The Yap Files
Just two friends who always yap and decided, "Hey , we should do a podcast" , we talk about a different random topic every episode and go off on some absurd tangents and hot takes.
The Yap Files
We're gamer's, we don't have a life, we have many
Ever fallen head over heels for a game you initially didn’t care for? That’s exactly what happened to Nova with Hollow Knight! Join us in this episode as Holly and Nova exchange playful banter and dissect their gaming journeys. From Nova’s obsession with charming bug characters to her late yet passionate dive into Genshin Impact, we explore their unique gaming preferences. You’ll also hear about Nova’s bug phobia in hyper-realistic games like Grounded—quite the contrast!
Ready for some heart-pounding VR experiences? We recount our exhilarating encounters with Subnautica and FNAF VR, and the hilarity of a parent too scared to walk a virtual plank. You’ll also discover the surprisingly emotional side of VR, from a grandparent revisiting their childhood home in Google Earth VR to the vibrant, creative community within VR Chat that transcends physical boundaries. Whether it's epic virtual escape rooms or social gatherings, the flexibility of VR offers a whole new dimension of gaming.
No episode would be complete without a nostalgic trip down memory lane! We reminisce about classic consoles like the PlayStation 2 and Nintendo Wii, share fond memories of family gaming sessions with Wii Sports, and laugh about the frustrating quirks of scratched discs. We also touch on the bittersweet challenges of emulating old Pokémon games and the emotional journeys in beloved titles like Pokémon Mystery Dungeon and Final Fantasy XIV. Join us for a heartfelt reflection on how these gaming experiences have shaped us, and why they still hold a special place in our hearts.
Thank you so much for all you support . Please follow us on twitter @TheYapFiles
hello, hello, hello. It is your host with 999 coins and four extra lives, nova, here it's coming to you from my house of and a new microphone, and I'm always here with my more gracious and absolutely beautiful host, holly.
Speaker 2:Introduce yourself those are some very, very generous descriptors there. But yes, hello, it is I, holly, the one who did not think of a catchy thing to say as an intro. But yes, I am here.
Speaker 1:here that is my intro. I am here, you exist, I am present, you are. You are here in this digital digital landscape. If you'd last last episode we did say, themed intros are pretty cool. I just I just made that, honestly, made mine up on the spot, I was, I don't know yeah, I, I forgot, I forgot mine um the one.
Speaker 2:Uh, okay, no, I, I got, I got one now, even though we're past the intros the one, the one who forever be stuck at 99 I mean, that is unfortunately true, isn't?
Speaker 1:it? Looks over at hollow knight. Um, oh yeah the entire uh, I think thing that started your twist channel was being a hollow knight theme and yet you have not 100, 112 percent at hollow knight. What's the percentage for Hollow Knight?
Speaker 2:I think it is 112%. Yeah, and that is just for a regular playthrough. There's also the whole Steel Soul bit, which, yeah, that's another whole bit in itself.
Speaker 1:Oh man, I know very little about Hollow Knight, but that's one of your favorite games, right?
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, no, Hollow Knight is like it's really hard to say. Like what if you were to ask like, oh, what is your favorite game? It is very hard to say that because it really just depends on what I'm in the mood for, but I can easily say that Hollow Knight is one of my favorite games of all time. Like I mean, if I were to make, if, like the way I represent myself online and my and my visa remodel is anything to go by, yeah, I'd say I kind of like hollow knight it's a mild interest at best, right yeah, not that much, uh, I mean that's good.
Speaker 1:I think that's our topic for today. Gaming, indeed, gaming, yes, I'm kind of curious what's your history with hollow knight, like? What kind of made it into one of your favorite games?
Speaker 2:okay, okay. So I actually like joined like the hype for hollow knight very late into its like I guess you could say light lifespan, because, uh, I don't remember when it originally released, but like it being an indie game, it it obviously had a look at not obviously, but like, like most like indie games, it started off as a kickstarter and all of that and like from just the concept of this concept, like a bunch of people got hyped for it and like then, like then the game came out, it was a smashing hit. But like I saw like clips of it, I saw like a couple of videos and like thumbnails and I was like like I don't think I'd be that interested, that interested in this game and uh, it kind of went for that, went for that cycle throughout, like the the most of the light, most of the lifespan, where all its free updates came out. And sometime after the final update was released, I was like, okay, I'll check out some videos on this and I was instantly hooked.
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh. Yeah, that is unfortunately a reoccurring thing with me when it comes to any form of media. I'll hear about it, I'll go. Eh, I don't think I'll be that interested. Then I'll spend like just a tiny amount of like, actually like look, looking at it and then realize why the hell did I not look at this earlier?
Speaker 1:oh my gosh. I feel like one other thing I can think of with you is probably genshin impact, because you joined that also super light okay.
Speaker 2:Okay, genshin is a was a bit different like I. I joined. I joined it like, not like release, but like like not that long after release, but then I took a huge break from it, then played this more, took another huge break from it and now I'm officially the part where, yeah, I'm hooked you are now officially Genshin Impact player and a Star Rail and a Zenless player.
Speaker 1:Star Rail. You are a Hoyoverse. Oh boy, I almost called you something bad. But now.
Speaker 2:I'm basically just waiting to get more space, to add more space to my PC so that I can also get Honkai Impact. Oh, my gosh but yeah, back to like with Hollow Knight. It just instantly grabbed me. I love the world setting of the game. I love the entire backstory and lore behind it. Another thing with me I love when games have deep, rich lore. The gameplay seemed simple but fun. Being a 2D Metroidvania and yeah, no. And look, every character is a bug.
Speaker 1:I love bugs you adore the bugs. Oh boy, did you have? Did you ever play? Uh, what is it called grounded? I believe grounded.
Speaker 2:I played, I played it once with a friend, with a friend of mine, and, uh, I am terrified of that I thought you liked bugs, you know okay, I like bugs as a cool thing. I don't like being on their level because it's like it makes you feel. I mean, that's the entire point of the game.
Speaker 2:It's supposed to make you feel small yeah because you are small, but it's so terrifying also in a way because all the bugs feel so aggressive and like just like I like I never even got to the point to see like an actual spider in the game, but I have seen clips it looks like the scariest thing in the world yeah.
Speaker 1:So for anyone who doesn't know, uh, ground is basically just like honey I shrunk for kids, but in video game form it is. Uh, you get shrunk down and you have to survive and, like holly said, there's a bunch of very aggressive ants and other bugs that you have to deal with and it's kind of scary like, like, like, as, as an as, like just a regular sized human bugs, super, super cool, because they can barely do anything towards you as, on their level, hell no yeah, no, when they, when they're your size and or bigger.
Speaker 1:When no, then it is very, very, very scary.
Speaker 2:I would not want to touch those yeah so, yeah, I I played, I I played it once and uh, yeah, no, it was too like scary for me, but it also kind of like it wasn't really the start of me realizing that. But like, but like it just also emphasized like I'm not that big into like resource management games, like think, like probably probably the biggest like contender for that would be something like my, something like minecraft. Like I'm not that big on those games because I I dislike having like feeling limited in a way, like I have to like oh no, my, my water meter is down. I need to go back and find a place where I can get some water or something like that, because I because, if it's a game like that, I just want to explore with like any, without any limitations, unless it's something like oh, you can't go to this place unless you have this specific ability, like that's fair like that's fair.
Speaker 2:You have to unlock that later. But like having having to go, having to go exploring, and then like you go like I don't know five miles out and then you suddenly, oh no, you're running out of water, or time to scrounge and look for some water, otherwise you're dead gotta make sure it's a clean water source or else you now have pneumonia.
Speaker 1:I'm also iffy on games with meters like that, where they have a hunger meter, a first meter, a sleep meter, like I'm very much a stamina and health kind of girl. If there's more of a math and I was like, maybe magic, like you know health and magic like, like, and you're like final fantasy has you have your health and your magic bar, like that's fine, yeah, but if it gets to like oh, I now have to drink the tears of an orphan every second moon phase, then no, and I don't really want that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, and it's not like I dislike those games In terms of story and just setting. A game I love in terms of that is Subnautica. Never played it because one scary as hell and it's a resource management game, but I love seeing things about the game because it's because it's super cool you know, like subnautica is such a such a hack and cool game and another cool experience.
Speaker 1:It has like a built-in vr and it was one of the first games I actually and it was one of the first games I actually played in vr. It is scary as hell. I put it on creative mode, so no, like no oxygen or any meters. You know smart, but just experienced being in the ocean with all the big things it was. It was really cool but but also terrifying as heck.
