Game Informer 101 - Final Fantasy X [S2E4]

WEBVTT
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Ah ah.
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Of you.
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Okay man, what what's so funny? You've got fun Factor
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Two old gamers reviewing old video game magazine reviews. I'm
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Ty Shelter, He's Aiden Moher, and we're two professional writers
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who grew up loving the video games and video game
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magazines of the nineteen eighties, nineteen nineties, and two thousands.
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Every episode we take a critical look back on the
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games media that, for better and for worse, inspired us
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to do what we do. First, go to funfactor pod
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dot com, follow the show on your podcatcher of choice.
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Leave us a rating review on iTunes, Spotify, or or
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wherever you get your media. We'll read the best, kindest,
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funniest and most insightful ones on the air in our
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letter section. Please consider becoming a member of fun Factor Ultra,
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us spread the word shut us out on blue Sky,
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at funfactor pod dot com and everywhere else at fun
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Factor Pod. Oh boy, Ty, I've been waiting for this moment.
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On today's episode, we're gonna discuss another one of the
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most beloved games of.
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All time, another one, another one. Can you believe it?
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We've done Halo. I've got another Doom episode cooking for
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the future. You know, can't have too many of those.
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We can never have too many Doom episodes. And of course,
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we covered a bunch of personal favorites last season, like
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Krono Trigger and Carnage Heart. Carnage Heart with issue one
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to five a game Former, which is still in January
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two thousand and two, we have not left the very
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first month of this of this new season's timeframe. We're
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finally covering a game I love to talk about and
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very publicly dislike against public sentiment, It's.
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Final Fantasy X. We'll get my thoughts on. We'll get
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to my thoughts and on soon. Yeah, yeah, I intend to.
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And two's a whole different thing.
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I wanted to ask Ty, like, what are some popular
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games that just didn't work for you personally?
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Yeah, it's funny because, like we've said, part of my
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whole thing, my fascination with critique and games media, especially
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at this time, is discovering my own taste, discovering taste
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as a concept, you know, like what is objectively good
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and what is like what I like and what I
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don't like? Right, So I there, you know, I didn't
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buy games that I didn't think I would, at least
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like if not love and I figured that out. But
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there were a lot of popular games around this time
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and game franchises we've talked about before, and I don't
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want to linger too more long on the ones I've
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already talked about a lot, but like you know, Virtue
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a fighter for me, where the hook is like realism, ye,
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but the graphics couldn't be less realistic, you know, like
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just graphically it was just so is to look at,
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and the designs weren't interesting to me, and like they're like,
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oh yeah, theoretically there's all this like depth and realism,
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but like yeah, okay, too normal looking people trying to
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do like real judo moves on each other. It's just
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like that's not a video game to me, even if
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it was perfectly realistic or photo realistic, which the new
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leaked Virtual Fighter video like wow, yeah that looks great,
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Bease are a little more interesting, but like for me,
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I just this is just no same thing. I think
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fighting games must be hit or miss for me, because
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I was thinking about this and Teken was another one
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where I was like, okay, so this looks repellent. It's
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two D fighting with three D graphics. The camera, especially
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tech in one, where like the camera angle would just
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like swing around and smash cut from angle to angle.
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You know, you're playing all of a sudden the cameras
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just from another angle. I'm like, okay, that looks dramatic
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in a fighting movie, but like, I can't play this
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game this way. So I detested Techon. I know lots
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of people love Tecan, but like.
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To me, I just Techan is one of the few
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fighting franchises that I like enjoyed quite a bit.
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On the PlayStation.
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Yeah yeah, but probably for the exact opposite reasons. A
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lot of people, like you're liked it or disliked it,
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Like I liked that it was kind of mashy and
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chaotic and like.
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Sure but sure yeah, And I'll say I still haven't
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given Dragon Quest a real shot, oh because I just
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can't get away from you know, and as much as
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I like to be oh, like, I like gameplay, you know,
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like back at this time. This was the big thing
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gameplay like interactivity, like that's the real thing is you know,
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the focus on graphics is yeah, is too. But like
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also like I want to be inspired to play a game.
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I want to spend time in the world. I want
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to find the character it's interesting and intriguing. And like
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Dragon Quest, maybe I got spoiled by starting with Chrono Trigger,
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but like you know, because that was like really my
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introduction too JRPGs. Like I look at Dragon Quest, and
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every dragon Quest ever makes me just go wow, this
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looks like shitty Chrono Trigger, Like it just looks like
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like like like you know, here's all these characters, you know,
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minakes and stuff, and they put out the oh people
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like oh that's my boy discount Goku and like the
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oh my girls discount Goku.
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It was They're designed by Toria No I know, like
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like right, well, and that's I think that's why I
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like I like Chrono Trigger because so many of the
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designs are like Okay, Toriyama gave us the starting point
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and then we built on it, versus like Okay, this
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is just Toriyama doing this Toriyama thing, and like all
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non dragon Balls, like I like I love dragon Ball,
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but like a lot of non Dragonball Toriama stuff is
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sometimes like, you know, it's wildly hit or missed for me,
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whether it's like, oh, this is just Toriyama cranking out
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his thing and all the Dragon Quest character designs, like
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just like it just doesn't look compelling to me, so
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I'm I should give.
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It a fair shot. Two things.
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One great Chrono Trigger anecdote. If you've read my book
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Fight Magic Items, you probably know it. But a curator
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Yama famously did the character design and like created like
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visual design for Chrono Trigger, but all he provided for
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the characters was them from the front, So he only
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drew them from the front, did not draw like three
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sixties of their back or their sides, and so the
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pixel artists had to like basically make it up based
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on his his designs from the front. And my understanding is,
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like we've seen all the key art from Chrono Trigger,
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the art that's on the cover, like the concept epic
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ye flying through, you know, the speeding up for the
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time warp. I I think all that concept art is
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all Toriyama actually did for Chrono Trigger, and then everything
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else was the pixel artists and stuff following up. Second
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of all, tie, everything that you like most about Chrono
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Trigger is its dragon Quest DNA. That makes sense and
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so like if you like like the characters and the
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story beats and the structure and all of that is
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so dragon Quest that a lot of people call Chrono
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Trigger the best Final Fantasy game. To me, it feels
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more like a dragon Quest game than it does a
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Final Fantasy game. If I had to split hairs.
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So give it a shot.
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We can talk off air about some of the good
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starting points eight eleven five if you have access to it.
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Oh, very good. Interesting. Interesting.
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Another game series for me, which I almost chose for
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this episode actually is Grand Theft Auto. I actually played
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more of the first two games. Did you know there's
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a Grand Theft Auto one and two? Ty I missed
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out on the PS two entries. Like a friend had
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Vice City, I think one of my brother's friends and
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would bring it over, So.
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I like dabbled it a little, but didn't play it
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too much.
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I just liked my RPGs, and that's what I was
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playing when I finally decided to give the series a shot.
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With GTA four, I just couldn't really get.
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Past the ludo narrative dissonance of the story about an
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immigrant seeking a new life in America to escape the
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violence in his home country, who then just immediately goes
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on this like sociopathic crime spree. And so there was
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this like divergence between the gameplay, which was classic grand
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theft auto and story beats. They were so far apart
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in those terms. That was just sort of the end
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of the series for me. I just never really.
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Could get past that dissonance.
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And I just can get fun sandbox experiences in a
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lot of other ways, in a lot of other games,
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And so it's just, you know, if I want zany
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samdbox experience, I can play goat Simulators three or one whatever,
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and it's ridiculous, and I spend forty five minutes and
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then get bored of the sandbox gameplay and move on
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without the tension, the bad tension, the bad friction of
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that narrative dissonance.
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Yeah, and for me, you know, we've talked about this
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a little bit before. My dad mom split when I
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was one, and my dad very quickly remarried and converted
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to born again evangelicalism. So every other like once a
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week and then every other weekend like go over for
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dinner on week once a week, and then I'd spent
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every other weekend with them, and so I was getting
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the stereotypical eighties nineties evangelical parenting experience half you know,
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twenty percent of the time. And then I would come
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back home to my mom, who's a lapsed Catholic, dabbling
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in uh, you know, wu wu stuff, yoga, astrology, the taro,
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all that kind of stuff, and so like I'm getting
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like like whiplash, and then so trying to find my
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own moral compass, Like you know, Vice City. My best
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friend met in college had Vice City and we were
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roommates for both in and out of college for a
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couple of years. So you play Vice City and it'd
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be this mix of like, oh, wow, that's so cool
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and like, oh I don't like that. Yeah, okay, I
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do like that, but I feel really guilty about it,
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you know, Like it's this like like constant tension between like, yeah,
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this is exactly what I want to do. No, that's
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actually GROSSA Oh that's do I think that's gross? Or
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is that my stepmom and dad like in my head
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telling me it's you know, and so like, uh four,
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I didn't really like five. I didn't play until the Pandemic,
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which I think I've brought up before. You had your
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multiplayer like multiplayer, yeah, yeah, doing the the pists the
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I keep wanting to say Cabo San Lucas because that's
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what it's it's based off of, right, it's but it's
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an island like that drug Kingpin and you got to
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go and do your heist team and like that was
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an incredibly fun experience. And then even outside of those
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heist missions, some of the sandbox stuff was wild. Did
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I tell the story about the Big Inferno? I think
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I've heard it maybe off air before, but I don't
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think you've ever told it on the show. Okay, so
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real quick, we're doing these these heist missions, right, and
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the idea is you have to go do a bunch
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of missions in the city to get like body armor
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or weapons or whatever. And there's multiple different ways you
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can crash this drug Kingpin's island, up to and including
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using a Russian submarine bought off surplus. Once you buy that,
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you can sneak in and swim in through the sewer grade. Right,
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So it's super cool, but you have to do these
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prep missions and the more prep missions you do, the
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easier the actual run is. And so we were doing
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one of the prep missions and we had a helicopter
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park our helicopter. We go inside, we shoot up these guys,
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We take their guns and you know, bullet bests, and
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we come out and everything is on fire. Everything is
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on fire, just total conflagration, like two blocks, all the
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cars are on fire, our helicopter is on fire. Well,
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I should say, while we're in the mission, all of
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our quest markers disappear and I'm like, what is going on?
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And then we come outside and everything's on fire, and
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we're like so we start walking around. We're on you know,
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Mike around live Chat, like I'm over here, like our
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helicopters destroyed, all these cars are destroyed. A couple other
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people are walking around, you know, We're like what happened?
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And we slowly pieced together that two that a commercial
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airliner and a private plane. Oh no, all NPCs, yeah, right,
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like just in the world collided in mid air above
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our heads, landed on the streets, blew up all of
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everybody's stuff, including our helicopter, which is a required thing
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to run from thing to thing, and like boom, our
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quest failed because our helicopter got destroyed. Yeah, while you
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like doing something completely different, Yeah, yeah, and so does
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the emergent Sandbox gameplay. The world lost track of two
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planes and they just collided together, and like unbelievable, just
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the fact there's so many levels of like emergent things happening.
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We were all just like, I can't even be bad.
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That's incredible and so still years later, years later, So
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and like that, like you say that sort.
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Of emergent gameplay of like the gameplay is, the story is,
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the narrative is really compelling, Like I do really like
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that and I enjoy it and stuff like Fallout three,
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Like I have so many fun stories that happened because
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of just like the way you know, the gameplay unfolded, right,
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and that's unique to like my experience, and that's cool.
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But GTA was just never doing that for me. I
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also think it's interesting that specifically it took multiplayer for
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you to find your sort of fit with that series,
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Like I've found myself just drifting away from a lot
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of the major like non Nintendo Triple A releases these
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days in favor of smaller titles, any games, like I'm
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playing Yoshi. Right now, I'm playing Mina the Hollower. But
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you know, I got caught up in the Blueprints hype
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last year. That was a big hyped up and.
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We're doing it now. It's swollen four of the five
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of us now, yes, every time I played Blueprints, we
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have to have four of us.
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And it's so good. So you know, I'm not immune
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to hype. But like something like Pragmata and Marathon just
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have completely passed me by. And like, for you, multiplayer
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was the key that unlocked Grand Theft Auto, but I've
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just found it so hard to get into like any
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multiplayer focused games. Like my friends were really into hell
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Divers too, and I played a little bit with them,
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but just the time commitment of being there reliably and
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stuff is just so so tricky.
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You know.
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I want to play something like Marathon, and Andrew and
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Chat is saying, like Marathon has a free.
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Week coming up from June second to June ninth.
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That's cool, Like I'll probably give it a shot because
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it looks cool, but it's just like my schedule just
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doesn't really allow for those multiplayer games. So stuff like MMOs,
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I like, Wow, I like Funanci fourteen but I can play.
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Those on my schedule the way I play them. Yes,
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never got into like graide groups and stuff like that,
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guilds because I'm just it's just too hard for me
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to like chunk out parts of my life that other
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people are kind of relying on me for. That's what
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my kids do exactly, and you know, your whole season.
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You know, we got we had kids early, but our
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00:15:38.759 --> 00:15:43.919
youngest graduates from high school tomorrow. So that is incredible
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00:15:44.159 --> 00:15:46.759
that that brings graduate of schedule stuff. Thank you, thank you.
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00:15:47.200 --> 00:15:51.960
They're they're crushing it. They're going to state fourth third
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00:15:52.000 --> 00:15:56.279
generation Michigan State on my wife's side, fourth generation Michigan
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State on my side. Spartans. I went Spartans. That's hey, yeah,
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00:16:01.679 --> 00:16:05.120
so that's that's it's pretty cool. But then also, you know,
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it's like the season of your life where like you
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can't do stuff because of kids. It's like, all right, cool,
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I'm gonna have from when i'm you know, forty five,
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forty six, forty seven up through dead, like have raid groups. Yeah, right,
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00:16:18.679 --> 00:16:20.279
I think about that because my kids are quite a
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00:16:20.360 --> 00:16:23.519
bit younger than yours. My illness isn't even close to
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00:16:23.879 --> 00:16:27.000
graduating high school and I do think, like I look
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00:16:27.039 --> 00:16:29.919
at you know, my parents and my in laws, and
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I'm like, oh, okay, Like we will get back to
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a point where I can like go do stuff with
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my wife, just the two of us, and like, you know,
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00:16:38.360 --> 00:16:40.799
where I can have time where like you know, every
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00:16:40.840 --> 00:16:43.600
Tuesday and Thursday I spend time. Maybe it's playing magic
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00:16:43.600 --> 00:16:45.679
cards with my friends, or maybe it's getting into like
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00:16:45.679 --> 00:16:48.960
a multiplayer game more seriously, but you know for sure,
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00:16:49.000 --> 00:16:51.480
and then off it's worth it. Like family life is awesome,
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00:16:51.840 --> 00:16:54.000
but it is like does make it hard? Yeah, and
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00:16:54.000 --> 00:16:55.840
then when your kids get older, you're doing stuff together.
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You're playing prints.
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Together, you know, wather and that sort of. Yes, that's
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00:17:00.440 --> 00:17:02.840
my raid group, right like it is playing with my kids.
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00:17:03.120 --> 00:17:05.799
They're like they're my my friend group for multiplayer games,
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00:17:05.839 --> 00:17:08.759
playing Mario Kart, or we're playing Animal Crossing, or even
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00:17:08.799 --> 00:17:12.240
just sitting down like hanging out while they're playing Tomodachi
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Life and they're showing me their island and all that
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00:17:14.319 --> 00:17:14.880
kind of stuff.
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00:17:15.759 --> 00:17:17.559
You know, it's it is still there, just in a
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00:17:17.559 --> 00:17:20.640
different way. I suppose. All right, well, folks, we could
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go on like this forever, but we have an issue
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to look at. We have a review to do. It
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00:17:26.599 --> 00:17:28.640
is time to open the cover and get started. If
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00:17:28.640 --> 00:17:31.039
you're not already a member of fun Factor Ultra watching
326
00:17:31.079 --> 00:17:33.880
us stream this session live in the chat, getting ad
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00:17:33.880 --> 00:17:36.480
free episodes, hang tight through this break. When we come back,
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00:17:36.839 --> 00:17:41.279
we will flip through which is here? Is it? Game
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00:17:41.319 --> 00:17:45.720
in Former number one oh five from January two thousand
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and two. Game in Former number one oh five from
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00:17:48.359 --> 00:18:03.759
January two thousand and two, and they're really the final fantasy.
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Welcome back to fun Factor, where two old gamers review
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00:18:13.599 --> 00:18:16.000
old video game magazine reviews. Of course we want you
334
00:18:16.039 --> 00:18:18.240
to review us. Do we get a full five point
335
00:18:18.279 --> 00:18:20.440
zero in fun Factor? Leave us a review on Apple
336
00:18:20.440 --> 00:18:23.200
Podcasts and we'll read the best, funniest, kindest, and most
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00:18:23.319 --> 00:18:27.599
entertaining ones on the air. All Bright Aiden, What is
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00:18:27.640 --> 00:18:28.960
the deal with Game Informer?
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00:18:30.359 --> 00:18:35.400
All right, so Game Informer as we know it was popularized.
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I guess it started life as like a newsletter for
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00:18:38.119 --> 00:18:40.359
Game Stop or Babbage's I don't I don't know.
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00:18:40.400 --> 00:18:42.799
The American fun coland brands fun co Land.
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00:18:43.319 --> 00:18:47.559
Yeah you know, but uh, Progressing is just one of
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00:18:47.599 --> 00:18:51.319
the most important iconic gaming mags ever. And now they're
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00:18:51.400 --> 00:18:54.680
like an indie operation which is really cool. You know,
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00:18:54.759 --> 00:18:58.160
a lot of respect for that. And they've been around
347
00:18:58.200 --> 00:19:00.519
forever as well, which is the other import thing, Like,
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00:19:00.599 --> 00:19:03.079
unlike the other magazines that have like come and gone
349
00:19:03.079 --> 00:19:05.720
and reached a peak like EGM but then disappeared, like
350
00:19:05.839 --> 00:19:08.720
Game Informer has just been around forever and so they've
351
00:19:08.759 --> 00:19:14.519
covered everything. This issue number one oh five from January
352
00:19:14.519 --> 00:19:19.319
two thousand and two has had on the cover, which
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00:19:19.359 --> 00:19:22.559
I think is pretty cool. This issue has a page
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00:19:22.640 --> 00:19:27.319
count of one hundred and twenty six, which is starting
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00:19:27.359 --> 00:19:29.720
to catch up with what this era looks like. In
356
00:19:29.759 --> 00:19:32.799
the mid nineties, Game Informer was kind of slim when
357
00:19:32.839 --> 00:19:36.880
you had three hundred plus page count and stuff like EGM.
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00:19:37.359 --> 00:19:40.240
But this issue, you know, at one hundred and twenty six,
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00:19:40.279 --> 00:19:43.640
with like feature editorial, lots of reviews, quite a few ads,
360
00:19:43.960 --> 00:19:48.720
feels pretty matched up with its contemporaries. Number of games
361
00:19:48.759 --> 00:19:53.319
reviewed in this issue fifty six Jesus.
362
00:19:53.079 --> 00:19:55.359
Oh wow, Yeah, that's a lot, a lot.
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00:19:55.759 --> 00:19:58.480
Number of systems reviewed for is even higher, like a
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00:19:58.599 --> 00:20:02.279
zillion because there's a Breakout review on page one hundred
365
00:20:02.279 --> 00:20:04.960
and seventy one and seventeen and they list it as
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00:20:05.000 --> 00:20:08.079
a multi platform game and Breakout has been on pretty
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00:20:08.160 --> 00:20:13.079
much every console of all time. But otherwise, more realistically,
368
00:20:13.079 --> 00:20:17.160
it's eleven. So we have PC, Dreamcast, GameCube, PlayStation two,
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00:20:17.440 --> 00:20:23.319
game Boy Advance, Xbox, PlayStation one, SNS Apple two, E
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00:20:23.599 --> 00:20:28.400
Sega CD, and Genesis. Wow, a lot of reviews, a
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00:20:28.440 --> 00:20:29.319
lot of systems.
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00:20:29.680 --> 00:20:31.880
So they've got a retro I mean, I'm assuming we'll
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00:20:31.920 --> 00:20:34.279
get there, but yeah, like that's that's fascinating. Yeah, So
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00:20:34.319 --> 00:20:36.839
they have a section at the back which is like
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00:20:36.920 --> 00:20:40.039
retro coverage and then retro reviews, and that's where we
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00:20:40.079 --> 00:20:42.920
get the not the PlayStation but the SNS Apple two,
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00:20:42.920 --> 00:20:46.359
E Sega CD and Genesis reviews and the breakout review
378
00:20:46.400 --> 00:20:46.839
of course.
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00:20:48.359 --> 00:20:51.599
But yeah, a lot of reviews. Looking at the masthead,
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00:20:51.759 --> 00:20:53.920
which starts on page seventeen.
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00:20:53.519 --> 00:20:56.759
Jason Wft and Chat, I just wanted to say so,
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00:20:56.880 --> 00:20:59.119
I worked at Gamestat from twenty six to twenty twelve,
383
00:20:59.160 --> 00:21:01.559
and I remember Gaming four as the quote magazine they
384
00:21:01.599 --> 00:21:04.680
give you to try to justify the monthly discount subscription. Yeah,
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00:21:04.839 --> 00:21:07.960
and yeah, we talked about that. I think our first
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00:21:08.279 --> 00:21:11.640
Game Informer issue or I'm sorry, I did it. I
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00:21:11.680 --> 00:21:14.400
did it. Our first Game in Former episode was the
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00:21:14.400 --> 00:21:20.680
one with the Carnage Heart review. I think in season one, yes,
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00:21:20.799 --> 00:21:23.519
episode fourteen, and it was the same thing where it
390
00:21:23.559 --> 00:21:27.160
was like, you know, I kind of missed the peak
391
00:21:27.200 --> 00:21:31.000
Game Informer, like yeah, like mid twenty tens, late twenty tens,
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00:21:31.000 --> 00:21:33.960
early twenty twenties, Oh, this is the best magazine going.
