PWN Call 2: Anime Was A Mistake w/ Paul & Mark

Hey, welcome back guys to the Phone Call, episode 2. I'm Josh, Nate is here as well, and today joining us we have some other friends from the Play Well Network. We've got Paul, welcome back, you were in episode 1. You're in episode 38.

I've been in 100% of the episodes.

All of them. Every single phone call, you have been a part of it. But Mark, you have not been a part. Quick Play. Mark, you have not been a part. You're only a part of this episode. Yes. 50%.

50%.

That's a pretty good percentage, right?

Yeah.

That's pretty good.

There you go.

You're picked every time, 50% of the time.

50% of the time. Well, we're all members of the Play Well Network, and every other week we try and just catch up with each other, you know, talk about the things that we've been into and, you know, chase some rabbit trails as we have been before we started hit recording, which was a lot of fun too. But whether, you know, you've been listening to all 2 episodes of the phone call or not, welcome. Thanks for joining us. We're glad you're here. Just don't make it weird. But anyways, let's, let's, let's jump in here. We'll start off, Paul. Well, actually, no, we will. We will go with Mark. Okay, I'm going back and forth here.

Pick a lane.

I actually do think—

yeah, lane.

Well, just pick a lane.

Mark? No, no, no, no. Paul. You know what? Mark.

No.

Paul.

Paul, how you been since the last time we recorded?

Ah, it's been a tiring week, but I'm doing well.

Okay. Okay. Yeah. Tired. Mark, since the last time we recorded, it's been quite a bit longer. But how are you doing, dude?

Oh, I'm doing pretty good. My daughter is what I've been calling in a goblin season. She is 1 and is climbing on stuff and squawking at stuff. That's what I'm coming in. That's the energy I'm coming in with right now.

So how old is she? Like 22, 23? Yeah.

Yes. Yeah. It'll just stay that way, I assume.

Indefinitely.

She's been doing this for 2 decades. They say it's a phase, but—

It's been so long. Terrible 20s.

That's what I've heard.

Man, oh man. How about you, Nate? Since the last time we've been here, how you doing?

I'm good. Hey, can you guys hear me if I pull my mic back like this, or does it—

Yes. Yes, we can still hear you. You're in fireside chat mode.

Wow.

Okay. I like it.

I just wanted to make sure.

So pensive.

I just wanted to make sure. Like, I don't know, man.

I just— He's gonna be chill this whole episode.

It's gonna be—

yeah.

Yeah, just a phone call.

It's just a phone call. Um, no, things are, things are pretty good. I, I, it's, it's been kind of an eventful day. Like, uh, tomorrow actually I start vacation, so that's, that's going to be kind of hype. Ah, just gonna be doing a bunch of stuff around the house. Uh, my folks are coming in, my dad and I have a few projects. Um, But, you know, I did burn off part of my beard at one point in time and had to sort of like—

Oh.

Burning cardboard. And, um, okay, like, I don't even think it was flame. I just think it was like superheated air kind of shot up when I was like throwing more cardboard on the fire. And all the next thing is like, have you guys ever burnt like hair? It has a very distinct and kind of unpleasant smell.

Oh, all the time.

Yeah, you don't count. I'm talking to people that actually possess—

Josh actually has great hair. He— but he burns it every single week. He's a terrible cook.

But, but yeah, so it was like, it was like one of those things where it's like, I was like, oh, I smell burnt hair. And then it's like, I burnt off some of my eyebrows, some of the, like, you know, nose hairs, you know, and beard hairs. And so I had to, like, trim off, like—

Lovely.

So yeah, it was super cool.

Wow.

By super cool, I mean, like, it was like a dream.

I have more questions.

Yes. I have answers. I don't know how satisfying they'll be.

I just, I, so I wonder—

Did they smell different?

I just don't understand, how did you get yourself into this situation? Like, I want to say this feels like a skill issue, but I feel like I need words. context before saying this is a skill issue.

No, it's like, for me, for me, it's the eyebrows.

Like, it's like, I understand you're kind of leaning over with the beard, but it got your whole face and you didn't notice for a minute.

Hmm. I mean, he didn't— what he failed to mention was that the cardboard was soaked in gasoline.

Oh, yes.

No, and I don't even think it was flame.

Thank you.

I don't think it was flame. I think it was just like super hot air. But it was just like, I was like throwing more cardboard on it, and it was like just the way the box hit the fire, it's almost like just sort of like it like shot the hot air. Like, I was like kind of like throwing— it was a bigger box, and so I was like throwing it, and like the way that it kind of hit the flame or the like the hot air from the fire just kind of like shot right up and like basically blasted my face like right here.

Oh.

And yeah, yeah, I don't know, man.

I don't feel like my questions were answered. I feel like I don't have more questions or less questions. I just have different questions.

I didn't, I didn't, I told you they may not be the most satisfying answers. Like, it's just like, it was like one of those things where we were throwing cardboard on the fire. And then I was like, I had like, there was like a bunch of hot air real quick at one point in time. And I was like, oh, and then I was like, Oh, and then, yeah, smelled the burning hair. Also, speaking of burning, um, today's air quality report has been disastrous. It's like, air is very unhealthy, stay inside. So thanks, Canada. Um, it'd be nice if you guys could not burn your forest down. That'd be sick. Can you try not to do that? That'd be nice. Like, I'm sorry.

I don't think you're one to talk right now.

I do want to point out that we have complained about Canada 100% of the phone calls so far.

Oh, it's a running theme.

I mean, like, listen, they are the bane of my existence, so I don't— not really.

I don't know. Nice.

Yeah, but yeah, I mean, like, dude, cool. I thought that— I thought that, like, the burning my, you know, face hairs would be funny. And I don't know. Mileage may vary, I guess.

Don't get me wrong, it is still funny, just equally confusing.

Like, dude, here's the thing.

If I—

if I could explain the process in a way that would satisfy you, I might be able to understand myself. But it was like I was just throwing cardboard on the fire, and next thing I know, like, blast of, like, hot air shoots me in the face, and I'm like— and I smell Like, and it wasn't like tons of hair. It was like, it was like just like outliers, you know, like, and, and some of my eyebrows in your nose and some of my nose hairs.

Nose hairs that were sticking out.

Dude, dude, Turkey, Turkey and I were talking before. It's probably in the preamble for the latest, like, Bite Size that I recorded with him. But we were talking about like, just like, like the old man, like weird hair syndrome. And it is, it's a real problem.

I do remember that.

I think I'm gonna make that like my cause. And I just want to bring like awareness, like, like, you know, that we need an answer to this, like this dire medical, like, I'm tired of growing like weird hair out of like my ears and having my nose hairs like try to enmesh themselves into my mustache. It's gross. I don't like it. And I need a cure now. Thank you, Mark.

If, if you need to raise money for the here, I've got a couple ideas, the first of which would be a fun run. That's how— that's what you should do. Fun run.

Should we carbo-load?

Yes.

For the fun run?

I have never eaten more carbs and drank less water than I have in the— anyways, um, but you were, you were talking about super hot air, and speaking of which—

You're chafing!