Speaker 2:Subnautica is definitely a game I like learning about and seeing people play, rather than playing it myself.
Speaker 1:I feel like that's a lot of us these days.
Speaker 2:We like watching people play video games, but playing them ourselves sometimes is just too much effort, too much work, or it's just not our type of cup of tea game to play that's true, yeah, and I mean, like speaking of hypnotica, that definitely also, that that like sentiment definitely goes for something like horror games, because, like everybody loves seeing reaction, reactions to horror games oh, you know people, people love watching other people get scared at horror games, raging, at rage games.
Speaker 1:you know Like we love seeing the other person suffer because, who knows, I honestly don't know the human psyche, but for some reason those are always the things that people watch the most is like rage, or scared or sad.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, I mean mean that's because, like that's more entertain entertaining, I guess it's to see. It's just because, like, if you, if you just saw someone play and have like no reaction whatsoever, like wouldn't that be like the same as just watching a, a playthrough, with no commentary?
Speaker 1:oh, yeah, no, absolutely I. That's why I I have I'm kind of scared playing horror games on on stream because I don't generally react um to horror games, although, that being said, when I played fnaf vr um on stream for that 24 hour horror like vr stream I did like, oh boy did that.
Speaker 2:Actually it didn't make me scared but it made me panic and I definitely think that came over during that time yeah, I mean because v vr is such a like intriguing um thing, because like it's, it's the, it's the most so so far that we're able to like put ourselves in the game, like you're made to feel like, oh, you are in the situation right now. You're not, you're not on your computer pressing some buttons to make the character you're playing as move.
Speaker 1:No, no, you are in that situation currently yeah, no, it is the most, by far the most immersive experience you have, like playing a video game, I think of. Uh, you're, because your brain gets. You don't think so. You think it's always cartoony graphics when you're on the outside, but when you're inside vr like, your brain is programmed to believe what it sees. If it's like, if it's seeing something in 360 degrees, you can have all the suspension and doubt you want, but your brain is programmed to believe what it sees yeah, and I mean you definitely, I mean you definitely see that with a lot of people not experienced with vr who like, will react as actually real.
Speaker 2:I mean I, I feel like all of us have seen like videos of people like thinking someone's in front of them punching and then accidentally punching a wall or something like that oh yeah, no, definitely, I think the biggest, uh, how I put an example, I think in my own life I've experienced it was not my own vr experience, but my dad.
Speaker 1:He was, uh, he was playing, I was showing them the quest, but I just got it and I had richie's plank experience on it. You know the one where you're like high up in the air and you're watching, you're like walking the plank.
Speaker 1:So yeah, there's like a cake on the end yeah, there's like a cake on the end or a box of donuts or you know, it takes you up into like the 40th floor on the skyscraper of an elevator. And my dad tried it and he physically could not make his body move out onto the plank because his mind was telling him that he was going to be falling. Like if he fell from that plank he would get injured, like I have a video of him doing like walking the plank and him just like not literally being unable to force his body forward yeah, I think, I think that goes like the most.
Speaker 2:I mean that, yeah, that makes the most sense for like older generations because, like I don't know, I don't know, like this of course, doesn't apply to like every person from like that kind of that type of generation, but it's more like this is completely new technology, like they don't have any experience, experience with it, so their brains are more like what the fuck is this? Isn't this real life.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly I think, uh, us, the people at least us, who are used to having, like playing video games and that kind of separation, knowing that you know it isn't real, we're not quite as involved. But yeah, people like my dad and mom and older people, they, they generally really their brains are more susceptible to believing things are real. Oh gosh, vr is such a hacking. It's so amazing.
Speaker 1:Honestly, I uh it really is another cool use of it we you know how we played google the like geogaster in vr, right. So when my grandparents were visiting here once, uh, I I booted up google earth vr where you basically do go street view, but it's vr and what it was coolest thing ever is I could go and I could show my granddad his childhood home in vr like he could look around, he could look at his and he, he, like we would he would look around, he would point with like the controller so we could see on the screen and he would be like, oh yeah, that's where we grew up. We used to roll tires down that hill or that neighbor was like very mean and my dad uh, dad, once like had a conversation like he told us his stories about his childhood home as he was like looking around, like how it looks now, and it was, it was so cool to see him. Just he like he really lightened up, like being able to just, in a sense, be where he grew up in the street.
Speaker 2:That's, that's adorable it is, it's such because, because I mean, because I mean, yeah, that I guess that is a lot more of a different feeling than just, like I don't know, going on google street view and doing the exact same thing yeah, it's because you're, you're literally there, you're looking up and down, you're looking around, you're seeing all the places that you knew as a kid.
Speaker 1:You know, and I mean, I, I've even done that I went to, like my, the place where we go for holiday, or like it's just a different experience doing it in VR Sometimes. I think I've only fell asleep in VR like once, but like in a YouTube 360 video of like a forest, of a campfire, just like this nice forest ambience, you know, like I actually fell asleep. It was so nice, it was literally just the. I wasn't even uncomfortable because it was laying on my back, but I feel like we're so such an untapped and vast possibility for stuff to happen in vr.
Speaker 2:It is and like even even us hanging out in vr chat, like oh yeah that has been like super fun because it like just vr chat in general is just such a like endless possibility kind of like. I don't even want to classify it as a game because it's more like. It's more like the uh, I don't know like if social media was a VR platform.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's like a virtual reality experience. I guess you can't reclassify anything in it as only being a game.
Speaker 2:Because, you know, I've seen like so many different like YouTube YouTubers who do VR chat content and just like, oh, it is like it looks like such like an experience. Not an experience I would be comfortable with, cause Holy shit, so many strangers. But but like, is I really like, do you feel like there's nothing out there quite like VR? Vr chat with like just the sense of community it has, and not just with, like, the people that are there. But the things that people are able to create in vr chat, like they're, they're whole, like games made, they are, are like, like you showed me, movies made. There's just a bunch of other shit there. It's so cool it is.
Speaker 1:It is so cool like it literally feels like you could just step into any single world you want to be in wherever one moment. You want to be in a train playing uh pool while listening to sonic soundtracks and the world going by, and the next moment you're playing putt-putt with your friend from across the world or geoguessr in virtual reality or or an escape yeah, escape room like that was.
Speaker 1:I think that's one of my absolute favorite experiences I've had was doing a like an escape room with you, because in what, what universe would we be able to go? Do it an escape room by being like literally across, like several continents and tens of thousands kilometers from each other.
Speaker 2:I mean we would just have to like meet up and meet up in a city that had an escape yeah, we would have, but but yeah, but.
Speaker 2:But. But. But to me, like I agree, like that was such a incredible experience it also is like I don't. I don't want to say like, oh, like the virtual stuff is so much better than the irl stuff, but like, because it's like in, like it's, it's, it's all virtual and stuff like it may, it allows them to go like beyond, like that entire escape from sequence. There was no possible way anyone could make that in real life. So that is like an experience, like an experience you could only have in there and it was so goddamn confusing but so much fun at the same time.
Speaker 1:I feel like we did really well, but we completed van escape room like super quickly.
Speaker 1:It was two hours something but like and I, I don't know we did well we, we did, but we definitely did get stumped a few times oh yeah, no, I feel like there's some puzzles where we're like what should, what should we do? And then it's like the answer is look up at the ceiling and there you go. I'm like, oh, okay, all right, um, I guess. But on that note, like, yeah, I agree, like, because it's in vr and it's digital, there's a lot of stuff in it which you literally physically can't do, like the entire, I feel like the entire part where you had to steal the gem and the, the whole, like transcribing, uh, like Cyrillic, that part, like after you go break into a Buddhist temple, like it is, it is. I don't think like you could really do that and just normal escape rooms, like it would be insanely expensive if you know and and another.
Speaker 2:Another thing with that is like um, like with regular escape rooms, there is, of course, a time limit, because you know there has, there has to be stuff like that. But with the escape room we did, there was no time limit. Like there was no like pressure, like okay, we have to do this now quickly. Like like yeah, there's, there's, there's a time limit in like keeping like how long did it take you to beat the entire escape room? But like that's just more for like seeing, like how fast are you, how fast are you able to do it, rather than you only have this amount of time to do it oh yeah, no, and I I don't know that that entire escape room we did it was it.
Speaker 1:It was probably to think about that thing is free, right, like we didn't pay a dime to uh, actually experience that and it was the most what it literally I it tops probably any irl escape room, but we could do without like breaking our banks to go into like some very fancy ass escape room and I, I will.
