Dan and Dan with the gaming flair Pixel Dreams and Worlds to
share. Joystick tales and button cues.
Welcome to gaming views. Level up.
We're on the go, now we're up. Silly audio flow from the Rachel
to the new reviews. It's a life of game.
Games with gaming views. Welcome to episode 2 of Gaming
Views. And I'm laughing because as of
when we do release video, Dan, we've still got to do that
dancing we were doing to that injury.
I genuinely love that, thank you so much every time.
It was funny because when we recorded the pilot, I just stuck
in my casting views intro, didn't I?
And then I, I messaged you. I think it might have even been
that same night. I said, Dan, I've got us an
intro. I've got us an intro.
It was. Yeah, and, and how much better
of that. People talk about the demons of
AI. But Dan, there are good things
for it. I'll tell you.
Number one, it'll be #1 in the charts.
Then how are you doing? I'm good.
I'm very good, thankfully. Yeah, I've had a break from
work, so which has been very nice and spent an inordinate
amount of that, even though I was away still gaming, thanks to
those lovely inventions of the the little handheld pads, the
little backbone. So that helped me massively.
So, yeah. But I've, I've been really good.
And now you know, he gives it cracking on Episode 2.
You know that difficult second album.
And see how we go. Nice, nice.
Yeah, It's been a while since we recorded, but I, I think partly
because I've, I've been on holiday, you've been on holiday
and partly I've had, well, I'm not going to call it the flu,
it's not been the flu, but I've just been.
Really. Grotty.
Yeah, I've been so grotty this last week, but I want to record
and as you said, Episode 2, the difficult return.
We've had a lot of conversations though, since last episode, how
we want to take it. So we're going to settle into
kind of like a groove of, I think we're going to talk about
what we've been playing since previous one, then a talking
point and and what we're looking forward to.
So yeah, what have you been playing since or, or what sort
of gaming stuff have you been up to since the last step?
What haven't I been playing is is probably so I I think the
last time we talked we were on the cusp of the the switch to
pre-order yes, which I managed to bag.
So I'm very thankful that I managed to bag one weirdly
through Argos with Mario Kart, so saved a bit of cash as well.
So very much looking forward to June for that.
And then, yeah, I seem to have been ripping through quite a lot
of the recent Game Pass releases, got my mind completely
blown by the puzzle of blueprints, which, which I know
I, I talked to you about, but the depth that that thing goes
is insane. I mean, it's, it's almost like
you kind of you complete the, the main objective, which is
essentially it, it's essentially a room building game, the play
on words, blueprints and you build rooms and it's a road
light. So you kind of go through each
day and the rooms reset. But the idea is to find the
elusive missing room 46. But once you've done that, it's
almost like you've done about 25% of the game.
The depth of the puzzles in The thing is just insane.
And you only have to take a look at Reddit to see, you know, the
amount of conspiracies and theories and, you know,
solutions and all sorts of these things.
So it's it not normally my normal type of game, but I've
seen such good things about it. I thought, you know, I'm going
to give it a blast. So, so that was one thing.
And then on your recommendation, I picked up South at Midnight
and tore through that, completed that, loved it.
Not even on story mode, which is which is the usual for me.
I kind of went, no, do you know what?
I'm going to have a go at it. And, you know, it's not a taxing
game, but absolutely beautiful, you know, stunning, the music in
it, It's incredible. You know, you know, it's good
when when your wife sits down and goes, it's really weird, but
it it looks great. I was like, yeah, yeah.
So and then obviously just the last week, Oblivion Remastered,
I mean, it's just hit the nostalgia spot, you know, that
nostalgia sweet spot. And and you know, I'm only level
7 or 8 or something at the moment, but it's, you know, it's
taken me back 15 odd years going.
This is what RPGs were like when in their heyday.
So yeah, yeah. And then, you know, gearing up
for a bit of doom later next month and just just generally
absorbing what's out there. Nice, nice.
How about you? It's it's been a couple of games
since we've last last recorded. So and do you know what?
And and you saying what you're saying about blueprints in the
South at midnight, which I'll come onto as well leads in, I
think perfectly accidentally to our main talking point as well,
doesn't it, Which we'll come onto.
But for me there was two games. It was Life is Strange double
exposure I do like. You're a big fan of those,
aren't you? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Those, those Life are strange pieces.
Yeah. I, I, I couldn't get into them,
but I know, I know you. You really enjoyed them.
Oh. I think the first one still
stands out for me, head and head and shoulders above them all.
This one I had fun with it. It's not as good but personally
but I still I still enjoy that type of game it.
It hints. I haven't.
I haven't seen anything about it, but it hints at something
camera related. With the whole double exposure
it it feels like there's a an element with a.
Is it? Is there, it's, it's actually,
it's the, the, I think the first game had more of a camera
element. This one is, it's, it's very
clever. It's got 2 timelines.
So it's not a spoiler because it's part of the game.
So there's a character dies and your character can be in the
timeline where she's died and the timeline where she's still
alive. And I think that's what the
double exposure is, is gotcha. Makes sense?
And I think the reason why I like those games is they've got
like a heart to it. The characters are quite.
There's a bit of emotion behind the characters.
Got you. What I look, I think it's
something we both enjoy about the games that we pick up is, is
the storytelling element, right? Is that you kind of get you kind
of get pulled in, you're drawn into the, you know, the the
games that we typically play in that.
And actually I think when we go on to talk about today's topic,
there's a lot of those feedings that because they're very much
story driven, certainly the ones that I reminisce about are very
much story driven elements to them that pull you in.
Yeah, it's I've really found myself over the last probably 10
years is the games gotta have that story for me.
It doesn't have to be like mega cutscenes or anything.
It, it could be told through like I've only had brief
exposure to, to blueprints, but it could be through notes or
something, you know, and that that could sometimes be almost.
Like game in this entirety. So, yeah, I played that and
completed it. The other game was South of
Midnight, which I know I was talking to you about and, and I
love this game. So if you're listening and
you're on Xbox, it's on Game Pass for me.
Yeah. If you've got Game Pass, it's
it's just play it. You know, you've got nothing to
lose. For me.
It's, you know, we at some point we might talk about it.
We've discussed there are, you know, it's not, is it perfect
game? No, but it's it looks great.
The soundtrack for me is just astonishing.
It's phenomenal. I actually want to buy the
soundtrack and and I think I found it on Spotify because it's
it's just so good. And again, it's a game that's
got that heart and emotional core to it, hasn't it?
It has, yeah, 100%. It's a it's a wonderful story.
Didn't quite go to the place, so I was expecting it to and and I
think the only thing that for me was the tiniest of letdowns was
the end was just very abrupt. But you know, like you, I think,
you know, it's the epitome of that, of that AA statement of a
game which is like, you know, come and play me.
I'm not going to take up inordinate amounts of your time
or maybe brain power, but I am going to draw you in with
something quite special. Yeah, yeah.