Oh no.

Oh no.

Um, I went to Texas for a couple weeks, so that's, that's how I've been. Uh, no, it was, it was great actually. We spent a bunch of time with family, had a bit of a family reunion with my mom's side of the family, um, watched some soccer games which may or may not show up in the, the rest of the phone call, but we'll see.

Um, oh good.

But yeah, had a little, had a little vacation of our own, uh, back in Texas, so that was fun. Uh, no longer there now. I'm back in Iowa where it's It's just as hot, actually. But we're having a good time. So, so I've been doing good.

Yeah. Are we going to talk about soccer when y'all don't let me use slurs?

I don't even know how to respond to that. But I'm just saying it might or might not come up when we talk about some, you know, just if we want to share some experiences. We played it, watched it, read it through. Now we're sharing XP with you. Critical hits, good stuff to declare.

Press start, it's XP Share.

XP Share, where we share XP. XP meaning experiences. So what, what kind of stuff have you guys been into lately? I mean, outside of the World Cup, obviously, since we've all been watching that, but We'll go in the same order. Who did I start with? I don't remember who I started with. Paul?

It's Paul. Mark. No, Paul.

On my mark, Paul, go. Um, what, what, what, what would— what do you have to come to the table with to, to share with us?

Oh, okay. All right, I'm gonna start with one that I hate to bring up.

Okay.

Because it's degenerate.

That's—

oh man.

I, I, I kind of got into the Frieren show.

Okay.

And I only have one season. And so now I'm buying the books.

Wow. Okay.

Any of y'all would like to talk to me about that, remember anime talk is restricted to only one channel and I do have that channel muted. And so good luck.

But Frieren rules, man. It is so good. That first season. Is phenomenal.

Like, it's it's it's really really good.

It's great television.

Hmm. Yeah. Nice. You weren't kidding when you said degenerate.

But anime but anime is a mistake.

No, seriously. Like, it's always not getting into that. If if you ever okay, this is the line. This is the line. If you ever watch um. Evangelion, the Neo Genesis, and you think at the end, wow, that was a good show, you are too far gone. Come back from the edge. Watch some good shows.

Now, when you say the end, when you get to the end, are you talking the original? Are you talking the OVA? Are you talking the Rebirth movies?

What are you talking about? The original.

But see, the ending for the first one—

And then if you go on to anything else, like, please step back from that ledge, my friend.

I wish you would step back from that ledge, my friend. That was a really terrible rendition of that, but I think it's quite apropos.

Yes. Um, uh, but yeah, I, I started showing, uh, the, uh, the kids, uh, that one and My Hero Academia, uh, which I've only watched 20 or so episodes of.

Okay.

But just really loved that one too. And that's been a few years.

Okay.

So, um, uh, wanted to show that one, especially to the boy. Um, Yeah. So, but yeah, um, otherwise new season of Silo has started on Apple TV, which none of— nobody has. I'm the only one watching it. I have it. I have that.

Strictly for Formula 1.

That's it.

Nothing else.

It's weird. It's based on, on, uh, my wife's favorite book. And I saw, oh, you know, they're making a show with this with Rebecca Ferguson in it. Rebecca Ferguson is awesome. And so, um, We started watching that. They started season 3. There's only going to be 4 seasons. It's based on a trilogy of books, but kind of post-apocalyptic story where the outside is poisoned and everybody lives in this underground silo.

Ah, hence the title.

Yeah. They're all, you know, the leaders are all controlling what they can see and and thinking all, and the outside might not be, you know, as dangerous as they claim it is. And it's— yeah, it's really interesting. It was a really interesting show. So we just started season 3 of that and they only have 2 episodes out so far, but so far enjoying it.

Nice. Nice.

That's what I've been doing.

I don't think I recognize her from— you said Rebecca Ferguson is awesome, and I'm looking at her filmography and I don't know that I've seen anything. And then Wallander. She pops up, and I have seen Wallander.

Okay, so she's in the Dune movies.

Okay.

Oh, and Lady Jessica.

Like the original ones?

Because one of my favorite characters. No, no, no, the new ones.

No, these new ones.

She was in like 3 Mission: Impossible movies.

Okay.

That's probably all that I've seen, the first 3.

But yeah, she's really good. And so Um, uh, I always, always enjoy her stuff. So, uh, and she's really good in this, uh, as usual.

Nice.

Nice. That's cool. That's cool. Can't say I know anything about it. Well, that's cool. Uh, Mark, what have you been into? Is it anime also? Or is Paul the only one bringing anime into the room? You mentioned 2 animes, dude. I am so surprised.

But I started it off with, I'm being degenerate. Please do not do this. Your life is worth more than this.

Please.

And you stepped right in.

Do as I say, not as I do.

Yeah. It's just, it's the same thing with Final Fantasy XIV. Do not start an MMO. Don't be dumb like me. I love Final Fantasy XIV, but you shouldn't. Yeah.

It's just so easy for... me to be like, okay, to all of this. Like, I'm not tempted.

There's—

Deal.

You say don't, I won't. I take your word for it.

Won't even touch the stuff. Yeah. Yeah.

I've been going, I don't know if this is degenerate in its own way, but there's a Disney property I've been watching.

Okay.

Originally, X-Men '97. That's what I bring to the table here.

Okay. Okay.

Okay. I changed. Forget what I said. That's acceptable. Acceptable.

Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you.

Uh, for those that don't know, this is the revival series and kind of the straight continuation of the original X-Men animated show from '92 to '97. Uh, I really loved season 1 of '97. Uh, season 2 is currently ongoing. There's like 5 episodes out now. I watched, they did the thing where they did 3 episodes dropped and So I watched those. My wife Sarah was in the room too, and she was interested enough to watch season 1, which she had not watched with me the first time. So I have stopped season 2, gone back to season 1 again, and we're rewatching it. I really like it a lot. I think it's actually one of the best MCU projects post-Endgame.

Okay.

It's not a great high bar, but it is, that's praise I can give to it.

Yeah.

That being said, it also like rewatching this season 1 with like a normie is making me realize like this show is pretty bleak. This show is pretty bizarre. Um, and it's also like just jam-packed with so much stuff in it. There's so much plot in this cartoon. Um, and my understanding is like, it's really pulling from a lot of like '80s to early aughts X-Men runs. Um, they just stuff a ton into it and there's, and there's all these like subplots that are just so like tonally bonkers from like different from the rest of the MCU. It's, it's kind of, it's almost relieving to know that these plot points are taken from like '90s comics because they're just so wild and out there. Uh, it's worth being said, like, this is not a show that's meant for kids, even though it's a cartoon. It's, it's meant for '90s kids. Uh, so it's kind of got more of an adult audience in mind.

Okay.