Speaker 2:I will say like, like, we've been dunking on there, like but, but I'm also I'm not trying to like dunk on like irl escape rooms. Like um, me, me and izu who has been now visiting, visiting here for two weeks, surrealist helped me to online friend irl uh. Me and him actually did an escape room in like a city. We went to like I think, on thursday and like it was. It was, it was nothing like that special, it was not that big egg, but like it had some decent puzzles. It was. It was fun trying like break like figure things out together and it's like so like this is not. There's not a way to like knock on, like on like uh, irl escape rooms. They have like their own sense of like camaraderie and like like all that stuff and we saying like we us saying like like oh yeah, oh yeah, we got to do. We do all those for free. But you also have to remember you actually had to buy a, buy a vr headset to actually be able to experience that yeah.
Speaker 1:No, that's true, we, we, we didn't have to buy for the escape room, but we did have to buy the vr headset, although vr chat can be played in just desktop mode. So if you have a computer, you don't even need vr as long as you can run it, but then again you'd have to have a strong enough pc to run it. Oh gosh but, but.
Speaker 2:But, to avoid to make this entire like episode on gaming to be just about the vr. Uh, I actually have like a quite a quite a first kind of like question. Um, from what you can remember, what is the very first like video game you ever played?
Speaker 1:okay. So from what I remember is my parents loved I'm gonna put this into several categories when I was very small, like pre-school, my parents loved giving me edutainment games. So pre-kindergarten I played a game called jumpstart. Um, it was basically teaching you very basic maths, how, like, how to someone places an order for grapes and they give you cents and you like have to put in a five and a two cent to make seven cents to get for grapes in the vending machine, stuff like that, and another game called adibu, I think was it was called. Uh, those are two edutainment games I remember from my youth. And then I also played a bunch of 8-bit games. Um, I think circus island, adventure tank, uh, mario, like the bootleg mario 8-bit cartridges you would get. I played them.
Speaker 1:And then when I get my got my first console was a playstation 2. The very first video game I played and beat on that was hello kitty, roller rescue, and I was about like eight or nine back then and I mean it's kind of strange, you know, because before then I back then I didn't know I was trans. And so here you have a eight, nine year old boy, quote unquote uh, beating a hello kitty game as as her first game and, like I, I had other games I had like ratchet and clank free and I had fifa at that time. But nope, hello, kitty roller rescue. That was my very first console game I ever played and beat. How about you? Do you have any fond memories of video games you first beat?
Speaker 2:Oh God, there was a lot. My first console or consoles I guess the thing I definitely remember playing the most of like when I was young, like the first thing I can remember was my nintendo ds. Like that is like that is my childhood right there. Like my parents even got like both me and my two other two other sisters, like our own, like d, like ds lights, like it wasn't like the original super bulky ds, it was like the more like actual, like proper you could hold it good ds light and like we had.
Speaker 2:We had a good like a bunch of games for for it's it's hard to remember like all of them, but we had like we had new new super mario brothers. We had um, ray rayman. We even had like some like gameboy advance cartridges because, like with the original ds model, you could like even play game game boy advanced games on that. So we had like, pretty sure, we had like a spyro game that was game boy. We had. We had a couple of lego games that were for game boy like and like. I remember, like I remember a lot of them. I I don't remember like beating any of those games because I was a child, but but um, as for.
Speaker 2:As for like actual consoles, like the like I don't remember like which one we got first, because I feel like we already had these two by the time. Like I could remember things, but my childhood consisted mostly of the ps2 and nintendo wii and I played the absolute crap out of both of them like so freaking much. Like the. The wii was definitely more like, was treated more like as a family console, like we would all play like something on that together, and by something I mean almost all of the time wii sports. But but uh, even then that was incredibly fun, like like it was. It was fun just doing like video game activities with like my parents, because even nowadays they don't play like any video games. Like, if at any point it's like the topic of video games is brought up, the only thing my dad will say is Wii Sports Resort oh man they don't really care that much about gaming, I mean uh, but but
Speaker 2:yeah, but my sister's actually like they they're not that into it now nowadays, but like back then they were, they were also like, really like into it. I uh like my, my sister, and I uh, my, my, my younger sister I mean they're both older than me, but my younger sister I remember, I like because I was not good at like any video games around that age. So like I I would, I remember, like for most of the games I would just beat the first level or first two levels something, and I also didn't know what saving was.
Speaker 2:So like I would just beat them, try and try, like for like some time to beat like the next level, never managing to do it, then turn, turn the game, turn the game off and then next time I play just restarting that whole bit because I didn't know what saving was oh gosh yeah, because, because, because you have to remember that I am norwegian, so so english is not my first language and most of these games were in english, very few games we had had a norwegian dub in them, so like there's no way of like knowing what anything meant I mean that's fair, like I I can assume, like if you're not very familiar with like english language or the terminology of it, then, oh boy, I, I can just imagine the the problems that might arise yeah, no, but but like the p, even though like the wii was more like the family console, the p, the ps2, was definitely the sibling console because, holy shit, we played a lot of that.
Speaker 2:We loved playing uh like different crash bandicoot games. Like my old, my older sister like one of her favorites like crash bandicoot, wrath of cortex. She loves that game. Uh, I remember I remember like I I played it like a couple of times when I was younger, but like I mainly just like was fascinated watching my like younger sister play uh sly 3. Like I always would just like sit like sit there and just watch her play it, because I always thought it was like like so cool because, because it felt because at that at that age you feel like like, oh man, they know what they're doing. And like, oh, she got, she got through that so easily. And now when I play the game nowadays we're like, oh wait, no, she sucked.
Speaker 2:Oh but she was, she was actually bad yeah, because, like I remember, I remember like there was like a um, I had like this as a memory, like there was a there's a specific mission that like we were stuck on for I say we, but I was mostly just me watching her play, but like there was this one mission she was stuck on for such a long time. It was like a a play, a plane mission. We just had to shoot down all the planes. Mission. She was stuck on for such a long time. It was like a plane mission, we just had to shoot down all the planes and she was stuck on that for so goddamn long. I thought like, oh man, it seems like the hardest thing ever and nowadays, if I were to play Sly 3, I could beat that mission on my first try.
Speaker 1:That just means you're a super pro gamer. You have surpassed her.
Speaker 2:I probably have, yeah, but but yeah, no, I I honestly cannot remember what like the very first video game that I like beat, like got to the end of, because I don't know. I remember like the beginnings of so of so many video games because I played the beginnings over and over again because, well, I could actually beat, though beat those sections, but I do not, but I do not actually like remember like any like game from my childhood that I managed to get to the end of. I I do remember, remember a lot of those games like getting both played and not handled that well, the discs I mean. So a lot of them would glitch out very much like I.
Speaker 2:I can like remember so many like times I would play a game, we get to it, we get to a cut scene and the and the cut scene will just freeze up and the dialogue would just loop because I know the game does not know what to do when the cut scene freezes up. And, uh, that happened a lot. It prevented me from playing through a lot of games like I remember, like I could not like play past, I think, the second planet on the original ratchet and clank, because I would get to a cut scene. It would freeze up and then I'd be stuck there oh gosh, I mean that's such a thing.
Speaker 1:What happened with older games, like if they had a scratch on the disc or when you know?
Speaker 2:you always had that risk of them just glitching out and breaking on you yeah, uh, god, uh, I remember I still remember, like another memory I had I was playing like a crash bandicoot game on the wii on the wii and suddenly the game just freezes and crashes and the wii lets out this absolutely ear-piercing sound like and like. I don't know what that sound came from, is maybe like, is that like a ward, a warning like sound from the console. But I remember I just had like quickly run to it, just pull out the plug, because it was ear piercing.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh damn, I that was so nothing like. I feel like you. You had a game and it was scratched and didn't want to boot up anymore. So you like desperately tried to be a surgeon and just polish it or like get out the scratches. We were lucky. So some of the dvd stores in my town um, they obviously dvds got scratched up a lot and they had like a buffing wheel but it could buff out the scratches. So if we had like games that got too scratched up, we would take them to a dvd store to like buff out the scratches. We give them like a dollar for it and that would like fix our games, which was a pretty cool experience to do yeah, I, what one.