I was like, yeah, I started playing it and I thought, oh,
it's just a like an action adventure game.
But when you do the first sort of quotes boss, yeah, it spun on
its head for me then. Yeah.
And and I just thought, wow, this this is a game.
So yeah, I completed that. I completed that last week.
So the frustrating thing was I done, I think it's got 14
chapters. Is it 14?
Yeah, 4 four, Yeah, 14 sounds about right. 14-15 something
like that. Well, I did.
I I got to the penultimate chapter before I went on
holiday. Then I left it for a week and I
was just thinking, what's that last chapter going to be like,
man? I can't wait.
And then you get to it and you're like.
Oh yeah. Oh, OK.
And, and I think just to echo you, I couldn't believe it, I
was so excited when I saw Oblivion Remastered drop.
So I think that came the day I got back and I, I, I'm someone
who, I completed it originally sort of three or four times, I
think. Oblivion.
Yeah. Weirdly, I was having a look on
the Xbox because the, the achievements bit shows you the
dates you unlocked it. I've obviously completed it in
between, but my first achievement was in 2009.
The final achievement, which 100% is it was 2017.
So I've been playing it. I was playing it sort of like on
and off for eight years. It's almost like a new game,
isn't it? It is it.
It was one of those games that took over my life at the time,
you know, I, I, I played it and it was it, it, it was all
encapsulated. It was the only thing I played,
you know, and I laughed off the whole horse armour, you know,
start going and, you know, and, and I think it was those
interconnected systems that you just kind of go, this is nuts.
Like, you know, being a, for anyone who hasn't done it, try
it. But, but when you get hold of a
poison apple, being able to pickpocket and put that in
someone's pocket and then just walk away and watch them slowly
lose 10 health points every 5 seconds or whatever it is and
die, you know, with, with no ability to heal them.
So, you know, those sorts of things and the, and, and the
way, all right, you look at it now and it's a bit clunky, like
the MPC's wandering the same routes and things like that.
But but still from from, you know, we're talking 15, 17 years
ago when it was coded. It's a work of art and just
that. And you can see where all those
RPGs come from. And it is like you say, now in
Unreal Engine 5, but like a new game.
I mean, it looks stunning. I mean, it's still a bit janky,
but it looks amazing. Yeah, I mean, it wouldn't be
Oblivion or a Bethesda game, right if it didn't have some
some clunkiness. I mean, I still think the
original still looks good. Do you know what it's lost for
me that the original had? It was sounds really bad, but
it's that Vaseline 70's porn star shine that it had to it in
the original, right? And now they've kind of taken it
and kind of gone. No, no, no, we're not going to
do that. It's very pretty, but it's there
are there are elements to it. Well, they've taken that away.
It looks very brown. Quite a lot.
Very much. Yeah, very much brown.
Not a bad way. Well.
There's two bits I'm looking forward to. 1 is the the
Shivering Isles. Yes.
I never never played that day or so.
Didn't you or the OR the OR the other one?
There were two weren't there and I didn't play either of them.
So I'm really looking forward to getting the end game and playing
that. That's good.
And the other one was there's a
mission I remember where you you go into like a painting or a
painted world or something like that.
That rings a bell. So I've just done the dream
world. So in one of the towns you have
to enter someone's dream and do the tests of perception and
courage. And so you, so there's there's
that one. And yes, there is.
I can't remember if that was this or Skyrim, but there's
definitely AI remove the painting because as I was
playing, I was like, is, is this the painting?
And then I was like, no, no, no, this is different.
This isn't. But yes, there is the painting
model. That's it.
I've got two more things to say about it.
One, I'm like, you know, I'm still early on, I'm level 10 I
think. But I've decided to to hit the
Dark Brotherhood missions because I want to get all the
the bad stuff done 1st and out the way so I can focus on being
the good guy again. Oblivion for me was one of the
first games when I first played it and I think I might have done
it on the PC either way, where I realized because I was new to
the game that I completed the main quest in like, I don't
know, 6-7 hours, but there was like 80 hours of game outside of
the main quest. And that's what, you know, my,
my mind was blown at that, that, you know, hold on.
The main quest is like the smallest part of this game.
Yeah, I was, I was reading just today actually.
It was just an article popped up on probably I Gen. or something
and basically said, you know, where you know, how long is it
and it and I think it was like between 20 and 25 hours for the
main campaign if you take it at, you know, a steady pace.
And then the additional content could take it anywhere up to
about 120 hours. And then shivering aisles and
the other DLC were about 40 hours each.
And I was like, wow, I'm not doing anything till 2027 then am
I? I mean, that's me sorted.
So but yeah, I you know, just just you think what went into
making and and there aren't that many of your bog standard, you
know, fetch quests and things like that.
They're all quite nicely tailored and written, and you
know you need again, is what makes it kind of special, right?
But it's the ones that you stumble across.
So it's definitely a game. I mean, it does force you not to
for a lot of it, but it's definitely a game that rewards
not fast travelling. Yeah, you have, I think you have
doing this. I'm nodding in agreement even
though I've been fast travelling quite.
A lot. No, I think there is some like
for me when I'm doing like the Dark Brotherhood, you'll fulfil
a contract and then I'll fast travel back to where I need to
go for that because I know there's going to be missions in
when I can explore. But yeah, it's yeah, if you're
listening. Explore, explore, explore.
That's all I say. So OK, I think we've caught up
with where well what we've done since we last released.
So let's hear a trailer from some friends of of ours.
It's going to be the Game Club pod.
Now I love these guys. The thing is they do about 5 or
6 different ultimately sort of sub series which come out
various days and every other week.
So yeah, let's hear from them now, but make sure you'll say
you go check them out. Hey kids, are you looking for a
new favorite fortnightly video game review podcast?
And boy howdy, have we got the show for you.
We take a different game every two weeks and we review them
just like a book club. You can find us on all good
podcasting platforms and some of the sketchy ones too.
Simply search for the Game Club Podcast and join the club today.
Right, Dan, we are back and as I was saying before, we have got a
number of subjects we want to do as a like a main talking point
of the episode. I think this one, we didn't plan
it, but it's fitting really well with the games we were talking
about at the start. So we're kind of going to talk
about what it is or the difference between like AAA
versus AA and I guess we need to throw in indie games into it.
Yeah. So I guess we need to just for
our view is what do we think the difference is between them?
So I think it's easy with the indie independent developers.
You know, you're, you're talking maybe a handful of people,
right? It's a game on a real shoestring
budget, usually. Yeah.
And I think a lot these days and maybe actually historically,
you've kind of been primarily released digitally.
And a lot of them take an opportunity in the indie space
because you probably would write to release some things like Game
Pass, to release some things like, you know, PlayStation
Plus, PS Plus, because, you know, it affords you a mass
audience for something that's potentially a a first project
or, or something on a much smaller scale than you've got
ambition for. So yeah, for that in that kind
of indie space, it's a bit like back in the day, right?