What I think is fascinating about it though is that it, it presents, I mean, X-Men's kind of always been about this, but like it presents a handful of different reactions and responses to persecution. Um, and I think it, '97 in particular does it in a way that's thoughtful and thought-provoking without it being ham-fisted. It's a, it can be a little heavy-handed, but it's not like the metaphor layer is doing a lot where like, I think the showrunners are probably using X-Men '97 to, because they wanted for like a more LGBT agenda. That's really not a direct presence in the show itself, um, which is nice. Uh, but my mind more wanders to like how this relates to like the persecuted church, which is like, that's—

Mm-hmm.

not the analog that the showrunners had in mind, but I think it's—

Sure, sure.

And obviously Christians will have fantastical powers, uh, believe in the Holy Spirit. And there's like kind of having the constant debate on the balance of like, how do we conduct, you know, meaningful coexistence? Like, is it better for us to be separate or is it better for us to take control? Um, or kind of like everything in the practice of being, of doing kingdom work right now, um, And there's a constant debate in that. And particularly given like we have, you know, the true upper hand, even when we don't have the worldly power upper hand. And I think that the show has helped me not really like figure out anything on that, but it's making me think about that. And that's kind of nice to wonder and ponder.

That's cool.

The other like major feat the show does is like, I think it's revitalized Cyclops as a character. Uh, he goes from being the Boy Scout to, he's like a genuinely good and in-depth leader. Um, Cyclops is cool again and maybe for the first time.

Uh, so I always, I always love Cyclops. So I'm going to say not for the first time. Okay. We'll be on opposite sides, but I always love Cyclops.

I am, I've come into X-Men late. Like I missed, like I've never really been into X-Men until I started reading the Hickman comics when they came out in 2018, 2019. I've, I've backpedaled into Into X-Men stuff, so it's like I've watched like season one of the original animated series and kind of was into that for a little bit too. But I've really enjoyed X-Men '97. Other thing to bring to the table here is the Mario Kart. Oh, go ahead.

Oh, okay. I want to ask follow-up questions.

Yes.

Have you have you watched enough of season two to get get an opinion on it? The reason I'm the reason I'm asking is because okay, so when when the first season came out. A lot of us were very worried because the showrunner, Beau DeMayo, seemed like a diversity hire.

True.

And then it turned out that he really loved X-Men and really knew everything and turned out to be really great for the project. And then they fired him because Disney cannot have competence. So I'm curious as to how season 2 is developing without him.

First, to note kind of his really sudden firing, it's just really weird. Like, no one really knows why he was fired. And there's theories around like some of his side projects being adult content.

That's the theory. What he said was that he wasn't bowing down to the overlords. That he would go into a meeting with Feige and like actually talk back. Um, and Feige wanted just him to say something and then everybody do it. Um, I think it's probably a little bit of both.

Yeah.

Like, there's also stories of, like, him being— doing weird stuff, like sending weird stuff to coworkers and stuff like that. And it's like, all of that is just all conjecture.

Oh, he's a weird dude. He is a weird dude.

For sure.

And that being said, like, season 1 was really, really good. Uh, And season 2, I'd, to kind of go back to your actual question, I don't know if I've watched enough to have an opinion. They are still using scripts that he wrote. And so it's a little bit weird of like, in the, 'cause he wrote out season 2.

Oh dang, he was working ahead of time, nice.

Yes. And like in the opening credits, it was like executive producer Beau DeMayo. And it's like, that feels a little weird, but I guess technically he needs to be there. Um, so, and it's been, it's been good. Um, I'm just kind of there. Like, I feel like it's episode 5 of season 1, uh, is kind of the, the episode that like really blew my mind of like the holy cow, I didn't know they could do this. Um, and there hasn't, that hasn't happened yet for season 2. I'm only, you know, 3 episodes in.

Okay. So I, I would, I would definitely encourage, uh, and there's a ton of them, but start from where Chris Claremont— don't go before Chris Claremont.

Yes, sure.

But Chris Claremont X-Men comics is just the greatest long run of a comic ever. It's so good. Yeah.

I would like to start. And I looked up, like, what is the Chris Claremont run? And like, oh, it's like 2 decades long. It's like, that's a lot of comics.

And it's every story, like every story that we love. It's all of them. that he did. It's just so good.

Nice. I have grand intentions of reading the Chris Claremont run, and we will see what happens.

It takes a very long time. I have books and books of them in the other room that I just— I was collecting. I came to X-Men because of the first movie.

Found X-Men.

And at the time, they were printing these Essential X-Men books. They did it for all the comics, but it would be like 20 issues, black and white for $15. So the color wasn't there, but you got 20 issues. And so I was, I was buying about one of those a week, just go, just blowing through it. Nice.

Very nice.

I'll quit interrupting. Go for it.

No, you're good.

No, that's cool.

I have been enjoying X-Men more and more. I came into comics through the MCU, so I didn't care about them. Because the MCU didn't own them. They weren't part of it, yeah. And I've been working backwards. I'm repaying for my sins. I'm sorry.

We all joined the stream at some point. Welcome aboard.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Other thing to bring to the table here is the Mario Kart World soundtrack. It is now on the Nintendo Music app. It's been on YouTube ever since the game came out, but there's, Uh, it's kind of just nice to have in this dumb app that I use a lot, even though it's like kind of a dumb app. Um, and there's like the magic of the Mario Kart World soundtrack is that it like has hundreds of new recordings and reimaginings of Mario music and Mario Kart music. That's all in this free roam mode. Uh, when they added to the app, they started with just like the music from the 30 tracks of the song, of the Sorry, it's like tracks in 2 different ways. From the 30 course tracks in the game, uh, and also the menu music and stuff like that. Uh, and then just the songs that were from the original Super Mario Kart. And they had this promise of more free roam tracks will be added regularly, which felt dumb because I, I wanted all at once and regularly means nothing to Nintendo. Um, but it turns out it's I was dumb because they add in a handful of free roam tracks like once a week.

Oh, nice.

And I get excited every time. And it's just been fun to listen to these songs again that I've already listened to on YouTube, but it just kind of helps having like the track listing and stuff and be able to pick it out and not have ads. It's great. Um, I've got a greater appreciation for it. And like these, these songs are just really well done. Uh, I love how much they're even able to extrapolate from the old retro music And just the amount of genres here is is really cool. Like jazz fusion is kind of the the catch all in a lot of these, and I think this soundtrack might be kind of like my gateway into exploring what is jazz fusion and kind of the the whole genre as a there I think will be interesting to dig into. I mean, kind of letting that be my gateway into actual music feels like I'm throwing shots at. The Mario soundtrack, but actual music.

I downloaded this app right now. Nice.

If you have NSO, you've got Nintendo Music and you can get a bunch of Nintendo soundtracks.

Yeah.

It's also, there's a desktop app for it too now. Like there's a website you can go to.

Oh, really? I didn't know that part.

Yeah, that just came out like a month ago. It's about time.

Okay. Yeah. Yeah, sick stuff. That's awesome. That's awesome. Need to check that out.

It's got the old stuff too. Yeah.

Oh yeah. Oh yeah.

All the Donkey Kong countries are on there.

That's not what I was talking about, but good try.

That's great.

I don't think Pictionary is on there. Sorry.