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00:21:33.960 --> 00:21:37.759
And everybody's like, oh, Game Informer the goat the best magazine,
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00:21:37.839 --> 00:21:39.839
And I was like, oh, that was like the thing
395
00:21:39.920 --> 00:21:42.359
they just tried to sell you at the game store
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00:21:42.359 --> 00:21:44.240
when you're buying games. Yeah.
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00:21:44.319 --> 00:21:46.440
So yeah, then that was always my impression because I
398
00:21:46.440 --> 00:21:48.279
couldn't really it was hard to get it in Canada,
399
00:21:48.359 --> 00:21:51.319
like you got it was at eb games sometimes, but
400
00:21:51.680 --> 00:21:53.839
it wasn't what I had access to, and so I
401
00:21:53.960 --> 00:21:57.559
just thought of it as you know, basically like promo
402
00:21:57.720 --> 00:22:00.480
pr which I kind of was. But looking back, I
403
00:22:00.519 --> 00:22:02.880
think we've both been surprised that the content is actually
404
00:22:02.960 --> 00:22:07.240
really strong, especially the like non critical stuff like there's
405
00:22:07.319 --> 00:22:09.960
we'll get to it, but there's like a fantastic feature
406
00:22:09.960 --> 00:22:12.119
on here in Obasak Gucci in this issue.
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00:22:12.200 --> 00:22:13.480
That stuff was always really good.
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00:22:13.920 --> 00:22:17.640
Nice, Okay, So on page seventeen, we've got the masthead.
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00:22:18.000 --> 00:22:19.559
We'll get to it for in a second. Because I
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00:22:19.599 --> 00:22:22.119
don't want to spoil what's coming up in the flip.
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00:22:22.799 --> 00:22:25.400
But we've got the mass heead kicking off with publisher
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00:22:25.480 --> 00:22:29.599
Kathy Preston, Games Media Hall of Famer Andy McNamara as
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00:22:29.640 --> 00:22:31.880
the Eice, who we've previously.
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00:22:31.400 --> 00:22:32.400
Mentioned on episodes.
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00:22:33.480 --> 00:22:37.359
Right under Andy, We've got editors Andrew Reiner, Matt Hegelson,
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00:22:37.720 --> 00:22:43.039
Christian Broger, Justin Leeper, Matthew Cato, and John Storm. Then
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00:22:43.039 --> 00:22:49.920
there's the mascot Arthur, who's a dog, I guess, Art
418
00:22:49.960 --> 00:22:54.759
director Thomas Bleston, production director Curtis fun and production assistant
419
00:22:54.799 --> 00:23:00.839
Rachel Gillies round out the Masthead. It's pretty small considering
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00:23:00.880 --> 00:23:03.759
like the number of reviews in this issue, and really
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00:23:04.519 --> 00:23:08.480
the reviewers are Andy Reiner, Matt Christian, Justin and Cato,
422
00:23:08.880 --> 00:23:12.480
So like small review crew, small overall Masthead for like
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00:23:13.000 --> 00:23:15.359
a pretty content rich magazine.
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00:23:16.079 --> 00:23:18.839
Yeah, and if I'm remembering from the first one we did,
425
00:23:19.000 --> 00:23:23.119
basically from like ninety five on, there's like no turnover
426
00:23:23.200 --> 00:23:25.359
at this magazine. Yeah, it's like, you know, if the
427
00:23:25.440 --> 00:23:29.000
short tenured people were there for like fourteen years, you know,
428
00:23:29.160 --> 00:23:32.960
it's the same real tight nucleus of people almost start
429
00:23:33.000 --> 00:23:37.200
to finish once again. My once an episode lament about
430
00:23:37.200 --> 00:23:40.160
how we got into games media at the wrong time time. Yes, yes,
431
00:23:41.680 --> 00:23:44.000
but as we flip I think we're ready for the
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00:23:44.000 --> 00:23:46.640
flip through. Yeah, you're ready flip through.
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00:23:54.839 --> 00:23:58.279
So on the cover, we've got a pretty striking image
434
00:23:58.319 --> 00:24:00.920
and like pretty striking cover, I would say, feet a
435
00:24:00.960 --> 00:24:05.480
bunch of the recognizable like key art portraits from Final
436
00:24:05.519 --> 00:24:08.279
Fantasy ten. So these are the character portraits you see
437
00:24:08.319 --> 00:24:12.319
everywhere but the remix and like you know, like photoshopped
438
00:24:12.400 --> 00:24:14.720
or whatever into a way that puts Titus, you know,
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00:24:14.759 --> 00:24:15.400
front and center.
440
00:24:15.559 --> 00:24:17.160
Feeling is pretty bold.
441
00:24:17.240 --> 00:24:20.640
It's low on text, just hyping up all the Final
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00:24:20.640 --> 00:24:24.680
Fantasy ten coverage, including quote, complete strategy guide with weapons,
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00:24:24.720 --> 00:24:28.519
sum locations, first review, interviews with development team, and a
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00:24:28.559 --> 00:24:30.319
look at its place in history.
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00:24:30.680 --> 00:24:35.960
Pretty cool. My girl Ricu is consigned to a depressingly
446
00:24:36.119 --> 00:24:39.839
tiny portion of this. Yeah yeah, talking before this is
447
00:24:39.960 --> 00:24:41.680
Game Informer. I should go back and look at the
448
00:24:41.880 --> 00:24:43.759
kind of the spread of covers because they didn't have
449
00:24:44.279 --> 00:24:47.920
a big in house art team, so their covers tended
450
00:24:47.920 --> 00:24:52.680
to range from wildly strong to pretty weak. Yeah, based
451
00:24:52.759 --> 00:24:55.240
on how strong the art they were using. Because it's
452
00:24:55.319 --> 00:24:58.839
usually official assets or something that was commissioned or whatever
453
00:24:58.880 --> 00:25:01.559
from from the PI team, so they usually are pretty
454
00:25:01.559 --> 00:25:05.319
good at laying out graphics provided by somebody else. Yes
455
00:25:05.440 --> 00:25:08.279
is a perfect example. And notably they're not using in
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00:25:08.440 --> 00:25:10.920
game artwork here, you.
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00:25:10.839 --> 00:25:12.920
Know, which which helps, I think. But it's also funny
458
00:25:12.920 --> 00:25:14.839
because you can see like you know, glow effect on
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00:25:15.039 --> 00:25:19.400
Oron or on Oran and Tiitus his hair, so you
460
00:25:19.759 --> 00:25:21.839
know that they were like clipping this out of like
461
00:25:21.960 --> 00:25:26.160
larger art right. They weren't handling like transparent PNGs, so
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00:25:26.200 --> 00:25:28.000
they had some rough edges that they had to like,
463
00:25:28.119 --> 00:25:30.319
you know, mask which you know I do all the
464
00:25:30.359 --> 00:25:33.480
time I do for our YouTube thumbnails. Get those rough
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00:25:33.559 --> 00:25:35.359
edges and see put a border around.
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00:25:35.119 --> 00:25:36.240
It and they go away.
467
00:25:37.400 --> 00:25:39.160
But all in all, I would say it's a pretty
468
00:25:39.200 --> 00:25:45.240
striking cover. Tucked right above the game for Um, tucked
469
00:25:45.319 --> 00:25:49.839
right above the magazine's title quite easily lost, which would
470
00:25:49.880 --> 00:25:52.480
be like the big feature for most issues of other
471
00:25:52.519 --> 00:25:55.960
magazines is a tagline for the quote tenth Annual Video
472
00:25:56.000 --> 00:25:59.720
Game Awards, which are not the Killies. This is game
473
00:25:59.759 --> 00:26:02.119
in four long running video game.
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00:26:01.960 --> 00:26:04.079
Awards, which we will get to later.
475
00:26:08.440 --> 00:26:12.400
It's all like, you know, exceptionally clean owing I think
476
00:26:12.640 --> 00:26:15.880
likely to its corporate ties, not needing to compete against
477
00:26:15.920 --> 00:26:19.480
other gaming mags on the grocery store shelves, you know,
478
00:26:19.559 --> 00:26:21.799
So they weren't trying to cram everything on the cover
479
00:26:21.880 --> 00:26:24.319
and say, hey, we're the most important of these magazines
480
00:26:24.359 --> 00:26:27.200
by us, not the other ones. And that's always been
481
00:26:27.240 --> 00:26:30.279
Game Informers thing as they've gotten older, and now now
482
00:26:30.319 --> 00:26:33.640
that they're indie, their covers are super clean, even though
483
00:26:33.640 --> 00:26:37.400
they are in books, you know, bookstore bookshelves. They don't
484
00:26:37.400 --> 00:26:41.440
have that Ebie games or game stop tie anymore where
485
00:26:41.480 --> 00:26:43.680
they're being handed out with like edge cards or whatever.
486
00:26:44.279 --> 00:26:46.559
But they've still gone with that super clean look with
487
00:26:46.640 --> 00:26:50.000
like beautiful art. And I would say that cover art
488
00:26:50.079 --> 00:26:54.799
is like a strength of current Game Informer issues as
489
00:26:54.839 --> 00:26:57.519
like an ongoing magazine that still exists. And of course
490
00:26:57.599 --> 00:26:59.960
their cover stories are always big news.
491
00:27:00.119 --> 00:27:02.119
They always get big exclusives, Yes they do.
492
00:27:03.240 --> 00:27:05.400
And so that was like I think access was what
493
00:27:05.599 --> 00:27:08.920
Game Informer did best, and we're seeing that here. You know,
494
00:27:09.079 --> 00:27:11.359
they're just like we got fun wenesay t we got
495
00:27:11.400 --> 00:27:13.640
everything you want, buy us.
496
00:27:13.599 --> 00:27:17.559
Pick us up. But let's get through the actual flip through.
497
00:27:17.599 --> 00:27:21.440
Now we're gonna make a very brief stop on pages
498
00:27:21.480 --> 00:27:27.000
five and six to appreciate you boy, Connecticut again as always,
499
00:27:28.319 --> 00:27:29.920
and then we're gonna skip right past that.
500
00:27:30.680 --> 00:27:32.599
Wait, oh god, I'll go back on. I want to
501
00:27:32.640 --> 00:27:34.880
know because I kind of keep this up on my side. Also,
502
00:27:35.319 --> 00:27:38.559
one last note on the ridiculous of the Connecticut h
503
00:27:39.799 --> 00:27:43.640
note that all of the speed lines are in one
504
00:27:43.720 --> 00:27:48.640
direction and none of the wheels. Oh yeah, going direction
505
00:27:48.880 --> 00:27:51.720
like we're not really yeah, like you wouldn't like there's
506
00:27:51.759 --> 00:27:56.400
no hope of rolling in that notion. That figured very funny. Okay,
507
00:27:55.799 --> 00:27:59.319
that's a good poll. That's that's good time. I did
508
00:27:59.319 --> 00:28:03.079
not notice that this isn't even possible, even sort of
509
00:28:03.440 --> 00:28:06.720
even in the fiction where this is something possible and cool. Yeah,
510
00:28:07.000 --> 00:28:08.240
just terrible.
511
00:28:08.480 --> 00:28:10.759
Yeah, if those speed lines are going in that direction,
512
00:28:10.839 --> 00:28:14.079
she is not. She's she's having a tough, tough.
513
00:28:14.000 --> 00:28:15.000
Sliding on her knee.
514
00:28:15.079 --> 00:28:20.599
Yeah, exactly, Okay, skipping pass Connecticut, we have the greatest
515
00:28:20.599 --> 00:28:24.359
three D fighter of all time, in her Life three as.
516
00:28:24.279 --> 00:28:28.559
Pronounced by Xbox Official Magazine. Yes, that's right, Exam, shout
517
00:28:28.559 --> 00:28:31.039
out to ox M. Here we have the masthead that
518
00:28:31.079 --> 00:28:33.519
I skipped reading earlier on page eighteen. We have the
519
00:28:33.640 --> 00:28:37.799
editors Forum, which is you know, we have Andy McNamara's
520
00:28:38.559 --> 00:28:43.200
editorial as I see, but several of the other editors,
521
00:28:43.559 --> 00:28:47.680
Ryan or Matt Christian Justin Cato all also get sort
522
00:28:47.720 --> 00:28:51.599
of a little blog style editorial area, yeah, to write
523
00:28:51.640 --> 00:28:53.319
whatever they want to write about. And I think that's
524
00:28:53.359 --> 00:28:55.000
a pretty cute and good.
525
00:28:54.799 --> 00:28:57.880
Idea, something I would love to have seen other magazines do.
526
00:28:59.519 --> 00:29:01.799
Whenever I meet one of my thousands of fans out
527
00:29:01.839 --> 00:29:04.440
in public, they usually start our conversation with one question,
528
00:29:04.960 --> 00:29:09.160
aren't you that guy from ER? Great? Thank you Matt
529
00:29:09.200 --> 00:29:12.480
the original gamer excellent, good stuff. There are two Matts
530
00:29:12.799 --> 00:29:16.680
that must be Matt Hegelson. Which guy from R does
531
00:29:16.720 --> 00:29:18.880
he look like? I don't know er.
532
00:29:19.680 --> 00:29:23.279
But in any case, and it's nice too, because you
533
00:29:23.319 --> 00:29:25.319
know Cato's is like referring to his call him from
534
00:29:25.559 --> 00:29:28.119
the month previous and stuff. So just a cool little
535
00:29:28.119 --> 00:29:31.279
idea to give each editors sort of editorial space to
536
00:29:31.279 --> 00:29:33.119
talk about whatever they want, the same way that an
537
00:29:33.119 --> 00:29:38.720
eic usually does. Andy mcmarra says, like, you know, in
538
00:29:38.799 --> 00:29:43.400
his editorial he talks about getting hate mail, which was interesting,
539
00:29:43.559 --> 00:29:45.400
and so he uses to talk about the GameCube.
540
00:29:46.119 --> 00:29:47.680
But we are going to carry on.
541
00:29:49.279 --> 00:29:53.039
To page in my script, it says page twelve. What
542
00:29:53.079 --> 00:29:56.920
we have already past page twelve, so it must be
543
00:29:56.920 --> 00:30:00.000
page twenty two. Let's see here we go. Yes, page
544
00:30:01.279 --> 00:30:07.200
we have early aughts mainstay Jason Biggs playing PlayStation two,
545
00:30:07.599 --> 00:30:09.839
and I swear to god ty this is the exact
546
00:30:09.880 --> 00:30:12.440
same photo we saw in a previous episode.
547
00:30:13.400 --> 00:30:14.160
This is also just.
548
00:30:14.079 --> 00:30:16.279
Another reminder of how hard they were trying to link
549
00:30:16.400 --> 00:30:20.039
video games to celebrity culture in the early aughts. But like,
550
00:30:20.400 --> 00:30:25.559
besides Biggs, David Spade, Monica Geller, and her husband David Arquette.
551
00:30:26.559 --> 00:30:29.160
I think that cas her Eye, but he's not a celebrity.
552
00:30:29.200 --> 00:30:32.880
He's like, he's like, he's the Sony guy. I don't
553
00:30:32.880 --> 00:30:34.119
know who any of these people are.
554
00:30:34.559 --> 00:30:38.720
Oh, well, Alicia Keys, which is Alicia Keys, was.
555
00:30:38.680 --> 00:30:40.960
A pretty good get for like a Sony PS two
556
00:30:40.960 --> 00:30:43.279
anniversary party. But she's also not even there to play
557
00:30:43.319 --> 00:30:44.359
video Um she's performing.
558
00:30:46.079 --> 00:30:48.880
Calling these a list stars a bit of a stretch
559
00:30:50.279 --> 00:30:56.000
relatively relatively yeah, like again from by video game party standards. Yeah,
560
00:30:56.000 --> 00:30:59.559
it's just like the American Pie cast. Like, I don't know,
561
00:31:00.119 --> 00:31:02.359
it's just fine and it's funny how much they wanted
562
00:31:02.480 --> 00:31:06.400
to like Friend of the Show pandemoniums Digital Pictures, Yes,
563
00:31:06.440 --> 00:31:10.200
retrospective which eight and a half hours that you absolutely
564
00:31:10.200 --> 00:31:13.799
should make time for incredible stuff. The way that Digital
565
00:31:13.799 --> 00:31:17.559
Pictures was edging around Hollywood and interfacing with Hollywood and
566
00:31:17.599 --> 00:31:21.920
getting all these you know, fascinating stuff.
567
00:31:21.599 --> 00:31:25.200
Try hard, right, like to move into that picture moving
568
00:31:25.240 --> 00:31:29.519
picture space, I guess movies rather than like kind of
569
00:31:29.559 --> 00:31:31.839
being their own thing. And I think it's good that
570
00:31:31.839 --> 00:31:33.759
we've gotten away from that. You know, we have lots
571
00:31:33.759 --> 00:31:38.359
of celebrity voice actors you know, likednesses, but I'm glad.
572
00:31:38.079 --> 00:31:40.000
That we got gone away from that area.
573
00:31:41.039 --> 00:31:46.279
Page twenty six features some letter art of Captain America
574
00:31:46.279 --> 00:31:53.119
that would make Rob Leifel proud. More notably, however, it's
575
00:31:53.160 --> 00:31:57.440
from I believe the first person I actually recognized from
576
00:31:57.519 --> 00:31:58.599
the letter section of.
577
00:31:58.480 --> 00:31:59.519
One of these magazines.
578
00:32:00.039 --> 00:32:03.359
All Tassi, who sent this in is a Forbes games
579
00:32:03.400 --> 00:32:08.519
journalist with many reviews listed on Open Critics. Whoo, yeah,
580
00:32:08.720 --> 00:32:12.319
I'm assuming it's the same polastic but uh but yeah,
581
00:32:12.359 --> 00:32:15.319
pretty pretty neat to actually recognize a name in and
582
00:32:15.359 --> 00:32:16.039
amongst all of this.
583
00:32:17.319 --> 00:32:21.839
Okay, can we see the Cano versus PaRappa? Oh? Yes, okay,
584
00:32:21.880 --> 00:32:24.720
here we go, I can that's fantastic. Here we go,
585
00:32:24.799 --> 00:32:29.680
look at that. That's pretty good. That is in like
586
00:32:30.920 --> 00:32:33.759
Simpsons style style. I guess, yeah, it's a pretty good
587
00:32:33.759 --> 00:32:35.359
Simpsons stuff. It's pretty good.
588
00:32:36.480 --> 00:32:37.039
I know, yeah.
589
00:32:37.440 --> 00:32:39.519
I like the big hole, like the three D hole
590
00:32:39.559 --> 00:32:42.480
in his chest and stuff. It's like pretty slick, pretty slick,
591
00:32:43.880 --> 00:32:47.039
some other good. I don't not sure what that one is.
592
00:32:47.359 --> 00:32:49.880
An Italian to bring a spear to an X fight.
593
00:32:50.559 --> 00:32:54.279
I don't remember any spear carrying Italians in a case.
594
00:32:54.559 --> 00:32:58.000
Always let yeah, I always love the The envelope art
595
00:32:58.079 --> 00:33:01.359
and Paul Tassi being in there was in interesting. We
596
00:33:01.400 --> 00:33:06.119
are going to keep going to page thirty for GI News,
597
00:33:06.119 --> 00:33:10.640
which I assume stands for gastro Intestinal News.
598
00:33:12.759 --> 00:33:15.519
First to step on your joke from the script. It
599
00:33:15.599 --> 00:33:18.319
got me. Oh my gosh, that's great. Uh.
600
00:33:18.519 --> 00:33:21.880
It's one of the pictures here. This is about the Xboxing.
601
00:33:21.519 --> 00:33:22.799
Game cube Blanche.
602
00:33:23.519 --> 00:33:27.839
One photo here has Bill Gates slumming it with the normies,
603
00:33:28.400 --> 00:33:32.599
presumably holding back some diarrhea or something. We have Minnesota's
604
00:33:32.599 --> 00:33:36.920
first Xbox owner, Jim Heitke, who definitely looks like he's
605
00:33:36.920 --> 00:33:40.960
holding back some squirts. Oh yeah, and a GameStop employee
606
00:33:41.119 --> 00:33:44.480
so nauseous their hair has turned Xbox green.
607
00:33:45.960 --> 00:33:48.279
A lot of GI news, a lot of gastro intestinal
608
00:33:48.319 --> 00:33:55.559
news in this issue. Yes, then later here he really
609
00:33:56.480 --> 00:33:59.880
this looks like this guy definitely camped out for thirty six.
610
00:34:00.519 --> 00:34:02.880
Oh oh yeah, this is our thirty seven.
611
00:34:02.960 --> 00:34:03.160
Yeah.
612
00:34:03.160 --> 00:34:06.920
He's in rough shape man. Yeah, and his reward for
613
00:34:06.960 --> 00:34:08.000
that is an Xbox.
614
00:34:08.519 --> 00:34:12.920
He did get Halo, one of the great There's some
615
00:34:13.039 --> 00:34:14.400
like subversive advertising.
616
00:34:14.440 --> 00:34:16.000
I missed this when I was writing my script. But
617
00:34:16.239 --> 00:34:18.639
if we zoom in down the air, what do we have?
618
00:34:18.719 --> 00:34:24.559
What do we have? David Former? Oh? Nice, like recursive advertising.