In the 90s, eighties, 90s, you know, when you you go indie
music, same thing, right? It's an Independent Record
label. It's it's small, it's niche.
It's maybe not something you go to a small venue here or
whatever. It's like, it's almost like that
extrapolated out onto onto the digital gaming scale.
And then you kind of go up a tier.
And I think, you know, I hadn't when we, when we were, we
started discussing this, I was, I was kind of like charged do a
little bit of research, just my insanity.
And whilst, you know, there is a a rating, I think you almost
kind of go, well, indie's probably around that similar
sort of space because you then move up to a kind of AA which
which is actually more, you know, bigger budget, bigger
development team, but not of a scale that's mass marketed, not
of your, you know, your Assassin's creeds and your Gtas
and things like that. It's kind of a smaller, so I
guess it's there's quite a broad swath of games that could
potentially fall into this. And when, when I was reading
some of this detail, interestingly, some names popped
up, the kind of guy, I didn't even think about that.
And they said we're not for things like the marketing
rounding, something like FIFA would be considered the AA
because actually it's a smaller scale development team.
It doesn't take an awful lot of money pumped into it.
But actually, you know, it's it's because of the marketing
sits behind it. It's it's a AAA and
interestingly, one of the what they think is probably one of
the most expensive games ever to develop, which I haven't
considered. But when you think about what
they've put into it was actually Half Life Alex, because of the
platform, because of the tech they developers build into it,
because they bought their own orchestra.
They, you know, all of these things they did to create all of
the stuff for it. Actually, that Valve never
released the numbers, but they think it was probably one of the
most expensive games ever made and therefore considered AAA,
even though the opposite was true, that it was niche marketed
to a smaller number of people. It's a weird thing.
Well, this is what I was going to ask you.
And while we're still talking about what we think he's or
isn't like Triple V AA. So in my head I'd always had it
that yeah, your AAA is your big budget, big studios, big
marketing, right? Yeah.
And your AA then you just go down a level, maybe it's not
marketed as much etcetera. But you know, when I was looking
around on the net, some of it was saying like production
values, you know, AAA, very big production values.
But then, you know, I was saying there's two things.
One, look at South of Midnight. I would put that as a AA game.
Agreed. Yeah, but.
When you're looking at it, they've not skimped on the
production values. I think, you know, certain game
mechanics could be improved, but when you're looking at it as a
whole, it you know, it's great. And the one I want to put to you
and I asked Joey of Game Club Pod as a as a test for this and
he kind of thought very similar to me.
So I thought I'd throw this at you as a surprise.
Boulders Gate 3, Where does that sit for you?
So boulders get to AA for me because I think it was in pre
release for a very long time but probably one of the longest I've
ever seen. I'm hoping no rest of the wicket
doesn't go the same way and I didn't partake in the pre
release. I read lots about it and I used
to be a huge DND nerd back in the day.
I used to play almost religiously every evening with a
group of friends. And so I, I, I waited for it
with great anticipation. And when it came out it, I don't
think you know, from a, from a AA versus AAA look, it wasn't
mass marketed. I think the word of mouth thing
hit post, you know, advance release.
I think, you know, lots of people came vested in the
forums, blew up with it, you know, and it became this true.
Look, it really is a proper DND game.
You're you're, it's limitless in terms of the things you can do
to overcome a problem. And I think that's the beauty
of, you know, Dungeons and Dragons.
Part of that being a geek back in the day was, you know, if I'm
going to solve a problem, I can do something.
Shit, I'm just going to turn invisible and nick this thing
out of this guy's pocket. I'm going to, you know, and you
just roll the dice to determine it.
And they've managed to build that mostly into a into a video
game, which was phenomenal. But.
As a, you know, look, Larian studios aren't massive, you
know, they haven't got a massive track record.
They've they, they, it's a small development team.
So for me it's a AA all day long.
But you know. And this is it.
So initially I said AA because like you said, Larian aren't a
massive studio and that's no disrespect to them, but I think
what it is. And then I then decided to look
around and some people call it triple AI.
Think what it is, is they're a AA studio that have produced a
AAA game in the sense of they've shown love to it.
They've they've created a fully contained game.
Yeah. I've I've not actually played it
yet. I've got it, but I've not played
it. But they've it's clearly what
what do they call it? A project of love for them.
You know, they've not just I've done this by numbers.
So yeah, are we seeing that? And that's what I was thinking
coming to this. The the lines I think are
blurring more because indie developers aren't just they're
not just churning out spot the difference game or almost like a
PowerPoint slide game. Indie developers are up in the
game a bit. The AA games are up in the game
a bit. And maybe what we're seeing is
and, and actually something I was going to say to you, are we
falling out of love with what we traditionally call AAA games?
Because some of these AA studios are producing far higher quality
than maybe what we've seen from quote AAA.
Yeah, I'm not, I'm not sure it's if that wouldn't be the reason I
was falling out of love with them in all, I think it's it's
the repetitiveness and it's the cookie cutter attitude to what
they're doing and. But that's kind of what I mean.
Sorry. Yeah, there's no risks.
There's no frills. Yeah, there's, yeah, you, you
throw in another mechanic, you, you kind of go, it's essentially
the same thing. I I'm, you know, it's on a snow
planet, not a lava planet, but I've thrown in a grappling hook.
It's fine. You know, it's the same game
with a different suit and and for me that that would be why I
fall out of love with those franchises.
And Far Cry is a great example of that, right?
Far Cry, not, you know, big AAA title, right, But it sits in the
Ubisoft camp, you know, fantastic game.
First one was brilliant. Second one was in better.
Third one just insane and about insanity, but a fantastic game.
And then it started getting, do you know what?
I've done all this? And it's just a slightly
different setting. And the protagonist is, is
slightly different and the antagonist is slightly
different. But the story's just, you know,
and yeah, or I went and played them, but you're like, oh, look,
there's an elephant in it. Or there's a, you know, and
you're like, really? Or now I've added a dog as a
sidekick and you're kind of like, yeah, but I'm just doing,
I'm just basically sniping enemy camps from a distance and then
going in and taking a look at it, you know, so.
No, sorry, but this is exactly what I was going to say.
Where where I say, you know, well, I'd say for my part that
are falling out of love with the triple AAA games is because
we're saying the AA's are up in their game, Indies are up in
their game and AAA's. And you know, I'm not going to
say for all of the games and not going to say there's no
enjoyment, but it's absolutely what you said.
It's year in, year out. We get the same game reskinned.
And you know, games have been doing that for since since it's
dawn of time, right. But you know, look at some of
the games I absolutely loved in the past.
Call of Duty, I used to, I couldn't wait for the new game
to come out. Then I think they did a clever
thing by doing alternating it year on year with Black Ops and
yeah that gave 2 studios 2 years in between.