Oh man.

I remember you talking about that. That blew my mind.

Yeah.

That picture. And again.

Uh, yeah. Nostalgia.

Turkey and I talked about that, but that Pictionary, uh, so like intro song is— there's no reason it's— yeah, there's no reason it should— it's that, that hard. None. None whatsoever. Yeah, yeah, it's, it's kind of crazy.

Yeah, this is what happens when you put a 17-year-old music genius with no supervision Yes, just, just give us some drawing music.

Here we go.

Yeah.

Oh man, awesome. Nate, what do you have? What, what experiences do you want to share?

Um, so I, I've still— I'm still working through the, the Malazan Book of the Fallen books by Steven Erikson. I'm, I'm actually on book 5 at this point. And it's The Tides of Midnight. And it's one of those things where, like, the more I keep sort of, like, hanging out in this space, the more I appreciate Erickson as a writer. Because, like, for me, and—

Thanks.

I used to be really into, like, epic fantasy, like the Wheel of Time books and those series that just would run on and on and on forever and ever and ever. And I came back. I remember really liking the Malazan Books of the Fallen by, like, again, the original run by Erickson. But it was kind of one of those things where it's like, I remember they were pretty good, but then going back through them, I'm like, no, these are actually like— he's really excellent as a writer. Like, in comparison to, like, you know, it's not to bag on Robert Jordan, but I mean, anybody who's read The Wheel of Time will tell you this, like, by the 3rd or 4th book, Like, there's serious fatigue and there's like 30 main characters and it's just like reading a history textbook. Erickson is, I think, a more gifted storyteller. I mean, George R.R. Martin is probably technically a better writer but doesn't have anything nearly as interesting to say. Martin's— this is like, we've talked about it before.

And nor does he say anything anymore.

No, no.

Yeah.

Yeah. But it's like, like, but Erickson's like, he's, he's really, he's really pretty good. He's not just like good for fantasy, which is like, I kind of feel like, you know, again, not to like take too many shots, like Brandon Sanderson is a better writer than I am. Right. But like, he's not— he's, he's good, but he's not like great. Erickson borders on being great. As I think just as far as a writer goes, like he's he's kind of like he's like one of those guys where it's like I'm kind of tempted to like do some digging around see if he's written other stuff besides this because it's like does does that talent translate to other genres? But anyways, yeah, I'm in Midnight Tides or whatever. It's like book five, and it's it's great. Like dude, he's like House of Chains. I just finished that like a. The other day, and I was like, this is great. I like those books. And that's the thing is I've got sort of just fatigue with that whole genre, epic fantasy, where it's like, we're going to write 13 books and you're going to have to figure it out the whole way along. And I'm like, no, I won't. I've done that. I've done my time. No, thank you. But he's good enough that I'm actually like, okay, dude, I'll hang. Like, I feel like he's a competent enough writer that he's like earning my buy-in, um, which, yeah, um, so there's that. Um, but you look like you got something to say, Paul.

Every time you, every time you talk about, every time you talk about this, I'm like, I should, but I don't want to deal with any more epic fantasy. I just started Sanderson. Hmm.

He's better than Sanderson, dude. He's, he's better than Sanderson. That's like, I will I and like here's here's the thing. This is this is my biggest beef with just that genre as a genre, right? Is that so much of it is not done. Like George R.R. Martin, the Song of Fire and Ice books, not notoriously not finished. Robert Jordan did not finish The Wheel of Time. Brandon Sanderson did for him. Brandon Sanderson's got his arc lights. arc-like books not done. Like, these guys— like, Patrick Rothfuss is another— Rothfuss is another name. And Patrick— now, Patrick's brilliant. He's written 2 books that are awesome, but that 3rd book we've been waiting like 10 years on, man. And I'm like— And that's like the thing is, like, with the Malazan Books of the— Book of the Fallen, like, those books, that, that storyline is done. Like, you can read those books. They're all in print. They're all excellent. Now, he's obviously writing other stuff, but that's what I'm saying. It's like, it's done. And I'm just— anyways, yeah, that's, I think, a pro for it.

Yeah, I've become— and this is how— and I have several books written that have not been published, and I'm trying to edit them to get them out. And they're fantasy books, but This is one thing that like I'm just dead set on now is that, look, even if it, even if I'm writing a trilogy, it's going to be a true trilogy where the books are self-contained and they're just adventures of the same people, you know, and this whole, let's, let's do, uh, you know, let's, let's do 200,000 pages on, on one story. I'm sick of it in books. I'm sick of it on TV.

Yeah.

Can we have a monster of the week, please? Somewhere.

Larry Correa, man.

So when my next— when my next book comes out, y'all, it's going to end at the end. So pick it up. It's going to be good.

If it's not a monster of the week book, like, you and I are going to fight.

Not really.

But there's a Oh, sorry. No, go ahead, Josh.

No, I was just going to say that that reminds me there was a made-for-TV movie of, of The Thousand Nights of Scheherazade. And in it, there was a scene where she talks with another guy like she's freaking out because she's like, you know, the king's going to kill me. So I don't even know how to tell stories. How do I tell stories? And she's talking to this other, this older, wiser man, and, and he sits her down and he says, well, to tell a story, you start at the beginning, and when you get to the end, you stop. And that's always stuck with me. Anyways, it's a good movie. But, uh, uh, anyways, that's neither here nor there. I did want to ask though, so in comparison to all these big kind of bloated fantasy epics, would you say that Erikson is probably quicker? You know, like he's more concise. This is more of a quick play through his books than— Than something like, you know, big and expansive.

Don't quit your day job.

You were reaching how long that silence could last so hard for that.

I was so hard. I was reaching.

Yes.

Yes.

It's like, it's like, dude, all that effort and just completely wasted. You get nothing.

What's nothing?

What's the first book in this? In the series?

Something. Oh, daggone it. Now I got to look at it. It's like something in the moon or something. Palace of the Moon, I think.

I got to look up. He's Canadian, is he?

Oh, that—

no.

Oh, if he's Canadian, it's Gardens of the Moon.

Gardens of the Moon. Yeah. Yes. Thank you. Cool. Okay.

Yeah.

So like the thing is Gardens of the Moon is kind of self-contained. That was like proof of concept. I think it was one of his first books. Then Dead House Gates is the next one and it is a pretty significant pivot. Like, but yeah, and it's— yeah, I don't know, man. Dude, I, I love it so far.

Anyways, Libby does not have it, so it'll be when I rejoin Audible.

Okay. I mean, dude, like I said, I think they're great. I think the more I listen to him slash read, you know, whatever you want to call like, is that the more I appreciate his style. He's like, he can do funny without compromising the integrity of a scene or a story. Then it feels like— doesn't feel forced, or it just, it feels like this is like, yeah. Um, anyways, yeah, I love Eric. Like, I'm really enjoying going back through that. Uh, the other thing that, uh, you know, as far as like media, Megan and I have been watching the, the Scrubs reboot, new season, whatever you want to call it. And I mean, it's just more Scrubs. Okay.

Right.