619
00:34:27.039 --> 00:34:30.440
It's cool. It's fun to watch coverage of the Xbox
620
00:34:30.440 --> 00:34:34.639
and GameCube launch. They have a little, you know, interview
621
00:34:34.960 --> 00:34:37.800
with Bill Gates, though I don't know if it's an
622
00:34:37.840 --> 00:34:40.039
actual interview. Yeah, it's an interview with.
623
00:34:40.039 --> 00:34:44.239
Bill Gates, and then talk about Microsoft pushes PlayStation three
624
00:34:44.320 --> 00:34:46.639
and a rendering of the PlayStation three, which is quite
625
00:34:46.719 --> 00:34:51.000
funny looking on page thirty two in the middle of
626
00:34:51.039 --> 00:34:53.719
this orange bar with a baby beside it, we have
627
00:34:54.320 --> 00:34:59.159
Developer Top five with Victor Ireland. Oh, it seems like
628
00:34:59.199 --> 00:35:02.079
a list of the least Victor Ireland games of all time.
629
00:35:02.760 --> 00:35:05.400
Known for working designs and RPGs like ARC's Lad on
630
00:35:05.440 --> 00:35:09.320
the opposite page here as an ad Lunar and all
631
00:35:09.360 --> 00:35:13.239
of that. Victor Ireland lists top ten is SSX, Devil
632
00:35:13.320 --> 00:35:18.199
May Cry, Twisted Metal Black Ego and Clinoa too, which
633
00:35:18.400 --> 00:35:21.760
just not what I would have expected from Victor Ireland.
634
00:35:23.840 --> 00:35:28.880
Hey, I mean they're bangers. Twisted Metal Black is The
635
00:35:28.920 --> 00:35:29.519
rest are good.
636
00:35:29.639 --> 00:35:34.559
The rest are absolutely good. But page thirty six we
637
00:35:34.679 --> 00:35:40.840
have news of SNK shutting down, which is weird because
638
00:35:40.960 --> 00:35:46.599
SNK is famously still around and the subject of much
639
00:35:46.599 --> 00:35:50.599
controversy these days. They were, of course, there were acquisitions
640
00:35:50.639 --> 00:35:53.039
and all sorts of weird stuff that have happened since,
641
00:35:53.079 --> 00:35:55.119
but it is interesting to go black and look at
642
00:35:55.199 --> 00:35:55.480
you know.
643
00:35:57.199 --> 00:35:57.960
Here's a quote here.
644
00:35:57.960 --> 00:36:00.239
It says, quote it is with deepest grief that in
645
00:36:00.239 --> 00:36:02.599
the autumn of two thousand and one SNK will close
646
00:36:02.639 --> 00:36:06.639
the company history in its business. We'd like to take
647
00:36:06.639 --> 00:36:08.840
this as an opportunity to thank each and every one
648
00:36:08.880 --> 00:36:12.039
of you if you're continuous and helping assistance rendered to
649
00:36:12.119 --> 00:36:15.679
SNK since its incorporation in Japan and July nineteen seventy eight,
650
00:36:16.599 --> 00:36:20.280
s and K still around outlived pretty much every gaming
651
00:36:20.320 --> 00:36:26.920
mag except a game Informer here yeah, page forty where
652
00:36:27.079 --> 00:36:29.039
kind of passed the new section, and this kicks off
653
00:36:29.039 --> 00:36:33.400
a terrific, beautiful retrospective of Final Fantasy and Hero Nobu's
654
00:36:33.400 --> 00:36:36.440
Sokka Gucci's work, which like, honestly I would love to
655
00:36:36.440 --> 00:36:39.920
spend a whole episode just looking at this. These first
656
00:36:39.920 --> 00:36:42.599
two pages, there's a nice, you know, nice cover art
657
00:36:42.679 --> 00:36:46.360
there with you know, box art.
658
00:36:46.639 --> 00:36:48.159
Of Saka Gucci's games.
659
00:36:49.199 --> 00:36:51.079
And then as we move on, we have like a
660
00:36:51.199 --> 00:36:55.679
developer interview that's sort of editorialized with okay, you know,
661
00:36:55.840 --> 00:37:02.079
looking at Final Fantasy, but you know ten, the development
662
00:37:02.079 --> 00:37:04.480
of Fanensi ten, I suppose, but it has you know,
663
00:37:04.599 --> 00:37:09.960
director Yoshi no Kase, artist Tetsuya Nomura, and it just
664
00:37:10.079 --> 00:37:12.480
kind of looks at fan ten's development and tries to
665
00:37:12.480 --> 00:37:14.920
tell that story. It's it's pretty short, but it's it's
666
00:37:14.960 --> 00:37:17.280
full of good stuff, and the screenshots as well.
667
00:37:17.599 --> 00:37:18.639
Are looking really slick.
668
00:37:18.719 --> 00:37:22.519
So just a nicely laid out feature area looking at
669
00:37:22.519 --> 00:37:25.800
Fan Fantasy ten, which links into of course, this issue's
670
00:37:25.800 --> 00:37:26.480
big review.
671
00:37:26.920 --> 00:37:29.639
Pretty wild, how strong it would still be to get
672
00:37:29.639 --> 00:37:33.119
a sit down with you to say no more yeah
673
00:37:33.360 --> 00:37:36.920
about history of Final Fantasy. Yeah, now right? How relevant
674
00:37:36.960 --> 00:37:38.280
that would still be Yeah.
675
00:37:38.360 --> 00:37:42.719
I mean I I've done interviews with the Fun Fantasy team,
676
00:37:42.760 --> 00:37:46.239
but they're definitely focused on whatever game they're putting out now. Yeah,
677
00:37:46.320 --> 00:37:49.480
and so like, yes, you would get access for Fanoanzi ten,
678
00:37:50.480 --> 00:37:55.519
but getting like the ability to ask questions about the
679
00:37:55.639 --> 00:37:59.840
series pass and contextualizing stuff and not talking directly about
680
00:37:59.880 --> 00:38:02.639
like marketable Final Fantasy ten aspects would be really hard.
681
00:38:02.880 --> 00:38:05.719
I think I've read multiple people talk about yeah today,
682
00:38:05.840 --> 00:38:07.440
like if you want to talk to hear In Nobu
683
00:38:07.519 --> 00:38:11.559
Saka Gucci, yeah, you get one non whatever moble game
684
00:38:11.599 --> 00:38:15.440
he's working on. Question Chris Kohler, who is like longtime
685
00:38:15.559 --> 00:38:20.719
games journalists for Wired and Kotaku, like friend of retronauts,
686
00:38:20.760 --> 00:38:23.880
like like he has access and he's covered games for
687
00:38:23.920 --> 00:38:26.039
a long time and now he works for Digital Eclipse.
688
00:38:26.599 --> 00:38:27.639
He wrote a book for.
689
00:38:27.679 --> 00:38:30.519
Boss Fight Books about Final Fanci five, and like all
690
00:38:30.559 --> 00:38:33.960
of his Hero and Obu Saka Gucci quotes like directly
691
00:38:34.800 --> 00:38:39.679
Final Fancy five come from like uh interview he hosted
692
00:38:39.960 --> 00:38:43.320
on like on stage where he basically just like he
693
00:38:43.400 --> 00:38:45.480
was talking to Saka Guji about something and then just
694
00:38:45.559 --> 00:38:49.519
started peppering him with like specific Financi history and Financi
695
00:38:49.559 --> 00:38:51.639
five questions, and that was the only way he could
696
00:38:51.679 --> 00:38:55.039
get sak Gucci on record about these older games, because
697
00:38:55.039 --> 00:38:56.599
a lot of it is so kind of gate kept
698
00:38:56.639 --> 00:38:58.559
by pr and stuff nowadays.
699
00:38:58.559 --> 00:38:59.159
Man h.
700
00:38:59.280 --> 00:39:02.599
So you know, pretty cool little spot. And you're also getting,
701
00:39:02.639 --> 00:39:05.760
like with Catase and Noma, you're getting such a strong
702
00:39:06.880 --> 00:39:10.199
look into the people who sort of took over Final
703
00:39:10.239 --> 00:39:13.800
Fantasy because Sakagucci of course left not long after this
704
00:39:13.960 --> 00:39:18.199
when the Spirits Within crashed, And so you know, you're
705
00:39:18.239 --> 00:39:20.840
getting to see the people who took Fan Fantasy ten
706
00:39:22.039 --> 00:39:24.840
and move the series forward, which we'll get to in
707
00:39:24.920 --> 00:39:25.519
a little bit.
708
00:39:26.159 --> 00:39:26.960
Page forty four.
709
00:39:27.000 --> 00:39:30.760
We have the other big feature, which is their quote
710
00:39:30.920 --> 00:39:34.840
games of two thousand and one not top games, not
711
00:39:34.960 --> 00:39:35.639
best games.
712
00:39:35.960 --> 00:39:38.480
These are games. There are games of two thousand and one.
713
00:39:39.960 --> 00:39:46.079
Presumably this top ten represents a ranked hierarchical scale of
714
00:39:46.119 --> 00:39:47.199
the best games of the year.
715
00:39:47.239 --> 00:39:49.679
We have Star Wars Rogue leader for the game, Cuban
716
00:39:49.760 --> 00:39:56.480
number ten, Halo shockingly low at number nine, barely a
717
00:39:56.519 --> 00:39:58.760
game of two thousand and one, barely a game of
718
00:39:58.760 --> 00:40:03.079
two thousand and one, which is pretty wild. Number eight
719
00:40:03.360 --> 00:40:06.920
Legend Zelda, Oracle of Ages. Heck yeah, good game, better
720
00:40:06.960 --> 00:40:13.719
than Halo, better than probably is better. I don't love
721
00:40:13.800 --> 00:40:19.000
the capcom Zelda's on game Boy Color, but it's pretty good.
722
00:40:19.639 --> 00:40:20.320
It's pretty good.
723
00:40:20.840 --> 00:40:24.400
Number seven Devin Way Cry, number six, Max Pain, Number
724
00:40:24.400 --> 00:40:28.159
five Twisted Metal Black, which again like for me, Twisted
725
00:40:28.199 --> 00:40:30.960
Metal Blacks one on this list, and I'm like, I
726
00:40:31.000 --> 00:40:34.360
don't know if that age great at number five, not
727
00:40:34.480 --> 00:40:36.360
to say, you know, I don't even know if it's
728
00:40:36.880 --> 00:40:40.239
holds up well, but it's not, you know, Devil Way Cry, Halo,
729
00:40:40.679 --> 00:40:43.679
Max Pain, Like, these are games that like really kind.
730
00:40:43.519 --> 00:40:46.440
Of stand out in the history of this period. We
731
00:40:46.480 --> 00:40:49.159
have number four Grand Turismo three A spec which is
732
00:40:49.559 --> 00:40:52.199
a great game, one of the best of the series.
733
00:40:52.519 --> 00:40:56.280
Yeah, so, like you know, Twisted Metal Black is up
734
00:40:56.320 --> 00:40:59.920
against some heavy hitters. The top three Tony Hawk prosk
735
00:41:00.280 --> 00:41:04.480
three one and two are of my favorites, but you
736
00:41:04.480 --> 00:41:07.719
know three is great as well. Number two Grand Theft
737
00:41:07.760 --> 00:41:11.119
Auto three, one of the biggest games of all time,
738
00:41:11.960 --> 00:41:14.880
best sleeper game of the year, Advance Wars fabulous, pick
739
00:41:15.039 --> 00:41:18.840
love it. Number one Metal Your Solid two Sons of Liberty,
740
00:41:19.920 --> 00:41:23.000
which I like it because like Metal Your Solid two,
741
00:41:23.079 --> 00:41:26.519
Like you know, as we discussed in the episode it
742
00:41:26.599 --> 00:41:29.159
was divisive because of you know, it's big rug poll
743
00:41:29.239 --> 00:41:32.280
and what it did for the series and stuff. But
744
00:41:32.559 --> 00:41:34.800
I think it holds up really well. And I think
745
00:41:34.840 --> 00:41:38.639
that of all the games on this list, to me,
746
00:41:38.800 --> 00:41:42.400
it's the best outside of maybe maybe Halo is is
747
00:41:42.519 --> 00:41:46.320
number one in hindsight, but and you know with the
748
00:41:46.360 --> 00:41:49.360
caveat that, I'm not big on Grand Theft Auto R.
749
00:41:49.440 --> 00:41:51.679
Do you think of this list? Tie, Yeah, no, it's good.
750
00:41:51.679 --> 00:41:54.800
It's also I meant to check exactly when Vice City
751
00:41:55.360 --> 00:41:58.519
was released, yeah, because to me, Vice City was just
752
00:41:58.559 --> 00:42:01.280
the way more culturally, Like GTA three was a big hit,
753
00:42:01.360 --> 00:42:04.000
no question, but Vice Cities when it kind of became
754
00:42:05.079 --> 00:42:08.079
that was the sensation. Yeah, you know, the Miami Vice vibes,
755
00:42:08.159 --> 00:42:11.320
the soundtrack, Raleiota, all that stuff was like that was huge. Yeah.
756
00:42:12.239 --> 00:42:16.760
And then again GT three A was gigantic. I think
757
00:42:16.800 --> 00:42:19.039
it was even a packing game. They made a separate
758
00:42:19.039 --> 00:42:23.400
PS two bundle, right, yeah, GTA three and so like
759
00:42:23.559 --> 00:42:27.599
I'm not GTA three, Grand Turismo three A spec yeah
760
00:42:27.880 --> 00:42:33.360
GT three three as yeah, yeah there go, so like,
761
00:42:33.480 --> 00:42:35.800
don't don't look down on that as one as a
762
00:42:35.880 --> 00:42:38.199
huge one in history as well. But also it's very
763
00:42:38.199 --> 00:42:40.880
funny getting this like Oscars Vibes where it's like, oh, yes,
764
00:42:40.920 --> 00:42:43.920
the Best Picture of the Year was released in New
765
00:42:44.000 --> 00:42:49.679
York and LA on December fourteenth, and uh, you normals
766
00:42:49.719 --> 00:42:53.039
can go see it now in the middle of February,
767
00:42:53.280 --> 00:42:56.519
you know, like, okay, right, totally whatever.
768
00:42:56.480 --> 00:42:56.880
It's good.
769
00:42:57.079 --> 00:42:59.079
The Games of two thousand and one where all these
770
00:42:59.119 --> 00:43:03.000
games that came out before Christmas. Yeah, pretty pretty packed
771
00:43:03.079 --> 00:43:06.480
for sure, Blunder of the Year, Xbox Controller, like it's
772
00:43:06.480 --> 00:43:09.400
wild and even then, you know, like they were covering
773
00:43:09.400 --> 00:43:13.719
the Xbox launch. In this episode, after the Top ten,
774
00:43:14.159 --> 00:43:17.480
which is full of bangers, we have a ton of
775
00:43:17.719 --> 00:43:26.039
previews and ads for some like incredibly mid Games, TI Reckless, Yagger,
776
00:43:27.519 --> 00:43:36.119
Spider Man, the movie Air Blade. There's Yagger, Malice Cat's.
777
00:43:35.840 --> 00:43:39.880
Tail cat being spelled with the K tails being spelled
778
00:43:40.159 --> 00:43:42.320
T A L E. So like double pons.
779
00:43:43.000 --> 00:43:46.239
Okay, is this Jaeger like Chuck Yeger? I bet that's
780
00:43:46.239 --> 00:43:49.639
what it's. That's I don't even know who Chuck Yagger is.
781
00:43:49.719 --> 00:43:53.440
So I use a famous American test pilot. He was
782
00:43:53.480 --> 00:43:56.280
the first guy to break the speed of sound. Okay,
783
00:43:56.880 --> 00:43:59.880
I guess, so I like, which is real dumb because
784
00:43:59.880 --> 00:44:03.960
I was like nineteen sixty four. Yeah, oh yeah, space
785
00:44:04.199 --> 00:44:04.440
like that.
786
00:44:06.519 --> 00:44:09.280
Yeah, this is tie in the future, just a little
787
00:44:09.280 --> 00:44:12.599
bit off. Chuck Yeger broke the sound barrier in nineteen
788
00:44:12.800 --> 00:44:18.400
forty seven in the Bell X one, which memory serves
789
00:44:18.480 --> 00:44:21.960
was basically a rocket with wings dropped from a glider
790
00:44:22.039 --> 00:44:26.679
plane and then sh yeah. Jeger flew a lot of
791
00:44:26.719 --> 00:44:31.840
other experimental test flights for the National Advisory Committee for
792
00:44:31.960 --> 00:44:37.320
Aeronautics MECCA, which later became NASA. He essentually promoted up
793
00:44:37.360 --> 00:44:41.639
to Brigadier General et cetera, et cetera. Great man of history.
794
00:44:42.199 --> 00:44:44.679
Chuck Yeger, yeehaw, whip crack.
795
00:44:47.599 --> 00:44:50.880
You kind of see how you have like you know,
796
00:44:50.960 --> 00:44:54.079
you would have had boomer execs kind of like drawn
797
00:44:54.119 --> 00:44:58.559
to stories like that, right, whereas like now twenty years later,
798
00:44:58.960 --> 00:45:01.199
I you know, we have all these debates about like
799
00:45:01.320 --> 00:45:03.800
who's this game for, why is it referencing this or
800
00:45:03.800 --> 00:45:06.440
that or whatever. It's like, well, because a bunch of
801
00:45:06.480 --> 00:45:08.679
millennials are making it in gen X are the ones that
802
00:45:08.719 --> 00:45:12.760
are approving it. So it's interesting to see sort of
803
00:45:12.760 --> 00:45:18.840
that those generational like stories persevering. We've got Command and Conquer,
804
00:45:19.599 --> 00:45:23.320
Renegade Blood Omen two.
805
00:45:25.719 --> 00:45:28.800
Finally a banger in Silent Build two Restless Dreams, but
806
00:45:28.840 --> 00:45:30.159
it also gets a small preview.
807
00:45:30.280 --> 00:45:32.960
So, like, the thing that really stands out to me
808
00:45:33.079 --> 00:45:37.360
is that with all the like all time classics we're
809
00:45:37.559 --> 00:45:40.679
released and reviewed in this period, like Halo, like Metal Gear, Solitude,
810
00:45:40.679 --> 00:45:46.199
like Grand Theft, Auto three, like ten, the future release schedule,
811
00:45:47.119 --> 00:45:53.320
at least according to this issue is like pretty pretty soft. Yeah,
812
00:45:53.320 --> 00:45:55.639
And I feel like we had some I feel like
813
00:45:55.679 --> 00:45:59.199
we had some better previews in other magazines because this
814
00:45:59.280 --> 00:46:01.199
is our fourth January two thousand.
815
00:46:00.880 --> 00:46:02.960
And two we're looking at. And I know Reckless was
816
00:46:03.000 --> 00:46:07.119
in Xbox Official Magazine, but they also had and here's
817
00:46:07.360 --> 00:46:10.719
Xbox Official Magazine, right, They had a bunch of other
818
00:46:10.920 --> 00:46:14.440
exclusive previews and stuff. They had the fighting game that
819
00:46:14.480 --> 00:46:17.440
didn't have a game part yet for the characters and vibes.
820
00:46:18.239 --> 00:46:23.719
They had the was It Enclave, the one with the
821
00:46:23.760 --> 00:46:26.800
ten ADP graphics. You know, they had like a bunch
822
00:46:26.840 --> 00:46:29.360
of stuff in their previews that this doesn't have. And
823
00:46:29.440 --> 00:46:34.679
also is Andy McNamara's noted up front of the letter
824
00:46:34.679 --> 00:46:37.920
from the editor, they didn't have a GameCube DevKit that
825
00:46:37.960 --> 00:46:40.800
could play third party games, so they weren't they don't
826
00:46:40.800 --> 00:46:43.400
have any GameCube coverage either, so that kind of put
827
00:46:43.440 --> 00:46:48.239
them way behind on some of these previews, which makes interestingly,
828
00:46:48.840 --> 00:46:53.159
and I'm sure it's still wasn't like hey, mega massive,
829
00:46:53.199 --> 00:46:57.920
gigantic Christmas season and then nothing after is not that surprising,
830
00:46:58.199 --> 00:47:01.320
But also it looks worse in this magazine than any
831
00:47:01.320 --> 00:47:02.519
of the other issues we've looked at.
832
00:47:02.599 --> 00:47:05.119
You sort of in that like dead zone because E
833
00:47:05.239 --> 00:47:07.840
three was, you know, like in that announcement period sort
834
00:47:07.840 --> 00:47:11.599
of in the late spring, we were starting to get
835
00:47:11.639 --> 00:47:14.960
into that cyclical like area where they were starting to
836
00:47:15.000 --> 00:47:17.519
control messaging a little bit more. I think I'd be
837
00:47:17.599 --> 00:47:19.559
curious and then to look at some of the Christmas
838
00:47:19.559 --> 00:47:21.719
issues like we'll get there later in the season, like
839
00:47:21.760 --> 00:47:24.800
from later in this year, like yes, what were some
840
00:47:24.840 --> 00:47:26.199
of the big releases this year.
841
00:47:26.039 --> 00:47:29.360
That weren't kind of covered here? Okay, Well, no matter
842
00:47:29.400 --> 00:47:32.679
how great or not the writing is in these classic
843
00:47:32.679 --> 00:47:35.760
game magazines, our favorite writing to read is yours. We
844
00:47:35.840 --> 00:47:37.559
come back from this ad break, we will read your
845
00:47:37.599 --> 00:47:40.800
reviews of our reviews of classic video game magazine reviews
846
00:47:40.840 --> 00:47:58.519
break here on fun Factor. We've got mailed. As promised,
847
00:47:58.599 --> 00:48:00.760
we always review the best one. Funny is kindness and
848
00:48:00.760 --> 00:48:04.159
most entertaining five star Apple podcast reviews on the air.