But even that then just felt difficult or sorry, it felt
tiring. Assassin's Creed was another 1.
I loved that series. I think it's quite telling that
I've been playing Assassin's Creed religiously for the moment
that the shadows to the to the moment I picked up blueprints
and then South of midnight and immediately my attention was
diverted away. And I did go back after I
finished South of Midnight and and complete what I could have
blueprints and went back and I was just like, I just, I'm just
back into murder machine mode and I'm not really feeling.
But that's just getting the same game and you know, it saturates
like Assassin's Creed. I went a few years without
buying them and then I think when Origins came out, or was it
Odyssey, I like that. But now even then again now it
felt felt like they were then just releasing and but making
them bigger and bigger, which I'm not saying is necessarily
the right thing. So here's, here's an interesting
thing, right? So, so I made a list.
I was like, right, thinking back through my potted history of of
games, I made a list of double what I consider AA games, right?
And people can, can disagree. And with two exceptions, there
are no sequels to any of these games.
OK, right. OK.
And I haven't included Dead Space on that list, although I
wish I kind of had off sort of in no particular order, recent
ones are kind of Atlas Fallen and Eternal Strands, right?
So I'm going to take them off because if there's a sequel,
they're not going to answer it right yet.
Time Shift, which was kind of a first person shooter, time
travel, weirdly evil W, which was another fairly recent right,
rogue warrior, black second sight, psyops prototype.
And then there was a prototype T, some kind of like.
And then there was Singularity and the exceptions.
I guess there was breakdown as well, which was an early one.
I've, I've, we've spoken about this before and you don't
remember it and I fondly remember it.
And then there's the kind of two exceptions were fear, because I
love the fear games 1-2 and three and then Darksiders, which
I also love that 123. But I think all of those I was,
I would consider kind of AA standard games and I, I can't
quite put my finger on what makes them that for me, it's
almost like they're really well put together without the level
of Polish and they're there. There's a narrative to each of
them that hooked me in without it being the same time and time
again. You know, even with Darksiders,
I think switching to a different character with a different
perspective on a, on the same storyline that was happening was
kind of a, a really cool way of, you know, moving that narrative
or with different abilities and things on that.
But I think each one of those was, you know, and I can't, I'm
struggling to articulate what it is that I think makes them AA
and not AAA because for me it's not a scoring rank, right?
You know, you could easily turn into that.
But I think there is just that, you know, instantly when
something's a, a AAA GTA is a prime example of that, right?
And that was something that went from a AA, an indie actually,
all the way through all of those things.
But you see, I guess the difference because GTA and you
would crop up from one of us, I think it's the difference for
that one is because they do wait so long between iterations.
So it's you are waiting for the next one.
And they generally do tend to up the game a little bit.
They mix it up, you know. You said it yourself with Far
Cry as well. Loved the first.
When we talk about Far Cry, I'm talking about the more modern
iteration. So is it like 345?
Yeah, 2 was kind of your South Africa, Yeah, but yeah, it was,
it was 3 where it really went kicked off.
Yeah, and I loved that game, but then you were just playing the
same game again. Yeah, I mean, even Primal, which
was like, you know, well, we're going to make it different.
And you're like, but you're not. I haven't got sniper rifle, but
I've got both that does exactly the same thing.
It's just a different you've given me, you know, so.
Yeah. I mean, but go back to your
point, what you're saying about why you know those games for me
and you, you said so many good games in there like Second Sight
and Psyops as well. Is it that all of those, the
telling point was you said no sequels?
Is it that these are like brand new IPS, brand new stories?
So there's a bit of love and attention put into it and
knowing that you can't capture maybe lightning in a bottle a
second time or the opposite that it's not.
But you know, it's not iteration 8 of the same game.
So they're just churning it out at that point because they know
people are going to buy it. Is there that that attention and
love and thought put into a game that isn't a title #8?
I think it's probably a bit of the form where I think it's, you
know, a lot, a lot of these things.
Is it lightning in a bottle or is it I've told that story, you
know, because even when you know, you take something like
Prototype was on my list. The first game was incredible.
The second game was OK and it was like it was just a bit more
of the same, which don't get me wrong, in some instances I
absolutely love, you know, and I'm happy to pick it up and have
a bit of popcorn and just kind of go, oh, it's what it is.
But I think a lot of those on that list that didn't have a
sequel or a planned sequel were were purely they told that
story. It was an encapsulated story and
they're kind of going to have done that and that, you know,
I've told it and it worked. And and you could argue that
maybe they didn't sell, right. Maybe it didn't sell in the
quantities that warranted a signal.
And I think that's part of the depressing thing is a lot of
these games that we talk about the Assassin's Creeds, FIFA's,
Grand Theft Auto, wherever they are, these big games, they're
purely driven by a number. It's all about, you know,
capitalism. It's all about, you know,
they've drawn in this. I mean, one of the biggest games
in the world right now is GTA Online, all right.
So it's like, well, it'd be a no brainer not to make a sequel to
a massive selling game like GTA5, all right, Make 6 up,
upload or upgrade the online component and continue to spin
money off the back of it. So a lot of you know, so when
you see these things that you know, like Dead Space and things
like that, they don't quite make the money.
Because we got three of those right?
And they were all great in their own way.
That story of Isaac and the different settings that he was
placed in. And they were all really good
stories in their own right. And the only reason the three
didn't happen from the studios and the developers themselves
was that because it didn't make enough money.
So they had more story to tell. I think a lot of the time that
you know, they they've told that story they want to tell,
therefore they don't need to or they've got more stories to
tell. But sorry, it didn't make enough
money, we're not going to bother.
You know, I want to say I'm not bashing AAA games because there
are some good ones out there and you know, there are people
obviously get enjoyment out of them.
But the other thing is we call it churning them out.
They know people well, they know it will sell, especially Call of
Duty. It doesn't matter how many times
the campaign is slated. It sells because you know, they
know what they're doing with the online side of things.
And it doesn't matter that it's just a slight reskin.
It's it's so you can't win sometimes because when they do
tweak it, they get slammed for going away from what is the Call
of Duty formula. So it's almost like damned if
you do and damned if you don't, right?
As a studio? Yeah, absolutely.
You know, I totally on board. Look, there are games that I'm
still looking forward to that are considered AAA and I love
that, you know, studios like Bethesda and people are that,
you know, like I totally spoke about them.
I'd be a hypocrite if I didn't, you know, say that, you know I'm
not whilst I love AA games and then probably where my heart is,
I will happily go to a AAA game, do Medievals out soon.
I'm going to smash that right, So that's going to be 1.
You know, the next Bethesda RPG that comes out, I'm going to
smash that right. I'm going to because I know it's
going to be good. I know it's going to be well, I
see this is an interesting point, right.