And it's great. I think John C. McGinley isn't in all the episodes. The whole premise of this new season is that— because we're Sacred Heart, where they're all doctors, right? It's like a teaching hospital. But JD comes back and he takes John or Dr. Cox's place as the, the chief of medicine or whatever.

Okay.

And it's, it's just like there's some really great, like, just chemistry. There's some, like, really cute— they've got some of the new cast because it's like now that J.D. and Turk and Carla and Elliot, like, they're all sort of like the, the, the wizened sages, right? And there is like some maturation. there as well with those characters.

Nice.

And so there's like this, this new crew, the, the younger crew that are sort of coming up. That's really good casting. I, I don't know, man. I think it's pretty stinking— it's pretty stinking charming. Like, it's— there, there was a way that they could have done this and it would have absolutely ruined this. And I think like they kind of like nailed it. Like, I'm not huge on the last two seasons of Scrubs, like I but they're fine. You know when they're sort of like they're yeah where they're writing J like those last couple seasons or that last season in particular where they're writing JD off like um but yeah it's I don't know though dude it's it's great. Watch it if you can. What about you, poser? Dude who's not playing.

Yeah, well, I was gonna say, like, I thought we were only bringing one thing to the table, and like, since I've been on vacation, I've had a bunch of time to engage with all kinds of different media. But for the sake of not starting fights, I guess I won't go into the whole like 2 weeks of soccer watching that I've been doing. Because I don't really care about the sport. It's just that I'm having fun watching the World Cup because it's, you know, it's the best players from these different countries playing this game that I don't really know that much about, but that I'm kind of picking up on. But other times I'm just like, wait, wait, wait, why was that a foul? Why could they treat each other that way? And it's totally fine. And why? But then also when you inadvertently kind of kick the ball at someone, then that counts as a foul. I don't understand.

Yeah.

I really don't understand like half the stuff that happens, maybe a quarter of the stuff that happens, but it's fun watching some high-level play. Anyways, I'm not going to talk about that. Okay. So now that I've talked about, now that I've not talked about that.

So I didn't realize I did wrong instructions.

Did what wrong?

I brought 2 things, actually. Could have just— Here.

Bring all the things that you want to talk about. Yeah, no, that's, that's true. But for, for the sake of time and not kind of dragging everyone through it, because I do, I do have a list of other things. Mark, you mentioned how, you know, some of that Mario Kart World stuff is veering into jazz fusion. And I started listening— well, got back into a band that I've loved for a long time and kind of fell off and hadn't listened to in a while. That band is the Mars Volta.

Oh, yeah.

Really like their older stuff, their first 2 albums in particular. And then I do enjoy some of the albums after that. But apparently they put out an album last year because they had broken up and then got back together. It's really just 2 guys that hire a bunch of like crazy musicians to play their stuff also. So I guess in that way it's kind of like a Steely Dan type deal, but Uh, they put out an album last year, and I was reading up on it, and it was in, in an article. It said that it was their 9th album, and I was like, whoa, whoa, whoa, I must have missed a lot if they're already on their 9th album. Uh, long story short, their new album, I do not like it. It's very different than their old stuff. It's very just like synthesizer vocals, um, kind of ambient stuff, which is Almost the exact opposite of the crazy, bonkers stuff from their earlier era. So anyways, I've been listening to a bunch of different stuff. One of the albums that kind of flew under the radar for me, Octahedron. I actually like it quite a bit more now that I'm listening to it again. But anyways, so their good stuff is good, and their their their not so good stuff is not not so good. It's. It's kind of boring to me. I think they came back from their hiatus and they just like chilled out a lot, which is weird because like, frankly, even their earlier stuff, like you could tell— I'm just going to say it— you could tell these guys were on drugs because it's just like they verb the noun a lot. Their singer does that a lot and it's like the Lyrics are absolutely nonsensical. It's fun, but it's, it's— yeah, you can't tell what any of these songs are actually about, but he's a dang good singer. And then some of the, like, the guitar solos start off really cool and then just go off into noise and all that kind of— like, you can just tell. I think— and, and as I was kind of sitting with it, I'm like— and I— okay, don't do drugs, kids. Okay? I've never done drugs. But it goes without saying, don't do drugs. I think that when it comes to, to very creative people, that drugs can actually help to take away any kind of obstacle for creating something like it. Your inhibitions. That's what I'm saying. It can take away some inhibitions and you can create some cool stuff. to a point that it also kind of destroys the, um, the, the part of your creation that actually makes any sense.

Hmm.

If that makes sense. I'm trying to convey this thought that I had that, like, I think there's something about it that when you shed these inhibitions, you can create something cool. But then it also, it's a, um, Kind of like the Ouroboros. It kind of eats itself and ends up destroying what you've created because what you've created actually doesn't have meaning and purpose because it's kind of— the drugs have robbed you from that. So anyways, that— I don't know why I'm sharing that here, just that I feel like this band encapsulates that, if that makes sense. The music doesn't make very much sense, but man, a lot of it is really good. So anyways, that's Mars Volta. That's my rant on the Mars Volta. Have any of you guys listened to the Mars Volta? Do you have any idea what I'm talking about?

Not for quite some time.

Okay. Yeah, it's, it's just crazy. It's— you mentioned jazz fusion, but kind of Latin-inspired jazz fusion. Yeah, really cool vocals, all kinds of stuff. I think Paul is saying that it's terrible. I don't know if you're talking about just not being able to speak or talking about the Mars Volta in general, but that's okay. You can, you can have your opinions. I do think, yeah, some of their later stuff is, like I said, just boring. Anyways, that's the Mars Volta. The, the other thing that I wanted to bring up, and this actually is more along the lines of, you know, typically what we talk about here on the podcast, is a YouTuber that I found that is very good at older video games. He goes by on YouTube. Oh, Burst error. Okay, like something has exploded burst, and then like Zelda two I am error burst error. And he's I've only watched a few of his videos. You thought I was going to say the completionist? No, not that guy. But one of the videos that I just recently watched through over the course of a few days is a like four hour long video, and it it is. It is kind of stitched together a few other videos that he had made, but it was a video where he, he finishes every Castlevania game and port of Castlevania games. So for the first, like, 45 minutes of the video, it is the original Castlevania on Nintendo and all of the ports and, and different versions of that game that have been released. So if you know anything about, like, Vampire Killer, um, or these other versions that are very different, but kind of try and take that core thing. He actually even plays a couple of the Tiger LCD games as well. And it's not like it, it shows some of the gameplay footage, but it's not like he does streams as well, but it doesn't show all of the stream of all these games, but he talks about all of the games in the Castlevania series. And it's just fun to hear someone like to get that kind of perspective of the growth of different series. I watched another video on the Makaimura games, which are the Ghosts 'n Goblins, all those games that he does the same thing, and including the Tiger handheld, which is kind of funny. So anyways, I have fun with those types of— it's not exactly historical, but you know, you get a flavor of like, oh, this is where this series of games have come from, and you know where it is today, which in the case of Ghosts 'n Goblins isn't really anywhere, but they did release— I don't think it was very well received, but something recently. Anyways, anyways, Burst Error, that is my recommendation, and particularly that Castlevania, the 4-hour Castlevania video, because I do like Castlevania games. I've played maybe about half of them. I like that series a lot. Well, not, not all the ports, don't get me wrong there, but I'm also just not good. at video games. Like, this guy can, you know, finish some of these games. And, and I beat Castlevania III with heavy use of save states. Well, and the first Castlevania. So, um, anyways, Burst Error, like that guy. He's pretty cool.

