PWN Call 4: A Sincere Aesthetic

Hello. Hey gang, thanks for tuning in to episode. 4, 4 whole episodes so far of The Phone Call, a casual conversation podcast where members and friends of the Playwell Network get together to catch up and talk about what they've been into lately. Rabbit trails may or may not be included. I'm Nate. That's Josh. Say hi, Josh. Wave to the camera.

Hi.

That's Wes.

Hi guys, how's it going?

Oh no.

Oh, no. So happy to be here right now. It's so great.

You stop it. Stop it right now, or I'm going to turn this podcast around. That's Paul.

Hi. How's it going?

You're back. The unofficial official third chair. The official unofficial third chair. I don't know how the— but yeah. Yeah, uh, for his second appearance, it's, it's Mr. Mark Erickson. Oh, hi, Mark.

Oh, hey.

I am contractually obligated to only join the evens, uh, numbered episodes, so I'm fulfilling my obligation. Um, sorry, it cannot be any other way. I'm here. Glad to be here.

I'm just, I'm, I'm wondering where these, like, this contract exists. That's like Porcho says that he's HR. And I'm like, I have no recollection of these things.

But, you know, we just try to keep you out of some of this business stuff. It's, it's really kind of— yeah, but you don't need to worry about it. Don't worry about it. Terms and conditions apply. You check the box. It's all, it's all in there. Yeah.

Sick. Yeah, I like that. So like, hey, I don't have to think. I'm all about that. But Guys, it's been, it's been a hot minute since we've talked to Wes. So Wes, since it has been the longest since we've talked to you, why don't you kick it, kick it off for us? And how have you been, dude?

Oh, you know, okay, I won't do the funny voice anymore, but you know, I've been working on it.

What funny voice?

Thank you.

A deeper voice, you know, that Doesn't sound like I'm completely homo, but it's been, it's been quite, quite a year, honestly, almost to the day, actually, because I entered in—

Wow.

I mean, I mentioned it on the podcast before, but I entered into the master's program of education at my local university, and we moved and everything, and it's crazy. And I was taking like 6 or 7 units at the same time, and I'm finally done with most of that right now. I still have one more class to go. the springtime, but I actually get a bit of a reprieve, so I can actually get on the microphone and actually talk, which is nice. And I'm not falling asleep at midnight every night and waking up at 4:00 AM. It's great. It's great.

I love it.

So nice. Except for tonight.

Except for tonight, yes. I'm going to go to sleep at 4:00 AM. That's right.

There you go.

Yeah. Well, it's nice to have you finally sort of be able to make one of these. Your presence was sorely missed, mostly as sort of a mitigating factor in the, uh, Link's Awakening episode.

Um, I still owe you guys a Bite Size for that one because I remember making copious amounts of notes, copious amounts of aesthetic notes, you know.

How many times did you write down Paul is dumb?

Oh, that's just a daily thing that I do. You don't get those messages every single morning?

It's just, it's like the Bart Simpson thing where it's like Bart Simpson's writing on the chalkboard. Um, he says copious notes and it's just pages upon pages of like, Nate and Paul are stupid. Nate and Paul are stupid.

Why don't you love this thing the way I love this thing?

Exactly. Me and Josh, we know what's up, you know.

I do love that thing.

Link's Awakening is a very Baptist game, as we all know.

I guess that's what it is.

I mean, maybe that's why We don't like it because it's just not that good.

Because they're wrong. I get it. I get it.

Anyway, anyways, before we get into the, you know, baptism debates, which always end super well, let's kind of move along here. And Joshua, I'm going to save you for last.

Okay.

He was surprised he wasn't ready. And he's like, oh, good. Okay. Yes, I am. Last.

He's like, now I have a minute. But we will go with Paul, the techno funk boy himself. How are you, friend? How have you been, man?

Things are pretty good. So the kids are back. So we had a long stretch when they were with their mom and then camp, and now they're back getting ready for school. And so it's great to have them back and all. And, um, now I'm planning on some way to get y'all to, to do an episode on Final Fantasy Advent Children so we can have the baptism debate based on that.

Yes, please. I will pay so much money to make that happen. I love that film.

He called it a film. I'm not sure that it qualifies as film. It's, uh, it's something.

Um, but it's an experience. A beautiful experience.

Moving pictures.

Um, but last time you were raving about—

Just wait till you have to play Final Fantasy Remake last year or next year.

You were raving about Masters of the Universe and now you're going to turn your nose up on Final Fantasy Advent Children?

Dude, I said it's like the best 7 out of 10 I've seen. Like I would put Advent Children in like a really good 7 out of 10. All right. Like it's, it's fun. It's a spectacle. It is not high art.

A Final Fantasy, seven out of ten.

It's already begun, Mark. Please, please be a good citizen here.

We should talk about that.

Stop, stop.

Uh, yeah, I've been good. It's I'm a fully covenantal Baptist, so I believe in baptizing your children. as babies in Christian homes. Um, just so we all get all that on the table. Um, speaking of those children, my, my 3-year-old son had his first official organized sports thing today. We— he had his first soccer practice in the under-4 league, uh, under-4 rec league. And that practice was like everyone, all these little munchkins, just bring their, bring their soccer balls, bring their shin guards, and just out on the field and the coach was great actually. He kind of just, he like just ran around and had them like, all right, kick your balls toward me. And they all did that. And then he kind of turned around where it's like, all right, you have to go away from me and I'm going to try to get your soccer balls away from you. And my son just kind of like fell apart about that. Like he just, he thought the coach was going to just take his ball.

Mm-hmm.

And this is like nice new soccer ball he just got and he kind of fell apart. So we're a work in progress, but it was an exciting day.

Nice.

That story reminds me of the first— I have this sort of core memory of playing wiffle ball. And when I just have this, it's like, okay, you're out. And I thought that I was out of the game. And I remember just sort of breaking down, not understanding that It just meant like my turn was done for that moment.

No, you were just that bad. They're just like, get out.

Listen, we're done.

Cut it off early here.

That probably explains a lot of, though, my relationship with sports in general, where I'm just like, yeah, I actually came to the realization. It's funny that you mentioned soccer, and I'm going to refrain from making any judgments on the quality of that sport. But what I have decided is that that's a sport for people who like— it's a great kids' sport, um, but it is a sport— They're learning to play real sports. Yes, um, but it's a sport for people who love running, and I do not love running. Like, it's like the, the, the entire premise is like, hey, do you want to run around for like an hour and a half And I'm like, no, that sounds awful. Thanks.

Like, but yeah, you also get to fake injuries. That's fun.

Hmm.

So it's for people who like running and theater, and I don't like either one of those things. Oh, but Josh, how have you been, dude?

Oh, it's my turn. Yeah, I've been good. I've been good. I celebrated my anniversary this weekend. Had the kids off with some friends for the evening, and we had a nice dinner at a place here.

Who was with you?

Downtown Square. My wife of 17 years, good sir. Yeah, so we had a, we had a good time. Yeah, we were, we were just kids when we got married. We were 20 years old. So kind of crazy to think back on those days. And, and where we are now. So, yeah, yeah, doing well. It was, it was fun. Then after that, we went to a local brewery here as well and hung out until our kids were dropped off there. There's a little arcade machine there, one of those Arcade1Up machines that has like some old games they like to play. And they do brew root beer there as well. So kids will get root beer.

Oh, that's kind of cool.

Yeah, it's a good time. It's a good time. It's like 4 blocks up the street. That's pretty sweet. Anyway, so yeah, doing good, man. Doing good. Cool.

Nice.

And none of you are going to ask me how I'm doing.

Nate, how are you doing?

Oh no, it's too late. I'm going to tell you guys anyways, but I'm going to be angry about it the whole time.

You're the host.

I've just kind of been like waiting to like do that sometime where it's just like, Like, again, it comes from the— I am the great northern passive aggressor, um, and I just need the opportunity to just be passive aggressive sometimes. You know, it's like I, I told you guys earlier in the chat where it's like, uh, I'm sorry that I'm choosing violence, but I can't unleash this on the general public, so you guys are just gonna have to take this right now.

Gotcha.

But this will be released for the general public.

Yeah, but, but they— but they weren't the objects of my scorn.

True.

You guys were.

That's fair.

