle in, what was it called in black ops or whatever, where they have this studio where you could go and like view your recording?
Speaker 2:I'm literally over here like like. Theater. That's when you decide. That's what.
Speaker 3:I like the theater. It wasn't the theater, theater right.
Speaker 1:Why is it there that? Built into these games just organically, like, hey, when you killed that boss, we're gonna, we're gonna save that 15-second clip. Hey, you died in hardcore mode and your character is permanently wiped, we're gonna get, we're gonna show you the last 30 seconds so you can get back and review the footage. I think games share it online.
Speaker 2:I think games.
Speaker 1:Just assume that that's a terrible Sumter that I know.
Speaker 2:I'm just saying I think that games just assume that technology that you're using has built-in recording, like capture, like PlayStation, xbox, they all have like yeah, you just hit the share button if you do something cool and it saves, like the last 30 seconds footage, that kind of thing.
Speaker 1:I think I can understand that, but again, this is another feature that we had and we've lost over the years. No, we don't have access. There was like two or three call duties in a row that have that theater mode. Now it's unheard of. It's like how are they shipping call duties?
Speaker 2:that they have more than just I thought. Theater mode died with the first black ops.
Speaker 1:I felt that was no two or three, that was in so many games I was in.
Speaker 3:hey, all the halo I mean called these civics.
Speaker 1:Oh, but I thought it was in like two or three.
Speaker 2:But maybe I might have just been. I kind of stopped playing after the first black. I would know actually for sure.
Speaker 1:But like how is that a feature that was rolled out and like we just never see it? Like if you had an option where you could go in and see Like 15 clips, well, it's stupid, it doesn't make sense money, because if you had an option where it was built in, you could you could have like funny clips and you could just share it right from there into onto it's with you you you.
Speaker 2:We're back now.
Speaker 3:You missed my funniest joke of that you can't recreate it.
Speaker 1:No, you can't. This chord gets tapped by.
Speaker 2:Billy's aggressive hands. It's like tenacious D. I'm going to talk about how it's like a tribute to the greatest joke ever told.
Speaker 1:Are we back online? I think we are, yeah.
Speaker 2:I see. I see the audio bump.
Speaker 1:I'm getting sad. No, but the issue is because I have this huge list of shit that I'm trying to get through and you're getting some tabbed over onto the other one. I need to not talk as much. You guys did the talking.
Speaker 2:No, I love seeing you get passionate. Do you think I got this kind of?
Speaker 1:passion for live service games? Absolutely not, Because I come from a world of live service games. I've invested that is by far the bulk of my time in gaming and would you say so?
Speaker 3:Guild Wars was developed by a semi-indie like it's a smaller company, right Way smaller. And look at, they have pretty much everything that they're talking about. They have actual good rewards for stuff like you got the freaking cool cosmetic thing for you know the challenges you did. They have the customizable thing and that's because they're a small development team that cares about what they're actually making.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and there it wasn't a pay to win game. It was only cosmetics that they sold and they just want to make the game. I love their model and they just want to make the game. They're like I'm not sure what I'm talking about. I'm talking about the game.
Speaker 2:I'm talking about the game I'm talking about the game, the game, the game that was created by the community.
Speaker 3:I mean, they got a Guild Wars two Did you know, expansion is coming out now.
Speaker 1:No, you didn't, I didn't. Well, it's not like MMOs are really on our radar, though yeah, you're talking to the wrong people about this. If you're looking for a game that's playing with millions of games, there's probably like 50 million, but active concurrent players is probably like 50,000. I don't know regardless, I just there's there's. So the hard part of creating a live service game to me is creating the game, and they've all done that, and they brought an audience together and created millions of players playing their game, and then they found ways to fuck it up, and then, as more people play this shit, they they get tired of these systems and they like, oh, there's no end game. It's like, what do you want me to do? Just, oh, there's the campaign. It's really good.
Speaker 2:It's like I'm not grinding the campaign the campaign in Diablo is like okay, it's not like it was, like I gotta play that again.
Speaker 1:I Just there, I just to me they it's just such a simple fix and I don't know why it gets missed. I really don't.