So I say that and then you look at something like Starfield,
right, which had all the rumours and all the all the pre, you
know, speak about it. It was going to be this
phenomenal game changing sci-fi Skyrim, whatever it was, right,
It just wasn't. It was just a bit the same all
over. And I know they've done worked
and I haven't picked it up since I got bored after less than 20
hours. Like, and I'm not suggesting
every game should be, you know, stupidly long, but there wasn't
something it felt soulless. And then you look at something
like No Man's Sky, which I put, you know, pure indie.
And when it started out and I pumped hours and hours and hours
into without a created a curated story to stick to or you know,
someone else to go and speak to. That came much, much later.
So it's it's interesting. I think for me, if something
feels a little bit soulless and a little bit, I don't know, put
together like Lego, you're kind of like, is it?
And maybe that's the difference between AAA and and AA.
It's the it's the passion and the storytelling that's gone
into it. I do wonder with me as well, is
it, you know, we, we alluded to it in the last episode is, is it
that AAA's often they think more is better.
So I just don't have time to do it like Starfield.
That's a great one because for me, that's a game I should love,
right? Yeah, it's it's my game all
over. Right in your wheelhouse, right?
Just didn't get on with it, just didn't get on with it.
And I just it's because I just couldn't take the time I didn't
take the time to get to to really get taken with it.
But that's, that's my decision. And maybe, you know, and when I
look at the games I've been playing more recently, like, you
know, South of midnight, nice 12 hour campaign, you know, it
sounds longer than than it is. It kind of whizzed by, but
we're. We're all time poor, right?
But it's just the way we are these days.
We're all time poor. We don't have, you know, it's
our most precious commodity. You know, whilst we might have
disposable income, we haven't got disposable time.
So what we choose to spend our time on, you know, I did spend
time trying to engage with Starfield.
I made it exclusively the thing I was going to play when it
launched because I wanted to, you know, I wanted to get in
there and be a space pirate and, you know, have a jetpack and all
that, you know. And yet it all just became a bit
meh. Now look, there'll be people out
there and I think this is the beauty of video games.
There'll be people out there who were screaming that it was, you
know, the greatest thing that was released that year or, or
since. And fair play to you, right?
Because it's all supposed to be subjective.
This is your and I opinion on this whole thing, right?
So this is, this is just our perspective and, and we're going
to agree on some things and we're going to disagree on some
things, but it just didn't click.
It didn't click. And, and I think there are a
number of and, and I'm finding more and more, maybe it's an age
thing. You know, like I said,
Assassin's Creed Cellos is unbelievably beautiful.
It is a stunning game. Honestly, if it was just a
riding a horse simulator, I would be quite happy just going
from place to place watching that wind pick up the leaves.
And but you know, I was blown away by Ghosts of Sashima, but
this is, this is, I didn't think anything could be in that same
setting. And it's stunning.
And now they've got Ghosts of your time, which just looks even
better. I'm kind of if I just did that,
I'd be happy, right? But it's the mechanics that sit
behind of have again have left it a bit soulless.
And maybe maybe there's something to say that the two of
us, we've got 40 plus years of gaming rights.
We've we've seen the quiet bit. But and I was just looking at
some of the, you know, I was just looking at my Xbox
playlist, you know, because the majority of games I think
recently, other than like Oblivion is and and Call of Duty
is like those what I would say the AA and Indy, like I've got
South of midnight, there's a blueprints.
I've not played it fully yet. Now I've got a game blue
Wednesday. I played that.
That's something is, you know, that that line between AA and
Indy, I've got eternal strides Cabernet.
And I think what you were saying then is something you remind me
of, is that also, can you take more risks in a AA and Indy?
Because we've just said that when a AAA does take a risk,
sometimes the fanbase don't like it because it's not, it's not
FIFA anymore. It doesn't feel like Far Cry
anymore. I think you can.
I think, I think that's, that's part of it.
But I think you can be more risky around what you put into
it, what the story is. I mean, you know, look at a
studio like Double Fine. I mean, they base their whole
catalog basically, you know, on risk.
I mean, Tim Schafer started out at league shots and you know,
the great work he did on, you know, things like full throttle
and things like that. But but you know, when he split
and create a double fine, you know, get a game like
Psychonauts. I mean, come on, Can you imagine
the the board pitch for that? You know, well, actually it's a
group of secret agents that don't really exist in the real
world, but jump inside people's heads to solve their problems
and their and their, you know, and their mental health issues.
And you're not what I'm sorry, you're doing what I think.
You're right. I think there is an element of
risk that you can that you can almost gamble and but the danger
is the territory you then fall into that goes, well, OK, you
can do another one, but make it bigger and better and, and, you
know, sugarcoat it and whatever. And I think that's, you know,
the bit that's like, man, I wish they'd just make more of the
purity and more of the, you know, then, then, then try and
keep going and going. And there are some that like,
like Assassin's Creed's a really good example of, you know,
they've had some fantastic, you know, it started off as, I mean,
in Venice, probably a AA title, right?
He's set in a very small world. It wasn't open world.
It was very nature. It was very and they tried to
set that back with Mirage and the, you know, but then you had,
you know, Black Flag and introduced a load of stuff that
people fell in love with and pirates and ships and sailing
and stuff like that. So I think he's done a really
good job of kind of moving things along.
But I think the last, you know, two or three have just got a
little bit same in a little bit kind of mare.
So I think they haven't been, they haven't taken those risks
that you talk about, you know. Yeah, well, they made it.
I remember Assassin's Creed being one game where they said
right for a year or two we're not releasing a game.
Exactly. Yeah, we're going to that's.
What? It was like a breath of fresh
air, wasn't it? Yeah, I haven't got to worry
about getting that next year because I'm going to buy it.
I'm going to get it anyway. And you know, we took risks as
well. Another game hit me that I was
just looking at playing. Have you played a game called
Indica? No, you've, you've mentioned it
2 minutes on my someone on my list.
It came out I was looking for something the other day and I
thought I've got that. And I was like, Oh yeah, Dan.
The only reason I'll bring that is so it I was having a look.
It's made by well developed by Automator and published by 11
Bitstudio. So I think they have former CD
project. But the game is about a nun
looking to adjust to monastic life.
And the twist comes that shares a connection with the devil.
Now, no, you know, what game, what company is going to do
that? You know, you know, we're, we're
no, we're fine printing out FIFA 25262728 And, you know, and you
get these kind of quirky, interesting and inventive games
from the indie world. So maybe they're, you know,
maybe it's a what's the word? It's a great IO system where you
can get your big shooter yearly update, but you're still being
fed these quirky games. I'd, I, I would much rather have
the best of both worlds. All right, so, so like you said,
this isn't about knocking anything that's, you know, that
that's out there from a, from a triple-A large marketing, large
budget. You know, I sound quite down on
the whole thing, but I, I wouldn't want it any other way,
right? I I love the fact that I get to
pick and choose. You know, the games that I play
in the way I want to play them on the format I want to play
them and the type that I want to play.