I was.

Yes. Um, actually, it's kind of funny because since we last recorded, I too celebrated an anniversary.

That's right.

Um, that's right. Megan and I have been married 13 years, and we, on our actual anniversary, we, uh, we kind of put the boy to bed and then we played It Takes Two together for an hour or two and then kind of apropos.

Yeah, is that they're calling it these days?

Oh, Wesley, that's pretty good.

Wesley, to go along with previous conversation that Josh started.

That's not for that. That's if you want to know what Wesley is referring to, then you You know, have we got a deal for you. You can hear all about that in the Patreon preamble stuff.

For money.

For you freeloaders, you'll just be one more.

We won't talk that way for money.

Oh, this is going— this is a Christian podcast, guys. No, but yeah, we And then the day after, her cousin came over and watched Byron for a couple hours, and we went out to dinner.

Nice.

Sweet.

Paid for. It's one of those restaurants in town where it's like, it's good food, but it's definitely like, it's really good food, but it's not like the $40 a plate good that they charge.

Oh, gotcha. Gotcha.

Yeah. Yeah.

It's like, this is, this is really good food, but it's not $40 a plate good. And it's just like, uh, but yeah.

So yeah.

Um, but yeah, we're just kind of, we're just kind of chilling here. Byron has an appointment, um, from when he seized, uh, last November. He cracked his teeth and so he's gotta get some dental work done. And, uh, but there's also just like, They're just like, I'm kind of hoping that they'll like, it's all covered by his insurance. So, you know, okay. But I'm kind of hoping that he'll get like little baby crowns. But they might just have to pull them because he did some damage on them. Like, he, I mean, he like, he almost like cracked his one front tooth like almost in half. And that has really weakened that, that tooth a good bit. Um, and then he had some, uh, anyways, I'm not going to get into talking about my, my son's, uh, dental stuff. So it's just like, it's kind of a, it's a bummer. Yeah. You're just like, you're just like, oh, I feel like a terrible parent. It's like, but like, I mean, yeah.

Anyways.

Yeah.

Moving on.

But There you go.

You know, we, we were sort of getting into it, but, uh, I do think we— it's just time to officially share some experiences. So I have, uh, the only person I, I don't remember the order, but I'm just gonna go with this order again. Maybe if it's the right order. I don't know if it's—

Wes, Paul, Mark, Josh, Nate.

Was it Wes, Paul, Mark, you? Okay, sure. So I, I do remember making Wes go first, but that's, but that's all I remember. So thank you. Yeah, thank you for being the, the brain to my devastatingly good looks. Um, but, um, anyways, Wesley, what have you been into lately, my guy?

Uh, I haven't had much time to be into much of anything. And I'm pretty sure what I want to talk about, you've already banned from the podcast. So I don't know if I'm allowed to say it. So either you don't remember.

I feel like we have to clarify now.

Yeah.

The only thing I've been doing lately is playing Kingdom Hearts with my Is that banned?

Okay.

Nate has, I don't know. Nate had just a hate for Kingdom Hearts in every iteration. Like, Nate, Nate has a hatred for me too, but I'm not banned.

It's like, I hate Sonic, but it's like, it, it's not banned.

I don't know. I don't know. You just give me the little mad face every single time I talk about Kingdom Hearts. You called me a bot even. I'm like, how, how, how do you feel about Kingdom Hearts? terrible must I be if I'm a bot?

And you know what, we will save some of this discussion for when we actually talk video game stuff, but it's like, you, you made an assertion in the Discord about how Kingdom Hearts was like the best possible game to play with your kids. And I was like, you're on drugs, but I didn't say that part out loud.

It's fun. No, no, no. You were responding to the whole thing I was putting on Josh about it being like a trichotomous view of like humankind. That's what you were replying to.

Oh, yeah, that is totally different.

I was just like, I was like, I was pretty sure that was like a—

Thank you, Paul.

To be fair, I've been having a lot of background conversations with Josh about Kingdom Hearts, so, you know, he's been—

And to be fair, that whole, that the whole game and series is on drugs. Absolutely on drugs. Yeah. So, yeah.

And that's okay. We love it.

Thanks, Number One.

All of us. Yeah, dude, it's definitely a Nomura game.

Yes.

Yes. The most Nomura.

There's like a meme going around where it's like, like there's something where it's like, yeah, I can tell Nomura was like involved in this.

That was a screen capture from, I don't know, it's one of the final, it's not Sakaguchi, I don't think. Maybe it is Sakaguchi saying something like that, but he's saying something like, yep, that looks like something Nomura designed. Mm-hmm. 100%.

It's like, you have a style, my guy, and it's not good. Um, it's not good.

It's pretty good though. He gave us The World Ends With You as well, you know, all those designs. It's got a good aesthetic, don't you think? It's very aesthetic.

Dude, use that word one more time.

I agree with the first part, but not the second part.

But anyway, yes. Yes.

My brain doesn't compute.

I've been playing Kingdom Hearts with my kids. We've been going through the series. We just finished Kingdom Hearts 1. I agree with Josh. That game has a ridiculous, like, difficulty curve right at the end of the game. And I was not prepared for that. So I actually had to go and grind. So I only beat it in 13 hours instead of 12 hours.

Like I was originally planning.

So, you know.

I'm kind of like astonished by the fact that like, this is like, Josh has legitimate, like, I didn't know that you had played Kingdom Hearts, Josh.

I've played the first one. Yes. I had every intention to play other ones after that, but then I had also heard if the first one doesn't grab— I've heard that the second is much better than the first.

Second is way better.

But if the first doesn't grab you, the second delves into the parts of the story that I was not a fan of. I enjoyed running around in different Disney worlds. It was all the other stuff. And I mean, the Final Fantasy stuff is fun too, but on the low end of the totem pole is like the story stuff and the weird backroom people, people in hoods and stuff. And the series goes absolute bonkers with that stuff. So, um, I didn't realize—

It's so much fun. Come on. It's just dumb fun. It's trying to take itself seriously.

Well, you know what? You know what?

It's like a 15-year-old emo.

That's what it is.

Trying to take itself seriously.

Yes.

I'm going to, like, you know, like, I'm going to try and put this back on the, just like the, the non-video game related media stuff, but you have a take on something that I like a lot that Paul likes a lot. And I would love to hear you defend your position on why He-Man Masters of the Universe is a bad— like, apparently you hate that movie.

No, no, no. I did not say I hated the movie. I was just disappointed by it because— oh, oh, I did not say hate.

I'm going to keep saying that.

You like freaking—

Paul's like, I have receipts. Josh saw it too.

Bring up the quote. I will tell you exactly what I said.

I remember you saying that it had Marvel humor and you were just over it.

Yes. That's, that was the big thing. Yeah.

So you were annoyed by it and very disappointed by the movie. Yeah.

You, you also said, I think the, the, like the creators hated the cartoon.

No, I don't think I said that. No, no. Pretty sure not. No.

Paul's furiously scanning that chat.

I will give you $10 if I said anything like that. That's not even close to what I was saying. No, no. What I didn't like was the fact that I'd been hyping this movie up for months. I've been showing my kids the cartoon, you know, my 5-year-old, like, semi-autistic son who doesn't really talk a lot. He was really like digging into He-Man because he kind of looks like a little He-Man, honestly. So he was like really into it.

Nice.

And so I took him to the film and then saw all these jokes, man. Come on. I thought we were done with these jokes like forever ago from like 10 years ago. Like, it felt like Guardians of the Galaxy 1, which I did not like either. I did not like Guardians of the Galaxy 1 at all. I was not expecting those types of jokes.

I actually think the humor was kind of on point. Like, I think the humor actually felt appropriate. Like, I get where— and I did like Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 1, but it's like, I didn't like the fact that they took that and they put it across everything. But it's like, actually, like, He-Man's humor and the weirdness and the quirkiness felt like actually appropriate. We're like, it like, it was like, no, this, this kind of like fits just the general vibes of the movie. Like, I get not being a fan of that type of writing.

The silliness was fine. The silliness was fine. We were okay with that not being like taken seriously. You know, it was comedic, but it was like a lot of those jokes I felt were like really over the line. And it's like they were trying to market it to kids. They have all these like toys coming out for kids for the movie. But it's like half of the jokes were like super, super sexually charged. And I kept, you know, I'm like, oh no, my 5 and 9-year-old are going to start repeating these things.