849
00:48:04.719 --> 00:48:06.760
Bonus points if you say who your favorite host is
850
00:48:07.079 --> 00:48:10.119
and why, Double bonus points if it's aiden. Of course,
851
00:48:10.119 --> 00:48:13.280
we also look at your YouTube comments. We try to
852
00:48:13.280 --> 00:48:15.440
reply as quickly as we can because we love the
853
00:48:15.480 --> 00:48:19.000
interaction that you guys always have great comments. Jason Wfde
854
00:48:19.159 --> 00:48:21.760
is always there chatting it up in the YouTube comments
855
00:48:21.800 --> 00:48:24.760
as well, which we super appreciate. Aidan, we have a
856
00:48:24.840 --> 00:48:29.440
review five stars on Apple podcast from Georgie Boys Acts.
857
00:48:30.039 --> 00:48:33.320
Title is a retro podcast that's different in all the
858
00:48:33.400 --> 00:48:37.000
right ways, magnificent. We love it for all of the
859
00:48:37.039 --> 00:48:40.440
gaming schmucks who rush to their local newstand or mailbox
860
00:48:40.480 --> 00:48:43.400
to read their beloved gaming rags. This show is for you.
861
00:48:43.840 --> 00:48:45.599
There is a ton of passion and a lot of
862
00:48:45.639 --> 00:48:47.400
expertise here from folks who are doing it for the
863
00:48:47.400 --> 00:48:50.119
love of the game, and one hundred x better than
864
00:48:50.280 --> 00:48:53.000
any slop fueled vintage post being fed to you by
865
00:48:53.000 --> 00:48:55.559
the algorithm. Not bad.
866
00:48:55.920 --> 00:48:59.079
Love it, I love it, and just shout out for
867
00:48:59.199 --> 00:49:05.239
Georgie and Press Pause Radio which Georgie hosts fabulous podcast
868
00:49:05.320 --> 00:49:10.320
looking at and covering video games. Also great streams on Twitch,
869
00:49:11.679 --> 00:49:15.320
and Georgie has one of the most impressive retro setups
870
00:49:15.320 --> 00:49:17.639
I've ever seen. I was looking at some pictures and
871
00:49:17.679 --> 00:49:18.119
it's like.
872
00:49:18.159 --> 00:49:20.079
You know, I've got a pretty good setup.
873
00:49:20.960 --> 00:49:24.599
I got nothing on Georgie impressive stuff. So having readers
874
00:49:25.000 --> 00:49:27.800
like Georgie and friends of the show like Georgie writing
875
00:49:27.840 --> 00:49:29.039
those reviews is like it.
876
00:49:29.199 --> 00:49:32.000
Honestly means the world. It makes my day and my week.
877
00:49:32.079 --> 00:49:34.559
So thanks so much, well, thank you so much to
878
00:49:34.559 --> 00:49:38.800
Georgie Boys Act. Check out Georgie's podcast again, leave rating,
879
00:49:38.920 --> 00:49:42.320
leave review wherever you get your media. Apple Podcasts is
880
00:49:42.440 --> 00:49:46.079
probably the best in terms of you know, algorithm and
881
00:49:46.159 --> 00:49:49.239
whatnot for us. But just talking on YouTube sharing or
882
00:49:49.239 --> 00:49:52.519
wherever on Twitch with aiden it streaming super cool. We
883
00:49:52.559 --> 00:49:55.840
appreciate all of it, and we will get back to
884
00:49:56.000 --> 00:50:22.360
the game and performer right here on fun Factor. We're
885
00:50:22.400 --> 00:50:24.960
having five stars worth of five stars out of fun today.
886
00:50:25.039 --> 00:50:27.360
If you are two again, please leave rating, a review
887
00:50:27.360 --> 00:50:30.159
wherever you get your podcast. We super appreciate it. Make
888
00:50:30.159 --> 00:50:33.400
sure to shout us out on social media because spreading
889
00:50:33.559 --> 00:50:37.760
the word hand to hand, mouth to ear is how
890
00:50:38.119 --> 00:50:40.559
we get ears and eyeballs on the work that we're doing.
891
00:50:40.760 --> 00:50:42.119
We love to do it. We want to do it
892
00:50:42.159 --> 00:50:44.360
for as many of you as we can. It is
893
00:50:44.440 --> 00:50:50.719
time to review. Game informers review of Wait, which one
894
00:50:50.719 --> 00:50:53.800
are we doing? Final Fantasy ten?
895
00:50:54.480 --> 00:50:54.599
Right?
896
00:50:54.639 --> 00:50:56.760
I was like we did the big preview walk through
897
00:50:56.800 --> 00:50:58.320
interview thing and that I was like, wait, this is
898
00:50:58.320 --> 00:51:01.320
Final Fantasy ten. Okay, Final Fantasy t review format go.
899
00:51:07.440 --> 00:51:11.159
Up front Gaming Former seems to use a pretty straightforward
900
00:51:11.159 --> 00:51:12.239
review system.
901
00:51:12.639 --> 00:51:17.440
There are six reviewers. They have a ten point scale,
902
00:51:17.719 --> 00:51:20.400
but it's actually it uses quarter marks.
903
00:51:20.400 --> 00:51:22.679
So like ten point two five to ten point five,
904
00:51:22.880 --> 00:51:26.599
so it's actually like, I think a forty point scale.
905
00:51:27.320 --> 00:51:31.639
Most games have a primary reviewer rating the game on
906
00:51:31.679 --> 00:51:37.960
that ten point scale with quarter points. Ten is Perfection,
907
00:51:38.599 --> 00:51:40.440
one of the best games of all time. Nine is
908
00:51:40.480 --> 00:51:42.920
worth owning. Eight Steve worth drop off.
909
00:51:43.000 --> 00:51:47.400
Steep drop off for sure, for sure, eight is worth playing,
910
00:51:47.679 --> 00:51:50.800
seven is worth renting, and six is limited appeal It
911
00:51:50.840 --> 00:51:51.800
is worth renting.
912
00:51:52.480 --> 00:51:55.519
I kind of like this though, I'd like being like, yeah,
913
00:51:55.559 --> 00:51:58.199
play this, but like, don't invest too much money into it.
914
00:51:58.199 --> 00:52:00.920
It's worth your time and not your money. Even below though,
915
00:52:01.119 --> 00:52:05.159
is just is garbage quote unquote garbage. So really it's
916
00:52:05.199 --> 00:52:09.320
a six point scale. Ten nine, eight, seven, six, five
917
00:52:09.360 --> 00:52:12.599
and below, but it has quarter.
918
00:52:12.400 --> 00:52:19.519
Points, so it's really like twenty four point scale. Our
919
00:52:19.519 --> 00:52:23.199
twenty point scale. Is it like ten with quarter points? Ten, three,
920
00:52:23.280 --> 00:52:26.760
six with quarter points, five and below has quarter points
921
00:52:26.800 --> 00:52:27.519
but they don't matter.
922
00:52:29.199 --> 00:52:32.760
I don't know. Math's not my thing. It's weird, it's complex.
923
00:52:33.119 --> 00:52:35.880
Don't do this. People don't do this. Don't do this.
924
00:52:37.599 --> 00:52:41.199
Games receive either a full length review, which is what
925
00:52:41.239 --> 00:52:44.960
we'll look at with ten, accompanied by a score, small
926
00:52:45.000 --> 00:52:51.360
scoreless breakout capsule comments for quote, concept, graphics, sound, playability, entertainment,
927
00:52:51.400 --> 00:52:55.679
and replay value, and then another scored second opinion capsule review.
928
00:52:55.800 --> 00:52:58.199
So in some ways, very similar to like what we
929
00:52:58.239 --> 00:53:00.639
were seeing in game players in the late ninety where
930
00:53:00.639 --> 00:53:02.519
you had a main reviewer, you had a second opinion,
931
00:53:02.840 --> 00:53:06.000
you had some like specific metrics, and then an overall score.
932
00:53:06.239 --> 00:53:12.079
The difference being there's no weighted scoring happening between the playability, entertainment,
933
00:53:12.119 --> 00:53:15.559
replay value stuff and the main review score. It's just
934
00:53:15.639 --> 00:53:18.920
one number. It's there's a lot going on here.
935
00:53:19.280 --> 00:53:22.800
Uh yeah, I mean cool. This is pretty standard with
936
00:53:22.880 --> 00:53:27.239
the bullet points and pulling out graphics, sound whatever. I
937
00:53:27.320 --> 00:53:29.440
like that they haven't done it into a, well, these
938
00:53:29.480 --> 00:53:32.480
all score, these facets all have to be scored individually,
939
00:53:32.519 --> 00:53:35.039
and then we have some extremely Matthew math way to
940
00:53:35.159 --> 00:53:39.079
pile that up into a true objective overall score, because
941
00:53:39.079 --> 00:53:40.519
as we've talked about a lot of times, there are
942
00:53:40.559 --> 00:53:44.119
some very clear examples where that is not what's actually happening.
943
00:53:44.119 --> 00:53:48.079
They're giving it a score and then reverse engineering. But yeah,
944
00:53:48.719 --> 00:53:53.119
like you say, the six point basically five star six
945
00:53:53.159 --> 00:53:57.400
star scale, perfection worth owning, worth playing, worth renting, limited appeal,
946
00:53:57.400 --> 00:54:00.719
and garbage, and then the other the whole bottom half
947
00:54:00.719 --> 00:54:02.480
of the scale is just for decoration. In a sense,
948
00:54:02.519 --> 00:54:05.760
it makes a sense that it's probably you know, the
949
00:54:05.840 --> 00:54:10.079
most accurate way of describing the metacritic. Yeah, Like, I
950
00:54:10.119 --> 00:54:11.880
all know what a ten is, we all know what
951
00:54:11.920 --> 00:54:13.639
a nine is, we all know what eight is, we
952
00:54:13.679 --> 00:54:16.360
all know what a seven is. I still think for me,
953
00:54:17.880 --> 00:54:23.239
the eight is worth playing. I would give any eight
954
00:54:23.320 --> 00:54:25.719
a worth buying, right, Like to me, like, even for
955
00:54:25.880 --> 00:54:29.039
doing this scale, the stop the drop off from ten
956
00:54:29.159 --> 00:54:31.039
is Perfection one of the best games of all time
957
00:54:31.119 --> 00:54:34.719
to nine is yeah, this is worth the money if
958
00:54:34.760 --> 00:54:38.320
you pay for it. Like that seems like a gigantic
959
00:54:38.400 --> 00:54:41.280
drop off to me. And I'm gonna bet that they
960
00:54:41.320 --> 00:54:43.880
don't stick that close to that actual scale, just like
961
00:54:43.960 --> 00:54:47.119
last month's Xbox Official magazine and.
962
00:54:47.039 --> 00:54:49.639
Like even like the way to describe a nine quote.
963
00:54:49.719 --> 00:54:52.119
Fans of the genre should definitely enjoy this game, but
964
00:54:52.199 --> 00:54:54.400
even those who don't normally like this type of game
965
00:54:54.440 --> 00:54:54.920
may find.
966
00:54:54.800 --> 00:54:58.800
Themselves getting hooked. For me, that like describes a seven. Right, Yeah,
967
00:54:58.840 --> 00:54:59.840
it's like it's good.
968
00:55:00.079 --> 00:55:02.840
Going to appeal to people who love this genre, but
969
00:55:02.960 --> 00:55:06.079
it's weird enough that it might appeal to people outside
970
00:55:06.079 --> 00:55:06.280
of that.
971
00:55:06.400 --> 00:55:06.719
Like, so.
972
00:55:08.320 --> 00:55:11.480
You know, I think they try to add a lot
973
00:55:11.519 --> 00:55:15.079
of words to like this numerical scale that just muddies
974
00:55:15.119 --> 00:55:15.679
the water.
975
00:55:15.480 --> 00:55:18.000
A little bit more. Yeah, yeah, let's get onto the
976
00:55:18.039 --> 00:55:19.000
review fouan ten.
977
00:55:19.039 --> 00:55:22.800
It's right here on the opposite page the cover, I
978
00:55:22.840 --> 00:55:25.719
guess of the review section Fanansi ten. It has the
979
00:55:26.000 --> 00:55:29.920
iconic key art of Titus and Una in the Pond,
980
00:55:30.119 --> 00:55:32.119
which is one of the like great moments in fan
981
00:55:32.119 --> 00:55:35.039
Fantasy ten. But even as somebody who doesn't love Fananasa
982
00:55:35.119 --> 00:55:36.840
ten one of the great moments I think in kind
983
00:55:36.840 --> 00:55:40.760
of video game narrative history. It also lists and announces
984
00:55:40.880 --> 00:55:43.679
the game in a month Fananzi ten says quote with
985
00:55:43.719 --> 00:55:46.360
an undying devotion to changing the way people perceive role
986
00:55:46.360 --> 00:55:49.119
playing games. Squaresoft has completely altered the status quote for
987
00:55:49.239 --> 00:55:53.519
rbg's in Foal Fantasy ten from spoken dialogue to combat innovations.
988
00:55:54.000 --> 00:55:57.440
Nothing can prepare you for the adventure ahead. Fan Fantasy
989
00:55:57.440 --> 00:55:59.960
ten is a landmark release in one of Square's finest.
990
00:55:59.679 --> 00:56:00.800
Titles to date.
991
00:56:03.920 --> 00:56:07.639
No byline on that, but presumably written by either whoever
992
00:56:07.800 --> 00:56:12.400
edits the review section or the reviewer themselves. And here
993
00:56:12.400 --> 00:56:13.840
we go, fo when is he ten? So we have
994
00:56:13.880 --> 00:56:16.440
a main review written by Ryner. It's on the left
995
00:56:16.440 --> 00:56:20.920
hand page. It's a full like textual review. It's pretty chunky,
996
00:56:20.920 --> 00:56:24.039
I'd say, probably like two hundred and fifty three hundred words,
997
00:56:25.559 --> 00:56:28.360
bordered by some great screenshots from the game, including cutscene
998
00:56:28.400 --> 00:56:29.719
stuff but also gameplay stuff.
999
00:56:29.840 --> 00:56:30.559
Looks really good.
1000
00:56:30.920 --> 00:56:34.599
On the opposite page we have a lot more screenshots,
1001
00:56:35.000 --> 00:56:37.639
some key art of Kamari, like a poll quote, and
1002
00:56:37.679 --> 00:56:40.360
then on the far right column we have the bottom
1003
00:56:40.360 --> 00:56:44.000
line score, which was a nine point seventy five out
1004
00:56:44.000 --> 00:56:48.039
of ten, putting it firmly in the worth buying category,
1005
00:56:48.079 --> 00:56:50.559
but not in the best games of all time category.
1006
00:56:51.719 --> 00:56:55.679
And then we have the pull out like capsule section
1007
00:56:55.800 --> 00:56:59.079
with concept so it says quote the first talkie in
1008
00:56:59.159 --> 00:57:02.639
the series, featuring hours of spoken dialogue, realistic motion captured animation,
1009
00:57:03.000 --> 00:57:07.000
and highly detailed CG cutscenes graphics nothing short of a
1010
00:57:07.119 --> 00:57:12.119
visual tour to force. Sound arguably nobu Uimatsu's best soundtrack
1011
00:57:12.159 --> 00:57:16.679
to date. It is excellent playability. The refined combat system
1012
00:57:16.719 --> 00:57:19.639
allows players to rotate party members, level up summons, and
1013
00:57:19.639 --> 00:57:23.960
customize weapons. Entertainment is the quest is as linear as
1014
00:57:23.960 --> 00:57:26.760
they come, which I'm glad to see them. Like mention,
1015
00:57:28.239 --> 00:57:31.320
yet additional story material, bonus battles, and hidden weapons can
1016
00:57:31.360 --> 00:57:35.320
be obtained through through side quests. The replay values listed
1017
00:57:35.360 --> 00:57:38.239
as moderately high. And then we have a second opinion.
1018
00:57:37.880 --> 00:57:42.360
Score from Justin which is also a nine point seven five.
1019
00:57:43.960 --> 00:57:47.599
Before we really dig into this review, though, let's put
1020
00:57:47.599 --> 00:57:49.840
a pause on things for a second because I want
1021
00:57:49.840 --> 00:57:52.800
to skip ahead. So this is nine point seventy five.
1022
00:57:52.800 --> 00:57:55.039
This is almost a perfect score from game and former. Yes,
1023
00:57:55.239 --> 00:57:57.760
I want to skip ahead to page eighty eight to
1024
00:57:57.800 --> 00:58:00.760
look at what the opposite looks like. We have a
1025
00:58:00.920 --> 00:58:04.199
one star review, a one out of ten review here
1026
00:58:04.280 --> 00:58:11.760
forv oh P, released by Ubisoft on the PlayStation. Can
1027
00:58:11.800 --> 00:58:15.280
you read this one out of ten review from Matt
1028
00:58:15.480 --> 00:58:16.119
for me time?
1029
00:58:16.519 --> 00:58:16.679
Yes.
1030
00:58:16.760 --> 00:58:20.679
Sure. If there were such a thing as game developer fraternities,
1031
00:58:20.760 --> 00:58:23.559
i'd suspect VIP was the product of a rush week
1032
00:58:23.679 --> 00:58:27.119
prank at the Ubisoft campus. Like the show it's based on,
1033
00:58:27.480 --> 00:58:31.679
the game is so indescribably bad that it's almost good
1034
00:58:31.719 --> 00:58:34.719
in its own weird way. Actually it's not. It's not.
1035
00:58:34.880 --> 00:58:37.800
In fact, it's absolutely horrible. It looks worse than Pam's
1036
00:58:37.800 --> 00:58:40.679
new boyfriend kid Rock after a bottle of Jack Daniels.
1037
00:58:41.079 --> 00:58:45.840
Imagine Parapa meets Shrek fairy Tale, freaked down in high heels,
1038
00:58:45.880 --> 00:58:49.039
and then start running. Perhaps someday you'll find the Citagarage
1039
00:58:49.039 --> 00:58:51.320
shield for fifty cents. If you do, I'd pick it
1040
00:58:51.400 --> 00:58:54.199
up as a cheap reminder of just how bad games
1041
00:58:54.199 --> 00:58:54.599
can be.
1042
00:58:56.159 --> 00:59:02.920
Vicious yikes, Parapa catching some strays? Was this a rhythm game?
1043
00:59:03.519 --> 00:59:06.320
I barely know what VIP is. It was like a
1044
00:59:06.400 --> 00:59:13.280
Charlie's Angel type like show with Pamela Anderson, right, I think, yeah,
1045
00:59:13.400 --> 00:59:15.280
I assume that's why she's mentioned. I think that's her
1046
00:59:15.320 --> 00:59:15.760
in the picture.
1047
00:59:15.840 --> 00:59:16.440
I don't know.
1048
00:59:16.559 --> 00:59:19.480
I don't really remember the show, but Parapa catch strays
1049
00:59:19.719 --> 00:59:22.840
is like that's not fair. But in any case, yeah,
1050
00:59:23.320 --> 00:59:26.400
I would say correct me if I'm wrong, Ti or Chat.
1051
00:59:26.840 --> 00:59:29.119
A one out of ten is like as rare as
1052
00:59:29.000 --> 00:59:31.199
a as a ten out of ten and maybe had
1053
00:59:31.679 --> 00:59:32.360
probably rare.
1054
00:59:32.559 --> 00:59:35.880
Yeah yeah right, Like especially when they're like anything five
1055
00:59:35.960 --> 00:59:40.960
or below is garbage. This a one, Yeah, Like that's terrible,
1056
00:59:41.360 --> 00:59:42.199
Like that's bad.
1057
00:59:42.519 --> 00:59:45.039
Like when you go to like the lowest of the low,
1058
00:59:45.480 --> 00:59:47.719
like we have Twisted Metal Small Brawl here, it got
1059
00:59:47.760 --> 00:59:51.480
a three? What else do we have track on the Xbox,
1060
00:59:52.079 --> 00:59:55.519
which of course was compared favorably in one of the
1061
00:59:55.519 --> 00:59:59.719
previous episodes we did. They were like, hey, this was
1062
00:59:59.760 --> 01:00:01.679
all World munch Is Odyssey, and they're like, this doesn't
1063
01:00:01.679 --> 01:00:04.039
look as good as Shrek. It got a two out
1064
01:00:04.039 --> 01:00:07.000
of ten. Let's see if we have any other like
1065
01:00:07.039 --> 01:00:08.360
super low scores here.
1066
01:00:09.239 --> 01:00:11.519
We don't want to. That's more using the whole scale
1067
01:00:11.519 --> 01:00:12.519
than yeah.
1068
01:00:12.239 --> 01:00:15.360
Right, And that's what I wanted wanted to look at,
1069
01:00:15.480 --> 01:00:17.880
is like they have the scale and it's so reductive
1070
01:00:17.880 --> 01:00:22.039
in the way that it looks at like sub five scores,
1071
01:00:22.119 --> 01:00:24.480
but then it actually uses some of the full scale
1072
01:00:24.519 --> 01:00:27.679
as well, which is weird, just very strange all around.