I've always been primarily single player focused, you know,
whether it's a shooter, whether it's a RPG or, you know, puzzle,
whatever. But I'm not, I'm not a big
online gamer. I just, you know, I just haven't
got the patience for it. I think, you know, playing with
other people and I. Haven't got the reactions
anymore. Definitely haven't got the
reactions used to. We used to do it right, but I
think now, you know, I've got kind of I've, I've very much
gone into it. So, so the fact that I can
choose between, you know, an indie game that does something
fantastically well like Boltaro, which is just a card game, you
know, that I got obsessed with last year, right.
The way through to, you know, the gamut of all these big
fancy, flashy, you know, super advertised games.
You know, I love the fact that I can do that and everything in
between because it's like I said, it's, you know, I think
it's such a subjective thing. You know, one man's junk is
another man's treasure in video games.
I think that's that's never been truer than than the world we
live in today With it. We're spoiled for choice.
Yeah, and that's the thing. And I was going to say, yeah, so
I will, you know, I'm not sort of Call of Duty as much as I've
said, oh, it does this and that and it's just churning out.
So I've I've, I've done it recently with a few friends,
jumping in on the online side of things because there is that
element of just jumping in, having a few games with some
friends, having a laugh, getting annoyed at it.
And it's fun, but playing the campaign I used to love, I said
to you, I used to love waiting for the campaign.
So Modern Warfare 1-2, probably 3, even Black Ops 123, but the
newer ones turned me off. However, a game go right back to
what you mentioned, Evil W where I picked up it was on game Pass,
you know, again, not the perfect game, but my God did I have fun
with that. Such fun I mean I mean it is I
mean if you haven't played it, go and pick out because it's
just silly. It's just a silly.
You know, I can't think there's any super special mechanics to
or anything to make it you know stand out.
It's just a heavy, and I mean heavy in the kind of Gears of
War sense that, you know, you're quite a stompy, you know, not
even barely running around shooting things, you know, in
the old Bob W aboard at times they or was it a hot air balloon
or whatever the Zeppelin type, you know, it's kind of all this,
you know, but it was it was just pure fun.
It was like I can have a bit of that.
I'm happy. It was like ghosts of vampires
and things in in a Wild West setting, wasn't it?
And it's like, what a great mash up.
It was, it was brilliant. I mean, I'm talking about it now
and thinking maybe I'll go through that again tomorrow
because it, yeah, it was just like you said it, it was fun.
And I think that if anything, it is what you really want, right?
You just want it to be fun. And I'll reiterate what we said
in the first episode is that you and I have just grown up loving
games. And I think that's where
sometimes if we, if we're down on something, it's just because
we want the best from it, isn't it?
You know, we, we've always enjoyed doing what we're doing.
And and you know, we'll probably be doing this till we're 80,
right? I do, you know what I, I, I
often find it hard to think of a time where there won't be
something. There was an article I was
reading the other day, but a guy was probably on Polygon or
something. But but, but someone kind of
talking about like, you know, I play video games, but they
genuinely help me, You know, they, they, it's not necessarily
a break from reality, but it's it, you know, just even recently
that that blueprints thing was almost a way to disconnect my
brain from work and reconnect with other parts of it that were
kind of puzzle solving because like I don't have them.
They're not on this job. But you know, there's always
something that comes up, but it's generally now more about
office politics and managing that, you know, the people
element of things. So to be able to go and switch
into a game that is about logic and puzzle solving.
I mean, I did something I I've never done.
I don't know, it's probably around here somewhere, but I've
I've actually got honestly, I've got a notebook.
Everyone, I'm seeing my notebook.
I never look. At.
That right make notes about like like look this little like.
That's a walk crew. You should be putting that
online. That's a walk, crew.
But this is what I mean, you know, I've never done that.
But it became so absorbed. That says it.
I'm not. Yeah, right.
You're sitting there making notes about physical notes about
because I didn't want, I didn't want to spoil it by going, well,
let me just have a look at a guide.
And don't get me wrong, there were a couple of times I had to
because I was just like, this is frustrating the hell out of me
now. But in the main, I, I solved as
much as I possibly could, probably about 95% of what I did
in that game. And I, I know when they've
finished it, but even my daughters were getting involved.
So my, my 11 year old, she was, there's a puzzle in there that
revolves around the dartboard and it's all around arithmetic.
So, so addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, but
then it starts getting in things like square roots and, you know,
fractions and, and, but all around the numbers on the
dartboard. So the solution is always going
to be a number between 1 and 20. And honestly, there were times
she was getting to a solution quicker than me and I was like,
this is this is brilliant. She's learning math.
That's probably about the right sort of for her age.
So I'd be called nerve and go Matilda, you say that again.
She she could work out the puzzle because it's all colour
based. And she'd be like, yeah, it's
five. And he'd be like, oh, it is
five. Oh my God.
So you know, she it was it was engaging from a she'd just come
and sit with me. As soon as it went on, she'd be
like, can we do the billiard room puzzle?
Because I love that one. Yeah, yeah.
And then she'd be like, oh, have you tried doing digging over
there for that thing? Have you tried that key in
there? So she started getting really
engrossed as well and they started making their own notes.
And it's not multiplayer game. That's.
Brilliant. The fact that, yeah, your kids
are getting into that as well. And, you know, the fact that
you've got, and like I said, people, there were pages and
pages of notes. If a game can make you do that,
because a lot of times they say, oh, you should have no note and
pencil, you know, make maps or whatever, but you can't be
bothered because the game is good.
But you, you know, you're not going to do that.
But if a game's made you do that, then it's it's got you,
hasn't it? It's absolutely got a. 100% I
mean, it was that we we went and we went away for a break, just a
little city break in between. And like I said, I took the
backbone and I mean, most of the time I plugged it into the iPad
because it's just slightly bigger screen and use the the
cloud gaming piece. I know I'm I'm diverging from
our conversation, but it was of an evening when you're sharing a
room with two young kids and your wife and the dog.
You know, there's not an awful lot you can do past, you know,
kind of half nine. You know, you've been you've had
played pool downstairs at the bar or whatever, and then you
kind of come out to the room. So to be able to turn that on
and be absorbed by that while, you know, the missus is reading
and the other ones reading a book or she's drawing or
something. And then Matilda will come and
sit down with me and kind of go, can we play blueprints?
And we, you know, was, was just a wonderful, joyful thing, you
know, and the people go, yo, yeah, but it's just a screen.
It's just like, but yeah, but it, that's an opinion, right?
And that's why this whole stuff's so.
Pac-Man was just a screen. Exactly.
You know, sitting and making your way through Netflix is just
a screen or reading on a Kindle is just a screen.
Yes, it is. But there's a level of
engagement. And it excited my daughter and
it, you know, it made me happy and it made me happy.