Speaker 2:One thing I also remember um, I had a, um, I don't okay, I don't know if this like family term is like common anywhere else, but like they're called god and godparents, they're basically like non-relatives but are very, but are like very close to the family, that they're basically like family. But, um, one one of my uh got one of my god uh, I guess because I guess it really can't, because the way I'm about to say this now so I make it sound like a completely different thing my godfather I don't know how to say it, I don't know if there's an English term for it, but whatever he actually like, so I don't know how common these were, but he was able to get a bunch of different DS games on a single, single cartridge and then you could just put that cartridge in your ds and then you have just a complete list of bunch of ds games you could just choose from and then play. Hey, and like that was like, so, like big to me, like I, I scrolled through that list and played just a bunch of games and ignored a bunch of other games that I did not see like find interesting at all, and I thought it was like the coolest thing ever. Still to this day, I have no idea how he managed to make that cartridge, but I'm still like I have it to this day. However, I don't think it's compatible with my DS now, because the only DS I have now is a 3DS, unfortunately, when that is another story.
Speaker 2:For one of my birthdays, I wished for a Nintendo 3DS and my parents, being as awesome as they are, actually got one and I was super stoked about that, because the ds I currently had was a nintendo d, nintendo dsi, because, um, some time ago I don't remember this one completely, but I think what we did was we sold my old, like original ds light for a dsi, because it's basically just an upgrade, upgraded, better, like version, whatever some some minor changes, but so, so then I. So then I got my 3ds and, like I absolutely loved the heck of that, I played super mario 3d land like so many goddamn times. That might actually be the first game I ever like got the actual ending of. Now that I think about it I don't know. But, um, what one day, uh, I want, I wanted to, uh, uh, play that, play that cartridge that had all those different ds games on it. So I, I put it in and, uh, nothing came up, like that, it would just not show up on the home screen and and I tried it multiple, multiple, multiple times, it never showed up. And I was like, huh, okay, maybe it, maybe it only works on like the d, the dsi. Then, because that was that was the con, hey, the ds model I had, that it actually worked on.
Speaker 2:So I was looking through my room to try and find and find it somewhere. I was like I was looking, looking, couldn't find it, like anywhere, like I am notorious for being bad at like finding stuff that I'm looking for, but even then I, but even at that time, like I looked everywhere, could not find it. So eventually I thought, like I thought to go ask my mom, like hey, do you remember where my dsi was? And then she delivered the new. Who's that?
Speaker 2:And honestly, to this day, like I I of course have no, like I have no resentment towards her because this happened so long ago, but like it still kind of pisses me a bit off she told me that, well, you got the new, you got the new ds, and so you probably, so you didn't need the old ones. So I, and so I gave it to one, to one of uh, one of the neighbors who said they wanted a ds. She had given it away without even like asking me about it. Because I do remember that when it came to getting the dsi she did tell me that that if you want to get the dsi we have to sell your old, your old ds, and like that I was okay with. But the fact that she gave it away without even like consulting me, saying like hey, hey, do you even want this anymore? Or something like that, like they'd be so angry that day oh, oh, my gosh.
Speaker 1:I can only imagine how terrible that would be. Not all games would be compatible between the ODS and 3DS, right, no Well no, just basic answers. No, they wouldn't.
Speaker 2:You'd literally just lost an entire generation of console that day, yeah no that that that that cartridge would like, with like so many different ds games on it, completely unplayable, could not use it like on on the one on the 3ds. So, yeah, no that that entire thing was just useless to me.
Speaker 2:I still have that cartridge to the to this day, but now it's mainly just for like memory sake actually what you can do is you can buy a second hand ds and then you use the cartridge again I mean yeah, but but now that I'm like, now that I'm actually like a bit older and kind of understand, like I have, I haven't like I I said I don't understand like how it was made and I still don't really know.
Speaker 2:But my but what I think is like my and my godfather probably but got a bunch of roms off the internet, placed it on a, on an s like a micro sd card, put that in the, in the cartridge and like that. That is how it's made. Don't know how he made the cartridge. That that's the thing I'm still hung up on like how the hell did he make that? But like that nowadays, unless like and this is kind of something, something you brought me on the side of when it comes to like, emulation and roms, unless, unless something is not available on current gen consoles, I won't be, you won't emulate, but if it, if it's stuck on older generation consoles, I'm more than okay with emulation oh yeah, no.
Speaker 1:So I'm also of the mind of if something is not available online and or, you know, in any store capacity physically, like if I'm, if I'm unable to legally obtain the thing I want or the game, whatever, then it is considered deadware, abandonware and it is a free game.
Speaker 2:Think like, say, super Smash Bros Melee, that is stuck on the GameCube and has never been re-released.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and there's no way of getting it except paying like an exorbitant price for like a disc of it, like you will not be able to get it any other way. So then you know I say that's free game. There's just no way of buying it legally at the price it was initially listed, because, oh boy, do people just scrape up like games like that and then they put it online for like 300, 400 dollars and that's not cool. That's not in the spirit of video game conservation and preservation like that is no yeah, that, that, that is.
Speaker 2:That is dumb. It was kind of like that that made me go like okay, I'm okay with emulation. There are still, like some games that have like it's not that I'm against against emulating them, I would just prefer to have them like physical, like, like actual, really the physical versions of them like, and that mainly comes down to like something like the poke, the pokemon games, because, I don't know, pokemon is such a special franchise to me that I just don't feel like I would get the same feeling if I played it via an emulator rather than on a physical cartridge.
Speaker 1:I mean that is fair, that is a valid point. But also I am not going to be able to get physical cartridges of so many of those hacking games, so emulation it is I mean that is also fair.
Speaker 2:But I'm but another reason I also that I cannot imagine how difficult like stuff like trading or like stuff like that must be. It must be set up via an emulator and I don't even want to deal with that sort of stuff if I were to ever emulate one of those older Pokemon games.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, I'm definitely playing an older Pokemon game like emulator all the way. I mean even with our upcoming Pokemon Soul Lock, like we're going to emulate well, we need a randomizer as well, so we'll need to emulate it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, okay, so you that that I'm okay with, like, with emulating, with like changing the game overall, like, and like us doing like a randomizer.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you couldn't do that on a regular cartridge yeah, no, there is no magic you can pull to make a randomized like regular cartridge, except I guess there's tech magic you can do, but that's not for me yeah, so I'm okay.
Speaker 2:I'm okay with that mainly also because, like, this is not, when we're done with that save file, that is not a save file I will ever like go back to, to be like like oh man, so I have to complete the Pokedex. How the fuck are you going to complete a Pokedex in a randomizer?
Speaker 1:So, like.
Speaker 2:I'm okay with like doing emulation for that, because that is mainly just for like entertainment, it's not for like. Okay, I'm going to complete the Pokedex in this like playthrough, which I will only do that if I ever get a physical version of like those games.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, I Jeez. I can't even remember what. I don't think I've ever completed, fully completed the Pokedex in any game. So that is, I guess, on me. I have tried. I tried with Scarlet and Violet. I got close but not completed.
Speaker 2:See, the thing is also with those is it's kind of easier to do nowadays with how the Switch games are set up, but for most of them you need both. Like how the switch games are set up, but for most of them you need both. You need both like both versions of the game and for like dds and ds and backwards, you needed two different cons, two of the same like console. You needed two ds's or two game boy advances or two game in boy colors, stuff like that. Unless you had a friend, you, you could be able to, you would be able to do this with which I certainly don't yeah, no, uh, definitely didn't grow up and love people that you know I would be able to.
Speaker 1:I didn't even grow up with nintendo consoles. My first nintendo console was a wii and then the switch. That is literally all I have ever owned.
Speaker 2:That was Nintendo, but now that we're on the topic of Pokemon, I could actually mention how much, like I already said, how much Pokemon fucking means to me. My earliest memory when it comes to Pokemon is well in terms of games, because I'm pretty sure before this memory I had seen like the, the anime, like on tv, like a couple of times, but the actual time I got my very first pokemon game was incredibly like special to me even to this day. So my family and I were were on vacation in um puerto puerto rico the european puerto rico, not the american one and we we decided to go to a mall close to the hotel we were staying at and they had, they had a little like a little game shop there, and so I was looking around and then I saw I saw a ds game, because I of course, have about my ds, I was a child, I needed entertainment, and I saw a pokemon pearl there and I and I thought because I was, I also had a friend that also had had like a pokemon game I thought, oh man, that looks so cool and I wanted to play and I wanted to play that so and so I asked for that game and I and I got, and I got the game and like immediately as I got home home, I immediately got home to the hotel, I immediately started playing it and like, even if I can't really like remember how it felt, it was still like such a like just wonderful experience. Like, even then, like again, like most of the games, I did not know how saving worked and it was all in english, I didn't understand it. So the most I managed to do in that in that pokemon game was beat the first gym and that was it.