Nice.

So that's, that's what I got. Yes, he does talk about, uh, Symphony of the Night, of course. And I think, I think he even talked about the, the Japanese, uh, title. It's like Oh, what is it? Something in the moonlight, like not Danger of the Moonlight, but something like that. And I was like, oh, that's actually a better title than Symphony of the Night. But Symphony of the Night is great. There I have— I have finished Symphony of the Night. I've— yes, I've gotten the upside-down castle. I— yeah. Yes, I've played. I have not played the— what is it? The Sega Saturn version of the game where I think you can play as Maria, something like that. Um, the Saturn version has some differences to it, but anyways, uh, Symphony of the Night is a great game. You should listen to the Backlog Breakdown episode on Symphony of the Night because we did an episode on it. But anyways, I'll stop talking now.

I like that this will end up being lore that Josh can just like translate tippy taps into audible dialogue. It's like just, yeah, just having a conversation with a ghost.

Yeah.

Jump right in.

All right.

So those— yes, here I am jumping into that puddle. So those were some experiences with, with different types of media. But we do also like to, you know, play video games from time to time. So, Paul, what you been playing lately?

My mic is working again.

Hey.

I can speak and interrupt people again.

Not just the clickety clack of the keyboards. Right.

Well, I mean, you figured that out. I was Morse coding it and Josh was like, picking up on it right away. It was very impressive.

Wow.

I'm sorry, we're doing video games?

Yes, yes.

Okay.

We're doing video games.

Y'all didn't care when I told you during the break because I forgot we were going to do this, but I was wholeheartedly addicted to this game SimTower in the '90s, which I think is the best of the non-SimCity Sim, Maxis Sim games from back in the day.

Okay.

Okay.

It is basically SimAnt.

But it was essentially SimCity except in a tower. Yeah, but yeah, I found out that there was a sequel called Ute Tower. And so I started playing that. I got re-addicted. to it. I'm just watching elevators go and, and stuff. But, um, besides that, because, uh, you know, that's just weird fascination of mine, um, I'm, I'm actually going to beat the, uh, 4-Job Fiesta from Final Fantasy V, which is nice.

What 4 jobs did you get?

I got, uh, I got— I, and the reason I'm gonna beat it is because I got a good selection. Um, and for anybody who doesn't know, uh, you get a ton of jobs in Final Fantasy V from 4 different crystals. But the challenge is a once-a-year challenge is they will assign you randomly one job from each crystal and you can only use those jobs. And, um, but I started off with Black Mage, which really made the early game, um, pretty easy. Uh, okay, a lot of damage dealing. And then Red Mage, which is useful because if you master Red Mage, then you get Dual Cast. And so then you can just slot Dual Cast onto your Black Mage and he just becomes a wrecking machine. Uh, and then I got Samurai, which is really good melee class. And then I got, uh, Beastmaster, which is not a great class, but—

Okay.

Um, Beastmaster and Red Mage, I'm I'm having to slot in different abilities for them to get them to really do well at the end of the game. But I'm right at the end. I just, I did my final grind and I'm about to, I have only X death left and have the rest of the month to finish it, to actually finish it on time. I've attempted it a couple of times and always got kind of crappy jobs and had to bail on it because I Went too long, but this time actually going to get to beat it. So having fun with that.

Nice.

That's the game starring butts, right? Yes. Yeah, that's what I thought. Butts. Butts.

I okay. So I learned this that okay. If you play Final Fantasy Five, you keep running into Gilgamesh. And they're absolutely hilarious battles. And they, he's, he talks a lot. And by the end, he actually considers you a friend and invites you out to go get beers with him. And you're like, I'm kind of saving the world. He's like, oh yeah. Well, after that. But, but by the end of the game, he gets sucked into a dimensional portal. And And yeah, I found this out watching videos on the game. When we originally got Final Fantasy VI as Final Fantasy III, of course, at that time, America didn't have Final Fantasy V.

Right.

Oh, now I can't remember if it was in VI or VII. Anyways, in one of those 2 games, Gilgamesh appears. And in the Japanese version, he goes, you know, Who's that? Is that Butz? And then realizes it's not. And he's like, where am I and stuff? And they translated it differently in English, but it still didn't make any sense at the time.

Sure.

Well, Paul, that's an awesome kind of inside joke there. That's fun. I get the joke, you know, 25 years late.

It's awesome.

Nice. Nice. Yeah, I believe he shows up in Final Fantasy VI at some point.

Yeah, it was one of the two and I couldn't remember, but yeah, pretty funny. He has an extended quest in Final Fantasy XIV that's part of the Hildebrandt quests, which are very slapstick humor. Quests in Final Fantasy XIV that are hysterical. But he shows up in that and it's just, it's great. It's just hilarious. Don't get into MMOs, people. Y'all stay away.

Stay away from drugs.

Stay away from anime and MMOs.

Exactly. Our messages for today.

Keep your nose clean. Yeah.

Awesome.

Nice. So Final Fantasy V, anything else you've been playing that's been taking up your time?

Oh, nope. That's been mostly it.

Nice.

Cool. Awesome. Mark, how about you? What have you been playing lately?

Yeah, I've been mainly playing Mina the Hollower, which is a fun one.

Ooh, yeah.

So I'm also, it's hard to think of like things to say about the game besides just like, it's weird because it feels like this is a really special game and it's like so well crafted and so like thoughtful in the sense of a lot of thought's been put into it. Um, it is full of thought. Um, but I feel like I don't know what else to say about it. It's one of those weird things where it's like, I don't know.

Yeah.

there's not a whole lot to really ruminate on with it, but it's just, it's a good, it's a good game. Like, and it's, so it's Yacht Club's new game. Um, it's $20, which is like, I've been trying to save my pennies over this course of the year. Um, it is a really fun game to play with others around you too. Like, and I've also playing, it's a great, like, I feel like I had this like playground experience with, with a text group of guys, like with Jake and Landry from, if you all know them, Quick Play, um, a couple other guys. And so they all got it. They were all talking about it. I'm like, I'm, I want to get into this too. I'm going to have fun. And then they all beat the game like way faster than I did. So I'm kind of a little bit on my own with it, which is fine.

Hmm.