It was something we could do together, you know, she started
making her own notes around it and stuff.
So yeah, it was, it was wonderful, you know, And then
one night at the end of the holiday, they were all dozing or
whatever, and I was just finishing off my run of the day
and I managed to open and find room 46.
Find Room 46 but it it works on you have a number of steps per
day and I got to the outer room before knocking room 46 and ran
out of steps. Reset the entire mansion for the
entire day following day and I was just like and then I and
then the worst thing happened and I realised there was
something I could have done to extend my steps and allowed me
to get there and I didn't do it and I was just like I think
about. It but the family's got you
thinking like that and you know that that's the thing.
It's like what it didn't. What?
It wasn't, I wasn't super angry and frustrated, which I have
been in the past when something, you know what I mean?
It was just like, I'll go again tomorrow, I'll try.
But it took me another 10 days, not real days, but 10 game days,
which is yeah, in game days to finally do it.
Yeah, even though I knew all the solution because it's it's, it's
the random number gods. Yeah, it was, it was, you know,
certain stuff had to happen. Starts that to align for me to
get that thing. And it took another 10 or 15
days for that to happen. Well, this is the thing.
I've briefly looked at it because I realised, and this
will be my point, that it's got a lot more depth than it looks
like it has. So I've decided quite quickly
not to play until I knew I could dedicate time.
So I started South of Midnight. But this is what I was going to
say. If you've seen clips of it,
you'll be you'll make the same mistake that I think a lot of
people have, say it looks extremely simple, but it's not,
is it? That's the thing.
It has. Very clear.
Layers it is a it is a milfoy of a of a video game.
It's you know, it's just insane the depths that it goes to.
And even today I've read again, just reading an article of
someone saying I didn't realise how much of an and this, this
might upset some people, but how much of an anti fascist game it
is. So there's there's another
storage thread that I never found and a room that I never
found that tells a very different spin on the story that
you pieced together throughout. And I was like, God, I didn't
because I haven't read that that book in the game with that
specific thing and the unredacted copy.
I was like, I didn't even know that like, so it's it, like I
said, I, I think completing the main, you know, credits roll
part of the game 25% and you've then got another 75% to solve
all of these things. It's insane and I would I I
don't even want to know what the inside of the guy's head who
created or girls head who created that game because it's
mind blowing. And this is it.
And at some point we'll probably also talk about like
individually like the the indie developers or the the solo
developers, because there's been a couple of big ones in the
past, haven't they? Like Braid was the big one,
wasn't it? Where?
Oh, I. Love Braid?
Yeah, and that was all done by one person, wasn't it?
Or at least you enjoyed the game.
Yeah, tunic was another one. Yeah, Tunic, yes, but the
biggest one ever, the biggest one ever out of out of all of
them was made by one person. And that was Minecraft, right?
Yeah, mine not not created that. I mean, the man, again, I think
you have, you have to have a semblance of madness, right?
But but he created that and now look, it's a bloody movie
starring Jack Black and Jason or Noah for Christ.
Sake Well, well, there's a couple of games I've got
specifically because they were done by one person doing it all.
And there's a game, I think it's his company, he calls it 2 bad
games. There's a game on the Xbox at
least it's called Broken Minds. And you know, you can see it's
very a basic looking game because it is one person, but
the story is trying to tell in that game.
I kind of admire that. You know, you can get these
people that, you know, we used to talk about like the, the
bedroom coders in the day of the Commodore 64 in the Astro.
You're kind of getting that now still.
And like, and I was talking about Xbox predominantly because
that's been my platform over the years.
They've always tried to have a big like indie presence on their
marketplace as well, haven't they?
Yeah, it's part of the joy of Game Pass is picking up
something that you would never have even taken a second look at
and going, my God, this is this is brilliant.
I mean, I don't know if you've played Tunic, but that's another
example of the phenomenal game that it's just it's kind of an
isometric Zelda type thing Fox, but it but the puzzles and the
depth of that again, they're not blueprints level, but they are
pretty mind blowing. Once you get your head around
them, you're like, oh, that's how that works.
That's what that chime there means, and I didn't know that
that meant and that arrow pointing there means this thing,
you know, and again, layer upon layer, yeah, they I mean these
these these people have so many more tools at their disposal
mount now to to be able to create these things.
I mean, in, in essence, No Man's Sky was was created by one
person, you know, right at the beginning, you know, kind of
when it when it's a pre relation, you know, and, and,
and you look where that's taking him now, but he's persevered
with that for got 1012 years now.
And it's, it's just grown into this cult following and it's
it's mind blowing and the. Absolutely generated.
Yeah, yeah. But when you go back and you
look at it, I mean, my girls were interested in seeing it
because they, they kind of wanted to play something that
was a bit less, you know, Roblox and.
And they were just like, what? You can just get in a ship and
just go anywhere. And I'm like, yeah, well,
provided you've got the bits of your ship.
But because it's got this kind of exploration mode now, you can
pretty much do that anyway. And this is all procedurally
generated. It's sort of, you're like, this
is mad. Yeah, but I had to this thing
and it's got its own biosphere and it's got its own plant life.
And it's like, and you're not. Wow.
This is it now. I've been having an internal
argument with myself this whole episode now, and I think I can
formulate it. You know, I think I was saying
that I'm kind of frustrated that the big AAA companies don't
innovate enough. Like for example, we had the
nemesis system in the Lord of the Rings games, didn't we?
Yeah, Warner Brothers idea. What did they do?
Kind of amounted to nothing after it.
They used it in a couple of games and I, I loved the idea of
that, but then it's just fizzled out.
And I'm thinking why aren't the bigger companies innovating like
that? But maybe we don't need them to
maybe as we said, we just need them to put out the big popcorn,
you know, blockbusters each year.
And these Indian and AA developers are the ones who are
giving us our our intrigue. You look at WBM and one of the
things that as a, as an umbrella company, a parent company
they're very good at and I've always been very good at is
litigation and, and the legal aspects of things, right?
I mean, these guys are in DC, right?
So, you know, they, they've always managed to shut people
out of, you know, specific characters, be it Superman or
Batman or whatever. He knew someone's laid a claim
to something they've always been very good at.
I mean, marvelous, I minded. They're all Disney now.
They did, they're the same at that, but but they did this same
thing with the nemesis system is my point, right?
So they've, they've essentially locked that piece of technology
out now until I think it's something like 20-30.
And you're like, what you could have done with that?
You put that in a, you know, any other game where you know, you,
you, you defeat someone and then they come back bigger and
stronger and they've got a grudge against you and they've
built an army to fight against or whatever it is.
You know, you put that in any other setting like Batman or
something like that, you're like, this is the same.
But but no, do you know what I'm going to do?
I'm going to sit on it and lock it down and make sure no one
else can have access to it. It's academic.