Speaker 3:I'll use that are you. Did you go through all your topics?
Speaker 1:I did. I don't want to tab off this. I fuck up the I'll go.
Speaker 3:I'll use that to segue into. I Think the big reason why, billy, especially with the oblo and even destiny destiny might be better now I can't speak on it, but live service games, especially from big companies Is it's a big company and to them they aren't passionate about making the game. I'm sure there's developers in that team that love making that game, yeah, but to them it's about bottom lines, about money, it's about time you know what's the most efficient way for them to make the best dollar. But there is a game that's been blowing up called Baldur's Gate 3 and that's made by a passionate company, larry in studios, and it's really popular right now. I know we're gonna talk about that kudos to them.
Speaker 3:I know they've built.
Speaker 1:So they came out and made an official statement that they are absolutely having zero Transactions in their game. You can't buy a cosmetic, you can't, you can't spend any money and they they've mentioned that it break. They feel as though it breaks the immersion within the game and for, like the first week, the player base in this in on steam at least, grew and grew and grew and grew and grew. I think it almost hit a million.
Speaker 3:It knocked out apex.
Speaker 1:That's crazy. What do you mean for all-time high Wow? Wow wow, that's. That's pretty crazy. I'm curious about the PS5 launch is like September? Yes, I think. It's coming soon and then is it will be cross play at that point. Maybe, but I don't know divinity isn't. So I don't know why they would. Divinity original sin is not no.
Speaker 2:No, otherwise don't, would have been playing on. Console right and he would have actually played with us actually played with us.
Speaker 1:I think I honestly want to give Baldur's Gate 3 a chance because it's I think it. I love the studio. I really don't know, what they stand for. I think it's a fun game launch on launch, no, so never. What does that mean I?
Speaker 3:don't know, it just said on launch.
Speaker 1:Who's they? I'm just kidding.
Speaker 3:He's seen beigecom.
Speaker 1:Oh, totally rep reputable, but it's like a totally it, I feel like. So the success of this, like money, money, money talks right, money moves markets. The success of this, the success of Elden Ring, final Fantasy 16, which probably I don't know about you guys might win game of the year over.
Speaker 2:No breath of a 100% gonna win yeah, you think so.
Speaker 1:Oh, yeah, absolutely I think you don't think it has a shot. Final fantasy 16.
Speaker 2:I mean it's good, but it's not on that level.
Speaker 3:No yeah.
Speaker 2:Hmm, tears of Kingdom is gonna win for sure. I mean, what? What other competition does it have?
Speaker 3:Baldur's Gate 3? Well okay. Starfield, Spider-Man 2 it's gonna have some heavy heater hit. Wow that he is a that is a Wow.
Speaker 1:That's true. Elden Ring 1. It was like that in God of War. This is a this has actually been a pretty good year for release and armored core, depending how good that is, too, is coming out.
Speaker 2:Wow, august that's good, but I don't see it like, unless it's blows our socks off.
Speaker 3:Elden Ring 2 it's not like that's not their flagship, so I don't think that they're really expecting it to win game of the year or anything but.
Speaker 2:I still think tears of the Kingdom just based on it's Nintendo, like I feel like they give a slight edge to the Nintendo, but it is yeah, they're small, they're cute, they're passionate yeah. Well, they don't believe in copyright, they're really good at just very letting people use their properties. Take it from here. You heard it from us. I.
Speaker 1:Feel fucking depressed after giving my passions.
Speaker 3:Let's talk about Baldur's. I'm not depressed about that.
Speaker 2:I'm depressed that some of your best points were made when there is no idea.
Speaker 1:I Think the context to got through?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think they could read that your hand is your hand.
Speaker 1:I made better content, to be honest. Hey, look at this guy we have somebody to chat chatting with us, because I was muted. So there you go. That yeah we got to engage with the audience. I'm gonna mute more often, but Baldur's gate three I honestly I was really not Probably looking forward to. I never played the first two, I never played the first two.
Speaker 2:First is totally different, though it was by where, I think actually. Yeah and yeah, and it was not. That is correct. It's not the same, it was not the same type of game that Baldur's gate three is. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Larry and was given the title. I love what they did up to the release of this, of how they did early access and they've been basically I think that this came out on steam like three years ago in like 20 and they basically have only let you play like the first act and they've been refining everything since then.