1073
01:00:27.719 --> 01:00:30.559
It's a Soldier of Fortune Gold got a four, Stunt
1074
01:00:30.599 --> 01:00:34.360
GP got a four, Jeremy mc grath's Supercross World got
1075
01:00:34.360 --> 01:00:36.400
a four, Mummy Returns got two point five, So like
1076
01:00:36.679 --> 01:00:40.119
they're using that scale under five but then lumping it
1077
01:00:40.159 --> 01:00:42.199
all into something so like it what really is the
1078
01:00:42.199 --> 01:00:43.880
difference between a two point five and a four?
1079
01:00:44.199 --> 01:00:47.480
Interesting? Also a quick shout out to the podcast Behind
1080
01:00:47.559 --> 01:00:51.119
the Bastards. All of it's great, but they're like multi
1081
01:00:51.159 --> 01:00:55.559
part episode on the guy behind Soldier of Fortune magazine Peak.
1082
01:00:55.880 --> 01:00:58.719
It's so good. That's very very funny. Love it.
1083
01:01:00.079 --> 01:01:04.119
Get back to the review itself, page seventy four. Reiner
1084
01:01:04.199 --> 01:01:07.679
is the lead reviewer on this with his textual review
1085
01:01:07.719 --> 01:01:09.760
like taking up the first whole page, like I said,
1086
01:01:10.559 --> 01:01:13.039
and it is pretty beefy, Like I think it's pretty
1087
01:01:13.079 --> 01:01:16.519
solid in terms of the way that it doesn't just
1088
01:01:16.679 --> 01:01:19.199
give a rundown of like, oh, here's how you play
1089
01:01:19.239 --> 01:01:21.880
the game, or it's not even really like a Buyer's
1090
01:01:21.880 --> 01:01:23.599
Guard review, which I.
1091
01:01:23.599 --> 01:01:26.360
Like a lot. Can you read his opening statement for
1092
01:01:26.519 --> 01:01:30.440
me kay. With each passing Final Fantasy release, Squaresoft continues
1093
01:01:30.480 --> 01:01:33.679
to improve upon perfection, not only setting a new standard
1094
01:01:33.679 --> 01:01:36.519
for role playing games, but for video games as a whole.
1095
01:01:37.000 --> 01:01:41.039
Without question, Final Fantasy ten is Sakagucci's most ambitious project yet,
1096
01:01:41.280 --> 01:01:43.800
and as a radical departure from the formula we've become
1097
01:01:43.880 --> 01:01:47.840
accustomed to tapping into every facet of the PlayStation two architecture,
1098
01:01:47.920 --> 01:01:51.960
the development team has completely revolutionized every aspect within the storytelling.
1099
01:01:52.639 --> 01:01:54.800
This may sound trivial in the grand scheme of things,
1100
01:01:54.880 --> 01:01:57.719
but it's the biggest change the series has ever made.
1101
01:01:58.159 --> 01:02:00.719
Before we get to my thoughts on this, because I
1102
01:02:00.760 --> 01:02:06.320
have some what's your experience with FO ten time? Yeah,
1103
01:02:06.880 --> 01:02:09.800
played it, mostly loved it. I was terrified of the
1104
01:02:09.880 --> 01:02:14.119
voice acting it was. It was fine, It was pretty
1105
01:02:14.119 --> 01:02:17.840
good For those of you who don't know, I haven't
1106
01:02:17.840 --> 01:02:23.519
done true professional video work for games, but I actually
1107
01:02:23.559 --> 01:02:26.760
have been involved in radio, especially since I was a
1108
01:02:26.760 --> 01:02:30.199
little kid. My mom worked in advertising, and so hey,
1109
01:02:30.239 --> 01:02:32.119
I was a little kid who could read with inflections,
1110
01:02:32.199 --> 01:02:36.000
so I got to do a bunch of local radio ads.
1111
01:02:36.320 --> 01:02:39.920
I was the Gladstone's Carpet kid here in Lansing, Michigan
1112
01:02:40.199 --> 01:02:43.159
for a while. That was pretty rad. So like, I
1113
01:02:43.199 --> 01:02:44.519
have a little experience with that, and one of my
1114
01:02:44.559 --> 01:02:47.039
best friends in high school growing up. Dave Beeson is
1115
01:02:47.119 --> 01:02:52.800
actually a professional voiceover actor and coach, so like, again
1116
01:02:53.079 --> 01:02:55.800
have a little experience with us, and so it was like, hey,
1117
01:02:55.840 --> 01:02:58.719
this was pretty darn good. You're also involved in theater
1118
01:02:58.960 --> 01:03:02.719
as well. Yes, so like but but my friend Dave
1119
01:03:02.880 --> 01:03:07.480
at the time when this came out, recognized Orn's voice
1120
01:03:07.519 --> 01:03:10.400
actor just from dialogue, like he ca like he listened.
1121
01:03:10.440 --> 01:03:12.239
He's like, oh, that's so and so. Oh did you
1122
01:03:12.280 --> 01:03:14.519
know he played so and so? Like what you know
1123
01:03:14.679 --> 01:03:17.079
that's the same No, way, that's the same guy. And
1124
01:03:17.119 --> 01:03:18.760
we like looked it up and it was he knew it,
1125
01:03:18.800 --> 01:03:21.159
knew I was right, Oh, okay, all right, so this
1126
01:03:21.199 --> 01:03:26.000
is this is pretty good. And I'll say I too,
1127
01:03:26.840 --> 01:03:30.079
spent the first like ten or twelve hours of the
1128
01:03:30.119 --> 01:03:31.840
game just okay, like but like when do I get
1129
01:03:31.840 --> 01:03:34.000
to like the overworld, Like when do I get to
1130
01:03:34.079 --> 01:03:37.519
like pick where I'm going? What do you when? When
1131
01:03:37.519 --> 01:03:39.159
am I going to get you know? And it wasn't
1132
01:03:39.199 --> 01:03:41.480
until the very end of the game where it was like, okay, cool,
1133
01:03:41.519 --> 01:03:42.239
here's the airship.
1134
01:03:42.280 --> 01:03:42.400
You know.
1135
01:03:42.800 --> 01:03:45.400
Wow, I mean you still only get like nodes on
1136
01:03:45.440 --> 01:03:48.679
our list too, Yeah, you don't get free travel. So
1137
01:03:49.320 --> 01:03:53.840
it it was like far, Like I was like waiting
1138
01:03:53.880 --> 01:03:55.599
for it, and then it wasn't happening, and I was
1139
01:03:55.639 --> 01:03:59.199
really thrown by, Oh wait, this whole thing is just linear, right,
1140
01:03:59.320 --> 01:04:02.800
It's just okay. But then it was. It was really good.
1141
01:04:03.159 --> 01:04:05.599
The story was really good. The graphics were incredible, the
1142
01:04:05.639 --> 01:04:09.639
music was incredible, the acting was good. And I, being
1143
01:04:09.679 --> 01:04:13.760
a sports ball guy, loved blitz Ball. I love blitz baugh.
1144
01:04:13.920 --> 01:04:16.119
Lots of people hated blitz ball. I love blitz Ball.
1145
01:04:16.440 --> 01:04:21.639
It wasn't perfect by a long shot, but like, it
1146
01:04:21.719 --> 01:04:25.480
was fun and intriguing enough that like, I really liked it,
1147
01:04:25.519 --> 01:04:29.599
and it games like the Captain Subasa series, which was
1148
01:04:29.639 --> 01:04:34.039
probably at least a significant piece of the inspiration for it,
1149
01:04:34.079 --> 01:04:36.559
has evolved into today we're a lot more familiar with
1150
01:04:36.599 --> 01:04:40.039
the idea of a sports game that's arkadie and you
1151
01:04:40.119 --> 01:04:43.360
have like battle anime moves and you know that kind
1152
01:04:43.400 --> 01:04:45.840
of thing. So I think if you readd sport the
1153
01:04:45.880 --> 01:04:49.039
blitz Ball today, even as like a standalone thing, I
1154
01:04:49.039 --> 01:04:55.800
think it could go crazy. My big problem with ten
1155
01:04:56.760 --> 01:04:58.800
was that I'm an I don't want to say I'm
1156
01:04:58.800 --> 01:05:01.239
a dumb dumb. I'm a little bit of a dumb
1157
01:05:01.280 --> 01:05:05.239
dumb In that sometimes I'm you know, even when I'm
1158
01:05:05.280 --> 01:05:09.880
reading books, I get really wrapped up emotionally in the
1159
01:05:09.880 --> 01:05:15.400
beat to beat moments, and I can miss you know,
1160
01:05:15.559 --> 01:05:18.800
I'm often not thinking of it structurally, and especially when
1161
01:05:18.800 --> 01:05:21.000
I was younger, right Like I'm older, I've been more
1162
01:05:21.039 --> 01:05:23.679
involved in like publishing and stuff and story you know,
1163
01:05:24.199 --> 01:05:27.480
story crafting, story writing and critique and that kind of thing.
1164
01:05:27.519 --> 01:05:29.599
So I'm a little bit better at being more analytical
1165
01:05:29.639 --> 01:05:36.280
when I consume stories like this. But I I was
1166
01:05:37.360 --> 01:05:40.400
really thrown by the game's ending. Some of the sign
1167
01:05:40.440 --> 01:05:44.880
posting of what was going on. I missed and or
1168
01:05:45.480 --> 01:05:48.440
went huh and then forgot, you know, or like filed
1169
01:05:48.440 --> 01:05:51.000
away as like what I so that ending. I really
1170
01:05:51.079 --> 01:05:57.079
did not find it satisfying or good at all. And also,
1171
01:05:58.960 --> 01:06:01.880
I'll hedge this in a second. My friend Dave beat
1172
01:06:01.920 --> 01:06:04.119
it and then said, oh yeah, you kind of there's
1173
01:06:04.159 --> 01:06:05.760
a good ending. You kind of got the bad ending.
1174
01:06:05.800 --> 01:06:07.639
You have the one hundred percent to get the good ending.
1175
01:06:08.000 --> 01:06:11.559
And every time I tell that anecdote, people come jumping
1176
01:06:11.559 --> 01:06:13.400
at me and go, oh no, no, no, no, you're wrong.
1177
01:06:13.400 --> 01:06:16.039
You're thinking of Final Fantasy ten too, And I'm like,
1178
01:06:16.480 --> 01:06:21.119
uh no, no, no, no, this was before ten two was released.
1179
01:06:21.119 --> 01:06:23.760
This is when ten was brand new and we played it.
1180
01:06:23.960 --> 01:06:26.159
I don't know where he got that idea or what.
1181
01:06:26.360 --> 01:06:29.199
I don't know, but like I spent that was theerra
1182
01:06:29.599 --> 01:06:33.039
right of like right, yeah apart, so like think yeah,
1183
01:06:33.239 --> 01:06:34.800
so I was, oh, you got to like get the
1184
01:06:34.840 --> 01:06:39.119
strategy guide one hundred percent. And I don't even know
1185
01:06:39.159 --> 01:06:41.400
if that's true or not, because at the time I
1186
01:06:41.400 --> 01:06:43.920
was kind of like, hey, that's blowney right like, and
1187
01:06:44.760 --> 01:06:47.400
I was so pet I hate the idea of you
1188
01:06:47.440 --> 01:06:49.280
got to buy the strategy guide to play the game
1189
01:06:49.320 --> 01:06:52.800
and have a good experience. Yeah, so that made me furious.
1190
01:06:52.920 --> 01:06:55.559
It made me not want to revisit it, which I
1191
01:06:55.599 --> 01:07:01.199
still really haven't. Yeah, and shading into ten too, I
1192
01:07:01.239 --> 01:07:04.159
bought ten two played through the intro sequence, which I
1193
01:07:04.199 --> 01:07:06.599
was like, well, this was not what I was expecting
1194
01:07:06.679 --> 01:07:10.280
at all. But you know, now that I think about it,
1195
01:07:10.519 --> 01:07:13.159
if a bunch of teenagers saved the world, yeah, what
1196
01:07:13.280 --> 01:07:16.159
would they do. They'd become teen celebrities, which are what
1197
01:07:16.199 --> 01:07:18.719
pops the I mean, I guess okay, I was. I
1198
01:07:18.760 --> 01:07:21.480
was fine with that. The next thing that happens is
1199
01:07:21.519 --> 01:07:23.800
the all bed come up out of the ocean speaking
1200
01:07:23.840 --> 01:07:25.840
all BED and it's untranslated and you have to go
1201
01:07:25.880 --> 01:07:29.440
find all the Allbed dictionaries again. And that is when
1202
01:07:29.480 --> 01:07:31.840
I rage quit, took the disc out of the PS
1203
01:07:31.880 --> 01:07:35.519
two and never played it again and still haven't because
1204
01:07:35.559 --> 01:07:37.880
I was just like, no, I cannot deal with strategy
1205
01:07:37.920 --> 01:07:41.840
Guide collectith on nonsense like this being front and center
1206
01:07:41.920 --> 01:07:44.559
over exploration and story and role playing.
1207
01:07:44.639 --> 01:07:49.199
So ultimately, after mention like two of your three party members,
1208
01:07:49.199 --> 01:07:51.000
one of them is just straight up all bad and
1209
01:07:51.039 --> 01:07:53.559
the other one is like half all BED, so like
1210
01:07:54.559 --> 01:07:56.480
you should just going to be that Yeah, yeah, you
1211
01:07:56.519 --> 01:07:58.320
can just speak that language.
1212
01:07:58.559 --> 01:08:00.559
Yeah, And I was just like yeah, Like I was like,
1213
01:08:00.599 --> 01:08:03.119
I did this already. I did this already. I think
1214
01:08:03.159 --> 01:08:04.960
I got like twenty four out of twenty six or something,
1215
01:08:05.000 --> 01:08:06.639
and I first played three of ten and I was like,
1216
01:08:07.000 --> 01:08:09.480
this is insane, this is ridiculous. I'm not doing this again.
1217
01:08:09.760 --> 01:08:14.400
But overall, I thought ten was a fantastic push forward
1218
01:08:14.440 --> 01:08:16.960
in a lot of ways. Presentation was incredible. I thought
1219
01:08:16.960 --> 01:08:21.159
the story really worked, and honestly it even though I
1220
01:08:21.199 --> 01:08:24.279
hated the ending at the time, I bet if I
1221
01:08:24.359 --> 01:08:27.880
replayed it I would appreciate it a little bit more. Yeah,
1222
01:08:28.239 --> 01:08:32.359
And I think even though it wasn't the story wasn't
1223
01:08:32.359 --> 01:08:35.359
what I wanted out of the game, I think it
1224
01:08:35.439 --> 01:08:38.079
held a lot more true character wise start to finish
1225
01:08:38.119 --> 01:08:42.399
than something like seven or eight, right, where the characters
1226
01:08:42.399 --> 01:08:46.560
are true to themselves, the core conflicts of the story
1227
01:08:46.640 --> 01:08:49.399
set up at the beginning carry all the way through,
1228
01:08:49.960 --> 01:08:52.359
in contrast to something like Chrono Cross, which would have
1229
01:08:52.359 --> 01:08:55.119
been you know, contemporary, like a year before, two years before,
1230
01:08:55.479 --> 01:08:58.640
where it's like, you know, Kid shows up as like,
1231
01:08:58.720 --> 01:09:03.199
all right, we're radical dreamers and then radical Dreamers are
1232
01:09:03.239 --> 01:09:06.239
not mentioned again the entire game, right, like that kind
1233
01:09:06.279 --> 01:09:09.119
of stuff, where you know, this is a cohesive start
1234
01:09:09.159 --> 01:09:12.119
to finish plot. Yeah, character a lot in this game,
1235
01:09:12.560 --> 01:09:15.800
like they're kind of tied inextricably. Yes, And I would
1236
01:09:15.800 --> 01:09:21.039
say that nine does it as well, but seven is
1237
01:09:21.119 --> 01:09:23.760
like does it to a degree, right, Like Cloud and
1238
01:09:23.800 --> 01:09:28.800
his relationships form the core of the story. But but you're, yeah,
1239
01:09:28.960 --> 01:09:31.079
I see it. So there's there's plenty of moments in
1240
01:09:31.159 --> 01:09:34.920
seven where you're like, I don't really understand what's going on.
1241
01:09:35.000 --> 01:09:37.039
This is not the same Cloud that was talking two
1242
01:09:37.079 --> 01:09:39.560
hours ago, you know, and this and like that's that
1243
01:09:39.680 --> 01:09:41.920
itself was part of the story, but even knowing that,
1244
01:09:41.960 --> 01:09:44.800
it still doesn't feel coherent start to finish in the
1245
01:09:44.840 --> 01:09:47.479
same way that ten does. Yeah, totally. Yeah.
1246
01:09:47.520 --> 01:09:49.640
I've talked about FO ten a lot, and like I,
1247
01:09:49.960 --> 01:09:55.399
as somebody with a background in like criticism, uh, specifically
1248
01:09:55.399 --> 01:09:58.840
with books and narrative, like, I do think about the
1249
01:09:58.840 --> 01:10:01.199
structural elements of the game a lot, and I do
1250
01:10:01.279 --> 01:10:02.800
like the ending because of that. But I think that
1251
01:10:02.840 --> 01:10:05.399
Fan Fansi ten, especially at its beginning, has so many
1252
01:10:05.439 --> 01:10:09.039
structural issues that undermine what's going on that I think
1253
01:10:09.039 --> 01:10:12.239
it's interesting that you sort of like blame blindness to
1254
01:10:12.279 --> 01:10:15.520
structural issues as like one of the reasons you have
1255
01:10:15.640 --> 01:10:17.840
issue with the game despite liking a lot of it,
1256
01:10:17.880 --> 01:10:20.079
Whereas for me, I'm like, oh no, the structural issues
1257
01:10:20.119 --> 01:10:23.319
are the reason why the game.
1258
01:10:23.159 --> 01:10:29.239
Doesn't work very well. But in any case, I want
1259
01:10:29.279 --> 01:10:31.279
to get back to what Ryiner said in the beginning
1260
01:10:31.479 --> 01:10:33.560
of his review, because I think, and this is going
1261
01:10:33.600 --> 01:10:35.600
to sound weird as somebody who doesn't really care for
1262
01:10:35.640 --> 01:10:40.520
Fan Fancy ten, I think he's very superlative, but objectively
1263
01:10:41.319 --> 01:10:43.880
he's pretty accurate in what he says. Fan Fantasy ten
1264
01:10:44.039 --> 01:10:47.119
was Saku Gucci's most ambitious project. It did change the
1265
01:10:47.199 --> 01:10:52.119
series fundamentally, and it tapped into PlayStation two's potential from
1266
01:10:52.199 --> 01:10:55.399
like a presentation standpoint. But and this is like where
1267
01:10:55.439 --> 01:10:58.760
I usually get myself into trouble when discussing fan fanacy ten.
1268
01:10:59.479 --> 01:11:03.880
I think most those elements actually hurt the series long term,
1269
01:11:04.199 --> 01:11:10.680
and I think that the series benefited from creative constraints.
1270
01:11:11.520 --> 01:11:15.319
I think the move into like a higher fidelity virtual
1271
01:11:15.399 --> 01:11:20.000
medium took away from sort of the emergent gameplay that
1272
01:11:20.039 --> 01:11:22.399
we talked about earlier, where like you being in the
1273
01:11:22.439 --> 01:11:24.760
game in the world is a big part of the
1274
01:11:24.800 --> 01:11:27.000
story too. Hey, this is sort.
1275
01:11:26.840 --> 01:11:30.399
Of like a linear long movie that you can play,
1276
01:11:30.800 --> 01:11:32.279
but playing is really.
1277
01:11:32.000 --> 01:11:34.079
Just going from cut scene to cut to scene to
1278
01:11:34.119 --> 01:11:38.600
cut scene to cut scene, and that is what Foalancy
1279
01:11:38.760 --> 01:11:42.239
thirteen is heavily criticized for being a hallway simulator. It's
1280
01:11:42.279 --> 01:11:45.039
all there in Fouanci ten, though, like all the things
1281
01:11:45.039 --> 01:11:48.760
that are I think at issue with like modern final
1282
01:11:48.800 --> 01:11:53.680
fantasies started here with ten, and so like when Ryaner
1283
01:11:53.800 --> 01:11:57.560
says all of those things, like yeah, it was ambitious,
1284
01:11:57.600 --> 01:12:00.399
Like Sakagucci did always want to make movies, and this
1285
01:12:00.560 --> 01:12:03.479
was his kind of first step towards that, but it's
1286
01:12:03.520 --> 01:12:08.039
also when we got into this higher fidelity area that
1287
01:12:08.119 --> 01:12:12.079
started causing series delays with future Final Fantasy games, and
1288
01:12:12.119 --> 01:12:15.640
then Sakagucci leaving after this when he made a lot
1289
01:12:15.680 --> 01:12:18.880
of these dramatic presentational and structural changes to the series,
1290
01:12:19.399 --> 01:12:22.840
then left the remaining team with this idea that they
1291
01:12:22.880 --> 01:12:26.239
had to like reinvent the wheel over and over and
1292
01:12:26.279 --> 01:12:30.239
over again with every new game, which was not the
1293
01:12:30.239 --> 01:12:33.680
case with Early Final Fantasy. Right like Early Final Fantasy
1294
01:12:33.760 --> 01:12:37.800
was iterative and they'd make changes within structures that already worked.
1295
01:12:37.920 --> 01:12:41.159
Right ATB was introduced in Final Fantasy four, and it
1296
01:12:41.239 --> 01:12:44.760
stuck with the series through Final Fancy nine because it worked.
1297
01:12:44.800 --> 01:12:45.359
It was great.