Oh no. I hate to tell you though, Wes, those toys aren't meant for kids, bud.

I bought the toys for the kids.

I'm just saying, those toys are— they are heavily banking on the and up.

I think that's— We post way too much in our chat.

That would be Paul.

That's awesome. It is. Okay. Yeah, it is rated PG-13.

Why are the toys in the kids aisle then?

Come on. Right.

Yeah. Put them in the adult aisle in Target, you know?

Like, they got one.

Okay. Yeah.

The original cartoon was PG-13.

Dude, Pokémon cards are in the kids aisles. But adults go there all the time, like psychos.

Exactly. Yeah, I would have a rant against them too.

When Independence Day came out, and I watched it in the theater like 6 times because it's Independence Day and it's a masterpiece, but I remember going to Toys R Us. Y'all kids might not remember this store because it closed, but I remember going to Toys R Us and they had toys of the game and they had like a super buff Jeff Goldblum with like this massive gun, which of course he does not touch the entire movie. But and Paul.

Yes, but how many? How many fisting jokes are in Independence Day? Come on, dude. And giving head jokes. How many? How many times does that show up in Independence Day?

Here's the thing. It's gonna go completely over kids' head.

Yeah, just like my kids did not inquire about that at all.

But I laughed like a maniac at those jokes.

So, so, Wes, what you could do is you could show them Masters of the Universe from 1987 because that one's only rated PG.

So I do want to—

sure, they'd love it.

Dolph Lundgren playing a synthesizer, you know? Mm-hmm.

I just thought they were done with that humor. Everything in all the Marvel movies was moving away from it. Come on. Come on.

I do agree. I'm sick of that humor. But in this, I just felt like it fit better than in the Marvel movies, just because it was such a love letter to '80s fantasy while poking fun at it at the same time.

I was only alive in '89, so I don't know.

I don't know how it was back then.

So you're so good.

It sounds like the Wild West, honestly.

Your opinion doesn't matter then. This this council does not.

Does it ever matter?

Jedi Master.

Does it ever matter in these conversations?

You told him to talk about this, mostly so I could just bag on him. Yeah. I'm still scrolling.

I'm in July still.

Dude, Paul, Paul just didn't get me all just wet. Yeah. It's like Paul's like I he's like it's like. When you find it, you can post the receipts and we will hold Wes to account. But until then, what do you think?

I literally say right here, yeah, He-Man is a big no for me. It's not a subversion per se, but the carrot-dangled sincerity and good advertising to then proceed to tell stupid joke after stupid joke. They never stopped in lampshading the franchise with the, oh, that just happened, and oh, what a goofy name, who would call them that kind of humor. That's what I said. It was like watching the Guardians of the Galaxy films again, but not as cynical. But I had just gotten to the point where I despise those 3 films and the untold amount of harm they've done to the industry.

I can't stand the jokes anymore.

I can't stand the lampooning. Sincerity is dead.

Boom.

That's what I said.

Yeah, but yeah, it sounds like—

I mean, dude, like, absolutely.

Hey, I'm not even a He-Man fan, but I'd be pissed if I expected something done sincerely and in good faith and got thrown into this sludge with only a few redeeming qualities.

Oh man. Okay, I guess, I mean, But I did not say hate it.

He just implied it.

It was the implication. That was pretty heavily implied.

I would be like— I guess that's the thing is like I watched it and I had no desire. Like it was like the sort of the sincerity thing. Like I'm like, dude, I expected— I think it threaded the cornball. Like it was like epic. like, and kind of like crazy with like cool music, cool vibes. But then it was also kind of dorky, which is pretty much like—

and it—

I was like, nope, this is like actually exactly how I feel about He-Man as somebody who grew up playing with He-Man, who had like Castle Grayskull, like— and I was just like, nope. Yeah, this is like— I love this. Like, it turned— it turned me into a 10-year-old again. So yeah.

So it also tripped me out, and I did send this, I think, to Joshua West, but I— when I found out that the guy who played He-Man was also the guy in Sheep Detectives playing the reporter, just blew my mind.

Hugh Jackman?

Did you say Hugh Jackman?

Hugh Jackman is in everything. He's so hot right now. He's— He's moved on, you know, uh, yeah, on, onwards and upwards. Um, but anyways, so Paul, what have you been into lately, dude?

Um, I, I would mention very briefly, uh, I, I'm not gonna mention like the, uh, the anime I'm watching with the kids. If you want to talk about that, hit me up in the weeb channel, um, which is the only channel you're allowed to discuss that in, uh, and I have that muted, so I'm not gonna reply. Um, but, uh, I did see Spider-Man and, um, yeah.

Oh yeah, I saw that too. This was like, uh, that was pretty good.

I've had more fun in the movies this year than I have this entire decade. Um, just, uh, between Project Hail Mary, between Michael, between Masters of the Universe, Sheep Detectives, like a string of just not all— and not all great movies, but all really fun, uplifting movies that I've, I've really enjoyed. But, um, the one I wanted to mention is just because we got back, uh, we started season 2 today, is, uh, and it's been a while since we watched season 1 with the kids, but we started up again the Netflix series A Series of Unfortunate Events, um, which the guy who wrote the book is the showrunner for, and he wrote—

Oh, wow.

Scripts. And, um, Oh my goodness! I'm blanking on the on the guy's name, but Putty from Seinfeld.

Oh, oh, oh, daggone it!

Is that the guy who plays Lemony?

Yeah, he plays Putty.

He also plays the Tick.

Patrick Warburg.

Yeah, he was the Tick.

Patrick Warburg.

Yeah, Patrick Warburg. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I think is one of the funniest people alive. He plays Lemony Snicket in his dry. way and narrates all the episodes. And, um, it's, it's, it's a really cool family-friendly way to introduce dark humor, um, that, uh, I, I really haven't seen in, in many other places. And since, uh, you know, the— it varies from the books quite a bit, but it is the creator of the books running the show. And so He's doing it in very, very appropriate ways, and we've just enjoyed the snot out of it. It's it's it's been really entertaining.

Would you say that it's sincere?

It's just you know it better be. It's aesthetic. You know it's ah there you go.

I'm screaming on the inside. Ugh! Don't you all know this?

And I sent y'all the terrible like the terribly dark joke that. Just like my entire family just wasn't expecting and erupted in laughter and felt a little bad about it, but it was hysterical.

Nice.

Nice. Let me stick it.

We watched that show a little while ago and I did really enjoy it. I feel like I read the books as a kid and never finished them, but really did enjoy the show. I also have like a key nostalgic memory for The Series of Unfortunate Events tie-in game for the Jim Carrey movie. I played that a ton growing up.

Oh, I didn't know there was one. The Jim Carrey movie was pretty good. Like, I enjoyed it. Um, I thought it was fun.

Was it an RPG?

Especially, uh, I mean, you role-play these characters. So yes, it's an RPG. Um, it's kind of— it might be kind of Zelda-like. It reminds me more of like the Harry Potter games, which themselves are kind of doing that action-adventure thing. Um, yeah, it's a good time. I'm gonna find that again, see if there's a way to play it again.

This is random, but this is actually gonna be a podcast soon. Uh, we've been playing this D&D game live, um, on, on Twitch, uh, called Tanaris. And one of the very first— like, not the first quest, but one of the first quests is these missing orphans. And, um, when the, when the dungeon master read the names, it's the 3 names of the characters from A Series of Unfortunate Events. And my wife Amy and I just started laughing hysterically at this, and no one— and everybody else was just staring at us. Like, we had to explain, it's like, this is a reference to these books. And it's fun. It's all done. They did all the books. Like, it's 3 seasons. They finished the series out.

Oh, wow.

We're late in getting into it. It's several years old now. I can't remember people's names.

Klaus was the kid or the boy.

Oh, no, I'm trying to think of who plays the villain. It's Doogie Howser, and I can't remember his name.

Neil Patrick Harris.

Neil Patrick Harris.

Yeah. He's excellent.