Speaker 2:Because I remember I, I actually remember exactly where I got stuck. Like I knew where I had to go. Next, there was like a cave to the north I had to go through, but I did not know that rock smash could actually break rocks in the overworld. Like I, I thought, I thought that that was just another, another move.
Speaker 2:So, oh, I never knew I had to use rock smash to break rocks to get through, as I was just, I was just stuck in the area, areas I was in, and uh, even that, even then, to me, that to me, I had a lot, I had a lot of fun with that because, as I would also just say that, as children, like things are just generally more, more entertaining, if, even if it's not that much- yeah, but as a kid, like even the smallest thing like you will find entertainment out of, even if it's like only the first area in the pokemon game yeah, but but you know, I I played, I played that like exact same section over and over and over and over again and I never like got tired of it as a kid, like, like, and then later on I would go on to get pokemon platinum.
Speaker 2:And I actually didn't remember like I actually like got help from like a family friend of mine, like like, how do I get, how do I get past this?
Speaker 2:And he actually showed me and I actually managed to get through more, get through more of the game. Um, actually, I actually also remember, um, I did actually get to see the full game because I, I played, I played it with like another, another friend of mine it was actually the same family friend and he showed me like all the cool pokemon he had and like where he was and and, and I don't know why I did this, I guess I was just an impatient child. I asked him, like, like I, I could you get, could you get me to that place and have all those cool Pokemon at level 100? And so, yeah, I loaned him my game and then I would say, look, about a week later he had got me to the end of the game. And yeah, no, a couple of Pokemon were at level 100. Looking back on it, I think he might have had an action replay, but honestly I don't care yeah, no I.
Speaker 1:I don't think he would be able. Either he was one of the first like super speed runners of that game, or yeah, but, but, yeah, but even.
Speaker 2:but. Even then, like I didn't really care about that, I had a level 100 crowbat what else would I care about? So I just had fun exploring through the other areas that I was never able to get to because I was a dumb kid who didn't know English. I do remember, though, I had that save file for such a long time, but I never managed to get to the post-game areas because something with Plat never managed to get to the post game areas, because something with something with platinum to get to the post game areas, you need to have seen every pokemon in the like regional decks and I learned.
Speaker 2:I, yeah, I learned that, like you don't have to catch them, you only have, like, see them. And so I try, I tried to do that and I remember exactly like, I remember this completely exactly there are 210 Pokemon and you get most of them just via the story, by just fighting trainers and fighting required battles. But there was, and then I looked around the entire region. I looked online like where is this Pokemon? Which number is this Pokemon? And stuff like that. But there was one Pokemon that I was never able to find and that is hippopotas. Like I, I remember looking online, okay, where is this pokemon? Because I only needed to see it. I didn't even need to catch it, just to see it. And I saw it was on a specific route. I was like, okay, so I'll just run up, run up and down this route to eventually to find it.
Speaker 2:I went through so many random encounters, never found it. I I thought, okay, wait, okay, wait, there's a cave, there's a cave on this road, maybe this cave has random encounters. I, it did. I only found geo dudes. Oh no, so, like, so, like I went for like so many years I had that exact same file of platinum, but I never managed to get to the postgame because I was just missing the dex entry for Hippopotas. And it eventually came to a point where I think at that stage I got into where I understood English more. So I deleted that save file and started one from the very beginning, and I'm pretty sure I even have that save file on my Platinum to this day. I still have that Platinum. But I then realized I don't think it was on that playthrough but it was sometime after that playthrough that Hippopotas is on that route, but only if you do some side quest stuff to unlock it on that roof. And I got so, so mad at that.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh gosh, I can jeez, even like just having to see them all. That is such a ridiculous requirement for, like entering a post game like that is that feels like insane, because at that point, when you've almost basically almost caught them all as well, because you see them, you catch them, so, exactly, so you know, it's almost like requiring, like you to actually complete your decks to uh, to hack and get to the post game area.
Speaker 2:That's nuts to me yeah, but but uh, eventually I did do it and uh, yeah, like, like I mentioned, I still have that same save game on my platinum, unfortunately for my pearl. Um, at some point I have no idea when I lost that pearl, that pearl game. I do not know where it ended up, I do not know where I lost it and it was never found.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh, oh no, I I also have a video game that I lost and I never found. So, um, when we were moving, so we moved between, like uh, apartments in the hostel where we lived because my dad's a teacher we lived on the school premises and like an apartment there and for some reason we we lost our need for speed underground to disc and to this day we have never found that disc. Like it was not in the house when we had packed stuff up, it was not in the stop when we had moved. It has just gone somewhere in the wind. Like I had need for speed underground 2 played for ever. Loving heck out of it it. It got lost. I don't know where it is. Yeah, it is. It is actually sad, but I actually have a question, since you know, do you? What is it in a video game with? Like catches, what? What do you care most about in a video game?
Speaker 2:that is very difficult to say. Like my first, like my two things I would say first is like gameplay and the world itself. Like, if the like, if the world seems interesting to me, then it will. It will be enough to like hook me. It's like okay, I definitely want to see more. And if the gameplay is fun, then of course, like, if it feels fun to play, of course I'm going to play even more of it. Like, I am not the kind of person to be like like oh, this game's graphics aren't that, aren't that good. Well, the game is shit then. And like is it? That's never been me story. Story is a big thing thing for me as well, but I don't hold it as high of a regard as like gameplay and like the world itself. But I do generally also like, like games that have an actually good story to it.
Speaker 1:That's fair. Uh, I think for me, uh, story is like the thing I care about most, and then it's gameplay and then soundtrack and audio design and soundtrack. Then it's probably like the graphics, like if I had to tear them because I I am hooked. If it's a game has like a really good story, with characters that are lovable and memorable, then I am very, I'm a very happy person.
Speaker 2:Uh, night in the woods and jenny laclue being two big examples of that yeah, I mean that for for me, for me, that that example, that example of like, oh, the good story, a good story, and like, for me also, a good war, oh, like. That is how I also got into um the z, the xenoblade franchise, because I remember watching, uh, like one of my favorite youtubers at the time still like one of my favorites to this day. I remember watching his playthrough on like the original xenoblade chronicles for the wii and like I just got so invested in the store in a story like I would actually like, because because I mean, yeah, it was a let's, he was a let's player, so of course there's a lot of commentary in between, but like he was more an actual like, more inform, informative, let's play. Because he had so much knowledge about the game. So I was always just so intrigued whenever I heard, heard about it and whenever a new cut scene would start.
Speaker 2:I would like always be like intriguing what happens now and like the actual twists that happen, like throughout the game, like, actually, like re, it really got, really got me, and I was so shocked by so many of them like this and like, oh, I love the story of, like I want to say every xenoblade game, but I haven't seen slash played every xenoblade games. I cannot say for that, but the writing for them is generally incredible writing is good.
Speaker 1:I definitely I've uh, I, I I feel like in games. For me as well, the world is really really important. If it has like good atmosphere then and I'm just able to exist in that atmosphere. I absolutely adore just being there, Something like Final Fantasy XIV, like I literally just exist in the world and in that atmosphere and being just there. It is something that has kept me hooked and made me truly actually love. Like 14 is one of the examples of that.
Speaker 2:Like actually, that brings up then another another question what is your favorite story in any video game? Like what? What is it? What is a video game story that stuck with you like ever since you played through it for the first time?
Speaker 1:oh gosh, that is. That is a difficult one, uh, all right. So right now, honestly, in my mind I feel like going. I feel like it's probably 14 story, because 14 had from release up until like patch 6.5. So everything up until the last expansion has been one big saga of story, like one continuous thread in a saga of these two deity beings, hydaelyn and Zodiark, and them duking it out, and they're like people, we're warriors of light for Hydaelyn, and then the Ashen or Zodiark's envoy, and just everything that happens is basically upon it and it just comes to this big climactic conclusion in the end. Uh, in that whole saga and I feel like having experienced all of this was literally like the avengers end game of of video games, like I'm not even joking, it literally has an end game, assemble kind of moment and it is the most memorable. It has made me cry, it has made me laugh, it has made me frustrated and angry, but it is something that has stuck with me and is in my heart forever. Other than that, uh, 14 is just in my mind because I'm playing a shit ton of it.