Still having fun. Um, actually I do need to like kind of scroll back through that text thread and see like what actually makes sense now. Um, yeah, but it, uh, it's so— it's very like retro Zelda coded. It's— it apparently the Yacht Club will push back if they used to call it like a Zelda clone. And a big point of difference is, um, there's a lot of like kind of the Souls, Dark Souls DNA in it too, where it's much more action-focused than puzzle-focused in the way that Zelda would be. And it's a super challenging game. Like it's, I wouldn't say that it is brutally difficult, but it can be pretty punishing that they did build in just a whole bunch of modifiers and stuff. And so some things that are like ridiculous things, some things actually make the game Harder, uh, but you can also just make it a little bit easier. And a lot of the talk around the modifiers are like, yeah, you can just— you can turn them on and off with— without any— like, you're getting the same experiences, so you can just make it easier for yourself. It's great. Um, which all these things are true, but they do tell you once you put on a modifier that you can no longer get achievements for the game, which is like, ah, now I don't want to.

Okay.

But I decided that I want to enjoy this game. So I did make it a little easier for myself and I'm greatly enjoying the game. 'Cause there are things where it's like, you can turn on, there's more checkpoints. You can turn on, you take half the damage that you normally would. It's kind of stuff that just, like I am playing on an easy mode and that's fine. I'm okay with that. I'm having a lot of fun with it because it is just, it's a great game to kind of just let yourself wander. It does a—

Okay.

Like, I hate being lost in games. And so I am not afraid to use a guide. And I don't think I really have had to use a guide for Mina the Hollower. Like, I've looked up some stuff where it's like, I want this particular weapon upgrade. And I'm gonna look up where to find it because I don't wanna wander for hours just to find it. But just to even like go to the next thing, it's just, you can wander and you'll, it'll kind of funnel you there eventually. Um, it's also got kind of the Breath of the Wild mentality of you can do dungeons in any order. Uh, there is a suggested order that they kind of gesture you towards and stuff. Um, but I did a dungeon out of order. just like a couple nights ago because I thought it was this, oh, this is probably a little side quest thing. And then it just kind of kept going. And eventually I got to the part where it's like, oh, this is where, uh, you kind of, there's like a signposting thing at the Spark Towers for people to understand. There's some like gates around the Spark Towers. Then that's the after you beat a boss. Uh, and I noticed the gates around the Spark Towers. Like, wait, I'd just finished a dungeon and I did just by accident. Um, and when that happens, yes, it's great. So it's, it's just really well done. They make it really accessible in a really nice way that doesn't really compromise the game, even though there is more compromise than I think the press has been saying about it, but well worth playing. It's a good time.

Nice. Nice. Yeah, that it does. It does look like a great game. I'm going to ask you a question that I know you're, you're going to hate, but I'm going to ask it. Anyway, so you mentioned that it's only $20. Do you think it's worth that $20 price tag? Because that seems like, that seems really cheap for one that I've heard really good things about.

Yes. I, um, I don't hit that question. I'm aware with that question because I know I should hit that question, but I still think about that question a lot. The answer is still yes. Uh, like I know there should not be this kind of time to price metric, but I'm still stuck with it even though it's, I know it's faulty. Um, absolutely. It is well worth $20. And I think it's, there was some story that came out about Yacht Club where they did not decide on the price until like weeks before the release date.

Really?

And they all apparently came into the meeting or like, they know, they all knew like, okay, we have to decide the price in this and we're going to, it's going to be really tough and we're all going to have to fight through it. But apparently Jakob's pretty small team and maybe this was just more the executive 4 or 5 of them or whatever. But they all came in with $20 is what we want to sell it for. And they all just on their own thought of $20. So that's what it ended up being.

Nice.

And it kind of hits that same like Silksong was, I think $20 or $25. And I don't know if there's ever any, Uh, I remember there being like discourse with Silksong around like, that's unfair to other indie games by pricing it so low.

Right. Yeah.

Uh, which is a silly conversation, but I don't feel like that was as much a factor for me. I think it was more just a positive thing. So absolutely well worth $20.

Yeah.

Yeah. It, it, it seems like it from everything that I've seen. I just like have this innate sense of like, oh, I'm going to wait for a sale, you know, to, to pick it up. Um, but really at $20, it seems like I shouldn't, you know, like that's, that's enough to even just support the devs, you know, at full price. If the full price is $20, like that's, that seems like an easy—

boy, inflation has hit y'all hard. The game I forgot, the, uh, the, uh, Splintered, uh, TMNT Splintered Fate that I have been talking about.

Oh yeah.

I'm not going to talk about it. I'll talk about it next time. But, um, yeah, I, I, I only got that because of major sales, like $7. That's, that's That's high for me.

No. Well, I mean, yeah, I am.

I am joking. Like, I'm— I'll pay $20.

But yeah, I've, I've got a few different directions. One of the things that I'll say is I was just looking as we started recording and there's a sale on the Daemon Ex Machina, the second game, but that's like Titan Scion or something like that on PC for $2. And I'm like, oh, I feel like I should pick it up just because it's only $2.

It's $2.

On the flip side, I did spend more than $20 on a game. Yeah, I'd buy that for $2. But anyways, not, yeah, yeah, we'll get, we'll get there in just a second. So that's awesome.

Speaking of price too, Josh, I just bought Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown.

Okay, yeah.

And it like similar thing of it was down to $8 on Steam and even And then it was like, I bet I could, like, I'm not going to play this right away. I bet I could get this for $5, like later on. Like I'm just, it's the lowest it's ever been. I'll just get it now. It'll be fine. I'll play it when I want to play it.

Yeah.

So yeah, I'm excited.

Yeah. It's a, it's a good one. It's, it's pretty long for that type of game, which actually this came, the Burst Error, uh, on, on Castlevania, uh, video that I talked about earlier is that he makes it a point. He's like, I'm not going to call these games Metroidvanias. I'll call them search action games. these types of games were actually before Castlevania and Metroid. And I'm like, Search Action. I don't like that. Like, I get your point, but Search Action just sounds lame.

It's the worst. It's the worst name. Like, it's like, just like punch yourself in the face.

Are you playing a Commodore 64 game? I'm playing Search Action. Strategic combat game, you know, like just, I don't know. I don't know. That's just— And I get, I get video games have stupid monikers, even JRPGs, you know, tactical RPG, strategy RPG. Okay. Every RPG has strategy in it. What are you even talking— I know, I know what you're talking about because I've played a tactical role-playing game before. Even that doesn't make sense. We're talking about the ones where you move anyways. Anyways. I get that monikers don't make sense, but it's it communicates something. And I think search action just sounds lame. Anyways, I'll get off my high horse here. Mark, anything else other than Mino the HoloWare that you wanted to bring up?

Really quick, I have a confession to make. This whole time I have been playing Universal Paperclips, which is a little clicker game on my browser.

Nice.

I'm looking very intently. I don't want to talk too much about it because I actually want to suggest it for Uh, uh, my, my patron pick for next year or a book club episode, because it's, it's a free browser game about, you are, you play as an AI designed to make paperclips and it kind of just all unravels from there. Uh, there's no graphics. There's, there's text and buttons and numbers and I am enthralled.

Uh, yep.

And so Universal Paperclips, go check it out. You'll have a, if you want to lose a day of productivity, Look up Universal Paperclips.