Who does like— Jim Carrey does like the living rubber man kind of thing. And I feel like he's just like, he's Like, his volume is always, like, turned up to 11 in that stuff, like, as the Grinch. Like, and that's— he's great in that stuff. But I think, like, Neil Patrick Harris is like, it's a little more subtle, and it's like kind of— so, like, it reminds me of, um, uh, Doctor— like, his, his performance as Dr. Evil. Or Dr. Horrible.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I agree with that. Like, he does a perfect Olaf. And I think it's— I love Jim Carrey. I am a fan of Jim Carrey's work. I think he's a better Olaf because he does have that subtlety too. He's over the top, but he's also— there's a lot of underlying humor that you have to really watch him to catch.

Well, Jim Carrey is like at an 11 the whole time. Whereas, like, and Neil Patrick Harris can kind of, like, weave in and out where it's like he knows how to, like, turn on, like, the, the zany. And it's like the zany doesn't serve anything here. And so he kind of, like, downplays it a little bit. Yes, Josh, it's more sincere.

Yeah, I didn't want to interrupt you.

Good aesthetic.

Yeah, you just—

but he has a sincere aesthetic.

Mark, again.

And we just got the name of the episode.

Just, can you be a voice of reason here for me, my friend?

I have no idea what this is referencing. I apologize. I have no— like, I'm sure this is hilarious for you all. I don't know what we're talking about.

It's not for me. It's not hilarious for me. It's, it's kind of painful for me.

Uh, so 2-second explanation: the sincerity was, was based on our conversation about Masters of the Universe just a second ago. That's why I keep bringing up sincerity. Aesthetic is because before we started recording, uh, we were talking about how that word is used by generations younger than me as an adjective? No.

Like, they'll say something is so aesthetic.

Yeah, that something is just aesthetic.

Like, that it's strictly not just a noun, yeah.

Right. And I got you. Whereas I've always known it as a noun.

You did.

Yeah.

And that doesn't— so it's very odd to me of like, okay, but what aesthetic? You know, like, this is very art style. Like, wait, what? Like, okay. So anyways, okay, that's the explanation for the title of the episode now. So Mark, what you been into?

Yeah, I watched that new Spider-Man movie. I liked it a lot. So it was—

Me too.

Yeah. Wes, did you like it too or did you just watch it?

Oh yeah. That was a great one. Yeah, I thought it was great. It was very sincere.

It was really sincere. It, it was like, even realizing Spider-Man movies are all like his emotions are at the center of it, and it's like, that's not anything new. Uh, this one was like more maturely emotional. Yes. And like, I feel like they do a really good job of of showing it and not just telling it. They do tell it too, but like the, the whole first like 10 minutes of the movie is him just doing Spider-Man things and like kicking butt and being cool Spider-Man. And he just like looks like he's having the worst time of his life because he is. And they don't really— like, you just get all that through this great montage. Um, and even like Tom Holland himself just feels like he grew up, and I don't know how he— I think he had like a second puberty. Um, but it's just really impressive.

Well, we're hoping for Josh.

No one's going to understand that.

Wow.

And where was I? Let me get back to my notes here. And all these, like, the Tom Holland movies have so much centered around, like, the connections with his friends, and they've taken that away in this movie, and it feels significant. Except for this also, this incorporates the MCU in a good way where they can at this point where these other characters just kind of come in and come out, and they all have like a purpose and a reason they're there. And they're not like— it's not beholden to really like— you don't really need to know the Hulk's backstory. You just kind of need to know about the Hulk, and he has something to teach Peter. And they're like— and it's all these heroes that he wanted to like rub shoulders with for all his life. Now it's kind of like his only community. And all these heroes are basically just telling him to get a life in their own special way. Um, and so I think it's, it's a, it's a pretty poignant movie for being a Spider-Man movie. Um, it's also, it just looks super nice. I think the choreography is really cool. Um, they use the Spider-Man games as like a huge inspiration.

They stepped up the choreography. They stepped it up. The fights are great.

It's awesome. And it's also like, it just looks really pretty. Like, they've kind of broken this like flat lighting streak they've had in Marvel for a while.

Um, it's very colorful.

Yeah.

Yes, like actual colors.

Yes, there's a, there's a shot where it's like, it's kind of sunset in New York and it's like, wow, this is a lot more vibrant than, than what we're used to. Um, and there are nitpicks, like I think with the pacing where I've come around on the pacing a little bit where it, to me, it feels like it's very kind of stop and go. And it's like, it's a long movie and it feels long. That's partly because I had to pee halfway through. So I was both having a great time and also just willing for the movie to end. But the pacing feels like a 6-issue comic arc where there's these multiple like climaxes happening throughout the time and like different fights that are kind of different. just action set pieces and that then kind of move the story a little further ahead while this underlying story is kind of pushing forward throughout. And yeah, I think the culmination of that's really, really impactful. And so it's nice where it's— I feel like there's been— I loved Marvel movies, kind of even the bad ones. And then kind of once you hit—

Okay.

Eternals, that was like, oh no, this is like— Eternals was the first time I was like, I am ready for this movie to end. And they've just had a lot of stinkers since then.

Yeah.

This is kind of the first few, like, since like Thunderbolts, Fantastic Four, and now Spider-Man feel like good base hits to get on. And it's like, so I— this feels like it's a They've gotten a double, like, after 2 single hits, and, and it's exciting to see. And it's, it's yet another Marvel movie about human connection, which is kind of their, their core theme right now. Um, yeah, I really recommend it. It's good.

I saw a meme, uh, that was, um, you know, somebody coming out of the theater and going, you know, uh, oh, this Punisher character is hilarious. I heard there's a TV show about him. I bet he's even funnier.

Oh Oh, no. Oh, man.

Oh, man.

See, I would, I would echo a lot of what you said, Mark. I would just say one thing that I wish they would have done was had a movie in between the end of, was it No Way Home and this one? Like a movie in between to help you maybe, like, I'm not a big fan of, you know, Spider-Man's friends in this movie, but, you know, the reunion with them would have been a little bit more impactful if we had a little bit more stretch of time or something. happening outside of his friend group so that he could have grown a little bit on his own and then come back.

He's not going to make a movie without Zendaya, though. I mean, we all wish he would, but he's not going to. I did love Ned in this movie. I actually thought this was Zendaya's best performance ever. That is not saying much. That just means she had 3 facial expressions instead of 1. But she did have 3 distinct ones, and I loved them.

And they were very sincere.

Facial expressions.

Oh, that's good.

But, but no, I just— to echo you, it's like, uh, I thought this was Tom Holland's best Spider-Man performance.

Definitely. Yeah.

Uh, he's— he has stepped up his game. I think, I think after the last movie where he's competing with, with one really well-loved Spider-Man and then one Spider-Man who had something to prove and proved it, in the last movie. I think he decided that, you know, it's like, no, this is my role. I'm taking it. And I was really impressed with his performance throughout.

Nice. Oh yeah, I agree. I could also just sneak in one other one too. We watched Project Hail Mary on Amazon Prime the other night. That's a really good movie.

That's excellent.

I really enjoyed that. So go watch that too.

That's been my movie of the year so far. I was just thoroughly happy with that one.

Yes.

Yeah. Big fan. It's just like inherently funny. There was like a bunch of shots and just line deliveries that were just humorous at all times.

Yeah.

So also another movie about connection.

Yeah, it was funny. It was charming. It was Just filled with hope and and drive, and it was I mean just extremely well done film.

Yes. Yeah. So two movies back to back. I liked them a lot.

Nice.

That's it for me.

Cool.

Cool.

Cool.

Like yeah, hearing you guys talk about the new Spider-Man though definitely like because I've I've been like I I think I might want to see this in theaters.

I don't know.

Like I I've watched I think I've seen all the other Tom Holland Spider-Man movies in theaters and I'm just like, hmm.

There are some really good action set pieces in this one that would be way better on the movie theater screen. Yeah.

So maybe like that might be just one of those things where I find an evening to like, kind of like, you know, sneak out of the house or we get a sitter or something. So yeah, um, yeah, but Josh, nice. What do you bring to the table tonight?