Speaker 1:I think night in the woods uh, night in the woods is the story that that always is with me and I I think about often. Uh, to give a brief summary, I guess what the story is for night in the woods. It's, uh, you play as this character called May, may Borowski, and you're 20, some, I think you're 20 years old, and you come home and you, you've dropped out of college and you're in a small town and you're trying to kind of find who you are. You know your life, may deal, may has a disassociative disorder where she she disassociates and people only become shapes and that's kind of what forced her to drop out of college. But you start hanging out with your friends and they've grown up and they're working and so slowly, like you're learning about life and you're dealing with a murder, death, cult at the end. But it is a big message.
Speaker 1:Um, in that is where may, at the end, may goes on a speech and she says because there's this whole thing about the whole cycle being pointless and mike goes on and she has a speech about how she really wants to experience life. She wants to ride and hold on until she gets thrown off. She wants life to hurt and she wants to feel sad and be able to cry and she wants to experience every little bit life has to offer and I feel like that story like going through all of that, has really just gripped me and it has stayed with me for such a long time. How about you? Do you have like anything that's like super like stayed with you?
Speaker 2:oh, I definitely have. Uh, there there is a sub-series of the pokemon franchise that I hold incredibly near and dear to my heart. Like, don't get me wrong, I love the, I love the stories in pokemon games, but none of them, okay. Okay, there are some of them that have really like, gripped me, like, oh, that's incredible story, these are incredible characters. But none of them that have really like, gripped me, like, oh, that's an incredible story, these are incredible characters, but none of them, will I say, ever get close to the stories of the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon franchise. And I remember, incredibly, when I got my very first Mystery Dungeon game it was Mystery Dungeon Explorers of Darkness, which was the second in the franchise, when they were still doing similar to how they did the main franchise, having different versions with different Pokemon in them, but still the same story. But I remember playing through who that game and it just gripped me like immediately because the whole premise of the mystery dungeon games is that you are a pokemon or more better, more like better, yet you are a human that has turned into a pokemon through whatever means it is for the story of that current game.
Speaker 2:There are, I think, a total of four games in the franchise. I have played almost all of them besides the first one. No, okay, no, I did, I did be, I did actually play the remake of the first one. So technically I've played all four of them. But but the, the, the first one, is like again, it's so, it's so like intricate, it's so like it makes it makes you feel the camaraderie between you, the player character, and the part and the partner you here you have, which is another pokemon. You just select the, because the entire setting of setting of the game is in a, is in a guild for other, for other adventurers or explorers, and the guild has its own like workers that like basically become the characters, like new family. They help each other without with their respective jobs and stuff, and it's such a like it starts off as just a very like charming game, like oh, you're pokemon, going on and going on exploring, exploring the world, and like at some point the game takes like a sudden, like super dark turn and and like so much is real. Okay, I'm, I'm gonna like probably I'm not gonna go for the entire story because it's a long game, but like just to cover like some plot, plot points which spoilers if you have not played this, played this game, but you should. It's an absolutely amazing game but the basic.
Speaker 2:But basically it's revealed. It's revealed that, um, a, a thief from the future, is is basically stealing important items, that is, keeping time in balance in the present. And a another pokemon from the future, a dusk noir, or it comes to come stop him saying, saying that I've come to stop this criminal, which is a Grovyle. And throughout a majority of the game, dusknoir is presented to be such an ally to the partner and the player, helping them out, saving them on multiple occasions and also being just a kind-hearted person, pokemon. And then when, like grovyle is finally captured, it's then, it's then like revealed, like no, he was, he was, he was a traitor all along, he was, he was actually here to get, get him to stop him from from the future. Because I mean, what if from that from, yeah, he was here to stop grovyle from stopping in the future. I I am not gonna explain, he was there to stop grovyle from stopping the future becoming a mess.
Speaker 2:And then, and and then he goes even further, to kidnap, kidnap you and the player and take, taking him into the future. And I will never in my life forget the reaction I had to when you see, like the future for the first time, and it is just complete bleakness, like the entire, the entire world looks like it has. Like if you put a black and white filter over it and they show off scenes that like time has completely stopped moving, water is not flowing, there's no air, air flowing, current current, rock falls have just stopped completely and it just both, both like the setting of it and the music to play along with it is chilling. And it also it's not just like even with the, with the dark setting, but due due to like having kidnapped both you and the player and grovyle. Grovyle then and becomes basically your new ally. But because you have spent, like most of the game, aim like chasing and trying to and trying to stop grovyle.
Speaker 2:Like it even shows that the partner like has a hard time trusting him because, well, the partner and and yourself have been trusting dusk noir for so long. Like it's hard to then just to accept that, no, he's the bad guy. Grovyle was actually trying to help and like it's such like it's. It's also written well, because it's not just like written as like oh, the partner is being stuck, being stubborn, no, it generally shows that they're just struggling with like comprehending and like understand understanding that no dust, nor was all, was a bad guy all along. He was never there to help you oh my gosh and yeah, like.
Speaker 2:So skip, skip, skipping ahead a bit, because that is like the biggest part at the at the end, and like again, super massive, massive spoilers here, because now I'm talking about the end end stuff here, but at but at the end you basically make it to the place where, where you're supposed to putting the special items to make sure time flows correctly again, but then, oh no, dustin War appears once again to try to stop you. You have a big fight against him and a bunch of Sableye, which, by the way, I was stuck on that fight for months. Because here's just a general like how how mystery dungeon works as a game. You go, you go through dungeons, but they were all completely random, randomly generated. You you might have an easy dungeon where you find the state, find the stairs to the next floor, like two steps and two steps behind you, or you might find it in a room full of super difficult enemies and at the end of it you have to fight dust, nor and sableye as bosses and if you die to die to them. You have to go all the way to beginning, to the beginning of the dungeon and go through the entirety of it again just to get another shot at dust, nor the sableye.
Speaker 2:It is not a forgiving game, but but I, after months and months of trying, I finally managed like, actually to like, actually be beat them. And the scene, the scene following, once again, just tries to like, both show off dust, snores, like manipulative nature, because he's trying to like oh, there's nothing, there's nothing you can do, and even then says like, oh, but if you do, but if you do change the future, then everyone from the future well, from the current future will disappear, including grovyle and the player character who was revealed to be grovyle's old partner, who was also from the future. So it's like, so it's this feeling of of, of, oh, yes, you save the present, but but the cost that you will disappear with it oh no and yeah, no, and, and like dust, dust, nor tries to prevent it, because he, of course, also does not want to disappear.
Speaker 2:So gorval sacrifices himself by take, by sending both him and dust nor back to the future, leaving the play, the player and and their partner to fit to finish the job. And then, finally, after, finally, at the end, after yet another super difficult fight against dialga, is it? It, is it, it is done. Everything seems happy-go-lucky. Only it isn't, because it finally, at the end hand, it is revealed yes, the us, us, us, a character, the, the pokemon from the future start to disappear. And is such an incredibly emotional moment between the pokemon from the future start to disappear, and it's such an incredibly emotional moment between the player and the partner. And, I'll be honest, it is is the first time I ever teared up at a video game and, when it's still to this day, one of the very few times, because I really I am not one that easily cries, but the ending is super fucking sad.
Speaker 2:Of course, of course, after, of course, after everything like is said is said and done, after the credits are, credits are done, rolling, it is, it is, then show it is, then show that it's shown, that the player actually is, actually is not dead and somehow is somehow returned. It is explained more in depth in the post game and like special episodes, but like I don I even so, I don't think that takes away from like the situation at all. Like even like, oh, they're gone, nope, they're back. Even then, it doesn't, it doesn't take away from it. It is such a good story. And that is just the first one I played. All of the other mystery dungeon games have such amazing stories, amazing characters and just even just the world building itself is amazing. Like god, if you, if anyone listening here is a, is a big pokemon fan, fucking play the mystery dungeon games. They are, all of them are fantastic that's something you don't really hear.
Speaker 1:A lot of people talk about the mystery dungeon games like the main series and main franchise is basically what people know of, and I, like, didn't even know anything about the mystery dungeon games before, like now but you know they are.
Speaker 2:They. I would say it is pokemon's writing at its peak. Like I, I generally like mean that, at least for the best, for the best, like Mystery Dungeon games, the mainline series does not come close, even the best stories like I would say Scarlet and Violet or Pokemon Black and White, even then I would say Mystery Dungeon's story has them both completely beat.
Speaker 1:Oh man, that is very cool. I mean, I'll definitely probably check them out.