1298
01:12:45.720 --> 01:12:48.439
They changed the level up or the character building mechanics
1299
01:12:49.039 --> 01:12:51.960
within that. Foosi six changed the structure of the game,
1300
01:12:51.960 --> 01:12:57.680
but kept ATB. FINANSI seven introduced more like linear storytelling
1301
01:12:57.720 --> 01:13:00.760
to a degree, but you know had the material system
1302
01:13:00.760 --> 01:13:03.399
which offered a lot of customization. You know, they were
1303
01:13:03.479 --> 01:13:06.920
recognizable from one another, But Fantanaci ten being so different,
1304
01:13:08.720 --> 01:13:11.239
I think created this impression that it needed to be
1305
01:13:11.319 --> 01:13:13.359
so different to be a Final Fantasy, and I think
1306
01:13:13.399 --> 01:13:16.680
that that comes into a weakness of the later games
1307
01:13:16.920 --> 01:13:19.760
that have led to some of these major delays, and like,
1308
01:13:19.800 --> 01:13:22.239
I love games that have come after Fan Fansi ten.
1309
01:13:22.359 --> 01:13:25.000
I love fan Fansi twelve. It's fabulous. I even have
1310
01:13:25.000 --> 01:13:27.880
a soft spot for fan Fantasy fifteen, which is very flawed.
1311
01:13:29.199 --> 01:13:32.760
But I think that long term the series would have
1312
01:13:32.800 --> 01:13:38.560
been better off if it hadn't felt like it had
1313
01:13:38.560 --> 01:13:41.600
to chase Fowanzi ten, if it had recognized fan Fansi
1314
01:13:41.600 --> 01:13:44.039
ten as like one version of Final Fantasy and that
1315
01:13:44.239 --> 01:13:46.680
fan Fanasy can be anything else. And I think that
1316
01:13:46.720 --> 01:13:50.600
we're also seeing the RPG scene with stuff like Claib's
1317
01:13:50.640 --> 01:13:55.000
You're going back and looking at some of that early
1318
01:13:56.560 --> 01:13:59.960
like not even early, but like late nineties RPG games
1319
01:14:00.079 --> 01:14:02.880
play and being like, oh, hey, this wasn't like a compromise.
1320
01:14:03.560 --> 01:14:07.119
This was a good piece of game design, and that's
1321
01:14:07.159 --> 01:14:08.079
worth exploring more.
1322
01:14:08.079 --> 01:14:10.439
It doesn't like we don't have to throw out the
1323
01:14:10.479 --> 01:14:14.159
past to make something great for the future. And I
1324
01:14:14.159 --> 01:14:15.680
think that all started with Famasi ten.
1325
01:14:16.800 --> 01:14:20.880
Yeah, for sure. And during the Final Fantasy eight retrospective
1326
01:14:22.000 --> 01:14:27.399
post show with Lord Drew by, very good friend of
1327
01:14:27.439 --> 01:14:30.119
the show, one of the friendliest friends of the show. Yes,
1328
01:14:30.840 --> 01:14:35.600
really helped me appreciate how a little bit the Squaresoft
1329
01:14:35.600 --> 01:14:38.880
at this point saka Gucci and those you know, this
1330
01:14:38.920 --> 01:14:42.159
started in the eighties. Here we are in two thousand
1331
01:14:42.159 --> 01:14:46.039
and one, two thousand and two, and they've been building
1332
01:14:46.039 --> 01:14:49.600
on what they started twenty years ago, right, fifteen years ago, yeah,
1333
01:14:49.760 --> 01:14:52.159
and iterating on this in a lot of ways. And
1334
01:14:52.199 --> 01:14:54.600
then then their audience has been playing too, right. So
1335
01:14:54.680 --> 01:14:57.479
for me, like the first YARPG I played was Chrono Trigger,
1336
01:14:57.760 --> 01:15:00.279
which in some ways is like the apex of the
1337
01:15:00.319 --> 01:15:03.800
sixteen bit JRPG form right, So I'm just getting into
1338
01:15:03.800 --> 01:15:06.479
this stuff, and I'm getting into this stuff as soon
1339
01:15:06.520 --> 01:15:10.800
as the creators and mainstream audience are like, hey, it's
1340
01:15:10.840 --> 01:15:14.279
time for something new. We're kind of bored with these formulas, right,
1341
01:15:14.680 --> 01:15:19.680
And so like the the magicite stuff in six led
1342
01:15:19.720 --> 01:15:21.680
to the material stuff in seven, a lot of the
1343
01:15:21.720 --> 01:15:24.000
similar things. Right, eight, they're like, we need to totally
1344
01:15:24.039 --> 01:15:24.520
break this.
1345
01:15:25.479 --> 01:15:25.800
You know.
1346
01:15:26.119 --> 01:15:28.199
Nine is kind of back to basics in some ways,
1347
01:15:28.239 --> 01:15:30.760
but changes some other stuff. You know, some of these
1348
01:15:30.760 --> 01:15:34.520
other you know, non mainline final Fantasy games. You know,
1349
01:15:34.560 --> 01:15:38.479
Cronocrosses combat system is brilliant and a big departure, right,
1350
01:15:38.520 --> 01:15:40.560
So they're like, how do we change this up? How
1351
01:15:40.560 --> 01:15:43.520
do we make this more realistic, less realistic, more magic,
1352
01:15:43.680 --> 01:15:49.800
less magic, more character action, more you know, abstract like
1353
01:15:50.000 --> 01:15:55.720
they're trying different stuff and ten system is built into
1354
01:15:55.920 --> 01:15:58.520
this more movie like system, right, this more like we're
1355
01:15:58.520 --> 01:16:02.359
going in this direction of you're controlling characters and then
1356
01:16:02.359 --> 01:16:04.159
they're doing stuff and you're seeing and it looks like
1357
01:16:04.199 --> 01:16:09.079
a movie, right, And we're heading towards the final Fantasy
1358
01:16:09.119 --> 01:16:13.119
seven remake series to an extent sixteen too, right, So
1359
01:16:13.319 --> 01:16:17.760
like that's like a cool creative decision by this team,
1360
01:16:17.840 --> 01:16:20.159
many of many core members which are still involved in
1361
01:16:20.199 --> 01:16:24.560
either the remake series or the mainline development. So like
1362
01:16:24.840 --> 01:16:26.960
I get that, but also, like you say, there's lots
1363
01:16:26.960 --> 01:16:30.359
of other indies and people who grew up our age,
1364
01:16:30.359 --> 01:16:33.319
our generation are a little above or below, going, hey,
1365
01:16:33.800 --> 01:16:37.199
here are these forgotten evolutionary paths here, let's iterate on.
1366
01:16:37.479 --> 01:16:41.640
Let's go back to late sixteen bit, early thirty two bit,
1367
01:16:41.880 --> 01:16:44.199
and you know, let's build from there, not in this way.
1368
01:16:44.439 --> 01:16:48.319
That's that's movie like an action like and you know
1369
01:16:48.399 --> 01:16:51.520
that's valid too, right, So and let's I'm going to
1370
01:16:51.560 --> 01:16:55.960
read a little bit from Rhynan's review here My only
1371
01:16:56.039 --> 01:16:58.279
complaint has to do with the structure of the quest.
1372
01:16:58.439 --> 01:17:00.920
The Final Fantasy games are traditionally linear, but this one
1373
01:17:00.960 --> 01:17:04.000
redefines the term. You cannot backtrack until later in the game,
1374
01:17:04.039 --> 01:17:06.800
and overworld has been completely removed. You simply move from
1375
01:17:06.880 --> 01:17:09.560
location to location via a cursor on a map. I
1376
01:17:09.560 --> 01:17:11.640
don't know about you, but I always enjoyed having the
1377
01:17:11.640 --> 01:17:13.840
freedom to leisurely move about the world, perhaps on the
1378
01:17:13.840 --> 01:17:16.720
back of a chocobo. You can't do this anymore. Every
1379
01:17:16.800 --> 01:17:19.920
environment is completely sectioned off from the others. Sadly, you
1380
01:17:19.920 --> 01:17:22.600
don't even get to take control of the airship. And
1381
01:17:22.960 --> 01:17:24.880
even the last sentence of their reviews, even if you
1382
01:17:24.880 --> 01:17:27.079
don't approve of all the changes Squaresoft has installed, I'm
1383
01:17:27.079 --> 01:17:29.760
sure you're sure you'll agree. Final Fantasy ten is a
1384
01:17:29.760 --> 01:17:33.199
breakthrough release, a visionary tale, and a masterpiece for the ages.
1385
01:17:34.079 --> 01:17:37.680
And for me, like, I don't want to be like
1386
01:17:37.720 --> 01:17:41.479
a Star Wars person, like you don't even get to
1387
01:17:41.479 --> 01:17:46.760
take control of the airship, you know, but like that
1388
01:17:46.880 --> 01:17:48.840
rush of yo, we got the airship, let's go, and
1389
01:17:49.000 --> 01:17:51.479
like the music, Oh this is the airship music. Oh
1390
01:17:51.560 --> 01:17:55.800
it's good. It's like it's a big part of the series,
1391
01:17:55.920 --> 01:17:58.560
and it's a big part of that final fantasy, like
1392
01:17:58.640 --> 01:18:00.960
this is the fantasy, this is the thing. Oh it's
1393
01:18:01.119 --> 01:18:04.000
it's on. Now it's popped off. You really get the
1394
01:18:04.039 --> 01:18:07.439
whole world at your fingertips, right, you really have you know,
1395
01:18:07.920 --> 01:18:10.159
the world has opened up for you, you know, and
1396
01:18:10.399 --> 01:18:12.520
you get that moment when you leave the first town.
1397
01:18:12.560 --> 01:18:13.880
A lot of times you go into the overworld, you
1398
01:18:13.880 --> 01:18:15.960
see the map, you're like, oh, man, like, look at
1399
01:18:15.960 --> 01:18:19.079
all these possibilities, right, and like, even though you're moving
1400
01:18:19.079 --> 01:18:22.399
through the world of ten, the possibilities are opening up
1401
01:18:22.399 --> 01:18:26.520
in front of you and they're cool. You you can
1402
01:18:26.600 --> 01:18:28.960
only think about what am I going to get shown next?
1403
01:18:29.239 --> 01:18:30.840
Not where can I go next? Or what can I
1404
01:18:30.840 --> 01:18:34.479
do next? And so like that's that is definitely a
1405
01:18:34.680 --> 01:18:37.680
lessening of that sense of fantasy and adventure for me.
1406
01:18:38.000 --> 01:18:41.239
There's like a lot less agency within the game than
1407
01:18:41.239 --> 01:18:43.680
what you've come to expect from the series. And they
1408
01:18:43.800 --> 01:18:47.520
tried to like compensate for the linear story by having
1409
01:18:47.600 --> 01:18:51.520
the battle system where you can like swap characters in
1410
01:18:51.560 --> 01:18:54.680
and out. They all have strains like walk as strong
1411
01:18:54.680 --> 01:18:58.119
against fine enemies, you know, oron can cut through like
1412
01:18:58.239 --> 01:19:02.079
armored enemies. But even that becomes linear because every battle
1413
01:19:02.600 --> 01:19:07.119
enemy configuration has an optimal strategy for how to address
1414
01:19:07.159 --> 01:19:09.000
it and like which order to bring your characters in,
1415
01:19:09.000 --> 01:19:11.840
which skills to use that even like like because I
1416
01:19:11.880 --> 01:19:14.520
recently played through Financi ten again like last year on
1417
01:19:14.560 --> 01:19:18.520
the Switch, and it's like even combat boss battles are fun,
1418
01:19:18.560 --> 01:19:21.680
but combat in the overworld becomes just as linear as
1419
01:19:21.720 --> 01:19:24.000
the regular game. There's no agency, there's the best way
1420
01:19:24.039 --> 01:19:26.520
to do this, and you can't take out flying enemies
1421
01:19:26.560 --> 01:19:32.039
with anyone except Waka, so you have to bring him in.
1422
01:19:32.239 --> 01:19:33.600
There's not like builds.
1423
01:19:34.000 --> 01:19:36.560
And I think Final Fantasy seven and it's kind of
1424
01:19:36.560 --> 01:19:39.079
touch on what I think you're saying the Followanzi seven remake.
1425
01:19:39.800 --> 01:19:42.680
I think it's so successful that series because it understands
1426
01:19:42.720 --> 01:19:47.439
like the emotional resonance that Final Fantasy has had with players,
1427
01:19:47.680 --> 01:19:51.239
and it realizes that like not like nostalgia bait wise,
1428
01:19:51.279 --> 01:19:56.640
but like leaving mid Guar, which has very like leaving Midguar,
1429
01:19:56.720 --> 01:19:59.960
which is very like closed and claustrop phobic, it retain
1430
01:20:00.319 --> 01:20:02.439
that sense of like you step out of calm in
1431
01:20:02.479 --> 01:20:06.680
Rebirth and you get this big open field that feels
1432
01:20:06.800 --> 01:20:11.520
endlessly explorable, and that was so compelling, and they did
1433
01:20:11.520 --> 01:20:13.600
it in a new way with new tech. It's not
1434
01:20:13.680 --> 01:20:15.399
a world map in the same way, but it gives
1435
01:20:15.439 --> 01:20:20.359
you that same feeling that's so compelling. And I think
1436
01:20:20.399 --> 01:20:24.000
that the other thing worth noting is Famac ten came
1437
01:20:24.000 --> 01:20:26.840
out in two thousand and one. Financi seven came out
1438
01:20:26.880 --> 01:20:32.479
in two or nineteen ninety seven, Yeah, four years. You know,
1439
01:20:32.520 --> 01:20:35.880
Final FanTac nine came out less than a year before ten,
1440
01:20:36.720 --> 01:20:40.479
and so when you have a condensed right release schedule
1441
01:20:40.520 --> 01:20:44.439
like that, like that's insane, right, Yeah, yeah, sure, there's
1442
01:20:44.479 --> 01:20:48.000
probably like from between ninety seven and two thousand and two,
1443
01:20:48.359 --> 01:20:49.119
there was only.
1444
01:20:49.000 --> 01:20:52.119
One year that did not have a mainline Final Fantasy release.
1445
01:20:52.800 --> 01:20:55.640
Ninety seven had Fonantasy seven, ninety eight had no Final
1446
01:20:55.680 --> 01:20:58.319
Fantasy eight came out in ninety nine. Nine in two
1447
01:20:58.319 --> 01:21:01.840
thousand and ten had Follansi ten or sorry, two thousand
1448
01:21:01.840 --> 01:21:03.800
and one had Followanci ten, two thousand and two had
1449
01:21:03.800 --> 01:21:09.600
Final Fantasy eleven. When you have that condensed release schedule
1450
01:21:09.720 --> 01:21:12.199
and Followanci ten comes out and does something very different
1451
01:21:12.239 --> 01:21:15.920
Because seven eight nine on the PlayStation were very similar.
1452
01:21:16.159 --> 01:21:19.359
They had different like character mechanics, but otherwise very very
1453
01:21:19.359 --> 01:21:22.119
similar in structure, in gameplay.
1454
01:21:22.000 --> 01:21:23.079
And expectations.
1455
01:21:23.880 --> 01:21:25.520
Ten was a big change from all of that. So
1456
01:21:25.560 --> 01:21:28.600
it was eleven, but when you get them basically every year,
1457
01:21:28.920 --> 01:21:31.359
having something that's a little different like ten probably would
1458
01:21:31.359 --> 01:21:34.279
have felt I would have appreciated it more if we
1459
01:21:34.319 --> 01:21:36.720
had gotten eleven a year later and it was a
1460
01:21:36.760 --> 01:21:39.720
regular Final Fantasy game, or even you know, in two
1461
01:21:39.760 --> 01:21:43.039
thousand and three we had gotten a regular Final Fantasy game.
1462
01:21:43.279 --> 01:21:45.319
But you actually had to wait at this point now
1463
01:21:46.159 --> 01:21:49.159
five years for the next mainline single player Final Fancy,
1464
01:21:49.159 --> 01:21:51.119
which was twelve, which was also.
1465
01:21:50.920 --> 01:21:53.600
Very you know different. Worked for me, didn't work for
1466
01:21:53.600 --> 01:21:55.560
a lot of people, and all of a sudden you're like, oh,
1467
01:21:55.600 --> 01:21:57.720
I waited all this time, and this is weird and
1468
01:21:57.760 --> 01:22:01.520
not what I expected. Right, Yeah, finan Fantasys sixteen came
1469
01:22:01.520 --> 01:22:04.960
out three years ago, so there's already been more of
1470
01:22:05.000 --> 01:22:09.039
a gap, you know, between Final Fantasy sixteen and now
1471
01:22:09.720 --> 01:22:12.640
than there was between Fooanzi eight and Finz ten, and
1472
01:22:12.720 --> 01:22:16.479
so like, you know, when you get into this release schedule,
1473
01:22:16.520 --> 01:22:18.560
it's like, oh, we have to blow everybody's minds.
1474
01:22:18.960 --> 01:22:21.560
We're going to like create something new. Final Fantasy reinvents
1475
01:22:21.600 --> 01:22:26.760
itself with every with every iteration, like you don't have
1476
01:22:28.039 --> 01:22:30.880
access to like a strong base of players. And Final
1477
01:22:30.880 --> 01:22:34.239
Fantasy is struggling to reach younger players because it doesn't
1478
01:22:34.239 --> 01:22:37.039
have an identity. It doesn't have kids who grew up
1479
01:22:37.479 --> 01:22:40.199
like with it as part of the childhood because it's
1480
01:22:40.239 --> 01:22:44.840
so long between releases, Like Fansis fifteen came out twenty sixteen,
1481
01:22:45.600 --> 01:22:49.680
seven years after thirteen, So like every seven years, a
1482
01:22:49.680 --> 01:22:51.960
new Final Fantasy comes out, and so a kid, a
1483
01:22:52.000 --> 01:22:56.479
teenager might play one Final Fantasy before the age of fifteen,
1484
01:22:57.720 --> 01:23:00.479
which is wild, right, And so then the idea that
1485
01:23:00.520 --> 01:23:04.720
they even care that you're rebuilding the identity of the
1486
01:23:04.760 --> 01:23:06.920
series between games is like such a fallacy.
1487
01:23:07.199 --> 01:23:08.319
Give them something really good.
1488
01:23:08.359 --> 01:23:11.319
It's what Dragon Quest does, right, And like Dragon Quests,
1489
01:23:11.359 --> 01:23:14.479
I get it, it's ceiling in North America on sales
1490
01:23:14.720 --> 01:23:19.640
is lower, but like it knows its identity and it
1491
01:23:19.680 --> 01:23:22.680
has huge gaps between releases now, but you know what
1492
01:23:22.720 --> 01:23:25.439
you're getting with Phonaz twelve or drag Quest twelve when
1493
01:23:25.439 --> 01:23:28.319
it comes out in twenty twenty eight or whenever at
1494
01:23:28.319 --> 01:23:31.960
this point. And I think that like Final Fantasy got
1495
01:23:32.000 --> 01:23:35.119
into this period of success during the PlayStation that kind
1496
01:23:35.119 --> 01:23:38.159
of gave it too much confidence that it could do
1497
01:23:38.239 --> 01:23:40.880
whatever it wanted or whatever it needed to. Final Fantasy
1498
01:23:40.920 --> 01:23:43.479
ten being so different and such a big success kind
1499
01:23:43.479 --> 01:23:45.680
of feeding into this idea of like, oh okay, we
1500
01:23:45.760 --> 01:23:50.479
can like you know, we have this responsibility now to
1501
01:23:50.880 --> 01:23:53.520
reinvent ourselves and it's going to work every time. But
1502
01:23:53.840 --> 01:23:57.600
when thirteen and fifteen and even twelve and sixteen, like,
1503
01:23:57.840 --> 01:24:00.239
there has not been a beloved Final Fantasy since ten.
1504
01:24:01.000 --> 01:24:03.239
You know, there there have been ones that people like
1505
01:24:04.640 --> 01:24:07.880
uh following preven is like passionately defended by people like me,
1506
01:24:07.960 --> 01:24:11.239
but there aren't like universally loved Final fantasies. Ten was
1507
01:24:11.279 --> 01:24:14.279
the last one, and and ten is when they started
1508
01:24:14.319 --> 01:24:16.880
changing up the formula every time. And so what you know,
1509
01:24:16.960 --> 01:24:18.880
Ryan are saying that that's a straint that like this
1510
01:24:19.000 --> 01:24:21.159
is pursuing Sakaguci's ambitions.
1511
01:24:21.439 --> 01:24:23.159
Zacagucci left after this game.
1512
01:24:23.840 --> 01:24:25.800
But he wraps up, and this is what I wanted
1513
01:24:25.800 --> 01:24:28.640
to talk about too, is Ryaner wraps up his review
1514
01:24:28.760 --> 01:24:33.199
saying even if you don't approve, and sir, I should
1515
01:24:33.479 --> 01:24:36.039
go back and say, this is part of the reason
1516
01:24:36.079 --> 01:24:38.399
I think this is a strong review f ten for
1517
01:24:39.159 --> 01:24:44.359
the time because he book ends his superlative opening with
1518
01:24:45.479 --> 01:24:48.920
like this contrast to close out the review, so quote,
1519
01:24:49.560 --> 01:24:51.520
even if you don't approve of all the changes that
1520
01:24:51.560 --> 01:24:54.640
Squaresoft has installed, I'm sure you'll agree that Final Fantasy
1521
01:24:54.680 --> 01:24:57.199
ten is a break through release, a visionary tale, and
1522
01:24:57.239 --> 01:25:00.800
a masterpiece for the ages. Again, I think this is
1523
01:25:00.840 --> 01:25:03.399
a spot on read of the game. It changes a lot,
1524
01:25:03.439 --> 01:25:05.479
and that does not work for a lot of people.