Speaker 1:So I Love the developers, cadence on this whole thing. I love divinity. Original sin too, even though it was turn-based, and I typically don't like that, but there was such a depth to the combat that I was like this is really neat.
Speaker 2:A lot of strategy, definitely a lot of strategy.
Speaker 1:Baldur's gate three is is like that, but it's. It's also dissimilar in a lot of ways as well.
Speaker 2:It's much more D&D s which well, baldur's gate is actually D&D said, d&d lore.
Speaker 3:Yeah so and there's, like dice rolls, critical fails.
Speaker 1:Do you guys know how many hours of oh god, 300 of cutscenes? There are 300, 178, 178 hours of cutscenes. That sounds amazing. So I honestly think like if you guys are even remotely interested, I am definitely romance options Play. Yeah, you can have romance with a bear.
Speaker 2:Yeah that's the most famous one I've always wondered what that would be like, and you're soon to find out. Oh, I will believe me.
Speaker 3:But yeah, I mean I'm, I'm looking forward to it, I want to play it. Um, I do wish it was cross play, because I I'm sorry, billy better pc. It's, I wouldn't even say it's the pc is. But now that I'm thinking about it more and more, it's just the whole convenience where I'm sitting on the desk, like I'm not used to playing a game there, I'm used to sitting how I sit with my you know the tv Like.
Speaker 3:I don't even think I could play a game on like a lounge couch. I'm not used to that. I'm used to a computer chair. That's kind of like In the middle of my room.
Speaker 2:There's nowhere I couldn't sit.
Speaker 3:if I enjoy a game, I mean maybe I could, but I, I there's something about that, like I just, I like my spot.
Speaker 2:I played all of Dark Souls 2 On the fucking floor in his living room no back and I remember there were points where I was like I can't move my spine, guess it hurts so bad. On your, on your hardwood floors. Oh yeah with my ps3 go Every time.
Speaker 3:I turned it on. But what I'm thinking, billy, is, if I can, I'm gonna try and do how you have your pc set up to your tv, and maybe that'll work for me.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'll look into it, because you have a flat screen in your in your room, so you could just run like a hdmi right footer, hdmi and then just get a wireless keyboard and mouse or Just run controller. I wonder if it's support is controller supported? It's coming out on console, so I imagine there's, yeah, controller support for it. We're an hour and 12 in, if you were wondering.
Speaker 2:I was, but I wasn't gonna Make it awkward for all of our millions of viewers.
Speaker 1:No, it's so awkward, dude. How did we should shut it down? I should have gone on mute, but I actually I like, I'm actually kind of excited that you guys are a little high for it, or we're excited for it, because yeah. I, I think I want to. I definitely want to try. It looks now.
Speaker 3:I'm I'm gonna admit 100%. The biggest hurdle for me in that game is gonna be the combat. I Don't like turn based but you like the board game that we play. I like this is a weird thing. I don't get it. I like pokemon immensely. I liked final fantasy. It's something about how they do turn based and it's a big hurdle for me. You like the south bar games.
Speaker 2:Once once.
Speaker 3:I get into it Maybe.
Speaker 1:I can, I can. Then I wonder if it's because you're waiting on me and him.
Speaker 3:No, I tried to play divinity by myself. Oh, you did before you guys.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's, that's why he didn't like it, and then he still sold it to us.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he's done that quite a few times.
Speaker 2:You did that with dark souls, with me yeah, and you ended up loving it.
Speaker 1:And then I get way too into these games. And then these guys don't.
Speaker 2:I stuck with you in dark souls.
Speaker 1:We finished well, dark souls for sure. We finished act one.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I stuck with you in divinity, but it was a mutual thing, while we stopped because it was fun.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I know and then starting act two just feel felt such like a hurdle at that point.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I was like I'll play again Never again famous last words we went, we got pretty far in elton ring co-op too. We got. Like most of the we were smacking up. Yeah, we got most of the great bosses. We beat rite card, we beat redone. We beat rinola I.