Yep.

Josh is making fun of C64 games and you're going back to like, you know, Colossal Cave Adventure style and Zork.

You know, I'll tag you a screenshot right now.

Awesome.

Have you ever played Candy Box 2?

Candy Box 2.

Okay. When you are done with Universal Paperclip or whatever it's called.

Um, yes, exactly what it's called.

Try Candy Box 2.

Candy Box 2.

That's all. It's, it's that style of game. And it— yeah, yeah, you said you could lose a day on it. I mean, I was enthralled by this thing because of the way that it is a set of Russian nesting dolls. I'll put it that way. But it is very much one of those— what were they? Not casual game. What are they called? Not subliminal. That's not the right word. I can't think of the right word, but it's that type of game.

Yes.

Yes, a Schluter. Those, those kind of games. No, one that you have on in the background, sort of, kind of. Anyways, Candy Box 2. Check it out.

Candy Box 2.

Yeah, cool. Well, Nate, how about you? What have you been playing, my dude?

I have a secret confession. I've just started playing Universal Apocalypse.

Josh, the rest of the episode's just you and me.

Yeah.

Um, okay, so really nothing. Uh, it's been— the last couple of weeks have been just a lot of work lately, and so it's kind of— haven't really touched Returnal, which that's on like sort of on like the short list. Uh, did play a little bit more of Tunic, and it's kind of like, I think like that's— I'm probably going to like zero in on that, I think. Um, because it's kind of one of those things where, uh, in doing, uh, Link's Awakening, it was like, it kind of like there's like a little bit of just like, oh, like, yeah, this, this kind of feels a little comparable. I know that they're pretty different, but it kind of just sort of whet the appetite a little bit for that. So— And Destiny. I'm just playing Destiny, dude. It's like the best. Like, listen, like Destiny is done. And so it's kind of like in some ways like the best time to play Destiny because you can sort of— you can do a build and it's viable and it's not going to change in 3 months. And the loot like the, the loot chase is, is good right now. Like, they're pretty generous. It's like, I don't know, it's, it's comfort food. I don't really have to think. I can just kind of turn it on and like go blast bad aliens. And, uh, yeah, so I'm not like— aside from Mark, you know, infecting my brain with, you know, the paperclip thing.

Sorry.

But yeah, Candy Shop 2 or Candy Store 2 or whatever that's called, that's That's dangerous.

Candy Box 2. Yeah.

Yes. Yeah.

And it does look different. Candy Box 2 is more like the ASCII art type deal once you fall down the rabbit hole. Um, whereas this looks like, based on what you just sent us, Mark, this looks more like a spreadsheet type game, which is interesting. Interesting with buttons to push and all that. So yeah, I'm, I have not started. I mean, I did pull up the page and then I was like, okay, I'm done.

Oh, great. I'm going to have to carry this whole episode.

Not, not yet. It's not happening. It's not happening. What I have been playing is Octopath Traveler 2, and it's— man, it's charming. I know I've said that. I've said that about a lot of games actually lately because I said that about Echoes of Wisdom. I recognize— I mean, I say that there's also some really, you know, dark stuff in there as well. But I guess it's just some of the characters. I just, I just added Partitio to my to my party. And he is basically— he's, he's plucked from the Wild West and he's a merchant. And capitalism helped him and his father, like, build up this Wild West town from, you know, from basically tumbleweeds. And so it's, it's, it's pretty cool. But now he's in my party because he's traveling the world to find the guy who ripped off his dad. So anyways, I'm, I'm enjoying it. It's, it's been slow going, actually. vacation, you'd think that I'd have a lot more time to play video games, but I actually didn't play that much. Um, did more like watching stuff with the family, um, and, and just hanging out and floating the lake and stuff like that. Don't, don't take your Switch 2 on the lake, okay? I didn't take my Switch 2 on the lake. You should not take your Switch 2 on the lake either. Um, so really that's all that I've been playing. I did, however, on a sale— just talking about sales here— pay a little bit more than $20. I paid $25. to pick up Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake. Um, it was— it hit that thing where it was like, oh, lowest price it's ever been. I was like, okay, okay, you got me. Um, and I actually have never played Dragon Quest III before in any form, so, um, that'll be a fun one to tackle probably next year. But, uh, I'm stoked on it. Playing an HD-2D game right now in Octopath, and so why not pick up another one to play next. The only other things I'll bring to the table is just what happened earlier today is that I went with my kids to the local library and they, and they actually have a little, a little box. So they've got all the games in different boxes. They have a little box for Switch 2 games. And I was flipping through the Switch 2 games and my kids were like, yeah, let's get that one. And so we got Yoshi and the Mysterious Book. So that's fun. We'll probably play that as a family. However, as I was flipping through the games, I saw they have Hades 2. That's awesome. They also have Resident Evil Requiem, and I'm just like, oh man, if I could just like pull that from the library. So I think after I finish my, uh, the games that I want to play through this year, at least that's in the back of my mind, is like, okay, I can jump into, uh, some Resident Evil Requiem. That sounds awesome. Um, so anyways, those, those are kind of A little farther off down the line, but the fact that they're available and sitting there, you know, like 4 blocks from my house whenever I want to, you know, so long as they're not taken by someone else. Stoked to, uh, to jump into those as well. So that's all the video games that I have been into.

Oh yeah.

Cool, cool, cool, cool, cool.

Dude, Mark, you've ruined me. You've ruined me.

Oh no, you guys are having these uni— well, actually, you know what, you're— you are correct. You are more correct than, uh, than you think. This, this phone call is just about done. We're, we're ready to wrap up here. Um, I don't think we have any kind of final thoughts. I don't know, do you guys have any final thoughts? We've all just kind of meandered. We've all just shared some experiences, some games. Some things like that, but anything you want to leave off other than don't do drugs, don't take your Switch 2 in the lake. Don't do anime. Anime was a mistake. What was the other one? MMOs. MMOs. There you go. Stay away from MMOs, kids.

Universal paperclips. Add that to the list too. Stay away.

Yeah. Universal paperclip. Highly recommended, but don't. Eh? Eh? Eh? My, my one question is how, how do you account for, uh, that in the backlog beatdown? That's, that's my question.

I don't.

How would you account a web game?

Or you all get a plus one.

You're playing a new game. You're not beating down your backlog. Yeah, exactly. Awesome. Well, Paul, Mark, thank you guys for joining us. This has been quite a long recording night for you guys. So thank you for taking the time out of your your evenings and spend into the morning spending it with us. Man, we appreciate you also for the stuff that you put out on the PlayWell Network, you know, Quick Play and Thorns of War, all this stuff. So, and thank you, dear, wonderful listener, watcher. And that— now that I say that, that sounds kind of creepy. You've been listening in, you've been watching the entire time.

Who knows? Why are you here?

What are you doing here? Uh, no, we, we do appreciate you. Check out all the other podcasts on the Playwell Network. And, uh, as, as we sign off for the evening, here's a word from one of our fellow Playwell Network buds.

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 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.

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