Okay, uh, so all of the things that I'm bringing to the table start with the letter O, which is just funny. I didn't— it wasn't intentional. Oh, oh, that's pretty cool. Uh, but I will, uh, I will just go through it really quickly because I don't want to spend a ton of time on it. Um, offensive Christianity. by J. Chase Davis is a book that I listened through. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I do think that the title is more, more provocative than it needs to be. I actually did not find the book very offensive. And then at certain points I was thinking, oh, offensive as opposed to defensive, not offensive as in like, you know, it's going to offend you kind of a deal. But then towards the end, it did make it sound like, no, like basically the place that our culture is in. Yes, this seems offensive. Like God's law seems offensive. Living according to God's ways is offensive. Okay. Anyways, I really enjoyed the book. Sure, there were one or two things that I'm like, yeah, yeah, I don't— I wouldn't go that far. But in general, I thought it was really good. Offensive Christianity. Another thing I haven't mentioned— it's funny, you know, we've talked about this chat group multiple times in this conversation, but I have not mentioned to Wes and Paul that my wife and I have been rewatching The Orville.

Nice.

And so that's, that's another thing. It is a very good show. And it's funny because watching a lot of Star Trek and now coming back to The Orville, starting The Orville, I'm like, oh, there's some things about it that on this rewatch feels a little jarring. The way that people talk to each other and the way that like command works and how people in, in lower positions of authority talk down to like the captain of the ship sometimes, which I'm very much not used to with Star Trek because it's just kind of jokey, which like took a little bit of getting used to. However, we just started the 3rd season. There's only 3 seasons of the show, and I had a conversation with my wife about this. She really likes the first season the most, and it is heavily weighted more towards the jokiness. Whereas we just started the third season, we're 2 episodes in, and it is at this point, it's just Star Trek. Like the third season is like, there have really not been very many jokes. I think actually probably at least maybe, maybe the third season, I just don't recall. It might have some more jokes. I think I liked the balance of the second season the most. Because you get moral dilemmas and things like that, but you also get a good amount of comedy. Whereas like, so far, the first 2 episodes of the 3rd season are like straight. They're playing it very straight. There is not— and there are moments of levity, but it is not as comedic as, as the first 2 seasons were. Um, so you see like that gradual change, but it is funny just rewatching it since I've watched a lot more Star Trek because yeah, 3rd season is like just Trek. Um, which is really cool. Um, third thing that starts with an O is this movie. Uh, hey, we're opening up the weeb channel for a second here. It's called Oko's Inn.

Don't make me tap the sign.

Okay, well, yes, you're, you're going to have to. Um, this looked like— I mean, I don't know if anyone— if you guys can actually see this out there. Oh, it just looks like a, a cutesy little anime. Literally, my youngest daughter was looking at the movies at our library. She wanted to get Sailor Moon. I was like, yeah, okay, whatever. And then my other, my other daughter, yeah, and like, if it's English dub, then okay, there's not going to be any—

There's 3 O's in Sailor Moon.

Come on.

Nice.

That was quick.

But my other daughter came in and took a look at some other ones and showed her this one. She was like, oh yeah, let's We'll watch, we'll watch that one instead. And I was— and so we sat down, had a, had a family movie night and watched Okko's Inn. I was very surprised because it looked— and it is, it is a family movie. It is a kids movie. It's about this little girl who goes to her, her grandma's inn. It's a traditional Japanese inn. She goes off to, you know, she's from the city. She goes to spend time with her grandparents, which, why? That's— if you watch the movie, you find out why. You know, learning to be a traditional Japanese innkeeper.

Okay.

It's just a cute little movie. But there are very hard-hitting moments, and the way that it's written, it kind of comes full circle to where, as an adult man, It was hitting me in the feels and I was absolutely not expecting it. So I do recommend it. It's not a Christian movie. It deals with some heavy themes. And so it may not give— it doesn't give all of the proper answers to the things that it brings up because it doesn't have a biblical worldview. But the— at least the wrestling with the questions and the positivity of the movie, um, I really appreciated. So it's, it's actually really— I'd actually like to buy it. Like, I think it's that good. So, uh, those are my, my, uh, things that I bring to the table that start with the letter O. This has been sponsored, brought to you by the letter O.

And I really want to hear about Nate's, but just real, real quick beforehand, because I'm, I'm like, I'm on the edge of my seat, Nate, but Uh, just on the Orville. This is, uh, like, you know, pony lore from back in the day is when season 3 came out. Um, every week Wes and I were like recording like, um, 2 reviews of it, one non-spoiler and one spoiler. And we, we were doing this pretty much—

It was like 4 weeks in a row, I think.

Yeah, we hit the episode with Bordice's child. I'm gonna not go any further because this is gonna be on YouTube. And, um, and like, we were messaging each other and like, I don't think we can review this without getting kicked off YouTube. Like, I—

Yeah, yeah.

Because there was a lot of narrative going on with that that is like, was not what was happening on the show, but people were claiming it as their own. And, um, I was like, I, I think that if we do this review, I'm gonna get booted off YouTube. So that's the end of the Orville reviews. Yeah, that's why they stopped.

Gotcha. Yeah, that is, that is a good, uh, bit of lore because yeah, and that continues to be a plot point all throughout the show. Yeah, so good, so good.

Yeah, dude, I, you know, sort of as you were talking about the Orville, it's like, yeah, it's like And it's been a while since I watched it, but yeah, I do remember sort of disliking season 2, I think, the most, where it's like it feels grounded but also it's funny and it doesn't take itself too seriously. Where it's like 3, just like, it's like, uh, you guys are getting like a little heavy in ways that I don't think is like— yeah, I don't like— I, I— yeah, I like that analysis though. Yeah, The Orville is so good. It's pretty good.

Yeah. Season 4 is written, but Seth MacFarlane keeps doing other stuff. So he says whenever he gets a break in his calendar, he's going to do The Orville. It's like, well, stop doing other stuff. We want to see The Orville.

Yeah, no joke. Oh, Nate, Nate. Hey, I'd love to hear what you have. What do you have to share? What experiences have you shared?

I was going to do that.

Saving the best for last. That's what we're doing here.

Yeah, you guys are so sincere. So I just like, one is sort of like a kind of like quick sort of— it's Caleb Hammer's audio podcast, and it's just like episodes of his shows. We've talked a little bit about this before, I think. Maybe not on, but it's like episodes from the YouTube stuff, but it's just the audio and it's like a couple of weeks after they air on YouTube. And it's one of those things where it's kind of like a guilty pleasure and it's like I kind of feel the way about Caleb's content the way that I do about Jerry Springer or Dr. Phil, where I'm like, this feels very exploitative. And it's like a bit of a social train wreck, and I can't really look away, but I can only listen to it in short bursts because Caleb crashes out on these people every 15 minutes, and I have to stop and process, laugh a lot, have an internal dialogue. It's like if I'm sitting across from this person, I don't know if I'm going to be saying exactly what Caleb is, but yeah. And it's just like one of those things where it's also— it's definitely not— this is not like audience appropriate. This is not appropriate for all ages kind of content. But boy howdy, it is really interesting that a dude who is kind of who is much more progressive than any of us sitting here is like, he's commenting on these things and he's speaking, and he's just allowing the truth to be self-evident. And it's wild. But, yeah, his crash outs, 10 out of 10.

They're epic. They're so good.

Dude loses his mind on these people sometimes, and I'm just like, And it's like, and you have to give him credit too, because like, they, they review people's, like, people submit applications to get on the show and then like, he looks at their stuff, he looks at that like financial information. And it's just like, you get on, you watch some of this stuff and it's just like, I can't, like, at one point, like, I was listening to one today. He's like, he's like, he's like, you're a fan of my show. He's like, he's like, I don't know how you thought you were going to come in here. And not just get like annihilated. And the individuals, like, it was just like one of those things where, yeah, it was really— it's hard to recommend because it's like, yeah, it's not appropriate for all ages. But boy, if you like the occasional, like, just like crash outs, he's really good at it.

So I still can't watch anything beyond the clips that Dude, Paul and Josh sent me, like, it hurts so bad to listen to that. I can't get through a single episode.

Legitimately, the clips are enough. Like, if I could just get, like, clips from the— like, if they could just do, like, a podcast feed where they do, like, 5, 10-minute clips of him just crashing out on people, like, that would be enough for me. Like, I just intersperse a few of those throughout my day. Like, you know, give me something to laugh about. Sort of like mourn the state of current society. But the other thing, the thing that I'm actually really kind of interested in lately is I just started up Haikyuu. Haikyuu. It's it's on. I'm watching on Netflix. There's like three or four seasons.