Speaker 1:I love that mod.
Speaker 2:We actually we stopped because I think that's right around time Diablo came out, diablo 4 yeah, but we're getting pretty far actually in the other in co-op.
Speaker 3:I guess there's a mod for your Baldur's Gate 3 that makes it eight player co-op.
Speaker 1:Oh, dude, there's so many mods for that like it's insane. How many? Like larian studios has a lot of cool core mods, but where are we gonna find five friends?
Speaker 2:Let's figure out, guys. Somebody please?
Speaker 3:Eight player. That's crazy Right.
Speaker 1:Especially in the game like that. I wonder if you could do split screen, like I get my wife to play or something.
Speaker 3:Hmm, she wouldn't you know. I think they might have split screen. I think they do. I think they do. Maybe I've kind of remember reading something about it. I don't, I'm not a hundred knowing their studio.
Speaker 1:They probably do. Yeah, I think divinity had it. Well, divinity had it, but it was Just the way the game function. Anyway, you just switch the character, you know yeah, you could literally switch controllers, yeah, so swap keyboards. Yeah, I Baldur's Gate 3. I'm glad that they're having some success. Yeah, and that's just their p. I mean, that's a million concurrent players, so they probably have sold 10 million copies, eight million copies, and then the console launch goes and they sell.
Speaker 2:I don't know if it's more popular, do you think so?
Speaker 3:I don't know if that type of game is yeah, I think it'll still be popular, but I don't think it'll be like it'll match steam but it's like, overnight you, you've generated, you know, a couple hundred million dollars.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so they can fuel their next passion project.
Speaker 2:I know what that feels like you do. Is that why the top buttons down on your shirt there?
Speaker 1:any final topics. Your boys no, I don't think so I've been playing ratchet and clink on PC oh yeah, what is the optimization?
Speaker 1:any better it's an okay port. I think most people are just super hyped to have a ratchet and clink officially on PC and they're not emulating the old ones. There have been a couple points where I actually had to. I've been completely bricked, but they have like features that are kind of cool. I got stuck in a loop and I tried for like five, ten minutes. I couldn't physically get out of this, this area, and I went to like reload a save and when I went to do that it said skip, puzzle yeah, it's like the only game.
Speaker 1:I've ever seen that had a skip puzzle and I was like oh, and I clicked it and I was like right where I wanted to be. I'm like this is awesome.
Speaker 2:I hate when games are like skip puzzle or or when they're like press this button for a hint and I'm like I can fucking do it okay.
Speaker 3:I do like this skip puzzle, though, especially for repeat replays of a game spider-man yeah dread Mary Jane's missions. Yeah, I'm like. I do not want to be her, I want to be spider-man.
Speaker 2:Well, that's also my. My one complaint with the spider-man game is I didn't find the minigames very fun yeah, the match like the lines, the connectivity games, where he's but they did add option to skip those.
Speaker 3:Yeah, just not the Mary, that's okay.
Speaker 2:I get more upset when, like, it presents the option to skip, when it thinks I'm struggling. Oh, that's when I'm like leave me the fuck alone, I can do this, you know or they like God of War, I think they did at launch.
Speaker 3:It was bad, but I think they turned it down. The whoever was following you would like give you a hint. Really fast on a puzzle, like before you even got a chance, like, oh, I think you need to do this what if we hit that boulder?
Speaker 2:what do you think will happen?
Speaker 1:and we're back and we're back okay, just been a lot of you know we've never had this issue before.
Speaker 3:I mean we gotta just end this ridiculous, yeah, but you can find us online in all a whole bunch of places where you can listen to podcast, or you can also go on Twitter, where Billy comments on some great stuff. Thank you, or no?
Speaker 2:what no? No, no, bye, it's just x.
Speaker 1:Now right, you're right, it is, it's x. We need to be inclusive of that platform because you know they've gone through an identity change and we have to support it how long are we out that time? Hopefully just like 15 seconds. I was watching and I looked over here and then it went out.
Speaker 2:I'm I'm angry well.
Speaker 1:I'm holding Dylan's hand, because that's what I do we wouldn't like you when you're angry all right, bye guys see you.