1525
01:25:05.520 --> 01:25:07.159
It doesn't work for me, and I've been you know,
1526
01:25:07.319 --> 01:25:09.439
very open about why that is on Blue Sky and
1527
01:25:09.520 --> 01:25:13.920
on other podcasts and stuff. But it is beloved and
1528
01:25:13.960 --> 01:25:17.000
it did introduce a lot of people to the genre,
1529
01:25:17.119 --> 01:25:19.960
to the series as the first game. Everything that came
1530
01:25:20.000 --> 01:25:24.640
after it, though, was has been so fuddled up that
1531
01:25:24.720 --> 01:25:29.119
I think they just like lost momentum and they needed
1532
01:25:29.159 --> 01:25:31.520
to recognize that, like, hey, we could do this like
1533
01:25:31.640 --> 01:25:34.119
fast release schedule and make a lot like changes to
1534
01:25:34.159 --> 01:25:36.560
the series on the PlayStation because our development time was
1535
01:25:37.439 --> 01:25:39.880
you know, quite a bit shorter. But like when you're
1536
01:25:39.960 --> 01:25:43.319
releasing games every seven years, you need a stronger identity.
1537
01:25:43.640 --> 01:25:46.359
And I think that they missed. Squares Off missed that
1538
01:25:47.600 --> 01:25:49.560
and miss seeing that when ten was such a big
1539
01:25:49.600 --> 01:25:51.720
success and then they launched into an MMO.
1540
01:25:53.079 --> 01:25:56.880
You've got to be You've got to be each you know,
1541
01:25:57.000 --> 01:25:58.760
And well this is the trap of the Triple A
1542
01:25:59.000 --> 01:26:01.159
five six, seven year dev cycle, yeah, which is like
1543
01:26:01.840 --> 01:26:05.079
each new Elder Scrolls game has to be so much
1544
01:26:05.239 --> 01:26:09.399
mind bow blowingly better than the last and better than
1545
01:26:09.439 --> 01:26:12.800
anything else on the market, right, But like, but does
1546
01:26:12.840 --> 01:26:16.079
it so? Like because like, what are the biggest color?
1547
01:26:16.479 --> 01:26:19.560
It is the same game every year. Kids just play
1548
01:26:19.680 --> 01:26:23.199
Fortnite and Rodblocks they play literally play the same game
1549
01:26:23.600 --> 01:26:24.199
all the time.
1550
01:26:24.880 --> 01:26:27.800
And so like the idea of having to reinvent yourself
1551
01:26:27.880 --> 01:26:30.720
or one up yourself rather than building iteratively on it
1552
01:26:30.760 --> 01:26:34.279
on yourself, I think it's just so such a disingenuous,
1553
01:26:34.319 --> 01:26:39.279
like capitalist idea. I you know, I've been playing the
1554
01:26:39.279 --> 01:26:42.479
Life Is Strange games and so I played Reunion, which
1555
01:26:42.479 --> 01:26:44.119
came out this year, and it was sort of like
1556
01:26:44.119 --> 01:26:48.279
the wrap up conclusion to the trilogy with Max and
1557
01:26:48.439 --> 01:26:52.359
and Chloe, And it was kind of panned by a
1558
01:26:52.359 --> 01:26:56.399
lot of people because it reuses so many assets from
1559
01:26:56.560 --> 01:26:58.479
Double Exposure, which came out a couple of years ago.
1560
01:26:58.479 --> 01:27:00.319
But for me, I was like, this is good, Like
1561
01:27:00.560 --> 01:27:03.680
reuse stuff, build stuff, and use it multiple times. Yes,
1562
01:27:03.760 --> 01:27:06.680
Street Fighter did it right, Like they weren't redoing their
1563
01:27:06.680 --> 01:27:10.640
backgrounds with every like new release, right, not until you
1564
01:27:10.640 --> 01:27:13.279
got a big major release like reuse this stuff. Final
1565
01:27:13.319 --> 01:27:17.880
Fancy seven Remake Trilogy is what it is because they
1566
01:27:17.960 --> 01:27:20.520
keep the team around and they're leaning on the work
1567
01:27:20.520 --> 01:27:22.840
they've already done, and so they were able to release
1568
01:27:22.880 --> 01:27:26.720
Rebirth in like four years and it's been fabulous, right,
1569
01:27:26.760 --> 01:27:29.680
And so you know, we look at where Final Fantasy
1570
01:27:29.760 --> 01:27:35.079
has had a beloved sort of almost unanimously universally loved game,
1571
01:27:35.119 --> 01:27:36.680
and that's the seven remake, right.
1572
01:27:36.720 --> 01:27:40.560
It's not devisive the way sixteen or fifteen or thirteen were.
1573
01:27:41.439 --> 01:27:45.119
Final Fancy fourteen is also beloved as a mainline release,
1574
01:27:45.119 --> 01:27:47.000
but it's an MMO and it literally has done the
1575
01:27:47.000 --> 01:27:48.960
same thing the whole time.
1576
01:27:49.039 --> 01:27:52.399
Well actually that's I guess that's another story, but that
1577
01:27:52.479 --> 01:27:55.640
is a story, yeah, because they did completely redo fourteen,
1578
01:27:55.680 --> 01:27:58.560
but the successful version of fourteen is just the same thing,
1579
01:27:58.840 --> 01:28:00.960
and it builds off what I'll was already there, and
1580
01:28:01.000 --> 01:28:04.479
I just think we see I'm glad. Ryaner pointed out, like, hey,
1581
01:28:04.720 --> 01:28:06.760
this game changes a lot that might not be for you,
1582
01:28:07.319 --> 01:28:09.119
but it is going to have a big impact and
1583
01:28:09.159 --> 01:28:14.239
that's exactly what ten did, which I think is good. Yeah,
1584
01:28:14.439 --> 01:28:16.680
I will say I do think that there is some
1585
01:28:16.720 --> 01:28:19.319
of that reinvention. Like you said, it was iterative from
1586
01:28:19.359 --> 01:28:20.960
one to two, from two to three to three to
1587
01:28:21.000 --> 01:28:24.000
four to four to five, and it was. But it's
1588
01:28:25.159 --> 01:28:28.359
they also, you know, tried to push the envelope, tried
1589
01:28:28.359 --> 01:28:31.600
to push boundaries, you know, in the specific areas, though
1590
01:28:31.640 --> 01:28:34.760
in specific areas it never changed everything at once, right right, well,
1591
01:28:34.760 --> 01:28:37.000
And I think that's also the hardware is limiting too,
1592
01:28:37.239 --> 01:28:39.319
right where you're like, okay, the nes how many times
1593
01:28:39.399 --> 01:28:42.439
can you go back to the well and push boundaries sns? Yeah,
1594
01:28:42.479 --> 01:28:44.279
you go back to the well, push boundaries. Right now
1595
01:28:44.279 --> 01:28:46.279
You're like, well, now I've got streaming video, and now
1596
01:28:46.319 --> 01:28:50.119
I've got streaming audio, and now I've got Internet, you know,
1597
01:28:50.199 --> 01:28:53.439
like what can I do? The possibilities become gigantic and
1598
01:28:53.479 --> 01:28:55.600
so then and that's where the creative restraints are so
1599
01:28:55.640 --> 01:28:58.720
important for this series exactly exactly so I think I
1600
01:28:58.760 --> 01:29:01.840
think for me, and like you say, I mean a
1601
01:29:01.880 --> 01:29:05.840
lot of Zelda has mastered this, you know, uh operat
1602
01:29:05.880 --> 01:29:08.760
of Time to Majora's Mask, Breath of the Wildest Tears
1603
01:29:08.760 --> 01:29:11.479
of the Kingdom. Nintendo has been doing this. Hey, yeah, cool,
1604
01:29:11.560 --> 01:29:13.800
let's take these assets and now that we have the assets,
1605
01:29:13.920 --> 01:29:16.760
let's rebuild a new game, new mechanics on top of it.
1606
01:29:16.840 --> 01:29:21.800
So that all makes sense to me. And obviously I
1607
01:29:21.880 --> 01:29:25.960
think you can't go me bringing up this this epic
1608
01:29:26.319 --> 01:29:29.239
triple a dev tent pole like seven eight year time.
1609
01:29:29.399 --> 01:29:30.600
I don't think you can do that. I don't think
1610
01:29:30.600 --> 01:29:33.479
that's sustainable. I don't think it's possible to you know, again,
1611
01:29:33.520 --> 01:29:36.880
because the starfield, right, you can't start eight or nine
1612
01:29:37.000 --> 01:29:40.640
years out and go We're gonna be revolutionarily ahead of
1613
01:29:40.680 --> 01:29:43.640
the game in every single way right now. Okay, well
1614
01:29:43.680 --> 01:29:47.640
ten years, ten years later, it's going to catch up
1615
01:29:47.640 --> 01:29:50.239
with you or like, stuff that you thought was unbelievably
1616
01:29:50.279 --> 01:29:53.119
revolutionary will be old news to ten years, or some
1617
01:29:53.159 --> 01:29:54.319
of it will say, you know, it's going to be
1618
01:29:54.359 --> 01:29:56.279
all over the place. You can't project out that far,
1619
01:29:56.359 --> 01:29:58.520
you can't take that long. You can't keep an audience
1620
01:29:58.560 --> 01:30:02.479
waiting that long. And yeah, I would love if we
1621
01:30:02.479 --> 01:30:06.560
were on Final Fantasy twenty five at this point and
1622
01:30:06.760 --> 01:30:10.119
everybody has their favorites, you know, and it's not just okay,
1623
01:30:10.159 --> 01:30:13.640
what's your favorite? Is is it? Six? Seven, eight or nine, yeah,
1624
01:30:13.760 --> 01:30:15.319
you know, and then you know, if you want to
1625
01:30:15.359 --> 01:30:17.880
get really saucy, you can say four or five, right,
1626
01:30:18.000 --> 01:30:22.520
like you know, like your best right. Yeah. So that's
1627
01:30:22.560 --> 01:30:24.239
where I'm saying, like it would be cool, and then
1628
01:30:24.279 --> 01:30:26.520
each one can play towards different audiences being play with
1629
01:30:26.520 --> 01:30:29.680
different stuff. So like I would love to live in
1630
01:30:29.720 --> 01:30:31.560
a world where it's still more like that. Maybe that's
1631
01:30:31.600 --> 01:30:35.960
where we're going. Yeah, and maybe fourteen, you know, And
1632
01:30:36.000 --> 01:30:39.760
I think for us, the price of investing in fourteen
1633
01:30:39.800 --> 01:30:42.359
because there's so many great stories and so many things
1634
01:30:42.680 --> 01:30:46.479
in Final Fantasy lore and Final Fantasy moments that fourteen
1635
01:30:46.479 --> 01:30:48.640
officionados are like, you guys are missing out on all
1636
01:30:48.640 --> 01:30:50.760
the best Final Fantasy of the last decade because you
1637
01:30:50.760 --> 01:30:53.119
haven't been playing fourteen. It's like, all right, cool, well,
1638
01:30:53.119 --> 01:30:55.880
I just need to sink four hundred hours into it
1639
01:30:55.920 --> 01:30:57.720
to get none of it happens in the main story
1640
01:30:57.800 --> 01:31:01.199
quest also, which is like yeah, like yeah, yea yeah yeah.
1641
01:31:01.800 --> 01:31:04.640
So like it's that's the thing where it's like they've
1642
01:31:04.800 --> 01:31:07.439
siloed off a bunch of that stuff in that online world,
1643
01:31:07.520 --> 01:31:10.600
and then like if it has a persistent younger fan base,
1644
01:31:10.640 --> 01:31:13.079
it's in fourteen and how many of them are going
1645
01:31:13.079 --> 01:31:16.600
and playing the mainline stuff, I don't know. So it's
1646
01:31:16.680 --> 01:31:19.359
they're they're in an odd situation and I wish they
1647
01:31:19.359 --> 01:31:21.399
would get to you more it or if stuffing get.
1648
01:31:21.239 --> 01:31:24.479
And like, it's not like Square doesn't do it. Octopath
1649
01:31:24.880 --> 01:31:28.159
is hugely successful. It doesn't sell like and I from
1650
01:31:28.239 --> 01:31:32.439
squares perspective, it only sells a million copies or whatever, like,
1651
01:31:32.520 --> 01:31:35.800
still huge numbers, but it doesn't sell fifteen million like
1652
01:31:35.840 --> 01:31:40.000
Falomanzi sixteen does. And so from a you know, monetary perspective,
1653
01:31:40.039 --> 01:31:45.640
I know, Folowanzi fifteen like hugely problematic development cycle took
1654
01:31:45.680 --> 01:31:50.279
forever to come out, right what seven years right between
1655
01:31:50.439 --> 01:31:54.680
thirteen and fifteen, But it also made back its costs
1656
01:31:54.720 --> 01:31:56.960
on a first day of sales, and so like from
1657
01:31:56.960 --> 01:31:59.359
a business perspective, that's a success for the people who
1658
01:31:59.359 --> 01:32:02.680
hold the pursonring at Squaresoft, even if it's the wrong
1659
01:32:02.800 --> 01:32:05.640
lesson to take. You know, we see a lot of
1660
01:32:05.680 --> 01:32:08.880
this iterative stuff at Square, which works really well. You know,
1661
01:32:09.279 --> 01:32:12.680
life is strange as a Square game, right like, yes,
1662
01:32:13.319 --> 01:32:16.600
and that's my recent example of iterative sort of like
1663
01:32:16.960 --> 01:32:21.880
game development Octopath as well, like they do it, and
1664
01:32:21.920 --> 01:32:25.640
I think that Final Fantasy's original strength when it was
1665
01:32:25.760 --> 01:32:29.560
like when it was at its peak, was because of
1666
01:32:29.640 --> 01:32:34.920
iterative design, not because of reinventing itself. And now we
1667
01:32:34.960 --> 01:32:37.039
get into this place where every Final Fantasy has its
1668
01:32:37.039 --> 01:32:41.359
own creative team and like lead visionary. You know the
1669
01:32:42.000 --> 01:32:45.920
guy responsible for follan Fantasy fourteen's huge success, right Yoship,
1670
01:32:46.359 --> 01:32:49.600
He led Phone Fantsay sixteen, and it didn't do anything
1671
01:32:49.640 --> 01:32:52.159
that fan Fancay fourteen does well. And you get into
1672
01:32:52.159 --> 01:32:54.800
that like Star Wars sequel trilogy issue, where you have
1673
01:32:54.880 --> 01:32:58.680
a different vision at the top for every movie or
1674
01:32:58.720 --> 01:33:00.920
every game, and then it just never cohesive and it
1675
01:33:00.960 --> 01:33:03.680
doesn't feel like there's a through line of like this
1676
01:33:03.800 --> 01:33:07.520
is what makes this a Final Fantasy. And I think
1677
01:33:07.520 --> 01:33:10.359
that's just really problematic. And it all, in my opinion,
1678
01:33:10.399 --> 01:33:13.640
started here in Folanzi ten, and I think bryaner Like
1679
01:33:14.039 --> 01:33:18.159
does a good job of recognizing what the game does well,
1680
01:33:18.199 --> 01:33:21.600
but also where some of its divisive elements, like the linearity.
1681
01:33:22.680 --> 01:33:28.279
Really come into play. Yeah, so what do we think
1682
01:33:28.520 --> 01:33:31.319
and actually should we talk about Justin's second opinion? I
1683
01:33:31.359 --> 01:33:35.680
think we should since it's there, you know, do review
1684
01:33:35.720 --> 01:33:37.680
the review and then not talk about this the second
1685
01:33:37.680 --> 01:33:40.920
opinion here. It's from Justin. I was skeptical at the
1686
01:33:40.960 --> 01:33:43.520
thought of another Final Fantasy. I've played on the US
1687
01:33:43.640 --> 01:33:45.920
released games and they've all rocked the house, but my
1688
01:33:46.039 --> 01:33:50.039
enthusiasm has been waning. Silly me. That's fascinating to me
1689
01:33:50.560 --> 01:33:55.560
that after nine, you're a viewer at a major gaming magazine,
1690
01:33:55.600 --> 01:33:58.199
you're like, maybe they don't need to make another Final Fantasy. Yeah,
1691
01:33:58.239 --> 01:34:01.560
like nine fell that flat for you? Wow, Okay, but
1692
01:34:02.399 --> 01:34:04.319
I guess he said they've all rocked the house. But
1693
01:34:04.359 --> 01:34:06.800
my enthusiasm has been waiting, Like I've seen this enough.
1694
01:34:06.840 --> 01:34:09.119
This is kind of what I was hinting at before, too, Right, Like,
1695
01:34:09.680 --> 01:34:12.800
if you're thirty eight, when Final Fantasy nine comes out
1696
01:34:12.840 --> 01:34:15.479
and then they're okay, cool, here's ten, you're like, Hey,
1697
01:34:16.039 --> 01:34:20.760
maybe I don't want another variation on this formula, right, Yeah,
1698
01:34:20.800 --> 01:34:22.840
this could be the greatest Final Fantasy, if not RPG,
1699
01:34:22.960 --> 01:34:24.560
of all time. For once a game in the genre
1700
01:34:24.560 --> 01:34:26.720
has a truly unique setup, no experience, and no weapon
1701
01:34:26.760 --> 01:34:29.600
stats may seem sacriligious at first, but f F ten's
1702
01:34:29.600 --> 01:34:32.399
sphere good and weapon customization put them to shame. Storytelling
1703
01:34:32.479 --> 01:34:35.600
is vastly improved with the wealth of speech past, tense voiceovers,
1704
01:34:35.920 --> 01:34:38.840
and shockingly superb cut scenes. However, things were a bit
1705
01:34:38.920 --> 01:34:43.399
too linear. With apologies to DA three, I must say
1706
01:34:43.600 --> 01:34:45.439
f F ten has some of the hottest women in
1707
01:34:45.520 --> 01:34:50.239
video games. Parenthetically pathetic, but it must be said close
1708
01:34:50.319 --> 01:34:53.560
for emphesis. Unlike writer, I find it refreshing that Titus
1709
01:34:53.640 --> 01:34:55.640
is not the typical hero. It makes them that much
1710
01:34:55.640 --> 01:34:57.560
more real. No other game will bring role playing to
1711
01:34:57.600 --> 01:35:00.000
the masses like Final Fantasy ten pick it up, whoever
1712
01:35:00.119 --> 01:35:06.520
you are justin also nine point seventy five. I it
1713
01:35:06.680 --> 01:35:10.760
just kind of stupidly endearing to me. It's like, look,
1714
01:35:11.159 --> 01:35:14.960
I know this is pathetic for me to say, I
1715
01:35:15.000 --> 01:35:17.319
have to say it anyway. He calls himself out on it,
1716
01:35:18.399 --> 01:35:23.000
like and so, but but overall like yeah, cool, Like hey,
1717
01:35:23.039 --> 01:35:25.760
this totally blew away the old formula and I love that.
1718
01:35:25.840 --> 01:35:29.840
Ye's great and so like, okay, that that's cool. But
1719
01:35:29.880 --> 01:35:31.640
the thing is here, the other No other game will
1720
01:35:31.680 --> 01:35:34.640
bring role playing to the masses like Final Fantasy X.
1721
01:35:35.159 --> 01:35:36.960
But this is something that's been itching in the back
1722
01:35:37.000 --> 01:35:39.000
of my mind. Like part of the problem with the
1723
01:35:39.039 --> 01:35:43.199
linearity is you this is the least role playing that
1724
01:35:43.279 --> 01:35:46.319
you get to do. You're not tightest. Titus is tightest
1725
01:35:46.319 --> 01:35:49.239
because he's talking and there's his voice. You're not Waka,
1726
01:35:49.279 --> 01:35:52.279
you're not Lulu, You're you're not any of these characters
1727
01:35:52.720 --> 01:35:55.279
because they're all talking, right, and you're watching it, so
1728
01:35:55.840 --> 01:35:58.680
the role playing, and you don't get as many choices
1729
01:35:58.720 --> 01:36:01.960
to like how are you playing these characters? Right, and
1730
01:36:02.119 --> 01:36:03.439
some of the things that people talk about with like
1731
01:36:03.479 --> 01:36:06.600
Red Dead two, where you're like, yeah, cool, I have
1732
01:36:06.680 --> 01:36:10.720
this unbelievable amount of agency and freedom and nonlinearity and
1733
01:36:10.720 --> 01:36:12.680
I can do whatever, and then I get in a
1734
01:36:12.720 --> 01:36:15.319
cut scene, Oh and here's some guy who is not
1735
01:36:15.439 --> 01:36:18.560
acting or talking or making choices like I've been making.
1736
01:36:18.439 --> 01:36:23.000
As aresp my criticism GTA four, right, Like that's what
1737
01:36:23.039 --> 01:36:25.479
I had to do. I didn't have agency in the
1738
01:36:25.520 --> 01:36:27.399
world because I had to play through missions in a
1739
01:36:27.399 --> 01:36:29.560
certain way that didn't match what I thought the character
1740
01:36:29.600 --> 01:36:33.800
should be. Yes, And I think, like the thing that
1741
01:36:33.840 --> 01:36:37.800
frustrates me about especially like Justin's second opinion, but also
1742
01:36:38.199 --> 01:36:41.560
in Reiner's review as well, is they keep criticizing it
1743
01:36:41.600 --> 01:36:46.600
for being linear narratively and structurally, but then like Justin's
1744
01:36:46.640 --> 01:36:51.840
like Glazing the Sphere Grid, which is super linear, right,
1745
01:36:52.039 --> 01:36:56.239
Like and weapon customization is like pretty simple, it's not. Yeah,
1746
01:36:56.279 --> 01:36:58.800
like Fonanzi nine had the same thing where you kind
1747
01:36:58.800 --> 01:37:00.800
of like it's not the same aim, but you like
1748
01:37:01.479 --> 01:37:04.279
combine weapons and items to like make new items. But
1749
01:37:04.439 --> 01:37:09.439
like weapon customization in ten doesn't really have a huge impact.