You should be done by now. Nice.

Oh geez! You're just the worst. But it's it's a it's an anime about. volleyball. And, um, it's actually really comparable in some ways. It's, it's not quite the same as Rising Impact. Um, but it's kind of vibing in a similar way. Reminds me a lot of like Bakuman where it's like, and it's got like some really great heart. It's got some really funny beats. I don't care about volleyball as a sport. Like, it's like, it's one of those things where that's— it's an actual sport and it involves running, and I don't like doing that. Um, no, well, I guess volleyball's like, like, but anyways, it's just—

There's a lot of falling in volleyball.

There's a lot of jumping, there's a lot of moving. And let's just say, like, I do enough of that professionally that I don't want to do that on an amateur level recreationally. Which is also why I'm kind of fat right now. But anyways, it's just— it's got a really interesting premise. It's got a really kind of cool cast of characters. The first 2 episodes, there's been like a moment where I like laughed out loud, which does not always happen. It was like sort of like a visual gag that was just like perfect in the second episode. So yeah, I was like, man, I— Read it.

Read it.

Nate watches, intent. A spike splits the evening hush. His heart jumps the net. Yes, that was 100% written by AI because I'm not smart enough to come up with haikus, but it's fun.

So I'm glad that you've just resorted to just AI slop.

Yes.

Um, we need to put the, uh, WarioWare background music behind the haiku as you're reading it.

But yeah, um, so yeah, I like, I like Haikyuu so far.

Nice.

It's— there's like 3 or 4 seasons on Netflix. So, yeah. But as far like, you know, we are all, you know, video game enjoyers. And so, like, let's take a— well, except for Paul, apparently. Or I don't— I don't even know where I'm going anymore. Like, I'm so distraught by, like, this process.

Y'all, it's time to land the plane. We're gonna—

I mean, really, like, I, I just want to like, like, I, I just want to like kill this thing, you know, take it out back and put it down.

But 4 episodes is pretty good. That's enough.

That's enough of a run. We're good. Don't need to do this anymore.

Um, yeah, just spike it.

But let's talk about some of what we've been playing lately. So Wes, what have you been playing? Well, you told us Kingdom Hearts.

I didn't even get to finish what I was saying because I got interrupted by Masters of the Universe. Oh, but Winnie's whole time—

Tell us your thoughts about Kingdom Hearts.

It's pretty good. Kids like it. It's great. They like seeing Winnie the Pooh with these anime-like characters, you know? They, they freaked out when they saw Cloud for the first time in the game. They thought that was great because they were watching me playing Final Fantasy VII Rebirth when I was— that came out. It's like, I know that guy. I know that guy. It's so cool. Yeah. And he's like super emo.

Have you shown them the Sephiroth fight yet?

Oh, no, because I'm not good enough to do that. I've never been able to beat Sephiroth. It's, it's so hard. It's insane. I barely beat the game this time around. Like, I don't even know how I did this when I was 12 years old.

Well, you were 12. When you brought it up earlier, I was going to tell you, uh, that, um, uh, ages ago I played, I played the first game and I liked it. Um, okay. And I, but I saw the games on sale.

It's many years ago. It's a 3D game. You know, it's, it's a 3D game.

He used to not have motion sickness.

I was in my 20s and I could handle those much better back then.

Okay.

Um, I, and I was like, oh, what, you know, um, they're all, you know, they're on sale. Like I, you know, should get, I think the kids would like these. And so I got I got the first one and then I don't know what 1.5 is or whatever and 2 or whatever, blah, blah, blah. Anyways, the kids were bored just out of their minds in the first segment. And so I still have the next 2 games still wrapped in cellophane and I haven't even opened them.

But, um, I mean, it starts out slow. Yeah. But they do one redeeming thing. Actually, I just noticed this when I started Kingdom Hearts 2. They actually refer to Tidus as Tidus because they make reference to Final Fantasy X characters and they say it out loud as Tidus.

Wow.

So, you know, they canonize that pronunciation. Yeah.

Yeah.

I should, I should plug in my, my PS2 and let them play it again. 'Cause I'm at this point desperate to get them off Minecraft. It's driving me crazy.

That's just skip to Kingdom Hearts 2 and then they'll get to play the Tron world and they'll love it.

Dude, you need to, you need to just like do like the old school gamer dad thing and just be like, You are not allowed to play anything else until you beat Kingdom Hearts.

I, well, I gave a challenge to my son.

You can tell me what the hearts are.

I gave a challenge to my son this summer because he goes back, he would play some Mario 3 and then he'd play some Mario 1 and then he jumped to Mario RPG and then he'd keep going back. And I was like, dude, you're going to finish a game this summer. You need to beat a game. Like, this is an experience you need to have instead of playing fricking Minecraft all the time. And then several weeks later, he was working on Mario for a while. And several weeks later, I walked in and I was like, he's on Minecraft. I'm like, dude, summer's almost over. When are you going to beat a game? He's like, oh, I beat Mario 3. No mention of this to me. Fine, play the stupid Minecraft. Break that stupid game.

Well, it's not as good as Mario World. So when he plays Mario World, that's when he'll actually tell you about it.

It's true.

He has played it. He chose Mario 3.

Nice. He's a young man with exquisite taste.

So other than Kingdom Hearts though, basically no other games.

Um, other than you're playing like adulting real life, the game.

Yeah, pretty much.

Yeah. Yeah.

That's it. I have my Ayn Thor, the Ayn Thor thingy. I think it's pretty fun. I started up, uh, sick for The Frog the Bell Tolls. As soon as you guys mentioned it on the previous phone call. I think you guys mentioned it then. I was like, oh, I want to play that again. So I started that back up. That's really fun. I like that one. That's pretty much it. I have no other games.

Hmm. Well, cool. I'd say that's disappointing, but this entire episode has really been a pretty massive disappointment for me so far.

A sincere disappointment.

Bless. Yes.

It has a disappointment aesthetic.

It's definitely not aesthetic.

Um, I've just been distracted by Paul's shirt this entire time because he's wearing the most like boomer homesteading shirt, and I'm just— I'm disappointed in that shirt, Paul. I'm sorry.

Sorry?

Wow. What does it say? I raise chickens?

What?

Yeah.

Well, okay, it's a little thing, but literally I'm a chicken tender.

Oh, there you go.

Did you buy that off Facebook Marketplace or something?

It was a gift from my kids, but thank you.

Did they buy it off Facebook?

Wow.

Wes, Wes, I, I think, I think Wes, the, the, the title of the Great Northern Passive Aggressor now belongs to you. What is your shirt?

I wasn't that passive.

It's not.

It's just like—

what is it?

It's just Godzilla shirt.

Yeah.

Nice.

Godzilla shirt fits my fat body. It works.

Look, that's what I'm looking for in shirts these days. It's— I don't— if that's a boomer thing, okay.

No, it just, it just seems like something you would see in a Facebook ad, you know?

You're just scrolling back and it's just like, oh no, I am on Facebook, man. I'm like too young for that.

Like, if this is something you've experienced, he's, he's only on there for my sick messages that I send him every once in a while.

I, like, I will— I log into Facebook like once every 2 weeks and inevitably Nate has sent me something there often, like multiple days in the past.

Because he knows you're on there. Come on.

But they are high quality. They are high quality. It's like, listen, my reels, my, like, my reels and like mini video game is like, it's on point. Like, I find like the good ones and I'm like, I know who needs to see this. Mark, you've been spared from, from a lot of that, but not all of it. I think I have sent—

I think I have an unread, uh, message from you. There's a, there's a time where my wife deactivated her Facebook. She was like, I don't want to be on Facebook anymore. I'm done. Then she logged into mine and now uses my Facebook more than I do. And so that's, that's where we're at.

Gosh, Nate hasn't sent me a Facebook message since April 27th. That's so sad.

I don't get— I don't get the reacts. Like, you guys—

I have an— oh, you want to react?

Uh, from Port Show. Wow, from one week ago.

Uh, but Paul, what have you been playing lately besides, you know, yelling at your kid to stop playing Minecraft? Which is a really terrible— it's not a fun game. That's not a fun game.