Speaker 2:When I find I will, I will say once again, like I said, they are very unforgiving, they are difficult games, especially the the older ones, but there are ways to cheese them yeah, I mean every older game probably has ways to cheese them.
Speaker 1:It's just the way old games you know were designed.
Speaker 2:Yeah, oh, but uh, but yeah, that that has stuck with me like ever since. Like, like, even with like, newer games, like, like, even with like, because you know, like at that time pokemon would like, oh, two versions and then a definitive version, like how platinum was for diamond and pearl like they even, they even made that for like the mystery dungeon, like because there was originally mystery dungeon explorers of darkness and then a definitive version, like how Platinum was for Diamond and Pearl.
Speaker 2:They even made that for the Mystery Dungeon, because there was originally Mystery Dungeon, Explorers of Darkness and then Explorers of Time, and then they made a definitive version, Explorers of Sky. It is basically the same game, just with more post-game content, because the main story doesn't change at all. But yeah, it is easily one of the best Pokemon games of all time, in my opinion.
Speaker 1:So yeah, you heard it here.
Speaker 2:If you like Pokemon go play Mystery Dungeon games. They're great. I'm pretty sure that is also a huge factor for why Pokemon is such an important franchise to me Ever since I first got those first games on the DS. Huge factor for, like, why pokemon is such an important franchise to me, like like ever since, like when I first got those. Like got those first games on the ds. Like I've been a fan ever since like, and when I finally got to the age where, like I had actual money of my own and like stuff like that I have.
Speaker 2:I have like collected every game that has been released since that. Like I have I have all of the 3ds games and, so far, all of the switch, all of the switch games I still have have games I need to go back to get which is going to be difficult with like how old and like probably rare they are. But that is a mission of that is a mission of mine. I will eventually get all the at least mainline series if I, if I get to it probably also like spin offs and stuff like that. But main series is, like, my main goal for now.
Speaker 1:Uh geez, you have so many like goals and video games you're doing right now I have video game goals and very little life goals oh man, ain't that? Ain't that even a life goal in itself? Honestly, there's so much I want to talk. I still really want to go into a retrospective on my final fantasy experience, but I feel like we'll probably have to save that for our next episode.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah, but uh, uh, yeah, I'm just trying to think of like something else, something else to ask, to ask about. Oh wait, yo I. I remember I was asking has there ever been like a game where, like you loved it as a kid but then you went back to it as adults, like, isn't that, isn't actually that fun?
Speaker 1:oh, uh, geez, that's. That is a difficult question. Uh, I think, thinking back to games I really liked as a kid and then coming back to them like, uh, you know, kind of iffy, it's a very weird uh game to to mention, but it's the first chicken little game as as a kid I I never owned it myself. As a kid I played it at a friend's house and, um, so we used to. We never really got far in it because we always start over whenever I went there and I just remember it was one of my first experiences with a platformer and just the general like I, I it was chicken little head just released and it was just a generally fun game.
Speaker 1:I really liked it and then I bought it on a sale on steam, like a year last year and I played it. It's on steam, yeah, it's on steam. I haven't, you can literally play from my library but uh, I I bought him the sale and, uh, I played it again and I was like oh, oh, this is this kind of this kind of sucks, this isn't, isn't as good. As I remember the thing which you know, it's a shame. I I feel like even games like elder scrolls, oblivion starts showing its age now. I played the ever-loving heck out of oblivion on my xbox 360 and going back to it now, oh boy, does it show its age do you have any game?
Speaker 1:that, like you just can't play anymore. Like you, you really want to, really want to relive those memories, but we're just not gonna happen that's uh, that's actually a bit of a bit of a toughie.
Speaker 2:Uh, let me think a bit. Uh, actually, actually I have one that's in like a similar vein to like yours, about like chicken little. Uh, I I of course also had like a bunch of like movie tie-in games as a kid. Like I feel like a lot of like kids like had had that. When was that around that age? I had I had like like cars, ratatouille, and the one, the one I'm gonna talk about here, uh, um, spider man, the, the original, or like sam sam raimi spider-man, like the very first one. Um, I I played that.
Speaker 2:I I don't have that many memories of it because, because I played when I was very young, but I remember I do remember playing it and like having fun with having fun with it, like I like I just I just remember I had like good memories of it. And then one day, like I would say a few years ago, I felt nostalgic about it. I was like you know, I'm going to try playing that game again and I put it in my PS2 and I started playing it. It was like how the fuck did I beat a single level in this game? It is so the controls for it are so god-awful. It is such a difficult game just to get around in is, yeah, I didn't have.
Speaker 2:I didn't have any fun at all while revisiting that game, um, and and another another one like in a similar vein, also like with the move home movie time games, um, I, I also had a finding nemo for ps2, and um, again, I actually, I actually remember having a lot of fun with that as a kid, like I, and like I got through so many, so many levels, but then I never remember finish finishing the game. And, like I was, I always thought like why was that? Why, if I had fun with it, why didn't I ever finish it? So I played, I played it again and then I got through like most of the levels. I'm like, okay, this is fine, nothing too special about it, but like I was having a decent amount of fun.
Speaker 2:And then, uh, I got to it. I got to a level and I found out, oh, this is why I got stuck is a sliding. It has a sliding block puzzle. Oh, I fuck, I fucking suck at sliding block puzzles. Like it, it is, it is the, it is those where, like, you have like not nine panels, but you can only like move one or two to like, because there's only one open spot where you can like move one of these like panels or whatever ever, and uh, yeah, no, I suck at those and even to this day, never gotten past that level oh damn okay.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, there's just some games for another movie timing game, but I I really liked and I played it when we went to like. So bunch of restaurants, well, but I say a bunch like. Two restaurants in my town used to have like playstation twos, just like in the like playing like area oh, say same same we.
Speaker 2:We went to a restaurant and they had mario kart double dash. It was really oh my gosh.
Speaker 1:But yeah, one of the games I actually played a lot of on playstation 2 at the restaurant was for b movie and oh boy, and you know how much I love for b movie, so I actually played like it. I actually bought a playstation 2 disc of the b movie last year and played it again.
Speaker 1:Unfortunately, it is a little bit scratched up so I do have to buff it out. That lags a little bit, but oh boy, it's not not quite what I remembered it being, but you know it's still decent. Uh, you could. I'll probably stream it one day, you know know?
Speaker 2:Oh, that'd be great.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, no, you can look forward to that B-movie stream. It's going to happen, I promise you. I already read the entire script on stream Might as well. Stream the game.
Speaker 2:Right, I forgot to do that, but I think the case for that whole like oh, we remember them being so much better as kids. It goes back to how I said said how I said like near the beginning of like oh, I could play with the same like starting level over and over again, never get bored. Games just seem like so much larger to us as kids. Like they seem like more magical, like oh my, oh, my god, I'm playing as fucking, I don't know this.
Speaker 2:This, this character, this character and it's so, it's so much fun. Like it's not, it's not. Like it's the same way as like playing, playing with a toy. Like when you're at that age, like it's at that age, a game console is just another toy to you. But then when you get older and like you're actually like playing a console for like the fun of like playing a video game, yeah, you kind of start having another, another perspective to it yeah, you started having way more expectations of what you're playing and I had that kind of you lose that little childish spark in yourself where you just have fun, no matter what you know.
Speaker 1:But I I've taken it on to myself to really just exist whenever I play a video world, to truly immerse myself in whatever I'm playing, and that's why, once again, final Fantasy, it has been such an amazing experience. There's a part of the new expansion that's this lush, beautiful forest. There's a part of a new expansion. It's this lush, beautiful forest and it has this soft piano, acoustic music, when it's like in nighttime and just existing in that space and that time like it brought back, like the feeling of being a like nine year, nine years old, like it's midnight playing need for speed, underground 2 in game, it's raining and riders of the storm is playing on the radio, like it was, it is. That is also a very universal, like loved experience for some people. Like people, just for some reason I still even saw a post about it like picture this, like, yeah, you're 14 years old playing this game, but yeah, it just gave me that little bit of childish spark, childish joy. Uh, just experiencing something and loving it fully uh, and another bit of a like.
Speaker 2:This is a bit more for like an estranged question, question like like at any point in your life have you ever, like seen a video game thing like okay, that is real really weird. But then it turns out to be like really good uh really weird, but really good video game like you never. You never expected this game to be like oh, this is actually really good oh shit, that brings me.
Speaker 1:I actually do, um, there are. This also ties back to a video game story that sticks with me. Um, mercy and I, we were hanging out. Uh, it was about 1 am.