It's my ball. Yeah, and it is a bit.
It is a bit, you know, it's mine, but what are you going to
do with it? Nothing.
But how does that help anybody, you know?
So, yeah, I just don't. I don't, I don't understand it,
but I don't, I think it does stifle innovation, which I think
was your point, right. I think it just, it just stops
people from wanting to do cool stuff unless they can kind of
keep it to themselves or or keep it niche in kind of the indie
world and go, well, I'll do it that way then.
And. Then they can just buy that
indie developer and then a new one will come along which.
Is what they do, right? Which is what's saying Microsoft
are now doing. I mean, that that was the
realization they had a few years ago.
It's like, well, screw it. If I can't create this stuff
myself, I'll just buy the people who are doing it.
I'll throw money at them. Yeah.
Right. Was there anything else around
the AAA AA Indy racket? No, I I think we've talked, we
talked a lot about, you know, a lot of different aspects and and
our personal opinions on them. But the the thing I would say is
look, there's so much out there that everyone is so support for
choice. Just enjoy what you love, man.
Like it doesn't, you know, it doesn't matter what platform,
what game, what, what genre it does.
Who gives? Who cares, right?
It's your thing. Play it your way, right?
So do do what you want. And you know, I'm just, I'm just
lucky and privileged that I get to live in a time where I can do
this right and in, in, in whichever way I choose to do it.
And and a great friend to talk to about as well.
Oh, well, thank you very much. But yeah, echo exactly what you
say. Yeah, there are courses for
everyone. You might not like that course
move on to the next. That's that's exactly it.
But let's, let's enjoy it. And yeah, we're going to have a
lot more of these conversations. Indeed.
So before we close out, what are you looking forward to?
So I probably spoiled already, but I'm I'm very much looking
forward to do medieval. See, I'm not afraid of triple.
A Doom. The Dark Ages.
Doom Dark Ages. Sorry.
Yeah. Doom Dark Ages.
Yeah. So I'm, I'm not looking forward
to it. I can't even name it correctly.
So I'm looking forward to Doom Dark Ages and then I think I'm
just going to I'm just getting my oblivion on at the moment.
I, I, you know, in terms of there's, there's not look, I'll
be lying if I wasn't super excited about ghosts of your
Thai because I love ghosts of Sushima.
And you know, one of the joys of being able to play multi
platform is that, you know, I've got a selection.
I can I can go to Mario Kart World is, you know, I'm
obviously going to be smashing that with the kids come June the
5th, but imminently one of the things I have done which and and
it was a bit this is a bit of a test bed for me because I know
you're a massive fan. I've never been able to deal
with the genre, but I have downloaded far Obscurus.
That's. Mine, I was going to say.
So I because I've seen such good things about it and I am and
what I want to try. All right, genuinely, I mean
this without without bullshit, and I genuinely want to try and
enjoy a turn based combat because I think the last time I
enjoyed one of those, no, I can't think of the time.
I've never enjoyed it. So I I I'm, I'm really I I
really do want to give it a go and and put everything into it.
So it's going to be I'm going to have kind of a side by side.
I'm going to be playing oblivion for a bit of the longevity
piece. And then I'm going to, I'm going
to dip into to Clara Obscura and see how it'll go.
Both good choices. That that's what I was going to
say. Pretty much, yeah.
For me, between now and in our next episode, it'll it'll
absolutely be like oblivion. Keep going at that.
Hopefully I've done all the other factions by then.
But yeah, the one game I'm really looking forward to is
yeah, Expedition 33. It's it came up on my radar
quite late. You then mentioned it to me.
I think you said you thought I'd be playing it.
And if I hadn't have started or if if Oblivion hadn't have
released, I absolutely would have done.
But like you said, I love those turn based combat games that,
you know, like the the old, the RPGs, but also it just, I've
I've tried to stay away from it, but I've seen a few videos
online. It just looks, it looks crazy
and incredible at the same time. So yeah.
I, I think it's got the one, the reason I, I kind of went long
and he would go is because every single thing I'd seen about it,
it be a review or a kind of just a passing comment was it had a
beautiful depth of story. And when we talked about, you
know, talked a lot about AA games and and a lot of what they
do really well is to that story, be it twisted, weird, unusual in
an engaging way. And and I was like, well, I'll
have a bit of that thing because I I love that kind of drama and,
you know, piece that goes alongside of really well put
together and thought through a game.
But I also just remember what's coming up is revenge of the
savage planet as well, which was the savage planet was a cracking
game. I don't know if you played it
was life. Yes.
Revenge is that they they put into third person.
So that's coming out. I think it's next month, might
be in May, towards the end of May or or early June.
So that that as well as another one for me.
But yeah, because I didn't want to have the same 2 as you.
That was all right otherwise, otherwise the next cast could be
a very boring cast. Did you enjoy it?
Yeah, it was great. Tell me about this bit.
The beauty about you though, is you've got all the platforms
pretty much, so at some point you'll be talking about games
that I don't have, so. This is true and I will make an
effort to play a bit more on the PS5I have intentionally
downloaded RoboCop Rogue City. So I will.
Be I will be having a go at that just because we can't go a
podcast without mentioning RoboCop in one shape or form.
I've played that very good game. But yeah, and the other thing
I'm going to look forward to, Dan, is recording Episode 3 with
you, so. Yeah, yeah.
I mean, now I'm past the difficult first album, but yeah,
the second album. Sorry.
We can, we can go for, we can go for #3.
Yeah, right. Anything you want to say, Dan,
other than everything you have just done?
No, it's just I, I think I've talked far too much, which I
think that's at the end of the last podcast as well.
But yeah, look, just hopefully we've helped add some context to
some of the things we've talked about, particularly around kind
of double versus triple versus Indy.
And it's not a versus, let's be honest.
It's a a just enjoy it. Right.
Exactly. So, But yeah, and I think we're
going to be doing a bit of a, you know, what topic would you
like to hear about and putting out a bit of a, a bit of a vote,
right? This is what I was going to say.
So firstly, thanks for listening.
If you've got any comments, you want to weigh in on the debate
about double AB, Triple AB indeed, if you've got anything
you want to say on that, anything we haven't said,
anything you want to talk about the games we've played or
looking forward to drop us a note at Casting views for now.
And I'm saying for now, because Dan and I have got plans, so
this pod will evolve over time. Just give us a chance.
But yeah, so for now. And yeah, I see what we want to
do is we've already got a long list of talking points that you
and I want to talk about, don't we?
So we will probably start putting them out as polls to
see. Yeah, basically to see what
people want to want to hear first.
So yeah, keep an eye out for those.
So, Dan, pleasure as always. And you, mate, Yeah, thanks for
listening everybody. And keep an eye out for the next
episode of Gaming Views Dan. And Dan with the gaming flair
Pixel Dreams and Worlds to share joystick tails and button cues.
Welcome to gaming Views level.