1750
01:37:09.560 --> 01:37:11.800
And then the sphere Gorid is linear until you get
1751
01:37:11.800 --> 01:37:15.960
into there's the international edition that creates nonlinear sphere grid,
1752
01:37:16.039 --> 01:37:18.039
so everybody's like Camari. They start at the middle and
1753
01:37:18.079 --> 01:37:19.960
you could make Titus of Black Mage and you could
1754
01:37:19.960 --> 01:37:22.520
make or On like a White Mage and stuff like that,
1755
01:37:22.560 --> 01:37:23.720
which is cool, but that's not.
1756
01:37:23.720 --> 01:37:24.880
The game they're reviewing here.
1757
01:37:25.560 --> 01:37:28.039
The same thing happened with twelve that it had the
1758
01:37:28.359 --> 01:37:31.720
license board and it was quite linear in the original release,
1759
01:37:31.800 --> 01:37:37.520
and then the international release had like nonlinear almost like
1760
01:37:37.520 --> 01:37:39.199
a job system, and it got way better.
1761
01:37:39.960 --> 01:37:41.159
So like you can't say.
1762
01:37:41.039 --> 01:37:43.319
The stories to linear, but I love the sphere grid
1763
01:37:43.560 --> 01:37:47.439
when the sphere grid is essentially super linear too until
1764
01:37:47.479 --> 01:37:49.119
the very end, when you can like hop around and
1765
01:37:49.159 --> 01:37:53.479
customize a little bit, or you build super inefficiently and
1766
01:37:53.560 --> 01:37:57.880
try to get your characters into like different classes early,
1767
01:37:58.159 --> 01:38:02.479
but like that's just gonna hobble you in the game,
1768
01:38:02.479 --> 01:38:05.239
you're not. You can't really do that. It's not realistic,
1769
01:38:05.600 --> 01:38:07.439
and so like you can't have both. You can't say
1770
01:38:07.439 --> 01:38:10.039
it's too linear in the story, but then kind of
1771
01:38:10.039 --> 01:38:12.680
glaze a system that of character building that's just as
1772
01:38:12.680 --> 01:38:13.760
linear as anything else.
1773
01:38:15.760 --> 01:38:18.279
All right, should we review it? Let's do it. What
1774
01:38:18.319 --> 01:38:21.119
do you think, Ty? What do you give? Reiner and
1775
01:38:21.600 --> 01:38:25.640
Justin's review of Final Fantasy X. Yeah, we'll got a
1776
01:38:25.640 --> 01:38:28.560
two page spread, eases up the whole two pages, A
1777
01:38:28.640 --> 01:38:31.439
bunch of great screenshots, and it's kind of a mix
1778
01:38:31.760 --> 01:38:34.600
of like iconic moments. I think they're well framed and
1779
01:38:34.600 --> 01:38:37.520
well cropped, well selected. Right, you get a taste of
1780
01:38:37.560 --> 01:38:40.520
most of the characters, some of the big monster design
1781
01:38:40.640 --> 01:38:45.199
is super super cool. And then the text is not
1782
01:38:45.279 --> 01:38:47.680
a ton of text, but it's really well written. It
1783
01:38:47.720 --> 01:38:51.960
covers all the bases, and I think it properly frames
1784
01:38:52.359 --> 01:38:55.520
the game in the history of the franchise and acknowledges
1785
01:38:55.600 --> 01:38:58.520
what people might want in the expectations, acknowledges where it
1786
01:38:58.600 --> 01:39:01.760
varies from that, and then goes hey, like, but whether
1787
01:39:01.800 --> 01:39:04.920
this is to your taste or is not, it's undeniably
1788
01:39:05.199 --> 01:39:08.920
just an incredible achievement in terms of development and production
1789
01:39:09.159 --> 01:39:13.840
and putting the money on the screen, right, And I
1790
01:39:14.039 --> 01:39:17.600
think that's right. And the second opinion, like, I agree
1791
01:39:17.680 --> 01:39:21.560
with it less in terms of oh do I think
1792
01:39:21.600 --> 01:39:25.720
it's it's in line with my taste, but it is
1793
01:39:26.560 --> 01:39:29.880
I think it all it's a more emotional and more
1794
01:39:31.600 --> 01:39:35.119
it's a useful second opinion, right, because it's it's probably
1795
01:39:35.199 --> 01:39:38.600
less thoughtful, more emotional and I think reflective of what
1796
01:39:38.760 --> 01:39:41.800
a lot of more casual and I'm trying I'm literally
1797
01:39:41.840 --> 01:39:45.319
not using that as a derogatory term, but like what
1798
01:39:45.359 --> 01:39:49.159
it's like, this brings role playing to the masses. You know,
1799
01:39:49.159 --> 01:39:51.800
if you weren't already on board or you're younger, and
1800
01:39:51.840 --> 01:39:54.680
you're like, what's Final Fantasy about? Right, Like a Final
1801
01:39:54.680 --> 01:39:59.199
Fantasy seven broke RPGs out to the masses. Final Fantasy
1802
01:39:59.239 --> 01:40:02.159
ten was just simply a mega triple A game with
1803
01:40:02.279 --> 01:40:05.439
all of the anticipation and then bam, it blasted everything
1804
01:40:05.439 --> 01:40:07.760
out of the water. So it's like, you know, nine,
1805
01:40:07.880 --> 01:40:11.000
I love nine. It may be my favorite of the series,
1806
01:40:12.000 --> 01:40:15.279
but also it slow rolls you at the beginning. You
1807
01:40:15.319 --> 01:40:19.000
know you're not getting the big gosh, wow, oh man,
1808
01:40:19.039 --> 01:40:21.319
I'm playing the hottest PlayStation two game. Of the year,
1809
01:40:21.960 --> 01:40:26.960
you know, like and ten does ten gives you? This
1810
01:40:27.000 --> 01:40:30.720
is a Triple A game, This is a major revolutionary title.
1811
01:40:30.840 --> 01:40:33.600
It's doing things nothing's ever done. Yeah, and you're gonna
1812
01:40:33.600 --> 01:40:35.920
be like Jah on the floor the whole time, even
1813
01:40:36.000 --> 01:40:39.279
if you don't like digging into systems and numbers, and
1814
01:40:39.399 --> 01:40:41.920
you don't enjoy wandering around on a map, and you
1815
01:40:42.000 --> 01:40:45.399
don't get that same rush of role playing and fantasy
1816
01:40:45.159 --> 01:40:49.359
that that nerds like, every person who likes video games
1817
01:40:49.720 --> 01:40:54.600
will like this for the most part. Yeah, So I'm
1818
01:40:54.680 --> 01:40:59.960
gonna give this review. We've been scoring high lately, we have. Yeah,
1819
01:41:00.079 --> 01:41:04.319
And I think this is partly partly due to how
1820
01:41:04.600 --> 01:41:07.600
magazines have grown up since nineteen ninety five. We're in
1821
01:41:07.600 --> 01:41:11.279
two thousand and two. Right, there's a lot less you know,
1822
01:41:11.880 --> 01:41:16.680
amateurist writing. There's a lot less you know, one reviewer
1823
01:41:16.760 --> 01:41:19.840
going off on a tangent. Especially for Triple A releases
1824
01:41:19.880 --> 01:41:22.560
like this, We're getting a lot more panels, We're getting
1825
01:41:22.560 --> 01:41:24.479
a lot more thoughtful and a lot more considered. And
1826
01:41:24.520 --> 01:41:30.079
also these magazines are also explicitly or not more behold
1827
01:41:30.079 --> 01:41:31.199
in two corporate interests.
1828
01:41:31.279 --> 01:41:31.479
Yeah.
1829
01:41:31.560 --> 01:41:35.239
Right, there's more money in the magazines. There's more advertising
1830
01:41:35.239 --> 01:41:39.199
in the magazines. There are either official ties or unofficial
1831
01:41:39.239 --> 01:41:42.960
ties to the retail sales of the game, and they're
1832
01:41:43.520 --> 01:41:47.199
more a part of the pr apparatus than they were
1833
01:41:47.199 --> 01:41:49.520
in nineteen ninety five. Right, So, like there's a certain
1834
01:41:49.520 --> 01:41:52.399
minimum standard that's got to be held, and this holds it.
1835
01:41:52.439 --> 01:41:56.680
So I'm probably gonna give this eight point seventy five
1836
01:41:56.880 --> 01:42:00.920
blitz balls out of ten, eight points seven five bliss
1837
01:42:00.960 --> 01:42:03.600
balls out of ten. I think I think I'm coming
1838
01:42:03.640 --> 01:42:07.479
in just a little bit lower than you, admitting.
1839
01:42:07.000 --> 01:42:10.640
Though that that's because of also like subjective reasons for that.
1840
01:42:11.479 --> 01:42:15.920
I think that I like that Ryaner recognizes some of
1841
01:42:15.960 --> 01:42:21.399
the changes that have been you know, that in hindsight,
1842
01:42:21.800 --> 01:42:25.680
were negatives for the series. But I do think that
1843
01:42:25.880 --> 01:42:29.840
he did so in a way that recognized, you know,
1844
01:42:30.119 --> 01:42:32.800
also with hindsight, the impact that this game would have
1845
01:42:33.159 --> 01:42:36.520
on players and new players. Like I recognize that I'm
1846
01:42:36.880 --> 01:42:41.039
the outlier in my opinion here, but I also you know,
1847
01:42:42.840 --> 01:42:46.680
I feel like, without necessarily, I feel like, without necessarily
1848
01:42:46.760 --> 01:42:49.600
questioning why the game needed to change its formula so
1849
01:42:49.720 --> 01:42:52.119
much and how and why that might have been to
1850
01:42:52.199 --> 01:42:55.079
appeal to casual users, I would have liked to have
1851
01:42:55.119 --> 01:42:56.960
seen maybe a little bit more of like hey why
1852
01:42:56.960 --> 01:43:00.279
did they do this? Not just like a value witch
1853
01:43:00.279 --> 01:43:03.600
of like hey this changed a lot and.
1854
01:43:03.720 --> 01:43:07.159
It's really cool. But it's all very subjective. I get that.
1855
01:43:08.479 --> 01:43:10.279
So I'm gonna come in I think a little bit
1856
01:43:10.439 --> 01:43:13.640
lower than you just with a straight eight out of
1857
01:43:14.199 --> 01:43:18.600
eight blitz balls out of ten, I think, I'll be honest.
1858
01:43:18.720 --> 01:43:21.479
Justin's like second opinion brings it probably down a little
1859
01:43:21.520 --> 01:43:25.279
bit because I think there's just some contradictory stuff in there.
1860
01:43:25.399 --> 01:43:28.640
I think Ryaner is a little more spot on, and
1861
01:43:28.720 --> 01:43:31.439
like I said, I agree with him, especially objectively, even.
1862
01:43:31.319 --> 01:43:34.760
If not subjectively in how he shared the game. Yeah. Sure,
1863
01:43:35.119 --> 01:43:37.880
and I would like it'd be cool if we had
1864
01:43:37.920 --> 01:43:40.680
a little more text also for some of these, especially
1865
01:43:40.680 --> 01:43:44.039
for a cover review. Yeah, we've seen other magazines at
1866
01:43:44.039 --> 01:43:46.760
this time are giving three pages. Yeah you know, or
1867
01:43:47.039 --> 01:43:49.760
there's no strategy your tips, which again.
1868
01:43:49.640 --> 01:43:52.720
Is sorry, there is strategy though, and so like if
1869
01:43:52.760 --> 01:43:55.319
we continue on, there's a huge strategy guide.
1870
01:43:55.760 --> 01:44:00.159
Oh oh okay, okay, right, so like like a that
1871
01:44:00.199 --> 01:44:03.920
makes sense, yeah, going through like basically the whole game
1872
01:44:04.800 --> 01:44:07.920
as well. Geez, so like Gigantic and that's where that
1873
01:44:07.960 --> 01:44:12.359
access comes from like I'm not even saying I like
1874
01:44:12.600 --> 01:44:14.319
I don't even say I like that. That's not even
1875
01:44:14.359 --> 01:44:16.520
necessarily a positive for me, but it is something I
1876
01:44:16.520 --> 01:44:19.319
was just noting, Like, yeah, if you're doing a cover review,
1877
01:44:19.960 --> 01:44:22.720
other magazines at this point are giving even more than
1878
01:44:22.760 --> 01:44:25.560
a two page spread, and they are going through page
1879
01:44:25.880 --> 01:44:28.279
that they used for just key RT Oh it's just
1880
01:44:28.319 --> 01:44:30.680
the Heart and the Month Game of the Month award.
1881
01:44:30.720 --> 01:44:34.079
Yeah, okay, so and like just I think that what's
1882
01:44:34.119 --> 01:44:36.760
interesting too is, like I talk about context and wanting
1883
01:44:36.760 --> 01:44:39.640
to understand context here. They did do that feature on
1884
01:44:39.680 --> 01:44:41.920
the game with the hero and Obuzaka Gucci stuff with
1885
01:44:41.960 --> 01:44:45.960
the development team interview, but they just didn't like link
1886
01:44:46.000 --> 01:44:49.119
it all together. And that probably comes back to the
1887
01:44:49.119 --> 01:44:50.760
fact that, like at the end of the day, Game
1888
01:44:50.800 --> 01:44:54.439
Informer was trying to sell video games, right their parent
1889
01:44:54.479 --> 01:44:56.800
company one of them to sell video games. I don't
1890
01:44:56.800 --> 01:44:59.600
think the staff writers weren't necessarily doing that, but that
1891
01:44:59.680 --> 01:45:03.359
was all the purpose was not necessarily to provide like
1892
01:45:03.880 --> 01:45:06.319
high level cultural criticism.
1893
01:45:07.600 --> 01:45:10.439
Yeah. I mean by this era, that's probably changed a
1894
01:45:10.439 --> 01:45:14.119
little bit or is changing, right, but it's yeah, it's
1895
01:45:14.119 --> 01:45:16.479
something that's always in the back of your mind. Yeah,
1896
01:45:16.520 --> 01:45:20.479
totally all right. That is our review of Game Informers
1897
01:45:20.560 --> 01:45:22.920
review of Final Fantasy ten. Did we get it right?
1898
01:45:23.279 --> 01:45:26.880
Leave a review review, Leave our review a review at
1899
01:45:26.880 --> 01:45:29.159
Apple Podcasts, posted as a comment on YouTube, and we
1900
01:45:29.159 --> 01:45:32.079
will read the best ones on air. Hey, go ahead
1901
01:45:32.119 --> 01:45:33.960
and pass the show around to all your friends. Look,
1902
01:45:33.960 --> 01:45:36.159
it's third grade and we're on the playground. Shout us
1903
01:45:36.159 --> 01:45:40.119
out on blue Sky at Funfactor pod dot com, everywhere
1904
01:45:40.119 --> 01:45:43.079
else at fun Factor Pod Special. Thanks as always to
1905
01:45:43.119 --> 01:45:45.960
Millennium Felk for all our amazing original music. Check out
1906
01:45:45.960 --> 01:45:48.399
his work and it's incredible Windows ninety five website at
1907
01:45:48.399 --> 01:45:52.520
Millennium fa lck dot com. Unlike these old magazines, you
1908
01:45:52.560 --> 01:45:54.560
won't have to wait a whole month for your next installment.
1909
01:45:54.640 --> 01:45:57.960
We drop new episodes every two weeks, So go to
1910
01:45:58.039 --> 01:46:01.520
Funfactor pod dot com to follow our your podcastch er choice,
1911
01:46:01.800 --> 01:46:04.479
Please consider becoming a member of fun Factor Ultra, our
1912
01:46:04.479 --> 01:46:08.079
premium tiers that unlock ad free episodes, bonus episodes, and
1913
01:46:08.439 --> 01:46:12.119
members only channel of our discord where we dropped the
1914
01:46:12.159 --> 01:46:16.399
super secret links to live recording sessions of these episodes.
1915
01:46:16.600 --> 01:46:19.439
Just like our friends joined us today in check and
1916
01:46:19.560 --> 01:46:22.479
members talking with us, adding comments and we, you know,
1917
01:46:22.640 --> 01:46:24.880
mix it up on air, which is super cool. We'll
1918
01:46:24.920 --> 01:46:27.199
just go to fun Factor pod dot com. I promise
1919
01:46:27.600 --> 01:46:29.399
we'll not miss the sign up with you on our
1920
01:46:29.399 --> 01:46:32.239
whole page. If you do, you and we will have
1921
01:46:32.279 --> 01:46:34.239
a maximum score in fun Factor.
1922
01:46:50.680 --> 01:46:54.479
Well I went to the wrong magazine. What happened? That
1923
01:46:54.640 --> 01:47:00.199
wasn't that wasn't helpful? Oh my gosh, one second, no,
1924
01:47:00.319 --> 01:47:01.159
it just crashed.
1925
01:47:03.079 --> 01:47:09.439
Oh dear. Every like reader has its own like problem
1926
01:47:09.640 --> 01:47:15.319
especial quicks, specially delightful exactly. Uh So, like this one
1927
01:47:15.319 --> 01:47:18.079
that I use is called yak Reader. It's fabulous, except
1928
01:47:18.119 --> 01:47:22.399
it will let me change magazines like I don't want
1929
01:47:22.439 --> 01:47:24.479
to like if I'm in the middle of a magazine
1930
01:47:24.840 --> 01:47:27.119
in the reader, like I don't want to go to
1931
01:47:27.159 --> 01:47:30.039
the previous issue. Guys like yeah, the last one I tried.
1932
01:47:30.439 --> 01:47:33.000
It'll scroll to the next one in your collection. Yeah,
1933
01:47:33.000 --> 01:47:35.680
because it's built for comic book like the actual comic
1934
01:47:35.920 --> 01:47:38.439
reader format, right, yeah, And so it's like scrolling is
1935
01:47:38.479 --> 01:47:40.760
if I quick like zip the scroll wheel, which I
1936
01:47:40.800 --> 01:47:42.920
like to use on my track, and it just zips
1937
01:47:42.920 --> 01:47:46.399
past the last patient onto the next essue like whoaha, no, no, no, no, no, no,
1938
01:47:46.560 --> 01:47:48.520
back back back back back, back, back back back. Uh.
1939
01:47:48.680 --> 01:47:51.119
And that's the same. This yak reader is fabulous, it's
1940
01:47:51.119 --> 01:47:54.399
so good. Uh, but it is also made for manga
1941
01:47:54.600 --> 01:47:59.560
and comics, not magazines. And so yeah, like, so we
1942
01:48:00.479 --> 01:48:07.520
I did it again? Stop doing that okay. Ah, it's
1943
01:48:07.600 --> 01:48:09.520
like when I click on the edges, I try to
1944
01:48:09.560 --> 01:48:11.640
turn that off to Okay, I will stop using my
1945
01:48:11.680 --> 01:48:16.720
mouse for to share this, Okay, at least it's not
1946
01:48:17.079 --> 01:48:18.399
crashing my.
1947
01:48:19.279 --> 01:48:28.600
Riverside stream like last time. Okay, so screen share, yes,
1948
01:48:28.960 --> 01:48:31.199
and then I will just so ty, you will have
1949
01:48:31.239 --> 01:48:33.399
to remove my my clickies. I gotta I've got a
1950
01:48:33.439 --> 01:48:36.359
clickie keyboard, but I'll try to click.
1951
01:48:36.079 --> 01:48:40.560
And then talk. Cool. Okay, there we go, it's back.
1952
01:48:41.640 --> 01:48:49.840
Hey hey, okay, so click in the middle. So where
1953
01:48:49.840 --> 01:48:56.920
were we? Uh some metroid art that's not very metroidy
1954
01:48:57.640 --> 01:49:02.680
ah yeah, some more and I don't recognize and.
1955
01:49:02.680 --> 01:49:06.560
Uh, next up is the review, so we're done with.
1956
01:49:07.439 --> 01:49:09.920
Yeah, we actually do. I'll do a throw. We actually
1957
01:49:09.960 --> 01:49:14.319
do have a review to read, so, uh I can
1958
01:49:14.359 --> 01:49:16.279
I can throw to break and then we can do
1959
01:49:16.399 --> 01:49:19.920
the read the review. Yeah, sure, like an Apple podcast
1960
01:49:19.920 --> 01:49:22.159
review of us? Oh nice? Okay, cool?
1961
01:49:22.239 --> 01:49:22.560
All right?
1962
01:49:22.560 --> 01:49:32.239
Cool? I think I think ten for me. Sure. With
1963
01:49:32.359 --> 01:49:36.359
each fiddlesticks, I was reading it from your script at first.
1964
01:49:36.399 --> 01:49:38.199
Then I wanted to make sure because there's yeah, there's
1965
01:49:38.239 --> 01:49:41.239
a missing and improve. It just improved, and I was like,
1966
01:49:41.239 --> 01:49:43.199
hold on, is that. Oh yeah. I did try to
1967
01:49:43.199 --> 01:49:46.399
go through and clean it up because it was kind
1968
01:49:46.399 --> 01:49:49.079
of worries, and then I went ahead and like, okay,
1969
01:49:49.119 --> 01:49:50.680
now I tried to blow it up in the reader
1970
01:49:50.680 --> 01:49:53.520
and I a screw myself. Okay,