Speaker 1:This was last year and I had seen this funny game on game grumps. They played a game called say no more and you literally have one thing, one action you can do. You're it's like an on rails thing and your only action is you're able to say no. And so you're an intern, you're coming into this corporation.
Speaker 1:People come like giving you a bunch of requests and you say no and then they like get blown back and the story in that took such a deep emotional turn. Like yeah, you could only say no, but it was. It was sometimes you would say nothing like and then people would you like you'd get pink prompts and you'd say nothing for them and that would make some people like change their lives or be happy. Um, but the overall messaging of this game in the end was like you don't always need to be a yes personally, you you can allow yourself to say no. You know you it is. It is the weirdest concept of the game, but I went to bed that morning and I just it stuck with me. It stuck with me like till now. I still remember it and it's something I really want to share with people as well. Like it is a very strange game, but it's so nice.
Speaker 2:It sounds really interesting.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, no it is. It is so cool I'll probably also stream it. It's a funny concept. You're just walking around and you're saying no, but in the end it is a very impactful game. It is very strange, but, yeah, I that is. That's definitely for me a game. That was very weird.
Speaker 2:I played it for the haha funnies, but then it turned into like, oh shit, this is actually like really deep yeah, uh, my, my example is not like about how deep it is, because in terms of like story, like this game is not that deep in terms of story, but, um, like what? Imagine, imagine yourself, what is the weirdest game. You could have some like uh, mario in, like what would you think is the weirdest thing mario could do?
Speaker 1:gosh, I don't know cooking well, hmm, what?
Speaker 2:what about if you, if you put mario in an x x-com style game and they any part partnered up with oh, I don't know the rabbits?
Speaker 2:oh, mario, and I remember that yeah, no, I, I, I remember seeing the trailer or like just reveal, for that head game like so long ago and thinking it's like the weirdest crossover. Like like of all things, why the rabbits, why not rayman? Why just just directly rayman? Like a mario and rayman game sounds like it could be really good. And so, like, obviously, like, like a lot of people, like expectations weren't exactly that high. And then it was an x-com style game, which, if anyone doesn't know, x-com is like a tech, like it's tactical or like a battle game where you have to, you have to move your character and make sure they're behind cover not to get shot, think, think if fire emblem had guns. But but then the game came out and holy shit, it's actually really fun.
Speaker 2:Like I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna claim I'm that good at the game, because it is. It is a game that does require a bit of brain power and I am generally not that good at those kinds of games, but it's still, it's still real, it really fun. Like the anime, the animation for the game is absolutely beautiful, the set things is great and while the while the idea of like oh, the rap the rabbits make it will make you kind of sound like oh, it's probably going to be a very annoying game. No, the writing is is generally either very charming or actually really funny. And yeah, no, you know, I was pleasantly surprised and then I was even more fucking surprised that they made a sequel. That's. That seems to be even better. Like I have I haven't played it yet, but like it. The sequel looks amazing.
Speaker 2:Like a rich of the original designs they have for the rabbits. Like, because most of like the rabbits in like the first game were just like oh, we have the rabbits, but now that. But now they have costumes on them. But but like for the sequel, like they actually made original designs body, body shapes and proportions for like the rabbits and genuinely like it looks cool. Like I'm someone that has never really had had an interest or really even an opinion on the rabbits, like and like I don't know.
Speaker 2:A lot of people compare them to like, say, the minions of despicable me, but in that same way I just didn't really like care about, care about them. I generally like enjoy, enjoy, like the humor and the humor of the rabbits, because I I recently watched someone do like a full playthrough of like the game and it's they're currently right now doing a playthrough on like the sequel, and again, the sequel looks absolutely like beautiful. The animation is like stretchy and fun and cartoonish looking. The duck and the slap the slapstick is funny. They have, they, they. They literally have a scene where where two rabbits are two rabbits with, again, incredible original designs and are implied to be lesbians.
Speaker 2:I am not even fucking joking about that, oh my gosh, the tension, the tension in that cut scene between those two Rabbids. It is God. I have to just show you what that cutscene is later when we're done with this. But yeah, no, I was pleasantly surprised and I definitely want to actually play through the entirety of the first game and the sequel when I get finished with it. Because, yeah, no, a collab you think would be the weirdest and dumbest thing in the world turns out to be a really like fun and innovative game.
Speaker 1:Oh, man that I mean that is so cool. I've never really looked into a mario and rabbits games like I. I didn't know rayman. I never played for rayman games so it was like not for me, but how you describe it, it sounds really, really cool yeah, no, yeah, no.
Speaker 2:I I also hope by playing it I will get more brain power from playing tactical rpgs, because I I even something like fucking just the, just something like star rail. Like you say oh the, oh the combat and star rail is super simple.
Speaker 1:I see those numbers and I think that is way too much text you know, just just have team space aids and then you're fine, like I, my, literally my star l team is just a bunch of gal pals spending for spreading space aids across the across the universe, like that is. That is my. In context, I have a dot team and it's like it's uh, it's just all the girls team. So it's my, my, my team of gal pals spreading space aids oh my gosh, what time are we at now?
Speaker 1:hour and a half. I feel like this is a pretty good stopping point, for now at least yeah, I'd say it is we can always continue gaming on our next episodes.
Speaker 1:What we're going to do is we we're gonna do a little bit of a pause on new topics and then revisit part twos of all topics for anyone who wanted to. You know, every time we do an episode like, yeah, we'll do that, a part two books, music and uh well, games now do you, do you actually do you actually want to like, hold a, hold a poll to see like what?
Speaker 2:what do you want to see? A part two of first yeah, we can. We have two weeks, so yeah, we can yeah, because because I feel like just having the repetition of like okay, we started with books, now we're gonna have books part and part two, but instead of like giving them like more of the option of like what do you want to see books, music, or what was the third option because I I don't think we should, I don't think we should do like gaming part two, like immediately afterwards, like so yeah books, music scary stories
Speaker 1:right, that one yeah yeah, so yeah, we'll run a poll on our twitter van. Uh, I have never done, I don't remember how to do twitter polls, so I can.
Speaker 2:I can do that. I can do that, I any. I anyways need to do be better at just making twitter posts myself. So I can do that, all right yeah, holly, you can do that.
Speaker 1:But go check on that note. Go check us out on twitter at the app files. Um, that is where our podcast makes our announcements and also I post slander to holly, so you know, calling her sussy baka, uh. But yeah, I mean, that is just where we get. We are random and I mean you can check us out on our own normal twitters, our own twitter pages.
Speaker 1:Uh, you can find me at nova's comfy corner and you can find me at holly hollow entity and twitch pages, which will hopefully be more active soon, I hope this week yeah, hopefully in the coming week they will no longer.
Speaker 2:The latest video will be from three weeks ago yeah, no, I mean mine.
Speaker 1:I think I only the last time I streamed, like last year's september. So, oh boy, maybe, maybe I should big comeback it's a big comeback. I think it's actually almost my like three year streaming anniversary, so good time to come back. Actually, yeah, because I think my first stream was august 20th, so it's like all right, two days from now.
Speaker 2:All right, so, and any, any of you that likes listening to this, yet to this yak, or talk and talk, on and on, on, be sure to be sure to be on the lookout for her streaming again yeah you definitely don't want to miss that first stream back.
Speaker 1:We'll be playing nine of the woods, because now I just really want to experience that story again. So, yeah, first game back will be that, and I think that's about that for our episode. Thank you for coming to listen to us again yapping about video games. We'll check you in two weeks again, I think probably. We almost had a catastrophic non-recording week this week, so oh yeah, no, we definitely need to start actually making a back.
Speaker 2:look, we almost had a catastrophic non-recording week this week. Oh yeah, we definitely need to start actually making a backlog.
Speaker 1:Yes, this week, along with streaming, it's backlog week. We're definitely doing backlogs, indeed, because we say that every week, but we have not yet made a backlog.
Speaker 2:This is recorded the day prior to release this is recorded day prior to release every single, every single episode.
Speaker 1:So far has been, has been recorded the day before it gets released the day before or on the saturday.
Speaker 2:We had we had a good saturday recording last time did, oh we, oh yeah, we did actually yeah, for one, for once, for once, and now we're a whole day, a whole day, a whole.
Speaker 1:But no, yeah, this is a day before release. But yeah, we'll see you all in two weeks. Hopefully we'll have a backlog by then. Thank you all for listening. See you in two weeks. Bye, Bye-bye everyone.