Um, I, uh, so I, I, I think I mentioned before I've been playing, uh, I played a lot of Fields of Mystria in early access and it hit 1.0 this week, which, um, I don't think really changes the beginning of the game very much, but it adds a lot of the endgame stuff. So like, like marriage and kids and the Into the Mine quest and all. And so, um, Got that plugged back in and, um, at it. Uh, it's, it's, it's, it's very much Stardew Valley and Animal Crossing inspired.

Okay.

You know, you're, you have a farm, you go to the mines, you talk to the people, you get married. Um, but, uh, I, the mechanic, the mechanics of it, I, I, for me, I'm enjoying more than Stardew. And I think part of that is I put so much time into Stardew that it's like nobody says anything new. It's okay. Like, yeah, it just, uh, everybody's at max and in a couple of different games. And so just having different characters there is, is interesting and all. So, um, it's, uh, I'm enjoying it. So yeah, back into that.

Nice.

I have 3 girlfriends in the game and I, uh, what, gotta, gotta pick, uh, gotta pick one for the marriage.

Uh, it's pretty soon. I'm gonna refrain from comment on that. I, I'm just like, I'm just reminded of all of our conversations about like Persona and none of them are teachers.

But what are they then?

It's the principle of it, my guy. There's just something here where it's just like, can't really put my finger on it. But no, I love that journey for you. So, Mark, what have you been playing, man?

Oh man, uh, I started up Metroid Prime 4 Beyond. Oh, um, borrowed it from a friend of the show, Parker Deal, uh, at least friend of my show. I think he's a friend of this show too. He's a friend of this show too, I'm guessing. Um, and yeah, I'm like 3 hours in. I'm doing it, I'm doing a Josh Broccolo. I have a, uh, now a stationary bike and I'm playing while exercising.

Nice.

And so mostly Metroid Prime 4 has been my, my stationary bike game. Um, it is— I haven't played a Metroid Prime game in a long time. I keep going back to— I keep meaning to, to get Metroid Prime Remastered, uh, but I haven't. So it's been a long time. And I— this game like got really hated on, I guess, early on. Uh, I think for a lot of people it was just not what they wanted out of a Metroid Prime game. I feel like all my friends who played it— have any of y'all played it yet?

No.

Okay.

Like Super Metroid, is it like that?

It's very similar in that it has the same name of the series.

Is that the one with the girl?

Yes.

Okay.

Well, good to know.

Yeah.

Yes. Not the boy Metroid, the girl Metroid. Um, and yeah, all my friends like liked it. Like they all thought, like, I think they would give it kind of 8s out of 10s or 4 out of 5s.

Um, okay.

And that's kind of where it's feeling, where it's like, it is in a sense, there's such high expectations on Metroid and Metroid Prime, particularly in this series that like They made a good video game, but it kind of just feels like it's kind of like all the other 8 out of 10 video games out there, which is like, for Metroid Prime, feels really disappointing.

So you're saying it's like the Breath of the Wild for the Metroid series, where it's like, it's a pretty good game, but it's not really what people want out of a Legend of Zelda game.

That is bait and I will not respond to it. Uh, it does—

Metroid Prime have a hookshot is what he'd ask.

Um, it does have a grapple beam, so it's fair.

That's a hookshot.

That's it.

That's a hookshot.

It's got a fair point. Um, as I was saying, unlike—

So what you're saying is Metroid Prime 4 is better than Breath of the Wild?

In your own rubric. That's not my rubric. Rubric. Um, so it is a lot more linear than, than the other Metroid Primes. Like, even of— I'm like searching around for all these nooks and crannies and like, oh, there's just nothing here. Like, it's— it just— I can walk down the path. And part of that should be like, I should be free that I don't have to like look in all these different places. Like, there's nothing there, just keep walking forward. But it started to like untether my brain from the Metroidvania check every pathway possible.

Yep.

Even though there is no other pathway. Um, that's also— I'm really early on, so I don't know if there's more of like an interconnecting parts to it. But it's also, from what I've played it, there is like— it's pretty clever and kind of its world crafting, even this, even it's like linearity.

Um, okay.

Um, and the vibes are still it's still Metroid Prime. Like, if it's— like, it still feels very much like, uh, the— it's cool, you're in space, it's a mysterious planet, you got arm cannon. Um, it's also really pretty. It's a really good looking game. I'm playing on Switch too. It's nice. So I'm curious about where it goes.

Hmm, sweet.

That's basically it. It's kind of all I've been doing.

That's cool. I mean, what other Prime games have you played? Have you played all the others?

I, uh, yes.

Okay.

I think I don't know if I ever beat 3. I borrowed the trilogy on Wii.

Yep.

Um, and I had a summer in like between years of college where I played those 3 games almost exclusively and all, and while playing almost exclusively listened to The Alt J's first album. I forget what the maybe I forget what the album title is. Maybe it's self-titled.

Okay.

I don't know why I chose that one, but it just was. And yeah, so it's been a long time since I've played Prime One.

Sure.

And I played through Prime Two. I don't remember if I ever actually beat Prime Three.

Okay.

Okay.

Cool.

Well, you played Other M, right?

I've actually I did not develop taste when I played Other Other M and I. Thought it was fine. And I have not gotten back to it since 2010, whatever it is.

So it's okay. It's an acquired taste.

I played Super Metroid.

Also a pretty good game. I mean, do me a favor. Metroid Dread is, that's really the, the, if there's a Metroid game out there that someone's got to play, it's Metroid Dread. That one. I love that game.

That one's really good. Yeah. First one I've ever beaten, honestly.

Nice.

I need to double back on that. Like I kind of like fell off on I liked the premise, but it was like on the third, maybe like the third, like those hunter robots or whatever. Like I couldn't figure out the sequence for that. And I just kind of like fell off. Yeah. It's a pretty cool—

It, Samus's movement is super fluid for a Metroid game. It feels really nice.

It's nice.

Lots of sliding and dodging and stuff, and there's a parry. And that's something Prime 4 feels like it's missing, is there's not like a good melee action button. And maybe I'll get that later on, but it's like I, I come in with kind of the Halo mentality where it's like I'm rushing down an enemy, I'm gonna like smack them to end them, and there's no other option. There's just like, oh, I just gotta keep shooting. But it's fine. I wish there was a way to Punch a bad guy by Samus.

With your cannon hand.

Yeah.

It'd be pretty cool.

Kind of sick.

Nice.

Yeah.

Bad news for the bad guys though. But Josh, what have you been playing, sir?

Uh, well, mostly been playing more Octopath Traveler 2, and I'm going to continue to say that probably till the end of the year, just because it's a really long game. Still really liking it.

That also starts with an O.

Oh, hey, I didn't even notice that. You're right. Oh man. Uh, yeah, uh, so we come full circle with that O. Um, Octopath Traveler 2. Yeah, really like that game. Um, oh man, it, it goes to some dark places. Yeah, no, there's, there's just some cool characters. I'm enjoying it. Uh, I, I think I got to the— I think I finished the 3rd chapter of one of the characters, but I still haven't finished the second chapter of, of a lot of the characters. So there's still so much more to the game to play, but I'm also still really enjoying it. We did pick up Rhythm Heaven Groove from the library because they, they have that one. And so that one's— it is just the wackiest little rhythm game and my kids love it and it is a lot of fun. So played a little bit of that, but not, not, you know, just like hanging with the kids and playing a little bit. I did bust out the other day though, and I don't even remember what, what possessed me to do it, but I busted out the Super Nintendo Mini that I have and scrolled through some of the games because I want to show my son. And we, we ended up stopping on the Mario All-Stars. Super Nintendo and playing Super Mario Bros. 3. So, and so he has that on, on a handheld of his. How does he have it on a handheld? Well, DM me about that and I'll talk to you there, but I won't go on record about how he has it on a handheld. Anyways, so we get to like the first castle in Super Mario Bros. 3, and I'm like, hey, do you know how to get the whistle? He's like, what? What is that? So I'm like, oh yeah, let's check this out. It's just like, what?

That's so crazy.

Make it to the 2nd, uh, world. And then I'm like, okay, let's use this whistle and then warp to the 7th. It's like, what? And then with the All-Stars, you can save and quit and then you can go back to any world previous to that. So we can't get to world 8 yet because we haven't beat world 7, but you can go 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, any one you want to. So we went back to 2. And have been playing through that. And so that is a lot of fun, making some memories with my son when he's not playing Fortnite. So those are what I've kind of gotten into. And then here recently for the next episode of the podcast, been playing some Bravely Default: Flying Fairy HD on Switch 2. And my goodness, it's, it's, it's just a great game. Man, I remember really enjoying it on 3DS, and I haven't gotten that far, but even with the, the kind of the smoothed edges— and it is, it is a remastered 3DS game, so it's not— it has its own kind of beauty. And maybe it's just that I played the 3DS game. It looks way better than the 3DS game did. And so like, it looks great to me. But I also get that, you know, you might not be impressed if you don't realize that, oh, it was a 3DS game. The hands look weird. They're really boxy hands. But, um, outside of that, I'm, I'm, I'm really excited.

Their whole like leg feet situation is a little disturbing.

That's true.

That is strange.

Little pec legs.

Pointed nubs. Yeah. But, uh, man, the, the, the I love— yeah, you can just break that game wide open even from early on. It's kind of crazy. So it's, it's a good game. That's what I've been playing. Uh, I haven't bought anything. I haven't, uh, finished anything. Just been playing a bit here and there. But Nate, Nate, I'd love to hear what, what games you've been playing. Uh, so this is your invitation to share with us.

Thanks.

Thanks.

I'm so glad to be involved in the discussion that I'm actually hosting. Thanks, guys. Thanks for letting me take my turn. Yeah, appreciate that.

Yeah, you're welcome.

I think we're out of time, though.

I don't know. Yeah, I'll make this quick, though, because we probably do need to start wrapping this up.

You need to land this plane.

We got to land the plane.

This plane is fast, guys.

Yeah, I really am. And this does not bode well. Yeah, I— yeah, anyways, um, Diablo 4. Just, I kind of was itching to play something, you know. Uh, I like Diablo, and it's kind of— I had picked up the, the, uh, the, like, a few weeks, a few months ago, whenever— I can't remember when I bought it, but I bought the, the, the Lord of Hatred sort of like bundle. And so I, I jumped into that and I rolled a seasonal character and I sort of played through that and I actually ended up beating the, the Lord of Hatred campaign. And it's, it's one of those things where like Diablo's story is just kind of like, it's, it's fine. It's like whatever. But like, man, boy howdy. Like it is, it is kind of like my flow state game. Like I've, I've kind of I rolled a Spiritborn, which is like kind of comparable to the Monk class from 3, but it's also, I mean, this probably means nothing to most people here except for maybe Paul, but it's cool. It's like a melee caster type. It's got some, like, I don't know. Anyways, it's one of the new classes. I played that for a little bit. Um, and I'm kind of like, okay, like I was, uh, sort of got some of the key pieces for a build. I've been sort of like pushing, uh, Torment levels and, uh, yeah. But yeah, it's Diablo 4. It's like, it's just, it's kind of like cool vibes. It's, it's the Rube Goldberg thing where it's like, I've made the machine and it's like, it's fun to set the machine off, but it's also like, okay, like I either need to make a new machine here. And so I need to like play around and like maybe figure out another build. Or just kind of like shift gears and maybe do something else for a while. So, so yeah, but it's Diablo 4. It's pretty like, I mean, it's, it's pretty stinking great. Like, it's just like, it's a good flow game where it's like, I don't want to have to think too, too hard, but I do want to like engage some brain. And it's really, it's really good. Like, it's just like, if you like Diablo, It's more Diablo, and it's good Diablo. But Diablo, and oddly enough, Diablo has not made an appearance yet. But I, I did beat the crap out of Mephisto.

Nice. Like, he deserves it.

Yeah, that dude sucks.

Punk.

Um, were there lots of jokes about his name? Oh, sorry.

I don't know. He seems— he takes himself a little too seriously to have jokes Gotcha.

Seriously or sincerely?

Which one?

Uh, probably both. I hate this. Um, you know, but, uh, also, you know, it's still kind of like noodling around on Tunic and Returnal, but I wanted something a little bit different. And, you know, without getting too far afield, uh, in preparation for next— for the next episode of The Breakdown, I listened to an episode of the Retro Station where Paul and Wes talked about Bravely Default, and they mentioned this, this 3DS game that is sort of a cult classic RPG on the 3DS called, uh, Radiant Historia, uh, Perfect Chronology. And I was like, oh, I have that game. I've been meaning to play that game. And I'd kind of really been struggling and, and finding, because like I'm sort of doing like 3 games at a time. And it's actually 4 because I have like, like Diablo 4. I don't really count that as like, that's again, it's like, it's sort of like Destiny 2. It's like, that's a vibe game. I get in there when it's like, I don't— I'm just like, I'm just here to like kill stuff and like kill bad, kill bad guys and take their stuff. Like, I don't want to think too, too hard. I don't want to engage, you know, too much. So there's like, I just don't count that as like, it's a video game and yes, I'm playing it, but it's like, it's not one of like the 3 that I'm like actually actively trying to like make progress on. But anyways, picked up, uh, picked up my 3DS for the first time like in a minute, like today. Um, and I've been kind of, you know, like just— I'm about an hour into Radiant Historia: Perfect Chronology and I'm like, yep, okay, like I think that scratches the itch. Like, it's like I said, I kind of been looking for that third game for that like trifecta and I was like, I didn't want 'Cause Tunic and Returnal are both on PlayStation. And I was like, okay, I just, I don't want to be like, I want to sort of get out of that, you know, that walled garden for a little bit. So I'm like, yeah. So yeah, hanging out on my 3DS.

Nice.

Right here. And playing a little bit of Radiant Historia: Perfect Chronology. So it's been, it's been pretty cool. But yeah.

I wouldn't mind going back to that. Like, um, when I, when I played it, it— I, I thought it was probably the best game I had played in 10 years, and I still think it's the best game I've played in 10 years.

Um, oh wow.

Especially, uh, once you get through the, through the beginning, once you hit that spot where you're really messing with time travel, it's just— it's so good and, um, sticks the landing. And then in the perfect chronology of version, there's a second ending, sticks that landing too. It's just extremely well done.

Yeah, I'm, I'm looking forward to it. Like it, it's kind of got some interesting beats, but like, dude, I'm, I'm, what I will say is that there's, there's some writing in this game already where I'm like, oh, oh yes. Like this feels of an age where it's like, like I was like, I remember when people used to write video games like this and it wasn't that long ago. Um, it's not like bad, but there's like stuff there I'm like, do we really need to just say that? Like all that? You couldn't, you couldn't have handled that exposi— that weird exposition dump in any other possible way than so.

Yep.

Um, but yeah, I'm, I'm enjoying it. Like it's, it's kind of like, it's, it's, it's, it's very, I don't want to say cozy, but it's like very quaint. Um, and not in like a, in a like condescending way, but it's like, it's like, oh yeah, like this. So I'm looking forward to it. And it's, yeah, you guys, you know, it just reminded me that I had it. And I, I remember years ago that both like you and Wes both were like, spoke very highly of this game. So I was like, ah, yeah, this kind of feels like just an appropriate, like, yeah. So yeah, but Anyways, guys, it is, uh, we're kind of, you know, it is really like, it's probably time to land this plane. Like, uh, we've been sort of yammering on for a minute here. Well, more than a minute, like about an hour and a half. So that's like 90 minutes-ish, which, you know, is not a bad feature-length film. Um, it's a bit on the short side in my opinion, but, but anyways, it's been good talking to all you guys. Uh, listeners, hopefully you guys have enjoyed the the ride. And we are all members of the Playwell Network here, so to send us out, here's a word from one of us, I guess. So hey, we'll catch you guys later, and until next time, uh, don't make it weird. Hey, wow, it's radical that you're listening to this ad. I'm Nick, the high-energy host of Nothing New Under the Porch. This podcast has been going through the golden years, and it's probably getting close I'm closer to rock bottom now, but that's no reason not to listen. You'll learn heaps about me, about playing games well, about international guests through insightful interview questions, and you'll learn about games that don't exist. So come join me under the porch.

Please listen, I'm desperate. I promise you'll like it.

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